Indo-American News: May 10, 2024

Chithirai Mahotsavam at MTS: A Taste of Madurai in Houston

By Ponni Sivaraman

Pearland: An annual signature event that is unique only to Sri Meenakshi Temple, Pearland, is the ten-day festival that occurs in the Tamil month of Chithirai, called the Chithirai Mahotsavam or Chithirai Thiruvizha. It is a celebration of the wedding of Sri Meenakshi, the fish-eyed Goddess, and Lord Shiva as the handsome Sundareswarar. It would be true to say that this year, the celebration surpassed any of the previous years, in its grandeur, awe-inspiring decorations, a few “for First time ever at MTS’ additions and a record-breaking attendance of more than 3000 devotees.

The festival commenced on April 11, 2024, with Vasthu Shanthi pujas, followed by Dwajarohanam (Flag Hoisting) at the Dwajasthambam (Kodi Maram), the next day. This announced the start of the festival and special Yaga Sala Pujas were conducted every morning and evening where various religious rites and Homams were performed. The evenings came alive

with Cultural programs consisting of music, instrumental and vocal, dance, bhajans, and Harikatha or story telling discourses while celestial mantras that were being chanted, resonated and reverberated around the Temple. The Utsava Murthis in their fine alankarams were then taken out on a procession around the temple, each night on a different Vahanam. Four new vahanams, the Annam, the Yaali, Kamadhenu and Bhootham were added on this year, sculpted by the temple Silpis, in addition to the existing Rishaba, Kalpaka Vriksham, and Gaja Vahanams. Two new donations, a Golden Pallakku and a Golden Horse or Thanga kudhirai were donated by generous donors.

The”crowning” moment of this festival was the “Pattabhishekam” or the “Coronation” of Goddess Sri Meenakshi, by the offering of the jewel studded crown to the Goddess. Following the same samprathayam or rituals as of the Meenakshi temple in Madurai, the Chairman of the Meenakshi temple

Board of Trustees here, Mr. Sundar Arun, received the “Parivattam “and the divine Scepter, a respect and honor accorded to him by the temple priests (an honor given to king Thirumalai Nayakar in those days). After receiving the divine Golden Scepter from the temple priests, it was taken around the Swami Sannithi and then offered to the Goddess. This affirms the Sovereign rule of the Goddess and the title ‘Queen” to Meenakshi. It is said in Madurai, that this ceremony marks the transfer of power to rule Madurai from Lord Sundareswarar to Goddess Meenakshi. Thousands of devotees witnessed this amazing ceremony here, a moment so divine, so unifying and bringing the community together.

The sight of Goddess Meenakshi on her Poo Pallakku after her Pattabhishekam or Coronation, was another marvel that could be experienced only by being there. The design for the Pallakku was a magnificent creation by the Silpis and with the help of many volunteers and was created from thousands of

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fresh flowers. The captivating tone of live Nadaswaram and Thavil, the upbeat rhythms of Chendai Melam as the Pallakku went on its rounds, mesmerized the devotees into a trance.

The grand celestial wedding “Meenakshi Thirukalyanam” that took place on the tenth day of the festival, brought in an unprecedented 3000 plus devotees to participate in the event. Dignitaries and special guests and devotees were treated to jaw dropping alankarams perfected by the esteemed temple priests. Rituals were conducted impeccably, and a new feature added, the “Poo Chorial” the showering of rose petals from above on the royal couple by a puppet doll, maneuvered by the silpis, added a delightful touch to the event. The Rathotsava (Chariot) procession that followed led by Karagattam and Kummi dancers, musicians, live Nadaswaram and Chenda Melam, was certainly a feast to the eyes, followed by a feast to the stomach, a sumptuous sit-down banana leaf Kalyana

and the whole works.

The festival concluded with the bringing down of the Temple Flag or Dwajaavarohanam, marking the end of the festivities. The Chairman of the Board, Mr. Sundar Arun, honored the Priests, Silpis, Administrators, Executives, and other Board members for their utmost dedicated services, and thanked the many generous donors and the volunteers and devotees for making this grand 10-day celebration possible.

If, the Chairman Mr. Sundar Arun and his wife Mrs. Malathi Sundar had a vision in mind, it took the entire community to make it a reality to enjoy the final grandeur and richness of the celebrations.

It would be justified to say that the event brought together many devotees and the community together and gave one, a glimpse of what it would have been to experience this back home. In essence a bit of Madurai was brought to Sri Meenakshi temple here.

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Virundhu, serving vadai, payasam

Kalyanam

Meenakshi Kalyana Seervarisai

UH Petroleum Engineering Research Team Helps Oil Companies Increase Production and Reduce Carbon Footprint TECHNOLOGY

By Pramod KulKarni, editor

HouSton: The world may be transitioning towards clean energy sources such as wind and solar, but we still need higher volumes of oil and gas production to fulfill the energy demands of a growing global population. Furthermore, to minimize the impact on the environment, the oil and gas industry must produce fossil fuels with a lower carbon footprint.

University of Houston’s Cullen College of Engineering is at the forefront of innovative research and practical technologies to help oil and gas companies enhance production while reducing carbon pollution by one of two ways: using carbon dioxide (CO2) released by refining and petrochemical plants for injection into existing fields to recover more oil and gas or injecting the CO2 into inert underground caverns for permanent storage.

This petroleum engineering research effort is a significant component of the UH Energy Industrial Partnerships and a brilliant example of the University of Houston’s Tier 1 research capabilities fostered by UH Chancellor and President Renu Khator and UH Board of Regents member Dr. Durga D. Agarwal.

UH Petroleum Engineering Research Team Under the leadership of Dr. Ramanan Krishnamoorti, who serves as the Vice President of Energy & Innovation, Dr. Ganesh Thakur, Distinguished Professor of Petroleum Engineering, and director Energy Industry Partnerships, has assembled an extraordinary team of post-doctoral fellows, PhD, and MS graduate students to carry out the research and engineering projects.

The team includes Dr. Peila Chen, Dr. Morgan (Xuejia) Du, Sr. post-doc Prakash Sabyasachi, Research Associate Dr. Shameem Siddiqi, and PhD students Sameer Salaskar, Parth Shah, Mohammed Noman Khan, and Emi Marisol.

Dr. Ganesh Thakur: Distinguished Career Dr. Thakur’s research interests include multidisciplinary approaches to the recovery of oil and gas through research pertaining to CO2 – Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR), waterflooding/Improved Oil Recovery (IOR), and integrated reservoir management for conventional and unconventional reservoirs, and Carbon Capture and Underground Storage (CCUS). He has published over 100 journal articles and conference papers and holds five patents. Prior to joining the University of Houston, Dr. Thakur enjoyed a distinguished career of 37 years with Chevron, concluding as Vice President and Global Advisor. He was the president of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) during 2012. He now serves as the Vice President of TAMEST (Texas

Academy of Medicine, Engineering, Science and Technology), and he will become the President of this organization in January 2025. TAMEST was co-founded in 2004 by the Honorable Kay Bailey Hutchison and Nobel Laureates Michael S. Brown, M.D., and Richard E. Smalley, Ph.D. With more than 340 members, 8 Nobel Laureates and 22 member institutions, TAMEST is composed of Texas-based members of the three National Academies and other honorific organizations.

Reservoir Characterization and Modeling Lab In 2016, the UH Petroleum Engineering Department received a $3 million grant from Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s Governor’s University Research Initiative (GURI), which was used to establish a research laboratory with the latest instruments to conduct reservoir characterization, modeling and CCUS studies. A matching grant of $3 million was provided from the University of Houston research funds by Chancellor Khator. The 1,200-square-ft lab includes a CT scanner, PressureVolume-Temperature (PVT) system, and Core Flood + Minimum Miscibility Pressure (MMP) dual system. With the use of these instruments, the team can unlock the full potential of conventional and unconventional resources through CO2 and gas EOR and maximize CO2 storage (CCS/CCUS) – onshore and offshore, and determine caprock robustness.

Joint UH-Oil India Project

One of the first projects undertaken by the UH Petroleum Engineering research team was an innovative partnership between the University of Houston and Oil India Ltd. (OIL). Launched in 2016, the project was designed to boost production in Oil India fields while providing UH researchers

and graduate students with research opportunities and practical experience.

Phase 1 of the project began in December 2016 with a $500,000 reservoir screening study and focused on analyzing wells in Oil India’s Makum-North Hapjan field to provide recommendations that could quickly boost oil production. More than 50 reservoirs were screened for EOR applications, containing more than 2.5 billion barrels of original oil-in-place.

Phase 2 came with funding of $1.4 million, with an additional $325,000 for lab-based research. The UH team developed a new petrophysical model for the Makum-North Hapjan fields. Together with new core data and reservoir simulation work, this modeling revealed a significantly higher amount of original oil in place, suggesting Oil India’s reserves are greater than originally estimated. An additional amount of more than 130 million barrels of oil have been identified by rigorous research involving development of a new petrophysical model, and integrated geoscience and reservoir engineering and simulation studies.

The $2.6 million Phase 3 focused on enhancing oil production by using carbon dioxide captured from nearby petrochemical plants to boost oil recovery in several fields and builds upon the field improvements undertaken in the second phase. The recommendations made current water influx and future water flood more effective, CO2 EOR applicable, and increase RF (recovery factor) from 31% to 40%, with the overall potential to add 19 million barrels of incremental oil.

“The Phase 3 research work involved more than 18 months of amazing teamwork between UH researchers and Oil India execu-

Houston time. The UH researchers made real sacrifices, and the fruits of their hard work paid off in creating tremendous business impact.”

“The partnership between Oil India and the UH Cullen College of Engineering is proof of the valuable contributions that we can make with expanded industry relations,” Dr. Durga Agarwal said, “to foster further improvement at the College and university system. Creating more of these successful partnerships internationally and domestically is vital. As an alumni of the University of Houston, I’m proud to see international initiatives like this thrive.”

Projects throughout the World

tives in the challenging pandemic time,” Dr. Thakur said. “The project involved several US and India visits by both parties, but due to the Covid-19 situation, most of the weekly interactions happened by videoconferencing at midnight,

The Oil India project was completed in June 2021. Since then, the UH Petroleum Engineering research team has undertaken numerous oil and gas projects throughout the world, including deepwater Gulf of Mexico, Permian Basin, and onshore Argentina. Despite continual changes in the research team due to graduations and the addition of new graduate students, Dr. Thakur’s focus on achieving optimum results remains unchanged.

Oil India Achieves Record Results

noida: Oil India Limited, the state-run national oil company, declared its financial results for FY 2022-23 registering the highestever net profit since the company’s inception at Rs. 6,810.40 crore, a surge of 75.20% YoY on the back of higher operating income and growth in oil & gas production.

The company, over the last 6 decades, continued its journey of growth in oil & gas production from its matured and recently discovered oilfields during the last fiscal, with 5.5% growth in oil production at 3.18 MMT and 4.4% growth in gas production at 3.18 BCM, which scaled another height of registering the highest ever gas production by the company ever since its inception.

During the last fiscal, the company also reported the highestever pipeline throughput of 8.19 MMT. Aggressive exploration of the company led to a new hydrocarbon discovery during the year in Sesabil area in the Assam shelf basin. The company also recorded the highest-ever turnover of Rs.

23,272.57 crore, a rise of 60.17 % YoY.

With the growth in profit, the earnings per share (EPS) of the company increased to Rs. 62.80/ share vis-ˆ-vis Rs. 35.85/share the previous year. OIL Board has declared the final dividend of Rs. 5.50 per share with a total dividend of Rs. 20/share (face value Rs. 10) for fiscal 23.

As for Q4, the company equally reported improved financial & physical performance over the corresponding quarter of FY 22, with turnover growth of 26.15% and PAT increase of 9.71%. Crude Oil and Natural Gas production also have shown growth of 6.95% and 6.27% respectively in Q4 YoY. With NRL being a group company of OIL, the company recorded its highest ever consolidated profit after tax of Rs. 9,854.39 crores, a growth of 46.66% YoY.

The gross refinery margin of NRL for FY23 is US$ 19.86/bbl vis-ˆ-vis US$ 14.33/bbl for the previous year.

The University of Houston Petroleum Engineering research team with lab instruments in the background. Front row from left: Emi Marisol. Dr. Ganesh Thakur, Mohammad Noman Khan. Back row from left: Dr. Morgan (Xuejia) Du, Dr. Peila Chen, Prakash Sabyasachi, Sameer Salaskar, and Parth Shah.

Margaritaville Lake Resort Receives Certification from

Margaritaville Lake Resort Lake Conroe | Houston is proud to announce that two of its catering sales managers, Alex Trego, and Caitlin Bracewell, have recently received certification from Maharani, an esteemed authority in South Asian weddings. The certification further enhances the resort’s ability to handle the unique requirements of South Asian weddings.

To obtain their certification, Trego and Bracewell took a threehour course covering education on cultural events and traditions specific to different regions within India, emphasizing the differences and nuances crucial for successful event planning.

“Our Maharani wedding certification, combined with the wide array of venues, amenities, and activities, allow us to create an unforgettable wedding weekend experience for the bride, groom, family members, and all of their guests,” said Desiree Tapping,

director of catering for Margaritaville Lake Resort. “Our all-suite accommodations, situated in either the tower or charming lakeside cottages, offer the wedding party and guests a comfortable and relaxing place to stay.”

Located about an hour north of Houston, Margaritaville Lake Resort is a lush, tropical oasis on a secluded lakefront, the perfect setting for the time-honored traditions of South Asian weddings. With over 72,000 square feet of event space, the resort can host every wedding festivity– including a welcome dinner, the Mehendi, and Sangeet, as well as separate Vidhi ceremonies for the bride and groom all onsite. In addition, the resort features a private, .75-mile road leading up to the resort entrance, which means there is no need to seek a permit from the city to bring in a horse or elephant for a Baraat. As a lakeside resort, Margaritaville Lake Resort also offers couples the

option of having a Baraat come in on a boat.

Margaritaville Lake Resort has launched its “Pick Your Paradise” offer to celebrate its recent achievement and showcase its enhanced capabilities. Now, for a limited time, couples who decide to book their wedding by Dec. 31, 2024, can pick from various complimentary event enhancements designed to transport them to marital bliss.

To learn more about the “Pick Your Paradise” special offer, visit https://www.margaritavilleresorts. com/margaritaville-lake-resortlake-conroe/weddings/weddingoffers/wedding-special-offers.

To learn more about South Asian weddings at Margaritaville Lake Resort, visit the website

About Margaritaville Lake Resort Lake Conroe | Houston The Margaritaville Lake Resort Lake Conroe | Houston, an all-suite resort, features 335 guest suites, including 32 lakefront cottages, on

186 lakefront acres on Lake Conroe. It is the first Margaritaville Resort in Texas. Bars and restaurants feature signature Margaritaville dining concepts – the LandShark Bar & Grill with boat slips on Lake Conroe, the 5 o’Clock Somewhere Bar, the Lone Palm Pool Bar, the License to Chill Bar & Café, Joe Merchant’s Coffee & Provisions, Boathouse Bar and Lounge, and a Margaritaville Retail Shop.

Margaritaville Lake Resort Lake Conroe | Houston offers an array of recreational activities: an 18-hole golf course, a 3.5-acre waterpark with a lazy river and outdoor pools, pickleball, tennis, swimming, boating, and fishing. Margaritaville’s popular full-service St. Somewhere Spa and a spacious Fins Up Fitness Center provide exceptional wellness options. With 72,000 square feet of indoor/outdoor meeting space, the resort can host special events and meetings of every size. Located just an hour from Houston

and about three hours from the major hubs of Austin, Dallas, and San Antonio, the resort is within easy reach of over 19 million Texans. The project is a joint venture of Songy Highroads (SHR) and The Wampold Companies. The Margaritaville Lake Resort Lake Conroe |Houston, is part of BENCHMARK®, a global hospitality company’s Benchmark Resorts & Hotels portfolio. In 2023, the resort received a prestigious MICE Award in the Texas Best Incentive Hotel category. The World MICE Awards celebrate and recognize excellence in the Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions (MICE) industry globally, highlighting the best destinations, hotels, and service providers. In 2023, Margaritaville Hotels & Resorts was ranked #1 in Guest Satisfaction among Upper Upscale Hotel Brands in the J.D. Power 2023 North America Hotel Guest Satisfaction Study.

Share Your Musical Talent to Calm Shelter Animals: Join Wild Tunes Club

Houston: Kids and adults looking for a creative outlet this summer can share their musical talents by joining the Wild Tunes Club. This group of talented musicians volunteers at local shelters to play soothing melodies for animals awaiting their forever homes.

An 11-year-old Houston boy named Yuvi Agarwal launched Wild Tunes, a non-profit organization dedicated to calming animals through music. An animal lover and talented musician, Yuvi had the idea to create Wild Tunes after learning that music provides mental stimulation to animals, reducing their stress. This, in turn, boosts their confidence, making them suitable for fostering or adoption.

“Wild Tunes presents a win-win opportunity for volunteers to practice their musical skills, earn service hours, and, at the same time, make life more bearable for shelter animals,” said Yuvi. “For those who have stage fright, they can flex their musical muscles in front of an audience that will not be judgmental!” Yuvi added.

This summer, Yuvi and Priyanka Agarwal, Yuvi’s mom, and director

of Wild Tunes, encourage young and old alike to get involved with the Wild Tunes program to make a difference in the lives of shelter animals.

“The program also serves as a

unique platform for local schools, music groups, choirs, bands to engage with a shelter. When more people visit a shelter, there is greater exposure, and higher chances of adoption for animals,” said Agar-

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wal. “Wild Tunes is an out of the box idea that elevates the overall well-being of shelter animals and volunteers alike and offers a dramatically different avenue for community engagement.”

Here’s how it works:

• Choose your favorite instrument – keyboard, string instrument (violin or guitar), or a wind instrument, such as a flute.

• Sign up to volunteer at one of the participating animal shelters - Currently, Wild Tunes partners with the Houston Human Society, Rosenberg Animal Shelter, BARC, Special Pals, and Citizens for Animal Protection. Interested volunteers can visit the Wild Tunes’ website, www.wildtunes.org to register.

Visit a shelter – Play music for dogs, cats, and even bunnies! Students can also earn community service hours by participating in the Wild Tunes program.

“When Yuvi created Wild Tunes, he intended to deliver an outlet that benefitted both animals and humans, and the response has been overwhelming,” said Priyanka. “We are delighted that so many shelters have embraced the idea and look forward to seeing the program continue to grow.

To learn more and to register, visit www.wildtunes.org.

CUISINE

IndIa Off the Beaten track An Itinerant’s Encounters of the Gastronomic Kind

By SHaSHiSHeKHar Gavai

mumBai: It is risky business these days in our country that is Bharat to disclose one’s preferences for one kind of sustenance or the other – at best you may be denied membership of a housing society and at worst you could be butchered for transporting what is suspected to be the wrong kind of animal protein. And somewhere in the middle your good friend, who has been a carnivore for close to 4 decades but has now seen the light, may harangue you on the horrors of non vegetarianism. His is the zeal of the convert, the proverbial cat on a pilgrimage after gobbling up a hundred mice.

This dietary intolerance has made it difficult to sample some of the culinary delights of Mumbai where I live. Over the years I have come to relish the crispy mutton samosa served mainly in minority-owned establishments. Today it has disappeared from the menu of many of them and has been replaced by the feeble chicken samosa. The owner of one such restaurant admitted hesitatingly that he had stopped making the mutton samosa because he was afraid that the filling may be mistaken for the wrong kind of meat landing him in serious trouble. So much for the fundamental right to eat what one wishes to eat which is so dear to the gastronome.

I must confess that I wasn’t born a gastronome(I dare not use the term ‘gourmand’ given my modest appetite – the spirit being willing but the flesh being weak). Until my early teens my experience of food was largely limited to the staid fare of dal, roti, sabzi and mutton curry(for Sunday lunch). It took a few years for my mother to discover her culinary talent and that opened up for the family the brave new world of pasta, shepherd pie, hamburgers and several vegetarian delicacies. All these recipes she wrote down very assiduously for the benefit of posterity. The moderate quantum of servings on the table however, scarcely matched our appetites, obliging my kid brother and I to keep a vigilalent eye on each other to ensure that not an extra spoonful was had by the adversary.

The realisation that quality beats quantity dawned over me one day when I was home from college on vacation. The virtually inedible food that is served in most college hostels turns their inmates into voracious predators and I was no exception. Mother had made a huge quantity of vada sambar, a substantial portion of which I devoured in one sitting as if there was no tomorrow and with complete disregard for my poor stomach which lodged a strong protest with my palate. For several years after I suffered from the ‘vada sambhar

syndrome’, meaning I couldn’t look at a vada in its eye without feeling sick.

A fresh chapter in my gastronomic journey opened in the mid 70s in Delhi where I was a foreign service trainee officer. The restaurants on Pandara Road and the dhabas in the outer circle of Connaught Place introduced me to the pleasures of butter chicken and other goodies. It was also the 70s which took me on my first posting abroad to the former Yugoslavia (it subsequently broke up into seven countries ….no fault of mine of course). Those were the days when vegetarianism outside of India was either a fad or was unheard of and a couple of my strictly herbivorous service batchmates were reported to be close to starvation in the capitals they served (but they mercifully survived and by all accounts are quite hale and hearty now). Restaurants in Yugoslavia had beef this, pork that, chicken this and that, fish so on and so forth, but a vegetarian could at best have bread, butter and salad. The “vegetable” soup he could only order at his own peril as it was prepared in a beef stock. In one of her letters( no email or internet calls in those ancient times…) Mother anxiously enquired if I was consuming bovines so sacred to us. Instead of a direct answer I responded rather facetiously that the Yugoslav cow was a different kettle of fish altogether and had not attained any level of sanctity whatsoever.

From Yugoslavia my diplomatic career took me to several countries. German food was a lot of sausage – bratwurst, bockwurst, bregenwurst, rindswurst, even currywurst(perhaps to make the Indian expat feel at home).It was truly a Wurst case scenario(if you pardon the pun), because there’s only so much sausage that you can eat. British food of course is famous as a culinary disaster. Scotland where I served, prided itself on its haggis, its traditional national dish which is sheep’s offal boiled with oatmeal and stuffed in the same animal’s stomach. To me it looked like something that the cat brought in and tasted similar. The Scots though more than made up for it

by dazzling (and sozzling) the world with scotch whisky(although if reports are to be believed more of the stuff is produced in India than the place of its origin). The Scots also have their salmon and trout aplenty, the latter being introduced by the Brits in the cold rivers of Kashmir and Himachal in the 19th century. So avoiding haggis entirely I consumed a lot of these species of fish, almost to the point of falling victim to my ‘vada sambhar syndrome’. South of Scotland lies what nationalistic Scots refer to as the ‘Auld Enemy’, meaning of course England. They do have some decent pies and cakes but overall the traditional English stuff as I discovered was best avoided. Even after ruling over India for a 150 years all they could bring back from the incredibly rich variety of our cuisine was a bastardised version of good old ‘rasam’, the mulligatawny soup. Nor did they leave much of a culinary legacy behind. However, the post colonial period did bring about the realisation that tandoori chicken and masala dosa are vastly superior

to roast beef and Yorkshire pudding so the English then concocted the chicken tikka masala and declared it as their national dish. But in the typical British culinary tradition they have messed this up too. What you have essentially is chicken boiled in a sweet tomato sauce. Lamentably our present day Mir Jafars have slavishly adopted this abomination and pass it off as butter chicken in Pandara Road and most other places, as I discovered to my utter horror some time ago. There should be a law against such atrocities !!! That being said there were some honourable exceptions to the unrefined British tastebuds. Warren Hastings, the first governor general of India, was apparently a fan of Indian food. A recipe for ‘kebaub khataee’, obtained from the Nawab of Lucknow and written in his own hand in his private diary, exists in the British Library. Unlike the Brits some colonial powers have indeed left their epicurean mark on former colonies. The influence of Turkish cuisine

is evident even today in the former Ottoman Empire – from the Balkans, through Greece, the Middle East into Central Asia. During a visit to Turkey I tried one of their desserts -Irmik Helvasi which was almost exactly like our Sooji Halva and made from the same ingredients (It was perhaps introduced in India during the Delhi Sultanate period as the rulers were of Turkish origin). In Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos I have eaten exquisite french breads and pastries from local patisseries and have sampled ‘haute cuisine’ in restaurants. Some like the Dutch had nothing to offer to their subjects in terms of fine dining. But as I learnt in Indonesia they took some of the best native dishes and created a ‘thali’ – the Rijsstafel or rice table and took it home to Holland. I just read a news item which claims that sweat-infused rice balls shaped in the armpits of young women have become a culinary hit in Japan and are being sold at ten times the price of their traditional version ‘onigiri’. If this sweaty delicacy does achieve international popularity, I fear the deodorant industry may be in serious trouble. This is indeed extreme cuisine and brings to mind ‘Bizarre Foods’ a popular TV show hosted by Chef Andrew Zimmern . I was an avid viewer and watched with a mixture of awe and revulsion as the man nonchalantly devoured scorpions, tarantulas, maggots and rotten fish. Morbid curiosity indeed! I can never hope to match the gastronomic gumption of Zimmern but I too have partaken of stuff that would set a vegetarian stomach churning and may even cause a flutter in the average non – vegetarian belly. In addition to the inedible haggis, I have sampled at different times and in various corners of the world, durian( the South East Asian fruit which stinks to the high heavens); frogs legs and snails ( great delicacies in France ); tartar steak ( finely minced raw meat which must have been greatly fancied by our Stone Age ancestors before they discovered fire ); and crocodile tail ( which tasted like rubbery chicken). I know for sure that I will never be able to eat scorpion, tarantula, maggot, rotten fish and other exotic species that Andrew Zimmern consumes with such elan. We all have our limits , the red line that cannot be crossed. Even Chef Zimmern does ! He just cannot bring himself to eat , believe it or not , walnuts and oatmeal. Now ain’t that just cute! Shashishekhar Gavai is an Indian diplomat, whose foreign service posts included serving as the High Commissioner to Canada and Consul General in Houston (2005 to 2008). Retired in Mumbai, Gavai enjoys traveling and writing about unique locale and gastronomic adventures.

Warren Hastings’ kebab recipe

Indian Students Accused of Fraudulent H1B Forms Get Another Chance

Seattle: More than 90 Indian nationals who graduated from US colleges will get another chance at securing H-1B visas as part of a settlement of their legal challenge to government sanctions imposed on them for fraud committed by their former employers.

As part of a stipulated dismissal agreement approved last week in the US District Court for the Western District of Washington, the Department of Homeland Security confirmed that the former students, who participated in a temporary work program for recent graduates, wouldn’t be subject to findings that they’re inadmissible to the US in connection with the alleged fraud.

The lawsuit argued that the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services was unfair to international students and H-1B applicants by declaring them inadmissible without the chance to respond to allegations. The attorneys assert this deprived the plaintiffs of an opportunity to rebut evidence to prevent being barred from the United States. The students say that any fraud committed was by the companies that charged them for training, and they should have the opportunity to defend themselves. It is a generally accepted U.S. legal principle that individuals should be able to respond to their accusers.

“We asked the court to order USCIS to give them notice and an opportunity to respond,” said Jon Wasden of Wasden Law. He said because the students never communicated with the government about the merits of the application it is legally impossible for them to have violated section 212(a)(6)(C)(i) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which makes an individual inadmissible due to misrepresentation.

contending that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) wrongfully rejected their H-1B specialty occupation visa applications, even though they subsequently secured legitimate employment with reputable companies.

process, noting that the number of unique employers for FY2025 (approximately 52,700) was also comparable to the number last year for FY2024 (approximately 52,000). The number of unique beneficiaries was similar to last year’s, but the number of multiple registrations for the same beneficiary decreased significantly.

“If they have notice and an opportunity to respond, the agency won’t be able to sanction them with fraud findings because the decisions won’t stand in court,” he said.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of more than 60 plaintiffs. The attorneys are Wasden, Jesse M. Bless (Bless Litigation LLC) and Diane Butler (Davis Wright Tremaine LLP). As a matter of practice, USCIS does not comment on pending litigation, an agency spokesperson said on background.

Four companies “are alleged to have asked students to pay the company for pre-employment training

in exchange for an employment offer letter so that the student could apply for and eventually receive an OPT employment authorization document (“EAD”),” according to the complaint. “Some, but not all, students who received offer letters or were employed by these companies knowingly and willfully made misrepresentations to DHS or engaged in fraud. Plaintiffs did not, yet DHS sanctioned them anyway without providing evidence, notice or an opportunity defend themselves.

Despite asserting that they were unaware of any involvement in fraudulent actions perpetrated by their employers, they were subjected to adverse consequences based on their association with these businesses. The group filed a lawsuit on Thursday in a federal district court in Washington state,

According to the complaint, the DHS assumed guilt on the part of anyone associated with the implicated companies, assuming that these individuals had participated in fraudulent activities to gain visas or immigration benefits. Jonathan Wasden, an attorney at Wasden Law representing the plaintiffs, asserted that the agency’s approach unfairly penalized these individuals without affording them an opportunity to respond.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has announced that it received 479,953 total registrations for this year’s H-1B lottery — a figure substantially less than last year’s record-breaking 780,884.

The agency attributed the decline to the undertaking of fraud investigations and implementation of the new beneficiary-centric selection

The overall beneficiary selection rate was around 25.8%, with 114,017 unique beneficiaries selected out of approximately 442,000. The overall registration selection rate was 25.6%, with 120,603 registrations selected out of 470,342 eligible registrations.

The drop in applications this year “indicates that there were far fewer attempts to gain an unfair advantage than in prior years,” USCIS said in a note to companies, applicants and their representatives.

H-1B visas were created in 1990 for people with a bachelor’s degree or higher in fields where jobs are deemed hard to fill, especially science, technology, engineering and math. Critics say they allow companies to pay lower wages with fewer labor protections. Infosys, an Indian technology outsourcing company, was the top employer of people with H-1Bs in 2023. Amazon, Microsoft, Apple, Meta and Google were in the top 10.

ENTERTAINMENT Bhansali’s ‘Heeramandi’: Opulent Soap Opera

Heera Mandi is the story of the lives of courtesans. The year is 1945. In Lahore, the best courtesans reside in an area named Heeramandi. The biggest residence of these nautch girls is Shahi Mahal, run by Mallikajaan (Manisha Koirala). She stays here with her daughters Bibbo (Aditi Rao Hydari) and Alamzeb (Sharmin Segal Mehta), sister Waheeda (Sanjeeda Sheikh), Waheeda’s daughter Shama (Pratibha Ranta) and helpers Saima (Shruti Sharma), Phatto (Jayati Bhatia) and Satto (Nivedita Bhargava).

While Mallikajaan is in a relationship with Nawab Zulfikar (Shekhar Suman), Bibbo and Nawab Wali Mohammed (Fardeen Khan) are a couple. Mallikajaan wishes Alamzeb to make her debut dance performance in front of their elite audience. But Alamzeb doesn’t want to be a ‘tawaif’; instead, she desires to be a poet. Mallikajaan doesn’t approve of it.

One day, Alamzeb bumps into Tajdar Baloch (Taha Shah), Oxford-return son of a Nawab, Ashfaq Baloch (Ujjwal Chopra), and sparks fly between them. The ‘tawaifs’ are forbidden to fall in love but Alamzeb takes the plunge. Meanwhile, Mallikajaan gets the shock of her life as Fardeedan

(Sonakshi Sinha), daughter of the former’s sister Rehana, returns from nowhere and buys the mansion opposite Shahi Mahal. She’s in Heeramandi to destroy Mallikajaan and to settle past dues. She decides to use Alamzeb and her love for Tajdar to her advantage. What happens next forms the rest of the series.

Moin Beg’s original story is fascinating, especially the world in which it is set and how characters pay a heavy price for the wrongdoings of others. Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Vibhu Puri’s screenplay, however, is a mixed bag. While a few scenes are imaginative and very well thought out, some scenes are dragging and don’t make the desired impact.

Also, a few developments are convenient and even laughable.

Divya Nidhi and Vibhu Puri’s dialogues (additional dialogues by Mitakshra Mukesh Kumar, Snejil Mehra, Abbhiruchi Rupal Rishi and Ashhna Srrivastava) are very sharp and hard-hitting.

The performances are first-rate.

Manisha Koirala rocks the show and plays the lead role with panache. She brings the required poise and elegance nicely and this is easily one of her best performances. Sonakshi Sinha, too, gives

a performance that will stand out in her filmography. There’s a lot of anger in Fareedan and she brings it out effortlessly. Her one-take performance in ‘Tilasmi Bahein’ is clapworthy. Aditi Rao Hydari gets a bit overshadowed but nevertheless, gives her best foot forward. Sharmin Segal Mehta proves that she has improved as a performer. However, she could do better in emotional scenes.

Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s music is soulful but won’t have a huge shelf life. ‘Tilasmi Bahein’ is the best of the lot followed by ‘Masoom Dil Hai Mera’, ‘Saiyaa Hat Jao’, ‘Phool Gendwa Na Maaro’ and ‘Sakal Ban’. ‘’Ik Baar Dekh Lijiye’, ‘Azadi’, ‘Najariya Ki Maari’ and ‘Chaudvin Shab Ko Kahan’ fail to register. Benedict Taylor and Naren Chandavarkar’s background score, however, is exhilarating. Kruti Mahesh’s choreography is well-researched and impressive.

On the whole, Heeramandi is the grandest show to come out of India and is laced with fine performances and some riveting dramatic scenes. However, it is unconvincing in places and is too lengthy. Nevertheless, due to the hype, casting and visual appeal, it is expected to fetch huge viewership. -- Bollywood Hungama

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(L to R) Aditi Rao Hydari as Bibbo, Manisha Koirala as Mallikajaan, Sanjeeda Sheikh as Waheeda, Richa Chadha as Lajjo in ‘Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar.’ | Photo Credit: Megha Chattani/Netflix