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VOICE OF ASIA Over 26 years of dedicated service to the community
FRIDAY, October 3, 2014
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hen is the right time to take Social Security Retirement benefits? Read on Page 18 Or Call: 713-771-2900.
Vol. 27 No. 40 Friday, October 3, 2014 • Published Weekly from Houston • 713-774-5140 24Pages ( 2 sections) 50 cents E-mail: editor@voiceofasiaonline.com
Obama makes pitch for affections of Modi government by Stephen COLLINSON WASHINGTON, September 30, 2014 (AFP) - US President Barack Obama on Tuesday hailed the “energy” and “determination” of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, flexing the symbolism of his office to court the affections of the new Indian government. Modi meanwhile told Obama that he hoped for an agreement “soon” to free up a major global trade facilitation agreement, blocked by the government in New Delhi over concerns its food subsidies to the poor could face legal challenges. The United States sees its relationship with India as crucial to Obama’s strategy of rebalancing US diplomatic weight towards Asia and believes that the world’s oldest democracy, and its largest, are natural partners.
Modi denies wrongdoing and was never charged over the violence that killed more than 1,000 people. Both sides used his debut visit as Indian leader to stress togetherness and common goals: Obama and Modi wrote a joint article for the Continued on Page 11 Right: U.S. President Barack Obama smiles as he hosts a meeting with India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington September 30, 2014. REUTERS/Larry Downing (UNITED STATES.
IACCGH honors pioneering efforts in Energy, Education, Entrepreneurship, Health Care and Service at its 15th Annual Gala
Yet several spats have disrupted ties in recent months and there have been doubts expressed over whether Modi shares Washington’s hopes for the relationship.
by Manu Shah HOUSTON: The Indo American Chamber of Commerce of Greater Houston’s (IACCGH) biggest event of the year, the Fifteenth Anniversary Gala, took place at the Hilton Americas on September 27th. The evening saw local business leaders and high ranking professionals networking at the Reception prior to the main event. Several elected officials were also present at the 600 strong gathering.
- Color guardModi and Obama first met at a private dinner for their delegations in the ornate Blue Room of the White House late on Monday, after the Indian leader arrived in Washington fresh from a triumphant welcome from the Indian diaspora in New York.
At the Reception, Dr. John Mendelsohn, Past President of the MD Anderson Cancer Center presented plaques of appreciation to the major sponsors of the evening. Sheriff Adrian Garcia took the opportunity to greet the gathering with a traditional Namaste and appreciated the work carried out by the Chamber.
White House chefs served up crisp halibut in ginger carrot sauce, though Modi had given advance notice he would not eat as he is in the middle of an annual religious fast. On Tuesday, Modi rode in a black sports utility vehicle, with US and Indian flags flying from the fenders, up to the West Wing of the White House through a US military color guard. Modi’s warm welcome struck a sharp contrast to his previous treatment by Washington, which refused him a visa in 2005 on human rights grounds over anti-Muslim riots in his home state of Gujarat.
The Menil Collection To Present Experiments With Truth: Gandhi And Images Of Nonviolence
Senator John Cornyn (center) GAIL (India) Ltd and its US partners Carrizo Oil& Gas, Inc., Dominion Cove Point LNG and Cheniere Energy, Inc. were also honored for their pioneering efforts in securing India’s energy needs. Photo Credit: Bijay Dixit, Unique Images Studio.
Setting the tone for the evening was the energetic dhol player who led the guests into the ballroom where Chloe Choudhury vowed the audience with her rendition of the Star Spangled Banner as well as the Indian national anthem. Raashi Vats of Fox TV was the EMCEE. Continued on Page 6
Exhibition Traces The Vision And Reality Of Peaceful Social Change As Seen In Art Throughout The Centuries And Around The World
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Menil Director Josef Helfenstein gives a preview on Monday, Sep. 29, 2014 of the exhibition: EXPERIMENTS WITH TRUTH: Gandhi and Images of Nonviolence scheduled to open on Thursday, October 2, 2014.
OUSTON, TX, September 26, 2014 — Bringing together paintings and sculptures from half a dozen religious traditions, works of contemporary art, a wealth of documentary images and texts, and as the focal point the ideas and example of Mohandas K. Gandhi, the Menil Collection will present EXPERIMENTS WITH TRUTH: Gandhi and Images of Nonviolence. Organized by Menil Director Josef Helfenstein in consultation with the noted Indian artist Amar Kanwar, the exhibition is the first to trace the resonance of the ethic of nonviolence (satyagraha, literally “truth-force,” or the outward, transformative power of inner peace) in the visual arts throughout the centuries and around the world. Opening October 2, 2014 (the 145th anniversary of Gandhi’s birth), EXPERIMENTS WITH TRUTH: Gandhi and Images of Nonviolence will remain on view through
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February 1, 2015. Echoing the title of Gandhi’s autobiography, The Story of My Experiments with Truth (1927), the exhibition presents more than 130 artworks, artifacts, and documents that shed light on the theme of nonviolent change: from a stone sculpture of a meditating Jina (7th century, northeastern India) and a folio of the Qu’ran (mid-7th century, possibly Medina) through an abstract woodcut by Zarina (2013) and a mixed-media work by Theaster Gates (2014). Also on view will be images of figures from the Abolitionists to Aung San Suu Kyi and the Dalai Lama, dramatic photographs of events in the Civil Rights movement and documents such as a letter by Albert Einstein on resistance to the Holocaust. Origins of the Exhibition Introducing all of the works and set-
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ting the tone for EXPERIMENTS WITH TRUTH will be a memorial image that evokes the radical simplicity Gandhi chose in his life, and his conviction that historic transformation ought to begin “with the individual, at home.” This carefully composed still life, made circa 1948 by an anonymous photographer, shows the only things that Gandhi owned at the time of his death: two pairs of sandals, two dinner bowls, his eyeglasses, a prayer book, and a handful of other small items. “I must have seen this famous photograph for the first time as a teenager, when I read Mohandas K. Gandhi’s autobiography,” said Josef Helfenstein. “This captivating image not only felt like a portrait in absentia of a charismatic person but an allegory of an extraordinary way of life. Continued on Page 8
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