072310b

INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, julY 23 , 2010 • ONlINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM

25 Indo American News • Friday, july 23 , 2010ONlINE EDITION: www.indoamerican-news.com

STOCKS • FINANCE • SOUTH ASIAN MARKETS • TECHNOLOGY

IndoAmerican News

BusinessFriday, July 23 , 2010 www.indoamerican-news.com

India’s Rupee Gets a unique Scripted Symbol of Its OwnNEW DELHI: The dollar is $. The

Euro is €. The pound is £. But the rupee was stranded without a symbol.

The Indian Press Informa-tion Bureau, for the first time, released images of the newly se-lected symbol. According to the Associated Press, ministers made the execu-tive decision at a cabinet meeting after considering five finalist symbol options, all of which it was said, drew inspiration from “the letter R”” in the Roman alphabet and “Ra” from the ancient

Devanagari script used in Hindi.Formerly, the Ru-

pee was indicated by abbreviations, hard-ly official enough for the currency of one of the world’s fastest-growing economic forces. It prompted more than 3,000 de-sign submissions to aid this cultural and historical event.

Udaya Kumar’s design was ultimate-ly the symbol cho-sen. Kumar, a post graduate student at the Indian Institute of Technology, now

not only gets accolades for contrib-uting to India’s culture, but also will receive a cash prize of 250,000 rupees (now with symbol attached).

“I Hit upon Representative Devanagari”, Says Graphic Designer udaya Kumar

CHENNAI (Hindu): When D. Udaya Kumar decided to participate in the competition to create a symbol for the rupee, he looked at a number of Indian scripts to come up with a design.

“I saw many regional language scripts but I thought many repre-sented only one region of India. But the Devanagari script is the most extensively used in the country, so I decided to go with that.”

Speaking to The Hindu on the phone after winning the design com-petition, Mr. Kumar said the horizon-tal line on top used in the Devanagari script was unique to India.

“The two horizontal lines and the band between also represent the In-dian flag.”

A native of Kallakurichi in Tamil Nadu, Kumar completed most of his

The horizontal lines, the band between also represent the flag

schooling in Chennai.After studying at the School of

Architecture and Planning at Anna University here, he did his Masters’

D. Udaya Kumar, a research scholar from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), displays the new symbol he designed for the rupee.

at the Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay starting 2001, before en-rolling for a PhD there in 2005 after a two-year stint in the computer magazine Chip.

Set to join IIT-Guwa-hati as assistant profes-sor, he says the recog-nition may delay his plans.

“I have been receiving calls from the morning and I don’t know if I can leave for Guwa-hati on Friday as I had planned,” he says, while

expressing his happiness and thank-ing his parents and professors for the help they have given him through the years.


26 Indo American News • Friday, july 23 , 2010 ONlINE EDITION: www.indoamerican-news.comI N d I A

How the World Cup Has Resurrected ‘India's Enron’

By Elliot HannonNEW DELHI (Time): Being a part of the

World Cup is a soccer player’s dream. On the pitch, reputations can rise or fall in a matter of moments as the world’s best compete. This year in South Africa, however, one key player at the World Cup is fighting for redemption without ever stepping on the pitch. For the In-dian IT company Satyam (now called Mahindra Satyam), just being a part of this international spectacle is a milestone in a comeback story that seemed all but impossible just 18-months ago.

During the World Cup tournament, the com-pany has been the technological glue, setting up complex networks to sell over three million tick-ets, coordinate the over 130,000 volunteers, the logistics of travel and accreditation, security and the broadcast of the games around the world.

Coordinating such a complex event is a monu-mental task, and a successful finale will mark a startling turnaround for the company, which just last year was dubbed “India’s Enron.” In January 2009, Satyam’s Chairman, Ramalinga Raju, announced that he had cooked the books of the Hyderabad company. The billion dollar accounting fraud was India’s largest and the fallout was severe. Shares of Satyam, then India’s fourth largest IT provider, plummeted as the scandal unfolded and the one-time rising star of India’s most recognizable industry was in crisis.

Uncertain about the extent the fraud and wor-ried that the damage might take down more than just Satyam, the Indian government stepped in. “The key thing was trying to shore up ‘Brand IT India,’” says Partha Iyengar, head of research for Gartner India, a technology research and ad-visory company. “If the credibility and the blue chip nature of ‘Brand IT India’ was in doubt, then the industry as a whole would suffer long term and become less relevant.”

To protect its showpiece industry, the Indian government took over the operations of the company. It dismissed Satyam’s top man-agement and appointed a new board. Rivals swarmed, looking to pick off lucrative contracts from the embattled company. The new interim management set out to reassure Satyam’s clients that the damage was isolated and that the Gov-ernment would ensure that the company could still deliver. The message resonated and helped soften the fall, says Iyengar. “It was a surprise to everyone that Satyam didn’t lose as many clients as people thought.”

In April 2009, Tech Mahindra, an IT tele-comm service provider and part of the $7 billion Mahindra Group conglomerate, bought a majority stake in Satyam and installed CP Gurnani, head of Tech Mahindra’s international operations, as CEO. But Satyam was still in dire straights. “The Government did a great job, but the company was still in the Intensive Care Unit,” says Gurnani. “At the top management

The Italian national team sit behind a Mahindra Satyam advertisement billboard during a training session for the World Cup at Southdowns College in Irene, June 21, 2010.

level, everybody had gone to prison, so there was a vacuum in leadership.”

To get the company back on track, Gurnani assembled a new management team and cut Satyam’s workforce, laying off 10,000 employ-ees. Instead of jettisoning the tarnished Satyam name, the company decided to stick with the Satyam brand. Opting to reform the company, rather than starting over, has its risks, says Sudhakar Balachandran, an accounting profes-sor at Columbia Business School. “But if you have recognition and contracts already signed, sometimes its better to move forward.”

The newly formed Mahindra Satyam began by reaching out to clients around the world like General Electric and Citibank to reassure them that the company was still up to the task. One of those calls went to FIFA, soccer’s govern-ing body that puts on the World Cup. In 2007, Satyam had won the contract to provide all of the IT services for the South African World Cup, but with the company in disarray just a year before the event, FIFA was anxious, says Hari Thalapalli, Chief Marketing Officer at Mahindra Satyam.

The Indian government had tried to assure all of Satyan’s customers that the company would be able to perform in the immediate aftermath of the fraud, even under new management; but FIFA remained wary. “FIFA had to be assured not only that we were sincere, but that we would still have the capabilities to deliver,” says Gurnani. It took two months to get a definitive answer on the World Cup deal, but the Mahindra Satyam’s pitch was convincing and FIFA stuck with the company.

Holding on to the World Cup job boosted Satyam’s employee morale, and also created an instant, high-pressure timeline for the com-pany’s rehabilitation. Toward that end, the com-pany chose not be an unseen behind-the-scenes operator at the World Cup, but instead went on a PR offensive, buying up pricey pitchside ad space along with other global giants like Bud-weiser and McDonalds.

The company has also brandished the slogan “FIFA Trusts Mahindra Satyam. Discover Why” on its website. The publicity has been nearly as important as Satyam’s IT performance at the World Cup. “It was a coming out party for us,” says Thalapalli.

Mahindra Satyam hopes that with a success-ful World Cup under its belt, the party will con-tinue and newfound momentum will open up markets in Latin America and Africa. But some significant challenges remain. The company has yet to file its corrected financial statements, something it must do to put to rest lingering doubts about its financial health and transpar-ency. Lingering uncertainties have hindered Mahindra Satyam from landing new customers. Still, the resurrection has been remarkable so far. Says Thalapalli. “We will all be very proud one day that we were able to turn it around.”


27 Indo American News • Friday, july 23 , 2010ONlINE EDITION: www.indoamerican-news.com B U S I N E S S

An Entrepreneur Who Took a Chance on HerselfBy PrErna GuPta

NEW YORK (NYT): Six years ago, fresh out of Stanford with a de-gree in economics, I had what many would consider the perfect job. I was a management consultant at a presti-gious firm, with an office overlooking the San Francisco Bay and a shiny new ThinkPad to boot.

My co-workers were intelligent, ambitious and fun, and I interacted with high-level executives at Fortune 500 companies. My perks included free concert tickets, ski trips and fancy dinners. I was on track to be earning six figures within three years. It was the good life I had been chasing along with my peers at Stanford.

So why wasn’t I happy?After six months of living this sup-

posed dream, my day-to-day life was far from satisfying. I was working 14-hour days, and most of my time seemed to be spent nudging boxes around in PowerPoint slides and agonizing over the wording of bullet-pointed items.

It felt wrong to be dreading work at such a young age. I wanted to wake up each morning excited about what was ahead. I wanted to create something of my own.

I had joined consulting with the goal of starting my own company one day, perhaps after getting my M.B.A. At the time, I believed that management consulting would best prepare me to run my own business, but I soon realized that consulting was

mostly just teaching me how to be a better consultant.

Venture capital, I thought, would be a more direct path to entrepreneur-ship. So I quit my job as a consultant after six months and joined a venture capital firm in Silicon Valley.

I lasted just six weeks this time. Although I had indeed moved closer to the world of entrepreneurship, I found myself no closer to actually becoming an entrepreneur. To make matters worse, the work I was doing was even more painful than before, and the hours were longer.

My day now consisted of mining lists and industry reports for high-growth companies, then cold-calling

their chief executives. The more C.E.O.’s I spoke to, the more “points” I got. Soon I would be judged by how many meetings I was able to schedule for my partners. And if a meeting turned into a deal, I made money. In short, I was a saleswoman.

Sales is an essential aspect of entre-preneurship, which is what initially attracted me to this job. A few weeks

of selling something for which I had no passion, however, were enough for me to realize that my venture-capital gig wasn’t the good life I had imagined.

Switching jobs had not solved my problems. The truth was that I hated working in a conventional structure. I hated having a boss, working on someone else’s creation and sitting in an office all day. My time was not my own, and I was miserable. I could not bear it for even one day longer. So I quit and decided to become an en-trepreneur. Along with my boyfriend (now my husband), Parag Chordia, I raised money through family and friends and started my own technol-ogy company, a social networking site that grew to two million users. And I have never looked back — even though that company has not been profitable.

Last year, Parag and I started Khush Inc., which makes an iPhone music application called LaDiDa. It’s a kind of reverse karaoke — it creates background music when people sing lyrics into a microphone, and it is one of the top 20 paid music applications in iTunes.

As chief executive of my own start-up, I now spend my days building consumer products from the ground up, creating grass-roots marketing campaigns, pitching my ideas to in-vestors and dreaming about the next big thing. How many people bought my product? Who saw my video?

Prerna Gupta runs a start-up company that makes LaDiDa, a “reverse karaoke” application for the iPhone.

What can I do to reach more people tomorrow? These are the questions I ask myself each day.

There is a certain thrill to seeing one’s own creation in the hands and minds of thousands, sometimes even millions, of people around the world. Entrepreneurship is intoxicating.

Exciting as it may be, however, the entrepreneurial life is far from easy. Stress is a regular part of the day. Money is tight. There are frequent emotional highs and lows, and the desire to succeed can become all-consuming. Underlying all of this is the knowledge that failure is the most likely outcome.

Yet, no matter how tough things get, I wake up every morning with re-newed hope and excitement for what lies ahead. The fact that I am working on my passion gives meaning to even the most mundane tasks.

My future is perhaps more uncer-tain than it ever has been. I may end up wealthy, or I may earn barely enough to support myself. But the realization that I face a high likelihood of failure is not enough to send me back to the corporate cubicle.Maybe I value my time more than my net worth. Maybe my fear of boredom outweighs my fear of failure. Or, maybe I have an irrational belief that I will succeed against all odds. Whatever it is, I find the risk of entrepreneurship to be not only worthwhile but also necessary for fulfillment. Work is no longer work. It is life, and a good one.

Why I’ve chosen the entrepreneurial life over a stable desk job with perks

jet Airways Enhances Air leadership Position with Strong lead in june 2010

(Travel Daily) Jet Airways, India’s premier international airline, has capitalised on the improve-ment in global business and leisure travel, posting strong passenger load factors for June 2010, which also mark the ninth straight month of increase in passenger traffic for the airline. The airline has recorded an impressive growth in seat factors which stood at a high of 82.2%, with Jet Airways carrying 3.65 lakh revenue passengers internationally registering a buoyant 31% increase as com-pared to the same period last year.

Jet Airways, domestic passenger traffic also grew by a robust 37.4% with the airline carrying 8.40 lakh domestic revenue passengers in June 2010. The seat factor for Jet Airways’ domestic operations also stood at an impressive 80.5%, a marked improvement over the same period last year.

JetLite, the wholly owned subsidiary of Jet Airways India Ltd, has also posted a remarkable 41% increase in revenue passengers, carrying over 3.69 lakh in June 2010. JetLite also clocked an impres-sive seat factor of 83.7% for June 2010, aided by improved services and enhanced reliability, which have enabled the airline to improve its penetration of the travel market in India.

Equally impressive for the Jet Airways Group, was the On Time Performance posted by both Jet Airways and JetLite. As per figures released by the Director General of Civil Aviation, Jet Airways and JetLite both ranked amongst the top performing scheduled domestic airline on the critical ser-vice parameter of On Time Performance in June 2010 posting 86.8% and 86.3% respectively. Jet Airways and JetLite also continue to be the largest passenger airline group with a leading market share of 26.5% for the month of June 2010.

According to Mr. Nikos Kardassis, CEO, Jet Airways, “Nine consecutive months of robust growth, underline the fact that Jet Airways, as a customer centric organization has been able to comprehend and capitalize on the resurgent trend in domestic and global air traffic. This growth has been achieved through the integration of operational efficiencies, effective network planning, strategic code shares, distinctive marketing initiatives and improved reliability on the important customer service param-eter of On Time Performance, all of which has helped the airline stay a step ahead of the growth curve. More importantly, it has been the unwavering dedication and commitment of our team that has played a decisive role in helping enhance our leadership in the India aviation sector.”


28 Indo American News • Friday, july 23 , 2010 ONlINE EDITION: www.indoamerican-news.comI N d I A

In India, Caste, Honor and Killings IntertwineBy Jim yardlEy

KODERMA (NYT): When Niru-pama Pathak left this remote mining region for graduate school in New Delhi, she seemed to be leaving the old India for the new. Her parents paid her tuition and did not resist when she wanted to choose her own career. But choosing a husband was another matter.

Her family was Brahmin, the high-est Hindu caste, and when Pathak, 22, announced she was secretly engaged to a young man from a caste lower than hers, her family began pressing her to change her mind. They warned of social ostracism and accused her of defiling their religion.

Days after Pathak returned home in late April, she was found dead in her bedroom. The police have arrested her mother, Sudha Pathak, on suspicion of murder, while the family contends that the death was a suicide.

The postmortem report revealed another unexpected element to the case: Pathak was pregnant.

“One thing is absolutely clear,” said Prashant Bhushan, a social activist and lawyer now advising Pathak’s fiancé. “Her family was trying their level best to prevent her from marry-ing that boy. The pressure was such that either she was driven to suicide or she was killed.”

In India, where the tension between traditional and modern mores re-

verberates throughout society, Pathak’s death comes amid an apparent resurgence of so-called honor killings against couples who breach Hindu marriage traditions.

This week, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh ordered a cabinet-level commission to consider tougher penalties in honor killings.

In June, India’s Supreme Court sent notices to seven Indian states, as well as to the national government, seeking responses about what was be-ing done to address the prob-lem.

The phenomenon of honor killings is most prevalent in some northern states, espe-

cially Haryana, where village caste councils, or khap panchayats, often operate as an extralegal morals police force, issuing edicts against couples who marry outside their caste or who marry within the same village con-sidered a religious violation since vil-lages are often regarded as extended families.

Even as the court system has sought to curb these councils, politicians have hesitated, since the councils often control significant vote blocs in local elections.

New cases of killings or harassment appear in the Indian news media almost every week. Last month, the police arrested three men for the honor killings of a couple in New Delhi who had married outside their

castes, as well as the murder of a woman who eloped with a man from another caste.

Two of the suspects are accused of murdering their sisters, and an uncle of the slain couple spoke of their murders as justifiable.

“What is wrong in it?” the uncle, Dharmaveer Nagar, told the Indian news media. “Murder is wrong, but this is socially the best thing that has been done.”

Intercaste marriages are protected under Indian law, yet social attitudes remain largely resistant. In a 2006 sur-vey cited in a United Nations report, 76 percent of respondents deemed the practice unacceptable. An over-whelming majority of Hindu couples continue to marry within their castes, and newspapers are filled with mari-tal advertisements in which parents, seeking to arrange a marriage for a son or daughter, specify caste among lists of desired attributes like profes-sion and educational achievement.

“This is part and parcel of our cul-ture, that you marry into your own caste,” said Dharmendra Pathak, the father of Pathak, during an interview in his home. “Every society has its own culture. Every society has its own traditions.”

Yet Indian society is also rapidly changing, with a new generation more likely to mix with people from different backgrounds as young peo-ple commingle on college campuses or in the workplace.

Pathak had studied journalism at the Indian Institute of Mass Com-

munications in New Delhi before taking a job at a financial newspaper. At school, she had met Priyabhanshu Ranjan, a top student whose family was from a middle-upper caste, the Kayastha.

“The day I proposed, she said, ‘My family will not accept this. My fam-ily is very conservative,’ ” Ranjan recalled. “I used to try to convince her that once we got married, they would accept it.” Pathak deliberated over the proposal for months before accepting in early 2009. Convinced her family would disapprove, she kept her engagement a secret for more than a year, until she learned that her father was interviewing prospective Brahmin grooms in New Delhi to ar-range a marriage for her. Her parents were also renovating the family home for a wedding celebration.

Pathak called her oldest brother, Samarendra, who spent the next week trying to change her mind.

“What I told her was that the deci-sion you have taken — there is noth-ing wrong with it,” he said. “But the society we live in will not accept it. You can’t transform society in a day. It takes time.”

When her father learned of the engagement, he wrote his daughter a letter and paid a surprise visit to New Delhi.

In the letter, the father acknowl-edged that such marriages were al-lowed under India’s Constitution, but argued that the Constitution had existed for only decades while

A candlelight vigil in New Delhi in May, where supporters of Nirupama Pathak, a 22-year-old Hindu woman from eastern India, called for her death to be prosecuted as an honor killing.

Honor killings are most common in parts of northern India.

Officers escorted her mother, Sudha, on the left, inside a local police station. She was arrested on suspicion of murder. The family says that Nirupama Pathak’s death was a suicide.

Hindu religious beliefs dated back thousands of years.

At one point, Pathak’s mother called, cry-ing, asking if they had wronged her in a past life.

The death of Pathak remains under investi-gation. Her body was discovered in her up-stairs bedroom on the morning of April 29, while her mother was the only person at home. Initially, neighbors and family members said she had died from elec-trocution, but then later changed their story to

say she had hanged herself. The police arrested the mother after the postmortem report concluded that Pathak had been suffocated.

But Pathak’s father and her two brothers have argued that the post-mortem was flawed and claimed that her death had been a suicide. The family produced a suicide note and persuaded a local magistrate to order an investigation into Ranjan, the boyfriend which his supporters have described as politically motivated.

Pathak’s pregnancy has also com-plicated the case. Ranjan said that he had been unaware of her condition, and her family told the police that they, too, had been unaware. But in an interview, the father and broth-ers changed their story, saying that Pathak confessed her pregnancy to her mother on the morning of her death.

For now, the case has polarized opinion. In Koderma, supporters of the Pathak family have rallied for the release of the mother from jail. In New Delhi, former classmates of Pathak and other supporters have held candlelight vigils, calling for the case to be prosecuted as an honor killing.

“This kind of the thing is increas-ing everywhere,” said Girija Vyas, a member of Parliament and the president of the National Commis-sion of Women. “There should not be these things in the 21st century. These things must be stopped.”



‘Khaps Have To Reform’What explains the phenomenon of rising violence against couples flouting rules of arranged marriages?

o p I N I o N

A New American label’s Mission: Bollywood Music on Global SceneBy JosEPH PlamBEck

NEW YORK (NYT): Could there be more global hits like “Jai Ho” in the future? Universal Music thinks so.

“Jai Ho,” the Academy Award-winning song written by the Indian composer A. R. Rahman for “Slumdog Million-aire” (2008), raced up pop charts worldwide as its catchy dance beat shimmied across borders with ease. And Universal, the largest of the four major record companies, believes that West-ern audiences might have an appetite for more music with an Indian flavor.

Universal says it has agreed to team with Desi Hits!, a com-pany that promotes South Asian entertainment on desihits.com, to create a label for musicians from India or with South Asian roots. The goal is to reach a global audience.

“There’s a huge amount of amount of opportunity, given that it’s rela-tively untapped,” said David Joseph, chief executive of Universal Music U.K., referring to South Asian pop music. “It’s far from a vanity project for us.”

Anjula Acharia-Bath, chief execu-tive of Desi Hits!, which is based in New York, said the new label, called Desi Hits! Universal, is going “to give this genre a home.”

Since Acharia-Bath started Desi Hits! in 2007 with Arun Sandhu and her husband, Ranj Bath, it has gained the support of some of the biggest names in the music business. Jimmy Iovine, who runs Interscope, a Uni-versal label, sits on the board, as does Charlie Walk, a former president of Epic Records.

Desi Hits! had good timing, start-ing just a year before the release of “Slumdog Millionaire,” which grossed more than $140 million at the domestic box office and set off a mini-boom of interest in Indian culture in the United States. The “Slumdog” soundtrack sold nearly 400,000 cop-ies, and “Jai Ho” won a Grammy in addition to an Oscar.

“There’s never been an infrastruc-ture for this music,” Acharia-Bath said. After “Slumdog,” she said, “ev-

eryone saw that with some resources some of these songs really popped.”

By starting a label now, Acharia-Bath said, she hopes to “leap ahead of the competitors” and to have a first crack at signing artists.

The two companies declined to disclose financial details about the partnership.

“As India keeps building itself, there’s enormous potential,” said Mr. Iovine, whose Interscope label released the “Slumdog” soundtrack. “There’s great cultural potential that’s only started to be tapped by the West.”

Mr. Iovine said Indian-infused pop music could have a similar trajectory to Latin music, and like Latin music the artists would need to be able to sing in English. (The original version of “Jai Ho” was in Hindi, and a remix version was released in English and performed by the Pussycat Dolls.)

Vin Bhat, chief executive of Saavn, a company that distributes entertain-ment from South Asia, pointed to Shakira and Ricky Martin as singing stars who were able to make the language leap.

“That is something that really needs to be nurtured among the younger singers,” Bhat said. For South Asian musicians “to go really big it needs to be delivered in an accessible way.”

But Joseph cautioned that making any such comparisons could be pre-mature. “We want to identify the right artists and go from there,” he said. “I want to be careful and not get ahead of ourselves.”

Some of the South Asian potential has already been tapped by hip-hop artists, including Maya Arulpra-gasam, or M.I.A., who was born in London and grew up in Sri Lanka, and Rihanna, who released a remix of “Rude Boy” with Indian beats.

Ajay Nair, an associate vice provost for student affairs at the University of Pennsylvania and an editor of “Desi Rap: Hip-Hop in South Asian Amer-ica” (Rowman & Littlefield), said that as hip-hop has become a global art, it was natural for Indian music to become integrated into it.

“It should come as no surprise that Indian music and hip-hop can have a symbiotic relationship,” he said.

Interaction between Western acts and Indian music will be encouraged, Ms. Acharia-Bath said, but the goal for the label is to sign Indian artists and expose them to European and American audiences.

In the end, said Walk, the former Epic executive, “this particular part-nership will hopefully produce big artists with big hits. It’s like low-hanging fruit ready to be picked.”

Anjula Acharia-Bath is the chief executive of Desi Hits!, which is pairing with Universal.

By sHEEla rEddyMUMBA (Outlook): Prem Chow-

dhry, who extensively studied the phenomenon of rising violence against couples flouting rules of ar-ranged marriages for her book Con-tentious Marriages, Eloping Couples, explains why it’s happening and some of the reasons why male guardians and khap panchayats unleash ex-treme violence on couples. Excerpts of an interview:

What is it about society that has changed so drastically that it has now become a life-and-death issue to choose one’s own mate?

Many things have changed—polit-ical democracy, for instance, which has thrown up new social groups competing with the high-caste groups that were in power earlier. One can see a greater mobility, which means many more opportunities for young-sters to meet. It’s been a problem through the post-Independence era, although cases have risen sharply in the last decade for a variety of reasons. Two (legislative) acts have actually prompted them—the Hindu Marriage Act and the Hindu Succes-sion Act because it gave the right to property to women. Therefore, the restrictions on who a woman can marry.

But we had love marriages before and without this violent backlash?

I think it is insecurity. It’s clear that this is a way of khap panchayats as-serting themselves because they are marginalised. This is a highly emo-tive issue involving caste, customs, dehati culture on which mobilisation does take place.

Does it have anything to do with the fact that women have out-stripped men—whether in earning power or in taking on new roles?

Take the example of Haryana. The marriage market is fairly restricted there for a variety of reasons—there are fewer girls, men are not getting jobs, there’s a very high level of bachelorhood and so on. The earlier caste restrictions are just not feasible in a situation where populations have grown, small villages have become very big ones, where there used to be two or three gotras in a village, now there are 25-30. So the degrees of prohibition which you have to avoid are just too many. There are just not

enough suitable boys to go around.So what do you do?You ignore the usual restrictions

and find someone compatible with your status. Although we say that boys and girls are eloping and get-ting married, the truth is that a lot of families are actually opting to ignore these restrictions.

These are very much arranged mar-riages. The tendency now is to pick up a suitable boy: there are not many available as there’s a flux of girls at the top and a deficit at the bottom. Which means the lower class boys are generally remaining unmarried. In Rohtak district, where I did my re-search, as many as 44 per cent males in the reproductive age of 15 to 44 were bachelors.

The violence is because of the shrinking matrimonial pool?

Yes, it’s a very tight situation and I think the khap panchayats should behave themselves. Instead of open-ing out the marriage market, they are tightening it further. Historically, the khap panchayats, from time to time, even in the British period, opened out the marriage market by declaring that people of such and such gotra not allowed to marry earlier, may now marry. It happened in 1946, 1947, even as late as 1995. Why can’t they do it now?

What changes do you propose?You can’t do away with them be-

cause they are old institutions, but I would suggest they take the reformist agenda. Surely, the government can put pressure on them to take up is-sues like female foeticide, infanticide, dowry, ostentatious weddings, even inter- and intra-caste marriages.

Why are they focusing solely on the issue of marriages within gotras?

Because it’s an emotive issue on which they can mobilise. It’s not as if there isn’t any dissent there’s the defi-ance of young couples but they are not allowing this dissent to surface. The functioning of the panchayats is very authoritarian: women are not allowed to attend even if they are a party in the conflict, youngsters are not al-lowed to speak, and all the decisions are taken as unanimous ones which they are not. It’s neither a democratic body nor a grassroots one, as it’s made out to be.


30 Indo American News • Friday, july 23 , 2010 ONlINE EDITION: www.indoamerican-news.com



Indo American News South Asia

News of the Diaspora

SAINTHIA, West Bengal (TOI): At least 63 persons are feared dead and several oth-ers injured when Sealdah-bound Uttarbanga Express from New Coochbehar rammed into the rear of the Bhagalpur-Ranchi Vanan-chal Express at Sainthia station in Birbhum district early Monday. 90 people were in-jured.

38 bodies have been recovered while a senior official said, on the condition of ano-nymity, that 63 people have died.

Heavy casualty was feared as three coaches, two un-reserved and a lug-gage (SLR) van, of Ranchi-bound Vananchal Express turned into a man-gled heap of steel due to the impact.

Sources in Suri hospital said that 15 bodies were brought to the hos-pital. Some injured were also taken to Sainthia hospital, but the number of dead brought there was not yet known.

Injured passengers were being taken to hospitals in Sainthia, and Suri, the district headquarter town.

The diesel engine of Uttarbanga Express was badly smashed. Eastern Railway sourc-es in Kolkata have confirmed that the driver of the Uttarbanga Express, M C Dey, had died but there were no reports about the fate of assistant driver N K Mandal. The guard of the Vananchal Express, A Mukherjee, had also died in the accident.

The severity of the impact could be gauged with the fact that the roof of one of the coaches of the ill-fated train mounted the footover bridge across the platform.

According to sources, the accident oc-curred at 1.54 am when 3148 down New Coochbehar-Sealdah Uttarbanga Express

rammed into 3404 down Bhagalpur-Ranchi Vananchal Express after overshooting the signal.

Vananchal was several hours behind the scheduled time of 20.54 pm and was leav-ing platform no 4 at the time of accident. The scheduled arrival and departure of Ut-tarbanga Express at Sainthia was 1.38 am and 1.39 am. It was not clear why the train, which was to halt at the station, arrived on a high speed.

The sources said the up line was clear

and no train on that route has yet been cancelled.

Eastern Railways has opened control rooms following the accident. The stations and their phone numbers are Sealdah (033-23503535, 033-23503537), Malda (06436-222061), Bhagalpur (06412-4222433), Ja-malpur (063444-3101)

Railway minister Mamata Banerjee, chairman of Railway Board Vivek Sahay, Railway Board member (electrical) Sudesh Kumar and director general of railway health service B K Ramteke, Eastern Railway gen-eral manager V N Tripathy and other senior officials have left for Sainthia.

Relief trains from Rampurhat, Asansol and Burdwan have left for the accident spot, about 191 km from Kolkata.

63 Feared Dead as Trains Collide in West Bengal

Secretary Hillary Clinton Announces $7.5B Aid Project for PakistanISLAMABAD (Gulf News): US

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton opened high-level talks with Pakistan on Monday by announcing several new aid projects aimed at im-proving the country’s water, energy and health sectors.

The projects are part of a $7.5 bil-lion (Dh27.54 billion) aid effort to convince Pakistanis that Washington is not only focused on backing the country’s fight against the Taliban and Al Qaida militants, but is also dedicated to improving the lives of average citizens.

The goal is to reduce the high level of anti-American sentiment in the country, providing Pakistan with more room to cooperate with Wash-ington’s effort to turn around the war in neighbouring Afghanistan.

“We know that there is a percep-tion held by too many Pakistanis that America’s commitment to them begins and ends with security,” said Clinton. “But security is just one piece of this vital partnership. We share with Pakistan a vision of a future in which all people can live safe, healthy, and productive lives, contribute to their communities and make the most of their own God-

given potential.”Clinton said the US will com-

plete two hydroelectric dam projects to supply electricity to more than 300,000 people in areas near the Afghan border.

It will also renovate or build three medical facilities in central and south-ern Pakistan and it will embark on a new initiative to improve access to clean drinking water in the country.

These projects and several others

will focus on promoting economic growth and will cost some $500 mil-lion (Dh1, 836 million).

They will be funded by legisla-tion approved by Congress to triple non-military aid to $1.5 billion (Dh5.50 million) a-year, over five years. The initia-

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmoud Quraishi speak during a joint press conference at the Foreign Ministry in Islamabad. Washington has announced a multi-million dollar aid effort to help win over Pakistanis suspicious about US goals. Image Credit: AFP

tives mark the second phase of projects begun under a new and en-hanced stra-tegic partner-ship.

The an-nouncement of the new projects came a day after the US urged Pakistan and Afghanistan to seal a landmark trade deal after years of nego-tiation.

The pact, which eases restrictions on cross-border transportation, must be ratified

by the Afghan parliament and the Pakistani cabinet.

US officials believe it will signifi-cantly enhance ties between the two countries, boost development and incomes on both sides of the border, as well as contributing to the fight against extremists.

Despite these initiatives, Clinton faces challenges in appealing for greater Pakistani cooperation in cracking down on militants who use their sanctuaries in Pakistan to launch cross-border attacks against NATO troops in Afghanistan.

Many analysts believe Pakistan is reluctant to target Afghan Taliban militants in the country with which it has historical ties, because they could be useful allies in Afghanistan after international forces withdraw.


32 Indo American News • Friday, july 23 , 2010 ONlINE EDITION: www.indoamerican-news.comp A k I S t A N

By Behroz KhanPESHAWAR (Outlook): Whenev-

er Pakistani actress Feryal Ali Gauhar gazes upon the old city of Peshawar, she’s transported to a time she has heard of only in folklore or read in passing in a textbook. The walls of the old city, their plaster peeling off, narrate to Feryal, in whispers, the stories of those who lived and died here, who nurtured their dreams in these confines and went on to conquer the world, and who, having reached the tallest heights of fame, came back to the city to express their gratitude. Perhaps these walls also beseech her to save them from the sickness of rampant commercialisaton, false notions of modernity and tragic for-getfulness. So much of the past has already been destroyed or defaced in the old city of Peshawar.

It is to save this past, this history in brick and mortar, that Feryal, a mem-ber of the National Conservatory Board, and her friends have launched a campaign to conserve the ancestral homes of Bollywood’s legendary and famous actors—Prithviraj Kapoor, his son Raj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar, Shahrukh Khan and Anil Kapoor. Nuggets of their prehistory spring from unexpected nooks and crannies of the city, from its bustling alleys, symbolising the common civilisa-tional links between Peshawar and Bombay before the cartographer placed the two cities in two separate countries.

It was from Peshawar that the Kapoors migrated to India, settling down in Bombay to storm the Hindi film industry and rule it for decades. The house Raj Kapoor was born in has defied time’s merciless bulldozer, and Feryal is keen that it is declared a national heritage building. Dilip Ku-mar’s house in the city has survived likewise. A branch of Shahrukh’s family is still in Peshawar, taking immense pride in his worldwide star-dom. Anil Kapoor’s father, Surinder, had migrated to India at the time of Partition, and though his house has been pulled down, Anil’s maternal hearth has survived.

Occasionally, these stars or their children have succumbed to their innate desire to return to their roots, and come to Peshawar perhaps to fathom the many inexplicable ways in which it shaped their lives. For Feryal, though, their visit, however fleeting, has a different meaning. As she asks, “Why would I want

to ask the Kapoors and Shahrukh Khan and Dilip Kumar to visit the homes of their ancestors in the city of my an-cestors? Because essentially we are the same people, we owe it to each other to look after what we left behind. It’s a question of honour-ing the past in order to respect our future, our joined futures.” A thoughtful pause later, she wonders aloud, “Could it be that the multicultur-alism of another era seems to me to have been a much richer way to live?” Her musings are a tell-ing echo when the Taliban has made it their project to ef-face from Pakistan’s culture traces and in-fluences of its non-Islamic past.

Tracing these Bollywood links in Peshawar, we find ourselves at Prithvi-raj Kapoor’s house. Located atop the mound of Dakhi Nalbandi, the city’s highest geo-graphical point, it is a testament to the prestige the Kapoors commanded in this colony famous for goldsmiths. A five-storey structure constructed in 1890, the top floor collapsed years ago but 60 rooms of different dimen-sions survive. The roof provides a panoramic view of the city. This was where awara Raj Kapoor was born.

After the Kapoors finally left it all in 1947, their house was declared evacuee property and auctioned in 1963. Though the owner, Haji Ali Qadir, shifted out from here in 1984, he turned down lucrative offers from property sharks to buy out the his-toric house. “We are mindful of the fact that the Kapoors are the sons of Peshawar,” says Qadir. “This house enables them to continue to nurture their link with the city.”

Indeed, if Qadir is to be believed, the Kapoors have soil shipped from Peshawar every time a member of the family builds a house or performs an

Peshawar’s Connection to Bollywood Actors Dilip Kumar, Raj Kapoor, Shah Rukh

important ritual in Bombay. Shashi Kapoor was here in 1998, only to find hundreds of people eager to welcome him in Dakhi Nalbandi. “He was so happy,” recalls Qadir. “That fat man climbed up the nar-row stairs with much difficulty to see the entire house. I invited him and other Kapoors to be my guests in Peshawar. Their visits can remove the iron curtains drawn between the people of India and Pakistan.” Qadir says he is willing to give his consent to have the Kapoors’ ancestral house converted into a museum—the only way perhaps to save it from crum-bling and collapsing.

A few miles away from Dakhi Nal-bandi is the Doma Gali, where another Bollywood legend left behind a house and pieces of history. Locals say one Haji Lal Mohammed Khan illegally occupied Dilip Kumar’s house, the reason perhaps why it survived the rapacity of developers; most of the old buildings here have been torn

down to build spiffy plazas. Lal Mohammed refused Outlook entry into Dilip Kumar’s ancestral house, which he has converted into a godown for storing hosiery. But old-timers say the decor inside bespeaks a quaint el-egance you wouldn’t find these days.

There are still peo-ple in Peshawar who were part of Dilip Ku-mar’s childhood days and recall them for you as though it were yesterday. Abdul Rauf Simab, 86, who owns a pottery shop, has vivid memories of the actor participating in school dramas and theatre and playing with swords on the streets of Mohalla Khudad. “He was no-ticed by an Indian film director for his good looks and talent and was chosen for a role,” Simab says.

The Bollywood leg-end studied at the pri-mary school in Mohalla Khudad, and revisited his alma mater on the two trips he made in the ’80s. School watchman

Ghulam Habib says Dilip Kumar tried to talk with the children in bro-ken Pashto, and donated money for the purchase of uniforms and books for the poor. “A huge crowd turned up to catch a glimpse of him,” Habib recounts. “He was showered with rose petals and people in the mohalla wanted to invite him for lunch or dinner but it wasn’t possible because of the crowds.” Peshawar continues to have an irresistible pull for the thespian—two years ago, he wrote a letter to schoolmaster Shamshad Khan expressing his desire to visit the city once again.

Our next port of call is the locality of Shah Wali Qataal, where Shahrukh Khan’s father, Mir Taj Mohammed, lived till 1946. Apparently the British pressured Mir to leave Peshawar for what is India now. The reason was de-cidedly political. Mir’s elder brother, Ghulam Muhammad Gamma, was a staunch supporter of a united India, participated actively in the Quit In-

dia movement, and was arrested on several occasions for his links with Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan’s Khudai Khidmatgars. Says Simab, “Gamma used to deliver speeches against Parti-tion and once we threw him in a pool of water after he spoke against the Muslim League leadership.... Only Shahrukh’s family was attached to the Congress in the whole locality.”

Shahrukh’s ancestral house is in-habited by Gamma’s daughter, Noor Jahan aka Munni. The top floor of the building was demolished because repeated bomb blasts here had weak-ened the structure. Munni and her husband, Asif Shahab, are effusive as they greet us, deriving warmth from their nostalgia of the past. srk accompanied his father as a gawking 14-year-old on a trip to Peshawar in 1978; he was back again a year later with his sister Shahnaz.

When Munni and Asif returned the visit in Bombay in 1997, they were met by the actor’s driver at the airport. Could it be that the star had become haughty, forgotten his cousins from Peshawar? “But he came home only at 1.15 am, from the shooting of Du-plicate,” recalls Munni.

“I saw tears of joy in his eyes as we hugged. He had a very busy schedule those days but he would take time out one way or another to be with us.” srk said he would love to wear Peshawari chappals. Munni sent those as soon as she got back to Peshawar.

Those were the chappals, she claims, he wore in Kal Ho Na Ho. Adds Asif, “We also sent the Pesha-wari shalwar-qameez suit, locally known as China Boski, to him. He looks so smart in that attire in his film Kuch Kuch Hota Hai.”

As we wind down our journey through the old city, we realise the importance of Feryal’s endeavour to preserve and celebrate Bollywood’s bond with Peshawar. For instance, there are no traces left of Bollywood producer Surinder Kapoor’s ances-tral house.

That of his wife, mother of Anil Kapoor, though, remains intact in the city’s Quisakhwani area. Again, there are no traces of Bollywood beauty Madhubala’s family. Her father was a Pashtoon and worked in Peshawar before shifting to Delhi. Feryal’s campaign could help Peshawar draw inspiration from its reclaimed past—and its forgotten story of plurality. It’s a natural antidote to the poison of the times.

Dilip Kumar’s house in Doma Gali Around here, he played with swords on the streets.


33 Indo American News • Friday, july 23 , 2010ONlINE EDITION: www.indoamerican-news.com I N d I A

Yoga / Ayurveda Books and DVD’s

HERBAL SUPPLEMENTS FORHigh BP • Heart • Diabetes • ArthiritisAcidity • Constipation • Obesity • Piles

Migraine • Depression and more ..

Every Morning you start your days with Yoga,Ayurveda and indigenous goods

Divya Dantmanjan, Dant Kanti-Divya Dantmanjan, Dant Kanti-Tooth paste, Keshkanti (Shampoo), Kanti (Soap), Ojas (Soap), Amala juice, Aloe Vera juice, Divya Pey ( Herbal Tea), Chawan Prash,

Amla Candy, Amla Chatpata

ISI Paid leT Rs. 25 lakh to Buy Boat for 26/11: HeadleyNEW DELHI: In revelations that

clearly show ISI role in the 26/11 attacks, Pakistani-American terrorist David Headley has told his interro-gators that the Pakistani intelligence agency had paid Rs 25 lakh to LeT to purchase a boat which terrorists used to travel from Karachi.

Headley also identified through voice sample test two ISI officers who handled the 10 terrorists who carried out 60-hour attack in Mumbai on November 26, 2008.

Giving these bits of information on the basis of interrogation of Headley carried out by an NIA team recently,

official sources here said the ISI role in the attack was very clear from the revelations made by the LeT opera-tive who is in the custody of FBI.

The ISI had paid Rs 25 lakh to Lashkar-e Taiba (LeT) terror outfit for purchase of a boat which was used by the 26/11 attackers to travel from Karachi to the Pakistani maritime boundary, where they hijacked an Indian fishing boat ‘Kuber’ to reach Mumbai.

Sources said Indian investigators also have information that chief of ISI Lieutenant General Ahmed Shuja Pasha had met one of the handlers of

the Mumbai attack, Sajjid Mir, who is currently in a Pakistani jail.

“All these information have been shared by India with Pakistan through the multiple dossiers given to it,” a source said.

Home Secretary G K Pillai had earlier stated that ISI was “literally controlling and coordinating the (Mumbai) attack from beginning to end”.

Headley, who is currently in US custody, had done the recce of several terror targets in Mumbai during his multiple visits to India for the LeT which carried out the 26/11 attack.

India’s Growth Momentum to Stay Strong in 2010/11 By anuraG JosHi

MUMBAI (Guardian): -India’s economic growth is expected to ac-celerate in fiscal 2010/11, supported by a double-digit rise in industrial output and robust domestic demand, a Reuters survey shows.

The survey of 21 economists showed Asia’s third-biggest econo-my would grow 8.4 percent from a year earlier in the 12 months to the end of March 2011 and 8.5 percent in 2011/12. The economy had ex-panded 7.4 percent in 2009/10. The growth momentum should keep inflation pressures strong and lead to a tighter monetary policy in the coming months. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has raised its short-term lending rate by a total of 75 basis points in 2010 to 5.5 percent.

“The RBI is raising rates because it is seeing demand pressures in the economy due to higher growth,” said Dharmakirti Joshi, chief economist at credit rating agency CRISIL.

“There will be a gradual increase in interest rates. That’s the stance of the RBI and they will continue with it.”

A similar poll in April had forecast growth of 8.4 percent in 2010/11 and 8.6 percent in 2011/12.

Double-Digit Inflation:The poll shows that price pressures

would remain strong this year, but moderate next year as the central bank’s expected rate increases begin to take effect and good monsoon

rains improve the prospects for farm output. The wholesale price inflation is forecast at a median 8.6 percent for 2010/11 and moderate to 5.5 percent in the following year, the poll showed. This compares with 7 percent and 6 percent respectively in the previous poll.

Annual inflation in June was at 10.55 percent, slower than analysts’ expectations, driven by high food and fuel prices, data showed on Wednes-

day. The figure compared with mar-ket expectations for a 10.8 percent rise and was higher than May’s an-nual rise of 10.16 percent

The poll also showed that the RBI would raise the repo rate, at which it

lends to banks, by another 50 basis points to 6 percent by the end of December and possibly peak at 6.5 percent by next June.

In early July, the RBI raised the repo and reverse repo rate, at which it absorbs excess cash, by 25 basis points each and a survey after the rate increases showed the bank is likely to raise rates again at its review on July 27. The rupee is forecast to appreciate about 3 per-cent between now and the end of December. It is marginally weaker

so far in 2010 after having climbed 4.7 percent in 2009.

* Growth seen at 8.4 pct in 2010/11, 8.5 pct in 2011/12

* Inflationary pressures will mod-erate by next fiscal year

* C.bank seen raising rates by 50 bps by end of the year

* Rupee expected to appreciate about 3 pct by end of 2010

(Editing by Ranjit Gangadharan & Jan Dahinten)

A typical day in India, crowded streets at a market place

22-Year-Old Becomes Youngest IIT TeacherMUMBAI (TOI): IITians often

liken the generation gap between themselves and their teachers to that between MS-DOS and Windows. This semester, however, the students on the Powai campus can look for-ward to someone much closer to their age: a phys-ics teaher who has just entered his 20s.

At 22, Tathagat Avatar Tulsi, who has never studied in a classroom, plans to ask his students how they would want to be taught. “I have never taught in a class. But I be-lieve I can come down to the level of a student and help them understand the subject,” he said.

Having completed high school when he was nine, his graduation in science at 10, an MSc in Physics at 12,

and his PhD in Quantum Computing from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, at 21, Tulsi says he is going to write to the Limca Book of Records to include him as the young-est faculty member in the country.

Having achieved a lot pretty early in life, Tulsi may seem like a young man in hurry, but he has set a huge task for himself—to come up with an important scientific discovery, which will probably lead him to his

ultimate dream: to own that shining piece of gold with Alfred Nobel on the obverse.

The “wonder boy”, who suffered humiliation in August 2001 when a delegation of scientists taken by the department of science & technology to Lindau in Germany for an interac-tion with Nobel laureates, suggested that he was not a thinker, but a “fake prodigy” who had “mugged up” the-ories. Putting that behind, the Patna boy will stay on the Powai campus in the faculty quarters and work towards achieving that dream.

That “not-so-distant” goal is prob-ably why Tulsi chose teaching over a vocation. “I want to pursue my research and at IIT-B, I will have the leisure to continue my research and one day set up a lab focused on quan-tum computation in our country.” Going to foreign shores is currently not on Tulsi’s plans. He chose the Powai college over Waterloo Univer-sity, Canada, and the Indian Institute of Science Education & Research (IISER), Bhopal, both of which had also offered him teaching jobs.



T E C H N O L O G Y

L i f E s T Y L E

Delhi All Set for Glittering Couture WeekNEW DELHI (IE): With a crystal-

studded venue and grand collec-tions by designers like JJ Valaya and Manish Malhotra on show, the first Couture week in the capital is all set to dabble in high fashion and offer a visual treat.

The six-day long Pearl Delhi Cou-ture week beginning from Tuesday will be a never-seen-before spectacle in terms of grandeur and creativity, promise organizers and designers.

“Delhi needs to see the higher sta-ble of dress-making. As opposed to pret (ready-to-wear) fashion weeks, where there are so many shows in a single day, the designers get more time to prepare for couture (high-fashion clothing) shows. So creativity is at its highest level”, said Sunil Sethi, President of Fashion Design Council of India (FDCI).

The Couture week has some of the biggest designers from Delhi as well as other cities. The opening show will be held by Kolkata-based Sabyasachi Mukherjee, followed by Mumbai’s Manish Malhotra, who is a major name in Bollywood as well.

“This event brings together the best we have in couture. It is an interest-ing mix of Sabyasachi from Kolkata with Abu Jani-Sandeep Khosla from Mumbai and Delhi greats like JJ Va-laya and Gaurav Gupta,” Sethi said.

The venue has been designed to add to the feel of grandeur with instal-lations like a cascading chandelier made with Swarovski Elements by Sumant Jayakrishnan and handcraft-ed fabrics on display by designer duo

Mona-Pali.Designer JJ Valaya believes that

Indian couture is very grand in itself since the designers get the full liberty to represent the rich heritage of our culture.

“Our indigenous couture is very grand and should not be confused with the kind of couture seen in the west.” said Valaya, who is known for the touch of royalty he gives to all his creations.

“It is not meant for the masses. Couture is all about elitist fashion which is much more individualized. And the event is also taking place at the time when buyers start looking for the latest trends just before the festival season starts,” Valaya added.

The collections on show at the Couture week dabble in the magical and the fantastic. While Valaya seeks to narrate the love story of a courte-san through his collection, designer Varun Gupta deals with fairy tales and Suneet Verma’s collection is inspired by the story of Scheherazade from the Arabian Nights.

Gupta, who has been doing bridal couture for a while now but will hold his first show, said, “Couture collec-tions are meant for the elites. They are very detailed and made-to-order. The garments are more intense.”

India is the third country after US and France to host a couture week. The schedule has only 13 designers, which Sethi says is quite a feat as there are just 22 listed couturiers in all over the world.

Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla

Manish Malhotra with Urmila

Sabyasachi Mukherjee



Why Do We Fight, Honey?says his wife can get very control-ling. “At times, I feel like my wife of three years owns me. She is always issuing warnings and telling me how if

I do this, we are through. It can be annoying.”

Psychiatrist Dr Deepak Ra-heja says, “This usually happens in marriages that are preceded by long courtships. People don’t work on the re-lationship and expect it to be the same. There is a lack of sensi-tivity and lot of intolerance.”

Experts say that commu-

nication about your feelings with your part-ner is important if you’re feeling neglected. Be-ing honest about your needs could help you create a more meaningful relationship.

By Neha SharmaNEW DELHI (HT): You might

think of a hundred reasons about why you fight with your spouse, but ultimately, there might just be two. A new study published in the June edition of the journal Psychological Assessment reveals that there are two main reasons behind every fight

between spouses and partners. Keith Sanford, PhD, an associate professor in the Psychology and

Neuroscience department of Bay-lor University, Texas, and a Couple Conflict Consultant, conducted two studies with 3,539 married people.

The studies ranged from analysing word choice in recounting a specific fight as well as self-reporting feel-ing and behaviour during a fight.

Sanford and his researchers created and used a questionnaire during the study to measure the couples’ is-sues and assess the usefulness of the questionnaire.

The team concluded that during every fight, one person in the couple feels as though they are being ne-glected (the partner is not as commit-

ted, invested as the other would like) or threatened (blamed for something or controlled). The former is the case with Deepali Sharma, 26, and her spouse. She says, “My partner and I are both in professions that require late working hours, and we both feel neglected by each other. In fact, I keep telling him how he is married to his work and I am just a fling.”

Software engineer Nikhil Kotwani

r E L a T i O N s H i p s



RELIGIOUS SERVICESRELIGIOUS SERVICESDurga Bari Society

832-347-4003

Hindu Worship Society Temple

Temple hours: Monday - Saturday: 9am- 11am and 4pm to 7pm; Sandhya Aarti 6.30pm. Sun-day 9am- 7 pm. www.houstondurgabari.org, Champak Sadhu. • 13944 Schiller Road.

Priest – “Bhibhdutt Mishra Ji”. Open for Darshan all days, except Thursday, from 8am -10am & 5pm - 8pm. Sunday 11:30am to 1:30pm – Regular Puja, Religious discourses and Prasad. Website www.hwst.org

Shri Radha Krishna Temple

281-933-8100

Four Arti daily: 6:30am , 12 noon, 7pm & 9pm. Tuesday & Saturday 7:10pm. Sunday Bhajan and Kritan at 6pm. Maha Arti 7pm, More information www.srkt.org Located at 11625 Beech-nut Houston, TX 77072.

Shri Kripalu Kunj Ashram

713-344-1321

Satsang & spiritual discourses, Sun: 10.30 am.-12.30pm. with simultaneous prog. of Hindi, Sanskrit and Moral science for kids, dance classes for children and adults every Fri:8 pm, www.shrikripalukunj.org

Sikh Center of Gulf Coast Area

Parkash & prayer everyday: 6-7:15am, Evening Diwan: 7:15-8:30pm, Special Diwan: Wed: 7-8:30pm, Sun: 10am-1:30pm, Langar everyday. 8819 Prairie Dr., Houtson TX 77064, 713-466-6538, 281-635-7466, 832-633-5092

Please note: The above section for Religious Services has been provided as a free service for many years. We are now updating this section to make it informative for our readers. To help provide this service on an ongoing weekly basis, we are making these listings available for a nominal annual charge. Give prominence to your religious services with a special block ad for an annual cost of only $150. That is only $2.88 per week. Thank you for your ongoing support. Regular business card size $30 / week.

Sat & Sun 2- 6 PM

SHOBA JOSHION AM 1320 Geetanjali Radio

For your business adsCell: 832-878-4338 | Tel: 281-265-3498 713-545-4749Fax: 281-265-3498 | [email protected]

Is “Chalta Hai” Your Defining Motto?Most young people have similar goals. They want to be loved, healthy, happy, and successful. And rich! And here’s the problem

By PrakaSh IyerWANT to go somewhere but don’t

know the way? Simple. Just punch in your destination on one of those websites that offer maps and – bingo – you will get directions on how to get there. Unfortunately, that’s not the case with your goals in life. Those websites don’t offer roadmaps to get to your goals!

Most young people have similar goals. They want to be loved, healthy, happy, and successful. And rich! And here’s the problem. As we set off on the journey towards our goals, two paths emerge ahead of us. One looks like a fast and easy road – full of short cuts. It’s the path of least resistance. And the other is a long hard road, often strewn with obstacles. And - no prizes for guessing – most of us take the easy way out!

And that becomes a habit. We look for short cuts all the time. We com-promise. We don’t push ourselves to succeed; we merely set ourselves the objective of not failing. We don’t play to win. We just want to avoid losing.

And so we love tips like “If you study these three sections, you can get 35 marks”. Or ‘if you attend classes

twice a week, you won’t be in the black list.” Unfortunately, this atti-tude pervades our life and becomes a habit. We stop striving for the greatness that we are all capable of. “Chalta Hai” becomes our defining motto. And as someone rightly said, ‘Good is the enemy of Great’.

There once lived a sculptor in a small town. He was working on a huge idol of a Goddess that he was making for the local temple, when a young man walked into his workshop. As the young man marveled at the idol, he suddenly noticed another idol, almost identi-cal, lying on the ground. “Do you need two of these?” he asked. “No,” came the reply. “We only need one. But the first one got damaged in the finishing stages. Hence I am doing it again.”

The young man looked closely at the idol on the ground. It looked perfect. He could not see any signs of damage. “Where is the flaw?” he asked. “Look carefully,” said the sculptor, “and you will notice a scratch under the left eye.” “Wait a minute!” said the young man. “Where will this idol be installed?”

The sculptor explained that it would be on a platform fif-teen feet high inside the temple. And the young man quickly retorted, “At that distance, who will know there is a scratch beneath the eye?” The s c u l p t o r smiled and said, “I will.”

Now that’s a good remind-er of what excellence is all about. It comes from inside, not from outside. And it’s an attitude. One we would all do well to in-culcate.

a d v i C E

Commit to doing your best at all times. Don’t compromise, ever. Whatever you do, give off hundred percent. Aim to be the best at what-ever you do. And do that not because someone else tells you to do it – but because YOU want to.

And make sure you always, al-ways do the right thing. Don’t tell yourself it’s okay, no one will notice. Remember, someone is watching all the time. And that someone is you. Your character is defined not by how you behave when you know others are watching – but by what you do when no one is looking.

If you create an idol with a scratch and think no one will notice, you will soon find another scratch appearing in your work and then another. And you will spend a lot of time and effort hiding those scratches, covering up, hoping no one notices. And instead of becoming a master sculptor, you become a patch-up artist. And your life – instead of becoming a master-piece – becomes just another flawed piece of work. And in either case, what makes the difference is not the skill. It’s always your attitude.

Get the sculptor’s attitude. Commit to excellence. And make your life a masterpiece.

Prakash Iyer is MD, Kimberly-Clark and Executive Coach


40 Indo American News • Friday, july 23 , 2010 ONlINE EDITION: www.indoamerican-news.comf O O d T a L k

The Dosa Fidayeen: Masala Dosa Catching on in PakistanBy Mariana BaaBar

KARACHI (Outlook): Chutney Please. Dosas, idlis, vegetarian thalis a rage in Paki-stan, particularly in Karachi, where a string of veggie restaurants have mushroomed.Other older restaurants have added veggie dishes to their menu

Dosas and chaat are now served at wed-ding receptions

P o n d e -rosa, Kara-chi’s first veg restau-rant, opened 17 years ago.

Five years ago, a story was doing the rounds of the Quetta cantonment, where the rich and p o w e r f u l live. The cantonment was abuzz with ru-mours about the financial woes of one of its residents, Kamal Ahmad. They said his busi-ness had crashed and the news couldn’t be wrong for it came from the family retainer himself. Worried friends immediately en-quired from Ahmad’s wife, who confronted the retainer as he sat eating his vegetables and dal—dishes that had lately become a staple of the Ahmads as well. Glancing at the plate and dejectedly looking up, he asked, “Why else would you have become vegetarian overnight?” Ahmad’s wife burst out laughing and replied, “Because Sahib had to stop eating meat for medical rea-sons.” Indeed, vegetables in Pakistan have been synonymous with the poor and the ill. The tale is just one of many which Pakistanis used to illustrate their disdain for anything green. Now, though, a silent culinary revolu-tion seems to be transforming the perception and palate of the ordinary Pakistani. Veggies are no longer infra dig, languishing on the margins or remembered from a trip to India. Vegetarian has become trendy, a cuisine of choice for those dining out. It’s like the “new Chinese in town”—dramatically different from what mamas can cook at home. And delicious as well. Vegetarian restaurants are mushrooming in Karachi, Pakistan’s melting pot. Mirchi opened three weeks ago, exclu-sively catering to those wishing to partake of the veg experience. Such has been the response to its chana chaat, golgappas and dahi bhalle that owner Rehan Musa plans to soon introduce masala dosa, which is both the craze as well as the defining element of Indian cuisine here. Patio in Karachi is a creation of Sunita Acharia and Wafah Has-san, who have together carved a niche for themselves. There’s also Dum Pukht, Chat-kharay...the list is expanding everyday.

It’s even resolved a peculiar problem News line editor Rehana Hakim would en-counter each time she had an Indian friend to entertain—vegetarian restaurants in upscale localities. A few years ago, she had just one or two places to take her guests; today she is spoilt for choice. Incidentally, Gazebo, also in Karachi, is her favourite. As Rehana says, “Gazebo’s is the nearest to the Indian cui-sine that I have had in Delhi. Previously, it was only at the Indian consulate where we could eat dosas.” Dosa is king in Pakistan, the demand for it prompting many multi-cui-sine eateries to add it to the menu. Equally

Chatkharay restaurant in Karachi serves Masala dosa and veggie dishes

popular are the savoury chaats. Nowadays, it isn’t considered outlandish to serve these two dishes at wedding dinners, particularly on the day of mehndi ceremonies, says Ga-zebo’s owner, Nasreen Wahab. The carnivo-rous Pakistani is undergoing a metamorpho-sis. As Sunita puts it, “If 10 people walk in, five will opt for vegetarian.”

The gastronomic change is also bringing

cities other than Karachi in its sweep. The rage in Islamabad’s Kitchen Cuisine is decidedly bagharay baigan, a Hyderabadi export. Veg thalis are becoming ubiquitous; it’s considered a speciality of Table Talk, a restaurant in Islamabad’s spiffy Kohsar Mar-ket. Amna Khan, a frequent visitor, says, “We come here often for the pure vegetar-ian thalis. For dosas, we even have to order ahead of time, but they are fabulous here.”

It’s a little known detail but this “breath-taking culinary revolution” had its origins 17 years ago, when Ponderosa opened. This is where the cosmopolitan Pakistani or the nostalgic migrant, in whom the memory of the ‘taste of India’ still lingered, flocked to eat dosas. Among Ponderosa’s employees was one who old-timers remember as Fa-zelat Auntie. Believing the dosa had greater potential than any cbms in enthusing Paki-stanis, she went around Karachi in a mobile van called ‘Amma ka Dosa’, reaping profits that she ploughed into a catering service. She died two years ago, living long enough to see the Pakistani acquire a more eclectic taste in food.

Ironically, Ponderosa is no longer around, closed down by owner Farhan Sheikh for personal reasons a year ago. But the man isn’t sitting quiet, persuaded again to open a new Indian dining outlet within a year as “the trend is growing amazingly”. Sheikh links the popularity of vegetarian food to the growth of satellite TV: “Every house in Karachi gets Star TV and its programmes on cooking have popularised vegetarian food.”

The taste-for-India revolution was in real-ity sparked off by the expat Pakistani who befriended Indians abroad, relished the cui-sine, and wished to revitalise his taste buds in Pakistan as well, says Shenaz Ramzi, who’s soon to publish a book on Pakistani cuisine. She adds a caveat, though: “Indian food has become popular in Pakistan because it as much a part of our heritage as it is of Indi-ans.” Ramzi says what’s exotically passed off as Indian has been an inextricable part of the cuisine of many communities—Bohras, Memons, Lucknawis, Delhiwalas, Gujaratis, Khojas and Hyderabadis—who came from India to Pakistan following the Partition. Ex-plains Ramzi, “In a way, these dishes have been a part of Pakistan’s cuisine as well. The difference now is that while for a good many decades communities tended to live in ghet-tos, today, the larger cities in Pakistan have

become cultural melting pots. With greater interaction, it was only a matter of time that dishes once consumed by specific communi-ties became popular with others too.” This social transformation also coincided with the emergence of niche restaurants which broke away from the tradition of serving a salma-gundi of dishes from different cuisines under one roof. Critics also differ on whether or not

the Pakistani can adopt the authentic Indian style of cooking veggies. Leading food critic Irfan Hussain is emphatic, “We Muslims are better at cooking meat than vegetables. We tend to overcook veggies, making them limp and devoid of colour, flavour and tex-ture.” Wafah, the joint owner of Patio, says, “Compared to the way they (Indians) cook vegetables in India, we fry ours for a longer period.” The taste may be a little different from the typical Indian dish—but it’s still

delicious.Providing a stamp of legitimacy to the In-

dian cooking style here is the story of those who own Indian restaurants. Patio’s Sunita Acharia has parents who had migrated to India after Partition; 30 years later she was back in Karachi, now married to a Pakistani. “You can say the soil of Pakistan brought me back,” she says. Sunita began a takeaway,

Bawarcheykha-na, where she personally did the cooking. And when she met her business partner, Wafah, they be-gan Patio. “Wa-fah had some old Lucknow recipes,” she says. Similarly, Mirchi’s Re-han Musa hails from Bombay, as do his in-laws. About Mirchi, he says, “We finally brought out the food that we’d been eating all along.” Still, it’s

true that at times dishes have to be rejigged to suit the Pakistani palate. The south Indian rasam could be a starting point. As Sunita says, “Pakistanis just can’t acquire a taste for it. It’s too watery for them.” There are others who have taken to filling chicken and keema in dosas. Call it a civilisational thing, some links are common, some a commingling that chefs on either side of the border conjure up with such ease. It’s a pity the politicians can’t break a dosa over the same.



Babulbhai

ELECTRICITY?We Guarantee The Lowest Possible Price

Residential10.3* Cents per kWh

Need Immediate Service for Move-In?Call TCH Energy 832-396-7963Summer is Here • Switch Now & Save

Commercial6.5* Cents per kWh

Sign up online at www.tchenergy.com

*prices subject to change without notice

f O O d T a L k

Abingdon Pupils Enjoy a Taste of IndiaOXFORDSHIRE: (Oxford Times)

Children from Abingdon got a taste of India as they visited their local curry house as part of a school project.

The Year Three children at Car-swell Primary School dressed up in Indian clothes and visited the Dil Raj in Ock Street on Thursday.

The 24 children, aged seven and eight, have been studying the country and its culture this term.

Teacher Debbie Emsen said: “They have been comparing Abingdon to a village in India – they have learnt about jobs, schools and housing in India.

“The visit really brought the whole thing to life for them.

The class tried poppadoms, on-ion bhajis, chutnies, chicken tikka, chicken korma and naan bread.

Mrs Emsen said: “We had one little girl who said she did not like Indian food, but she tried it and said she did like it.

“But they all have really enjoyed the project.

“We have two little girls who are Indian, and they have been acting as experts. They have loved shar-ing their culture with the other children.”

She added: “The Dil Raj were fantastic and the food was great.”

Pictured outside is teacher Debbie Emsen, with, clockwise from front, Ruth Weston, seven, Emma Fawcett, eight, Coley Brennan, eight, Aparna Nallathambi, eight, George Gilmore, eight, and Katie Singh, seven.

AJIT GIANI

GARY GREENE REALTORSYour best Real Estate Partner

• Direct: 281-788-0380 • Mobile: 281-788-0380 • Office: 713-461-6800 (349)

•RESIDENTIAL SPECIALISTI represent Buyers & SellersFor a Free Home Analysis,

to buy or sell, Call me

Beat the Heat with the Watermelon lassiWith the natural sweetness from

Watermelon and the sourness from the Yogurt/curd, Watermelon Lassi is a pure delight on hot summer days.We are having a long spell of hotter days in Houston. Blend Watermelon with homemade yogurt with a light hint of pepper and cumin and enjoy it chilled.

Procedure: Place 4 cups cubed watermelon, 2 tablespoon Yogurt/curd and a pinch each of pepper pow-der and cumin powder in a blender. Blend until smooth and frothy. Pour Lassi into glasses and serve chilled.


42 Indo American News • Friday, july 23 , 2010 ONlINE EDITION: www.indoamerican-news.comH E a L T H

Shiv Sagar PURE VEGETARIANR E S T A U R A N T

We do CATERING for all occasions serving GUJARATI, NORTH & SOUTH INDIAN food.

Our SpecialtyGujarati

SuratiTHALI

713-977-0150CALL US ! VISIT US TODAY!

6662 SW Fwy, Houston, TX 77074 (at Hillcroft by India Grocers)

• Great Family Dine-In Atmosphere• Friendly management & waitstaff• Full Service Catering Available• Great Vegetarian food

Free Wi-Fi Available

Waste Pickers: Invisible Environmentalists in the CityThey forage the city, collecting and sorting often hazardous waste when the city sleeps and by day they are gone. Most of them are women and there is no long-term policy in place that looks after their welfare or health

By kalPaNa Sharma(IT) Oil and water do not mix, as

the Americans are being forced to accept with the tragic oil spill from a British Petroleum oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. For almost two months now, the struggle to cap the oil well and protect large sections of the coun-try’s coastline from being devastated has been the top story in the news and the major concern of the US administration.

It is an environmental crisis of gigantic proportions, and purely man-made. Whether in the long-term this will compel Americans to think again about their dependence on fossil fuels and seriously embark on the path of scaling it down and encouraging alternatives remains to be seen. At present, one finds little expression of this in the discussions around the oil spill.

On a much smaller scale, and not so dramatic, was the ‘accidental’ expo-sure to radiation that affected workers and waste collectors in Delhi a few months ago when they handled radio-active material. At the time when this unfortunate incident took place, the issue of waste disposal, particularly hazardous waste, made the headlines. Follow-up articles were written. The lives of those who live off collecting and sorting waste came into our line of vision. But then the issue disap-peared.

Horror storiesEvery now and then we keep read-

ing similar horror stories linked to waste disposal such as the one about the garbage mountain in Jawahar-nagar near Hyderabad, where three waste collectors were buried under heaps of garbage. The body of one of them, a 15-year-old boy, was re-trieved. But the body of a woman also buried was never traced.

Long term policies that ensure that the safety and health of those who do such an essential job - “a com-munity of silent environmentalists” someone called them - are not such a high priority any more. One reason is that the people affected are virtually invisible.

Waste collectors around India work silently, often late into the night, sort-ing out mountains of waste, foraging

for anything that can be sold. If you walk down some streets of central Mumbai after 11 at night, you will see an army of waste collectors. Men, women, children are all hard at work. They work through the night and finally manage to get some sleep on the doorsteps of the shops on those streets. By daylight they become invisible, having stowed their belong-

cause of drought in their villages. The age group ranges from 7 to 70 years and 98 per cent of them are illiterate. A survey by the Brihanmumbai Mu-nicipal Corporation of 60,000 waste collectors found a similar proportion: 60 per cent women, 20 per cent men and 20 per cent children.

Studies have revealed that 90 per cent of the women waste pickers are

will spot the bent old women who have been performing this function for decades.

All their wealthIn the slum-city of Mumbai, waste

collectors experience the most acute degree of homelessness. While poor people in other kinds of jobs some-how manage to find some shelter in a slum, irrespective of whether it

is legal or illegal, waste collectors sleep next to the garbage they have sorted. This is their “wealth”, some-thing they have to protect after they have collected and sorted it until they can monetise it. Hence, near many garbage dumps, even in the better off locali-ties of cities like Mumbai, you see families of waste pickers asleep in the morning. And most often you see only women and children.

As a result of advocacy and cam-paigns by civil society groups, many cities have now recognised the work of waste collectors and given them some legitimacy. This is an important step but it is clearly not enough. The issues of safety and health have also to be addressed even as their contribu-tion to the city and the environment is recognised.

Why bring up waste collectors at a time when the main environmental issues being debated are the larger issues of global warming, or environ-mental disasters such as the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico? Because you cannot speak of environment without considering the impact on the lives of people. We have hundreds of small-scale and continuing environmental disasters taking place all around us. But we overlook them so long as they do not impact our lives or our lifestyles.

Millions of waste pickers in India, who play a crucial role in dealing with the perennial environmental crisis of waste, risk their lives and their health every single day. This is an on-going environmental issue that requires as much attention from ordinary people, the media and policy makers as the larger macro issues.

Millions of waste pickers risk their lives and their health every single day. This is an on-going environ-mental issue that requires as much attention from ordinary people, the media and policy makers as the larger macro issues.ings in boxes behind the signs of the shops on whose doorsteps they sleep. These are the people of the night, not noticed by those who inhabit the areas in the day.

What is often not entirely appreci-ated is that a substantial percentage of waste collectors is women. Ac-cording to a study by the Stree Mukti Sangathan, a group that has organised women waste collectors in Mumbai, 85 per cent of waste collectors in the city are women, five per cent are children and 10 per cent are men. The majority of them are Dalits and land-less people who came to the city be-

primary bread-winners, often wid-owed or deserted. It is interesting how the sexual division of labour plays out even in the business of waste. While women, and children, do the more hazardous job of sorting and separat-ing the waste, the men deal with the dry garbage, which they transport to wholesalers and factories. As a result, it is the women who are exposed to hazardous waste - none of them wear any kind of protective gear - and also face the physical problems of constantly bending and carrying headloads of the waste. Look at any group of waste collectors and you


43 Indo American News • Friday, july 23 , 2010ONlINE EDITION: www.indoamerican-news.com s p O r T s

By SriraM VeeraIt was a strange and fascinating

day full of the unexpected: The ball talked in the morning, Ishant Sharma impressed, Lasith Mal-inga thrilled and Rangana Herath became an unlikely hero. Ishant had everyone spellbound in the morning with captivating seam bowling but Herath and Malinga - yes, you read right - stole his thunder with entertaining half-centuries to ensure Sri Lanka re-tained control on the first Test.

India lost Gautam Gambhir to the second ball of their innings, Rahul Dravid to an error in judg-ing a run, and Sachin Tendulkar to faulty shot selection and it was left to Virender Sehwag to keep them afloat. He did his best but the day belonged to Sri Lanka and, especially, to an unlikely pair of lower-order batsmen.

The 115-run partnership be-tween Herath and Malinga was as delightful as it was unexpected. Herath impressed with several high-quality shots and Malinga alternated between defence and fury during a joyous effort. With-in his first six deliveries, Her-ath had declared his intent with two boundaries. The outstanding shot of his stay was a thunder-ous six off Abhimanyu Mithun.

As you would expect in such an innings, there was an edged boundary and a slashed four over slips but, for the main part, Her-ath was composed and confident. There were several on-the-up shots, a few well-judged leaves, and a few tight defensive strokes. What really stood out was how well he paced his innings. Herath counterattacked at the start as he pursued quick runs but, realising that India’s spirit had evaporated in the afternoon sun and that Ma-linga was not going to be blown away, he started to play second fiddle. Post Malinga’s fall, Herath once again became the attacker.

Malinga took the opposite route. He started slowly, scoring 1 off 15 deliveries, before he decided to indulge himself. He pulled and dragged Ishant for on-side bound-aries and flat-batted him straight. He then looted Ojha for three boundaries in an over. Malinga wasn’t done with Ojha, though, and he swaggered down the track to clear long-on twice in succession.

The start to the day presented a stark contrast to the carefree hit-ting of the afternoon. The second day’s storm and overnight rain had left the pitch damp and the Indians exploited the seam move-ment on offer. With his second delivery, Ishant induced Tharan-ga Paranavitana to edge one that slanted away from off stump.

Ishant returned later with the new ball to harass Jayawardene and set the tone in his first over: he got the third delivery, a legcutter, to leave Jayawardene late. The next one cut in and Jayawardene left it on the bounce. Or was he expecting it to go other way? The fifth darted in, cut the batsman in half and some-how missed off stump. Jayawar-

dene lunged forward desperately to the final ball to take the lbw out of the equation and was hit on the inner thigh by another incutter.

In his next over Ishant produced an edge with his only delivery at Jayawardene - a legcutter - but the ball ran past gully and to the boundary. In the third over of the spell, Ishant prompted an appeal from behind with another legcutter at Jayawardene. The contest ended immediately after when Ishant seamed the ball back in to catch Jayawardene in front of leg stump.

Angelo Mathews then show-cased his cricketing acumen. After Jayawardene’s departure, Mathews, who was focusing on survival until then, jumped to plan B. He pulled Mithun to the mid-wicket boundary, carved Ishant to the point boundary, lifted him over mid-off and slashed through covers. He fell, edging Ishant to slips, but the crowd had more entertainment from the Herath-Malinga show.

After his fifty, Malinga gave the fans one more reason to smile at the end of the day. He mis-fielded at mid-off and distracted Dravid into thinking there was an extra run. To Dravid’s horror, he was not even in the frame when Ma-linga fired an accurate throw at the non-striker’s end. Malinga laughed, the crowd roared and more joy came their way when Tendulkar chose to sweep a full delivery from Muttiah Mura-litharan and was trapped in front.

Only Sehwag stood tall. He scored at almost a run a ball but never appeared to take any risks. Every bad ball - and those margin-ally off line or length - was put away. He played all his signature shots: The back-foot punchy drive through point, the crashing cover drive, the paddle sweep and the charge down the track. But with

Sri lanka in Command After Scoring 520 for 8

Rangana Herath’s knock took Sri Lanka out of trouble and put them in a commanding position.

the top-order batsmen combust-ing around him, India have their task cut out for them. Sehwag made a classy 85 but it seemed just a footnote on a strange day.

Sriram Veera is a staff writer at Cricinfo

Hockey Coach Kaushik ResignsNEW DELHI (Hindu) : Stung by al-

legations of sexual harassment, Indian women’s hockey coach M K Kaushik resigned from his post on Wednesday, as the hockey establishment launched a thorough probe into the scandal.

A day after the scandal came to light, Kaushik stepped down as the head coach and vowed to clear his name, saying the allegations were baseless and he was a victim of “big-time con-spiracy“. Hockey India also sacked videographer Basavraj.

“Kaushik has submitted his resigna-tion to Hockey India Interim President Vidya Stokes. The President will take a decision,” said Narinder Batra, HI Secretary General.

Assistant coaches Vasu Thapliyal and Mohd. Khalid Modi will now be coach the team for the Asian Champi-ons Trophy in South Korea from July 27. The Sports Ministry has also taken note of the incident and said it will look into the matter.

Batra said the four-member panel, comprising Rajiv Mehta, Zafar Iqbal, Ajitpal Singh and Sudarshan Pathak, will submit its report to Hockey India (HI) on Friday. HI, in turn, will make its recommendations to Sports Au-thority of India.

“The panel heard all the parties and they have sought time till Thursday to make their replies. The panel will sub-mit to us their report on Friday and we will proceed from there,” he said.

Batra, however, said Hockey India has no power to take action against the videographer or any other coaching staff in connection with the scandal which came out in the open after a writ-

ten complaint by one of the players.“We will submit our report with

recommendations to the SAI which can take action according to the gov-ernment service rules. The coach or the videographer are not working under us. They are employees of SAI.

“I have taken legal advice also. Nobody is guilty until proved. But, ultimately it is the decision of SAI to decide what action is to be taken against anybody who is found guilty,” Batra said. Asked how many play-ers signed the letter to HI alleging harassment, Batra said, “Besides the player, 31 other players signed the letter supporting her.” Kaushik, on his part, maintained that he was innocent and was confident of coming out clean after the inquiry. “The allega-tions are all baseless. I am innocent. I am confident of coming out clean because I believe in truth and the truth will prevail,” said. Kaushik, who has been involved with the women team for close to 20 years.

Further action against hockey coach M.K. Kaushik will be taken by the Sports Authority of India

072310b

Documents

Transcript of 072310b