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INSIDE THIS ISSUE:
8:Rekha Bhatacharjee writes on
women luminaries as world celebrates
101 years of International Womens
Day
12: Ritu Ghai reports from Delhi about
the changing trends in Sari
18: Neeru Saluja writes about Hindu
influence on Hollywood
30: Dr Himanshu Brahmbhatt on a
mission to cure cancer
55: Kersi Meher-Homji profiles master
batsman Sachin Tendulkar
Holi at Darling
Harbour
Sachin Tendulkar honoured by
Premier Barry OFarrell
Story Page 12
The buzz
about
sari!
April - May 2012
April - May 2012 THE INDIAN DOWN UNDER 03
04 THE INDIAN DOWN UNDER April - May 2012
Editor's Letter
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North America : Parveen Chopra
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Delhi Reporter: Ritu Ghai
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Parthasarthy, Neena Badhwar, Rekha Rajvanshi
Body-Mind-Spirit: Dr Sunder Das, Kanaka
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Classical Music: Sumi Krishnan, Kris Raman,
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Travel: Vijay Badhwar, Kris Raman
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P
M Julia Gillards Labor Party is
awaiting a rout in the Federal elec-
tions if Queensland state elections are
any indication. It has been an extraordinari-
ly bad ALP performance to win only seven
seats from a house of 89, a downfall from
its earlier 51 seats resulting from a swing
of 15.5 percent against the incumbent gov-
ernment of Anna Bligh. They could not
have done any worse.
Extraordinary, because the winner is a
first-timer in state politics: Campbell
Newman earlier was the citys Mayor. And
he won 37 city seats in the city from a total
of 40!
Was it the Rudd factor or the federal
policies that resulted in the bloodbath?
Anna Bligh had related well to the people
of Queensland after the massive floods that
had created havoc in the state. She had
empathized with people and won their
hearts. That was only last year.
ALP is introducing some key initiatives
carbon tax, mining tax, health reforms,
superannuation etc which are probably not
very popular with the masses and have not
been well received. This has always been
the case, especially with Labor govern-
ments who have been punished for rocking
the boat James Henry Scullin who chal-
lenged the practice in 1931 of installing
only the British-born Governor Generals;
Gough Whitlam who brought in the
Medicare; Keating who introduced compul-
sory superannuation. Its always the big
end of town that cries foul against such
reforms and is successful in moving public
opinion in its favour.
There must have been significant fallout
from Gillard-Rudd drama which was played
unabashedly for all to see. It is indeed sur-
prising that Rudd would challenge without
the slightest of hopes of winning (31
against 71) and Julia Gillard and many of
her team bad mouthing Rudd knowing fully
well that there was nothing to gain from the
tirades. It was simply bad politics played to
silence Rudd once for all. But not so if
ALP loses the next Federal election. Rudd
will rise again.
T
here have been state elections in
India as well - in UP and Punjab,
Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur, and
with equally extraordinary upheaval in at
least one state. The BSP government of
Mayawati was ousted in UP (thankfully)
losing 126 of its seats and Samajwadi Party
(SP) of Mulayam Singh Yadav gaining 127
seats for a clear majority with 224 seats in
the 403-seat parliament. The state Chief
Minister is Akhilesh Yadav, a young engi-
neer who obtained his degree from Sydney
University a few years ago.
In Punjab, the Akali-BJP combine won
the election again which came as a surprise
as there has been a trend of an anti-incum-
bency factor in the state. In Uttarakhand,
the election results were close: 32-31 in
favour of Congress. There is still angst in
BJP camp as they were not able to form the
government in the state. In Goa, BJP
emerged as a clear winner, and in Manipur
it was Congress. BJP did not contest the
elections in Manipur.
While there was mention of anti-corrup-
tion factor dominating the elections, in the
end it did not in the least influence the
results. Even Anna Hazare stayed away
from the scene, most of the time sick, to
return the same caste-dominated politics
throughout.
On Indo-Pak relations front, there was
some forward movement, when Pakistan
President Asif Zardari visited India April 8
ostensibly to pray at Khwaja Moinuddin
Chisti dargah in Ajmer, Rajasthan. He also
stopped over in Delhi for a luncheon meet-
ing with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Singh in turn accepted an invitation to visit
Pakistan.
In cricket, the milestone of 100 cen-
turies that had turned into a millstone
around Sachin Tendulkars neck has been
realized. Thanks to countries like
Bangladesh which allow the dreams to be
fulfilled. Otherwise it was too painful to
see the Little Master struggling against the
pace battery of Siddle, Hilfenhaus and
Pattinson and under the burden of a billion
expectations. Hopefully, well again see the
flourish of Tendulkars bat who many of us
believe has no parallel, past or present.
People have their say
Labor Party is awaiting a rout in the federal elections if Queensland is any
indication, where the winner, Campbell Newman, is a first-timer.
The new Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Akhilesh Yadav, is a young engineer who
obtained his degree from Sydney University.
President Zardari and son Bilawal
(right) during their visit to India.
Comment
By Rekha Bhattacharjee
T
he world celebrated 101
years of the
International Womens
Day earlier last month.
For India, the International
Womens Day holds special
significance as a number of
female luminaries hold a num-
ber of important positions in
the world largest democracy.
The US President Barak
Obama has also attributed
Indias impressive progress to
the fact that it has strong
Indian women President
Pratibha Patel, UPA Chairman
Sonia Gandhi and Speaker of
Parliament Meira Kumar in
prominent positions.
Australia, like many other
leading economies, also has
women holding top positions
as we have Quentin Bryce as
our Governor General and, of
course, Julia Gillard as our
first woman Prime Minister.
While Angela Merkel, the
worlds most powerful
woman according to the
Forbes Magazine, holds the
top executive position as
Chancellor in Germany,
Dilma Rousseff is President of
Brazil. She also has another
woman Cristina Fernandez as
the President of neighbouring
Argentina.
Closer to home, we have
just seen Yingluck Shinawatra
becoming Thailands first
female Prime Minister. She is
also the youngest person to do
so in more than sixty years of
Thai democracy.
In Liberia (Africa) Ellen
Johnson Sirleafs victory for a
second term has also marked
the rising participation of
women in every sphere, and
every continent, in the world.
Undoubtedly, there are
more female leaders in the
world than ever before.
Worlds strongest econo-
my, the US, also has a number
of women in crucial position
architecting the crucial poli-
cies and guiding the state
affairs.
Hillary Clinton is at the
number two position in Obama
regime. The US Secretary of
State, and former First lady,
she is touted to become the
next Democrat Presidential
candidate once Obama com-
pletes his two terms.
The current First Lady
Michelle Obama is also con-
sidered one of the most power-
ful women in the world even
though she does not hold any
public or corporate position.
Like Sonia Gandhi, Michelle
is believed to be the proverbial
power behind the throne.
Talking about women who
are considered the most pow-
erful on the international
arena, an Indian lady (now a
US citizen) Indra Nooyi occu-
pied fourth position in a list
recently released by Forbes
magazine.
Three women were also
awarded the Nobel Peace
Prize jointly last year includ-
ing Liberian peace activist
Leymah Gbowee, her compa-
triot and fellow peace activist
Tawakkul Karman who is a
journalist who led Yemeni
women in the uprising there,
and President Ellen Johnson
Sirleaf of Liberia.
While celebrating the
achievements of the above-
mentioned women luminaries,
we should also not forget those
lesser mortals from among the
female species, who did some
amazing deeds in the recent
past. Their work towards
women empowerment and
rights made huge difference in
under-developed countries
they come from.
Such unsung heroines were
recognized and honoured in a
Women for Courage and
Leadership event by Secretary
of State Hillary Clinton and
first lady Michelle Obama in a
function held in Washington
on International Womens Day
last month.
They saw corruption, and
they worked to expose it,
Michelle Obama said at an
awards ceremony in
Washington for the sixth annu-
al Secretary of States
International Women of
Courage Award. They saw
oppression, and they worked
to end it. They saw violence,
poverty, discrimination, and
inequality -- and they decided
to use their voices, and risk
their lives, to do something
about it, the First lady added.
The list of the awardees
include Jineth Bedoya Lima of
Colombia; Zin Mar Aung of
Myanmar; Hana El Hebshi of
Libya; Aneesa Ahmed of the
Maldives; Maryam Durani of
Afghanistan; Samar Badawi of
Saudi Arabia; Shad Begum of
Pakistan and Hawa Abdallah
Mohammed Salih of Sudan.
The International Womens
Day function once again high-
lighted the kind of tireless
work that Hillary Clinton is
doing to empower not only the
US women but also those from
other countries.
Human Rights are
Womens Rights and
Womens Rights are Human
Rights, proclaimed Hillary
Clinton in Beijing more than
16 years back.
She also lamented: 17
years after, women still bear
the brunt of poverty, war, dis-
ease and famine. So also in
many boardroom meetings,
government services, peace
negotiations and other assem-
blies where crucial decisions
are made in the world, women
are too often absent.
Tributes have been flowing
to acknowledge Hillary
Clintons contribution in get-
ting more equality for women.
In New York, Meryl Streep
gave one such endearing,
amusing and a delightful trib-
ute to the Secretary of State at
the Women in the World
Summit held in New York in
conjunction with International
Womens Day earlier last
month.
While I was a cheer leader
(we are of the same age and in
Yale), she was the President of
the Student Government.
When I was the lead in all
three Musicals, people who
knew Hillary told me she
should never be encouraged to
sing. Regardless she has
turned out to be the voice of
her generation! I am an actress
and she is the real deal! said
Meryl Streep introducing
Hillary Clinton in the New
York function.
The year 2012 also marks
60th year of Queen Elizabeth
II on the British throne. The
monarch explained to both the
Houses of Parliament celebrat-
ing her Diamond Jubilee how
she treated with 12 Prime
Ministers and signed more
than 3500 bills into law!
A time to salute women internationally
Chanda Kochchar
Shikha Sharma
Vinita Bali
Ekta Kapoor
Zia Modi
Gina Rhinehart
Kiran Majumdar
The Third Eye
Some women luminaries
by Rekha Bhattacharjee
Julia Gillard needs hard sell for survival
J
ulia Gillards problems have multi-
plied as Labor got stymied in
Queensland polling recently. Many
political pundits would not give the
Coalition under her leadership much of a
chance unless she could punch above her
weight right to the polling day in late
2013.
First, as some observers would argue,
Julia Gillard has to win back her working
class constituents she has been losing ever
since she outlined carbon tax legislation
July last year. The writing on the wall is
clear to Julia Gillard and her colleagues
as the PM has already started tackling the
aforementioned trust deficit.
Describing Anna Blighs loss as a
deep, deep disappointment recently,
Julia Gillard has given hints that her team
is ready to make trust the main campaign
point in the next federal elections.
''I'm happy now and in the 2013 elec-
tion to say who do you trust to manage
the economy in the interests of working
people?'' Julia Gillard was quoted as say-
ing from South Korea by many Australian
media outlets.
''Who do you trust to understand the
needs of the future and the building of
that future economy? she queries from
Seoul where she had gone to attend a
Nuclear Summit.
''Who do you trust to spread the bene-
fits of the mining boom to make sure that
they are shared by all Australians? Who
do you trust to improve your local
schools and local hospitals?'' Gillard fur-
ther asked.
The enormity of the drubbing in
Queensland has definitely come as a rude
shock for most of the Labor followers and
strategists. Many draw parallels between
the former Premier Anna Blighs decision
to privatise assets and abolish a petrol
subsidy for motorists and Julia Gillards
Carbon Tax legislation.
But there are political analysts who
would not consider Queensland results as
a definite sign that Labor would face a
total rout in the next Federal elections.
"People still vote on habit, but more
and more that's only evident at federal
elections. At state polls you see massive
swings, analyst Antony Green recently
opined on ABC radio.
"The same people who were giving
John Howard huge majorities federally
were voting for Bob Carr in NSW and
Peter Beattie in Queensland," he added.
Antony Greens analysis that
Australians treat state and Federal elec-
tions differently should be of some conso-
lation to those in the Labor camp.
While most of the commentators see
an imminent change of Federal govern-
ment by late 2013, there are few who
opine that Julia Gillard could repeat John
Howards unbelievable turnaround feat in
2001.
Like Julia Gillard, John Howard was
bogged down with low opinion poll votes.
He was also facing a stiff campaign on
GST the Liberals had introduced in 2000.
Of course, John Howard was bolstered
by Tampa affair and also the 11
September attacks in New York in 2001.
The former Conservative PM was also
quick to understand the public sentiment
and tweaked his GST implementation
accordingly.
Julia Gillard may not have any of
such, perverse or otherwise, luxuries as
she cannot decrease the carbon price
because of the complex system (e.g.
attached tax cuts and welfare payments)
built around it.
Australia India economic cooperation is on the rise
A
ustralias merchandise
exports to India were
$15.7 billion in 2010
which represents 6.4 percent
of Australias total merchan-
dise exports. India was
Australias fourth largest mer-
chandise export market and
fifth largest merchandise trad-
ing partner in 2010 11.
Australias strength in
exporting minerals and fuels
to supply the growing Indian
industrial demand has seen
Indian industrialists jostling in
Australia.
In February 2012 India's
Adani Group has hit the
Australian headlines with
their $10-billion mega plan to
build Queensland state's
largest coalmine, a 500-km
railroad, a new township and
even a Greenfield airport.
Driven by an insatiable
demand for energy back
home, a number of Indian bil-
lionaires are in Australia for a
share of coal mines.
GVK was in for the acqui-
sition of the Australia based
Hancock Coal and
Infrastructure projects.
At the eighth Annual Asia
Mining Congress at Singapore
in March, GVK Hancock
has been awarded the 'Asia
Deal of the year' and GVK
was awarded as the 'Asia
Outbound Investor of the
year'.
Among other nominations,
Adani, Coal India, China
Minerals Aluminum Company
of China, Mitsubishi
Development, NMDC and
China Africa Development
Fund, GVK Group was rec-
ognized for the acquisition of
the Australia based Hancock
Coal and Infrastructure proj-
ects.
GVK has been established
as a leading future producer
and exporter of Australian
coal. After winning the
award, the Chairman Dr
GVK Reddy saidin a press
release, The best thing about
winning this award is that we
are not just representing the
Indian business community
but we are also creating a
new platform for Indian
investors.
In NSW, Australia Gujarat
NRE Coking Coal (GNM),
the Australian subsidiary of
Gujarat NRECoke (GNCL)
got the nod for Long wall
mining. Thesubsidence man-
agement plan has the approval
from the New South Wales
Government to start mining at
its NRE No1 mine in the
country. The Gujarat NRE
Coke has been listed in the
Australian Securities
Exchange.
The commencement of
long wall production in NRE
No1 mine not only ensures
the future growth of the com-
pany on a higher trajectory
but also secures the perma-
nent employment of more
than 600 employees working
for the company in IIlawara,
said the executive chairman
of GNCL, Arun Kumar
Jagatramka, in Kolkata on 27
March.
Besides the NRE No1 the
company has another mine
NRE Wongawilli, also locat-
ed in NSW Illawara region.
The SMP approval had
come at a time when the hard
coking coal production of the
company was being increased
from current level of around
2mpta to 6 mpta by
2015.This, in turn, would
make it one of the top 10
hard coking coal producers in
the world, Jagatramka
added.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard: learning
from labors loss in Queensland
Billionaire Gautam Adani
Arun Jagatramka of Gujarat NRE on left with a coalminer
Anna Bligh: Former premier
of Queensland
The Third Eye by Rekha Bhattacharjee
Analysis
India
PMs nod to Pakistan visit, a potential game-changer
New Delhi: In a potential game-changer in
restive bilateral ties, Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh April 8 accepted an
invitation to visit Pakistan, with India
indicating that concrete actions against
anti-India terrorists and a speedier resolu-
tion of less contentious issues like disputes
over the Siachen glacier and Sir Creek
marshland could form the showpiece of
the much-awaited trip.
India and Pakistan, which resumed
their dialogue in February last year after a
post 26/11 pause, moved a step closer to
their "common desire" of normalising
relations after a businesslike lunch and 40
minutes one-on-one talks between visiting
Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari and
Manmohan Singh at the latters official
residence.
Zardari touched down here for a day
visit cloaked as a pilgrimage to the Sufi
shrine of Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti at
Ajmer in Rajasthan.
Manmohan Singh pressed Pakistan to
bring the perpetrators of the Mumbai ter-
ror spree to justice and act against 26/11
mastermind Hafiz Saeed, who is continu-
ing with his hate India speeches with
impunity, but the talks largely focused on
mapping out a forward-looking agenda
focusing around trade and the peace divi-
dend that will ensue.
In a sign of paradigm shift, Zardari
invoked the "India-China" model for bilat-
eral ties, which entails focusing on scaling
up trade while resolving more complex
outstanding issues like Kashmir in a step-
by-step incremental fashion.
Manmohan Singh acknowledged that
Pakistan was moving forward on trade
issues - a reference to Islamabad's move-
ment in the direction of granting New
Delhi the Most Favoured Nation status -
as both leaders agreed to tap economic
potential for trade and investment and
broaden economic agenda between the two
countries.
In a step forward, the two leaders
directed their home secretaries to discuss
the issue of terror and sign a pact on eas-
ing the visa regime.
Manmohan Singh surprised many
when he announced, at a joint appearance
with Zardari, that he would be "very
happy" to visit Pakistan, the most positive
indication so far that the Pakistan-born
Indian prime minister could after all go on
his maiden visit to the neighbouring coun-
try.
If the visit takes place, it will be the
first by an Indian prime minister to
Pakistan in the last eight years. Atal
Bihari Vajpayee was the last Indian prime
minister to visit Pakistan in 2004.
Manmohan Singh with Pakistan President
Asif Zardari who visited India April 8
ostensibly to pray at Ajmer Sharif.
How India shaped BRICS
position on Iran, Syria,
Afghanistan
Tibet on fire: Is the world paying heed?
New Delhi: India played
a crucial role in shaping
the collective stance of
the BRICS countries on
the need for dialogue to
resolve the festering cri-
sis in West Asia and to
push continued regional
and international coop-
eration in stabilising
Afghanistan.
The Delhi
Declaration at the end of
the 4th BRICS summit
of Brazil, Russia, India,
China and South Africa
in late March supported
moderation and dialogue
in resolving the Iranian
nuclear standoff and the Syrian
crisis amid threats and sharp
rhetoric emanating from
Western capitals.
Although there are sceptics
who say the political content of
BRICS remains thin, the New
Delhi summit is by far the most
ambitious one as it seeks to rein-
force the economic heft of the
emerging economies with calls
for greater diplomatic clout in
setting the international agenda.
On Iran, the BRICS coun-
tries collectively warned against
allowing the situation to escalate
into conflict - a veiled reference
to the speculated plan by the
US-Israel to target Iranian
nuclear facilities.
In the restricted discussions
between the leaders that preced-
ed the plenary session, which
was open to the media, there
were intense discussions among
the delegations of the five coun-
tries on these sensitive issues,
informed sources said. There
were differences of perception
as well as convergence as none
of the BRICS countries wanted
to openly defy the West by tak-
ing a confrontational stance.
However, India took the lead
in the discussions, with Russia
and China agreeing that any
escalation of the already tense
situation in Iran will have cor-
roding spillover effects on the
global economy triggered by the
rise in oil prices.
The position on Iran is sig-
nificant as it also calls for rop-
ing in Tehran as a responsible
member of the international
community. This is bound to
upset the US which has been
trying to isolate the Iranian
regime, Lalit Mansingh, a for-
mer foreign secretary and envoy
to the US, said.
On Syria, India feels that the
larger logic behind its vote on
the UN resolution has been vin-
dicated by the BRICS resolution
which calls for "a Syria-backed
democratic transition" in that
country.
Similarly, India played a
proactive role in getting other
BRICS leaders to advocate con-
tinued international engagement
in Afghanistan against the back-
drop of the phased pull down of
coalition troops in the violence-
torn country. The post-with-
drawal situation in Afghanistan
will also impact Russia and
China, but any instability in that
country will have an immediate
bearing on India's security, said
the sources.
New Delhi: A young Buddhist monk has become the
latest to set himself on fire in southwest China, taking
his own life to protest Beijing's rule, a rights group
and exiles said.
The 20-year-old monk, named Sherab, burned him-
self to death on Wednesday in his home town in
Sichuan province's Aba county, London-based Free
Tibet and exiled monks living in India said.
He was the 30th Tibetan known to have set himself
alight in China since a young monk self-immolated in
March 2011 at the Kirti monastery sparking dramatic
protests in Sichuan, which has a large population of
ethnic Tibetans.
For more than a year the deadly protests have
swept the Tibetan plateau, waves of people burning
themselves alive in a widening challenge to Chinese
rule. The series of suicide-protests are unprecedented.
They have embarrassed Beijing and are testing Chinese
policies across the Tibetan plateau.
The fire has spread to India, Jamphel Yeshi, 27,
died after setting himself on fire in New Delhi on
March 26 to protest against Chinese President Hu
Jintao's India visit. He burned himself in front of hun-
dreds of people.
Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff, Russian
President Dmitry Medvedev, India's Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh, Chinese
President Hu Jintao and South Africa's
President Jacob Zuma in New Delhi on
March 29 for the 4th BRICS Summit.
Jamphel Yeshi self-immolated in Delhi March 26,
enraging Tibetans all over world.
Reversals for Congress, wins for
Samajwadis & Akalis
New Delhi: For the Congress the
only facesaver in the five state
elections was Uttarakhand, where
it could cobble together a majori-
ty and form government. The
reversals came in Uttar Pradesh,
where despite Rahul Gandhis
extensive campaigning, the party
came third with Mulayam Yadavs
Samajwadi Party securing a com-
fortable majority, ending
Mayawatis rule, whose BSP came
second. In Punjab, Akali-BJP
combine evaded the anti-incum-
bency factor and kept Congress
out of power.
Later Samajwadi Party (SP)
leader and Mulayams son,
Akhilesh Yadav, was sworn in as
the 33rd chief minister of India's
most politically crucial state of
Uttar Pradesh. The 38-year-old is
the youngest to hold the post in
the country's most populous state.
He is credited with steering the
party to a thumping victory of 224
seats in the 403-member assembly.
Vijay Bahuguna, the Congress
MP from Tehri Garhwal, was
sworn in as chief minister of
Uttarakhand after the Congress
leadership overruled dissent by
chief ministerial aspirant Harish
Rawat.
In 1969, Parkash Singh Badal,
then 42, became the youngest
chief minister in the country when
he took over the reins of Punjab
for the first time. Now, at 84 and
after 40 years in politics, Badal
became the country's oldest chief
minister when he took the oath of
office for a record fifth time. He
largely owes his fifth term to his
son and political heir Sukhbir
Singh Badal, who is the Shiromani
Akali Dal president. Sukhbir
steered the Akali Dal-BJP combine
to victory in the assembly polls.
This is the first time in over four
decades in Punjab that a political
party has returned to office for a
second consecutive term.
In Manipur, it was the
Congress which overcame anti-
incumbency factor to sweep the
polls with a two-thirds majority in
the 60-member assembly.
However, the Congress govern-
ment in Goa made way for BJP
rule.
Akhilesh Yadav became the youngest chief minister of Uttar Pradesh
and Prakash Singh badal, at 82, is the oldest chief minister of Punjab
who began his fifth innings as CM.
Leaked letter reveals Indian defense holes
New Delhi: Indian army
chief believes the country's
security is at risk, with an
obsolete air defense system
and critical shortages of
tank ammunition. Gen.
V.K. Singh said so in a pri-
vate letter to Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh that got
leaked to the media.
Defense Minister A.K.
Antony said the government
was addressing the con-
cerns.
In the letter, Gen. Singh
said the state of the coun-
try's artillery, air defense and infantry was
"alarming." He said the army was "devoid
of critical ammunition to defeat enemy
tanks" and the air defense system was "97
percent obsolete."
The letter caused an uproar in
Parliament, with angry opposition lawmak-
ers accusing the government of neglecting
the country's defense.
Antony tried to appease lawmakers, say-
ing "defense preparedness is a top priority
for the government," and
that it was "determined to
ensure India's security."
Within days came
another embarrassing
episode. A media report
talked of an attempted
"military coup" in January.
But it turned into a whim-
per the same day after the
Prime Minister called it
"alarmist" and Antony
termed it "baseless" and
vouching for the army's
pro-democracy credentials.
The Indian Express report said a Hisar-
based mechanized infantry unit and ele-
ments from the 50 Para Brigade in Agra
had moved towards the capital on the night
of Jan 16 without following the standard
operating procedure of informing the
defense ministry in advance. Army chief
Gen V K Singh dismissed as "absolutely
stupid" the report that the Indian govern-
ment panicked for several hours in the face
of unexplained troop movement.
Indian Army chief V.K.
Singh had written the private
letter to the PM
India
Rs.18,000-crore Air India restructuring approved
Didis ire over rail budget takes
ministers job
Fit again Yuvraj back home after
battling cancer
New Delhi: India's star bats-
man Yuvraj Singh returned
home early April after under-
going treatment for rare germ
cell cancer in the US.
Yuvraj had been resting in
London for some time after
undergoing treatment for three
months at the Boston Institute
of Cancer Research.
"I'm happy to be back
home. Recovering well," said
Yuvraj.
Yuvraj's father, ex-crick-
eter Yograj Singh told TV
channels that his son was fine and hoped to
see him back on the crick-
et field soon.
Batting maestro Sachin
Tendulkar visited Yuvraj
in London last week while
former India captain Anil
Kumble had flown to the
US to meet the star crick-
eter when he was undergo-
ing chemotherapy.
Yuvraj's hero, leg-
endary cyclist Lance
Armstrong, who survived
cancer, also wished the
cricketer through micro-
blogging site Twitter.
Mumbai: The long-awaited Rs.18,000
crore financial restructuring plan for cash-
strapped Air India has finally been
approved last month by a consortium of 19
banks led by State Bank of India. The plan
includes a debt restructuring of Rs.18,000
crore by the banks and a committed equity
infusion by the government, the official
said in a statement here.
The high-cost working capital debt of
the national carrier stands at Rs.22,000
crore, of which the banks will restructure
Rs.18,000 crore. Out of this, Rs.10,500
crore will be converted into long-term debt
with a repayment period of 10-15 years.
The remaining Rs.7,400 croe will be
repaid to banks through a government-
guaranteed bond issue.
New Delhi: Union Railway Minister Dinesh
Trivedi resigned after presenting his budget
in March, pressured by Trinamool Congress
chief and West Bengal Chief Minister
Mamata Banerjee.
"Since the Trinamool Congress was instru-
mental in making me the Railway
Minister... like a soldier, I must obey the
party's decision," he said.
Earlier while still defiant he had said
that the Railway Ministry should not be
treated as somebody's property.
Mamata was reportedly upset with the
Trivedi over the train fare hikes announced
in the budget. Trinamools Mukul Roy, a
close aide of Mamata, became the new
Railway Minister who initiated some fare
hike rollback. Evidently, Mamata could
armtwist Manmohan Singhs government,
which she backs.
Dinesh Trivedi had defied party boss
Mamata Banerjee.
Star cricketer Yuvraj Singh
Community
By Neena Badhwar
May may be the month of
Australian Fashion Week yet many
of us love wearing a Sari. It makes
one feel special in every way as com-
pliments not only come from ones
own family and friends but general
Aussies too who love the colour, the
texture and the whole look of it.
They wonder how just a piece of
material 6 meters long can turn into
such an elegant garment that we all
Indians are proud of.
Kulwinder Kaur, a teacher by
profession, says, Sari has retained
its special charm and place in my
wardrobe despite tough competition
from contemporary forms of apparel.
Sari is one of the finest creation
which gives a sensuous, caring touch,
feminine appeal and above all gives a
special sparkle and pride to me of
being a woman. I just love it for its
aesthetic appearance, timeless appeal
which is beyond compare.
Astha Rajvanshi, a 20 year old
Media & communication student,
loves wearing Sari, I think that the
Sari is a beautiful, elegant and classic
Indian garment. By wearing it, our
culture and heritage are brought to
life through lived and artful represen-
tation. For girls and women in the
modern day and age, dressing up is
twice as fun as we try and navigate
our way through the complex folds
and pleats! Saris have come a long
way from the past, with many new
styles, glamorous designs, and differ-
ent ways of being worn, but they
have always remained fashionably
traditional in essence.
Sari has touched many
Australians as past state Premier
Keneally and MP Virginia Judge
flaunted Saris at Indian functions and
currently we have seen Julie Owens,
Federal Labor MP, wearing Sari quite
often. Says Ms Owen, I had 2 saris
in my wardrobe for 20 years but was
hesitant to try them on. When I
became an MP I decided to wear a
Sari to an Indian function and real-
ized how easy it was to put it on. I
got so excited after that that I went
and bought six more. Now I love
wearing Saris and am totally fasci-
nated by them.
Shikha Kaushik says, I believe
there is nothing sexier than a women
with confidence and to me sari is one
distinctive ethnic dress that gives me
that confidence. Saris are very femi-
nine and compliment the figure beau-
tifully. No one ever looks bad in a
sari.
Saris especially display the
curves at the right places for a girl
like me who has a curvy figure. Saris
enhance my beauty and make me
look graceful. The other trick behind
this is the colour of sari you select. If
you are fair-skinned, vibrant hues or
green, and if you are dark-skinned,
try pastel like lilac and blues . Also
not to forget with plenty of embel-
lishment such as mirror or embroi-
dery makes one look in a sari quite
elegant and makes them standout in a
crowd.
We should be proud of who we
are, sari, the traditional Indian dress
makes me feel I may live anywhere
in this world but my culture is alive
in me. The ancient and exotic sari,
the traditional dress will remain the
most preferred outfit option for many
generations to come.
Well Sydney try a Sari on on the
occasion of the Australian Fashion
Week next month and look beautiful!
Sydney buzz
about Sari...
Shikha
Kaushik
Federal Labor MP
Ms Julie Owens
Kulwinder
Kaur
Astha
Rajvanshi
Bollywood
By Neeru Saluja
K
K has always been an enig-
ma to me. His ability to
emote the mood of the
song so beautifully leaves me won-
dering each time, how can one feel
the depth of a song with such
immensity? While to many the
versatile singer will be fondly
associated with the song Tadap
tadap ke from the Salman-Aish
starrer Hum Dil De Chuke
Sanam or to lovers for Pal, KK
is a modern day singing sensation
belting out hit songs of all kinds.
The mesmerising KK was in
town recently for a concert with
singer Hard Kaur and TIDU got a
chance for a candid interview with
him. Dressed casually in jeans and
a blazer, no one would ever guess
he could have been the same elec-
tric performer making the crowd
go crazy with his sensational
songs. Proud of his gifted talent
though down to earth about his
achievements, KK opens his heart
and shares his musical journey
with us from jingles to playback
singing, and from singing to actu-
ally living each song.
My entry into mainstream
singing was a catch 22 situation. I
had already sung more than 3000
jingles so I wasnt insecure that I
wont sing the song properly. I
started my career with Gulzars
Maachis in 1996 as I was one of
the singers who sang Chod Aaye
Hum voh galiyan. Then I got
three songs from Rahman and a
film that never took off! I thought
I was jinxed, but thankfully God
was very kind to me and I always
knew something good will come.
In 1999 I got my first break with
Tadap Tadap from Hum Dil De
Chuke Sanam.
So was it a struggle or luck by
chance? My struggle wasnt that
bad, though nowadays artists get a
lot of exposure from television but
it is more competitive as people
can see and hear them. I started
singing in school and remember
winning all inter school and inter-
state singing competitions. I even
experimented in languages and
there was a time when I used to
sing a lot in English. As I was
singing jingles, I wasnt desperate
and momentarily I was happy so I
took it easily.
Think of KK and the first thing
that comes to mind is Tadap Tadap
or Pyaar ke pal.Its funny but I
am often asked because I sang
tadap tadap ke I must have a lot of
pain - I say no I had one girlfriend
and I married her when I was 21!
giggles KK. A good singer can
sing in all kind of scenarios and
languages. While singing a song
you need to develop a connection
(I get turned on by lyrics). On the
other hand, jingles are a gamut of
emotions. You have to feel all
genuinely, you learn to emote
faster.
He maybe at the pinnacle of
his career but KK is still open to
experimenting with different kind
of music and directors. I love
songs from many genres. I dont
have any reference points, there
has to be originality in the songs.
If I dont like the lyrics I wont
take the song. I sang with new
music directors like Sahil Gupta. I
have experimented with new
directors, we look at the song and
the music.
Since his younger days, KK
has been influenced by the leg-
endary singer Kishore Kumar. So
is KK the guru of KK whats
your style? I have many gurus,
you have to live to other peoples
expectations. I idol worship
Kishore Kumar. He is my inspira-
tion. Like other singers, I dont
practice a lot, Im from a different
school, that way you lose out on
the emotion. The pronunciation
should be clear discloses KK.
Be it sad, romantic or peppy,
almost all of KK songs have been
a hit. Whats your secret formula
to get it right every time? Im
very punctual and I have learnt
this from Gulzar. Time is only
yours, if you value it. I have a
tight hold on time management
and emotional management that
has helped me. I get there on time,
am punctual and Im itching to
hear the song, and then I relax.
In the chaotic industry of
films, does that make you stand
out as a perfectionist? Im a con-
trol freak for myself, I make sug-
gestions to my point, you have
given me the freedom, I cant let
you down. I get to a level of per-
fection. There are 100 ways of
melody, 2 couplets in 10 different
ways, that something comes from
heart, dont let your mind get into
the song.
Does the control trait tempt
you into music direction after a
few years? No music direction
for me in the future, as it involves
a lot of stress. When you are cre-
ative, you cannot be under pres-
sure. Not more than one song in
one day, focus on one song at a
time.
KKs music always has a lot of
soul and emotional richness, his
songs normally leave a trace
behind. On this KK shares his per-
spective, I have learnt to detach
myself from my songs, once I
walk out of the studio, I have lived
it. I dont expect the song to stay
in my life, I was always like that,
I have learnt not to hold on my
songs, its an experience that I
have lived and have to let go of. I
enjoy it, bask in the song, let the
music infuse in my soul and my
soul has been converted into the
song.
You cant hold on to your
song, the song is not yours any-
more, the song picks you.
Besides singing, KK loves to
spend time with his family. I like
to spend a lot of time with my kids
and family. I love going on long
drives, watch movies, eat out,
rolling on the bed with my kids
when they were young, no stress
at home, I cant handle stress.
I dont like crowded places.
Though I try to interact and con-
nect with lots of people, I dont
have many friends. Im a loner, I
like silence and tranquillity. Im
even a bit shy with media admits
KK.
In Kishore Kumar footsteps - KK
A Quick Question Round with KK
If opportunity knocks, would you be a singer or actor?
Every singer is an actor!
Favourite song?
Pyaar ke pal, Awarapaan, Avlida, o mama, Tadap Tadap.
Pyaar ke pal makes you
It makes my wife cry every time I sing it.
What makes a song hit?
Your mind lets you think, if the song will be a hit or not.
On stage superstar or supersinger?
Just a singer! Im very casual and dont wear sunglasses so I can connect
What do you want people to remember KK as?
I want to be remembered as a good human being.
Whats your dream?
I live my dream every time I sing a song.
Bollywood
By K. Raman
Yaad karoge Yaad karoge,
Ek din hamko yaad karoge
T
hat is exactly what we are
doing here and now.
Geeta Dutt was a brilliant
playback singer of Hindi films,
strikingly beautiful with dreamy
almond eyes, who left us nearly
39 years ago. Despite possessing
a rich voice, her career was heav-
ily marred by bad luck and an
unhappy marriage.
Daughter of a wealthy
Zamindar, Geeta Dutt was loaded
with musical talents. Burman Da,
Anil Biswas, Hemanth Kumar,
Salil Choudhry and other great
Bengali composers were ready to
give her a helping hand even
without her even asking such a
favour. But in the end it did not
fully materialize as desired. Her
life was riddled with unhappiness,
obstacles, tragedies and sadness,
which collapsed after a short life
span of 41 odd years. The legacy
she left behind by way of her bril-
liant and unique style of seductive
singing, voice modulation bril-
liance and the unusual tonal qual-
ity is still admired by even those
who were not even born when
Geeta was in her prime.
Geeta Roy was born in a rich
family in Faridapur district (cur-
rently in Bangladesh) in 1930.
Not much is known about her ear-
lier life as a young girl until she
appeared as a 16 year old singer
in Bhagat Prahlad (1946). The
man who spotted her singing tal-
ents was Hanuman Prasad who
made her sing just two lines of
melody in that film. From that
frugal start her progress was
meteoric via successful films like
Do Bhai, Baazi etc, to start with.
There was a rare and unusual
swing in her voice texture which
attracted keen listeners. Dev
Anand introduced Guru Dutt, an
up and coming actor, to Geeta
during one of his regular weekend
parties. In the film Baazi, Dev
Anand employed Guru Dutt as the
director, and in the film Geeta
sang an immortal and emotional
number, Tadbeer se bigadi hui.
Guru Dutt instantly fell in love
with her by hearing this song.
Geeta had eight solos in this film
which all turned out to be very
popular and successful numbers.
The chasm between Geeta and
Guru Dutt was a constant factor in
their tumultuous 11 years of life
together (1953-1964), though ini-
tially they fell for each other head
over heels. Guru Dutt was a
Konkani Saraswat Brahmin
(named initially as Vasantha
Kumar Shivasankar Pudukone) a
man with a brilliant mind in film
matters, and one who was far
ahead of his time.
Geeta and Guru got married
though both families had reserva-
tions of this union. Always
moody, with tendencies of emo-
tional blunting and mood swings,
Guru Dutt might have been an
undetected schizophrenic from a
young age. Observers interpreted
his quiet aloofness as his bril-
liance and thinking disposition.
Guru Dutt produced some
classic films around this time and
the female voice for his films was
always Geeta Dutt. All her songs
were massive hits. They had a
happy married life initially and
three children were born in quick
succession (Tarun, Arun and
Nina).
While Guru Dutt was filming
C.I.D, his new find, a beautiful
and highly talented actress from
Chengalpet (Tamil Nadu) became
the villain of the happy married
life of Guru and Geeta. Guru Dutt
was infatuated with Waheeda
(who will not be if you had seen
her in real life then or in the role
of Kamini, the seductress in
C.I.D) and he virtually left Geeta
and children in the lurch.
Geeta Dutt had a nervous
breakdown and it was so bad she
could not even recognize her chil-
dren, and she took solace from
alcohol. Her majestic voice and
regal image were ravaged by alco-
hol. She was not keeping up her
singing appointments and this was
happening at a time when young
Lata was fast climbing up the suc-
cess ladder. Geeta never recov-
ered from the evil clutches of
alcohol. More tragedy was in
store. Guru Dutt committed sui-
cide (alcohol plus sleeping pills)
on 10 October, 1964.
Everyone knew that Guru Dutt
was too ambitious. Ambition is a
type of passion that can be
destructive too; it is a double
edged sword. In Guru Dutts case
it drove him to the point of no
return. This was a shock that vir-
tually broke Geeta.
She sang:
Mera sundar sapna beet
gaya,
Main prem mein sub kuch
haar gayee-
Bedard zamaan jeeth gaya
(This song sung by her was a
true reflection of her real life
then.) Her eldest son commited
suicide at a young age and to
Geeta it was part of a parade of
misery. Cirrhosis of liver took her
away on 20 July, 1972, at just
over 41 years age.
Geeta had a unique voice with
exceptional mellifluous tonal puri-
ty with unusual swing and it
fuelled pathos and other emotions
in the mind of the listeners. The
fluidity of her rendition with her
God-given originality made her a
unique singer of class. Be it a bha-
jan or a Western cabaret pictured
on Helen, she was equally at ease.
It was often mentioned in film
magazines in early fifties that the
newcomer Lata was initially
scared of Geetas ability to sing
and the high esteem with which
music directors regarded her. She
thought it was a big stumbling
block for her onward march.
S.D. Burman and O.P.
Nayyar brought out Geetas inher-
ent voice culture and singing abil-
ity to the fore. The great talent
spotter S.D. Burman knew about
the singing ability of Geeta and he
guided her to sing jazzy songs in
the crime movie Baazi. O.P.
Nayyar took the lead and made
her a great singer of his new style
of swingers. When she got addict-
ed to alcohol she was not attend-
ing music recordings on some
silly excuses and that opened
opportunities to Asha Bhosle
while the doors were shut on
Geeta Dutt. To avoid a total wipe-
out Geeta took part in stage shows
and even ventured as a film pro-
ducer, with no success. In the cut
throat film music world, even the
greatest of singers who disregard
the wishes of top music directors,
will never get a footing inside the
recording studios for the second
time.
The children were very close
to their mother because of the way
Guru Dutt treated the family,
especially their mother. She was a
kind hearted housewife with mal-
ice towards none and charity for
all. Even when it became clear
that Guru Dutt left Geeta for a
younger and stunningly beautiful
Waheeda Rehman, Geeta did not
harbour ill feelings towards
Waheeda but blamed her husband
whom she loved and regarded
well.
Even though Guru Dutt nego-
tiated with Waheedas parents to
marry her, they were not support-
ive of that move. Religion became
the major stumbling block. I feel
that he had some acute mental
sickness as he attempted suicide
on two previous occasions, both
of them failed somehow or other.
Two of the Dutts children are
now middle aged. They said
recently that a producer of suc-
cessful films, Guru Dutt, spent
many lakhs of rupees for lavish
productions like Kagaz ke phool
and did not leave a Rupee to his
loving wife in the end. She lived
in poverty and this saddened their
helpless children very much.
They said, We hardly ever saw
him all through the time he
lived.
Guru Dutts mother was open-
ly canvassing him and others who
had influence on him to get him
married to Waheeda Rahman. She
did not like Geeta Dutt at all and
it was an open secret then. On his
death a set of people alleged it
was not a case of suicide but a
well-planned murder. On the day
he died he had talked to Mala
Sinha who was the heroine of the
film he was shooting then, about
the scenes to shoot on the next
day. It is obvious that a man who
planned to commit suicide will not
be planning the filming schedule
and shoot to take place on the next
day or so.
I began compiling a mini list
of Geeta Dutts hits, but found it
very hard to do so because each
one of her hit songs had individ-
ual class and uniqueness and it
was difficult to pick the
favourites. However, I give
below my final short listing:
1. Thandi hava kali ghata (Mr
& Mrs 55); 2. Yeeh hai Bombay
meri Jaan (C.I.D); 3. Babuji
Dheere chalna (Aaar paar); 4.
Mera nam chin chin chu (Howrah
bridge); 5. Tadbeer se bigadi hui
(Baaz); 6. Ankhon hi ankhon
mein (C.I.D); 7. Udhar tum
haseen ho (Mr & Mrs 55); 8.
Waqt ne kiya sitam (Kagaz ke
phool); 9. Zun zun zun salima
(Aar Paar); 10. Jane kya tune
kahee (Pyasa). 11. Ae dil muje
bata do (Bhai Bhai);
12. Yeh to mein haari piya (Aar
paar), my all-time favourite; 13.
Ja Ja Ja bewafa (Aar Paar).
Before his death Guru was
seriously contemplating to recon-
cile with his wife to forget the bad
past and go back to a happy life.
But it was not to be.
I met Geeta Dutt on four sep-
arate occasions, thrice in her
modest house and once in a studio
recording session. Of these one
was while she was on top of the
singing world, a happy and pleas-
ant well-mannered house wife.
The other two were while she was
going down the slippery dip. I
remember her tidy house with
things in place and a portrait of
Guru Dutt, garlanded with
incense sticks burning.
She had good taste in clothes
and the jewellery she wore. She
had a limpid look with a smooth
carriage. She was cultured, come-
ly, well read and articulate, unlike
the other singing mob we are
familiar with. So good looking
she was (she looked very much
like Mala Sinha), she could walk
into any film set as its leading
lady.
To any onlooker she present-
ed as if she was the celestial
nymph just raised from the swirly
waters of a holy river. She, more
than once, talked in detail of her
attachment to her family and her
life as a film singer. Never once
she had a bad comment about any
of her co singers or music direc-
tors.
In my last meeting, I saw
melancholy etched all over her
beautiful expressive eyes. I still
see her infectious smile, a feature
of her persona that cannot be
wiped out from my memory. Fate
was cruel to a nice person who
lived an eventful 41 years. May
her soul rest in peace.
Geeta Dutt Roy, an unlucky skylark
She was a brilliant playback singer, strikingly beautiful with dreamy almond eyes,
but led a short life marred by bad luck and an unhappy marriage.
A younger K Raman with Geeta Dutt
Bollywood
By Neeru Saluja
H
ail the 1960s and
1970s of Bollywood
music. It was the
genre of rock, hip-hop tunes
and hippi culture. Indians
were being influenced by
western music for their tunes,
but very few know that in the
1960s artists of the west were
coming to India to look for
inspiration. Indian classical
music had a significant effect
on the psychedelic rock scene
of the 60s. A fusion of western
music took place at both ends
and swept away bands like
Beatles, Doors and our very
own music director RD
Burman.
2010 may have been the
year of Katrinas Sheila ki
jawani and Malaikas Munni
badnaam hui, but who can for-
get Helen in Piya tu ab to aaja
or Yeh Mera Dil? The title
song of Hare Krishna Hare
Rama became a hip-hop
anthem for youngsters.
Bringing back the sound of the
golden age of Bollywood to
future is Bombay Royale, a
Melbourne based band dedi-
cated to honour and revive the
disco and funky tunes.
Bombay Royale is led by
singer Parvyn Kaur Singh,
who comes from a family of
professional musicians and has
been singing and dancing on
stage since the age of five in
Australia. She is accompanied
by male singer Shourov
Bhattacharya who sings large-
ly in Hindi while the rest of
the band is drawn from the
cream of Melbourne's live
music scene, featuring key
members of bands such as
Labjacd, The Public Opinion
Afro Orchestra, San Lazaro,
Mr Savona, Vulgagrad, Illzilla
and multi-instrumentalist Josh
Bennett who plays sitar, dilru-
ba and tabla.
The Indian Down Under
caught up for an interview
with Parvyn who had just
come back from conducting a
dance workshop for disabled
school children. Gearing up
for an upcoming performance
at WOMADelaide, she is let-
ting her hair down (literally)
and wearing all her blingy
sarees with Bombay Royale by
spreading the music of love.
TIDU: Funky music, vin-
tage Bollywood, flamboyant
theatrics and a medley of the
best of musicians from
Melbourne. Bombay Royale
has a unique vibe. Who was
behind the visualisation of the
concept?
Parvyn Kaur Singh: Andy
Williamson, the skipper of the
band collects vintage vinyl
records and amongst his mas-
sive collection were a few
Bollywood records. He had
heard about them, and realised
no one did such music like in
those days. When he played
the music he thought he could
come up with some instrumen-
tal music through a band. But
then he came up with my char-
acter (the mysterious lady),
got our male singer Shourov
Bhattacharya (the tiger) and
after rehearsing for six months
we were ready to rock on the
stage. Were like a big gang
wearing masks, where we
have a mysterious lady, a
jewel thief, the tiger, the skip-
per, the railways moghul, etc.
Andy wanted to make it a
Bollywood film than just a
stage show, so he made us
characters like in a movie and
we all embraced it because it
was so fun!
We have done performanc-
es all around in Melbourne
like the Evelyn hotel regular-
ly, live bars, Falls Festival,
Port Ferry festival, Moomba
festival, Melbourne arts festi-
val and Parramasala.
TIDU: What made you
choose the 70s music and not
todays music? How would
you compare both if you want
to?
Parvyn: Our music is basi-
cally the disco and funk from
the 70s. Its really a dancing
style. I do like the music of
today, but there is something
special about those days. For
example if I had to compare
RD Burmans music with AR
Rahmans music, both their
merits and new styles, now
music is more focussed on the
base and computerised, while
in the olden days there would
be a massive room of live
musicians making music. We
should not forget those styles,
now the music is more pop and
horns.
I frequently sing RD
Burmans classics Dum Maaro
Dum, Pechchan Ho, Kar le
pyaar ke, yeh mera dil, etc.
We are also releasing our
debut album You Me Bullets
Love at the WOMADelaide
Festival and on our national
tour in May. The album con-
sists of our original tunes of
the songs which we have writ-
ten ourselves.
TIDU: You are the myste-
rious lady and the lead singer
of Bombay Royale. How do
you bring that mystic charm
from that era on stage?
Parvyn: I just try to be
myself on stage. Its so peace-
ful just to sing and dance and
enjoy the right spirit of music.
Because Im the character
mysterious lady, there is a
mystic touch and charm to my
character like every woman
has! Im so comfortable with
the musicians and my husband
Josh, who plays the sitar and
tabla.
TIDU: Interesting.
Married to music or music
brought your marriage?
Parvyn: (Smiles) Ive
known Josh for six years. He
toured with Dad (famous
musician Dya Singh) and then
went to India to study the sitar.
Then we both went to
Ahmedabad to learn more
about music and dance. He
was always into Dads music,
he embraced our culture, he
loves Indian music and thats
where we connected.
TIDU: Its amazing how
being an Australian, Josh has
embraced our culture and
shown so much interest in our
music. What about other
Australians how do they
react when you perform?
Parvyn: Australians have
embraced our music with open
arms. They have no inhibi-
tions when they listen to our
music as it is a happy rhythm,
and they are familiar with the
guitar and trumpets. There is
also a theatrical touch to it so
its a visual treat too. Funny
but its a bit different when I
perform in front of Indians. I
get a bit nervous as they enjoy
our music but are a bit judge-
mental and not quite sure
about what we are doing. We
want them to realise were
having a great time while per-
forming and we want them to
do the same! Music is meant to
be shared with all.
TIDU: You hold a degree
in journalism but have pur-
sued singing and dancing as a
career. What do you enjoy the
most?
Parvyn: I started off in
engineering. Then I did a
course in journalism, to learn
more about my music, and to
write poetry and songs. But
Im very shy to show my writ-
ing, Im not that confident
about my writing as I am with
my singing and dancing in my
troupe Sapphire. Both singing
and dancing are very close my
heart.
My guru ji says a singer
dances from within and a
dancer sings from within, so I
enjoy both, singing with my
body. Im also a trained
kathak dancer and love that
form the most.
TIDU: How do you foresee
the future of Indian music in
Australia?
Parvyn: Indian music is
becoming more known with
Australian audiences now.
They realise the beauty of
colour, love and joy and are
ready to get out there to expe-
rience the music and let go of
themselves! The music is very
vibrant and Triple J has start-
ed playing Bombay Royale.
We are planning to tour
Europe, America, Canada and
South Africa and Korea and
applied for a grant to tour
India in January 2013. Our
music is very energetic, fun
and one can dance along to it.
The 70s music includes the
swimming step, the twist and
thats why western audiences
understand it. There is a lot of
fun in it and its all about hav-
ing a good time.
TIDU: In your words, how
would you define music?
Parvyn: For me, music is
life, everything I see around
me is music. It means every-
thing to me. I find a lot of joy
and peace in music, it makes
me happy. And that would be
my message to my audience
find happiness and joy in
whatever you do with an open
mind, dont take life too
seriously!
Bringing back the golden age of
Bollywood Bombay Royale
Led by Pervyn Kaur Singh, Melbourne based band
Bombay Royale is dedicated to honour and revive the
disco and funky tunes of Bollywood of the 1970s.
Pervyn Kaur Singh
Hollywood
By Neeru Saluja
F
irst came the deep spirituality
dhoti statement, followed aptly
by the fashionable sexy saree.
Then came the colourful Bride and
Prejudice, followed by the aamchi
Mumbai Slumdog Millionaire. But now
the tinsel town of America has been
swept away by a total new wave of
Indianism, its the religion we preach
Hinduism.
Hinduism, the oldest and third largest
religion of the world, has about one bil-
lion adherents and moksh (liberation) is
its ultimate goal. Amidst the daily chaos
of life and the survival of the fittest (lit-
erally) in Hollywood culture, the Hindu
way of Life has appeared as the practi-
cable and attainable alternative to the
materialistic civilization of the west. Be
it Bollywood or Hollywood, celebrities
have taken the other path despite being
at the peak of their career to find their
strength by following Indian philosophy.
Surprisingly but true, the rich and
famous are one of the most sought fol-
lowers of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and
Buddhism.
The Indian Down Under profiles a
few celebrities who have recently shown
interest in Hinduism. If the biggies are
leading the lane towards incarnation, no
sooner will America become a Hindu
nation.
I
nternational pop icon Lady
Gaga was welcomed with
open arms during her recent
visit to India by Hinduism
experts as soon as she showed
her inclination towards the reli-
gion. They invited her to visit
temples and further explore
Hinduism. Lady Gaga was quot-
ed, I actually find that a lot of
my philosophies about art are
mirrored in the Hindu religion
I love reading Osho (Indian
mystic)I began to reflect on
how reincarnation was relevant.
She is also obsessed with Hindu
sacred symbol Om and reported-
ly asked her associates to acquire
accessories/material containing
Om and wanted to read more
about it. If Lady Gaga converts
to a Hindu, you can well imagine
what results she will bring!
O
ur very own
Melbourne
actress
Radha Mitchell is a
practicing Hindu, as
she was brought up
in a spiritually
inclined culture.
Her parents were
students of Sanatana
Dharma. They
raised her as a
Hindu, and her
name reflects that.
Her full name is
Radha Rani Indigo
Anunda Mitchell.
She is a vegetarian
and also practices
yoga. She was also
recently seen in a film based in
Kolkata The Waiting City.
A
mericas Sweetheart has now become Indias Sweetheart. Pretty
Woman Julia Roberts was attracted to Hinduism during the shooting
of her latest film Eat, Pray, Love in India where she plays the role
of a Hindu woman. A Christian by birth, Hinduism was a religion that gave
her spiritual satisfaction after leading the life of a celebrity. Now she regu-
larly visits the temple with her cameraman husband Daniel Moder and kids
to pray. She has even named her production company Red Om Films. In
her words, "Ever since I developed my liking and fondness for Hinduism, I
have been attracted and deeply fascinated by many facets of the multi-
dimensional Hinduism spirituality in it transcends many barriers of mere
religion.
For some world famous stars, the Hindu way of Life has appeared as the
practicable and attainable alternative to the materialistic civilization of the west.
Hollywood goes the Hindu way
I actually find that a lot of my
philosophies about art are mirrored
in the Hindu religion
Her parents were students of
Sanatana Dharma. They raised her
as a Hindu, and her name
reflects that.
Ever since I developed my liking and
fondness for Hinduism, I have been
attracted and deeply fascinated by many
facets of this multi-dimensional religion
Lady Gaga
Radha Mitchell
Julia Roberts
Hollywood
H
e may not be a Hollywood personality but he was no less of an idol
for youngsters. The CEO of Apple would walk 7 miles across the
town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare
Krishna temple. A Hindu at heart, he believed strongly in karma. On his
trip to India, he visited the ashram of Hindu guru Neem Karoli Baba and
came back to America with a shaved head and wearing traditional Indian
robes. He also practised yoga and was a vegetarian.
O
scar winner Goldie Hawn
has been recently praised
by Hindus for bringing
meditation and breathing tech-
niques through her MindUP
Program to various schools
across USA and Canada. The
program is a comprehensive
social and emotional learning
program for pre-kindergarten
through eighth-grade students,
which includes meditation tech-
niques and breathing exercises.
According to the experts,.
Hindus have been practising
these techniques since ancient
times and relate it to religion and
spirituality. Dont forget that
Goldie Hawn brought saree on
the international circuit by wear-
ing it to premieres.
O
nce voted as the Sexiest Man Alive, Richard Gere gained
interest in Buddhism when he travelled to Nepal in 1978.
Now a practicing Buddhist and an active supporter of
Dalai Lama, he is co-founder of The Gere Foundation and an
advocate for human rights in Tibet. He frequently visits India to
spread awareness against AIDS, but was in news a few years
when he kissed actress Shilpa Shetty on the cheek.
Hollywood goes the Hindu way
On his trip to India when young,
he visited the ashram of Neem Karoli
Baba and came back to America
with a shaved head.
Dont forget that Goldie Hawn brought
saree on the international circuit by
wearing it to premieres.
A practicing Buddhist and an active
supporter of the Dalai Lama,
Gere is an advocate for
human rights in Tibet.
Steve Jobs Goldie Hawn
Richard Gere
Sports
By K. Raman
T
here are a few unique
achievements in the game of
cricket which may remain
unchallenged for ages. Dons Test
average of 99.94, Jim Lakers 19
Test wickets for 90 runs in the 1956
Ashes Manchester Test, Sir Jack
Hobbss 61,237 runs in his career of
first class games which included
199 centuries, the monumental
career of Wilfred Rhodes in which
he earned a place in record books
when he took 4204 wickets in 1100
matches for an unbelievable average
of 16.72 runs per wicket and
Muralis 800 Test scalps are some
such landmarks that readily come to
mind.
To that we may add Sachins
hundredth hundred in combined
Test and ODI matches. This land-
mark came following a heartbreak-
ing wait in a match that India lost
against the lowly Bangladesh in the
recent Asia Cup.
During the recent tour Down
Under, there was a placard along
the fence in which a grey bearded
old Indian veteran was shown bat-
ting earnestly in the 2040 A.D. Test
series in Sydney, such was the sar-
casm that had built up after the
Little Masters chain of failures
since March 2011.
On the other hand, a cricket ana-
lyst had reached the conclusion that
Sachin was a better batsman than
the mighty Don. He brought out
various comparisons statistically
and anecdotally to prove his point.
A free-flowing Sachin had
seemed to be slow reacting, hesitant
and obviously out of form during
the Australian tour. After all he is a
human. For one who is regarded as
the Little Master with 99 tons
scored with monotonous regularity,
this situation had looked abnormal
in the eyes of his ardent supporters.
It is worth looking at his cen-
turies in Tests and ODIs so far year
wise:
Sachin Tendulkar gets his much awaited milestone
Year Test matches ODIs
1990 1 -
1992 3 -
1993 2 -
1994 2 3
1995 - 1
1996 2 6
1997 4 2
1998 3 9
1999 5 3
2000 2 3
2001 3 4
2002 4 2
2003 - 3
2004 3 1
2005 1 1
2006 - 2
2007 2 1
2008 4 1
2009 2 3
2010 7 1
2011 1 2
2012 (so far) - 1
bitEs
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Twist
.au
Community
The Indian spiritual and humanitari-
an leader Amma will be visiting
Australia for a series of free public pro-
grams in Sydney on April 18 and 19.
Known throughout the world as the
Hugging Saint, Amma imparts her spir-
itual blessing by individually meeting
and embracing all who come to see her.
It is estimated that she has hugged in
excess of 31 million people around the
globe over the last 30 years.
In India, where Amma is widely
revered, she often blesses over 40,000
people without taking a break for per-
sonal needs, rest or food for up to 24
hours at a time.
Ammas tireless spirit of dedication
to uplifting others has culminated in a
vast network of charitable activities in
India and around the world. Her charita-
ble activities include construction of hos-
pitals and medical clinics, orphanages,
schools, pension programs for the desti-
tute and housing for the poor.
Ammas extensive humanitarian
work in India, Sri Lanka, the USA (New
Orleans), Haiti and other countries has
gained her widespread international
recognition. She is regularly invited to
address the United Nations and has been
honoured with a number of international
awards, including the prestigious
Ghandi-King Award for Non Violence
(2002), the James Park Morton Interfaith
Award (2006) and the Cinema Verite
Award (2007) for humanitarian and
human rights work.
An Australian visit organizer, Gavan
Evans says, Despite her extensive
ongoing humanitarian projects, Amma
still manages to work on an individual
level...receiving and blessing one person
at a time. To date she has personally
blessed over 31 million people - equiva-
lent to hugging the entire population of
Australia and New Zealand combined.
In Sydney Amma will be there at
Sydney Boys High School, Moore Park
on 18 April from 10am and 7.30pm and
on 19 April from 10am and 7pm
31 million hugs and counting
State Library of Victoria has
launched an appeal to raise rare
Persian manuscripts that include
Khamsa or quintet of classic Persian
stories written by the 12th-century
Persian poet Nizami of Ganja; and a
19th-century manuscript copy of the
Tutinama or Book of the parrot.
The Tutinama or Book of the
parrot, is a collection of 52 moral
tales told by an enterprising parrot
to distract his mistress from her
lover during the long absence of her
husband. The story was taken from
an ancient Sanskrit tale and translat-
ed into Persian around 1335 by
Ziya al-Din Nakhshabi, a Persian
physician and Sufi mystic who
served at the court of a pre-Mughal
Islamic ruler in India. Made in
180809 in northern India, it is a
beautiful example of how the tradi-
tion of the handmade Persian book
continued into the 19th century.
Librarys Director of
Development, Shane Carmody says,
Complete manuscript copies of the
Tutinama are very rare and this will
be the only copy in an Australian
collection.
The adventure stories in
Tutinama narrated by a parrot, night
after night, for 52 successive nights,
are moralistic stories to persuade his
owner not to commit any adulterous
act with any lover, in the absence of
her husband. The illustrations
embellishing the stories created dur-
ing Akbars reign were created in a
span of five years after Akbar
ascended the throne, by two Iranian
artists named Mir Sayyid Ali and
Abdus Samad working in the court
of the Mughal Emperor Akbar.
The authorship of the text of the
Tutinama is credited to Ziya'al-Din
Nakhshabi or just Nakhshabi, an
ethnic Persian physician and a Sufi
saint who had migrated to Badayun,
Uttar Pradesh in India in the 14th
century, who wrote in the Persian
language. He had translated and/or
edited a classical Sanskrit version of
the stories similar to Tutinama into
Persian, around 1335 AD. It is con-
jectured that this small book of short
stories, moralistic in theme, influ-
enced Akbar during his formative
years. It is also inferred that since
Akbar had a harem (of women sib-
lings, wives and women servants),
the moralistic stories had specific
orientation towards the control of
women.
The two artists Mir Sayyid Ali
and Abd al-Samad were invited by
Humayun (1530-1540 AD) to teach
this art to himself and to his son
Akbar. Initially, the artists came to
Kabul with Humayun (where he
was in exile) and in later years shift-
ed to Delhi when he won back his
empire from the Suri Dynasty. The
artists then moved to Fatehpur Sikri
with the Mughal Emperor Akbar,
where a huge workshop of artists
were engaged in producing minia-
tures. This type of painting came to
be known as Mughal painting, dur-
ing Akbar's reign from 1556 to 1605
AD (when under Emperor Akbars
leadership the Mughal empire
became most powerful). Akbar pro-
vided personal patronage to pro-
mote this form of miniature paint-
ings, not only through Iranian artists
but also involved a large number of
Indian artists who were also well
versed in local styles of such minia-
ture paintings that were produced in
the imperial workshops. It thus
developed as a unique blend of
Indian, Persian and Islamic styles.
Most of the paintings are now in the
Cleveland Museum of Art; some are
also in the British Library.
A particular tale narrated by the
parrot to rivet the attention of his
mistress, as she is about to leave the
house in the night, is also depicted
in the 35th to 37th paintings in the
illustrated version of the Tutinama.
The story related by the parrot is of
a Brahmin boy falling in love with a
princess, considered a fated
(doomed) situation. But a solution
to this is provided by a magician
friend of the Brahmin in the form of
magic beads to help his friend to
turn into a beautiful woman to seek
entry into the palace to be with his
loved one. The magician further
facilitates the meeting of his friend
with the kings daughter by telling
the King that the girl in question
was his daughter-in-law. On seeking
entry into the palace the Brahmin
discloses his true identity to his
adored princess. But a twist is intro-
duced into the tale with the Kings
son beholding a beautiful girl (the
Brahmin in disguise) while taking
bath in a pond falls in love with her.
To avoid discovery of his true iden-
tity, the Brahmin runs away with the
Kings daughter. The magician then
appears before the King seeking
return of his daughter-in-law. But
the King realising the true state of
the two missing girls, compensates
the magician with rich gifts. The
gifts are passed on by the magician
to his Brahmin friend and his wife
to enable them to lead a happy life.
The parrot concludes the narration,
towards day break, with the advice
to Kojasta that she should also have
everything in life including her hus-
band
The merchant having protracted
his absence many months
(Vatsyayana, in his Kma Sutra,
says that the man who is given to
much travelling does not deserve to
be married), and, his wife chancing
to be on the roof of her house one
day when a young foreign prince of
handsome appearance passed by
with his attendants, she immediately
fell in love with him--"the battle-
axe of prudence dropped from her
hand; the vessel of continence
became a sport to the waves of con-
fusion; while the avenues leading to
the fortress of reason remained
unguarded, the sugar-cane of incon-
tinence triumphantly raised its head
above the rose-tree of patience."
The prince had also observed the
lady, as she stood on the terrace of
her house, and was instantly enam-
oured of her. He sends an old
woman (always the obliging--"for a
consideration"--go-between of
Eastern lovers) to solicit an inter-
view with the lady at his own palace
in the evening, and, after much per-
suasion, she consents. Arraying her
beauteous person in the finest
apparel, she proceeds to the cage,
and first consults the sharak as to
the propriety of her purpose. The
sharak forbids her to go, and is at
once rewarded by having her head
wrung off. She then represents her
case to the parrot, who, having wit-
nessed the fate of his companion,
prudently resolves to temporise with
the amorous dame; so he "quenched
the fire of her indignation with the
water of flattery, and began a tale
conformable to her temperament,
which he took care to protract till
the morning." In this manner does
the prudent parrot prevent the lady's
intended intrigue by relating, night
after night, till the merchant returns
home from his travels, one or more
fascinating tales, which he does not
bring to an end till it is too late for
the assignation.
Rare Mughal paintings of the tales of
Tutinama sought by Vic State Library
22 THE INDIAN DOWN UNDER March - April 2012
EK MULAQAAT...
AAP KE SAATH
Time: 11.00 am to 4.00 pm
Venue:Bicentennial Park (Sydney Olympic
Park) Homebush
Location:Twin Shades (Location 13 on the
Park map)
Cost: $10 per person
$30 Family (2 adults & children under 15)
includes hot lunch and soft drinks
Lots of Fun Activities
Contact:
Chakravarti Kapila 0405 438 188
Tilak Kalra 0413 753 134
Mr Yash Bhasin on 0403 834 458
Sunday,
29th April
A picnic with
family & friends
AUSTRALIAN HINDI INDIAN ASSOCIATION
(AHIA)
Heart-warming story of
resilience, hope and courage
A Journey through Life Sydney Writers Festival 2012 highlights
A Girl I Knew
A novel of warmth, music
and clarity
T
he Taliban Cricket
Club reveals how
love can overcome,
and outwit, even the
power of tyrants.
Rukhsana, a spirited young
journalist in Kabul, is
summoned to the infamous
Ministry for the
Propagation of Virtue and
Prevention of Vice to face
its terrifying minister,
Zorak Wahidi. A cricket
tournament is announced,
with the winning team to
travel to Pakistan for train-
ing to represent
Afghanistan at an interna-
tional level. In reality, the
idea is ludicrous. The
Taliban will never embrace
a game rooted in civility,
fairness and equality and
no one else in Afghanistan even knows how
to play cricket. Yet the
tournament offers a means
of escape for Rukhsanas
brother and young cousins
and for Rukhsana, escape
is essential as Wahidi
wants to marry her and
enslave her in his home.
With the help of her
cousins, Rukhsana devises
an audacious plan that
could ensure their free-
dom. All they have to do
is learn to play cricket and
win. Dangerous, feisty
and funny, this soaring
and splendidly realised
novel will have you capti-
vated from the very first
page. Timeri N. Murari is
an award winning writer,
filmmaker, playwright and
author of the international
bestseller Taj. He lives in India.
S
ydney Writers Festival 2012
is on from May 14 20 this
year and there are plenty of
highlights to attend and keep a
note of in ones busy calendar.
The 2012 Sydney Writers
Festival focuses on the line
between the public and the private.
The question of the limits of what
is personal is one of the hottest
subjects around, says SWFs
Artistic Director Chip Rolley.
Privacy is for paedos, ex-
News of the World journalist Paul
McMullan told the UK Leveson
Inquiry into the media. Now, via
Facebook and Twitter, we volun-
tarily tell the world things we pre-
viously might not have told even
our loved ones. Investigative jour-
nalists thrive on leaks and finding
out what others dont want us to
know. And the state knows few
boundaries (personal or political)
in its need to prevent another
9/11.
But is everything fair game?
As individuals, shouldnt we want
to have things (however trivial) to
hide?
Join at SWF 2012s Sydney
Town Hall discussion on this very
topic with former High Court
judge Michael Kirby, former
director general of MI5-turned-
thriller writer Stella Rimington,
former CIA interrogator Glenn
Carle, renowned media and news
blogger Jeff Jarvis and trailblazing
investigative journalist Heather
Brooke.
The private and the personal
are subjects that have always pre-
occupied writers and have been the
focus of much fiction as well as
memoir, biography, history and
reportage. This years guests
exemplify powerful examples of
such writing.
In The Private Moment, the
Opening Address, UK-based
Libyan novelist Hisham Matar
gives testament to the power of
fiction to approximate the feelings
and emotions that defy articula-
tion. Matar, whose father was kid-
napped by Gaddafis regime in the
early 90s (and is still missing),
speaks of the very peculiar politi-
cal atmosphere where private life
is infiltrated by the totalitarian
regime.
Here are some of the writers
who are taking part:
Tanveer Ahmed: He is a psy-
chiatrist, columnist
and author of the
entertaining mem-
oir of migration,
The Exotic
Rissole. He writes
a regular opinion
column for The Sydney Morning
Herald, sits on several boards and
is a practising psychiatrist in
Sydney and rural NSW. He is a
former TV journalist, has co-host-
ed a game show and appears in
various media.
Appearing at...
* Black Dog Daze
* Brothers and Sisters
* Go Back to Where You
Wrote From!
Waleed Aly: Waleed Aly is
the host of ABC Radio Nationals
new live daily program RN Drive.
He shares presenting duties with
Julian Morrow who takes the chair
each Friday evening from 6-8pm.
Waleed is also the host of ABC
TVs Big Ideas and is currently
appearing on ABC TVs Agony
Uncles. He is a lecturer in politics
at Monash University and the
author of What's Right? The
Future of Conservatism in
Australia (Quarterly Essay 37) and
People Like Us: How Arrogance
is Dividing Islam and the West.
He is also the guitarist and main
songwriter for Melbourne originals
band Robot Child, which is the
house band for The Chaser's
show, The Empty Vessel. Waleed
is looking forward to joining his
fellow RN Drive host and Chaser
Julian Morrow on stage!
Appearing at...
* The Chasers Empty Vessel
* The Chasers Empty Vessel
Satyajit Das: Satyajit Das is
an internationally
respected expert in
finance, with 33
years experience.
He worked for the
'sell side' (banks
such as Citicorp
Investment Bank
and Merrill Lynch), the 'buy side'
(treasurer of the TNT Group) and
acted as a consultant advising
banks, investors, corporations and
central banks throughout the
world. He is the author of highly
regarded books on derivatives and
risk management including
Extreme Money, regarded as stan-
dard reference works for profes-
sional traders.
Appearing at...
* The End of Ponzi Prosperity
* The End of Trust?
Indira Naidoo: One of
Australian televi-
sion's best-known
broadcasters and
journalists, she
presented SBS
Television's high-
ly regarded
national mid-
evening news service, World
News Tonight, the ABC's 7.30
Report, National Late Edition
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recently she appeared on the first
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A
bandoned on the
rural streets of
India as a young
child, ever-optimistic
Kalu carves out a life by
fetching and carrying
for the villagers to earn
a few coins. When a
foot injury threatens to
cripple him, he faces
complete destitution
until the village Healer
overhears him blowing a
tune through the rolled
leaf of a banyan tree.
From that moment,
Kalus life will never be
the same again. The
colour and movement of
India are powerfully
evoked through his ongo-
ing journey; from the
suffocating nature of its class structure to
the energy of its markets, its people, their
joys and sorrows, their
dances and their dramas.
There is so much beauty
here but, above all, there
is so much music and its
powerful rhythm forms
an irresistible beat.
Manisha Jolie Amin
was born in Kenya and
moved to Australia with
her family when she was
five. Sydney is her
home, although she trav-
els frequently to both
India and England to visit
family. Manisha lives
with her husband, son
and cat. When not writ-
ing, she works for a chil-
dren's welfare charity. In
2011 Manisha received a
PhD from the University
of Technology, Sydney. Dancing to the
Flute is her first novel.
The Taliban Cricket Club
By Timeri N. Murari
Allen & Unwin $29.99 NZ$36.99
Dancing to the Flute
By Manisha Jolie Amin
Allen & Unwin $29.99
Literature
No-one is perfect - no-one is sublime!
We are all humans working our assignments in time!
Just deferring by degrees, under destiny's command
We are but puppets on God's stage and "karma's" demand!
Every person goes through life's trials and tribulations
Essence of human birth's eternal glorification!
Do not compare, despair or lose heart at world's severity.
Life's tests have to be endured with faith, courage and sincerity!
Time goes fleeting - one never knows one's departure date.
Just count your blessings as life's finale awaits!
The design laid down for this life's tapestry
Enrich it with unconditional love, dedicated service and harmony.
One arrives a stranger, helpless and crying - leaving imprints and
memories only behind!
Chapter closes of present life's pilgrimage and all ties that did bind!
Heartfelt gratitude for all God's blessings and helping hands
Flowing down in endless streams in most unexpected strands
--Maya Narpatsingh
Once, there was a girl,
Who spoke too soon
And then, never spoke at all.
She walked - too fast, too brisk;
Walked, till her feet could carry her no further.
Unyielding yet fragile.
She hurt too easy,
And healed slow.
To never bare her soul again, she had sworn,
For her heart still very much ached, wound still rather sore.
Once there was a girl,
With storm in her eyes and thirst ridden hands.
Who sat on her bench - each day, day after day,
Moulding endless shapes out of old clumps of clay.
She had troubles, and her troubles were deep-rooted,
Her foes were shadows, the ones she had self-birthed.
For whom, even time stood still,
Patiently, waiting at the door,
While she gazed out the window sill.
Unperturbed by her broken cover,
A trusted friend, a faithful lover.
Of misty dreams, like early morning dew;
There once was a girl I knew
Of unwavering heart and whispering voice
Of unsteady steps but deviant poise.
An aberrant, that girl I knew,
In clandestine who had paid her dues
Ridiculing me each day with trickery anew,
There was once, a girl I knew.
--Shubhangi Singh
Community
P
remier Barry OFarrell
invited ethnic communities
on the eve of his government
completing one year in office, 56
weeks to be exact, in March to
iterate what the government has
achieved when he unveiled the
NSW Governments strategy to
advance multiculturalism.
Speaking to 600 community guests
at the inaugural Premiers
Harmony Dinner in western
Sydney, Mr OFarrell launched the
Multicultural Advantage Action
Plan with the Minister for
Citizenship and Communities
Victor Dominello.
We are all migrants, whether
we came yesterday or like my fam-
ily who came in the 1850s from
Ireland and came looking for jobs.
As a government we celebrate the
cultural diversity which is success-
ful and stable, Premier OFarrell
said in his speech.
NSW is one of the greatest
success stories of multiculturalism
anywhere in the world and it
requires government action to
unlock the economic, social and
cultural potential of our extraordi-
nary diversity.
The Multicultural Advantage
Action Plan is a package of
reforms designed by the NSW
Liberals & Nationals Government
for one purpose: to improve the
social, economic and cultural well-
being of our diverse communities.
Our strategy goes hand in
hand with the NSW Governments
broader goals for the economy and
it goes into operation from today,
Mr OFarrell said.
Mr Dominello said the
Multicultural Advantage Action
Plan, to be implemented by the
Community Relations
Commission, would be an impor-
tant element in making New South
Wales the number one state.
The Multicultural Advantage
Action Plan utilises diversity for
the benefit of all of the people of
NSW, Mr Dominello said.
It aims to foster respect and
unity, celebrate and grow the value
of multiculturalism as an asset and
expand opportunity for participa-
tion in our society.
One of the key elements of
the plan is a proposal for a whole
month of multicultural activities in
March 2013. During
Multicultural March, one excit-
ing feature will be a massive open-
air choral concert - Voices in
Harmony - drawing on the artistic
talent and the cultural traditions of
the states ethnic communities.
A multicultural film festival
will also be scoped as a possibility
for Multicultural March.
The Plan also unveils new
honours for outstanding members
of ethnic communities who give
extraordinary service to the New
South Wales community.
This includes the establish-
ment of an Honour Roll of leading
migrant figures who have distin-
guished themselves in the past in
NSW communities.
And the new and more inclu-
sive Premiers Awards and Medal
program will recognise outstand-
ing current-day achievers under six
categories: Youth, Lifetime
Community Service, Arts and
Culture, Regional Communities,
Economic Participation and
Community Harmony and
Interfaith.
Initiatives will also be estab-
lished to give ethnic communities
every opportunity to be fully
involved in Australia Day activi-
ties, as what binds us together as
Australians is ever important.
An exciting new collaborative
program will also be rolled out for
established communities to reach
out and mentor emerging com-
munities and help them to fully
participate in our society.
And there will be greater
engagement with local government
on policies and practices for cul-
tural diversity.
Other Multicultural
Advantage Action Plan initiatives,
previously announced, include:
* Improvements to the
Multicultural Policies and Services
Program (MPSP) to ensure
Government agencies deliver
appropriate services for the diverse
community of NSW;
* A new $1.4 million
Multicultural Advantage Grants
program;
* Development of a NSW
Multicultural Tourism Strategy;
* Investigation of multicultural
and community hubs in Sydney;
* Initiation of the Ministerial
Roundtable on Workplace
Diversity;
* Initiation of the CRC / Ethnic
Communities Councils Policy
Roundtable, and;
* Establishment of the
Multicultural Business Advisory
Panel (MBAP) with Nihal Gupta
as Chairman and Benjamin Chow
as Deputy Chairman.
Our people - with their lan-
guage and cultural skills and with
their intimate knowledge of their
home markets can be our human
highways for more business for
New South Wales, Mr Dominello
said.
There is so much unlocked
potential within our culturally, lin-
guistically and religiously diverse
communities, I am excited about
this journey that tonight, we
embark on together, he conclud-
ed. Mr OFarrell and Mr
Dominello thanked the Chair of
the Community Relations
Commission, Stepan
Kerkysharian, for the
Commissions dedication in pro-
ducing the Action Plan, including
significant community input.
Premiers Harmony Dinner
organized by Community
Relations Commission was com-
pered by ABCs newsreader
Jeremy Fernandez while SBS
Newsreader Peta-Jane Madam and
CRC commissioner Jihad Dib
entertained the guests with their
cheesy dialogues. Dinner was
served in between entertainment
by Korean drummers,
Bharatanatyam dancers and
Spanish Flamenco dances.
V
ishva Hindu Parishad of
Australia Inc. and Vedic
Pratinidhi Sabha and Arya
Samaj of Australia Inc. arranged a
program full of rich and entertain-
ing traditional and Native dances
from Sri Lanka, Nepal and from
different States of India by more
than eighty talented performers
from leading Dance Schools in
Festival of South Asian Dances at
Pennant Hills Community Centre
hall on March 24, 2012 to promote
Harmony, Multiculturalism and
Peace in the society and to show-
case the South Asian rich culture.
The program was attended by the
state government representatives,
Indian and Sri Lankan community
leaders and more than 300 people
of different ethnic and religious
background. Dance Performers of
Sankha Ridma Dance Ensemble,
Lotus Dance School, Bhoma
Limbu, Bhimdev Gurung-United
Nepalese Arts & Entertainments,
Geetanjali School of Dance and
Performing Arts, Hamsa Venkat
Samskriti School of Dance,
Mayur Indian Dance Academy,
Rooh Punjab Dee Bhangra
Academy and Kalarchana partic-
ipated. Team of Anil and Shobha
Yadav worked hard in and organ-
ized the dance program which was
quite entertaining, educative, rich
and of very high quality and appre-
ciated. By attending this program,
everybody appreciated and sup-
ported the community work taken
up by VHP-Australia and VPSAS-
Australia (www.aryasamaj.org.au)
and most importantly encouraged
more than 50 volunteers who are
giving their wisdom, time and
energy in the community work on
weekly basis regularly in a very
dedicated manner.
The program ensured and
encouraged the volunteers that they
are not alone and that the commu-
nity is with them in their endeav-
ours. In addition to running and
managing the weekly Hindu
Scripture classes for children on
weekdays in more than fifty
schools, two Children's day
Workshops in a year and Sanskrit
teaching Sunday afternoon Bal
Sanskar Kendra classes at nine
places, Vishva Hindu Parishad of
Australia Inc. also arranges yearly
National level Australian Hindu
Youth Conferences, festivals cele-
brations etc..
'Hindu Youth Australia' and
'Hindu Students Australia' are
youth wing and students wing of
Vishva Hindu Parishad of Australia
Inc. VHP-Australia is meeting the
cultural, language and Scriptural
learning needs of more than 3000
children of the community every
week. In its 30 40 per cent of the
programs like International Day for
People with Disability, VHP-
Australia does not charge anything
from community members/partici-
pants and provide Lunch/Dinner,
Tea/Coffee, Soft Drinks, Prizes
and other things. As Vishva Hindu
Parishad of Australia is one of the
most dedicated community organi-
zation and delivers a lot of commu-
nity work seeks helping hand and
requires more volunteers, partici-
pation, help in any way and also
the financial support from the com-
munity members for the good of
all. For details, phone Brij Pal
Singh on (02) 9484 5204, Visit:
www.vhp.org.au
Premier OFarrell marches on
VHP of Australia celebrates Harmony Day
The program showcased traditional and Native dances from Sri
Lanka, Nepal and from different States of India by more than
80 performers from leading Dance Schools
Teachers from IABBV Hindi school with SBS newsreader
Peta-Jane Madam (2nd from left)
Stanley DCruz, Minister for Citizenship and Communities Victor
Dominello, Ashok Kumar editor of Indian Subcontinent Times and
CIA president Dr Yadu Singh
Community
Indian Senior Group Hornsby
celebrates Seniors Week
AHIA wants a mulaqaat with
you on April 29
A
s part of 2012 NSW Seniors
Week celebration, the
Indian Senior Group
Hornsby organised a full day
Workshop on Thursday, March 22,
2012 at Vedanta House, Ashfield.
The program started with prayer
and welcome speech by Amrinder
Bajwa, President of UIA followed
by Lily Barooah, President of ISG
and Aruna Chandrala, Public
Officer of ISG
The two morning sessions
included a Computing workshop
and second Laughter Yoga and the
same was repeated in the afternoon.
The aim of the project was to
Celebrate Life challenges some of
the societys stereotypes around
ageing and to demonstrate that sen-
iors can be healthy, active and lead
an enjoyable social life. It also
aimed to demonstrate that seniors
can continue to learn and educate
themselves at any age.
The seniors took a wonderful
participation both in computing
workshop and laughter yoga ses-
sion. Mahesh Trivedi, Founder of
True Blessings took our seniors to a
journey of spiritual happiness and
joy by sharing few shayaris and
ghazals to seniors in addition to
his computer training workshop. In
afternoon, during the break, seniors
played Antakshari singing songs
in two groups as competition as all
participants had a good fun time
singing old nostalgic film songs.
The program finished with
greatest memory of photos, video
clips to share later on with all their
family. ISGH has created a social
platform and provides all seniors an
opportunity to serve them and also
be a part of NSW seniors week cel-
ebration. Madhu Chaudhry of
Carewell kindly provided the venue
and supported the event wholeheart-
edly. Everyone went home with a
full belly and a grateful heart.
If anyone wants to inquire and
participate in our senior activities,
please contact Lily Barooah on 02
98711548 or Dave Passi on 0413
760 300. All seniors on the
northshore line are welcome to join
in the fun activities and be able to
form a social bond and friendship
for a happy and healthy ageing in
Australia.
T
he new executive of
Australian Hindi Indian
Association has brought
back the popular magazine
Sandesh by combining its
Seniors newsletter and have
started emailing the magazine to
all its members - present and
past. Sandesh can be sourced
from their website www.ahi-
ainc.com.au New people interest-
ed in joining can call Santram
Bajaj, President AHIA on 02
9825 2212.
A family Picnic, aptly named
Ek Mulaqaat Aap Ke Saath is
being organised on Sunday April
29 from 11am to 4pm at
Bicentennial Park (Olympic Park
Homebush), a very convenient
and central location for all. The
day will be full of fun, food and
activities which will include
games, songs, quizzes with hot
lunch and soft drinks served in a
traditional atmosphere of service
and love which AHIA is known
for. Younger AHIAs are wel-
come to participate and be part of
a day that promises to be good
day out for all the family. AHIA
executive requests all young fam-
ilies to join in and help form an
extended family and a social plat-
form which needs to revive and
rejuvenate the AHIA membership
with a goal to make Australia as
comfortable as it can be for the
newly arrived younger families.
The older AHIAians can help
form a link between the young
and the old and also contribute in
a positive fashion to Australia
which has become a second home
to everyone who has decided to
settle here.New executive of
AHIA has Dr Rakesh Sachdev,
OMILA Bir, Ira Kapila, Jagdish
Dua, Tilak Kalra, Sunil Sharma,
Santram Bajaj, Braham Prakash
Sharma, Gurdeep Sekhon and
Prakash Nathani who are there to
help form a platform that wants to
serve and build a strong bond of
friendship among Indians from
Hindi speaking belt as well as
from other regions. For contribu-
tion to Sandesh magazine please
send emails to: santbajaj@hot-
mail.com
T
he OzSpell Challenge is a
new Australia-wide spelling
competition in which over
100,000 Australian students are
expected to take part. The OzSpell
Challenge is sponsored by
Macquarie Dictionary and students
aged 10-14 years are eligible to
compete.
The OzSpell Challenge is an ini-
tiative that stems from the need for
a back-to-basics approach to
spelling and grammar to improve
the English language capacity of
Australian students.
The Champion of Champions
(based on one district finalist from
each of the 150 Australian federal
electorates) will be announced at the
National Grand Final to be held at
the Seymour Centre, the University
of Sydney in August 2012. The
OzSpell Challenge winner will take
home $5,000 cash and $5,000 cash
for their school's library resources.
Spelling is a valuable life skill
which must be practised constantly
as the English language is compli-
cated but interesting in terms of its
rules. The benefits of participating
in the OzSpell Challenge are rein-
forced by the 2011 NAPLAN
(National Assessment Program
Literacy and Numeracy) findings
which reveal that the spelling skills
of more Australian students fall
below the national minimum stan-
dard between the ages of 10 and 14
years. By the time students reach
year 9 (14 years), nearly one in ten
Australian children are not able to
spell at the national minimum stan-
dard. These are key years in the
development of childrens spelling
abilities, and the OzSpell Challenge
provides an additional learning
stimulus for students.
The young generation of today
will be the world's business and
community leaders of tomorrow.
Parents are encouraged to have their
children succeed in life and to work
smarter not harder.
Sheba Nandkeolyar, CEO of
Multicall Connexions, Multicultural
Australias leading marketing and
communications agency, says that,
The OzSpell Challenge is the best
initiative for childhood years. It lays
a strong foundation for better com-
munication early in life. As the
world is getting smaller by the day,
spelling and command of the
English language will assist in
building global citizens.
Both Ms Nandkeolyar and the
Hon. Michael Kirby, a former
Australian High Court judge, are
patrons of OzSpell and recognise
the importance of having a solid
grasp of spelling from a young age.
Mr Kirby, a strong believer in
this exciting initiative, says that,
To speak the English language
today is to possess a priceless
capacity to communicate with bil-
lions of people on every continent.
However, to write in English is a
mighty challenge. Accurate spelling
is a mark of disciplined training of
the mind and usually a necessity for
success in life. OzSpell cultivates
and celebrates this talent. And that
is why I honour and support its
cause.
In the 21st century we all live in
a world which is vibrant and inno-
vative. A world which is increas-
ingly busy and complicated. Our
youth have many life choices to
make along their journey. They are
constantly under peer pressure,
socially and commercially.
Studying spelling and being
confident in all communications in
the English language is a vital asset
which is nurtured by caring parents
who need to stimulate their children
to learn, read widely and be confi-
dent. Words are building blocks
which unlock the mysteries of the
world and nurture the lives of good
global citizens.
Support your childs learning by
visiting www.ozspell.com.au or
calling 1300 OzSpell (1300 697
735).
Sheba Nandkeolyar, CEO of Multicall Connexions, and the Hon.
Michael Kirby, a former Australian High Court judge,
are patrons of OzSpell.
AHIA Executive: Standing L to R: Jagdish Dua, Omila Bir, Ira
Kapila, Tilak Kalra. Seated L to R: Sunil Sharma, Santram Bajaj,
Braham Prakash Sharma, Gurdeep Sekhon and Prakash Nathani. .
OzSpell Challenge 2012
Community
UIA honours Indian women
Sydney Sindhis
celebrate
Chet-i-Chand
U
nited Indian Association
(UIA) Inc.s Women
Steering Committee cele-
brated the 101st International
Year of Women by honouring
three enterprising women from
the Indian community for their
inspiring and innovative contribu-
tion in the field of Business,
Literature and Art.
They are Sheba Nandkeolyar,
CEO of Multicall Connexions,
recognized for her achievements
in the field of Business; Rekha
Rajvanshi Sydneys Hindi poet
and a writer and founder of liter-
ary organization ILASA for her
translation work on writing
scripts for thirteen Aboriginal
Dreaming stories in Hindi for
Aboriginal Animation films and
Aishweryaa Nidhi, Artistic
Director, Abhinay School of
Performing Arts, for her contri-
bution in the field of Drama.
Sheba is also the Director of
the International Advertising
Association (Australian Chapter),
Vice President of the Australia
India Business Council NSW and
Chair of AIBC Women in
Business Chapter, and Founding
Chair of the Multi-Cultural
Communications Council.
Utilizing her innate interpersonal
skills, Sheba continues to build
sustainable relationships with
industry partners, and key gov-
ernment and international blue
chip agencies. Sheba is frequently
requested to speak for university
and business school addresses and
she has been the recipient of
numerous National and
International Marketing awards.
In 2011, she won the Gold Effie
Award (Multicultural/
Indigenous).
Rekha, who has published
four Hindi books and is the
founder of literary organization in
Sydney called ILASA, was the
first runner-up from the
Australian Institute of Interpreters
and Translators (AUSIT)
Excellence Awards for her trans-
lation of The Dreaming project
from English into Hindi.
Aishveryaas Abhinay School
of Performing Arts as
Independent theatre company pre-
sented three plays by Indian writ-
ers in the current Short + Sweet
2012, which successfully made it
to the top out of 760 scripts field-
ed by 65 Independent Theatre
Companies. She was nominated
for Best Actress Award in Short
&Sweet, Sydney 2009 for her
powerful performance in
Mandragora. She is the recipient
of Bronze (ARP) artist award at
Short+Sweet Festival.
Mrs Sumati Advani,
Chairperson of the UIA Womens
Steering Committee, welcomed
the participants and highlighted
that this years IWD theme of
Connecting Girls, Inspiring
Futures aligns with the key objec-
tives of the UIA Womens Forum
which are:
* To provide information to
women, especially new migrant
women to enhance their aware-
ness about the settlement support
services and different community
facilities available.
* To create a platform for
interaction between women so
they can be part of a peer support
network so that they can learn
from each other and help each
other.
* To acknowledge and cele-
brate the achievements of
Australian Indian women.
* To act as the facilitator with
the Indian and Australian govern-
ments to assist women in distress.
Amarinder Bajwa, President
of UIA, highlighted the activities
of UIA in support of women as
well as need for the communities
to come forward and support the
organization to deliver the out-
comes for the women in need.
Mr. Bajwa applauded the efforts
of the women steering committee
and continued support for the
women in distress.
The Womens Forum was
attended by Ms Julie Owens,
Federal MP for Parramatta, Dr
Geoff Lee, State MP for
Parramatta representing Hon.
Victor Dominello, Minister for
Citizenship and Communities and
Hon. Linda Burney MP - Deputy
Leader of the Opposition and
Member for Canterbury, repre-
senting the Leader of the
Opposition, Hon John Robertson.
The program also included a
talk by Sheba Nandkeolyar on the
topic: YOU ARE WHAT YOU
THINK.
Are you in REVERSE GEAR
or FORWARD GEAR? Sheba
inspired the audience with an
insight into her settlement experi-
ence and highlights of her career.
Dr Shwetha Natarajan, Senior
Resident Medical Officer in
Critical Care, Westmead
Hospital, provided valuable infor-
mation on Womens Health and
clarified several Medical Myths.
Ana Kostoska, Senior Manager
Women's Communities and
Partnerships, Commonwealth
Bank highlighted the various ini-
tiatives that have been put in
place by Commonwealth Bank to
support women in business.
Also present was Mr Tarun
Kumar, First Secretary, High
Commission of India who
informed the audience of the var-
ious schemes available to assist
women in distress and congratu-
lated UIA on the support and
assistance it has provided in this
area.
This years UIA Womens
Steering Committee consisting of
Mrs Sumati Advani (Chair), Mrs
Anita Prabhu, Mrs Shalini
Ponnaiya and Mrs Bhagya
Shankar acknowledged the con-
siderable support provided by the
newly formed Global Womens
Network with its members as Mrs
Aruna Chandrala, Mrs Sapna
Shah, Ms Shobha Ingleshwar,
Mrs Madhu Chaudhuri and Mrs
Enu Raheja Narula.
S
ydney Sindhis celebrated
the festival of Chet-i-
Chand on Sunday 24
March 2012 at Sri Mandir
Auburn where Sydney Sindhi
Association has installed a
murthi of Sai Jhulelal creating
a central meeting place for
Sindhis in Sydney.
Chet-i-Chand is observed
on the first day of the Sindhi
Chet month (March April) or
Chaitra month in Hindu calen-
dar; hence called CHET-I-
CHAND. Chet-i-Chand marks
the beginning of the Sindhi
new year and the birth anniver-
sary of Jhulelal, the patron
saint of Sindhi community.
Chet-i-Chand is celebrated by
rituals performed in temples,
distribution of prasad and
cultural programmes organised
to give it a true festive spirit.
Sai Jhulelal is also known
as Lal Sai, Uderolal, Varun
Dev, Doolhalal & Zinda Pir.
Sai Jhulelal is the Asht Dev
(Community God) of Sindhis.
His Birthday "Chet-i-Chand"
second tithi of Chaitra is auspi-
cious for Sindhis and is cele-
brated all over the world with
traditional pomp and gaiety.
The Hindu legend of Sai
Jhulelal or the River Deity has
its historical beginnings in
Sind, which became a state of
Pakistan after the partition.
The word Sindhi is derived
from the river Sindhu. During
the days of Sapt-Sindhu (land
of seven rivers), the main-
stream Sindhu and its tributar-
ies were considered life-givers
to the people who lived on its
banks and drew sustenance
from its waters. It is believed
that Sai Jhulelal was the incar-
nation of the Water God
(Varun Devta) who appeared
as Uderolal on the first day of
Chet month to save Sindhis
from the dictatorship of a ruler
who wanted to destroy the
Sindhi culture and Hinduism.
The main festival starts
with the worship of Sai
Jhulelal and Baharana Sahib.
The Bahrana saheb is a nicely
decorated bronze thaal in
which the idol of Jhulelal is
placed and a Kunri (an earthen
vessel) , full of water and cov-
ered with red cloth is kept
.Wheat flour is kneaded and
given a shape of a cone, and
is decorated with vermillion,
cardamom, almonds, cashews
and cloves. On top of it a large
piece of refined sugar (Misri
Jo Sangh), is placed .This cone
is surrounded with fresh flow-
ers, fruits, scented dhoop and
agarbattis, and lighted diyas
which transform the whole
atmosphere into a divine expe-
rience.
This Bahrana sahib is then
taken to the temple with people
dancing and singing bhajans all
the way. This is known as
CHEJ on Sindhi music which
includes famous folk songs
such as Dama Dum Mast
Kalandhar. At the end of the
celebrations, the contents of
this thaal are then immersed in
a River or Lake, as a humble
offering to Sai Jhulelal . Sai
Jhulelal continues to be the
unifying force and the centre
of all cultural activities of the
Sindhi community. Sindhis all
over the world greet each other
with "Jhulelal Bera-Hee-Paa.
L to R: Sheba Nandkeolyar, Aishveryaa Nidhi and Rekha Rajvanshi with UIA's Sumati Advani
Sydney Sindhis with their favourite idol of Jhulelal at
Sri Mandir, Auburn.
Community
Talent quest takes Olivia to international fame
By Neeru Saluja
O
livia Rose - the name itself spells
beauty with a touch of floral
freshness. That is what Raj Suri,
the man behind Miss India Australia talent
hunt, spotted in Olivia. With less than a
month to prepare for the worldwide con-
test and a first timer for the seven yard
saree, Olivia was judged as the 2nd run-
ner-up amongst contestants from 35 coun-
tries in the Miss India Worldwide finale
on 25 February 2012 in Suriname, South
America.
Fresh from winning the contest, we
got to meet Olivia and her mum with Raj
Suri while she was in Sydney from her
hometown Newcastle. Born to an Indian
father and non-Indian mother, Olivia had
just finished her HSC when she was look-
ing for modelling opportunities while
based in Newcastle.
Thereon the journey started as she
says, I was sending photos to agencies,
but unfortunately I was turned back as I
was considered too Indian looking for
modelling and acting. I went home and
thought that I should use this to my advan-
tage. So I googled Indian modelling
opportunities and found the Miss India
Australia competition and sent my photos.
Raj Suri called me up and told me I should
audition for the competition.
The auditions were about to close; so
I barely scraped in, and after a photoshoot
I was chosen in January to go to the Miss
Indian worldwide competition in
Suriname. I had just three weeks to pre-
pare for the competition. We came to
Sydney and with the help of ex-Miss India
worldwide Ankita and Rajs wife Ruchi,
completed our shopping and practised for
the contest.
How was the experience of the con-
test?
I reached Suriname on 19 February
and after a day of relaxation, the competi-
tion started. We were 35 contestants and I
made lots of close friends. Everyday we
had a tight schedule, rehearsals and every
night we had an event and an appearance
to attend. We also had fashion shows, a
film festival and a talent hunt. For the tal-
ent hunt I did a contemporary classical
dance on Indian music which fetched me
the first prize. Besides the talent hunt, we
carried our own flags wearing the same
outfit and in the Indian gala round we
wore sarees. After that, top 10 and then
top 5 were chosen. We were given a pad
of paper and 90 seconds to answer the
same question in the Q&A round. The
question was What would you say to
young girls abused in their childhood. I
replied: Stand up for yourself, be proac-
tive, listen to yourself as no life is lesser
then another. We are all equal, Olivia
proudly tells.
So what was the best part of the con-
test?
The best part of the competition was
the President Gala Dinner, when the ex-
Miss India Worldwide sang the famous
Sholay song Yeh Dosti. The President
was so thrilled, he snatched the mike and
started singing with her.
As this was your first international
exposure were you a bit nervous?
I was a bit nervous in front of the
celebrity judges but Raj was a big help as
he was there for the seven days.
So whats next for Olivia, maybe she
can be the next Katrina Kaif?
I was just discussing the same with
my mum. For the time being we will
come to Sydney for more exposure and
experience. I dont mind lining up for
Bollywood but I still want to do more
modelling assignments and exposure in
front of the camera. I want to be success-
ful in the eyes of people, a role model for
others, says Olivia.
We ask mentor Raj how he spotted
and prepared Olivia for the competition
in such a short timeframe.
Raj says, Talent spotting is my job.
Even with Ankita the preparations started
one month before. When I met Olivia she
ticked all the boxes in terms of the audi-
tion process. Her talent was a bit western
so we infused it with Indian music. She
worked 10 days with her choreographer in
Newcastle, and, of course, she has been
trained in ballet since she was 10. It was
a competitive round and all contestants
faced withdrawal symptoms. Olivia was
strong. When there were any issues, we
worked on them together.
How did you come up with the con-
cept of Miss India Australia?
When I moved to Australia in 1995,
I didnt find any glamourous people in the
Indian community to shoot as a photogra-
pher.
Then I registered a domain called
www.missindia.com.au in 1999. We
started doing free workshops and then
slowly came up with this concept. Our ex-
miss Indias like Vimala Raman and
Pallavi Sharda have bagged excellent
roles in the film industry back home. Im
not in the business of events; Im in the
search of Australian talent for the world.
I call it Miss India talent and model con-
test and not a pageant.
Olivia Rose, Miss India Australia 2012
(Photographs by Raj Suri.)
From L to R: Ankita Ghazan (Miss India Australia Worldwide 2011, Bollywood actor Aftab Shivdasani, Olivia Rose, Raj Suri and
Bollywood actress Arti Chhabria at the Miss India Worldwide 2012 Final Gala Event in Suriname, South America.
Community
A
ustralia is a multicultural
nation. Since 1945, seven
million people have migrat-
ed to Australia. Presently, figures
indicate that over 44 per cent of all
Australians were either born over-
seas or had at least one overseas
born parent. It is therefore timely
and commendable that Prime
Minister Julia Gillard decided to ele-
vate multicultural policy by creating
a position of Minister for
Multicultural Affairs.
Senator Kate Lundy, previously
Parliamentary Secretary for
Multicultural Affairs, was appointed
to the inaugural position of Minister
for Multicultural Affairs (as well as
Minister for Sport and Minister
Assisting for Industry and
Innovation).
As part of the Australian
Governments new multicultural pol-
icy, the People of Australia, an
Australian Multicultural Council
(AMC) was formed, with one of its
roles being to implement a multi-
cultural ambassadors program.
Prior to her appointment as Minister
for Multicultural Affairs, Senator
Lundy considered a short-list given
to her by the AMC, and 40 People
of Australia Ambassadors were
appointed. The Ambassadors come
from a wide variety of ethnic back-
grounds and serve in a volunteer
capacity. The People of Australia
Ambassadors program was
announced by Prime Minister
Gillard on 18 January 2012. The
main role of the Ambassadors is to
promote the benefits of a multicul-
tural society.
I spoke to two Ambassadors who
are from an Indian subcontinent
background - Mr Susai Benjamin
(originally from Kerala) and Mr
Umesh Chandra (originally from
Rajasthan). Both of them are mar-
ried with children, and balance work
commitments and family with exten-
sive community work. I was able to
catch up with Mr Benjamin during a
lunch break from our respective hec-
tic work schedules, and with Mr
Chandra after he finished conducting
a community radio program. I pro-
vide extracts below of the interviews
with them.
TIDU: What sort of community
work they have been involved with?
Susai Benjamin (SB): I was on
the Australian Multicultural
Advisory Council for two years. I
am a former board member and
president of the Multicultural Arts
Alliance of NSW. I have also been
the president of the Sydney
Malayalee Association two times
and was part of the executive of the
United Indian Association. I also
established the Toongabbie Legal
Centre which was launched in 2007,
and opened another legal centre in
Blacktown in December 2011,
which will be formally launched
later this year. I was on the manage-
ment committee for the Parramatta
Holroyd and Baulkham Hills
Migrant Resource Centre and for the
Blacktown City Council. I was also
on the executive of the NSW
Chapter of the Council of
Australasian Tribunals.
Umesh Chandra (UC): In 1998,
I was the founding member of the
Hindu Society in Queensland and
was its president for two years. I
reactivated the Federation of Indian
Communities in Queensland and
currently the President of the
Queensland Multicultural Council. I
established a presence for the Global
Organisation of People of Indian
Origin (GOPIO) in Queensland
about four years ago. GOPIO
International has appointed me as the
GOPIO International Coordinator
for Australia, Fiji, and New
Zealand. On a weekly basis I con-
duct a community radio program for
three hours. I am also a liaison offi-
cer for international students and the
Queensland Government. I have also
been appointed as a Hindu chaplain
for the University of Queensland.
Clearly, both Mr Benjamin and
Mr Chandra have been very actively
involved in the community and serve
important roles. I asked them both
what they hoped to achieve as a
People of Australia Ambassador.
SB: I hope we can set some mile-
stones in what we achieve and there
should be active promotion of this
program. I'm speaking at the Rotary
Club on Winston Hills about the pro-
gram. I also hope to contribute to the
thinking process of the Australian
Multicultural Council.
UC: To get the message out to
the community, especially the Indian
community about multicultural poli-
cies of Australia at community
events and improve the reputation of
Australia.
As recently as 26 January 2012,
in an Australia Day address, Dr
Charlie Teoh said that his own
daughter was subject to racism.
Though a key feature of the People
of Australia policy is the develop-
ment of a National Anti-Racism
Strategy, led by Dr Szoke, (Race
Discrimination Commissioner at the
Australian Human Rights
Commission) I sought the opinion of
Mr Benjamin and Mr Chandra about
Australia's multicultural policies and
whether there are more things that
could be done to address problems
such as racism.
Mr Benjamin said:
"Claims under the Anti-
Discrimination Act (NSW) have
doubled, so there should be more
initiatives to counter racism. There
should also be greater transparency
in the appointment and promotion of
officers. People should be recog-
nized as being part of Australia
rather than separate ethnic groups
like Indian or Chinese."
Mr Chandra emphasized the need
to use more tools to implement mul-
ticulturalism in Australia and combat
racism,
"Australia is a multicultural
country and allows freedom of
speech and allows people to freely
practise their own religion and lan-
guage. But there is always room for
improvement, and the People of
Australia Ambassadors will be mak-
ing recommendations to the
Australian Government about how to
make improvements. We need to use
mass media and multi-faith forums
to increase awareness of different
cultures."
Increasing awareness and educat-
ing Australians about the different
cultures that people come from is
very important at a time when near-
ly half the population is a migrant,
or has migrant ancestry.
The People of Australia
Ambassadors Program is an integral
step in the process, and through
improved understanding of each
other, it is hoped that Australia can
grow and prosper as a whole.
Ambassadors advancing Australia
Pallavi Sinha speaks to two recently appointed People of Australia Ambassadors
of Indian subcontinent origin about their new role.
Susai Benjamin
Community
3 Indian plays and the beautiful Indian bride
in Short + Sweet
T
he three Indian plays that
made to the top 100 of Short
+ Sweet 2012 Theatre
Festival were Sukhpreet Dhamoons
Waning Shadows, Shourya Nidhis
The Hostage and Neena Badhwars
Rocky II and the Indian Bride,
which were staged in January and
February. Though the plays did not
make the top spot for the gala finals
they did leave their mark as audience
liked what they saw.
In Rocky II.. the Indian bride is
beautiful as ever though this time for
a groom she has settled on you know
whata groom who is handsome,
brings in a good salary, is well set-
tled and is all the things that a girl
could ask for in a man. Yet she is
unhappy on her wedding night.
Doubts arise in her mind like dark
clouds whether the decision she has
made is right. And how will they be
together in matrimony. And rightly
so the doubts that lurk within her
precipitate on the eve of her
betrothal only because the groom
is well a Robot!
Rocky II and the Indian bride
was long way from the common
themes of the rest of the nine plays
of the Wildcards Week 7 in the Short
+ Sweet Festival 2012. As for
impact, the bride was just stunning
and her dialogues with the groom to
be Robot were apt as marriages
these days are so different than the
olden days. While she wants a per-
fect husband to keep her mum and
dad happy and also as age is catching
up on her, Rocky II the robot con-
vinces Reena of the strange union
and the hilarity of it all that what is
perfect and perfect for whom as
the play unfolds. Rocky II stood out
for its uniqueness though the week 7
of Wildcards was a strong week with
some excellent plays. To top it all,
the white bride in Delayed definite-
ly won the top spot on the night as
Nic Verhoevan was just too good an
actor.
Melisa as Reena the Indian bride
stole the stage with her stunning
appearance and the play depicted the
dilemma of Indian families caught up
in two cultures and how the youth
are confused being tugged at both
ends and a life that was not of their
choosing. Rocky II and the Indian
bride was a theme which definitely
got noticed thanks to Abhinay School
of Performing Art Artistic Director
Aishverya Nidhi who directed the
play and a lot of hard work went into
costumes and decorating the bride
with clothes and accessories from
Decor-a-shaans Nita Tanna and
Kosha did the henna. Though the
play missed to win a spot Rocky II
sure did leave an impact thanks to
the roles played by Melisa Bactol as
the bride and Michael Sjolander as
the Robot bridegroom.
Sukhpreets Waning Shadows
was well received. Its story revolved
around the lives of a broken family.
It depicts the struggles and frustra-
tions of an immigrant family where
circumstances and personal egos
force the couple to live separately.
Even though the protagonists know
that the shadows of their lives are
waning but neither of them want to
be the first one to break the ice and
compromise.
Young Shouryas The Hostage
was a play that depicted conflict and
tense scenes between a father and a
son. The death of Jeremys mother
in a domestic violence ridden home
is the catalyst for a journey to attain
retribution.
Aishverya Nidhi who directed
Neenas Rocky II and acted in the
Waning Shadows says that
Abhinay School of Performing Arts
is conducting another Theatre
Workshop by Alex Broun from 1st
to the 3rd of June. Last year the
workshop culminated into eight
plays where the participants wrote,
directed and cast the plays for a
mock reading. Out of these three
plays finally got the opportunity to
be selected as the top 100 in the
Short + Sweet Festival. Sessions
include pitching your idea as a play,
story and structure, writing, acting,
casting and finally directing a moved
reading of ones own play. 10-
minute play guru Alex Broun who
has shifted his interests to India and
now runs Short + Sweet Delhi,
Mumbai and Chennai theatre festi-
vals will conduct this special theatre
workshop for the community.
Contact Aishverya on 0488 200 222
for registration
Melisa Bactol as the bride and Michael Sjolander as the Robot bride-
groom in Rocky II and the Indian Bride (Photo: Nishant Jadhav)
Shourya Nidhi and Carlos Sivalingam in The Hostage
Mrithula enters politics as a young liberal
By Vish Viswanathan
M
eet Mrithula Shanker, a young
Australian Indian girl who has
entered the Australian political
scene with a clear aspiration and determina-
tion. As a young Liberal, currently working
with Matt Kean, the Member for Hornsby in
the New South Wales Parliament, she feels
her own political values are identical to those
of the party she has chosen for her political
career.
Arriving two decades ago in Kings
Langley as a baby, Mrithula Shanker has
now turned into a charming young universi-
ty student who could have been pursuing arts
or music or dance like many other students
and enjoying life in general. Rather,
Mrithula has opted to join as a member of the
Young Liberals and developed a taste of the
Australian politics. Mrithula Shanker feels
that the younger generation from the
Australian Indian community will bring
about a change by entering the local political
system in an inspiring interview with TIDU.
TIDU: How did you develop an interest
in the Australian politics?
Mrithula Shanker: From a young age,
I have always been interested in politics as I
saw politicians having a critical role in help-
ing the society.
TIDU: Any major considerations for
choosing Liberal Party and can you elabo-
rate on your current role?
I chose the Liberal Party because of their
core party values of individual responsibili-
ty, of small government that minimises inter-
ference in our daily lives and that nurtures
and encourages citizens through incentive,
aligned with my own.
Currently, I am a member of the Young
Liberals, which is the youth arm of the
Liberal Party. Being a member of the YLs
means that I get to participate in policy
debate and have the opportunity to voice my
opinions about a whole range of issues that
are important to me, such as education and
mental health. I also get the opportunity to
network with professionals and politicians. I
currently work for Matt Kean, the Member
for Hornsby. He used to be Vice-President
of the YLs and I am learning a lot about pol-
itics from him.
TIDU: What are your long term goals or
aspirations in your political career?
I havent really thought that far ahead yet
I am taking it one step at a time, but am def-
initely enjoying what Im doing right now.
TIDU: Who is your role model in
Australian/ Indian/ World politics and why?
I would say that President John F
Kennedy is one of my political role models.
He was President during an important time in
American history and I admire the way he
managed the problems he faced. JFK was an
optimistic leader who was able to inspire and
motivate Americans.
TIDU: As a young Australian Indian,
how do you see the role of our youth aspir-
ing to get into Australian politics?
I would encourage all young people to
participate in youth politics. Young people
have a lot of issues that they are passionate
about. In order to make a change on a polit-
ical level and have their voices heard, it is
essential they get involved. This can be as
easy as writing to your local MP or even
joining political organisations.
TIDU: Do you believe that Australia
should become Republic soon? If not please
elaborate.
Yes, I believe that the monarchy is not an
institution that most Australians can relate to
and it is important that our head-of-state is an
Australian citizen.
TIDU: In your opinion, what will be the
single foremost thing which needs to be
done to raise the profile of the Indian com-
munity?
Participation. The Indian community
needs to get more involved and participate
with other communities in the country.
TIDU: What sort of support you got
from your family and friends for your polit-
ical career.
My parents and family have been quite
supportive of my involvement in politics and
have encouraged me to participate as much
as possible.
TIDU: How we can as Indian communi-
ty assist in the issues of the Aboriginal com-
munity.
There already are programmes and
organisations in place that help assist the
Aboriginal Community. The best thing
would be to get members of the Indian com-
munity to volunteer with these organisation
to provide assistance at a grassroots level.
TIDU: Any hobbies and who are your
favourite actors/ actresses
I enjoy reading, listening to music and
watching TV. My favourite actress is Meryl
Streep.
TIDU wishes Mrithula Shanker best of
luck in her political endeavours - a young
girl from the Indian community entering
local politics. Who knows she may be on her
way to change the Australian political map of
future Australia.
Mrithula Shanker
Profile
By Neena Badhwar
Dr Himanshu Brahmbhatt is a
microbiologist who observes nature
from up close. He has a conviction that
there is a simple answer hidden within
the complex maze of nature to find
cure from the dreaded disease Cancer.
He is sure that the world has gone the
wrong way in looking for cancer treat-
ment when there is a simple yet potent
alternative to nip the disease in the bud
in a more wholesome way.
While with CSIRO, he joined
another molecular biologist Dr Jennifer
MacDiarmid to form a team and
EnGeneIC Ltd was created to research
in cancer therapy.
In an ingenious stroke of thought
the two scientists realized that nature
has these bacteria which are there for
thousands of years and have the poten-
tial to mutate to form small nanoparti-
cles. Why cant we use these bacteri-
ally derived particles and load them up
with current cytotoxic drugs and use
them as suicide bombers to pick only
the rogue cancer cells and try killing
them, says Dr Himanshu.
The next several months Drs
Brahmbhatt and MacDiarmid sat at
McDonalds, of all the places, where
they came up with the novel idea to
treat cancer and cancer patients. They
left their jobs at CSIRO and followed
their intuition which has now become
close to reality - a first in the world
which may revolutionise the current
cancer treatment. They have promising
results having experimented on ani-
mals with cancer and following it up
successfully with Phase I trial on 22
cancer patients at three Melbourne hos-
pitals.
The results from animal study and
the patients were so good and unbe-
lievable that ABCs Australian Story
made a documentary about it. (It can be
viewed at: http://www.abc.net.au/aus-
tory/specials/holygrail/default.htm).
Dr Himanshu says, We use these
nanoparticles which we named EDV
(EnGeneIC Delivery Vehicle), around
400 nanometre in size, which are
inserted with anti-cancer drugs. We
attach biospecific antibodies which
help in tracking cancer cells and attach
themselves along with our EDV parti-
cle on to their surface.
The human body is so perfect that
there is no place for cancer as it is tight-
ly packaged with all its organs per-
forming various functions. Cancer
cells are so clever that to make place
for themselves they send out chemicals
which destroy the surrounding area so
that they can proliferate. Although the
cancer cells are pretty robust they need
food and blood supply to survive. So
they create tiny capillaries around them
to suck blood but these new blood ves-
sels are all defective and have tiny
cracks in them. This new blood vessel
formation phenomenon is called
neoangiogenesis. So
our EDV particles,
when released in
blood, fall out of the
leaky vasculature of
the cancer cells and
rapidly accumulate in
the cancer tissue.
The EDVs anti-
bodies then attach to
the cancer cell surface
receptors. But since
the cancer cell is quite
clever in spotting its enemy, it tries to
engulf the EDV so as to destroy it. But
in the process the EDV is inside the
cancer cells and releases millions of
molecules of cocktail of poisonous
drugs which cause the death of the can-
cer cell itself. So the cancer cells,
instead of growing, die.
Each EDV vial that we inject into
the blood has 5 trillion EDV particles
but then the cancer cells are also grow-
ing at a fast rate producing huge num-
ber of cells as each day passes.
The beauty of EDV is that it only
specifically attacks and kills the cancer
cells bypassing all the other damage
which normal orthodox chemotherapy
drugs cause. It also helps to stimulate
the immune system at the same time,
he says.
The EDVs are like the Trojan
horse which helps to kill the cancer
cells and boost the immune system as
well. The patients start to immediately
feel better and show much less side
effects than in the orthodox standard
cancer treatment which does not differ-
entiate between cancer cells and nor-
mal cells.
Dr Himanshu says, In Phase I we
treated patients who had run out of
treatment options being in very late
stages of cancer with EDV showing
hardly any side effects and promising
safety. The 22 patients we treated were
guided by their oncologist and the hos-
pital whether they wanted to go
through our trial and we got amazing
results as compared to the treatments
they had been through.
Dr Himanshu on a mission
to cure cancer
By Neena Badhwar
Making the film Pardesh Ek
Sapanu was a journey of 14 years
since when I came to Australia as it
has been on my mind for that long to
make a film which depicts the stories
of our migrant experiences. Although
the film took a year and a half to be
made the story is all based on what I
saw and experienced along with oth-
ers. I would meet Gujarati students
and even members of the community
who would say that a foreign country
and its image has been portrayed
wrong in the minds of people in India.
Please Vipulji! do make a film which
depicts Pardesh in true manner,
says Vipul Vyas, director of soon to be
released, a first Gujarati movie in
Australia Pardesh Ek Sapanu, some-
one who was well known for his work
in Gujarati tele serials when he landed
in Australia..
They would say that they are
mislead by films like Salaam
Namstey and when they come here
they realise that life is not all that fun
and beach as shown in the film. They
wanted me to do a movie which
depicts the real videsh. Also I had seen
in India that Indian parents were too
keen to get their daughters married to
boys settled abroad without checking
their credentials and then when their
daughters were in trouble they felt
helpless. All these personal experi-
ences make the story of this filmsays
Vipul
It has been a sheer labour of love
with me and my friends and long time
associates who teamed up and I am
really happy the way the film has
turned out.
I am really grateful to the com-
munity who helped us in every way.
People opened up their homes, restau-
rants for indoor locations used in the
movie which is shot 70 per cent in
Australia and the rest in India.
My role is of a protaganist who
tries to save a girl who has married a
boy in Australia but things do not
work out between them and I go to
India and tell her parents whats hap-
pening .
When asked why not do a film in
Hindi, says Vipul, Gujarati film
industry is in doldrums these days and
there are no quality films being pro-
duced. I wanted to give a quality film
which is meant for urban Gujaratis. I
felt a duty to to do a good film.
If it does well then we may do
the same in other languages. During
the final mixing in India we got offers
already to do it in Marathi.
So were there any hassles, No,
infact I got so much cooperation from
the community, Gujarati community
centre and individuals that I just cant
thank enough all of whom rallied and
helped in the shooting of the film in
every way. Jignesh Shah, Paresh
Pandya, Gaurang Shah, Gujarati
Samaj all helped wholeheartedly.
Even Gujarats Chief Minister
Mr Modi sent us his blessings.
Pardesh Ek Sapanu has mostly
local cast with leading actress Druma
Mehta from India and also the co-
director Manish Pathak is Indian.
Mahkasha Ansari of Sydney has a
major role in the film.
The movie has eight songs and
their lyrics and the movie dialogues
have been written by well known
Gujarati poet and writer Tushar
Shukla. The movie will be screened at
Riverside Parramatta Theatre on April
28 and at Hoyts Wetherill Park on
April 29, May 5 and May 6.
Every cancer and every cancer
patient is unique. We are working in
such a way that we will have EDV
vials ready as the biopsy results are
received and the patient can start the
treatment in one day. The EDV will be
specifically tailor made to help the per-
son in their particular cancer as it
would have drugs which they respond
to or are sensitive to. You must realize
that in cancer patients time is a crucial
element and we have little time to
waste. Our therapy is fast and it is quite
localized and targeted at the cancer
cells where ever they may be in the
body.
Both Himanshu and Jennifer have
a strong belief that they can make a
huge difference in the lives of cancer
patients who go on to stable disease
with EDV treatment and thats what
they were able to show in their Phase I
trial which cost over three million dol-
lars.
And now they are both readying
for Phase IIa trials where EnGeneIC
will target to optimize the actual treat-
ment and monitor clinical benefits of
the treatment in terms of increased
cancer stabilsation, cancer regression,
increased life span of the patients and
also better quality of life.
It is the most important phase to
be conducted in full scale which will
determine EDVs success. And it is
very very costly. We need around 10
million dollars to conduct it and have
registered for it. We are half way with
the funds but need more and are look-
ing for investors as we are sure that
they will be able to reap huge financial
rewards in few years time, says
Himanshu.
Our EDV antibody is quite
cheap, as low as $50, even cheaper
than Biocon in India which sells anti-
body currently at a competitive price
of $1,500. EDV is a sole invention and
we have patented over hundred steps
which are part of the whole EDV treat-
ment. We have 35 employees working
hard and for long hours every day,
says Himanshu.
Dr Himanshu and Dr Jennifer
work seven days a week as they know
every minute, every day is crucial for
the success of EngeneIC. His sister
Vatsala and even his mum help out
since they believe he is on to some-
thing big that could help millions of
cancer sufferers.
Dr Himanshu says that he does not
have the time although his family
presses him to marry. Who would
want to commit to me if I say to the
person: See you in three years time or
may be more. One can see that he is
completely wedded to the project.
(People interested in investing into
Nanocellular Cancer Therapeutics
can apply to David Seaton (Chief
Financial Officer) at EnGeneIC.
Contributions are tax deductible and
go directly into clinical trial with no
administration cost involved.
EneGeneIc also runs a fundraiser din-
ner every year where people have the
opportunity to participate and con-
tribute to the worthwhile cause.
Investors or donors can contact
EnGeneIC; Chris Elma, Business
Operations Manager:
calma@engenic.com. Phone: 02 9420
5833. Potential investors would be
welcome to visit EnGeneIC for a tour
organized by Chris Alma.)
Profile
Our EDV nanoparticle is like the Trojan horse which specifically targets cancer cells and leave the other healthy cells of the cancer
patients alone thus creating less damage and lesser side effects while helping to stimulate the immune system of the cancer patients...
- Dr Jennifer MacDiarmid and Dr Himanshu Brahmbhatt
Vipuls dream comes true
Vipul Vyas and Druma Mehta in lead roles in
Pardesh Ek Sapanu
32 THE INDIAN DOWN UNDER April-May 2012
Community
Sydney shows a generous spirit
at Holi Hullad Charity Night
Holi Hullad on March 30 ran a
charity program organised by Indian
Literary & Arts Society of Australia
(ILASA), The Indian Down Under
newspaper and Voice of India -
Monika Geetmala.
The night enlivened with dhol,
dances, music, mimicry and an enter-
taining Bollywood quiz conducted by
Shailja Chandra - broadcaster at
Monika Geetmala with Sydney
singer Vinod Rajput.
Ankita Sachdev, Riaz Shah and
Ajoy Ghosh sang some nostalgic
numbers while Neena Sinha enter-
tained with Holi folk song.
Astha Rajvanshi, Richa Joshi and
dancers and Ruchi Sanghi dance
school kept all entertained and
engaged all through out the night.
And to top it all there was Indian
sweet competition in which three
ladies entered their favourite dishes:
80-year old Mrs Vimla Singh with
her Balushahi, Mrs Manju Mittal
with her Besan Barfi and Mrs Raji
Viswanthan with Mysore Pak. And
none was beter than the other though
Manjus Besan Barfi won the judges
vote.
Holi Hullad has established itself
as an event which carries the motto:
Spread the colours of joy with Holi
and collects funds with all its pro-
ceeds going towards charity. Last
year Holi Hullad collected $4000 out
of which $1000 were donated to
Queensland Flood Relief Fund while
$3000 went into buying 16 rickshaws
for rickshawallas in Delhi university
- under a program run by the students
of Shri Ram College of Commerce
by SIFE Project.
This year the committee chose
two charities - one a Cambodian
Orphanage CCT run by Tara Winkler
- Young Australian of the Year 2011
for which over $1000 was collected.
but the surprise was the collection for
funding 56 Sewing Training courses
with a sewing machine to the young
girls of Kalkaji slums in Delhi run by
Shanti Sahyog - A Gandhian NGO.
Sydneysiders opened their purses and
their hearts as well as businesses and
organisations all came and donated
wholeheartedly at the event at
Parravilla Functiuon Centre. The
night was full of giving spirit and
people enjoyed every minute as the
dhol drummed past midnight while
people wanted to dance the night
away.
People who sponsored the
Sewing Machine Project with an
aim to empower the girls from slums
the list of people and sponsors
include:
Mehdi Juddani 4 Sewing
machines - Best & Less Travels;
Bipen Sharma - Sharmas Kitchen - 4
sewing machines ; Ajai Raj - Maya
Da Dhaba - 1 Sewing Machine;
Kamal Athwal - Parravilla - 2; Arnab
and Madhu Chaudhuri of Carewell
Foundation 2; Sheba Nandkeolyar -
Multicall Connexions 2 and cash
sponsorship of $250; Neena Badhwar
- The Indian Down Under 2; Satinder
and Rani - Maharaja's Haveli - 2;
Mala Mehta IABBV Hindi School -
2; Nandini Thadani - Sakhi Sangam -
2; Riaz Shah - Radio Jharokha 88.9
fm - 1; Ajoy Ghosh - Multi Face
Media 1; Sanjay Deshwal -
Australian Visa & Migration
Consultancy Services -1; Anurag
Chakradhar - Thinkun-online market-
ing -1; Joginder Lamba - Crowne
Enterprises - 1; Aishveryaa Nidhi -
Abhinay School of Performing Arts -
1; Sarika Gupta - Woollongong -1;
Piyush Gupta - Woollongong- 1;
Usha Puri - 1; Neena & Prabhat
Sinha - Strathfield Plaza Family
Medical Practice - 1; Jack Kumar -
Residential Projects Australia 1;
Malini Mistry - Cheeky Bites 1;
Jyothi Shankar 2; Madhu Vashi
Melwani - 2; Jyoti Kewalram - 2;
Saba Zaidi Abdi- Nuvera Media 1;
Devendra Gupta - Ekal Vidyalaya
Foundation 1; Neelu Anand 2;
Sanjay Patel of Patel brothers
donated 7 Sewing Machines pack-
ages; Jasvinder Bhogal 1; Kamal
Coffee club -1; Anonymous 1;
Greater India Radio - Aruna
Chandrala 1; Dr Mehta ; Astha
Rajvanshi 1. A total of 56 Sewing
Machine and Training packages were
sponsored.
Holi Hullad program has created
a spirit of benevolence and goodwill
and strives to make sure that the
funds donated reach the target charity
chosen without any administration
wastage of funds. People who have
donated can visit Delhi university to
see for themselves that rickshawalls
are riding rickshaws they own now
thanks to some young students who
modified the old rickshaw so that it
runs better and pledged 100 rick-
shaws to be given away out of which
16 came from Sydney.
Dr Geoff Lee, member of the
NSW Legislative Assembly repre-
senting Parramatta for the Liberal
Party of Australia graced the event
and noted how rich and traditional
Parramatta is due to the contribution
of the Indian community which is a
sizeable part of the population in
Parramatta.
Sydneys Tuli Jewelers donated a
pearl necklace for auction, Malini
Mistrys Cheeky Bites offered a free
entre, Farida Iranis Subtle Energies
donated Ayurvedic Beauty products
for auction and The Indian Down
under gave away a family pass for
four to Taronga Zoo, Himalaya Spice
donated sweets and biscuits,
Maharaja Haveli dinner for three and
Cinestar Entertainment for two tick-
ets to Sonu Nigam show and.Hemu
Negi of: www.theindo-austimes.com
was helpful in publicising the event.
The program was ably compered
by the talented Amit Grover, his
mimicry kept all amused,
It was a night where Sydney
opened its heart for charity and what
a night it turned out to be.
Above: Richa Joshi dancers; ILASA honoured Vikram Sharma of Monika Geetmala, Mala Mehta of IABBV Hindi School and Neena Badhwar of The Indian Down Under newspaper
for service to the community for the last 25 years; Neeru Saluja - Bollywood reporter of TIDU with young Khushi
Bottom: Rekha Rajvanshi with Raji Viswanathan and Manju Mittal; Sydney Business community with Sanjay Patel of Patel Bros, Sanjay Deshwal of AVMC Immigration services;
Jaswinder Bhogal of A One Home Improvments, Ajayraj of Maya Da Dhaba, Kamal Athwal of Parravilla Function Centre, Bipen Sharma of Sharmas Kitchen and Dr Yadu Singh of
CIA; Shailja Chandra with hubby Samit and Ankita Sachdev with Mala Mehta.
Sydney Sakhi Sangam
on June 24th 2012 at the
Croatian Club, 921 Punchbowl Rd Punchbowl
Celebrates the spirit of being a woman and
share it with all the Sakhis in Sydney
Call Nandini to book: 0423 684 340
Sushma 0411 967 374
Aruna 0410 338 900
A day to spoil yourself and feel special!!!
Community
March - April 2012 THE INDIAN DOWN UNDER 33
O
ver three sunny autumn
days in March, Bharatiya
Vidya Bhavan Australia
celebrated the 10th anniversary of
the Holi Mahotsav starting March
23 25 at Tumbalong Park in
Darling Harbour, Sydney.
Nearly a thousand artists per-
formed during the 3-day event
and represented a rich mixture of
culture, spirituality and entertain-
ment while 40,000 Holi revelers
enjoyed a sun-drenched colourful
festival. From Bollywood to
Classical, Bhangra to belly
dances, fusion and folk music,
Punjabi songs, Balinese and
Chinese performances and two
surprise flash mobs which
engaged into dance around the
audience, it was thoroughly
enjoyed by one and all. The
music and dance, yoga, prayers,
meditation activities and dance
and art workshops were also an
integral part as visitors enjoyed
delicious vegetarian Indian food
and craft stalls.
The first day of the festival
was dedicated to schools, young
people and children. With great
support of the Department of
Education and Communities of
Government of NS and Sydney
Regions India Calling Program
many school groups participated
with group performances and
took part in art workshops. At
the VIP session for school day Dr
Phil Lambert, Regional Director
of Department of Education and
Communities of Government of
NSW expressed his delight from
the mutual cooperation and
engagement of school children in
stage and workshop activities.
The special school day will
become an annual tradition from
this year for the Holi Mahotsav.
Saturday was the day of spiri-
tuality. At noon time people had
started to gather at Martin Place
enjoying ISKCON Sydney stage
performances while waiting for a
street procession of more than
500 participants to start.
Departing from Martin Place peo-
ple passed through Sydney CBD
and Sydney Town Hall and cul-
minated into Tumbalong Park.
The procession included Rath
Yatra of Lord Jaganntha. The
ISKCON devotees chanted
prayers and praises of the lord
while pulling the chariot together
with procession participants. The
Sacred Holi Fire ceremony to
drive away evil from the society
was carried out in the form of a
symbolic bonfire by S.P.
Hrishikesha Bhattar, Temple
Priest, on Saturday afternoon.
On Sunday the traditional
practice of colour throwing took
place in the designated area in
nmultiple sessions throughout
whole afternoon. This joyful
activity brought many people of
different cultural background
together and was celebrated with
happiness and harmony among
the participants and viewers.
During the special VIP ses-
sion held on the last day of the
festival the special guests
expressed the importance of such
events as Holi Mahotsav and
demonstrated their support and
pleasure of being part of the cele-
brations. Among the respected
speakers who graced the festival
there were: Senator the Hon Kate
Lundy, Parliament of Australia
(representing The Hon Julia
Gillard - Prime Minister); The
Hon Craig Kelly, Member for
Hughes, Parliament of Australia
(representing The Hon Tony
Abbott - Leader of the
Opposition); The Hon Geoff Lee,
Member for Parramatta,
Parliament of NSW (representing
The Hon Victor Dominello,
Minister for Citizenship and
Communities); The Hon Amanda
Fazio, Opposition Whip,
Parliament of NSW (representing
The Hon John Robertson -
Leader of the Opposition); Mr
John Dallor, Vice President of
Falun Dafa Association of NSW
and Dr Phil Lambert, Regional
Director, Department of
Education and Communities,
Government of NSW. Among
other visiting VIP guests there
were present: Mrs Madhu Dubey,
Regional Director, Government
of India Tourism Office,
Australiana; Mrs Reeta Arora,
Vice Consul, Consulate General
of India; Amar Singh; Shila
Mehta, eminent Kathak Dancer
visiting fromm India and Andrew
Jones and John Michel from
Sahaja Yoga.
Holi colours Sydney
Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan Australia celebrated the 10th anniversary of the Holi Mahotsav
from March 23 25 at Tumbalong Park in Darling Harbour, Sydney.
34 THE INDIAN DOWN UNDER March - April 2012
Community
Tara exposing Indian mindset favoring boys over girls
By Neeru Saluja
T
he Sonu Nigam concert on
April 6 created a sensation
in advance. After all, who
doesnt want to see the superstar
sing and dance. But no less enthu-
siasm was there for the talent hunt
for the super dancer and super
singer to perform along with him
live on stage. Despite the rain, on
March 4, Bowman Hall at
Blacktown wore a colourful look
with young and old alike support-
ing their family and friends for
search of the new superstar.
Starting off with 46 singers
and 26 dancers for their first audi-
tion in January, the competition
was strong with the finale of 14
dancers and 14 singers competing
for the crown. Participants came
from Sydney and Melbourne
where auditions took place. The
judging panel was led by leading
Indian Australian entertainers
singer Pupinder Mintu, Suresh
Gowda, Pushpa Jagdish, dancer
and choreographer Varun Tiwari,
Road 2 Bollywood director
Maxine Salma and Lisa.
Singer Ankita Sachdev and
dancer Richa Joshi were declared
the winners after the cream of
Australia performed non-stop on
the stage. The talent hunt was
mainly based on the songs of
Sonu Nigam and consisted of four
rounds Round 1 the partici-
pants own choice, round 2 and 3
the judges choice and round 4
again the judges choice. Ankita
Sachdev performed on Aaja re
Pardesi, Tumhi dekho na, bairi
piya, do pal ruka khwabon ka kar-
wan and tumse milke dil ka hai
jao haal. Super Dancer Richa
Joshi performed on Bollywood
songs Chunri sambhal gori,
Nagara Nagara Bhangra, Phir
Mohabbat Contemporary,
Dance of envy from Dil to pagal
hai and Crazy kiya re from
Dhoom 2.
Ankita Sachdev has already
made us proud by singing the
national anthem for the movie
Krazy 4 and for the Telugu ver-
sion of the film Raavan. While in
India she has received vocal train-
ing under playback singer Suresh
Wadkar, in Sydney she was
recently seen singing with singer
Hariharan in a concert. So did the
experience help her?
The competition was very
tough as all the contestants were
very capable and all of us worked
very hard. Yes, my experience of
playback singing definitely gave
me the cutting edge as it taught
me how to control my voice, get
my modulation right and get into
the mood of the song. Technical
expertise gives you more confi-
dence and makes you relaxed on
the stage. Saying that I was still a
bit nervous! But Im not nervous
thinking about performing with
Sonu Nigam, Im looking forward
and ready to work hard for it,
says Ankita.
Richa Joshi has been dancing
and performing since the age of
10. While in India, she participat-
ed in many contests and also ran
her own dance academy. In
Australia since five years, Richa
has already made her mark. She
has performed at the India
Australia Friendship Fair, Mr and
Miss Nepal last year and recently
danced at the KK and Hard Kaur
concert.
Dancing has always been a
part of my life. I take my inspira-
tion from my father who is a
singer and of course the best
Bollywood dancers Madhuri Dixit
and Hrithik Roshan. March 4 was
the happiest day of my life. When
my name was announced as a
winner, my tears of joy expressed
the happiness as I struggle to find
the words to express my happi-
ness. It was very competitive con-
test where I had to perform on
various songs on request from the
judges. Im looking forward to
perform with Sonu Nigam, a bit
nervous but confident that I will
perform at my best as this is a life
time opportunity where I would
like to embark.
Jagpreet Grover and Saumya
Ravikumar were declared the 1st
and 2nd runner-up respectively in
the singer category while Cheryl
Khurana and Shonie Kaushik
were declared the 1st and 2nd
runner up in the super dancer cat-
egory. Adnan Akhtar was hon-
oured as the popular singer while
Cheryl Khurana bagged the popu-
lar dancer special award.
For those who missed the tal-
ent hunt, singer Ankita and
dancer Richa performed on the
charity event Holi Hullad on
March 30. But all were waiting
eagerly to see our own local tal-
ented stars to perform live with
the superstar Sonu Nigam!
By Rekha Rajvanshi
T
ara- a two act play in English
was staged at the Science
Theatre of UNSW on
March 17, 2012. This play was
directed by Shashidhar Dandekar
and supported by AIBC Womens
Chapter and Opportunity Australia.
A group of enthusiastic local artists
got together to make this play a suc-
cess.
The play Tara is written very
well by Mahesh Dattani, dealing
with the theme of gender discrimi-
nation and social consciousness in
modern society. It also identifies
the social forces that are prevalent
in the country.
The play begins with Dan, the
adopted name of Chandan in a for-
eign country, where he is pursuing
his childhood dreams to be a writer.
Chandan is reminiscing over his
past and Tara is fondly remembered
as a stronger personality.
Chandan recounts his childhood
with an imaginary interview with
the doctor who operated upon his
sister and him at the age of three
months. The operation left the kids
with one leg each and a multitude of
illnesses. In these conditions they
had to struggle under the loving
care and focus of their parents, the
Patels. However, there was a defi-
nite bias towards the financial
future of Chandan in comparison to
Tara.
Throughout the play it is felt
that Tara bears some kind of grudge
against the society. She seems to
have some aversion to the outside
world and her world consists of
only her parents and her brother,
whom she was very close to. Tara
isnt given enough opportunities as
given to her brother. She feels frus-
trated and eventually dies.
The play exposes the typical
Indian mind set which has formed
over time to prefer boys to girls.
Chandan escapes to London,
changes his name to Dan and
attempts to repress the guilt he feels
over his sisters death. His sense of
trauma and anguish is so intense
that at the end of the play, we see
Chandan apologizing to Tara in the
most moving of all the lines
Forgive me, Tara, Forgive me,
for making it my tragedy.
All seven actors have given it
their all to the play. Pragya
Goswami as Tara did an excellent
job. Amitav Goswami as Taras
Dad and Suparna Malik as Taras
Mum made themselves comfortable
in the shoes of their characters and
S K Dey has come up with a good
representation of a doctor. Shounak
as younger Chandan and Supratik
Roy as the older Dan got
entrenched in their characters.
Rajshree Roy as the bubbly girl
Rupa too deserves a pat on the back
for her wonderful dialogue deliv-
ery. The play is supported by
appropriate set design and lighting,
and that makes it easier to connect
with the characters. Sameer Bholes
music threads itself through the
plot. The acoustic light effects dur-
ing the play were created by Sagar
Agashe.
This production was worth
watching for its good performances
and a gripping plot.
A praiseworthy effort!
Richa Joshi (Winner Dance Competition) and Ankita Sachdev (Winner Singing completion) with
Australian entertainer and TV personality Mike Goldman, Gil Ben Boshe, Sabrina Brandon, Shona
Mackin and Yogesh Sharma of Cinestar Entertainment.
Guests try some Bollywood dance gestures
Ankita and Richa are the
Sonu Nigams concert stars
Community
By Vish Viswanathan
A
geing well is about well-
being, as well as good
mental and physical func-
tion. Socialising and participat-
ing in physical activity and eating
healthy foods are good for both
your emotional and physical
health. Health conditions, com-
mon in older age, can often be
related to lifestyle risk factors,
such as lack of physical activity
and poor nutrition. The good
news is that lifestyle risk factors
can be reduced: all it takes is
commitment and learning new
strategies to replace old habits.
To address the specific and
culturally sensitive issues of the
Indian sub-continent community,
Sri Om Care was launched six
years ago by Guru Sri Om
Adisakthiyendra Swamiji who
was keen to start services for
seniors in Australia, based on the
Sri Om Care motto Humanity
leads Divinity.
Sri Om Care invited all com-
munity members to participate in
the Seniors Week Celebrations as
per the following details.
* In the Seniors Week in
March, big celebrations were
planned for Seniors at Auburn
Botanical Gardens Town Hall,
on Friday March 23 and on
Sunday March 25 from 11 am to
3 pm. A free bus service was
available for pick up from
Auburn and Lidcombe Station.
* On March 23, the picnic at
Auburn Botanical Garden includ-
ed story telling by eminent
speakers, seniors, and Games.
* The program for the
Sunday included dance and
music by youngsters and seniors,
Health Tips and much more.
The program is Free including a
sumptuous lunch.
Through the recruitment of
high quality and accredited staff,
Sri Om Care endeavours to pro-
vide seniors with the best possi-
ble care. The staffs are also well
trained in many of the Indian lan-
guages.
The services it offers are rec-
ommended by numerous health
professionals. It is committed to
provide the best possible care for
seniors and in assisting them with
active ageing. Being a not-for-
profit organisation, primarily
focus is on the well-being of sen-
iors and hence most of the serv-
ices are at a very minimal cost or
at no cost at all.
An increase in older people
including some who need addi-
tional care is resulting in
increased pressure on the
younger generation. Caring for
seniors is quite unique, difficult
and time consuming and lack of
services is leading to social isola-
tion for the seniors.
Sri Om Foundation in part-
nership with Federation of
Australian Indian Association,
Sewa International, Auburn
Tamil Society, Hindu Council,
Granville Seniors Welfare
Association and local businesses,
aims to identify the needs of the
seniors and tailor programs and
packages. The programs are
designed to promote independ-
ence, choices, social participa-
tion and a better quality of life
for seniors of South Asian back-
ground.
Community care services
These are provided for the
benefit of older people living
independently at home in the
community. These services are
designed to enable older people
to continue living at home and
delay their transition into a resi-
dential aged care facility.
Om care services also prevent
the risk of isolation among elder-
ly people and are completely tai-
lored to the specific requirements
of each individual. At-home care
support services are continuously
evaluated to ensure that the care
level is in tune with the changing
needs of the individual.
Community care services are
provided in the western suburbs
of Sydney as well as parts of the
inner west, Penrith and
Hawkesbury. Home care servic-
es include light housekeeping,
meal preparation, laundry servic-
es, shopping and bill payments.
Nursing care services are provid-
ed for elderly individuals with
complex care requirements.
Assistance for older people
who are insecure at home
This service helps frail older
people who are in danger of
becoming insecure in their
homes.
The majority of older people
live active and independent lives.
However, older people can be
vulnerable to abuse and exploita-
tion from people who they trust,
or should be able to trust.
Abuse happens to older peo-
ple who live in their own homes
and to those who live in residen-
tial services (nursing homes and
hostels). Om Care comes across
abuses by way of financial, psy-
chological or social or it may be
due to neglect. It generally is car-
ried out by someone close to the
older person such as a family
member or acquaintance, or a
worker or professional on whom
they depend for care and sup-
port.
Sri Om Care helps older peo-
ple to live independently for as
long as possible with dignity and
respect. Sri Om is committed to
upholding the rights of older peo-
ple who receive community serv-
ices from its staff and volunteers,
or who live in other residential
services, to be safe from abuse
and exploitation.
Resources
Sri Om has developed
resources to help prevent the
abuse of older people, increase
awareness of abuse and to guide
care workers on how to respond
if they see signs of abuse. Sri
Om has set out guidelines for
staff and volunteers about signs
of abuse and protocols to follow.
As mentioned above, this
service is available in Western
and inner west regions of Sydney
for the time being. This program
has been operative for the past 5
years and now we are planning to
provide by building hostel
accommodation for the frail aged
seniors.
Day-Centre Activities
Day Centres are running for
seniors at Auburn, Blacktown,
Seven Hills, Chester Hill,
Parramatta and Pennant Hills.
Each of these centres is operating
on various days. (Please refer to
our web site for days and
addresses).
We have structured program
for the seniors from 10 am to 2
pm. Some of them are
* Light Exercises / Yoga and
Indoor Games
* Story Telling, Movies and
Karaoke, and
* Regular Lectures on Health
related topics by health profes-
sionals
* Diversional therapy pro-
grams including outings.
Morning Tea and Lunch is
provided Free. There is a free
pick up and drop off as well in
selected cases.
If you are outside these
areas, Om Care may still be able
to service you based on our
resource availabilities, and the
level of service requested.
* Many of its members are
professionals in various fields
and continually strive to develop
services by seeking knowledge,
responding to the community
needs and expectations and by
developing innovative approach-
es that will provide the best pos-
sible care for the elderly.
* Om Cares volunteers and
Carers are educated. Fresh and
new volunteers are continually
trained by experienced agencies
before they enter the Work force.
Long term goals
* Sri Om Care aims to pro-
vide positive life style choices
and care to the full spectrum of
seniors living in Australia. This
will result in enriching and ful-
filling quality of their life. At its
peak, Sri Om Care aims to offer
a wide range of services includ-
ing Accommodation, Residential
care and Retirement Living,
Community Care, Day Therapy
Centres and Respite Care.
* Sri Om Care is constantly
in need of donations and would
like volunteers with various skills
and time. Visit Sri Om Care
website www.sriomcare.org.au
for more details, donations and
registering for volunteers. For
more details please contact Jay
Raman, Vice President on 0410
759 906. Or Vish Viswanathan,
Secretary on 0411 104 249
Sri Om Care cares for Indian seniors in Sydney
Seniors performing a Bollywood skit - Auburn Town Hall, during the March 25 function.
From L to R: Jeyraman - Vice President of Sri Om Care with
Sri Om Care President H. H. Sri Om Gnana Sakthiyendra Swamiji;
Hon. Charles Casusca representing Hon. Victor Dominillo Minister
for Citizenship and Multicultural affairs;
Mayor of Auburn City Council - Hon Ronnie Ouiek and Theresa
Chan - Multicultural Group, DADAC, NSW Govt.
Audience at Auburn Town Hall Senior week celebrations
April -May 2012 THE INDIAN DOWN UNDER 37
A sacred space for spiritual protection
W
e now live in an era
of social media
where endless per-
sonalities seem endlessly fas-
cinated with themselves. The
idea of describing what makes
us different from everyone
else reveals the shared experi-
ence we have and that is of
being human.
The idea of writing about
oneself has not always exist-
ed. It was invented and can
be traced back to a single
person - Michel de
Montaige. He was a noble-
man, government official and
wine grower who lived in
South-Western France. He
invented the idea by simply
doing it.
Here are some of his
thoughts:
* Be free from vanity and
pride
* Be free from belief, dis-
belief, conviction and parties
* Be free from habit
* Be free from ambition
and greed
* Be free from family and
surroundings
* A painful notion takes
hold of me; I find it quicker
to change it than to subdue it.
* I substitute a contrary
one for it, or, if I cannot, at
all events a different one.
Variation always solaces, dis-
solves, and dissipates. If I
cannot combat it, I escape it;
and in fleeing I dodge, I am
tricky.
* Life should be an aim
unto itself, a purpose unto
itself.
* I set forth a humble and
inglorious life; that does not
matter.
* You can tie up all moral
philosophy with a common
and private life just as well as
with a life of richer stuff.
* I simply take up my
pen not to philosophise, or to
be witty or to moralise but
merely to tell whatever passes
through my mind, in its
naked simplicity and force.
* I turn my gaze inward. I
fix it there and keep it busy.
Everyone looks in front of
him; as for me, I look inside
of me; I have no business but
with myself; I continually
observe myself, I take stock
of myself, I taste myself... I
roll about in myself.
* Of a hundred members
and faces that each thing has,
I take one, sometimes only to
lick it, sometimes to brush
the surface, sometimes to
pinch it to the bone.
* I give it a stab, not as
wide but as deep as I know
how. And most often I like to
take them from some unac-
customed point of view.
* Only a person who has
lived through a time that
threatens his life and that
valuable substance, his indi-
vidual freedom, with war,
power and tyrannical ideolo-
gies - only he knows how
much courage, how much
honesty and determination are
needed to maintain the inner
self in such times of herd
insanity.
* Be free from fanaticism.
* The most beautiful lives,
to my mind, are those that
conform to the common
human pattern, with order,
but without miracle and
without eccentricity.
* Our zeal does wonders
when it is seconding our lean-
ing towards hatred, cruelty,
ambition, avarice, detraction,
rebellion. Against the grain,
towards goodness, benignity,
moderation, unless as by a
miracle some rare nature
bears it, it will neither walk
nor fly.
Being human is our shared experience
Inner Space
By Faith Harper
C
reating and recognising a
sacred space is important
for every individual, not
only for spiritual purpose but also
for protection and power.
Such a room is vital because it
prevents the person from being
affected by dark forces which can
come in the form of sight,
thoughts, words, gestures and
negative activities of others.
Building the space is simple
but it requires concentration, clar-
ity of purpose and the ability to
withstand any distractions in your
particular situation.
Ideally, there should be a
room dedicated for the specific
purpose, but owing to space limi-
tations, switching the space
between ritual and physical prac-
tices would be best.
Although the dual role can be
challenging at times, it is recom-
mended that the switch be done
mentally in any space you occu-
py, whether at work or at home.
The first step is to choose a
space where you will not be dis-
turbed during the therapy and
purify the area with incense
smoke or cleanse it with salt
water.
Next, sit comfortably on the
floor in the middle of the room
facing north and draw a circle
using white chalk starting from
the east clockwise.
Place five candles in these
positions: yellow in the east, red
in the south, blue in the west,
green in the north and purple in
the centre. Light them while say-
ing, Banish my fears and pro-
vide me with power and protec-
tion.
The candles, which represent
the sacred elements of air, fire,
water, earth and spirit, must be
invoked after the circle is drawn
to welcome the energies associat-
ed with it to the space.
Acknowledge the presence of
the elements and seek help for
whatever purpose and show
appreciation to their powers after
making the declaration by thank-
ing them.
For instance, when requesting
for protection from negative ener-
gies, ask the subtle vibrations
from the elements to provide you
with an invisible shield when
faced with such entities. Spend
about an hour inside the circle
and respect the space throughout
the ritual for protection therapy to
work effectively.
Follow the various phases of
the moon to see better results.
The waxing or growing moon is
seen to be suitable for any action
for growth and attraction, while
the waning or shrinking moon
symbolises banishment and repul-
sion.
The dark moon, also known
as the new moon favours new
projects and building protection.
The full moon is symbolically
linked with reflection, revelation
and wholeness.
You can also use the planetary
influences on each day of the
week for better results.
Monday is linked with myste-
rious powers of the moon and
favours dreams, mystical activity
and money.
Tuesday is ruled by Mars and
it is a fierce planet of courage,
will and defence.
Wednesday is governed by
Mercury, the planet of communi-
cation and knowledge.
Thursday is the day of Jupiter,
the generous and luck planet.
Friday is dedicated to Venus,
which is associated with love and
peace.
Saturday is linked with
Saturn, the disciplinarian and
Sunday to the Sun, bringer of joy
and success.
Dr T. Selva is the author of
the Best Seller book titled
Vasthu Sastra Guide for health,
peace, happiness, harmonious liv-
ing and world peace. To get a
copy of the book or for private
consultation contact Devi at
0412623017. Dr Selva can be
contacted on
tselvas@pd.jaring.my Website:
www.vasthusastra.com
VasthuSastra
By T. Selva
Body-Mind-Spirit
Santram's Grey Page
S
ince my last column, a lot of things have
happened in Indian and Australian
Politics. Mr. Kevin Rudd has been
grounded from his high flying post of Foreign
Minister and replaced by almost forgotten and
retired ex NSW Premier Bob Carr.
Queensland Premier Ms Anna Bligh was so
humiliated in the state elections that she quit
the Parliament altogether. Nothing like that
happens in India, where UP Chief Minister
Mayawati after losing very badly quietly
slipped into the comforts of Rajya Sabha.
What a win for the Samajwadi Party and
youngest Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav that
even surprised the Yadav clan. This of course
has upset the future plans of Sonia Gandhi and
her heir apparent Rahul. Now there is a pos-
sibility of mid-term poll and creation of a
third front to defeat Congress and BJP.
It looks that Anna Hazare factor did influ-
ence the election results in UP to some extent,
as he was advocating to vote against the
Congress Party only.
UPA Government of Manmohan Singh
has another Ghotala (scam), called
Coalgate, in which licenses to mine coal
were given without the auction taking place. It
is estimated that the tax payers lost 10 lakh
crores of Rupees.
The corruption in India is spreading to the
Army. It has been reported that the Chief of
the Army staff, Gen. V.K.singh was offered a
bribe of Rs.14 crore for purchasing sub-stan-
dard trucks. The Army Chief said he had
informed Defence Minister A.K. Antony of
the overture, allegedly made by a retired offi-
cer who now works as a lobbyist.
White rice intake increases risk of
Type II diabetes
Each serving of polished rice a day
increases the risk of Type II diabetes by 11
per cent, according to a study being published
today (Friday) in the British Medical Journal.
Polished rice is commonly called white
rice, and one serving refers to nearly 160
grams. Higher consumption of white rice is
associated with a significantly increased risk
of Type 2 diabetes, especially in Asian (China
and Japan) populations, wrote the authors
from the Harvard School of Public Health,
Boston.
White rice primarily contains starch, as
the polishing removes most of the nutrients
found in the bran such as insoluble fibre, mag-
nesium, vitamins, and lignans (a group of
chemical compounds acting as antioxidants).
Insoluble fibre and magnesium, for instance,
have been found to lower the risk of Type II
diabetes.
Double harm
Unlike brown rice, polished rice has a
high glycaemic index (an indicator of glucose-
raising effect of a food) and is a major con-
tributor of dietary glycaemic load. Higher
dietary glycaemic load is generally associated
with the increased risk of diabetes. Hence, the
harmful effects of polishing are two-pronged
it removes the nutrients that would cut the
risk of diabetes and at the same time pushes up
the glycaemic index, thus increasing the risk
of the disease.
Health benefits of mint leaves
Mint is one of the oldest and most popu-
lar herbs that are grown around the world.
Mint is an essential ingredient in many Indian
and Middle Eastern cuisine and is popularly
mixed with natural plain yogurt to make a
'raita' or brewed with tea to make the famous
Indian 'Pudina Chai'. Its benefits include:
- Soothing the digestive tract and if you
are having stomach ache then it can be of
great help
- Drinking herbal mint tea reduces irritat-
ed bowel syndromes, cleanses the stomach
and also clear up skin disorders such as acne.
- Mint acts as a cooling sensation to the
skin and helps in dealing with skin irritations.
- Mint helps in eliminating toxins from the
body.
- Crushed mint leaves helps in whitening
teeth and combat bad breath.
- Mint is a very good cleanser for the
blood.
PROTEINS
Our bodies need three vital macronutri-
ents to survive. These are carbohydrates, pro-
teins and fats. Ideally, for optimal health, our
intake of carbohydrates, proteins and fats
should be balanced. However, in reality, this
seldom happens. In fact, 90% of what the
average person eats consists solely of carbo-
hydrates and fats!
Proteins are the building blocks of mus-
cles, bones, hormones, skin cells and tissues,
says Vinita Aran, Senior Diet and Obesity
Consultant at Apollo Clinic, Mumbai. It is
responsible for the regeneration of our body
cells. That's why it's so important for grow-
ing children and lactating women. In adults, it
helps heal wounds and recover more rapidly
from injury, prevents hair loss and weak-
ness.
A normal person requires 1 gm of protein
for every kilo of body weight. However, if
you want to lose weight, then you need to eat
more protein (1.5 gms for every kilo). This is
because the body tends to burn carbohydrates
first, then proteins and finally fats. When our
diet consists of an overdose of carbohydrates
and fats, exercising is not as effective in
weight loss, since we'll only be burning car-
bohydrates and won't be exercising long
enough to burn fats. If we increase our intake
of protein, our intake of carbs will automati-
cally decrease and we tend to burn proteins
quickly and the fats more easily, resulting in
weight loss, says the doctor.
Vegetarian vs non-veg sources
Both vegetarians and non-vegetarians can
get their protein requirements from food, but
vegetarians may find it difficult to get enough,
since the sources of protein in plant foods are
limited. In such cases, vegetarians are advised
to take protein shakes and supplements like
whey powder in addition to protein rich foods
that they can eat. Traditional Indian meals
include cereal-pulse combinations that are eas-
ily absorbed by the body, like dal-rice, idli
sambhar, chhole puri. All this improves the
overall quality of protein for vegetarian
intake, says Aran.
Is your food combination right?
Though most of us today are extra careful
about our eating habits, there are still times,
when we suffer indigestion and belching prob-
lems.
According to naturopathy, wrong food
combinations are majorly responsible for
causing indigestion problems. The reason as
the theory suggests are, that some foods are
incompatible and if consumed together, cause
stomach-related problems which further are
the basic cause of many other diseases. The
theory further explains that starches are
digested in an alkaline medium and proteins
are digested through acids. As a result, starch-
es are forced to remain in the stomach until
proteins are digested completely. So ideally
they should be had separately.
Here we give you some insights on what
are few foods to be consumed alone.
Milk: Known to be a complete health
drink in itself, milk is best consumed alone.
Due to the fat and protein content, milk turns
into curd once it reaches the stomach which
requires time for digestion. So it should not be
had with foods containing salts like fruits,
nuts, cereals or pulses.
Sugar: Sugar is digested in the intestines.
If consumed with other foods like proteins and
starches or fats, it accumulates in the stomach
for a prolonged period awaiting digestion of
other foods. So chances of fermentation
increase. Sweet curd, lassi, ice-cream, kheer,
sweet milk are wrong combinations.
Fat: It causes over-activity of the stom-
ach. That explains the reason why dairy prod-
ucts do not get digested quickly. Having them
alone is the solution.
Curd: Acidic in nature, taking it with dal
etc, it should also be avoided. Best had alone.
So, eat sensibly and stay happy.
INDIGESTION
Most people are known to overeat, espe-
cially when the food is irresistibly delicious,
which then gives them problem of indigestion.
Indigestion also known as dyspepsia occurs
when the digestive juices in the stomach are
not secreted properly and as a result causes
one discomfort.
Here are some remedies for indigestion:
- One of the most common remedies is to
take two spoons of lime and ginger juice, and
honey mixed in a glass of warm water, after
your heavy-duty meal.
- Add a teaspoon of roasted and ground
coriander seeds to a glass of butter milk and
have it.
- Munching a teaspoon of aniseed after
your meal, will provide relief.
- Another effective remedy is to have a
teaspoon of ajwain seeds along with a pinch of
black salt.
- Mix a teaspoon of roasted cumin or jeera
powder in a glass of water and drink it.
- Drinking green tea or herbal tea after
your meal is a great way to aid in digestion.
- Drink a glass of water to which a few
drops of peppermint extract has been added.
- Add about two teaspoons of coriander
juice to a glass of buttermilk. Drinking this
will provide relief.
- Place a packet of ice over your stomach
to seek relief.
- Add about a teaspoon of baking soda to
half a glass of water and drink it. This is
known to provide instant relief.
COLD OR WARM WATER.
WHATS BETTER?
Is drinking cold water good or bad for
you? Does the temperature of the water mat-
ter at all?
Believe it or not it does matter.
Cold water is not as good for hydration as
room temperature. The theory is that the cold
water causes the blood vessels surrounding
stomach to shrink, slowing absorption.
One theory, upon which medical
researchers have varying opinions regards
whether drinking cold water is as good for
you as drinking tepid water, particularly when
you are exercising. Some doctors suggest that
room temperature or body temperature water
is better than cold water, because the body has
to expend energy to heat cold water to body
temperature, resulting in some water loss. On
the other hand, some doctors say that after
physical exertion, you should drink cold water
since it will help cool the body more effec-
tively than room temperature water.
The problem is that as the COLD drinks
pass through our system, they solidify the fats
from the foods we have just eaten or are eat-
ing at present. This makes the body find it
harder to digest and disperse the unwanted fats
from our body.
If you are attempting to help bring down
fever, or assist someone with sunstroke (ani-
mal or person), you should not immerse that
person or animal in cold water. Instead you
should use lukewarm water, or even slightly
warm water. Cold water can provoke chills,
which may actually raise body temperature. If
people with fevers drink cold water that is
very icy, they may also get chilly, so luke-
warm or tepid water may be a better choice.
(Disclaimer: These health tips are taken
from well established and reliable sources and
are given in good faith. However, readers are
reminded to take care and consult their doctor
if not sure, as no responsibility can be accept-
ed by the writer of this column or The Indian
Down Under).
Just for Seniors
By Santram Bajaj
HUMOUR
Health & Well-being
Driving?
Two old friends, each well into their
eighties, were heading out for dinner on a
Tuesday evening. After Blanche drove
straight through a stop sign, Elizabeth became
concerned, but didn't want to embarrass
Blanche so she held her tongue. After Blanche
drove through a red light without stopping,
Elizabeth became very concerned.
"Blanche, you just drove through a stop
sign and red light without stopping. You're
getting very careless and dangerous in your
old age," Elizabeth chided.
A very startled Blanche replied, "Oh, am
I driving?"
Man in Gym
An old guy (not in the best of shape) was
working out in the gym when he spotted a
sweet young thing. He asked the trainer,
"What machine in here should I use to
impress that sweet thing over there?"
The trainer looked him up and down and
said, "I would try the ATM in the lobby".
Hindi Humour
=-+| r =|t = =+-+| = |
|t+ =t=|t +t n|+ r| ==+| r +|
+| r- =++ =+n+ = =++|
- ++| =| ||-+ +r| =t ==+
- | =| r- + =| =| |
=-| = ;++ + r| ==+ r -
| =| r- + =| =| + |!
-|+ =| ; ;++| - :| | + | |=
r- += =| ;n -+|+ - r- +| = -
t - =+ r|=|t =| t ++|+ =|
+||+ +t =++| |-t| + =t+|
=|r+ =|+ r t|+ +| ==t r| |=
r t - r|=|t =| t ++|+ =|
+| =r|+| r
+| = |+ ! -|+ r r |= >|-+|
=| =++ | +| rt -r|+ =| ; + =| ;
=|-+| =| :|, r+| | - ==+ =|
=|-|+ ot| +| r =| t r-|t| -r|
+ t|+| =-| =, + t|+ = + =| t + t|+ =
=| t =+ r - |-|| = |-||
+= - =- |==| +|| =|| - =|+
= | + |t r| + r +| ++ =
=+|+ =|t r-|t | =| ; | +-| =
= | =| t - r| +|+ =|t = | - =
=| ; |= = +r+ | ;+ - = =
- t|| (variety) +r| - =|- +| t
+t =||, +|| | |=t -|=+, =| t
= + +| -= | r| t | = , =- |=
-||| = | = + :| t | =| =|| :|
=| t r =|t| |: =|; + =| t - |=
|= =! |=t =| :| |t+| +r| r| +|
=||r =| + rt +|| - +; =| :|
:| = | =| =r|+| | = = ;=| +tr
=| r =|+| = - - , = r|t, r||
=| = | :| , +| - = = : =| t +|,
=| t + =|+ +| +| - r- - :|
++|= r| +| r |= | -|t | -
|=| | +| +-| |+ = ++ =|
|-| |= ``+| - cc| -|| -|+ =t+
r| , +| -r| ;++ =|t | | = =|-+
+|= +r| = =| | =|+ =| +|
o+ +r| =|+ |= =t| =| t+ +|
+| +r+ =t =|+| r - =t| |+
+| |= |-= = - -+|, |-= = - +=|
=| t |-= = = =| +| + + = n+ =t
= =|+| r =| t ++ = +|+| =| =|
|n=|+ =t+ = +| r =|+ + `` |=
;t =|+ r |= +; =| :| +| ot|
| |= +|= r| + : ``
o| +| |! r- |== ++|+ =|
-|+ =t tr =| t =- r r =
- c =| =| t t = -= =| |=+t=|
;-+ -| |=| =| +| r|=|t =
=|+|t++ =| t +| =r| |
=| t =|= +| +|+| |=t = =t
| =- >|-+|=| + |= `:|- :
|t ` + =| -|+ =r :||
-+ =-n|| |= r = = o=|
-- =t| , + = =| t+| -+ =t| ,
+t + = = ==t +r| =|
o t --| -|+ =| =| | =t+
.. r- + ;= =|=|t =| |-t|
=t+ =| =|+| =| t -|-| =| +| |=
|| |= r- =+n+ =t
r- + =| =| | |= -|-| =| r-
| =| =t+ = -+| =t | | =++ o=
= = =- =t+ =| -|+ =t | - +t +
| =| = = | +| +r| =| - -|-=
+-r| + |= =|+ = = +| =| t =t =
|+=| |
n| = +| + r| , | =| =|+=t r-
+ =t| = =| =|-| = - =++| = =|
rt||
``= + tr| r , -rt| +r| r |==
=|+ = = o=| =r tr r , r +| t
=| -| t - r| r , - =| +=| =|-=
- = - =++| = = o|+| o| tr|
r |= =|+ | +| r| tr r | :
|=| |==| =| t =| +|``- | =|
=r -r |==+ - =| ;
r- +|- =| | ;+ =| r
|r--+ |= r- ;+| t(ignore) =t !
r- + ;= |-= ;n -+| ||
``+| =|= r , r- =|= = -|-=
=| = =++| =+n+ n t =t+ r
-- +|=| = =| =| = =| |...
|= | | +r| =| | |= +
- = = = = r| + |, =| + = =
o|+ =| ;-=| r| + |
``+r| , +r|``, r- + -+ =|
=-n|| =| t =++| |+ =t| =| t
=t+ = | |-| =| + |=|, +t +
-r +| =| - | =| +tr =||-+
=| McDonalds (- +:|+-: =)
= - t =| t ++-=|+ = .|=.=|
(KFC) = t| - |==+ = |-||++
o =t r- +t n|+ r| += =| t |-|
-- =t ||
;= -|= >|-+|=| + =| +|= =
|++ =t =| ; =| t r| - + =| =|
|| | +-r| + +r +| ;t +t
o =t =|= =| =| |= =r| r- - +
+| : +| +r| = = , |=t nt|t+ t|
=|-| = - -| |, ``n| +|
=|+``
r- =|n| =| = = |=t |o|;
|, |=+ ;= = +r |= r- = =
-| +|+ , -r -- r| =r+ |,``+|
-|-| +! r = = r| ==+| r =|+
+ +| =-+ | to| r , |=t - +|
+|+ =| |||t| -+
| =| =r -r t = =t =|-| -
-+ r| ;
| +rt += r| =++| =--| =| +t
-=| =|+ |, +t r|t -|++ -
; - =+ =| =-| |, ;= | = +
tr+ - r| - r+t| |
>|-+| =| |==+ - + = + t|
++ | |== =| -r= r-|t ++|
- = =t +| :- =t+ |
``r +| -+-| =| r `` r-
-= = -|
``+| -+-``
``-+- + - o - =-n+| r| -
+ -r ++| r +| |= r-|t| =+n+ =
tr| r ``
``+| ``
``+| +| + t| +| -+| tr|
r| ``
``t - =| t | | tr+ r =| t
- ;= o r :+| - =|+ = =|
+r| r ``
``r| , +t + - = = =| t | +=|
==+| |, + t| -+| =t + - =|+ - n
=t r-|t =+n+ =| =t+ =|
=| |nn =t tr| r| ``
``=|+ =| =++ =|+ +t + |
+r| r +|``- ++| + --|-|t |=|
r- | + +|= =t tr
= :| +|+| +|+ = | |= = o| |
- =|-+ - :, = =| t = = |-=||
+ =t =|; =| t |=t -+ :-|+ |
=| ; +| ` +r| ` r| |! = +| =-+
+r| r |-=|; | n| =| r
=| t +| +|+ =| =| = r - +|
|=t | =|| |= =- -r|-| | |
+ + +|+ =| = +-+ |=| | +t
:|+t| = =+ t| +t -=t| =|
+|+| --|=|t =t || | +| |=
+ =- ++ = -+ - | = =
=| |-=|t
r-|t| |-=|t > o| =| >|-+| =|
=| =|-| = + +| :| ``+| - =|t -
=++ =|+ =| :o| =t tr r , o
=r+ +r| r| tr| r +| = = o| ||=
=| t =| | : r =+n+ =| =+=t``
``tr+ ||= =++| +=|r+! =| ;
- :| -|+ +r| r `` r- -| ,``| | =|
+| z+-z+ |+ =| +--|= to+ ``
``=-=|! +| =- =|+ | | -++
= r ``, >|-+| =| =| =|-| = -
=| |,``| |=t =-+| r =|t |
-|-| t|- - -|| =r -+ ||=
=++ nt|t =| , =r| -|-| t|- - =|
+tr =-++| +| =|+| + : ``
``- n r =|+ =| =| =| +r|
= ++| r , - =| -| =|t -+ `` r-
+ = | = =r| =| =| ;= -r|+ -r|
= = +=|+ = = o| |
>|-+| =| + n| r-|t -+ =|
-|+ =|+ | |, n = -|
+=|,``=|= r , - | =+| r , - n
= = =|-|+ |+| r |== =t+ =|
==t+ +r| r , - =|+ = =| =|
+r| - |``
=- =| ; =|t| +r| |, +-r =|
=|+| r| + :|, r|| |= r- r
=|++ |= =|-|+ |+| +| |=
-r|+| r| |, == - == +| ++
=| r- +t =| o to+| |
-| =|t - =| =t = | |,
o|+ =| =|+ | -+ | +t |r--+
+r| = | +| |= = = o| , += :|
=|+| =t|- =t|- =|+| |, ;=|
= - =|; + =t| = o+ r| tr

``= = o||``, ==|+= >|-+|
=| =| =|-| = + =| =||, ``+|
=++| =|-| +t -| n :| tr r -
- :| t = = + =t =|+ =| - = +| o
tr| r - n = =|+ =| r r|+ o|
+r| =|+|, =| = = o|+ =| +
r
``=++| =r|+ |+ =++ +|= r|
t|o ``, r- + =o ++ = =-|- ||
``=-=| =|+ =|r+ +| r , r|
+ |= - :|- : |t + ot| , =|
-|+ | =|+ =| -|+, - +r| |
|t - =| t +| =| t ;= = - -
=|+ = | |= +| = ot| +
r =| =|+ = +|| - +r+ =t =
r- r t|+ r| -|-| =| -|+ = +

=t, =|+| +t |-n-|= +r| r| tr| |
=| t r- +-r n= =| + =t| = t+

``=|+ =| = = =|+ ||= |=
- r =- =-= -+ = =r tr| r ``
r- + +-| -|t -r= = |=| |=
>|-+| =| =| =|-| = - -=| |
+r| |
-|-| =| ;= = t-|+| +t r-|t|
| +=|= | =| t r-|t| =| o +-
r| ;
``=|= r , |=+ - t| |= n+
r ``
``-r +|``
``-r r |= = + -r|t| +=- =|
ot| , +t + ...``
``+t + +|``
``r |= :|- : |t r-|t| +=-
=| r| |``
``+|``
``=| =|= = +| =|+ + ,`` r-
-| , ``| +| |= =| ot| ..
... |=+ +r = = + + =|
=t = =+n+ =| =-||-+ =| | ++|
+| =t
| =+ t|- -=|=
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Columns
Delicious Mithais
Every happy occasion of Indians revolve
around Mithai- the sweets. To celebrate any
occasion, festival, or even entertaining fami-
ly/friends serving at least 1 Mithai is a must.
The range of Mithais in India is endless and
ranges from casual, festival specific, tradition-
al or exotic. I like to share some of the recipes
with my readers.
Mango Barfi
Ingredients
1- cup mango pulp
1- cup khoya grated or freshly made
1 cup castor sugar
A few drops of food colour (orange)
For garnishing
tsp cardamom powder
2 tabs mixed nuts finely chopped (al-
mond and pistachio)
Mix the mango pulp with cup of sugar.
Cook on a heavy base pan till the mixture is
thickened and reduced to half. Keep aside.
Cook khoya in a heavy pan on a low to
medium heat. Stir continuously so that it does
not stick to base and is uniformly cooked.
When it starts to change colour to light brown,
add the mango mixture and the remaining
cup sugar. Cook for 5 to 7 minutes till the mix-
ture becomes semi solid. Remove from heat.
Mix in the orange food colour evenly. Spread
the mixture over a lightly greased small thali
and sprinkle cardamom powder and chopped
nuts. Leave for about hour for the mixture to
solidify.
Cut into square shape or diamond shape
pieces and serve with afternoon tea/coffee.
Mung Dal Halwa
Ingredients
500 gms washed mung dal
400 gms ghee or unsalted butter
350 gms sugar
1 liter milk
tsp cardamom powder
10-15 saffron threads soaked in cup
boiled milk
50 gms cashew nuts chopped
50 gms almond grated
20 gms sultana
For garnishing
1 silver foil sheet
Soak mung dal for at least 2 hours. Wash
under running water rubbing with both hands to
clean. Drain and grind it coarsely in a food
processor to a thick paste using small quantity
of water.
Heat ghee or unsalted butter in a heavy base
pan. Add the ground dal paste and cook for
about 1 hour on slow to medium heat stirring
continuously to prevent burning and sticking to
the bottom of pan. When it starts to turn light
brown in colour and the ghee starts to separate
out, add the milk, sugar and the saffron
flavoured milk. Bring it to a boil and cooking
for another 15 minutes on slow to medium heat.
Keep stirring.
Add the almond, cashew and sultanas. Mix
well and cook for another 5 minutes. Transfer
and keep in a microwave safe serving dish and
keep in fridge.
Just before serving, heat the halwa in mi-
crowave for 1 minute and take out and mix. Re-
peat heating another 2 to 3 times in the mi-
crowave. Garnish with silver foil and serve as
an exotic treat for some one so special.
Hemkund
Ingredients
10 Rasgullas
100 gms khoya
50 gms plain cottage cheese
50 gms castor sugar
A few drops of rose water
30 gms coarsely ground almond and pis-
tachio nuts
Mix the khoya, cottage cheese and castor
sugar. Rub with hands to make smooth dough.
Divide into 10 equal portions. Roll out each
portion into a square shape so that it can be
wrapped around the rasgulla. Place each ras-
gulla on the rolled sheet. Wrap the rasgulla
around and shape with hand so that the rasgul-
la is covered uniformly with the khoya paneer
mixture. Repeat the process till all rasgullas are
covered.
Then roll the covered rasgullas over the
ground almond and pistachio nuts so that a thin
coating is made around each rasgulla.
Optional- Decorate with silver foil.
Chanderlekha
Ingredients
500 gms plain flour
1/3 cup oil
A pinch of salt
500 gms sugar
2 green cardamom crushed to open
slightly
A few drops of food colour (orange)
Ingredients for the filling
250 gms khoya
100 gms cashew nuts
50 gms almonds
50 gms water melon seed kernel
cup castor sugar
10 strands of saffron soaked in cup
warmed milk
Other Ingredients
Oil for frying
For garnishing
1 tabs desiccated coconut
To prepare the filling, mash the khoya and
cook in a heavy base pan on a low to medium
heat. When the khoya starts to change colour,
add coarsely ground cashews, almonds and wa-
ter melon seed kernels. Then add the saffron
soaked milk and cook for another 3 to 4 min-
utes.
Prepare the syrup by boiling sugar with 2
cups of water. Cook till it starts to thicken.
Check the consistency and cook till you get 2
string syrup. Then remove from heat and allow
it to cool. When cooled, add the crushed car-
damom and food colour.
Make a stiff dough from plain flour, 1/3
cup oil, a pinch of salt and water as required.
The water should be added slowly. When the
dough is made, divide it into even number of
portions. Roll out each portion into a circular
disk. Place 2 tsp filling in the middle and spread
it uniformly over the disk leaving small distance
from the edges. Moisten edges. Place another
rolled disk on the top of the filling. Seal edges.
Repeat till all the portions have been used.
Deep fry these Chanderlekhas till golden
brown and dip in the sugar syrup. Remove from
syrup after 5 minutes and let the extra sugar to
drain out. Repeat for all Chanderlekhas.
Arrange the Chanderlekhas on a platter and
sprinkle desiccated coconut lightly.
Palangtodh
Ingredients
2 liters whole milk (full cream)
A pinch of tartaric acid powder
200 gms sugar
10 pistachio- finely chopped
10 almonds thin sliced
2 green cardamoms shell removed and
freshly ground
Boil milk in a heavy base pan. When milk
is boiling, add a pinch of tartaric acid powder
and stir. The milk will curdle a little bit. Then
add another pinch of the tartaric acid powder
and stir. The mixture would turn granular and
small balls will appear and stick to the stirrer.
(Caution: Too much tartaric acid will curdle the
milk completely and water would separate out.
So be careful and stop adding too much tartar-
ic acid). Keep boiling this milk on a slow to
medium heat and stirring till it is reduced to
half. Then add the sugar and mix well. Cook till
the mixture becomes thick and changes colour
to light brown. Then add the nuts and ground
cardamom. Transfer into a metal box while the
mixture is still hot. Then place the metal box in
a shallow tray of iced water for a couple of min-
utes. Then remove from the tray and let it cool.
This process will chill the bottom half and the
colour will be whitish and the warm part will be
light brown in colour. Remove from the box
and cut into pieces and serve. (Optional: Wrap
each piece in coloured cellophane paper and
store for serving later).
By Devaki Parthasarthy
Y ou dismiss it off as superficial and vanity
Plain self-indulgence or a narcissistic quality
The very hint takes you on the verge of
insanity
But come, face it my friend
A lady who doesnt indulge or pamper heself,
Whose eyes dont glow with the glow of a
diamond
Is anything but complete, in the truest sense
I
n India, mehndi (Henna) is an important
part of the tradition for a bride and groom
to get ready for the marriage. Traditions
underlie the use of mehndi, including wedding
games and legends. A dark mehndi design for
both bride and groom signifies that the two
will have a strong relationship. No Indian
marriage is possible sans mehndi. Mehndi is
considered the symbol of fertility and
prosperity.
Body art has been in vogue, since times
immemorial in India and the Middle East.
These days right from piercing, tattooing to
body painting, there are a number of options
for people to enhance their look with the use
of art. One such way is through henna body
painting. Primarily found in the region, for
thousands of years now, the leaves of the hen-
na plant are used to extract henna, which is
further used to create beautiful intricate tem-
porary body art. Henna, when applied on the
surface of the skin, leaves the outer skin with
an orange-brown shade.
Traditionally, henna was applied on the
hair, hands and feet. Artists, these days make
henna tattoos on the arms as armlets. Intricate
henna art is done around the navel as well.
Henna tattoos can be made on a person's
back. Henna tattoos or body art is a good op-
tion as they are not permanent and you can ex-
periment, especially if you are unsure about
how it will look.
Continued on page 49
Body art with Henna
HOLIDAYS DELIGHTS
Look Good and Feel Great Naturally
By Promila Gupta
Childrens Corner
Children's Corner
By Esther
Chaudhry-Lyons
I
ndia is a land of festivals.
Here, a festival presents a
glimpse of different traditions
and customs. After the winter
season, arrives the spring season
when everywhere we can see
blossoming of colorful flowers,
indicating the arrival of Holi.
Holi is a festival of natural
beauty.
The colorful festival of Holi
is celebrated on Phalgun Purnima
which comes in February end or
early March. Holi festival has an
ancient origin and celebrates the
triumph of 'good' over 'bad'.
The colorful festival bridges the
social gap and renews sweet rela-
tionships. On this day, people
hug and wish each other 'Happy
Holi'.
Holi celebration begins with
lighting up of bonfire on the Holi
eve. Numerous legends & stories
associated with Holi celebration
makes the festival more exuber-
ant and vivid. People rub 'gulal'
and 'abeer' on each others' faces
and cheer up saying, "bura na
maano Holi hai". Holi also gives
a wonderful chance to send bless-
ings and love to dear ones
wrapped in a special Holi gift.
History of Holi
Holi is an ancient festival of
India and was originally known
as 'Holika'. The festivals finds a
detailed description in early reli-
gious works such as Jaimini's
Purvamimamsa-Sutras and
Kathaka-Grhya-Sutras. Historians
also believe that Holi was cele-
brated by all Aryans but more so
in the Eastern part of India.
It is said that Holi existed
several centuries before Christ.
However, the meaning of the fes-
tival is believed to have changed
over the years. Earlier, it was a
special rite performed by married
women for the happiness and
well-being of their families and
the full moon (Raka) was wor-
shiped.
Legends of Holi
Legends of Holi are as
colourful as Holi itself. There are
myriad shades and tones in them
from the subtle ones of love and
devotion to the darker hues per-
taining to demons and their devil-
ish desires. What is remarkable is
the faith of millions of Hindus in
these legends. They relive these
stories every year and bring to
life the incidents which occurred
(or might not have occurred)
thousands of years ago. A belief
in the legends, devotion to god
and a strong belief in the fact that
it is the good and the truth that
ultimately prevails over the evil
pulls the people to religiously fol-
low the set traditions each year.
And, this faith - in god and the
ancient traditions is what still
binds the people in a spirit of
love and harmony in this other-
wise divided society.
Most Popular Legends of
Holi
The Legend of
Holika and
Prahlad: Legend
goes back to the
time of demon king
Hiranyakashyap
who planned to kill
his son Prahlad for
he worshiped Lord
Naarayana.
The Legend of
Radha and
Krishna: Lord
Krishna as a young child was
jealous of his beloved Radha's
extremely fair complexion as he
himself was very dark
The Legend of Kaamadeva:
The legend narrates the sacrifice
of Kaamadeva for the benefit of
the world. The god of love shot
his arrow on Lord Shiva to dis-
rupt his meditation.
The Legend of Dhundhi:
There lived an ogress called
Dhundhi in the kingdom of Prithu
who used to trouble children till
they chased her away by playing
pranks on her.
The Legend of Pootana:
Lord Krishna's devil uncle,
Kansa seeked the help of ogress
Pootana to kill the infant Krishna.
Pootana treacherously fed
Krishna with her poisoned milk.
O
ne day a man was
going to market with
his son and his ass.
They met a couple on the way.
"Why walk when you have
an ass to ride?" called out the
husband, "seat the boy on the
ass".
"I would like that," said
the boy, "help me up father."
And the father did that
willingly
Soon they met another
couple. "How shameful of
you!" cried the woman, "let
your father ride, won't he be
tired?"
So, the boy got down and
the father rode the ass. Again
they marched on.
"Poor boy", said the next
person they met, "why should
the lazy father ride while his
son is walking?"
So, the boy got onto the
ass too. As they went on, they
met some travellers.
"How cruel of them!"
They are up to kill the poor
ass." cried one of the trav-
ellers.
Hearing this, the father
and the son got down. Now
they decided to carry the ass
on their shoulders. As they did
so, the travellers broke into
laughter.
The laughter frightened the
ass. It broke free and galloped
away.
MORAL: You can not
please everyone
O
n a bright sunny day a host of doves decided
to fly in search of food. They flew over cities
and villages till they came to an open space
with rich green grass between banyan trees.
Hey, look down there! I can see some food-
grains scattered amongst the grass, cried the
youngest dove in the flock. I am hungry and tired
of flying. Let us get down and enjoy the grains
now. And he flapped his wings with joy while try-
ing to descend down to the ground.
Wait! shouted the leader of the flock. There
may be some trap laid down there for us. Why
should anyone throw grains for the birds in this iso-
lated area, far from the city and village?
Stop being suspicious. This must be a picnic
area, and someone must have town the left overs.
One of the young doves from amongst the flock said.
Let us waste no more time. I am hungry too,
said another dove. Well, if you all insist and are so
hungry that you do not mind risking your lives, we
shall get down to the earth and feast on those
grains, said the leader, an elderly dove.
Soon the flock of doves was on the ground enjoy-
ing the grains. It tasted great after long tiring flight
and hunger. Suddenly as if from nowhere a net came
down on them and they were all trapped under it.
We are caught in a trap! Oh Lord save us!
cried the flock of doves in great anxiety.
I told you to be careful, didnt I? said the
leader, Anyway, dont panic. God helps those who
help themselves. Our freedom is in our hands. Unity
is our only hope and strength. Stay calm and let me
think fast. After a little thought he said again, I
have an idea. We must all act together. We shall all
fly up, carrying the net with us.
Each dove picked up a part of the net in its beak
and then, all together; they fluttered their wings and
flew up. The hunter who was coming to get his catch
stood amazed at the sight of the flying doves with the
net and all. He tried with no success to chase after
them with the hope that the net and the doves would
fall down. But the doves flew higher and higher
when they saw him running after them. The leader
took his companions to the top of a small mountain
and over the bank of a river where his friend mouse
lived. As soon as the net with the doves was down
on the bank of the river, the leader called out to his
friend. What has happened? The mouse called as
he came out of his home. Why are you yelling so
desperately?
We are entrapped by a cruel hunter. Now only
you can save us from our captivity by chewing the
net off us, the leader said pleadingly.
The mouse called out to his other friend mice and
soon they cut the net with their sharp teeth and freed
the birds one after another. The leader preferred to
be freed last as he said that the leader has to think of
the others first before his own self. He said his duty
was to protect those under his responsibility before
he was to be protected and saved from the danger.
The doves all thanked the mice and then with
great flapping sound of wings rose into the sky
towards their homes, happy and safe.
Unity and team work is always the greatest
strength of all, not muscle and material gains.
One must have friends and trust each other so one
can work in unity and harmony to get peace of
mind and strength.
HOLI FESTIVAL OF INDIA
You Can't Please Everyone
UNITY IS STRENGTH
8 March, 2012,
Body-Mind-Spirit
By Kanaka Ramakrishna
I
ndia is a land of great sages and men of
God, who radiated their divine thoughts
in the sacred land for many thousands of
years and made the country evolve spiritu-
ally. The impact of the western civilization
and materialism brought the downfall of the
countrys rich spiritual and cultural heritage
and the basic values of life. Towards the
end of the nineteenth century, the resur-
gence began with the advent of great incar-
nations, sages and seers. In this period of
restoration of spiritual values and righteous
living, the contributions of Swami
Sivananda are immensely significant.
In the village Pattamadai in Tirunelveli
district in Tamil Nadu, a baby was born on
8 September 1887, to a spiritual and pious
Brahmin couple. The child was named
Kuppuswamy. Even in young age, the intel-
ligent boy showed signs of renunciation,
love, charity, compassion, sharing and car-
ing.
As a student he was very brilliant, had a
phenomenal memory and was fond of
sports, fencing and gymnastics. He was a
good singer, played musical instruments,
participated in debates and dramas. He stud-
ied medicine and after graduation, he start-
ed his medical practice in Tiruchi.
While working, he realised that lack of
knowledge about health and hygiene was the
main cause of peoples ill health. To bring
awareness among people and to publish new
medical researches, he started a medical
journal Ambrosia and distributed it free
of charge. Later on he moved to Madras,
and continued his journal while working in
a pharmacy. He wanted to expand his serv-
ice, but the scope was very limited.
The young doctor was looking for a
wider field. An opportunity came to work in
Malaya (present Malaysia) and he left India
in 1913. In Malaya, he got a job in a rubber
estate hospital. In spite of a busy life, Dr.
Kuppuswamy did not neglect his daily wor-
ship, prayer, yoga practices, study of scrip-
tures, and service to the sadhus and the
poor. The poverty and suffering of the peo-
ple in the plantation estates made him serve
them incessantly, without caring for him-
self. As the saintly doctors heart was full of
love and compassion, he became extremely
popular in Malaya. People were attracted by
his child-like nature, purity of heart, selfless
service and charity. His generosity in treat-
ing and nursing the sick and spending all his
energy, time and money, to relieve human
suffering by serving day and night with love
and care was unique.
Kuppuswamys profession provided him
the experiences of the sufferings of the peo-
ple. As days passed, he felt the pain more
and more and started to reflect within him-
self. He introspected, is there not a higher
mission in life than the daily round of offi-
cial duties, eating and drinking? Is there not
eternal happiness than these transitory and
illusory pleasures? He realised that true
and lasting happiness cannot be found in this
transitory world.
Instead of being a mute witness to
human suffering, Kuppuswamy wanted to
find out a way for eternal peace and happi-
ness. He strongly felt like renouncing the
world and wanted to practice meditation and
yoga in a secluded place. When he was in
that state of mind, he read a book on
Vedanta, Jiva-Brahma Aikya Vedanta
Rahasyam. It ignited the dormant spiritual-
ism in him and completely changed his life
forever. He had read, the day vairagya
dawns, that day one should leave home.
This brought an end to the phase of his
life as Dr. Kuppuswamy, who once loved
and enjoyed the pleasures of life, whose
charitable, helping and loving nature was all
compassing, a doyen in the community and
whose name was famous throughout
Malaya. The very next day he left Malaya
after serving for ten years.
Dr. Kuppuswamy reached India in 1923,
renounced everything and became a mendi-
cant. After a few days he reached Varanasi
in extreme winter and he had no food. The
generous hand that gave so liberally, so lov-
ingly, to so many people, now stretched that
same hand begging for a morsel of food. To
protect him from shivering cold, a good
samaritan gave him a blanket and bought
him a railway ticket. The wandering mendi-
cant Kuppuswamy visited a few places in
Maharashtra and finally reached Rishikesh
in the Himalayas in 1924. He lived in
Swargashrama in an isolated abandoned
place for his intense Tapasya.
A great yogi, Swami Vishwananda
Saraswathi saw Kuppuswamy, was attracted
and recognised his potentialities.
Kuppuswamy also was attracted by his spir-
itual aura and wanted to be his disciple. He
took sanyasa from him and got the name
Swami Sivananda Saraswathi.
The young Swami received some
instructions and guidance about sanyasa
Dharma and plunged himself into intense
sadhana tapasya all by himself. Liberation is
only for him who gives up everything for
others. Swamiji gave all his insurance
money to start a charitable hospital at
Lakshmanjhula in 1927, to serve the sadhus,
the pilgrims and the poor. Having no differ-
entiation between work and worship, he saw
God in all and served every being as wor-
ship of God.
Swamijis burning desire to serve and
share found still another direction. Besides
the physical treatment, he wanted to cure the
mental and spiritual ailments of the people.
Hence he started to share his spiritual expe-
riences through his writings from 1927
onwards. He knew that pen is mightier than
sword. He reached wider circle of people
through his jnana seva - literary activities,
as well as teaching and preaching. Starting
from writing articles, his enthusiasm of
helping others reached the form of a contin-
uous flow of more than three hundred
books.
While Swamiji was practicing intense
tapasya, his greatness and aura attracted a
flow of people and spiritual seekers contin-
uously. Many came to him for inspiration
and instructions. He guided and trained
small groups of such aspirants and made
arrangements for their stay and study. A
few earnest aspirants became his disciples.
Thus a core organization blossomed and his
kutir became Sivananda Ashram, which
expanded rapidly.
In 1934, Swami Sivananda came to
Swargashram. He spent most of his time in
tapasya, austerity, study of scriptures, serv-
ice of all beings and long hours of daily
meditation for ten years continuously. His
ego expanded and experienced its oneness
with each and every individual and grew
into infinite dimension. Swami Sivananda
attained the supreme state of Nirvikalpa
Samadhi and came out with a full shine of
God realization. Now the sadhaka became a
siddha, the sadhu became a saint and the
man, a god-man.
The spirit of sharing his spiritual knowl-
edge and a desire to guide and lead mankind
to attain God-realisation inspired Swamiji to
found the Divine Life Society in 1936. It
is an all- embracing and all-inclusive uni-
versal organization, based on Truth, Non-
violence and Purity. The Society brought
about a vigorous awakening throughout the
world. Its beauty is its simplicity and prac-
tical applicability in everyday life, which is
suitable to all and people can practice them
starting at any stage of life.
Swamiji gave some useful instructions
for daily practice, whenever earnest and sin-
cere aspirants approached him. Later they
were compiled as Twenty Important
Spiritual Instructions. Swamiji taught and
spread his popular religion - Serve, Love,
Purify, Meditate, Realize, Be good, Do
good.
Swamiji believed in synthesis and mod-
eration. His concept of yoga was a synthesis
of all the four yogas and their simultaneous
practice. According to the attitude of the
seekers, he advised them to practice any one
of the Yogas, blending with other yogas,
having the final goal of God-realization.
Selfless service to all, (karma yoga), Love
through emotions and feelings (Bhakti
Yoga), Meditate, using the thought power of
the mind through Ashtanga Yoga (Raja
Yoga), Realize, through the power of rea-
soning, and discrimination through intellect
(Jnana Yoga).
The message from the illustrious and
illumined life of Swamiji demonstrates in a
nutshell that ignorance and delusion are the
strong walls that imprison people in lust,
anger, greed and egoism. The only way of
breaking the walls is through regular medi-
tation on the Self, the Immortal Atman.
Intense meditation alone gives actual real-
ization. To reach this stage, regular prayer
and japa help concentration and meditation.
The practice of dispassion for worldly
objects and selfless service will purify our
hearts and enables the mind to dive deep
into concentration. Love for all beings
removes all obstacles in the path and illu-
mines with the light of the Lord.
Swami Sivananda brought the most
recent spiritual evolution in the life of mod-
ern people. He introduced the practice of the
universal religion of cosmic Love and self-
less service as a means to God realization.
With this spirit of service Swamiji organised
All World Religious Federation in 1945
and founded the All World Sadhus
Federation in 1947.
The Yoga Vedanta Forest Academy
founded in 1948, gives a systematic training
and guidance to the seekers. He undertook
All India and Ceylon tour in 1950 to deliver
his Divine message and spiritual awakening
of the people. In 1953, The World
Parliament Of Religions was held at the
Sivananda Ashram. Within twenty five
years, he achieved tremendous success and
influenced the people all over the world to
follow the Divine life. Swami Sivanandas
selfless universal love, charity and working
for spiritual awakening of the people contin-
ued till he entered Maha samadhi in 1963.
Swami Sivananda is alive even today
through his books and his disciples. He is
working through his spirit of selfless serv-
ice, charity and renunciation in the form of
many noble souls and thousands of dedicat-
ed followers of his Divine Life. They alone
live who live for others.
Swami Sivananda believed in synthesis and moderation. His concept
of yoga was a synthesis of all the four yogas and their simultaneous
practice: karma yoga, bhakti yoga, raja yoga, jnana yoga.
THE DIVINE SIVANANDA
A view of the ashram set up in Rishikesh by Swami Sivananda
Body-Mind-Spirit
By Anil Sharma
A
s the Sun is the centre
of our solar system
and sustains all life on
the planets of our solar sys-
tem, so is our creator in the
very centre of this cosmos.
Everything with or without
life is sustained by him, so too
the number 5 located in the
central square of the nine
squares represents love and
freedom in every direction, it
touches every other number in
the nine squares.
The Nine Squares by
Pythagoras - a simple but
powerful key for a broad
and general analysis of per-
sonality
Table 1
Eight special personality
characteristics are determined
by putting individual numbers
of the complete date of birth
as in Table 1. For example,
for the date of birth 21-3-
1958, the numbers are
2,1,3,1,9, 5 and 8 which are
placed in the appropriate
squares.
The special characteristics
are determined by numbers 1,
5, 9.
Those who possess this
special characteristic exhibit a
very strong spirit of determi-
nation in almost anything they
undertake. They are very
persistent and will wear down
or overcome all obstacles,
which come in the way of exe-
cuting their plans.
(2) The special character-
istic of compassion and
insight formed by the num-
bers 3, 5 and 7 as in 17-5-
1983.
Those having this charac-
teristic possess great inner
calmness, peace and sincerity.
They possess enor-
mous compassion and under-
standing for others, and the
ease with which the personal-
ity of such beings accepts the
hardships of life they are able
to almost achieve what ever
they want from life using this
special characteristic.
istic of thought and planning
formed by the numbers 1, 2
and 3 as in 12-3-1948.
People possessing this spe-
cial characteristic have cre-
ative and original thoughts of
their own, and an excellent
ability to conceive a set of
ideas to act upon. Love of
order and method characterise
such conceived ideas, and a
good degree of understanding
characterise such original
thoughts.
istic of will power formed by
the numbers 4, 5 and 6 as in
14-5-1969
The personality of those
possessing this special charac-
teristic has a very strong will
power. This special charac-
teristic reflects the strong will
in a being to succeed in a con-
ceived task or purpose. They
are very sincere straight for-
ward and attempt to do every-
thing as truthfully and honest-
ly as they can, and if they are
wrong, they will not be afraid
to admit and take responsibil-
ity for their mistakes.
istic of activity formed by the
members 7, 8 and 9 as in 17-
8- 1965:
They who possess this
characteristic exhibit tremen-
dous action or above average
activity in all three spheres or
levels physical, spiritual and
mental. It signifies the ability
to put into action whatever has
been thought, conceived and
planned. So high is the level
of activity in someone pos-
sessing this special character-
istic, that as soon as some
work has been planned it is
almost as good as done. Their
speed of thought of possessing
this characteristic is lightning
fast, and their level of activity
is such that they will recog-
nise and solve a problem in no
time, some times even before
they can recognise that there
is a problem.
istic of practicality and order-
liness formed by the numbers
1, 4 and 7 as in 4-7-1992:
Those possessing this spe-
cial characteristic are
extremely practical, methodi-
cal and exhibit a love of
orderliness related to the
physical world, the day to day
work, related to materialism
and worldly desires. They not
only possess or exhibit great
liking, but also find satisfac-
tion in the practical things of
life.
7) The special character-
istic of spiritualism or the spe-
cial characteristic of the feel-
ing and emotional balance
formed by the numbers 2, 5
and 8 as in 12-6-1958:
Those possessing this spe-
cial characteristic exhibit a
very powerful control over
their emotions, are very sensi-
tive characterised by a very
loving nature and exhibit in-
depth spiritual understanding.
They have the ability to read-
ily perceive the happiness or
sorrow, the needs or attitudes
of others. They have the
extra ordinary ability to adjust
and mould themselves to
almost all types of conditions,
situations, state of affairs and
circumstances in life.
istic of intellect, mental abili-
ty and intelligence formed by
the numbers 3, 6 and 9 as in
3-1-1967:
Persons possessing this
special characteristic have a
high degree of intelligence,
increased analytical ability
and a very good memory.
Their special characteristic is
dominated by mental activity,
and by using rational analysis
they will always seek logical
answers to the many and vary-
ing problems of life. They
handle their responsibilities in
life very well.
Find out whats missing in
your personality
Anil Sharma
Body-Mind-Spirit
April-May 2012 THE INDIAN DOWN UNDER 49
T
he verse Mere to Giridhar Gopal,
doosra na koyi summarises
Mirabais love of her life in no
uncertain way. What it does though, is to
identify her as a free spirit that emphasizes
her desire to get united with Lord Krishna.
It exudes a fearlessness that was untypical
of the times she lived in.
Mirabai was dubbed as the rebellious
Rajput Rani who scarcely found time to
care about her family honour or traditions
which were such an essential pre-requisite
for respectable women in families.
It is hard to find a parallel or an appro-
priate description of her selfless and saint-
ly love when she writes moving verses
such as Jo tum todo piya mein naahi
todun re, tori preet todi Krishna kaun sang
jodun. Although this appears to be unrec-
iprocated love, the truth lies elsewhere. It
is not easy to depict divine love to mortal
perceptions. In the same poem she goes on
to underline Krishnas complementing her
very existence and her divine inspiration
by comparing herself as the thread that
strings the pearls, or the fish that cannot
live without the river. Mirabais saga of
her life and love is already immortalised in
the psyche of every Indian and perceived
as a saint equal in status to Kabir, Surdas
and Tulsidas.
Much of what we know about this
poetess, mystic, saint and Rajput princess
is through her songs and poems as she had
no loyal disciples or devotees who could
record her work for posterity. Born in
1498 in Merta in District Nagaur,
Rajasthan, Mirabai was a Brahmin
princess who lost her parents early in life
and grew up with her grandfather Rao
Dudaji. He was a great devotee of Lord
Vishnu and Mirabai was thus initiated into
piety and worship of Krishna.
Mirabai was married to Crown Prince
Bhoj Raj of Mewar in Chittor at the age of
18, but she was widowed in 5 years. This
started her journey in life in which she
sought to combine bhakti and love her
poem, E ri mein to prem deewani mera
darad na jaane koi...na mein jaanun aarati
bandhan, na puja ki reet serves to explain
her dilemma. She saw herself as a gopi
in her previous janma and never
stopped to think of herself being anything
other than a consort of Lord Krishna.
She had remarkable parallels to Andal
who was Tamil Nadus own poetess/saint
from 10th century. Andal was adopted by
the Vaishnavite sage Periaalvaar and she
composed the well known Tiruppavai and
Nachhiyar Tirumozhi which are folksy
poetry in praise of Lord Vishnu in his
Varaha Avatara.
Her growing affection to Lord Krishna
was not taken kindly and the royals
attempted to make her commit sati,
which she refused as she saw herself being
a divine match to Krishna. Her religious
fervour invoked the ire of the Rana family
who tried to poison her, as described in
her verse, vish ka pyaala Rana ne bheja,
peevat Meera haasi re...pad ghunghuroo
baandh Meera naachi re. That she
remained unhurt by the poison due to Lord
Krishna rescuing her with a miracle is now
legendary.
She shunned Chittor and went back to
Merta but was unwelcome due to perse-
cution by her uncle. This led her to
become a mendicant in her early 30s when
she lived in Brindavan and later in
Dwaraka. Several verses serve to demon-
strate her inner pain, pyaare darshan
deejo aaj tum bin rahyo no jaaye and her
loneliness, Shyam mane chaakar rakho
ji and Banwaari re jeene ka sahaara tera
naam re, mujhe duniya walon se kya kaam
re.
Most of Mirabais poems were in
Rajasthani and Braj Bhaasha, which have
been adapted in Hindi, Gujarati and
Rajasthani later. They are in the form of
song verses known as padas or as bha-
jans. Although exact records are not
available she reputedly created about 200
padas/bhajans. She participated whole-
heartedly in the bhakti movement of the
16th century, danced and sang ecstatically
in praise of the Lord with other devotees
wearing ankle bells on her feet and cas-
tanets in her hands.
Mirabais love was intensely personal,
sometimes bordering on the erotic, but
always transcendentally spiritual.
Mirabais love for God was different than
that of other saints like Kabir, Surdas and
Tulsidas who saw themselves as servants
of the Lord, whilst Mirabai saw the Lord
as her lover, saviour and master. She
sought salvation through complete submis-
sion.
Her last days were spent in Dwaraka
temple where she is reported to have dis-
appeared after the doors of the sanctum
sanctorum closed mysteriously and her
sari was found wrapped around the idol of
Lord Krishna.
MIRABAIS LOVE POEMS
Mirabais love was intensely personal,
sometimes bordering on the erotic,
but always transcendentally spiritual.
Her love for God was different than
that of other saints like Kabir, Surdas
and Tulsidas who saw themselves as
servants of the Lord, whilst Mirabai
saw the Lord as her lover,
saviour and master.
Continued from page 44
Today, henna is increasingly be-
ing used for body painting. The col-
or of the henna usually wears off
completely over a period of time.
The duration for which the color of
henna lasts mainly depends on the
skin type and the type of care you
take. A body painting can last be-
tween four to six weeks. However,
if you use lotions or soak the de-
signed area frequently, then the col-
or is bound to wear off quickly.
Swimming also wearies off henna
quickly. Too much use of soap and
other chemicals leads to a faster re-
moval of henna.
One of the major benefits of us-
ing henna, for body art, is that it is
not painful unlike other forms of
art. This is because it is applied on
the surface on the skin and not in-
jected into the skin. Some people
have reactions to henna body art.
This is normally because of the oils
that are added to the henna paste
and not to the henna per se. Some
people have contact dermatitis that
manifests in the form of an itchy
rash. If the paste has been applied
for a short while, then it can be
washed off and will leave a very
pale stain. If the henna paste has
been worn for a long time or
overnight it will take about 4 weeks
for the orange-brown color to wash
off.
Mehndi is the preferred way of
dyeing hair. It makes the color of
the hair reddish and also conditions
them. A natural dyer, it never
harms the hair like synthetic dyes. It
helps in getting hair getting rid of
dandruff, making them easier to
manage and strengthen them.
Adding More Colors
Mehendi is naturally red. Addi-
tion of walnut plant dye or coffee
can make it brown. You can ad
chamomile, saffron, or senna to dye
your hair blonde. Pure mehendi
helps one gain a natural red color.
Those who already have red hair
will have a boost of color. Brunettes
will get an auburn color, thanks to
mehendi, but those with a full head
of grey hair will get orange hair.
How Much to Buy
You need to buy 100 grams of
mehendi if you have short hair, 200
grams for collar length hair, 300
grams for shoulder hair, and 500
grams for waist length hair. Mehen-
di is available in prepared form or
in a powder which comes with di-
rections on how to prepare.
Take Assistance
Applying mehendi yourselves
could be messy. So you better take
someone's assistance. Put a towel
on your shoulders. Ask your aid to
wear plastic gloves. It will keep her
clean.
After Applying
Cover your hair in a shower cap
or even the kitchen glad wrap. Wait
for a few hours. Then wash your
hair with cold water and a good
conditioner. This will make your
hair glow.
Keep Away From Synthetic
Products
When you are through with
mehendi, you must avoid any chem-
ical processing and products, such
as chemically straightening them or
perming or putting dye in your hair.
This could damage the hair.
Tips
Avoid wearing light col-
ored clothes while applying mehen-
di, as it could spoil your clothes.
Don't using mehendi on
perm hair because mehendi coating
does not allow perm to work well
on hair.
Never use synthetic prod-
ucts on your hair for it could be
harmful for them.
April Mat 1, 2012: Seeking a Hindu
girl, vegetarian, preferably Gujarati, with
good family values, for my son. He is 36,
divorced, no children, fair, 58, well-
built, non-smoker, light drinks. He is an
Australian citizen, works as a tax consult-
ant and lives with his parents. His two sis-
ters live separately. We have lived in
Sydney for 19 years. Contact 0423 328
800 or sydau714@hotmail.com.
April Mat 2, 2012. Seeking a well
qualified Hindu male, aged between 49
54, for a very fair, young looking Hindu
lady, aged 54 and an Australian citizen.
He should be a non smoker and should
have strong moral values. Caste no bar.
She is an eggetarian, divorced and has a
19 year old daughter living with her.
Contact lifepartner@hotmail.com.au.
April Mat 3, 2012. Seeking suitable
professional match for beautiful, slim,
fair, cultured Indian Hindu Brahmin girl
30 years (1981/166cm). Educated in
Australia, Australian citizen, Lawyer, cur-
rently working abroad, from a well settled
family in Sydney for 29 years. Family ori-
entated. Divorcee, innocent, issueless,
very brief marriage. Serious inquiries
only. Email with all details
April Mat 4, 2012. Hindu Punjabi
business parents invite alliance from a
beautiful educated girl for their highly
qualified son 30/6'3", a very well placed
financial consultant with a leading multi-
national company in UK. Will be in
Australia in July, Caste no bar. Send BHP
to ukshaadi@hotmail.com
April Mat 5, 2012. . Well settled
family in Australia inviting alliance for
27 year old, 5"11, Sood Punjabi boy,
B.Software Engineer(honors) and is
working as a senior IT Consultant for the
Australian government on high income.
Seeking Indian girl, caste no bar. Please
call 0414-518-312. Email aumohin-
dra@gmail.com
April Mat 6, 2012. Seeking compat-
ible well educated, employed profession-
al/ business match, with Indian back-
ground, broad minded/ mature outlook,
independent, divorcee, age 47 years
onward, For caring, honest, friendly,
Indian Christian divorcee Australian citi-
zen, 48 yrs 5'3" tall, much younger look-
ing than age, attractive, graceful looking
graduate nurse, employed. Caste no bar.
Email details to
emily.lotus@hotmail.com
April Mat 7, 2012. April Mat
Seeking suitable match ( from Australia )
never married, for Hindu Girl 34 yrs,
Chartered Accountant (Non veg) living in
Australia over 25 yrs with eastern and
western family values.. Please email with
all details on ganesh2011v@gmail.com
April Mat 8., 2012. Seeking match
for my brother, Hindu, Gujarati -Patel ,
31, 6 ft, vegetarian, Masters in
Computing Studies, working and living in
USA (American citizen). Looking for a
loving Gujarati girl, caring with good
family values, well cultured settled or try-
ing to settle in USA or Australia, prefer-
ably with a PR/Citizenship. Email: blue-
pools2012@gmail.com
April Mat 9. Male, Age 27,
(Cleanshaven Sikh), caste no bar, either
the Girl is Hindu or Sikh as long as Indian
background.He is Australian born,
Educated in UK with Msc. in Finance,
working in Sydney for a leading bank,
seeking a suitable Soul mate. Kindly
please reply to his Parents in Sydney
Email: tejpadam@gmail.com. .
Matrimonials
All you want to know
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Columns
By Karam C. Ramrakha
Karam C Ramrakha, ex Fiji MP, cele-
brates 57 years as a lawyer. While in Fiji, he
was twice President of Fiji Law Society in
1970 and 1974, and for seven years, 1967-
1974, trade union President of Fiji Teachers.
He sees Fiji's situation as confused and that
people on the outside are receiving contradic-
tory signals...
T
oday, as an erstwhile supporter of
Frank Bainimara, but limited to his
ideals, I am confused. I proceed with
caution and give the readers a background as
to how the electoral process may unfold to
2014 and leave it to them to make their own
judgment. Because, come hell or high water,
Frank must hold elections in Fiji by 2014 as
promised and hand over power to a civil
administration.
However, there is one sticking point. We
talk of races in Fiji. According to 2007
Census, Fiji had some eight million people of
whom more than half were Fijians. Until
about 1977 the Fijians revered the Gorah,
the White Man, and were blindly devoted to
the British Empire and Christianity, to their
Chiefs, and voted on monolithic lines.
The British preached a rabid fear of us
(Indians) as "intruders" who would overrun
Fiji not only because of our numbers which
was in the 1970's hovering at 50 per cent,
but our growing prosperity as professionals,
farmers and in business.
Much of the anti-Indian propaganda came
from Australia and to a lesser, and no less
virulent extent from New Zealand, two coun-
tries which exploited us, and relied heavily
on Indian labour. However, the Indians never
voted on monolithic lines and have always
been divided. Mahendra Chaudhry wrote his
book of us as "Children of the Indus" but his
book shows us Indians as "Children of
Dissent and Discord" from Day One.
Probably this is our legacy from Bharat
Mata where so many divisions prevail.
Landless, moneyless with doors shut in our
faces at so many levels, the Indians finally
realise, as indeed other people in the world,
greener pastures elsewhere.
Even in neighbouring New Zealand
which I see as a land of milk and honey,
flight seems to be the answer to the Fijians
magic word "vanua", which literally means
land, but embraces the spirit and ethos of
Fiji. Notwithstanding this deep attachment to
their mother country Fijians are also seeking
life beyond Fiji, if not as migrants, then
largely as soldiers, security guards and
sportsmen. When Britain or indeed any colo-
nizing power subjugates a country, any divi-
sions within are subdued and submerged by
force if necessary.
The Brits euphemistically call it "Pax
Brttanica". But as events show after the Brits
leave, these differences re-appear, often with
a vengeance. No wonder Indians in India
harken to British Rule and even the now 94-
year-old Khushwant Singh opined that the
country was better ruled in British days. But
at what price? And today any chaos and
shortcoming must be laid at our own doors.
Up to now the contest has been between two
races in Fiji - Fijian and Indian.
But what Pundit Nehru called "fissi-
parous tendencies" are now emerging among
the Fijians. But then there is what I call the
largest single force in Fiji, first and foremost
the Military, and secondly, the Police. Since
1987, with sporadic democratic rule the
Military has been in control. Following his
two coups in 1987, Rabuka's military ruled
until 1992 when he improvised a viciously
one sided constitution and took power as an
elected prime minister, albeit with Indian
(Mr Chaudhary's) support. Mr Chaudhary's
elected government was uprooted by the
Speight coup of 2000. Frank burst on the
scene in 2006, asking the then Prime
Minister Qarase to abandon pro Fijian legis-
lation, such as the Qoli Qoli bill, his bogus
Reconciliation Bill which would have freed
the 2000 coup makers whose support was
necessary to keep Qarase in power as Prime
Minister.
Frank has persisted to the joy and relief
of the Indians for an equal Fiji where there is
no discrimination: one man, one vote, one
value. He wanted a new Fiji to emerge, free
from Qarase or indeed Chaudhary. But as
2014 comes and it will come inexorably,
Frank will face his "moment of truth". Has
he created an equal Fiji, an utopia, a land
where all are equal and there is no official
discrimination.
But so far the signs are not encouraging.
Both Qarase and Chaudhry, so long silent or
silenced, and both facing criminal charges,
have now issued statements. Whither an ear-
lier averment by Frank that some previous
leaders will not be allowed to take part in
elections. Today he faces, what is popularly
called "usual suspects", a word made famous
by that remark in the film Casablanca and
indeed the title of a recent film. That is
Frank's dilemma. He has dismantled so
many "sacred cows": the Fiji Law Society,
the Council of Chiefs, to name a few, but
will they, given a free electoral rein, re-sur-
face after 2014.
And what of the two racial groups. Like
it or not, as I predicted during the drafting of
the 1970 Constitution, there will be two
racially opposed groups in Fiji no matter
what the constitutional documents tell us.
No constitution can erase or obliterate the
centres of power. The rumours are that
Frank wants the military to have a permanent
hand in the future of Fiji and one entrenched
in the Constitution.
We have three experts to decide what
sort of a constitution Fiji should have. One is
a former Kenyan Professor Yash Pal Ghai,
the other is Dr Satendra Nand, an MP
imprisoned by Rabuka in 1987, and finally
Taufa Vakatale, a Fijian academic.
The appointment of an Indian and a
Fijian is not to be lost on us. Professor Ghai
has asked people not to be "cynical". He has
a hard job ahead.
No wonder, 210,000 voters urged
Rabuka to return to his barracks and hand
over civilian power to the people. Finally,
out of the wilderness, Australian Labor Party
has called out "Wunder Kid" Bob Carr as
Foreign Minister. He is now prancing on the
international stage, not without hiccups, but
promising to bring back Fiji into the fold and
out of international wilderness.
Karam C Ramrakha, Barrister and
Solicitor, Notary Public, Putney Chambers,
36 Pellisier Road Putney, NSW 2112,
Phone: 02 9808 2760, Fax: 02 9802 5014,
Mob:0434 986 123, Email: karamcram-
rakha@gmail.com
Will Bob Carr, the Wilderness Boy, deliver?
Sixty years and counting for the Queen
Q
ueen Elizabeth II is celebrating her
Diamond Jubilee, receiving con-
gratulatory messages from all over
the world for her great achievement of
spending 60 years on the throne. Its a
tough job - living in that cramped old
palace with a staff of only 250 to take care
of your needs, sometimes having to butter
your crumpets all by yourself. Most people
would have quit by now.
Queen
Its no wonder that the Diamond
Jubilee is being celebrated throughout the
British Commonwealth, particularly in
Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Jamaica
and a dozen other sovereign states where
the Queen is still considered Head of State,
with the constitutional authority to make
important decisions, such as whether to
allow Justin Bieber to sing within 1,000
miles of her.
In just four years, when shes 89,
shell pass Queen Victoria for the longest
reign of a British monarch - and if she
lives to be 108, shell pass King Sobhuza
II of Swaziland for the longest verifiable
reign in history. And her eldest son,
Prince Charles, will set a record for the
longest wait in history. The current record
of 75 years is held by David Neevadock,
whos been waiting to see a doctor at
Toronto General Hospital.
If you havent followed the Queens
reign closely, here are some facts that may
surprise you:
She married Prince Philip on Nov.
20, 1947 - not long after World War II.
She had fallen in love with him when she
was 13 and he was 18. The tabloids
promptly dubbed them Philizabeth.
She took her vows as Queen on June
2, 1953. A televised recording of her coro-
nation was watched by 100 million people
in North America. Soon after that, the
remote control was invented.
In 1945, she received training as a
driver and mechanic after joining the
Womens Auxiliary Territorial Service.
Her knowledge came in handy in 1949
when her car broke down and poor Philip
looked in the trunk for the carburetor.
In 2010, Forbes magazine estimated
her net worth to be $450 million. But that
was before she invested heavily in the
website MarryPrinceHarry.com.
Its customary to address her initially
as Your Majesty and thereafter as
Maam. Calling her girl or babe is
acceptable only if you dont mind having a
handbag print on your forehead.
The Queen travels freely around the
world without a passport. Only one airport
security officer has ever tried to frisk her.
God rest his soul.
She has bestowed almost 400,000
titles and awards during her reign. She has
conferred a knighthood on acclaimed
author Salman Rushdie, appointed singer
Kylie Minogue as an officer in the Order
of the British Empire (OBE), and honored
President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe
with an IBE: Idiot of the British
Empire.
The Queen has donned more than
5,000 hats over the decades. Her hat closet
is so large, someone once got lost in there.
Thankfully, a crack squad from London
Police Service, using GPS devices and a
pair of sniffer dogs, was able to locate
Prince Philip.
After completing 250 official visits to
129 countries, the Queen gained a spot in
the Guinness World Records for the Most
Traveled Monarch - the only human in
Guinness history to ever displace a butter-
fly.
The Queen speaks both English and
French fluently. Her knowledge of Hindi
is limited to the phrase topi mere saiz ka
milegaa? (Do you have this hat in my
size?
THE HUMOR OF MELVIN DURAI
Dilip Mahanty Column
By Dilip Mahanty
L
ess than a year ago India
was riding the crest of the
cricketing wave. It had
reached the summit of Test
cricket after being acknowledged
as the No. 1 Test team. It then
embellished its primacy in the
world of cricket by winning the
ODI World Cup.
Money and plaudits poured
into the already rich cricketers
coffers. Governments and corpo-
rates jostled with each other to
outdo the financial benefits
offered to the cricketers.
Smugly, the already pam-
pered cricketers accepted these
offerings and felt that since they
had conquered the cricket
Everest there was little to strive
for. Besides, the lucrative IPL
was just around the corner and
their pot of gold would be close
to overflowing once they partici-
pated in it. Was there any need
to strive for excellence then?
BCCI, the august body
whose management of Indian
cricket has often caused hilarity
among cricket followers for
years, looked on as a proud,
indulgent parent willing to over-
look the sins of omission and
commission in the cricketers
physical and mental make up as
it assumed that these gladia-
tors were invincible.
It agreed to a tight interna-
tional cricketing schedule (fol-
lowing the IPL) starting with a
cramped tour of West Indies and
followed by even a more
cramped English tour, a return
series with WI and culminating
with a tour of Australia. It felt
that its all conquering gladiators
could surmount any challenges
whether they were mentally or
physically prepared.
A few days after the conclu-
sion of IPL the national team
boarded a long flight to the West
Indies to play three Tests and a
number of ODIs. Players who
wanted rest after playing IPL
were indulgently permitted to do
so. After all, IPL took prece-
dence to representing ones
country!
The series victory against WI
was not of any consequence as
that team had become weaker
over the years and was easy
picking.
Some of the regulars who
missed the WI tour partially or
fully to recuperate from the rig-
ors of IPL combined with the
ones who did full duty there and
formed the army to take on
England in its own backyard.
Acclimatising to English condi-
tions was considered of no con-
sequence to the world conquer-
ing Indian team.
With this preparation India
took on England. At the end of
the Test series its nose was
bloodied and it looked like an
army on crutches! Except for the
heroic Rahul Dravid there was
no one who offered even a sem-
blance of resistance. Players
with previous niggles broke
down and were replaced with
others with no preparation for
this arduous tour. Some like RP
Singh, mothballed for years and
looking well fed, were resurrect-
ed. The 4-0 Test drubbing
reflected all that was wrong in
the planning of this important
series.
On return to India one would
have expected a thorough analy-
sis of what went wrong. But
BCCI, in its eternal wisdom,
swept the problems under the
carpet and hoped everything will
be hunky dory once again. With
West Indies coming to India on a
return series and losing to India
in November 2011, BCCI felt
that preparation for the
Australian series was adequate.
India arrived in Australia in
December a few days before the
Boxing Day Test with little or no
exposure to Australian condi-
tions. The couple of rain affected
friendly matches in Canberra did
not prepare the Indian players
for the hostile reception by the
Australian pacemen on fast
sporting wickets.
Unsurprisingly, India lost the
Test series pathetically with a 4-
0 washout. Though it fared
slightly better in the triangular
ODI series, its reputation
reached rock bottom. From the
number 1 Test team a year ago it
sunk to around 4 or 5 in real
terms. Even Pakistan has sur-
passed India, if the recent series
against the new no 1 England is
any indication.
WHAT WENT WRONG?
Many reasons can be given
for Indias demise apart from
BCCIs role. Some of these are:
Captaincy: Dhoni turned out
to be an ultra defensive captain
with inflexible ideas about bat-
ting, bowling and fielding. He
set deep, defensive fields and
allowed batsmen to rotate strikes
easily and settle down when he
should have been putting pres-
sure on them when they came to
the crease. For some strange rea-
sons he felt that having a few
pace bowlers in the side, irre-
spective of pitch conditions,
would adequately serve his pur-
pose. With a pop gun attack he
had difficulty getting wickets.
Aussies had a very good pace
attack and were unlikely to be
worried about the Indian attack.
He could have played both
Ashwin and Ojha in couple of
Test matches as bowling in tan-
dem these two have been effec-
tive in the past. Besides, most
Australian and even English
batsmen find good spinners more
difficult to handle. Pace for the
sake of it was a disaster. As he
himself did not contribute much
with the bat, the team was rud-
derless at times.
Bowling: Apart from insis-
tence on pace, Dhoni suffered
also from having unfit and errat-
ic bowlers. Ishant, though pacy,
bowled short and wide instead of
attacking the stumps. He could
not keep a consistent line or
length. Zaheer, though he was
the pick of the bowlers in
Australia, bowled at gentle pace
most of the time. He ran in gin-
gerly so as to avoid further
injury most of the time and
reduced his effectiveness. Yadav
was sharp and incisive on a cou-
ple of occasions but lacked con-
sistency of line and length.
Ashwin tried too many variations
and lost control over his bowl-
ing. Vinay Kumar was slow for
Australian wickets. Praveen
Kumars injury was another
handicap to this weak attack.
Fielding: Even a mediocre
bowling attack gets lifted when
outstanding fielding supports it.
In Indias case the fielding was
extremely poor throughout.
Crucial catches were dropped;
easy runs were given away and a
number of players moved in the
field like geriatrics. Dhoni, sup-
ported by the slip cordon, stayed
too far back behind the stumps to
the pacemen. This caused many
snicks to fall safely short of the
cordon. A couple of steps up and
a few snicks could have been
snared.
Batting: This aspect of the
Indian team is its strongest point
but it failed repeatedly to give
the bowlers some runs to play
with. The rot started at the top
with an irresponsible Sehwag
throwing his wicket away time
and again. For the vice captain
of the team to be so irresponsible
was a tragedy. Gambhir lacked
the technique to counter the ris-
ing ball. At times he gave easy
chances to the slip cordon, trying
to steer the ball away from his
body (a habit of 20-20s no
doubt).
Dravid developed some
chinks in his defence which
caused him to get bowled repeat-
edly. Tendulkar, after two glori-
ous innings in Melbourne and
Sydney, petered out subsequent-
ly. The constant talk of his 100th
ton played on his mind and he
seemed weighed down by the
pressure. Laxman, from whom
much was expected, disappoint-
ed as he got out frequently root-
ed in his crease and waving his
bat desultorily. Rainas tech-
nique was inadequate against
pace and bounce. Dhoni himself
had a poor series. The only sil-
ver lining in batting towards the
end of the series was Virat
Kohli. He showed the guts and
determination lacking in others.
Both the series against
England and Australia have
shown up the weaknesses in the
Indian team. There needs to be
not only change in personnel but
serious rethinking about prepar-
ing an effective road map to
reach the top again. But does the
BCCI have the wisdom or fore-
sight to do that?
Zenith to nadir
what difference a year makes
An analysis of what went wrong with the Indian cricket in 2011
MS Dhoni talks to umpire Billy Bowden about India's appeal for obstructing the field, Australia v India,
CB Series, Sydney, February 26, 2012. Dhoni turned out to be an ultra defensive captain
with inflexible ideas about batting, bowling and fielding.
The Kersi Meher-Homji Column
April -May 2012 THE INDIAN DOWN UNDER 55
Sachin scales Mount Everest at last
A
fter 33 innings in England, India,
Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and
Australia in 370 days, master bats-
man Sachin Tendulkar went from 99 to
100 international centuries on 16 March.
AT LONG LAST! It was a prolonged
period but worth the wait as expectations
reached fever pitch from 12 March 2011
to 16 March 2012. It was like a mother
delivering a baby after a double gestation
period of 18 months!
Will it be at Lords last July to mark
the 2000th Test match or the Mumbai near
tied Test last November or in Melbourne
in the Boxing Day Test or in Sydney in the
New Year 2012 Test, journalists and his
fans wondered?
But Sachin took his time. After scoring
92, 73 and 80 in successive Tests in
Mumbai, Melbourne and Sydney Tests, it
looked mission impossible as he failed in
the last two Tests in Perth and Adelaide
and in the Tri-nation one-day internation-
als (ODIs).
It was a bit of an anticlimax as the
100th century international landmark was
reached in Asia Cup match against
Bangladesh.
To make the occasion bitter sweet for
him India lost this match despite totalling
289 thanks to Sachins 114 with 12 fours
and a six.
To reach the milestone, he nudged
Shakib Al Hasan behind square leg to hit
a single to end the agony for him and his
billion supporters.
It has been a tough phase for me, he
said at the press conference after the
Bangladesh match. I was not thinking
about the milestone. The media started all
these. Wherever I went, restaurants, room
service, everyone was talking about the
100th hundred.
Its been a tough journey... I batted
well in Australia, in England and again in
Mumbai [against West Indies]. I got so
close to the hundred but somehow it was
not happening. Im a human being and
Ive emotions... The 100th hundred was
the toughest one. It was a testing time, so
I thank God for whatever comes my way.
Perhaps it was a clever psychological
ploy by the overseas journalists to put
extra pressure on him with this artificial
landmark of 100th international century,
combining Test and ODI statistics.
Whereas the finest bowlers in the world
could not upset the rhythm of Tendulkar,
this artificial landmark did. Now that the
monkey is off his back we expect fire-
works from the iconic Indian once again.
And it was a relaxed Tendulkar who
stroked 52 runs with five fours and a six
against Pakistan in the next Asia Cup
match two days later, adding 133 runs for
the second wicket with the match-winner
Virat Kohli (183).
So far Tendulkar has hit most runs and
centuries in both Tests and ODIs with the
next best batsman way behind. In 184
Tests, Tendulkar has scored 15,470 runs
at 55.44 with 51 centuries. He is 2182
runs ahead of the next best batsman Rahul
Dravid and nine centuries ahead of the
next centurion South Africas Jacques
Kallis.
Same way in ODIs. He has amassed
18,426 runs at 44.83 in 463 matches, hit-
ting 49 centuries. Next best, Ricky
Ponting, has scored 4722 runs less and
registered 13 fewer centuries.
Significant figures which place Sachin
miles ahead of other great batsmen.
Compared to his 100 international cen-
turies, Ponting is the next best with 71 (29
centuries behind) and Kallis with 69.
Enough of stats, below are my per-
sonal favourite Tendulkar innings:
* Sydney Test of January 1992. The
18 year-old Sachin dazzled all present
with his unbeaten 148 with 14 fours as he
added 196 runs with Ravi Shastri (206).
Sachin became the youngest to score a
century in Australia, as he smashed debu-
tant Shane Warne to smithereens. Neil
Harvey, the famous Australian batsman of
1950s and 60s, commented, He is the
best player Ive seen since ages.
* Perth Test, February 1992. Next
month on a bouncy WACA pitch, teenag-
er Sachin announced himself as a master
batsman stroking 114, as none of his coun-
trymen could reach 50 in either innings.
ABC commentator Tim Lane gushed,
This boy is from heaven. He will do any-
thing. Allan Border added, If he could
play like this at 18, I shudder to think what
he will be at 25. The famous London
Times correspondent John Woodcock was
moved to say: "Gentlemen, he is THE best
batsman I have seen in my life. And unlike
most of you, I have seen Bradman."
Continued on page 56
After 33 innings in England, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Australia in 370 days, master batsman Sachin Tendulkar
went from 99 to 100 international centuries on 16 March.
One of Kersi favourites is 18-year-old Sachins unbeaten 148 in Sydney Test
in Jan 1992.
In the World Cup, March 2003, Tendulkar played an astounding innings of 98 off 75 balls
against arch-rival Pakistan,
The Kersi Meher-Homji column
Continued from page 55
* Manchester Test, August 1990.
The 17 year-old hit his first Test century
against England which prompted noted
historian David Frith to write, Hail the
Boy King. How can anyone so young be
so good at the highest level?
* World Cup, March 2003. Against
arch-rival Pakistan, Tendulkar played an
astounding innings of 98 off 75 balls. This
inspired Peter Roebuck to write,
Tendulkar was blistering and monumen-
tal... He is the greatest player and the best
batsman to appear since World War II.
* Gwalior against South Africa in
February 2010. He scored 200 not out
against South Africa, the first ever ODI
double century.
^ Cape Town Test, January 2011.
On a bowlers pitch Tendulkar stroked
146 of the best against quality fast bowl-
ing. It was his 51st Test century when no
one else had made 40 Test tons. The con-
test was a match-up between Tendulkar
and [fast bowler Dale] Steyn, to quote
Wisden 2011.
* All 2011 World Cup matches in the
Indian sub-continent including his 99th
international century against South Africa
at Nagpur in March 2011.
* His 73 in the Melbourne Test and
80 in the Sydney Test in 2011-12.
However, according to the media down
under he was a failure because he did not
score a century. How ignorant can you
get?
This is what experts and Test greats
said about maestro Sachin:
* After Tendulkar scored a masterly
177 against Mark Taylor's Australians in
the 1998 Bangalore Test, MiD DAY
(India) asked fast bowling great Dennis
Lillee how he would have bowled to
Tendulkar and he replied, "with a helmet
on!"
* In the never-ending debate on who
among Sir Donald Bradman and Sachin
Tendulkar is the greatest batsman of all
time, former England captain Naseer
Hussain said this month that his vote goes
to the iconic Indian: Sir Donald Bradman
was great but for me the greatest batsman
to have ever played the game is Sachin
Tendulkar."
* Richie Benaud in his book Over But
Not Out recalls Sachin Tendulkar's back-
to-back centuries against Steve Waugh's
Australians at Sharjah in 1998. It was
there I watched two of the greatest innings
I have ever seen played in limited-overs
cricket: Sachin Tendulkar was the bats-
man and he hit two centuries. The first, in
which he guided or blasted India to the
final, was a classic. So was the second
century, for that matter, but the first, with
him knowing that millions of viewers in
India were sitting in front of the television
sets, willing him to succeed, was quite
something.
But the tribute Sachin treasures most is
the one by Don Bradman. In an interview
by Ray Martin on Channel 9 in May 1996,
he said, Sachin plays more like me than
any other modern player Ive seen.
T
he retirement of Rahul Dravid was
expected but when it was
announced it saddened cricket-
lovers all over the world.
Whenever I think of Dravid I recall the
two magical innings he played against
Australia, in the 2001 Kolkata Test and
the 2003 Adelaide Test.
He combined with another batting leg-
end VVS Laxman to convert certain
defeats into glorious and incredible victo-
ries.
In the 2001 Kolkata Test, India trailing
Australia by 274 runs was forced to fol-
low-on. In strife to save an innings defeat,
VVS (281 runs) and Dravid (180) added
376 runs for the 5th wicket and India won
by 171 runs. Another hero was Harbhajan
Singh who captured 13 wickets including
a hat-trick.
The Adelaide Test two years later was
equally sensational. With Ricky Ponting
scoring 242, Australia amassed 556. The
prolific pair of Dravid (233) and VVS
(148) added 303 for the 5th wicket as his
team made 523. India went on to win by
four wickets, thanks to Dravids unbeaten
72.
Majestic innings to cherish! More than
records, he was a crisis specialist in the
Vijay Hazare mould.
When India was whitewashed 0-4 in
the Tests in England last year, he was the
only one to succeed with the bat, hitting
three centuries.
In 164 Tests he scored 13,288 runs
(second only to Tendulkar) at 52.31 hit-
ting 36 centuries, highest score 270. He
took most catches in Tests, 210. Ricky
Ponting comes next with 193 catches in
162 Tests.
Over the years he has won over
Australian crowds with his stylish batting
and slip catching.
Although this summer he failed with
the bat (as did most Indian batmen) he
captivated the hearts of cricket-lovers off-
field when delivering the Bradman
Oration last December.
Following are some abstracts from a
recent interview:
How about the recent tour?
Full credit to Australia who played
very well. We underperformed.
How many languages are spoken in
the Indian Dressing Room?
I recently counted. The answer is 15
different languages. But we do not sledge
in 15 languages! Your most nerve-rack-
ing moments?
Giving speeches and facing audi-
ences! I suffered from stage fright and in
school avoided debates and public speak-
ing. After agreeing to deliver the Bradman
Oration, I had a sleepless night. What
have I done? I asked myself!
Why the nickname of Wall?
Well, apart from my defensive play
in crises, it gives subeditors of newspapers
striking headlines when I fail with the bat:
Another break in the Wall or The Wall is
crumbling!
On Sachin Tendulkar?
We mutually respect each other. As a
scorer in an under-15 match I had mar-
velled at his stroke-play and concentration
and remarked to my friends that within
five years this kid will play for India. He
proved me wrong; the very next year he
was facing Wasim Akram in a Test! He
was captaining India when I played my
third Test.
About your family?
My mother is an artist who creates
murals. Both my Mum and Dad encour-
aged me to play cricket provided I did well
in studies and keep the education going. I
was told that I must pass exams or NO
cricket!
I got my degree in Commerce as a
back-up. My wife is a surgeon. My 6
year-old son started taking interest in
cricket only last year when India lost 0-4
to England. His favourite cricketer is
Alastair Cook!
Who provided more problems to
you, Muralitharan or Warne?
Thank God, both are retired! Murali
needs pitches that give sharp turn.
Incredible thing about Warne is that he
thinks a batsman out, even now in IPL
matches! Its fascinating to see his brain
work. Both remain great bowlers.
His philosophy?
None. I dreamt of playing for India. I
told myself that I must become the best
cricketer I could be. This has always
inspired me. Yoga and meditation has also
helped me.
You will be missed Rahul -- your
smile, your serene temperament, being
always there for mother India and brother
cricket.
Gentleman Dravid calls it a day
The Indian cricket legend, Rahul Dravid, who announced retirement from international cricket recently, was honoured in a grand
fashion by the Board of Control for Cricket in India during a felicitation ceremony, held on March 27, in Mumbai
The Kersi Meher-Homji Column
Now to another
thunderbolt by
Kohli in Dhaka.
Kohli sizzles again but India is
eliminated in Asia Cup
Thrilling ODI series in West Indies
I
t was another do-or-die encounter
in the Asia Cup match against
Pakistan, a match India had to
win. It looked impossible when
Pakistan totalled 6 for 329,
Mohammad Hafeez (105) and Nasir
Jamshed (112) adding 224 runs for the
opening wicket at 6.20 runs per over.
To make it worse, India lost
Gautam Gambhir for a duck. But
Tendulkar (52) and Kohli put on a
brisk 133 for the second wicket.
Kohli, the master of the chase, added
a further 172 runs with Rohit Sharma
(68) and India eventually reached the
winning target with 6 wickets and 13
balls in hand.
It was a phenomenal victory, main-
ly due to Kohlis sparkling fireworks
again. His highest ODI score of 183
off 148 balls included 22 fours and a
six.
Which innings did he rank higher,
the one in Hobart or this one in
Dhaka?
"I rate this innings in Dhaka equal
with Hobart innings but yes this is
special because of the game today, to
get a hundred against a good opposi-
tion."
But again in vain as Bangladesh
defeated a listless Sri Lanka two days
later to enter the Asia Cup Final
against Pakistan.
Good on you, Bangladesh, but try
telling this to centurions Tendulkar
(114 against Bangladesh) and Kohli
(183 against Pakistan).
T
o prove that his firecracker innings
against Sri Lanka in Hobart on 28
February was not a fluke, fiery
Virat Kohli dazzled spectators in Mirpur,
Dhaka against Pakistan on 18 March.
There were many similarities in his spec-
tacular innings in Hobart and in Dhaka.
But both his incandescent innings were
in vain as a match after his fireworks India
was eliminated from the Tri-nation series
in Australia and in Asia Cup in
Bangladesh. How cruel for the 23 year-old
electrifying batsman!
First to the miracle in Hobart, thanks to
a tornado named Virat.
India had not only to win the match but
win the vital bonus point as well to have a
chance to make it to the Final of the
TriNation series in Australia.
It appeared Mission Impossible when
Sri Lanka posted a massive 4 for 320 in 50
overs. Tillakaratne Dilshan (160 not out)
and Kumar Sangakkara (105) added 200
runs for the second wicket. To get the
bonus point India had to score 321 runs in
40 overs, a run-rate of little over 8.
With Indias batting form in Australia
in abject disarray this season, even
Napoleon would have called this impossi-
ble.
But out of form Virender Sehwag and
Sachin Tendulkar smashed the Lankan
bowling reaching 50 runs in 5.2 overs, a
run-rate of almost 10. The platform was set
up for an assault.
Gautam Gambhir (63) and Kohli added
115 runs for the third wicket off 109 balls
when the former was run out.
OK, thats it, I said to myself, another
night of disappointment and heartbreak as
wickets will now tumble like ninepins.
Especially when Suresh Raina on a bad trot
walked to the pitch.
But this was the Dr Jekyll Raina of
2009-early 2011, not the Mr Hyde Raina of
2011-12.
He started off with a sweet four and
soon a towering six.
Needing 120 runs off 75 balls for a win
with a bonus point, Kohli and Raina pow-
ered on, feet on the accelerator, hand
brakes and foot brakes disabled.
Bang bang went Raina; bing bang bong
throttled Kohli.
It appeared surreal, almost magical, the
way the two young Indian batsmen went
about their run chase, destroying the Sri
Lankan bowling attack like a typhoon
destroys buildings, planes and trains. They
reached the impossible target of 321 in
only 36.4 overs.
Man of the Match Kohli smashed 133
not out off 86 balls for a strike-rate of
154.65 and Raina an unbeaten 40 off 24
deliveries at a strike rate of 166.66. The
last 17 balls were smashed by the zany pair
for 48 runs
6;2,6,4,4,4,4;2,3,1,1,1,dot;1,1,4,4.
Amazing!
And India triumphed by 7 wickets with
80 balls in hand.
India had a chance to enter the Final of
the exciting Tri-nation series if Australia
beat Sri Lanka in Melbourne in the next
match.
But Sri Lanka triumphed in the vital
encounter, knocking India out by default.
Australia went on to win the Final series 2-
1.Kohli, 23, rated his unbeaten 133 against
Sri Lanka in February as his finest. "It has
to be the best innings of my career. The
kind of situation we were in, chasing 321
and also we needed the bonus point, so it
was a crunch game and to play an innings
like that at the right time, I felt it was a
great innings," Kohli said at the post-match
press conference.
M
arch must be a month for the
underdogs. Little-fancied
Bangladesh made it to the Asia
Cup Final, defeating the 2011 World Cup
finalists India and Sri Lanka. And 8-
ranked West Indies are one-all against
Australia ranked no. 1 in One Day
Internationals.
Australia won the first ODI by 64 runs
and the Windies fought back by winning
the second one by 5 wickets. The third
one was an exciting tie, a rarity. Two
more ODIs will be played.
An interesting trivia:
In the third ODI, the first three
Australian batsmen were skipper Shane
Watson, David Warner and wicket-keep-
er Matthew Wade.
I label them the three Ws of
Australian cricket. Last decade there were
other three Aussie Ws: Steve Waugh,
Mark Waugh and Shane Warne.
In 1960s and 1970s, the West Indies
had three fabulous Ws: skipper Frank
Worrell, master bat Everton Weekes and
wicket-keeper Clyde Walcott.
The current Aussie Ws -- Watson,
Warner and Wade -- have a long way to
go before they reach the status of the leg-
endary six Ws of the past.
Virat Kohlis highest ODI score of 183
off 148 balls came in the Asia Cup match
against Pakistan in Dhaka in March.

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