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Friday, November 14, 2014 | Vol. 33, No. 46

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Indo American erican News

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

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Gift of Vision Organizers of the Sankara Eye Foundation fundraiser with the Indian Consul General Parvathaneni Harish (third from left) and to his left, Dr.Murali Krishnamurthy, founder of SEF, from California; and Drs. R.V. and Radha Ramani, founders of the Sankara Eye Care Institute in Coimbatore, India. Also shown, from left, Radhu Nednur, Pooja Gupta, Dr. Nik Nikam, Adwait Chawathe, Vinay Veeramachaneni and Shankar Perumaalla.

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Hail Maratha!

Shopping!

At Any

Keemat

Puzzles / Recipe

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November 14, 2014

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COMMUNITY

November 14, 2014

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HMM’s Durga Zali Gauri Raises Funds

BY RAJESH THATTE HOUSTON: On Saturday, November 8, more than 600 attendees at Cullen Performance Hall Houston experienced spellbinding performance of Marathi Classic, “Durga Zali Gauri” presented by over 60 children and adults of Houston’s Maharashtrian Community. “Durga Zali Gauri “ (DZG for short) is a story of transformation of ‘Durga’, stubborn and pampered princess in to ‘Gauri’ hard working helper of community. The performance was attended by renowned Marathi actors, producers, directors Sachin and Supriya Pilgaonkar.

DZG was originally produced about 25 years ago by Sulabha and Arvind Deshpande, noted Marathi Artists. It has been playing continuously in theater since then.

Presentation of DZG in Houston was envisioned about a year ago by then HMM President Sharmila Moharir to support the Vastu initiative. Directors Madhura Swadi, Rupa Aranke, Tanuja Sahasrabuddhe and Uma Rajguru accepted the task and created a masterpiece presentation that Maharashtrian community in Houston area will remember forever. DZG team included group of young children as young as 4 years and they presented their scenes with such fluidity and confidence that audience rose on their feet to applaud.

All elements of the show worked flawlessly. Seamless set changes were accurate on the cue. Taking advantage of theater’s sound and presentation systems, team created a presentation that provided fitting colorful backdrop for every scene. The light effects were adding charm to the show. Original musical score presented the story through melodious songs. The hour and half long presentation was gripping from start to end.

Adapting the musical for presen-

DZH performers take a bow after receiving a standing ovation from the audience.

tation to second and third generation of Maharashtrian community presented some challenges. This is where the creative talent of directors and producers stepped in.

English narration was added before the start of every scene so that young children and “Non-Marathi” speaking audience can easily comprehend the context of each scene. Gandhar Kothi did an exceptional job of English narration and kept the show going fluently.

The centerpiece character roles of ‘Durga’ and ‘Gauri’ were played

by Isha Dighe. Isha performed the dual personality role with amazing grace and skill. Looking at the performance of children, it will not be out of context to say that there is no shortage of talent in community and picking one from another will be a tough choice. Thanks are in order for every HMM family that devoted their time and efforts for more than six months for preparation of the show. Chief Guest of Honor, Supriya mentioned that the performance by HMM was so good that she felt as if she is watching the show in India. In his comments Sachin said “TEAM stand for Together Everyone Achieves More.

HMM members and Maharashtri-

an community have come together to accomplish the construction of Vastu. Their efforts received a great boost by performance of this entertaining, thoughtful and positive dance drama.” Considering the fact that most of the artists in the show are second generation Maharashtrians born and raised in U.S., this is a big honor for the artists. DZG musical was followed by candid interview of Sachin and Supriya by Sameer Karandikar and Achala Bapat. HMM presented plaque to Sachin and Supriya thanking them for their presence and providing encouragement to the team.

DZG was presented as a fundraiser for HMM’s Vastu project to build temple and community center for use of growing Maharashtrian community in Greater Houston area. Donations for the project are welcome. HMM has put in aggressive timeline to bring the project to fruition with proposed land acquisition and construction to begin in 2015. HMM is 501(c) (3) non-profit organization.

For further information about Vastu project and HMM, visit HMM’s website WWW.HMMHOUSTON.ORG.

Chief guests Sachin and Supriya Pilgaonkar congratulate lead actress Isha Dighe.

Lead performers played the role of a king, princess (center) and queen.

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November 14, 2014

INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2014 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM

COMMUNITY

November 14, 2014

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Keemat Grocers 3 Opens in the Willowbrook Area

HOUSTON: The grand opening of one of the largest South Asian Grocery stores in Houston – Keemat Grocers 3 on FM 1960 and Cutten Road – was a smashing success on Sunday, November 9. From 1-5PM Sunil T with his crazy Masala Crew pumped the 5000 sq ft modern grocery store with DJ Nish’s Bollywood music, random contests, dances, TV giveaways, and general dhamaal.

The Masala Radio grand opening attracted more than 2000 people from Cypress to Galveston.

Six lucky drawn patrons put their kitchen skills to test at a fast-paced salad making competition. Contestants had 20 minutes

to select all their ingredients from Keemat, wash the vegetables, and chop up their unique creations.

Salads contained everything from the Keemat fresh cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, and cilantro, to exotic dates, pomegranate seeds, paneer, yoghurt, and even sev! Jay Bhatija won the first prize $100 Keemat Gift Certificate, followed by second place $50 winner Deepti Kanhere, and third place $25 Pinki Garg. Families with kids were amused with Rikshaw Rides and a Giant Moonwalk Combo, while ladies perused the stalls from Sheli Desai Purse and Jewelry, Chiros Clothing by Jigyasa, Ritz Beadz, and Home Decor by

Vandana.

Discount Power gave free Tshirts, Bags, and Asia Movie Tickets. The most excitement came at 2:30 PM and 4:30 PM as Keemat raffled away two 50” plasma televisions to winners Jessica Mathle and Sakshi Garg.

The mouthwatering free pani-puri , warm tea, Haldiram Paratha, and Natura Ice Cream samples kept the crowd fueled for four hours of non-stop Dhamaal.

Owner Kawal Oberoi as well as all three Keemat Grocers Managers, and the friendly staff keep the front-to-end lines moving with smiling customer service. Keemat 3 Store Manager Dharmesh said “Only Sunil can pull in this kind of crowd – some of the guests just stayed for all four hours, just to watch the non-stop contest and performances. The craziest 10 minutes was the “You-NameYour-Price” Game where customers could name their price on any one item. $100 Karrom Board was given for $25!! Items at ridiculous prices were given away, but it was all in the spirit of the grand open-

ing, as we welcomed the community to enjoy our modern store design, low prices, and excellent customer service!”

Keemat 3 is located at 6911 FM 1960 West, Houston, TX 77066 or visit KeematGrocers.com.

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.

Periodical postage paid at Houston, Texas. POSTMASTER: Please send address changes to Indo American News,7457 Harwin Dr., Suite 262, Houston, TX 77036

INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2014 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM

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November 14, 2014

COMMUNITY

Blue Skies, Mild Sunny Day Beckon IIT’s Far Flung Alumni for Camaraderie and a Picnic

BY JAWAHAR MALHOTRA SUGAR LAND: The highly motivated, industrious and multi-talented expatriate alumni of the Indian Institute of Technology must have conceived of a magical dial to turn and tune in perfect weather for their annual picnic, held last Saturday afternoon at Lost Creek Park. With a playground and an inflatable hut to attract the little kids and soccer and cricket play on the adjacent fields, fun and frolic were all around.

Thanks to a slight cold front, even the mosquitoes weren’t biting as about 250 people, little kids included, made a go at the activities and trays full of desi food, prepared and catered by Daawat. The made-to-order dosas kept the long line creeping slowly to the front for the rest of the mix of idlis, biryani, noodles and quesadillas, topped off with fruit and hot gulab jamuns.

“This is all part of the three pillars of our vision statement”, explained the IIT Alumni of Greater Houston President Pratish Kanani as he surveyed the boisterous crowd at the non-alcoholic function, “to connect people together and allow them to network and to foster community activities. We have organized events throughout the year to promote the third pillar: develop our members professionally and in their careers”.

Among the crowd was an ex-IITan, Bedabrata Pain, the producer and director of the Indie movie Chittagong, which had just been watched by a capacity crowd at its first Houston private screening the earlier in the afternoon at the Katy Mills AMC 20 theatres. Struck by the overwhelming response to the movie, other IITans were planning for a repeat showing in a few weeks’ time.

The Board and organizing committee of the IIT with some guests at the picnic held on Sunday, November 9 at Lost Creek Park in Sugar Land. From left, Mohit Mehta; former IITian and Chittagong movie director Bedabrata Pain; Trustee Anand Chauhan, President Pratish Kanani, Secretary Aaggrim Sabharwal, past President Witty Bindra and Arjun Sen, President Pan IIT USA from Denver.

Photos: Jawahar Malhotra

After lunch, Kanani and the other event organizers gave a brief slide presentation and descriptions of all the activities the IITAGH has held in the year-to-date, followed by an outline of the activities planned for the next year. This was followed up by the major attraction of several past and this picnic, the Gana Pehchana quiz and program conducted by Ram Seetaram and his team. Several teams competed for the top spot in a competition that required knowledge of Bollywood/Hindi film songs, both old and new.

Volunteers (from left) Riken Pandya, Hardik Minocha and Akshay Patel manned the registration booth at the picnic.

Participating in the Name That Tune game held after lunch, from right, Beena Mayekar, Sujata and Pradeep Anand and friend correctly sang a song’s lyrics.

Ram Seetharam (left) and Richa Saxena of Gaana Pehchaana ran the Name That Tune game at the picnic.

INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2014 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM

November 14, 2014

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INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2014 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM

COMMUNITY

BY MANU SHAH

HOUSTON: In a riveting talk by Dr. Ronald DePinho, President, MD Anderson Cancer Center at the IACCGH Distinguished Lecture held on November 7, at the Hilton, members and guests listened in rapt attention to the tremendous strides made in research and the treatment of the “merciless experience” of cancer. The event was sponsored by Shell and Houston Business Journal.

IACCGH Executive Director Jagdip Ahluwalia welcomed the gathering and recalled the crucial role played by IACCGH in taking the first MD Anderson delegation to India 12 years ago and the resultant MOU with the Tata Memorial Cancer Center in Mumbai.

IACCGH President Sanjay Ramabhadran outlined the Chamber’s mission as well as honoring the founding promise of being the voice of the Indo US business community in Houston since its

November 14, 2014

DePinho: “Cancer is Going to Fall to the Axe of Science”

From Left: IACCGH Executive Director Jagdip Ahluwalia, Ashok Garg, Joya Shukla, Dr. Ronald DePinho, Karen Francis, Swapan Dhairyawan, Atul Varadhachary, President Sanjay Ramabhadran, Shell VP Ken Coon.

Photos: Bijay Dixit

ogy” Dr. DePinho believed that the cracking of the genetic code in 1953 gave us the fundamental understanding of how life works and the basis for disease. As a result of these and other groundbreaking research, we have reached a point where we now have the ability to understand the disease, the aging process, the knowledge to manipulate the aging process and thus eliminate the disease.

A chilling fact, Dr. DePinho shared, is that one out of two runs the risk of cancer. While the primary causes of cancer are smoking, obesity and sun exposure, the good news is that 50% are easily preventable.

He also shared the profound impact of breakthroughs such as the “dream come true” HPV vaccine which will prevent certain cancers and extraordinary drugs

for leukemia, melanoma, breast and ovarian cancer which are giving durable responses if not saving thousands of lives. He also believed that in the next ten years, a simple and cost effective blood test will allow the detection of cancer at an early stage.

An achievement, he was particularly proud to announce was the Texas legislation banning access to tanning beds for children under 18 as just 11 sessions of tanning increased the risk of melanoma decades later by a staggering 85%. He also urged the gathering to do “all the commonsense things” such as exercise, eat fruits, vegetables, stay away from processed foods and sugar, not smoke and manage stress – factors which could dramatically reduce the incidence of cancer.

Dr. DePinho concluded by stating that “many centuries from now, we’ll be known as the generation that understood life, put others before ourselves to make an impact not just in our families but families around the world.” He was also proud that MD Anderson was making cancer “history not only for Houstonians but for all of humanity.”

Shell’s VP of Human Resources, Ken Coon presented a plaque to Dr. DePinho, remarking that the brilliance and passion Dr. DePinho brings into a room is an inspiration for everyone.

Dr. Ronald DePinho, Shell VP Ken Coon, IACCGH President Sanjay Ramabhadran

inception 15 years ago. Promoting the economic interests of the Greater Houston region is at the core of what the organization does and he was happy to announce that IACCGH was leading two trade delegations to India with Judge Ed Emmett this December and Mayor Annise Parker in April, 2015 to tap “the tremendous investment opportunities in India.”

As President of the MD Anderson Cancer Center, Dr. DePinho comes with an impressive array of credentials and awards for his groundbreaking work in the treatment of cancer. Introducing Dr. Ronald DePinho, IACCGH Board member Karen Francis stated that Dr. DePinho brought new vision and great energy to the institute

9

and was also “setting the stage for MD Anderson to continue to be a world leader in cancer treatment.”

Describing MD Anderson as “the NASA for cancer care and a research powerhouse”, Dr. DePinho stated that MD Anderson was elevating the standards of care for cancer. By adopting a multidisciplinary care approach where a patient was seen not by “a doc.” but a team of doctors, the collective wisdom developed a personalized best possible regimen for every single patient. He reiterated MD Anderson’s mission which is to end the “great humanitarian crisis” – cancer, in the world.

Observing that this “was a game changing time in the history of science, medicine and technol-

INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2014 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM

COMMUNITY

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COMMUNITY

November 14, 2014

11

The Sighted Come Together to Fund a Noble Cause in India: the Gift of Vision

The young girls who performed the musical entertainment for the evening along with CG Harish. The youngest performer, seven year-old Lasya Dhulipala is in the center.

Photos: Jawahar Malhotra.

BY JAWAHAR MALHOTRA HOUSTON: The emcee for the evening, the indefatigable Dr. Nik Nikam who has commandeered many an event (especially Dusserah Melas in Skeeter’s Stadium) and is the host of All India Radio, played on the emotions of the hall full of invited guests as the program started by showing slides of eye catching objects.

“What do you think of when you see this?” he asked of the image of a huge, oval lemon. People shouted out answers: juicy, smooth, yellow. “And this?” Nikam asked of the pretty pair of eyes of a woman. “Killer eyes, huh?” They murmured in assent. Then he played a game, asking two people to stand with their back to the screen and asking the audience to throw out clues for them to identify the projected image (a red tomato).

Nikam made his point on the eyes being the gateway to vision and a comprehension of the world we live in, saying that 70 per cent of information came through this pathway. He then showed a picture of a blind girl, her corneas covered with a milky white layer blocking out her sight. He noted that 55 million people in India have partial or complete blindness, adding that some could be cured by simple cataract surgery which costs only $30 per eye in rural areas.

He turned the stage over to Akila Mamandur, a 14 year-old who sang the opening invocation Jai Shri Ganesh and then turned to sing Satyam Shivam Sundaram; followed by a song by 11 year-old Sneha Mukala and rounded out by 7 year-old Lasya Dhulipala (a contestant in the Indian Idol contest by the IACF two years ago) who sang Eh Malik Tere Bande Hum. All three girls sang with

great range and strong control and continued on with other performers after dinner to entertain the guests who had come to the first ever Houston fundraiser for the Sankara Eye Foundation. Darshak Thakkar of Krishna Sounds provided the sound and AV system.

The chief guest for the evening was Indian Consul General Parvathaneni Harish who spoke of the importance of having trained optometrists and ophthalmologists do a round of their training and service in rural areas of India so that they could catch and treat eye diseases earlier. “The Sankara Eye Care Institute has created a benchmark for the treatment of eye disorders,” Harish said, applauding its work in pushing society to face this need.

In the audience of the fundraiser held at India House on Saturday, November 8 were the founders of the SECI, the husband and wife team of Drs. R.V. and Radha Ramani who started their first clinic in Coimbatore, Tamilnadu. They established the Sri Kanchi Kamakoti Medical Centre in 1977, later establishing it into a charitable Trust, Dr. Ramani has won many awards in India, including the Role Model of India award in 2000 from the President of India.

Ramani spoke about the work the Foundation performs in the nine community hospitals and two city hospitals located across India.

A tenth hospital is planned for in Jodhpur, Rajasthan. He explained how the SEF plans to take free eye care to the doorsteps of the poor in the Vision 20/20 By the Year 2020 program that the SEF has currently undertaken. So far, the SEF has been able to provide the gift of sight to a million people.

The work of the SECI has received a boost by the efforts of the SEF which was founded in the US by Murali Krishnamurthy, an

electronics engineer, lover of Carnatic music and founder of the San Francisco Bay Area Indian light musical group “Pallavi” which has performed in many events across California for the past 18 years. He was motivated by his uncle P. Balasubramaniam to start the Foundation with co-founders Sridhar and Ahmad Khushnood in 1998 and since then has led many fundraising efforts across the West Coast.

The local fundraiser was the first in Houston and was organized

by Dr. Rajender Aparasu, a longtime Houston resident, but he could not attend at the last minute due to the unfortunate demise of his father in India, forcing him to rush to his funeral there.

Pooja Gupta, a transplanted Californian, stepped in to help arrange and coordinate the event, which featured a buffet dinner catered

by Mayuri restaurant and netted $10,000 for the Foundation.

The Sankara Eye Foundation can be found at www. giftofvision.org

ANNOUNCEMENT

ICC will have an Annual General Body meeting on Sunday, Dec 7 2014 at 2 pm at India House followed

by Election of Board of Directors. We plan to change ICC by laws in this meeting. We request the members at large to visit ICC website to read the draft proposed by laws and to attend the Annual General Body Meeting. Please participate and give your valuable comments & suggestions. If you have any questions please call ICC President Charlie Patel at (832) 4237979 or Secretary Jasmeeta Singh at 713 858 8229.

INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2014 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM

12 November 14, 2014 Diwali Celebrations at UT Austin

COMMUNITY

BY NAMITA PALLOD

Diwali at UT Austin 2014

UT students enjoying Diwali

AUSTIN: On October 23, students of The University of Texas at Austin gathered together in front of the renowned UT tower to celebrate Diwali. This event was put on by Hindu Students Association, with sophomores Namita Pallod and Bharath Lavendra leading the charge. Preparation for the event began in May. When asked about the goal of this event, Bharath Lavendra explained “Our motivation from the start was to really bring the spirit of Diwali to campus, by bringing together the Austin community to celebrate the triumph of good over evil, and instilling a sense of togetherness.”

This year, the program began with an interactive yagna led by Girish Chaitanyaji.

As students entered the yagna, they were

marked with a red tikka and then were given individual aarti plates, adding a very homely feel to this university celebration.

At the same time, main mall was buzzing with the activity stemming from the booths.

Students strolled through Main Mall, enjoying the celebrations by partaking in different booths, which ranged from candle-making to rangoli designs. Out of all of these, the mehendi line could be seen snaking throughout Main Mall as students eagerly awaited for a mehendi design.

The yagna was followed up by a performance segment by UT students.The segment started off with a bang with Dirty South Dandiya, and was also fueled by classical artists Priya Gupta and Preethi Menon. The performances left the audience members clapping with shouts for encores.

The night was topped off with a magnificent four minute firework show. The fireworks were shot straight from the UT tower, and captivated the audience immediately.

These fireworks serve as the trademark of Diwali at UT, since the only other time fireworks occur on campus are at University Commencement.

HSA has been hosting diwali on campus for many years, and all events are open to the entire Austin community. It was attended by students of all faiths and colors, as well as many non-UT students. Tiffany Yung said “I was drawn to the event by all the lights and the sound of the festivities, and it ended up being the best night of my semester!” This year marked a new height however, with unprecedented attendance of over 800 people.

Aneesh Angirekula, president of HSA, noted “Students from all over the 40 acres can appreciate and enjoy the fireworks, much like how every student can appreciate the theme of Diwali: victory of good over evil.”

INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2014 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM

COMMUNITY

November 14, 2014

South Asian Youth Alliance Holds its Maiden Event:

Coffee with The CEO

During the discussion at the Coffee With The CEO event.

Safeer Hassan

BY HAFEEZA SHAIK HOUSTON: South Asian Youth Alliance (SAYA), an initiative of Indian Muslims Association of Greater Houston ( IMAGH), was launched on April 27, 2014, to help the South Asian Young Adults, find mentors, develop leadership skills, build a peer supported network, and learn about their heritage. SAYA’s goal is to have young representatives from India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan as its members.

SAYA had its first event, Coffee With The CEO on Saturday Nov 8, at the Marriott Westchase . This event is a discussion based series with CEOs from many different companies coming to share their success story.

This was Chaired by two great entrepreneur brothers, who grew up in Sugar Land, but each with a different style and educational background, Safeer Hassan, CEO of American Risk Insurance Company and Sohail Hassan, CEO of One Stop Green.

Latafath Hussain, President of IMAGH welcomed the two CEO’s and SAYA members. He said that all young people have

leadership qualities and SAYA will try to hone and polish these skills through such events. He added that focus, knowledge and dedication is the only recipe to reach career goals. The Executive Committee consisting of Mohammed A. Khan, President, Joel Kurien, Vice President, Hafeeza Shaik, Secretary, and Nimra Haroon, Jt.Secretary, then introduced themselves. Dr. Salman Mirza Baig, and his wife Humera Baig , are very active in organizing many activities for Youth in The Woodlands area, and had brought in a great number of participants.

Safeer is the CEO of American Risk Insurance Company and considered an expert in the field of Property and Casualty Insurance. He is well-liked by his peers who admire his contagious positive attitude, laser sharp focus, and extremely high standards for customer service. He is also the President of the Lamborghini Club and his love for cars also motivates him to be successful.

Sohail Hassan is the founder and CEO of One Stop Green, a renewable energy company. His education is in International Affairs, Political Science, Sociology, and European Union Politics. Sohail promotes academics and advised to keep learning and growing especially in education.

After the young CEOs had shared their story, the room was opened up for discussions. There were many questions regarding business, education, entrepreneurship, internship, growing up South Asian etc.

SAYA is an organization dedicated to the development of young adults in the South Asian community.

Their second event, Coffee with The CEO is with Yani Keo, founder of Alliance of Multicultural Community Services , at Mariott Westchase ( 2900 Briarpark Dr, Houston, TX 77042) on November 22.

RSVP is required and refreshments will be served.

For further information, call Latafath Hussain at 713-269-6171 or Email: saya@ imagh.org or Facebook: www.facebook. com/SAYouthAlliance

For Advertising Call 713-789-6397 INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2014 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM

13

14 November 14, 2014

COMMUNITY

Sugar Land Audiences Captivated by Riveting Performances at the 7th Annual TELICA Diwali at Telfair SUGAR LAND: Saturday, October 18, Cornerstone Elementary School was once again the site for the Annual Telfair Diwali Festival organized by Telfair Indian American Culture Association (TELICA). Now in its 7th year, the TELICA celebration of Diwali, the Indian Festival of Lights, attracted well over a 1,000 adults and children from Telfair and other parts of Sugar Land.

The event was sponsored by MetLife; TelfairLife.com; Sugar Land Flooring; Telfair Montessori; Cambridge Montessori; College Tutors and Nannies The visitors were welcomed by yet another brilliant display of Rangoli from Sangita Bhutada, who continues to amaze every year by her beautiful and intricate designs.

As the crowds poured in they were greeted by engaging activities and games. Continuing their tradition of their focus on children the day started with a series of activities for children – Diwali Greeting cards, Playdough Diya, Paper Flower making, Nail art and of course Henna – by far the most popular one for the girls and women alike. The beautiful designs being created by the volunteers could be seen throughout the day. And then there were carnival style games that kept the energetic Telfair boys occupied. The omnipresent High school volunteers were at hand calmly and efficiently managing these activities The afternoon programs started at around noon with a soulful rendition of Ganesh Vandana by Priya Gade. The TELICA president Ravi Ranjan kicked off the afternoon festivities by welcoming the guests.

He invited distinguished guest KP George, a representative at the Fort Bend Board of Trustees to join the TELICA organizers, in lighting the Diwali lamp which signifies the elimination of darkness. George then talked the importance of education within the community.

The event started with a Rabrindrik dance and was followed by the ever popular Choir from our own Cornerstone Elementary School. Led by Laura Klein, the choir put together a wonderful set of songs including “How can I keep from singing?” and “It’s a Small World.”

A new entry to the event, Fashion Show, included participants ranging from 6 years to 67 years. Cat walking to heart pumping music, they had the crowd yelling and applauding. A series of dazzling mix of classical and Bollywood style dances kept the capacity crowd glued to their seats for over two hours. The excitement and the sense of pride on the faces of the young kids of Telfair were unmistakable! Clearly all their hours of preparation had been well worth it.

The Grand Sponsor of the Event, MetLife, raffled off an iPad. The youth volunteers ably led by Natasha Muppala of Clements High School, were everywhere a hand was needed. “Year after year, we have the High School students come here and do a phenomenal job. These smiling faces make the hardest chores look easy and challenges disappear! I know Natasha worked very hard to put together such a wonderful team, I cannot thank you all enough!” said Deepak Kanwar, the lead

coordinator for the show.

Jignasa Patel and Sanjeev Yamdagni, the co-lead cultural coordinators, put in numerous hours and countless phone calls and emails coordinating over 20 different acts that included well over 200 participants. “I am extremely impressed by the quality of our performers and it keeps getting better each year, I cannot wait to see the performances next year.” said Sanjeev.

Sapna Kanwar, the lead coordinator for the non-cultural activities worked relentlessly with key TELICA volunteers to put together a new look and feel for the stage and the activities hall. “We wanted to make sure there was enough interesting stuff for the boys too, we were glad to see them engaged in the carnival games,” said Sapna.

Some of the very proud TELICA volunteers are Ravi Ranjan, Satya Narendrula, Raju Muppala, Sanjeev Yamdagni, Deepak

Kanwar, Jignasa Patel, Jhilmil Yamdagni, Rani Narendrula, Roopali Bajpai, Praveen Bhavani, Srilatha Bommakanti, Shankar Vaidyanathan, Vanita Ranjan, Ambuj Bajpai, Savitha Kanth, Sapna Kanwar, Sumathy Muppala, Sanjay Agarwal, Ravi Bommakanti, Srini Chittaluru, Roopali Mittal, Prakash Shah, Sangita Bhutada, Rakesh Kumar, Bhagwan Bhutada, Sundar Moorthy, Kunaal Kanwar, Pallavi Kumar, Ranjana Aggarwal, and Ekta Aggarwal.

The youth volunteers who contributed their valuable hours to make this event a grand success were led by TELICA youth volunteer coordinator Natasha Muppala.

Visit www.telica.org for festival pictures or to get more details about the event and organization.

Report Composed by: TELICA Community Outreach Team

INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2014 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM

November 14, 2014

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16 November 14, 2014

COMMUNITY

Fascination with Historical Bengali Episode Develops into a Poignant Movie, True to Life

At the Houston screening of the movie “Chittagong”, local organizers Partha Chatterjee (left) and Raja Banga (right) with supporter Sanchali Basu with the movie’s director Bedabrata Pain (second from right).

Photos: Jawahar Malhotra

BY JAWAHAR MALHOTRA KATY: Even among Indians in the Old Country, there is no widespread knowledge of the events of the 1930s that accelerated the unraveling of the British Colonial rule in the eastern part of the country and ultimately led to its retreat and the sad and damaging partition of Bengal that followed just 15 years later.

“But for the average Bengali school kid, this is a most revered and well known part of pre-Independent Indian history”, said Bedabrata Pain, who was in town this past weekend to attend the screening of his movie, “Chittagong” to a select audience. For them, the story of Masterda Surya Sen and his group of revolutionaries who fought to get the British out of the port city of Chittagong is steeped in nationalistic fervor and pride.

“But, this is not a documentary”, Pain is quick to point out, “rather a flight of my imagination, fed by some years of research into the Chittagong Uprising of 1930”.

And, he also admits, a stroke of luck that brought him face-to-face with one of the chief protagonists in the movie, Subodh “Jhanku” Roy who was a 14 year-old recruit into the Indian Republican Army, Chittagong Branch. As word got around in Kolkata that Pain was interested in making a movie about the event, an acquaintance told him about an old man who was lying on his deathbed in the P.G. Hospital. Pain hurried to his bedside and was able to meet the 91 year-old Jhanku and get his life story and video tape a few moments with him. “The movie is told through the eyes of the 14 year-old Jhanku, and not that of the leader, and so is more exciting. Most movies of leaders end in failure”, he added, “but not this one”. Jhanku died two weeks after telling his tale.

Pain was also lucky enough to meet Jhanku’s younger brother Subas Roy who gave him most of the details, and also met the last man of the revolutionary boys squad, Behari Chaudhury, who was 99 then and died at 103. As the movie ends, video clips of the

The capacity crowd of 250 lined up at the Katy Mills AMC 20 last Saturday, November 8 for the movie’s only screening in the Metroplex.

elderly Jhanku and Chaudhury and other characters in the film roll by with captions about what they subsequently became and achieved, which added to the audience’s acceptance of the authenticity and accuracy of the movie.

The low-budget movie was presented by the Tagore Society of Houston and was screened on Saturday, November 8 at 2 pm at the AMC Katy Mills 20. The 250 capacity audience got a chance to mingle with the director Bedabrata Pain prior to the screening and then immediately afterwards for a question and answer session at which he described how he got interested in the subject and the making of the movie.

An award-winning NASA scientist, an inductee to the US Space Technology Hall of Fame and an inventor of the digital camera technologies and holder of 87 patents, Dr. Bedabrata Pain quit NASA after 16 years to follow his passion film-making. “I had no movie making experience and this was my first time on a set”, quipped Pain with a chuckle be-

fore the screening. “In fact, the waterboy had more time on a set than I did”! He wrote the story, then hired someone to make the screenplay and started scouting around in Bengal for a location.

“I got the film fully funded and was ready to start when I discovered that someone else had copied my idea and made the Bollywood movie Khelein Hum Jee Jahan Se (in 2010 by the producer Ashutosh Gowariker, based on Manini Chatterjee’s book Do or Die) so I shelved it”. He turned, instead, to the royalties from his patents to invest $800,000 of his own money into making the film and started again. “Most of the actors took really low payments and even the musical team of Shankar-EhsaanLoy took next to nothing”, Pain recalled.

After 42 days of shooting in Lataguri (at the foothills of the Himalayas) to recall the hills of Jalalabad (on the outskirts of Chittagong, the scene of the real-life 1932 siege of the revolutionaries), the movie was edited in Los Angeles. Pain wanted the movie to

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play across many audiences, so he made the movie in the more widely understood Hindi, with English subtitles, and had the well-known script writer Piyush Mishra translate the dialogues from English into Hindi. He then chose an American, Eric Zimmerman, to be in charge of cinematography and editing. “I wanted a different perspective on the filming and how the material flowed”, Pain said.

“Indian movies still have a lot to learn about screenplay, photography and editing”. He then turned to Anurag Khesap to fund the publicity campaign and got Mountain River Films to handle distribution in the US. The result is the 1 hour 45 minute movie that engrosses you from the first scene and then captivates you till the end. Filmed in sepiatoned colors that evoke movies of a bygone era, Pain and Zimmerman have used simple, ordinary surroundings to unfold the events that led to the Uprising and have created this award-winning film.

Chittagong is an uplifting action-drama of an improbable triumph, told through the life of the reluctant hero, a teenager Jhanku (Delzad Hiwale in his debut role).

This Indian historical war drama film stars Manoj Bajpai in the lead role of Masterda Surya Sen and is based upon actual events of British India’s Chittagong Uprising. The cast includes three national-award winning actors Nawazuddin Siddique (as Nirmal Sen), Rajkumar Rao (Loknath Bal) and Vega Tamotia (Pritilata Waddedar). The film features music by trio Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, lyrics by Prasoon Joshi, sound by Oscar winner Resul Pookutty and cinematography

by Eric Zimmerman.

This film was released in India in October 2012, with many Bollywood actors like Shah Rukh Khan at the premiere. It is the winner of Golden Lotus in the Indian National Award, 2013, winner of several international film festivals including Florence Film Festival 2012, Sedona International Film Festival 2013, Jaipur International Film Festival 2014 (best film, best screenplay) and Washington DC Film Festival 2014 (best film, best director).

The film has had limited release so far in the US, with screenings in New York, Los Angeles, Seattle, San Francisco and now Houston.

Pain plans to have screenings in San Diego, Chicago and Atlanta soon and was already besieged by people who had heard about the Houston screening at the IIT picnic (see page 06) for more shows in Houston. A fellow IITan, the Los Angeles based Pain was delighted at the appeal to various cross-sections of the Indian diaspora and vowed he’d be back in the Bayou City for more shows.

INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2014 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM

COMMUNITY

November 14, 2014

17

Xoom Announces Instant Deposit Service to Bank of Baroda Accounts in India

Xoom expands instant deposit service to one of India’s leading financial institutions SAN FRANCISCO, CA: Xoom Corporation (NASDAQ: XOOM), a leading digital money transfer provider, is now offering instant deposits to Bank of Baroda bank accounts in India. This revolutionary service allows Xoom customers to instantly deposit money into their recipients’ Bank of Baroda bank accounts, 365 days a year, including bank holidays.

Instant deposits to Bank of Baroda are processed through Xoom’s partnership with Punjab National Bank.

“Through our partnership with Punjab National Bank and the breakthrough IMPS technology, we are thrilled to expand our instant deposit service to Bank of Baroda, one of the largest public sector banks in India,” said Julian King, Senior Vice President of Marketing and Business Development for Xoom. “Instant

deposits are available 365 days, including bank holidays, so customers will never have to wait. Speed and convenience are what customers expect from Xoom’s service and we continue to do just that in our mission to provide instant deposit to even more banks in India.”

In addition to Bank of Baroda, Xoom also offers instant deposits to ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Punjab National Bank, Union Bank of India, Federal Bank and Yes Bank.

Xoom provides great locked-in exchange rates for money transfers to India, and there is no fee when customers send more than $1,000 and pay with their U.S.-based bank account. Plus, Xoom continues to provide fast bank deposits within four hours to all other banks in India, including to NRE and NRO accounts,

when sent during bank processing hours in India.

Customers can also download the Xoom App for Android and iOS mobile devices for free. Visit https:// www.xoom.com/india for more information.

About Xoom Xoom is a leading digital money transfer provider that enables consumers to send money to 30 countries in a secure, fast and cost-effective way, using their mobile phone, tablet or computer. During the 12 months ended June 30, 2014, Xoom’s more than 1.1 million active customers sent approximately $6.3 billion to family and friends. The company is headquartered in San Francisco and can be found online at www.xoom.com.

Xoom Announces Instant Deposit Service to Kotak Mahindra Bank Accounts in India

Xoom expands instant deposit service to one of India’s leading financial institutions SAN FRANCISCO, CA: Xoom Corporation (NASDAQ: XOOM), a leading digital money transfer provider, is now offering instant deposits to Kotak Mahindra Bank accounts in India. This revolutionary service allows Xoom customers to instantly deposit money into their recipients’ Kotak Mahindra Bank accounts, 365 days a year, including bank holidays.

Instant deposits to Kotak Mahindra Bank are processed through Xoom’s partnership with Punjab National Bank.

“Through our partnership with Punjab National Bank and the breakthrough IMPS technology, we are thrilled to expand our instant deposit service to Kotak Mahindra Bank,” said Julian King, Senior Vice President of Marketing and Business Development for Xoom. “Instant deposits are available 365 days, including bank holidays, so customers will never have to wait. Speed and convenience are what customers expect from Xoom’s service and we continue to do just that in our mission to provide instant deposit to even more banks in India.”

In addition to Kotak Mahindra Bank, Xoom also offers instant deposits to ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Punjab National Bank, Bank of Baroda, Union Bank of India, Federal Bank and Yes Bank.

Xoom provides great locked-in exchange rates for money transfers to India, and there is no fee when customers send more than $1,000 and pay with their U.S.-based bank account. Plus, Xoom continues to provide fast bank deposits within four hours to all other banks in India, including to NRE and NRO accounts, when sent during bank processing hours in India.

Customers can also download the Xoom App for Android and iOS mobile devices for free. Visit https:// www.xoom.com/india for more information.

About Xoom Xoom is a leading digital money transfer provider that enables consumers to send money to 30 countries in a secure, fast and cost-effective way, using their mobile phone, tablet or computer. During the 12 months ended June 30, 2014, Xoom’s more than 1.1 million active customers sent approximately $6.3 billion to family and friends. The company is headquartered in San Francisco and can be found online at www.xoom.com.

About Kotak Mahindra Bank Established in 1985, the Kotak Mahindra group is one of India’s leading financial services conglomerates. In February 2003, Kotak Mahindra Finance Ltd. (KMFL), the group’s flagship company, received banking li-

cense from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). With this, KMFL became the first non-banking finance company in India to become a bank - Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd (KMBL).

KMBL offers complete retail financial solutions for varied customer requirements. The Savings Bank Account goes beyond the traditional role of savings, and provides range of services through a comprehensive suite of investment services and other transactional conveniences like Online Shopping, Bill Payments, ASBA, Netc@rd, ActivMoney (Automatic TD sweep-in and Sweep-out) etc. Kotak’s Jifi, a first-of-its-kind fully integrated Social BankAccount, redefines digital banking by seamlessly incorporating social networking platforms like Twitter and Facebook with mainstream banking.

KMBL also offers an Investment Account where Mutual Fund investments are recorded and can be viewed in a consolidated fashion across fund houses & schemes. Further, the Bank offers loan products such as Home Loans, Personal Loans, Commercial Vehicle Loans, etc. Keeping in mind the diverse needs of the business community, KMBL offers comprehensive business solutions that include Current Account, Trade Services, Cash Management Services and Credit facilities.

Read us online at

www.indoamerican-news.com

INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2014 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM

18 November 14, 2014 Should Voting be Compulsory?

The law notified by the Gujarat government to make voting in elections to local bodies compulsory is not a well thought out piece of legislation. The law misunderstands both the principle of free and fair elections and the very conditions under which millions of our citizens exercise their franchise.

One of the features of a democracy is that it entitles citizens to articulate a range of political commitments from deeply involved activism to outright apathy. And the nature of their commitment is, in turn, governed by many factors from philosophical disposition to calculations of personal gain.

While it is useful for voter turnouts to increase in order to get more representative verdicts, it cannot be done by enforcing what is essentially an elective social experience.

India’s millions do not have the luxury of participating in politics actively on an everyday basis but they cannot be denied the chance to express their disenchantment with the options they have by not voting. Indeed the right to choose ‘none of the above’ on the ballot was devised with that sensibility in mind.

Voting is certainly a sign of empowerment but, sometimes, failing to vote in a fraught social setting can also be a form of protection which the State cannot always guarantee.

Gujarat’s compulsory voting law has provisions for punishments that have come in for criticism. Election Commissioner HS Brahma wondered about its practicality asking if we can put eight crore voters in jail if, say, 10% of the 83 crore national electorate did not vote.

The state can ill-afford to criminalise millions and create a paper trail for such an ‘offence’ when it has other serious security issues to consider.

Compulsory voting also does not reckon with the millions who migrate to cities in search of work. What would their fate be if they were potentially expected to vote in elections at various levels?

Would the urban poor be in a position to take a week off from work - usually without pay - and undertake the long journey home to vote each time an election cycle came around? Can our railways and road transport infrastructure cope with the mass migration that would ensue when the Election Commission announces dates? And can the Indian economy weather the disruptive effects of periodic mass desertion by the workforce?

The intent of Gujarat’s law may be noble but its effects will be disastrous. There is really no need for punitive measures when the Election Commission is doing an impressive job to raise awareness through initiatives like the ‘systematic voters’ education and electoral participation’ (SVEEP) campaign.

Hindustan Times

EDITORIAL/COMMENTARY

Vijay Sheshadri: An American Poet

BY JAITHIRTH RAO Prizes are universally looked down upon by those who have a self-imposed sense of intellectual arrogance.

After all, Orwell or Auden never got the Nobel — the best argument in our armory. But I am now retracting a bit. Prizes do have their uses.

I would never have heard of Vijay Seshadri had he not won a Pulitzer for poetry. And, of course, as soon as anyone with an Indian name gets recognition, we are busy claiming him or her as one of our own. Seshadri was born in Bangalore; for that matter, I too was born in Bangalore two years before him! That is where the similarity ends.

Despite our claims on him, let there be no mistake: Seshadri is an American. But given his name, given our chauvinism and xenophobia, it was inevitable that HarperCollins India should quickly reprint Seshadri’s 2013 anthology, 3 Sections. So one gets to read this poet. And what a poet he turns out to be! I read his anthology and re-read it a couple of times in one day, and promptly sent e-mails to many of my friends that Seshadri’s poem “Personal Essay” merits being in the same league as T.S. Eliot’s “Four Quartets”.As one of my friends pointed out, such praise should be doled out sparingly. But trust me, the praise is well deserved.

Seshadri handles language with felicity and aplomb. He not only inhabits his couch in vacant and pensive moods, but he also walks around with awesome verbs in his pockets and he drops them with panache as he seeks the objective correlates of emotions.

He is an American master in the tradition of Whitman, Melville and Eliot.

His prose poem “Pacific Fishes of Canada” is almost self-consciously modelled after Melville. To use his words, he wallows in his “version of the well-documented affliction that causes people to live in literature rather than life”. His self-deprecating modesty, which is part of his general style, is a trifle misplaced. Reading this composition, which is set in the Pacific, mostly in the Bering Sea, one is forced to fall back on the half-forgotten images of the Atlantic coast of New England, of harpoons

and, of course, of Ishmael the narrator. For the record, Melville was not only the author of Moby Dick, he was also an accomplished poet. Seshadri is a worthy intellectual and artistic descendant of the master.

His shorter poems combine wit, a sense of poignancy and an uncanny ability to drop a phrase or two that lodges in the interstices that seem to exist between the reader’s neural synapses — a description that I feel Seshadri would concur with — for that seems to be his intent. The intertwining of the physical and the mental, which gains traction in our contemporary world, is something that Seshadri is acutely aware of; he grapples with it extensively, repeatedly and with a febrile level of intensity. Two centuries ago, one could talk of the body and the mind as distinct objects; some even talked of the soul.

Today, we have to face up to the fact that chemical and micro-electrical impulses inside a small organ encased by the skull, in fact, may be the only soul we have. Sanskrit poets felt that a heightened sense of discrimination — which they referred to as “viveka”, separated humans from other life forms. Seshadri is wryly aware that these divisions may be artificial. After all, consciousness may just be visible on a brain scan in one’s “perisylvian pathways and declivities”. Our earlier consensus clearly stands “startled”.

The piece de resistance of the anthology is the longish “Personal Essay”. Unlike Eliot, who makes a separation between Little Gidding and Burnt Norton, Seshadri writes his poem in one continuous stanza with no breaks whatsoever. He seems to be making the point that in the 21st century, we live in parallel time, not in sequential space. We are simultaneously aware of the screen on which

we are writing, the music that filters in through our earphones, our nonconversations with neighbours, our electrical connections to the outer universe and so much more. And in the midst of it all, each of us remains “a face astonished by itself in the mirror”. He has already told us elsewhere that he is a man trapped in a man’s body. Now he goes on to tell us that our “identities are either accidents or conspiracies, which are the same”.

The poem is a long meditation on the human predicament, not only in this universe of infinite spaces, but entirely simultaneously in Brooklyn and JFK airport, very tangible immediate physical neighbourhoods.

Seshadri’s use of the figure of speech of repetition, repeating himself once, twice and then repeating himself in yet another way, is brilliant to the point of out-Elioting Eliot. His ability to relate the physical to the personal trances each of us has to live with sets him apart as one of the poets of the English language who will, over the years, grow in stature.

Let me end with two quotes from the poem “Personal Essay” with every hope that readers will buy his book: l “Look at an old man on a street with fixed concentration and he resolves/ Into his colors and shapes and durations./ He’s arbitrary. He’s accidental./ He could have been put together in a number of ways./ Why this instead of that? He could be a toy. He is a toy, but whose?/ Look at his neighbourhood with the concentration of an eightyear-old/ and slowly it resolves to a composition comprising/ rectangles, triangles, boxes, lines, polygons, convex polygons,/ parallelograms, rhomboids, quadrilaterals, pyramids, dodecagons, hexagons, octagons,/ stars of Lakshmi, arbelos,deltoids, Archimedean spirals,/ magatamas, triquetras, Yin-Yangs.” l “Stare at a word in a book long enough and that word/ slowly uncouples itself from what it means./ The meaning backs away./ The meaning is being evicted from/ The structure of glyphs that it has rented.”

I rest my case.

The writer is a Mumbai-based entrepreneur

Indo American News FOUNDER: DR. K.L. SINDWANI PUBLISHER: JAWAHAR MALHOTRA EDITOR: PRAMOD KULKARNI BUSINESS & PRODUCTION MANAGER: VANSHIKA VIPIN

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INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2014 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM

INDIA

November 14, 2014

19

A Fascinating Story of Mumbai-Based Youngster Deepak Ramola is a New Star on Life-Skills Education Horizon

Deepak Ramola

BY RAJ KANWAR He describes himself a “life-skills educator” but that description does not wholly reflect the full range of his

many-faceted talents and the numerous avocations that this 22-year old Mumbai-based youngster Deepak Ramola is engaged in. He dons many hats as an actor, script writer, lyricist,

spoken-word poet, creative executive producer et al besides being an educator, and all that have combined to give him a compelling persona.

An all-rounder par excellence, Ramola is today much sought-after as a “life-skills educator” by educational institutions. In the past five years, the Mumbai-based teenage-educator has taught nearly 23,000 pupils across the country. His much talked about Project FUEL is an acronym for ‘Forward the Understanding of Every life Lesson’. His concept is very simple and based on the fact that “each one of us is simultaneously a learner and a teacher, and lives through some experience or the other way ahead of a third person. We collect life-lessons of peoples from all over the world and then design those into sets of performance and interactive exercises so that the pupil just doesn’t get to hear what the life-lesson is but rather individually experience it at first-hand,” explains this youthful educator.

Ramola showed his latent talents quite early on in his school, and that won him much praise and many prizes. Soon enough, he emerged as an ace debater and promising actor, equally at ease both in English and Hindi. After passing out from the Army Public School in Dehra Dun’s Clement Town cantonment, Ramola joined Mumbai’s MMK College of

Commerce from where he graduated last year in Mass Media with a gold medal to boot. It was there that his many-splendored talents fully blossomed, and the youngster caught the discriminating eye of movie directors and talent-scouts. He found minor roles in Rajshri Productions’ “Isi Life Mein”, “Bodyguard” with Salman Khan and in “Sasural Simar Ka” on Colors channel.

Ramola has been writing poems since his school days, and quite credible ones. “I started with four lines as a prelude of sorts to a debate or a speech. Then gradually the writing of poems came naturally to me,” says this yet untested song writer.

Currently, he is writing the songs for eight movies for some of the leading producers and directors. “Most of my films are scheduled for release in 2015. I have thoroughly enjoyed the experience of writing those songs and now eagerly look forward with fingers crossed to their release,” says Ramola.

He has his own take on how he became a teacher while still a student. “The irony of my life is that I have been an adult all my life; though my father is a chef at Dehra Dun’s Indian Military Academy, he ensured that both my older sister and I joined a good school. We both siblings worked hard and did well in

the school. May be it was providence or some other miracle that made me supremely self-assured in my early teens. I participated virtually in every co-curricular activity and won acclamation from both my teachers and my peers. By the time I left the school, I had become an acclaimed debater, an actor and even a director. All of my other passions and interests like script and song writing seamlessly came to me at the MMK College,” he recalls of those growing up years with a sense of déjà vu.

How does Ramola manage to do justice to all of his diverse passions and avocations? “I just keep shuffling them on the work priority list. At the moment, Project FUEL and song writing is something that takes most of my attention and time. But all my interests are very much on the spread; and it is my goal to reach the highest peak of my potential. And all these avocations are just the paths to reach that goal,” he declares.

HINDU TEMPLE/MANDIR FOR SALE OR LEASE A well settled Hindu Temple/Mandir currently in full operation is for sale in Houston ( Baytown), Texas. The temple is located 20 minutes from the Houston Hobby Airport and Clearlake, 35 minute to the Hillcroft Indian area, and 25 minute drive to downtown Houston. The temple is located on 5 acres unrestricted land with $11,000 sq temple place, paved parking for over a 100 cars. The adjacent 5 acres with a 5 bedroom home is presently used as priest quarters is also for sale.

The temple has the biggest Shivalinga in the U.S, Vishnu/Balaji, Kal Bhairave, Ganesh Ji, 6’ Durga Ma, Lord Shanidev, Lord Gurudev, nandhi Ji, and it also has many panchaloka murthis-vigrahas such as Lord Muruga with Valli, Dhevanai, Ramseetha Lakshman Pariwar, Panchamukh Hamunan Ji, Sathyamarayana, Prapiyankara Soolini Ma, etc.

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281-424-5218 Temple chief priest- 408-829-7780 Radha Krishna Mandir, 7600 Bayway Drive, Baytown, TX, 77520 www.texaskrishnamandir.org, avtemple@aol.com INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2014 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM

Raj Kanwar is the India Correspondent of Indo American News.

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IMMIGRATION/COMMUNITY President Likely to Take Action on Immigration Before Year’s End

BY RAHUL REDDY & EMILY NEUMANN President Obama discussed immigration in an interview with “Face the Nation” host Bob Schieffer, which aired on November 9, 2014. He again confirmed his intention to use his executive authority to act on immigration by the end of the year. Frustration with the lack of congressional action and stubbornness of the opposition in dealing with a system which everyone agrees is broken has motivated the President to take temporary action while the legislative branch works towards a permanent fix.

The President indicated that his action will not include everything that needs to be done and will take time to implement. The three areas that may be addressed by Executive Action include border security, making the current legal system more efficient, and providing a chance for undocumented immigrants with American children to legalize.

“I’d prefer, and still prefer, to see it done through Congress. But every day that I wait, we’re misallocating resources, we’re deporting people that shouldn’t be deported, we’re not deporting folks that are dangerous and need to be deported,” the President said. Although House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell have both warned the President against taking action on his own, Mr. Obama reminded them that no one is stopping Congress from acting in parallel.

After Congress failed to act for over a year, Mr. Obama holds out hope that a bill can still be passed. If so, he indicated that he will sign it and it will supersede any executive action taken.

While details of the President’s

plan remain unknown, any application for benefits will likely require an individual to establish identity, when entry to the United States occurred, and continued physical presence in the country. Steps can be taken now to preserve evidence that might be necessary for documenting that the requirements for relief have been met.

The following list of documents may be helpful for this purpose: Valid AND/OR Expired Passport, Visa, I-94, any Receipt from USCIS. Any Identification Card (Such as Driver License, Identification Card, School ID, etc.).

School Records (Such as Transcripts, report Card, etc.)

Medical Records from hospital or doctor visits.

Lease Agreement Utility Bills (such as phone, electricity, gas, cable, internet, etc.).

Official Records from Religious entity in the USA, such as records of baptisms, weddings, etc.

Travel Records such as transportation tickets, hotel receipts, etc.

Money order receipts, vehicle registration, insurance policies, etc.

Any receipts from Western Union.

Traffic Tickets.

Any major purchases like furniture or car repairs., bus and air tickets from travel within the U.S. Any mail that you received while you have lived in the U.S. Hotel stay invoices Records from county or city libraries.

The above list is not intended to confirm the possible documents that may help to establish eligibility. Until the President’s plan is announced and the application process is implemented, take care to avoid scams.

Follow these tips from the American

Immigration Lawyers Association to escape being taken advantage of: Do not believe it if someone tells you about a secret new immigration law or claims to have connections or special influence with any government office or agency Don’t pay money to someone to refer you to an immigration lawyer Walk away if an immigration lawyer doesn’t have a license Never sign an application that contains false information, and try not to sign blank forms. If you must sign a blank form, make sure you get a copy of the completed form and check to make sure all the information is correct before it is filed Always get proof that your papers have been filed–ask for a copy or government filing receipt whenever anything is submitted in your case Only a licensed lawyer or accredited representative is authorized and qualified to assist with an immigration case. Before paying any money or filing any case, check whether an immigration lawyer is in good standing and licensed by contacting the state bar.

Rahul Reddy & Emily Neumann practices business immigration law and are partners in Reddy & Neumann, P.C. in Houston, TX. Neumann writes a blog on immigration law (immigrationgirl.com) and shares updates on Twitter (@immigrationgirl) and her Facebook page to help her clients stay informed of the latest news.

Unique Annabhishekam at Sri Meenakshi Temple cooked rice is traditionally performed for Lord Sundarewswar at Madurai Meenkashi temple as well as many other Shiva temples on the full moon day in this month. MTS has been following the same tradition for more than 25 years. Lord Shiva is known to be very fond of abhishekam, and on this special day He who provides annam to the entire world is showered with annam by His devotees. More than 100 ardent devotees gathered at the Shiva sannidhi the evening of November 6, to participate in this event. They brought various abhishekam materials including cooked rice, prasadam, fruits and flowers.

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Abhishekam with various dravyams such as milk, curd, honey, annam and panchamritham was performed to the resounding chanting of Sri Rudram and other vedic hymns. The devotees sang various bhajans and devotional songs while they patiently waited for the darshan of Lord Sundareswara.

The priests took great efforts to do an elaborate and most beautiful alankaram of the Shiva Lingam with rice. When the sannidhi opened again, it was a most spectacular sight to behold. Archana and arathi was followed by prasadam distribution.

All in all, it was a very fulfilling and blissful evening of worship.

Lord Siva adorned with Annam (rice) symbolic of his Grace that feeds the World Photos: S Narayanan

BY M.K. SRIRAM PEARLAND: Karthikai, the seventh month in the Tamil calendar is considered a very holy month. Annabhishekam, i.e. abhishekam with INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2014 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM

COMMUNITY

November 14, 2014

21

Sewa International and Houston Maharashtra Mandal Join Hands to Raise Funds for Jammu & Kashmir Floods

HOUSTON: As we go about enjoying our life every day, there are children and families suffering in Jammu and Kashmir, struggling in cold weather, looking for food and shelter.

To most of us in Houston, lives of those children mean nothing but a news item. But, it meant more to some wonderful men and women at Maharastra Mandal.

Sewa International a leading Hindu faith based nonprofit with humanitarian focus and worldwide reach.When the recent J and K floods happened Houston Maharashtra Mandal’s (a leading nonprofit) board members particularly Mridula Lele and its President Megha Ozarker and Ravi Ozarker,undertook the noble endeavor of raising funds for this disaster.

Mrudula Lele said that as citizens of India they felt a responsibility towards helping Indians in need. With this attitude in mind, Houston Maharashtra Mandal decided to organize a fundraiser for the J &K floods. HMM WAS researching for organizations which were helping for this cause and came across Sewa International.

Sewa is a reputed organization in the Houston area and they also have their sister branch Sewa Bharati, in India, which is working for this cause on ground level.HMM contacted Sewa

Mrudula Lele from HMM collecting funds for J &K

HMM president Megha Ozarker handing over the check to Sewa Project coordinator Kavita Tewary.

and they explained the intensity of the flood situation and how they were helping the people affected. Apart from sounding genuine, the empathy with which they work for people in need was the factor which made HMM decide to give the collected fundS to Sewa.The effort put in by the HMM president Megha Ozarker was commendable.Houston Maharashtra Mandal 2014 Committee members had a phone conference with Kavita Tewary, Project Coordinator|Sewa International. She gave an excellent talk about the situation in Kashmir and also supported HMM’s intention to help. She had in-depth knowledge

of what was happening in Kashmir.

After the meeting, HMM sent an email blast to all its members to raise awareness for this calamity,an appeal was posted on HMM website ,and a donation box was set up at the Diwali event in Katy. Appeals were made several times during the event to raise funds.Overall, the response was great.According to Ravi Ozarker any donation big or small is very important and builds community strength.

Strength and confidence that we are there to help out our community and other communities when any need arises. It showed how much people cared for our communities in India

and were willing to help. We witnessed love for country, love for our people, love for our communities and above all love for humanity.

If you want to help or if your orga-

nization wants to do similar efforts for flood hit Jammu and Kashmir or states hit by Cyclone Hudhud, email at Houston@sewausa.org or call -Kavita Tewary@ 713-303-4253

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Hindus Help Yezidis Spread Awareness About Genocide of Yezidis

Yezidi brothers Rasheed and Dawood participating in the Diwali Arti with the local Hindu leaders Vijay Pallod, Swapan Dhairyawan and Rajiv Bhavsar.

BY ACHALESH AMAR HOUSTON: The Yezidi – Hindu Coalition efforts on raising awareness about the humanitarian crisis faced by Yezidi people in northern Iraq have gained momentum over last three weeks. The group comprises of distinguished members from both Yezidi and Hindu communities in USA and Canada, and has itself has grown from 24 to 138 members in this short span of time.

It may be worth recalling that ever since ISIS (Islamic State) laid siege on Northern Iraq in August 2014, one of the holiest places for Yezidis – Mt Sinjar – has seen many tragic and miserable days. The community which once boasted of 23 million practitioners has been reduced to close to a million at the moment.

Between August 2014 and now, over 500,000 Yezidis have been displaced;

around 2000 Yezidi men massacred and close to 7000 men, women and children have been kidnapped and/ or enslaved.

The efforts of bringing Yezidis and Hindus started in July 2014 with the establishment of Yezidi Sanatan Dharma Society (YSDS) and later bolstered by Yezidi – Hindu Coalition. Sewa International played its part by helping bring the two communities together, by inviting Yezidi brothers and sisters to Raksha Bandhan celebrations in Canada.

About 200 Yezidis from all over U.S., supported by the Hindu community, joined hands for a demonstration at White House, Washington DC on Oct 24, to make an urgent plea for the U.S. intervention to halt the murderous ISIS campaign of forced conversion, enslavement, and genocide of Yezidi men, women, and

children in the Sinjar area of northern Iraq. A Yezidi delegation, led by their supreme spiritual leader Baba Sheikh, went to Murugan Temple in Washington DC to offer prayers and meet and thank the local Hindu leadership there. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, the spiritual leader of Art of Living, also met the Yezidi delegation in Chicago and assured them of all possible help.

Tulsi Gabbard was also present at the occasion. The Hindu leadership in Houston invited local Yezidis for the big Diwali event and the same warmth was extended at many other cities throughout USA and Canada.

As a result of the pressure created

by Yezidi-Hindu Coalition, the white house stepped up its offensive against ISIS and also issued a statement reiterating United States commitment to the safety and security of Yezidi people. http://www.whitehouse.gov/ the-press-office/2014/10/31/statement-nsc-spokesperson-bernadettemeehan-deputy-national-security-ad is the direct link to the statement.

Over next couple of months, the coalition intends to conduct fund raising all over USA to help with the humanitarian relief work on the ground and requests the support from all right thinking people who believe in Humanity. Here are the two links for Donation: http://www.sewausa.org/files/uploads/2014_Diwali_SewaUSA.html SEWA INTERNATIONAL https://secure.iahv.org/donations. aspx?ref=0 IAHV (associated with ART of Living Foundation)

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“IT HAPPENS ONLY IN INDIA”

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PUZZLES/ RECIPE

Mama’s Punjabi Recipes

Channe di Dal di Khichdi (Rice & Channa Lentils) There are many variations in the ingredients that you can use to make khichdi, just as there are many types of paranthas. It all depends on your taste and also the foods you ate while growing up. Though khichdi is basically made from chawal (rice) and dal (lentils), its popularity among many families comes from the simplicity and ease with which it can be prepared. It is a favorite of many rice-eaters, many of whom like it made with more water so that it is thin and runny.

Another reason is that khichdi is a comfort food to which you can easily add extra flavor with dahi (yogurt) and aachars (pickles). The whole eating experience is very informal and familiar. What’s more, at the end, there aren’t that many plates to wash!!

Khichdi is usually made with moong dal because it is easily digestible and has high carbohydrate content. But it can just as easily be made with other dals too like urad (black dal) or channa (yellow dal), depending on your taste and the texture you want. Punjabis who are accustomed to eating mah-channe di dal sometimes prefer khichdi with channa dal.

And for many young people, especially those living outside India, who aren’t familiar with preparing Indian dishes and think it is too time consuming to make, khichdi is a quick and easy primer for learning the first steps of Indian cuisine.

Ingredients: • 2 cup basmati chawal (Basmati rice) • 1 cup channa dal (skinless split channa lentils) • 6 cups pani (water) • 2 tbspn olive oil • 1 tspn jeera (cumin) • 4 laung (cloves) • 2 sticks dal chinni (cinnamon) – broken into smaller pieces • 1 tspn garam masala • Spices: namak (salt) – to your taste Directions: 1. Place the channa dal in a bowl and wash it thoroughly in cold water then let it soak for 30 minutes.

Do the same with the rice and put it aside.

2. Bring 2 cups of water to a boil over high heat. When it starts to boil, drain the water from the channa dal and pour it into the pot.

3. Cover and let the dal boil for only 10 minutes, then take it off the heat and run the dal through a strainer, but don’t throw away the water, catch it in a bowl for use later.

4. Place a large pot over medium heat, pour in the oil then add the jeera and stir till the smell comes out.

5. Drain the water from the rice and add to the pot and mix thoroughly. Add 4 cups of water and bring to a boil.

6. Add the channa dal, then throw in the laung, dal chinni and salt to taste and cover on low heat.

7. After 5 minutes, add the saved water from draining the dal, mix thoroughly and let it cook under low heat for 10 minutes.

8. When the rice and dal appear to be nicely mixed together then turn off the heat, cover and let it sit for 10 minutes. Do not stir often while cooking.

9. Sprinkle the top of the khichdi with garam masala and serve while still hot. This dish cooks like a pilau and tastes good with aamb da achaar (mango pickle) and some plain yogurt 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 CLEANING HARD TO REMOVE STAINS FROM POTS AND PANS

Cooking Indian dishes can often be hard on pots, pans and other dishes, leaving stains and hard to remove residue on the sides and bottom of these utensils. Most people usually scrape the surfaces with a rough edge or a hard sponge, but these can leave scrapes and scratches on the pots.

There are two ways to try to clean stubborn residues and stains. You can try to immerse the pots in hot water with a cup of white vinegar in it. And to clean the insides, fill with water, then let it boil over medium heat for a few minutes with a cup of white vinegar or lemon, then remove and let it sit for a while before dumping the water and then try scrubbing with Ajax and sponge off.

If all else fails, try to scrub the stain and residues with a wet Brillo pad and then let it stand for a while before continuing to sponge off with dishwashing liquid.

INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2014 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM

ENTERTAINMENT

November 14, 2014

Movie Review: The Shaukeens

BY MADHUREETA MUKHERJEE Three sexagenarians are dying to spice up their boring lives, so theyplan a sexcapade of a lifetime.

Get ready for visual Viagra. The story of three blind mice was a fable, but the myth of three ‘horny’ men, desperately in search of a satisfying ‘climax’ to their mundane existence, is a stark reality. And in this ‘horniman circle’ lies the crux of the matter - ‘The Shaukeens’ - three ‘andropausal’ friends from Delhi; each one with a bursting libido and a desperately roving eye.

Meet KD (Kapoor), Laali (Kher) and Pinky (Mishra) who lech without restraint. Thus, the movie refers to them as ‘HKPs’ (Hawas Ke Pujaris).

But what the eyes feast upon, is not what satisfies ‘what lies beneath’.

Thus, goaded by the single and sexedup KD, the teetering trio decide to go on one last fling of fantasy - preposthumous-puberty no less.

So they pack their swim-shorts and kachchas and head into the blue yonder of Mauritius. (What a wonder). To rent a family-home owned by a nubile nymphet Aahana (Lisa) and sow their old oats. She’s just had a break-up, and her state of mind (mindless, mostly) depends on the number of ‘likes’on Facebook. Desperate to ‘get some action’, the oldies offer their sunken shoulders and paunches to cry on. Meanwhile, her hot-fav superstar Akshay Kumar (playing himself in a cool cameo), makes an entry and she

tosses around the toofani threesome to get up-close with AK. Abhishek Sharma’s redux of Basu Chatterji’s ‘Shaukeen’ is contemporized to feed the fetish of the FB generation (yeah, even the oldies click ‘selfies’).

The original stays far superior, but this one does have plenty of ‘LOL’ moments, backed with comical performances. Some of the most uproarious ones coming fromAkshay’s self-parody of his own filmi career (he’s desperate to act in a Bengali filmmaker’s art film, for a National award!).

The terrific threesome play their parts with ease and Lisa adds oomph and colour to the ‘grey’ streaks. Some humour is forced; songs are shovelled in, and the climax lasts way beyond the orgasm! A tad more comical chemistry between the trio would made this a far more entertaining fare.

Yes, there’s a child in each ‘oldie’, waiting to get out. And the inhibitions should stay ‘zipped-up’. But hey, who doesn’t want one last fling? It’s gen-’ex’ after all.

-Times of India

Aamir Khan’s PK Inspired

by Kevin Spacey’s K-PAX

BY DIBYOJYOTI BAKSI MUMBAI (HT): Much has been written about Aamir Khan’s next, which marks the actor’s second collaboration with director Rajkumar Hirani after 3 Idiots (2009). The fact that Aamir is reportedly playing an alien in the film has created a lot of buzz. Now, there is a rumour doing the rounds that the story sounds a lot like the Kevin Spacey-starrer K-PAX Aamir, Anushka, Rajkumar Hirani and Vidhu Vinod Chopra were seen at the teaser launch of PK. The teaser of the film is out, but Aamir’s character in the film is yet not clear.Anushka’s character is called Jagat Janani in the film.Rajkumar Hirani, the director of PK, has directed films like MunnaBhai and 3 Idiots in the past.

PK is scheduled to hit the screens on December 19, 2014.

“It seems like Aamir is on some kind of a mission in this film that is similar to the one Spacey’s character was on in the Hollywood movie,” says an industry source.

Apparently, there is also some mystery around him on the lines of what is shown in K-PAX. In the Hollywood movie, Prot (Spacey) — a patient at a mental hospital — claims to be from another planet. His psychiatrist tries to help him, but later begins to doubt his own explanations.

When contacted, the studio that is co-producing the film refused to comment. Hirani also remained unavailable for a comment. However, the film’s official spokesperson says, “No one is aware of Aamir Khan’s character in the film. In fact, at a press conference recently, Aamir and Raju even laughed off the rumours that the actor was playing a drunkard, alien or madman.”

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24 November 14, 2014

21 New Ministers Join PM Modi’s Team at Centre; Sena in the Dugout

President Pranab Mukherjee, vice president Hamid Ansari and Prime Minister Narendra Modi with the newly sworn-in ministers at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi.

NEW DELHI (HT): In the first cabinet expansion exercise after assuming power, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inducted 21 ministers into his council on Sunday in a move that strikes regional balance at the Centre and is expected to bring technocratic expertise into the government.

The much-awaited expansion is also expected to give a big push to Bihar and Uttar Pradesh -- with an eye on elections -- and rewarded Maharashtra and Haryana for delivering decisive victories for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the recent assembly polls.

Portfolios of the ministers who took the oath of office at Rashtrapati Bhavan on Sunday, however, were not announced till the filing of the report.

The cabinet ministers sworn in on Sunday were: former Goa chief minister Manohar Parikkar, who is tipped to get the defence ministry; BJP vice-president JP Nadda, a leader from Himachal Pradesh who has long experience in organisational politics; and Birendra Singh, who had joined the BJP from the Congress ahead of the Haryana assembly elections.

The fourth in the list was Shiv Sena’s Suresh Prabhu. He joined the BJP hours before the ceremony.

Even though Sena’s pick, Anil Desai, decided to skip the event - apparently over differences with the BJP in ministerial berth allocation in Maharashtra, that did not hurt Prabhu’s prospects.

Prabhu has the reputation of being an efficient minister in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government under Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

He has also worked closely with

Modi during the Lok Sabha election campaign, and is the PM’s Sherpa for the upcoming G20- summit in Australia.

There were reports in Maharashtra political circles that Modi wanted him at the Centre despite the logjam in ties between the two former allies -- the Sena and the BJP -- ahead of last month’s assembly elections in Maharashtra.

Of the 21 ministers, three took oath as ministers of state (independent charge). The remaining 14 were sworn in as MoS. The strength of the ministry now stands at 66, including the PM. The legal limit for ministers in council is 82. The United Progressive Alliance (UPA) II regime had 78 ministers.

The average age of the council of ministers in the NDA government is now 59, compared to 73 under the previous UPA era. Women, Muslim, and South Indian representation, however, remains limited in the government.

The MoS (independent charge) administered oath were: Bandaru Dattatreya, a BJP MP from Telangana, and Rajiv Pratap Rudy, a senior leader from Bihar. Dr Mahesh Sharma, a first-time MP from Gautam Buddh Nagar (Noida) constituency who owns a chain of hospitals, is the third and final name in the list.

Rudy tweeted, “It is a privilege to be a part of PM Modi’s cabinet as a MoS (Independent Charge) to serve the Nation.” Rudy, the party’s Maharashtra-in-charge, is credited with scripting its victory in the recent state polls.

Among the MoS, some prominent names were: Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi,

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the party’s face in the media and a Muslim leader from UP, and Jayant Sinha, son of BJP leader Yashwant Sinha and a first-time MP from Hazaribagh in Jharkhand. A graduate of the Harvard Business School, he is tipped to be a junior finance minister.

Bihar, which already had three cabinet ministers and a minister of state, got three more representatives in the council: former Lalu Prasad Yadav aide Ram Kripal Yadav, the parliamentarian from Patliputra, vocal Modi supporter Giriraj Singh and Rudy.

A Modi loyalist even during his time as a minister in the Nitish Kumar government, Singh had faced flak in the run-up to the April-May general elections for saying those who did not want Modi could go to Pakistan.

Bihar goes to poll in SeptemberOctober next year and the BJP faces a JD(U)-RJD-Congress super alliance there.

UP also got four berths. Alongside Naqvi and Gautam Buddh Nagar MP Sharma, Fatehpur MP Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti and Agra MP Ram Shankar joined the cabinet.

Besides Modi, the Varanasi MP, the council of ministers had four cabinet ministers and MoS each from the country’s most populous state before Sunday’s expansion. The BJP-Apna Dal alliance had won 73 of its 80 seats in the general elections and is aiming to wrest power from the Samajwadi Party in the 2017 assembly polls.

The picks from Rajasthan were Rajyavardhan Rathore, an Olympic medalist, and Sanwar Lal Jat, who had defeated Congress’ Sachin Pilot in Ajmer in the Lok Sabha polls.

The BJP, which is trying to find a foothold in West Bengal, also brought in popular singer and first-time MP Babul Supriyo as an MoS. Hansraj Ahir, who had played a key role in bringing the coal scam to public attention, was also rewarded with a position in the council.

“I had to lie to the media that I got to know about it (being made minister) from newspapers. PM called early morning to say I should have breakfast with him and then I should head to Rashtrapati Bhavan,” Supriyo, an MP from Asansol in Bengal, said.

Meanwhile, there was high drama over Shiv Sena leader Anil Desai’s participation in the event.

Reports said early Sunday the Sena, which is locked in a tug of war with former ally BJP over share of ministerial berths in Maharashtra, is likely to attend the oath-taking in a sign of rapprochement.

But, last-minute hitch prevented Sena MP Desai from taking oath, PTI reported, quoting unnamed Sena sources.

According to some TV reports, Desai arrived in Delhi, but did not leave the airport.

Meanwhile, opposition parties took a dig at the BJP over its slogan of “maximum governance, minimum government”.

“It is interesting and ironical that the strength of the NDA council of ministers is today the same that the UPA originally had. Apparently, there is more hype and less substance to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s slogan..,” Congress spokeperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said.

CPI leader D Raja said, “NDA has a jumbo cabinet now, like the earlier UPA government. At a time when the UPA government became unpopular, the rhetoric and demagogy of the BJP worked against it. But such things cannot work forever. The NDA government will be judged on performance.”

Gujarat Governor O P Kohli Gives Nod to Controversial Voting Bill

GANDHINAGAR (IE): Gujarat Governor O P Kohli recently signed the controversial Gujarat Local Authorities Laws Bill, 2009, which has the provisions of compulsory voting and 50 per cent reservation for women in the institutions of local self-governance. Once the Act comes into effect, Gujarat will be the first state to have the provision of compulsory voting.

Secretary of Gujarat Assembly D M Patel said the Governor signed the Bill a few days back and it has been sent to the Legislation Department of the government.

Meanwhile, sources in the Legislation Department said the Bill had the provision that the government would issue notification as and when it felt fit to come out with various additional provisions to implement the law, like the punishment for the voter who does not go for voting.

“These notifications will be issued by the government now in due course,” the sources said.

The Bill encompasses municipal corporations, municipalities and the district, taluka and village

panchayats of Gujarat. Elections to six municipal corporations, 31 district panchayats, 231 taluka panchayats and 53 nagarpalikas in Gujarat are due in October next year.

The Bill, which was passed twice by the Gujarat government led by the then chief minister Narendra Modi, had faced stiff resistance from former governor Kamla Beniwal on the ground that forcing voters to compulsorily vote violates Article 21 of the Constitution.

The Bill provides that a person, who does not vote in the local body polls, will be liable for penal action and punishment. The Bill was first introduced in the Assembly in December 2009 and passed by a majority vote.

It was, however, returned by Beniwal in April 2010 with remarks that “forcing voter to vote is against the principles of individual liberty”.

Beniwal had returned the Bill to the government for reconsideration with her comments.

Beniwal had also asked the government to separate issue of women’s reservation in local body polls from the compulsory voting one.

However, ignoring Beniwal’s suggestions, the then Modi government had once again passed the Bill on December 28, 2011 by a majority vote in the Assembly and sent it to Beniwal. The Bill was also made a part of the poll agenda by the BJP during the Assembly and Lok Sabha polls.

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STOCKS • FINANCE • SOUTH ASIAN MARKETS • TECHNOLOGY

Indian E-commerce Market to Reach $ 20 bn Next Year: Report The e-commerce market in the country is expected to grow 37 per cent to reach USD 20 billion by next year on the back of growing internet population and increased online shoppers, a report has said.

“E-commerce in India is a USD 11 billion market, and is estimated to reach USD 20 billion by 2015, growing at a CAGR of 37 per cent over 2013-15,” Motilal Oswal Securities said in its report on e-commerce.

The research firm said their are multiple enablers for this growth which include increase in the number of internet users and an increased proportion of online shoppers within those users, growth in the per-shopper

transaction value and continued flow of capital by willing investors.

The report said currently online travel dominates the e-commerce market but in the future, e-tailing will drive the growth.

Online travel constituted 71 per cent of the e-commerce market in India, followed by e-tailing (16 per cent). Travel has grown at a CAGR of 32 per cent over 2009-13.

“However, going forward, e-tailing will be the biggest growth driver, with expected CAGR of over 60 per cent to USD 7 billion in 2016 from USD 1.7 billion in 2013. Within e-tailing, fashion is likely to be the driving segment,” it said.

E-commerce market in the country is expected to grow 37 per cent to reach USD 20 billion by next year.

Fashion was USD 559 million in 2013, and estimates peg the growth in fashion e-tailing to anywhere between USD 3 billion and USD 6 billion by 2016.

The research firm said heavy discount on online sales is a direct reflection of the industry’s competitive intensity.

“The amount of money raised by Flipkart, lately Snapdeal, and that committed by Amazon is all yet to be invested, indicating that we may not be anywhere near the end of roundthe-clock discount seasons at online stores,” it added.

-The Indian Express

Narendra Modi Makes Debut on Forbes Most Powerful List, Putin at Top

BY YOSHITA SINGH NEW YORK: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday made his debut among the world’s most powerful people, ranked 15th on the Forbes list topped by Russian President Vladimir Putin who pipped his US counterpart Barack Obama for a

second year in a row. The list of 72 most powerful people in the world also included the names of Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani at 36th place, ArcelorMittal chairman and CEO Lakshmi Mittal at 57th and Microsoft’s Indian-born CEO Satya Nadella at 64th. On Modi, Forbes said “India’s newest rock star doesn’t

hail from Bollywood. He is the newly elected Prime Minister who sailed into office in May with a landslide victory, ushering the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) into power after decades of control by the Gandhi dynasty.”

Forbes described him as a “Hindu nationalist” and refereed to the 2002 Gujarat riots when he was the state’s

chief minister. “Modi is credited with massive reconstruction projects in his home state of Gujarat. His administration promises to bring economic rejuvenation to other beleaguered parts of India. The world is as impressed as the citizens of India: So far he’s toured the US and China and met with his Southeast Asian neighbours,” the magazine said. This year there are 12 newcomers on the list, including Modi and Egypt president Abdel el-Sisi. Alibiba founder and China’s richest man—Jack Ma—also makes a first appearance on the list after his record-breaking $25 billion initial public offering (IPO) in September, as does terror group Islamic State’s chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been ranked 15th on the ‘Forbes’ list of 72 most powerful people in the world. A notable omission from the list is Congress party president Sonia Gandhi, who was the highest ranked Indian last year at 21. The next Indian after Modi on the list is Am-

bani at 36th. Forbes said Ambani has business ventures in petrochemicals, manufacturing, oil and gas production, and now wireless sectors, “the sum of which have landed him as the richest person in India for eight years running.” It noted Reliance’s $655 million acquisition of media outfit Network18. In October, Modi inaugurated Ambani’s Reliance Foundation’s new hospital in Mumbai, “ending rumours about Ambani’s waning clout in New Delhi,” it said.

This is the second year in a row that Putin carries the crown. Obama had previously been on the top of the list for every year with the exception of 2010, when Hu Jintao, the former political and military leader of China, was ranked 1. The top five remain the same as 2013—Chinese President Xi Jinping ranked third, Pope Francis at No. 4 and the world’s most powerful woman German chancellor Angela Merkel ranked fifth. PTI 18 inShare 3 Comments -Livemint.com

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26 November 14, 2014 Pak vs. Kiwis: Rahat, Babar Secure 304-Run Lead

BY GEORGE BINOY ABU DHABI (ESPN Cricinfo): Pakistan 566 for 3 dec (Shehzad 176, Hafeez 96, Azhar 87, Younis 100*, Misbah 102*) and 15 for 0 lead New Zealand 262 (Latham 103, Rahat 4-22) by 319 runs For two days New Zealand’s bowlers had struggled to create chances as Pakistan amassed their match-defining total, but as soon as they batted, the balance between bat and ball shifted dramatically. The home side were a constant threat, and the New Zealand batsmen did not have the softness of technique to survive long periods in conditions that demanded patience. They conceded a firstinnings lead of 304.

Tom Latham was the exception, and the only reason New Zealand got as far as they did, making his maiden Test hundred. The rest of the top-order batsmen struggled against the relentless accuracy of Rahat Ali and the dangers created

by Pakistan’s spinners operating with up to five catchers around the bat. Rahat was the pick, though, taking pivotal wickets to finish the day with figures of 17-10-22-4.

Pakistan had six overs to bat before stumps and were without regular opener Ahmed Shehzad, who was ruled out of the series with a minor skull fracture. Mohammad Hafeez and Azhar Ali were unbeaten, and had no major scares, unlike New Zealand.

The visitors had decided to open with Brendon McCullum and Latham, and they added 33 for the first wicket - New Zealand’s best first-wicket partnership for 12 innings. It was fraught with uncertainty, though. In the second over of the day, McCullum survived Imran Khan’s lbw appeal after the not-out decision was found to be umpire’s call on review. In the third, from Zulfiqar Babar, Latham played the ball firmly to short leg, where Azhar Ali could not catch it.

Misbah-ul-Haq crowded the bat with catchers. There were usually four for Babar, sometimes more.

McCullum fell to slip, as he pushed with hard hands and Younis Khan

Rahat Ali is pumped after dismissing Tom Latham, Pakistan v New Zealand, 1st Test, Abu Dhabi, 3rd day, November 11, 2014

stooped to take a low catch.

While Babar was the most threatening in the morning, he was supported by Rahat, who finished the first session with sensational figures of 8-7-1-1. Rahat’s wicket-towicket line and tight length made him impossible to score off for the cautious New Zealand batsmen the only run he conceded was via a no-ball.

In his fifth over Rahat dismissed New Zealand’s best batsman with a yorker. Kane Williamson jammed his bat down, but was too late in turning around to prevent the ball from trickling on to his stumps.

Ross Taylor was returning from a calf injury but his comeback innings lasted only six balls before he edged Babar to gully. New Zealand were 47 for 3.

Watching from the other end was Latham, who also had nervy moments. He shouldered arms to Rahat but survived the lbw appeal because it was marginally high, and towards the end of the first session an edge bounced off the wicketkeeper’s glove and fell wide of the diving fielder at slip.

Latham attacked when he could, though, sweeping Babar for con-

secutive fours despite there being three close catchers on the leg side.

New Zealand hobbled to 81 for 3 at lunch, but after the break Latham and Corey Anderson resumed aggressively. Anderson was harsh on the legspinner Yasir Shah, whose shorter lengths were swept and cut repeatedly to the boundary. He attacked Hafeez too, sweeping and lofting straight. The fifty partnership came in quick time.

Misbah brought back Rahat to quiet the scoring and Anderson edged his first ball between slips and gully, and then swatted the next through midwicket. Those were the first runs Rahat had conceded off the bat all day. Soon after, though, Anderson attempted to force Rahat through the offside and played on to his stumps. His fellow allrounder Neesham followed quickly, stumped off Hafeez while attempting to heave down the ground.

While the aggression of the allrounders did not look like it would last, Latham played with an assuredness that made longevity seem more likely. He was comfortable driving and pulling, and

played the spinners late and with soft hands to reduce the threat of the prowling close catchers. When he swept, he planted his front foot well outside the line of off stump to eliminate the lbw.

Latham resumed fluently after tea, pulling Imran to the midwicket boundary and then driving Babar down the ground to raise his first Test hundred. Misbah brought back his go-to man, and Rahat did the job with another yorker.

Latham reviewed the lbw decision but replays upheld the decision, ending the sixth-wicket stand.

The innings seemed headed for a speedy finish when Mark Craig and Tim Southee fell in quick succession, but Ish Sodhi added 43 runs with Watling before being bowled by Yasir. Babar ended Watling’s innings with a superb set-up - he spun two balls sharply away from the right-hander before slipping in the arm-ball to nail him lbw on the sweep. Pakistan chose not to enforce the follow-on, and New Zealand could expect to be batting for survival not long into the fourth day.

George Binoy is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo

SPORTS

Dhoni Rested in 1st Test Due to Hairline Crack

MS Dhoni was reportedly carrying his injury during the ODI series against West Indies © Getty Images The injury that has forced the Indian selectors to rest MS Dhoni for the remainder of the ODI series against Sri Lanka and, more importantly, the first Test against Australia in Brisbane is a hairline crack at the base of his right thumb, ESPNcricinfo has learnt.

A source told ESPNcricinfo that the decision to not play Dhoni for the first Test was taken as a precaution given the proximity of the Australia tour to the World Cup. “He could well have risked playing in Brisbane but eventually it was decided against playing him in the opening Test since nobody wants the injury to recur or aggravate with the World Cup set to start in a little over two months after the Brisbane Test,” a source said.

There was confusion over the exact nature of Dhoni’s injury before the selection committee meeting in Mumbai on Monday. On the eve of the meeting, a BCCI insider revealed that Dhoni was recovering from a “right forearm” injury.

By the time the selectors finished the meeting, an aide close to Dhoni said it was a “wrist” injury. Two hours later, BCCI secretary Sanjay Patel told reporters that Dhoni had been advised rest after hurting his “right thumb”.

Coach Waqar Younis has a tough task against Australia.

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28 November 14, 2014

INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2014 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM