Indo American News • Friday, June 18 , 2010
online edition: www.indoamerican-news.com
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Friday, June 18 2010 | Vol. 29, No. 25
Indo American News
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FEATURED INSIDE Samskriti and MFAH to present art & literature of Thanjavur Court Story on Pg 3
Son-in-law of Voice of Asia’s Publisher Koshy Thomas, Dr. Suresh Philip, passes away. Obituary on Pg 22
FBI Stopping Muslims Placed on No-Fly List Outside United States WASHINGTON: As a 26-yearold Muslim American man who spent 18 months in Yemen before heading home to Virginia in early May, Yahya Wehelie caught the attention of the F.B.I. Agents stopped him while he was changing planes in Cairo, told him he was on the nofly list and questioned him about his contacts with another American in Yemen, one accused of joining Al Qaeda and fatally shooting a hospital guard. For six weeks, Mr. Wehelie has been in limbo in the Egyptian capital. He and his parents say he has no radical views, despises Al Qaeda and merely wants to get home to complete his education. But after many hours of questioning by F.B.I. agents, he remains on the no-fly list. Mr. Wehelie’s predicament reflects the aggressive response of American counterterrorism officials to recent close calls. On Tuesday, CAIR, wrote to Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. to protest what it call, called “apparently illegal pressure tactics” against Muslim American travelers. “If the F.B.I. wishes to question American citizens, they should be allowed to return to the United States,” Mr. Awad wrote.Evidently the F.B.I. is not convinced. The American authorities in Cairo canceled his passport and issued a new one Sunday with the notation, “valid only for return to the United States before Sept. 12, 2010,” Mr. Wehelie said. That is his goal, he said, but he has no idea how to get home.
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High
AR Rahman Jai Ho was an instant hit in New York, Washington and Chicago. Houston is on a high with the AR Rahman fever building up as well. Only two weeks are left before the AR Rahman Madness begins, July 3rd 2010, 8:30pm at Toyota Center.
Houston Holi Goes International
HOUSTON: It was a Memorable Memorial Weekend for all Houstonians!. Star Plus aired a 30-minute show on Masala Radio’s Houston Holi 2010. The show started with Sunil Thakkar opening the show under the Mahatma Gandhi sign on Hillcroft and later drivng in the rickshaw to the Holi event. The Rickshaw drives by Keemat Grocers & Karat 22, the viewers get a feel of the hustling bustling Gandhi Market on Hillcroft. Masala Radio’s Sunil and Sandhya Thakkar invited all crew and sponsors to a “Viewing Party” catered by Satish Rao of Indian Ocean and Udipi Café. Everyone in the audience at the Thakkar residence was in the episode, filling the house with roars of laughter and recognition! Many more participants and the community at large town texted Thakkar excitedly upon seeing their own or a familiar face on TV. Sponsor Brij Agrawal was visibly excited on stage about Sugar Land being the host of the first Indian event to be covered in a 30 min Star Plus episode. It was a tremendous source of pride for all of Houston to be featured across the nation! The 30-minute Episode began with a shot of the new signage for the Mahatma Gandhi District with a colorful explosion of dance clips. The camera then walked through the 11,000+ Holi crowd, asking guests “What does color mean to you?”. Nadir Dhanani related
Houston Holi Festival hosted by Sunil T is airing high on Star TV along with many other news channel planning to air it on their Network thus putting Houston Festivals on a global map.
color to the “Hues he remembers from Holi in India – the colorful lifestyle and traditions of Gujarat and Mumbai.” Erik Srnka of grand sponsor The Village School talked about their colorful and diverse student body. Malik Jamal of Presenting Sponsor; Tara Energy accurately depicted the mood of Holi as “pure excitement”. Swapan Dhriyavan, President of India Culture Center said jubilantly after the screening on May 29 “Star Plus is not just one of the many South Asian channels on our satellite boxes. I feel it is become the Official South Asian Channel of all Houston Indians. Star Plus came to Houston Holi and now is a part of Houston”. Ajit Patel, of Gujarati Samaj of Houston said “I received mes-
sages from many Gujarati Samaj presidents across the country congratularting us as they were watching the show on TV. This is what Indian TV should be… about us and our lives here. We need more shows depicting life and culture in the US so we can relate better.” Houston Holi was a directorial debut for Houston’s Arif Memon, shot and edited by John Hale. This was shot by Masala Entertainment and produced entirely in Houston. “We have some great talent in Houston and I am very fortunate to work with these hugely creative individuals” said Sunil Thakkar. “We are excited about producing more of such shows and possibly a pilot for an ongoing TV show for Star Plus. Star Plus changed my life with the Laughter Challenge
and I will never forget that, adds Sunil. Star Plus made the promos for the Houston Holi 2010 and promoted the episode feverishly for the last two weeks, giving the episode a prime spot right before the World Premiere of Bollywood Blockbluster “Atithi Thum Kab Jaoge.” Star Plus was impressed with Masala Radio and Masala Entertainment’s Holi orgnaiziation, shooting, and editing, and is demanding more episodes of local event coverage. “It is time to give the US viewers better coverage of US events, and even US-based sitcoms, serials, cooking shows… everything, this is direction for Star Plus” said Sagnik Roy, Star USA Director of Marketing and Sales.
Music Masala is moving to 1110 AM on weekends starting June 26
Tagore Works Sell for $2.37 Million LONDON (Times of IndiaI): Notwithstanding many objections from admirers of Rabindra Nath Tagore, including West Bengal CM Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee who wrote to PM Manmohan Singh
to try and stop the Sotheby’s auction, 12 paintings of the poet laureate owned by the Dartington Hall Trust in Devon, South-West England, changed hands for about Rs 11 crore. The auction proceeds were over six times the minimum estimate of Rs 1.7 crore. Individual buyers, including an Indian and a Bangladeshi, are said to be among the purchasers. They are not believed to belong to a consortium. An Indian diplomat familiar with the matter expressed fears of the set being “cannibalised”. Sources said one of the buyers was London-based cardiologist Abhijit Lahiri who could
bring the canvases back to India at a later stage. Activists had claimed the works were a part of India’s national heritage. The Indian government, though, did not directly or indirectly participate in the auction. The paintings will, in fact, temporarily return to Dartington Hall Trust (the sellers) next year for a display there as part of its weeklong celebration of Tagore’s 150th birth anniversary in May 2011. The sale also set a record for any individual Tagore painting anywhere in the world.
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