Indian Down Under - May-June, 2013

��

�� !�� "�#�$��%��&�&��!!�&��'(�%�� )��*�(�+,�(

-�.��!��+�!��/��0/��)$�,/��+��"! �"��&�

�� #1�2�3)��"

��

��

�� !"��#$%&� �� '�� (��)*��+�,��-��.�/��,��!�0��(��(��(��1(��1��2��(��!��3��45��3�!��1��6�

�� !!!

�� ! ��""��#�� $��%��

*��7��8��!��'�(��

02 THE INDIAN DOWN UNDER May - June 2013

��

��

��

��

Race is on for PM post in India and in Oz

Editor's Letter

May-June 2013 THE INDIAN DOWN UNDER 7

Editorial/Advertising Enquiries: 02 9875 2713Postal Address: PO Box 99, Thornleigh NSW 2120.Email: [email protected]: www.indiandownunder.com.au

EDITORIALPrincipal Editor: Vijay BadhwarAssociate Editor: Neena BadhwarNorth America : Parveen Chopra

CorrespondentSports Editor: Kersi Meher-HomjiDelhi Reporter: Ritu Ghai

WRITERSThird Eye: Rekha BhattacharjeePolitical Columns: Karam Ramrakha, Mallika GanesanFilms and Art: Neeru Saluja, Abhishek Sood,Monica Daswani, Sumi Krishnan, DevakiParthasarthy, Neena Badhwar, Rekha Rajvanshi,Manju MittalBody-Mind-Spirit: Dr Sunder Das, KanakaRamakrishna, Faith Harper, T Selva, Dilip MahantySport: Kersi Meher-Homji, Dilip MahantyFiji Diary: Karam RamrakhaCookery: Promila GuptaChildren Section: Esther Chaudhary-LyonsClassical Music: Sumi Krishnan, Kris Raman,Lokesh VarmaTravel: Vijay Badhwar, Kris RamanHumour: Melvin Durai, Santram BajajSeniors Column: Santram BajajBeauty: Devaki Parthasarthy, Ritu GhaiCommunity: Neena Badhwar, Kersi Meher-Homji,Vijay Badhwar, Sumi Krishnan, Neeru Saluja,Savitha Narayan, Manju MittalPhotographers: Neelesh Kale, Raj Suri and JordanAnjaiyaGraphic Design: Nayanesh Gandhi, Dinesh Verma,Dhiraj Kumar,Bharat Bhushan Chopra/Bhagwati Multimedia

Subscription Coupon

Name

...............................................

Address.....................................

...............................................

...............................................

Post Code ................................

Annual Subscription $17 including

GST, postage & handling.

Send to TheIndian Down Under,

PO Box 99,

Thorhleigh NSW 2120

Change in the political climate is inthe air for Australia and India, thetwo countries of interest for the

Australian Indians. The current rulingparties in both the countries are expectedto change with the focus of discussionbeing on the leadership.

There are frequent opinion polls inAustralia on how far the Labor party willfall in the September elections and who isthe preferred Prime Minister. It is virtu-ally a two-party system in Australia withsome scatter to minor parties. Althoughthe Labor Government has not done abad job, the infighting has ruined itschances, the worst being that there are nosigns of the infighting going away.Otherwise, the carbon and mining taxesalong with health and education reforms(without the university cuts and withsome tweaking of taking away gains toindependent schools) would be feathers inthe cap for any government. The Greensare set to benefit from Labor losses.

It is indeed surprising that despite thelow rating of Tony Abbot as the pre-ferred Prime Minister, there is not aMalcolm Turnbull push to replace him.After all, Turnbull had lost only by a sin-gle vote when Abbot became the Leaderof Opposition. Turnbull is well-liked forhis balanced approach in politics, notroughcast, and more acceptable towomen who may have been prejudicedby Julia Gillard’s manoeuvres in parlia-ment. Malcolm Turnbull’s recent propos-al as shadow communication minister fora slower NBN, however, may save somedollars but is retrograde, to say the least.

The political scenario in India, how-

ever, is far from simple. A coalition ofmany parties is ruling the country andcoalition rule will continue even after the2014 elections as no single party willhave the requisite majority in the nextLok Sabha. Each party, whether in theruling front or in opposition, has its ownagenda and personal interests of its lead-ers that are not too altruistic. The corrup-tion in India is at an all time high andwithout anyone in sight who can reformthe system. Those who come in powersee it as an opportunity to fill their per-sonal coffers with utter disregard to pub-lic outcry.

The UPA Government led byCongress is indifferent to all the scandalsthat have come out in the open recently –2G, Coalgate, Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-lawRobert Vadra’s complicity in a land scam– have all been conveniently pushedunder the carpet. CBI, it is alleged, isunleashed to silence those who dare tospeak against the Government. Is this thereason we hear no more of Anna,Ramdev or Kejriwal? A recent Wikileakexpose has brought the former IndianPrime Minister Rajiv Gandhi again intofocus for his possible involvement inSwedish Company Saab-Scania’s bid tosell fighter aircraft to India. His namepops up again and again in scandalsalthough his involvement in Bofors wasnot fully substantiated.

From the Congress party, RahulGandhi has repeatedly said that he wasnot interested in the PM post, only inserving people and strengthening theparty. This has not stopped statementsfrom other party leaders that they all

want the No 2 man in Congress (SoniaGandhi being party head) to lead thecountry. As for the 80-year-oldManmohan Singh, he has kept specula-tion going on a third term for him. Askedby the media on April 5, Singh said heneither ruled himself in or out in the PMsweepstakes.

And if there is a change in govern-ment after the polls, there are a few con-tenders for the top job. Foremost amongthem is BJP’s most popular leader,Narendra Modi whose performance asGujarat chief minister has catapulted himon the national scene. There are manylike Nitish Kumar, Bihar Chief Minister,who disagree that Modi could befit thePM’s role seeing his inflexibility towardsIndia’s diversity. Although Modi hasbeen a very successful and progressivechief minister, Nitish Kumar has a pointthat bringing about consensus is ofutmost importance to run a coalition gov-ernment at the centre. It is this factorwhich has prevented BJP from projectingModi as their prime ministerial candi-date. That has not, however, stopped theModi factor from causing a rift betweenBJP and Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (U),two key parties in the opposition NDAfront. Significantly, American intelli-gence and think tanks have been predict-ing a Rahul-vs-Modi fight for PM post inIndia.

On the local Sydney scene, have younoticed the proliferation of giving awayawards to every Tom, Dick and Harry? Ithas become commonplace in the commu-nity functions to fill up chairs or attractsponsors. But very boring, indeed!

Visit us at :

www.indiandownunder.com.au

Rahul Gandhi has denied that he is in therace for Prime Minister, while Narendra

Modi is behaving as a PM-in-waiting.

It is surprising that despite the low rating ofTony Abbot as the preferred Prime Minister, there

is not a Malcolm Turnbull push to replace him.

8 THE INDIAN DOWN UNDER May-June 2013

Analysis

By Neena Badhwar

‘Great minds discuss ideas; Averageminds discuss events; Small minds discusspeople’

--Eleanor Roosevelt, US diplomat &reformer (1884 - 1962)

Amajority of Indian migrants, whohave settled in Australia, came to thiscountry without realizing at the time

that one day they will become the citizens ofthis very country, their immediate aim at thetime being economic betterment and notissues related to a long term settlement.

It was a long road that Australia traversedbefore it opened its doors to Asian immigra-tion in the late 1960s after reluctantly shed-ding its White Australia policy. With a fewexceptions (such as students coming to studyunder Colombo Plan), there was only a trick-le that came through a tight sieve of regula-tions in the early seventies. But a lot moremigrants of Indian origin started enteringAustralia in the eighties and the followingdecades, being highly qualified and in profes-sions of high demand. A large number amongthem were also joining their families who hadarrived earlier.

The Indian community in Australia pridesitself as the very best in the country, highlypaid, well educated, and virtually troublefree. While they have achieved much as indi-viduals, made names in their professions anderected Macmansions for themselves, there issomething amiss as a community, lacking avision and foresight for the future.

Everyone wants to be a leader; so there isplethora of associations. Everyone’s ego hasto be massaged; so there are nights afternights of award ceremonies. But all thissounds hollow, merely a photo opportunityrubbing shoulders with dignitaries and politi-cians and to piggyback on the contacts fortheir own businesses. As the earlier migrantscome in the fold of old age, they find suitablecommunity services lacking. Besides templesand gurdwaras there is not much else as com-munity support. In spite of there being nearlya hundred Indian associations of various huesand shapes, there is not one that has madereal efforts for a community place. There aremany instnaces that real opportunities havegone abegging just because the associationshave not represented as a unit.

Indian seniors are worried about agingand what is available for them to live and diewith dignity. There are concerns such as foodin nursing homes; whether we would haveworkers speaking our language. Seniors whoare retiring do not know where to spend theirtime with like minded people. There are halfhearted efforts to form groups but they aredivided and do not carry enough critical massto buy or set up a place where they can mixand mingle with friends and wider communi-ty members. Where does one go and seekhelp lurks in many a heart. There is no infra-structure or organized avenue available.Bigger associations that claim themselves asumbrella organizations have only been busydoing fairs; other associations falling into thesame competitive trap and ideas while valu-able time passes by.

The Indian Down Under has spoken tosome of the leaders - elected and self styled…all who are active in the Indian community,about their vision for the Indian communityfor years to come:

Divided we fall

United we can take long strides

While we Indians in Australia have achievedmuch as individuals, there is something

amiss as a community, lacking a vision andforesight for the future. TIDU solicited views

of four leaders about their vision for theIndian community for years to come.

Amarinder BajwaPresident, United IndianAssociations (UIA)

My vision for thefuture of Indian community isharmony, cohesive and pro-gressive community.Development of the Indiandiaspora and much morerecognition of the contribu-tion made by various individ-uals of Indian background inthe multicultural framework.More opportunities and moreacceptance of the people ofIndian origin. No racism anda very healthy relationshipbetween all the communitiesin Australia.

I want to see our kidsgrow with more knowledge ofwhere they come from, learntheir mother tongue and beconnected with back home.We value our culture andwould like it to be available toour future generations.

We are already part ofAustralia and are proud ofnew heritage and new begin-nings. We enjoy the glass oflassi as much as we enjoy thecup of coffee. The communi-ties must join hands togetherfor the growth and progres-sion of any individual as well

as community The unity in thecommunity is very importantto achieve any shared goalssuch as Indian communitycentre, old age homes, MPsof Indian origin and manyother social, economic andpolitical objectives betweenIndia and Australia. I amproud of the highly educatedprofessionals of Indian originwho are in Australia -they arethe face of Indian community.I am hopeful of the unity,coherence and hence the bestoutcome for the communitiesin the near future. The ethnicdiversity and the beauty ofdiverse yet a united communi-ty for the betterment of oursociety should be our goal

Mrs Neera ShrivastavaPresident, Federation ofAustralian Indian Associations

At the moment I am awarethat there are many Indian asso-ciations that claim to be umbrel-la organizations. Yet we canwork together in a cohesivemanner with Indian communi-ties’ benefit at heart. We canmove forward, help it to assim-ilate into the wider milieu ratherthan making just Indian groups.

I am on the NSW’sMulticultural AdvisoryCommittee team. We are look-ing into various aspects of mul-ticultural society we live in andits issues with the motive how

they can contribute in a positiveway. I am sure Indian commu-nity needs to open up a bit morethan what it is at the momentand make its mark in morebroader sense.

Subbarao VarigondaPresident, Council of IndianAustralians (CIA)

The Indian communityof Australia has gone past the400,000 mark. In particular, thenumber of Indians living inNSW has more than doubledsince 2006. My vision for theIndian community of NSW is asfollows:

1) The Indian communi-ty still does not have a placewhich we can call as our“HOME”. We need to push foran India House project as earlyas possible.

2) We need to see morerepresentation of the Indiancommunity at the Local/Stateand Federal levels ofGovernments. While our com-munity has done well in theirrespective professions, we havenot been able to make our pres-ence felt at the Government lev-els. We can achieve this onlythrough our united efforts ratherthan being fragmented.

3) Today the Indian com-munity is fragmented with morethan 80 Associations. We alsohave three ‘Umbrella’ associa-tions. It is important we need toconsolidate and have minimumnumber of associations. I amhappy to use the good offices ofthe Council of IndianAustralians (CIA) to address thisissue. Without this happening,the outside world sees the Indiancommunity as a fragmentedsociety.

4) In spite of the diversi-fied nature of our community,we must express as a “SINGLEVOICE” on matters of commoninterest – in particular when wedeal with the Government ofAustralia.

5) We need to take a lookat a number of Indian associa-tions and see the governance ofprocesses within such organisa-tions, reporting to the FairTrading and other aspects. It ismy understanding that there area number of organisations whichare created to promote an indi-vidual’s interests.

6) We are all aware thatwe as a community have donewell – be it as doctors, comput-er professionals, engineers andbusiness entrepreneurs. It is timethat we provide leadership andprovide this talent to emergingcommunities

7) We need to stopover/think and act on issuesrelated to the next generation –in particular what we are leavingbehind. Surely one or all theabove issues are related to thiscritical issue. Today we are notmaking much effort to involvethe next generation into matters/issues affecting the Indian com-munity of NSW.

8) Today the balance oftrade between India andAustralia is 1:7 in favour ofAustralia. Each one of us has arole to play in balancing thisratio and make it a “win-win”situation for both countries.

Dr Yadu SinghPresident of Indian AustralianAssociation of NSW

With about 400,000people of Indian heritage inAustralia, we are indeedimportant in the electoral poli-tics but it gets diluted signifi-cantly because we are hope-lessly fragmented into groupsbased on regional and religiousbackgrounds.

If that was not bad, wehave groups based on castes aswell. We have too many asso-ciations and too many leaders,many among them have noclue about conflict of interest,accountability, decent behav-iour or why they have the asso-ciation. Many are into givingout useless awards to people,and at times to those too whosimply cannot be given anyawards.

What we need is someunderstanding and a debate,probably organised by Indianmedia, regarding the needs ofour community, decent behav-iour, decent community workand some consolidation ofcommunity groups.Community leaders and groupsneed to be asked about whatoutcomes they have delivered

so far. Some “chronic” leaderswho have been around for yearafter year, often decades,should be nudged to retire.Nobody can do this better thanour media, provided mediaunderstands its role andresponsibility for the commu-nity.

Doing something in regardsto mentoring of newermigrants and helping them set-tle, in addition to encouraginga pan-Indian identity will bemy suggestions.

A community Hub i.e.,India House, just like manyother communities have done,is badly needed for our socialand community binding, inter-actions and growth.

“

““

“

”

”

”

”

Dear readers, we leave you to reflect and discussthis as an issue and send your feedback to: [email protected] or visit:www.indiandownunder.com.au or discuss onFacebook – on The Indian Down Under page.”

By Rekha Bhattacharjee

‘Prudent macroeconomic policymanagement has supportedAustralia’s strong economic per-formance and contributed to itsresilience in the face of the globalfinancial crisis’ – InternationalMonetary Fund survey (November2012)

The excellent management ofthe Australian economycontinues to get ticks from

the world’s highest financial regu-lators and rating organisations butJulia Gillard led Labor govern-ment is looking at an unprecedent-ed electoral rout if the electionsare held tomorrow.

It is ironic that in spite of pro-viding one of the best managedeconomies in the world, JuliaGillard and her team get blamedfor ‘poor performance’.

Clearly, there is a detachmentbetween the Australian public’sperceptions and the facts about ourhealthy economy. The failure tohighlight its high dividend yieldingpolicies has led to the situationwhere Labor, instead of getting

the pole position it so richlydeserves, is looking for a longtime in the political oblivion.

If we are to believe the formerJulia Gillard Minister SimonCrean, Labor has been distractedby the internal feuds and has failedto sell its “merits”.

Citing the proposed mediareforms, the veteran Laborwarhorse has recently expressedopinion that the party had failed toeffectively sell its policies.

"If you want to advance acause, you've got to frame adebate - don't let anyone elseframe it for you,'' Simon Creantold reporters after the farcicalmid-March spill.

Simon Crean believes thatLabor had pitted itself in a diffi-cult position because of its obses-sion with the budget surplus butseems to have freed itself from themillstone around its collectiveneck.

"Obviously they have shakenthemselves from the shackle of thesurplus,'' he said in a media con-ference after the above-mentionedhighly-damaging Labor leadership

fracas. "Why is it that we allowedour economic credentials to beframed just by the measure of thesurplus?” the veteran posed thequestion.

"People want jobs, low infla-tion and low interest rates,” Creanrationalised.

"They've got all of those,'' therecently axed Julia GillardMinister concluded.

Simon Crean, the former JuliaGillard confidante was spot on inpointing out the absurdities of thecurrent political situation wherethe achievers are being penalisedfor their globally-acclaimed eco-nomic prudence and cushioningAustralia against the shockwavesfrom the global financial crisis.

Where does a battered Laborgo from this low position wherethey are like sitting ducks waitingfor the Australian voters to deliverthat nauseating killer blow?

Instead of an indulging inincessant internal bickering, Laborshould be focussing on addressingthe above-mentioned serious dis-connect between the facts and theAustralian public perceptions.After all, what do they have tolose from this dismal, depressingposition where the Opposition isall set to record a gigantic elec-toral victory in September?

Just five months separateLabor Party from a demoralisingdefeat and handing the KirribilliHouse keys to an Oppositionleader who is disliked even by theConservative voters. A victoryLiberals do not deserve in the firstplace as they, unlike the proventrack record of Labor economicplanning machine in the last twoterms, have even failed to spellout their economic policies.

It is a fact that the highly-priv-ileged Australian voter has grownused to the prosperity delivered byover two decades of continuedgrowth in the GDP.

Why blame Australian votersin general when even the Labordiehards are not ready to give anycredit of smooth-sailing throughthe turbulent economic crisis tothe economic prudence of theirParty.

According to a recentAustralian BroadcastingCorporation (ABC) survey of thecommitted Labor voters, only 11percent of the respondents saidthey would vote for Labor for pro-viding a good government. Awhopping 35 percent would,according to the survey findings,vote for Julia Gillard led Labor asthey do not want to see TonyAbbott as the Kirribilli House ten-ant. A similar number of Liberalvoters covered by the ABC surveywanted to sack Labor governmentfor its ‘poor performance’. While

it seems to be the true reflection ofthe voters’ sentiment, it is a rathersad commentary on the political(and economic) prudence of theeveryday Australians. The politicalmaturity of the Australian popu-lace becomes even more doubtfulwhen we look at the results of asurvey conducted by an onlineportal Essential Vision a fewmonths back. According to thesurvey, 70% of the respondentsthink that Australia’s economy hasperformed better than other coun-tries over the last few years.

The chances of gettingEssential Vision getting the surveywrong are really slim as the find-ings are supported by hard factssuch as low inflation rate (2.20percent in the fourth quarter of2012), low budget deficit (3 per-cent of the country's GrossDomestic Product in 2011/12 fis-cal year), low interest rates(Reserve Bank of Australia interestrate – 3 percent), low unemploy-ment rates (5.40 percent), consis-tent GDP growth (expanded 3.10percent in the fourth quarter of2012), etc.

These figures look meaninglesstill we compare them with otherOECD countries.

These are the figures whichmake Australian economy the mostenviable among the 34 OECDcountries. Any of these developedcountries would like to tradeplaces with Australia but here weare whingeing about the ‘poor per-formance’ instead of lauding the

prudent economic managers ofLabor.

The Conservatives have beenpinching themselves for the chanceof successfully bagging one ofworld’s best managed economies.Joe Hockey’s task has been mademuch easier by the TreasurerWayne Swan’s inexplicable com-ments about the Australian fami-lies going through dire straits.

A typical example of the art ofpolitical hara kiri perfected byJulia Gillard’s Treasurer cameafter ABS made an announcementof low CPI figure announced lastyear. Joe Hockey somehow man-aged to criticise the welcome newsclaiming the data showed essentialhousehold items were outstrippingaverage incomes. Instead ofWayne Swan claiming points forhis good work, he declared thatthe government knew that familieswere still “doing it tough”!!

Various handouts announcedby Labor governments have beensending message that theAustralian battlers are facingunprecedented “tough” times. Thereality is in total contrast to thiswidely held misconception as theAustralian families from everyeconomic strata never had it thisgood.

In the conclusion, the time isrunning out for the “indestruc-tible” Julia Gillard and her team.Instead of focussing on the ‘nega-tives’ or individuals, Labor wouldbe far better off to sell its truly


In a major foreign policy tri-umph, Julia Gillard has man-aged to grab the attention of

world’s second largest economy asChina has agreed to a strategicpartnership with Canberra. JuliaGillard’s Chinese counterpart,Premier and Prime Minister, LiKeqiang has also agreed to annualmeetings between the two coun-tries. Only three other countries --Britain, Germany and Russia --and European Union have man-aged to get such annual audiencewith Australia’s largest tradingpartner.

Even highly-biased News Corp

newspapers have lauded JuliaGillard’s achievement in Beijingby calling it the “deal of thedecade”. The strategic alliancewould ensure unhindered accessfor the Australian mandarins andtheir political bosses to the top ech-elons of the Chinese hierarchy.The Sun Herald has gone to theextent of calling Gillard’s achieve-ment as the “most significantbreakthroughs since GoughWhitlam's courageous step 40years ago to establish diplomaticlinks with China”.

Rekha Bhattacharjee can becontacted at [email protected]

The Third Eye by Rekha Bhattacharjee

Analysis

Dismal Labor poll ratings

Julia Gillard authors ‘dealof the decade’ with China

The great Australia disconnect between facts and public perceptions.

On April 19, the Council of Australian Governments (COAG)held its 35th Meeting in Canberra where Prime MinisterGillard initiated a Big Reform for the future which needs

bipartisan support to succeed. Gillard's negotiating skills will surelycome in handy. 62% approve and 18% oppose.

The Opposition is catching up on Gillard’s plan to makeEducation her ‘catch cry’ for the September 14 polls – thus theirstrategy is to create as much trouble and uncertainty as possiblebetween now and the deadline in June. The Opposition does not want‘school funding’ to be a big issue in the run up to the elections.

Although none of the states signed up to the reforms at that meet-ing – the PM had a significant victory when NSW Premier BarryO’Farrell signed up a few days later. Victoria and Queensland havestill to come on board. Tasmania – a Labor state -- will and if WAdecides not to – it will not matter much.

The NSW Premier said, “This is once in a generation opportunityfor NSW schools.”

Victorian Premier is happy to negotiate – although Queensland isholding out, wanting the PM to meet half way.

After NSW signing, the pressure is on all states – just as it wasfor “National Disability Insurance Scheme”.

“Why should Queensland kids miss out?” asks the TreasurerWayne Swan who represents Queensland in Parliament.

-Rekha Bhatta

Prime Minister Julia Gillard with the Chinese premier Wen Jiabao in 2011.

Council of AustralianGovernments Meet

Washington: Two veteran anti-terrorismprosecutors, including an Indian Americanattorney Aloke Chakravarty, are leading thecase against the surviving Boston Marathonbombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

Assistant US district attorneysChakravarty and William Weinreb from theMassachusetts district's Anti-Terrorism andNational Security Unit were both key playersin the prosecution of Pakistani-AmericanFaisal Shahzad. Shahzad was sentenced tolife in prison for the attempted bombing ofNew York's Times Square three years ago.

Chakravarty, 39, was also the lead prose-cutor on the case against Tarek Mehanna, aBoston pharmacist, who was convicted ofproviding material support to Al Qaeda, andconspiring to commit murder in a foreigncountry. Last year Mehanna was sentenced to

Lucknow: Amid criticismthat Uttar Pradesh ChiefMinister Akhilesh Yadavshould not have cancelled hislecture at the HarvardBusiness School to protest"extended frisking" of UrbanDevelopment Minister AzamKhan at a Boston airport, hisSamajwadi Party (SP) saidApril 27 that the stand was"correct, justified and in linewith socialist ethos".

In a statement, PrisonsMinister and partyspokesman RajendraChowdhary said that the chiefminister has done the right thing and taughta lesson to "arrogant America who hasprejudice towards Muslims". India, headded, was a land where its visitors aretreated as gods and in contrast, US humili-ated people from other countries. "We haveamply demonstrated during the Kumbh howgood hosts we are but the US has shown its

true colours, specially againstMuslims, by humiliating ourminister," Chowdhary added.

Azam Khan was part of adelegation invited by theprestigious business school todeliver a lecture on organiz-ing the Maha Kumbh Mela inAllahabad early this year andthe challenges faced by theadministration in managingmillions of people fromacross the world who attendedthe mega event.

The BJP, however, lashedout at Azam Khan for show-ing immaturity in his reac-

tions to his frisking at the airport in Boston."I find this silly. Azam Khan should learnto respect law and security concerns of theother country and should take lessons fromformer president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam whobehaved in the most humble manner in sim-ilar situation some years back," said stateBJP chief Laxmikant Bajpayi.


India

New Delhi: Indian and Chineselocal military commanders held aflag meeting for the second timeto resolve the stand-off overincursion by Chinese troops intothe Indian side of the Line ofActual Control in Ladakh even asNew Delhi said it has askedBeijing to maintain the status quothat existed before the April 15intrusion.

Army Chief General BikramSingh met Jammu and KashmirGovernor N.N. Vohra and ChiefMinister Omar Abdullah and dis-cussed the Chinese incursions intoIndian territory.

Gen. Singh assured Vohra andAbdullah that the situation wouldbe tackled. His visit comes in thewake of Chinese troops setting upa post inside Indian territory,

about 10 km from the LAC, thede-facto border between India andChina. The Chinese had set upthe post April 15.

External Affairs MinisterSalman Khurshid said there was

no need for diplomatic-level talksto resolve the issue.

"There is no need for diplo-matic-level talks," Khurshid said,and added that local militarycommanders from both sides

would hold discussions "to workout a solution at flag meetings, asthey have been doing in the past".

The external affairs ministryspokesperson Syed Akbaruddinsaid India and China had "differ-ing perceptions" of the Line ofActual Control in the Depsangarea of the western sector of theIndia-China boundary and theincursion by Chinese troops hadled to a "face-to-face" situationbetween their troops.

"We see this as a face to facesituation between the border per-sonnel of the two sides due to dif-ferences on their alignment of theLAC. We have asked the Chineseside to maintain status quo in thissector, by which I mean statusquo prior to this incident," exter-nal affairs ministry spokesperson

Syed Akbaruddin said.The term "face-to-face" is

referred to the 2005 protocol forimplementing CBMs along theLAC. According to the protocol,when border personnel of the twosides come face to face, they areto exercise self-restraint and takeall necessary steps to prevent thesituation from escalating, he said.

Terming the incident as a"localized event", the spokesper-son said that "overall, the India-China border area continues toremain peaceful". Both sides havepeacefully resolved similar inci-dents in the past "and we hope toresolve this incident too peaceful-ly", the official added.

Beijing has denied any incur-sion across the Line of ActualControl, which is a notional line.

Beijing has denied any incursion across the Line of Actual Control,which is a notional line

UP Urban DevelopmentMinister Azam Khan faced

extended frisking at Boston airport.

UP CM calls off Harvard trip protesting insult to minister

Indian-American attorney to prosecute Boston bomber

India, China to resolve border stand-off

Pune Warriors India cheerleaders during thematch between the Puneteam and Royal ChallengersBangalore on April 23.Elsewhere in some otherIPL matches too cheer girlsin traditional Indian dancecostumes have been seen.

Reddit sorry for witch-huntagainst Indian student for Boston

Providence, RI: The body of a man pulledfrom the Providence River is that of missingBrown University student Sunil Tripathi. Themedical examiner said Thursday the cause ofhis death is still under investigation but nofoul play is suspected.

Tripathi, 22, was last seen on March 16,and his family had been desperately search-ing for him. His body was found in the waterat India Point Park late Tuesday afternoon.Police said the body had been in the waterfor "some time." Sunil Tripathi was falselyidentified on social media as possibly beingone of the Boston Marathon bombers, after

the FBI released images of the two suspects. Reddit, a popular social news and enter-

tainment website, apologized for posts on thesite that had led to speculation that Tripathicould be one of the Boston bombing sus-pects.

"The crowdsourced, more criminal inves-tigation was very volatile and fraught withproblems, and, obviously, wrong," Redditgeneral manager Erik Martin told CNN. Themoderator of a subreddit, or comment threadtitled findbostonbombers, which had been setup to crowdsource the identities of thebombers, also apologized, the channel said.

Body of missing Sunil Tripathi has been found. (right) the actual Boston bombing suspects Tamerlan (killed) and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev (captured).

Aloke Chakravarty


Pak military protests treatmentmeted out to Musharraf

Islamabad: A group of Pakistan's militaryofficers have protested, before a parliamen-tary panel, the treatment being meted out toformer president Pervez Musharraf, a mediareport said Saturday.

The delegation of 75 officers fromCommand and Staff College, Quetta, led byCol. Saqib Ali Cheema, met the chairmanof the Senate Standing Committee onDefence and Defence Production MushahidHussain Sayed at the parliament house toexpress concern over Musharraf's arrest,reported Dawn.

“The military officers were of the opin-ion that under the constitution, the armedforces cannot be criticised,” a source wasquoted as saying.

Hussain said: “We are all proud of pro-fessionalism of our armed forces and in theconstitution, judiciary and armed forces arenational institutions which should not besubject to any kind of criticism.”

He later told the daily that the officershad asked him if there was anything in theconstitution which allowed anyone to humil-iate any institution, and he answered thatthere was no such provision.

Musharraf, who returned to PakistanMarch 23 after over four years of self-imposed exile in Dubai, was keen to contestthe May 11 general elections. However, hisnomination papers were rejected from fourconstituencies.

An anti-terrorism court in Pakistan hasgranted to investigators custody ofMusharraf in the assassination case of for-

mer prime minister Benazir Bhutto, lawyerssaid. Musharraf, who ruled Pakistan from1999 to 2008, has been accused of failing toprovide adequate security to Bhutto whenshe returned to Pakistan from exile in 2007.

Musharraf has already been arrested inthe case of keeping judges in illegal con-finement when he imposed Emergency rulein 2007.

The former president is also facingcharges of high treason for the abrogationof the constitution, that paved the way forthe declaration of Emergency.

Five people have filed petitions for pro-ceedings related to high treason in theSupreme Court. However, the interim gov-ernment has refused to pursue the casebecause of its limited role, and petitionedthe apex court to leave the case to the nextelected government.

Former president Pervez Musharraf

India

Bangla factory collapse toll over 350

Dhaka: More than four days after thehorrendous tragedy, Bangladeshi rescuerson April 27 pulled 29 more people alivefrom beneath the rubble of the collapsedbuilding that has left over 350 peopledead so far.

The rescuers who managed to reachthe ground floor of the eight-storied build-ing which crumbled like a pack of cardsApril 24, believed that many more arestill alive in the wreckage, reportedXinhua.

In one of the worst tragedies inBangladesh's history, officials say res-cuers have so far pulled alive more than2,500 people including several lucky sur-vivors, keeping alive the hope that morelives can be saved as the rescue operationcontinues.

"352 bodies have so far been pulledout of the collapsed building," BadrulAlam Khan, a police official at a controlroom set up to provide information aboutthe disaster fatalities, told XinhuaSaturday night.

Of the bodies, 341 have been handed

over to their relatives, he said.Following the cracks which were

detected just one day before the accident,the workers were evacuated and the gar-ments authorities declared a leave forTuesday. But nobody bothered about thecracks when officials of the factoriesforced the workers to join workplaces inthe building on the next morning.

Rescuers reportedly came up with alist of 761 people who are still unaccount-ed for.

According to the sources, almost allthe fatalities are workers of the five facto-ries -- Phantom Apparels, Phantom Tac,Ether Tex, New Wave Style and NewWave Bottoms -- which make clothing formany major global brands.

The building is owned by a leader ofPrime Minister Sheikh Hasina's rulingBangladesh Awami League party whoreportedly constructed it without permis-sion from relevant authorities, andassured the owners of the factories thatthere was no problem despite cracksdetected.

The buildingwas ownedby a leaderof PrimeMinisterSheikhHasina'srulingBangladeshAwamiLeagueparty.


India

Legendary singer Shamshad Begum passes awayMumbai: Shamshad Begum,renowned playback singer of yes-teryears who gave voice to classicslike "Mere piya gaye Rangoon"and "Kabhi aar kabhi paar", passedaway here, family sources said onApril 24. She was 94.

Shamshad Begum, who hadbeen ailing for the past fewmonths, died Tuesday evening. Awidow since 1955, she lived withher daughter Usha Ratra.

"She had no regrets. She livedher life like a tigress. I am proud tobe her daughter," Usha said.

Among the first woman play-back singers in the Hindi filmindustry, which has turned 100this year, Shamshad Begum wasborn in 1919 in Amritsar.

Interested in singing from ayoung age, she got her first breakwith Peshawar Radio, Lahore, inDecember 1947.

Later, her voice with a nasaltinge became a hit and she sang fortop heroines of the era, leavingbehind a rich legacy of her soulfultunes.

Some of her famous songsinclude "Kajra mohab-bat wala", "Lekepehla pehla pyar","Kahinpe nigahen,kahinpe nishaana","Chhod babul kaghar", "Saiyandilme aana re"and "Teri mehfilme kismat ajmaakar hum bhidekhenge".

S h ewas a

favourite of music directors likeNaushad Ali and O.P. Nayyar.

Besides Hindi, ShamshadBegum also sang in Punjabi,Bengali and other Indian lan-guages.

Shamshad Begum turned offher microphone somewhere in1970s, and recalling her mother's

retirement decision, Usha said:"One fine day she packed

her bags and came to myhouse and said she hasleft the film industry.She never lookedback."

"Because of thepolitics in the indus-try, she didn't want to

work anymore.This is one of the

reasons whyshe did-

n't let me be a singer. I told her, letme sing for my self-satisfaction,but she said if you will learn tosing, you will directly enter theindustry. So, she didn't let me doso." "She felt earlier artists used tocome on merit basis, but later therewere too much of politics in theindustry," added Usha.

Bangalore: Indian mathemati-cal genius and astrologerShakuntala Devi, who wasdubbed "human computer" forher swift numerical calculationabilities, passed away inBangalore April 21 after briefillness. She was 83.

She is survived by herdaughter, son-in-law and twogrand daughters.

"Madam breathed her last at8:15 a.m. today (Sunday) dueto heart failure and renal prob-lem," Shakuntala Devi's long-time associate Kavita Malhotratold the media.

Born in 1929, ShakuntalaDevi moved to London in 1944when she was 15 years old withher father, who worked in a cir-cus company as a trapeze artisteand tightrope performer.

She returned to India in themid-1960s and married ParitoshBannerji, an IAS officer fromKolkata.

The couple, however,divorced in 1979 andShakuntala Devi returned toBangalore in early 1980s andstarted offering astrologicaladvice to hundreds of people,including celebrities, politiciansand anyone who approachedher.

As a toddler, ShakuntalaDevi was discovered to be aborn genius by her father whenhe was showing her some cardtricks.

According to the GuinnessWorld Records, ShakuntalaDevi displayed her mathemati-cal skills when she was six

years old at a public function inMysore, about 150 km fromBangalore and two years later,proved to be a prodigal wizardin number games at AnnamalaiUniversity in Tamil Nadu'sChidambaram, about 200 kmfrom Chennai.

In 1977, Shakuntala Devidiscovered the 23rd root of a201-digit number mentally.Three years later, in June 1980,she answered in 28 secondswhen she was asked to multiplytwo 13-digit numbers picked atrandom at the Imperial Collegein London.

She wrote a number ofbooks on mathematics andastrology including "Fun withNumbers", "Astrology forYou", "Puzzles to Puzzle You"and "Mathablit".

She had also set up an edu-cational foundation public trustto promote studies in maths,astrology, philosophy andastronomy.

Indian 'human computer'Shakuntala Devi no more

Violin maestro Lalgudi Jayaraman passes awayChennai: Legendary violin maestro LalgudiGopala Iyer Jayaraman passed away in aprivate hospital in Chennai Mondayevening, a student of his said. He was82.

"He was admitted in the hospitalthis morning for chest congestion. Ataround 6.30 p.m. he breathed his last,"Shreya Devnath, Jayaraman's studenttold the media.

He is survived by his wifeRajalakshmi, daughter LalgudiVijayalakshmi and son LalgudiG.J.R.Krishnan, said Devnath.

Born into a musician's family, the violinmaestro popularly known as Lalgudi Jayaraman, wasa child prodigy and had begun performances from theage of 12.

He went on to invent a whole new style designedto suit the needs of Indian classical music popularly

known as "Lalgudi Bani" or Lalgudi style."For a very large number of music

lovers across the world, LalgudiJayaraman was the musician of the centu-ry and not merely a violinist of the cen-tury. He was great composer givingbeautiful shape to a large number of oldkirtanas, thereby embellishing the beau-ty of ragas in which they were known,"R. Thyagarajan, founder chairman,Shriram Group said.

Jayaraman, a recipient of severalawards, was also conferred the Padma

Bhushan. He was also awarded the title"Sangeeta Kalanidhi" by the Music Academy in

Chennai, the center for Carnatic music in TamilNadu.

Jayaraman also composed music for Tamil film"Shringaram" which won him a national award in2006.

Sydney: Sikhs in the state of Queensland willbe exempt from wearing a helmet while rid-ing bicycles, it was announced Tuesday.

Queensland Transport Minister ScottEmerson said the exemption has been madeunder new laws to accommodate religiousbeliefs, adding that it was a "common senseapproach", media reported.

"But let's be very clear. Just becausesomeone is going to come out there and claimthey don't want to wear a helmet for religiousreasons, they have to do more than that, theyhave to demonstrate there is a real, longstanding religious belief there," the BrisbaneTimes quoted Emerson as saying. At thesame time, he stressed that helmets do make

a difference and significantly reduce braindamage.

The change in the law came after a Sikhman, Jasdeep Atwal, successfully movedcourt after receiving an A$100 fine last yearfor riding a bicycle without a helmet. Hiscontention was that his religion required himto wear a turban and it woudn't fit under ahelmet. Emerson said that he waited for theoutcome of the case before putting the law inplace. On his part, Atwal welcomed thechange.

"The Sikh community has been workingfor a long, long time on this," the reportquoted him as saying.Over 70,000 people inAustralia practise Sikhism.

Sydney: An Indian origin former surgeon inan Australian hospital will stand trial inSeptember for causing grievous bodily harmto a patient. Jayant Patel, who worked in theBundaberg Base Hospital in the Australianstate of Queensland, has been charged withcausing grievous bodily harm during a colonsurgery of a 65-year-old patient, Ian RodneyVowels, in 2004. Patel was then the directorof surgery at the hospital.

Crown prosecutor Todd Fuller asked theBrisbane Supreme Court Friday that the trialshould be listed in August or September thisyear with a time-frame of three weeks, theCourier Mail reported.

But Ken Fleming, appearing for Patel,

contended that several matters would need tobe resolved before the trial started and saidPatel would seek to poll a prospective jurypanel. Justice Glenn Martin, who was hear-ing the case, proposed that the trial be listedin the week commencing Sep 23 beforeJustice Jean Dalton, adding that it should belisted for 10-15 days.

Patel, who was born in Jamnagar inGujarat, had a controversial tenure at the hos-pital from 2003 to early 2005, during whichover 80 deaths were linked to him and 30patients died in his care.

After that he left for Portland, Oregon, inthe US. He was, however, extradited toAustralia in 2008 to face trial.

Indian origin surgeon to standtrial in Australia

Sikhs in Queensland needn't wearhelmet while cycling

TRIBUTES


More reforms coming in 2-4 months: Chidambaram New Delhi: Finance Minister P.Chidambaram has ruled out thepossibility of early elections andsaid the government will takemore reform initiatives in thenext two-four months in a bid toboost economic growth and con-tain deficit and inflationary pres-sure.

"We will continue to takesmall significant steps. We willalso take forward some big ideas.India's economy will continue toreform," Chidambaram said atThe Economist's India Summitorganised here by the UK-basedeconomic magazine in end April.

Chidambaram said the gov-ernment will push for the passageof major reform regulations, likeland and insurance bills, in theongoing budget session of parlia-ment.

The finance minister said thegovernment would need supportfrom the main opposition party toget the bills passed in parliament.

"There are many more execu-tive actions that have to be taken,some of these executive actions

we will take in the next 2-4months," Chidambaram said.

In the last one year, the gov-ernment has taken several initia-tives to push forward reformprocess. The steps include cuttingsubsidies on petroleum products

and liberalising overseas invest-ment norms for retail, aviationand some other sectors.

The finance minister said hewas hopeful to keep fiscal deficitbelow 4.8 percent of the grossdomestic product (GDP) in the

current financial year. In the union budget presented

in February, Chidambaram set atarget keeping the fiscal deficit at4.8 percent of the GDP.

He said the budgetary targetwas a red line that would"never, never be breached."The fiscal deficit of the cen-tre for 2012-13 is estimatedto be 5.2 percent of theGDP.

Referring to the highcurrent account deficit(CAD), Chidambaram saidit was more worrying thanthe fiscal deficit. "CAD isindeed high, it is more wor-rying than fiscal deficit," hesaid.

He said the currentaccount deficit was esti-mated to be around 5percent of the GDP inthe financial year endedMarch 31, 2013.

The finance ministersaid India's economicgrowth would be in therange of 6.1 to 6.7 per-

cent in the current financial year. The country's economic

growth has slumped to the lowestin a decade. It is estimated to bearound 5 percent in 2012-13.

New Delhi: The SupremeCourt has sought to know howthe Sahara Group was refund-ing money directly to investorswhile warning against attemptsto override its order.

On August 31, 2012, thecourt had asked Sahara -whose business interests rangefrom realty to retail - to returnRs 24,000 crore within threemonths to investors in twoschemes via Sebi. These fundshad been collected by twogroup firms. Sahara laterapproached another bench of the top court,headed by Chief Justice Altamas Kabir andreceived a further extension of time to depositthe money. In an order issued on December5, 2012 that bench had told Sebi to accept asum of Rs 5,120 crore. Two installments of

Rs 10,000 crore each were tobe paid by Sahara to Sebi bythe first week of January andFebruary, respectively.Sahara, however, failedto meet this deadline. Itis seeking more time todeposit this amount, butthe original bench, com-prising Justices KSRadhakrishnan and JSKhehar, has not allowedthis so far. "You aremanipulating the court,"Justice Khehar told

Sahara. Sebi also pointed out that Saharahad also moved the Allahabad High Court aswell at one point against an order to attachthe properties of Sahara owner Roy andaccused it of resorting to various ruses toavoid complying with the top court order.

Finance Minister P. Chidambaram

Sahara Group chairmanSubrata Roy

India - Business

India receives $69bn in remittances;

tops global listWashington: India received $69 billion remit-tance in 2012, the highest in the world, fol-lowed by China with $60 billion and thePhilippines $24 billion, World Bank datashowed.

Other major recipients of foreign remit-tances were Mexico with $23 billion andNigeria and Egypt with $21 billion each,according to the latest edition of the WorldBank’s Migration and Development Briefreleased here in April.

“India remains the largest recipient countryin the world, receiving $69 billion in 2012. Inaddition to large numbers of unskilled migrantsworking mainly in the oil-rich Gulf CooperationCouncil (GCC) countries, India also has a largeskilled diaspora the US and other high-incomecountries,” the World Bank report said.

Flows to Bangladesh, Pakistan and Nepalhave also been robust, helped by strong eco-nomic growth in the GCC and India.Remittances to the region are projected toremain buoyant in the coming years, reaching$140 billion in 2015.

Officially recorded remittance flows todeveloping countries increased by 5.3 percentto $401 billion in 2012.

“Given that many migrants send money andgoods through people or informal channels, thetrue size of remittances are much larger thanthese official figures,” the World Bank said.

According to the report, remittances todeveloping countries are expected to grow byan annual average of 8.8 percent for the nextthree years and are forecast to reach $515 bil-lion in 2015.

Officially recorded remittance flows toSouth Asia are estimated to have increasedsharply by 12.8 percent to $109 billion in 2012.This follows growth averaging 13.8 percent ineach of the previous two years.

Mumbai: Eight months after theIndian government permitted inter-national airlines to invest indomestic passenger carriers, JetAirways announced a 24 percentstake sale to Abu Dhabi-basedEtihad Airways to raise Rs.2,000crore ($370.30 million).

"The board of directors hasapproved, subject to compliancewith applicable laws and regula-tions, the issuance, by way of apreferential allotment... of27,263,372 (2.73 crore) equityshares of the face value of Rs.10to Etihad Airways at a price of notless than Rs.754.73 (including pre-mium of Rs.744.73 per share) perequity share," the companyinformed the Bombay StockExchange (BSE).

The deal is expected to garneraround Rs.2,000 crore ($370.37million) for Jet Airways, whichreported a net profit of Rs.85 crorein the third quarter of 2012-13,after a net loss of Rs.101.22 crorein the similar period of the previ-ous year.

New Delhi: The Indian economy is expected to grow at 6.4 per-cent in the current fiscal against the estimated 5 percent expan-sion registered in the previous year, the prime minister's eco-nomic advisory panel said.

"The economy has bottomed out and we will achieve highergrowth of 6.4 percent in the current financial year," PrimeMinister's Economic Advisory Council chairman C. Rangarajansaid at a media conference here.

He said agriculture sector growth is likely to increase to 3.5percent 2013-14 as compared to the estimated 1.8 percentgrowth in the fiscal ended March 31, 2013.

The growth of manufacturing sector is likely to increase to 4percent in the current financial year as compared to 3.1 percentin the previous year.

The services sector is estimated to expand by 7.7 percent in2013-14 as compared to 6.6 percent growth projected for theprevious fiscal.

Economy to grow at 6.4pc in 2013-14: PM panel

Guruvayoor (Kerala): Its decades long eth-nic conflict over, Sri Lanka is steadily emerg-ing as a major competitor to Kerala'sayurvedic system of medicine, a leadingindustry expert says.

But officials are quick to point out that aslong as Kerala sticks to its pristine form ofayurveda school, no challenge from anywherecan upset what is clearly the biggest touristdraw to the southern state.

"Sri Lanka has slowly come up as athreat to our market," said Sanjeev Kurup V.,Secretary of the influential Kerala TravelMart Society who also runs the PaithrukamHospitality Group.

"I was in Sri Lanka only last week, and Iestimate they have taken away 30-40 percentof our business," Kurup said at thePerumbayil Ayurveda Mana, an idyllic centrelocated near the famed Guruvayoor temple.

Ayurveda plays a key role in attractingclose to one million foreign and over onecrore domestic tourists every year to Kerala.Almost 70 percent of the foreigners and 30-40 percent of Indian tourists come to Keralafor ayurvedic treatment.

Thanks to ayurveda, the average stay of aforeigner in Kerala is 18 days - one of thehighest in the world.

According to Kurup and others in theindustry, even earlier Sri Lanka was doingwell in the business of ayurveda. But the longrunning conflict between Colombo and theTamil Tigers did cast a shadow on tourism ingeneral.

"After the war ended in 2009, ayurvedabusiness is picking up rapidly in Sri Lanka,"said Kurup, who saw for himself that ayurve-da clinics had sprouted along the islandnation's southwestern coast, the tourist hub.

Sri Lanka posing a challenge to Keralaayurveda

Jet's stake saleto Etihad to raise

Rs 2,000 crore

You are 'manipulating' courts:apex court to Sahara


Fashion

Comew i n t e r s

and it’s time to dress up instyle. Also time to adorn your longcoats, soft woollies, tussar silksand pashmina shawls. Time tomake a statement with darkcolours and deep shades with a tintof colour thrown in, to bring outthe brighter element.

But Indian women are oftenfaced with a dilemma when sport-ing a Sari in winters. They don’tknow which woolen piece of cloth-ing to wear with it to brave thechill. Shawls are the first choicewomen reach out for. But with thefashion world opening endless pos-sibilities for the trendy generation,there has to be something otherthan just shawls, to go with thisIndian attire.

Indian Designer, Ratna Jain,the creative entrepreneur behindthe successful label, “TANTRA”,has an enviable range of winterfriendly saris in velvet and pash-mina. She has designed a collec-tion of short and long jackets,exclusively for the sari wearers.

“Jacketsover Sarees are

perfect wear for the sari wearers.They give a smart, formal and tai-lored look to this drape wear. Alsothe sari pallu can be played aroundwith them. Jackets can be leftunbuttoned and the sari pallu canbe wrapped around your neck orstyle the jacket fully over the palluin narrow pleats. Jackets can beeasily removed if it gets warm.Jackets in wool, velvet and zardoziwork are best for the winter sariwear. The range starts from Rs30,000 to 60,000 for the exclusivecollection. I also have lots of pash-mina and velvet saris for wintersin different hues and price rang-ing from Rs 15000 to Rs 1.5lakhs. The trick is to looksmart, colourful yet maintainthe essential traditional ele-ment. Also long sleevedblouses with saris look goodin winters. There are 2 piecesaris with shawls that functionas pallu for the women wholike the coordinated look. Thenthere is velvet,

oxidised brocade and crushed rawsilk , all being worn by the womenin love with the vintage and ele-gant look”, opines the designer.

Winters sees an influx of heir-loom saris being worn such asKanjivaram silks,

Winter Saris

Designed by Ala & Rajan Madhu

Designed by Asha and Gautam Gupta

Winters Down Under are truly the time to dress up à lamode. Ritu Ghai catches up with the season’s spirit.


CommunityBenarasi brocade, woven Jamdanisaris, Zari work saris, texturedTussar and Silk Saris coordinatedwith embroidered shawls, Paithanistoles and pallus, and quilted silkjackets and waistcoats. Dark andvibrant colors like navy blue, deepgreens, rich reds and profoundpurples, saris come with a con-trasting border, pallu or blouseto offset the monotonous toneof dark shades.

To wear in style…One can leave the left

front half of the jacketunbuttoned, beneath thepallu. The sari pallu canalso be wrapped aroundthe neck and broughtdown in a straight linetowards the front just likea pigeon front. Pallu can

also be pleated and pinnedto the jacket for a non fuss

look. Plain saris with pattern

shawls or embroidered for thedesigner element, is also a popularchoice among women. A well-coordinated shawl can be

wornelegantlyto profuse asense of stylein the sari.The shawl canfall from a sin-gle shoulderfor the straightline look andalso wrappedaround later ifthe mercurydips further.

‘Blouses’galore…

Catering tothe womanwho wants tochill out in thechill wearing asari, designersare creatinghigh neck andfull sleeveblouses tomatch withtheir attire. Asthe weathergets colder,sleeves golonger ande v e n

Bollywoodheroines are

covering theirarms with some

sleeves to keepwarm.

Three-fourth sleeves, fulllength sleeves, puffed full lengthsleeves, ruffs at the wrists, longsleeves with fitted cuffs, , sleevesthat have a bunch of cloth accumu-lated at the cuff area just like achuridar, bell sleeves that areeither long or short but flaretowards the wrists creating theshape of a bell. Blouses that makeyou look soft, very feminine andelegant. There are also the nettedor lace type long sleeves for thedelicate look to the wearer.Coupled with textured and satinpetticoats, the woman is all set tomake a style statement to matchthe season.

Sometimes high-neck blousewith long sleeves worn with a longchain makes a smart statement.One can wear leggings for thelower part of the body.

Designers are exploring withnew designs and shapes like neverbefore. They know that thisseraphic dress of Indian women isa fashion statement because of theinnovative way it’s being worntoday - a knot here, a tuck in there,a different style of the pallu, aunique placement of the pleats andmuch more.


Bollywood

By Neena Badhwar

TIDU has always tried tocover Indians doing inspir-ing work in their new

homeland. Roopa Pemmaraju isone of them - a young fashiondesigner who wanted to do andshow something based on herIndian sense of colours, texturesand styles, yet quite modern.Struggling to find her niche,Roopa has worked hard and inthe course of six years she hascome a long way.

It can be a frustrating exerciseto showcase one’s creationswhich take a lot of hard work,imagination, coordination withartisans and designs that manifestthe way a designer perceives.When Roopa modelled herclothes first on Sydney’s presti-gious Australian Fashion Weekcatwalk, it was hard as every-thing was new. Getting to knowthe ropes of how things work inAustralia was a learning curvefor Roopa. Yet, she survived. Infact, thrived.

Roopa learnt that she must beunique in her own way. Sheknew she was to present herdesigns by finding a novel way tomake connections with this land.And she did as she started to con-tact Aboriginal art galleries andapproached them with herdesigns using Aboriginal paint-ings as designs in her creations.

The art galleries were skepti-cal at first but they saw her gen-uine interest and zeal to connectto the artists here and use their arton her clothes. The conceptswould go back home in India andartisans would create designsthrough embroidery, weavingand prints. Now, Roopa’s fashionis finally getting the recognition itdeserves.

At the Mercedes-BenzFashion Week Australia 2013,Roopa’s Autumn/Summer collec-tion had quite an impact as mod-els came on the catwalk. Simple,practical, sensible and contempo-rary styles created interest in thefashion world.

Says Roopa, “Initially it wasdifficult to find a gallery that

shared our vision, and could trustthat we were not out to exploitanyone but rather support indige-nous art. By bringing togethertwo of the world’s most ancientcultures to create wearable gar-ments, we’ve seen excitingfusions of cultures.”

Coming to Australia and mak-ing a contribution in a way thatboth the cultures not only com-municate but also prosper, form abond and create, enrich eachother through those creations canbe an exercise which can be quitesatisfying for Roopa, as shequips, "We are delighted to facil-itate this exchange of artisticideas and cultural heritagebetween two ancient ways oflife."

Roopa believes in fair tradeand ethical dealings with artistsand their communities, both hereand in India, as she says,“Royalties from the sale of eachgarment are returned to artists’communities.”

These are the qualities whichRoopa has, that make a real dif-ference.

Who doesn’t know Raj Suri by now inSydney as some of the famousAussie Indian girls in Bollywood

would vouch for him and look up to him forall the advice, training, grooming and theability to handle the glitz and the glamour theindustry demands. Raj’s impressive lineupincludes Vimala Raman who has by now doneclose to 30 films in the south; Pallavi Shardawho is now acting in ‘Besharam’ againstRanbir Kapoor; Ankita Ghazan who hasdanced in ‘Heroine’ with Kareena Kapoor andthe list goes on.

Says Raj, who has been running MissIndia Australia contest, “If you think that justby winning a beauty title one can land a rolein Bollywood, just forget it. There can be along queue of people who may be auditioningon any one day, at times 150 of them, and ifyou muck up your lines you are out, which isquite possible.”

“Mumbai can be daunting to the newcom-ers from abroad. Places such as Australiawhere kids have had a cushy life and are notused to the rough and tumble of Bollywood asthousands of hopefuls come looking for abreak,” Raj continues.

“I try to train the girls in acting, audition-ing, dancing that they know what a screen testis like and how to go about when they land inthe extremely competitive world ofBollywood. We line them up with acting

schools, agencies which can promote them tothe right people and are there to help them inevery way from finding accommodation tohandling daily life from traveling to fendingfor themselves. I sit and explain to them infront of their parents of all that is involved.

“I tell them ‘give your best shot’ and waitand see whether you succeed. Bollywood isnot for all and all don’t make it big. It’s notthe title, or the talent, the beauty, the heightor how you carry yourself. It’s all that and abit of luck that goes a long way.”

Raj says that he puts his name behindthem and lines them up with casting agenciesthat will organize work for them. “Now justknocking on doors or cold calling will notwork. There are these agencies that pick peo-ple from the ground and give them training indiction, tutoring them in script reading anddance classes while helping them to achieve alevel of confidence that is needed to be inBollywood.”

Raj has a sharp eye for talent as he hasseen many girls compete in his Miss IndiaContest which he runs now as a ‘TalentSearch’ from across Australia. On April 17Raj Suri announced the winner of TalentSearch 2013 in Sydney when Zenia Starr froman impressive line up made it to the top. Zeniahas recently acted in a couple of Sydney filmswhich are soon to be released as she won atrip to Malaysia with a photo shoot with Raj.

No wonder many of the girls selected by himhave been able to get a break. Up until nowmany from down under tried and came backdisappointed but with Raj on your side any-thing is possible.

“I try to look for in them that specialquality that is needed. These are girls who arequite special in their own unique way. Theyare modern Australian women, some fromNRI families, others of mixed heritage, theywant to reach the stars and I try my best to

help them with their dreams. I advise that it’snot always that one can strike lucky, yet it isbest that they give their best. If they succeed,well and good, if not then at least they tried.They still learn a lot in the process which canhelp them anyway in their overall growth as aperson.”

Oh well! If you want a break inBollywood you have a guide and a mentorright here in Australia. And his name is RajSuri!

Raj helps you achieve your Bollywood dreams!

Roopa’s creations are

getting noticed

Raj Suri (Founder, Miss India Australia) with Vimla Raman (Actress, MIA Winner2004), Zenia Starr (MIA 2013), Olivia Rose (winner 2012), Ankita Ghazan (winner

2011), Zinnia Jarif (Miss Photogenic 2013). Photo courtesy: Raj Suri.

At the Mercedes-BenzFashion WeekAustralia 2013,

Roopa’sAutumn/Summer

collection had quitean impact.

Fashion designer Roopa Pemmaraju uses Aboriginal paintings as designs in her creations, worked on by Indian craftsmen.

Community


Kristina Keneally is wellknown in our local Indiancommunity. Not only has

she wooed us by wearing Sarisand Shalwar Kameez whenevershe attended community functionsas NSW Premier, Kristina alsoquite delicately yet deftly dealtwith the sensitive Indian studentissue during her tenure.

Not resting on the sidelines asa past Premier, Kristina quitereadily got into charity work asshe visited India twice havingtaken up challenging role asambassador for microfinanceprovider for OpportunityInternational. Says she, “Like thecharacters in the Best ExoticMarigold Hotel, I found myselfoverwhelmed by the colours andsmells, the vibrancy and densityof people and by the countryitself. India is so wonderfully,incredibly foreign and so alive.”

Kristina talks to The IndianDown Under about her visit toIndia and the work she is doing onbehalf of OpportunityInternational:

From NSW Premier toworking for the poor in India asambassador of OpportunityInternational, how has the tran-sition been for you?

Kristina Keneally: It’s self-serving to be able to give a handto Opportunity International in asmall way the generous work theyare doing in India. It has beenquite an incredibly humblingexperience really. As a former

Premier I was able to publical-ly speak about social justice.For me it has been a jour-ney of faith and my hus-band also likes this kind ofwork and holds similar val-ues. Personally I was influ-enced very early, at 22years, with my experienceat the World Youth Daywhere I met him. From poli-tics to working for the poorin India it has been a step inthe right direction. I have inmy own way experiencedmoments of grace, death ofmy mother-in-law, then babydaughter and to see poorwomen in India living insqualor to help them becomeself reliant and help themmake their future is quiteremarkable really.

Opportunity Internationalis doing great work in Indiawith micro financing poorwomen and helping them trainas community health facilitators,not only skilling themselves butalso enabling others to help pre-vent illnesses and improve nutri-tion of children, of people aroundthem and thus save lives is reallywonderful.

You were the first womanpremier who wore Indianclothes and mixing with localIndian community. How wasyour experience when you firstvisited India?

Kristina: India was over-whelming, so vibrant. It assaulted

my senses in a way thatis hard to explain. Number of peo-ple, sights, sounds can be quiteunfamiliar to a westerner. I wasn’tsure about visiting a slum yetwhen I saw women whose life hadbeen transformed with microfinancing. I left India with greatsense of positive feeling. I couldsee that people can help them-selves if helped.

How would you like Indiancommunity to get involved inyour pursuit of helping Indianwomen make their lives better?

Kristina: By helping train awoman through OpportunityInternational which takes sixmonths of training a girl in healthhygiene, child health and nutri-tion. India has good medical facil-ities and doctors, yet there arelimits to health care insurance,clean water. Education can helpbring sustainable change and sup-porting that vision will be a terrif-ic way for the Indian communityto help build healthy communitiesin India. It only costs $165 to trainone woman as health educator andfacilitator for six months. I wouldlike the Indian community here to

actively participate, donate andhelp make a lasting change asthere are as many as 1600 deathper day due to poor hygiene, lackof clean water, poor nutrition andlack of basic health treatmentamongst the poor. Educationstarts from home with women andOpportunity International is tar-geting young women who canhelp them help make a long termtangible impact in their lives.

Visit OpportunityInternational's website and findhow you can help in various ways:https://www.opportunity.org.au/Get-Involved.aspx

Former NSW Premier KristinaKeneally during her visit to India.

Meet an ambassador for microfinance

TIDU interviewed former NSW Premier Kristina Keneally in her role asAmbassador for microfinance provider Opportunity International Australia.


Community

By Ritu Ghai

Surpassing the vicissitudes of old age, two youthfullyaged persons talk about having no time to think and pon-der about how old they are. Krishna Sharma, 79 and

Krishna Arora, 85, have probably tasted the fountain ofyouth. They are busy, happy and living life on their ownterms. However, their first names are purely coincidental.

These two abhi-toh-main-jawaan-hoon people have shownus that time clock does not stop but ageing can be delayed.Their mantra for living is they enjoy what they are doing.

A few tips to live long and healthy are:• Be active• Be optimistic• Do not oversleep. More than eight hours is

unhealthy;• Eat well and add antioxidants to your diet like blue-

berries and cinnamon;• Exercise regularly and lose weight;• Start saving or investing wisely as you will need that

cash to not only sustain yourself but also enjoy life and chillout with friends;

• Socializing, emotional stability and openness to learnnew things can actually redefine the concept of old age.

Krishna Sharma – Age with no side effects

At the age of 79, he holds a responsible post in theoffice, lives in Yemen and greets every day with a newspirit and more work. Whatever free time he gets, he

enjoys Internet browsing, reading his emails which are most-ly work related and a few inspirational ones from his friends.Before leaving for his office, he updates his Facebook statusand never forgets to throw in a comment or two on his daugh-ters’ pictures.

Still actively working, Krishna Sharma is presently basedin the Republic of Yemen on a water resources developmentproject under the World Bank guidelines. With 45 years ofexperience in water resources planning, design, managementand development of water resources projects, he is actually astorehouse of knowledge on water related solutions.

Having worked in Iraq, Nepal, Lao People’s DemocraticRepublic and extensively in India, Krishna Sharma has a workexperience that can be better explained in a biography than inan article. But dig beneath this always-at-work facade of his

and you come across a sensitive,caring and social person wholikes to attend parties andget-togethers, travelling tonew places and spendingtime with his grandchildren.

“I meet my old timefriends and feel indulgentwarmth towards our schooldays memories. As we take atrip down memory lane, ayouthful spirit infuses into meand I actually start feelingyounger. I believe that interact-ing with friends reversesaging,” says Krishna Sharma.

Father to three daughters,Krishna Sharma has always beentaken care of by his children,especially after the death of hiswife in 2001. “I have a daughtersettled in Melbourne and two arein India. So it’s home for me inboth the countries. I love inter-acting with my eldest grandson,Ashish, a Yale

graduate and my onlygranddaughter, a doctor inSingapore. Back home inIndia, I spend my timeplaying brain games withmy grandsons, Shaurya inclass 12 and Shubham inclass 9. My eldest daughterhas a son with slow learn-ing abilities and I devotetime in making him learnnew things of his level ofunderstanding. An innersatisfaction is felt, eachand every time heresponds,” explains MrSharma.

Sharing his old ageexperience with his chil-dren and grandchildren,he is shaping their per-sonalities and trying toinculcate values of

family and culture in them.Probably this is wherehis zest for life comesfrom. Also the factthat he admires theevergreen hero of

Indian cinema, Dev Anand, has something to do with KrishnaSharma’s penchant for living life to the fullest.

“Enjoying working is the secret of staying young. I knowthat genes affect your health and longevity but a lot dependson lifestyle and an optimistic attitude. I adhere to 'Satvik' andcontrolled (fibrous) bhojan and working hard with a relaxedmood,” he says.

I always remember one poem by poet Walter D Wintle: “If you think you are beaten, you are.If you think you dare not, you don't.If you'd like to win but think you can't,It's almost certain you won't.Life's battles don't always goTo the stronger or faster man,But sooner or later, the man who winsIs the man who thinks he can”.Krishna Sharma believes in the verse from Bhagwat Gita –

“Karmanye Vadhikaraste, Ma phaleshou kada chana - MaKarma Phala Hetur Bhurmatey Sangostva Akarmani” whichmeans - You have the right to perform your actions, but youare not entitled to the fruits of the actions. Do not let the fruitbe the purpose of your actions, and therefore you won’t beattached to not doing your duty.

Hall of Fame for this ‘lady’

We take a look at the humming life of Krishna Aroraand find that there is nothing boring or expectedabout this 85-year-young lady. Settled in

Melbourne, Krishna Arora has never been so busy as she isnow.

She came to Australia in 1992 as her daughter wanted herto join the family in Melbourne. “Before coming here, I hadtaught in The Institute of Hotel Management on Pusa Road inNew Delhi for several years and joined the Asian MemorialInstitute of Hotel Management and Catering in Chennai astheir Founder Principal. After working there for six years, Imoved to Australia and have been here ever since.

“When I came here, I found that a majority of the migrantswere lonely and to get rid of this loneliness they did commu-nity work. I thought it was a great idea and embarked on thesame. I even worked in an Op shop for six years voluntarily.Having led a busy life in India, I was equally determined to beactive here. Soon enough I was able to adjust here with easeand élan, happily working with my community work. I alsostarted tele-cooking services and writing food recipes for amonthly community paper.

“I am happy that the seniors here seem to be enjoyingthemselves. The Australian Government takes good care ofthem,” she says.

Krishna Arora has been an active participant of communi-ty events and she has even organized catering services for 29days continuously for 1,100 people in Melbourne.

Krishna Arora is also a co-founder of the Indian SeniorCitizens Association. Into community service for two decades,Krishna Arora has always been appreciated for her work. Andthe accolades have continued to flow in especially after shewas honoured with the Shilling Wall Tribute award by themulticultural commission of the Australian state of Victoriafor her outstanding contribution to the community.

With her name engraved on Queen Victoria’s WomenCentre (QVWC) Wall, Krishna Arora refuses to slow down oreven stop for a while and ponder over her age. “Ha! It’s justa number. I have so much to do still,” she laughs it off anddashes off to yet another task.

Age is no bar for living full life

Krishna Sharma with grandsons Shubham and Shaurya

Krishna Arora taking cookery classes at 85 years of age

Community


Prince and Amit Sana do ajugalbandi for Sydney

Coming to light through Dance India Dance and Indian Idol, the twoyoung men reflect on the road to stardom via TV reality shows.

By Neeru Saluja

Amit Sana and Prince Gupta havebecome household names in India,thanks to TV reality shows. Amit

Sana was the first runner-up at the IndianIdol (Season 1) and Prince, popularlyknown as Prince of popping and locking,ruled everyone’s hearts with his groovydance moves. As they came to Sydney toperform for the Holi Dhoom Mela, TIDUinterviewed them to learn more about theyoung budding stars of an emerging India.

Tell us about your journey - how didtalent shows make you stars?

Amit Sana: I participated in the firstIndian Idol (Season 1) and was declared thefirst runner-up. Since then, there has beenno looking back. It has taken me through amusical journey. I was a classical singerand now I have started singing contempo-rary songs for Bollywood movies and haveeven made some of my own albums.

Prince: I was a participant of DanceIndia Dance Season 1. No one performslocking and popping style of dance in Indiawhich I learnt from YouTube. I was deter-mined to do something unique which peoplehad not seen. I have done many shows inIndia and this is my second overseas show.

Have you two ever performed togeth-er before?

Amit Sana: No, never before. In fact,I’m very fond of dancing; so I may learn afew new steps from Prince!

Prince: This is the first time I’m per-forming with Amit Sana. I have alwaysdone solo shows. A jugalbandi will be afantastic idea!

If you didn’t end up winning the real-ity shows, would you have reached theplatform where you are right now?

Amit Sana: With reality shows, nodoubt, the process is faster. I belong to asmall town called Chhattisgarh and havehad classical training for 12 years. Butwithout Indian Idol, I wouldn’t have had thesame exposure. Now I’m a known face,thanks to television. I didn’t win the compe-tition, but I’ve got love from my fans allover the world. I was an introvert, butthanks to Sony and Indian idol, in threemonths I had good training, grooming andnow I’m confident and have a better under-standing of the world.

Prince: I was a normal kid who used toplay cricket and football. I was very goodat and have represented Gujarat at the statelevel. But once my school timings changed,I could not attend coaching classes and thenjoined dance classes. After two years I par-ticipated in the Dance India Dance contest.I was just 16 when I participated in the con-test and got fame. If not for the talent showI would have never been able to show my

talent. The only difference is that I used todance for two hours, now I dance more!

What are your views on young chil-dren participating in talent shows?

Prince: It’s fine until they are not miss-ing out on their studies and it’s not obscene.The rules are quite strict and the age limitis monitored from time to time. I wasrecently a mentor and choreographer atDance India Dance – Little Masters and itwas a huge responsibility on me.

For us viewers, we only see the actionhappening on the stage. What happensbehind the stage? Is there a lot of compe-tition?

Amit Sana: There is a lot of pressure.We have ongoing rehearsals starting fromsong selection to choosing the right instru-ments. Every contestant wants to provehimself or herself; so the competition istough. On top of that, we have to handlemedia which makes it very tough.

Nowadays lots of young artists usesocial media to promote themselves.What are your views on it?

Amit Sana: I use Facebook and have apage dedicated for my fans. I believe socialmedia is an excellent platform to conveylatest news about yourself and the eventshappening. There are a few people whopost fake IDs, but even that promotes us!Social media is also about promoting your-self and then people promote you.

Prince: Social media is free and has lotsof benefits. I learnt my dance style fromYouTube. If I write today that I’m inSydney, everyone will be interested. It’salso good for chatting with friends from allover the world. I also like people fightingover me when I participate in contests!

What are your future plans?Amit Sana: I’m currently working on

three music albums in collaboration withPlanet M. I have always played the key-board and am now learning the guitar. Iidolise Sonu Nigam and would like to belike him one day. Showbiz is not an easybusiness and I continue to reflect on myself.

Prince: I was recently selected as adancer in the latest 3D movie ABCD. Itwas a great experience to work with PrabhuDeva. Dance is my life; it always will be animportant part of my life. One day I wouldlove to become a dance director. Thoughnowadays, if once you enter the showbizindustry, you can be a dancer, choreogra-pher and then diversify by changing profes-sions. Many TV actors are entering filmsand singers are becoming actors.

What advice would you like to give tobudding Australian Indian artists whoparticipate in the talent shows here?

Amit Sana: Singers should concentrateon Indian music. I have a strong Indianclassical background. You maybe fromAustralia, but always remember you aregoing to make India proud. Everyone wantsto be cool but in contests there is always apressure to pursue your dream.

Prince: I have been very lucky but youneed to work hard to know how to dance. Ipractice everyday and you need to continue

practising and keep yourself update with thelatest trends.

As Amit Sana started off the press con-ference by singing the song ‘anjaani raheinanjaani manzil’ from his first album, wecouldn’t resist asking Prince to end the con-ference by showing off his ‘locking andpopping’ moves. Both of them entertainedus with their fresh talent.

We wish them the best for their future.

Prince Gupta

Amit Sana


Community

By Neena Badhwar

Devinder Singh Dharia is someone Iknow in Sydney who makes me laughwhenever we meet. He just makes

these Indian limericks on the spot. Driving histaxi he keeps his customers happy and enter-tains them with his take on English as he isjust a natural rhymester- that is whatever yousay Dharia is quick to match it with a wordmostly funny. He won’t just say hello to aperson, he will add a few rhyming coupletstoo. Supposing he meets someone namedMary …He will say…Hello Mary…EatingCherry? If going to city take ferry…wantanother job then see Harry. To someoneDharia helps while teaching them todrive…and very nicely he will say: O Dear!put second gear and don’t fear! To a passen-ger in taxi: The passenger says do you mindif I drink…Dharia sees a Coke can in his handand will answer – ‘you can drink but don’t getdrunk’. The passenger answers but its onlyCoke.. Dharia replies ‘no it’s just a joke’.

Dharia has kept Sydney entertained withhis jovial nature and his philosophy is verysimple, ‘Life ji badi vadiya guzar rai ai’ hesays. Always in the front to help, alwaysready to sing, Dharia came to Australia in1989 and made sure he had his instrument‘Tumbi’ with him. He had spent 8 years train-ing under his guru Ustad Yamla Jat. He saysduring his childhood years he would hearUstad’s renditions and remembers his ‘Satguru teri leela badi pyari ai’ morning andevening. Says Dharia, “I had listened to hisgeets so many times that his voice was in myblood. I would try to sing like him whilegoing to school and while coming back. And‘tukbandi’ that is rhyming became my pas-sion. Even at school I would always say

‘chutkale’ in rhymes and my Punjabi teacheralways found them funny. She used to cometo school on a bicycle and once when she sawme after school I must have said somethingthat she dropped the bike and there she wascacking away lying on the ground with feetup.”

“So I spent my time makingChhand/Bandh…singing Puran Bhagat’s storyand very soon I went on All India Radio hav-ing auditioned for it and was on JalandharDoordarshan as well.”

When Dharia came here in 1989 he start-ed Bhangra Academy and his Punjabi SangeetCentre that he formed to promote Punjabi folkmusic and dance is now 21 years old. During2000 Sydney Olympics Dharia and his fifteenstudents were selected to present Bhangra tobe part of the main ceremony. Dharia has alsoperformed for NSW Art Gallery, DiwaliMela, Parramasala and has organized‘Vaisakhi Mela’ in Blacktown which isnow in its 10th year. He has also per-formed in Gurdwaras all overAustralia, in Renmark, in Woolgoolga.And it does not just stop there, Dhariahas even performed at HelensburghTemple, Minto Mandir and manyother places. Believing in teachingsof Sadguru Ramdev, Dharia’smusic is for all and transcends allboundaries of religion, caste or anyother differences.

Well coming to this March Iring up Dharia when he says,“Neenaji have you seen my ‘MeriJhanjar’ on YouTube…” Obviously Ihave not. He excitedly says, “My sonPav used to say – Dad there’s no valueto geets as only Video can give weightto your passion. Pav made video ofmy song whose lyrics are byUstadji, it’s liked somuch that it has beenviewed by over20,000 peo-ple.”

BeforeI go andcheck thev i d e ohas beenviewedb ym o r et h a n40 , 000viewers.Dharia wasso excitedthat he toldhis wifeS u k h w i n d e r ,“Bhaliye! Nowyou see I will befamous…”.

Pav Dharia, his sonwho is a trained pilot, hasmade many video albums whichhe self learnt as photographyhas been his passion. “Makingvideo albums for some of my friends andmy own I thought I must do something fordad as he has had big influence on me.Although his style is quite old school and

mine more modern, hiphop/RNB etc I want-ed to make an album and show dad how wecan give a lift to his music.”

Pav went ahead, conceptualized the ideaof ‘jhanjar’ and built a story around it whichalmost took him a year to do. Pav’s ownvideo ‘Bewafa’ has been viewed over 500,000times, and another ‘Pol Teri’, has had aroundcouple of lakh views.

Pav’s video albums are beautiful as he isa great story teller, not only have they a cer-tain special quality to them that you keep onwatching, one can see that Sydney has pro-duced a talented guy in our midst. ObviouslyPav’s interpretation of Dharia’s Jhanjar is

also making waves on the net. Likefather like son!

Devinder Dharia’s ‘Meri Jhanjar’a YouTube hit

Suppose DevDharia meetssomeonenamed Mary…He will say…‘Hello Mary…Eating Cherry?If going to citytakeferry…wantanother jobthen seeHarry.”

Pav Dharia, like father like son

Devinder Dharia drives a taxi, has organized ‘VaisakhiMela’ in Blacktown for 10 years, talks in rhymes and has

released a video with help from his son.

Community


By Neena Badhwar

There is a Bollywood movie which isdue to be released, ‘Bhaag MilkhaBhaag’, based on the great Indian run-

ner Milkha Singh, starring Farhan Akhtar.He was a great runner who won many goldmedals and represented India in Olympics aswell.

Sydneysiders honoured another Punjabihero, Fauja Singh, the oldest Punjabimarathon runner from London, who visitedAustralia in March. He was present at theVaisakhi celebrations at the NSW ParliamentHouse when he was honoured by the PunjabiCouncil of Australia in the presence of manyparliamentarians.

The Punjabi Council of Australia alsoorganised a community dinner for him alongwith Deep Dhillon, a well known Punjabiactor.

Fauja Singh, a sprightly old man with acaptivating broad smile, of seemingly gentlepersona captured everyone’s attention as hesat quietly, perhaps reflecting on times past.The centenarian was detached from theworld yet was a part of it. Born on April 1,1911, a whole 100 and two years had passedhim by. Fauja Singh is a walking history oftwo great wars and much more. He has verylittle to say when he uttered ‘Sat Sri Akaal’to the audience. At 102 years of age heseems to be a young 70-years-old athlete,although in an autobiography by KhushwantSingh, the writer goes further saying Fauja’sbone mass is that of a 40-year-old.

Remembers Fauja his childhood: “Mylegs were so spindly and weak that the vil-lage folk used to call me ‘danda’,” and herecalls his Toronto marathon when theblonde masseurs, seeing his legs with hardlyany flesh on them, were baffled.

His family brought Fauja Singh to UK in1995 after his son in India had died in a freakaccident and he had gone into severe depres-sion. It was only after his second trip that heacclimatised and decided to make Londonhome. Though illiterate, Fauja Singh carrieda card with his details and learnt to travel onhis own to his favourite haunts and evenlearnt to recognize buses and their companieswhich took him back to his house. He knewthe importance of family members workingabroad and he became self sufficient by vis-iting gurdwaras either by bus or by walking.

‘For an old man to pass his time, heneeds good company’ – said Fauja when hemet a kabaddi player who introduced him tojogging. And there was no looking backsince. Soon, Fauja Singh saw a marathon onlocal television which intrigued him and alucky opportunity arose when in 1999 Faujaran 20 miles for the benefit of cancerpatients.

Simpleton Fauja Singh lives in a world ofhis own, describing BBC, in Chandigarhbased journalist Khushwant Singh’s biogra-phy on Fauja titled ‘Sikhs Unlimited’, as a‘company that has loudspeakers all over theworld’. Numerous articles have since beenwritten on this old man who has been hon-oured, invited by Punjabi community allover the world, even in US where he metformer US president George Bush.

Fauja Singh is a very determined youngold man as he wanted to enter ‘FloraMarathon’ for which he went around himselfasking people to nominate him. Heapproached community and religious lead-ers, and politicians as he put his appeal bypressing a thumb impression.

One Harminder Singh came as a messiahwho helped Fauja enter the marathon by rep-resenting a charity called BLISS whichworks for premature infants. BLISS was toohappy that an 88-year-old man was keen onrunning for them, giving them the punch line‘oldest running for the youngest’ for theircharity, provided he donated 1400 pounds tothem.

Fauja Singh was put through a rigorousroutine to get ready for the 26.2 kmmarathon as his son dutifully took him forpractice to ensure fitness as he ran the 2.5miles route and back along with other exer-cises as his coach helped him with hill train-ing, adapting his running style and helpedregulate his breathing.

At the race Fauja met an Americanmarathon runner older than him but Faujamanaged to finish the race in 6 hour, 54 min-utes and 42 seconds,

full one hour ahead of the American.The American runner had given hima few helpful hints before the racewhich, of course, Fauja did notunderstand and only nodded hishead. This was the start ofFauja’s new career at the age of89!

Since this first marathon.Fauja has run in many marathonsin the UK, USA and Canada andhas set many records in the 90plus category, at times beatinghis own records. No oneelse of his age bracket hascompleted the marathons inless than 7 hours and 52 min-utes.

Fauja even completed the toughestmarathon of all – the Great North RunMarathon from Newcastle to SouthShields in just 2 hours and 39 minuteswhile in Toronto he ran the ScotiaToronto Waterfront Marathon in 5hours and 40 minutes, becoming theonly 90 plus man on the planet tohave finished it in less than sixhours. It was the proudest momentof his life.

Says Fauja who started to runat the ripe old age of 89, “I want theyoung to be inspired to take upphysical activity and maintain itthrough their lives. Hopefully theywill see the folly of taking drugs. Ialso want the elderly to embark ongetting fitter – if I can run my firstmarathon so late in life, no one shoulduse the excuse of old age as a barrier."

Fauja ran his last official race inHong Kong on February 24 this year – a10 km event. He has this advice, “Balanceyour exercise of different musclegroups, use specialists such as chi-ropractors, train every day for atleast half an hour, as you getolder, adjust your attitude to

accept slowing down and still enjoyit and run in competition.”

Fauja is so adamant on runningthat he has this attitude about ‘daud’meaning ‘marathon run’, ‘Ki kaditan mukegi’ though his longevitystems from strict discipline and dietand a certain kind of detachment.

His diet is very simple. Unliketypical Punjabis, Fauja is quite pickyand fussy about foods. At 5 feet 8inches, he only weighs 53 kg, and hasrelaxing heart beat of 52 beats persecond and bone density of a 40-yearold. His mantra is ‘eat to live’ asopposed to ‘live to eat’. He does notlike cauliflower, refrains from eat-ing bhindi and rice and recom-mends lentils and bitter gourd(karela) which are his favourites.And obiviously ‘Chaa’ – Indian

tea which he takes on rising at 6.30am. He takes with tea, a ‘pinni’ madeof alsi (linseed) and a bowl of homemade yoghurt and two glasses ofwater. The total round being 8 miles

when he finally reacheshome. This is his dailyroutine. Fauja loves man-goes, which he believeshelp him from constipa-

tion. His dinner is lightwhich is lentil soup

heavily granishedwith fresh gin-

ger. He says,“It’s the

sealing ofmy lipsto cer-t a i nfoodst h a th a s

c o n -tributed tolongevity.”

F a u j aSingh is thehero ofPunjabis andwins every-one with hisg e n e r o u ssmile as ifhe is bless-ing every-one. He is atrue inspira-tion to usall.

Run, Fauja, run

Starting in his eighties, Fauja Singh has run many marathons and setmany records, inspiring us all. He was honored in Sydney in March.

Fauja Singh with Moninder Singh, President Punjabi Council of Australia and SumatiAdvani, Aruna Chandrala, Vrinda Kumar and Mala Mehta Fauja Singh honoured at the NSW Parliament

Age no barrier


Community

Dr. Marlene Kanga is one ofthe most influential engineersin Australia. An Indian, she

has resided in Sydney for over 30years. In late 2012 she was elected asthe National President of EngineersAustralia.

This is a huge honour. EngineersAustralia is the national professionalassociation for engineers in Australiawith over 106,000 members. AsNational President, Marlene Kangawill be one of a small group ofwomen who have become nationalleaders of the engineering professionin the country, a significant achieve-ment in a profession which continuesto have less than ten percent repre-sentation of women.

“I obtained my first degree inChemical Engineering from the IIT,Mumbai. They have awarded me witha Distinguished Alumni Award thisyear for my achievements in the engi-neering profession, a first for awoman engineer,” she said.

All-rounder Marlene is aChartered Professional Engineer anda Fellow of Engineers Australia (oneof 100 women) and Engineers NewZealand (one of 16 women). So it is a

rare achieve-ment for awoman to berecognised asa Fellow ofboth profes-sional organi-sations. Shehas spe-cialised inrisk engi-neering andis registeredon the Boardo fProfessionalE n g i n e e r sQueensland.

Marleneis the first

Chemical Engineer to be a NationalPresident as well as the first who isAsian-born and a mother. These char-acteristics embody the diversity of theengineering profession and demon-strate that it can be a rewarding andfulfilling career for anyone.

She was first elected to theNational Council of EngineersAustralia in 2007, where she hasstrengthened governance and process-es to ensure equal opportunity for allmembers and continues to ensure thatthe members are served effectivelyand every member has an opportunityfor professional development and tomake a contribution to the profession.

Marlene was Chair of theInnovation Taskforce which prepareda report on Innovation inEngineering, which was launched atthe Australian Parliament House lastJune. “The aim of the report was tomake Australians and the communitymore aware of the importance ofengineering innovation and to engagepro-actively with the government in

influencing relat-ed policies.

“I believe thatit is important forall Australiansand especiallyyoung people tounderstand thatengineering is adynamic, creativeand innovativep r o f e s s i o n , ”Marlene said.“ E n g i n e e r i n ginnovation is vitalto modern lifeand for Australia to maintain its com-petitiveness as the 12th largest econo-my in the world,” she said.

Besides, she is an advocate forwomen engineers and was Chair ofthe National Committee for Womenin Engineering, Engineers Australia,during 2008-2009 and Deputy Chairduring the very successful Year ofWomen in Engineering in 2007,which also won a NationalEngineering Excellence Award.

Her strategic initiatives to“Attract, Retain, Support andCelebrate” women in the engineeringprofession has resulted in ongoingsupport for women engineers withmembership growth being the fastestsegment in Engineers Australia. Shewas Co-Chair of ICWES -- TheInternational Conference for WomenEngineers and Scientists which washeld in Adelaide in July 2011, thefirst time such a conference was heldin Australia.

Is there anything Marlene Kangacannot achieve in the field ofEngineering?

As a National Councillor, she hasimplemented many changes which aresignificant to the engineering profes-sion. She has strengthened the organ-isation’s support for diversity via theCareer Break Policy, increasing thenumber of women engineers on theInstitution’s Engineering CollegeBoards and implementing programsto increase the number of womenwho become Fellows and HonoraryFellows in the organisation. Herefforts in 2011 and 2012 haveincreased the number of women whoare Honorary Fellows by 100 per-cent. She is also a Board member ofthe International Network for WomenEngineers and Scientists (INWES)and a founding member of the AsiaPacific Nation Network (APNN),which mentors other women engi-neering organisations in the AsiaPacific. She hosted the first INWESAPNN meeting in Adelaide in July2011 and this has gone on to supportthe development of networks forwomen in engineering in other coun-tries in Asia including Mongolia andTaiwan.

Marlene represents Australia atthe World Federation of EngineeringOrganisations (WFEO) and is a mem-ber of its Committee for Women inEngineering. She is also a member of

the Committee for Disaster RiskManagement and is Chair of a Sub-Committee for developing resourcesfor increased resilience against natu-ral disasters, especially in developingcountries. The expertise of membersof this Committee will go a long wayin assisting developing countries toprepare for and recover from naturaldisasters. There is more! She is co-founder and Director of iOmniscientPty. Ltd., which is the leading sup-plier of intelligent surveillance sys-tems internationally. The companyhas developed patented software tech-nology, based on Australian researchand has won multiple awards interna-tionally. The system has beeninstalled in large airports, transporta-tion and public infrastructure inAustralia, Asia, the Middle East andEurope. The company has more than30,000 software licenses installed inmore than 20 countries. Major cus-tomers include Qantas, Disneyworldand BP. International sales accountfor 90% of revenues.

As National President ofEngineers Australia, Kanga’s prioritywill be to demonstrate that engineer-ing makes an invaluable contributionto modern life. Young people espe-cially need to understand the excitingpossibilities that engineering offers asa career. She also believes it is impor-tant to engage with government, themedia and the broader community toinfluence the decisions which involveengineering such as resource utilisa-tion, water management and sustain-ability. Marlene was on the cover ofa recent issue of Engineers Australiamagazine. In that magazine, Dr TimKannegieter describes her strong per-sonality accurately: “She has strongviews and is not afraid to let them beknown to good effect… She has along history of driving change atEngineers Australia. She facilitateddevelopment of the first risk manage-ment framework for EngineersAustralia which is now being used toguide internal auditing processes.”

Apart from her engineering excel-lence, Marlene is a friendly personwho oozes charm. She and her hus-band Rustom (a PhD) are proud par-ents of Zubin, a pianist of interna-tional fame and Jehan who conductsMadrigal and other concerts.

Music and engineering must havea genetic link!

Meet Marlene Kanga, the NationalPresident of Engineers Australia

Kersi Meher-Homji interviews a dynamic Indian engineer

Marlene (third from left) honoured by the UnitedIndian Association Women’s Committee on

International Women’s Day, March 2011 in Sydney.

BOOK REVIEW

The book is anything but average. In parts it iswitty, in parts it is repetitive and full of exaggera-tions. Mostly it is written tongue-in-cheek. Taken

in small doses it is funny with intelligent “take-offs”when describing the average Indian male.

It is amusing to readthe author’s randomthoughts and flights offancy on frailties ofPrakashes, Kapoors,Dalals, Dariuses,Paramjits, Himanshus,Dhirajes, Swaminathansand a host of others whocolour the book with theirbody odours, flatulenceand onion-worship. Not tomention their love (andfear) of their mothers,holding hands of anothermale, nodding their headsnon-stop and their pave-ment-phobia.

But is it accurate for today’s IT-oriented modernIndian male?

Cyrus Broacha is a stand-up comic of repute in Indiabut some of his spoken jokes do not translate well in writ-ten essays. With an effective spoken delivery, lifting ofan eye-brow and pregnant pauses, a stand-up comic canarouse the audience to laughter and prolonged applause.

For a book, this is not always possible. A naughtyjoke with a raised eyebrow and pursed lips can animatethe listeners into a frenzy of clapping. The written worddoes not have eyebrows and lips. It has to have somethingextra to retain the readers’ interest.

Repetition is the hallmark of good comedy, written ororal, but at times the author’s repetitions stretch too far,especially when he exaggerates his exaggerations. To usea cricket terminology, he lofts many sixes but going formore he gets caught in no man’s land.

The book is divided in two parts: Book 1 starts withquestions from readers -- mostly non-Indian females -- onhow to deal with the average Indian male. The question-answer format is entertaining if you read two chapters ata time. But more is not merrier.

I enjoyed the following amusing lines in the book:“The [Indian] wife’s job is absolutely parallel to a

trampoline artist’s. She has to bounce around the dinnertable attending to each and every person’s need... She hasto jump from chair to chair like a bunny rabbit on speedserving hot food.”

“A flurry of wrists and fingers and the comb wouldbe returned to the back right pocket barely visible to thenaked eye (although I see no sense in the phrase becauseeyes, as you all know, are almost always naked as arule).”

“The male would have to answer to his mother-in-law, his second cousin’s step-daughter, his son, his ownmaternal grandmother, all at the same time. A few of ourancestors, like the legendary Ravan, could cope with thisas he had on good authority, ten heads (one shudders athis dentists’ bills).”

“And never forget Kim Jung’s dying words, ‘A vicemay well be vice, but it’s better to be greedy thanneedy.”

Book 2 is more philosophical, deciphering the inco-herent thoughts of -- you guessed it – the average Indianmale. I enjoyed the tongue-in-cheek chapter onAryabhatta’s concept of zero and how his “nothingnessphilosophy” explains Indians being always late. I thoughtthe originator of zero-concept was former Indian Testspinner BS Chandrasekhar!

I better submit this review for TIDU readers rightaway before I am accused of suffering from Aryabhatta’szero-syndrome.

The Average Indian Male by CyrusBroacha, Random House India,

246 Pages, Rs 199.

Marlene Kanga presenting the

InnovationTaskforce report atNSW parliament

house

Community


GOPIO takes seniors on amemorable cruise

By Manju Mittal

AGreat Day Out for seniors organisedby GOPIO on Sunday, April 7 - areally nice three-hour cruise starting

from Woolwich wharf. The boat was packedwith people but there was plenty of spaceand time to take great pictures. The weathercooperated and that made it much better.Elderly people enjoyed sunshine and sat onthe upper deck to enjoy the magnificent

views across the harbour.Seniors were looked after very well by

GOPIO members, serving food, drinks,excellently chosen old music, musicalgames, sharing poetry and other activities.

Three hours passed quickly as peoplemixed and mingled, bonding with each otherand enjoying wonderful views and Sydneyskyline. Volunteers helped to make this daya great success, especially the ones who pro-vided transport for those who could not

drive. Sponsors donated notonly their time but also severalgift vouchers. The deliciouscatering was courtesy of Maya da Dhabaand their kheer and gulab jamuns were rel-ished by all. DJ Upkar Mandy entertainedwith his excellent sound and music as localartist Anand Arora kept his audienceenthralled by his beautiful songs. UshaBariya’s dance was the highlight of the day.Lucky Singh, president of GOPIO, thanked

all sponsors, seniors,guests and families while Hemu Negi cap-tured beautiful moments on his camera formemories of a wonderful day.

GOPIO (Global Organisation of Peopleof Indian Origin) Australia has earned itselfanother feather in their cap for organisingand making many seniors smile. Whileeveryone went back home happy they arealready talking of the cruise next year.

By Manju Mittal

Aprominent Sydney busi-nessman Minhas Zulfiqar(CEO & Owner of Crowne

Plaza Norwest) passed away intragic circumstances in his homecity Karachi on March 20. Thenews has been a shock to the com-munity having lost a very generousman who was always ready to helpthose in need.

Minhas Zulfiqar was shot deadin Karachi after he refused to handover money he had just withdrawnfrom an ATM. The 55-year-oldwas shot multiple times in theupper body and was pronounceddead at hospital a short time later.After shooting Mr. Zulfiqar, thebandits robbed him of his money.Minhas Zulfiqar and his wifeRazia had been on a working holi-day, visiting family in Karachi and

attending to shops they own inPakistan. They were due to flyback to Australia on the night hewas killed.

Well known in the communityand with local politicians, Minhaswas a fine example of multicultur-al success story with whose help

many charity groups benefited ashe supported their charity fundraisers. He was known for his sup-port of Inala - a local organisationthat provides services and supportfor the disabled. He had been run-ning his business successfully forthe past 10 years as his hotel wonmany business awards under hisstewardship at Crowne. Hills ShireMayor Dr Michelle Byrne said sheenjoyed Mr Zulfiqar's companyand his loss would be felt through-out the Hills business community."I always enjoyed talking toMinhas. He was a gentle giant anda truly wonderful man," she said.

David Elliott, State MP said,“Minhas was a larger-than-lifeidentity. I cannot recall a localevent or charity that has not bene-fited from his generosity.”

A memorial Service was heldfor Minhas Zulfiqar at his hotel

Crowne Plaza Norwest on theafternoon of March 22 when manyof his friends, community mem-bers and associates gathered to paycondolences to the family. MinhasZulfikar will be greatly missed asthe community has lost a greatsupporter and a benevolent mem-ber. Our heartfelt condolences goto his wife Razia and two adultsons and their families.

On April 5, in another memo-rial meeting, Julie Owens, FederalMember for Parramatta, said, “Iwish to express my deepest sorrowto the family and friends of the lateMr Minhas Zulfiqar, a highlyrespected and successful memberof the Australian community whowe, all of us, are very sad to havelost under such tragic circum-stances.” Our prayers are with theZulfikar family in their time ofdeep grief.

Minhas Zulfiqar (third from left) with Premier Barry O’Farrell,colleague Ajay Khanna and NSW MP David Elliott at an award cer-

emony at the Crowne Plaza Norwest Hotel

President of GOPIO, Sydney Lucky Singh talking to seniors on the cruise

Sydneysiders enjoy a wonderful day at the cruise

Community mourns loss of Minhas Zulfiqar


Community

By Manpreet Kaur Singh

Most of us think that Sikh or South Asian migra-tion to Australia is a recent phenomenon,spanning just the past few decades. But not

many of us know that our Sikh forefathers first came toAustralia more than 150 years ago - at a time when thedust was yet to settle from the fall of Ranjit Singh'sempire.

Displaying their true enterprising spirit, they crossedthe seven seas to come to the land Down Under in searchof a better lifestyle and wages and quickly endearedthemselves to the local population here. Country towns allover Australia are dotted with memories of these bravePunjabi migrants who seem to have been welcomed bythe locals despite the official "White Australia" policy.

Sadly, they are also forgotten in the annals of his-tory.

Initially, the migrants from India were inden-tured labourers who worked on sheep stations andfarms around Australia. Some adventurers followedduring the gold rush of the 1850's.

A census from 1861 indicates that there werearound 200 Indians in Victoria of whom 20 were inBallarat, the town which was at the epicenter of thegold rush. Thereafter, many more came and workedas hawkers - going from house to house, town totown, traversing thousands of kilometers, making a liv-ing by selling a variety of products.

A record of shipping arrivals of the day shows that SSClitus and SS Jullundur arrived in Melbourne in 1898 car-rying many Punjabis, some of whom like Nutta Singh,Hurman Singh, Indur Singh, Isur Singh, Sundi and SundaSingh went on to become hawkers. (Please note that thenames were written phonetically by a clerk on arrival, so thespellings are as recorded, not necessarily as they are meantto be spelt).

There is enough anecdotal evidence from localAustralians that the Sikh hawkers were much loved mem-bers of the community. The womenfolk loved them becausethey provided a welcome break from their mundane exis-tence - the hawkers brought beautiful clothes, goods, allthings exotic, and a fleeting glimpse of the big wide worldbeyond their farmlands.

The Australian men liked the hawkers because they weretough - they knew how to survive in difficult bush land and,more importantly, they played cricket!

The Aussie kids adored the hawkers because of the sto-ries they told of another world, because of their playful spir-it and their wonderfully aromatic curries.

Now meet Len Kenna, an Australian historian, play-wright and poet who has been commissioned by theVictorian government to write the official history of Indianmigration to Victoria. His brief is to ‘research and preserveanything of Indian cultural significance' in Victoria.Although the subject matter of his research can't be releasedyet, he is convinced that Indian migration to Australia begana long time ago. He personally remembers a hawker by the

nameof GunterSingh (proba-bly Ganda Singh), whocame to his house in Hamilton (in county Victoria) where hegrew up in the 1940's.

Says Kenna: "The Indian hawkers were better educatedthan most others in those days, they were polite and well-cultured. They spoke English, so we had great conversa-tions. I used to hop into Gunter Singh's horse wagon, mar-vel at his goods and listen to his stories all night. I sharedsome scones with him and he cooked absolutely wonderfulcurries for us. That smell is still fresh in my mind, so manydecades later!"

Kenna says his mother and her friend used to take turnsto wash Gunter Singh's turbans and Singh cooked for themin return. "I remember those bright turbans on our clothes-line, flapping wildly in the wind," recalls Kenna. He adds,"The country women loved the Sikh hawkers. They weresuch a wonderful change from the Aussie farm men whowere stuck knee-deep in cow manure for most of the day andstill treated their women with an air of Victorian superiori-ty. The women loved the way the hawkers respected themand treated them like ‘ladies'!"

As a tribute to these hawkers, Kenna penned a play, ‘It

happened in Heywood', which has beenstaged in Melbourne and many country townsof Victoria. At the end of many shows, peo-ple from the audience have come up andshared their own memories of the Sikh hawk-ers and Kenna is hoping to preserve all ofthese stories for posterity.

‘It Happened in Heywood' revolvesaround a true story of three Sikh brothers,who were all hawkers near the country townof Heywood around the year 1900. One ofthe brothers was burnt alive while sleeping in

his wagon overnight - apparently these horsewagons were extremely flammable being

made of wood and canvas, and would burndown completely in a matter of seconds,leaving someone sleeping inside with nopossibility of escape.

The second brother Kahn Singhdied in an accident when a tree-branchfell on his head. The third survivingbrother Ganda Singh wanted to cre-mate Kahn's dead body. But crema-tion was illegal in those days (althoughit was legalized thereafter).

The play shows how the whole coun-try town rallied together to make sure that

Kahn Singh received a befitting funeral inaccordance with his own traditions. The

play essentially captures the spirit of the localAustralians who almost felt a sense of cama-

raderie with Sikh hawkers, something that theChinese and hawkers of other nationalities rarely

enjoyed.The countryside of Victoria is now dotted with crema-

tion sites and headstones marking the spot where a hawker'sashes were buried after cremation.

Apparently, if a hawker died and had no other relativeshere, his horse, cart, goods and wagon were auctioned off.With the money raised, the hawker would be cremated, thesite marked with a memorial, and the remaining moneywould be sent back to India along with the ashes. Manydeath notices published in newspapers of more than a centu-ry ago indicate relocation of ashes to India, ‘to be dispersedin the Ganges', or according to the last wishes of thedeceased.

Gunga Singh's headstone has a lengthy inscription inPunjabi and, beneath it, the English portion reads: "In lov-ing memory of Gunga Singh, beloved son of Dava Singh,native of Poloolla, Punjab, India. Died 6th Sept 1901, aged45 years."

Hawking in those days was a lucrative business, butrequired a lot of grit and hard work. The sheer distancesbetween towns in Australia could prove prohibitive for somepeople, but Sikh hawkers seemed to thrive on it. Accordingto the records, 213 country licenses were issued for hawk-ers in Hamilton alone, which is just one of the country towns

There is enough anecdotal evidence from local Australians thatthe Sikh hawkers were much loved members of the community.The womenfolk loved them because they provided a welcomebreak from their mundane existence - the hawkers broughtbeautiful clothes, goods, all things exotic, and a fleeting glimpseof the big wide world beyond their farmlands.

Sikhpioneers ofAustralia

TRADERS OFGOODWILL:


Community

of Victoria. It is mind-boggling tothink of what the actual populationof Sikh hawkers might have beenAustralia-wide, especially sincethere were many more Indians inNew South Wales compared toVictoria.

According to the Register ofBirths, Deaths and Marriages, 377people with the name ‘Singh' diedin New South Wales during theperiod 1898 - 1939. Therefore, it isanybody's guess how many werealive and working in that sameperiod.

Typically a hawker would haveto pay a bond of nearly $100 uponentering the country. Then, beforethey began hawking, they had to goto court to obtain a permit, had toprove that they were of good char-acter and needed to be debt-free.Then, they would either beginhawking on foot or on horse-drawncarts and pay an annual hawkingfee.

A wagon would have a largecanvas hood, and the shelveswould be stacked with wares tosell. There would be an elevatedbed right in the middle of thewagon and more goods were storedunder it. Goods included dressmaterial, laces, buttons, threads,perfumes, footwear, jewellery,jewellery boxes, spices, utensilsand even indigenous medicine.

If a buyer couldn't get whatthey wanted, they could place anorder and receive what they need-ed within a day or two. Somehawkers made so much money thatthey bought sheep stations, landand property, while others werecontent with sending the moneyback to Punjab.

But the hawkers led very lone-ly lives - tramping repetitively oncountry roads where the nearesttown would be at least 100 kmaway. Hardly any of them hadtheir family here and they rarelyinter-married locals. Letters weretheir only source of contact withfamily back home and they couldgo for a long time without speakingor hearing their native languagesince each hawker had a specifical-

ly marked territory to work in.They tended to form friendshipswith local country people and twicea year, all the hawkers convergedat a pre-arranged spot where theyspent a few weeks of holidaystogether, typically duringChristmas and Easter.

Sadly, there are some recordsof hawkers being assaulted or mur-dered and also of some crimescommitted by hawkers themselvesout of sheer frustration and loneli-ness. Many were even admitted toinstitutions in later life since theyhad no immediate family to takecare of them.

But happily, the personal anec-dotes and memories of good timeswith these Punjabi pioneers out-number the sad ones. Locals allover country towns recall innumer-able stories about individual Sikhhawkers with great fondness.

Eileen Tierney distinctlyremembers Lucca Singh (probablyLakha), who had a very highly pol-ished van, well fitted-out withshelves along each side and alongthe back. One section was forwomen's wear exclusively, with abuilt-in, lift-out box for jewels andscents.

Recalls Tierney, "I can remem-ber Lucca coming to our home atWando Vale when I was a child -it was a red letter day as everybodywaited in great anticipation forLucca to open his van on arrival.He was the bearer of good newsand bad. He traveled extensivelyand heard of all the district's hap-penings. He would stay someweeks in each district and alwayshad his special places where hewould stay for up to a fortnight ata time. He was a great old fellowand as children, we loved him. Heloved to play cards, liked to winand would play all night if neces-sary until he finally won."

Lucca Singh spent his last daysin a tent close to the Peach familyof Edenhope around the end of theSecond World War. Says Tierney,"Lucca lived a very long life. Ithink he must have had a lot ofherbal remedies to back up his

health. He had a brother in India.I can't remember Lucca ever hav-ing to go to hospital until near theend of his life when he just becameill."

He died in Casterton Hospitalin 1943 and his ashes were spreadin a nearby river on his request.

Then there was Sunda Singh(probably Sunder), who started hishawking career on foot, with hisgoods strapped in a bundle on hisback. Soon, he saved enough tobuy a wagon and two horses,which gave him greater reach.After many years, he bought afarm near Allestree. He paid forthe local hospital at Portland to bepainted, as a gesture of his grati-tude to the people for the love theyhad given him.

He died in Ballarat Hospitalleaving behind his wife and familyin Raipur in India. By allaccounts, he was dearly loved inthe whole of the district.

Another hawker, IndarSondhu, was so wealthy that hedonated land for the constructionof Coleraine Shire

offices - that was his way of say-ing thank you to the people of thearea. He set up a business inColeraine and later owned shopsand a sheep station.

There are also stories about afamous Punjabi wrestler by thename of Bagshot Singh. He wres-tled at the Hotspur Show everyyear and it is said that he had agreat rivalry with a local wrestlercalled Mr. Edge. Bagshot Singhdied at the age of 39 at HamiltonBase Hospital and his ashes weresent to India.

So, as the stories and anecdotesabound, it's truly amazing to sensethe fondness with which these Sikhhawkers are remembered, despitethe deep-rooted racism that wasinstitutionalised in Australian soci-ety during those days. The WhiteAustralia policy, although preva-lent in spirit during the late 19thcentury, was officially adopted bythe Australian government in 1901,which precluded migrants on thebasis of their colour and race.Although the basis for exclusion

was more subtle - prospectivemigrants were asked to take a lan-guage test and only those whopassed were allowed to migrate -the idea was to stop the influx ofAsian and even central Europeanmigrants to Australia.

Despite this, hundreds of Sikhhawkers continued to operate allover Australia, providing essentialservices to many country towns.Their wagons carried goods bothmundane and exotic; their conver-sation carried the news of the day,both good and bad; their heartsbore goodwill that created longlasting friendships and their vibrantpersonalities brought colour intoboring lives. Above all, they pro-vided the country people a life-lineas well as a dream of the mystiqueof lands far beyond the shores ofAustralia.

We owe much to the enterpriseand free spirit of these Sikh forefa-thers, and hope that they areaccorded their rightful place in his-tory.

[Courtesy: India Today]

According to the Register of Births, Deaths and Marriages, 377people with the name ‘Singh' died in New South Wales during theperiod 1898 - 1939. Therefore, it is anybody's guess how manywere alive and working in that same period.


Community

Punjab Engineering College alumni celebrateIndia Australia Day

New strategy to grow businessbetween NSW & India

By Manju Mittal

The Castle Grande hall in Castle Hillis buzzing with excitement onMarch 16, as all the women are

dressed to dazzle while their husbands arehotly conversing and meeting each otheras long lost friends. It was the night ofentertainment organised by PECOSA – analumni association of Punjab EngineeringCollege (PEC). It was a night ofBollywood extravaganza, a bit of classicalmusic mixed with fun and food.

PECOSA Australia was started in1991 in Sydney with 70 strong memberswho are providing scholarships to theengineering students and sponsoring edu-cational and R&D projects in PEC,Chandigarh, to help students to overcometheir financial obstacles.

Since then it has established itself as aleading scholarship body that alsoreceives funding from USA Alumni forthe scholarship disbursement.

The function started with openingspeech by Arunesh Seth welcoming thegathering. He said, “The aim is toacknowledge our services, encouragefuture good work and motivate our young-sters to follow the good path.”

Many inspiring words were spoken onthe night by speakers to encourage andgive students motivation to succeed in

their future career paths. Guest of honourMitchell Byrne and Dr. Marlin Kangaacknowledged PECOSA’s contributionand role in helping the community.

Kumud Merani, broadcaster, SBSHindi Radio, was honoured by PECOSAwith the award for her contributiontowards Australian and Indian culturalintegration. Dr. Robert Costa and Dr.Himanshu Desai received the award for

Compassion & Fair Go. SamarpanSupport Group’s work for families withchildren and adults with disability wasrecognised on the night with an award forserving humanity.

Master of ceremonies Nitin Madan,radio host Sur Sangam and charmingSukum Saini kept everyone engagedthroughout the night. The audienceenjoyed a great dance performance from

dance group Behind the Scene, welldirected by Mrs Jatinder Saini.

Shikha Agarwal and her group per-formed a classical dance. Bollywoodmusic ended the night with a closingspeech by President of PECOSA ReenaSood who thanked all sponsors, guests,families and awardees who made the nighta memorable event. All that for a goodcause!

Markets like India stand to benefitfrom the NSW InternationalEngagement Strategy, the state’s

first whole-of-government approach togrowing international trade and investmentactivities in NSW, Deputy Premier andMinister for Trade & Investment AndrewStoner said.

The International Engagement Strategyexpands NSW’s priority markets from sixto ten, reflecting key sources of foreigndirect investment, as well as the main buy-ers of NSW merchandise and servicesexports.

Mr Stoner visited India in April as partof a trade mission and met with represen-tatives of NSW companies that export toIndia to discuss the opportunities and chal-lenges of doing business in this market, aswell as senior government and businessleaders to promote bilateral economic ties.

“In order to make NSW the first placeto do business in Australia we need toeffectively engage the global economy andthat includes places like India,” Mr Stonersaid.

“India is a key trading partner forNSW and a major priority when it comesto our plans to boost the state’s trade andinvestment activities.

“NSW is an outward facing State with

an increasingly internationally-linkedeconomy, but this presents its own chal-lenges, including the high Australian dol-lar and continuing global economicuncertainty.

“The NSW International EngagementStrategy responds to these challenges andclearly sets out how and where we mustfocus our efforts and resources.”

Warwick Smith, Chairman of ANZBank (NSW & ACT) and Chair of theNSW Export and Investment AdvisoryBoard, led the high level steering groupwhich conducted the review.

Mr Stoner said NSW must identifypromising markets, establish and buildrelationships and strategically applyavailable resources to attract newinvestors, work with existing investors toreinvest and help innovative NSW com-panies to export.

Priority sectors identified in the strat-egy are professional services, construc-tion/infrastructure, advanced manufac-turing, education and research, informa-tion and communication technology,clean technology, mining, agribusiness,and tourism.

NSW’s Deputy Premier and Minister forTrade & Investment Andrew Stoner

Did you know ?Customers haverights againstpressure salesAre you constantly harassedby telemarketers. Youshould know that they mustleave or hang up immediate-ly if that is the consumer’swish and they are notallowed to contact the con-sumer again for at least 30days.

Door-knockers and tele-marketers are subject tonational laws governingunsolicited consumer agree-ments that give consumers a10-day cooling off period inwhich the seller can notdemand payment and that theconsumer can change theirmind.

Door-to-door sellers mustclearly explain upfront thepurpose of their visit andprovide identification. Rulesabout unconscionable con-duct also apply in these cir-cumstances – when tradersfail to properly disclose keycontractual terms or usehigh-pressure tactics.

PECOSA night was a packed event

Bollywood


Celebrated writer Salman Rushdie is allover the film version of his acclaimednovel "Midnight's Children". He has

himself done the screenplay and also serves asthe film's all-knowing narrator.

Yet he says it's Indo-Canadian directorDeepa Mehta's film. She "absolutely" tookover once the script was done, Rushdie said inan interview on phone from New York,where both he and Mehta came for the specialkickoff screening of the film in conjunctionwith the New York Indian Film Festival.

"A film can be only one person's film andnot two," he said. But they talked often on thetelephone during the shoot. He went toMumbai to help with casting, and from SriLanka, where much of the shooting tookplace, Mehta sent him pictures every day, andhe talked with the actors over Skype.

Though the book is set in India andPakistan, they chose to shoot in Sri Lanka asthe cities depicted have changed beyondrecognition. In many ways, Colombo made abetter Mumbai than the real city does as moreof the century-old architecture has survivedthere,Rushdie said. But some scenes wereshot at the Dal Lake in Kashmir, Mumbai,Karachi and Agra too. "How else can youshow a man cycling past the Taj Mahal if notshoot in Agra?" he asked.

The allegorical tale on the partition of

India told through mysteriously intertwinedlives of two babies switched at birth as Indiaattains freedom at midnight on Aug 15, 1947will be released in the US beginning withNew York on April 26.

It will be followed by Los Angeles andWashington DC (May 3), and other citiesover the next weeks.

Rushdie said at first he was hesitant aboutdoing the screenplay adaptation himself as "Iam a novelist and not a professional screenwriter". But Deepa was very persuasive andconvinced him to do it as she feared no oneelse could do it justice given its almost intim-idating pedigree - having won both theBooker of Bookers and the Best of theBookers. In the end he was glad that he did it.Screenplay writing was a very collaborativeaffair. First both Mehta and Rushdie madeseparate lists of what to keep and what to dis-card from the novel with a staggering scope,from 1917 to 1974, and 62 locations fromKarachi to Kashmir to Old Delhi to Bombay.

"In the end we found how identical ourlists were," said Rushdie describing Mehta asthe "perfect" director to take his book to film."It was Deepa's passion for the book thatattracted me, as well, of course, as my admi-ration for her work." Turning a 446-pagenovel into a 130-page screenplay was "animmense challenge," he said. But since hewas looking at it after more than 30 years, hecould do it more dispassionately. The idea forRushdie to also do the narration/voiceover for"Midnight's Children" was also entirelyMehta's. First, they did not want to have anynarration, but then found it necessary to stringit together given its range and scope.

"We tried a couple of professional actorsat first, but were not satisfied. So finallyMehta asked me to try it."

So what's Rushdie's verdict on the fin-ished product? "Well, I am very biased. But Ithink it's good," he said looking at theresponse to the film at the Toronto,Vancouver and the BFI London film festivals.

Luckily they did not have any run in withthe Indian censors over the depiction of the1975 emergency or any other issue. "Theypassed it without a single cut. They had, infact, called a historian, who said it depictedan accurate picture of an unfortunate phase ofIndian history."

"You may disagree with one's interpreta-tion, but you are entitled to it," they said."But then the problem with the Indian censorsis, they are so unpredictable," said Rushdiereferring to the issues faced by KamalHaasan's spy thriller "Vishwaroopam."

It was indeed true that he gave away thefilm rights of "Midnight's Children" to Mehtafor just one dollar! It makes an interestingstory, but it's not unusual for independentfilmmakers, who find it hard to raise money,to sign up someone with a token amount andthen pay them later, said Rushdie. Rushdie iscurrently developing a TV serial forShowtime called "Next People" - a kind of"paranoid science-fiction series, people disap-pearing and being replaced by other people."

"There is a pilot I wrote for Showtime.They were happy about it. But we are stillawaiting that little green light!"

So which one of his works would one seeon the big screen next? "Right now there's aproject to make a film of my memoir 'JosephAnton,' but I am absolutely not planning towrite the screenplay" because unlike"Midnight's Children" he was too close to it.

"If we are lucky, if it goes really fast thenit may be ready at some point next year. Butit may take longer, I don't know," saidRushdie.

'Midnight's Children' a collaborativeaffair: Rushdie

The allegorical tale on the partition ofIndia told through mysteriously

intertwined lives of two babies switchedat birth as India attains freedom at

midnight on August 15, 1947 will be showing at the Sydney Film Festival.

60th Sydney Film Festival willrun from June 5-16 andscreen feature films, docu-

mentaries, short films and ani-mations across the city at theState Theatre, Event CinemasGeorge Street, Dendy OperaQuays and the Art Gallery ofNSW. The festival is a majorevent on the New SouthWales cultural calendarand is one of theworld’s longest-run-ning film festivals.

Says NashenMoodley, fes-tival’s direc-tor, “Thisyear's pro-gramme comprisingaround 160 films,will reveal a realcross-section of

the range and qualityof features and documentaries which

are some of the best productions from allover the world, the films Australia will behearing about, talking about and arguingabout over the next year. You'll see them

here first."Deepa Mehta’s adaptation of SalmanRushdie’s acclaimed novel‘Midnight’s Chidren’ is one of thehighlight of the SFF program.Australian premiere of the highlyanticipated, neo-Gothic thrillerStoker, directed by Park Chan-

wook and starring threeAustralian actresses: Mia

Wasikowska, NicoleKidman and JackiWeaver. Other award-winning films include

The Act of Killing, thewinner of the Audience

Award at the 2013Berlinale; Prince Avalanche,winner of a Silver Bear forbest direction at the 2013

Berlinale; Blancanieves,the winner of Best Film atSpain's prestigious 2013Goya Awards; and Stories

We Tell one of 'Canada's Top Ten' filmsat the 2012 Toronto International FilmFestival.

For more information and tickets visithttp://www.sff.org.au.

Celebrated writer Salman Rushdie and Indo-Canadian director Deepa Mehta, whodirected the film adaptation of his acclaimed novel “Midnight’s Children”.

A poster of the film ‘Midnight’s Children’ that will be ahighlight of the SFF program.

Nashen Moodley, the festival’s director

Cast: Satya Bhabha, Shahana Goswami,Rajat Kapoor, Seema Biswas, ShriyaSaran, Siddharth Ronit Roy, Rahul Bose,Samrat Chakrabarti, KulbushanKharbanda, Charles Dance, Soha AliKhan, Zaib Shaikh, Shabana Azmi,Anupam Kher and Darsheel Safary.


Community

By Kersi Meher-Homji

There is always something differentwhen India Club organises Mehfil-e-sham in Epping, Sydney. This time

the theme was Golden Moments as SuhasMahajan, Vinod Rajput and Reena Mehtamade us feel nostalgic with songs from the1960s and 70s.

The icing on the cake was stunningkathak dancing by Deepa Arora whose daz-zling footwork mesmerised the audience.

She started off with the spectaculardance from Mughal-e-Azam as she mimedLata Mangeshkar singing Jab pyar kiya todarna kya. Dressed in a shimmering cos-tume, Deepa exhibited bold facial expres-sions with kathak dance steps to match. Theeffect was breathtaking.

This was followed by delicate dancesteps in the Umrao Jaan number Dil Cheezkya hai and as a climax, a song from Dil Hito Hai (Nigahen milane ko jee chahtaa hai).The final dance item needed versatile free-flowing body movements along with fastmusic and rhythm.

It was a pleasure interviewing herafter the Mehfil.

“My initiation in kathak was totally theresult of my mother’s encouragement anddream to see me on an international plat-form since I was born. I started learningdance from a private tutor at home at theage of four, who, within a year, noticing mytalent recommended that I join KathakKendra, New Delhi to pursue formal educa-tion in this field. I was associated with thisinstitute for nine years and completed myMasters in Lucknow Gharana. During thesenine years, I had dance classes everyevening which made me a disciplineddancer and a disciplined person. During mytraining years, I gave several stage per-formances in India.”

Any music/dancing in your family?“Both my parents had keen interest in

classical art forms and would not miss towatch famous dancers performing on stage.They never compromised on providing mewith the best training. Similarly, my hus-band Vikram does not come from an artisticbackground but he has always appreciatedmy talent and was the main driving force forme to continue my passion for dance inAustralia. He is confident that I will be ableto fulfill my aim to spread our tradition(Sanskriti) to young kids from all communi-ties who have a passion to dance.”

Your gurus, mentors?“Pandit Birju Maharaj, the leading

exponent in kathak, was the Director ofKathak Kendra when I started learning. Iwas very fortunate to be mentored by himalong with my guru Bharti Gupta and RebaVidyarthi who were my main source ofinspiration. I constantly improved andmatured under their guidance as they taughtme not only to enjoy dance but to use it asa medium to bring out my own individualstyle, using my imagination and creativity.”

When did you arrive in Australia?“After my first visit to Australia in

2000, I fell in love with Sydney and perma-nently moved here in 2003 with my family.I was in my late 20s and a full time motherto my 2 year-old daughter Khushi. I havetravelled extensively to explore this beauti-ful country. Making Sydney my home, Irealised that not only Indians but students

from all nationalities are interested in kathakand would like to learn it as a form ofexpression. Australia is a young countryand there is a potential to be tapped.”

When did you start Sanskriti?“My main aim is to keep kathak as an

art form alive among present and futuregenerations. Over the years I have been ableto infuse kathak with a modern touch whichhas caught the attention of students andaudience who are keen to learn this classicalart form. I have been imparting the knowl-edge through classes and workshops in Indiaand Australia for the last six years.However, I have been getting many requestsfrom parents and I felt that I needed tostart an organised and sequenced methodol-ogy of teaching which would be interestingand thus Sanskriti was born. I am reallyencouraged by the level of interest it hasgenerated and am taking classes with stu-dents ranging from school kids to adults.

Having years of experience and per-forming with various artists, I have createdcompositions using this art form in both itstraditional and modern form. Sanskriti aimsto impart modern-dance training to its stu-dents and teach them the concepts of Nritta(technique aspect), Abhinaya (emotionalaspect) and Mudra (artistic representation ofhands and fingers) which put together con-stitute dance. My main objective is to polishand produce dancers who can, through theirperformances, create different moods in theminds of spectators and make a mark forthemselves.

Is dance teaching your sole profes-sion?

“Dancing is not my sole profession butis my biggest passion since I was a child. Ihave a commerce degree and am also afashion designer (from NIFT, NewDelhi). At present I am working as anOffice Manager with a SwedishMultinational corporation. I like toutilise my free time in following my

passion and experimenting with various artform to include them in my dance. I haveperformed at various platforms in Sydneyand at the Parliament House in Canberra.

“Along with dance, I have persued mypassion for event choreography. Recently Ichoreographed the Miss & Mrs IndiaAustralia and am official choreographer forthe Mr India Australia competition whichwill be held in July.

“With not much spare time on hand, Ilove to spend it with my family and experi-ment with cooking which they absolutelylove.”

Your favourite singers/dancers?“Having grown

among renowneddancers, musiciansand artists, I havebeen in awe oftheir contribu-tion to Indianculture. PanditBirju Maharaj,Y a m i n iKrishnamurty,Mallika Sarabhai,Ustad Amjad AliKhan, Ustad ZakirH u s s a i n ,H a r i p r a s a dC h u r a s i y aare just afew tom e n -tion.I

admire all artists who in their respectivefields have been able to create a fusionbetween classical and modern forms andcater to the requirement of modern day,fast-paced audience.”

Anything else you would like to add?“Dance is not merely a physical activity;

it involves strong mental focus and discipline.Dancers cannot express themselves unlessthey are tuned towards their goal to learn andexpress. I like to share my experiences andexpertise with students who are keen to learnkathak in its original and modern style whichis used not only in Bollywood but in other artforms as well to portray expression and feel-ings. I thank everyone who has given me theopportunity to showcase my passion and tal-ent in India and Australia.” Thank you,Deepa. May you spread your wings fur-ther and higher!

Dazzling Deepa recreates Mughal-e-Azam

At India Club organised Mehfil-e-sham, Deepa Arora, atrained Kathakdancer, started offwith the spectaculardance from Mughal-e-Azam asshe mimed LataMangeshkar singingJab pyar kiya todarna kya. This wasfollowed by delicatedance steps in theUmrao Jaan numberDil Cheez kya haiand as a climax, asong from Dil Hi toHai (Nigahen milaneko jee chahtaa hai).

Community


By Neena Badhwar

Is there any stopping for members ofIndian Seniors Group Hornsby (ISGH)to do things amidst the technological

revolution the world faces today? Not real-ly, as The Indian Down Under found out atthe Pennant hills Leisure and LearningCentre during the Seniors’ Week.

The members were being given adetailed presentation on how the young aswell as the older seniors could stay in touchwith each other through technology andinteract through social media such asFacebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, My Spaceand YouTube.

The presentation given by MaheshTrivedi of True Blessings, who also teach-es at UTS, Sydney, introduced the audi-ence to the joys of Facebook and Twitterand Blogging – so that they feel connectedto the world and “not just sit and chant thename of God as you are just about to go upin the heavens since you are old…,” saidMahesh.

“You may be old…but you are notout…as the world is your oyster. Do not beafraid, as nothing gets destroyed or dam-aged in computers. Be bold and go aheadand join the social media which is nowquite active with seniors as more than 50per cent among them are now either blog-ging, Facebooking and are on LinkedInwhere they are able to find part time workin the area of their expertise,” saysMahesh.

He adds that he could never ever imag-ine publishing a book, but he did, with thehelp of Kindle and now has his eyes set onmaking it the most sold book. Mahesh saysthat all the material came from the peoplewho connected to his blog – Esatsang andTrue Blessings – which gave him enough

material for hisbook ‘True Blessings’.

President of ISG, Hornsby, DavePassi, also of IT background, is slowly yetsurely guiding all the members of the asso-ciation towards the technological era andsays, “It is important to be part of thesocial network rather than isolating oneselfduring the aging years. We must stayactive not just physically but mentally aswell as there is a lot more to learn from thenet and stay connected to the world outthere, your friends and family.”

As members mixed and mingled overlunch there were other activities plannedsuch as ‘who will be able to make the best‘mummy’ – not the Indian type butEgyptian - of their partner using toiletpaper rolls’. In two rounds of the gamethere were two winners – Mr and Mrs Behland Santosh Verma and her friend Lalita.

That was not all as Kylie Willows, atrained teacher from Laughter YogaAustralia, did a Laughter Yoga sessionwith the seniors. Kylie believes that laugh-ter yoga is about getting in touch with yournatural and healthy desire to laugh freelyand that the exercises help seniors torelease stress and help achieve overallphysical and mental well being. Isn’t thatwhat we want to achieve in our old age –stay active, laugh a little and socially inter-act with our friends…the ISGH, during theSeniors Week, achieved all these.

I am sure, all the seniors went homelaughing.

The Australian National Maritime hascommissioned a film on IndianAustralians to share their stories in a

short film to be screened in its major newexhibition East of India – Forgotten tradewith Australia opening in June. Sydney basedfilmmaker Anupam Sharma of Film &Casting Temple is directing and producingthe film as his crew got busy with shoots allover Australia of Indians playing Holi atDarling Harbour and at Indo Aus Bal BharatiHindi School, life at NSW Uni, a Mundanceremony in South Australia and talking to afamily of three generations of Indians inAustralia and many more interesting aspectsof Indians settled here.

The film is intended to present the con-temporary relationships between India andAustralia, with a focus on the personal storiesof Australians with Indian heritage.

Exhibition Curator Michelle Linder said,“We are very excited to be working withAnupam Sharma in developing and producing

an entertaining and informative short film.The film will play an important role in ourforthcoming exhibition. The team at Film &Casting Temple has brought their knowledgeof Indian culture and links with the Indiancommunity across Australia to the project.”

Anupam Sharma said “To be commis-sioned to direct such an important film aboutlife today for Indian Australians is both agreat honour and a great responsibility. Myteam and I are excited to be involved in thisproject, as we demonstrate the multilayeredand multi faceted relations between India andAustralia”.

East of India - Forgotten trade withAustralia tracks Australia’s colonial linkswith India, the power and monopoly of theEnglish East India Company, and itsinevitable decline. It's a tale of ships andshipwrecks, rice and rum, officers and offi-cials, sailors, soldiers and servants and willrun 1 June - 18 August 2013.

Indian Australians from all walks of life

are asked to contribute their experiences oflife in Australia – both good and bad - to thefilm. For further information and to register

your interest to be interviewed email theCasting Director [email protected].

Kylie Willows, a trained teacher fromLaughter Yoga Australia, did a LaughterYoga session with the seniors.

Indian Seniors laugh, sing and connectduring Seniors’ Week

Maritime Museum commissions a film on Indian Australians

Anupam Sharma

By Ananya Soni

Philanthropy ‘is a desire to improvethe welfare of humanity’. InAustralia, philanthropic collections

amount to around $11 billion annuallyand volunteers contribute some 836 mil-lion hours annually, according to a 2005report by the Department of Families andCommunity Services. This representssignificant social investment in Australiathat is independent of investment by gov-ernments.

An analysis of data from a recentGallup WorldView poll has shown thatAustralia, along with New Zealand, isthe most generous of the 153 countriessurveyed, based on the proportion ofpopulation giving money to charity, vol-unteering time and helping a stranger.

We contribute a drop in the ocean asfar as the Indian community Down Underis concerned, in spite of being at the fore-front of being well off in Australia.

Holi Hullad 2013 on April 12, organ-ised by ILASA, The Indian Down Undernewspaper and Voice of India – MonikaGeetmala helped collect 351 Eye CataractSurgeries for the eye camps by VisionBeyond Aus run by Australian Indiandoctors in India.

Vision Beyond Aus has done enor-mous amount of work conducting over2,000 eye operations through Camps theyhave held in Rishikesh, Tughlakabad inDelhi, Garvadi in Tiruchirapalli and alsoAyodhya and in Burma,. In future theyplan to go to Cambodia and Kolkata andare looking at a target of 400,000 eyeoperations in the next five years.

“In Rishikesh and some of the areaswe have worked in have a high incidenceof treatable cataract and vision impair-ment amongst the poor. We need volun-teers, doctors, equipment or simplymoney which is as little as $28 for acataract eye operation to help achieve thegoal we have set out for ourselves,” saysDr Singh.

This year Holi Hullad also collectedfunds for the Diabetes Council ofAustralia. Dolly Soni and Shikha Natashaworked hard to bring sponsors, support-ers and the community for the cause asIndian community rank quite high as dia-betes sufferers in Australia both in Type1 and Type 2 diabetes.

Besides charitable work, the eveningwas also to celebrate Holi. And indeed itwas a fun-filled night at the ParravillaFunction Centre in Parramatta, withplenty of singing and dancing and a pro-fessional fashion show choreographed byDeepa Arora of Sanskriti School ofDance. In the end there was an entertain-ing song quiz hosted by Vinod Rajput andShailja Chandra. The program wasemceed by Amit Grover who kept allentertained throughout the evening.

Holi Hullad highlighted everyone’saltruistic nature as they all chipped in by

committing to one, two, some 10 andothers 20 eye operations. Chandru Tolanitopped it all with a pledge of 101 eyeoperations. Kamal Athwal of ParravillaFunction centre has been a strong sup-porter of the event making sure plenty offood was available and has not onlydonated himself for the last three yearsbut also brought in his friends to committo charity. Patel Brothers bought thepearl necklace auctioned on the night.Tuli Jewelers donated two pearl neck-laces for auction, Australian Opal Cuttersdonated opal set, Milan Bazaar Thandai,Curry Masters their curry mixes, Sabzeein Harris Park offered fruit for fruit plat-ter, Royal India dinner for two, JackTolani gifts for participants and RadioDhoom sound system and DJ. It was aconcerted effort by all the community,business community and artists for HoliHullad to have been a success for threeyears in a row.

Holi Hullad not only has helpedenable an annual platform to help peoplein need but also brought together com-munity members and the business com-munity to achieve its goal. In the past ithas helped Delhi University students toprovide for rickshaws, empowered poorwomen in slums by distributing sewingmachines and organizing lessons insewing. Holi Hullad has every yearpicked a local as well as an Indian chari-ty which is doing genuine work. Holi

Hullad team personally delivers tothese charities the money collected mak-ing sure the programs promised are exe-cuted as well. If one person donates ithelps a little bit but together the impactcan be manifold. The team at HoliHullad invites people to come forwardwith genuine charities they have comeacross in India, in their hometown wherethey have been personally involved oreven here who are doing work like theSydney doctors of Vision Beyond Aus.

People who donated eye surgeries

are: Chandru Tolani, Kamal Athwal,Sheba Nandkeolyar, Sue Advani, ArunaChandrala, Amarinder Bajwa, UshaPuri, Mala Mehta, Rekha Rajvanshi,Manbir Kohli, Shailja Chandra, MadhuChaudhary, Dr Prabhat & Neena Sinha,Preeti & Dinesh Thadani, Sneh Gupta &Dr Vijay Gupta, Piush & Sarika Gupta,The Indian Down Under newspaper,Sanjiv Raja, Global Women Network,Dharminder Singh, Lalit & NeeluAnand, Aruna Gupta, Geeta Gupta,Meena Mahanty, Cheeky Bites, CrowneEnterprises, Sanjay Deshwal, Maya DaDhaba, Kamini Shani, billu’s IndianEatery, Sharma’s Kitchen, GinerRestaurant, Kamlesh Chaudhary, Best &Less Travel, Poonam Bali Chibbar,Lata, Kiran Asija, Janki AdvaniBhandari, Dr Mehta, Murali Bhojwaniand Sol Voron.

In all 351 Eye Surgeries were donat-ed while $2,500 went to DiabetesCouncil of Australia.

Holi Hullad has in the last three yearscollected and donated funds for 16Rickshaws, $1000 to Queensland ReliefFund, 57 Sewing machines and SewingCertificate Courses for slum girls inDelhi helping them to empower them-selves, $1100 to Cambodian ChildrenTrust, $9,200 to Vision Beyond Aus and$2,750 to Diabetes Council Australia. Itis not the effort of three individuals but aunited community that has come forwardand has generously supported HoliHullad and helped raise over $24,000 inthese three years the amount duly passedon to the nominated charities in India andAustralia and receipts issued to everyonewho have donated.

Vison Beyond Aus’ benevolent workdoes not end with once a year evening byHoli Hullad Charity Night as we need toincrease community awareness and col-lectively help the team of doctors atVision Beyond Aus who have spent valu-able time in helping restore eye sights forpeople who cannot afford. Many peoplein India and other countries are so poorthat they cannot afford even an eye checkup. When these Eye Camps are held,they walk miles and even sleep outside inthe open waiting for their turn to getchecked up and operated. It is only $28for a cataract operation and it will go along way for a person who will get a lostvision back. Pledge of 350 cataract oper-ations is still a long way away from theset target.

Vision Beyond Aus have a websitethat provides more information:www.visionbeyondaus.com.au . You canalso pledge support by calling 1300 554409. And do spread the word!

Community


Holi Hullad raises funds for 351cataract eye operations

Dr Shailja Chaturvedi, doing great work in Rishkesh

Dr Indie Singh giving an audio visual presentation about Eye Camps in India

Community



Community

Although the Indian community madeits presence felt at Premier’sHarmony Dinner with opera singer

Heather Lee looking gorgeous in a sari asshe sang Australian national anthem in herbeautifully trained soprano voice, not evenone Indian member made to Premier’s hon-our list this year.

On April 10, NSW Premier BarryO’Farrell honoured five citizens for theirexemplary service to the multicultural com-munity in NSW.

Mr O’Farrell presented the inauguralPremier’s Multicultural Community Medalsat the annual Premier’s Harmony Dinner inSydney.

“NSW has one of the most culturally-diverse communities in the world – it’s ourdiversity and harmony that makes us theenvy of the world,” Mr O’Farrell said.

“Our multicultural community is alsoone of our biggest assets – with a populationcoming from more than 180 countries, thereis no language or culture that is unfamiliarwhen NSW businesses engage with theworld.”

Minister for Citizenship andCommunities Victor Dominello describedthe five medal recipients as “heroes of mul-ticulturalism”.

“We are all indebted to each of theseheroes of multiculturalism for their serviceto community harmony and their assistancein the successful settlement and integrationof thousands of people who have chosen tomake NSW their home.”

More than 700 people attended theHarmony Dinner at Doltone House inPyrmont as the Premier presentedCommunity Medals to: Ms Maha KrayamAbdo, OAM, for her extensive service tothe Islamic community and support forwomen of many cultures. She works tire-lessly to promote inter-cultural and inter-faith dialogue; Mr John Caputo, OAM, foroutstanding service to the Italian communityand broader Australian community, includ-ing serving as patron to numerous commu-nity and sporting organizations; Mr HudsonChen, OAM, for his leadership in theChinese and broader Australian communi-ties. He has helped raise more than $1 mil-lion for disaster relief and community char-ities; Mr Ernie Friedlander, OAM, for serv-ices to the Jewish community and for beinga driving force in creating community har-mony through organising events connectedto Harmony Day; Mr Jon Soemarjono forhis commitment and provisionof extensive welfare services tothe Indonesian community, thepromotion of its culture andpromotion of inter-faith dia-logue.

During the HarmonyDinner the Premier alsoannounced that three morenames were inductedposthumously to theMulticultural Honour Rollestablished in 2012. Theyare: Ulla Bartels: formedthe South-East AsianCommunity Assistance Centrewhich then grew in size andscope to become theCabramatta CommunityCentre; Francesco (Frank)Calabro AM: the first Italianborn member of the NSWParliament. He was elected

in 1970 and served 18 years in theLegislative Council, and Wadim (Bill)Jegorow AM MBE: foundation president ofthe Ethnic Communities Council of NSWand contributed to the establishment ofSBS.

“The recipients of the Premier’sMulticultural Community medals and thoseinducted into the state’s MulticulturalHonour Roll all have something in common– a dedication to building harmony andunity in our community,” Mr Dominellosaid.

“With one-quarter of our citizens bornoverseas and about 260 languages spokenhere, tonight’s Harmony Dinner has been amagnificent celebration of the importanceof our cultural diversity, one of our state’sgreatest assets.

“This annual event is now a permanentpart of our calendar of significant events inNSW and it will grow to become one of themajor events of the year in this state”, MrDominello said.

And to our Indian community! Nextyear make sure to put in nominations onbehalf of selfless

Indian community workers who haveactively participated and worked for multi-cultural community in a positive way.

Some Indian guests at the Multicultural Dinner posing with Minister Victor Dominello.

The worldsprints but

Liberals crawlwith NBN

As the world moves ahead andInternet becomes our mainstayin daily lives with networking,

socializing, seeing movies at home onthose big screens, streaming, down-loading music, talking on Tango, Viberand Skype, Liberals have come up witha limiting proposal for the BroadbandNetwork at 100 Megabytes a second, amere two times faster than the presentcapacity. Now compare that toSingapore and South Korea which areaiming for 80X…yes 80 times faster atone Gigabyte per second speed. Are wemoving forward or going ‘downunder’!

At least the Gillard Government isproposing 8X times faster speed at 100Mega Bytes per second for the NationalBroadband Network (NBN), althoughlagging our Asian neighbours’ futureplans but not ridiculously retrograde asthe Liberal’s plan.

More and more Australians arereading news as it happens, playinggames, shopping online, studyingthrough virtual class rooms, usingsmart phones. Do we want to be leftbehind the rest of the world as it movesinto an era of talking cars, fridges,microwave ovens and holographicimages and 3D image projection in ourfamily rooms. We have to move for-ward with futuristic technology whichis bound to surround us whether welike it or noHindi Language teachers at the Multicultural Dinner

Multicultural leaders honored by Premier

Heather Lee singing the national anthemat Premier’s Harmony Dinner

Bollywood


By K. Raman

Shreya Ghoshal was in town recently(her third trip in three years) on herlast leg of a well-planned whirlwind

Australian tour. Her show held at The HillsCentre on March 2 was a house full affair.Accompanied by a male singer and a sevenmember Orchestra, she presented 25 liltingmelodies, predominantly recently releasedsensational numbers.

Shreya tried her best to sing in allIndian regional languages but, as expected,Hindi medium and Bollywood songs domi-nated her repertoire. Her stage presencewas impeccable as she used the stage welland maintained her rapport perfectly withher backing group. She managed to keepher audience under wrap, though they werescreaming with all sorts of requests as andwhen she finished a song. But very tactful-ly she managed the show in her own way.A very important feature of her presenta-tion was her liberal use of ‘Manodharmam’(improvisation) all through her rendition,not an easy act to follow.

Earlier, on February 27, she met thelocal media at Bavarchi Restaurant alongwith her father Biswajeeth Ghoshal andTablist turned concert organiser AbhinavUpadhyaya. Though experts correctly saythat Shreya is highly gifted, she said thecredit went to her mother, Sarmistha, andher father. Shreya’s mother is a highlytrained and celebrated classical musicianand she did not leave any stone unturned toinspire and instil in her daughter the intri-cacies of classical music. Her father, aNuclear Physicist by profession, a loving,caring and disciplined gentleman, playedhis role as an ideal father to bring up hisdaughter enriched with Indian values. Shealso said, during the interview, that herfather was an exceptionally good cook.

As a keen music follower I was alwaysfascinated by Shreya Ghoshal’s gifts injudicial use and perfect play with Tonics,

intonation, diction and next to perfect pro-nunciation of words in various Indian lan-guages in which she sang with merit.Shreya is the only singer I know whose dic-tion and pronunciation in regional lan-guages is impeccable. She took this compli-ment humbly and said if one puts in hardyakka it is not too hard to achieve success.

Commenting upon the perceived deteri-oration of musical standard in Indian filmslately, Shreya attributed the change inmusical taste to listeners which is bound tooccur, she said. She did not forget to singleout Lataji as her favourite singer and saidthat in her stage concerts she always makesit a point to sing one or two of her favouriteLata renditions.

Shreya has sung well over three hun-dred songs in Malayalam, where she isknown as ‘Malayalthinde Kuyil’ (theNightingale of Malayalam). Malayaleeslove her and believe sincerely that she wassupposed to be born in Kerala, but by someerror in God’s planning she landed atBerhampur of West Bengal. Whatever itmay be, Keralites regard her as their owngirl.

Malayalam, Shreya said, was a hardlanguage to tackle because it is Sanskritbased and clarity of word pronunciationis achieved by the conglomeration ofnumerous precise sounding words. Sheseeks finer details on word intonationfrom the Music Directors and workshard on it till she attains perfection.

Touring, according to her, is hectic,for example, she did three concerts onthree consecutive nights in three cities ofour sprawling country.

Speaking on her future, Shreya said,she was pestered by her mum non-stop onget married and settle down. She agrees tothat concept but currently, there was noroom left in her mind except music and sobe it, no changes in the status quo. “Oneday it will happen,” she said.

Speaking on her good looks and chis-

elled featureswhy she wasnot enteringthe actingfield, shesaid shehad no act-ing tal-ents atall. Theo n l yp e r s o nshe has,so far,c o n -v i n c e dw i t h

her acting (that too in threateningand embarrassing situations) washer mother.

Shreya speaks with eloquenceand logic, with good choice ofwords and has a pleasing disposi-tion. In the cut throat and mud-slinging singing field ofBollywood, she remains untar-

nished and free of unpleasant gos-sips. That itself is a Houdini act.

Keep it up Shreya.

A charming singer, Shreya GhoshalThough famous as a Bollywood singer, Shreya is the only singer I know whosediction and pronunciation in regional languages is impeccable. She was on a whirlwind Australia tour recently.

Ghoshal has been recognised withmultiple awards and nominationsfor her work in music.

She won the National Film Award forBest Female Playback Singer four times,5 Filmfare Awards and 7 Filmfare

Awards South. Her hit songs includeChikni Chameli (Agneepath), Ooh la la(The Dirty Picture), Teri meri(Bodyguard), Jaadu Hai Nasha Hai(Jism), Agar Tum Mil Jao (Zeher), andDola Re Dola (Devdas).

Both audiences and awards love her

Shreya Ghoshal is all set to judge reality show Indian Idol Junior 2013 along with musiccomposer duo Vishal Dadlani and Shekhar Ravjiani.

Shreya Ghoshalreceiving theNational Award forbest Playback Singerin 2009 from thenPresident PratibhaPatil.


Community

Colors of Holi Mahotsav

Sonia Sadiq of GoWyld Events married Sohum Gandhi when guests were taken to a national park as a surprise location celebrity style

Suman Pruthi got a pleasant surprise on her 60th birthday from herfamily. Here she is with her sisters Babli Khera and Kusum Sehgal.

Largest Holi Mahotsav in Australia iscelebrated at Tumbalong Park atDarling Harbour, Sydney where not

only thousands turn up from the communi-ty, it is equally shared and celebrated bylocal Australians as well as travelers fromaround the world. Organised by BhavanAustralia, on April 7, over 15,000 peopleturned Sydney into a riot of colours and

enjoyed ceremonies, entertainment andfood.

Now in its 11th year, Holi Mahotsav isa 3-day event which Sydney can’t haveenough of, performing, participating,cookery, meditation -- it is a cultural jour-ney of India which has become a pride ofcommunity – a showcase of everythingIndian in Sydney.

Community


Tourism council to promote Aust-Ind travelOld passions die hard. A few former

stalwarts in the travel trade havejoined hands to promote networking

and tourism between Australia and India andhave launched the Australia India Travel &Tourism Council (AITTC) on March 20 atthe Grace Hotel in Sydney.

The Council is the idea of Sandip Hor(AITTC Chairman), Shankar Dhar, formerRegional Director India Tourism, DaleWoodhouse, Arnold De Souza, KK Gupta,former Air India manager, and Sanjeet andAsgar Ali from India. Following the launch,the Council’s immediate task will be to for-mulate a strategic plan, outline future direc-tion and identify initiatives to add value toboth the industry and its members, SandipHor said.

AITTC is a voluntary organisation thathas a vision to positively influence the bilat-eral tourist traffic between the two nations. Itis envisaged that its members will come froma wide spectrum – from airlines, hotels, touroperators, travel agents and media.

The launch was attended by India’s HighCommissioner Biren Nanda who commentedthat India-Australia relations stood at a happyjuncture. There were strong people to peoplerelationships, growing business opportunitiesand student representation. He said that therewas a time when under Colombo Plan Indianstudents studied in Australia. The trendshould now reverse with Australian studentsgoing to India, he said.

A message from the Minister forTourism, Martin Ferguson, read at thelaunch, said that the Australian governmentwas committed to growing visitor numbersfrom India. “Organisations such as AITTC,which aim to provide travel and tourismbetween Australia and India, will play animportant role in increasing the number ofvisitors. Through travel, we can increasecultural exchange and understanding betweenAustralia and India and the economic bene-fits that accompany tourism,” the message

said.NSW government’s Member from

Baulkham Hills, David Elliot, recognised thefact that Indian soldiers fought along sideAustralians in World War I. “Our relation-ship is on shared heritage,” he said. He high-lighted Premier Barry O’Farrell’s regularvisits to India to build up a strong businessrelationship.

The presence of award-winning film-maker Madhur Bhandarkar at the launchmade the evening more interesting. He saidthat he and his team were in Australia to lookat some suitable shooting locations inSydney, Gold Coast and Perth. It was hisfirst time in Australia and he absolutelyfound the scenic beauty of Australia amaz-ing, he said.

In a short message, Madhur proposed anAustralian tie-up by offering subsidies toBollywood film makers to mutually benefitfrom the large potential the industry offers.

The evening ended with a number of pre-sentations by sponsor Sumo Global.

Foreign Minister Bob Carrwelcomed a major opinionpoll out on April 17 which

has confirmed public support inIndia for a strong and growing rela-tionship with Australia.

The survey by the LowyInstitute for International Policyand the Australia India Instituteindicates Indians see Australia asgood place to visit, live, work andstudy.

Australia is viewed as a countrythat is friendly to India, with attrac-tive values, strong educational insti-tutions and a sound political sys-tem.

Foreign Minister Bob Carracknowledged the contribution bothorganisations had made towards thebilateral relationship betweenAustralia and India.

“This report focuses on ourshared values and interests whichhave seen Australia’s relationshipwith India develop into one of ourkey strategic and economic partner-ships in the region,” Senator Carrsaid. “It is gratifying to see positiveresults of Indian feelings towards

Australia, Indian judgments of thequality of Australia’s education sys-tem, and Indian views on workingwith Australia in our shared neigh-bourhood.

“Building on the ties betweenboth our peoples is an integral com-ponent of that partnership – in ourrelations with India, and in theAustralia in the Asian Centre WhitePaper as a whole.”

Senator Carr acknowledgedthere were elements of the relation-ship where Australia needed to domore.

The report noted lingering con-cerns regarding the issue of safetyfor Indian students in Australia butshowed the overall perception thatAustralia’s education standards wasstrong, with 75 per cent of Indiansseeing Australia as a good place tobe educated.

Australia’s Indian communityof more than 450,000 is our fastestgrowing migrant community andIndia is our second-largest sourceof international students.

The report is available at:

www.lowyinstitute.org

(From Left): Bollywood film director Madhur Bhandarkar withVijay Kumar, Sandeep Hor and Indian High Commissioner Biren Nanda

(From Left):Nihal Gupta,Sandeep Hor,Indian High

CommissionerBiren Nanda,Member forParramattaGeoff Lee,and Phillip

Pratley

Australian Foreign Minister Hon. Bob Carr speaks to media at a press conference with Indian Minister forExternal Affairs, Salman Khurshid after a bilateral meeting during Mr. Carr's visit to India early this year.

(Picture by Graham Crouch)

Survey confirms strength of Australia-India ties


Children’s Corner

Children's Corner By Esther Chaudhry-Lyons

On a bright sunny day a host of dovesdecided to fly in search of food. Theyflew over cities and villages till they

came to an open space with rich green grassbetween banyan trees.

“Hey, look down there! I can see somefood-grains scattered amongst the grass,”cried the youngest dove in the flock. “I amhungry and tired of flying. Let us get downand enjoy the grains now.” And he flappedhis wings with joy while trying to descenddown to the ground.

“Wait!” shouted the leader of the flock.“There may be some trap laid down there forus. Why should anyone throw grains for thebirds in this isolated area, far from the cityand village?”

“Stop being suspicious. This must be apicnic area, and someone must have thrownthe left overs,” one of the young doves fromamongst the flock said.

“Let us waste no more time. I am hungrytoo,” said another dove.

“Well, if you all insist and are so hungrythat you do not mind risking your lives, weshall get down to the earth and feast on thosegrains,” said the leader, an elderly dove.

Soon the flock of doves was on the groundenjoying the grains. It tasted great after longtiring flight and hunger. Suddenly, as if fromnowhere, a net came down on them and theywere all trapped under it.

“We are caught in a trap! Oh Lord saveus,” cried the flock of doves in great anxiety.

“I told you to be careful, didn’t I,” saidthe leader, “anyway, don’t panic. God helpsthose who help themselves. Our freedom is inour hands. Unity is our only hope andstrength. Stay calm and let me think fast.”After a little thought he said again, “I have anidea. We must all act together. We shall all

fly up, carrying the net with us.”Each dove picked up a part of the net in

its beak and then, all together they flutteredtheir wings and flew up. The hunter who wascoming to get his catch stood amazed at thesight of the flying doves with the net and all.He tried with no success to chase after themwith the hope that the net and the doveswould fall down. But the doves flew higherand higher when they saw him running afterthem.

The leader took his companions to the topof a small mountain and over the bank of ariver where his friend mouse lived. As soonas the net with the doves was down on thebank of the river, the leader called out to hisfriend.

“What has happened?” the mouse called ashe came out of his home. “Why are youyelling so desperately?”

“We are entrapped by a cruel hunter. Nowonly you can save us from our captivity bychewing the net off us,” the leader said plead-ingly.

The mouse called out to his other friendmice and soon they cut the net with theirsharp teeth and freed the birds one afteranother. The leader preferred to be freed lastas he said that the leader has to think of theothers first before his own self. He said hisduty was to protect those under his responsi-bility before he was to be protected and savedfrom the danger.

The doves all thanked the mice and thenwith great flapping sound of wings rose intothe sky towards their homes, happy and safe.

Unity and team work is always the greateststrength of all, not muscle and material gains.One must have friends and trust each other soone can work in unity and harmony to getpeace of mind and strength.

One day a man was going tomarket with his son and hisass. They met a couple on

the way."Why walk when you have an

ass to ride?" called out the husband,"seat the boy on the ass".

"I would like that," said the boy,"help me up father."

And the father did that willingly.Soon they met another couple.

"How shameful of you!" cried thewoman, "let your old father ride,won't he be tired?"

So, the boy got down and thefather rode the ass. Again theymarched on.

"Poor boy", said the next personthey met, "why should the lazy fatherride while his son is walking?"

So, the boy got onto the ass too.As they went on, they met some trav-ellers.

"How cruel of them!" They areup to killing the poor ass," cried oneof the travellers.

Hearing this, the father and theson got down. Now they decided tocarry the ass on their shoulders. Asthey did so, the travellers broke intolaughter.

The laughter frightened the ass. Itbroke free and galloped away.

The grandson ofChandragupta – the founderof the Mauryan dynasty –

and the son of Bindusara, came tothe throne in 268 B.C. He died in233 B.C. Ashoka was a brave sol-dier. He was the most famous ofthe Mauryan kings and was one ofthe greatest rulers of India.During his father's reign, he wasthe governor of Ujjain and Taxila.Emperor Ashoka extended theMaurya Empire to the whole ofIndia except the deep South andthe south-east, reaching as far asCentral Asia.

After eight years of rule, hewaged a fierce war against thekingdom of Kalinga (Orissa oftoday). Ashoka succeeded in con-

quering Kalinga after the bloodywar in which 100,000 men werekilled, 150,000 injured and thou-sands were captured as slaves.

The sight of the slaughterinvolved in his conquest deeplydistressed Ashoka. This was aturning point in his life. He wasso horrified at the carnage he hadcaused that he gave up violenceand turned to Buddhism. Herenounced war and started follow-ing the Buddhist preachings oflove and ahimsa (non-violence).He gave up hunting and slaughter-ing of animals and became a strictvegetarian. He sent missionariesto countries as remote as Greeceand Egypt; his own son, a monk,carried Buddhism to Sri Lanka,

where it is still the major religion. Under his reign Buddhism

spread to Syria, Egypt,Macedonia, Central Asia, andBurma. For spread of Buddhism,he started inscribing edicts onrocks and pillars at places wherepeople could easily read them.These pillars and rocks are stillfound in India, spreading theirmessage of love and peace for thelast two thousand years.

It was because of Ashoka thatthe idea of non-violence (Ahimsa)was established in India. In 1947Gandhiji was able to bring aboutthe independence of India throughthe philosophy of Non-violence.Ashoka built the Grand TrunkRoad running from the north tothe south of India. He built resthouses and wells, planted trees forshade on the sides of the road forthe travellers.

In spite of Ashoka's vigorousexertions of faith, he was tolerantof other religions. The empireenjoyed remarkable prosperity

during his reign. To his ideasAshoka gave the name Dharma.The capital atop of Ashoka pillarin Sarnath, inspired the use ofback-to-back lions as India’snational emblem. The 24-spokedAshoka-chakra, "Dharma Chakra"on the Ashoka Pillar has found itsway into the Indian national flag.The name "Ashoka" means "with-out sorrow" in Sanskrit. In hisedicts he is referred to as"Devaanaampriya" or "TheBeloved of the Gods of Heaven”.

Emperor Ashoka

The Ashoka Chakra, featured onthe flag of the Republic of India

Map of Ashoka Empire

UNITY IS STRENGTH You Can't PleaseEveryone

HISTORY OF OUR MOTHERLAND INDIAEmperor Ashoka

You cannot please everyoneMORAL:

��

�� !��"�#��$��%&$��$��'��(')�� *�� +"�,

�� - $�.� �.� ''�� .''�� %�� *�� .� ''�� (/��)�.� � � � � �� "�#0$�� (��11��(�)�.�� %�� 22,

110)�� 3�� "�#��$��(�� 4� �� - $�� '�� 3� �� 5� �� 622

11�� %��7�+�� %�� 11�� 8�) +��$�%�� +��$22��%��%��%��9��.�� ).��,22

11�� )('� %�� 9�� +��(�� 622� �� :/(��)�,

11�� (//� ��(�)�� %��%��+"��+!��'�(�)�,�'��'�;� �� )('� �� +"�� (�)�,��)��+!�� <�� (��+".��,22

11�� 5�� - $�.� �� ''�%�� +=� ��)��>22� �� /� (��)�,

11%�� 5�� %��%��(�&�� 5��).�� $� �?�� +�;�� ,� �� %(�(�0�� %�� ?�� 3� @� )�� (�A� (��)�� 5 �� (�� BC� �� DE� (��$� :(�('� �� 1"�)F$�+�� 9$G�� 3��F�"�:�/�2%�('��.��.��)�� (�� ,� )��H� �� (��1(":�/2� �� (�)�.� �� +"�!��)'�� ?�5�� ,22

11�� "�#��$�� (��+I)�'�� "�� +�;�� %��J��)��3�22�� * K�� ,

%�(��"�#��$�� +"�� +!�� ,

+�� (�� )�� / �L� �� '�,

�� '�� (+=)�� $G0� $�� 9��$�� / +�� $� %�� #��@��$�� M�� )�� (��(�� 5�� 3N

"�#0$�� (�� (�� BC@DE� (��$� �� %�O)� �� :�� (�P�� Q�� % ��=��(��$��5�� 5�(�)�,

�� 5� �.� �+"� �)�� (�� (��9��"� �� 5�� )�� (�� '��.� �� ,� )�('� DE� (��$� ��Q��)��%��R�(��$�� 5�� )�� 6>>>>� +�� +��S5�� 0)��+!��)'�� (�� '�� )��,�

�� +"�� /��/�� 7��7�� "��4

�� -�� %�� .�� %S*�� +�� '�� %�� (�� %��(F�� 9�� ,

��!��+"��(��(�9��.��M��N��(�� '�� (�'�� 50�� 3�� %�� ' �� (�9�� .�S5�.� �� (�)�� J �� %�� .� ��(�)�� %�� (�T�).� �3,� J�(+")�H%�� +"� ��T�� ?�� 3�� "��+��$��%��.��$G��.��' (U��+"��' ��@��(�)�� ?�� /��H� - �� ?�� (�� 3�� *� �� V��.�� *� %�� M��.� �.W) (+�� &�� )�N� %�� *� ��+"�,

��.�� *�' ��+"�� .� ��$G� �� 3,

�� %�� (��)�� %�� %�� .�� $� (��)�� %�� .� �� - ��,

� "� �.� +� /�� '�+"� ��0)�.(�� X)��/� �� X'�� +"�� 5�� ?��(�� +!�/� /�� .� ��#"�� 5�� ,

�� .� �.� �� *��($�� 11�'� ��(�� $�� ?��%�� X�(��T�� 22,

�� +"�� '�� (�)�� L�� )�%�� +�� '�� ?�� Y�� (�� (�� J�(+")�.� ��*��#"��"�(+��9��Y��#)!7�."�%��?�5�%�� '�� T�� 9�� +��+�� 5�� ,

+�� ZC� (��$� 5��

��*�� +"� �� '�� %��[)(0�� +�� %�)�,� %�� %�� ,

��+"�� %�� 5�� $��?��(�)��' ��%��5�� )�,� -+"�� '�� +�� RC� (��$�� )�� %�� )��,

�� .� 0)�� '�� 3�� \�� #Q$�� - �� ('�� +"�,��+��%��(�)�� ] � � % 0 � � � ) � � H��#Q$�� ('�� '�� 3,� �� (!�� %�� 5��.%�� 50�� ,� �� ^)�� '�� 5�� (�� %��(&�� (��%�� Y�� .� �<�� ' �� ''��.�- ��,��_��L��)��%��%5��)�'�%�)�(�� 1("$./� �.$�2� �� *� (�`) �� (��

%�� (�� YX�� = �"� �� ,� /�)'YX�� /�� )�� 0)�.(�� /0�� (�`) ��,

��+"�� '�� '� ��#Q$�� 5�� )�� ('�� T+"�� +"�� +�� %�� .� �� 5�� (�� ,

�&'�� .� �� $� �� %��

�� <�� %�� (�� (��5�,

��+"�� %�� +=�� *� %�� ('�� +"�� &�� ?��,� ��H�� *� �� %�� V��.� �� $G�(�� '��,��%�'��#��!�.��%�� V�� Y�� %��+�� #�� H�� .� "�� Y�� %��,

' ��[)(0��%�� V��Y<��<�� $G�(�� '�� (�� %�� %�� V�� 0� ��.� �� '�� (�� (�� .� �� ,

)��'�� "�� *<��?%��%��Y��7 ��%��+=�� (�� +�'�� Y� �� '�� .�� (�� %5�� V�� %�� +��.� �� '��%�� 3�� / �L� �� (')�,� �� (��.��+=��(��.�%��"$��%��%��

�� V�� %�� .!��".�� '�� V�� ,� �� (��)�� (�� V��(��+=�� (�)�� %�� +�� ,

�� %�a�(�O�� "��)�%��Y&$��H��+"��?��%�� V�� *�� %�� V�� (�� Y�� *�,� �� 1%�#�(W��29��"� �� V�� (��"�� +"� (')�� %�� .%�� '��5�,� �� V�� $�� '��+"��+"��$��3��Y�� .� ��5� �� %�T�� (�� 5 �� ,� / �7�� )�(�� Y�� .� ��$�� (&�� $G�� $� �� .� %�� '��.� ��+"� �� ,

%�� (�5 �/� )�� (�� +�� (�� +"�� %�� $�H�� '��5�� ?�� ,

�� .� �� V�� (�� %��?�5�,

��)�� (�� .� ��#�� +� /�� J �� ,

11��"�+!� �4�) �F) $�4422�� V�� 5 �� %�� V�� 5 W�� (�� 5�$� 5�$�� '�� ,

%�(�� (�� ^)�� %�� )�� 11��#�� $�-��%�� )�� $��#"� �� V�� $�� ,� �� 5��.� %�('� ��+"�� (�)�� (�� $G�(�� '�� ,22

��.�� 9��?��%�)��(�� 5�� ('�� 3�� (�� - �$� �� 5 �� )�� 0)�.(�� V��+��.�%��,

�� 5� �� %�� 5�� %�� %�a��W�� +!�� <��?�5� 5 �� ,

�� W/ '�� 5�+�.��/��Y<��5��(�� +!�� J$�� 5 �� (�� !��9��L�� %�� $�+=�� 5�� 3,

�� (��

��

38 THE INDIAN DOWN UNDER April 2013

Santram's Grey Page

March was a busy month with vari-ous community associations,Councils and the Government of

NSW celebrating ‘Seniors Week’ duringMarch 17-24 March.

I spoke to SBS Radio Hindi programmepresenter Kumud Merani as the President of‘Australian Hindi Indian Association’(AHIA) about the contributions of our asso-ciation and other Indian associations inSydney. It gave me an opportunity to informSBS listeners about AHIA activities to help

the seniors in their social, cultural and emo-tional needs as monthly meetings, picnics,cruises, seminars, specialists’ talks and otheractivities are regularly organised for them.Members come from all corners of Sydneyto attend these meetings.

This is being done without any govern-ment financial help to us.

During Senior’s Week, there were talks,seminars, IT workshops, stage events, enter-tainment, walks with family members, pic-nics and Premier’s three Gala Concerts at theSydney Entertainment Centre.

Seniors from different organisationswere given Achievement Awards by theAgeing, Disability and Home Care (ADHC)department.

With ‘Live Life!’ as the official motto ofthe ADHC, an estimated 250,000 seniors

attended more than 900 events throughoutNSW during the Seniors’ Week; no wonderage is not an hindrance in living gracefully.

The Federal Government, too,announced some good news in the form ofpension increases for the seniors who arepensioners.

From 20 March 2013 pension rates willnot only increase in line with cost of livingincreases, but will also benefit from theintroduction of the Clean EnergySupplement. This will result in an increase

of $35.80 per fortnight on a single AgePension and $54.00 a fortnight for pensionercouples combined on the maximum rate. TheClean Energy Supplement (CES) is “anongoing payment to help eligible householdswith any impact from the carbon price oneveryday expenses… provided you are resid-ing permanently in Australia,” according toFederal Government guidelines.

The new maximum pension rates are$733.70 (single) and $1106.20 combined forpensioner couple.

Most people are known to overeat,especially when the food is irre-sistibly delicious.

Here are some remedies for digestion:� One of the most common remedies

is to take two spoons of lime and ginger juice,and honey mixed in a glass of warm water,after your heavy-duty meal.

� Add a teaspoon of roasted andground coriander seeds to a glass of buttermilk and have it.

� Munching a teaspoon of aniseed

after your meal, will provide relief.� Another effective remedy is to have

a teaspoon of ajwain seeds along with a pinchof black salt.

� Mix a teaspoon of roasted cumin(jeera) powder in a glass of water and drink it.

� Drinking green tea or herbal teaafter your meal is a great way to aid in diges-tion.

� Drink a glass of water to which afew drops of peppermint extract has beenadded.

� Add about two teaspoons of corian-der juice to a glass of buttermilk. Drinkingthis will provide relief.

� If you know that you are planning topig out for a meal, chew on some fresh gingerslices with a pinch of salt. Doing this will helpstimulate the digestive juices.

� Place a packet of ice over yourstomach to seek relief.

� Add about a teaspoon of baking sodato half a glass of water and drink it. This isknown to provide instant relief.

Turmeric/Curcumin: This is the king ofspices when it comes to dealing with cancer dis-eases, besides it adding a zesty colour to ourfood on the platter. Turmeric contains the pow-erful Polyphenol Curcumin that has been clini-cally proven to retard the growth of cancer cellscausing prostrate cancer, melanoma, breast can-cer, brain tumour, pancreatic cancer andleukemia amongst a host of others. (However,Cancer patients: Do not load your diet withturmeric or Curcumin supplements without doc-tor's consult or prescribed dosage).

Fennel: Armed with phyto-nutrients andantioxidants, cancer cells have nothing but toaccept defeat when the spice is fennel.'Anethole', a major constituent of fennel resistsand restricts the adhesive and invasive activitiesof cancer cells. It suppresses the enzymatic reg-ulated activities behind cancer cell multiplication

Saffron: A natural carotenoid dicarboxylicacid called 'Crocetin' is the primary cancer-fighting element that saffron contains. It not onlyinhibits the progression of the disease but alsodecreases the size of the tumour by half, guar-anteeing a complete goodbye to cancer.

Cumin: A portent herb with anti-oxidantcharacteristics, cumin seeds contain a compoundcalled 'Thymoquinone' that checks proliferation

of cells responsible for prostate cancerYou canrediscover the magic of cumin inyour regular bowl of tadka dal andrice too!

Cinnamon: A natural food pre-servative, cinnamon is a source of ironand calcium. Useful in reducing tumourgrowth, it blocks the formation of newvessels in the human body. Some of theeffective ways of including cinnamon inyour diet are:

Start your day with a cup of cinnamon tea(in leaf or sachet)

Oregano: More than a pizza or pasta top-ping, oregano confirms its worth as a potentialagent against prostate cancer. Consisting of anti-microbial compounds, just one teaspoon oforegano has the power of two cups of redgrapes! Phyto-chemical 'Quercetin' present inoregano restricts growth of malignant cells in thebody and acts like a drug against cancer-centricdiseases.

Cayenne Pepper/Capsaicin (Chilli pep-pers): A promising spice with anti-cancer prop-erties, an overdose of chilli peppers howevershould be restrained. Capsaicin induces theprocess of apoptosis that destroys potential can-cer cells and reduces the size of leukemia tumourcells considerably. It can be concluded that apart

from setting our tongues on fire, chillipeppers can scare cancerpathogens off too.

Ginger: This humble spiceboasts of medicinal qualities thathelp lowering cholesterol,

boost metabolism and killcancer cells. Easily added to

vegetable dishes, fish prepa-rations and salads, ginger

enhances the flavour in cooking. Chew on freshparsley if the odour bothers you.

Others: Cloves, anise, basil, garlic, car-away, fenugreek, mustard, mint leaves, rose-mary, Limonin (fresh lemon), virgin olive, vine-gar and avocado are other cancer-fighting dietcomponents.(Disclaimer: The Health tips in the article are taken from vari-ous well established and reliable sources and are given to you ingood faith. However, readers are reminded to take care and con-sult their doctor if not sure, as no responsibility can be accept-ed by the writer of this column or The Indian Down Under).

The American HeartAssociation has revealed sixcommon foods that are major

sources of salt in our diets, includ-ing bread, cured meats, pizza andsandwiches.

Surprisingly the "salty six"doesn't include snack foods likechips, the association said.

The Excess sodium could poten-tially raise blood pressure, thusincreasing the risk for stroke andheart disease.

The "salty six" foods are:1. Bread and rolls - One piece

of bread can have as much as 230mg of sodium that adds up quicklyif bread is consumed at every meal.

2. Old cuts and cured meats -Cured meats have lot of sodium,and a serving of deli or pre-pack-aged turkey can have as much as1,050 mg of sodium.

3. Pizza - One slice can have upto 760 mg of sodium.

4. Poultry - Frozen breaded

chicken nuggets contain about600 mg of salt, while evenpackaged raw chicken oftencontains added sodium.

5. Soup - A bowl of soupcontains around 940 mg of sodi-um.

6. Sandwiches- Combiningbreads with cured meats andcheeses ups the sodium level in asandwich, especially if salt-heavycondiments like mustard andketchup are added.

Just for SeniorsBy Santram Bajaj

A husband, trying to proveto his wife that women talkmore than men, showed her astudy which indicated that menuse on the average only 15,000words a day, whereas womenuse 30,000 words a day.

She thought about this for awhile and then told her husbandthat women use twice as manywords as men because they haveto repeat everything they say, asthe men don’t listen the firsttime.

He said, "What?"

HUMOUR

Health & Well-being

Why fish oilshould be a part

of your diet

It has omega 3 that reduces the risk ofheart diseases. It reduces the levelsof LDL cholesterol, which is bad

cholesterol, and increases the HDL lev-els or the good cholesterol. To protectthe heart, one should eat food containingfish oil.

Fish oil is good for hair, skin and canalso combat diseases.

A research in Australia has provedthat fish consumption can be used tocure hypertension and obesity. Thestudy has discovered that a weight-lossdiet which includes a regular amount offish consumption can be quite effective.

People who are suffering from respi-ratory problems like asthma should eatfood containing fish oil.

Omega 3 fish oil can help preventthree of the most common forms of can-cer — breast, colon and prostate.

Fish oil enhances the lustre of yourhair. Omega three has properties thathelps faster hair growth and preventshair loss. Since most fish are rich in pro-tein, eating fish helps in keeping hairhealthy.

Fish oil helps in improving the con-dition of dry skin by making it shiny andglowing. It is useful in treating variousskin problems such as eczema, psoriasis,itching, and redness of skin, skin lesionsand rashes.

Home remedies to cure indigestion

Top six salty foods you must NEVER have

Goodness of Indian spiceswith cancer-fightingproperties

Body Mind Spirit

November - December 2012 THE INDIAN DOWN UNDER 39

Among the impressive lineupof 500 of story tellers fromthe around the world that

include Molly Ringwald, NaomiWolf, William Dalrymple, RobertGreene, Ruby Wax, Archie Roach,Edward Rutherfurd, Hannah Kent,James Wood, Joe Rospars, KarlOve Knausgaard, Kate Atkinson,Kate Mosse, Michael Sandel, andGillian Meares, we have this yearsome well known Indian writerscoming in May to 2013 SydneyWriters’ Festival. Now in its 16thyear as an independent company,the fest reflects on The Art ofStorytelling and brings together thebest storytellers and best live story-telling concepts in one super liter-ary week.

This year the Festival will beheld, May 20 –May 26. JemmaBirrell, in her debut year as Artistic

Director of the festival, said at thelaunch: “This year, SydneyWriters’ Festival celebrates thesimple pleasure of being told agreat tale. Stories lie at the heart ofour lives. We need them to under-stand ourselves, to understand oth-ers, to make sense of the worldaround us. In 2013 we look at thedepth and breadth of storytellingfrom Australia and around theworld.”

Anita Desai was born and edu-cated in India. Her published worksinclude many award-winning shortstory collections and novels, threeof which have been shortlisted forthe Booker Prize, most recently{Fasting, Feasting}. She is aFellow of the Royal Society ofLiterature and of the AmericanAcademy of Arts and Letters, andlives in New York.

By Neena Badhwar

Like vintage wine, K L Saigal’svoice was silken, smooth andmellow with an enriching pal-

let that could entrance the listeners,flowing flawlessly through the highnodes and unblemished through thelower octaves, heavenly in its tonalquality and never overpowering,such was its magic. Truly ‘aGrange’!

Lata Mangeshkar’s father,Dinanath Mageshkar, was so strictthat he would not allow theMangeshkars to sing any non-classi-cal songs at home, except if thesewere K L Saigal’s.

KL Saigal was an actor as well asa singer but it was his songs thatmade him famous – he was the

Devdas in the first version of theSharat Chandra Chattopadhyay’sclassic novel. Its songs ‘Dukh ke abdin beetat naahi’ and ‘Baalam aayobaso mere man mein’ becamefamous though the character ofDevdas Saigal exactly replicated inreal life as it is said that he could notsing without ‘getting drunk’. ‘Babulmora naihar chhotto re jaaye’, ‘Donaina matware tihaare’ ‘Ikk banglabane nyara’ were some songs whichplayed on gramophones all day longas people were in love with Saigal’svoice and songs.

K L Saigal was brought up in astrict classical home with his mothertaking him to bhajans, kirtan andshabads where, as a child, he wasingrained in classical tradition. Hebecame popular with his four bha-

jans in the movie ‘Puran Bhagat’. Ina short span of life, a mere 43 years,he made the whole of India his fan.

Sydney community got a glimpseinto K L Saigal and his songs in aconcert by the well known singerVinod Rajput. Presented by TheIndian Down Under and BhavanAustralia the concert – ‘Salaam-E-Saigal’ was a tribute to the greatsinger by Sydney lovers of the greatsinger. It was a memorable eveningremembering mainly K L Saigal andhow Mukesh and all the singers ofthat era followed in his footsteps.

It was Saigal who set a trendmaking songs the mainstay of anyfilm. Today, the Indian film industrysurvives and makes its millions fromsongs only. But imagine that even athis peak, he survived on a paltry

salary of Rs 200 a month and wascontracted for life to sing songs. Nowonder the artistes of that era strug-gled so much that songs such as ‘Jabdil hi toot gaya’ were sung from thevery core of one’s heart and that tooin a drunken state.

YouTube has made Saigalimmortal, and surprisingly, K LSaigal’s poster of ‘Salaam-E-Saigal’‘went viral’ on Indian Down Under’sFacebook page. We could gauge thatK L Saigal is nostalgically imprintedon our minds.

The immortal songs of Saigalresonated in our homes with our sen-ior generation. The Salaam-E-Saigalevening on Sunday, April 28, atPennant Hills Community Centre onYarrara Road, Pennant Hills, waspacked as seniors filled the hall andlistened to Saigal’s songs as nostalgiahung in the air with anecdotes fromhis life brought out by RekhaRajvanshi as the emcee. VinodRajput and his musicians Surinder

Singh – Tabla, Dr Gamini –Percussions, Sharat Sharma – Guitarand Deepa Kannan - Violin andKeyboard with Vinod onHarmonium of Band Baaja Groupgot into a mood which had a viraleffect on all present. Vinod’s ‘donayana matwaare’ ‘Jab dil hi tootgaya’ and his rendition of ‘Babulmora naihar chhoto re jaaye’ withSumathi Krishnan were thoroughlyenjoyed while Pushpa’s ‘So jaarajkumari’ was too good to be true.Deepa Arora’s dances on ‘Shola jobhadke’ and ‘Saiyan dil mein aanare’ brought whistles and claps fromthe audience on a high. Who saysthat old songs like that of K L Saigalare ever any less or even the dancesof those days. We are sure that theaudience was witness to an excellentevening of an era that our parentsand grandparents belonged to. Weare sure it was a cathartic experiencefor all who attended this specialafternoon.

Anita Desai and Pankaj Mishra at Sydney Writers’ Festival

Salaam-E-Saigal a great success!

Pankaj Mishra Anita Desai

Vinod Rajput and Pushpa Jagadish performing

The audience rapt in old era of Saigal.

EventsEvent number 69: Anita Desaiwith Deborah Levy: The Artist

of Disappearance

May 23, 6:00pm-7:00pmCity Recital Hall Angel Place

Firmly established as India’s‘greatest living writer’ (TheGuardian), Anita Desai’s writingspans decades, continents andemotional landscapes. Anitaspeaks about The Artist ofDisappearance and her extraordi-nary body of work, with 2012Man Booker finalist DeborahLevy. Supported by the City ofSydney.

$32/$25 Bookings 9250 1988or 8256 2222,

swf.sydneytheatre.org.au orcityrecitalhall.com

154: Water: New Writing

May 25, 10:30am-11:30amThe Bar at the End of the

Wharf

India’s Anita Desai, Ireland’sDermot Healy and Australia’sAmanda Lohrey read new short

pieces themed around ‘water’,especially created for the 2013Sydney Writers’ Festival. Hostedby UNSW’s Stephanie Bishop.Supported by University of NSW.

Free, no bookings

194: In Praise of Short Form

May 25, 4:00pm-5:00pmRichard Wherrett Studio,

Sydney Theatre

Join Deborah Levy, AnitaDesai and Cate Kennedy as theyspeak to Tegan Bennett Daylightabout why telling a story in ashorter form can be liberating andimmensely satisfying.

$14/$10 Bookings 9250 1988,swf.sydneytheatre.org.au

Pankaj Mishra is the author of{Butter Chicken in Ludhiana},{The Romantics}, {An End toSuffering} and {Temptations ofthe West}. He writes principallyfor the {Guardian}, {The NewYork Times}, {London Review ofBooks} and {The New YorkReview of Books}. He lives in

London and Shimla.

67: Pankaj Mishra: From theRuins of Empire

May 23, 4:00pm-5:00pmWharf Theatre 2

Pankaj Mishra talks withJulian Morrow about his latestbook, From the Ruins of Empire,a deeply researched look at theVictorian era from the perspec-tive of Asia.


88: Learning From The Past

May 24, 10:00am-11:00amSydney Theatre at Walsh Bay

William Dalrymple andPankaj Mishra speak to the LowyInstitute’s Michael Fullilove,exploring new perspectives in his-tory and how they challenge,inform and redefine our currentworld view.



Community

Sydney welcomed the arrival of one ofthe world’s greatest sporting legends,the Indian cricket great Sachin

Tendulkar. The wax version of the sports starwas cheered on by loyal Swami Army fans atthe famous Sydney Cricket Ground as theygathered around the star to celebrate his per-manent arrival in Sydney.

Members of the Swami Army wereextended an exclusive invitation to catch thefirst glimpse of the new wax figure for them-selves. Dressed head to toe in their cricketattire, the Swami Army members cheeredand sang Indian chants as their heroTendulkar was revealed as the next excitingaddition to Madame Tussauds Sydney’s lineup.

Swami Army organiser, Sumit Groverwas overwhelmed to be a part of the occasionand said, “It was amazing to be so close tomy cricketing hero. Sachin Tendulkar’s waxfigure was incredibly realistic, just like thereal thing! We are life-long fans of his sowe’re ecstatic that Madame Tussauds Sydneyhas decided to immortalise him in wax - he’sup there with the greats”.

The SCG remains a successful playingfield for Tendulkar, who during his timeplaying Test cricket on the ground has man-

aged to hit three centuries and achieve anaverage of 157. The internationally renownedbatsman, nicknamed the Master Blaster,holds the record for the highest number ofruns in Test history and is widely consideredto be one of the greatest batsmen of all time.The Indian superstar recently received theOrder of Australia for his outstanding contri-bution to international cricket. Besides beinga cricket icon, Tendulkar is also seen as arole model for young cricket players all over

the world. Kristy Enright, spokesperson atMadame Tussauds Sydney, commented, “InNovember 2012 Sachin Tendulkar becamethe first Indian sportsman to be honouredwith the Order of Australia, so it is only fit-ting that this great batsman takes pride ofplace in our Sydney attraction. Tendulkar’sachievements on the cricket pitch are phe-nomenal, and with such an international pres-ence I am sure he will be a favourite amongour guests”. It took 800 hours and a team of

over 60 artists to immortalise the sports starinto the second version of Tendulkar, the firstof which resides in Madame TussaudsLondon. The Mumbai born batsman joins anA-list line up of other sporting legends suchas Shane Warne, Sir Donald Bradman andIan Thorpe; he will also be the very firstIndian sports personality to be featured atMadame Tussauds Sydney, where visitorshave the unique opportunity to take picturesalongside many superstars.

With over 200 participants,ATF-Vanabhojanaalu(Picnic in Forest) brought

all Sydneysiders originating fromTelangana region of old princelystate of Hyderabad. ATF(Australian Telangana Forum)organised this outstanding event atRouse Hill Regional Park.

Vanabhojanaalu is a forest pic-nic where people of a communityshare their happiness share eachothers’ food. They play games andenjoy the atmosphere of garden orpark or forest.

It was a full day event. Daystarted early with prayer toTelangana Thalli sung by Bhavani,Pavani, Sandhya, Swetha, Swarna,Someshwar and others. The prayercreated an immediate emotionalconnection to the native place ofTelangana in Andhra Pradesh,India.

Then delicious breakfast‘Upma’ and other items were servedby Anuradha. Lunch consisted ofDum Biryani prepared by Rajsekarand Naresh. Evening snack of hotMirchi and tea prepared byRajsekar and Jaipal kept the daybusy as people enjoyed food and the

social atmosphere. Ravikanth’sfood arrangements were excellent.

Ladies, led by Bhavani andSandhya , played traditional Kho-Kho, Volleyball, Kabaddi and fungames like Lemon spoon game,Running race, Dumb Charades andTug of war.

All ladies and young girlsenjoyed the Mehndi (henna) on theirhands organised by Pavani andNurupama.

The men played a thrillingsocial cricket match. HanumanthReddy, Sunil, Madhav andSurender led the games. BuchiReddy and Ashish played excitingcricket shots and entertained thecrowd.

Abhi, the Youth Secretaryengaged all children in games thatincluded running race, Lemonspoon game, Easter candy hunt etc.

Special guests were Ch.Mahipal Reddy (Retd. SP) and DrYadu Singh. It was a fun filledevent that will be remembered forits traditional style of Indian ruralentertainment. President MrUpender Gadey and GeneralSecretary Mr. Venkata PrasadRagipani and their team brought all

Telangana Sydneysiders on oneplatform and with a pledge to beunited and make further events inline with multi cultural Australia.

The same enthusiasm continuedas all are planned to conduct Cricketmatch on ANZAC Day.

Overall event brought all

Telangana Sydney siders on oneplatform and all are pledged to beunited and make further events inline with multi cultural Australia.

Sydney goes wild as‘Sachin Tendulkar’ comes calling

ATF members shared food and happiness at the event.

The Swami Army fans at the famous Sydney Cricket Ground, cheering the arrival of Sachin Tendulkar's wax figure.

Australian Telangana Forum organizes picnic in the forest

Madame Tussauds Sydney, AquariumWharf, Darling Harbour (next to WILDLIFE Sydney Zoo) . www.madametus-sauds.com/sydney

Cost: Prices from $16 when you bookonline. Walk-up price – Adults: $38,Children (4-15yrs): $22. Combinationtickets are available with SEA LIFESydney Aquarium, WILD LIFE SydneyZoo, Manly SEA LIFE Sanctuary andSydney Tower Eye.

Where:

Opening hours: 9am – 8pm daily

Community


Inspired by and with the supportof Ela Gandhi, GandhiDevelopment Trust and ICON

(International Centre ofNonviolence) Durban, InternationalCentre of Nonviolence (ICON)Australia was launched in Februaryat the NSW Parliament House in thepresence of Federal and StateMinisters, diplomats and a host ofacademic, community and religiousluminaries. Ela Gandhi came fromSouth Africa for the launch and vis-ited many schools and institutions inMelbourne and Sydney over 6 daysand was engaged with the MediaABC TV and Radio, SBS and anumber of community radio andTV programmes. Hon. VictorDominello, NSW Minister forCitizenship and Communities, said,“We are in the presence of humani-ties royalty here tonight; ElaGandhi is a true successor to themantle of her grandfather, MahatmaGandhi. ICON is inspired by amember of the Gandhi family andshould be one worthy of support.And when the organisation’s goal isto promote nonviolence in our lives,it cannot be ignored.”

He added, “While GambhirWatts and Bhavan Australia are set-ting out to do, the InternationalCentre of Nonviolence will bringtogether some key leaders from ourdiverse range of backgrounds topromote this wonderful ideal ofnonviolence. I think this centre cansend a very powerful message to theworld because we have in this statean almost incredible diversity ofrace, of faith, of language in our

communities, yet we live in harmo-ny.” Senator Lisa Singh (FederalGovernment of Australia), ActingChair of UNICEF

Parliamentary Association said,“As someone who grew up with anunderstanding of the teachings ofMahatma Gandhi, of his values, ofhis words, which I try in my 41years of life to live out, to have hisgranddaughter here with us tonight,to be part of this opening of ICONhere in Australia is indeed a fantas-tic and a very auspicious moment.”

Biren Nanda, HighCommissioner of India, said, “ElaGandhi has devoted her life to con-tinuing the message, the ideas ofMahatma Gandhi. South Africa was

the laboratory in which Gandhijirefined his techniques. In a sensewhen he left India the nationalistpolitics in India had begun in 1885with the founding of the Congressparty but the technique that theCongress party and his leaders likeGandhiji’s political group used wasconstitutional -- they tried to agitatefor self-improvement within theinstitutions of the communitydepartment. When Gandhi came toSouth Africa he was called there bya prominent member of the Indiancommunity. Gandhiji faced severaldisabilities and discrimination inSouth Africa and he began to exper-iment with his technique of nonvio-lence and passive resistance. To

Gandhiji this was not just somethingwhich was a physical manifestationof action; it was nonviolence, so ifyou faced nonviolence towards yourinterlocutor and you did not act vio-lently it was not good enough. Thatis, you have to exercise self-controland have love and affection for theperson you were dealing with and itwas not just nonviolence in action itwas nonviolence at heart.”

Prof. Stuart Rees (ProfessorEmeritus of the University ofSydney, Chair of the Sydney PeaceFoundation) delivered the themelecture Practicing Non Violence:Gandhi Legacy, InternationalPriorities. He said that MahatmaGandhi advocated ahimsa – nonvio-

lence – as a way of living and as alaw for life and that his principles ofnonviolence inspired civil disobedi-ence towards governments andother representations of oppressiveauthority. Through skills in organ-izing, through the clarity of his phi-losophy as expressed in letters, arti-cles and speeches and often throughhis courage in fasting, Gandhi ledby personal example. He lived &breathed the principle laterembraced by feminists and othersthat the personal is the political.

The ideology of nonviolenceand the cues for practice are con-tained in the language of Shelleyand Thoreau, of Gandhi and King.They painted pictures of justice andhuman rights. They knew the idealsof a freedom which would enhanceeveryone’s fulfillment withoutinterfering with others’ freedom ofexpression.

Imperfectly Frank’ – an awardwinning play written byAmerican writer Seth Freeman

and directed by 2012 Gala FinalistTerry Meller - came third in thePeople’s Choice Vote in Week 7of Short + Sweet TheatreFestival. It featured RaviChanana, Aishveryaa Nidhi,Rickardo Wesley and CherylKhurana, with choreography byMonalisa Grover. The Sindhu andJaswani families have an ethicaldilemma but it all works out in thewash. One may have seen manyarranged marriages in an Indiansetting but this one in the play is adifferent take on a mindset result-ing in hilarious dialogues and setof situations all packed in just ashort ten minutes, no less nomore. A minute more and onemay lose points even if it is a verygood play. That’s brevity for youand can be an utter challenge fordirectors as well as actors.

Short + Sweet 2013 was aresounding success, with the bestdozen plays from over 1,000entries that made to the Gala finalsthat were staged at Seymour

Centre's Everest Theatre makingit the biggest short play festivalthat demands tight, strictscripts and all sorts of othertalent and volunteers who arequite devoted.

Pete Malicki who took overfrom Alex Broun last year as thefestival director took on a hugecommitment as it has nowbecome a Sydney icon in the the-atre world, attracting writers,actors, directors and the rest whofind the medium of short playsquite challenging yet somethingthat gives them all sorts of trainingthrough crash tests, writing,directing and casting experiencethrough workshops and masterclasses. Only the best 80 or soscripts make it to the finals, notonly from Australia but fromaround the world. Obviously Petetook time off to take a break inNepal after a hectic four monthsspent on the festival as it runs foreight weeks in succession and isquite a demanding feat.

‘Imperfectly Frank’ came thirdin People’s Choice Vote

Abhinay ensemble cast with the director Terry Meller

Ela Gandhi with students of Fort Street High School

Moksha Watts at the ICONAustralia launch

ICON (International Centre of Nonviolence)Australia launched

��

��

��

��

��

��

SOYA MISSI ROTITime: 30 minutes Serve: 6Ingredients�1 cup- Besan�1 cup- soya flour�1 cup-Atta flour�1/2 cup - Finely chopped spinach�2 Green chillies chopped�2 tsp Grated ginger�1 tsp Ajwain�1 tsp. Coriander seeds crushed�2 tsp Anardana powder�1tsp Kasoori Methi�1 tsp Red chilli powder�2 tbsp Desi ghee�salt to tasteMethod: Mix all the flours, add all the

other ingredients. Knead into soft doughwith water, shape into 6 balls and roll outinto 5 inch diameter rotis with a rolling pin.Cook on a non-stick pan on both sides, ap-plying little ghee on both sides and cookinguntil light brown. Serve hot.

SOYA AND PANEER BHURJIIngredients�2 cups Paneer (cheese)

�1 cup Soya granules (soaked for 10 minutes)�1 cup finely chopped tomatoes�1 cup fine Chopped capsicum�2 Green chillies�1 tsp Cumin seeds�1/4 tsp Turmeric powder�1/4 tsp Black pepper powder�salt to tasteMethod: Heat oil in a pan, add cumin

seeds and onions till golden brown. Add cap-sicum, then all the other ingredients includ-ing paneer and soya drained. Cook till it ismixes well. Garnish with fresh corianderleaves.

KESARIYA TOFU KOFTASIngredients�1 cup firm Tofu grated�2 boiled, Mashed potatoes

�1 tsp Green chilli chopped�2 tbs Crushed cashew nuts�3 tbsp Corn flour�1 sp Chat masala�salt to taste�Coriander leaves

�Saffron thread 10 soaked in 1/4 cup ofwarm milk

Method: Mix all the ingredients to-gether. Make walnut sized balls and deep frytill golden brown.

Serve hot with mint chutney or you canmake a gravy and add like kofta curry.

SOYA CHOCOLATE CAKEIngredients�1 cup soya flour�1 cup plain flour�1 cup condensed milk�1/2 cup yoghurt�1 tsp baking powder�1/2 tsp. soda-bi-carb�3/4 cup oil or butter�3 tbs cocoa powder�1 tsp coffee powder�1/2 cup caster sugar�2 tbsp drinking chocolate�1/2 cup soda waterMethod: Sieve soya flour, plain flour,

baking powder and soda-bi-carb together.Beat condensed milk, oil and sugar togetherwith a beater, add yoghurt, flour mixtureand half of soda water and beat again, addother ingredients and blends well. Bake at180 degrees C for 25 minutes on greasedbaking tin, spread chocolate sauce on top andgarnish with red cherries.

Columns

Stop your hair colour from fadingIf you've just had your hair dyed, the last

thing you want is for the colour to fade. Onesurefire way to prevent such a mishap fromhappening? Use a deep-conditioning treatmentonce a month. This will help lock in colour andhas the added benefit of staving off dry anddamaged locks.

Give curls bounceNever brush curls out with a brush. In-

stead, loosen them with your fingers. This willgive curls added lift without flattening themdown.

Give hair liftBefore you start blow drying your hair, add

a volumizing spray to your roots. This willgive your locks some added lift.

Create fuller lipsIf you're sick of having thin, pursed puck-

ers, extend your lip line using a neutral-tonedlip liner. Then apply lipstick over top. Be care-ful though, don't extend your lip line toomuch.

Dry out pimplesBelieve it or not, dabbing toothpaste onto a

pimple is a quick and easy way to dry it out.

Don't believe beauty labelsSome beauty labels actually display false

information, so don't believe everything youread. If a product promises instant results orall-day protection, it may be too good to betrue.

Banish oilThe fastest way to clear your skin of any

oily breakout, especially in the summer, is touse blotting papers. They'll clean up the excessoil on your epidermis and will prevent break-outs.

Use oil on your skin even if it's alreadyoily

This probably sounds crazy, but using anoil-based product to remove makeup or excessdirt from your skin can actually improve yourepidermis' condition. Why? Over-cleaningstimulates the sebum glands, which causes skinto over-produce oil. Using oil-based productswill have the opposite effect.

You can use exfoliator dailyExfoliation is an important and easy way to

buff away the dead skin cells that cover upyour skin's natural glow.

If you have greasy hair...Avoid applying conditioner directly to your

hair's roots. Just apply the heavy moisturizingcream to your locks' ends.

Remove nail polish without removerIf you run out of nail polish remover, you

can remove cracked or chipped nail polish byapplying a clear top coat to the nail and re-moving it promptly with a cotton ball.

Change it upOur skin craves different things depending

on the time of year. So change up your beautyroutine based on the seasons. In the winter, add

more moisturizing creams to your dailybeauty list. In summer, ensure you'reusing lots of SPF.

Find your shadeWhen choosing a foundation, test a

product on the skin near your jawline.And be sure to do it in natural light. Thiswill ensure the foundation tone you choosefor your face isn't too differentfrom the natural shade ofyour neck.

Stop taking supple-ments

It's true the healthieryou are, the healthieryour skin and hair willbe. But popping supple-ments without dis-cussing them with yourdoctor can do moreharm than good.Why? Because mix-ing certain vitaminsand minerals canhave the oppositeeffect of whatyou're hoping.Talk to yourdoc beforepopping any pills.

Cut back on pedicuresSave money on your beauty routine by tak-

ing care of your feet on a daily basis. Simplyscrub your foot with a pumice stone each

morning in theshower.

Onceyou stepout anddry off,apply a

moisturecream to

your feet.This will in-

crease theamount of time

you can go with-out a pedicure and

will keep your toeshealthy and fungus-

free.

Replace old productsregularly

The effectiveness ofproducts not to mention the

amount of bacteria theybreed. Ditch old items and re-place them with new ones.

Treat ingrownhairsApply a product contain-

ing azulene or witch hazelto help reduce the swelling and redness that'sassociated with ingrown hairs. From there,coax the ingrown hair from its location with apair of tweezers (don't pull it out as it will onlymake the ingrown hair regrow in the same waylater).

Beauty without tearsFeel Good and Look Beautiful

By Promila Gupta


All things soya

Some useful and easy tips as suggested by style editors


Body-Mind-Spirit

By Kanaka Ramakrishna

What is in a name? A rosewould smell the same byany other name. Once

the name is given to an object, theassociation is inevitable.

‘Rama’ is not just a name. Ithas deep significance, its ownglory, power and strength. Assoon as the name is mentioned, theimage of Rama also rises in one’smind. ‘Ram nam’ is one of thesweetest and one of the most pop-ular utterings in Hindu psyche.Even Alexander the Great saidbefore leaving India, that hisimpressions about India was –‘Rama’s name and Ganga water’.

The name ‘Rama’ existed fromtime immemorial, even beforeDasaratha’s son Rama was born.Sage Vasishta meditated on thename ‘Ram a’ for quite a longtime. Sage Manu said that ‘Ramanama’ has links to all othermantras that ever existed. It is saidthat the ‘Pranava’ or ‘Omkara’ hasoriginated from the name Rama.

When Dasaratha wanted hisfamily priest Vasistha to name hisbabies, he named the first baby‘Rama’, who is one of the tenincarnations of Vishnu, and popu-larly worshipped by many Hindus.

The two main strands in theHindu pantheon are the worship ofNarayana (Vishnu) and Shiva. The‘moola mantra’ for Narayana is,“Om Namo Narayana” and the‘moola Mantra’ for Siva is’ “OmNama Sivaya”. In the NarayanaMantra, the life of the Mantra liesin the letters ‘ra’ and in the Shivamantra, the life of the mantra liesin the letters ‘ma’. If these twolife-giving letters are removedfrom these mantras, they becomelifeless and inauspicious.

The Divine secret lies in com-bining the life giving letters ‘Ra’and ‘Ma’ from these two mantrasand forming a name ‘RAMA’ forthe Nirguna Parabrahma, whichhas no name or form or quality.‘Rama’ is neither associated withShiva nor Narayana, but an indica-tive name of the ‘Suddha Brahma’.

Every mantra in the Hinduscripture has its own name. But bynaming the Nameless as ‘Rama’, itis the only mantra that is called“Taraka Mantra”. Taraka means‘that helps to cross’- to cross the

ocean of samsara of this world’.Chanting the name ‘Rama’ withlove and faith gives strength toovercome the problems of life.Those who pray with steadfast

devotion can obtain the knowledgeof the Supreme.

Parvathi wanted to hear fromLord Shiva the easy method tochant the thousand names of

Vishnu. Lord Shiva told her thebeautiful name Rama, Rama,Rama, is equivalent to chantingone thousand names of Vishnu(Vishnu Sahasranama).

It is believed that in VaranasiLord Vishvanatha impartsRama’s name to each and every

being at the time of death. Not onlyhuman beings, even gods havebeen blessed by Rama’s name.

There is the well-known storyof the competition betweenVinayaka and Muruga. WhenMuruga diligently circumambulat-ed (pradakshina) his parents on hispeacock with great speed, Ganeshawrote ‘RAMA’ on the sand andmade pradakshina, as it was equiv-alent to going round the wholeworld. Siva was immensely pleasedand made him the leader of all hisganas and he got the name‘Ganapathy’.

When Ravana abducted Sitaand kept her in his ‘Ashoka vana’in Lanka, Sita was one pointedlythinking and chanting Rama’s nameday and night. While she held herlife-breath meditating on Rama tocome and release her, even deathcould not dare to touch her.Hanuman, after meeting Sita inLanka, came back to Rama anddescribing her pitiable state ofmind he said, “Constant meditationon you is the door keeper thatguards the door of Ma Sita’s heartnot to allow her life to depart. Shehas fixed the gaze of her mentalvision on your lotus feet and haslocked the door. Then, from whichway the life can depart?”

Hanuman constantly chantedthe name of Rama that helped himto achieve many wonderful feats. Itwas through the power of Rama’sname, he was able to cross thewide ocean of several miles in just

one leap to Lanka and was able tofind Sita in Ravana’s “Ashokavana”. When the vaanaras werebuilding the bridge on the unfath-omable ocean to go to Lanka, therocks drowned in the water.Hanuman simply said, ‘chantRama’s divine name and the rockswould not sink’. The vanaras com-plied and immediately the rocksfloated; they were convinced in theefficacy of Rama’s name and thebridge was built.

Hanuman wanted to carry themountain in the Himalayas thatcontained the herbs to save Rama,Lakshmana and the vaanara army,who were wounded and were lyingunconscious in the battlefield. Onlyby Rama’s powerful name he liftedand brought the mountain whichsaved the lives of Rama and others.Rama was saved only by the powerof his name!

When the purpose of Rama’sincarnation on this earth was ful-filled, before leaving his mortalbody, Rama asked Hanuman to gointo deep samadhi and attain theeternal Bliss of Brahman.Hanuman declined saying that hewould prefer to live on this earth,where Rama was born, and Hisname ever playing on his lips, isbliss to him. Hearing this, Ramaasked Hanuman, “why is it youvalue my name more than me?”Hanuman replied, “My Lord, Youare only a mortal incarnation,whereas your name and deeds areeternal. Hence your name on thisearth is eternal.” As long asRama’s name is chanted on thisearth, Hanuman will be always

present at such places.While mythologies and scrip-

tures are abundant with the glory ofRama’s name and His grace, inmodern age also we hear the expe-riences of His devotees, who wereblessed by His grace. One suchexperience may be recalled here.

Swami Vivekananda was anunknown monk before going toAmerica. After his guru passedaway, he wanted to travel through-out India from North to South as a‘parivrajaka’, mostly by foot andsometimes by train, if some kindperson provided him a ticket.Once, he was travelling by train onone of the hottest days, thirsty andhungry, and he had not eaten foodsince the previous day. A co-pas-senger in the train, a rich mer-chant, quenched his thirst withwater and while eating the richfood he had brought with him,went on chastising the swami forliving on alms and not earning hislivelihood, though he was youngand strong and was a social parasiteand so on.

The swami ignored his remarksand turned his face away from him.When the train reached the station,they all got down and had to waitfor the next connecting train. Themerchant sat inside in the shade, inthe waiting area, and the swami saton the ground outside, leaningagainst a post.

After a while, a man hurriedlycame to the swami, carrying a bun-dle and water in his hands, request-ed the swami to accept the food hehad brought for him. The swamiwas surprised and told that he must

have mistaken him for somebody,as he did not know him. The maninsisted that there was no mistakeand explained to him what hap-pened. After finishing his morningbusiness in his sweetmeat shop, hewent home, finished his lunch andwas having a nap. He had a visionof Sri Rama, pointing out theswami to him, telling that his devo-tee was starving without food sincethe previous day, and he shouldprepare some food and run to thestation to feed him. The manthought it was only a dream andwent back to his nap. But again SriRama appeared and urged him totake the food immediately. Theman told the swami that he had notmistaken him as Sri Rama hadalready shown him. The swamiwas very much moved and accept-ed the food with deep gratitude.The jeering merchant who was wit-nessing the whole incident, wasstunned and came to the swami toapologise, made pranams and left.

‘Rama Nama’ is the only eter-nal solution to the eternal problemsof human life. The ultimate answerto the question of helplessness thatone may have to face in life is,when all other powers have failed,meditation on His Lotus Feet,thinking of Him, and chanting Hisname is the only way. It providesmental poise and serenity, whichcannot be obtained by any othermeans. He alone is the help of thehelpless, the power of the power-less, the secure of the insecure, andthe everlasting treasure for all. Heis the Sat-Chit-Ananda, everenshrined in our hearts.

The power of Rama’s name

When the vaanaras were building the bridge on the unfathomable ocean to go to Lanka, the rocksdrowned in the water. Hanuman simply said, ‘chant Rama’s divine name and the rocks would not sink’.The vanaras complied and immediately the rocks floated; they were convinced in the efficacy of Rama’s

name and the bridge was built.

“Sri Rama Rameti Rame Raame ManorameSahasra Naama Tattulyam Ramanama varaanane.”

Before leaving hismortal body, Ramaasked Hanuman togo into deep samadhi and attainthe eternal Bliss ofBrahman. Hanumandeclined saying thathe would prefer tolive on this earth,where Rama wasborn, and His nameever playing on hislips, is bliss to him.“My Lord, You areonly a mortal incarnation, whereasyour name anddeeds are eternal.Hence your name onthis earth is eternal,” Hanuman elaborated.

Community


The Vedanta Centre ofSydney has embarked onan extensive building

programme to enhance its exist-ing facilities at Ermington.When the project is completed,it will be the main centre of theVedanta movement in Australia.

Interest in the teachings ofVedanta is growing rapidly inAustralia and adequate facilitiesto provide for and accommodateit are much needed, especiallyin Sydney.

The large site of the VedantaCentre’s new home inErmington was chosen specifi-cally to provide these facilities.It has a prominent heritage list-ed building on the ridge adjacentto Stewart Street with expansiveviews to the south overHomebush Bayand across

Sydney to the far horizon of theSouthern Highlands. The opensloping ground behind thisbuilding provides space for thenew community facilities whichwill step down the site and sur-round a sheltered courtyardadjacent to the main hall.

The project comprises threemeeting halls, a large library,on-site residential facilities andparking. Plans are nowapproved by Parramatta CityCouncil and construction is wellunderway. It is being designedand constructed by a team ofexperienced and competentarchitects, consultants andbuilders and willbe in har-

mony with the surrounding areaand the heritage buildings on thesite.

The new centre will giveconcrete shape to SwamiVivekananda’s desire to spreadthe teaching of ‘Man-makingcharacter-building education’which leads to the‘Manifestation of the PotentialDivinity in us’. It will benamed in honour of Swamiji’s150th birth anniversary, whichis being celebrated this year,and will be a fitting and inspir-ing place for these teachings inSydney.

The president of the VedantaCentre of Sydney, SwamiSridharananda, appeals to thecommunity to become involvedin the project as the Centre willbenefit them and also futuregenerations. The Centre’sresources are stretched and it isonly with the community’s helpthat this dream can be realised.

There are several ways to beinvolved in this noble task: anoutright tax-deductable dona-tion; an interest-paying loan; aninterest free loan or a committedmonthly contribution towards

the building fund. All can befreely discussed with Swamijialong with any other optionsthat the participant may consid-er.

This is indeed good Karmathat will go with us a long way,a practical manifestation of theteachings we are all endeavour-ing to inculcate.

The Vedanta Centre can becontacted by telephone: 02 81977 351 or on the web [email protected]

Bird's eye view from the North East corner

Bird's eye view from the South West corner


Body-Mind-Spirit

Aldous Huxley (1894 –1963) was a shiningstar of the writing

world. His most famous booksare Brave New World andIsland. He was a pacifist,humanist and satirist with mys-tical leanings and an appetitefor psychedelics.

Due to a teenage illness hewas left with very limited eye-sight. He was interested inVedanta, ahimsa and vegetari-anism and was good friendswith J. Krishnamurti. Hebecame an exponent in 1955 forthe use of LSD to enhance thesearch for enlightenment. Hewrote ‘The Doors of

Perception’ which described hisLSD experiences. Even whenhe lay dying he took a 100micrograms dose of LSD andhis wife read to him from theTibetan Book of the Dead.Here are some quotablequotes from Aldous Huxley.

"I wanted to change theworld, but I have found that theonly thing one can be sure ofchanging is oneself." - PointCounter Point

"That men do not learn verymuch from the lessons of histo-ry is the most important of alllessons that history has toteach." - Collected Essays

“There are things knownand there are things unknownand in between are the doors ofperception." - Brave NewWorld

"The secret of genius is tocarry the spirit of the child into

old age, which means neverlosing your enthusiasm."

"Happiness is not achievedby the conscious pursuit of hap-piness, it is generally the by-product of other activities."

"Chronic remorse, as all themoralists agree, is a mostundesirable sentiment. If youhave behaved badly, repent,make what amends you can andaddress yourself to the task ofbehaving better next time. Onno account brood over yourwrong doing. Rolling in themuck is not the best way of get-ting clean." - Brave New World

"You never see animalsgoing through the absurd andoften horrible fooleries ofmagic and religion. Dogs donot ritually urinate in the hopeof persuading heaven to do thesame and send down rain.Asses do not bray a liturgy to

cloudless skies. Nor do catsattempt by abstinence fromcat's meat to wheedle the felinespirits into benevolence. Onlyman behaves with such gratu-itous folly. It is the price he hasto pay for being intelligent butnot as yet, quiet intelligentenough."

"After silence, that whichcomes nearest to expressing theinexpressible is music."

"A child-like man is not aman whose development hasbeen arrested; on the contrary,he is a man who has given him-self a chance of continuing todevelop long after most adultshave muffled themselves in thecocoon of middle-aged habitand convention."

"An intellectual is a personwho's found one thing that ismore interesting than sex."

"A belief in hell and the

knowledge that every ambitionis doomed to frustration at thehands of a skeleton has neverprevented the majority ofhuman beings from behaving asthough death were no morethan an unfounded rumour."

ALDOUS HUXLEYMystical leanings and appetite for psychedelics.

Inner Space

By Faith Harper

The religious observance,respect and faith shown bythe millions of people who

dipped in the Ganges River at therecent Maha Kumbh Mela festivalin India was astonishing.

I was among the over 100 mil-lion people at the GangA inAllahabad in January to be therefor the once in 12 years festival.

My journey was to take a dipat the confluence of the Ganga,Yamuna and Saraswati riversalong with the largest humangathering on Earth, but it openedmy mind and heart to an unusualphysical enactment of my innerjourney to harness celestial ener-gy.

Some pilgrims make a journeyas a form of ascetic practice,deliberately taking the most ardu-ous route or walking even whenother modes of transportation areavailable, but I made a comfort-able trip by air and road.

What I learnt was that to makea spiritual journey you did notneed to be part of an organisedreligion.

All you need to do is think ofa special place that has a sacredmeaning to you and make the tripwith determination and curiosity.

Although my trip was a greatjoy, the delays, obstacles, chal-lenges, long hours without meals,putting up with extreme cold andhumid weather and constantly

expecting the unexpected gave meopportunities for reflection aboutlife all along the journey - and notjust upon arriving at my destina-tion.

" D o n ' texpect mira-cles," saidmy VasthuS a s t r aM a s t e rY u v a r a jSowma, whofollowed me,"but you mayexperience some-thing unusual in thepresence ofg r e a tenlight-e n e dsouls."

M yfirst encounterwith spiritual powerwas with a naked holy man whohas beens t and ingon one legfor 10years toattain spiritual illumination.

He was in a makeshift hutbuilt on the banks of the GangesRiver and he only appears in pub-lic during the Kumbh Mela,emerging from his abode in theHimalayas.

I felt a sudden surge of forceentering my body the moment heplaced his hand on my head as aform of blessing and looked deepinto my eyes with a smile. He didnot speak a word and when Ithanked him for his grace, heremoved a Rudraksha Mala(divine bead chain) from aroundhis neck and placed it aroundmine.

His act of giving was inter-preted as passing on some of hispower of spiritual consciousnessto me.

Following this, I visited adozen more holy men

who performed variousacts to display theirpowers and pass themon to seekers.

I stayed on thegrounds of the beauti-

fully-decorated,fairyland-likeM a h a r s h iSadafaldeoAshram atJ h u s h i ,Allahabad.Here, Iwas invit-ed by spir-itual leader

Sant PravarS h r iVigyandeo JiMaharaj fora cave medi-tation in a

special placewhere holy menand seers inIndia sit insilence for days,weeks and even

years to connect to the spiritualvibrations there.

As I walked underground intothe magnificent cave at 7am, allexternal sounds were cut off; thedark underground enclosure waslit with purple lights.

The temperature was even andI was given a short briefing onVihangam Yoga (science of con-sciousness) meditation tech-niques, established in 1924, tostimulate and heighten my spiritu-al practice.

I sat in solitude in the lotusposture with my eyes closedbefore the statue of SadguruSadafaldeo Ji Maharaj. I couldnot remember how long I wasthere. I left the space feelinglighter, internally rejuvenated andrenewed.

My uplifting pilgrimage con-cluded with me receiving sunenergy by gazing at the therapeu-tic and calming sunset at theGanges River.

I returned reborn with a new-found peace and an altered stateof consciousness.

Spirituality taught me to becompletely natural and for mostof us, the most natural way to liveis in the world, working to feedourselves, caring for our familiesand contributing to our communi-

ties.Going on a retreat is a power-

ful way to make sure we keep ourspiritual lives vibrant and bal-anced with the material world.

T Selva is the author of thebestseller book titled VasthuSastra Guide for health, peaceand prosperity. To get a copy,contact Devi 0412623017. He canbe contacted at [email protected] Website: www.vasthusas-tra.com

VasthuSastra

By T. Selva

My uplifting pilgrimage to Kumbh mela

Cave meditation at the Maharshi Sadafaldeo Ashram at Jhushi, Allahabad.

A sadhu blessing devotees visiting himat the banks of the Ganges River.

Aldous Huxley

Body-Mind-Spirit


By Uma Srinivasan

ALL RELIGIONS ARE TRUE,SUCH IS THE MESSAGEBROUGHT FROM INDIA BY A

HINDU MONK.Such was the headline in the Daily Iowa

Capital newspaper on November 28, 1893.The lecture was on ‘Hindu Religion’, deliv-ered on November 27. The Hindu monkwas none other than Swami Vivekananda,who took the world by storm with his talkson religion. His fundamental convictionthat ‘we are all divine’ resonated with everyone who heard him, regardless of theirnationality or religious inclination.

Let us pause, and try to understand themind of the person with such phenomenalcourage of conviction.

He was born Narendranath Datta inCalcutta on 12 January 1863. His fatherVishwanath Datta was an attorney of theCalcutta high court, who was generous, andhad a progressive outlook on social matters.His mother Bhuvaneshwari Devi wasdeeply religious, and inculcated inNarendra the values of purity, honesty,tranquility, generosity, self-respect as wellas respect for the values of others.

Even as a child, Narendra had a strongwill and would not deter from any task heset out to do. The story goes that once acobra appeared where Narendra and hisfriends were meditating. The other boysshouted a warning to him and ran away outof fear. Narendra’s focus was never dis-turbed and he later told his parents that hewas totally unaware of any disturbance tohis meditation.

Narendra was introduced to principlesof western thought, during his education inCalcutta. He was a brilliant student with adeep enquiring mind, and studied history,philosophy and literature. In addition, hewas an artist, a gifted musician with a melo-dious voice, a debater, and a gymnast.

He was energy personified-- restless foraction and equally restless to understandGod. This led him towards intense medita-tion, and the study of different religions andphilosophical systems. However, neitherhis studies nor his constant enquiries gavehim a clear idea of ‘God’.

It was during one of his English lec-tures, where his Principal William Hastiewas discussing Wordsworth’s poem ‘TheExcursion’, that Narendra first heard thename of Ramakrishna. While describingthe poet’s mystical approach to describingnature, Hastie added that with purity andconcentration such transcendental experi-ence was possible even for ordinary people.And in that context, he mentioned that heknew only one person who had achievedthat state of bliss, and that person was SriRamakrishna, the saint of Dakshineshwar.

Narendra was intrigued when he heardthat there was someone who had realisedGod.

Soon after, an opportunity arose forNarendra to meet the saint ofDakshineshwar. One of his friendsSurendra Nath Mittra, a devotee of SriRamakrishna, had invited the Master to hishouse. Knowing Narendra’s musical talent,he invited him to regale the Master with his

devotional songs. Sri Ramakrishna wasextremely impressed with Narendra andinvited him to Dakshineshwar.

When Narendra next visitedDakshineshwar, he was again asked him tosing. This time when Narendra sang, theMaster went into an ecstatic mood. SriRamakrishna, realizing Narendra’simmense potential, invited him to becomehis disciple, saying that he was born toattain great spiritual achievements.However, at that time, Narendra, being apragmatist, and with a family to support,declined. He was instead, looking for a jobto support his family, as his father hadpassed away leaving the family in poverty.

Regardless of the situation, Narendraasked Sri Ramakrishna if he had seen God.Without any hesitation, Ramakrishnareplied: “Yes, I have seen God. I see Himas I see you here, only more clearly.” Thatclear reply impressed Narendra immensely,as he realised that here was a person whodared to say that he had seen God. Notonly had Ramakrishna seen God; he insist-ed that it was a reality to be felt and sensedin an infinitely more intense way than whatthe physical senses could perceive. Howcould Narendra with his intense yearningfor God escape the influence of such aMaster for long?

Their meeting was like a meeting of theancient and modern. Sri Ramakrishna wasan ardent devotee of Mother Kali.Narendra felt it was wrong to surrenderfreedom of judgment and accept traditionwithout testing and understanding the pur-pose and value of what was taught.

Narendra’s rebellious nature and hisarguments did not deter Ramakrishna’s loveand devotion to this special disciple. WhenSri Ramakrishna asserted that the DivineMother made him realize Narendra’s true

qualities, he argued that all this could be afigment of the Master’s fertile imaginationand argued that science and philosophyprove that our senses could often deceiveus, especially when there is a desire in ourminds to believe something.

Narendra was a member of BrahmoSamaj whose members believed in a form-less God, and despised idol worship. Andhere was Ramakrishna who had no qualmsabout worshipping an image of the DivineMother Kali and saw and experienced thepresence of divinity within that image. Byextension, Ramakrishna affirmed that allreligions, when followed in their true spir-it, lead to the same realization of the infi-nite, and the divinity within all of us.

Although, initially it was difficult forNarendra to accept this dualistic approachto God, after about three years,Ramakrishna’s infinite love and patience,his very presence filled with divinity,moved Narendra deeply. SriRamakrishna’s conviction that pure loveand pure knowledge are one and the sameand lead the aspirants to the same goal,finally convinced Narendra and he becamean ardent disciple of RamakrishnaParamahansa. His explanation of the wordcompassion as ‘service to mankind’ had alasting impression on Narendra. SriRamakrishna created a monastic order andnominated a few monastic disciples beforepassing away in 1886. He nominatedNarendra to look after the spiritual educa-tion of his disciples. Soon after, the firstmonastery was formed in Baranagore nearCalcutta. The monks practised intensemeditation and went without food for days.

Narendra initially took the name ofVividishnanda, and, prior to his journey toAmerica, he changed his name to SwamiVivekananda at the request of Raja AjitSingh of Kethri.

Between 1888 and 1893 SwamiVivekananda travelled all over India tryingto understand the spiritual soul of the peo-ple of India, be they rich, poor or theabsolutely down-trodden. He slept in dilap-idated huts as well as palaces. His travelstook him to all corners of India, fromCalcutta to Varanasi, from Haridwar, toAlmora and the Himalayan regions, andthen to Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra,Mysore, Madras, and to the very tip ofIndia - Kanyakumari.

It was during these travels he realisedthat religion cannot be an impassive debili-tating idea; rather it had to be a vehicle thathelped an individual realize one’s truepotential. His phenomenal intellect andimmense motivation for action left no scopefor idle religious speculation. His thoughtsmoved towards synthesis of Hindu faith andmodern science, applicability of ancientVedic thought and principles to social real-izations of present day. He was tornbetween service to man and service to God.Finally after days of continuous introspec-tion, he chose the service of god in man. Itwas at this time his followers coaxed him totravel to the United States to representHinduism at the Parliament of the World’sReligions to be held in Chicago. When hedelivered the now famous address at theParliament of Religions, he asserted that

that all religions are equally true, as theyare all attempts of the human soul to graspand realize the Infinite.

His biographer Romain Rollandremarks: “When this unknown young manof about thirty appeared in Chicago at theinaugural meeting of the Parliament ofReligions, all his fellow-members were for-gotten in his commanding presence. Hisstrength and beauty, the grace and dignityof his bearing, the light of his eyes and hisimposing presence, from the moment hebegan to speak, the splendid music of hisdeep rich voice enthralled the vastAmerican Anglo-Saxons … and left a deepmark upon the United States.”

During his tour of the US and laterEngland and France, Swami Vivekanandainfluenced many western scholars. He rede-fined religion saying as more than rituals,dry talk, or knowledge acquired frombooks. He said religion had to be man-mak-ing, character-building education, whichled us towards the realization of the divini-ty within each one of us. And in that regardall religions had the same goal of somehowreaching that divinity.

Between 1893 and 1900, travelling allover the world, Swami Vivekananda wenton to teach the many ways that Vedantahelps us realize this potential divinity with-in us. He taught the principles of KarmaYoga, Bhakti Yoga, Jnana Yoga and RajaYoga that enable us to perform all ourduties with utmost focus, dedication anddevotion, leading to absolute perfection inevery task we perform. By developing anattitude of love and devotion to all our tasksand duties, the very process of such dedi-cated action leads us towards the experienceof that eternal cosmic blissful existencewhich pervades our consciousness.

By then, Swami Vivekananda had manyfollowers who helped him establishVedanta Centres in many cities in the USand Europe. Meanwhile, at home in India,the Ramakrishna order was well estab-lished. Even after his final return to Indiain 1900, in his many lectures, Swamijiasked young people to develop their physi-cal stamina and mental faculty of reasoninginstead of embarking on idle religious pur-suits.

On one occasion while addressing theyouth of Bengal who had very little stami-na, he said: “You will be nearer to Godthrough football than through the BhagavadGita.” He inspired a group of young menwho started an organization to provide des-titutes with food, shelter and medical help.He gave them confidence that money wouldcome in for such good work. He called thisinstitution “Ramakrishna Home ofService”.

Even on his last day, July 4, 1902,while lecturing his students on Sanskritgrammar, he insisted that they all be origi-nal, never imitate and never accept what istaught without a clear understanding.

His principles of universal religion anda firm conviction in the presence of thedivine in every one of us, gives us hopethat, with the right attitude, dedicated hardwork, and self-awareness, even we mere mortals have the means to grasp thatdivinity

Homage to Swami VivekanandaOn the occasion of the 150th Birth Anniversary of Swami

Vivekananda in 2013, it’s time to reflect on his life and teachings.

May Mat 1. Well settled parents

looking for suitable matches for their

daughter, 32 years old, working for a

multinational company in Sydney in a

senior corporate position, pretty, 163cm

tall; brought up in and values both Indian

and western culture. North Indian,

Punjabi, from other regional back-

ground, professional boys from well set-

tled family background preferred. Please

contact by email: [email protected]

or mobile: 0404147744.

May Mat 2. Match for Australian

born, 27year old Sydney based Punjabi

Brahmin girl, post graduate in Law

working for NSW government. Pretty,

tall, fair, homely yet modern girl wants a

professional, educated match. Contact:

[email protected]

May Mat 3, 2013. SEEKING

match for my brother, Hindu, Gujarati -

Patel, 32, 6 ft, vegetarian, Masters in

Computing Studies, working and living

in USA (American citizen). Looking for

a loving Gujarati girl, caring with good

family values, well cultured settled or

trying to settle in USA or Australia,

preferably with a PR/Citizenship. Email:

[email protected]

May Mat 4, 2013. MATCH

required for an Aust-born Hindu boy, 35,

5'-6", doctor, living in Melb, never mar-

ried. Caste no bar. Email

:[email protected]

May Mat 5, 2013. Seeking suitable

match ( from Australia ) never married,

for Hindu Girl 34 yrs,Chartered

Accountant (non veg) living in australia

over 25 yrs with eastern and western

family values. Please email with all

details on [email protected]

May Mat 6, 2013. Seeking a Hindu

boy, non vegetarian, preferably Gujarati

with good family values for my daugh-

ter. She is 33 , divorced, 5'2" and well-

built. She is an Australian citizen, works

as an IT team leader and is well settled in

Sydney. If you are interested please con-

tact us on 0404 595 182 or r.chan-

[email protected].

May Mat 7. Parents settled in

Australia looking for a suitable profes-

sional match for their 30 years old

daughter, height 165cm, smart, pretty

and working as a clinical psychologist,

well brought up and respects Indian cul-

tural values. Professional boys from well

settled family background preferred.

Please contact by email:

[email protected] or mobile:

0452227920

May Mat 8, 2013. Parents seeking

match for beautiful, multitalented

Medical Doctor daughter (age 27) with

wider interests in life. Correspondence

requested from medical doctor/ dentist

(preference vegetarian) with exclusive

profile : [email protected]

May Mat 9, 2013. Parents seeking

match for fair, slim Hindu Sindhi girl 32

years/ 156 cm working as Lecturer in

leading University. Permanent resident

of Australia with dual degree M.com

(Accounts and Finance), fond of sports,

traveling and cooking. We are a well knit

professional family. Please mail propos-

al with education, job details with recent

photo to : [email protected] and

Contact no. 0431842458

May Mat 10, 2013. Well settled

Indian family looking for a suitable

match for their 25 year old medico

daughter, 5’ 5” tall, born brought up and

educated in Australia. Keen in outdoor

and sport activities, travel and wants a

like-minded Australia educated medico

boy. Write to:

[email protected]

May Mat 11 2013: Seeking a

Hindu girl, vegetarian, preferably

Gujarati, with good family values, for

my son. He is 36, divorced, no children,

fair, 5’8”, well-built, non-smoker, light

drinks. He is an Australian citizen, works

as a tax consultant and lives with his par-

ents. His two sisters live separately. We

have lived in Sydney for 19 years.

Contact 0423 328 800 or

[email protected].

May Mat 12, 2013. Seeking a well

qualified Hindu male, aged between 49

– 54, for a very fair, young looking

Hindu lady, aged 54 and an Australian

citizen. He should be a non smoker and

should have strong moral values. Caste

no bar. She is an eggetarian, divorced

and has a 19 year old daughter living

with her. Contact

[email protected].

May Mat 13, 2013. Hindu Punjabi

business parents invite alliance from a

beautiful educated girl for their highly

qualified son 30/6'3", a very well placed

financial consultant with a leading multi-

national company in UK. Will be in

Australia in July, Caste no bar. Send

BHP to [email protected]

May Mat 14, 2013. . Well settled

family in Australia inviting alliance for

27 year old, 5"11, Sood Punjabi boy,

B.Software Engineer(honors) and is

working as a senior IT Consultant for the

Australian government on high income.

Seeking Indian girl, caste no bar. Please

call 0414-518-312. Email aumohin-

[email protected]

May Mat 15, 2013. Seeking com-

patible well educated, employed profes-

sional/ business match, with Indian

background, broad minded/ mature out-

look, independent, divorcee, age 47

years onward, For caring, honest, friend-

ly, Indian Christian divorcee Australian

citizen, 48 yrs 5'3" tall, much younger

looking than age, attractive, graceful

looking graduate nurse, employed.

Caste no bar. Email details to

[email protected]

50 THE INDIAN DOWN UNDER May - June 2013

Matrimonials

MATRIMONIALS

Monika GeetmalaSundays - 10am - 3pm

89.7fm Eastside Radio

or tune into: www.eastsidefm.org

��


Columns

By Karam Ramrakha

Karam C Ramrakha, Barrister andSolicitor, Putney Chambers, 36 PellisierRoad, Putney, NSW, 2112. Phone: 029808 2760, Mob:0434 986 123, Email:[email protected]

For us the Ramrakhas, September 14is an auspicious day because it wason that very day in 1949 that my

two brothers, Ram and Shiu , arrived inSydney, Australia to attend WaverleyCollege as students and, in 1950, to com-mence MBBS course and make universityhistory in becoming the first twins to beginand finish medicine at Sydney University .

This intellectual invasion fuelled by theColombo Plan was to spell the death ofWhite Australia Policy. Sadly, I was notthe first Pacific Islander to do Law atSydney Uni, as the King of Tonga hadbeaten me to that.

Coming back to 9/14, it will be animportant date when the elections willimpact Australian History.

It was Kipling who wrote "The Femaleof The Species is More Deadly than theMale".

But already the Liberal Juggernaut has

demolished two Labor goddesses KristinaKeneally and Anna Bligh, leavingtheir brood spiritless.

But Julia-jee is nowrising from the Ashesand predicted elec-toral defeat.Already she haspaid a heavyprice for hold-ing together adividedParliament,withIndependentsholding the bal-ance of power andhaving the damagedSlipper and CraigThompson on board. Thespectre of Kevin (07) Ruddalso weighs against her,and carbon tax andhistori-

cal denial of Climate Change bug herevery step.

Adding to her woes is JoeHockey who floats in the

sky and fires missilesfrom up high. AndTony Abbott, on thefootsteps of JohnHoward, carries onGoebbels-like agen-da: repeat andrepeat and you willbe believed.

Sadly for him his

Liberal predecessors Barry O'Farrell andCampbell Newman who have capturedNSW and Queensland parliaments are nowfound wanting and have not provided theeconomic and political alchemy that votershad expected from them.

This elections is about women, orshould I say ‘wimmin’, whether they willsuffer electoral defeat simply becauseJulia-jee is a Lady. But it is woman busi-ness which should decide the elections thisyear. As Mao Tse Tung said, ‘Half ofChina is women...and open the World ofChina to its women.

9/14 will sort Australia out

Old people need jobs – and not just at the Vatican

Pope Francis, the new leaderof the worldwide CatholicChurch, is 76 years old.

Some people think he's too old tobe assuming such a demandingposition. They wonder how longhe'll be able to serve as Pope,considering that his predecessor,Pope Benedict XVI, was 78 whenelected to the Papacy and lastedonly as long as three CharlieSheen marriages.

But I don't see anything wrongwith a 76-year-old Pope. Just thinkhow much experience PopeFrancis brings to the job. He haswitnessed so many life-changingevents during his time on Earth:the abolition of slavery, the dis-covery of penicillin, the inventionof the padded bra.

Okay, perhaps he's not quitethat old, but he does have a wealthof experience to bring to the job,and that's a good thing. I love tosee an older person getting such a

high-profile job. In fact, if I hadmy way, nobody would be consid-ered for the position of Pope untilthey had as many lines on theirforeheads as their résumés.

In some countries, people areforced to retire from certain occu-pations while they're in their late50s! That seems patently unfair tome. Just imagine if Oscar-winningactor Ernest Borgnine had retiredin his 50s. We would have neverseen him in such movies as "TheGraduates of Malibu High,""Frozen Stupid" and "Real MenDon't Eat Gummi Bears."

Okay, bad example. But youget the point. People in their late50s still have a lot to contribute –perhaps even more than they con-tributed before. Laura IngallsWilder published her first "LittleHouse on the Prairie" book whenshe was 64. Claude Monet, thegreat French artist, completedmany of his masterpieces after age60. And Betty White was almost90 when she got tackled in aSnickers commercial.

At age 100, Loren Wade ofWinfield, Kansas, is America'soldest worker. While other cente-narians have been retired for 40years, Wade works 30 hours aweek at Wal-Mart, usually in thepet supplies department. If you'rehaving trouble lifting a 50-lb bagof dog food into your cart, Wadeis the guy who'll help you findone of the young guys in the back.

The older I get, the more Isupport some form of age-basedaffirmative action – or positivediscrimination, as they call it inBritain. We need to create specialjobs for senior citizens, so theycan stay active and keep contribut-ing to society. Here are just threejob ads that I would like to see:

1. Receptionist. Male PotencyClinic seeks receptionist to answerphone calls and schedule patientsfor consultations with Dr. C.Ellis. Preference will be given tocandidates who have troubleremembering names and faces.Young people need not apply.

2. LivingHistory Guide.Senior citizens need-ed to visit schoolsand talk abouttheir childhoods,as part of a20th centuryhistory les-son.

Students are eager to hear youramazing stories, whether you hadto walk three miles to get toschool or grew up in a single TVhousehold. Please bring yourphoto albums along, as many ofour students are eager to find outwhat a "photo album" is.

3. FCC Reporters. Citizensaged 65 and above are encouragedto apply for the newly createdposition of FederalCommunications Commission(FCC) reporter. As an FCCreporter, your job is to watch TVfull-time and report any inappro-priate language that makes youfeel like using inappropriate lan-guage. You might be an ideal can-

didate if: i) you often complainabout "all the filth" on TV; ii)your grandchildren accuse you ofbeing a prude; iii) you've writtena letter to Joel Osteen asking himto stop saying "gosh, darn it."

THEE HUMORR OFF MELVINN DURAI

Already the Liberal Juggernaut has demolished two Labor goddesses Kristina

Keneally and Anna Bligh, leaving theirbrood spiritless. But Julia-jee is now rising

from the Ashes and predicted electoral defeat.

The older I get, themore I supportsome form of age-based affirmativeaction – or positivediscrimination, asthey call it inBritain. We need tocreate special jobsfor senior citizens,so they can stayactive and keepcontributing tosociety.

New Pope Francis is 76 years old

At age 100, Loren Wade ofKansas is America's oldest

worker. He works 30 hours aweek at Wal-Mart.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard

��

��

�� !�� "�� "��

� �� "��#�� ! �� ! �� $� ��

��

��

��

��

��

�� !�� "#�� $%"&�� '�� '�� (�� '�� )�� '�� )��

*�� $%%� ��+� ��,�� -�� .��'�� */��

�� +

�� '� ��'��,�� 0� �,) �� 1�� )�� 2��&%%��1�� '�� , �� "3��

2�� 1�� 1�� 4�� 5�� '�� (�� 5�� "677�� (�� )�� .�� 5�� 8��9��

5�� )��

4��)�� ,�� 5��(��'�� :�� #��'�� "676�� ,��

� �� 1�� ,�� )�� '�� 5��";"7�� #��4��'�� ";&%�� <36�� ,�� .��5�� 8��

�� ,�� =�� (��

�� '�� 5�� !��!�� $%"&�� -��

*2�� )�� )�� '�� )��+� �� >��5�� *2�� )��'�� /�� ) �� )�� 4�� :�� (� �� ?��(�� !��+

�� !�� @�� 4�� 9�� A�� 9�� 4�� B�� 4�1�� /�� ?�� (�� A�� 5 � �A��.58�� :��4�� C��.58�� /�� @�� 4��

�� C��A�� ,�� )

�� .� ��4�� 4��"�#�� ";� �� $%"&�� ,�� D� C�� '� � ��=�� E"3�� (�� D� (��E"%�� 4�� 9�� '� FC��D��,�� G�@��G�>��-��'H=�� E$3��(��E"3��(��E"%��!��EI3�

�� .� ��4�� 4�� $<�4� ��"%�#��$%"&�� )�� (�� 5�� @�@�-!�� :��1�� I�� "$��

�� .� ��4�� 4�� -��B�� 7�&%�� 3��J��F%$H�7$7;&666��

��

�� !�� "�#�"��$%��#��&��'�(�!��# !��)��*�� +��&��#�,�-��!��( ��.�� /0.��,�

�� 2�� 5�� -�� !�� 4�:� ��@��2�� '� �� 2��#��8� ��8�� $"� (�� K�8�� K� -�� K� B��

�� )� ��)�� ) �� K� ?�� A�� '�� ):��L� �� !�� 8�� ) �� 9� �� '��

4�� @�� '� �� 5�� -�� !�� &�-��$%"$�:�� 4�@�� B��(�� $%%7� �� $%"$��4��@�� ) �� -�� !�� (�� -�� 5�� F$%%$)$%%&H�� !��

�� 5�� 5�� -��F"776H��B�� 8�� :��5�� F"77I)76H� �� )�� !�� 5�� :�� -��F"77<)7IH�� 5�� 5 �� F"77")7$H�B�� -�� :��4�� (�� !�� 5�� -�� F"77;)"777H�

4�� @�� "73I� �� >�� B�� "7I<�� 4�@�� )�� M�� /��B�� B�� 2�� 2�� F2H� ��$%"%�� )�� )�� )��

��

��$%"&� �� 4�� N�� 4�� F�� 8�� H� ��4�� )�� 8��2��

4�� =� �� 5 ��'�� ?� �� (��)O��P�� :�� "7"&L� �� C�� 4��

$%"&� �� "%% �� 5 ��'��*��?� ��5��+��8�� :�� )�� '� ��

�� ,�� '�� 8� �� )�� )� ��

4��"� �5�� )��, �� ,�� )�� *!��#�J��+�� '� ��

�� N�� 4�� 4�� "� �� 5 ��'�� ?� �2�� 5�� $%"&�� -�� '� ��@�� =� �=QQ��Q�� Q0��)�� )��)�� )��)��

��!��"��

-� ��/��!��1#�(�� 2%

The Kersi Meher-Homji column


Happy days are here again. Only afew months ago, Indian cricket-lovers were under severe depression

after their team being beaten 1-2 by Englandin India last December, being whitewashed0-4 by Australia in Australia in 2011-12 and0-4 by England in England in 2011.

It was a tsunami of disasters.But the gloom is now lifted. India not

just defeated Australia 4-0 in the Testsseries in Chennai, Hyderabad, Mohali andDelhi this February-March, they slaugh-tered them by big margins and with days tospare.

Now it is a tsunami of triumphs!For the first time in her 81 year history

of Test cricket, India whitewashed a countryin a series of four or more Tests. And theclean sweep was not against a weak nationlike Bangladesh or Zimbabwe but againstthe once-invincible Australia.

It was only the second time thatAustralia has been whitewashed 0-4 in aseries of four Tests. This happened 43 yearsago, against South Africa in South Africa in1970.

The heroes in the series have been skip-per MS Dhoni, openers Murali Vijay andShikhar Dhawan, stylish batsmenCheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli andspinners Ravichandran Ashwin andRavindra Jadeja. Newcomer medium-pacerBhvneshwar Kumar also made his slightpresence felt when capturing early wicketsin two Tests.

India almost did the impossible, regis-tering 500 runs in the first innings of thefirst three Tests. Why almost? Because theytotalled 499 in the third Test after amassing572 in the first Test and 503 in the second.The fourth Test in Delhi was a low scoringgame for both the teams.

And all these massive totals despiteIndia losing all the tosses and batting sec-ond. Yet, some Australian journalistsexplained the Aussie massacre because Indiadeliberately prepared dusty pitches to suitIndian spinners. True, the Chennai pitchwas a yellow dustbowl but still India man-aged to score 572 on days 2, 3 and 4. InDelhi, the bounce and turn was erratic but atother venues the pitches favoured both paceand spin.

Here are the batting heroes for India:Sachin Tendulkar (81) and Virat Kohli

(107) batted stylishly but Dhoni dominatedwith a 6-rich 224 in the Chennai victory.

In the second Test in Hyderabad, Vijay(167) and Pujara (a stroke-filled 204) added370 for the second wicket. As Australiacould total only 368 runs in two innings(237 and 131), one can say that the Indianpair had scored two more runs than 22Aussie batsmen put together.

Vijay scored another century (153) in

the next Test in Mohali but all the attentionwas focussed on debutant Dhawan. Themoustached Indian played a magnificentlybreathtaking innings which will be remem-bered for a long time. His 187 with 33sparkling fours and two sixes came off only174 balls, an electrifying strike-rate of107.47. The spirited Indian openers put on289 runs.

Dhawan’s debut century was the quick-est in Test history as it came off only 85balls. It was an innings to remember as heattacked Australia’s quickies and spinnerswith a range of spectacularly classy strokes.It was as if we were watching left-handedDavid Gower and Brian Lara at their scin-tillating best.

What an innings! What panache! Andwhat a moustache! His moustache remindedme of the freedom fighting sepoy MangalPandey (1827-1857).

F o r

onceAustralia put up somefight in the Delhi Testthanks to spinner NathanLyon grabbing 7 for 94 inIndia’s first innings. Thehome team led by only 10runs in the first innings andwe thought the match wouldgo either way. But after running neck andneck to India, the Aussies under new captainShane Watson, were rocked by Man of theMatch Ravindra Jadeja who took a 5 wickethaul and Australia was dismissed for 164.Needing only 155 to win India had a fewhiccups before winning easily by 6 wicketswith two days to spare.

Admittedly the pitch was difficult toplay shots but if India’s opener CheteshwarPujara and Australia’s tail-ender PeterSiddle could score half

c e n -turies in both innings without a

care in the world, why not others? Bothplayed as if the pitch was a featherbed.

In fact Siddle became the only no. 9batsman to score 50s in both innings as alsothe only no. 9 batsman to top-score in eachinnings in the annals of Test cricket.

For capturing 29 wickets at an averageof 20.10 (best bowling 7 for 103) in theseries, India’s spinner RavichandranAshwin was adjudged the Man of the Series.

Other candidates for this award were allIndians: Pujara (419 runs at 83.80, highest

score 204), opener Murali Vijay (430at 61.42, HS 167), Dhoni (326 at81.50, HS 224 besides captaining hiscountry with flare and keeping wick-ets efficiently) and spinner Jadeja (24wickets at 17.45, best 5 for 58).Jadeja dismissed Australia’s captainfive times out of six in this series.

Among Australians, MichaelClarke was the only one to score a

century and Lyon showed signsof improvement in the DelhiTest when he captured 7 for 94in the first innings. Tail-enderMitchell Starc batted well inthe Mohali Test to score 99.

But otherwise it was doomand gloom for Australia; alldark clouds with hardly any sil-ver lining. For India, however,it was all diamonds and gold!Currently Australia is rankedno. 4 in Tests after SouthAfrica, England and India.

No ifs and no buts, Indiawon the series fair and

square.

India regains Border-Gavaskar Trophy with panache

The heroes in the Test series India won 4-0 against Australia were skipper MSDhoni, openers Murali Vijay and Shikhar Dhawan, stylish batsmen CheteshwarPujara and Virat Kohli and spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja

Batsmen Murali Vijay and Shikhar Dhawan

Spinners R. Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja

It was an unusualmatch as IndianH i g h

C o m m i s s i o n e r ’ sIndian Students beatNSW PoliceCommissioner’s XI inthe final pulsatingover.

Also it was anexperience watchingthis match alongsidei n t e r n a t i o n a lAustralian cricketersBrett and Shane Leeas spectators and part-time barbers! More on

their head-shaving skills later!It was the first Twenty20 match

of this kind in Sydney to bring abouta better relationship between Indianstudents and the police. And it suc-ceeded as there was friendliness allaround.

Not even heavy downpour, thun-der and lightning could stop the flowof runs as the match was decided bythe Duckworth-Lewis method.

The Police Commissioner’s XIbatted first and scored 5 for 133 off19 overs before pelting rains stoppedthe innings. Allan McBryde topscored with 42.

Because of rain interruption theStudents’ win target became104 runsin 15 overs. In the final thrilling overthe Students were 5 for 96, needingeight runs to win. It became threeruns for victory off two balls whenJaspreet Sandhu hit a six and theStudents won by 5 wickets with aball to spare. Earlier, HarmanDhillon had top-scored with 37 runs.

Everyone from both the teamsmade valuable contributions withbat, ball or when fielding. It was apleasure chatting with GangdeepSingh Dhillon, Gurnam Singh of theSwamy Army fame and Harman

(Mickey) Randhawa.It was a pleasure to watch the

match in the company of MrDavid Hudson (DeputyCommissioner of Police anda former cricketer), theConsul General of NSW,Darshak Mehta (thebest leg-spinner notto have played aTest) and friend-ly staff from thePolice --J u l i a n a ,Shobha andV e r o n i c aamong others.

As thematch was pro-gressing there weresqueals of delight asTest great Brett Leeand Shane Lee shavedthe hair of SydneyUniversity students toraise money for theBrett Lee Foundation.

My big thrill was tobe introduced to MissIndia Australia, AnkitaGhazan, by talent-spot-ter and film producer Raj Suri. Thebeautiful Ankita was present to sup-port the match.

After the match there was a galadinner hosted by Incredible India andothers. Constable Juliana dressed ina stunning Ghana costume was thepopular Master of Ceremonies.Ankita started the proceedings withIndian and Australian nationalanthems. Then Brett andShane

Lee

regaled all present with their cricket-ing stories, especially their Indianexperiences. It was an occasion toremember and hopefully the first ofmany. My one suggestion to theorganisers is to have an operationalscoreboard during the match nexttime around. Without it the specta-tors were at a loss as to who waswinning and losing.



Should Sachincall it a day?

Controversy Corner

Kersi with Ankita Ghazan, 2011 Miss IndiaAustralia Winner, at the T20 match

When India meets Australiahome or away, controver-sies are not far behind.

However, in the current series, therelation between the two teams wasexemplary. Michael Clarke provedhimself to be a sporting captain. Nocomplaints for his team’s defeats.

But like whips in the AustralianLabour Party, Australia’s cricket man-agement contributed to the further low-ering of the tourists’ morale. Theaxing of four players -- Shane Watson,James Pattinson, Usman Khawaja andMitchell Johnson -- in the Mohali Testfor not doing their ‘home work’ waschildish. These four are Test cricketersand not kindergarten kids. They couldhave been reprimanded in private but

not in such a public way.Australia made 408 runs in the

first innings of the Mohali Test yetlost in four days despite fine perform-ances from their openers and MitchellStarc.

As usual bad umpiring and lack ofDRS (Decision Review System) werethe excuses cited for the Aussie defeatby some visiting journalists when PhilHughes was wrongly given out inMohali. They failed to mention thatPujara was also declared out wronglyearlier. Also Michael Clarke wasgiven not out when he was distinctlyout and he went on to score a centu-ry. Umpires make an occasional mis-take as do batsmen and bowlers buton the whole they do a fine job.

Sachin Tendulkar turned 40 on April 24

The only disappoint-ment for India in thisseries of high achieve-

ments was the poor form ofSachin Tendulkar. After apolished 81 in the firstinnings of the first Test inChennai he made only 111runs in the remaining sixinnings.

In the series he scored 192runs at a poor average of32.00. His run aggregate wasless than individual inningsby Dhoni (224 in Chennai)and by Pujara (204 inHyderabad).

Sachin will be 40 on 24thApril. Being his big admirerit pains me to write this butisn’t it about time he saysfarewell to Test cricket. Hehas been the jewel in thecrown in all forms of thegame and perhaps no one willbreak his records. In 198

Tests he has scored 15,837runs at 53.86 with 51 cen-turies, highest score 248 notout.

Next best in run-scoring isAustralia’s Ricky Ponting,13,378 at 51.85 (41 cen-turies) in 168 Tests but he isretired. Among current play-ers, South Africa’s JacquesKallis has amassed 13,128(44 centuries) in 162 Tests,still 2709 runs and seven cen-turies behind Sachin. ButKallis is not young, being 37plus.

In decades to come,Sachin will be rememberednot only for his records butthe way he played the gameon and off the field. He hasset a golden standard andfuture great batsmen will becompared as much with DonBradman as with SachinTendulkar.

Jaspreet hits the PoliceXI for a six

Kersi Meher-Homji reports from Sydney Uni

Ankita Ghazan with cricketer Brett Lee and Raj Suri

The axing of four playersShane Watson (picturedhere), James Pattinson,

Usman Khawaja andMitchell Johnson in the

Mohali Test for not doingtheir ‘home work’

was childish

The Kersi Meher-Homji Column


Pujara credits domestic cricket & his family for his success

By Gaurav Joshi

Ravichandran Ashwinmight have grabbedthe Man of the Series

honours but it was the manthat guided India to a white-wash victory that has been thestand out player for the recentIndia-Oz Test series.

Cheteshwar Pujara fin-ished the series with 419 runsat average of 83.30. Morethan statistics it was the man-ner and timing of his inningsthat ensured that the future ofIndian cricket is bright.

Pujara credited his suc-cess to playing countlessdomestic matches. “Eversince my debut forSaurashtra, I have played on

so many turning tracks I feelcomfortable and I know

which shot to execute. I feel all the hardwork I have done on my game in the domes-tic schedule has played a huge role in my bat-ting form in this series”.

The Indian No. 3 also dismissed compar-isons between himself and Rahul Dravid. “Hehas proved himself across the world, I amstill a long way away”. When asked aboutopening the batting the man from Rajkot said,“I’ve opened through junior cricket and evenat times in ODI domestic cricket, so I don’tview it any different to batting at number 3”.

Pujara hails from cricketing backgroundand it is the knowledge passed on through thegenerations that he credits for where he istoday. “My grandfather played high level ofcricket and he motivated my father to play thegame. I recall their conversations when I wasyoung and it’s perhaps how I became fasci-nated about the game so early in my life”.

Senior Pujara ended playing Ranji Trophyfor Saurashtra but could never don an Indiancap—yet he has and remains sonCheteshwar’s primary coach. “My father still

coaches me and I spoke to him a couple oftimes during the series about certain aspectsof my batting”.

It was only when Pujara realised theeffort required to bowl that he decided to givehis hand at batting. “Yes, I started as a leg-spinner but from 10-11 years of age, Ithought batting is so much easier and I want-ed to be a batsman”.

On playing against Australia, Pujara saidhe had prepared with countless hours at thenets facing the reverse swing before theseries. But once the series got underway hehad stayed away from the nets. “I knew Ihave prepared well and when you bat in themiddle for so long, you don’t have time tobat in the nets [laughs]”.

Pujara has definitely filled the positionvacated by Dravid in the home season inIndia. Over the next year he will face thechallenges in South Africa and New Zealand.Given his hunger and the class he has dis-played against Australia only success awaitshim.

Steve Waugh medalistGurinder Sandhu may bepicked for the Ashes tour

Born in Blacktown, NSW,Gurinder Sandhu, 19years in age and 6’3”

tall, has already representedNew South Wales in SheffieldShield as an all-rounder. Thanksto him when NSW defeatedSouth Australia in March on theSydney Cricket Ground (SCG)when Gurinder took 4 wicketsfor 58 and then 3 for 20 and alsoscoring 45 valuable runs.

This was only his secondfirst-class match and he playedwith assurance. To cap it all, hewas adjudged Man of theMatch.

In his Sheffield Shield debuta week earlier he had captured 5for 31 and 2 for 57 againstVictoria. Thus in only two first-class matches he has claimed 14wickets at an impressive averageof 11.85.

He also represented SydneyThunder in Big Bash Leagueearlier this year.

For his promising showing innational cricket he recentlyreceived the Steve WaughMedal for the Best NSWCricketer of 2012-13.

Australia’s performance in

India for the Border-GavaskarTrophy was so pathetic, losing0-4, that there are conjecturesthat Gurinder may be picked forAustralia in the Ashes series inEngland starting a few monthslater.

His family comes fromPunjab but has now settled inSydney. It was a pleasure chat-ting with Gurinder for TheIndian Down Under.

You bat left-handed butbowl right-arm fast-medium.Why?

I started playing backyardcricket with my father, who isalso my mentor. He bats right-handed and bowls left-arm likeMichael Clarke, so I did theopposite as a child. And thehabit stuck!

Any other cricketers in thefamily?

My younger brother Harmonshows and represents his clubfor Under-15s.

Tell us about your cricketachievements.

I scored a few centurieswhen I played Under-15s, my

highest score being 147 not out.In a first grade match I took ahat-trick for Fairfield-Liverpoolagainst Manly. But the greatthrill was being selected forAustralia in the Under-19 WorldCup staged in Australia lastyear. We entered the Final butlost to India.

Who coached you?Test cricketers Craig

McDermott and Stuart Lawamong others. It was a privi-lege learning from them.

Your most memorablemoment?

Getting the Baggy Bluelast month to representNSW in Sheffield Shield,and then taking seven wick-ets in that match againstVictoria including 5 for 31in the first innings.

Your hero?England’s all-rounder

Andrew Flintoff. I hope toplay like him one day.

May you reach that levelsoon, Gurinder. Australians

and Indo-Australiansare banking on you.

Gurinder Sandhu, promising Oz teenager of Indian origin

India has found its No 3 bat in Cheteshwar Pujara,, who finished therecent Test series against Australia with 419 runs at average of 83.30.

Cheteshwar Pujara



Convenience stores, Taxidrivers, IT professionals,Cricket fanatics...the list

goes on. This is how the Desibeings are stereotyped byVideshis’; included in this list ina favourite Indian sport –Badminton, in which Indianyouths’ passion and sport mixtogether. Many may not know orrealise that this sport has its rootsdating back to the 18th century inBritish India. Ever since theBritish left India, badminton con-tinues to prevail in many back-yards and small clubs, in streetsand suburbs in India. This highlyloved sport thrives in the Hillsdistrict of Sydney, through manylocal community clubs; howeverthere is one club that unites play-ers of different origins and fromdifferent regions of Sydney.Crestwood Badminton Club hasbeen around for 22 years, spear-headed by President Mr BaskerRatnam, whose altruistic servicebrings joy to many badmintonplayers. His selfless dedication tothis sport and the club’s prosper-ity is remarkable. The club func-tions twice weekly at ModelFarms High School at BaulkhamHills, Sydney.

Here you will find recreation-al badminton played at the highestcompetitive level 2 nights a week.The club conducts a highly com-petitive doubles Badminton tour-nament for its members twiceevery year, which rejuvenates thespirit of the game in the minds ofthe players and motivates them onimproving their game. This

year’s first tournament started onMarch 27, 2013 and was spon-sored by ‘Value World Travel’.

Not just on the day of thetournament, all the hidden virtuesof sportsmen – their coordina-tion, cooperation and compassionwere on a high as they tried toconcentrate on their practice ses-sions with their doubles partners.Following few weeks of grippingpractice sessionsand nail-bitingexercises, the Tournament saw 8teams coil their springs preparedto unleash on the day. Playerslike Manikandan, ShanthaKumar,Ranjith, Shivshankar who onlystarted playing this absorbingsport a little more than a year agodid show tremendous improve-ment and played up to par withmany experienced players just in

time for the tournament.Defending champions AdityaGaur and Hitesh Bansal did alsomaintain their touch and form,while relishing their previouswin, hoped to repeat the featagain this time.

The battle soon began withvalour and all 8 teams playedastounding games. Friction,streaks, stares, spats among play-ers all happened on this one day,and in the end 4 teams stood apartto play in the semi-finals. It wasthe end of the road for the pair-ings of Venketesh and Murthyand Hitesh and Malkeet whowere beaten by the titans Neniand Murugappan and Amit andBala respectively, who thensecured their place as theFinalists. The first day of thetournament ended with disap-pointment for 6 teams; however italso witnessed a close competi-tion and fighting spirit, mixedwith jubilance and joy for thelove of badminton. Internationalveteran Subramanian Jaganathan,who has been playing badmintonfor decades and was visitingSydney on a holiday, was aston-ished by the passion for the sportshown by the club, he remarked,“I have never seen such energyand harmony among players fromdifferent regional backgrounds,playing together as a family. Theway the tournament was conduct-ed and Mr Basker Ratnam’s ded-ication was euphoric. I will carrythese memories back homerejoicing and savouring everysecond of it”.

On the night of April 3, 2013,when the rest of Sydney was athome relaxing, the shuttlers ofthis club had a thunderous cele-bration rejoicing the finals oftheir 9th Bi-annual Tournament.The Value World TravelChampionship Cup adorned thetable, alongside all of the memen-tos, prizes and gifts, a glitteringtable of motivation for all play-ers. The club has a tradition ofholding a few exhibition gamesevery tournament final gamesnight; this game has no competi-tive significance, however itdemonstrates the league in whichthe sport is played at a higherlevel, inspiring every club mem-ber and motivating them. On thistournament finals nightCrestwood Badminton Club washonoured to host Young Kim andYong Lee from the KoreanBadminton Club, and theNational representatives ofAustralian Badminton, GuyGibson and Bernard Hallim.Crestwood Badminton Clubmembers Karthik, Harry,Venketesh and Aadhil took thehonour of sharing the court spacewith these icons, and played afew games with a high quality ofsportsmanship and spirit.

Following all of the exhibitionevents, were the grand galafinals. A best of 3 games compe-tition was planned; however thepairing of Neni Tiwary andMurugappan Ramaswami’s sheerpower and control was no matchfor Bala and Amit’s agility. TheValue World Travel

Championship Cup was won bythe winners in two straight games(21-12, 21-17). The runners upwere disappointed, but contentand satisfied having played to thebest of their abilities. The finalmatches were umpired by theYonex recognised umpireShivshanker. It is worthy to men-tion that Shivshanker was theline-umpire at the AustralianBadminton open 2013 and is alsoone of the club’s current patrons.Another mentionable personalitythat honoured the day with hispresence was Dr. RajamSankaran, from the CSIRO whopresented the awards to someplayers.

One of the winners Mr NeniTiwary who runs Value WorldTravel sponsored the prestigiousevent.

It is a usual perception thatthe best skilled team take thechampionship, however quiteoften this isn’t the reality.Though the contesters exhibittheir mind and skills to their high-est level, there are always influ-ence of the performance anxietyon the tournament day that deniesthem to access to their best poten-tial. In such competitions it is thesport that wins ultimate; the con-testers are meagre puppets con-trolled by nerves.

Crestwood Badminton Clubencourages players of all levels tocome play badminton, to playwith Crestwood Badminton Clubplease contact Mr Basker Ratnamon 0409 996 509 or email at [email protected]

Most Dedicated Players� Hitesh Bansal� Gautham Subramanian� Kaustubh Banjatti

Consistent Players� Vinod Vijayakumar� Gayathri Jayaram

Swiftest Player� Manikandan

Krishnamurthy� Diwakar Gaur

Player of Club� Venketesh Srinivasan� Karthik Ramapra

Badminton smashes into thesuburbs of Sydney

Cyrus Pestonji Diwakar Gaur, Manikandan Krishnamurthy, Jitender and Murthy.

Award Recipients

��

��

Documents

Indian Down Under - May-June, 2013