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Friday, October 19 2012 | Vol. 31, No. 42
Indo American erican News
www.indoamerican-news.com Published weekly from Houston, TX
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October 19, 2012
INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2012 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM
COMMUNITY
October 19, 2012
A Bumper Crop of Asians Seek House Seats this November
BY JAWAHAR MALHOTRA & MANU SHAH HOUSTON: With six Asian candidates who have tossed in their hats this year in five races for State Representative, these elections appear to be a harbinger of the shape of things to come in Texas. Two candidates – Angie Chen Button (R) District 112 and Steve Nguyen (R) District 115 – ran from the Dallas area, although Nguyen lost in the runoff to Bennett Ratliff. Button, a Chinese-American, won her seat in 2008 by beating Vietnamese-American Sandra Phuong Vule (D) and is running unopposed this year. The remaining candidates are from Houston and Sugar Land, which says a lot for the changing demographics of the area. By some estimates, Fort Bend County has a population of nearly 40% AsianAmericans, with the epicenter being the City of Sugar Land, all of which comprises the boundaries of District 26 which Democrat Vy Nguyen, a Vietnamese-American, is contesting. After the seat was vacated by Republican Charlie Howard, who held it for 18 years, it was fiercely contested in the Republican Primary by Indian-American, Sonal Bhuchar who lost in the runoff to Jacquie Chaumette, a former City Council member and Rick Miller, who was the eventual winner. Miller is now running against Nguyen. With a sizeable Asian-American community and hugely diverse population, the Greater Houston area leads the State in breeding future leaders over the past twenty years, since the election of first Asian-American Martha Wong on Houston City Council in 1993, which hopefully reflects their opinions and political yearnings through allegiances to both major political parties, sometimes pitting one Asian candidate against the other. The other area races are in District 137 which includes all
of Alief, Sharpstown, Fondren Southwest and parts of Mission Bend, in which former threetime Houston City Councilman Pakistani-American M. J. Khan is running on the Republican ticket against Chinese-American Democrat Gene Wu, a former Prosecutor in the Harris County District Attorney’s Office; and District 149 in which incumbent VietnameseAmerican Democrat Hubert Vo is being challenged by Republican Diane Williams. District 149 goes from Hwy 59 to I-10 and DiaryAshford to Fry Road. Regardless of their ethnicity, the candidates have to prove themselves on all the vital issues of the day that are of concern to all constituents of the districts. For voters, here is a summary of their positions on key issues.
District 26
balanced budget. He believes that directing Property Taxes funding belongs at the local level with State oversight. Miller’s top people issues are education; Veterans and first responders; care and support for the elderly; the economy and job growth and healthcare. He would focus on small business development and franchise tax issues. Miller would stop illegal immigration by enforcing current laws and make sure to follow the State constitution and laws, but no foreign laws. He would focus on mobility and transportation for the district and water resource issues, especially the 2012 State Water Plan. Vy Nguyen (D): Nguyen was born outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She
Rick Miller (R): Miller received his BS from the US Naval Academy in 1968 and is a decorated Naval Officer and Aviator, retiring after 33 years of
service. Miller has lived in Sugar Land since 1999. He was the Precinct 4119 Chair and then the Ft. Bend County Republican Party Chair (2007-2011). He is founder and President of Trevanion Group, a corporate leadership development company. Miller’s top issue is Fiscal Responsibility and he wants more efficient State Government with a
comes from a military family which immigrated to the US after the fall of Saigon. Nguyen obtained her BS in Political Science from the University of Houston and got her Juris Doctorate Degree with Honors from the Thurgood Marshall School of Law. Nguyen believes her background as a lawyer, adjunct professor, woman small business owner, and a working mom will enable her to be a strong voice for her constituents. Nguyen stands for proper funding for public education, better access to higher education for all students, healthcare for all groups, not just the affluent, and
interests of small business owners. She will work to repeal bills that do not benefit small businesses. Nguyen sees grave problems with the public education in Ft. Bend due to the reduction in funding which resulted in hundreds of teachers being laid off and students consolidated into larger classroom sizes. This would affect the ability of Ft. Bend to attract businesses and residents. She sees the voucher system as a drain from public education. Nguyen also sees safety as a major concern in Mission Bend, which she believes does not have adequate representation.
District 137
M.J. Khan (R): Khan is proud of his accomplishments as City Councilman representing District C which is covers a lot of the same area as HD 137. He got a $500,000 grant funding for India House; set up the El Franco Lee Health Center; Heckburry Park on Dairy Ashford and a new Multi Service Center in
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tices to highlight the needs and identify the areas where you can save dollars by combining services. He also worked to improve the efficiency of City departments. Education, he believes is the best investment we can make for our society and future generations so he will increase funding for schools by decreasing wasteful expenditure. There are about 80 FQHC’s in Chicago (Federally Qualified Health Centers). He would like to bring more federal funds to develop more FQHC’s in Houston. When asked how he felt running against Gene Wu, he replied that he wasn’t running against anyone! Gene Wu (D): A month ago, Wu stepped down
as a felony prosecutor in the Harris County District Attorney’s office and is presently running a private law practice. He’s proud of the time he spends tutoring children who struggle to finish high school, teaching adults life and job skills the Gulfton area. As councilmember, he served in a legislative body and feels he is the only one with legislative experience and worked to reduce property taxes. As a Republican and working with Republicans, he thinks he will have better opportunities to get funds. He proposed, got approved and implemented zero based budgeting which is used in private prac-
CONTINUED ON PAGE
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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:713789-6399, 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
INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2012 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM
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October 19, 2012
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INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2012 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM
COMMUNITY
October 19, 2012
Vedanta Society Celebrates a Ceremonial Durga Puja
HOUSTON: This past Saturday, October 13, several devotees gathered at dawn to ceremonially bring Divine Mother Durga to the artistically decorated Mandap constructed outside the main temple building of the Vedanta Society of Greater Houston on Lindita Drive on the city’s far west side. With the sounds of conch-blowing, drum beats (Dhak) and shouts of “Jai Ma”, Mother was invoked. As the day progressed more devotees came and by 9:30am, Swami Sarvadevananda, Assistant Minister from the Hollywood Center commenced the Puja with Dr. Amrit Achari as tantradharak, ably assisting. Melodious songs were sung by the VSGH choir in praise of the Mother. By noon, the number of devotees rose to around four hundred. They enjoyed the worship, Arati to the beats of the Dhak, followed by Pushpanjali (offering of flowers with the chanting of mantras) and then partook a sumptuous Prasad lunch. The newly arrived Indian Consul General P. Harish and his lovely wife Nandita and daughter Amani attended and participated in this year’s Durga Puja festival.
Free Health Screenings at “Life and Soul” Health Fair
MANVEL, TX: Joy of Sharing, an initiative of Global Organization for Divinity (G.O.D.), will conduct Life and Soul 2012, a free health fair, on Saturday, November 3 from 8am to pm at New Life Plaza, 3945 CR 58 (Croix Rd.), Manvel, TX 77578. Honorable Mayor Delores Martin of Manvel, TX will kick-off this event. Just like last year, this year too the fair offers a great opportunity for people of all ages— from children to seniors—to have several health screenings performed at absolutely no charge. Joy of Sharing is an initiative of Global Organization for Divinity that aims to reach out to the community and society, thereby furthering G.O.D.’s ultimate cause of universal harmony and brotherhood through love and care. G.O.D. is a worldwide non-profit organization that aims to promote peace, harmony and universal love amid cultural diversity through inner spiritual transformation by chanting the Divine Name. For more information, call Jeevan at 281402-6585 or Michelle at 281-412-6606 or email info@thejoyofsharing.org.
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INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2012 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM
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October 19, 2012
INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2012 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM
October 19, 2012
RICK
MILLER
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Born to lead.... Prepared to serve
A graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy followed by an outstanding 30-year career, retired as a Captain‌ a successful small businessman, now a public servant. Rick is a family man with strong family values. Married to “Babsâ€?, they have three children and three grandchildren. He and Babs moved to Sugar Land in1999.
REPUBLICAN FOR STATE REPRESENTATIVE
Palin) naval u, Sarah RTANT? and of a (Thank yo IP IMPO in comm ‌ arned A H C T diamond, ccesses. I also le ll ba YOU BE se a ba of su hether on joyed my share w ‌ ip n: itize leadersh help, I en inspiring cerned C with his rtance of ith God’s Dear Con er King, the impo siness. W artin Luth I learned small bu l. M a e, ca r. g lif iti D in cr in e like nn is it Early or ru aders lik Better.â€? you are portant— uadron, esent. Le ize “We Can Do ment. If ďŹ ghter sq ship not only is im st and pr of govern ad. Leaders who al Pa re ls s. ve us er le er l d helped fted lead try. We, that lead ship at al age to le ties of gi ened America an r our coun ed leader ers with the cour the abili ak is best fo illed, skill ad I admire .â€? He aw do what strong-w we can share, le am r to : re fo D er ed a nn sion ate ne “I Have mmon ba in desper leaders whose vi der a co e stand unite un ant Today, w ily, we w tizens to m ci omise of fa d y de m roun s real pr BLICAN me and as God-g that show E REPU T us n O io ire V ct sp re ‌ r.â€? will in n in a di e VATIVE Do Bette ONSER facing th t our natio too, “Can VOTE C cal issues help poin unity to d to criti AIGHT‌ rt R on T po sp S op re E VOT I would e have an you how n Day, w share with On Electio at dream. t tify and en th age - no e id ng to lli fulďŹ ised t. Encour er, I prom vernmen d that means mor tt go le e st at la t, an ls of st In my ssion. velopmen at all leve slative se spending nded business de 2013 legi creation wasteful . pa w ut ex fe C d t and job : a an N e EATIO to new Here ar velopmen JOB CR status of at leads siness de y th & bu rif Y t us ve ni M en ge at prev ECONO ployers to creative stacles th quire em ge - the entry; re emove ob discoura IONS: R xans. for illegal T Te es LA r iv U fo nt G jobs cial ince ESS RE ove ďŹ nan e chased G BUSIN before w RM: Rem STIFLIN N REFO ading us le IO T of A b R good jo IMMIG life. d a pretty of human ms. He di workers sanctity r classroo value the ou I : to E in IF back alth PRO-L llow God cialize he TION: A rts to so EDUCA d all effo an e ar ac t. bam him ou concerns ppose O ews and CARE: O d t your vi HEALTH ry best an represen ve to y m ed iďŹ to do qual and I care. pledge is ur vote, I am best y yo el M . fe ed I tin e. ne g, ust in m ice in Aus ake it happen, I In closin es your tr m ll time vo compani as your fu essly for you. To y that ac ON el lit TI A bi tir N si k R or on U resp to w STATE, O cept the ILY, OUR humbly ac UR FAM YOU, YO SS LE B D GO Sincerely,
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r.com
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NEWS • FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2012 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM
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October 19, 2012
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LONDON: An Indian-American entrepreneur has developed a phone app where “adulterers” can make their lovers’ text messages and calls disappear just with a shake of their phones. The Cate app or “ Call and Text Eraser” has been made by 25-yearold Boston entrepreneur Neal Desai, the Daily Mail reported. The app creates an invisible log of calls and text messages and can hide specific numbers from The Cate app, which stands for “Call and Text the contacts list. The screen will Eraser”, creates an invisible log of calls and text messages and can hide specific numbers from never indicate who has called, and the contacts list. at the touch of a button, all private information can be wiped from the phone $4.99 to download. Desai bought the app from a Miami police forever. If someone walks in while a lover is reading illicit texts, a simple shake of the officer, who had developed the programme phone will make it all disappear, the report after seeing his friend dragged through the divorce court, thanks to incriminating text said. Unlike other apps, the Cate icon does not messages on his phone. Desai decided to appear on the home screen. A person also expand the business by appearing on “Shark needs to enter a secret code to access the Tank”, the American equivalent of BBC2’s “Dragon’s Den” and ended up winning app and all the hidden features it provides. Advertised with the slogan, “Love is $70,000. Desai also claimed that profesblind, we keep it that way!”, the app costs sional golfer Tiger Woods, who cheated numerous times on his wife Elin Norgegren, would still be married if he had bought the Cate app, the daily said. Since the app was launched three weeks ago, it has been downloaded 10,000 times -- 70 percent of them by women. Desai said there were legitimate reasons for using his app. “It’s a privacy app, essentially, and as with every technology that involves privacy, there is good with the bad,” he was quoted as saying. “But it is also labelled a privacy application and could have uses for governEntrepreneur Neal Desai, 25, got $70,000 funding from Shark Tank — the ment officials, or corporate business, or for US version of BBC 2’s Dragons’ Den — lawyers whose entire business is based on to develop the idea. keeping things confidential.”
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Announcement INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2012 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM
COMMUNITY
October 19, 2012
Houston’s First Ever Dusshera Mela at Skeeter’s Constellation Field on Nov. 4
BY DR. NIK NIKAM HOUSTON: Shri Sita Ram Foundation,USA announces the first ever Dusshera Mela to be held on Sunday, November 4 from 3 to 9pm. This event has been supported by India Culture Center of Houston, India House, Hindus of Greater Houston, Houston Gujarat Samaj, Hindu Worship Society, Banke Bihari Parivar, Meenakshi Temple, Indian Senior Citizen’s Association, Shri Swaminarayan
food items from well known vendors like Mirch Masala, Natura, WJ farms, Baloch Ice Cream, Durranis, Sankalp, Pavani, and Bombay Sweets. The non food Bazaar will have nearly 30 booths for ladies suits, bangles, bindis, cosmetics, balloons, mehndi, various Diwali & Dusshera items, face painting etc. The entire show will be on a stage in the field and will also be displayed on a 200’ x 90’ digital
self on the giant screen. Let your children experience and share the Indian heritage with their friends and family. For the spiritually minded, there is a pre- event ‘SunderKaand’ by Ishvar Bhai group starting at 1:30pm at the temporary Ram Mandir on site at the stadium. The Mandir will be kept open during the entire program. The ‘Mishri’ Prasad that will be distributed there has arrived directly from Ram Jan-
Temple, Ashtalaxmi Temple, and Govindji Gudia Maatha. The program will include children’s costume contest, bhajans, Ram Leela stage show, dances by premier dance schools of Houston area, maha aarti, burning of effigies of Ravan, Meghnath and Kumbhkarn (first of its kind in Houston) which have been imported from India for this specific purpose. This will be followed by fireworks and Dandia Rass. The food stalls will have a number of delicious mouth watering
screen and all the TV monitors at the Constellation Field Stadium which can be watched from the stands with comfortable seats. Parking is free. Valet parking is provided free for all Mercedes owners by one of the sponsors, Mercedes Benz of Sugarland. Experience the Indian culture, food, costumes, music, dance, sweets, drama, hospitality, networks, effigy burning & fireworks. Become a part of Houston’s first ever Dusshera Mela. You may even catch a glimpse of your-
am Bhumi, Ayodhya, India. This auspicious Dusshera Mela is expected to be graced by several dignitaries, including mayors and council members of Houston, Stafford and Sugarland, Consul General of India and Chancellor of University of Houston System. Carry your dandias, as you will be dancing the night away to the melodious tunes of Kashmira Nayak, set to the most versatile and energizing harmony from our one and only drummer, Darshak Thacker.
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For sponsorships and booths, contact Shree Ram Madan at 713-2485784 or Shalini Agarwal at 832-618-5777. Listen to Shri Sita Ram Foundation’s special segment on Ram Leela and Dusshera Mela 2012 on 1480AM on Saturdays between 9-10AM.
To buy tickets, visit http://www.shrisitaram.org/web/web2.php or https://www. ticketreturn.com/prod2/Buy.asp?EventID=90590 or www.sulekha.com Tickets are also available at Maharani Music on Hillcroft Patel Brothers, Keemat Grocers and Everest Grocers. Ticket holders can get special discounts at Pavani Indian Cuisine, until Nov.3. For group tickets, media, and information, call Dr. Nik Nikam 281-265-7567 or email drniknikam@gmail.com.
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INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2012 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM
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Harish Katharani Honored for “Best Practices: Business Skills 2012”
HOUSTON: The State of Texas Small Business Award, honored business owner Harish Katharani of Southside Pharmacy as a business organization which has implemented business skills and practices that has helped propel them to a level of growth and success in the midst of this challenging economy. The recognition plaque was presented during the Soaring Heights Awards Brunch at the 4th Annual One Woman National Business Conference in Houston in August 2012. Other honorees this year included Maria Rios of Nation Waste, Inc. and Lupe Fraga of Tejas Office Products, Inc. Harish Katharani began his pharmacy career working at discount chain’s pharmacy and at a local Hospital. In the late 80’s, when many Houston area patients were diagnosed with HIV, and resources to support and care for them were scarce, Katharani felt compelled to start his own pharmacy where he would be able to care for the patients without any red tape. He initiated his pharmacy in 1992, within a 500 square foot facility and now has transformed
Nikita Rogers (left), Office of the Governor of Texas); Harish Katharani, Southside Pharmacy; Jeffrey L. Boney, CEO, Texas Business Alliance and Ajit Thakur, IACCGH President.
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The Extraordinary Life and Times of Mahatma Gandhi
Advertising in IAN Gandhi Returns Home, Meets Tilak,For Gokhale
The story thus South Africa. The Natal far…In South Indians pressed Gandhi Africa, Gandhi to remain and guide saw how the Indithem for a little lonans were treated ger. Gandhi told them as inferiors, only that he was prepared allowed to work to stay on if the Indian the soil but not community would propermitted to own vide him with suffiland. Under the cient legal work. They law enacted in gladly agreed to do the Orange Free this. Twenty merchants State in 1888, turned over all their leIndians had been gal business to him. deprived of their When Gandhi aprights. In Transplied for enrolment as vaal, they had to an attorney to argue his pay a poll tax of caseload in court, the 3 pounds if they entire bar, composed of wanted to stay in white lawyers, strongly that state. Ganopposed him. The Sudhi gathered the preme Court of Natal community tooverruled the objection, gether and drew and he was allowed to their awareness practice. Soon Gandhi to the deficienbecame one of the busicies in their staest lawyers in Durban; tuses and advised but to him law was a them unite for subordinate occupation. justice. His main interest was The Indians, as his public work. He felt advised by Ganthat merely sending in dhi, now realized petitions and protests what was at stake would not help the Inbut they were at a dians much. He felt loss at to what to Gandhi with his wife Kasturba after returning from the need to organize a do. They request- South Africa sustained agitation. So ed Gandhi to posthe proposed the formapone his departure and help them. The Extraordinary Life and tion of a permanent organization to He agreed to stay on for another Times of Mahatma Gandhi safeguard the interests of Indians. month and organize resistance to is brought to you courtesy A meeting was called to discuss the new bill. Late that night the Mahatma Gandhi Library. this matter. The spacious hall in Indians held a meeting at Abdulla www.gandhilibrary.org Dada Abdulla’s house was packed. Seth’s house under the stewardIt was there, on that occasion that ship of Seth Haji Muhammad, the Secretary of State for the Colo- the Natal Indian Congress was most influential Indian merchant nies. formed. In 1894 the Natal GovernMore than ten thousand Indians ment sought to impose an annual there. They resolved to oppose the Franchise Bill with all their signed the bill. Copies of the peti- poll tax on the indentured Indians. might. Telegrams were sent to the tion were circulated in South Af- These were laborers who had been Speaker of the Assembly and the rica, England, and India. recruited from India on a five-year There was much sympathy for contract, but on a pittance. Under Premier of Natal requesting them to postpone further discussion on the Natal Indians’ plight, but the the contract they could not leave the bill. The Speaker promptly campaign had started too late to their employer. replied that the discussion would stop the bill becoming law. HowThey were treated practically be put off for two days. The Natal ever, the campaign did some good. as slaves. These men had been Indians then drew up a petition to For the first time, the people of In- taken to South Africa to help the the Legislative Assembly pleading dia came to know of the conditions white colonizers in agricultural in Natal. An even more important work. The Indians did more than against the bill. They followed up with another result was the new spirit that was had been expected of them. They petition to Lord Ripon, the then now awakened with the Indians in CONTINUED ON PAGE 16
INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2012 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM
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16 October 19, 2012 CONTINUED FROM PAGE
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worked hard, purchased land, and started cultivating their own fields. Their enterprise did not end there. They soon built houses and raised themselves far above the status of laborers. The white people did not like this. They wanted the Indian workers to return to India at the end of the contract period. To make things much harder for them, the Government now imposed an annual poll-tax of £25. The Natal Indian Congress started a strong agitation against this. Later, at the intervention of Lord Elgin, the then Viceroy of India, the tax was reduced to £3. Still Gandhi considered it an atrocious tax, unknown anywhere else in the world. The Natal Indian Congress continued its agitation, but it was 20 years before the poll-tax was finally withdrawn. In three years in South Africa, Gandhi had be-
Gandhi Returns Home............
come a well-known figure. And his practice was well established. He realized that he was in for a long stay. He knew that the people there wanted him with them, so in 1896 he asked their permission to go home and bring his wife and children to South Africa. Besides, a visit to India would be useful in gaining more support for the Indians in South Africa. He had arranged his work so well that he could look forward to six months’ leave. In the middle of 1896 Gandhi sailed for India, and after 24 days landed at Calcutta. From there he went to Rajkot. It was a happy family reunion when Kasturbai welcomed him with their two sons. But the plight of the Indians in South Africa was so much on his mind that he could not be content to enjoy domestic bliss in peace. He therefore launched a
Sewa International Celebrates Sewa Day
HOUSTON: Sewa International celebrated “Sewa Day” at the Houston Food Bank on Saturday, October 6. A diverse group of thirty-six volunteers from a variety of community groups representing professionals, the Indian-American, and the broader communities came together for a day of pure service. Students from ASPIRE, the after school program jointly run by Sewa International and volunteers of Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh, also joined the effort. Sewa volunteer Kavita Tewari from Katy, who organized this effort said, “The experiences of volunteering at the Houston food bank has been one of the best I have ever had. It was truly a humbling experience to work with people from different age groups and ethnicities to help eradicate hunger from our communities.” Continuing Kavita said “The Sewa Volunteers, the young and the not so young worked side by side as one family to provide 4600 meals in 3 hours. The smiles and
the energy levels of the volunteers told a lot about how dedicated we are to our cause at Sewa. It was a really fulfilling Sewa day at Houston Food Bank.” About Sewa Day A project of Sewa International, Sewa Day is an international day of volunteering where thousands of good-hearted people across the world come together to perform service, and experience the joy of giving. By participating in this collective endeavor, it is hoped that the seeds of Sewa (Sanskrit for ‘selfless service’) are watered so that the flowers of acts of kindness and of public service bloom more often. Sewa Day is being celebrated in over 10 locations in the US, as well as in UK, Australia, India and many other countries. It is a day of pure service and no fundraising is conducted. Sewa invites the community to join them again next year and be part of the movement! For more information, visit www.sewaday.org.
campaign to acquaint the people of India with the real condition of the Indians in South Africa. He met the editors of influential newspapers and important Indian leaders, including Lokamanya B. G. Tilak, the hero of Maharashtra, and Gopal Krishna Gokhale who, like Gandhi, was already famous at the age of 27. Wherever Gandhi went, he tried to make the people aware of the lot of their compatriots in South Africa. Many newspapers published his views and strongly condemned the South African government. Summaries of these newspaper reports and comments reached South Africa long before Gandhi returned there. Meanwhile, plague broke out in Bombay and threatened to spread to neighboring areas. In Rajkot Gandhi volunteered to join a group who tried to educate the people about the need for sanita-
COMMUNITY
tion and other measures to prevent the spread of the disease. At the end of November, however, Gandhi received an urgent message from Natal asking him to return immediately. There were some developments which required his presence there. So Gandhi set sail for South Africa once more, this time taking with him Kasturbai and their two sons and the only son of his widowed sister. However, a message reached Gandhi advising him not to land with the others but to wait until evening, as there was an angry mob of whites at the dock. Kasturbai and the children were sent to the house of Gandhi’s Parsee friend, Rustomji. Later, accompanied by Jason Laughton, the legal adviser of Dada, Abdulla & Co., Gandhi went ashore. The scene looked peaceful, but some youths recognized him and shouted,
“Look, there goes Gandhi.” Soon there was a rush and much shouting. As Gandhi and his friends proceeded, the crowd began to swell until it was impossible to go any further. Suddenly Laughton was pushed aside and the mob set upon Gandhi. They pelted him with stones, sticks, bricks, and rotten eggs. Someone snatched away his turban, others kicked him until the frail figure collapsed. He clung to the railing of a house. The fury of the white mob was unabated and they continued to beat him and kick him. “Stop, you cowards,” cried a feminine voice. “Stop attacking the poor man.” It was the wife of the Superintendent of police. She came up and opened her parasol and held it between Gandhi and the crowd. This checked the mob. Soon the police arrived and dispersed the crowd. — To be Continued
Asians Seek House Seats this November CONTINUED FROM PAGE
3
and helping residents earn their US citizenship. Wu believes that education, healthcare, and employment are the biggest issues in the district and can be improved through public/private partnerships. Wu believes that despite the numerous contributions of the Asian community, their needs and opinions are often sidestepped or ignored and wants to be their voice in the legislature. Wu thinks his experience as a public servant, leader of the community and hands on volunteer gives him better insight about the state level public policy issues that need to be championed immediately. Wu would like to tackle employment, education and healthcare through public and private partnerships. He will continue promoting the growing business areas like Hillcroft and Bellaire but also work towards improving some of its poorest neighborhoods.
DISTRICT 149
Hubert Vo (D): A Texan since 1977 and an engineer from the University of Houston, Vo switched to real estate in 1985. He is endorsed by the Texas Teachers Association, major law enforcement and firefighters ssociations, several business and environmental
groups. His key planks for the coming election are education and healthcare. He will continue to work with the school boards and hopes to increase school funding in “a fair and adequate” way. Vo’s top priorities are education
and public safety. He has argued successfully for school boards to get local control, better training programs for teachers and has coauthored legislation to allow more universities in Texas to achieve Tier 1 status. Public safety is another key concern with stiffer penalties for crimes like graffiti, car break- ins and state workers who have falsified documents. Small and minority businesses in his area have been given a boost by cooperative State agencies. He announced $1.6 million funding for hiking and biking trails
connecting one park to another. Diane Williams (R): Retired from Alief ISD after 31 years as an Educator; she is a fifth generation Texan and has no previous political experience. She considers herself a common sense Conservative who believes in small government.
Williams values life from conception to natural death and does not want tax payer dollars to fund abortions. She would deregulate education and allow innovation, free-enterprise and parent choice and support the appropriate funding of education. She would secure the borders and use a common sense solution for illegal immigration. She would support legislation that protects business from over regulation and additional taxation.
INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2012 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM
October 19, 2012
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EDITORIAL
October 19, 2012
The Rape of Reason It is not unusual to hear people talk of fighting fire with fire, but is it appropriate to recommend fighting crime with crime? Former Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala apparently thinks it is. Endorsing the regressive views of some khap panchayat leaders in his State, Mr. Chautala suggested that the growing incidence of rape be addressed by relaxing the laws relating to child marriage (an offence under Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006). This is a rape of reason, based on a dangerous and completely false idea that masks the distinction between sexual desire and rape. While the first is a natural human desire, the second is a violent act borne principally out of an aggressive urge to dominate the victim; power and humiliation are integral to this act of violence rather than sexual fulfilment. The belief that there will be a radical reduction in rape incidents if men and women were allowed to marry before they turn 18 is easily disproved by some basic facts about this and other forms of sexual assault. It is stupid to assume that only single men are perpetrators of this crime; married men are rapists as well. Similarly, married women are frequent victims of rape. Finally, the idea that rape will be dissolved by marriage ignores the fact that it can and does take place within marriages as well. There has been a spate of rape incidents in Haryana recently as many as 17 in a month in which a number of victims have been Dalit women. Already under pressure, the Haryana government and the Congress party at the State and the Centre must also contend with the ridiculous statement of a State minister explaining away most rapes as the outcome of consensual sex. Apart from taking action against the minister for making light of a serious problem, Congress president Sonia Gandhi, who visited Haryana, ought to have led from the front in condemning the child marriage ‘remedy’ for rape. It is hugely ironic that this argument is raised in a country where child marriages frequently take place. Recently, four U.N. agencies estimated that more than 40 per cent of the world’s child marriages take place in India; also that in eight States of the country, over 50 per cent of young girls are married before they reach the age of 18. Mercifully, the Jat Mahapanchayat, which comprises khap panchayat leaders from across Haryana, has distanced itself from the demand of some members that the marriage age for girls be brought down to 16. Child marriages are a violation of fundamental rights and a major impediment to the empowerment of women and the establishment of gender equality. - The Hindu
All Opaque on India BY RASHMEE ROSHAN LALL Televised prime-time debate between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney may accomplish much for either candidate — or both — in domestic terms, but it will probably do nothing to make India or the wider world fall in love with the US president’s Republican challenger. Tradition decrees that it should not be this way. The New Delhi punditocracy has always thought Republican presidents suit India much better than Democratic ones, and George W Bush’s gamechanging civil nuclear cooperation agreement is undoubtedly sound ballast for that belief. More to the point, Romney is a millionaire businessman who has personally profited from outsourcing and, unlike Obama, he does not droning on about “economic patriotism”. Word is out that Romney is also planning a permanent tax holiday on overseas income, which would make it cheaper for multinational companies to expand outside the US and carry on moving jobs overseas with the option of possible re-investment of their earnings in America. So, if India had a vote in the US presidential election, shouldn’t it be casting it for Romney? That depends on a relatively esoteric question. Is it better to be steamrollered or simply ignored? With a President Romney in the White House, both options will probably be on the table for India. Consider this. In a recent major foreign policy speech, Romney made no reference whatsoever to India, though his rival has consistently described the US-India relationship as one of the defining partnerships of the 21st century even as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton calls India a “strategic bet” in Washington’s rebalancing pivot towards Asia. Romney has consistently talked tough on Iran and the general consensus is that a Romney administration would be less flexible than Obama’s about granting waivers to countries like India that persist in doing business with Tehran. But most disquieting of all is Romney’s starkly hegemonist worldview. It promises “another American century”, reaffirms “historic ties to Israel” and seeks, in a return to the
In a recent major foreign policy speech, Romney made no reference whatsoever to India, though his rival has consistently described the US-India relationship as one of the defining partnerships of the 21st century. Cold War era, to reinstate the US as globocop, albeit with a makeover that borrows heavily from some of the darker manifestations of Lord Voldemort. Three weeks before the election, it is unclear if the world needs to be overly concerned about Romney’s 20th century foreign policy mindset. The race for the White House is perceptibly narrowing. Even though Romney’s top adviser Ed Gillespie insisted on Sunday that his man had “the wind on his back” and was being buffeted towards victory, the incumbent still leads the challenger by one point in the three key swing states — Virginia, Ohio and Florida. If Romney loses, his unreconstructed approach to foreign policy will cease to matter to much of the world. But for America, there is a world of difference to negotiate between Obama and Romney’s respective visions of their country’s future. On television and radio phone-ins, there is a striking rise in the number of Americans identifying themselves as “part of the 47%”. It is a dispiriting reference to Romney’s secretly recorded remarks categorising 47% ofAmericans as die-hard Obama supporters because they are entitlement junkies afflicted by a pronounced victim syndrome. It is probably safe to say that Romney’s remarks have polarised the country almost as deeply as its racial realities. But there is still more to distinguish the two candidates’ projections for the future. Romney wants to slash income tax for everyone, with the rate falling from 35% to 28% for the richest Americans. Obama wants to repeal Bush’s tax cuts for all households earning more than $250,000. Obama wants to ensure access to some level of healthcare for all Americans but Romney prefers to let the market determine this. Obama wants to regulate
Wall Street more severely but his rival regards this as unreasonable restraint on free-market forces. The differences are especially stark because they can be spelt out so clearly at this late stage of the campaign. Most US presidential elections are marked by the candidates cannily moving to the centre-ground several weeks before election day. Though Romney has assumed more centrist positions in the last fortnight, his party’s stranglehold does not allow him to renege, even briefly, on some of the more retrogressive, core principles of the modern Republican belief system. As governor of liberal Massachussetts, Romney supported abortion, gun control, efforts to slow climate change, and radical legislation on healthcare for all, which became a model for Obama’s plan. Now, he opposes all of these, in an enforced bow to his party’s socially conservative wing. That said, as Ronald Reagan, the Republican Party’s favourite president, once mused on the similarities between his day job and that of a prostitute: “Politics is supposed to be the second oldest profession. I have come to realise that it bears a very close resemblance to the first.” It is a political truism that presidential candidates say on the stump what they do not mean to do in office. One such is Romney’s promise to declare China a currency manipulator the very first day he enters the Oval Office. The move would conflict badly with his formidable business instincts because it would set off a fearsome trade war with America’s largest creditor and one of its largest trading partners. Clearly, the promise can be dismissed as an extreme attack of stump pugnaciousness. But what then of Romney’s radio silence on India? The answer to that lies in the esoteric question posed above, with one crucial add-on. Is it better to be steamrollered or simply ignored or might the best option for India and everyone else be four more years of Obama? - HT Rashmee Roshan Lall is a senior journalist based in the US. The views expressed by the author are personal.
Indo American News FOUNDER: DR. K.L. SINDWANI PUBLISHER: JAWAHAR MALHOTRA EDITOR: PRAMOD KULKARNI PARTNER: KRISHNA GIRI
MANAGING EDITOR: MANASI GOKHALE ADVERTISING & ADMINISTRATIVE MANAGER: VANSHIKA VIPIN CORRESPONDENTS HOUSTON: MANU SHAH, CHETNA SAMAL CHICAGO: NAND KAPOOR, INDIA: RAJ KANWAR ®All rights reserved. No material herein or portions thereof may be published without the written consent of the publisher. The deadline for advertising and articles is 5 pm on Monday of each week. Please include self-addressed, stamped envelope for return of all unsolicited material. Published at 7457 Harwin Drive, Suite 262, Houston, Texas 77036. Tel: 713-789-NEWS or 6397 Fax: 713-789-6399, email: indoamericannews@yahoo.com, website: indoamerican-news.com
INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2012 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM
October 19, 2012
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BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir Houston extends a heartfelt invitation to you, your family and friends to come celebrate Majestic India, an outdoor musical, laser and fireworks show.
Majestic India - A Musical, Laser, & Fireworks Show
Program Highlights Sunday, Nov 11 th, 2012 5:00 PM - 6:30 PM - Mahaprasad 6:30 PM - 6:45 PM - Sandhya Arti 7:00 PM - 8:00 PM - “Majestic India” an Outdoor Diwali Program
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Diwali Events CHILDREN’S HEALTH AND SAFETY DAY SATURDAY, NOV 3 RD, 2012 1:00 pm - 7:00 pm - Children’s Health & Saftey day and Carnival
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KALI CHAUDAS - MONDAY, NOV 12TH , 2012
DIWALI SAMIAYO - SUNDAY , NOV 18 TH 2012
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4:30 pm - Diwali Samiyao 7:00 pm - Sandhya Arti
DIWALI - TUESDAY, NOV 13 TH 2012
SHAKOTSAV - SATURDAY, NOV 24 TH 2012
6:00 pm - Sharda Pujan (Chopda Pujan)
7:00 pm - 8:30 pm - Shakotsav Darshan
BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha® Shri Swaminarayan Mandir - Houston 1150 Brand Lane • Stafford, TX 77477 baps.org • houston.baps.org Inspirer: Pramukh Swami Maharaj
INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2012 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM
For more information, visit http://goo.gl/Y0TTw
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Last Week’s SUDOKU Solution
A Chance Meeting with Guru Swami Swahananda at New Austin Center
BY SANCHALI BASU AUSTIN: I had the good fortune of meeting my guru, Swami Swahananda last Sunday, October 14 when he had come for the opening of Austin Vedanta Society Center. He is 91 years old and has recently been through some health challenges. Swami Swahananda is one of the three remaining direct disciples of Sri Ramakrishna. He has a huge following of about 2,000 disciples spread all over the world. He received initiation at the tender age of 16 and completed a double M.A.in English Literature and English Language before becoming a monk of the Ramakrishna order at the age of 26. He gave up his career as a lecturer to meditate in the Himalayas and was later made the head of the Delhi Ramakrishna Mission center. He was instrumental in spreading the word of the Vedanta and Swami Vivekananda to the western world by taking leadership roles in the San Francisco, Berkeley and the Hollywood centers since 1968. He has been the minister and spiritual leader of the Vedanta Society of Southern California since 1976. I feel fortunate to have him as my guru. I got initiated into the faith by him on June 10, 2011 and my life has changed since then. In this 150th year of Swami Vivekananda’s birthday, I appreciate the relevance of his teachings, principles and phi-
Sanchali Basu (left) with her Guru, Swami Swahananda
losophies more than ever before. I can relate now even more to the importance of the role that my guru and his fellow monks play in bringing about some form of peace and sanity to this modern day world of war, turmoil and unrest. The principle that the Ramakrishna order is based on, “As many faiths, as many paths,” couldn’t ring truer than at these present times, when tolerance by all is what is called for. Swami Sarvadevananda, the assistant minister of the Hollywood, California center, who had come to Houston to conduct the Durga Puja ceremony (see page 5) encouraged Houstonians to go to Austin. Many
fellow devotees had driven from Dallas and flown from India and several monks traveled with the Swami. The local Austinites had gone to great lengths to attend to everyone’s needs and were very kind and welcoming. They had their puja at the new center the previous day. On Sunday, we listened to a short lecture by Swamiji and participated in a 20-minute meditation session. After lunch was served, we had a chance to interact with our Guru a bit more. That evening there was a short lecture session on Vedanta and a short presentation on Swami Vivekananda by local youngsters.
Center Stage Pakistani Artists Cheered on Rice Radio HOUSTON: Asia Society Texas Center continues to be a boon for Houston’s South Asian community. Within a short period after its launch they have showcased a wide range of talent from South Asia thus offering an elite entertainment option for those seeking unconventional music treat. Zebunissa (Zeb) Humayun Bangash and Haniya Aslam entertained the crowd with their foot tapping music and soulful lyrics on October 4 at the Brown Foundation Performing Arts Theater. Following the grandeur performance, Zeb and Haniya shared their musical escapade with KTRU’s Navrang show director Varsha Vakil. Rice radio is recognized among Houstonians for eclectic music. Zeb and Haniya presented to Houstonians the essence of Pakistani music and culture. Talented Smith College alum, Haniya, started the conversation by vividly describing her family’s influence with their frequent “shokiya” hobby recitals. Varsha applauds the duo for their MTVPakistan Music award. Zeb enthusiastically describes to Houstonians the latest trend in Pakistani music where more women artists are now emerging as guitarists and lead singers. Haniya played inadvertently with her “handkerchief”, neatly folding and unfolding it several times during the course of the interview thus speaking volumes of simplicity for a world renowned artist. Varsha’s cheerful ambiance for interview often brings out the best in artists to disclose
Zebunissa Bangash (left), Varsha Vakil and Haniya Aslam
fun, intimate details. To access the interview, visit specialty show Navrang archives on ktru. org. Navrang show airs on Saturdays from 10am to noon. KTRU is on ktru.
org, 90.1FM HD2, with free iphone and android apps; also available on iheartradio. For more information, email ktru@ ktru.org.
Letter to the Editor A Joking Matter to Democrats
Dear Editor, The demeanor of Joe Biden in the VP debate sent a clear message that to him, and perhaps the entire Obama administration, everything is a laughing matter- the economy, the jobs, the national security, and the foreign policy. To the citizenry these are very serious issues. I hope whoever is elected will take these matters at least as seriously as the average citizen. While there are no guarantees, if Joe Biden’s performance at the debate is any indication, the Romney-Ryan team seems more likely than Obama-Biden not to treat these serious issues as joking matter. - Hari Dayal
INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2012 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM
COMMUNITY
October 19, 2012
Vy Nguyen Wants to be a Strong Voice for Asians in Texas District 26
SUGAR LAND: Vy Nguyen, who is running for State Representative of House District 26 which encompasses Sugar Land, Richmond, and Four Corners/Mission Bend areas in Fort Bend County, believes that the Asian-American community adds to the growing diversity of Texas and is part of the strong backbone of Texas’ economy. “Unlike my opponent, Rick Miller, I can better relate and adequately represent the needs of all Asian-Americans based on their shared interests in achieving the American Dream for their families, ” states Nguyen. If elected this November, Nguyen would also be the first Asian-American State Legislator in the history of Fort Bend County. Nguyen has received significant endorsements from respected community leaders from other elected officials, including U.S. Congressman Al Green. Former Houston City Councilman Gordon Quan serves as her Campaign Treasurer.
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Vote For A STRONG VOICE FOR THE ASIAN-AMERICAN COMMUNITY IN HOUSE DISTRICT 26
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2. Better Access To Higher Education For All Students 3. Quality Healthcare For All Texans 4. Women’s Health Program 5. Small Business Owners If Elected, Will Be The First Asian- American Female Legislator From Ft. Bend County
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VY NGUYEN asks for your support during early voting starting October 22 - November 2 and in General Election on November 6, 2012
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Vikram Pandit’s Sudden Exit Rattles Wall Street NEW YORK (LA Times): Wall Street suffered another blow as one of its highest-profile leaders abruptly resigned, a reflection of the persistent difficulties plaguing the banking industry as it tries to recover from the financial crisis four years ago. Citigroup Inc. Chief Executive Vikram Pandit stepped down Tuesday , October 16 from the top job at the No. 3 U.S. bank, along with President and Chief Operating Officer John Havens. The surprise departures were blamed on long-simmering conflicts between the two executives and board members. The unorthodox manner in which Pandit resigned less than 24 hours after Citigroup reported earnings but gave no hint of the coming departures points to the stress in boardrooms across Wall Street as banks struggle to reinvent themselves in a new era of reduced profitability and stringent regulations. The drama has potential repercussions nationwide because the health of the biggest banks is crucial to helping the limping economy rebound. The financial wherewithal of socalled too-big-to-fail banks is under intense scrutiny among lawmakers in Washington. The surprise resignation comes on the heels of a series of setbacks at big banks this year that have raised questions about the industry’s ability to manage itself in the aftermath of the global crisis that nearly capsized the industry. Pandit’s departure rattled Wall Street, in part because the reasons behind it remained murky. He “gave every indication that he was expecting to be there for the next five years and was in full control of the organization,” said Richard Bove, an analyst at Rochdale Securities. “No one, but no one, expected what happened.” Michael O’Neill, Citigroup’s chairman, said in a conference call with analysts that the board wants to maintain the company’s current strategy. But when asked why the CEO left, O’Neill simply said Pandit submitted his resignation and the board accepted it. Pandit, 55, re-
Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit gestures during a lecture in Singapore.
portedly told people inside and outside the bank that the idea to step down was his own. O’Neill said Pandit’s succession has been in the works for two years, and that incoming CEO Michael Corbat, a 29-year veteran of Citigroup knew he was a candidate to take the company’s helm. Whatever the cause, Pandit played a starring role in one of the most turbulent periods in U.S. banking history.
A somewhat unlikely candidate to lead Citigroup, he got the job in part because the bank had purchased his hedge fund. However, Pandit was generally credited with stabilizing the institution and restoring its profitability. He took over at virtually the worst moment — just as the financial crisis was striking in December 2007. Pandit’s five-year tenure at the bank was anything but smooth, and Citigroup retains its years-long reputation as a lumbering giant that can’t put all the pieces together. Pandit suffered through a brutal shareholder revolt over executive pay during the company’s annual meeting, with investors voting against the bank’s decision to lavish him with a $15-million pay package in 2011. He was also heavily criticized when the Federal Reserve rejected the bank’s plans to reinstate a dividend because the company still was not well capitalized.
IIT Bombay Faculty to Visit Houston
HOUSTON: Next week, IIT Bombay’s Prof. HS Pandalai (Deputy Director and Prof. of Earth Sciences) and Prof. Subhasis Chaudhuri (Dean Intl. Relations and Prof. of Electrical Engineering/ Computer Vision) will be visiting Houston. The purpose of their visit is to meet with academia, industry, PhD students, and alumni to forge better relations for the benefit of our alma mater. You can meet Prof. Pandalai and Prof. Chaudhuri on October 23, 2012, by participating in any/all of the events listed below. • 9am-1pm: Meetings with Academia, hosted by University of Houston’s College of Technology (http://www.uh.edu/maps/). This meeting will include presentations by IIT Bombay faculty and participating technology/engineering
colleges, followed by a working lunch. To register, visit http://goo.gl/ ANnIq. • 2-5pm: Presentations and discussions about “Technological Challenges in the E&P Industry”. Participants in this meeting will be IIT Bombay faculty and technology gurus from upstream oil companies and oilfield service companies. IIT Bombay and some of the participants will make presentations. To register, visit http://goo.gl/ ANnIq. • 7pm onward: A reception, followed by dinner at Kiran’s Restaurant. The location is not conducive to presentations but is appropriate for personal conversations and, perhaps, short speeches. To register, visit http://goo.gl/ ANnIq.
RELIGIOUS SERVICES Shri Kripalu Kunj Ashram 713-344-1321
Shri Kripalu kunj Ashram, 2710 Ashford Trail Drive, Houston TX 77082, 713-344-1321 , 713-775-6588, established by Jagadguru Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj, is an exclusive place to learn practical aspects of selfless devotion to Shri Radha Krishna. All aspirants of true devotion are cordially invited to attend weekly satsang every Sunday 11am – 1pm followed by Aarti and Maha Prasad. email: skkasecretary@gmail.com or call 817-528-5027
JAI SRIMANNARAYANA!
Sri Ashtalakashmi Temple, JET USA Houston Chapter invites you to the Grand Celebrations of Deepavali, Acharya Thirunakshatram, Sri Rama Kratuvu, and Sahasra Kalasa Abhishekam from October 26th to October 31st, 2011. Please join us in celebrating this Historic 6-day Event in the Divine presence of His Holiness Sri Chinna Jeeyar Swamiji.
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INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2012 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM
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OPINION COMMUNITY
October 19, 2012
Fund Raising Gala at MTS for the Ganesh Temple Renovation Project
PEARLAND: Every Year Sri Meenakshi Temple (MTS) hosts an Annual Gala/Fundraiser for a new project and every decade saw the temple complex get more and more beautiful with the magnificent main temple that houses the presiding deity, Goddess Meenakshi and then the much needed Kalyana Mantapam, the Banquet Hall known as Youth Center, the new kitchen, the staff quarters, the Visitor’s center and finally a chariot (Ratham), thus making the temple campus sufficient to cater to the needs of the community This decade has become a decade of renovations of the existing structures and sustenance (Samrakshana). The Board and the General body of MTS becoming aware of the maintenance and renovation needed for the 33+ year old Ganesh Temple facility, has approved the Ganesh Temple Renovation Project and this year’s fundraising was dedicated to that project. The annual temple Gala, with the Ganesh Temple Renovation Project as its fund-raising goal, was held on last Saturday, October 13. The Gala was a successful event raising over two hundred thousand dollars. The Board of Directors and the volunteers put together a great program for the evening. The Kalyana Mantapam, the chosen venue for the Silent Auction, was elegantly decorated with the beautiful armor of Lord Ganesha as the centerpiece and the auction items were displayed around the Lord. The devotees arrived around 5.30pm and after bidding for the saris and jewelry, they socialized as they snacked and made their way into the banquet hall for dinner and entertainment and offering their pledges for the project. The banquet hall was tastefully decorated with Ganesha as the theme. The stage had a large Ganesh statue and each table had Gane-
The MTS Board members raised over $200K at the Fund Raising Gala for the Ganesh Tenple Renovation Project.
sha as the center piece. The fundraising Gala was coordinated by the MTS Board Treasurer Parthiban Dhanabalan who was also the emcee for the program. The program started with an invocation by MTS priests. It was followed by a welcome address by the Chairman Tupil Narasiman who spoke about the emotional attachment of MTS devotees to the Ganesh temple. Among the dignitaries present was Pearland Mayor Tom Reid, who has been at every temple event in the last 30+ years and banker Mike Clements, who is also a familiar face at temple events. Secretary Raj Mikkeleneni introduced the fundraising committee consisting of S.G. Appan, Venugopal Menon, A.V.N.Reddy, Sockalingam Narayanan. V.K. Dorai, Rama Rau and G.K. Pillai. The secretary acknowledged the great fundraising effort of the team who were primarily responsible for raising over $200K exceeding the goal set for that day. The local dance schools entertained the audience with dance numbers using Ganesha as the theme. This is the 33rd anniversary year of Ganesh Temple, the first consecrated sanctum on MTS premises. Sri Meenakshi Temple started as a
humble dream of a few devotees thirty-five years ago and the Ganesh Temple was inaugurated in 1979, being its first realization. Since then the temple has blossomed into its present form, serving devotees in a variety of ways. The Ganesh Temple is so dear to many devotees’ hearts that upon hearing about the project many devotees responded so positively. To many of MTS devotees, the Ganesh Temple has a very special significance because of the fond memories. Many of us have attended hundreds of ceremonies of all kinds at the Ganesh temple. We pray at the Ganesha Sannidhi first as we visit the temple and also before we commence anything auspicious in our lives. It is this Ganesha who has been worshipped with a homa every day for more than 30 years. It is therefore this Ganesh facility that is very deserving of preservation and upkeep, so that our future generation can receive the wonderful vibrations that have been continuously infused into the deity. The project is expected to be completed by October 2013. For more information about MTS, visit www. emeenakshi.org
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Shreya Ghoshal Dazzles Thousands of Music Lovers in Dallas
BY RACHANA SRIVASTAVA DALLAS: Shreya Ghoshal won the hearts and souls of thousands of music lovers in Dallas during her performance on Saturday, October 6 at Curtis Culwell Center. The concert was presented by Indian Association of north Texas, Texas Indo American Physician’s Society and Indo American Psychiatric Association along with Fun Asia .The Center was jam packed with more than 7200 people even in the bone chilling weather. What made this concert even more unique was the commencement of the program as it began with the national anthem of India and America. Singing came very natural to this young and talented artist, as Shreya sang old and new hit songs before a packed audience. When asked about this successful concert , Shridhar Reddy Corsapati, President of Indian Association of North Texas said that the organisation is celebrating its Golden jubilee and this has happened for the first time that such kind of concert has taken place for charity purpose. Dr Srinivas of Texas Indo American physician Society said that his organisation promotes new doctors by organising seminars for them and take care of their issues. The dollars earned from this concert will be used in further developement of the organisation.
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d in
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INDIA
October 19, 2012
A Simple Act of Kindness Makes a Wonderful Impact
BY KRISHNA GUPTA “We make a living by what we get. We make a life what we give” Winston Churchill
Kisi Key kaam Jo aye oosey insaan kehthey hain, oosey insaan kehthey hain. Praya dadrd Jo apnaye oosey insaan kehthey hain, oosey insaan kehthey hain. You may have heard this beautiful song in the congregation, it has very deep meaning. Every time I hear this song, I always felt that God has sent us on this earth to do something good to others. We are very fortunate and lucky to come on this earth in a human form and our duty should be to do something good and do not expect anything in return. Benefits by giving a dollop of charity and compassion are powerful and immediate. You may have witnessed this during a bus ride, when someone may have offered their seat to an elderly person. The generous party has reason to feel noble and yet humble, whereas the recipient of the generosity is often effulging with gratitude; even those who witness this simple act of selflessness find themselves cheering for the generous individual, and feel inspired to replicate such an act of consideration, compassion and altruism. As it turns out, the effects of those experiences are not just psychological, but the “Kindness is literally good for your heart” those who study the science of doing good have discovered that performing a good deed has major physiological benefit for a giver. Naturally, we do not behave in benevolent ways to benefit from our actions but just between us, the side effects are awesome. Neil Alden Armstrong was a team player and never capitalized on his celebration as the first man to walk on the moon. He also commanded the Apollo 11 spacecraft that landed on the moon July 20, 1969. He was followed to the lunar surface ) by Edwin “Buzz” )Aldrin. “That’s one small step for a man, one giant step for mankind,” Armstrong radioed comfort with... back to Mission Control in) Houston. ) They were humble heroes to carry ) ) entire nation and the aspiration of the )
book you love on the train or the bus should suffer physically, mentally, emotionally and monetarily. with a note for the next reader. • Do not hate any individual, God • Refrain from negative self bragmay appear in front of you in any ging talks. • You don’t have to send every dis- form. Appreciating others is a simple advantaged child to college, but you can buy one of them a life-changing act of kindness in acknowledging respect to the person who is helping book. • Volunteer to read to kids at an you. When someone takes the time to utter these words, which can be after-school program. • Give your mom a found in every language across the shout-out on your birth- globe, it literally can change one’s day - after all, she de- whole perspective on others. Thank serves some credit for you is about learning to put someone’s needs ahead of your own. It’s your life. • Treat an elderly neigh- about teaching your children to show bor, with a gift certificate, graciousness and compassion. It is important to carry out your to a $25 pedicure. Bonus points if you can do so acts of kindness without expecting anything back. What goes around is anonymously. • Dedicate a song on sure to come around. Help your family members monthe radio to someone you know is listening during etarily and morally without asking his or her long commute. any rewards. Easy, affordable ways Never ignore your parents especial• Slow way down when to give and get joy: you drive past a pedes- ly in olden days. Think they brought • Rekindle your Girl Scout spirit: trian - 35 mph can seem like the Indy you; nurture you with their love and • Leave coloring books and a box of affection. Admitting the parents in new crayons in the pediatric section Pick up trash, nails, sharp objects etc 500 to a woman walking her dog. • Leave extra umbrellas in vesti- the nursing homes must be your last of the hospital. Also Leave a bouquet at a park, streets or at a playground. at the hospital, the nurses will figure This will curtail the time from punc- bules with notes that say “Use this resort. Be kind to feed them, comfort them as they did to you. This way to stay dry!” out who needs it the most. You may turing the tires or hurting someone. • Donate your old professional • Put some coins in someone your children will learn to do the same drop off combs, truth brushes and clothes to an organization, else’s parking meter if running out thing when you will be unable to work toothpaste at a shelter or a soup like Dress for Success, that of time. and move around. kitchen. Volunteer to help helps women jump-start The time has come when we can• Give a compliment about your those people their careers, and will waiter/waitress to his/her manager. not just rely on others to make this build their confidence. • Stop and help someone to replace world a better place – each one of us Also you may donate their flat tire or any road service. has to do our duty. Therefore, its time clothes or any spare • Give a decent tip to someone to be more and more aware about things to the charitable when they least expect it. your Personal Social Responsibility. organizations. • Hold the train door open for It is all about doing to others what • Offer your mail someone rushing to get in. you would like others do to you. It is carrier a glass of • Give up your seat for someone, about recognizing how your behavior iced tea, water or a not just an elderly person. affects others, and holding yourself $5 Starbucks gift • Talk to a homeless person and accountable for your actions. For excard. ample, contrast someone being well have a “normal” conversation. • Bake cookies • Give some fruit or water to a mannered and kind, with someone or bread and de- delivery person and tip to a pizza being rude. Kindness is contagious – liver to a nearby fire delivery person. and as social responsibility, you might station or group home. • Tell all your family members how want to consider carrying out random • Check “yes” if you wish to be- much you appreciate them. acts of kindness on a daily basis. affected by A single act of kindness sprinkle in • If you see someone playing alone storm, flood, fire, and spend come an organ donor, and also tell on the playground, invite him or her all directions, and the roots spring up sometime in the nursing homes and your family members. • Donate old cell phones to the to play with you. and make new trees. Look closely and hospitals etc. • Make it a habit to say thank you visualize the generosity of everyday • Hang a sign on a bulletin board National Coalition against Domestic that says tear-off tabs at the bottom Violence to protect families from and express your appreciation sin- people everywhere. “Simple act of kindness is the best cerely and without the expectation for Love, Hope, Faith, and Courage. abuse. • Complement a work colleague prevention for tragedy and is literally ofin anything in return. “Take What You Need”. ExploreExplore the world the inworld comfort comfort with... with... • Pray for those who are in distress, good for your heart.” You feel good • A baby from a needy family can for their excellence either by writing "#$%&'$%(&) #,&#$-.'/#(&)0#()'$$)1'2#() spend a) day or longer in the same a comment or singing an employee feel their pain as your own. Saying for having helped someone. 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washed in machines. Help out a mom and a baby by donating diapers. • Send a thank you note to the brave officers at your local police station. It is important to acknowledge the daily risks taken by the men and women on the force. • Ask the grocery clerk to apply your unused coupons to another customer’s items.
will never be forgotten for humility and that was simple act of kindness. I was very fortunate to see all three Astronauts in year 1969 during the ticker parade in downtown Chicago. Throngs of people were lined up to have a glimpse of these Astronauts. One could see the glow on their faces while bringing the message of mankind to all human beings. Our thoughts, words and deeds along with mind body and soul when put together create a bondage and link with others. It could be in a circular shape or of a triangular shape with apex pointing towards God and plays a prominent role in our lives.
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OPINION
October 19, 2012
Is Human Life Expendable? casually swiped the side of a small stationary car. The bus driver was nonchalant and didn’t even care to stop. The passengers in the bus craned their necks back to look with polite curiosity, possibly to see how the car driver would react. But the elderly man displayed remarkable equanimity, didn’t bat an eyelid and drove on with the quiet acceptance of this road ‘mafiaism’. The Great Indian disregard for life on the road begins with governmentauthorised driving schools, which issue licences for a fee, with very little instruction. Most of us drive by instinct and sharp conditioned reflexes, which we need to remain alive. The buses and water tankers
stuck to the schedule like clockwork, took obligatory breaks every 2-3 hours and would not drive after a certain time of day. We developed a fondness for the big guy and missed him when a different driver turned up after a week. Our tour guide explained that safety regulations require that the driver take a break after a week. The bus was equipped with software which monitored data such as speed and hours driven, ensuring maximum performance and, therefore, safety. This incident came to mind last week when I was stuck in my car in peak traffic hour in Chennai. I was aghast when a government bus
are our driving schools along with whole families perched precariously on scooters with an infant dangling from the mother’s arms while a notmuch-older one clings on for dear life. Bikers defy Newton’s laws of motion and draw impossible trajectories on the road with impudence and insouciance. If you have a minor skirmish with one of these bikers driving at a shamefully sedate pace, you will be the object of judgmental stares and comments from onlookers. The big car is always the bad guy and if you can’t read the mind of the poor biker then you probably shouldn’t drive. If the traffic doesn’t kill us, surely
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BY DR. SRIDEVI PADMANABHAN (The Hindu) Recently I received news from my high school email group that a schoolmate, a reputed doctor, was killed when travelling in an overnight long distance bus. A newspaper article said the driver lost control. The usual questions come to mind. Was the driver under the influence of alcohol? Did he fall asleep at the wheel? Would monetary compensation obliterate the numbing grief and would the concept of karma help the young family through the harsh years ahead? I remember a trip to Europe, where like most other organised groups, we were driven in a bus across nine countries over two weeks. The driver
arrhythmias will. Or is the Indian cardiac muscle tougher with years of acclimatisation? While watching an episode of my favourite show Modern Family, I am impressed with the instructions a father gives his young son while teaching him cycling. Check your shoe laces, helmet and mirror before you start. How simple and sensible! Now why didn’t I know that? How many of us teach our children road safety? “Be careful” is not a specific instruction. Can prayers and wishful thinking save our children and loved ones when they set out bravely to the war-field everyday? We have adapted so much from the West — clothes, food, attitude to family, relationships and sexual liberalisation, among others. Why did we leave out respect for human life and courtesy to fellow humans on the road? Can we look forward to a day when our roads heal and miscreants on the road are wary of punishment from traffic policemen rather than getting away by greasing their palms? When public and private vehicles become accountable for their condition and performance? Does the answer lie in one of our several software companies which cater for more deserving societies? Would the government seek a solution or do we have to look beyond government regulations to genetic engineering to change the Indian psyche? Till then do we display the great Indian “tolerance” and prove Oprah Winfrey right? Do we accept death by accident as inevitable and give it a special status along with cancer, tsunamis, earthquakes and floods and accept it as nature’s way of controlling the teeming millions? Is human life dispensable in India?
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India’s Embrace of Foreign Retailers BY VIKAS BAJAJ PATNA (NYT): A long-festering controversy about whether India should allow foreign retailers like Wal-Mart into the country has often been cast as a battle between millions of small shopkeepers and large corporate interests. But in much of the country, including in this eastern city, the issue often divides Indians as much by age as by their livelihoods. Those younger than 25, a group that includes about half the country’s 1.2 billion people, appear quite open and eager to try foreign brands and shopping experiences, researchers say. They already while away their afternoons at Western-style malls like the year-old P&M mall here where they try on T-shirts by Benetton, eat pizza from Domino’s and watch movies in a Mexican-owned theater chain, Cinepolis. Aakash Singh, a 20-year-old college student, summed up his generation’s attitude toward foreign retailers this way: “Absolutely, they should come. The country will benefit.” But many older Indians who came of age in an earlier era of socialist policies say they are not entirely comfortable with the idea of big-box stores and sprawling malls. They worry that foreign companies will siphon profits and business from Indian competitors, forcing millions of family-owned shops to close. So far, the older generation is prevailing. After years of debating the issue, Indian policy makers last month allowed big foreign chains like Wal-Mart and Tesco to set up stores in the country. But, in an acknowledgment of the significant dissent that remains, each of the country’s 29 state governments was granted the ability to forbid foreign-owned outlets in their territories. Leaders of most Indian states, including Bihar, of which Patna is the capital, have said they will not allow foreign re-
Young women in search of fashionable clothes at a store in the P&M Mall. Still, more than 90 percent of Indian retailing consists of small family-owned stores. Photo: Prashanth Vishwanathan
tail outlets to operate within their borders. Companies like Benetton and Domino’s that sell goods under a single brand or through franchisees had already been free to set up stores with Indian partners. The policy change has touched off a political reaction, with one important regional political party withdrawing support from the national governing coalition led by the Indian National Congress Party. Analysts say the opposition from many politicians reflects in part the fact that the median age of Indian ministers is 65, compared with 25 for the general population. Also, the young have so far been less likely than their parents to vote, so their strength in numbers has not yet compelled policy makers to pay much heed to them. Still, the government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh appears to be counting on their support. Many of those in their 20s or younger were born just before or after the country began introducing free-market policies and opening its economy to greater trade and foreign investment in the early 1990s. Last month, Singh invoked the benefits of accepting for-
eign retailers for the young in a rare address to the country to defend the change in policy. “Foreign companies are creating jobs for our youth in information technology, in steel, and in the auto industry,” he said. “I am sure this will happen in retail trade as well.” India’s youth grew up during a time when foreign brands like Coca-Cola, Suzuki and Levi’s became touchstones across the country. Some foreign companies have become ingrained in the fabric of Indian culture. For instance, many Indians now serve Cadbury milk chocolates at religious festivals, along with traditional sweets. Moreover, unlike their parents, today’s young people were not as indoctrinated by their schools and families to believe in swadeshi, a slogan that roughly means self-sufficiency and that was championed by freedom fighters like Mohandas K. Gandhi during their struggle against Britain. “Now, the consumers are essentially the young generation who are a post-’80s product,” said Shaibal Gupta, member secretary of the Asian Development Research Institute, a
research group based in Patna. “The people born in the ’60s and ’70s had some idea about the freedom movement,” but the newer generations do not. Indians ages 16 to 23 already account for a quarter of the spending on clothing and 16 percent of spending in restaurants in India’s 50 biggest cities, according to Technopak, a research and consulting firm. The young also tend to spend more money in modern retail stores and on foreign brands than their parents, who tend to shop at traditional outlets and buy more Indian products. “This is a segment that will flourish over the years because there are so many young people,” said Saloni Nangia, president of Technopak. “A lot of people are taking part-time jobs or are working so that gives them a lot more disposable income.” The growth has been particularly strong in smaller cities like Patna, which has two million people. A recent study by the Boston Consulting Group found that retail sales were growing by about 15 percent a year in these cities, compared with 12 percent in bigger cities like Mumbai and New Delhi. Patna, in particular, is seen as a shining example of a newly resurgent Indian heartland. Bihar, one of India’s poorest states, had long languished under incompetent and corrupt leaders. But over the last seven years, a new administration has brought the state’s crime rate under control, built new roads and improved school enrollment, allowing the economy to recover. The P&M mall, owned by a prominent Bihari film director and producer, Prakash Jha, is a prime example of the city’s renaissance. Though small at 225,000 square feet by the standards of most malls in the United States, or even in Mumbai, many city residents say they look at it and the foreign-brand stores in it like Puma and Nike with pride.
On any given afternoon, the mall is filled with college students, families and seniors. Many come just to take a ride on the escalators, which are still novel here. Alisha Manubansh, a 22-year-old college student, is one reason for the company’s success. She said she and her friends come to the mall at least a couple times a week — as much as their parents will allow them to and spend a lot of their time at Benetton, in part because it is the most fashionable brand in the mall. “Since this mall opened, we don’t like going to other stores,” she said. Other patrons like Abhishek Kumar, a 24-year-old student, come primarily to watch movies, eat at the food court and window shop. “We first come and look and see what’s available and what’s on sale. Then we come back later to buy,” said Kumar, whose family owns a cloth store about a 10-minute drive from the mall. “Our resources are limited.” Though Bihar has said no to big foreign retailers that sell multiple brands, Wal-Mart’s top executive in India, Raj Jain, said the company saw a huge market in places like Patna, which he argued were filled with “value-conscious” consumers like Kumar who would be drawn by the chain’s low prices. Kumar’s father, Anant Kumar Sinha, who rarely goes to the mall, says he has seen the changing tastes in his business. Unlike their parents’ generation, most young people are not interested in buying cloth and taking it to a tailor. His sales have been stagnant in recent years as the youth move to off-the-rack clothes from domestic and foreign labels. “The kids of the poor are also wearing jeans and T-shirts,” he said. “The new generation does not care about the way it was done before.” Neha Thirani contributed reporting from Mumbai.
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SPORTS
October 19, 2012
Tendulkar, Zaheer to Play for Mumbai in Ranji Opener MUMBAI (The Hindu): Sachin Tendulkar and Zaheer Khan are all set to strengthen Mumbai in their Ranji Trophy opener against Railways at the Wankhede Stadium in the first week of November. “Sachin and Zaheer are likely to play in Mumbai’s Ranji Trophy opener at the Wankhede Stadium. They
century at Chennai. Zaheer, 34, played two games last season to get into the groove for the international matches after an injury lay—off. He played against Orissa at Cuttack and against Saurashtra at Rajkot, his 27th and last appearance in Mumbai colours.
have expressed their interest to play in the game,” said MCA’s joint secretary Nitin Dalal today. The opening game between Mumbai and Railways is scheduled from November 2 to 5. Tendulkar, 39, had last played for his home association in his 33rd match for Mumbai, in the final against Uttar Pradesh in January, 2009, at Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi Stadium when the matches in the tournament was held at neutral venues. Though the senior India batsman made only single digit scores in both innings, Mumbai walloped UP by 243 runs to clinch the title for the 38th and penultimate time, under Wasim Jaffer’s captaincy. Tendulkar had played in the semi final too, in that 2008—09 season, against Saurashtra and notched a
The presence of Tendulkar and Zaheer for the tournament opener would be a major boost for Mumbai who would be without their most experienced Ranji batsman Jaffer for the first three games as he is set to go on a Haj pilgrimage. “Jaffer told me yesterday that he would not be available for the first four games but has changed his mind and told me today he will be unavailable for only the first three games,” informed Mr Dalal. Jaffer is, thus, set to miss the home game against Railways, the second match against holders Rajasthan at Udaipur (Nov 9—12) and the third tie against Hyderabad in the latter’s backyard (Nov 24—27). The 34—year—old former India opener is available for the fourth tie at home against Bengal (Dec 1—4).
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Yuvraj Singh Makes Memorable First-Class Comeback with Century HYDERABAD (The Hindu): Under scorching heat and playing his first four-day match after his comeback, Yuvraj Singh kept his cool to make a grand statement of his intentions of being ready for the longer version of the game by scoring a classy, unbeaten century. Even as North Zone captain Shikhar Dhawan notched up his second consecutive century (121, 200b, 14x4) in the Duleep Trophy this season, it was Yuvraj’s (133 batting, 152b, 20x4, 2x6) show all the way as the two not only struck hundreds but also strung together a 160-run partnership for the third wicket.
cover-drive, which fetched most of his boundaries. After the early loss of Rahul Dewan (17) — who was trapped on the shuffle by fast bowler Rituraj Singh — it was North which dominated the game right through the day. The best bowler from Central Zone was the classy Kartik, who was also unlucky as quite a few appeals for lbw were turned down, and a couple of sharp chances were not grabbed by the close-in fielders. It was a smart effort by Bhuvnesh Kumar in the deep that sent back Nitin Saini off Praveen Kumar as North’s score read 110 for two in 38th over. That brought Yuvraj to the crease. Dhawan and Yuvraj treated the bowling on merit, and rarely failed to belt the loose ball. The latter made his intentions pretty clear when he dabbed Praveen Kumar to the third man fence and then Yuvraj Singh’s unbeaten century helped North cut off-spinner Jalaj Zone to a respectable total at the end of day Saxena for his first one. It helped the team score a healthy 346 for four at close of play on the first day of the four-day Duleep Trophy semifinal against Central Zone at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium on Sunday. The best part of Yuvraj’s innings was the way he was focussed, not showing signs of any discomfort in the heat. More importantly, he played all his trademark strokes with great ease on either side of the wicket. He not only found the gaps, but also hit two imperious sixes off left-arm spinner Murali Kartik, the second one helping him reach his century. Earlier, Dhawan did his team a huge favour by winning the toss and opting to bat on a pitch which looked flat. The new ball bowlers looked good only when there was early morning moisture. Quite sensibly, North’s toporder batsmen played it safe in the crucial morning session before opening out with great freedom later. Dhawan was at his best when showing off his penchant for the
two fours. Even as Dhawan was content to play second fiddle, Yuvraj came up with a splendid blend of class, elegance and often arrogance in his stroke-play. That Yuvraj continued to dominate even after Dhawan was caught and bowled by Kartik was a tribute to his staying power. Even as the day’s proceedings were coming to a close, he did not hesitate to unleash some of his extravagant strokes. On the whole it was a disappointing Central Zone bowling display and the body language suggested that the team had given up the day’s battle a bit too early. The scores: North Zone — 1st innings: R. Dewan lbw b Rituraj Singh 17, S. Dhawan c & b M. Kartik 121, N. Saini c B. Kumar b Praveen Kumar 35, Yuvraj Singh (batting) 133, Mandeep Singh c Kartik b Praveen Kumar 4, P. Dogra (batting) 30; Extras: (lb-2, w-2, nb-2) 6; Total: (for four wkts. in 90 overs) 346. Fall of wickets: 1-35, 2-110, 3-270, 4-275. Central Zone bowling: Praveen 204-72-2, Bhuvnesh 23-4-63-0, Rituraj 15-1-67-1, Jalaj 13-1-50-0, Kartik 19-1-92-1.
Order of Australia for Tendulkar
NEW DELHI (The Hindu) Sachin Tendulkar is set to another feather to his already crowded cap as Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard on Tuesday announced that the iconic Indian cricketer will be conferred the membership of the Order of Australia, an honour “rarely” awarded to nonAustralians. The 39-year-old master batsman, who is currently in South Africa playing in the Champions League Twenty20, will become only the second Indian after former Attorney General Soli Sorabjee to get the honour. Sorabjee was made an Honorary Member of the Order of Australia (AM) “for service to Australia-India bilateral legal relations” in 2006. “Cricket is of course a great bond between Australia and India. We are both cricket-mad nations. I am very pleased that we are going to confer on Sachin Tendulkar, membership of the order of Australia (AM),” Ms. Gillard, who is on a visit to India, told reporters here. “This is a very special honour very rarely awarded to someone who is not an Australian citizen or an Australian national. The award will be conferred on him by cabinet Minister Simon Crean when he visits India,” she said. “So, a special honour and a very special recognition of such a great batsman. The honour is very special and Sachin is a very special cricketer.” Tendulkar is not the first cricketer to be made an Order of Australia AM as in 2009, West Indies legend Brian Lara was also made an honorary member. Another West Indies legend, Clive Lloyd, is an Honorary Officer in the Order of Australia, having been conferred the award way back in 1985. The right-handed Tendulkar, considered the finest batsman in contemporary cricket, has 15,533 runs in 190 Tests besides a mammoth 18,426 runs in 463 ODIs.
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As Its Economy Sags, India Asks a Critic to Come Home and Help Out BY VIKAS BAJAJ NEW DELHI (NYT): In April, the economist Raghuram G. Rajan gave a speech to a group of graduating Indian students in which he criticized the country’s policy makers for “repeating failed experiment after failed experiment,” rather than learning from the experiences of other countries. A week later, he assailed the government again, this time in a speech attended by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. But instead of drawing a rebuke from India’s often thin-skinned leaders, he got a job offer. In August, Singh, who has frequently sought Rajan’s advice, called and asked him to take a leave from his job as a professor at the University of Chicago to return to India, where he was born, to help revive the country’s flagging economy. Within weeks, he was at work as the chief economic adviser in the Finance Ministry. Analysts say the appointment of an outspoken academic like Rajan, along with the recent push by New Delhi to reduce energy subsidies and open up retailing, insurance and aviation to foreign investment, signal that India’s policy makers appear to be serious about tackling the nation’s economic problems. Rajan has advocated changing India’s financial system, which is dominated by state-owned banks, by among other things loosening government restrictions on foreign banks and other financial institutions. He has also been critical of the country’s crony capitalism, likening its business tycoons to Russia’s oligarchs. He has argued that India needs to build stronger, impartial agencies to make the allotment of licenses and natural resources more transparent. And India might finally be ready to make such changes, he said in an interview in his office here. “I believe that one of the virtues of a functioning democracy is that they prevent things from getting too bad,” he said. “When things get bad, democracy creates the space to make improvements.” Economists say Rajan, and his boss, the recently reappointed finance minister, Palaniappan Chidambaram, face daunting challenges in their effort to revive the slowing economy, which is expected to post growth of 5.5 percent this year, down from an average of 7.7 percent a year over the
Raghuram G. Rajan criticized Indian policy makers during a speech in April at the Indian School of Business. In August, the Indian government offered him a job.
last decade. The credit rating agencies Standard & Poor’s and Fitch Ratings have warned that they may downgrade India’s sovereign debt to junk status if it doesn’t bring its ballooning budget deficit under control. Many of the government’s proposals, including reduced subsidies for food and fuel, are deeply unpopular. Moreover, the governing alliance, led by the Indian National Congress Party, recently lost its majority in the lower house of Parliament, which will make it hard to enact legislation. “Most emerging market governments only carry out reforms when they have their backs to the wall,” said Ruchir Sharma, an executive at Morgan Stanley and author of the recent book “Breakout Nations: In Pursuit of the Next Economic Miracles.” “The government is under siege and they are reacting to that.” Though Rajan’s current post does not carry any executive authority, his return to India has attracted attention because many policy analysts consider him to be the leading candidate to take over the top job at India’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of India, next year when the current governor, Duvvuri Subbarao, retires. Rajan, 49, became famous in the economics profession for his prescience in warning about the growing risks in the financial system at a Federal Reserve conference in 2005,
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three years before the failure of Lehman Brothers. He argued that innovations and deregulation appeared to have made the global financial system riskier, rather than safer and more stable as many economists and top policy makers like Alan Greenspan then believed. The son of an Indian diplomat, Rajan grew up around the world and in New Delhi, earning degrees from prestigious Indian universities before studying economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His first big policy job came when he was appointed the chief economist of the International Monetary Fund. Since 2008, he has been an external adviser to Singh, who is his highestplaced champion in India and who also asked him to lead a committee to propose changes to the country’s financial system. Rajan has made no secret of his distress with the slow pace of change in the country in recent years. But friends and associates say he believes that policy makers now feel under pressure to speed up the country’s transition to a more liberal economy because growth has slowed sharply ahead of the next national election scheduled for 2014. “At the end of the day, he sees a window here,” said Kenneth Rogoff, an economist at Harvard University who was Rajan’s predecessor at the
International Monetary Fund. Chidambaram, the finance minister, said he had come to expect unvarnished advice from Rajan. “I’ve known Raghu for quite some time,” he said, “and when he joined the office here I told him one thing: ‘You are the adviser. You just tell us the truth.’ I think Raghu will do exactly that. He will tell the people of India the truth.” In the interview, Rajan said he and Singh had discussed his return to India for several years. While he dismissed the speculation about the Indian central bank job, he said he saw his new position in the government as an “open-ended opportunity,” not a short-term stint. He says he put aside plans to write a book on democracy and capitalism to take his new job. He is committed to teaching classes in the fall quarter in Chicago but plans to move to India full time in December. His wife and his son will join him
at the end of the school year; he also has a daughter in college. “I feel I owe something to the country,” he said. “Also, I think the chance of even having some small influence that helps, that is multiplied by 1.2 billion lives, it’s such an immense opportunity.” Rajan said he would like to focus his efforts on three big themes: liberalizing India’s financial system; making it easier to do business, particularly for entrepreneurs and manufacturers; and fixing India’s dysfunctional food distribution system, which wastes a lot of food even as many of the country’s poor are malnourished. But the Indian bureaucracy’s resistance to new ideas, which he highlighted in his April speech, may well stymie Rajan, just as it did his predecessor, Kaushik Basu, an economist from Cornell University who was recently appointed the chief economist of the World Bank. Rajan needs to learn quickly “on the job in a situation where learning is not very easy,” said Rajiv Kumar, who heads the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry and is a former Indian government economist. Rajan said he understood the risks but believed that India’s policy makers had been more open to change than many critics acknowledged. He pointed out that despite significant initial opposition, including from the central bank, Indian officials have adopted many of the proposals from the committee he led, including allowing Indian banks to open branches in most of the country, though not in big cities, without the Reserve Bank’s permission. “The message from our report is that nothing in India will get done immediately,” he said. “It’s by the time your report gets forgotten, becomes part of the woodwork, that it really starts having an effect.” Jim Yardley contributed reporting.
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ENTERTAINMENT
October 19, 2012
‘Aiyyaa’ is a Gaudy, Absurdist Triumph
BY SANJUKTA SHARMA (Mint) Cast: Rani Mukerji, Prithviraj, Subodh Bhave, Nirmiti Sawant, Satish Alekar, Jyoti Subhash, Ameya Wagh, Anita Date Direction: Sachin Kundalkar Genre: Romantic Comedy Duration: 2 hours 28 minutes The absurd can be sexy, subversive, lofty— according to how a great artiste intends it. It is a tricky form for a film-maker if he wants his film to reach out, and be consumed. In Aiyyaa, a carefully crafted amalgamation of Bollywood kitsch and absurd, over-the-top storytelling, writer-director Sachin Kundalkar almost achieves a fine balance, a dramatic perfection, careful never to alienate his viewers. But for the loose and meandering lead-up to the climax in the last half-hour—the film should have been at least 20 minutes shorter to leave the viewer on a powerful note—Aiyyaa has a strident imagination at work. It is a raucous and immensely enjoyable piece of film-making.
Aiyyaa is an extension of one of Kundalkar’s short films, Gandha. Derivative of Pedro Almadovar’s films in its absurdity and woman-centrism, at its core is a woman’s journey for love and meaning. Kundalkar’s world consists of the Deshpande family. A father who smokes four cigarettes at the same time using an antiquated gadget, a son whose only love is street dogs, a blustering, grand old lady on a wheelchair, with dark goggles and gold teeth, a daughter, Meenaxi (Rani Mukerji) who, in her dream world, impersonates Sridevi, Madhuri and Juhi—more real to her than her state of wakefulness, when she loves a man using only her olfactory nerves. This is unlike any Deshpande family of Pune you will meet. The parents are searching for a groom for Meenaxi. To present herself in front of prospective suitors is an unavoidable rigmarole for Meenaxi. At the arts and crafts department of a local college where she works, she befriends a colleague, Maina (Anita Date), an outrageously
dressed, nonsensical bully who sympathizes with her love for Suriya (Prithviraj), a painter and art student in the college with a notorious reputation. Everyone considers him a drunkard and a druggie, and he never speaks to anyone. Meenaxi is fascinated. Despite her desperate attempts to reach out, he is insolent and indifferent. She follows his smell, which, she is convinced, is the smell of “drugs”. Back at home, Meenaxi finally has a suitor, Madhav (Subodh Bhave), a simple man with old-fashioned, safe tastes. Meenaxi is in a dilemma, and is in the throes of a life-altering decision. Meenaxi is a robust character—a woman trapped by petty familial conditions, angry and yet not overtly rebellious, sexual and colourful in her fantasy. Kundalkar makes both her worlds engaging. The middleclass Indian woman, without much education, but with forbidden dreams. She is known to follow the enigmatic man to his home through unfamiliar routes and sob her heart out, waiting for him. She is not afraid to love herself and love a man. She belittles anyone who can’t appreciate the gaudy and fake world of 1980s Bollywood, which she loves. Kundalkar’svisualvocabulary, realized in incandescent detail by cinematographer Amalendu Chaudhary, is a function largely of colour and smell. Paintbrushes soiled by thick coats of electric blue enamel, colour merging into
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water shot from under the water, heaps of overflowing wet garbage, a haze-inducing fragrance which Meenaxi follows, dizzy in love—these are Kundalkar’s refrains in the film. Sex also accentuates his narrative—in most instances, it is liberating and clandestine at the same time. Mukerji masters the role. She pitches it with plenty of histrionics—almost no character in Aiyyaa has a “yes or no” or “do or die” approach to their bizarre situations. Meenaxi is high-pitched, a ball of nervous emotion and rage, and Mukerji has dived right into her world. It never feels like she has caught the wrong note; she makes Meenaxi not only believable, but extremely likeable. Prithviraj has an ornamental role, the woman’s object of love. The supporting cast is made up of seasoned actors and they stay true to Kundalkar’s over-the-top idiom. Aiyyaa is triumphant because its originality matches the director’s assured film-making. Kundalkar is a director with a confident, uninhibited stamp.
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A Worrisome Rise in the Cases of Childhood Cancer Pains Hearts, Draws Tears BY AMBA BATRA BAKSHI (Outlook) Nitish loves a red toy car and thinks eating Maggi noodles is a treat. He smiles through heavy sedation to get his photograph taken. The 12-year-old has been battling bone cancer for over six years now. Last month, his father, a farmer from Bihar, was told by doctors at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) that he should take his son home as the cancer had reached an incurable stage. Now, Nitish’s skeletal body must fight the last and most painful stage of the disease with four rounds of morphine injections every day. All his parents want is for him to die without pain. In his child’s mind, Nitish believes he will be fine, there will be a tomorrow. Like Nitish, there are 55,000 children being diagnosed with cancers of various kinds in India every year. An unknown number die every year, too. True, India loses more children to malnutrition and other diseases, but the rate at which the number of cancer cases in kids is going up is causing some alarm. (The caveat is that, despite the numbers, childhood cancer still accounts for only 4 per cent of the cancer cases detected in India.) It might be said, without empirical backing, that a global pattern seems to be manifesting in India: no one knows exactly why, but worldwide there seems a direct link between urbanisation and cancer in general and in children too. Cancer is the number one cause of death in children in the US and Canada. Twenty-three per cent of the afflicted children are less than a year old, 20 per cent 1-4 years. In the UK, doctors tell 10 children every day that they have cancer; 7 per cent of children’s deaths there are caused by cancer. In Japan, it’s 6.6 per cent. Even so, the US has only 12,500 new cases of childhood cancer every year, much lower than India’s 55,000 yearly, with several more going undetected. Dr Amita Mahajan of Apollo Hospital, a leading paediatric oncologist, says, “There’s an increase in childhood cancer with the rise in industrialisation and development. But improved diagnostics has also played a role in more cases being detected early.” Leukaemia is the commonest, followed by lymphoma, brain tumours and tumours of the bone, soft tissues and kidneys. Since only five per cent of childhood cancer is known to have hereditary causes, external factors—food, water, pollution, radiation—are being suspected. The trouble is, we are hardly equipped to deal with this heartrending problem. In 2009, India only had 55 paediatric oncologists, and 15 of them were in Mumbai. “It’s a shame some of our top hospitals don’t have paediatric oncologists: regular oncologists attend on children,” says a doctor. The India Paediatric Oncology Initiative of the Jiv Daya Foundation, Dallas, US, found India had just 26 regional cancer centres and 172 oncology departments. In 265 Indian medical colleges, paediatric oncol-
Nitish 12, Jehanabad, Bihar Has a bone cancer that doctors have declared is incurable. All his parents wish is that he remains pain-free. Morphine helps. Photo: Sanjay Rawat
posed to—these can all contribute to cancer. Three years ago, one saw the occasional child come for cancer screening; now, we have many being tested daily.” Dr R.N. Ghosh, head of the paediatric oncology department at the Saroj Gupta Cancer Centre & Research Institute, Calcutta, says that at any time he has 40-50 child patients. West Bengal’s unique problem, he says, is the presence of arsenic, a carcinogen, in water in some parts of the state, which people are forced to consume. “Of the 85 cancer patients in my hospital, 40 are children—an
Deep Maity 4, Nayan Das 4, Moinuddin Ashif 5, Farhan Aparba 3, Sakeeb 8 (at back), Calcutta These children, from varied backgrounds, are united in having to fight cancer. The disease is painful, the treatment debilitating. They stick together, in all innocence, at the Saroj Gupta Cancer Centre. Photo: Sandipan Chatterjee
Mohammed Saif 7 Bareilly, UP, being treated at AIIMS, Delhi. He stays at a facility run by CanKids, an NGO. Photo: Sanjay Rawat
ogy isn’t recognised as a speciality. This makes diagnosis of childhood cancer difficult, for the disease can take a curious journey. It was a limp that Shaila Raj’s (name changed) prenursery teacher in Mumbai noticed in 2009 (she was three then) that led her to being diagnosed with a brain tumour. Again, no family history, no symptoms. “We questioned everything. The food, the water, the lead in the house paint, the pollution,” says her mother Shruti Raj. “We haven’t been able to come to terms with it.” Now six, Shaila has had four surgeries as the tumour keeps growing back. Doctors loosely explain that viruses (contracted through food, water or air) and a low immunity can cause gene mutations leading to cancer. But there’s no detailed study yet. Dr Navin Dang, who runs one of the oldest pathology labs in Delhi and has had to test an increasing number of children, has his own way of putting it: a conglomeration of factors. “Food, water, what kids are inhaling, or ex-
indication of the sheer numbers of children afflicted with the disease,” he says. One factor being blamed for cancers now is radiation from mobile towers, though research on this is still inadequate. Neha Kumar of NESA, a company which has made a handheld device to measure radiation levels, claims she has found areas that can be called as a “cluster of cancer”—say a particular floor in a building. Despite the poor facilities for diagnosis and collation of cases, some initiatives seem encouraging. Chennai will be the first to get a paediatric cancer registry, in about two years. Work began last year, says Dr Rejiv Rajendranath of the Cancer Institute. The city has only eight paediatric oncologists—so most children get treated by the 600 general oncologists in the city. At the Cancer Institute, where treatment is free, there are 6070 child patients, many from rural areas. The rich can pay for the treatment of their child’s cancer. What happens to a poor child? Nitish was aided by CanKids, an NGO near AIIMS. But this premier government hospital has only six beds for palliative and pain care—children with painful cancers have little chance of getting there. Perhaps the only good news about childhood cancer is that, unlike adult cancers, the cure rate is high: 75 per cent of childhood cancers are completely curable. But the severe pain will have to be borne—by those who should have to deal with no more than knees and elbows scraped at play.
INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2012 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM
October 19, 2012
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At
Sri Meenakshi Temple
Saturday, 3rd November, 2012
From 9:30 AM to Midnight PROFESSIONAL FIREWORKS DISPLAY 8:45 P.M. (if no burn-ban)
LAXMI POOJA 7:00 PM Rathotsvam 8:00 PM
GARBA WITH LIVE MUSIC
Display of Utsav Murthis
After Fireworks 9:15 PM.
11:00 AM to 6:00 PM
NEW Kids Fireworks Online Registration limited to 150 children 6.30 – 8.00 PM
Temple open till 9:30 PM
www.emeenakshi.org
FREE HEALTH FAIR 9:30 AM – 12:00 Noon Registration: 9:00 AM EKG, Dental, Eye Check, Women’s Wellness Check, General medical advice, Flu shots (free but limited) Blood tests: Complete blood count & chemistry/Lipid profile, Thyroid Test
For more information contact: Event Coordinator Padma Golla pad.golla@gmail.com
Alternate
Srikanth Venugopalan srikanthvenu@hotmail.com
Health Fair
(For first 75-100 Pooja registrants only. Overnight fasting Cultural Program recommended for lipid profile) Volunteers PUPPET SHOW
5:00 PM
Dr. P. Vaduganathan pvnathan2008@gmail.com
Roopa Bala roopa@anbsystems.com Swaroopa Reddy roop7007@yahoo.com
Rangoli &Art Comp
Padma Golla
pad.golla@gmail.com
surabiveeraraghavan@gmail.com
KIDS’ CARNIVAL
4:00 PM to 8:30 PM Train, rock climbing, Mechanical bull, petting zoo, walking magician CULTURAL PROGRAM
3:00 PM to 5:00 PM
Free shuttle service provided all day from additional parking location School campus at McLean (104) and Bailey (101), about half a mile from temple.
BOOTHS Clothing, Precious Jewelry, Costume Jewelry, Books, Services, Specialties. Information 11:00 AM to 9:00 PM. FOOD COURT Dosa, Idli, Vada & other South Indian specialties 11:00 AM to 10:00 PM COMPETITIONS Rangoli 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM Kids Art Competition Closes at 3:00 PM
17130 McLean Road • Pearland, TX 77584 • Tel 281-489-0358 Ext 100 / 110 • Fax: 281-489-3540 www.meenakshi.org • Email: temple@meenakshi.org INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2012 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM
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October 19, 2012
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