Voice of Asia, April 10, 2015 by VoiceOf Asia

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Vol. 28 No. 15 Friday, April 10, 2015 • Published Weekly from Houston • 713-774-5140 20 Pages ( 2 sections) 50 cents E-mail: editor@voiceofasiaonline.com

Two Indian Americans shot dead in gas station robberies

Grand Opening of Unique South Indian Krishna Temple in Houston Prathishta and Maha Kumbhabhishekam of Sri Guruvayurappan Temple from April 18 - 26, 2015 by Biju Pillai

Sanjay Patel, 39, was a father-to-be. Photo credit: wtnh.com

ASHINGTON, DC: Two Indian Americans have been fatally gunned down during robbery attempts within the span of 24 hours. Sanjay Patel worked as a clerk at a gas station on Forbes Avenue in New Haven, Connecticut. On Monday night, the 39-year-old sustained three shots to his chest and one to his hand, after which he was rushed to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Witnesses described two masked men, dressed in dark clothing, running from the scene. “We are looking for two people that may be involved. We don’t necessarily believe that two were firing guns. We know at least one was,” New Haven police spokesman Officer David Hartman said. According to NBC, Patel and his wife, Chavada, were expecting their first child in three months. They had been trying to start a family for 10 years. Further heartbreakingly, this is the second tragic event to rock the foundations of Chavada’s life within the last year and a half. She was badly burned in January 2014 dur-

ing an explosion and had to receive skin grafts as a result. The blast also forced her and her husband to relocate their home. The expecting widow told NBC she does not know how she will provide for her child now, as her husband was her only family in the United States. The second incident occurred in Peoria, Illinois, where Rajesh Madala, 35, was murdered by an unidentiﬁed assailant during another gas station robbery on Spring Bay Road. The suspect, a white male, was later tracked down by police and slain during an exchange of gunﬁre in a remote area surrounding the town of Lowpoint, Ill. The Press Trust of India reported residents expressed shock at the news of the killing and described Madala, known as “Raj” to customers, as an “awesome guy” who was inviting and amiable with anyone who walked into the station. Robyn Williams, a clerk at the nearby General Store Bayview, told PTI that Madala was universally wellliked within the community.

Sri Guruvayurappan temple in Houston (SGT) is a unique Krishna temple in the Western hemisphere. The present Balalaya Sanctum has been attracting thousands of devotees over the past few years. The main temple construction is nearing completion and the Prathishta and Maha Kumbhabhishekam are scheduled during a nine-day grand opening ceremony from April 18 to 26, 2015. Busy preparations are underway for the auspicious celebrations at the temple premises at 11620 Ormandy St, Houston, TX 77035. Following the Consecration of deities and Kumbhabhishekam on April 23, and as per traditions, the temple will propitiously re-open before sunrise, to all devotees on Sunday, April 26, 2015. Houstonians are blessed to have in their city a unique Krishna temple, modeled after the ancient, legendary Kerala Temple of Guruvayur that will strictly adhere to the Tantric Pooja Vidhi and other traditional rituals similar to Guruvayur. In addition to consecration of Sri Guruvayurappan (Lord Krishna) as the main deity, the temple will also have Lord Ayyappa, Lord Ganapathi and Devi deities. The Vigrahas are handcrafted by renowned shilpies from Kerala, who are artisans specialized in temple work following a legacy of generations. They will also be creating and carving out the intricately stunning structural work of the Sreekovils, the Sanctum Sanctorum. Continued on page 5

Elevation of the new Sri Guruvayurappan Temple built in Houston, Texas.

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he world’s attention has rightly been riveted on negotiations aimed at curbing Iran’s nuclear program. If and when that deal is made final, America and the other major powers that worked on it — China, Russia, Britain, France and Germany — should turn their attention to South Asia, a troubled region with growing nuclear risks of its own. Pakistan, with the world’s fastest-growing nuclear arsenal, is unquestionably the biggest concern, one reinforced by several recent developments. Last week, Pakistan’s prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, announced that he had approved a new deal to purchase eight diesel-electric submarines from China, which could be equipped with nuclear missiles, for an estimated $5 billion. Last month, Pakistan test-fired a ballistic missile that appears capable of carrying a nuclear warhead to any part of India. And a senior adviser, Khalid Ahmed Kidwai, reaffirmed Pakistan’s determination to continue developing short-range tactical nuclear weapons whose only purpose is use on the battlefield in a war against India. These investments reflect the Pakistani Army’s continuing obsession with India as the enemy, a rationale that allows the generals to maintain maximum power over the government and demand maximum national resources. Pakistan now has an arsenal of as many as 120 nuclear weapons and is expected to triple that in a decade. An increase of that size makes no sense, especially since India’s nuclear arsenal, estimated at about 110 weapons, is growing more slowly. The two countries have a troubled history, having fought four wars since independence in 1947, and deep animosities persist. Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India has made it clear that Pakistan can expect retaliation if Islamic militants carry out a terrorist attack in India, as happened with the 2008 bombing in Mumbai. But the latest major conflict was in 1999, and since then India, a vibrant democracy, has focused on becoming a regional economic and political power.

Nuclear Fears in South Asia

A Pakistani military parade in Islamabad in March

At the same time, Pakistan has sunk deeper into chaos, threatened by economic collapse, the weakening of political institutions and, most of all, a Taliban insurgency that aims to bring down the state. Advanced military equipment — new submarines, the medium-range Shaheen-III missile with a reported range of up to 1,700 miles, short-range tactical nuclear weapons — are of little use in defending against such threats. The billions of dollars wasted on these systems would be better spent investing in health, education and jobs for Pakistan’s

its potential to cause regional instability. China, which considers Pakistan a close ally and India a potential threat, is continuing to build up its nuclear arsenal, now estimated at 250 weapons, while all three countries are moving ahead with plans to deploy nuclear weapons at sea in the Indian Ocean. This is not a situation that can be ignored by the major powers, however preoccupied they may be by the long negotiations with Iran. Courtesy: The New York Times, April 6, 2015

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C OMMUNITY VOICE OF ASIA

FRIDAY, April 10, 2015

Second Front Page

Friday, April 10, 2015 • www.voiceofasiaonline.com • Page 3 • Email: editor@voiceofasiaonline.com • Tel: 713-774-5140

Sri Ram Navami Celebrations: Sri Govindaji Gaudiya Math & Shri Sita Ram Foundation Sri Govindaji Gaudiya Matha celebrated Sri Ram Navami, the auspicious Appearance of Lord Sri Ramachandra, with several events over two weekends. Lord Sri Rama appeared in Treta-Yuga to annihilate the demoniac and establish the eternal principles of religion, social and political morality and family ethics. He demonstrated these by His own example and instructed others to follow and practice the same. The celebrations started at the temple with Mangal Aarti at 5:30 am on March 28th, the day of Sri Ram Navami. This was followed by kirtan, bhajans and gloriﬁcations of Lord Rama’s pastimes. The devotees had decorated the entire temple as well as the temple grounds with colorful decorations, balloons, and lights. Their Lordships (Sri Radha Govindaji, Sri Gaura Nitai and Sri Sita Rama Laksmana Hanuman) were offered a beautiful new dress that was sponsored by Dr. Arun Verma and Vinni Verma. Everyone was mesmerized by the divine, transcendental beauty of the Lord.

Sri Radha Govindaji, Sri Gaura Nitai and Sri Sita Rama Laksmana Hanuman) were adorned in beautiful clothes.

Devotees partake in the Sri Ram Navami celebrations at the Sri Govindaji Gaudiya Matha on March 28th 2015.

Abhishek of the Lord’s ‘vijay-vigraha’ Deities was performed at 12 noon, the time when the Lord appeared in this world. After the Bhoga Aarti, the devotees broke their fast by honoring Ekadashi prasadam.

aarti was performed of Sri Ramacharit Manas. This was followed by a beautiful Kathak dance performance by the students of Harihar Dance School of Rachna Vysas. It was now time for the Lord’s Abhishek. Ram-janma stuti was sung while the Lord was bathed with milk, honey, ghee, yogurt, water; overseen by Seshu ji and the temple priest Puneet Prabhu. The Deity of ‘Baby Rama’ was then dressed in new clothes and seated on a swing. Devotees sang traditional ‘badhai geet’ while everyone took turn to swing the Lord.

Lord Rama’s pastimes are described vividly by Tulasidas in Sri Ramacharit Manas. This scripture is like an ocean with valuable jewels of Lords’ pastimes and instructions. A seminar, called ‘Sri Ramacharit Manthan’ (or, churning the ocean of Sri Rama’s transcendental pastimes) was organized at the temple from 2 PM onwards to present these jewels. The seminar was conducted by Dr. Om Gupta. Over a dozen presentations were made on different qualities of Lord Rama, such as, Lord Ram as a Warrior (Mr. Puvvada), as a friend (Dr. Sen Pathak), as a Husband (Vishnu Das), as a King (Narayan Dave), as a Guru (Vimla Dasi), etc. Each presentation was followed by a question answer session. The speakers and the attendees felt spiritually nourished and enlivened by the in-depth, focused study and presentation of Lord Rama’s qualities. It was decided to conduct another seminar at the Temple next year also and encourage greater participation from young adults. Another major celebration was held the next day (March 29th) in the evening from 5 – 7:30 PM in which bhajans

The program was concluded with Aarti and an elaborate feast prepared by the Temple devotees. The two weekends of chanting, hearing and remembering of Lord Rama’s pastimes made everyone extremely blissful and spiritually surcharged. Devotees sing kirtan, bhajans and gloriﬁcations of Lord Rama’s pastimes. and hari katha were focused on glorifying Lord’s pastimes as explained by the Gaudiya Matha’s founder, Srila BV Narayan Maharaja. The following weekend started with ‘Akhand Ramayan Paath’ (non-stop 24 hour reading from Sri Ramacharit Manas) and Ram Navami celebrations sponsored by Shri Sita Ram Founda-

tion. The reading was initiated at 10 AM on Saturday, April 4th with elaborate pooja conducted by Hanuman Swami , invoking the Lord’s mercy to make the sankalpam (vow to non-stop read Ramacharit Manas) of the devotees successful. It was also Hanuman Jayanti, so prayers were offered to Sri Hanuman, who is the greatest devotee

of the Lord in ‘dasya-bhava’ (mood of servitorship). For the next 24 hours, till 10:30 AM on Sunday, over two hundred devotees took turns to read Sri Ramacharit Manas. The readings were accompanied by melodious playing of kartals, mridangas and chants of ‘Jai Sri Rama’. After the conclusion of the reading,

Sri Govindaji Gaudiya Matha temple is located at 16628 Kieth Harrow Blvd, Houston, TX 77084. Every Sunday bhajans and kirtan start 5 PM; Vedic lecture (English) at 6 PM; aarati at 7 PM followed by delicious healthy prasadam. Gurukula for children in grades K-12 is at 5:45 PM. Hindi classes (levels 1 and 2) are at 5 PM. For more information, please visit our website: www.sggm.org or call (832) 464-4686.

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ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS ABOUT PROVISIONAL UNLAWFUL PRESENCE WAIVERS Q: What is a Provisional Unlawful Presence Waiver? A: As of March 4th, 2013, certain immigrant visa applicants who are spouses, children and parents of US Citizens can apply for what is known as provisional unlawful presence waivers before they leave the United States. The provisional unlawful presence waiver process allows these individuals who only need a waiver of inadmissibility for unlawful presence to apply for the waiver in the United States and before they depart the United States for their immigrant visa interview at the US embassy or consulate abroad. Prior to this, those immediate relatives of US Citizens who were not eligible to adjust status in the United States and who had accrued more than 180 days of unlawful presence here in the United States could not apply for the waiver until they have attended their immigrant visa interview at the US consulate abroad. This often resulted in a long period of separation from their family members here in the US. In order to remedy this problem, the individual concerned can now file his or her application for the provisional unlawful presence waiver in the US and remain here until the application has been adjudicated and approved. Only after the waiver has been approved, the immigrant visa applicant will then depart the US to attend the Immigrant Visa interview. Because the waiver has already been approved, the applicant’s wait time to obtain the Immigrant Visa abroad is shortened considerably. Q: I came to the United States illegally in 2002 and have remained here since. I married a US Citizen and I understand that I am not eligible to adjust my status in the United States. In order to obtain my Immigrant Visa for permanent residence, I have to travel abroad and obtain my Immigrant Visa at the US consulate in my home country. Do I need to apply for the provisional unlawful presence waiver? A: Yes it is recommended that you do so if you satisfy the requirements for the provisional unlawful presence waiver. Since you are ineligible to adjust status here in the US due to your illegal entry, you will need to obtain the Immigrant Visa at the US consulate in your home country. Once your wife’s I-130 Petition for Alien Relative has been approved and you have paid the Immigrant Visa processing fee, you can then apply for the provisional unlawful presence waiver. Q: What are the requirements for filing the provisional unlawful presence waiver? A: If you believe you are, or will be inadmissible only for unlawful presence in the US for more than 180 days but less than one year during a single stay, or been unlawfully present in the US for one year or more during a single stay, you may apply to have this ground of inadmissibility waived. There are several requirements for applicants of provisional unlawful presence waivers: must be 17 years of age or older; be an immediate relative of a US Citizen (spouse, child who is unmarried and under 21 or parent of a US Citizen); have an approved I-130 Petition for Alien Relative or Form I-360 Petition for Amerasian, Widower or Special Immigrant; have a pending Immigrant Visa case with the Department of State and have paid the Immigrant Visa processing Fee; show that denial of your admission to the United States will result in extreme hardship to your US Citizen spouse and or US Citizen parent; be physically present in the US to file the application for the provisional waiver; have not been scheduled for an Immigrant Visa interview at the US Consulate abroad prior to January 3rd, 2013 and satisfy all the requirements under the Form I-601A. Q: What Form do I use to file the provisional unlawful presence waiver? A: You will need to use Form I-601A. The current Filing Fee is $585.00 with an additional $85.00 for biometrics (for those under the age of 79 years). Q: My husband who is a Permanent Resident has filed an I-130 petition for alien relative for me. The petition has been approved. I have just paid the Immigrant Visa Fee and I am wondering if I can file the provisional waiver application before departing the US for my Immigrant Visa interview. I came here without inspection and have stayed here illegally for about 6 years. Sharlene Sharmila Richards

Repossession does not necessarily end liability Q. My car was repossessed. Now, a year later, I received a notice from a debt collector that I still owe $6,000. How can this be? They have the car, shouldn’t that be the end of the matter? A. When a car is repossessed, the lender has two options. First, it may keep the car and cancel the debt. In most cases, however, it chooses the second option, which is to sell the car, apply the proceeds to the amount of the debt, and then collect the difference, or “deficiency,” from the debtor. For example, suppose you owe $15,000 on your car note and the car is repossessed and sold for $10,000. You would still owe $5,000 plus the costs of the repossession and sale. It sounds like your car was sold and there was a balance remaining after the proceeds were applied to your debt. I suggest you start by asking for an accounting that shows how much you owed at the time of the repossession, when the car was sold, how the sale was conducted, what the costs were, and how much was obtained at the sale. Q. I have a couple of trees in my front yard that have been on my property for many years. The trees are very tall and have large branches that lean over my next-door neighbor’s driveway and front yard. When there is a storm, branches and limbs are often blown into the neighbors’ yard. The neighbor feels I should be responsible for cleaning her yard because the trees are on my property. I told her that I am not liable for removing debris from her yard because I did not cause the branches to fall on her property. I also told her if there is any damage to her house or car, she should file on her insurance. Please explain my legal rights. A. In my opinion, you own the tree and if large pieces of it fall on the neighbor’s property you are responsible for removing them. It doesn’t matter how they got there. For example, if someone came by one night and put your backyard furniture in the neighbor’s yard, you would have to remove it. In my opinion, the same rule applies to your tree branches. As far as damage to his property, you are responsible for damage caused by the branches only if you were negligent. If the wind blows down a healthy branch you probably have no liability simply because it was your tree. On the other hand, if you know there are dead or weak branches and they will blow down in a high wind, you have a duty to prune them or take steps to prevent them from damaging your neighbor’s property. If you don’t act reasonably and cut the dead branches and they blow down into his car, my opinion is you are responsible for the damage. Based on what you say, it sounds like you know of a problem with your tree. The law imposes a duty upon you to take steps to correct it and avoid damage to your neighbor’s property. Q. I signed a lease with a Landlord, got the keys to the door and mailbox, and the security card to the gate. The next morning the Assistant Manger who signed the lease calls and states she can no longer lease to me. I told her, “surprise you already have.” Isn’t this binding lease? She stated that there was a felony in my record. I feel the Landlord did not perform due diligence prior to signing the lease and that is her problem. A. You are correct that as a general rule, once the landlord and tenant sign a lease it is binding and may not be changed by one without the consent of the other. The exception to this rule is when the lease has a specific provision that allows one party to act unilaterally. I suggest you carefully read your lease and see if it says anything that applies to your situation. If you don’t see anything, ask your landlord to point out what provision of the lease allows her to terminate it. Do you want to know more about your legal rights? Visit my website, www.peopleslawyer.net

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Read more such articles on legal matters Visit: www.voiceofasiaonline.com

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FRIDAY, April 10, 2015

Grand Opening of Unique South Indian Krishna Temple in Houston Continued from page 1 Sri Guruvayurappan temple, Houston would have facilities to organize Hindu weddings, celebrations, ceremonies and festivals. The temple would offer a tranquil environment for devotees to pursue their spiritual advancement along with religious classes for children and youth. There are plans to arrange numerous educational programs, meetings and classes in order to provide a better insight into the Hindu religion and culture for the beneďŹ t of our youth, the upcoming generation. The concept would be to instill an understanding of our profound faith in them, thus incorporating the value system into their everyday life. Many devotees from around the globe have supported this noble venture. In Kerala temples, chenda melam is a requirement as well as a prominent attraction for many rituals and other auspicious festivals. Chenda (big drum) along with other accompanying drum and wind instruments blend their mesmeric crescendo that are believed to generate and conserve potential energy within the Vigrahas as well as bestow an ecstatic devotional ambiance for the devotees.

Mr. Shashidhar Nair, one of the major sponsors of the temple speaking on the occasion. Also seen in the back is Mr. Madhavan Pillai, CPA, another major sponsor and Mr. Shanmughan Vallulissery, Construction Committee Chair. All three were honored at the event. Photo by Shobana Muratee.

Sreepadam School of Art founder and Director Divya Unni (standing) and sister Vidhya Unni upcoming actress perform at the Kickoff event. Photo (s) by Shobana Muratee, Voice of Asia. temple construction committee chairman, president, secretary,

and treasurer respectively, while Madhu Cherikal is the chairman

of Trustee Board. The entire spiritual and ritual-

istic observations will be done under the direction and guidance of temple Thantri (chief priest) Brahmasri Divakaran Namboothiri, the former Melsanthi (chief priest) of Guruv-

ayur temple, Kerala, India. For more information about the temple opening and programs, please call 713-729-8994 or visit www.guruvayurappanhouston.org.

The installation of the deities (Prathishta) is between 10:30 am and 12:30 pm on Thursday, April 23, 2015. The sacred process will be conducted over a week of ritually intensive ceremonies. Following the Prathishta, Utsavam (festival) will be celebrated from April 27 to May 2 with several sacraments and cultural programs. The festival will conclude on May 2, 2015 with special pooja, rituals, chenda melam, cultural programs including Carnatic music recitals and traditional dance programs by professional arts schools in Greater Houston. Business booths, food stalls and attractive decorations of temple and its premises are other major attractions. Shanmughan Vallulissery, Rajagopala Pillai, Gopalakrishnan Nair and Sankaran Thankappan are

Lighting of the traditional lamp: Organizer, sponsors, volunteers supporters of the Sri Guruvayurappan temple, Houston light the lamp for an auspicious start.

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FRIDAY, April 10, 2015

PANGUNI UTHIRAM

Kimberly Kainer, MOT, OTR; Dan Kershner, PT; Kathleen Thoede, MA, CCC-SLP; and Toby Yaltho, M.D. SUGAR LAND—(April 8, 2015) — Houston Methodist Sugar Land Hospital is now a certified provider of the proven BIG® and LOUD® speech and physical therapy courses for patients with Parkinson’s disease. The courses were developed by Lee Silverman Voice Treatments (LSVT Global), an Arizona-based organization that specializes in helping patients with Parkinson’s disease and other movement disorders through the development of unique technology-assisted therapies. Houston Methodist Sugar Land Hospital’s experienced therapy staff are excited to now offer this therapy. “Patients with Parkinson’s disease often find that their voices are as impacted as their bodies,” says Toby Yaltho, M.D., board-certified neurologist specializing in Parkinson’s disease and movement disorders with Methodist Sugar Land Neurology Associates. “They lose volume or develop monotone, hoarse voices that make it difficult to be understood – primarily because the disease is affecting the muscles that control breathing

and speech. As a result, they become increasingly reluctant to speak up, especially in public settings. It directly impacts their ability to communicate with others, even family members.” Patients with Parkinson’s disease or other movement disorders also frequently lose the ability to recognize that they are speaking more softly due to deﬁcits in their sensory processes. To overcome these obstacles, the LOUD program includes an intensive month-long therapy course that improves vocal intensity, quality and variation through a series of repetitive exercises that stimulate the muscles of the larynx and improve breathing. At the same time, patients are taught to recognize when and how to speak louder to facilitate understanding. The BIG therapy system, which was developed using many of the same principles as LOUD, gives patients increased mobility, balance and range of movement with their bodies and limbs.

“This is an extremely beneficial program for patients with Parkinson’s disease,” says Dr. Yaltho. “I’ve seen patients make dramatic improvements in just a few weeks through BIG and LOUD sessions. The training and exercises give them confidence and control and improves their quality of life tremendously.” Both BIG and LOUD therapies require patients to attend four one-hour classes a week for one month, working directly with an individual therapist who provides one-onone coaching and assistance. Houston Methodist Sugar Land Hospital’s speech and physical therapists, Dan Kershner, PT; Kimberly Kainer, MOT, OTR; and Kathleen Thoede, MA, CCC-SLP; have been specially trained and certified by LSVT Global to provide direct instruction to patients. The therapists at Houston Methodist Sugar Land are the only certified BIG therapists in Fort Bend County. “Having this therapy available at Houston Methodist Sugar Land Hospital is a tre-

Lord Muruga on Mayil (Peacock) Vahanam with Valli and Deivanai

anguni Uthiram when the divine wedding of Lord Subramanya and Deivanai took place was celebrated on April 5th, 2015 at Sri Meenakshi Temple (MTS). The Nakshatram (Star) of Uthiram in the month of Panguni is so auspicious that it is believed it was the wedding day for Parvathy and Parameswara as well as for Aandal and Ranganatha. Lord Ayyappan’s Jayanthi falls on this day too.

Varuna Baghavan (rain) greeted the devotees gathered in the morning for the start of the Seervarisai at the Ganesh temple. Despite the damp atmosphere the ambience throughout the day

was radiant. This wedding was conducted with great detail and every step of the process as laid down in the shastras is followed. Starting with the Seer Varisai, the wedding function included Sankalpam, Vighneshwara Puja, Punyahavachanam, Rakshabandanam, Pravaram, Kanyadhanam, Agnipradakshinam, Mangalya Puja, Mangalya Dharanam, Homam, Lajaa homam, Purnahuthi. The Murugan Thirukalyanam was conducted beautifully by MTS priests Sri. Manicka Bhattar and Kalyana Sundara Gurukkal in the Kalyana Mandapam. About 150 people witnessed the blissful event. Thirupugazh was recited by the devotees during

the event. After the thirukalyanam, Murugan, Valli and Deivanai were taken in a procession on Silver Mayil (Peacock) Vahanam and it was a beautiful sight. A very nice lunch was served after the event. This day is indeed a day to celebrate the glory of grahasta dharma (or the married life of a householder). Married couples rededicate themselves to each other and their families, so that their own lives and homes are ﬁlled with peace, joy and bhakti to God. We thank RAC team and the volunteers for a job well done on this auspicious day of celebrating the celestial wedding.

Continued on page 8

Part 2

Plan Your Wedding According to Vastu Do you know even location and entrance of marriage hall can also give you a happy married life? Wedding is one of the biggest events in one’s life as it is a turning point and almost everything after the wedding changes. During the wedding days, whole space of your home gets charged up with excitement and joy, and entire family and extended families are in celebrations Chetan Patel mood. However, there are a few questions that continue move around in everybody’s mind: Do the bride and the groom make a compatible couple? Will they be able to adjust and live happily ever after? If MahaVastu is to be believed then most of the marriages fail not because the couple decides to break them, but because the environment of the place where marriage takes places as well as the house in which they move in after marriage, is not conducive enough for the relationship to continue. Only if the couple and their respective families learn simple principles of Vastu Shastra and follow Vastu advice, then they can come out of the most complex situations that break relationships and can continue to live with love and harmony forever. Guidelines for marriage halls Of late, marriages have moved from homes and temporary pandals to concrete buildings with large halls, specifically made for marriages. Since these halls are also a form of a building, all Vastu principles apply to these buildings. Hence, you must choose a marriage hall which is constructed on Vastu principles. Some of these principles are discussed below: Entrance of the hall is from the East or North while parking should be in North-West or South-East. Ensure that the stage in the hall is positioned in the West and the newlyweds on the stage face East. According to Directions of Alchemy in Vastu Shastra, the dance floor and music system should be in East-North-East zone. Out of 16 Vastu zones this zone belongs to fun and recreation. Transformer and other electrical systems should be in North-West zone of the building. The food should be directed towards North-North-west or North while sitting arrangement for guests must be in North-East or East. The mandap should be arranged only in the South-East zone and the holy fire should be lit in South-East corner of the The writer, Chetan Patel a well-known mandap.

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DIASPORA

VOICE OF ASIA 7

US lawmakers praise role of Indian-American physicians

Indian Americans honor United States District Court Chief Judge

ASHINGTON: (IANS | The Association of American Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI) welcomed the passage by the US House of a bill that would reformulate how physicians are reimbursed for Medicare, a government health insurance for seniors over 65. If approved by the Senate, the legislation would repeal the sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula currently in use. The SGR formula places a cap on spending for physicians services. “We are extremely delighted and grateful to the US Congress for passing this historic measure,” said AAPI President Dr. Ravi Jahagirdar urging the US Senate to take up the bill and pass it without delay. Samir Chopra with Honorable Chief judge Bagley

amir Chopra, President – Elect of Indian Americans of New York, recently honored the Chief Judge of the Eastern District of New York. Honorable Judge Bagley was nominated by President Bush in 1990. Prior she was a trial Attorney at the Department of Justice and was an Assistant United States Attorney and Chief of General

Crimes. Samir Chopra said, “ Judge Bagley has her legacy steeped in public service, her commitment is to the District Court and its constituents. She is a leader by example and has a long track record of fairness, honesty and leadership. “

Award. He has served as Director of the South Asian Bar Association, Trustee of the Hindu Center in New York and Director of the Indian American Committee, after completing his education at Emory University, INSEAD and Harvard. He has been honored by all three of the past Governors of the State of New York, the US Congress and the United States Senate.

Samir Chopra, a marathon runner and triathlete is a past recipient of the Walter Upjohn

FRIDAY, April 10, 2015

Members of AAPI, the largest ethnic organization of physicians, representing over 100,000 physicians, fellows and students of Indian origin in the US, has been lobbying for the repeal of SGR formula for years. The passage of SGR bill came March 26 as AAPI was holding its Legislative Day on Capitol Hill to advocate and raise their voices for the larger physician community in the US, accord-

ing to a media release. In her keynote address Assistant Secretary of State, Nisha Desai Biswal, the Obama administration’s point person for South Asia, praised the Indian American physicians and the broader diaspora community for their role in fostering India-US partnership.

AAPI President Dr. Ravi Jahagirdar

“AAPI has been a tremendous organization for what you do here in the United States and for what you do in India and for what you do to improve and extend the US-India relationship,” she said. She acknowledged that, AAPI was one of the ﬁrst Indian groups to recognize the need for outreach on the Hill. Underscoring the tremendous contributions of the Indian American physician community in delivering the healthcare in the US, several US lawmakers praised them for their hard work, commitment to patients and their constant efforts to make health care affordable, accessible and efﬁcient for everyone in the US.

Ami Bera, the lone Indian American physician in the US Congress, shared his own personal experience of growing up to be a physician and how he got elected in a district that has only 1 percent Indian Americans. “My story is your story and our story is that of the entire nation,” he said. “I want my legacy to be how the generation is going to take us all to the next level and have many more Indian Americans get elected to the Congress,” he added. “AAPI has once again succeeded in bringing to the forefront the many important health care issues facing the physician community and raising our voice unitedly before the US Congress members,” said Jahagirdar.

India’s MP state to set up department to address concerns of NRIs

11 Indians rescued from Yemen reach Delhi by Pak IAF plane

HOPAL: Madhya Pradesh government today decided to set up a department to address the concerns of NRIs.

EW DELHI - Eleven Indians evacuated by Pakistan Navy from strife-torn Yemen arrived here today by a special plane of Pakistan Air Force.

“We are going to set up a department to address the concerns of Non-Resident Indians (NRIs). This will be MP’s 64th department,” state Health Minister and government spokesperson Narottam Mishra told reporters after the Cabinet meeting here. The move to open up the new department comes after

some NRIs met Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan in the United States where he had gone to woo investors to Madhya Pradesh sometime back, Mishra said adding that he (CM) was briefed about the problems that they face in the state.

To a query, Mishra said the recent untimely rains and hailstorm have caused crop damage to the tune of Rs 756 crore, and added that the natural calamity wrecked havoc in 2.60 lakh hectares affecting around 3.07 lakh farmers in the state.

He said that the NRIs told the Chief Minister that their tracts of land for doing business were being encroached upon in MP and they were facing problems in the absence of a quick mechanism in place.

He said that the Cabinet also pondered over the recommendations to be sent to the Centre for dealing with the situation arising out of natural calamities that often damage farmers’ crops. PTI.

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Pakistan High Commission Abdul Basit was at the airport to welcome the Indian nationals. Joint Secretary in External Affairs Ministry responsible for States division Gopal Baglay was also present to receive them. “High Commissioner Basit

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received them at New Delhi International airport and presented them ﬂowers/souvenir,” a statement from the Pakistan High Commission said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi thanked his Sharif for the “humanitarian gesture” and remarked that “service to humanity knows no borders”.

The Indians were among 182 people, including 36 foreigners, who were brought to Pakistan’s port city of Karachi yesterday after being evacuated from Al Mukallah in Yemen. After their arrival in Karachi yesterday, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had offered a special plan to ferry them here, an offer which was accepted by India.

“I welcome our 11 citizens who’ve returned from Yemen with assistance from Pakistan. Thank you Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for your humanitarian gesture,” Modi tweeted. “Service to humanity knows no borders. Glad we helped many countries in evacuation from Yemen,” he added. PTI

COMMUNITY

VOICE OF ASIA 8

FRIDAY, April 10, 2015

FIS interviews the first Assamese couple, Mr. Hiren and Mrs. Usha Sarma sam silk called “pat” which she wore for the interview. She also explained about another exotic Assam silk called “Muga”. On the question of facing any racial and social prejudices after coming to America, Mr. & Mrs. Sarma said, they had not faced any. However, Mr. Sarma explained that as first generation immigrants, it is expected to be always difficult to assimilate, although the assimilation gets better as the generations pass by.

Mr. Krishna Vavilala, Chairman of FIS interviewing Mr. Hiren Sarma, Front End Development Manager from Shell Houston and wife Mrs. Usha Sarma on February 27, 2015 in HCC Spring Branch studio. Mr. Sarma spoke about his published works in Assamese language. HOUSTON, TX. (03-152015) - Foundation of Indian Studies (FIS) reaches out to interview all language and ethnic groups of India for its Oral History project. It is estimated that there are about 50 immigrant Assamese families living in greater Metropolitan Houston area. Mr.Hiren Sarma and his wife Usha Sarma, residents of Katy, Texas are the very ﬁrst couple hailing from Assam, to be interviewed for the Indo American Oral history project. Assam State is a north eastern picturesque state of India known for its scenic beauty and bestowed with Oil, Gas and mineral wealth and the world famous Assam tea. Born in 1947 in Johan Assam, Mr. Sarma holds B.Sc. Degree in Chemical Engineering from Banares Hindu University and M.Tech in Chemical Engineering from IIT, Kanpur. Sarma worked in Oil India Limited, Duliajan for few years before migrating to USA in 1976. Wife, Usha joined in 1977. They have one daughter married with 2 children and 2 yet to be married sons, all employed across USA. In USA, Sarma worked with several engineering companies and is currently engaged as a

Front End Development Manager with Shell Oil Houston. Besides publishing several Technical articles related to Oil and Gas, Hiren Sarma has also moved into fictional writing in his mother tongue Assamese for last several years through an annual bi-lingual publication called “Luitor Pora Mississippi (from Luit – the Brahmaputra to Mississippi)”, published in North America. His efforts finally culminated in publication of a short story compilation called “The Great Italian Family Circus” in October 2014 at Guwahati Assam, both in original Assamese as well as an English translation. Mrs. Sarma narrated how they were married at Jorhat in 1973, and then migrated to US in 1976, travelled to Mexico, Malaysia, and Oman over the years in connection with her husband’s business assignments. Sarmas finally returned to Houston following settlement of all the three children with their studies and work and decided to make a permanent home in Katy, Texas. On the question of a typical Assamese woman’s dress, Mrs. Sarma explained that Assamese Sari comprises of two pieces made out of special white As-

Houston Methodist Sugar Land Hospital debuts BIG® and LOUD® therapy for Parkinson’s patients Continued on page 8 mendous advantage for patients in Fort Bend and surrounding areas,” says Sean Croft, director of rehabilitation services. “It is a world-renowned program, and our staff is excited to be able to offer it to patients. We have skilled, knowledgeable therapists, and they were thrilled to undergo certiﬁcation to help meet the needs of the Fort Bend community.” To provide further assistance to patients with movement disorders, Dr. Yaltho is working with the Houston Area Parkinson’s Society to start a support group in Sugar Land. The pro-

gram should be up and running later this year. For more information on Houston Methodist Sugar Land Hospital’s BIG and LOUD therapy, call Maureen Lall, Neuroscience & Spine Center nurse navigator at 281.274.7979. To schedule an appointment with Dr. Yaltho, visit methodistsugarlanddocs.com or call 281.494.6387. Learn more about Houston Methodist Sugar Land Hospital at houstonmethodist.org/sugarland or visit our Facebook page at FB.com/methodistsugarland for the latest news, events and information.

Read more community stories. Visit: www.voiceofasiaonline.com

Asked about the present situation in Assam, Mr. Sarma passionately described the alarming situation in Assam due to massive illegal immigration primarily from Bangladesh changing the complete demographic situation in Assam due to continued apathy from both

the State and the Central governments. Mr.Sarma’s extra-curricular Activities included serving as Civil coordinator for US Embassy in Muscat Oman for 3 years, Vice-Chair and Board Member of American British Academy International School at Muscat Oman. Sarmas support 4 village schools in Assam coordinating the work between ASHA, an American charity organization and Shanti Sadhana Ashram, a non-proﬁt organization in Guwahati Assam, Ekal Vidyalaya activities in India. Here at home, Sarmas provide “Seva” to homeless center at Houston Downtown with a group of likeminded people. In the near future, Mr. Sarma plans to take active part in in the 2016 Presidential elections.

The interview concluded with Mr. & Mrs. Sarma expressing their interest to support FIS and Mr. Vavilala in the future endeavors. The Indo-American Oral History project is an undertaking of the Foundation for India Studies (FIS), a 501(c3) a nonproﬁt organization registered in 2005 in Houston, Texas. Recorded video interviews of the ﬁrst generation Indian immigrants will be archived in the Indo-American Oral History collection of the Houston Metropolitan Research Center administered by the Houston Public Library. For information and participation in the project, please contact Ms. Veena Ponnaganti @281-323-9515 or Mr. Krishna Vavilala @ 713-7955169.

SOUTH ASIA

VOICE OF ASIA 9

Kashmirâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Hindu refugees look to Modi for salvation

â&#x20AC;&#x153;I spend whatever money I earn to send my children to school,â&#x20AC;? said Ramesh Kumar, a part-time driver. â&#x20AC;&#x153;My fear is their fate is going to be the same as mine,â&#x20AC;? added Kumar, who lives with his wife, two children and mother in a two-room hovel. The familyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s only permanent income is the $100 monthly pension his mother receives after her husband died serving in the army. Like many WPRs, Kumar hopes the BJPâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s presence in the state and federal governments will yield a change in fortunes.

Hindu refugee from West Pakistan, Mangu Ram (82) sits inside his concrete shanty in Surej Chak, on the outskirts of Jammu (AFP Photo/Tauseef Mustafa) by Parvaiz BUKHARI

AMMU, India | 4/6/2015 - Seven decades after ďŹ&#x201A;eeing the carnage of partition, Mangu Ram is still regarded as a second class citizen in Indian Kashmir, unable to own property or vote in state elections. But, now aged 82, Ram is daring to hope he will ďŹ nally be able to shed his refugee status after Prime Minister Narendra Modiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Hindu nationalist party won a share of power in Indiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s only Muslim-majority state. â&#x20AC;&#x153;If something can be done, then maybe I will ďŹ nally have some enjoyment in this life,â&#x20AC;? says the traditional healer, speaking in a slum home on the outskirts of Jammu, Kashmirâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s winter capital. â&#x20AC;&#x153;If only the gods could show us some mercy.â&#x20AC;? A Hindu, Ram was born in pre-independence India in an area of Punjab province which became part of Pakistan.

Hundreds of thousands of families ďŹ&#x201A;ed across both sides of the border during the 1947 partition of the sub-continent, when around one million people were killed in communal violence. Most of those refugees were quickly absorbed in towns and cities of the newly-independent nations. However the fate of the WPRs (West Pakistan Refugees) who decamped to Jammu and Kashmir state became mired in the dispute with Pakistan over the territory, prompting its rulers to hold off granting them residential rights, including the right to buy land or vote in state polls. Around 100,000 people are classiďŹ ed as WPRs, most living in the Jammu region. Hardly any of them have ever set foot in Pakistan. Their plight has been effectively ignored by the federal government in Delhi and successive state administrations,

citing legal barriers. - Three generations -

As well as the manifesto pledge, hopes of a breakthrough were also raised in January when a committee of lawmakers in the BJP-dominated national parliament recommended the WPRs be granted permanent resident status.

But, in its manifesto for Decemberâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s state elections, Modiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Bharatiya Janata Party pledged to normalise the WPRsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; status.

But the WPRs have been disappointed by the absence of a similar commitment in the recent agreement signed by the BJP and its regional partner in Kashmirâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s coalition.

Although the BJP came second, they have joined a Kashmir governing coalition for the ďŹ rst time and are expected to champion the WPRsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; cause.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;We were expecting something to happen about our rights after the BJP came into government. We are still hopeful,â&#x20AC;? said Kumar.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;We have been living here like this for three generations now,â&#x20AC;? said veteran activist Labha Ram Gandhi. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Granting us state-subject rights is the only way to improve our condition.â&#x20AC;? Despite prevailing unrest, Kashmir is one of Indiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s more prosperous states. The estimated 18,000 WPR families however live in abject poverty, mostly marrying among themselves because of their low economic status.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;At least our situation is being discussed in the assembly but we expect the BJP and Modi Ji to do more than just improve our livelihoods,â&#x20AC;? he said, using a term of respect. Observers say the reluctance of successive state governments to grant full rights to the overwhelmingly Hindu WPRs stems from fears of upsetting the demographic balance in Indiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s only Muslim-majority state which has special autonomy enshrined in the constitution.

FRIDAY, April 10, 2015

Consulate General of India, Houston open to meet Indian citizens every Thursday

OUSTON, (April, 8, 2015) - The Consulate General of India, Houston notiďŹ ed in its press release today that the Consulate will meet Indian citizens, including those having no legal status in the US, on every Thursday of a week between 1000-1230 hrs. at the Consulate General of India, Houston 4300 Scotland Street, Houston, TX 77056 to redress their grievances relating to issuance of Indian passport. Those who wish to visit the Consulate for this purpose may kindly seek prior appointment with Mr. N.P.S. Saini, Consul or Mr. Amrit Paul, Consul. The applicants can

send a detailed e-mail about the grievance along with supporting documents on the following e-mail IDs: (i) Mr. N.P.S. Saini, Consul â&#x20AC;&#x201C; passportcgihouston@swbell.net (For Indian citizens having legal status in USA) (ii) Mr. Amrit Paul, Consul - renunciation@swbell. net (For Indian citizens having NO legal status in USA). The Consulate General warned that, â&#x20AC;&#x153;No agents/ touts/attorneys will be entertained. This is a speciďŹ c service for Indian Citizens only.â&#x20AC;?

ing Himalayan region between India and Pakistan and claimed in full by both.

The WPRs, whose families mainly originate from Punjab, have fallen foul of a pre-independence law that only grants citizenship to people born -- or descendants of those born -- in the old undivided kingdom of Kashmir.

Successive state governments have ignored requests by their federal counterparts for a â&#x20AC;&#x153;onetimeâ&#x20AC;? settlement of the Hindu refugees, fearing a backlash from Muslims whose numbers have fallen six percent since 1947. Kashmirâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Hindu population has risen by ďŹ ve percent in the same period.

The same legislation has allowed around 35,000 Hindus who have ďŹ&#x201A;ed Pakistan-controlled Kashmir since partition to be granted citizenship.

The Rashtriya Swayamsawak Sang (RSS), an inďŹ&#x201A;uential Hindu group whose alumni include Modi, has advocated settling â&#x20AC;&#x153;Hindu patriotsâ&#x20AC;? in Kashmir.

- â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;I was born hereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Kumar says the law is ridiculous. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I was born here (in India). My roots are here. What else do I and my children need to be citizens of this place?â&#x20AC;?

Separatists opposed to Indian rule insist the WPRs must settle in states where Hindus are in a majority.

As things stand, Kumarâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s children cannot be admitted to state-run training colleges or be employed in the state government, although they can work for the federal one.

Gandhi however said the WPRsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; patience is exhausted and they are ready to take matters into their own hands if their hopes are dashed again.

The WPRs are widely seen as victims of the broader dispute over Kashmir, a captivat-

â&#x20AC;&#x153;We will spill our blood on the streets for our rights,â&#x20AC;? he said.

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FRIDAY, April 10, 2015

US museum to return Indian American ‘Bombshell Bandit’ ‘stolen’ artwork nurse jailed for bank robberies in US bought from Indian LOS ANGELES April 8, 2015 (PTI) - A 24-year-old Indian-origin nurse, dubbed by FBI as “The Bombshell Bandit”, has been sentenced to 66 months in prison and ﬁned tens of thousands of dollars for robbing banks in the US state of Arizona.

Sandeep Kaur, a professional California nurse, admitted that she is the woman the FBI dubbed “The Bombshell Bandit” after robberies last year in which a well-dressed woman approached bank tellers and threatened to detonate a bomb if they did not hand over cash from their registers. Kaur, who escaped longer prison terms, derives her nickname of “Bombshell Bandit”

from the bomb threats she made during the robberies, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

She was yesterday sentenced in St George to serve 66 months in federal prison and pay tens of thousands of dollars in penalties as a result of her shortlived crime spree, The Spectrum reported. Kaur escaped with USD 21,200 from her ﬁrst robbery at a Bank of the West branch in Valencia, California, on June 6 last year, the most success she had at any of the four robberies she pleaded guilty to. In subsequent robberies, she grabbed USD 1,978 and USD 8,000 at banks in Lake Havasu

City in Arizona, and San Diego, respectively, before her strike on a St George bank which led to her capture in July, eight weeks after her crime spree began.

Kaur faced up to 20 years in federal prison on each of the four charges against her, as well as ﬁnes of USD 250,000 and three years of supervised postprison release for each charge. Presenting investigators established a recommended range of 78 to 97 months. Defense attorney Jay Winward asked the court for an even lighter sentence of four years in prison, citing the challenges of Kaur’s upbringing. “She is educated, she has

US reaffirms support for India’s UN Security Council bid The Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Mass., handed over a mid-19th-century Indian painting that was bought in 2006. Credit Peabody Essex Museum

id-19th century work ‘Maharaja Serfoji II of Tanjavur and his son Shivaji II’ was purchased by Peabody Essex Museum from notorious art dealer Subhash Kapoor in 2006 for $35,000 Boston: One of the US’ prestigious art museums will hand over to American authorities a rare mid-19th century Tanjore portrait bought from notorious art dealer Subhash Kapoor accused of trafficking stolen antiquities from India. The Peabody Essex Museum in Massachusetts on Friday announced that it will hand over the Indian artwork to the Department of Homeland Security as part of the government’s ongoing investigation into an alleged international art fraud enterprise. The artwork titled ‘Maharaja Serfoji II of Tanjavur and his son Shivaji II’ was purchased by the Museum from Kapoor’s New York gallery in 2006 for USD 35,000, the Boston Globe reported. Kapoor was arrested in 2011 in Germany on charges of trafficking in looted Indian antiquities. He was extradited to India and is awaiting trial. He has pleaded not guilty. Peabody Essex Museum director Dan L Monroe said the allegations of Kapoor’s art trafficking have created “shock waves” around the world. “It involves a substantial number of art museums, and they’re not just in the US,” he said, adding that he knew of 18 museums with pieces linked to Kapoor in their collections. Monroe said the Museum has been working with Homeland Security Investigations, a division of the federal department, since Kapoor’s arrest at the airport in Frankfurt in 2011. “We took a proactive role to notify the Department of Homeland Security of all works we had through gift or purchase from Kapoor,” said Monroe. Monroe said Kapoor first established his relationship with the Peabody Essex by donating works to the collection. “He made several gifts to the museum and then eventually offered works for purchase,” Monroe said. He said the Peabody-Essex collection still has “six or seven” of Kapoors works, which federal investigators have told the museum do not appear to have been improperly acquired. Luis Martinez, a public affairs officer with the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said the investigation known as Operation Hidden Idol has already recovered approximately 1,000 items, worth an estimated USD 150 million, linked to Kapoor, the daily reported. While some of the works are more recent, many are much older, including a second-cen-

tury BC pillar sculpture valued at nearly USD 18 million and a 2,000-year-old terra cotta rattle. “It is the largest seizure that HSI has made from an individual,” said Martinez, who added that investigators have identiﬁed approximately 2,000 pieces linked to Kapoor that they suspect were looted.

WASHINGTON - US President Barack Obama has reafﬁrmed support for India’s candidature for permanent membership of a reformed UN Security Council and considers continued strengthening of the relationship with New Delhi as a foreign policy “priority”. “I think what the President said was in the context of a reformed Security Council that the President would support the inclusion of India in that process. So that continues to be our policy and one that we are certainly aware of,” White House Press Secretary Josh

Earnest said yesterday. He said Obama “certainly considers it a foreign policy priority to continue to strengthen that relationship” with India. “The President genuinely enjoyed the visit that he had to India back in January and takes very seriously the kind of opportunities that exist in that friendship between the United States and the world’s largest democracy in India,” he added. Obama had ﬁrst voiced his support for a seat for India at the UN high table during his

first visit to the country in 2010. Earnest said the Washington-New Delhi relationship is one that continues to strengthen in a way that has “both national security benefits for both countries, but also in a way that has important economic benefits for both countries”. Almost all veto-wielding members of the UN Security Council - the US, Britain, France and Russia - have supported India’s place in this most powerful organ of the UN. ((PTI)).

great worth to society ... And she does want to make amends,” Winward said. District Judge Ted Stewart shed some light on the closed discussions when he noted that Kaur had gone into debt with “a loan shark” and robbed banks to repay him. “She amassed a large gambling debt and, in order to repay a loan shark, she robbed the banks,” Stewart said. Winward said Kaur was sent to India, but later returned to the United States. Stewart noted that Kaur graduated from high school at the age of 15 and nursing school at 19 and had no prior criminal history before the robberies.

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VOICE OF ASIA 11

LIFESTYLE

FRIDAY, April 10, 2015

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Vol. 28 No. 15 Friday, April 10, 2015 Section 2 Page 11

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‘Checkbook Buddhism’ offers Thais a stairway to heaven but brings corruption to temples by Delphine Thouvenot and Thanaporn Promyamyai

of Engaged Buddhism, who is close to the Dalai Lama. “A monk cannot even touch money. By touching money, it makes the monk impure,” said Sulak, denouncing greed that he says Thailand’s top Buddhist body — the Supreme Council of the Sangha — has failed to address.

ANGKOK – In deeply religious Thailand, monks have long been revered. But badly behaved clergy, corruption scandals, and the vast wealth amassed by some temples has many asking if something is rotten at the heart of Thai Buddhism.

One of the peculiarities of the Thai clergy is that — despite the major subsidies they receive from the state — they are also self-governing.

From selﬁes on private jets to multimillion-dollar donations from allegedly crooked businessmen, Thailand’s monks are coming under increasing ﬁre for their embrace of commercialism — so much so that even the military junta is threatening to intervene.

The Sangha — a Sanskrit word used to describe a community of monks — is composed of a handful of the most inﬂuential monks in the country, and they alone decide when and whether clergy should be punished for transgressions and excesses.

In Wat Hua Lumphong, a temple in downtown Bangkok, garlands of bank notes ﬂutter in the breeze as trader Sakorn Suker slips a 20 baht note ($1) into an urn.

Paiboon Nititawan, a member of the junta’s National Reform Council, has been asked to draft a new law to improve control over the temples, which has enraged many monks who see it unacceptable interference in spiritual affairs.

“It makes me feel good, boosts my health and makes me do better business,” Suker said. His donation entitles him to take a “lucky” floating candle in the shape of a flower. Nearby, coin-operated machines — similar to jukeboxes, but with a Buddha statue on top — churn out “lucky numbers” for the faithful as kneeling devotees hand over envelopes stuffed with cash. Many pick up a tax-reduction certificate on their way out. In one corner of the temple complex sits a monk in an air-conditioned box. “Donation means sacrifice. You sacrifice your things, sacrifice your time, sacrifice your money, sacrifice your heart,” explained the monk, Pra Maha Noppadom. In contrast to the increasingly empty pews and coffers of many European churches, temples remain a boom business in Thailand. The overwhelmingly Buddhist nation is one of the most generous countries in the world, according to the 2014 World Giving Index. It came third globally, behind Myanmar and Malta, with 77 percent of the population giving money to charity. Temples are under no obligation to declare their assets, which makes guessing how deep this generosity runs difficult. But last year the National Institute of Development Administration estimated the country’s 38,000-odd temples receive between 100 billion and 120 billion baht ($3.07 billion to $3.62 billion) in donations every year. And that is on top of their state funding. In 2015, the government has earmarked $113 million alone for renovating temples. Donations have always formed the

“The goal is to have measures handling the properties of the temples and to get them to make proper accounts. And also to reveal the accounts to the public. So that it can be checked and balanced with transparency,” he said.

Buddhists meditate in a ceremony at the Dhammakaya Temple in Bangkok on Makha Bucha Day, the anniversary of Buddha’s ordination of the ﬁrst monks, March 4. | AFP-JIJI bedrock of Thai Buddhism. Every morning, barefooted monks make their daily alms rounds in their local neighborhoods.

were drinking alcohol and crashed a car, monks having girlfriends, and other monks brawling during the early morning alms collections.

But as the nation has modernized, so have donation methods. Supermarkets now offer an impressive array of pre-packaged hampers for monks, including saffron robes, instant coffee and soap.

Many monks feel some of their brethren, who number more than 300,000, have replaced making merit with making money.

Few have mastered modern money collection techniques better than the Dhammakaya temple, one of the richest in the kingdom, with dozens of outlets worldwide and an enormous headquarters north of Bangkok. It is renowned for its roster of wealthy patrons and even boasts a slick TV channel where — much like evangelical mega-churches — pleas for devotees to reach deep into their pockets are never far away. But with wealth comes controversy. Last month, the temple authorities returned some $20 million given by a company executive who has been accused of embezzling the cash. It was just the latest in a list of scandals involving Thai clergy embracing excess — the most infamous of which involved celebrated monk Wiraphol Sukphol taking selﬁes while ﬂying in a private jet. Other embarrassing incidents in recent months include a monk who was arrested for multiple sexual assaults, clergy dressed in civilian clothes who

“Buddhism is overwhelmed by capitalism. We have become too much

obsessed with the idea of getting beneﬁts and money,” said Pra Maha Paiwan Warawunno, a charismatic 24-year-old monk who regularly criticizes the state of Thai Buddhism on his Facebook page. “In this country now, greed is promoted. Amulets, Buddha images, all kinds of things,” said Sulak Sivaraksa, a Thai Buddhist expert and founder of the International Network

“If there is no such law, monks will accumulate properties, which is against the monk disciplines,” he added. But few expect the junta to make much headway against such an entrenched group. As Somchai Surachatri, spokesman for National Ofﬁce of Buddhism, put it, “Sangha rules Sangha.”

Muslim population could catch up with Christians globally: study

ASHINGTON, (AFP) 4/2/2015 - The Muslim and Christian populations could be nearly equal by 2050, with Islam expected to be the fastest-growing faith on the planet, according to projections released Thursday. The Pew Research Center’s religious proﬁle predictions assessed data from around the world on fertility rates, trends in youth population growth and religious conversion statistics. “Over the next four decades, Christians will remain the largest religious group, but Islam will grow faster than any other major religion,” according to the report. The authors predicted there will be 2.76 billion Muslims on the planet by then, and 2.92 billion Christians. Those ﬁgures would correspond to about 29.7 and 31.4 percent of the world population, respectively. There were 1.6 billion Muslims on the planet in 2010, compared to 2.17 billion Christians.

“The number of Muslims will nearly equal the number of Christians around the world,” it added. Hindus will be third, making up 14.9 percent of the world’s total population, followed by people who do not affiliate with any religion, accounting for 13.2 percent. The Asia-Pacific region will remain the most popular for Muslims, bolstered by a youthful population with high fertility rates. The study predicts that India will have the largest Muslim population -though it will retain a Hindu majority -- surpassing Indonesia. Muslims are expected to account for 10 percent of Europe’s overall population, Pew added. If the trend continues, Islam will be the most popular faith in the world after 2070, it said. Authors said the projections, compiled over the past six years, are merely “what will occur if the current data are accurate and the trends play out as expected.” “Many events -- scientific discover-

ies, armed conﬂicts, social movements, political upheavals, natural disasters and changing economic conditions, to name just a few -- can shift demographic trends in unforeseen ways.” The authors said religious conversion data came from only 70 countries, not including the world’s most populous countries, India and China. - Atheism on the rise The report predicts the number of people with no religious afﬁliation will make up a declining share of the world’s total population, though in some countries -- such as the United States and France -- the number of atheists and agnostics is expected to rise. Buddhism is the only faith that is not expected to increase its followers, due to an ageing population and stable fertility rates in Buddhist countries, such as China, Japan and Thailand. In Europe, the only region where the overall population is expected to shrink, the Christian population will drop from 553 million to 454 million. Similarly, in the United States, Christians will decline from more than three quarters to two thirds in 2050.

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HEALTH, SC & TECH

VOICE OF ASIA 12

FRIDAY, April 10, 2015

Juicing for Sweet-smelling sweat? UK health: Grape- scientists develop new perfume fruits - Part II Prof. Meenakshi Bhattacharjee Rice University, Houston, TX by Prof. Meenakshi Bhattacharjee Grapefruit Lowers Cholesterol Grapefruit contains pectin, a form of soluble fiber that has been shown in animal studies to slow down the progression of atherosclerosis. Both blond and red grapefruit can reduce blood levels of LDL (“bad”) cholesterol, and red grapefruit lowers triglycerides as well, shows a study published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. Israeli researchers from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem first tested the antioxidant potential of yellow and red grapefruits and then their cholesterol-lowering potential in humans. In a recent study, participants added red grapefruit, yellow grapefruit or no grapefruit to their daily diet. The results indicated that both types of grapefruit appeared to lower LDL cholesterol in just 30 day. No changes were seen in the control group (those that didn’t eat any grapefruit).Both red and blond grapefruits both positively influenced cholesterol levels, but red grapefruit was more than twice as effective, especially in lowering triglycerides. In addition, both grapefruits significantly improved blood levels of protective antioxidants. In response to this rapid and very positive outcome, the researchers concluded that adding fresh red grapefruit to the diet could be beneficial for persons with high cholesterol, especially those who also have high triglycer-

Citrus paradisi is the Latin name for Grapefruit. ides. Prevent Kidney Stones Want to reduce your risk of calcium oxalate kidney stones? Drink grapefruit juice. A study published in the British Journal of Nutrition found that when women drank 1/2 to 1 liter of grapefruit, apple or orange juice daily, their urinary pH value and citric acid excretion increased, signiﬁcantly dropping their risk of forming calcium oxalate stones. Protection Cancer

against

Colon

Not only are grapefruit rich in vitamin C, but new research presented at the 228th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society provides two more reasons to drink grapefruit juice: protection against lung and colon cancer. In humans, drinking three 6-ounce glasses of grapefruit juice a day was shown to reduce the activity of an enzyme that activates cancer-causing chemicals found in tobacco smoke. Researchers also conﬁrmed that grapefruit may help prevent weight gain by lowering insulin levels. Grapefruit’s Naringenin Repairs DNA Naringenin, a ﬂavonoid concentrated in grapefruit, helps repair damaged DNA in human

prostate cancer cells (cell line LNCaP), reports a lab study published in the Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry. The risk of prostate cancer, the most commonly diagnosed cancer in men in the U.S, increases with age, and greater are the chances for DNA mutations to occur. Naringenin helps restore health to damaged DNA by inducing two enzymes that repair DNA during the replication stage. Unlike many other cancers, prostate cancer is slow growing initially and often remains undetectable for a long time. Enjoying grapefruit regularly may be one way to prevent its progression by promoting the repair of damaged DNA in prostate cells, thus preventing them from becoming cancerous. Individual Concerns Grapefruit and Drug Interactions Check with your healthcare practitioner about consuming grapefruit juice if you’re taking pharmaceutical drugs. Certain pharmaceutical drugs combined with grapefruit juice become more potent. Compounds in grapefruit juice, including naringenin, slow the normal detoxiﬁcation and metabolism processes in the intestines and liver, which hinders the body’s ability to breakdown and eliminate these drugs.

Scientists in Britain said Thursday they had developed the ﬁrst perfume which smells better the more you sweat and reduces body odour. PHOTO | FILE

ONDON (AFP) - Scientists in Britain said Thursday they had developed the ﬁrst perfume which smells better the more you sweat and reduces body odour. Researchers at Queen’s University Belfast said in a statement that the new perfume “releases more of its aroma when it comes into contact with moisture”. The fragrance uses as a delivery system an ionic liquid — salt in the form of liquid — with no smell.

“The perfumed ionic liquid releases its aroma when it comes into contact with water, allowing more of the perfume’s scent to be released onto a person’s skin,” the Queen’s University Ionic Liquid Laboratories (QUILL) said. The new perfume could also take away bad odours. “The thiol compounds that are responsible for the malodour of sweat are attracted to the ionic liquid, attaching themselves to

it and losing their potency,” the scientists said. Queen’s University said it was already working with a perfume company on practical applications and project leader Nimal Gunaratne said it had “great commercial potential”. Gunaratne said that it could also be used for other scientiﬁc applications when the slow release of substances is required. “This is an exciting breakthrough,” he said.

Smartphones a lifeline for many Americans, study ﬁnds

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The Pew Research Center found some 64 percent of American adults owned a smartphone as of the survey last year, almost double the percentage of 2011 by Rob Lever

mericans love their smartphones and rely on them as a key way to go online, but many find the cost too steep, a survey showed Wednesday. The Pew Research Center found some 64 percent of American adults owned a smartphone as of the survey last year, almost double the percentage of 2011. And 15 percent of those surveyed said they had a smartphone and “limited” access to the Internet from other sources. Ten percent in the survey said they had no broadband Internet at home. In sum, the figures mean around one out of 14 Americans is “smartphone dependent,” with no high-speed Internet at home and little access elsewhere, Pew said. A large number of these “smartphone-dependent” users are young adults: some 15 percent of those in the 18-29 age group fit that description, the survey found. Those with lower incomes and lower educational attainment were also more likely to depend on their handsets. “Compared with smartphone owners who are less reliant on their mobile devices, these smartphone-dependent users are less likely to own some other type of computing device, less likely to have a bank account, less likely to be covered

by health insurance and more likely to rent or to live with a friend or family member rather than own their own home,” the Pew report said. But because these people have lower incomes, many have had trouble paying their smartphone bills, according to Pew. Around 23 percent of smartphone owners said they had to cancel or suspend their service for ﬁnancial reasons, and 15 percent said they often reach the maximum amount of data allowed on their plan. “The connections to online resources that smartphones facilitate are often most tenuous for those users who rely on those connections the most,” said Aaron Smith, a Pew researcher. “A substantial minority of Americans indicate that their phone plays a central role in their ability to access digital services and online content, but for many users, this access may not be available when they need it due to ﬁnancial stresses or technical constraints.” Although 93 percent said their smartphone is useful, less than half—46 percent—claimed they “could live without” their device, and 54 percent said it was “not always needed.” Wide range of uses While smartphone users access the Internet on their handsets for a variety of things,

low-income and smartphonedependent users are especially likely to use their phone for work, or to help find a job. Overall, the study found 62 percent of smartphone owners have used their phone to look up information about a health condition, and 57 percent for online banking. More than four in 10 used their phone to look up real estate listings or other information about a place to live, or to find information about a job. And 18 percent used their phone to submit a job application. More than two thirds of smartphone owners said they used the devices to follow breaking news, with 33 percent saying that they do this “frequently.” And 67 percent said they used their phones at least occasionally as GPS devices while driving, with 31 percent using this feature often. Among younger adults, 91 percent said they used their smartphones for social networking such as Facebook or Twitter, but the figure was much lower (55 percent) for users over 50 years old. The report is based on telephone surveys conducted in December 2014 among 2,002 adults, with some data from surveys in October and November. The margin of error was estimated at 2.5 percentage points.

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LEISURE

VOICE OF ASIA 13

FRIDAY, April 10, 2015

Indians break from family living in twilight years

hen Usha Mantri brushed off frowning traditionalists and moved into a retirement village, she became a pioneer for a generation of Indians who are increasingly breaking the custom of multi-generational households.

Perhaps surprisingly, only one of the projects so far, Antara Senior Living near the Himalayas, is targeting the very top end of the Indian market, with most developers focused on the middle and upper middle-class. “If a rich man sends his father to a senior citizens’ home, he will be looked down upon,” explained Gopal Srinivasan, a trustee at Dignity Lifestyle.

She is now happily settled in the peaceful retreat by India’s western mountains, which has an on-site Hindu temple and offers ayurvedic massage - and is a two-hour drive from her son in Mumbai.

“Therefore the very rich keep their parents in their house, have a 24-7 nurse, have a doctor coming in every day, but they won’t admit their parents to senior citizens’ houses,” he said.

“I have a very different type of thinking,” the 69-year-old told AFP in her studio apartment at the Dignity Lifestyle Retirement Township, one of the ﬁrst of its kind in India.

At the other end of the scale are the many who cannot afford such care.

“I want to give full freedom to my child, and I want full freedom for myself.” Mantri was the ﬁrst resident to move into the Dignity complex, which looks more like a modest holiday resort, nine years ago. She now has more than 60 neighbours, while other retirement communities are springing up around India. While most senior citizens still prefer to live with their families, alternative options are increasingly in demand as the country develops, children migrate and their parents live for longer. “I think very slowly minds are getting changed,” said Hemlata Parekh, one of Mantri’s neighbours at Dignity and a former teacher. Parekh, 82, has siblings in Mumbai but no children, and said it would be difﬁcult for her to manage household chores and transport in the city. Dignity, however, has a communal dining room, round-the-clock security and an in-house doctor. There is a wing with special care for those with dementia, while for the more active retirees there are monthly

Srinivasan said state-run homes for the aged were in a “pathetic condition”, while abuse of senior citizens by their children had become “rampant”. On top of this, about 90 percent of India’s elderly worked in the unorganised sector -- such as small farms or family enterprises -- which has left most without pensions, said Prakash Borgaonkar, Mumbai director of HelpAge India.

Indians break from family living in twilight years shopping trips and occasional picnics. “It is a hassle-free retirement township, in a real sense,” said Parekh. - ‘Dependency ratio’ grows There are currently more than 100 million Indians aged 60 and above, and that is projected to rise to more than 300 million by 2050, when they will make up about 20 percent of the population, according to the charity HelpAge India. This growing “dependency ratio”, along with better purchasing power among the elderly, are among the factors said to be fuelling the demand for senior housing.

Manish Kumar, a strategic consultant with real estate company Jones Lang LaSalle India, said the current annual demand for such projects was estimated to be at 312,00 units, but only 10,000 to 15,000 units of new supply are being planned. “Of late we have seen a good number of reputed real estate developers and hospitals entering into this segment,” Kumar said, citing projects being developed by the property arm of the giant Tata conglomerate. Elderly residents either buy a property in a township or, as is the case at Dignity, put down a partly-refundable deposit to rent a living space and pay

Questions persist about sexual effects of baldness drug

monthly charges. Top-end housing at Dignity requires a deposit of about 3.5 million rupees ($56,000) -- 75 percent refundable if the resident leaves or dies, when it goes to an heir -- and fees of 10,000 rupees a month, plus meals. Kumar said most projects to date were in western and southern India, areas which have more nuclear families, higher education levels and a greater number of emigrating young people, but developers are now also targeting second and third-tier cities in the north and east. - Focus on the middle -

The government offers regular social security payments only to those below the poverty line -- a minority of India’s elderly -- and even then the beneﬁts are difﬁcult to access, Borgaonkar said. “Society is changing fast, and because of this joint family system which is breaking, these elderly are again isolated, they are neglected,” he said, calling for government policies to support the elderly as demographics swiftly change. “Are we ready to take up this challenge? Today we have to think on that.”

Japanese centenarian notches up world swim record

and general internal medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. He pointed to several questions raised by the study’s findings, including the lack of adequate information about the severity and frequency of sexual toxicity. “Was this information obtained but then not included in published articles? Or, were these clinical trials performed in a way that simply didn’t capture this essential information?” Belknap asked. “And most importantly, is the risk to benefit ratio of finasteride acceptable?” A review of clinical trials on a popular drug to treat hair loss in men found that none of the studies adequately reported on sexual side effects, researchers say (AFP Photo/Spencer Platt)

IAMI (AFP) - A review of 34 clinical trials on a popular drug to treat hair loss in men found that none of the studies adequately reported on sexual side effects, researchers said. The ﬁndings raise serious questions about whether the drug -known as ﬁnasteride and marketed as Propecia and Proscar, among other names -- is safe, said the report by scientists at Northwestern University, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Dermatology on Wednesday. The drug, approved in 1992, works by interfering with testosterone, and the pharmaceutical giant Merck lists decreased sex drive, impotence and problems with ejaculation among its common side effects. - Key questions unanswered However, the study in JAMA said

these side effects have not been properly studied. “Not one of the 34 published clinical trial reports provided adequate information about the severity, frequency or reversibility of sexual adverse effects,” said the study. That has left key questions unanswered, such as the actual risk of developing sexual side effects, how long they may last, how severe they may be and whether sexual function may return to normal if the drug is stopped, the researchers said. Most published studies on the duration of drug safety were one year or less, but about a third of men took the drug for more than a year. “People who take or prescribe the drug assume it’s safe, but there is insufﬁcient information to make that judgment,” said lead study author Steven Belknap, research assistant professor of dermatology

The report was based on a metaanalysis including data from more than 5,700 men taking ﬁnasteride, which was initially developed for the treatment of enlarged prostate. Merck said it “conducted welldesigned clinical trials and stands behind the results, which were reported to the FDA and regulatory agencies around the world,” according to a statement emailed to AFP. An accompanying editorial in JAMA Dermatology argued for improved study of potential harms -not just potential drug beneﬁts -- in clinical trials. “The international standard for the duration of clinical testing for non–life-threatening diseases requires that only 300 patients be observed for one year or more, and not necessarily with a comparison group,” wrote Thomas Moore of the Institute for Safe Medication Practices in Alexandria, Virginia. “This standard is not adequate and should be reassessed.”

Mieko Nagaoka took just under one hour and 16 minutes to swim 1,500m.

OKYO, Japan | 4/6/2015 - A 100-year-old Japanese woman has become the world’s ﬁrst centenarian to complete a 1,500-metre freestyle swim, 20 years after she took up the sport. Mieko Nagaoka took just under an hour and 16 minutes to ﬁnish the race as the sole competitor in the 100-104year-old category at a short course pool in Ehime, western Japan, on Saturday. “I want to swim until I turn 105 if I can live that long,” the sprightly Nagaoka told Kyodo News. Her achievement is expected to be recognised by Guinness World Records, the agency reported. Admirable though it is, Nagaoka’s time is a little off the global pace; 18-year-old American Katie Ledecky holds the women’s world record for the 1,500-metre freestyle, having clocked just 15 minutes 28.36 seconds. Nagaoka, who published a book last year entitled ‘I’m 100 years old and

the world’s best active swimmer’, is no stranger to the 1,500-metre race, having completed the distance at the age of 99 in an Olympic-sized pool. Nagaoka only took up swimming when she hit 80, one of the growing number of elderly Japanese who are enjoying longer and healthier lives as the country ages. There were nearly 59,000 centenarians in Japan in September last year, government ﬁgures show -- which means 46 out of every 100,000 people is 100 or over. Among them are several who remain physically active long after many people have given up the ghost. They include sprinter Hidekichi Miyazaki, who was 103 when he bagged the world record for the 100-metre dash in the 100-104 age category, clocking up a respectable 29.83 seconds. His late-blooming athletic prowess has seen him dubbed “Golden Bolt” -a reference to Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt.

Young Life

VOICE OF ASIA 14

Friday, April 10, 2015 by Seema Hakhu Kachru

n Indian-American engineering student, critically injured in a road accident in the US state of Texas, has been lying at a rehabilitation centre here in a vegetative state for four months, and his family has set up an online fundraiser to help cover costs of his long-term care.

Section 2

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ONDON - The families of two British teenage boys, from the same town as one of the 2005 London bombers, spoke Tuesday of their “profound shock” over suspicions the two had joined the Islamic State group in Syria.

His four friends were soon released from the hospital after being treated for their injuries. But ever since the tragic accident, Akshay has undergone a series of surgeries and therapies, and he still remains in a vegetative state, reliant on feeding and tracheotomy tubes, his family told PTI.

Akshay may have lasting problems with his movement, learning, or speaking, his family fear. At the rehabilitation where he was moved recently after a series of surgeries at Memorial Hermann Hospital, doctors are working out on various therapies - physical, speech, language, occupational and counselling. Treatment is focused both on brain as well as body. However, the ﬁght against unconsciousness is still on.

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IIT Graduate in Texas in Vege- Families ‘shocked’ over UK tative State Since Last 4 Months teens thought to be in Syria

Akshay Jain, 22, sustained a severe traumatic brain injury on November 30 when his car collided with a pick-up truck when he and his four friends were returning home after their Thanks Giving break in New Orleans.

“It is hard to see a young high-achiever in this condition as the accident has crashed all his dreams,” said his brotherin-law Gagan Parakh.

FRIDAY, April 10, 2015

Akshay Jain, 22 “It is a long-term treatment and as a family we are taking it one day at a time. In the last one month we have moved back and forth between TIRR (rehabilitation centre) to Memorial Hermann three times,” said Akshay’s mother, who has been at his side since the accident. After his treatment at the rehabilitation centre is completed, Akshay will be moved to a nursing home where only 15-20 days of coverage is available and then family plans to take him back to India if he remains unable to go back to school and ﬁnish his studies.

With Akshay’s medical insurance expiring in August, the family has set up an online fundraiser at YouCaring.Com to help cover costs of long-term care. Akshay’s family is very thankful to doctors, nurses and the Indian-American community for their assistance and help. Consul General of India, Houston, Parvataneni Harish visits Akshay at the rehab every week to make sure everything is being taken care of and that his mother, who speaks only Hindi, does not faces any linguistic issues.

Akshay graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology-Gandhinagar in 2014. He moved to US to pursue a Phd in chemical engineering soon after his graduation. His innovative engineering designs has been recognised with the Director’s Silver Medal and the Award for Outstanding Research. “We have been told by University that if required, they can explore possibility to extend his visa and insurance for one more year after Aug’15 2015, but this is something not conﬁrmed,” Parakh said.

British police said Tuesday they were investigating a report that Hassan Munshi and Talha Asmal, both 17 and from the town of Dewsbury in Yorkshire, had joined the jihadist group. “Naturally, we are in a state of profound shock and are trying to come to terms with the predicament we find ourselves in and we hope and pray that no other family finds itself in our situation,” a statement from the families of the two boys said. “These were just two ordinary Yorkshire lads... We would implore all parents to be extra vigilant, although as we found, it’s near impossible to know your children have been groomed and brainwashed.” Munshi was working as an apprentice and Asmal was taking his final school exams, the statement said. Regional police said the two were believed to had boarded a flight from Manchester to Dalaman in southwest Turkey on March 31. “Syria is an extremely dangerous place and the public will be aware of the dangers these boys may face,” said Assistant Chief Constable Mark Milsom. “The choice of returning

home from Syria is often taken away from those that come under the control of Islamic State, leaving their families in the UK devastated and with very few options to secure their safe return.” British media reported that one of the teenagers is a relative of Hammaad Munshi, who is the grandson of a leading Islamic scholar in Dewsbury. In 2008, Munshi became the youngest Briton ever to be found guilty of terror offences. He was 16 when he was arrested in a police crackdown on an extremist cell and was found guilty of distributing detailed instructions online on how to make napalm, explosives, detonators and grenades. Dewsbury was also the hometown of Mohammad Sidique Khan, the ringleader of four homegrown suicide bombers who carried out the July 7, 2005 bombings which killed 52 people on three Underground trains and a bus in London. The news comes just days after six people were arrested leaving the seaport of Dover on suspicion of Syria-related terror offences. Nine Britons were also arrested trying to cross over from Turkey to Syria last week. Hundreds of Britons are believed to have joined the Islamic State group in Syria in recent months despite a new law that reinforces security checks at airports.

Consumer groups claim YouTube kids app ‘deceptive’

ASHINGTON (AFP) - A coalition of consumer and child advocacy groups asked US regulators Tuesday to investigate Google’s new YouTube app for children, claiming it inappropriately delivers too much advertising to young viewers. The videos on YouTube Kids “intermix commercial and other content in ways that are deceptive and unfair to children and would not be permitted to be shown on broadcast or cable television,” said a letter to the Federal Trade Commission from nine organizations. The mobile app which was announced in February by Google includes segments endorsing toys, candy and other products that appear to be from “undisclosed relationships” with the makers of the items, in violation of standards for truth in advertising, the letter said. The letter added these types of product endorsements mixed with entertainment would not be allowed on broadcast television and are especially unfair because children often lack the ability to distinguish between entertainment and advertising. “This blending of children’s programming content with advertising material on television has long been prohibited because it is unfair and deceptive to children,” the letter said. “The fact that children are viewing the videos on a tablet or smartphone screen instead of on a television screen does not make it any less unfair and deceptive.” The application is designed as a simple-to-use stage for ageappropriate videos, channels and playlists skewed toward content that promotes literacy, according to YouTube. It also boasts parental controls including a countdown clock to limit viewing time and the ability to disable online searches. YouTube Kids launch partners included Jim Henson TV, DreamWorks TV, Mother Goose Club, National Geographic, Reading Rainbow, and Talking Tom and Friends. But the organizations in the complaint said the app is built around commercial products. “There

nothing

‘child

© AFP/File | US child advocacy groups want YouTube’s new children’s app investigated friendly’ about an app that obliterates long-standing principles designed to protect kids from commercialism,” said Josh Golin of the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood. “YouTube Kids exploits children’s developmental vulnerabilities by delivering a steady stream of advertising that masquerades as programming,” he added. “YouTube Kids’ advertising policy is incredibly deceptive. To cite just one example, Google claims it doesn’t accept food and beverage ads but McDonald’s actually has its own channel and the ‘content’ includes actual Happy Meal commercials.” The letter was also endorsed by the Center for Digital Democracy, American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psy-

chiatry, Center for Science in the Public Interest, Children Now, Consumer Federation of America, Consumer Watchdog and Public Citizen. YouTube said the concerns were misplaced. “We worked with numerous partners and child advocacy groups when developing YouTube Kids,” said a statement from the online video giant. “While we are always open to feedback on ways to improve the app, we were not contacted directly by the signers of this letter and strongly disagree with their contentions, including the suggestion that no free, ad-supported experience for kids will ever be acceptable. We disagree and think that great content shouldn’t be reserved for only those families who can afford it.”

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Salman Khan’s ‘Prem Ratan Bachchan gets Padma Vibhushan Dhan Payo’ to get Diwali amidst loudest, longest applause release on November 11

EW DELHI, Apr. 8, 2015, - Bachchans were the centre of attraction at the civil investiture ceremony held at Rashtrapati Bhavan where megastar Amitabh Bachchan was bestowed with country’s second highest civilian award Padma Vibhushan amidst loudest and longest applause.

alman Khan starrer romantic family drama Prem Ratan Dhan Payo, which reunites him with his Maine Pyar Kiya” director Suraj Barjatya after a long time, will hit the screens on November 11. Salman will be seen romancing Sonam Kapoor after her debut 2007 movie Saawariya in the movie. The director and actor started their careers almost at the same time with 1989 runaway hit Maine Pyar Kiya. They followed it up with another hit Hum Aapke Hain Koun..! in 1994 and 1999’s Hum Saath-Saath Hain. Prem Ratan Dhan Payo is produced by Rajshri Productions and Fox Star Studios. The movie also stars Neil Nitin Mukesh, Swara Bhaskar, Deepak Dobriyal, Armaan Kohli and Anupam Kher in key roles. “Prem Ratan Dhan Payo will be releasing during the Festival of Lights - Diwali. Rajshri is proud to partner with Fox Star Studios for this ﬁlm that will release on November 11. Salman Khan and Sonam Kapoor star in this complete family entertainer that we hope will tug at the heartstrings of audiences with the Indianness of love, and values it has in its core,” Barjatya said in a statement.

Much before the function started, senior Ministers Rajnath Singh, Arun Jaitley and Ravi Shankar Prasad went to the seat of the 72-year-old versatile actor to greet him, who was dressed in a black ‘bandhgala’ suit.

Salman Khan

strategies that will unfold soon,” he added. Vijay Singh, CEO, Fox Star Studios said, “We are proud to announce that Sooraj Barjatya’s Prem Ratan Dhan

Payo is going to release on November 11, the Diwali weekend.” Himesh Reshammiya is composing the music for the movie.

When Big B went to receive the award from President Pranab Mukherjee, he was cheered by actor son Abhishek, daughterin-law Aishwarya, wife Jaya, daughter Shweta Nanda, her son Agastye and daughter Navya Naveli. Amitabh’s son-in-law Nikhil Nanda was also present. Abhishek, who was shooting in Dubai and landed early this morning, was wearing a black ‘bandhgala’ suit while Aishwarya was dressed in an orange colour embroidered traditional

Big B received the loudest and longest applause from the audience. Photo: R.V. Moorthy. The Hindu. salwar suit. Jaya Bachchan donned a cream colour saree with golden border. The Bollywood megastar received the loudest and longest applause from the audience that included Union Ministers, top civil and defence ofﬁcials and family members of 50 prominent personalities who were given the Padma awards on Wednesday.

The family was mobbed by the audience when they went to attend the customary tea party hosted by the President. However, the Rashtrapati Bhavan guards surrounded the family and did not allow most of the people, including journalists, to interact with them. Mr. Bachchan obliged a few by allowing himself to be photographed with them. (PTI).

Pak singer Ghulam Ali at Varanasi temple fete The ‘Sangeet Samaroh’ at Sankat Mochan Temple will go on from 8th to 12th April

With the ﬁlm, Salman will be playing the character of Prem after a long time.

n a ﬁrst for a Pakistani artiste, renowned ghazal singer Ustad Ghulam Ali is performing at a music festival beginning on Wednesday at the historic Sankat Mochan Temple.

“Salman is playing a character that he hasn’t played in a long time. He is the quintessential Prem once again that audiences have loved and treasured in their hearts. We are gearing up with release

Wishing that he could be present at the festival, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is a Member of Parliament from Varanasi constituency, regretted that he is unable to attend the event due to his busy

schedule and was hopeful that he will be among the audience in the future.

Sankat Mochan Temple’s mahant (chief priest) Vishwambhar Nath Mishra said.

More than 50 artistes, including Sarod maestro Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, his sons Amaan and Ayaan, Kathak exponent Pandit Birju Maharaj, ﬂautist Hariprasad Chaurasia, Odissi dancer Sonal Mansingh and tabla player Hasmat Ali Khan will participate in the event, according to the organisers.

An invitation was sent to Prime Minister Narendra Modi but he expressed his inability to attend the festival due to his busy schedule.

“For the ﬁrst time, there will be a performance by a Pakistani artist at the famous temple,”

“I do wish I get the opportunity to attend such a programme in the future where so many well known artistes will be enchanting the audience,” Mr. Modi said in a series of tweets on Tuesday. “I must share that I have heard Ghulam Ali Sahab in the past & that too in person,” Mr. Modi tweeted.

Pakistani ghazal maestro Ustad Ghulam Ali Khan, enthralling the audience at an event in Hyderabad. File photo: Photo:Nagara Gopal, The Hindu.

Detective Byomkesh Bakshy! collects Rs 14.06 crore in its opening weekend MUMBAI - (Monday, 6 April 2015 ) - A positive word of mouth ensured good growth in the box office collections of the Dibakar Banerjee directorial starring Sushant Singh Rajput. Dibakar Banerjee’s Detective Byomkesh Bakshy! has collected Rs 14.06 crore in its opening weekend at the box office. The thriller opened to Rs 4.20 cr on Friday. The collections grew to Rs 4.50 cr on Saturday. The Sushant Singh Rajput starrer showed further growth on Sunday, with a collection of 5.36 cr. The film’s collections have been growing due to strong, positive word of mouth. The total collections of the first three days at the box office are 14.06 cr. The film has been receiving a positive response and there is a huge buzz around it. Detective Byomkesh Bakshy! is based on the iconic detective character, Byomkesh Bakshy. It is set in the backdrop

Sushant Singh Rajput of the Second World War, and it has recreated Kolkata of 1943. The ﬁlm is garnering praises for its brilliant script and ex-

cellent performances. Detective Byomkesh Bakshy! has been critically acclaimed and is receiving appreciation from audiences.

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VOICE OF ASIA 16

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Vigorous exercise helps people live longer: study

Breast milk sold online often contains cow’s milk: study

IAMI (AFP) - One in 10 samples of breast milk sold on the Internet in the United States was found to be contaminated with cow’s milk or formula, US researchers said Monday. The study in the journal Pediatrics raised new safety concerns about a practice that many experts already discourage over the potential for danger to babies’ health.

Currently, the World Health Organization urges adults to do at least 150 minutes of moderate activity or 75 minutes of vigorous activity per week (AFP Photo/Stan Honda)

IAMI (AFP) - Vigorous exercise, the kind that makes you sweat, get red in the face and breathe hard, may be better than moderate exercise when it comes to living longer, researchers said Monday. The study by Australian researchers is based on more than 200,000 adults over age 45, and is published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Internal Medicine. The study participants were followed for more than six years. Those who did jogging, aerobics or competitive tennis -- vigorous exercise for 30 percent of their weekly workouts -- had a mortality rate that was

nine to 13 percent lower than those who did moderate exercise, like swimming, social tennis, or household chores. “The benefits of vigorous activity applied to men and women of all ages, and were independent of the total amount of time spent being active,” said lead author Klaus Gebel from James Cook University’s Centre for Chronic Disease Prevention. “The results indicate that whether or not you are obese, and whether or not you have heart disease or diabetes, if you can manage some vigorous activity it could offer significant benefits for longevity.” Currently, the World Health Organization urges adults to do

at least 150 minutes of moderate activity or 75 minutes of vigorous activity per week. But the current research suggests that given the choice, people should opt for some higher intensity exercise if they can, and if their doctor agrees, the study authors said. “Our research indicates that even small amounts of vigorous activity could help reduce your risk of early death,” Gebel said. “For those with medical conditions, for older people in general, and for those who have never done any vigorous activity or exercise before, it’s always important to talk to a doctor ﬁrst.”

US scientists report promising new melanoma vaccines

ASHINGTON (AFP) - Experimental tailor-made vaccines targeting melanoma patients’ individual genetic mutations have given encouraging preliminary results, researchers have said. The clinical test on three patients with this form of aggressive skin cancer in an advanced stage is unprecedented in the United States. The vaccines appear to boost the number and diversity of Tcells, which are key to the human immune system and attack tumors, researchers said in a report published Thursday in the journal Science. Melanoma accounts for around ﬁve percent of all new cancer cases diagnosed in the United States, but that proportion is rising. Last year 76,000 Americans were diagnosed with melanoma and nearly 10,000 died of it, according to the National Cancer

Institute. The vaccines were developed by sequencing the genomes of the three patients’ tumors and comparing them to samples of healthy tissue to identify proteins that had mutated. These are known as neoantigens, and are unique to cancer cells. The researchers then used computer programs and laboratory trials to predict and test the neoantigens most likely to trigger a strong immune response and thus be added to the vaccine. The vaccine was administered to patients whose tumors had been removed but without preventing cancer cells from spreading to the lymph nodes, which is an indication that the melanoma is going to reappear. The initial clinical results have been good enough to start a phase 1 clinical trial approved by the US Food and Drug Administration on six patients.

If this broader test proves the vaccines work, it would pave the way for immunotherapy that prevents melanoma from resurfacing in patients. The study was led by Gerald Linette, an oncologist at the University of Washington in St. Louis, Missouri. Although the test was preliminary, it was based on the breadth and diversity of the Tcells, meaning these vaccines are promising as a therapy, he said. But the researchers cautioned that it was too early to say if these vaccines would continue to work long-term. None of the three patients tested so far have suffered major negative side effects. Immunotherapy, already used with success against melanoma, is a promising new strategy against very aggressive cancer cells for which there is currently no effective treatment.

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Researchers tested 102 samples of breast milk advertised on milk-sharing websites, frequented by mothers who want to buy breast milk for their infants. They found that 11 of the samples contained bovine DNA, and 10 of those had enough that it could not be considered an accidental contamination, suggesting that some sellers were adding cow’s milk in order to boost their volume and proﬁts. “We found that one in every 10 samples of breast milk purchased over the Internet had signiﬁcant amounts of cow’s milk added, and this poses a risk to infants with an allergy or intolerance to cow’s milk,” said study author Sarah Keim, of the Center for Biobehavioral Health in The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Ohio. “If a baby with cow’s milk allergy were to drink this milk, it could be very harmful.” The same researchers have previously found that 21 percent of people who look for human breast milk online do so because their child has a medical condition, and 16 percent said they did so because their infant could not drink formula. They also found in previous research that more than 75 percent of milk samples purchased online contained bacterial or viral contamination. The US Food and Drug Administration warned in 2010 that unpasteurized human milk obtained from sources other than the baby’s mother could pose health risks.

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Good News for Uninsured Taxpayers! Affordable Care Act Open Enrollment Period Extended Till April 30, 2015

lthough the Health Insurance Marketplace open enrollment closed on February 15th, today, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced a new short-term special enrollment period, from March 15 to April 30, giving people in 37 states more time to sign up for 2015 health insurance coverage through Healthcare.gov. This is good news for those who now may have more time to sign up for a Marketplace plan that is right for them and their family, and can avoid paying a tax penalty for not having insurance coverage in 2015. You may be eligible for the extension if you: You must live in states with a Federally facilitated Marketplace You should not be currently enrolled in health insurance coverage through the Health Insurance Marketplace for 2015. You must attest that when you filed your 2014 taxes you paid a fee for not having 2014 health insurance coverage You also attest that you first became aware of or understood implications of paying a tax penalty for not having 2014 health insurance after the end of open enrollment. The health reform law requires that all Americans have health insurance coverage or face a tax penalty. When filing federal income tax returns, Americans will have to indicate if they had coverage throughout the year. The average penalty for non-coverage in 2014 was just over $300 and it will increase to an average of $588 in 2015. The Costs of Going Without Health Insurance Under

“We were concerned that, because money is exchanged in these transactions, there might be an incentive to boost milk volumes in order to make more money,” said Keim. “Mothers who consider purchasing breast milk over the Internet should beware -- when

Sudhir Mathuria Contact: Sudhir Mathuria Licensed Professional Health Life 360 6650 Southwest Freeway Houston TX 77074 713-771-2900 www.MyMedicarePlanning.com the Affordable Care Act. We’re now less than a month away from the end of open enrollment under the Affordable Care Act. The government’s most recent report shows that more than 7.1 million people have selected or re-enrolled in a health plan through Healthcare.gov since open enrollment started on November 15th. When factoring in the 2.4 million people using state-run exchanges, 9.5 million people have signed up for coverage. Still, millions more remain uninsured. The cost of health insurance continues to be a barrier for many people, especially middle-income families who earn too much to qualify for a subsidy to help lower the cost of coverage. As a result, some choose to forgo health insurance all together. Though it can be tough to ﬁt extra expenses into our budgets. We will examine the risk for not having the insurance coverage in next time. To evaluate your needs, compare quotes from all major life insurance companies contact 713-771-2900.

you obtain milk from an unfamiliar source, you cannot know for sure that what you are getting is safe for your baby.” Other researchers on the team came from Ohio State University and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.

Packed with health benefits, coffee gains ground with experts

ASHINGTON (AFP, April 4, 2015) Long viewed as a controversial dark substance, coffee is gaining ground among medical experts who say it can protect against heart disease, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and diabetes, even if it is decaffeinated. Multiple studies published worldwide in recent years have concluded that coffee can be good for the health. In February, the US government issued new dietary guidelines, as it does every five years. But this year’s recommendations said for the first time that coffee is not generally harmful, even multiple cups per day. “We looked at all the science,” said Miriam Nelson, a professor in the School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University, and a member of the committee that wrote the guidelines. “We have found no negative, adverse effects on health when you drink up to three to five cups a day,” she told AFP. “In fact, there is a decreased risk of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, Parkinson’s disease and a couple of cancers,” including breast and prostate cancer, she said. She said a “moderate amount” would max out at 500 milligrams of caffeine per day.

other member of the advisory group that wrote the new guidelines, urged some caution. “Implying that coffee is going to cure cancer is not a very good thing to do,” said Brenna, a professor of nutrition and chemistry at Cornell University. But after poring over the research, experts could find no reason for concern. “There is no evidence whatsoever for negative health consequences in the general population and if anything, the signal was in another direction. It seems to be protective,” Brenna added. “The real takeaway is, have your coffee in the morning with complete confidence that at least on average, nobody ever found any problem.” Pregnant women should limit themselves to about 200 milligrams of caffeine per day, just as a precaution, even though the panel found no evidence in reviewing the research that coffee was linked to premature birth, he said. How much caffeine helps clean arteries? Nelson would like to see more research on the effects of caffeinated energy drinks that are popular among youths, in order to find out how much caffeine may be toxic.

Researchers do not yet understand the reason for coffee’s health beneﬁts.

She also cautioned against the extra calories that come when people add cream and sugar to coffee, which has very few calories on its own.

That’s why Tom Brenna, an-

Both scientists agree that the

beneﬁts of coffee, of which each grain contains 1,000 different molecules, goes beyond the caffeine and could be explained by antioxidants like polyphenols, which are also found in red wine and cocoa. These attributes could also explain the results of a recent study involving 25,000 men and women in South Korea that found those who drank three to ﬁve cups of coffee per day had cleaner arteries, with less of the cholesterol buildup that leads to heart disease. A study involving 2,000 people found coffee may help protect against Parkinson’s disease, an incurable neurological disorder. Other studies have linked coffee consumption to lower incidence of Alzheimer’s disease. Researchers at Harvard University showed in 2011 that women who drank at least four cups of decaffeinated coffee per day had a 20 percent lower risk of depression. And in 2006, a study involving 90,000 US women showed that drinking two or three cups of coffee -- caffeinated or decaffeinated -- per day reduced the risk of diabetes. Coffee may also help extend life, according to a National Institutes of Health study on 400,000 US men and women aged 50 to 71, which found a 10 percent lower risk of dying from any cause -- except cancer -- among those who drank multiple cups of coffee per day.

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Fed minutes reveal With boom, music festivals become big business divergence on first rate hike

Music fans dance at the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, on April 13, 2014 (AFP Photo/David McNew) by Shaun TANDON

OS ANGELES - The music industry has faced more than a decade of ﬁnancial woes but in one area business is soaring -festivals. Music festivals have witnessed a boom in the past few years, with new events proliferating that cater to every taste and region in what has become a vital source of revenue and publicity for artists. Coachella, often considered the tastemaker of US music events, opens Friday in the southern California desert at the start of the busiest season yet for festivals. “I think music festivals are basically the future of the industry. It’s the only area where you are really seeing a lot of growth,” said Parag Bhandari, the head of UG Strategies which recently launched the

Uphoric digital television network dedicated to covering the global festival circuit. “It’s really the last area in the music industry where there is real money to be made for artists,” he said. Among the most ambitious newcomers is Rock in Rio USA, which will take place over two weekends in May at the brand-new 13-hectare (33acre) “City of Rock” grounds on the Las Vegas Strip. A spinoff of the major Brazilian festival, Rock in Rio USA seeks to tap a niche by offering a lineup of mainstream giants including pop superstar Taylor Swift and metal veterans Metallica. Coachella and two other longstanding US festivals -- Bonnaroo in Tennessee and Lollapalooza in Chicago -- both have their roots in 1990s alternative culture and market themselves

as staging grounds for emerging stars.

Federal Reserve policymakers have signaled their likely to raise interest rates this year but are in no hurry to act.( AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite).

Also for the ﬁrst time on the calendar this year are the Festival of the Desert, a classical event near the Coachella grounds led by Paris Opera music director Philippe Jordan; the Eaux Claires festival in Wisconsin dedicated to innovative music and curated by Bon Iver frontman Justin Vernon, and several new country music festivals.

by Paul Davidson, (April 8, 2015, USA TODAY,)

Other festivals have sought to differentiate themselves not by lineup but by amenities, with San Francisco’s Outside Lands seeking to attract gourmets through its selection of food and drink vendors. While much of the growth has been in the United States, festivals have been sprouting up around the world including in Europe, where England’s Glastonbury was considered the pioneer of modern music

everal Federal Reserve policymakers said last month the central bank is likely to raise its benchmark interest rate in June but “others” said the move will probably occur “later in the year,”

festivals. Lollapalooza this year is expanding to Europe with a Berlin edition, after already starting sister festivals in Argentina, Brazil and Chile. - Selling experiences Not all festivals have succeeded. Kanrocksas in the Kansas City area folded after poor ticket sales and Lollapalooza called off an expansion to Israel. But industry watchers expect strong growth as festivals sprout up for uncatered niches and regions. San Francisco-based company Eventbrite said it managed tickets for 50,000 music or other festivals worldwide in 2014 -- up 50 percent from just a year earlier. “We are not seeing signs of slowing down anytime soon,” said Martina Wang, head of music marketing at Eventbrite. A key driving factor is the tastes of the millennial generation, with an Eventbrite study in 2014 ﬁnding that one-quarter of university students had attended a music festival in the previous year. “When it comes to millennials’ money, we are ﬁnding that buying experiences trumps buying things,” Wang said.

according to minutes of the Fed’s March 17-18 meeting. The report is consistent with Fed policymakers’ forecasts, released after the mid-March meeting, that indicate the first bump in rates since 2006 is unlikely before September as the Fed awaits signs of a pickup in anemic inflation. Still, the minutes, which provide a more detailed window into Fed officials’ debates at the gathering, suggest they haven’t ruled out a June rate increase. The minutes also offer a rough blueprint for the signals that could indicate an acceleration in inflation is coming – thus making a rate increase viable -- including a more stable dollar. The policymakers who anticipate the Fed will pull the trigger later in the year said low oil prices and a strong dollar that makes imports cheaper for US consumers “will continue to weigh on inflation in the near term,” according to the meeting minutes. Although job growth has accelerated substantially the past year, wage growth has been sluggish and inflation remains well below the Fed’s annual 2% target. The economy’s mixed messages present a quandary as Fed officials consider hoisting rates that have been near zero since the 2008 financial crisis. Fed Chair Janet Yellen said

policymakers don’t need to see wage growth or inflation accelerate to raise rates but must be “reasonably confident” inflation will gain momentum in the near-term. She also said she would be uncomfortable raising rates if inflation were to weaken further. At the March meeting, Fed officials provided a more detailed scenario for increasing rates. They said further improvement in the labor market, stabilizing energy prices and “a leveling out of the foreign exchange value of the dollar were all seen as helpful in establishing confidence that inflation would turn up,” the minutes say. At the meeting, the Fed dropped a pledge to be “patient” as it considers raising its benchmark interest rate, which has been near zero since the 2008 financial crisis. But the Fed also downgraded its economic outlook and said it will hike rates only when the labor market improves further and policymakers are confident inflation will pick up from unusually feeble levels. Since the meeting, several central bank policymakers, including Fed Chair Janet Yellen, have said they’re inclined to boost rates this year. But they also voiced a preference for waiting longer to act and hoisting rates gradually to avoid derailing the recovery and to give the recession-scarred economy more time to recover.

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“More than three out of four said they would buy a desirable experience over a desirable thing, like the latest gadget,” she said. - The new sporting events? Barring major flops, festivals offer guaranteed audiences and revenue for musicians, who rarely expect significant payouts from recordings in the age of instant music. Coachella, which quickly sells out each year, grossed $78 million in 2014, according to industry monitor Billboard Box Office. Some 175,000 people flock to Glastonbury, which is around the same number who go each year to Coachella -- which since 2012 has held two weekends with identical lineups. By comparison, some 75,000 people attended the World Cup final last year in Brazil, although far more watched.

sphilip@llppc-law.com

Bhandari, sensing demand to create the Uphoric network, saw parallels to the World Cup as a growing number of fans ﬂy to multiple festivals around the world and plan vacations around the dates. “Music festivals are really becoming on the scale of sporting events,” he said.

US technology giant Microsoft has launched a pilot program to hire autistic workers at its headquarters in Washington state.

S technology giant Microsoft has launched a pilot program to hire autistic workers at its headquarters in Washington state. “People with autism bring strengths that we need at Microsoft,” Mary Ellen Smith, a corporate vice president wrote in a company blog last week. “Each individual is different, some have amazing ability to retain information, think at a level of detail and depth or excel in math or code. It’s a talent pool that we want to continue to bring to Microsoft!” Smith, who has a son with autism who is now 19, said the program builds on longstanding efforts at Microsoft to enlist people with disabilities. Microsoft is working on the initiative with Specialisterne,

a venture started by the Specialist People Foundation in Denmark. The organization’s philosophy is to tap traits that austistic people have that can be useful to companies, for instance in software testing, programming and data entry, “The traits that usually exclude people with autism from the labor market are the very traits that make them valuable employees a Specialisterne, such as attention to detail, zero tolerance for errors and a persistence to get the job done,” according to the group’s website. “We don’t see them as people with an autism diagnosis; rather, we see them as true specialists.” Specialisterne previously assisted German technology company SAP on a venture hire workers with autism.

HOROSCOPE

VOICE OF ASIA 18

FRIDAY, April 10, 2015

Your Horoscope for the Week of April 10, 2015 by Hardik Vyas, Astrologer Cell : 832-298-9950

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Libra (R,T) 23 Sept to 22 Oct

Aries (A,L,E) 21 March to 20 April Like Always, relatively small matter that you would normally pass off as “things happen”. But this one will send you to the edge. One cause may be a recent, rather impractical move on the part of your mate or partner. Though you may be tempted to pick up the phone and tell them off, you are likely to be far too busy to start World War III. Save your venting for a quieter time, when you could let the state of your checkbook tell the story. You must admit, however, that their intention was in both your interests, so don’t stay mad.

Lead yourself by your extreme sensitivity to whatever environment you ﬁnd yourself in. As you pick up the vibes, be sure to separate what’s real from what is simply your imagination. What is deﬁnitely true, is that your mate is eager to see you and should be in an excellent frame of mind. Give him or her your best, too. Don’t harp on small things. Isn’t it great to feel totally at ease? Your work should go well, but soon, you will be ready for a change of pace.

Scorpio (N,Y)23 Oct to 21 Nov

Taurus (B,V,U) 21 April to 20 May The strategic alliance with someone who may ﬁgure big in your future success. It may be a new romantic relationship, or perhaps it is business progress that is at issue. Whatever your situation, put some feeling into the encounter to show that this is not just another meeting. Be sure to follow up, whether the issue is personal or professional. You’ll be glad you did. You are intensely curious about something. You may have heard rumors & now is the time to check them out. One possibility is a change of management in your work structure.

You will be able to get success by magnetism of your personality. Alone it could be a force to be reckoned with, however you’ll be sharp in the job arena. A long hoped for raise could come through, or at least an acknowledgement by a boss or other higher-up that you are worth more. You are also in a mood to improvise. Your spur-of-the-moment creations really ﬁll the bill. You’ll feel like celebrating. Open your wallet and treat yourself to something sumptuous. Don’t forget the other person who will be waiting to applaud you.

Sagittarius (BH,F,DH,TH) 22 Nov to 21 Dec

Gemini (K,CHH,GH) 21 May to 20 June A bit of a conﬂict over your various responsibilities. A big project at work could keep you working after hours and your mate may not be too pleased at a break in the normal schedule. Perhaps they may not be as adaptable as you are. Smooth things out, try not to talk about money concerns, if possible. Better days are ahead. You are sharp as a tack, but try not to be too sharp. Watch what you say to co-workers, because you may offend someone. You rarely do that intentionally, but the ﬂak you take from a small explosion could make you uncharacteristically sensitive.

A feeling of having to let go of something or someone. It will be clear to you, however, that the usefulness or viability of what you give up, has gone. You’ll be in the mood for romance, with someone new, someone old, or with that very special person who is always there for you. No tears or regrets, just be glad that whatever it was is now over. Because you are in overdrive, an emotional explosion could be a decisive and constructive action on a long-term work project that you are now determined to bring to a head and complete.

Capricorn (KH,J) 22 Dec to 20 Jan

Cancer (D,H) 21 June to 22 July Your mood, which is as stable as the lake water, you may ﬁnd it very difﬁcult to concentrate. Changes may be afoot on the home scene. Do your best to stay on an even course, plan to spend some time unwinding. In this situation, the best way to nurture yourself is to nurture others. You will be able to speak tenderly. Sharp words should not be exchanged. Someone, possibly an older relative, could express discontent with how they perceive you are handling your affairs, it’s not polite, but you may be inclined to say, “It’s none of your business”.

Feel conﬁdent about your public or professional image. Though your ambition may be keen, others could be in the same frame of mind as you. If an obvious power play on someone’s part disturbs you, act as if it has nothing to do with you. It doesn’t, really. The problem is that you may have seen it coming, and now that it has come to a head, you ﬁnd yourself annoyed. Just keep moving steadily along. Do not push for any unscheduled meetings or conversations.

Aquarius (G,S,SH) 21 Jan to 19 Feb

Leo (M) 23 July to 22 August A time to renovate, remodel or just redecorate. Make the atmosphere more pleasant for entertaining family and friends. You could experience a special emotional fulfillment from cooperation on the job. Your optimism is justified as some projects involving property bring great financial success. Be sure you don’t put a rotten apple in the barrel, however, just because you don’t know your own power. Screen other investors carefully and put a high value on your own abilities.

You will be getting geared up to plunge into a new project. You could quickly get all the background information you need. If it isn’t work that occupies you, it may be a hunt for bargains in the house and property market. You may have a dream place in mind, but you are not going to ﬁnd it without putting in some long hours of research. You may be a bit anxious about the thought of a big move, remembering past experiences. With plenty of lead-time and advance planning, it needn’t be the chore it appears to be right now.

Pisces (D,CH,Z) 20 Feb to 20 March

Virgo (P) 23 August to 22 September Someone or something puzzling you. It’s not easy to put anything over on you, but someone may try to do just that. It may come in the form of a secret about someone close to you. You could be a little bit gullible now, don’t necessarily believe what you hear. After all, who knows them better than you do? You may decide to have less to do with the person who tried put something over on you. You’ll be able to grin and bear it, whatever it turns out to be. At times, you may feel like it’s all work and no rewards. The glitch that occurs may have to do with future plans for travel or just plain having fun.

Use your ambition & your honest approach. You are full of ideas, not to mention vim and vigor. You may surprise everyone by becoming a bit of a chatterbox. Try to conﬁne what you say to the work at hand. Not everyone has to know your personal business. You may be called on to supervise some people. If you are not used to being the boss, you could learn much through this experience. One cardinal rule is not to expect of anyone else what you would not expect of yourself. It is a point in your favor if you don’t exaggerate your accomplishments.

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Part Time Accountant

PROJECT: City of Houston - LLPS Direct Connect and PRS at EWPPP

Property Management Company in Houston is looking for a part-time accountant with the following qualiﬁcations: • Degree in Accounting or Business preferred. • Must have good working knowledge of Quickbooks and Excel. • Experience in generating ﬁnancial reports & bookkeeping. • Other duties as assigned. Good compensation for an experienced person

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BID DATE: April 16th, 2015 @ 10:30am . Garney Construction is looking for SBE, MBE, WBE, & DBE Contractors and Suppliers. Contact Bret Crandall at PHONE: 816278-5950 ext 622 FAX: 816-2782932

Programming Intern KTRK-TV, the ABC Owned station located in Houston, TX is accepting applications for a paid PROGRAMMING/PRODUCTION INTERNSHIP for the summer semester. Internships are available to currently enrolled college students in their junior or senior year pursuing careers in the television/media field and must receive college credit for the internship. The internship program is designed to provide students with an on-site educational experience that complements their academic studies. Interns will have an opportunity to participate in the daily work and operations of a major market, television station. As an intern you will help with the production of the daily newscasts and you will learn how to be a floor manager for live and recorded programming, audio assistant, camera operator and build graphics using Adobe Photoshop. Interns will also work with the directors in our automated control room. This position will be used for various production-related duties as assigned by the Production Manager. Applicants must be able to work flexible hours, including early mornings, late nights, weekends and holidays. A strong work ethic and positive attitude with the ability to handle multiple tasks is desired. All interested applicants must apply online at www.disneycareers.com to be considered. Job Req #259419BR. Please upload a cover letter, your resume outlining other internships, degrees earned, work experience, related clubs and organizations, current major course of study, expected graduation date and extra-curricular activities. Interns must supply written verification of eligibility to receive academic credit for the internship at the start of the internship. Equal Opportunity Employer – Female/ Minority/ Veteran/ Disability. No Telephone Calls.

Weekend workers needed for Demo marketing (6-8 weekends) in Hillcroft, Sugarland in Greater Houston area, Dallas (DFW area) and several more cities in USA. Young women & men Must be personable, well-mannered and able to work on their own. Demonstrate top Indian brands ranging from instant tea to cookies. Excellent ‘in-your-face opportunity with customers’ to learn and earn. Must have own transport. Call 201-566-0610 or email tagadsllc@yahoo.com - Hiring immediately.

Job Position: Business Development Manager, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Important: Only those who have either been working & living in Saudi Arabia or have worked in Saudi Arabia and have an interest to re-locate will be considered. RJ Engineering Systems, Inc., (RJES) specializes in offering engineered packages, custom fabrication involving special alloys, bulk piping components including valves & ﬁttings and variety of other industrial products. We have an immediate opening for a Business Development Manager for our operation in Dammam, Saudi Arabia to support our growing business needs. The successful candidate will have the following proﬁle: Responsibilities: - Market domain: Saudi Arabia, Bahrain & Kuwait. - Required to work with major end users and operators, their organization structures, Projects groups and the ones responsible for Assets Operation and Maintenance. - Required to work with local EPC companies of the region and the outside EPC companies conducting business in the region. - Help expand existing customer base and develop new potential customers. - Must understand how to conduct direct business with National Oil Companies, their procedures and legalities. - Should be able to establish close networking with decision makers and key operators. - Collect market intelligence on current and ongoing projects, future and for upcoming projects and competition. - Inquiry generation. - Work on End user approvals, the process and procedures. - Technical meetings with customers. - Commercial meetings and negotiations with customers.

Houston Community College Request for Competitive Sealed Proposals (CSP) RigOne Drilling Training Center Project No. 15-11 Documents can be obtained at: www.hccs. edu/district/departments/procurement. Sealed proposals will be received in Procurement Operations (3100 Main Street, Room No. 11A06, Houston, Texas 77002) until 2:00PM (local time) on Tuesday, April 14, 2015. Pre-proposal meeting will be held on March 26, 2015 at 10:00 am at 3100 Main Street, Seminar Room B, Houston, Texas 77002.

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