Jan13 Pages 1-26

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dr. sindwani’s Final JourneyLocal area politicians

and community leaders came to pay their respects at his funeral on Saturday,

January 7.

From left: Pramod Kulkarni, Krishna Giri, Ashok Bhambhani, Arun Kumar, Jitender Kumar, Anthony Kumar and Jawahar Malhotra at the funeral service for Dr. Sindwani

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Indo AmerIcAn news • FrIdAy, JAnUAry 13, 2012 • Online editiOn: www.indOamerican-news.cOm

3 January 13, 2012

www.indoamerican-news.comNEWSamI Si

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7457 Harwin Drive • Suite 262 • Houston • Texas • 77036 - 713.789.NEWS (6397) • fax: 713.789.6399

By Jawahar MalhotraHOUSTON: On my last trip in

October to see him at the nurs-ing home in Wichita Falls, Dr. K. L. Sindwani said pausingly and wistfully in a voice that was soft and weak, “I want to go home.” As I sat there on his bedside, and looked into his eyes, I understood him to mean home to Houston.

This past Saturday, Dr. Sindwani finally came back home.

And he would have been proud and happy that so many of his friends, relatives and admirers had come to bid a heavy hearted fare-well to a man who they respected. In the packed chapel of the Gar-den Oaks Funeral Home on Bel-laire Blvd., they sat and listened as Sindwani was eulogized in the town that had been his home for 36 years.

Sindwani had passed away peacefully in his sleep around 11am on New Year’s Eve, a few hours before his 85th birthday after a few weeks at the nursing home where his wife Mohini had also stayed till she died on October 18, 2011. Just before she did, on an-other trip to see him, he told me he knew that her days were num-bered.

He had been too weak to attend her funeral in Houston but he read her memorial card and missed her after 63 years of marriage. His frailty didn’t allow him to speak his thoughts clearly and he was unable to communicate his feel-ings. Except, when he saw me, a

thin smile broke on his face and his eyes brightened up. “Jawa-har!” he said hoarsely in Punjabi, “tu aagaye hain!” (you’ve come!)

At his funeral, Dr. Sindwani was remembered as a caring grand-father by his grandson, Anthony who flew in from Tucson, Arizo-na, who taught him the principles of self-discipline. Dr. Sindwani’s son, Arun, was too distraught to speak after losing both his parents within 10 weeks. This reporter spoke of his drive and persistence in carving out a newspaper busi-ness – Indo American News – out of nothing. Swapan Dhariyawan remembered his contributions to the founding of the India Culture Center. Ashok Dhingra spoke of his support and donations in estab-lishing India House and also being a father figure to him.

But his renown, and that of his newspaper, had been felt across the Metroplex and he was mourn-ed by the Houston Chronicle in an obituary. At his funeral, Congress-man Al Green spoke admiringly of his achievements, bowed at his casket and presented to Anthony a flag that had flown over the na-tion’s Capital as well as a decla-ration. Harris County Judge ap-preciated his work to tie the desi community together. Senator John Cronyn’s representative Jay Gur-erro expressed his sorrow. And Councilman Tom Abraham, stand-ing in for Sugar Land Mayor Jim Thompson, said he appreciated how Dr. Sindwani had shown him support and encouraged him.

For one last time, we gazed onto the face of a simple man who had come from the rural district of

Jhung (where my par-ents also hail from) before it became Pakistan. Despite all his 57 years in the US, Dr. Sindwani had not lost that rural hardiness, stoicism, belief in destiny and pragmatism borne from a upbringing tied to the land, like many of his genera-tion. He was frugal, unassuming, devoid of formality, principled, straight forward and very hard working and possessed a sharp mind for numbers, arithmetic and facts. This, and his heart for doing community service, which is what he considered the newspaper, or by supporting his wife, Mohini in the pursuit of the Vivekananda Vedanta Society, endeared him to many.

After the two-hour long funeral service, a memorial service which

dr. K.L. sindwani comes Home for a Final Journey

included a havan, was held at the Arya Samaj of Houston on Schiller Rd. at 5:30pm where his nephew Jitender, grandson Anthony and many friends remembered him. The service was followed by a din-ner for the nearly 90 people who attended and catered by Bombay Brasserie with jalebis delivered, in remembrance, by Resham Guha-nia of Raja Sweets.

At both the services, Anthony announced that the family would set up an Indo American News Scholarship, the Dr. K. L. Sind-wani Award to Journalism and Mass Communication students at the University of Houston. More details on this scholarship will be made available in a few weeks.

Photos: Bijay Dixit

Pratham Houston Presents A Proffessionaly

Produced & Directed Play About India’s

Freedom Struggle

See page 13

“A Tryst with Destiny”


January 13, 2012January 13, 20124

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Bhagavata dharma Utsav celebrated celebrated cwith Pomp at namadwaar

PEARLAND: Houston Nama-dwaar, a prayer house located in the Pearland area, was filled with 7 days of blissful celebration of the Lord, by His devotees from Monday, Dec 26 to Sunday, Jan 1, as one could constantly hear the sweet ringing of Akhanda (con-tinuous) Mahamantra sankirtan, Srimad Bhagavata parayan and discourses, and devotees sharing their experiences about being with their Guru Maharaj His Holiness Sri Sri Muralidhara Swamiji.

Sri Poornimaji, one of the prime disciples of Sri Swamiji, trav-eled from India, to lead the events throughout the week, and her pres-ence made a significant impact on the devotees and the community.

Devotees from several states across the US, along with their brethren in Houston, were drenched in the Grace of the Lord as they celebrated the Utsav, con-ducted by Global Organization for Divinity (G.O.D, USA)

Conducted in the presence of the Holy Padukas of Sri Swamiji, each day began with Prabodhanam (waking up the Lord) and was fol-lowed by recitation of select sec-tions from Srimad Bhagavatam and singing of Sri Swamiji’s kirtans. Akhanda Mahamantra sankirtan was performed from 10 am to 4pm daily. In the evenings, between 5 and 6:30pm, several different pro-grams were held including many children’s programs.

A unique Srimad Bhagavata Saptaha discourse series was con-ducted throughout the 7 days, led by Poornimaji and other disciples of Sri Swamiji. The depths of truths hidden in the scripture were unearthed using real life stories of contemporary saints, thus showing that the Lord and His divine plays from the scriptures aren’t merely a thing of the past and are very much a reality here and now.

The daily program always ended

with Dolotsavam (lulling the Lord to sleep).

On Dec 26 and 28, a Youth Tal-ent program was conducted where several children performed Hari Kathas, short pravachans/story-telling, Sloka and Violin recitals. On Dec 27 evening, a fancy-dress performance was held where 13 kids dressed up as various char-acters from the scriptures. On 30th evening there was a Madhura Gitam concert of Sri Swamiji’s kirtans, first by the satsang chil-dren, and later by the adults.

On each day, a special chief guest was invited for the eve-ning program and honored by Sri Poornimaji. The guests included Sri Mahesh and Smt. Bhavani Iyer, Smt. Prathibha and Sri San-jeev Sachdev, Smt. Uma Mantra-vadi, Smt. Thara Narasimhan, Sri Sathish Rao, and Smt. Lakshmi Thakkar (Maaji, Shirdi Sai Jalram Mandir).

On Dec 26, Kruthi and Keer-thana Bhat, daughters of well-known singer and music teacher Rajarajeshwary Bhat, melodiously led the Mahamantra sankirtan for about an hour in the afternoon.

Other highlights of the week in-cluded a Nagara Sankirtan (sing-ing while on procession in the city) and Vana bhojanam (picnic) on 27th afternoon where Sri Swa-miji’s picture was carried in a pa-

lanquin -- while devotees chanted Mahamantra -- to a nearby park, a Paduka procession around Nama-dwaar while singing Sri Swamiji’s kirtans on 29th evening, Divya Nama Sankirtan on 30th night, and a special New Year’s eve cultural program that included a Bhakta Meera play (in English) by Gopa Kuteeram children from across the USA and a Madhura Gitam quiz on Sri Swamiji’s kirtans. At night-fall, kids and adults alike enjoyed a colorful celebration as fireworks lit up the skies above Namadwaar.

Sri Ramanujamji delivered a special, inspiring New Year mes-sage via telephone right before the stroke of midnight on 31st, and the entire gathering welcomed the New Year with Mahamantra chanting. On New Year’s Day, Sri Swamiji’s mass prayer in India was telecast live at Namadwaar and several devotees in Nama-dwaar enjoyed the talk and chant-ed the Mahamantra along with Sri Swamiji.

The whole event went wonder-fully well and was enjoyed im-mensely by all those who were fortunate enough to attend it, by His Grace. It was a most auspi-cious and memorable welcome to the New Year!

For more information, visit www.godivinity.org or email [email protected].

soumitra soumitra s dutta named new Johnson new Johnson n deanSoumitra Dutta, a professor

of business and technology and founder and faculty director of a new media and technology in-novation lab at INSEAD in Fon-tainebleau, France, will become the eleventh dean of the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell Uni-versity effective July 1, 2012, Cornell President David J. Skor-ton announced today. In appoint-ing Dutta, Johnson becomes the first major business school in the U.S. to hire a dean from a business school outside the country.

INSEAD, with campuses in Fontainebleau, France; Singapore, and Abu Dhabi, UAE, is one of the top-ranked graduate business schools worldwide. Dutta himself has served visiting professorships in Haas School at UC Berke-ley, Oxford Internet Institute at University of Oxford, and Judge School at University of Cambridge in England, as well as advising several governments with their national information and innova-tion policies and has consulted with leading international organi-zations. He has lived and worked in the U.S., Europe, and Asia, in-cluding stints as an engineer with GE in the U.S. and Schlumberger in Japan.

“Professor Dutta’s appointment is a natural fit with Johnson’s in-creasingly global outlook,” said Skorton. “He has expertise in new and emerging media, he has stud-ied the conditions that promote innovation and he has extensive experience on the international stage. Among other qualities, these prepare him well to oversee the education of our next-genera-tion business leaders and entrepre-neurs. Johnson students, Cornel-lians who take courses at Johnson and, in the very near future, aspir-ing entrepreneurs at our new tech campus in New York City will benefit from this appointment.”

Dutta is the Roland Berger Chaired Professor in Business and Technology at INSEAD. He

is the co-editor and author respec-tively of two influential reports in technology and innovation, the Global Information Technol-ogy Report (co-published with the World Economic Forum) and the Global Innovation Index (to be co-published with the World Intellec-tual Property Organization). Both reports have been widely used by governments around the world in assessing and planning their tech-nology and innovation policies.

Dutta is a member of the Davos Circle, an association of long-time participants in the Annual Davos meeting of the World Economic Forum and has engaged in a num-ber of multi-stakeholder initiatives to shape global, regional and in-dustry agendas.

He is on the advisory boards of several international business schools. He has co-founded two firms and is on the board of sev-eral start-ups.

He will succeed Joseph Thom-as, who is stepping down after a five-year term as dean. During his tenure, Thomas launched the school’s long-term strategic plan and led the creation of the Emerg-ing Markets Institute, as well as the Entrepreneurship and Innova-tion Institute. Thomas will return to teaching and research.


January 13, 20126 January 13, 20126 COMMUNITYBobby Jindal takes oath as Louisiana Governor

HOUSTON (TOI) : Indian-origin Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal took the oath of office for his second term before hundreds of people, with a focus on educa-tion and a pledge not to rest on the accomplishments of his first four years.

“I Bobby Jindal do solemnly swear that I will support the con-stitution and laws of the United States and the constitution and laws of this state,” Jindal said as State Supreme Court justice Cath-erine “Kitty” Kimball adminis-tered the oath.

Jindal who won re-election with no formidable challenge from democrats walks into his second term with a huge mandate.

“I love to boast about the prog-ress the people of Louisiana have made over these past four years, but I won’t and here is why. All of that was yesterday, we cannot stand, we must not rest on our lau-rels,” said Jindal.

He expressed the need for more jobs and even more gains in public education. When it came to over-hauling education, Jindal said “I believe we all need to check our party affiliations, our ideologies and our political agendas at the door... Reforming and improving education should not be a partisan issue.

“Getting our kids ready to face the challenges this world has to of-the challenges this world has to of-the challenges this world has to of

fer, getting them prepared to suc-ceed and triumph should not be a political matter.”

“Look our kids only grow up once. Waiting for the system to re-form itself is not an option, now is the time to act,” he said.

Jindal said Louisiana has the goods to move forward.

“No state has faced what we have faced or overcome what we have overcome. The biggest natu-ral and man-made disasters of our lifetimes happened right here in Louisiana over these past six years,” he said towards the end of his speech.

Former governors Kathleen Blanco and Mike Foster were also

present.Jindal easily coasted to a second

term Saturday, winning in a land-slide election after failing to attract any well-known or deep-pocketed opposition.

The 40-year-old Republican overwhelmed nine competitors in the open primary, where a candi-date wins the race outright if he or she receives more than 50% of the vote. With four-fifths of precincts reporting, Jindal had received about two-thirds of the total vote. His closest competitor, Tara Hol-lis, a Democrat from north Loui-siana, garnered about one-fifth of the total vote.

All of the other candidates were

in single digits.“I will use every day, every hour

of these next four years to make Louisiana the very best that we can be. I don’t believe in resting on our past accomplishments.I don’t believe in taking time off,” Jindal told a packed hotel ballroom of supporters in Baton Rouge.

Jindal piled up $15 million in campaign cash from around the nation and attracted no Demo-cratic challengers with statewide name recognition or fundraising heft. He’s had consistently high approval ratings since taking of-approval ratings since taking of-approval ratings since taking office in 2008.

His win comes amid the virtual collapse of the Democratic Par-ty’s clout in the state.

In the current term, Republicans have gained control of all seven statewide elected posts and both chambers of the legislature.

Hollis was an outsider to the political establishment and was unable to drum up the cash need-ed to challenge Jindal or mount a big-ticket advertising competi-tion.

The first Indian-American gov-ernor in the US, Jindal is consid-ered by some a possible presi-dential contender in the future. He recently published a book and regularly appears on national news shows, but he ruled out a 2012 run.

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal takes the oath of office from Louisiana Supreme Court Chief Justice Catherine “Kitty” Kimball. With Jindal is his wife, Supriya Jindal. Jindal and other statewide elected offi-cials participated in inaugural ceremonies Monday at the Old State Capitol in Baton Rouge. / AP

One cannot think of or speak of Sindwani uncle or aunti with-out talking about both of them; their bond was so evidently clear. Their dedication to each other was not just because they were husband and wife but be-cause they were best friends.

I met uncle and aunti as a small child during Sunday pujas at the Vedanta Center . Both of them were so loving to all of us and treated us as their own chil-dren. They helped guide us first generation Indian Americans through the struggles of blend-ing our parents’ traditional val-ues with our adopted Western culture.

As a sociologist and psycholo-gist, uncle and aunti were the perfect couple to help us navi-gate our way in defining what it means to be a Hindu Indian hav-ing an American experience. We all know about their contribution to the community through Indo-American News and all the other organizations and charities they participated in, but their contri-bution to each of us who knew them well on a personal level should not be overshadowed.

I will remember dear uncle and aunti by words that represent who they were in their personal lives – simple, honest and kind. I will forever be grateful for their grace in my life.

- Shweta Arora

dr. sindwani: sindwani: scondolence messagemessagem

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Donate Blood. Save Lives!

By teJas DaveOn November 29, 2010, I was fortunate to

be part of a conference call during which First Lady Michelle Obama launched the Let’s Move: Faith and Communities Initiative. During the call I heard of work being done by many religious organizations and noticed the conspicuous lack of Hindu organizations. I also realized that Yoga, which has been a part of ancient Hindu scriptures for millen-nia, would be a power tool in curtailing obe-sity. Thus in March 2011, after a few months of thinking and strategizing, I launched Yo-gafy, a project designed to combat obesity t h r o u g h Yoga, as an initia-tive of the Coalition of Hindu Youth (a M a s s a -c h u s e t t s based non-profit or-ganization dedicated to foster-ing unity a m o n g Hindu youth and Hindu youth organiza-tions). I also formed a team of people inter-ested in working on Yogafy ranging from a Boston based attorney and a Houston based Yoga teacher who holds a PhD in engineer-ing to college and high school students.

With the help of our Yoga teacher, Dr. Shriram Sarvotham, we designed a curricu-lum with Yoga postures arranged specifi-cally to address obesity. In addition, I was invited to an annual conference of Hindu temple executives, the Hindu Mandir Ex-ecutives’ Conference, in Columbus, Ohio to present Yogafy in September 2011.

The Yogafy project has received consider-able interest from organizations located in Houston, Texas, Cincinnati, Ohio and even as far as Auckland, New Zealand. A promi-nent Hindu advocacy group, the Hindu American Foundation, has also expressed

interest in collaborating with us through an initiative of their own.

Currently we are in the process of identi-fying Yoga studios and teachers to help in the implementation of Yogafy. Towards that end, we are preparing to host an information session here in Houston on Saturday, Janu-ary 14 from 9 AM to 11 AM at India House (8888 W. Bellfort, Houston, TX 77031). This session will serve to inform the Hous-ton community about what Yogafy is and how we can work towards implementing the project in Houston.

Our initial hope is to implement Yogafy in 50 cities through-out the United States. The session in Houston will serve as the first step in develop-ing the nationwide network of Yoga professionals re-quired to achieve this goal. Once we achieve this goal, we hope to grow in geographic reach and in variety of programs offered.

We ask that you come out and support our project by attending our information session on Saturday, January 14. We will be discuss-ing the project itself, how practicing Yogis can help Yogafy grow and how Yoga is ef-can help Yogafy grow and how Yoga is ef-can help Yogafy grow and how Yoga is effective in promoting health and combating obesity. Question and Answer will follow the event.

Tejas N. Dave, 18, is a senior at Pearland High School. Apart from being a stellar stu-dent, he is the captain of Academic Decath-lon team and former Vice President of the Speech and Debate team. Additionally, he is a coordinator for the annual Sri Meenakshi Temple Youth Camp and has spoken at the 2010 and 2011 Hindu Mandir Executives’ Conferences. He is also the winner of the Hindus of Greater Houston Youth Seva Bhav (Service Award). Dave may be contacted via email at [email protected]

yogafy for a Healthy Lifestyleyogafy for a Healthy Lifestyley



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dr. K.L.sindwani: sindwani: s condolence messagesmessagesmDr. K. L. Sindwani will be long Dr. K. L. Sindwani will be long

remembered for the legacy he left remembered for the legacy he left behind for Houston’s Indo-Amerbehind for Houston’s Indo-Amer-ican community. He foresaw a need for a community news pa-per 31 years ago and founded the Indo-American News (IAN).

Dr. K. L. Sindwani also envi-sioned the necessity of communi-ty organizations such as the India Culture Center and India House to serve the growing population of the Indo-American community.

Dr. Sindwani’s actions spoke louder than his words. During my brief conversations with him after he relocated to Wichita Falls, he enquired about the activities of the Foundation for India Studies’(FIS) and had even sent a small dona-tion with encouraging words. Through the help of his son, Arun and, IAN’s co-owner, Jawahar Malhotra, FIS had made an at-tempt to video-record his memoirs for the Indo-American Oral His-tory project, but unfortunately, it was too late. His speech became blurred and his condition dete-riorated rapidly after his devoted wife, Dr.Mohini ji passed away two months ago.

After all, death is the greatest equalizer in life, for both rich and the poor, famous and the not-so

famous. It is important to leave famous. It is important to leave some foot steps in the sand before some foot steps in the sand before kicking the bucket, and most imkicking the bucket, and most im-portantly, before the sunset years take over. Had only the Sindwanis told us their life stories in their own words, Houston’s history would have been that much richer.

There is a message in Dr. Sind-wani’s life for the future genera-tions of Indian immigrants to emu-late. Be persistent, to succeed, no matter what others may think of you, and try to make a small dif-you, and try to make a small dif-you, and try to make a small difference in the community.

- Krishna Vavilala

Dr. Sindwani has been my men-tor, guide and friend who has been a icon of honesty, principles and down to earth. He has been a back-bone of Indo American News as I know him for a long time, who can be trusted in times of need. He will be greatly missed by all of us. May his soul rest in peace and may God give courage to Arun Kumar and family to bear this loss for them and also for a community at large.

- Sudaksha and Nand Kapoor

I am saddened to learn about the passing away of Dr. K. L. Sind-wani in Wichita Falls on the New Year’s eve. It is distressing that Dr. Sindwani’s mortal journey ended just a day before his 85th birthday on the first day of the New Year!

My family and colleagues Join me in conveying our deep con-dolences to Dr. Sindwani’s fam-ily, his extended family of Indo American News of which he and his late wife Mohiniji were the co-founders, and his numerous other friends, admirers and disciples.

My wife Chhaya and I warmly recall meeting the Sindwanis soon after coming to Houston. We were touched by their simplicity, warmth and affection. With their passing away in quick succession, the Indian-American community

has lost two dedicated community leaders. They would be deeply missed and their lives would con-tinue to inspire all those who knew them and many others.

- Sanjiv Arora, Consul General of India, Houston

We have know Sindwanis’ since 1979 when we moved to Houston . We were doing pujas and prayers at houses of each member of our group of 10-12 families that was later moved to Vedanta Dham at Cypress St. , Houston. Mohiniji would read excerpts from Hindu scriptures especially from Ra-makrishna Mission and explain us the spiritual values that can be inherited from them. She was very dedicated to impart cultural val-ues from the religious ceremonies to children that she would device ways to explain to the kids in such a way that it will leave a lasting

impression in their minds. Sindwani uncle was actively in-

volved in pursuing the dream of creating a home for Indians, which became reality in India House. He was a man of conviction. Once he set a goal in his mind, he pursued it with all of his heart and determi-nation. He was persistent in per-suading the community to come together and donate generously especially under the “Buy a Brick” program for this dream.

Dr. Sindwani also had a vision for the seniors of our community, first by helping establish the In-dian Senior Citizens Association and then by donating generously to India House, that would allow seniors to have a fully furnished room that they would be able to call it their home.

We will miss the Sindwanis’ friendship and relentless dedica-tion to bettering the Indo-Ameri-can community in Houston . We ask God to grant peace and tran-quility to their souls and also to provide guidance and strength to all of us so that we may continue to improve upon those values which they taught us.

- Ravi Arora


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Teachers Allegedly Tell student to student to scrawl to crawl to c school after Injuryschool after Injurys

By laura hiBBarDarDar(The Huffington Post) Two years

ago, the son of Pritam and Priya Chandani tripped over a mound of snow and injured his head and leg. Instead of helping the student, teachers allegedly told him to crawl back to his classroom, claims a lawsuit filed last week according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

According to the Times, the Chadanis claim their son was first instructed to cross a mound of snow on the Devonshire Elemen-tary School playground Jan. 3, 2010. After informing the teachers he had been injured and couldn’t walk, the suit filed in Cook County Circuit Court then alleges that his teachers told him to crawl through the snow and back to the school.

The negligence suit claims the

student complied. He crawled across the playground, through the school and into the classroom.

The Chandanis seek more than $200,000 in damages, noting that the teachers failed to alert medical services to assist the student back to the school.

The incident comes after Da-mion Robinson, a 2nd grader at R. J. Hoyland Elementary School in Texas, was told by school officials to walk home across a freeway.

According to KPRC, a woman stopped Robinson when he was close to his neighborhood and called his mother.

In July, a report that implicated more than 180 Atlanta teachers for dishonest testing practices pointed out that one teacher at the Fain Elementary School in Atlanta,

Ga., was forced to crawl under a table at a faculty meeting because her students’ test scores were low, according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

The incident at Fain Elementary exemplifies findings from the At-lanta cheating scandal investiga-tion, which concluded that a high-stakes, high-pressure environment that emphasized test scores as part of a teacher pay scheme led educa-tors to extreme measures and fu-eled a culture of cheating, fear and intimidation. Many have pointed the finger at then-Atlanta super-intendent Beverly Hall, blaming her for fostering that culture and shaming teachers who do not pro-duce the desired results. Hall has repeatedly denied those allega-tions.

British Indian student missing after student missing after s night night n out, Found out, Found o deadBy hasan suroor

(Hindu) LONDON: Gurdeep Hayer, a 20-year-old university student of Indian origin, who had been missing since he went out in Manchester to celebrate New Year, has been found dead.

The police said a body found in a river in Manchester city centre on Monday was identified as that of Gurdeep. “There are not believed to be any suspicious circumstanc-es surrounding his death,” it said in a statement.

Post mortem will take place later this week.

Gurdeep from West Bromwich, Midlands, went missing after a night out with friends at a night-club in the city centre. He was last seen leaving the club early on January 2.

A CCTV footage reportedly showed him having a “short con-versation” with a white man in his late 20s to early 30s, with dark curly hair. The man appeared giv-ing him directions. It also showed

a taxi driver accepting a fare from him before driving off.

“We have studied CCTV [foot-age] and can see that Gurdeep leaves the club around 2.15 [a.m.]. He appears to be steady on his feet and compos mentis enough to find himself a taxi,” said a senior po-lice officer.

A first-year business student of Glyndwr University, Gurdeep was

said to have been unfamiliar with the city. The family became con-cerned as he did not return home as planned on January 3 and con-tacted the police, sparking a mas-sive hunt. His mother Peramjit Kaur, 42, said it was “completely out of character for him not to keep in touch with me” and the family was “completely mystified why he would go missing.”


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Introducing Bajaj Auto’s Brand new…new…n car?

By vikas BaJaJ &J &Jsruthi Gottipati

(NYT) India has a new ultra-cheap small car. Well, sort of. The company that introduced it last Tuesday, Bajaj Auto, best known for making motorcycles and mo-torized three-wheeled rickshaws, does not even call its newest prod-uct, the RE60, a car. Bajaj (no re-lation to the reporter) prefers the generic term four wheeler.

Executives say they have no plans to market it to average con-sumers. Instead, they are aiming for drivers of rickshaws, which are powered by motorcycle engines and operate as short-distance taxis in India. The RE60 offers features not found on current rickshaw models, including seat belts, doors and a hard top. It will have win-dows, although ones that fold out rather than roll down.

The company did not say how much the RE60 would cost when it hit showrooms this year. But a rickshaw costs about 120,000 rupees, or $2,200, and one auto analyst estimated that the RE60 would be priced 25 percent higher than that, or about $2,750.

But the RE60 was expected to be more than a souped-up rickshaw. It was widely anticipated as Ba-

jaj’s answer to the Tata Nano. The Nano, which its maker Tata Mo-tors introduced in 2009, was billed as a people’s car that would bring mobility to India’s masses. It sells for a list price of about $2,600.

But the analyst, Hormazd Sorab-jee, said the RE60 would pose no challenge to the Nano, which itself had attracted only a fraction of the buyers for which Tata had hoped because of production delays and safety concerns.

“After seeing the RE60, you re-alize what a phenomenal achieve-ment the Nano is,” said Mr. Sorab-jee, editor of Autocar India, an automotive magazine. The RE60 “is nowhere near a full-sized car which the Nano is. Clearly it’s just not got the sophistication of the Nano.”

But executives from Bajaj sug-gested that was essentially the point — to make the best vehicle possible and not stretch to produce an engineering marvel that might not be suited to real-life condi-tions.

“At Bajaj Auto, we believe the people of this planet deserve much better, much faster,” Rajiv Bajaj, the managing director of the com-pany said in a statement, in what appeared to be a not-so-subtle dig

at the Nano. “We, therefore, decid-ed to focus our efforts on develop-ing vehicles powered by engines using available natural resources and infrastructure.”

Bajaj said the RE60, fitted with a one-cylinder, 200 cc engine, would deliver 35 kilometers per liter, or 82 miles per gallon, and have a top speed of 70 kilometers per hour, or 43 miles per hour .

At a news conference in New Delhi ahead of the Delhi AutoEx-po, the country’s biggest car show, Bajaj told reporters that while he would be happy to sell the RE60 to consumers, his main target mar-ket was rickshaw drivers, who earn about $100 a month driving people short distances.

The RE60 is the result of several years of work by the company, which has an agreement to make a small car for the Renault-Nissan Alliance. Mr. Bajaj told reporters that those companies would get to see the RE60 this week at the Au-toExpo and had the right to “walk away” if they did not like it.

In New Delhi, several rickshaw drivers expressed ambivalence about the RE60 on Tuesday af-about the RE60 on Tuesday af-about the RE60 on Tuesday afternoon, saying they did not see much benefit in upgrading to four wheels.

Suran Singh, 40, who has been driving a rickshaw for 26 years, said doors and a hard top would help keep out the cold during the winter, but would make him too hot in the scorch-ing New Delhi summers.

“This is bet-ter to drive in hot weather because it’s cloth,” he said, pointing to the top of his green and yel-low rickshaw. “In Delhi, it gets hot in the summer, and we’ll be sweating it out in a car.”

Managing Director of Bajaj Auto Rajiv Bajaj poses with newly launched vehicle - RE60 at a function in New Delhi on January 3, 2012. Indian manufacturer Bajaj Auto has unveiled an ultra-low-cost car as its first foray into the four-wheel market, pitching the vehicle as a solution to urban pollution and congestion. Stressing the car’s high fuel efficiency and low carbon dioxide emissions, but it did not release a price tag

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The show’s complainants will range from married or long-term relationships, and will also include both opposite-sex and same-sex couples. The show’s cameras have captured a number of unusual incidents. In one of the most cited examples was that of host Joey Greco being stabbed by an angry suspect who was confronted on a boat.


January 13, 2012January 13, 201212 INDIAThe Extraordinary Life and Times of Mahatma Gandhi

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Gandhi Fights British Attempt to divide HindusThe story thus far…Early in

1932 Gandhi wanted to meet the new Viceroy, Lord Willlingdon, but the Viceroy made it clear that the days of negotiations were over. Gandhi informed the authorities that he was again starting a civil disobedience movement. The Vice-roy thought it was a threat and had Gandhi arrested and lodged in Yeravada Central Jail. Several other leaders and many followers of Gandhi were also arrested and jailed.

At home Gandhi found that the Government had returned to the policy of repression. Therewere widespread arrests and the Gov-ernment seized the properties and bank balances of people and orga-nizations who were hostile to their interests.

Early in 1932 Gandhi wanted to meet the new Viceroy, Lord Will-ingdon, but the Viceroy made it clear that the days of negotiation were over.

Gandhi informed the authorities that he was again starting a civil disobedience campaign.

The Viceroy thought it was a threat. He had Gandhi arrested and imprisoned in Yeravda Cen-tral Jail. Several other leaders and many of Gandhi’s followers were also arrested and sent to jail.

In March the struggle entered a new phase. Gandhi had always in-sisted that the untouchables were a part of the Hindus and must be treated as Hindus. Now, however, it was announced that the British proposed to set up separate voting for the untouchables.

That meant that untouchables could vote only for members of their own caste.

Gandhi regarded the Hindu reli-gion as one and indivisible. He saw the game the British were playing. It was an attempt to weaken Hindu society.

“Separate treatment of untouch-ables cannot be allowed,” Gandhi declared.

“Here is an attempt to make untouchability last forever. Un-less untouchability is destroyed we shall never have self-govern-ment.”

“But what can you do about this election law now?” asked a friend. “I can die,” was his prompt reply.

“I will resist this evil provision with my life.” Gandhi announced that he would soon start a fast unto death unless the plan for separate electorates was changed. The pub-lic announcement of his intention threw the country into panic.

The Indian leaders were shocked at Gandhi’s decision. Even Jawa-harlal Nehru thought that Gandhi was taking a drastic step on a side issue.

During the time between the announcement and the day when Gandhi’s fast was to begin, streams of visitors arrived at Yeravada jail. The authorities, anxious to avoid any tragedy, allowed everyone to have free access to Gandhi. But all efforts to dissuade him from fast-ing unto death were of no avail. The die was cast.

Gandhi was going to fast. Rabin-dranath Tagore sent a telegram: “It is worth sacrificing precious life for the sake of India’s unity and her social integrity. Our sorrowing hearts will follow your sublime penance with reverence and love.”

Gandhi started his fast on Sep-tember 20, 1932. The first day of the fast was observed all over In-dia as a day of prayer and fasting. Many temples were opened to un-touchables and meetings were held all over India urging them removal of untouchability.

Outside the jail political activity

came to a boil. Leaders of up-per case Hindus and untouch-ables met and discussed vari-ous measures to try to arrive at a compromise that would satisfy Gandhi. Proposals and counterproposals were made and considered.

Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, the most powerful leader of the untouchables, met Gan-dhi and assured him that he would try his best to find a just solution. On the third day of the fast, Gandhi’s condi-tion caused anxiety to all his friends. He was very weak and had to be carried to bath-room on a stretcher. His voice

was feeble, his blood pressure was rising. The authorities grew pan-icky. They sent for Kasturba and allowed all his friends and follow-ers to be with him in jail.

On the fifth day of the fast, Hindu leaders finally reached an agreement and signed a pact that would do away with the separate electorates.

Gandhi, however, would not ac-cept the pact unless it had been ratified by the British rulers.

News came that the British had approved the pact; but still Gandhi would not break his fast until he had seen the text of the approval.

The official document of the British government’s approval to the pact came and Gandhi ac-cepted it. Gandhi was released from prison in early 1933. Shortly thereafter he suspended the mass civil disobedience movement but sanctioned individual civil resis-tance resistance to the govern-ment’s policy of repression.

For the next seven years, Gan-dhi worked hard for the social and spiritual awakening of the people. Many leaders, including Nehru, did not approve of many of Gan-dhi’s activities. “But,” said Nehru, “how can I presume to advise a magician?”

Sabarmati Ashram had been seized by the government during the salt satyagraha. So Gandhi established a little retreat at Seva-gram near Wardha in Maharashtra. This became his headquarters.

New reforms sponsored by the government got little support from the people. However, many peo-ple, including Congress workers, wanted to try them out as a means of furthering the Swaraj move-ment.

In 1939, the Second World War broke out. England and France de-

clared was on Nazi Germany.Without consulting Indian lead-

ers, Britain declared India also to be at war on the side of the allies.

Though Gandhi’s sympathies lay with the British, he believed that all violence was evil and therefore he would have nothing to do with the war effort. The Indian National Congress wanted to help Britain and fight on the side of the allies, but only as a free nation. But to grant India independence seemed ridiculous to Prime Minister Win-ston Churchill and his govern-

ment. They had no intention of letting India go by default.

Britain refused to accept the cooperation offered by the Con-gress.

As a protest, all the Congress ministries in the provinces re-signed. The government took over the administration and they too all measures that would help the was effort. Acting on the goodwill and restraint taught by Gandhi, the In-dian leaders showed no reaction.

However, events in Europe were having repercussions in India.

The Congress Working Commit-tee found itself unable to accept in its entirety Gandhi’s attitude to the war. In particular, they would not accept his view that the defence of India should not depend on the armed forces.

Congress leaders met several times in Gandhi’s room at Seva-gram and talked of their desire to start some action. Finally a pro-posal was put forward that all pro-vincial governments should join with the British authorities in the defence of India, but the British rejected the offer.

To be continued


1313January 13, 2012INDIA

India Fest 2012 Academics, Leadership and CommunityService Awards Nomination Form

Deadline January 15th, 2012

Return nomination form, the nominee’s resume and supporting documents, to: Hemant Patel at [email protected]

India Culture Center is recognizing and awarding students from high school and college, of the Indo-American community for their excellence in academics, leadership, and community service at the India Fair 2012.

Individual Nominated for Award:

I _____________________________________, would like to nominate ______________________________________(name of student) for consideration of an award at the India Fair 2012.

I am ________________________________ (relationship to nominee e.g. teacher/parent/friend) The student is currently enrolled at ____________________________________(name of school/college). Student’s full name: _____________________________________________ Student’s Age : _______________________ Student’s Address; _____________________________________________________ Student’s Telephone Number: _______________________ Student’s E-mail Address? _____________________________________________ Student’s Year in School/College: _______________________________________ Student’s School/College Registrar’s Telephone: _______________________ Other pertinent Information: _____________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Signatures of Nominating Individuals

1._______________________________________

Note: Nominations must reach us by January 15, 2012.ICC Awards committee reserves the right to validate credentials and supporting documents. The Award committee’s decision is final. The AWARDS COMMITTEE MEMBERS offer no assurance that any of your nominees will be amongst those selected to be the final honorees at our India Fair 2012.

HOUSTON: “A Tryst with Destiny,” writ-ten and directed by Amita Deepak Jha, is a historical docudrama based on the events of the freedom struggle (1919- 1947) in In-dia. The play is being brought to the city by Pratham’s Houston Chapter.

After reading the letters between Jawa-har Lal Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi, Amita Deepak Jha, the director of “A Tryst with Destiny,” became interested in writing the script. “It’s a fascinating history of the strug-gle against physical occupation and cultural oppression, perhaps similar to struggles in other parts of the world,” she said. “I have tried to keep most of the material as close to the written history as I could and used the documented, letters, transcripts and speech-es to create the dialogues.” Jha added, “I

also plan to use video footage of some of the present day riots and controversies both in Indian and Pakistan to link history to the ongoing present day conflicts in both the countries.”

Jha, who was born and raised in Delhi, worked in Geneva for the World Health Organization, before moving to the United States. A psychiatrist with a private practice, she volunteers for human rights activities. “Theater is my first love, but second life,” Jha said.

She hoped that the play would force the audience to think about ending bickering between the Hindus and the Muslims, and build a consensus on living peacefully in both India and Pakistan.

The play has had excellent reviews by audiences in Washington DC after its suc-cess play dates there. Swatantra Jain, the President of the Board of Directors of Pratham Houston thinks the whole com-munity should see the play. “Theater lovers can come see this beautiful play and support Pratham’s cause of educating children in In-dia,” he added. The entire team of the play has given stunning performances and each role lives again.

The Play is scheduled for January 21, 2012 at 6pm at the Cullen Performance Hall in the University of Houston’s Main Campus. For tickets to the Houston show visit www.tickets2events.com or call the Pratham office at 713-774-9599 or send an email to [email protected]

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14 January 13, 201214‘without Iwithout Iw sithout Isithout I I, The sI, The s mumbai Attack mumbai Attack m would not have been Possible’would not have been Possible’w

By Cy Cy hanDrani BanerJanerJaner ee(Outlook) The National Investigation

Agency (NIA), India’s premier agency to investigate terrorist-related cases which was set up in December 2008, interrogated David Coleman Headley, one of the prime accused in the 26/11 Mumbai terror at-accused in the 26/11 Mumbai terror at-accused in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, between June 3 and June 9, 2010. The three-member team comprising Inspec-tor General Loknath Behra and superinten-dents of police Swayam Prakash Pani and Shajid Farid Shapoo managed to extract critical information from Headley. Follow-ing its own investigations, the NIA filed a chargesheet in a Delhi court on December 24, 2011. The chargesheet, which includes the interrogation report, and which has now been accessed by Outlook, categori-cally spells out the involvement of Pakistan and the ISI in the 26/11 strikes and will be handed over to the Judicial Commission of Pakistan on January 10. So what did Head-Pakistan on January 10. So what did Head-Pakistan on January 10. So what did Headley have to say to his Indian interrogators? Excerpts from his revelations:

On The ISI And LeT: After a couple of days of my arrival in Lahore (in early 2008), I got a call from Major Iqbal (of the ISI). I had never talked to Major Iqbal before. He gave the reference of Major Sameer Ali (also of the ISI) to me. He told me to come and meet him at a nearby location between the Lahore airport and the defence soci-ety. Major Iqbal introduced me to his boss, Lieutenant Colonel Hamza. He was a man in his early 40s. He was baby-faced and also overweight by army standards. From his accent, he appeared to be from Punjab. They listened to my entire (Mumbai attack) plan for more than two hours. Hamza as-sured me of financial help and directed me to follow the directions of Major Iqbal. That was the first and last meeting with Hamza. This was the only time I met him, because after that he was transferred from Lahore. Major Iqbal was my handler. To my knowl-edge, Abdur Rehman, a top LeT leader, was also contacted by the ISI handlers. I had met Major Sameer Ali on a couple of oc-casions. I was in contact with him through telephone and e-mails. In 2008, I once met one of the ISI handlers of Abdur Rehman Hashim, Colonel Shah. I believe that with-out the ISI, the Mumbai attack would not have been possible.

The Funding: Upon my return from the US (in 2008), I met Major Iqbal in Lahore and Sajid (of the LeT) separately in Muzaf-and Sajid (of the LeT) separately in Muzaf-and Sajid (of the LeT) separately in Muzaffarabad. Iqbal paid me $25,000 in three bun-dles ($10,000, $10,000 and $5000). When I met Sajid, he was already aware that I had received the money. Upon my return from Muzaffarabad, I met Major Iqbal. He was

already aware of the transportation of at-tackers to Mumbai through the sea route. He also suggested taking a large quantity of arms and ammunition and dumping them in India. According to Iqbal, the sea-route op-tion happens only once in a while. So he be-lieved full preparation for this trip should be made. Major Iqbal asked me to explore the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre in Mum-bai, especially its staff colony, as a target.... I had told my brother Hamza and uncle Saulat Rana about my visits to India.

The Reason For The Strike: A debate had begun among the terrorist outfits as to whether to fight in Kashmir or in Afghani-stan. The clash of ideology led to splits in many outfits. The decision of Abdur Reh-man and Haroon (top LeT operatives) to split from LeT and fight in Afghanistan was part of this trend. Zaki (Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, chief military commander of LeT) had serious problems in holding the LeT and convincing them to fight for Kashmir and against India. With the Lal Masjid at-tack in 2007, something had to be done to keep the group involved in Kashmir.

I understand that ISI was under tremen-dous pressure to stop any integration of Kashmir-based jehadi organisations with the Taliban-based outfits. It is always in the interest of the ISI to keep these two sets of outfits poles apart, so Zaki was only reiter-ating the ISI official line. However, the ag-gression and commitment to jehad shown by the several splinter groups in Afghani-stan influenced many committed fighters to

leave Kashmir-centric outfits. I understand this compelled the LeT to consider a spectacular terrorist strike in India.

The ISI, I believe, had no ambiguity in understanding the necessity to strike India. It es-sentially would serve three pur-poses. First, it could stop further split in the Kashmir-based out-fits. Second, it would provide them a sense of achievement, shifting and minimising the theatre of violence from the do-mestic soil of Pakistan to India. Also, after the Lal Masjid inci-dent (which was stormed by the Pakistani army in 2007), some-thing had to be done.

Zaki would always justify je-had in Kashmir on the grounds that the ratio of deployment of force in Kashmir compared to the general population is very high. So it was legitimate to

fight the occupation forces in Kashmir.... During this period, I realised that Captain Khurram (of the 6th Baloch and an LeT sympathiser) had died on March 30, 2007, in a drone attack. I remember the date as my son was also born on the same day. During this period, I met Zaki in Muzaffarabad. I had dinner with him. My country, Pakistan, was undergoing an identity crisis in the wake of the happenings in Afghanistan and the FATA areas of Pakistan. I understand this accelerated the Mumbai attack project. Earlier, it was a limited plan to attack only the hotel in Mumbai. But now it seemed to be a grand plan to strike Mumbai at multiple locations.

Identifying The Landing Sites: I con-ducted four boat rides at different places. I took a boat ride from the Taj/Apollo Bunder area in the evening (April 9). Since it was getting dark, I could not see much. It was a tourist boat. On April 10, 2008, I took the second boat ride from Marine Drive. On April 11, I took the third boat ride. (Earlier) I went to the Cuffe Parade area, the place where the attackers finally landed. I had talked to a person who stays near a temple in that locality. He told me to come the next morning at 3 am for the boat ride. On April 12, I reached the place and took the boat. We went almost six kilometres from the seashore. I found this trip productive as this was the right place for the landing of the at-tackers.... I met Sajid after the attack (26/11) in Lahore. He was looking tired. I met him at my house. Sajid told me that the landing sites chosen by me had been used...

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• Maj Iqbal was my handler. He and Lt Col Hamza listened to my plan for more than two hours. The Lt Col assured me of all financial help.”

• Maj Iqbal paid me $25,000 (for the recce trip to Mumbai). He was already aware of the transportation of attackers to Mumbai through the sea route.

• Maj Iqbal asked me to ex-plore the Bhabha Atomic Re-search Centre in Mumbai, especially its staff colony, as a target...

• ISI was under pressure to stop the integration of Kash-mir-based jehadi organisa-tions with the Taliban-based outfits.

• The commitment to jehad in Afghanistan influenced many to leave Kashmir-cen-tric outfits. This compelled the LeT to consider a spectacular terrorist strike in India.

HeadleySpeak

INDIA


15January 13, 2012 15January 13, 2012INDIA

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January 13, 201216 January 13, 201216 ENTERTAINMENT

I have not given a single flop:

(TOI) Every actor craves for good scripts and roles and Band Baaja Baaraat sensation Anushka Sharma has no qualms in accepting her craving for it. But seems like her deeply-rooted faith revolves aroundYashraj banner only. Getting used to of big hits and big roles at an initial stage of her career, Anushka gets miffed for being labelled for her association with Yashraj Banner. “I don’t work for production houses. I only work for good scripts and roles. If you follow my career graph you will find that I have not given a single flop yet in my career. I am proud of it. I am doing films from this banner because of the fact that I am getting good scripts from them. I will keep doing that till they offer me good roles and films as they have the maximum understanding and respect for my talent. You can not streamline yourself to such a narrow-way by sticking to just one prod house or even one film director.” Needless to add, the favourite actor of Yash camp has got one film which surprisingly comes from a different banner. “I am doing Vishal Bharadwaj’s Matru ki Biwi Ka Mann Dola which is a different banner,” she adds. Talking about her smashing chemistry with Ranveer she says, “People do talk about our chemistry and I just need to say that we are not calculating our relationship. The kind of similarity we shared in the film BBB is sort of similar but not entirely similar in real life as well. There was definitely no overt description of love in the film and similarly in the real life. Ours is very strange relationship. There are times when we can’t stand each other; at times we are on back slapping terms. Its very informal relationship and bit complicated as well.”

Anushka Sharma

not all’s well between Kareena, shah rukh?(TOI) After the release of

RA.One, there was news that Shah Rukh Khan is keen to make a sequel to the hero flick.

Shah Rukh’s RA.One seems to have done business enough at the box office to enourage him to make a sequel. If sources are to be believed, Kareena Kapoor, we hear, isn’t too keen to be a part of it, and this hasn’t gone down too well with the Khan.

If a sequel to RA.One is in the offing, we’re told that Kareena won’t be a part of it and that Shah Rukh is planning to rope someone else.

We are told that scriptwriters have already begun work on a RA.One sequel, and SRK is adamant to take the franchise forward.

(TOI) Will Madhuri Dixit feature in “Ishqiya” sequel or will she be seen as a judge on “Jhalak Dikkhla Jaa” yet again? Even as several rumours dog the actress’s

return to the arc lights, she hints that her fans will have to wait a little

longer for her to make any official announcement.

The 44-year-old was in town Tuesday to talk about her

association with dental care brand Oral-B as the Chief Smile Officer of its Smile India Campaign.

When she was asked when she will be ready to spread smiles in tinsel town, Madhuri told IANS: “Well soon, not yet!”

She is quite secretive about her work plans so far, but admitted she is adjusting well with her husband Sriram Nene, and two

kids - Arin and Raayan. “Mumbai

is treating me well. I

am smiling, so yes, it’s great,” she said. Madhuri, who delivered memorable performances in “Tezaab”, “Ram Lakhan”, “Sajan”, “Beta”, “ Dil”, “Hum Aapke Hain Koun!”, “Dil Toh Pagal Hai” and “Devdas”, had shifted abroad after tying the knot in 2002 with US-based doctor Nene.

But now she has relocated to Mumbai.She accepted the role of a narrator to launch

a new general entertainment channel Life OK!, and so there have been doubts whether Sony Entertainment Channel will let her sit on the judge’s seat for the next season of dance reality show “Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa” or not.

For now, the lady with a million-dollar smile, is on a mission to spread healthy smiles across the nation through the Smile India Campaign. “I always spread smiles for the country wherever I go. But I want other people to do that more often. That’s why I have associated with this smile movement.

“I have always been appreciated for my smile ever since I joined films and people have appreciated me for that. My fan base says that the best thing about you is your smile, and I felt this was a nice way to give back,” said Madhuri.

The actress says the pre-requisite for a good smile is good teeth, and people should “brush twice a day, for two minutes each and visit the dentist every six months”.

Bollywood soon, but not yet: Bollywood but not yet: Bollywood madhuri

I wasn’t Born with the Perfect measurements: Hrithik

(TOI) Hrithik Roshan is celebrating his 38th birthday. After an agonising tryst with a bad back, he’s just about got his

ideal body back; his dream project Agneepath is a fortnight away. Self-admittedly 63 days ago, he was a broken man.

Read excerpts of an interview with one of Bollywood’s brightest talents:

Happy Birthday; heard your waist measures 29 and a half inches!

Thank you, yes I’ve got my waist back in 62 days flat. And to think that just two months ago

I had hit rock bottom mentally. I had a slipped disc and was in anguish. I couldn’t lift my arm for a clothes trial. Dad was worried. We thought we’d defer Krrish-3. In

self-pity I was gorging on brownies and chocolates. Then something within me said - ‘I’m not giving in.’ I got one of the finest doctors in the world to examine me and the physiotherapy sessions began. I was in anguish but I told myself if I give up today, I may just give it all up.

What did you waist measure then?

36 and half inches! I couldn’t zip the Krrish-3 jacket or trousers.

What is your current mantra?

I don’t know whether you can call it a mantra. But the golden word for me is `initiative.’ It is

all about taking that first step when you are down and out. We are all normal; we’re the same. I want everyone out there to know that I wasn’t born with the perfect measurements. I had to work towards getting this dream body.

Are birthdays special or routine?

Oh they are always special. I feel blessed every single day. I am happy that I have some really beautiful people around me. And I thank God each day for giving me the awareness and ability to take control of my life. That’s my gift.

Indo AmerIcAn news • FrIdAy, JAAy, JAA nUAry 13 , 2012 • Online editiOn: www.indOn: www.indO Oamerican-news.cOm


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Is may Pump in over $10bn as MUMBAI (TOI) : Non-resident Indians

(NRIs) are expected to pump in upwards of $10 billion as banks fall over each other to offer bet-ter rates. The rate war is the fallout of Reserve Bank of India’s move to deregulate returns on non-resident rupee deposits.

With big banks now in the game, dollars are expected to flow in as the yield on non-resident external (ru-pee) deposits is more than three times the return on dollar de-posits even after add-ing the cost of hedg-ing against the risk of rupee depreciation. By going in for a cur-By going in for a cur-By going in for a currency hedge, which will cost around 4.5% to 5%, investors are protected against ru-pee depreciation.

“I expect $10-$15 billion of inflows to come from the NRE de-posits given the rate differential. This could be a game changer for the rupee which has factored in all the bad news so far,” said Ashish Vaidya, head of fixed income, currency and commodi-ties trading at UBS.

“I would expect that even on a conservative basis the deposit collection should be around Rs 40,000cr ($8 billion),” said Abhay Aima, group head, equities and private banking at HDFC Bank. He said that HDFC Bank was using this opportunity to increase its presence in the NRI segment, where it has had moderate presence,

by offering very competitive rates. HDFC Bank was among the earliest large banks to offer 9% and was followed by SBI and ICICI Bank, which introduced 9.25% schemes.

According to a banker with a multinational bank, the key to success is the international reach. But for international banks it could be

a tradeoff between offer-a tradeoff between offer-a tradeoff between offering wealth management products with high fees and selling high cost deposits in a falling interest rate environment. “The present rates offered by banks in India provide an arbitrage opportunity for NRIs to borrow overseas and invest in India,” said a banker with a multinational bank.

It is not clear how aggres-sive Standard Chartered Bank and Citibank will be in raising these deposits. Stanchart’s highest return

is 8.25% in the 2 years to 31 months maturity. Citibank has come out with a tiered rate struc-ture where it offers between 5% and 8.75% depending on the size of the deposit. Interest-ingly, Citi’s rates drops for deposits over Rs 50 lakh ostensibly to discourage customers from making leveraged deposits.

Banks can offer NRIs deposits in foreign currency. But such deposits will not address the shortage of dollars in India as the funds have to be deployed in foreign exchange loans. NRE deposits result in immediate supply of dollars which are converted into rupees.

WASHINGTON (TOI): The Obama ad-ministration plans a rule change to help re-duce the time illegal immigrant spouses and children are separated from citizen relatives while they try to win legal status in the US, a senior administration official has said.

Currently, illegal immigrants must leave the country before they can ask the govern-ment to waive a three-to 10-year ban on legally coming back to the US.

The length of the ban depends on how long they have lived in the US without permis-sion.

The official yesterday said the new rule would let chil-dren and spouses of citizens to ask the government to decide on the waiver request before the illegal immigrant heads to his or her home country to apply for a visa.

The illegal immigrants still must go home to finish the visa process to come back to the US, but getting the waiver ahead of time could reduce the time an illegal immigrant is out of the country.

The official spoke on the condition of ano-nymity because the proposed policy change had not been made public.

The waiver shift is the latest move by US President Barack Obama to make changes to immigration policy without congressional action.

Congressional Republicans repeatedly have criticised the administration for policy

changes they describe as providing “back-door amnesty” to illegal immigrants.

Immigrants who do not have criminal records and who have only violated im-migration laws can win a waiver if they can prove that their absence would cause an “extreme hardship” for their citizen spouse or parent. The government received about 23,000 hardship applications in 2011 and more than 70 per cent were approved, the official said.

Applications for the waiver can take as long as six months to be acted upon, the official said. The new rule is expected to reduce that processing time to just days or weeks, the official added.

“This would streamline the process (and) reduce the time of separation between family members,” the of-family members,” the of-family members,” the of

ficial said. The proposal will be published in the Federal Register on Friday. The official said the administration hopes to change the rule later this year.

Immigration has become a difficult issue for Obama ahead of the November election. As a presidential candidate, he pledged to change what many consider to be a broken immigration system.

To that end, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced plans last year to review some 300,000 pending deportation cases in an effort to target criminal illegal immigrants, repeat immigration law viola-tors and those who pose a national security or public safety threat.

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January 13, 201218 EDITORIALsleeping in sleeping in s new new n delhi

By C. Ry C. Ry aja C. Raja C. R Maja Maja ohanChina is the threat and India is a

partner.” That was the simple headline that came through the Indian media after US President Barack Obama un-veiled a new political guidance for the American defence establishment. Like most newspaper headlines, this one too glosses over the complexity of the issue at hand.

Washington’s new defence strategy, however, reflects a huge structural shift in India’s external environment. In its essence, Obama’s new defence guid-ance is about the seemingly irreversible American decline and the unstoppable rise of China.

On the face of it, the American con-ceptualisation of this strategic triangle is not new. In fact, many of President George W. Bush’s critics — in New Delhi and Washington — saw his his-toric civil nuclear initiative of 2005 as part of a strategic effort to boost India as a potential counterweight to China.

This presumption resulted in the Left parties pulling out of UPA 1 and made the ending of India’s prolonged nuclear isolation such a contested political ter-isolation such a contested political ter-isolation such a contested political terrain.

Beijing, which suspected that India is being drafted into a US-led containment right against China, attempted to block the approval of the civil nuclear initia-tive in the Nuclear Suppliers Group in the autumn of 2008. When it could not, Beijing announced a nuclear deal with Pakistan that was similar to the one between Delhi and Washington.

India’s nuclear debate during 2005-08 — probably the most vigorous foreign policy argument in Delhi since the China debacle of 1962 — revealed three important elements of India’s worldview.

One was the depth and breadth of the distrust of the United States across the Indian political spectrum. That the CPM on the left and the BJP on the right united to attack an agreement that was so clearly in India’s favour underlined the negative consensus against a strong and explicit partnership with the US.

The second was about the domestic political implications of drawing closer to Washington. The Congress party was ambiguous at best about Prime

Minister Manmohan Singh’s nuclear initiative and was hesitant to overrule the CPM and alienate other political constituencies.

The third was the entrenched fears about American power. Recall the nightmare scenarios in the Indian nucle-ar debate about our strategic weapons programme being neutered and Delhi becoming a subaltern to Washington.

Despite the eventual conclusion of the nuclear initiative, Indian apprehen-sions about American power have not disappeared. They are reflected in the continuing ambivalence in Delhi, es-pecially in the defence ministry, about deepening defence and security coop-eration with Washington.

While the Indian discourse remains at the same place, the world has become a different one in the last few years. When Dr Singh and Bush announced the nuclear deal in 2005, the US was at the peak of the so-called “unipolar moment”.

The financial crisis that enveloped the US since 2007 has dramatically altered American fortunes. Obama’s decision to cut nearly $500 billion from the planned US defence spending in the next decade is a bow to a new economic reality at home.

If the US Congress does not reverse its recent cap on deficit spending, de-fence cuts of another $500 billion will be automatically triggered next year.

As the president told the American people in his introduction to the new de-fence guidance, “we must put our fiscal house in order here at home and renew our long-term economic strength”.

Ever since he took charge in 2009, Obama had argued that nation-building at home must take priority over fanci-ful ideas on reconstructing failed states around the world.

Obama has ended the US occupation of Iraq and insisted that his early mili-tary surge in Afghanistan will be termi-nated in 2012 and that the US forces will end their combat role by 2014.

Put simply, the era of American military adventurism is over. While Washington will remain the world’s foremost military power, Obama has now ordered a historic downsizing of US military forces, scaled back its

geopolitical ambitions, and reduced the military missions it can undertake at any one time.

As the Pentagon prepares for an age of austerity, Obama’s new priorities have called for reducing military presence in Western Europe, avoiding costly wars of occupation of the kind it had embraced in Iraq and Afghanistan, and redirecting its shrinking forces to Asia to cope with the rise of China.

If the US had ignored the challenge from China at the zenith of its power in the last decade, Washington is now scrambling to deal with Beijing’s ex-panding military prowess in Asia at a time of its greatest weakness since World War II.

The internal arguments in Washing-ton and Beijing are about the same theme — the rapidly changing balance of power in Asia between the US and China. While Washington and Beijing are debating with great intensity and some sophistication the meaning of this power shift for their national strategies, much of Delhi’s policy establishment is either blissfully unaware or utterly reluctant to confront the implications of American decline and Chinese rise.

The Indian elite that has got so com-fortable posturing about US hegemony will soon find American weakness might have bigger consequences for its security. Delhi has also long laboured under the illusion of some kind of parity with China.

There was indeed a measure of equiv-alence with China until the turn of the 1990s. Since then, China has rapidly pulled away from India on every in-dicator of national power over the last two decades.

America’s decline, China’s rise, and the changing balance between them will affect every aspect of our national se-curity in the coming years. Whether an aggressive Washington drifts into a new Cold War with Beijing or a diminishing US appeases China, India will find itself in deep strategic discomfort.

But who or what might wake up the Kumbhakarna from his slumber in Delhi?

- Indian ExpressThe writer is a senior fellow at the

Centre for Policy Research, Delhi

A crucial Testcrucial TestcWith its call to prevent Salman Rushdie from taking part in the Jaipur

literary festival, the Darul-Uloom Deoband places the Congress in a quandary. If the party succumbs to the Deoband’s pressure, it will invite the charge of appeasement of the Muslim community. But if it chooses to remain true to its claim to be the guardian of pristine secularism, it may stand to lose such appeal as it enjoys in the eyes of that very community. With elections around the corner in several states, and especially in UP where 17% of the electorate is Muslim, resolving the heavily politicised issue will not be easy. But, going by past precedents, political parties are unlikely to jettison the morbid logic of vote-bank politics.

Recall how the Congress, led by Rajiv Gandhi, imposed a ban on Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses. India was the first country to proscribe the book. Other actions followed: in 1995 the Congress government, determined to take the wind out of the Shiv Sena’s sails, held up another book, The Moor’s Last Sigh, at the customs. It also refused to allow the BBC to film a televised version of Midnight’s Children anywhere in India. Eventually, in 2000, the author was granted a long-term visa which allowed him to visit the country of his birth. Many assumed then that the officially sponsored ostracism of Rushdie was well and truly behind us.

That assumption now faces a crucial test. The alternative before the Congress is clear: it can tell the Deobandis that their demand, while rooted in the plaint of ‘hurt religious sentiments’, is against the letter and spirit of the Constitution. Freedom of speech, much like freedom to practise any religious faith, is the latter’s cornerstone. It must be upheld regardless of the costs the Congress may have to bear in the electoral arena. Or it can cook up some excuse or the other - such as a potential threat to law and order - to coax Rushdie to defer his visit and, in the process, ensure that minority voters do not altogether desert its ranks. This would be a mockery of its self-professed secularism.

However, none of this should bring cheer to Hindutva forces that might gloat over the Congress’s dilemma. Their own record of protect-ing freedom of expression has been no less questionable. Consider how they hounded M F Hussain out of the country. Or how they tar-how they hounded M F Hussain out of the country. Or how they tar-how they hounded M F Hussain out of the country. Or how they targeted artists, writers and scholars who dared to question their ‘cultural nationalism’ - a synonym for majoritarian bigotry. We do live in ‘in-teresting times’. But whether our secularism can face off the repeated challenge of intolerance is the question that concerns us today.

- Time of India


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S. Ram and Associatesscientist scientist s sues sues s roswell Park roswell Park r cancer center in Buffalocenter in BuffalocNEW YORK (TOI):

Khushi L. Matta, an award-winning former scientist at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, N.Y., has filed a patent lawsuit against the institute and Roswell Park noted scientists Ravinda K. Pandey and Thomas J. Dougherty.

According to a Dec. 4 article in the Buffalo News, Matta is seeking acknowledgement for what he claims are his contributions to patents that Pandey and Dough-erty have been awarded, and for a portion of grants Pandey and Dougherty re-ceived related to those patents.

Matta alleges that after working for 40 years at Roswell Park, in the process bringing in millions of dollars of research grants, he was told his job was being eliminated and he was later stripped of all access to laboratories at the institute.

Michel B. Sexton, Roswell Park’s general counsel and chief operations officer, told the newspaper that in his opinion Matta had retired.

“My understanding is the research he had done was over,” he told the Buffalo News. “He didn’t have any more grants. His position was going to be eliminated.”

Matta, however, alleges that patents and grants Pandey and Dougherty obtained are based partly on work he (Matta) did in his chemistry lab and on his ideas.

The work focused on carbohydrate chains and their ability to bind to can-cer cells, making it easier to identify tumors. The research could lead to more efficient cancer drugs.

Roswell Park and the two scien-tists have denied all the charges. Pandey and Dougherty said in court testimony that while they discussed scientific theories while working with Matta, patents and grants they submitted were based solely on their own work.

Sexton pointed out that Matta has filed complaints for five years. “His complaints have been refuted by two different committees here. The people he names (Pandey and Dougherty) are top-line scientists. They wouldn’t leave him off if they thought he deserved to be on it.”

The case is now in settlement talks, the Buffalo News reported.

A spokesperson for Roswell Park told India-West that the institute had “no comment,” because the case is currently in litigation.

Matta also sued Photolitec, a Ro-swell Park spin-off research company that Pandey heads. Photolitec, which is backed by a Chinese pharmaceu-tical firm, is commercializing the scientific research that Matta helped develop, he alleges.

Because of (Pandey’s and Dough-erty’s) actions, “Matta’s lab lost grant funding and research opportunities and the opportunity to participate in Photolitec, culminating in the dis-missal of Matta from Roswell,” court papers quoted by the Buffalo News said.

Matta’s attorney, Henry J. Cittone of the New York City law firm of Cittone & Lindenbaum was unavailable for comment.

“Money is not everything,” Matta, 70, told the News. “They never gave me any credit. They published papers without including that the concept originated in (my) lab. I have been betrayed.”

Matta came to the U.S. in 1968 to at-tend the University at Buffalo, where he did post-graduate work focusing on carbohydrate chemistry. He joined Roswell Park in 1971.

“His scientific work is well-regard-ed,” Joel Huberman, a retired Roswell Park scientist, told the Buffalo News. “He was steadily receiving grants from NIH (the National Institutes of Health), and you don’t receive money from NIH unless it’s good research.”

Matta said he received word his job was being eliminated about the time he found out he had won the 2011 American Chemical Society’s Carbohydrate Division’s Melville L. Wolfrom Award, given annually to a scientist in the carbohydrate field for a lifetime of work.

Matta said he decided to retire and collect his pension. The Indian American researcher said he was given emeritus status, allowing him to remain in his lab, without pay, doing research through the end of the year.

But in June, Matta said, he received a letter from the institute stating Row-ell Park wouldn’t allow him to submit any more grant applications and he was to leave his lab by the end of the year.

Sexton told the News that it is unusual for Roswell Park to support grants for researchers who are not on Roswell Park’s payroll, such as those with emeritus status. Roswell Park also doesn’t give severance payments to retirees, Sexton added.

Pandey, a professor and a member of the cellular stress biology depart-ment at Roswell Park, Nov. 1 re-ceived the 2011 Jacob F. Schoellkopf Medal from the Western New York chapter of the American Chemical Society. He has been a top researcher in the field of photodynamic therapy, developing more effective photo sen-sitizers used for both imaging and treatment.

Pandey has a Ph.D. in medicinal chemistry from the University of Ra-jasthan and was awarded junior and senior research fellowships from the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research and the Indian Council of Medical Research.

Dr. Khushi L. Matta says he was asked to retire before he learned that his job would be eliminated. Photo: Harry Scull Jr. for Buffalo News

Ravindra Pandey, PhD, Roswell Park Cancer Institute


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LEARN TO DRIVE TODAY! mahendra mohan Gupta: completely on the recordrecordrBy Sy Sy huChi Bhi Bhi anSalSalS

(Mint) Mahendra Mohan Gupta, chair-(Mint) Mahendra Mohan Gupta, chair-(Mint) Mahendra Mohan Gupta, chairman and managing director (CMD) of the Jagran Prakashan group, is reticent on government affairs and the Lokpal Bill. His political correctness is ironical, given his status as a member of Parliament (MP) sent to the upper house by the Samajwadi Party. But the sprightly Kanpur-based septuagenarian, who heads a formidable newspaper company that prints India’s largest read Hindi daily, Dainik Jagran, offers a reason for restraint.

“I am a newspaper proprietor and my political viewpoint is not the view of the paper that is read by 16.4 million people. I make my point about the government and its performance on the floor of the House. You can quote me from what I say in the House,” he suggests. Dressed in a kurta-pyjama with a Nehru jacket, Gupta, or MMG as he is known to colleagues, is sitting behind a large, neat desk in a small office in the Indian Newspa-per Society (INS) building on New Delhi’s Rafi Marg. The INS building is a stone’s throw from Parliament and Gupta uses it for meetings when he’s in town for Parliament sessions. He takes his role as an MP seriously. “You can check my attendance. It will be 90%,” he says, smiling, as he makes a telephone call to order lemon tea and biscuits.

He may be tight-lipped on cur-He may be tight-lipped on cur-He may be tight-lipped on current affairs but Gupta is surprisingly open about the affairs of his media empire, which straddles print, radio and outdoor. Queries on events in the company, which is listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange, never go unanswered.

Like the one about what prompted the closure of the Delhi and Bangalore editions of Mid Day? “Losses,” he replies. “We could not have made money in Delhi for the next 10 years.” Mid Day, the Mumbai-based tabloid, was acquired by Jagran from Tariq Ansari of Mid-Day Multimedia in 2010. For any significant impact in the Capital, the paper required Rs. 100 crore, an investment the company didn’t think was justified. The Mid Day brandturns in a Rs. 10 crore profit and the Delhi edition alone was los-ing Rs. 5 crore a year. It was decided to focus on growing circulation in Mumbai and Pune instead, he adds.

However, Jagran has pumped mon-ey into Inquilab, the Urdu paper that came as part of the deal with Mid-Day Multimedia, and launched 10 new editions in the past one year. The company is open to further organic and inorganic growth. When its dis-cussions with a Punjabi paper were inconclusive, the company started Jagran in Punjabi as a greenfield project some months ago.

In July, private equity firm Black-stone Group invested Rs. 225 crore in Jagran Media Network Investment Pvt. Ltd, the holding company for Jagran Prakashan, for an estimated 12% stake. Gupta views the Black-stone investment as a “good reserve fund” that will be used to grow the print business.

The remaining 88% shares in Jag-ran Media Network are held by the giant Gupta family comprising six brothers and their children, many of whom are employed in the company.

The joint family has stayed together thanks to Gupta’s wisdom in deal-ing with family as well as company issues after the death of his elder brother, “Narendra bhaisahab”, in 2002. Narendra Mohan Gupta was the former chairman of the group and a Bharatiya Janata Party MP with connections at the party’s top level. He was almost single-handedly responsible for policy reforms in print and permission for foreign invest-ment in newspapers.

Gupta seems other-worldly in his belief that the next generation would have imbibed their family values. “Our children are much more profes-sionally qualified and smarter than us. Hopefully, they will stick together.” He feels that a family that eats to-gether stays together and ensures that members who live in Kanpur are back home at meal times.

Gupta joined his father’s company in 1954, although the paper began in Jhansi in 1942 to support the freedom struggle. It survived bans by the Brit-ish regime and thrived after indepen-dence, moving to Kanpur in 1947. “Its move to Kanpur was unplanned. From Jhansi we were initially mov-ing our machines to Lucknow. We heard that The National Herald was launching a Hindi newspaper, Navje-evan, from Lucknow. We stopped the trucks in Kanpur and launched from the city,” says Gupta. He is grateful to his father Puran Chandra Gupta, who had the vision to build a large bungalow complex in Kanpur with separate wings for each of his sons. “In most households, the fight begins with the kitchen. If separate kitchens are assigned, they are not even used and everybody flocks to the com-mon kitchen. That is how we live in Kanpur,” he says. Even though some members of the family work in other cities, their places back home are se-cure. He ensures that members of the joint family congregate to celebrate

festivals and other occasions at least twice a year. Three weeks ago, for instance, the clan collected at the Jim Corbett National Park to celebrate Gupta’s 50th wedding anniversary.

So far, the Jagran group has avoided the public family disputes that seem to have dogged other family-owned enterprises, such as Kasturi and Sons, publishers of The Hindu, and the Maheshwaris-owned Amar Ujala. Gupta sees no case for conflict as deci-sions in the company are taken by a professional board. In any case, scope for family feuds was minimized by bringing in foreign investment quite early and listing the company soon after. “If anybody wants to exit, he can offer the shares to the balance family or is free to sell them in the market,” he says. Besides, Gupta ensures family members get to do assignments they like and are “qualified” to take up. He remains accessible to his senior staff on phone 24x7. “They don’t have to go through a secretary,” he adds.

One of his sisters-in-law is a fea-tures editor at the paper. Yet others are employed in the family’s non-media businesses including educa-tion (schools) and an export-oriented manufacturing unit. The sugar mill owned by the family was sold four years ago. “Sugar mill owners are arm-twisted by the state governments because of controls. It was diffi-cult being in the newspaper business and owning a sugar mill,” confesses Gupta.

Although Jagran has been an early adopter of new technology and smart marketing, it is often accused of imi-tating Bennett, Coleman and Co. Ltd, the group promoting the market leader, The Times of India. “The re-verse is true. They follow us. We were the first to launch multiple editions of Dainik Jagran. But such remarks do not disturb me. I am still a scholar and not ashamed of adopting something that may be good,” says Gupta.

The strides taken by the electronic and digital media in India have not shaken Gupta’s faith in print. News-papers will survive in spite of the iPad, believes Gupta who is also the managing editor of Dainik Jagran. “TV news has made us relevant. People trust what they read in the morning,” he says, not masking his disappointment with news television. Nearly eight years ago, the company launched Channel 7 in Hindi. Soon, it realized the channel was not only a money guzzler but fed on sensational-ism for growth. It did not fit in with Jagran’s genre of muted journalism. The channel found a buyer in Raghav Bahl, the promoter of the Network18 group, and was renamed IBN7. “A serious news channel is not economi-cally viable,” says Gupta, adding that even MPs would behave themselves in the House if the proceedings were not telecast live. As he politely ex-cuses himself for another meeting, I have one last query, about the Audi Q7 parked inside the INS building complex. Is he into snazzy cars? “My son buys these for me. I have an Audi Q5 in Kanpur which I use for long drives. I like driving on the highways. In the city (Kanpur), I am happy to drive in my i10,” says Gupta.

A commerce graduate, Gupta joined his father’s company in 1954, when the newspaper used to sell 10,000 copies. Jayachandran/Mint


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sugar Land Home and Garden sugar Land Home and Garden s show returns to show returns to s stafford stafford s centrecentrecSaturday and Sunday, January 21 and 22, 2012

HOUSTON: The Sugar Land Home and Garden Show is returning to the Stafford Centre, Saturday and Sunday, January 21 and 22, for its second year of bringing new prod-ucts and new ideas for the home to residents of Fort Bend County and the surrounding areas.

The spectacular event will feature more than a dozen expert speakers, two seminar stages and over 200 exhibitors, including local and na-tional authorities on kitchen and bath renovation, residential landscaping, interior design, flooring, wine rooms, pools and spas, home organizing, the newest trends in home décor, the lat-est energy-efficient products, and all things to make a house a home.

Whether sprucing up the backyard with a new outdoor kitchen or deck, installing energy-saving innovations, or using new organizational products to clean up a closet or the garage, the Sugar Land Home and Garden Show will provide attendees with a large selection of skilled contractors and businesses that can help get their homes in tip-top shape.

Featuring Dr. LoriDr. Lori, PhD, is an art and antiques

appraiser, syndicated columnist, award-winning TV personality and host. At the Fall Home and Garden Show at The Woodlands, she uncov-ered a $15,000 painting, a $10,000

Spanish illuminated manuscript, and many other valuable pieces. She is returning to bring her Antique Ap-praisals Comedy Tour to Sugar Land residents, who are encouraged to bring their art and antiques to the show for Dr. Lori to appraise. Find out if it’s junk - or NOT!

As seen on Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart”, NBC’s “The Tonight Show”, and entertain-ing guests onboard Celebrity Cruises’ cruise ships around the world, Dr. Lori is a nationally known and funny antiques appraiser, award-winning TV personality and talk show host. She will pull no punches evaluating your friends’ or spouse’s flea market addictions and sentimental family objects as she makes you all laugh about your junk.

Free antiques appraisals will be available as a part of Dr. Lori’s show. Attendees are encouraged to arrive early since appraisals are limited.

Meet the Sugar Land Skeeters!Baseball fans will have the oppor-Baseball fans will have the oppor-Baseball fans will have the oppor

tunity to meet the Sugar Land Skee-ters Minor League Baseball Team’s manager, Gary Gaetti, who will be on hand Saturday, January 21 from 2pm - 3pm to sign autographs and for pictures with fans. The Skeeters Mas-cot will also be at the show interacting with fans and signing autographs on both Saturday and Sunday.

“Fans are invited to bring items they would like for Gary Gaetti to sign, and we will have autographed cards,” said Taylor McFarland, Community Relations Coordinator and Group Sales Representative for the Sugar Land Skeeters.

Experts offer valuable tips“Many people think they can find

whatever they need on the Internet, and there is a lot of information. But, there is no replacement for knowl-edge and expertise to know what to do or how to use that information,” said Peggy McGowen, ASID, CM-KBD, award-winning kitchen and bath designer, and one of the speakers at the Sugar Land Home and Garden Show.

Those attending the show will have the opportunity to hear almost a dozen speakers, all with the knowledge and expertise on their subject, plus they will be offering the tips that only experts know from experience.

McGowen noted one of her clients found a kitchen sink online and pur-found a kitchen sink online and pur-found a kitchen sink online and purchased it. It appeared to be the right size and color, and she liked the price. Yet, when it was being installed, there was no room for the faucet, so it could not be used and the client could not return it.

“This is the difference between knowledge and information. On the Internet, it looked like it was the right size, but an expert would have known to look for these details. That is why this show is so important for home owners or future home owners, be-cause they will have the opportunity to hear from the experts and learn the difference between information and experience and knowledge,” McGo-wen said.

McGowen, who has appeared on HGTV several times and served on advisory councils for industry manu-facturers, will be speaking on trends and designs for new and redesigned

kitchens, how to develop a realistic budget, how to begin a project, and working with a consultant. She will touch on a number of different topics and will be available for additional questions after her 45-minute pre-sentation.

Organizing 101Another speaker slated to draw a

crowd is Lisa Giesler, the energized and self-motivated owner of A Time and Place for Everything LLC and author of, My Life Is a Mess: Orga-nizing 101.

“Many people lead chaotic lives and they need help or guidance getting and staying organized. Many simply need to know how to set-up a calendar and learn time management skills so their lives will flow. Some people need help with everything from scheduling their children’s activities when they have three kids going in three different directions to organizing their paperwork and computer files. I’ll cover all of these and more in my presentation,” Giesler said.

Green up your homeArchitect, bioneer and building ecolo-

gist LaVerne Williams will explain how to approach green homebuilding and remodeling projects. This nationally ac-claimed green-building pioneer has the information needed to keep costly mis-takes at bay. Exhibits featuring energy efficient and green products, such as cooling and heating options and solar panels, will be available.

Other experts at the show include the nationally acclaimed Dr. Lori, with her Antique Appraisals and Comedy Tour; Kathy Huber, Houston Chronicle garden-ing columnist; Randy Lemmon, host of the KTRH 740 GardenLine radio show; Michael Garfield, the High-Tech Texan and Sugar Land resident; a booth manned by the Fort Bend Master Gardeners;

Cherie Colburn professional landscape designer, author and garden writer; and

color expert Catherine Falgoust will discuss the latest trends in colors for your home décor proj-ects.

Local Favorites to pro-vide food concession

The Swinging Door, family-owned eatery and longtime favorite in Fort Bend County for their

award-winning brand of Texas Bar-B-Q and M, and Maggie Moo’s Ice Cream & Treatery of Sugar Land, an award-winning ice cream chain, will be on hand for the show concessions.

Recycle stationThe show’s annual re-

cycle effort will feature Houston-based Com-puCycle, an EPA-certi-

fied company that is the first locally owned enterprise to be awarded the Re-sponsible Electronics Recycler – or R2 – certification. The electronics recycler and computer refurbisher will be on hand, Saturday from 10am to 3pm to take documents for shredding and out-of-date electronics for recycling.

The Sugar Land Home and Garden Show is at the Stafford Centre, 10505 Cash Road in Stafford, TX 77477. Park-Cash Road in Stafford, TX 77477. Park-Cash Road in Stafford, TX 77477. Parking is FREE. Tickets are $9 for adults, $7 for seniors, and children 12 years and younger can attend for free. Only cash is accepted.

Visit www.SugarLandHomeAndGar-Visit www.SugarLandHomeAndGar-Visit www.SugarLandHomeAndGarden.com to print out an online discount coupon for $1 off of show admission and a chance to win terrific giveaways. Also, check out exhibitors’ special offers for show attendees.

For more information about the great lineup of dynamic speakers, new prod-lineup of dynamic speakers, new prod-lineup of dynamic speakers, new products and over 200 exhibitors, visit www.SugarLandHomeAndGarden.com.

Dr. Lori V’s Antiques Appraisal Comedy Tour comes to Sugar Land

Lisa Giesler, Author and Home Organizing Professional


January 13, 201222 INDIAmumbai’s mumbai’s m dharavi: The world where world where w millionaires meet the millionaires meet the m miserablesmiserablesm

jijij MiMi yayay RaRa dleyRdleyRMUMBAI, (TOI): At the edge of

India’s greatest slum, Shaikh Mobin’s decrepit shanty is cleaved like a wed-ding cake, four layers high and sliced down the middle. The missing half has been demolished. What remains appears ready for demolition, too, with temporary walls and a rickety corrugated roof.

Yet inside, carpenters are assem-bling furniture on the ground floor. One floor up, men are busily cutting and stitching blue jeans. Upstairs from them, workers are crouched over sewing machines, making blouses. And at the top, still more workers are fashioning men’s suits and wedding apparel. One crumbling shanty. Four businesses.

In the labyrinthine slum known as Dharavi are 60,000 structures, many of them shanties, and as many as one million people living and working on a triangle of land barely two-thirds the size of Central Park in Manhattan. Dharavi is one of the world’s most infamous slums, a cliche of Indian misery. It is also a churning hive of workshops with an annual economic output estimated to be $600 million to more than $1 billion.

“This is a parallel economy,” said Mobin, whose family is involved in several businesses in Dharavi. “In most developed countries, there is only one economy. But in India, there are two.”

India is a rising economic power, even as huge portions of its economy operate in the shadows. Its “formal” economy consists of businesses that pay taxes, adhere to labor regulations and burnish the country’s global im-age. India’s “informal” economy is everything else: the hundreds of millions of shopkeepers, farmers, construction workers, taxi drivers, street vendors, rag pickers, tailors, repairmen, middlemen, black mar-repairmen, middlemen, black mar-repairmen, middlemen, black marketeers and more.

This divide exists in other devel-oping countries, but it is a chasm in India: experts estimate that the informal sector is responsible for the overwhelming majority of India’s an-nual economic growth and as much as 90 percent of all employment. The informal economy exists largely out-side government oversight and, in the case of slums like Dharavi, without government help or encouragement.

For years, India’s government has tried with mixed success to increase industrial output by developing spe-cial economic zones to lure major manufacturers. Dharavi, by contrast, could be called a self-created special economic zone for the poor. It is a visual eyesore, a symbol of raw inequality that epitomizes the failure of policy makers to accommodate the millions of rural migrants searching for opportunity in Indian cities. It also underscores the determination of those migrants to come anyway.

“Economic opportunity in India still lies, to a large extent, in urban areas,” said Eswar Prasad, a lead-ing economist. “The problem is that government hasn’t provided easy channels to be employed in the for-channels to be employed in the for-channels to be employed in the for

mal sector. So the informal sector is where the activity lies.”

Dharavi is Dickens and Horatio Al-ger and Upton Sinclair. It is ingrained in the Indian imagination, depicted in books or Bollywood movies, as well as in the Oscar-winning hit “ Slumdog Millionaire.” Dharavi has been examined in a Harvard Business School case study and dissected by urban planners from Europe to Japan. Yet merely trying to define Dharavi is contested.

“Maybe to anyone who has not seen Dharavi, Dharavi is a slum, a huge slum,” said Gautam Chatterjee, the principal secretary overseeing the housing ministry in Maharashtra. “But I have also looked at Dharavi as a city within a city, an informal city.”

It is an informal city as layered as Mobin’s sheared building - and as fragile. Plans to raze and redevelop Dharavi into a “normal” neighbor-Dharavi into a “normal” neighbor-Dharavi into a “normal” neighborhood have stirred a debate about what would be gained but also about what might be lost by trying to control and regulate Dharavi. Every layer of Dharavi, when exposed, reveals something far more complicated, and organic, than the concept of a slum as merely a warehouse for the poor.

One slum. Four layers. Four reali-ties.

• On the ground floor is misery.• One floor up is work.• Another floor up is politics.• And at the top is hope.“Dharavi,” said Hariram Tanwar,

64, a local businessman, “is a mini-India.”

MiseryThe streets smell of sewage and

sweets. There are not enough toilets. There is not enough water. There is not enough space. Laborers sleep in sheds known as pongal houses, six men, maybe eight, packed into a single, tiny room - multiplied by many tiny rooms. Hygiene is terrible. Diarrhea and malaria are common. Tuberculosis floats in the air, spread by coughing or spitting. Dharavi, like the epic slums of Karachi, Pakistan, or Rio de Janeiro, is often categorized as a problem still unsolved, an emblem of inequity pressing against Mumbai, India’s richest and most glamorous

city. A walk through Dharavi is a journey through a dank maze of ever-narrowing passages until the shanties press together so tightly that daylight barely reaches the footpaths below, as if the slum were a great urban rain forest, covered by a canopy of smoke and sheet metal.

Traffic bleats. Flies and mosquitoes settle on roadside carts of fruit and atop the hides of wandering goats. Ten families share a single water tap, with water flowing through the pipes for less than three hours every day, enough time for everyone to fill a cistern or two. Toilets are communal, with a charge of 3 cents to defecate. Sewage flows through narrow, open channels, slow-moving streams of green water and garbage.

Misery is everywhere, as in miser-Misery is everywhere, as in miser-Misery is everywhere, as in miserable conditions, as in hardship. But people here do not speak of being miserable. People speak about trying to get ahead.

WorkThe order was for 2,700 briefcases,

custom-made gifts for a large bank to distribute during Diwali. The bank contacted a supplier, which contacted a leather-goods store, which sent the order to a manufacturer. Had the order been placed in China, it prob-ably would have landed in one of the huge coastal factories that employ thousands of rural migrants and have made China a manufacturing pow-erhouse.

In India, the order landed in the Dharavi workshop of Mohammed Asif. Asif’s work force consists of 22 men, who sit cross-legged beside mounds of soft, black leather, an informal assembly line, except that the factory floor is a cramped room doubling as a dormitory: the workers sleep above, in a loft. The briefcases were due in two weeks.

“They work hard,” Asif said. “They work from 8 in the morning until 11 at night because the more they do, the more they will earn to send back to their families. They come here to earn.”

Unlike China, India does not have colossal manufacturing districts be-cause India has chosen not to follow the East Asian development model of building a modern economy by

starting with low-skill manufactur-starting with low-skill manufactur-starting with low-skill manufacturing. If China’s authoritarian leaders have deliberately steered the coun-try’s surplus rural work force into urban factories, Indian leaders have done little to promote job opportuni-ties in cities for rural migrants. In fact, right-wing political parties in Mumbai have led sometimes-violent campaigns against migrants.

Yet India’s rural migrants, desper-Yet India’s rural migrants, desper-Yet India’s rural migrants, desperate to escape poverty, flock to the cities anyway. Dharavi is an indus-trial gnat compared with China’s manufacturing heartland - and the working conditions in the slum are almost certainly worse than those in major Chinese factories - but Dharavi does seem to share China’s can-do spirit. Almost everything imaginable is made in Dharavi, much of it for sale in India, yet much of it exported around the world.

Today, Dharavi is as much a case study in industrial evolution as a slum. Before the 1980s, Dharavi had tanneries that dumped their efflu-ent into the surrounding marshlands. Laborers came from southern India, especially the state of Tamil Nadu, many of them Muslims or lower-caste Hindus, fleeing drought, starvation or caste discrimination. Once Tamil Na-du’s economy strengthened, migrants began arriving from poverty-stricken states in central India.

Politics“Now the place is gold,” said

Mobin, the businessman.He is sitting on the top floor of his

building, surrounded by men’s suits in the apparel shop. His family began in the leather business in the 1970s and has since moved into plastic recycling, garments and real estate. Slum property might not seem like a good investment, but Dharavi is now one of the most valuable pieces of real estate in Mumbai. Which is a problem, as Mobin sees it.

“People from all over the city, and the politicians, are making hue and cry that Dharavi must be developed,” he said. “But they are not developing it for the people of Dharavi. They will provide office buildings and shop-ping for the richer class.”

As Mumbai came to symbolize India’s expanding economy - and the country’s expanding inequality - Dharavi began attracting wider atten-tion. Mumbai grew as Dharavi grew. If the slum once sat on the periphery, it now is a scar in the middle of what is a peninsular, land-starved city - an eyesore and embarrassment, if also a harbinger of a broader problem.

Today, more than eight million people live in Mumbai’s slums, ac-cording to some estimates, a huge figure that accounts for more than half the city’s population. Many people live in slums because they cannot afford to live anywhere else, and government efforts to build afford-able housing have been woefully inadequate. But many newer slums are also microversions of Dharavi’s informal economy. Some newer mi-grants even come to Dharavi to learn new skills, as if Dharavi were a slum franchising operation.

“Dharavi is becoming their step-pingstone,” said Vineet Joglekar, a civic leader here. “They learn jobs, and then they go to some other slum and set up there.”

Dharavi still exists on the mar-Dharavi still exists on the mar-Dharavi still exists on the margins. Few businesses pay taxes. Few residents have formal title to their land. Political parties court the slum for votes and have slowly delivered things taken for granted elsewhere: some toilets, water spigots.

But the main political response to Dharavi’s unorthodox success has been to try to raze it. India’s po-litical class discovered Dharavi in the 1980s, when any migrant who jabbed four posts into an empty patch of dirt could claim a homestead. Land was scarce, and some people began dumping stones or refuse to fill the marshes at the edge of the Arabian Sea.

HopeSylva Vanita Baskar was born in

Dharavi. She is now 39, already a widow. Her husband lost his vigor and then his life to tuberculosis. She borrowed money to pay for his care, and now she rents her spare room to four laborers for an extra $40 a month. She lives in a room with her four children. Two sons sleep in a make-shift bed. She and her two youngest children sleep on straw mats on the stone floor.

“They do everything together,” she said, explaining how her children en-dure such tight quarters. “They fight together. They study together.”

The computer sits on a small table beside the bed, protected, purchased for $354 from savings, even though the family has no Internet connection. The oldest son stores his work on a pen drive and prints it somewhere else. Baskar, a seamstress, spends five months’ worth of her income, almost $400, to send three of her children to private schools. Her daughter wants to be a flight attendant. Her youngest son, a mechanical engineer.

“My daughter is getting a better education, and she will get a better job,” Baskar said. “The children’s lives should be better. Whatever hard-ships we face are fine.”

Dharavi’s fingerprints continue to be found across Mumbai’s economy and beyond, even if few people realize it. Mr Asif, the leather shop owner, made leather folders used to deliver dinner checks at the city’s most famous hotel, the Taj Mahal Palace. The tasty snacks found in Mum-bai’s finest confectionaries? Made in Dharavi. The exquisite leather handbags sold in expensive shops? Often made in Dharavi.

“There are hundreds of Dharavis flour-“There are hundreds of Dharavis flour-“There are hundreds of Dharavis flourishing in the city,” boasted Mobin, the businessman. “Every slum has its busi-nesses. Every kind of business is there in the slums.”

But surely, Mobin is asked, there are things not made in Dharavi. Surely not airplanes, for example.

“But we recycle waste for the airlines,” he answered proudly. “Cups and food containers.”

Hari Kumar contributed reporting.Hari Kumar contributed reporting.Hari Kumar contributed r

Dharavi is a visual eyesore, a symbol of raw inequality that epitomizes the failure of policy makers to accommodate the millions of rural migrants searching for opportunity in Indian cities. It also underscores the determination of those migrants to come anyway. Adam Ferguson for The New York Times


2323January 13, 2012

In Italian Heartland, Indians Keep the cheese cheese c comingBy eliSaSaS BaBa etta Petta Petta ovoledo

PESSINA CREMONESE, ITALY (NYT): Alongside common local last names like Fer-Alongside common local last names like Fer-Alongside common local last names like Ferrari and Galli, the telephone directories for the province of Cremona have been registering an increasingly present surname: Singh.

For the past 20 years, Indian immigrants from Punjab have been settling in Italy’s agricultural heartland to work primarily on farms, often as bergamini, as dairy workers are known in the native dialect.

It has been said that if the Indian workers went on strike, production of Grana Padano, the hard, grainy, spaghetti-topper that this tract of the Po Valley is known for, would shut down.

“Well, I don’t know if production would stop, but it would certainly create many difficulties,” said Simone Solfanelli, the president of the Cremona chapter of Coldiretti, Italy’s largest agricultural organization. “I can tell you that they are indispensable for farming,” and for the milk produced in the province — at one million tons per year, about a tenth of all milk produced in Italy, he added.

The Indians, many of whom are Sikhs, first arrived in the area just as a generation of dairy workers was retiring, with no substitutes in sight.

“They saved an economy that would have gone to the dogs because young people didn’t want to work with cows,” Mayor Dalido Malaggi of Pessina Cremonese said. Though the dairy industry is mostly mechanized today, human labor is still necessary 365 days a year, he explained.

The work is split in two four-hour shifts per day, about 12 hours apart. “Young Italians don’t want to work those kinds of hours,” he said. “They’d prefer to work in factories and have evenings and weekends free.”

It was a fortunate match, because many of the immigrants already knew what it took to keep a farm running.

“This is dairy land, and many of us have cows in Punjab,” said Jaswinder Duhra, who has lived in Italy for 25 years, working first as a bergamino and then for one of Italy’s best-known cheese manufacturers. “We’re used to

the work that we do here.” There are no official statistics of how many

Indians work in dairy barns here, but Mr. Sol-fanelli said that of the 3,000 agricultural laborers in the province, about a third are Indian.

One measure of their presence was the inau-guration last month of the Gurduwara Sri Guru Kalgidhar Sahib, a Sikh temple designed to hold 600 comfortably (thought at least six times as many people attended the opening ceremony on Aug. 21). It has been touted as the largest Sikh temple in Continental Europe.

Built in an industrial area that includes a fac-tory of vacuum pump compressors and a cold-cut production plant, the temple was inspired by Sikh models in India “but is both a monument and a center for the community,” said its de-signer, Giorgio Mantovani. (Other Sikh temples in the vicinity have been located in repurposed poultry farms or warehouses.)

The road from the drawing board to the gleam-ing white structure that rises amid soya and corn fields was not without its rocky patches.

Municipal permits were given and withdrawn in a nearby town when the temple became a po-litically thorny issue, so another site was found. A decade’s worth of bureaucratic hurdles also had to be overcome, money had to be raised by

the Sikh community, and loans found to make up the rest of the price tag of €2 million, or nearly $3 million. “It took years, but we all pitched in as best we could,” Mr. Duhra said.

The temple is still missing a fountain in front of the entrance and the gilded cupolas that characterize Sikh architecture. The latter have been a matter of some concern, because Cre-mona’s clammy, foggy winters “make gold a bad choice,” Mayor Malaggi said. Various other construction materials are being considered.

While the mayor was an active supporter of the temple, and the road sign into town proudly proclaims Pessina Cremonese to be “free from racial prejudices,” there was some opposi-tion from local politicians with the Northern League, the political party most closely asso-ciated with anti-immigrant oratory in Italy. A small group of protesters from Forza Nuova, an extreme right party, demonstrated when the temple opened.

Manuel Gelmini, a Northern League law-maker in Cremona’s provincial council who unsuccessfully tried to block the building of the temple, said his main concern was the Kirpan, the ceremonial sword carried by orthodox Sikh. “For us, it’s a weapon, and people shouldn’t be allowed to go around armed,” he said.

He also objected to the use of Punjabi as the lingua franca in the temple. “They live in Lom-bardy,” he said. “How can there be integration if we allow them to speak their own language in a public space?”

But tellingly, the Northern League has not campaigned openly against the Indian im-migrants working as bergamini. “As long as they respect our laws, work legally and learn Italian, they are welcome in our country,” Gelmini said.

Dilbagh Singh arrived in Italy when he was 14, and now, 12 years later, he speaks with the distinctive accent of his adopted hometown, Nogara, near Mantua. He said his compatriots “come here to work, and want to live peaceful-ly.” To this end, Singh runs a Web site on Sikhs in Italy so that “Italians can understand us.”

“We want people to know who we are,” he said.

Nearly 16,000 Indian immigrants are legally employed in agriculture in Italy, with the Lazio region becoming the newest pole of immigra-tion, especially for seasonal workers. “You only have to travel 100 kilometers from Rome to discover a world most people don’t even know exists,” said Patrizia Santangelo, a filmmaker whose documentary about the Sikh community in the province of Latina, “Visit India,” is to have its premiere in October.

Santangelo’s documentary exposes some of the exploitation that many immigrant workers are subject to, regardless of their provenance.

“They often live in camps, like homeless people, and can get paid low wages, 2 to 4 euros an hour for 12-hour days,” she said. “But what struck me is that even though the live in difficult conditions, the Indian workers are still able to see the positive side of situations.”

In the north, life seems less harsh, at least on the surface. Many of the Indian immigrants have become Italian citizens. Many have bought homes and settled their families here.

According to the national statistics agency, about 40 percent of all Indian immigrants to Italy are women, but only a small percentage have jobs. In the case of Pessina Cremonese, concerns about their isolation have been spo-radically addressed with Italian lessons and work-training programs, and labor unions have offered similar programs in other towns.

Many of the Indian immigrants have also raised children in Italy, who imagine a differ-raised children in Italy, who imagine a differ-raised children in Italy, who imagine a different future.

“They work hard at school; they’re not spoiled like our kids,” said Gianluigi Fiamenghi, who employs seven Indian workers on his dairy farm of 1,700 cows. “And their children won’t want to work on a farm, they’ll go to university and want to get ahead.”

One of Fiamenghi’s workers, Prem Singh, moved to Italy in 1995, and many of his rela-tives followed. He and his wife are raising three children now in primary school. “They feel more Italian than Indian,” he said, adding that he had no plans to return to his native land. “We’ve put down our roots here. It’s our home, and that’s that.”

Sukovinda Singh during his work shift in the milking room of Gianluigi Fia-menghi’s farm in San Bassano, Italy Photo: Samuele Pellecchia

INDIA

showing them the showing them the s waywaywBy heheh MaMaM vijayvijayv

(Hindu) Some children have tough lives — such as 16-year-old Amala (name changed), whose parents and a sibling committed suicide some years ago, or R. Kanniga, a Class XII stu-dent, whose father is an alcoholic and mother, a domestic help who works through the day to keep the family afloat. Such children have families, but no support, and often end up with menial jobs and troubled lives.

Hope floatsBut thanks to a committed group of people

that includes students, young techies, govern-ment employees, college professors and others, such kids can now dare to hope for good jobs and a brighter future.

“When we did a follow-up of these kids, we found the scenario dominated by dropouts; and those in school had very low scores and high absenteeism,” says Sankar Mahadevan, the founder of NGO Udhavum Ullangal.

It is then that Sankar Mahadevan and software engineer Sampath realised that what these kids needed was not just scholarship, but a mentor who could guide them.

“The idea is to relate to the child as a sibling or family member, and guide them through education and other aspects,” says Ravi Krish-

nan, a 24-year-old chartered accountant who has been mentoring a few children for the last three years.

To ensure bonding, the students are assigned to the same mentor, year after year. The mentors and the students meet every first Sunday of the month at the R.K.M. Sarada Vidyalaya Girls Model Higher Secondary School in T. Nagar over a half-a-day session. Mentors also keep in

touch with the kids over phone once a week.Individual attentionEverything is addressed — from doubts in

math to troubles faced at home. If a student is found weak in a subject, tuitions are arranged. One student with a low academic performance turned into an achiever, soon after she was referred to an ophthalmologist and given cor-referred to an ophthalmologist and given cor-referred to an ophthalmologist and given corrective spectacles.

A group of individuals gets together to mentor underprivileged children. You can do your bit too!

A Helping Hand in more ways than one. Photo: Special Arrangement

Specific needs“Annas here encourage us. We tell them about

our worries we wouldn’t tell even our parents,” says R. Sai Pooja, a Class XI student.

The kids are encouraged to read newspapers, be punctual, outgoing, helpful and courteous by a system of allotting points, which gets converted into scholarship money at the end of the year.

Following this kind of intervention, kids such as Renuka improved — from scoring around 310 on 500 to a score of 436 in her Class X examinations.

Marked improvementSo far, about 15 of these kids have stepped

into college — such as Vidya Shankar, who is now in the second year of B.D.S., and Vedavalli, in the first year of B.Com. Optimism and hope is evident when Kanniga says: “I want to be an aeronautical engineer.”

Out of the 110 kids who are under this pro-gramme, 100 are regulars. Currently, there are about 25 volunteers here, but this simply is not enough. Hundreds of children out there are waiting for an ‘anna’ or an ‘akka’ who can guide them to good education, jobs and life. For details, call Prakash, software engineer and co-ordinator of the programme at 98414-92274.


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with with w elections Looming LargeBJP scores a scores a s self Goal by Admitting a self Goal by Admitting a s dismissed ministerministerm

By Ry Ry aj Raj R Kaj Kaj anwa Kanwa K RanwaRanwaian delhi Celhi Celhi oRReRReRR SPondent

While Anna Hazare and company had hogged all the limelight in 2011, the Indians in the New Year are watching with bated breath several skeletons tumbling out of their cupboard. The year just gone by was a tumultuous one with political parties across the entire spectrum raising strident voices in protests and counter-protests with Anna Hazare and his ‘core’ team figuratively pulling the strings. They had insisted that its version of the Jan Lokpal Bill alone was the ‘mantra’ in eradicating corruption from India, and other versions were just a sham.

It wouldn’t be much wrong to say that politick-ing during the past year had revolved around Anna Hazare and his “India against Corruption” move-ment. BJP seemed to have made hay while Hazare’s sun shone while the Congress faced its frontal ire in many parts of the country.

Corrupt BSP minister welcomed into BJP fold

However, the year 2012 saw BJP touch the hornet’s nest when it heartily welcomed with both arms the dismissed Babu Singh Kushwaha, Bahujan Samaj Party minister in Uttar Pradesh, facing charges of massive corruption and imminent arrest. Not only that two other dismissed ministers on corruption charges from Mayawati’s government too found a warm shelter in BJP. These steps alone have irretriev-ably tarnished its image; the party had so far strutted about as the only clean political party.

In a related development, Anna Hazare team finds itself at crossroads due to his ill-health. Though he was discharged from the hospital on 8 January, the movement had certainly lost its momentum. Even Hazare is uncertain about the future course of action which, he said, would only be discussed after his

Samajwadi Party and BJP are going alone in the election arena. BJP’s hopes that the Anna Hazare team would campaign against the Congress in Ut-tar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and even Punjab are now dashed to the ground in view of the likely change in the team Anna Hazare’s program.

The election scenario in Uttarakhand is unique in some ways. BJP which currently rules the state had found its chief minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank and his administration somewhat corrupt and suddenly decided to replace him just about three months ago with BC Khanduri, a retired army general. Ironically, it was Nishank who had replaced Khanduri just about two years ago. Yet, this game of musical chairs might not help BJP’s cause since the party suffers from ‘anti-incumbency’ factor; the all-pervasive corruption at various levels in the state will also adversely affect the party’s prospects.

These state elections apart, the general economic situation seems to be promising. According to a recent survey, nearly five million new jobs will be available during 2011 in different segments of IT, manufacturing and services. Also the year will see a double-figure pay hike all across the board. The Central government has introduced well-meaning reforms in respect of Right to Education and Right to Food, but these might not deliver the goods in the absence of a foolproof delivery system. The rate of inflation on vegetables and food grains for the first time in many years is now negative and prices have fallen down in most of the retail markets.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in his New Year message to the Nation has expressed his confidence that all the problems would be overcome, given the unity and will power of both the government and the people. But that however is the moot point and a million dollar question.

full recovery. These developments seem to have put in cold storage the intended campaign against the Congress in the five states that are going to the polls in January and February, and the entire movement ap-pears to have reached a dead end. Thus in a way, to the relief of the Congress, the much flaunted anti-Con-gress campaign has become a non-starter. As a face saving move, the Core team members have now sought online advice from the people as to what course of action they to what course of action they needed to adopt.

Most political commenta-tors, however aver that Anna campaign has now run out of steam and its anti-Congress campaign should be put on a back burner at least till after the oncoming elections in the five states.

Another major blow to Anna Hazare’s Core team came when a ‘guilty’ verdict given on 6 January by an assistant stamp commissioner in Allahabad against Shanti Bhushan who is a leading member of the Core team and a former law minister. As per the assistant commissioner’s orders, Bhushan had purchased a palatial bungalow in upscale Civil Lines in Allahabad at a measly price of rupees one hundred thousand and accordingly paid the stamp duty. However, the offi-cial valuation of the property measuring 7,818 square meters came to rupees 190 million. The assistant commissioner imposed on Bhushan a fine of rupees 2.7 million and also asked him to deposit rupees 13.2 million with 1.5 per cent interest per month effective

from 29 November, 2010. Though Bhushan however said that he would appeal the verdict but legally his case stands on weak legs.

What have further hardened the respective posi-tions of the political parties are the ongoing elec-tions campaigns in the five Indian states. The two

principal protagonists viz Congress and BJP have heavy stakes in the three states of Uttar Pradesh, the Punjab and Uttara-khand. In fact, it was the looming shadow of these elections that had determined and influenced their respective attitudes during

the parliamentary debate on the Lokpal Bill. The position of BJP in Uttar Pradesh is quite The position of BJP in Uttar Pradesh is quite weak, almost languishing at the fourth rank. weak, almost languishing at the fourth rank. The ruling BSP party of Mayawati too is feeling The ruling BSP party of Mayawati too is feeling the impact of anti-incumbency wave despite the impact of anti-incumbency wave despite having a committed vote bank. The Congress

seems to have gained some ground and so has the Samajwadi Party of Mulayam Singh. No doubt, BJP is obviously keen to regain some of its lost ground in Uttar Pradesh, and that is the reason that it warmly embraced an ex-BSP minister charged with corrup-tion claiming that the BSP renegade would help the party as a ‘whistle blower’.

In another development, Mayawati sacked during the past two weeks 15 of the 50-odd ministers in her ministry on charges of corruption and malfeasance. This must be a proof enough that the bulk of the Mayawati’s ministers are corrupt. This development has much weakened Mayawati’s chances in the com-ing elections that are spread over seven phases in the state. Congress has entered into an alliance with the American-educated Ajit Singh’s Rashtriya Lok Dal; as a bargain, Ajit Singh has also been inducted as Civil Aviation minister in the Manmohan Singh’s government. Other main parties viz the ruling BSP,


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ARIES Mar 21 - Apr 20: You have aimed high, and you’re determined to fulfil your am-

bitions. Don’t exert yourself too much. Relax your mind and body. Financially, you’re likely to be satisfied with your earnings. Your finances are going to improve even more

in the times to come. You may develop new friendships. Married Rams need to pay atten-tion to their marital life, as there is a likelihood of conflicts over petty issues.

TAURUS Apr 21 - May 21 Practical and extremely determined, you will be very focused

on your work. Your superiors shall be supportive and that’s a bonus! Entrepreneurs shall see a sudden surge in cash inflow and business networks. Fam-ily members have complaints

about your work devotion. But your family members know what your focus is, and usually have no qualms about it. Their support will make your life easier and smoother, . Love life seems hassle free for singles. But for the mar-seems hassle free for singles. But for the mar-seems hassle free for singles. But for the married Taureans, the ride may get slightly bumpy. Control your anger.

GEMINI May 22 - Jun 21: The Twins are going to have an action-packed week. At

work, you’ll receive a pat on your back for working hard and successfully complet-ing numerous tasks Words of appreciation and success make you want to start your own business. But hold your

horses! Now is not the time to start your own venture. Expenses may rise this week but your income is likely to be stable. Love life and health need your attention, though.

CANCER Jun 22 - Jul 23:Crab looks set to be totally focused on your career. A lot of things

are happening on the career front and some of you may decide to take up a new job. At you current workplace, make sure your colleagues and supe-riors don’t blow your mistakes

out of proportion and highlight your weak-nesses. In business, think twice before lending a large sum of money. Since your career/business is your priority right now, your personal life may take a back seat. Your love life is put on hold this week. Bad times don’t last forever!

LEO July 24 - Aug 23: ‘Enough is enough’ is your sentiment at the beginning of this week.

Adjusting to many changes may make you frustrated. Push yourself a little more! Blame it on the planetary positions, as the ones responsible for a dip in your self-confidence. Lions,

you rightfully symbolize courage and energy. Deal with the small nagging issues with a posi-tive outlook. You can do it! On the career front, you may explore new options and plan your career. If you’re a freelancer, expect some fresh assignments coming your way. If you have been thinking about expanding you business, put your plans into action. All the best!

VIRGO Aug 24 - Sep 23: Otherwise calm and composed, you may lose your temper ow-

ing to some irritating issues. But keep your cool. Your con-fidence level soars as the week progresses. You will achieve your goals gradually. Don’t get overconfident, . Considering

your high energy levels, it will now be impor-your high energy levels, it will now be impor-your high energy levels, it will now be important for you to channelize your energy in the right direction. Spend your time wisely. Matters related to job and business are likely to move ahead pretty smoothly. A business partner-ahead pretty smoothly. A business partner-ahead pretty smoothly. A business partnership, if you’re into one, may give you sleepless nights. Avoid taking any hasty decisions

LIBRA Sep 24 - Oct 23: Matters related to family and home are going to be on your

mind during the week. When you feel confused, ask your elders for their advice. Call your friends and share your hassles with them. You can even plan a family reunion, if

people are willing. A similar trend may not be visible on the career front. There may be issues cropping up from nowhere. You’ll perform well as a team member, so work on building a good rapport with your colleagues

SCORPIO Oct 24 - Nov 22: To every action, there is an equal amount of reaction.

So, the difficulties you are facing today are probably the reaction to your past actions. However, past is past, you can do a lot in the present. So, if circumstances are too chal-lenging to deal with, mould

yourself according to them; put in more efforts and remain optimistic. You also need to work on your shortcomings, especially your short-temper Make sure to keep a cool and sane head. Work on your social skills to help you in the near future.

SAGITTARIUS Nov 23 - Dec 22: This week, you are likely to get opportunities to enter

into a business partnership. On the job front too, some good opportunities may be in store for you. This is a good time for searching for a new job, as this is a favourable period

for you. Don’t stress out. Take up assignments and responsibilities that you can handle on your own. In fact, you need to pay attention to your health. You also need to increase your earning capacity in order to build reserves for future contingencies. Give space to your lover/spouse and respect his/her individuality for your rela-tionship to flourish.

CAPRICORN Dec 23 - Jan 20: Your en-thusiasm will reach new heights this week. You

will end up dealing with insig-nificant matters and that may leave frustrated. The Goat will be busy chalking out plans and arranging resources for future projects. On the career front, the development

may not be clearly visible. After all, little drops make an ocean. Although work may keep you busy, you need to do other activities to keep your mind and body active. Love life is likely to be romantic and problem-free, however, you can’t take it for granted. You can work on it to make it more beautiful.

AQUARIUS Jan 21 - Feb 19: Family or work? Is this question harrowing your mind?

All’s well on the family front, so it’s fine if you make work your priority number one for some time. Remain tuned in with the latest happenings at work to beat your competitors

or rivals. Those of you who run businesses may forge new business relations. The hectic sched-ule may leave you exhausted. The frenzy may get frustrating, and may make you feel negative at times. What you need is mental peace; employ spirituality, religion or meditation to best use. They are worth your time and energy!

PISCES Feb 20 - Mar 20: The Fish are creative souls. Enhance this special quality of

yours, and you will surely rise above the rest, on all fronts of life. You will get what you want. Along with financial gains, you may also focus on developing your personality.

Any effort in this direction shall be for the best. You also love to help others. Avoid making them feel that you are going out of your way to help them this may hurt the relationship. Short distance trips are also on the cards for you. Be sensible and don’t overdo anything

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