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Business IndoAmerican News

STOCKS • FINANCE • SOUTH ASIAN MARKETS • TECHNOLOGY

“I was Framed,” Says Satyam’s Ramalinga Raju

The former Satyam chairman now claims that all charges levelled at him were cooked up by CBI HYDERABAD (Mumbai Mirror): L‘affaire Satyam is poised to take a dramatic turn. In a clear indication that he is all set to retract his confession and deny all the charges, former Satyam chairman B Ramalinga Raju said on Tuesday that his letter of January 2009 was a mere resignation letter from the post of the company’s chairman and claimed that he was being falsely implicated in the criminal case by the CBI. In his bail application moved in the AP High Court on Tuesday, Raju said he was the chairman of Satyam Computer Services till January 7, 2009,

“when he tendered his resignation.”

Further, he submitted to the court that he was falsely implicated as accused No 1 in the criminal case filed by the CBI and that the allegations made against him “are absolutely false and not supported by any credible evidence.”

Completely denying the ‘confession’ in which Raju himself had admitted to several irregularities, the accused No 1 in the Satyam scam is now turning the tables on the CBI and saying that all the charges levelled against him were cooked up by the investigating agency. “The allega-

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B Ramalinga Raju, prime accused in the multi-crore Satyam case, is slated to stay as an in-house patient of Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences (Nims) for another 22 weeks. Raju is undergoing treatment for Hepatitis C

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tions in the charge sheet are that cash and bank balances did not reflect the true state of affairs,” Raju claims now, though it was he himself who had admitted to this in his January 2009 letter.

Raju also denied all the other charges made against him by the CBI based on his confession. They included inflation of sales by generating false invoices, floating of 327 companies, offloading of shares by the accused and other promoters of the company, inflated revenues, publication of falsified figures with respect to utilisation of employees on profitable Gold $1,195.60 per oz.

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projects, and that the auditors of the company conspired with the accused deliberately in violation of the auditing and assurance standards.

Former Satyam chairman also denied that there was a criminal breach of trust by him in the matter pertaining to the declaration and disbursement of dividends and that wrongful gain was made by the accused and wrongful loss suffered by investors in shares of the company. Further, he also denied that he and his family members had acquired huge assets during the period in which the accounting fraud was perpetrated.

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Indo American News • Friday, August 06 , 2010

in d ia

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Child Prodigy Enters IIT: How Life is Different

By Arpita Basu

KANPUR (Outlook): Sahal Kaushik keeps mostly to himself as he makes his way around the sprawling IIT Kanpur campus with student guide Soumyajit Bose. It’s his first day of class and, at 14, he is the youngest ever student to enter the portals of an IIT; no little feat, but amplified by his somewhat unconventional education—home-schooling, no less—and the award of a gold medal at the International Biology Olympiad in Seoul.

Not surprisingly, his reputation has preceded him here. As second-year student Soumyajit puts it, “There is a lot of curiosity about him on campus, because making it to IIT at the age of 14 is quite an unprecedented feat.”

But the reticent and somewhat withdrawn Sahal, who has enrolled in the five-year integrated MSc course in physics, would rather not have the spotlight trained on him. And mostly he won’t be prodded beyond brief, sometimes monosyllabic, responses on his remarkable success story.

Ask him how he rates himself academically and a disinterested “I don’t know” is all he’ll offer. Did he expect to crack the Joint Entrance Exam? “Yes. But I did not expect such a good (all India 33rd) rank.”

On subjects that catch his fastidious fancy, however—like astrophysics, for one—he is more obliging. Says father Tapeshwar, an army officer, “When he interacts with participants at the olympiads, he can talk for hours. He is comfortable with people who share his interests.”

That precondition should be easily met at IIT, where, even though his classmates will be senior by 3-4 years, intellectual wavelengths should be in sync. Institute director Prof Sanjay G. Dhande has no qualms about handling such a young student. He believes that once someone is ready to participate intellectually, age is not a consideration. Sahal’s mother Ruchi isn’t anxious either, recalling how, as a newly anointed teen, Sahal spent all of eight days in Bangkok at the Asian Physics Olympiad last year, with ‘peers’ older by five years or more and didn’t feel a wee bit out of his depth.

To meet the challenge of ensuring that school and home, too, provided Sahal with similar levels of stimulation, Ruchi, a doctor, had hung up her white coat for good to home-school the prodigy. Clearly not a mother in

his feat, teachers at the Narayana IIT Academy coached him individually, with chocolates and juices as incentives to spur on their little student.

IIT will be a much longer, tougher journey down the road of formal education for this home-schooler, who wants to be a researcher one day.

“Sitting in a class of 400 is a first for me, but I’m enjoying it,” he says in

one of his more talkative moments.

“He must learn to fend for himself,” says Tapeshwar on the transition.

“After all, he has to make his own way.” That seems to be Sahal’s style already, right from the day he looked through a refractor as a young child, set his heart on astrophysics, and decided to follow the stars wherever they might lead him.

Amid Celebrity, A Long Legal Battle Over a Child Add it up: Sahal Kaushik (left) on his first day on IIT Kanpur campus.

the usual mould, she decided quite early to teach her children herself until they were seven or eight. But when Sahal’s unusual mental abilities surfaced—reciting multiplication tables up to 100 when he was only three and juggling binary numbers a year later—she had to make that crucial decision. Did she want to send him to school at all? “Had I sent him to school at seven, he would have been restricted to addition and subtraction whereas he had already moved on to trigonometry and logarithms,” she says.

So, in the face of all the naysayers’ words of caution that a boy who wasn’t sent to school or didn’t go out and play (and never watched TV either, their home doesn’t have one) would be socially maladjusted, the Kaushiks knew what they had to do. And while Sahal today is, the Kaushiks admit, “very reserved”, his Facebook account has as many as 295 friends (he reveals the number after much coaxing). He met them through all the science camps he has attended, and a few of them will be keeping him company at IIT too.

But just how enviable is it to be a minor—and a gifted one at that— among adults in a fiercely competitive and demanding environment?

Consultant psychologist Anuttama Banerjee says, “There are some emotional challenges. There could be jealousy among his older classmates, which might lead to inter-group conflict. Older kids might not wish to include him when they are hanging out or just chatting about their girlfriends.” She adds, however, that if such a child’s social and emotional intelligence is on the same level, he would be able to match up.

Only the next five years will tell if he does. Sahal’s parents don’t seem too apprehensive, yet, tellingly, they’ve reorganised their lives just to extend his comfort zone. They have planned their own relocation from Delhi, to a housing complex near the campus, so that Sahal, who is a day scholar, could come back home every evening.

It may sound suspiciously like a case of ambitious parents living vicariously through a super-achieving son. But the Kaushiks argue, with some eloquence, that this is not a hat that fits them—they’re just parents who want to provide the right environment for a gifted child. “The thirst for knowledge was his own. We were there basically to provide him with whatever information he wanted,” says Ruchi. Interestingly, the same set of parents allowed Saras, Sahal’s 12-year-old sister, who is also homeschooled, to take her own time to get started on her education. “Till the age of eight, Saras could not even write her mother’s name in Hindi,” says Tapeshwar.

“If society can accept a delayed learner like Saras, why hold back a fast learner? Why is someone who is good at something that others generally aren’t comfortable with made out to be a geek?” argues Ruchi, of the needs of gifted children.

The decision to try for IIT so early was, says the family, Sahal’s own.

He had sailed through the Class X and XII board exams, but to crack the JEE he needed specialised training.

And so from the world of stimulating, flexible home-based learning, the Dwarka boy made his way to what many would regard as its polar opposite: a coaching institute. Excited by the opportunity to help Sahal achieve

By Stephaine Strom & Vikas Bajaj MUMBAI (NYT): The initial public offering of SKS Microfinace has been well chronicled by the news media in India, where the company’s founder, Vikram Akula, an IndianAmerican, has become a celebrity.

Time magazine put him on its list of the world’s 100 most influential people in 2006, and he was named one of the World Economic Forum’s “young global leaders” in 2008.

Not all of the attention has been flattering, though. The disclosures section of the I.P.O. prospectus refers to a long personal court battle involving Mr. Akula. For nearly eight years, he has been embroiled in a custody dispute with his Indian-American ex-wife, Malini Byanna, a lawyer based in Chicago, over their son. The boy, Tejas, now 9, currently lives with his father in Hyderabad, India. An Illinois court awarded Ms. Byanna custody of Tejas in 2002. In a case now pending in the Illinois appellate court, Ms. Byanna has argued that Mr. Akula has improperly held the boy since last year, when he opened custody proceedings in Indian court.

At the time Mr. Akula was caring for Tejas, Ms. Byanna was undergoing surgery in the United States.

Akula’s lawyers assert that American and Indian courts have granted him temporary custody until legal cases in both countries are resolved.

Byanna, who says she has lost her home and owes $600,000 to creditors because of legal costs, recently filed a complaint with Indian securities regulators, contending that that the SKS I.P.O. prospectus omits important information about the custody dispute — including, the complaint says, that the State Department has referred to the case as one of “international parental child abduction.” John Echard, spokesman for the State De-

Vikram Akula in January at the World Economic Forum. He said his focus was “what’s in the best interest of my son.”

partment’s bureau of consular affairs, said Thursday, “A child is still being retained abroad, and Ms. Byanna, who has sole legal and physical custody of him, determined by an Illinois court, is still unable to exercise her custodial and parental rights.” Told of Mr. Echard’s statement, Michael DiDomenico, a lawyer for Mr. Akula in Chicago, countered, “The U.S. State Department has never requested information about this case, nor has it ever given Akula notice about their opinion.” In a July 14 hearing in Chicago, Akula’s lawyers appealed a lower court’s decision that India lacked jurisdiction to award Akula custody. Patrick J. Quinn, an Illinois appellate court justice, said, “This is not a kidnapping,” but he added that the child remained in India in defiance of court orders in the United States. The Illinois court is expected to issue a final ruling on the jurisdiction question next month. The case is also pending in India’s Supreme Court. Akula, in an e-mail response to questions about the custody battle, declined to comment beyond saying, “My focus is and has always been on doing what’s in the best interest of my son.”

INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, august 06, 2010 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM

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BUSINESS

Indo American News • Friday, August 06 , 2010

27

In India, British Leader Focused on Business ties t By heather timmonS NEWDELHI(NYT):BritishPrime Minister David Cameron has quickly earned a reputation as a relentless cost-cutter. So maybe it should not be surprising that his official visit was to India, where phone calls can cost less than a penny a minute, and prices of new cars begin at under $3,000.

Cameron landed India on Tuesday with dozens of his country’s chief executives and several top trade of officials, part of what a British official here calls Mr. Cameron’s “personal, long-term commitment” to aggressively increase business ties between Britain and India.

The British foreign secretary, William Hague, the chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne, and Vince Cable, secretary of state for business, were among the officials accompanying Cameron. They met with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and other politicians here. But Mr. Cameron and his delegation seem to have scheduled at least as much time to interact with Indian business executives.

On Wednesday, Cameron was scheduled to address a crowd of hundreds at the Bangalore headquarters of Infosys, the information technology giant that helped make India the world’s outsourcing center.

British officials also toured Narayana Hrudayalaya Health City in Bangalore, a collection of hospitals spread over a 25-acre campus that is renowned for its high volume of

British Prime Minister David Cameron spoke at Infosys Technologies, above, one of India’s largest I.T. outsourcing companies.

low-cost operations. Another tour stop was an aeronautics company that has signed contracts with the big British military and aerospace company BAE Systems.

Osborne’s schedule included ringing the opening bell on the Bombay Stock Exchange in Mumbai, introducing a new solar-powered mobile handset from the British telecommunications company Vodafone and delivering a speech titled “U.K. and India: A New Economic Partnership” to a crowd of bankers and businessmen.

On Thursday, when the delegation planned to be in Delhi for state visits, round-table discussions and news conferences, the emphasis again was on trade, British and Indian officials say.

Cameron’s arrival here with a full and fiscally focused entourage is the latest sign of the global economy’s tilt toward developing nations. India’s economy is expanding rapidly, propelled by a youthful population, and the government is expected to spend tens of billions of dollars in coming years on infrastructure projects like roads and power grids.

British companies from the department store Marks & Spencer to the high-end carmaker Bentley Motors have started investing here in recent years to tap into new wealth.

India is an “incredibly dynamic market that will grow substantially in the next five to 10 years,” said Stephen Phipson, president of Smiths Detection, a British maker of security screening equipment, who is among

the executives accompanying Mr. Cameron.

Smiths will supply X-ray and other screening equipment for the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi this October, and recently won a contract to screen baggage and passengers at most Indian airports.

Phipson expects his company’s business in India to double over the next five years to $100 million in revenue, as India adds more border protection and port security equipment.

In contrast to Indian growth, Britain’s economy contracted for most of last year, and Mr. Cameron’s government has pledged to halve the annual budget deficit of $235 billion within five years. Most recently, the British government said it would decentralize health care, in a radical reshaping of the National Health Service that is expected to result in a significant number of job losses.

When it comes to cost-cutting, Indian businessmen say they think they may be able to help.

“We have conclusively shown that technology is the only way that you

can drive efficiencies,” said Som Mittal, the president of Nasscom, a trade group for Indian information technology companies. “Given where Britain is right now and what the prime minister wants to achieve in terms of reducing the deficit,” Mr. Mittal said, Indian companies may be able to play an increasing role.

Cameron’s new push to increase trade between the countries is the latest stage in a complicated relationship tracing to the colonial era predating India’s independence in 1947. Indian companies, fueled by domestic growth, have made takeover targets of their British counterparts in recent years in a buying spree that the news media here sometimes calls “The Empire Strikes Back.”

Already, the Tata Group of India, which controls British companies including Jaguar and Corus Steel, is the largest employer in Britain’s manufacturing sector. Last year, the East India Company, the trading company started in 1600 by Elizabeth I that helped to create and define the British colonial empire, was resurrected by an Indian entrepreneur.

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SocIEty

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Sorry, We Won’t Sterilize People: Centre NEW DELHI: The government will not adopt forcible measures to check population as had happened during the Emergency days in the 1970s, Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said in the Lok Sabha.

Noting that government will not implement stringent laws to deal with rising population, he said it will not also impose “quotas” on officers on number of sterilizations and also refrain from giving out incentives likes promotions.

Replying to a motion in the Lok Sabha on population stabilization in the country, he said the Centre and the states should get their act together to check the rising population, which is turning into a challenge. Singling out Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, Azad said the fertility rate in central Indian states was almost double the desired level, which was a matter of serious concern.

The Total Fertility Rate (TFR) in central Indian states, including Rajasthan , Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand, was almost double of the desired level.

A highlight of the discussion was suggestions from members like Supriya Sule (NCP), Paramjit Kaur (SAD),

Hukum Dev Narain Yadav (BJP) and Pratprao Jadhav (SS) that those with more than two children should not be allowed to contest elections to assembly and Parliament.

“We need to change this trend. There has been no change in the TFR there and it is unfortunate,” he said. The TFR is calculated as the average number of children of a couple in their life time.

“We talk about rising costs of essential commodities, inflation all these are a direct result of increasing population and limited availability of resources in the country,” he added.

The minister said that the Population Stabilization Policy was introduced in 2000 under the Prime Ministership of Atal Bihari Vajyapee and under which the government had set a target of achieving 2.1 TFR before 2010.

It was estimated that if this rate of TFR was achieved in the first decade, the population of the country would stabilise by 2045.

Government projections show that India’s burgeoning population has seen a five-fold increase over the last 100 years and will surpass that of China by 2050.

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More Questions than Answers Over Rent-a-Womb Market

Ethically, should women be paid for being surrogates? Can the rights of women and children be bartered away? If the arrangements fall foul, will it amount to adultery? Is the new law a compromise in surpassing complicated Indian adoption procedures?

By Anil Malhotra Uzbekistan and Pakistan, besides rogacy” reaching “industry propor- misused with impunity. Surrogacy BANGALORE (Hindu): The pri- Nepal are descending on sperm banks tions is sometimes referred to by the in the U.K., the U.S. and Australia mordial urge to have a biological and In-Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) cen- emotionally charged and potentially costs more than $ 50,000 whereas child of one’s own flesh, blood and tres in India looking for South Asian offensive terms wombs-for-rent, out- advertisements on websites in India DNA aided by technology, money genetic traits of perfect sperm donors. sourced pregnancies or baby farms.” give varying costs in the range of and the Indian entrepreneurial spirit Equally, renting wombs is another It is presumably considered legiti- $ 10,000 and offer egg donors and has generated the “reproductive tour- easy and cheap option in India. The mate because no Indian law prohibits surrogate mothers. It is a free trading ism industry”, which in medical par- relatively low cost of medical ser- surrogacy. But then, as a retort, no law market, flourishing and thriving in the lance is known as Assisted Reproduc- vices, the easy availability of surro- permits surrogacy either. However, business of babies. tive Technology (ART). gate wombs, the abundant choices of the changing face of law is now going In a phenomenal repeat exercise In the U.K., no conto legalise commertract or surrogacy agreecial surrogacy, The ment is legally binding.

ART (Regulation) Bill In most States in the U.S., & Rules 2010 — a compensated surrogacy draft bill prepared by arrangements are either a 12-member comillegal or unenforceable. mittee including exIn some States in Ausperts from the ICMR, tralia, arranging commedical specialists mercial surrogacy is a and other experts from criminal offence and any the Ministry of Health surrogacy agreement givand Family Welfare ing custody to others is — was posted online void. In Canada and New recently for feedback.

Zealand, commercial surOriginally floated in rogacy has been illegal 2008, this Bill is stated since 2004, although alto be an Act to provide truistic surrogacy is alfor a national framelowed. In France, Germawork or the Regulany and Italy, surrogacy, tion and Supervision whether commercial or of Assisted Repronot, is unlawful. In Israel, ductive Technology the law only accepts the and matter connected surrogate mother as the therewith or incidenreal mother and commertal thereto as a unique cial surrogacy is illegal. proposed law to be What then prompts India Emiko Yamada looks at her 11-day-old granddaughter Manji Yamada at a hospital put before Parliament. to enact a proposed law in Jaipur on August 5, 2008. The custody of the child, born to an Indian surrogate Abetting surrogacy, it to make surrogacy agree- mother at Anand, Gujarat, and intended for a Japanese couple. legalises commercial ments legally enforceable surrogacy for single to protect the genetic parpersons and married ents, the surrogate mother and the donors with similar racial attributes to usher in a new rent-a-womb law or unmarried couples, stating that the child? and the lack of any law to regulate as India is set to be the only country surrogate mother shall enter into a India’s surrogacy boom began in these practices are attracting both in the world to legalise commercial legally enforceable surrogacy agreeJanuary 2004 with a grandmother foreigners and Non-Resident Indians surrogacy. ment. She may receive monetary delivering her daughter’s twins. The (NRIs) to sperm banks and surrogate In the absence of any law to gov- compensation and will relinquish all success flashed over the world literal- mothers in India. ern surrogacy, the Indian Council of parental rights. ly spawned a virtual cottage industry India, surreptitiously, has become a Medical Research (ICMR) issued The 2010 Draft Bill states that in Gujarat. Today, while Iceland has booming centre of a fertility market guidelines in 2005 to check malprac- foreigners or NRIs coming to India the first openly gay woman politician with its “reproductive tourism” indus- tices in ART. These national guide- to rent a womb will have to submit as its Prime Minister, India boasts try reportedly estimated at Rs.25,000 lines for Accreditation, Supervision documentation confirming that their of being the first country intending crores today. Clinically called ART, it and Regulation of the ART Clinics country of residence recognises surto legalise commercial surrogacy to has been in vogue in India since 1978 in India, 2005 are non-statutory, have rogacy as legal and that it will give legitimise the rampant intra and inter- and today an estimated 200, 000 clin- no legal sanctity and are not binding. citizenship to the child born through country surrogacy. ics across the country offer artificial Silent on major issues, they lack teeth the surrogacy agreement from an Would-be parents from the Indian insemination, IVF and surrogacy. and are often violated. Exploitation, Indian mother.

Diaspora in the U.S., the U.K. and So much so, the Supreme Court in extortion, and ethical abuses in surThis, perhaps, is in view of the Canada and foreigners from Malay- 2008 in the Baby Manji Yamada’s rogacy trafficking are rampant, go two-year legal battle of the surrogate sia, the UAE, Afghanistan, Indonesia, case observed that “commercial sur- undeterred and surrogate mothers are sons, Nikolas and Leonard, born to

German couple Jan Balaz and Susan Lohlad, who, born to an Indian surrogate mother in January 2008, were rendered stateless with neither German nor Indian citizenship. The Supreme Court’s intervention got them exit permits in May 2010.

Likewise, after being stranded in Mumbai, a gay Israeli couple were granted Israeli passports only after a DNA paternity established in May 2010 that gay Dan Goldberg was the father of Itai and Liron born to a surrogate mother in Mumbai. This was after the matter was debated in Knesset, the Israeli Parliament, and the Jerusalem District Court ruled in appeal that it was in the children’s best interest to hold the DNA test to establish their paternity.

Before the law is put on the anvil, it needs a serious debate. Ethically, should women be paid for being surrogates? Can the rights of women and children be bartered? If the arrangements fall foul, will it amount to adultery? Is the new law a compromise in surpassing complicated Indian adoption procedures? Is the new law compromising with reality in legitimising existing surrogacy rackets?

Is India promoting “reproductive tourism”? Does the law protect the surrogate mother? Should India take the lead in adopting a new law not fostered in most countries? These are only some questions which need to be answered before we drape the new law. Let us pore into our hearts and with introspection decide carefully. Are we looking at a bane or a boon? We should not wait for time to test it. We should decide now. The surrogacy bill needs to be discussed threadbare.

Despite the legal, moral and social complexities that shroud surrogacy, there is no stopping people from exploring the possibility of becoming a parent. Women who rent their womb for surrogate pregnancy are slowly shaking off their inhibition and fear of social ostracism to bring joy to childless couples. However, the Draft Bill has legal lacunae, lacks the creation of a specialist legal authority for adjudication and determination of legal rights of parties by a judicial verdict.

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Indo American News • Friday, August 06 , 2010

INDIA

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India: No Country for Old People?

By Sandip Roy NEW YORK (NPR): Stories about India these days tend to focus on the new India — young, dynamic and with a rising GDP. But like many other parts of the world, India is graying rapidly.

By 2050, a quarter of the population will be over 60. Once, India was known for its large extended families.

But now, thanks to immigration and globalization, it’s also full of emptynesters.

Services Needed For Seniors And there is not enough of an infrastructure yet to support the increasing services needed for these seniors.

While a majority of Indians still live in multigenerational families, there is a growing anxiety about aging in India these days.

Madan Engineer and his friends spend every day playing carom at Mumbai’s Harmony Senior Center.

The game is a sort of cross between billiards and shuffleboard. While other centers are open for just a few hours a day, this one allows seniors a place to come from 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.

“There is no club like this in Mumbai,” Engineer says.

My grandparents and great-grandparents didn’t seem to need clubs.

They all lived in our house. Growing up in India in the 1970s and ‘80s, I remember my great-grandmother making her own pickles, teaching me about gods and goddesses, playing endless games of solitaire in the sun.

Global Families Manga Advani is the father of a friend of mine in California. Advani lives in New Delhi, while his son has made a new home in the U.S. Advani admits times have changed.

“The generation now — most of them just fly away out of the country.

They don’t have much time for their parents,” Advani says.

A child abroad was once a badge of pride for Indian parents. Money sent home gave them a boost up the economic ladder. But it’s hard to be a dutiful child from across oceans.

When my father died, I wasn’t even able to get home before he was cremated.

Irudaya Rajan, a demographer, says

her mother told her about the deciKamaths.

But the youngest one looks sion.

“I said, ‘Are you sure, Mom?’ She out of place — and he is. He’s been pasted into the picture, was so definite. She said, ‘Can you because Betty has never seen help me in this transition?’ The tears just flowed,” D’souza remembers. him in person.

Helping her mother move back to Moving Back To India For India has made D’souza think about Care Kamath was happy in Cali- her own retirement. For now, she fornia until her rheumatoid ar- plans to stay in the United States bethritis got worse. She was ready cause that’s where her children are.

“I feel it would be a disservice for for a nursing home, but not one in America after she saw the them to feel obligated to come see us way the attendants treated the and to make that journey,” D’souza older people. “They are quite says.

“So I think we will make ourselves rude,” Kamath says. “They grumble if you call too much. happy here. We owe it to our kids,” she says.

You won’t find that in India.”

D’souza and her siblings stay in Kamath can afford a 24-7 personal attendant in India. touch with their mother through anBut an old-age home still car- nual visits and weekly calls, just like ries a tinge of stigma here. I do.

Bindu Ahlawadi gets used to meals for one at a pay-for-stay home in The last time I visited my mother in Before she moved back, she New Delhi. Her daughter lives in Pittsburgh. wrote a letter to all her relatives India, she told me to buy a CD with of evaporated milk. Today, there’s explaining this was her decision, not her new favorite song. It’s about a this is a common problem.

“Anybody dies today, the body still not much help for seniors beyond her children’s. couple who move to a retirement will be kept in the mortuary for two their families.

“You know how people talk,” Ka- home because they have no place in There is no social security, and few math says. “They would have said, their children’s busy lives. My mothto three days with all the ice, beIndians have pensions. Aloka Mitra ‘Oh, they sent their mother back,’ “ er loves it, though she lives with my cause someone has got to come from Canada, someone from London,” set up a home for older women in she says. sister and the grandchildren. I think Calcutta in the 1970s. A government Rajan says.

In California, Kamath’s daughter, sometimes she, too, feels this new The problem isn’t just that the minister tried to talk her out of it.

Cynthia D’souza, remembers when India is no country for old women.

Taboo Of Nursing Homes children are off chasing the American “He said, ‘You ladies have nothing dream; 81 million Indians are over age 60. But in the new India, old age better to do, and so you are thinking up all these problems which don’t isn’t what it used to be.

Once, someone told me, the grand- exist. In our society, the aging are father always got the prized fish well looked after. It is ridiculous for NEW DELHI (Reuters) - A British initiative to enthuse children around head at dinner. Now, that goes to the us to support a home for the aged,” Mitra says. the world about sport inspired by the 2012 London Olympics is halfway grandson.

The home she started, Naba Nir, is toward its target of reaching 12 million.

New Law On Care Of Parents Games chief Sebastian Coe, the twice 1500 meters Olympic champion, The government recently had to still going strong. Mitra, at 69, is now revealed the landmark had been passed by the campaign, International pass a law requiring children to take older than some of the residents. She Inspiration, during his trip this week to India. care of their parents. There were too worries about what she will do when “The Indian chapter has been a huge success. When we won the bid in many cases of seniors abandoned the time comes to retire.

“My son and daughter are both in Singapore (in 2005), we had promised to reach out to 12 million children on the streets, according to Matand we have reached six million,” Coe told reporters after meeting students, thew Cherian, who runs the advocacy London,” she says, “In 10 years’time, we might need a home for the aging some of them disabled, at a New Delhi school. group Help Age India.

“Six million is the halfway mark and we have another two years (to “Very often, the children leave the ourselves.”

And they might choose a new, more achieve the target).” parents in different parts. We put them Coe was accompanied by another former middle-distance Olympic in old-age homes meant for the poor popular option a pay-for-stay home double champion, Kelly Holmes, and five-time Olympic rowing gold and destitute. This person is middle or a retirement community with unimedalist Steve Redgrave in Thursday’s visit. class, but there is no other option but formed maids and bonsai classes.

Betty Kamath moved back to India was one of the first countries included in the program two years ago. the destitute home,” Cherian says.

Since then, Azerbaijan, Brazil, Bangladesh, Jordan, Mozambique, Palau, When I was growing up, the only Bangalore to live in one after more Trinidad and Tobago and Zambia have also been brought under it. homes for the aged were for poor In- than a decade in California with her In all, International Inspiration is aiming to reach 12 million children in dians who had no family. They were children. She has three great-grand20 developing countries by 2012. run by people like Mother Teresa. We sons and loves to show the family took donations of old clothes and cans photograph with four generations of

2012 Games Initiative Reaches Six Million Children

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South Asia News of the Diaspora

India and u.S. Sign Nuclear Reprocessing Agreement WASHINGTON D.C. (Outlook): India and US have signed an agreement on reprocessing of American nuclear spent fuel by India, marking the final steps in terms of implementation of the landmark civil nuclear deal between the two countries.

Upon entry into force, the arrangements and procedures will enable reprocessing by India of the US obligated nuclear material at a new national reprocessing facility to be established by India, dedicated to the reprocessing of safeguarded nuclear material under International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards.

The agreement in this regard was signed yesterday by US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Bill Burns and Indian Ambassador to the US Meera Shankar, at the Foggy Bottom headquarters of the State Department.

“This arrangement, negotiated and concluded under President Obama, reflects the Administration’s strong commitment to building successfully on the landmark US-India Civil Nuclear Cooperation Initiative and is a prerequisite for US nuclear fuel suppliers to conduct business with India,” the State Department said in

step which highlights the strong relationship and growing cooperation between the two countries.

It enables reprocessing

by India of US-obligated nuclear material under IAEA safeguards and will facilitate participation by US firms in India’s rapidly expanding civil nuclear energy sector, the statement said.

“With this we have taken another significant step forward in the implementation of our bilateral agreement for cooperation in peaceful uses of nuclear energy,” Shankar said in her remarks on the occasion.

The hard and meticulous work done by the Indian and US negotiators The agreement will facilitate the participation that led to the compleof US companies in India’s rapidly expanding tion of negotiations, well nuclear energy sector. ahead of the stipulated period of one year, Shankar said rea statement. flects how the two countries are inThe Indian Embassy said signing creasingly getting into the habit of of the Agreement is a significant working together.

The signing of this Agreement today, and a few days back, of the Counter-terrorism Cooperation initiative in New Delhi, is a reflection of deepening ties between India and the United States, Shankar said.

The historic bilateral cooperation agreement for peaceful uses of nuclear energy, the 123 Agreement, that the two countries signed two years back provided for reprocessing of US obligated nuclear material in an Indian national facility under IAEA safeguards, she said.

Previously, US had extended such reprocessing consent only to the European Union (EURATOM) and Japan.

“The Civil Nuclear Cooperation Initiative has facilitated significant new com-

mercial opportunities across India’s multi-billion dollar nuclear energy market, including the designation of two nuclear reactor park sites for US technology in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat,” the State Department said.

“Increased civil nuclear trade with India will create thousands of new jobs for the US economy while helping India to meet its rising energy needs in an environmentally responsible way by reducing the growth of carbon emissions,” it said.

“These Arrangements and Procedures are pursuant to Article 6 (iii) of the 123 Agreement and an impor important component of our bilateral civil nuclear cooperation,” said the Indian Ambassador.

Shankar said India has an ambitious

programme for development of civil nuclear energy to meet its growing energy needs.

The target is to increase our installed capacity more than seven fold to 35000 MWe by the year 2022, and to 60,000 MWe by 2032.

Observing that international cooperation, including cooperation with US firms, is an important component of this plan, the Ambassador said the agreement will facilitate the participation of US companies in India’s rapidly expanding nuclear energy sector.

India has already designated two sites for nuclear power plants to be established in cooperation with the US and the companies of the two countries are now engaged in discussions.

First t time in India: Rich Exceed Poor NEW DELHI (Outlook): The growing economy has spun a wheel of fortune for Indians, with high income households outnumber outnumbering those in the low category for the first time at the end of 200910, according to estimates made by think-tank India has 46.7 million high income households as compared to 41 million in the low income NCAER. India has 46.7 category. million high income households as a notch higher by the end of the compared to 41 million in the low in- decade,” the survey on spending come category, the National Coun- and earning patterns since 1985-86 cil of Applied Economic Research said.

(NCAER) estimates on Earnings The Indian economy grew at and Spendings have revealed. above 9 per cent between 2005-06 “For the first time, the number of and 2007-08. After slowing down in high income households is set to 2008-09 and 2009-10, it is projected exceed the number of poor house- to expand at 8.5 per cent in the cur curholds in 2009-10,” the NCAER rent fiscal. said, adding that the middle income The data shows how the country class continued to grow. has come a long way in the last 10 Households earning less than years in raising the income stanRs 40,000 per annum (at 2001-02 dards. In 2001-02, out of the total prices) are dubbed as low income, of 188.2 million households, the whereas those with earnings over number of high income families was Rs 1.80 lakh fall in the high income only 13.8 million, whereas those in category. the low income category stood at Those earning between Rs 65.2 million.

45,000-Rs 1.80 lakh per annum are Referring to the middle class, the considered middle income house- study said, “Their growing clout holds, whose number surged to becomes even more apparent when 140.7 million out of the total of one looks at the ownership patterns 228.4 Indian million families at the of households goods. Nearly 49 per end of 2009-10. Thus, the NCAER cent of all cars are owned by the survey confirms that 62 per cent middle class, compared to just 7 per of Indian households belong to the cent by the rich.” middle class, which is the target of Similarly, 53 per cent of all air most consumer goods firms. conditioners are owned by middle “The wheel of fortune continues class homes and nearly 46 per cent to spin in India, with each level of all credit cards are to be found in of household income set to move these households.

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Bridging Borders with Tennis Rohan Bopanna and doubles partner, Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi, want to play at the Wagah border to help improve ties between India and Pakistan

By Rahul Jayaram BANGALORE (Mint): On a weekday afternoon, Cubbon Park in Bangalore cuts a painterly patch of green. The Karnataka State Lawn Tennis Association (KSLTA) inside it glitters in the sunshine, while the bamboo thickets punctuating the park rest in shade.

A line of children are the few spectators at the tennis courts. Part of the reason for their presence is to hone their serve-and-volley skills, but another vital reason is to reacquaint themselves with their local pin-up: The man who, along with a Pakistani doubles partner, made it to the quarter-finals at Wimbledon recently. In doing so, Rohan Bopanna achieved his career-best doubles world ranking of 38.

Bopanna, an Indian Navy officer in the guise of a Roger Federer, looks much younger than his 30 years, in white tees and shorts, and sporting the closest of crew cuts. The children stop, look at their assistant coach, and are about to pounce on Bopanna when we kidnap him. He glances at them with an I’ll-finish-them-offand-be-with-you wave.

The day before, he was felicitated by the state government for his services to tennis and to put it in chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa’s words, “for putting the state on the world map”. But Bopanna aims at being the agent of change for several others.

At Wimbledon, he and doubles partner Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi of

doubles partner. “We want to find a way of uniting people, keep them away from politics and religion,” Qureshi says over the phone from Lahore. He became an ambassador for Peace and Sport last year. But where exactly on the Wagah border will the match be played?

“It’s just the same spot that you see on TV. Right at the line where India and Pakistan part, we plan (on) tying a tennis net, Insha Allah!” Qureshi is upbeat about the reception for

the match (whenever it happens), as tennis now has a name and face in Pakistan—courtesy his doubles win last year with partner James Cerretani over Roger Federer and Marco Chiudinelli in Basel, plus the recent run at Wimbledon.

All these qualities combine to give the words of Bopanna a pensive objective. “Even if a tiny portion of the population here and there comes over to see us play, I think we would have made some difference,” he says.

Pakistan’s Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi, left, with partner India’s Rohan Bopanna. The pairing have been sporting peace slogans on their tracksuit tops

Pakistan did something unique. They lobbed, served, hit forehand, backhand, cross-court shots and thumped their chests wearing T-shirts saying “Stop War” and “Start Tennis”, respectively. Last month, Bopanna was named a “Champion for Peace” by the Monaco-based international organization Peace and Sport. He joined 47 other international athletes who help promote the message of peace through their sport. Wimbledon may have been a good platform to spread the good word, but an even more appropriate location is being sought: the Wagah border.

“We really want to make a difference, spread the message of tennis as a way of promoting the cause of peace,” Bopanna says. “That’s why the plans at the border. Things are

at a preliminary stage, though we have sent in official requests to the governments of both (countries),” he says. Bopanna and Qureshi also have a page on the social networking website Facebook dedicated to their cause.

Does he really think this would make a difference? What, in concrete terms, does he have in mind? He pauses. “We’d rather try and fail than not try at all,” he says, explaining his own connection with Qureshi, which goes back a long way.

Indeed, they have been friends for nearly a decade. Both did appreciably well in a host of low-key tournaments around the world since 2003 and decided to join up as a doubles team later.

Seconding such sentiments is his

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Don’t Want Rs 25 Crore, Let me Keep My Land Farmer Ramabhai Barad rejects the money govt is offering for his land. Instead, he is ready to give govt Rs 1 cr to let him stay at Bol village

By Dilip Patel AHMEDABAD ( Mirror): Villagers of Bol will soon be crorepatis.

But the biggest beneficiary of Sanand GIDC land deal does not want to leave his village.

Ramabhai Bhavanbhai Barad is not only ready to forego Rs 25 crore offered for his land, he has instead offered the government almost Rs 1 crore to let him retain his farm and house.

Ramabhai owns 52 acres (92 bigha) in Bol. The government has offered him Rs 25 crore for his land. Yet, the farmer is unhappy with the deal. The 64-year-old’s reasons are emotional.

“If I take this money, I will have to move out of the village where I have spent my entire life.

I will be separated from my motherland. If the other villagers sell their land, I know I will have to move out too. But I would rather the government lets me stay here. I will pay the government Rs 1 lakh per bigha. This amounts to Rs 92 lakh. I can go up to Rs 1 crore if they just let me be.”

Ramabhai, who lives in a threestoreyed bungalow in the village, says, “I am not happy with the villagers’ decision to sell out. GIDC has acquired land in other parts of the state, too. The farmers who sold their land spent the money they received and became paupers. More than 60 per cent of villagers in Bol is uneducated. The smart ones will buy

Farmer Ramabhai Barad

land elsewhere or invest the money.

But what about the rest? I request the government to pay just half the amount promised to farmers.

The rest can be deposited in a bank or converted into government bonds.

The money can be released at specified intervals to ensure that the villagers do not blow it all away.”

When contacted, Sanand Mamlatdar Sudhir Patel claims he has not heard of Ramabhai’s demand. “We know of eight cases were farmers faced problems. Some had no 7/12 documents, some had not registered the inherited land in their name while there were others who had offered the land to secure bank loans,” he said.

Patel added, “Earlier, the government would choose a land, then issue

a notification seeking possession.

It would pay farmers the jantri rate.

With the Sanand deal, the government made a policy to hold dialogue with farmers and convince them to sell their land. Bol villagers have agreed to the deal offered. No one is being forced to give up their land.”

AM’s reports of June 10 and June 28 and on Sanand land prices Ramabhai, however, said, “No government official spoke to us. The government just issued a notification regarding the land. Since the others farmers liked the deal, they have agreed to move out.”

He added, “Many farmers are trying to buy land in surrounding areas but the cost is prohibitive. People in other villages are asking for Rs 35 lakh per acre. We are getting Rs 48.56 lakh per acre from the government. The difference is not much. The price of land near Sanand highway is already touching Rs 1 crore per bigha. Bol farmers want to purchase a house in Sanand town. Many had even given bana (advance money) for farmland in nearby areas. But the GIDC has still not given the money promised.

So, the deals fell through.”

The government had promised to distribute the cheques once the saatbaar (7/12) documents have been verified. The money will be given in two instalments. The government will give 70 per cent of the price first and the remaining 30 per cent later.

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India Digs Under Top of the World to Match Up with China

By Lydia Polgreen ROHTANG PASS (NYT): The name of this white-knuckle pass, one of the highest in the world, means “pile of corpses” in the Tibetan language. Every year a few dozen people die trying to cross these spiky Himalayan peaks.

For six months the road is snowbound, putting at the mercy of the elements tens of thousands of Indian troops posted beyond it in this remote but strategically important region along India’s long and disputed border with China.

In the past decade, as China has

furiously built up its military and civilian infrastructure on its side of the border, the Rohtang Pass on the Indian side has stood as mute testimony to India’s inability and unwillingness to master its far-flung and rugged outermost reaches.

But now, India is racing to match its rival for regional and global power, building and bolstering airstrips and army outposts, shoring up neglected roads and finally, decades after it was first proposed building a tunnel to bypass the deadly Rohtang Pass.

In June, work started on the ambitious project, which will take five years and require boring five miles through the Pir Panjal range. Several other tunnels, which would allow all-weather access to Ladakh, which abuts the Tibetan Plateau, are also in the works.

“What India is belatedly seeking to do is to improve its defenses by upgrading its logistics,” said Brahma Chellaney, an analyst who tracks the India-China relationship at the Center for Policy Research in New Delhi, in an e-mail. “By building new railroads, airports and highways in Tibet, China is now in a position to rapidly move additional forces to the border to potentially strike at India at a time

of its choosing.”

As a result, he said, “The SinoIndian border remains more unstable than the Pakistani-Indian frontier.”

India and China are hardly enemies, but much of the 2,521-mile border they share is disputed or ill marked.

The two countries fought a brief but bloody border war in 1962, and while these days they have, on the surface, a mostly cordial relationship, it is marked by tension over border disputes and the future of Tibet and its leader, the Dalai Lama, who lives in exile in India.

China’s push to develop its infrastructure on its side of the border including an allweather railway to Tibet that includes the world’s highest tunnel, at 16,000 feet is viewed with considerable suspicion in India.

For much of its history, India has regarded the Himalayas as a form of protection, not a barrier to be overcome, said Rajeswari Rajagopalan, an expert in India-China relations at the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi.

“The Indian side has been very slow to develop the border areas,” Ms. Rajagopalan said. “They believed if you improved the infrastructure it would only allow the Chinese to walk into your territory. This was very foolish and naïve.”

Three hundred miles of winding road lead from the town of Manali, through the verdant Kullu Valley, to Ladakh, an alpine desert that abuts the Tibetan plateau.

Tens of thousands of Indian Army troops are stationed among Ladakh’s barren peaks, and the region borders several potential trouble spots, including Aksai Chin, a region that India claims as part of its territory but that China administers. North of Ladakh is the Siachen Glacier, a river of barren ice that India and Pakistan have fought over intermittently since the 1980s. Both countries maintain outposts on the glacier, which sits at an altitude of 20,000 feet.

During the summer, thousands of trucks, laden with supplies to last the harsh mountain winters, rumble up the two roads that lead to Ladakh,

Traveling on the Rohtang Pass road in northern India can be treacherous, with various natural and animal obstacles, so India is building a tunnel.

from Manali and Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian-administered Kashmir. The road from Ladakh to Srinagar is also closed in the winter, and because of its proximity to the Line of Control that splits Kashmir between India and Pakistan, Indian officials worry that the road can easily be cut, as it was in 1999, when the two countries clashed at Kargil.

Gurmeet Kanwal, a retired brigadier who runs the Center for Land Warfare Studies, a New Delhi research institution, said India could not afford to be cut off from its most vulnerable reaches half of the year.

“As long as we have these territorial disputes you cannot rule out another border conflict,” Brigadier Kanwal said. “We would like to make sure that we can deploy our forces in the right quantities in the right places.”

The tunnel has beenonthedrawing board for decades, said P. K. Mahajan, the chief engineer on the $320 million project. He first became involved as a young engineer in 1988, when he helped carry out a feasibility study, five years after the project was first proposed by Indira Gandhi, then the prime minister.

“It is only now that these projects are seeing the light of day,” Mr. Mahajan said. The challenges of building a long tunnel in

the rough environment of the Pir Panjal are enormous. The Himalayas are the world’s youngest mountain range.

They shift and grind, still moving, expanding and shrinking.

That makes life tough for people like Thomas Riedel, a German contractor working at the north end of the tunnel. Because no one is sure what kind of rock will be found inside the mountain, the tunnel will be built using a painstaking method of blasting and digging, rather than the tunnel-boring machines that have revolutionized tunnel construction in recent years.

“Nobody can look inside the mountain,” Riedel said. “That is where we will find problems.”

Just weeks into what will be at least five years of digging, the workers encountered their first unexpected

obstacle: a foot of snow. In June.

The tunnel will sit beneath more than a mile of snow-covered rock for much of its length. Ventilation will pose a huge problem. People who live on the other side of the Rohtang Pass say the tunnel will transform their lives.

“For six months, we are prisoners,” said Chetan Devi, a schoolteacher who lives in a town beyond the pass.

“In the winter, you have to risk your life to go to Manali.”

The tunnel will turn an ordeal of several hours, even in the summer, into a brisk 20-minute trip.

Virender Sharma, the chief government official in Kyelang, the main town of the Lahaul Valley, which sits between Manali and Ladakh, said that last winter 21 people died trying to cross the Rohtang Pass on foot.

People were found frozen solid, he said, “sitting with rucksacks on their backs, water bottles at their sides, but they were dead.”

Winters in the Lahaul Valley are a miserable affair, he said.

“During summer, it seems very pleasant,” Mr. Sharma said. “In the winter, there is no light. No vegetables. No mail. Nothing to do in the evening. If there is an emergency, you are practically at the mercy of God.” For the engineers building the tunnel, it is not merely a matter of logistics, but also a matter of national pride.

“Once this tunnel is complete, it will be an engineering marvel for the whole nation,” Mahajan said.

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Hollywood’s Head Hunter

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High Court Stays Proceedings Against Preity, Ness

Actress Pooja Batra, who left Bollywood after marriage, has joined hands with a Hollywood casting company to look for new talent from India. The actress will head the India operations of 'LA Casting, a Los Angeles based company, whose casting credits include films like '500 Days Of Summer', 'Our Family Wedding', Bob Sinclar's 'What a Wonderful World' music video and Celine Dion's 'Taking Chances' world tour video.Pooja got married andleft Bollywood after getting married to Dr Sonu Ahluwalia. She is currently settled in Los Angeles.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Tuesday stayed the proceedings pending against actor Preity Zinta and other three owners of Kings XI Punjab in a lower court in the city. Also, Justice Nirmaljit Kaur has stayed the July 24 bailable warrants issued by a lower court to Preity, Ness Wadia and two others.

The case against the Kings XI Punjab owners was filed by the Registrar of Companies (ROC) office in April, accusing them of not submitting their balancesheet and returns.

Arguing on behalf of Preity, counsel Deepinder Patwalia today contended that the complaint filed against the team was “frivolous and a gross abuse of process of the court”.Patwalia added, “Even otherwise a bare reading of the complaint does not make out a prima facie case against the petitioner (Preity) and does not satisfy the tests that have been repeatedly laid down by the Supreme Court.”

The counsel added that Preity was not in the know of the complaint or any matter pending adjudication against her in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate, Chandigarh.

In the green!

is n b a j n u lio l P i I X m s 3 .

King d at $36 value

Osama Sells in Bollywood

Peepli Live Named Best First Feature Film Aamir Khan's much talked about home production Peepli Live has been named the Best First Feature Film at the recently concluded 31st Durban International Film Festival. Helmed and written by Anusha Rizvi in her first directorial venture, the film is a satire on the farmers' suicides and subsequent media and political response in India.

“South Africa is very lucky for me and I hope that luck extends to Peepli Live as well,” Aamir Khan said from Mumbai today.

“Peepli Live has been very well received at all the major film festivals. It has already been at the Sundance Film Festival and was the first Indian film to be selected for the competition section there. Then we were at the Berlin Film Festival and in the UK; and then at the Durban Film Festival we won the award,” Aamir said.

Well-known for his rejec-tion of the various Indian film industry awards and staying away from them even when his films win multiple awards, Aamir was elated after the film bagged the honour.“I think it’s really wonderful news that I got today.

I refuse to be a doormat to any man. I will never allow anyone to push me around. I am my own mistress.

- Manisha Koirala (Actress)

Deepika Padukone’s Bird Problems Not many can handle a desperate chicken trying to wriggle out of their hands, and actor Deepika Padukone must surely feature on the bottom of that list. Sources on the sets of Deepika’s new movie say that a shot required her to hold a live chicken for some time but she couldn’t hold still for a couple of hours.

“Deepika at first told her director that she will not be able hold a live chicken. It took a lot of convincing on Pradeep Sarkar’s (the director of the film) to get her to hold the bird as it was crucial for the scene,” says the source. After a round of talks with the director, Deepika finally agreed to hold the chicken but there was another problem – the chicken didn’t seem to like her!

“The bird would always flutter its wings and try to wriggle out of

her grip. Deepika would break into a giggle whenever that happened. At times, she let the chicken go and the unit members would have to go running after the chicken to catch it. They would bring the chicken back to Deepika and she would break into a giggle again.

This catch-and-giggle session with the bird continued for quite sometime,” says the source. Af After a few practice rounds, Deepika was finally ready to give the shot. “She managed to learn the ropes after a unit member showed her the correct way to hold the bird.

Deepika then finished the scene in a few takes. At the end of the day, it was a perfect take and Pradeep was happy with the way it turned out,” the source ends.

Volume kam kar, warna Chicken baag jaye gi

A small budget film about a fake Osama bin Laden video has become one of India's biggest box office hits of the year and is about to hit American cinema screens.

Tere Bin Laden (Without You Laden) has grossed more than $2m in India, despite having a first-time director and initially only being shown on 344 screens.

The film tells the story of a young journalist from Pakistan whose repeated attempts to obtain a visa to the US to pursue his media career are thwarted. Finally he resorts to unscrupulous means by making a bogus Bin Laden video to sell to the news channels with disastrous results.

The film’s main character is played by one of Pakistan’s biggest pop stars, Ali Zafar, the first time a Bollywood film has featured a Pakistani actor in a main role. Zafar said he hoped the film would challenge people’s misconceptions about his country. “People in Pakistan, especially the educated youth, are by and large very liberal and desire progression and peace,” he said. “People who have seen pirated copies of the film in Pakistan have loved it and are open to it.”

The film, directed by Abhishek Sharma, has been banned in Pakistan, for fear of provoking attacks on cinemas by Bin Laden sympathisers. Zafar said: “I don’t think the government is willing to take any risks because it’s a very pre-

carious situation. I do understand where they are coming from. If a single incident happens in Britain and the US, you see how perturbed people are and all the sadness that comes with it. In Pakistan, something like this happens almost every other day. Pakistan is a country in a lot of turmoil.”

He denied claims that it made light of terrorism attacks, but insisted it focused on attitudes in the west towards Pakistanis. “As soon as Bin Laden’s name is mentioned, there are issues and perceptions that come with it. But the point of the movie is to comment on that and how fear is generated.

Through humour, some very serious issues can be commented upon.” The film recouped its budget in India alone and has made a further £200,000 in the UK, Middle East and Australia, despite limited releases. That figure is expected to double when the film is released in the US on Friday.

In Bollywood, they call me Chicken Man, In Pakistan, they call me Tom Cruise.. What a life!

Image Source: Family Guy

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Small Towns Becoming Big for Bollywood

Indore, Bijnor and Bhatinda may Films like “I Hate Luv Storys” on campaigns in smaller towns, alnot high up on the list of tourist also focused on the non-metro though it still depends on the kind hotspots in India but Bollywood is market, thus increasing the reach of film likely to attract local audislowly taking note, wooing these of the film. Lead actor Imran ences. smaller towns and extending pub- Khan, Aamir’s nephew, went on “Like ‘Udaan’ was a film set in licity budgets to include local au- roadshows to Indore and Ahmeda- a small town but it would appeal diences. bad where he interacted with audi- only to a urban audience,” says Until recently, the spotlight had always been on bigger cities, with film stars making appearances, tie-ups with local stores and sundry other promotional campaigns.

But with Bollywood eyeing newer audiences to increase revenues, the focus has now Sushant City by the Mittal Group in Bhatinda, Punjab is attracting foreign investors shifted. from America, Canada and Europe, bettering small towns, could be well a reason for “People don’t Bollywood to sit up and take notice of small townships realise that a huge chunk of ticket revenues ences.

Choudhary. comes from smaller towns,” says “That kind of personal conThe potential of smaller towns as Prabhat Choudhary of Spice, the nect helps the audiences to con- new revenue centres for the Bollyfirm which marketed “3 Idiots”, nect with the film better and we wood industry is yet to be realized the biggest hit of 2009. are already seeing the results in fully and not every film producer “There are now at least 60 towns the figures from B-centres,” says is convinced. Publicists still find outside of the metros which have Apoorva Mehta, CEO of Dharma it hard to bring around clients but at least one multiplex.”

Productions, which produced the it is a battle they believe could be Actor Aamir Khan travelled to film. won over time. towns like Bhatinda in Punjab and Publicity budgets of mid-level “If we want to exponentially inChanderi in Madhya Pradesh to film projects may go up to 50 crease our business, that is the only promote his film as part of an on- million rupees and publicists say way to go,” says Choudhary. line search game. these are increasingly being spent

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lifestyle

Indo American News • Friday, August 06 , 2010

Sonam Kapoor Wants to Play Anarkali NEW DELHI: If Sonam Kapoor ever gets the chance to play the role of commoner Anarkali from K. Asif’s magnum opus Mughal-e-Azam, she would love to have Abhishek Bachchan essay the role of prince Salim and his father Amitabh as Mughal emperor Akbar. “I love Mughal-e-Azam. It is one of my favourite films and I would love to play Anarkali’s role if and when such a role is offered to me. I think Abhishek Bachchan would look really good as Salim,” Sonam told reporters here on Tuesday.

And who does she think would be good as Akbar?

“Mr. Amitabh Bachchan, without a doubt!,” said the 25-year-old in a chirpy tone.

The one and only time Sonam and Abhishek have been paired together was in Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra’s Delhi 6 which failed to excite the audiences and rake in the moolah.

Meanwhile, Sonam’s younger sister Rhea Kapoor has a different take on who must be cast as Salim.

“I think Ranbir (Kapoor) would be awesome. He is more shy and mushy and cute.

Abhishek looks as though he can stand up to his father and fight for his love but Ranbir is quite sweet. I go for Ranbir,” said Rhea.

Both the sisters were here along with the team of the film Aisha, releasing Friday.

While Rhea has produced the film, Sonam plays the lead alongside actors like Abhay Deol, Cyrus Sahukar, Arunoday Singh, Ira Dubey, Amrita Puri and Lisa Haydon.

Everyone except Abhay was present at the event as he is busy shooting in Spain for Zoya Akhtar’s next, tentatively titled Zindagi Milegi Na Dobaara.

Aisha is based on Jane Austen’s classic novel Emma.

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Indo American News • Friday, August 06 , 2010

straight up food talk

online edition: www.indoamerican-news.com

First Michelin-Starred Indian Chef Comes to Dubai

By Suryatapa Bhattacharya DUBAI (The National): The first Michelin-starred Indian chef is already known for modernising the cuisine for European palates.

Now he hopes that last Saturday’s opening of the restaurant Zafran in the Mirdif City Centre will do the same for Arabia in both taste and accessibility.

The Zafran is owned by Landmark Group, a retail conglomerate in the Middle East and India, which approached Mr Kochhar, and asked him to recommend a chef whose culinary expertise would put the restaurant up there alongside such endeavours by Marco Pierre White, Gary Rhodes, Gordon Ramsay, Pierre Gagnaire and Nobuyuki “Nobu” Matsuhisa, among others.

Mr Kochhar had no hesitation in naming his protégé, Ankur Chakraborty, and, between them, they have designed a menu which, they say, will destroy the “myths and ethos attached to Indian food – that it is spicy and hot”.

Zafran will be the first Indian “celebrity chef” restaurant in the country and Mr Kochhar said he hoped that his experimentation with menus would “become universal and everyone can eat Indian.

There is spice inclusion. We can’t change the tradition, but authenticity can be played with”.

As a chef, Mr Kochhar said he derived his inspiration from home cooking and styles of food that

are intrinsic to everyday life in It has come to the masses. There After all, everyone knows butter ed at European and Arab families.

India, but uses produce and styles is always a wow factor associated chicken and butter naan but this For example, potted duck is of dishes not necessarily found in with Michelin star. Earlier, you rises above that. This shows that cooked with traditional Indian his home country. Although there had to think 10 times before you Indian food can compete with any spices usually reserved for prewill be additional challenges in the went to one. Now, you can watch a global cuisine on that level.” serving pickles, then put in a jar UAE, where all the food is mostly movie and then eat at such a place.

Mr Chakraborty and Mr Kochhar and served with an orange and imported, it was cumin jelly and a side of crispy still one of the naan bread, which is typically most interesting served soft and fluffy. markets, he said.

The two chefs first met in Abu “The food scene Dhabi after Mr Chakraborty is exciting here,” invited Mr Kochhar to be part he said. “There of Gourmet Abu Dhabi 2008. is a lot happenMr Chakraborty was at the ing. The region helm of Indigo, the Indian reshas grasped food taurant at the Beach Rotana in a big way. One Hotel. of the attractions “He is a culinary guru to is the melange of me,” Mr Chakraborty said of people and culMr Kochhar. tures.”

Soon after, Mr Kochhar inThe unusual lovited Mr Chakraborty to work cation has raised at Benaras, his restaurant eyebrows. While in London, before the latter most top resmoved back to India as an extaurants in the ecutive chef.

UAE are in hoBut, with the opening of tels, opening in Zafran, Mr Chakraborty rea mall is underlinquished his position as an standable, said executive chef and started Gaurav Tandon, working with Mr Kochhar a food critic and Ankur Chakraborty, left, describes Atul Kochhar as a “culinary guru”. The pair, pictured again. host of Eating at the new restaurant Zafran in Mirdif City Centre, are hoping to modernise Indian cuisine “I missed the cooking,” said Out, a televi- for Arabian palates (Pawan Singh / National) Mr Chakraborty. “As a head sion programme chef, it was too administrative on Set TV Asia. He said the ap- This is achievable only in a place insist that their take on contempo- a position. I missed the cooking, proach made haute cuisine more like Dubai.” rary Indian cuisine will be widely shouting, presentation. I missed approachable. “For the first time, Mr Tandon added: “It can stand accepted by the expatriate popu- the action. a Michelin-starred chef’s outlet is up. There is a huge appeal for lation of the country. With larger “I also like the market here. It is in a mall,” Mr Tandon said. “This Indian food. It is one of the first portions and twists on traditional very competitive.” shows this is not just for the rich. choices for anyone to eat out. European fare, the menu is target-

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india

Indo American News • Friday, August 06 , 2010

39

Troops Kill Five Kashmiri Protesters as Unrest Grows ing live ammunition and tear gas town of Kakpora, killing one and protester and injuring seven othto break up the protests against wounding five, the officer said. ers, three critically, he said.

As the news of the killing reached Indian rule.

In another police firing incident, Clashes erupted again Mon- nearby villages, thousands more one person was killed and another day in dozens of places across took to streets and burned a po- wounded in the southern village of the region, Chawalgam, the as protestofficer said. ers defied a Protesters also round-theburned a govclock curernment buildfew. ing and a local At least intelligence oftwo people fice in Budgam, were killed a town to the and anwest of Srinaother three gar, the region’s wounded main city. Four when govprotesters were ernment wounded there, forces fired the officer said. to disperse The other inprotesters juries occurred blocking in clashes elsePhoto: Imran Nissar a highway where in the rein Sangam, Unrest prevailed in Kashmir as protesters torched possessions and busi- gion, the officer a village nesses, 39 police officers 28 military soldiers were injured in the attacks. said. south of A state police Srinagar, said a police officer lice station and scores of vehicles statement said 39 police officers on condition of anonymity as he parked there, the officer said. and 28 paramilitary soldiers also In the northern village of Kralpora, were injured in the daylong clashwas not authorized to talk to reprotesters set a security bunker on es with protesters. porters.

Government forces also fired fire and ransacked a counterinsurIn Srinagar, troops announced on thousands of people holding gency police force camp, the officer over public address systems street protests in the southern said. Troops opened fire, killing one mounted on their vehicles that stern action would be taken against those violating the curfew.

RELIGIOUS SERVICES RELIGIOUS SERVICES

SRINAGAR (CBS): Government troops fired into crowds of protesters Monday as tens of thousands of people across Indiancontrolled Kashmir demonstrated their rejection of India’s rule over the predominantly Muslim region, police said. Five protesters were killed and more than 30 wounded.

The top elected official in Kashmir, Omar Abdullah, met with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi on Monday to discuss defusing the crisis that has caused 38 deaths over seven weeks.

“The need is to end the cycle of violence. Some semblance of normalcy has to be a precursor for any political initiative,” Abdullah told reporters.

The recent unrest in the Himalayan region - divided between India and Pakistan and claimed by both - is reminiscent of the late 1980s, when protests against New Delhi’s rule sparked an armed conflict that has since claimed 68,000 lives, mostly civilians.

Kashmiri Muslims have held massive street protests, attacked security camps with rocks and burned police stations. Government forces have responded by us-

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However, hundreds of protesters came out on the streets in several neighborhoods, chanting “Go India! Go back” and “We want freedom.” Troops fired warning shots and tear gas to disperse the protesters, the police officer said.

Abdullah, in New Delhi, described the situation in the Kashmir valley as worrisome and said that “some anti-social elements are hellbent to foment trouble, mayhem and bloodshed in the valley to satiate their political designs.”

On Sunday, he appealed to people of all shades of opinion, the media and religious heads to join the government in stopping the bloodshed, adding that he and his government cannot do it alone.

Last week, local authorities asked two retired judges to investigate the deaths of protesters, but the move has failed to calm the anger in the Kashmir region, where resistance to rule by predominantly Hindu India is strong.

India and Pakistan have fought two wars over Kashmir since 1947.

Separatist politicians and militants reject Indian sovereignty over Kashmir and want to carve out a separate homeland or merge with predominantly Muslim Pakistan.

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Indo American News • Friday, August 06 , 2010

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pakistan

ONLINE EDITION: www.indoamerican-news.com

Pakistan Floods Affect Up to 2.5 Million, 1,500 Killed PESHAWAR (YN): Fears are growing about outbreaks of disease among 2.5 million people af affected by Pakistan’s worst floods in 80 years after monsoon rains killed up to 1,500 people across the northwest.

Unprecedented rains triggered floods and landslides, sweeping away thousands of homes and devastating farmland in one of Pakistan’s most impoverished regions, already hard hit by years of Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked violence.

Pakistani officials warn that a lack of drinking water is spreading disease, including cholera, and say they are working to medivac people in affected areas. The International Committee of the Red Cross announced that up to 2.5 million people across Pakistan have been affected by the flooding. “In the worst-affected areas, entire villages were washed away without warning by walls of flood water,” it said in a statement, noting that thousands of people “have lost everything.” Officials warned that the death toll was rising.

“There are 774 deaths registered with us, but the total number killed in the flood is 1,200 to 1,500,” Mian Iftikhar Hussain, the information minister for northwest province Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, told a news conference in Peshawar.

Later, Hussain said that the floods had displaced 500,000 people in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and put the figure of people affected by the floods at more than 1.5 million.

Syed Zahir Ali Shah, health minister for the province, said about 100,000 people, mostly children,

The Pakistan Police Force is seen helping the elderly reach to safety.

were suffering from illnesses such as gastroenteritis.

A spokesman for the charity World Vision said teams had visited those affected around the main northwestern city of Peshawar, but that those further north had been inaccessible by road.

“They don’t have drinking water or food. They said there have been some visible signs of waterborne diseases,” Muhammad Ali told AFP, warning that the death toll was likely to rise further as aid workers reached more areas.

At a camp set up by the army for around 640 families in Nowshera, women and children ran after vehicles bringing food and water, pushing and shouting.

“We are getting patients with trauma, gastroenteritis, skin diseases and dehydration,” doctor Shoaib Mohammad told AFP at a small 20-bed mobile clinic.

People at the camp said there were no proper latrines or bathrooms and that the only respite from the crushing heat was plastic hand fans. Most of them fled in the clothes they were wearing and many children roamed around naked.

“They throw food at us as if we are animals and not humans,” one

man, Ilyas Khan, told AFP, complaining there was no proper system of distribution.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon pledged aid of up to 10 million dollars for those affected by the crisis, saying he was “deeply saddened” by the floods. The US government announced a 10-million-dollar aid pledge and has rushed helicopters and boats to Pakistan. China has also promised 1.5 million dollars, according to the official Xinhua news agency. Britain also pledged eight million dollars Monday to help the victims of flooding.

Anwer Kazmi, a spokesman for Pakistan’s largest charity, the Edhi Foundation, said at least 1,256 people had been killed.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister Amir Haider Hoti said the floods were “unprecedented”.

Pakistan’s meteorological ser service forecast rains of up to eight inches in the next weeks across the northwest, Pakistani-administered Kashmir, the central province of Punjab and Sindh in the south.

The National Disaster Management Authority said it had rescued more than 28,000 people in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and nearly 30,000 homes had been damaged across the country.In addition to those killed in the northwest, local officials said 53 people died in Pakistani Kashmir, 26 in the southwestern province of Baluchistan and 49 in Punjab, Pakistan’s most populous province.

The southern province of Sindh went on red alert, spokesman Mazhar Siddiqui said, fearing that 150,000 people could be displaced by expected floods there.

Pakistan Summons UK Envoy Following Terror Dispute ISLAMABAD (YN): Pakistan called the comments “an immature summoned the top British offi- reaction from an immature politicial in the country Monday amid cian.”

Britain’s Foreign Office cona diplomatic spat over comments

by Britain’s leader suggesting the firmed that Thomson and Qureshi South Asian nation exports terror- discussed Cameron’s comments ism.

British Prime Minister David Cameron’s comments were amplified by the fact that he made them while visiting Pakistan’s nuclear rival, India. The two countries have fought three wars since they gained independence from Britain over 60 years ago.

Photo: Fareed Khan Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi Monday.

But the British prime minister told British High Commissioner Adam Thomson “that terrorism has no plans to back down from was a global issue and had to be his remarks, said a spokeswoman ofdealt with by all countries in a for Cameron’s Downing Street of spirit of cooperation, rather than fice.

Pakistan insists that it has done putting the entire onus on any one more than any other country to country.”

Cameron, who took office in combat terrorism, sending the May, said last week that Pakistan army to fight Taliban and al-Qaimust not be allowed to “promote da-linked militants within its borthe export of terror whether to In- ders and cooperating closely with dia, whether to Afghanistan or to Western intelligence agencies.

But its spy agency has long been anywhere else in the world.”

The remarks outraged Pakistan accused of secretly aiding Afghanofficials. Wajid Shamsul Hasan, istan’s Taliban and other Islamist Pakistan’s ambassador to Britain, militants.

The diplomatic row prompted Pakistan’s powerful spy chief, Lt. Gen. Ahmed Shujaa Pasha, to call off a trip to London planned for this week.

But Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari ignored domestic calls for him to cancel his trip to meet Cameron in Britain. The British prime minister planned to discuss his remarks when he meets with Zardari at Chequers, Cameron’s residence northwest of London, said his spokeswoman.

“After meeting with the president, we hope the British government will change their perspective,” Pakistani Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira said. Cameron’s comments have sparked protests in Pakistan, including one by an Islamist group in the southern city of Karachi where demonstrators burned an effigy of Cameron.

The prime minister’s spokeswoman said Cameron was aware of the incident, adding “clearly people have the right to protest.”

Britain has “very good, strong relations” with Pakistan over a range of issues, including counterterrorism and development aid, she said.

INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, AUGUST 06 , 2010 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM

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Vacation planning

Indo American News • Friday, August 06 , 2010

Why Spend $300 A Night For A Hotel?

Alternative Solutions for Summer Trips FLORENCE (CNN Money): No wonder, as both parties get el-Club.net ($65 to $80 a year) has Book a hotel in a popular destina- free lodging. The catch: It can be members ages 40 and up in 49 tion and you know what to expect: tricky to find someone who wants states and 52 countries. Those who a bed, a mini-fridge, and a big bill to vacation in your town when you join do so not only for the savat checkout. In Europe’s big cities, want to travel. ings but to meet people, so hosts for example, you can easily spend anywhere from $150 to $300 a night (hotels in Florence average $205).

But why spend so much, when you can rent a place, swap houses, or arrange a home stay for a lot less? With these options, you’ll also get more space, and the chance to live like a local. Hurry, there’s still time to grab a deal before summer’s end.

The deal: The soft real estate market has resulted in a flood of vacation rentals. But how much -- if anything -- you’ll save over a hotel varies by location, so check prices.

Generally, stays of at least seven nights yield the lowest rates. (In London, a typical hotel runs about $200, but we found a one-bedroom in a Latest trends reveal that South Asian couples, young at heart trendy area for $124 a night for love to travel different parts of the world. This studio aparta week.) You’ll see bigger sav- ment in Florence, Italy can be rented for just $100 per night as ings if you are traveling with a can other places at exotic travel locations around the globe group and had planned to book multiple hotel rooms.

Where to look: HomeExchange. charge just $20 to $30 a night to Where to look: HomeAway. com ($48 for a three-month mem- cover costs. There’s no obligation com. It offers the largest inventory bership). This large (37,000 list- to host, but you’ll be listed in the of rentals -- more than 215,000 -- ings) site lets you search for swaps directory. and great tools for sorting through based on date and location. For For more selection without the them. You’re a procrastinator? best results, make arrangements a club aspect, try Airbnb.com. Rates Visit VacationRentals.com for few months ahead. vary, and you’ll pay a 6% to 12% last-minute deals.

Avoid problems: Look for fee, but a search in New York City Avoid problems: Ask the owner homes that have been exchanged turned up a private room and bath for references, and contact those before, and ask for references. for $105 a night (vs. $231, on avfolks before booking, says Sarah Chat by phone with swap mates, erage, for a hotel).

Schlichter of IndependentTravel- and iron out details in writing -Avoid problems: Interview the er.com. Get terms spelled out in a for example, is it okay for them to hosts (“Will we share a bath?” contract. And aim for a rental that use your car?

“Do you have kids?”) in advance. lets you pay by credit card or PayBe a guest The sites themselves offer some Pal so you can dispute charges if The deal: Plenty of regular folks protections as well: With Affordthe place isn’t up to snuff. are opening spare bedrooms to able Travel Club, you don’t pay Trade houses travelers at rates well below those until you arrive, so if you don’t The deal: Home exchanges, in of hotels. Think B&B but on a like what you see, you can back which two families swap pads, are smaller scale. out. Air bnb will help you find anan increasingly popular option.

Where to look: AffordableTrav- other place if your room is not as

Babulbhai

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sports

Indo American News • Friday, August 06 , 2010

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Middle Order Props Sri Lanka Rockers Beat Rattlers to Win TCC Spring Tourney COLOMBO (Cricinfo): Sri Lanka batted determinedly to gain control of the deciding Test in conditions that promised more parity with bat and ball after the run-fest in the previous game at the SSC. In a much improved bowling performance, the Indian seamers got decent movement off the deck and Pragyan Ojha extracted both turn and bounce to often unsettle the Sri Lankan batsmen. But Thilan Samaraweera, backed up by Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara, kept the hosts on track in their attempt to post an intimidating score on a surface that looks good to produce an outright result.

India lost the toss for the third straight time in the series, but the signs that events would transpire more favourably for them were evident early in the innings. Both Ishant Sharma and Abhimanyu Mithun derived movement off the deck, beating the bat by consistently bowling at a length and drawing the batsmen forward. The visitors were deprived of their most experienced bowler, Harbhajan Singh, but Ojha troubled the batsmen by varying his lengths, getting the ball to grip and surprising the batsmen with disruptive turn.

Mishra was less effective, his variations in flight and pace and relatively lesser spin failing to measure up to what his partner managed. He doled out full tosses, bowled six no-balls and was warned twice by the umpires for stepping on the danger area.

Barring opener Tharanga Paranavitana, who edged Ishant early in the innings, the Sri Lankan batsmen fought hard to combat a revived bowling attack. Tillakaratne Dilshan overcame his initial rustiness against Ishant to adopt a more restrained approach, content in leaving the tricky deliveries outside off and only latching on when the ball was pitched up or

Tillakaratne Dilshan carves the ball on his way to 41.

hurled too wide. Kumar Sangakkara was aggressive against the spinners, stepping out to launch them over long-on and open up spaces to pinch the singles. Samaraweera was equally adept with his footwork, seizing the lengths to adapt accordingly while Jayawardene, during his otherwise calm vigil, looked the most vulner vulnerable against the turning ball.

Samaraweera andAngelo Mathews saw off the new ball with little difficulty before bad light prompted an early finish, the pressure being on India to strike early and contain the damage on the second day.

Houston India Defeat Memorial Club

HICC defeated MCC by one wicket in a thrilling low scoring game played at Paul Rushing Park.

MCC batted first and were dismissed for just 185. Rafey (41), Iftikhar (27) Omar (22) and Jermaine (36). HICC bowling: Ankit, Kuldeep, Rahul, Chaitanya and Kishan took 2 wickets each.

It was not an easy victory for HICC as they lost their openers quickly but rest of the players played as a team and managed to clinch the thriller by one wicket. (Ankit (35), Amir (47) and Chaitanya (35).

Usman Shuja 4 for 26 was the star bowler from MCC’s bowling attack.

Jermaine took 3 for 32.

Shiv Sagar

HOUSTON: The Rockers Cricket Club (RCC) won the TCC Spring 2010 Taped Ball Cricket Tournament after thrilling 18 runs victory over the Rattlers on Saturday, 31st of July.

The stunning victory added a glorious chapter to the RCC’s cricketing history in Houston who are also the finalists in last 3 consecutive tournaments organized by the Saturday Cricket League (SCL) in Houston.

Santanu Panja, Keyur Shah, and Ranjit Nair performed excellently and simplified the path for this victory for RCC. Ranjit lifted the man of the match trophy for his all-round performance scored 24 runs and took 3 important wickets. The RCC men in whites looked determined to kept their date with the TCC Spring 2010 cricket fest and the glorious trophy at the Matzke ground.

Team RCC won the toss and went in to bat first against Rattlers and a blistering knock from Santanu, Keyur and Ranjit saw the RCC scores posted to 144 in 20 overs making the chase quite difficult for the Rattlers.

Santanu hammered 30 runs in 22 balls at the start of the innings and Keyur (37 runs) and Ranjit (24 runs) scored sensibly and added blistering 60 runs in 42 balls recovering RCC from a difficult situation in the middle taking the team score from 61/5 in 10 overs to 120/6 in 17 overs. RCC ended in 144/8 in 20 overs.

Rattlers openers Satish Sankaran and Vinod Nair responded equally well to RCC’s challenge and scored quick 31 runs in the first 4 overs when Johnson stepped into the RCC’s attack and got Satish out after 2 consecutive boundary hit by Satish.

Vinod continued with his role and kept rotating for the Rattlers until he got out bowled by Ranjit and later Mahesh Kumar smashed couple of quick boundaries and a six to bring

Team Rockers includes Sid, Ozy, Sahil, Santanu, Ramesh, Moon, Johnson, Keyur, Sanjeev, Trilok and Ranjit.

some excitement back into the game.

Despite of some good hard hitting by Mahesh, Rattlers still needed to score @ 12 runs an over in last 4 overs and they finally fell short of 18 runs in their chase.

The story of this wonderful game cannot go without special mention of the professional and quality umpir umpiring done by Nataraj Rao (known as Nattu) and Prabhakar at the Matzke.

These two are one of the most experienced umpires of the TCC. Finally, at the Matzke, the stunning game was followed with a well organized Award distribution ceremony and the grand lunch arranged by the TCC President and the Tournament Organizer Surya Saladi. The Chief guest for this event was Mr. Nadir Shah, a veteran cricketer and HCL administrator who has worked tirelessly to promote cricket in Houston.

Mr. Shah is actively involved in organizing winter league for more than a decade in Houston. Mr. Nanda Kumar from TCC honored Mr. Shah for his services by presenting a plaque

at the event.

The tournament trophies were awarded to the team captains (Trilok Chandak - RCC, and Senthil Arcot - Rattlers) by Mr. Shah. Trilok and Johnson both lifted the winners trophies together for RCC. Also, the players of both winner and the runner up teams were each awarded the trophies by TCC. Best Batsman (Mohan Palla- Chargers - 146 runs), Best Bowler (Johnson Smith - RCC - 19 wkts), Best Wicket Keeper (Yogesh Patil - Chargers - 14 dismissals), and Best Fielder (Mohan Palla - Chargers - 7 dismissals) awards were also distributed by TCC. The man of the match awards for the 2 semifinals (Ramesh Marri - for RCC vs Spartans, and Senthil Arcot - for Rattlers vs Chargers) and the finals (Ranjit Nair - RCC) were also distributed during the occasion. The announcement of the next TCC taped ball tournament was also done by the TCC president Surya Saladi at the same occasion.

Houston Riders Defeat TCC Warriors by 7 Wickets Another low scoring game played at Paul Rushing Park(S) between Riders and Warriors.

Warriors batted first and were dismissed for just 120, was it the heat factor or Riders’ fierce bowling attack?

UCC opening pair Anand K (23) and Anand S (24) gave a good opening stand with a 60 run partnership but

things did not go as planned and UCC were suddenly collapsed.

Riders Bowling: Kashif was the best bowler, he took 3 for 16, Ali, Salman and Sameer took 2 wickets each. It was expected that Riders will win the game handsomely. Of course they did not disappoint anybody and managed to reach the target in merely

18 overs and won the game by seven wickets. Jawad Rizvi (51) was the star batsman with his third fifty of the season.

Warriors Bowling: Navaratnam, Madhu and Singh took 1 wicket each.

Article contributed by Raheel Khan www.cricketusamag.com

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