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Houston’s Personal Trainer Anu Morgan: Get Healthy, Lose Weight cise guide for the gym and in-home workouts, nutritional values for 7 popular restaurants, for161 food items and more.

Anu Morgan took her B.S in Biology at the University of Illinois, Champaign, Urbana, did her graduate course in Physiology at the University of Houston and became ACE certified (American Council of Exercise). She then became a personal trainer and nutrition counselor at a major gym where she worked 10 years. She has been a Houston resident for over 13 years. Having written the book, she has been savvy in promoting the book with a concrete message on 3 web sites that serve her truly motivated clients with information to help them stay looking fit. She is now helping people get back on their feet and realize their forsaken dreams of ever being fit again. Anu gave some insightful answers to the ever prevailing weight problem people face on a daily basis.

By Jacob David

Anu Morgan, 34, author of “Get Real About Weight Loss,” is mother of two children and wife to Scott Morgan. She is Houston’s personal trainer to those willing to shed pounds and look fit. Born in Kolkota, India, to Punjabi parents and raised in Chicago from age two, she grew up loving to eat North Indian cuisine. Becoming an athelete in high school, she realized that she had to change some of her unhealthy eating habits. “I became health conscious as an athlete, realized the importance of a healthy lifestyle. Also mom cooked healthy food and it helped a lot.” The key is becoming health conscious, becoming healthy and fit starts up as a passion in your mind, Anu says, even before it reflects in your body.

“You can’t quit midway, that will not help you reach your goal of becoming a more fitter you.”

The book deals with tips and tricks to lose weight, tricks to minimize cravings, pre and post natal training, gives counsel for nutrition and exercising, body toning, learning to shop right, keeping a food log, personal motivation and cardiovascular endurance. It offers Anu’s sample menu for a week, exer-

IAN: How bad do you think is Indian food for staying healthy?

AM: Indian food is healthy overall. It’s what you indulge in that makes it unhealthy.

If you indulge excessively in fried foods and carbs, that is just a lifestyle you have set up for yourself. You can easily moderate that to become healthier. You can switch from vegetable to olive oil, avoid ghee or lessen it as it is an unhealthy fat, and use little cream.

People will do better to eat more servings of fruits, lentils, legumes and vegetables instead of red meat.

IAN: How do American and Indian foods compare health wise?

AM: Both have fried foods, carbs and healthy foods. It’s all about you choosing the right food to eat on a daily basis.

IAN: Now that you have written your book, what do you do full time?

AM: I spend my time as a personal fitness trainer. I help my clients reach their goals of becoming and staying fit.

IAN: When did you feel that you wanted to write this book?

AM: It occurred to me in 2005 when I had my first child. But I had to put it on the back burner for about 3 years. About a year and a half later, I had my second child. That’s when I really wanted to get back to looking fit. So I began writing this book.

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IAN: A tough question, there are already hundreds of books on getting fit and nutrition, why another book by you?

AM: Most books are diet books like the South Beach and Atkins, nutrition. They do not talk about creating a lifestyle. True they may touch on that point but not in entirety.

I have been a personal trainer for 11 years.

I have seen the daily struggles that people face to lose weight. In my book I deal with the weight issue as a real live issue. I have come across people making excuses as to why they are not able to lose weight. I’ve seen most scenarios. As the title reads, there are no shortcuts to losing weight. It is about changing the way you think and your entire lifestyle. That is what my book proposes.

IAN: How did you arrive at the nutrition facts in your book?

AM: I researched them over the years, it’s been fun and rewarding doing that.

IAN: How does body metabolism rate re-

late to the Indian ethnicity?

AM: Metabolism is not related to ethnicity in any way. True every person either has slow or fast metabolism. It also depends on people’s age, their bone structure and current body mass.

IAN: How does one optimize metabolism?

AM: Setting up a daily exercise routine, watching what you eat and how often you eat works towards optimizing your body metabolism. It helps you build lean muscle mass and lose fat. My book has a sample week menu and nutrition facts to help you eat right daily.

IAN: Does your book have brain or mental focus exercises?

AM: Not directly, no. But I train each client to develop a new way of thinking. I help them overcome pitfalls in their thinking process and develop gradual accountability for their own fitness levels.

IAN: Have you as a personal trainer faced lame personal excuses to shirk the daily exercise regimen?

AM: I have, but not often. Most people when they call a trainer are dead serious about getting in shape. Their level of commitment, they know, gets them better personal fitness results. It’s a personal reward for hard work.

IAN: How do you deal with the excuse makers?

AM: I confront them directly, not the in your face type, but talk with them about why they are trying to make excuses. It’s about helping them get back on track. But if they decide to fall off the bandwagon, then I can’t help them.

IAN: How long and what type of services do you offer as a personal trainer?

AM: I offer my services for as long as they need me to mentally stabilize themselves and keep on track.

I do a personal fitness analysis, do before and after body mass index and body fat measurements with the help of calipers. I help them become accountable by maintaining a daily food log and exercise routines. I offer phone and in person counseling on a weekly basis.

I motivate each client and suggest ways of improving their exercise to get better results. Developing a personal workout relationship in tune with each client’s weight loss needs is important to me.

IAN: Your kids, how are their eating habits? Is it mommy’s boot camp for them?

AM: (Laughs) No, not at all. They are 3

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HEALTH

Indo American News • Friday, April 30 , 2010

Laughter Really is the Best Medicine

LONDON: In addition to the domino effect of joy and amusement, laughter is the best medicine, for a new study has found that it can be as healthy as exercise.

Scientists have found that laughter affects the body in a similar way to exercise, say a jog around the park —— in fact, it lifts the mood, decreases stress hormones, enhances immune activity, lowers blood pressure and bad cholesterol.

For the study, a number of volunteers were asked to watch just 20 minutes of comedies and their blood samples saw a dramatic drop in stress hormones, blood pressure and levels of cholesterol.

Like exercise, they also had their appetite stimulated. That means that the “laughercise” can be a way to reduce heart disease and diabetes. It is especially important to the elderly who may find it hard to perform more physical activities, say the scientists.

Dr. Lee Berk, from Loma Linda University, California, who led the study, said that emotions and behaviour had a physical impact on the body. “The body’s response to repetitive laughter is similar to the effect of repetitive exercise. As the old biblical wisdom states, it may indeed be true that laughter is a good medicine,” he was quoted by the British media as saying.

The scientists, who have been studying the effects of laughter for more than two decades, said that the high one can get from a giggling fit was similar to the endorphin rush

“Laughercise” can be a way to reduce heart disease and diabetes, especially among the elderly who may find it hard to perform more physical activities. File photo: Bhagya Prakash K

from exercise.

They have shown how it can reduce one’s risk of a heart attack and diabetes and generally regulate the body’s vital functions. It is also an important

way to de—stress after a day’s work, say the scientists.

The findings were presented at the ‘Experimental Biology’ conference.PTI

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Medicinal Plants Help to Keep Fit KOLKATA: People from the Northeast States are endowed with good health as their diet comprises of various medicinal plants which keep their body fit.

“People of the Northeast consume a nutritional diet of many medicinal plants like Bacopa Monneri Penn, Centella Asiatica Urban, Discorea Bulbifera, Embelica Officinale Gaerth, Erygium Foeitdum and many other species found in the region that keep them fit,” speakers at a symposium on ‘Global Resurgence of Ayurveda and Yoga’said on Saturday, April 25.

The medicinal plants found abundantly in the Northeast were also used for healing, symposium Chairman R.K. Sharma said.

“This shows that people of the region use herbal drugs in their dayto-day life which help to keep their bodies healthy,” Sharma said.

Of the 15,000 to 20,000 varieties of medicinal plants in the country, 7,000 to 7,500 were used by traditional medicine systems in India.

“Medicinal plants are the oldest known healthcare products and their importance is still growing although it varies depending on the ethnological, medicinal and historical background of each country,” Sharma said.

He said that ayurvedic products as an alternative system of medicine, and many herbal products of Indian origin, had good potential to win a considerable share of the world market.

Ayurveda has been recognised as

INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, APRIL 30 , 2010 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM

People having look at the medicinal plants and products at a ayurveda mela in Hyderabad.

File Photo

a healthcare system by the UK, the UAE, Sweden, Indonesia and the US. Thirty more countries would be accepting it as an alternative system of medicine.-Hindu In the light of such a situation, he said, there was a need for establishing backward and forward linkages for the herbal sector and strategies for their seamless integration for a sustainable growth-oriented performance, specifically on the export front.

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B U S I N E S S in d ia

Indo-American Vinod Khosla Tops Forbes’ 10 Greenest Billionaires WASHINGTON: Indian American Silicon Valley billionaire Vinod Khosla tops the list of 10 greenest billionaires chosen by Forbes “who are most active in green, sustainable causes and who are working to have the greatest impact.”

The leading US business magazine said it found the top ten “are altruistic, yes, but most of them are also very much aiming to turn a profit” and they hail not just from the US but also from Israel, Germany and Canada.

“Khosla-a cofounder of Sun Microsystems and a longtime partner at venture capital powerhouse Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers-has, with fellow billionaire and green business supporter John Doerr, been pouring millions of dollars into green tech companies,” Forbes noted.

The magazine put Khosla’s net worth at $1.1 billion and Doerr’s at $1.7 billion, noting in 2004 Khosla began, though his Khosla Ventures, to fund dozens of innovative companies involved in areas such as sustainable building materials, solar power and advanced biofuels.

Some of these investments Khosla has described as “science experiments” that may or may not succeed, it said.

“I like Vinod’s strategy because traditionally VCs don’t buy into companies at their early stage. He does, and the science experiment that survives that germ-of-an-idea stage has a good chance it’ll be mainstream some day,” Forbes quoted Michael Kanellos of Greentech Media as saying.

Ausra, a solar thermal power company backed by Khosla Ventures and Kleiner Perkins, had trouble getting financing and permits for planned solar plants and in 2009 switched its focus to selling equipment for customers that included coal-fired plants.

Now the company is out of Khosla’s purview

as in February French nuclear giant Areva bought Ausra for an undisclosed sum.

But Khosla has plenty of other green tech bets, including Calera, a company that is developing technology to trap carbon dioxide and capture it in cement, Forbes.

Among others making Forbes greenest billionaires list were Israeli Carnival Cruises heiress Shari Arison, Google cofounders Larry Page and Sergey Brin and German billionaires Aloys Wobben and Prince Albert von Thurn und Taxis.

Nearly everyone wants to be green these days, or so it seems, said Forbes noting more than $200 billion globally will be invested this year in sustainable businesses-a 40 percent increase from 2009.-IANS

Indo American News • Friday, April 30 , 2010

27

Six Indians Among 50 Fastest Growing Women-led U.S. Firms WASHINGTON: Indian American entrepreneurs run six of the top 50 fastest-growing women-led companies in the U.S., according to an annual ranking by trade group Women Presidents’ Organization.

Argent Associates Inc, a supply-chain management company from Edison, New Jersey, has been ranked the No. 1 by WPO, a trade group for multimillion-dollar women-owned businesses, which determined its list using a formula that combines percentage revenue growth and absolute growth.

Argent founder Beatriz Manetta attributes the growth spurt, noteworthy in an otherwise stagnant economy, to an increase in clients’ imports from China and India that are assembled in her warehouses, according to the Wall Street Journal.

No. 3 on the list was Artech Information Systems LLC, a Cedar Knolls, New Jersey, provider of information technology and projectmanagement services to corporate clients, run

by Indian American Ranjini Poddar.

The five other companies run by IndianAmerican women on the top 50 list were Padma Allen led TechnoDyne LLC (12), Anjali Ramakumaran led Ampcus Inc. (20), Sonu Ratra led Akraya Inc. (35), Priti Parikh led Sweta Systems Inc. (42) and Kiran Gill led PARS Environmental Inc. (49).

The list comes at a time when women-owned firms have grown in number but still lag behind male counterparts in terms of revenue, the Journal noted.

The number of female-owned companies grew 125 percent between 1982 and 2002, and women currently own 10.1 million firms or

about 40 percent of all private companies in the US, according to the Centre for Women’s Business Research.Only 3 percent of all womenowned firms have revenues of $1 million or more, compared with 6 percent of men-owned firms, the center estimates.

On average, companies on the Top 50 list grew by more than $30 million in revenue between 2005 and 2009; posted revenue of $45 million in 2009; and employ nearly 140 workers.

A diverse group of industries, from medical staffing to security patrol services to ecological restoration, are represented.-SI

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Indo American News • Friday, April 30 , 2010

Maruti Launches All New WagonR NEW DELHI: Maruti Suzuki India on Friday launched a new generation WagonR priced between Rs.3.28 lakh and Rs.3.81 lakh.

The new version will take on the likes of newly launched models, including Chevrolet Beat (priced Rs.3.41-4.43 lakh) and Ford Figo (Rs.3.49-3.99 lakh), and Hyundai i10 (Rs.3.47-3.83 lakh).

“This new launch of WagonR is important to Maruti Suzuki for many reasons. It demonstrates the growing research and development capability of the company,’’ Maruti Suzuki India Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Shinzo Nakanishi told reporters here. The new version is developed from the latest platform of the vehicle that is available in Japan.

The car is powered by the BS-IV compliant 998 cc K-series engine.

MSI had invested Rs.290 crore to

bring out the new generation WagonR. Following the new launch, the existing WagonR, which was launched in 1999 and sold a total of 8.8 lakh units, would be phased out.

“WagonR was the second bestselling car last year. It averaged about 10,000 to 12,000 units a month and I am confident that we should be able to maintain that sales,’’ MSI Executive Officer (Marketing and Sales) Mayank Pareek said. He said the new WagonR, with its pricing and features, will be able to ward of competition in the compact car segment, where there are nearly 20 models in all.

The new vehicle would, however, be more expensive than the old WagonR, which was priced between Rs.3.23 lakh and Rs.3.7 lakh, though the new version would be longer and taller than the old one.

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56 Indian Firms in ‘The Forbes Global 2000’ Washington: China with 113 members and India with 56 members gained the most ground in breaking into the exclusive club of “The Forbes Global 2000” - “the biggest, most powerful listed companies in the world”.

The latest list of global giants released by the reputed US business magazine Wednesday shows the corporate dominance of the developed nations is steadily receding. The rankings span 62 countries, with the US (515 members) and Japan (210 members) still dominating the list, but with a combined 33 fewer entries.

The top ten among 56 Indian Global High Performers are Reliance Industries (126) with sales of $29.40 billion, State Bank of India Group (130), Oil & Natural Gas (155), Icici Bank (282), Indian Oil (313) NTPC (341), Tata Steel (345), Bharti Airtel (471), Steel Authority of India (502) and Larsen & Toubro (548).

UCO Bank (1910) with sales to-

talling $1.78 brings up the rear for India.

Forbes’ ranking of the world’s biggest companies using an equal

weighting of sales, profits, assets and market value to rank companies according to size “reveals the dynamism of global business,” it says.

SI

Hyatt to Open New Hotels in India Hyatt Hotels plans to expand its presence in the Indian cities of Delhi, Goa, Calcutta and Mumbai, as well as move into 15 new Indian markets — including Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad and Pune — over the next five years.

The company said it would open Hyatt Regency Pune, Hyatt Re-

gency Chennai and Grand Hyatt Goa

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ON AM 1320

In total the Global 2000 companies now account for $30 trillion in revenues, $1.4 trillion in profits, $124 trillion in assets and $31 trillion in market value. All metrics are down from last year, except for market value, which rose 61 percent.

An analysis of the Global 2000 shows that despite the turmoil in the financial sector, banks still dominate, with 308 companies in the 2000 lineup, thanks in large measure to their asset totals. The oil and gas industry, with 115 companies, scores high in sales, profits and stock-market value, yet these sectors were not the leaders in growth over the past year. Insurance companies (up 27 percent) led all sectors in sales growth, while the leaders in profit growth were drugs and biotech firms (up 20 percent).

To qualify as a Global High Performer, a company must stand out from its industry peers in growth, return to investors and future prospects.-

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this year.

Hyatt has chosen India as the first location outside of the United States for its upscale brand, Hyatt Place. Additionally, hotels under the Hyatt Regency, Grand Hyatt and Park Hyatt brands are currently under development.-IHT

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L i f e & S t y le

Pain of Partition

Indo American News • Friday, April 30 , 2010

29

The 1984 Sikh riots continue to torment even after 25 years. Sunita Sharma has painted a moving picture of the social impact of the riots in her novel “Main Khush Hun Kamli” (I Am Happy Kamli)

By Anuj Kumar Some wounds refuse to heal. The 1984 Sikh riots continue to torment even after 25 years. Sunita Sharma has painted a moving picture of the social impact of the riots in her novel “Main Khush Hun Kamli” (I Am Happy Kamli). “I had the story with me for 14 years but publishers were not willing to touch a disturbing story which could have political repercussions,” says Sunita, who started her career as a lecturer before moving to writing and social work.

The story of Jasjot (name changed) came through her niece, who was a good friend of Jasjot.

“Jasjot was a kid when the riots broke out. She saw her uncle burnt alive and a burning tyre put around the neck of her father. The impact was such that she lost her voice for five months. Her father, who used to run a cinema hall suffered heavy losses in business as the theatre was burnt down during the riots. Poor economic condition and a big family forced him to marry her at the age of 16 to a Canada-based boy, Manvinder.

The marriage was kept a secret. He

turned out to be a beast. He had illicit relations with his sister-in-law and used to tease Jasjot for not being sexually mature. When my niece shared this story, it became the catalyst for me to start working on it. How can a man stoop so low?” Sunita says.

Manvinder got shocked when Jasjot became pregnant. “He would say I have had physical relations with so many women. Nobody complained of it!”

The story really got going when Sunita met Jasjot’s friendAkhil (name changed), who still feels bad about his inability to help her. She built on their spiritual love to construct a poignant tale. “I have contrasted their divine love with animal instincts of Manvinder. Jasjot had picked up a sales job to support her family. The two met on the job and began to like each other. But for them love meant care and not physical attraction. He used to call her Kamli, the feminine form of Brahma.”

Sunita says her intention is not to make people cry, but realise the fact that how a political issue can snowball into a tragedy which keeps

Sunita Sharma

ferred English writing. But when they found their kids becoming rootless, they have once again started promoting Hindi and regional literature.

There a strong link between literature and culture. The media has also played a role by giving disproportionate space to English literature.” As for the purity of language, which has been held responsible for keeping the layman away from good Hindi literature, Sunita says, “I keep in mind that characters should speak the language of the setting and their academic qualification. Critics should realise that popular could also be meaningful.”

haunting society for years. How pure love can blossom in muck. “Little has been written about the riots because people who faced it have no courage left to talk about the trauma.”

With two novels already in her kitty, Sunita says more people are turning to Hindi literature.

Popular literature “There was a time when serious readers, particularly bureaucrats, pre-

Kingfisher Commences Two New Flights Between UAE &India DUBAI: India’s leading private air carrier Kingfisher Airlines has launched two new international flights connecting the UAE to New Delhi and Mumbai.

The new routes -- from Dubai to New Delhi, and Dubai to Mumbai, mean Kingfisher now operates 21 weekly flights between the UAE and India, the company said in a statement.

All flights on the new routes are being operated with Kingfisher Airlines’ Airbus A320 fleet.

The flights on the Dubai-New Delhi route would include a dual-class cabin with five-star luxury on Kingfisher First and Kingfisher Class while the Dubai-Mumbai flight would include only the Kingfisher Class.

“I am delighted to announce the launch of the two new flights from Dubai to India,” Vijay Mallya, the airline’s chairman and chief executive officer said.

“Kingfisher Airlines has redefined the whole experience of flying and with the launch of these new flights, discerning flyers on these popular international routes will now have

the choice of travelling with India’s favourite airline,” he said in a statement.

Kingfisher Airlines will be the only airline to operate from the UAE to Mumbai, New Delhi and Bangalore.

The Dubai-Mumbai flight offers numerous connecting flights to Bhubaneswar, Goa, Udaipur and Nagpur, the company said.-PTI

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Indo American News

31

South Asia News of the Diaspora

BJP Withdraws Support to Jharkhand CM Shibu Soren

By Neena Vyas NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday decided to withdraw support to the four-monthold Shibu Soren government in Jharkhand, in which it was a coalition partner, and instructed its legislature party leader Raghuvar Das to meet the Governor to carry this forward.

The Congress said it was “watching” the situation and would not act hastily, while the BJP claimed it was “ready to sit in the Opposition.”

What was unstated, but understood, was that the Congress would be in no hurry to attempt formation of an alternative government.

The buzz in political circles is that the Assembly may be placed in suspended animation and President’s rule imposed till the numbers add up to allow another group (supported by the Congress) to make a claim to government formation.

It was “foul play” by Mr. Soren, who had voted with the government and against the Opposition-sponsored cut motions in Parliament on Tuesday, that led the BJP to hastily convene a meeting of its Parliamentary Board chaired by party president Nitin Gadkari on Wednesday morn-

Jharkhand Chief Minister and JMM supremo Shibu Soren. His son Hemanth claimed Mr. Soren voted with the government ‘by mistake’. File photo

ing, where the decision to withdraw support was taken. Yashwant Sinha, Mr. Das and Arjun Munda were present as special invitees.

Ironically, Mr. Soren had dined with Mr. Gadkari on Tuesday after having cast his “treacherous” vote, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj said. She confirmed Mr. Gadkari was unaware of what his guest had done less than an hour earlier in Parliament. She said even senior leader L.K. Advani was not aware of Mr. Soren’s “betrayal” until she conveyed it to him.

What the BJP leadership has gathered is that Mr. Soren may be interested in allowing his son Hemant Soren to become Chief Minister (with the help of the Congress and some others) and he himself may opt to retain his Lok Sabha seat and come back to politics at the Centre. The other two chief ministerial candidates the Congress is likely to consider are Subodh Kant Sahay and Babulal Marandi of the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha. Mr. Marandi, who parted company with the BJP several years ago to set up his own political outfit, had contested the Jharkhand polls as an ally of the

Congress.

Responding to a specific question, Ms. Swaraj said the BJP “was not in touch with Mr. Marandi” or trying to woo him back into the party.

Ms. Swaraj was also categorical that the vote against the cut motion was not cast by “mistake.” “After the first vote on the cut motion, our MP Nishikant Dubey went up to Shibu Soren to point out to him that he had pressed the red button (against the cut motion) instead of the green.

He told him the deed had already been done. Then again when paper slips were distributed for the final vote, Mr. Dubey suggested to him that he pick up the green slip (‘yes’ for the cut motion), but he asked for the red. There was no mistake at all, but some of his men later said Shibu Soren was suffering from a medical condition that makes him forget,” she told reporters.

The irony was not lost on anyone: when Mr. Soren was part of the United Progressive Alliance I, he voted against the government (on the nuclear deal vote) and now he has voted against the Opposition, although a partner of the BJP in Jharkhand.

Special Train to Showcase IT Initiatives NEW DELHI: The government will soon launch a special train to showcase its e-governance initiatives, Minister of State for Communications and IT Sachin Piolt said.

“IT is playing an important role in facilitating economic progress of the country and it is a key objective of the government to broadbase access of IT-enabled government services and e-governance initiatives,” said Pilot.

A joint initiative by the min-

istries of IT and railways, the train will run across the country.

The minister said the national e-governance programme aimed to leverage IT to deliver services like birth and death certificates, land records and information related to farm techniques at a fraction of the cost and time involved.

It will have nearly 40 stops, some of which will be synchronised with the passing of the Commonwealth Games

INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, APRIL 30 , 2010 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM

baton at those locations.

The train is expected to have six exhibition coaches for IT and five for the railways.

A telecom ministry statement said the railways ministry had waived off all costs related to operation of the train.

India is a world leader in IT services, led by companies such as Infosys, Tata Computer Services and Wipro.-SI

32

Indo American News • Friday, April 30 , 2010

Life Story

Got A Girl, Named Sue

online edition: www.indoamerican-news.com

And she knew just what to do. Sunanda’s eye-popping life-story

By Vrinda Gopinath Now, why does Sunanda Pushkar sound preposterous when she says it’s insulting to present her as just a proxy for good friend Shashi Tharoor, minister of state for external affairs, in the multi-million dollar IPL franchise sale? Because it’s a bit ambitious on her part to claim she’s a businesswoman in her own right when her present job profile says she is a mere sales manager at TECOM Investments, a commercial real estate company in Dubai. But you’ve got to hand it to Pushkar, for her spunk and drive that took her from a gawkish girl from small-town Jammu two decades ago, to becoming swell Sue in Dubai and Toronto, to contriving her new image as swanky Sunanda, the brassy, bold entrepreneur of the eye-popping Emirates.

The belle from Bomai, a small apple-growing hamlet in Sopore, Kashmir, was convinced she was not cut out for the idyllic life of mofussil India, as she excitedly told her pals when she landed in Dubai in the early ’90s, and like the many hick-chicks before her, she took the marriage route to escape a dreary future. The teenaged Sunanda met and married fellow Kashmiri Pandit Sanjay Raina, a hotel management graduate, while she was still studying in the Government College for Women, Srinagar, between 1986 and 1988.

But it wasn’t Raina who took her to Dubai; it was his best friend, Sujith Menon, whom she married within two years of her failed first marriage. The couple landed in Dubai in the early ’90s—Menon settled in a job with the insurance company, Eagle Star, while Sunanda worked as an accounts exec with the marketing and ad agency, Bozell Prime. Their lives would have soon settled into a mundane routine if it were not for Sunanda’s hyper hunger to rise above the plain folks. She begged her friends for invitations to glam events and then cashed in on the ’90s marketing trends of organising small-time fashion shows.

She soon catapulted into the world of event management, of the C-class variety—of starlets and bimbos—but stunned her colleagues with her insatiable ambition. She figured out the magic formula and began networking hard and fast—tying up with artists, getting sponsors, and making a small, tidy profit from the enterprise.

Her skills in occasionally getting well-known sponsors made her rivals green with envy but the snide bitching barely fazed her. Says a former rival acidly, “Sunanda would claw her way to a sponsor and have him eating out of her hands, she was not a girl’s girl.”

Not surprisingly, Sunanda was leaving not just her friends behind but her husband too.

Their last attempt to save the marriage in a

Christa Giles, Tharoor’s wife

Sunanda Pushkar

collaborative business deal was disastrous both financially and emotionally. They staged a fashion event which turned out to be a dud, and Menon had to finally leave Dubai after falling out with his company. He, tragically, took his own life later in India.

Sunanda, though, continued to live in Dubai with her son, struggling as a small-time event manager. She moved in as a paying guest with a girlfriend in the more modest suburb of Satwa,

in a pokey apartment above a supermarket, changed her name to Sue, in middleclass western-trendy, unusually adopted her father’s name Poshkar (and turned it to Pushkar), rather than the surname, Dass.

Her business card read Sue P. Menon, and till today, Dubai knows her as Sue rather than the vernacular Sunanda.

By the late ’90s, Sunanda had joined the emigre rush to Canada, and moved to Toronto with her son and a new banker companion. But she hated her life in an Indian ghetto in a white town, and yearned to return to dazzling Dubai. She was back in Dubai within a few years, but this time with a Canadian citizenship and passport to boot. Her new status liberated her from the tough immigration rules and visa restrictions reserved for South Asian citizens, and she soon saw an opportunity in this new-found freedom.

By 2005, Sunanda had joined TECOM, and was poised to ride the wave of the swelling real estate boom. A famous socialite in Delhi remembers meeting her a year later in the Capital when she was introduced as the companion of another successful Kashmiri businessman living between Dubai and London. “She was soon handing out business cards as a real estate promoter,” says the social queen, “and inviting people for investment opportunities in booming

Dubai. She struck me as someone on the go, but I must confess I didn’t recognise her in the pictures today, she looks quite different.”

Sunanda-watchers in Dubai say it was around this time she adopted her new style statement— Dubai flash trash of peroxide hair streaks, heavy make-up, razzle-dazzle, seductive couture, false eyelashes, chrome nail paint, and Louis Vuitton victimhood. It was a sign of her arrival in the league of the neo-rich tycoons.

It was also the time (2007) when Tharoor and his Canadian wife Christa Giles (he had been earlier married to Tilottama Mukherjee) landed in Dubai to take up residency after he joined the investment firm, Afras Ventures. They were on opposite sides of the glistening turf—while Tharoor and wife were cocooned with the Big Boys from Kerala, Sunanda was the p3p Queen of Masala Dubai, chasing the glittering mirage with vampire-like thirst—hyper networking and coursing business deals. Then Dubai was Las Vegas on acid, the boardroom was the lounge bar, the deal room was the penthouse.

It was party time.

And as Sunanda orbited faster into the inner circles of the mega rich—she was now the exotic Sunanda from Kashmir—she and Tharoor met in October 2009, at a soiree hosted

by Sunny Varkey, the billionaire owner of the GEMS education empire, and the evening turned electric.

It was a whirlwind affair and to Tharoor’s credit, he outed Sunanda almost immediately, especially in Delhi, as the official consort of the MoS, external affairs. Their eagerness to be accepted in the power capital was evident with their presence at every social do and event.

Sure, it’s hard to make friends when you are living between two cities, but as a hostess sniffs, “Sunanda invites people she meets on a plane for an intimate dinner with the minister. It may be first class but this is not Dubai, this is Delhi, where pedigree counts, not wannabe.”

So, will Tharoor give up the chair for his lady love? It’s a 21st-century tale of love in the time of opportunity. Outlook

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Creating Wealth without Justice

Unbridled capitalism, while creating wealth, also results in incredible inequity calling for regulatory controls to ensure social justice.

By K.S.Jacob India has been in the news for its robust economic performance and for growth despite the recent global recession. The recent Indian Premier League suggests unbelievable investor confidence and provides great advertising opportunities, fantastic revenue, world-class sport, extraordinary entertainment, phenomenal television ratings and immense customer satisfaction. Yet, the incredible indices of development in India mask the inequity in the country and the human cost of the nation’s progress.

For millions of Indians hunger is routine, malnutrition rife, employment insecure, social security nonexistent, health care expensive, and livelihoods under threat. The vibrant economy, “the shining India,” is restricted to the upper classes, while the majority in Bharat eke out a meagre existence on the margins.

Indices of wealth and development: The gross domestic product (GDP), the indicator of economic growth, is employed to assess the wealth of nations and the well-being of societies.

However, its adequacy to evaluate the human condition or the welfare of nations has been questioned. An increase in GDP reflects economic growth but does not take into consideration its sustainability, life expectancy, health and education of people nor its impact on the environment.

An example of its biased assessment is that misfortunes for some, due to natural disasters and wars, also mean economic opportunity and wealth for construction, pharmaceutical and defence industries and an increase in the index.

The Human Development Index (HDI) was conceptualised to focus on people-centred measures and policies, rather than on national incomes.

The HDI employs life expectancy at birth, adult literacy and enrolment ratios and a measure of the GDP per capita to evaluate human health and longevity, knowledge and education and standards of living. While the HDI does provide a bigger picture when compared to the GDP, it has also been criticised for not capturing the complexity of the human situation.

Inequity in plenty: The Gini quo-

of and disparity across peoples suggests that those who succeed have inherited advantages and favourable playing fields, compared to those who did not. The focus on apparent merit does not take into account the different histories, the varied physical environment, the divergent contexts and the grossly dissimilar opportunities. The many economic policies of the International Monetary Fund and western financial institutions, driven by ideology rather than by reality, have resulted in further enslavement of many developing economies.

For millions of Indians hunger is routine, malnutrition rife, employment The Indian context: The insecure, social security non-existent, health care expensive, and economic liberalisation and livelihoods under threat. Photo: Akhilesh Kumar globalisation have resulted in tient is a measure of inequality of success. However, the global bank- massive and sustained growth in the income and wealth. The mapping ing crisis and the economic reces- Indian economy. Yet, an examination of this parameter shows that many sion have left many bewildered. The of the Human Development Index countries with high GDPs also have debates tend to focus on free market suggests that the country is poor on a high Gini index, suggesting that the operations and forces, their efficiency this measure. The trickle-down efmeasure of economic growth hides and their ability for self correction. Is- fect of development, talked about in gross inequity and high human costs sues of justice, integrity and honesty theory, has little actual impact on the within countries. Recent attempts are rarely elaborated to highlight the poor. The rights of the poor are probat evaluating human well-being use failure of the global banking system. ably more important than the rights varied indicators such as environ- The apologists of the system continue of the rich who drive development. mental impact, government debt, to justify the success of capitalism Economic policies should be clearly diversity of species, etc. Bhutan has and argue that the recent crisis was preceded by a careful assessment of suggested happiness as an indica- a blip. Their arguments betray an their impact on the population, their tor of national well-being. Measures ideological bias with the assumptions lives and livelihoods. Care must be like the Net National Product take that an unregulated market is fair taken to ensure that regulations prointo account the depletion of hu- and competent, and that the exercise posed by our legislatures and upheld man capital. However, the use of of private greed will be in the larger by the judiciary are not pro-rich and at a single index to reflect well-being public interest. Few recognise the the cost of the rights of the poor.

The need for regulation: Ancient does not make these new attempts su- bi-directional relationship between perior, only different. Nevertheless, capitalism and greed; each reinforc- wisdom argues that, under normal most people will agree that any such es the other. Surely, a more honest circumstances, the rich will get richer measure should move beyond eco- conceptualisation of the conflicts of and the poor, poorer. Civilised societnomics and economists; the debate interest among the rich and power- ies will necessarily have to employ must involve diverse stakeholders ful players who have benefited from different standards to achieve an and the indicator(s) ought to express the system, their biases and ideology egalitarian social order. Such demothe multifaceted nature of human is needed; the focus on the wealth cratic ideals imply the use of regulacreated should also highlight the re- tion to curb the excesses of “laissezwell-being. faire” capitalism with its penchant Capitalism and greed: The failure sultant gross inequity.

Inherent talent or inherited advan- for minimal controls. For example, of communism, despite its ideals of a fairer society, to increase wealth tage: Capitalism results in the cre- the practice of forcibly acquiring agresulted in its demise. Many nations ation of wealth. The supporters of ricultural and forest land, displacing now place their faith in capitalism and the system argue that the “American the poor and tribal folk with the loss governments choose it as the strategy dream” can be achieved by hard of their livelihood and culture is too to create wealth for their people. The work, diligence and resourcefulness big a sacrifice from these people in spectacular economic growth seen and can be replicated across the globe. return for commitment of a fraction in Brazil, China and India after the They believe that the system rewards of the wealth of corporate houses in liberalisation of their economies is hard work and talent. However, even order to increase the GDP. “Progress proof of its enormous potential and a cursory examination of the assets and development” are high sounding

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clichés from capitalists and often spell the destruction of older forms of social existence. There is a need to foreground justice and equity, the basic precepts of enlightened nations.

Without level playing fields and affirmative action, inequity will persist and increase, resulting in injustice to the vast majority of people who are without capital.

Law and justice: It is generally believed that the theory of justice drives the practice of law. In reality, legal practice constantly engages with theory and re-equips it. It cites theory in specific contexts and provides perspectives, transforming and even re-making it. The demand for justice brings a case before the law; this claim puts the law under the scanner. Justice, then, renews the law and makes it contemporary; it extends its reach and re-interprets it. The demand for justice is never fully met, suggesting that the law needs to constantly keep up with the mandate for justice.

The requirements of the context and the call of justice create the necessity for citing of the law in relation to the questions before it. Law-makers and the judiciary may opt to close the call of justice and renew the rule of the law in relation to the new question.

Alternatively, they may take up the challenge and re-think, re-make, and cite the law, as best as they can, in ways that measure up to the call of justice. India needs to revitalise its statutes and transform its courts of law into courts of justice.

Much of the debate on the creation of wealth employs a private language, replete with insider jargon. A refusal to comply with the unstated rules in such circles often results noncompliant voices being frozen out of professional circuits. These operations produce papers for academics, assignments for bureaucrats, policies for governments, wealth for capitalists and stories for the media, but they often discount the bigger picture that should dominate the discourse. The inequity is ignored, the discrimination disregarded, the ideology justified and injustice normalised. India should not only focus on economic growth but regulate its markets and economy with equity and integrity to provide justice for all its people.

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in d ia

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Maoist Rebels: Arundhati Roy’s ‘Gandhians with Guns’?

By B.G. Verghese

The CRPF massacre in Dantewada was brutal though avoidable, with two beheadings thrown in for bestiality. The Rammohan inquiry will tell us more about what happened. It was done, Arundhati Roy informs us by “Gandhians with a gun”, with the timely reminder that there is no humbug about her Maoist Gandhians. They fight to protect beautiful tribal homelands against the state, which is an ‘Enemy of the People’, and corporate predators intent on ruthlessly realising their militarised, state-supported dreamland of mines, industrial plants and big dams. She will stand and fight against these “crimes against humanity”.

The Maoists have said, through Arundhati, and directly, that they seek dialogue. What is the Maoist notion of dialogue? Let’s listen to spokesman Azad, recently interviewed in The Hindu: “We want to achieve whatever is possible for the betterment of people’s lives without compromising on our political programme of new democratic revolution and the strategy of protracted people’s war.” Further, “talks will give some respite to the people who are oppressed and suppressed under the jackboots of the Indian state....” But the government must “release some leaders. Or else, there would be none to talk to since the entire party is illegal”.

So the Maoists want the ban on the party lifted, detained leaders released, and respite for the “oppressed” (cadres) while planning to pursue “protracted war” with greater vigour. Is that a reasonable precondition that any state can accept without abdicating?

The Maoists pose as Robin Hoods but rule by fear and authoritarian command over cowed camp-followers.

Many comrades have broken rank in disgust over the Maoists’ brutality and hubris. Arundhati speaks of exploitation and corruption in, and neglect of, tribal India. She is right. But it is preposterous to talk of “genocide”. The tribal population of India was 19.1 million in 1951, rose to 84.3 mn according to the 2001 census and is estimated to be just short of 100 mn (8.1 per cent of the population) today.

Tribal neglect and exploitation can only be addressed through better governance and development, which, first

Author Arundhati Roy inside a Maoist rebel camp.

and foremost, requires connectivity, an administrative presence and a sound delivery system. Official and, indeed, national failure has been blatant in this regard, and yes, there are powerful vested interests that favour an iniquitous status quo and “structural violence”. But this is a running thread through the governance-developmentmodernisation debate and the solution does not lie in abandoning ship.

The struggle the Maoists are waging to capture state power is, Arundhati tells us, “a war for the soul of India”. The battle has been joined. Yet the Dantewada “model of alternative governance” that Arundhati eulogises posits little more than a parlous, uncertain existence. Many tribes, admittedly, have fine communitarian institutions and cultural traits. These must be fostered; but for the rest, the tribal people must be assisted to be equal citizens, as is their constitutional right. The journey started late. But it has begun.

Poverty is the enemy of human dignity and the environment and it is callous to glorify destitution as “beautiful”.

Yes, schools in Naxal-affected areas are

often occupied by security forces, not to prevent education but because schooling and other developmental activities, such as they are, have come to a halt.

The Maoists, for their part, don’t want schools but only agitprop centres to indoctrinate the young. Development and connectivity threaten them. Hence they destroy roads, culverts, bridges. Hence the wanton attacks on railway and highway projects that would, if completed, connect and open up remote, backward areas. If education, health services, roads, irrigation, markets and communications are provided and poverty rolled back, the Maoists would be out of business. And what is their business?

Demonised corporates can’t think beyond a steel or an aluminum plant or two, a power station, mine, port or dam. The Maoists have their sights on nothing less than reconstructing India as a totalitarian state. Read history for the evidence.

Arundhati’s poetry is beguiling.

However, facts rudely intrude on the prosody. Dantewada’s Salwa Judum remains a savage blot that certainly became part of the problem. But “strategic

hamleting” was confined to just this one district—bad enough certainly—and was prevented from being extended to any other district, even in Chhattisgarh.

As for helicopter gunships, when and where were they ever used ?

Why scoff at a cancer hospital built near Raipur by Vedanta, the aluminum corporate, or the proposed Vedanta University in coastal Orissa? Are these by definition all wicked enterprises?

Arundhati extols the joys of sleeping in her private open-air jungle suite in a “thousand-star hotel”. And then she meets the doctor, obviously a dedicated soul, who serves this tribal area. The health conditions in Dandakaranya he describes make her “blood run cold”.

It’s a terrible tale of chronic anaemia, TB, kwashiorkor (extreme malnutrition), malaria, severe eye and ear infections.... “There are no clinics, no doctors, no medicines” in this beautiful place for these beautiful people.

(The word “beautiful” appears like a recurring decimal). So where do we begin? By burning down the Vedanta hospital?

Are these corporate social respon-

sibility (CSR) actions merely to be seen as bribes to fulfil Arundhati’s prophecy that tribal people will be moved to make way for steel plants, aluminum refineries, mines and dams.

Yes, there will be land acquisition and displacement—that is the story of civilisation; but there will also be resettlement, compensation and training for new vocations. Admittedly, this has not always been done wisely or well.

But times are changing.

New legal frameworks, better norms, closer monitoring, improved R&R and livelihood packages have continuously been put in place.

On another battlefront, the Sardar Sarovar project, Arundhati and her friends in the Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) have consistently been proved wrong in their predictions and pronouncements.

They have revelled in scoring small points but have missed the wood for the trees. Whenever benefits were within reach, with every raising of the dam, they have tried desperately to halt progress. The theory they cling to is that the Sardar Sarovar project does not benefit anyone, so the realisation of benefits must be stopped at any cost. Once benefits flow, the NBA and its friends will be silenced and out of business.

Indeed, drinking water is already being supplied to 25 million people. There have been significant improvements in health, women’s time disposition, distress migration, livestock, agricultural productivity, incomes, employment and land values and living conditions.

Arundhati has conjured up another bad dream in Tribal India and is working overtime with other misguided ideologues to make it come true. That won’t happen. The Maoists will fade away, India and the Constitution will prevail. But both state and society have work to do to right past wrongs and makeTribal India a truly just and beautiful place. Outlook

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Life Lessons from a Baby Giraffe

Though it never attends school, it learns an important lesson early on in life.

B

By Prakash Iyer ABY giraffes never go to school. But they learn a very important lesson rather early in life. A lesson that all of us would do well to remember.

The birth of a baby giraffe is quite an earth-shaking event. The baby falls from its mother’s womb, some eight feet above the ground. It shrivels up and lies still, too weak to move.

The mother giraffe lovingly lowers her neck to smooch the baby giraffe.

And then something incredible happens. She lifts her long leg and kicks the baby giraffe, sending it flying up in the air and tumbling down on the ground. As the baby lies curled up, the mother kicks the baby again.

And again. Until the baby giraffe, still trembling and tired, pushes its limbs and for the first time learns to stand on its feet.

Happy to see the baby standing on its own feet, the mother giraffe comes over and gives it yet another kick.

The baby giraffe falls one more time, but now quickly recovers and stands up. Mama Giraffe is delighted. She knows that her baby has learnt an important lesson: Never mind how hard you fall, always remember to pick yourself up and get back on your feet. Why does the mother giraffe do this? She knows that lions and leopards love giraffe meat. So unless the baby giraffe quickly learns to stand and run with the pack – it will have no chance of survival. Most of us though are not quite as lucky as baby giraffes. No one teaches us to stand up every time we fall. When we fail, when we are down, we just give up.

No one kicks us out of our comfort zone to remind us that to survive and succeed, we need to learn to get back on our feet.

If you study the lives of successful people though, you will see a recurring pattern. Were they always

successful in all they did? No. Did success come to them quick and

easy? No, no! You will find that the common streak running through their

lives is their ability to stand up every time they fall. The ability of the baby

Second Wives Can Claim Maintenance from Husbands: Bombay Court in Ruling Under Domestic Violence Act

Weight Loss: Get Healthy without Short Cuts continued from page

Prakash Iyer

giraffe!

Have you heard about a young sales executive from Kolkata who dreamt about becoming an announcer on radio? He auditioned with All India Radio for a job. The authorities felt that he didn’t have a particularly good voice and he was rejected. He refused to accept defeat and continued to chase his dream.

He tried for a role in the movies.

He got rejected. They thought he was too tall. He kept trying and got a few lucky breaks. But most of his early films flopped. He did not give up. He played an angry young man in a movie that became a super hit.

And the failed radio announcer went on to become the country’s biggest superstar – widely admired for his baritone voice! His name? Amitabh Bachchan. The road to success is never an easy one. There are several obstacles, and you are bound to fall sooner or later. You will hit a road block, you will taste failure. But success lies in being able to get up every time you fall. That’s a critical life skill. And it’s the habit of all successful people.

Learning to win in life is quite like learning to ride a bicycle. As you start to ride, you might fall and get bruised.

It doesn’t matter. You need to get back up and continue to ride. Fall one more time? Get back up again. That’s all it takes. Learn to get back up every time you fall.

And just remember one more thing.

Next time you find a friend or a parent kicking you, don’t get upset with them. Like the mother giraffe, they may only be trying to teach you one of life’s most important lessons. It doesn’t matter how many times you fall. What matters is your ability to pick yourself up and stand on your feet once again.

Prakash Iyer is MD, KimberlyClark and Executive Coach.

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and 5. I give them healthy food and at the same time give them junk food in moderation, so that when they are all grown up they don’t go crazy eating junk food and rebelling on me.

IAN: Thank you so much for sharing your book and time with us.

AM: My pleasure, Jacob David.

Thank you.

The book is available on her web site and on Amazon. To sign up for a personal health membership you can contact the author at anumorgan@gmail.com. visit: www.getrealzone.com, www.getrealaboutweightloss.com, and www. bodyfithouston.com

MUMBAI: In a significant ruling, the Bombay High Court has held that a second wife can approach a court for claiming maintenance from her husband under the Domestic Violence Act. A legally wedded wife can claim maintenance and alimony under the Hindu Marriage Act and she is also entitled to a share in the family property. But a second wife cannot claim her legal rights unless the man has divorced his first wife.

The ruling of the High Court that second wife can claim maintenance from her husband under the Domestic Violence Act of 2005 has been welcomed in legal circles.

In the recent judgement, Justice A B Choudhary rejected the maintenance claim of a Nagpur-based housewife Manda Thaore under

CrPC but asked her to move a court under Domestic Violence Act to seek maintenance, accommodation and benefits from the

man who married her 27 years back.

The judge also directed her husband Ramaji Thaore to pay a com-

INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, APRIL 30 , 2010 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM

pensation of Rs 15,000 to Manda to cover her legal expenses so that she could prosecute him under the Act.

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ENTERTAINMENT

Indo American News • Friday, April 30 , 2010

‘Raavan’ is the Most Challenging Role of My Career: Says Aishwarya MUMBAI: She has played a mystic, a con woman and a demure Bengali beauty in the past but Aishwarya Rai Bachchan who plays a modern day Sita in ‘Raavan’, says that it is the most challenging role of her career.

The 36-year-old actress stars oppo-

Aishwarya said.

Recalling her experiences working on the film, Aishwarya said Mani Ratnam had given her a fair idea of his ‘Raavan’ concept while shooting for ‘Guru’ three years ago.

“For the song Nanna re, I was dancing in full abandon in the rain. Little did I know that Mani was in the process of making a decision, that I will be his new character Ragini for Raavan,” Bollywood actor Aishwarya Rai Bachchan during the shooting of the she said.

Ta l k i n g movie ‘Raavan’ in North 24 Parganas, West Bengal. File photo: PTI about shooting site her husband Abhishek Bachchan among others. in two different in ‘Raavan’, director Mani Ratnam’s The former beauty queen admitted languages back to upcoming film. that as Mani narrated the film to her, back, Aishwarya “This is the most challenging role she was hooked on to play the role said that dealing of my career. What is unique about which she says is not that of a typical with languages is Mani is that he draws you in his world heroine. a challenging task through the narration. Ragini is a “We shot with snakes, rabbits, and keeps one’s unique woman and a strong character leeches moving around us. This has faculties charged which I personally can relate to,” said been the best adventure experience,” up.

Aishwarya.

Draped in a cream colour saree with red embroidery, the actress was the host to introduce the film at it’s music launch here on Saturday which also saw spirited performances by Abhishek Bachchan and A. R. Rahman

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Straight Up

Food Talk

Nutrition Labels in Urban India: No Child’s Play

By Diwakar Kumar Parents continuously strive to do better for their children. They play an indelible role in shaping up the eating habits of their kids beginning at infancy. So when it comes the matter of feeding their toddlers, urban Indians (parents) typically are willing to go the extra mile in enhancing the nutrition quotient.

Once within a supermarket, however, an ambiguity pops up – that of making a choice between a Private Label (PL) and a Brand Label. A PL product undoubtedly offers opportunities for savings as compared to manufacturers` labels, but what of product quality?

When it comes to their offsprings` health, therefore, do modern Indian patterns feel open to experimentation with PL breakfast cereals, for instance? The fact that Private Label merchandise costs less because of a supply chain economy – and not because of significant loss of quality – is known to industry professionals, but do lay consumers equate a lower price with a lower standard?

Poll question and experts` view What do visitors to ImagesFood feel? We posted an open question – When it comes to food products for

their children, consumers are likely to favour brand names over private labels. About 91.67 per cent of the

respondents supported the poll question where as 8.33 per cent voted in favour of private labels.

In response to the same question, Viney Singh, MD, Max Hypermarket India Private Limited, says, “The global experience on this is that brands are preferred for infant foods and not necessarily for children/adult food ranges. Private labels in these segments do exceedingly well as they of-

ternational travel. Advertisers specifically target children through their advertising. They are aware of all the food brands available internationally, whether chocolates, candy, breakfast cereals, cookies or snack foods.�

Yadav further says, “Branded food items are beautifully packaged and attract the child instantly; to the extent that they no longer want just cornflakes for breakfast‌ they now want Franken Berry, Fruit Loops and Pop Tarts. And as more and more parents now have a greater buying power, they willingly indulge their children. They are also willing to pay that little extra for variety and assured quality.â€?

Eventually, Devangshu Dutta, chief executive, The Third Eyesight, says, “Food is possibly the most sensitive area, and even more so when it comes to children’s products. To the consumer, the corporate ownership of a food brand is not as important as the sense of confidence and safety that he or she feels.� “If a retailer is trusted to provide the required quality that is equivalent to that of a well-established national supplier brand, consumers would have no problem in buying the product. On the other hand, if the consumer doesn’t have confidence in the retailer, then no matter what standards are met by the retailer in the laboratory, the consumer will not buy the private label food product,�he concludes.

fer excellent value; it is only those brands that have assiduously built their franchise through innovation and proprietary technologies /recipes that are preferred.�

Commenting on the same note, Mini Yadav, MD, Le Marche, says, “Today children are exposed to so much more via television and in-

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S t r ai g ht u p f o o d tal k

Indo American News • Friday, April 30 , 2010

Recipe: The Inimitable Fish Amritsari

Ingredients:

1 kg singhara fish 3 tbsp malt vinegar 1 tsp ajwain 1 tsp haldi powder 2 tbsp chilli powder 2 tbsp zeera powder ½ cup eggs, whisked 2 tbsp besan 2 tbsp maida Salt to taste Oil for frying Chaat masala to sprinkle on top

The Amritsari fish, a delicacy of the city of Amritsar in Punjab, is a popular dish not only in Punjab but the entire country. The people of Amritsar are known for their good taste in food and also make good hosts.

Among the various delicacies served in the historic walled city, the “Amritsari fish” remains the hot favorite among the Punjabis and the tourists. The mouthwatering variety of the delicacies are the fresh water river fish, Sole and Singhara.

The fish varieties found in Punjab are well-known and are exclusively available only in Punjab. The craze for the delicacy is so intense that Sikhs and Punjabis from all parts of the diaspora travel half the world to Punjab to enjoy it.

Whether their native place in Punjab is Doaba, Ludhiana, Jalandhar or Phagwara, they still make their visits to the city of Amritsar.

Apart from being a culinary

To be ground into paste 2 tbsp ginger 2 tbsp garlic ½ tbsp red chillies

Method:

Wash the fish pieces and pat dry.

Dissolve a little salt in vinegar and marinate fish for 20minutes.

Remove fish from vinegar, press gently between two paper napkins to remove moisture.

In a bowl, mix eggs, ginger,

delicacy, the Amritsari fish also has various healthy properties. It is also known to prevent heartattack, though its taste and method of preparation remains its main specialty. The fish is best when it is prepared in the city itself, bought from the busy city fish market.

Local citizens take the extra effort to make it to the busy marketplace to order their favorite fish.

The best fish for the dish are the varieties caught from the Harike Pattan and Beas Rivers.

The dish can be best enjoyed at the various eating joints, the most popular being the “Makhan Dhaba”, which is a decadesold outlet selling the delicious “Amritsari Fish”.

When quizzed about the secret of the success of the dish, Makhan Singh, the owner of the dhaba said, “We purchase fresh fish from the market. Our preference has always been to buy good quality fish. We then deep-freeze the fish for almost a day to use it the next day. It’s

garlic and chilli pastes along with ajwain, haldi, chilli powder, zeera powder, besan, maida, salt and coriander.

Evenly coat fish pieces with this mixture and leave to marinate for 30minutes.

Heat oil in Kadhai, (wok) fry fish pieces until crisp and golden brown. Drain excess oil, sprinkle chaat masala and serve hot, garnished with lemon wedges.

Credit: SikhChic, RecipesIndian

an art which we learnt from our elders.”

The preparation involves frying the fish in gram flour (besan) and egg white paste, with dry bread crumbs, making it break easily in the mouth. The good quality of the fish and the proper ingredients flavor the dish.

Dr. Sodhi, a resident of Amritsar, said: “I travelled to England and experienced a variety of seafood.

But I didn’t find the fish quite as tasty as the fish in Amritsar.”

“I travelled to other parts of the state, but never have I found that taste which is so unique of Amritsar. The Bengalis love fish.

And when some of my Bengali relatives sampled the Amritsari fish, they could not believe it could be so tasty,” said another customer at the restaurant.

So, next time you are in the city of Amritsar, do not forget to treat yourself to the ever-popular “Amritsari-fish”.

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From Mohandas to Mahatma Gandhiana is marked by a preponderance of the Mahatma. Literature on the younger Mohandas and his experiences in South Africa is relatively less.

By A.S. Padmanabhan The book aims to make this up, with the tireless diarist Gandhi himself as the chief source.

The young barrister’s experiences in South Africa, where he was on a year’s contract with a firm, were anything but encouraging. He was thrown out of a first-class compartment in the Pietermaritzburg station in spite of having a valid ticket; denied entry into the dining hall of a hotel; and refused accommodation with the Europeans inside a coach and asked to sit at the foot of the attendant. He was also ordered out of the court for not removing the pheta (turban). Alongside, Mohandas also saw the abject slavery of the g irmitiya — Indian indentured labourers under bondage. Protests against colour discrimination as the first ‘coolie’ advocate invited ridicule and humiliation. The worse the local conditions, the more it steeled his resolve to stay on. He also came across quite a few instances of English nobility coming to his rescue when ill-treated, although after giving the impression of acquiescence.

The four issues that agitated Gandhi were: The Asiatic Act which required every resident’s finger-print or thumb impression; the restrictive provisions in the Immigration Act, limiting access; the three-pound poll tax that hardly anyone could afford; and the marriage law that made registration compulsory and declared all unregistered weddings void. The last one was so revolting even to Kasturba that she volunteered to join the protest and courted imprisonment.

Satyagraha as weapon Mohandas invented the weapon of ‘Satyagraha’ to further the struggle. While ‘passive resistance’ allowed scope for hatred of the enemy,

satyagraha was all love and the attempt was to effect a change of heart in the oppressor by stoic suffering.

Mohandas taught the affected to give up fear, resist evil by truth, never to yield and strive to attain the full stature of manhood. General Smuts would agree to withdraw the Act, accepting Mohandas’ offer of voluntary registration of fingerprints; but betrayed the trust later.

The locals felt cheated and even suspected a sell-out by Gandhi for money and one of them attacked him causing grievous hurt. But Gandhi would not complain against him. Gandhi’s team offered medical service in the Boer and Zulu wars and also established the

Phoenix Farm and the Tolstoy Farm to try the experiment of common ownership of property and trusteeship — ideas Gandhi had gathered from John Ruskin’s Unto this Last.

This voluntary dispossession of private property entailed stoppage of remittances to home and Gandhi earned his elder brother’s displeasure. The coalminers’ strike brought about a united front, as never before, and the British rulers were at their wits’ end to tackle it. Then came imprisonment and premature release twice to facilitate talks.

A perceptive query by the local host ‘Do we ever fight back at home?’ set an agitated Gandhi thinking about his home. Gokhale kept him abreast of the developments back home. By this time, the

groundswell of resentment was rising fast in South Africa and Viceroy Hardinge appointed the Solomon Commission to enquire into Indian grievances. The Commission conceded the Indian demand in substance. By this time, Kasturba’s health deteriorated fast and Gandhi sailed back home; he was “destined for even greater things,” as Gokhale prophesied in their very first meeting.

Transformation One cannot but sympathise with the harassed Kasturba. Her religion, ritual, and caste were all to be subsumed under Gandhi’s concept of ‘public service’. Her protests, “Am I your wife or a girmitiya?” went unheeded throughout. Her jewels had been sold to fund Gandhi’s London education. Nor could she retain the jewellery gifted during the farewell. Gandhi donated it to the Natal Congress. Once she was thrown out of the house for refusing to do menial service to unknown guests. Worse, she was overruled and children would not be educated, for there were only English medium schools around. For all his greatness and goodness, Gandhi comes across as an exasperatingly contumacious husband. On his part, Gandhi wrote to Kallenbach “Marriage is a curse for those who want to take the vow of service.”

Of Gandhi’s transformation during his years in South Africa, Nelson Mandela said: “You gave us Mohandas; we returned him to you as Mahatma Gandhi”. None could be more terse and true.

THE GIRMITIYA SAGA: By Giriraj Kishore; Translated by Prajapati Sah, Niyogi Books, D-78, Okhla Industrial Area, Phase I, New Delhi-110020. Rs. 995.

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Scrap Metal Radiation Raises Health Concerns in India

By Jim Yardley NEW DELHI : To walk through the squalor of Mayapuri, a grimy industrial area of hundreds of tiny scrap-metal shops, is to bear witness to the industrial detritus of the world: tons of rusted iron pipes, twisted steel poles, copper and other discarded metals from Europe, Russia, Japan and the United States, as well as from India.

And then there is what came into the small shop owned by Deepak Jain: a piece, or pieces, of metal blamed for an alarming radiation scare this month that hospitalized seven people and caused the police to temporarily cordon off an area barely 10 miles from India’s Parliament. Some experts declared it one of the most troubling cases of radiation exposure in recent years.

“We’ve never seen a problem like this,” said Krishna Kumar Jain, another scrap dealer and brother-in-law of Deepak Jain. “Now people are

A worker pushed scrap metal on a bike in the Mayapuri section of New Delhi.

Scrap metal in a shop. The Mayapuri area has dealers who specialize in different types of metal arriving from abroad.

Mayapuri has hundreds of shops and thousands of workers in the scrap trade, with different shops specializing in different metals, mostly originating from abroad.

scared, so nobody is coming here.”

For years, India and other developing countries, particularly China, have imported different categories of waste from developed countries as a lucrative, if controversial, business.

Critics have blamed the importing of discarded computer equipment, known as toxic e-waste, for long-term chronic health problems among workers in scrapyards, as well as environmental damage.

But the Mayapuri problem represents a potentially graver threat. At a time when India and other developing countries are importing growing amounts of scrap metal, partly to help meet rising domestic demand for steel, experts say inadequate monitoring at ports and a lack of international standards make it easier for radioactive materials and other dangerous objects to cross borders.

India has proved especially porous. Four years ago, 10 foundry workers in the city of Ghaziabad were killed by exploding military shells, apparently from Iran, hidden in a con-

tainer of scrap metal.

Last year, several containers of Indian steel were stopped at European ports after monitors detected high radiation levels; Indian foundries had fabricated the steel, partly, by melting scrap metal that turned out to be contaminated with Cobalt-60, the same radioactive isotope detected in the Mayapuri episode. It is commonly used in food irradiation machinery as well as for radiotherapy, as in cancer therapy machines.

Indian authorities say the country’s guidelines on importing scrap meet international standards, yet enforcement and monitoring is inadequate.

A government plan to install radiation monitors at ports and airports is behind schedule.

“I admit that all of it has not yet been deployed,” a government minister, Prithviraj Chavan, told members of Parliament.

Critics say that the government has been reluctant to toughen regulations or monitoring because the imported waste business employs large numbers of workers and helps the country meet its demand for steel.

“The only time they have taken action is when there is a crisis or a worst case,” said Ravi Agarwal, a founder of Toxics Link, a nongovernmental group focused on the waste trade. “They don’t really want to stop it in a real way.”

Didier Louvat, a nuclear waste specialist with the International Atomic Energy Agency, or I.A.E.A., said the Mayapuri case was the most serious global instance of radiation exposure since 2006. He said the I.A.E.A.’s nuclear safety review in 2009 found 196 nuclear or radiological “events,” including those involving scrap, compared with 140 in 2007.

In February 2009, the atomic agency called for harmonizing the regulatory approaches toward the issue of radioactive materials turning up in scrapyards — a step yet to be taken.

Many countries, including India, have laws for controlling and registering radioactive sources, but Mr. Louvat said the lack of an international standard created loopholes that required tight monitoring at borders or ports to screen for “orphaned” radioactive sources that slipped into scrap containers.

Indian authorities believe that the contamination in Mayapuri originated with a shipment of imported scrap, though Mr. Chavan, the gov-

ernment minister, said investigators were still looking for a definitive, final answer.

Located on the west side of Delhi, Mayapuri has thousands of workers in the scrap trade, with different shops specializing in different metals.

Shop owners say most of the scrap originates from overseas. Trading companies import containers of discarded metals to the outskirts of the city, where they are sold to haulers who sell the metals to the shops of Mayapuri. The shops, in turn, often sell to foundries.

Investigators believe that Deepak Jain bought the contaminated materials in late February or early March. Another shop owner, Anand Bansal, described an object shaped like a capped steel tube, about four inches in diameter. The tube was made of an unidentifiable metal, and Deepak Jain cut a tiny sample so it could be tested to see if it was valuable. This sample wound up with another man, Ajay Jain (no relation to Deepak Jain), who placed it inside his wallet and soon forgot about it.

By late March, Deepak Jain became sick.

Relatives and other shopkeepers say he first developed diarrhea but assumed it was an ordinary stomach bug. Within a few days, his skin began to blotch as black rashes spread across his arms and face. His tongue and fingernails turned blue and relatives took him to the hospital in early April.

Five others in contact with the shop also became sick, while Ajay Jain, the man with the small cutting of metal in his wallet, complained of a sore buttock and a black rash on his leg.

“One day he was in someone else’s shop and he just fell down,” said his father, Shital Prashad Jain.

Doctors were initially mystified. But on April 4, physicians confirmed that Deepak Jain had been exposed to radiation and notified the National Radiation Regulatory Authority. The police closed down the Mayapuri shops, and teams of atomic inspectors recovered eight radiation “sources” from Deepak Jain’s shop, two more from a nearby shop and, later, the small cutting from the wallet. A patch of contaminated soil was also removed.

“The scrap dealers or the employees working there are the victims of the inaction of these government agencies, which have totally failed to put in the necessary controls and procedures to prevent such an incident,” declared D. Raja, a member of Parliament, during a speech on the floor.

On Thursday, about 200 shop owners and workers in Mayapuri gathered under a tent to pray for two hours for those who were sickened — and that life, and business, could return to normal.

“What else can we do except pray to God?” said Jaibhagwan Jain, a shop owner. “We have never faced this kind of situation before.”NYT

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Mumbai Oberoi Hotel, The Killing Zone, is Grand Again

By Vikas Bajaj MUMBAI: The Oberoi Hotel, one of two five-star hotel complexes attacked by 10 Pakistan-based gunmen in November 2008, will welcome its first guests after a comprehensive $45 million reconstruction.

The lobby, which had been ravaged by gunshots and grenade blasts during the three-day siege, has been rebuilt with milky-white marble from the Greek island of Thassos. The already luxurious guestroom baths have been upgraded to include flatscreen televisions. Dozens of security guards watch the premises. And the Tiffin restaurant, where many guests and employees were killed in the terrorist attack, is now called Fenix.

The rebirth of the Oberoi — along with the expected return to full service of the other hotel attacked, the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower — is an important milestone for Mumbai, formerly known as Bombay. The brazen strike, in which 163 people died, dealt India and Mumbai a significant psychic and economic blow, and recovery has come slowly.

As in the rest of the world, India’s economy slowed sharply at the end of 2008 because of the global financial crisis. But the attacks compounded the damage here by shaking the confidence of investors, corporate executives and consumers.

In the last nine months, however, government stimulus and strong domestic consumer demand have helped revive the economy. India is still some way from the heady 9

P.R.S. Oberoi, chairman of the Oberoi Group, in the Oberoi Hotel, which was shut after an attack in 2008.

percent growth rate of 2007, but the government is projecting 8 percent growth for the 2010-11 fiscal year, up from 7.2 percent last year.

Tourism and travel are also rebounding. In the first quarter, India had 1.56 million foreign tourists, up 13 percent from the first three months of 2009 and just shy of the 1.6 million that showed up in the same period in 2008, according to the Tourism Ministry.

Domestic and foreign hotel companies are adding rooms at a breakneck pace. For instance, Hyatt Hotels, the chain based in Chicago, which currently has five hotels in India, plans to open 20 more properties in the country in the next four to five years.

The Oberoi, which formally reopens on Saturday, and the Taj are the last of the sites affected by the 2008 attacks to return to something resembling normal operations. The Taj, part

Housekeeping staff giving a final touch-up before the reopening.

Shiv Sagar

December, compared with the same period a year earlier.

“We were affected severely,” said P. R. S. Oberoi, chairman of the parent company, the Oberoi Group, and the son of its founder. “Lehman Brothers was in September, and we had started feeling some of the effect maybe a little before that. Then the attacks happened and Bombay emptied out.”

In an interview last week at the hotel, Mr. Oberoi said occupancy rates at the Trident, the company’s business hotel next door, which did not suffer extensive damage, were back to levels that prevailed before the at-

The Oberoi’s lobby, once ravaged by guns and grenades, has been renewed.

of which is usable now, is expected to open guest rooms in its century-old palace wing soon, although the hotel has not provided an exact date.

“The reopening of the Oberoi after the 26/11 calamity signifies the Indian spirit of business and public resilience, endurance, peaceful democratic principles to surmount a gross national tragedy of unbelievable magnitude,” said Rana Kapoor, chief executive of Yes Bank in Mumbai, whose brotherin-law and business partner, Ashok Kapur, was killed at the hotel during the attacks.

Crushing as the attacks were for the rest of India, they were devastating for the two hotels — widely considered among the finest in the city — and the companies that own them.

The Mumbai Oberoi, for instance, accounted for about one-fifth of the revenue of the chain before the attacks. The earnings of East India Hotels, the publicly listed company that operates the hotels, fell nearly 70 percent in the nine months ended in

tack. But he noted that the supply of hotel rooms in Mumbai’s prime business district had shrunk significantly because the Oberoi and the palace wing of the Taj had been closed.

Mr. Oberoi, who himself narrowly missed being caught up in the attack on the hotel because he had left to attend an event elsewhere, said he had feared the hotel would be unsalvageable. But after four months of planning and 11 months of reconstruction, the innards of the hotel, which was built in 1986, have been transformed.

A big part of the focus has been to improve security. The hotel now has 150 security cameras, up from just 15 at the time of the attacks. It has 50 security personnel, five times the number it had in 2008. Visitors who drive up are greeted by a big steel gate where their cars are searched. The large windows in the lobby that overlook south Mumbai’s picturesque, crescent-shaped bay are now made from reinforced, shatterproof glass.

Still, Mr. Oberoi said that securing the hotel against every possible attack would be impossible. “What about suicide bombers? How do you stop them?” he said. “We check everybody, including me.”

At an age where many corporate executives spend much of their time on their golf game, Mr. Oberoi, 81, seems to have immersed himself in the details of rebuilding his flagship hotel. His staff said that he personally inspected hundreds of marble tiles to make sure no blemished pieces made it onto the floor, rejecting about 70 percent of the tiles the company received. Last week, during a tour with two visitors, he kept pointing out minor defects to his staff.

Many of the changes at the Oberoi are meant to make the hotel even more opulent and luxurious than it already was. Two big coffee tables in the lobby are topped with marble inlaid with precious stones. Those tables, and 600 others placed in guest rooms, were made by workers who, Oberoi executives said, are descendants of craftsmen who worked on the Taj Mahal.

Officials have made bathrooms bigger, added shower stalls and installed the TVs in front of free-standing bathtubs. Clear glass walls separate bathrooms from living rooms; a screen can be drawn for privacy.

Rooms have “butler” buttons, which will summon a hotel employee within three minutes.

The Oberoi now has 81 suites, up from 26, because demand for suites has held up better than standard rooms, officials said. In total, the number of rooms has declined to 287, from 330. The price for a night’s stay ranges from 25,000 rupees ($560) for the smallest room to 300,000 rupees ($6,714) for the top suites.The Taj has been making similar changes, increasing the number of suites. In an interview late last year, executives said one of the challenges of rebuilding their hotel was that no two rooms in the palace wing had the same layout. So, officials decided to redo every room using five templates.

“We are not going to just repair what is damaged and reopen the hotel,” said Ajoy K. Misra, a senior vice president for the Indian Hotels Company, which owns the Taj. “We are going to redesign the hotel.”-NYT

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Indo American News • Friday, April 30 , 2010

SPORTS

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Two Major Indian Apparel Brands Go Organic NEW DELHI: When it comes to going green, two major Indian apparel brands have taken the lead. Van Heusen and Arrow have come up with 100 percent organic lines made of cotton, linen and natural dyes, doing their bit for the environment and also spreading awareness among consumers.

Shital Mehta, chief operating officer of Van Heusen, said: “Limited resources and increasing productivity have put the natural environment around us under tremendous pressure. Reason enough for us (Van Heusen) to get serious about starting down the eco-friendly path.

“It’s a conscious attempt to make all of us understand the importance of being earth-friendly. Even something as small as weed removal for cotton crops has been done physically without reliance on chemical killers,” said Mehta.

Arrow’s product manager Punit Chauhan said: “The way the world is heading, we feel it is critical for us to create awareness among ourselves so that we can contribute towards saving nature and our eco—system.”

“The need to bring awareness among consumers at this point of time is critical for every organisation,” he added. While Van Heusen’s eco-friendly apparel range starts at Rs.1,599, just like their other clothes, Arrow’s line is slightly higher compared to their normal line.

Mehta explains the tedious effort that goes behind churning out an ecofriendly line.

“Every care has been taken to ensure that no artificial or chemical substances are used in this line. Balancing the population of insects by using trap crops to lure pests away is just another example of how committed we (Van Heusen) are with this line,” explained Mehta.

“And what better way to reap the benefits of these efforts than to follow natural cycles and harvest the cotton when it’s fully ready,” he said.

Arrow has plans to expand its green effort by introducing and using more natural fibres and recyclable collections.

A Van Heusen’s showroom in Chennai. File Photo: The Hindu

The initiative has been well-received by customers all around India.

Jitin Gulati, 29, who works in an MNC and goes for cotton wear, feels the move is appropriate because a lot of people are looking for fashion brands that offer an organic line.

“There are so many like me who believe in going organic and we are always on the lookout for new labels

that offer genuine organic products.

They are expensive but still give us the satisfaction that we are doing our bit,” Gulati said.

“This move is very timely because not many branded labels have an ecofriendly line. Designers who churn out an eco—friendly range are way too expensive, but theirs (Arrow and Van Heusen) is affordable,” he added.-IANS

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Chennai Superkings Crowned IPL Champs

Chennai Super Kings celebrating after defeating Mumbai Indians in the final of the DLF IPL. Photo: K.R. Deepak

By Nandakumar Marar MUMBAI: Chennai Super Kings tasted victory in its second entry into the final — this time, holding its nerve at the ‘death’ to clinch the DLF IPL3 decider against Mumbai Indian by 22 runs.

Three run-outs and three stunning catches forced the ground to shift from under the home team’s feet in its pursuit of 168, and it stumbled to 146 for nine in 20 overs.Suresh Raina’s all-round show powered CSK’s victory — 57 gritty runs, a running catch to dismiss Saurabh Tiwary and the wicket of Harbhajan Singh.

Kieren Pollard’s dismissal — caught by Matthew Hayden, 26 runs away from victory — led to the final collapse, run-outs in quick succession ending in heartbreak for skipper Sachin Tendulkar, who took the field with a bandaged hand. CSK looked in trouble even in the 18th over when Pollard was carting the ball around. Bollinger’s world turned upside down after the West Indian’s assault — two towering sixes and two fours, for 22 runs.

Tendulkar (48 off 45 balls, 7x4) began the onslaught by attacking CSK’s best bowler, sweeping Aswhin to fine leg and driving a full toss to extracover. Muralitharan and Morkel were mauled as the Orange Cap holder stepped out for forcing shots on the off-side or quickly got into position,

stepping back and across for ferocious pulls.

Despite the hammering, Dhoni’s faith in slow bowlers paid off as Tendulkar heaved Jakati high towards long-off for Vijay to respond with an overhead catch. CSK sensed victory when Raina pulled off a sensational catch, running in from deep midwicket and diving forward to catch Saurabh Tiwary. Jakati then managed to stay within the boundary on one leg to latch onto to a skier from Duminy.

Ashwin’s maiden over with the new ball forced opener Shikar Dhawan into aggressive mode against Bollinger, nicking one behind to Dhoni. Nayar, who walked in at No.3, found it tough to hit the ball off the square initially. With the in-form Tiwary, Rayudu, Pollard awaiting their turn in the dugout, the responsibility was huge.Two back-to-back sixes off Jakati came as a confidence-booster for the left-hander.

MI kept up pace at the halfway stage — it was 58 for two in 10 overs when Nayar got run out, rushing out for a risky single after a flick off his pads. Dhoni darted across and scored with a direct hit. Raina removed Harbhajan Singh, promoted up the order, with an in-cutter.

When Super Kings batted, Raina’s heart for battle drove MI to despair, lifting the visitors from 67 for three

to relative safety at 168 for seven with an unbeaten 35-ball 57. Once the left-hander had picked the ball to hit, execution was flawless with footwork and bat speed standing out.

MI lost the plot due to lapses in the outfield. A miscued shot by Raina dropped between Abhishek Nayar and Dilhara Fernando at third man off Zaheer. Then, Zaheer failed to even line up the ball off another skier.

Then, Raina tore into the bowling.

Two sixes off Pollard, especially one hit cleanly over extra-cover after making space for the swing, was an astonishing shot for a batsman of his size and physique.

He was the dominant partner in a 72-run stand with Dhoni, that eventually proved decisive.

Earlier, Hayden’s anxiety to get going resulted in some anxious moments at the beginning of the innings.

After a run-out scare, Harbhajan rapped the big left-hander’s pads frequently, forcing him to step out for a lofted shot over mid-on.

Vijay got into stride against Zaheer with a six into the mid-wicket stands.

Malinga erred in length and faced instant punishment as the left-hander rocked back and cut past point.

Fernando’s reward for pace change came in the form of Vijay’s wicket, a slower one heaved high towards Tiwary, tracking the looping ball amidst the floodlights. Hindu

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“IPL Clean, Transparent,” Claims Ex-Head Modi ity. On this occasion, I assure millions of passionate fans of the league and the game across the globe that the IPL is clean and transparent. We should not allow this brand to be diluted and we will not”, he said in a speech at the end of the final match.

Apparently referring to the raging controversy surrounding the IPL in the wake of allegations of financial wrongdoings, Mr. Modi said that it was unfortunate that there was some offfield drama only based on innuendoes, half truths and motivated leaks from all types of Lalit Modi during the final between Mum- sources. bai Indians and Chennai Supper Kings at He said this season DY Patil stadium in Mumbai on Sunday. the IPL had faced a The BCCI has suspended Mr. Modi as lot of obstacles but Chairman of the IPL. “not once has the team buckled under MUMBAI: In an apparent attack on his detractors gunning for him, pressure”.“The IPL has faced suspended IPL Commisioner Lalit many challenges this season, it Modi on Sunday said all decisions has not been an easy journey. Howregarding the league in all its three ever we have met these challenges editions were taken by the Govern- face on and not once has the team ing Council and approved by the buckled under pressure.

“I would like to thank my inGeneral Body.

Against the backdrop of allega- credible team and all led by Suntions of financial wrongdoings in dar Raman and partners for the the IPL, he also said that IPL is many thousands of work hours and unwavering support and profes“clean and transparent”.

“In the last few days, we have had sionalism that they have shown,” a lot of innuendoes, and half truths he said.

Quoting from Gita, he said he and motivated leaks (about IPL). I want to tell you that all decisions had always believed that fear not have been taken by the Govern- what is not real, never was and ing Council and approved by the never will be, what is real, always was and cannot be destroyed. general body.

“All I wanted is to leave a small “I reassure you that if there is any flouting of rules and any irregu- footprint in the glorious history of larities I shall take full responsibil- this game”, he said.

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may 2010

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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

Wed

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.

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Saumyakasi Sivalaya 281-568-1690

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

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

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

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Vedanta Society

Sri Guruvayurappan Temple Houston 11620 Ormandy St. Houston, TX 77035 Balalaya Prathishttha celebrations - Poster Contest – Theme Mahabharata for children (Ages 6 – 18) from 1:30 PM to 2:30 PM on Saturday, May 22, 2010 Costume Contest – Theme Mahabharata - For children ages 6 and under from 2:30 PM to 3:30 PM followed by Mahabharata Quiz – Knowledge Contest for children (ages 6 – 18) from 3:30 PM – 5:30 PM For Details visit: www.guruvayurusa.org last day for registration is May 14, 2010.

Send event information to indoamericannews@yahoo.com Listings should be concise and occur within 15 days of submittal

Free Citizenship Classes @ Houston Public Library

February - May 2010

Mondays & Thursdays Wednesdays 7-8.30pm 5.30-7.30pm Carnegie Neighborhood Library Henington Regional Library 832-393-1820 832-393-1970

5.30pm: The Blue Mug- A Comedy Play, Media Circle and Art Promotions, Stafford Civic Center, Surender Talwar: 713-668-2948

7pm: Rahat Fateh Ali Khan Live in Concert, Rehan Siddiqi, Arena Theatre, 713-545-4115 7.45pm: Bapuna Rajma Leela Laher, Namaskaar Entertainment, Old Stafford Civic Center, 281-240-3333, www.namaskaar.org 7.30pm: Mera Gaon: Save a Mother’s 2nd Annual Gala, Ashford Oaks, veenakaul8@gmail.com, www.save-a-mother.org 9pm: Bapuna Rajma Leela Laher, Namaskaar Entertainment, Old Stafford Civic Center, 281-240-3333, www.namaskaar.org 11am: 6th Annual IITAGH Bowl-A-Thon, IIT Alumini of Greater Houston, Palace Bowling Lanes, 713-743-4335 5pm: Hindustani Recital by Jayateerth Mevundi, India Music Society of Houston, Jones Hall, University of St. Thomas, Govind: 713-922-2501, www.tickets2events.com

5.30pm: Classical Concert with Pandit Shantilal Shah, Anjali Center, Raman: 281-630-6075

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.

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

6.30pm: Pratham Houston Gala 2010, Pratham USA, Westin Galleria, 713-774-9599, www.prathamusa.org

5pm: Carnatic Concert by Kalaimamani Unnikrishnan, Bharathi Kalai Manram, Emery Weiner School Auditorium, 832364-9894

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 Swaminarayan Mandir (ISSO) 281-530-2565

10.30am: Sports Day, Sikh National Center, Jarnail Singh: 713722-7070

6pm: Adhik Mass Celebration, Vallabh Priti Seva Samaj, Mon-Fri VPSS Haveli, Sarlaben: 713-530-2900, www.vpsshaveli.org

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.

Sanatan Shiv Shakti Rudrabhiskek every Monday followed by Aarti and mahaprasad. 5645 HillMandir croft, #701 Houston TX 77036.

713-278-9099

CURRENT EVENTS

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Hare Krishna Dham

281-596-9642

online edition: www.indoamerican-news.com

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Sun

8.30am: IACF 2010 Walkathon, Indo American Family Foundation, Lost Creek Park, Sugar Land, Pradeep Gokhale: 832-7667181, www.iacfhouston.com, info@iacfhouston.com

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2pm: 50 Years of Gujarat, Gujarati Samaj of Houston, Immanuel Center, Ajit Patel: 713-557-2536

Sat

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8.30pm: Incredible India- A Cultural Journey, Samskriti Miller Outdoor Theater, 281-265-ARTS, www.samskritihouston. org, www.tickets2events.com 8pm: India Jazz Suites, Indo American Association, Wortham Center, 281-648-0422

Sat

8pm: Sukhwinder Singh Jai Ho, Hum Tum City, Arena theatre, www.humtumcity.com

SatSun

8-9.30am: Free Yoga Classes by Patanjali Yogpeeth Center, Arya Samaj, Anil: 281-579-9433

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INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, APRIL 30 , 2010 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM

online edition: www.indoamerican-news.com

Indo American News • Friday, April 30 , 2010

INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, APRIL 30 , 2010 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM

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Indo American News • Friday, April 30 , 2010

online edition: www.indoamerican-news.com

INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, APRIL 30 , 2010 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM