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August 17, 2012

Friday, August 17 2012

Manasi Gokhale

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Gurdas Mann in Concert

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IAPAC Explains Healthcare P. 17 Bobby Singh opened the Candlelight Vigil last Thursday, August 9 at City Hall and asked for a moment of silence for the victims of the killings at the Sikh temple in Wisconsin. In the back row, from left, are Kathy Hubbard; Houston Mayor Annise Parker; Congressman Al Green; Houston Councilman Brad Bradford; and Councilwoman Melissa Noreiga. Photos: Jawahar Malhotra

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August 17, 2012

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COMMUNITY

August 17, 2012

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A Houston City Hall Candlelight Vigil for an American Tragedy

BY JAWAHAR MALHOTRA HOUSTON: Just days after the tragic killings of six worshippers at the Gurudwara in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, the shockwaves were still reverberating throughout the country, with memorials and vigils held for those who were slain. The Bayou City held its own candlelight vigil this past Thursday evening, August 9 on the steps of City Hall Plaza in front of the Reflecting Pool with an estimated 1,000 people in attendance.

The Community in Solidarity vigil was quickly pieced together by the Interfaith Ministries of Greater Houston with community activist Bobby Singh (husband of IM Board Director Jasmeeta Singh) taking the lead role in gathering the notables of many faiths and local political scene together to share their personal feelings.

For most who felt a sense of frustration and disbelief at the senseless killings, Bobby Singh (in his signature white turban) summed up the feelings aptly as he took the podium first in a string of speakers. “People fear what they do not understand. Americans want to practice their religion peacefully. Every Sikh wearing a turban has become a target,” Singh said.

“This is not an Sikh tragedy, it is an American tragedy. 8/5/12 will be etched in our hearts forever.”

After asking for all to rise for a moment of silence, Singh introduced “a person of faith”, City

Houston Mayor Annise Parker

of Houston Mayor Annise Parker who recalled that “this Plaza has been a place for many gatherings and tonight a moment of silence.”

She pointed out the many Council members who came to attend as well as other political leaders including Harish Jajoo, Councilman from the City of Sugar Land. Also in attendance was the new Indian Consul General P. Harish, who just took over his post on August 4.

“It is important for us to be gatherings like this for the loss of six people who were brutally murdered,” exclaimed Parker. “As we also remember those killed in Columbine, Aurora and Tuc-

Volunteers holding pictures of the six victims.

Elliot Gershenson, the President and CEO of the Interfaith Ministries.

Ajit Giani, an IM Director representing the Ba’hai faith.

son, we realize that this shooting was an act motivated by fear, hate and misunderstanding. We must pledge that these acts will not stop us from living our lives, change who we are as a people; however we look on the outside.”

As he came to the podium, Houston Congressman Al Green said “my heart aches because if this can happen to a Sikh, it can happen to any one of us.” Green noticed the dark blue t-shirts worn by many Sikhs with “I Pledge Humanity” printed on the front and the names of those who were killed on the back, produced by the local Sikh Center gurudwara and sold for $15 each to raise money for the victim’s families. “I pledge hu-

manity,” Green added, “One race, brought together to live in harmony. I pledge that this kind of behavior should be condemned. Dr. King was right when he said ‘we must learn to live together or perish together as common fools’.”

As he finished, someone in the crowd exclaimed “Bole So Nihal” the Sikh call to faith and the Sikhs in the gathering replied in unison with the refrain “Sat Sri Akal”. Patrick Moore, a professional cellist who performs with the Opera in the Heights, played a piece from Bach in C minor. He performed several other beautiful pieces at various points throughout the evening.

Among those who spoke were

Elliot Gershenson, the President and CEO of the Interfaith Ministries, Ajit Giani, also a IM Director representing the Ba’hai faith; the Venerable Hung I of the Jade Buddha Temple representing the Buddhist faith; Rev. Betty Adam of the Christ Church Cathedral representing the Christian faith; Acharya Parveen Gulati of the Arya Samaj of Houston representing the Hindu faith; Rabbi David Lyon of the Congregation Beth Israel representing the Jewish faith; Imam Wazir Ali of the Islamic Society of Greater Houston representing the Muslim faith; Bhai Sahib Manjit representing the Sikh faith with a prayer in Punjabi, translated by Manpreet Singh; and Manmeet Likhari, a Sikh community activist.

The program ended with Sikh children handing candles to all present and helping to light those given to the people on stage, as other Sikh volunteers carried to the front pictures of the victims, all while Moore played on the cello.

Parker came back to the podium to call out a final “Bole So Nihal” to which the delighted audience responded with a resounding “Sat Sri Akal”.

For more pictures and a video of the event featuring Congressman Al Green, visit our website www. indoamerican-news.com

Some of the nearly 900 people who came to the candlelight vigil.

INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, AUGUST 17, 2012 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM

Photos: Jawahar Malhotra

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COMMUNITY

August 17, 2012

BY JAWAHAR MALHOTRA HOUSTON: Before he had even gotten to through the first song, Gurdas Mann had the audience screaming out their approval, dancing in the aisles and throwing up their arms with enthusiasm.

And this was just the beginning.

As the evening went on, Mann used his brilliant command of Punjabi shaiyri, humor, limericks and a particularly Punjabi sonnet called tappe to rivet the audience’s attention for the next four hours without an intermission.

That’s what those who turned out last Sunday, August 12 to the Stafford Civic Center on Cash Road had come to hear and see.

The mostly Sikh crowd came from as far away as Dallas to see Mann’s only concert in the South during his ten-city 2012 tour of the US. And although the official time on the posters was 7 pm, the ticket booth was still doing roaring business till 8 pm, some people paying cash and others picking up their paid tickets and then making their way to their seats. “You know, these people don’t believe the show will really start till it gets dark outside,” chuckled one of the organizers.

The event was pulled together by the Punjabi Society of Houston and turned out to be another great show for them this year after the successful Vaisakhi program held in late April. But while that pro-

Photos: Jawahar Malhotra

In Concert: Gurdas Mann’s Songs of the Punjab Hit the Right Notes

gram was a showcase of community talent, with the Gurdas Mann program, the PSH has shown that it can also bring professional shows that highlight Punjabi music and song, to a part of Texas that thirsts for both.

In bringing Mann, the PSH

couldn’t have made a better choice. Mann’s last concert in Houston was several years ago and some felt that he only catered to a niche market. But, Mann has been a prolific Punjabi singer and film actor with a huge following among Punjabis. In the ensuing

Gurdas Mann performed last Sunday, August 11 and delighted with his group of 7 musicians and 2 backup singers, including a comedian (above)

years, both the Sikh and Punjabi communities in the Bayou City have grown large enough to be able to make Mann’s concert a success, judging by the near full auditorium.

And there he was on stage in a purple kameez and long dhoti, with a gold-embroidered waistcoat and belt, prancing, dancing and banging on a white tambourine with a yellow disk in the center. He warmed up the audience with a short number then dived into Ishq de Ghirda Pende Nahin, interrupting it to relate a witticism or a piece of shaiyri and just as effortlessly jumping back at full tempo into the song again. His two backup singers and seven-man band, all wearing similar shiny grey suits, white shirts and plaid

ties, knew the drill and kept pace with him.

One of them took the mic (as he did between numbers all night long) to do a oneman comedy act, relating the right mix of incidents to make the Punjabi crowd laugh loudly.

Mann set off into Challa to huge applause and followed it up with Roti singing jinnu milldi hai paki pakiyie roti. Then again, after more comedy, he broke into another big audience favorite Apna Punjab Hove in which the lyrics and antics portrayed the rich tapestry of Punjabi folk life, painting pastoral scenes in an easy going, jovial style and jesting with his longtime dholuk player much to the delight of the audience.

Noticing some kids dancing in the aisles, Mann asked them to come onstage and dance with him, again with the crowd’s roar of approval. He then dove into Bijli, of which, he said, he knows a little bit since he once worked for the Punjab State Electricity Board. And this favorite Son of the Punjab wasn’t even half the way through his set, which lasted with many more songs till past midnight.

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COMMUNITY

August 17, 2012

IAPAC Panel Explains the New Healhtcare Plan

BY JAWAHAR MALHOTRA HOUSTON: The huge debate about the future of healthcare in the US, who will pay for it and how has been an ongoing discussion ever since the first year of the Obama Administration when the President made it clear this was among the first things on his agenda to tackle. From the start, battle lines had been drawn along mostly partisan lines, all the way to the Supreme Court where the issue of whether the individual mandate was a tax or a fee was decided by a slim one vote majority. Since then, the Republican Party has threatened to fight this battle again should their candidate for President win in the Fall elections.

Clearly the issue is divisive and much has been muddled up in the partisan politics that accompany it. “We realized that the Affordable Care Act needed some clarification,” said Indo American Political Action Committee President Sanjay Rao, “so we have convened this panel discussion today to help us understand the future of healthcare and how it will impact all of us.”

And this program drew about 80 people to the Jones Graduate School of Business at Rice University this past Saturday, August 11 where they listened to a panel discussion by some healthcare heavyweights in the Houston area. The program was organized

by IAPAC Board member Dr. Roopa Gir and she drew up a panel composed of policy experts, insurance and benefits experts and medical service providers from the private and public sectors for their opinions.

Mimi Garcia, the Director of Healthcare Organizing in Engage, outside of Austin, gave an overall rundown of the ACA and how many people would be affected when it would be fully enforced in 2014. “In Texas, 1.2 million people will become eligible, with the Federal government picking up the cost of 100% of the new population, then reducing it to 10% by 2020,” she explained.

“If states don’t want to join in now – such as Texas where Gov. Perry has rejected the Act – they could still join in later.”

Dr. Charles Begley, Prof. of Management, policy and Community Health at the UT School of Public Health agreed that the current healthcare system is inadequate and everyone has been frustrated with it for several years. He went over the salient features of the ACA – mandatory coverage for all, eliminate benefit limits, prohibit preexisting condition exclusions, dependent coverage up to age 26, create Health benefit Exchanges – among others. He agreed that the number of insured could increase by about 2m in Texas and the Hospital Districts would have to spend more to handle them.

Terrell Rogers, the Sr. Account Executive for United Heatlhcare then over the implications on the insurance industry, especially as it stipulated the need for simpler language and standardization of forms. He also indicated that the coverages and premiums would depend on age, sex, zipcodes, small

5

IAPAC Board member Dr. Roopa Gir organized the panel discussion on the future of healthcare under the new Affordable Care Act.

The panelists and the Board of Directors of the IAPAC (with President Sanjay Rao in dark blazer in the first row) posed after the event.

Photos: Jawahar Malhotra

plained how the regulations affected the employers and how tax credits were offered based on salary. Reminded that he was short on time, he kept his discussion to a minimum.

The discussion was wrapped up by the moderator, Dr. Guru Reddy, Clinical Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology at Baylor College of Medicine as he stated that the ACA signaled “tectonic shift for hospitals, physicians and patients.”

He added that statistics reflect badly on the

US system of healthcare. He felt the challenge now was to reduce the cost of care while increasing the quality of care.

At the end of the discussion, a short, spirited question and answer session ensued, particularly as it related to the differences between free-market and regulated healthcare and accessibility. A buffet lunch was served, catered by Mayuri Restaurant.

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Thank You Dr. Manny Chana, Director of Healthcare Programs at the Jones Graduate School of Business at Rice University made some closing remarks.

or large groups and that the premium costs may go up for those who were healthy and down for those who were not so as to make it affordable for all.

Dr. Robert Behar, the Founder, Chairman of the Board and CEO of North Cypress Medical center took the free market approach to healthcare and how it would increase costs to the private provider, with less incentive to accept Medicare patients.

He cited how the members of the AMA and AHA were both concerned about the losses they already suffer from lower Medicare payments. He advocated letting the educated patient make the choices for treatment rather than let many needless diagnostics be performed at substantial costs. He gave an example of how costs were ten-times lower in India for open heart surgery than in the US. Stephen Sofoul, President, Benefits Science Technologies discussed the need to streamline the healthcare plans by using electronic informational databases. He ex-

Col Raj Bhalla thanks the Indian American Community at large and the broader community and their leadership as well as the Interfaith clergy for attending Solidarity & Prayer Meeting held at India House on August 12, 2012 in memory of six Sikh worshipers who were senselessly killed in their Gurdwara at Oak Creek, Wisconsin. The outpouring of sympathy and concern of the Community is deeply appreciated.

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COMMUNITY

August 17, 2012

India House Hosts Unity Forum for Oak Creek Killings

BY PARTH DWIVEDI HOUSTON: No shortage of words has been shared on the Oak Creek Gurudwara shooting. On August 5 Wade Michael Page, a confirmed member of a white supremacist rock band, opened fire on Sikhs and non-Sikhs present at the gurudwara, killing six people and injuring four others. In support of the Sikh community and those affected, India House hosted an interfaith forum for speakers of various backgrounds this past Sunday, August 12. All levels of government were present, as rep- In support of the Sikh community and those affected in Gurudwara Shooting, India House hosted an resentatives from HPD Sherriff’s interfaith forum for speakers of various backgrounds this past Sunday, August 12.

Department were in attendance From left: Harshad Patel, Swapan Dhairyawan, Samani Amit Pragya, Samani Parimal Pragya, as well as council members and Doraiswamy Bhattar, Bhai Bhupinder Singh Paras, Bhai Charanjeet Singh, Col Raj Bhalla, Ken Mathew, Mike Laster, Al Green, Hon P Harish, Jugal Malani, Rajiv Bhavsar, Charlie Varghese, Sarosh House representative Al Green Collector, Matt Kahn, Helene Zadok. (Not in picture: Abeezar Tyebji) (D-Tx). Exceeding expectations, about 300 guests showed support by the sympathy and unity shown rectly, affects all indirectly.” Green help, Representative Green said he on behalf of more than ninety dif- throughout the nation, Col. Bhalla himself had just finished a meeting would read the official statement ferent organizations in the Greater believed the key was enhanced di- with community leaders, prov- prepared by India House in the alogue. While calling for tougher ing not to be propagating merely Congressional Chamber, calling Houston area.

Meanwhile, the evening began gun regulations, he concluded that hollow platitudes. He stressed the for conversation and education to and ended with words by organiz- sharing the grief helps ease the importance of unity, saying that dispel ignorance. He has already hatred cannot go unchallenged and been in contact with the Justice er, Col. Raj Bhalla, a Sikh himself, pain of the nation’s loss.

Congressman Al Green spoke promoted an “education in love” Department and has insisted that who commended not only the great American spirit of compassion powerfully on the issue, at one in schools, homes, and houses of they leave no stone unturned in shone in the wake of the massacre, point asking the non-Sikh attend- worship alike. The Congressman prosecuting any individual or orbut also the bravery of American ees to stand, only to reveal the for the 9th Congressional district ganization associated with the Oak officers present at the gurudwara. majority of the room on its feet. of Texas cautioned that dialogue Creek Massacre.

The interfaith forum was the Lt. Brian Murphy in particular Quoting Dr. Martin Luther King, should not focus solely on diswas recognized for his selfless Jr., Green evoked the necessity of crimination against Sikhs, but dis- highlight for the evening as repand heroic actions in deferring dialogue as well, “We are caught crimination of any sort, saying that resentatives of the local Hindu, Muslim, Zoroastrian, Jain, Jewish, network of mu- even one death is too many. medical assistance to nine bullet- in an inescapable 0612-35_TexasDMA_IndoAm_10x7.pdf 1 7/5/12 2:25 PM and Christian communities offered When asked about how he will tuality, tied in a single garment of wounds on his person, that others could receive aide first. Touched destiny. Whatever affects one di- use his congressional powers to words of encouragement and wis-

dom, ranging from topics such as the nature of good and evil to the role of the community in times of crisis. The forum was capped off by a moving bhajan performed by Sikh Gyani Bhai Bhupinder Singh Paras, imploring for nonviolence in the world and thanking the nonSikhs present for their unprecedented support.

Guests at the event expressed concern, “if you can’t be safe in a house of worship then where?”

Vocalizing a need for more conversation, they said that the massacre was ultimately rooted in ignorance. “The country is experiencing desperate times right now, especially with everything that just happened in Colorado,” referring to the recent shooting at the Aurora premier of Batman movie, just sixteen days prior to the Oak Creek shooting. Indeed, the timing of these events puts pressure on Congress to take action, fanning flames of a gun control debate.

President Obama ordered U.S flags flown at half-staff through the week of August 5 “as a mark of respect for the victims of the senseless acts of violence,” indicating local, state-wide, and federal support for the Sikh community as well anyone discriminated against. Many words have been exchanged in this questioning period, but the word of the hour is quite clear, Solidarity.

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COMMUNITY

August 17, 2012

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The Whisky Enthusiast Club met again at Nirvana restaurant after a three month hiatus. Checking out the latest sampling are (from left) Krishna Mudan, Asheet Yagnik, Atul Vir, Pradeep Gokhale, Govind Narasimhan, David Robins, David Raj and Suma Mudan.

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end of the evening, each person seems to be

BY JAWAHAR MALHOTRA HOUSTON: While the rest of the desi in a happier frame of mind.

Since the Club started, they have sampled community seems to be busily making preparations and plans for all sorts of events 20 different whiskies and have run up to around town – in the next two months alone about 20 members. This particular evening, nearly 10 galas are planned – it is refreshing the whisky was Black Dog, which, although to come across a group that has much less it is made in Scotland, is wholly exported serious stuff on hand. Or to be precise, they to India and has become part of industrialhave a small goblet of fine whisky in hand! ist Vijay Mallya’s liquor business. It rated “We started the Whisky Enthusiasts Club high on the scale for the night in comparison about 6 months ago,” explained one of the to the other spirit, a cognac from Kazakhfounders and chief enthusiast Atul Vir as he stan. Vir plans to add a website to show the toasted a round this past Wednesday, August scores and avoid duplicating the whiskies, 8 with another 11 people at Nirvana restau- add whisky seminars and possibly even get rant (on Memorial and Dairy Ashford) as into producing whisky in Texas!

The Whisky Enthusiasts Club was started they were taken care of restaurant manager Mansour Alam, “but had to have a hiatus for in March 2012 by Atul Vir, Asheet Yagnik, three months. This is our revival meeting.” Pradeep Gokhale, David Raj, Manisha MehThe concept for the WEG is pretty simple: ta, Raj Thappar, Saroj Manekshaw and Ajay everyone brings a bottle of whisky, meet Sarpeshkar. over dinner at Nirvana restaurant and compare notes about the liquors.

“The idea is to get people educated about the whisky, what types there are, a little background history and then rate each bottle over four categories – appearance, nose, palate and finish.”

The idea is certainly not to get people loaded and staggering out, so the portions are limited to Mansour Alam, manager of Nirvana Restaurant, in front of sample sizes, but by the the buffet table.

Photos: Jawahar Malhotra

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COMMUNITY

August 17, 2012

Iftar Dinner Brings Houstonians Together in Celebration

BY PARTH DWIWEDI HOUSTON: A thousand people noisily chatter amongst one another. Cheerfulness seems to permeate their faces despite having fasted through daylight, and they do not seem to be bothered by the dozens of volunteers clamoring the set up a finely catered dinner immediately near them. Houston Iftar was celebrated this past Saturday, August 11 at George R. Brown Convention Center, hosting people of many different backgrounds, including Mayor Annise Parker.

Iftar is the meal eaten by practicing Muslims to break their daily fast once the sun has gone down in the month of Ramadan. The practice traces its roots to the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) himself and is traditionally done after the completion of a brief salat, or prayer.

1,000 people are in attendance and scheduling is tight, as events of this magnitude prove to be, although the program proceeds without any noticeable hitches.

Even more impressive is the roster of over ninety organization that came together in a collaboration coordinated by the Houston Sister City Associatons of Karachi, Abu Dhabi, Baku, and Istanbul, who hold the event once every year.

The ceremony opens with a recitation of the Holy Qur’an by a young qari, or reciter, and is followed by a gently spoken welcome message delivered from the mouth of Irada Akhoundova, chair of the organizing committee, which has been helping organize the momentous iftar for twelve years. The weight of her words is

fully changed the name of the “Mayor’s Iftar” to “Houston Iftar” to foster unity and promote the community rather than any seat of office. She says that Ramadan brings people together into “one community, one city, one people, and one heart,” happily conclud-

9

ing that that heart can be seen at Houston Iftar that night.

If the night came with any one lesson, it was definitely one of understand what is important in life, as even people who have not eaten all day can come together, cheerful to see one another in fraternity.

Houston Mayor Annise Parker with attendees at Iftar dinner

immense despite her soft voice.

She proclaims that Ramadan is a time for forgiveness and mercy.

Her worldly evocation of fraternity eloquently sets the tone for the night.

Once she is finished plans for a Silk Road Festival are unveiled

by Raindrop Turkish House, after which dignitaries and sponsors are quickly, graciously, and thoroughly recognized.

Keynote speakers cover what can be learned from the practice of fasting during Ramadan. The first, bringing up the concept of taqwa, literally indicating a state of wariness, confesses it is difficult to define, but amounts to a “God-consciousness.” He advocates introspection upon oneself and one’s role in society. The next eloquently claims that Ramadan and all of the practices it entails “softens the heart and diminishes greed.” Suggestions of reform in Islam fill the room as he advocates

a progressive approach to practicing Islam.

Council member Larry Green of District K, which contains the Turkish House, participated in the event for the first time, commends the insightful lessons of the speakers as well as the great food. Considering Houston Iftar to be representative of the diversity found within the rich cultures of various Houston communities, Green was impressed by the execution of the event.

Mayor Annise Parker is warmly greeted and when she speaks, the whole room listens with marked intentness. Mayor Parker purpose-

Houston Maheshwaris Celebrate Badi Teej

Women from the Maheshwari community in Houston recently gathered to celebrate Badi Teej. Badi Teej is dedicated to Goddess Parvati and celebrated by women to pray for the well-being of their husbands and receive blessings for marital bliss.

Photo: Mahendra Mundra

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BY SOWMYA NANDAKUMAR HOUSTON: On the evening of Aug 12, Sunday, the ISKCON Temple in Houston concluded Krishan Janmashtami celebrations at Hare Krishna Dham, with a cultural program. The evening commenced at 5:30 pm with the temple’s grand Aarti, accompanied by song, dance and chants after which the crowd moved to Gauranga hall, the venue for the performances.

A grand prelude was the Panjari Melam, a group percussion specialty from the state of Kerala, performed by Panjadi School of Kerala Drums. Nine main percussionists played on the Melam (a

performance, not missing a beat.

Padmini Chari’s training definitely showed in her students. They were all very well-coordinated and implemented the piece with finesse.

They also presented a second piece which too reflected their style, and quality. Other participants were Kalangan School of Odissi Dance, Bharatha Dharshana School of Indian Classical Dance and Music, Mahesh Iyer and group on violin, and Gayatri School of Music.

The highlight of the evening was a unique performance by renowned classical Indian vocalist, Pandit Hari Bhkati Dey. Internationally known for his rendition of Hindi Bhajans, he changed course

percussion instrument), and were accompanied in the background by three cymbal players. They started off on a relatively slower pace, and gradually upped the tempo of the rhythm, drawing the audience into it, as they pinnacled into a galloping set of beat patterns, which certainly set the tone for the evening.

This was followed by a cute performance by little kids from the Natraj School of Dance, whose artistic director is Kusum Sharma from Cypress, Texas. Abhinaya School of Dance, from Katy, TX, presented a semi-classical fusion group dance, on Lord Ganesha, to the song Deemahi, composed and sung by Shankar Mahadevan. This piece was well coordinated, neatly executed with all dancers exhibiting good poise on stage.

Nritya School of Dance, Woodlands, TX, whose artistic director is Padmini Chari, presented the Pushpanjali piece, a welcoming/ introductory piece, and an invocation to Lord Ganesha to the sloka, Mooshika Vahana. It was very nicely done, with all the dancers completely involved with their

and performed Bengali folk music.

He started off playing a game with the audience. He imitated musical legends like Shri Bhimsen Joshi, and then asked the audience to guess who he was imitating. He explained that this was his tactic to draw in the audience and make sure they were going to be a part of his entire performance. His mantra was, “If you want to be entertained you also have to participate”. And it definitely seemed to work!

He called upon random members of the audience to enact a play as he sang the song that went with it.

The audience members played the various characters of his story, and improvised on dialogues since it was completely impromptu. They enacted the story of two drunken criminals, Jagai and Madai. The story goes that this crime duo offended a devotee, Nityanand Prabhu and threw a stone on his head, injuring him, because he asked them to abandon their sinful ways and follow the path of the Lord by chanting Hare Krishna. Haridas Thakoor, (played by one of Panditji’s troop members), a witness

to this incident ran to Chaitanya Maha Prabhu requesting him to help Nityanand. Chaitanya Maha Prabhu arrives on the scene, enraged by the actions of Jagai and Madai but Nityanad asks him to forgive them and enlighten them with the knowledge of the Lord instead. The audience was with the story and the song right through to the end, even contributing loudly and in unison to the chorus of the song.

Pandit Hari Bhakti Dey sang another Bengali folk song, “Radha Krishna Pran Mor Yugala Kishore”. He taught the audience this chorus line and made sure they were singing along whenever needed. A very charming performer with a lovely voice, he certainly kept everybody glued to their seats and completely hooked to the performance, merging the proscenium and the audience.

Two other important performances of the evening were the Gita recitation and a drama staged by ISKCON kids and teens. The Gita recitation was the result of a week-long Gita camp hosted by ISKCON, Houston, and comprised of reciters from the ages of 3-14 years. Each participant recited a verse and an English translation for it. The clarity and confidence that these kids and teens exhibited was very impressive. Every child who completed a verse received applause and a loud “Hari Bol” cheer call from the audience!

ISKCON kids and teens, 7-18 years also staged a drama directed

by HG Vatsal Prabhu, titled Birth of Krishna. The costumes, life size handmade props, and dialogue delivery by the performers on stage were the highlights of the drama, which was well received by the audience.

The evening’s cultural program, a grand finale to a three day long celebration of Krishna Janmashtami, concluded with prasadham.

For more information, visit www. iskconhouston.org.

Contact soniasrd@yahoo.com to volunteer/sponsor/ and donate towards the festivities

INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, AUGUST 17, 2012 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM

COMMUNITY

August 17, 2012

Prayer Promoting Understanding and Care

SUGAR LAND: On August 10, Friday evening at the steps of Sugar Land City Hall, a gathering took place to pray and pay respect to the victims of recent violence in Colorado and Wisconsin. Councilman Hon. Harish Jajoo spearheaded the meeting with a message from the Hon. Mayor and City Council of inclusion and respect for all faiths and people of all backgrounds.

He condemned the violence in movie theater in Aurora, Colorado and in Shikh Gurudwara in Oak Creek, Wisconsin. His message reflected dignity and celebration of multi-ethnic community in the City of Sugar Land and Fort Bend County.

In light of violent attack in Oak Creek, WI, many caring Indo Americans specially assembled to

11

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Over 25 year experience express their deepest anguish at the tragic violence leading to the cold blooded murder of six devotees and critical injuries to many others at the Gurudwara. The prayer vigil included prayers, condolences and sympathy from the leaders of many faiths that included Hindus, Ismaili, Jew, Christian, etc. Each and every speaker deplored these acts

of violence against innocent law abiding people, regardless of their faith, ethnicity, nationality or other identity. Councilman Himesh Gandhi thanked the gathering for standing together in this difficult time and indicated that the leadership and citizens of Sugar Land have these victims in their prayers and thoughts.

BY PADMASHREE RAO HOUSTON: On August 3, 2012, the devotees of Pujya Gurudeva Swami Chinmayananda gathered in the Smriti Hall at Chinmaya Prabha, to offer their reverential gratitude on the 19th anniversary of his Mahasamadhi.

In memory of Gurudeva’s selfless spiritual service, the Mahasamadhi Day is honored as a ‘Sadhana day’ in all Chinmaya Mission centers worldwide. Gurudeva transformed his life to offer the world a timeless gift of his scriptural teachings, giving everything and expecting nothing. To make that spirituality taught by him as the highest practice of life is the goal of the Mahasamadhi prayers.

The sacred day of remembrance began with bhajanas about the glory of a Guru. Then, Priti Parikh, a Balavihar sevika, outlined the program of the evening, sharing Gurudeva’s words on the silence that inspired his global, spiritual mission. With those words and memories of Gurudeva filling all hearts, everyone walked into the foyer of the Smriti Hall where the life-sized Pratima (idol) of Gurudev seemed more life-like than ever.

The Pratima Puja was performed by a couple of devotees on behalf of Äcäryas Gaurangbhai Nanavaty

Photo: Hanumantrao Akula

Gurudev’s Glory Remembered on Mahasamadhi Day at Houston

and Darshanaben Nanavaty and all others present there. As the foyer resounded with the continuous chanting of stotras, the puja was unique in worship. Gurudeva’s Pratima was gently wiped from head to foot, with devotional care.

Even Gurudeva’s eyeglasses were cleaned with such love that moved devotees to tears. Singing the Chinmayastakam evoked the presence of the Gurudev in each heart. The Gurupaduka Stotram, which extols the glory of the Padukas and symbolizes every ideal that the Guru stands for, stirred memories of prostrating at Gurudeva’s holy feet.

And, the stotra of Krtajnata tried to convey the overwhelming gratitude to Gurudeva.

Shijimon Jacob Crowned as Mr. Fokana HOUSTON: Shijimon Jacob was selected to win the crown of Mr. Fokana 2012 at the Fokana (Federation of Kerala Association of North America) convention, held at the Crown Plaza Convention Center in Houston. The Mr. Fokana competition included a talent round, traditional round, general knowledge round, and fashion show round.

Shijimon resides in Houston and is a vital employee of Discount Grocers.

He also manages a flourishing real estate business in Houston.

The Chinmaya Arati done in front of the glowing Pratima was then followed by a Paduka Puja in the Smriti Hall where all devotees chanted the Chinmaya Astottarasata Namavali, remembering, in 108 ways and more, the timeless qualities of Pujya Gurudeva Swami Chinmayananda. The prayerful homage concluded with every devotee finding a moment of silence as he or she touched Gurudeva’s Padukas in deep respect and with a resolve to live by His message.

For more information, visit www.chinmayahouston.org or call Jay Deshmukh at 832-5410059 or Bharati Sutaria at 281933-0233.

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INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, AUGUST 17, 2012 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM

12 August 17, 2012

COMMUNITY

Newly Appointed Air India Midwest Chief Feted in Chicago

From left: Dr Kapadia,Rishikant Singh, Nand Kapur, Ramesh Soprawala, Jagdish Khatwani and Jude Crasto

CHICAGO: Newly appointed Air India Midwest chief Rishikant Singh was feted in Chicago last week by a group of community members headed by Jagdish Khatwani, head of India Sari Palace at Tiffin on Devon Avenue Chicago.

Another highlight of the event was the hearty farewell to the out going Air India Midwest Manager Jude Crasto who has endeared himself among members of India community.

“I would reach out to the members of community whole heartedly”, said singh in his remark. The event was attended among others by Dr M Kapadia, a community activist and head of Prism Medical Center, Nand Kapur, former head of AIA, Ramesh Soparawala, India Post Resident Editor and J Khatwani, the host.

Nand Kapur welcomed the guests and also proposed a vote of thanks.

Book Signing Event of The Guru Chronicles

BY RAVI RAGHAVAN HOUSTON: Americans have always been fascinated with Hindu spiritual traditions and many have embraced Hinduism. One such remarkable American Hindu is the late Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami, the dynamic seer and founder of “Hinduism Today” magazine and Hawaii’s Hindu monastery.

His remarkable story - and those of his 6 predecessors in his ancient Guru lineage from the Himalayas and Sri Lanka - spring to life in an amazing new book, “The Guru Chronicles: The Making of the First American Satguru.” Comprising 850 pages and full of rare photographs and artistic fullcolor illustrations, it’s quite unlike any other book about Hindu monks that has been published before. This massive book is a collaborative effort by the Swamis of Kauai’s Hindu Monastery.

The book-signing event of “The Guru Chronicles: The Making of the First American Satguru” will be held on Tuesday, August 21 at 6:30pm at Keshav Smruti (4018, Westhollow Pkwy, Houston, TX 77082).

Paramacharya Sadasivanatha Palaniswami, editor-in-chief of Hinduism Today Magazine and one of the authors of the book, will speak, answer questions and sign copies of The Guru Chronicles.

The Guru Chronicles is not just Gurudeva’s story, and it spans more than the lifetime of one man, reaching back through 2,200 years of history and taking the reader from the Himalayas of ancient India to the modern-day Hawaiian Islands.

RSVP at hindusofhouston2@gmail.com.

For more information, visit www.hindusofhouston.org INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, AUGUST 17, 2012 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM

COMMUNITY

August 17, 2012

13

Janmashtami Celebration on August 25 at George Brown Convention Center anniversary. Also, not to be missed are the grand Rangoli decoration by Sangeeta Bhutada, Kid’s Corner with loads of fun activities and culmination midnight Krishna Janma Maha-Aarti.

This celebration is brought to you by Hindus of Greater Houston, bringing Hindus together, which invites Hindus and their friends and neighbors to participate.

For more information visit www.HindusofHouston.org Or contact Chairperson Partha Krishnaswamy at 713-962-8523, for event details, Sanjay Jajoo at 713-614-9286 for sponsorship / donation opportunities, Richa Dixit at 832-451-7206 for volunteer opportunities, Sheetal Rathi at 281-597-8794 for costume contest and Thara Narsimhan at 281-565-9483 for booth information.

Hindus of Greater Houston’s signature event is the annual communitywide Janmashtami where costume contests for children is a popular segment of the celebration.

BY THARA NARSIMHAN HOUSTON: As many as 7000 people, Hindus with their friends and neighbors, will be celebrating the birth of Lord Sri Krishna at the George R. Brown Convention Center on Saturday, August 25 from 6pm through midnight. This celebration, sponsored by Hindus of Greater Houston (HGH), a nonprofit organization, is joyously anticipated, with each year bringing special features.

Krishna Janmashtami is a one of the major Hindu festivals that celebrates Lord Krishna’s birth with different traditions in various regions of India. Houston Hindus go beyond regional aspects of the celebration as they join together in the festivities in perhaps the largest such celebration in North America, continually creating new traditions.

For the past 22 years in Houston, the festival of Janmashtami has been observed with pomp and pageantry, bringing together, all at one place, a variety of joyous activities for young and old alike. The event is open to the public and is free for all. It is celebrated to share the richness of Hindu culture and traditions.

This year, there will be an added special attraction. Two million colorful rose petals will be scattered over the participants as they dance together, no matter what their age or background, re-enacting the joy of Krishna and his companions dancing and playing together in complete joy. This is a great, perhaps once in a lifetime opportunity to relive the experience of years ago and far away.

There will be a spectacular line up of children’s costume contest, dance performances, live Dandiya-Raas Garba music by prominent musicians, community booths and a variety of foods that will keep everyone entertained and amazed through midnight. Also among the special attractions will be the invocation ceremony following the Garuda Vahana Ratha procession, mesmerizing children’s Radha-Krishna costume contest with both individual and group categories, professionally choreographed performances presented by dance schools with variety of traditional Indian dances from all over India.

All are invited to dance to the live Khelaiyya style Garba/Dandiya Raas music by melodious singer Kashmira and thrilling beats of Darshak Thakkar, enjoy the beautifully decorated booths and temple displays, and view the exhibition on Swami Vivekananda specially presented for his 150th birth

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Phoolon Ki Holi ! Garuda Vahana procession ! Swami Vivekananda exhibition in celebration of 150th birth anniversary ! Exciting Cultural Program ! Decorated Temple Exhibits & Booths ! Raas Garba with Live Music & 5000+ Participants ! Biggest Janmashtami Celebration ! Costume contest over 60 kids beautifully dressed as Krishna & Radha, single or group “Jhanki” participation ! Come & see the spectacular Rangoli ! Kid’s Matki-Fod, Art Contest & other fun activities for Kid’s of all ages ! Like us /visit us on Face book http://www.facebook.com/hindusofhouston

For costume contest: Shital Rathi ........................................... 281-597-8794

INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, AUGUST 17, 2012 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM

14 August 17, 2012

INDIA

Congress Leader Vilasrao Deshmukh Passes away at 67

BY ARUN RAM CHENNAI (TOI) : Union minister and former Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, who has been battling liver cancer in a city hospital, died here on Tuesday afternoon. He was 67.

Having registered with the Tamil Nadu organ registry for a liver and a kidney, Vilasrao’s case was cleared as a ‘super ultra emergency’. He was to receive the organs from a 31-year-old man who was declared brain dead at the Government General Hospital, Chennai on Monday afternoon, but the prospective donor suffered a cardiac arrest in the early hours of Tuesday before his organs could be harvested. Two more set of organs were available by Tuesday morning, one from the General Hospital, Chennai, where a 20-year-old woman was declared brain dead, and another from Hinduja Hospital, Mumbai. But transplant surgeons at Global Hospitals found Vilasrao’s condition was too unstable to undergo the procedure. “His condition was getting worse from early morning,” said a treating doctor. “Though a transplant was the only option, the chances of his surviving the long and complex procedure looked bleak.”

Vilasrao Deshmukh’s health condition has been see-sawing since he was brought to Chennai last Tuesday by an air ambu-

Union Science and Technology Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi pays her last respects to the mortal remains of Union Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh during his funeral ceremony at Babhalgaon in Latur on Wednesday. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is also seen.

lance. On Saturday, doctors said his condition was stable. Since his other organs stood the risk of failing, and doctors had to prevent further infection, he was moved from the general ICU to an isolated unit on Saturday. The same day his name was registered with the TN organ registry which allots cadaver organs for transplant.

His actor son Riteish Deshmukh was registered with the authorities as a part-liver donor, but doctors said Vilasrao Deshmukh

needed a full liver, which meant they had to get the organ from a brain-dead person. If a kidney was available, doctors said, they would transplant that too, since his kidneys had also failed.

A dual transplant looked likely on Monday after the family of the 31-year-old brain-dead man at Chennai GH agreed to donate his organs. A team of doctors from Global Hospitals reached GH, but because of some procedural delays, the organs

Osmania University Gets a Surprise Gift Inspired by his dear friend, Osmania University Alumni Dr. Kris Raju, Dr. Pramod Arora (not an Osmanian) gave a generous donation of $20,000 to the Osmania University Chemistry department. Dr. Kris Raju, who studied at Chemistry department of Osmania, gave a donation of $50,000 to the Chemistry Department to build a seminar hall. This project is currently in progress at Osmania. Dr. Arora, while visiting India, visited Dr. Raju’s project site and was inspired to make the donation Dr. Arora says educational institutions and the education they provide are for everyone and everyone should support whether one is receiving education from there or not.

He presented a check of $20,000 to Harinath Medi who is the president of Osmania University Alumni Association Of North America. The project will be identified by Dr. Arora, which Medi says is rightfully named after the donor Dr. Arora.

Dr. Kris Raju is a scientist retired and now settled in San Antonio, TX. Dr. Pramod K. Arora Ph.D, a very successful businessman, is the President & CEO of Innovation Chemical Technologies based in Cleveland, Ohio.

Osmania University Alumni Association in the US spearheaded the fundraising mission and was successfully able to establish a Computer Center in the Osmania Arts Col-

Dr. Pramod Arora with wife Anu

lege by Dr. Aziz Jamaluddin of Houston and a few scholarships from other loyal Osmanians.

Dr. Raju’s and Dr. Arora’s projects will be completed in the near future. Many other projects like the Alumni Center and Hostel renovation projects are in the pipeline and will be started in next few months.

Osmania University Alumni Association strongly believes that generous people like Dr. Kris Raju , Dr. Arora and Dr. Aziz Jamaluddin will inspire many more to help their Alma mater. Houston local chapter of Osmania University Alumni Association is planning a grand reunion- Gala with Hyderabadi style dinner, music, Qawali and dance to Hindi cinema tunes on Friday, September 28, 2012 . The details will be announced in next few days. All Osmanians, their families and friends are invited

could not be harvested. In the mean time, the prospective donor suffered a cardiac arrest, making it impossible for the doctors to retrieve and use the liver and kidney. On Tuesday, the transplant surgeons were presented with two opportunities of organs, from Mumbai and the Chennai GH, but before they could harvest the organs, Vilasrao Deshmukh’s condition worsened by Tuesday afternoon and he breathed his last.

India Announces Plans for an Unmanned Mars Mission in 2013

BY NIRMALA GEORGE NEW DELHI (Chronicle): India plans to send a spacecraft to Mars next year in a giant leap forward for science and technology in the country, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Wednesday.

Singh said the unmanned spacecraft will enter orbit around the planet and collect scientific information.

He announced the 4.5 billion rupee ($82 million) mission during a speech marking the 65th anniversary of India’s independence from British rule.

“This spaceship to Mars will be a huge step for us in the area of science and technology,” he said.

The spacecraft is to be launched in November 2013 on a frequently used rocket developed by the Indian Space Research Organization.

India has had an active space program since the 1960s. Since the 1970s it has launched scores of satellites for itself and for nearly two dozen other countries.

In 2008, India successfully sent a probe to the moon that detected evidence of water on the lunar surface for the first time. India is also planning a rover mission to the moon and is awaiting budgetary approval for a manned space mission.

Critics of Singh’s Congress party say the government’s priorities are skewed and it should concentrate instead on providing the basic needs of people such as electricity and safe drinking water. Last week, more than 600 million people lost power for hours when the country’s decrepit electricity grid collapsed.

Indian scientists dismiss the criticism, saying that technology developed as part of the space program has resulted in spinoffs in other areas.

“It is certainly not a question of misplaced priorities,” former ISRO chief U.R. Rao was quoted as saying by The Asian Age newspaper.

ISRO chief K. Radhakrishnan says the Mars mission must take place when the planet is closest to Earth, which happens every 26 months. There are three “windows of opportunity” in late 2013, 2016 and 2018, and Indian scientists are aiming to be ready for the 2013 opportunity, he said

INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, AUGUST 17, 2012 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM

August 17, 2012

Save the Date

9.23.12 11:00 am - 5:30 pm

15

South Asian Bridal Exhibit 9.23.12

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Hosted at: Crowne Plaza Houston River Oaks 2712 Southwest Freeway, Houston, TX 77098 Wedding Bazaar for All Modern Desi Brides!

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INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, AUGUST 17, 2012 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM

16 August 17, 2012

COMMUNITY

Sudha Murthy to Keynote Akshaya Patra Annual Food for Education Benefit Event

STONEHAM, MA: The Akshaya Patra Foundation, an organization with the vision that no child shall be deprived of education because of hunger, will host their annual Food for Education benefit event on September 8, 2012 at the Richardson Civic Center, Richardson, TX. Currently, Akshaya Patra’s program feeds freshly prepared, healthy meals to over 1.3 million children daily in over 9,000 schools through 21 kitchens in ten states in India. For many children this is their only complete meal for the day and serves as an incentive for them to come to

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school, stay in school and gain the necessary nutrients to focus on learning.

The benefit event will raise awareness and funds for Akshaya Patra’s unique and innovative program for fighting hunger and promoting education simultaneously and will be hosted by the Dallas Chapter led by Chapter Chairs, Radha Mookerjee and Guna Raj. Attendees of the event will include key community leaders, business executives and eminent change agents committed to unlocking these children from the vicious and perpetual cycle of poverty and determined

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Sudha Murthy

to closing the gap between the haves and the have-nots.

Sudha Murthy, Social Activist and Author, Chairperson of the Infosys Foundation and Member of the Public Healthcare Initiative of the Gates Foundation will keynote the evening. Sudha Murthy has been a strong supporter of Akshaya Patra from its inception. She’s a known philanthropist with her work through the Infosys Foundation and has initiated a move to provide all government schools in Karnataka with computer and library facilities. She also teaches com-

puter science and has written several fictional books such as Dollar Bahu, Mahashweta, and Wise & Otherwise.

“The Dallas community has always been very generous and supportive of ensuring that hunger is not a barrier to education for these deserving Akshaya Patra children. This year in addition to celebrating Akshaya Patra’s pioneering efforts and dramatic results, it is an opportunity for Dallas community to honor and celebrate Sudha’s illustrious journey”, said Madhu Sridhar, President and CEO of Akshaya Patra USA. The Akshaya Patra Foundation is one of the world’s largest NGO-run midday meal programs. A public-private partnership, Akshaya Patra combines good management, innovative technology and smart engineering to deliver school lunch at a fraction of the cost of similar programs in other parts of the world. It costs Akshaya Patra only $15 to feed a child for an entire year. After reaching its initial goal of feeding one million children each school day, Akshaya Patra’s next milestone is to serve 5 million children daily by 2020.

To purchase tickets for the benefit event or to learn more about Akshaya Patra, visit www.foodforeducation.org.

For more information, call Piyali Dutta at 781-438-3090 ext. 5 or email Piyali@apusa. org.

For advertising in Indo-American News Call Jawahar Malhotra / Vanshika Vipin

713.789.NEWS (6397)

INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, AUGUST 17, 2012 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM

ENTERTAINMENT

Sridevi Steals the Show at Delhi Couture Week

August 17, 2012

17

Deepika to Romance Shahrukh in ‘Chennai Express’ Deepika Padukone will be paired opposite Shahrukh Khan in Rohit Shetty’s new project ‘Chennai Express’. “Deepika is part of Chennai Express. She has been finalised,” sources close to the project told. Many names like Katrina Kaif, Kareena Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra were on the table but finally Deepika grabbed the promising project.

Deepika debuted with Farah Khan’s ‘Om Shanti Om’ opposite Shahrukh Khan and the movie was a box-office hit. Her pairing with King Khan was very much liked and once again the duo are paired to ablaze the silver screen. The film will go on floor in September and will release mid next year.

‘Chennai Express’ speaks about a man (Shahrukh) who travels fromMumbaitoRameshwaram and what he experienced during the journey forms the story line of the film.

Interesting, Rohit Shetty has done eight films with Ajay Devgn and first time he is working without his best buddy Ajay and has cast Shahrukh and Deepika Padukone together. His last film, ‘Bol Bachchan’was a blockbuster.

It crossed 100 crores mark.

Hope, Deepika and Shahrukh revives the magic of ‘Om Shanti Om’ again.

Veena Malik to Sing for a Bollywood Film NEW DELHI (Bollywood Mantra): The curtains came down on the third PJC Delhi Couture Week (DCW) with a grand show.

Designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee lived up to his somber aesthetic designs, as is his philosophy. Sabyasachi proudly declares his outlook as - “Personalized imperfection of the human hand’. Deserts, gypsies, prostitutes, antique textiles and cultural traditions of his home town, Kolkata have been a lifelong inspiration for this designer who believes that “clothes should just be an extension of one’s intellect”.

DCW was not devoid of that, as Sabyasachi blended ethnic and modern looks in his collection. He took inspiration for this from the five cities. New York, Paris, Barcelona, and Kolkata made their presence felt in his varied style.

Add to that if they are worn by someone as gorgeous as Sridevi. The 48-year old actress looked elegant in heavily embroidered lehenga matched with a black blouse. The yesteryear’s diva is making a comeback with her movie “English Vinglish”. She was accompanied by her director, Gauri Shinde, wife of filmmaker Balkrishan (Balki). She too looked seductive in black khadi sari.

After the show Sabyasachi speaking about the actress said, “Me and my sister have always

admired her beauty and for me I think, she is someone who look fantastic and whatever she wears. It was my honor to design for her as she is one of the most beautiful women Bollywood would ever have.”

Speaking about her looks in the upcoming movie he said, “She (Sridevi) is the ultimate diva and I was really excited when I got this offer to design for her. One will see her flaunting different types of Indian look in the film.”

Srivedi’s husband Bonny Kapoor and friend Shabana Azmi were also present to see her walk on the ramp.

Earlier, Bollywood actresses Rani Mukherjee and Vidya Balan too have adored his style.

His collection was titled New Moon. It was symbolized with heavy threadwork and hand embroidery. The dresses that stole everyone’s attention were, embroidered tulle saris in white, hand embroidered tulle wrap and textured silk blouse. The collection also consisted of strapless kurti, high-waist ghagra skirt and lehenga.

His designs had a touch of British raj nostalgia of Kolkata and romance of Paris. Bohemian feels of Barcelona and glitz of New York.

Designer Manav Gangwani collection was inspired from royalty. It elegantly blended western and Indian styles.

Check out latest movie trailers at

www.indoamerican-news.com

BY NEHA KAURA MUMBAI (TOI): She has been in the news for all the wrong reasons. Be it her live show in Pakistan, her seminude shoot on a magazine cover or her canned swayamyar. But now, Veena Malik has something good to look forward to. It was reported that Veena will be singing for the Kannada remake of The Dirty Picture.

But Veena says, “Singing is what I always wanted to do. I don’t know if it will be for this movie or not. But I am working on a music album right now. And, yes I am singing for a Bollywood film in which I will act too. It is a crazy party track which I am sure people will like.”

What is the difference between working in the Pakistan and Indian film industry? “There, the film industry does not have international exposure. It is a small industry. Actually, I am very happy to be part of the films here,” she says. “But, I do think south filmmakers are far more professional than those in Bollywood,” she adds.

A show on her marriage was cancelled, but Veena is unperturbed. “I will get married on national television. I feel TV has taken a stand to get me married! If I decide to get hitched, it will be on TV for all to see,” she says. So is marriage on the cards? “Right now, I am hardly thinking about it. There are no plans or thoughts about who to marry,” she answers.

Is it true that Rakesh Sawant (Rakhi Sawant’s brother) approached her for a film? “It was Rakhi who had approached me for the film which is on the life of Laila Khan. I made it very clear to her that if the script is good, only then will I take up this role,” she says. She further adds, “For me, choosing a film means strong roles and a good story line. In a week’s time, they are giving me the script, then I will decide.”

INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, AUGUST 17, 2012 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM

18

EDITORIAL

August 17, 2012

IAN at 30 and Many More

It seems like only yesterday that we started working on IndoAmerican News. Over three decades, the newspaper has grown, fulfilling Dr. Sindwani’s vision of developing a full-fledged community newspaper. We’re committed to continuing the Sindwani legacy. As you can see from the many messages of support from advertisers and readers in the 30th Anniversary section, we’re honored to receive devoted community support. Let us continue to grow together for the benefit of generations to come.

Pramod Kulkarni

India at 65. What Next?

As India turns 65 the outlook, unfortunately, doesn’t look as good today as when it turned 60. The days of heady growth are over. Heartblocks have been diagnosed as the India story seems to be unravelling. Inflation is out of control, with the government groping for ideas on how to tackle it (clue: look to fiscal deficits).

As India’s growth engine stalls, big-ticket corruption and smallbeer infrastructure dominate news headlines.

That’s a great pity as India had just begun clawing back to its rightful position in the world order. Economic historians have estimated that India had the largest economy in the ancient and medieval worlds, right up to the 17th century. But India’s share of world income slipped from about 27% in 1700 to 3% in 1950.

Given that India harbours one out of every six human beings on the planet, it ought to shoot for 16%. That’s why Jawaharlal Nehru spoke, on August 15, 1947, of a “tryst with destiny” that India must fulfil “very substantially” with Independence.

Has India, at 65, fulfilled the terms of this tryst? Despite great achievements since Independence the answer, regretfully, has to be no. Indian share of world income continued to fall after 1950, but started to rise around 2000. By 2010, it was still a mere 2.6% of world income. But there was hope as this proportion was rising, making India one of the world’s fastest growing major economies. India may still be afflicted by mass destitution, but the proportion of poor Indians was falling. All this, however, may be placed at risk if India’s growth engine jams, while its political classes continue to squabble instead of addressing the issue.

The most glaring discrepancy in India today may be the contrast between the average age of its rulers and its people. While half the country is below 26 years of age, the average age of the Union cabinet is 65. Not only does this amount to a failure of representation, the predominance of aged leaders also means lack of energy and innovation when it comes to governing the country and facing up to its enormous problems. Older politicians may shadow-box, but younger people are pragmatic and have fewer psychological hang-ups compared to the pre-Independence or immediate post-Independence generations. To unclog those heartblocks and rejuvenate the nation, it’s time to overthrow gerontocracy and give younger Indians their fair share of power.

Times of India

Happy Independence Day

BY PRITISH NANDY India is 65. I am slightly younger.

While India sounds loftier every year, I feel more grounded.

Age does that to you. You no longer need to sound so patronizing, so exalted. You are happier with smaller things, more real achievements, stuff that dignifies you.

You leave the more grandiloquent gestures for those younger, who need to strut their stuff, to often make a juvenile point. You focus on the genuine, things that could make a difference to your life and those around you. That’s wisdom.

The rest is faff. Kids love to faff around. People and nations, at 65, must get down and do things they will be remembered for.

Like all Indians, I am proud of Independence Day. Every year when it comes around, I look for a reason to celebrate. Every time, it’s more and more difficult to find one. No, it’s not because there’s anything wrong with the idea of India. What’s wrong is the way we are looking for it, in all the wrong places. I guess there’s a good reason for this. Our idea of India has been fashioned, for 65 years, by all the wrong people. Those who can actually make a difference have always been excluded from the process of nation building. They hang around in the margins, waiting for a call that never comes. The task has been hijacked by a tiny minority who have ensured that whatever happens they stay in power. For that is where the loot is.

Parties come to power. Parties go out. But the same pack of power brokers with a voracious appetite for money have ruled India for 65 years. We have often complained that criminals dominate Parliament and the local assemblies. But every time there’s an election, irrespective of who wins, the criminals return in larger numbers. We have complained for years that corruption is hurting India. But every year the scams increase; so does the amount of money stolen. When the thieves are caught, they lie low for a while. Then, before you can figure, they are all over the place

So, like every Independence Day, let your heart swell with pride, snub despair, stand up to the national anthem, feel the lump in your throat. Be proud to be an Indian. Whatever that means. again, on a strut. List the scams over the years. Now look for the scamsters. They are back where they always were, right in the thick of another money making racket.

Politicians, bureaucrats, businessmen, even police officers caught committing the most awful crimes get away with them because they are the ones who run the system.

They know how to beat it.

The rest of India, the real India, the people who make this nation work, have not yet found a way to either stop these gangsters running India or they are simply too busy trying to earn their dal roti to care.

Once in a while, a few of them sneak their way into the power elite and, when they do, they stop worrying about India and join the celebrations. We have reached a stage where most people have given up hope of seeing real change in their lifetime. So they are happy doing what they do best, building successful little communities of their own and occasionally hyperventilating about the state of the nation. No one really knows where we are going. No one cares.

One stupid budget and the entire economy fell to pieces. So what did the Government do? They elevated the man who made the budget to the nation’s top job. The Cabinet is a living example of The Peter Principle, where everyone is elevated to their level of incompetence. There is no one capable of delivering anything. But that’s exactly why they are there. They are no threat to those who actually run the nation. These jobs go to those who openly swear not by their loyalty to India but by their loyalty to the rulers.

Yet, despite all this, India keeps going. Like Fauja Singh. It keeps going because faceless millions work hard to keep our hope alive.

They push the boulder up the same hill every day like Sisyphus, only to see it roll down at dusk. India exists because you and I refuse to allow this great nation to fall apart.

So, like every Independence Day, let your heart swell with pride, snub despair, stand up to the national anthem, feel the lump in your throat. Be proud to be an Indian. Whatever that means. ToI

Indo American News FOUNDER: DR. K.L. SINDWANI PUBLISHER: JAWAHAR MALHOTRA EDITOR: PRAMOD KULKARNI PARTNER: KRISHNA GIRI MANAGING EDITOR: MANASI GOKHALE ADVERTISING & ADMINISTRATIVE MANAGER: VANSHIKA VIPIN CORRESPONDENTS HOUSTON: PARTH DWIVEDI, SOWMYA NANDKUMAR, CHETNA SAMAL CHICAGO: NAND KAPOOR, INDIA: RAJ KANWAR ®All rights reserved. No material herein or portions thereof may be published without the written consent of the publisher. The deadline for advertising and articles is 5 pm on Monday of each week. Please include self-addressed, stamped envelope for return of all unsolicited material. Published at 7457 Harwin Drive, Suite 262, Houston, Texas 77036. Tel: 713-789-NEWS or 6397 Fax: 713-789-6399, email: indoamericannews@yahoo.com, website: indoamerican-news.com

INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, AUGUST 17, 2012 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM

INDIA

August 17, 2012

Last Call, Red Herring

BY ARTI SHARMA BANGALURU (Outlook) There has been so much bad news around Kingfisher Airlines in recent months that it would not be surprising if most consumers assume its end is near. But then, seemingly defying all odds, Kingfisher continues to fly.

While this has naturally generated controversy, it has also raised many relevant questions about the way we do business in India. Outlook seeks some answers: Kingfisher Airlines’ woes appear to be insurmountable. How much longer does it have before it completely shuts down?

Given its cash flow issues, truncated operations, repossessed planes, losses of over Rs 1,100 crore in the last quarter, frozen bank accounts, unpaid and striking employees, most experts agree it’s simply a matter of time before the airline shuts shop.

Aviation industry sources feel that Kingfisher will continue to survive in bare-bone mode till it is forced to cease operations. Actually, the verdict is divided among experts.

Either the airline will last for another two quarters. Or it will continue with minimal operations, using say 5-10 aircraft, enough to hold on to its Scheduled Operator Permit. Whatever the scenario, the future is bleak, nay, hopeless.

Continuing to fly Kingfisher suits Vijay Mallya, correct?

Yes, Mallya isn’t an easy man to work with. Many of his former associates say he can be eccentric to the point of being unprofessional, but they all agree he will hang on till the very end. “Mallya is not likely to voluntarily take the decision to shut it down,” says a Kingfisher employee. It suits him to stay afloat and in the game with a running airline. The government’s reluctance to take matters head on has led to this strange impasse, borne out by Kingfisher’s bankers. “In a sense we have been backed into a corner. We have no bargaining chip left. We are waiting for them (Kingfisher) to tell us where they are heading and they are waiting to see what our next move is likely to be,” a senior public sector bank official says, on condition of anonymity.

But given that Kingfisher’s debt is at a whopping Rs 7,500 crore, why are its bankers not being more aggressive?

The banks are more or less resigned to a huge loss from Kingfisher. Since there are no underlying assets to speak of, expect a long process of litigation in a bid to try and regain some—very little, actually—money.

The value of the ‘collateral’ from Mallya’s promoter holding (35.86 per cent) in Kingfisher is not likely to yield more than Rs 300 crore at current market prices. Coupled with Mallya’s non-core assets, properties and helicopters, he will serve up another Rs 500 crore at most. In short, the bankers have no chance in hell of recovering all their money. Recently, ICICI Bank—one of the larger private sector lenders—sold its debt of

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Vijay Mallya (L) with son, Siddharth Mallya

Rs 430 crore to a fund managed by Srei Infrastructure.

What explains the reluctance of the government to act?

“There is too much at stake for the government to let it collapse,” says Ramesh Vaidyanathan, partner at Advaya Legal, which does work in the aviation sector. Vaidyanathan is referring to the 4,000-odd employees on Kingfisher’s rolls, many of whom have not received salaries for months now. If the airline does indeed shut down, it’s going to raise many uncomfortable questions. There has been no move to try and reclaim dues from the airline on behalf of the banks. “If the ministry puts enough pressure and gives the banks the go ahead, the recovery process can be initiated,” says a former banker. However, banking and finance industry watchers say that one of the reasons that this is not being done is because it will open up a can of worms. “How were the banks allowed to give out so much credit to an airline that was continuously showing losses? Why has public money gone towards a faulty business model? These are not questions either the banks or the government want to answer,” says a top aviation industry source.

Was director general of civil aviation (DGCA) head E.K. Bharat Bhushan shunted out due to his tough stand on Kingfisher?

The government might claim that it was because of a “bureaucratic goofup”, but industry and official sources seem to confirm the buzz that has been going around: that Bhushan’s removal from the post had a strong link to his posture on Kingfisher.

Bhushan’s sacking came within 24 hours of his making a noting on a file to serve notice to the ailing airline.

The note warned of the termination of Kingfisher’s operating licence if the salaries and other employee dues, which have been pending since February, were not cleared immediately.

While Bhushan’s critics accuse him of being slow to act on the financial surveillance and audit of Kingfisher, which he had ordered six months ago, his supporters claim that an RTI would reveal that while following the set rules and procedures, operational security concerns were continually being looked at. The bottomline: Kingfisher continues to fly, watched over by a benevolent government.

“If Mallya wants to continue with operations—which he has done after twice cutting down scheduled operations—how he does it is the DGCA’s problem,” says a top aviation ministry source.

What rescue options does Mallya have, really? Is his United Breweries (UB) under threat?

Mallya is banking on being able to garner funds through FDI in domestic airlines. But even if FDI is allowed, it won’t do much to save the airline.

“Theoretically, it is possible to turn around Kingfisher, but very difficult practically. Kingfisher’s promoters continue to feed the airline because its closure will have a massive impact on the UB group,” says Kapil Kaul, CEO, Centre for Aviation. In 2010, a Grant Thornton report had valued the Kingfisher brand at about Rs 4,111 crore, three times its market value at the time.

Along with the Kingfisher shares, Mallya has also pledged his holdings in UB Holdings, which has interests in both liquor and aviation.

By default now, if the plug is pulled on Kingfisher, Mallya’s stake in the liquor companies (including United Spirits and UB Ltd) are under threat.

Mallya’s flagship beer company UB Ltd has a joint venture with Heineken (UB has a 40.4 per cent stake). Industry sources say there is a strong possibility that Mallya may choose to pare down his personal stake (which is around 18 per cent) in the business in order to save Kingfisher. However, Heineken has raised concerns about the dilution of the Kingfisher brand name. This is the subject of current negotiation, according to sources.

Finally, should consumers continue to fly Kingfisher?

If they can find a flight, that is.

The airline is available on only a few routes domestically. Not surprisingly, Kingfisher’s marketshare has crashed to about five per cent. A small number of consumers willing to put up with the delays and the abruptly cancelled flights have still been flying on the airline. “He (Vijay Mallya) has always been a survivor and I hope that he will pull a rabbit out of the hat. A closure of the airline may lead to a cartelisation in the sector,” says G.R. Gopinath, Air Deccan founder. But Kingfisher’s customers have been dwindling rapidly. And that is the reality for the king of good times.

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Pakistani Holds Hindu Pilgrims to India Briefly Over Exodus Fears

BY ANITA JOSHUA ISLAMABAD (The Hindu) Over 200 Hindu families were allowed to cross into Amristar on Friday on their scheduled pilgrimage after a brief detention by Pakistani authorities in Lahore following reports that they were planning to migrate to India to escape from abductions and attacks on their businesses in Upper Sindh.

Though such pilgrimages to temples in India are an annual affair around this time of the year, they caught the media eye this year because of the spate of attacks on members of the Hindu community in Upper Sindh. Several members of the community in Jacobabad are said to have shut shop, sold their properties and moved out of the Upper Sindh district in recent months for fear of their daughters being kidnapped and forcibly converted.

According to the vice-chairman of Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (Sindh chapter), Amarnath, 50 per cent of the Hindu community in Upper Sindh have moved out — most of them to the melting pot of Karachi and some to other countries.

After the “exodus” from Jacobabad made it to the Sindhi papers, it was picked up by the national media and became an issue over the past 24 hours with Interior Minister Rehman Malik on Thursday night claiming it was a conspiracy and that the Indian High Commission should explain why so many visas had been issued.

However, various Hindu community leaders maintained that this was “yatra season” and people went on the pilgrimage in large groups.

“They are all going on a short-stay visa for pilgrimage or to meet their families. Whether they will all return is not certain,”’ Mr. Amarnath told The Hindu, claiming that over the past three years 3,000 families have moved to India. Last year 300 families had gone to India on pilgrimage and 60 of them stayed back.

While Hindus and other minorities

A Hindu family from Pakistan arrives at the Wagah border crossing

in Sindh have always had it better than their counterparts elsewhere in the country, they have of late become targets; primarily because of a degree of prosperity among some sections of the community.

This has made them easy prey for the Wadheras (feudal lords) of the province. Ironically, the Wadheras who have been giving the community maximum grief owe allegiance to the Pakistan People’s Party, which is said to be the most minority-friendly of all political organisations of Pakistan.

Hindus who participated in various

television talk shows over the past 24 hours said the Wadheras were targeting them primarily to get them to leave their areas so that their properties can be taken over.

Meanwhile, President Asif Ali Zardari has called for a report on the situation and civil society members agitated by reports of Hindus fleeing their country sought to mobilise support for them and petition the Supreme Court but this was of little consolation to a community which feels let down by the superior judiciary in the Rinkle Kumari case.

Imran Khan Laughs Off Taliban Death Threats

BY NARGIZA RYSKULOVA Earlier this week, Ahsanullah Ahsan, a spokesman for the Pakistan Taliban, said they would kill Imran Khan, if he takes part in a planned march next month in their traditional tribal stronghold of South Waziristan to protest US drone strikes.

Khan however wrote on Twitter: A man of faith doesn’t fear death & a march for peace against drones that have destroyed millions of lives of FATA ppl is worth dying for.

He added; “Everyone needs to know that our Peace March is against the drones killing the ppl of FATA & against a debilitating war imposed on Pakistan.”

While the Pakistan Taliban also opposes drone strikes, they do not want Khan as he calls himself a

“liberal” - a term meaning lack of religious beliefs in their view.

Khan has been criticised for not being tough enough on the Pakistan Taliban in the past. The founder of the Pakistan Movement for Justice party has earned the nickname “Taliban Khan” in some circles for his views and ties with conservative Islamists.

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SPIRITUALITY

August 17, 2012

Vipassana: An Experiential Path

BY R. RAVI IYER Along with the human birth, its mind started asking, “Who am I?” Over the millennia, the answer has come from many worldwide.

The time, place and paths have varied. The answer however has remained the same. Rig Veda has declared, “Truth is one – sages call it variously”. In layman’s terms, “a rose smells just as sweet no matter what it is called or where it is in the world, in any millennium”.

This is because universal truths are changeless (in time and space).

In other words, the truths have always existed and always will to eternity at any place. The human mind only researches (search again: re-search) and discovers (opens the cover: dis-cover) the truth, with various paths by various minds in various places at various times. Two of the recent enlightened one’s in India have been Ramakrishna Paramahamsa (19th century) and Ramana Maharshi (20th century) Thus, the truth of every spiritual path at different places at different times over the millennia is ultimately for everyONE to eventually become A Buddha – or an enlightened ONE (in the language Pali).

As we all know, one path does not suit everyone, be it the physical shirt on the body or a spiritual path. Similarly there are many paths depending on temperament (mind-set) to real-

izing the ultimate goal, in answering the root of all questions, “Who am I?” Going to places of Worship, Heritage Discourses, a Spiritual Guru and/or Self-less Service are some of these paths. Vipassana is one more path. It is presented here.

Siddhartha Gautama made a discovery about two-and-a-half mil-

lennium ago giving him the title, Buddha or the awakened or enlightened one. The method of his research to dis-cover the fundamental truth experientially is called Vipassana. Vipassana is a Pali word meaning, “seeing things as-they-are” or expressed differently “experiencing truth as-it-is” Science has shown that living forms consists of active cells.

There is a constant regeneration (birth) and degeneration (death) of cells in all forms of life every moment. Every cellular operation and their complex interactions within a body, along with the mind give rise to sensations. These sensations can be subtle and/or gross. The mind typically conditions the body by either craving for the desirable things or creating an aversion for the undesirable things. Vipassana is an experiential technique where one observes the sensations in each and every part of one’s own body from head to toe systematically, without

21

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(Birth certificates, Marriage certicficates, etc) Contact us at: 281-677-4619 Email: sales@envytranslators.com Website: www.envytranslators.com leaving out any part of the body. The Vipassana technique requires one to simply observe all sensations with full awareness and with equanimity. Observing the bodily sensations impersonally with just one’s mind and without any external influences, i.e. the truth as-it-is, leads one to realize directly by one’s own experience that every sensation arises, stays and passes away either sooner or later.

As the mind gets sharper and sharper in its awareness with equanimity, of

India Fest 2012

the entire body, the self-observation reveals the subtlest sensations and their impermanence. This process of objective self-observation leads us from the apparent realities around us to truth in our evercycling wheel of life. This leaves one with the knowledge through one’s own direct experiential knowledge and understanding the truth-as-it-is that every sensation and hence the body and its actions are impermanent answering the question, who am I?

India’s 66th Independence Day Celebrations

Dedicated to

Swami Vivekananda

On the eve of 150th birth anniversary www.ICCHouston.org

Sunday Aug 19, 2012 The Stafford Center 10505 Cash Road, Stafford, TX 77477 Timings 11 AM to 7 PM.

Come and Celebrate the spirit of Tri-Colors

FREE Admission and Parking

Major Attractions;

Cultural Show, Booths, Food Court, Parade and Awards Special Bollywood Dance Competitions “Kal Aaj aur Kal” Cultural Director: Sridhar Dadi @ 281-217-9736 Presented by

India Culture Center Consulate General of India & all major Indo American Organizations

INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, AUGUST 17, 2012 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM

22

INDIA

August 17, 2012

Nigel Akkara: A Life Beyond Prison

BY SHOMA CHATTERJI NEW DELHI (IT): Phoolan Devi, once a dreaded dacoit, laid down her arms and transformed herself, even entering politics. But the past caught up with her; she died a violent death inAugust 2001, gunned down in front of her house in Delhi less than a kilometre from Parliament House. A life of violence, forced or circumstantial or voluntary, ended violently.

But sometimes one can really leave the past behind. Nigel Akkara is one such exception - proof that life can be turned around if there is a will and there is a way. The will was there inside him, simmering without his knowledge, waiting to come out with the touch of a magic wand. The magic wand came in the name and style of famous danseuse, choreographer and culture-and-dance therapist Alakananda Roy who began conducting dance workshops for jail inmates, separately for men and women. This had the solid backing of the very progressive Inspector General of Police B D Sharma.

Akkara recalls his first steps into this new world. “I was extremely reluctant to take part in the workshop.

But maa (Alokananda Roy) insisted that I stand behind the group and just watch,” he says. “I was still a social recluse within the prison and was fighting six of the 18 cases I was charged with myself. But when it was time to present a performance called Beyond Borders at the Rabindra Sadan auditorium, I could not back out any more because I was already learning Kalaripayatt and Dandiya from maa.”

Initially, Sharma would not give him permission to perform outside the prison gates but Roy assured him that Akkara would not betray her trust. “The deafening applause at the end of the show, the empty seats in the theatre after the last member of the audience had left, made me break down and cry for the first time in my memory. I think that marked the turning point in my life,” Akkara elaborates.

Culture therapy involves training prison inmates in different performing arts that form an integral part of Indian culture - music, theatre, dance, recitation, painting, sculpture and sports through production-oriented workshops, with the help of mainstream resource persons and trainers.

This is aimed at rehabilitation and reformation of the inmates so that they find it easier to get into the mainstream when they are released.

For those who are sentenced to life as Nigel was, it becomes a creative outlet for social networking, a remedy for bouts of depression and violence within the prison bars.

Public performances are subsequent to this therapy to invest the inmates with a sense of human dignity and also to make them develop a different perspective on life. For mainstream society, it is a way of sensitising them about the potential these inmates have even within captivity.

Beyond Borders was followed by a performance of Rabindranath Tagore’s dance drama Valmiki Pratibha, written in 1881. Ironically, the story of Valmiki is something Nigel can identify with quite closely. Valmiki was originally named Dosshu Ratnakar, and was a dreaded dacoit who changed his life after a cathartic incident, and became the Rishi Valmiki credited with composing the Ramayana. “I have played Valmiki for approximately 50 performances with other jail inmates across West Bengal, Mumbai and Pune and have not missed a single performance till now. In Mumbai, we were 87, including security personnel, who went for the show.” Akkara says.

He was released in 2009, and acquitted of all 18 charges to become a free man. “You cannot imagine the torture I went through in ‘interrogation’ that went on for 87 hours, in police custody, the most brutal treatment any human being can be made to suffer. They pulled off my nails one by one, they broke my fingers and my legs till I could hardly walk. But instead of crying, the treatment made me more aggressive, more violent, more angry,” he says.

Akkara is 32, tall, dark and handsome with gentle but deep eyes. His long hair falls around his shoulders, with a beard which now looks tended to. He is gentle and soft-spoken, and does not really like to dwell on his past. Talking to him, I did not feel I was speaking to a man whose life had been steeped in crime since the age of 15. Today, he is a completely reformed man, and the early years of crime, as well as the nine years in prison, are both behind him.

“Three things led me into the crime

Nigel Akkara with Rituparna in a still from Muktodhara

Nigel Akkara

world: greed, the ambition to be superior, and aggression. I had them all. I used to watch rich students come to college and splurge on things I wanted to have. Those instincts drove me to become a criminal,” he says.

The first offence was committed at 15, when he entered a barber’s shop to get a shave, got into a rage and left a dead body behind. “Strange but I did not feel the slightest remorse at what I had done. I felt powerful and in control and enjoyed this feeling which spurred me on to bigger crimes,” he recalls.

The physical energy earlier spent in excelling at football, volleyball and rugby and in being an active cadet of the NCC now found an outlet in crime and violence. At 16, he formed his own gang. By 17, he was being chased by the Kolkata Police. By the

time he was 22, just out of St. Xavier’s College with a degree in accountancy, he had been arrested. “I lived two lives, one during the day and the other during the night and did not allow the two to clash. I had absolutely no moral compunctions about my crimes, and one thing led to another till I found I was not the invincible person I thought I was,” he says.

A documentary called The Jail was made on the metamorphosis that happened in his life through the dedicated efforts of Alakananda Roy; the film won awards at the Golden Gate Awards, the Strasbourg International Documentary Festival and the International Short Film Festival of India.

Does he believe in God, I ask. “I did not when I was sucked into my world of crime. I did not when I was in prison. When I came out of prison, I began to pray fervently. I would read the Bible (he is a Keralite Christian) and the Suras from the Koran, and on Saturdays, I would keep the Shani Vrata. Today, I have come to believe that God resides inside me, not out there, and I concentrate on meditation,” he says promptly.

Roy has her own side of this story to tell. She explains how her very first visit to the Presidency Jail changed her idea about prison. Contrary to what she expected, the place presented clean and tranquil. The warmth of the inmates touched her. Seeing young male prisoners “walking aimlessly”, she thought “one of them

could very well have been by own son”. And that’s how she conceived of dance therapy for them. The jails in India are large pools of human resource with an abundance of human potential, talent and will that just needs to be tapped into. Culture therapy can help with this.”

Convincing the male prisoners was not easy. “Initially, we were wary,” says Akkara. “I thought ‘who is this crazy woman trying to teach us dance? To be honest, I did not like her.” So at first, there were only 10 students who went to Roy’s class, much against their wishes. But slowly, they began to open up. “And soon, we had more than 40 inmates in our class,” says Roy. There were 18 charges against Nigel that includes extortion, kidnapping and murder. “I was so violent, wild and out of control that I had to be shifted from Alipore Correctional Home to a solitary cell at the Presidency Correctional Home where I spent three years from 2004-2007, and was brought back to Alipore again,” he admits.

After his release, he founded an NGO called TouchWorld for the rehabilitation and reform of prisoners and their families. He also runs a Kolkata Facilities Management that provides security services, pest control and housekeeping services.

“I employ both ex-convicts and civilians and ask my clients if they have any objection if I sent in an ex-convict to them. If they say ‘no’ I send one and if they say ‘yes’, I don’t. I have a staff of around 20, with a back-up of 30 more. The money is important but more important is for them to feel that they can now lead a normal life and can come back into the mainstream,” he adds.

He even got a Government tender to supply cleaning staff to the Regional Institute of Correctional Administration at Dum Dum. He followed up his college education by taking a Masters’ Diploma in Human Rights after his release. The final feather in a cap that has room for many more, is that he is acting as the protagonist in a Bengali film Muktodhara, which is based partly on his life in prison.

The dance drama Valmiki is used as a constant refrain in the film to draw parallels with Valmiki and prisoners who have reformed

INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, AUGUST 17, 2012 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM

OPINION COMMUNITY

August 17, 2012

23

Janata Party President Dr. Subramanian Swamy Visits Houston, Chronicles Corruption in India

Open 7 days a week

Dr. Swamy articulated that this HOUSTON: The Hindu Mahas- ing service to the people of India that abha of America (HMSA) welcomed has seen him in a dogged fight in unsustainable loot has amounted over Dr. Subramanian Swamy in Houston the supreme court of India against the years to over 1.5 trillion US dolwhere he, in a public address, chron- the astronomical loot of the national lars (or 70 Lakh crore Indian Rupee s), and running icled the specter of corruption in at a clip of about the Indian Government which 45 pct of India’s stifles the economy and threatens GDP. These forthe national security of India. ays into the nationDr. Swamy received a rousal treasury by the ing welcome at a well attended ruling govt has republic meeting where Pradip duced India to one Parekh, Convener of HMSA’s of the most corrupt Global Affairs Committee, incountries, causing troduced him to the people of Dr. Subramanian Swamy (third from right) with widespread gut Houston, hailing him as “Dhar- HMSA members wrenching povmaveer”, a title HMSA conferred on Dr. Swamy with an honorarium treasury by the current Indian govern- erty in India. Explaining the modu in the amount $2,000 to a wide ac- ment controlled by Sonia Gandhi and s operandi of the corrupt govt of claim. The title Dharmaveer was run by her appointees in the federal India presided over by a figurehead Prime Minister M.M. Singh, and given in recognition of his longstand- cabinet of ministers.

run absentee by Sonia Gandhi, Dr. Swamy informed that the swindled money from India’s treasury is run through dubious channnels directed from Dubai by the Hawala operators allied with Pakistan’s terror-master ISI, which leaves Indian govt terribly vulnerable to Pakistani blackmail, thus affecting national security. This ill-gotten wealth then finds a ready home in Swis s banks which levies a 2pct service fees on it.

The Indian govt has in recent months instituted a new tool c alled the “Participatory Notes”, championed by Chidambaram, where by this ill gotten wealth is brough back into the country with no questions asked, and finds its way into the inflationary real estate market, stock

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market and luxury goods. Dr. Swamy explained that 70pct of growth in the Indian economy is toward these “investments” and luxury go ods; the economic world of the common people remain largely high and dry, and hence the largescale poverty.

Corruption is the proximate cause of substandard goods and living in India.As bad as the 2G scam was (worth $40 billions), the coal mining scam is 3 times the 2G scam and the oil-field scam is 7 times as much. Dr. Swamy explained that if the wealth looted by the govt were to be rightfully restored to the national treasury, India would be one the most propserous countries in the world, and that no citizen of India would have to pay any taxes for years.

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Letter to the Editor

Restore Indian Universities Rankings as Among the Top in Asia Dear Editor: A recent news article reports that there are no Indian educational institutions among the top 30 in Asia.

It quotes the Mashelkar Report as concerned that in the global rankings provided by Shanghai University, Indian universities have never been in the top one hundred.

I am one of the very first batch of immigrants who came to the US after President Kennedy amended immigration laws for Indians. At that time, immigration was awarded to highly educated Indians who were scientists, professors and educators.

Looking back at those years (1968 and onwards), I can safely conclude that opening the doors to immigrants from India had been responsible for the biggest brain-drain of scientists and engineers to US from India.

I had completed my post-graduate studies from India’s famous University of Roorkee which was considered the best in India (before the advent of the IITs) in engineering and applied sciences and was also considered among the top three universities in Asia.

In those days, Chinese Universities were not even mentioned and Muslim countries hardly had proper institutions in advance studies. How did Shanghai University suddenly make these prejudicial rankings? The sciences of India were original and not borrowed from other countries and this resulted in independent thinking

Live at www.radiohungama.net Contact: Sridar Dadi at

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houstonradio@yahoo.com “IT HAPPENS ONLY IN INDIA”

Stay tuned every Sunday,

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for research and further studies, not like in Chinese universities where most of these studies are borrowed to start with. Actually, all advanced studies in China were originally carried over from India.

As an example of this, in 1991 I had a discussion in my office with an American kung-fu expert, Richard Porro who was also teaching karate to American kids. Finding out that I hailed from India, Richard said, “Mr. Sehgal, did you know that karate originated from India, not from China?” I asked Richard how he figured this out. He replied that the great Buddhist Masters, named Lohan and Bohidarhma went from India to China to teach martial arts and were the pioneers in establishing the first Shaolin Buddhist Monastery. They were followed by many other Great Masters who visited China from India to teach the martial arts. A picture of the famous Grand Master Damodar who had gone to China is inscribed in a Shaolin Buddhist Temple.

The Shaolin Temple was established by Buddhabhadra, a monk from India who came to spread Buddhism in China over 1,500 years ago.

Soon after opening, another Buddhist monk from India came and established Shaolin as the center of Zen Buddhism in China.

In India there are many universities which can match the standard of top most universities around the world. Shanghai University studies

are completely baseless, misleading and filled with flaws that deny some of the world-class universities of India rankings within the top 30 global.

It would seem that the Chinese are rewarding their “favored countries” to curry business favors.

What a shame that Chinese are trying very hard to catch momentum in the world market by using such strategies: simply denying the rightful status of Indian institutions within the top-10 list. This is the best way to attract students from Africa, the Middle-East and the West. The Chinese have started playing games with India and this alone should be the wake-up call for all Indians that other countries won’t fund tuitions for their students in India’s universities.

This is a big issue and must be tackled immediately by several steps.

First, dispute the Shanghai University rankings immediately. Second, India must immediately have its own independent studies on the rankings of India’s universities and distribute it through the world’s media. And third, all media should publicize this issue to enhance India’s historical significance so that Shanghai University will realize that India is the source of science.

Failure to do so will continue to give the upper hand to Shanghai University in submitting incorrect rankings and causing Indian universities to lose foreign investment.

Prem Sehgal, Houston

Upcoming Event Labor Day Spiritual Retreat with Braj Banchary Devi, Saturday, Sep 1 at 6.30am and Monday, Sep 3 at 12pm at Radha Madhav Dham, Austin.

Didi Ji is a foremost and senior disciple of Jagadguru Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj and for the last three decades has been tirelessly preaching the true message of all the Hindu scriptures from the Vedas to the Ramayan in the West.

This 2-day retreat is a perfect opportunity to hear about the divine pastimes of Shri Radha Krishna, learn about the philosophy of our ancient Hindu scriptures and learn practical ways of performing devotion to God. For more information, visit http://shrikripalukunj.org/ds/Labour_day_Retreat_flyer.pdf To book your overnight accomodataions visit http://radhamadhavdham.org/accommodations

To list your Religious Organization events here, please call us at 713-789-6397 This service is available for $150 / yr (52 issues) to advertise to all South Asian communities E-mail: indoamericannews@yahoo.com | Subject Line: Religious Events

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JAI SRIMANNARAYANA!

Sri Ashtalakashmi Temple, JET USA Houston Chapter invites you to the Grand Celebrations of Deepavali, Acharya Thirunakshatram, Sri Rama Kratuvu, and Sahasra Kalasa Abhishekam from October 26th to October 31st, 2011. Please join us in celebrating this Historic 6-day Event in the Divine presence of His Holiness Sri Chinna Jeeyar Swamiji.

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Sargam school of music, is offering classes in teaching Hindustani Vocal, Classical music, light music, Harmonium , keyboard lessons for Adults and Children.

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INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, AUGUST 17, 2012 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM

COMMUNITY India Independence Day

August 17, 2012

25

IBA Hosts New Jersey India Day Parade

Celebrations held in Dallas

DALLAS: A night of true nationalism, a night that displayed unity in diversity. The night marked people gathering from various walks of life to celebrate India’s 65th Independence.

The venue was Lone Star Pkwy., in Grand Prairie, TX where over 10,000 attended the signature event of the Indian Association of North Texas (IANT) with a slogans reverberating

casion and congratulated the efforts of IANT in bringing the whole community together on the eve India’s independence day.

A spectacular musical journey then ushered with Pratibha Singh (SaRaGaMa fame), Sandeep Acharya (Indian Idol fame) and Shruti Rane, Shrikant Narayan rocking the audience with their performance.

Their voice kept the audience captivated and wanting for more. Dr. Sridhar Reddy Korsapati said this year also marks “Golden Jubilee” celebrations for IANT along with TIPS (Texas Indian American Physicians Society) and to mark this special occasion a grandeur live concert will be held on October 6, 2012 CGI Houston, P. Harish (in black suit) accomplishing 50 years of carries the Indian flag in celebration IANT existence. Shreya Gosof India’s 65th Independence Day. hal the musical queen is goJai Hind and Vande Mataram the ing to perform with a live troop of atmosphere.

30 performers. He later introduced The event unveiled a magna opus his board to the audience. Sabnam show under the able stewardship of Modgil, Trustee chair introduced all Dr. Sridhar Reddy Korsapati, Presi- the sponsors to the community, who dent of IANT in association with supported this event. Arandom samPepsico and FunAsia. His speech pling of the audience ascertained that laid the importance of community the program was very well laid out, service, immigration issues, health, extravagant, and ambiance reminded sports, the hard work and determina- them of being in India. tion showed by the past presidents. He Jessie Khurana, Secretary IANT later thanked the vendors, sponsors thanked the audience for making it a and media for supporting the event. huge success and congratulated the Hon’ble Harish Parvathaneni CGI of volunteers, participants and the booth Houston was the chief guest of the oc- vendors for their valuable time.

ISELIN, NJ: On a beautiful Sunday of August 14, the sun shined as over 27,000 celebrated India’s Independence Day in New Jersey.

The annual parade, hosted by the Indian Business Association (IBA), a non-profit organization, is now in its

Marshal and Bollywood actress Prachi Desai and Special Guest Aadesh Shrivastava, a noted singer and music director.

Several prominent elected officials attended the event, including Woodbridge Mayor John McCormick,

Congressman Frank Pallone, State Senator Sam Thompson, Freeholders Polos and Rios and members of the Woodbridge Council.

“The Indo-American Community should be proud, this is an amazing event” said Congressman Pallone.

The theme of this year’s parade was Our India, Our Pride, Our Parade, said Manher Shah, past president of IBA. “This is an event for our community,” he added.

Over 150 volunteers worked round the clock to put the final touches on the parade.

In addition to hosting the event and coordinating with over 100 participating organizations, IBA also arranges for security and post parade clean up.

8th year. “Thanks to all our sponsors, volunteers, and over 100 organizations that participated, we delivered a great parade to our community” said Kapil Shah, IBA President.

Commencing at Wood Avenue, on Oak Tree Rd., the parade featured a marching band, over 15 floats, dozens of marching groups, and even a horse carriage,the latter courtesy of Wells Fargo.

Leading the parade was Grand

Rahul Reddy

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August 17, 2012

India Celebrates 66th Independence Day

“In my first message to the country after assuming the office of prime minister I had appealed to you to contribute to the sacred work of nation building,” PM Manmohan Singh said in his Independence Day speech.

Jammu Kashmir police officers display their skills on motorcycles during a rehearsal for the Indian Independence Day celebrations in Srinagar. Photo: AP

A young child carries the Indian flag as he takes part in a street play during rehearsals for the Indian Independence Day celebrations in the eastern Indian city Bhubaneswar.

Photo: AP

Patriotic fervour and cultural fiesta marked the dayT:10” across the nation, with thousands from all walks of life participating.

An elderly man holds the Indian flag as he along with others listens to patriotic songs at the venue of an anti-corruption protest in New Delhi. Photo: AP

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Declining Investments Cause for Concern: Reserve Bank of India THIRUVANANTHAPURAM (ET) : RBI Governor Duvvuri Subbarao stuck to a hawkish tone on Monday, emphasising his concern that inflation remains too high and again prodding the government to restrain its own borrowing.

Since cutting its main interest rate in April by a bigger-than-expected 50 basis points to 8 percent, the Reserve Bank of India has stayed on hold, reiterating its message that bringing down inflation is its top priority even as economic conditions deteriorate.

“The task for the RBI is to restrain demand. What is the task for the government? The task for the government is to generate supply so that we produce more and that will bring down inflationary pressures,” Subbarao said in a speech at a event in south India.

India is expected to report on Tuesday that headline wholesale price index inflation edged higher in July

RBI Governor D. Subbarao delivering a lecture in Thiruvananthapuram on Monday. — S.Gopakumar

to an annual 7.37 percent from 7.25 percent in June, according to a Reuters poll of economists.

Data that either matches or comes above June WPI levels would likely reduce expectations for interest rate

cuts. The RBI’s next scheduled policy review is on Sept. 17.

Subbarao said on Monday that India was seeing lots of inflationary pressures in the economy, though he attributed some of those to demand

factors, and not just supply shocks.

Last week a handful of economists cut their gross domestic product (GDP) growth forecasts for the current fiscal year to around 5.5 percent, adding to doubts about the outlook for Asia’s third-largest economy.

Growth of 5.3 percent in the March quarter was India’s slowest in nine years.

Subbarao also said declining investment was a cause for concern, and that domestic factors were pulling down growth. He added that the RBI does not have adequate room through monetary policy to respond to a crisis arising from global factors.

At its last review, the central bank raised its headline inflation projection for the year ending in March 2013 to 7 percent from 6.5 percent, while lowering its GDP growth forecast to 6.5 percent from 7.3 percent.

Subbarao has maintained his hawk-

ish stance on inflation despite slowing growth. On Monday, he said the country needed to expand much faster than 6 percent, calling India an outlier since growth is slowing while inflation has not.

He said deficit spending by the central government and states is adding to inflation.

“Those fiscal deficits are going into government expenditure, which is consumption expenditure, that’s going into people’s hands, they are consuming more. That is increasing demand and that is adding to inflationary pressures,” he said.

His comments come a week after newly appointed Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram said high interest rates were burdening consumers. Bond prices rallied after Chidambaram’s remarks, as investors bet the government would start pressuring the RBI to cut interest rates.

Indian Government Readies 4-Step Boost for Growth

BY GAURAV CHOUDHURY NEW DELHI (HT): The government is readying a four-pronged action plan to halt the embarrassing slowdown in the economy and is likely to roll out corrective measures over the next few weeks. “The action plan will have four broad pillars — boosting investor confidence, reducing inflation and reining in fiscal and current account deficits,” said a source. Steps will also be taken to boost the rupee.

Sources said the first of these policy announcements can be expected in the next 10 days.

A clarification on tax policies was round the corner amid mounting pressure from investors, who are waiting for cues from the Centre on controversial tax proposals, such as

the empowering of income-tax officials to scrutinise older corporate transactions like the Hutch-Vodafone deal of 2007.

The immediate objective of the measures was to boost investment and reassure anxious industrialists.

Controlling fiscal deficit — a measure of government borrowing — will be a big challenge for finance minister P Chidambaram as an economic slide will hit tax revenues.

This and the widening current account deficit — the gap between export earnings and import payments — are also among government’s priorities.

The rupee, which had hit a record low of 57.32 against the dollar in June and is hovering around 55, has slid 12% since March. A weak rupee

has stoked inflation by knocking up prices of most imported goods, including crude oil.

India’s economy slowed down to a growth rate of 5.3% in the last quarter of 2011-12, the slowest since 2003-04. Patchy rains are threatening to affect food output and raise prices even higher. Persistently high inflation – 7.25% in June – has prompted the RBI to raise interest rates to suppress prices.

“It’s a matter of serious concern and calls for immediate measures to stimulate investments in the economy,” said RV Kanoria, president of industry chamber Ficci.

Economists said falling revenues and the need for fiscal prudence offered little elbow room to the government and the RBI to offer a stimulus

package.

“The July inflation data (expected next week) should confirm the persistence of price pressure. This should reinforce the reality that the RBI is boxed in, with room for stimulus strictly limited,” said Mole Hau, economist at BNP Paribas.

Downgrade, but PM still hopeful Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday played down the downgrading of India’s growth forecast by rating agency Moody’s and said

he was hopeful the economy would do better than last year’s 6.5% GDP growth rate.

Moody’s had Thursday downgraded India’s growth forecast to 5.5 %, to which Singh said: “It (economy) is a cause of concern but one shouldn’t draw unwarranted conclusions.”

“The fundamentals of the Indian economy are strong. We have the highest savings and investments rate .” The BJP accused Singh of “living in denial” on the economic situation.

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SPORTS

August 17, 2012

in the 11-12 classification match.

Never in the history of Indian hockey has a team finished last in the Olympics, an 8th finish in the Atlanta Olympic Games being their worst show before the London debacle.

The Indian team lost all their group league matches, some of them quite badly, and it seemed that the gap with other international teams had widened over the last few weeks.

In the days to come, analysts and experts will come out with various reasons on why the Indian team failed but the bottomline is that the players were simply not good enough and what they dished out was absolute pedestrian stuff.

The embarrassing result will also raise a debate on whether Australian Michael Nobbs, who had promised to revive Indian hockey, would be sent packing as the coach like so many of his predecessors -- Jose Brasa, Gerhard Rach and Ric Charlesworth.

It may not be fair to fully blame Nobbs for the disaster. The players were simply not implementing the plans and it is hard to explain why.

If the strikers were thoroughly ineffective and more interested in playing individually, the midfield and defence also left much to be desired.

Only Sardar Singh played his heart out and gave a good account of himself match after match, but hockey is not an individual game.

It will be interesting to see how Hockey India reacts to the debacle.

Many of the players appear to be past their prime. But with no replacements readily available at the junior

Gagan Narang

Saina Nehwal Yogeshwar Dutt

But sadly, most of them flopped.

The big names like shooters Abhinav Bindra and Ronjan Sodhi, archer Deepika Kumari and Beijing bronze medallist boxer Vijender Singh returned empty-handed. All of them were serious medal contenders.

The much-hyped men’s hockey players were the worst disappointers as they lost all their six matches to finish 12th and last, the worst-ever performance in the history of the Games if one overlooks the country’s failure to even make it to the 2008 Olympics.

The archers too were major letdowns. They went into the Olympics with good form behind them and the men’s team had even qualified for the Olympics with a good show.

But when the moment came, they simply crumbled with none of them performing to potential. True, the windy, cold and cloudy conditions here did not suit them but then they had trained well taking into consideration all these factors.

A pre-competition bout of fever to the archers was attributed as the main reason for their poor show. Most of the archers trotted out that excuse after their events.

The lowest point in achery came when Deepika, the world number one, crashed out in the very first round of the women’s individual recurve. It was a shocker for the Indian camp.

Talking about shocks, nothing, however can be bigger than the bottom place finish of the men’s hockey team after losing 2-3 to South Africa

Mary Kom

Vijay Kumar

BY M. R. MISHRA LONDON (Outlook): Sushil Kumar’s historic feat of winning backto-back Olympic medals on the very last day here undoubtedly turned out to be the high point of the country’s campaign as the biggest-ever Indian contingent completed the 30th edition Games with a record haul of six medals.

The wrestlers provided the late sparks to the Indian campaign with Sushil’s silver medal in the 66kg category and bronze through Yogeshwar Dutt (60kg) that went a long way in overshadowing the flop show of some of the other star players.

In the end, India did live up to the expectation as six medals is something that was being spoken about by commentators when the contingent embarked for the Games. It was a far better show than the one gold and two bronze medals that India won at the Beijing Olympics four years ago.

Yet, there was a feeling that India may fall short of the target till the last two days of the Games when the wrestlers changed the script with their stunning display on the mat.

Sushil, a bronze medal winner in Beijing, emerged as the hero with his effort. For long, Indian sportspersons had been confined to mediocrity and were just making up the numbers in the Olympic Games and it was a refreshing change to see individual medals coming their way.

Abhinav Bindra’s gold medal in Beijing was a landmark and a real confidence booster four years ago.

Yogeshwar’s bronze medal was also a stupendous feat considering the fact that he bounced back brilliantly after losing his 60kg quarterfinal bout and worked his way to the bronze. He showed tremendous stamina, skill and strength to overcome all odds.

Apart from the exploits of the wrestlers, shooter Vijay Kumar clinched the silver medal in the 25m Rapid Fire event, while five-time world women’s boxing champion M C Mary Kom, ace shuttler Saina Nehwal and rifle shooter Gagan Narang won bronze medals each.

But, there were disappointments galore and it came more from the star athletes who were said to have realistic chances of winning medals.

Sushil Kumar

London Olympics: India on a Historic High with Six Medals

level and many other top players taking part in the rebel league, their options are limited.

There was a huge expectation from the Indian shooters when they left but perhaps the hype was a trifle misplaced as the biggest ever shooting contingent returned with just a silver and a bronze.

The big names of Indian shooting did not quite live up to reputation and the form deserted them when it mattered the most, as a result, India just won two medals even as they hoped for a bigger haul.

The unheralded Vijay Kumar emerged as the hero with his silver medal in the men’s 25m rapid fire pistol, while Narang bagged a bronze in the men’s 10m air rifle event.

Apart from these two medal winning effort, Joydeep Karmakar put in a creditable performance in the 50m rifle prone as he missed the bronze medal by a whisker to take the fourth position.

It was a heart-warming performance by Karmakar in his very first Olympics, made all the more creditable since many of his other fancied teammates flopped.

When the team left the Indian shores, Beijing Games gold medallist Bindra, Narang and Sodhi were touted as serious medal contenders and the media was talking about an unprecedented haul of medals from the shooting ranges at the Royal Artillery Barracks. While Narang managed a bronze, Bindra and Sodhi turned in disappointing performances to dent their medal prospects.

On the whole, it again proved that Indian shooters, despite having improved vastly over the years, lacked the confidence and the composure to do well in the biggest sporting stage.

Although they have good track records, they just could not hold their nerves and many of them got overawed by the situation and succumbed to pressure.

None of the women shooters could really make much of an impression.

Heena Siddhu, known for her consistency, was expected to do better than what she did, finishing 12th in qualification round for 10m air pistol, while Rahi Sarnobat took the 11th position in the 25m air pistol qualification.

The boxing ring was expected to give India a few medals, but a bronze from Mary Kom was all that came their way.

There was a lot of hype surrounding the boxers when they left for the Games amid high hopes of winning a few medals, so the results will come as a huge let down with all the male boxers returning empty-handed.

The 29-year-old Mary was the saving grace for the contingent as she clinched a historic bronze in women’s boxing that has been introduced in the Olympics for the first time.

Mary, who generally fights in the 48kg category, had to increase her body weight to take part in the women’s 51kg category and did put up a sterling show against boxers who were much taller and heavier than her.

But the seven male boxers could not go beyond the quarterfinal stage and the Indians claimed that many of them were at the receiving end of some dubious judgements.

Although some of the Indian boxers were distinctly unlucky, it was not always the reason for their defeats.

Clearly, they were technically not as sharp as their rivals.

Beijing bronze medallist Vijender was hoping to become the first Indian to bag back-to-back Olympic medal but he lost to Uzbekistan’s Abbos Atoev 17-13 in the quarterfinals.

Atoev was clearly a superior boxer and the Indian needed a huge slice of inspiration to pull it off but it didn’t happen.

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29

Millions of Stray Dogs Terrorize India’s Urban Centers

BY GARDINER HARRIS NEW DELHI (NYT) Victims of the surprise attacks limp into one of this city’s biggest public hospitals. Among the hundreds on a recent day were children cornered in their homes, students ambushed on their way to class and old men ambling back from work.

All told the same frightening story: stray dogs had bitten them.

Deepak Kumar, 6, had an angry slash across his back from a dog that charged into his family’s shack.

“We finally closed the gates to our colony and beat the dog to death,” said Deepak’s father, Rajinder.

No country has as many stray dogs as India, and no country suffers as much from them. Freeroaming dogs number in the tens of millions and bite millions of people annually, including vast numbers of children. An estimated 20,000 people die every year from rabies infections — more than a third of the global rabies toll.

Packs of strays lurk in public parks, guard alleyways and street corners and howl nightly in neighborhoods and villages. Joggers carry bamboo rods to beat them away, and bicyclists fill their pockets with stones to throw at chasers.

Walking a pet dog here can be akin to swimming with sharks.

A 2001 law forbade the killing of dogs, and the stray population has increased so much that officials across the country have expressed alarm.

In Mumbai, where more than 80,000 people reported being bitten last year, the government plans to conduct a census of the strays by using motorcycles to chase down dogs and squirt their fur with ink. A member of the Punjab Legislative Assembly proposed in June sending strays to China — where dogs are sometimes eaten — after more than 15,000 people in the state reported being bitten last year. In New Delhi, officials recently announced an intensified sterilization campaign.

India’s place as the global center for rabid dogs is an ancient one: the first dog ever infected with rabies most likely was Indian, said Dr. Charles Rupprecht, chief of the rabies program at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. Dog bites cause 99 percent of human rabies deaths.

Indeed, tackling rabies on the subcontinent is challenging because the relationships that Indian dogs maintain with humans are ancient.

India’s pariah dog, the dominant street breed, is probably a descendant of an early Chinese immigrant, said Peter Savolainen, a professor of evolutionary genetics at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm. With pointed ears, a wedge-shaped head and a tail that curls over its back, the pariah is similar in appearance to other prehistoric dogs like the Australian dingo.

For thousands of years, dogs’ relationship with humans was similar to that of pilot fish

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No country has as many free-roaming dogs as India, and no country suffers as much from them. They number in the tens of millions and bite millions of people every year, including vast numbers of children. An estimated 20,000 people die every year from rabies infections — more than a third of the global rabies toll.

The dogs, protected by law from euthanasia, feed on mounds of garbage.

Photos: Enrico Fabian

with sharks, said John Bradshaw, director of the Anthrozoology Institute at the University of Bristol in Britain.

“Dogs essentially started out as scavengers,” Dr. Bradshaw said. “They evolved to hang around people rather than to be useful to them.”

While that relationship has largely disappeared in the developed world, it remains the dominant one in India, where strays survive on the ubiquitous mounds of garbage. Some are fed and collared by residents who value them as guards and as companions, albeit distant ones. Hindus oppose the killing of many kinds of animals.

Malini Jadeja, who lives in Delhi part time, said she was walking her beloved dog Fudge Cake some years ago not far from Lodi Gardens when “two dogs came out of nowhere and attacked.” Fudge Cake was leashed, so he could not run away.

“I tried to grab the strays and pull them away, but just as I got one, the other would attack,”

advocates fervently reject euthanasia, and some warn that reducing the stray population while doing nothing about the country’s vast mounds of garbage could be dangerous because rats might thrive in dogs’ place.

“The first thing you need to start doing to reduce the stray population is manage your garbage better,” said Arpan Sharma, chief executive of the Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organizations. “And the second thing is very aggressive spaying, neutering and vaccinating of animals.”

Jaipur has reduced its stray population, but it is a lonely exception that overcame not only enormous logistical and financial challenges but cultural ones as well.

“People really don’t want us to take the street dogs away, particularly in poor areas,” said Dr. Jack Reece, a Jaipur veterinarian who helped lead the city’s effort. “In other areas, especially Muslim ones, they won’t let us release the dogs back. I have been surrounded by large crowds, angry young men, saying you can’t release the dogs here, even though they were caught from there two days before.”

More than a dozen experts interviewed said that India’s stray problem would only get worse until a canine contraceptive vaccine, now in the lab, became widely and inexpensively available.

Dr. Rosario Menezes, a pediatrician from Goa, said that India could not wait that long.

Dogs must be taken off the streets even if that means euthanizing them, he said. “I am for the right of people to walk the streets without fear of being attacked by packs of dogs,” he said.

Arshpreet Kaur was 3 when a stray came in through her home’s open front door and bit her and her grandfather. Within a week, Arshpreet got a headache and then a fever. Her parents took her to a hospital, but she soon slipped into a coma, in which she remained for nine years before finally dying.

“There are stray dogs everywhere in Delhi,” Arshpreet’s mother, Jasmeen Kaur, said in a telephone interview. “We are more scared of dog bites than anything else.”

Ms. Jadeja said. “They killed Fudge Cake right in front of my eyes.”

She blames herself for her dog’s death and remains terrified of strays. “It’s very difficult to take a dog for a walk here because of the attacks from street dogs,” said Dr. Radhey S. Sharma, president of the Indian Veterinary Association.

Nonetheless, India’s burgeoning middle class has begun to adopt Western notions of pet ownership, buying pedigreed dogs and bringing animals into their homes.

But many pedigreed dogs end up on the street, the castoffs of unsuccessful breeders or owners who tire of the experiment.

Stray dogs are dangerous not only because of their teeth but also because they help ticks and other parasites thrive. But animal welfare A stray dog tries to attack two people on a motorbike in New Delhi.

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34 August 17, 2012 Indo American News at 30: Soaring to the Top through Thick and Thin

By Pramod Kulkarni HOUSTON: The journey began thirty years ago when Dr. K. L. Sindwani, then president of India Culture Center, realized there must be a better way of communicating with the growing Indian community than a monthly newsletter. With his wife, Mohini’s help, started the bi-weekly newspaper serving the entire South Asian community.

Dr. Sindwani called on Pramod Kulkarni, then providing freelance graphics services, to create the newspaper masthead and help out with pasting up columns. Much of the news then came from Link, a newspaper based in Vancouver, Canada. The home-made wooden light table used to paste up the layout sheets remains as a reminder of our historical roots.

About six months into the founding of the newspaper, Dr. Sindwani had a vision of growth with the addition of working partners.

The first partner we thought of was Koshy Thomas, who provided typesetting services for the local stories and also ran a rubber stamp business. Dr. Sindwani came across Jawahar Malhotra, who had developed a newsletter for the Trinidad Indian community, at a book reading.

We moved into a small second-story office suite on Bellaire Boulevard, which housed the Southern Chinese Press on the first floor. It was this press that printed our newspaper for about 25 years.

The next six months were exciting as Pramod developed the news content, Jawahar handled the business affairs and created the

cartoon strip, Kya Nayi Khabar. Koshy did the typesetting and Dr. Sindwani continued to handle advertising and community relations.

We bought a vintage Radio Shack TRS-180 computer with a giant floppy disk drive. Mohini Sindwani stepped in as the database operator and handle the mailing and circulation in spite of the crash-prone computer that was later designated the Trash 80.

Over the years, we expanded the newspaper to weekly service, started using desktop publishing software, and increased both the advertising volume and the page count. We even ran a one-hour community TV show called Asiana.

We have trained several generations of reporters and marketing staff. There were innumerable hurdles—late-night computer crashes, hurricanes and floods, and partners and staff leaving to start their own publishing ventures.

One of the most difficult times was the aftermath of Hurricane Ike, when Vanshika and Manasi had to retrieve computers from the newspaper office through much hardship and produce the pages from home. Through it all, Indo-American News, as Dr. Sindwani was fond of saying, “continued to publish the newspaper uninterrupted, year after year, week after week.

The Indo-American News team currently in place (see IAN Team) is committed to continuing Dr. and Mrs. Sindwani’s legacy for years and decades to come.

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Do cut and mail to: 7457 Harwin Dr, Ste 262, Houston, TX 77036 (OR) Scan and E-mail to: Indoamericannews@yahoo.com • Call us at 713-789-6397 • Call us to sign up for E-mail Blast Indo-American News is community oriented.

We thank you for your subscription & support.

Randeep Suneja MD,

FACC, FSCAI, FASNC, FACP, FCCP Quadruple Board Certified in Cardiology, Nuclear Cardiology, Cardiovascular CT & Internal Medicine We Wish Indo American News a Happy Anniversary • Received Merit Scholarship during Medical School • Distinct Honor of receiving Medical Diploma from Nobel Laureate, Mother Teresa • Received a gold medal from the President of India Hon’ble Zail Singh upon graduation • Chief of Staff - Christus St. Catherine Hospital - Katy • Leading Physicians of the World 2011 • Best of Katy, Physicians & Surgeons, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 & 2011 • Selected Top Docs of Houston - 2004, 2005 & 2006 • Former President & Chairman (2001-2004) & Honoree of the year 2006 - American Heart Association - Katy Chapter

Hospital Affiliations: • Methodist West Houston Hospital - Katy • Christus St. Catherine Hospital - Katy In-Office Procedures: Nuclear Stress Test, Echocardiogram, Holter Monitor, Vascular Ultrasound, External Counterpulsation Therapy (ECP), Mobile Cardiac Outpatient Telemetry (MCOT).

Hospital Procedures: PTCA and Stent, Cardiac Catheterization, Peripheral Angiogram and Angioplasty, 64-Slice Cardiovascular CT

MAIN OFFICE : 20710 Westheimer Parkway, Katy, TX 77450 (281) 646-9000 We accept most insurances including Medicare & Medicaid.

Our office hours are: 8:30 am - 5:30 pm, Monday - Friday.

Caring for your heart with our hearts®

www.houstoncardiology.com

INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, AUGUST 17, 2012• ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM

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PIPING TECHNOLOGY & PRODUCTS, INC.

• Spring Supports • Pipe Hangers • Expansion Joints • ASME Steel Fabrication Durga D. Agrawal, President E-mail: info@pipingtech.com www.pipingtech.com

We congratulate Indo American News on their 30th Anniversary

3701 Holmes Rd., Houston, TX 77051 Tel: 713-731-0030 • Fax: 713-731-8640

INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, August 17, 2012• ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM

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COMING THIS SEPT 14TH PRE-ORDER NOW ON AMAZON.COM

"This book nails it. It pinpoints the mind, spirit and thought process of an entrepreneur and explains how a guy like me can have ADHD, struggle in school and STILL STIL retire at 49. It's a must read for anyone who wants to create their own luck in life."

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A must read for anyone aspiring to excel by challenging conventional wisdom and rolling with the punches to do what comes naturally.” naturall –Ajay Banga President & CEO, MasterCard Worldwide

“Illuminating and rich case based insights into the physiology that drives entrepreneurial risk-taking and decision-making.” - Ian MacMillan, Professor of Entrepreneurship, Director of Sol C. Snider Entrepreneurial Research Center, The Wharton School “Monica has an incredible knack for demystifying complex topics for viewers and is a go to resource for small business.” - JJ Ramberg Host of MSNBC’s Your Business “I couldn’t put this book down. Monica Mehta does an outstanding job drilling down to unearth exactly what allows some to risk life and limb to create something of value, a feat that should ignite interest in many. Highly recommended reading.” - Robert DiRomualdo, Former Chairman & CEO Borders Group, Former President & CEO Hickory Farms “This book gets rid of the last excuse of the would-be entrepreneur: fear. By showing how you can work with your brain chemistry rather than against it, The Entrepreneurial Instinct helps you take smarter risks with less angst. It obliterates a lot of the conventional wisdom around entrepreneurship, and shows what it really takes to succeed.” – Kimberly Weisul, Editor-at-Large, Inc Magazine "I found this book absolutely fascinating. The science behind success is rarely discussed and certainly not in such an entertaining, relatable way. Great book - read it!" - Larry Winget, author of five New York Times and WSJ bestsellers including Shut Up, Stop Whining and Get A Life.

BEST WISHES & HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO OUR FRIENDS AT INDO AMERICAN NEWS INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, August 17, 2012• ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM

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Congratulations to Indo American News on their 30th Anniversary

Happy 30th Anniversary to Indo American News

Sunil K. Sharma - President

from

Sunbelt Medical Corporation 2040 Johanna, Houston, TX 77055 Ph: 713-956-9500 • Fax: 713-956-2635 sunbelt@sunbeltmedical.com • www.sunbeltmedical.com

Indo-American News • Friday, September 04, 2009

16 COMMUNITY

an News • Friday, September 04, 2009

Stride Against Violence OMMUNITY Stepping Out For Abused Women Children Everywhere ide Against and Violence

39

Ricki Asra Rishi Razak Sahara Oberoi Read the Newspaper Online indoamerican-news.com

Read the Newspaper Online indoamerican-news.com

H-1B Employers: Are youEmployers: Maintaining Public Access Files?

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Congratulations to Indo-American News on their 30th Anniversary

Indo American News thanks the whole community INDIA HOUSE presents “INDIA & ENGINEERING INGENUITY� by forAUTHOR AND VOICE OF THE NATIONALLY ACCLAIMED, POPULAR With Best Compliments from OF OUR INGENUITY�

INDIA HOUSE presents “INDIA“ENGINES & ENGINEERING INGENUITY� by your continued support Dr. JOHN LIENHARD AUTHOR AND VOICE OF THE NATIONALLY ACCLAIMED, POPULAR Srividvatha Sridhar for the last 30“ENGINES years! OF OUR INGENUITY� Srisanvitha Sridhar Dr. JOHN LIENHARD

INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, AuguSt 17, 2012• ONLINE EDItION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM

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“Successfully serving Houston for Seven wonderful years�

IAN Anniversary Special

“The passage to Culinary Delight�

Restaurant Congratulations to Indo-American News for another year of service to the community The people of a world-renowned chain of ďŹ ne Indian Restaurants, who gave the most consistent and best Indian food in town for over 21 years 13155 Westheimer Road @ Synott, Houston, TX 77077 (One Block East of Eldridge) Open 7 Days Everyday Lunch Buffet 11 AM - 2:30 PM Dinner 5:30 PM - 10:30 PM

Come and rediscover Gourmet India 281-493-5435 or 281-493-5366

Contact Ajoy Bhattacharya or Chef Lakha for all your catering needs #PUI *O )PVTF BOE 0VUEPPS t www.GourmetIndiaHouston.com

SAVE A MOTHER

Our mission is to develop health care solutions for the poor, with maternal mortality reduction as a ďŹ rst step.

Heartiest Congratulations on entering into the 30th year of serving the Houston’s Indo-American community with your timely and in-depth media coverage of all key areas of our lives. “Save A Mother� organization salutes and commends IAN and wishes them continued success.

Join hands in saving young women and mothers in India. Every little effort counts.

Please visit www.saveamother.org for more information or your support.

Save A Mother, Houston Chapter INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, AuguSt 17, 2012• ONLINE EDItION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM

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HEIGHTS DERMATOLOGY AND AESTHETIC CENTER 2120 Ashland Street HoustonTX 77008 For more information or to schedule an appointment, call 713.864.2659

Turning Back the Hands of Time Established in the 1940s, Heights Dermatology and Aesthetic Center is one of Houston’s oldest and most reputable dermatology practices, conveniently located in the heart of the Heights historical district.

Drs. Alpesh and Tejas Desai strive to take your “Skin to Greater Heights” with their expertise and compassionate approach. The physician team of brothers are able to offer a full array of dermatology services.

Dr. Tejas Desai (left), Dr. William Kirby (center) and Dr. Alpesh Desai (right) at the Grand Opening of their Dr. Tattof Clinic in Houston in June 2012

These services are designed to treat those pesky signs of getting older.

BOTOX® Cosmetic • Hyaluronic acid fillers to treat deep inset wrinkles around the mouth, chin, and other parts of the face • Lasers that can treat everything from poor skin texture to brown spots and even unwanted hair • Physician-grade skincare line to keep your skin looking good

Come Visit Us in our New Remodeled Offices!

The Youth Leadership Development Program (YLDP) of Houston is now an independent 501-C nonprofit organization, nurturing future IndoAmerican leaders. It is thankful for all the community support for this milestone step and enthused to start the class of 2013, its fifth batch on September 29th at India House.

YLDP acknowledges Indo American News for its support and help in reaching out to community at large, especially students and parents from various Greater Houston areas. The YLDP Board congratulates and salutes Indo American News for its dedicated service in bringing news and raising public awareness on several key topics all through the year.

Students with Mr.Brian Greene at the Food Bank

“Judge Ravi Sandill with YLDP Board members and Students”

Heartiest Congratulations! YLDP of Houston wishes Indo American News’ continued success and very best for the future.

YLDP Board: Natesan Murthy, Sushma Bhan, Nimmi Vale, Sangeeta Pasrija, Kalpu Patel, Arun Naik, Veena Ponnaganti, Minal Varadharajan, Pankaj Malani, Atul Vir, Ashok Garg & YLDP Students.

Receiving applications for the class of 2014 from November 2012. For more information visit www.yldphouston.com INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, AUGUST 17, 2012• ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM

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Congratulations Indo American News on your 30th Anniversary from Reji & Roy Joseph

OnePoint. Inc.,

Constructors & Engineers 10804 Roark, Houston, Texas 77099 Ph: 713-777-6666 • Fax: 713-777-5329 www.onepointinc.com

Friends Helping Friends Wishes

Indo American News

a Happy Anniversary and thanks them for their ongoing support to the Houston Community Hotline: 281-488-0124 • Inquiries: 832-723-3645 FriendsHF@hotmail.com • Website: www.FriendHelpingFriend.org Our Mission Statement: Friends Helping Friends, a non-profit organization founded in January 2001, established for the purpose of helping members of our community that are in need of medical care, medical financial assistance, and support with funeral expenses.

The work of Friends Helping Friends is supported by tax deductible contributions made by individuals, companies and organizations. We are a 501 (c) 3 organization.

INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, AuguSt 17, 2012• ONLINE EDItION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM

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IAN Anniversary Special August 17, 2012 We Print the News; They Deliver the Newspaper Places where you can pick up Indo American News every week

You’ve probably seen our news stand all across town at the nearly nearly 120 locations where you can find Indo American News. Meet the people who get the news papers there: Guillermo Meyemberg (left), Ray Curtis and Jorje Bacca (not in the picture). And not to forget Nelson Umanzor who gets the paper to the post office for mailing every week.

13833 Breck St 5600 Hillcroft Southwest India Mart, Fiesta, 14315 Bellaire Taste of India Rest., 10758 FM 1960 West 5604 Hillcroft AM PM Food Mart, Hot Breads, 6696 Hwy 6 South Sikh Center, 5700-A, Hillcroft Baithak, 6750 Hwy 6 S 8819 Prairie Bismillah, Sri Radha Krishna Temple Touch Of India, 11700 Barker Cypress 5696 Hillcroft 11625 Beechnut Aisha’s Beauty Salon Gurudwara Sahib SW, Stafford/Missouri City 5704 Hillcroft 14811 Lindita Savoy Supermarket, Shahnai Restaurant, Vishala Grocery, 11246 S Wilcrest, #145 5920 Hillcroft St 9410 Hwy 6 South Aisha’s Beauty Salon, Udipi Café, Al-Iman Restaurant, 11246 S Wilcrest, Pearland 5959 Hillcroft 6289 Hwy 6 Aisha’s Beauty Salon, Lakshmmi Sarees, World Food Warehouse, Aga’s Restaurant, 11842 Wilcrest 2810 Business Cntr Dr 5901 A-1 Hillcroft 14625 Beechnut Salaam Namaste, Touch of Asia, Everest Grocers, Houston Durga Bari, 2253 Smith Ranch 5901 Hillcroft, #B3 13944 Schiller Rd 10732 W. Bellfort Mythili’s Beauty Salon, Bombay Sweets, Arya Samaj of Houston, Discount Grocers, 9515 Broadway 5827 Hillcroft 14375 Schiller Rd 435 Murphy Rd #Z Anns Grocers, Swadeshi Groceries, Maharaja Jewelers, Annam Indian Cuisine, 10223 Broadway 5821 Hillcroft 1029 N. Highway 6 #200 2215 S. Main St Heritage India, Meenakshi Temple, Patel Bros, Discount Grocers, 3201 Main St. 17130 McLean 5815 Hillcroft 12600 Bissonnet, #C4 Apna Bazaar, Kirti Jewelers, Royal Restaurant, 2437 FM 1092 Madras Pavilion, 6655 Harwin Dr #101A 11919 Bissonnet Indian Spices & Snacks, 3910 Kirby Dr, #130 Mezbaan Restaurant, India House, 7320 Hwy -90 A #160 Shiva Indian Rest, 6655 Harwin Dr #A108 8888 W. Bellfort St Satya Indian Grocery, 2514 Times Blvd Pariwaar Grocers, Pavani Restaurant, 6302 Hwy 6, Suite -S Mayuri Indian Rest, 6655 Harwin Dr. #A103 10554 SW Freeway India Foods, 5857 Westheimer Sheikh Chilli’s, 5201 Hwy 6, Ste. 550 Mythili’s Beauty Salon, 6121 Hillcroft Ave #N Northwest 6453 Westheimer Chatt N Paan Indian Wok, 6121 Hillcroft 18351 Hwy 249 #D West Adam’s Halal Meat, Little India Maharani Music, Aisha’s Beauty Salon, 12280 Westheimer, #5 Indo-Pak Grocers, 7333 Harwin Dr. #125 FM 1960@Jones Gourmet India, 3511 Hillcroft Bhojan Indian Rest., Rani Foods, Jerusalem Halal Meat, 6855 S.W. Freeway 12821 Duncan Rd #O 13155 Westheimer Masala Indian Cuisine, 3330 Hillcroft # I India Grocers, Halal Food Mart, 14045 Westheimer Sari Sansar, 6606 SW Freeway 12228 Antoine Dr Ashiana Restaurant, 5711 Hillcroft Himalaya Restaurant, Indo-Pak Grocery, Paradise Biryani Pointe,6652 SW Freeway 10732 FM 1960- W 12610 Briar Forest Masala Wok, 5711 Hillcroft #B4 Desi Corner Lounge, Bismillah Grocers, Raja Sweets, 6653 SW Freeway 17118 W. Little York 10001 Westheimer #1060 5667 Hillcroft India Jewelers, Khan BBQ, Katy Sari Sapne, 6638 SW Freeway 16618 Clay Rd. #450 Vishala Grocery, 5659 Hillcroft Shiv Sagar, Al-Huda Grocers, Sntn Shiv Shakti Mndr 6662 SW Freeway 12090 Vet. Memorial 5205 South Mason Rd Katy Grocers, 5645, Hillcroft Southwestern Ntnl Bank, East West Food Store, Keemat Grocers, 6901 Corporate Dr. 10710 FM 1960 W 1830 South Mason Rd Kurry Walah, 5621 Hillcroft Himalaya Grocers, 1830 South Mason Rd Sagar Restaurant, 14650 FM 529 Mantra Restaurant, Taj Mahal Imports, Clear Lake Scarsdale Grocery, 12415 Scarsdale Blvd Keemat Grocers, 15140 Galveston Rd Apna Bazaar, 17926 Hwy 3 Shalamar Sweets, 15142 Hwy 3 Raj Grocers, 15210 Hwy 3, #112

INDIAN AMERICAN CANCER NETWORK Coping, Caring, Connecting

Wishing Indo American News a Happy 30th Anniversary

P.O. Box 741886, Houston, TX 77274 Phone: 713-370-3489 E-mail: iacannetwork@gmail.com

www.iacannetwork.org

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Mason Rd. Bombay Bazaar, 949 South Mason Rd Udipi Cafe, 949 South Mason Rd Aisha’s Beauty Salon, Katy Fry Rd Katy Halal Meat, Katy Fry Rd Tandoori Garden, 2002 Fry Rd

Sugar Land India Chat & Sweets, 2452 Settlers Way Keemat Grocers, 2464 Settlers Way #G Nizam’s Kitchen, 5211 Hwy 6 South Café India Restaurant, 2319 William Trace Anjali School Of Dance, 2615 Cordes Plaza Udipi Café, 3551 Hwy 6 South Shiva Indian Rest, 2130 Lone Star Dr Madras Pavilion, 16260 Kesington Ave Patel Brothers, 16338 Kensington #130 Asian Food Market, 11920 Hwy 6 S., #300 Voss Halal Meat, 11920 Hwy 6 S. #100 Standard Sweets, 11102 Hwy 6 S

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Directories and Desi Connection to Stay Connected

August 17, 2012

Since 1983, Indo American News printed phone directories for desis in the Bayou City, then spread out to the five county area.

Desi Connection went even further and brought in listings in other Texas cities. The last one in 2009 puslished desi business listings in 10 Texas cities and also useful travel data.

IAN Anniversary Special

1982

Where IAN is Today !!

C

ome visit us in our newly remodelled office at 7457 Harwin Drive, Suite 262, between Hillcroft and Fondren in the heart of Little India.

Have a cup of coffee! Visit our staff ! Take care of your accounts ! Check on your ad with our graphic designer !

Or, check out our latest eBlast !

INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, AuguSt 17, 2012• ONLINE EDItION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM

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Academic Enrichment

INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, August 17, 2012• ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM

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Happy 30th Anniversary to Indo American News

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Asiana Television Brought Us All Together

From 1989 to 1994, we produced a television program that aired every Sunday morning for an hour. It had variety - news from the Indian Subcontinent, community news, filmi stuf, comedy skits, immigration matters, interviews with touring Bollywood movie stars and even live dances and songs performed in our studio on Richmond and Rogerdale. We gave many people exposure to a greater audience and a few - like Sunil Thakkar - an opportunity to show their talents.

Top: Ashiana Television being taped at the studio. Krishna Giri cues the news anchors.

Clockwise from above left: Show anchors Asin Sadiqi, Jawahar Malhotra, Preeti Gandhi; news anchors Chini Vyas and Ravi Srinivasan.

Texas Medical Rehabilitation Center

Pain Management & Injury Specialists Dr. Anjali Jain, MD, Medical Director Dr. ARS Prasad, MD, General Practice

From top: D. K. L. Sindwani and Pramod Kulkarni, along with Jawahar Malhotra, were producers of the Ashiana Television show

Houston Provider Management Services Compass Orthopedic Technologies & Products Specializing in Medical Office Equipment International Providers of Medical Equipment Marketing, Billing & Collections

Specializing in Treatment Offered Auto & Job Injuries Pain Management Neck & Back Pain Injections & Nerve Blocks Sports Related Injuries Anxiety & Stress Management Arthritis & Fibromyalgia Physical Therapy Wrist & Carpal Tunnel Chiropractic Care Geriatric Care • 713-272-8884 • Fax: 713-272-0898 • texmedrehab@yahoo.com 6776 Southwest Freeway, Suite 400 • Houston, TX 77074 Board Certified Doctors • All insurances accepted

Investor & Financial Advisor Tierra Real Estate & Investment Residential and Commercial Properties Orthopedic Products & Accessories Inc., Medical Equipment Leasing & Sales

Compass Orthopedic Technologies & Products Inc., Specializing in Healing & Pain Management Technology

American Multi Trade Corp.

Import & Export of Medical Equipment & General Merchandise Shiraz Inc. Imaging & Diagnostic Medical Investments

• 713-773-4348 • Fax: 713-773-1948 • Dinkeramatya@msn.com 6776 Southwest Freeway, Suite 450 • Houston, TX 77074 INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, AuguSt 17, 2012• ONLINE EDItION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM

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Congratulations on the 30th Anniversary to Indo American News from

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INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, AuguSt 17, 2012• ONLINE EDItION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM

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August 17, 2012

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N

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Als

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For more details about our therapies please visit our website:

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For Franchise inquiries email to info@santhigramusa.com INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, AUGUST 17, 2012 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM

52 August 17, 2012

INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, AUGUST 17, 2012 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM