Asian Voice

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27th August to 2nd September 2011VOL 40. ISSUE 17 80pLet noble thoughts come to us from every side

VOICEFIRST & FOREMOST ASIAN WEEKLY IN EUROPESEE INSIDE .... SEE INSIDE ....

Anna Hazare who is onfast for a strong Lokpal billstuck to his August 30deadline for the passage ofJan Lokpal Bill and askedhis supporters to intensifythe protest by gheraoingthe houses ofParliamentarians if gov-ernment failed to do so.

Anna whose fastentered the eighth day feltthat government wasbetraying all along the civilsociety on the issue of astrong Lokpal Bill.

"Now, 25-30 people aresitting on dharnas in front ofMPs' residences. If the gov-ernment does not pass thebill by August 30, we have tointensify the protest.Protesters in thousandsshould gherao the residencesof MPs then," he said.

Alleging that a few

people in the governmentwere "betraying" them, hesaid, "They betrayed usduring the meetings ofJoint Committee (onLokpal bill).

"I feel there are only 5-6people in the governmentwho are running the coun-try and if such people, who

do not have a social ornational perspective, runthe nation, then what willhappen to thiscountry...This is somethingto worry about," Anna said.

"Even if Lokpal comesand if such traitors run thecountry, what will happen.This is the question which

is bothering me," the 73-year-old Gandhian said.

He said he was watch-ing for the past fourmonths after the govern-ment set up the JointCommittee for draftingLokpal bill. "Even theresome people in the govern-ment were traitors, theytried to betray us," he said.

The remarks cameamidst indications fromboth government and TeamAnna about willingness tohave talks on the issue withthe civil society membersdemanding nomination ofan official representativefor the purpose. They havesuggested that governmenteither withdraw the officialbill or amend it by includ-ing provisions of the JanLokpal Bill.

Continued on page 26

Anna Hazare sticks to Aug 30 deadline for Jan Lokpal Bill

Warm greetings forGanesh Chaturthi

and Id-Ul-Fitr to allour Asian Voice

readers

For reports see pages 27 and 28

All the paid subscribersof Asian Voice will geta free copy of the“Medical Tourism-Destination India”magazinewiththisweek’sissue

Britain and it's everchanging immigrationrules are a sheer joke.The changing rules arenow affecting specificskilled areas such aschefs for Indian restau-rants. It is certainlyunwise to expect all chefsof European backgroundto be Gordon Ramsay-showing Indian culinaryexpertise despite of beingEuropean. But disablingIndian chefs from over-seas to take up jobs inIndian curry industry isan absolute disaster.Above all expecting themto earn close to ?30,000/annum and speakfluent English to securethe job- if at all, is likeasking for the moon!

It was years ago, RtHon Keith Vaz MP hadtried to explain that onecannot replace Indianchefs with East

Europeans in order to cutdown on the number ofnon European immi-grants.

On 14th June 2011,Mr Vaz in a debate raisedthe same questions. Heemphasised that the jobof a Pakistani, Indian orBangladeshi chef cannotbe replaced by othernationals. Language of acertain kitchen is particu-lar to a nationality. Theirskill is very particular totheir abilities.

Continued on page 26

Visa misery leadsto curry crisis

Madhu's founder Sanjay Anand

Asian Voice - Saturday 27th August 20112 UK

one to oneKeith Vaz MP with

Councillor Julian Bell, Leader, Ealing CouncilOriginally from Sheffield I’ve lived in Ealing for

26 years. I first came to Ealing after I met my wife

Hermia during my final year at Bath University

where I read Politics and Economics.

I’ve been interested in politics since I was a

teenager, but became actively involved in 1992. I

first worked for the Labour Party in 1994 and

have run numerous election campaigns. I was

elected as a councillor in Ealing in 2002 and am

now serving my third term.

In addition to being Leader of the Council I

work part time for the MP for Ealing Southall,

Virendra Sharma. I also currently serve on the

Mayor’s London Health Improvement Board

Outside of work, my life is focused on my fam-

ily. I have four daughters and the eldest,

Angelica, will be familiar to many people as a

presenter on TV and radio. I’m also passionate

about sport, especially cricket and football -

being a proud Sheffield United fan and staunch

England supporter.

1) What inspired you tobegin your career in thisfield? The 1992 general elec-tion defeat for Labourinspired me to begin anactive career in politics.Neil Kinnock hadinspired me as a youngstudent and so the dayafter the election defeat Idelivered a letter of sup-port and a membershipapplication form to hisEaling home and vowed

to give my all to theLabour cause.2) What are your proud-est achievements?Helping elect a Labourgovernment in 1997,2001 and 2005, andagainst the odds aLabour Council in Ealingin 2010. I am proud ofour first year in office asa Council where wehave, despite huge gov-ernment cuts to ourbudget, protected front-

line services to the mostvulnerable.3) Please tell us aboutyour current position?I am the Leader of EalingCouncil. Ealing is thethird largest Borough inLondon and the fourthmost diverse Borough inthe country with a largemainly Punjabi Asian pop-ulation. It has been a hugehonour and privilege toserve local people as theCouncil leader since May

2010.4) What has been thebiggest obstacle in yourcareer?At 31 I suffered from MEor chronic fatigue syn-drome. I was unable towork for four years and asa young father with fourdaughters found this anincredibly challengingtime. The support my fam-ily and I received from theNHS and the WelfareState then cemented my

political beliefs for life.5) Who has been thebiggest influence on yourcareer to date?I have been influenced bymany excellent politi-cians I’ve had the privi-lege to work with – LordChris Smith formerSecretary of State forCulture, Media & Sportand MP for IslingtonSouth; John McDonnellMP for Hayes &Harlington, Steve PoundMP for Ealing North; thelate Piara Khabra MPand Virendra Sharma MPboth of Ealing Southall. 6) What is the best thingabout your current role?Being in a position tomake decisions that willpositively improve theBorough of Ealing andthe lives of ordinary peo-ple and also having theprivilege of meeting somany good people whodo such fantastic work inthe community oftenwith little recognition orbenefit to themselves.7) And the worst?Before the riots I wouldhave said the agony ofbeing forced to makedecisions to pass on theTory led government’scuts. I regularly have tomake decisions that if Ihad a choice I wouldnever make. The worstthing however was seeingthe mindless criminalsburning, looting anddestroying the Borough Ilove and killing one braveresident who tried tostand up to them.8) What are your longterm goals?I want to make a signifi-

cant contribution to localgovernment nationallyand also to ensure thatEaling is a great place tolive and that deliversexcellent Council servic-es in spite of the govern-ment cuts, protecting themost vulnerable includ-ing children, the disabledand the elderly. 9) If you were PrimeMinister, what one thingwould you change?Government economicpolicy. David Cameron islashed to the mast stub-bornly refusing to acceptthat his policy of payingoff the structural deficitin four years throughswinging cuts is chokingoff any chance of eco-nomic recovery. We needan economic policy thatwill stimulate growth andjobs and that includesbuilding many moreaffordable homes. 10) If you weremarooned on a desertisland, who would youlike to spend your timewith and why?Amartya Sen –Philosopher and NobelPrize winner inEconomic Sciences. Heis best known for hiswork on the causes offamine. The NewStatesman listed him asone of the world’s 50most influential peoplewho matter. Asked howhe relaxed, he said, “Iread a lot and like argu-ing with people.” Soundslike my kind of person.I’ve read many of hisbooks and we’d have agreat time on the desertisland.

On their way to develop-ing type 2 diabetes, manypeople have what iscalled prediabetes, whichis where the blood sugarlevel is elevated but notquite high enough to bediagnosed as diabetic.However, even in theseearly stages of develop-ment, the “side effects”of diabetes – such as cir-culatory and nervous dam-age- may have alreadybegun to take hold.

Here are a few recentfindings on what specificfoods can help control dia-betes and reduce the riskof developing diabetes.

In an article entitled“Nuts as a Replacementfor Carbohydrates in theDiabetic Diet” (publishedby the journal DiabetesCare) Dr. David Jenkinsand the team ofresearchers at the

University of TorontoDepartment of NutritionalSciences and St. Michael’sHospital Risk FactorModification Centre haveannounced that consump-tion of two ounces of nutsper day, instead of carbo-hydrates, can help controldiabetes.

Subjects in this studyon a no-carb/nut only dietreduced their blood sugarlevels, and their LDL cho-lesterol (or “bad choles-terol”) was also signifi-

cantly reduced. " T h o s e

receiving thefull dose ofnuts reducedtheir HbA1c[the long-termmarker of gly-caemic control]by two-thirds ofwhat the U.S.Food and Drug

Administration recognizesas being clinically mean-ingful for therapeuticagents. Furthermore, nei-ther in the current studynor in previous reports hasnut consumption beenassociated with weightgain. If anything, nutsappear to be well suited aspart of weight-reducingdiets," Dr. Jenkins said.

It’s also interesting tonote that coffee and theherb Ginkgo Biloba havebeneficial effects in rela-

tion to diabetes; a studypublished in the Archivesof Internal Medicine con-cluded that drinking onecup of coffee every daydecreased the risk of dia-betes by seven percent.The data was gatheredfrom several studies thatinvolved over 500,000people.

Ginkgo Biloba hasbeen used as a traditionalremedy in Japan andChina for hundreds ofyears, and we now know itcontains a potent antioxi-dant, which can be used totreat high blood sugar andalso diabetic retinopathy,as it helps to improveblood flow to the eyes.

Anyone undertaking anew diet should consulttheir GP and get advicefrom medical profession-als, as every individualsneeds are different.

Food For Thought

OSWA CL IEE T

YHT

PersonalInjury

SOLICITORSEmail: [email protected] Website: www.levenes.co.ukAshley House, 235-239 High Road, Wood Green, London N22 8HF

0800 118899

Contact Mr. Mitesh Patel, Solicitor

No Win

No Fee

Nikhil Gor

Mira Performing Artsperformed a drama infront of more than 150devotees on 22nd August2011 to celebrateJanmashtami Mohatsav atthe InternationalSiddhashram Shakti cen-tre in Harrow.

It was inspiring andgave highlights on the lifeof Lord Krishna throughthe drama called "GramyaSatsang" performed byMira Salat, NikhilParmar, Sweta PatelmShivangi Patel, NishantSalat, and Sagar Patel.

Janmashtami Mahotsavby Mira Performing Arts

Silver Star is a localcharity which promotes dia-betes awareness and testsfor diabetes. They run aMobile Diabetes Unit

(MDU), which can visityour organisation or placeof work. Contact Silver Staron 0845 094 9933 or [email protected].

Asian Voice - Saturday 27th August 2011 www.abplgroup.com 3

Thought for the WeekAnna Hazare roadshow carries reassuring messageAnna Hazare's fast in Delhi's Ramlila ground

has galvanized much of India. His campaignagainst corruption has concentrated minds inthe public space, even accepting that some inthe crowd have their eye on the main chance,which is to say, they aspire to celebrity status.Mr Hazare is endowed with strengths all hisown. He won his spurs as a rural activist. Hiswork for rural uplift has elicited most admira-tion from the beneficiaries of his endeavours.

Now Mr Hazare operates on a larger nation-al stage. His calls to banish corruption resonatenationally, for this has long become a nationalscourge. Corruption has to be tackled firmly andeffectively, he proclaims. Easier said than done –which is no reason to allow things to remain asthey are. Moral cleansing requires effort: more,it requires that the labour be channelled throughthe right institutional framework, where goalsare realistic, not utopian.

Piling bodies upon bodies in supervisoryroles merely multiplies the weeds of a chokingbureaucracy. Perfection should be eschewed forpracticality. Mr Hazare has achieved a greatdeal, The way out of the impasse is constructivedialogue with the authorities in the proper spir-it. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has invitedhim for talks, this surely a worthy first-step to a

win-win solution. This is pursuit of the publicgood. Better late than never.

What Indians can draw comfort from is thatMr Hazare's agitation has been peaceful at atime when so much of the world is convulsed byviolence and disorder. That says something forthe maturity and wisdom of India's political cul-ture as a whole. No-one would wish to witnessa re-enactment of China's Tienanmen Squaremassacre in the middle of the Indian capital.There is much to be gained when public figuresreason together. Their conversations buildmutual trust, the process also involving thesilent participation of India's masses. There hasbeen deepening cynicism among the peopleabout politics and politicians. The latter aremostly seen as self-seeking, greedy and corrupt.If this perception is not suitably addressed thecost to the India's well-being could indeed betelling. This is something no thinking Indianwould wish. A creative and visible politicalprocess augurs well for the future of the country.India has much to gain from the Hazare-Singhtalks. With imagination, flexibility and goodwill, their efforts should guarantee success.Which will be an occasion for national rejoicing.We wish them well.

Well played, EnglandEngland were awarded the International

Cricket Council mace as cricket's top Test nationfollowing their fourth demolition of India at theOval: 4 nil in a 4-match series tells its own tale.Bedraggled India were put to the sword. Theteam lacked bottle, too many individuals cameup short on skill and character. Of the selectorsand administrators back home the less said thebetter. The disillusionment of fans runs deepand the sport may be permanently scarred by theterrible ordeal of the past few weeks. Indiancricket's deconstruction having been completed,it is now time to put a new regime in place forthe game's rehabilitation. Otherwise cricket inIndia will go the way of the Caribbean.

Whatever India's problems, England's tri-umph is richly deserved. They provided poorcopy during the recent World Cup – which mayhave deceived their opponents into believingthat they had only appear at Lord's or the Ovalfor victory to be assured. England left nothing tochance. They beavered away improving theirindividual skills and team drills. They thrashedIndia silly time and again; they were a well-oiled, well-groomed machine ready for the kill.

No white shark in the deepest waters of thePacific have sharper teeth. England left blubberyIndia in shreds.

Captain Andrew Strauss may be a genialsoul, but he plays as hard as any good profes-sional in the game's history. His batsmen,bowlers and fieldsmen stuck to their task withenthusiasm, their success assured by opponentswho, like rabbits, were caught in the headlights.Names such Alastair Cook, Ian Bell, KevinPietersen, Eoin Morgan, James Anderson,Stuart Broad (Man of the Series), Tim Bresnan,Chris Tremlett, Graeme Swann and Matt Priorare destined to ring in every sporting householdin the land. They are heroes, when heroes aremost needed by a society wracked by self-doubt.They should put back the smile to every Englishface.

Having vanquished India, England will sure-ly aim higher and conquer the world. They havea capable leader, an equally capable coach and adedicated set of administrators. They are likelyto occupy their pedestal for a long time. Goodluck and happy hunting.

Screaming newspaper headlines proclaimedthe Libyan conflict was over bar the shouting,that the country's hyped Transitional Councilaided by generous infusions of Nato oxygen hadtriumphed over the evil regime of ColonelMummer Gaddafi, that the dictator was inflight, that his son and heir apparent Islam wasin custody, readied for the rough justice of theHague-based International Criminal Court.These lines were repeated ad nauseam by thetelevision networks, from Al Jazeera to the BBCand their compeers in the US and ContinentalEurope. The morning after the night beforecame amended scripts that things were not quitewhat they seemed; in short that initial reportswere brazenly economical with the truth. Keento co-ordinate their blitz with Nato's aerial bom-bardment in the interest of the West's latest cru-sade, its toxic media – as toxic as its banks, alas– got ahead of themselves by inventing facts.

Islam Gaddafi is alive and well, havingpressed the flesh of a BBC reporter and assuredhim that his father, too, was in the land of theliving. The Libyan capital Tripoli, which wassupposed to be in rebel hands, was being foughtover, and Islam Gaddafi showed little sign thatdefeat was staring the regime in the face. It wasstill all too play for, with the projected Natopeace not as yet in place. Covert Nato specialforces on the ground are, however, doing their

best to tilt the balance of power their way. Thereis much flatulent rhetoric in London andWashington on the need to bring democracy tothe Libyan people. This presumably will bebartered for Libyan oil. A former deputy speak-er of the Belgian parliament told a televisioninterviewer that what the international commu-nity were witnessing was the second partition ofAfrica, with predators scrambling for the conti-nent's riches, whether it be oil, diamonds, gold,copper or the rare earths.

Place this in the unfolding context of devel-opments in Egypt, Bahrain, Yemen, Syria andthe like and you have a combustible mix. TheWest has supported Arab autocracies fordecades, just as it has in Pakistan and myriadother places across the globe. The Cold War maybe over but we appear to be light years awayfrom any peace dividend. The world is danger-ously unstable. Coupled with the West's adven-tures in Libya, it is mired in Afghanistan, eventas it has left the ruin of Iraq a monument tofolly. As bad is the deepening economic crisisthat has hobbled America and Europe. Bothappear rudderless. Political leaders there talk agood line but they know not where their nationsare going. The future looks bleak indeed. Themore things change the more they remain thesame, is a French saying. Its wisdom is unassail-able.

Following tragic eventsthat unfolded a couple ofweeks ago on London’sstreets, I would like topraise the police officersand fire-fighters who were,together with our commu-nities, put in danger whenlooters and rioters targetedareas of Brent like Kilburn,Harlesden, Kingsbury andWembley. Harrow’s streetsremained relatively calm.Along with my party, mycolleagues and my con-stituents, I wholeheartedlycondemn the criminalityevoked across the capitaland in some parts ofLondon and Country.

The looting that tookplace is inexcusable. Thevictims were hard-workingbusinessmen and womenwho owned small, inde-pendent shops and withone smash of the windoweverything they hadworked for was taken away.Visiting the shopping dis-tricts like Kingsbury, EalingRoad, Harlesden, SouthHarrow, Harrow TownCentre etc. and talking tothe shopkeepers it wasclear the enormity of thedamage to the fabric of thelocal facilities and financiallosses incurred by theshopkeepers from themindless acts of destruc-tion. People and businessesfelt threatened and vulner-able and nobody should bemade to feel that way intheir own properties. Theentire community has alsobeen left with the feeling ofterror and insecurity.

I have always mar-velled at the strong com-munity relations in Brentand Harrow – this sadoccasion being no excep-tion to it. I’ve been reas-sured by the policeresponse in Brent andHarrow where relativecalm was restored quicklyand efficiently. This isindicative of the strength ofour community, which isoverwhelmingly law abid-ing, peaceful and harmo-nious. I am in regular con-tact with both BoroughCommanders of Police inBrent and Harrow, Leadersof Brent and HarrowCouncils and have beencomforted by their partner-ship approach, profession-alism and foresight duringthis difficult time. From myconversations with com-

munity leaders in bothBoroughs it’s also reassur-ing to see their positiveattitude and their commit-ment to keep our areassafe.

In light of the recentevents London’s Mayor hasappealed to his friends inGovernment not to cut thepolicing budget. This is toolittle too late. I also see asense of hypocrisy on partof the Mayor because as weall know the Mayor himselfis making savage cut backsin London’s police num-bers including depletinglocal Safer Neighbourhoodteams by slashing numbersof sergeants by half. Iimplore the Mayor not tocut police numbers. Losing1800 officers over the nextthree years would be detri-mental at this time whenLondoners need to feel safeand protected.

Given the large num-ber of small shops andbusinesses located in Brentand Harrow, addressingissues of repairing thedamage suffered by smallshopkeepers is fundamen-tally critical. Many smallshopkeepers have virtuallynowhere to go and needimmediate short & longterm support and strategy.There is need to ‘putLondon back in business’as stated by KenLivingstone. To this endfive measures have beenput forward by Ken to helpLondon’s small businesses.These include a proposalthat the business ratesrelief, Tax and VAT pay-ment announced for thosebusinesses most badlyaffected should also beapplied to all shops andpremises in the affectedneighbourhoods who havesuffered direct or indirectimpact. On the mattersrelated toreconstruction/refurbish-ment of the damaged shopsthe government announce-ment for easing planningrules to help businessesput extra security meas-ures are appropriate butthere needs to be provisionof fast tracking planning tohelp rebuilding effortswhich are missing in thegovernment’s strategy.Important that together wecan promptly get on withthe business of puttingLondon back in business.

Peace and calm on our streets

“Our London”

CIIr Navin Shah AM

London Assembly Member

for Brent and Harrow

COMMENT

If you can dream - and not make dreams

your master; If you can think - and not

make thought your aim; If you can meet

with triumph and disaster; And treat those

two impostors just the same

-Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936)

Libya: Being economical with the truth


A man allegedly stolethousands of poundsfrom his wife's savingsaccount because he wastoo ashamed to admit hehad lost his job.

Kulwant SinghNargra (46), of RusheyMead, pleaded guilty atthe city magistrates'court to dishonestlyobtaining ￡16,930 fromhis wife's accountbetween November 1last year and March 1this year.

Steven Kennell,prosecuting, saidNargra, of Peebles Way,had obtained money

from the account byforging his wife's signa-ture on third-personconsent forms seventimes without herknowledge.Leicester Mercury

reported that DelythCrisp, for Nargra, saidthe offence was commit-ted purely out of pride. Mrs Crisp said

Nargra and his wife werenow going through aseparation.He will be sentenced

at Leicester CrownCourt on September 23,and was granted uncon-ditional bail.

Leicester Voice

Minority SupplierDevelopment UK(MSDUK), based inLeicester, hasannounced a receptionat the House ofCommons in the firstweek of September toshow their services forsmall businesses thathave harvested profitdue to the help offered.

Mayank Shah,Director, MSDUK (pic-tured) told a local daily,“This event is a greatway for ethnic minoritybusinesses to get in frontof the Government.Besides Ministers andother dignitaries, SeniorManagers from Barclays,IBM and ExxonMobilare going to attend theevent."

According to Mr.Shah, in past five yearsthey have had 34 majorand 325 ethnic minorityfirms on their book. Oneof their client is over-whelmed with the 60percent of growth oftheir business in lastyear.

A seven-year-old wit-ness in a murder trialdescribed seeing astabbed man "on thefloor because he wasdead". The youngsterallegedly gave evidencevia a video link atLeicester Crown Courtlast week. The boy – whowas six at the time – saidhe saw Sharn DevonFarrell (27) plunge aknife into the heart of achip shop owner after anargument, according toLeicester Mercury.

Jagjit Singh (43), amarried father, sufferedthe fatal injury outsidehis business, Seasalt, inSaffron Lane, Leicester,

on the evening ofNovember 1 last year.The child said Farrell

– who was looking afterhim that evening – wenthome to get a "big knife"and returned to theshop.He said: "He stabbed

him and that's why hewas on the floor dead. Isaw the knife in his backpocket.”The court heard that

at the police station, onbeing told Mr Singh haddied and that he wasbeing charged with mur-der, Farrell appearedshocked, held his head inhis hands and sobbed.The trial continues.

Forgery for honour?

Boy, 7, gives witnessfor a stabbed Asian

Non Profit Organisationsecures profit for major

and small business

The world’s largestHindu festival outside ofIndia at BhaktivedantaManor, near Watford,attracted more than60,000 pilgrims on 21stand 22nd August. Thisyear celebrated the launchof the Ahimsa DairyFoundation, which sellsmilk from cows that willbe retired when their milk-ing days are over and usesbulls to work the land.Ahimsa means non-

violence and the not-for-profit company has justbegun distributing slaugh-ter-free, organic milk inthe London area in time tocelebrate the birthday ofKrishna, who was theguardian of cows. The tra-dition of worshippingKrishna is synonymouswith protecting cows.The Foundation has a

herd in Kent, but takes itsinspiration for cow protec-tion from the Manor’sfarm, which supplies thetemple with milk anddairy products from itsMeuse Rhine Issel andDairy Short-horn cows.No cow, calf or bull is everkilled and all are allowedto live out their naturallives.Ahimsa Slaughter-free

Milk costs £2:25 a litreand there is a 15p addi-tional charge for doorstepdelivery. It is available bysubscription at:

www.ahimsamilk.orgAs pilgrims entered the

huge festival site, theypassed through the newfarm complex which hasbeen recognised as a blue-print for compassionateand sustainable farmingwhich will change the waypeople think about howtheir food is produced. “I have noticed people

are beginning to care moreabout what they consumeand how it got to theirplate,” said the farm man-ager Stuart Coyle, “Thebelief in the old adage ‘youare what you eat’ showsthe change in people’sawareness that they arebeginning to care morehow food and drink is pro-duced,”

When talking aboutthe Janmashtami festival,The President ofBhaktivedanta ManorSrutidharma Das said: “Itis a festival of peace inwhat are troubled times.Krishna protected cows assacred animals and we aredelighted to be celebratingthe cow at this year’s festi-val. Ahimsa is a veryimportant belief inHinduism and the cowsymbolises peace andprosperity in society.When the relationshipbetween humans and cat-tle is correct everything inthe world is in harmony.”The festival featured

hundreds of children withtheir faces painted blue,many carrying flutes and

wearing peacock feathersin their hair, dressing likeLord Krishna as part ofthe festive spirit.Another highlight

included a flowered walk-way through the spiritualgardens and woodland.Visitors will journeythrough the life and pas-times of Lord Krishna cli-maxing with a glimpse ofthe spectacular deity ofKrishna decorated withthousands of flowers.The entire festival is

managed and run by 1500volunteers from the com-munity who gather everyevening after work for amonth prior to the eventand put in countless hoursof hard work for the occa-sion.

Bhaktivedanta Manor celebrates Janmashtamiand launch of Ahimsa dairy foundation

Trading standardsofficials at LeicestershireCounty Council has senta message to public toreport anyone they seeselling cigarettes con-taining high levelledchemicals and rollingtobacco. The departmentwarned the people, sell-ing illegally importedcigarettes face a maxi-

mum fine of � 10,000and imprisonment also.An anonymous tradersaid such illegal tobaccosales hits their dual prof-it by selling tobacco aswell as other productslike chewing gums, con-fectionary and newspapers etc. to the sameconsumers.

A 28-year-old man hasbeen charged over thedeaths of three men killedduring recent rioting inBirmingham.

Haroon Jahan, 21, andShazad Ali, 30, and AbdulMusavir, 31, died afterbeing hit by a car onDudley Road, in WinsonGreen on 10 August. LiamYoung, from WinsonGreen, was detained onSaturday on suspicion ofmurder and charged onSunday with pervertingthe course of justice.He was remanded to

appear at BirminghamMagistrates’ Court on lastMonday.The 28-year-old is the

fifth man to be chargedover the killings.Four other men - Ian

Beckford, 30, fromQuinton; Joshua Donald,26, of Kelsall Croft,Ladywood; Adam King,23, of no fixed address anda 17-year-old who cannotbe named for legal rea-sons, have been chargedwith murder. A 33-year-old arrested by police onFriday was released on

police bail on Saturday.Three other males - aged17, 23, and 32 - have alsobeen arrested and bailed

pending further inquiries.Nine men have so far beenarrested by police investi-gating the killings.

Avoid dangerous counterfeitcigarettes

An Indian couple whomet at a legal firm havebecome the first in Britainto claim ‘caste’ discrimina-tion, saying they wereforced from their jobs fol-lowing their marriage.An employment tribu-

nal was told that solicitorAmardeep Begraj, 33, wasfrom a higher caste thanher husband Vijay, 32, thepractice manager. Hebelonged to the Dalits, for-merly known as theUntouchables because ofthe nature of their work inroles such as cleaning,pest control or scavenging,and the lowest class ofpeople according to theancient Indian caste sys-tem.Mrs Begraj has told the

tribunal that a senior col-league allegedly warnedher against marrying MrBegraj because people of

his caste were ‘differentcreatures’, while he wastold his position at thefirm was ‘compromised’,reported by Daily Mail.She also claimed that

her workload increasedand secretarial supportwas reduced ‘as a punish-ment’, and she was paidless than colleagues.The couple married at

a Gurdwara, or Sikh tem-ple, in Leamington Spa,Warwickshire, three yearsago, when a colleagueraised a toast to ‘Jat girlsgoing down the drain’.When the couple had

their first child, the firmdid not send flowers,although this was stan-dard practice. Mr Begraj,who worked as a practicemanager for the firm forseven years, was sackedlast year. His wife resignedin January.

Last year the couplebriefed a committee of theHouse of Lords, whichswayed them to insert theclause in the legislationrecognising caste discrimi-nation. A subsequentnewspaper story led to thecouple’s car windscreenbeing smashed.The tribunal will also

rule on whether they were

discriminated against ongrounds of religion orrace. Mr Begraj is claimingwrongful dismissal and hiswife is claiming unfairconstructive dismissal.The firm’s managementallegedly are said to con-sider the couple’s claimsoutrageous.The tribunal contin-

ues.

Haroon Jahan, Shazad Ali and Abdul Musavir

Amardeep and Vijay Begraj

Caste discriminations in UK leading to unfair dismissal in jobs?

Fifth man charged over car deaths in Birmingham riot

Asian Voice - Saturday 27th August 2011 5

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The Noor Inayat KhanMemorial Trust is hosting asufi tribute concert for theWWII heroine later thisweek at Rudolf SteinerHouse in London. The con-cert features Americandancer Felicia SharaifaNorton and Indian sufisinger Madan Gopal Singh.

The concert is expectedto raise funds for a NoorInayat Khan memorial tobe built in Gordon Square.

Noor Inayat Khan wasborn to an Indian father,Hazrat Inayat Khan and anAmerican mother, Ora RayBaker. She was a descen-dant of Tipu Sultan. Shebecame a secret agent inthe Second World War andwas infiltrated into occu-

pied Paris under the codename of Madeleine. She

was eventually shot inDachau Concentrationcamp and posthumouslyawarded the George Crossfor her bravery.

Noor’s paternal grand-father was from the Punjab.

Her father, Hazrat InayatKhan, was a Sufi preacherwho took Sufism to thewest.

Let us know what you think. Email Spriha at [email protected]

London celebrates JanmashtamiBy Spriha Srivastava

Londoners celebratedthe auspicious festival ofJanmashtami in a verygrand manner. The festi-val was celebrated byvarious groups in differ-ent parts of UK. Butbefore going into detailsof some events inLondon, let me first talka bit about the festivalitself.

Janmashtami, is aHindu festival celebrat-ing the birth of Krishna,an avatar of the godVishnu. The festivalalways falls within mid-August to mid-September in theGregorian calendar..

Rasa lila, dramaticenactments of the life ofKrishna, are a specialfeature in regions ofMathura and Vrindavan,and regions followingVaishnavism in Manipur.While the Rasa lila re-creates the flirtatiousaspects of Krishna’syouthful days, the DahiHandi celebrate God’splayful and mischievousside, where teams ofyoung men form humanpyramids to reach a high-hanging pot of butter andbreak it. This tradition,also known as uriadi, is amajor event in TamilNadu on Gokulashtami.

In London, thou-sands of devotees attend-ed a two-dayJanmashtami festival,celebrating the birth ofLord Krishna, at the

Bhaktivedanta Manor inWatford town. This isbelieved to be theworld’s largest Hindufestival outside Indiawith up to 72,000 peopletaking part.

Run by about 1500volunteers from the com-munity, the event alsoincluded a floweredwalkway through thespiritual gardens andwoodland. The site wasdonated to the HareKrishna movement byformer Beatle GeorgeHarrison in 1973.Chanting of mantras andHare Krishna callsechoed in the air as manygathered to pray to theirfavourite god.

Mani Singh, a 25 yearold Indian attended theevent. He said he wastotally amazed by theatmosphere. “It was justso wonderful. Beingbrought up in London, Ihave missed out on a lotof Indian festivals andJanmashtami is special

for us since at home wepray to Lord Krishna.And so, coming to anevent like this was totallya dream come true. Theatmosphere was so beau-tiful and colourful andpeople seemed to beenjoying a lot.”

The temple adminis-tration also set up a livebroadcast of the event ontheir website so thatthose who can’t make itcan still be part of theevent.

One of the devoteeswho couldn’t attend theevent but followed itonline said, “I was justpraying hard for theLokpal bill to be passed.I couldn’t attend theevent but watched it liveon the website and felt sohappy to be a part ofthis.”

The festival was alsocelebrated at the ShriVenkateswara (Balaji)Temple in Tividale inWest Midlands.

Concert for Noor Inayat Khan

D e b a s r e eG h o s h ,Copyw r i t e r,28, Engaged:Had I beenstill single, Imay have con-sented to the modernversion of an arrangedmarriage, where the fam-ily merely suggests aprospective spouse andleaves the rest to thecouple, as long as it did-n’t come with any pres-sure of making a deci-sion or overt familialinvolvement. However, agreat number among mypeers are marrying intheir late twenties orearly thirties; an age thatwould have been consid-ered very late even thirtyyears ago. It’s a result ofwomen being able to findtheir own identitythrough means otherthan marriage and moth-erhood. An educated,financially independentwoman with a strongsupport network of fami-ly and friends is muchless likely to devote herlife to the cause of find-ing a husband.

I have a partner Ilove and have chosen tomarry. This is entirelymy own choice.However, I would havehappily been a singlewoman had I not havenot found the man of mydreams. I find that com-pared to the men, it’s thewomen of modern Indiathat are more reluctantto tow the parental pres-sure line and settle for aman they don’t love or alife they didn’t choose.Good on them, I say!

V i n a y aG a n e s a n ,Lawyer, 25,Committed:Since I haves t a r t e dworking, Ialways felt the need for acompanion as stronglyas the need to provemyself in my profession-al life. So, if I had notmet my partner, it isquite highly likely that Iwould have said ‘yes’ to

arranged marriage.For the urban young

Indian woman todaymarriage is no more theonly way she can betaken care of when shecrosses early twenties.She is not just financial-ly independent but she isas driven as anybodyelse to progress in herprofessional life.Personally, at 24 I tookup an opportunity to liveand work abroad for 2years because I was sin-gle and free to take it upwithout any familialcomplications.

Given a choice Iwould not have agreedto be single. For me sat-isfaction in my profes-sional life needs to gohand in hand with satis-faction on the personalfront. I cannot tip onefor another and findingthe right balance is veryimportant.

Tanya Kaur, StrategyDeveloper, 30, Single: Idon’t think the conven-tional notion of“arranged marriages”exists anymore. But, thisdoes not mean thatIndian parents are total-ly detached from theprocess but instead theyare using “introduc-tions”, whereby parentsuse extended family andcommunity ties to iden-tify potential suitors fortheir children. As such,it can be a good way forthose seeking to get mar-ried to meet potentialpartners and I am opento using introductionsthrough my parents andextended family.

I personally do notagree that British Indianwomen perceive mar-riage as being a hin-drance to their lifestyleand career. I think thatBritish Indian womenare not getting marriedor postponing marriageto later years as they aremore becoming moreselective about choosinga partner. They want toensure that their part-ners will support theirambitions and share the

same values as them. I will most definitely

get married in the nearfuture and would neverchose to remain single. Irecognise that my careeris only one element ofmy life but it will neverbe the main priority forme. Over the years, Ihave learnt to balance allaspects of my life and torecognise what I valuethe most and that is myfamily life. I personallythink it would be verydifficult for any woman,no matter how success-ful she may be - toremain happy being sin-gle all her life.

Suman Chowdhury,PRO, 28,Single: Iwould defi-nitely like tohave a lovem a r r i a g ebecause I would like toknow the person and hishabits and see if we arecompatibile. I believe incase of arranged mar-riages the meetings aremuch more formal. Iwould not at all like tostay single all my life.

� I think today’swomen, who are finan-cially independent, aredelaying marriagesbecause they are lookingfor someone who matchtheir sensibilities, sincefinancial security is theleast of concern.

Mrinalini Iyer, SalesManager, 34, Single: Myperception is that a per-centage of Indianwomen delaying mar-riage is increasing aspreference is to firstbecome financially sta-ble and settle in theircareers given demand ofa marital life. However Iam not clear what per-centage of overall singlewomen this contributesto. However marriage isnot a priority for me butI am not really making achoice with one way orthe other.

What do women say?

Famous bollywoodsinger Babul Supriyo ismaking a visit to Londonnext month for a LiveConcert at the HarrowLeisure Centre.

The concert is part of atwo day event celebratingthe ‘Spirit of Bengal.’

Organised by SambadPratidin as its First year ofKKN Probash Parboni2011, the event will alsofeature talented singerssuch as Usha Uthup,Srikanto Acharya, SraboniSen, Srilekha Mitra,ChandraBindoo among

others.The event will also

have a fair called “KolkataBazaar”, entry to which iscomplimentary. Tickets canbe purchased athttp://www.stubmatic.com/panchamukhee/event/6764

Babul Supriyo in London

By Rupanjana DuttaIn these straitened

economic times, the onlybusiness which has per-haps been least affected isthe arranged wedding!While we can say thatthere are increasing ques-tions regarding the declin-ing popularity of mar-riages among Asianwomen. The Economist inits issue of August 20thcontributed almost 4pages to an analysis whatof the factors that couldlead to late marriages orno marriages among Asianwomen.

Asian values havealways been a matter ofdiscussion, always a talk-ing point on moral stan-dards that have been thebenchmark of social con-duct, but changing trendshave raised a few eye-brows.

Now what trend am Italking about? In socialgatherings where you see amultitude of match-mak-ing aunties and uncles try-ing to hitch a girl to a boyand vice versa, it is notunusual to hear someonein the senior fraternitysaying: "you are of a mar-

riageable age, so why don'twe find you some onenice!" The question iswhat is a marriageable ageand what precisely is nice?

The Economist opinesthat Asian women are nowmarrying as late as 30-44and some are not marryingat all. This is not a stan-dard observation. In thewest, where cohabitationis often prioritised over alegally binding marriage,there is less talk of thenotionally 'marriageableage'.

Continued page 9

Women on late marriages: Choice or Obligation?

Asian Voice asked some of the British Indian/Indian womenabout their opinion on being single, arranged marriages and if

they think marriages are hindrance to careers.


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News in BriefWilliam and Kate meet bereaved familiesFlorence marks her

Century Congratulations toFlorence Mandefield ofSparkbrook inBirmingham who hasjust celebrated her 100thbirthday. A surpriseparty was thrown in herhonour by her family andstaff on Ward 9 atHeartlands Hospital, where she was being treatedafter a fall. Photo: Florence with nurse MichelleClarke.

Chance to appear on TVAre you good at saving money and being careful withyour cash? Can you make your pennies stretch?Channel Four are looking for Britain’s most frugalpeople for a new documentary. If you have innovativeways to save money, ring 020 7017 1642.

Appeal to scrap NI Former trade minister and CBIdirector-general Lord DigbyJones is to use a speech inCoventry next month to call forthe scrapping of NationalInsurance “a tax on jobs” in abid to stimulate job creation.Lord Jones, pictured, will make the appeal when hespeaks at the 10th Coventry and WarwickshireChamber of Commerce Economic Conference onSeptember 16.

Red alert for driversBritish motorists are driving through red lights at therate of 278 a minute, a survey has showed. Drivers inthe West Midlands appeared to jump the lights themost, with 19% admitting passing through red signalsin the last month, according to a poll of 2,020 adultsby Direct Line.

Man, 33, found deadSukhvinder Singh Aujla, aged 33, a machine operatorfrom Castle Street, Hill Top in West Bromwich, wasfound dead in his bed by his wife Mandeep lastSaturday, an inquest heard. Black Country CoronerRobin Balmain said the death was not thought to besuspicious and adjourned the inquest for reports.

Sailing through life A teenage cancer sufferer fromBirmingham got the chance of alifetime to sail on a yacht withrecord-breaker Dame EllenMacArthur. MuhammedMahmood, pictured, aka Wasim,14, of Aston, took part in a four-day yacht adventure off the Isle ofWight with the Ellen MacArthurCancer Trust, which aims toinspire young people’s cancerrecovery through sailing.

1 in 5 uni studentsunhappy

Almost a fifth of Midland students are unhappy withthe quality of their university course, a major surveyhas revealed. Topping the regional poll of happy stu-dents was Keele University, with a 90% approval rat-ing, followed by the University of Warwick with 88%,and Birmingham and Coventry Universities at 85%.The National Student Survey questioned about265,000 final-year students on every aspect of theiruniversity experience.

Hospital is warnedWolverhampton’s New Cross Hospital has been issued anotice by the Primary Care Trust to improve care forstroke patients.

Ugandan ConventionA Ugandan Convention, the first-ever in the UK, willtake place in London this Saturday (Aug 27). Theone-day festival will feature exhibitors, a fashionshow, speeches, live bands, networking and muchmore. To find out more visit www.ugandanconven-tionuk.org

More than 25,000mourners bowed theirheads as a mark of trib-ute to murder victimsHaroon Jahan and broth-ers Shahzad Ali andAbdul Musavir lastThursday. Thousandscomforted each other atthe emotional open-airservice in SummerfieldPark in Winson Green.Hundreds more lined thestreets outside and held avigil at the petrol stationon Dudley Road wherethe trio were killed whiledefending businessesfrom senseless rioters.Among dignitaries wereWajid Shamsul Hasan,the Pakistan HighCommissioner to the UK.He said: “I came here onbehalf of the people ofPakistan, to pass on ourcondolences at thedeaths of the three boyswho gave their lives toprotect us all.”

Community leaderShaykh Muhammed AlYaqoubi called for anational day to be held toforever mark the men’ssacrifices. He added: “Wecan be sad and sorrywhen such innocent livesare lost for no cause. Butwhen the cause for whichthey sacrificed is sogreat, it shows to us thatthese men opened up anew way for Muslims inthe UK. Writers writewith ink on pages toadvocate Islam. Butthese three martyrswrote with their blood onthe annals of history.”

Although the Dukeand Duchess of

C a m b r i d g e ,William and Kate,were unable toattend the funeral,they made a spe-cial effort to visitBirmingham theday after, onFriday. They visit-ed theS u m m e r f i e l dC o m m u n i t yCentre in WinsonGreen, near thespot whereHaroon, Shahzadand Musavir werekilled. They chatted tolocal residents and busi-ness people and also metlocal dignitaries andemergency services staff.Upon arrival, they weregreeted by Ajay andMonika Bhatia whosebusiness, MachanExpress, was affected bythe riots. Indian-born MrBhatia, 52, told Williamhow the rioters hadcaused £20,000 worth ofdamage and taken morethan £15,000 worth ofstock.

Soon after the Royalvisit, I got a phonecallfrom straight-talkingequalities campaigner JasSansi, Birmingham’stallest photographer,who asked if I knew, orhad been invited to thephotocall. I told him Iwas aware, that onlybecause I sit on theBoard of a local TV newschannel, but was notinvited.

Following someresearch, it emerged thatselected local media wereinvited, but not ethnic

media. Not evenB i r m i n g h am - b a s e dSangat TV, the fledglingAsian TV channel whichwas praised by TheGuardian for “puttingthe big broadcasters toshame” in their remark-able reporting of thelocal riots.

Asian Voice askedClarence House’s pressoffice why ethnic mediawere not invited. Aspokeswoman describedthe visit as “an exceptionto the rule” and becauseof “security implica-tions” only a few selectedpeople and organisationswere invited, that too atthe “last minute”.

However, the helpfulspokeswoman added: “Ithink it is a really goodpoint,” admitting, “infuture we should think itthrough more thorough-ly.”

When asked on whatground the selected fewAsian ‘pillars of the com-munity’ were invited.“We rely on the localknowledge of the LordLieutenant,” said the

spokeswoman, whichthen made sense. TheLord Lieutenant for theWest Midlands is PaulSabapathy CBE, HerMajesty’s representativein the region, and the fewAsian ‘dignitaries’ whowere invited – AmrickSingh Ubhi, Dr SarinderSahota and Paul Nischal– are his friends. No sur-prises then, and no won-der the Royal Householdfailed to inform ethnicmedia outlets in the city,or at least Sangat TV, byrelying on their local self-glorifying representative.At a sombre andpoignant period such asthis, it’s embarrassing,shameful too, to observethat such a respectedambassador is takingadvantage of his positionand situation to invitehis friends. Rather, heshould be introducingtrue, ordinary achieversand deservers who, per-haps, because theyremain naive at PR, aremissing out on the plau-dits and garlands thatthey so deserve. Agree?

The citizens of Birmingham fell silent and wereunited in grief as the three men killed duringthe riots in the city were laid to rest. Also, howthe junior Royals paid a glowing tribute to thecity’s diverse communities, but in the absenceof the voices that truly represent them.

Contact: Dhiren on 07970 911 386 or [email protected] Katwa

Midland Voice

William and Kate tour community centre in Birmingham with WestMidlands’ Lord Lieutenant, Paul Sabapathy

Property ladder pessimismMore than half of young adults who don’t own their

own homes believe they will never be able to afford tobuy a house, according to a new poll. The survey of 700people by Post Office Mortgages found 53% of 25 to 34-year-olds were pessimistic about their chances of everbuying.

In-store curry successAsda is hoping to introduce more in-store curry

counters run by local Indian restaurants following thesuccess of its first such counter at Asda Small Heath inBirmingham. It opened in April. Since, three more haveopened in the Midlands and dozens more are planned,including several in London.

New CommitteeThe Chartered

Institute of PublicFinance andAccountancy (CIPFA)Midlands StudentSociety marked its sec-ond anniversary at itsAGM last Wednesday.Having served his year as Chair of CMSS, RizwanDhanani handed over to Caroline Slaney, pictured.Victoria Hundelby is the new vice chair and OwenCampbell is honorary secretary. Atul Lad is one of sixmembers. To find out more visitwww.cipfa.org.uk/regions/mid

Photo: Brian Berry

Asian Voice - Saturday 27th August 2011 9UK

A unique event is happening inthe Midlands between the 30thAugust and the 1st ofSeptember 2011. TheMidlands which has been afocal region in the UK withregards to food and drink pro-cessing also houses food anddrink distribution centres formajor retailers and cash andcarry’s. Ethnic foods haverisen in popularity over theyears and the region caters toa variety of food sourcedfrom all over the world. Indiais a major source for Ethnicfoods and is currently soughtafter by most countries look-ing to source Ethnic foodsand also as a market for theirproducts. The UK and specifi-cally the Midlands have a veryclose relationship with India.The Indo British Trade Councilwhich is based in Leicester hasorganised the Food and Drinkconference to showcase thefood and drink capabilities ofthe UK and build bi-laterallinks with India. The three dayevent will address the complex-

ity of sourcing, meeting inter-national legislation, food inno-vation, new business models,distribution channels, meetingquality, cost, delivery and sus-tainability criteria. This eventwill bring together industryprofessionals and academia todisseminate some of the latestperspectives in the food anddrink area and discuss futurechallenges. It will provide aplatform for creating tradepartnerships within the Foodand Drink sector. As a part ofthe event, ‘Asian Voice’ is host-ing a buyer-seller meet whichwill bring together food anddrink companies to considermarket opportunities in bothcountries.

The keynote on the first dayof the conference will be givenby the Minister (Economic) ofthe Indian High Commissionin London, followed by a day ofhigh profile talks by prominentspeakers covering aspects ofthe food and drink sector in theUK and the Midlands. Thetalks will cover specific topicsfor the food and drink industry

and will include regulation,law, quality and buyer require-ments. Perween Warsi, founderand CEO of S&A Foods, whois giving the after-dinner talkon the 30th, said “The platformfor creating long term tradinglinks for SMEs is of paramountimportance - especiallyamongst smaller SMEs whocannot afford a full time dedi-cated export resource. This willhelp them to grow and explorenew markets”. The second dayhas a theme of ‘Doing businessin India’ and will have akeynote by the AgricultureMinister of Jammu & Kashmir,followed by high profile speak-ers from India talking aboutmarket entry, brand buildingand the food and drink sec-tor in India. This event is supported

by UKTI in the Midlands,the Consulate General ofIndia, major supermarkets,food processors and theConfederation of IndianIndustry. Due to the over-whelming support of major

stakeholders in the Food andDrink sector and a line up ofeminent speakers, this event istruly unique and should not bemissed. For further details onhow to attend, please visitwww.ibtc.org.uk or alternative-ly, contact, Mr. Baljit Singh [email protected], or SamirDani on [email protected].

UK-India Food and Drink Conference andBuyer- Seller Meet

+44 (0) 7722 4903 22E B

ConsnsulateGeneralof India

+44 (0) 7722 4903 22E

+44 (0) 7722 4903 22E B

Farah Damji, thesocialite daughter of amillionaire propertytycoon, has allegedlyboasted that she hasestablished a “heroescentre” which will helpformer soldiers and ser-vicemen who haveended up in prison.Her “social enter-

prise” company haspersuaded JonathanAitken, the former Toryminister who was con-victed of perjury, to chair an MPs’group meeting in the House ofCommons next month. She has toldpeople that the company is backed byColin Moses, a respected formerchairman of the Prison Officers’Association.

Ken Clarke, the justice secretary,has apparently earmarked millions ofpounds for projects to rehabilitateoffenders. But the reputation of the govern-

ment policy could be damaged byDamji’s association with it. TheSunday Times has established thather heroes centre does not exactlyexist, and she used a different namewhen she registered her company andthat at least one eminent personallegedly supporting her denies anysuch backing.This weekend Moses said he was

alarmed to discover she had claimedhe was advising her and believed hehad been misled. Aitken said he hadagreed to chair the meeting but knewnothing about Damji’s company.Damji, 44, pictured, has criminal

convictions for fraud and dishonestyin America and Britain.

After her releasefrom jail she registeredKazuri Properties inMarch using the nameFarah Dan. It is part ofthe Kazuri Group,which she claims aimsto rehabilitate formerprisoners.She has allegedly

teamed up with TimDingle, a former head-master who wasbanned from teachingfor two years after

using the school’s computer systemto flirt with women, reports TheSunday Times. This weekend the Ministry of

Justice confirmed it had beenapproached by Kazuri. When told ofher background, a spokesman said:“The law clearly states that anyoneconvicted of fraud would be ineligibleto tender for government work of thissort.”Until Damji was approached by

The Sunday Times on Friday,Kazuri’s website apparently claimedits heroes centre was based in the vil-lage of Borstal near Rochester, Kent.When challenged last week,

Damji allegedly admitted the centrewas not actually based at the schooland that it had not yet been set up, asreported by the daily. Asked whether someone with her

record for fraud and dishonestyshould be involved in taxpayer-fund-ed schemes, she told the daily: “Ibelieve my experience of the criminaljustice system can be put to good useto help society understand what life islike for prisoners trying to resettle ... Ihave paid my debt to society.”

Future of rehabilitationcentre in doldrum?

Continued from page 6

But within Indiancommunities, this israrely considered to be anoption. If you cannot finda suitable partner, thewhole family will joinforces to get you hitched.Nevertheless that delayedmarriages among Indiansare put down to 3 factors:l Marriage for Indianwomen often leads toleaving a full- time joband prioritising familyover personal ambition.Women who have workedhard to achieve their goalfeel resentful at theprospect of surrenderingeverything for maritalsatisfaction of the part-ner. Also, whereasresearch show that mendo 3 hours of householdwork, the ratio forwomen is 30 hours onaverage, besides theirregular 40 hours ayoffice.l With divorce laws beingtoo stringent and withthe social taboo associat-ed with divorces amongstAsians, they often thinkmarriage is a sort of bondthat they can't escape, ifthings go wrong. l It is also believed, thatIndian women are far tooeducated nowadays tofind a suitable groomwith matching capabili-ties. That leads to waitinglonger to find someone

suitable. Though dating web

portals like Shaadi.comin India are overwhelmedwith women and meninterested in marriage ordating - family involve-ment in arranged mar-riages to suit family stan-dards - makes the processof finding a groom orbride cumbersome andlimiting on choice.

Mamta Saha, a notedpsychologist fromThinkspa London said,"Indian women find mar-riage as a threatening totheir career. This is evi-dent from the data andmy experience withfemale clients. First gen-eration of Indian parentshave given their daugh-ters access to great edu-cation and grooming allwhilst these girls seetheir mother playing the'dutiful housewife role'.After such grooming andprepping for the profes-sional world the majority

of females want to con-tinue their journey ofdevelopment and profes-s i o n a lgrowth. Unfortunately,they feel committing tothe institute of marriagewill dilute their passionand pull them away fromtheir priorities of careerexcellence and the free-dom it brings. As a psychologist I

would say, stay true toyourself and when indoubt think about yourhuman values and whatdrives you. If you wantto steer clear of marriagedo not allow yourself tobe carrying the guilt, anx-iety and expectations ofothers that may drive youinto this institution. Ifyou want to get marriedand have kids do not bein denial about the diffi-culties attached to havingkids at a later age. If youare comfortable withwhat is to come, let yourintuition drive you."

The City SikhsNetwork (CSN) organisedan on 17th� August 2011 inconjunction with BarclaysCorporate. “Sikhs, theCity, and Success”�included a panel discus-sion with a number ofleading lights from the UK,and it focused on how itwas possible to becomesuccessful in British socie-ty without� compromisingone’s personal identity orfaith.The leading speakers

included Richard Barnes(Deputy Mayor� ofLondon), Dr SurinderHundal- Director atPrinciples for ResponsibleInvestment, SukhiWahiwala, CEO ofWahiwala Groups andKrish Raval (director ofFaith in Leadership).While Richard Barnes inhis humorous story tellingways attributed the suc-cess of Sikhs in their prin-ciples, Krish spoke aboutleadership. Dr Hundalspoke about her journey tosuccess and Sukhi spokeabout his enlightenmentwhen unwell and his selfdiscovery and his poten-tials.

Param Singh, CSNdirector, said “There areapproximately 15,000Sikhs working in� the Cityof London, and recogni-tion of Sikh success in theCity is long overdue. We�

have a strong presence inperhaps the most impor-tant corporate powerhousein the� world, and we as acommunity have retainedour unique identity. Thisevent will give� people theopportunity to see thatbeing financially success-ful and being spiritualare� not mutually-exclu-sive.”

Jasvir Singh, also aCSN director, added “Theriots in England over thelast few days� have dis-turbed the social fabric ofthe nation. However, theBritish Sikhcommunity� has emergedstrongly from this, withmany people comingtogether to protecttowns� such as Southalland Birmingham fromlooting. The question ofhow faith can assist � insuccessfully overcomingadversity is not looked atvery often, and hopefullythis� event will give aninsight into the mindset ofsuccess.”

Sarah Boddey,European Head ofDiversity at BarclaysWealth, said“Barclays� Wealth isdelighted to be sponsoringthis City Sikhs Networkevent. We have a� vibrantand growing CulturalAwareness Network hereat Barclays Wealth andare� delighted to partnerwith organisations such asCSN on events thatencourage� educat ion,learning and appreciationof different faiths, culturesand beliefs and the� richdiversity they can bring toorganisations.”Launched in October

2010, CSN is dedicated toinspiring individuals to bethe best� that they can be,and although it is anorganisation based withinthe Sikh community,� itsresources and events areopen to all people regard-less of race, religionand� gender so as to reflectthe teachings of the Sikhgurus.

City Sikhs Network hosts a galaevening to celebrate success

Women on late marriages..

Deputy Mayor Richard Barnes, Dr Surinder Hundal, SukhiWahiwala, Krish Raval and others

Asian Voice - Saturday 27th August 201110

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Cricket crazy Indians for the first time was seenso euphoric on Monday morning, as theyexpected a couple of Oscars. British Indians inthe UK, Dharavi slums, the shanty township ofMumbai, a village in Uttar Pradesh and almostthe entire Bollywood waited in expectation,glued to their TV sets. They burst into celebra-tions as one by one, their heroes, the actors ofthe British Indian film and the music maestro, AR Rahman bagged the top awards in the worldof entertainment.

British actress Kate Winslett also won theOscar after having missed it almost five timesearlier.

‘Smile Pinki’, a short documentary on acleft-lipped Indian girl in Uttar Pradesh directedby American director Megan Mylan, won theOscar for the Best Documentary (Short).

‘Smile Pinky’ too gets the Oscar

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If we play with fire, it is only a questionof time before we get burnt. China has atbest turned a blind eye and at worse armedthe terrorists being trained in the Pakistan.Western politicians are no match to theirChinese counterparts when it comes toguile, cunningness and foresight.

China is also buying conglomerateswith interest in oil, minerals and utilities,a fool proof investment to provide her withraw materials and keep her coffers filledwith Western currency. Do we know thatmany of our electricity and water utilitiesare owned by China? Soon they will bebuying our ports and airports from thecash starved Spanish entrepreneurs whocontrol our airports? Do we care whoowns our wealth creating institutions?

China has increased her landmass by aquarter since 1947 when it became a unit-ed country under Communist dictator-ship. Xingjian, the western-most Chineseprovince is mainly dominated by UighersMuslims of Turkish ethnicity who resentChinese rule. The recent uprising, terroristattacks by militants trained and armed inPakistani were responsible for these atroc-ities. But China is not India, a subduednation living in fear with appeasement pol-icy. China will not hesitate to ethnicallycleanse Xingjian the way it did much larg-er and more populous but peaceful andtolerant Tibet. This is a golden opportuni-ty for India to influence China, make itrealise that it is playing with fire by sup-porting a terrorist nation like Pakistan.

Bhupendra M GandhiVia Email

Chicken has come hometo roost

I have just been to Scotland whichproved to be an ultimate trip to the nature.Scotland has got so much to offer. Therewas so much greenery, water and naturalbeauty that it can just not be put intowords. There are so many lakes, locks, hills,shopping attractions as well as friendly peo-ple. I went for a 3 days trip but didn’t realisethat even 7 days trip wouldn’t be able tocover what Scotland has got to offer.

This is an ideal season to visit Scotland.Me, my wife and our friends were speech-less while seeing these beautiful scenesboth from the coach as well as from thepoints themselves.

I was bit concerned about the companywe were going to get during the trip, but itwas great. The co-tourists, the tour manag-er and the driver were so friendly that wefelt like a big family going together. It wasfunny to have the white driver saying “JayShree Krishna” to everyone.

Everyone wanted others to taste thefood they brought along. The whole tripwas quite remarkable. This is the right sea-son and I would personally recommend AVreaders for a Scotland Trip to refresh them-selves. Trust me; it’s worth it.

Devang Bhatt,Harrow

Trip to Scotland

The Harrow Council for Justice wel-comes the government’s move to expandthe use of the family intervention projectmodel, which was adopted under the pre-vious government. It seeks to help fami-lies who face a combination of problemssuch as mental illness, unemploymentand poverty, usually by allocating a singlesocial worker to gain an overview of theproblems facing the family.

Though it is highly desirable that thestate policies and practices address theintrinsic relationship between the ‘causeand effect’ in tackling social problems butgiven the state of the ‘broken society’ atpresent, any short-term measures to dealwith the ‘effects’ can only be good.

But for a long lasting social cohesionand stability we can not afford to keepchasing the ‘effects’ while not effectivelyaddressing the ‘cause’. Therefore, tomend the ‘broken society’, it is crucial forthe decision-makers to rigorously worktowards achieving both the economic sta-bility and the social stability.

It is nice to hear that Mr Cameronwanted a “family test” applied to alldomestic policy, and that “If it hurts fam-ilies, if it undermines commitment, if ittramples over the values that keep peopletogether, or stops families from beingtogether, then we shouldn’t do it”.

Why not to apply the ‘family test’ tothe adverse long-term effects of somerecent policies like the changes in thehousing benefits or the cut in the EarlyIntervention Grant (by 11% in 2011)which is used to provide support for thefamilies with multiple problems throughlocal authorities. For example, in theLondon Borough of Harrow this grant for2011-12 is � 714,404 less than its baselineallocation in 2010-11.

Jaiya ShahChairman�

Harrow Council for Justice�

Broken society

Why Hinduism cannot be declared asstate religion and India declared as a Hindunation, while ensuring freedom of worshipto Non Hindus? Globally, religion of major-ity is religion of any nation, but Hinduismwhich is religion of majority in India isburied under secularism. Hinduism is con-sidered as sin, Hindus are marginalised andHindu bashing is rampant.

Hindustan stands fractured wherebyHindu is shunned in Christian dominatedNortheast and Muslim dominated Kashmir.Braggart Congress, is cowed by separatistsin Kashmir, retired truck driver and a sadhutoo-at home. I wish India, includingKashmir, all northeastern states, communi-ties, castes and classes would become onenation. India must don iron curtain andexterminate home grown and imported ter-rorists.

Patriotism of all Indians must befocussed on Hindustan. National interestmust not be subordinated to USA orPakistan but towards basic needs, ambi-tions and aspirations of Indians.

As reverence to Gandhiji and SardarVallabh-bhai Patel, we must harness patri-otism of giants like Ramdev ji, Anna ji,Modi ji and Subramaniam Swami to createstrong India. Save agricultural lands; stopforced land acquisition. Use desert technol-ogy to create SEZ in Rajasthan.

Ramesh JhallaVia Email

Politics of Independence

The recent riots in London remindedme of similar behaviour by markets sincePresident Nixon declared on 15th August1971 that the US Dollar would no longer beconvertible into gold following the huge fis-cal deficit then caused by the Vietnam Warand run on the U S Currency.

Since then the management of foreignexchange rates has been similar to riots,looting and stealing as much as you can,hidden under the camouflage of complexity.Give more to those who have has been theethos. The Police, the Press, the Politiciansand the Big Business continue to supportthis anarchy by scratching each other’sback.

Paper money was created, printed andmultiplied without any sense of proportionor relevance to the underlying economicstrength of the country or countriesinvolved. On powerful computer screensforeign exchange rates move in millisecondsto 4 decimal points in case of major curren-cies such as the US Dollar, Euro or Yen. Yetthese same currencies can go up and downby 25% while Bretton Woods’ 1944 idea wasthat no currency should fluctuate more than2.5%. Gold was then $35 to the ounce. Nowit is $1790 to the ounce. The forecast is$2,500 by end of this year. Surely time hascome for the global economy to have oneglobal currency again linked to gold.

International trade is the true wealthcreator: it has been hijacked by internation-al finance. The latter has now degeneratedin financial engineering and leveraging inthe ratio of $260 of paper money for $1 ofreal money or real GDP.

Nagindas Khajuria FCCAVia Email

Anarchy in the globaleconomy England has toppled the top team and

claimed the much coveted number onespot in cricket. It battered India in allthree tests played so far by scoring hugenumber of runs. While Indian bowlershelplessly looked on, one England bats-man scored nearly three centuries. Thatis, one person scored more than thewhole India team did! This is ridiculous.So far India’s performance has beennothing but shabby and if England winsthis last test, it will be a series whitewashfor the hosts and a complete washout forthe visitors.

Cricket is the only game at whichIndia excels against others in the world.But the team was reduced to the level ofnew and upcoming countries. It is ashame as this has happened at a timewhen Indians all over the world are cele-brating the 64th anniversary of India’sindependence by paying tributes to theprogress our motherland has made andhow it now stands in growth and finan-cial stability alongside its former masters.Indian cricketers, along with its filmstars, enjoy the status of demi-gods withconsiderable fame and fortune bestowedupon them. Perhaps all the money andgifts the team members received afterwining the world cup have made the play-ers too complacent and lethargic to runafter the ball. Team India, you cannot reston these laurels.

Dinesh ShethNewbury Park, Ilford

Utter AnnihilationEverybody has been worried as to why

the riots happened. I as a Hindu parent fromIndia of two British born children, teenagershave been my preoccupation ever since Icome here age ten in the 70’s. On arriving Iwas puzzled to hear of someone called ateenager, a child in British culture, who rebelsagainst parents and teachers unheard of inIndia then. I deduced I was not going to inte-grate as I spoke only in Gujarati at home, alanguage with inbuilt deference to any elder.English language does not posses this.

Secondly the western preoccupation withmaterial gain gives rise to greed and competi-tion. Education which is meant to improveand build an individuals character or san-skars, is instead provided mainly as a meansto further material gain by getting a job.

Sanskars allows one to suffer poverty orillness with strength and spend a healthy andwealthy life wisely for the good of all. Alsopromoting equality and fulfilment in careersfor girls has robbed children of mothers, leadto a breakdown of families with unwantedfathers, the state having to step in, the verybasic unit of a society broken.

The Labour leader Ed Miliband only mar-ried on becoming leader. This sort of culturehas to go for the the next generation. Myadult children do not speak Gujarati to mewhile I still speak it with my parents and I cansee the differences in respect shown. To allthe Indian parents I suggest teach their chil-dren their mother language at least. Bothsocialism and capitalism are the oppositesides of the same material coin, one spreadswealth the other allows accumulation butwithout sanskars- what we saw is the tip ofan iceberg.

Jayesh A PatelWimbledon

‘Sanskar’ and riot

After riots, this country is putting itspieces back together. It is very interesting tosee that David Cameron absolutely leaped outof his holidays to come back to London inorder to control the Libyan issues.

But during riots whether it was the Mayoror our PM took good 48 hours to react. I amsurprised at this slow reaction. They probablyhave no idea how much we have lost as a com-munity. I live in Tottenham. I have seen myneighbouring shops smashed- for lucozade,cococola, cigarettes, beer. I was in Asda theother day- and I saw three youngsters debatingto buy alcohol free beer. I believe this wholelimitations over drinking, smoking or the urgeto go down that way- are reasons enough topush somebody to do wrong.

Our country- as free as it is, the problemlies with the fact that parents have immensefaith in their children. They think those chil-dren will learn from their mistakes. But theyfail to realise some mistakes can never be for-given! Think of Fahim Wahil Alam. He is anLSE graduate, Oxford pass out. What onEarth came on him, that he threw a brick atthe police car? Well it is understood that peo-ple often behave irrationally as a mob, but ifyou are conscience are in its place, whereveryou are- you cannot commit something wrongjust because others are doing that. We need toinculcate individual identity and sense of rightand wrong in youngsters. Imitating peers isdangerous!

Anand SinghLondon

Imitating is a vice

YOUR VOICE

Anjana Kapuria

August 2011 witnessed the twoextreme gestures of british youth. Afterthe repentance of riots now came themoment of pride along A level results.After the protest for cuts and fee hikealong with the recent masked riotersthis is a better picture to represent thetrue face of British youth as said byschool minister after the A level results.

The British youth patted their backwith the high in A grades in A level.This come with a pleasant surprisewatching growing taste towards highereducation there are more scrambling toget a vacant place in the University ofone's choice. Limited places andincrease in tuition fee may predict somemore anxiety before the next sessionstarts.

Ucas head Mary Curnock-Cook hassaid that this year is statistically “themost competitive year in history” foruniversity applications. Sept 2012 willstart with a new fee amount all acrossthe UK which would be nearly thrice ofwhat pupil used to pay by now . Theshadow education secretary states that itwas a time to raise the status of the non-

university route.Whereas appren-ticeship, sixthform and alterna-tive routes areoffering extrayears of appliedknowledge in lowcost to meetyoung Britons'career dreams.The all chaoscould be set in atemporary periodof initiating newplaces and fee

structure for thehigher education in the UK. In the inter-est of the students who are at the heartof the system are also likely to see somemore reforms in fees and fundingarrangements for their higher educa-tions. Inflating grades and revised mod-ules complimented one another to find away out of the maze created by the gov-ernment. Now is universities' turn to letthe budding talent bloom in their highfacilitated campuses under well skilledtutors to meet the demand of higher edu-cation.

Mr Willetts, Minister of State forUniversities and Science stressed theimportance of traditional A-levels sub-jects for University admissions. He toldthe daily telegraph that the subjects suchas dance and media studies should notbe recognised as core academic sub-jects.There is a remarkable increase inchoosing science and maths in A levelover the last five years told by theAndrew Hall Chief executive of examawarding body AQA.

However, the Institute ofEngineering and Technology(IET) is urging young peoplereceiving their GCSE resultsto consider a variety of routesinto well paid professionalcareers, including apprentice-ships as an excellent pathtowards being an engineer.

Gareth James, Head ofEducation at the IET said,“Many school-leavers may bebetter off considering apprenticeships.Not only do they represent good all-round training for those wanting to

avoid the costs associatedwith higher education,but they actually repre-sent an opportunity toplace apprentices farahead of new graduates.As well as the chance tostudy for a degree as partof their programme,apprentices also receivehands-on industry experi-ence and earn employa-

bility skills, such as team working, whichmany employers say university graduatesstill lack.”

Asian Voice - Saturday 27th August 2011 1111EDUCATION

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If you have secured 4 A* in A levels, you can write to us with your photograph andsome details to [email protected] and we will publish it FREE in AsianVoice. Offer valid till end of September 2011

GCSE results : Rise of aspiration and rejection

Rekha and Priya Rogers

Olivia and Hannah Singh

Prina Shah

Arathi Menon

Asians in A-levels and their predicamentsOne of those celebrating their

grades, Krishna Patel, 18 said, “I amvery excited about the university expe-rience” as he will go for engineering atthe University of Manchester. DespiteScoring A* in Physics, Chemistry, andMaths was unable to secure a place inFour universities apparently he decidedto take a year break to earn more workexperience and focus his wants infuture and later got a place in theUniversity of Manchester but PrinaShah, despite scoring four A* facedrejection from Oxford, Nottingham andKings College london decided tochange her track to study anthropologyfrom Durham University. These are theeffects of 40.000 available places for220,000 youngsters chasing them.Thousands of students with straighthad received no offers and will wait forclearing.

Issy Brooks-Ward, achieved three

A* determined to study English hastaken a job at a pub near her home andwill reapply next year after receivingrejections for this year.

Six sets of twins at BrightonCollege, East Sussex, got similar Asand A in same subjects also. The pairswho have never been apart for morethan a week at a time now going to dif-ferent universities. Rekha and PriyaRogers, are going to study law inOxford university and medicine inKings College London respectively.

Maintaining the tradition for yearsSwaminarayan School shares the prideand joy amongst all the students, par-ents and teachers after achieving the 83percents of As, A and B this year. Mr.Manani, Head of senior School con-gratulated Navneeth Jayan, for scoringfour As, Navneeth is going to ImperialCollege to study Electronics andElectrical Engineering.


Scrutator’sJames Lamont's report in

the Financial Times (August19) on social activist AnnaHazare's release from Delhi'sTihar jail to start a two-weekhunger strike against theIndian Government's allegedcomplicity in corruption wassound on facts and context. MrLamont writes: “Although offi-cially released the same daythat he was arrested, MrHazare had refused to leaveDelhi's Tihar jail demanding tonegotiate new terms for hisprotest and proceed with hisfast.....Mr Hazare has wonconcessions from local policeto stage his public fast for 15days in the middle of Ramlilaground, an open space in themiddle of New Delhi used for large protests and festivals.”Mr Hazare told his supporters: “The fight is far from over, ithas just begun.”

Mr Lamont again: “In an address to parliament onWednesday [August 17], Manmohan Singh, the prime minis-ter, warned that Mr Hazare's movement was a threat todemocracy. He called Mr Hazare's promotion of tougheraction as 'totally misconceived'......Many others have criti-cised Mr Hazare's use of the hunger strike. They say this wasan appropriate weapon against a colonial power, but not anelected government.”

It may be recalled the government had involved MrHazare in anti-corruption legislation, but senior ministerswere taking a tougher stance with what they perceived as hismeddling in parliamentary affairs. “Mr Singh has suggestedthat a foreign hand is seeking to destabilise India and derailit from its high economic growth. Some Congress party lead-ers understood Mr Singh's reference to foreign influence asthe US.”

See also Patrick French (The Daily Telegraph August 18)and Peter Pagnamenta (The Times August 18)

Americancheek

Earlier in the week, India'sforeign ministry had respondedtestily to a statement by USState Department spokespersonVictoria Nuland's remarks thatthe US expected India “to exer-cise appropriate democraticrestraint ” in handling the anti-

corruption agitation. Indiarejected the statement as “need-less” and pointed out that itsconstitution guaranteed freedomof thought and expression. For along time supporter of militaryautocracies in Pakistan andHosni Mubarak's Egypt, the USstatement on the democraticpropriety in India is cheekindeed. The way past Americangovernments have helped over-

throw democratically electedgovernments in all corners of theworld, from Latin America tothe liberal secular Mossadeghregime in Iran in 1953 (withclose British cooperation) is his-tory that one ignores at one' speril.Ms Nuland has explained

that her remarks were misunder-stood in India. There is much

that is toxic in Americanand British (and Nato)foreign policy. As toxicas their bank debts,many would say, inEurope and the US mostof all.

Endgamegame

James Lamont's pre-vious report onManmohan Singh's cur-rent travails (FinancialTimes August 15) sug-gested that the endgameloomed for the Indianpremier. “Mr Singh, aglobally respected for-mer finance ministerand central bank gover-nor, has a near impreg-nable record on the

economy. His ministers stillregard the 79-year-old as atrump card to win over anincreasingly ambitious elec-torate. He takes credit for India'stransformation, triggered by aliberalising budget he delivered[as finance minister] under thepremiership of Narasimha Rao.“ The statistics are head-

turning. India's gross domestic

product has quadrupled since1991. Per capita income hasmore than doubled....The sav-ings rate has leapt from 23 percent of GDP to 34 per cent. Theinvestment similarly has piledon 10 percentage points to 37per cent. The composition of theeconomy is transformed.Dependence on agriculture hasgiven way for services, whichnow represent 58 per cent ofGDP.”For all these accomplish-

ments, some of Mr Lamont'ssources in India's business fra-ternity see signs of the endgame:the telecoms andCommonwealth Games scams,the Anna Hazare agitation, adysfunctional parliament weresymptoms of Mr Singh's slacken-ing grip, they said. Even theIndian economy, they predictedgloomily, was set to hit thebuffers. Mr Lamont's prophetsof doom complained of risinglabour costs in India and areductional in the differentialswith the US, the assumptionbeing that coolie wages wereIndia's best to remain globallycompetitive. Mr Lamont's piecewould have been more balancedwith a take from the IndianGovernment's principal econom-ic adviser, Professor KaushikBasu, who is on a two-year leaveof absence from the Ivy LeagueCornell University, where heoccupies the economics chair.He might have received count-er-factual inputs on things asthey are and not as they are pur-ported to be.

Voices of optimism

Y.G. Reddy, the respectedformer governor of the ReserveBank of India, whose handling

of India's fiscal policies throughthe turbulence of the 2008 glob-al economic meltdown elicitedpraise from US EconomicsNobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz,told The Hindu newspaper (August 15) that there was

unlikely to be any major impacton the Indian economy from thecurrent financial crisis inEurope and the United States.“Though there will be somespill-over effect on our econo-my, it won't be that grave as ourgrowth is primarily driven bydomestic consumption. Whilethe 2008 crisis was a revelationfor everyone, the present crisisarising from the US governmentdowngrade by rating agencyStandard & Poor and the linger-ing debt crisis in the Eurozoneeconomies, is a realisation ofthe fact that the fundamentalproblems there are still not rec-tified,” said Mr Reddy.He forecast 8 per cent

growth for India in the presentfinancial year, but stressed theneed for urgent fine tuning inthe country's economy. He said:“If there is excess liquidity inthe US system, we will have afair chance of getting more cap-ital inflows. But if a seriousslowdown kicks in, there couldbe volatility in the fundinflows.”Meanwhile, K.V. Kamath,

the architect of the ICICIBank's ascendancy in India,perceived the corrective mecha-nisms of democracy at work inthe country, recognised that“the economic development inthe past decade was at anunmatched pace, but (that)improvement in the next decadewill be at a greater pace thanbefore and bring greater pros-perity.”Mr Kamath, an engineering

graduate, turned to banking asan IIM student in Ahmedabad.He has taken over as CEO ofInfosys, the Bangalore-based ITgiant.A Hindustan Times report

(August 14) says that India'sexports from its services sectorhad increased almost seven-foldin the last nine years from $20billion in 2002-03 to $138 in2010-11. If this growth rate issustained, said a top official ofthe Export Promotion Councilin Coimbatore, “exports cantouch the level of merchandiseexports in the coming years.”Meanwhile, the number of

telephone users in India hasrisen to 885.99 million at theend of June this year. With this,the overall tele-density (numberof telephone connections per

100 people) in In India rose to73.97 in June from 73.11 in theprevious month, according todata released by the TelecomRegulatory Authority of India.

ONGCstakes

“India's Oil and NaturalGas Corporation (ONGC) is intalks with BG, Eni and Shell tosell stakes in deep-water devel-opments in the country'sresource-rich eastern coast, asit seeks to replicate the thelucrative $7.2 billion dealstruck between BP andReliance Industries,” writeJames Fontenella Khan andJames Lamont in FinancialTimes (August 8). The Economist (August 13)

took up the story of the dealstruck between MukeshAmbani's Reliance IndustriesLimited (RIL) and BP.Technical glitches had devel-oped in the exploitation of theformer's flagship KG-DG blockin the Bay of Bengal, hence thedecision to team up with BP,which has paid $7.2 billion fora 30 per cent stake in RIL oil-fields. “The British giant isaccident-prone but not stu-pid,” said The Economist.Another Indian success

story is Larsen & Toubro,which has received three over-seas orders worth $889 mil-lion. The first order from AbuDhabi Gas Industries is apipeline project worth $189million; the second order, tobuild towers, bridges andpipelines, from a UAE-basedoil and gas firm, is valued at$450 million, while the thirdcontract worth $250 million isfrom Thailand-based PTTEPInternational (HindustanTimes August 6).

Infrastructuredevelopment

A recent study by the RoyalInstitution of CharteredSurveyors (RICS, August 10),has said that, while invest-ments in India's infrastructurewould propel the country intothe world's top economicleague, the implementation ofthe public-private partnershipwas likely to create bottle-necks. “RICS research across five

continents has revealed thatIndia will emerge as the lead-ing spender on infrastructuredevelopment including urbaninfrastructure over the next 25years. The global spends oninfrastructure during this peri-od is pegged at $50 trillion ascountries seek to project theirrespective economies intopositions of global leader-ship,” said the report. India's Minister of Urban

Development Kamal Nath saidthe country's greatest infra-structure challenges lay insmaller cities and towns dueto a capacity building deficit.He advocated a remodelling ofpublic-private partnership toenable sustainable infrastruc-ture development, access tocapital markets, capacitybuilding, reform content andan ability to meet timelines.

Anna Hazare addressing the crowd

Victoria Nuland

Y.G. Reddy K.V. Kamath

MEDIA WATCH


As we watch with horror as theIndependent Government of India locks upFreedom Fighters of the struggle forIndependence using the same legislative excus-es the British, you may want to compare the dif-ference between Britain and India and politicalpower.So how do you lobby in Britain, without

going to jail? Well here are some rules:MP’s are generally powerless within

Parliament or amongst civil servants. They onlyhave some weight outside Parliament if they arewriting to say your bank! The reason is, as theycan promise the earth and hide behind phraseslike ‘if I were in government...’ and if they are ingovernment then it becomes...’if I were PM...’Moreover, they can ask for information, butlaws and regulations are in place that their influ-ence can’t do much other than maybe speed upa lazy civil servant who may not have takenyour case seriously. As we saw with the Byerssituation – MPs get into trouble for overstatingtheir power and influence.Use a group eg the NCGO. If MPs think

there is only one person, then nothing will getdone. If they think an entire community may beup in arms, then that’s different.

Headache: Cross-lobby between say theTory councillor who can bug the Labour MP etc

Fear of numbers:Petition – get a load of sig-natures. Maybe even a Facebook and Twitterpage on the issue.

Greed:Let the MP know who have writtento his Party leadership, whips office, and PartyChairman to keep them informed about howeffective and helpful the MP is going to be onthis issue.

Publicise: Find from www.parliament.ukwhich select committee is taking evidence on

the issue concerned and submit your evidenceto that select committee. Find out the All PartyParliamentary Groups considering the issueand write to all their MP members so you builda coalition.Be specific, to the point and don’t sound

crazy. Ie don’t let them discredit you or markyou as irrelevant. Maybe get a professional towrite the letter. And make it clear what you areasking for. Do not show anger. Do not rant.Provide chronologies, key persons involved andtheir titles and contact details on a separatesheet – make their life easier.

Local media: your issue is unlikely to be ofinterest nationally – even if you think it is, butthe local papers are equally scary to an MP –after all they are elected by constituents whoread that local paper. And local papers are morelikely to cover your story.Facebook and Twitter campaign and keep a

log which can be used to show support to yourMP of the cause. Again numbers matter.Why do these things not work in India?

Why in India if you are going to publicise thesame issues could you find yourself in prison?Well I think you already know the answer tothat question. Perhaps it is time we used theabove tactics in Britain to have the BritishParliament raise issues of Indian corruption inthe British Parliament – after all if we caninvolve ourselves in the Arab Spring and Libyaand Tunisia and Egypt, then surely we can inthe young immature democracy of India, theformer responsibility of Britain. After all theBritish were concerned these Indians wouldnot be able to run their own affairs. Perhapssome patronising help may embarrass them?Sadly, I think the skin of an Indian elephant isimpenetrably thick.

Of Political Power

Political SketchbookAlpesh Patel’s

The number of jobsoccupied by people bornoutside the UK grew byalmost 300,000 over thethree months to June,while the number of UK-born people in employ-ment fell by 50,000, newfigures reveal.The increase in for-

eign-born workers high-lights a stark “lack ofskills” among UK citizens,meaning that employersare having to import

labour from other coun-tries, observers warned.The worse-than-

expected official job mar-ket figures showed thatUK unemployment rose by38,000 to 2.49 million. Itmeans 7.9 per cent of peo-ple are now out of work .

George Osborne, theChancellor, admitted thefigures were disappointingbut said jobs were stillbeing created in the UKeconomy.

The figures, from theOffice of NationalStatistics (ONS), showedthe number of people withjobs who were born out-side of Britain was 4.15million, an increase of289,000 on last year. Labour described the

figures as “very worrying”and accused the Coalitionof being “complacent”about getting people backto work.

Large increase in migrant workersbut UK unemployment rises

The City HinduNetwork (CHN) organ-ised a private networkingdinner for its members onThursday 18 August2011 and was attendedby the guest speakerCyrus Moore, author andone of the top telecomsanalysts in the country.The evening started

with some canopes anddrinks at Bombay Palacein Central London. AfterCHN Chairman PratikDattani’s introduction,Cyrus spoke about hiscity life and did a short abook reading from hisbestselling “City ofThieves,” a book about afresh, young outsider,

who stumbles almost byaccident into a high pow-ered banking job.Cyrus Moore is the

writing name of CyrusMewawalla, who wasborn in 1966 inFarnborough. Afterstudying in Tokyo andLondon, he graduatedfrom CambridgeUniversity in 1988 with adegree in Economics. In 2002, after 14

years in the City, he leftcorporate banking tostart a small researchhouse with the objectiveof providing truly inde-pendent investmentresearch. In 2006,Bloomberg ranked him

the number one telecomanalyst in the UK. Followed by his short

and interesting talk oncity lives, the guestsenjoyed a traditionalIndian vegetarian dinner.Pratik Dattani,

Chairman of CHN said,“This was the third sold-out such networking din-ner we have hosted in2011. Cyrus Moore wasan insightful and engag-ing speaker, and we areproud that the CHN isable to attract such a highcalibre of people to pro-vide the best networkingopportunities for ourmembers on a consistentbasis.”

City Hindus Network organisesnetworking dinner in Central London

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By Jyotsna Shah Purvi Shah

Jhaverchand Meghani wasa noted poet, litterateur,social reformer and free-dom fighter from Gujarat.

He was born in Chotila,Saurashtra. MahatmaGandhi spontaneouslygave him the title ofRaashtreeya Shaayar(National Poet). Besidesthis he received manyawards like RanjitramSuvaranachandrak andMahida Paaritoshik in liter-ature. He wrote more than100 books.

He was born to theKalidas Meghani andDholibhai family. Kalidaswas in the police depart-ment of the thenKathiawad Agency, andDholiibai was from a busi-ness background.

Jhaverchand alwaysloved to describe himself asa child of the mountain, areference to the hillyChotila.

His father had a jobthat took the family to far-off outposts in differentparts of Saurashtra,at

Datha, Chamardi, LakhaPadar, Paliyad, Bagasara,Rajkot. It was at this time,while living on mountainsand rivers, he developed ataste for folk literature andfolk culture.

A renowned folkloristand a pioneeringresearcher in the field offolk-literature, he carriedout exhaustive explorationof the folk-literature ofSaurashtra for many yearsby wandering on foot, rid-ing horses and camels, andtravelling abroad on ships.

Meghani has noted thathis childhood memorieshad firmly imprinted in hispsyche, boy Jhaverchandhad relished the culture fer-vour and flavour of it all,andit left a life-long impressionon him.

In his very popularnovel “Sorath tara vahetapani”, the charater ofDilere Dil white policemanis actually the descriptionof Shooter Sahib, a brave,strict and highly disci-plined senior police officer.

At age of 2, when hewent to Rajkot with hisfamily. They lived in a smalltwo room police quarterand his father used to drawa meagre salary of 15rupees for a family of ten.He went to a primaryschool in Rajkot and to ahigh school in WadhwanCamp and Amreli and aftermatriculation in 1912 wenton to join college, first for a

term at Junagadh and thenat Bhavnagar. In 1916, hetook his Bachelors degreewith English and Sanksritand became a teacher inBhavnagar while preparingfor his post-graduation.But within a year he gaveup studies and went toCalcutta to join Jivanlal'saluminium company,spending three years, start-ing on a junior post andclimbing to that of aManager. During this peri-od he went with his bosson a visit to England too.The boss was so impressedthat he wanted to postJhaverchand to Londonpermanently, but the youngman had different ideas.

His stay inCalcutta, far fromhis beloved home-land of Kathiawad,became unbearable,impelling him towrite on September18,1921 a letterhome, giving noticeof his coming back.His action did notplease his employers

and colleagues; they won-dered if it was possible inGujarat to earn a livelihoodby writing. But the call ofthe inner voice was so irre-sistible that he headed backfor Bagasara.

Poet UmashankarJoshi,who was a fan and afriend of Meghani, hasnoted that by that time theyoung may had hardly anyliterary achievements to hiscredit.There were one ortwo poems, penned per-haps in 1916 or 1918, butthese did not show anysigns of what his voice wasdictating. In 1918 he com-posed his first song “Diwado jhakho bale.”

He had a poetic bend ofmind too and wouldattempt writing poetry. Hisinterest in the work ofGandhiji too was arousedin this period only. He wasone of the first to act forabolition of untouchabilityby accepting an invitationto break bread theuntouchables. He alsostarted propagating theSwadeshi commodities,such as the bathing soapetc. Meghani's years inCalcutta exposed him tothe rich Bengali culture, tothe poetry and prose ofTagore, to the Bengalistage,and theBrahmosamaj discourses;all these helped nourish hiscultural moorings.

It brought him back,but he himself has notedthat in 1922,"I was direc-

tionless." He persuadedSamatbhai Gadhvi to recitestories to Meghani, giving adirection to his creativeurge.

In 1922 Poet Meghanigot married toDamayantiben.

Around 1923-27 MrAmrutlal Sheth had start-ed a journal from Ranpur,called Saurashtra to whichMeghani sent two or threepieces. Sheth recognisedthe potential in him andinvited him to join hispaper in the same year. Hisbook publication beganwith Kurbanini Kathao,and that of his folk-litera-ture with Saurashtra NiRasdhar. He wrote almostcontinuously and got fedup of journalism in 1926,and went away to stay atBhavnagar. In 1928,he gotthe prestigious RanjitramGold Medal for hisresearch work in folk liter-ature. In 1930, his poetrytook a nationalist colourand his poem, wereaddressed to Gandhi as heprepared to leave for theRound Table. ChhelloKatoro Jher No Aa Pi JajoBapu, earned him therecognition as poet of theNation. During the free-dom fight, he composed 15

songs in praise of nation,which awakened and pro-voked patriotism to theextend that even govern-ment was afraid. He wastherefore arrested and sentto jail for two years, butwas released after servingnine months.

He made a distinctive

mark for himself not onlyin literature but also injournalism. Meghani tookretirement from the journalin 1945,devoting time towriting only. He wroteRavindraveena, providingGujarati with Tagore'spoetry and gave the world-famous Manasai Na Diva,based on the experiences ofRavishankar Maharaj,Sarvoday leader,in reform-ing the Patanwadia dacoits.He chaired the section ofliterature in GujaratiSahitya Parishad confer-ence in 1946 at Rajkot.

While he was in jail, hecomposed his Koi NoLadakvayo was based onan old English poem-Somebody's Darling, andthe Gujarati versionturned out to be far superi-or to the original writtenby Mrs.Mary Lacoste. Hecompleted “SorathSantvani” in 1947,

In the same vein,whathe sang 65 years ago in theDhandhuka court, a songtitled Viday- farewell, wasfar more evocative andstirring than the originalurdu, Hambhi Ghar RehSakate The.

It is so hauntinglybeautiful and true sound-ing, especially on the eveof the Independence Daythat one might think itwould be made a compul-sory reciting on all suchoccasions, when we,as apeople,tend to under-esti-mate what all sacrificeswere needed in attainingindependence.

When he was writing“Kalchakra” novel in1947, he got a massiveheart attack and passedaway. At that time SardarVallabhai said for him that

“He was a brave freedomfighter, the guts were inhis voice and words, heleft this world only whenhe sensed that we havegot our freedom.”Due to his popularity

his grandson Shri PinakiNanakbhai Meghani wasinspired to publish thecollection of 111 folk-songs on poet’s 115thbirth anniversary.

(For more informationplease see http://jhaver-

chandmeghani.com/)

The very place where he took birth inpolice quarter, Chotila

When he was an editor of“Janmabhumi” newspaper hehad started a column “Kalamaney kitab” to inspire every

comman man towards literature.

Celebrating 115th Anniversary of theNational Poet Jhaverchand Meghani

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Q & A: Visa to IndiaWhere can I submit apostal application? If Isubmit it from outsideLondon – where does itgo?

Postal applications must besent to our centralised pro-cessing centre located at 1-3,Canalside, Uxbridge Road,Hayes, Middlesex, UB4 0JN.Even if you address yourpostal application from out-

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The minimum processing time for a postal applica-tion is 10-15 working days. Once such applicationsare received, they are opened and scrutinised byour agents. If your application is lacking inrequired information, photo specifications areincorrect or there is any reason that prevents usfrom processing the application – your documentsand passports will be returned back to you with asheet stating the reason. You would then berequired to rectify the error and re-post your docu-ments back to the visa centre. Upon receipt of acomplete application and required documents, theapplication is forwarded to the respective Missionfor processing.

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Asian Voice, Gujarat Samachar and SangamWomen's Association will pay tribute to Rashtriya

Shaayar (National Poet) Jhaverchand Meghani, on his115th birth anniversary at Sangam Women's

Association, 210 Burnt Oak Broadway, Edgware,London HA8 0AP, on Sunday 28th August 3pm for3:30pm. If you wish to attend the event please let us

know by Thursday 25th August [email protected].


The Faerie Queen was in a fine fine fix.She had a party to go to and it wasSunday. All the shops in FaerieRealmwere closed and all the tailors had goneto a tailoring conference in the neigh-bouring land.

The Queen sat on her throne, withher head in her hands, sadas can be, when her primeminister, Sir Hops-A-Lotbunny happened to hop in.

'Why, your majesty,are you so sad?' he asked.

'It's the Grand Witch'sannual ball today, SirHops-A-Lot and I donthave a new dress,' said theQueen.

Hearing this, Sir Hops-A-Lot started thinking. The Queen musthave what she wants. But where wouldthe material come from? And whowould stitch it?

'Ahem ...' came a voice.Sir Hops-A-Lot looked up. The

Queen looked up but no one was to beseen.

'Who's there?' demanded Sir Hops-A-Lot.

'It is I, Sir Hops-A-Lot, Binky the spi-der,' said the voice.

The Queen looked up to see a spideron a silken thread hanging upside downfrom the ceiling.

'Aah Binky, don’t scare us like that,'said the Queen with a smile.

'Pardon me, my Queen,' said Binky,still hanging upside down, 'But I could-n't help overhearing. I believe I canhelp.'

Sir Hops-A-Lot scoffed.The Queen held up a hand to silence

him.'Go on Binky, I am listening,' she

said.'Well, you see how I weave my web,

your majesty?' said Binky, 'My spiderthread is as strong as any silk thread. Ican use that stitch you a thread. I haveyears of experience weaving my web

and I am sure the FaerieFolk will help.We can make you a beautiful dress inno time.'

The Queen looked impressed.'But there is still the matter of the

material, Binky,' said Sir Hops-A-Lot,'Where are we going to get the cloth for

the dress?''Leave that to me,'

said Binky mysteriously. 'Iwill be back in an hour.'

An hour later thePalace's doorbell rang. SirHops-A-Lot opened it tofind at least 15 peoplestanding outside. Faeries,Pixies, Brownies and lead-ing them all was Binky,the spider.

He walked into the Queen's cham-bers and bowed low.

'We have all the materials ready, OQueen and the folk of FaerieRealm havecome to help,' he said.

The Queen beamed.'Begin then, dear Binky,' she said.So the folk of FaerieRealm set to

work. They used Binky's spider threadto stitch together rose petals fromfaerie Twinkle's rose bushes to makethe skirt. The top they made out of sun-flower petals taken from Mr. Brownie'sgarden. They threaded together dewdrops to make a beautiful necklace andmade shoes out of clover leaves usingrose thorns for heels.

When it was ready, Binky laid it outfor the Queen to see.

The Queen was overwhelmed.'Oh thank you everyone,' she said.

'This is the most beautiful dress I haveever seen. As a reward, I invite you allto A Grand Feast tomorrow and Binky, Iappoint you my personal tailor.'

Binky beamed. The faeriefolkjumped for joy. A feast! What fun!

That night, at the Grand Witch'sball, the Faerie Queen was the bestdressed of all and she had Binky andthe lovely faeriefolk to thank.

Binky Saves the DayShort Story by Neha Garg Be a Fashionista, Be You! If you have any questions or a story or a new style

to share with us, please write to Shree at [email protected]

My love of magazines iswell-known, fashionmagazines in particular.Not that I own every itemof lust ever featured insuch magazines youunderstand...far from it.But I love the shinypages, the glossy pic-tures, the often excellentwriting and the generaldreamlike life they repre-sent. Now, I’m not sayingthat dream-like is perfector something one shouldunfailingly aspire to.Hands up if you haveever flipped through thepages of a fashion maga-zine or watched a runwayshow and thought toyourself that a certainmodel was tooskinny? The lace corsetpassing for workwear notwork-appropriate at all?Or the pushing fiftyactress’s forehead toosmooth to be true?

Now, we all knowthat fashion has nothingto do with being realistic.Some would go as far asto say that it’s the appealof the unattainable thatmakes the business offashion and beautybloom. And we are happyto take our dose of unrealimpracticality, provided itcomes with a healthyserving of mile-longtanned legs, eyelashesthat could dry clothesand women in multi-coloured kaftans poutingin the middle of a desert.But does it always,absolutely always have tobe such b***** (pardonmy French) pretentiousphotoshopped nonsense?I sympathise with theintense drive to use themagic of computers tocreate a photo that is per-fect. But whatever hap-pened to the art of justtaking an awesome pic-ture? Must we always beforced to see colour-cor-rected, warm-filtered,retouched, paste-attached, bust-enhanced,s h r unken - b o t t omedimages? The models thatget contracts to havetheir photos in Harper’sor Marie Claire or other

such magazines, are as arule, so beautiful in real-life that they are light-years ahead in the genet-ic lottery than any oldaverage girl off the street.What then is the pressingneed to retouch them tothe point of un-recognis-ability?

The economy is in thetoilet. And the toilet is onfire. Hi-fashion, hi-aspi-ration magazines likeVogue are becomingincreasingly obsolete forthe sort of woman whoused to read it regularly:AKA people who likeoutfits in general but whoaren’t eating-breathing-sleeping fashion. I mean,for God’s sake, I cannotcount how many times Ihave seen some form of afeature called “Steal ofthe Month” and the stealis a ￡150 shirt that I willallegedly recover the costof million times over bywearing it for the rest ofmy life. No, I won’t! Andat ￡180, the only thingthat is being stolen is mycash and my sense ofreality.

A photoshoppedsupermodel standing likea triangle in a Marrakechhotel wearing a ￡2,000bikini is one thing.Ridiculous, but forgiv-able and admittedly,entrancingly beautiful.But, that doesn’t prepareyou even slightly for whatis currently the mosttalked-about issue doingthe rounds of fashionblogs. That of a Vogue-France photo-spread of amodel dressed in slashed-to-the-waist gold laméand spike heels, slumpedon leopard-skin cushions

with a come-hither lookin her eyes. Another pic-ture shows her before amirror in full war-paint,smearing red lipstick onher lips with her finger.The poses of an adultmodel clearly intended tobe highly provocative.Only, in this case, themodel is a ten-year-oldchild. Ten-year-old!Admittedly, the girl inquestion, ThylaneBlondeau, is exquisite,and it’s not the admira-tion of her beauty that Ihave a problem with; it’sthe context in whichshe’s been photographed.With child beauty pag-eants that way too manyparents seem to be okaywith, the launch of lin-gerie lines (!) for seven-year-old girls, do we real-ly think this is okay?

Ten-year-old girlsshould not be made up tolook like objects ofdesire. That is wrong inany country, language orperception. I would loveto see a picture ofThylane Blondeau run-ning in a cornfield wear-ing a cotton sundress,but stick her in gold laméand that is beyond mycomfort zone. I wouldjust like to suggest thatfash-mags, especiallyVogue, would be well-advised to sometimes fea-ture normal women.Supermodels sure...I lovethose goddesses, but canwe please not forgetabout and be relevant forwomen of colour, womenof cellulite, women of15k annual salaries andabove all, women of legalage.

The Pursuit of Perfection

fashionistaby Shreefashionista

Disclaimer: This puzzle is created solely by Radha abw with the help of a pen and paper, under-standing the basics of the subject at hand, and any resemblance to a similar puzzle is purelyunintended and coincidental.

This is a 9x9 grid,3x3 (boxes)Sudoku puzzle.Make sure thateach and everyrow, column andregion/box con-tains the number 1to 9 once.

Clue: Start withthe boxes with justone missing num-ber!

Sudoku

Radha Abw

For more stories visit www.scribbledesk.com

Kokilaben Patel, ManagingEditor of Gujarat Samachar

with the King’s KitchenFounder and Director

Manubhai Ramji with wifeKantaben, son Dipak and

daughter Hema during theinauguration of their new7000 sq ft- Show room atPark Royal- Acton Lane.

The inauguration puja washeld by Nandaji, Director of

Bhavans and AcharyaKausalendra Prasadji from

Swaminarayan Sanstha,Kalupur, Ahmedabad.

A man tried to sell his fam-ily home without his ex wifeknowing and take � 45,000profit, a court heard. GurjeetSandhu, 39, owned the prop-erty with his former wifeRatishae Dosanjh Sandhu,41, but told lawyers she hadmoved to India reported TheDaily Telegraph. He allegedlyplanned to sell the house inEast London for 225,650 butwas caught when Mrs Sandhufound a letter about the immi-nent completion. Sandhu nowof Slough, Berkshire admittedfraud and was jailed for 12months. The house was latersold with Mrs Sandhu receiv-ing � 12,000 while Sandhureceived nothing.

Husband jailed aftertrying to sell house

secretly

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Asian Voice - Saturday 27th August 2011 17BollywooD16 Asian Voice Saturday 27th August 2011

Actress Amala Paul exitedas the heroine of debutantdirector AishwaryaDhanush’s upcoming film‘3’ and Shruti Haasan hasstepped into her role. Shewould be paired againstDhanush. Ironically,Aishwarya’s original choiceas heroine of the film wasShruti; as she was busy with

her prior commitments, shecouldn’t be signed up andinstead of her, Amala Paulwas chosen. Aishwarya hadin fact gone on record stat-ing that she penned thescript with Shruti in mind.‘3’ is already being looked atas a ‘major film’ as it bringstogether the son-in-law ofsuperstar Rajinikanth.

Rajinikanth has completed36 years in the film indus-try, for it was on August18th, 1975, his first film“Apoorva Ragangal” hitthe screens. His rise has nodoubt been phenomenalsince then. Rajini style is avery important factor thatpushed him to the star sta-tus which eventually land-ed him at the top spot andearned him the enviableand undisputed title

Superstar. Born as SivajiRao Gaikwad onDecember 12th, 1950, hewas christened asRajinikanth by his mentorand guru, director KBalachander for “ApoorvaRagangal.”

Though his birthdayfalls on December 12th,Rajini also celebratesAugust 18th as a birthdaybecause he feels it is arebirth for him.

Prithviraj turns producer

Dippy wants to get rid of RK?

There is good news for all Raveena Tandon fans. Theactress, who made a comeback after five years with'Bbuddah... Hoga Terra Baap', has been signed to playthe lead role in 'Shobhana 7 Nights', where she playsthe character of a battered wife who finds solace in ayounger man. Film will be directed by SudiptoChattopadhyaya, Raveena plays a married 40-some-thing columnist-author who is abused by her husbandand finds solace in a young man who is one of themany strugglers in Bollywood. The boy becomesRaveena's toy boy as he is trying to make ends meet.Raveena's first reaction was to turn down the rolesince the character was a bit bold and she hasn'tattempted a lovemaking or kissing scene before. Butshe agreed to take up the challenging role later.

Raveena to romance with younger man

The Asin and Mukesh Bhatt on a war and itdoesn't seem like its going to end anytime soon.After Bhatt spoke out saying the actress' future inBollywood is bleak, a string of reports hademerged suggesting that Bhatt was bitter overAsin turning him down for a film. But, accordingto Bhatt, these stories are Asin's PR machineryplants, and that neither did he, nor will he, everapproach her for a film. "I never offered Asin afilm, and I don't intend to," he says. "We don'twork with 'stars'. If you look at our films, BipashaBasu, Kangna Ranaut and Jacqueline Fernandezwere all newcomers when they worked with us. Sothere's no question of working with Asin," he says.

Asin – Mukesh Bhatt war

Genelia D’Souza’sbravado nearly

ends in accident

Katrina Kaif is miffed. According to a recent report, the actor andAnushka Sharma got into a catfight over sharing a make-up man. Thenews of the supposed ‘power struggle’ has “saddened” the “MereBrother Ki Dulhan” actor. To add to her woes came another report,which suggested that she angered Kareena Kapoor by doing a dancenumber in the Salman Khan-starrer “Bodyguard,” where Kareenaplays the lead.

“Baby (Alvira, Salman’s sister) is a dear friend. She asked me to dojust one ‘mukhda’ (opening stanza of the song). It’s not even a fullsong,” says an agitated Katrina, adding, “Kareena is a huge star and awonderful actor. I can guarantee you that this report is not true. Alvirais the producer. Everyone was happy about the song and Kareena wasprobably even part of that discussion about me doing a dance number.”

Calling both the reports “distasteful,” she says, “These rumoursthat make us look like children in a playground, are so disheartening.We are not like that in real life.”

So why doesn’t she put such rumours to rest by commenting onthem?

“Just because someone is poking me, doesn’t mean I have torespond. Such reports are a sign of foolishness,” she says.

Visibly distraught, the actor says, “Despite being in the industry forso many years, I have never asked for recognition. When I see peoplestooping down to that level, it’s upsetting. Give me a little bit ofrespect. I have worked here for very long.”

So does she have no issues with Anushka?“She is a lovely girl and is just starting out. I have seen her twice

in my life. We all are grown-ups. I don’t need to answer these questionsand get into this ridiculousness. I’m better behaved than that.”

Defying those whothought that marriagewould slow downPrithviraj, the actor hasbeen busy filming for hisforthcoming projects.Prithviraj is currentlyshooting for Ranjith's“Indian Rupee,” whichwill see him play the roleof a young real estateagent who tries to makesome quick money, butends up in a financial cri-

sis. This is the third timethe actor-director duo isteaming up after the hitsof “Nandanam” and“ T h i r a k a t h a . ”Interestingly, Prithviraj isalso producing the moviewith Santhosh Sivan andShaji Natesan. Prithvirajwill next be seen onscreen in the romanticcomedy “Teja Bhai andFamily,” due for releaseon August 26.

Rajini celebrates hisrebirth on Aug 18

The much publicised tattoo on DeepikaPadukone’s neck is annoying her now. Despitehaving maintained earlier that she will never doaway with it, Dippy apparently is having secondthoughts. Deepika has always politely answeredwhenever she has been asked about her tattoo.Even in a recent chat show, she has specifiedthat she will never remove it and it didn’t both-er her current beau Siddhartha Mallya. Butconstant media attention has taken a toll on herresolve and she wants to get rid of it.

Katrina Kaif annoyedby loose talks

If you think the last three Salman Khan films “Wanted,” “Dabangg”and “Ready” had too many common elements, there's good reason forit. Salman has obviously deciphered the recipe for a perfect blockbuster,which he is now incorporating in every upcoming film. This extends tohis latest film “Bodyguard” too. The trailers may seem like a frame-to-frame remake of the original Malayalam film, but Salman hasadded some of his signature spice to the screenplay.

Says director Siddique, "Salman's image is very differ-ent from that of Dileep's who was the original protago-nist in the Malayalam film. Dilip has a very boy-next-door image, but Salman obviously is anything but that.In fact, he was a little apprehensive of my ways sinceI belong to the South; he was very vocal about cer-tain things he wanted in the film."

Apparently, the actor had discussions at lengthwith the director on how to tweak the character tosuit his image. Adds Siddique, "He has contributedto action sequences and even the songs. He used tosit with me on the sets to decide the look of thescenes. He has good cinematic sense, so inputswere quite helpful." So, would it be right to say heghost-directed the film? "When you work with asuperstar like him, you have to make certainchanges. In fact, I am someone who tries to workaround what the actor is comfortable with. I thinkit reflects in the film." Well, there is no denyingthat it's a formula that has proved profitable forthe superstar in the past. And though they say toomuch of a good thing may not always work, withSalman Khan you can never say never.

Ajay Devgn, AkshayKumar patch up for

more action

David Dhawan's son joinsBollywood

Kareena Kapoor woos the bodyguards

The latest rumour on the “Dhoom 3” front is thatproducer and director have decided to cast aHollywood actress to play Aamir's love interest.The stars they are actually looking forward to dotheir film are Oscar winner Natalie Portman,Spanish superstar Penelope Cruz and EvaLongoria of “Desperate Housewives” fame. Asource said, "The names you mention are definite-ly in the list. Yashraj has never worked with aninternational star in any of its films. One safe andeffective way of going global would be the castingof a Hollywood hottie." The role will involve sport-ing swimwear and a passionate kissing scene withAamir; the parts that Katrina had problems withand thus failed to land the dream role.

Kareena Kapoor in an event topromote her forthcoming film“Bodyguard” will felicitate thereal life bodyguards of all thestars. While Salman Khanbrought his own bodyguard Sherainto the limelight to launch thefirst look for the film, Kareenahas not just taken a cue fromher leading man but also gonea step ahead. She was seenwith the bodyguards of allthe Bollywood A-listers atan event. The actresswill introduce the peo-ple who keep the starssafe in their day-to-daylives and thank themfor their services. Inthe film, Salman playsKareena's bodyguardwho follows her every-where, including hercollege classroom.

Wanted: A Hollywoodhottie for Aamir Khan

Karan Johar has startedshooting for his next direc-torial venture “Student Ofthe Year” and it coincideswith the birtdhay of directorDavid Dhawan, whose sonVarun is making his debutwith the movie. It was notplanned but simply coinci-dence that David Dhawan'sson embarks on his actingcareer on his father's birth-day. Karan had to make aconcession and let Daviddrop in to meet his son."The buzz is that the threedebutantes Varun, Alia andSiddharth Malhotra wouldbe doing a high school partygig, a la Shah Rukh Khan,Kajol and Rani Mukerji inKaran's directorial debut“Kuch Kuch Hota Hai.”

John Abraham’s ‘muscle power’ is an open secret. But not many knowthat Genelia D’Souza, his co-star in “Force,” has also gone all out tomatch his bravado. Genelia was to shoot an action sequence for thefilm, in which she had to sprint as fast as

she could to save herself from the goons on her trail. In a bid tododge the assailants, she was to enter a deserted building and jump offfrom the second floor, as per the shoot’s requirement.

And apparently, Genelia’s excitement knew no bounds and itslipped her mind that the first part of the shot was supposed to end

when she reached the second floor. Her jump was to be canned later,with all the security measures in place. But the actor was all set to

leap from the edge of the floor, little aware of the fact that the safe-ty harnesses were not in place yet.

But thanks to the alert crew, Genelia was saved from thepotentially dangerous jump at the very last minute. Insidersfrom the unit said that since this was her first full-on actionscene ever, she was very eager to do it, and in the moment,she completely forgot to stop.

Of course, once she was rescued and realised what shewas about to do, Genelia couldn’t stop thanking the crewenough for protecting her. When contacted, Force produc-er Vipul Shah confirms, “Yes, it could have proved fatal,but our crew members were extremely alert. This wasGenelia’s first stunt and so, I think she was very excitedabout it.”

Salman Khan is all in onefor perfect blockbuster

Akshay Kumar and Ajay Devgn, whowere never the best of friends since theirfirst film “Suhaag” in 1994, have nowdecided to give their strained relation-ship another chance. The two biggestaction heroes of present day Bollywoodhave decided to come together for RohitShetty's next action flick that will go onfloors late next year. The news of the patch-

up has shocked the entire industry becausefrom the very get-go, when Akshay and Ajay

worked together in Sandesh Kohli's 1994 film,they were never able to see eye-to-eye.

Tensions between Akshay and Ajay escalatedto a new high when Ajay announced that his nextproject would tentatively be titled ‘Son Of Sardar,’which incidentally was already registered underAkshay's banner Hari Om Entertainment. However,the same subject of dispute ended up being the plat-form on which Akshay and Ajay made peace.

"Akshay explained to Ajay that he could not partwith the title as he had already finished scripting thefilm and it would be going on floors very soon. That iswhen Akshay proposed that they should do a filmtogether. Ajay loved the idea and they immediately gotdown to planning the project. They decided to co-producethe film under both their banners. Ajay also spoke to hisclose friend Rohit Shetty to direct the venture," explainedthe source.

ShrutiHaasan

re-enters‘3’

18 Asian Voice - Saturday 27th August 2011

US food processing giantArchers Daniels MidlandCompany (ADM) is set toacquire the Rs 6.50-billionedible oil maker GeepeeAgri Private, said sources.The move is part of the$61-billion Illinois-basedcompany's strategy to bulkup production and securegrain procurement intimes of rocketing foodinflation.

Noida-based GeepeeAgri is majority owned byThailand's GP Group, abusiness conglomerate ofIndia origin, and RaboPrivate Equity. It has twoplants at Kota in

Rajasthan and Akola inMaharshtra. Geepee oper-ates Parampara brand inthe local edible oil market.Rabo owned 26% stake inthe firm with 200 tonnesoyabean and palm oilrefining capacity per day.ADM has existing plantsat Latur and Nagpurthrough recent acquisi-tions, and the latest buy-out will see it almost dou-bling the crushing andrefining capacities.Geepee Agri CEOManeesh Mansingkacould not be reached forcomments despite repeat-ed attempts.

US company to buyedible oil maker Geepee

After more than threedecades of his associationwith Infosys, its chiefmentor and chairman, N RNarayana Murthy, onFriday logged out of the ITbellwether he co-founded,amid accolades from hiscolleagues, friends andfamily.

Having been the mostvisible face of India's sec-ond largest informationtechnology company, MrMurthy will now assumethe role of its ChairmanEmeritus.

Bidding goodbye to thecompany that he co-found-ed in Pune with six othersin 1981, Mr Murthyarrived at the conferencehall in the company's head-quarters in ElectronicsCity with his family for thefarewell function.

Though technically heis set to retire on Saturday,the farewell was organisedon Friday as the companyis closed for the weekend.Mr Murthy said, “I do notbelieve in any legacy. Thepast is dead and gone. Iam also not going to benostalgic as I see a won-derful set of young peoplewho will take the companyforward, from a $6 billioncompany to $60 billion oreven to $600 billion.”

In the half-hourspeech, he advised youngInfoscions to work hard,lead by example, shun egoand take sound decisions.Earlier, KrisGopalakrishnan and K VKamat, who are set to takeover as Co-Chairmen, andS D Shibulal, new ChiefExecutive Officer, recalledtheir association with MrMurthy.

NarayanaMurthy logs out

of Infosys

Eros International plc('Eros') for Indian filmedentertainment has signeddistribution tie-ups withbroadcasters and distribu-tors in Myanmar, Japanand Romania.

“We are continuing toexpand our presenceacross the globe and accessthese new and excitingmarkets. Our ability to duband subtitle Eros contentinto foreign languages,allows us to directly appealto both local audiences aswell as the local Indiancommunity.” KumarAhuja, Senior VP,Business Development,Eros International plc saidregarding exploration ofnew territories.

The 100-film deal thatEros signed with FamilyTV, the leading TV channelof Myanmar, makes it the

first company to launchBollywood films in thismarket and allows thechannel to showcase block-buster movies from Eros.Some of these blockbustersinclude Dabangg,Kambakkht Ishq, AnjaanaAnjaani along with classicslike Zanjeer, Mother India,S h o l a y ,S h a r a b iamong others.

Eros hasalso part-nered withAtrium Productions KFT, alocal distributor in Japanfor the theatrical release ofEndhiran - one of thebiggest Rajnikanth block-buster and highest grosser.With this, fans ofRajnikanth in Japan will begetting a chance to watchtheir favourite star on bigscreen. Eros also plans to

launch the movie on TVand Home video platformin the near future.

Additionally, Eros hasbecome the first Indian stu-dio to launch a series ofBollywood films in theRomanian DVD market. The30-movie package for thisgeographic market will have

Romanian sub-titles. Amongthe packageare block-busters suchas: Housefull,

Anjaana Anjaani, Dabbang,Yuvraaj, Love Aaj Kal, Veer,Om Shanti Om, NamasteLondon, Cheeni Kum, NoProblem, Kambakht Ishq,Devdas, Lage Raho andMunna Bhai.

Eros operates in fivecontinents and over 50countries with officesthroughout India, the

United Kingdom, USA,UAE, Singapore,Australia, Fiji and the Isleof Man. It was establishedin 1977 with a vision tobecome the gateway forIndian content worldwideand Hollywood content inIndia, It has over threedecades of market experi-ence in creating a globalplatform for Indian cine-ma, it acquires, co-pro-duces and distributes qual-ity Indian film content,worldwide, across multipleformats. In 2006, Erosbecame the first Indianmedia company to obtaina listing on the AIMMarket of the LondonStock Exchange. InOctober 2010, ErosInternational listed itsIndian subsidiary ErosInternational Media onthe BSE & NSE in India.

Eros International signs global distribution deals

Global retailers are reviv-ing plans to enter India.The list of internationalretailers looking at Indiaas a priority market forbusiness expansioninclude the American lux-ury store chain Saks FifthAvenue, South Korea'sLotte, Thailand's CentralGroup and Myer ofAustralia.

Even Spanish retailerEl Corte Ingles, which isthe world's fourth largestdepartment store chain,send their strategic con-sultants to explore thelocal market. India's rela-tively robust domesticeconomy and fresh movesto allow foreign directinvestment (FDI) in gen-eral retail have galvanizedtheir interest despitebruised consumer senti-ments worldwide. A Saksteam, including represen-tatives of its Dubai fran-chise Style Avenue MiddleEast, has been traveling toIndia holding discussionsto rejig the entry plans. Sixyears ago, Saks hadbooked space at DLF mallin Delhi as well as at UBCity in Bangalore. That

did not take off and Indiaentry went to the backburner. Still awaiting FDI,Saks may route invest-ment decisions throughthe Dubai partner whichbrought Damas stores toIndia in the past.

Thai retail and realestate major CentralGroup has been furiouslyat work to break into theIndian market. Central, a

family-owned conglomer-ate, controls a big pie ofThailand's retail industrybesides having interests inmall development and inhospitality business. It hashad talks with BhartiRealty as it looked enter-ing the country as a malldeveloper in the past. Thegroup owns flagshipdepartment store chainsunder Central, Robinsonand Zen brands but wouldprefer to come with FDI.

As a prelude, Centralwants to license its smallerformats in electronicsretailing called PowerBuyand book store chain B2S.

In July, a committee ofsecretaries cleared a pro-posal to allow foreigndirect investment in multi-brand retail, marking animportant step towardsopening up India's $700billion retail market toglobal investors. It, how-ever, needs the Cabinetapproval. The world's topthree multi-brand retailersWal-Mart, Carrefour andTesco have entered Indiabut are waiting for FDI tomake the big moves. "Indiahas been one of the hap-pening economies bothfrom the retail and con-sumer perspective. Severalinternational players havebeen holding back theirplans due to governmentregulations. But recentstatements about openingup the sector have raisedthe hopes of most foreignretailers," said PinakiRanjan Mishra, who headsthe retail and consumerpractice at Ernst &Young.

Global retailers revivingplans to enter India

The ratingsa g e n c yS t a n d a r dand Poor'ssaid that itspresident,D e v e nS h a r m a ,who has

become the public face ofthe firm in the wake of itshistoric downgrade on theUnited States' long-termdebt rating, will step downand leave the company bythe end of the year.

The decision bySharma to resign comes asthe ratings agency is underpressure from severalfronts, including aninquiry by the JusticeDepartment into its rat-

ings of subprime mortgagesecurities and a push byactivist investors to breakup its parent company,McGraw-Hill.

Sharma will bereplaced by DouglasPeterson, a top executiveat Citigroup, the companysaid.

The managementchange had been in theworks for months and wasunrelated to either theJustice Department'sinquiry or to the emergenceof the activist investors,Jana Partners and theOntario Teachers PensionPlan, according to peoplebriefed on the matter.

His replacement,Peterson, 53, is currently

the chief operating officerof Citibank, the bankingunit of Citigroup.

"We are pleased to wel-come Doug to the impor-tant role of president ofStandard & Poor's as itcontinues to build on theenhancements of recentyears and accelerates glob-al growth," HaroldMcGraw III, McGraw-Hill's chief executive, saidin a statement.

The ratings agency'sdecision to downgrade theUnited States' long-termcredit rating to AA(PLUS) from AAA onAug. 5 set off a storm ofcontroversy, including crit-icism by President BarackObama.

Standard & Poor's president DevenSharma to step down

Dear Financial Voice Reader,

‘Keep calm and carry on’ say the notices around theUK. It’s good advice for the markets too. You might add‘move on, nothing to see here’ too. As I said on theBBC, ‘the madness of crowds whether in the financialmarkets or on the streets of London is not necessarilyrational’.

And when the stock market is being irrational, thenthe advice of the world’s richest man is useful, ‘begreedy when others are fearful’. But how do you knowstock price falls are irrational and which stocks are thebest value one? For me when I look at Barclays Bankand it is still where it was in terms of share price as in1997, yet has just announced bumper profits – then Iknow that is irrational fear. It helped that a friend whoworked for the FSA, the UK’s financial regulatory body,had also calculated that the amount of capital the bankhas set to one side in case of contingencies, means itsshare price is lower than it should be.

Or take the stock I mention more than any other –Apple – now the world’s largest company. It has moreavailable cash than the United States. If it wanted toborrow money – it would be more highly rated than theUnited States Government. It made last quarter $7 bil-lion in profit. That’s one dollar for every person on theplanet. It converts one quarter of all sales into profit.That is a mighty large profit margin. And for years peo-ple say, ‘but would you buy at this price?’

Or take Tata Motors – last set of profits coming in atpounds 1 billion. On my monthly visits to India I seemore and more Land Rovers and Jaguars. Come onpeople, do I need to spell out the obviousness of thatpurchase?

Or take the fact that if the stock market takes even2 years to get to where it was 4 months ago then youwill have a 25% return. You aren’t getting a 25% returnin house prices in that period. But let’s say you got an80% mortgage on a 500k property ie put down 100k.And let’s say it went up over two years 5%. After inter-est charges – you are not left with a 25% gain on your100k.

I spell these things out because very often the sim-ple things in investment work the best, but we have atendency to complicate, not to believe our eyes andears and to rely too little on simple observation.

The best investments are those which lie atextremes making them easy picks – but like the econo-mist who sees a $100 bill on the sidewalk, we say, ‘noif it were there someone would have picked it upalready’.

So it is with Apple, Barclays, Tata Motors, and thestock market as a whole. Now be aware – I have hold-ings in all these stocks, but I don’t care enough to writeabout them to try to boost their price – were it so thatmy mentioning them could have that effect.

Alpesh Patel ([email protected])www.alpeshblog.com

Asian Voice - Saturday 27th August 2011 19FINANCIAL VOICE

This week we will be looking at a couple of techniquesinvestors have been using to invest in property without put-ting any money in what so ever.

One was a method known as the day one remortgage. Itwas legal above board, could be conducted by any one, butvery few people in the market knew about it including thosewho have been veterans in the industry.

This method was taught by some property clubs for anexpensive fee as well as them getting kick backs from themortgage broker, solicitors and property seller on top oftheir fee charged. This was used pre credit crunch times.

This is how it worked, a purchaser finds a propertywhich is undervalued, say they are picking it up for £75,000and it is worth £100,000. They apply to a mortgage compa-ny for 85% of the property value as a REMORTGAGE. Thisis as opposed to a mortgage, a mortgage is used on purchaseand a remortgage is done only when the property has beenpurchased.

So to do a remortgage before purchasing property is odd,but it will become clear as we go one.

A remortgage is applied for by the purchaser. What hap-pens in a remortgage is an application goes off, it getschecked for credit worthiness and then a valuation isinstructed. At no time do they check the applicant actuallyowns the property.

The mortgage companies at that time did not insist on proof ofincome, so this criteria was dispensed with. Based on simply the valua-tion and the credit score the offer would be issued.

Once you have a remortgage offer it is typically valid for 6 months. Inorder to get the funds to purchase you then approach a bridging compa-ny. These are companies which lend money for short periods of time athigh rates of interest. Once they have seen the mortgage offer they willagree to lend, typically the rate was 1 % as they can see an exit route isalready in place.

On this basis they would lend £75,000 plus costs knowing they willget their money returned within 24 hrs via the remortgage offer in place.They send the money to purchase and then the solicitor uses the moneyfrom the bridging company to purchase the property at £75,000. It is thenrefinanced at £85,000 with the mortgage company the next day allowingyou to pocket the difference which will come to around £7,000.

This was known as a day one remortgage. This was done by lenderswho did not have a minimum period for how long someone has ownedthe property before they would remortgage it so it could even technicallybe 1 second the property has been owned before the remortgage funds aretaken down. Because of this many completions could have been lined upsimultaneously so the same funds are used to keep purchasing andremortgaging to save on bridging fees.

This method worked because of this main point which is the seller didnot need to be aware of the structure nor did the agent.

This meant the property was negotiated in the normal fashion - nooutside party was aware this property was financed with no money down.

This was pre credit crunch. Currently the new no money down sys-tem is this: the property is negotiated at a lower amount but the contractis sent at the higher amount. So taking the same figures the purchaseprice is £75,000 but the contract price is £100,000.

The seller has to agree to this, and agree to use your chosen solicitor,for this to happen the agent needs to understand and agree to explainthis.

You go through the normal process and apply for a mortgage, this is

given at £75,000 for the purchase. The way you get your deposit is this: a bridging company lends you

the deposit on the basis the seller signs a second charge on his own prop-erty in favour of the bridging company.

The bridging company lends you the deposit by transferring it to thebuyers solictor and calls is an ‘equity release’ this means it is money givento the purchaser by releasing it from property they already own. So in theabove example it will be £25,000 together with the mortgage offer of£75,000 this will make the full purchase price. So this amount goes fromthe buyer’s solicitor to the seller’s solicitor who then has to transfer£25,000 back to the bridging company as there is a charge on the prop-erty in favour of the bridging company which needs to be satisfied beforemoney can be dispersed to the seller.

Most people are very paranoid when transacting properties, to con-vince them to increase the contract price to above the purchase price andto get them to use a solicitor chosen by you means you may blow the dealup. And if you do not, why would a seller agree to be selling in this way?Perhaps the property cannot be sold conventionally.

In summary we have used the first method to transact without usingfunds but the second involves too many variables for it to be viable.Although it is still being sold at many property courses….

Suresh Vagjiani

Managing Director

Sow & Reap

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Therefore the valuer goes in with the assumption the cl ient owns the prop-erty, the property is valued at £100,000. The valuation is used to issue anoffer at £85,000.

This is the method now being used. The problem is by thetime you have convinced the seller and the agent to use thismethod which will not be easy, you may lose the deal.

The dynamics described above would be shrouded and over complicated so that thecompanies promoting this service were able to ‘justify’ their fees.

Asian Voice - Saturday 27th August 201120 Financial voice

[email protected] Fernandes

A major reform of therules relating to the fami-ly route is underway withconsultation paper whichsets out areas of reform.The areas included:

• Plans to introduce amore objective way ofidentifying whether arelationship is genuine.

The plan of the gov-ernment when introduc-ing rules in this area areinterested in adoptingrules that are currentlybeing applied inDenmark. Currently inDenmark applicants for amarriage visa must havevisited Denmark at leasttwice and the sponsormust have resided legallyin Denmark for at least15 years. Where appli-cants are Danish citizensor have resided inDenmark for 28 yearsthey will not need to meetthis requirement.

• Introduction of anew minimum incomethreshold for sponsors.

Again the experiencein a number of countrieshas been considered. InDenmark for examplethere is a specific thresh-old that a sponsor cannothave claimed benefits inthe 3 years prior to themarriage applicationbeing made and mustpost a bond (currently

around £12,000) againstany future claim on pub-lic funds. The MigrationAdvisory Committee(MAC) have been askedto advised on a new mini-mum income thresholdwith the view expressedthat the level should behigher than that of thesafety net of IncomeSupport which is current-ly how the Courts inter-pret the maintenancerequirements. The plan isto take account only ofincome and cash savingsof a UK based sponsorbut there are plans to dis-card taking into accountpotential earnings andthe plans are definitely onthe horizon to reviewwhether support fromthird parties will beallowed other than incompelling and compas-sionate circumstances.In terms of accommoda-tion issues, local authori-ties will be requested toprovide a housing certifi-cate to meet the require-ments of adequateaccommodation.

• Extending theEnglish requirements tospouses

Currently spouses canmeet the settlementrequirements with anESOL qualification. Theplan is to introduce more

stringent English tests torequire spouses todemonstrate that theycan understand everydayEnglish.

Some of the otherchanges being consideredare as follows:

• Considerationwhether medical insur-ance should be a require-ment

• Ending the Right ofAppeal for visitors visas

• A complete reviewof the Article 8 require-ments

Whilst these propos-als are under consultationit is an opportunity torespond to this paper.The paper has beenframed in a way to sug-gest that the reason forthese changes are in orderto prevent sham mar-riages. However thisexcuse is being used inorder to bring into effecta number of changes togo far wider than dealingwith sham marriages.

Maria Fernandes hasbeen in practice exclu-sively in immigration forthe past 25 years.Fernandes Vaz is based at87 Wembley Hill RoadWembley in Wembley andcan be contacted by tele-phone on 02087330123,by email on [email protected].

Family values

A new traders association- South Harrow TradersAssociation (SHTA) - wasinaugurated on 4th Aug,2011 at the HarrowCouncil meeting.

The association’s firstmission after agreeing to aconstitution will be to sur-vey all local businesses toidentify the key issues thatthey face. The surveyresults will then bereviewed, validated andprioritised for action. Theinaugural meeting of theSHTA will take place inSeptember, time andvenue will be decided later.

Shahram Irvani whowas elected chair of SHTAsaid, “As a trader in SouthHarrow, I’m delighted tobe appointed Chair of thenew Traders’ Association.Many of the businesses inthe area are establishedover many years and arecommitted to the forma-tion of the association, toimprove and regeneratethe locality for businesspeople and residents alike.The association will pro-vide a strong voice to thetraders and will work withlocal residents, police andHarrow Council to ensurethat South Harrow’s shop-ping centre is not adverse-ly affected in the currentfinancial decline and thatit continues to serve thelocal community.

“Harrow Council hasbeen extremely supportiveand I’m looking forward toworking alongside them tomake South Harrow vibrant.”

Cllr Thaya Idaikkadersaid, “I’m happy to havesupported emergence of thisimportant initiative in myward. Local shopping areassuch as South Harrow areimportant and the tradersshould receive full supportso that they can survive therecession. Health of localeconomy generated throughlocal shopping centres isessential for local vitalityand I will give all the help Ican to this Association for itto flourish.”

Navin Shah, AssemblyMember for Brent andHarrow who attended thelaunch said, “Local dis-trict centres play animportant role in the eco-nomic health and vitalityof the areas. I have nodoubt that the new associ-ation will act as a strong

voice for South HarrowTraders as well as animportant new force topromote better facilitiesfor local shoppers andmake South Harrow apleasant area to shop andvisit. Traders have my fullsupport and I will behappy to take up issuesboth at Council andLondon Assembly level.”

The office-bearers ofthe association are:Shahram Irvani, co-ownerof Alexandra Park EstateAgents of 500 NortholtRoad, South Harrow,Chair, RamanathanThayarapan of KarveriFoods, Vice Chair; JayUnadkat, Secretary and KKrishnamohan (Hair andBeauty Products)Treasurer. Committeemembers are: Mir AkbarAkbari, A Durai, N KWilson, SivarajahSathasivami, Ajay Kotak,Rupesh Valji andThillainathan Kumarathas.

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In past it was a bighassle to check out differ-ent websites, work outwhat you spend on texts,calls to landlines, calls toother mobiles and dataand then spend agesnegotiating with peoplein the call centres or inthe mobile shops to getthe deal you want. In fact,so many of us don’t havethe time to do all this that70% of contract phoneusers in the UK are on thewrong tariff, wasting anamazing £3bn a year pay-ing for minutes and textsthey don’t even need!

You can use the site intwo ways to save money:Either choose the phoneyou want or the amountyou want to spend permonth, then use the easy‘sliders’ to estimate howmany minutes, texts anddata you need to get arecommendation that’s

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In life, there are very fewemotions which can com-pare with the rush orthrill of winning. Thefeeling is addictive foronce we have savouredthat first win we wantmore and more. And forsome inexplicable reason,our brains even tell usthat because we havewon once, doing it againis easier. I rememberhearing a talk by AlpeshPatel about trading on thestock market. He spokeabout winning and saidthat one of the mistakesmany people make iswhen they are constantlylosing they seem to thinkthat they are ‘due’ a win.But it does not matterhow many times you tossa coin, the odds of it land-ing heads or tails isalways the same. Yetbizarrely our brains tellus otherwise. This is theaddiction for the winningfeeling!

So why am I talkingabout winning and los-ing? Many of you (if notall) will be aware of the

thrashing suffered by theIndian cricket team in therecent test series. While Idon’t really want toreflect on the possibleexplanations for theirepic failure, I do want topick up on somethingthat the captain, MSDhoni said in a recentinterview. When askedwhat he would be sayingto team after beingdefeated by such a hugemargin, he replied that hewould tell them not tobecome weighed down bythe pressure or wallow inthe defeat, but rather, inthe next game theyshould go out and just tryto enjoy themselves.

Surely he should havebeen admonishing themfor their abject perform-ance and rousing them toat least put up a fight.The last thing one wouldexpect a leader to say totheir defeated team is toenjoy themselves. Havingbeen subjected to filmssuch as Rocky, we havethis stereotype that theonly way to overcome

defeat is to develop a sin-gular determination (verysimilar to becoming reallyangry at your protago-nist), grit your teeth andwork through the painbarrier until you win.Imagine if after beingbeaten to a pulp, Rockysits on his stool and says,‘I may have lost, but boy Ienjoyed that!’

So what was Dhonithinking? Perhaps herealises that people per-form best when they areenjoying themselves.When we are winning wenever feel fatigue, wenever doubt our abilityand we fear nothing. It’snot described as ‘feelingon top of the world’ fornothing. Sometimes, wheneverything is going againstyou and nothing seems toworking for you, the bestpeace of advice is to tellpeople – ‘winning and los-ing comes and goes, inbetween just try and enjoywhat you are doing’.

By Amit Patel

Amit Patel has over 15 years experience in the field ofLeadership and Human Resource Management

Enjoy It? Are You Serious?

Notwithstanding skyrock-eting gold prices, itsimports are likely to crossthe 1,000-tonne mark thisyear on robust investmentdemand, say analysts.Since the US sovereigndebt downgrade and thenew threats emanatingfrom Eurozone economies,gold has rallied 14% thismonth alone, as investorsshunned stocks andflocked to the yellow metalas a safe haven.

The last time gold roseover 14% in a month wasin 1999. In the domesticmarket, gold scaled a newhigh of over Rs 28,150 per10 gm in futures market,while in global markets ithit a record $1,877 anounce last Friday. In thedomestic market, on thatday gold rose as much asRs 1,310, the highest eversingle day gain, they said."With rising prices, invest-ment demand is likely togrow, especially in the goldETFs (exchange tradedfunds) and coins, in expec-tation of better returns,"brokerage firm Maya IronOres Vice-ChairmanPraveen Kumar said. Thecountry's total gold ETFsinvestment has reached 15tonne, which is expectedto double in a year, Kumarsaid. However, the jew-ellery demand is likely todecline due to rise in recy-cled gold in the market, hesaid.

India, the largest con-sumer of the yellow metal,has imported 553 tonnesduring the first six monthsof this year, WGC said.

India set forrecord gold

imports

South Harrow traders form association

Asian Voice - Saturday 27th August 2011 21FINANCIAL VOICE

GBP - INR = 75.25

USD - INR = 45.63

EUR - INR = 65.93

GBP - USD = 1.65

GBP - EUR = 1.14

EUR - USD = 1.45

GBP - AED = 6.06

GBP - CAD = 1.63

GBP - NZD = 1.98

GBP - AUD = 1.58

GBP - ZAR = 11.90

GBP - HUF = 311.18

www.rationalfx.com

Foreign Exchange

Rajesh Agrawal is the Chairman & CEO of RationalFX, Currency Specialists.

For any further information call 020 7220 8181 or e-mail [email protected]

Information provided by RationalFX.

None of the information on this page

constitutes, nor should be construed

as financial advice. The exchange

rates used are the commercial foreign

exchange rates provided by

RationalFX. For a live quote or to find

out more about how RationalFX can

help you, call us on 0207 220 8181.

WeeklyCurrenciesAs of Tuesday

23rd August 2011 @ 3 pm

The UK still seems to be strug-gling with the recent figures thathave been released as growth forthe economy seems to be slow-ing. The UK did have somegood data out in the form of CPIMoM and YoY, RPI stayed at5%, and Average Earnings camein better than expected. Thisalong with Mervyn King statingthat the elevated inflationreflects from the VAT hike, pastenergy and import rises, helpedthe Sterling gain ground againstall the majors. The negativenews was In the form of JoblessClaims, which jumped at thehighest level in 2 years, Retailssales came in worse than expect-ed and hawks Martin Wheel andSpencer Dale, ditched theprospect of an interest rate hikecause the pound to tumble.However despite the fall,Sterling managed to recover asmore worries regarding the debtconcerns in Euro and a potentialdouble dip recession in the USspread into the markets.

Early last week, we sawEuropean Industrial Productionwith despite coming in lower,had little impact in the markets.There are still talks in theMarket that the SNB (SwissNational Bank), may act again

to curb the recent strengths ofthe Swiss Franc. This was seenas being the catalyst for most ofthe Euro movement along withUSD weakness. German GDPQoQ and YoY came out onTuesday with worse thanexpected results, while EU GDPQoQ and YoY showed a worseperformance than Q1. The slow-down economy growth of theboth raises the fears not only forthe EU economies but also forthe global growth. Euro droppedon the back of the figure findingsupport in the afternoon due todollar weakness. EU core CPIdropped from previous onWednesday, which was goodnews for the recent economygrowth concern. This datashowed that pressures on theEuro are considerably relieved.After the quiet Thursday, wehad German PPI YoY and MoM,which came out better than pre-vious and better than its expec-tation. This helped Euro boostto as high as 1.45 level for theweekend. Given the recent EUeconomy growth concern, itundoubtedly increasedinvestors’ confidence in theregional area.

We began the week in the USwith two pieces of negative data,

coming in the form of New YorkState manufacturing and TICflows. This saw the greenbackfall as risk appetite entered themarket with equity marketsgaining after its recent falls.Industrial production did how-ever see a slight rise which sawthe greenback move higheragainst its major counterparts,which in fairness was the onlybright light in a week of negativedata. Midweek saw a mixer datafirstly coming in the form of USCPI, where we saw an increase

of 0.3% to stand at 0.5%.Following on from CPI was thePhilly Fed which tracked USmanufacturing, this saw a mas-sive drop coming in at -30.7from an expected 4.2%. Addedwith a rise in initial joblessclaims and US investmentbank... Morgan Stanley cuttingits forecast for global growthfrom 4.5% to 3.8%, global stockmarkets plummeted withinvestors ploughing into the safehavens such as the US dollarand gold.

Is the UK the only EconomyShowing signs of recovery?

UK Economy


IN focus40 killed in Pakistan mosque bombingIslamabad: At least 40 people were killed and 85wounded in a suicide attack on a mosque in northwestPakistan, a government official said. Local administra-tor Fazal Khan says there’s some evidence it was a sui-cide attack. Some 300 people were at the mosque forprayers when the bomb exploded in Ghundi village ofthe Khyber region. No group claimed responsibility forthe bombing, but the Taliban and other insurgents haveattacked scores of targets in the area, which lies alongthe Afghan border.

Boy forgets to feed dog, beaten to deathIslamabad: A Pakistani woman clubbed to death her12-year-old servant for not serving a meal to her dog.Sadia Asif, a resident of Val'ncia Town, beat TaqiUsman to death after he failed to serve food to her pet.She had asked Usman to feed the dog before going tomarket a few days ago, an investigator said. She wasarrested after Usman's relatives filed a complaint.

Strike grinds Karachi city to a haltKarachi: Pakistan's largest city ground to a halt onTuesday, with most residents staying off the streetsafter a political party called a strike to protest thedeaths of at least 96 people killed in Karachi in the pastweek. Businesses, schools and government offices wereclosed, while public buses and taxis stayed off the road.The strike, called by the city's most powerful politicalparty, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, came as policefound the bodies of 10 more people. Karachi, a teemingsouthern city of some 18 million people, has a long his-tory of political, ethnic and sectarian violence, andmuch of the violence is blamed on gangs allegedlylinked to the main political parties, including theMuttahida Qaumi Movement.

Terrorist tag for Haqqani kingpinWashington: The US last week slapped sanctions onSangeen Zadran, a commander of the Pakistan-basedHaqqani network and designated him as a foreign ter-rorist. The Haqqani Network, a Taliban-affiliated groupof militants that operates from Pakistan's restive NorthWaziristan Agency in the federally administered tribalareas, has been at the forefront of insurgent activitiesin Afghanistan. US secretary of state Hillary Clintondesignated Zadran, the shadow governor ofAfghanistan's Paktika province and a commander ofHaqqani network, a foreign terrorist and slapped sanc-tions on him.

Zardari seeks probe into attack on journalistIslamabad: Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari hassought an inquiry report on the attack on a journalistin Peshawar. Hazrat Khan, bureau chief of Pashto-channel AVT Khyber, was attacked by unknownassailants when he was returning from hospital onMonday after inquiring about the health of KhyberPakhtunkhwa Minister Sardar Hussain Babak whowas hurt in an ambush. The assailants first manhan-dled and then threw stones and bricks at him Zardaricondemned the attack and sought an inquiry reportfrom the authorities concerned, reported AssociatedPress of Pakistan.

Sri Lanka introduces mumps vaccine

Colombo: Sri Lanka Epidemiology Unit of the HealthMinistry said the national immunization program andthe immunization schedule will be changed from October1. The Epidemiology Unit for the first time will includemumps vaccine in the immunization program and intro-duce the Measles, Mumps, Rubella Vaccine (MMRV)into the program. Earlier immunization against onlymeasles and rubella was provided with the MR vaccine.

Dhaka to hand over Ulfa leader Chetia to IndiaDhaka: “The government wants to bring him back, thepeople of Assam also want it that way. So definitely,the prospects of the peace process have brightened.”Gogoi was reacting to media reports quotingBangladesh home minister Sahara Khatun as sayingthat the legal process has already been initiated to handChetia over to India. India is understood to have hand-ed over a list of 50 Indians who are believed to be inhiding or in detention in Bangladesh.

Sri Lanka ruling party to filenominations for LG polls

Colombo: Sri Lanka's ruling party United People's free-dom Alliance (UPFA) has made all necessary arrange-ments to hand in the nominations for upcoming elec-tions of 23 local government bodies, party's GeneralSecretary Minister Susil Premajayantha said. MinisterPremajayantha has said that the inking of nominationscommenced on Sunday and many of them have beencompleted already.Arrangements have been made to filethe nominations at the respective places from Tuesday,he has said adding that signing of nominations for theColombo Municipal Council (CMC) will also take place.

Islamabad: Taking a cuefrom Anna Hazare, a 68-year-old Pakistani busi-nessman is set to go onhunger strike in Islamabadfrom Sep 12 to declare waron endemic corruption inhis country.

Expressing his admira-tion for Hazare,Jehangeeer Akhtar com-plained that corruptionwas a far more serious dis-ease in Pakistan.

Activist Akhtar wantsthe Pakistan parliament topass an anti-corruptionlaw - like what India isnow planning.

'I demand that an anti-corruption bill be present-ed in the NationalAssembly,' said Akhtar,who has closely followedthe anti-corruption war inIndia.

He said the Pakistanibill should be on the linesof what gets passed inIndia's parliament.

'Corruption inPakistan is more than inIndia... bahut zyada(much more),' Akhtar said

in a telephonic interviewfrom Islamabad where heruns a photography busi-ness.

It is not the first timeAkhtar will be taking upcudgels for a cause.

'I once sat on a hungerstrike for 22 days for thesake of traders inIslamabad,' he recalled. Itwas about tenants beingforcibly vacated.

On another occasion,he went on hunger strikefor eight days.

Stating that his familydoes not interfere in hisdecisions, Akhtar said hewas 'very determined' tostage the hunger strike.

Apart from corruption,another issue he wants tohighlight during his

hunger strike is Pakistan'ssoaring defence budgetbecause of 'the mindsetthat the stability ofPakistan is endangereddue to India'.

'A group of politicianspropagate such mindset.The politicians areanswerable ... on whichfront are we in danger?'

Pakistan has hikeddefence allocation toRs.495 billion in a totalbudget of Rs.2,504 billion(around $30 billion) for2011-12.

'Is it not true that westarted the 1965 war andlost East Pakistan in 1971due to our follies?,' heasked.

That's not all.He also wants every

district in Pakistan to beprovided with infrastruc-ture for education fromprimary to the intermedi-ate levels with hostels.

Akhtar says he is for astronger Lokpal Bill forIndia -- a demand beingmade by Hazare and histeam.

'Indian public kah rahihai tho hona chahiye(Indians are asking, so itshould happen).'

He wants the Indiangovernment to listen to thevoice of Indians.

After seeing pictures oflarge numbers of Indiansacross the country rally insupport of Hazare, Akhtaris convinced that theGandhian has emerged asa hero.

According to him,there is widespread angerin Pakistan against corrup-tion. A TransparencyInternational Pakistanofficial said corruptionwas the root cause ofpoverty, illiteracy, terror-ism, shortage of electricity,and poor governance inPakistan.

Burney’s plansMeanwhile, Pakistani

human rights and civilrights activist AnsarBurney has announcedplans to kick off a massiveAnna Hazare-style anti-corruption campaign inPakistan after Eid.

PakISTan-BagLadeSh-SrI Lanka

Now, Pakistani following Anna’s footsteps

Islamabad: Claiming thatthe army does not runPakistan's foreign policy,foreign minister HinaRabbani Khar has said themilitary's intentionstowards India have been"overrated" and there is aneed to break away fromthis perception.

"We sometimes over-rate the role of the militaryand overrate their inten-tions especially when itcomes to India... Let's notbe burdened by our histo-ry. Let's move forward. Ithink Pakistan has learntits lessons," said 34-year-old Khar, the youngest andfirst woman foreign minis-ter of the country.

Khar made the remarksduring an interview withNewsweek magazine's

Pakistan edition when shewas asked about the role ofthe Pakistan Army and theISI's historical ties withmilitant groups, especiallythose fighting in Jammuand Kashmir.

She contended thatPakistan's foreign policywas not dictated by thearmy, which was one ofthe institutions "taken onboard" while making deci-sions on key issues.

"The army does not runour foreign policy," shesaid. "They (the army) areimportant stakeholdersand not an outside force,so we should stop viewingthem as such. After all theinstitutions are taken onboard, a view emerges, andthat is the government'sview, which is Pakistan'sview," she said.

Referring to her visit toNew Delhi last month fortalks with her Indiancounterpart S M Krishna,Khar said: "The dialogueprocess with India shouldbe uninterrupted anduninterruptible, and theenvironment we foundthere was exceptionallyhealthy. That to me wasthe biggest confidence-building measure."

Army not running Pakistan’s foreignpolicy: Hina Rabbani Khar

Washington: Warning thatLeT has the ability to“severely disrupt alreadydelicate” regional rela-tions, the US has said thePakistan-based terror out-fit responsible for the 2008Mumbai attacks remainedactive in Kashmir and con-tinued to target Indiaalong with groups like JeMand HuM.

The US StateDepartment, in its annualreport on terrorism, voicedconcern over continuedpresence of terrorist safehavens inside Pakistan.

“Despite internationalcondemnation for itsNovember 2008 attacks inMumbai, Lashkar-e-Taiba(LeT) continued to planregional operations fromwithin Pakistan. While theGovernment of Pakistanhas banned LeT, theUnited States continued tourge further action againstthis group and its frontorganisations,” the StateDepartment said.

“The potential forWMD trafficking and pro-liferation remained of con-cern in Pakistan due to theporous borders and thedifficult security situation.Export Control andRelated Border SecurityAssistance (EXBS) hasenabled Pakistani officialsto gain expertise in proper-ly classifying items of pro-liferation concern andlearn about export licens-ing best practices,” it said.

The report also saidthat several outlawedPakistan-based terrorgroups remained active inKashmir and continued totarget India and planattacks on it. Prominentamong these terror groupsare Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) andHarkat ul-Mujahideen(HuM), which are havinghundreds of armed sup-porters in Kashmir.

LeT, designated as aForeign TerroristOrganisation in 2001, is

one of the largest and mostproficient of the tradition-ally Kashmir-focused mili-tant groups. “It has theability to severely disruptalready delicate regionalrelation,” the report said.

Fewer terror victims inIndia: US report

India experienced less-er number of deaths due toextremism last year, butstill it remains one of themost terrorism-afflictednations in the world, a USreport said. “The loss ofnearly 1,900 lives (civilian,security forces, and terror-ists) still made India oneof the world's most terror-ism-afflicted countries.“Sustained violence inKashmir over a six-monthperiod and attempted infil-trations from Pakistanacross the LoC remainedserious concerns for theIndian government,” theannual State DepartmentCountry Report onTerrorism for 2010 stated.

LeT continues to plot attacks against India: US

Jehangeeer Akhtar

Kabul: At least 10 peoplewere killed from two suicideattacks on a British com-pound in Kabul and theensuing gunbattle betweeninsurgents and securitytroops last week. InteriorMinistry spokesman SediqSediqqi says at least twopolicemen were also wound-ed in the attack, which cameas Afghans markIndependence Day fromBritain in 1919. Sediqqi saysone suicide bomber first det-onated a car laden withexplosives outside theBritish Council in the west-ern part of Kabul. A secondbomber penetrated insidethe complex and set off anexplosives vest. The blastsset off a five-hour-long gun-battle between Afghan secu-rity forces and insurgents.

Attack on British

Council in Kabul

kills 10

Islamabad: Pakistan's for-mer premier Nawaz Sharifcalled for fresh parliamen-tary elections to be heldimmediately in Pakistan,saying this was the onlyoption to solve the coun-try's problems.

Sharif said the govern-ment has disappointed thepeople and a fresh man-date is necessary now.

This is the first timethat Sharif has called forfresh polls, though otherleaders of his PML-Nparty have often said thatthe country's problems,including corruption andthe perceived inefficiencyof the Pakistan People'sParty-led government, canonly be resolved throughmid-term elections.

The two-time premierand PML-N president toldGeo News channel that hehad advised President AsifAli Zardari four monthsago to hold fresh elec-tions.

Sharif for freshpolls in Pakistan

Asian Voice - Saturday 27th August 2011 23world

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Vishal Ladwa (delegateand past president ofNHSF, ManchesterUniversity) was selectedto represent UK and toattend the 22ndInternational YouthLeadership Conference(IYLC) in Prague. Theannual conference, tai-lored specifically for stu-dents, focused on thecross-cultural exchange ofideas, fostering interna-tional relationships amongyoung people, with theaim of nurturing futureworld leaders to discussand collaborate on worldpolitics. It brings togethera select group of youngpeople from all over theworld to learn and chal-lenge ideas of justice, cul-ture, international deco-rum and leadership. Agroup of 80 students cametogether for 5 days in thelast week of July from over32 countries to attend theconference.

The conference includ-

ed simulations in the formof UN Security Councilmeeting, an internationalcriminal court pre-trial,European parliament ses-sion and foreign embassyvisits.

The UN SecurityCouncil enabled groupmembers to debate andarticulate their viewsagainst each other overgrowing concerns regard-ing energy security whichhas been at the forefront ofworld issues since theFukushima disaster. TheInternational CriminalCourt simulation show-cased the pre-trial ofMuammar Gaddafi, wherethe accused stood trial forcrimes against humanity,war crimes and genocide.The skills of young legalthinkers came to the foreat the conference.

The American embassyset the stage for the longawaited panel discussionbased on the topic of glob-al challenges faced by

future leaders. Othercountries included Israel,Egypt, Indonesia andAustralia highlighting thediverse spectrum of politi-cal to economic challengesfaced by countries. Themost fascinating aspectwas to hear a first-handaccount from a youngEgyptian woman of therevolutionary momentsthat unfolded during theArab Spring.

Students Challengedand Tested

Throughout the week,delegates were pushed outof their comfort zones tochallenge and test them-selves through the medi-um of simulations andworkshops. This confer-ence allowed delegates toexperience the wealth ofbeauty that various cul-tures have to offer that willallow future leaders toapproach world affairsthrough a responsible, eth-ical and caring manner,highlighting the Hindunotion of “the whole worldis one family”.

The conference left alasting impression on thedelegates. They under-stood that while politicalbodies will be set up andbroken down, legal sys-tems will evolve, new ruleswill emerge; the only factorwhich will stay the same ispeople’s desire to make apositive social change.

– Vishal Ladwa

Global youth conferencetackles world issues I had heard stories of Guruji

Swami ShriSatyamitranandji and hisvisits but I had not had theprivilege of meeting himface to face. Apparently Ihad been blessed by himwhen I was just a few weeksold, but obviously I do notremember that. I knew hewas very important and spe-cial to my Nana and Naniand today I was going to beable to meet him.

Well firstly I had towake up early even thoughit was a Sunday (8 am),have a shower and beready. At 10 am my Daddy,my little brother and Iwent to the caterers topick up the food for all theguests and then on to myNana’s house. When wearrived there I lookedaround and I was amazedto see so many peoplethere, just to see GurujiSwami ShriSatyamitranandji. Ithought “he must befamous!” Later I found outhe really was very famous.

We unloaded and setup the food, with lots ofhelp from the guests. Westood firmly and excitedlywaiting for the special per-son to arrive. Soonenough, Guruji arrivedand when he got out of thecar we all shouted a bigcheer to welcome him. Allthe people started singinga mantra as he was walk-ing into the house. Hewalked on a lovely cleanmat, sprinkled with flower

petals at his feet. Gurujisat down on a sofa whichwas decorated with a goldfabric. There was also acushion under his feetmade from the same fab-ric. My Nani asked him‘’are you comfortable?’’ towhich he replied ‘’yes’’,very calmly. I could seethat my Nana and Naniwere feeling very joyfuland lucky to have such anopportunity.

The next steps involvedsome puja and washing ofGuruji’s feet with milk andwater, putting chandan (ayellow paste) on them, fol-lowed by Aarti. Everyonewas given the chance to dothe Aarti.

Last year I wentthrough the ceremony ofJanoi. This involved asacred thread which I wearevery day across my leftshoulder and under myright arm. This is sup-posed to be changed everyyear. My Nani had kept anew Janoi ready for meand asked Guruji to put iton for me. Having theJanoi ceremony was veryspecial to me, but this

made it feel even nicer.When it was time for

Guruji to leave, my Daddywas given the opportunityto take Guruji back toLalitnana’s house in ourcar. I asked my Daddyafterwards if they chattedmuch along the way, buthe said Guruji seemedrather tired. I learned thatGuruji wakes up at 4amand goes to sleep at 9pm. Ithought that was strangeas I go to bed at the sametime but I don’t wake uptill 7am and I still feeltired!. My Nana told methat Guruji’s sleep is verysound because of all themeditation he does. Thismakes his mind very con-tent and still.

I now could see thatGuruji is truly very specialand that being in his pres-ence makes people feelspiritually elated andworry free. I could see thevery positive impact hisvisit had on my Nana andNani. Though I have heardsome stories I would liketo understand more aboutGuruji’s achievements onhis journey to becomingthis very important person.When I learn what greatthings he has done, I thinkI will be inspired by themand would like to incorpo-rate some of those valuesand deeds in to my ownlife. I think this wouldimprove the effect I haveon others around me andalso the rest of the world.

– Ishan Datta

Guruji's visit to my grandpa’s house

Swami Shri Satyamitranandji

AV Correspondent

Age is not a problem for81-year-old BhramarlalJoshi to exchange mar-riage vows for the sec-ond time. If the matchmakers are to bebelieved this wouldmake him perhaps, theoldest man in Gujaratto tie the knot.

It was a very happymoment forAhmedabad - basedBhramarlal Joshi whenhe got married to 61-year-old Pramodini Paranjapein a special ceremony inAhmedabad in the pres-ence of his half-a-dozengrandchildren and grown-

up sons, daughter-in-lawsand daughters.

Wearing an ornamentalturban, Joshi went

through a traditional mar-riage ceremony and said,"In my mind I am 28 yearsold. People ask me why Igot married at this age andI tell them without any

hang-ups that I was miss-ing the presence of awoman in my life. I askedmy sons if I could remarry

and they told me theyhad no problems."

Joshi’ s first wifedied of an ailment atan age of 75. After herdeath, he realized heneeded a companion.So three months ago,he sent his CV to amarriage bureau.

Like many otherseniors he also pre-

pared himself to get mar-ried again and get a com-panion. And luckily hefound someone who canfit the bill.

After talking to someeligible women Joshi final-ly settled down for 62-year-old spinster who livesin Vadodara with hernephew and his wife andherself a retired teacher.Joshi’s son and daughter-in-law support his deci-sion and they have submit-ted a no objection certifi-cate at the marriagebureau to pledge theiracceptance for the newrelation.

Pramodini, who is aclass X pass out, was sin-gle and had dedicated herlife to raising her nephewJayant who was orphanedat the age of two.Pramodini, who met Joshiseveral times before decid-ing to tie the knot, too islooking forward to maritalbliss. The couple will stayin the ground floor of thebungalow with their elderson living on the first floor.They are planning a hon-eymoon in north Indiawhere they will first payobeisance to VaishnoDevi.

Asian Voice - Saturday 27th August 201124 INDIA

At the time of Anna Lokpal movement in India (Courtesy: The Times of India)

I study only when my parents bribe me! want a Student Lokpal.

In divine lightBy Rajen Vakil

The rishi Vibhandakwas performing tapasnear a waterfall. Oneday while bathing inthe river he saw thebeautiful celestialnymph Urvashi havinga bath. This excited therishi and he lost hissemen in the water.This was immediatelydrunk by a doe thathad come to the riverto drink water. Thefemale deer was actu-ally a celestial beingthat lord Brahma hadsent to the earth as adeer to give birth to arishi’s son. She gavebirth to a boy with anantler on his head andthus he was namedRishyashringa. Thedeer left the child onthe bank of the riverand his father the rishiVibhandak brought himup in his ashram. As ayoung childRishyashringa engagedhimself in deep tapasand acquired greatyogic powers. As hehad never seen anyother human except hisfather he remained acelibate.

The king of thekingdom of Anga wasLomapada. This kingdid not fulfil a promisehe had given to helpsome Brahmins. TheBrahmins then refusedto take part in the

king’s yagnas.Lomapada then putsome allegations on theleaders of theBrahmins. All this dis-pleased Lord Indra whorefused to send rain toLomapada’s kingdom.When it had not rainedfor three years a terri-ble famine struck thekingdom. The kingcalled a group oflearned Brahmins toget counsel on theremedy. One of thesenior Brahmins sug-gested that if the greatrishi Rishyashringa wasbrought to his kingdomthen Indra would becompelled to send rain.

The king called someof his clever ministersand asked them todevise a plan to bringRishyashringa to hiskingdom. One of theministers told the kingto call a group of cour-

tesans who were verywell versed in their artand give them the taskof enticingRishyashringa andbringing him to theirkingdom. As the youngrishi did not k now whata woman was; it wouldbe very easy to seduceand hypnotise him. Thecourtesans were sum-moned and given thebrief. All the courtesansstarted trembling infear. On the one sidewas the king’s com-mand and on the otherthe possibility of a pow-erful celibate rishi curs-ing them. So the courte-sans told the king that itwould not be possible tocarry out his orders.Then one old courtesansaid she would work hercharms on the rishi butthe king had to first ful-fil all that she needed todo her job.

All past articles on the Mahabharata can beaccessed from http://epaper.asianvoice.com or from http://www.3stepbreath.com/mahabharata.html

The story of Rishyashringa

Better late than never; 81- year- old gets married in Gujarat

By Premen Addy

'Sagar Pare' is bestlikened to a string ofpearls. Sanchita, aDhaka-based journalistfrom Bangladesh, writesof her experiences ofEngland (mostly in theenvirons of London) inlimpid Bangla. This beingher first visit to the UK(and the West), she castsa roving eye on the capi-tal's landmarks, not sim-ply as a tourist but asinsightful traveller keento take in and relish thecultural gifts Britain hasoffered the world downthe centuries - whichincludes her nativeBengal, the overarchingentity encompassingBangladesh and IndianWest Bengal, divided by apolitical border, yet tena-ciously united in theirdevotion to a commontongue and a richlyendowed cultural heritagethat transcends faith andethnicity.

If we take the early19th century as the begin-

ning of a modern Bengalisensibility, its literary andintellectual life was fertil-ized by English influ-ences, these beingBengal's (and theSubcontinent's) windowto the wider West.Sanchita is deeply con-scious of this Englishpresence, hence her visitsto the British Museum,Trafalgar Square, StPaul's Cathedral, theCourts of Law, theVictoria and AlbertMuseum, the ScienceMuseum, the Houses ofParliament, BuckinghamPalace, Hampton Courtand the rest. The authorpaid silent homage to thememory of EmmelinePankhurst, whose statuestands outsideParliament. MrsPankhurst's suffragettemovement definedBritish womanhood andinspired (and inspires)women in every clime andcorner of our globe.

Charles Dickens,

Thomas Carlyle andSamuel Johnson receiverespectful mention in aroll call of honour whichtakes in other personali-ties as well. Thesevignettes are interleavedwith encounters withnotable members of theBangladeshi diasporasuch as the journalistAmeer Ali and the lateKolkata-born HiranmoyBhattacharjee et al.Sanchita records her grat-itude to those whoextended their hospitalityto her with board andlodging and others whogave freely of their time toenable her to take in thesights. Conversationsinclude reflections on thepast and present in herhomeland and kindredplaces, all exquisitelyetched: dialogues of sen-sitive souls engaged withthe future of the humanrace as citizens of theworld.

This is a delightfulread.

Sagar Pare Sathe Shother (Across theSeas: People and Experiences) by Sanchita

Do not for one-secondunderestimate the powerof your thoughts and thestrength of your emotionsfor they create the worldyou live in today. Look atthe world around you andask yourself if you are sat-isfied and grateful forwhat you have? Deepdown, however what youare feeling will be reflectedin your life, outwardly, bygiving you more of whatyou are focusing on. Forexample: if you exude lotsof energy focusing on howdissatisfied you are withlife - life becomes evenmore dissatisfying. Thinkabout it. How many ofyou have – with your owneyes seen dissatisfying sit-uations in your life gofrom bad to worse? Theopposite is also true forevents and situations thatwe are grateful and happyfor. For example: whenyou have been genuinely

passionate and positiveabout something and havetruly focused on this, whathas resulted? I am sure ifyou look around you – youwill notice the same pat-terns of highs and lows inother people’s life (rela-tionships, work, health,daily struggles).

Napoleon Hill studiedthe greatest achievers andleaders in the world, henoticed that ‘Control ofthe mind, through thepower of will, is not diffi-cult. Control comes frompersistence, and habit.When any negative emo-tions presents itself inone’s mind, it can betransmuted into a posi-tive, or constructive emo-tion, by the simple proce-dure of changing one’sthoughts.’ You maybethinking this is easier saidthen done. Hill alsoreminded us that there isno such thing as some-

thing for nothing and that,‘there is no other road togenius than through vol-untary self effort!’Therefore, not onlyshould you be feelingresponsible, you shouldalso be feeling liberated,empowered and Due tothe success of the ImpactBoot Camp I am runningan event on September17th in London. To regis-ter your interest email:[email protected]. Keep up to date by‘liking’ the Think SpaLondon page on Facebookand following us onTwitter. Lastly, if you feelcoaching would benefityou or someone you knowdo get in touch with me.Remember you have all ittakes to live happily andpeacefully – so think twicebefore you allow anythingnegative to get the betterof you. I send you allpeace and energy.

Control your mind and create your life

Any questions write to [email protected] Mamta Saha

Psychologist

Shattering the dream proj-ect of DMK chief MKarunanidhi, the TamilNadu government last weekdecided to convert the newassembly-cum-secretariatcomplex into a multi-super-speciality hospital and anew medical college.

Making a suo-motustatement in the Assembly,Chief Minister Jayalalithaasaid the government willutilise a section of thecomplex for setting up thehospital on the pattern ofprestigious All IndiaInstitute of MedicalSciences(AIIMS) at Delhi,to provide medicare serv-ices to the people, particu-larly the poor.

The hospital will beestablished in Block A ofthe complex, Jayalalithaasaid announcing a dramaticoverturning of a major proj-ect of the previous DMKgovernment, which wasconsidered as being close toMr. Karunanidhi’s heart.

The Chief Ministersaid that a new govern-

ment medical college willalso come up at Block B.

She said the new com-plex could not be put touse as it was not enoughto accommodate 36departments and “not fitfor official use.” Soon aftercoming to power, theAIADMK supremo did notvisit the complex and fur-ther ordered to stop itsconstruction.

Ms. Jayalalithaa, whohad criticised the project asa “wasteful expenditure”and described the structureas a “circus tent”, for lackof aesthetic appeal, hadannounced a probe into the

alleged irregularities in theconstruction.

The Chief Ministercontinued to functionfrom Fort St George,which was the seat ofpower before the newcomplex came up, assert-ing that her move was notprompted by political con-sideration but determinedby administrative reasons.

The new assemblycomplex was inauguratedby Prime MinisterManmohan Singh onMarch 13, last year, muchbefore the construction ofthe building was fully com-pleted.

Asian Voice - Saturday 27th August 2011 25INDIA

Despite the controversiesshadowing him, Gujaratchief minister NarendraModi is seen as the tallestof BJP's 'gennext' leadersand a strong showing byBJP in the next Lok Sabhaelection can make him aformidable contender forPrime Minister.

The BJP pecking orderis unclear with an RSS-imposed arrangement thatplaces party presidentNitin Gadkari, the twoleaders of opposition ArunJaitley and Sushma Swarajand a couple of other sen-ior leaders on roughlyequal footing. But theparty sees Modi as an in-house favourite.

Although the division

of labour is holding and isnot likely to be revisedbefore the next election,Modi's appeal within theparty and the larger pari-var is seen to be undeni-able. He has the support ofthe cadre and is seen as apolarizing but charismaticcampaigner capable ofbringing BJP's core vote tothe polling booths.

"The choice or optionson Prime Minister dependon the numbers BJP gets.If the party crosses the 180mark in Lok Sabha, Modican be seen as a naturalchoice. It depends on BJPclearly being in a positionto lead a coalition," saidwell-placed party sources.There can be no decision

on Modi ahead of elec-tions as such a move willimmediate lead to the exitof partners like Bihar chiefminister Nitish Kumar andeven allies like ShiromaniAkali Dal could have sec-ond thoughts. Rather thanthe National DemocraticAlliance expanding, it

would shrink in the lightof Modi's Gujarat riotsbaggage.

BJP leaders concedeModi's candidature willface hurdles even if theparty does well electorallyon counts like the need fora unifying leader ratherthan one who can embroilthe NDA into relentlessfirefighting. Domestic andinternational ramificationsof such a choice wouldneed careful thought. WithBJP gaining over Congressfor the first time in years,the mood in the mainopposition is upbeat.Having failed to make animpact despite terrorismand price rise, BJP sees achance to forge ahead.

Modi is BJP's hot favourite for PM post

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The Rajya Sabha createdhistory when the Housepassed a motion toremove a judge. TheHouse passed the motionto remove JusticeSoumitra Sen, a judge ofthe Calcutta High Court,who is accused of fundmisappropriation when hewas a lawyer.

The motion to removeJustice Sen, moved byCPI(M) MP SitaramYechury was passed with189 MPs voting in favourand 17 against it.

The motion will nowmove to the Lok Sabhaand the same process willbe repeated on August 26and 27. If the motion isalso adopted in the LokSabha, a recommendationwill be sent to PresidentPratibha Patil that thejudge be removed.

Earlier Arun Jaitley led

the BJP charge in theRajya Sabha, againstJustice Sen and called it a'fit case of misconduct' bya judge.

Jaitley called for anational judicial commis-sion to be set up to checkerrant judges, and objec-tive criterion be followedfor selecting judges.

While defending him-self, Justice Sen hadargued that he hadn't mis-appropriated funds as acourt receiver and evengave details of chequesthat he had used to returnthe money.

Sen had got 90 min-utes to defend himselfagainst charges of misap-propriating funds byclaiming he had been vic-timised. Sen repeatedlyblamed former ChiefJustice KG Balakrishnanfor his predicament.

Rajya Sabha passes motionto remove Justice Sen

Jaya converts new assemblybuilding into hospital The 10-day Ganesh festi-

val will, for the first time,have 280 girls from StdsVIII and IX serving aspurohits. The girls, alongwith 70 boys, are beinggroomed in performingpuja to install the idol ofLord Ganesha in homesacross Mumbai Central.

The 350 children fromAbhyudaya Nagar,Kalachowkie, for the pastmonth have been practis-ing the mantras and ritualsfor the big day. The ideawas the brainchild ofNaresh Dahibawkar, thepresident of theBrihanmumbai GaneshUtsav Samanvay Samiti(BGUSS).

Ganesh festival to

have 280 girl purohits

Twenty six MLAs - 24 ofthe Congress and two fromthe Telugu Desam - loyalto YSR Congress Partypresident Y.S. JaganmohanReddy submitted their let-ters of resignation here.

Three more CongressMLAs, Konda Surekha,Jayasudha Kapoor andKunja Satyavathi, who hadsubmitted their resigna-tions in support of separateTelangana earlier, expressedsolidarity with them. Theydid submit letters afresh asthey had approached thecourt against the Speaker’sdecision to reject them,they said.

The MLAs came in aprocession from the partyoffice, paid tributes to thestatues of YSR andAmbedkar enroute beforeproceeding together to theAssembly in a bus. Theytendered their resignationsin the prescribed format toLegislature Secretary S.Raja Sadaram as SpeakerNadendla Manohar wasnot present.

Speaking to reporters,

former Minister P. SubashChandra Bose said the res-ignations were tendered inprotest against attempts tomalign the image of formerChief Minister late Y.S.Rajasekhara Reddy whobrought the Congress partyin Andhra Pradesh topower twice. The lateleader instilled confidenceamong the people throughhis 1,470-km padayatra andcontinued it with a series ofwelfare programmes cover-ing all sections.

The Congress leaders,however, launched a vilifi-cation campaign after hisuntimely death and con-spiracy was hatched toerase his memories frompublic life. The rulingparty explored legaloptions and used the CBIto project YSR as the mainaccused.

“We cannot continueany longer in the face ofthese attempts to deni-grate the late leader inspite of his contributionsto the party and people,”Mr. Bose said.

26 MLAs loyal to Jagansubmit resignations

Narendra Modi

Jayalalithaa

Asian Voice - Saturday 27th August 201126 InDIA

In focusSonia to returns from US this week

UPA chief Sonia Gandhi is expected to return to Delhi onAugust 30, Congress sources said. She has been in theUS, where her party said she was recovering from sur-gery. The Congress said it would not confirm the natureof her medical problem. Different media reports said MrsGandhi was at the Sloane-Kettering Cancer Centre inNew York, though this was not confirmed by Congressspokespersons. Mrs Gandhi's return, her party says, hasnot been hastened by the crisis that has engulfed the gov-ernment over Anna Hazare's hunger strike.

10 passengers burnt alive in busAt least 10 passengers were burnt alive and 22 othersinjured when the bus in which they were travelling inwas torched during a clash between two transporters inBadwani district of Madhya Pradesh on Sunday, policesaid. Police said that the bus, belonging to AshokTravels, was set on fire at Sedhav Balmukund area,over 300 km from state capital Bhopal. “There was afight among two bus operators and one operator's peo-ple torched Ashok Travels' bus in which at least 10 peo-ple were killed,” police added.

40 pilgrims die in mishap

A flatbed trailer carrying pilgrims to a Hindu templeoverturned and fell into a roadside pond in northernIndia, killing at least 40 people Monday, police said. Atleast 12 people were injured in the accident in Ballia dis-trict in Uttar Pradesh state, police official Brij Lal said.The pilgrims were riding on the flatbed trailer pulled bya farm tractor on their way to a temple to mark theHindu festival of Janashtami, the traditional anniversaryof Lord Krishna's birth, Lal said. The vehicle was carry-ing more than 60 passengers, most of them women andchildren, he said. Most of the victims drowned.

West Bengal to be renamed Paschim BangaThe West Bengal government and the opposition par-ties unanimously decided to rename the state PaschimBanga, state Industries Minister Partha Chatterjeeannounced. "It has been unanimously decided by allthe parties under the leadership of our Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee that from now onwards West Bengalwill be called Paschim Banga. From now onwards, inEnglish also, the name of our state will be written asPaschim Banga," Chatterjee said while addressing amedia conference here.

More Congress ministers join Mamata GovtFive Congress MLAs were sworn-in as Ministers of Statein Mamata Banerjee's government on Friday, taking thestrength of the government to 43, one short of the sanc-tioned strength of 44. The five, sworn-in by Governor M KNarayanan, were Pramathanath Roy, Manoj Chakraborti,Abu Naser Khan Chowdhury, Sunil Chandra Tirkey andSabina Yasmin. The Congress already has two Cabinetministers - Manas Bhunia and Abu Hena.

Kerala CM, ministers at IIM to learnmanagement mantra

It was back to the classroom for Kerala Chief MinisterOommen Chandy and his 19 cabinet colleagues as theygathered at the Indian Institute of Management (IIM)-Kozhikode to learn the nuances of management andexplore how to enhance the state's potential in variousareas. 'Our state has a lot of strengths and also weak-nesses. Only after we recognise these can we actaccordingly,' Chandy told students during an interac-tion ahead of the 'lesson'. Chandy and his cabinet col-leagues arrived in the classroom before 9 a.m. He eveninstructed his ministers to switch off their mobiles.

Chiranjeevi formally joins CongressTelugu superstar Chiranjeevi, who had merged his PrajaRajyam Party with the Congress sometime back, formallyjoined the party and hailed Rahul Gandhi as the country's'ray of hope' and future prime minister. Chiranjeevi, wholed the PRP in Andhra Pradesh, filled up a form seekingprimary membership of the Congress at a function at theAICC headquarters in the presence of Rahul Gandhi andsenior leaders. "I will remain in the Congress for the restof my life. I will be a loyal worker," the actor said.

4 top Hizbul militants surrender in J&KFour top militants of Hizbul Mujahideen outfit, includ-ing a self divisional commander, surrendered beforepolice in Kulgam district of south Kashmir last week."Police achieved a major success by forcing the surren-der of longest surviving and only active militant groupof Hizbul Mujahideen Pir Panchal Regiment (HMPPR)in the state at Kulgam," a police spokesman said. Hesaid the surrender of the militants came after joint oper-ations conducted by police, army and CRPF in Kulgamand Reasi districts on either side of Pir Panjal MountainRange. The surrendered militants have been identifiedas Mohammad Rafiq Sheikh alias Basharat, BashirAhmad alias Rashid, Mohammad Maqbool alias Majidand Mohammad Shafi alias Haroon Rashid.

A multi-party parliamen-tary delegation fromPakistan interacted withtheir Indian counterpartsduring the second roundof the Indo-PakP a r l i a m e n t a r i a n s 'Dialogue, where bothsides reviewed the rela-tions between the twoneighbours and stressedon the need for a liberalvisa regime.

The Pakistan delega-tion, which left for Indiaon August 17, was co-ledby Senate DeputyChairman Senator Jan

Muhammad Khan Jamaliand National AssemblyDeputy Speaker andMNA Faisal Karim Kundi.

People to people con-tacts were recognised asthe single most importantconfidence buildingmeasure. Both sidesagreed that easing travelrestrictions is of theutmost importance, andrecommended visaregimes to be implement-ed keeping in perspectivethose extended to friendlycountries.

Other issues that were

also deliberated upon dur-ing the first day of the dia-logue, included terrorism,Jammu and Kashmir,water, the role of media,removal of the trustdeficit and developing afuture mechanism tocarry forward the parlia-mentary dialogue process,the Daily Times reports.

According to a jointstatement, both sideswere in complete agree-ment that it is in the jointand respective interest ofIndia and Pakistan thatpeace, security and stabil-

ity be established betweenthe two countries. Theparliamentarians said it isof the highest importancethat the progress made sofar by the resumption ofIndo-Pak bilateral talks be"consolidated by urgentlyaddressing, through thedialogue, all outstandingissues including Jammuand Kashmir, Siachen andSir Creek, as also thechallenge of terrorism inall its forms and manifes-tations including the fol-low-up of 26/11 Mumbaiterrorist attacks."


Let the government man-date somebody officially.We are waiting for a politi-cal dialogue. Today there isneed for a political dia-logue. It is not a technicalissue. It is not a bureau-cratic issue. It is a politicalproblem," Anna's closeaide, Arvind Kejriwal said.

"There has to be apolitical solution ratherthan saying go and makeyour case to the StandingCommittee. That is not theway," he said.

He said officially theyhave not got any proposal

from the government.Asked about various pro-posals being talked about,Kejriwal said, "There aretwo options. The govern-ment can withdraw its billand introduce the JanLokpal Bill or the govern-ment can bring amend-ments to the existing bill.The government shouldmake a list on the points itagrees or disagrees on".

However, Kejriwal saidAnna has not insisted thathe will talk only withPrime MinisterManmohan Singh orCongress GeneralSecretary Rahul Gandhi.

Team Anna is main-taining that no formaltalks have begun even asclose aides of spiritualleader Bhayyuji Maharajhanded over a fresh 11-point proposal to Hazarelate in the night. However,they could not meet theGandhian as he was sleep-ing.

Kejriwal said govern-ment should look into the22 points on which thereare disagreements and saywhich ones are acceptable.

Meanwhile, PrimeMinister ManmohanSingh has called an all-party meeting on

Wednesday to seek an endto nationwide protests byAnna whose health is agrowing concern. Unionfinance minister PranabMukherjee has beenappointed as governmentmediator with TeamAnna.

Anna supporters onTuesday held a protest out-side the private residenceof Manmohan Singh inChandigarh. Another setof protesters laid siegenear the residence ofunion parliamentaryaffairs minister PawanBansal, who is also theChandigarh MP.

Anna Hazare sticks to Aug 30 deadline for Jan Lokpal Bill


In Tuesday's DailyTelegraph it has beenreported that Curry entre-preneurs have confirmedthat tough new immigra-tion laws on non-EUworkers mean they can’thire the skilled workersfrom South Asia they relyon. A number of jobs sitvacant in the industry –which is worth anestimated ￡3.5bn – withtoo few skilled workersavailable in Europe andwilling apprentices hard tocome by. The Home Officecurrently requires that allIndian immigrants work-ing as chefs must be ableto speak English, be edu-cated to NVQ level fourwith five years’ experienceat a postgraduate level,and be paid a minimum

salary of ￡28,260.The closure of Tier 1 to

general applicants hasbeen the nail on the coffin.Sanjay Anand of Madhu'ssays that many of the bestchefs don’t have any for-mal education. “Some ofthe very skilled peopledon’t even speak English.Are we saying we can’tbring in top skills?”

He also complains thatsome of the details in thenew rules are “beyond ajoke”. “Any restaurant thatdoes takeaways isn’t eligi-ble for getting chefs infrom outside. Tell me arestaurant that doesn’t dotakeaways, unless they’rein Mayfair or Park Lane?So only 20 or 30 restau-rants out of 8,000 are eligi-ble? Whoever made thatdecision needs to put him-self in our shoes.”

“I won’t even bothermaking an application forthe next chef we need.This will stop growth inmy business. I won’t opena restaurant in centralLondon and I won’tencourage my son to gointo more work and worryabout how we service it,”he says.

The company is con-sidering establishing atraining and apprentice-ship programme that willsee his existing skilledchefs train willing workersin the skills he demands,but this will be done “atthe cost of something else”and Anand is also con-cerned he won’t be able tofind willing trainees.Smaller restaurants whocan’t afford their owntraining schemes, mean-while, will simply go out of

business, he fears. Hispreference would be tolobby the Government forspecial dispensation, buthe suspects part of theproblem is that the indus-try lacks representation.Perhaps it will fall toAnand to organise a rally-ing call. “It’s a huge indus-try and we need a voice.”

Kapil Singh who runsa small restaurant in aLondon suburb says,"This whole system of notletting skilled chefs tocome from abroad is avery silly method. Whycan't the government havea separate rule for thosewilling restaurants to getchefs on a special workpermit? Expecting smallerrestaurants like us spon-sor and then have a disap-pointing result- is a com-plete disaster."

Visa misery leads to curry crisis

The Narendra Modi gov-ernment appointed a com-mission headed by retiredSupreme Court judge M BShah to probe allegationsof corruption against thestate government over thelast few years.

The commission willprobe the 17 allegations,barring two which are sub-judice, which the Congresslevelled against the Modigovernment in a memoran-dum submitted recently toPresident Pratibha Patil.

The announcementcame at a time when thestate government is beingcriticized for not appoint-ing a Lokayukta for the

last six years, and there issupport for Hazare’s anti-corruption crusade acrossthe country.

G o v e r n m e n tspokesperson Jay NarayanVyas said the decision wasin keeping with “impor-tance of transparency inpublic life”. The commis-sion is expected to submitits report by March 31,2012. The scope of theinquiry will also cover roleof state governments ingiving relaxations toindustrial houses post-1980. These were years ofthe Congress rule inGujarat.

The probe will also

cover if concessions weregiven to the Nano projectin Sanand, if land wasgiven at concessional rateto the Adani group atMundra, if Essar groupwas handed over forestland in Hazira, if a compa-ny owned by BJP leaderVenkaiah Naidu has beengiven land at a negligiblerate near the Pakistaniborder, and so on.

It includes the SujalamSufalam scam, whoseinquiry report the govern-ment has kept underwraps for the last sixmonths. The panel willstudy and compare withother states the land allo-

cation, analyse sales tax/commercial taxes, stampduty and all tax conces-sions and deferment oftaxes.

Vyas blamed theCongress’s negative attitudefor the non-appointment ofLokayukta and said theopposition leader refused toco-operate with the CMover the appointment.

Aretired judge of theSC and former chief jus-tice of Bombay high court,Justice Shah is also vice-chairman of the SpecialInvestigations Team (SIT)constituted to monitor theprobe into black moneystashed abroad.

Modi appoints panel to probe graft charges

Indo-Pak parliamentarians callfor liberal visa regime


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Ganesh Chaturthi or Vinayak Chathurthi,which falls on 1st of September this year,is celebrated by Hindus around the worldas the birthday of Lord Ganesha. It isobserved during the Hindu month ofBhadra (mid-August to mid-September).The grandest and most elaborate of themis celebrated in Maharashtra, lasts for 10days, ending on the day of 'AnantaChaturdashi'.

People bring home murtis of LordGanesha and worship him in a specialway for a day and a half, 5 days, 7 days or11 days depending on the family traditionand commitment of each individual. Onthe last day of worship the idol is takenout in a colourful procession to beimmersed in water.

This is one of the most popular festi-vals of India. There are several reasons forthis. Lord Ganesha is a popular God. Hisblessings are invoked at most religiousceremonies as He is the one who canremove all obstacles to success. He is thegiver of fortune and can help to avoid nat-ural calamities.The Grand Celebration

On the day of the festival, idol ofGanesh is placed on raised platforms inhomes or in elaborately decorated out-door tents for people to view and paytheir homage. The priest then invokeslife into the idol amidst the chanting ofmantras. This ritual is called'pranapratishhtha'. After this, the 'shho-dashopachara' (16 ways of paying tribute)

follows. Coconut, jaggery, 21 'modakas'(rice flour prepara-tion), 21'durva' (tre-foil) bladesand red flow-ers areoffered. Theidol is anoint-ed with redunguent orsandal paste(rakta chandan).Throughout theceremony, Vedichymns from the RigVeda and GanapatiAtharva ShirshaUpanishad, andGanesha stotrafrom theN a r a d aPurana arechanted.

For 10 days,from BhadrapadShudh Chaturthito the AnantaC h a t u r d a s h i ,Ganesha is wor-shipped. On the 11thday, the image is taken through thestreets in a procession accompanied withdancing, singing, to be immersed in ariver or the sea symbolizing a ritual see-off of the Lord in his journey towards his

abode in Kailash while taking awaywith him the misfor-

tunes of allmen. Alljoin in thisfinal pro-c e s s i o n

s h o u t i n g"Ganapathi

B a p p aM o r y a ,

Purchya VarshiLaukariya" (O

father Ganesha,come again early

next year). Afterthe final offering

of coconuts,flowers andcamphor ismade, peoplecarry the idolto the river toimmerse it.

Thousandsof processions

converge on thebeaches to immersethe holy idols inthe sea. This pro-

cession and immer-sion is accompanied by drum- beats,devotional songs and dancing. It is forbid-den to look at the moon on that day as themoon had laughed at Ganesha when hefell from his vehicle, the rat. With the

immersion of the idol amidst the chantingof "Ganesh Maharaj Ki Jai!," the festivalends with pleas to Ganesha to return thenext year with chants of "Ganpati bappamorya, pudcha varshi laukar ya" (HailLord Ganesh, return again soon nextyear.)

Ganesha is the god of wisdom andprosperity and is invoked before thebeginning of any auspicious work by theHindus. It is believed that for the fulfill-ment of one's desires, his blessing isabsolutely necessary. According to themythology, he is the son of Shiva andParvati, brother of Kartikeya - the generalof the gods, Lakshmi - the goddess ofwealth and Saraswati-the goddess oflearning. There are numerous stories inHindu mythology, associated with thebirth of this elephant-headed god, whosevehicle is the Mooshak or rat and wholoves Modaks (droplet shaped Indiansweet).

Legend has it that Parvati createdGanesha out of the sandalwood doughthat she used for her bath and breathedlife into him. Letting him stand guard atthe door she went to have her bath. Whenher husband, Shiva returned, the childwho had never seen him stopped him.Shiva severed the head of the child andentered his house. Parvati, learning thather son was dead, was distraught andasked Shiva to revive him. Shiva cut offthe head of an elephant and fixed it on thebody of Ganesha.

festival

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Ganesh Chaturthi: one of the most popular festivals of India

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Purvi’s travel bagBy Purvi Apurva Shah

Kashmir: The

Heaven on Earth

Kashmir, the Venice ofAsia, is known as the par-adise on earth. The snowcovered valleys and theblossoming flowers wouldmake you feel as if heavenhas a close resemblanceto this beautiful corner ofthe earth. The beauty ofKashmir lures tourists

from every nook and cor-ner of the world. Thisregion has many attractivedestinations like Srinagar,Gulmarg, Pahalgam, Leh,Zanskar, Kargil, Patnitop,etc. One has to spare atleast one day in each des-tination as they will take2-3 hours from Srinagar.

Who says snow sportscannot be enjoyed inIndia? Kashmir winter isfull of winter sports. Evenfor those who just want toenjoy a bit of cold andsnow and lot of flowers,early March and lateNovember are must visitmonths.

It’s just an hour and15 min flight from Delhi toSrinagar and takes approx14 hours by road. (873km).

While travelling onecan come across someinteresting signboards onthe road such as “Be gen-tle on my curves,” “If you

are married, divorcespeed” and “Mountainsare a pleasure if you drivewith leisure.” Kashmir on boat

First go to Srinagarand later from there, youcan visit Gulmarg,

Pahalgam and otherplaces around. There sim-ply is no better way toexperience Kashmir thanby staying on an authentichouseboat in Srinagar. Afloat in Dal Lake while liv-ing in a houseboat is anamazing experience.Fidous are the largest

house boats, they are veryupscale and lush. Theyare considered floatingpalaces while Khushalhouseboats are like 3-starhotel. Nishat are the mostintimate of the house-

boats, popular for honey-mooners. Years ago, theBritish redesigned theboats to suit their require-ments, marking the begin-ning of the houseboatindustry. Right now, there

are almost 1,200 house-boats. The interiors aretypically Persian with intri-cate craftsmanship. Thefurniture was heavy andornate, upholstery rich.With woven Kashmiri car-pets lined the floor lending

it a royal look. Shikara, the real feelof Kashmir

Shikara is worth goingfor, when you can pamperyourself lying comfortablyin the boat that is floatingin beautiful waters. Youwill touch the glowing raysof the sun and see thebeautiful landscape withKashmiri culture buzzingaround. You will see howthe Dal Lake residentshave lived since manycenturies ago: growingvegetables on the plots ofland on the lake, runningerrands on boats, going toschool by boats, buyingand selling from boats,even a tiny boy can easilydo boating, that is the wayof their routine trans-portation. Few things must:

• Sip the popularKawa-Kashmiri green teawith cinnamon

• Window shop at afloating market on Dallake- bargain heavily!

• Buy dry fruits andkesar from NoorMohammed (en route to

Srinagar from Pehelgam)• Buy Kashmiri willow

cricket bats for yourself orthe cricket fans backhome

• Dress up in tradition-al Kashmiri attire and geta picture clicked

• Visit the MughalGardens and identifyscenes from Bollywoodmovies shot there

• Drink cold, freshwater from the spring atChashma Shahi and findyourself burping later on

• Indulge yourself withRajma Chawal with gheeat a local dhaba

• Visit Hazratbal Shrinewearing a burkha- it iscompulsory.

• Go through three-four layers of securitychecks at the SrinagarAirport while departing

The most memorablebuilding in Srinagar is awooden mosque decorat-ed, inside and outside,with papier-mache.

Eid-Ul-Fitr, commonlyknown as Eid, is the mostimportant festival ofMuslims. Muslims allover the world celebratethis occasion with greatdevotion and joviality. Itdenotes the end of'Ramadan', the month offasting and beginning ofthe new month called'Shawwal'. On this festiveoccasion, devotees breaktheir fast with specialprayers and merriment.Special foods and delica-cies are prepared and dis-tributed to neighboursand friends. The festivalof Eid is devoted to thespirit of love, sharing,peace and brotherhood.

This year Eid will becelebrated on August31st, 2011 (depending onnew moon). It is a ‘festi-val of breaking the fast'and celebrating the firstday after sighting themoon of 'Shawaal' (tenthmonth of Islamic calen-dar).Fasting during the day

During the month,Muslims observe day-long fast and offer specialprayers to almighty.During the fastthey don’t evendrink water. Theyeat only at night.Pious men spendthe day in prayerand reading theirholy book 'Quran'.Some spend the21st and 22nd daysof this month

mourning in memory ofAli, the Prophet's son-in-law, who died in thecause of their religion. Itwas during this monththat the holy Quran wasrevealed.

Eid means recurringhappiness or festivity.Speciality: The mostcommon food item isSevyani, also called kheermade of vermicellicooked in sweetenedmilk. One with milk anddates, called "ShirKhurma" is also a special-ity. Badam Phirni isanother sweet dish whichis a creamy milk desert.Sufi Malpua is a sweetdish made from milk,maida (flour) and sooji(rava). Haleem is astarter dish that is verypopular amongst theMuslim community ofNorth India, Pakistanand Persia. MuttonKorma, which is a richand spicy meat curry orNawabi Biryani is alsoserved. Legend: Muslims saytheir holy book camedown from heaven to the

earth one night duringthe last ten days of thismonth. When it came, thewhole of creation praisedAllah or God. It is alsobelieved that ProphetMuhammad announced aday for celebrations toreaffirm the feeling ofbrotherhood.The Festivity: In themorning everyone visitthe mosque for Eidprayers. Men wear whiteclothes because whitesymbolises purity andausterity. After the prayerthey exchange greetings.Prayers, family get-togethers and feasts arethe major highlights ofthe celebrations. Thefamily elders, conveyingtheir blessings give 'Idi' orpresents of money to theyoungsters.

They believe thatthose who do not givealms on this day will notgo to heaven after death.After offering alms, theygo to the house of the'Qazi' or the chief priestto request him to conductthe prayers. Then they allgo together in procession

to the chosen spot,and offer theirprayers. After thec o n g r e g a t i o n a lprayer, the Qazispeaks on religion,and finally prays toGod to forgivethem of their sinsand bless them withhealth, wealth andprosperity.

Eid – a festival of love,peace and brotherhood

Asian Voice - Saturday 27th August 2011 29HealtH Watch

The indication of pain isthe body’s way of tellingus that there is somethingwrong and needs ‘fixing’.Injury or infection maylead to inflammation andbecome chronic due tofactors like poor diet,stress, lack of exercise,and exposure to the envi-ronment.

The uses of herbalextracts and oils have tra-ditionally been used inAyurvedic preparationsfor treating the underlyingcauses of pain and mod-ern research and studieshave documented thetherapeutic effects to easepain caused by muscletension, neuropathy,migraine, and inflamma-tion. Some common herbslike ginger and turmericare known for anti-inflam-matory properties; where-

as rosemary, pine, andvalerian for headachesand muscle spasms; otherherbs have anti-viral, anti-bacterial or paininhibitors to treat almostany type of pain.

Topical pain solutionspenetrate through skinand deep into the musclesand tissues of the body.The effects of some combi-nations increase blood andlymph flow throughvasodilatation where asother components haveanti-inflammatory, paininhibitory, muscle relaxantand detoxification effects.Some micro-moleculessoothe, calm and relax byinteracting with the nerv-ous system.

Treating the cause ofpain with natural productsallows the body to repairitself for a long-term

effect, without disruptingnormal body functions.Although there are manyproducts on the market,almost all of them do notcomply with toxicologytesting or with the highUK manufacturing stan-dards. It is wise to avoidthese types of products.

However, there arecompanies like Veda Aidthat combine traditionalknowledge with modernresearch to discover newformulations based on nat-ural micro-molecules.Veda Aid manufacture inthe UK to GMP style phar-maceutical processes pro-ducing solutions for therelief of 'Daily MuscularAches and Pain’.

For additional infor-mation contact Veda AidLtd on 020 8977 3737 orvisit www.veda-aid.com

Relieve Daily Muscular Pain Naturally

Many parents refer to theirchildren as little ‘riots’when they go throughtheir naughty phases inchildhood but no parentwould ever imagine raisinga child that grabs theopportunity to loot busi-nesses, attack strangersand steal their property to‘make a stand’.

Recent press coverageof the events in Londonand elsewhere has beenshocking and heart-wrenching. As a parent,what I found the mostdepressing is that many ofthe ‘rioters’ were youngchildren, teenagers and ofcourse some older ‘oppor-tunists’ who joined in tothe mayhem on ourstreets. Of course, a lotof the rioters were fromareas of unemploymentand underprivilegedupbringing but does thatexcuse their behavior?

Where were the par-ents of those causingsuch mayhem in theirlocal communities?Where was the ‘moralscale’ amongst those thattook advantage of shopfloors open to theft? Isaw a photo in the localpress of a few ‘hoodies’gathered around their‘loot’, their face full ofpride. Where is the self-consciousness of rightand wrong in these

teenagers? I am not sure if you

noticed but these ‘under-privileged’ and ‘unem-ployed’ youth still hadenough money to bedressed in Nike trainersand designer hoodies. Ofcourse, electronics shopsand designer clothesshops were reasonenough to be broken intobut of course the book-shops remain untouched.Oh yes, the rioters oftoday only make their‘point’ by looting shopsthat they can benefitfrom. After all, whoneeds books?

I followed the trail ofsome of the teenagersarrested post all the may-hem only to be releasedon ‘caution’ due to theirage and/or severity of thecrime. What lesson doesthis teach these children?When they are oldenough to commit acrime, they should be oldenough to take the pun-ishment. Don’t get mewrong, I wouldn’t wish tosee a young adult go toprison but at the veryleast, I would haveexpected them to dosome community serviceto clear up the graffiti intheir local areas or clearup after the mess of theirso called friends.

I know some have

mocked the events of thepast few weeks. Oneyoung adult actually con-fessed to me (jokingly)that she was offended shehadn’t received a BBMmessage asking her tojoin in. Since when is itfunny to joke about anold pensioners housebeing burnt? Since whenis it funny to see a smallbusiness that feeds anentire family destroyed?Since when is it funny tosee our much neededpublic funding ‘wasted’on police protection forunjustified riots? Sincewhen is it funny to wit-ness our youth behavingin a way that hangs ourheads in shame?

I often write aboutpositive parenting andthe role of a parent in achilds upbringing.Perhaps parents of therioters can hold a mirrorup to their face and askthemselves whether theyare proud to be parents tothese thugs? For now, Ihope the tough sentenc-ing being issued by thejudges will teach these‘children’ a lesson theywon’t forget in a hurry! Quote:

“There is enough inthe world for everyone’sneed, but not for every-one’s greed”

– Frank Buchman

Rotten Rioters

By Radhika Madlani

Should you have any comments or want to get in touch with me you can email on [email protected]

Drinking pomegranatejuice daily could ease one'sstress at the workplace byreducing blood pressureand lowering stress hor-mone levels. Researchersat Queen MargaretUniversity, Edinburgh, inBritain, studied the physi-ological effect of daily con-sumption of half litre ofpomegranate juice over atwo-week period.

They found that all 60volunteers, from a range of

working environments,reported being more enthu-siastic and less distressedafter having the drink.

Emad Al-Dujaili, wholed the study, said 'on thebasis of these findings

there is a justified argu-ment for busy workers todrink pomegranate juice tohelp alleviate chronic stressand maintain good health.'

'There is a growing bodyof evidence that pomegran-ate juice delivers wide-ranging health benefits thatmerit further research. It isvery rare indeed for an all-natural juice to offer therange of health benefits thatwe are seeing in pomegran-ate juice.'

Doctors at All IndiaInstitute of MedicalSciences, Delhi, are nowworking on a herbal wayto help cancer patientscope with the side-effectsof chemotherapy.

Oncologists at the hos-pital have been experi-menting with ginger rootpowder in order to reducethe severity of thechemotherapy inducednausea vomiting (CINV).

Nausea and vomitingare the major side effectsthat a cancer patientencounters afterchemotherapy treatment.

“The severity ofchemotherapy inducednausea vomiting wasreduced by ginger, ourexperiments showed. After

the success of the study,we can say that there is aneed to have ginger rootpowder available as cap-sules in varied dosages inorder to use it as an add-ontherapy in patients receiv-ing chemotherapy withhigh vomiting potential,”said an AIIMS doctor.

He said that dosageswere administered accord-ing to the weight of theperson. While those whoweighed between 20 kg to40 kg were given 167 mgof ginger root powder cap-sules, those in the weightcategory of 40 kg to 60 kgwere given 400 mg. Sixcapsules were given at dif-ferent time intervals afterstart of chemotherpy infu-sion.

“Even though gingerroot powder was effectivein reducing the severity ofacute and delayed CINV, itdid not eliminate themcompletely. The capsuleswere well tolerated by thechildren and young adultsin our study and there wasno side effect,” he said.

Ginger can help reduceside-effects of chemotherapy

Researchers have foundthat a simple fitness testcan predict long-term riskfor heart attack, stroke inmiddle-aged people.

In two separate stud-ies, UT SouthwesternMedical Centerresearchers found thathow fast a middle-ageperson can run a mile canhelp predict the risk ofdying of heart attack orstroke decades later formen and could be an earlyindicator of cardiovascu-lar disease for women.

“Heart disease tendsto cluster at older ages,but if you want to preventit, our research suggeststhat the prescription forprevention needs to occurearlier – when a person isin his 40s and 50s,” saidDr. Jarett Berry, assistantprofessor of internal med-icine and a correspondingauthor on both studies.

Researchers in thisstudy found that a higherfitness level lowered thelifetime risk of heart dis-

ease even in people withother risk factors.

The researchers alsofound that the sametreadmill test predictshow likely a person is todie of heart disease orstroke more accuratelythan assessing the riskusing only typical predic-tion tools such as bloodpressure and cholesterollevels.

“Nearly all womenunder 50 years of age areat low risk for heart dis-ease,” said Berry.

“However, as womenget older, their riskincreases dramatically. Inour study, we found thatlow levels of fitness wereparticularly helpful inidentifying women at riskfor heart disease over thelong term,” added Berry.

Run a mile to predict heartattack, stroke risk

Pomegranate juice can ease workplace stress

The Sun moves intoyour solar sixth house, the

accent shifts to your job interests and physical welfare.Do not try to rush projects to completion - pace yourselfsensibly. At the moment, relationships are experiencingmajor transformations - those with shaky foundationsshould be extra careful.

Your horizons are mostcertainly expanding. Your

philosophical thoughts will make your mind run wild.With Jupiter transiting your house of gains, there will bemany opportunities. Your financial affairs are lookingup. Do not miss out on ways to better yourself in thecoming weeks.

Keep your assertiveinclination under control as conflict and disagreementcould be sparked off by your short-sightedness. Thinkcarefully about the implications of your actions.Financially, expect things to run a relatively steadycourse - it is a time for consolidation rather thanspeculation.

You can expecteverything to run

smoothly and luck to attend your efforts. However,underneath this positive surface you may be plagued bya feeling of restlessness, an uneasy feeling thatsomething is not quite right. Try to srike a balancebetween material and emotional affairs !

You will have the distinctfeeling that everything is moving ahead at a verysatisfying pace. Indeed, you will be in a forward-lookingmood, more inclined to reflect on the future and itspotentials. The power of destiny is very much in yourown hand and any major decision you make will have aprofound effect on your future.

Venus, the planet oflove and beauty, is

transiting your solar 1st house. You have plenty ofromantic options. Financially you are still not out of thewoods, so do not be hasty when buying At work you willexperience a relaxed atmosphere and this will help youto get on with everyone around you.

You will be pleased tosee that your social life livens up during this week. Itis as if a lucky twist of events and somethingunexpected that will provide you with a key to yourheart's desire. There is a definite expansive trend wheremoney is concerned, so do not be surprised if this turnsout be a time of fortunate opportunities and luckybreaks.

With Venus riding highin your 11th house leisure and creativity, you should

enjoy a very popular phase in your life where everyonewants to invite you to parties. This will give you achance to meet people of your own calibre and pursueany romantic liaisons that might present themselves.

Much enthusiasmgoes into professional

ambitions right now, but you need to be your own bossin many ways. Circumstances will make you moredetermined to place your lifestyle on a foundation ofgreater security. Far-reaching change begins to gathermomentum.

At home, be atyour diplomatic best

and try not to tread on anyone's toes. Passions will runfrom hot to cold, and relationships may suffer. Eventhe most strong-willed Capricornians will be more opento compromise to keep the peace. Plan your spendingand set sensible budgets to reach your financial goals.

The need to push aheadwith personal interests and

to assert yourself with added force will take precedenceover everything else for some time to come. Mentally youwill be in top form, perhaps feeling quite passionate aboutexpressing your ideas and views. This is also a time whenyou will develop fresh insights into other people.

Long-term partnerships arereinvigorated. Whether you’re single or attached you’ll havea busy time ahead of you. Business partnerships are testedand the more you live up to your own set of principles themore cash you’ll pull in. At work you will experience arelaxed atmosphere and this will promote unity.

Anna Hazare's campaign spread all over India as a peaceful yet

radical revolution. Last week India celebrated its 65th

Independence day. Amit Kantilal Shah from Vadodara will present

some patriotic songs as well Jhaverchand Meghani's "Koino ladak

vayo". Amit will also present 'stavan' to commemorate the holy peri-

od of Parusuyan for our Jain fraternity.

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Coming Eventsl Following the launch of a new Time to Change anti-stigma campaign in Harrow in June, there is a hive ofactivity going on over the next few weeks encouragingpeople to be open and honest about mental health. 27th August (11am-4pm) Time to Change will take

over St George's shopping centre, bringing together acollection of artists performing to support the end ofstigma around mental health.

l Jain Vishva Bharati London is celebrating Paryushanin the auspicious presence of Samani Prasanna Pragyaji& Samani Vikas Pragyaji from 26 August - 2 September2011 from 7:30pm to 9:30pm at London Academy(Plaza 4 Rooms), Spur Road, Edgware, Middx HA88DEEveryday there will be English and Hindi

Pratikraman followed by separate sessions for Adults &Children in English. All welcome

l Shravan Maas Satsang at Shree Aden, 67A ChurchLane, London N2 8DR at 7:30-10:30pm from 1st-29thAugust. Contact: 020 8346 6686

l Open Forum and discussion: What is HinduismSaturday 20th, 27th August & 3rd, 10th September2011 from 8.30pm to 9.30pm, Shree Jalaram MandirGreenford on 0208 578 8088 / 9285

l Lions King of Kingsbury are holding a Mukesh &Rafi Night music by Muktar Shah on 16th Sept 2011at Harrow Leisure Centre from 7.30pm to late nightdinner provided. All proceeds from the event will go tobuliding class rooms in Kakamegha School in Kenya.For further details and tickets call Dinesh on 0208 4248686 or 07956810647.

l Shree Jalaram Mandir Greenford and The Board ofTrustees welcome you all for Darsha.Forthcoming events:- Navratri Festival: Wednesday 28th September toThursday 6th October 2011 from 8pm to 10pm- Durga ashtami havan: Tuesday 4th October 2011 from11am to 4pm Contact: 0208 578 8088, Shree JalaramMandir, 39-45 Oldfield Lane South, Greenford,Middlesex UB6 9LB

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l Bhajans - on Sunday 28th Aug - 3.00pm to 5.30pmby Shree Budhdevbhai Kansara, Shree ManubhaiKotak, Shree Subashbhai Sharma and Various Artistsfollowed by Arti and Maha Prasad for all.

l Shravan Mas Shiv Puja: Monday 29th August, for allvisitors every 15 minutes. 5.00pm

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COMPETITION- Correct answer

Who is the Music Director of Aarakshan? a. Shankar Ehsaan LoyWinners are:Surekha Chauhan, Bhavesha Mehta,Harman Unadkat

Asian Voice issorry to

announce thatthe networkinglunch with Mihir

Bose on 25thAugust is

cancelled forunavoidable

circumstances.

Striker Carlos Tevez has been left out ofthe star-studded Argentina footballsquad led by Barcelona supertstarLionel Messi for a friendly matchagainst Venezuela, which would beheld at the Salt Lake stadium onSeptember 2.

The Manchester City forward hasalso been ignored for another friendlymatch, against Nigeria, on September 6in Bangladesh.

Newly-appointed Argentina coachAlejandro Sabella included mostlyplayers plying their trade in Europeanleagues for the games againstVenezuela and Nigeria.

Tevez might have been overlookedbut his Manchester City teammateSergio Aguero has found a place in the26-member side that also has playerslike Angel Di Maria and GonzaloHiguain (both Real Madrid), JavierMascherano (Barcelona), MartinDemichelis (Mallaga) and JonasGutierrez (Newcastle United).

Squad : Lionel Messi (c), Angel DiMaria, Gonzalo Higuain, JavierMascherano, Ever Banega, EduardoSalvio, Martin Demichelis, FedericoFernandez, Ricardo Alvarez, NicolasBurdisso, Mariano Andujar, SergioRomero, Ezequiel Garay, FabianRinaudo, Nicolas Otamendi, SergioAguero, Pablo Zabaleta, JonasGutierrez, Javier Pastore, LuisGonzalez, Lisandro Lopez, CristianAnsaldi, Nicolas Pareja, Red MarcosJose Sosa, Stephen Andrada.

Messi mania grips KolkataMeanwhile, more than 15,000 tick-

ets have already been sold online forthe FIFA-sanctioned Sept. 2 match atthe 100,000-capacity Salt LakeStadium, but organizers are predictinga surge of sales in coming days whenthe squads are announced.

Football frenzies have struck inKolkata before, most notably whenBrazilian great Pele turned out for theUS club Cosmos in a friendly againstlocal club Mohan Bagan in 1977 andwhen German goalkeeper Oliver Kahnplayed for Bayern Munich againstBagan in 2008.

Local football administrator UtpalGanguly says this game is more impor-tant than those featuring Pele andKahn.

"Messi is in the prime of his careerwhereas Pele and Kahn played hereduring their twilight years," Gangulysaid. "I'm sure the crowd response willpick up once the list of players isannounced."

Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi won theirthird title of the season and first at Cincinnatiafter 10 years, following a hard-fought win overMichael Llodra and Nenad Zimonjic in thesummit clash of the Western and SouthernOpen. The third seeds edged past the fourthseeded French-Serbian combination 7-6(4), 7-6(2) after battling for one hour and 41 minutes.

"If you had asked me 10 years ago if wewould win here again 10 years later, I wouldhave started laughing that we'd still be playing,"Paes said after the win. "It's a great feeling tocome back and win in the summer. We didn'thave so much rhythm in Europe, but we man-aged to put it together this week. We've beatensome really big teams and are playing well. Forus, it's a big confidence booster for the US Open,but we still have a lot of work to do there."

This is the third title of the season for theIndian Express as they had triumphed at theSony Ericsson Open and Chennai Open.

Neither team dropped serve in the match."They are the hottest team and we had to playour best match of the year to beat them. Weserved and volleyed great, and played an errorfree match. When we had chances, we tookthem," Bhupathi said. The French-Serbian duowas looking to win their third straight title, hav-ing won the Legg Mason Tennis Classic inWashington DC and the Rogers Cup inMontreal last week. The defeat snapped theirsuperb 11-match win streak.

Asian Voice - Saturday 27th August 2011 31Sport wOrlD

World number four Andy Murray wonthe ATP's Cincinnati Masters title forthe second time as world number oneNovak Djokovic retired injured whiletrailing 6-4, 3-0.

Djokovic conceded just his seconddefeat of a season against 57 victories.

He was hindered during the matchby a sore right shoulder, a problemDjokovic had alluded to after his abbre-viated victory over similarly ailingTomas Berdych in the semifinals onSaturday.

"Obviously when he started to slowdown his serve toward the end of thefirst set it was going to be tough forhim," said Murray, who also won inCincinnati in 2008.

"Sometimes things can warm upwhen you play, sometimes they getworse. I just tried to stay focused."

Djokovic, who said wear and tearwas to be expected for a player goingdeep into tournaments week afterweek, admitted that his shoulder felt

worse than it had earlier in the week. But he insisted he would be ready for

the start of the US Open on August 29."The good thing is that there is a

week, eight days to the start of the USOpen. So I think that's enough time forme to get ready."

Murray made the most ofDjokovic's sluggish start to open the

match with a service break. Djokovic, who claimed a record

fifth Masters title of the season lastweek in Montreal, managed to breakback to knot the set at 3-3.

Murray broke back immediately,punctuating a baseline rally with a volleywinner that left Djokovic looking baffled.

Djokovic's serve continued to slowand after he pitched a forehand into thenet on set point he called for medicaltreatment, grimacing as the trainermanipulated his shoulder.

It wasn't enough, and Djokovic,barely able to reach for an overhead,called it a day shortly before a summerrainstorm swept across the court.

"I really tried," said Djokovic, whooffered apologies to the fans and tour-nament officials for failing to finish thematch. "Didn't make sense for me tocontinue."

"Not the way I wanted it to happen,"Murray said of becoming just the sec-ond man to beat Djokovic in 2011.

The injury-ravaged Indian cricket team’swretched tour of England just got worse withopener Virender Sehwag and pacer IshantSharma ruled out of the lone Twenty20 and five-match one-day series, starting August 31.

“Mr. Virender Sehwag and Mr. IshantSharma have been ruled out of the forthcomingODI series against England,” the BCCI secre-tary N. Srinivasan said in a statement.

On Ishant, the BCCI said that he “sustaineda ligament injury in his left ankle during theBirmingham Test of the ongoing series. He hasresponded well to treatment, but will need toundergo a course of intensive rehabilitation andtraining to prevent recurrence of the pain in hisleft ankle“.

Rookie 23-year-old opener Ajinkya Rahanehas been drafted into the squad to replaceSehwag, while Ishant’s place has been taken the21-year-old Varun Aaron, who did well in theEmerging Players’ Tournament in Australia.

“The All-India Senior Selection Committeehas named Ajinkya Rahane and Varun Aaron asthe replacements of the two players in the teamfor the T20 International and ODI series.

Both players will join the squad at the earli-est,” the BCCI said. Rahane has played 48 first-class matches, scoring 4673 runs at an impres-sive average of 67.72. Aaron has 25 wicketsfrom 11 first-class matches.

India is already without key players such aspace spearhead Zaheer Khan, off-spinnerHarbhajan Singh and batsman Yuvraj Singh inwhat is turning out to be a disaster of a tour.

The one-off Twenty20 International will beplayed on August 31 and the first of five ODIsis scheduled on September 3.

Virender Sehwag, Ishant Sharmaout of England ODI series

Murray wins Cincinnati Masters as Djokovic retires

Fourth-seeded Russian MariaSharapova survived an erratic perform-ance to win the Cincinnati WTA title,prevailing 4-6, 7-6 (7/3), 6-3 overSerbia's Jelena Jankovic. Sharapova,24, earned her second title of the sea-son after a triumph in Rome. Sheimproved on her runner-up finish toKim Clijsters here last year and gaveherself a momentum boost prior to theUS Open, the final Grand Slam of theseason that starts on August 29 in NewYork. But it was no easy matter.

After an aggressive start sawSharapova take a 4-1 lead, Jankovicwent on a roll, breaking the Russianthree times in a row and taking theopening set when Sharapova double-faulted. The shift recalled last year'sfinal, when Sharapova failed to convertthree match points against Clijsters andended up losing 2-6, 7-6 (7/4), 6-2.

Despite a stream of unforced errors --including a total of 11 double faults --Sharapova finally took the second set,winning the last five points of thetiebreaker. The third set started with sixstraight breaks of serve before Sharapovaheld for a 4-3 lead. Jankovic double-fault-ed twice to surrender the next game, leav-ing Sharapova to serve out the matchafter two hours and 49 minutes.

Sharapova wins titleMessi to lead Argentina inKolkata friendly, Tevez left out

Ken Barrington inducted into ICC Cricket Hall of FameFormer England batsmanKen Barrington was induct-ed into the ICC Cricket Hallof Fame during the tea inter-val of the fourth and finalTest between England andIndia at The Oval.

The late Barrington'scommemorative cap wasreceived by two of his formerEngland and Surrey team-mates John Edrich andMicky Stewart from ICCdirector and the England andWales Cricket BoardChairman Giles Clarke forhis induction into the Hall ofFame, a joint initiativebetween the ICC and theFederation of InternationalCricketers' Associations(FICA).

Barrington was born in1930 and is regarded as oneof England's most stylish

batsmen, in addition tobeing an occasional and use-ful leg break bowler. Hepassed away on 14 March1981.

Born in Reading,Barrington played for Surreythroughout his career as wellas representing England 82times in Test matches accu-

mulating an average of58.67, scoring 20 Test cen-turies in the process.

Barrington amassed6,806 Test runs and inEnglish Test batting circleshis career Test average isonly surpassed by EddiePaynter and another ICCCricket Hall of Famer,

Herbert Sutcliffe. Barrington's 256 in the

fourth Test at Old Trafford in1964 is the highest post-World War II century forEngland against Australiaand he twice made centuriesin four successive Tests.

He was the first Englandbatsman to make a hundredon all six of England's thentraditional Test grounds -Old Trafford, Edgbaston,Headingley, Lord's, TrentBridge and his home groundof The Oval.

"It is a great honour to bereceiving Ken's cap on hisbehalf. He was a fantasticteammate and a great manand is thoroughly deservingof this award and recogni-tion he is receiving todayfrom the ICC and FICA,"Edrich said.

Former England batsman Ken Barrington

LionelMessi

AndyMurray

Paes-Bhupathi winMasters after 10 years

By Premen Addy

At lunch on the final afternoon of theOval Test, there was a glimmer of hopethat India might salvage a modicum ofpride with a draw. Sachin Tendulkar andAmit Mishra, coming together at 118 theprevious evening, had held firm throughthe morning's play. A fifth-day wicketgave sufficient help to the bowlers, seamand spin, and it is needed sturdy defenceand good shot selection to keep themout. But half an hour into the sun-bakedpost-lunch session, the pendulum swungEngland's way. First, went the gallantMishra, bowled by Graeme Swann for abrave 84. He had come in as night watch-man and hadn't put a foot wrong untilthen. In the very next over Tim Bresnantrapped Tendulkar lbw for 91, his rear-guard action ending in heartbreak for themillions back home and the thousandson the ground and outside who werewilling on the Little Master to his elusive100th century in international cricket.Alas, it was not to be. He and we willhave to await another day.

The rest, as they say, is history.Suresh Raina bagged his second duck ofthe match. Much was expected of himand once again he failed to deliver.Neither did captain Mahendra SinghDhoni and Gautam Gambhir. It wasanother heavy defeat, this time by aninnings and 8 runs. Only KrishnamachariSrikkanth, the chairman of the selectorsand unlicensed jester of Indian cricket,can take comfort from this savage 4 - nilmauling. He is not to blame; indeed,

nobody is, he says unblushingly. Nobodycan be blamed for a bank heist, didn't youknow? Mr Srikkanth should be castadrift on the high seas or marooned onsome uninhabited island in some far cor-ner of the world, with ravenous sharks inthe surrounding waters to guarantee hisenforced exile from cricket and civilisa-tion. He predicts India will be back at thetop of the Test league within a year or so.He has clearly lost his mind, assuming hehad a mind at all.

Meanwhile, Andrew Hilditch, thechairman of the Australian selectors, whofound a string of positives from England'swhitewash of his team in last winter'sAshes contest, has just been sacked. Soshould Mr Srikkanth be, together withhis co-selectors and others responsible

heads in the Indian game. They are athundering disgrace, one and all. Begone!

To return, however, to the shambolicIndian performance. They were on theropes from day one. England declared at591 for 6, with Ian Bell cracking an impe-rious 235 and Kevin Pietersen an equallymajestic 175. In reply, India reached 300,the first time they had done so this series,thanks to Rahul Dravid's peerless,unbeaten 146. Having opened withVirender Sehwag, he remained uncon-quered, the third Indian batsman to havebatted through a Test innings after SunilGavaskar and Sehwag. His heroics wereto no avail. Remarkably, it was Dravid'sthird hundred in a rubber in which Indiawere pulped. He was the lone beacon onthe hill.

India will be using theDecision Review System(DRS), comprising the audiotracker and Hot Spot infra-red cameras, for the first timein all the 13 home interna-tional games later this year.

India have always beenvery vocal in its criticism ofthe DRS but it seems theBCCI is warming up for thetechnology as it will use theDRS for the first time whenit hosts England in a bilateralseries in October.

The ICC's new guidelinesmakes it mandatory to useDRS in Tests and ODIs andWarren Brennan, CEO ofBBG Sports, which owns theHot Spot camera technology,said BCCI has asked for thecameras for India's homeseason.

Brennan said that fourHot Spot cameras would bein use for the five ODIsagainst England and threeTests against the West Indies,while two cameras would bein place during the five-match ODI series against theWest Indies.

The BCCI doesn't havefaith and reliability on theball-tracker technology

which is being used in theDRS. It was also not con-vinced of the system as it isvery expensive.

In fact, senior batsmanSachin Tendulkar and Indiacaptain Mahendra SinghDhoni also share apprehen-sions about the accuracy ofthe technology.

Previously "clear stumpmikes", a Super Slo-Mo cam-era and ball-tracking technol-ogy were used in the DRS but

under the new regulations,infra-red cameras will replacethe ball-tracker system.

Under the mandatory useof DRS, teams can make twounsuccessful appeals againstan umpire's decision perinnings, in all formats of thegame.

Earlier this year, theDRS, without out the HotSpot cameras, was used dur-ing the 50-over World Cup inthe sub-continent.


Humiliated Indiaflatter to deceive

India to implement DRS forinternationals matches at home

Pakistan cricket coach Waqar Younisresigned, citing personal reasons, but saidhe would continue in his job through thismonth's tour of Zimbabwe.

"I have tendered my resignation to theBoard last week and the tour toZimbabwe will be my last," Waqar Younistold a press conference, just over a weekbefore the national team's departure forthe African country.

The 39-year-old former fast bowlertook over as coach in March 2010, but hassince faced controversies including thespot-fixing scandal that led to lengthybans for three cricketers, dissent fromplayers and differences with former one-day captain Shahid Afridi.

"I have taken this decision on personalgrounds, including medical grounds, andhave no differences with anyone and myresignation has been accepted by the(Pakistan Cricket) Board," said Waqar.

Pakistan plays one practice game, oneTest, three one-day internationals and twoTwenty20 matches on the tour ofZimbabwe which starts on August 28.

England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB)Chief Executive David Collier is confidentthat coach Andy Flower is committed toEngland and would not leave his job any-time soon.

"I think Andy made his position veryclear when the Indian situation happened.I think he is very settled in England andthat he may continue. I think the whole ofthe backroom team is very important,"Sky Sports quoted Collier, as saying.

"We've developed a structure over fiveto 10 years now that has not only deliv-ered plans, but has leapfrogged countriesin the world and we want to keep thatteam together," he added.

Flower, who has helped take Englandto the top of the Test rankings, had turneddown an approach to take over as Indiacoach before they appointed DuncanFletcher.

Collier also confirmed that the board isset to sign a new sponsorship deal.

"We're in final discussions regarding along-term relationship with new sponsors.We will be making an announcement inthe not too distant future," he said.

Andy Flowercommitted to England,

says ECB chief

Pakistan coach

Waqar Younis resigns

The World No. 1 Test team strikes a happy pose.

Skipper Shakib Al Hasan ledfrom the front with a fightinginnings of 79 before pickingup two wickets as Bangladeshdefeated Zimbabwe by 93runs to win the fifth and finalODI at Queens Sports Club.

It was Bangladesh's sec-ond successive win, butZimbabwe still claimed theseries 3-2 to add to their vic-tory in the one-off Testbetween the two nations.

After being put in to bat,Bangladesh made 253 for sixin their 50 overs beforeZimbabwe, who lost captainBrendan Taylor for a duck inthe second over, were skittledout for 160 with more than 11overs to spare.

Bangladesh had been 125for five at one stage beforeShakib, whose 79 came off 71balls and featured five bound-aries and a six, put on 109 forthe sixth wicket withMahmudullah who made 60.

It was Shakib's 21st one-day century. Mahmudullahwas undefeated at the end ofthe 50 overs with his runscoming off 67 deliveries withfive boundaries and a six tomatch his captain in the bighitting.

Shakib leadsBangladesh to

face-saving win

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