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CONTENTS

YES 43%

Last week’s result

NO 57%

This week’s question

INDIA POST [email protected]

Bollywood ---------------------- 24-25

Classifieds ------------------------- 48

Community Post ----- 12-23,40-42

Date Book -------------------------- 46

Edit Page --------------------------- 49

HealthScience Post --------- 36-38

Horoscope ------------------------- 47

Immigration Post ------------- 43-45

Life Style ----------------------- 26-28

Philosophy ------------------------- 49

Publisherís Diary ------------------ 4

Real Estate ------------------------ 39

TechBiz Post ------------------- 34-35

Travel & Hospitality Post ---- 29-31

Development new mantrafor politics in India?

Details on page 7

Details on page 9

Details on page 9

Asia Societyhonor forMukesh Ambani

Details on page 11

Details on page 20

Details on page 9

Details on page 34Twins in accident- one dies,other critical

Details on page 8

Details on page 8

Details on page 7

BIHAR SIGNALS NEWFUTURE FOR INDIA

Massive mandate for development

COMMON MANíS MESSIAH: Biharís Chief Minister Nitish Kumar being congratulated on his grand

victory at his residence in Patna on November 25

PATNA: Riding a massive wave on the theme of devel-opment, Nitish Kumar has led the JD(U)-BJP alliance to alandslide four-fifth majority in the Bihar Assembly electionsrouting Lalu Prasad's RJD-LJP combine and a weak Con-gress to return to power for a second consecutive term.

The scale of victory could be gauged from the fact thatfrom 143 seats in the 2005 elections, Kumar's campaign onthe basis of his government's performance helped the rul-ing alliance notch a spectacular tally of 206 seats in the243-member House.

While Nitish Kumar's JD (U) got 115 seats, its ally BJPsecured 91. They had got 88 and 55 respectively in the lastelections.

The 59-year-old Chief Minister, who is said to havebrought change in governance in a state that had wit-nessed Lalu Prasad's OBC empowerment politics, adopteda strategy of attracting Muslim votes even at the expenseof earning BJP's wrath at times by keeping Narendra Modiout of campaign.

Details on page 6

US court summons Shuja Pasha, Hafiz SaeedWASHINGTON: A US court

has issued summons to seniorISI officials including its power-ful chief Ahmed Shuja Pasha,along with Mumbai attack mas-terminds and LeT leaders HafizSaeed and Zakiur RahmanLakhvi in response to a lawsuitfiled by relatives of two Ameri-can victims accusing them ofproviding material support forthe 26/11 attacks.

The 26-page lawsuit was filed before a New York Court onNovember 19 against the Inter-Services Intelligence andLashkar-e-Taiba by the relatives Rabbi Gavriel Noah Holtzberg

and his wife Rivka, who were bothgunned down by militants at theChhabad House in Mumbai.

Their son Moshe was saved byhis Indian nanny in the tragedy.

The 26-page lawsuit accusingISI of aiding and abetting LeT inthe slaughter of 166 people wasfiled before a New York Court onNovember 19, following which theBrooklyn court issued summonsto Major Samir Ali, Azam Cheema,

Inter-Services Intelligence of the Islamic Republic of Paki-stan, Major Iqbal, Lakhvi, Lashkar-e-Taiba, Sajid Majid,Pasha, Saeed and Nadeem Taj.

Ahmed Shuja Pasha Hafiz Saeed

Details on page 8

Twin sisters Archana and

Arpana Gambiraopet

Details on page 36

GOPIO Summitcalls for actionplan on health

24-hour UAEhelpline fordistressed Indians

US sanctionson LeT men,charity group

Obama greetsSikhs on Nanakanniversary

US solidaritywith India on26/11 attacks

NRI namedBritish Consulin China

Scribe thrownout of Pro-Eelam meet

Trivializing Sivaby Newsweekupsets Indians

India includedin Santa Fe'stime capsule

Dr Prakash M Swamy

Will Tata’s electric car be viable?

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Bollywood:Underwater starSexy Sameera Reddy, a champion swim-mer, has got a new passion that is keep-ing her under water for long time.

1Cover Story:Massive mandate

10Community:Reviving Bhavai

36Health:Health SummitGOPIO honored five healthcare profes-sionals and organizations during its in-augural Health Summit held Nov 12-14.

26Life Style:

The Resistance Series, an action packedsci-fi thriller stars, Los Angeles basedSunny Jain.

34Techbiz:

Asia Society New York honoredMukesh D. Ambani, at its AnnualAwards Dinner Nov 16.

29Travel:Chokhi DhaniThe name of Chokhi Dhani Village issynonymous with Rajasthani culturethroughout the country.

Mukesh honored

A modest attempt was made in Chicagoto revive centuries old Gujarat-Rajasthanfolk dance theatre presentation - Bhavai.

Nitish Kumar has led the JD (U) - BJP alli-ance to a landslide four-fifth majority in theBihar Assembly elections.

Thrilling ‘Resistance’

From time to time ordinary folks caught up in the throes of systemic exigen-cies have given us catch phrases that are reflective of the harsh realities ofour times. Remember the cult phrase 'Don't tase me bro' uttered by a

Florida student in 2007 as he desperately tried to save himself from the copsabout to use the taser gun on him? Well, the current catch phrase that has caughtthe country's imagination is: 'Don't touch my junk'. This comes from a man whorepresents the scores of hassled Americans unable to reconcile to the new secu-rity measures at American airports that require passengers to go through fullbody scanners or opt for an intensive full body pat down.

These new security measures are the most hotly debated issue in the countrytoday with as many people talking in favor of them as necessary as there arethose who argue that they are way too invasive of personal privacy.

There's merit to both arguments because while heightened security measuresmake some feel safer, they make others uncomfortable. Personally, I find themanual pat downs not only uncomfortable, but extremely embarrassing. Whowants to be 'touched' by a stranger, which if not for security reasons wouldotherwise be considered a sexual offense? But then imagine the plight of thepersonnel at these security checks - they have to touch hundreds of people everyday as part of their job!

Also imagine the desperation of the authorities to counter terrorist moves atevery step to keep innocent people safe. If you note, security measures are alwaysdevised in reaction to the moves and modus operandi of criminals and terror-ists. So it's not that someone in the TSA is being paid just to think up ingenuousways of inconveniencing passengers.

I still remember the time not too much in the past when we were cribbingabout the inconvenience and embarrassment of our suitcases being pried openand searched at airport security. Let's just move on with life - these are butexistential hazards of our day.

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Cover/Top Stories

Bihar signals new future for IndiaNitish gets massive mandate for development

PATNA: Riding a massivewave on the theme of develop-ment, Nitish Kumar has led theJD(U)-BJP alliance to a landslidefour-fifth majority in the BiharAssembly elections routing LaluPrasad's RJD-LJP combine and aweak Congress to return to powerfor a second consecutive term.

The scale of victory could begauged from the fact that from 143seats in the 2005 elections,Kumar's campaign on the basis ofhis government's performancehelped the ruling alliance notch aspectacular tally of 206 seats inthe 243-member House.

While Nitish Kumar's JD (U)

got 115 seats, its ally BJP secured91. They had got 88 and 55 re-spectively in the last elections.

The 59-year-old Chief Minister,who is said to have broughtchange in governance in a state

that had witnessed Lalu Prasad'sOBC empowerment politics,adopted a strategy of attractingMuslim votes even at the expenseof earning BJP's wrath at times bykeeping Narendra Modi out ofcampaign.

He also reached out to the dis-advantaged sections among theOBC and Scheduled Caste byworking on a package forMahadalits and extremely back-ward castes.

This is the biggest victory inan assembly election anywhere inthe country in the recent timesand particularly in Bihar in 26years when Congress got over 200

seats in 1984 riding a sympathywave after Indira Gandhi's assas-sination.

The House then had a strengthof 324 in the undivided Bihar.

The Opposition was in tatters

‘I don't aspire to be PM’

with RJD, which ruled Bihar con-tinuously for over 15 years till2005, reduced to just 22 seats fromits 2005 tally of 54. Its alliance part-ner LJP led by Ram Vilas Paswanwas down at 3 from 10 it had.

Congress, which gambled bygoing it alone with Rahul Gandhias its spearhead in the campaign,failed to even retain its seats. Itgot only four seats.

RJD's humiliation was completewhen Prasad's wife Rabri Devi,who was Leader of Opposition inthe outgoing House, was de-feated in both the constituenciesshe contested.

Likewise, its ally LJP chiefPaswan's two brothers -- PasupatiKumar Paras and RamachandraPaswan -- were made to bite the dust.

The CPI, which had three, wasdown to one, while independentsaccounted for six. In the last elec-tions, independents had won in10 seats. SP, BSP and NCP, whichhad two, four and one respec-tively in the last elections, drew ablank.

Commenting on the poll out-come, 59-year-old Kumar said, "Wehave no magic wand, but people'strust. I will need to work harder thanI did in the last five years and I willnot hesitate to do it.

"The outcome of the electionsalso proves beyond doubt that itwas a victory for developmentand for the people of the state.

"The poll verdict marks a 'nayikahani' (new story) for Bihar, it willhave its effect outside the statealso," Kumar, who did not con-test the election, said. He is anMLC and has one year to com-plete his term.

Without naming RJD chief LaluPrasad who had criticized the exitpolls predicting victory for the

NDA, Kumar said "Media shouldnot be criticized for its projectionthat NDA will pull off a landslidevictory in Bihar.

"People should refrain fromunnecessary criticism of the me-dia .... if you live up to the people'saspirations and expectations youwill definitely be rewarded,"Kumar said.

"Now I feel that the peoplehave thrust on my shoulder moreresponsibilities and I have to con-tinue to make efforts with full dedi-cation."

Among the 25 ministers whocontested the polls, 20 won andfive lost. Among the 20 winners,13 belonged to the JD (U) and theremaining to BJP. There are a totalof 34 ministers.

One died while the others areMLCs.

Speaker Uday NarainChoudhury of JD (U) won fromthe Imamganj (SC) seat.

Shibhu Shoren's JMM openedits account in the Bihar Assemblywith a victory in Chakai constitu-ency. -PTI

PATNA: Bihar Chief Minis-ter Nitish Kumar has said hedoes not think of becomingPrime Minister one day andmaintained that the landslidevictory in assembly electionsshows the mandate is that heshould stay in Bihar.

"I am an ordinary person. Ibelong to a poor state. A veryordinary political activist I am.So, I don't aspire for those bigthings. I only aspire for onething - that Bihar should grow,should develop. That's all,"Nitish told a news channel whenasked if he thought he should

be Prime Minister in future.In reply to a question on his

achievements making him aworthy claimant from Bihar CMto the post of PM, he said "theremay be many people from Biharwho are capable of becomingPrime Minister but so far as Iam concerned, I don't think onthose terms. And I am seriousabout it (my answer)."

He said his victory meant thepeople wanted him to serveBihar.

"I confine myself to limits ofBihar. That is also the mandate ofthe people of Bihar," he said.-PTI

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar greets supporters a day after the

announcement of Bihar Assembly election results in Patna

Rahul magic failed to workNEW DELHI: Congress took

the gamble of going it alone butRahul Gandhi's magic, whichworked in Uttar Pradesh, failedthis time in Bihar with the partyrecording its worst-ever perfor-mance in assembly elections inthe state in last 10 years.

The party's tally was reducedfrom 9 in the last elections tofour this time and to add to itshumiliation, both the PCC chiefMehboob Ali Qaiser and theCLP leader Prakash Ram lost.

Rahul Gandhi had under-taken a whirlwind tour of Biharin this election and visited the

state seven times addressing asmany as 19 election meetings andrallies.

The places he went includedSamastipur, Saharsa, Katihar,Supaul, Araria, Sitamarhi,Muzaffarpur, Begusarai,Bhagalpur, Bachcharwa, Munger,Kahalgaon, Barbigha, Hisua,Shekhpura, Buxar, Bhabua,Sasaram and Obra.

Similarly Congress PresidentSonia Gandhi addressed rallies inKishanganj, Motihari, Begusarai,Bhagalpur, Buxar and Bhabua dur-ing her three visits to the state.

With Rahul Gandhi evincing

keen interest in Bihar poll, thehopes among the Congressmenwere high.

Except the former PCC chiefSadanand Singh, the others whowon this time are not well-knownfaces. Former PCC chiefs RamjatanSinha and Avdhesh Singh havealso lost.

While Congress insiders feelthe failure in this election was dueto Nitish Kumar's developmentagenda as well party's wrong se-lection of candidates, party Presi-dent Sonia Gandhi said the partyhas to start from a scratch to re-build itself in the state.

"As far as our party is con-cerned, we did not have muchhope. We took a deliberate deci-sion not to work in alliance withother parties. Results obviouslyindicate that our party has to startfrom the scratch to rebuild itselfand that is what we plan to do,"Gandhi said reacting to results.

Party insiders, however, saidthat the message of RahulGandhi could not be carried for-ward in the election as the sameelements, which had broughtdisrepute to Lalu Prasad's RJDgovernment in past were givenprominence in Congress "that

too when we wanted to send amessage that we have nothingto do with Lalu".

"Lalu's brother in law SadhuYadav not only got party ticketbut played a role in ticket dis-tribution in many constituen-cies. Strongman Pappu Yadav'swife Ranjeet Ranjan also joinedCongress and so did AnandMohan Singh's wife LovelyAnand. How could be send amessage that we would do some-thing different from what Laludid," a party leader said.

All of them stand defeated.-PTI

India PostDecember 3, 2010 7

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Top Stories

Nitish, the Chanakya whowon Bihar hands down

What happened to 'Rahul factor', asks BJPNEW DELHI: The BJP took a

dig at Congress in the wake of itspoor showing in the Bihar Assem-bly elections saying 'Rahul factor'did not work in the polls.

"Congressmen were blowingtheir trumpet and chanting RahulGandhi's name. Where is thatRahul factor," wondered seniorBJP leader Ananth Kumar.

He said the 'Rahul factor' did notwork in Karnataka, MadhyaPradesh, Chhattisgarh and Gujarat."Rahul factor was also not there in

Uttar Pradesh. And now the peopleof Bihar have said there is no Rahulfactor," Kumar said.

In Bihar the factors that matterare good administration and de-velopment, Atal Behari Vajpayee,NDA, JD-U, Nitish and SushilModi, he said.

"Rahul Gandhi goes in searchof real India during his visitsacross the country. But there (inBihar) a situation prevails whereCongress needs to be searched,"Kumar said.

BJP spokesperson PrakashJavdekar said the poll in Bihar hasexposed that the "biggest myth isa Congress resurgence. Congressis no longer relevant in any partof the country".

Senior BJP leader Arun Jaitleysaid the election results haveshowed that politics of Bihar haschanged and that "charisma orfamily" does not win elections, inan obvious attack on RJD chief LaluPrasad and Rahul Gandhi whocampaigned for Congress.-PTI

PATNA: Often calledChanakya for his political astute-ness, Engineer-politician NitishKumar blended his secularist ide-ology with pragmatic politics andcombined the development plankwith innovative social engineer-ing equations in Bihar to bask inglory yet again.

Doing an encore after the land-slide victory, the 59-year-old chiefminister with his trademark kurtapyjama and grey stubble has be-come RJD strongman LaluPrasad's nemesis single handedlycontributing to the electoral melt-down of RJD-led Secular Demo-cratic Front for the second time infive years.

Beating the anti-incumbencyfactor, the JD-U leader, a socialistof Ram Manohar Lohia mould anda product of the JP movement inthe seventies, has been the mas-cot of NDA's fight against the 15-year Lalu-Rabri rule in Bihar end-ing their reign in 2005.

He also had a brief seven-daytryst with Chief Ministership inMarch 2000 when he was swornin despite NDA lacking a major-ity.

For all the complex arithmeticof caste and creed that holdssway in election-time Bihar, Kumarwas able to alter, if not altogetherchange, the discourse, hammeringday after day on developmentand what he calls "naya Bihar."Improvement in law and order alsocame in handy for Nitish as hestrode an impoverished state likea colossus.

Kumar worked on social engi-neering equations on the groundto woo the extremely backwardcastes, the mahadalits and inpockets of poorer Muslims care-fully fashioning an alliance ofthese groups though there wasvirtually no mention of caste inhis campaign speeches.

A seasoned and a down toearth man of simple tastes, Kumar,

the wily craftsman of modern daypolitics, did the delicate balanc-ing act keeping votaries of bothhardliners in his party JD-U andBJP together notwithstanding hisstrong views on job reservationsfor OBCs and dalit Muslims.

Considered an able administra-tor, Kumar's innings in the corri-dors of power began with his ap-pointment as Union Minister ofState for Agriculture and Coop-eratives in the National Front gov-ernment led by V P Singh in 1990.

Despite being instrumental ininstallation of Lalu Prasad as ChiefMinister in 1990, Kumar's relationswith the Yadav strongman cameunder strain in the years that fol-lowed, largely due to ?imperious?style of functioning of the RJDchief.

The two parted company andKumar along with Fernandes and12 other MPs quit Janata Dal andformed Samata Party in 1994 andwaged a sustained political battleagainst Lalu-Rabri rule. .

When NDA government wasformed in 1998, Kumar became the

Railway Minister with additionalcharge of Surface Transport port-folio. He, however, resigned own-ing responsibility for the Gaisaltrain disaster near Siliguri in WestBengal in August 1999 whichclaimed hundreds of lives.

Kumar was later accommo-dated in the Union Cabinet andwas Agriculture Minister fromNovember 1999 to March 2000and again from May 2000 toMarch 2001 before heading theRailway Ministry for a secondtime from March 2001 to May2004.

In between, he was the ChiefMinister of Bihar for seven daysfrom March 3, 2000 to March 10and was also instrumental in themerger of Samata Party with JD(U) which enhanced the influenceof the two Socialist-leaning par-ties vis-a-vis BJP.

Kumar plunged into studentpolitics during his days at BiharCollege of Engineering and was akey leader of 1974 Students'Movement under legendaryJayaprakash Narayan which cul-minated in the fall of Indira Gandhiregime and installation of the firstnon-Congress government in thecountry in 1977.

Kumar got a Janata Party ticketto contest the Assembly electionfrom Harnaut in his native Nalandadistrict but lost despite an anti-Congress wave sweeping almostthe entire country.

Luck did not smile on him againin 1980 Assembly polls whenCongress staged a remarkablecomeback after the failed JanataParty experiment. Though his con-temporaries like Lalu Prasad andRamvilas Paswan tasted electoralvictory to enter the Lok Sabha in1977, success was slow in com-ing for the son of a 'vaidya.'Kaviraj Ram Lakhan Singh.

His legislative career began in1985 when he got elected to theAssembly from Harnaut.-PTI

Twins in accident - onedies, other critical

India Post News Service

NEW YORK: Indian origintwin sisters Archana and ArpanaGambiraopet who were graduatestudents of Murray State Univer-sity in Kentucky were criticallyinjured in a car accident that re-sulted in the death of one and leftthe other lying in a critical condi-tion in a Nashville hospital.

According to the Telugu As-sociation of North America(TANA), the 24-year old sisters,along with three others - all ofthem natives of Andhra Pradeshin India - were returning from anevent in Nashville, Tennessee,when their car was run over by an18-wheeler truck while trying toexit into the freeway.

The injured were air lifted to theVanderbilt Hospital in Nashville.While Arpana passed away onNov 16, Archana is still in a criti-cal but non-life threatening situa-tion and the others have beentreated and released.

According to TANA, Archanaand Arpana are very talented sis-ters who had represented Andhra

Pradesh in the Basketball Nation-als while being very committed toeducation as well. They arrived inthe United States fromSecunderabad, India on a schol-arship to pursue Masters in Phar-macy at the Murray State Univer-sity in Kentucky and were on theirway to enroll for the final thesisbefore graduation at the time ofthis tragedy.

The distraught father of thevictims, Ravinder Gambiraopethas solicited help from TANA bycommunicating to theorganization's president JayaramKomati and Secretary MohanNannapaneni to help with thetransportation of Arpana's bodyto India.

TANA Teamsquare has imme-diately responded with the logis-tics and has also immediatelycome forward to bear expenses forthe transportation through itsTeamsquare funds.

Those wishing to donate to-wards helping with the expensesof transportation and Archana'streatment at the hospital may con-tact TANA.

Obama greets Sikhs onNanak anniversary


NEW YORK: Sikh Americanswho might still be bristling thatPresident Obama did not visit theGolden Temple in Amritsar duringhis India visit may appreciate thePresident's greetings to the com-munity on the occasion of GuruNanak birth anni-versary on Nov 21.

In a statement re-leased Nov 21,President Obamasaid, "On Sunday,many around theworld will observethe anniversary ofbirth of Guru NanakDev Ji, the founderof Sikhism. I sendmy best wishes toall those observing this extraordi-nary occasion. This is also anopportunity to recognize themany contributions that SikhAmericans have made to our

nation, and to reflect on the plu-ralism that is a hallmark ofAmerica."

President Obama further said,"Sikhism's principles of equality,service, interfaith cooperationand respect are principlesshared by all Americans. AsSikhs celebrate the birth of Guru

Nanak, people of good will ev-erywhere can identify with histeachings on the equality of allhumankind and the need for com-passion in our service to others."

Beating the anti-incumbency factor,the JD-U leader, asocialist of RamManohar Lohia mouldand a product of theJP movement in theseventies, has beenthe mascot of NDA'sfight against the 15-year Lalu-Rabri rule inBihar ending theirreign in 2005

Group picture of sikhs at White House

Shabad Kirtan


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US court summons Shuja Pasha, Hafiz SaeedWASHINGTON: US court has

issued summons to senior ISI of-ficials including its powerful chiefAhmed Shuja Pasha, along withMumbai attack masterminds andLeT leaders Hafiz Saeed andZakiur Rahman Lakhvi in re-sponse to a lawsuit filed by rela-tives of two American victims ac-cusing them of providing materialsupport for the 26/11 attacks.

The 26-page lawsuit was filedbefore a New York Court on No-vember 19 against the Inter-Ser-vices Intelligence and Lashkar-e-Taiba by the relatives RabbiGavriel Noah Holtzberg and hiswife Rivka, who were both gunneddown by militants at the ChhabadHouse in Mumbai.

Their son Moshe was savedby his Indian nanny in the trag-edy.

The 26-page lawsuit accusingISI of aiding and abetting LeT inthe slaughter of 166 people wasfiled before a New York Court onNovember 19, following which theBrooklyn court issued summonsto Major Samir Ali, Azam Cheema,Inter-Services Intelligence of theIslamic Republic of Pakistan, Ma-jor Iqbal, Lakhvi, Lashkar-e-Taiba,Sajid Majid, Pasha, Saeed andNadeem Taj.

"The ISI has long nurtured andused international terroristgroups, including LeT, to accom-plish its goals and has provided

material support to LeT and otherinternational terrorist groups,"said the lawsuit filed by relativesof the slain Rabbi.

Pasha, who has been directorgeneral of the ISI since Septem-ber 2008, has been summoned, sois Nadeem Taj, the director gen-eral of ISI from September 2007 toSeptember 2008.

Major Iqbal and Major Samir

Ali are other ISI officers who havebeen issued summons.

The one of its kind lawsuit alsobrings as defendants Lashkar op-eratives like operations com-mander Lakhvi, JuD chief Saeed,and Azam Cheema.

"The Mumbai terrorist attackwas planned, trained for and car-

ried out by members of defendantLeT. Defendant ISI provided criti-cal planning, material support,control and coordination of theattacks," the lawsuit alleges.

It accuses ISI officers Pasha,Taj, Iqbal and Ali of being pur-posefully engaged in the directprovision of material support orresources including weapons andexplosives.

"On and prior to November 26,2008, ISI, Pasha, Taj, Iqbal and Ali(as well as other officials, agentsand employees of ISI) directed,engaged and/or relied upon theefforts of US-based individuals,including but not limited toHeadley and Rana, for raisingfunds, building a network of con-nections, recruiting participantsand planning the operation of theMumbai terror attack," the lawsuitclaims.

Noting that LeT still operatestraining camps in Pakistan, Kash-mir and Afghanistan, the petitionsaid the group has openly advo-cated violence against India, Is-rael and the United States. .

It names Muridke, Mansheraand Muzaffarabad as centers oftraining camps operated by theLeT.

The 10 LeT members who un-dertook the on-the-groundMumbai terrorist attack under-went extensive training in the LeTcamps in Pakistan, the lawsuit al-

leged.It also says that Pakistani

American LeT operative DavidHeadley, who has already pleadedguilty for his role in the plottingof the attack, built a network ofconnections from Chicago to Pa-kistan, undertaking these effortsat the direction and with the ma-terial support of both LeT and theISI.

Prior to and following each tripto Mumbai, Headley reported to

and received further instructionsfrom both LeT, including defen-dants Majid and Iqbal, and the ISI,it alleges.

"In September 2008, the 10 LeTattackers were moved to Karachiand installed in an ISI/LeT safehouse and isolated from outsidecontact," it said, adding that while

staying in the Karachi safe house,they received specific instructionson Mumbai targets.

The safe house was part ofISI's "Karachi Project," an initia-tive by which anti-Indian groupswere tasked and supported by theISI in a surreptitious fashion toengage in acts of international ter-rorism.

"During the period Headleycommunicated with and took di-rections from the ISI regarding theMumbai plot, defendant Taj, asISI's Director-General, exerted fullcommand and control over the ISI.

"During the final two monthsof training of the LeT attackersand throughout the attack, defen-dant Pasha exerted full commandand control over the ISI," it al-leged.

During the Mumbai attacks, thelawsuit alleges defendant Majidalong with other LeT officers op-erated from a mission controlroom in Karachi, passing instruc-tions and encouragement to theattackers via telephone.

"By reason of the foregoing,LeT, Saeed, Lakhvi, Cheema andMajid are each liable to each plain-tiff, individually and as the per-sonal representative and/or sur-viving family member of their de-cedents, for compensatory dam-ages in excess of USD 75,000, suchamount to be determined by ajury," it said. -PTI

Zakiur Rahman Lakhvi

US slaps sanctions on LeT menWASHINGTON: On the eve of

second anniversary of the 26/11attacks, the US declared three topoperatives of Pakistan-basedLashkar-e-Taiba as "global terror-ists" and slapped sanctionsagainst a charity group, closelylinked to the terror outfit andJamaat-ud-Dawa.

Sanctions were slappedagainst Pakistan-based Falah-i-Insaniat Foundation (FIF), whichis closely connected to LeT andJuD. The foundation has providedhumanitarian assistance to Paki-stanis displaced by recent floods.

"Today's amendment of theLeT designation to include FIFshows that the United States willnot tolerate any support to thisorganization. LeT has attemptedto use FIF as a way to evade scru-tiny. This designation will help putto an end that attempted eva-sion," said State Department'sCoordinator for Counter-terrorismAmbassador Daniel Benjamin.

Besides slapping sanctions onFIF, the US designated three se-nior LeT members as global ter-rorists. Two of them are Mian

Abdullah, head of LeT's TradersDepartment, and MohmmadNaushad Alam Khan, a key finan-cial facilitator for the outfit.

LeT senior leader and currenthead of FIF, Hafiz Abdur Rauf, is

the third person in the list.LeT has claimed responsibility for

numerous terrorist acts against In-dian and US interests and is respon-sible for the horrific November 2008Mumbai attacks which claimed 166lives. The group has been closelyassociated with Osama bin Laden'sal-Qaeda network.

"Few individuals are more in-tegral to LeT's fundraising than

Hafiz Abdur Rauf and MianAbdullah," said Under Secretaryfor Terrorism and Financial Intel-ligence Stuart Levey.

"In their respective capacities,today's designees play key rolesin advancing LeT's operationsand soliciting financial support onits behalf. These actions will helpstem the flow of finances to LeTthrough FIF and provide the De-partment of Justice with a criticaltool to prosecute those who know-ingly provide material support toLeT and its senior leaders," theState Department said.

The various actions takenagainst FIF support the US effortto degrade the capabilities of LeT.We are determined to eliminateLeT's ability to carry out terror at-tacks and to disrupt, dismantle,and defeat its networks, it said.

Hafiz Abdur Rauf, a member ofLeT's senior leadership since1999, is the FIF chief.

As of mid-2009, LeT was usingthe name FIF to fundraise andevade international pressure onLeT following the November 2008attacks in Mumbai. .-PTI

26/11 attacks: US standsin solidarity with India

WASHINGTON: Secretary ofState Hillary Clinton has said theUS "stands in solidarity" withIndia in mourning the victims ofthe 2008 Mumbai carnage andthat "resolve and resilience" ofthe people is more powerful thanterrorist guns and bombs.

In a statement on the eve ofthe deadly attacks carried out by10 LeT terrorists that killed 166people, including six Americans,Clinton said: "Now, as then, theAmerican people stand in solidar-ity with the people of India andhonor those who lost their lives."

"As the people of the UnitedStates gather with family to cel-ebrate Thanksgiving, we pauseto remember the horrific attack oninnocent men, women and chil-dren that occurred in Mumbaitwo years ago," she said.

US President Barack Obamahad stayed at the iconic Taj MahalHotel, one of the high-profile tar-gets of the Mumbai attack, dur-ing his India visit earlier this

month "to send a strong mes-sage" to terrorists.

He also met survivors andnext of the kin of victims to hailtheir courage and pledged tostand with India to fight terror.

"As the people of Mumbaigather in temples, mosques,churches, gurudwaras and syna-gogues to honor those who per-ish on November 26, 2008, theysend a message of resolve, resil-ience and mutual respect that isfar louder and more powerfulthen any terrorist guns andbombs," Clinton said.

Referring to Obama's visit,Clinton said President Obama'srecent visit to India "under-scored our nations shared beliefin liberty, democracy and mutualrespect for all people."

The US has been demandingPakistan that the perpetrators ofthe 26/11 attacks be brought tojustice. It has also imposed sanc-tions on LeT and most of its lead-ers. -PTI

The 26-page lawsuitaccusing ISI of aidingand abetting LeT inthe slaughter of 166people was filedbefore a New YorkCourt on November19, following whichthe Brooklyn courtissued summons

We are determinedto eliminate LeT'sability to carry outterror attacks and todisrupt, dismantle,and defeat its net-works, it said

India PostDecember 3, 2010 9

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24-hr UAE helpline forsuccor to distressed Indians

DUBAI: Help is now a phonecall away for Indian expatriateworkers who face distress in theUAE, as a 24-hour toll-free multi-lingual helpline will provide themcounseling in financial, legal andpsychological matters - the firstof its kind for migrants by anycountry in the world.

The helpline is a toll-free tele-phone line 800 46342 which canbe availed from anywhere in theUnited Arab Emirates, home to1.75 million Indians, the largest ex-patriate community in this oil-richcountry.

With an estimated 65per cent of them beingskilled and unskilledworkers, making opera-tional a grievanceredressal centre wasthe need of the hour.

Officials said thehelpline was started inthis country as the de-mand here was the"highest". Dubai waschosen for the launch of theproject since it has the highestnumber of Indian expatriates inthe UAE.

Depending on the success ofthe initiative here, the Ministry ofOverseas Indian Affairs plans tolaunch similar centers in othercountries which have a big pres-ence of Indian workers.

Last year, 800 Indian workers

who were in distress were senthome from here, officials said.

President Pratibha Patillaunched the Indian Workers Re-sources Center at a function at theIndia Club here last night, whichapart from assistance would pro-vide counseling, in financial, le-gal and psychological matters.

It will also manage a shelterhome for runaway housemaidsand deserted housewives.

Besides registering and moni-toring the grievance petitions, theCenter will also conduct aware-

ness classes and counseling ses-sions for the needy Indians.

One-to-one counseling will begiven by a panel of 14 experts fromthe centre. To facilitate easier in-teraction, seven different lan-guages including Malayalam,Tamil, Telugu, Punjabi, Hindi andEnglish could be used by thecaller to talk to the counselors atthe centre. -PTI

NRI named BritishConsulate-General to ChinaLONDON: Indian born

Manjeet Singh has been ap-pointed Britain's Consulate-Gen-eral to China. He will join office inJanuary 2011.

While this is his first Ambas-sadorial appointment he has helda succession of other senior ap-pointments with the Foreign andCommonwealth Office, some witha strong China focus.

Manjeet Singh served in theJoint Liaison Group in the run-upto the handover of Hong Kong.His other China-related work in-cludes a posting in Washington.Lately he was the FCO's Asia-Pa-cific Director before secondmentto Carlton Communication

Manjeet Singh's family has al-ways been the starting point of ev-erything he has wanted to achievein media, law and politics. He isproud of the values that were in-stilled in him when he was young.

Today, as a father, he knowshow important quality family timeis, and has made shared parentalleave a priority.

Manjit set up a media companywhich has redefined magazinejournalism in the country. The Eth-nic Media group which has grownout of the magazine, is one of thelargest NRI media conglomerates.The group also controls Indepen-dent Web News Business TV To-day. They also run three otherchannels - 'Headlines Today' anEnglish language news channel.A Business news channel in col-laboration with Bloomberg is alsoexpected shortly.

Manjeet Singh was educatedat Eton College before studyingLLB Philosophy, Politics and Eco-nomics at Oxford, gaining a firstclass honors' degree.

Before becoming a Barrister,Manjeet Singh worked in busi-ness and government. He workedas a Special Media Adviser firstto the Chancellor of the Exchequerand then to the Home Secretary.

He spent seven years at UKmedia company, Carlton Commu-nications, and served on the man-agement Board. -Agencies

Scribe manhandled, thrownout of Pro-Eelam meet


NEW JERSEY: A veteran In-dian-American journalist wasthrown out of a pro-Eelam meet-ing organized by Association ofTamils of Sri Lanka in the USA andIlankai Tamil Sangam when hewent to cover the event at Rasoirestaurant in Monmouth Junction,New Jersey on Nov 20.

Dr Prakash M Swamy, a seniorjournalist in New York and aUnited Nations accredited corre-spondent, was manhandled andpushed out of the venue after be-ing invited to cover the event bythe organizers. The organizersalso abused him as "an agent ofGovernment of India and SriLanka" while literally pushing himout into the cold.

Dr. Swamy is a Tamil-speakingEnglish journalist who specializesin South Asian affairs and haswritten several articles and scoopson the formation of Trans-na-tional Government of Tamil Eeelam(TGTE) headquartered in NewYork and led by attorneyVisuvanathan Ruthrakumaran inthe Indian media especially forpopular Tamil magazines such asJunior Vikatan.

"I was invited to the event andon arrival was accosted by PalaniSundaram [president of Federa-tion of Tamil Sangams of North

America (Fetna)] who asked mewhy I was there. I jocularly toldhim that I came to cover the musicprogram in the evening and hesaid 'better cover only the musi-cal evening and do not write any-thing bad about the event' in athreatening voice. I was sitting inthe last row taking notes on all

the anti-India rhetoric by thespeakers when someone came andasked for my ID which I showed.Again, someone came and triedto snatch my camera and note-book and I protested," Swamysaid.

Swamy said his plea to see thePresident of the Ilankai TamilSangam Ahilan Rajadeva and"Prime Minister" of the Trans-na-

tional Government of Tamil EelamVisuvanathan Ruthrakumaran fellon deaf ears of the organizers.

Swamy then said a group ofpeople suddenly pushed him outof the door and abused him andthat his pleas to stay inside thereception area till the arrival of ataxicab were also ignored. Fear-ing physical abuse, Swamy left therestaurant and waited out in thecold until a friend could come andpick him up from the venue.

The day-long program on theday included a video conferencefrom Chennai, India by Vaiko,MDMK leader and pro-Eelam ac-tivist; seminars such as "Con-necting Eelam activists in TamilNadu and America for The Cause"by President of the Washington-based now banned World TamilOrganization (WTO) PeterYeronimuse and its SecretarySankar Sornam alias S.Sankarapandi; premiere of a docu-mentary on late Muthukumar whoself- immolated in Chennai in sup-port of Tamil Eelam; keynote ad-dress by Jan Jananaygam, spokes-person for Tamils Against Geno-cide (TAG) and an independentcandidate from London region forEuropean Parliament and semi-nars on "war crime investigation,""truth in reconciliation and lessonlearned and Tamil Independence- moving forward."

REMEMBERING 9/11: Rabbi Nachman Holtzberg, father of slain Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg, lights a candle

in front of his son's picture at the Chabad (Nariman) House in Mumbai on November 25,

ahead of the second anniversary of the November 26, 2008 Mumbai attacks. The Holtzbergs son,

Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and his wife Rivkah, were killed in the attacks in Mumbai while

the couple's son Moshe was rescued by their nanny

Swamy said a groupof people suddenlypushed him out of thedoor and abused himand that his pleas tostay inside thereception area till thearrival of a taxicabwere also ignored

Depending on the success ofthe initiative here, the Ministryof Overseas Indian Affairsplans to launch similar centersin other countries whichhave a big presence ofIndian workers

ceremony.Jorawar Singh was also recog-

nized and awarded for keeping thistalent alive and for bringing 11 art-ists to Chicago for their thrilling

performances. Bina Patel, Dr. YashAmin and Satish Patel from ApexEngineering and Medstar werealso recognized for supporting thisorganization.

The program started with a tra-ditional song praising LordGanpati sung by Pran Vyas alongwith Vikram Vyas on the Tablasand Babu Vyas on the Manjeeras.

India Post www.indiapost.com December 3, 2010

COMMUNITYACROSS AMERICA

Details on page 20

10

Desi News

Details on page 12

Details on page 16

Details on page 18

Gujarati Lok Kala Bhavaicaptivates Chicagoans

RAMESH SOPARAWALA & ASIAN MEDIA USA

Jorawar Singh recognized L to R Mafat Patel, Naren Patel, Jorawar

Singh, Neal and Raj PatelVGS members, India Consul Menon, Jorawar Singh and Bhavai artists

A comic Bhavai episode by artists, some donning female attire

(Pics Asian Media USA)

CHICAGO: Kudos to VishwaGujarati Samaj (VGS), kudos to In-dian Consulate in Chicago andkudos to Gujarat Lok Kala Foun-dation whose combined effortswere directed to preserve, and in amodest attempt, to revive one ofthe fast dying Gujarat-Rajasthanfolk dance theatre presentations -Bhavai.

This centuries old simple butvery effective folk theatre with itsundertone of satire and humor hasbeen entertaining the rural and

urban folks alike in Gujarat andRajasthan, but now faces extinc-tion. As aptly put by JorawarSingh Jadav, the founding fatherof Lok Kala Foundation, it hasbeen an unfortunate "victim of in-roads made by films and TVshows."

In a talk to this paper, during aBhavai show organized at ManavSeva Mandir in Bensenville, anorth side Chicago suburb, Jadav

said that it is the "commitment ofa few score artists that this cul-tural heritage is still preserved inthe States of Gujarat and to someextent in Rajasthan, but signs areunmistakable that it would fadeaway before long unless con-scious efforts are made by all -the government, society and the-ater artists at large - to see thatthis form of folk dance that wasprobably a sole mean of entertain-ment in rural areas for centuries,survives and prospers."

Naren Patel, heading VishwaGujarati Samaj for North America,said that the Indian governmentthru its Chicago Consulate officesuggested that the Bhavai artistspresenting shows in Trinidad andother parts of Central Americacould come to Chicago if a socialorganization was willing to orga-nize a show. "We felt that it was aGod-sent opportunity for anagency like VGS to do something

for preserving Gujarat's culturalheritage and we grabbed it. In theend, judging from the response ofthe Indian American community,including non-Gujaratis, we feelthat we did the rightthing and we aredetermined to havethis type of showsunder the aegis ofVGS again andagain."

This first type ofits presentation -Bhavai - in NorthAmerica inChicagoland metwith huge successas the 700 plus au-dience were virtu-ally glued to theirseats for the entirethree hours ap-plauding each andevery episode thatdozen artistsstaged one afteranother. Interest-ingly, in many epi-sodes it was maleartists who donnedthe female attiresand acted quitesuccessfully as female artists tothe delight of all. "This was thetradition the past but things arechanging a bit now," said JorawarSingh

Emcee of the night was BinaPatel. She announced the open-ing ceremony of Deep Pragtum.Naren Patel, Mafat Patel, ConsulMenon and Jorawar Singh Jadavwere called on the stage for this Cont’d on page 11

Indian Chinesecuisine at BombayChopsticks

SN ULLAL & HARISH RAO

CHICAGO: The much awaitedGrand Opening of Bombay Chop-sticks by India House took placeNovember 18. This contemporaryIndian Chinese restaurant kickedoff its celebration with theHoffman Estates Village MayorWilliam D McLeod cutting the rib-bon alongside the restaurant part-ners Jagmohan Jayara, Ravi Rawat,Praveen Dedania, Mike Kalaria,Larry Detroja and Gautam Parikh.

This exquisitely designed res-taurant came to life by an up andcoming Designer Jennifer D'Costaof JR Designs. The restaurant isthemed around Buddha.

EVMs notfool proof:Hari Prasad

SURENDRA ULLAL

CHICAGO: Hari Prasad, thefounder and the Managing Direc-tor of Net India, Hyderabad is in theUnited States on a three-week tourspeaking to the members of IndianAmerican community here aboutthe Electronic Voting Machine con-troversy intensely debated in India.Last Friday he met with the ChicagoIndian ethnic media at Ebony Res-taurant, Schaumburg.

Hari Prasad passionately andanalytically defended his findingson this machine. He stood firm onhis convictions that the machineis not infallible as argued by theleaders of the Congress.

MAFS Seniorscelebrate TulsiVivah

HIMALI BHARUCHA

CHICAGO: The auspiciousritual of Shri Tulsiji in a plant formwedding Lord Vishnu/Shri Krishnacame to life here on November 23as seniors at Metropolitan AsianFamily Services (MAFS), Chicagocelebrated the event with greatenthusiasm and joy.

Both Shri Krishna statue andholy Tulsi Plant were dressed intraditional Indian weddingclothes and were seated in themiddle of the beautifully deco-rated Mandap. The ceremonialPuja with abil, gulal, rice, flowersand garlands and the Prasad of-fered to gods put everyone in thefestive mood as the ladies presentsung spiritually uplifting wed-ding songs as the Baraaties en-tered the Mandap.

India included inSanta Fe'shistoric timecapsule

Resh Salvi balancing 11 Matkas

December 3, 2010 India PostCommunity Across Americawww.indiapost.com

11

Thrilling performances werepresented by Rajesh Salvi as hedanced with 11 matkas (pots) onhis head. Dressed in vibrant, multi-colored outfit, he walked after hisstage performance amongst theaudience to provide great amuse-ment and entertainment to allthose present. In another dancehe kept the burning fire on his headas he put a vessel with water, milk,tea and sugar to boil over his headas he prepared the tea while twirl-ing around. Another eye catchingperformance came from RajendraRaval as he danced while placingswords on his index fingers onboth hands. Beyond that, he kept

four swords in his two hands andgot them twirling on his fingers,simultaneously.

Kamlesh Patel, despite beinghandicapped, danced on hands,without the help of legs, as he as-tonished the audience with his tal-ent. Audience enjoyed such artis-tic performances throughout theevening as VGS has kept its repu-tation for going the extra mile plan-ning such programs to entertainits members.

Jadav informed India PostBhavai used to be staged open-air in front of temples as a commu-nity ritual honoring the goddessAmba. Before the actors begin,they gather near a large earthenlamp and a drawing of a trishula or

trident symbolizing the goddess.They sing Garbi i.e. religious

songs in her praise, and invokeblessings for the success of theperformance. The nayaka or leader

Gujarati Lok Kala Bhavai captivates ChicagoansCont’d from page 10

Trivializing Siva by Newsweek upsets IndiansSURENDRA ULLAL

R. Nand Kapoor Harendra Mangrola Acharya Rohit Joshi Dr. Bharat Barai Rajan Zed

CHICAGO: Denigrating Indian gods andgoddesses seems to have become a pasttime for many in the American corporateworld as also for some in the news media.The latest addition to this growing list ofdenigrators is a widely circulated weeklymagazine Newsweek.

In its November 22 edition on the coverpage it depicts US President Barack Obamain Nataraj pose with the blaring headline"God of All Things". Many an IndianAmericans, particularly Hindus, are agi-tated over this trivializing of their vener-ated deity Siva.

Hindu priests and community leaderspoint out that Lord Siva is one of the godsof the Trinity. He is said to be the god ofdestruction. The other two gods areBrahma, the god of creation and Vishnu,the god of maintenance. The three godsrepresent the three fundamental powers ofnature which are manifest in the world viz.creation, destruction and maintenance. Heis rooted in God-consciousness. He revelsin the bliss of the transcendental Reality. Ahighly revered deity in Hinduism is meantto be worshipped in temples or home shrinesand not to be used indecorously or thrownaround loosely in fiction-like versions.

The worship of Shiva is lost in deep an-tiquity. The earliest literary records as wellas the oldest archeological finds suggestthat the worship of Shiva was prevailed insome form or the other all through the ages,especially prehistoric Indus valley civiliza-

tion and also in the Vedic corpus. By thetime of the efflorescence of Gupta period in5th century many Gupta monarchs declaredthemselves devotees of Shiva, followed byVakataka and Huna kings.

How a mortal could be depicted as Siva,who is the director of our destinies, RajanZed, President of Universal Society of Hin-

duism, asks and adds that the use of Hin-duism concepts and symbols for publicityor mercantile greed are impertinent. AcharyaRohit Joshi of North Eastern Illinois Uni-versity is equally vehement in his criticismof trivializing Hindu God Siva. He said that

"all of us irrespective of our caste, creedreligious and language affiliations shouldbe unitedly protesting against this type oframpant misuse of journalistic freedom.

Nand Kapoor, a veteran Indian commu-nity activist and former president of Asso-ciation of Indian Americans, pointed out inthis regard that Muslims too take umbrage

at the depiction of their Prophet Mohammedin a trivial manner in a cartoon by a Dutchnewspaper and some American papers. Thisled many others to think twice before re-producing of this or similar cartoon. "Weneed to do the same and voice our feelings

in no unmistakable terms," he saidSohan Joshi. a former head of the Fed-

eration of Indian Associations, said that allright minded Indians should stop patroniz-ing this magazine unless a retraction or ex-planation is forthcoming from the manage-ment of the Magazine.

Rajan Zed argued that it was unneces-sary dragging of a Hindu deity in Americanpolitical wrangles by Newsweek to provetheir point of view and urged Newsweek topublish a disclaimer about this on itswebsite and the next issue with proper ex-planation of Nataraja, Siva, and Hinduism.

Nataraja (Lord of Dance) is a well knowniconic representation of Lord Siva, symbol-izing his salvific, destructive, and creativeroles; for the faithful his dancing, known asTandav denotes destruction of the old andto create it again as a chapter of the ongo-ing cosmic cycle. Siva, along with Brahmaand Vishnu, forms the great triad of Hindudeities. Best known icon of Nataraja is in-stalled in a Tamil Nadu temple inChidambaram, India.

Some people believe that artifacts fromMohenjo-Daro, Harappa and other archaeo-logical sites of northwestern India and Pa-kistan indicate that some early form of Shiva

worship was practiced in the Indus Valley.These artifacts include lingams and the"Pashupati seal" that has been the subjectof much study.

Cont’d on page 13

then enters from the makeshiftdressing room and marks a largecircle called the chachara orpodha, considered a sacred placeof pilgrimage and inside which theperformance takes place.

A barber comes with a torch andoil to feed the flame that remainsthe central lighting sourcethroughout the show. Next, theactors enter from a distance, pro-viding their own light with smalltorches in their hands, weavingdance patterns in the air. After thatmembers of the orchestra, compris-ing two bhungalas i.e. long thincopper pipes, tanlas, jhanjha orlarge cymbals, and harmonium,take their place near the edge ofthe chachara. A musical prelude is

delivered addressed to Amba. Theaudience gathers and sits aroundthe chachara, leaving a passagefor actors` arrival from the dress-ing room to the arena.

Major plays begin around mid-night and continue till early morn-ing. Some favorites are JhandaJhulan, which is about the love be-tween a Muslim youth and a Hindumerchant`s wife. Another one isChhela Batau i.e. a heroic romanceand the mythological Kana-Gopi i.e.`Krishna and the Gopis`. They de-pict social, political, or religiousthemes, educate the people, and tryto raise the moral, ethical, and cul-tural life of their society. The satiretakes shape through both verbal andphysical humor.

Kamlesh Patel, de-spite being handi-capped, danced onhands, without thehelp of legs, as heastonished the audi-ence with his talent

Rajan Zed argued that itwas unnecessary draggingof a Hindu deity in Ameri-can political wrangles byNewsweek to prove theirpoint of view and urgedNewsweek to publish adisclaimer with properexplanation of Nataraja,Siva, and Hinduism

and that she realized how impor-tant it is to have this type of pro-gram and this type of organizationto create awareness among thenew generation of Indian Ameri-cans about the richness of our re-ligion and culture. "I grew up inConnecticut; however I still re-member traveling with my family

to Chicago to be a part of theDiwali Show and putting on a per-formance with my brother on stagefor our community. That is thepower of our Samaj. Now that I livehere, I take an active role in ourSamaj to spread the tradition, cul-ture and enthusiasm amongst our

next generation."This year's Chief Guest was Dr.

Pinakin Attawala. He is the Direc-tor of medical affairs at MerckPharmaceuticals and lives in AnnArbor, Michigan. In his address,

December 3, 2010India Post Community Across Americawww.indiapost.com

12

Indian Chinese cuisineat Bombay Chopsticks

SN ULLAL & HARISH RAO

CHICAGO: The much awaitedGrand Opening of Bombay Chop-sticks by India House took placeNovember 18. This contemporaryIndian Chinese restaurant kickedoff its celebration with theHoffman Estates Village MayorWilliam D McLeod cutting the rib-bon alongside the restaurant part-ners Jagmohan Jayara, Ravi Rawat,

Praveen Dedania, Mike Kalaria,Larry Detroja and Gautam Parikh.

This exquisitely designed res-taurant came to life by an up andcoming Designer Jennifer D'Costaof JR Designs. The restaurant isthemed around Buddha.

Alex Johnson and Mitesh Patel,owners of Level ConstructionCompany and their project man-ager Max Lagowski did a phenom-enal job in building Bombay Chop-sticks as a masterpiece.

Bombay Chopsticks is a linkbetween Indian Chinese contem-porary cuisine to cater the need of

the young generation, family gath-erings and business meetings.

Executive Chef CS Rawat is awell known name in the field ofIndian Chinese Cuisine having 30years experience. He has joinedIndia House team to bring out hismost favorite delicacies to Chica-goans. According to him, IndianChinese food is light and healthy.

He has created low calorie section,kids menu and will be introducingJain and Swaminarayan menusshortly.

Dinesh Gandhi, Kalpesh Joshi,Babu Patel, Mafat Patel, ChandreshBrahmbhatt, Arun Sobti, Dr

Dhiren Mistri, Vinod Parikh,Happy Singh, Mickey Singh,Santokh Singh, Amrish Mahajanand about 400 guests werepresent at the Grand Opening.

Bombay Chopsticks is conve-niently situated two miles west ofWoodfield mall on 721 West GolfRoad.

Bombay Chopsticks

Chief Chef CS Rawat with crew

Hoffman Estate Village Mayor Willieam McLeod greeting Jagmohan

Jiyara and Ravi Rawat

Gandhi Samaj hits new high inDiwali celebrations

RAMESH SOPARAWALA


CHICAGO: It was one of fourmajor events that Gandhi Samaj ofChicago has been holding for thepast two and half decades everyyear - the Diwali Celebration. Thisyear it was on a grand scale withclose to 400 plus members andguests attending nearly threehours of entertainment, fun andfood at Taft High School audito-rium north side of Chicago lastweek.

As put by Raj Bharucha, oneof the past office bearers of theSamaj, the celebrations this yearwere meticulously organized andthere was never a dull momentduring the three hours that theevent lasted. Romal Gandhi, theSamaj president, said that his or-

ganization set up in 1984 still holdsstrong in unifying the peopleSouth of Gujarat extending fromSurat to Vapi. "Our community hasgrown throughout the years andnow comprises over 650 commu-nity members. As a community weget together for a summer picnic

and celebrate Navratri andDiwali," he said

Tejal Modi, general secretarysaid that she was into the organi-zation as a participant of a Diwalientertainment program in the past

Attawala underlined the need tobe proud of our culture and work-ing together as Indians erasingthe narrower affiliations of caste,language or religion. He talkedabout the prominent role playedby Indian Americans in manywalks of life here and hoped thatin the not too distant future, an

Indian American would be thePresident of the country.

Romel Gandhi earlier welcomedthe guests and half a dozen em-cees came on the stage in turn andintroduced artists and various pro-grams that were staged with me-ticulous care and success. Rahul

Gandhi and Tejal Gandhi were out-standing as emcees. The entireprogram was staged by local art-ists -children young ones andadults.

Gandhi Samaj Committee Members : Manoj Bharucha, Romal Gandhi, Alankar

Modi, Jayesh Pastakia, Ketan Baman, Vaishali Bhagat, Reshma Gandhi,

Bhumika Gandhi, Tejal Modi.

Emcees: Rahul and Tejal Modi Vivek and Avni Gandhi

Kids Garba troupe Adult Garba troupe

Cont’d on page 15


13

The Indus Valley civilizationreached its peak around 2500-2000BCE, when trade links withMesopotamia are known to haveexisted, was in decline by 1800BCE, and faded away by 1500 BCE.

Dr. Bharat Barai, a well knownhematologist and a leading IndianAmerican activist remarked thatphilosophically Lord Shiva mani-fests as Tandava engaged in adancing posture, at the end of anold cycle to create a new one. Onecan interpret this connotationboth as negative and positive. Soif the cartoon by Newsweek doesnot mean to derogate the icon, hesaid, "I will have no problem, be-cause it only suggests a conditionand solution to it," especially

President Obama's dichotomy inthe current economic and politicalsituation.

Holding his view contrary tothat of Dr. Barai, HarendraMangrolia, a business man and atrustee of Gayatri Shakti-peeth inItasca, supported the point of viewof Rajan Zed.

He agreed that Newsweekought to have been a little moreconsiderate to the feelings of nearbillion strong Hindus in the worldand should have respected thesusceptibility of their spiritual be-lief. Shaivism, one of the two mostrevered schools of thought in Hin-duism, may be one of the oldestand prehistoric beliefs in theworld.

According to RamchandraRao, editor of Shiva Kosha, under

Kalpataru Research Academy, inspite of its hoary antiquity Saivismas an organized creed might havecome into vogue around Eighthcentury for Puranas uniformlymention Nepal (Pashupati-nath),Kedar (Kedaresvara), Varanasi(Visweswara), Saurashtra(Somanaha), Rameswaram(Ramanatha), Ujjain (Mahakala)and Kashmir (Vijaya) as importantcenters of worship of Siva.

Newsweek, launched in 1933, ispublished from New York City infour English language and 12 glo-bal editions and reportedly has aworldwide circulation of over fourmillion. Tina Brown is the editor.It is owned by The NewsweekDaily Beast Company withStephen Colvin as CEO and SidneyHarman as Executive Chairman.

Trivializing Siva by Newsweek upsets IndiansCont’d from page 11

Gujarat Association's spectacularDiwali party

Asian Media USA

CHICAGO: Over 300 membersand guests of Gujarat CulturalAssociation (GCS) gathered tocelebrate Diwali at the elegantWaterford Banquet Hall inElmhurst, a south west Chicagosuburb.

Organizers headed by KantiPatel delivered brief remarks anddedicated the majority of theevening to the Indian singing sen-sations Ujjval Vyas and PranitaDeshpande who were brought toChicago by the phenomenalArshah Productions.

The Gujarat Cultural Associa-tion is one of the largest and old-est Indian organizations in the

area. It was founded in 1973 andhas over 400 families as members,which is over a thousand activeindividuals. It has a simple objec-tive, to promote Gujarati culturalactivities, customs and values tothe Gujarati population in Chicagoas well as the Indian population atlarge in the area.

Dorothy Brown, Clerk of theCircuit Court of Cook County, sent

Singer Pranita, Chairman Kanti Patel and Cultural Secretary Geeta Bhatt.

(Pics Asian Media USA)

her warm regards to the associa-tion. Secretary of State, JesseWhite also sent felicitations to theorganization.

The souvenir book that wasquite attractive and informative

and an article titled, "Why Do WeCelebrate Diwali?" was quitethought provoking.

Chairman Kanti Patel recog-nized the entire team before theformal ceremonies ended anddinner as well as entertainmentcommenced. He especially men-tioned, President Girish Patel,Secretary Shaurin Mehta, VicePresident Manish Brahmbhatt,

Gujarat Cultural office bearers with guests

Joint Secretary Hemang Patel,Treasurer Dinesh Patel and JointCultural Secretary Geeta Bhatt.

Ujjval Vyas of New Jersey hasbeen singing since childhood butbegan to take the professional

stage during his first year of col-lege and since then he hasdazzled many with his vocal tal-ents. Pranita Deshpande hasbeen singing for over 35 yearsand has been showcased in thehit show Sa Re Ga Ma Pa twicealready. Her 23-year-old son,Kaushik Deshpande won the SaRe Ga Ma Pa Mega Challenge lastyear.

Gujarati Samaj celebratesDiwali with fanfare

ASHWIN PATEL

ST. LOUIS: Gujarati Samaj ofSt. Louis celebrated Diwali festi-val with gusto and lot of fanfare atSt. Ann Community Center.

Over 500 members attended theevent that was coordinated suc-cessfully by ExecutiveCommittee of St. LouisGujarati Samaj. Theevent started at 6pmwith cocktails andsnacks in a social hourwhere communitymembers wish eachother Happy Diwaliand Saal Mubarak.The dinner eventstarted at 7pm withopening remarks byPresident Harish Patel.

The lamp lighting ceremonywas done by past president MrsNaliniben Gajjar. This was fol-

lowed by a live musical perfor-mance by Ramzat group from In-dia. Extraordinary vocal and instru-mental talents of this local musi-cal group led by Naresh Rajput,captured and thoroughly enter-

tained the audience for over twohours with golden oldies Hindimovie songs. The event was agrand success.

Guj Samaj greets all with Diwali message

Members and guests in attendance (Pics Manhar Bhakta)

Front L to R Ashwin Patel, Nitin Patel and Jayesh Desai (members) Back L to

R Jitubhai Parbhu,(Treasurer), Kantibhai Bhakta and Harish Patel (President)

Dorothy Brown, Clerkof the Circuit Court ofCook County, sent herwarm regards to theassociation. Secretaryof State, Jesse Whitealso sent felicitations tothe organization


14

Tulsa gets taste of Diwali again,courtsey Dr Meshri

MANOJ PARDESHI

TULSA: An India-born scien-tist heading Advance ResearchChemicals in Catoosa, Oklahoma,Dr Dayal Meshri did it again byinviting village officials, StateLawmakers and elite of the city tocome to Indu Palace for celebrat-ing a grand festival of Diwali - atradition that he created in memoryof his loving scientist wife Dr. InduMeshri since 2005.

As put by Maria Shooke, aDiwali enthusiast, it would not bean exaggeration to say that virtu-ally everyone in the city was await-ing the celebration of Indian festi-val of light from the Meshri family

and Dr. Meshri would not disap-point them. This year Diwali cel-ebrated last month had all the gran-deur of the past with fun and foodgalore spiced with fine perfor-mances by professionals and fire-works.

Dr. Dayal Meshri in his briefwelcome address remarked thatthe essence of this festivity lies inthe fact that it signifies a victoryof light over darkness and igno-rance, victory of virtue over evilpresaging the onset of peace andprosperity in the coming year.Diwali comes at the end of theHindu calendar year and is cel-ebrated across the globe whereverIndians and Hindus reside.

The near four hours programhad many highlights. The start it-self was with the lighting of tradi-tional Diwali lamp followed byplaying of Scottish band signify-

officials, past and present, besidesprominent citizens of Tusla andCatoosa were present.

Dr Meshri with his family - sonSanjay and family, daughter Gitaand grandchildren, Daya, Aria,Bella and Asha - offered thanks toall those present and wished themHappy New Year.

Dr. Stanley E. Grogg, Interim Provost/Dean, Professor of Pediatrics, Oklahoma

State University Center for Health Sciences, Dr. Meshri and former Mayor of

Tulsa, Kathy Taylor lighting the lamps

A section of nearly 400 guests attending Diwali event

The Scottish Band kicking off the evening celebration

Bill Loebeck, Dr. Meshri and former Mayor of Tulsa, Kathy Taylor

Fire Performance that enthralled

all present

ing the launch of three hours ofvaried entertainment, includingsumptuous spicy Indian cuisineand sweets. This was followed in-termittently with Bella dance, Fireperformance, fireworks, minglingand greeting each other and ulti-mately in traditional Indian folkdance Garba. Many City and State

NY Life Insurance &Agents celebrate Diwali

Asian Media USA

CHICAGO: New York Life In-surance held a Diwali Party re-cently at India HouseSchaumburg, a Chicago suburb,for its Indian agents celebratingthe auspicious holiday of Diwali,which symbolizes the triumph ofgood over evil. The agents werehonored for their unwavering dedi-cation and admirable diligence

which has contributed to the in-crease of sales by one million dol-lars in the last year for the com-pany.

New York Life is a Fortune 100company with offices all over thenation, Argentina, China, HongKong, India, Mexico, South Ko-rea, Taiwan, and Thailand. It is alsothe preferred life insurance com-pany amongst South Asians be-cause of their award winning andprofessionally trained agents,many of which are South Asianswho speak a variety of Indian dia-lects.

The night began with a cock-tail hour, appetizers, and musicalentertainment from Sahaj Shah.There were brief speeches from

Managing Partner RobertHodgekiss, Senior Partner TahirJiwan, Partner Nilesh Patel and topselling agent Sunil Shah. The teamgave warm wishes to the guestson the occasion of Diwali and theNew Year. Additionally, they tre-mendously thanked their team fortheir continuing excellence.

Main organizer of the soiree,Sunil Shah celebrated his birthdaywith the New York Life Insurance

Family that night as well. The en-tire hall of over 100 guests sang tohim and congratulated him on theoccasion. There was also a cakecutting ceremony in which hiswife Rita and partners joined in for.Sunil has received many awardsfor his excellent service with thecompany, which he has been withfor over 20 years. He is also a cel-ebrated community activist andleader who partakes in many im-portant initiatives and organiza-tions that have contributed to theprogress of the South Asian com-munity in Chicago.

Delicious Indian cuisine ac-companied by an excellent musi-cal program followed the formalceremonies.

New York Life Insurance agents and officials with guests at Diwali

Celebration in Chicagoland

Sunil Shah, a top performing NY Agent and an

organizer of the event, addressing the gathering

Dr. Dayal Meshri re-marked that the es-sence of this festivitylies in the fact that itsignifies a victory oflight over darkness

Sunil has re-ceived manyawards for hisexcellent ser-vice with thecompany,which he hasbeen with forover 20 years.He is also acelebratedcommunityactivist


15

A few items were so eye catching thatmany in the audience were pleasantly sur-prised at the hidden talents that the Samajmembers have. One such item was fifteenminutes of outstanding performance in bothclassical and Bhangra song items by TrishaModi, Hiteshri Patel and Susan Sunny. Fortheir outstanding performances in both clas-sical and Bhangra song item, an on the spotmonetary award was presented to them.

Children too performed well and not to beout done a classical Indian dance item tooenthralled the audience. There were two sing-ers singing Bollywood tunes so well thatmany called "Once More.'

Award and recognition certificates werepresented to those helping Samaj achievehigher levels. Dinesh Gandhi, a prominentbanker and a former Samaj president gaveEducational Achievement awards toKalpesh Guard, Akshi Gandhi, ShetalGandhi, Ankur Bhagat and Nilay Ghayal.

Certificate of Achievement Award was pre-sented to Vivek Gandhi in recognition ofhis outstanding achievement in the IllinoisStandards Achievement Test - Scoring inthe Top One Percent in Math in the Nation.

Others recipients were Past PresidentsAward - Kaushik Mehta, President's Award- Jayantibhai Gheewala, Community Award- Kalpesh Gandhi.

Certificate of Recognition was presentedto Avani Gandhi for winning the 2010 LittleMiss Beach Park Pageant. Participants

Awards and trophies were given to all par-ticipants of the Diwali show

Other programs in the Diwali show in-cluded traditional Garba by adults, melodi-ous songs by Rita Modi, Chetan Trivediand Janak Modi, acting of Rajesh Khannaby Pravinbhai Gandhi, modern dance byVivek and Avani Gandhi. melody, solo per-formances by Jalak Modi, Sara Mody, Na-tional Anthems sung by Daksh Guard andAvani Gandhi, American songs performedby Niti Gheewala and Paul Hala.

Gandhi Samaj hits new high in Diwali celebrationsCont’d from page 12

Diwali Food Drive raises$30,000


NEW YORK: The India Asso-ciation of Long Island (IALI) com-pleted its 15th year of fundraisingfor humanitarian community ser-vice projects with a fundraisingevent recently at the MaryBrennan INN Soup Kitchen,Hempstead, NY.

This year the annual DiwaliFood Drive collection was over$30,000 in cash and two truckloadsof food items, for The InterfaithNutrition Network (INN), whichoperates 19 soup kitchens, 3 emer-gency shelters and a long termhousing program in Long Island.More than 5,500 people are fedeach week through INN. DiwaliFood Drive donors included manycommunity members, corporatesponsors, merchants, and partnerorganizations Telugu Literary Cul-tural Association (TLCA), Art ofLiving Foundation, Arya Samajand Sai Mandir.

The chairman for these commu-nity service projects, Dr. KishoreKuncham, thanked the sponsorsand other community members,for their generosity and rising tothe occasion in the most difficulteconomic times.

In addition, with the support ofmany physicians from the commu-nity, more than $30,000 worth ofmedicines were donated toRotaCare, which provides freemedical care to people in need.

IALI youth also collected $1,000in cash, blankets and gift basketswhich were provided to supportthe children living in foster care inNassau County.

Attending the reception werethe Town of Hempstead Council-man Anthony J. Santino, Council-woman Dorothy L. Goosby, TownClerk Mark Bonilla, Mr. Jim Reed,Former Deputy Commissioner ofConsumer Affairs, Nassau County,

Left to Right: Mr. Rob Kelly, Mrs. Raji Kuncham, Mrs. Jean Kelly, Executive

Director, INN, Food Drive Chairman Dr. Kishore Kuncham, Dr. Jagdish Gupta,

IALI President, Mr. Peter Bheddah (Grand Sponsor) & Mr. Gobind Munjal,

IALI Treasurer.

IALI President Dr. Jagdish Gupta,Shiva Muthiki, TLCA President,Dr. Dev Ratnam, Trustee INN, andcommunity members.

Jean Kelly, The INN's executivedirector, thanked the India Asso-ciation of Long Island and the en-tire community for bringing thisDiwali light to the lives of thosewho are less fortunate, and espe-cially in the most difficult eco-nomic times. The student volun-teers were presented with certifi-cate of appreciation for their vol-unteer work.

Sikh professionals leadenvironmental initiatives


WASHINGTON, DC: Twoyoung professional Sikhs are join-ing EcoSikh as staff members tolaunch a global ecological move-ment comprising several diverseinitiatives on behalf of the globalSikh community.

Ravneet Pal Singh fromLudhiana, Punjab and BandanaKaur from New York, started in theirrole earlier this month to further themission of EcoSikh, which emergedas a result of a collaboration betweenthe United Nations DevelopmentProgram (UNDP), the Alliance forReligions and Conservation (ARC)and the Sikh Council on Religionand Education (SCORE).

In summer 2009, Sikh leaders,environmentalists, and represen-tatives of Sikh organizations, in-cluding the Shiromani GurdwaraParbandhak Committee (SGPC)and the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Man-agement Committee (DSGMC)gathered in Delhi to endorse thefive year EcoSikh plan, as the Sikh

community's response to climatechange.

Ravneetpal Singh, 29, wellversed in Sikh scriptural teachingson the Environment, graduatedwith a degree in Agricultural Engi-neering from Punjab AgriculturalUniversity in Ludhiana, is basedin Ludhiana and will coordinateactivities from this city. He workedas a project manager in a multina-

Ravneetpal Singh Bandana Kaur

Victoria & Bandana planting sapling in Punjab

tional irrigation company. His maintask was to promote water conser-vation through sound irrigationdesigns, construction observa-tions and water management prac-tices. He recently spent two yearsin the UK, from which he broad-ened his understanding of life inthe 21st century Sikh Diaspora.

Bandana Kaur in New York hasa Masters degree in Environmen-tal Science from Yale University'sSchool of Forestry and in Environ-mental Studies. During her time at

Yale, Bandana spent two summersin the Punjab learning about the eco-logical challenges facing the state,and researching women's participa-tion in agricultural biodiversity con-servation in rural areas.

She has also spent several yearsworking on water, forest, and cli-mate issues in non-profits, both inthe US and India. She feels stronglythat a global alliance to address the

environmental challenges that im-pact the Sikh community and theworld is an urgent need.

"The aim is to mobilize Sikhcommunities in India and else-where to develop practical solu-tions to today's pressing environ-mental challenges in accordancewith the teachings of the Sikh Gu-rus and also exchange ideas withfaith communities around theworld. This will be achieved bycreating partnerships, improvingenvironmental education, and us-ing advocacy, media and othernetworks to strengthen the Sikhs'commitment to the environment,"stated Dr. Rajwant Singh, Chair-man of the Sikh Council on Reli-gion and Education and the con-vener of EcoSikh.

"We are thrilled to have thesetwo young people join theEcoSikh team. We feel stronglythat their vision and their energywill make a big difference in bring-ing the Sikh community to the cen-ter stage on this challenging is-sue facing humanity."

"Up until now EcoSikh has justbeen an idea - an important idea,and one which many Sikhs havequickly grasped the importance of- but still, an idea. This month, withthe appointments of Bandana Kaurand Ravneet Singh as coordinatorsfor North America and India respec-tively, EcoSikh begins to become areality," said Victoria Finlay, Direc-tor of Communications at ARC,which is working closely with Eco-Sikh in its first year.

‘The aim is tomobilize Sikhcommunitiesin India andelsewhere todevelop prac-tical solutionsto today'spressingenvironmentalchallenges’

With the support ofmany physicians fromthe community, morethan $30,000 worthof medicines weredonated to RotaCare


16

EVMs not fool proof: Hari PrasadSURENDRA ULLAL

CHICAGO: Hari Prasad, the founder andthe Managing Director of Net India,Hyderabad is in the United States on athree-week tour speaking to the membersof Indian American community here aboutthe Electronic Voting Machine controversyintensely debated in India. Last Friday hemet with the Chicago Indian ethnic media atEbony Restaurant, Schaumburg.

Hari Prasad passionately and analyticallydefended his findings on this machine. Hestood firm on his convictions that the ma-chine is not infallible as argued by the lead-ers of the Congress. He said the machinesare not conducive to free and fair electionsas they can be easily tampered with, as de-finitively concluded by a team head by himand some students and staff of Universityof Michigan, Detroit.

India is the largest democracy in theworld. The use of EVMs in Indian elections,which began in national elections in 2004,now is pervasive. The Indian EVMs are DRE(Direct Recording Electronic) machines, inwhich votes are recorded only to themachine's internal memory. There is no pa-per trail for later inspection or recount. Con-sequently, the use of such machines placesfull trust in the hardware and software.

There had been widespread allegationsof EVM tampering, particularly in and sub-sequent to the 2009 national elections. Hesaid that in early 2009 his firm was askedto study the vulnerability of these ma-chines. Quickly, he devised a number ofproofs of concept that showed the likeli-hood of the fallibility of the machines. How-ever, because he did not have access to an

actual machine, his work was not conclu-sive.

In September 2009, the Election Commis-sion of India invited Prasad to inspect anelectronic voting machine at ECI headquar-ters. Prasad and two other engineers,Halderman and Gonggrijp began the in-

spection, and examined the insides with amagnifying glass. However, before Prasadand the others could conclude their work,the inspection was halted. There are con-flicting accounts about why it was shutdown, but what matters simply is that still

there were no independent studies of theEVMs.

Then, in February of this year, an anony-mous source approached Hari and offereda machine for him to study. This source re-quested anonymity, and we have honoredthis request. We have every reason to be-

lieve that the source had lawful access tothe machine and made it available for scien-tific study as a matter of conscience, out ofconcern over potential security problems.

The release of the study sparked a na-tional debate. Many of India's political par-

ties called for the use of EVMs to bescrapped. However, on August 14, just daysbefore Prasad was arrested, the new ChiefElection Commissioner, Quraishi told report-ers that the machines were safe.

Then, on August 21 they placed him un-der arrest and proceeded to drive him toMumbai.

The police did not state a specific chargeat the time of the arrest, but Hari Prasadthought it was a politically motivated at-tempt to uncover our anonymous source.

Prasad remained in jail, held without bail,for a week. When finally he was grantedbail, the Judge sighting in his order that "...ifthe machine was possessed by the accusedfor demonstrating only that it could be tam-pered with, then the accused committed nooffence. On the contrary, he has done a greatservice to democracy."

The police in Mumbai had the right toquestion Prasad every day, preventing himfrom returning to Hyderabad. During thattime, the police repeatedly questionedPrasad about the identity of the anonymoussource and little else, and told him that hewould be discharged if he revealed the name.On suspicion they made some arrests.

Prasad is a respected researcher whohelped to discover a critical flaw in India'svoting system. He and his fellow research-ers would never have been able to docu-ment the weaknesses in India's voting ma-chines without the help of their anonymoussource. This is precisely why anonymity isimportant: it allows people to make impor-tant contributions to the public dialoguewithout fear of retribution.

Hari Prasad

Jalaram Bapa Jayanti celebratedYOGESH THAKAR

CHICAGO: Jalaram Mandir inHoffman Estate celebrated JalaramJayanti on a grand scale on Satur-day November 13 with Puja-archana and Bhajan Sandhya withIndia famed Shailendra Bhartiji asthe lead singer.

The day started with KalashPuja followed with Dhwaj Puja andAnnakut. People from all walks oflife flocked to the temple to par-ticipate in Jalarma Bapa's 211thbirth anniversary. Bapa is deemedto be incarnation of Vishnu andhas millions of followers not onlyin Gujarat but across the world

The main Yajman for the

evening were Rashmiben andJitendrabhai Patel. They speciallycame from Arkansans to be withthe devotees of Bapa in Illinois.Over one thousand devotees hadcome from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Theyparticipated in Arati and wereserved with Prasad.

The evening was withShailendra Bharati who captivatedover 700 devotees wth his melodi-ous singing of Bhajans in praiseof Bapa and other gods and god-

desses.J a l a r a m

Mandir had cel-ebrated Diwalifestival on agrand scale aweek on Novem-ber 6 and therealso hundredsof devoteescame andmingled withone another.

Devotees carrying kalash to the temple Shailendra Bhartijiís Bhajan session in progress

Celebrating Jalaram Jayanti at Jalaram MandirDevotees singing arati

In September 2009, the Elec-tion Commission of Indiainvited Prasad to inspect anelectronic voting machine atECI headquarters. Prasadand two other engineers,Halderman and Gonggrijpbegan the inspection, andexamined the insides with amagnifying glass. However,before Prasad and the otherscould conclude their work,the inspection was halted.There are conflicting ac-counts about why it wasshut down


17

Dr. Khimji Uka Naram

One of the most front ranking Ayurvedic physicians, Vaidya Pankaj

Naram, was bereaved with the sad demise of his father Dr. Khimji Uka

Naram, 98, mainly due to old age complications. Dr. Khimji lived a long

and healthy life and died at the family residence in Mumbai. He is

survived by his daughter Ms Varsha, son Dr. Naram and Shri Vidyut

Naram. Dr. Pankaj Naram is the most front ranking Ayurvedic

physician who has world wide following for his amazing power of

reading pulse and conducting diagnosis on the basis his reading.

Diwali Milan by Kadva Patidar SamajSURESH SHAH

CHICAGO: A grand DiwaliMilan was organized by KadwaPatidar Samaj (KPS) on SaturdayNovember 13 at Ashiyana Ban-quet Hall in Downs Grove, a southwest suburb of Chicago.

The event was attended 400guests. One highlight was the en-tertainment program by known art-ists. It began with Raju Shah (A.R.Productions) presenting singerYogesh Bajaria, Sa Re Ga Ma Pafame singer in Mumbai Mrs.PranitaDeshpande and DJ from MehulRami.

Jatin Patel (President of KPS)and Vice President Narendra Patel

welcomed the guests and mem-bers. The Chief Guest was DannyPatel. Other prominent inviteesincluded Mrs. Susila Patel. Chil-dren performed a special dance.Educational DVD was shown thatcovered the 7th convention heldin July 2010 in Chicago. The DVDwas prepared by Oza Video Visionheaded by Jayanti Oza and BharatOza. All guests enjoyed old andnew songs sung by singers. Eyecatching dances too enthralled theaudience. The grand success thatthe event achieved was largelydue to efforts put in by all commit-tee members of KPS.

A.R. Production's Raju Shah, Sa Re Ga Ma Pa fame singer Pranita

Deshpande & singer Yogesh Bajaria

KPS President Jatin Patel, Vice President N Patel and

Treasurer Rajesh Desai

Children performing special dance Guests enjoying Diwali celebration dance

Muslims welcome Rajan Zed toId al-Adha celebrations

MOHAMMED GHOUSE

L to R: Vice President Sherif A. Elfass, Trustee Dr. Rafik Beekun, President

Mahmoud Hendi, Hindu leader Rajan Zed, Imam Abdulrahim Barghouthi,

Trustee Anisur Chowdhury, Trustee Ashraf Azim.

NEVADA: In a remarkable in-terfaith gesture, the Nevada Mus-lim community invited and ac-corded hearty welcome to Hinduactivist Rajan Zed to their Id al-Adha celebrations in Sparks onNovember 20.

Addressing a well attendedevent, Rajan Zed, the President ofUniversal Society of Hinduism, saidthat peace and love lay at the heartof all religions and people had morein common than in conflict. "Let uslearn from one another and live to-gether in harmony, mutual trust andloyalty; as we are headed in thesame direction," he said

Muslims of northern Nevada cel-ebrated Id al-Adha, one of the big-gest of Islamic festivals, as a com-munity in Northern Nevada Muslim

Community (NNMC) Center inSparks on November 20, althoughthe actual date fell on November 16.

Americans of Bangladeshi,Syrian, Somalian, Pakistani, Ethio-pian, Jordanian, India, Moroccan,Egyptian, Palestinian, etc., originscame in their ethnic best dressesto a sumptuous dinner which in-cluded various lamb and chickendishes, biryani and various otherrice formations, vegetables andlentils, sweet vermicelli, kheer,puddings, etc., to name a few.

Prayers from Quran (the scrip-ture of Islam) were read before thedinner. NNMC PresidentMahmoud Hendi read "State of theCommunity" address and an-nounced that area Muslim commu-nity would provide free food on

Thanksgiving Day to homeless. Amagic show was also organized onthe occasion.

According to Imam AbdulrahimBarghouthi, there are about 2,000Muslim families in northern Ne-vada of about two dozen nationalorigins, with Bangladesh havingthe highest numbers as comparedto other countries. NNMC waslaunched in 1980.

Id al-Adha, also known asGreater Bayram, is celebrated atthe end of Mecca pilgrimage. Tocommemorate the ram substitutedby God when Abraham was com-manded to sacrifice Ishmael, hisson, to test his faith, unblemishedanimals are sacrificed on this oc-casion. It also includes visiting/receiving extended families.

Islam is the second most wide-spread religion in the world afterChristianity with more than onebillion followers and Muslims con-stitute majority in about 48 coun-tries and a considerable minorityin many others. It is the third larg-est religion in USA. Word "Islam"means "submission/peace". Hin-duism is the oldest and third larg-est religion of the world with abouta billion adherents and moksh (lib-eration) is its ultimate goal.


18

Listeners pool in to saveradio show

MAFS Seniors celebrateTulsi Vivah

HIMALI BHARUCHA

Tulsi Vivah ritual being conducted by MAFS Seniors

Pappas honors MetropolitanAsian Family servicesIndia Post News Service

NEW YORK: In a path-break-ing development, listeners in Chi-cago of an ailing Indian Americanradio station have come forwardin a unique effort to revive theshow.

For nearly a decade, Desi Junc-tion Radio (AM 1530 Radio), hasunited the Chicago desi commu-nity, mostly Indian Americans, viaits weekly radio broadcast andannual indoor/outdoor events in-cluding events for kids and se-niors.

The weekly radio show mostlysupported by business owners inthe community and occasionallyfunded by its team members wasnear shut down, when the teamwanted to try one last option of a'membership drive' as suggested

by some of the show's listeners.Attesting their loyalty to the

show, listeners came out in bignumbers and made an annualpledge to support the radio showby a predefined amount everymonth.

Encouraged by the listeners'response, Desi Junction Radiohas quadrupled its efforts to cre-ate yet another landmark in desientertainment.

Desi Junction Radio is nowstriving to register itself as the firstand only desi radio in America thatis completely funded by its listen-ers into the Guinness book ofworld records 2011.

Desi Radio has invited more andmore listeners to join in to makehistory and let the voice of IndianAmericans be heard the worldover.

CHICAGO: The auspiciousritual of Shri Tulsiji in a plant formwedding Lord Vishnu/Shri Krishnacame to life here on November 23as seniors at Metropolitan AsianFamily Services (MAFS), Chicago

celebrated the event with greatenthusiasm and joy.

Both Shri Krishna statue andholy Tulsi Plant were dressed intraditional Indian weddingclothes and were seated in themiddle of the beautifully deco-rated Mandap. The ceremonial

Puja with abil, gulal, rice, flowersand garlands and the Prasad of-fered to gods put everyone in thefestive mood as the ladies presentsung spiritually uplifting wed-ding songs as the Baraaties en-

tered the Mandap. Elderly in theaudience were gifted with differ-ent things such as statues ofgods, beautiful saris, jewelry,pans and pots as in traditionalwedding and had delicious, nutri-tious Golden Diner's lunch at theend of the event.

Maharashtra Foundation raises$60,000 at gala


NEW JERSEY: A MaharashtraFoundation fund-raising gala heldNov 13 in New Jersey raised about$60,000.

Maharashtra Foundation is aunique volunteer supported non-profit organization registered inNew York. It enjoys "special con-sultative status with the Economicand Social Council of the UnitedNations". It works in partnershipwith various non-profit organiza-tions in India and in United States,and supports initiatives like AntiHuman Trafficking, child sponsor-ship, women empowerment,projects in healthcare and educa-tion fields. It runs 1-877-MAYTRIN which is a hotline num-ber for women and men in distress.

At the annual fund raisingevent held at the Ukrainian Cul-tural Center in Somerset, NJ Dr.Arundhati Vinod gave an over-view of the Foundation's recentactivities.

Keynote speaker Carl Pope,Chairman of the Sierra Club, whohas himself spent two years asPeace Corps volunteer in India,emphasized that MaharashtraFoundation pioneered the idea ofsupporting socially consciousnon-religious charities some thirtyyears ago. Sierra Club's environ-

mental awards in India emulate theformat used for MaharashtraFoundation's awards in literatureand social services, started a longago by Sunil Deshmukh, the pastpresident of the Foundation.

One of the key segments of theevening was the speeches byyoung workers from the develop-

ment and public health area fromrural Maharashtra. The speakerswere Dr. Anand Bang, a youngpromising social worker fromSEARCH organization inGadchiroli district in remote partsof Eastern Maharashtra and PallaviAmte from Maharogi Sewa Samiti,

Anandwan. Dr Bang talked aboutthe lack of basic necessitiesamong the tribal communities. Hisinnovative research among the ab-origines in the region has beenadopted by the WHO. MaharogiSewa Samiti, founded by late BabaAmte, is an NGO empoweringpeople afflicted with leprosy andother disabilities. Pallavi Amtemanages as many as 40 projectsserving the daily needs of about4000 cured leprosy patients anddisabled persons in Anandwan.These young social workers chal-lenged the audience to help, notonly with finances but their spe-cialized knowledge and expertise.

The evening also included adelightful instrumental music anddance recital called "Conversa-tions in Taal" lead by sitarist GargiShinde. The program also featuredkathak exponent Aditi Bhagwat.

Maharashtra Foundation col-lected donations worth about$60,000 in one evening. It also or-ganized visits by the young so-cial workers to large and small ven-ues in Connecticut, Manhattan,Queens, Princeton University,University of Pennsylvania andWashington DC. The hope is tointroduce the US born youngpeople and others from India tothe inspiring dedication of suchyoung persons.

Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas (right) presents an award of excellence in her office to Santosh Kumar,

president of the Metropolitan Asian Family Services for providing valuable programs to immigrant and elderly

populations for over 18 years.

Elderly in the audience were gifted with differ-ent things such as statues of gods, beautiful saris,jewelry, pans and pots as in traditional weddingand had delicious, nutritious Golden Diner'slunch at the end of the event

Keynote speaker CarlPope, Chairman of theSierra Club, who hashimself spent twoyears as Peace Corpsvolunteer in India,emphasized thatMaharashtra Founda-tion pioneered theidea of supportingsocially consciousnon-religious charitiessome thirty years ago


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Prof Huntington gives a refreshing picture of HinduismSURENDRA ULLAL

Hinduism, because of itsantiquity, well definedspiritual paradigm and

evolving philosophical and socialmatrix was perceived and inter-preted by Western scholars ac-cording to their own intellectualor perceptual limitations. Indeedone cannot expect them to delveinto the depth of the minds of VedicHindu sears to give an honestopinion, because they are notborn and taught with the same in-tuitive understanding of Hinduthoughts as a native -either ascholar or naïve.

However a peep into the mindof Dr. Susan L Huntington, pro-fessor in art history at Ohio StateUniversity as expressed in her re-cent work on India, gives a refresh-ing picture. In the past Westernthoughts about India and espe-cially Hinduism were based on ei-ther their learning from the West-ern writers and often from the ex-periences of Indian Gurus or theirwritings or both. So the results ofthese studies were either idyllic orcolored by their own bias.

Huntington agrees that in termsof spirituality goal of Yoga is toattain Moksha that is to seek tounderstand hisor her onenesswith the uni-verse. For thosewho identifyyoga withphysical disci-pline, she con-curs with themodern find-ings thatamong thed o c u m e n t e dbenefits ofyoga are, low-ered blood pres-sure, greatermental acuity and stress reduction.

According to her, archaeologi-cal evidence in Indus Valley sug-gests that there was, in fact, nohereditary ruler - such as a king orother monarch - that amassed andcontrolled the wealth of society.

Thus, in contrast to the otherancient civilizations of the world,whose vast architectural and ar-tistic undertakings, such as tombsand large-scale sculptures, servedthe wealthy and powerful, theIndus civilization leaves nothingin the way of such monuments.Instead, government programsand financial resources seem tohave been directed towards the or-ganization of a society that ben-efited its citizens. It looks like sheoverlooked to mention the existenceof a strong local self government,which eventually came to be knownas Gram Panchayat, a team of five-village elders that flourishes in In-dia even today, where in recent times

women play a leading role.She rightly points out that the

other feature that sets the ancientIndus culture apart from other earlycivilizations is the prominent roleplayed by women. Among the ar-tifacts found are thousands of ce-ramic sculptures representingwomen, sometimes interpretedas goddesses, specifically,mother goddesses. It is thushardly surprising that the sym-bol chosen for the nationalisticindependence movement of theearly 20th century and the estab-lishment of India's modern de-mocracy was Bharat Mata - thatis, Mother India.

She further indicates that theperiod that followed the Indus civi-lization from c1750BC to the thirdcentury BC has left a spotty mate-rial record. The most important fig-ure to emerge in this period wasthe Buddha, born SiddharthaGautama in the Ganges River re-gion of northern India in the sixthcentury BC.

Attaining perfect knowledge atthe age of 36, after a quest thatinvolved ascetic and meditationalpractices, the Buddha preachedwhat is known as the Middle Way,

advocating theabandonmentof both extremeasceticism andextreme luxury.

T h eMahavira Jinais the lastprophet ofJainism, whichas an orthodoxtradition existedcontemporane-ously withSamkhya andYoga traditionsof India.

The 24th in a line of perfectedhuman beings known as jinas, orvictors, Mahavira is a major figurein Jain religion. Like the Buddha,Mahavira is not considered a godbut an exemplar to his followers.When depicted in art, he and theother 24 jinas appear as highlyperfected humans.

Unlike Buddhism and Jainism,Hinduism, she elucidates, does nothave a human teacher to whom thebeliefs and practices of the traditionmay be traced. Instead, it is centeredround devotion to specific deities,both supreme and minor, who arenumbered among a vast pantheonof gods and goddesses.

Shiva destroys the universewith his cosmic dance when it hasdeteriorated to the degree that itneeds to be reborn; Vishnu is theprotector and preserver of theworld as it struggles to maintainstasis and Brahma is the creatorof the cosmos. Hinduism, with

nearly a billion adherents is thedominant religion of India and con-tinues to attract the Western mindto its lofty ideals, tolerant and allembracing philosophy. Buddhism,like Christianity and Islam othertwo prominent religions is a pros-elytizing religion and has becomepopular in the West.

All three of these Indic reli-gions, she writes, share the beliefin transmigration of souls, basedon one's action, either good orbad, which are the result of choice,not chance. The escape fromsamsara, called nirvana by Bud-dhists and moksa by Hindus andJains, is the ultimate goal of eachof the three religious traditions,and all human activity should, ide-ally, be directed towards improv-ing one's karma to achieve thisend.

Within Indic culture, and indeedeven within families, she obversesindividuals have been free tochoose their own marg or path andwe have no evidence of religiousconflict among these traditions.

The arrival of Alexander theGreat in the northwestern regionof south Asia in 327BC, and thecollapse of the ancient PersianEmpire, introduced new ideas andtechnologies such as the tools andknowledge necessary for large-scale stone carving. Legacy of hisinvasion is mainly cultural, notpolitical, as the pathways acrosswestern Asia that he forged re-mained open for trade and eco-nomic exchange for centuries af-ter his death.

The most renowned of India'skings was Ashoka, who even to-day is admired by India's leadersas a paradigm of the benevolentruler. After years engaged in wag-ing war to expand his empire,Ashoka, having seen some 150,000people carried away as captives,

100,000 more slain, and many moredead after his final conquest, wasstruck with remorse at the suffer-ing he had caused. Converting toBuddhism, Ashoka spent the re-mainder of his life in righteous,peaceful activities. His benevolentkingship was adopted as a modelthroughout Asia as Buddhismmoved beyond its Indic home-land. The set of four lions por-trayed on one of his most famousmonuments - the stone pillar he

erected at Sarnath, where the Bud-dha taught his first sermon - hasbecome a ubiquitous symbol ofIndia's modern democracy, and isused on coins, stamps, govern-ment stationery, and elsewhere tolaud the modern nation's roots inenlightened rulership.

As suggested by the artifacts

that have survived and what weknow about the religious and philo-sophical beliefs of the people, theperiod 2500BC-AD500 in ancientIndia was one of extraordinarycultural brilliance, with innova-tions and traditions that still leavetheir mark on the world today. Thecultural continuity between India'spast and present is unmatched inthe other regions of the world. Themodern societies in Egypt,Mesopotamia, Greece, Rome, theAmericas and China for the mostpart bear little resemblance to theirancient counterparts.

The fifth century AD astrono-mer and mathematicianAryabhatta is credited with origi-nating the modern decimal system,which is predicated on an under-standing of the concept of zero.Evidence of the Indic origin of theidea of zero, including the use of asmall circle to denote the numeral,is found in Sanskrit texts and in-scriptions.

Another cultural legacy is anancient branch of medicine knownas Ayurveda, still widely practicedin India today. It has also gainedpopularity in the western world asan alternative medicine. Translat-ing literally as "science of life", itconceives basic principles for hu-man health and points to physicaland mental balance as the meansto well-being. Charaka, Sushrutaand Vagbhata are among the mostknown masters of Ayurveda.

Unlike Buddhism andJainism, Hinduism,she elucidates, doesnot have a humanteacher to whom thebeliefs and prac-tices of the traditionmay be traced

Dr. Susan L Huntington

Cal News

Details on page 21

Details on page 22

Details on page 40

India included in Santa Fe'shistoric time capsule


SANTA FE, NM: In a historicofficial visit, organized by the SantaFe 400th Anniversary Committee,Consul General of India SusmitaGongulee Thomas visited SantaFe, New Mexico on November 18

to deliver "mini"-renderings of boththe "Taj Mahal" and the "GoldenTemple," for inclusion in the 400thAnniversary Time Capsule. Theminiature Golden Temple is madeof 24 carat gold while the Taj Mahalis made of white marble like stone.

The Taj Mahal is considered to

be India's gift to the monumentallegacy of the world, and theGolden Temple is the holiestshrine in Sikhism, the fifth largestreligion in the world that also hasa notable presence in New Mexico,including that of the well knownYogi Bhajan and his followers.

Board member Pawan SinghDhindsa, who is New Mexico'sHonorary Consul and State Rep-resentative to India, and BhaiSahib Satpal Singh Khalsa who isAmbassador of Sikh Dharma, hadthe idea to bring the two gifts toSanta Fe. The gifts were donated

by Bhai Sahib Satpal Singh Khalsaand Pawan Singh Dhindsa andwere presented on behalf of Indiaby Honorable Consul General ofIndia, Mrs. Susmita G. Thomas.

Additionally, a plaque from theConsul General of India and a pic-ture of Yogi Bhajan with his full

bio-data was also presented to theSanta Fe 400th Anniversary Com-mittee to be included in the TimeCapsule. Bhai Sahib Satpal Singhproposed the inclusion of YogiBhajan's picture as a tribute to theglorious Sikh leader who estab-lished the American Sikh commu-

nity in New Mexico and all overthe USA. Board member PawanSingh Dhindsa was instrumentalin getting the picture included inthe time capsule.

The function was held at theNew Mexico History Museum at11.00 am on November 18. Mr.

Maurice Bonal, Chairman of theSanta Fe 400th Anniversary Com-munity started the event by ex-plaining the time capsule projectand said that the City of Santa Feis the oldest capital city in theUnited States of America.

Cont’d on page 40

Wells FargoBank celebratesDiwali 2010KAVITA ARORA


FREMONT: Three Wells Fargolocations, including the Paseo Pa-dre branch in Fremont, CA held itsfirst Diwali celebrations, alsoknown as the Festival of Lights,on Friday November 5. One of thespecial Diwali promotions WellsFargo is offering includes waivinga $5 remittance free for those inthe program.

The Paseo Padre branch is lo-cated in an area rich in cultural di-versity. "The Indian community issuch a huge part of the communi-ties we serve, so Wells Fargowanted to do something special tomirror our diversity," MickyRandhawa, Wells Fargo's East BayRegional President, told India Post.

December 3, 2010India Post Community/Californiawww.indiapost.com

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Delhi's Euphoriarocks LosAngelesJS BEDI


ANAHEIM: Rock band Eupho-ria rocked So Cal in an electrifyingperformance that left fans askingfor more, at the Heritage Forumhere on November 14. The con-cert was hosted by Association forIndia's Development, L.A. Chap-ter (AID LA) as a fundraiser forthe various projects the associa-tion sponsors in India since 2007.

The program started an hourand a half late due to technicalproblems. The concert was pre-ceded by a visual presentation onAID, a volunteer movement thatsupports grassroots organizationsin India in the areas of education.

PrathamFundraiser raisesmillion dollarsJS BEDI


LONG BEACH, CA: The An-nual Pratham LA Benefit Concertwas held at the Long Beach Ter-race Theater in the heart of thecity's downtown. The almost 2000strong audience raised almost amillion dollars.

The audience enjoyed the melo-dies of Alka Yagnik and MeiyangChang and their accompanying en-tourage of musicians and singers.

(Pics Mario Ruiz)

Bhai Sahib SatpalSingh proposed theinclusion of YogiBhajan's picture as atribute to the gloriousSikh leader who es-tablished the Ameri-can Sikh communityin New Mexico and allover the USA

Wells Fargo Bank celebrates Diwali 2010

Paseo Padre Wells Fargo Team Members The Lobby

KAVITA ARORA


FREMONT: Three WellsFargo locations, including thePaseo Padre branch in Fremont,CA held its first Diwali celebra-tions, also known as the Festi-val of Lights, on Friday Novem-ber 5. One of the special Diwalipromotions Wells Fargo is offer-ing includes waiving a $5 remit-tance free for those in the pro-gram.

The Paseo Padre branch is lo-cated in an area rich in culturaldiversity. "The Indian communityis such a huge part of the com-munities we serve, so Wells Fargowanted to do something specialto mirror our diversity," MickyRandhawa, Wells Fargo's EastBay Regional President, told In-dia Post. "It's been a great op-portunity to show our apprecia-tion for our Indian customers andat the same time, educate our non-Indian customers about Diwali."Mr. Randhawa is spearheadingthe program and ensuring that thecommunity is involved.

It was a festive day wherestaff warmly greeted the custom-ers with Diwali mithai (traditionalsweets) and candies. Team mem-bers at the branch decorated thestore and served their custom-

ers in Indian attire such as suits,kurtis and saris. "This is the firsttime Wells Fargo has started be-ing instrumental in celebratingDiwali. We have decked threestores for Diwali with diyas,candles, electrical lights, deco-rations, Indian saris, and sweetssuch as mithai and candies,"Branch Manager and AssistantVice President, Sidharth Kapil,told India Post.

In addition to celebratingDiwali, Wells Fargo celebratesvarious festivals from our di-verse community such as Chi-nese New Year, African AmericanMonth, Latino Month, Christ-mas, and they are always eager

to include more festivals andcultures. Wells Fargo was also

one of the top sponsors for theFestival of India, held in August

this year.In this economy, a lot of cus-

tomers are going through a hardtime as far as mortgages are con-cerned. "As a bank, we offer dif-ferent programs to help our cus-tomers with their mortgages and getthem on track," said Sidharth Kapil.

Wells Fargo has alongstanding tradition of givingback to the community. The bankwas named the top corporategiver among financial servicescompanies in Silicon Valley at theSilicon Valley/San Jose BusinessJournal's Corporate Philan-thropy Awards ceremony. In2009, Wells Fargo contributed$3.76 million to Silicon-Valley

based nonprofits, and more than$21.6 million Bay Area-wide andis Silicon Valley's #4 most gener-ous corporate giver.

On Diwali, Hindu merchantsin North India open their new ac-count books and pray for suc-cess and prosperity during theupcoming year. This actuallycoincides with one of the currentpromotions at Wells Fargo: WellsFargo is offering a free plushpony for customers who opennew checking accounts. WellsFargo will be offering more pro-motions for Thanksgiving andChristmas.

Kavita Arora is Anchor & Co-Producer of Sitaarre TV

Arcadia Methodist Hospital celebrates Winter Holidays with Bollywood twistIndia Post News Service

PASADENA, CA: It was a colorful andfestive evening on a recent Sunday nightwhen many of Arcadia Methodist Hospi-tal physicians and their significant othersgathered at the Pasadena Convention Cen-ter in Pasadena, CA to celebrate the up-coming Winter holidays.

Jay Bharat Catering added a new twistto their otherwise well-known Gujarati cui-sine by offering various paneer appetiz-ers, non-vegetarian dishes and Manchu-rian delights. The ballroom looked like anew Indian bride's fairytale wedding recep-tion, all courtesy of intricate details offeredby Utsav Event Planning. The décor illu-minated by the lighting of Special OccasionsDJ, Lighting and Production Company. Fi-nally, the audience was left in awe by themagnificent performance of BollywoodStep, including a private traditionalBollywood dance lesson from well-knownchoreographer and dance partner to sev-eral Bollywood actors, Yogen Bhagat.

So why did so many physicians from aMethodist hospital participate in thisBollywood Winter Holiday party? All ofthe planning and design of this yearlyevent came on behalf of Jay Kumar Shah,MD, Chief of Staff at Arcadia MethodistHospital. "We have about 640 doctors onthe staff. Every year, we do an annual din-ner and dance. And this year, because Iwas Chief of Staff, I thought why not some-

thing different. We just passed our NewYear and Diwali, and I wanted to have aNew Year and Diwali Party; but then Ithought it was too close and it would betoo much. So I thought let's combine ittogether".

It is the first time in the 100-year historythat Arcadia added a cultural twist to theirannual winter dinner/dance event. Dr. Shahand his wife, Ramila Shah, solely plannedthis remarkable event, filled with Indian cul-ture, tradition and cuisine. Men andwomen attending the event had the oppor-tunity to work with representatives fromSital Indian clothing store in Artesia, whopersonally came to the hospital to help thephysicians select traditional Indian attireto wear to the party.

Over half of the non-Indian guests stoodproudly in their sarees and sherwanis, whichwere custom tailored to fit each person; in-cluding adding additional clips to facilitateplacing the outfit on for the event. Finally,several women were able to accent their In-dian attire with beautiful mehndi designsoffered at the party.

According to their mission statement,Arcadia Methodist Hospital values integ-rity, respect, and compassion. These val-ues were clearly characterized by the ac-tions and interactions demonstrated by allthe guests attending this event. It wasclear just how much this hospital embracesdiversity by welcoming this Bollywoodstyle celebration.

December 3, 2010 India PostCommunity/Californiawww.indiapost.com

21

‘The Indian commu-nity is such a hugepart of the communi-ties we serve, soWells Fargo wantedto do somethingspecial to mirror ourdiversity’

Over half of thenon-Indian guestsstood proudly intheir sarees andsherwanis, whichwere customtailored to fit eachperson; includingadding additionalclips to facilitateplacing the outfiton for the event.Finally, severalwomen were ableto accent theirIndian attire withbeautiful mehndidesigns offered atthe party


22

Delhi's Euphoria rocks Los AngelesJS BEDI


ANAHEIM: Rock band Eupho-ria rocked So Cal in an electrifyingperformance that left fans askingfor more, at the Heritage Forumhere on November 14. The con-cert was hosted by Association forIndia's Development, L.A. Chap-ter (AID LA) as a fundraiser forthe various projects the associa-tion sponsors in India since 2007.

The program started an hourand a half late due to technicalproblems. The concert was pre-ceded by a visual presentation onAID, a volunteer movement thatsupports grassroots organizationsin India in the areas of education,livelihoods, natural resources,health, women's empowermentand social justice. AID at presenthas projects in Karnataka,Arunachal Pradesh, West Bengaland Tamil Nadu. These includethe Prerna Resource Center, pri-mary healthcare center, organicfarming, Right to Information Cen-ter and creating awareness of theNational Rural Employment Guar-antee Scheme.

In his address President of AID-LA, Sridhar Vemuri spoke on theimmense problems facing India.The problems are not isolated butinterlinked and only long-term andsustainable solutions will work.Appealing for support, he askedthe audience not to be skepticalof the association's work and sus-picious of their motives. He ex-tended heartfelt thanks to all spon-sors and well wishers.

Once the band came on stagethe auditorium became a nightclub. Dressed in white, the seven-member band made a dramatic ap-pearance with lead singer PalashSen, wooing the audience out oftheir seats to shake a leg to hotfavorites that rocked the house.Accompanying him was Debajyoti

Bhaduri at the bass guitar;Prashant Trivedi, tabla; RakeshBhardwaj, percussionist; AshwaniVerma on the drums; VinayakGupta, keyboards and AmnorishSaikia on the guitar.

Euphoria performed non-stopfor almost three hours to a hall fullof hysterical fans. The stage wassurrounded by dancing fans whosang along enjoying hits like'Dhoom Pichak hoom', 'Sonya,'

'Saason Mein Jo, 'Maasti kiPaathshala,' Aaja Aaja Dil' and'Maeri.'

The concert ended with a char-ity dinner at a local restaurant,where fans were given an oppor-

tunity to mingle with the bandmembers.

The Association for India'sDevelopment, Inc. (AID) (alsocalled AID or AID India) is a vol-unteer movement promoting sus-

tainable, equitable and just devel-opment. AID supports grassrootsorganizations in India and initiatesefforts in various interconnectedspheres such as education, liveli-hoods, natural resources includ-

ing land, water and energy, agri-culture, health, women's empow-erment and social justice

A.I.D consists of a decentral-ized network of chapters, each ofwhom raise and utilize funds inde-

pendently. There were 36 chaptersin 2010 with a total volunteerstrength of around 1000. The ma-jor activities of U.S. chapters areraising funds, reviewing and sup-porting projects in India and in-forming and mobilizing their com-munities about important social anddevelopmental issues in India.

There were about 100 projectsactively supported by A.I.D chap-ters in 2010. Prominent campaignssupported by A.I.D include theJustice for Bhopal campaign, re-habilitation for displaced personsin Chattisgarh and the Right toInformation campaign.

There exist centralized teamsfor managing incoming projectproposals, handling treasuries andcoordinating action and informa-tion between chapters

Previous to the 2004 IndianOcean earthquake, of which thetsunami hit the eastern coast ofsouthern India, in particular TamilNadu, AID had already beenworking in these areas. It arrivedat the affected locations within 12hours after the first wave with re-lief supplies. AID was featured inUnited Nation's special Tsunamiefforts.

Sridhar Vemuri

Hysterical fans

The Band on stage

Edison group celebrates 'The Festival of Lights'

SCE employees and members of SCE's Cultural Exchange at Diwali celebrations.


ROSEMEAD, CA: SouthernCalifornia Edison's (SCE) CulturalExchange, an employee resourcegroup, hosted an event Friday tocelebrate Diwali, or the "Festivalof Lights."

All SCE employees were invitedto join the festivities at SCE'sIrwindale Business Center, wherefine Indian cuisine and entertain-ment were featured, along with apresentation on Indian culture,history, and traditions.

Diwali's Sanskrit name refers tothe small, oil-filled clay lamps thatare lit during the five-day holiday.It's a national event in India andNepal, and the festival transcends

religious lines, celebrated equallyby adherents of Hinduism,Sikhism, and Jainism.

Cultural Exchange, which orga-nized the Irwindale event, is oneof 13 SCE employee resourcegroups that celebrate thecompany's diverse workforce andorganize community and culturalevents at SCE and in the commu-nities the utility serves.

SCE is one of the nation's larg-est investor-owned electric utili-ties, serving nearly 14 millionpeople in 15 counties of Central,Coastal, and Southern California.Based in Rosemead, CA, the util-ity has been providing electric ser-vice in the region for more than120 years.

An Edison International(NYSE:EIX) company, SouthernCalifornia Edison is one of the

nation's largest electric utilities,serving a population of nearly 14million via 4.9 million customer

accounts in a 50,000-square-mileservice area within Central,Coastal, and Southern California.

Once the band cameon stage the audito-rium became a nightclub. Dressed in white,the seven-memberband made a dra-matic appearancewith lead singerPalash Sen, wooingthe audience outof their seats

Deepavali festivities forRiverside's Shri LakshmiNarayan Mandir were cel-

ebrated over a two-week periodwith Chopda Puja, Annakut/Govardhan Puja, Lakshmi Pujaand the Annual Deepavali CulturalProgram and were organized byChairperson Hema Nakka with the

help of the ladies of her Festival'sCommittee.

50 business owners from di-verse establishments sat forChopda puja, complete with theiraccounting books and laptops.Over 1200 bhaktas attendedAnnakut/Govardhan Puja, whichtook place the following evening.151 food items were lined up inrows before Shri Lakshmi Narayanfor Annakut. SwamiParipurananda gave a pravachantelling the story of the raising ofMount Govardhan with one fin-ger by the 6-year old Krishna.

The next morning, Deepavaliwas celebrated with a LakshmiPuja. During these events, all threeMandir pujaris attended includingHead Priest Dr. Shukavak Dasa,Pandit Vipul Jani and PanditSeshacharya Samudrala.

For the fourth year the AnnualDeepavali Cultural Program washeld at UCR's University Theatre.Attendance was high and over 800came beautifully dressed in tradi-tional costume. The program be-gan with a welcome from Chairman


23

Two-week Deepavali celebrations at Riverside TempleVICTORIA TRUVER

Surendra Sharma and Vice Presi-dent Lakshman Koka.

Sumathi Shaker, actingFestival's Committee Chair intro-duced the program. Once thediyas had been lit, SraboniMukherjee sang an opening num-ber. MCs Anika Patadia andMeghana Verma introduced the

items which included a dance bythe Geetika Group followed by"Nandakumara Krishna", a dancechoregraphed by Ragini Iyer andperformed by Aarti Patel, AditiPatiola, Anisha Prasad, Arpi Patel,Khushi Nakrani, Neha Bandaru,Priya SR, Priyal Saretha, ShalinBanerjee, and Vaishnavi S. Thenext item was a Bharatnatyam

based on verses from theHanuman Chalisa. Paulomi Panditchoreographed and her studentsAnika Desar, Simrina Desar,Naneeta Desar, Sachi

Murdeshwar, Vibhuti Purohit,Arya Anand, Elisabeth Paul,Kanak Das, Swarna Das, ManasiKademani and Richa Shah danced.

The Dance Masti group per-formed a mix choreographed byAarti Vasisht. Sapna NimishThaker, Sneha Jindal, NatashaPatel, Riya Mehta, Millie Mehta,

Sahibaan Sondh, Harleen Kung,Eera Madahar, Shaurya Mehta,Vatsal Jain, Manbir Sandhu,Karran Nimish Thaker and NikhilJindal danced to a medley of filmsongs. he ladies of the FestivalsCommittee performed aKuchipudi dance choregraphedby Usha Rajesh. Archana Gantainstructed and danced with Raji

Chakrapani, Suma Hareesh, RitaMishra, Lopa Patel, PadmaPrabhakar, Varsha Shah andSumathi Shaker in the RajaRajeshwari Ashtakam. Item six,

Urugiduvay Manamein, was cho-reographed by Ragini Iyer andperformed by Maya Singh andShivani Kapu. This was followedby a Kuchipudi dance, GaneshPancharatnam, choreographedby Usha Rajesh and performed byShriya Samudrala, RamyaSamudrala, Abinaya Ramji, and

Sanyutha Maradani.The Rangtaal Group consisting

of Shifali Patel, Ayush Patel andSlok Patel danced a Bollywoodfusion number choreographed byDipa Patel. Immediately after in-termission Neelam Gupta and sonNilesh offered one song. Itemnumber 10 was RamayanaShabdam choreographed byRagini Iyer and danced by KanakPrava Das, Swarna Prava Das,Tulsi Patel and Vaibhavi Shah. ABollywood mix by Vishal Tandonand Vihar Naik followed.

The next item was Jaydev dancechoreographed by Dhruti Pateland performed by Dhruti, AnikaPatadia and Mickey Patel. TheRangtaal Group consisting of DipaPatel, Sheetal Patel, Nimisha Patel,Nitesha Patel, Nital Patel, VibhaPatel, Nutan Sony and HemaLavingia danced a Gujarati Garba.

Another Bollywood dance,performed by Krishty Mukerjeeand Proya Mazumdar, followed.Everyone agreed that the lastitem, a surprise, was the best ofthe 15 offered. Pandit Shukavak

Dasa, dressed as a sannyasistood center stage while UshaRajesh performed a seductiveKuchipudi dance, during whichshe showed respect to thesannyasi. The traditional raffleoffered over $1200 in cash prizeswith $251 as the grand finaleprize.

At the end of the program, 100trophies were distributed to all ofthe performers and plaques weregiven to the Mandir officials for2010. One mother explained theimportance of this function whenshe said, "This program allowsmy children to be in touch withtheir culture." Vice-PresidentLakshman Koka said, during hisclosing speech, "This is one ofthe most important events of theyear because this program allowsour children to showcase theirtalents. It is so important forMandir youth to learn about theirculture and the Deepavali CulturalProgram is the one time they canshow us what they have learnedduringthe past year.

The younger children see theolder children on stage and it in-stills in them the desire to also takeclasses so that they can performnext year. Shri Lakshmi NarayanMandir is a learning center wherecultural classes are offered to ben-efit our children. As the Mandircontinues to grow and prosper wehope to involve our youth morebecause our children are our great-est asset and our future."

Fifty participated in Chopda Puja 151 food offerings for Annakut Mount Govardhan built by Nirali Jani

Govardhan Puja Sraboni Mukherjee sang the

opening song

Surprise dance featured Pandit

Shukavak Dasa as a sannyasi and

Kuchupudi dancer Usha Rajesh

Participants show off the trophies they received

At the end of theprogram, 100trophies weredistributed to all ofthe performers andplaques were givento the Mandirofficials for 2010

December 3 , 2010India Post24 www.indiapost.com

TOP TENHINDI FILM SONGS1 Sau Gram Zindagi : Guzaarish

2 I Am Dog Gone Crazy:

Action Replayy

3 Dhoop Ke Makaan:

Break Ke Baad

4 Tumse Kya Kehna: Dus Tola

5 Sapne Saloney: Khelein Hum Jee

Jaan Sey

6 Maula Maula: Allah Ke Banday

7 Desi Kali: Golmaal 3

8 Ajab Leher: Break Ke Baad

9 I Got That Poison: Hisss

10 Janiya Teri Hansi Ada: Musaa

Shahrukh Khan, the star who has portrayed almost every kind ofrole on screen had been mostly labeled as a romantic star. However, the next year will see this Khan in a completely new niche as an actor

since he will be playing the lead in mostly action based thrillers.Shahrukh has always been considered a very good actor for de-picting soft romantic flings on the silver screen, but with movies

like Don 2 and RA.ONE releasing in 2011 he will have the typicalaction hero tag on him. Even though his role in Don2 is touted

to be on a more positive line and in RA.ONE as being ascientist who falls into a deep problem due to his owninvention, the characters will give him a huge jump in hisversatility as far as his acting skills go.

Besides these two flicks which will see him in two dif-ferent roles, there are reports that SRK will also be seen in

a negative role in Dhoom 3, which will widen his scope inthe performance area. Thus, SRK will be seen jumping fromaction to double action in his role as the negative charac-ter in Dhoom 3.

Just five months after her marriageto the Nepalese businessmanSamrat Dahal, Manisha Koirala

shocked her millions of fans and friends inthe B-town with her recent Facebook post.

Manisha wrote on Facebook that hermarriage life has been on roller coasterride and she is planning to get divorcejust after five months of her wedding.She also added that she feared her deci-sion might hurt her parents.

However, she deleted the post aftera few hours. But her status message didleave her fans and friend curious. Guessshe was apprehensive over all the me-dia hoopla her message might create.

Manisha admits that the status mes-sage was posted hastily after some dif-ferences with Samrat. She also con-fessed that sometimes she overreactsand writes "silly things".

move?SplitSameera Reddy is one of the fittest actresses of Bollywood and

this makes her the best choice for performing on the sizzlingnumbers which has also become her identity.

Reddy is a champion swimmer which keeps her body fit under anycondition. But, Sameera has got a new passion that is keeping herunder water for long time. The sexy Sam is undergoing scuba divinglessons and has asked her instructor to let her explore the vast ex-panses of the sea.

Now, the scuba diving has become more of an addiction to her.Sameera has gained enough stamina to keep herself under water formore time now. She has also purchased a brand new scuba diving gear,which has become her best buddy these days. Her dedication to thejob will soon make her a certified scuba diver.

In fact, on hearing the news a fan, who is also a scuba diver casu-ally requested her to upload the video and the sporty actress hasresponded by sharing her scuba diving video with all via YouTube.

India Post 25December 3, 2010

www.indiapost.com

Bollywood

We are really happy together", saysthe glitteringly gorgeous Lara Dutta,whose face has started glowing …

and every one knows that it's 'L-O-V-E'.Lara goes all out talking about her beau ten-

nis ace Mahesh Bhupati in the recent edition ofPeople. Talking about her engagement cer-emony, Lara says "I think that my parentssaw it coming more than I did. They reallylike Mahesh a lot". And the best part is thatboth the families are Bangalore-bound.

Confirming this Lara says "Ourfamilies have become pretty close be-cause everyone is in Bangalore." Larais also on an all-time high because herfitness DVD is all set to hit the mar-kets. Her engagement to Mahesh didset lots of tongues wagging, asMahesh happens to be an already mar-ried man! Talking about this aspect, Lara says "I am notthe person to comment on Mahesh's past and whetheror not he went through a tough period."

All in all, when its Lara at the helm of things, even the'impossible' gets all geared up and says 'I m possible". Wayto go, Lara!

Imran Khan-Avantika Malik's love story will surely make a wonderful script. The latestis that the love birds are living together in Avantika's house. Apparently, Imran hasmoved out of his bungalow, since it is currently being renovated. It is expected to be ready

before January 14, 2011, which is when the actor will marry Avantika. Imran's mother Nuzhat isalso staying with the couple.

"My bungalow belonged to my grandpa (late Nasir Hussain). The time had come to do it upall over again. It required a lot of repairs for various reasons. The inside structure is beingchanged to a large extent. So, now I am staying at Avantika's house." says Imran.

Well, Imran and Avantika have decided to go for court marriage, as they belong to differentreligions.

Rani Mukerji enjoys being a part of women-centric films andsays she would like do a movie where a woman is projected asa strong person.

"Whatever films I have been a part of so far, most of them have beenwomen-centric films. I wish to do more such films where women areshown stronger because it is a fact that women are stronger," Rani,who gave hits like "Bunty Aur Babli" and "Saathiya", told reporters.

Her role in the upcoming film "No One Killed Jessica" would be areflection of her belief where she would be seen in the role of a televi-sion journalist.

Asked about not being seen on screen much these days, she said: "Iwant to be a part of good films and play good characters. I wouldn't liketo disappoint my fans. I have always tried that every new film I do isdifferent from others."

"No One Killed Jessica" is based on model Jessica Lall who wasshot dead in 1999 by Manu Sharma in a nightclub. Produced by UTVSpotboy, the film also features Vidya Balan as Jessica's elder sisterSabrina. It will hit the screens Jan 7 next year.

Strong woman

www.indiapost.com26 India Post December 3, 2010

PREM KISHORE


Visual, intense, engrossing andrhetorical, The Resistance Series,an action packed sci-fi thriller hit

YouTube last week starring Los Angelesbased Sunny Jain. Director Adrian Picardiand writer Matt Ragghianti (early staffwriter on Lost) have devised Jain, as Arclight Insurgo, the lead character and steerthe eight spine chilling, plot twisting, dra-matic episodes around a dystopian fu-ture world called Aurordeca.

A deadly virus NOXE is discoveredby villain Syrus Primoris (Adrian Zaw) acorporate titan who keeps a slave sys-tem in force and Arclight Insurgo (Jain)and Lana Strife (Katrina Law) mission isto stop him.

Resistance is a fast paced, muscle andbrawn, dramatic storytelling with a mixedgenre energy remind-ing us of the perilsand challenges of aruined world. Beforeit reached YouTube,Starz Media pickedup the live -actiongraphic episodeswhich became available on XboxLive,Play Station Network and iTunes.

How did it all begin? Jain responds."Adrian and I met in the eighth grade

and became the best of friends. I starredin his high school film project and whenhe went to USC Film School and I was

an undergrad, Adrian made a short tenminute film His Day To Remember and Istarred in it and before we knew it wewere headed to Utah for the SundanceFestival", where we won an award.

The five minute film focuses on anervous, young bearded man board-ing a commuter express bus. The nextfew minutes are nerve wracking as pas-sengers, and the driver stare suspi-ciously at him and there is a growingalarm as he fiddles around with hisbackpack and constantly looks at hiswatch. The young man alights fromthe bus and sits at an outdoor restau-rant table. What happens next is a joltof the unexpected.

"This film encouraged and motivatedus to collaborate several times and filmmaking became serious. It took us threeyears to get it together with a budget of $250,000."

The energy and excitement of makingfilms comes through when Jain speaks."I was very comfortable making this shortfilm and found that I could easily trans-form myself into a character."

Jain speaks rapidly and with enthu-siasm amped up. "Film making is an in-credible journey - a once in a life timeexperience."

It is evident that the series was madewith dedication, commitment, total trustand collaboration. "It's a team effort," Jainconfirms. "We need to work togetherwhether it's tackling a beard that takesone and a half hours to glue on, beingsplattered in blood in a wet, cold wintryday in the arid landscapes of Santa Claritaor working out the script."

How did his parents react to hisinterest in films?

"My parents believe it is good toexplore avenues, and they encour-

aged me to spread my wings as theydiscerned my potential and passion.They were supportive and enthusi-astic at the same time they sug-gested I try out for medical school!So I am now prepping for medicineand reading up my biology notes the

moment I step out of my trailer inthe parking lot."

The future?'Maybe we will do more episodes,

we are not sure where this series willtake us. It could evolve into a movie.After all when Adrian the directorand I made "His Day to Remember"

we were listed at the Sundance Festival andwon an award".

Born in Chicago, Jain is settled in Pasadena,Los Angeles, and may move to med school inanother part of the country. "I must become in-dependent," he says. "I am becoming too com-fortable in my parents' home. My sister, who is aSAG member, did work on many a TV show and

is now a resident doctor."Sunny Jain's interests range from film to

photography, the saxophone, science fiction,videogames. "I'm just a normal guy" he says"trying to enjoy every aspect of my person-ality".

Will the Resistance Series become a cult hit?Check it out on You Tube.

L-R: Sunny Jain, Krishna Jain, Ashok Jain, Payal Jain, Raj Jain, Adrian Picardi (Director), Susan Picardi

Resistance is a fast paced, muscleand brawn, dramatic story tellingwith a mixed genre energyreminding us of the perils andchallenges of a ruined world

December 3, 2010 India Post

www.indiapost.com

27

Indian graphic novel 'Untouchable' on Apple IPadIndia Post News Service

NEW YORK: Liquid Comics announced last week thedigital iPad release of Untouchable, an original graphicnovel from acclaimed writers Mike Carey (X-Men, Lucifer,The Unwritten) and Samit Basu (Devi, The Tall Tales ofVishnu Sharma, The Simoqin Prophecies). A printed editionof the graphic novel will also be released in North Americathrough Liquid's publishing partner, Dynamite Entertain-ment in early December.

"When I was approached to team up with Samit Basu,India's foremost sci-fi / fantasy author, I didn't have tothink about it for too long. We decided to put the Anglo-Indian connection at centre stage, and the result wasUntouchable. This is a horror story about the clash ofcultures, and about a man whose mixed race left him with-out friends or shelter - until the day he met a demon who,in her way, was just as much of an outcast as him," com-mented Carey.

"This haunting tale by Mike and Samit is the result oftwo of the most creative minds from the East and Westworking together for the first time," Liquid Comics Co-Founder & CEO, Sharad Devarajan added. "The future ofgraphic novels is digital and as such, we are thrilled tolaunch this graphic novel digitally through the Apple iPad,in addition to bookstores through our publishing partner,Dynamite Entertainment."

"Writing Untouchable was a dream come true for sev-eral reasons, the most important of which was gettingto work with Mike Carey who has been one of my idolssince I started reading comics, well before I started writ-ing them," added Samit Basu. "Mike is ridiculously nicefor someone that successful and talented, and this wasa collaboration that really worked. The story itself wasone that fired both our imaginations, from the darkjungles of turn-of-the-century India to the dreaming

rewarding experiences I've had at Liquid Comics. Whilewildly creative on their own, the synergy between thesetwo talented writers and the worlds they are bringing to-gether is a window into a very exciting future," addedGotham Chopra, Liquid's Co-Founder.

Liquid Comics is an entertainment company focused oncreating original stories and modern myths for worldwideaudiences. The company was founded by entrepreneurs,Gotham Chopra, Sharad Devarajan and Suresh Seetharaman

spires of Oxford, there was drama and blood spilling allover the place."

"Watching Mike and Samit interact and generate a freshand thrilling story in Untouchable has been one of the most

and uses the medium of graphic novel publishing to de-velop properties for theatrical live-action films, animationand video games.

Liquid has created original graphic novels with ac-claimed filmmakers and creators including John Woo,Shekhar Kapur, Deepak Chopra, Guy Ritchie, Dave Stewart,Jonathan Mostow, Edward Burns, Nicolas Cage, JohnMoore and others.

Gowarikar's period filmhits theaters Dec 3


NEW YORK: PVR Pictures andAshutosh Gowariker Productions' much-hyped period thriller Khelein Hum Jee JaanSey (KHJJS) is set to release all over onDec 3. The film is directed by AshutoshGowariker (of Lagaan and Jodhaa Akbarfame) and stars Abhishek Bachchan,Deepika Padukone and Sikander Kher.

Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey is a period-

thriller film with Abhishek playing SurjyaSen based on the Chittagong Uprising of1930. Says Gowarikar, "I have purchased therights of the book 'Do and Die' by ManiniChatterjee. Little to almost nothing is knownabout the Chittagong Uprising and Ithought it important to be brought forwardto the nation. It is a true story and yet weknow so little about it, hence my desire tobring it onto the big screen. Few realize thatthe Chittagong Armoury Raid is one ofIndia's greatest freedom struggles. The filmis about young revolutionaries who playwith their lives, hence the title Khelein HumJee Jaan Sey."

The film revolves around a series of at-tacks executed in one single night inChittagong, British India, on April 18, 1930and its aftermath.

The actions of these revolutionary teen-agers had stunned the colonial rulers andignited the spark of rebellion throughoutBengal. In the book 'Do and Die' journalistManini Chatterjee, drawing upon hithertounpublished extracts from police recordsand government files, reconstructs theevents of that fateful night. What hap-pened in the ensuing three years is vividlynarrated, though she has only reported thetrue incidents.

‘This haunting tale by Mike andSamit is the result of two of the mostcreative minds from the East andWest working together for the firsttime,’ Liquid Comics Co-Founder &CEO, Sharad Devarajan added. ‘Thefuture of graphic novels is digital andas such, we are thrilled to launch thisgraphic novel digitally through theApple iPad, in addition to bookstoresthrough our publishing partner,Dynamite Entertainment’

December 3, 2010India Post

www.indiapost.com

28

MIAAC Film Festival wraps up with awards ceremony


NEW YORK: Five days of sold-out features, shorts and documen-tary screenings, a Smita Patil ret-rospective in partnership with the

Film Society at Lincoln Center,nightly red-carpet events, film in-dustry panels, and celebrity-packed after parties all came to aclose with a prestigious awardsceremony of the Mahindra Indo-American Arts Council (MIAAC)film festival at the SVA Theater inManhattan, on Nov 14.

Following the closing nightfilm "Cooking with Stella", thelongest-running and prestigiousIndian film festival in the coun-try, the MIAAC Film Festival, rec-ognized noteworthy directing,writing, and acting at the awardsceremony.

Umesh Kulkarni's Vihir (TheWell) won Best Picture; AjayNaidu won Best Actor for his rolein Ashes while Seema Biswas wonBest Actress for Cooking withStella. Raj Nidimoru and KrishnaDK as the director-duo won Best

Director for Shor while RituparnoGhosh won Best Screenplay forMemories in March. 'Ganesh, BoyWonder' directed by SrinivasKrishna won Best Documentary

and 'Charulata…A Sequel' di-rected by Sangeeta Padmanabhanwon the Best Short Film award. ASpecial Achievement Award for

Significant Contribution to theGlobalization of Indian music wasgiven to A.R. Rahman, which wasaccepted at the ceremony by di-rector Mani Ratnam.

Among the many celebrities

who attended the festival wereMani Ratnam and wife Suhasini,Mira Nair, Seema Biswas, EktaKapoor, Tusshar Kapoor, SalmanRushdie, Aasif Mandvi, ManuNarayan, Tannishtha Chatterjeee,and Ajay Naidu.

Vihir (The Well)Ajay Naidu

Seema Biswas

Shankar-Ehsaan-Loylaunch iPhone app


NEW YORK: Acclaimed musi-cal trio Shankar, Ehsaan and Loyhave created yet another milestoneas they announced their associa-tion with technology giant Appleby creating a special applicationwhich will enable them to reach outto fans across the globe.

SEL, renowned for their fabu-lous music scores of movies like'Dil Chahta Hai', 'Kal Ho Na Ho','Wake Up Sid', 'TaareZameen Par', 'Rock On'and 'Housefull', havenow become the firstIndian music com-poser group to have acustomized applicationon the iPhone, en-abling fans all over theworld to stay updatedwith the latest from theband.

The application willalso allow access to exclusive con-tent, backstage videos and musicfrom the talented musicians. It willalso help fans across borders tocome together and be a part of theexclusive 'Shankar Ehsaan Loy'community.

This exciting tool is not onlyavailable to all iPhone users but isalso compatible with the iPodtouch and the iPad.

"We've had a very dynamic jour-ney so far and it's now time to upthe ante and move into other ar-eas of music and songwriting withthe help of newer and popular plat-forms like the internet, mobile andother digital mediums. The SEL

iPhone application is one smallstep towards making our musicavailable globally and to a varieddemographic of music lovers,"says the musical trio.

The application is created byOML Digital, an Indian companythat specializes in building technol-ogy for entertainers. OML buildstools which help content creatorsreach out, monetize and track theircontent. They believe that bymatching content with the right

brands, an enriching environmentfor artists and users can be created.

OML Digital released the iPhoneapplication for Shankar EhsaanLoy. Girish Talwar, Founding Direc-tor, OML Digitial says, "We at OMLhave always wanted to provide art-ists the ability to reach out to theiraudiences in the most direct man-ner possible and with the highestquality of interactivity that technol-ogy can offer at that point in time.Through the SEL iPhone applica-tion that the OML Digital team hasbuilt we believe we have created,for the first time, a product that al-lows musicians to do that in a man-ner like never before."

Shankar, Ehsaan and Loy

IFFI 'film bazaar' for co-production,tourism promotion

PANAJI: A 'film bazaar', inau-gurated on the sidelines of IFFIhere, is attracting some big marketplayers who are looking for co-production deals with Indian film-makers besides tourism industriesof countries that are targetingBollywood productions.

The fourth edition of the bazaar,organized by National Film Devel-opment Corporation Ltd(NFDC), saw internationalbuyers and sales agentslike Fortissimo Films(UK), Cinetic RightsManagement (US),Yellow Affair Foun-dation (Finland),Rapid Eye Movies(Germany) andR a i l t o(Ne the r l and )participating.

"It is my firsttime at IFFI and I aminterested in the di-verse film culture ofIndia. I have somemeetings scheduledwith filmmakers, let us seewhat happens. India is avery important country for us.It has a flourishing film cultureand obviously lot of money,"Christoph Thoke, a producer fromGermany, told PTI.

Thoke recently saw Aamir Khanproductions' "Peepli Live" and isimpressed with the way "reality"has been shown in an entertain-ing way.

"We in Europe are tired of filmsthat are about suffering. We arenow looking forward to films thatdepict reality in a more real way

without making it too heavy,"Thoke said, adding he hopedsomething will come out duringhis trip to IFFI.

The bazaar this year also in-cludes participation from SAARCcountries. "This year for the firsttime we have participants fromSAARC countries, who can use

t h i s p l a t -form to interact with filmmakersfrom across the world," said NFDCmanaging director Nina Gupta.

Marten Rabarts of Binger FilmLab, Amsterdam is already collabo-rating with "My Brother Nikhil"maker Onir for his next production.Rabarts also held a session on'Pitching and Packaging of filmproduction projects.'

Oscar-winning film "No Man'sLand" producer and Venice Inter-national Film Festival directorMarco Mueller also held a ses-sion with budding filmmakers onpitching their films in interna-tional circuits.

Johannes Koeck, head of CineTirol Film Commission Austria,said Indian film shoots in his coun-

try have seen a 100 per centtourist increase.

"So far Austria hasseen 70 Indian films be-

ing shot there. Themost latest I thinkwas Subhash Ghai's'Yuvvraaj'.

We are also try-ing to work on aco-produc t iondeal which willmake thingsmore easy for In-dian producers interms of money.

We alreadyprovide free loca-

tion scouting to In-dian producers,"

Koeck told PTI."Indian films are the

cheapest way of promotinga country's tourism. From the veryfirst film we have noticed that In-dian movies help increase thenumber of tourists coming fromyour country to almost 100 percent, which is a huge number forus," Koeck said.

The bazaar also saw the partici-pation of independent filmmakersfrom India like Onir, PraveenDabbas and Aamir Bashir amongothers. -PTI

The longest-runningand prestigiousIndian film festival inthe country recog-nized noteworthydirecting, writing,and acting at theawards ceremony

www.indiapost.com December 3, 201027 India Post

CHOKHI DHANI VILLAGE

Chokhi Dhani Village has been themirror of Rajasthani culture since

1989. Started as part of ambiancefor a restaurant, over the years it hasevolved as a tasteful and authentic

symbol of ethnic village life of thismost colorful state in the country

Cont’d on page 30

Synonymouswith Rajasthani

culture

India Post December 3, 201030 Travel & Hospitality Postwww.indiapost.com

Chokhi Dhani Village: Synonymous with Rajasthani culture

Chokhi Dhani Village hasbeen the mirror ofRajasthani culture since

1989. Started as part of ambiancefor a restaurant, over the years ithas evolved as a tasteful and au-thentic symbol of ethnic village lifeof this most colorful state in thecountry. Today, the name of

Chokhi Dhani is synonymous withRajasthani culture throughout thecountry.

Spread over 10 acres of beauti-fully landscaped area for a rusticlook, it is dotted with machaansand platforms where different folk

artists perform concurrently. A vil-lage fair is created every eveningas an ongoing celebration of therich and vibrant cultural heritageof Rajasthan.

The display of traditional hutsand workmanship will take youback to the times when splendorwas unpretentious. Experience the

rich warmth and rustic charm of atypical Rajasthani Village atChokhi Dhani - the festivities neverend here!

Live dance and music perfor-mance all through the evenings isone of the major attractions at

Chokhi Dhani Village. The expo-sure that the local folk artistes havereceived has revived many of thearts and crafts that were gettingall but forgotten in these moderntimes. Few visitors can resist thetemptation to join the artistes anddance with the music.

The magic show, the puppet

show, acrobatics on a bamboowithout the protection of a safetynet beneath, the astrologer, thefortune teller parrot all made thevisitors spellbound.

The artificial forest with roarsounds of animals and tribes, boat-

ing, horse riding, camel riding, el-ephant riding and much more arehere to rejuvenate you and yourfamily.

The Chokhi Dhani Village alsohas a photo studio with traditionallook, a national art and craft mar-ket, a museum and many moreplaces showing Rajasthani village

culture, villagers' lifestyle with adining hall, renowned for themouth watering and typicalRajasthani food. A place where youwill enjoy to come and forget toleave... where you will get rid offyour worries and you will drown

with Rajasthani art, culture andrespect for the guest.

How to reachRoad: The lovely pink city of

Jaipur is just 258 kms from DelhiAir: Jaipur is an international

airport, has frequent flights to andfrom Delhi and Mumbai. Road: 4.5hours, NH8 is best road from Delhi

to Jaipur.Rail: 4.5 hours, Ajmer Shatabdi

departs from New Delhi at 6:10amand reaches Jaipur at 10:40am. Thesame train departs from Jaipur at5:45pm and returns to Delhi at10:20pm.

Awards instituted forheritage tourism

NEW DELHI: Heritage bodyINTACH has entered into anagreement with a South Asiatourism promotion body forawarding individuals and insti-tutions who have done inspiringand innovative work in heritagetourism.

The SATTE-INTACH Heri-tage Tourism Awards will begiven in various categories likemuseums, heritage towns andcities, heritage walks, naturalheritage tourism, rural, craft andcommunity-based heritage tour-ism, among other categories.

An MoU was signed here be-tween the South Asia Travel Tour-ism Exchange (SATTE) andINTACH for instituting tourismawards for heritage.

The MoU signed by INTACHchairman Maj Gen (Retd) L K

Gupta and SATTE's Naveen SBerry lays out a partnership be-tween the two bodies to awarddeserving artists and institutionsin the field in India.

"The awards are instituted bySATTE, New Delhi, India in part-nership with INTACH with theobjective of recognizing and in-spiring individuals and institu-tions who have done inspiringand innovative work in the fieldof heritage tourism," a statementsaid.

The awardees will be picked upfrom among nominations collectedby INTACH through its chaptersand members across the countryand through help by other agen-cies.

A committee comprising topofficials of INTACH and SATTEwill pick up the awardees. -PTI

Malaysia top travel destination for IndiansKUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia

has emerged as one of the mostfavorite destinations in the AsiaPacific for Indian travelers, accord-ing to a new survey.

Forty-six per cent of respon-dents from India had named thesoutheast Asian country as oneof their preferred destinations forthe next two years, said the sur-

vey by the Asia Pacific Travel In-tentions and conducted by Visaand the Pacific Asia Travel Asso-ciation, reported national newsagency Bernama.

"Malaysia is ahead of otherAsia Pacific countries and territo-ries such as Australia and HongKong. "With India now the sixthlargest source market for inbound

tourism to Malaysia, these surveyfindings are very timely," StruatTomlinson, Visa Malaysia countrymanager said.

Tomlinson said the tourism po-tential between the two countrieswas tremendous as both hadforged close ties with six bilateralagreements recently, one of whichalso included tourism. -PTI

Shillong Autumn Festival kicks offSHILLONG: The annual Au-

tumn Festival kicked off to a galaopening at Barapani, about 20 kmfrom Shillong, combining mouthwatering local food with wine, eth-nic songs and dances with west-ern music.

Cultural troupes from all overNorth-East are taking part in thefestival by the scenic Umiam(Barapani) Lake, the theme ofwhich is "Tourism Naturally".

The festival has been orga-nized by Meghalaya Tourism De-velopment Forum (MTDF).

The concluding day of the two-day Autumn Festival showcaseda giant canvas full of paintings byartists from all over North East,which were auctioned at thevenue.

"Fire dancers from Ukranineand England will also perform onthe concluding evening of the fes-

tival," William Diengdoh, memberMTDF said.

Fashion show, juggling be-sides rock groups from variousNorth Eastern states will take tothe stage.

Held for the sixth consecutiveyear, Shillong Autumn Festivalhas gained popularity in differentparts of North East India and hasalso been drawing foreign visi-tors. -PTI

The exposure that the local folkartistes have received hasrevived many of the arts andcrafts that were getting all butforgotten in these modern times.Few visitors can resist thetemptation to join the artistesand dance with the music

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1,500 tourists rescuednear Mt. Everest

Conference on tourismfor the disabled

Tourism in Mauritiuspicking up:Jugnauth

JAMSHEDPUR: MauritiusPresident Anerood Jugnauth hassaid tourism sector, which contrib-utes largely to the economy of hiscountry, has been picking up alongwith improvement in the globaleconomy.

"The tourist scenario haspicked up in our country with theglobal economy showing signs ofimprovement.

The number of Europeantourists had gone down, affect-ing Maur i t ius ' s economybadly," Jugnauth told reportershere.

Tourism contributes 40 per centof the country's revenue and themajority of the contribution comesfrom European nations, he said.

After tourism, sugarcane, tech-nology and textile segments con-tribute in the country's revenuegeneration, he said. -PTI

HPTDC winterdiscount in itshotels

SHIMLA: In order to attracttourists during lean season in win-ter at most of the places in thestate, Himachal Tourism Develop-ment Corporation (HPTDC) hasoffered 15 to 30 per cent in its 57-odd hotels from November 15 toApril 8 next year.

Vineet Kumar, Managing Direc-tor of the Corporation, saidHPTDC was also planning to offerattractive packages for X-Massand New Year from December 23to January 2 next year as the dis-count of 15 to 30 per cent wouldnot be available during this pe-riod. -PTI

KATHMANDU: Nepalese au-thorities have rescued 1,500 tour-ists with the help of helicoptersand airplanes, who were strandedat Lukla, the gateway to Mt.Everest for more than a week.

The trekkers and tourist guideshave been rescued with the helpof the Army helicopters and otherprivate airlines helicopters and air-planes, according to SaradPradhan, media coordinator ofNepal Tourism Board.

They were stranded there dueto bad weather in the region whichhindered the operation of regularflights to and from Lukla. There is

no passenger left behind in Luklaafter the rescue operation, theNTB said.

Army helicopters were mobi-lized in coordination with trekkingagents at the request made byMinistry of Tourism and Civil Avia-tion, Nepal Tourism Board, Trek-king Agents Association of Nepaland Himalayan Rescue Associa-tion, the official said. Army heli-copters alone rescued more than200 tourists stranded in Lukla.

The foreign tourists were leftwithout adequate food and otherfacilities for more than a week inthe lap of the Himalayas. -PTI

MOSCOW: First of its kind in-ternational conference on differ-ently abled with participation frommore than 40 tourist companies,health resorts, rehabilitation cen-ters and hotels from 13 countrieswill be held in Moscow.

The conference will discuss is-sues of insurance, transportation,accommodation and juridical as-pects of tourism for disabledpeople here.

The main aim of the conference,as its organizers say, is to "encour-age the development of medicaltourism and tourism for disabledpeople in the Russian market, at-tract attention of tourist compa-nies to this kind of tourism, pro-mote the expansion of possibilitiesof rest and treatment for peoplewho suffer from different ailmentsand need special services."

President of the Russian Tour-

ist Industry Union Sergei Shpilkostressed that "medical tourism is avery perspective direction in thedevelopment of the tourist sector,however, it just begins develop-ing in Russia."

According the Ministry of

Health and Social Development,there are some 14.5 million of dis-abled people in Russia, whichmakes about 10 percent of thewhole population of the country.(Itar-Tass). PTI

Qatar Airways plans service from Bay AreaIndia Post News Service

CUPERTINO, CA: Indus TravelNetwork Association (ITNA) heldits third successful event at AryaRestaurant here on November 11.It was sponsored by Qatar Air-ways, a Five Star airline.

Close to 100 Indian travel agentmembers of ITNA in Bay Area at-tended this event. Qatar has 80 des-tinations world wide and 10 desti-nations in India from three gate-

ways from USA - Houston, NewYork and Washington DC. It hasmany code share cities in the US.

There is huge possibility ofQatar starting a service from Bay

Area next year, according toKristian Anderson, Qatar Airways'Regional Manager, USA.

The next ITNA event will beheld on January 19, 2011.

Kristian Anderson Regional Manager, USA for Qatar Airways,

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The main aim of theconference, as itsorganizers say, is to‘encourage thedevelopment ofmedical tourism’

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Tech News TechBizAsia Society honor for Mukesh AmbaniIndia Post News Service

NEW YORK: Continuing itsmore than three decades-long tra-dition of recognizing extraordinaryindividuals Asia Society New Yorkhonored Mukesh D. Ambani,Chairman of Reliance IndustriesLtd.; Jeffrey R. Immelt, Chairmanand CEO of General Electric; andthe New York Philharmonic,America's oldest symphony or-chestra, at its Annual Awards Din-ner Nov 16 at the Waldorf Astoriahotel in New York City.

The evening's emcee wasCNBC Anchor, Melissa Lee, whointerviewed honorees Ambani andImmelt during the event.

Gala chairs were Edward andBetsy Cohen, Atlas Energy Inc.,and Vikram S. Pandit, CEO,Citigroup Inc.

Award Dinner Chair Ed Cohenpresented Mukesh Ambani, Chair-man of Reliance Industries Lim-ited, with the Global Vision Awardin recognition of his contributionsto developing technologies thathave advanced the goal of energyindependence by enabling furtheraccess to petroleum and naturalgas in India and in the UnitedStates.

In his acceptance speech,Ambani said he has had a greatjourney since his days at StanfordUniversity 30 years ago. "I havebeen truly fortunate to have hadsuch a great journey," he said. "Inthe 1980s India was viewed as athird world country and today it isthe third most important economy

in the world. That has been truly afantastic journey."

Referring to President Obama'srecent visit to India, Ambani said,"It was good to see that after 30years US business leaders were

saying that they wanted to takethe Indian market to create jobsback in the US. It made me feelgood that finally we have arrived.The US President comes to Indiaand says this is a great market.

That is the journey India has madein the last few decades."

In 2009, Ambani was rankedfifth best performing CEO in theworld by the Harvard BusinessReview and Reliance Industries,

Ltd. was ranked the 15th most in-novative company in the world ina survey conducted by BusinessWeek and BCG.

Jeffrey Immelt, Chairman andCEO of General Electric, was rec-

ognized by Awards Dinner ChairVikram Pandit, with the GlobalLeadership Award for his work inexpanding the company whilecontinuing to respect local envi-ronments and cultures. In his ac-ceptance, he stressed the contin-ued importance of globalization,and underscored his company'sethic to "make money for - not justin - a country."

Immelt was named one of the"World's Best CEOs" three timesby Barron's recognizing his glo-bal leadership of General Electricsince 2001.

James D. Wolfensohn pre-sented the New York Philharmonicwith the Cultural AmbassadorAward for its work in elevatingcross cultural dialogue around theworld through music, especiallythrough its groundbreaking con-certs in Pyongyang, North Korea,and Vietnam.

Guests were treated to a per-formance of Handel'sPassacaglia as well as a movingrendition of the Korean folksong, Arirang, performed by as-sistant concertmaster MichelleKim and violist Vivek Kamath.President and Executive Directorof the Philharmonic Zarin Mehtaalso shared footage from thePhilharmonic's landmark 2008trip to North Korea, whichshowed broad smiles and wavesshared between the musiciansand their North Korean audi-ence, and demonstrated thepower of music to cross seem-ingly impenetrable borders.

Yogini's Quick-n-EZ Language reaches PhoenixIndia Post News Service

COLUMBIA, MD: Quick-n-EZLanguage have opened a WestCoast office location in Phoenix,Arizona. The new location will beheaded up by Deepa Thareja, andwill allow Quick-n-EZ to expandtheir market share within the WestCoast region and increase oppor-tunity and growth targets as thecompany matures.

This strategic move by Quick-n-EZ Language will allow the com-pany to expand their footprint anddeepen the market penetration fortheir innovative array of languagelearning products that use an em-

phasis on local language referencesas a way to increase user engage-ment and lifelong retention of for-eign language words and phrases.

Thareja, a trained educator andteacher, is a natural fit to head upthis new Quick-n-EZ office. In herrole, she will be amplifying effortsto promote Quick-n-EZ's innova-tive and revolutionary languagelearning products to take the com-pany to new heights.

Quick-n-EZ's scientific ap-proach to lifelong language learn-ing is rooted in the usage of locallanguage references to effectivelyand quickly teach correct pronun-ciation, letter/character formation,

and verbal/written communicationskills for a foreign language basedon similar sounds/letters from thestudent's current or native tongue.

"Quick-n-EZ's unprecedented,scientific approach to teaching worldlanguages that last a lifetime and trulymakes their products unique withinthe market," notes new Phoenix of-fice head Thareja. "I am looking for-ward to this opportunity to growawareness for their solutions and gettheir products into more hands in theWest Coast region.

Language learning is a must inthis ever-globalizing worldeconomy."

"We are thrilled about our ex-

pansion into the Phoenix market,"says CEO Yogini Dahiwadkar. "Ifeel that this strategic move willbring numerous advantages to usas Quick-n-EZ Languages' profileand product offerings grow, andwe are confident in Ms. Thareja'sabilities to successfully drive thisnew effort. We are excited to betaking this next step in the devel-opment of our company."

Quick-n-EZ Language™ is therevolutionary language teachingmethod created by a mother toteach her own preschooler the In-dian languages of Hindi andMarathi.

Contíd on page 35

Sibal launchesMobile NumberPortability

ROHTAK, Haryana: India hasushered in Mobile Number Port-ability that will allow cellphoneusers to switch operators withoutchanging numbers, with TelecomMinister Kapil Sibal launching theservice in Haryana.

The rest of India would get touse MNP from January 20, nextyear.

The consumer friendly servicewas mooted over two years agoand was planned to be imple-mented by end of 2009.

However, implementation hadto be deferred several times ow-ing to reasons ranging from lackof preparedness of operators todelay in appointment of an agencyto oversee MNP execution. -PTI

Top industrialiststo advise govton export

NEW DELHI: The governmenthas formed a group of top bank-ers and industrialists, includingSBI chief OP Bhatt, AshokLeyland MD R Seshasayee andHero group chief Pawan Munjal,to advise it on raising India's ex-port competitiveness and doublingoverseas shipments in the nextthree years.

The decision was taken at a high-level Board of Trade (BoT), compris-ing top industrialists, bankers, ex-port promotion councils and gov-ernment officials, which met hereunder the chairmanship of Com-merce and Industry Minister AnandSharma. "This has been a compre-hensive review. We have decidedto set up a working group. -PTI

Domestic carrierswarned against'predatory pricing'

NEW DELHI: Sending a strongsignal to domestic carriers overabrupt hike in airfares by some ofthem during periods of high demand,Civil Aviation Ministry has warnedthem of action if they continued withsuch "predatory pricing".

The Directorate General of CivilAviation (DGCA), which issued adirective to all airlines earlier thisweek, has sent notices to them toexplain why such high prices werebeing charged.

"We will take action against air-lines that violate the price band.In fact, DGCA has sent notices toall the airlines. This kind of preda-tory pricing cannot be justified andit cannot be allowed to continue,"Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patelsaid here. -PTI

Sebi raps Sahara on illegalfund-raising

MUMBAI: Market regulator Sebi has castigated the Sahara Groupfor raising thousands of crores in violation of regulatory framework andsaid that there is a clear "imperative to lift the corporate veil."

Rejecting the contention of two Sahara Group entities and its supremoSubrata Roy that mopping up funds through their debenture issue --OFCDs -- was outside its purview, Sebi barred them from approachingthe public for raising money till further orders.

At the same time, Sebi also forwarded its interim order to the Ministryof Corporate Affairs for appropriate action for any violation of the Com-panies Act by the two unlisted companies. -PTI

Immelt was named one of the ‘World's BestCEOs’ three times by Barron's recognizinghis global leadership of GeneralElectric since 2001

35India PostTechBiz Postwww.indiapost.com

December 3, 2010

Originally named IndiToy, theproducts were introduced in 2009and quickly gained a market pres-ence in the U.S. and Canada.When it became clear that therewas a great need to expand theproduct methodology to includeother world languages, the linewas renamed Quick-n-EZ - still

Yogini's Quick-n-EZ Languagereaches Phoenix

Contíd from page 34

i3 award for Intelligent Power ConditionerIndia Post News Service

NEW DELHI: Shwetank Jain's"Intelligent Power Conditionerwith Hybrid System Integrator"won the first prize at the Agilent-DST-CII led India Innovation Ini-tiative i3 held at IIT Delhi. The sec-ond prize went to Nandan Kumar,Sudarshan Rajagopalan andSankamesh Ramaswamy's "Auto-mated machine to manufacturethree dimensional non-woven fi-brous structure for medical appli-cations" while the third prize wentto Kishore R, and PreethamShankpal's, "Development ofpulse wave velocity measurementsystem". They were awarded cashprizes worth one lakh, seventy-five thousand and fifty thousandrespectively.

The top three i3 awardees alsowon the best innovation award byyoung innovators given by YongIndians -Yi.

i3 also gave fourth and fifthprize to Dhananjay P Mehendale's,"New protective and air purifyingmask for citizens" and VinodMarathe's, "SHARP SUVED-Inte-grated management of CAD / IHD(Heart Attack ) and ThromboticBrain Stroke".

The National Fair finale of theIndia Innovation Initiative (i3) sawover 50 best-in-class innovationentries battling it out for top hon-ors. These 50 had been selectedout of a total of nearly a 1000 en-tries that came in from across the

country. i3 is the successful part-nership between Agilent Tech-nologies, Department of Scienceand Technology (DST) and Con-federation of Indian Industry (CII)to create and sustain an ecosys-tem of innovation and encourageinnovators of all ages and back-grounds.

A jury panel comprising emi-nent industrialists, scientists, busi-ness management experts andgovernment representatives came

together to evaluate each of the50 entries. Yi awarded the top threeinnovations by young innovators.Select innovations, which have aspecial potential for commercial-ization, will be offered incubationsupport by the Centre for Innova-tion, Incubation and Entrepre-neurship, IIM Ahmedabad. Therewill be other awards, recognitionand support to winners.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr.

Parmeet Ahuja, President andCountry General Manager, AgilentTechnologies India said, "We in-troduced i3 last year with the ob-jective to provide innovativeminds a platform to convert viableideas to reality. India has a largetalent base and initiatives like i3 givepeople a chance to showcase futur-istic and break-through innova-tions, and potentially reach out to aglobal audience."

"Through the years, it has beenour endeavor to engage and tap thebest minds in the country. We areoverwhelmed by the response ofnearly 1000 entries this year, a bigjump over last year's participationstrength of 250. We will continue towork hard to encourage and incul-cate the spirit of innovation, whichcan then be leveraged for the ben-efit of society at large." he added.

"India has emerged as an eco-nomic superpower during the lasttwo decades and is well placed to

become the most powerful countryin the world in the next 20 years. In-novation is the root for this changeto happen, we need to be innova-tive in all spheres of activity start-ing from technology to services andall levels. Through joint collabora-tion with Agilent, CII and Yi, DST isdetermined to make Indian Innova-tion Initiative - i3 a flagship event tofoster innovation at the grassrootlevel. Our aim is to harness the cre-ativity of the fertile minds of Indiaand to address the innovative zealat all levels, that would eventuallytake India to the position of worlddominance," said Dr. Kamal KantDwivedi, Scientist "G" & Head-NCSTC, Department of Science &

Technology, Govt of India.Anjan Das, Senior Director, CII

highlighted, "CII is happy to part-ner with DST and Agilent for theIndia Innovation Initiative - i3Awards 2010. As one of the apexbodies representing industries inIndia, CII has taken a leap forwardto bring forth the agenda of Inno-vation awareness and promotionwithin its members and society atlarge, with the objective of build-ing a sustainable innovation eco-system in the country. i3 is theperfect forum where innovatorsabove 18, from all over the coun-try and across all backgrounds,could participate and get a chanceto showcase there creativity.

The top innovators will berecognized and facilitated byCIIE of IIM Ahmedabad, SINE ofIIT Bombay and Yi to transformtheir innovation into active com-mercial ventures. This would cre-ate business, jobs and an over-all awareness among masses, inline with the CII theme of "Busi-ness for Livelihood" for sustain-able and inclusive growth. I amconfident that such initiativeswould facilitate some finest in-novators from all backgroundsand regions of India."

Award received by best innovatars for their simple and scientifically

advanced innovations on i3 National Fair held at IIT Delhi, 22 November

Rohatgi wins Innovation Research Awardmarketed by the companyIndiToy, Inc. - to reflect howquickly and easily students of allages can learn using its uniqueapproach. Learning materials in-clude colorful flashcards, handypractice charts, and easy to fol-low workbooks, all laminated andused with dry erase markers forrepeat use and language rein-forcement.


MILWAUKEE: The AmericanSociety of Mechanical Engineers(ASME) has named PradeepRohatgi, a Distinguished Professorof materials engineering at the Uni-versity of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

(UWM), recipient of the 2010Innovative Research Award in Tri-bology.

This award is given bienniallyto an individual who has demon-strated outstanding creativity andoriginal research in the field of tri-bology, the study of friction andwear. It was announced at the Oc-tober joint meeting of ASME andthe Society of Tribologists andLubrication Engineers in San Fran-cisco.

The award recognizes Rohatgi'sgroundbreaking contributions toimproving the production of metalmatrix composites. He synthesizedlightweight self-lubricating com-posites and uncovered the mecha-nisms of formation of self-lubricat-ing films in these materials. He alsodeveloped wear-resistant light-weight composites that are cur-rently used in transportation appli-

cations including brake rotors. Hisexpertise is sought by the U.S. De-fense Department to improve theenergy efficiency, strength and re-liability of military transportationsystems.

Rohatgi's more recent work in-volves unique tribological proper-ties of nanostructured materials andself-healing metal composites. Em-bedded with nanoparticles, thesecomposites can deliver qualitiessuch as self-lubrication, abrasionresistance and energy absorption.

The award also honorsRohatgi's efforts to make his re-search available to private indus-try, particularly in Wisconsin.

"His most recent work with syn-thesized cast metal matrixnanocomposites is drawing a gooddeal of interest," says FrankHeadington, corporate vice presi-dent for technology at NeenahFoundry Company. "As Dr.Rohatgi continues to develop thesetechnologies and transfer them toour industrial base, the opportuni-ties for economic development inthe state will undoubtedly in-crease."

Rohatgi, who has published

over 400 research papers, co-authored and co-edited 11 books,and holds 20 U.S. patents, earnedhis bachelor's degree in metallurgi-cal engineering from BanarasHindu University in India and hisdoctorate from the MassachusettsInstitute of Technology (MIT). Hehas received numerous awardsfrom societies and academiesaround the world and is a fellow ofmany societies and academies in-cluding: ASM, ASME, SAE,TWAS, AAAS, IOML.

Prior to coming to the U.S.Rohatgi served as a professor atthe Indian Institute of Science Ban-galore and as the Indian Instituteof Technology, Karpur. He alsoserved as the Founder Directory oftwo national laboratories, the Na-tional Institute of InterdiciplinaryReasearch and the Advanced Ma-terials and Processing Institute ofCSIR in Trivandrum and Bhopal, re-spectively.

Rohatgi, a Wisconsin Distin-guished and UWM DistinguishedProfessor, is also director of theUWM Center for Composites andUWM Center for Advanced Mate-rials Manufacturing.

The National Fair finaleof the India InnovationInitiative (i3) saw over50 best-in-class inno-vation entries battling itout for top honors.These 50 had beenselected out of a totalof nearly a 1000 entries

www.indiapost.com36 India Post December 3, 2010

Health ScienceHealth Line

Whooping coughoutbreak worsensin Grant County

EPHRATA, Wash.: A whoopingcough outbreak in Grant Countyis getting worse.

The Wenatchee World reportsthat the number of confirmed caseshas roughly doubled, to 25 in all.The Grant County Public HealthDistrict declared a pertussis out-break after one infant died of thedisease on Aug. 24.

The health district also investi-gated 262 people who came incontact with those infected.

Symptoms of pertussis, orwhooping cough, begin like a cold,with a runny nose, sneezing, a mildfever and a cough that slowly getsworse. The second stage includesuncontrolled coughing spells anda whooping noise when the per-son inhales. -AP

OHSU has cancerresearch strategyafter $100M gift

PORTLAND, Ore.: OregonHealth & Science University saysit has formed a cancer care andresearch plan that includes a re-cruiting drive and a commercialDNA testing lab.

The Oregonian reports the planalso includes the expansion of theuniversity's cancer tissue bankinto a unique and potentially prof-itable resource for researchers anddrug companies.

The plan was announced abouttwo years after OHSU received a$100 million gift from Nike co-founder Phil Knight and his wife,Penny, to support cancer research.

OHSU officials say the main goalof the effort is to use DNA testingto choose treatments that target anindividual tumor's weaknesses,rather than blasting them with toxicchemotherapy or radiation. -AP

Feds OK 2nd study of embryonic stem cellsNEW YORK: For only the

second time, the U.S. govern-ment has approved a test inpeople of a treatment using em-bryonic stem cells this time for arare disease that causes seriousvision loss.

Advanced Cell Technology, abiotechnology company basedin Santa Monica., Calif., said theresearch should begin early nextyear, following the green lightfrom the U.S. Food and DrugAdministration.

Just last month anotherbiotech company, Geron Corp.,said it had begun preliminarytesting in people for treatingspinal cord injuries by injectingcells derived from embryonicstem cells.

Scientists hope to use stem

cells to create a variety of tissuesfor transplant. But human em-bryos have to be destroyed toharvest those cells, which hasmade their use controversial.

ACT's experiment will focuson Stargardt disease, which af-

fects only about 30,000 Ameri-cans. But the company hopesthe same approach will work forsimilar and more common eyedisorders like age-related macu-lar degeneration, which affectsmillions.

Stargardt is an inherited disor-der that attacks central vision

used for tasks like reading and rec-ognizing faces. Some patients gototally blind, even losing periph-eral vision, while others are se-verely impaired and can only per-ceive light or see their hands mov-ing in front of their faces.

The disease typically starts inadolescence. The key problem isthat impaired scavenger cells failto remove toxic byproducts fromthe eye, allowing them to build upand kill other cells. There is noproven treatment.

In the new study, 12 patientswill be treated with healthy scav-

enger cells, created in a labora-tory from human embryonicstem cells. This early phase ofthe research is primarily to testthe safety of various doses, in-jecting only one eye of eachpatient.

``We're also hoping to seesome improvement in visual acu-ity, but that's a bonus,'' said Dr.Robert Lanza, ACT's chief scien-tific officer.

The research will be per-formed at medical centers inMassachusetts, New Jersey andOregon, ACT said.

Stephen Rose, chief re-search officer of the Founda-tion Fighting Blindness, saidhis group is ``very, very glad''that ACT has permission to be-gin the study. -AP

Illinois panel seeksideas on fightingchronic disease

SPRINGFIELD, Ill.: A governmentpanel is looking for ideas on fight-ing chronic diseases that plague mil-lions of Illinois residents and costthe state billions of dollars.

The task force is holding hear-ings around the state on how Illi-nois can improve efforts to pre-vent diseases like heart disease,asthma, cancer, arthritis and dia-betes. The effort involves every-thing from paying for health careto educating the public to ad-dressing health disparities amongdifferent races and regions.

The next hearing by theChronic Disease Prevention andHealth Promotion Task Force is inSpringfield. -AP

Neb. ranks 26thin tobaccoprevention

WASHINGTON: A coalition ofpublic health programs hasranked Nebraska 26th in the na-tion in funding programs to keepchildren from smoking and helpsmokers quit. -AP

GOPIO Summit calls for actionplan on Diaspora health


NEW YORK: The HealthCouncil of Global Organization ofPeople of Indian Origin (GOPIO)concluded a first-of-a-kind sum-mit and conference addressingpertinent health issues of inter-est and concern to the globalAsian Indian community, andhonored five healthcare profes-sionals and organizations duringits inaugural Health Summit heldNov 12-14 at the Crowne PlazaHotel LaGuardia, in New York.

GOPIO Health Council's mis-sion is to engage the People ofIndian Origin (PIOs) to raiseawareness of the factors contrib-uting to chronic diseases affect-ing them, and influence them totake proactive action to improvetheir health, wellbeing and qual-ity of life.

Collaborating organizations forthe Summit were American Asso-ciation of Physicians of IndianOrigin (AAPI) and Coronary Ar-tery Disease among Asian Indians(CADI) Research Foundation.

On the Summit's first day, Dr.Poonam Alaigh, Commissioner ofHealth and Senior Services, NJcommended the Health Summit

initiative stating, "I look forwardto the proceedings of this confer-ence as blueprint for the issues weface, and need to take appropriateaction to bring about the neces-sary changes."

Dr. Binoy Singh, cardiologistand assistant professor of medi-cine at Columbia UniversitySchool of Medicine, spoke aboutthe urgent need for diet andlifestyle changes to reduce in-

creasing risk factors, especiallyhigh cholesterol, diabetes and pre-diabetes among Indian Americans.

Five individuals and organi-zations - Rita Batheja, Dr. SureshKhanna, Dr. Jatin Shah, SATHIand the SEVAK Project were rec-ognized for their contributions inthe health sector with focus oncommunity service. New YorkCity Comptroller John Liu gaveaway the awards.

On the second day, a panel ofhealth practitioners shared theirexpertise on Disease Prevention &Health Management with focus onCardiovascular Health/MetabolicSyndrome, Diabetes/Pre-Diabe-tes, and Stress Management.They highlighted ways to identifythe risk factors specific to thePIOs, practical ways to managethese chronic diseases, and in-cluded interactive sessions withaudience participation and breaksfor exercise and meditation.

According to Dr. RanjitaMisra, Professor & Research Di-rector, Center for the Study ofHealth Disparities (CSHD) atTexas A&M University, "AsianIndians have a higher rate of dia-betes than all other racial groups(African Americans, Hispanics,Whites, and American Indians)in the US. Hence, primary andsecondary prevention can helpcurb this epidemic."

Dr. Enas A. Enas, Cardiologistand Founder President of CADIResearch Foundation said, "Thegood news is that heart diseasehas now become the most predict-able, preventable, and treatable ofall chronic diseases.

Cont’d on page 38

NYC Comptroller John Liu speaking at the Health Summit

Dr Binoy Singh spoke about the urgent need fordiet and lifestyle changes to reduce increasingrisk factors, especially high cholesterol, diabetesand pre-diabetes among Indian Americans

'We're also hoping to see some improvement invisual acuity, but that's a bonus,' said Dr RobertLanza, ACT's chief scientific officer

India PostDecember 3, 2010 Health Science Post 37

www.indiapost.com

FDA pulls Darvon painkillerdue to safety risks

WASHINGTON: The maker of the pain-killer Darvon is pulling the drug off the mar-ket at the request of public health officialswho say the more than 50-year-old pillcauses potentially deadly heart rhythms.

The Food and Drug Administration saidthat Xanodyne Pharmaceuticals had agreedto halt all U.S. marketing of Darvon and therelated brand Darvocet, which have beensubject to safety concernsfor decades. The Kentuckycompany confirmed themove in its own statement.

The FDA also orderedgeneric drugmakers to stopmaking and selling low-costdrugs containing the activeingredient in Darvon, calledpropoxyphene.

Britain and the EuropeanUnion decided to banDarvon in 2005 and 2009, re-spectively, due to a long trend of suicidesand accidental overdoses.

FDA officials said they decided to takeaction based on a recent study showingDarvon interferes with the electrical activ-ity of the heart, causing irregular heartrhythms that can be fatal. Xanodyne con-ducted the study last year at thegovernment's request.

``This last study, the cardiac study, wassort of the final piece of the puzzle that told

us what the complete picture was,'' said Dr.Gerald Dal Pan, director of FDA's office ofsurveillance and epidemiology.

Dal Pan said patients should continuetaking the medication until their doctor pre-scribes a replacement therapy. Other com-monly prescribed drugs in the same classare oxycodone and codeine.

But public safety advocates said theagency should have actedmuch sooner to pull a drugwith limited benefits and along history of safety prob-lems.

``The FDA's deadly de-lay in this case starkly illus-trates how one of the mostimportant public healthconcepts, the precaution-ary principle, was embracedby the UK and Europe, butwas for too long recklessly

rejected by the FDA,'' said Dr. Sidney Wolfe,of the consumer watchdog group PublicCitizen.

Wolfe estimated that at least 1,000 to2,000 U.S. patients died from taking Darvonsince the U.K. banned the product in Janu-ary 2005.

Public Citizen petitioned the FDA to banthe drug in 1978 and again in 2006, pointingto its role in thousands of deaths reportedby state medical examiners. -AP

Wolfe estimated thatat least 1,000 to2,000 US patientsdied from takingDarvon since theU.K. banned theproduct inJanuary 2005

Event on children's health

India Post December 3, 2010Health Science Post38

www.indiapost.com

GOPIO Summit calls for action plan on Diaspora health

Over the last 30 years, heart dis-ease death rates have decreased by50 to 70 percent in Canada, the USand several other countries, whereasrates have increased 300% in India.We now have the knowledge tocombat this epidemic and the alarm-ing statistics among the IndianDiaspora and the Indian subconti-nent calls for immediate action bythe medical community, general pub-lic and the government."

Modern age and life mentor,Master Del Pe synthesized thebest of Eastern Wisdom and West-ern Practicality in his talk. He dem-onstrated practical tools to helpparticipants boost their vitality,sharpen their minds and awakenthe power of their souls. "If fol-lowed regularly, these techniquescould help heal the past, transformthe present and energize the fu-ture. They would result in a bal-anced life where one could experi-

ence not only success, but fulfill-ment as well," said Master Del Pe.

Dr. Steven Horowitz, Cardiolo-gist and Director, Center for Inte-grative Medicine and Wellness atStamford Hospital (Stamford, CT)said, "Much of the increased bur-den of cardiovascular disease inthe South Asian community is re-lated to the metabolic syndrome,a condition which is caused by alifestyle out of balance interactingwith genetics. Integrative Cardiol-ogy uses all the spiritual, physicaland intellectual resources of thepatient to regain energy balanceand diminish and reverse the dis-ease process."

Dr. Pratibha Shah, AyurvedaPractitioner (Winchester, MA)spoke about the myths and factsabout treatment of diabetes inAyurveda and preventive homeremedies to achieve and maintainlow blood sugar levels. Dr.Lakshmi Prakash, Vice President ofInnovation & Business Develop-

ment, Sabinsa Corp. (EastWindsor, NJ and Bangalore) saidthat over the last 22 years, basedon Sabinsa CEO Dr. MuhammedMajeed's founding principles of'Innovating for the Future from the

Past', Sabinsa Corporation hasbeen developing dietary and cos-metic applications from standard-ized natural extracts, and educat-ing consumers across the worldon phytonutrients from theAyurvedic tradition. The talk high-lighted examples of nutraceuticalspioneered by the group, to ad-

dress common preventive healthmaintenance needs.

Dr. Alexander Zachariah, Prof.Emeritus and Research Associatesof Public Health Institute for Re-search in Excellence of Champaign-Urbana Public Health District in Il-linois said, "The epidemic of obe-sity among Indian Diaspora needsurgent attention starting with eat-ing heart healthy food and sweatsoaking exercises."

On third day GOPIO celebratedthe occasion of 'India's Children'sDay' to mark the birthday of latePandit Jawaharlal Nehru by offer-ing a free event on children'shealth and wellness, as well as adiverse set of entertainment thatincluded dances of Indian, Carib-bean and American origin.

This special health fair for chil-dren provided education on oralhealth and obesity amongst chil-dren, and was delivered by Dr.Asha Samant and Dr. AlexZachariah in novel ways that in-

cluded audience participation,games, prizes, hand and fingerpuppets, ventriloquism, songsand music, followed by a healthybox lunch.

"The Health Summit was suc-cessful in bringing the message ofpreventive care and health aware-ness to the Indian Community. Weneed to continue to make the in-formation available to the peopleof Indian Origin so they can man-age the risk factors involved withDiabetes and Heart disease," saidSangeeta Ahuja, GOPIO HealthCouncil chair, as she thanked thesponsors, supporters and thededicated team of volunteers.

Dr. Vivian Rambihar, cardiolo-gist and co-chair of the GOPIOHealth Council, called for "an ur-gent Action Plan for change at alllevels, including policy, politics,social, cultural and grassroots",inviting everyone to become partof the global collaboration forhealth across the Indian Diaspora.

Cont’d from page 36

Health Summit awardees

California aims to remove toxins in productsLOS ANGELES: It's almost un-

thinkable now that environmen-talists and manufacturers oncestood together as Gov. ArnoldSchwarzenegger signed a billmaking California the first stateto regulate toxic chemicals in con-sumer products.

Two years later, with regula-tions set to take effect in January,the longtime foes are increasinglyat odds over how the state shouldimplement regulations that wouldapply to everything from babybottles to cars.

Environmentalists complainthe plan is too slow to be effec-tive, while manufacturers say thestate rushed to draft regulationsso bureaucratic and broad theywould even apply to the sale of aused boat.

The Department of Toxic Sub-stances Control has revised therules to address criticism as com-panies threaten to sue if forced toshare the chemical makeup of theirproducts.

`Ì still love the law, it's just thisparticular execution that's a disas-

ter,'' said Maureen Gorsen, whoproposed the initiative when sheheaded the DTSC but is now ad-vising the auto industry againstit. ``There's no incentive for thegood and no incentive for the badthere's just paperwork.''

Proponents hope the law won'tbecome mired in legal wranglingbecause the stakes are high: otherstates, the federal governmentand even other countries arewatching as the new law movestoward reality.

`Ìt's really important for this toget off on the right track,'' saidAssemblyman Mike Feuer, D-LosAngeles, who authored the bill,saying it ``could be a whole newmodel for how we break the linkbetween toxic chemicals and can-cer and other serious diseases.''

There are tens of thousands ofchemicals in the stream of com-merce chemicals found in every-day products from commercialpaint to tires. Eighty-five percentof chemicals that come on the mar-ket ``have zero info about healthand safety,'' said Joseph H. Guth,

a scientist at the Berkeley Centerfor Green Chemistry,

``We're really talking about agiant task that has only gotten big-ger the backlog of evaluating allthe chemicals in commerce is enor-mous,'' he said.

The idea was to use science toidentify harmful chemicals, look at

products in which they might befound and require manufacturersto develop safer alternatives.

The state could eventually bancertain unsafe products from be-ing sold in California. Regulatorscould also enforce fines of $25,000a day per violation or jail time

against officials of companies orother people selling products withbanned chemicals.

Environmental groups saidthey supported the law becausethey wanted to prevent situationswhere manufacturers replaced onetoxic ingredient with another, suchas replacing asbestos in car brake-pads with copper, which is toxicfor waterways, or using toxic cad-mium instead of lead in children'sjewelry a development reported byThe Associated Press in January.

``We have a system now wherechemicals are innocent untilproven guilty which is an appro-priate standard for criminal justicebut not for chemical safety,'' saidBill McGavern with the Sierra Club.

For their part, companies saidthey supported the measure be-cause changes to their productswould be scientifically based andno longer a knee-jerk response tothe latest product scandal. Theyalso hoped the law would create awave of safe product innovationand interest among consumerssimilar to advancements in green

building.The bill passed the Assembly

with a two-thirds majority votebut since the drafting processbegan, disagreements have beenon the rise.

`Òur regulatory proposals areintended to prevent California frombecoming a toxic dumpingground,'' said Maziar Movassaghi,acting director for the regulatoryagency. ̀ Òur goal is to make surethere is compliance but some com-panies are going to invest in re-search and development and somecompanies are going to invest inlawyers.''

The Green Chemistry Coalition,which represents corporationsranging from major drug compa-nies to Boeing Co., believes theregulations go too far. The law wassupposed to apply to consumerproducts but the current definitionis so inclusive that everythingbought, sold or leased in the stateis considered a consumer product,said John Ulrich, executive direc-tor for the Chemical IndustryCouncil of California. -AP

Environmental groupssaid they supportedthe law because theywanted to preventsituations wheremanufacturersreplaced onetoxic ingredientwith another

GOPIO celebratedthe occasion of'India's Children'sDay' by offeringa free event onchildren's healthand wellness

India PostDecember 3, 2010 www.indiapost.com

Real Estate39

Realty Tidbits

Emaar MGF blames DDA for CWG mess

Lending norms to realty sector eased

Brigade picksup prime landin Chennai

Bangalore-based real estatefirm Brigade Enterprises has

picked up a 21-acre prime residen-tial property on theValasarawalkam-Porur belt, a west-ern residential suburb of Chennai.The property is located off theArcot Road, that connectsVadapalani, Kollywood's base andPorur. The board of directors ofthe company at its meeting heldon November 9 approved the jointdevelopment agreement for devel-opment of 21 acres at Arcot Road,Chennai. This is expected to gen-erate a turnover of more than Rs550 crore for the company, Finan-cial Chronicle reported, citing Bri-gade Enterprises officials.

Parsvnath expectslease income ofRs 250 crore

New Delhi-based ParsvnathDevelopers said it is expectinglease income of Rs 250 crore in thenext three years as the companyramps up its commercial offeringsin the national capital region. "Byend of this financial year, we willhave 1.2 million square feet (msf)of leased commercial properties.By 2011-12, it will go up 1.8 msfand by 2013, it will be around 2.8msf. I expect at least Rs 250 croreof lease income by that time andas markets improve, we can gethigher rentals," Parsvnath chair-man Pradeep Jain, said.

The realtor is expecting a chunkof the lease income to come fromDelhi Metro Rail Corp (DMRC)projects. It has entered into a con-tract with DMRC to develop 13shopping malls/ complexes at metrostations. Parsvnath sold 24.5 percent stake to private equity firm RedFort Capital for Rs 120 crore in itsoffice complex project at ConnaughtPlace, New Delhi, in October.

Sobha Kochiproject awaitsCenter's clearance

Bangalore-based realty majorSobha Developers has said its Rs5,000 crore hi-tech city project inKochi has been delayed as thecompany is awaiting clearancesfrom the central government.While necessary approvals fromthe state government are in, theclearances from the Centre underthe Coastal Regulation Manage-ment Act and environmental clear-ances are yet to be attained,Mathew Francis, a senior officialof the company, said. The projectis to come up in Maradu on theoutskirts of Kochi.

SEBI approves Lavasa's2000cr IPO

Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) informedthe stock exchange that its subsidiary, Lavasa Cor-

poration received observation letter from Securities andExchange Board of India (Sebi) for its proposed InitialPublic Offering (IPO). The company is planning to issueequity shares for an amount not exceeding Rs 2,000 crore.Located close to Mumbai and Pune, Lavasa is a plannedhill city project set amidst Sahayadri mountains.

Stung by the government'sdecision to confiscate its Rs183 crore bank guarantee,

Emaar MGF has put the blame fordelay in completion of work at theCommonwealth Games (CWG) Vil-lage on DDA which contested theprivate developer's contention.Emaar MGF has asked the govern-ment to revoke its order to confis-cate the Rs 183-crore bank guaran-tee, of which Rs 90 crore has al-ready been encashed by the DelhiDevelopment Authority (DDA).

"If there is anything incom-plete it has direct link with incom-plete work of DDA/their other agen-cies. The project developer cannotbe held responsible for failure onthe part of other agencies deployedby you (DDA) for water supply,sewerage, boundary wall, electricaland cabling work etc," Emaar hadsaid in a letter to DDA after hand-ing over the flats to the OrganizingCommittee.

Delayed completion of theCWG village and lack of other fa-cilities had caused a lot of embar-rassment to the government asmany agencies were working inthe village even after athletes and

guests had arrived for the gameslast month.

When contacted an Emaarspokesperson confirmed that thecompany had sent a communica-tion to the concerned DDA offi-cials from time to time. In the caseof project milestones, the builderhad completed all milestones re-lating to completion of all towershousing 1,168 flats and the same

were handed over to the Organiz-ing Committee in August itselfwithin the time schedule, EmaarMGF officials said and termedconfiscation its bank guarantee as"unholy penalty".

A senior DDA official said allthe milestones, including land-scaping and road construction,were linked with the completion ofthe Village project and they were

clearly spelt out in the agreement.These milestones were to be metby the developers who were de-veloping the project, they added.Since there was a time constraint,timelines were drawn as part ofmilestones so that developerscompleted the project in time. So,it was developers' responsibilityto meet these milestones becausethey constructing the project, DDAofficials said.

Emaar MGF officials said thatthe CWG project would have beenprojected as a successful Public-Private-Partnership but the blamegame between the two could spoilthe party. The Urban DevelopmentMinistry on October 21 orderedconfiscation of Rs 183 crore fur-nished by Emaar-MGF as bankguarantee and initiation of legalaction against it for recovery ofother expenditure for "deficien-cies" and "delays" in developingthe Commonwealth Games Village.

Of the Rs 183-crore bank guar-antee, DDA has already encashedRs 90 crore and the remaining Rs93 crore could not be credited asthe Delhi High Court ordered thatstatus quo be maintained.

Urban cooperative banks(UCBs) have been al-lowed to lend more freely

now, especially with regard tohome loans and advances to therealty sector. The new rules werepart of a slew of notifications byReserve Bank of India easing thenorms last week. This is a sequelto the announcements made in the

second quarter review of the mon-etary policy. As per the new rules,the limit for extending housingloans as well as advances to otherreal estate sectors has now beenlinked to the total assets of a UCB.The limit has been set at 10% ofthe total assets, as against the ear-lier limit of 15% of the total depos-its. An additional limit of 5% of as-

sets has been granted for homeloans up to Rs 10 lakh.

"Linking the limit to total assetswill increase the available fundsas these are much higher than de-posits. Total assets include ad-vances made by the bank, fixedassets, reserves as well as invest-ments. The move is expected toboost the realty sector," said char-

tered accountant BC Bhartia. Forbanks, deposits are a liability asthey have to be paid back to thedepositor, while loans being asource of earning are classified asassets.

The apex bank has alsodoubled the limit for granting un-secured loans by UCBs. Now, bor-rowers will no longer have to sub-

scribe to the shares of financiallystronger UCBs before getting aloan. Earlier it was mandatory inevery cooperative for a borrowerto subscribe to the shares. TheRBI has also relaxed norms foropening new branches and exten-sion of area of operations forUCBs.

For banks having a capital torisk weighted assets ration(CRAR) of 9%, the limit of grant-ing unsecured loans to a singleborrower has been doubled to Rs

1 lakh to Rs 5 lakh depending onthe deposit base. For banks hav-ing a CRAR below 9% the limitshave been set at Rs 25,000 to Rs 2lakh as per the deposit base. Ear-lier, the limit for weaker banks,which included those having a lowCRAR, was kept at Rs 25,000 forthose with deposits up to Rs 10crore and Rs 50,000 for over Rs 10crore. Similarly, borrowers ap-proaching a UCB having a CRARof over 12% need not compulso-rily buy its shares any more.

A senior DDA official said all the milestones,including landscaping and road construc-tion, were linked with the completion of theVillage project and they were clearly speltout in the agreement

The apex bank has also doubled the limit forgranting unsecured loans by UCBs. Now,borrowers will no longer have to subscribeto the shares of financially stronger UCBsbefore getting a loan


40

He said that the State of NewMexico formed the 'Santa Fe 400thAnniversary Committee' and theyhave been celebrating the 400 yearsanniversary during most of 2010.

He welcomed the Consul Generalof India and thanked her for visitingSanta Fe to present the gifts whichwill be included in the Time Capsule.Mr. Bonal said the time capsule isexpected to be opened in the next50 to 100 years. After this year, thecapsule will be hermetically sealedfor a number of decades, to be re-opened by a future generation, per-haps during the city's 500th anni-versary celebration a century fromnow. Among the gifts from India, thetime capsule will include various ar-

tifacts from New Mexico, USA,Spain and Mexico.

But what is India's connectionto New Mexico? Mrs. Thomas of-fered a historic connection in herkeynote address. "I think what re-ally fascinates me about Santa Fe,about New Mexico was the factthat we share with New Mexicoand with the people who wereoriginally inhabitants here, some-thing that is very, very interestingand historical.

It was the search for India whichmotivated people like Vasco deGama and Christopher Columbus,to come and search for a sea routeto get the spices and the perfumesand the textiles from India," shesays, "and in that search, theyfound the other 'Indians". "So we

India included in Santa Fe'shistoric time capsule

share with the people here, a name,and a distinguishing identity,which may have been based on amisunderstanding," she says,"but which nevertheless, ties ustogether in a common bond ofbrotherhood."

The Consul-General also placeda plaque inside the capsule whichreads, "The Consulate General ofIndia San Francisco, on behalf ofpeople if India, extends the amityand good wishes to the people ofthe state of New Mexico celebrat-ing Santa Fe 400th Anniversary."

Following the time capsule cer-emony, a luncheon in honor of theConsul General of India was hostedby Pawan Singh and Bhai SahibSatpal Singh Khalsa at the famousTomasita's Restaurant in Santa Fe.


Pratham Fundraiser raises million dollars

JS BEDI


LONG BEACH, CA: The An-nual Pratham LA Benefit Concertwas held at the Long Beach Ter-race Theater in the heart of thecity's downtown. The almost 2000strong audience raised almost amillion dollars.

The audience enjoyed the melo-dies of Alka Yagnik and MeiyangChang and their accompanying en-tourage of musicians and singers.Navneet Chugh, a Pratham Boardmember welcomed the guests andintroduced emcee, Ravi Patel, anupcoming Hollywood actor.

Samya Khan was the openingsinger of the evening. She startedthe evening with 'Char dino kaMilan' and went on to sing otherpopular hits.

The evening was one of fun,

music and melody. Alka Yagnikwas at her best and entertained theaudience. But it was MeiyangChang who was an instant hit.Chang, a fifth place winner of 'In-dian Idol 3' and anchorman for 'In-

dian Idol 4,' started his show withthe song, 'Bachna e hasino, lomaien aagaya.' and went on tomesmerize the audience with hissongs and style.

Supriya Joshi was the other at-traction of the evening. Shewowed the audience with her

melodies and charming demeanor.All of 24, Supriya is working herway to fame with concerts both inIndia and abroad. Her dream is tobe a playback singer like her idealLata Mangeshkar.

Alka Yagnik emerged on stagein shimmering gold and red. Glis-tening in her graceful attire shepaced the span of the stage, con-necting with the entire audience.She started her concert with 'Kuchkuch hota hai' and went on to singother popular Bollywood hits. Her

stage performance was punctu-ated with humor and anecdoteswhich was an instant hit with theaudience. She was accompaniedby guitarist Derek Alexander induets.

The sponsors were appreciatedduring the speeches. There was asumptuous dinner and theevening had it all to make it feistyand fun with clean family enter-tainment.

Meiyang Chang Alka Yagnik

Alka Yagnik emerged on stage in shimmeringgold and red. Glistening in her graceful attireshe paced the span of the stage, connectingwith the entire audience. She started her concertwith 'Kuch kuch hota hai' and went on to singother popular Bollywood hits


41

Sikh Awareness Month celebrated in Central ValleyPASHAURA SINGH DHILLON

Honoring Dr.Hosley Dhillon, Sarbjit Johl, Dr. Kang, Dan Logue

FRESNO, CA: The Sikh Coun-cil of Central California celebratedits Annual Guru Nanak PrakashUtsav dedicated to Honoring As-sembly Concurrent Resolution 181(Logue) - Relative to CaliforniaSikh Awareness and appreciationMonth on Sunday November 14at Selma Sikh Temple. Akin to aseminar, the program was highlyeducational; brainstorming aseducators how to create aware-ness and fill the cultural gap us-ing this opportunity to bring longterm benefits to Sikh Americansand the American Community atlarge.

On this auspicious Guru NanakPrakash Utsav, the 541st Birthdayof the founder of Sikh religion,there couldn't be a better tributefor Guru Ji, than the California Leg-islature passing its unanimousResolution 181; a resolution nowenthusiastically being honoredwith adopted proclamations by thecounty and city governments aswell as by the school districts allover the state.

The program started after theBhog Shri Akhand Patth and

Kirtan by the Hazoori Ragis of theSelma Temple. Dr. Ranjit SinghRajpal General Secretary of theSCCC gave a brief introduction onthe Sikh philosophy.

Pashaura Singh Dhillon, theEducation Coordinator gave abrief synopsis of the program as aMaster of the Ceremonies andbriefly touched upon why the SikhAmericans needed this Resolu-tion 181. Apart from other venues,Mr. Dhillon emphasized the role ofclassrooms in public schoolswhere it all begins. A couple of vid-eos 'Meet the Sikhs ' and 'Under-standing Sikhism were shownwhich were produced by Dr. DavidHosley while he was C.E.O at thePBS KVIE Sacramento. These vid-eos are available on You Tube andare approved by the California De-partment of Education.

Dr David Hosley was intro-duced by Dr, Onkar Singh Bindraof Sacramento who along with Dr.Jasbir Singh Kang and other com-munity members especially fromYuba City, worked closely with Dr.Hosley in preparing these videos.Dr. Hosley now an Interim Vice

Chancellor of UC Merced washonored by the SCCC with a Com-mendation Certificate. Dr. JasbirSingh Kang made a comprehen-sive power point presentation

covering 120 years of Sikh Ameri-can history in California, genesisand background of ACR 181 andAchievements of the Sikh Commu-nity in California. He also intro-duced Assembly Member Daniel

Logue, author of the ACR 181. Mr.Logue glowingly appreciated theSikh American community andthanked them for their patriotism,hard work and valuable contribu-

tion to this Golden state.Dr. Onkar Singh Bindra of Sac-

ramento made a presentation tocreate awareness, demonstratingsome practical ways throughclassroom in public schools, li-

braries, work places and other ven-ues of interaction with other com-munities through his personal in-volvement. Robert Frausto,Kerman Unified School DistrictSuperintendent topped it all, byoffering to inculcate all the Supple-mental instructional material asapproved by the CDE in the class-room in his school district ofKerman without delay. He ex-plained what specifically theKerman Unified School Districtwas currently doing to promoteSikh awareness and appreciation..

Other Sikh American organiza-tions and representatives whotook part and made presentationswere: Simranjit Kaur Sandhawaliaand Iqbal Singh Bains fromJAKARA, Raj Singh Dadheshafrom SALDEF, Manvinder Singhfrom United Sikhs, Jessi Kaur and

Reshma Kaur from KAUR Foun-dation.

The program ended with thedonation of several hundred blan-kets to the representative ofPoverello House Fresno.

Sangat

Travel advisory on airport security screeningIndia Post News Service

In advance of the holiday travelseason, Saldef has reminded theSikhs about their rights and thenew TSA guidelines which mayaffect travel experience. Theseprocedures include new full-bodyscreening machines installed atsome major airports and more in-vasive full body pat-downsearches implemented at all air-ports across the United States.Saldef has requests its membersto report on their experiences withthe full body scanners or pat-down searches at airports aroundthe country.

While most airports still onlyhave metal detectors, an increas-ing number of airports now haveAdvanced Imaging Technology

(AIT) machines. The AIT ma-chines are whole body imagingdevices that are being rolled out

to airports around the country.Screening OptionsRemember that you always

have the following options:1. A self-pat down of your tur-

ban2. A pat-down of your turban

by a TSA screener

3. Requesting a private screen-ing (in a room outside of publicview)

Even if you are not verballygiven these options, you have the

right to ask for them.According to the TSA, regard-

less of whether a Sikh traveler

clears the metal detector or thenew AIT machine screening, theywill still have to go through anadditional procedure for screeningtheir turban. During this second

screening procedure, a Sikh trav-eler can perform a self-pat downof their own turban, receive a pat-down of their turban by a TSAscreener, or request a privatescreening (in a room outside ofpublic view).

Additionally, as part of a thirdscreening procedure, a TSAscreener will scan your turban witha metal detecting wand. This ad-ditional procedure will occur re-gardless of whether an alarm hasbeen triggered.

If a traveler opts out of an AITscreening, they will be subjectedto a new a more invasive full bodypat-down by a TSA officer. If youare asked to undergo a full-bodypat down, you always have theright to ask for this screening tooccur in a private room.

Dr. Onkar SinghBindra of Sacramentomade a presentationto create awareness,demonstrating somepractical waysthrough classroom inpublic schools, librar-ies, work places andother venues of inter-action with othercommunities throughhis personalinvolvement

Additionally, as part of athird screening procedure, aTSA screener will scan yourturban with a metal detect-ing wand. This additionalprocedure will occur re-gardless of whether analarm has been triggered


42

Jalaram Jayanti at Riverside MandirVICTORIA TRUVER

RIVERSIDE: Jalaram Jayantiwas celebrated in Riverside'sShri Lakshmi Narayan Mandirfor the second year in a row.

The Mandir was beautifullydecorated with tables filledwith fresh flowers and pic-tures of Jalaram Bapa by Kritaand Hitesh Patadia, who orga-nized the program. Over 200devotees enjoyed the bhajansby Paresh Shah. During onesong many bhaktas jumped upfrom their seats and begandancing.

For the first time a rafflewas he ld and a var ie ty of

lovely prizes were offered. Forchhapan bhog 56 small dishes

of assorted food were offeredand served wi th the Maha

Prasad after arat i . JalaramJayanti is now a tradition in

the Mandir and will be cel-ebrated every year.

Devotees place a garland of money around Jalaram Bapa Chhapan Bhog

Over 200 devotees enjoyed the program Paresh Shah sang bhajans

'Muslims should be mindful of real Eid spirit'India Post News Service

CHINO: Scores of AhmadiMuslims gathered to celebrateEidul Azha, the festival of sacri-fices, in simple but humble andrespectful manner at BaitulHameed Mosque.

Nearly a thousand memberscame from all over Southern Cali-fornia, including Los Angeles, In-land Empire, and Orange and SanDiego counties; and joined to of-fer the mid-morning prayer ser-vices.

Imam Shamshad Nasir led Eidprayers at about 10:30am. Thecongregational prayers were fol-lowed by a traditional Eid Sermondelivered by Imam Shamshad

Imam Shamsahd highlightedthe importance of sacrifice in fol-lowing of the Sunnah (practices)of the Holy Founder of Islam,Prophet Mohammad.

Imam Shamshad related howthe sacrifices of Prophet Abraham,his wife Hagar and his son Ishmaelwere brought to a climax throughthe sacrifices offered by the HolyProphet and his family and com-panions. As a result today, theentire Muslim Ummah commemo-rates that original sacrifice ofAbraham; through pilgrimage to

Mecca and offering of sacrificialmeats to the poor and needy.Those who are unable to go toMecca still offer sacrifices at theirhomes.

Imam Shamshad Nasir said thatthe purpose is not to pointlesslykill animals or consume largeamounts of meat. He explained

from Quranic statements that it isnot the meat or the blood of thesacrificial animals that reachesGod. Instead, he said, it is the righ-teousness of the person offeringthe sacrifices that God will judge.Therefore, the righteousness isthe ultimate objective accordingto the Islamic teachings and

should be the main goal of aMuslim.

Imam Shamsad advised thatone should learn from the ex-amples of Prophet Abraham andhis wife Hagar in training their off-spring in service of God and hu-manity.

"As Hagar trained Ishmael to

serve in the cause of God, soshould all mothers adopt thattraining style," Imam Shamshadadvised.

Imam Shamsad advised that weshould learn from the Islamicteaching about worship. When achild is 7 years of age he or sheshould be trained to offer prayers.

The Islamic salat (prayer) safe-guards against societal filth andvulgarities.

He said there is no better giftthan the gift of good rearing ofchildren and what could be betterif one's children would becomegood human beings and true ser-vants of God.

Imam Shamshad reminded thatwe should be mindful of the ulti-mate true Eid which is the estab-lishment of respect for Islamicteachings and that everyoneshould work towards this goalthrough actions and prayers. ImamShamshad said it is possible onlyif everyone will adopt Islamic val-

ues and present themselves asrole models.

Imam Shamshad prayed thatmay the entire world become theplace of peace, but reminded thatwould be possible only after ev-eryone will become the embodi-ment of the high character exem-plified by our Holy Master, HolyProphet Mohammad.

"That will bring back the gloryof Islam," Imam Shamshad said.

The good character is the onlyhope for peace in this world andfor the glory of Islam, ImamShamshad said. "Just lip servicewill not get the job done."

Instead, Imam Shamshad says,it will have to be practical actionsby all to move forward the mes-sage of Islam. "The world is watch-ing our actions, not words," hesaid.

At the end he summed up thesermon in following words: "I willsay, just as Hagar strived andstruggled, and despite all sorts ofdifficulties trained her childIshmael to be obedient in thecause of God so should we. In thisday and age, parents muststruggle in the same manner toassure the spiritual growth of theirchildren. If we do not, we are likelyto lose this battle. "

Imam Shamshadrelated how the sacri-fices of ProphetAbraham, his wifeHagar and his sonIshmael were broughtto a climax throughthe sacrifices offeredby the Holy Prophetand his family andcompanions

43 India Post December 3, 2010www.indiapost.com

In Brief Immigration54 deportedimmigrantsarrested on return

NEW YORK: Federal immigra-tion authorities in the New YorkCity area have arrested 54 illegalimmigrants with criminal recordswho had previously been deportedbut re-entered the United States.

Officials with Immigration andCustoms Enforcement said the ar-rests came as part of a four-daysweep conducted in recent days thatwas the largest operation of its kind.

The arrests were made in NewYork City, Long Island, andWestchester and Orange counties.Those arrested are now in the cus-tody of the U.S. Marshals Service.

Authorities said the arrested in-clude a 39-year-old Dominican Re-public man convicted of multiplecounts of sexual assault involvinga child and a 31-year-old Bahamasman convicted of robbery. -AP

Groups protestGa. immigrationdetention center

LUMPKIN, Ga.: Authorities saideight people were arrested during avigil outside a federal immigrationdetention center in South Georgia.

The Stewart County sheriff'soffice said eight people werecharged with misdemeanor crimi-nal trespass and were released on$250 cash bond each.

A coalition of immigrant rightsand civil liberties groups organizedthe protest outside the Stewart De-tention Center in Lumpkin. Orga-nizers said roughly 100 people fromaround the country participated.

Participants called on the gov-ernment to close the facility andhighlighted the effects of deten-tion on the families and childrenof those detained. -AP

Arizona boycott hurts economybut is not too crippling

PHOENIX: A boycott broughton by Arizona's controversial im-migration crackdown raised thespecter of vacant convention cen-ters, desolate sports arenas andstruggling businesses throughoutthe state.

Seven months later, the effectsof the boycott are coming into fo-cus, showing it has been a disrup-tive force but nowhere near as crip-pling as originally feared.

Businesses have lost lucrativecontracts and conventions haverelocated, performers called off con-certs, and cities and counties inabout a dozen states passed reso-lutions to avoid doing business withArizona. A report says the boycotthas cost the state $141 million in lostmeeting and convention businesssince Republican Gov. Jan Brewersigned the law in April.

But the state's economy hasn'tcome to a screeching halt as somewho organized the boycott hoped.In fact, more people went to theGrand Canyon this summer thanlast year, and more stayed in

Arizona's hotels and resorts, ac-cording to a review by The Asso-ciated Press.

``My occupancy has beenpretty strong,'' said Flagstaff bedand breakfast owner GordonWatkins. He got a few calls fromconfused international customerswondering if they would be askedfor their papers, but no one can-

celed their reservations, he said,and business has been brisk.

Many conventions decided notto move, despite questions fromtheir members. At the PhoenixConvention Center, about 1,300exhibitors, distributors and buy-ers were attending an annual showput on by the National SchoolSupply & Equipment Association.

``We just kind of kept our eye on

our members, and at least in our in-dustry, they were coming whetherthat law was there or not,'' said BillDuffy, the group's vice president ofoperations and meetings.

The most controversial parts ofthe law are on hold, including asection that would require policeofficers who are enforcing otherlaws to question the immigration

status of those they suspect arein the country illegally. A lawsuitby the federal government seek-ing to invalidate the law awaits adecision from the 9th U.S. CircuitCourt of Appeals in San Francisco.

Civil rights groups organizedthe boycott to slow the state'seconomy in much the same waythat a boycott punished Arizona20 years ago over its refusal to

India changes work-related visa rulesCYRUS D. MEHTA

In an effort to protect India'slesser skilled workers and attract highly skilled foreign

workers, the Indian Ministry ofHome Affairs (MHA) has issuedan order and released a new FAQ(frequently asked questions)document stating that employ-ment visas are intended for for-eigners desiring to come to Indiato work if the applicant is a highlyskilled and/or qualified profes-sional engaged or appointed by acompany, organization, or indus-try undertaking in India on a con-tract or employment basis.

Employment visas will not begranted for positions for whichqualified Indians are available, theFAQ states. Also, employment vi-sas will not be granted for "routine,ordinary or secretarial/clerical jobs."

The foreign national must seekto visit India for employment in acompany, firm, or organization reg-istered in India or for employmentin a foreign company, firm, or orga-nization engaged in the "execution

of some project in India."Further, the FAQ states, the for-

eign national being sponsored foran employment visa in any sectorshould draw a salary above US$25,000 per year, with the exceptionof ethnic cooks, language teach-ers (other than English) and trans-

lators, and staff working for the"concerned Embassy/High Com-mission in India."

The MHA also has announcedthe elimination of the prior maximumof 1% of the total workforce, or upto 20, for each Indian company thatsponsors foreign workers.

The employment visa must beissued from the country of originor country of domicile of the for-eigner, provided the period of per-

manent residence of the applicantin that country is more than 2 years.

Documentation pertaining to theproposed employment, such asregistration of the company underthe Companies Act, proof of regis-tration of the firm in the State In-dustries Department or the Export

Promotion Council concerned, orany recognized promotional bodyin the field of industry and trade,will be reviewed to decide the cat-egory of visa that may be issued.

The name of the sponsoringemployer or organization must beclearly stipulated in the visa sticker.

The following categories of for-eign nationals are also eligible foremployment visas provided theymeet the basic conditions for an

employment visa:(i) Foreign nationals coming to

India as consultants on a contractfor whom the Indian company paysa fixed remuneration (this may notbe in the form of a monthly salary).

(ii) Foreign artists engaged toconduct regular performances forthe duration of an employmentcontract given by hotels, clubs, orother organizations.

(iii) Foreign nationals comingto India to take up employment ascoaches of national or state-levelteams or reputed sports clubs.

(iv) Foreign sportsmen who aregiven contracts for a specified pe-riod by Indian clubs or organizations.

(v) Self-employed foreign na-tionals coming to India for provid-ing engineering, medical, account-ing, legal or other such highlyskilled services in their capacityas independent consultants, pro-vided the provision of such ser-vices by foreign nationals is per-mitted under law.

Cont’d on page 44

honor the Rev. Martin Luther KingJr. with a holiday. After voters ap-proved that law, the National Foot-ball League pulled the 1993 cham-pionship Super Bowl from Phoe-nix, and the Nation Basketball As-sociation told the Phoenix Sunsnot to bother putting in a bid forthe All-Star game.

By the time voters finallypassed a holiday bill two yearslater, estimates of lost conventionbusiness in the Phoenix area alonetopped $190 million.

This time around, groups calledon people not to fly Tempe-basedUS Airways or rent trucks fromPhoenix-based U-Haul. There wastalk of fighting Major LeagueBaseball's plans for holding the AllStar Game in Phoenix next year.

Most of those protests haven'tcome to fruition. The midsummerclassic is still on, a spokeswomanfor Tempe-based US Airways saidthe company saw no effect fromthe boycott call, and a U-Haul In-ternational executive said thesame thing. -AP

San Franciscosues immigrationlaw firm

SAN FRANCISCO: The city ofSan Francisco is accusing aformer lawyer of providingshoddy representation to clientswith immigration problems evenafter giving up his license to prac-tice law. -AP

LI immigrantsabsorbed intowork force: Study

NEW YORK: A new studyshows that Long Island's growingimmigrant population has beenreadily absorbed into the labor force.

The Fiscal Policy Instituteanalysis found that immigrantsworked in a wide range of occupa-tions, with more than half holdingwhite-collar jobs.

The independent researchgroup said there was little basisfor a widespread perception thatthe area's immigrants were displac-ing U.S.-born workers.

Anti-immigrant sentiment onLong Island has been on the riseas the immigrant population hasgrown, especially in SuffolkCounty where an Ecuadorean im-migrant was killed in 2008. -AP

At the Phoenix Convention Center, about 1,300exhibitors, distributors and buyers were attend-ing an annual show put on by the NationalSchool Supply & Equipment Association

The foreign national being sponsored for anemployment visa in any sector should draw asalary above US $25,000 per year, with theexception of ethnic cooks, languageteachers (other than English)

India Post44 December 3, 2010Immigration Postwww.indiapost.com


* Cyrus D Mehta, may be contactedat 212-425-0555 or

[email protected]

Vt. AG proposes bias-free policing policyMONTPELIER, Vt.: Police

should take a ̀ `don't ask, don't tell''approach about the immigrationstatus of migrant farm workers andothers unless they're suspected ofa crime or wanted by federal au-thorities, Vermont Attorney Gen-eral William Sorrell said.

Unveiling a proposed ``Bias-Free Policing'' policy that also cov-ers racial profiling, the state's chieflaw enforcement officer said thatbarring suspicion of terrorism,human trafficking or hate crimesor a history of violence or gangactivity, Vermont police officersshould only inquire about immi-gration status in limited circum-stances not when a person has

been the victim of a crime or a wit-ness to one.

``What we're trying to see hereis that if you're otherwise law-abid-ing, you're here in Vermont, you'renot a threat to homeland security,you're not wanted for criminal be-havior here or elsewhere ... thenthe priority for Vermont law en-forcement is to investigate viola-tions of Vermont criminal laws,''Sorrell said.

The proposal will be distributedto every law enforcement agencyin the state, but it's up to each todecide whether to adopt it.

Vermont has an estimated 2,000migrant farm workers from Mexicomostly without whom agriculture

that it's pretty clearly an attempton the part of the Attorney Gen-eral to discourage Vermont lawenforcement agencies from coop-erating with ICE, to help ICE do itsjob enforcing immigration andpeople who've committed crimesand who are foreign nationals,''said Jessica Vaughan, a policy

analyst for the Washington-basedCenter for Immigration Studies,which advocates for tougher im-migration laws.

`Ìf local law enforcement wereto get the idea that they're not toask questions or report people toICE, that could have some seriouspublic safety implications,''

Vaughan said.The racial profiling part of the

policy stems from complaints thatpolice in a state whose populationis 96.2 percent white routinely pullover minority motorists for whatsome colloquially refer to as ̀ `driv-ing while black.''

Under the policy, police wouldnot be allowed to consider race,ethnicity or other personal char-acteristics in establishing reason-able suspicion or probable cause,but they would be allowed to takeit into account in cases where ̀ `cri-teria of suspects based on cred-ible, reliable, locally relevant infor-mation that links persons of spe-cific description ... to particularcriminal incidents.''

Last year, Vermont State Policeand police departments inBurlington, South Burlington andWinooski committed to keep tabson the race and ethnicity of driversinvolved in traffic stops after a chair-man of a Vermont panel to the U.S.Commission on Civil Rights said mi-norities believe racial profiling bypolice is pervasive in the state.

The three municipal agenciesare to report their findings nextmonth, the State Police sometimenext year.

`Ì think it's an epidemic,'' saidHal Colston of Winooski, directorof NeighborKeepers, a communityorganization. ̀ Ì think the data willreveal that we do have a problem.Anecdotally, you talk to any per-son of color and you'd be blownaway'' by their personal experi-ences, he said.

Of the Attorney General'spolicy, he said: ̀ Ì hope this is justthe beginning of this process, tocreate a community where there isbias-free policing.'' -AP

officials say the state's dairy in-dustry could barely survive. Notall are in the country legally.

Some communities, includingMiddlebury, have taken a ``don'task, don't tell'' approach, under thetheory that if illegal immigrants areafraid of being deported, they'reless likely to report crime or helppolice investigating it.

``Guest workers are an ex-tremely important part of our workforce on farms and in agriculturein Vermont,'' state Agriculture Sec-retary Roger Allbee said. ``Theyhave been for many years and theycontinue to be. People need to beable to work and not be afraid thatthey can't make their views knownand their concerns available toanyone.''

Sorrell said police officers in-vestigating state crimes by illegalimmigrants would have the discre-tion to report violations to U.S.Immigration and Customs En-forcement as they see fit.

Not everyone thinks that ap-proach is the right one.

``The policy itself is prettytoothless, but the problem I see is

India changes work-related visa rules

(vi) Foreign language teachersand interpreters.

(vii) Foreign specialist chefs.(viii) Foreign engineers or tech-

nicians coming to India to installand commission equipment, ma-chines, or tools under the terms ofa contract for the supply of suchequipment, machines, or tools.

(ix) Foreign nationals deputedfor providing technical support orservices, or transfer of know-howor services, for which the Indiancompany pays fees or royalties tothe foreign company.

Regarding the duration of theemployment visa, the rules havedifferent validity dates dependingon the employment arrangement.These are summarized as follows:

(i) A foreign technician/expertcoming to India under a bilateral

agreement between the Indiangovernment and the foreign gov-ernment, or pursuant to a collabo-ration agreement that has beenapproved by the Indian govern-ment, may be granted a multipleemployment visa for the durationof the agreement, or for a periodof five years, whichever is less.

(ii) Highly skilled foreign per-sonnel being employed in the ITsoftware and IT-enabled sectorsmay receive a multiple entry em-ployment visa for up to three yearsor for the term of assignment,whichever is less.

Applicants who are not cov-ered under any of these two ar-rangements may obtain a multipleentry employment visa for up totwo years or the term of assign-ment, whichever is less.

Finally, the rules provide forextensions beyond the initial visa

validity period, up to a total pe-riod of five years from the date ofissue of the initial employmentvisa, on a year-to-year basis, sub-ject to the individual's good con-duct, production of necessarydocuments in support of contin-ued employment, filing of incometax returns and to there being noadverse security inputs relating tothe foreign national. The period ofextension shall not exceed fiveyears from the date of issue of theinitial employment visa.

The FAQ, which contains ad-ditional details on business andwork-related visas issued by In-dia, is available at http://w w w . m h a . n i c . i n / p d f s /work_visa_faq.pdf.

Fremont woman sentencedin trafficking case

FREMONT, Calif.: A Fremontwoman has been sentenced to morethan three years in prison afterpleading guilty to forcing a Chineseimmigrant to work at her home forfree as a domestic servant.

Fang Ping Ding was sentencedin federal court.

Prosecutors say the 62-year-oldDing physically abused thewoman, took her passport and

threatened to report her to authori-ties if she did not cook, clean andprovide child care services.

The alleged abuse started inApril 2008 when the woman arrivedfrom China and continued for thenext year.

Ding pleaded guilty to onecount of unlawful conduct in fur-therance of forced labor on No-vember 1. -AP

Vermont has an esti-mated 2,000 migrantfarm workers fromMexico mostly withoutwhom agricultureofficials say the state'sdairy industry couldbarely survive

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India Post 45December 3, 2010 Immigration Postwww.indiapost.com

Lawmakers push tougherimmigration laws

A&M student leader vetoover immigrant fees

COLLEGE STATION, Texas:The Texas A&M Student Senatehas rejected a bill that criticized thesystem of allowing illegal immi-grants to pay in-state tuition.

The Student Senate earlier thismonth endorsed a bill that con-demned allowing illegal immi-grants to pay the same tuition ratesas Texans. The measure was ve-toed by student body presidentJacob Robinson, who says theStudent Senate is meant for thebetterment of each student.

Backers of the plan failed tosecure two-thirds of the StudentSenate vote to overrideRobinson's veto, with the finalvote 34-25. The bill would haverepresented the official stance ofthe A&M student body, but it hadno standing on the tuition policy.

In-state tuition at A&M costsabout $5,200 a year, compared to

out-of-state tuition at about$19,600.

Senator Justin Pulliam, who ledthe effort to oppose in-state tu-ition for illegal immigrants, citedfairness issues.

`Ìt didn't seem fair that out-of-state Americans were strugglingand having to pay $15,000 morewhile people here illegally weregetting the tuition break,'' said

OKLAHOMA CITY: Somestate lawmakers from south Okla-homa City have been pushingharder for tough immigration lawsas the city's Hispanic populationhas grown.

The Oklahoman reports thelawmakers come from an area witha rapidly growing Hispanic popu-lation. Oklahoma County's His-panic population grew by 67 per-cent between 2000 and 2009, ac-cording to the U.S. Census. Muchof that growth was in south Okla-homa City.

`Ì call it growing pains. I be-lieve that is what we're goingthrough in Oklahoma, especiallyin south Oklahoma City,'' Okla-homa City School Board memberDavid Castillo said.

New state Sen. Ralph Shortey,R-Oklahoma City, is among thoseseeking a crackdown on illegalimmigration. He has announcedplans to file legislation that wouldmirror an Arizona law requiring

police to question the immigrationstatus of people they suspect arein the U.S. illegally.

``Nearly all I heard when I wasout knocking doors was, 'We wantthe Arizona law here,''' Shortey said.

Other lawmakers like Rep.Randy Terrill, R-Moore, are work-ing on what Terrill calls an `Àri-zona-plus'' law that would keep thechildren of illegal immigrants frombecoming citizens even if the chil-dren were born in Oklahoma. It alsowould allow police to seize ve-

hicles driven by illegal immigrants.Castillo said such laws go too far.``We're having a tough

enough time in Oklahoma,'' hesaid. ``Do we want to have theblack eye in Oklahoma that Ari-zona is having?''

But Shortey, 28, an AmericanIndian, said he's not anti-immi-grant. His mother-in-law came tothe U.S. from Vietnam and is a natu-ralized citizen, he said.

``She did it right, and I respectthat,'' Shortey said. ̀ `Legal immi-grants deserve our respect.''

Oklahoma City CouncilmanPete White represents an area thatincludes several Hispanic neigh-borhoods. He said he thinks theproposed laws are misguided buthe knows residents are worriedabout illegal immigration.

``For some people, associationbreeds disdain and for others itbreeds understanding,'' Whitesaid, `ànd I think you see that insouth Oklahoma City politics.'' -AP

Pulliam, who leads the group TexasAggie Conservatives and wel-comed debate on the issue.

`Ì can't be too disappointed.We had great success, and gotstudents talking,'' said Pulliam.

Texas law defining residencydescribes eligibility for in-statetuition with conditions that someundocumented students couldsatisfy. Those conditions includeliving in Texas for the three yearsleading up to high school gradua-tion and signing an affidavit indi-cating intent to apply for perma-nent resident status, the Bryan-College Station Eagle reported.

Texas A&M last year hadabout 300 of the roughly 12,000students statewide who claimedresidency under the law, passedin 2001 and revised in 2005, thatallows undocumented students toreceive in-state tuition. -AP

‘It didn't seem fairthat out-of-stateAmericans werestruggling and havingto pay $15,000 morewhile people hereillegally were gettingthe tuition break’

‘We're having atough enough time inOklahoma,’ he said.‘Do we want to havethe black eye inOklahoma thatArizona is having?’

December 3, 2010India Post46

www.indiapost.com

DatebookNEW YORK

UpcomingILLINOIS

UpcomingNEW JERSEY

UpcomingNORTHERN CALIFORNIA

U p c o m i n g

Fri Dec 3• Boney M. concertVenue: Nob Hill Masonic Auditorium, 1111California Street, San Francisco, CaliforniaTime: 7pm to 10pmContact: (415) 933-7172

Sat Dec 4• Yeh Shaam Mastani - A Nos-

talgic Musical Tribute to RD Bur-

manVenue: Sunnyvale Hindu Temple Auditorium,420-450 Perisan Drive, Sunnyvale, CATime: 5pmContact: 510-421-3535

Sat December 11• Winter Concert: A Christmas

Extravaganza!Venue: Smith Center at Ohlone College,43600 Mission Boulevard, FremontTime: 2pmContact: 510-659-6031Highlishts: Get into the holiday spirit at thethird annual Ohlone College Christmas Ex-travaganza, featuring all four of Ohlone's windensembles. The concert features traditionalholiday favorites such as Patapan, The Christ-mas Song and The Little Drummer Boy, andcontemporary festive works including Cow-boy Christmas and The Eighth Candle. Anddon't miss the special treat of Bass' The NightBefore Christmas, with poem narration by asurprise special guest!

Sun Jan 30• South Asian Wedding Expo 2011Venue: One Industry Hills Parkway, Indus-try Hills, Bay Area, CaliforniaTime: 11am to 5:30pmContact: 714-493-7900Highlights: The unique expo will feature theleading designers, wedding planners, deco-rators, DJ's, photographers, florist, food ven-dors, videographers hair and make up artistand all sorts of great vendors that can helpyou plan your next big event.

Sat Nov 12, 2011• Hello Namaste Salaam

Satsriakal MastiVenue: Chandni Restaurant, 5748 MowrySchool Rd, Balentine Plaza, across HiltonHotel, Newark, CA 94560Time: 7pmContact: 510-299-1138Highlights: Bollywood Singers andLollywood Music Director Hungama Musi-cal Live Band Dance Party Dance Perfor-mances Banquet Style Dinner, Single Ladiesand Men - Come and Register with HamraahiMatrimonial. Prizes for Best Dressed Couplesor Pairs Let us Celebrate Diwali and Eid To-gether.

WASHINGTON DC

Upcoming

Fri Dec 3• D'Arranged MarriageVenue: Triad NYC, 158 West 72nd Street, 1stFloor, New YorkTime: 9pmContact: 212-362-2590

Sat Dec 4• Revive: Rebuilding a DreamVenue: The Prince George Ballroom, 15 East27th Street, New YorkTime: 7:30pmContact: 347-668-0251

Thurs Dec 30• Last Basement Bhangra Of

The YearVenue: SOBs, 204 Varick Street, New YorkTime: 7pm to 4amContact: 212-252-2392

Fri Dec 10• Shaam-E-Ghazal with Ghazal

Prince "Jaswinder Singh"Venue: Condon bleu banquet hall, 96-01 Ja-maica Ave, Woodhaven, New YorkTime: 8pmContact: 347-513-8526

Wed Dec 15• Asian Women In Business

2010 Holiday PartyVenue: Flat Iron District, 12 West 18th Street,New York, NY Apt. # 3E, New YorkTime: 6pm to 9:30pmContact: 212-868-1368

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIAU p c o m i n g

Sat Dec 4• Meet your Soul MateVenue: Chakra Cuisine, 151 S Doheny Drive,Beverly Hills, CaliforniaTime: 8:30pm to 11:30pmContact: 310-985-5014

Sat Dec 4• Bollywood Dance NiteVenue: Art of Living Center, 948 West AdamsBlvd, Los AngelesTime: 7:30pm to 11pmContact: 310-820-9429

Sat Dec 18• Yan Can Cook! At the Fremont

Main LibraryVenue: Alameda County Library, FremontMain Library, 2400 Stevenson Boulevard,Fremont, CATime: 2pmContact: 510-745-1401Highlights: Martin Yan, Master Chef, notedauthor of more than 30 books and televisionpersonality, will discuss his latest book anddemonstrate his cooking skills at the FukayaRoom A&B.

Sat Dec 18• Bollywood Holiday CelebrationsVenue: Chakra Beverly Hills, 151s. DohenyDrive, Beverly Hills, CaliforniaTime: 9:30pmContact: (310) 323-7500

Fri Dec 31The 5th Annual Desi New Years

Eve Bash - Fantasy Ball 5Venue: Grand Sheraton Gateway Hotel,Sheraton Gateway Hotel, 6101 West CenturyBoulevard, Los AngelesTime: 10pmContact: 323-205-5594

Sun, Jan 30• South Asian Wedding Expo 2011Venue: Pacific Palms Hotel & ConferenceCenter, One Industry Hills Parkway, Indus-try Hills, CaliforniaTime: 11am to 5:30pmContact: 714-493-7900

Mon Aug 1, 2011• Yogalicious!Venue: Art of Living Center Los Angeles, 948W Adams Blvd, Los Angeles, CaliforniaTime: 6:30pm to 9pmContact: 310-820-9429Highlights: Its programs teach a blend of an-cient eastern breathing techniques and wisdomthat help eliminate stress, restore the highesthuman values and encourage people from allbackgrounds, religions and cultural traditions

Sat Dec 4• Iyyappa Pooja Saastha PreethiVenue: Sri Venkateswara Temple, 1075 Route202/206, Bridgewater, New JerseyTime: 7am to 1pmContact: 732-910-2910

Sun Dec 19• A Unique & Spectacular Dance

Show by Sonalee's Bollywood

Dance StudioVenue: MCC Performing Arts Center, 2600Woodbridge Ave, Edison, New JerseyTime: 5pm to 8:30pmContact: (732) 213-4333

Sat Dec 25

• X-mas PartyVenue: Clove Indian Cusine, Rt 17th South,East Rutherford, New JerseyTime: 4pm to 7:30pmContact: 973-713-1075

Sat Dec 4Bollywood Musical NightVenue: Westfiled High School, 4700,Stonecroft Boulevard, Chantilly, VirginiaTime: 5:30pm to 10pmContact: 202-255-1431

Sat Dec 4The Grand Magic Show - Holly-

wood Famous Jeff ParmerVenue: Oakton high School, 2900 SuttonRoad, Vienna, VirginiaTime: 5:30pm to 9:30pmContact: 571-969-1160

Fri Dec 31Two Premier blockbuster

Bollywood New Years Eve Par-

tiesVenue: HYATT - Reston Town Center - Vir-ginia, 1800 Presidents Street,Reston, VirginiaTime: 8pmContact: 703-468-1820

Fri Dec 31Arora's New Years Eve Gala

2011Venue: Saint Peter Paul Party Hall, 10620River Rd, Potomac, WashingtonTime: 8pmContact: 301-340-9564Highlights: A Gala New Years Eve Party -With Appetizers, Dinner, Dessert andCocktails. Lot of Fun and Dancing.

Fri Dec 3• Arabian Nights 2010: Hosted by

Women's ClubVenue: Monty's Banquet Hall 703 S. YorkRoad. Bensenville, ILTime: 7pm to MidnightContact: 224-210-9122Highlights: Professional Belly Dancer fromEgypt, DJ - Arabian, Indian Mix Music &Songs, Non Alcoholic Beverages, Exotic Ara-bian Dinner & Desserts, Women Social Net-working, This promises to be the most colorfulArabian night of your life!

Sat Dec 11• Sri Subrahmanya Swamy

UtsavamVenue: The Hindu Temple of Greater Chicago,10915 Lemont Road, Lemont, ILTime: 9am to 9pmContact: (630) 972-0300

Sun Jan 30• South Asian Bridal ExpoVenue: Holiday Inn Rolling Medows, 3405Algonquin Road, Rolling Meadows, IllinoisTime: 11am to 6pm

Fri Dec 31• New Years Eve Party with Udita

GoswamiVenue: India House Banquet, 1521W.Schaumburg Rd., Schaumburg, IllinoisTime: 7pmContact: 630-904-5157

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D i s c l a i m e r : - I n d i a P o s t d o e s n o t e n d o r s e o p i n i o n s e x p r e s s e d i n t h e l e t t e r s .

Stop displaying jewelry in publicOn the subject of 'Burglaries in

Cerritos', the information gath-ered suggests the involvement

of an Indian (desi) gang. The reason issimple - our Indian community is knownfor keeping expensive jewelry at home in-stead of keeping them in bank locker. Orif they do have to keep some at home,they should have a big strong safe boltedto the ground. Unfortunately our Indianfolks just do not do that and then whentheir homes are burglarized, they blamethat the law enforcement is inefficient.

Those who break in know the detailsof the homes and the home members.

They have knowledge how to cut off or de-activate the security alarm. They have stud-ied the household members' timings and pat-tern and then strike gold.

Nowadays, incidents of such burglariesare heard happening in other cities as well,especially where the Indian population ishigh. Also, these incidents are more espe-cially before marriages and other such ma-jor events because certainly there is a lot ofgold jewelry and others in the household atsuch times.

It may sound very unconventional oreven stupid, but yet it is my sincere requestto the community that they should stop dis-

playing heavy jewelry on their bodies inpublic, like when they come to Little Indiaor any such public places. It is commonsense that open display of such flashy jew-elry is inviting trouble.

No single burglary has been reportedfrom Indian households in Cerritos. Ourpeople should realize the cause is their owninaction and should not put unnecessarypressure on the law enforcement authori-ties. They cannot expect to have a cop carpatrolling outside their home 24/7. If theycannot take precautionary action and bemore vigilant, they cannot blame and con-demn the police.

The crime surge reported in Artesia isscaring visitors but there should be re-ally no such alarm. A couple of incidentshave been genuine and the criminals havebeen caught and merchandise recovered.However, while some others which smellfishy are not too convincing. Accordingto the law enforcement authorities andsome pioneer merchants, an inside handis not ruled out and is therefore are underclose scrutiny and thorough investiga-tion.

Ramesh MahajanFounder and Chairman of Little

India

December 3, 2010 India Post 47

www.indiapost.com

Horoscope

This could be a turning

point before the year

ends. Developments will

bring the energy and confi-

dence back. You will gain

edge over your opponents

and the decision in ongoing

litigation is close by and fa-

vorable. Preparations will

start for the upcoming trip and

you may be calling overseas

more frequently.

Calculated moves will take

you closer to goals quickly.

You may dispose off some

stocks also and pocket the

profit. Children will be excited

about an upcoming trip. A col-

league will come to seek some

advice. You will enjoy the com-

pany of new friend. You will

also attend a big party and meet

many old friends.

Spouse will be spending a

lot of money this week.

Deal you have been working

on for past several months

will finally g through bringing

relief and smile on every

body's face. You can earn a

lot if you give others a chance

to speak. Things will be more

relaxing at work. You may also

visit a holy place with family.

Do not get into an argument

whether its a friend or

close family member or the im-

pact will be long lasting. You

may need to make several

changes before you send the

contract to other party. Money

will go on buying some expen-

sive gifts for others. Listen to

your inner voice and then de-

cide about relationship.

It will be another expen-

sive week. Some money

will go towards some high

tech gadgets. You will be-

come more popular and will

be in great demand at the

party. Let spouse finish and

then analyze whether the

suggestions are valid or not.

Park your vehicle at proper

place and keep an eye on

your possession.

The news you had been

waiting for will be deliv-

ered in a dramatic way. You

will have few other reasons

to celebrate this week.

Money will go on buying few

expensive items. Spouse

will be very emotional and

need your support. You will

be writing a big check to

government. Party wil l

lighten you up.

You will have to let past go

and maintain a balance

when it comes to emotions.

There will be improvements in

your efforts to find another

job. Prompt actions on your

part can take you closer to

goals quickly. You will receive

very good advice from a fe-

male. A big family reunion will

take place soon.

You will learn a lot even

from your opponents.

Quick recovery from minor

illness also indicated. You

may plan a small get together

with some colleagues.Go

through all legalities or con-

sult some one before you file

the claim. A business part-

ner will put some pressure

and ask you to change your

mind also.

Ongoing legal matters

will take a favorable

turn and ultimate victory

within reach. You will be

slightly anxious and uneasy

for no known reason. Busi-

ness will continue to move

in right direction and of

course you will be on your

feet most of the time. It will

be in your best interest to

listen to spouse seriously.

You will be waiting for a

response from other

side. Expenses will come

down a lot and you will re-

ceive less bills. A close friend

will call to invite you to a small

party. You will be making good

use of extra time on hands

and help spouse clean up the

house. soon you will be leav-

ing for an exciting long dis-

tance trip.

Mars in sixth will help

those seeking for a

change in career. You will

be negotiating with a well

known company. Do not

open up so quickly with new

friends this week. Finan-

cially you will continue to do

well and keep hitting the bulls

eye. Some one will send or

bring nice gifts. Mind will be

at peace and relaxed.

Dec 3 - Dec 9 by Pandit Parashar

You will be excited about

an upcoming family re-

union. If you wait for an-

other day, you will take bet-

ter financial decisions.

Chances of money coming

through stocks also strong.

You may be in market to

change one of your cars.

Spouse will be little nervous

and need to take more rest

this week.

Pandit Parashar, CEO & COO Astro Scan USA is also avail-able for individual consultations.He can be reached at: [email protected]

925-833-7170website: www.parashar.com

48 December 3, 2010India Post

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India Post 49December 3, 2010

Page Sponsored by Sahanis

We are what our

thoughts have made us;

so take care about what

you think. Words are

secondary. Thoughts

live; they travel far.

-Swami Vivekananda

Look at you, you mad-

man! Screaming you are

thirsty and dying in a

desert, when all around

you there is nothing but

water!

-Kabir

In this universe it is love

that binds everything to-

gether. Love is the very

foundation, beauty and

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-Amritanandamayi

Happiness that de-

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As wind removes a

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Philosophy

Shun the objects of thesenses like poison

Mind is only a tool ofthe great Self

Sister Nivedita

Asthavakra

Ashtavakra was born de-formed, with eight crooksin his body. Ashtavakra

means `eight bends'. Everyonewho saw him laughed in derision.

The crippled child was an en-lightened master who took birthto reveal in simple words the es-sence of mystical experience.Janaka, king of the known world,father of Sita, the bride of LordRama, became this crippledboy's disciple. The book basedon that event is called The Songof the Eightfold Cripple, orAshtavakra Gita.

Asthavakra was not keen onaccepting students, and so hadfew. When King Janaka came tohear of the wisdom of the crippledchild he approached the boy as ahumble student, not a command-ing king. The boy accepted theking instantly as his disciple. Thiscaused some talk in the sangham."Ah, Ashtavakra does have favor-ites after all, he accepted the kingwithout any of the trials he had allof us face!" This grumbling be-came a quiet force, and Ashtavakraknew of it.

One day the King was late andso the boy delayed his discourse.The moment the king arrived,Ashtavakra spoke: `This day Ihave had a vision, the capitol citywill erupt in terrible fires and earth-quakes - all there will die. Thosewho have loved ones or valuablesthere must hurry now if they wishto save anything!'

All the monks left. As the dustsettled, only the boy and the kingwere sitting. The boy said softly,`Great king, is there nothing youwould save?`

Janaka replied, "My lord and myfriend, you are my only treasure."The cripple nodded and softlysaid, "Well then if I am indeed yourtreasure, mount your horse nowand go and gather my studentsback to me, tell them I have beenmistaken, the capitol city is in nodanger. Take your horse, and go."

Rising to do as bidden, theKing put his foot into the stirrup,and as he swung up over thesaddle, realization dawned in hismind. He swallowed, looked abouthim at this new earth, heard newbirds singing for the first time, andthen looked at the cripple at hisfeet. The two looked at one an-other, and then the king left to findthe other students.

Once back, the other students

grumbled at being sent about hereand there on foolish errands. Oneor two however did soon under-stand why the master had cho-sen the king as a student in hisown way.

This is what was said that day,as all sat about and heard thesewords of nectarine wisdom.

Janaka said: How is knowl-edge to be acquired? How is lib-eration to be attained? And howis dispassion to be reached? Tellme this, sir.

Ashtavakra said: If you areseeking liberation, my dearestone, shun the objects of thesenses like poison. Draught thenectar of tolerance, sincerity,compassion, contentment andtruthfulness.

You are neither earth, water,fire, air or even ether. For libera-tion know yourself as consistingof consciousness, the witness ofthese five.

If only you will remain restingin consciousness, seeing yourselfas distinct from the body, theneven now you will become happy,peaceful and free from bonds.

You do not belong to the Brah-min or warrior or any other caste,you are not at any stage, nor areyou anything that the eye can see.You are unattached and formless,the witness of everything - nowbe happy.

Righteousness and unrighte-ousness, pleasure and pain are

purely of the mind and are noconcern of yours. You are nei-ther the doer nor the reaper ofthe consequences; you are al-ways free.

You are the one witness of ev-erything, and are always totallyfree. The cause of bondage is thatone sees the witness as some-thing other than this.

Excerpted from theAshtavakra Gita

SISTER NIVEDITA

To the Eastern intellect manhimself is the universe, forall differentiation is within

the mind. India may accept as aworking hypothesis the theorythat sociology is the synthesis ofall the sciences, but her own fun-damental conviction is that psy-chology occupies this place.Hence to her, power is alwayslodged in personality.

Mind is the lord of body, un-doubtedly; but mind, like body, isonly the tool of the great Self ofThings that stands behind and usesboth for its own purpose. Like astrangely complex telescope, onepart of the instrument standspointed to give reports of manykinds - of light, sound, weight, smell,taste, and touch; and by another weare led to conceive of vast rangesof these, outside the possibilities ofour immediately perceiving, bywhich we can build up the concep-tion that we call the Cosmos.

But, according to Indian think-ing again, perfect control over theapparatus has only been attainedwhen every part of it can be di-rected at will to a common point -the whole power of investigationbrought to bear on any object.

When this is done, when theintensest vibration of the wholebeing is reached and every facultyis convergent on the point of at-tention, then declares India, we,being one, perceive oneness, themind sees truth face to face.

How we shall interpret and ex-press the vision is determinedwholly by our own past language

and discipline. The mother comesout of it to love and serve; Joan ofArc commands armies withunfaltering insight; Sir Isaac New-ton gives us the law of gravitation;Mozart produces his RequiemMass, and the Messiah comesdown from the mountain side whis-pering, "I and My Father are One."

That is to say, the self-limitedjoys of sense have given way tothe pursuit of the good of others

as an end in itself. The man is over-powered by a beauty and a truththat he must needs share with thewhole world. Or the finite person-ality is completed, transcended, inunion with the absolute and uni-versal.

There are thus, as the Eastcounts, two modes of existence--one the personal, or egoistic, and

the other the impersonal, or supra-personal, where egoism and altru-ism are alike forgotten. The realiza-tion of this illimitable existence isitself salvation, and is to be reachedin life, not death. Concentration isits single secret, and real power isalways power over oneself.

What, then, are the commonhindrances to this centering ofthought and feeling that we are notall constantly immersed in the Di-

vine intoxication? And what arethe paths by which we are ordi-narily led to overcome such hin-drances? For it is to be supposedthat, if the experience be authen-tic, men first stumbled upon it byaccident, and formulation oftheory came afterwards.

The mind of man sweeps an infi-nite circle, and from every point

upon the immeasurable circumfer-ence runs a life-path to the divisionof Unity as the common centre.

Each man is, as it were, a newwindow through which all othersmay look upon the Infinite, eachlife a new name for That which wecall God. The paths, therefore, arecountless. No two methods can beexactly the same. Yet there are cer-tain broad characteristics whichare more or less general.

You are neither earth, water, fire, air oreven ether. For liberation know yourselfas consisting of consciousness, thewitness of these five

Each man is, as it were, a new windowthrough which all others may look uponthe Infinite, each life a new name for Thatwhich we call God

50 Edit Pagewww.indiapost.com

December 3, 2010India Post

India Post

Obama's nuclear evolutionand Indo-US deal

LYDIA WALKER

Over the past four years, USSenator, now President,Barack Obama's public

policies towards nuclear non-pro-liferation in general and the Indo-US Nuclear Deal in particular haveshifted. How and when did Obamachange from a critic of the Deal in2006, to a supporter with reserva-tions in 2008, to an advocate in2010?

Has the translation of a per-sonal commitment to nonprolifera-tion into pragmatic politics ham-pered the Obama Administrationfrom actively strengthening theNuclear Non-prolifera-tion Treaty (NPT) regime?Obama's announcementon Saturday, November6, that the US would sup-port India's membershipto the Nuclear SuppliersGroup (NSG) indicatesthat he will continue towork around the NPT le-gal regime with regard toIndia.

However, the an-nouncement also con-firms a sustained commit-ment to the NPT norma-tive framework - NSGmembership is consid-ered quite important evento a nation for whom it is largelysymbolic since it is not a nuclearsupplier.

In the run up to the 2008 Indo-US Nuclear Deal, some US Demo-crats, including (then) SenatorObama, argued against the Indo-US Civilian Nuclear Agreement.Obama supported an amendmentproposed by Senator JeffBingamen (D-New Mexico) whichwould only allow US nuclear ex-ports to India if New Delhi stoppedproducing fissile materials.

Senator Richard Lugar (R-Indi-ana) called the Bingamen amend-ment a "killer" precondition as In-dia was certain not to accept itsince neither Pakistan nor Chinahad halted fissile material produc-tion. When the bill in its entiretycame before the Senate, Obamavoted for it, but he supported twodifferent revisions (that enteredthe final deal) which brought thebill more in line with the norms ofthe Non-proliferation Treaty(NPT) regime.

Obama expressed his reserva-tions: "I have concerns with poten-tial non-proliferation consequencesof this agreement…I remain con-cerned about the issue of nucleartesting. A decision by the Indiangovernment to conduct such a testcould trigger an arms race in SouthAsia that would be extremely dan-gerous and destabilizing."

During the 2008 Democratic pri-mary, facing attacks from HillaryRodham Clinton and John McCainthat he was lukewarm in his sup-port of the Indo-US Nuclear Deal,Obama affirmed his support for thedeal and admiration for SenatorLugar's efforts in facilitating itspassage.

When he was elected, Obama'stop foreign policy picks - Clintonfor Secretary of State and RobertGates for Secretary of Defense -were strong supporters of theDeal. However, lower level admin-istration appointees were not as

united in their support. RobertEinhorn was chosen as State'sSpecial Advisor for Non-prolifera-tion and Arms Control.

Einhorn had argued that thesecond Bush administration "gaveaway the house" in the Indo-USNuclear Deal: By making "India anexception to longstanding non-proliferation rules, the Bush ad-ministration ha[d] given India vir-tually all that it wanted and ha[d]

run major risks with the future ofthe non-proliferation regime."

While Einhorn ended up turn-ing down the position, his selec-tion signaled (to some Indian com-mentators) that Obama Adminis-tration was sympathetic to non-proliferation traditionalists whohad opposed the Deal.

Alongside with Einhorn, an-other "non-proliferation hawk,"(former) Congresswoman EllenTauscher was namedUndersecretary of State for ArmsControl and International Security.Tauscher was a harsh critic of theDeal in 2008. In an op-ed in TheNew York Times, Tauscher saidthat the (then proposed) Dealwould "shred" "the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty …and India'syearly nuclear weapons produc-tion capability would likely in-crease from 7 bombs to 40 or 50."

However, right before theSpring 2010 NPT Re-view Conference,Tauscher, speaking asa spokesperson for theObama Administration,made an about face:"We don't believe weweakened the NPT inour peaceful civiliannuclear deal with In-dia," she said at a pressconference.

With the appoint-ments of both Einhornand Tauscher, theObama Administrationmade gestures that itwould place increasedemphasis on aggres-

sive non-proliferation. However,with Einhorn's demurral andTauscher's reversal in opinion,these gestures became more evi-dence of the Administration's con-tinued commitment to the Deal.

President Obama's oscillationon the Deal from 2006-2008 fore-shadowed a pattern of personalinvestment in serious non-prolif-eration undercut by political ne-cessity. In a phone interview im-mediately following Obama'sPrague Speech in the spring of2010, Ben Rhodes - deputy Na-tional Security Advisor for Strate-gic Communications and the au-thor of the Prague Speech - articu-lated that the President's advocacyfor non-proliferation was personaland dated from Obama's studentdays. The Speech was an oppor-tunity to put long held personalbeliefs before an international au-dience.

On non-proliferation and theIndo-US Nuclear Deal, Obama hastried to span the divide betweenhard-line NPT enforcement andNPT regime evolution over time.He has made a non-proliferationbet that the NPT regime is not acurrency that can be debased byadulteration; instead, it is a cul-ture that can be enhanced throughdiversity.

The writer is Research Intern,IPCS

Carry on Raja

Cameras following the Prime Minister at a function noticedManmohan Singh affectionately patting former TelecomMinister A Raja, the DMK minister who he had recently

sacked from his cabinet for manifest corruption which caused aloss of Rs 1.76 lakh crore to the exchequer.

What message does this convey in this age of television? Theleader of the country telling the corruption accused - Carry ondoing what you have been doing, old boy. Or what you have doneis nothing unusual. It is all part of the game of politics.

Was this a message to the ally down South, the DMK in Chennai,that all is well and that the 18 DMK MPs should continue tosupport the Congress government as it was going to see that noharm comes to the DMK Rajas whatever the people of the countryor the media might be saying.

DMK support is vital for the Congress to survive the remain-ing years in power. The nation may be aghast at the level of cor-ruption but all this will pass, believes the leader. The attention ofthe people could be diverted by some coming events and theCongress government could carry on as before.

The Supreme Court, which had questioned the "silence andinaction" by the PM on the petition seeking the prosecution ofRaja, has softened its stance saying its criticism was not directedat the PM. Even petitioner Subramaniam Swamy stressed that henever accused the PM of wrongdoing. His grouse was directedagainst PMO mandarins and the law ministry. However, it is clearthat by relying so much on his advisors and the law ministry, thePrime Minister was acting more like a bureaucrat and not a man ofpolitics. The function of bureaucrats is to get involved in techni-calities and delay things. The PM himself has been a bureaucrat,thus his inability to respond like a politician when weighty issuesdemand early action. By entrusting the task to his juniors he isalmost abdicating his authority. It is not as if he is innocent of theneed to be seen as acting with probity. The plain truth is thatactions to control corruption could jeopardize his government.That is why a man of integrity like him allows wrongdoing aroundhim. The robust defense of his government in Supreme Court by acouple of top lawyers is just clever explanation and machinationsto let the government continue in office.

There is also the unhealthy precedent of Narasimha Rao buy-ing support of small parties to defeat a no-confidence motion. Sothe Congress government is functioning true to its nature.

At the other end of the spectrum, The BJP has not exactlycovered itself with glory by delay in acting against the party'schief minister in Karnataka, B S Yeddyurappa who has been ac-cused of transferring public resources to his family members andaides. The main opposition has stalled the functioning of Parlia-ment on the issue of setting up a joint parliamentary committee togo into the 2G spectrum scam led by DMK's ex-minister A Raja.But by dithering on Karnataka CM and demanding action againstthe Congress wrongdoings at the Center the BJP is refusing tohold its own partymen to the standards it recommends for politi-cal rivals. The opposition unity has also cracked with some sec-tions accusing the BJP of double standards and demanding probeinto illegal mining and land grabbing in BJP-ruled Karnataka. Inthis mess of the pot calling the kettle black, the people of India willnot be mistaken if they get the message that politicians of eitherhue are not to be trusted.

On non-proliferationand the Indo-USNuclear Deal,Obama has tried tospan the divide be-tween hard-line NPTenforcement andNPT regimeevolution over time

India Postwww.indiapost.com

December 3, 201052

IndiaPost_12-03-2010

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