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Friday, November 26 , 2010

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Carmelo’s Restaurant: Italian Cuisine Meets Youthful Exuberance

By Jacob David HOUSTON: The heart of Italian tradition is to stay forever young.

This youthful exuberance is reflected in the warm, friendly smile and demeanor of Carmelo Mauro, owner of two restaurants, one on Memorial Drive and the other in Austin. With a deep, earthy Italian accent, he tells me how he began his life as a restaurateur.

This restaurant, Carmelo’s, today is a reflection of his world wide experience, an expanded version of its former self, revealing deep inner rooms for private parties, with seating for 10 to 150 guests.

Soft classics by Tony Bennett and

Frank Sinatra play in the background as the wait staff bustle about in the front restaurant space serving their patrons.

The restaurant is laid out like an Italian village with terraced slopes, a simulation of Italian homes on wall cutouts with windows that light up at night, some turned off to suggest that people have gone to bed, Italian paintings and art work that represent other nations. There is the piazza - the town square reminiscent of where people often gather to converse, party, laugh, and get together to celebrate family events. continued on page

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Carmelo Mauro, Owner of Carmelo’s, believes in deep cultural roots that enhances Italian fare

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Carmelo’s Restaurant - Italian Cuisine Meets Youthful Exuberance continued from page

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That is the secret to staying young forever. Carmelo’s captures this Italian way of life and more. The leaning clock tower chimes softly every half hour and is flanked by street lamps with an antique met-

With 350 diners who can be seated at one time, this restaurant is still cozy at every level. There are about 350 wine selections that features wines from Italy, Israel, Napa valley, France, New Zealand, Australia, Spain, Canada,

The clock bell tower at the town square inside Carmelos is reminiscent of the Leaning Tower of Pisa

al brushed finish. On one wall are over arching lamps that reminds you of an intimate town square setting.

Inside, there is the Hall of Fame where photos of famous celebrities adorn several walls, showing the history of the restaurant. One of the most noted celebrity photos is of a young man, Raj Bhavsar.

He is the 2008 Olympic gymnast and medalist who frequently visits Carmelo’s with his family, who celebrated his Olympic medal win at Carmelo’s.

Carmelo Mauro, a long time family friend of the Bhavsars says “Raj Bhavsar is a dedicated young man who has strong support from his family. I am proud that Raj won in the Olympics.

He is like a son to me. He has made me and his family proud.

Raj Bhavsar helped put India on the map. His win helped me discover a new world that is India. I am very fortunate to have met Raj Bhavsar and his family. He is an asset to the Houston community and to the world at large.” Carmelo who saw Raj Bhavsar grow from a child is proud that he is a gymnast champ today. The Hall of Fame has photos of other notable celebrities, Dolly Parton who helped Carmelo raise funds for charity, Morgan Fairchild, Julio Iglesias, and Walter Cronkite, the television pioneer and journalist.

Texas and South America as well as classic Organic wines.

The restaurant serves authentic Italian fare - all mildly spiced.

(You have to custom order a spicy dish.) Pollo Parmigiana - finely breaded chicken breast, topped with tomato sauce and Mozzarella, served with spaghetti topped with fresh chopped basil; the Pasta Primavera - features gluten free corn pasta topped with strips of zucchini, squash, cherry tomatoes, fresh basil and Parmesan cheese; the Seafood Risotto - soft boiled rice in seafood broth, with a side catch of ocean freshness featuring clams, mussels, in their own juices, succulent jumbo shrimp, curled, tail-on, stuffed with crab meat. This is usually served with a Chianti Classico wine that is straight from the heart of Central Tuscany, Italy, and has a deep garnet hue that is reminiscent of red and black cherries with a hint of earthy spiciness.

For thanksgiving, Carmelo’s is having a special turkey feast with fresh brussels sprouts, chestnuts, broccoli and stuffing with traditional Italian flair. Make your family thanksgiving memorable by visiting Carmelo’s.

Located in the Energy Corridor executive meetings are a daily affair at the restaurant. Shell, Conoco, BP, Schlumberger and others gather in the private rooms for

business meetings and host dinners for well deserving employees.

Families host rehearsal dinners for weddings, wedding parties, anniversaries and re-unions. The City of Houston, well-known politicians, and charity organizations also hold regular fund raising dinners at Carmelo’s.

Carmelo Mauro started his journey as a restaurateur at his village school Scuola Alberghiera Di Taormina; Taormina, his village in Sicily, Italy. He learnt how to become a chef, purchasing, front desk, sales and service from grade 6 - 12 going to professional school right from when he was a kid. He has traveled the world extensively with 2 year stopovers in Germany, England, Geneva, the Middle East - Tehran, Beirut, and Baghdad, the Congo, Bermuda, and the Cayman Islands. With his wide experience, he has opened a business school for restaurants that features a 50-seat restaurant at Del Valle High School in Austin. It deals with the complete business aspect of running a restaurant successfully. His experience has allowed him to serve as the President of the Texas Restaurant Association. “Today, we as a restaurant are more conscious of the needs of our guest. We have embraced vegetarian and vegan styles of cooking. We serve gluten free dishes. We are aware of food allergens. The restaurant industry is constantly evolving.

We like to be at the forefront of all developments.” Carmelo says flashing a smile.

Carmelo’s can cater its best Italian dishes for family or business events with a complete line of chafing dishes, cutlery and staff for value prices. Do remember to custom order each dish to the level of spice intensity you desire.

You can also check out their wide selections of wines from all over the world that is sure to please your guests.

There’s an another reason that women may wish to visit the restaurant. Regular groups of 10 or 12 ladies gather every morning to have brunch and play bridge, thought by many to be the greatest card game of all with its high level challenge. But you have to call ahead and book your tables for playing bridge. Play and Dine!

Bon Appetit!

Ornate antique lamps, Italian city walls and arches, a city cut out of terraced slopes accentuate Carmelos’ Italian ambiance, deep inner and private party rooms all focus on intimate settings to elevate the dining experience

Carmelo’s is located at 14795 Memorial Drive, Houston, TX 77079, 281-531-0696. www.carmelosrestaurant.com.

Carmelo’s has an eco-friendly kitchen with rubber floors that is recycled from old tires making it free from use of fatigue mats

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India Approves New Airport for Mumbai NEW DELHI (AFP) – India gave the green light on Monday for the construction of a second international airport in the commercial capital Mumbai, a two billion dollar project that was ten years in the making.

“Today, formally the environmental clearance has been given to the Navi Mumbai Project,” Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh told a press conference in New Delhi.

The massive new $20 billion airport will be situated in Navi Mumbai or New Mumbai, a booming suburb 50 kilometres (30 miles) southeast of the centre of the city of 18 million people.

Environmentalists had opposed the project on the grounds that it would upset the delicate ecological balance of nearby protected tidal wetland areas.

Under the initial plans, thousands of hectares of mangrove trees and shrubs, which act as a natural buffer against the sea and coastal erosion, would have been removed and waterways re-routed .

“If they want, they can start construction of the airport from today,” Ramesh said. “From an environmental point of view, this has been a very major compromise that has been reached.”

Ramesh said the compromise would save part of the mangroves

and avoid moving one of the rivers. A hill in the area will still be flattened, however, he said.

An official in the environment ministry told AFP that the project might still face a court challenge from activists and it is also likely to run into opposition from local villagers who fear being moved without adequate compensation.

The facility is expected to handle up to 40 million passengers a year by the time it is fully operational in 2030.

Its approval marks a victory for business leaders, who have long campaigned for the new airport, the first phase of which is scheduled to open in 2012.

They had warned that investment in India’s wider economy could be hit if there were further delays to an airport that would service Mumbai, the country’s financial capital and home to the Bollywood film industry.

The development of major infrastructure projects in India is slow due to complicated administrative procedures, labyrinthine legal processes and strict environmental and land rights regulations.

The government has also promised to amend the existing law for the forced acquisition of land for public purposes, passed in 1994, which is seen as critical to speed up large public infrastructure projects.

Environmentalists in Mumbai termed the new airport proposal “a destructive project” and said they will continue their fight to save the mangroves.

“By giving the permission for the airport, the government has now opened the entire coastline for development projects. This will be disastrous,” said Stalin Dayanand from Vanashakti (Forest Power), a non-government organisation in Mumbai.

“Mangroves protect Mumbai. We cannot remove them,” he said.

Appearing at the press conference with Ramesh, Aviation Minister Praful Patel said the ministries would look into the environmental issues.

“It is our concern and joint responsibility to address issues of the environment,” Patel said, adding that in reducing the damage to the ecosystem, aviation safety had not been compromised.

Passenger numbers at the existing Mumbai International Airport have increased three-fold since 2005, reflecting an overall increase in demand for air travel among the country’s emerging middle classes.

The airport is nearing capacity and can not expand further as it is hemmed in on three sides by slums.

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From California Orange to Nagpur Orange

Why is it that the moment we are in the midst of a foreigner we start disparaging our country?

Why the anxiety to appear knowledgeable?

By Vikram Limsay I came across a commercial on the virtues of a certain product metaphorically comparing all its goodness to a “California orange” and, at the same time, urging us to be wary of cheap imitations which were being compared with a “Nagpur orange”!

Now, I am quite sure that both varieties are equally good and that God who made it all would have never imagined such a temporal comparison. But it got me thinking about this unique Indian habit of disparaging everything that is Indian, especially when compared with something for foreign or more so in front of a foreigner.

Unique because, I have not seen this manifest in anyone from Polynesia to Central Africa.

If there were a Top 10 list of the most annoying habits of Indians, I am sure this would find a slot somewhere near the top.

Observe a group of people with at least one foreigner in its midst and you will know what I mean. The nationality of the foreigner is not important — from Alaska to Auckland or from Zagreb to Zanzibar, the essential condition being that he be a non-Indian. The setting can be a social do, an office party or even a casual group of strangers at the airport or inside a train compartment.

Now observe the flow of conver conversation. The pleasantries over, a few members or at least one of them (we shall call him the protagonist)

takes upon himself, with gusto, the responsibility of making the foreigner “feel at home”.

As a first step, the protagonist lets the foreigner know that he is familiar with his country by making small talk like, “when I was in your country” or

ence to things or places in that country about which even the foreigner has no clue! It is like asking an Indian from Guwahati, “Have you ever gone to the corner shop at the entrance of Chor Bazaar in Mumbai?”

Genuinely impressed by now, the

“your team did well.” We, Indians, are generally aware and that helps.

The objective of this small talk is to let the foreigner know that he is among knowledgeable people and not in the company of some ignorant cavemen.

As the conversation gathers momentum, the protagonist wants to make the guest even more comfortable. Encouraged, he now goes to the next level — making a vague refer refer-

foreigner makes a few polite refer references to India. But the protagonist will have none of that. He now launches into cruise mode where he wants to showcase his closeness to his foreign friend to all. He becomes overfriendly and starts praising almost everything and anything about that country. Metaphorically, he launches into how good is the colour, shape, size, taste, skin, seed and pulp of the ‘California orange’!

It is all right up to this point. There is nothing wrong in praising something.

It’s quite healthy, actually. But here is where he tips over. He brings in the “Nagpur orange” in the conversation. He now starts a diatribe against his own country! Critical of almost everything that is to do with India, he takes this act of selfdeprecation, especially in front of a foreigner, to an art form.

Never mind if the total size and population of that country is hardly half that of a single municipal ward in an average Indian city. Yet, according to the protagonist, India can learn a thing or two about managing its anthropological complexities from that country. Or, never mind that country has been under an oppressive and fanatical religious monarchy or a malevolent dictatorship for the last 100 years and that its citizens don’t know a voting booth from a public toilet; yet, India can learn a few things about democracy and governance from that great country.

Or, so what if that country has been racially prejudiced or has been shamelessly colonising or repeatedly puncturing the earth’s surface with dastardly weapons of war. So what?

India should take some lessons in diplomacy from that country!

Mind you, by now a few drinks have taken their effect and the pro-

tagonist’s accent has changed. It is a heady mix of his native English, wannabe Hollywood drawl and inebriated slur... and his attempt at disparaging his own country in order to gain acceptance of his newfound friend is in a mellifluous flow!

And the irony of all this is that the foreign guest is flummoxed! He doesn’t know what hit him. Hadn’t he heard and read so many good things about this great country? Isn’t that the reason he came here to experience it himself? In fact, he likes the “Nagpur orange”! Why do we do this? Why is it that the moment we are in the midst of a foreigner we start disparaging our country? Why the anxiety to appear knowledgeable? Why the hunger to belong at any cost? Is it some deepseated inferiority complex? Why this lack of self-respect?

Agreed, the “California orange” may look good, but peel the “Nagpur orange” and inside the rustic and pockmarked exterior you will experience the most heavenly, sweet and juicy pulp that we have liked since childhood. So let us not insult it.

And even those obsessed with the “California orange,” in the end, despite all the insults, are sure to succumb to the “Nagpur orange.”

PS: Probably the “Orange” adver advertisement turned out be a “Lemon” and was withdrawn! I don’t see it anymore. I am sure at least some Indians found it annoying! Hindu

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INdIA

Indo American News • Friday, November 26 , 2010

Spyker Cars to Make India Debut Along With Bugatti, Aston Martin

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Spyker C Zagato a NEW DELHI (ET): The car that sizzled with Sharon Stone in Hollywood thriller ‘Basic Instinct 2’, Spyker is headed for India, all set to enter here by next year.

The Netherlands-based Spyker Cars has already short listed potential partners to import its vehicles and two dealerships are expected to come in the National Capital and Mumbai.

“Spyker is always looking for the right partners in viable markets for the brand and we are discussing with a number of potential partners in many new markets, India included,” the Sales Department of the luxury sports car maker told PTI in an e-mailed response.

The company has conducted a market study and held talks with possible partners in the National Capital and Mumbai, although nothing has been finalized yet.

“Spyker has shortlisted the potential partners and we will announce the new retail partner when the arrangements are finalised. It is our intention to launch the Spyker product in 2011,” the company said.

Even though the company did not share possible price tags of the models, the marques with handcrafted body panels will go up to

several crores. For instance the C8 Spyder Aileron is tagged at 2,20,000 pounds in London.

Globally, Spyker sells models like iconic C8 series, one of which was driven by Sharon Stone in the ‘Basic Instinct 2’. Other models include LM85, C12 Zagato and D8 Pekingto-Paris.

The company may not have opened retail sales in India yet, but Spyker Cars is not new to India. In 2007, UB Group promoter Vijay Mallya and Dutch entrepreneur Jan & Michiel Mol had jointly acquired the Spyker Formula One team, which was later renamed as Force India .

Recently the Indian luxury car market has attracted many global firms into the country with their latest cars.

Last month, Volkswagen Group company Bugatti Automobiles launched its super premium sports car ‘Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport’ with price starting at Rs 16 crore, the most expensive car to hit the Indian roads so far.

UK-based luxury carmaker Aston Martin was also understood to be gearing up to launch its cars in India and tied up with Infinity Cars to open the first showroom in Mumbai. The cars are likely to cost up to 400,000 pounds.

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“Raja has promised me that he will not do anything in a hurry. ”

India On Sale: What the Tapes of Lobbyist Nira Radia Reveal NEW DELHI prosecution.

(Outlook): India, The reaction of the the republic, is now Congress leadership is on sale. Participatsurprising since all these ing in the auction is tapes were available to a group of powerful Prime Minister Manindividuals, corpomohan Singh as well rate houses, lobas Pranab Mukherjee byists, bureaucrats and P. Chidambaram in and journalists. their capacity as finance Just before the 2G ministers in the two UPA spectrum allocagovernments. Regardtion scam became less of the existence of breaking news, the the tapes, the Congress Income-Tax deleadership agreed to partment was busy reinduct Raja with the tapping the phones telecom portfolio into of Niira Radia, a the UPA-II cabinet. lobbyist whose cli- There was not one pie Niira Radia didn’t have her hand in nor any The tapes also paint ents, the Tatas and area—media, corporate or government. a dismal picture of Mukesh Ambani’s how everything—from separate statements, decried the use Reliance Industries cabinet berths to natural Ltd, have interests in several key of the label “lobbyist” and termed resources—is now available for the sectors such as telecom, petroleum their conversation with Radia as part right price. The now controversial of their normal journalistic duties. 2G allocation was just one of the and natural gas.

Radia’s conversations show how Other journalists such as Prabhu many manipulations orchestrated by even cabinet berths can be decided Chawla, G. Ganapathy Subramani- players in high places. There are by this select oligarchy. Her inter- am and M.K. Venu also had elaborate conversations on civil aviation with face with discredited (now former) conversations with Radia on issues 1980-batch IAS officer Sunil Arora, telecom minister A. Raja, DMK mp ranging from telecom to the Ambani publicist Suhel Seth and many others Kanimozhi and Ranjan Bhattacha- brothers’ dispute on gas pricing. At which have not been included here. rya, the foster son-in-law of former times they proffer advice and trade The worst fallout, however, is that prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, information. it has besmirched the hitherto ‘fair’ The more than 104 conversations name of Prime Minister Manmohan shows how she successfully lobbied for several cabinet berths. The involving Radia that were tapped by Singh, who agreed to take Raja back transcripts suggest that journalists the I-T department expose a systemic in the same ministry that now stands Vir Sanghvi and Barkha Dutt also rot. These tapes are now annexures in exposed in the biggest scam in indelobbied for Raja with the Congress a Supreme Court petition by lawyer pendent India, despite knowledge of party. However, both journalists, in Prashant Bhushan seeking Raja’s the tapes.

Sleaze Recorded by IT Sleuths “When it came to spectrum, they went to Raja and paid him a bribe and got spectrum allocated.”

“Uddhav’s already taken funding from both groups. I’d suggest, tell Krishna Kumar to talk to Uddhav.”

“Otherwise I will tell them to tell Uddhav to go after them. I don’t think Congress will do much.”

“I believe Maran has given about 600 crores to Dayalu, Stalin’s mother.”

Mere client Tatas bhi bahut beneficiary thhe (in the 2G spectrum allocation).”

“Senthil, Rahul Joshi, maine donon ki le li. You can’t run stories against my clients and get away with it.”

“I have a note, no, a whole dossier, on Praful Patel on the last five years jisme ye poora aspect hai.”

“Inka pichhle paanch saal mein yahi attempt to tha, inko destroy karo, donon careers ko.”

“Narendra Modi, Arun Jaitley, Ananth Kumar, Venkaiah Naidu, ye sab coterie hain na of Advani.”

“Naresh wants to kill it (Air India), Vijay wants to kill it and Praful is not really interested.”

“Raja has promised me that he will not do anything in a hurry. I made Kani speak to him as well. ” “The solicitor general, Gopal Subramaniam, I am gonna go and brief him. He hates them.”

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South Asia News of the Diaspora

India a Natural Ally of U.S., Says Pentagon After Obama Visit

WASHINGTON: Within a fortnight of the highly successful India visit of President Barack Obama, a top Pentagon official has said identified India as a “natural ally” of the US with which the defence relationship is getting stronger.

The state of the defense relationship with India is “very positive and very strong and getting stronger,” Michele Flournoy, the undersecretary of defense for policy, said in an interview to the American Forces Press Service.

India, she said, is the second-most populated nation in the world after China and a natural ally to the US. The Indians, Flournoy said, want to cooperate with the US. The Indian military frequently conducts exercises with the United States and there is a vital exchange programme between the two nations.

“We’re trying to move into areas where we can be more cooperative operationally - like maritime security or humanitarian assistance and disaster relief,” she said, adding, “They have a lot of capability and a lot of well-trained people and they are great partners. We are looking to grow that relationship over time.”

Meanwhile, she said Chinese have used its military relationship with the US more as a “rheostat” and her country would like to have a military-tomilitary relationship with Beijing that is as comprehensive and collaborative as they have on diplomatic and economic issues.

“The Chinese have used the military relationship more as a rheostat. It’s on when everything is happy,” she said.

“When we make a defensive arms sale to What came out of the talks between President Obama and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Taiwan, for example, is that India is ready to take on global challenges, reflected by Obama’s “India has emerged,” the rheostat is turned speech, asking for a UN seat, saying that with a greater role comes greater responsibility down. Or if the president receives the Dalai Lama return to military discussions with counterpart in December - General in the White House, the rheostat is the United States, Flournoy said, Ma Xiaotian - to Washington and noting US and Chinese officials sat we’ll have a very comprehensive turned down,” said Flournoy.

Military-to-military relations have down in Hawaii to discuss maritime and, we hope, candid and productive instead gone on and off, as if they security and safety issues. The set on talks on defense policy,” she were controlled by a dimmer switch, undersecretary said she was pleased said. with those discussions.

The talks, she said, will pave the she observed.

“I’m going to be welcoming my way for defence secretary Robert M But the Chinese now are ready to

Gates’ trip to China early next year.

The talks also are seen as a conduit for a full calendar of US-Chinese military-to-military exchanges and exercises in 2011.

US officials want to separate the US-China military-to-military relationship from the ups and downs of policy agreements and disagreements.

“Transparency and dialogue and de-confliction and sharing of information are so important, given that we both are out in the world operating in Asia,” Flournoy said.

“We want to make sure that we are in dialogue, avoiding any possibility of miscalculation, providing greater transparency so there isn’t misunderstanding about what one or the other is doing,” she said.

Flournoy wants the talks next month to be consistent, continuing, and candid. She also wants the relationship to be strong enough that if there are differences, then the nations’ leaders can talk about them.

She said the US would base success in the talks on the degree of candor and the quality of the discussions.

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Indo American News • Friday, November 26, 2010

food tAlk

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How Do You Plan to Enjoy Thanksgiving?

A day where the early pilgrims gave thanks to the Lord for a good year of bountiful harvest and plenty, the day was marked by feasting on an oven baked wild turkey and freshly cooked produce - corn, cranberry sauce, bread and wine. Thanksgiving is a tradition that is about two centuries old here in the United States of America. Today, the wild turkey is domesticated and farm raised, you do not have to go out to hunt the bird anymore.

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The First Thanksgiving celebrated in the USA - Painting by Jean Leon Jerome Ferris (1863-1930)

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1000TigersKilledinContinued Illegal Trade in Past Decade

By Louise Murray (ET): More than 1000 tigers have been reduced to skin and bone in continued illegal trade over the last decade according to Traffic, the wildlife trade monitoring organisation. Their report was released on the eve of a tiger summit to be hosted by Vladimir Putin in St Petersburg next week which will be attended by representatives from all tiger range countries.

With only 3200 of the iconic cats remaining in the wild, the Global Tiger Recovery Program aims to double the number of wild tigers by 2022, the next Chinese year of the tiger.

The remains of between 1069 and 1220 tigers were seized in 11 of the 13 tiger range countries.

That’s an average of over 100 a year, more than half from India.

Pauline Verkeij a joint Traffic and WWF Tiger Trade Programme manager said, ‘Half the world’s tigers live in India, so it’s no real surprise that the country has the highest seizures.’ This could reflect either high levels of trade or effective enforcement or both. ‘Either way the country’s tigers are under severe poaching pressure. One can only speculate the true numbers of animals plundered for their body parts.’ Clearly these rates of poaching are unsustainable.

Since many seizures of illegally traded tiger parts take place within 50km of protected tiger areas, the support, involvement and commitment of locals to tiger conservation will be vital if these glorious cats are to be saved from extinction. Locals must have a economic stake in ensuring that poaching does not take place in their areas.

But governments must also ensure that prosecutions are swift, sentencing an adequate deterrent, and that critical habitat is protected from destruction.

Actor and environmentalist Leonardo DiCaprio has teamed with WWF in a campaign Save Tigers Now, ‘Tigers are endangered and critical to some of the world’s most important ecosystems,” said DiCaprio. “Key conservation ef efforts can save the tiger species from extinction, protect some of the planet’s last wild habitats and help sustain the local communities surrounding them. By protecting this iconic species, we can save so much more.”

Ultimately though, it is only when demand for tiger parts is reduced in key markets like China that the efforts of enforcement of officials on the ground will bear fruit in advancing tiger conservation to the ambitious 2022 target of over 6,000 wild animals.

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INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 19 , 2010 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM

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sports

McCollum’s Double Helps Kiwis to A Draw batsman in India and is

By Sidharth Monga third on the list of top scores HYDERABAD

by New Zealand batsmen (Cricinfo): Brendon against India.

McCullum reaped reMcCullum’s double-cenwards for his hard work tury is the fifth in the team on day four, milking a second innings in India. The tired bowling unit to highest is VVS Laxman’s get to the third-highest 281 at Kolkata in 2001. score in second innings Harbhajan Singh has conin Tests in India. The ceded 305 runs and picked game was headed for a up six wickets at an average draw the moment Zaover 50 in the series so far. heer Khan left the field On the other hand, he has again - he had been out scored 295 runs with two of action for a good part centuries. of the fourth day due to Gautam Gambhir scored an abdominal strain his first runs in the second inafter bowling just three nings after three ducks in his overs in the morning previous three outings. session.

VirenderSehwagscoredhis New Zealand, the No. first second innings half-cen8 side in the world, have tury since November 2009, now held India, the No. when he made 51 against 1 side, to four consecuSri Lanka at Ahmedabad. tive draws; in two of He averages just over 30 in those India have done the second innings and over the surviving. India, 70 in the first innings. who seemed to have As McCullum’s good given up surprisingly friend and former Kolkata early in the morning, Knight Riders team-mate have now conceded Chris Gayle moved assured400 or more in at least ly towards a triple-century in one innings of their last Galle, a triple was on here in seven Tests.

There were two out- Brendon McCullum’s maiden double-century ensured Hyderabad too. There were 32 overs to go to the start side chances for the the second Test in Hyderabad ended in a draw. of the mandatory overs, and game to come to life, but there was no way New Zeathough, took 20 runs off the next four both were duly thwarted. Cheteshwar Pujara dropped Mc- overs to disappoint the hopeful and land were going to declare without letting him have a go at the highest Cullum at forward short leg when the the fearful. score by a New Zealander - 299 by It may have seemed like milkbatsman was 148, and the lead 185.

That was the only chance Harbhajan ing because of the ease with which Martin Crowe.

Hence McCullum’s charge towards Singh had created in 26 overs until McCullum got his runs, but he did the record books. He reversed-swept it with some style and nonchalance. then. another boundary, played the chip India tried to pack the leg side and The next time Harbhajan created an opportunity, some excitement was bowled round the wicket, only to see over midwicket, crashed Sreesanth manufactured, with Kane William- him casually reverse-sweep them for back past him, and then cut him furison given out lbw erroneously to boundaries. They were not exactly ously to get to 225.

It was after this that Sreesanth an offbreak certain to miss the leg reverse-sweeps, he was so confident stump. Williamson was on his way he just bent the knees half way and achieved slight personal redemption, to becoming only the seventh man guided them past point. His maiden removing McCullum with a slower to begin his Test career with back-to- double-hundred he brought up with legbreak. Then he bounced Tim back centuries. He had survived the the “McScoop”, having scored his Southee, who had hit him three times tense moments last evening, started last 24 runs off 19 balls. That spell of with bouncers when he was batting. the day with three boundaries in the hitting also included a six over long- Some softening-up and eye-balling first over, and then settled in for an off off Pragyan Ojha and two reverse- later, Sreesanth bowled Southee.

Perhaps to keep their tail away from innings full of his trademark back- swept fours off Suresh Raina.

Brendon McCullum, during the any more bouncers, New Zealand foot punches.

When he got out, though, New course of his double-century, went declared during tea, and bowled 17 Zealand were 223 ahead, and there past his previous highest of 185 overs before the last hour. Virender were 57 overs to go. For those who against Bangladesh at Hamilton in Sehwag, usually bored in such situations, helped himself to a quick fifty, hope or fear too much, a collapse 2010.

McCullum’s double-century was giving the crowd some entertaincould still direct the game towards a result. McCullum and Daniel Vettori, only the second by a New Zealand ment.

Indo American News • Friday, November 19 , 2010

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Younis, Misbah Save Pakistan DUBAI: Younis Khan reminded Pakistan just what they had been missing as his 17th Test hundred guided them to safety on the final day in Dubai. Together with another returnee, the new captain Misbahul-Haq, the pair combined to defy South Africa for 57 overs, sharing an unbroken stand of 186 to pull off a result which looked unlikely after Pakistan conceded a 132 first-innings deficit.

Shorn of Younis’services since July last year, the brittle Pakistan line-up have struggled against Australia and England but his resilience alongside Misbah, playing his first Test since the Sydney debacle, ensured a satisfying return. Younis will rightly take the plaudits, anchoring the rearguard with third hundred against South Africa but, as Misbah himself acknowledged, it was the he who was under most scrutiny.

“This feels like a win. The team put in a wonderful effort under pressure,” he said. “I was under quite a bit of pressure before this Test but I think my performance today will make it easier for me.”

Pakistan’s first-innings collapse from 176 for 2 to 248 all out underlines just how important Misbah’s contribution was, all the more so given that the next man in was Umar Akmal. It ensured that the “fresh start” Misbah promised on the eve of the game ended well and he singled out praise for his partner. “On the second day the bowlers brought us back into the game the plan today was to be positive and not just try to stick it out. Younis’ knock today was a special one.”

Returning as the senior batsman in a volatile side, Younis could have been forgiven for feeling the burden of responsibility. Yet after a cautious start his increasingly expansive and certain strokeplay betrayed a man just relieved to be back where he belongs.

“There wasn’t any pressure on us because the wicket here is different to those in the subcontinent,” he said.

“It didn’t have the kind of uneven bounce that causes the ball to bounce up off the pads. On this wicket it was possible to bat positively and that’s what I was trying to do. I was trying to hit the bad balls for boundaries.”

Both batsmen, impressive as they were, had some generous South African fielding to thank. Younis was put

down twice, on 16 by Mark Boucher and again by Jacques Kallis when on 70, and Misbah got a slice of luck when Hashim Amla spilled a chance at short leg just before lunch.

It meant another final-innings disappointment for South Africa after twice being denied by England last year but on a flat track Graeme Smith was happy enough with his side’s performance.

“We knew it was going to be hard because on this wicket once the batsmen get in it was tough to get them out,” he said. “The wicket got slower and slower as the Test went on. Credit must go to Pakistan, especially to Younis, he played really well.

“Missed chances are always costly but nobody does it on purpose. It was unusual for those guys to miss those chances because they have been stalwarts of the team for a long time. So obviously they are disappointed with that. But we’ve played good positive cricket throughout the game and

SL Struggles vs. WI GALLE: A testing morning spell from the West Indies bowlers had the hosts struggling at 165 for three on the third day in Galle, before bad light, then rain, intervened to offer them some respite.

The hosts will surely have one eye on a draw with just two days remaining in the match and more rain forecast for the week. Before the interrutption, there was movement, pace, spin and bounce from the West Indies attack, all of which made batting difficult, and despite the presence of the experienced Mahela Jayawardene and Thilan Samaraweera in the middle, Sri Lanka ended the day’s play knowing they had a steep climb ahead of them.

West Indies didn’t have to wait long for their first wicket of the morning as Tharanga Paranavitana, who had poked, prodded and wafted for 10 during his agonising 53-ball stay, was eventually put out of misery by Kemar Roach, who jagged one back in to uproot the off stump. West Indies’ seamers had beaten Paranavitana’s edge on numerous occasions, both last evening and this morning, and the opener never looked like making a substantial contribution to the Sri Lankan recovery effort.

INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 19 , 2010 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM

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Indo American News • Friday, November 19 , 2010

Advice

ONLINE EDITION: www.indoamerican-news.com

Check Out 12 Dozen Sites to Educate Yourself Online

By Marc All education is self-education.

Period. It doesn’t matter if you’re sitting in a college classroom or a coffee shop. We don’t learn anything we don’t want to learn.

Those people who take the time and initiative to pursue knowledge on their own are the only ones who earn a real education in this world. Take a look at any widely acclaimed scholar, entrepreneur or historical figure you can think of.

Formal education or not, you’ll find that he or she is a product of continuous self-education.

If you’re interested in learning something new, this article is for you. Broken down by subject and/ or category, here are several topnotch self-education resources I have bookmarked online over the past few years.

Science and Health MIT OpenCourseWare – MIT OpenCourseWare is a free webbased publication of MIT course materials that reflects almost all the undergraduate and graduate subjects taught at MIT. Tufts OpenCourseWare – Tufts OpenCourseWare is part of a new educational movement initiated by MIT that provides free access to course content for everyone online.

Tufts’ course offerings demonstrate the University’s strength in the life sciences in addition to its multidisciplinary approach, international perspective and underlying ethic of service to its local, national and international communities.

HowStuffWorks Science – More

scientific lessons and explanations than you could sort through in an entire year.

Harvard Medical School Open Courseware – The mission of the Harvard Medical School Open Courseware Initiative is to exchange knowledge from the Harvard community of scholars to other academic institutions, prospective students, and the general public.

Khan Academy – Over 1200 videos lessons covering everything from basic arithmetic and algebra to differential equations, physics, chemistry, and biology.

Open Yale Courses – Open Yale Courses provides lectures and other materials from selected Yale College courses to the public free of charge via the internet. The courses span the full range of liberal arts disciplines, including humanities, social sciences, and physical and biological sciences. webcast.berkeley – Every semester, UC Berkeley webcasts select courses and events for on-demand viewing via the Internet. webcast. berkeley course lectures are provided as a study resource for both students and the public.

UC San Deigo Podcast Lectures – UCSD’s podcasting service was established for instructional use to benefit our students. Podcasts are taken down at the end of every quarter (10 weeks Fall-Spring and 5 weeks in the summer). If you’re enjoying a podcast, be sure to subscribe and download the lectures.

Once the podcast has been taken offline, faculty rarely approve their

reposting.

Johns Hopkins OpenCourseWare – The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health’s OpenCourseWare project provides access to content of the School’s most popular courses. As challenges to the world’s health escalate daily, the School feels a moral imperative to provide equal and open access to information and knowledge about the obstacles to the public’s health and their potential solutions.

Carnegie Mellon Open Learning Initiative – No instructors, no credits, no charge. Use these self-guiding Carnegie Mellon materials and activities to learn at your own pace.

Utah State OpenCourseWare – Utah State OpenCourseWare is a collection of educational material used in our formal campus courses, and seeks to provide people around the world with an opportunity to access high quality learning opportunities.

AMSER – AMSER (the Applied Math and Science Education Repository) is a portal of educational resources and services built specifically for use by those in Community and Technical Colleges but free for anyone to use.

Wolfram Demonstrations Project – Wolfram brings computational exploration to the widest possible audience, open-code resource that uses dynamic computation to illuminate concepts. Free player runs all demos and videos.

The Science Forum – A very active scientific discussion and debate forum.

Free Science and Video Lectures Online! – A nice collection of video lectures and lessons on science and philosophy.

Science.gov – Science.gov searches over 42 databases and over 2000 selected websites from 14 federal agencies, offer offering 200 million pages of author authoritative U.S. government science information including research and development results.

The National Science Digital Library – NSDL is the Nation’s online library for education and research in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics.

EnviroLink Network– A nonprofit organization, grassroots online community uniting organizations and volunteers around the world. Up-to-date environmental information and news.

Geology.com – Information about geology and earth science to visitors without charge: Articles, News, Maps, Satellite Images, Dictionary, etc.

Scitable – A free science library and personal learning tool that currently concentrates on genetics, the study of evolution, variation, and the rich complexity of living organisms. The site also expects to expand into other topics of learning and education.

LearningScience.org – A free open learning community for sharing newer and emerging tools to teach science.

Business and Money MIT Sloan School of Man-

agement – MIT Sloan is a world-class business school long renowned for thought leadership and the ability to successfully partner theory and practice. This is a subsection of the larger MIT OpenCourseWare site.

Investopedia Financial Investing Tutorials – A plethora of detailed lessons on money management and investing.

U.S. Small Business Administration Training Network – The Small Business Administration has one of the best selections of business courses on the web. Topics include everything from starting a business and business management to government contracting and international trade. Most courses take only 30 minutes to complete.

VideoLectures.NET (Business) – A free and open access educational video lectures repository. The lectures are given by distinguished scholars and scientists at prominent events like conferences, summer schools, workshops and science events.

My Own Business, Inc. – Offers a free online business administration course that would be beneficial to new managers who is interested in starting a business. This comprehensive course is split up into 16 sessions covering topics like business plans, accounting, marketing, insurance, e-commerce and international trade.

UC Irvine OpenCourseWare (Business) – Rapidly with the addition of nearly 10 new courses every month.

Many of our OCW offerings are directed at working adults seeking continuing education, with the option to enroll in instructor-led, for-credit courses, related to the OCW content.

Part 2 follows... next week.

INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 19 , 2010 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM

ONLINE EDITION: www.indoamerican-news.com

iNdiA

NEW DELHI (DC): The National Handicrafts and Handloom Museum, home to more than 20,000 exhibits and a village complex showcasing ethnic and regional crafts and textiles, hosted US First Lady Michelle Obama November 8th.

It is part of her familiarization trip through 5,000 years of Indian culture, crafts and civilization -providing her with an opportunity to sample Indian goods and even indulge in a bit of shopping.

“We are looking forward to Michelle Obama’s visit. She will arrive at 10.55 a.m. Monday morning. The museum has been taken over by security forces. It will be sanitized by 8 p.m. when the cleaners and staff will have to leave the premises to make way for security personnel accompanying the first lady,” an official of the crafts museum told IANS. Michelle Obama will be guided through the gallery spaces and a special exposition of select crafts by the director of the museum.

The crafts spread for the first lady includes cane and bamboo ware from Assam, pata chitra -- the traditional art from Bengal, zari work from Delhi and Madhubani art from Bihar.

The first lady will enter the museum, adjoining Pragati Maidan, through its main entrance near the ancient Bhairon Nath Temple -known to date back to the time of Mahabharata.

“We will mount a special display of Indian art history. Throughout the day, we were busy laying out the gallery,” the official said.

The museum has conceived a cultural showcase for the first lady that will include a Baul soiree from West Bengal.

Besides, the first lady might also be shown a eight-minute documentary.

According to Ruchira Ghosh, director of the museum, “the visit

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The museum serves as a confluence of arts, crafts and culture.

The highlight of the museum is an ethnic village complex spread across five acres. It has 15 structures - mostly homes and temples from the states of India showcasing ethnic lifestyles. The complex has been designed by architect Charles Correa.

The repository has nearly 20,000 exhibits of heritage and cultural value.

The galleries, closed on Mondays, will make an exception to

host the US first lady this Monday.

The gallery spaces include the tribal and rural craft gallery, gallery of courtly crafts, textile gallery and gallery of popular culture, among others.

Some of museum’s prized collections include the Bhoota art collection from Karnataka, rare 300year-old ‘dushalas (shawls)’ from Kashmir, handkerchiefs, known for their unique embroidery, from Chamba in Himachal Pradesh, rare brocade and Baluchari saris from West Bengal and embroidery from Kutch.

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