Saathee Raleigh December 2019 by Shukla Entertainment

Bridging America and the Indian Subcontinent

Saathee.com

December 2019

IN THIS ISSUE

Opportunity Zones Benefiting The Rich: pg 32 Christmas and New Yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Eve Events: pg 18 Nanny Classifieds: pg 124 Puzzles and Jokes: pg 118

In This Issue

Page 72 Taming the Time Beast

Page 18 Community Events

Page 28 The comedy, Good Newwz, about two couples trying to conceive via in-vitro fertilization, opens on December 27.

Content

The Editor’s Desk . . . . . . . . . . . . . .pg. 14

Community Events . . . . . . . . . . . . .pg. 18

Page 32 Billionaires keep benefiting from a tax break to help the poor.

Spot the Differences . . . . . . . . . . . .pg. 50

Increase Your India Knowledge . .pg. 54

Immigration Matters . . . . . . . . . . . .pg. 24

Nutrition for Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .pg. 58

Film Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .pg. 28

Mirror Mirror . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .pg. 70

Upcoming Movie Releases . . . . . . .pg. 26

Opportunity Zones . . . . . . . . . . . . .pg. 32

Thinking About Thinking . . . . . . .pg. 62

Subcontinental Divide . . . . . . . . . .pg. 72

My Voice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .pg. 36

Medicaid Work Requirements . . . .pg. 74

Desi Road Trips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .pg. 44

Raajeev’s Corner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .pg. 82

Namaskar Y’all . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .pg. 40 College Admissions Insider . . . . . .pg. 46

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Personal Finances . . . . . . . . . . . . . .pg. 76

News Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .pg. 86 8

Community Organizations . . . . . .pg. 96

Youth Corner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .pg. 116

Pop’s Puzzles and Jokes . . . . . . . .pg. 118

Festivals and Holidays . . . . . . . . .pg. 120

Puzzle Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . .pg. 120

AstroScope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .pg. 122

Classifieds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .pg. 124

Index of Advertisers . . . . . . . . . . .pg. 128

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Hello Readers!

USCIS is proposing raising government filing fees by a whopping 21 percent to help offset rising costs associated with managing the country’s immigration laws. Turn to page 24 for the details. Checkout the list of upcoming movies for the holidays beginning on page 26. Billionaires keep benefiting from a tax break to help the poor. Congress is calling for investigations of and changes to a tax break aimed at helping poor areas of the country in response to reporting by ProPublica and The New York Times showing the program has been exploited by the wealthy and politically connected. See page 32 for the story. Seema Verma, the top Medicaid official, attacked critics of Medicaid work requirements and pushes for tighter eligibility. Go to page 74 for the story. Comments and Suggestions always welcome. Samir Shukla, Editor

“Bridging America and the Indian Subcontinent.”

December 2019 Issue # 259 - Saathee.com Editor Samir Shukla (Samir@Saathee.com)

Publisher & Advertising Divakar Shukla (rakavid@aol.com)

Ad Design / Layout Nageshwar Andrews

Digital Media & Marketing

"Time you enjoy wasting, was not wasted." - John Lennon

Jennifer W. Allen & Dhruv Pathak

Contributors for this issue: Kirit Shukla, Lindsey Conger, Parul Kharod, Raajeev Aggerwhil, Shivani Tripathi, Samir Jain, Mo Vidwans, Rishi P. Oza, Balaji Prasad, Ahsen Jillani, and Jalendu Vaidya. Mission: Our goal is to be a valuable source of information for the South Asian community and to be a vital advertising tool for businesses.

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Cover: The Nilgiri Mountain Railway is a meter gauge

railway in Tamil Nadu. Built by the British in 1908, the railway is operated by the Southern Railway and is the only rack railway in India. Photo: Shutterstock

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December 2019

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The Editor’s Desk By Samir Shukla

in the air that Hillary Clinton still hasn’t totally ruled out a lastminute run. Say it ain’t so. Some of the candidates are dropping out. Beto was the latest high-profile candidate to call it quits. Of course, no one else wants to drop out this close to the early caucuses and primaries (see below for upcoming dates). The impeachment inquiry rolls on while the Democratic hopefuls debate, campaign and try to persuade early voters. The debates are becoming a way in which hard left candidates and moderate candidates can delineate themselves. One more debate is scheduled this year in December. A few more are planned for the first few months of 2020 and during the primary season. My feeling is that after Super Tuesday on March 3, 2020, when a bunch of states hold primaries, including North Carolina, a clear frontrunner, possibly even the presumptive nominee, will emerge. In the meantime what is the end goal of impeachment? Removal? That’s not going to happen. Even if some magical pixie dust descends on the Senate, and they vote to remove Trump, what’s the next phase? Pence will become president. All of Trump’s noise and chaos will descend in the background. Pence will pick a like-minded running mate and reset the election. Trump’s hardcore supporters, in the meantime, will go on war footing. The cleanest way to end the Trump presidency for those who wish it, even some Republicans and conservatives I know would like to see this happen, is to beat him cleanly and by a wide margin in November. Democrats need a center left candidate to do this. Plain and simple. Democrats’ mantra should be to win the White House, pick off three or four senate seats, and then strategically plan systemic changes. I can hear the howls of left-wing Democrats giving me an evil eye. Let me put it this way, all the talk of reparations, Medicare for all, new Green Deal, they all rhyme with one line…”Donald Trump has been reelected…” Underestimating Trump is a fool’s gamble. About 40 percent of Americans will vote Democratic and about 40 percent of Americans will vote Republican, no matter who the candidate is. The thin layer in the middle, along with partisan turnout, will decide the final outcome. The road rage continues.

Words Speak Gently

Words matter. They have long lasting effects when spoken or delivered in a persuasive manner. A few unfortunate words spoken during the heat of an argument can fester for years in someone’s mind, sometimes rearing their ugly heads years later as stored anger. I’ve often wondered about misunderstandings that may have occurred through the centuries via language barriers and miscommunications. Here’s a possible scenario going back, say a few centuries. A couple of travelers stop by to ask for directions in a strange land, unknowingly offend the natives and wind up starting a feud, or worse, a war. Slangs and unfamiliar cultural terms make the matters worse as their subtleties get lost in translation. Rewording something also makes it politically or socially viable. Global warming has become climate change. Estate taxes have become death taxes. An infant cow is veal. No one wants to buy “death” insurance; hence “life” insurance is the palatable moniker. Our current president is not exactly a man of fluid words. He is not well read, by his own account, and loves communicating in short, simple blurbs and catchphrases. It works for him. He has found a way to connect with his supporters in a manner that make them even more supportive. He denied being a politician when he made his run for president and touted himself as an outsider, but has turned out to be a formidable politician. Words on Twitter are his communication modus operandi. Words and the power of language can change the world, sometimes in a despicable manner, other times for the collective good. They can inspire, disturb, amaze or teach. A picture tells a thousand tales, ah, but words can inspire countless readers or listeners. No one quotes a picture. Just think of folk tales passed down through generations. They create images of places and people that are left to the imagination of the listener. Think about all the notable humans of the past, evil or good. They understood the power of persuasion via language. Think about all the social media imagery that is floated daily, but it is still the words spoken that lead to inspiration or impeachment inquiries. The current impeachment inquiry rests on a few words spoken by President Trump during a phone call. Their interpretation guides this inquiry and further divides the nation into political camps. That is the power of words. I offer some personal wisdom, with due respect to Teddy Roosevelt, “Speak persuasively and carry a big dictionary.”

Notable 2020 Dates: February 3: Iowa Caucuses February 11: New Hampshire Primaries February 22: Nevada Democratic Caucuses February 29: South Carolina Democratic Primary (The SC Republican party has cancelled its primaries) March 3: Super Tuesday. Thirteen states, including North Carolina, hold primaries.

Road Rage 2020: Volume 7

Debates, impeachment, and debates, oh my

Whaaaaaaat? You mean there are more Democrats entering the race? Former Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick has tossed his hat into the ring for the Democratic presidential nomination. Former NYC mayor and big money businessman Michael Bloomberg will likely do so soon. There are whispers Saathee.com

Samir Shukla

Editor of Saathee magazine contact - Samir@Saathee.com

follow me on Twitter: @ShuklaWrites 14

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December 2019

Community Events CLT New Years Eve: Charlotte, NC (December 31, 2019)

This annual free Charlotte tradition will include a DJ, live music, the lighting of the Queen City crown, and a huge CLT NYE ﬁreworks display starting at midnight. This year, the fun returns to the Levine Avenue of the Arts from 8pm to midnight. Public parking is available at parking decks throughout Uptown Charlotte. Mass transit options, including the Lynx Blue Line, Lynx Gold Line streetcar and CATS buses will be available.

Greenville Holiday Fair: (December 5-7, 2019)

This year’s Holiday Fair is sure to be a spectacular event for the region’s largest holiday arts, crafts, and gift show. The Greenville Convention Center in South Carolina transforms into a winter wonderland oﬀering opportunities to ﬁnd that one-of-a-kind gift for the Christmas Season. Exhibitors include more than 350 crafters and commercial vendors from 15 states in this three-day award-winning fair. Admission is $6 for Adults, $5 for Senior Citizens (60+), and Children under 12 are free. See more details at www.holidayfairgreenville.com.

ChristmasVille Rock Hill: (December 5-8, 2019)

Once again, Old Town Rock Hill, SC will come alive as a charming, picturesque holiday village and outdoor art festival. The 14th annual ChristmasVille will take place between December 5 & 8, 2019. This festival has over 70 events including horse drawn carriage rides, historic tours, strolling Dickens carolers, art, theater, dance, music, a gingerbread house contest, multiple Santa activities, and a real ice skating rink! Learn more at www.christmasvillerockhill.com.

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The Magic of Science: Gastonia, NC (December 7, 2019)

Join The Schiele Museum in Gastonia, NC on Saturday, December 7, 2019 from 5:30pm - 9pm in an enchanted evening to discover the magic of science. Get into some mischief in an event complete with potions, magical creatures, and more. Wizards of all ages are welcome and costumes are encouraged. Activities include sorting into The Schiele’s own magical houses, wand making, magical science class, astronomy, and care of magical creatures. Adults (21+) will be able to taste an original brew and the youngest wizards will be able to sample ice cream. Children must be accompanied by a participating adult. Tickets are $10 for Schiele Members and $15 for non-members. Learn more at www.schielemuseum.org.

Appalachian Potters Market: Marion, NC (December 7, 2019)

Dozens of North Carolina potters will be on hand on Saturday, December 7, 2019 to sell many styles of claywork including raku, sgraﬃto, decorative stoneware, earthen cookware, and traditional folk pottery. This year’s show will include demonstrations, live music and lunch will be available to purchase courtesy of Bruce’s Fabulous Foods. The show will take place at McDowell High School in Marion, NC from 10am to 4pm. To learn more, visit www.mcdowellarts.org.

Old Wilmington by Candlelight: (December 7-8, 2019)

This prestigious historic two-day event ushers in the holiday season with a festive tour of the exquisite private homes, churches and historical sites in historic downtown Wilmington. For more than 40 years, visitors have been able to view different historic homes and sites filled with charm and holiday cheer. Don’t miss this uniquely Wilmington holiday event celebrating centuries of Christmas. The tour will be held on Friday, December 7, 2019 from 4-8pm and Saturday, December 8, 2019 from 1-5pm. For more information, visit www.lcfhs.org. 18

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Community Events Music Director Koti Live: Charlotte, NC (December 8, 2019)

Tollywood Concerts in Charlotte presents Legendary Music Director, Koti live celebrating several decades of Telugu Music with special guests on Sunday, December 8, 2019 starting at 4pm at Marvin Ridge High School in Waxhaw, NC. Guest performers include Sumangali, Prasad Simhadri, Srithkanth Sandugu, Raju, Shilpa Rao, and Meher Chanti with the M-Live Band. Sahitya will also be the MC for the event. Saluri Koteswara Rao (AKA Koti) is an Indian composer notable for his work in the South Indian ﬁlm industry. He has composed music for more than 500 movies in Telugu, Tamil, and Kannada. For info, call 603-233-1699. Tickets run from $25 to $100 and are available for sale at www.tinyurl.com/y2je3g7o.

Huntersville Holiday 5k/Half Marathon: (December 13-14, 2019)

The Huntersville Holiday 5k will be held on Friday, December 13, 2019 starting at 7pm and the Half Marathon will be held on Saturday, December 14, 2019 at 8am. Registration prices for the Half Marathon will open at $50, the 5K will open at $15 and the Challenge (running both races) will open at $75. Cash prizes will be awarded for each event. Learn more at huntersvillehalf.raceroster.com.

NC Raga Revival: Raleigh, NC (December 14, 2019)

NC Raga Revival is a monthly concert series showcasing the music of South Asian Diaspora and collaborations with other world music artists. These concerts are family friendly, no shoes, and no booze. There will be a performance of Hindustani / Carnatic vocal duet with Sejal Vaidya and Smitha Prasad along with Laasya School of Dance on Saturday, December 14, 2019 at 2pm. For more details, visit www.ncragarevival.com.

Christmas Play: The Real Story of Christmas: Charlotte, NC (Dec 14, 2019)

The Carolinas Christian Assembly cordially invites you to their Christmas Play: The Real Story of Christmas on Saturday, December 14, 2019 at the New Heaven Community Church at 8823 Albemarle Road in Charlotte. A free Indian will be available after the program. Admission is free, but an RSVP is required at ccaeventrsvp@gmail.com. Learn more at www.carolinaschristianassembly.org.

Christmas Town USA: McAdenville, NC (Through December 26, 2019)

Since 1956 the residents of McAdenville, NC have changed their town to Christmas Town USA. Over 160 decorated homes, 265 trees and other common areas of town are lit with a vast array of Red, White, and Green lights. Walk or drive through the town between December 2 and December 26, 2019 and see the entire holiday splendor. The experience is free for all ages. For more information, visit www.mcadenville-christmastown.com.

Great Christmas Light Show: Myrtle Beach, SC (Through December 30, 2019)

Holidays around the World Performance: Flat Rock, NC (December 14, 2019)

Celebrate the most wonderful time of year with the Hendersonville Symphony Orchestra. Whether you are observing Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa or another seasonal occasion, a musical trip around the world oﬀers a glimpse into the traditions and customs that make the holidays so special. Plus a special Mystery conductor and Arthur Harris’ medley of sing-a-long carols will add sparkle to the concert. The performance will be held on Saturday, December 14, 2019 from 3-5pm at the Blue Ridge Community College Concert Hall in Flat Rock, NC. See more info including ticket prices at www.hendersonvillesymphony.org. Saathee.com

The Great Christmas Light Show is a park-wide lighted celebration that is sure to capture the true spirit of the season. The drive through light show will feature lights festively displayed along a 1.5 mile drive throughout the North Myrtle Beach Park & Sports Complex. Over 500 magical light displays have been custom made for The Great Christmas Light Show. The drive through show is open nightly through December 30, 2019 from 5:30-9:30pm (closed Christmas Day). After the journey through the light show, you can park your car and visit Santa’s Village and get an up close look at the lights on the Santa Express Train Ride, go through the Chris-maze and meet Santa! Santa’s Village will be open Fri- Sun only through December 15, 2019. December 2019

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Community Events Goel’s Plaza New Year Blast: Morrisville, NC (December 31, 2019)

Check out the New Year Blast 2020 at Goel's Plaza in Morrisville, NC on December 31, 2019 beginning at 8pm. DJs will spin Bollywood, bhangra, South Indian and Top 40 music along with a live dholi. Enjoy the dance ﬂoor, Live NYC ball drop, food, champagne toast, red carpet photos and more. This familyfriendly event will donate portion of the proceeds to Global Hope India. For more details, call 919-818-6002 or visit www.GoelsPlaza.com/NYE.

Sky Zone New Year’s Eve: Durham, NC (December 31, 2019)

The Sky Zone of Durham presents New Year Eve celebration on December 31, 2019 beginning at 8:30pm. There will be a huge party space, Indian buﬀet, champagne toast, photo booth, trampoline park access for kids, part favors, and more. For more details, call 919-891-0544 or visit www.skyzone.com/durham. an evening full of entertainment and holiday cheer. The traditional parade of lights gets a coastal twist at the Christmas Flotilla, featuring boats decorated in their holiday best, cruising the waterways and competing for prizes. Also visit The Holiday Tour of Homes. Celebrate New Year’s Eve on the beach with a family-friendly event featuring a DJ, dancing, refreshments and party favors. Details at www.pleasureislandoﬂights.com.

Famously Hot New Year: Columbia, SC (December 31, 2019)

The Famously Hot New Year is South Carolina’s largest NYE celebration and will feature a free, full-length concert with SaltN-Pepa. South Carolina- based The High Divers, will support, and Columbia’s own funky Cottontown Soul Society will open the show, which will also feature sets by DJ Prince Ice throughout the night. This outdoor celebration will take place in downtown Columbia, SC starting around 6:30pm with musical entertainment starting around 7pm. For more information, check out www.famouslyhotnewyear.com.

Polar Express Train Ride: Bryson City, NC (Through December 31, 2019)

First Night Raleigh: (December 31, 2019)

With 20+ blocks of programming throughout downtown, WRAL First Night Raleigh is the way to ring in the New Year! Learn a new hobby for the New Year at the daytime Children’s Celebration from 2-6 pm at the NC Museums of History and Sciences. Bounce around music, theater, and other performances after the Early Countdown at 7pm. Ride the First Night Ferris Wheel and the Down Draft amusement ride! Just make sure you’re on Fayetteville Street at midnight for the WRAL Countdown to Midnight and the famous Raleigh Acorn The 1¼-hour round-trip excursion comes to life as the train departs Drop. To learn more, visit www.firstnightraleigh.com. the Bryson City depot for a journey through the quiet wilderness for a special visit at the North Pole. Families wearing their pajamas Island of Lights Festival: Carolina Beach, NC and clutching their golden tickets enjoy warm cocoa and a treat (Through December 31, 2019) while listening to music from the motion picture soundtrack, as well Carolina Beach decks the hulls and halls in this island-wide as hearing and reading along with the magical story. Santa will festival featuring a month of yuletide-themed events through board The Polar Express, and greet each child. Rides will run December 31, 2019. Island of Lights kicks off with Lighting at through December 31, 2019 with various ticket packages available. the Lake, featuring a one-mile trail of lighted displays around To learn more, see www.greatsmokies.com/polar-express. Carolina Beach Lake Park and a visit from Santa. The annual continued on page 64 Christmas Parade features floats, a band and Santa Claus with Saathee.com

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December 2019

Immigration Matters Waiting Will Now Have a Cost

USCIS is Proposing Raising Govt. Filing Fees By a Whopping 21 Percent

By Rishi P. Oza

The Friday before Veterans Day marked an update from the US Citizenship and Immigration Service administration of our nation’s immigration laws. Citing rising costs associated with the operation of its functioning, USCIS is proposing raising government filing fees by a whopping 21 percent to help offset rising costs associated with managing the country’s immigration laws. These rule changes, published in the Federal Register, mark the second rise in fees in the past two years and reflect a drastic hike in what some critics have already pointed out are steep costs for immigrants already. USCIS has justified these cost hikes by pointing to the fact that the agency is a fee-driven bureaucracy. Unlike many other federal agencies, USCIS is largely funded by fees submitted with certain applications. These fees range from the modest ($85 for biometrics fees) to sizeable ($3675 for EB-5 investors). In its notice to the public, USCIS has stated that the fees “are necessary to recover the full operating costs associated with administering the nation’s immigration benefits system, safeguarding its integrity, and efficiently and fairly adjudicating immigration benefit requests, while protecting Americans, securing the homeland, and honoring our country’s values.” While this may seem like bureaucratic nonsense, the new proposal reinforces the Trump Administration’s already-public priorities in trying to mold the Department of Homeland Security. For example, USCIS cites a need to transfer $207.6M in funding to Immigration and Customs Enforcement to fund ICE’s operations and objectives. USCIS has justified this transfer to ICE as beneficial to USCIS’ overall mission of providing secure and fair judgments in adjudication proceedings; moreover, ICE’s enforcement of the country’s immigration laws helps to reduce fraud and abuse, which ultimately save money for USCIS. Saathee.com

Perhaps most shocking is the proposal to raise the cost of applying for naturalization from the current level of $640 to $1170, an eye-popping 83 percent rise in fees, for what many consider to be the pinnacle and most precious benefit of the immigration system (naturalization also requires an additional $85 biometrics fee to be included with the filing). USCIS has historically trumpeted naturalization to be an immigrant’s fullest expression of joining the fabric of America, a step that fee hikes would make remarkably harder. USCIS justifies this increase as necessary to cover the full cost of naturalization, rationalizing that the current and prior fees have not sufficiently accounted for all of the costs associated with naturalization. According to the Service, some of these costs have been defrayed upon other individuals seeking immigration benefits, but that displacing such costs would not longer be equitable. While such rationale may make sense in the short-term, the long-term impacts of reducing interest and the human investment into the US citizenship is fundamentally harmful to the health of America’s democracy. While this isn’t necessarily an implication that USCIS is changing fees for anything other than legitimate means, the policy decision to raise naturalization costs so substantially will have a negative impact upon the typical immigrant’s basic ability and willingness to seek US citizenship. While a common mantra since 2016 is that elections have consequences, critics to this new proposed rate schedule argue that one of those consequences should not be to curtail the country’s immigrant heritage through fee hikes.

Rishi P. Oza

Partner at Brown Immigration Law LLC, a ﬁrm that focuses on immigration law; he practices in Durham. roza@rbrownllc.com December 2019

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Upcoming Movie Releases December 20

December 6

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (Director: JJ Abrams) Cast: Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Adam Driver, Mark Hamill, Billy Dee Williams, Oscar Isaac, Anthony Daniels, Lupita Nyong’o, and Carrie Fisher Dabangg 3 (Director: Prabhu Deva) Cast: Salman Khan, Sonakshi Sinha, Nikhil Dwivedi, and Sudeep

Cats (Director: Tom Hooper) Cast: Jennifer Hudson, Taylor Swift, James Corden, Laurie Davidson, Idris Elba, Jason Derulo, Ian McKellen, and Judi Dench

Bombshell (Director: Jay Roach) Cast: Charlize Theron, John Lithgow, Margot Robbie, Nicole Kidman, Kate McKinnon, and Malcolm McDowell

Panipat (Director: Ashutosh Gowariker) Cast: Sanjay Dutt, Arjun Kapoor, Kriti Sanon, Padmini Kolhapure, and Zeenat Aman

Superintelligence (Director: Ben Falcone) Cast: Melissa McCarthy, Bobby Cannavale, Brian Tyree Henry, Jean Smart, and James Corden

The Aeronauts (Director: Tom Harper) Cast: Eddie Redmayne, Felicity Jones, Himesh Patel, Phoebe Fox, and Vincent Perez

December 25

Little Women (Director: Greta Gerwig) Cast: Saoirse Ronan, Eliza Scanlen, Florence Pugh, Emma Watson, Chris Cooper, Laura Dern, and James Norton

A Million Little Pieces (Director: Sam Taylor-Johnson) Cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Charlie Hunnam, Ryan Hurst, Juliette Lewis, Giovanni Ribisi, and Billy Bob Thornton

1917 (Director: Sam Mendes) Cast: George MacKay, Dean-Charles Chapman, Benedict Cumberbatch, Colin Firth, Andrew Scott, Nabhaan Rizwan, and Mark Strong

Pati Patni Aur Woh (Director: Mudassar Aziz) Cast: Kartik Aaryan, Bhumi Pednekar, and Ananya Panday

Spies in Disguise (Directors: Nick Bruno and Troy Quane) Cast: Will Smith, Tom Holland, Rashida Jones, Karen Gillan, DJ Khaled, and Masi Oka

December 13

Jumanji: The Next Level (Director: Jake Kasdan) Cast: Dwayne Johnson, Karen Gillan, Jack Black, Kevin Hart, Nick Jonas, Danny DeVito, and Danny Glover

Mardaani 2 (Director: Gopi Puthran) Cast: Rani Mukerji, Vikram Singh Chauhan, Shruti Bapna, Rajesh Sharma, and Sudhanshu Pandey

Richard Jewell (Director: Clint Eastwood) Cast: Paul Walter Hauser, Sam Rockwell, Jon Hamm, Olivia Wilde, and Kathy Bates

Uncut Gems (Directors: Josh & Benny Safdie) Cast: Adam Sandler, Jonah Hill, Lakeith Stanﬁeld, Eric Bogosian, and Judd Hirsch Saathee.com

December 2019

Film Clips Panipat

One of the bloodiest battles in India’s history is depicted in Ashutosh Gowariker’s ﬁlm Panipat. The ﬁlm is based on the third battle of Panipat which took place in 1761 between the Marathas and the King of Afghanistan, Ahmad Shah Abdali. The cast includes Sanjay Dutt, Arjun Kapoor, Kriti Sanon, Padmini Kolhapure, and Zeenat Aman. Look for it in cinemas on December 6.

Spies in Disguise

Akshay Kumar starrer. It is being reported that veteran actress Tabu is now joining the cast. She has joined the team for the threemonth schedule which will be shot in London and Rajasthan. Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 is produced by Bhushan Kumar, Murad Khetani and Krishan Kumar under the

When the world’s best spy is turned into a pigeon, he must rely on his nerdy tech oﬃcer to save the world. This animated ﬁlm features the voices of Will Smith, Tom Holland, Rashida Jones, Karen Gillan, and DJ Khaled. It opens on December 25.

Good Newwz banner of T-Series and Cine1 Studios. Directed by Anees Bazmee and starring Kartik Aryan, the ﬁlm is written by Farhad Samji and Aakash Kaushik. The ﬁlm is scheduled to release on July 31, 2020.

Bombshell

Sanjay Dutt Preparing the Next Munna Bhai Film

Akshay Kumar and Kareena Kapoor Khan are reuniting onscreen after almost a decade with director Raj Mehta’s Good Newwz. The story revolves around two couples who opt for surrogacy and IVF treatment to conceive. The cast also includes Kiara Advani and Diljit Dosanjh as the second couple in the ﬁlm, slated to release on December 27. Bombshell recaps the real scandal when a group of women decided to take on Fox News head Roger Ailes and the toxic atmosphere he presided over at the network. The cast, directed by Jay Roach, includes Charlize Theron, John Lithgow, Margot Robbie, Nicole Kidman, Kate McKinnon, and Malcolm McDowell. The movie hits the theaters on December 20.

Saathee.com

Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 in the Works

The Kartik Aaryan and Kiara Advani starrer Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 is currently in production. The ﬁlm, helmed by Anees Bazmee, will be a sequel to the Priyadarshan – 28

According to reports, Sanjay Dutt will return to what he does best, play the loveable gangster Munnabhai. The popular franchise has been awaiting a third installment for years now, with Munna Bhai MBBS (2003) and Lage Raho Munna Bhai released in 2006. Director Rajkumar Hirani and writer Abhijat Joshi had worked a plan for the third ﬁlm a few years back, but due to Dutt’s imprisonment, they were put on hold. An inside source told Bollywood Hungama, “All of Baba’s ﬁlms since his return from prison have failed. While the biopic on his life Sanju has been a big success. This proves Baba (Dutt) is very popular among the masses. He needs to do something he is best at. And that’s Munnabhai.” December 2019

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Congress is calling for investigations of and changes to a Trump tax break aimed at helping poor areas of the country in response to reporting by ProPublica and The New York Times showing the program has been exploited by the wealthy and politically connected.

The opportunity zone program, which was part of the 2017 tax law overhaul, was supposed to drive investment toward specially designated low-income neighborhoods. But numerous reports have highlighted ways in which politically connected individuals have landed opportunity zone designations for areas in which they have a financial stake, sometimes at the expense of poorer areas. ProPublica’s reporting uncovered instances in Baltimore and Detroit in which billionaires stand to benefit from the break in areas that shouldn’t have qualified for the program in the first place. The Times reported that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin had intervened to get a tract added to the program that included land owned by a billionaire investor. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., introduced a bill in November that would significantly narrow the scope of the program. It would remove hundreds of areas that the original legislation allowed to benefit from the break even though they were not poor, including the two areas of Detroit and Baltimore that ProPublica identified. It would also vastly increase the reporting requirements for those taking advantage of the break and narrow the kinds of investments that would be eligible to receive it. Saathee.com

“The Opportunity Zone program has been troubled from the start,” Wyden said in a statement. “The Treasury Department has been steering potentially billions in tax breaks to Donald Trump’s friends, and there are no safeguards to ensure taxpayers are not simply subsidizing handouts for billionaires with no benefit to the low-income communities this program was supposed to help.” In recent days, Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Cory Booker, a vocal backer of the program since its inception, and Reps. Emanuel Cleaver and Ron Kind also called on the Treasury’s inspector general to review the program, citing the ProPublica and New York Times stories. Their letter requests a review of all opportunity zones to ensure they comply with the eligibility requirements of the program. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., recently announced that, if elected president, he would seek to scrap the opportunity zone program altogether. “This is corruption and corporate greed, and it is unacceptable,” he said, citing ProPublica’s Detroit story and other reporting. Other lawmakers, including House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal, requested the Government Accountability Office review the program and “identify any Opportunity Zones that do not meet the statutory criteria and explain how and why they were designated.” The White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. But this year at an event in Washington, President Donald Trump praised the program. “Across the country, our tax cuts have kicked off a race to invest in Opportunity Zones beyond anything that anybody in this room even thought,” he said. In June, ProPublica and WNYC reported on an opportunity zone in Baltimore largely owned by Under Armour founder Kevin Plank’s private development company. Maryland Gov. continued on page 64

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My Voice Readers' Forum By Samir Jain

Coming To America with Eight Dollars in Your Pocket

My father migrated from India to America in April of 1974. He had a degree in electrical engineering. When he applied for a U.S. visa in 1971, the United States was involved in the vicious Vietnam War and there was a huge demand for engineers. His visa was approved. He came home and told his mother and her response was: “Maine suna ki gori auurte sadak pe gumti phir ti rehati hain, aur shariff padrre likhe nau jawano ko phasati hain. Tu Amrika nehi ja sakta jab tak teri shaadi na ho jaye.” (Translation: “I’ve heard that Caucasian women walk around the streets and trap nice, young educated boys like you. You’re not going to America until you are married.”) Two years passed and a proposal of marriage came via my Nana Ji (Maternal Grandfather) for my father and his journey to the land of promise began. After repeatedly hearing his stories during my younger years, I’ve come to earnestly value the hard work ethics of Indian immigrants from that era. My father was born in Rawalpindi which is now part of Pakistan. His family lost everything after the partition and relocated to Delhi where they lived a modest life. There were numerous perturbed Indian families who suffered immensely after the partition. Times were tough. My father was the youngest of seven boys. He started working at the Surely we must age of six with his elder brother, making and selling little pouches of extend our ink. Countless Indian immigrants, heartfelt gratitude including my father, faced adversity but have tirelessly persevered and for their labors conquered many hardships only to and blessings. prove their duly deserved success. I can only imagine the harsh struggles that most of our migrants of the 70’s have faced throughout their time in this country. Several of them have overcome racial discrimination and financial obstacles through faith, steadfastness and a “never giving up” attitude. As a first generation Indian-American growing up in the states, I feel like I have been fed with a golden spoon because of the foundation that was laid before me. I’m not saying we are spoiled or graced with such easy lifestyles, but we are certainly privileged compared to our immigrant parents. I can only envision their challenges from their words and vicariously live through their past pains. When my father landed in the United States of America, he had only eight dollars in his pocket. Fortunately, he was sponsored by my mother’s cousin, which afforded him a place to temporarily stay. The U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War ended in 1973, so when he arrived on American soil, engineering jobs were scarce. After several attempts at finding employment as an engineer with his thick Indian accent in the 70’s, he found a job cutting metal. He was offered three dollars an hour and was in disbelief of the amount when he converted it into Rupees. He happily accepted the job. The example of today’s elder Saathee.com

Indian population who garnered humility, balanced their native heritage while assimilating in a new environment, and exerted assiduous efforts must be learned by us, before they leave us. I feel all Indian-Americans should at least attempt to relate to the trying circumstances their immigrant parents, aunts or uncles have experienced while growing in this country. Many of us have been so preciously loved and tended to, that the best life our parents could afford to give us was often taken for granted. We may not have always seen the blood, sweat, and tears they endured for their family, but surely we must extend our heartfelt gratitude for their labors and innumerable blessings. From an early age, I watched as my father woke up every morning at 5:30am only to drive fifty miles to get to work on time. After his exhausting day, he would come home and make time for my sister and me, helping us with our homework. The Indian culture which incorporates commitment to responsibilities, unconditional love, and family bonding is still strong in our Indian Diaspora of these pioneers from the 70’s. I have often told my father that if I can work just a fraction as hard as he has, I can accomplish anything. I am so grateful for the upbringing my parents have given me; there is no amount of money that could replace the deeply treasured memories and lessons that are embedded in my heart. My amazing father just turned 74 and is now semi-retired, still running his Bio-Tech business. His dedication to his work and family is built into his genes, just like many of his contemporaries. We can only try to fathom the predicaments of life our Indian immigrants of the 70’s have faced, while coming to America with only eight dollars in their pockets. Let us commemorate their life’s work by not only remembering them and their core values, but by living daily with the tenets that resonate with each of us as we grow into future generations of Indian Americans.

Samir Jain

Samir Jain is a Sociology graduate from the UCLA and is a passionate writer who contributes to society. Email: sameyh444@gmail.com

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Savoring the Bittersweet

By Shyama Parui

Just a few more sunsets and we will soon bid farewell to 2019 and celebrate the start of 2020. As we inch forward to the close of the year, are you feverish with excitement or fraught with regret? Perhaps, you are eager to let go or desperately wanting to hold on. Lately, I have found myself at crossroads where I am learning to balance a longing for the past with a yearning for the excitement of the future. It is, admittedly, far from being a piece of cake. Turns out, it is harder to get used to a blend of karela (bitter gourd) and gur (molasses) when our palates are trained to savor tastes that are either completely bitter or completely sweet. My brief visit to West Bengal last year is a perfect example of this struggle. During the drive to my parents’ hometown from the airport, I was grateful for airconditioned cars and paved streets, The happiest but I was overwhelmed by the noise empty nesters of traffic. Narrow streets were filled are the ones who with every kind of vehicle ranging from two-wheelers to buses, all have mastered jostling for space. New buildings had this balancing sprung up almost on top of each other act. hiding the open fields and ponds. Dust and emissions blurred the landscape that used to be lush green and peaceful. The proximity to Kolkata had erased many elements of Howrah’s past, turning its “grams” (villages) into suburbs. An increase in opportunities for employment and education is a welcome change, yet I wonder what will be lost in the process. Will the neighborhood mashis and meshos, (aunts and uncles) remain hospitable and enthusiastically feed you roshogolla (a popular sweet) even if you drop in unannounced? Will kids giggle as they manage to trick their neighbor and steal their best flowers? While land grabbing and petty squabbles over fences may go down, orchards may disappear, consequently wiping away memories of afternoons spent climbing trees and picking mangoes. Similarly, we experience these mixed feelings with our loved ones too. My nephews and nieces, who were once little enough to hold my hand and follow me around have grown into confident young men and women. They are my guides in the chaotic city of Mumbai, often telling me about the trendiest places to shop and eat. If need be, I will humbly let them hold my hand and lead the way across many of the insanely Saathee.com

crowded streets where you are likely to be run over by autorickshaws and speed walking pedestrians alike. While I cherish memories from their toddlerhood, listening to them talk about their passionate causes and entrepreneurial dreams makes me proud. Soon my own children will attend high school and each of those four years will involve conscious eﬀorts to prepare for college and eventually for life. With that also comes the reminder that they will be living independently. When my children declared that they had outgrown the neighborhood Breakfast with Santa and Easter Egg Hunt, I was disappointed. “But you are only ten,” I wanted to scream. I even considered throwing a temper tantrum to protest. Better sense prevailed, however, as I chose to make peace with the many joys that come with ﬁercely independent children. Our parents had to reconcile with our choice to become immigrants in a distant country, even though they would have preferred to have us live in the same city if not the same house as a segment of the “joint family” set up. A big part of parenting is about embracing all the turning points in the lives of our children, particularly when they stop leaning on us for support or direction. We want to keep our children close to our hearts, but it also becomes our duty to let them soar. I have found that the happiest empty nesters are the ones who have mastered this balancing act. Our professional, social and personal responsibilities are constantly making demands of us and when we are faced with a need to make drastic changes, it can pose a formidable challenge. Think about major lifestyle changes required after a health scare or job loss. Adapting to these situations can break an individual. Ironically, I can think of many examples of people who have attributed their success to the very hardships that blocked the course they had previously charted. Grabbing a spoonful of the bittersweet, I am going to take the advice of a very wise person who once told me, “Shyama, there is a reason that a car is designed to have a big windshield and small rear-view mirror.” Nevertheless, when memories from years ago pop up on social media, it will tug at my heartstrings and you may catch me shedding a tear or two.

Shyama Parui

Shyama is a long time North Carolina resident and an ardent writer. You can reach her at: shyamashree_parui@hotmail.com

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Road Trips the Desi Way! Bags of Namkeen and a Thermos of Chai

By Shivani Tripathi

‘Tis the season for spending time with loved ones. Many of us plan a vacation from the end of December to early January for Christmas and New Year’s. Some families schedule a trip to a beach resort to ﬁnd respite from the December chill. Many return home relaxed but wish more quality family time was achieved. It’s also that time of year when families depart for India to visit relatives during cooler temperatures. These families come home jet lagged and declare the trip wasn’t long enough. The staycations of today are not much more than scrolling on smart phones and streaming movies. In comparison, a good old-fashioned American road trip is much more attractive as it provides many opportunities for family time, a sense of adventure, a pocket-friendly budget and, depending on your route, is a good idea any time of the year! I fondly remember the road trips my maternal grandparents initiated during warm summers throughout the 1990s. Riding in a maroon Toyota Camry, we explored many scenic vistas and iconic monuments along the American east coast from the Lost River Gorge in New Hampshire, the Liberty Bell in Pennsylvania, the Kennedy Space Center in Florida and the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C. My Nani (maternal grandmother) and my mother would wake up very early on the day of departure and prepare traditional, Indian lunch items which would travel well: fresh puri and a dry, nonpotato subzi. A small container of homemade achaar would be packed along with a tomato and onion salad, three to four bags of Indian namkeen such as Hot Mix and Crunch Chor and last but certainly not the least, a thermos of hot chai. We would stop at a rest area and have ourselves a picnic lunch on the wooden tables and benches and watch cars drive by on the interstate while chatting about how much further our destination was. Although everyone enjoyed the al fresco meal, the food items were mostly for the adults who apart from Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, couldn’t quite feel sated after a restaurant meal. Being vegetarian in the ‘90s greatly limited dining options and while having spent more of their adult life in America than in India, the family elders’ taste buds were loyal to the ﬂavors they grew up savoring. Stopping for dinner in West Virginia on a picturesque route will always remain an interesting family travel anecdote. Saathee.com

After driving many hours and seeing very few food options, the family car finally stopped at a Hardees restaurant. Our order took almost 30 minutes because the staff was perplexed as how to prepare burgers minus the meat patty! Many permutations of a burger-less burger were served before all the adults had something vegetarian to eat. A special road trip from North Carolina to New Jersey was arranged to visit The Cultural Festival of India in 1991. My siblings and I had never seen an Indian American gathering on such a large scale. Organized by the BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha, the festival promised a month-long celebration of culture with installations, food stalls, mini bazaars, live music and folk dances. This was my first experience of having intricate mehndi applied by a professional. Before this, my mother would use a toothpick to apply paste made from henna powder bought from an Indian grocery store that was an hour away. My siblings and I tasted chaat from an outdoor stand, an Indian experience the grownups always spoke of with much nostalgia. We purchased an audio cassette of Dil Hai Ke Manta Nahin and were delighted to have acquired the music for a Hindi film that had yet to release. Such an acquisition was a rarity in the pre-internet era. Soundtracks from films such as Chandni, Ram Lakhan, Maine Pyar Kiya and Dil Hai Ke Manta Nahin played in the car well into the ‘90s. To this day when I hear songs from these movies, I remember looking outside a car window watching the world fly by as my Nani’s hair bun was kept firmly in place in the seat in front of me. Road tripping in my family started when my mother and her siblings were growing up in Colorado. They explored the American West a mile at a time in the 1970s and even drove to Tijuana, Mexico! My Nani narrated how the family saw continued on page 113

Shivani Tripathi

Shivani Tripathi cannot remember a time she wasn’t madly in love with Indian cinema and writing. She spends time in New York, North Carolina and Twitterpur at @Shivani510. 44

December 2019

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College Admissions Insider By Lindsey Conger

Easier Application Process Even some of the best Canadian universities like Simon Fraser University and McGill University don’t require their students to submit letters of recommendation, personal statements, or supplemental essays. Instead, the universities examine class grades and test scores to determine who is accepted.

Economical And this might be the best part about Canadian universities: You can get this experience for much less than you’d have to pay for a private university in the United States. In Montreal, McGill’s annual tuition for a Bachelor of Arts degree for the 2019/20 academic year is just over $18,000, and Concordia is around that same total. Many other similar universities across Canada oﬀer competitive tuition.

A cosmopolitan feel, close to home, and aﬀordable education to boot: Canada really might be the perfect country for American college students.

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Why American Students Should Not Rule Out International Universities

When you start creating your college list, it likely will be ﬁlled with both public and private universities located within the United States. But, you could be making a mistake by ignoring international universities. With its rich cultural history and excellent higher education options, Canada might be the perfect country for American college students. Here are ﬁve reasons why.

An Identity of Diversity Canada might not seem diverse, but it is home to some unique cosmopolitan areas, such as Toronto, Montreal, Quebec City, Winnipeg, and Calgary. Each area has a distinctive feel and culture. Take Montreal, for example. Most of its population is bilingual in French and English, but even if English is your only language, you’ll be just ﬁne getting around. Two of the city’s top universities, McGill University and Concordia University, also use English as the primary language of instruction.

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December 2019

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Increase Your

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1. The Red Fort (also known as Lal Qila), named for its massive enclosing walls of red sandstone, is a historic fort in the city of Delhi in India, which served as the main residence of the Mughal Emperors. 2. The fifth Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan began construction of the Red Fort in 1639 as the palace of his fortified capital Shahjahanabad (Delhi). It took eight years to complete. 3. The fort’s walls stand at 75 feet (23 meters) high, enclose a complex (about 250 acres) of palaces and entertainment halls, projecting balconies, baths and indoor canals, and geometrical gardens, as well as a mosque. Among the most famous structures of the complex are the Hall of Public Audience (Diwan-I-Am), which has 60 red sandstone pillars supporting a flat roof, and the Hall of Private Audience (Diwan-I-Khas), which is smaller, with a pavilion of white marble. 4. The planning of the palace is based on Islamic prototypes, but each pavilion reveals architectural elements typical of Mughal building, reflecting a fusion of Persian, Hindu and Timurid traditions. 5. The first Prime Minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru raised the Indian national flag above the Red Fort on August 15, 1947 (Independence Day). On each Independence Day since, the current Prime Minister raises the “tricolor flag” and gives a nationally broadcast speech. 6. The fort was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2007. 7. The Red fort appears on the back of the Rs 500 note of the Mahatma Gandhi New Series of the Indian rupee.

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December 2019

Nutrition for Life

By Parul Kharod

Plant Power • While majority of us are still not eating the recommended servings of fruits and vegetables, there is growing trend to limit animal proteins and focus more on the power of plants. In the past few months you may have heard of all major food chain companies roll out the Impossible Burger and the Beyond Meat burgers made with meatless patties that mimic the taste of real meat. Since the strong recommendations to limit meat intake for climate change and environmental health reasons, these fake meats have become very popular.

Food Trends of 2019 and Beyond

As consumer awareness increases, the food industry has to adapt to demands and start making changes. Let’s look at the top foods that ﬁlled the shelves of grocery stores in 2019 and what can we expect in the upcoming year.

• There is also an increase in various non-dairy milk and yogurt oﬀerings. Apart from more brands oﬀering Almond milk, Coconut milk, and Soy milk, there are other plant milks on the market including Oat milk and Hemp milk. Ice cream, cheese, and other plant-based dairy alternatives are surely an increasing trend that will see more options in the coming years.

Regenerative Foods • These are foods grown with regenerative agriculture practices. Regenerative agriculture is all about employing techniques that give back to the land rather than take away. Farming practices are focused on building up high-quality soil, retaining rainwater, improving the water cycle, increasing biodiversity, and promoting both human and animal welfare.

• Plant-based protein – As more people move away from milk/whey protein powders, more and more companies are now oﬀering plant proteins. Abbott, the company

• Earlier this year General Mills announced that it would apply regenerative agriculture to one million acres by 2030. At the recent United Nations Climate Action Summit in New York City, Danone, Kellogg, Nestlé, and a dozen other companies announced the One Planet Business for Biodiversity (OP2B) coalition to advance regenerative agriculture, rebuild biodiversity and eliminate deforestation. We will start seeing foods marketed as having been grown with these better farming techniques.

Saathee.com

continued on page 92

Parul Kharod, MS, RD, LDN

is a registered dietitian and licensed nutritionist and works as a Clinical Dietitian with Outpatient Nutrition Services at WakeMed Hospital in Cary and Raleigh. She can be reached at parulkharod@gmail.com 58

December 2019

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Thinking About Thinking the truth is accessible through our own eyes, that we suﬀer the Illusions that come to us through the eyes of others?

By Balaji Prasad

An I for an Eye, a Soothe for a Truth “It’s your road and yours alone. Others may walk it with you, but no one can walk it for you.” - Rumi

“Can someone help me solve my problem?” “Maybe,” I say. “It really depends on whether it is your problem, or it is just a problem: one that lives outside of, and independent of you.”

When a problem becomes a “problim” The creators of the word “problem” could have put an “i” in it rather than an “e”, had they been a little mischievous, for surely they would have foreseen that most problems would center around an I; otherwise, they wouldn’t be problems at all, would they? There are, of course, problems that don’t have an I in them, such as Truth in this math problems, or SAT problems. I, universe consists and others, can help with those for sure, at least more easily than with of lots of things, the problems that have an I in them. much of which is Why? Because we don’t have to deal with an owner who is entangled in irrelevant to us. the problem. When there’s an owner inside the problem, swirling around indistinguishably from it, it becomes diﬃcult to tell where the owner ends and where the problem begins. And that is a problem! Or more correctly, a “problim”, if we put the I in there to remind ourselves that it is not just a good old mathtype problem; it is an ornery problem with an I that twists and turns it into something far more complex.

An I for an eye The code of Hammurabi said that when a person who commits a crime and takes away something from another, the perpetrator must suffer the equal fate of having to give up the same thing that they took away from the other. Hammurabi may not have had his eye on the I, but we can co-opt his law and apply it in a different way. We shall say that the penalty for giving up your eye is not to give up your I, but make you suffer the pain of having one. And, what is the I, but a thing that sees through other people’s eyes rather than its owner’s? That sounds like a terrible thing: I would have to ignore what my own eyes see, and live my life based on what someone else tells me that they supposedly see. With this harsh ruling of Hammurabi, I would go from being a first person to being a third person! Perhaps even a third-rate person. Is this too far from the truth though? Maybe this is what has happened, unbeknownst to us. Maybe we do often see through the eyes of others. If the expert says x, then x it shall be. And then we find out that the “expert” was wrong. “Oh well,” we say, and move on to the next expert’s opinion on things at a different point in time. Are we doomed to repeat the same thing over and over again? Why is it that even when Saathee.com

A soothe for a truth Maybe our chains of illusion come from the second part of Hammurabi’s Law: “a truth for a truth”. In the current context, I will take a little liberty with that statement, and make it “a soothe for the truth”, to see if that offers an explanation for why illusions are sought. Could it be, in general, that it is not the truth we are after? Truth in this universe consists of lots and lots of things, much of which is irrelevant to us. It is only truths that are germane to me in my universe that matter. And what might that universe be? It consists of all kinds of things floating inside my head, some of which have a tie to things that exist outside my head, but lots of which do not have to have any such allegiance to reality. Furthermore, I have a great deal of emphasis on some of the flotsam and jetsam in the waters of my mind, and I have very little emphasis on some. How likely is it that my flotsam and jetsam are the same as someone else’s? Unlikely, I would say in some cases. But pretty likely in some cases, if the flotsam floated in from the mainstream ocean into the little sea that is inside my head. So, the illusions created by the mainstream will dovetail rather nicely with the illusions I have already ingested into my head over time, if I have not been curating carefully. And I will find these illusions soothing. If It soothes, it must be the truth. Or maybe not. Maybe it would be good to make an attempt to live in the real universe, and while not all the flotsam and jetsam inside can be weeded out, maybe some of it can be. We do de-weed our gardens once in a while. Couldn’t we do that with our heads as well? Then maybe I can be me, someday?

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Upcming Movies continued from page 26

The Song of Names (Director: François Girard) Cast: Clive Owen, Tim Roth, Jonah Hauer-King, Gerran Howell, Eddie Izzard, Saul Rubinek, and Catherine McCormick

December 27

Good Newwz (Director: Raj Mehta) Cast: Akshay Kumar, Kareena Kapoor, Kiara Advani, and Diljit Dosanjh

Clemency (Director: Chinonye Chukwu) Cast: Alfre Woodard, Aldis Hodge, Richard Schiﬀ, Wendell Pierce, and Danielle Brooks

January 4

The Grudge (Director: Nicolas Pesce) Cast: Andrea Riseborough, Demián Bichir, John Cho, Lin Shaye, Jacki Weaver, Betty Gilpin, and William Sadler

January 10

Just Mercy (Director: Destin Daniel Cretton) Cast: Michael B Jordan, Brie Larson, O’Shea Jackson Jr, Tim Blake Nelson, and Jamie Foxx

Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior (Director: Om Raut) Cast: Ajay Devgn, Saif Ali Khan, Kajol, and Sharad Keikar

The Informer (Director: Om Raut) Cast: Joel Kinnaman, Rosamund Pike, Common, Ana de Armas, and Clive Owen Saathee.com

Tax Break for the Poor continued from page 32

Larry Hogan picked the area for the program after a meeting with Plank’s lobbyists, despite a member of his own staff noting that it was too wealthy to qualify for the program. Both Hogan and Plank’s team have said the development will benefit a neglected part of the city and help the surrounding communities. Last month, ProPublica published a report showing that Quicken Loans founder Dan Gilbert stands to benefit from the program in wealthy areas of downtown Detroit, including one area that shouldn’t have qualified for the program. Internal emails showed that Gilbert’s representatives communicated with officials at the local, state and federal levels about the program prior to the areas being designated as opportunity zones. Quicken denies that the company lobbied the Treasury Dept to make any particular areas eligible for the program. The New York Times reported last month on how Mnuchin personally intervened in the Treasury’s implementation of the law to include the Nevada tract where billionaire Michael Milken owns land. The Times published an internal IRS memo objecting to the move. Mnuchin has said he didn’t know about Milken’s investments when he got involved in the case. Experts have raised significant issues with the program since it was included in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in 2017. The program offers a break to investors on their capital gains taxes if they plow that money into poor neighborhoods. Some public policy experts argue that tax breaks that target geographic areas, rather than the people living in them, are fundamentally flawed. Money can too easily flow into investments with no tangible benefit for existing residents, such as luxury housing, they say. “What we are seeing is big highend investment in real estate, and that is not going to benefit poor people in poor places,” said Timothy Weaver, a professor of political science at SUNY Albany who has studied past placebased tax incentives. Instead, Weaver said, the foregone revenue would be better spent on things like parks, libraries and schools that improve the lives of current residents. In addition, the program currently lacks transparency or a mechanism for determining its effectiveness. Opportunity zone funds self-certify on their private tax forms that they are in compliance with the program. There is no mechanism for informing the public in any detail about who is using the tax break or for what purpose. The Treasury Department is working on final regulations, but there is no clear sign it will include sufficient transparency and reporting requirements. The Wyden bill takes aim at many of these issues, though it leaves the overall tax break intact. It seeks to eliminate the break for overly wealthy areas and to exclude certain kinds of investments — such as residential projects that don’t include affordable housing — from the program. It also would amp up the reporting process by requiring opportunity zone funds to post information about their investments publicly, and it directs the Government Accountability Office to evaluate the program’s effects after a period of time. The proposal stops short of empowering a government agency to direct investments to projects that fit the objectives of the program, as is the case with some other place-based initiatives. It also doesn’t ensure the community must benefit from opportunity zone investments by imposing any requirements that projects employ or house local residents.

ProPublica is a nonproﬁt newsroom that investigates abuses of power. For more details and stories visit, www.ProPublica.org.

December 2019

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Dwindling Tropical Rainforests Mean Lost Medicines yet to be Discovered in Their Plants

By Walter Suza, TheConversation

Growing up in Tanzania, I knew that fruit trees were useful. Climbing a mango tree to pick a fruit was a common thing to do when I was hungry, even though at times there were unintended consequences. My failure to resist consuming unripened fruit, for example, caused my stomach to hurt. With such incidents becoming frequent, it was helpful to learn from my mother that consuming the leaves of a particular plant helped alleviate my stomach pain. Saathee.com

This lesson helped me appreciate the medicinal value of plants. However, I also witnessed my family and neighboring farmers clearing the land by slashing and burning unwanted trees and shrubs, seemingly unaware of their medicinal value, to create space for food crops. But this lack of appreciation for the medicinal value of plants extends beyond my childhood community. As ďŹ res continued on page 78 68

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Mirror, Mirror

A Conversation From the Outside Looking in... By Jennifer Allen

Jim Henson and the Muppets

One Man’s Creativity enlightening the World’s Imagination

“When I was young, my ambition was to be one of the people who made a diﬀerence in this world. My hope is to leave the world a little better for having been there.” ~ Jim Henson

It’s amazing when you realize that anyone who is at least in their 60’s or younger has always known a world with the Muppets in it. To think that one man could create such wonder with an assortment of little felt dolls is hard to think about practically, but somehow Jim Henson managed to do just that. Henson was always interested in four things during his childhood: building things, music, stage performances, and later the innovation of television. In 1953 he sought out a job ad for an upcoming show in Maryland looking for puppeteers. At the time, he knew nothing about the craft but his passion for television overshadowed this problem. He grabbed two books on puppeteering from his local library which taught him not only how to operate a puppet, but also how to build them. In 1954 Henson did some work on various local TV shows and commercials doing small puppet segments. Around this time he also coined the term, “Muppet” as a combination of “puppet” and “marionette”. Soon after he met Jane Neville in college (who was also a great puppeteer) and they started doing five minute segments on NBC called Sam & Friends. One of the Muppets used on Sam & Friends was what would eventually become Kermit the frog. This experience gave Jim and Jane some of their most innovative ideas for Muppet performers in years to come such as adding sticks to move the arms and small TV monitors on the floor so that the puppeteer could watch their performance above their head in real time. Soon after, both added doing commercials for Wilkins Coffee and animation work and in 1959 met his eventual skit writer Jim Jule and a young puppeteer named Frank Oz. Through the 60’s the Muppets gradually gained in popularity through various TV appearances, and soon writer and director John Stone approached Henson to come to a sit Saathee.com

down meeting for a new children’s show being worked on by Joan Ganz Cooney and Lloyd Morrisett, the co-creators of the Children’s Television Workshop. Both Ganz Cooney and Morrisett had spent 2 years researching early childhood development and educational media and had decided to create a children’s show that was like no other at the time. John Stone thought that by adding Henson’s creations to the show, it would keep the children more interested in watching, and he was right. Jim agreed to do the show, but with 2 conditions: 1) he would maintain all rights to the Muppet characters, and 2) there would be a 50/50 split on merchandising between him and CTW. Not so ironically, test audiences showed that the kids were more interested when the Muppets were on screen than the “street segments” with only the human cast. It was decided soon after to intermingle the two and soon characters such as Cookie Monster, Oscar the Grouch, Bert & Ernie, and Big Bird were introduced. Sesame Street officially premiered on National Entertainment Television on fifty years ago on November 10, 1969 and almost immediately became a huge hit. Most of why it was so popular was the Muppet characters, but it also started a national dialogue on the roles and responsibilities of children’s entertainment and education. It was the first children’s show with a diverse cast including African American and Latino American characters that had segments in both English and Spanish. While Henson did enjoy the success of Sesame Street, he wanted to get back to doing prime-time TV spots with more adult themes. After working on some skits on this new comedy show called Saturday Night Live in 1975, Henson shopped around his idea for a Muppet-themed evening variety show with human guest stars. The idea was not liked by most TV executives because they felt that the Muppets were meant for children. It wasn’t until a young executive at ABC saw Henson’s work that The Muppet Show would start to gain footing. Soon after British TV producer Lew Grade agreed to co-produce 24 episodes for a first season. What was unique for the show at the time was that Grade promoted the show through first-run syndication which is common place today but was unheard of in 1976. The show would run for five seasons and would become the most popular prime-time show in the world at the time it was produced. During production on The Muppet Show, Jim Henson had gotten an idea to create a feature film with the Muppets as well. The movie would show how all of the characters on The Muppet Show originally met and then trekked to Hollywood to create their own TV show. The Muppet Movie premiered forty years ago on May 31, 1979 and gave us endearing songs such as “Moving Right Along”, “I’m Going to Go Back There Someday” and “Rainbow Connection”. Also coming out near the end of 1979 was a TV Special and album where the Muppets continued on page 113

Jennifer Allen

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Taming the Time Beast By Ahsen Jillani

You know, I have spouted so much nonsense about returning to the soil in the last decade that people around me want to bury me six feet deep in it. The truth is, with my farming prowess, even a pet gerbil would pack up his hamster wheel and depart for greener pastures. The issue for me, as I was painfully delivered into the adventurous side of life at 50, has been bigger than growing lettuce and tomatoes in the backyard. As I age, a larger philosophical monster stands in the dark shadows of my every breath: Father Time, and he is fiercer than Mother Earth. I am confident that many Eastern and Western philosophers have spent countless hours under the influence of inebriating free time to think what they call “deeply” about, well, Time. The rest of us, we work, and walk around confused about the velocity with which our lives operate. That brings me to the point about the soil. It is fascinating to know, or even imagine, people who live in slow Time. Gardeners and farmers actually operate on experience, a hope, and a promise. Smiling next to a newly-planted field, you are just standing in dirt, and putting your trust in the distant future. Saathee.com

In the new world, which I have no reason to even explain, Time is fast. I need to be reassured via ﬁve emails that my eBay purchase of laser toner went through, that PayPal loves me, that the seller loves me, and is lovingly taping my package, and ﬁnally the UPS man who loves me is delicately walking my package toward my front door, like a beautiful bride walking down the aisle. In the meantime, I am pacing around, because why is the package taking two days to get to me; when will I be able to open the hungry big jaws of the laser printer and feed it fresh toner. Geez, things are going so slow. Between these extremes are a thousand elements of Time that react with our brains to make us the calm, reasonable, or continued on page 92

Ahsen Jillani

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December 2019

Seema Verma Talks Medicaid Work Requirement, Pushes For Tighter Eligibility

By Phil Galewitz, Kaiser Health News

The Trump administration’s top Medicaid official Seema Verma last month sharply attacked critics of her plan to force some Medicaid enrollees to work, a policy that led to thousands of people losing coverage in Arkansas. “We cannot allow those who prefer the status quo to weaponize the legal system against state innovation,” the administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services said in a fiery speech to the nation’s 56 state and territorial Medicaid directors in Washington, D.C. A federal judge shut down the short-lived work requirement initiative in Arkansas and stopped it from launching in Kentucky last spring. Several states, including Indiana, Arizona and New Hampshire, that had won federal approval have put their implementation plans on hold pending an appellate court ruling. Advocates for the poor argue work requirement policies are illegal and unfairly add hurdles to people who qualify for coverage in the federal-state health program. But those opponents are seeking “to manipulate Medicaid into the prototype of a single-minded, single-payer nirvana — a utopia of open-ended government-run health care,” Verma said. “Part of my mission is to fight such underhanded tactics and preserve the right of states to shape your programs in ways that are consistent with the needs of your residents, your cultures and your values. Anything less stifles innovation.” Saathee.com

That would be “a disservice to the millions of people on Medicaid today and those who will need it in the years and decades to come,” she added. The federal government has approved work requirement plans in 10 states and requests are pending from 10 others. Most of those initiatives are directed at the low-income adults who gained coverage through the Medicaid expansion initiated by the Affordable Care Act. Verma first announced plans to open the door to work requirements in a speech to Medicaid directors in 2017. Medicaid — like Medicare — is an open-ended entitlement program, which means federal funding increases as costs and enrollment rise. In addition to doubling down on the controversial work requirements, Verma renewed her interest in letting states get Medicaid funding through a block grant system. Block grants would give states more flexibility to limit enrollment and enforce eligibility rules, she added. Critics have said such a change would cut Medicaid funding, limit coverage, hurt beneficiaries and lead to lawsuits. But Verma said CMS would soon publish guidance to states to allow them to get block grant funding for “certain optional adult populations.” “Many states have expressed a willingness to be held accountable for improving outcomes in exchange for greater flexibility and budget certainty,” Verma said. “Block grants and per capita cap proposals are two such alternative financing approaches.” continued on page 113

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Personal Finances By Mo Vidwans

All about Capital Gains Taxes

For the year 2019, you will not pay any income taxes on capital gains (0 percent) if your taxable income is at or under $78,750 for a couple filing jointly or at or under $39,750 for most singles. Of course, for a majority of us that is a rather low limit but there are many who fall in that category, believe it or not, especially if they don’t have any assets which are invested in stocks and similar equities. Per the new tax laws passed in December 2017 and under which jurisdiction we all have already filed our taxes for 2018, the next capital gains tax rate step is 15 percent and the limit for that stretches out to $488,850 for married filing jointly or $434,550 for singles. This is a giant step, one that covers most of us (almost 99 percent). After this the top rate is at 20 percent. Considering the information above, by the tax law standards, the rules on capital gain taxes may appear fairly straight forward, especially for those who pay zero gains taxes. But many others, particularly upper income investors often find the tax law around capital gains more complicated than they expected. For starters, the 3.8 percent surtax on “net investment income” comes in the picture for joint filers with modified adjusted income of more than $250,000 and for most singles above $200,000. As you can easily see, that does affect people in both 15 percent and 20 percent brackets and effectively raises their top tax rate to 18.8 percent and 23.8 percent respectively. Net investment income is defined as all passive income such as interest, dividends and much more but not capital gains and qualified dividends. There are several other twists which will not affect most of us but they do affect some and we can easily get tangled in that under some circumstances. A maximum of 28% on capital gains for arts and collectibles. There are also special rates for certain depreciable real estate (rented property etc.) and investors with certain kind of small business or private stock may face different music because those stocks are valued differently. I think we all know there are special rules of taxing appreciation when we sell our primary residence. A crucial factor of investing is managing how much tax we will end up paying on our realized capital gains; taxes are sometimes overlooked or considered after the fact but capital gains can have a big impact on investment results. It should be made clear that there are no taxes to be paid on ’unrealized gains’; in other words, if you own appreciated property but don’t intent to sell there are no taxes to be paid. To qualify and get favorable tax treatment on capital gains taxes we typically have to hold stocks or bonds for more than a year; held exactly a year or less, the gains will be classified as ‘short-term’ and Saathee.com

taxed at our ordinary income tax rate, whatever that may be. Making sure that we cross that one year threshold is important from the tax point of view. The tax rules get more complex when investors use options, futures and similar strategies. IRS publication 550 has all of the above details covered. The new tax law of 2017 does change our thinking on giving donations but generally donating shares of highly appreciated stocks and certain other investments held more than a year is a good idea because donors can deduct the appreciated market value of the stock and don’t pay any capital gain taxes. By the same logic, if the stock has declined in value, it is best to sell it yourself, take the loss on your taxes and then donate the cash proceedings. That brings us to the next point of balancing the gains against the losses and let the losses soak up the gains at least for the tax purposes. Investors whose losses exceed gains can deduct the net losses from the ordinary income up to $3,000 every year. If the losses are over $3,000 they can be carried over to the next year(s) indefinitely, until our death, taking $3,000 every year. After death the losses wipe out. It should be pointed out that while reducing taxes is an important strategy, investment decisions should be based on a solid long-term investment strategy and not just on saving taxes for that year. Tax management is not something done only at the time of preparing tax returns but it should be a year round thought process and it is not an exaggeration if I say a life long process. Taxation on gains from bonds have some common characteristics with stocks but there are differences too. If an investor buys a bond at par value and holds it to maturity, there will be no capital gains on the transaction. However, if an investor sells before maturity and generates a capital gain or loss there is some tax implication, either short-term or long-term, the same as with stock. The big difference with bonds is the interest (coupon) payments paid to the bondholders. These are similar to dividends but interest on bonds is taxed very differently depending on the type of bond. Interests on Corporate Bonds are subject to both Federal and State taxes. Interest payments on Federal Bonds are subject to Federal taxes but not State taxes. Municipal bonds are the real winners; their interest is not subject to any Federal, State or local taxes, when the bonds belong to your own state. Naturally, because of this tax advantage their interest rates tend to be low too.

Mo Vidwans

Vidwans is an independent, board certified financial planner. For details visit www.vidwansfinancial.com, call 984-888-0355 or write to mpvidwans@yahoo.com. 76

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This will involve identifying new chemical compounds that interfere with plant NPC1. This can be done by extracting chemical compounds from plants and testing whether they can effectively prevent the Ebola virus from infecting cells. There are many conditions that might benefit from plant research, including high cholesterol, cancer and even infectious diseases such as Ebola, all of which have significant global impact. To treat high cholesterol, medicines called statins are used. Statins may also help to fight cancer. However, not all patients tolerate statins, which means that alternative therapies must be developed.

Rain Forest Medicines

continued from page 68

continue to burn in the Amazon and land is cleared for agriculture, most of the concerns have focused on the drop in global oxygen production if swaths of the forests disappear. But I’m also worried about the loss of potential medicines that are plentiful in forests and have not yet been discovered. Plants and humans also share many genes, so it may be possible to test various medicines in plants, providing a new strategy for drug testing. As a plant physiologist, I am interested in plant biodiversity because of the potential to develop more resilient and nutritious crops. I am also interested in plant biodiversity because of its contribution to human health. About 80 percent of the world population relies on compounds derived from plants for medicines to treat various ailments, such as malaria and cancer, and to suppress pain.

Future medicines may come from plants One of the greatest challenges in fighting diseases is the emergence of drug resistance that renders treatment ineffective. Physicians have observed drug resistance in the fight against malaria, cancer, tuberculosis and fungal infections. It is likely that drug resistance will emerge with other diseases, forcing researchers to find new medicines. Plants are a rich source of new and diverse compounds that may prove to have medicinal properties or serve as building blocks for new drugs. And, as tropical rainforests are the largest reservoir of diverse species of plants, preserving biodiversity in tropical forests is important to ensure the supply of medicines of the future.

Plants and new cholesterol-lowering medicines The goal of my own research is to understand how plants control the production of biochemical compounds called sterols. Humans produce one sterol, called cholesterol, which has functions including formation of testosterone and progesterone - hormones essential for normal body function. By contrast, plants produce a diverse array of sterols, including sitosterol, stigmasterol, campesterol, and cholesterol. These sterols are used for plant growth and defense against stress but also serve as precursors to medicinal compounds such as those found in the Indian Ayurvedic medicinal plant, ashwagandha. Humans produce cholesterol through a string of genes, and some of these genes produce proteins that are the target of medicines for treating high cholesterol. Plants also use this collection of genes to make their sterols. In fact, the sterol production systems in plants and humans are so similar that medicines used to treat high cholesterol in people also block sterol production in plant cells. I am fascinated by the similarities between how humans and plants manufacture sterols, because identifying new medicines that block sterol production in plants might lead to medicines to treat high cholesterol in humans.

New medicines for chronic and pandemic diseases An example of a gene with medical implications that is present in both plants and humans is NPC1, which controls the transport of cholesterol. However, the protein made by the NPC1 gene is also the doorway through which the Ebola virus infects cells. Since plants contain NPC1 genes, they represent potential systems for developing and testing new medicines to block Ebola. Saathee.com

Withania somnifer, known commonly as Indian Ayurvedic medicine ashwagandha, manufactures molecules that could be useful for cholesterol medicine.

Tropical rainforests are medicine reservoirs The need for new medicines to combat heart disease and cancer is dire. A rich and diverse source of chemicals can be found in natural plant products. With knowledge of genes and enzymes that make medicinal compounds in native plant species, scientists can apply genetic engineering approaches to increase their production in a sustainable manner. Tropical rainforests house vast biodiversity of plants, but this diversity faces signiﬁcant threat from human activity. To help students in my genetics and biotechnology class appreciate the value of plants in medical research, I refer to ﬁndings from my research on plant sterols. My goal is to help them recognize that many cellular processes are similar between plants and humans. My hope is that, by learning that plants and animals share similar genes and metabolic pathways with health implications, my students will value plants as a source of medicines and become advocates for preservation of plant biodiversity. Walter Suza is Adjunct Assistant Professor of Agronomy, Iowa State University. Read more articles at www.theConversation.com. 78

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eliminate or at least minimize junk food from our diet. The hardest part was to get rid of soda from our household. It was a big change for them. When my son Vicktor was six, he asked my wife for Coke. When my wife told him that he couldn’t have it, he said, “OK. Can I just look at the Coke can?” For the next two years it was embarrassing because whenever he would go to other people’s parties, he would gobble up soda like a fish and smile at us. To satisfy his craving, we bought a bottle of Coke and set the rules that he could drink it but with a teaspoon! As India gets westernized, most of the American fast food chains have made inroads into the country. About a decade back, Yum brands had 72 Kentucky Fried Chicken establishments in India. They planned a total of 1,000 locations in the next few years. That would generate $1 billion in revenue and help with the population control by pursuing five million more heart attacks. In my stand-up, I often joke that there is an Indian guru who has been encouraging Indians to stop eating at fast food restaurants and eliminating soda from their diet. He even said that Indians would be better off using Coke and Pepsi as toilet cleaner. His campaign was mildly successful. Had mainstream publications in the US picked up his stories, Baba Ramdev would have been put on the FBI’s most wanted list. It is amazing how much money and planning goes into the campaigns for the fast food commercials. I had to turn down an audition for McDonald’s because I was supposed to eat beef in the commercial. I don’t even eat meat. I thought, what if I just ate a tofu burger? Then I realized that would be considered deceptive advertising and we couldn’t have that in America! The only way to fight the seductive advertisements from the fast food industry is making a conscious effort to eat healthy. Indian food is not necessarily the answer. After moving to Los Angeles from Boston, we started eating healthier, relying less on processed food. We switched to Subway and Chipotle. We included smoothies and salads in our diet. We switched primarily to organic because I am a traditionalist and skeptical of GMO food. I don’t want to have six fingers in my hand in the future! Also, as a vegetarian, I find it repulsive that my vegetables would have an insect gene in it. If I am making popcorn, I don’t want a butterfly to pop out of the corn kernels! I tried to look at scientific research but they offer contrary results. Once eggs and ghee were bad for us because of high cholesterol. Now they are good for us because of the benefits to the brain. The barrage of contradictory data is confusing and as a consumer it is hard to tell who is sponsoring what research. I doubt a scientific paper sponsored by the Burger King Institute for Cardiovascular Disease would be truly unbiased. I have concluded that the only thing all the scientific journals agree on is that water is good for us. That is followed by organic green leafy vegetables. For everything else, there is only one way to sift through contradictory data – use common sense, eat everything in moderation and exercise regularly. My own addition to that rule is never eat anything you can’t pronounce. But when my kids pretend they can’t pronounce the Indian foods my wife prepares, I let the rule slide.

RAAJEEV’S CORNER Equally oﬀensive to all

By Raajeev Aggerwhil

To Eat or Not to Eat

It is ironic that the richest country in the world has the poorest eating habits. As an Indian-American immigrant, I am concerned about the kind of food my children eat. Although my wife and I try to feed them healthier, they have gotten addicted to processed American junk food. My wife made organic spaghetti sauce from scratch. My son said, “Mom, it is almost perfect. All it needs is a pinch of MSG, Glycerol Abeitate and some other ingredients that I can’t pronounce.”

It is especially hard when we have to travel because the choices are limited. We are constantly bombarded with slick slogans from advertisers. While traveling a few years back, I saw this new advertisement from Cinnabon: “Choose your obsession.” Have you seen the amount of sugar they have in Cinnabon? The slogan should have been, ”Choose your diabetes. Type A or Type B.” My children are not too fond of Indian food and they use their dislike of select dishes to make jokes. My son Neil was standing in the backyard and two deer were staring at him. Suddenly, Neil did something and the deer ran away. When I asked him what scared the deer oﬀ, he smiled and said, “I simply asked them if they wanted to try mom’s Aloo Gobi.” I think he has made so many jokes on Aloo Gobi that whenever my wife and I are at the grocery store and look at cauliﬂower, we automatically remember some of his jokes and smile. When our children were little, we had to work hard to Saathee.com

Raajeev Aggerwhil

LA-based comedian Raajeev Aggerwhil has starred in Nickelodeon’s TV show 100 Things to Do Before High School and also acted in the ﬁlm based on the television series. Follow him on Instagram and Twitter @raajeevcomedy 82

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Saathee

Matar Paneer

reCiPes

Peas and Indian Cheese Curry

Matar (peas) paneer (Indian â&#x20AC;&#x153;cottage cheeseâ&#x20AC;?) is a popular vegetarian Indian curry dish that looks elaborate but is easy to prepare. Our Saathee chef, Taige Shukla, prepared this receipe in less than 45 minutes. That includes time to gather the ingredients. Matar Paneer is popular in India during the winter months when the peas are in season but can be made year round with frozen peas. We always prefer the organic ingredients. This delicious dish with tomato-onion sauce goes great with rice, naan, chapati or paratha. So gather the ingredients and let the adventure begin!

Watch the recipe video at Saathee.com/Taige. Recipe serves 4-6

Ingredients 2 large onions

1 teaspoon cumin powder

2 green chillies

2 teaspoons garam masala

3 medium-sized tomatoes

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

1/2 cup peas (fresh or frozen)

1 1/2 cups hot water

6 tablespoons vegetable oil

Garnish: fresh cilantro

3 tablespoons heavy cream

Salt (to taste)

1 tablespoon ginger paste

Optional for added taste: 5 cloves,

2 tablespoons garlic paste

3 cardamoms & 1 inch cinnamon stick.

2 teaspoons coriander powder Saathee.com

1 pound paneer (recipe on next page)

December 2019

1 2

Start by cubing the onions and tomatoes, then separately grind each into a ﬁne paste in a blender or food processor. Put aside. In a thick bottom pan heat 2 to 3 tablespoons of the vegetable oil and gently sauté the cubes of paneer until golden, place aside on a paper towel. In the same pan, heat the remaining 2 to 3 tablespoons of the vegetable oil (optional: add cinnamon stick, cloves and cardamom seeds and fry them) then add the onion paste til it turns light brown (stir frequently - do not over-fry). When the onion paste is fried, add tomato paste, ginger paste and garlic paste, and sauté for another 2 minutes.

Next, add the coriander, cumin, turmeric, and garam masala powders, and the ﬁnely chopped green chilies and sauté, stirring continuously until oil begins to separate from the masala (spice mixture). Now add the peas to the masala and continue to saute for 2 to 3 more minutes. Then add the previously fried paneer, hot water, and salt to taste, reduce the heat to a simmer and cook until the gravy thickens When the gravy is as thick as you would like, turn oﬀ the heat and stir in the cream. Garnish with cilantro leaves and serve with rice, naan, chapti or paratha.

How to Make Your Own Paneer (Indian Cottage Cheese)

Paneer, a semisolid, cubed form of cottage cheese that readily takes on the flavor of the spices in which it cooks. Ingredients 1 quart whole milk (for a healthier version, use low-fat milk) 1/2 teaspoon citric acid (or lime juice or lemon juice) In a medium-sized pot on medium-high heat, bring milk to a slow-boil until the surface of the milk begins to foam. Reduce the heat and stir in citric acid, continue to stir until the milk is completely curdled. Remove the mixture from the heat when the separation of the curds and whey is complete. Strain the mixture through a clean cheese cloth. Hold it under running water for a minute and then press out the excess water.

Watch the recipe video at Saathee.com/Taige.

Form curds in cheese cloth into a round and place it under something heavy for 15-20 mins (something as simple as a pan with cans on top for added weight). Cut the paneer into cubes. Use the paneer cubes immediately or freeze them for later.

News Notes Travels, Inc.” The evening showcased the young Indian talent at the school. The event was developed and supported by school parents, the school’s own Parents Association and department of Equity and Inclusion, personal donations and commercial sponsorship by several local Indian businesses. The celebration was attended by approximately 380 people and concluded with networking and an Indian dinner.

Diwali Celebrated at Matthews Town Hall

Incorporated in 1879, the Town of Matthews is a Historic Landmark and home to over 30,000 citizens. For the ﬁrst time in its 140 year history, Diwali was celebrated in the Matthews Town Hall with a beautiful Annakut. On October 23, 2019, Mayor of Matthews, local council members and dozens of prominent Indian-Americans gathered for this historic Diwali celebration. The event was organized and hosted by the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Matthews, NC in conjunction with Matthews Cultural Diversity Council. Members from the BAPS congregation opened the program with “Shanti Path” - a prayer for world peace. Youths from BAPS spoke on the importance of Diwali and what it meant to them, followed by a colorful video presentation on BAPS and BAPS Charities. In parallel, Paul Bailey, Mayor of Matthews, and Natisha Rivera-Patrick, Matthews Cultural Diversity Council Chairman, spoke about building a better community and their positive interactions with BAPS. Finally, Mayor Bailey wished the audience a very Happy Diwali and a Happy New Year and oﬃcially presented the Town of Matthews Proclamation in Recognition of Diwali. The event concluded with a traditional exchange of sweets to celebrate the New Year.

The play “Balu Travels, Inc.” starred eleven actors who are fourth to sixth graders at the school. The play was written and directed by Shashank Mishra (a parent at the school) and based on A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. Its story embraces the Diwali spirit centering on a modern day businessman (Balu) who until now doesn’t believe in Diwali or Gods. After a ghostly visit from his deceased brother, Balu endures his future, present, and past through fantastic encounters with Ram, Laxmi and Krishna to ultimately transform. The cast rehearsed on weekends and holidays mastering many scenes and two acrobatic group ensemble sequences to bring the play to life. A running gag was a mock commercial for “Energy Ludoos!” The successful inaugural event generated momentum for future annual events at the school to celebrate Diwali and raise awareness Elegant Aging Conference Held in South Carolina of Indian customs and values. The Elegant Aging Conference and Reception took place on November 16, 2019 with over 100 men and women in “Ekal Vidyalaya” Makes History: Reaches 100,000 Schools Milestone attendance. Speakers included Drs. Sarah Edwards, Sheena Kapadia, Ameesha P. A historic day was marked on November 9, kansupada, Nilima Shukla, Ashwini M. 2019 for the “Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation Punjabi and Preeti P. Matkins. The audience (EVF).” On this day, in a gala called “Future of asked insightful questions on topics ranging India” that was held in New York City, Ekal from caregiver stress, back pain, skin care, reached 100,000 school milestones within the office visit and honoring your body. Dr. minutes of its beginning. At the beginning of Amit Shah and his wife Shilpa at Integra Wellness Center Indian Trail, SC the gala, Ekal had 99,200 schools and so the hosted the event with the help of volunteers. evening was full of anticipated excitement to ring the bell for the magical 100,000-schools landmark. Inaugural Diwali Night Celebration Held at McMahon Theater Mohan Wanchoo, the chairperson of the A “Diwali Night” was held on November 3, 2019 at the McMahon Theater of Fine Arts at Providence Day School, Charlotte. It was the school’s first ever gala, took everyone by surprise with his celebration event for Diwali and consisted of a soirée of Indian classical music announcement. He pledged $1 Million over the and dance and highlighted by an original theater production called “Balu period of five years patching, with immediate Saathee.com

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effect, shortfall amount for 800-schools to reach Ekal’s long running goal of sponsoring 100,000 schools in India. These additional schools will be established shortly and will benefit 25,000 children bringing the annual literacy total to 2.7 Million children. Wanchoo’s pronouncement was celebrated with sparkling fireworks and it also set in motion an outpour of generosity for the rest of the evening. By the end of the evening $3.1 million were raised. This was in addition to the recent Los

Angeles Gala that raised an additional $2 Million. Although rooted in literacy, Ekal has blossomed into empowerment of rural-tribal folks across India. The evening’s keynote speaker was Bollywood celebrity and philanthropist Vivek Oberoi. The evening featured many other well-known supporters. Ranjani Saigal, the Executive Director of Ekal, traced 32-year history of the Ekal, including its transition into a nation building movement. Oberoi pledged to put all his entrepreneur might behind rural issues and spearhead smallscale solar power solutions for energy requirements of villages. He said,” I have already received a commitment of over half a million dollars for such initiative.” At the conclusion of his speech, he applauded Ekal receiving the iconic “Gandhi Peace Prize” from the government of India for its social work in ruraltribal areas with gender equality. For more details on Ekal’s work, visit www.Ekal.org.

Commemorative Coin to Mark 125th Birth Anniversary of Paramahansa Yogananda Released

Swami Smaranananda and Brother Vishwananda receive commemorative coin, honoring the 125th birth anniversary of Paramahansa Yogananda, from India Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. With them are (second from right) Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur and (far right) Culture Secretary Arun Goel Courtesy of Self-Realization Fellowship, Los Angeles, Calif. Saathee.com

The Government of India has released a special commemorative coin in the amount of Rs. 125 to commemorate the 125th birth anniversary of Paramahansa Yogananda. Born on January 5, 1893 in Gorakpur, India, Sri Yogananda, author of the best-selling spiritual classic Autobiography of a Yogi, is widely regarded today as the father of Yoga in the West. The coin release was presided over by India Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday, October 29, 2019 at the Central Secretariat in New Delhi. During the oﬃcial release, the Finance Minister acknowledged Paramahansa Yogananda’s universal message of world harmony among all humankind, and said, “India feels strongly about this great son of the universe who brought harmony to all our hearts and minds.” Paramahansa Yogananda (1893-1952), who founded SelfRealization Fellowship in 1920, is widely regarded as one of the preeminent spiritual ﬁgures of our time. He has made an indelible impression on the spiritual landscape of the West, contributing to an awareness and appreciation of India’s ancient philosophy of Yoga and its science of meditation. For more information about Paramahansa Yogananda and Self-Realization Fellowship, visit www.yogananda.org.

USCIS Implements $10 Fee for H-1B Visa Registration

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has announced a final rule that will require a $10 non-refundable fee for each H-1B registration submitted by petitioning employers, once it implements the electronic registration system. The registration fee is part of an agency-wide effort to modernize and more efficiently process applications to live or work in the United States. The H-1B program allows companies in the United States to temporarily employ foreign workers in occupations that require the application of a body of highly specialized knowledge and a bachelor’s degree or higher in the specific specialty, or its equivalent. Upon implementation of the electronic registration system, petitioners seeking to file H-1B cap-subject petitions, including those eligible for the advanced degree exemption, will first have to electronically register with USCIS during a designated registration period, unless the requirement is suspended. “This effort will help implement a more efficient and effective H-1B cap selection process,” said USCIS Acting Director Ken Cuccinelli. “The electronic registration system is part of an agency-wide initiative to modernize our immigration system while deterring fraud, improving vetting procedures and strengthening program integrity.” The final rule, Registration Fee Requirement for Petitioners Seeking to File H-1B Petitions on Behalf of Cap-Subject Aliens, is effective Dec. 9, 2019, and the fee will be required when registrations are submitted. USCIS is fee-funded, and this nonrefundable fee will support the new electronic registration system to make the H-1B cap selection process more efficient for both petitioners and the agency. USCIS is slated to implement the registration process for the fiscal year 2021 H-1B cap selection process, pending completed testing of the system. USCIS will offer ample notice to the public in advance of implementing the registration requirement. For more info on USCIS, visit www.uscis.gov. December 2019

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jittery people we are. Why are we not getting the results we expect? Why is my relative not responding to my voicemail? Why isn’t anybody responding to my funny Facebook post? Why didn’t the client respond to my email within two hours? This goes on and on until we run out of heartburn medicine. A lot of us are actually hybrid “Time Travelers.” We will plant flower seeds and patiently water them daily over months. We will over-seed and fertilize the lawn on a cold autumn afternoon knowing that everything will lie dead until the first spring rains. Then we will go inside and spaz out about why Netflix is out for 20 minutes. Our patience clocks seem to shift and overwhelm us from minute to minute—pun intended. This is a complex issue, and something we hardly pay attention to daily. But I humbly believe that it is an important one. For a decade, I have become fascinated with the multiple clocks that I live my life with. A lot of these clocks run simultaneously as I travel through Almighty Time. I have thought much about synchronizing these clocks. I have given them nature-related terms. Rocks are things that are very stable in Time. I guess I can say my marriage is one (unless I get screamed at, in which case I call it a flash flood). Leaves are things that are moderate and cyclical. Those could be approaching events like birthdays, anniversaries (which I usually forget), holidays, and festivals. The mind adjusts to those in a different manner due to their safe and evitable nature. Butterflies are just daily random occurrences, some good, others stressful. These range from someone smiling at you to a client wanting a deadline met right now. Glaciers are exactly what they sound like: Very slowmoving things that are powerful and relevant, but you don’t feel them grinding everything in their path to a pulp. Those are ageing, disease, your employer loving you or hating you, your relationships strengthening or collapsing. Sea-Changes are obvious but sometimes also random—deaths, births, marriage, loss of job, etc. These become giant red flags in the fabric of Time which define your past forever. This at best is a crude attempt to explain the many manifestations of Time that run concurrent in our daily lives. Of course, death, your employment, and your tomato plants can’t all operate on the same clock. But silly nature analogies aside, I keep thinking that Time can be controlled because it really is a metaphysical entity that is powered by our minds. Scientists are doing experiments with very old substances like psychedelic mushrooms, which seem to reset mental clocks. Hippies have been trying to replicate these experiments for ages. Many artistic types are not too far behind. It seems we are always in a battle to slow those clocks that are causing stress, anxiety, disease, obesity, and general dysfunction that make us miserable. Incompetent as I may be with a shovel, I keep getting this weird feeling that the answers are actually in the soil. When hyperactive and stressed reporters on deadline talk to relaxed folks who are 118 years old, the answer is always the same – they take it slow, live moderately, and repeat the same routine daily. In my above analogy, these folks went from glaciers to being rocks. The clock has almost stopped. They are like a brick house. Time erodes it very, very slowly. Of course, we can’t all be farmers, but the trick might be the same in the runaway Time world of today: Slow it down by choosing something you love and enjoy; stick with it and you will be on that proverbial rocking chair watching the corn grow very slowly. Now, how to get there. Saathee.com

Nutrition

continued from page 58

that makes the most popular supplement Ensure, recently came out with a plant-based protein shake. Pea protein is the most popular source of these shakes.

• Other trends we saw rise this year and probably will continue next year are things such as Zucchini Noodles, Cauliflower rice, and pasta made from lentils and chick pea flour. Spice it Up As the western world discovers what we have known for thousands of years, the supplement industry is trying very hard to keep up with the demand. • Turmeric – this is the age of the Golden Latte. There are a million recipes online and in coffee shops. We used to make faces, close our noses, and gulp down the warm cup of “haldiwala dudh” when it was forced upon us by our mothers and grandmothers. Now, here, everyone is paying more than $5 per cup of this anti-inflammatory drink. There are also turmeric tea bags, and turmeric pills. • Cinnamon and Ginger supplements are also on the rise. Other spices and supplements to watch for: matcha, ashwagandha and maca.

Nut & Seed Butters Its time think way beyond the lowly peanut butter. Now there are more brands of these spreads made from cashews, macadamia nuts, hazel nuts, sunﬂower seeds, pumpkin seeds, watermelon seeds, and hemp seeds. Many brands are also looking to either eliminate the use of palm oil or promote a Responsibly Sourced Palm Oil certiﬁcation and use nuts that are grown in ways with less likelihood for environmental impact.

Beverages As more people realize the risks associated with artificial sweeteners, the food and beverage industry has become more innovative. There is growing variety of sparkling waters and other flavored beverages that have natural ingredients. The section for herbal teas in the grocery store keeps getting bigger. Indulgent Flavors Fancier palates and specialized taste buds have created a demand for trendy eateries that offer avocado toast, super food smoothies, grain bowls, and bubble teas.

Farm to Table There is an ever-growing desire for people to learn much more about how their food is grown. There is a strong demand for information on where the farm or ranch is located, how the food was grown and how it was processed and packaged. There is a growing trend to but locally grown produce. More people are asking for transparency about where the food comes from.

The Bottom Line Trends may come and go. What should remain is the commitment to eating and living mindfully for your physical and emotional health. So, avoid fad diets. Make simple goals to eat healthy. Avoid all over-processed and junk food. Cook most of your meals at home. Plan to be active and ﬁnd ways to move more. Most importantly, learn to remove stress and be happy. November 2019

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Upcoming Hindu Center Events & Activities: Election Day / General Body meeting: December 8, Sunday Datta Jayanti: December 12, Thursday; Balaji Anniversary: December 14, Saturday Gita Jayanti: December 15, Sunday Tiruppavda Seva: January 1, Wednesday Vaikuntha Ekadasi: January 6, Monday Lohri: January 13, Monday; Pongal & Bhogi Pallu: January 18, Saturday Makar Sankranti & Kite Flying: January 19, Sunday Republic Day: January 26, Sunday Purandar Dasa Aradhna: February 8, Saturday; Maha-Shivratri: February 21, Friday

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7400 City View Drive, Charlotte, NC 28212 Ph. 704-535-3440 Fax. 704-535-6923 email: administrator@hcclt.org

Community Organizations Charlotte

For Further Details: Dr. Shibu Cherian (Pastor) 704.208.9099 12601 Idlewild Rd., Matthews, NC www.carolinaschristianassembly.org

Art of Living (Charlotte) Art of Living is dedicated to serving society by strengthening the individual. This is done through self-development programs that recharge the body, mind and spirit and allow people to function at their optimum potential. All are welcome. For Further Details: 980.216.8732 charlotte@us.artoﬂiving.org www.artoﬂiving.org/charlotte

Charlotte Gita Study Group Beginners and advanced students of the Gita are welcome. The group meets the second and fourth Sunday from 3 - 5pm. Each session starts with meditation followed by a recorded lecture in English and discussion For Further Details: dshetti@gmail.com - 214.587.7331 skdave@hotmail.com - 704.844.9567

BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir (Charlotte) Dedicated to improving society through individual growth by fostering Hindu ideals of faith, unity, and selﬂess service. Activities include: Daily Arti - 6:30 am & 6:30 pm; Weekly Satsang Sabha held Sundays with spiritual discourses: Adults: 4pm, Young Men (Ages 23-36) - 3pm, Young Women (Ages 23-36) - 4pm, Teens - 4:30pm, and Children - 5pm. For Further Details: www.saathee.com/baps-charlotte

Charlotte Malayalee Association The association promotes and facilitates the cultural, educational, social and economic welfare of the Charlotte Malayalee community. For Further Details: cltma@cltma.org 704.517.5850 www.cltma.org

Bethel Christian Fellowship BCF was founded to “Raise Up the Next Generation for Jesus Christ.” The Fellowship oﬀers services in various Indian languages (Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam) with a Sunday School from 9 9:55 am and Sunday Worship from 10 - 11:45 am. For Further Details: 803.792.7223 Pastor Rajan Samuel - pastorofbcf@gmail.com 7604 New Town Road, Waxhaw, NC www.bcfcog.org

Charlotte Marathi Mandal The Mandal adds to the vibrancy of Charlotte with various events including the Ganapati Festival which are designed to keep the cultural values and traditions alive. The community is encouraged to participate. For Further Details: 704.565.9237 committee@charlottemarathimandal.org www.saathee.com/charlotte-marathi-mandal

Brahma Kumaris (Charlotte) The Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual Organization works toward world peace and transformation through self-transformation. Raja Yoga Meditation classes, oﬀered by the Brahma Kumaris are free. This meditation throws light on the importance of rebuilding inner positive energy and provides tools to relax, refresh and recharge. It gives the power to choose good and positive thoughts over those which are negative and wasteful. Sunday mornings - 8am to 9am - Introduction to Raja Yoga Meditation. For Further Details: 704.412.1426 bknc2010@gmail.com www.brahmakumaris.org

Charlotte Telangana Association Association promotes two diﬀerent aspects, to promote Telangana cultural activities within Charlotte area and also to bring together the Telangana people. Also plans and takes action around the development of Telangana focusing both on rural and urban areas. For Further Details: Charlotte.telangana@gmail.com www.charlottetelangana.com

Charlotte Vipassana Meditation Group Vipassana, which means to see things as they really are, is one of India’s most ancient meditation techniques, taught more than 2500 years ago as a remedy for universal ills. The group holds weekly group sits and monthly all-day sits for established students. Tenday courses are also available for all students. There is no charge. For Further Details: 704.277.5013 - rbddesai@gmail.com 704.807.3933 - madhaviparikh@yahoo.com www.dhamma.org

Carolina Khadayata Samaj All Khadayata families of NC and SC are welcome to be part of the Carolina Khadayata Samaj. For Further Details: carolinakhadayatasamaj@yahoo.com Jaswant Mehta - 704.839.1965 (Charlotte) Sharad Mehta - 336.554.5211 (Greensboro) Kaupind Shah - 919.928.2852 (Raleigh)

Classical Music Association of Charlotte (CMAC) CMAC sponsors many classical concerts during the year in Charlotte. Membership forms are available at shows. For Further Details: Lakshmi & Muthukrishnan - 704.814.9355 Jayashree & Panduranga - 704.442.1186 memberservices@onlinecmac.org www.onlinecmac.org

Carolinas Christian Assembly Oﬀers worship, fellowship and community assistance to South Asians in Charlotte. Sunday morning worship services is currently being held at New Heaven Community Church, 8823 Albemarle Road, Charlotte at 9:30am. Pastor Cherian, oﬀers free counseling services to married couples and is a licensed premarital counselor. Saathee.com

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Community Organizations ISKCON (Charlotte) There are weekly meetings to learn and practice bhakti-yoga - for all ages. Celebration of festivals, prasadam, heartfelt kirtan, spiritual discourses, class for kids, association with visiting monks and teachers, and make friends. Bhagavad-Gita class is held on every Friday at multiple locations. For Further Details: 980-277-GITA (4482) Iskconofcharlotte@gmail.com

Dada Bhagwan Foundation (Charlotte) Every living being is in constant pursuit of happiness. This search ends only when the source of eternal happiness is found. It can be attained through realizing your true Self. A path to eternal happiness was discovered by Gnani Purush A. M. Patel (Dada Bhagwan) and it was revealed as Akram Vignan, a spiritual science. Weekly satsang held Every Sunday 1- 3pm & once a month Saturday 2-7pm For Further Details: 877.505.3232 x 1027 wccharlotte@us.dadabhagwan.org 7400 City View Dr, Charlotte, NC www.dadabhagwan.org

Jain Center of Greater Charlotte (JCGC) Serving the spiritual and community needs of Jain families while understanding and preserving the Jain faith. Members meet for worship, ceremonies, and festivals. Organizes religious activities year-round - including celebrating religious festivals such as Mahavir Jayanti, Paryushan, and Diwali, and programs like Swadhyay, Pujas and childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Pathshaala. Upcoming Events: Dec 04: Astha Prakari Puja, 10:30am Dec 13 & 27: Paathshala for Children, 10.30am Dec 16 & 19: Astha Prakari Puja, 9:30am Regular events: Weekdays: 9:30am - Prakshal & Puja; 7:30pm - Aarti, Mangal Divo Weekends: 10:30am - Prakshal & Puja 7:30pm - Aarti, Mangal Divo For Further Details: JCGC President: Saumya Kothari: 858.382.351 info@jaincenterus.org 7631 Mallard Creek Road, Charlotte, NC www.jaincenterus.org

Gurdwara Sahib (Charlotte) The Gurdwara works to enrich the lives of the Sikh & Punjabi communities. Regular Program: Every Sunday: 10 - 11am, Asa Di War by Bhai Satnam Singh Jee, 11am - 12pm, Keertan by Children, 12 - 1:15pm, Keertan by Bhai Satnam Singh Jee, 1:15 - 1:30pm, Ardaas, followed by Guru Ka Langar. For Further Details: 704.509.2828 1760 Stoney Creek Lane, Charlotte, NC www.charlottegurdwara.org

Hindu Center of Charlotte The Center holds many regular events and religious ceremonies. The temple library is stocked with books, CDs, DVDs and other materials on varied genres such as religion, culture, history, philosophy, yoga and health. Upcoming Events: Dec 14: Lord Venkateshwara Anniversary Dec 15: Gita Jayanti For Further Details: 704.534.3440 7400 City View Dr., Charlotte, NC www.saathee.com/hindu-center-charlotte

JET USA (Charlotte) These organizations are operated across the world to empower communities. Activities include personality development and spiritual activities like discourses / puja / homam etc. VTSeva (Volunteering Together for Service) focusing on various service activities. For Further Details: charlotte.jetusa.org jetcharlotte@jetusa.org 704-981-1JET

India Association of Charlotte Works to foster better understanding of the rich diversity of Indian culture by the larger community in and around Charlotte. For Further Details: Toni Sawhney - 704.604.2133 indiafestival.iacofcarolinas.org/

Kriya Yoga (Charlotte) A sincere seeker who follows the path of Kriya Yoga with love and devotion and a desire for spiritual growth can attain Selfrealization. Two annual initiation programs and a weekly Sunday meditation are held. For Further Details: Adesh Gupta - 704.814.7476 info@charlotte.kriya.org www.kriya.org

Indian American Muslim Council (IMAC) of Charlotte Committed to promoting peace, pluralism and social justice through advocacy as well as protecting human rights and dignity in India. IAMC-Charlotte seeks to reach out to Indian Muslims in Charlotte to strive for Inter-Community understanding with focus on Indian Diaspora. For Further Details: Ashfaq Mehdi - 704.904.5778 iamc-charlotte@yahoogroups.com

Madhya Pradesh Association of Charlotte (MPAC) The organization will conduct events and gatherings throughout the year for folks originally from Madhya Pradesh and residing in the Charlotte region. Diwali 2019 celebrations are in the works. For Further Details: mp2clt@gmail.com 980.231.1112

Indian Performing Arts Association of Charlotte (IPAAC) IPAAC promotes Classical Hindustani music and is the result of a shared dream of a small group of music enthusiasts to bring the rich world of classical music and dance from the Indian subcontinent. For Further Details: Jyoti Kulkarni - 704.804.1275 Chaula Jain - 704.248.1515 contact@ipaac.org / www.ipaac.org Saathee.com

Pratham - Charlotte Pratham organizes programs in the area of primary education through its Read India campaign. With nearly half the children in India who attend schools not learning to read and write at the 98

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International Community Church

We Welcome You to Become a Part of This Loving Spiritual Family

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:16 (The Holy Bible)

Regular Activities

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Worship Service - Sundays at 8:30 AM (Dynamic Praise Time) 1524, North Harrison Avenue, Cary (Next to SAS Campus) Children’s Sunday School & Adult Bible Study - Sundays at 11 AM 1215 Jones Franklin Rd Suite 204 Prayer Fellowship - Wednesdays at 7 PM Meet at Five Zones at host families Raleigh, Durham, Apex, Cary, Morrisville & Chapel Hill Zakar Bible Club: Character development of children through memorization of God’s powerful & redemptive word. Please send your child and receive guaranteed life lasting blessing. We welcome you to come and receive a blessing through this evangelical, Christ-centered, Bible-based, non-denominational, loving, caring, mission-minded spiritual family church.

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December 2019

Community Organizations required level, Pratham is trying to ﬁll an important gap in this area. For Further Details: Anju Desai - ajdesai66@gmail.com - 980.622.0125 Shubhra Chakraborty - shubhra.chakraborty1@gmail.com 704.942.4798 www.prathamusa.org

Probasi of Charlotte Probasi’s goal is to organize cultural and educational program related to Bengal in the Charlotte area, to increase Bengali cultural awareness, and to provide community service in the area. For Further Details: Swapan Nandi - 704.708.5993 Anindita Paul Bhunia - 704.360.2326 welcome@probasi.org www.probasi.org

Sahaja Yoga Meditation Classes are free to attend and meant for all age groups who desire to ﬁnd his or her true self, which is full of peace, joy and love for others. Sahaja Yoga was founded and developed by Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi and teaches simple techniques of meditation. Sessions are conducted weekly or biweekly. For Further Details: 5935 Hickory Grove Rd, Charlotte www.meetup.com/SYCharoletteNC/

Samskrita Bharati Sthanam of Charlotte Promotes Samskritam (Sanskrit) as an everyday language and provides access to its rich repository of knowledge. Trained teachers teach Samskritam in spoken and written forms in an interactive environment. Start your journey to speak this ancient foundational language by attending a one-day introductory workshop. No prior knowledge is needed. Four Further Details: Shreedhar Murthy: murthy90232@gmail.com or 513-967-4775 Joy Vyloppully: vykuntha@gmail.com or 704-906-5665. www.sbusa.org

Sangamithra Foundation Formed to make a diﬀerence in society, the team has taken the path of identifying the needs of underprivileged communities in India and provides support to meet those needs. Sangamithra works collectively towards realizing its vision. For Further Details: info@sangamithra.org www.sangamithra.org

Sant Nirankari Mission (Universal Brotherhood) Knowing about God is a knowledge and knowing God is Realization of God as “Knowing about something” is diﬀerent from “knowing something”. God can only be realized with the blessing of living true master. You are invited to join for a weekly congregation. For Further Details: Meena Thohan: 703-443-0584

Shanti Niketan Senior Center of Carolinas The Center values diversity, holistic health, peaceful living and community engagement, especially for under-served populations including Refugees, Immigrants, and minorities. Eﬀorts are made to support a population with the understanding that a diverse Saathee.com

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population adds to the well-being of the community. For Further Details: Nbcharlotte@uisac.org 704.491.1186 7701 Wallace Lane., Charlotte, NC. 28212 www.uisac.org

Shree Swaminarayan Satsang Mandal Vadtal On every 1st Saturday, Shree Swaminarayan Satsang Mandal Vadtal has kirtans and bhajans at the Hindu Center of Charlotte at 5pm. After the bhajans, there is Aarti and Mahaprasad. In addition, on the 3rd Sunday of every month, an additional Satsang Sabha is held at a sponsor’s house from 3 - 5pm. For Further Details: Divyesh Chauhan - 704.965.9735 Sanjay Savaliya - 704.779.7574 admin@issvcharlotte.org issvcharlotte.org

Shri Rang Avadhut Parivar (Parspar Devo Bhav) Devotees of Guru Dattatraya Rang Avadhut and Shri Prem Avadhut meet on Thurs from 6-8pm in Charlotte for recital of “Datta-Bavani,” singing devotional Dattatraya Bhajans and reading “Guru-Lilamrut.” For Further Details: Bharat Shah - 704.724.6247 Nagesh Patel - 704.399.7805

Sindhi Association of the Carolinas The Sindhi Association of the Carolinas (SAC) organizes religious, cultural, community, and social events in Charlotte. SAC also sends donations for the needy to the schools in India for Scholarships and for camp refugees in India. For Further Details: sindhiassociationcarolinas@gmail.com 704.779.2396

South Park Cricket Club (SPCC) The South Park Cricket Club is a group of gentlemen who play competitive cricket for fun. SPCC is based in Charlotte and has been a part of the Carolina Cricket League since 2010. For Further Details: anishtr@hotmail.com www.southparkcc.org

Sparsh of Greater Charlotte Sparsh seeks to build community, preserve our heritage, and showcase the culture of the states of Bihar and Jharkand through cultural, charitable, and social events. For Further Details: sparshofcharlotte@gmail.com 980-221-9641

Srishti of Charlotte Srishti works to fulﬁll the community’s need for togetherness and the desire to showcase Bengali culture, literature, music and arts. Srishti means an act of creation and brings together people of varied cultures, ethnicity, languages, and backgrounds who are interested in East Indian traditions. For Further Details: Santanu Sarkar - santanu_kumar@yahoo.com 704. 541.3451 www.srishtiofcharlotte.org December 2019

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December 2019

Community Organizations Telugu Association of Greater Charlotte Area (TAGCA) TAGCA was formed with an intention of preserving and promoting the Telugu cultural heritage and traditions among the Telugu speaking people in Charlotte. The association organizes social and cultural events and festivals that reﬂect the Telugu culture from India. For Further Details: pr@tagca.org / www.tagca.org Trimurti Temple Devasthanam The temple grounds oﬀer many areas to explore including 14 sanathis with traditional Mandabams for various Hindu deities. Open daily with a Morning Puja at 10am and Evening Puja at 7pm. Sunday Abhisekhams at 11am as well as other special pujas. For Further Details: 980.219.7556 contact@trimurtitemple.org 6519 Beatties Ford Road, Charlotte, NC www.trimurtitemple.org

Vallabh Pushti Samaj of Carolinas (VPSC) VPSC’s objective is to ﬁll devotional needs of Vaishnavs in Carolinas to worship and pray together, celebrate festivals and engage in humanitarian and educational activities. Paath and Bhajan recitations are held on the 2nd Sunday of each month from 4 - 6pm. A VYO Youth (ages 6-14) educational Meet is also scheduled on the 1st & 3rd Saturdays. For Further Details: 1006 Vickie Lane, Matthews, NC www.saathee.com/vallabh-pushti-vpsc

Greensboro

Art of Living (Greensboro) Uncover the strength, peace, and joy at the core of every human being. Courses are oﬀered in Chapel Hill, Raleigh, and Greensboro which cover breathing techniques to eliminate stress; skills for improving relationships; practical wisdom; insight into the laws that govern the emotions; low-impact yoga and the breathingbased technique called Sudarshan Kriya, or the healing breath. For Further Details: Sonal Chhawchharia - sonal.chhawchharia@gmail.com Puja Verma - puja_usa@yahoo.com www.artoﬂiving.org/us-en/greensboro

BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir Greensboro Features Sunday Sabhas: Shishu (Toddlers) sabha: 4 - 5pm; Bal/Balika sabha: 4:15 - 5:30pm; Kishore sabha: 2 - 3:30pm; Main sabha: 4 - 6pm; Gujarati classes: 2:30 - 3:45pm and Arti at 6pm followed by Mahaprasad. Shayona snacks available on Sundays. For Further Details: 336.355.9798 bapsgreensboro@gmail.com 922 Gallimore Dairy Road, High Point, NC www.baps.org/Greensboro

Gujarati Cultural Association of Piedmont (GCAP) The Gujarati Cultural Association of Piedmont serves the Asian Indian community through sponsored events, cultural, educational and social programs. For Further Details: Janak Patel - 919.799.1603 127 Landmark Drive, Greensboro, NC www.gcap.us Saathee.com

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India Association of the Triad (IATNC) Promotes social, cultural and educational interests, develops understanding between members of the Indian community and other residents of the Triad area, and make the latter aware of issues of concern to the Indian community. For Further Details: committee@iatnc.org www.iatnc.org

Indian Association of the Carolinas (IAC) IAC promotes Indian culture by hosting community events, Diwali and Garba and similar celebration and sports events. Their Center is located in Winston-Salem. For Further Details: Gopal - 336.509.5943 Hasmukh - 336.971.5594 (Membership Help) indianac14@gmail.com www.indianac.org

Indo-American Society of NC (IASNC) Supports Indian and South Asian communities in Greensboro, NC and vicinity and other individuals interested in learning the culture, traditions, and arts of India. Speciﬁcally, IASNC promotes Indo-American cultural, arts and sports events and also schoolbased volunteering activities. For Further Details: Krishna Balu - balu4428@inﬁonline.net - 336.292.9462 www.iasofnc.org

Indo-US Cultural Association of Winston-Salem Increase awareness of the cultural heritage of India which is tremendously rich in its diversity and history. Association seeks to reach out to the Indian-American community within the Piedmont and Triad areas to share the vibrant Indian culture and promote cross-cultural understanding. For Further Details: indouswinston@gmail.com 336.575.5348 www.indouswinston.org

Life Mission, USA This ashram has been established to provide physical, mental, emotional and spiritual beneﬁts. All these beneﬁts can be achieved through the natural remedies of yoga therapy, Ayurveda, naturopathy and diet. For Further Details: 336.421.0690 Dr. Manoj - 848.459.7401 lifemissionusa@gmail.com 8136 NC Highway 119, South Mebane, NC www.lifemissionusa.org

Sri Mata Hindu Temple of North Carolina Working to meet the community’s religious, spiritual, and cultural Needs. Panchayatana Puja is the system of worship in the Smarta Sampradaya of Hinduism. It is said to have been introduced by Sri Adi Shankara. Weekdays: 6:30 - 7:30pm; Sat & Sun: 10:30am 12:30pm. For Further Details 336.LOK.MATA (565.6282) info@matahindutemple.org 8535 Lasater Road, Clemmons, NC www.matahindutemple.org December 2019

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Community Organizations Sri Sathya Sai Baba Center (Greensboro) The Sri Sathya Sai Baba Center regularly conducts Sai Bhajans, Study Circles, various service activities and SSE classes (for students) every Sunday from 9:45am - 12:15pm. For Further Details: Swami Rajendran - 908.875.6964 Dr. Varatharajah - 336.851.9150 www.sathyasaicentergso.org

Winston-Greensboro Cricket Club (WGCC) Everyone from Triad Area in NC are welcome. The goals are fun, ﬁtness, and friendship. WGCC is also a member of the Carolina Cricket League. Practice Sessions during the regular season are held every Wednesday at 5:30pm in Weston Park, Winston-Salem. For Further Details: www.wgcricketclub.com

Raleigh

AABAJ (American Association of Bihar and Jharkhand) Organized to bring together the Indian diaspora connected with Bihar and Jharkhand. AABAJ celebrates Holi, Diwali, Chatth and other festivities while promoting and sensitizing the unique culture, music and cuisine from Bihar and Jharkhand. Also conducts Yoga and Art classes. For Further Details: Pragyan Shrivas 919-371-2800 Samarendra Kishore 919-438-0009 aabajmail@gmail.com

Art of Living (Raleigh) Art of Living gives practical knowledge and techniques to unlock deepest potential and bring fullness to life. The techniques are effective in reducing stress and increase health, physical energy, enthusiasm, self-esteem, and clarity of mind. Advance courses are also available. For Further Details: 919.659.5939 / rdu@us.artofliving.org 4000 Bear Cat Way, Suite 102, Morrisville, NC www.artofliving.org/us-en/raleigh

Assamese Association of North Carolina AANC promotes understanding of Assamese culture and language. AANC celebrates festivals and organizes cultural activities like Bihu Dance, music, songs and social events with Assamese culture. Everyone from Assam as well as anyone with any connection to or interest in Assamese culture are welcome. For Further Details: Nilaskhi Phukan - 919.949.1618 - nilakshi_phukan@yahoo.com 919.200.4020 assameseassociation.nc@gmail.com

BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir (Raleigh) Dedicated to improving society through individual growth by fostering Hindu ideals of faith, unity, and selﬂess service. Daily Arti - 7am & 6:30 pm; Weekly Satsang Sabha held every Sunday which includes Bhajans and spiritual discourses: Adults: 4pm, Young Men (Ages 23-36) - 3pm, Young Women (Ages 23-36) - 4pm, Teens - 4:30pm, and Children - 5pm. For Further Details: 1020 Aviation Parkway, Morrisville, NC Saathee.com/baps-shri-swaminarayan-mandir-morrisville-nc Saathee.com

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Bengali Association of North Carolina (BANC) BANC seeks to promote Bengali culture, language, music, arts and social activities by oﬀering varieties of programs for members of Indian-American community within North Carolina and adjacent states. The association is organized exclusively for charitable, cultural, social and educational purposes. For Further Details: exec@banc-online.org www.banc-online.org

Bhaktidham Raleigh This is a Pushtimargiya community and cultural center. The seva and bhakti of Pushtimarg Manorathas are conducted, dedicated and oﬀered to Thakorji based on the path and teachings of â€œShree Jagadguru Shri Vallabhacharya”. The center is blessed by H.H. Shree Dwarkeshlalji Mahoday Shree (Kadi Amdavad). For Further Details: 919-610-4194/ 919-622-1126 Info@pushtimargrtp.com www.pvsr.org.

Bhartiya Senior Citizens of NC (BSCNC) The organization for seniors of Indian origin that are age 60 years and over. Members meet on 2nd Sat of each month at Cary senior center in Bond park in Cary NC from 10 am to 3 pm. The next meeting will be on Saturday, December 14, 2019. A physical therapist will give exercise tips. seniors will also celebrate christmas and new year. For Further Details: amidhara19@yahoo.com

Chinmaya Mission Raleigh-Durham (CM RDU) Founded by Swami Chinmayananda and dedicated to spreading the knowledge of Vedanta and other Hindu scriptures and to provide individuals with the practical means for spiritual growth and happiness. CM RDU conducts weekly discourses (Satsanga-s) and study groups for adults, and classes for youth (Yuvakendra) and children (Bala Vihar). For Further Details: www.chinmaya-RDU.org

Dada Bhagwan Foundation (Raleigh) Every living being seeks happiness. This search ends only when the source of eternal happiness is found. It can be attained through realizing your true Self. A path to eternal happiness was discovered by Gnani Purush A. M. Patel, also known as Dada Bhagwan and revealed to the world as Akram Vignan, a spiritual science. This is based on the foundation of Self Realization. Satsangs at HSNC, Sat 5 - 7pm, followed by Aarti and Prasad. For Further Details: 877.505.3232 x 1003 wcraleigh@us.dadabhagwan.org 309 Aviation Pkwy, Rooms 5 & 6, Morrisville, NC www.dadabhagwan.org Datta Yoga Center (Raleigh) Spreads the teachings of Sadguru Sri Ganapathi Sachchidananda Swamiji. Activities: Namasankeertana - Bhajans written, composed and sung by Pujya Sri Swamiji. Kriya yoga classes conducted by trained teachers from India. The group meets on the ﬁrst Sat of every month and every major festival for Satsang and Namasankeertana (divine singing). For Further Details: Suresh and Madhavi Kota - 919.434.1604 www.dycusa.org December 2019

Community Organizations Duke Diya A student organization and forum for interaction through events relating to South Asian Americans and anyone interested in South Asian culture, politics or economics. Duke Diya represents the six major nations of South Asia: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. Social events like mixers and semiformals, especially with other Duke cultural groups and S. Asian organizations at UNC and NC State, are organized. For Further Details: diya.duke@gmail.com www.dukediya.com

EKTAA Student Organization (NCSU) EKTAA (meaning unity) is the South Asian Student Organization at NC State. The motto is “unity within diversity.” EKTAA strives to spread culture and heritage of South Asia on campus as well as the local community and works hand-in-hand with many organizations on and oﬀ the NCSU campus, as well as South Asian organizations from area universities. For Further Details: ektaaexec@ektaa.org www.ektaa.org Geet Bazaar Radio (NCSU) Sundays from 10am - 12pm on WKNC 88.1 FM, join hosts Afroz Taj and John Caldwell, for a variety of music from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and beyond. They specialize in the music of the Indian ﬁlm industry including ghazals, qawwalis, bhajans, and Indi-Pop. Listen worldwide using the NC State Student Media App or live streaming on wknc.org. For Further Details: Dr. Afroz Taj & John Caldwell - 919.851.1119 geetbazaar@wknc.org

GEM Raleigh Church of God Come and join in every Sunday from 10:45am to 1pm. They have worship services, prayer meetings, Sunday school, and much more. For Further Details: Pastor Thankachan Mathai - 919.395.6208 globalem@gmail.com 3331 Blue Ridge Road, Raleigh, NC

Gokul Bhajan & Vedic Studies (Raleigh) Weekly satsang singing bhajans and glorifying Lord Krishna are held Fridays 7pm - 9pm at the HSNC in Morrisville, NC with a dinner afterwards. Gokulam Learning Center in Durham every 1st & 3rd Saturday from 5pm - 9pm. Children learn slokas, skills, manage and lead projects such as book distribution, charity for cow protection, food for the poor, and prison seva. For Further Details: bkdasa@gmail.com 919.491.9536 www.gokulbhajan.com

Gurdwara Atlantic Coast Sikh Association Meets Sundays for Diwans along with Akhand Paths celebrated on appropriate dates. Classes for Punjabi and religious studies are held for children at the same time. For Further Details: Yadvinder Singh - 919.477.7035 3108 Sparger Road, Durham, NC acsikhassociation.org Saathee.com

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Heartfulness Meditation (Triangle) A simple, heart-based system of meditation centered on the supremacy of heart that helps one realize the ultimate potential within oneself. Regular practice under capable guidance enables aspirants to progressively experience the sublime presence of the divine in their daily lives. It is oﬀered free to seekers worldwide through Shri Ram Chandra Mission. In the Triangle area, group meditations are held on Sun at 8:30am & Wed at 7pm. For Further Details: Raj Solanki - raj_solanki@yahoo.com www.heartfulness.org

Heritage India Association of NC (HIANC) HIANC provides Indian cultural experience through performing and cultural arts, ﬁne arts & crafts of India. Its mission is “to preserve and promote Indian heritage and culture.” HIANC presents several annual events such as Heritage India Festival in April, Gandhi Jayanti in October, Children’s Day in November, and participates in the International Festival of Raleigh in October. For Further Details: www.saathee.com/heritage-india-association

Hindi Vikas Mandal of NC The Mandal, based in the Raleigh-Triangle area, promotes study and appreciation of Hindi and strives to foster Indian culture and traditions through Hindi. HVM has special focus on the youth for the preservation of heritage. Every year HVM organizes Kavisammelan (Poetry Reading); Independence Day, Dushera and a members’ picnic. HVM also conducts weekly Hindi classes (10:30 - 11:30am on Saturdays) at HSNC for children. For Further Details: www.saathee.com/hindi-vikas-mandal

Hindu Society of North Carolina The temple is open daily from 7am - 9pm. Morning Aarti: Mon-Fri 10.30am, Sat-Sun 10am. Evening Aarti: Mon-Fri 7pm, Sat-Sun 6pm. All major religious celebrations are observed. Activities: Yoga, Hinduism and Meditation classes; Weekend Community Classes: Jain pathshala, Hindi classes, Sanskar Gurkul Classes, Tamil classes, Balmukund classes; Youth Aﬀairs: Ohm Squad is the youth wing of HSNC involved in the youth activities like camp, games, and arts. For Further Details: 309 Aviation Parkway, Morrisville, NC www.saathee.com/hsnc HumSub HumSub is dedicated to sharing the social and cultural traditions of India with the residents of the Research Triangle Park and North Carolina. For Further Details: www.saathee.com/hum-sub

Immanuel Assembly of God A full Gospel Christian church serving the Indian / South Asian community in the Raleigh. Service is oﬀered Sundays at 10:30am & Bible Study is Wednesdays at 7pm. For Further Details: Pastor Sam Daniel (919.442.8537) thechurch@immanuelassembly.org samimmanuelag@gmail.com 5419 S. Alston Ave, Durham, NC www.immanuelassembly.org December 2019

919 272 6120

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December 2019

Community Organizations Indian Classical Music & Dance Society (ICMDS) ICMDS is dedicated to promoting Indian classical music and dance in the Triangle area by inviting top artists from all over the world to perform. For Further Details: www.saathee.com/icmds

InStepp Located in Durham, the organization has served women residing in the Triangle area and oﬀers long-term support and training to women who are victims of domestic violence, sexual assault and human traﬃcking; women who are transitioning back into the workforce following separation or divorce; women transitioning from prison or jail, and immigrant women, including women from South Asian cultures. For Further Details: 919.680.8000 info@instepp.org www.instepp.org

International Community Church ICC is a worship center for people from India and neighboring countries. Church services at Reedy Creek Baptist Church. For Further Details: 919.233.2900 Pastor: Joseph B. Jesudason 1524 N. Harrison Avenue Cary, NC www.icc-nc.org

International Hindi Association IHA promotes Hindi language and literature and has chapters all over the United States. The Raleigh Chapter periodically organizes Kavi Sammelans with local and indigenous talents. Open to those interested in listening to poetry or in reciting poetry. For Further Details: Saroj Sharma - 919.460.7830 / 919.656.5224 www.hindi.org

ISKCON of NC (Hillsborough) New Goloka temple is a member of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. Visitors are welcome have darshan of Sri Sri Radha Golokananda. Every Sun at 4pm, there is a special program consisting of arati, kirtan, Bhagavad-gita discourse, and a prasadam feast. Also provides educational classes and programs for children and adults. Daily Darshan at 4:30 - 5am, 7:15am - 1pm, 4:15 - 5:45pm, 7 - 8pm. Sat - Sun Darshan open from 7:15am - 8pm. For Further Details: 919.732.6492 newgoloka108@gmail.com 1032 Dimmocks Mill Rd. Hillsborough, NC www.newgoloka.com

Jain Study Center of North Carolina (JSCNC) The JSCNC was organized to study and understand Jain religion, philosophy, rituals, and literature and to educate children. The center participates in many activities for youths and adults, where an environment is created making members feel like a part of the family. Jain pathshala and swadhyay are held routinely for children and adults. For Further Details: jscnc101@gmail.com jscnc.org Saathee.com

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Kiran, Inc. Kiran serves and empowers South Asian victims of domestic violence in NC by helping them rebuild their lives and ending the cycle of violence. Although domestic violence is rarely talked about, it is a preventable public health problem. Kiran promotes healthy family relationships and raises awareness on the prevalence of domestic violence through outreach and advocacy. Core services comprise of a 24-hour free and conﬁdential hotline, crisis counseling, legal advocacy, translation assistance, resource referrals, skills development and other support services. For Further Details: www.saathee.com/kiran-inc www.kiraninc.org 24 hours Crisis line: 877-NC-KIRAN (877-625-4726) kiran@kiraninc.org Oﬃce: 919.831.4203

Krishnadham USA The mission is to foster richness of Hindu heritage in children and to provide experiences on cultural values to visitors and residents alike under the guidance of Vaishnavacharya Shri Dwarkeshlalji Mahoday. Satsangs and monthly manoraths celebrate various Pushtimargiya festivals. They meet at 4000 Bearcat Way, Suite 102 in Morrisville, NC on Sat from 5:30pm to 7:00pm for Satsang. For Further Details: Hemant Sura - 919.608.2412 krishnadham.nc@gmail.com 795 Beaver Creek Road in Apex, North Carolina

Maitri (NCSU) A student organization at NC State that aims at unifying various cultures at university while working to help and support Indian students at NC State, but also creates opportunities for them to immerse in the global culture. For Further Details: maitri.ncsu@gmail.com www.maitrincsu.org

North Carolina Pakistani-American Anjuman The NCPAA is a non-political, cultural and social organization that strives to promote the presence of the people from Pakistan living in the Triangle area. Their mission is to provide cultural and social interaction for the families and individuals of the Pakistani community and to oﬀer a variety of programs and services to its members. For Further Details: www.ncpaa.org

North Carolina Tamil Christian Fellowship The Tamil Christian Fellowship meets in Morrisville/Cary/Apex, North Carolina twice a month for worship, study and prayer. For Further Details: 919.747.4115 (Prasanth) nctamilchristian@gmail.com

Pratham - Triangle Area Pratham works towards universalizing primary education in India. It continues to evolve, grow and works to meet the continually changing needs of the children it educates. The NC chapter actively aims to collaborate with individuals, local organizations and community associations and seeks ideas, volunteers and resources to deliver the vision of “Every Child in School and Learning Well.” For Further Details: Sri Rajgopalan - rajagoph@yahoo.com Ravi Sundarajan- ravisrajan@yahoo.com www.prathamusa.org December 2019

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December 2019

Community Organizations Radha Krishna Temple of NC Organizes keertans/chantings, havan, pooja, abshik, bhog, aratis, and all day festivities. For Further Details: 919.685.0447 or 919.306.3175 635 Hollands Chapel Road, Apex NC

Raleigh Sai Center Parthi Sai devotees meet Sundays from 4 - 6:15pm in the Mini-Hall of Hindu Bhavan in Morrisville. There is also a study circle, Bhajan Practice, Veda Chanting between 4 - 5pm depending on the week, followed by bhajans from 5 - 6:15pm. The center carries out several service activities as well, including Human Values Education (SSE) classes for children. For Further Details: rsc.president@yahoo.com raleighsaicenter.org

Raleigh Won Buddhism Meditation Center A modern expression of Buddhism stressing equality between the sexes, between the ordained and laity and teaches practical spirituality of both mind and body. Sun from 5-6:30pm, various forms of meditation are taught. Also contemplate and discuss practical dharma teachings. Thur from 7-8:15pm, meditations include Qi-gong, deep silent sitting, and lying down relaxation. For More Details: 919.933.6946 ncwonbuddhism@gmail.com 2816 Pleasant Union Church Road, Raleigh, NC www.WonBuddhismNC.org

Ramakrishna Vedanta Society of NC The Society draws inspiration from the philosophical wisdom of the Vedanta as practiced and preached in the modern day by Sri Ramakrishna, Sri Sarada Devi and Swami Vivekananda. Practical Vedanta and the message of the harmony of religions and the spiritual oneness are studied. For Further Details: 919.412.8304 / vedantanc@gmail.com 3109 Globe Road Morrisville, NC www.vedantanc.org

RTP Maharashtra Mandal The goal of the Mandal is to advocate the vibrant culture, the rich heritage and the language of Maharashtra. The Mandal is dedicated to showcase the cultural, social and traditional attributes of Maharashtra to the local community through variety of programs and events such as Makar Sankrant, Shiv Jayanti, Gudi Padwa, Ganesh Festival and Diwali. For Further Details: mail@rtpmm.org www.rtpmm.org

RTP Tamil Catholic Association Formed by Catholics hailing from Tamil Nadu, the objectives are to support worship through regular Roman Catholic mass and prayer, celebration of religious feasts and festivals and to pass on this tradition to future generations. Also active with religious instructions in Tamil, support for Tamil heritage and charitable causes. Meets the 3rd Sunday every month at St. Lourdes Matha Church to recite the rosary and celebrate the holy mass. For Further Details: rtptamilcatholic@gmail.com 1400 Vision Drive, Apex, NC www.rtptamilcatholic.org Saathee.com

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Sahaja Meditation Meetings, seminars and workshops are available in Raleigh. There is never a charge for Sahaja Meditation instruction. RSVP in meetup: Sahaja-Meditation-Triangle-Group Thursdays at 7:30pm. For Further Details: 919.757.3135 balaram.krishna@gmail.com www.sahajamediation.com

Sant Nirankari Mission (Universal Brotherhood) Knowing about God is a knowledge and knowing God is Realization of God as “Knowing about something” is diﬀerent from “knowing something”. God can only be realized with the blessing of living true master. Join the weekly congregation. For Further Details: Sherry: 919-673-1963 sherrydayal@gmail.com

Sewa RTP Sewa RTP, a chapter of Sewa International, organizes activities ranging from local community service to fundraisers for developmental projects in India. Sewa RTP has following activities on monthly basis: Sewa Day, Workshops / Seminars, Assisting Community in Emergency situations, Chapter Meetings - 3rd Thursday of every month. For Further Details: www.sewausa.org/chapter/raleigh/raleigh-overview

Shree Swaminarayan Hindu Temple (ISSO) ISSO’s objective is to advance the Sanatan Dharma in accordance with the principles and teachings of the Original Shree Swaminarayan Sampradaya. A weekly “Satsang Sabha” is held every Saturday (5-8pm), which includes Kirtan bhakti, Katha, Aarti and Mahaprasad. Open daily 8am to 12pm and 4pm to 9pm; Daily Sandhya Aarti: 7pm. For Further Details: 500 SE Maynard Road, Cary, NC www.saathee.com/issonc

Sky Meditation and Kaya Kalpa Yoga Beneﬁts include longevity, wellness and stress management. The group holds weekly group meditation and Simpliﬁed Physical Exercises every Friday. SKY Meditation initiation and SKY Kaya Kalpa Yoga Courses are held several times a year. For Further Details: Rajendran Kailasam - 919.824.8429 sky.cary@yahoo.com / www.vethathiri.edu.in

South Indian Fine Arts Academy (SIFAA) SIFAA works to arrange and promote concerts and performances in the Triangle and Triad areas, concentrating on Carnatic music. For Further Details: sifaa.music@gmail.com www.sifaa.org

Sri Shirdi Saibaba Mandir of NC The Mandir promotes Sai philosophy and facilitates worship and services similar to Shirdi SaiBaba Temple, located in Shirdi-India. This organization is dedicated to sponsoring and supporting religious, spiritual, cultural, educational and charitable activities in the US and abroad. For Further Details: 919.386.1085 info@shirdisaimandirnc.org 1150 NW Maynard Road, Cary, NC www.shirdisaimandirnc.org November 2019

Community Events

North Carolina Jazz Festival: Wilmington, NC (January 23-25, 2020)

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Vivaah South Asian Wedding Expo: Raleigh, NC (January 12, 2020)

Uthsaav Wedding and Event Planners present the 2020 Vivaah South Asian Wedding Expo on Sunday, January 12, 2020 from 12 noon to 6pm. The event will be held at the Raleigh Marriott Crabtree Valley. Vendors will be on hand to fulfill whatever you need for the perfect wedding. Raffle prizes will be available and a fashion show showcasing the latest wedding outfits will be held at 4pm. Registration for the event can be found at www.uthsaav.com. Contact uthsaav@gmail.com or 919-6943748 for further details.

Free Citizenship Classes: Durham and Garner, NC (starts January 23, 2020)

InStepp Inc. in partnership with Wake County Public Libraries will host classes to help Legal Permanent Residents learn everything they need to know about American history, government and culture to pass the citizenship exam. Students who complete the 10-week class will receive discounted assistance ﬁling their Naturalization Form. InStepp presents this 10-week class on Mondays & Thursdays starting on Thursday, January 23, 2020 at the South Regional Library in Durham from 6-8pm. A required orientation as well as class placement tests will be held on Monday, January 13, 2020. The classes will also take place at the Southeast Regional Library in Garner. A required orientation as well as class placement tests will be held on Saturday, January 18, 2020. To register call InStepp at 919-680-8000.

Enjoy the 40th anniversary of one of the largest traditional jazz festivals in the Southeast. This musical weekend starts on Thursday, January 23, 2020 with “Rising Young Stars” Jon Hill Ensemble, the sultry Veronica Swift with The Emmett Cohn Trio and then continues Friday and Saturday (January 24 & 25) with four hour concerts featuring seven sets with six or seven musicians per set (each with a diﬀerent leader). See the full list of scheduled performers and ticket information at www.ncjazzfestival.org.

Charleston Jazz Festival (January 23-26, 2020)

The 6th Annual Charleston Jazz Festival will be held between January 23 & 26, 2020 and present performances by a wide variety of talented jazz artists. From legends of jazz to emerging artists, to Charleston’s most celebrated home-grown talent, artists of the Charleston Jazz Festival will perform a wide range of styles including Swing, Salsa, Blues, Brazilian, the American Songbook and more. Find more info including performers and ticket pricing at www.charlestonjazz.com.

Republic Day Celebrations: Charlotte, NC (January 26, 2020)

The Hindu Center of Charlotte presents India’s Republic Day Celebrations on Sunday, January 26, 2020 at the Vihar Hall from noon to 3pm. This free event will feature ﬂags hoisting, singing on national anthems and a lively cultural show with regional performers. For more details call 704-206-9348 or 704-535-3440. Website: www.hcclt.org.

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Community Organizations Sri Siddhi Vinayaka Temple (Durham) The temple is open daily with puja services, along with celebrations of religious festivals and other events. For Further Details: 984.888.5306 410 North Carolina 55 STE D & C, Durham, NC ssvpriestservices@gmail.com www.srisiddhivinayakatemple.org.

SV Temple of North Carolina The temple, a tribute to Lord Venkateswara and his consorts, is designed to exacting standards of shilpa shasthra and features the only shrine in N. America to incorporate abodes to Lord Viswaksena and Lord Sudarshana/Lord Narasimha as part of Srinivasa Parivaram. The temple rituals are performed in accordance with Pancharathra Agama Shastra. For Further Details: www.saathee.com/sv-temple-nc

Tamil Cultural Association of North Carolina (TCA NC) TCA NC was formed for the purpose of providing youths with exposure to Tamil culture. Everyone is invited to join TCA and become part of the organization promoting Tamil culture in the Triangle area. For Further Details: tca_nc@yahoo.com www.tcanc.org The Point Church Urdu (Cary) The Point Church Urdu is the ﬁrst Hindi, Urdu and Punjabi speaking church in North Carolina. Pastor Tamran Inayat started the church so that all can pray, worship & listen to the word of God in their own heart language, and also have fellowship with South Asian community. Service is held every Saturday at 5pm with Desi food afterwards at 1503 Walnut Street, Cary, NC 27511 For Further Details: Pastor Tamran Inayat 646.220.8595 www.pointchurch.com

Triangle Area Telugu Association (TATA) TATA is committed to building a vibrant Telugu Community and promoting Telugu culture and language in the Triangle area of North Carolina. For Further Details: www.triangletelugu.org

Triangle Bangladesh Society (TBSNC) TBSNC strives to arrange musical programs by artists who have captured the hearts and minds of millions of Bengali, Urdu and Hindi-speaking music fans all around the globe. For Further Details: Ishtiaquem@gmail.com www.tbsnc.org

Triangle Gujarati Association (TGA) TGA’s mission is to promote and serve Gujarati culture in the Triangle area by organizing various events and programs throughout the year and impart Gujarati culture and language on the youth. For Further Details: www.saathee.com/triangle-gujarati-association Saathee.com

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Triangle Vegetarian Society (TVS) The mission of TVS is to build a sense of community between current vegetarians and those interested in vegetarianism and have a forum for a discussion of issues. TVS was formed promote the nutritional, ethical, environmental, and other aspects of vegetarianism. Build a sense of community among people with interests in plant-based diets, encouraging healthy and sustainable. For Further Details: barman@cs.unc.edu www.trianglevegsociety.org

Triangle Vipassana Meditation Vipassana, which means to see things as they are, is one of India’s most ancient techniques. Group sittings are held every Saturday and are only meant for students who have completed 10-day Vipassana course as taught by S N Goenka. For Further Details: Hitesh & Vaibhavi Parekh - 732.213.9660 / 919.601.3555 carync.sittings@gmail.com www.dhamma.org

Urdu Majlis The Triangle’s Urdu Literary Society meets monthly on the campus of UNC Chapel Hill and the life and works of major South Asian poets are discussed as well as opportunities to share original poetry and writing. Urdu Majlis is co-sponsored by the Carolina Asia Center and the South Asia Section of the UNC Department of Asian Studies. It has no political or religious aﬃliations. For Further Details: Afroz Taj - taj@unc.edu - 919.851.1119 Seema & Ashraf Faruqi - seemafaruqi@hotmail.com - 919.596.4792

Vaishnav Samaj of Triangle Area A group of like-minded devotees who meet for religious worship and understand Pushti Marg Principles at large. Bhajan recitations are held 2nd Sunday of the month from 4-6pm and Seniors are requested to encourage youngsters to participate. For Further Details: Arvindbhai Shah - 919.233.7677 Vithalbhai Shah - 919.803.9027

Vraj Education Raleigh Kendra The Kendra is conductis weekly teaching of Hinduism and Pushtibhakti Marg backed by Vraj Temple Pennsylvania. Raleigh Vaishnav children get an opportunity to recognize, learn, and exercise Pushtimarg guidelines and leverage rich Shri Vallabh Mahaprabhuji heritage to improve lives. For Further Details: vraj.raleigh@gmail.com www.facebook.com/VrajEducationCenter/

Won Buddhism Meditation Temple A modern, simpliﬁed expression of Buddhism that stresses equality between the sexes, the ordained and laity and teaches practical spirituality of mind and body. Join on Saturdays and Sundays from 10-11:30am for meditation, chanting, Qi-gong exercise and practical dharma talks. The primary teacher is Rev. Wow-Gong. For More Details: 919.933.6946 ncwonbuddhism@gmail.com 8021 Old NC 86, Chapel Hill, NC www.WonBuddhismNC.org December 2019

Medicaid

Road Trip the Desi Way

continued from page 44

mangoes for the first time after immigrating from India and in their delight had a lunch made entirely of the national fruit of India. Road trips are truly a unique way to learn more about our world, one’s family history and about each other. The confines of an automobile and hours of driving provide the perfect atmosphere for seemingly pointless games which reveal a part of our personality and preferences we don’t get many chances to express: What is your most prized possession? What is your dream destination? Which three wishes would you ask for if you could? What is your favorite childhood memory? The Road Trips Project: Reimagining an American Tradition is an exceptional undertaking by the non-profit, Philadelphiabased organization, South Asian American Digital Archive (SAADA), which aims to archive the South Asian road trip experience. Photographs spanning many decades capture the excitement and wonder of exploring the dramatic landscapes and renowned memorials of the United States. In many of the featured stories I saw my own family: staying with friends along the trip, packing homemade food and Desi snacks for the journey, standing in complete awe in a national park and creating memories that will be passed down from one generation to another. Today when I see most kids, teens and even adults mindlessly scrolling on their phones while traveling together in a car, being together yet apart, I have faith that even in the tiniest instances of togetherness a memorable moment will be created. And that’s the beauty of discovering more about loved ones while on a journey—-you don’t need to go far to travel a great distance.

Mirror Mirror

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collaborated with John Denver to sing Christmas songs. I still have the LP version of that album on the shelf to this day. Life’s like a movie Write your own ending Keep believing, Keep pretending We’ve done just what we set out to do Thanks to the lovers, the dreamers, and you… ~ “The Magic Shop/Rainbow Connection Reprise” from The Muppet Movie

continued from page 74

Also, CMS issued a proposed rule that would overhaul socalled supplemental payments that many states receive to help their hospitals, nursing homes and doctors get extra funding beyond those received when caring for Medicaid enrollees. The federal government spent about $48.5 billion on such supplemental payments in 2016 for states. The payments — as a share of total Medicaid fee-for-service expenditures for health providers — ranged from 1 percent in North Dakota to 65 percent in Tennessee, according to a Congressional Research Service report. CMS and congressional investigators have said the payments allow states to game the system to help bring in additional revenue for these providers without showing how they spend the money. “I recognize that these schemes often have their roots in self-interested providers, egged on by opportunistic consultants seeking to leverage regulatory loopholes or hide behind a lack of transparency,” Verma said. “I know that most state leaders want to make sure every dollar is supporting value and improving care for Medicaid beneficiaries, and those of you that are doing the right thing have nothing to worry about. We have your back.” The supplemental Medicaid payment system has come under criticism for many years because of the lack of transparency at the state level. However, efforts to curtail the spending have faced pushback from states and providers fearful of losing dollars. Matt Salo, executive director of the National Association of Medicaid Directors, said state officials are open to efforts to bring more transparency but they will be cautious about anything that severely reduces their funding. “The challenge is, how do you do this in a thoughtful, realworld way?” Salo said. “We have to do it in a way that is achievable but that does not jeopardize patient care in the process.” Verma acknowledged that the uninsured rate among children has grown in the past two years despite the strong economy. She said the solution is to lower health costs to make it easier for their parents to afford private coverage. Patient advocates have blamed states’ efforts to tighten Medicaid eligibility as a leading factor in the drop in coverage. Nonetheless, Verma said she would push states to further limit eligibility to make sure only those eligible are getting benefits. “Lax eligibility practices jeopardize the sustainability of the program,” she said. CMS will “ensure that states conduct timely redeterminations and make use of appropriate data sources to verify ongoing income eligibility.” Salo said state Medicaid directors agree with the need for appropriate safeguards to make sure ineligible people are not getting assistance. But, he added, forcing enrollees to go through more steps to get and retain coverage will come at a cost of losing people who truly deserve help. “You want government to work for people and want to create a system that if you are eligible it should be easy to get on,” he said. “And if you set barriers and hurdles, you will lose a lot of people who are eligible but could not deal with the paperwork.”

Henson would go on to give the world more of his unique creations with everything from The Dark Crystal to The Muppet Babies to The Storyteller and while not all of his ideas became huge hits at the time, most have gone on to become nostalgic classics to fans young and old. To think that Sesame Street is 50 years old, The Muppet Movie is 40 years old, and both still hold an endearing place in our hearts says a lot about the gift that Jim Henson left on the world. My mother made me a Muppet fan when she sat me down to watch Sesame Street for the ﬁrst time when I was only a few months old… and that has never gone away. Jim Henson left us on May 16, 1990 at the age of 53, but the legacy he left behind is one that we all cherish. He kept us smiling by working with felt hand puppets of all shapes and sizes. He created innovative ways to entertain, educate, and appreciate. While Disney may own the rights to The Muppets now, we will always remember those moments where Jim Henson gave us just a glimpse into his beautiful world, like a moment in the swamp where one frog sat on a log with a banjo For more stories visit, www.KHN.org. made our face smile and our hearts swell. Saathee.com

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December 2019

Community Organizations Regional

Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation of India Ekal was established to help in the development of the remote tribal and rural villages in India. Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation of USA is committed to the cause of eradicating illiteracy from tribal areas. Education is the key to self-esteem, self-sustenance, and economic freedom. Conducts fundraising and awareness programs in Raleigh & Columbia. For Further Details: Southeast Regional President: Chander M. Aggarwal - cmaggarwal44@gmail.com - 407.454.3739 Carolinas Regional President: Janak Dalal - jaydalalcolumbia@gmail.com - 803.665.4050

Hindu Society of Eastern NC (Greenville, NC) The temple celebrates major festivals and holds regular bhajan seesions and Geeta study. For Further Details: Temple - 252.752.2670 B.S. Srivatsa - 508.654.0360 Hindutemplenc@gmail.com

ISKCON Temple of the Holy Name in Prabhupada Village The Temple, situated in a peaceful, rural area, is a member of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON). Come and take darshan of Sri Sri Parama Karuna Nitai Gaurasundara from 5am-7:30pm, 7 days a week and special program held every Sunday at 3pm with arati and kirtan, bhajans, discourse on the Bhagavad-gita, As It Is, and a pure vegetarian feast - all free. For Further Details: 336.593.2322 tothn@iskconpv.org 1283 Prabhupada Rd. Sandy Ridge, NC www.iskconpv.org

Nithyananda Sangha NC (Inner Awakening) Inner Awakening works to spread the knowledge of Yoga and meditation by letting people experience the teachings of Vedic Science in its purest form delivered by the enlightened master Paramahamsa Sri Nithyananda. This chapter is part of a worldwide movement for meditation and healing. Paramahamsa Nithyananda is a leader in the science of enlightenment and the author of more than 300 books published in 27 languages. For Further Details: 704.766.1420 / 704.992.6114 innerawakening.org nithyananda.org

Nuv Yug Nuv Yug is a cultural organization with a mission to promote awareness of Indian cultural arts and heritage while striving to create synergy among various cultural groups from the South Asian region. For Further Details: www.saathee.com/nuv-yug

Prabhupada Village A rural, devotional community, nestled in the foothills of the Blue Ridge. Inspiration and guidance is derived from the books, letters, and lectures of His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the Founder-Acharya of ISKCON, The International Saathee.com

Society for Krishna Consciousness. Following Srila Prabhupada’s personal example, spiritual values in order to achieve true happiness, prosperity and spiritual fulﬁllment are taught. Serving Hindu communities, visiting homes for fellowship, worship, scriptural study, and kirtan. . For Further Details: 336.593.8108 or 336.593.3031 sarvadrik@gmail.com www.prabhupadavillage.com

Sacred River Cow Sanctuary The sanctuary is a goshala in the foothills near Iskcon’s Temple of the Holy Name. Connect with nature, discover the joy of cow seva, and introduce your children to the importance of cows in Vedic culture. To arrange a visit or Pooja, call 336-339-3070. For Further Details: Sacred River Cow Sanctuary on Facebook.

Sri Somesvara Temple (Asheville) The temple is located in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Western NC. It is a Vedic Shiva temple at the center of Mount Soma, a community commonly referred to as “Mount Kailash of the West.” People travel great distances to experience Sri Somesvara’s powerful Linga, profound silence, and timeless vibrations. The temple is open every day from 9:30am to 6:30pm. Aarti is at 6pm. For Further Details: 828.476.4073 / www.srisomesvara.org

South Carolina

American South Asian Cultural Association of Columbia, SC The goal is to increase cultural awareness and develop cultural understanding among American South Asian Community in Columbia, SC area. A lunch meeting will be held on the second Sunday every month between 1 - 2:30pm. For Further Details: 803.233.7042 / 512.547.7077 (Evenings) 1728 Bush River Road, Columbia, SC

Carolina Buddhist Vihara (Greenville, SC) A temple and monastery oﬀering teachings of the Buddha, primarily by bringing Theravada Buddhist nuns and monks to Greenville. Meditation is on Mon & Thur from 6- 8pm & for women only on Fri 9- 10am. Sutta discussion on Sat from 2-4pm. For Further Details: 864.329.9961 / greenvillebv@gmail.com 113 Woodridge Circle, Greenville, SC www.carolinabuddhist.net

Dada Bhagwan Foundation (Columbia) Every living being is in pursuit of happiness; no one likes suﬀering. This search ends only when the source of eternal happiness is found. It can be attained through realizing your true Self. A path to eternal happiness was discovered by Gnani Purush A. M. Patel, also known as Dada Bhagwan and it was revealed to the world as Akram Vignan, a spiritual science. This is based on the foundation of Self Realization. Weekly satsang held Every Sat 5- 7pm with Q & A sessions, aarti, and Mahaprasad. For Further Details: 877.505.3232 x 1035 wccolumbia@us.dadabhagwan.org Regency Inn. 1335 Garner Lane, Columbia, SC www.dadabhagwan.org

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December 2019

Spartanburg Buddhist Center of SC The Center’s resident monks seek to preserve Theravada Buddhist traditions and welcomes all interested in Buddhism, Southeast Asian culture, or meditation. A regular English-speaking group meets at 6pm on Thursdays for meditation, a brief Dhamma talk, and short discussions. For Further Details: 864.327.8726 770 Bryant Road, Spartanburg, SC www.facebook.com/spartanburgbuddhist2012

Hindu Society of Greater Spartanburg Satsangs are held from 5-7pm on the second Sunday of each month. The Society also celebrates religious and social festivals based on the Hindu calendar. Balvihar does not meet on a regular basis, the temple is active in sponsoring children’s programs. For Further Details: 864.599.7048 1130 Fairview Church Road in Spartanburg, SC pluralism.org/proﬁle/hindu-society-of-greater-spartanburg/

Hindu Temple and Center (Columbia, SC) The temple is open on weekdays between 8:30am to 12 noon and between 5pm and 8:30pm. On weekends, the temple is open between 8:30am to 1pm and 5pm to 8:30pm. Bal Gokulam (Sunday School) classes are held Sundays from 10:30am to 12 noon. Classes are designed to help children build physical, mental, cultural, social & spiritual lives. For Further Details: 803.772.6940 5704 Kiawah Road, Columbia, SC www.hindutemplesc.org

Telugu Association of Greater Greenville TAGG is devoted to the awareness and promotion of Telugu Culture in the Greenville Area. The association caters to the cultural and social needs. TAGG organizes events to celebrate major festivals and organizes a picnic during the summer as scheduled activities. In addition, TAGG screens choice Telugu ﬁlms throughout the year and organizes special cultural events, usually performed by artists from USA and visiting from India. For Further Details: www.taggsc.org

Vedic Center of Greenville Daily Aarti is conducted Mon - Fri at 8pm. Bal Vihar classes are conducted Sundays from 11:15am - 12:30pm. Sri Venkateshwara Suprabhatam is held on 2nd Saturday of each month at 9am. Temple is open from 9 to noon and from 5 to 9 pm daily. Various religious services are oﬀered. For Further Details: President: Janak Desai - 864.884.5183 520 Bethel Road, Mauldin, SC www.vediccenterofgreenville.org

Kannada Association of Greater Greenville (KAGG) An organization devoted to the awareness and promotion of Kannada culture in the area. KAGG is a primarily run by volunteers and invites Kannadigas living in and around Greenville area to participate in the organization. Kannada classes for children are also conducted. For Further Details: 864.430.4973 kaggculturalcommittee@gmail.com www.kagg-sc.org

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115

December 2019

Youth Corner Word World

2. The 64th Filmfare award of 2019 for the best lead actress of Bollywood films was given to (a) Aliya Bhatt (b) Deepika Padukone (c) Tabu (d) Rani Mukerji

Make words using 4 or more letters. The central letter must be used in each word. Letters cannot be used more than once per word. Use all letters for the subject word (underlined in solutions below) 11+ words = Excellent; 7 to 10 words = Good; 6 or less = keep looking. Words we found are in solutions below.

Dadaji’s Short Story

A Panchatantra Tale: The Clever Monkey

In India, there was a mighty river where a brown crocodile lived. On the banks of the river, there was a forest with many fruit-bearing trees. A monkey had made his home on such a tree with the branches overhanging in the water. In that time, the croc and the monkey developed a friendship. The croc used to swim up the tree and eat the fruits that monkey threw down to him. One day, the croc saved a ripe fruit and took it to his wife on the opposite bank of the river. She ate the fruit and asked: “Who gave you such a delicious fruit?” Croc: “My good friend monkey gave it to me.” She thought how much more delicious must be the heart of that monkey who eats sweet fruits. “If you love me, you must get me the monkey’s heart,” she said. The croc went to the monkey with a sad face. Monkey: “Why are you sad?” Croc: “My wife scolded me for not inviting you to our home! Please come back with me. Do not fear. I will carry you on my back safely.” The monkey agreed and hopped on his back. In the middle of the swirling water, the croc said to the monkey, “I am carrying you to my wife who wants to eat your heart. In spite of our deep friendship, I love her and must carry you to her.” The sharp witted monkey replied: “Why did you not tell me so before we left? I forgot my heart on that tree! Take me back and I will get my heart.” The croc turned back. As soon as they were near the bank, the monkey jumped high on the tree. The croc asked the monkey to throw down the heart. Now the monkey was out of danger and said: “You are a fool. How could I have forgotten my heart on the tree? Go away and never come back. You have cheated me and you do not deserve my friendship.” The croc realized his mistake and laughed: “I was just joking. My wife has no need for your heart. Please return with me.” The monkey replied: “How stupid you are to say so now. Tell your wife that I will not return.”

The moral of the story: Be aware of friends who cheat. Remember, cheaters always make mistakes. Be smart. Saathee.com

3. The fastest fish in the world is (a) Sailfish (b) Blue Shark (c) Tarpon (d) Swordfish

4. The chemical Formula for washing soda is (a) NaOH (b) NaHCO3 (c) NaCl (d) Na₂CO₃

5. How many people have the Blood Type O+ ? (a) Approx. 40% (b) Approx. 30% (c) Approx. 8% (d) Approx. 1% 6. The longest interstate highway in US is (a) I-10 (b) I-40 (c) I-80 (d) I-90

7. In 2000, the Prime Minister of India was (a) Indira Gandhi (b) Atal Bihari Vajpayee (c) Rajiv Gandhi (d) Narendra Modi

8. How long does it take to cut a rope 121 ft. long to cut each piece one foot long, if it takes one minute per cut? (a) 122 Minutes (b) 121 Minutes (c) 2 Hours (d) 119 Minutes

9. The NCAA men's basketballs have a maximum circumference of (a) 30” (b) 29” (c) 28” (d) 27”

10. Bhagavat Gita, a dialogue between Krishna and Arjun is about — years old, per Hinduism. (a) 7000 (b) 6000 (c) 5000 (d) 4000 Answers are below. No Peeking.

Scholar: All correct; 1st Class: 9 Correct; 2nd Class: 8 Correct; 3rd Class: 7 Correct; Need to improve: 6 or less

Word World (Solution): ADIT, ALGID, ALIT, ATIGI, DIAL, DIGIT, DIGITAL, DITA, GAIT, GILD, GILT, GLIA, ILIAD, LAID, LATI, TAIL, TIDAL

1. Arrange these musical basic notes on the Descending diatonic scale. (a) Re (Re) (b) Ma (Fa) (c) Dha (La) (d) Ga (Mi)

Scholar Answers: 1.c, b, d, a 2.a 3.c 4.d 5.a 6.d 7.b 8.c 9.a 10.c

By Kirit Shukla

Who wants to be a Scholar?!

Answer the ones you know and research to answer the rest. There is only one correct answer.

116

December 2019

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Hampstead Office Hampstead, NC 28443 (910) 270-3673 Hope Mills Hope Mills, NC 28348 (910) 426-7337 (910) 426-3098 117

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Wilmington Office Wilmington, NC 28403 (910) 392-5634 May 2019

Pop’s Puzzles & Jokes By Kirit Shukla

Note: * denotes abbreviation of the word or phrase Clues Across:

1. The Northeastern state of India; Cap. Dispur. 6. German breed of compact dogs with a short brindled coat. 11. The largest city in a country, state or a territory. 13. Cast Iron. (*) 14. To cause to become extinct thru insufficient fertility. 15. The state of being wanting or deficient. 17. A judge and priest of Israel. 18. A small orange-red lentil; used to make Indian Dal. 20. Disregards. 22. Union Public Service Commission. (*) (India) 24. United States Environment Services. (() 25. Engravers by acid on a metal as to form a design. 28. Cross site request forgeries . (*) 30. What or which person - used as an interrogative. 31. Integrated Circuit. (*). 32. On A Totally Unrelated Subject. (*) 34. A neighborhood theatre. 36. Large creamy white round headed grubs that is the larvae of a yellowish brown New Zealand beetles . 37. With respect to every member of a specified group. 38. A city in SW California just northeast of Los Angeles. 40. Present tense third-person singular of ‘Have’. 42. Arkansas. (*). 43. Followers of the Formless One, a society-sect in Northern Delhi. (Hindi word) 45. A comfortable, usually secluded room. 46. Inflammation of bone. Saathee.com

Clues Down: 1. A structure for conveying a canal over a river or hollow. 2. Lacking of sunshine, Dark. 3. Secreting a fatty or wax like substance. 4. “___ Lingus”, the airline of Ireland. 5. The recurrent effect of past experience of the individual. 6. Offers for payments or acceptance. 7. Overtime. (*) 8. A percussion instrument made of wooden bars of the musical scale, played with two wooden hammers. 9. Reinforced Cement Concrete. (*) 10. An adherent of religion founded by Guru Nanak. 12. To come to an end. 16. Buttocks. (Informal) 19. A setting for a precious stone in a gold. 21. A city in west central Iran; former capital of Persia. 23. A stall for a stabled animal. 26. True Wind Speed. (*) 27. “ ___ Scientifica” an essay by Joseph Glanvill. 29. A place where movies are made or produced. 33.Unmanned Space Experiment Recovery System. (*) Japan 35. Someone who has reached the stage of enlightenment. 36. A rabbit with longer ears. 37. A piece of a framed sheet of glass in a window. 38. Sanitary napkin. 39. National. (*) 41. “ ___ Gold”, American filmmaker, actor, musician. 44. The chemical formula of Potassium Iodide. (Puzzle solutions are on page 120. NO peeking!)

Hee Hee

Jokes From Around The World

Beggar: “You used to give me a dollar, why one penny now? Mafatlal: “Now I am married and I can’t aﬀord a dollar.” Beggar: “So you are now giving her my money!” ••••••••••••••

A boy went to Amdavad and found a cute girl for marriage. Boy: “I like you, but is your father capable of giving me a car?” Girl: “Of course, my father is capable of giving you an airplane. But, can your father aﬀord an airport for you?” ••••••••••••••

Wife: “The Doctor told me to go and stay at the beach or on a mountain for a change of environment. Where will we go?” Mafatlal: “Go see the other doctor.” 118

••••••••••••••

December 2019

Word Find (Created By Kirit Shukla)

Find & circle the words in the puzzle. (Subject: “Defunct Airlines of USA”)

AIRTRAN ALOHA ATA BIGSKY BRANIFF BRITT CAPITOL CATALINA CHAMPION COMAIR CONTINENTAL EASTERN EOS ERA FARWE ST

HARBOR JET NATIONAL NORTHWEST PACE PACIFIC PANAM PIEDMONT PSA REPUBLIC RYAN SOUTHEAST TAG TWA USAIR

The remaining unused three letters spell ”United States of America.”

Math Magic Use these numbers only once: (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8) in empty squares, to get = the final given answers. Note: Follow the order of operation per basic math rule: ×,÷, +, The multiplication or division is done before addition and subtraction. (solution on page 120)

EZ-BZ

TEST YOUR IQ The common letters are “XE” - Fill in the blanks) 1. Physical activity to improve health.

_XE _ _ _ _ _ _

2. An ET galactic leader in scientology belief system.

XE _ _

3. Enclosed in or as in a rigid container.

_ _ _ _ XE _

5. Persian king (486-465 BCE), the son of Darius.

XE _ _ XE _

4. A town on the island of Zealand in east Denmark.

_ _ XE

6. A big hatchet, a tool used to chop wood.

_ XE

7. Blood poisoning by toxins from infection.

_ _ XE _ _ _

9. An NSAID drug used to treat pain as RA.

_ _ _ _ _ XE _

8. A member of generation X.

XE _

10. A shrewish, ill-tempered woman.

_ _ XE _

11. A persuader by blandishment

_ _ _ XE _

12. An African frog used to test for pregnancy.

XE _ _ _ _ _

13. An added stipulation or appendix. (British)

_ _ _ _ XE

14. A blender

_ _ XE _

15. A large ax with a wide blade.

_ _ _ _ _ _ XE

17. Fertilization by cross-pollination.

XE _ _ _ _ _ _

16. The two-step ballroom Brazilian dance.

18. To put forth (strength, eﬀort, etc.)

_ _ _ _ XE

19. People of Oaxaca, Veracruz & Chiapas, Mexico 20. Notably luxurious, elegant, or expensive.

_ XE _ _

_ _ XE

_ _ _ _ XE

21. A heavy colorless and relatively inert gaseous element used in MRI and ﬂashtubes. (Symbol: Xe)

XE _ _ _

22. A semiformal evening suit/jacket for men . 23. Domestic bovine mammals.

24. T-shaped prying hand tool with long handle.

25. A gift given to medieval rulers and churches.

_ _ XE _ _ _ XE _

_ _ _ _ XE _

(Puzzle solutions are on page 120. NO peeking!)

XE _ _ _ _

Kirit Shukla Contact him at kiritsshukla@hotmail.com

Saathee.com

119

December 2019

Festivals & Holidays

Spot the Diﬀerences Solutions from page 50

6. Decoration Removed

1. Building Shortened

7. Hat Added

2. Rock removed

3. Shoes Removed

8. Bag Color Changed

5. Boat Removed

10. Building Color Changed

9. Shoes Removed

4. Shirt Color Changed

December 2019

Dec. 5 - Pramukh Swami Maharaj Birthday Dec. 7 - Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day Dec. 8 - Mokshada Ekadashi / Gita Jayanti Dec. 8 - Bodhi Day Dec. 12 - Akshara Poonam (Full Moon) Dec. 21 - Winter Solstice / Yule / Safala Ekadashi Dec. 23 - Hanukkah Begins Dec. 24 - Christmas Eve Dec. 25 - Christmas Day Dec. 26 - Kwanzaa Begins Dec. 26 - Darsh Amas (No Moon) Dec. 30 - Hanukkah Ends Dec. 31 - New Year's Eve / Year 2019 ends

5 4

Puzzle Solutions from page 118

January 2020

Jan. 1 - New Year’s Day / Year 2020 begins Jan. 1 - Kwanzaa Ends Jan. 2 - Guru Gobind Singh Jayanti Jan. 6 - Putradā Ekadashi Jan. 10 - Poshi Poonam (Full Moon) Jan. 15 - Lohri / Maghi Jan. 15 - Makara Sankranti (Uttarāyan) / Pongal Jan. 16 - Swami Vivekanand Jayanti Jan. 20 - Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Jan. 20 - Shat Tilā Ekadashi Jan. 24 - Darsha Amas (No Moon) Jan. 25 - Chinese New Year (Year of the Rat) Jan. 26 - Republic Day (India) Jan. 30 - Gandhi Nirvana Day Jan. 30 - Vasant Panchami

Math Magic from page 119

Saathee.com

120

December 2019

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Astroscope -

December 2019

ARIES (March 21 – April 19) This period will give you mental anxiety. Opponents will try to damage your reputation. You may have to be involved in unproﬁtable investments. Sudden ﬁnancial losses are also possible. Your friends and associates will not keep their promises, but your family and partner will be very supportive of you. Avoid business-related travel.

LIBRA (September 23 – October 22) There won’t be a big increase in your income, but an unexpected beneﬁciary business venture will increase your bank balance. If you are heading towards a promotion, then it will come your way at the end of the month. Avoid businessrelated travel. The time is also good for love. A minor health issue may disturb your peace of mind.

TAURUS (April 20 – May 20) If you don’t compromise your ideologies, you will lose something very important. Relationships with family and superiors may deteriorate. Take care of your health in the last week of the month. The time is not good to start a new venture. You may also receive some bad news. This period, though, is quite favourable for love.

SCORPIO (October 23 – November 21) Even though the period is taking a downward trend, you will still feel confident. Speculation may pay off more than you expected. Be careful of vicious colleagues as your reputation could suffer. Don’t create personal problems. Someone, particularly your child, may need specialized medical treatment during the middle of the month.

GEMINI (May 21 – June 20) Try to watch yourself inwardly, as you will lose your moral power. If you are not careful, it might hurt your reputation. There is also the danger of a major health-related problem. The last week of the month will bring some good news for you. In other words, the month will end with a delightful bit of ﬁnancial beneﬁt. Try to curb your expenses.

SAGITTARIUS (November 22 – December 21) You may be subject to false charges, but your real involvement is negligible. Try to be practical. Financially the period is very good, but you may lose your reputation. Be very careful in this matter. Business-related journeys might prove very fruitful. Do not hold back anything from your superiors. The stock market may prove beneﬁcial. Don’t cheat on your partner.

CANCER (June 21 – July 22) Heavy expenditures will make you frustrated during the month. Remember that the tendency to do secret, unspeakable acts should be avoided. Devote some time to religious activities. An old friend may come forward to help you out of a miserable situation. Short distance travel that you have planned for a while may also help you and bring peace of mind. LEO (July 23 – August 22) Financially this will be a very positive period. You will also gain beneﬁts from proﬁtable deals. Your friends and family will help you in achieving success in your ventures. There is a danger of developing an egoistic temperament, which could portray you in a negative light. It is advisable to spend some money for religious activities. VIRGO (August 23 – September 22) Even though you will lose opportunity to gain status, a marked increase in income is indicated. You will feel more courageous. Journeys undertaken shall be fruitful. You will want to support your siblings. Relations with clients, associates and other concerned persons will improve as the period rolls on. You will be tempted to spend on luxury items.

CAPRICORN (December 22 – January 19) During this month you will be amiable and avoid friction. You will see aggression within your family atmosphere. A health problem may also disturb you. Be careful while dealing with friends or associates. Your stubborn mentality may make you work hard without any return. Try to avoid travel, if possible. AQUARIUS (January 20 – February 18) Control aggression and avoid greediness. If you can do that, you will get a promotion and an increase in status. If you do not, you will lose the opportunity. The time is positive for entering into a new partnership deal, but be prepared to work hard. You will sign a contract, which won’t last long, but it should bring you fast income. You may spend most of the month on business-related travel.

PISCES (February 19 – March 20) An important move will be delayed, and you will lose a very important opportunity. Your own mistake will put you in hot water, and you may need some kind of spiritual help. Financial loss is unavoidable. Try to protect your morals and avoid any risk-taking tendencies. However, your regular income will remain undisturbed. A sense of insecurity will prevail as far as personal aﬀairs are concerned.

By Jalendu Vaidya

Contact: 973-223-5047 Saathee.com

122

www.jmvaidya.com December 2019

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December 2019

CLASSIFIEDS

Convenience Store/Gas Station for Sale/Lease in Thomasville, NC. Skilled Convenience store w/ Citgo brand for game machines, lottery & ATM. Dry county. Lease in Gaffney, SC. 3500 sq/ft. Can add Very reasonable price. Owner financing liquor store or tire shop. Deposit available. Call 704-408-4920 or 973-207-6798. required. Call Prat Shah 704 763 3059 or Liquor store for Sale in Greenville, SC. email shahdmcp@yahoo.com Busy location on major street with low rent. Contact MJ at 704-651-2637 for more info. Convenience Store Properties for Sale in

BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES

Gaffney, SC. Call 980-250-4995.

Established Dry Cleaning Business for Sale in Raleigh, NC Asking Price $240,000. Excellent location in high income area. Selling due to health reasons. Contact 919-210-9919 or pg1patel@yahoo.com

Convenience Store for Sale at busy intersection location in Reidsville, NC. Please call 336-549-9168.

For Sale or Lease: Gas Station w/ C-Store & Restaurant in Pollocksville, NC. Corner location with no competition & new intersection coming soon. ATM and jukebox included (extra income). Three C-Store w/ Gas Station for Lease in bedroom mobile-home accommodations. Forest City NC. High Volume Location. Grocery Sales $43K, Lottery comm. $3000 Call Milan Patel 252-521-5656. + other income $700 per month. Brand LEARN new Citgo gas pumps. Asking $75k, Rent $3300/month. Call Neel 828-781-2527. ABOUT LAND Fast growing STEM Education Franchise for Sale. EngineeringforKids STEMRobotic-Coding-GameDesign Franchise for after school and summer camps in Charlotte. Operation can be run from home. Running business. Well positioned for expansion! Contact 919-818-8304.

We specialize in helping groups invest in land. Contact Bob Atkinson “The Land Man” 919-362-6999 or visit www.learnaboutland.com

Cash Available for businesses: Bad Credit financing for merchant cash Full-time Nanny needed (Live-in / Liveadvance, Equipment Leasing, Factoring, out) for 2 year-old in Charlotte starting etc. Call 336-447-1957 or visit immediately. Call or text 718-350-5845. sjmleasing.com. Housekeeping Couple Needed for 56 Retail / Convenience Stores: C-Store: unit Franchise hotel in Johnson City, TN. Charlotte, NC $699,000 + possible 70% Legal status required. Accommodations owner financing; C-Store: Welcome, NC provided if needed. Call 423-943-7225. $249,000 + inside $1,047,000; C-Store: York, SC $329,000 + inside $494,000; Call Cashiers wanted (single or couple) for County South at 704-440-4433 or visit Gas Station in Rock Hill, SC (Exit 77). Legal status required. Good pay with www.Countysouth.biz experience! Call 803-792-4452. Franchise Hotel for Lease near Rock Hill / Richburg, SC. 32 Units. Call 803-230-4402. IT instructors wanted: to train students in java full stack and SQL.Evening High Volume Gas Station/C-Store for Classes - 12 hours per week, for 12 weeks. Sale or Lease in the heart of Gaffney, SC. Please call Carolina Softech (IT Neighborhood store on busy street with consulting and training company): 704brand new pumps! Call 704-726-7544. 806-8907 or 954-924-4281. Motel For Sale: Red Carpet Inn in Hotel Manager (couple or single) Kinston, NC. 99-Rooms. Fully renovated needed for franchise Hotel in with new Roof. Includes Owner / Charlotte, NC. Contact 704-614-1823 or Manager's Apartment and 9500 SF mehul@staronehospitality.com Banquet / Meeting Space with Bar, Restaurant, & Commercial Kitchen. Nanny/Caretaker needed to look after a 4 month-old during weekdays in Concord, Asking $2.4 million. Call 919-455-5949. NC. Please call 704-929-7910 or 336-471-7197. C-store with Property for Sale or Lease 45 miles from Columbia, SC along with Housekeeping needed for franchise displays for fresh produce & frozen Hotel near Charlotte. Accommodations items. Gross income $55K / Lotto $25K provided. Legal status required. Call 864384-6900 between 9am & 5pm. per month. Call 904-307-4770. Saathee.com

EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES

124

Front Desk & Housekeeping/Laundry needed for Motel in Durham, NC. Front desk requires computer skills, fluent English, and legal status. Call 919-4523131 or email kenco00@gmail.com.

Looking for Young, Energetic Employee (Full-time/ Part-time, single or couple) for Tropical Smoothie Café franchise food store near UNC-Charlotte. Weekend availability preferred. English required. Call Pravin Patel 803-974-0291.

Lab Assistant cum delivery/pick-up person for Dental Lab, 7 miles from UNCC. No prior experience needed. Must have valid US driving license. Call 704-493-8221.

Live-in/Live-out Nanny needed for family in Ballantyne area (south Charlotte) to take care of 4.5 year-old boy after 12 pm. Light housekeeping and cooking required. Call 980-248-9579.

Housekeeping couple needed immediately for 36-Room franchise motel in North Carolina. Accommodations with Indian TV channels provided. Call Bipin Patel at 910-916-3288. Looking for live-out Nanny for 9 monthold in Fort Mill, SC. Call 540-449-9930.

C-Store & Hotel Help needed: Cashier for Convenience Store near Charlotte. Couple for franchised hotel 1.5 hours from Charlotte. Accommodations provided. Must speak English. Text or Call 704-701-9975. Weekend household help needed in Ballantyne (South Charlotte) area. 3-4 hours a day for light cooking and housework. Contact or text 704-577-6873.

Hotel Help Wanted: Single or Couple for Front Desk, Manager and Housekeeping for franchise motels on I-95 NC and in Sanford , NC Must have legal status. Experience preferred but will train. Call HP 252-315-8308

Looking for Nanny for 2 year-old in South Charlotte. Must be motivated and committed. Also some housekeeping including laundry, light kitchen work and general house upkeep. Should have own transportation. Call 980-999-2926. 7-11 Convenience Store Help Wanted: All 3 shifts in South Charlotte (Indian Land/Ballantyne area) and near Northlake Mall. Experience preferred. Fluent English & legal status a must. Part-time or full-time including weekends. Contact 856-266-5059 or store10700@gmail.com. December 2019

Live-in Couple Needed to look after elderly Gujarati parents in Charlotte, NC. Call 704-906-9170.

7-Eleven is Hiring for all three shifts in Mint Hill (SE Charlotte). Good starting rate & extra premium for Night Shift. Call 980-289-9285, apply via email at manishdass_m@yahoo.com, or walk in and ask for Manish or Mamta.

Math Tutor Needed for college student in Charlotte near UNCC. Call for 704724-2005.

Front Desk Clerk needed for Motel 6 in High Point, NC. Fluent English, legal status and computer skills required. Accommodations provided. Contact Nick Patel 843-344-4234.

Convenience Store help needed immediately in Charlotte, NC. Full-time including weekends. Call 704-241-4499.

Housekeeping (Single or Couple) needed for Hotel in Space Coast, FL. Legal status required. Accommodations provided. Language barrier not a problem. Call 386-846-0850.

Nanny needed in Harrisburg, NC. Need help taking care of 1 month-old & 3 yearold after 3pm. Also Cooking and household work. Contact Archana @ 251622-8348.

Hotel Help Wanted: Front Desk, Housekeeping, and Laundry (single or couple) for Franchise Hotel in Concord, NC. Legal status required. Accommodations provided. Call Rusab at 704-772-5554.

Indian Restaurant Help wanted. Full staff needed for new location in Durham and our two other NC locations. Call for details 910-409-4123.

Hotel Operators wanted for 24-room hotel in NC. Accommodation provided. Call 910-293-4301 or leave message at 252-525-8118.

C-store / Gas Station Help Wanted in Gaffney, SC. Part-time or Full-time. Single, Couple or Family. Legal status required. Fluent English & previous experience preferred. Call 704-726-7544

Eyebrow Threaders wanted for salon in Athens, GA area. Experience required. Excellent Pay + Tips! Send brief contact info to commerce153@yahoo.com.

Full-time C-Store/Gas Station Help Wanted in Davidson County (35 min drive from Charlotte). Honesty, consistency, and punctuality a must. Great package with transportation. Call 704-408-4920 or 973-207-6798. Saathee.com

Hotel Help Wanted: Front Desk/Manager, Night Auditor and Housekeeper (Single/Couple) for franchise hotels in Charlotte, Gastonia, High Point. Accommodations provided. Call 704-460-0379 between 6- 9pm.

Housekeeping Couple needed for Hotel in Raleigh, NC Legal status required. Accommodations provided. Call 301526-6532.

C-Store/Gas Station help needed at three different stores within 30 mins of Greensboro, NC. Experience required and must speak fluent English. Call or text 336-509-4054.

Front Desk help wanted (2nd & 3rd shift) for Franchise hotel in Garner, NC (just east of Raleigh). Contact 919-7727718 or leave message at 252-525-8118. Hotel Housekeeping Needed for Hotel in Cleveland / Akron, OH. $4 per room. Accommodations provided. Contact Ram 919-673-7623 or email Ram@omdevelopmentcorp.com

Motel Help needed: Night Auditor (PartTime/Full-Time) and Housekeeping Couple for franchise Motel in Charlotte. Accommodation Provided. Great Pay! Contact 980-229-8216 or pratiknaik@live.com.

Front Desk and Housekeeping needed (couple or single) for 50-unit franchise property in Rockingham, NC. Fluent English and computer skills required. Accommodations provided. Contact Jbpatel82@hotmail.com or 910-995-5134.

Front Desk Couple / Manager wanted for Franchise Hotel in Fort Mill, SC. Fluent English, legal status, hotel experience and computer skills a must. Accommodations provided. Email resume to bwhospitality78@gmail.com.

Manager wanted for 22-room Hotel in Dallas, NC. Accommodations provided. Call 704-674-8395 & 704-674-8390.

Hotel Help Wanted: Front Desk / Manager, Night Auditor & Housekeeper (Single / Couple) for franchise hotels in Wilmington, NC. Accommodations provided. Call 910-262-8357 or email ilmhotelemployer@gmail.com

Gas Station Help Wanted 25 miles north of Charlotte. Couple preferred to run open to close (7am to 10pm). Also looking for web store help. Call/text 704906-7679 or 404-694-0640.

Eyebrow Threading Position available in Winston-Salem, NC. Excellent Pay + Tips & Benefits! Some Experience & fluent English required. Call 336-422-7582. 125

Help Wanted: Housekeeping (couple or single) needed for franchise hotel in NC. Manager (couple or single) needed for independent motel in NC. Accommodations provided for both positions. Contact 704-4658129 or lehran19@yahoo.com. Household Help needed in Cary. Parttime 4 hours a day, 4-5 days a week. Light cleaning, light cooking, and other miscellaneous duties. Must have own transportation. good hourly rate. Contact email: ved@ccmincusa.com or call: 919368-1677.

Hotel Management Firm Hiring: Housekeepers, front desk (must speak fluent English), and General Manager of franchise hotels. Experience required. Email resumes to abcone@abcinns.com or call 704-649-6833 (M-F, 9am-5pm).

Motel Manager Needed for independent motel in Greenville, SC. Legal status & English required. Contact 864-517-9587 or 864-376-7543.

Threading Specialists wanted in Charlotte. New locations opening soon. Full & part-time, Great pay & flexibility. Sign up for Training. Must have good English speaking skills. Call 704-3121870 (M-F, 9am-5pm).

Front Desk Couple / Manager wanted for hotel in North Charlotte off I-85, Exit 41. Fluent English, legal status and basic computer skills required. Accommodations provided. Call 704-302-3318. Email mars803@gmail.com. Housekeeping Couple needed for hotel in Raleigh/Durham area near airport & Indian grocery store. Accommodations provided. Contact 828-580-2079.

SERVICES

Saree Draping: specializing in draping sarees, dupattas and jewelry for any event. Weddings, Engagements, Baby showers, Birthdays, etc. Contact Rital Patel at info@bridaldraping.com or www.bridaldraping.com Priest specializing in all kinds of Hindu Ceremonies. Poojas, Vrathas & Homams/Havan, Satyanarayan Pooja, Rudraabhishegam, Gruhapravesam & Japam, Baby Showers and Weddings. Self- Transportation to Pooja site anywhere. Call Pralad Joshi: 704-5002210 (home), 704-450-6447 (cell)

SERVICES ON THE NEXT PAGE December 2019

CLASSIFIEDS CONTINUED SERVICES CONTINUED

Need an affordable DJ for Graduation, Birthdays, Baby Showers & any other festivity? Look no further! Contact DJ Rahul at 980-319-7389 or TheRealDJRahul@gmail.com

Gujarati Priest in NC & SC for Ganesh, Randal, Laxmi, Sharda Pujan, Satyanarayan Katha, Wedding, Vastu, Baby Shower, Hawan, Grah Shanti. Kishor Trivedi Home: 336-774-0597 Cell: 336-486-7925 E-Mail: kishor7@juno.com

Computer Programming Courses from beginner to advanced serving the Charlotte area and online. Contact Chandra Prakash (B. Tech. Computer Science, IIT Delhi) at 612-568-2426, cprakash@acm.org or visit www.cupriver.com

Learn Carnatic music vocal and Veena instrument with performer and teacher Nalini Ravikumar of Sri Gaanamdrutham School Of Music. For details Call: 507-398-3843 or email: nalini.ravikumar@gmail.com

Neetaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Beauty Parlor: Charlotte area open 7 days a week. Full service. Call for appointment. 704-968-0270.

Saathee.com

Gujarati Priest: Devendra Dave Independent priest. Ganesh, Randal, Navratri, Diwaliâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Laxmi & Sharda Pujas, Satyanarayan Katha, Weddings, Vastu, Baby Shower, Funeral Seva. Call Daveji 704-780-3563. God Blessings to All.

Pari Beauty In Matthews: Threading, Waxing, Facials, Massage for newborn and mom & other services. 29 years of experience. Special Deals & Great Service. Call: 704-846-7912.

Dholi For Hire: Plays the Dhol (drum) for any occasion! Barat, Doli, Graduation, Birthdays, Baby Showers & any other festivity. Affordable rates! Call Arpan Bhandari 704-641-4761 or email: arpandholi@yahoo.com

Travel Passion: Call for International & Domestic Air tickets. We process India Visa, OCI, Indian Ppt Renewal, Hotel bookings & Tour packages. 509.550.9076 or 509.550.9034 Email: travelpassion24@gmail.com

Priest Available for these services: Shree Satya narayan katha, Shanti hawan, Vastu shanty, Weddings, Baby shower, Bhumi pujan, Mata ki chowki pujan, Funeral, all types of karmakand. Please call Viral Bhatt 704-438-6334.

126

Saathee Classified ads: Sell your business, or property. Find the perfect job, hire the perfect employee. Get more customers. Get great adversting results with Saathee Magazine. Call 704.527.7570 or email info@saathee.com.

Satya Math & Reading: Enroll now for SAT/ACT/PSAT prep starting in Jan 2020. We also tutor Math I, II, III, & AP courses year round. Contact 704-5404589 Email: satyamandr@gmail.com

To Submit a Classified visit: saathee.com/submit-classified or email: info@saathee.com or call 704.527.7570 Business ads are $25 Personal ads are $15 Upgrade to color for an additional $10 or add a box for $15 Saathee.com ads posted daily We accept all major credit cards. Ads up to 25 words. Deadline for print is the 20th. Web ads daily.

December 2019

Advertisers Index Accounting Solutions (Muhammad Kamran Awan)...43

International Community Church .............................99

RB Realty Group (Ravi Bheemarao)...........................39

Allstate (Krish Parlikad) .............................................51

Jaipur Indian Cuisine ................................................37

Real Triangle Properties (Joe Mathews) ....................34

Anil & Anjali Bedi LLC (CPA & Consultants).............123

Jigna Shah CPA .......................................................41

Rug and Home.........................................................11

Anjappar Restaurant.................................................23

K & M Accounting ..................................................103

S S Event Services (Event planning, Photo, Video).....41

Apna Bazaar (Morrisville) ..........................................66

K Scott Weddings (Wedding & Event Designer) ......109

S&S Accounting & Tax Services, Inc. ........................35

Around the World Market (Raleigh/Durham) .............38

Kalashri Fashions .....................................................67

Saathee.com............................................................60

Aspect Commerical Realty (Prashant Parmar)........123

KB Zaveree.................................................................4

Saffron Indian Cuisine (Morrisville) ............................39

Bashyam Shah LLP - Immigration Law Group........127

KD Financial & KMD Realty.......................................75

Salt & Pepper (Indian Cuisine - High Point, NC).........53

Bhindi Jewelers ......................................................2

Khanna & Sons Jewelers .........................................13

Sangam Travels........................................................17

Bipin Parekh Realty, LLC.........................................121

KidzCare Pediatrics ................................................117

Sara Elegance By Rashmi Sawant (Cary, NC) ...........69

Blooming Buds.........................................................83

Leela School of Dance..............................................21

Sarika CPA PLLC......................................................57

Blue Federal Credit Union.........................................16

Liberty Real Estate (Sunny Sebastian).......................47

Shah & Trivedi CPA, PLLC.........................................65

Body Lyft System .....................................................19

Lotus Salon & Spa....................................................23

Shah, Kirti (CPA - Sepa Consulting) .........................87

Brown Immigration Law (Rishi Oza, Partner).............42

Maadhurya Photography..........................................43

Singh, Manjeet (Real Estate).....................................31

C4D Mortgage (Jubi Chackunkal, P.E.) .....................45

Malak Jewelers........................................................27

Sitar Indian Cuisine (Durham) ...................................21

Carolina Law Group (Monty Desai)............................89

Malani Jewelers.....................................................132

Skyzone - New Year's Eve Glow Party.......................61

Carolina Wedding Belle (Event Design & DĂŠcor)........97

Marriott Raleigh Crabtree Valley..................................9

Sona Realty (Venkat Suryadevara) ............................52

Cary Internal Medicine & Diabetes Center, PA...........53

Maxim Tours.............................................................45

Spectrum Family Medicine (Sujatha Sajeevan, MD)101

Cary Medical Clinic...................................................49

Monroe Oil Company................................................93

Spices Hut / Bawarchi Restaurant ............................71

Chandni's Beauty Salon ..........................................67

Motel For Sale (Red Carpet Inn, Kinston, NC)............77

Sri Gaanamdrutham School Of Music (Nalini Ravikumar)55

Cilantro Indian CafĂŠ Cary..........................................49

Nagpal, Sunil (MassMutual Carolinas) ....................129

Super Desi Bazaar (Apna Sabji Mandi Greensboro) ..81

Corner Stone Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine.........31

Nationwide Ins. (Maqsood Khan) ..............................87

Swagat Restaurant (Morrisville, NC) .........................63

County South Realty & Business Brokers..................99

NC Dermatology Associates .....................................56

Taaza Fresh Indian Bistro..........................................80

Crescent Dental (Dr. Kavita Ghai) ..............................69

NC State University - Navarasa Dance Competition..57

Tandoori Bites (3 NC locations) .................................59

Darji, Iyer, Joshi & Patel (Accounting & Tax Services).47

New Year Party at Goels Plaza ....................................3

Travel Passion ..........................................................41

Desai & Desai LLP (CPA & Financial Services)..........36

North American Bancard ........................................15

Travelinks...............................................................129

Desai, Rajarshi (CPA, PLLC)....................................111

Nunna Realty (Shiva Nunna) .....................................41

Ttravel Guru..............................................................62

DJ Desi (Amit Vasi) ...................................................83

OM Tech Training ...................................................101

Tutoring (Nirmala Koripella - A+ Tutoring) .................48

DJ Lalit (Lalit Hemnani).............................................46

One2 Entertainment .................................................73

Uni World Travel........................................................73

DJ Murali ...............................................................103

Pastries N Chaat (Cary).............................................29

Uthsaav (Wedding Expo).............................................5

Fairview Home Mortgage .........................................73

Patel Brothers (Cary)...........................................91-92

Uthsaav (Wedding Planners).....................................63

Geological Resources, Inc.......................................126

Patel, Mrugesh (Law Offices)....................................97

Vaishno Bhog (Cary)...............................................101

Global Mall / Legacy Jewels ..................................131

Pathak, Atul (Real Estate)..........................................17

Veeru Ganne (Real Estate - Eastside Realty) .............79

Grand India Mart (Groceries).....................................30

Ponce D. Moody Funding .........................................25

Vema Mortgage LLC (Sebastian George)..................33

Greater Triangle Realty (Thomas John) .....................37

Pramukh Mandapam ...............................................45

Vyas Travels..............................................................87

Hindu Center Charlotte (Anup Jalota Concert).....94-95

Preston Corners Pediatric Dentistry (Cary) ...............47

West Cary Medicine (Dr. Kareem M.D.) ....................55

Home Decorators Of America (Atlanta)...................130

Proficient Accounting & Tax Services, Inc. ...............55

Wildlife Sojourns.......................................................25

Idolize Brows & Beauty .........................................107

Raghu Mothukuri Allstate Agent................................77

Worldwide Travels ....................................................65

Inchin's Bamboo Garden..........................................35

Raj D Batra Photography ..........................................87

Y2 Academy (SAT Prep) .........................................10

InStepp Inc (Free Citizenship Classes).......................19

Raj Jewels (Morrisville, NC) .....................................6-7

Zafran Kabab Palace (Harrisburg).............................83

Insurance - Tushar Barot, Supreme Insurance Services65

Rajdeep Video & Photography (Ramesh Panjabi)....123

Zen Triangle Dentistry (Juliya R. Vaghani, DDS).........29

Saathee.com

128

December 2019

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Consolidator for all MAJOR AIRLINES to India, Europe, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Middle East, Africa, Asia, the Far East, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji & any World Wide destination.

For Emergency & After Hour Service 919.868.9000 Cell

Near RTP, Durham, Cary & Morrisville. 1073 Upchurch Farm Ln, Cary, NC 27519

Passport, Visa and other consular services.

Saathee.com

129

(Exit 278 off I-40 for Hwy 55)

December 2019

Decorate Your Home Like a Palace with Furniture You Have Never Seen Before! • One of a Kind Designer Furniture • Custom Indian Furniture • Chandeliers - Free Installation • Custom Draperies • Indian all Wool & Cashmere Silk Rugs • Free Delivery • Anywhere in the U.S. • No Installation Fees • No Designer Fees - Free Quotes • Room by Room Layouts

12 Months Same as Cash!

Call Shyam Garg 478-361-5558 or Lynn Gunter 770-584-9094 (Inside Global 102 && 103, 103,Norcross, Norcross,GA GA30071 30071 (Inside GlobalMall) Mall)5675 5675Jimmy JimmyCarter Carter Blvd., Blvd., Ste 102 Show Room Hours: Open7 7Days Days-12:00 -12:00pm pmto to 8:00 8:00 pm • Tel: 770-209-8999 Show Room Hours: Open 770-209-8999• •Tollfree: Tollfree:1800-567-5686 1800-567-5686 e-mail: shyamgarg@sonalimports.com • www.thesonalfurniture.com • www.sonalimports.com e-mail: shyamgarg@sonalimports.com • www.thesonalfurniture.com • www.sonalimports.com