Friday, September 18, 2020 | Vol. 39, No. 38
Indo American News
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September 18, 2020
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UMMC President Syed Mohiuddin : A Frontline Hero
Honor for Dhaliwal
P6 Indus Joins Census
Under President Syed Rizwan Mohiuddin’s initiatives, United Memorial Medical Center (UMMC) is serving underprivileged patients with a range of medical services, including Covid-19 testing and cancer treatment.
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COMMUNITY
September 18, 2020
Sri Meenakshi Temple Holds 9th Annual 5k-Walkathon 2020
Pearland: This year’s MTS Annual 5-K Walkathon was held on September 13th, Sunday unlike in the month of March every year. The event had to be postponed twice due to COVID-19 and temple closure. Yet despite the pandemic the custom of conducting this health awareness annual event in our temple came to reality. Though the number of people registered and the overall donation for the event was comparable to prior years, the actual turnout of participants was less for the obvious reasons. But all the ones participated thoroughly enjoyed it, though it was getting a bit hot by 9:30 am. As it was entirely an outdoor event it was easier to follow the CDC guidelines of social distancing and everyone participated felt safe. We all assembled in front of the Ganesh temple and after a brief yoga and stretching session including Surya Namaskar demonstration by the event coordinator and after a brief prayer by our priest Parameshwaran Bhattar, we walked for about an hour to complete the 5 km distance, which was all marked and prepared by the temple staff and volunteers. There were vegetable plant saplings and seeds for sale on site from our own garden enthusiasts which was very much appreciated by the participants. Then door prices were given which were sarees and vasthrams adorned on our deities which brought a lot of joy and surprise to the winners. The event concluded with a well-deserved hot breakfast after an hour of walk in the hot sun and participants were given a goody bag with MTS logo, few oranges, banana and agarbathi packets inside. The event was coordinated by MTS Joint Treasurer Dr. Al Alagappan and MTS Board Member Mr. S. Muthuraman under the leadership of MTS Chairman Mr Dhani Kannan and the MTS Board.
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3 Federal Judge Hears Arguments against Trump’s H-1B Visa Ban
IMMIGRATION/LEGAL
San Francisco: The future of U.S. immigration policy and the fate of thousands of H-1B, L-1 and other visa holders rests in the hands of a federal judge. Arguments were heard on a preliminary injunction filed by businesses against the Trump administration’s June 2020 proclamation to suspend the entry of foreign nationals on H-1B, L-1, H-2B and (most) J-1 temporary visas. The critical question before District Judge Jeffrey S. White: Does the president possess essentially unlimited power to override immigration laws passed by Congress and block any visa holder from entering the United States? At the September 11, 2020, hearing in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, Paul Hughes of McDermott Will & Emery, counsel for the plaintiffs, framed the issues before the court as follows: If Congress del-
egated unlimited authority to the president under Section 212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. § 1182(f)), the law is unconstitutional as an unlawful delegation of authority by Congress. If the authority is not unlimited, then there are limits to the president’s authority based on
September 18, 2020
rational standards, the Supreme Court’s decision in Trump v. Hawaii and the 9th Circuit decision in Doe v. Trump. “I think the principle is there ultimately has to be a reasonable connection between the stated problem and the action that is ultimately taken,” said Hughes.
The plaintiffs in the case are the National Association of Manufacturers, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Retail Federation, TechNet and Intrax. The plaintiffs focused on the Trump administration’s claim the proclamation is a reasonable use of the president’s authority under Section 212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). “The Proclamation exceeds the President’s powers under Section 212(f) because it directly conflicts with congressional judgments embedded in the INA: Congress specified that certain guest worker programs are in the national interest, but, for more than six months, the Proclamation nullifies those statutes,” according to the plaintiffs’ reply brief in support of the motion for preliminary injunction. “And, in so doing, the Proclamation fails to make a reasonable finding, which
the Ninth Circuit holds is requisite for the use of Section 212(f) to address a domestic problem. These limitations are essential to ensure that Section 212(f) effects a bounded – and thus constitutional – delegation of authority to the Executive.” The plaintiffs’ focus may have improved the chances for the judge to grant a preliminary injunction. “The plaintiffs did a good job identifying one of the contradictions in the government’s defense,” said Greg Siskind of Siskind Susser in an interview. “The government argues that Section 212(f) gives the president extremely broad power to ban people. But if you buy that argument and that Congress’ immigration framework can be ignored, then this is an unconstitutional delegation of the Constitution’s requirement that Congress regulate immigration.” -- Forbes
Judge Sandill Rejects Request to Halt Harris County Mail Ballot Plan Houston: A judge on Friday rejected Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s request to halt Harris County’s plan to send mail ballot applications to all 2.4 million registered voters. State District Judge R.K. Sandill denied Paxton’s request for a temporary injunction, stating that nothing in the Texas Election Code bars Harris County Clerk Christopher Hollins from carrying out the plan. Sandill was unpersuaded by the state’s argument that sending applications to voters, accompanied by eligibility rules, would lead residents to apply for mail ballots for which they do not qualify. Texas Elections Director Keith Ingram warned that this would lead to voter fraud and potential felony prosecutions of residents. “This Court firmly believes that Harris County voters are capable of reviewing and understanding the document Mr. Hollins proposes to send and exercising their voting rights in compliance with Texas law,” Sandill wrote in his opinion. A Hollins spokeswoman said the clerk’s office would begin mailing applications Saturday, beginning with voters 65 and older. “The is a win for every registered voter in Harris County, and indeed, every voter in Texas,” Hollins said in a statement. “We are still enduring a global pandemic ahead of the most consequential election of our lifetime, and voters are concerned
Nathan Hecht told the Houston Chronicle’s editorial board that this leaves voters to decide for themselves whether they are disabled. Hollins has no duty under the Election Code to challenge mail ballot applications. A similar challenge by the Harris County Republican Party and conservative activist Dr. Steven
Hotze remains before the Supreme Court. In a filing after Sandill’s ruling Friday, Republican Party lawyer Jared Woodfill asked the high court to order law enforcement to seize mailers before Hollins could send them. The court had yet to act on the request. -- Houston Chronicle
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COMMUNITY
September 18, 2020
Trump Official Verma ‘Abused’ Government Rules Washington DC: Seema Verma, the head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, “abused the federal contracting process” and “wasted millions of taxpayer dollars” on consultants and other services to boost her own profile, lawmakers found as part of a lengthy congressional investigation. The alleged abuses included Verma hiring a team of pricey media consultants to help her land highprofile interviews, schedule meetings with journalists, lawmakers, and other Trump administration staffers, and draft speeches, talking points, and op-eds. Democratic lawmakers on the House Energy and Commerce, House Oversight, Senate Finance, and Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committees reviewed thousands of pages of documents, including consultants’ invoices and Verma’s emails during their 18-month investigation, the conclusions of which were first reported by Politico on Thursday. Verma was brought into the administration by Vice President Mike Pence, whom she advised on health policy when he was governor of Indiana. The CMS chief has played a key role in the administration’s coronavirus response and has championed President Donald Trump’s controversial efforts to implement a work requirement for Medicaid. The probe found that Verma directed CMS to pay public relations firm Nahigian Strategies, which is led by a former Trump aide, almost $3 million before CMS ended the contract last year following media scrutiny. Verma also hired Marcus Barlow, a former spokesperson for her private health consulting firm, to consult for her during her first years at CMS after the administration re-
Seema Verma, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator
jected her attempt to hire him. In one example of Verma’s controversial spending, CMS paid a communications specialist and former Trump administration official, Pam Stevens, $115,000 to book Verma on conservative media outlets and set up interviews with prominent Washington reporters. In another instance, Verma paid consultants nearly $3,000 in taxpayer money to put together a “Girl’s Night” at USA Today journalist Susan Page’s Washington home. And Verma spent nearly $14,000 to have consultants organize the filming of a short video promoting her “eMedicare Initiative.” “Congress did not intend for taxpayer dollars to be spent on handpicked communications consultants used to promote Administrator Verma’s public profile and personal brand,” Democratic Reps. Frank Pallone and Carolyn Maloney and Sens. Ron Wyden and Patty Murray said in a joint statement to Politico. “Administrator Verma has shown reckless disregard for the public’s trust. We believe she should personally reimburse the taxpayers for these inappropriate expenditures.” HHS spokesperson Michael Caputo called the congressional report “another reckless drive-by
election year hit job” in a statement to Politico. The White House did not immediately respond to Business Insider’s request for comment. Politico first reported on Verma’s expensive consulting contracts in March 2019. In July 2020, the Health and Human Services inspector general found that Verma broke federal contracting rules by contracting with expensive outside consultants rather than utilizing the 200 government communications staffers at her disposal. “CMS improperly administered the contracts and created improper employer-employee relationships between CMS and the contractors,” the inspector general wrote. “CMS’s administration of these contracts put the Government at increased risk for waste and abuse.” Verma has also made headlines for requesting the government reimburse her for $47,000 in jewelry and other personal items reportedly stolen from a rental car during a July 2018 trip she made to San Francisco. Among the items Verma requested she be reimbursed for was a $325 moisturizing cream and a $5,900 Ivanka Trump brand pendant. The agency said Verma was ultimately reimbursed $2,852.40 for the stolen items.
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September 18, 2020
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September 18, 2020
Sewa Hosts Hate Crimes Webinar with HPD By Katie Tong
Houston: The Hindu humanitarian organization, Sewa International, recently hosted a webinar titled Hate Crimes: What are They and How Can We Respond? The event was moderated by Ranjana Bedi, director of Hindus of Greater Houston, and Anup Bhasin, director of disaster relief for Sewa. HPD Sergeant Alexandra Magnan gave a thoughtful, well-organized presentation, detailing the legalities of hate crime definitions, providing both hard facts and helpful tips, taking a sensitive topic and dissecting it in clear outlines to produce an educational (and very interesting!) session. In order to have a hate crime, Magnan explained, there must be an actual crime, which is why many actions or speech that the public views as hateful, are not, legally, a hate crime. In this Magnun noted the difference between other countries, which prosecute hateful speech, with the United States, which tiers First Amendment freedoms above the distaste we may feel when we witness someone express societally-repugnant views. Hatred or bias alone, Magnum stressed, does not create a crime. A crime already on the statutes must be committed, and the determination that it was a hate crime affects instead the sentencing portion of the judicial process. HPD has a designated Hate Crimes Unit who functions as “second-level judgment unit” (ex-
HPD Sergeant Alexandra Magnum
amining the initial reports of a patrol officer to decide if a hate crime was committed). The unit works with the major investigative units in HPD depending on which type of crime is alleged. In other words, if there is suspected hate-bias in the motivation of a murder or burglary, the homicide or burglary division focuses on investigating the crime, while the Hate Crimes Unit investigates the possible hate-bias of the act. And if you witness an act you’re not sure is a hate crime? Report it, Magnum says. At the same time, Magnun also cautioned not to jump to conclusions because “things may not always be as they appear,” noting for example, the centuries-old “peaceful swastika” that may show up on Buddhist statues or artwork, but was co-opted and repurposed by the Nazis. Magnun said it’s important for both the public, and for HPD, to be educated on varying cultural symbolisms so innocent depictions are not unfairly mis-
construed. Magnum noted the incredible diversity in Houston:with 145 different languages spoken and 25% of residents born outside of the United States. This diversity, Magnum said, is a great strength of our city that we should be proud of, but it does bring with it the potential for clashes between ideologies. At present Magnan said there is no evidence that hate crimes in Houston have significantly increased in recent years, but that reporting of existing hate crimes has increased, which, she says, is a good thing, because there can be so many barriers to reporting. Victims may feel shame or fear they won’t be believed. Sometimes the shock makes a victim want to forget the incident so they don’t have to re-experience it. Please do not be afraid to report, Magnan emphasized. But whether you’re a witness or a victim, you should prioritize your own safety while in the moment. Leave any area if in danger and remember that perpetrators may have hidden weapons. When you call 911, always give your location first so that officers can quickly get to the scene. At the end of her presentation, Magnan shared a lengthy list of support organizations. Viewers can access Mangnan’s presentation at https://www.facebook.com/ watch/?v=660705837907497&ext id=84FS0VhEChMXS8hg. -- Village News/Southwest News
COMMUNITY
Bill to Name Post Office for Dhaliwal Houston: A new bill honoring Harris County Deputy Sandeep Singh Dhaliwal, who was killed in the line of duty in September 2019, passed unanimously in the U.S. House of Representatives Monday. Dhaliwal was killed during a traffic stop in Cypress, Texas on Sept. 27, 2019. In 2015, he made history as the first Texas law enforcement officer to be allowed to wear the articles of his Sikh faith, including a turban and beard. The bill, led by Houston-area Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher, seeks to rename the post office along Addicks-Howell Road near the Katy Freeway after Dhaliwal. Sikh community leader Bobby Singh revealed, “Congresswoman Fletcher, a dear friend was extending her condolences to me in person after a very tearful/touching funeral of the deceased Deputy Dhaliwal. She went to say that she was going to find an opportunity to honor his service in a significant way. After few weeks, I received a call from her where she planted the seed of naming a US Post office in Houston to honor his service ... I could not believe that she was willing to go out and lead this effort with her colleagues locally, state wide and then nationally. “I, along with all Houstonians, specially the Sikh community. want to thank Congresswoman Fletcher for service and taking the leadership role on this issue and thus creating a lasting legacy as we continue to Honor Deputy Dhaliwals service of love and respect
that he had for his fellow beings.” “Deputy Dhaliwal represented the very best of our community: he worked for equality, connection, and community through his life of service to others,” said Rep. Fletcher in a statement. “The Deputy Sandeep Singh Dhaliwal Post Office will serve as a permanent reminder of his service, his sacrifice, and his example for us all. I am grateful that my legislation to honor his memory has passed the House of Representatives and is one step closer to being signed into law.” The bill will now head to the senate. Dhaliwal’s death was mourned not just in the Houston area, but across the world. Sikh members of law enforcement from around the world attended and spoke at his funeral about his contributions to law enforcement. “My son was beloved by all in his community, and performed his job and participated in seva (selfless service) with respect, dignity, and care,” said Pyara Singh Dhaliwal, Dhaliwal’s father in a statement. -- Combined news sources, including Click2Houston.
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HEALTH
September 18, 2020
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UMMC TX President Syed Mohiuddin: A Frontline Hero for the Underserved Houston: With the ever-changing landscape of America’s healthcare system, it is becoming more and more difficult to find healthcare providers and facilities that value patient care and satisfaction above everything else. One hospital stands out in Houston, Texas, even going as far as only requiring a photo ID for covid-19 testing. United Memorial Medical Center (UMMC) has gone above and beyond to provide the Houston community with ethical, compassionate, and conscientious healthcare, especially to underserved, low-income, rural, uninsured and under-insured communities. UMMC President Syed Rizwan Mohiuddin was already an accomplished businessman and entrepreneur before he entered healthcare. “My inspiration to enter healthcare came from my mother being sick for four years,” said Mohiuddin. “I learned about the difficulties patients and their families go through when they have little or no health insurance. Learning more about how hospital systems and nursing care facilities work motivated me to work with the underserved communities.” When the coronavirus pandemic began, UMMC was the first hospital to offer free drive-through testing. With the high demand and low supply of testing kits, medical supplies and staff were being funneled into hard-hit areas like New York City and Washington state,
making it difficult for Texas hospitals to get a hold of vital resources to fight the pandemic. “Most hospitals were not equipped to handle drive-through testing and there were a lot of protocols they needed to follow. With us being a smaller hospital, we were able to come together very quickly in order to pick up supplies and testing kits,” said Mohiuddin. Mohiuddin and his team were also quick to act in securing personal protective equipment (PPE) for their staff, a task daunting for many healthcare professionals throughout the United States. Through a special arrangement with FedEx, Mohiuddin was able to charter PPE directly from Hong Kong, China to provide necessary safety measures for his staff. Mohiuddin has guided his staff to put patient care and satisfaction above all else, making sure that no one is turned away based on their gender , ethnicity, economic or insurance status everyone should be treated with respect ,dignity and get quality care. The covid-19 pandemic was no different. “We became the first hospital in Houston to offer free testing to the public, requiring only a photo ID and no promise or obligation of payment.” Mohiuddin stated that UMMC was able to do this by billing to the insurances of the 10-15% patients who did have insurance that paid for testing. “We are able to use some of those payments to
UMMC President Syed Mohiuddin
pay our bills and stay afloat during the pandemic; and some patients qualify for payment through the CARES Act.” For the rest of their patients, UMMC aborbs the cost in order to ensure no one in the community was limited by their ability to pay for testing. Although many patients have cancelled or postponed elective procedures, UMMC has stayed busy, even working with the US Army to treat coronavirus patients. However, Mohiuddin stated that testing rates have decreased in recent weeks. “People are getting a little too comfortable and are not getting tested as much as they were before,” he said. “It is important to still get tested if you’re experiencing symptoms, especially if you have any underlying comorbidities.” UMMC is still offering free testing to the public and encourages people to get tested, if
necessary. On Sept. 4, UMMC held a farewell dinner for a team of medical professionals sent by the US Army to help battle the covid-19 pandemic. With Mohiuddin’s hard work and diligence, UMMC had an established relationship with the Southeast Texas Regional Advisory Council (SETRAC) and the Texas Department of Emergency Management in aiding underserved and rural communities in Southeast Texas. Through their work with SETRAC, State of Texas, state and members of Congress like Sheila Jackson Lee recommended UMMC to the US Army as a Covid-19 taskforce partner. “SETRAC recommended us to the US Army,” said Mohiuddin. “They left our facility pleased with their time and experience here. We provided them with their own wing of the hospital with about 40 beds and made sure to let them run things using their own protocols and methods of practice.” With four locations and dozens of specialties, UMMC is currently working on a comprehensive cancer center to serve underprivileged patients. “Chemotherapy drugs are very expensive. If you don’t have good insurance, you have to go to a government-funded hospital,” said Mohiuddin. “By the time it gets to your turn, chances are your cancer has progressed to the next stage and your prognosis has worsened. We want to make
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cancer treatments more attainable to patients who can’t get into MD Anderson and give them the proper treatment in a timely manner.” The facility will be opening soon in Sugarland on Highway 6. This isn’t the first time UMMC and Mohiuddin have opened a specialized facility to assist underserved and rural communities. In 2018, they opened the Texas Rapid Detox Center. With almost 12 million Americans misusing opioids, the scarcity of such recovery centers has been increasingly problematic for low-income areas. “When visiting California, I noticed how celebrities were able to use this method of detoxification to get themselves clean. However, the method is extremely expensive and insurance usually does not cover the cost,” Mohiuddin said. “So we decided to take this luxury process and offer it to everyone. Our success rate is 100%.” With the guidance of Syed Mohiuddin, UMMC stands out through its effective management, optimized strategies, rapid initiatives, efficient team work, unmatched coordination and strong commitment for unparalleled healthcare. Through state of the art technology, top physicians, and remarkable compassion, UMMC has strived to exceed the expectations of its patients and their families. -Alsha Khan, Editor In Chief Pakistan Chronicle Weekly News
8 September 18, 2020 ENTERTAINMENT “Cargo” Review: An Original, Inventive Indian Sci-fi Movie By Priyanka Sharma Director: Arati Kadav Cast: Vikrant Massey, Shweta Tripathi, Nandu Madhav Rating: Three and a half stars When humans arrive in the huge spaceship Pushpak 634-A after death, they don’t find heaven or hell based on their karma. Instead, they find demon agents, who heal and prepare them for reincarnations. Arati Kadav marries myth and science in the most original, inventive Indian sci-fi film I have seen. She subverts the ideas of rakshas and through the various stories of human deaths, tells a profound story of the loneliness of demons. Vikrant Massey’s Prahastha, a homo rakshas, has stayed on Pushpak 634-A for the last 75 years, as the main astronaut transitioning the dead to another life. These transitions are part of a peace treaty between humans and demons. Daily, Prahashta meets several dead humans, most of them with unfinished dreams. He listens to them but doesn’t engage. He is a man of few words, who has found comfort in his solitude. His dead guests are the most exciting, alive part of his monotonous life. His routine is disrupted as he gets an assistant, university topper Yuvishka Shekhar (Shweta Tripathi). Yuvishka’s confidence and more modern, evolved ways of dealing
with humans, who are addressed as cargo, throw off Prahastha, who finds her threatening a space that till now only belonged to him. But as Cargo progresses, Prahastha’s initial resistance gives way to the fear of losing his only companion in a lifeless place, where his spirit feels shrunk by years. In her debut feature as a writerdirector, Arati Kadav is ingenious. Her love for science fiction is known through the shorts that she has made previously, but her efficiency in bringing alive the crippling sense of isolation not only through her protagonists but also the large and empty space that they inhabit is where her brilliance lies.
Vikrant Massey wears Prahastha’s longing and loneliness like his comfortable suit. Shweta Tripathi is at ease displaying Yuvishka’s
gullibility as well as assertiveness. Both the actors lend simplicity and spontaneity that was needed for a coherent telling of their director’s
grand vision. Through Yuvishka’s sensitivity, Arati Kadav delves into the many questions we all ask about the purpose of life. The fact that Cargo comes at a time when the world is gripped by the briefness of life at the hands of the coronavirus pandemic and man-made disasters, the existential crisis in Cargo hits harder. Cargo also bursts one’s illusion about permanence. It makes you confront these uncomfortable truths, while also giving you hope that the cycle of life and death will continue. Our memories will fade, we will heal and start again. “When we all have to die, why do we have stories?’ asks Yuvishka. Because the stories are what make us more than just cargo. -Indian Express Cargo is streaming on Netflix.
How Jaya Bachchan Stood Up to Defend Bollywood New Delhi: It finally took a woman from the industry to shut up Kangana Ranaut. That woman is the redoubtable Jaya Bachchan. Speaking in Parliament on September 15, Mrs Bachchan slammed such concerted attempts at tarnishing showbiz with a stern, ‘Don’t bite the hand that feeds you.’ “People who have made their name in this film industry have called it a gutter. I completely disagree. I hope that the govern-
ment tells such people not to use this kind of language,” roared the Samajwadi Party MP. And the row continues, with the 33-year-old hitting back — this time, dragging Abhishek and Shweta Bachchan into it. In her new avatar as an agent provocateur, Kangana has proved that she can get the eyeballs. To her fans and supporters, she has what they call “the guts.” The result being that she’s been celebrated as a feminist
in these circles for standing up to Shiv Sena and having given voice to outsiders but more importantly, for championing Sushant’s cause and keeping the interest in him alive. To her critics, she’s a loose cannon and yet another bleedingheart nationalist kowtowing to the Modi government. She has denied playing the propaganda role). To the film industry at large, her vitriolic comments reek of ingratitude.-- Indian Express
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CULTURAL ARTS
September 18, 2020
Classical Art Society’s Fall Festival Goes Virtual Houston: Classical Arts Society of Houston invites lovers of Carnatic music, aficionados and connoisseurs alike to view its Fall Festival’s “VIRTUAL” line up from September through December. • Saturday, September 26 at 10 am CST - LecDem by Sikkil Gurucharan It begins with a Facebook live lecture demonstration on Saturday, September 26 at 10 am CST by a young and articulate Sikkil Gurucharan titled “Unraveling a live concert - the Carnatic way” which seeks to engage viewers on Carnatic music appreciation. A video clip introduction to this talk can be found on the Facebook page of Classical Arts Society of Houston. Knowing how to appreciate Carnatic music makes the experience a lot more enjoyable. To give you an example, watching the movie Apollo 13 is multifold times more enjoyable if you know the physics of space travel!! Please don’t miss this opportunity to listen to Sikkil Gurucharan unravel a live Carnatic concert!! • October 1 - October 15 daily at 7 pm CST – Youth Festival Fri., October 16, 6.30pm CST Interactive concert by Ramakrishna Murthy. Second in line is our Houston Yuva Kala Utsav, HYKU for short, curated by members of our board, namely, Lakshmi Srivaths,
Sridevi Joysula and Abhishek Balakrishnan. This will feature a variety of vocal and instrumental music of both the north and the south. The link to this on our FB page provides the daily schedule. It is again a “virtual” youth festival from October 1 to October 15, comprising of Facebook premier feature of our own USA youth at 7 pm CST daily for an hour, culminating in a concert followed by a Live interactive session, on Friday, October 16, 630 pm CST, by USA born and raised Ramakrishna Murthy who has already become an acclaimed musician in the Carnatic music circles in Chennai. • Sunday, November 15, 6 pm CST – Sikkil Gurucharan concert Third in line is our Sunday, November 15, Facebook Premier concert at 6pm CST by the wellestablished Carnatic artist Sikkil Gurucharan, who will have kicked off our festival with his lecdem earlier in September. • Saturday December 4, 6pm CST – Ranjana Gayatri PreMarghazi Concert Our final fall festival presentation is on the “Voncert” platform on Saturday December 4 at 6pm CST by the famous sisters Ranjani & Gayatri. This will be a ticketed event and the Classical Arts Society FB page will give you the details. As the festival will use online
platforms like Facebook, hurry and get a Facebook account, if you don’t have one already and go to the Classical Arts Society page on Facebook and hit “Like”…. it is simple but very empowering! Please mark your calendars and view the concerts (as detailed in the attached flyer) from the comfort of your home. For questions on any of the above concerts, you may contact Nalini Sadagopan (nalinisadagopan@yahoo. com) or Prabha Bala (prabhabala@yahoo.com) or you may send a message on the FB page of Classical Arts Society of Houston.
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CLASSICAL ARTS SOCIETY OF HOUSTON
2020 FALL “VIRTUAL” FESTIVAL
https://www.facebook.com/Classical-Arts-Society-of-Houston-351001951660500
SEPTEMBER
OCTOBER HOUSTON YUVA KALA UTSAV FACEBOOK/YOUTUBE – OPEN TO ALL OCT 1-16, 2020
LECTURE DEMONSTRATION FACEBOOK LIVE – OPEN TO ALL SATURDAY SEP 26 10 AM CST
“Unravelling a live concert – the Carnatic way”
FB Premier Performance by USA Youth
SIKKIL GURUCHARAN
Grand Finale Concert & FB Live Q&A Friday October 16 2020, 6.30 PM RAMAKRISHNAN MURTHY
NOVEMBER
DECEMBER
CONCERT PRESENTATION FACEBOOK PREMIER – OPEN TO ALL
CONCERT PRESENTATION VONCERT PLATFORM – TICKETED EVENT
SIKKIL GURUCHARAN
RANJANI & GAYATRI
LIKE our FaceBook page at Classical Arts Society of Houston Visit and subscribe at http://www.classicalartshouston.org
Contact Nalini Sadagopan: 832-654-3911 Prabha Bala: 281 242 4914
Have you planned for your future?
People don’t plan to fail, they fail to plan
Jesal Patel ARPC, CLTC, LUTCF Financial Adviser*: Eagle Strategies LLC Life Member MDRT Ph: 281-221-5061/713-499-7670 Fax: 832-201-5394 Website: www.jesalzpatel.com *Financial Adviser offering investment advisory services through Eagle Strategies LLC, A Registered Investment Adviser. Registered Representative offering securities through NYLIFE Securities LLC-Member FINRA/ SIPC, A Licensed insurance Agency. Agent with New York Life Insurance Company. 3200 Southwest Freeway, Suite 1900, Houston, TX 77027 (713) 961-4545 California Insurance License # 0F53803 smru#1711530 Indo-American News • Friday SEPTEMBER 18, 2020 • www.indoamerican-news.com
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September 18, 2020
New: Houston Botanic Garden
A new attraction is now open to showcase the Bayou City’s biodiversity: Houston Botanic Garden (see page 11). Opened on Friday, September 18, the garden is a work in progress, but worth a visit even now. The garden is built by a nonprofit organization whose mission is to enrich lives through discovery, education, and the conservation of plants and the natural environment. The Garden provides a place for visitors to learn about plants, conservation, and nature; and connects Houstonians across different cultures and ethnicities; and closes an existing gap in theworld-class city’s collection of amenities for residents and tourists. Approximately half of the Garden’s 132 acres, which was once the Glenbrook municipal golf course, are on an island, a feature completely surrounded by the original Sims Bayou meander on three sides, and the later Sims channel to its south. South of downtown Houston, it is across from the Hobby airport on the other side of I-45 south. A great place to visit during the current isolation due to the Covid pandemic.
Indus Joins US Census Campaign
Indus Management Group was honored to participate in local outreach efforts organized by City Council Member Edward Pollard as part of the “Yes! To Census 2020” campaign. In coordination with Census week in District J, Indus promoted and hosted events within its Southwest Houston communities to encourage Census 2020 participation. On September 12th, 2020, Census Week in District J concluded with a “Caravan for 2020 Census” awareness initiative led by Council Member Edward Pollard. The Caravan passed through the Westward Square Apartments, located at 6233 Gulfton Street in southwest Houston.. City Council Member Edward Pollard’s efforts in this campaign cannot be lauded enough. Every 10 years, the census records participation within a community and distributes funding accordingly. These monies help support over 130 programs that could assist our Houston families immediately. Therefore, community members are strongly encouraged to do their part and to fill out the 2020 Census. Not only will participation help the community in the immediate future, but it will also have lasting effects spanning the next 10 years. The Census can be filled out by phone (1-844-330-2020) or online (my2020census.gov). America gets just one chance each decade to count its population, and Indus Management Group in collaboration with City Council member, Edward Pollard, is helping U.S. Census achieve its goal of an accurate count! -- Preeti Sharma
COMMUNITY/COMMENTARY
What Kamala Means to Indo-American Women By Chaya Murali
I cried when Slumdog Millionaire won the Oscar for Best Picture. I didn’t expect the tears, but there they were, brought on by the sight of little brown children onstage at the Academy Awards, the sound of A.R. Rahman dedicating his statue to God in Tamil. I had never dreamt of such a thing. I moved to the United States when I was 4 years old. Back in the early ‘90s, there were no South Asian faces on television. Instead, my sister and I grew up watching Full House and Saved by the Bell. I used to admire the rosy cheeks of the white female leads and curse my brown skin for lacking that dewy glow. Our mother dressed us in paavadai sattais for first days of school and picture days, billowing silk skirts with intricate gold borders and contrasing cotton blouses. The finishing touches were fresh flower garlands for our hair and Velcro sneakers for our feet. The outfits, like every other aspect of our lives, marked us as different, curious hybrids of East and West that didn’t seem to fit into any one place. Like most diaspora kids, I struggled with my identity throughout childhood and adolescence, eventually coming to a sort of peace in my twenties. These days my pangs of immigrant melancholy are provoked by the future – the worry that the next generation of our family will not learn the language, that my sister and I will never absorb enough custom and tradition and culture from our parents. Still, the desire to see myself reflected in the country I call home remains. I was talking recently to an Indian American who had immigrated as an adult. When I mentioned that South Asians who grew up here had never seen faces like theirs on television, on billboards, at the front of the classroom, he was flabbergasted—he could not imagine how that must have felt. I thin These days South Asian celebrities abound, from Kumail Nanjiani to Aziz Ansari to Mindy Kaling to Padma Lakshmi. South Asians are prominent in business, technology, healthcare, and, increasingly, government. And yet one of the troubles with
Kamala Harris with her mother Shyamala Gopalan.
minority representation is that once a representative, or a handful of them, rise to the fore, they can never be enough. People complain about the vapidity of Never Have I Ever, the sexpot exoticism of Priyanka Chopra. Something similar happened when Kamala Harris was announced as Joe Biden’s running mate. For me, the announcement felt like another logical step towards greater representation. But almost immediately, the declarative opinions came out. Some pointed out that Harris is American, not Indian, that it doesn’t make sense to identify her as the latter when she was born and raised here in the States. Others murmured that Harris had long identified not as Indian but as Black, an identity underscored by her alma mater. Still others crowed that Indians generally, and South Indians and Tamil Brahmins in particular, should consider Harris’s nomination a point of pride, their language oddly evoking a sense of personal ownership. The thing is, I think most of these things are true. Harris is Indian. She is American. She is Black. She is Tamil. She is Jamaican. She can be all of these things at once. I’m not here to argue about Harris’s policy stances. I’m here simply to say that it feels good, in my thirties, to finally see a national politician who shares part of my heritage. Sure, she hasn’t made her Indian roots a centerpiece of her political life, but perhaps this reflects that her identity, like all of ours, is complex. The older I get, the more I see the immigrant experience as a new type of arithmetic: not dividing, but multiplying. Those of us who were born outside of the United States, whose families speak something other than English, whose childhood homes
Indo American News Founder: Dr. K.L. Sindwani Publisher: Jawahar Malhotra Editor: Pramod Kulkarni Correspondent: Sanchali Basu ®All rights reserved. No material herein or portions thereof may be published without the written consent of the publisher. Deadline for advertising and articles is 4 pm on Monday of each week. Please include self-addressed, stamped envelope for return of all unsolicited material. Published at 7457 Harwin Drive, Suite 212, Houston, Texas 77036.Tel:713-789-6397, email: indoamericannews@yahoo.com, website: www. indoamerican-news.com
Indo-American News • Friday, SEPTEMBER 18, 2020 • www.indoamerican-news.com
were fragrant with spices unfamiliar to their schoolmates—we are not split between our identities. We exist within them all, our sense of self expanding and engulfing our component parts. The same goes for Kamala. She shows us that a person can contain multitudes, can be one thing and another thing and many other things yet. And she shows little brown girls throughout this country that they belong, that they can contribute, that they are needed. I know that Harris is not a perfect representation of Indian America, but who is, really? My hope is that her nomination is the first of many more to come, that one day there are so many South Asian Americans of note that none will carry the weight and expectations of being an all-encompassing and faultless representative of their community. For me, Harris’s nomination means something. This woman strode the beaches of Chennai, visited her grandparents in Besant Nagar, casually wore saris, ate idli and sambar and dosa. She grew up with a South Indian mother whose accented speech probably opened her up to judgment and ridicule. She knows what it is to be different, to be an outsider, to have to imagine yourself in places where no one who looks like you exists. In some small way, I think Harris understands how it feels to be me. She shares her name with my maternal grandmother. Her niece shares her name with my chithi. When Harris casually mentioned her own chithis in her acceptance speech, my husband asked me how I felt. Suddenly, unexpectedly, those tears were back. I felt good. Chaya Murali is a pediatric genetics physician and personal essayist. She lives in Houston.
SUDOKU/ADVICE SUDOKU/RECREATION Place a number in the empty boxes in such a way that each row across, each column down and each 9-box square contains all of the numbers from one to nine.
September 18, 2020 11
New Houston Botanic Garden: Now Open!
Send us the correct answer before September 24, 2020. Email us at indoamericannews@yahoo.com. Please send us your solved Sudoku for your name to be published.
Solution Next Week
Fountain at the entrance of the new 132-acre Houston Botanic Gardgen near I-45 and Park Place Blvd.
Last Week’s SUDOKU Solution
Last Week’s SUDOKU Winners Sharmila Mohrir Kanubhai Patel Bhavna Patel
Houston: Houstonians no longer have to take the Gulf Freeway all the way to Galveston to escape to an island, now that the Houston Botanic Garden, the city’s new living museum for plants, has opened its gates today to the public, just east of I-45 South on Park Place Blvd. Approximately half of the Garden’s 132 acres – which was once a municipal golf course – are on the Island, a feature completely surrounded by the original Sims Bayou meander on three sides, and the later Sims channel to its south. The Houston Botanic Garden has transformed the Island, and the adjacent South Gardens on the opposite side of the Sims channel, into an oasis of learning, discovery, and horticultural beauty, with outdoor gallery spaces displaying a collection of tropical, sub-tropical, and arid plants from around the world to showcase the biodiversity that thrives along the Texas Gulf Coast. “Adding a world-class botanic garden to enhance the breadth and depth of Houston’s cultural offerings has been a long time in the making,” said Claudia Gee Vassar, president and general counsel of the Houston Botanic Garden. “We believe the benefits of an extensive outdoor museum like the Houston Botanic Garden will be especially desirable at a time when so many are looking to engage with and be inspired by nature.” Through its design and programming, the Garden, a collaboration with West 8, an award-winning international landscape designer, seeks to enrich lives through discovery, education, and the conservation of plants and the natural
environment. “The intent of the site design is to seek balance in all aspects, from planting and soils, through topography and materials—the careful juxtaposition of order and chaos that is at the heart of enduring gardens,” said Donna Bridgeman-Rossi, PLA, director of implementation, West 8 NY. “With this being Houston’s first garden of this kind, it was exciting to be working with a client group that not only expects best practice but is open to the complexities required to push status quo into new territory or specification.” Each time visitors come to the Houston Botanic Garden, they will exchange the bustle of the city for the enveloping serenity of multiple features, which include: • Global Collection Garden: Three acres of regionally themed zones that demonstrate the wide variety of diverse and beautiful plants from around the world that flourish in Houston’s climate. • Culinary Garden: An artistic display of edible and medicinal plants – many of which visitors could grow in their own yards – that have served as a basis for economic and cultural exchange across the history of the world. • Susan Garver Family Discovery Garden: A sensory-engaging area that presents opportunities for families to engage with nature in a variety of ways, including a boardwalk maze around a lagoon; simple water machines, and nature play structures crafted from trees that previously grew on the property. • Woodland Glade: An intimate-yet-open space that visitors can rent – beginning later in the fall – to host weddings and other
Indo-American News • Friday SEPTEMBER 18, 2020 • www.indoamerican-news.com
celebrations under a mature overstory of trees surrounded by the beauty of magnolias and sculpted hedges. Curated natural ecosystems surrounding these features have visual appeal as well, while also promoting conversation of soil, air, water, and wildlife. To reflect the cultural richness of Houston and the diversity of its collection, the Garden is presenting an opening season across four weekends, with special educational opportunities to showcase how people groups connect with plants in several regions of the world from which plants in the Garden originate: • Sept. 18, 19, and 20 – Celebrating Latin America • Oct. 2, 3, and 4 – Celebrating Asia • Oct. 16, 17, and 18 – Celebrating Africa • Oct. 30, 31, and Nov. 1 – Celebrating the Mediterranean To ensure visitors can come as often as they like to experience the different blooms each season will bring, the Garden is offering memberships at several levels, starting at just $50, that include unlimited general admission, among other benefits. The Garden’s entry drive, One Botanic Lane, is located at 8210 Park Place Blvd., and the Garden is open every day from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Ticket prices on MondaysThursdays are $12.50 for adults and $8 for students (with current ID) and children age 3 and older; prices on Formed in 2002, Houston Botanic Garden is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to enrich lives through discovery, education, and the conservation of plants and the natural environment.
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September 18, 2020
Indo-American News • Friday, SEPTEMBER 18, 2020 • www.indoamerican-news.com