Voice of Asia E paper September 25 2015

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FRIDAY, September 25, 2015

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Vol. 28 No. 39 Friday, September 25, 2015 • Published Weekly from Houston • 713-774-5140 24 Pages ( 2 sections) 50 cents E-mail: editor@voiceofasiaonline.com

‘Magic Bus’ fund-raiser US Ambassador Richard celebrates another eventful Verma’s momentous first appearance at IACCGH gala year raising close to $480,000

Magic Bus 2nd Annual Gala Underwriters. Photo by Bijay Dixit.

IACCGH President Ashok Garg, Ambassador Richard Verma and Executive Director Jagdip Ahluwalia. Photo credit: Kaushlesh Biyani of Biyani Photography.

by Manu Shah

H

OUSTON - In a historic first for Houston and the Indo American Chamber of Commerce of Greater Houston (IACCGH), a sitting US Ambassador to India, the Hon. Richard R. Verma was the Gala Keynote Speaker at their 16th Annual Gala on September 19th. Ambassador Verma was welcomed warmly by about 650 Houstonians which included city business leaders, high ranking professionals, Chamber members and elected officials at the Hilton Americas.

Keerthana and Kruthi Bhat

gave a beautiful rendition of the National Anthems and Executive Director of the Chamber, Jagdip Ahluwalia welcomed the gathering by remarking that he “was overwhelmed at the outpouring of support from the community.�

He recalled the year 1999 when with the support of the then Consul General Rinzing Wangdi, Dr. Durga Agrawal and a group of 40 business leaders which included him, formed the Chamber to promote bilateral trade between the US and India - “when India was not fashionable.� Since then the Chamber, which is inclusive, had grown steadily by broad-

HOUSTON - On the evening of September 19, 2015, Magic Bus USA held its 2nd Annual Gala at the Houston Marriott Westchase. Underwritten by Amit & Arpita Bhandari and Scott Matthews of Sunridge Canyon Investments, this year’s Gala built on the resounding success of last year’s event, which saw generous Houston philanthropists come together to benefit the not-for-profit organization. Magic Bus’ mission, since its establishment in 1999, is to help impoverished children in India break out of the seemingly never-ending poverty cycle.

ening its scope of its activities and having a broad spectrum of community partners to become one of the strongest economic Chambers in Houston.

Mistress of Ceremonies, KHOU11 TV Anchor and reporter, Rekha Muddaraj invited Vice Chairman and CEO Asif Dakri from Wallis State Bank and Gala underwriters, to address the gathering. Describing Wallis State Bank as “a commercially focused institution serving businesses from a one man operation to multinationals,� Asif Dakri remarked that Continued on page 6

India’s critically acclaimed Indian film actor Manoj Bajpai who was the guest of Honor at the gala. Photo by Bijay Dixit.

Continued on page 5

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OP-ED/COMMENTARY/ANALYSIS

VOICE OF ASIA 2

Syrian Refugee Crisis is Failure of United Nations

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Dr. Chandra Mittal

by Chandra K. Mittal, Ph.D.

I

t did not need the body of a 3 year old Aylan Kurdi to wash ashore on a Turkish beach to awaken the conscience of the civilized world to the human tragedy, which has been unfolding in Syria for the past 4 years. The world has watched this ghoulish drama in real time with its eyes wide open as the men, women and the children of Syria have suffered loss of life, material, civil infrastructure, and above all their dignity.

Despite so much misery and loss of life the world powers had paid only lip service to the plight of the Syrian victims, the displaced, and the innocent, leaving them to fend for themselves in face of violent actions against them by their own government. The world had been occupied with political intrigue to drive some strategic benefit from the degenerating conditions in the Middle East. It had issued hollow warnings and drew red lines only not to honor them at the end while people continued to suffer.

But that was only until now, when the situation began to change fast as the West woke up and noticed the problem because there was a direct “knock” on their own doors with Syrian refugees, who are fleeing their war torn country by the Millions. While many have sought refuge and shelters in neighboring Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, etc. many are now headed for the Europe principally because of its sympathetic attitude and empathy for the refugees. Some seventy years ago Europe experienced its own human disaster and refugee problem in the wake of the 2nd World War. Today, Europe is already quite stretched out due to global economic downturn. The best ex-

STORY OF MAHATMA GANDHI National tragedy follows Independence Part XX

A

fter the defeat of Japan in August 1945, Britain agreed to a planned withdrawal from India in friendship and with no bitterness. All through his life Gandhi had worked for unity between Hindus and Muslims, without much success.

There was a large section of nationalist Muslim in the Congress but leaders of the Muslim League were drifting further and further away. Gandhi was not the man to give up hope, however, and he pursued his efforts to bring about a settlement. On the other hand, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, leader of the Muslim League, was hostile to the idea of unity. This is the concluding installment of the story of Mahatma Gandhi.

The Viceroy invited all leaders to Simla and tried to find a solution and bring about Hindu-Muslim accord.

Jinnah would not agree to anything except a separate Muslim state of Pakistan.

Britain announced an election in India and the election was held. The Congress won most of the non-Muslim seats and the Muslim League won most of the Muslim seats. The deadlock continued.

“We can settle the Indian problem in ten minutes if Mr. Gandhi agrees to the creation of Pakistan,” said Jinnah. “Cut me in half,” cried Gandhi , “but do not divide India in two.” He spoke to the deaf. In February 1946, the British government sent a Cabinet Mission to India. It consisted of Lord Pethick-Lawrence, Sir Stafford Cripps and A.V. Alexander. The task of the Cabinet Mission was to study the situation and make recommendations. After careful consideration, the Cabinet Mission issued a statement proposing the withdrawal of British authority from India. They had the idea of a united India.

On August 24, 1946, the Viceroy announced the formation of an Interim National Government to replace the Viceroy’s Executive Council.

Jawaharlal Nehru was the Vice-President of the Interim Government. The Muslim League declined to join on the ground that it had not been given the right to nominate all the Muslim members.

After the installation of the Interim Government, Gandhi was anxious to return to Sevagram, his ashram near Wardha, but the Congress leaders prevailed on him to stay longer in Delhi

FRIDAY, September 25, 2015

HIS LAST WALK: Mahatma Gandhi with his grand-daughters Manu and Abha walking towards the prayer hall in New Delhi on January 30, 1948, a little before he was felled by an assassin’s bullet Mahatma Gandhi Week is being celebrated in Houston from September 26 to October 2, 2005.

Various activities, including essay competitions for children, lectures, exhibitions, seminars, are being organized. These are held by the Mahatma Gandhi Library in collaboration with several Houston area Indian and American cultural and religious organizations.

For more information, visit www.mahatmagandhilibrary.org

because they wanted his advice. Then the Muslim League decided to join the Interim Government and an announcement was made to that effect on October 15, 1946. Gandhi once again felt free to return to Sevagram. He was about to leave Delhi when news came of disturbances in Bengal. There was widespread communal rioting in Calcutta and in the Muslim majority district of Noakhali in East Bengal, with murder, arson, looting, forced conversions, forced marriages, and abduction.

Gandhi was confused and griefstricken. Instead of returning to Sevagram, he set out for Noakhali to try to

Syrian refugee child. © AFP Angelos Tzortzinis ample of this is Greece which is struggling to stay afloat.

Same is true for many other European countries. Except Germany, most EU countries cannot sustain a big influx of refugees without risking some kind of internal revolt. This is regardless of the rhetoric from their Politian. There are already conservative voices within the some EU countries who are openly against the asylum for the Syrian refugees.

Further complicating the refugee situation in the West is the “terrorism” factor that some associate with Middle East because of recent acts of terror in European countries. Many of the actors in these incidences have had linkages with the countries in that region. The Western societies are apprehensive that through the influx of refugees some undesirable elements may slip into the country and organize nefarious activity against the interest of the host country. They rather assist the refugees in their home country or the region rather than grant asylum.

United Nations was created in 1949 in the aftermath of Second World War to prevent military conflicts, natural calamities and man-made human

disasters in the world. Its charter also includes providing protection and rehabilitation of the victims if these ever occurred.

Hence, the responsibility to protect Syrian people from the atrocities and destruction lies squarely with the UN. But it has become increasingly ineffective in doing so.

Although some resolutions have been passed by UN to bring peace and relief for the Syrians by way of UN Peace Keeping Force, but it has been abandoned due to massive government military action. And Syrian suffering has continued unabated. Unfortunately, the UN lacks any credible mechanism to implement the UN mandates.

The UN Security Council consisting of United States, Russia, France, Britain and China has also proved to be disappointing in solving Syrian conflict. Because of the partisan interests, UNSC members have been bickering and disagreeing on reaching a consensus on critical resolutions that can bring relief to the people of Syria and punish the guilty. Most notably, some UNSC members have used their “veto” to block sensible action to promote their own interest.

These disagreements are split among the UNSC members primarily reflects their own governing philosophies.

Whereas, the US, Britain and France (peoples democracies) have sided with actions supportive of Syrian people, Russia and China (more autocratic) have supported the Syrian dictator Bashar Assad, who has caused incalculable misery to its people.

United Nations has failed in Syrian conflict and has not kept its promise. The Syrian crisis has the potential to transform into a bigger human catastrophe and cause global political instability. Political asylum in foreign countries is not the solution for the “displaced” Syrians. UN member states should work to create “Safe Haven” within the Syrian territory, provide security, and restore the “dignity” that every human being is entitled to in the civilized world.

Dr. Chandra Mittal is Professor at Houston Community College and Co-Founder of Indo-American Association, Houston. He can be contact on drckmittal@yahoo.com or followed on twitter @drchandramittal.

Great Summer Project For children! Enter Mahatma Gandhi Week 2015 Essay, ITribute, Poster and Speech contests. Visit gandhilibrary.org for registration and more information. All school going children can participate! These contests are being organized to create higher awareness of the inspiring life and work of Mahatma Gandhi to promote universal values of Truth, Non-Violence, Love and Service.

bring peace there. The communal riots spread. There were similar riots in Bihar and the Punjab. Several thousand were killed and injured. Gandhi was greatly distressed by these events. He tried to calm and reassure the people.

He walked from village to village and from house to house carrying his message of peace. Wherever he was, there was peace, at least outwardly, but the general situation in India was worsening. Rioting spread from the towns to the villages. In Bihar the Muslims were suffering and Gandhi went there to instil courage into the Muslim minority. The situation in India was so dreadful that the Congress leaders realized that the best way open to them was to accept Jinnah’s demand for a division of the country.

Nehru met Gandhi to inform him of this decision.

Gandhi asked him, “Is there no way out? No hope of a united India?” Nehru was sad and grave. “Bapuji,” he replied, “unity is impossible... we have to accept it (division of India). Otherwise this deadly turmoil will never cease.” Gandhi bowed his head to hide his despair. On June 3, 1947, British Prime Minister Attlee announced the plan for partition. The Congress and the Muslim League accepted it. For Gandhi it was a spiritual tragedy. With infinite sadness he said, “All of India must accept Pakistan in loving resignation. We have no choice. Hindus must lead the way to a friendly settlement.”

Lord Louis Mountbatten, the last British Viceroy, was anxious not to delay the ushering in of independent India and independent Pakistan. He shortened the time limit for the British to quit India. The date for the declaration of Indian independence was fixed for August 15, 1947.

Thus on August 15, 1947, India’s long struggle and suffering for freedom was over.

A new nation, although split in two, was born.

Lord Mountbatten hailed Gandhi as “the architect of India’s freedom through non-violence.”

Gandhi had never given his approval to partition, but when it was done he accepted it and did

everything possible for the attainment of Hindu-Muslim friendship. Yet the tension between Hindus and Muslims continued to increase. As a result of partition over 700,000 Hindus, Sikhs, and other non-Muslims, fearing the Muslims, in Pakistan left their homes and set out towards security in India.

From India about the same number of Muslims, fearing the Hindus, left their homes for Pakistan. The miseries attendant on this mass migration, one of the greatest in history, were manifold.

One and half million people on the move were exposed to starvation, disease, and death on the way. Gandhi was on his way to the Punjab when he stopped in Delhi, hoping to quell the riots that had broken out there.

Gandhi’s gospel of forbearance and forgiveness towards Muslims marked him as a traitor in the eyes of many Hindu extremists. In the face of fanatical opposition, Gandhi redoubled his efforts and the major disturbances in Delhi subsided, but there were still disturbances here and there. Gandhi decided to do penance by fasting, which he thought would bring about a change in the attitude of the Hindu fanatics. The fast began on January 13, 1948. There was gloom all over India at the news of Gandhi’s fast. People thought that he would not be able to survive another fast.

The whole world watched as Gandhi, 78 years old, fasted to save his country from destruction. On January 18 a peace committee, representing all communities, met and signed a pact pledging unity and the protection of life, property, and faith to the Muslim minority. Gandhi was informed of the pledge and he broke his fast. Gandhi was staying at Birla House. Every evening he held a prayer-meeting in the grounds. During his prayer-meeting on January 20, a bomb was thrown at him, but it missed its target. Gan-

dhi continued his prayer meeting as if nothing had happened. “Bapuji, a bomb exploded near you,” said a voice.

“Really?” Gandhi said. “Perhaps some poor fanatic threw it. But let no one look down on him.” On January 30, after a midday nap, Gandhi woke up at 3.30 p.m.

The whole day he had had a stream of visitors. Sardar Patel went to see him at 4 p.m. Nehru and Azad were to come after the evening prayer. Gandhi left his room at 5 p.m. and went towards the prayer hall. He passed through a cordoned-off path, accompanied by Manu and Abha, his granddaughters. As he was walking along a youth came forward as if to seek his blessings. But he stood in front of Gandhi and at point-blank range fired three shots in quick succession. All the bullets hit him. Gandhi fell, uttering the prayer, “Hay Ram.” Gandhi was dead. The assassination gave the world a tremendous shock. Nehru went on radio to tell the country of Gandhi’s death, his voice choked with emotion: “Friends and comrades, the light has gone out of our lives and there is darkness everywhere. I do not know what to tell you and how to say it.

Our beloved leader, Bapu as we called him, the Father of the Nation, is no more. Perhaps I am wrong to say that. Nevertheless, we will not see him again as we have seen him for these many years. The light has gone out, I said, and yet I was wrong. For the light that shone in this country was no ordinary light. The light that has illumined this country for these many, many years will illumine this country for many more years, and a thousand years later that light will still be seen in this country, and the world will see it and it will give solace to innumerable hearts.”

— Concluded

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C OMMUNITY VOICE OF ASIA

VOICE OF ASIA 3

FRIDAY, September 25, 2015

Second Front Page

Friday, September 25, 2015 • www.voiceofasiaonline.com • Page 3 • Email: editor@voiceofasiaonline.com • Tel: 713-774-5140

6th Annual Paryushan Mahaparva at JVB Preksha Center

by Seema Jain

ing) and Contemplation on Amity & more.

H

OUSTON: JVB Preksha Meditation Center hosted its 6th Annual Paryushan festival at its premises under the auspicious guidance of Samani Parimal Pragyaji & Samani Maryada Pragyaji (Disciples of Acharya Shri Mahashraman). The 8-day long festivities began on Sept 10th and concluded on Sept. 18th. The real purpose of the Paryushan is to purify our soul by staying closer to our own soul, to look at our faults and to ask for forgiveness for the mistakes we have committed during the past year.

Young Gyanshala kids ages 4-14 yrs. amazed everyone by doing Ekasan (eating one time during the whole day),Biyasana (eating only twice a day), and Maun ( observing Silence).

With Saminijis blessings and Parent’s encouragement, two gems of JVB Gyanshala, Udai Jain( High School freshman) observed Tela (3 days continuous upwas) & Tanvi Jain(2nd grade) did 1 upwas to motivate young as well as old.

Each day started with Samaniji’s morning session of Agam discourses based on Kalp Sutra where she beautifully narrated the life of Bhagwan Mahavir from birth till Nirvana and, the day concluded with evening sessions on the detailed meaning of “ Uvsaggaharam Stotra”, composed by Acharya Bhadrabahu Swami which is believed to eliminate obstacles, hardships and miseries, if chanted with complete faith and purifies the inner soul and Karma.

We are proud of our center, its beautiful surroundings, a unique pyramid shape meditation hall, and a very peaceful ambiance. It is located at 14102 Schiller Rd, Houston, TX 77082. On the first and third Sunday of each month there are pravachans by Samani Ji. The theme of the pravachans this year has been: Guide yourself in choosing the path- Detailed meaning of 18 types of

JVB Preksha’s Gyanshala kids ages 4-14 yrs during a session with Samani Ji.

Paap. Apart from the regular activities mentioned above Samaniji’s also offer individual or one-on-one confidential counseling to those who are in need of such help.

All our programs are offered free of charge. To cover the costs of running the center on a day to day basis, we accept donations. As a charitable 501c corporation, the donations are tax deductible. Please take advantage of this beautiful facility by joining us in the programs we offer. Our center is open to all irrespective of their religious beliefs. Upcoming events include JVB Annual Day Celebration on Oct,10th from 5:30pm onwards and Annual Day Adhar Abhishek Pooja on Oct,11th from 7.30 am onwards.

More information about our Center and the current programs is available on our website: www.JVBHouston. org

for devotees followed by daily Pratikraman. Parallel Sessions for kids Pratikraman were also conducted in the Evening in English.

The dedicated members of JVB Sachin Jain, Jigisha Doshi, Renu Shah, Khushboo Jain and many others kept the tapasya chain going till the end of Paryushan Festival. During these eight days, the entire JVB Community became spellbound in an atmosphere of enthusiasm, felicity and Tapasya with Tela (3 days continuous fasting), Bela (2 days continuous fasting), Upwas ( one day fasting) and Paushad. This year, under Saminijis guidance, a special spiritual practice was followed on each day like continuous 12 hour chanting of Namaskar Mahamantra, 108 hours of Maun (Silence), Samayika, Swadhyay (Scriptural read-

A highly informative lecture series for the weekend was designed by Samanijis which concentrated on Leshya (Aura) & Its Colors to discover your inner personality through seven different colors of your Aura followed by a fun Jeopardy style quiz competition to test the audience attentiveness and learning from her special lecture. Seven days were days of attainment and the eighth day was one of fulfillment or achievement. By performing the Samvatsarik Pratikraman on eighth day, everyone sought forgiveness from each other. Forgetting all hatred constitutes the Samvatsarik aradhana -the annual atonement. Special food arrangements were made for dinner

Mahatma Gandhi Library holds its annual Speech Contest Mahatma Gandhi Library holds its annual Speech Contest on Saturday, September 26, 2015. It will be held starting at 8 AM at Arya Samaj Greater Houston located at 13475 Schiller Road, Houston, TX 77083.

The topics for this year contest are as follows: Age 10 and below Bullying: My perspective

-

Age 11 and above Does war lead to peace?

-

The registration is still open. So if you want to register please visit www.gandhjilibrary.org.

Please be sure to attend the contest to watch these young speakers delivering inspiring speeches. The winners of the contest will deliver their speeches at the celebration of “Gandhi Jayanti”(Gandhi ji’s birthday) as 1000 Lights for Peace on Sunday, October 4, 2015. It will take place at the The Miller Outdoor Theatre located at 6000 Hermann Park Dr, Houston, TX 77030 from 5 PM to 8 PM. The finale of the program

will be lighting of the candle by each person as pledge to practice truth and non-violence in one’s own life. Please find attached a flyer for the same. To learn more about the program and celebrations please visit www.gandhilibrary.org Please feel free to forward this e mail to your circulation list.

For additional inquiries, please contact Namita Sutaria, Media Coordinator, Mahatma Gandhi Library at email address is namitasutaria@hotmail.com

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COMMUNITY

FRIDAY, September 25, 2015

Sewa International Houston Fundraiser on Oct 3, 2015 The People’s Lawyer

by Kavita Tewary and Jackson Courter

www.peopleslawyer.net

S

Richard M. Alderman Interim Dean of the Law Center

Unordered merchandise can be kept as a gift Q. I received an item in the mail that I did not order. I called the company and they told me I either had to return it at my expense or pay for it if I kept it. It doesn’t seem fair that a company can force me to spend money to return something I don’t want and did not order.

A. It isn’t fair, and it also isn’t legal. Federal laws prohibit mailing unordered merchandise to consumers and then demanding payment. My opinion is you do not have to pay for it, and may not have to return it. Under the law, you have the right to keep unordered merchandise without paying, unless it was sent to you as a honest shipping mistake. To be safe, returning it is the best option, but they must pay. I suggest you let them know it was not ordered and if they arrange for the costs of shipping you will return it. Tell them if they don’t pick up the item or arrange for shipping at their expense, you will consider it a gift and keep it. To see more about this law go to, http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0181-unordered-merchandise Q. Hi. In a credit card account with two person on the account can one person file for bankruptcy to wipe out the debt? After the bankruptcy is settled and the credit card owner given notice of bankruptcy dismissal, can the other responsible party be sue?

A. If two people are responsible for a debt and one files bankruptcy, only that person is discharged. The other person remains liable and the creditor may sue to collect the full amount from the person who did not file bankruptcy. This is why many creditors will ask for a guarantor or a co-signer.

Q. I have an overgrown tree in my backyard and I have asked my landlord to prune it or remove for almost two years. The tree is hanging over the house and over my bedroom, and many branches are very dead. It is worse than it was two years ago. I’ve had a company come out and give me an estimate to prune the tree. My question is, if I have this tree trimmed because the landlord is not willing to have it removed, can I take this money used to have this tree trimmed out of my rent.?

A. You cannot take the money to prune the tree and apply it to the rent unless the landlord agrees. If you do so without her consent, you could be evicted. I suggest you contact the landlord, in writing, and make it clear to her this situation is dangerous to your health and safety, and she could be liable for substantial damages if the tree falls. Let her know you expect her to promptly prune or remove the tree. You also should offer to do it yourself and apply the costs to your rent and see if he agrees.

Q. Three friends and I put in money each week and buy lottery tickets. Do we need a written contract agreeing to split the proceeds when we win?

A. As far as the law is concerned, an agreement to split lottery winnings does not have to in writing to be enforceable. If you have all agreed that any winnings will be divided equally, your agreement is enforceable.

The real problem, however, is practical, not legal. Although an oral agreement to split lottery winnings is enforceable, proving the agreement can be difficult. For example, you all may agree now, but once you win someone might have a different recollection of what you agreed to. The best way to avoid problems when it comes to splitting lottery winnings is to put your agreement in writing. It may not be necessary, but it can avoid a lot of problems, and strained friendships.

ewa International is the only South Asian nonprofit organization that has made Houston its focus and we want to work to make Houston a better place to live. Our key focus areas are refugee and Immigrant education programs through A.S.P.I.R.E program ( Assuring Student Performance In Refugee And Immigrant Education ) and Family Services.

Family Services is a program that helps South Asian families in times of distress and provides a safety network in times of adversity, like death bereavement and unforeseen circumstances. If you feel connected to Houston and want to make a difference in the city you call home, please come out and support us on October 3rd at our H.E.L.P (Helping Every Life Prosper) 2015 fundraising event. We have lined up a very interesting evening for you! Come and experience the stories of refugees that made Houston their home. Hear from school administrators of their challenges in dealing with the refugee and immigrant influx in Houston area. Our keynote speaker is fellow Houstonian Sonal Shah.

About the Speaker Sonal Shah is an economist and entrepreneur who has spent her career focused on actionable innovation in government, business and the non-profit sectors. She is the former Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of the first White House Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation that focused on investing in and scaling innovative models in the social sector. She also served on President Obama’s Transition Board overseeing the Technology, Innovation, Government Reform working group. Be-

Sonal Shah

fore joining the White House, Shah led Google’s global development initiatives for its philanthropy, Google.org.

Prior to Google, Shah was a Vice President at Goldman Sachs, Inc. where she developed and managed the firm’s environmental strategy. There will be delightful dance and music to keep you entertained followed by sumptuous authentic Indian Food !

and economy but this growing global economy is not without its growing pains and problems. Not many people are aware that we take the maximum number of refugees and immigrants of all the major American cities.

We as Houstonians and active members of this thriving Indo-American community need to focus, get involved and give back to Houston .

About Sewa Sewa International Houston is 501c3 nonprofit organization and our focus is to serve the local Houston community and also to help promote volunteerism in the Greater Houston Area.

Houston is blessed to have a thriving global community

The Event When : Oct 3 rd ,Saturday Where : Radha Krishna Temple Auditorium ,11625 Beechnut street Time : 6:30 onwards For tickets and other details go online www.sewusa. org/houston

Do you want to learn much more about your legal rights? Come to the next session of the People’s Law School” in Houston on October 3rd. This is the largest law for the layperson in the country and it is absolutely free. There will be fourteen different courses, and everyone can select three to attend. For more information and to register, visit www.peopleslawyer.net

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COMMUNITY

VOICE OF ASIA 5

FRIDAY, September 25, 2015

‘Magic Bus’ fund-raiser celebrates another eventful year.....

Continued from page 1

With a dedicated network of over 8,000 volunteers and operations across 22 states in India, Magic Bus works with over 300,000 children every week, teaching them the importance of gender-equality, education, health, teamwork and confidence by engaging them through a sports oriented curriculum.

The event opened with a cocktail hour to welcome guests with ambient music from musicians playing the sitar and tabla. An energetic dance performance by a dance troupe of students from the University of Houston opened up the main event of the evening.

The evening was emceed by Pooja Lodhia, a reporter for

of his involvement in Magic Bus and the incredible support he’s received from Houstonians. He thanked the Houston board of Magic Bus for their support in making the event a success, including: Swatantra Jain, Jugal Malani, Dr. H.D. Patel, Dr. Sunita Moonat, Gopal Savjani, Brij Kathuria and Mona Parikh.

Mr. Bhandari then introduced the first of two guests of honor visiting from India.

Manoj Bajpai, a critically acclaimed Indian film actor who has worked predominantly in Bollywood, Telugu cinema and Tamil cinema.

Following Mr. Bajpai on stage was Matthew Spacie, the founder of Magic Bus.

Organization (NGO) in India. He spoke at length to an interested crowd about how the genesis of the Magic Bus program came about when he visited India 17 years ago.

Mr. Bajpai then moderated a question and answer session with Magic Bus’s founder Matthew Spacie and the second guest of honor who is also one of the program’s recent graduates, Sangita Pal. Sangita, who lives in one of Mumbai’s largest slums with her 7 member family, is one of many Magic Bus success stories, she shared with the crowd the impact of the Magic Bus program on her life and how it impressed upon her the importance of

Magic Bus Houston Board with Sangita Pal, Matthew Spacie, Manoj Bajpai and Gala Underwriters. Photo credit: Bijay Dixit.

ABC-13 in Houston.

Following the opening dance performance, Mr. Amit Bhandari, President of the Houston Chapter, took to the stage for a short speech in which he shared the story

An Englishman by birth, Mr. Spacie has now adopted India as his home, living in Mumbai and devoting all his time to Magic Bus, which has grown into the largest mentoring and experiential learning Non Governmental

education and the role it can play in lifting individuals out of poverty.

This realization, she said, empowered her to attend college and follow in the footsteps of her elder sister, also a Magic Bus graduate.

Matthew Spacie, founder of Magic Bus (center) with Indian film actor Manoj Bajpai, (right) and Sangita Pal, Guest of Honor from Mumbai, India. Photo by Bijay Dixit.

Magic Bus volunteers were all cheers at the gala. Photo credit: Bijay Dixit.

Following the question and answer, Mr. Spacie anchored a pledge drive that saw the 340 attendees of the extremely well attended event contribute and increase the total amount of funds raised for the event to approximately $480,000.

The evening’s final entertainment piece was a dance performance from students from Rice University dressed in traditional Punjabi attire.

The event was coordinated and directed by Houston board member Brij Kathu-

ria and his army of working professional volunteers.

Nalini Kannan and Décor One provided the ambiance and dinner was catered by Mahesh Shah’s Daawat catering followed by music from DJ Nish Naik.

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COMMUNITY

VOICE OF ASIA 6

Continued from Page 1 the bank was the number one Small Business Administration lender in Houston for the year 2014 and “currently on track” to capture the title for 2015.

Describing the Chamber as “an integral part of the Houston landscape for the last 16 years”, Dakri also lauded the Chamber’s efforts to increase commercial ties and bring “two diverse and powerful economies together.”

FRIDAY, September 25, 2015

US Ambassador Richard Verma’s momentous first appearance at IACCGH gala

In a congratulatory televised message, Senator John Cornyn applauded the tremendous contribution the Chamber has made not only to the Texas economy but also the deepening of ties between the US and India.

India’s Consul General of Houston and an Advisor to the Chamber, P. Harish highlighted the personal commitment of the two leaders, President Obama and PM Modi in working together. He was happy to note that the first LNG exports to India is scheduled for early 2017 which would supply one-third of India’s imports and one-fifth of its consumption as of last year. It would also “realize the emergence of the US as a significant producer and exporter of hydrocarbons.” He also referred to PM Modi’s efforts to “make development, economic growth and employment as the principal planks of governance with a multi-agency effort to ease business.” India, he remarked, was looking to the US to be a partner in bringing about a transformation through economic engagement.

President Ashok Garg, in his address, welcomed Ambassador Richard Verma and stated that his appointment as the first Indian American US Ambassador to India was “not only a matter of great pride but also striking at a time of closer ties between the world’s two largest democracies.” He also emphasized that Ambassador Verma understands India and would bring a new momentum to the relationship between our two countries. Commending Indo Americans for not only contributing to this great country with their talent and hard work, he stated that they give back to their own country by “building bridges of business and bonds of friendship between the two countries.” President Garg also gave a brief recap of the year’s activities and expressed his happiness that the Chamber’s mission of encouraging trade between the US and India, creating a platform for local businesses and helping members network has been successful and impactful.

In an address that was lightened with humorous reflections and pride at his family’s

Indian typist ‘fed up’ after abuse image goes viral Lucknow, India | AFP - An Indian who became an overnight star when an image of a policeman kicking his typewriter went viral has said he is fed up with all the attention -- and just wants to go back to typing letters.

The photograph of the officer harassing Kishan Kumar, who makes a living as a streetside typist in the northern city of Lucknow, provoked an outpouring of sympathy from Indians outraged at his treatment.

Local authorities reacted swiftly, suspending the officer who destroyed his typewriter and promising compensation of 100,000 rupees ($1,500) as well as a new machine.

But Kumar, who is in his 60s but does not know his exact age, said he was “fed up” with his new-found celebrity, which had made it impossible for him to work.

“I just can’t work with so many people surrounding me. I haven’t earned a single penny for the past two days,” he told AFP outside the Lucknow post office, where he plies his trade.

“What will I feed my family if I do not get to earn?... I come here to work, not to give media interviews.”

Although typewriters have largely disappeared from many countries, streetside typists remain a common sight in many Indian cities.

They can be seen hunched over often ancient machines, tapping out affidavits, family title deeds and court applications for around 10 rupees per page.

Kumar said he had received an anonymous threat of violence since the incident on Saturday, while promises of money from well-wishers had failed to materialise.

dent Garg formally presented the Ambassador as “a fellow Texan.”

IACCGH also recognized the professional and public service achievements of members of the Indo American community.

Ambassador Verma presented an award to CEO Umesh Verma of Blue Lance for the Entrepreneur of the Year Award for cyber security technology innovation. Mani Iyer, President, Mahindra USA was presented an Inbound Investment Award recognizing inbound investment and local job creation in Harris County. The Community Service Award was presented to India House for bringing communities together and was received by President Dr. Manish Rungta. Wallis State Bank was the recipient of the Business Advocate of the Year Award for fueling small business and was presented to Vice Chairman and CEO Asif Dakri.

Appreciation Awards were also presented to the major sponsors of the evening, Emcee Rekha Muddharaj and Therese Cole-Hubbs of Electric Karma for event management.

President Ashok Garg, Mahindra USA President Mani Iyer, Blue Lance CEO Umesh Verma, Keynote Speaker Ambassador Richard Verma, India House President Dr. Manish Rungta, Wallis State Bank CEO Asif Dakri and Executive Director Jagdip Ahluwalia. Photo credit: Kaushlesh Biyani of Biyani Photography. migration from India to the US, Ambassador Verma remarked on how connected Indo Americans are despite the miles that distance them. He was full of admiration for the courage and perseverance of Indo Americans who had come to America to “build a better future, to chase your dreams,” and believed that they kept the two democracies together through their shared values.” As Ambassador to India since January 2015, Ambassador Verma spoke of traveling across India and “witnessing first-hand the impact and the promise of the US Indo strategic partnership.”

He also stated that it was increasingly clear the US considers India as “our best partner

and one of the most consequential relationships of the 21st century.” The two countries, he believed, can be close partners in areas of military, medicine, deep sea and space exploration and combating terrorism and “the trends are heading in the right direction.” He was realistic about the challenges faced

by India but concluded on an optimistic note by stating that he was “heartened by the promise we see in India and look forward to a resurgent India.”

Ambassador Verma received a standing ovation and was also recognized as an honorary Texan by a Texas State Resolution from Senator Rodney Ellis, arranged by Past President Sanjay Ram, after which Presi-

A view of the audience at the gala on September 19, 2015.

President Elect Joya Shukla thanked the Chamber for their trust in her ability to lead the Chamber and looked forward to partnering with the members to “do great things together.”

DIASPORA

VOICE OF ASIA 7

FRIDAY, September 25, 2015

India-U.S. Joint Declaration on Combatting Terrorism WASHINGTON, DC (September 22, 2015)

Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj and Secretary of State John Kerry on the occasion of the inaugural India-U.S. Strategic and Commercial Dialogue: Reaffirm the commitment of India and the United States to combat terrorism in all its forms, which constitutes a profound threat to global peace and security, and to uphold our common values of democracy, justice, and the rule of law; Reaffirm President Obama’s and Prime Minister Modi’s vision to transform the U.S.-India relationship into a defining counterterrorism partnership for the 21st century; Reiterate the threat posed by entities such as Al-Qa’ida and its affiliates, Lashkar-eTayibba, Jaish-e-Mohammad, D Company, and the Haqqani Network, and other regional groups that seek to undermine stability in South Asia; Call for Pakistan to bring to justice the perpetrators of the 2008 Mumbai attack; Strongly condemn the July 27, 2015 terrorist attack in Gurdaspur, Punjab, and August 5, 2015, attack in Udhampur, Jammu and Kashmir; Recognize the serious threat posed by ISIL/Da’esh to global security and affirm efforts to degrade and defeat this threat in accordance with the provisions of United Nations Security Council Resolutions 2178, 2170, and 2199; Recall the signing of the U.S.India Counterterrorism Cooperation Initiative (CCI) and establishment of the Homeland Security Dialogue in 2010, as well as India’s membership in the Global Counterterrorism Forum (GCTF); Recall the Memorandum of Understanding signed in Janu-

ary 2015 between the U.S. Department of Treasury and India’s Ministry of Finance to enhance cooperation against money laundering and terrorism financing; Applaud the 15 year anniversary of the U.S.-India Counterterrorism Joint Working Group and the provision of Anti-Terrorism Assistance (ATA) training for more than 1100 Indian security personnel since 2009; Recognize India’s participation in the February 2015 White House Summit on Countering Violent Extremism; and, Reaffirm their support for a UN Comprehensive Convention against International Terrorism that advances and strengthens the framework for global cooperation and reinforces that no cause or grievance justifies terrorism.

Additionally, Minister Swaraj and Secretary Kerry Commend: The continuing efforts to finalize a bilateral agreement to expand intelligence sharing and terrorist watch-list information; The meeting of the U.S.India Terrorist Designations Exchange in July 2015 to strengthen cooperation on domestic terrorist designations, including implementation of UN 1373 (2001), and on international designations pursuant to UN 1267/1989; The proposed next round of the Counterterrorism Joint Working Group in early 2016; The discussions on cyber security at the U.S-India Cyber Dialogue in August 2015 and continuing close cooperation on cyber security and information sharing; Progress toward India’s entry into the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Global Entry Program; The inclusion of Mumbai in the Strong Cities Network, a forum to build sub-national resiliency against violent extremism; Continuing discussions on

Extradition and Mutual Legal Assistance; The U.S.-India Megacity Policing Exchange, an initia-

tive to deepen collaboration on training and community policing between local and state law enforcement;

Progress toward a Memorandum of Understanding between the Indian National Police Academy (Hyderabad) and the

New York Police Department; The proposed next meeting of the Homeland Security Dialogue in early 2016.

In Silicon Valley, some Indian Americans shun Hillary Clinton after election row

S

AN FRANCISCO, PTI | 23 Sep, 2015 - Hillary Clinton, who has long cultivated the Indian-American community for both funds and votes, is tapping into the excitement around the Silicon Valley visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi this weekend.

Next Monday she is holding a presidential campaign fundraiser expected to attract many prominent Californians with ties to India.

But some Indian-American Democrats from the region have told Reuters they won’t be attending the event, in part because they are upset about the way a candidate was treated in a 2014 race for a Silicon Valley congressional seat. Their frustration extends to other Democratic candidates and causes besides Clinton, who wasn’t involved in the race, but ignoring her campaign is a high-profile way to vent.

Supporters of the candidate, Ro Khanna, an intellectual-property lawyer of South Indian heritage, accuse his opponent, fellow Democrat Mike Honda, of using race-baiting to undermine Khanna. Honda narrowly beat out Khanna, a former trade official in President Barack Obama’s administration, in the election for a seat in the House of Representatives.

Just weeks before the election, Honda attacked Khanna in a television ad for supporting “companies that send our jobs overseas.”

In the same ad, a shadow briefly appeared on Khanna’s forehead that some Khanna supporters interpreted as a bindi, a red dot worn by many Indians but not by Khanna.

Khanna’s supporters point out that in 2012 he published a book on the importance of U.S. manufacturing jobs, and they say that the shadow was an attempt to

are raising money for her. Monday’s Clinton fundraiser - which she is due to attend in person - is being hosted in their home by Khanna supporters Kamil Hasan, a venture capitalist, and his wife Talat Hasan, an entrepreneur.

Tickets start at $1,000, and it is expected to attract at least 150 donors, according to a person familiar with the event.

Khanna’s supporters have shown a largesse that any presidential candidate would want to tap into. He has raised $1.25 million through June 30, far more than most congressional candidates, and more than double the $608,000 raised by Honda.

Ro Khanna, a Democratic candidate for a congressional seat in California, is seen in this handout picture taken in Cleveland, Ohio on August 28, 2015. Photo credit: Reuters/Craig Paulson spark unease among non-Indians.

They say the Democratic Party should have intervened to stop what they saw as unfair attacks.

Honda spokesman Adam Alberti says Khanna’s financial backers included supporters of outsourcing, and no dot was placed, or is visible, on Khanna’s forehead in the ad in question.

“The issue of racial baiting is both unfounded and is shallow political theater,” said Alberti, adding that as a Japanese-American who was held in an internment camp as a baby during World War II, Honda is especially committed to racial diversity. In March, Honda co-hosted a networking and fundraising event for “Ready for Clinton,” the organization that sought to draft Clinton to run for president.

Among those who say they aren’t going to Monday’s Clinton fundraiser, or getting involved in other Democratic campaigns out of concern at Khanna’s treatment,

is Rahul Roy, a software entrepreneur. “It hurts,” he says. Roy recently hosted a fundraiser for Khanna, who is running for the seat again in 2016.

The Clinton campaign says it is concentrating on the large numbers of Indian Americans that back her. “Hillary Clinton is grateful for the broad support she is receiving across the IndianAmerican and Asian-American and Pacific Islander communities in California and around the country,” a spokesman said. He did not respond to questions from Reuters about the disquiet over the 2014 election.

SOCIAL JUSTICE Certainly Clinton has been raising funds in Silicon Valley, where donations to her and an organization raising money on her behalf from area technology employees have totaled $1.07 million through June 30, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

And some Khanna supporters

“Some of the attacks were very xenophobic,” said Naren Gupta, a Khanna donor and co-founder of investment firm Nexus Ventures, who said the party should have stepped in. He stopped short of saying the issue would affect his support for other Democratic candidates. He is not expected at the Hasan fundraiser, according to the person familiar with the event.

Gupta is also co-chairman of the Indo-American Community of the West Coast, which is helping organize Modi’s appearance before a capacity crowd of 18,000 at the SAP Center in San Jose on San Jose on Sunday.

Other donors, like Facebook millionaire turned venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya, think Khanna should have hit back harder.

“You’ve got to be willing to take the gloves off and fight,” said Palihapitya, who donated $2,600 to Khanna in the last race and said he planned to support him again this time. He hasn’t made up his mind about who he might support in the presidential race, he said.

COMMUNITY

VOICE OF ASIA 8

FRIDAY, September 25, 2015

Bala Vihar Houston pledges, “Unto Him Our Best”

by Padmashree Rao

grateful love for the spiritual secret he shared in his divine mission. It has been promised in the presence of the Lord of Saumyakasi. In Chinmaya Prabha Houston, the dedicated resolve was easily seen on the opening day – in every detail that was offered with such love and care by the entire team of Chinmaya Mission Houston.

T

hey said it with words and music. They showed it with symbols. Spoken or symbolic, the essence was that of pure love.

With happy faces, bright colors, beautiful flowers, glowing lamps, a poetic pledge, and a spirited presentation, the members of Chinmaya Mission Houston welcomed another new year of Bala Vihar on Sep.13, 2015.

It was also a day for one more celebration – Chinmaya family celebrated a special birthday of their beloved Acarya Darshana Nanavaty, who is the guiding force for Bala Vihar Houston. It was significant for Bala Vihar teachers and Chinmaya family to welcome Darshanaauntie to Chinmaya Smrti and to wish her all the best with flowers and singing of the Chinmaya birthday song.

It was a day for a memorable celebration – the birth centenary of an ageless spiritual Master, Pujya Gurudev Swami Chinmayananda.

Shobha Ravishankar, a lead teacher of Bala Vihar, welcomed all Bala Vihar families.

She spoke of a rare gift that could fill our hearts even when opened a hundred years after it first came wrapped! It was a precious gift that still held the key to timeless happiness.

When children and adults saw the majestic image of Gurudev emerge on the PowerPoint presentation, the thrill felt was unmistakable. Just seeing the many images of Gurudev during his quest to bring true happiness to all could capture the imagination of both young and old and bring alive the wonder of his unconditional love.

Gurudev’s magic of touching hearts revealed that the path to happiness is always paved with the universal spirit of caring and giving.

It is human instinct to reciprocate love that has no strings attached. So, when it was time for all the Bala Vihar chil-

CMH’s Bala Vihar gurus with Acaryas Gaurang Nanavaty and Darshana Nanavaty. Photo credit Jayesh Mistry dren, their teachers, and their families to celebrate the love that Gurudev has personified, they pledged to give their best.

Echoing the worldwide motto of the Chinmaya Birth Centenary, “Unto Him Our Best,” everyone recited the lines of a poem written by Uma Aggarwal, a Bala Vihar teacher. Each Bala Vihar child held close a symbol of a hand that had the words, “Unto Him My Best.”

Then, the entire congregation followed Acarya Gaurang Nanavaty and Acarya Darshana Nanavaty to seek the blessings of Pujya Gurudev, Swami Chinmayananda, before beginning studies for this year.

In his opening pravacana, Acarya Gaurang talked about our universal quest for happiness. With examples drawn from many facets of life, the Acarya pointed out how our search has the keywords of “endless wanting,” which seems to drone on in the background of every action of ours.

Calling for a careful introspection on what really happens in this pursuit of happiness, he set the background for the upcoming studies that the adults will undertake as their children attend Bala Vihar.

So, in this Chinmaya centenary year, the best has been promised to Gurudev with

K. V. Doraiswamy Bhattar 281-489-0464 or 281-948-8368

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For more information about Chinmaya Mission Houston, please visit www.chinmayahouston.org

COMMUNITY

VOICE OF ASIA 9

FRIDAY, September 25, 2015

Violinist duo: Ganesh and Kumaresh brings musical downpour in Greater Houston

Violin virtuosos, Ganesh and Kumaresh (center) with organizers and classical music enthusiasts.

Photo credit Navin Mediwala and Anil Adoni.

by Nalini Sadagopan n Sep 5th, we entered the beautifully decorated Berry Center Auditorium of Greater Houston for an unforgettable evening of music by worldrenowned violin virtuosos Ganesh and Kumaresh. The brothers, dressed in deep blue and dark attires, appeared to be impregnated musical clouds that drenched the packed audience with a brilliant musical downpour.

O

The Hindu Temple of The Woodlands had impeccably

organized this fundraising event, in transforming their “Vision to Reality” project.

The program was emceed eloquently by Sudha Ravi Mani. Kruthi Bhat sonorously rendered the invocatory Meera Bhajan.

The forty-year veterans in violin performance, considered child prodigies, Ganesh and Kumaresh were initiated and trained by their father, Rajagopalan Iyer.

They have found a new expression targeted towards instrumental music called Ragapravaham, which is

based only on the raga (melodic scale) and thala (the rhythmic scale). The thematic concert in celebrating Krishna Janmashtami depicted five facets of Lord Krishna – magnum opus, romantic, philosophic, superhero and compassionate.

The brothers were accompanied by Papanasam Sankaranarayanan on the mridangam and Krishnaswamy on the ghatam. Samyuktha Hari and Kruthi Bhat provided tambura support.

The concert opened with a brisk pancharagamalika

Ganesh and Kumaresh Live in Concert. Photo credit Navin Mediwala and Anil Adoni.

varnam. The brothers followed the varnam with ragam Mayamalavagowla showcasing resonance and agility. The main piece of the concert was painted with Kamboji. The soulful composition of Elara SriKrishna was soothingly played at a pace where one could imagine the Lord in our midst.

The kalpanaswarams and korappu were like pearls strung to adorn the beautiful Lord Krishna. The percussion duet was unbelievably riveting and won a thunderous applause from

the audience. The philosophical and compassionate Krishna was presented through vocal renditions of Tamil compositions by Ganesh in the ragams Nayaki and Kalyanavasantham.

The superhero Krishna, rather a superhero side of the brothers, came out when they engaged the audience to choose the ragam to be performed. The brothers astoundingly expounded on Dhavalambari which resulted from the trivia. The concluding pieces included a Kannada composition in Pahadi and a Dwijavanthi

thillana.

HTW board members S.R. Pinnapureddy, Praveen Gottipati, and Krishna Hari helped with welcoming, felicitation and rendering a vote of thanks respectively.

Venki Chandrasekar summarized the fundraising efforts of HTW. Madras Pavilion and Dhakshin catered sumptuous dinner. “Thanks to the cultural committee of HTW and the leadership of Jagan Allam and Rajee Hari for bringing such remarkable programs to the Houston audience.”

Indian diaspora in USA launches ‘Mission 2022’

W

ASHINGTON: The three million strong Indian diaspora in the US has launched “Mission 2022” in partnership with the Confederation of Indian Industries to make US-India partnership a defining partnership of the 21st century.

“We have set a goal called Mission 2022, which is to have a series of dialogues with the diaspora over the next seven years as India turns 75,” entrepreneur M R Rangaswami said during a reception hosted by CII and Indian diaspora, which among others was attended by US Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker and Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

These dialogues would be held every six months.

“The goal is that by 2022, the US-India partnership is a defining partnership of the 21st century,” he said yesterday.

Highlighting the significant positive change taking place within India, CII president Sumit Sumter invited the diaspora to invest in India’s transformation, avail the immense opportunities available today and be part of the mutual growth story.

Sitharaman applauded the vision of President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Narendra Modi and highlighted the significant deepening of commercial ties between the two nations and their businesses.

Pritzker stressed on the work cut out by both the governments to make this into a USD 500 billion economic engagement between the oldest and the largest democracies in the world.

Together the two leaders highlighted the substantial steps taken by the two government in the direction of boosting trade and investments.

Amidst the ongoing wave of optimism and promising developments surrounding USIndia Strategic and Commercial Dialogue as well as Modi’s

Read more on Community www.voiceofasiaonline.com

anticipated second visit to the US major stakeholders joined in the reception to celebrate the flourishing Indian diaspora and to place them front and centre

within the context of the overall bilateral partnership.

Stressing the positively evolving commercial relation-

ship between the countries, both Sitharaman and Pritzker invited the business community to help shape and deepen the economic relationship still

further.

The growing Indian-American diaspora is heavily invested in the American system and can

not only rise to be the backbone of this critical partnership but can help fuel US & India’s mutual growth story.

COMMUNITY

VOICE OF ASIA 10

V.KN. Kannappen’s Speech on Hindu Temple Management In Houston

V.KN.Kannappen, addressing the Sri Meenakshi Temple management and members.

Slowly youth will get involved in the temple aspect.

Youth may be exposed to religious literature through Internet and listen to experts. For long term revenue income generating assets can be created.

Mr. V.KN. Kannappen is a graduate of Business Management from Banaras Hindu University. He was the managing director of National Fasteners P Ltd, Chennai till 2005. He manages his family businesses in the area of finance and palm oil plantations. He was involved in the management of many Hindu temples in India and Malay-

Harish Jajoo’s Sugar Land mayoral campaign kicks off with a bang

by Sanchali Basu

S

UGAR LAND - Council Member, Harish Jajoo kicked off his much anticipated mayoral campaign on Thursday, September 17th, at the Fort Bend Chamber of Commerce. The general election for the mayoral seat will be held on Saturday May 7, 2016. The current mayor, James Thompson, has reached his term limit and cannot seek re-election.

The room was packed with friends, neighbors and wellwishers to support the fearless, conservative, experienced leader. Hard working campaign officials greeted the attendees at the entrance.

Refreshments and beverages were offered to the guests.

Jajoo, who has served on the city council in Sugar Land since June 2011 is currently serving his third two-year term. He is the first South

Members of Sri Meenakshi Temple Sri Meenakshi Temple management with guest speaker V.KN. Kannappen at the MTS temple in Pearland on September 19, 2015.

by Sam Kannappan

P

EARLAND - V.KN. Kannappen, a distinguished visitor from India and Malaysia spoke at Sri Meenakshi Temple, Pearland, Texas on Saturday September 19th on “Temple Management- my experience”. He was accompanied by his wife Sigappi.

Meenakshi Kannappan started the meeting with prayer on Sri Ganesha. Sockalingam Narayanan, Vice-Chairman, Sri Meenakshi Temple welcomed the speaker and asked him to cover the revenue stream for temple.

Kannappen gave the management and founding structure of Sri Thendayuthapani

Temple, Teluk Intan, Malaysia. Temple in Malaysia has incoming producing properties to bring in revenue for the operation of the temple apart from the voluntary contributions. In the olden days a portion of the profit was given to the temple. This temple is managed by fixed trustees on rotation yearly.

He elaborated on the pooja activities at Sri Vishvanath Temple, Varanasi.

Dr. SG Appan asked for suggestions for long term revenue stream for Sri Meenakshi Temple. When asked about the involvement of youth in the Temple, Kannappen suggested arranging youth day and let youth handle the program planning.

sia. He serves as Trustee, Sri Perak Thendayuthapani Temple, Teluk Intan, Malaysia. He is the Secretary of Iranikkoil Sivan Temple Trust. He served as Treasurer and Secretary of Sri Kasi Nattukkottai Nagara Satram Managing Society, Varanasi.

This society performs ushat kalam, uchikkalam and artha sama abhishekam and pooja at Kasi Viswanathar temple daily for many years. He served as the President of Sri Karikala Solleswarar Kumbhabhishekam Committee, Nattarasankottai. This temple is 800 years old. He serves as Secretary and Correspondent of KMSC Girls School, Nattarasankottai. He served as the President of Rotary club of Meenambakkam, Chennai.

FRIDAY, September 25, 2015

Council Member Harish Jajoo running for Mayor of Sugar Land at the campaign kickoff. Photos: Courtesy Navin Mediwala

Council Member Harish Jajoo addressing the gathering at the Fort Bend Chamber of Commerce.

Asian-American in the history of Sugar Land to run for mayor, even though Sugar Land has long been a center of the Asian-American and Indian-American community of Greater Houston.

Harish Jajoo is a consulting engineer and a registered professional engineer in the state of Texas. He previously managed public works and engineering for the City of Houston for 29 years. As part of the Sugarland city council, he has played an integral role in many economic development and infrastructure projects. He is also a Certified Flood Plain Manager in the State of Texas and is active in several professional and community activities and organizations.

Jajoo is a fiscal conservative who strongly favors lower taxes and disciplined spending, and is an advocate

of public safety. At his campaign kickoff he said, “As a leader of the city, providing a superior quality of life to our residents has always been my priority. I aim to provide topnotch public safety, robust infrastructure, and economic development, and to make Sugar Land a destination for visitors.

I am always looking to give the best value to Sugar Land’s taxpayers.” He and his wife Shashi have lived in Sugar Land since 1985 and have two grown sons. In previous elections, he has proven that he can get the South Asian community to come out to vote.

Shashi and Harish took the center stage to thank everyone for their attendance, asked for their support and encouraged everyone to vote. He emphasized that he was running because he knows that together Sugar Land can be made an even more prosperous, friendly, and exciting place to live,

work and play. As mayor, he said he would work to ensure that Sugar Land maintains a high quality of life, a business friendly environment, and an efficient road and traffic system. Mobility continues to be a major issue for Sugarland, and Jajoo said he was committed to using every tool at his disposal to get people and traffic moving across the city.

The candidate went on to say his record as an engineer and on the city council are proof that he knows how to get things done, “be it infrastructure, intergovernmental agency coordination, city council considerations, maximizing capital investment dollars or interacting with citizens to explain how their money is being spent efficiently.”

He requested everyone to visit www.JajooForSugarland. com and sign up as supporters and volunteers.

COMMUNITY

VOICE OF ASIA 11

FRIDAY, September 25, 2015

Raja Krishnamoorthi reaches out to Houston Indian Americans for his congressional run

Raja Krishnamoorthi addressing the guests at IAPAC Meet & Greet on September 18, 2015. in Houston.

by Sanchali Basu Raja Krishnamoorthi, the Democratic candidate running for Illinois 8th congressional district was at a recent Meet and Greet event hosted by the Indo-American Political Action Committee (IAPAC) on September 18 at Mayuri Indian restaurant in Houston.

With his seemingly down-to-earth demeanor, Krishnamoorthi had made quite an impression on the small gathering of Houston’s elite. Son of Indian immigrants to the US, Krishnamoorthi, graduated with honors from Harvard Law School and earned his bachelor’s degree summa cum laude in mechanical engineering from Princeton University.

Speaking to the guests, Krishnamoorthi gave a brief background about himself. He alluded to his humble beginnings, when his father had lost his job. And the fact that he was a product of public housing, welfare and food stamps, struck a chord with the audience.

It is but natural that he is representing the district which has the highest concentration of Indian Americans in Illinois. He jokingly remarked that, “There are too many chiefs but not enough Indians in Congress.”

He is clearly the front runner among three candidates and his seat favors the democrats by eight points. He has the support of several influential political figures namely David Axelrod, Ami Bera and half of Illinois has endorsed him. He has all the structural tools in place to win and has done an excellent job of raising funds so far. He has been to new Jersey (AAPI meeting), Washington DC, Atlanta, Silicon Valley etc on

Right: IAPAC President (4th from left) Dr. Karun Sreerama with Raja Krishnamoorthi and IAPAC members and supporters.

Photo by: Sanchali Basu.

his campaign tour and is expecting to raise the money needed to win the election soon.

Krishnamoorth, during his term as the Deputy Treasurer of Illinois helped increase the amount of property returned to taxpayers and cut the cost of the unclaimed property program. He helped run Illinois’s technology venture capital fund which created hundreds of good paying jobs. He also served as Special Assistant Attorney General and chairman of the audit committee of the Illinois Housing Development Authority. He was the policy director and a senior advisor for Barack Obama’s 2004 US senate campaign.

On being asked why he was running the race, he quipped that it was because of us. The population demographic of his district is 44% minority of which 13% is Asian American.

The district has been very economically challenged lately, with industries downsizing and mass layovers.

He plans on eliminating the student loan burden by making college education free, implementing combined education and child care programs

and creating jobs in the renewable energy sector. He himself is a living example of the latter since he is the President of the small business, Sivanathan Labs and Episolar, Inc. which develops and sells products in national security and solar panels.

Last, but not the least he wants to strengthen India US relations.

On addressing the issue of the 500 billion dollar debt that the country currently incurs, he stated that as a businessman, his first initiative will be to cut costs and reallocate resources to programs that do work and cut programs that don’t. He wants to keep the economy strong and also help the underdogs. He believes in building relationships of trust and get to know as many people as possible With his very impressive resume and vast professional experience and background, Raja knows how to get things done. With the backing and support of the very successful Indian American population, it will definitely be possible for him to get elected to Congress. Friendswood and downtown Houston were his

next stops in the Houston campaign trip and he promised to come back to Houston before the elections. Regis-

ter at www.rajaforcongress.com to show your support and for financial contributions.

VOICE OF ASIA GREETS ITS MUSLIM READERS A HAPPY EID!

Happy Eid-Al-Adha

SOUTH ASIA/WORLD

VOICE OF ASIA 12

Food fat debate: An ally in Finland, a foe in India

by Trudy KAURANEN

F

HARRIS

/

Anne

at -- is it still the enemy or now a friend? Opinions vary wildly.

Take Finland, where growing numbers of people are embracing full-fat products which they feel have gotten a bad rap -- to the consternation of health experts. Across the globe, India is desperately trying to wean consumers off the much-loved spicy, rich dishes drenched in ghee, the ubiquitous clarified butter, to counter an obesity crisis and worrisome diabetes and cholesterol problems.

- Finland: fat de-demonized Finnish mother-of-two Johanna Amnelin claims she lost 10 kilos (22 pounds) just by switching to whole milk and real butter, in blatant contradiction of most nutritionists’ advice.

She is one of many Finns who are turning their backs on processed food in favour of full-fat products because they believe them to be more authentic and less processed, though experts are dismayed by that erroneous image.

Amnelin’s ideas about fat were upended five years ago after she read that fat-free products were not that healthy after all.

“At first I just switched from skimmed to whole milk and noticed that I began to lose weight,” the 39-year-old told AFP. Growing up as a teenager in southwestern Finland in the 1990s, she and her family were all devout users of fat-free products, in line with Finland’s official nutrition recommendations.

Now Amnelin and her own children drink only whole milk and eat real butter.

“Whenever I drink even semi-skimmed milk, I get a terrible craving for junk food and tidbits such as chocolate or crisps.

The low-fat products just won’t stave off my hunger for very long,” she said.

And Amnelin is not the only one sceptical of the official recommendations.

To doctors’ frustrations, butter and cheese consumption has soared in recent years.

Statistics from Finland’s Natural Resources Institute show that the average Finn ate 17.5 kilos of cheese in 2007, rising to nearly 26 kilos per person a year in

2014. Butter consumption shot up from 2.5 kilos to around 4 kilos in the same period.

a packed Haldirams restaurant, a highly popular fast food restaurant serving traditional street food, in New Delhi.

Some Finns, like Amnelin, believe fat has been unfairly demonised, while others crave tastier and more authentic food which has been processed as little as possible.

But as India faces a growing obesity problem, awareness is growing of the importance of lower-fat foods.

Authorities are worried about the new attitudes.

“This is a disadvantageous trend...

Until 2007 the population’s cholesterol levels were dropping but in 2012 the situation was getting worse again, coinciding with the rise in use of saturated fats,” the head of the Finnish Heart Association and member of the National Nutrition Council, Marjaana Lahti-Koski, said.

The council still recommends lowfat or fat-free dairy products as well as sources of unsaturated fats such as vegetable oils, margarines or nuts.

But even among experts there is a rebellious minority who maintain that animal fat, a source of human nutrition for xx, should be cleared of its recent bad rap.

One of them is Kari Salminen, a retired food science professor who used to head up the research department at Finland’s largest dairy producer.

“I was neck-deep involved in developing low-fat products when there was high market demand for them, but I don’t see any health benefits to them and I don’t use low-fat products myself,” he said, quoting several recent peer-reviewed studies which found no evidence of a connection between saturated fat and cardiovascular diseases.

- India: Ghee goes ‘light’ Tucking into a raj kachori -- a fried dough ball stuffed with curd and chutney -- Seema Muthuswamy says she has made a determined effort in recent years to cut down on fatty foods.

The 48-year-old said she understands the dangers of full fat especially ghee, a form of clarified butter much loved in India, and tries to do the right thing for her family.

“It’s part of our culture to eat rich and spicy foods. But obviously we can’t have this every day,” she said at

“This is the most important crisis facing India today,” said Anoop Misra, chairman of the National Diabetes, Obesity and Cholesterol Foundation.

Yet progress is slow, with studies showing the number of diabetics in India has risen dramatically in recent years to reach at least 50 million, while up to 50 percent of urban Indians suffer obesity, more than double that of 20 years ago.

India, which also has huge problems of undernourishment and malnutrition, especially in rural areas, has a strong tradition of eating on the run at streetside stalls serving greasy deep-fried dishes such as samosas or pakoras.

Curries are also served swimming in ghee, a staple of Indian cooking and also used in traditional medicines and as an offering during religious festivals.

Scientists have just developed a lowfat version of ghee that cuts cholesterol content by 85 percent, in the hope the leaner version will catch on with health conscious consumers.

And India’s food standards authority last month announced it is halving the trans-fat limit permitted in foods sold in the country to five percent per item.

But doctor Misra said more needed to be done to change eating habits especially among the growing millions of middle class as well as lower-income earners.

Cricket: Anti-corruption supremo urges education to combat fixing

D

UBAI, United Arab Emirates | 9/23/2015 - The head of world cricket’s anti-corruption body Wednesday stressed education for young players as the key to stamping out the scourge of fixing and said success should be measured by prevention -- not prosecutions.

Cricket has battled for years against those seeking to rig both the overall outcome of matches and specific incidents within them, known as spotfixing.

India’s Mohammad Azharuddin

The International Cricket Council (ICC) set up its Anti-Corruption Unit in 2000 after three international captains -- Hansie Cronje of South Africa, Pakistan’s Salim Malik and India’s Mohammad Azharuddin -- were banned for life for match-fixing.

Corruption reared its head again in 2010 when three Pakistani players were jailed and given long bans over a spot-fixing scandal in a Test against England.

With big-money Twenty20 leagues springing up around the world, attracting billions of dollars in illegal betting, the challenge remains enormous.

ACU chairman Ronnie Flanagan said the ICC’s goal was not just to catch the crooks but to stop the problem at source.

“The main planks of our activity are prevention, disruption and only then investigation and prosecution -- in that order of priority,” said Flanagan in an interview released by the ICC.

“The mentality is ‘eat this today because you might not get it again tomorrow’. Their ancestors grew up in times of famine so this is the mentality passed on,” he told AFP.

“Education of players, particularly young players, is absolutely crucial to make them aware of the evil intent of people out there who would seek to have them drawn into their clutches and who would seek to corrupt them.”

Meena Devi, a 65-year-old grandmother, is among those who don’t care for change, saying her husband insists she cook chicken or mutton curry laden with ghee every day.

Flanagan, formerly one of Britain’s most senior police officers, said cricket’s approach was admired and imitated by other sports trying to wipe out rigging.

“I come from the land of Lord Krishna, we eat everything that comes from the cow, the milk, the butter, the ghee.

We have always eaten these things and always will.”

FRIDAY, September 25, 2015

“We shouldn’t be judged by the number of prosecutions which have been engaged in,” Flanagan said.

Pakistan’s Salim Malik “We should be judged by the level of prevention we are able to bring to bear, and I think that’s a very positive story.”

The ICC met recently to chart the next stages of its strategy, but Flanagan warned corruption could probably never be wiped out completely.

“Will ill-health ever be eradicated?

Will crime ever be eradicated? And I think the frank answer has to be never totally and absolutely eradicated,” he said.

“But that doesn’t stop us working the very hardest that we can.”

The three Pakistan players banned over the 2010 spot-fixing scandal -Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammed Amir -- have completed their bans and are now free to play international cricket again.

Whether they do or not is a matter for Pakistan, Flanagan said.

“That’s not just a question of ability, that’s a question of their remorse, their realisation of how wrong their behaviour was, and their willingness to use that negative experience of theirs in education programme,” he said.

Lifestyle VOICE OF ASIA

VOICE OF ASIA 13

ONLINE .COM voiceofasiaonline.com

FRIDAY, September 25, 2015

Vol. 28 No. 39 Friday, September 25, 2015 Section 2 Page 13 Email: editor@voiceofasiaonline.com Tel: 713-774-5140

by Lynne al-Nahhas

dragging her feet as she sweats under the heat of the eastern district, this is unimaginable luxury.

M

ECCA, Saudi Arabia They may be equal before God inside Mecca’s Grand Mosque, but the rich and poor pilgrims at the annual hajj clearly reveal their differences just beyond the gates.

“The shops there are expensive.

These open-air markets here are cheaper,” she says.

Um Hani could not have even made it to the hajj had her name not been randomly selected in the Egyptian government’s annual electronic lottery to perform the pilgrimage.

Outside the southern end of the sprawling compound lies a temple to consumerism.

Several high-end hotels, malls and restaurants are found inside the six towers of the gargantuan Abraj alBait complex. It includes the Mecca Royal Clock Tower, the world’s thirdhighest building which rises behind the mosque.

She is satisfied with the free “biscuits, tuna, beans, and juice” the pilgrims are offered at her shabby highrise hostel, typical of the accommodation for poorer hajjis.

Biscuits for some. Buffets for others.

In contrast, beyond the eastern entrance of Islam’s holiest site, water drips from air conditioners, garbage is piled beside the roads, and a stench fills the air.

Muslim pilgrims gather to pray at Namira Mosque in Mount Arafat, southeast of the Saudi holy city of Mecca, on September 23, 2015 (AFP Photo/Mphammed Al-Shaikh)

Elderly vendors in tiny shops shout the prices of their simple goods -- from traditional miswak (a teeth-cleaning twig) to prayer rugs, wooden rosaries and plastic slippers.

Biscuits for some, buffets for others at hajj

“Here it’s cheaper,” says 60-year-old shop owner Abu Mohammed.

“The poorer people come to buy from here because in the other district the shops are more sophisticated and for people who have more money,” he tells AFP.

sit on the roads eating despite the heat of around 40 C (104 F).

- ‘High-class pilgrims’ Back in the air-conditioned Abraj al-Bait complex, elevators swiftly rise and descend, and cutlery gently clinks.

Pleasantly smiling staff and security men make sure pilgrims find their way around polished lobbies.

Saudi Arabia’s social security department has opened the small retail outlets to help elderly local men try to make a living.

“The government pays everything, including the rent of the shop and the electricity. I only buy the goods,” says Hasan, a 74-year-old vendor.

Across from them, African women sit selling seeds to pilgrims willing to feed flocks of pigeons, a common sight around the massive mosque’s courtyards.

“Our guests are generally the high-class and well-to-do pilgrims who are willing to pay more in return for comfort,” says an employee at one of the hotels, requesting anonymity.

Volunteers outside the eastern gates hand out boxes of food to pilgrims who

The hotel charges an average of about $1,000 a night during hajj season, with

Many of the rooms overlook the Grand Mosque’s holy Kaaba, a cubeshaped structure towards which Muslims around the world pray.

Yasser Riad, a guest at one of the hotels who came with his wife from Egypt, says they paid around $5,000 each for the whole trip.

“We try to be close to the Grand Mosque so we can save time for prayer,” says the 45-year-old lawyer.

The couple shop at the mall connected to their hotel “because it’s usually too hot outside”.

- Biscuits and beans -

For Um Hani, a 55-year-old pilgrim

Muslim pilgrims join one of the Hajj rituals on Mount Arafat near Mecca early on September 23, 2015. The rich and poor pilgrims at the annual hajj clearly reveal their differences just beyond the gates. PHOTO | AFP

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No matter which gate they enter from, the pilgrims gather side-by-side for prayer at the crowded mosque and leave together for the nearby tent-city of Mina to begin the hajj which peaks on Wednesday.

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But rich and poor all wear the same ihram clothes for hajj -- a seamless white two-piece garment for men and any loose dress, typically white, for women.

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VOICE OF ASIA 14

At America’s Oktoberfest, German heritage looms large

BOOKS

Dan Mayur’s new book is ‘The Four Ls’

H

oustonian author Dan Mayur says he has been inspired by the autobiography of Mahatma Gandhi. He wanted to share with his readers the benefits of what he learned in the School of Hard-knocks.

That prompted him to write his life story in “The Four Ls – A Memoir: Laughing, Learning, Loving and Living.”

The book traces a fascinating story of Mayur’s life from his humble beginnings in rural India to corporate leadership in America. It is about the people, places and experiences that influenced and shaped his personality and thinking. The book presents lessons for life derived from these experiences through entertaining personal stories.

“In a sense, this is everybody’s story,” Mayur says. “Whoever has experienced the vicissitudes of life, worked hard and stayed firm in the pursuit of excellence can relate to this book. A common man can attain uncommon happiness and enjoy the real beauty of life if he has faith in himself and does the things the book suggests.”

He proposes that material wealth, position and power are short-lived and suggests that continuous learning, genuinely loving and heartily laughing are necessary and sufficient for real happiness in life.

“The Four Ls” is available on Amazon and also from the author.

About the Author Dan Mayur is an engineer, financial planner, freelance writ-

FRIDAY, September 25, 2015

by Gregor WASCHINSKI

C

INCINNATI, United States - Oompah bands push their brass instruments to the limit as a group of locals sporting lederhosen and dirndl dresses raise their beer steins to loud cheers.

It could be a scene from Bavaria but instead it is in the US heartland city of Cincinnati, which celebrated one of the largest Oktoberfest events outside of Munich this weekend.

Cover of Dan Mayur’s new release er, and a world traveler. He is a graduate of the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, and has a PhD in chemical engineering from the William Marsh Rice University in Houston, Texas, USA. He has worked for Shell Oil and Bechtel in senior-management capacity. He is active on the speaker circuit and has published numerous papers for international conferences. The Four Ls is his third book. He has written two other books, Mumbai to Stockholm via New York: Reflections of a Globetrotter and Samajrang, coauthored with Anita Kulkarni. His interests include writing on people, places, and politics, with emphasis on socioeconomic issues. A global citizen in spirit, he resides in Sugar Land, Texas, but splits his time between India and the USA. He can be reached at danmayur@hotmail.com.

The dressing-up and beer drinking is not all for show: this midwestern city has authentic German roots hidden in a neighborhood called Over-the-Rhine, which is slowly recovering from decades of poverty, urban decay and racial tensions.

“Cincinnati has a rich, deep culture related to Germany,” Pat Sheeran from the Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce told AFP. The city’s Oktoberfest breathes “the spirit of Germany from a food standpoint, from a beer standpoint, from the way people dress,” Sheeran said.

Although only a minority of the German immigrants who settled in the United States actually came from Bavaria, Oktoberfest is widely seen as the quintessential Teutonic event.

“I think it goes back to the post-World War II era, when Bavaria was the occupation zone for the US army,” Don Tolzmann, author of several books on German-American history, told AFP. While the image of Germany was scarred by Adolf Hitler and the Nazis, many US soldiers brought back positive memories and sometimes even a Bavarian wife.

“German-Americans supported it, regardless of whether they were Bavarian or not,” Tolzmann said.

“They saw this as a positive way to help revitalize and rebuild their heritage.”

- ‘America’s Oktoberfest’ At Cincinnati’s Oktoberfest, some 650,000 people flock to the main downtown thoroughfare where nine festival tents, beer gardens and numerous food stands transform the area for three days into a little Bavaria.

erkraut and a culinary creation named German nachos.

In 2010, this number was down to about 6,000.

“That’s the American spin on it,” Sheeran said.

Organizers say this is the second-largest Oktoberfest outside of Munich, even though cities in Brazil and China also claim this title.

A race of dachshunds outfitted in a hot dog bun costume, for example.

Over-the-Rhine became “shorthand for urban decline,” said Joe Brinker, who is coproducing a documentary film on efforts to revitalize the neighborhood.

Visitors are expected to guzzle down some 2,000 barrels of beer, eat more than 23,000 pretzels, and devour more than 100,000 sausages.

But certain features could raise a few eyebrows among guests from the Old Continent, such as deep fried sau-

Indian-origin author Sunjeev Sahota among 6 shortlisted for Man Booker Prize

L

ONDON: Indian-origin British author Sunjeev Sahota is among six writers shortlisted for the prestigious Man Booker Prize for Fiction for 2015, it was announced here today.

The judges remarked on the variety of writing styles, cultural heritage and literary backgrounds of the writers on the shortlist, which includes new authors alongside established names.

The six names were announced by chair of judges, Michael Wood, at a press conference.

Two authors come from the UK, two from the US and one each from Jamaica and Nigeria.

‘The Year of the Runaways’

by Derbyshire-born Sahota deals in his book about 13 young men, living in a house in Sheffield in the UK, each in flight from India and in desperate search of a new life.

This is the second year that the prize, first awarded in 1969, has been open to writers of any nationality, writing originally in English and published in the UK.

Sweeping between India and England, and between childhood and the present day, the

Cover of the book ‘The Year of the Runaways’ by Sunjeev Sahota novel is a story of an unlikely family thrown together by circumstances.

34-year-old Sahota, was born

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Previously, the prize was open only to authors from the UK and the Commonwealth, Republic of Ireland and Zimbabwe.

Besides Sahota, the other nominees are Marlon James (Jamaica) for A Brief History of Seven Killings, Tom McCarthy (UK) for Satin Island, Chigozie Obioma (Nigeria) for The Fishermen, Anne Tyler (US) for Spool of Blue Thread, and Hanya Yanagihara (US) for A Little Life.

Many Americans associate the short-legged, long-bodied dogs with Germany, and their sausage-like shape inspired the nickname ‘wieners.’

The dachshunds run down a racetrack in downtown Cincinnati while their owners try to lure them to the finish line.

“My wife Jodi and I have German heritage and we love Oktoberfest”, Cincinnati resident Henry Stacey told AFP, proudly holding the winning wiener Max in his arms.

US census figures show that more than 46 million Americans trace their roots back to German families, making German-Americans the largest ethnic group by national ancestry in the United States.

Immigrants from Germanspeaking states ventured across the Atlantic mostly in the 19th and early 20th century, seeking political freedom and economic opportunities, and many settled in Midwestern cities like Milwaukee, St. Louis and Cincinnati.

“Probably half of the population of the Cincinnati area has German ancestry,” Tolzmann said.

“And in the 19th century, they were concentrating in Over-the-Rhine.”

-

- Cincinnati’s German roots

The area north of downtown Cincinnati overlooking the Ohio River was once home to more than 44,000 people, making it the second-most populated US neighborhood outside of Lower Manhattan.

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At one point billed the most dangerous zip code in the country, Over-the-Rhine was the epicenter of race riots after a white policeman killed an African-American teenager in 2001.

Over the past few years, a slew of new art galleries, restaurants and bars have changed the neighborhood, leading also to a rediscovery of the German heritage.

A local brewer reopened the historic Moerlein brewery, which was forced to close after Prohibition hit in 1919, reintroducing several classic Cincinnati beer brands.

Wiesnkoenig, the official lederhosen supplier of the Munich Oktoberfest, opened their first US store in Overthe-Rhine last year.

“At first we were concerned that we would attract only German-American clubs, but that’s not the case,” Oliver Pfund from Wiesnkoenig USA told AFP. “We are getting a lot of young people who don’t necessarily have a German background, but who want to dress up for Oktoberfest.”

Referring to the fashionconscious 20- and 30-somethings that have started moving back into Over-the-Rhine, Pfund added: “And we have of course the hipsters who understand that you can wear a pair of cool lederhosen with T-shirts and Chucks.”

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VOICE OF ASIA 15

HEALTH, SC & TECH Cinnamon or Dalchini: widely used favoring agent and one of the healthiest spice - Part II

Prof. Meenakshi Bhattacharjee Rice University, Houston TX

by Prof. Meenakshi Bhattacharjee Helps in digestion: Cinnamon is packed with mineral manganese, fiber, essential oils and calcium. The calcium and fiber combine with bile salts and help in their transport outside the body. The essential oils, help regulate the action of gastric juices on food, improves digestion, assimilation and its anti- inflammatory properties helps reduce the inflammation caused due to indigestion, Irritable Bowel Syndrome and ulcers. Moreover the fiber content helps to relieve constipation and diarrhea.

Tip: To relieve a stomach upset have cinnamon tea infused with mint leaves about two to three times a day.

Helps with weight loss: Cinnamon has great digestive properties, it helps with weight loss by regulating the breakdown of carbohydrates and the production and use of insulin by the body. It also helps improve the digestion and assimilation of food within the body, helping one lose weight.

Tip: Drink cinnamon tea with a teaspoon of honey every day, half an hour before breakfast.

Alternatively you could add cinnamon powder to your meal by sprinkling it on your salad, coffee or other foods.

Helps in acne treatment: Cinnamon is a common spice and flavoring agent but the essential oil it contains also has

strong anti-microbial properties. The water activity of honey is very low and this means that it does not contain a lot of moisture which can promote the growth of microorganisms.

Considering that pimples often arise from an infection within the pores of the skin, combining cinnamon with honey is an effective remedy.

Tip: Crush a little cinnamon, and add a bit of honey to make it into a paste. Now apply it on the pimple and leave for a few minutes. You can leave it on overnight also for added benefit. Wash off the paste with warm water and watch that pimple vanish.

Helps relieve cold and cough: Known for its antibiotic and body warming properties, cinnamon is a formidable remedy against a cold and cough.

It not only helps to relieve the congestion commonly experienced with a cold, it is also great for a sore throat when combined with ginger, tulsi and honey.

Tip: Boil a small crushed piece of ginger, cinnamon stick, a few leaves of tulsi , crushed black pepper in two cups of water. Cover the vessel with a lid and let the mixture boil at a low heat. When the solution has simmered for about ten minutes, strain the liquid, add a teaspoon of honey and drink. It should be warm. This solution will not only soothe an irritated

throat, it will also clear up the blocked nasal passage and sinuses.

Good for heart diseases and atherosclerosis : Packed with fiber and calcium, cinnamon is great for the heart.

Since the fiber and calcium and help transport bile salts outside the body, the body produces more bile salts for other bodily functions by breaking down cholesterol.

This directly translates to lower cholesterol levels which protect the heart from blockages and the arteries from atherosclerosis.

Tip: Have a teaspoon of cinnamon powder everyday on an empty stomach. You can add honey or drink it with warm water.

Fights tooth decay: Cinnamon oil is known for its antibacterial properties. It is essentially good for the teeth and gums. Cinnamon not only beats tooth decay but also helps prevent gingivitis and bad breath.

body.

Cautions Even though dalchini is good for diabetes, if it is not taken in properly it can also be toxic. It may work well to help some people with urinary infections and on the other hand it also may shut down the kidney functions in some cases for people who already have kidney problems. If someone is suffering from blood thinner problem, it might be dangerous for them to take cinnamon as a regime.

It is important to remember that these are only home remedies for ailments. Please be sure to visit your doctor if you have a serious ailment or the symptoms persist.

Finally, do what you may with it, but adding just that exact amount of cinnamon is the best thing you can do for your

Microsoft launches ‘collaborative’ new Office software

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AN FRANCISCO - Microsoft launched its new Office suite, touting the key software as a collaborative tool which can work across multiple devices.

The new software, one of the key products from the US tech giant, is being adapted to Microsoft’s strategy shifting away from one-time sales to an Internet cloud-based system that can be accessed from PCs as well as mobile devices.

“The way people work has changed dramatically, and that’s why Microsoft is focused on reinventing productivity and business processes for the mobile-first, cloud-first world,” said Satya Nadella, chief executive of Microsoft.

“These latest innovations take another big step forward in transforming Office from a familiar set of individual productivity apps to a connected set of apps and servic-

es designed for modern working, collaboration and teamwork.”

Office 2016, available in 40 languages, aims to further integrate Microsoft products such as the word processing program Word, the Excel spreadsheet application and the Outlook email and messaging platform.

A key feature of the updated suite is real-time collaboration on documents.

Microsoft says its “co-authoring” feature “lets you see others” edits as they make them.”

By integrating the telephony service Skype, users can also have video or audio conversations during collaboration on documents.

Office 2016 will allow users of Office 365 -- which requires an annual subscription fee to download the new apps as part of their subscription.

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Tip: If you are suffering from bad breath, gargle with cinnamon infused water (cinnamon boiled in water). For toothache and gingivitis, chew on a small piece of cinnamon, to get some relief.

Some other benefits of cinnamon are to get rid of menstrual pains, dalchini paste when applied on forehead, is helpful to reduce headache and migraine, lightens ones skin complexion, dalchini controls hair fall and even gives bright look, cures most urinary tract infections, extract of dalchini are effective for treating HIV-1.

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VOICE OF ASIA 16

Friday, September 25, 2015

Section 2

Page 16

FRIDAY, September 25, 2015

Email: editor@voiceofasiaonline.com

Tel: 713-774-5140

Afghan teen inven- Sexual assault affects one in tor with big dreams four US women students: study on the migrant trail W ASHINGTON -- Nearly one in four female undergraduates at leading US universities has been sexually assaulted, according to a new study.

The results supported those of previous studies, finding a similar preponderance of incidents of assault ranging from unwanted touching to rape.

The new study, released Monday by the Association of American Universities, found 23.1 percent of female undergraduates were subjected to sexual contact by force or while incapacitated.

That percentage rose to 29.5 percent among students identifying as “transgender, genderqueer, non-con-

Behnam Ahmadi looks no different from other Afghan kids betting their futures on new lives in the EU: he wears jeans and a t-shirt, and his backpack carries all his worldly possessions (AFP Photo/Angelos Tzortzinis)

by Katy LEE

S

KALA SIKAMINIAS, Greece | AFP - His trainers are still wet from the Greek beach where he landed, but Behnam Ahmadi is already fizzing with ideas about how he will pay Europe back if he is allowed to stay.

Ahmadi looks no different from other Afghan kids betting their futures on new lives in the European Union: he wears jeans and a t-shirt, and his backpack carries all his worldly possessions.

But as he and his friends trudge up from the shore of Lesbos island -their first European steps in a journey that is far from over -- it’s obvious this gawky teenager is a little out of the ordinary.

The first sign is an almost obsessive love of languages that has given him a startling ability to jabber away in rapid English, French or German.

bedroom -- basic computer skills, painting, and his beloved languages.

“I wanted to share what I know. I didn’t charge them -- I could see the ray of hope in their eyes. That was enough for me.”

Then, he says, local Taliban militants heard what he was doing.

“They told us, ‘You’re infidels because you’re teaching the kids foreign languages,’” says Ahmadi, his voice shaking with bitterness. “They told me they would stone my sister and mother because of me.”

It is one of two times during the teenager’s long conversation with AFP that he appears close to tears.

The other is when he talks about the chubby little brother -- so fond of learning the English words for foods -- whom he misses so much.

- ‘We are the new guys’ -

Then there is the sheer scale of his ambitions. Ahmadi wants to become an inventor -- “like the Japanese who invented robots” -- in order, he says, to show “appreciation for what the Europeans will do for us”.

Ahmadi says he shut down his “classroom” in late 2014, his family terrified by Taliban death threats. It was then that he made up his mind to head to Europe. The rest of the family has stayed behind.

Top of his to-do list: designing a new drone to detect and destroy explosives. A device that could have saved the friend he lost in a car bombing.

Ahmadi left Afghanistan more than 50 days ago, an odyssey that has seen him get beaten by Iranian border guards, walk at one point for 24 hours straight, and work in a supermarket in Turkey for a month to save up “for a rainy day”.

“I know that sometimes when you are small, people are not going to take you seriously,” Ahmadi tells AFP, his own young face deadly serious.

“I need to learn a bit more about programming and designing the device. If I go to Germany and someone helps me, it will take me between six months and one year.”

Ahmadi loves the idea of Germany.

For him, there is no limit to what he will be able to do if his asylum application is accepted there.

“The thing I love about Germans,” he says, “is they respect your talent and they believe in you.”

Death threats for English lessons’ Ahmadi is hoping his love of learning will go down better in Germany than it did in Herat, western Afghanistan.

In his more cheerful moments, Ahmadi speaks with the optimism of someone who knows they are bright and determined enough to have a promising future.

For some, he is exactly the kind of youngster who could turn Europe’s refugee crisis into an opportunity rather than a burden. Germany’s central bank chief said Wednesday the influx of workers could be just what the country needs to maintain its status as the EU’s powerhouse.

But when Ahmadi talks about why he left, how difficult and dangerous this journey has been and how easily his “German dream” could slip through his fingers, he looks exhausted.

“This trip gets you old,” he says suddenly.

The son of a dairy worker, he had polished his English chatting to American soldiers, despite his mother’s worries they would teach him how to smoke.

Ahmadi worries incessantly about whether his asylum claim will be accepted and that, even if it is, he won’t fit in.

Two years ago he began giving informal lessons to younger kids in his

Ahmadi likes Western pop music -- Taylor Swift and Katy Perry -- but most of what he knows about Germa-

forming, questioning, (or) something not listed on the survey.”

In terms of penetration by force or while the victim was incapacitated, considered the most serious types of sexual assault, that “TGQN” category had the worst percentage, at 12.4 percent, followed by undergraduate females at 10.8 percent.

The study was conducted at 27 universities, and some of the highest rates of sexual assault were at Yale, University of Michigan and Harvard.

Several previous studies have found the rate of sexual assault on campus at approximately one in five women, but cross-college comparisons have been difficult due to varying definitions of assault and suspected self-reporting

biases.

The AAU study lends new credibility to those past findings and gives a uniform picture of the assault crisis across many of the nation’s campuses.

The perpetrators of those assaults are rarely charged by police or university authorities -- only in five to 28 percent of cases, according to some figures -- but the White House has been leading a campaign for change, starting with convening a task force on college sexual assault last year.

California passed a “yes means yes” law, also last year, to define unambiguously what level of consent is needed for sexual activity to be consensual at the state’s many colleges.

Muslim teen arrested for clock pulled from Texas school

C

HICAGO - A Muslim teenager who became an overnight sensation after a Texas teacher mistook his homemade clock for a bomb has been withdrawn from his school, local media reported Tuesday.

Ahmed Mohamed, 14, won invitations to the White House, Google and Facebook last week amid a surge of public support for the aspiring inventor who was taken away from school in handcuffs.

“Cool clock, Ahmed. Want to bring it to the White House? We should inspire more kids like you to like science. It’s what makes America great,” Obama tweeted hours after the story broke.

Mohamed’s father told the Dallas Morning News that all three of the family’s children are being withdrawn from the Irving Independent School District.

“These kids aren’t going to be happy there,” Mohamed Elhassan Mohamed told the paper.

The sudden attention, while welcome, has been overwhelming for the family and Ahmed hasn’t been eating or sleeping well, his father said.

“It’s torn the family, and makes us ny comes from history books.

One thing he is aware of is that while Germany is set to take in up to a million refugees and migrants this year, not everyone is welcoming them.

“We are the new guys,” he says.

“We are coming from new cultures, new traditions. And it will absolutely make a lot of problems for the local guys, whether you are in Germany, whether you are in France.

President Barack Obama congratulated Ahmed Mohamed, 14, on his skills in a pointed rebuke to school and police officials -- who defended his arrest -- amid accusations of Islamophobia (AFP Photo/Ben Torres). very confused,” Mohamed said.

Plenty of schools have offered to take Ahmed, but his father thinks a bit of a break is in order.

The family will be flying to New York on Wednesday after receiving invitations to meet with dignitaries at the United Nations.

They are also trying to get visas to take Ahmed on a pilgrimage to Mecca.

“I ask Allah to bless this time,” Mohamed said. “After that, we’ll see.”

The son of Sudanese immigrants who live in a Dallas suburb, the young robotics fan brought in a home-made clock to impress a new teacher at MacArthur High School.

“If they like us, I understand them.

If they do not like us I understand them better, because they have every right to feel threatened by the presence of the foreigners.”

Ahmadi has vowed one day to write a book about this journey.

“It was really sad that she took the wrong impression of it and I got arrested,” he told reporters last week.

Local police insisted that Mohammed’s ethnicity had nothing to do with the decision to arrest him on suspicion of bringing a hoax bomb to school.

No charges were laid after it was determined the teen had no malicious intent.

Along with the invitation to astronomy night at the White House next month, Mohamed also got a scholarship to NASA’s Space Camp invitations to drive NASA’s Opportunity rover, tour MIT and intern at Twitter.

He posted a picture of himself visiting “amazing projects and people” at Google’s science fair on his Twitter account, @IStandWithAhmed, Monday.

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VOICE OF ASIA 17

Bollywood Masala

FRIDAY, September 25, 2015

Friday, September 25, 2015

Section 2

Page 17

Email: editor@voiceofasiaonline.com

Tel: 713-774-5140

Marathi film ‘Court’ to You will never believe ex-girlrepresent India at Oscars friend Deepika Padukone has in mind for Ranbir’s birthday!

M

UMBAI - Debutant Chaitanya Tamhane’s National award-winning Marathi film “Court”, a poignant commentary on India’s judicial system, has been selected to officially represent the country in the Best Foreign Film category at the 88th Oscars next year. “’Court’ has been selected as the official entry to the Oscars.

There were 30 films in the running this year,” Supran Sen, secretary general of the Film Federation of India (FFI), told PTI today.

Srill from the film ‘Court’ by Debutant Chaitanya Tamhane. wanted it so we are very happy.

It is a team of newcomers and first time directors and producers. It is really encouraging and promising.

“It feels good that our first film got unanimous praise nationally and internationally. It is also a good sign that a National award win was considered while selecting a movie for Oscars,” Geetanjali told PTI. “Court” was also named the Best Picture at the National film awards this year, besides winning 17 international honours after being premiered at the Venice International Film Festival last year.

The drama unfolds through an aging folk singer, who is tried for abetment to suicide in a court. The film, inspired by the real life story of folk singer Jiten Marandi, who got embroiled in a criminal case after a bomb blast, critiques the justice delivery system, its chaos and delays, which affect the common man’s freedom.

Poster of ‘Court’ Tamhane’s independent, low-budget but gripping drama recieved widespread praise from the critics, who hailed it as one of the best movies to emerge out of the country in recent times.

Film’s actress Geetanjali Kulkarni called the selection a “huge honour”.

“It is an incredible and unbelievable achievement. We

India has never won an Oscar in the best foreign film category. The last Indian film that made it to the final five list was Ashutosh Gowariker’s “Lagaan”.

Bollywood actors Ranbir Kapoor (L) and Deepika Padukone pose during the trailer launch of the upcoming Hindi Film ‘Tamasha’ directed by Imtiaz Ali in Mumbai on September 22, 2015. AFP PHOTO.

B

ollywood actress Deepika Padukone says she wishes ‘love and happiness’ for former boyfriend Ranbir Kapoor who will turn 33 on September 28.

It will be a working birthday for the actor, who will soon be seen opposite Deepika in Imtiaz Ali’s Tamasha.

“I don’t believe in birthdays.

It makes me feel sad. I know most people feel special on this day. But I am happy when

I am working. It’s great to do work,” Ranbir told reporters here at the launch of the trailer of Tamasha.

Deepika interrupted him asking, “How can we make it (your birthday) special for you?.”

When asked what gift she would give Ranbir on his birthday, Deepika said, “He has everything, lots of good wishes, love and happiness to him.”

While Imtiaz suggested to Deepika that she give Ranbir a cheque, the actor jokingly said, “I would prefer cash.”

On being asked if he would have dinner with his family and girlfriend Katrina Kaif, he said, “We have had lots of nice family dinners. My parents (Rishi Kapoor and Neetu Singh) are in India, they have come back from London.”

Tamasha hits the screens on November 27. (IE).

‘Bombay Velvet Was Not Enticing, It Did Not Have Songs,’ Says Ranbir Kapoor

“Mother India” and “Salaam Bombay” are the other two Indian films to have made it to the top five. (PTI).

Not glorifying crime in ‘Main Aur Charles:’ Raman

M

UMBAI- Filmmaker Prawaal Raman, who is looking forward to the release of “Main Aur Charles”, says he is not glorifying crime in his film, which is inspired by notorious criminal Charles Sobhraj.

“I have written it because I did not want to glorify crime but it’s a case study and a character like Charles of course is inspired from a lot of true incidents but a character like this is very enigmatic,” the “Darna Mana Hai”

helmer said.

“I have seen these kind of glorified criminals... they need to be understood and portrayed in the correct fashion,” he said.

Actor Adil Hussain will be seen playing the role of a cop -- Amod Kanth in “Main Aur Charles”, while Randeep Hooda portrays Sobhraj.

“I play Amod Kanth, who was the master mind behind his conviction, because he came to

know about his (Charles) intention behind breaking out of the jail,” he said.

“Then he takes it almost personally that this man cannot be in the society and run around freely. So that kind of honesty and integrity is what this character has and so that’s why I wanted to play this role,” he added.

Also starring Richa Chadha and Tisca Chopra, the film is slated to hit the screens on October 30. (PTI).

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Bollywood actor Ranbir Kapoor looks on during a promotional event for the forthcoming Hindi film ‘Bombay Velvet’ directed and co-produced by Anurag Kashyap in Mumbai on late April 27, 2015. AFP PHOTO / STR (Photo credit should read STRDEL/AFP/Getty Images) | STRDEL via Getty Images

M

UMBAI -- Actor Ranbir Kapoor feels that his last release Bombay Velvet was not enticing enough to pull the audience.

Bombay Velvet directed by Anurag Kashyap bombed at the box office. But the Rockstar actor is happy and proud of all the films that he has done so far. “I am happy and proud to be working with everyone, be it in Bombay Velvet or Besharam or any other film. The world of Bombay Velvet was not enticing... it did not have songs and all,”

Ranbir told reporters here last evening.

“It seems that I did less promotion for it but that is not the case. Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani had songs and, so it worked,” he said.

Ranbir, who is currently going through a phase of lull in his career, has given memorable performances in films like Rockstar, Barfi, Rajneeti and others. He was billed as the next superstar of Bollywood.

On being the next superstar Ranbir, 32, said, “I have

been hearing this since the last several years. I hope Tamasha (his upcoming film) reinstates that faith. We all want to do good work, do different and exciting films and roles. “We want to push the boundary as actors and also in terms of collection at the box office. As actors we are fearless. We all want to take the legacy of cinema ahead,” he said.

Tamasha, directed by Imtiaz Ali will see him reunite with his former girlfriend Deepika Padukone. It is set to release on November 27. (PTI).

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VOICE OF ASIA 18

FRIDAY, September 25, 2015

VOICE OF ASIA

Friday, September 25, 2015

Section 2

Page 18

Email: editor@voiceofasiaonline.com

Lower doses of heart meds save lives: study

M

IAMI | AFP-People who suffered a heart attack lived longer when their dose of a medication known as a beta-blocker was a quarter of the amount commonly prescribed, researchers said Monday.

The study in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology journal involved more than 6,000 patients whose survival post-heart attack was compared according to the amount of beta-blockers they were prescribed afterward.

Beta-blockers help ward off heart failure by stopping the effect of adrenaline on the heart and preventing arrhythmia, or

irregular heartbeat. They are prescribed to nearly everyone who has had a heart attack.

The study found that patients taking one-fourth the dose tested in large clinical trials had a 20 to 25 percent increase in survival, compared to those on the standard dose.

The findings came as a surprise to lead investigator Jeffrey Goldberger, a professor of medicine in cardiology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.

He began the study after discovering heart attack patients were being treated with much lower doses of beta-blockers

than were used in clinical trials.

“We expected to see patients treated with the lower doses to have worse survival,” said Goldberger.

“We were shocked to discover they survived just as well, and possibly even better.”

The study of 6,682 people showed that of those people who received the full dose, 14.7 percent died within two years.

Among those taking a half dose, 12.9 percent died in two years and for those taking a quarter dose, 9.5 percent died.

Earlier clinical trials did not assess the most appropriate beta-blocker doses for individual patients.

Goldberger said new studies should be launched to figure out how to best treat patients and avoid side effects such as fatigue, sexual dysfunction and depression.

“There is probably not one right dose for every single patient,” Goldberger said.

“It doesn’t make sense that the same dose will work for an 80-year-old frail man who had a small heart attack as a burly 40-year-old man with a huge heart attack.”

Which little piggy is it? expected” at 57, 60 and 79 percent respectively, study co-author Nela Cicmil of the University of Oxford told AFP.

toes was “missing”.

The same test with fingers yielded an accuracy of 99 percent, while the big and small toes were correctly identified in 94 percent of cases.

The misidentification of body parts is known as “agnosia”, and the researchers hope their findings will prove useful in the medical field.

The tests were conducted with a group of 19 healthy volunteers between the ages of 22 and 34, and resulted in some surprising findings.

A study reports under half of people in a trial group were unable to tell which was their second toe (the one next to the big one), researchers reported. Photo by Mike Clarke / AFP/File.

D

o you know where each of your toes are?

This may seem a bizarre question, but a surprising study Monday suggests you may not.

To test it: go home, recline with your eyes closed, ask someone to prod your toes one by one, and guess which one is which.

Don’t be surprised if you falter -- just under half of people in a trial group were unable to tell which was their second toe (the one next to the big one), researchers reported in the journal Perception.

“The average proportion of correct responses for the second, third and fourth toes in healthy humans is lower than

It was quite common, for example, for people to mistake their second toe for the third, and the third for the fourth.

They also observed an “unexpected” illusion: nearly half of the trial participants spontaneously reported feeling as if one of their

The findings were significant, Cicmil said: “because it was not previously known how accurately healthy, young humans could identify their toes by touch alone.”

For one thing, if it is normal to err in identifying your toes, such tests should not be used to diagnose brain damage, they point out.

And the findings may help people who suffer from other, more severe forms of agnosia or mistaken body image.

“A better understanding of the brain mechanisms that underlie simpler mistakes of body representation, such as mistaken toe identity in our study, will help us to understand disturbance of body image in more complex cases like anorexia,” said Cicmil.

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Understanding Medicare’s different parts

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edicare comes in four parts, each of which covers particular services or types of insurance. Virtually everybody who gets Medicare eventually enrolls in the first two parts, which have been around since the program started in 1966.

• Part A covers hospital inpatient care, some types of home health care, hospice care, and care in skilled nursing facilities.

There is no premium for Part A if you or your spouse has earned at least 40 Social Security work credits. (Here are your options if you don’t have those credits.)

• Part B covers doctor services, outpatient hospital care, preventive care, and some types of home health care. You have to pay a monthly premium for Part B. In 2015, it’s $104.90 for individuals with an income of less than $85,000 a year and couples with an income of less than $170,000. Higher-income beneficiaries pay more.

The second two parts were added later.

• Part C, also known as Medicare Advantage, is an alternate way of getting your Part A and Part B benefits. Instead of the government paying your provider directly, Part C plans are run

by Medicare-approved private insurance companies. If you elect to get your benefits through Part C, you must also be enrolled in Part A and Part B. • Part D covers prescription drugs. This is an optional benefit that is only available through private insurance companies. Most Medicare Advantage plans include Part D. For more details on exactly what each part of Medicare covers, see Medicare’s website.

No matter how you choose to receive your Medicare benefits, you will receive certain preventive services for free, such as immunizations and screening tests for breast and colon cancer.

When you can enroll The “initial enrollment period” for Medicare consists of the three months before,

Sudhir Mathuria Contact: Sudhir Mathuria Licensed Professional Health Life 360 6650 Southwest Freeway Houston TX 77074 713-771-2900 www.MyMedicarePlanning.com the month of, and the three months after your 65th birthday. If you want your coverage to start the month you turn 65, sign up during that first three-month period.

If you are already receiving Social Security, Medicare will automatically enroll you. If not, you must enroll on your own either online through Medicare.gov or at a Social Security office.

When to enroll in Part A Nearly everyone who becomes eligible for Medicare should enroll in Part A immediately, because it has no premium. This is true even if you are still working and have health insurance through your job. It will get you into the system and you’ll start receiving “Medicare & You.” When to enroll in Part B This is trickier. If you get it wrong, it can cost you money.

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VOICE OF ASIA 19

FRIDAY, September 25, 2015

Dallas Page

Friday, September 18, 2015 • www.voiceofasiaonline.com • Page 20 • Email: editor@voiceofasiaonline.com • Tel: 713-774-5140

Summer of bloodshed as US murder rates rise Dallas among cities that show rising murder curve.

D

re, who turns 15 this month, has been unable to walk or talk since he was shot in the head, his plight a sad example of the toll taken by worsening US gun violence.

that “enough is enough” after a threeyear-old died of a gunshot wound, just days after the fatal shooting of a 5-year-old.

Deandra Yates, Dre’s mother, felt her world collapse in February 2014 when an unidentified youth -- aged 17 or 18, she says -- fired 22 shots into a birthday party her son was attending.

Other big cities worried by the rising murder curve are New York, Philadelphia, Dallas and New Orleans.

“They told me he would die or he’d be a vegetable but that’s not true,” she told AFP, reaching into her handbag for a photo of her son at a rehab center.

“If you put on music he dances in his wheelchair, he smiles at you, he looks at you.”

Her son’s assailant has never been apprehended and the incident is just one more such case in a country where 88 deaths a day, including suicides, are caused by firearms.

After years in decline, the pace of homicides is on the rise in some 30 big American cities.

As of Friday, homicides in the capital Washington were up 40.5 percent from a year ago at 111, police said.

The situation is also worrying in St Louis and Milwaukee, which saw the number of murders go up 60 percent and 76 percent respectively year-to-date from August 11 to August 31, The New York Times reported recently.

On September 2, Chicago recorded nine dead by gunfire -- eight homicides and the accidental death of an infant -- the most in a single day in a decade.

In Cleveland, police chief Calvin Williams exclaimed last Wednesday

- Armed for $280 -

Experts have trouble explaining exactly what is happening and say different factors are at work that vary from city to city. Drugs, gang wars and the proliferation of arms are cited.

“In my state, Indiana, our gun laws are very lax, so a lot of people have access to them and they are flooding the streets with them,” said Yates.

“Teenagers would tell you they can get a gun for $280 and sell it, circulate it or use it.”

Conservative officials have recently pointed to a so-called Ferguson effect.

Their notion is that the police are more reluctant to do their jobs because of the massive criticism unleashed by the police shooting of an unarmed black teen in Ferguson, Missouri last year.

The result, they contend, is that criminals have become emboldened.

Another city that has become a symbol of urban violence is Baltimore, which was rocked by riots in April over the death of a black man, Freddie Gray, from injuries suffered while being transported in a police van.

Baltimore had more murders in the first eight months of this year than in all of 2014.

After years in decline, the pace of homicides is on the rise in some 30 big American cities (AFP Photo/Scott Olson)

Confronted with the worsening trend, Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake fired the city’s police chief and has since announced she will not run for re-election.

Rawlings-Blake attributes her city’s rising murder rate not to random violence but score-settling by gangs.

“The victims and the alleged perpetrators, the suspects in these cases are known to each other,” she said in a recent interview with MSNBC. “In the violence that we’ve seen in the late spring and through the summer, there was very little random violence,” she said. “What we saw was people affiliated, either loosely or closely, with organized gangs or groups retaliating back and forth.”

- ‘It’s almost like genocide’ Meanwhile, the innocent have paid heavily in a summer of bloodshed that included the massacre of nine black worshippers at a church in Charleston, South Carolina and the shooting deaths of five members of the US military in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

On September 10, Yates traveled to Washington to demand tougher controls on gun sales in the United States.

With her on the steps of the US Capitol was Andy Parker, whose daughter Alison, a 24-year-old journalist, was gunned down last month during a live TV news broadcast in

“Too many members of Congress remain in the pockets of the gun lobby and that has got to change,” a grieving Parker said.

Nardyne Jefferies, who also was present, told AFP she lost her only daughter, a 16-year-old, in a burst of automatic rifle fire after attending the funeral of another youth who had been shot to death.

Margaret Eaddy came to Washington with a sign covered with pictures of her son, killed at 28.

“Gun violence is affecting our community really bad,” she told AFP. “It’s an epidemic, it’s almost like genocide.”

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VOICE OF ASIA 20

ONLINE .COM voiceofasiaonline.com

Friday, September 25, 2015

Business VOICE OF ASIA

Section 2

FRIDAY, September 25, 2015

Page 20 Email: editor@voiceofasiaonline.com

Tel: 713-774-5140

India and US seek to deepen economic ties But first he and Indian foreign minister Sushma Swaraj would “meet privately to talk about some of the complicated issues of the region.”

This would set up a meeting in New York next week on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly between US President Barack Obama and Modi, whose four-day visit begins September 24.

“And then we have a very robust discussion regarding counterterrorism, the Indian Ocean, maritime security, the South China Sea, the South Asian challenges of the moment,” he said, in a nod to the challenge from China.

US Secretary of State John Kerry (2nd R) talks with Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj (2nd L) during a US-India Strategic & Commercial Dialogue plenary session at the US Department of State in Washington, DC, September 22, 2015 (AFP Photo/Jim Watson)

by Dave Clark

W

ASHINGTON The world’s two largest democracies, India and the United States, held talks Tuesday to deepen their strategic and economic ties and perhaps better counterbalance great power ri-

val China.

nese President Xi Jinping.

The senior US and Indian officials meeting in Washington did not single out Beijing by name, but China loomed over the talks as the United States prepares to host India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on the heels of a state visit by Chi-

US Secretary of State John Kerry said Tuesday will see a “very in-depth discussion about our economic and security agenda” with his US colleagues from the commerce and energy departments and their Indian counterparts.

Google launches online IT degrees in India Bangalore, India - Search engine giant Google and online education company Udacity on Monday launched IT courses in India, branching outside the US to tap the country’s millions of software developers scrambling for jobs.

The pair teamed with Indian conglomerate Tata to offer online technical training courses, focusing on teaching software developers to build apps for Android, the Google-backed

mobile operating system.

Costing 9,800 rupees ($148) a month, the degrees will take between six and nine months to complete, with lessons from Google instructors based in the United States. Students will get 50 percent of tuition costs back on graduation.

Google is looking to cash in on skilling up many of India’s 3.6 million developers, the second largest number worldwide,

while at the same time seeking more developers who can programme for Android devices.

“While India has millions of software developers, we still lag behind in creating worldclass apps,” Google India managing director Rajan Anandan told reporters in India’s IT hub of Bangalore.

The companies will also offer 1,000 scholarships and all graduates will be invited to a

Officials from both countries approvingly cited Obama’s declaration earlier this year that the once stand-offish pairing of the United States and India would become “the defining relationship of the 21st century.”

“The key pillars of our strategic partnership are shared values of democracy, freedom of speech and rule of law,” Swaraj said.

“It is not what US can do for India but what US can achieve together with India,” said India’s minister of state for commerce and industry, Nirmala Sitharaman, herself recalling remarks by US Vice President

Joe Biden.

Kerry, Swaraj and Sitharaman were joined by US Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker and Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz as they began a day of high-level talks on tariffs, trade, technology, law and investment.

Aside from China, which is expanding its deep-water naval presence in the broader Asian region and staking a claim to dispute areas of the South China Sea, the other looming issue is that of climate change.

As India’s economic rise drags more of its huge population of 1.3 billion people into the middle class and the industrialized world its historically low emissions levels are set to rise -- just as the world is seeking cuts.

Indian officials made it clear before the talks that they will resist any pressure ahead of this year’s Paris climate summit to act alone, but came to Washington keen to work with US firms on renewable energy technology.

- Hi-tech innovation Modi agreed with Obama during the US leader’s visit to India in January that the “strategic dialogue” be re-baptized “strategic and commercial,” and Swaraj said she hoped the

meeting would be “very productive.”

The two countries have set themselves the goal of increasing their trade in goods and services from around $120 billion per year now to around $500 billion, an ambitious sum similar to existing US and Chinese trade.

India has, however, not followed the typical development path of its Asian competitors, which typically focused on labor intensive but low cost manufacturing, and has instead leap-frogged towards a service economy.

This leaves Delhi and Washington in competition in some areas, as was shown in the “off shoring” of US call center jobs, but also in a situation whereby their firms can work together in high-tech innovation.

Modi will celebrate and seek to build on this part of the relationship next week when he visits Silicon Valley and the San Francisco area of California to meet executives from Facebook, Google, Tesla, Cisco and Qualcomm.

He will also host a huge stadium event in San Jose for up to 20,000 of the three million American residents of Indian origin, seen as a dynamic community with a huge role in the tech sector and healthcare.

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FEATURE

VOICE OF ASIA 21

FRIDAY, September 25, 2015

Muslim Americans welcome first NY Eid school holiday

by Jennie MATTHEW

born Muslim.

N

ew York marks a milestone in the fight for equality Thursday when 1.1 million children in America’s largest school district will take the day off to mark Eid al-Adha.

- Inclusion Then there are daily headlines about extremists in Syria, arrests of American sympathizers and Islamist terrorism that many say feeds paranoia about Muslims in the United States.

It is a small but hard-won victory at a time when American Muslims complain of growing Islamophobia and worsening anti-Muslim rhetoric following the 9/11 attacks in 2001.

Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the country’s largest Muslim civil liberties organization, agreed that the holiday comes at the right time.

For the first time, more than 1,800 public schools in New York will close for the Muslim feast of sacrifice, a day after also closing for Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar.

“Amidst a spike in anti-Muslim sentiment and anti-Muslim rhetoric in our society as we see with Trump, Ben Carson, and the arrest of a Muslim teenager, which sends a negative message, this sends a very positive message of inclusion,” he said.

Mayor Bill de Blasio unveiled the new policy in March, announcing that New York public schools would get two days off for Eid al-Fitr, which falls during the summer, and Eid alAdha, in addition to major Christian and Jewish holidays.

Since then, city hall has added a further day off -- February 8, 2016 -- for Lunar New Year, celebrated by Asian-Americans.

“It is a huge victory to actually see the day come,” says Linda Sarsour, a member of the Coalition for Muslim School Holidays and a New York activist with three children.

“As an imam as well as a parent I am very happy,” agreed Imam Shamsi Ali, director of the Jamaica Muslim Center in Queens.

“I’m sure this kind of policy from the government side will push Muslims further to feel a sense of belonging,” he said.

- ‘Very tense time’ -

But if New York sets a precedent, it is still an uphill struggle.

Muslims arrive to join a special morning prayer to start their Eid al-Fitr celebrations on a field at the Prospect Park in Brooklyn, New York on July 17, 2015 (AFP Photo/Jewel Samad) Muslim New York parents previously faced a quandary: keep their children at home to observe the holiday and skip class, or send them to school and let celebrations fall by the wayside.

There are an estimated seven to 10 million Muslims in America, of whom a million are believed to live in New York -- about 10 percent of the city’s population.

New York follows at least seven other school districts that close for Eid in New Jersey, Massachusetts and Vermont, but activists are still

campaigning in other parts of the country.

Activists hope that embracing Eid in the school calendar will make Islam more mainstream and counter Islamophobia.

“It’s a very tense time,” Sarsour told AFP. “No one can talk about Islam without talking about terrorism.”

In the last two weeks alone, a Sikh American was so viciously beaten in Chicago and called a “terrorist” because of his dark skin, beard and turban that he wound up in the hospital.

In Detroit, a mosque was refused planning permission and in Texas, a 14-year-old Muslim teenager who is the son of Sudanese immigrants was arrested for building a clock that teachers thought was a bomb.

At the weekend, Republican candidate for president, African-American retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, said a Muslim should not be president of the United States.

Billionaire Donald Trump, top of the Republican polls in the 2016 race, was roundly condemned for not challenging a town hall questioner who said Barack Obama was a foreign-

“It was fabulous, oh my gosh!” enthused activist Zainab Chaudry, who was disappointed when Montgomery county in Maryland refused to make Eid a day off and removed all religious references to pre-existing Christian and Jewish holidays.

“It came as a shock to us. It was not what we were asking for,” said Chaudry, co-chair of the group Equality for Eid, a position she shares with a Jewish council member.

Sadyia Khalique, director of operations for CAIR in New York, said there is “a huge problem” with Islamophobia in the United States but that the holiday could help change that.

“We’ve never had accommodation in the way we do now, recognition of our religion and also to celebrate it,” she said.

India’s goat sellers flock to Internet this Eid

N

EW DELHI, India | AFP | Wednesday 9/23/2015 This accompanies pictures

by Sajjad Hussain and video by Agnes Bun After decades of flocking to traditional livestock markets ahead of Eid, breeders in India are now heading online to haggle a good price for their prized animals.

Goats, sheep and cows are slaughtered worldwide to celebrate the major Muslim festival of Eid-ulAdha, which throughout South Asia falls this year on Friday.

India’s markets have long been bursting with breeders and buyers in the run up to Eid, with feverish negotiations for the thousands of specially bred animals.

But farmers said they were increasingly moving to India’s popular online classified portals like Quikr and Olx, for easier and stress-free sales.

“I am getting 10 to 15 calls every day,” Qaiser Khan, from the northern desert state of Rajasthan, told AFP. Khan said he usually travelled to markets throughout Rajasthan in the lead up to Eid, keeping him away from home for weeks. But this year

he has sold half a dozen goats online, including one for 250,000 rupees ($3,800).

“This is also hassle free for customers. We deliver to their doorstep.

Most of my friends are selling their livestock online,” Khan said, adding that his most prized goat has been fed almonds and milk for the last year.

A search of the sites shows a multitude of photos of “premium” and “big black” goats on offer.

Those camped out at a traditional market in New Delhi’s old city shrugged off the online competition, saying customers preferred to see animals in the flesh before choosing one.

“Sales are yet to pick up, but there will be no impact on our business,” Juma Shah, from northern Moradabad city, told AFP. “The goats sold online are costlier than (those at) this market,” he added.

Altamash Qureshi, who is selling four goats for a whopping four million rupees ($60,600) in total, said online shopping lacked the charm of traditional markets.

Eid Al-Adha 2015 India: Confirmed state-wise dates for Bakr Id across India

by Sami Khan | Updated: September 19, 2015

firmed that Bakr Id will be celebrated on 24 September in Tamil Nadu.

id Al-Adha is fast approaching but there have been conflicts with the dates of celebration in different parts of India. In this article we have listed all the states and the confirmed dates of Eid AlAdha 2015.

As for the rest of the states, Eid AlAdha will be celebrated on 25 September, 2015.

E

In most parts of the world, Eid AlAdha is expected to be celebrated on 24 September, 2015. As for in India, majority states will celebrate the Feast of the Sacrifice on Friday, 25 September. But there are some exceptions, as Islamic committees in some states have declared the official Eid Al-Adha date on Thursday, 24 September.

Traditionally, all coastal regions in India such as Kerala, Mangalore and others, will celebrate Eid Al-Adha on Thursday, 24 Sept. But a recent development in the sightings of the moon in Tamil Nadu has confirmed that Eid Al-Adha will be celebrated on 24 September, the state’s Islamic committee decided. Our sources have also con-

Unlike Eid al-Fitr, Eid al-Adha falls on the tenth day of the month. So the festival has not commenced based on sighting of the new moon. In fact, it is calculated 10 days from the day the month of Dhu al-Hijjah begins. Eid al-Adha celebrations last for four days and succeed the Day of Arafah.

Eid al-Adha, also known as “Bakr Id,” “Feast of the Sacrifice” and “Greater Eid,” is celebrated to commemorate the willingness of Prophet Ibrahim to sacrifice his son Ishmael as an act of submission to Allah (God).

Muslims sacrifice sheep, lambs, cows and camels to remember Ibrahim’s devotion.

In other parts of the world, such as the United States, Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom,Eid Al-Adha will be celebrated on 24 September.

A livestock trader stands next to his animals at a market ahead of the upcoming Eid al-Adha festival, in the old quarters of New Delhi, on September 22, 2015 (AFP Photo/Sajjad Hussain).

“The market has got its own charm and nothing can match it. I am getting customers for the goats amid this muck and foul smell,” he

said.

Muslims sacrifice livestock on Eid and share the meat with fam-

ily, friends and the poor to commemorate Ibrahim’s willingness to sacrifice his son Ismail on Allah’s request.

Eid recipe Haleem with Lemon Grass Fresh mint leaves--10-12 + 1 sprigs Fresh coriander leaves--2 tablespoons Pure ghee--1/4 cup Lemon wedges for garnishing Method: Haleem is a meat dish. Pic Courtesy: Barbeque Nation

Ingredients: Mutton curry cut pieces--500 grams Broken Wheat or Dalia--1/2 cup Split Bengal gram -channa dal--1 tablespoon Split black gram skinless (dhuli urad dal)--1 tablespoon Split green gram skinless (dhuli moong dal)--1 tablespoon Yogurt--1 cup Lemon Grass paste--2 table spoon Salt to taste Whole Green chili--5 nos Ginger-garlic paste--1 tablespoon Caraway seeds (Shahi jeera)--1 teaspoon Black peppercorns--8 nos Deep fried onions--1 cup Garam masala powder--1 teaspoon Mutton stock--6 cups

Soak the broken wheat in 2 cups of water for 3-4 hours. Soak all the dals separately in 2 cups of water for 3-4 hours. Drain the broken wheat and the dals.

Mix mutton with yogurt and salt in a bowl and set aside to marinate for ½ hour. Put the broken wheat and the dals in a deep non-stick pan, mix well and cook for a few minutes. Add a little water if required. Add the marinated mutton and mix well. Add green chili paste, lemon grass paste, ginger-

garlic paste, caraway seeds, black peppercorns, ½ cup deep-fried onions, garam masala powder and mutton stock and mix well.

Add coriander leaves. Mix well, cover and cook for 40-45 minutes. Uncover and remove the cooked mutton cubes and mash it to a fine paste with a wooden muddler.

Blend the rest of the mixture directly in the pan with the help of a hand blender, while it is still cooking. Stir well and add ghee and mix.

Add the cooked mutton cubes and remaining fried onions and mix well.

Serve hot garnished with fried onions and lemon wedges and a mint sprig.

(The recipe has been shared by Barbeque Nation).

VOICE OF ASIA Wishes a Happy

HOROSCOPE

VOICE OF ASIA 22

FRIDAY, September 25, 2015

Your Horoscope for the Week of September 25, 2015 READ YOUR COMPLETE HOROSCOPE

by Hardik Vyas, Astrologer Cell : 832-298-9950

ONLINE WWW.VOICEOFASIAONLINE.COM

Libra (R,T) 23 Sept to 22 Oct

Aries (A,L,E) 21 March to 20 April Your future will be in your own hands. Push the envelope, ask questions and seek answers. You’ll find easy conversation and a comfortable setting will help you to unravel some mysteries. Your ability to keep yourself on track will enable you to reach out to new resources for solutions to nagging problems. Your past experiences will help you to see past facades to find answers. Your fuse will be SHORT and there is no getting around it.

Joyous occasion which will have a big influence your schedule. Give yourself more time to plan. You may begin to develop strong feelings for someone who needs your guidance and support. A love relationship may help you to understand yourself better.

You’ll be happy to cooperative in family and work matters. Barriers to romantic bliss will be removed through compromises. You’ll be very sharp and focused in your thinking. You’ll develop some solid ideas and express them concisely.

Scorpio (N,Y) 23 Oct to 21 Nov

Taurus (B,V,U) 21 April to 20 May The fact you’ll know what you need to do to make yourself feel first-class. Put your imagination into everything you carry out. Take this knowledge to the next level and re-invent yourself. Your immediate plans should include a little bit of rest and relaxation. Take this time to rejuvenate yourself and get started on a new regime of healthy eating and exercise. Time may be ticking, but you need to make sure you have the best plan before you commit.

Use your ability to establish more effective alliances with people who can help your career to prosper. You’ll find new ways for your personal ambitions to be successfully completed. You may have to be stern but loving at the same time in order to keep your balance. You can discover how to set limits with others without tearing down your relationship with them. You really enjoy dealing with better methods of detail keeping but recent changes may be a real challenge for you.

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

Gemini (K,CHH,GH) 21 May to 20 June Your ‘duty level’ is likely to go almost ‘unfairly on the rise’ early in the week but you can get THE best/most support for your ideas, needs, goals and ‘financial loans, backing or permission’ easier than you think but; don’t push your luck. Most of the trends in the ‘world’ appear to slip dramatically. They improve, but remain sour for the balance. Lots of talking, solving, serving and sorting are indicated for and some of you MAY have short fuses doing it.

Feel the need for love and compassion. It is strong and you’ll feel romantic or sentimental towards the past. It is great to be open, but use more discrimination with your current audience. The activities you share with your loved ones may center around your intellectual interests. You may feel inclined to discuss your issues of commitment and loyalty in your relationships. You’ll be tempted to spend lavishly on special treats to make your life more comfortable.

Capricorn (KH,J) 22 Dec to 20 Jan

Cancer (D,H) 21 June to 22 July The fact that regardless of your profession, you’ll gain a deeper understanding of how to improve your methods. This knowledge will help you to deal with situations you encounter at work. Your close relationships may need a little boost of imagination. Relax your restless and assertive spirit and ask your partner to join up with you in pursuing your creative impulses. Some personal problems may interfere with your interaction with others. You may not be very objective when it comes to your emotions or unresolved issues from your past.

You know that you can attract what you need by allowing the world to approach you.

You are more inclined to flow along with situations than to forcefully try to make things happen. You will be able to communicate in a more sympathetic manner. Your imagination is very active and you need to have the patience to deal with those who cannot follow your dreams. Friends will help you to lighten your load by listening to you without judgment.

Once you are able to open up without of fear criticism, you’ll be able to unburden your soul.

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

Leo (M) 23 July to 22 August A tendency to want to indulge in some excessive pleasures and have adventuresome experiences. Simple words may stimulate your passion playfully in your love relationship.

Practical concerns will dominate. Your mind is serious and you’ll be able to concentrate on work that requires attention to detail. Take action to achieve more closeness relationships. You’ll find that you need to be more focused and disciplined. You may feel as if there is great pressure on you to perform.

Virgo (P) 23 August to 22 September Your ability to concentrate and focus on your work is good. Family relations will be sensitized to your influences. The healing rays of energy you provide to others benefit everyone. A mate or loved one will be able to gain from your advice. Your support and nurturing will make the difference. Your feelings will reveal concerns you have about your relationship. You’ll feel inspired from past experiences. It’ll be easy for you to settle things down and take charge. You may have to be a little more flexible and open-minded to help with other’s needs.

QR

You may feel some extra tension at home. Use your sense of humor to be much more convincing than having to use heavy-handed tactics. Conflicts between work demands and your personal needs will need to be addressed. Unresolved emotional tangles are likely to arise unless you agree to make more compromises. Your patience and honest efforts will be your best offense. You may resent the limitations that have been set out for you but realize that they will help you to succeed.

Pisces (D,CH,Z) 20 Feb to 20 March Some interesting connections which will unlock new doors. You may want to reword a proposal or in some way adjust your way of communicating in order to come to a mutual agreement. A new or renewed relationship will prove to be romantic, loving and pleasing to you. You will be quite concerned with looking your best and may even behave somewhat flirtatiously. Your communication skills are especially good when discussing your feelings. Clear the air of past problems. It’ll be easier for you to be more sensitive to others inner feelings.

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• 2514 Times Blvd. Rice Village, Ph: 713-523-4753

713-774-5140

• 2130 Lone Star Dr. Sugar Land, Ph: 281-494-2981

Electrical Electrical Services Service

Tutorial

Superior One Electric Commercial & Residential

KHOA TRINH, Electrical Technician Tel: 832-359-5447 Free Estimate TECL# 27099

* Repair/ Remodeling * New Installation * Ceiling Fans * Light Fixtures * Electric Panel * Trouble Shooting * Services Upgrades

Adults Learn English or Spanish

by Internet, Telephone or in Person Learn American English accent & to talk Texan Immigration. Business English. Call David Browning, Private Tutor 832-788-3383 • www.GlobalSpanishTutor.com

VOICE OF ASIA SERVICES

Newsweekly 10,000 copies weekly. 520,000 copies annually.

Reach over 2 million readers. Get your business promoted. Call us for print advertising at the number below. www.voiceofasiaonline.com/e-paper

Medical Magazine 30,000 copies quarterly. 120,000 copies annually.

Reach 500,000 readers. Get your business promoted. www.healthlinemag.com/magazine

E-blast

Send out Specials, Sales and Promote your Events.

Reach 8,000 to 11,300 people. We are here to help get your business branded. Call 713-774-5140.

Web / Digital Advertising Reach out locally and worldwide. Web banners, Video advertisements, classifieds online, product advertorials, news press releases, social media promotions to engage visibility for your business.

Classifieds

Place classifieds of any nature. Employment, Job Wanted, Car for Sale, Garage Sale, Business for Sale. We also offer them online. Call us for details.

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Engage audiences and gain viewership by displaying and talking about your product or service. Your video will be 3 to 5 minutes displayed on our website and on our YouTube channel. Call us for details.

Call us at: 713-774-5140

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If you invest a little over $2 a day (Less than the price of a cup of coffee) in VOICE OF ASIA, you can reach over 2 million potential customers!

VOICE OF ASIA NEWS GROUP

www.voiceofasiaonline.com • www.healthlinemag.com

To advertise, call: Phone: 713-774-5140 ads@voiceofasiagroup.com

CLASSIFIEDS

VOICE OF ASIA 23

FRIDAY, September 25, 2015

Assignment Desk Intern

Broadcast Technology/ Engineering Intern

KTRK-TV, the ABC Owned station located in Houston, TX is accepting applications for a assignment desk interns for the spring 2016 semester. Internships are available to undergrads 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 successful applicant will be responsible for assisting the assignment desk, which includes but is not limited to making beat-checks, answering phones, monitoring police and fire radios, getting information and developing stories. The candidate should be detail-oriented and able to handle many different responsibilities at the same time.

The ideal intern knows how to multi-task and set priorities. Good news judgment and strong communication skills are essential, along with strong writing skills. The candidate should have a good working knowledge with the use of social media for news gathering. Must be willing to work evenings and weekends. All interested applicants must apply online at www.disneycareers.com, Job Req 300423BR. 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 extracurricular activities. Female/ Minority/ Veteran/ Disability/ Sexual Orientation/ Gender Identity. No Telephone Calls Please.

KTRK-TV, the ABC Owned station located in Houston, TX is accepting applications for a paid BROADCAST TECHNOLOGY/ENGINEERING INTERNSHIP for the spring 2016 semester. Internships are available to currently enrolled undergrad 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 observe and participate in the daily work and operations of a major market, television station. As an intern you will gain firsthand experience in a broadcast technical environment. You will gain experience in networking and computer hardware/software troubleshooting and support as well as learning how to maintain broadcast systems such as automation, news editing systems and live news vans. Applicants must be currently enrolled in college and supply written verification of eligibility to receive academic credit for the internship at the start of the internship. Additionally, applicants must be able to work at least one day per week and the hours may vary depending on scheduling and may include some weekend and early morning and evening hours. All interested applicants must apply online at www.disneycareers.com, Job Req #300725BR. 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 extracurricular activities. Female/ Minority/ Veteran/ Disability/ Sexual Orientation/ Gender Identity. No Telephone Calls Please.

Community Affairs Intern

Digital Content Intern

KTRK-TV, the ABC Owned station located in Houston, TX is accepting applications for a paid COMMUNITY AFFAIRS INTERNSHIP for the spring 2016 semester. Internships are available to currently enrolled undergraduate 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 observe and participate in the daily work and operations of a major market, television station. As an intern you will attend help in the production of community affairs shows, including scheduling of guests, help gathering and editing video, assist with community drives, forums and outreach. Each area requires significant planning, scheduling and execution. Applicants must be currently enrolled in college and supply written verification of eligibility to receive academic credit for the internship at the start of the internship. Additionally, applicants must be able to work at least one day per week and the hours may vary depending on scheduling and may include some weekend and early morning and evening hours. All interested applicants must apply online at www.disneycareers. com, Job Req #300724BR. 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 extracurricular activities. Female/ Minority/ Veteran/ Disability/ Sexual Orientation/ Gender Identity. No Telephone Calls Please.

KTRK-TV, the ABC Owned station located in Houston, TX is accepting applications for a paid DIGITAL CONTENT INTERNSHIP for the spring 2016 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 observe and participate in the daily work and operations of a major market, television station. As an intern, you will turn content generated from multiple sources into comprehensive stories formatted for digital display in a fast-paced environment. The intern will interact with newsroom personnel to get text, video and images onto multiple digital platforms.

Intern will make have hand in keeping station’s various social media platforms active. Applicants must be currently enrolled in college and supply written verification of eligibility to receive academic credit for the internship at the start of the internship. Additionally, applicants must be able to work at least one day per week and the hours may vary depending on scheduling and will include some weekend and early morning and evening hours. All interested applicants must apply online at www.disneycareers.com, Job Req 300726BR. 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 extracurricular activities. Female/ Minority/ Veteran/ Disability /Sexual Orientation/ Gender Identity. No Telephone Calls Please.

News Edit Internship

News Producer Intern

KTRK-TV, the ABC Owned station located in Houston, TX is accepting applications for a paid NEWS EDITING INTERNSHIP for the spring 2016 semester. Internships are available to currently-enrolled college students in their junior or senior year who are 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 by using a “real world” hands-on environment. News Editing Interns will have an opportunity to observe, participate, and contribute in the daily work and operations of a major market, television station. As a News/Technical Intern you will primarily assist in editing for air-- being creative and precise, while also learning the ins and outs of working behind the scenes for live newscasts. Interns will work under the direct supervision of the Digital Media Coordinator and other staff members. Additionally, applicants must be able to work at least two days per week between the hours of 2PM and 10PM. Applicants must be currently enrolled in college and supply written verification of eligibility to receive academic credit for the internship at the start of the internship. All interested applicants must apply online at www.disneycareers.com, Job Req 300722BR. 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 extracurricular activities. Female/ Minority/ Veteran/ Disability/ Sexual Orientation/ Gender Identity. No Telephone Calls Please.

KTRK-TV, the ABC Owned station located in Houston, TX is accepting applications for a paid NEWS PRODUCER INTERNSHIP for the spring 2016 semester. Internships are available to undergrads 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 observe and participate in the daily work and operations of a major market, television station. As an intern you will gain valuable experience in all areas related to producing a television newscast – including the important relationship between our broadcast and digital platforms. Interested candidates should have a strong desire to pursue a career as a producer and willing to receive continual feedback. Will have an opportunity to attend production meetings, research news topics, and learn how to prioritize assignments. Applicants must be currently enrolled in college and supply written verification of eligibility to receive academic credit for the internship at the start of the internship. Additionally, applicants must be able to work at least one day per week and the hours may vary depending on scheduling and will include some weekend and early morning and evening hours. All interested applicants must apply online at www.disneycareers.com, Job Req 300721BR. 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 extracurricular activitie. Female/ Minority/ Veteran/ Disability/ Sexual Orientation/ Gender Identity. No Telephone Calls Please.

PROMOTIONS PRODUCER - TEMP

PROMOTIONS PRODUCER – Part Time

KTRK-TV the ABC owned station located in Houston, TX is seeking a Temporary Multi-Platform Promotions Producer/Writer/Editor for the Creative Services department. We need a creative genius with a passion for news who conceptualize, write and edit high-end News and Programming Promos for both Broadcast & Digital. The ideal candidate will have at least 3 years of experience writing television news promotions with an in-depth knowledge of Final Cut Pro and Adobe Creative Suite. Basic After Effects skills necessary. Extensive experience working alongside news staff to turn daily news stories into compelling promos is necessary as is the ability to work in fast-pasted, creative environment. To be considered all interested applicants must apply on-line at www. disneycareers.com by uploading a resume file, cover letter and list of references. Please Reference Job ID: 301149BR. Female/ Minority/ Veteran/ Disability/ Sexual Orientation/ Gender Identity. No Telephone Calls Please.

KTRK-TV the ABC owned station located in Houston, TX is seeking a P/T MultiPlatform Promotions Producer/Writer/Editor for the Creative Services department. We need a creative genius with a passion for news who conceptualize, write and edit high-end News and Programming Promos for both Broadcast & Digital. The ideal candidate will have at least 3 years of experience writing television news promotions with an in-depth knowledge of Final Cut Pro and Adobe Creative Suite. Basic After Effects skills necessary. Extensive experience working alongside news staff to turn daily news stories into compelling promos is necessary as is the ability to work in fast-pasted, creative environment. To be considered all interested applicants must apply on-line at www.disneycareers.com by uploading a resume file, cover letter and list of references.

Please Reference Job ID: 301150BRBR. Female/ Minority/ Veteran/ Disability/ Sexual Orientation/ Gender Identity. No Telephone Calls Please.

RESTAURANT FOR SALE

Seeking Groom

RESTAURANT FOR SALE

Muslim parents invites correspondence, boy from USA: Daughter, age 24, Fair, ht 5’3” Strong family values.

CALL 713-504-4669

Working in Dubai. Graduate: Osmania University, HYD.

OPEN AND RUNNING

Education: St .Georges girls grammar school

SINCE 1995.

aisha.hussain790@gmail.com

Restaurants For Sale • Indian Restaurant in Katy:

Established Indian Restaurant since 2005 in Katy with great clientele and good business opportunity. Owner retiring after many years in the restaurant business. Has liquor license too. Catering and partyorders throughout the year.

• Halal Gyro/Sandwich Shop in Mall Food Court

Running business for owner operator. Easy operation, No cooking and Mall hours.

Contact: Ron Aga 832-423-6973

Business for Sale

Diploma: business management

5

DAILY

servings of vegetables and fruits help keep your body’s immune system in balance and at peak performance.

It’s like putting the best fuel in your body to help it perform at its peak!

Partime business for sale Very lucrative business since 1987 Can convert to full time Can work from home Email: shahb1953@gmail.com Call: 281-236-0258 The value of money is taught early!

Earn Smart! Spend Wisely!

A community message from Voice of Asia Group

VOICE OF ASIA

Subscription Renewal Form

Fax this form to: 713-774-5143 Scan and E-mail us: ads@voiceofasiagroup.com

Name: __________________________________________ Address: ________________________________________ City: ______________ State:___________ Zip:___________ Ph: ______________ E-mail:_________________________ Credit Card No: ____________________________________ Name on the Card: _________________________________ CVV #: __________ Exp Date:___________ Amount: $______ Signature: __________________________ One Year $30 Two Years $55 Five Years $100 We will mail 52 issues to your home or office!

8303 SW Freeway, Suite 350, Houston, TX 77074

Best Value!!!

VOICE OF ASIA 24

FRIDAY, September 25, 2015

A time to Celebrate and say Thank you!

VOICE OF ASIA the number one South Asian newsweekly in Texas is

releasing a Commemorative Issue

The Gandhi Legacy on October 2, 2015

celebrating the 146th Birth Anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, the Apostle of Peace and the installation of the Gandhi monument in Mahatma Gandhi District, Houston, Texas

Voice of Asia will dedicate this issue to recognize: • City of Houston, The Southwest Management District.

• Business owners and Organizations.

• Individuals and Donors who have contributed to the planning, development, and installation of the monument.

• Well wishers and Government Officials.

Be a part of History Join our special issue October 2, 2015 Send your Advertisements and Articles Get Recognized!

Please contact us today 713-774-5140 or email us at: ads@voiceofasiagroup.com

www.voiceofasiaonline.com Deadline for this special issue: September 25, 2015