Friday, April 15 2016 | Vol. 35, No. 16
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Indo American erican News
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COMMUNITY
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Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt and Vidushi Manju Mehta Create Magic with Strings in Houston BY SUNANDA VASHISHT
STAFFORD: It is often said that Music
is enough for a lifetime but a lifetime isn’t enough for Music. Houstonians recently experienced this in a concert of Strings held on Friday, April 1, at the Stafford Civic Center. Saadhana Sur Sang, organized by the Center for Indian Classical Music of Houston (CICMH), showcased the renowned Sitar player Vidushi Manju Mehta and legendary Grammy award Winner, Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt in a unique musical offering.. Sur Sang was the first in a newly introduced series of concerts that Pt. Suman Ghosh, founder of CICMH, has conceptualized, as part of the organization’s holistic effort to increase awareness of Hindustani Classical Music. CICMH hopes to contribute in its own way to spreading peace and harmony through the purity of seven notes and healing power of this music. Hence, the evening appropriately started with a moment of silent prayer for the less fortunate and victims of strife around the world. The concert began with a masterful rendition of Raag Saraswati by Vidushi Manju Mehta, a torch- bearing disciple of the legendary Pandit Ravi Shankar. Decades of riyaaz, focus on perfection and emphasis on the emotional quality of a raag was all put on display in her solo virtuoso performance. The purity and richness of her presentation, her complete mastery over her instrument, as well as her mesmerizing stage presence, left the audience in awe. World-renowned Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt took the stage next, with the unique instrument that he has created himself- the
Mohan Veena. The stalwart instrumentalist presented Raag Shyam Kalyan, brilliantly conjuring up all emotions of the raga like a deft magician. Since this was an ‘interactive concert,’ Panditji continued to intersperse his music with interesting anecdotes. He gave the audience glimpses of folk music from different states of India and even made the audience sing with him. His Both artists were accompanied on the tabla by Sh. Hindole Majumdar, who occupies a commendable position among young tabla players of this generation. When the audience was still regaling in the solo performances, Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt invited Vidushi Manju Mehta for a duet of strings. The audience was surprised yet delighted when he also invited Pt. Suman Ghosh to the stage. As he invited Pt. Ghosh to the stage, Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt explained that they would be presenting one of Pt. Suman Ghosh’s compositions in Raag Jogeshwari (a masterful creation of Pandit Ravi Shankar) and felt that the audience would enjoy it best when rendered by the composer himself. This unscripted moment of the evening took the concert to a new level, where the three Sur-Saadhaks displayed instant meeting point & bonding of their priceless Saadhana – justifying the title of the event ‘Saadhana Sur-Sang’. The three maestros left the audience spellbound and soaked in myriad emotions. There were tears, there was silence, there was reverence in the air, as they concluded the concert, giving all present a glimpse of how the purity and beauty of this music has the ability to elevate every soul to heights of spiritual glory.
Pandit Suman Ghosh joining Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt and Vidushi Manju Mehta
Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt interacting with the audience
The artists with Dr. Virendra Mathur
Vidushi Manju Mehta at a focal point of her rendition
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Photos: Navin Mediwala
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Rhythm India’s Mesmerizing Performance at Kobe Bryant ‘s Last Game BY VANSHIKA VIPIN
HOUSTON:
Rhythm India is privileged to be the first Bollywood Dance Company to have performed at the Half Time show of the Houston Rockets game way back in 2011. Since that year they have been a regular performer at the Half Time. The sixth Half Time show of Rhythm India for Houston Rockets v/s LA Lakers took place this past Sunday on April 10 at 2:30 pm at the Toyota Centre. Arzan Gonda, the Artistic Director and Founder of Rhythm India is an exemplary leader. Rhythm India is famous for Fitness classes and Dance classes in Bollywood. They have students from all ages and professions and at various levels of skills. The academy aims to bring out the talent of dancing in enthusiasts from all walks of life irrespective of their age. The event that was held this year was a very special one as it was the last game being played by the famous legendary player from LA Lakers – Kobe Bryant. Due to this it was a complete sold-out game. The great player was given a standing ovation after the game ended. Rockets emerged to be the winners leading with 20 points, and to add to all this excitement, Rhythm India performed at the Half Time with as many as 104 dancers. Aptly titled ‘Jhoom’, Rhythm India delivered a mesmerizing show enthralling the audience with superb dance synchronization and powerpacked energy levels. The 104 dancers was a mix bag of kids, young performers and adults. The perfect harmonization kept the crowds cheering and swaying to the music. It was indeed a delight to watch the performers with absolute harmony. The show’s success could be attributed to the fact that there was minute detailing in the planning and execution of the entire sequence. Special T-shirts in Black and Red colors were designed for the event to cheer the Rockets. The dancers even had a bindi, a forehead sticker, which has
become a trademark of Rhythm India. The lighting was planned in such a way that the audience could have a glimpse of all the 104 dancers performing on the court. Heart-pumping Bollywood songs such as ‘D Se Dance’, ‘Selfie Le Le Re’ and ‘Naach Meri Jaan’ were selected for performances. Arzan Gonda, remarked that it was indeed the most memorable performance by Rhythm India at the Half Time, with the hundred plus dancers perfectly performing with high levels of excitement. The shows super success was in spite of the fact that for many of the dancers it was their first ever performance. The energies of the dancers were so pulsating and impressive that many of the Rockets fans insisted on personally complimenting them. Rhythm India takes pride in thanking every participating dancer, crew members, families, friends, fans and well wishers for their massive contribution. A special gratitude goes to India House and Vipin Kumar for lending their space for rehersals. In addition, thanks to Navin Mediwala and Murali Santhana and their respective teams for capturing the unforgettable show. Rhythm India will conduct auditions for thier performing troupe for kids, junior youth and adults in May 2016. In the pipeline they also have a two day workshop with DID Winner, Dance Plus Judge & Celebrity Dancer Shakti Mohan that is scheduled for April 23 & 24. Apart from these they have lined up a workshop with the famous Bollywood choreographer Saroj Khan on May 20. Feedback from few performers: Pavana Polineni Gadde: Incredible experience, Arzan!!!! It was once in a life time experience dancing on such a plat-
Photos : Navin Mediwala
form! Thank you, for the wonderful opportunity! Snehal Mehta: Just want to say Awesome awesome and awesome!!!!! Thank you Rhythm India for giving kids such a wonderful opportunity! Roopali Mittal: Rocking performance!!! It was amazing to watch them dance. Congrats and kudos to the RI team!!! For further details, visit www. rhythm-india.com or call 281 968 9479.
Indo American News (ISSN 887-5936) is published weekly every Friday (for a subscription of $40 per year) by IndoAmerican News Inc., 7457 Harwin Dr., Suite 262, Houston, TX 77036., tel: 713-789-6397, fax:713-789-6399, email: indoamericannews@yahoo.com. Periodical postage paid at Houston, Texas. POSTMASTER: Please send address changes to Indo American News,7457 Harwin Dr., Suite 262, Houston, TX 77036
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For photo collage, see page 4
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COMMUNITY
April 15, 2016
Rasaanubhava’16: Annual Dance Day of Abhinaya School
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HOUSTON:
Students and parents of Abhinaya School of Performing Arts look forward to their annual dance event “Rasaanubhava” with great fervor and anticipation. The artistic director Indrani Parthasarathy, is well versed in Pandanallur & Kalakshetra style of dancing. She is also well versed in Kuchipudi and classical music. Anupama Nagasimha, a senior student of the Abhinaya School, is a teacher & teaches technique classes. This year’s performance took place at Berry Center in Cypress on April 2. The first part of the show Natyarpanam showcased performances by beginner, junior, intermediate and senior students. Beginner students showed glimpses of their basic training while the junior, senior, intermediate and senior students performed Pushpanjali, Alaripu, Jathiswaram, Padam & Bhajans. The second part consisted of two themat-
Photos: Amitava Sarkar
ic creative presentations performed by seniors and advanced students. Krishna Bhakthi took the audience on a journey along the banks of River Yamuna to experience Krishna through the eyes of Mother Yashoda and the Gopis. Shivaya showcased dance - salutations to the dancing God Nataraja, Goddess Meenakshi, Gods Ganesha and Karthikeya. A special feature of the event was the Shiva Panchakshara stotram performed by the two teachers. The parent volunteers did a spectacular job of ensuring the program was professional and smooth flowing. The thunderous applause at the end of every dance clearly demonstrated the quality of the performance and the dedication of the students. For more details on classes and performances please visit www.abhinayaschool. org
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April 15, 2016
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COMMUNITY
April 15, 2016
Star Promotions Begins the Year with an Electrifying Show numbers like Ishqwala Love, Har Kisiko Nahi Milta and Ghanti Big Ben one after the other. Then Vishal joined her to sing a duet - Tune Mari Entry. They decided to have a five minute break before Vishal-Shekhar’s performance could begin. After creating a musical mood, finally Vishal and Shekhar arrived on the stage together witnessing shouts and screams of excitement from the audience. Then there was no looking back. Back to back numbers such as Bachna E Haseeno, Right Here Right Now, Balam Pichkari, Selfie Le, Dus Bahane, Salaam Namaste, Gulabo, Desi Girl, Mitwa, Radha, Lag Ja Galay and Meri Umar Kay Naujawaano filled up the environment with excitement and ‘once mores’. They even sang
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BY VANSHIKA VIPIN
HOUSTON: Star Promotions,
famous for organizing concerts, held its first show of 2016 at the Arena Theatre on April 8. And what an impressive way to start their shows for the year. The celebrated and dynamic Rajender Singh who is the show promoter added another feather to his cap by organizing a memorable musical evening. The performers were none less than the successful musical duo of Vishal-Shekhar and the graceful Neeti Mohan. Vishal & Shekhar are accomplished music directors in Bollywood with several films to their credit. With a huge fan following, they are known to enthral the audience wherever they perform. Neeti Mohan is a popular Indian singer and is briskly climbing up charts with her Bollywood numbers. With such performers the show was expected to be a super successful one. Together they created magic on stage and had the audience dancing to their tunes. The evening began with Neeti Mohan’s performance. From the time she began singing till the end she was a treat to the ears. Neeti rendered several Bollywood numbers that kept the audience entertained. She sang the famous Jiya Re from the film Jab Tak Hai Jaan and Pataka Guddi from Highway. In a very impulsive gesture to create drama and excitement, Neeti asked the crowds to turn on the flash lights on their cell phones. With a sea of lights effect she crooned Banke Titli from the blockbuster Bollywood film Chennai Express. Neeti won over the audience by belting out
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Neeti Mohan Photos: Meedu fotografy
their new song Jabra Fan from the latest movie Fan. They lit up the stage with their power-packed performance for non-stop three hours. Their foot-tapping numbers only kept the audience asking for more. Neeti Mohan joined them for a few songs and the evening only grew melodious. In one of the acts Vishal-Shekhar got kids on the stage for performing on the famous star studded song from the film Om Shanti Om. It was very fascinating to see the act. Throughout the event all three performers were very interactive with the audience and made sure everyone had a blast. They went into the aisles and encouraged the crowds to sing along. Such was the energy levels of the stars that the audience could feel the adrenaline rush in their veins. The musicians accompanying them were excellent and complimenting. It was truly an evening to remember and felt like Houston danced the night away.
At the end of the show, Rajender expressed his gratitude to all the performers and exclaimed that of all the 125 shows organized by him; this was one of his unforgettable shows. He was extremely pleased and satisfied to see the exhilarated crowds. The success of the rocking show only motivated him to have more of such shows in future. Going ahead, Star Promotions will organize the historical hit, Chanakya on Sunday, May 1 at Stafford Civic Center (Old). In the pipeline there is also the most awaited Dream Team tour in August. The show will feature stars including Jacqueline Fernandes, Aditya Kapoor, Karan Johar, Varun Dhawan, Alia Bhatt, Siddharth Malhotra, Badshah and Parineeti Chopra.
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Hindus of Greater Houston’s Annual Youth Award Gala
Community leaders, lamp lighting at HGH youth award gala night. From left: Rani Chilukuri, Chandrakala Gupta, Padmini Ranganathan, Venugopal Menon, Thara Narsimhan, Tom Reid, Judge Emmett, Dev Mahajan, Beth Kulkarni, Sushma Pallod and S. Narayanan.
From Left: Arpan Amin, Aman Sharma, Maya Iyer, Judge Emmett, Joseph Emmett, Saumitra Gokhale, Smriti Ahuja, Nikhil Jaiswal and Vaishnav Kuruvanka.
BY PRIYA PRASAD
PEARLAND: As the sun, illuminat-
ing the silver Ratham (chariot) at Sri Meenakshi Temple Society (MTS), set on April 9, a packed audience gathered to honor Houston’s sevaminded youth at the 6th annual Hindu Youth Award and Gala held by the Hindus of Greater Houston (HGH). The event recognizes Hindu youth, ages 16 to 30, who serve the society (seva bhav) while exhibiting academic excellence. MTS Chairman S. Narayanan welcomed the distinguished gathering, including leaders from the Hindu community, Honorable Judge Emmett, Chief Guest Joseph Emmett, Keynote Speaker Vinay Mahadevan, Pearland Mayor Tom Reid, HSS Overseas Pracharak Saumitra Gokhale, and several others. The evening began with an invocation by MTS Priests and a sloka recitation by young students of the MTS Vedic Heritage School (VHS). HGH President Partha Krishnaswamy kicked-off the program by appealing to the guests to donate generously. After the traditional lighting of lamps, six young Hindus received their awards and presented their achievements to the audience. The speeches throughout the event were interwoven with a Carnatic instrumental ensemble and two classical dances. Quoting from the Bhagavad Gita, the dynamic young Vedantist, Joseph Emmett, brought out the gist of Vedic philosophy that has two paths: rituals
and philosophic knowledge. He explained concisely that “Vedanta” is a combination of two words: “Veda” which means “knowledge” and “anta” which means “the end of’ or “the goal of.” The “knowledge” means the knowledge of God and our own divine nature. Joseph described that “while Vedanta is the underlying substratum of Hinduism, its universality extends far beyond.” His enthralling speech resulted in a standing ovation. The second guest speaker, Vinay Mahadevan, a West Point graduate, inspired the audience by sharing his experience as a commanding officer in the U.S. Army. He was deployed twice to the Middle East and Iraq and faced challenging situations that he could relate with the narrations of the Mahabharata war. MTS Board teamed up to bring out the best of arrangements, decorations, and hospitality. Many other Hindu temples and organizations participated which added grandeur to the event. HGH reinforces togetherness not only in the young minds, through the Hindu Youth Awards, but also among the entire community at the annual grand Janmashtami festival. Hindu Youth Award recipients for this year included: Smriti Ahuja of Arya Samaj, a senior at Seven Lakes High School, is President of Arya Youth Mandal and represents
Arya Samaj in the I-Lead program. Arpan Amin of Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America, a 2014 UT graduate and consultant for Price Water and Cooper, served as Counsel and Co-Director for the Hindu Heritage Youth Camp. Aman Sharma of Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh, a 2013 Georgia Tech graduate and an engineer for Accenture, served as a Youth Counsel for HSS leadership training. Maya Iyer of VHS at Sri Meenakshi Temple, a junior at Manvel High School in CONTINUED ON PAGE
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14 April 15, 2016 Experience Indian Heritage at Vedic Fair on Saturday April 23
COMMUNITY
Hindus of Greater Houston CONTINUED FROM PAGE
HOUSTON: Festive and Flam-
boyant Vedic Fair will be held on Saturday April 23, from 3:30 PM to 9:00 PM at Cinco Ranch High School, Katy, TX. A hit for last four years, the reaction to its sequel isn’t that surprising. As Vedic Fair is approaching students, artists, vendors and participants at Ashirwad A Blessing Temple are enthralled and looking forward to its fifth iteration. VEDIC FAIR is a complete family event to experience Indian Heritage and the fair covers length and breadth of India. Admission for the fair is free. Preparations for this nonpareil Fair have started since December 2015 and in a weeks’ time promises to bring this festive entertaining cultural event to Greater Houston. Last year’s fair attended by 2500+ Houstonians was another nonesuch festive, educating and an entertaining event that wowed attendees starting from a thousand peacock feather arch background
presented in diorama Golok to Vedic Bazaar, 25 + presentations on India to Workshops and from many varieties of Food to a grand finale two hour stage play “Krishna = The Blue Man”. The stage play directed by event chair Geetha Ravula kept audience captivated with mellifluous music and grand stage props built by Ashirwad A Blessing TempleTeam. One of the previous presenters at Vedic Fair says “I feel Vedic Fair was a really interesting event because it presents many different aspects of India, its rich heritage, culture and values. It is really helpful for youth like me and older and younger generations. It not only helped me in my own research for presenting The Third Eye concept but I also learned from other’s presentations.” This year Vedic Fair will bring Saket Loka, the abode of Lord Rama where audience can strike pictures with Live Lord Rama and his Family. In this effort a dedi-
cated meet and greet with artists dressed up as Lord Rama and family is arranged. Vedic Bazaar at Vedic Fair will bring variety of Indian Ethnic Apparel, Jewelry and variety of delicacies from paani poori to samosa chat. Young kids can go back in time to see Lord Rama’s Ikshvaku Dynasty and enjoy activities such as shooting Ravan, henna, face painting and more. Signature event a rare talent Sloka-Thon will be presented LIVE on stage by Ashirwad students. Vedic Fair 5 will conclude with the play “Rama, The Lord of 16”, presented in Hindi with English narration featuring 27 artists. For updates visit facebook. com/VedicFair or facebook event VEDIC FAIR 2016. H-Town DO NOT MISS VEDIC FAIR 5, your one stop to relive INDIA.
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the top 1% of her class, serves as a co-teacher for the Vedanta class at VHS. Nikhil Jaiswal of SEWA International, a 2015 graduate of UH and Research Assistant at UT Health Center, participated in a 10 week Yuva for SEWA Internship last year, during which he taught yoga at a blind school. Vaishnav Kuruvanka of Hindu Temple of Woodlands, a sophomore at Klein High School, leading the Go-green garden project at the Woodlands temple, replaced store-bought vegetables used for Sunday lunches with organic produce from the community garden. “Meenakshi Temple devotees who attended were privileged to listen to these fine young awardees. Keynote speaker Joseph Emmett gave a wonderful speech. HGH Board did an awesome job conducting the function” said MTS Chairman Narayanan. Rishi Bhutada, treasurer of the Hindu American Foundation,
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spoke about the community-wide protests against the anti-Hindu banners at a Dairy Queen in Kemah. He urged the gathering to support and donate to the organization because a strong HGH is “critical to our community” – not only to bind the community or celebrate Hindu festivals but to respond quickly when the local Hindu community is attacked or misrepresented. As the night dawned with the conclusion of the program and vote of thanks by event chair Tupil Narasimhan on behalf of HGH, guests made their way to the grand hall of the Youth Center for dinner catered by Madras Pavilion. Priya Prasad and Richa Dixit emceed the event. HGH President Partha Krishnaswamy says “the host MTS made the Hindu Youth Award 2016 function a memorable one through their meticulous planning and dedicated efforts. It sets the benchmark higher for the future award functions.”
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EDITORIAL/COMMENTARY Higher Price for Education
IOU0: Mallya’s Start-Up
Vijay Mallya, the self-styled ‘King of Good Times’, has
done a moonlight flit from the country to an unknown destination, or destinations, leaving behind an IOU of Rs 9,000 crore, plus change, for a whole bunch of banks and sundry other creditors, including ex-employees of his now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines who are owed several months’ worth of salaries. But is Mallya’s IOU really an IOU0, and not a bane but a boon for all of us? A hint that this might indeed be the case has been given by a Mumbai citizen who, travelling ticketless in a commuter train, was totally unfazed when nabbed. She refused to pay the fare, leave alone the fine, by retorting ‘First you go get Rs 9,000 crore from Mallya then ask me to pay for my train ticket’. This self-justifying argument has an egalitarian logic to it. In a democratic society where all are deemed to be equal, if one big fish is allowed to get away leaving behind a whopping unpaid bill, smaller fry like the rest of us can cite that as a precedent and also refuse to pay our dues till such time that the headline-grabbing ‘wilful defaulter’ has been made to square his account in full and final settlement. So a customer in a restaurant, say, when presented with the bill at the end of a meal can tell the management of the establishment that Mallya should be made to pay up what he owes first before they’ll square their hisaab. In what could turn out to be a replay of the Gandhian ‘noncooperation movement’, taxpayers could refuse to pay tax – any form of tax, be it income tax, municipal tax, road tax, or any other – till Mallya was made to cough up. But if people stopped paying not only taxes to the sarkar but also stopped paying each other for goods and services how would the country run? Simple. It would import everything that it needed from outside and when given the invoice for the same it could use the Mallya example and give its creditors an IOU0. What is an IOU0? It’s an ingenious instrument of non-negotiation. While an IOU stands for ‘I owe you’, an IOU0, stands for ‘I owe you 0 (zero)’. Thanks to which we can write off all our debts without shelling out a paisa. And which is why we’ll all be hugely indebted to Vijay Mallya. A debt we’ll repay with, of course, an IOU0. Jug Suraiya in Times of India
BY M BALAKRISHNAN, PANKAJ JALOTE
L
ast week, tuition fee for undergraduate education in the IITs was increased from Rs 90,000 per annum to Rs 2 lakh per annum. Earlier, last month, IIM Ahmedabad increased the fee of its flagship twoyear diploma programme from Rs 18.5 lakh to Rs 19.5 lakh. As a nation, we are in a great dilemma on the financing of public higher educational institutions. Highly subsidised quality higher education, with admissions based strictly on merit, continues to be a great hope for upward socio-economic mobility. This public demand has also ensured that there is consensus across the political spectrum on the need for setting up new IITs, IIMs, AIIMSs, NITs, etc. On the other hand, as the number of such institutions increases, the budgetary requirements for supporting them will prove to be a challenge. What are the alternatives? Globally there is a shift towards charging a higher fraction of education costs as fees—even in European countries where, traditionally, higher education was completely free. For the purpose of inclusion of students from economically weaker sections, there is the provision of education loans, often at lowerthan-commercial rates. This has resulted in education-loan-driven higher education, which has clear implications for blocking the socioeconomic mobility of poor people, even in an affluent country like the United States. In a country like India, publicfunded institutions where the full fee is financed through loans are undesirable for many reasons. One, it will make education inaccessible to many who cannot afford to be burdened with such large loans. Second, heavy debt would result in higher education being seen more as capital investment. It would lead to the clear graduation objective of getting a quick return on investment. The net result would be that graduates would opt for safe career options — even
The success of Make in India as well as Start-Up India depends on the ability of young people to take risks and become entrepreneurs. Heavy education loans are unlikely to promote these choices. more than they currently do—that provide the “highest package” and not those choices that may be lowpaying but have greater social value and impact and which the graduate may genuinely want to pursue. The success of Make in India as well as Start-Up India depends on the ability of young people to take risks and become entrepreneurs. Heavy education loans are unlikely to promote these choices. Medical education in India has already fallen into this trap; with high cost of education in private and foreign institutions, the increase in volume is not resulting in enhanced access for a significant section of the population. Further, in the Indian socio-economic context where, even today, most students pursue academic programmes and careers that are forced on them by family and not out of their own choice, there is another great disadvantage. Just when we were seeing some change — in at least a small fraction of students — the increase in fees or a greater loan burden would put the clock back. The “loan model” is gaining traction in the public discourse in India primarily driven by the stories of high-paying jobs for IIT graduates. The argument is that if they are earning so much after graduation, why should they not pay for their education. But hundreds of IIT graduates are also following their dreams in entrepreneurship, social service and many such sectors. However, there is an innovative middle path possible for financing education, at least for the elite institutions that require a much higher level of funding to support
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research. In this approach, a tuition fee based on the cost of education is computed. Every selected candidate would have an option to defer payment of a significant part of the fee till after graduation. The key innovation being suggested here is that after graduation, the student would be required to pay the deferred fee, but with a ceiling that it will be at most a fixed percentage of her income for a fixed number of years— say, 15% of income for seven years. The graduating student would then have the option to take up a career without worrying about the education loan hanging over her head. If the graduate chooses a career that is not financially lucrative, her payments for education would be correspondingly low. In the present context, one more fact is important: The tuition fee increase announced by the government is only for undergraduate education and is likely to apply to only 25 per cent of the students in an institution like IIT Delhi. The reason is that in almost all the larger (older) IITs, roughly only 40 per cent of the students are undergraduates, and after the announced waivers, the tuition fee increase would apply only to 60 per cent of them. Presently, students in postgraduate programmes like the MTech are charged nominal fees, though the motivation for joining these programmes is often similar: Widened career prospects and excellent pay packets. Our proposal can be applied to all students, undergraduate and postgraduate— except, perhaps, to PhD students. Such a proposal could evoke cynicism: What will compel the graduate to declare her income truthfully? But in a changed world where an individual’s credit rating is important and tracking instruments like PAN and Aadhaar exist, it is easy to devise a system where the cost of default would be rather high, particularly as alumni need references or verification from educational institutions even years after graduation. Balakrishnan is professor, IIT Delhi. Jalote is director, IIIT Delhi. Views are personal.
COMMUNITY
April 15, 2016
19
‘Life in Resonance’ Celebrated at the Ninth Annual BAPS Women’s Conference
STAFFORD:
In physics, resonance is defined by a phenomenon that follows when a powerful, vibrating system causes another system to oscillate with greater amplitude at a specific frequency. In life, resonance is defined by the innate beliefs and timeless principles that drive an individual’s actions as well as his/her physical and mental state of mind. Harmony within mind and body resonate harmony within our surroundings. This year, the ninth annual BAPS Women’s Conference at BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Stafford, Texas provided a renewed approach to the over 1000 attendees on balancing three major aspects of one’s life through the theme of “Life in Resonance”: cultural identity, work-life balance, and emotional health. In today’s world, everyone is constantly striving for balance, whether it be at school, work, or at home. While selfhelp books and online forums can be great sources of inspiration for those seeking this type of balance, open discussions among peers can often have a greater impact in making this a more achievable goal. The conference was commenced with lighting of the divo or deep pragtya by Nikki Patel-Grover, Dr. Aparna Kamat, Jyostna Patel, Dr. Heena Thakkar, Malisha Patel, Dr. Nita Gandhi, and Nalini Mathur. Thekeynotespeaker,MalishaPatel, Chief Operating Officer of Memorial Hermann Sugar Land Hospital set the tone of the conference with her keynote address. Speaking from her own experiences, Patel motivated the women in the audience to make time for self-care and create positive energy to maintain balance in life. She spoke to the importance of encouraging each other and helping the future generations feel empowered to strive for their goals. Dr. Shital Desai, PharmD, delivered an insightful message on building pride in one’s identity through confidence in one’s intrinsic beliefs and practices. She shared, “While we may exist in varying environments, it is our identity and what we value that defines us and determines the course of our actions, irrespective of the environment.” Circling the ever-debatable topic of maintaining a work-life balance, a panel of distinguished women, explored various practical methods and solutions, including knowing when to say no by highlighting purposeful priorities from our chaotic lives and learning to accept help from family and friends. Monika Patel spoke about the tremendous benefits of accepting help from those around you in helping provide stability through life’s changes, while Shobana Patel spoke to the importance in having a purpose in your day-to-day tasks to find balance in all activities. In making sure there is quality in the time spent on all activities, Hiral Patel stressed saying no to additional
Panel Discussion on work life balance.
ALEXANDER P. MATHEWS, CPA For Services In:
Dr. Rina Patel
The Keynote speaker, Malisha Patel
commitments. Each panel member emphasized the role of spirituality as the core of maintaining this day-today balance. Lastly, Dr. Rina Patel, PharmD, discussed the topic of the balance between body and mind and highlighted the impact of focusing on mental health. She emphasized the crucial role played by spirituality for a content mind and a healthy self. Spreading this message of science, practicality and spirituality across the nation, the conference was held in 12 cities with attendees from various personal and professional backgrounds. Speaking to the conference theme, Life in Resonance, Sonal Bhuchar, a conference attendee, stated “The biggest thing I took away from all of the speakers, there was a common denominator of finding your own spirituality. And finding resonance in what you do, based on the anchor of spirituality.” While there are many strategies and approaches to finding and maintaining balance in life, the conference reiterated using spirituality as the base of all efforts. The conference delegates were reminded not only of the necessity for maintaining stability, but also of their inherent strengths which allow them to pursue this very goal.
Dr. Shital Desai
About BAPS The BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS), a worldwide socio-spiritual organization in Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations, is dedicated to community service, peace and harmony. Motivated by Hindu principles, BAPS strives to care for the world by caring for societies, families and individuals. Through a number of social and spiritual activities, BAPS endeavors to produce better citizens of tomorrow who have a high esteem for their roots - their rich Hindu culture. Its 3,300 international centers support these activities of characterbuilding. Under the guidance and leadership of His Holiness Pramukh Swami Maharaj, BAPS aspires to build a community that is morally, ethically and spiritually pure, and free of addictions.
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About Pramukh Swami Maharaj His Holiness Pramukh Swami Maharaj, the fifth spiritual successor of Bhagwan Swaminarayan, has inspired millions of people across the world to lead a God-centered, morally pure life. As the present leader of BAPS, Pramukh Swami Maharaj travels from village to village, continent to continent, emphasizing the importance of family harmony, community service and spiritual progress. His compassion for humanity, universal wisdom and striking simplicity has touched many around the world. For more details, please visit www.baps.org Contact: BAPS North American Headquarters Phone: 732-777-1414 Email: media@na.baps.org
INDO-AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, APRIL 15, 2016 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM
20 April 15, 2016 COMMUNITY Houston Police Academy Cadets Visit India House
HOUSTON: Knowing and understanding
different cultures can go a long way to breaking down barriers and dispelling myths about other cultures and beliefs. To have a genuine understanding and mutual respect for others, the Houston Police Department conducts a Diversity Bus Tour for the Cadets of its Academy taking them to different cultural centers of Houston. India House has been a regular host and a popular venue for such diversity tours in the last couple of years. Last week on Wednesday, April 6, around 70 cadets, accompanied by Houston Police officers including Officer Muzaffar Siddiqi, arrived at India House around 1:30 pm for an introduction to the Indian culture. They were greeted by India House Executive Director Col. Vipin Kumar with a welcoming Namaste. He explained that India is a fascinating land with an absorbing history and cultural diversity. With such a large population, India presents endless varieties of physical features and cultural patterns. Col. Vipin Kumar explained that India is a land of multiple religions and faiths. He showcased a presentation filled with vibrant Indian colors explaining customs, traditions, religious beliefs, festivals and their meanings. He explained how values and traditions are of high esteem among Indians, supporting this with few examples. This gave the Cadets a deeper understanding of Indian culture. He shared many Do’s and Don’ts with the cadets which will come handy to them while dealing with the Indo-American population during the course of their duties in the future. Saira Jilani, Program Director of Speak Up and Lily Nasar of Interfaith Outreach gave insight to the Islamic ways of everyday life to
the audience. They explained Muslims follow a religion of peace, mercy, and forgiveness, and the majority have nothing to do with the extremely grave events which have come to be associated with their faith. Cultures influences law, and law influences
culture. In the United States migrant came from many different countries. Understanding and respecting diversity brings faith in our legal system. With this brief overview, the cadets left India House filled with an empowered mind!
Raghavan Receives Fulbright US Scholar Award
HOUSTON: Dr. Kamala Raghavan, a Texas
Southern University Jesse H. Jones School of Business Associate Professor of Accounting, has been awarded a 2016-17 Fulbright U.S. Scholar grant. She will conduct interdisciplinary research on the impact of India’s adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards on financial reporting, auditing, and cybersecurity with this award. Raghavan served as president (2015) for the Indo-American Charity Foundation and is currently a Board Director. She is known for her dedication and passion for service and continues to serve on the boards of many nonprofit organizations benefiting the Houston
community. The Fulbright Scholar Program, part of the United States Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, is an educational and cultural exchange program that connects people and encourages them to learn about others’ cultures and values. On receiving the award Raghavan said she was “honored to receive the award and humbled by the credentials of some of the previous awardees. Because of the vast scope of my research topic, Impact of India’s Adoption of IFRS on the Financial Reporting, Auditing, and Cybersecurity, I am hoping that the research results will be quite promising and useful to other countries in their adoption of IFRS.” Raghavan expects her time commitment to this project to be intense as she will work with other researchers in Ahmedabad, India during the fall 2016 semester, and then share the results with fellow academics in 2017. “Rapid changes in technology, globalization, interconnectivity and computing power, global trade, combined with changes in regulations will require future business leaders to apply critical thinking and analytical problem solving skills,” she said. “Inter-disciplinary approaches to find business solutions will be the norm rather than the exception in the future. I will work with students to keep informed about new global business and technology developments, and approach solutions strategically using integrated thinking”.
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22 April 15, 2016 H
COMMUNITY
TCC Taped Ball Tournament Winner 2015: Spartans(SCG) Winners, BIG12 Runners Up
OUSTON: Spartans (SCG) won the TCC Taped Ball Winter 2015 tournament defeating Big12 by five wickets in a closely contested game. It was a well-deserved win for Spartans (SCG) who maintained a perfect record in the finals for the seventh time. Big12 had a great tournament reaching finals for the first time. The tournament was a highly competitive one featuring 23 participating teams. On a beautiful Saturday morning, Big12 won the toss and opted to bat first in good batting conditions. Right from the onset of the game, Big12 tried to be positive and score runs freely. However, SCG bowlers stuck to the plan and got crucial wickets at every juncture to peg back Big12. At the end of 10 overs, Big 12 had scored 46 runs for the loss of 4 wickets. They were further reduced to 76 for 7 at the end of 15 overs due to some quality bowling from Sandeep, Subodh, Nattu, Mathew and Ninad. Just when it seemed Big12 would be dismissed cheaply, Adriraj from Big12 played a blinder. He was supported by Prakash. 45 runs were scored from the last five overs. In the end Big12 finished with 121 runs from 20 overs and set up a challenging total for SCG. For Big12, Adriraj scored 41 runs, and was well supported by Rex (16), Gopi (10) and Prakash (14). For SCG, Sandeep was the best bowler taking 3 wickets and was well supported by Nattu who took 2 wickets and Subodh and Mathew who took 1 wicket each. At the end of the first innings, the momentum was clearly with Big12. Amit countered it by giving a flying start to SCG. His innings included 4 massive sixers against Big12 opening bowlers and the score was 48 runs for no loss at the end of 6 overs. After Amit got out, Big12’s bowlers struck back and slowed the scoring rate with a few quick wickets. At the end of 15 overs, the score was 84 for 4 and the winning
Spartans (Winners) with Chief Guest Bilal Saeed.
Big12 (Runners up) with Chief Guest Bilal Saeed.
equation was 38 runs in 30 balls. Aradhya and Mathew played sensibly with Aradhya going big with three sixers in the next 3 overs and Mathew rotating the strike to take the team home with 10 balls and 5 wickets to spare. Amit
top scored with 41, Aradhya scored 38 and were well supported by Sanman (10) and Mathew (14). For Big12, Rakesh and Abhishek picked up 2 wickets each. The game had high quality umpiring from Tony and HJCC team. The game was followed by a well-organized prize distribution ceremony arranged by TCC. The presentation party included TCC President Nanda Kumar and former HCL president Tony. Bilal Saeed (former CWCC treasurer and HCC Captain) graced the occasion as chief guest. Bilal Saeed spoke about the fun and time advantage of Taped Ball and paid rich tributes to TCC for their initiative in youth cricket. He was felicitated by TCC President Nanda Kumar with a plaque from TCC for his contribution and support to cricket in Houston. Jagadish Biradar, organizer for TCC Taped Ball tournament coordinated the presentation ceremony. Dinesh Kasliwal, the captain of SCG was presented with the championship trophy and Sunny Teli, the captain of Big12 was presented with the runners up trophy. The players of the winners and runners up teams received individual trophies. Man of the match for the finals was Amit from SCG for his blistering 41. Jeffery from Titans won the Best Batsman trophy with 286 runs. Subodh from SCG won the Best Bowler trophy with 23 wickets. Gihan from SLCC won the best all-rounder trophy for scoring 144 runs and taking 16 wickets. Mathew from SCG and Gopi from Big12 were the recipients of the man of the match for Semi Finals. Neil from Houston Arrows was given special award for taking hat-trick during the league game.
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni Visits YLDP Class of 2016
BY RADHA CHENNA
HOUSTON: On Saturday, March 26, YLDP held a session with its keynote speaker, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, at the Mayuri Indian Restaraunt. Divakaruni is a New York Best Selling author who integrates her Indian heritage and culture within her writing. She has written seventeen novels, in which two of them have been made into award-winning movies. Apart from being an author, she also teaches a creative writing course at the University of Houston. Divakaruni encountered several challenges when she arrived in the United States for her collegiate studies. From her, we learned passion, adaptability, perseverance, independence, and the importance of time management. Divakaruni was put in a dire situation when she least expected it. To further her studies, she came to the United States in hopes to get her Ph.D. However, upon her arrival, she was informed that her college tuition would not be supported by her family as her father had lost his job. Because of this, her family offered to get her married instead of continuing higher studies. Despite being given an easy solution, Divakaruni remained passionate towards her education and forced to earn money herself.
Adapting to this harsh circumstance, she was working several odd jobs while simultaneously attending college. This perseverance paid off when she was finally approached by an agent who eagerly sold her first book. This became a major turning point in her life. Throughout her first few years in the United States, Divakaruni adapted to a different lifestyle and struggled to pursue her passion for writing. Staying up late at night was a sacrifice Divakaruni had to make in order to expand her writing. Her perseverance and management of time have proved to us that without passion, everything becomes a chore. Putting aside her discomforts, Divakaruni remained joyful and determined, which shows us that with passion, one can achieve anything. Without it, there is no hard work or goal in life. Her life story of passion has inspired me and other YLDP students to chase after their dreams and to see the positive aspects of life. She taught us to pursue our dreams though it may be disapproved. Although Divakaruni struggled, she became what she always dreamed and inspired others to do the same. We can only tread forward in life if we have passion, perseverance, and adaptability. Divakaruni has taught us this very valuable lesson.
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April 15, 2016
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24 April 15, 2016 COMMUNITY Internet of Things, Shaping Enterprises and Consumers
HOUSTON: “The nerds are back
in style” said Anup Sharma, Global CIO for Oil and Gas at GE, during his keynote speech at the Jones Graduate Business School, Rice University. Through his light and articulate presentation, he engaged the audience on the topic of Internet of Things. Quoting how Airbnb and Uber are valued as multi-billion dollar enterprises even without owning any assets, Anup walked the audience on how keeping informed and deriving insights through connected devices is shaping our future. Anup mentioned that the top three areas benefiting from the Industrial IoT are machine and equipment health, reliability management, and maintenance optimization. IoT is reshaping preventive maintenance and improving operational efficiency of assets such as locomotives, aircraft engines & refineries, he said. Second half of the evening was an interactive session between audience and a group of distinguished panelists. Dr. Satyam Priyadarshy (Chief Data Scientist, Halliburton), Amit Bhandari (Associate Partner at IBM Oil & Gas) and Avijit Sinha (Director of Business Development for IoT at Microsoft) were facilitated by the ever jovial Sundy Srinivasan (VP of Engineering at ZenTech and ex-President of IITAGH). Participants questioned about application of IoT and data analytics to smaller
organizations, availability of IoT technologies as open source, cybersecurity, digital maturity in Oil and Gas, Azure Machine Learning, and how an IoT toothbrush would provide information to my dentist, or
Fitbit readings be available for my doctor, to improve personal health and outcomes. Participants learnt that the IoT is real and a game changer. The roles of CIOs to new hires will evolve as these technologies define
the future of operations and IT. Post event, participants networked among themselves, with the keynote speaker and the panelists to learn more about the IoT and how they can grow their career in this field. IITAGH hosted this keynote and panel discussion at Rice University in conjunction with Rice Indo American Business Club on March 28th from 6-8:30p. Shell Auditorium was a packed house of 170 attendees which included IT/business professionals, Executives, Entrepreneurs, Rice Faculty and Students from Rice University, University of Houston and North American University. Professor K.Ramesh welcomed Anup Sharma, Sundy introduced the panelists to the audience and Nishanth
Babu, thanked everyone for a great evening of networking and learning. IITAGH President, Shamanth Shankar thanked Prof K. Ramesh and Nishanth for support from Rice, Riken Pandya, Shreya Chauhan for volunteering at the event, Sundy Srinivasan for being the moderator, Keynote speaker Anup Sharma, panelists: Dr. Satyam Priyadarshy, Amit Bhandari and Avijit Sinha and the participants for making it to the event. IITAGH is planning on hosting an event on Oil & Gas , “Where do we go from here” in May. Subscribe to our events through www.iitagh.org, https://www.facebook.com/iitagh, and on Linkedin, www.linkedin. com/groups/1913197
Fun and Fit Children’s Health Fair at New State-of-the-Art Children’s Clinic
H
OUSTON: The Ibn Sina Foundation, a non-profit organization, announces a fun and free Children’s Health Fair at our new Stateof-the-Art Children’s clinic located at 11220 South Wilcrest Drive in Houston. The public is invited from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm on Saturday, April 16. We will be providing free medical services in a fun atmosphere for children up to age 21 through this Health Fair. In addition, tours are available with access to interview Doctors and Administrators. Among the entertainment and services on hand on Saturday, April 16: Bounce House, Petting Zoo, Free Entertainment for
Children, Food and drinks, Snacks, Radio Remote with music, entertainment, and prizes, Raffles for prizes and services, Lots of Giveaways, Free Immunizations, Free Medical Screening, Free Doctor Consultations Ibn Sina Foundation is a non-profit organization providing Free and LowCost Medical and Dental Services for Uninsured and Under-Insured Patients through six clinics throughout the Houston area. Our new state-of-the-art Children’s Clinic accepts CHIP, Medicaid, and Major Insurance PPOs. Services for children under age 21 include Free Annual Visits, Free Sick Visits, Free Sports Physicals, Free School Physicals, Free Immunizations, Free Medical Labs, and Free X-Rays. Our mission is to ensure the health of the community by providing preventive and primary care to enhance the quality of life for the entire community. For more information, please contact: Andrea Guy-Halat at andrea.guy-halat@ibnsinafoundation.org 281-451-8967 (Cell)
INDO-AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, APRIL 15, 2016 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM
COMMUNITY
April 15, 2016
JVB Preksha Meditation Center’s 16th Annual Family Retreat BY SEEMA JAIN
HOUSTON: JVB Preksha Medita-
tion Center, Houston conducted its 16th Annual 3-day and 2-night Family Retreat Camp at 66-acre facility Camp Woodmen, Bellville, TX from March 25 through March 27 under the spiritual guidance and presence of Samani Vikas Pragyaji and Samani Maryada Pragyaji. About 75+ campers from all over the state of Austin, San Antonio, and the Greater Houston area came along to enjoy the calm and scenic surroundings while nurturing their soul through powerful discourses, laughing yoga, meditation and relaxation techniques. Every year, this camp aims to foster the healthy Spiritual, Intellectual, and Physical wellbeing of Camp Participants from varied backgrounds within a nurturing outdoor environment, while creating a meaningful sense of Community among them through an active and fun learning experience. The camp started on Friday evening with meet and greet session with Samanijis. The hall was filled with new and old familiar faces. New attendees shared their anxiety to experience this special camp & their views on what motivated them to attend this spiritual retreat. The session was followed by the Samani Vikas Pragyaji’s powerful lecture on “ Attitude: Makes your world, breaks your world”. She explored the idea of what is attitude,
how it is developed and its importance in one’s life. The early morning sessions on Saturday and Sunday started with reciting of Bhaktambar stotra & Meditation session conducted by Samani Maryada Pragyaji. An hour long Laughing Yoga conducted by Jeetendra Tannaji aimed at recharging everyone’s battery through various laughing exercises on Saturday and Alok Jain carried out Yoga and Pranayama Session on Sunday. Samani Vikas Pragyaji led an interactive lecture series part I, II & III on the theme of the camp where she explained how attitude helps to thrive the relationships, its concept in Jainism and its process of transformation. In her last lecture, she delivered tips that can be utilized to transform one’s attitude via different meditation techniques. The audience appreciated situational ex-
amples that they could relate to their family and daily lives; which led to thought provoking discussions and fructified ideas to overcome them. Participants relaxed and meditated during the course of two days with focus on relaxation. The retreat had concurrent kids programs which were divided into two age groups. Kids ages 5yrs. to 9 Yrs. old were placed in one group and the Youth group had kids’ ages 10yrs. to 15yrs. old. Both the groups focused on Learning, Yoga, and other creative activities conducted by Samani Maryada Pragyaji along with parent volunteers Pramod Bengani, Shashi Jain, Vikram Parikh, Mukta Jain, Hemang Vora, Anusha Jain & Sarika Gandhi. Some of the highlights of the children activities were interactive sessions for the young kids group on “What makes you big”& youth
group on “Make the World yours” by Samani Maryada Pragyaji, “Top Ten Values to stop Negative Attitude ” by Pramod Bengani, “Learn values with fun” for younger group by Hemang Vora and for youth group “Enhance your life with positive attitude” by Mukta Jain. For adult attendees, An interesting Jain Quiz which was based on a unique Stock market theme was full of fun & knowledge. Nikhil Jain, Pramod Bengani & Sam Torabi played the perfect host of this game. All participants, including kids participated in a cultural eve on Saturday night. Youth group expressed and shared their views on how to stop negative attitude becoming your behavior through presentation slides. For the adults, 6 different teams were formed to make a presentation on self- reflection of each member of their
INDO-AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, APRIL 15, 2016 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM
25
team. Creativity peaked in each of the team skits, and the audience enjoyed the entertaining & fun presentations. Nitesh Jain played the perfect host for the evening. Video & pictures were done by Ashok Jain, Sudhir Daga & Jigar Dedhia. All participants appreciated the great bouquet of programs, activities, and the way arrangements were handled professionally by the JVB team. Food arrangements, which were handled by Meena Shah & Anusha Jain, were also highly talked about. The Annual camp concluded with a one hour interactive session with Samanijis. Seema Jain moderated a feedback session & expressed his thanks to Samanijis, all attendees & volunteers for making this a memorable and successful event for one and all. Samaniji brought the event to a successful close by reciting mangal paath, with everybody taking the resolve to come back next year. JVB Preksha Meditation Center is home to a specially designed Preksha Dhyan ‘Pyramid’ Meditation Hall and is located at 14102 Schiller Rd, Houston, TX 77082. Our Upcoming Events include I-Choose session for young professionals on “Dealing with Uncertainty with Certainty” by renowned speaker Alok Jain on April 17 from 1pm - 2:30pm and Two days Preksha Meditation Shivir on April 23 & 24 from 9am- 5pm inside our unique pyramid hall. For more information, please visit www. JVBHouston.org. You can reach Samanijis at 281.596.9642 or call Seema Jain @ 281.575.0575.
26 April 15, 2016
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PUZZLES ASSOCIATE PRODUCER
Are you a newscast producer who’s ready to move up to a top 10 market? Here is your chance to work for one of the nation’s best broadcasting companies that is dedicated to covering local news. KTRK-TV, the ABC O&O station in Houston, TX is accepting applications for an Associate Producer. The person hired for this position will line produce a section of our weekend morning newscasts and have opportunity to fill in on other newscasts as well. Applicants must have experience working as a line producer. This is a newsroom that embraces new technology. ENPS /Aurora/Ignite experience a plus – as is good understanding of social media and how it can be used to reach viewers and create content. Candidates must be able and willing to learn both nonlinear editing and writing for our digital platforms. Applicants must be willing to work overnights, weekends and holidays. To be considered interested applicants must apply online at disneycareers.com, ref job #363933BR. Please upload a cover letter, resume and list of references. In addition, please mail writing samples and a DVD of or link to your latest newscast to: Robin Freese, Executive Producer, KTRK-TV, 3310 Bissonnet, Houston, TX 77005. Reference job #363933BR KTRK-TV is an Equal Opportunity Employer Female/Minority/Veteran/Disability/Sexual Orientation/Gender Identity
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INDO-AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, APRIL 15, 2016 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM
April 15, 2016
ENTERTAINMENT:REVIEWS/NEWS ENTERTAINMENT:REVIEWS/NEWS BY JYOTI SHARMA BAWA
S
omewhere in downtown Los Angeles, there is a deep, dark jungle where a boy called Mowgli lives among animals. The animals themselves speak in menacing tones of Idris Elba, hold you under their spell in the sultry voice of Scarlett Johansson and sing exactly like Bill Murray. (If you are planning to watch the film in Hindi, make it Priyanka Chopra, Irrfan Khan and Nana Patekar). Probably they got coaching from director Jon Favreau on how to emote for the camera, or maybe they are just natural. Before you think I have taken leave of my senses while writing The Jungle Book movie review, here’s the gist: The film is great but the CGI is even greater. Neel Sethi’s Mowgli may be the only living, breathing entity in this live actionCGI stew but you would consider Bagheera, Baloo, Shere Khan and party equally real by the time the show’s over. Favreau and his team of tech
burst of sunlight and colour in its happy moments, it seamlessly turns into a mist-filled horror with predators lurking at every corner when the mood takes it. Every little detail in this film is rendered with such precision and love that though dangerous, it has enough joie de vivre to carry you along. The story of the film mostly is true to Rudyard Kipling’s timeless tale – abandoned ‘mancub’ Mowgli was found by the wise panther Bagheera years ago. He brought the child to a pack of wolves which is headed by Akela (Giancarlo Esposito) and mother wolf Raksha (Lupita Nyong’o) brings him up with her other cubs. Dry season approaches and a water truce is called. As all animals drink at the river together, battle-scarred tiger Shere Khan demands that the mancub should be given up as per law of the jungle. He makes it clear that he will attack the wolves if Mowgli doesn’t become his lunch. To save Mowgli, Bagheera decided to take him to the village where humans live. On the way, Mowgli will meet the laidback bear Baloo, the mysterious serpent Kaa and gigantopithecus (not orangutan) King Louie. The voice work is excellent all around. We hear Shere Khan before we see him and Elba brings an air of menace to the film. Khan is enjoying his cruelty and the actor shows it. Villain of the year, anyone? Ben Kingsley’s Bagheera, also the narrator, is
The Jungle Book wizards don’t just give you CGI for the heck of it, they make it an integral part of the storytelling. This film would never have been the same without the present day technology and it can only be compared with, say, Avatar. The film is an eye-popping spectacle where the jungle breathes and animals emote with their eyes. The wizardry is overwhelmingly successful in the portrayal of the animals. They are so real – from the way they talk to their loping, sinuous walk to even their eyes – that you eventually forget that some graphic artist just made them up. Just like the animals, the director turns jungle into a place of fear and, yet, home. From a
a statesman-like figure, Mowgli’s father figure and the voice of sense. But the real winner is Murray’s Baloo. A slacker who is not above a bit of lying if it can get the job done, Baloo is the story’s comic relief. His relationship with Mowgli gives the film its heart and Favreau lets it breathe. The fact that he gets the film’s best dialogues also helps. The duo also gets to sing the classic Bare Necessities together and that itself justifies the price of the ticket. The shaggy ambling sloth bear is a perfect fit for Murray and Murray’s lazy dialogue-delivery is a perfect fit for Baloo. All in all, a casting choice made in heaven. That brings us to Neel Sethi, our Mowgli and a difficult find if the director is to be believed. The Indian American boy has a natural screen presence and brings an infectious energy to the role. He does particularly well in the action scenes – running towards or away from danger. He does rush through his lines at places but then, the boy was basically acting opposite tennis balls. Scarlett Johansson and Christopher Walken are stupendous in their roles and we would have loved to see more of them, especially Johansson’s hypnotic Kaa.
Happy Birthday
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So, how does it measure up to The Jungle Book versions we have seen till now – the Disney film made almost 50 years ago and the classic anime show on Doordarshan in the 90’s? It matches up. The tone may be different and it may be edgier, but at heart The Jungle Book is still an adventure and a coming-of-age tale. Favreau gives us that sense of wonder, something we so desperately desire in these days of one franchise too many. The fact that he manages to do it in a story we all know so well is remarkable. And if you are a kid who grew up in the 90’s in India and are missing the ‘Chaddi pehen ke phool khila hai’ track, Disney took care of that too with this new-age anthem... However, a word of caution, do take your children but prepare them for some awe and shock. I hate to break it to you but Pahlaj Nihalani may be a teeny weeny bit right when he said that young children may get scared at some points during the film The Jungle Book is no longer cute and cuddly but a tale of survival. This time, it really is a jungle out there. But I can guarantee one thing, once you and your children do enter it, you would not want to leave. -hindustantimes.com Lara Dutta April 16, 1978
Arshad Warsi April 19, 1968
INDO-AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, APRIL 15, 2016 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM
28 April 15, 2016
SPORTS
IPL 2016: RCB Crush Sunrisers; Seamers, Rahane Lift Supergiants B
BY SIDHARTH MONGA
ENGALURU (ESPN Cricinfo): Royal Challengers Bangalore 227 for 4 (De Villiers 82, Kohli 75, Sarfaraz 35*) beat Sunrisers Hyderabad 182 for 6 (Warner 58, Reddy 32, Watson 2-20, Chahal 2-43) by 45 runs The sleeping giant that was IPL 2016 sprung to life in a highscoring clash. Royal Challengers Bangalore blasted the first 200plus score of the tournament in an emphatic 45-run win over Sunrisers Hyderabad at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium. In doing so, they also bucked the season’s early trend of chasing teams prevailing. AB de Villiers (82) and Virat Kohli (75) provided a visual treat courtesy a fine cocktail of fineness and brute force in a 157-run second-wicket stand, before Shane Watson announced himself by muscling three successive sixes in an over from Karn Sharma. The final flourish was lent by Sarfaraz Khan, who in his typically unorthodox fashion, paddled and reverse-paddled his way to an unbeaten 10-ball 35 as Royal Challengers finished with 227 for 4. Deflated and dejected, Sunrisers went for broke, wiping out 83 for the loss of Shikhar Dhawan in eight overs. David Warner, who returned to open after a brief flirtation in the middle order with Australia in the World T20, showed why he is one of the most feared white-ball strikers. He muscled three sixes and five fours in a 21ball half-century before falling into the short-ball trap laid by Watson. The pressure of the required rate eventually got to Sunrisers and the chase went cold as the team lost Warner, Naman Ojha, Henriques and Deepak Hooda in the space of 17 deliveries, meaning they could only muster 182 for 6. Parvez Rasool was the pick of Royal Challengers’ bowlers, returning 1 for 31 in a crafty spell of offspin bowling, even as Watson and Yuzvendra Chahal, the legspiner, chipped away with two wickets. Chris Gayle’s dismissal for 1 in the second over of the match to Bhuvneshwar Kumar, when the
Ashish Reddy executes the slog sweep, Royal Challengers Bangalore v Sunrisers Hyderabad, IPL 2016, Bangalore, April 12, 2016
ball brushed the thigh pad and deflected onto the leg stump, was a rare moment to cheer for a listless Sunrisers bowling attack that was further depleted when Ashish Nehra, their pace spearhead, hobbled off the field after just 2.1 overs. That resulted in a batting feast for two men in a murderous mood as Royal Challengers blasted 139 off the last 10 overs. The only semblance of respect from Kohli and de Villiers came early on when Mustafizur Rahman, making his IPL debut, troubled them with his cutters. Once the job of seeing off his initial burst - a two-over spell - was done, they let loose. Sarfaraz’s unbeaten 44-run stand off just 15 deliveries with Kedar Jadhav ensured Royal Challengers had momentum firmly by their side at the break. Shikhar Dhawan’s early wicket to Rasool was a setback for Sunrisers, but Warner’s muscle kept his team in the hunt as Kohli rang in the changes in a bid to pull things back. Adam Milne’s second spell, in which he had Moises Henriques mistime a pull to midwicket, opened the game up. Once Royal Challengers had one foot in the door, it was a simple matter of forcing it open, which they did quite easily. In the end, even Ashish Reddy’s big hitting was merely a footnote for Sunrisers in what was a forgettable outing. Shashank Kishore is a senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
Rising Pune Supergiants 126 for 1 (Rahane 66*, du Plessis 34) beat Mumbai Indians 121 for 8 (Harbhajan 45*, Marsh 2-21) by nine wickets Rising Pune Supergiants made a sweet start to their life in the IPL, their seamers waylaying Mumbai Indians’ top order to set up a breezy nine-wicket win over the defending champions. Chasing 122, they got there with 32 balls to spare, Ajinkya Rahane steering them home with a fluent unbeaten 66 off 42 balls. The pitch had lost most of its early bite when Supergiants batted, and Rahane quickly got into the groove with a pair of straightdriven fours off Mitchell McClenaghan, in the first and third overs of the innings. Any residual chasing nerves Supergiants may have had dissipated in McClenaghan’s third over - the fifth of the innings - when both Rahane and Faf du Plessis picked up sixes off mis-hits; they probably would not have carried all the way on a bigger ground. Nonetheless, Supergiants were well on their way, and the openers put on 78 before du Plessis played on to Harbhajan. It left the rest of the batting a mere 44 to get from 62 balls, and Kevin Pietersen hastened their passage home with a couple of monster sixes off Harbhajan. The 15th over began with Supergiants needing eight to win, and Rahane finished the game with
two sixes in four balls, clubbing Hardik Pandya over the long-on boundary and then ramping him over the third man boundary. Mumbai made life easier for Supergiants, with Jos Buttler fluffing a chance to run du Plessis out after a dreadful mix-up between the openers, and Shreyas Gopal missing a caught-and-bowled off Rahane. The season began on a Wankhede Stadium pitch dissimilar to the easy-paced, hit-through-the-line surfaces offered up during the World T20, and Mumbai, after surprisingly deciding to bat first, struggled against the seam movement and bounce. They only got as far as 121 because Harbhajan climbed into Pune’s bowling towards the end of the innings, clubbing an unbeaten 45 off 30 balls and scoring the bulk of the 41 runs Mumbai made in the last three overs. Till his intervention, they seemed to be struggling to even get to 100. Ishant Sharma, getting the ball to nip around and climb on the batsmen, and Mitchell Marsh, getting late swing away from the righthanders, reduced them to 30 for 4 by the end of the fifth over, and it became 40 for 5 when Rajat Bhatia trapped Kieron Pollard lbw with an offcutter in the eighth over. Apart from helping the quicker bowlers, the pitch was also offering Bhatia grip, and Mumbai struggled for rhythm against his
INDO-AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, APRIL 15, 2016 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM
stump-to-stump mix of cutters and slower balls. He finished with figures of 1 for 10 from four overs. Shreyas Gopal, who made 2 off 16 balls, faced nine balls from Bhatia and failed to score off any of them. Gopal’s stay at the wicket came to an end when he holed out to long-off off the bowling of M Ashwin, the debutant legspinner. Nerves were evident in the number of short balls M Ashwin sent down - they gripped and turned too much for the Mumbai batsmen to do very much with them - but he also bowled a couple of ripping googlies that hinted at the potential Supergiants must have seen in him to shell out INR 4.5 crore for his services. His more famous namesake R Ashwin, meanwhile, only bowled the one over, continuing a puzzling trend of being under-utilised by MS Dhoni. He struck with his first ball - just as Ishant, Marsh and Bhatia had also done - but that first ball came after a 15-over wait. Dhoni declined to use him after that, entrusting the final overs to RP Singh and Ishant. Though Harbhajan took heavy toll of those overs, Mumbai had made far too little before that for his runs to make too much of a difference. Karthik Krishnaswamy is a senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
Indians Beats Pak 5-1 in Azlan Shah for 2nd Spot
IPOH (Malaysia): Forward SV Sunil scored two crucial goals as Indian hockey team outclassed traditional rivals Pakistan 5-1 to move to the second spot in the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup on Tuesday. After Manpreet Singh’s fourth minute field goal was equalised by Muhammad Irfan’s flick in the seventh minute, SV Sunil scored twice in the 10th and 41st minutes to make it 3-1. Later, Talwinder Singh scored a field goal in the 50th minute, while Rupinder Pal Singh’s goal from a penalty corner gave India the 5-1 win. With this win, India moved to the second spot with nine points.
April 15, 2016
BP Ready to Drop Arbitration Over Gas Prices BY GIREESH CHANDRA PRASAD
NEW DELHI: Is Reliance Indus-
tries Ltd (RIL) ready to bury the hatchet with the government over its dispute on natural gas prices, which is now in arbitration? Recent developments suggest so. RIL and its partner BP Plc. have initiated discussions with the government to drop the arbitration, said an oil ministry official familiar with the developments but did not wish to be identified. RIL-BP have also signalled their intention to invest $10 billion over the next few years to recover about 2.5 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas from deep sea fields that the combine expects to be allowed to sell at free market prices under the new gas-pricing rules, according to the official. Withdrawal of arbitration is a precondition to RIL-BP being allowed free pricing of gas produced from their allotted fields, according to the gas-pricing policy announced by the government on 11 March. RIL did not respond to an email seeking comment. BP responded saying the company will work towards developing its joint venture assets. “The recent reforms announced by the Government of India will provide the much-needed impetus to the Indian oil and gas industry. Together with our partners, we are working with the government to progress activities in our blocks,” BP said in a statement. The minister of state for petroleum and natural gas, Dharmendra Pradhan, met executives of both the companies in the first week of April. “The fact that the consortium is keen to discuss the issue with us indicates its willingness to drop the arbitration relating to government’s power to fix gas price,” said a government official, who requested anonymity. According to the Union cabinet decision, if there is an arbitration
or litigation filed by the companies directly pertaining to gas pricing, the new liberal pricing policy will apply only on the conclusion or withdrawal of such disputes. Alternatively, they can avail of the new price ceiling linked to the landed cost of alternative fuels like fuel oil, naphtha, liquefied natural gas and coal. The official said that it might take about a year for the companies to finalize the field development plan, sign equipment and services contracts and get the work started. An executive with one of the companies agreed that by 2017, investments will flow into developing the deep-sea discoveries that are yet to be brought into production.
January 2016. A presentation by the oil ministry said that the pricing freedom will help in monetizing 6.5 tcf of gas valued at $28.35 billion, or Rs.1.8 trillion. Of this, RIL has eight deep-water and ultra-deep water discoveries with 2.53 tcf gas. BP is 30% partner in RIL’s 21 gas blocks, including in the KG- DWN-98/3, known as KG D6. Canada’s Niko Resources has 10% holding in KG D6. In 2013, BP had said it will, along with Reliance, invest about $5-10 billion to quadruple gas production from the then 11.9 million metric standard cubic metres a day by 2020. Implementing that investment commitment, however, got delayed RIL and BP have also signalled their intention to invest $10 billion over the next few years to recover about 2.5 trillion cubic feet of gas from deep sea fields that the combine expects to be allowed to sell at free market prices under the new gas-prices rules.
RIL initiated arbitration in 2014 demanding implementation of the pricing formula developed by previous United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government. Enforcing that formula would have doubled the price from the then prevailing $4.2 per million British thermal unit (mmBtu) from 1 April 2014. However, the UPA government could not go ahead due to the model code of conduct enforced by Election Commission ahead of the Lok Sabha election. The current government modified the formula. As per this, the price is set at $3.06 mmBtu for the AprilSeptember period of 2016. This price applies to gas produced at present. The free pricing regime announced on 11 March is for discoveries that are yet to start production as on 1
due to what was seen as unviable gas prices. State-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp. (ONGC) too announced its $5 billion investment in two fields in the Krishna-Godavari basin on 29 March after the government offered free market pricing for natural gas extracted from deep-sea blocks. The two fields are forecast to yield 50 billion cubic metres of gas and 23 million tonnes of crude oil over their lifetime. “Private sector players may be discreet about their investment plans. The positive impact of these upstream hydrocarbon investments to take advantage of the gas price reforms will be felt in the long term,” said Kalpana Jain, senior director at Deloitte India. - livemint.com
29
Sindh to Produce Less
Mangoes this Season BY MOHAMMAD HUSSAIN KHAN
A
N unusual drop in flowering and fruit setting in mango orchards is being witnessed in Sindh this season. Experts believe it is due to climate change affecting the all varieties, but Sindhri the most, which is grown in 75-80pc orchards owing to its export potential. The problem has assumed a serious challenge especially for medium-size orchard owners due to lack of appropriate management. Single-digit temperature is essential for mango trees when they enter the dormancy phase — a factor crucial for bud formation, flowering and then fruit setting. Mr L.K. Sharma of Research Wing of the Agriculture Department based in Tandojam and Mr Abdul Jabbar Memon of Sindh Horticulture Institute, Mirpurkhas, say mango trees didn’t get the muchneeded temperature of below 10°C this season which shot up to 30°C even in January at one point of time. Mercury did drop to 6-8°C only for a brief period not enough for trees to have ideal fruit bearing climate. The province contributes 35pc of Pakistan’s mango production but it has 50pc share in the country’s exports Other mango varieties — saroli, daseri, chaunsa, langra etc — are too witnessing an early flowering. Some farmers say months of April and May are still crucial and nutritional doses of potassium and nitro phosphate may be applied to retrieve some losses. It would help keep fruit healthy and increase its weight by around 200 grams or so. “Better quality can offset quantita-
INDO-AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, APRIL 15, 2016 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM
tive losses.” Researchers carried out a survey of different orchards of Tando Allahyar and Mirpurkhas districts in February where they witnessed an early flowering in langra, saroli and daseri varieties which indicate that they would be marketed early this season. Mr Sharma points out that a 40pc drop in flowering and fruit setting was evident in orchards. Farmer Ghulam Sarwar Abro agrees with him saying normally 8,000kg of mangoes are produced on an acre. But this season, he reckons that 4,500kg to 5,000kg of the fruit may be obtained from an acre. Sindh constitutes 35pc of Pakistan’s mango production but it has 50pc share in exports. Mahmood Nawaz Shah, who also exports mangoes, says if the drop in Sindhri output is less than 25pc of the total crop, supplies would still be enough to meet domestic demands. However, if production shortfall crosses 30pc the market price may go up. “I feel price of Sindhri would shoot up to Rs100 per kg as this year’s crop coincides with the holy month of Ramazan starting early June at peak of harvesting of the fruit,” Abro observes. Experts tell farmers that for lessening the impact of climate change they need to get engaged in tendering the orchards promptly after piecemeal harvesting instead of waiting for the picking up of entire crop. Orchards should not fall prey to any kind of stress like over and under irrigational water supplies. It would result in timely flushing and ultimately leading to bud formation, flowering and fruit setting next year for a better crop.
30 April 15, 2016
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April 15, 2016
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