E newspaper01242014

Friday, January 24 2014 | Vol. 33, No. 04

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Indo American erican News

www.indoamerican-news.com Published weekly from Houston, TX

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Pongal

Happy Republic Day

The Festival Celebrating Prosperity

iifa

P15

Reaches Florida

Beautifully arranged Pal Kudam and Kaavadi at Sri Meenakshi Temple.

P5

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COMMUNITY

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Ragas at Rice: KTRU’s “The Joys of Winter Ragas” Concert Casts a Musical Spell on Houston Audience

BY THOMAS CHEN HOUSTON: On Sunday, January 19, the Houston community converged at the Rice Memorial Center’s Grand Hall on the Rice University campus to enjoy Ritu Tarang -The Joys of Winter Ragas, an Indian classical music concert presented by KTRU - Rice Radio and sponsored by the Hindus of Greater Houston, Kohinoor Diamonds, Bollywood Shake, SEWA Houston, Houston Museum of Culture, Houston Arts Alliance, the City of Houston, and IndoAmerican News. This “free” concert was an extension of KTRU’s Navrang Show, which is celebrating its 22nd year of playing a wide variety of music, from Bollywood hits old and new, to Indian classical, Indipop, folk and Asian Underground, hosted by the artistic and dedicated Varsha Vakil.

The concert featured two of the most accomplished musicians working in Indian classical genre today – Shri Indrajit Banerjee on the sitar and Pandit Shantilal Shah on the tabla. The accolades received between the two are too many to recount; for starters, Shri Indrajit Banerjee belongs to the famous Maihar gharana of which the late sitar virtuoso Ravi Shankar was a member. Not to be outdone, gold medalist Pandit Shantilal Shah has shared the stage with some of the greatest names in Indian classical music, proving to be one of the most successful tabla maestros of the time. The two artists combined their outstanding talents on a mild winter afternoon.

The concert began with solo (raga Hemant) by Shri Indrajit Banerjee, as he began to play the sitar with passionate energy, his very body moving with the otherworldly twangs of his sitar. Within minutes, the entire audience was transfixed, with many heads bobbing back and forth to the unique melodies and textures of Shri Indrajit Banerjee.

Pandit Shantilal Shah joined in soon after, adding complex percussive rhythms to mix, the two instruments playing off of each other.

The duo played a magnificent centerpiece raga Kirwani – one that highlighted both the subtleties and extremities of North and South Indian classical music, from the deli-

KTRU’s “The Joys of Winter Ragas” concert draws huge crowd at Grand Hall, Rice University.

From left: Jake Levens, Varsha Vakil, Pandit Shantilal Shah, Shri Indrajit Banerjee and Ian Wells.

cate crescendos, decrescendos, and variations in tempo from the slow and hypnotic, to the impressively quick, while harmonic overtones filled the hall. After concluding their set with raga Bhairavi that seemed inspired by the day’s waning sunlight, the musicians were greeted with uproarious applause, springing from the audience that

ists not only from India but also from the Houston area.

For further information on KTRU’s

Navrang Show visit ktru.org.

Contact the Navrang Show host via email to ktru@ktru.org and remember to tune in to the show on Saturday mornings from 10am to 12pm on 90.1 HD2, ktru.org or on iheartradio.

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just moments before had been held in a trance-like state. Rice University sophomore Austin Wu said after the show, “I was blown away; never had I expected the classical genre to inspire such emotion and expression within me.” A bravura performance!

KTRU’s specialty show Navrang offers a platform for talented art-

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COMMUNITY

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Pongal and Thaipoosam Celebrated at Sri Meenakshi Temple

BY PONNI SIVARAMAN PEARLAND: It was a weekend of twin celebrations at Sri Meenakshi temple in Pearland as the devotees welcomed the auspicious month of Thai (signifying the northerly movement of Sun) by celebrating Pongal/Makara Sankaranti and Thai Poosam.

The Indian Harvest festival known as Pongal or Makara Sankaranthi was celebrated on January 18. Keeping up with the tradition in Indian villages, the devotees dressed in traditional South Indian attire prepared the sweet Pongal in brass pots on earthen stove using wood as fuel; the event was coordinated by Nach Vaduganathan, Meera Srikanth and Bargavi Golla.

While the ladies were making the Pongal it was refreshing to see young kids of Meenakshi Sheka (Hindu Swayam Sevak) do Surya Namaskar. Bharathi Kalai Manram (Houston Tamil association) had their Pongal Cultural Program at MTS that afternoon while Makara Sankranti was celebrated by Telugu Cultural Association the following day.

Thaipoosam, a Hindu festival in honor of the Hindu God Karthikeya (Lord Muruga) was celebrated with much grandeur on January 19. This festival commemorates the occasion of Goddess Parvathy, giving her son Lord Muruga, the “Sakthi Vel” (Spear) to vanquish the demon army of Asura, Soorapadman. Thus it signifies victory over evil and is celebrated at all Murugan temples around the world.

Thaipoosam is celebrated in the Tamil month of Thai (January/February), on the day of the star “Poosam” and around the full moon. The devotees generally observe fasting prior to this celebration and after an early morning ritual of bathing and prayer, visit the Temple with offerings of fruits

and yellow/orange flowers (said to be Lord Muruga’s favorite color).

The festivities began at the Ganesh Temple with a Sankalpam and Pooja for all the Pal Kudams (a pot of milk with a coconut on top and covered with a yellow ornate cloth and Kaavadis (a semi-circular decorated canopy made out of bamboo or wood with a wooden rod that holds together 2 small pots of brown sugar on either ends. This milk and Brown sugar is later used for the Abishekam).

Chanting “Muruganukku Arohara” and reciting devotional songs in praise of the Lord, the devotees then carried the 150Pal Kudams on their heads and 92 Kaavadis on their shoulders from the Ganesh Temple to the Kalyana Mandapam. There, a grand Abishekham was performed by priests Sri Manickasundaram Bhattar and Sri Kalyana Sundaram and the exquisite Alankaram and Aarti that followed rendered the gathering of about

Pongal / Sankarati celebration with traditional sweet Pongal in brass pots on earthen stove.

Ratha Yatra: Deities resplendent on the silver chariot in procession around the Temple

Devotees carrying Pal Kudams and Kaavadis in a sea of procession for the Abhishekam

700 devotees speechless. Devotees recited the Kanda Shasti Kavacham and sang other devotional songs creating a divine ambiance.

The urchava Murthi along with his consorts Deivanai and Valli

This event was coordinated by Meena and Vairavan Subramanian and helped by Dr. Dorairajan and many volunteers who put in countless number of hours performing

was then taken out on a procession on the silver chariot or “Ratham” to the main sannadhi for the final aarti. Prasadam was provided by the temple to all those that attended.

various tasks.

This huge effort along with the devotees’ enthusiasm made this year’s Thaipoosam celebration a great success.

Indo American News (ISSN 887-5936) is published weekly every Friday (for a subscription of $40 per year) by IndoAmerican News Inc., 7457 Harwin Dr., Suite 262, Houston, TX 77036., tel: 713-789-6397, fax:713-789-6399, email: indoamericannews@yahoo.com.

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COMMUNITY Life Solutions Attained from CHR Solutions

January 24, 2014

YLDP students visit CHR Solutions.

BY PRASANT KALIDINDI HOUSTON: On January 11, shortly after the turn of the new year, my peers and I moseyed into the office of James Taylor and Arun Pasrija in their corporate venture, namely CHR Solutions.

Firstly, the shear eloquence with which the

speakers conveyed represented the ultimate goal of fundamental leadership in which my peers are trying to achieve through the guidance of the YLDP program. Because of the ideal leadership skills these speakers portrayed, automatically, they distinguished themselves as role models for each and ev-

Arun Pasrija (left) and James Taylor.

ery one of us.

In the session, my peers and I were given a cathartic conversational lecture by James Taylor and Arun Pasrija over their individual experiences in getting to where they are now and what they plan to do in the future. After this vivid depiction of two men that “started from the bottom and now they’re here” (Aubrey Drake Graham), we were given an opportunity to tour the rest of the office and the rooms which give life to the company.

This tour showed us the complexity of the electronics and technology that function in their business; this complexity also symbolized the shear convolution that running a business in today’s industries presents. Because of these challenges today’s corporate

world presents, each newcomer has to profitably distinguish him or herself to make a living while being surrounded by a plethora of capable professionals.

James Taylor and Arun Pasrija successfully did this by portraying themselves as “authentic leaders” and truly following their passions despite much adversity seen in the fact that they attempted to start 4 different businesses before settling down with their successful “CHR Solutions”. This experience not only informed me of what has to be done to be an “authentic leader” and come up in society but also dealt a necessary epiphany, or change in thinking that one must be ethical, take the right life path, and attain a locked in vision and stick by it.

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COMMUNITY

January 24, 2014

Indian Americans at the 2014 Houston Marathon

Lost Creek Park Half Marathon group with bibs ready to start the race.

From left: Nachiappan, Neeta Balsaver, Pankaj Desai, Shibani Balsaver, Vimal Kothari, Kanchan Kabad, Riddhi Desai and Sesh Bala.

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HOUSTON: It was a beautiful day, clear and crisp, temperature about 50 degree at 7 AM at start of the Houston Marathon. A determined group of Indo Americans made their presence felt at the 42nd anniversary of the Houston Marathon on Sunday, Jan 19.

The Chevron Houston Marathon is a world-class event right at our doorsteps and attracts athletes from around the globe. This year there were 13,000 in Full Marathon (26.2 miles) and 12,000 in Half Marathon (13.1 miles) runners registered. The 5K race was held the previous day for better crowd control and management. There were thousands of volunteers and over 250,000 spectators. The Marathon starts and ends at the George R. Brown convention center in downtown Houston. Each year the organizers do a better and better job, and this year was no exception. This year the route was quite different and included stretches on S. Shepherd, San Felipe, Upper Kirby, Bissonnet and the museum district. The organizers received high praise for the selection of the route.

The feeling and excitement when you complete a marathon is unparalleled. You do not remember the pain or the weather but always cherish how thrilling it was completing the course, the timing, the adventure, in all a very exhilarating experience. Besides, you have earned bragging rights!

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gested the participation from the Indian American community at marathons is steadily growing but can be more. There definitely should be a greater participation not only in running and walking, but in volunteering and being spectators.

The Houston Marathon is very popular but has limits on how many can sign up.

There is a lottery system in place for the last 4 years. Chances of getting selected are better if you enter as a group of 10 rather than as individuals. As a group, everyone is in or everyone is out! The Lost Creek Park Group of Indo Americans was lucky to get selected for the half marathon, third year in a row now. The Lost Creek Park group that ran included Nachiappan, Neeta Balsaver, Pankaj Desai, Shibani Balsaver, Vimal Kothari, Kanchan Kabad, Riddhi Desai and Sesh Bala. For Sesh Bala, this year was the 12th consecutive Half Marathon, and for Pankaj Desai his 7th. The veteran marathoner Mallikarjun Shintri skipped this year but is looking forward to 2015. All completed the half marathon successfully.

For further information on the 2015 Marathon visit their website at www.chevronhoustonmarathon.com, and consider participating in it. Organizations like USA Fit and Fort Bend Fit will help you get trained for it.You can send an email to SeshBala@hotmail.com to learn more about Marathon participation.

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COMMUNITY

January 24, 2014

Fasting for Immigration Reform: Congresswomen Lee HOUSTON: Honorable Congresswomen Sheila Jackson Lee conducted a press conference for Comprehensive Immigration Reform at Catholic Charities downtown, Houston. Several community leaders and immigration activists were present at the occasion including Rahman Moton, President of (MACC) and the leaders of others organizations.

“I am Fasting for Immigration Reforms”, these were sentiments expressed by Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, regarding the passing of the Immigration Reform Bill. I am fasting and will fast again until the Comprehensive Immigration legislation is not passed, to establish a path to citizenship for over 11 million undocumented immigrants in this country, as well as protecting the border, as envisaged in HR 1417.

On this occasion, Rahman Moton also expressed his opinion about Immigration Reform and appreciated the Congresswomen for her dedication and commitment towards the community.

Moton also congratulated her for completing 20 years in the House of Representative as a Congress women.

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10 January 24, 2014 HEALTH Choco Vita – The Smarter Choice in Healthy Nutrition for Your Children Quikfoods, proudly announces the national introduction of Choco Vitatm, a malt food beverage that is healthier than its competitor Bournvita. Choco Vita contains less sugar and more vitamins, making it the more nutritious choice.

For generations, mothers in India and around the world, have included a malt based chocolate powder in milk to enhance the taste and nutrition for children. Some of us use it even as adults because it just tastes so good!

Based on the recommendation of the National Institute of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, and various studies, Quikfoods, the company, has reduced the sugar content

in all its products, in an endeavor to help customers lead a more nutritious life. Sugar is a major culprit in childhood obesity and therefore Choco Vitatm contains significantly less sugar than the market leader in its category.

Choco Vitatm, is fortified with Vitamin B12. Vitamin B12 is a nutrient that helps keep the body’s nerve and blood cells healthy and helps make DNA, the genetic material in all cells. Vitamin B12 also helps prevent a type of anemia that makes people tired and weak. Additionally, according to the Diabetes Foundation of India, 60-70% of Indians have low Vitamin B12 levels and vegetarians are at a 4.4x higher risk of low

Vitamin B12 concentrations. This lower level of Vitamin B12 can diminish your child’s potential. New studies published also link B12 deficiency to long term memory problems.

Choco Vitatm contains 200% of the daily recommended allowance of Vitamin B12 in each serving. Cadbury’s Bournvita contains no Vitamin B12.

Quikfoods urges parents to make the smart choice in the nutrition of their children and for a limited time enjoy Choco Vitatm at an introductory discount. Ashish Shah, CEO of Quikfoods said: “Empower your child to be what they want to be, with a nutritious drink that tastes great, and has less sugar

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and more vitamins.”

About Quikfoods Founded in 2003, Quikfoods is a maker of the popular QuikTea brand of instant teas has enjoyed rapidly growing success with flavors like Masala, Cardamom, Ginger, Lemongrass & Plain Chai and coffee. QuikTea products, also available in unsweetened varieties, and are distributed nationally by Deep Foods and in Canada by Deep Canada. QuikTea range of products, including the recently introduced Chai latte K-cups are available at Indian grocery stores in all neighborhood and through their website – www.quiktea.com. & www.chocovita.info

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COMMUNITY

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New Katy Location Flourishes; Best in Class Looks to Further Expand in Texas Best in Class Looks to Offer Top Rate Education Services to Students across the State

Ira Giri

KATY: Best in Class Education Center, a top-of-the-line education enrichment center focusing on Math and English, is looking to further expand in the state of Texas after seeing great success with local resident Ira Giri and her new center in Katy.

The center located on South Mason Road warmly opened its doors to parents and students this past October and is proud to be serving more and more students each day.

“Seeing results with the curriculum Best in Class provides is wonderful, and seeing it spread across to new states has been a point of great pride for our family of franchisees,” Hao Lam, Founder and CEO said. “Our aim to bring the

best teaching tools to more communities is a passionate project for everyone at Best in Class, and we’re very excited to celebrate the future achievements of our students in Katy.”

Behind the operations at Best in Class of Katy is proficient computer programmer Giri, who holds a Bachelor of Science and is an avid proponent of childhood education. To fulfill her desire to teach professionally, she sidestepped her previous career in computers and pursued her early childhood education certification –a decision that allowed her to follow her passion and work in education fulltime.

To kick off the New Year, Giri is in the process of introducing new

and exciting programs such as: chess class, art lessons, and Lego robotics classes. Giri herself will be teaching Hindi classes at her Katy center starting this summer.

“I’m so happy to be providing something entirely unique in this area,” Giri said. “Despite there being tutoring centers in surrounding communities, Best in Class is able to provide a refreshing and comprehensive approach to long-term retention with strong curriculum and I have the freedom to add classes I think will be valuable for the students we serve. Everyone at the Katy location mirrors Lam’s and my passion for teaching.”

Lam’s ultimate vision for Best in Class is to provide the best education possible and the brand’s extension to Texas is reflective of its recognizable achievements in the classroom. Tailored curriculum emphasizes cognitive understanding, allowing students to retain the information and continue utilizing skills well into the future. This attention to detail has helped Best in Class position itself as the industry’s leading provider of complementary education to elementary, middle, and high school students.

Best in Class currently can add additional units in the Houston market. The current team behind Best in Class is looking for passionate and dedicated individuals to join this premier franchise family and ensure Houston’s youth will excel in math and English.

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COMMUNITY

History Of Sareen Clinic, Harris Health System At O. P. Jindal Center, India House

BY DR. VIRENDRA S. MATHUR HOUSTON: Indian-Americans, mostly professionals started identifying in the early 70s, Houston, the energy capital of the world, as America’s city of the future and it was already the home of the largest Medical Center of the country with about 40 institutions in the huge campus. Two giants in the field of Medicine, Dr. DeBakey and Dr. Cooley were already attracting thousands of patients from all over the world to Houston.

Many Indian families moved to our city and as the numbers increased, came community organizations and India Culture Center was born. The first priority was to establish a community center to allow interaction between the mainstream community and people speaking different Indian languages and belonging to different regions and religions.

The dream about a Community Center was born in the 70’s but it took 30 years to take shape and 40 years to become a reality, the India House, completed in 2008.

An important mission was to serve the entire community to give back to those, who gave us, immigrants from India, so much in this great land of opportunity. In this community service center, many services like children’s education in the form of after school tutoring, summer school program, Senior citizen’s center, computer center, place for socialization, recreation, entertainment, fitness center with Yoga, meditation, dance, cultural programs, legal assistance were started. One of the most important was a Medical Clinic run by all volunteer physicians. This clinic provided service to the neighborhood communities, two-third of whom were minorities and almost half were at or near poverty level. Patients were not asked social security number, insurance information or charged physician fees and

even tests were done at deeply discounted rates, below Medicaid rates. We got some experience of a ‘Charity Mini-Clinic’, but we wanted to expand it to be able to provide full services to many more members of our neighborhood communities.

We talked to several philanthropists, organizations, foundations, other NGO’s, hospitals, government agencies and elected officials to learn about the process of expanding our clinic. We were very fortunate to receive a grant of half a million dollars from the City of Houston and another half a million from Houston Endowment to get us started.

Soon thereafter we received a pledge of one million dollars from Jindal family and we were on our way. We got very good advice from many and pursued several possibilities. During this period we learnt about the possibility that Harris County, besides City of Houston, can also help us and in 2012, Dr. Durga Agrawal, our Founder president approached Judge Ed Emmett to seek his guidance. He directed us to Harris Health system (formerly Harris County Health District) and we met Senior officials of the County Health System as well as members of Board. Dr. Agrawal and myself met George Masi, Senior Executive Vice-President and C.O.O. of Harris Health, as well as Dr. Atul Varadhachary, chair of Strategic Planning Committee and both were very helpful and encouraged us to pursue our efforts. Eventually after several meetings, we learnt about a new Federal program, 1115 Medicaid waiver that finances states’ innovative efforts to expand health care to those who need it but do not have enough resources. Masi was very kind and wondered if it would be possible to help India House Clinic and utilize this new resource to support it.

He and his staff worked hard and figured that there was a real possibility to have a unique

public private partnership and Harris Health System can join hands with India House and establish a full fledged Clinic. The process was very complex as the application had to go through multiple agencies and Government bodies and only with their approval it could happen and the hard work, enthusiasm and determination of Masi and his team made it possible. They also guided us very ably throughout the process. Harris Health officers specially Brian Pitre, Director, Facilities Management and Dr. Ericka Brown were very helpful at every step and our own Board and Executive Committee members, specially Jugal Malani, Kul Bhushan Uppal, Brij Agrawal and Paul Madan made it possible by supporting it enthusiastically.

We have been very fortunate to have several generous friends of India House in our Indian-American community and Sareen Family (Rita and Bal), Yalamanchili Family (Chowdary and Angela) and Soni Family (Rajinder and Sandeep) came forward and with their donations, we modified India House facility to create an area which can house the greatly expanded clinic, from 800 to 7500 sq. feet area. This clinic will operate the whole week, including half day Saturday. It will be serviced by full time physicians, nurses, medical assistants and and administrative staff. On 2 days, it will open at 7.00 AM and on 2 other days it will close at 7.00 PM, thus helping those individuals who can come only early morning or late evening. One unique service in this clinic at India House will be Physical Therapy (P.T.) and Occupational Therapy (O.T.) which is available today at only one of many clinics run by Harris Health System. All the resi-

dents of Harris County, irrespective of being insured or not, will be eligible to use this clinic.

We are also planning to continue our ‘Volunteer Mini-Clinic’ which has been operating at India House for the last 4 years.

The clinic got started with the support of 5 former Presidents of Indian Doctors Association, specially Dr. Mahesh Shetty, who convinced 12 Ob-Gyn specialists from Women’s Hospital of Texas to volunteer in our clinic to run our Well Women Clinic and it has been very popular and currently is run under the leadership of Dr. Devanshi Somaiya. Our General Medicine clinic has been operational in parallel under the guidance of Dr. Manish Rungta and more than 12 physicians have been spending their Saturday mornings to volunteer for our clinic and many of them like Drs. Sunil Sahai, Nitin Kapur, Sewa Legha, Luz Amar Dhindsa, Manoj Bhardwaj besides Manish Rungta and me have done a lot more than others.

Now, with the General Medicine work being done through new Sareen Clinic, we are planning to modify our India House Clinic to provide consultation in different Medical Specialities, as we have several physicians practicing in these areas, who are willing to be volunteers and we cover all specialities.

Our additional plans for future expansion are to add an eye clinic with the help of the famous College of Optometry, University of Houston and generous donation from Dr. Dennis Golden.

The ribbon cutting of Sareen Clinic is on Friday, January 24 and all of us are very eagerly and enthusiastically waiting for that day.

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COMMUNITY

January 24, 2014

Dr. Dronamraju to Deliver the Keynote Address at the International Conference on Genomics in Chicago

Dr. Krishna Dronamraju (right) with Dr. James Watson and Mrs. Watson. Dr. Watson received the Nobel Prize for discovering the DNA molecule, Watson-Crick Model.

HOUSTON: Dr. Dronamraju will be delivering the Keynote Address at the 2nd International Conference on Genomics soon in Chicago. He is the President of the Foundation for Genetic Research in Houston,

(Website: www.geneticresearchfoundation. com) and Visiting Professor of University of Paris. The Conference will focus attention on the use of Genomics in Drug development and Pharmaceuticals.

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COMMUNITY

January 24, 2014

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IIFA Makes its American Debut in Tampa Bay

NEW YORK: The International Indian Film Awards (IIFA) Weekend is all set to make its American debut as they bring the magic of Indian Cinema to Tampa Bay, Florida. The 15th edition of the IIFA Weekend and Awards will be held this year from the 24 – 26 of April. IIFA management along with Bollywood superstars Anil Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra are currently on a press tour in the United States, having made their first pit-stop in the home to Hollywood, Los Angeles and the second in Tampa Bayand then New York.

IIFA announced its celebrations ahead of the film industry’s highly anticipated weekend extravaganza which is set to include film briefings, the IIFA Film Workshop, the FICCI-IIFA Global Business Forum, IIFA Rocks, IIFA Magic of the Movies and Technical Awards and the crown jewel of the Videocon D2H IIFA Weekend, the TATA Motors IIFA Awards. Headlining the Awards will be King Khan, Shahrukh Khan who is said to be the biggest star offering from Bollywood in present years. The 15th TATA Motors Awards will be hosted by Shahid Kapoor and Farhan Akthar. The duo last hosted the Awards in 2012 in Singapore.

Each year, IIFA Award tickets have sold out in record-breaking time. In 2011 in Toronto, on IIFA’s debut in North America, IIFA Award tickets for a capacity of 18,000 sold out within 10 minutes. This year, tickets for IIFA Weekend and Awards 2014 in Tampa Bay went live on January 14, and are available on www.ticketmaster.com.

Superstar, Singer, Priyanka Chopra said “Year after year, IIFA brings the best of Indian cinema to a new geography across the

world, providing a taste of the best that we have to offer. We are very excited to bring IIFA to Tampa Bay. With the support of representatives of Visit Tampa, we have been able to conceptualize and actualize an incredible event. There will be music, dance and a whole lot of spice! We’re looking forward to giving our fans and new audiences the experience of a lifetime.”

Speaking about IIFA, longtime friend and supporter of IIFA, International Actor, Anil Kapoor said “With the promise of bringing the biggest and best events for the fans of Indian Cinema, the IIFA Weekend and Awards has grown into an iconic platform for audiences globally. As a friend of IIFA, I am delighted to see IIFA make its debut in the USA. It has been my pleasure to be associated with IIFA and as an Ambassador of the Indian film fraternity, we are proud to

give audiences a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to witness one of the finest celebrations of Indian culture and cinema. Tampa Bay is in for a treat.”

Having played a large hand in bringing the IIFA ceremony to Tampa Bay; cardiologist, philanthropist and community leader, Dr. Kiran Patel said, “I am glad to lend my support in whatever way possible to IIFA and the Indian film fraternity at large. The excitement is building up and we look forward to some extremely entertaining and memorable events. With the goodwill of our community we look forward to the grandest Indian cinema spectacle that the US has ever seen.”

Santiago Corrada, President and Chief Executive Officer - Visit Tampa Bay said, “Tampa Bay is thrilled to be welcoming the prestigious IIFA Celebration to Tampa.

We are also pleased to be joining Wizcraft & IIFA as they launch ticket sales that will bring tens of thousands of visitors to our destination. The energy and enthusiasm this celebration brings with it is contagious, and I can tell you, Tampa Bay is equally as excited to serve as great hosts to the biggest and best International Indian Film Academy awards in history.”

Viraf Sarkari, Director, Wizcraft International shares, “We are exploring wonderful new opportunities in this new territory for IIFA and the process has been very exciting.

We are gearing up for another spectacular edition and this year we will have many new and extremely entertaining events leading up to the IIFA Weekend.”

Andre Timmins, Director, Wizcraft International adds, “Anil Kapoor & Priyanka Chopra have been associated with IIFA for many years and it is a pleasure to have them tour America with us as we officially announce details and ticket sales for IIFA 2014 in Tampa Bay.” Having travelled to some phenomenal destinations across the globe over the last 14 years, IIFA has graced the shores of the UK, Europe, Middle East, Southeast Asia, South Africa, Sri Lanka and Canada. Fans and enthusiasts of Indian Cinema from around the world can expect to see their favorite stars descend into Tampa, Florida during the weekend and witness Indian Cinema’s most glorious event unfold across the city. With world-class infrastructure and facilities and having hosted a myriad of international concerts, events and the Super Bowl four times, Tampa Bay is the ideal choice for the 15th IIFA celebrations.

INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, JANUARY 24, 2014 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM

16 January 24, 2014

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17

‘Mobile Mothers’ Make Kids Feel Neglected

BY SASWATI MUKHERJEE B BANGALORE: Vivek (name changed), the son of a doctor couple in Bangalore, was an agitated adolescent. His mother wouldn’t spend much time with him, as she did earlier. Instead, she was on her mobile through the day, posting updates on Facebook and networking.

“She would constantly check her phone at the cost of neglecting the child. The boy’s emotions were affected, he felt neglected. Gradually, he started spending more time with friends outside,” says Dr Lata Hemchand the clinical psychologist who is now treating Vivek.

“Mobiles have become companions. Very often, children don’t get the attention they need,” she adds.

A recent survey conducted in Mumbai found that more and more parents are getting hooked to the phone - chatting, social networking or getting entertained. The habit is taking a toll on the quality time they spend with their children.

Going by the survey, many working parents said they end up spending almost 80 hours a week on their mobiles, as against 20-40 hours with their children at home. The survey also found that figures are not too different for stay-at-home mothers either.

Experts say the situation is not very different in Bangalore either.

“A lot of parents, even while waiting at my clinic, keep fiddling with their phones. Even at malls or other public places, they simply keep a cursory watch on their kids while they connect with friends online. That time should, instead, be spent on educating the child on the surroundings,” Dr Sulata Shenoy, director, Turning Point Psychological Centre, told TOI. “A majority of parents spend a lot of time on mobiles. Technology is a big thing today, and it is up to us to use it to our advantage or disadvantage,” says Dr Bhupendra Chaudhry, consultant psychiatrist, Manipal Hospitals.

Free apps are available in plenty, and parents too are drawn into them.

“When social networking or en-

tertainment takes centre stage, it definitely is done at the cost of either domestic chores and responsibilities (spending time with child) or work,” says Dr Chaudhry.

Staying updated I think both of us spend quality time with our kid despite being working professionals. We are part of a rat race where we need to constantly keep ourselves updated - be it by connecting with friends on social networking sites or simply browsing the internet. At the end of the day, we also need to unwind so we log on to entertainment sites on the mobile.

Rekha Lankesh (name changed) | mother of a seven-year-old Tips from counsellors * Parents need to prioritize, have clear time limits, and stick to them * The parent’s behaviour has an impact on a growing child, who starts thinking it is ‘accepted’ behaviour.

So there are chances the kid learns to spend more time on the mobile phone too. So when the child grows up and is also hooked to a mobile, it’s only ‘reflected’ behaviour, something which children have seen their parents do over a period of time Addictive for kids too It isn’t just adults who are hooked

to mobiles; pre-teens and teens are equally addicted to the gadgets. This is more visible in adolescents, counsellors say. They often stay up in the night to message their friends.

A city PU student recently dropped out when he got addicted to gaming, first on his mobile and then on the game zone at cybercafes.

He would bunk college and spend hours at cybercafes. He gave up food, sleep, studies and even play.

The boy was brought to Dr Sulata Shenoy, director, Turning Point Psychological Centre, for counselling. Over some sessions, the boy and his parents have sorted out their differences. A complete change of lifestyle has resulted in him getting back to the routine. But the boy has lost an academic year.

“Its clearly an addiction. They can’t get out of it after a certain point. The earlier you help them, the better,” says Dr Shenoy.

Significantly, a new study done in South Korea suggests a possible link between attention deficit hyperactivity disorder symptoms and cellphone use among children. The disorder makes children distracted, impulsive, restless and, at times, too talkative.

Dr Lata Hemchand, clinical psychologist, says while meeting people and calling them is the norm for parents, for their children, “everything is available on high-end gadgets.

It keeps them busy the entire day.”

-Times of India

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INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, JANUARY 24, 2014 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM

18 January 24, 2014 ReciproCity Residences A New Delhi tycoon is reported to be promoting a real estate venture called ReciproCity, where Indians and Americans can live happily ever after, following the recent bruising spat involving the Diplomat and the Housekeeper. I have received sketchy details of the project, whose brochure/prospectus shows several large buildings within ReciproCity where apartments are being booked very quickly.

Most law-enforcement types, including US Marshals, the Bureau of Diplomatic Security and Delhi Police, are flocking to two buildings called AtroCity and FeroCity. State Department and South Block bureaucrats are booking apartments in two buildings called DupliCity and CompliCity. Apartments in two other high-end buildings called RapaCity and MendaCity, which have all kinds of fancy-fittings and bells and whistles — including rooftop helipads, indoor golfing and bank vaults — are being taken mainly by Indian politicians, mining barons, real estate moguls, and buccaneer corporate types. Many Americans, mainly soulless multinational executives, military contractors and Big Pharma representatives, are also buying apartments here.

Most TV journalists are booking flats in a building called LoquaCity. All the apartments here face inwards into a large atrium, creating a huge echo chamber. The rooftop has been occupied by squatters, calling themselves bloggers, tweeters, facebookers etc. The gutter press is in the basement.

Some print journalists, NGOs, RTI activists and aam admi types have tentatively looked at apartments in TenaCity and PugnaCity, but they are on the outer fringes of ReciproCity, and it requires a long uphill trek to get there.

Surprisingly, there are no takers for apartments in AuthentiCity, the building earmarked for journalists, because it has no elevators and one has to climb the stairs to get to the higher reaches. Embittered left-wing editorialists and talking heads are booking in CaustiCity, which is also on the outer fringes because it emits hot air and pungent smoke. Superannuated diplomats and scribes 80 years and older are flocking to a building called EccentriCity, which is beyond the outer fringes, which some call the lunatic fringes. A few journalists and politicians, hard to distinguish from each other, have also booked apartments in PubliCity and SalaCity.

Some women, both Indian and American, have opted for a building called VivaCity that has a spa, beauty salon, yoga studio etc. That includes the Diplomat, who has apartments in several other buildings, including AudaCity. She booked an apartment in AudaCity not knowing that the Housekeeper, funded by NGOs and human rights groups, was also buying one there. I think I will buy a small apartment in a no-frills building called SimpliCity. It’s next to a really nice, quiet, empty and rather majestic building called SagaCity. Apparently, no one even wants to enter that building.

Chidananda Rajghatta in Times of India

EDITORIAL

Three Opposition Leaders

BY PRATAP BHANU MEHTA Does it say something interesting that three figures otherwise as disparate as Narendra Modi, Rahul Gandhi and Arvind Kejriwal are turning out to have a lot more in common than we recognised?

One should not minimise the ideological, temperamental and sociological differences between them. They also vary in the degree to which they come across as convincing. But the similarities in their positioning are quite striking. All three posit themselves as agents of change who stand outside of the system they are challenging. Modi and Kejriwal have the advantage. Just by virtue of being sociological outsiders to the system, their persona itself reflects a change of sorts. But this is exactly the position Rahul Gandhi tries to occupy: an outsider against his own party. All three want to occupy the terrain of virtue. To an extent, this is inevitable. But they have become a measure of their own virtue. It allows them to stand above any charge levelled against the system they represent.

Modi has had to battle charges all his political life, but will brook no aspersion on his own virtue. Gandhi still manages to talk as if he is in no way politically implicated in the vast system of corruption over which he has presided. It is premature to judge Kejriwal. But the line “our intentions are good” should always be a warning. Hopefully, the unconscionable disregard for legality and morality shown in the arrest of Africans in Delhi, and the Delhi government’s response to it, is an aberration. But it also shows exactly what happens when a conviction of one’s own virtue floats above reality. All three are much more comfortable in the oppositional space. Both Modi and Kejriwal are, in their own ways, masters in rousing opposition. But even Gandhi’s sparks of passion fly more when he is on the attack than when he is saying something constructive. All three of them are more comfortable with schemes

and projects than with policy. It has been a common complaint that the economic visions of the three parties are not up to the demands of the time. They are comfortable thinking of new spending projects, but not very sophisticated about the overall framework that will meet the economy’s challenge.

Doubtless, the manifestos will, at some point, make things clearer.

But in some ways, the challenge of our time is not so much thinking up schemes and projects. It is projecting the idea that you are capable of thinking about the complexity of our challenges and educating the people to meet those challenges. By and large, all three leaders are running away from this task. Again, you don’t want leaders to be policy wonks, especially after our recent experience with wonks. But we have no way of judging whether they have the capacity to think about a complex, open economy on the cusp of a profound transition, or who they will empower. All three of them are struggling to think about institutions. This might be a surprising claim to make about Kejriwal, whose central raison d’être is a new institutional architecture.

Again, it is premature to come to any conclusion, but the promotion of vigilantism in the name of the people does not augur well. Both the Congress and the BJP have, under pressure from the AAP, now put their weight behind various pieces of anti-corruption legislation, including the lokpal bill.

Despite this, we have not seen a convincing commitment to insti-

tutional regeneration. Institutional regeneration cannot be reduced to single point slogans, like people power or more laws. The capillaries that sustain institutions require constant nourishment. All three cannot be challenged within their parties. But, paradoxically, they cannot also control unruly parties. There is a coarseness that is now distributed across the political spectrum, and you just have to wonder who will put their foot into the party’s mouth next. But none of them have shown a decisive capacity to act against potential embarrassment or set the political cultures of their party right. Kejriwal’s tenure has been too short to make a judgement. But again both Gandhi and Modi have a peculiar way of missing opportunities to take the moral high ground. Somehow it has become a matter of making the right speech rather than action; indeed, the speech seems the cover up for inaction. Both miss opportunities to bend the moral and ideological arc of their party in the right direction. Modi’s silence on so many pressing issues has been telling. He has failed to project a reformist aura, a more intelligent stance on Section 377 would have at one stroke ended doubts about the BJP’s prejudices, convincing his party to take a more enlightened stand on the Bangladesh enclaves issue would have shown foreign policy farsightedness.

The writer is president, Centre for Policy Research, Delhi, and a contributing editor for ‘The Indian Express’

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INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, JANUARY 24, 2014 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM

INDIA

January 24, 2014

19

Drug Overdose Cause of Sunanda’s Death: LEARN TO DRIVE TODAY! AIIMS Autopsy Report

NEW DELHI: The AIIMS doctors who conducted the autopsy on Sunanda Pushkar, wife of Union minister Shashi Tharoor, on Friday, have found drug overdose to be the probable cause of the mysterious death according to the findings of doctors of AIIMS, who had conducted the autopsy on her. “Drug overdose”, which in other words could be called

drug poisoning, has been cited as the cause of death in the conclusion by doctors, according to AIIMS sources.

The autopsy report was submitted in the evening to Alok Sharma, Sub Divisional Magistrate, who is holding the inquest proceedings under the provisions of the Cr Procedural Code. Refusing to disclose the details of the autopsy report, he said he would examine it along with the statements of various people including Tharoor and Sunanda’s brother and other evidence. “On this basis I will conclude what was the cause of death and submit a report to the police whether a case is made out or not surrounding the death and whether police should carry out further investigation or not,” Sharma said.

Police officials said they were awaiting the SDM’s report before they could decide on their future action. The post-mortem was conducted on Saturday by a three- mem-

ber team of doctors headed by Dr Sudhir K Gupta, who had said that the death of 52-year-old Sunanda in a five star hotel suite was sudden and unnatural. Presence of alcohol has also been ruled out in the postmortem report which has recorded over a dozen injury marks on her face and her hands, the sources said ruling out the injuries being a cause of the fatality. Police sources said two strips of anti-depressant drug alprozalem, commonly known as alprax, were found in the hotel suite where she was found dead on Friday evening. At least 27 tablets may have been consumed by her, probably in a short time, the sources said adding evidence of it was available from the emptied strips. Medical experts say that consumption of alprozalem tablets in large quantities at a time hampers functioning of the brain and leads to a comatose situation.

-www.indianexpress.com

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Statue vs Statue: Maharashtra Shivaji Taller than Gujarat Patel

The planned Shivaji statue to be 190 metres tall and may cost over Rs 1,000 crore.

With elections around the corner, the Maharashtra government has revived its project to build an equestrian statue of Shivaji in the Arabian Sea, off Marine Drive in Mumbai — on a much grander scale.

A high-powered committee headed by the city’s guardian minister and NCP leader Jayant Patil has shelved the earlier plans approved by former chief minister Ashok Chavan and is set to start afresh, based on a new concept design submitted by the JJ School of Architecture.

While the earlier design proposed a modest height of 321 ft (98 metres), the new plans could make the Shivaji statue the tallest in the world at 190 metres, taller than even the proposed Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel statue (182 metres) in Gujarat, which was being touted as the world’s tallest.

“Our criterion is not to create the tallest statue but one that is prominently visible from the Queen’s Necklace,” said Patil. He said IITBombay would carry out tests to

ascertain the load-bearing capacity of the base this week. “Only after that will we take a decision on the final height of the statue,” he said.

According to the earlier design, the statue was to be built on a pedestal shaped like a shivling, on 7.5 acres of reclaimed land one kilometre into the sea from Marine Drive. The new design has the statue placed on a pedestal that resembles the octagonal shape of Shivaji’s raj mudra or royal seal.

The new plans also include a museum to exhibit artefacts, history and murals on Shivaji, dancing fountains, amphitheatre, auditorium, aquarium, facilities for sound and light shows and water adventure sports. These are to be built on an existing elliptical basalt rock structure with an area of 16 hectares during low tide.

The site is located further into the sea, at 1.2 km from Raj Bhavan, 3.6 km from Girgaum Chowpatty beach and 2.6 km from Nariman Point.

State government sources said the cost of the new statue could well

exceed Rs 1,000 crore. When the project was first proposed, the estimated cost was Rs 100 crore, which was later hiked to Rs 500 crore.

“The old design was meant for a different location which was beset with environmental issues. We had to go for a new concept since we now have a new spot which is located further into the ocean,” said Patil. Plans for the statue were first announced in the 2004 election manifesto of the Congress-NCP combine in the state.

The National Environmental Engineering Research Institute and National Institute of Oceanography have been asked to draft an Environmental Impact Assessment report for the project, a pre-requisite for clearance from the Ministry of Environment and Forests.

SUMMARY Earlier design proposed a height of 98 metres, the new plans could make the Shivaji statue the tallest in the world at 190 metres.

-IndianExpress.com

INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, JANUARY 24, 2014 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM

20 January 24, 2014

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PUZZLES / RECIPES

Mama’s Punjabi Recipes

Dahi Bhalle (Lentil Dumplings In Yogurt)

This dish can be found all over India in one form or the other where it is also known as dahi vada. But for Punjabis, it is known as dahi bhalle and is prepared in a slightly different manner. Punjabis also never eat dahi bhalle by itself like a snack the way it is eaten in other parts of India.

Punjabi Dahi bhalle are usually an accompaniment to the main course, especially for plain rice or palao.

Bhalle are a fried dumpling made of the split and skinless urad (or mah in Punjabi) dal which is one of the most prized lentils of India since ancient times. When cooked as the whole grain, the black urad is the same dal that is served in restaurants around the world as “dal makhani”. Urad dal is both nutritious and recommended for diabetics. When split urad dal is cookedwithsplitchole(chickpea)dal, you can cook one of the most beloved of Punjabi dishes - mah chole di dal.

Punjabi bhalle are typically round and fluffy; the vada made in other places are usually round and hard, or round with a hole in the middle like a doughnut and usually hard. Vadas can be eaten by themselves with imli (tamarind) or other chutneys or dipped, as in South Indian cuisine, in a sambar. Bhalle are normally only eaten when soaked in dahi (plain yogurt).

Dahi of course has many religious and medicinal uses in India apart from its culinary uses. Dahi is considered one of the panchamitras (the others being honey, sugar, milk and ghee) used in Hindu worship and puja. Dahi is also used in cosmetics when mixed with turmeric and honey, as a hair conditioner; and by itself with spices as a marinade for meats. Full fat dahi has 12% calcium and is high in protein, sugar and carbohydrates. Dahi and honey is a prized food and yogurt by itself has live cultures that can prevent antibiotic-associated diarrhea.

Ingredients: • 1 cup urad dal (split and skinless) • 1 cup dahi (plain yogurt, preferably 1% fat) • ¼ cup doodh (milk, preferably 1% fat) • Spices to taste: namak (salt), mirch (red pepper), dhania (coriander) powder, garam masala, hing (asafetida), jeera (cumin seed)

Directions: 1. Soak the urad dal overnight, or at least for 6 hours, in a pot.

Drain the water in the morning a few times to get all the dirt out.

2. Place the soaked dal in a grinder and grind to a thick paste. Do not use much water while grinding otherwise it will be difficult to fry the bhalle.

3. In the ground dal, mix in the namak, mirch, dhania, garam masala and hing (the hing will aid in digestion).

4. Pour some oil in a kadai or wok and place over medium high heat.

5. Coat your hands with a few drops of water and place a tablespoon of the mixture in the palms and form a round ball. Gently let the ball slide into the hot oil. Repeat with the rest of the mixture till there are several balls in the oil. Repeat till the entire mixture is fried.

6. Turn the balls over till each side is slightly brown then take them out and place on a couple of paper towels to soak the excess oil and let them cool down.

9. Mix the milk thoroughly into the dahi in a wide brimmed bowl and then slide the bhalle in. Cover and let them soak for an hour in the fridge.

8. When ready to serve, sprinkle with roasted jeera (cumin) and the coriander powder. If you like, pour some imli (tamarind) chutney on the top too.

Shakuntla Malhotra is a skilled cook of Punjabi dishes made in the old-fashioned style that she learnt as a young woman in her ancestral home in Lyallpur, India before it became part of Pakistan after the Partition in 1947. People have often admired her cooking for its simplicity and taste that comes with each mouthful. Even in her mid-eighties, she continues to cook daily and agreed to share some of her delectable Punjabi recipes.

MAMA’S TIP OF THE WEEK BOILING MILK

If the milk in the fridge is getting close to the expiration date or has already gone over a day or two, place it in a pot and let it boil. This will kill any microbes and the milk will be good for another week to ten days.

When boiling milk, place a spoon of water in the saucepan to coat the insides. This way, the milk will not stick to the sides and burn when it boils. Always place the milk under low heat to let it boil gently, and when it does boil, pierce the top soft film with a knife in order to avoid the milk from bubbling over and spilling.

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7. Place the cooled down bhalle In a warm pan of water and let them soak for 10 minutes.

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INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, JANUARY 24, 2014 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM

ENTERTAINMENT Movie Review: Miss Lovely

BY NAMRATA JOSHI Miss Lovely’s reminiscence of ’80s movies begins at the very beginning: with the kaleidoscopic opening credits so well identified with the popular films of the times. Soon, Ashim Ahluwalia steers us to the specifics: the horror-sex pictures that flourished back then, on the margins of mainstream Hindi cinema. Set in these lower depths of the Bombay film industry, Miss Lovely is about the Duggal brothers—Sonu (Nawaz) and Vicky (Anil)—who thrive on making sleazy films.

All the recognisable tropes of such films are present—the kitsch and frenzy, flourescent colours and gaudy sets, voluptuous women and much-exploited “khoobsoorat par besharam” young girls, their ambi-

tious moms and the marauding producers and distributors. For a while, the film seems almost plotless, as though it was merely setting up this seemingly chaotic, constantly combative world with a curiously languid pace and a constantly on the move camera. It captures a slice of an era with a free-flowing narrative marked by intermittent lulls and pauses that could get confounding and forbidding. But it can’t take away from the fact that the zeitgeist is brought alive superbly, be it the Natraj pencil ads on the radio, the much-in-vogue pointy bras, Air India Maharaja models and Japanese dolls or throwaway phrases like “sex ki bhookh”, “badan ki aag”, “kursi mein baith kar bistar ka mazaa”, “pet kaat kaat kar tujhe paala hai”.

Beyond the setting and the period,

it’s also about people, their tumultuous relations and conflicts and about love—heartfelt, deluded and, most of all, used as a convenient tool to scale the ladder of success. At the centre of it is Sonu, who nurses an intense dislike for his limiting world, is driven by the urge to escape the dirty business, rise above it and find the respect that eludes him. He seems to personify the perennial search for the mainstream by those on the margins. Things do seem to get too explanatory and obvious towards the end. However,Ashim caps it by not quite saying it all in the last shot and yet laying it all bare.

Nawaz, with those pain-filled eyes and a beautifully broken face, breathes life into the traumatised Sonu. Other new and unfamilar actors also catch the eye, be it Zeena as Poonam, Niharika as Pinky or Menaka as Nadia. The most compelling presence, however, is Anil George as the flashy, florid, ambitious and rapacious elder brother Vicky, in whom I also spotted a faint touch of Vijay Anand.

A film like The Dirty Picture, with its drama, sentimentality and glamour ended up celebrating the sleaze film industry, and turned it palatable for viewers. Miss Lovely does the opposite. It peels the makeup off the glamour world, shows the ugliness, dirt, slime and debauchery on the periphery, however offensive it may be. It doesn’t aim to please.

-www.outlookindia.com

January 24, 2014

Akkineni Nageswara Rao (ANR)

Passes Away

BY SASHIDHAR AS ANR died: Legendary actor Akkineni Nageswara Rao ( ANR), who is battling with cancer, passed away here on Wednesday. The Dada Saheb PhalkeAward winner died in the early hours in Hyderabad today. He was 91. Sources say that ANR’s condition worsened at around 1.30 am Wednesday and he was rushed to hospital where he died. The actor is survived by three daughters and two sons.

The 90-year-old actor, who made his acting debut with Telugu film Sitarama Jananam in 1944, had starred

in 250 Telugu films, apart from working in Tamil films.

He established Annapurna studios and his son Nagarjuna, daughter-inlaw Amala and several grandsons followed in ANR’s footsteps to turn actors. ANR as also was honoured with India’s second highest civilian award Padma Vibhushan and Padma Shri.

He is currently shooting for Telugu family drama Manam with son Akkineni Nagarjuna and grandson Akkineni Naga Chaitanya.

-Times of India

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d in

22 January 24, 2014

India’s Republic Day

Many Indians remain largely unfamiliar with the anniversary that Indians celebrate on 26th January.

For most Indians the day has lost its meaning and value. It has become just another day not to go to work or to school. While paying tribute to one of the most important dates

on the Indian calendar I take this opportunity to explain the meaning and importance of 26th January, i.e.

Republic Day. The Indian Independence Act, 1947, provided that as from the 15th August, 1947 in place of ‘INDIA’ there would be set-up two indepen-

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dent Dominions to be known as India and Pakistan. The Constituent Assembly of each Dominion was to have unlimited power to frame and adopt any Constitution and to repeal any Act of British Parliament.

The Constituent Assembly of India started the work of drafting a Constitution for India. It appointed various sub-committees. The salient principles of the proposed Constitution were outlined by the various subcommittees of the Assembly. After a general discussion of the reports of these sub-committees, the Constituent Assembly appointed a drafting committee on 29th August 1947.

The drafting committee under the chairmanship of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar drafted the ‘Draft Constitution Of India’ which was published in February 1948. The Constituent Assembly met in November 1948 to consider the provisions of the draft, clause by clause. After several sessions the consideration of the clauses or the second reading was completed on 17th October 1949. The Constituent Assembly assembled again on 14th November 1949 for the third reading and finished it on 26th November 1949.On this day the Constitution received the signature of the President of the Constituent Assembly, Dr. Rajendra Prasad and was declared passed.

Certain provisions relating to citizenship, elections, provisional Parliament etc. were given immediate effect i.e. from 26th November, 1949.

The rest of the Constitution came into force on 26th January,1950 (and this date is referred to in the Constitution as ‘Date of its Commencement’) which day India became a Sovereign Republic with Dr. Rajendra Prasad as its first President.

The Constitution is made by the people of India through their representatives assembled in a Sovereign Constituent Assembly, which was competent to determine the political nature of the country in any manner it liked. The Constituent Assembly held its sessions in open. All its proceedings were published everyday and the press in India expressed its views freely. The draft Constitution was published and openly discussed.

The words – ‘We, the people of India…, adopt enact and give to ourselves this Constitution’ thus declare the ultimate sovereignty of the people of India and that the Constitution rests on their authority. On and from 26th January 1950, when the Constitution came into force, the Crown of England ceased to have any legal or Constitutional authority over India.

Political freedom and civil liberty are the keystone of the Indian Constitution. Our Constitution is primarily shaped and moulded for the common man. The essential purpose of our Constitution is to ensure freedom of the individual and dignity of man, and to put basic human rights above the reach of the State and of politicians in power.

Our Constitution ensures that India remains a secular State. People belonging to different religious denominations who are all part of our vibrant pluralistic society, are guaranteed the freedom to practice their own religions. These rights under our Constitution are available even to those who are not citizens of India.

Our Constitution is not merely a political document, which provides the framework and institutions for democratic gover-

INDIA nance - our Parliament, the Executive and the Judiciary. It provides a framework for the economic and social emancipation of society and particularly, the poor, the underprivileged and the downtrodden. Our Constitution has given us the framework for a strong nation, a Union of States, a nation of harmony between the Union and States and between the various institutions of our democratic polity. We can claim to have achieved significant success in the diverse and inter-connected spheres of democratic governance, our Parliament, the Executive and the Judiciary.

Our Constitutional framework has also resulted in economic progress and the social emancipation of society. Effective representation is provided to the socially depressed groups in legislatures and steps are underway to ensure a strong representation for women. In recent years, we have provided a new impetus to our Panchayati Raj institutions. This has fostered the participation of the people at the grassroots level in our democratic processes in a very tangible and effective manner.

This anniversary provides an opportunity for every citizen of India to renew the pledge to work for the well-being of our people, for peace and harmony in our society and indeed, the world.

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STOCKS • FINANCE • SOUTH ASIAN MARKETS • TECHNOLOGY

FIIs Holdings in Indian Equities at 6-Year High; Trend to Continue

FIIs, key drivers of the domestic equity market in recent years, pumped in around $20 billion net in Indian equities in 2013. Photo: Priyanka Parashar/ Mint

BY AMI SHAH & RAVINDRA SONAVANE MUMBAI: Foreign institutional investor (FII) interest in Indian stocks hit its highest level in 25 quarters in the three months ended 31 December, with them pumping in $6.6 billion into Indian equities.

Data compiled by Mint show that for 281 companies in the BSE 500 index, average FII holding climbed to 15.2%oftheirtotaloutstandingshares, the highest in 25 quarters. This counts only companies for which comparable data was available for 25 quarters.

“Post-tapering and post-elections, market is likely to enter a bull run like we saw from 2003 to 2007.

Long-term investors are probably already placing their bets on that,” said Vaibhav Sanghavi, director of Ambit Investment Advisors Pvt. Ltd, referring to the US Federal Reserve’s plan to begin trimming its fiscal stimulus programme and to the Indian

national election that’s due by May. “There is an appetite for companies with good governance and there is faith in India’s long-term growth story, though currently the economy is reeling under pressure,” said Sanghavi, adding that industrial goods companies, financial institutions and technology companies seemed to be the favourites of FIIs. Data further revealed that FIIs’ average stake in nine cement firms, 21 pharmaceutical companies and 12 software companies rose to 23.1%, 18.7% and 19%, respectively, again the highest in 25 quarters.

The trend was similar for six power firms and five telecom firms, with average FII holding at the end of the December quarter rising to 13.2% and 13.1%, respectively—the highest since the quarter ended December 2007.

“Tapering is not a big worry. India has generally been a favoured market

byFIIsforalongtime.Hopesarebuilding that post-election, we could see a favourable scenario for investors,” said Gautam Chhaochharia, head of IndiaresearchatUBSSecuritiesIndia.

FIIs, key drivers of the domestic equity market in recent years, pumped in around $20 billion net in Indian equities in 2013.

While there are some fears that the US Federal Reserve’s plan to taper its asset purchase programme may curb liquidity flows into emerging markets such as India, experts are now of the opinion that a staggered withdrawal of stimulus may not hurt as much.

“FIIs have been buyers of Indian equities in recent years, and the tapering news has been digested well so far and does not pose a big risk,” said Ambareesh Baliga, managing partner of Edelweiss Global Wealth, the wealth management arm of Edelweiss Financial Services Ltd. As for the national election, the

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is seen as the frontrunner to defeat the ruling Congress-led alliance that has come in for severe criticism for alleged corruption and its handling of the economy.

“Based on discussions with investors, BJP taking charge will be a preferred outcome at the elections and that expectation is giving them comfort,” Chhaochharia said.

“India’s growth story is not debatable, but execution is the key, and there are hopes building that if Modi is at the centre, it will be a big positive,” he added.

Narendra Modi, chief minister of Gujarat who has a reputation for attracting investors, is the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate.

Gross domestic product (GDP) growth in Asia’s third-largest economy slowed to 5% in fiscal year 2013, the slowest pace in a decade, from 6.7% in the year before, as high inflation, elevated borrowing costs and delayed project approvals forced companies to put investments on hold. In the first half of this fiscal year, growth averaged 4.6% as consumer spending also turned sluggish.

Investors are now hoping the economy will strengthen post the election if a decisive verdict can help revive the investment cycle.

State-run Power Grid Corp. of India Ltd, which concluded a follow-on public offer in December, saw the steepest rise in FII holding to 25.4% at the end of December from 16.9% at the end of September.

FIIs also stocked up on shares of Ceat Ltd in the December quarter and raised their collective stakes in the tyre-making arm of RPG Enterprises by 8.2 percentage points, cheering the record high net profit reported by the company in the September quarter. This, in turn, drove up the stock by 162.3% to Rs.320.65 in the quarter ended December.

On the other hand, FIIs shunned

shares of Multi Commodity Exchange of India Ltd, trimming their holding in the company by 3.9 percentage points as trouble engulfed the promoter Financial Technologies (India) Ltd (FTIL), which is dealing with a Rs.5574.35 crore payout crisis at its unit, National Spot Exchange Ltd. Jagran Prakashan Ltd saw the biggest cut in FII holdings by 5.5 percentagepoints,asthepublisherofthecountry’s most widely read Hindi newspaper, Dainik Jagran, posted dismal earnings for the September quarter.

While foreign investors increased their interest in Indian shares, holdings of domestic institutional investors (DIIs) continued to decline. DIIs’ share in the 281 firms out of the BSE 500 companies dropped to a 6-year low of 8% at the end of December.

“Since there has not been much fresh issuance of paper recently, the FIIs have been buying from domestic investors, who have been away for some time,” Baliga of Edelweiss said.

Market participants attribute this to the absence of retail investor interest, leading to a lack of investment in mutual funds and redemptions faced by these asset management companies.

“The retail and domestic investors are willing to put in money where there is stable return. Over the last few years, their interest has been diverted by other asset classes over equities,” Chhaochharia of UBS said.

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INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, JANUARY 24, 2014 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM

24 January 24, 2014

SPORTS

Short Balls Help Kiwis to Beat India in 1st ODI

Azhar Helps Pakistan Pull Off Astonishing Chase vs. Sri Lanka manner, driving the

BY GEORGE BINOY seamers and sweeping DUBAI (ESPN Herath off his negaCricinfo): Pakistan tive line. With the field turned a Test that had spread deep, Azhar been an abysmal adpicked off the gaps to vertisement for cricket get to his half-century for four days and one off 79 balls, and his 89session on its head, run stand with Sarfraz with an incredible batcame at a run-a-ball. ting performance after Pakistan needed 116 off lunch on the final day, 22.2 overs when Misbah when they scored 302 walked in, after Sarfraz runs in 57.3 overs to had been caught gloving sucker-punch Sri Lanka a Shaminda Eranga short and level the series. ball down the leg side.

Their run-rate of 5.25 Mathews remained was the second highest defensive despite havin a successful chase of ing a new batsman at the a 200-plus target, and crease and the 40th over the protagonists of this of the chase, from Suranheist—Azhar Ali, Sarga Lakmal, was a definfraz Ahmed and Mising one. Azhar jumped bah-ul-Haq—proved outside leg and drove, that the soporific pace forcing a full-length of the previous days dive from the deep-covwas entirely by design, er fielder, the next three largely Sri Lanka’s to balls went to deep point protect their 1-0 lead. and deep midwicket, For the fifth day to before Misbah pulled to have ended in a result, the fine-leg boundary. both teams needed The over cost 12 runs, to play extraordinary and Pakistan’s momencricket. Pakistan were tum was unaffected by extraordinarily purposeSarfraz’s departure. ful; Sri Lanka were exDespite Azhar and traordinarily negligent.

Misbah sweeping and Azhar Ali acknowledges the applause after his fi fty, The visitors began the day with a lead of 220 Pakistan v Sri Lanka, 3rd Test, Sharjah, 5th day, reverse-sweeping Herath at will, irrespective and five second-innings January 20, 2014. of whether he bowled wickets in hand but batproved to be the catalyst, and the over or round the wicket, and the ted so slowly, adding 19 runs in the method he used to attack Rangana last 16.4 overs. With a minimum Herath’s defensive line oozed with left-arm spinner proving utterly ineffective at controlling the runof 59 overs left in two sessions Sri resourcefulness. rate, Mathews did not use his offLanka were still favourites, if not Herath operated from over the spinner Dilruwan Perera at all. to win then certainly to draw, but wicket and pitched wide outSri Lanka tried to stall the game they were ultra-defensive from the side leg stump for most of his 19 in the last hour, with Eranga needoutset against a desperate Pakistan overs, which cost 100 and yielded ing prolonged attention from the unit. no wickets, but when he did so physio after his arm came into As Misbah-ul-Haq’s side mo- after tea Sarfraz took guard near tored towards the target with an the wide-ball indicators outside contact with Misbah’s helmet, unfamiliar efficiency, it became leg stump and lofted inside-out which prompted umpire Richard too late for Angelo Mathews to through covers to beat a packed Kettleborough to ask the physio snap himself and his side out of on-side field. After several such to stay off the ground when Lakstupor. Sri Lanka sank in the Shar- shots, Mathews moved a fielder mal fell while collecting a ball. jah twilight, with their captain and from the leg to the off, and Sarfraz The equation boiled down to 30 fielders feebly complaining about promptly slogged Herath over the off 30 balls, and after three runs off the first two deliveries of the not being able to see the ball. midwicket boundary to take 15 Pakistan needed 195 in 35 overs runs off the 29th over, the most Lakmal over, Azhar cleared his front foot and swung to the midat the start of the final session, and expensive of the match. wicket boundary. A ball later, he they had made a tactical decision While Sarfraz made use of his celebrated a century off 133 balls. to send Sarfraz Ahmed in at No.5, license to run riot, Azhar accumushortly before the tea break. He lated briskly in a more organised The century stand with Misbah had taken only 111.

Even when Pakistan needed 17 off four overs, the field stayed spread. Sri Lanka had actually lost the Test long before the winning runs were hit.

The base for Pakistan’s finalsession heroics had been laid after the lunch break, when Ahmed Shehzad and Khurram Manzoor came out swinging. As soon as Shehzad flicked Eranga for two fours in the second over and Manzoor charged and slapped Lakmal to the cover boundary in the third, Mathews dispersed his fielders. The approach was helter-skelter and fraught with risk, though. Shehzad eventually mis-hit a slower ball and was caught at deep midwicket, while Manzoor was caught nimbly down the leg side by the wicketkeeper Prasanna Jayawardene.

Pakistan had got to 48 at more than five an over.

Azhar began his innings by cutting his second ball fiercely through point, but his partnership with Younis Khan was more measured. With plenty of gaps to exploit, they picked up singles and twos comfortably. They added 49 in 12.4 overs when Younis pulled Mathews straight to midwicket to leave Pakistan on 97 for 3.

Pakistan did not go on the defensive despite losing Younis. Instead, they promoted Sarfraz, and he charged and slogged Mathews to the midwicket boundary in the last over before tea, small indication of the damage he would inflict on Sri Lanka after the break.

Sri Lanka would not have suffered such an embarrassing defeat had they played more periods of this Test with a semblance of the urgency Prasanna showed for an hour this morning. After they scored at 1.87 for 71 overs on the fourth day, Prasanna led the gathering of 62 runs in 14 overs on the last morning. A few wickets, however, forced a dramatic slowdown and Sri Lanka went at a little more than a run an over for the rest of their innings. At the end of the Test, Sri Lanka had batted 273.4 overs; Pakistan needed only 166.4 overs to score a run more. There lay the difference.

George Binoy is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo.

NAPIER: New Zealand used the short ball liberally at McLean Park. India tried to counter by pulling and hooking liberally too, but lost four of their top six batsmen. Brendon McCullum, the New Zealand captain, was pleased his team had executed what they had planned. His counterpart MS Dhoni said India were not going to stop pulling, but needed to be more judicious while using the shot.

“One of the options is to not to play the shot but our strength has been to play the shot,” Dhoni said after India lost by 24 runs. “At times we will get caught because it is a difficult shot to play. But most of our batsmen like to play it since this is our strength. Especially overseas, we need to play and master it because you cannot have bowlers bowl short to you always.

With two bouncers allowed you cannot leave all; (there are) nearly 80 balls with four fast bowlers out of 50 overs. We can always pick and choose when to play and when not to play.”

One of the batsmen who fell to a bouncer, not for the first time, was the No. 5 Suresh Raina, and with the new No. 4 Ajinkya Rahane falling to an outstanding catch, India’s poor returns from crucial middle-order positions continued.

“So far we have not got consistent runs from the No. 4 and 5 batsmen and even if you don’t look at big hundreds or fifties, even then those slots are crucial.

Shikhar Dhawan was one of four top-order batsmen dismissed by the short ball.

INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, JANUARY 24, 2014 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM

January 24, 2014

UPA Gives Jain Community Minority Status

Jain community celebrates outside AICC office in New Delhi after government granted minority status to the Jain community. (PTI Photo)

BY ZIA HAQ NEW DELHI: The Union Cabinet on Monday agreed to grant the Jain community — followers of an ancient faith often confused to be a sect of Hinduism — the status of a “national minority”. This fulfills a long-standing demand by the 7-million-strong community that has sought to maintain its religious and cultural identity.

The proposal, pushed by minority affairs minister K Rahman Khan and Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, could be a politically attractive one for the UPA government, months ahead of a general election.

As a religious minority, Jains will qualify for constitutional safeguards and special policy attention alongside five other such religious minority groups: Muslims, Chris-

tians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Parsis.

Under the Constitution, religious minorities enjoy special rights. For example, under Article 30, they can manage their own educational institutions without interference or opening them up for reservation for students from other communities. They also become eligible for funds under the government’s minority welfare programmes. In India, 15 per cent of all funds under various programmes must be targeted towards minorities.

Jains,anotherwiseaffluentminority, were fighting for “national minority” status mainly to protect and promote Jainism as a distinct faith and culture.

Along with Hinduism and Buddhism, it is one of the three most ancient religious faiths in the subcontinent.

“A national minority status allows

us to enjoy fundamental rights under Article 25 and Articles 26 to propagate our religion and also freedom to manage our religious affairs. Without this, our identity was eroding,” said Sanjeev Jain, an advocate of the cause.

Although Jainism has many shared concepts with Hinduism and Buddhism because of a common cultural background, scholars agree that the Jain tradition constitutes an independent faith.

Jains already enjoy minority status in 11 states. In 2005, the community’s representatives had moved the Supreme Court seeking a similar status nationally, a proposal backed by the National Minorities Commission. However, the top court had left the decision to the Centre.

-Hindustan times

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Pakistan, India Agree Over Greater Trade Through Land Route KARACHI: In a bid to strengthen bilateral relations, Pakistan and India Saturday decided to allow greater trade through land route, signalling a thaw in relations after a year’s standoff over military tensions on the border.

They agreed to allow round-theclock movement of trucks and containers through Wagah-Attari border, the main border crossing between the two South Asian neighbours.

Trade ministers of the two countries meeting in New Delhi also approved a liberalisedvisapolicyforbusinessmen to help expand two-way trade, which was barely $2.5 billion in 2012/13fiscal year against a potential $10 billion.

Both sides hope closer integration of Pakistan with India’s giant economy would help lay the ground for a lowering of political tensions between them.

“We have agreed that we will open Wagah-Attari border 24/7for trade,” Anand Sharma, India’s trade minister told reporters.

The border gates at the moment are open only from dawn to dusk.

Pakistan also agreed to provide non-discriminatory market access to Indian companies.

Over the last year there was little movement on trade because of a series of incidents over military control of the line dividing Kashmir between the two countries.

Two years ago, the two countries set a goal of taking bilateral trade to $6 billion by 2014, which now seems difficult to attain.

Pakistan’s Commerce Minister Khurram Dastgir Khan said the country’scentralbankhadproposeditsIndian counterpart grant banking licences tothreePakistanibanks,amovewhich would be reciprocated by his side.

“In the banking sector we are hoping to have some progress, very rapid progress,” he said.

Both Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistan’s Nawaz Sharif who took power last year are keen to rebuild ties.

Pakistan’s economy grew at 3.6 per cent in 2012/13 and the government was forced to borrow $6.7 billion from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to avert a default of payments.

Sharma said he will lead a business delegation to Pakistan next month.

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