IndiaPost_10-30-2009

Certified by “CIRCULATION VERIFICATION COUNCIL Readership 117,765”

Top Stories V O I C E O F I N D I A N S W O R L D W I D E

www.indiapost.com

NEW YORK • WASHINGTON D.C. • CHICAGO • ATLANTA • CALIFORNIA VOL 15, No. 790 October 30, 2009 50¢ Periodical Postage

India Post

Bollywood ---------------------- 28-29

Classifieds --------------------- 48-50

Community Post -------------- 12-23

Date Book -------------------------- 51

Edit Page --------------------------- 53

HealthScience Post --------- 40-42

Horoscope ------------------------- 38

Immigration Post ------------- 44-47

Life Style ----------------------- 26-27

Philosophy ------------------------- 52

Publisherís Diary ------------------ 4

Real Estate ------------------------ 30

TechBiz Post ------------------- 24-25

Travel & Hospitality Post ---- 32-35

CONTENTS

Details on page 21

Details on page 8

YES 47%

Last week’s result

NO 53%

This week’s question

INDIA POST [email protected]

Is Preet Bharara targettingIndians?

Details on page 43

Details on page 8

Details on page 9

Details on page 40

Details on page 8

Details on page 7

Details on page 43

Details on page 8

Details on page 43

175 years ofIndian laborin Mauritius

US wants Indiato be partner innon-proliferation

Details on page 9

AMA to workwith AAPI onhealthcare

US offers help tomodernizearmed forces

Af-Pak envoyHolbrookebeing sidelined

Details on page 44

Mumbai casePak judgewants to quit

House approvesresolutionon Gandhi

US reversesturban banon Sikh guard

Dr Jasbir Kangis Physicianof Year

DESIS ARRESTED FORWALL STREET FRAUD

SRIREKHA N. CHAKRAVARTY

India Post News Service

NEW YORK: In what many view asa true coming of age of the South AsianAmerican community, New York has be-come an apt stage for a Bollywoodianhigh stakes financial villains-versus-lawenforcement heroes drama where the USAttorney for Southern New York Dis-trict Preet Bharara swooped down on amulti-million dollar Wall Street insidertrading scam arresting in the processbillionaire hedge fund manager RajRajaratnam, a Sri Lankan Tamil, and fiveothers including two Indian AmericansRajiv Goel of Intel Capital and AnilKumar of McKinsey. Raj Rajaratnam, Founder of hedge fund Falleon, being led

away after arrest in New YorkDetails on page 6

Tharoor gets a 'rock star' welcome

Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor speaking at Diwali celebrations at Indian Consulate on Oct 18.

Pic Mohammed Jaffer-SnapsIndia



NEW YORK: Two and half years since he left NewYork to pursue a career in mainstream Indian politicsand becoming the Minister of State for External Affairs,Shashi Tharoor came back to the Big Apple to a near"rock star" reception by the Indian American commu-nity over the last couple of weeks.

From a parochial welcome by the Malayalee commu-

nity groups to a large reception of the cream of IndianAmerican community in the New York-New Jersey areasat a Diwali event hosted by the Indian Consulate, Tharoorwas practically mobbed by admirers vying to pose forpictures with him.

The minister, who was in New York to address a UNGeneral Assembly session, was admittedly thrilled by thehomecoming welcome he received from the "security guardsat the UN to the Secretary General".

Cong wins pollsin Arunanchal,Maharashtra

India, Chinaink MoA onclimate change

PM for diffusionof climatechange tech

Will Obama benefit Indiamore than Bush?

India Postwww.indiapost.com

October 30, 20092

October 30, 2009 India Post 3www.indiapost.com

Watch what you want - not what you get!!

The best Hindi channels – STAR India Plus, Zee TV, NDTV Imagine, SET Asia, STAR India One, Sahara One, SAB and TV Asia

The best Bollywood movie channels – Zee Cinema, SET Max, B4U Movies

The most watched news channels – Aaj Tak, Headlines Today, Sahara Samay

and much much more!

With DISH Network you can subscribe to the Hindi Mega Pack and – unlike DIRECTV®

and cable – you don’t need to subscribe to an additional base package!

Act now and you’ll also get:

No Equipment to Buy

Free Standard Professional Installation

and Free for 3 Months (with Agreement)

Digital Home Advantage offer requires 24-month commitment and credit qualification. If service is terminated before the end of commitment, a cancellation fee of $15/month remaining will apply. All equipment is leased and must be returned to DISH Network upon cancellation or unreturned equipment fees apply. Limit 4 leased tuners per account; lease upgrade fees will apply for selectreceivers; monthly fees may apply based on type and number of receivers. HD programming requires HD television. All prices, packages and programming subject to change without notice. Local channels only available in certain areas. Offer is subject to the terms of applicable Promotional and Residential Customer Agreements. Additional restrictions and fees may apply. First-time DISH Network customers only. Offer ends 1/31/10. HBO/Showtime: Programming credits will apply during the first 3 months. Customer must downgrade or then-current price will apply. HBO®and related channels and service marks are the property of Home Box Office, Inc. SHOWTIME and related marks are trademarks of Showtime Networks Inc., a CBS company. © 2009, DISH Network L.L.C. All rights reserved.

Call 1-888-723-0197

DISH Network - the only destination for all the best Hindi Channels.

28

Mission Statement

To empower the Indian Diaspora and make their voice strong and effective in countries of their adoption. RJ Media conglomerateoffers a credible, professional and complete package of news, opinion, entertainment, networking and information.

NewsweeklyIndia Post

India Post October 30, 20094

Romesh K [email protected]

For editorial, contact: [email protected] or call 510-797-7799

Classifieds: Tel: 510-938-8668; E-mail:[email protected] Inquiry: Tel: 510-257-4374; E-mail: [email protected]

CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS

1900 Mowry Ave # 201 Fremont, CA 94538

Tel: 510-797-7799, Fax: 510-790-2806; E-mail: [email protected]

E-SUBSCRIPTION: Vikram PaulTel: 510-789-7520 Extn: 208; E-mail: [email protected]

For Editorial: Sonia SidhuTel: 510-797-7799; E-mail: [email protected]

SAN FRANCISCO & SILICONVALLEY1900 Mowry Ave # 201 Fremont, CA 94538Tel: 510-938-8667e-mail: [email protected]

LOS ANGELES12908 Indian Lane Norwalk,CA 90650Fax: 562-947-0632Tel: 562-644-9523, [email protected]: 562-441-5511, [email protected]: 562-929-4213, [email protected]

CHICAGO2740 W Devon Ave Chicago IL 60659Tel: 773-973-7394; Fax: 773-973-7396;Email: [email protected]

NEW YORKTel: 212-944-1931, Fax: 732-969-3735Tel: 908-338-3752 (Marketing)Tel: 732-283-4939 (Editorial)E-mail: [email protected]

NEW JERSEY21 Longfellow st., Carteret, NJ 07008Tel: 732-969-1114; Fax: 732-969-3735E-mail: [email protected]

BOSTONTel: 617-298-9200; Fax: 617-298-1104GOPE; E-mail: [email protected]

ATLANTA67 Peach Tree Dr., Ste. 102, BuckheadAtlanta, GA 30309Tel: 404-425-3021E-mail: [email protected]

FLORIDA8401 West Sample Road30, Coral Springs, Florida - 33065

TORONTO, CANADATel/Fax: 416-744-8610

DELHIJin Kushal Suri Complex, 3rd Floor,230-A, Masjid Moth, (NDSE Part-II)New Delhi - 110049Tel: 11-46142940, 26257769Fax: 11-46142969E-mail:[email protected]

Romesh & Sunita Japra PublishersSubhash C Japra Co-PublisherVikram Paul PresidentKrishan Sharma Mg Director & Joint EditorRanjana Sodhi Managing EditorVinod Dhawan Senior EditorNaresh Sodhi General ManagerGhanshyam Bisht Supervisor Graphics

SAN FRANCISCO & SILICON VALLEYVijay Thapar CPRO & AdvertisingSonia Sidhu Management AnalystRadhika Jhamb CorrespondentSudesh Kumari CorrespondentDeepa Japra Youth Post CorrespondentRama Mehra AdvertisingBhumi Bhutani Health Science CorrespondentJaya Gautam CorrespondentSujata Singh Correspondent

LOS ANGELESMrs Shashi Trivedi Bureau ChiefJ S Bedi PR & MarketingMrs Prem Kishore Sr CorrespondentGreg Heffernan CorrespondentMs Bobby Sharma CorrespondentBabeeta Kaur Dhillon CorrespondentPavan Kaur Bhatia Correspondent

CHICAGORamesh Soparawala Resident EditorA Q Siddiqui Correspondent

ST. LOUISAshwin Patel Correspondent

NEW YORK & NEW JERSEYPinky Kaur Bureau ChiefSrirekha N. Chakravarty CorrespondentNikita Japra CorrespondentSukhvinder Saini Circulation

ATLANTASanjay Saggere Bureau Chief

FLORIDAB K Madnani

CANADAFirdaus Ali Correspondent

BOSTONGope Gidwani Bureau Chief

DETROITAshok B Jain, M D Bureau ChiefGurminder Singh

SAN DIEGONeelu Bhardwaj Bureau Chief

SACRAMENTOMadan Sharma Bureau ChiefJanak Sidhra CorrespondentUpen Shukla Correspondent

CENTRAL VALLEY (CA)Dr Ram Saini Bureau ChiefSheila Rogers Correspondent

YUBA CITY (CA)Satnam Tatla Correspondent

CAROLINASNalini Raja Patel Correspondent

INDIAVinod Dhawan Senior Editor &Bureau Chief

NEW DELHIVinod Kumar Khatana GraphicsMadan Bangari Graphics

PUNJABShiv Japra Bureau ChiefAnil Kanwar Senior Correspondent/Marketing

CHANDIGARHRaj Kumar Bali Correspondent

DOABA, PUNJABRomesh Kaura Correspondent

HYDERABADM Sagar Kumar Bureau Chief

India Post (ISSN-1064-3868) is published weekly for

$30 for 52 issues yearly by India Post, 29274 Union

City Blvd, Union City CA 94587. Periodicals

postage paid at Norwalk, CA and additional mailing

office.

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to the

corporate headquarters: 29274 Union City Blvd,

Union City CA 94587

Copyright © 1994 Indamec, Inc.

DISCLAIMER

India Post assumes all advertisers to be reliable

and responsible for all liability for their claimers

The Weekly NewspaperServing Indians Worldwide

www.indiapost.com

India Post

HIGHLIGHTSPublisher’s Diary

INFO-CENTER

For advertisement rates call the office nearest to you:

BollywoodRaj Kapoor's favoriteRaj Kapoor, the patriarch of the Kapoorfamily, doted on his first grandsonRanbir Kapoor.

1Cover Story:Desis in fraud

12Community:Diwali fervor

43India:Shock in HaryanaThe Congress coasted to power inMaharashtra, Arunachal Pradesh but fellshort of majority in Haryana

26Life Style:

Ranjit Singh Sandhu, a Bellflower resi-dent, has a cameo role in Dastoli Digitalproduction "Who Stole the Electric Car".

24TechBiz:

Smita Salgaonkar and Bhoopi Kohli haveboth been honored with South AsianBusiness Person of the Year awards.

32Travel:DeegDeeg is strewn with massive fortifica-tions, beautiful gardens, magnificentpalaces, and a colorful bazaar.

South Asians honored

Indian Americans across Chicagolandcelebrated Diwali and New Year with quitepomp, gusto and religious fervor.

Two Indian Americans Rajiv Goel of IntelCapital and Anil Kumar of McKinsey ar-rested for Wall Street fraud.

Cameo role

Silicon Valley this past week was shaken by the arrests of two top IndianAmerican executives in connection with the Wall Street insider tradingscam. It was more shocking to the Indian American community which not

only considered these two gentlemen - Anil Kumar of McKinsey and Rajiv Goelof Intel Capital - as rising stars in the world of finance, but as men of highintegrity.

Well it is not unheard of for an occasional Indian American to be involved in ahigh profile criminal case, but sure, it's rare… and hence, I guess the shock factor.

While lawfully they are deemed innocent until proven guilty, I would think it isnot necessary to get carried away in thinking that we, as a community, can neverdo any wrong; there are bad apples in every basket.

I wonder only why they would be so stupid as to go for a few bucks more,when they have everything going so well for them. Take the kingpin behind thescam, Raj Rajaratnam for instance… he is worth over a billion dollars but hegets caught trying to make a mere $20 million illegally. Now, isn't that totallyunnecessary?

On the flip side, South Asians have really moved a long way in sheddingstereotypes as gas station or convenience store owners to actually be seen asWall Street biggies even if for dubious reasons.

Okay, I am not suggesting we should be proud of this, but if you consider thatthe vast majority of our community is made up of highly placed professionalsand successful entrepreneurs, any bad apples among them would automaticallymake a splash by default.

I think of it as an eye-opener though. Since we do like to project ourselves asa model community, it is good to introspect once in a while when we are facedwith such cases, on our failings.

While collectively there is very little anyone can do to completely eliminatecrime of any nature in a society, individually we can strive to shed the stigma ofcorruption that India woefully suffers from.


CHECK OUR WEBSITE FOR MORE DETAILS AND TO PURCHASE TICKETS... WWW.SILKHLENS.COM

SIKH ART AND FILM FESTIVALpresents

The Inaugural Celebration of Sikh Art, Books & Films

November 13th-15thEGYPTIAN THEATER6712 Hollywood BlvdLos Angeles, CA 90028

Aahs / Halloween ClubCalifornia Sikh CouncilThe Chardikala FoundationEthnicisland.comFairmont Private Schools

Frontier HeritageFuture Computing Solutions, Inc.Habib BankHamilton Brewart Insurance Co.IRG / MarbleCompany.com

Jag Reyatt PhotographyJR Shah Century 21Kohli Group | Financia Inc.Macland InvestmentsPremier Commercial Bank

Dr. Surinder Saini & Family Securemart.comState Bank of IndiaThe Chugh Law FirmZiba Beauty

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 13TH

Gala6:30 pm - 1:00 amCome celebrate the Sikh culture and heritage An evening of entertainment, fi ne food, awards and fi lm presentations.Dessert reception“Dance the Night Away” (with DJ)Special guest appearances throughout the evening!

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 14TH

Cluster 110:30 am - 1:00 pmFilm: It’ Like JugglingLive Reading from: The Royal FalconFilm: MAHARAJA - The Story of Ranjit Singh Film: Awaiting Your PotentialLive Reading from: A Lion’s ManeQ & A

Cluster 22:00 pm - 4:00 pmA section dedicated to and showcasingSikhs in the Visual, Audioand Entertainment Industries.Hear their stories, watch and listen totheir craft, interact with and supportSikhs breaking ground in unique areas.

Cluster 35:00 pm - 7:30 pmFilm: Virtues MisinterpretedFilm: Blade BattleFilm: TurbanologySpotlight on SikhNet Online Film FestivalFilm: turBANQ & A

*Program subject to change without notice.

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 15TH

Cluster 48:30 pm - 10:30 pmFilm: Son of A SardarFilm: KisaanAfter-Event “Dance the Night Away” party begins

Cluster 510:45 Am - 1:30 pmFilm: For The RecordFilm: The Rebel QueenPanel Discussion: The Rise and Fall of the Kingdom of PunjabFilm: My Mother IndiaQ & A

Cluster 62:30 pm - 5:30 pmFilm: Reaching for HomePanel Discussion: 1984: Best Forgotten? Always Remembered?Film: Nineteen Eighty-Four and the Via Dolorosa ProjectSpotlight on Jakara: Visions of Truth FilmsFilm: 1984Q & A

SikhLens Mela 5:30pmFood, Music, Dance, Baazar, Live Entertainment and Masti! Come meet the authors, artists and fi lmmakers!

*Program subject to change without notice.

FOR MORE INFO AND TICKET

PURCHASING VISIT US

ONLINE AT WWW.SIKHLENS.COMOR CONTACT ANY OF THE FOLLOWING

DISTRIBUTORS FOR TICKETS:

Jesse JaspalSan Diego Area(858) 414-8844

Pritam SinghPalmdale/Lancaster(818) 219-2233

Karamjit SinghSan Bernardino/Riverside (951) 500-9673

Nirinjan SinghHollywood(310) 270-5988

Sarabjit SinghBurbank(818) 402-0878

Jasdeep MannOrange County(714) 904-5271

Mandeep KaurBakersfi eld/Visalia(559) 741-6455

Jagjit SinghBuena Park(562) 244-7487

Sukhjinder SinghFresno Area(559) 430-4832

Festival Chair - Ravin Kohli (949) 400-6119

[email protected]

THANK YOU TO OUR CORPORATE SPONSORS

2010 SIKHPOINT.COM CALENDAR RELEASE PARTY

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2009

SAFF 2009 India Post Ad 10 x 13.5.indd 1 10/19/09 10:25 AM


www.indiapost.com

Cover/Top Stories

Desis arrested for Wall Street fraudSRIREKHA N. CHAKRAVARTY


NEW YORK: In what manyview as a true coming of age ofthe South Asian American com-munity, New York has become anapt stage for a Bollywoodian highstakes financial villains-versus-law enforcement heroes dramawhere the US Attorney for South-ern New York District PreetBharara swooped down on amulti-million dollar Wall Street in-sider trading scam arresting in theprocess billionaire hedge fundmanager Raj Rajaratnam, a SriLankan Tamil, and five others in-cluding two Indian AmericansRajiv Goel of Intel Capital and AnilKumar of McKinsey.

For the first time, investigatorsused court granted warrants towiretap the suspects during in-vestigation that resulted in thecharging of hedge fund manag-ers, Fortune 500 executives and amanagement consulting directorin the $20 million insider tradingcase. Rajaratnam posted a bail of$100 million secured by $20 mil-lion in assets and guaranteed byhis wife and four others.Rajaratnam, who gave up hispassport, may not travel morethan 110 miles from New York City.

The other defendants arrestedin New York were also freed afterposting bonds between $2 millionand $5 million. Goel was arrestedin California, the government said.

A spokesperson for the USAttorney's Office told India Post,the preliminary hearing date is setfor November 17 where a grandjury is likely to return an indictmentin order to proceed to trial withinthe 30-day time stipulated underthe Speedy Trial Act in New York,unless all parties agree on extend-ing that deadline. While the USAttorney's office continues to in-vestigate the case, the officewould not comment on whethermore arrests were in the offing.

Rajaratnam, 52, faces 13 fraudand conspiracy counts, many ofwhich carry 20-year maximum sen-tences. Under federal sentencingguidelines, he faces 10 years inprison if convicted at trial.

"It should be a wake up call forevery hedge fund manager andevery Wall Street trader and everycorporate executive who is eventhinking about engaging in insidertrading," said US Attorney PreetBharara, while announcing the ar-rests and charges on Oct 16. "

Today, we take decisive actionagainst fraud on Wall Street. Wehave unsealed two complaintscharging six defendants with alleg-edly making more than $20 millionin profits through insider trading.Three of the defendants manage

large hedge funds on Wall Streetwith literally billions of dollars un-der management - and virtually allof the alleged insider trading tookplace in those hedge funds."

Besides Rajaratnam, the othersarrested were Danielle Chiesi, anemployee at NewCastle Partners(formerly the equity hedge fundgroup at Bear Stearns); and MarkKurland, a top executive atNewCastle.

The other three defendantswere high-level corporate insiders- Rajiv Goel, a Director at Intel Capi-

tal; Robert Moffat, a Senior VicePresident at IBM; and Anil Kumar,a Director at McKinsey and Com-pany.

These 'insiders' allegedlygained (and then gave away) sen-sitive and confidential informationabout Fortune 500 companies. Thisinformation allegedly included ad-vance information about earnings,planned joint ventures, and still-secret corporate acquisitions.

On stock after stock - in compa-nies like Hilton and Google and

Advanced Micro Devices - thesedefendants allegedly conspiredwith each other to cheat the mar-ket and enrich themselves by trad-ing on inside information to turnprofits of more than $20 million.

Emphasizing that "this is not agarden-variety insider tradingcase", Bharara said, "It is unprec-edented for at least two reasons.First, with alleged profits of morethan $20 million, this case repre-sents the largest hedge fund in-

sider trading case ever charged,criminally. Second, we believe thiscase represents the first time thatcourt-authorized wiretaps havebeen used to target significant in-sider trading on Wall Street. All thedefendants charged (today) wereultimately caught committing theiralleged crimes over phones that wewere listening to. This aggressiveuse of wiretaps is important: itshows that we are targeting whitecollar insider trading rings with thesame powerful investigative toolsthat have worked so successfullyagainst the mob and drug cartels."

The defendants worked acrossthe securities industry - fromhedge funds to Fortune 500 com-panies to an international consult-ing company. They used their ac-cess to inside information to gainan unfair trading advantage,Bharara reiterated.

In some cases, inside informa-tion was traded for money. In othercases, valuable inside informationwas traded for other valuable in-side information. "The defendants,in a sense, operated in a cozy worldof you scratch my back and I'llscratch yours," Bharara said.

Spouting philosophy, Bhararasaid that greed, sometimes, wasnot good. "This case should be awake up call for Wall Street. As thedefendants in this case have nowlearned the hard way, they mayhave been privy to a lot of confi-dential corporate information, butthere was one secret they did notknow: we were listening."

The case, he indicated, shouldserve as a deterrent to Wall Streetinsiders who are consideringbreaking the law.

Assistant Director-in-Charge ofthe FBI, Joe Demarest said, "Makeno mistake -- the $20 million dol-lars in illicit profits come at the ex-pense of the average public inves-tor. Where knowledgeable busi-nessmen are unscrupulous and actwithout control, the result is un-adulterated greed. The FBI's rolein combating white collar crime isto ensure integrity in the market-place, to protect the average inves-tor, and by extension, theeconomy."

Bharara was joined by his twolaw enforcement partners in thiscase: Joe Demarest, the AssistantDirector-in-Charge of the NewYork Division of the FBI, and Rob-ert Khuzami, the Director of En-forcement for the United StatesSecurities and Exchange Commis-sion, besides Ray Lohier, the Chiefof this Office's Securities and Com-modities Fraud Task Force, and theAUSAs handling the prosecutions- Josh Klein, Jon Streeter, and An-drew Michaelson.The Insider Trading Schemes

According to the Complaint,

Rajaratnam engaged in overlap-ping schemes with Kumar, Goel,Chiesi and another insider-turnedinformant, to trade on the basis ofInside Information in several pub-licly traded companies. Specifi-cally, these individuals engaged ininsider trading in Polycom, HiltonHotels Corp., Google Inc.,Clearwire Corporation, Akamai,Advanced Micro Devices, andPeople Support, Inc.

From approximately January2006 until around July 2007,Rajaratnam and the others alleg-

edly engaged in schemes to tradeon the basis of Inside Informationpertaining to Polycom, Hilton, andGoogle.

Telephone conversations be-tween Rajaratnam and Chiesi, in-tercepted based on court-autho-rized wiretaps of phones, as wellas consensually recorded conver-sations with an individual whosubsequently became a cooperat-ing government witness, revealedthat Rajaratnam, Kurland, Chiesiand himself routinely received in-

side information directly or indi-rectly from insiders and providedit to each other for the purpose oftrading based on the information.The material, nonpublic informa-tion pertained to upcoming earn-ings forecasts, mergers, acquisi-tions, or other business combina-tions -- the "Inside Information".Intel's reaction

When contacted by India Post,Chuck Mulloy, Corporate Spokes-man for Intel said the company was

"surprised to say the least" and"disappointed that its name hasbeen pulled into (the case)."

"We did not know in any ad-vanced fashion that this case wasbeing investigated," Mulloy said."We weren't contacted by authori-ties and didn't know in advanceand so were quite surprised on Fri-day (Oct 16) morning as this newsbegan to break. We are disap-pointed that our name has beenpulled into it."

Stating that Rajiv Goel has beenplaced on administrative leave,Mulloy said Intel has launched itsown investigation to determinewhat underlies the allegations. "It'simportant to keep in mind these areallegations and we need to get tothe bottom of this from Intel's per-spective. We have not been con-tacted by authorities, not the FBI,not the DOJ (Department of Jus-tice), not the Securities and Ex-change Commission with respectto this case. If we are contacted, ofcourse we will cooperate, but weare conducting our own investi-gation and Mr. Goel's on adminis-trative leave."

Mulloy refused to comment onGoel's track record as an Intel em-ployee stating company policy."It's not appropriate (to commenton Goel)," he said. "We have verystrict rules with respect to privacyof individuals and even though hisname has been made public byauthorities and so on, there is apresumption of innocence underUS law and we will respect his pri-vacy; we have nothing to say ex-cept that he is on administrativeleave."The tainted ones

Fifty-two year old Rajaratnam,a Tamil-born Sri Lankan and Ameri-can citizen, founded Galleon Tech-nology Funds, a hedge fund firmfocusing on technology andhealthcare stocks, in 1997 - a com-pany that grew to more than $5 bil-lion in 2001.

Galleon Management, thecompany's advisory business,oversaw more than $2.6 billion atthe end of March this year, mostlyon behalf of hedge funds, accord-ing to regulatory filings it submit-ted to the US Securities and Ex-change Commission at the time.Rajaratnam held a 50-75% control-ling stake, according to the docu-ments.

Galleon Partners, based inManhattan, has offices in London,Singapore, Mumbai, and MenloPark, California.

Silicon Valley was agog lastweek even as news of the arrestof Anil Kumar and Rajiv Goel --considered "rising stars" in thehigh tech global big businessarena -- broke out.

Cont’d on page 7

For the first time,investigators usedcourt granted warrantsto wiretap the suspectsduring investigationthat resulted in thecharging of hedgefund managers

‘They may have beenprivy to a lot of confi-dential corporateinformation, but therewas one secret theydid not know:we were listening’

Fifty-two year oldRajaratnam, a Tamil-born Sri Lankan andAmerican citizen,founded GalleonTechnology Funds, ahedge fund firm fo-cusing on technologyand healthcare stocks,in 1997 - a companythat grew to more than$5 billion in 2001

On stock afterstock - in companieslike Hilton and Googleand Advanced MicroDevices - thesedefendants allegedlyconspired with eachother to cheat themarket and enrichthemselves by tradingon inside information

India PostOctober 30, 2009 7

www.indiapost.com

Top Stories

Fifty-one year old, Santa Clara,California-based Anil Kumar is agraduate of the prestigious IndianInstitute of Technology and theWharton School. He started hiscareer in McKinsey in 1986 in theUS and was assigned to the firm'sSilicon Valley office at the time ofhis arrest.

Kumar shot to fame in 1998when he pioneered what is todaypopularly known as 'KnowledgeProcess Outsourcing' when hefounded the McKinsey Knowl-edge Center in Gurgaon, outsideNew Delhi, India. He is also theFounding Director of the IndianSchool of Business in Hyderabad.

Rajiv Goel, also 51, resides inLos Altos, California. He workedat Intel Capital as a director in stra-tegic investments. Before joiningIntel, he worked in finance forIndia's Aditya Birla Group. With

an MBA from the WhartonSchool, he also served as a cor-porate banker with Bank ofAmerica in San Francisco andmanaged a large portfolio of se-curities for Metropolitan Life inNew York.Galleon hedge begins wind down

Meanwhile, Galleon Group de-cided to wind down all its hedgefunds, the Wall Street Journal re-ported on Oct 21. The news wasreportedly conveyed to the com-pany employees and investors byRajaratnam in a letter. "I have de-cided that it is now in the best in-terest of our investors and em-ployees to conduct an orderlywind down of Galleon's fundswhile we explore various alterna-tives for our business," Rajaratnamwrote in the letter. Despite the de-cision, investors will not receivetheir money until Jan 1, 2010, un-less there's government interven-tion, added the report.

Cont’d from page 6

Desis arrested for Wall Street fraud

Shashi Tharoor gets a 'rock star' welcomeSRIREKHA N. CHAKRAVARTY


NEW YORK: Two and halfyears since he left New York topursue a career in mainstream In-dian politics and becoming theMinister of State for External Af-fairs, Shashi Tharoor came backto the Big Apple to a near "rockstar" reception by the IndianAmerican community over the lastcouple of weeks.

From a parochial welcome by theMalayalee community groups to alarge reception of the cream of In-dian American community in theNew York-New Jersey areas at aDiwali event hosted by the IndianConsulate, Tharoor was practicallymobbed by admirers vying to posefor pictures with him.

The minister, who was in New Yorkto address a UN General Assemblysession, was admittedly thrilled bythe homecoming welcome he re-ceived from the "security guards atthe UN to the Secretary General".

At the Diwali reception at theIndian Consulate, Tharoor, who

has been making controversialheadlines in the Indian media re-cently, was quick to point out thatalthough it was like homecoming,his home now was in India.

To the amusement of the gath-ering, he said, "This is like home-coming, but I say that with somediffidence because I don't want theheadlines in India to say that'Shashi Tharoor says New York isHome'. My home is Delhi andThiruvananthapuram. New Yorkhas been home for 18 and halfyears so it has a special place inmy heart and all of you have a spe-cial place in my heart."

As a new politician in India,Tharoor said, "I am just excited toreport with complete convictionthat that I have really come to youfrom an India on the move."

Recalling Prime MinisterManmohan Singh's address to thenewly elected Congress Party MPsfollowing the general elections ear-lier this year, Tharoor said, "Onething he (the prime minister) said Iwill never forget -- he told us neverto forget that so many young

people turned out to support theUPA in the elections. And he said,'We must always respect the impa-tience of the young'. The impa-tience of the young is what Indiais all about today."

Tharoor said India today wasall about change, action and im-mediate progress, be it in the dra-matic expansion of highways, themultiplying power generation lev-els or the exciting educationprojects. "There is change, move-ment in every part, but we are con-scious as a government that 260million Indians are still living be-low the poverty line. The challengeis huge and the idea is to distrib-ute the pie to all. That's what thisgovernment has set out to do."

At the United Nations, Tharoorsaid India was pushing hard to geta permanent seat on the SecurityCouncil. "While we are pushinghard for reform of UN SecurityCouncil, we want to show theworld that we want to play a re-sponsible role in the internationalcommunity."

While the UN is yet to decideon the creation of a permanent seatin the Security Council, Tharoorsaid India is a candidates for a non-permanent Security Council seatthe elections for which will takeplace a year from now. "We are pre-pared to serve in 2011-12 and wewant the world to see what it ismissing by not giving India anhonored seat as a permanent mem-ber of the Security Council," hesaid.

As an ex-NRI, Tharoor said In-dia was being transformed in manyways by the ideas, vision and in-ternational experience and expo-sure that NRIs have brought backto their home country. LaudingNRIs for their role in the adven-

ture that is India today, Tharoorurged the Diaspora to come backto India from time to time and giveof their expertise. "In the presentgovernment there are people whoare not just well meaning and have

their hearts in the right place, butalso have the talent to make a dif-ference," he added.

The Consulate event endedwith renowned ghazal and bhajansinger Anup Jalota singing acouple of his favorite numbers and'Sare jahaan se acha, Hindustan

Having a light moment with Ghazal singer Anoop Jalota

hamara' in which the minister hap-pily joined his vocals.

The more than 200 people gath-ered to celebrate Diwali with theminister at the Consulate enjoyeda sumptuous dinner thereafter.

Earlier in the week, MinisterTharoor attended an event in LongIsland, jointly organized by theGlobal Organization of People ofIndian Origin (GOPIO), the IndianAmerican Kerala Cultural and CivicCenter, the Long Island MalayaleeAssociation, NRIs for Secular andHarmonious India, India Empow-erment Group, National IndianAmerican Association for SeniorCitizens (NIAASC) and IndianChristian Forum.

At this interactive meet,Tharoor answered questions fromthe audience on issues ranging

from India's foreign relations; Pa-kistan vis-à-vis the terrorist attacksin Mumbai last year; Iran's nuclearproliferation issue; and others con-cerning overseas Indians such asthe Overseas Citizenship Card,voting rights for Indian citizens liv-ing outside India, NRI propertydisputes in India and so on.

Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor ready to light the lamp to celebrate Diwali at Indian Consulate on

Oct 18. With him are Consul General Prabhu Dayal, Mrs Dayal and Ghazal singer Anoop Jalota.

Pics Mohammed Jaffer-SnapsIndia

‘My home is Delhi andThiruvananthapuram.New York has beenhome for 18 and halfyears so it has aspecial place in myheart and all of youhave a specialplace in my heart’

Ladiesí man


www.indiapost.com

Top Stories

US reverses turban banon Sikh guard

WASHINGTON: Sikhs in USwill be allowed to serve in uniformwith their beards and turbans un-der a legal settlement reached withthe US Department of HomelandSecurity, a Sikh advocacy groupclaimed.

In a statement, Sikh Coalitionclaimed the Department of Home-land Security step had beenprompted by the case of RaghbirSingh, who was paid compensa-tion after being sacked from ser-vice in 2005 for sporting a beardand wearing a turban in accor-

dance with his religious beliefs."Holding the federal govern-

ment accountable for discriminat-ing against Sikhs sends a strongmessage to private employers. Ifthe government includes Sikh-Americans in its workforce, itshould encourage other employ-ers to do the same," saidHarsimran Kaur, legal director,Sikh Coalition.

"Beyond monetary recognition,we're pleased the government rec-ognized the need to edit its poli-cies to accommodate for religious

differences," said Khari Tillery,who represented Singh along withthe Sikh Coalition and Lawyers'Committee for Civil Rights.

"Singh's turban and beard didnot affect his ability to perform hisjob duties and he was an exem-plary employee," he argued.

Singh is a former contractedfederal security guard who wasfired from his Fresno post in 2005when his supervisors reportedthat his beard and religious tur-ban failed to comply with home-land security uniform. -PTI

House approves resolutionon Gandhi anniversary


NEW YORK: The US House ofRepresentatives approved a reso-lution commemorating the 140thbirth anniversary of MahatmaGandhi, recently.

Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Ranking Republican on theHouse Foreign Affairs Committee,who authored the legislation,while commenting on the life andlegacy of Mahatma Gandhi said,"I am very pleased that the Housewill recognize the invaluable con-tributions of Mahatma Gandhi,who dedicated his life to helpingthose struggling to breathe free.Gandhi also played an instrumen-tal role in laying the groundworkfor democracy to flourish in In-dia, which is now the world's larg-est democracy and one of ourstrongest allies."

Specifically, the resolution rec-ognizes the courageous life workof Gandhi, his philosophy of non-violence, and his development ofthe term Satyagraha, meaning thevindication of truth through thesemethods.

"It is my hope that Gandhi'sunbending commitment to free-dom will continue to inspire ourleaders today, and that the time-less and unalienable ideals forwhich he struggled will never bebartered or forgotten," the Con-gresswoman added.

Speaking on the House floorin support of the resolution, Rep.Ed Royce said, ""Gandhi dedi-cated his life's work to helpingothers. As a leader in the IndianNational Congress, Gandhi ledcampaigns to ease poverty, ex-pand women's rights, and buildreligious amity. Above all else,

however, Gandhi worked tirelesslyto free his nation, and helped di-rect India into a new era of de-mocracy."

In April of 2009, Rep. Roycetraveled to India as part of a For-

eign Affairs Committee delegation.During this trip, he had the chanceto meet with several high rankingIndian officials, but the highlightof the trip was witnessing the firststage of the Indian elections.

"Gandhi would have indeed

been proud of how far his nationhas come," said Royce, adding"under his guidance, India has be-come a pluralistic democracy ofmany religions and ethnicgroups."

In addition to recognizing thelife achievements of Gandhi,Royce also noted the holiday ofDiwali, and gave his best wishes.

"As the co-chair of the Con-gressional Caucus on India andIndian Americans, I am proud tobe the lead cosponsor ofH.Res.798, Conveying the bestwishes of the House of Represen-tatives to those celebratingDiwali. Celebrated by hundreds ofmillions around the world, Diwaliis always a joyous occasion, andI wish all of those celebrating thisholiday my very best wishes,"said Royce.

Rep. Royce also commented onlegislation that recently passedCongress that places tough re-strictions on aid to Pakistan andis the subject of heated debate inIslamabad.

"Importantly, this legislationwould prevent the sale of majorweapons to Islamabad unless Pa-kistan is cooperating to fight pro-liferation networks, and hasceased its support to terroriststargeting neighboring India andUS troops in Afghanistan. Giventhe troubled history of US aid toIslamabad, it is commonsense tolay down the principle that Paki-stani actions will have conse-quences," said Royce.

Representative Ed Royce is aco-chair of the House Congres-sional Caucus on India and IndianAmericans and is a senior mem-ber of the House Foreign AffairsCommittee.

Mahatma Gandhi

Obama sidelining specialAf-Pak envoy Holbrooke?

WASHINGTON: Ten monthsafter his appointment as PresidentBarack Obama's trouble shooterin Afghanistan and Pakistan, USspecial envoy Richard Holbrookeseems to be sidelined from majorevents relating to the region, rais-ing question marks over his fu-ture.

On the day when PresidentHamid Karzai and his main rivalAbdullah Abdullah agreed to USplea for a run-off in elections inAfghanistan and Obama thankedthem for this, Holbrooke was no-where in action.

Holbrooke also did not figureon the thanksgiving list of Presi-dent Obama, who at a joint pressconference with Iraqi Prime Min-ister Noori al-Maliki yesterday,publicly acknowledged the efforts

of Senator John Kerry and US Am-bassador to Afghanistan KarlEikenberry.

But Holbrooke, who has beenthe Administration's pointsmanand most powerful person in theState Department on Afghanistan,was neither mentioned by Obamanor Secretary of State HillaryClinton.

And instead of Holbrooke, itwas Kerry and Eikenberry whomade sure that Karzai agreed tothe run-off in Presidential elec-tions.

His absence from the scenehas raised doubts aboutHolbrooke's future and also asubtle acknowledgement on thepart of both Clinton and Obamathat Holbrooke has not deliveredwhat they expected of him. -PTI

Pak judge hearing Mumbaicase wants to quit

ISLAMABAD/LAHORE: In apossible setback to the trial ofseven suspects arrested by Paki-stani police for their involvementin the Mumbai terror attacks, thejudge hearing the case has said hecan no longer continue with theproceedings.

Citing "unavoidable reasons",Judge Baqir Ali Rana of the anti-terrorism court, who has been con-ducting the trial within the high-se-curity Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi, hasasked the Lahore High Court to beexcused from hearing the case.

Rana sent a formal request to theChief Justice of the Lahore HighCourt, saying he could not con-tinue with the proceedings becauseof "unavoidable rea-sons".

The request is cur-rently pending with theChief Justice's office,officials said.

However, sourcestold PTI that Rana tookthe step as he felt hewas under pressurefrom the governmentand other quarterswith regard to the trialof the seven suspects, includingkey Lashker-e-Taiba operativesZakiur Rehman Lakhvi and ZararShah.

The sources said Rana was alsofacing pressure from the lawyersof the seven suspects, who are un-happy about the trial being con-ducted in-camera.

The judge felt his position hadbeen made "vulnerable" becauseof the move to conduct the pro-ceedings behind closed doors.

There are also reports that Ranahas received threats from the LeTbecause the suspects were in-dicted in the absence of their law-yers during a hearing on October10. .

The hearing on October 10 co-incided with an attacked on the Pa-kistan Army's headquarters inRawalpindi by a group of terror-ists.

Rana reportedly said that sincethe situation outside the court wasuncertain, those who wanted toleave the premises could do so.

Once the lawyers left the court-room, the suspects were formallyindicted by the court.

Their lawyers boycotted the

subsequent hearing on October 17to protest the court's move.

The trial is being conducted atAdiala Jail due to security concernsand the media has been barred fromattending the proceedings.

Rana was appointed the judgefor the Mumbai attacks case in Julyafter the previous judge was re-moved as part of judicial reforms.Before his appointment, proceedingswere stalled for over a month as thecourt was without a judge.-PTI

‘It is my hope thatGandhi's unbendingcommitment to free-dom will continue toinspire our leaderstoday, and that thetimeless and unalien-able ideals for whichhe struggled will neverbe bartered orforgotten,’ theCongresswoman said

Rana took the step as he felt hewas under pressure from thegovernment and other quarterswith regard to the trial of theseven suspects, including keyLashker-e-Taibaoperatives Zakiur RehmanLakhvi and Zarar Shah

India PostOctober 30, 2009 9

www.indiapost.com

Top Stories

US offers help to modernize India's armed forcesAGRA: Pitching for robust

Indo-US military ties, US Ambas-sador to India Timothy J Roemerhas said that America is ready tosupport India's drive to modern-ize its armed forces.

"The United States is ready tosupport India in its drive to mod-ernize its armed forces," Roemersaid, inaugurating the five-dayCope India 2009 joint air exerciseshere.

The Ambassador also allayedfears over reliability of America asa supplier of defense equipmentto India.

"I know that some are appre-hensive about reliability of the

United States as a supplier of mili-tary equipment to India. I can tellyou that our relationship is far dif-ferent than it was even a few yearsback," he said.

Stating that the Indo-US rela-tionship had come a long waysince those apprehensions wereformed, he said "this is a differentworld today. Our cooperation inthe spheres of energy, science andtechnology, agriculture, educa-tion and development and trade -- all point to an even stronger re-lationship. The defense realm willbe no different."

Referring to the C-130 SuperHercules and the C-17

Globemaster transport aircraft, theUS ambassador said both theseaircraft were US air force's workhorses. "I can assure you that IAFwill be very pleased with the deci-sion to purchase the C-130 J. Yourfirst aircraft will arrive in early2011, a little over a year from now,and it will be everything you hopeit to be. We are proud to partnerwith you on this important pro-gram," he said.

India has ordered for six C-130J aircraft for its special forces op-erations and these aircraft will bebased at the Hindan air base inGhaziabad near the national capi-tal. -PTI

‘No substantive reason for hostilities between India, China’

Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor speaking to the media at Indian Consulate on Oct 18,

Prabhu Dayal, Consul General of India in New York, is at left. Pic Mohammed Jaffer-SnapsIndia



NEW YORK: The world islarge enough for both India andChina, said India’s Minister ofState for External Affairs, ShashiTharoor, who felt minor issuesbetween the two countries shouldnot be “blown out of context”even as he downplayed the recentborder skirmishes on the India-China border as mere “irritants.”

Minister Tharoor who ad-dressed the Indian American me-dia at the Indian Consulate in NewYork on Oct 18, said in responseto a question on China protestingthe visit of Indian Prime MinisterManmohan Singh to the state ofArunachal Pradesh in India(which according to China is a dis-puted region), “I think it’s impor-tant that everyone scale down alittle bit the temperature. It’s notas if there is any substantive rea-son for hostilities between ourcountries.”

He, however, added,“Arunachal Pradesh is an integralpart of the territory of India andany Indian citizen going toArunachal Pradesh is not the busi-ness of any third country.”

Stating that relations betweenIndia and China should be viewedin a broader context, Tharoor said,“It is a relationship which has fea-tured so much development andtrade that China is now our num-ber one trading partner in manu-factured goods.” He pointed outthat as many as 7000 Indians werestudying in China and Indian com-panies like Infosys were hiringChinese workers to work for themin India. “The world is largeenough for both India and Chinato fulfill the needs of their peopleand to be of service to humanity,”he said. “If you look at the nuts

and bolts of our daily interactionon economics we have Indiancompanies that have openedbranches in Shanghai.”

Tharoor said at his meetingwith the Deputy Permanent Rep-resentative of China in the UN, LiuZhenmin, the Chinese diplomathad gone out of his way to bewarm and friendly and to say howmuch he appreciated relationswith India. “And I said this sortof thing should not be happeningbetween our countries…and thatwe should put certain things be-hind us,” the minister said.

The minister made controver-

sial headlines in the Indian mediarecently for his regular feeds onTwitter. Responding to a questionon what he thought of being la-beled as “Twitter Tharoor”, hesaid, “I will not react to labelsgiven by others.” However, he inhis defense, he said Twitter waslike an “interactive Akaashwani”through which he reaches320,000 people regularly. “Anypolitician would love that – to beable to directly reach the people,”he said.

Seeing his Twitter success, hesaid, there was a surge of people– industry captains, celebrities

and film stars — using it al-though other politicians are stillshy for fear of controversy. “Ul-timately, the vision is to use allkinds of technology to our mes-sage out to the public; to improv-ing understanding among thepeople of what the governmentis doing and to demystify gover-nance,” he explained. “In the longterm, people will see the advan-tage of such communication.”

Responding to a question bythis Correspondent on whetherhe has developed the necessarythick skin to deal with mainstreamIndian politics, considering hisnon-political background,Tharoor said, “Politics is themeans to an end for me. I am notspending too much time on theprocess of politics as such. Hav-ing said that, I’d say politics iscomplex and I am learning every-day.”

On the issue of the US Con-gress approving a $7.5 billion aidto Pakistan, Tharoor said Indiahas no issues with the US pro-viding aid to Pakistan. “The onlything we want is that those fundsshould be used for the purposeintended and not for acts againstIndia,” he said.

GUJARAT FAKE ENCOUN-

TERS CONDEMNED: A delega-

tion of Muslim Indian-Ameri-

cans and activists led by

Saeed Patel and including Dr.

Najma Sultana and New Jer-

sey Councilman Mohammed

Hameeduddin met with Minis-

ter of State for External Affairs

Shashi Tharoor at the Indian

Consulate in New York on Oct

19, to condemn the alleged

fake encounter killings in

Gujarat. The delegation had a

substantial conversation about

inter-religious relations both in

the US and in India. They con-

demned terrorism in all its

forms and pledged their sup-

port to the US in its fight against

terrorism.

US wants India to be full partnerin non-proliferation efforts

WASHINGTON: Describingthe Indo-US nuclear deal as partof a broader strategic dialoguebetween the two countries, theObama administration has said itwants India to be a major playerin its overall non-proliferation ef-forts and views the country as a"full partner" on the issue.

"We want them (India) to re-ally be a major player at the tablein trying to figure outhow, starting fromwhere we are rightnow, we go forward inan effective, verifiablemanner to reinstate anon-proliferation re-gime that can preventfurther countries ac-quiring nuclear weap-ons, or even peacefulnuclear capacity with-out the safeguardsthat we envision," Secretary ofState Hillary Clinton said.

"So we see India as a full part-ner in this effort, and we look for-ward to working with them as wetry to come up with the 21st cen-tury version of the NPT," she saidat the US Institute of Peace in re-sponse to a question on Indo-UScivilian nuclear deal and the com-mitment of the Obama Adminis-tration towards this.

The Indo-US nuclear deal,

Clinton said, is embedded in abroader strategic dialogue that theUS is engaged in with the Indi-ans.

"We view our relationship asone that is comprehensive andvery deep in terms of the issuesthat we wish to explore with ourIndian counterparts in the areaswhere we are either already or lookto cooperate," Clinton said.

"I think it is very significantthat the first official visit in theObama administration will be inNovember, when Prime Minister(Manmohan) Singh arrives," theSecretary of State said.

The Indo-US nuclear deal,Clinton said, is being supportedby both her and President BarackObama. The agreement is one thatreflects the negotiations betweenIndia and the United States, shesaid.-PTI

‘We view our relationship asone that is comprehensiveand very deep in terms ofthe issues that we wish toexplore with our Indiancounterparts’


www.indiapost.com

Top StoriesObama Administration to consult

India on its Burma policyWASHINGTON: As the Obama

Administration moves ahead withits new policy of engaging theBurmese military junta, a top USofficial has said it will activelyconsult India along with China onits new strategy.

Assistant Secretary of State forEast Asia and Pacific Affairs KurtCampbell told US lawmakers thathe would be traveling to India incoming week to discusswith its leaders the ob-jectives of the newBurma policy of restora-tion democracy in thecountry and protectinghuman rights.

Campbell was inBeijing earlier and metsenior Chinese officialswho focus on Burma.

"I think it would be fair to say -- to characterize those discussionsfirst by saying that the Chineseare intensely interested in our pro-

posed dialogues. They see thatthe US is stepping up its overallengagement in Southeast Asia.They are watching that carefully,"he said during a hearing on Burmaby the House Committee on For-eign Affairs.

"I asked specifically for Chi-nese assistance particularly interms of establishing a dialoguewith internal parties in advance

of the 2010 elections, and I askedfor China's overall support forthe US policy of engagement,"he said. -PTI

Pak SC fines federal, Punjabgovts in Saeed case

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's Su-preme Court hearing petitionsagainst the release from housearrest of JuD chief Hafiz Saeed,blamed by India for mastermind-ing Mumbai attacks, has imposedfine of Rs 10,000 each on federaland Punjab governments for de-laying the case with their "non-cooperative attitude".

An apex court bench headedby Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhryalso adjourned the mater for amonth.

During the hearing, the benchfirst temporarily adjourned pro-ceedings after it was informed thatPunjab government's counsel waspre-occupied with another case.

Later, the apex court adjournedthe matter for a month after im-posing the fine of Rs 10,000 eachon the federal and Punjab govern-ments for delaying the case andtheir "non-cooperative attitude."

Saeed, also the founder of LeT,was placed under house arrest inDecember last year after the UNSecurity Council declared the JuDa terrorist group. He was freed on

the orders of the Lahore HighCourt on June 2.

Subsequently, the federal andPunjab governments filed two

petitions in the Supreme Court tochallenge the High Court's order.

The case floundered after thePunjab government said it wantedto withdraw its petition and theprovince's Advocate General RazaFarooq resigned from his post inAugust.

On August 3, the SupremeCourt had adjourned the hearingof the two petitions for an unspeci-fied period.

Sources said the PML-N-ledgovernment in Punjab is appar-ently not keen on pursuing thecase against Saeed as it believesthere is no evidence linking himto terrorist activities.

Interior Minister Rehman Maliksaid that Pakistani authoritieswould not act against Saeed onthe "dictation" of India.

He said action could not betaken against the JuD chief in theabsence of evidence. -PTI

'Pakistan could be unwitting sourceof terror attack on US'

WASHINGTON: If the contin-ued bold terror attacks in Pakistanremains unchecked, the nuclear-armed nation could be an unwit-ting source of a major terrorist at-tack on the US with weapons ofmass destruction, a report by a bi-partisan Congressional Commis-sion has warned.

Noting that Pakistan remainsthe geographic crossroads for ter-rorism and weapons of mass de-struction, the report said that the"increasingly bold attacks on wellguarded military, police and UNtargets indicate that the Taliban,al-Qaeda and other militant

groups within Pakistan are a grow-ing threat."

"The current trends, if left un-checked, will increase the oddsthat al-Qaeda will successfullydevelop and use a biologicalweapon or a nuclear deviceagainst the United States or its al-lies," the report by the Commis-sion on the Prevention of Weap-ons of Mass Destruction Prolif-eration and Terrorism said.

"Fear of continued turmoil inPakistan reinforces theCommission's concerns that thecountry could be an unwittingsource of a terrorist attack on the

United States, possibly withweapons of mass destruction,"the Commission headed by formerSenator Bob Graham said in itsinterim report.

The Commission is a legacy ofthe Joint Inquiry into IntelligenceCommunity Activities Before andAfter the Terrorist Attacks of 9/11and the National Commission onTerrorist Attacks Upon the US(the 9/11 Commission).

It was established by the USCongress to address the gravethreat that the proliferation ofweapons of mass destructionposes to the United States. -PTI

Pak helping Jihadi groupsconsolidate in PoK

LONDON: Lashkar-e-Toibaand other Pakistani jihadi groupsare entrenching themselves inPakistan-Occupied Kashmir andthe local government apparentlyunder pressure from Islamabad isproviding them official facilities,a spokesman of the United Kash-mir People's National Party(UKPNP) has said.

Mujtaba Ali Shah, Secretary ofUKPNP, said that LeT and mili-tants from other jihadi groupswere being accommodated instate-run schools and madrassasin PoK.

"I myself have witnessed thefact that the Lashkar-e-Toeba and

other jihadi groups have en-trenched their positions in PoKand the puppet government therehas instructed the local adminis-tration to accommodate the Paki-stani and other jihadis by allmeans possible", Shah said whileaddressing the 'Black-Day Confer-ence' on Kashmir in Watford, nearhere.

He said when local people pro-tested the activities of the LeTmilitants in PoK, they were mur-dered or disappeared.

The comments by the Britain-based PoK leader of the presenceand mushrooming of LeT andother Pakistani jihadi groups inoccupied Kashmir comes as NewDelhi has been pointing to thepresence of militant camps acrossthe border.

The Conference, organized byKashmir National Party, con-demned "tribal invasion" ofJammu and Kashmir in 1947,charging it was planned and sup-ported by the government of Pa-kistan. -PTI

The apex courtimposed the fine ofRs 10,000 each onthe federal andPunjab governmentsfor delaying thecase and their‘non-cooperativeattitude’

He would be traveling to Indiain coming week to discusswith its leaders the objectivesof the new Burma policy

He said when localpeople protested theactivities of the LeTmilitants in PoK, theywere murdered ordisappeared

IN NASHEEDíS HONOR:

Under Secretary General,

United Nations Department

of Economic and Social

Affairs (UNDESA) Sha

Zukang, Maldives President

Mohamed Nasheed and

Indian Prime Minister

Manmohan Singh attend the

Delhi High Level Conference

on Climate Change

Technology Development

and Transfer in New Delhi

on October 22. Singh

inaugurated the two-day

conference with the low-lying

island nationís president

as Guest of Honor


India Post www.indiapost.com October 30, 2009

COMMUNITYACROSS AMERICA

Details on page 1812

Details on page 13

Desi News

Details on page 17

Details on page 15

Thousands celebrate Diwaliin Chicagoland

ANUPAMA PATEL

CHICAGO: Indian Americansacross Chicagoland celebratedDiwali and New Year with quitepomp gusto and religious fervor.Thousands of devotees flocked todifferent temples and socio reli-

gious organizations where Diwalicelebrations were held.

The biggest among all was theBartlett facility of BochasanwasiAkshar Purshottam SwaminarayanMandir (BAPS) where a crowd of

Devotional singing at Gayatri Gyan Mandir.Diwali at Gayatri Gyan Mandir

eight to ten thousands devoteesflocked for two days culminatingon Annakut on Sunday October18.

Other temples that had largegatherings were Hindu Temple of

Greater Chicago in Lemont, BalajiTemple in Aurora, Shree Ji Haveliin Addison, Manav Seva Mandirin Bensenville, Gayatri GyanMandir in Itasca and a few others.

Cont’d on page 13

Chicago Mayor joins Etihad celebrationAQ SIDDIQUI


CHICAGO: The Etihad Airwayshas good reasons to celebrate - asuccessful launch of its non-stopChicago Abu Dhabi and beyondservice on September 2, an over-whelming response from travelersfrom the very first day of its ser-vice, and a sold out status for nexttwo months for most India andPakistan destinations.

The local office now headed byEtihad Vice-President Denise Harvillcombined the celebration to wel-come Etihad's Chief Executive Of-ficer, James Hogan in Chicago from

Abu Dhabi. Chicago Mayor Rich-ard M Daley joined the crowded galadinner celebrations adding moregusto and glory to the grand event.The Etihad Airways success cel-ebration fete was held at Hotel Pen-insula in down town Chicago.

"I have been asked why there isno Premium Economy in Etihad, Isaid all seats in economy class aremade premium class," said JamesHogan. Amidst applause from thecrowded gathering of travel agents,local media persons, prominent In-dian, Pakistani and Arab commu-nities, James Hogan briefly spokeabout the success story of Etihad.

Cont’d on page 14

Denise Harvill with Indian community members L-R Ranjit Ganguly, Anil Pillay,

Denise Harvill, a guest, Iftekhar Shareef and Anwar Ali of Chicago Etihad

Yoga ScienceCamp at GandhiCenter

ASHWIN PATEL

ST. LOUIS: A three-day FreeYoga Camp is being organizedfrom October 30 to November 1 atMahatma Gandhi Center (HinduTemple) in Ballwin, St Louis, MO.

A young couple, Sunil andPooja Sharma, who have been in-spired by globally famed SwamiRamdev would conduct this camp.Sunil Sharma, a Software profes-sional and Pooja holding a doc-torate degree in Biotechnologylearned Swami Ram Dev's methodsof Yoga and have been practicingand teaching the techniques toothers in USA free of charge.

Grand DiwaliParva at JainMandir

HEMANT SHAH

CHICAGO: Jain Society of Met-ropolitan Chicago (JSMC) at itsBartlett, Illinois temple celebratedDipawali Parva that featured"Ghantakarna Veer Poojan", cul-tural programs, "Rangoli","Mahavir Nirvan Ladoo","Samadhi Maran Mala" and"Temple Dwar opening".

On this occasion, JSMC inviteda noted Vidhikar Shri NarendraNandu, from Mumbai who per-formed various rituals andpoojans.

Enchantingperformance ofLittle Rani

ASHWIN PATEL

ST. LOUIS: Dances of India pre-sented a breathtaking spectacle ofenchanting choreography, poeticnarration, and creative staging andset design in its 32nd annual sea-son Premiere Performance, TheLittle Rani. The event took placeat Washington University'sEdison Theatre last month.

Gaiety & fervorat FremontTemple Diwali

The heartening feature thisyear for all Indian Americans wasthat the US President BarackObama took lead in joining Diwalicelebrations at White House andVatican Pope Benedict XVI greet-ing Hindus across the world. Lo-cally, the City of Naperville issueda 'Diwali Proclamation' which de-clared Oct 17-19 as Diwali Indianfestival of Light. The City of Au-rora has already given Diwali proc-lamation to Hindu Swamyak SevakSangh that declared October17-19Festival of Light days in Aurora.

This year HSS and Sewa Inter-national organized food collectiondrive with Diwali spirit of care andshare. Many Indian grocery storesof Naperville and Michaels Veg.Market and others participated inthis noble cause of giving back tothe society in which we live.

It would be a gross understate-ment to say that Indian Americansacross USA were overjoyed whenthey come to know that the US

President Barack Obama partici-pated in Diwali celebrations atWhite House in Washington DCon last Wednesday. The stretch-ing their joy further many nowbegan hoping that the day is notfar off when Diwali could be de-clared a holiday here also.

Vatican Pope Benedict also wonthe hearts of Indians here whenhe chose to greet Hindu friendson Deepavali. Titled "Christiansand Hindus: Committed to IntegralHuman Development, and greet-ing millions of Hindus on the oc-casion of Diwali on Saturday, itcalled for greater unity and reli-gious tolerance. The messagereads: "Dear Hindu Friends...ahappy Deepavali (Diwali)! Reli-gious Festivals enable us to revi-talize our relationship with Godand one another,"

"Penn Masala", world's firstHindi a-cappella group of studentsat the University of Pennsylvaniawhich combines South Asian mu-sic with a Western musical style,performed. Indian mithai (sweetmeat)

was distributed on the occasion.Diwali celebrations across

Chicagoland were galore withLemont Hindu Temple at Lemont,Balaji Temple and Sai Temple inAurora, Manav Seva Mandir inBensenville, BAPS in Bartlett,

Itasca Swminarayan Mandir inItasca, Wheeling SwaminaryanMandir, Radhey Shyam Mandir inBloomingdale Gayatri GyanMandir in Addison, GayatriShaktipeeth in Chicago, and hosts

of other socio-religious organiza-tions announcing and holding cel-ebrations on grand scale.

While the Diwali fervor is quitenoticeable and visible acrossChicagoland, the impact of ad-verse economic conditions is be-ing felt too. Shopkeepers in gen-eral and Jewelers in particularseemed less enthusiastic overslackness in demand. A leadingjeweler in Woodridge said that this"was probably the worst periodthat he faced in his two decadeslong business."

The number of devotees goingto different temples however,showed a remarkable increase andmost of the temples had gala cel-ebrations and grand participationfrom the people. The limelight wasstolen as usual by BAPS(Swaminarayan Temple) in Bartlettwhich had a crowded Annakootcelebration on Sunday. Indian CGAshok Kumar Attri with his wifeMs Usha Attri were present alongwith Mayor of Bartlett Mike Kelly,State Senator John Milner, State

Thousands celebrate Diwali in ChicagolandRepresentative Randy Ramey,Democratic candidate for IllinoisComptroller Raja Krishnamoorthiand Justice Ann Jorgensen andother dignitaries.

Gayatri Gyan Mandir in Itascawas another place where devoteesflocked to have Diwali celebration.One of the highlights was devo-tional singing by Gayatri priestson the premise. Over 500 had gath-ered and had Prasad. Shree JiHaveli in Addison had thousandsflocking to have Annakut darshan.Shree Ji Haveli is a temple cum re-ligious meeting place forVaishnavites and has been estab-lished only three years ago. Themanagement plans expansion forparking and other facilities.

Iskcon was another place wherehundreds from Chicago Metroarea went to participate inAnnakoot and Govardhan Puja.This is among the oldest templesin Chicagoland and has a hugenumber of followings, said AjitGandhi, a regular visitor to thetemple.


Grand Diwali Parva at Jain MandirHEMANT SHAH

CHICAGO: Jain Society of MetropolitanChicago (JSMC) at its Bartlett, Illinois templecelebrated Dipawali Parva that featured"Ghantakarna Veer Poojan", cultural pro-grams, "Rangoli", "Mahavir Nirvan Ladoo","Samadhi Maran Mala" and "Temple Dwaropening".

On this occasion, JSMC invited a notedVidhikar Shri Narendra Nandu, from Mumbaiwho performed various rituals and poojans.Newly inaugurated temple facility was re-opened after beautiful marble floor work andspecial ceremony was conducted with aritual of 18 Abhishek. This day about 40JSMC Education Center students performedamazing concept in a play "Jain History. Inthe evening, Diwali-Milan and musical en-tertainment program was arranged. Morethan 2000 visitors prayed in this new templefacility during this weekend.

Alongwith "Mahavir Nirvan Ladoo" and"Samadhi Maran Mala" Jain Society alsocelebrated the "Varsi-tap" Parana of Ms. AmiParekh who performed year-long fasting.This fast is very rigorous since it entails awhole year of "tap" with eating no food onalternate days while following the pre-scribed rules.

Deepawali is the most important festivalin India. For the Jains, it is the second mostafter the Paryusana Parva. For Jains Diwalimarks the anniversary of Lord Mahavir'smoksha. Mahavir attained moksha on thisday in 527 B.C. (and also of the achieve-ment of total knowledge, omniscience, byhis chief follower, Gautama Indrabhuti). Thefestival falls on the last day of the month ofAshvina, the end of the year as per Indiancalendar.

The celebration starts in the early morn-ing of the previous day, for it was then thatLord Mahavira commenced His last sermon

which lasted till late in the night of Diwali. Itis narrated that the eighteen kings of north-ern India who were in His audience decided

that the light of their master's knowledgewould be kept alive symbolically by light-ing of the lamps. Hence it is called Dipawali,(dipa means lamp), or Diwali

Lord Mahavir is twenty-fourth and thelast Tirthankara of the Jain religion. Accord-ing to Jain philosophy, all Tirthankaras wereborn as human beings but they attained astate of perfection or enlightenment throughmeditation and self realization. Tirthankarasare also known as Arihants or Jinas. Jainismis a religion and a way of life.

Founded in 1970, JSMC is a non-profit bodyorganizing various educational, religious andcommunity activities on its 15.4-acre facilityin Bartlett. JSMC is a member of the Federa-tion of Jain Associations in North America(JAINA). Since 1993, this facility with a mem-bership of more than 1,500 families, is the meet-ing place of Jains across Midwest.

Members of Jain Society offer Poojan to Ghantkaran

AIIS offerslanguagestudies in IndiaIndia Post News Service

NEW YORK: The American Institute ofIndian Studies (AIIS) is offering languagestudy in India between Sept-December 2010.The languages on offer are Hindi (Jaipur);Bengali (Kolkata); Tamil (Madurai); Punjabi(Mohali); Sanskrit (Pune); Malayalam(Thiruvan-anthapuram); Marathi (Pune); andUrdu (Lucknow).

The deadline for applications is Jan 31,2010. AIIS will offer instruction in Bengali,Hindi, Malayalam, Marathi, Sanskrit, Tamil,and Urdu as well as other languages if thereis interest. Instruction in Bengali, Hindi and

Urdu will be offered at all levels. Students forother languages must have had two years oflanguage study in order to participate.

Instruction will be offered at the AIISLanguage Centers and the program will beadministered in India by AIIS staff. The pro-gram fee for the fall semester program is$3,000, which includes a monthly stipend tocover living expenses. Fellowships are notavailable for the fall semester program so stu-dents need to procure their own funding andpurchase their own plane tickets to India.

For applications and other informationgo to [email protected] or

http://www.indiastudies.orgThe American Institute of Indian Stud-

ies is a cooperative, non-profit organization,whose members are American colleges anduniversities with a special interest in Indianstudies.

Illinois

New York

October 30, 2009 India PostCommunity Across Americawww.indiapost.com

13

For Jains Diwali marks theanniversary of Lord Mahavir'smoksha. Mahavir attainedmoksha on this day in 527B.C. (and also of theachievement of total knowl-edge, omniscience, by hischief follower, GautamaIndrabhuti)

Gayatri Gyan Mandirin Itasca was anotherplace where devoteesflocked to have Diwalicelebration. One ofthe highlights wasdevotional singing byGayatri priests onthe premise

October 30, 2009India Post14 Community Across Americawww.indiapost.com

He thanked Mayor RichardDaley and invited guests for join-ing the event. Denise Harvill alsojoined James Hogan on the po-dium and together they thankedall for supporting Etihad.

Mayor Daley in his address re-marked that Etihad service hasbrought the city of Abu Dhabicloser to Chicago. He said Chi-cago has been a city of immigrantsof diverse ethnicity and Arabs wereamong the earlier immigrants com-ing to Chicago. The celebrationevent was remarkable in many re-spects. While all the Etihad con-solidator and their travel agentswere invited, there were prominentpersons from Indian, Pakistani andArab communities.

All the FIA (Federation of In-dian Associations in Chicago) men- former president Iftekhar Shareef,members Ranjit Ganguly, KeerthiKumar Ravoori and others werepresent together with the otherside of fence, the Pakistan DayParade Committee members led bySyed Umar and HameedullahKhan. From among Etihad consoli-dator travel agents, Umesh andArvind Shah of Sky Bird Travel,Birju and Bhagat from Krisbi,

Mafat Patel from Air Tours,Sampat from Hari World Travel,Talath & Siddiqui from Evia Travel,Ali & Zubair from Pleasant Traveland Rizwan from RK Travel werealso present. The unique assem-bly was a symbol of Etihad's wellplanned service flying maximumIndian and Pakistani communitymembers from Chicago. The non-stop service from Chicago to AbuDhabi has a feather in its cap - it

Chicago Mayor joins Etihad celebration

has ready non-stop flights fromAbu Dhabi within two hours tran-sit time to most cities in India andPakistan. The timings both at ar-rival and departure for all citiesfrom Abu Dhabi are well conceivedand comfortable for travelers. TheIndian and Pakistani passengersfrom Chicago will go direct toMumbai, Hyderabad, Kochi,Trivandrum, and Delhi and toKarachi, Lahore, Islamabad in Pa-

kistan. The transit time remains atminimum for the returning passen-gers from India and Pakistan.

Etihad has also offered mostcompetitive fares for all destina-tions in India and Pakistan. It an-nounced special rebates on Indiaand Pakistan Independence Daycelebrations. The Etihad local of-fice also announced a $25 dis-count as Diwali gift for Indian pas-sengers through travel agents.

Chicago Mayor with CEO James Hogan Etihad CEO James Hogan with Denise Harvill


The unique assemblywas a symbol ofEtihad's well plannedservice flying maxi-mum Indian andPakistani communitymembers fromChicago

Enchanting performanceof Little Rani

ASHWIN PATEL

ST. LOUIS: Dances of India pre-sented a breathtaking spectacle ofenchanting choreography, poeticnarration, and creative staging andset design in its 32nd annual sea-son Premiere Performance, TheLittle Rani. The event took placeat Washington University's

Edison Theatre last month.This dance-drama, based on the

beloved children's classic TheLittle Princess, entertained bothyoung-at-heart and the youngwith its seamless harmony of per-fectly-chosen music, beautifullynarrated script, and expertly per-formed Bharat Natyam.

Asha Prem, the Artistic Direc-tor of Dances of India, has a keeneye in assigning dancers to the

roles and dances that suit thembest, thereby highlighting to theutmost each dancer's unique indi-vidual talent and skill.

An American girl played the leadrole in the drama-a rare event in theworld of Indian dance. Hope Gregory,at just 11 years old, played the role ofThe Little Princess with charm, con-fidence, and very well-executed ex-pression and hand gestures.

The audience at the event, heldat Washington University'sEdison Theatre on the weekend ofSeptember 18-20, was truly takenby the visually stunning perfor-mance. Several spectators at-tended two performances of theevent-indeed, one of the audiencemembers was overheard saying, "Ifeel like we're at the Fox!" (a pre-miere St. Louis theatre whichhosts Broadway musicals.)

A scene from the Little Princess dance performance

Children's Hope gala raises $500,000India Post News Service

NEW YORK: It was a short tripfrom US to Rajasthan, no air travelinvolved. Over 500 people went onthis magic journey when they cameto the Grand Hyatt Hotel nearGrand Central for the much antici-pated Children's Hope Gala, AnEvening in Rajasthan.

The ambiance was royalRajasthan and the venue was madeauthentic complete with an ancientbazaar where one could buyRajasthani crafts and puppets, gour-met chocolates and vegetariancakes, silver jewelry and all the luxurydelights of silent auction items.

The evening's host was SarinaJain, the fitness celebrity who isherself Rajasthani. Dr. DinaPahlajani, president of Children'sHope India, spoke about the manyprojects undertaken by this NYbased non profit group.

"Today's Gala is a celebrationof a successful partnership," she

Lotus award winners Ravi and Virginia Akhoury with CG Dayal

Professor Surendra Kaushik receives the Making a Difference Award

from HSBC Private Bank as CH board member Maya

Rajani looks on.

said. "It is a partnership betweena group that is passionate about acause and the generosity ofpeople who believe that their goodfortune is to be shared with theless fortunate on this planet, nomatter where they may be. The endresult of this partnership is thesuccess story of CH."

The chief guests were PadmajaKumari Mewar from the RoyalHouse of Mewar, Rajasthan, andthe Consul General of India, Am-bassador Prabhu Dayal. Over 500people from the worlds of finance,medicine, arts and business werethere to support the cause.

Padmaja Kumari told the as-

sembled guests, "It is an honor tobe here this evening celebratingnot only the glorious culture ofRajasthan but also celebrating youfor your generosity in support ofChildren's Hope India, which inturn supports so many aspects ofchildren's lives.

Cont’d on page 17

Ramayana dance dramaenthralls Chicagoans

MOHINDER SHARMA

CHICAGO: InternationalRamayana Institute of NorthAmerica (IRINA) presented itsninth Ramayana Dance Drama de-picting the various Ramayana epi-sodes last week at the auditoriumof the Northeastern Illinois Uni-versity, Chicago.

This Institute was founded inyear 2000 to promote and facilitatethe literary, artistic, and scientificaspects of Ramayana throughoutthe world. IRINA has been con-tinuously organizing dramasbased on Ramayana for the pastnine year consistently in collabo-ration with similar organizations inIndonesia and Thailand

The presentation was the fruitof joint efforts of three nations

St. Louis

New York

Illinois

community organizations from In-donesia, India and Thailand ledby I Nyoman Mahartayasa (presi-dent), Dr. Subhash Pandey ( Pastpresident & Trustee),and JutarutSuntharanund ( immediate past

president & trustee), respectively.The dance drama was choreo-

graphed and presented by threeleading Asian dance Institutionsnamely: Indonesian performingArts Chicago, Mudra dance Acad-emy and Thai Cultural and FineArts Institute. This year India wasrepresented by Mudra DanceAcademy under directorship ofMrs. Kshama Shah. More than 300people attended Ramayana dancedrama which was performed bymore than 100 artists from threecountries.

The first episode was the Ab-duction of Sita called Sita Haran.It was presented by IndonesiaPerforming Arts Chicago whoseChoreographer was Putu OkaMardiani Asnawa

Ramayana episode performed by Indonesian artists

Ramayana episode performed by Indian artists Cont’d on page 17


15

The chief guest wasPadmaja KumariMewar from the RoyalHouse of Mewar,Rajasthan

October 30, 2009India Post16 Community Across Americawww.indiapost.com

Children present Indian cultural show

Cultural presentation by school children

SURENDRA ULLAL


CHICAGO: Students of theForeign Language Club atChurchill (Elementary 3rd and 4thgraders) School, Dist. 54 HoffmanEstate, a north side suburb ofChicago, presented an interestingprogram and superbly portrayedtheir understanding of SouthAsian languages, poems and folkdances last week at Readers The-atre of the School.

This was a cultural programchoreographed and directed by

Rashmi Gandhi and Evelyn Jada,who were also the co-sponsorsof the Club. Talking to India PostRashmi Gandhi explained that thisis the second anniversary of theForeign Language Club in thisschool. Here children learn Hindialphabet, reading and writing, re-cital of Hindi poems, both popu-lar from popular Hindi moviesand from the Indian folk lore, es-pecially from the region of Gujarat.They hoped that other linguisticitineraries would be added in fu-ture.

Performance of Raas Garba

and an item from the popularmovie, Slum-Dog Millionaire weredone by the children exception-ally well, scores of non-southAsian Children participating withequal vigor and enthusiasm. Prin-cipal Craig Gaska and both teach-

ers, Rashmi and Evelyn joined thefray of entertainment and dancedwith children to the tunes ofsongs.

Rashmi Gandhi has been do-ing presentations on Indiathroughout School District 54schools in Schaumburg for thelast 18 years. Rashmi Gandhithanked the Principal, studentsand the media for their support atthe conclusion.

RAJPUT HONORED:

Hamdard Center honored an

Indian community activist

and vice president of FIA,

Sher Muhammed Rajput,

with its prestigious

"Outstanding Community

Service Award" at its

seventeenth annual gala on

Saturday, October 10.

Hamdard Center is a

Chicago-based premier

health and human services

organization, serving

individuals and families by

offering hope, help, and

healing to Chicago and

suburban communities for

the last 17 years. The

event was held at Donald E.

Stephen Convention Center

in Rosemont, IL. Seen in the

picture Sher Rajput (left)

with Dr. Hamid.

Yoga Science Camp atMahatma Gandhi Center

ASHWIN PATEL

ST. LOUIS: A three-day FreeYoga Camp is being organizedfrom October 30 to November 1 atMahatma Gandhi Center (HinduTemple) in Ballwin, St Louis, MO.

A young couple, Sunil andPooja Sharma, who have been in-spired by globally famed SwamiRamdev would conduct this camp.Sunil Sharma, a Software profes-sional and Pooja holding a doc-torate degree in Biotechnologylearned Swami Ram Dev's methodsof Yoga and have been practicingand teaching the techniques toothers in USA free of charge.They conducted a six-day YogaCamp at Mahatma Gandhi Centerin April of this year which was ahuge success. That camp was at-tended by more than 120 peoples.

Sunil and Pooja will conducttwo and half hour session eachday on Friday, Saturday and Sun-day. For the convenience of theparticipants the session on Fridaywill be from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. andon weekend the Yoga sessions willbe conducted from 7:a.m. to 9:30a.m. The session will be open forall irrespective of class, color reli-gions, nationality and age.

Swami Ramdev advocates the

use of Pran (Oxygen) as a medi-cine to alleviate physical ailments.This has helped in treating millionsof grief stricken persons sufferingfrom diseases like diabetes, bloodpressure, blockages in arteries,obesity, migraine, thyroid, arthri-tis, cancer, etc. He has himself

taught Yoga and Pranayama(breathing exercise) in person tomillions of peoples worldwide andeveryday he reaches out to mil-lions more through electronic me-dia like TV/Internet.

These yoga sessions are freeand participants will be taken on"first come fist served" basis.

Prabhupada's 32nd disappearanceanniversary Oct 21

SATCHITANANDA DASA

His Divine Grace A. C.Bhaktivedanta SwamiPrabhupada appeared in

this world in 1896 in Calcutta, In-dia.

He first met his spiritual master,Srila Bhaktisiddhanta SarasvatiGosvami, in Calcutta in 1922.Bhaktisiddhanta SarasvatiGoswmai, a prominent religiousscholar and the founder of sixty-four Gaudiya Mathas (Vedic insti-tutes) in India, liked this educatedyoung man and convinced him todedicate his life to teaching Vedicknowledge. Srila Prabhupada be-came his student and, in 1933, his

formally initiated disciple.At their first meeting Srila

Bhaktisiddhanta SarasvatiGoswami requested SrilaPrabhupada to broadcast Vedicknowledge in English. In the yearsthat followed, Srila Prabhupadawrote a commentary on theBhagavad-gita, assisted theGaudiya Matha in its work, and, in1944, started Back to Godhead, anEnglish fortnightly magazine.Single-handedly, Srila Prabhupadaedited it, typed the manuscripts,

checked the galley proofs, andeven distributed the individualcopies. The magazine is now be-ing continued by his disciples inthe West.

In 1950 Srila Prabhupada retiredfrom married life, adopting the

vanaprastha (retired) order to de-vote more time to his studies andwriting.

He traveled to the holy city ofVrndavana, where he lived inhumble circumstances in the his-toric temple of Radha- Damodara.

(For details logon to:indiapost.com)

A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami

Prabhupada

Illinois

St. Louis

St. Louis

Here children learnHindi alphabet, read-ing and writing, recitalof Hindi poems, bothpopular from popularHindi movies

Sunil Sharma, a Soft-ware professional andPooja holding a doc-torate degree in Bio-technology learnedSwami Ram Dev'smethods of Yoga andhave been practicingand teaching thetechniques

What strikes me the most is thatCHI programs also support an in-tangible but no less important as-pect: namely, children's selfworth."

The evening honored AJ andPoonam Khubani, Founders ofTelebrands International, with theLotus Award for excellence in cor-porate social responsibility. RaviAkhoury, former Chairman andCEO of Mackay Shields and atrustee of AIF and Rubin Museum,and Virginia Akhoury were alsorecognized with the Lotus Award.The Making a Difference Award

was presented to Dr. SurendraKaushik for the educational op-portunities provided to youngwomen in Rajasthan through theHelena Kaushik College.

The evening raised a whopping$ 500,000 for children's health andeducation, with pledges still com-ing in.

Children's Hope India is a vol-unteer organization of Indianwomen professionals in New Yorkthat has been raising funds forchildren's health and educationsince 1992. It supports over 20projects across several major cit-ies in India reaching out to over20,000 children per year.

Children's Hope Galaraises $500,000

The second episode talkedabout the fight between Sugreevaand Vali, an integral part ofRamayan as with the help ofSugreeva, Rama's army could fightthe demon Ravana. It was pre-sented by Mudra Dance Academy.

The third episode related to theConstruction of the Causeway toLongka - Ram Setu. It was pre-sented by the Thai Cultural andFine Arts Institute and Choreog-raphers were JutarutSuntharanund and AmmanJatuprayoon. Director of ThaiCulture division, PatcharaSubanajouy, did a remarkable jobdepicting in detail this topic. RamSetu had sprung into controversyrecently in India as many ques-tioned its very existence.

Kus Folkers, KismetArgoprodipto, Danny Nicky, PutriAulia Kusumo - all emceeing thepresentation did an outstandingjob of introducing each episodewith detailed narration of eachepisode.

On this occasion dance direc-tors: Mrs. Kshma Shah, Mrs.

Jutarut Suntharanund, and Mr.Putu Oka Mardiani Asnawa werealso recognized by IRINA for theiroutstanding choreography to thisyear's Ramayana Dance Drama.The immediate past President,Mrs. Jutarut Suntharanund alsoreceived a plaque as a token of ap-preciation for her excellent serviceto the Institute as a president from2007-2008.

Several dignitaries, such ascongressman Bobby Rush, Gov-ernor Pat Quinn, Secretary of StateJesse White, Mayor Richard M.Daley, Consul General of Indone-sia, Stephanus M Suwaryanto;Consul General of India, AshokKumar Attri; Consul General ofThailand, Narong Sasitorn con-veyed their greetings on this oc-casion.

The next program by the insti-tute in collaboration with North-ern Illinois University and Univer-sity of Illinois at UrbanaChampaign will be the Third In-ternational Ramayana conferencefrom September 17-19, 2010. Thetheme of the conference will be"Educational and Cultural En-hancement."



Ramayana dance dramaenthralls Chicagoans

IAMA to hold its annual meet on Nov 7India Post News Service

CHICAGO: Indian American MedicalAssociation (IAMA) Illinois will hold its29th Annual Meeting and Banquet on Sat-urday, Nov 7 at Waterford Banquet, inElmhurst, a Chicago suburb, at 5-30 pm.

Dr. Utpal Parekh, IAMA president toldIndian ethnic media that Illinois GovernorPat Quinn has agreed to attend the meetingand will be the chief guest of the event. Hesaid that a high ranking AMA official hasalso consented to come if the health reform

talks in Washington do not require his pres-ence there.

Dr. Parekh said that IAMA website has

been receiving good number hits and isgetting more and more popular. He also saidthat the nomination committee for the IAMA2010 officers slate has approved the slatepresented by President-elect Dr. AshokFulambarker. The nominating committeemembers were: Drs. Deepak Mittal, UtpalParekh, Ashok Fulambarker, Raji Srinivasanand Kamal Patel.

The 2010 IAMA officers list is as follows:President Dr Ashok Fulambarker, President-elect Annita John, Secretary Dr Aruna Vade,Secretary-elect Dr Raj Arora, Treasurer DrKirti Talsania.

Illinois Governor Pate Quinn

Illinois


17

Illinois Governor Pat Quinnhas agreed to attend themeeting and will be thechief guest of the event

October 30, 2009India Post18 Community/Californiawww.indiapost.com

Details on page 19

Details on page 23

Gaiety & fervor at FremontTemple Diwali


FREMONT: The festival ofDiwali was celebrated with gaietyand fervor in the Fremont HinduTemple. The Diwali Mela orga-nized at the temple

had more than 25 booths show-casing jewelry, mehandi, kids cor-ner, games, foodstalls, insurance,clothes , nonprofit , silvercoins etc. TheDiwali MelaChair DeepakChhabra saidthere were morethan 4000 visi-tors this year inthe Diwali Mela.

There wasQuiz Competitionfor kids of agegroup 5 -12.There were 4 teams with 40 kidsparticipating. The Quiz was co-ordinated by Ajay and VinitaBhutoria. Vinita Bhutoria andManorma Joshi were the Quiz mas-ters. Kids and parents enthusias-tically answered the six rounds ofquiz questions on India culture,religion, history and world current

affairs.Vijay Aasuri, Chair of Cultural

Committee, put together an awe-some cultural program from 1pm -

6pm. Kids of all ages presentedbeautiful dance numbers basedon Bollywood and classical mu-sic.

In the evening dignitaries at-tended and addressed the gather-ing. Dr Romesh Japra wished allthe devotees Happy Diwali andreminded it was a great way to

share our culture with the youngergeneration. Senator Ellen Corbettaddressed the gathering and saidDiwali is the festival signifying thevictory of good over evil, spread-ing light over darkness and dis-pensing knowledge over igno-rance. Senator Corbett presenteda Resolution to Honor Dr Romesh

Japra for hisGreat Contribu-tions to the In-dian commu-nity. She alsopresented aCertificate ofHonor to Fre-mont HinduTemple re-ceived by Reli-gious ChairLeela Mathur.

San JoseCouncil Mem-ber Ash Kalraa d d r e s s e d

those assembled and wished themHappy Diwali. Kalra also pre-sented a Certificate of Honor toFremont Hindu Temple received

by Mela Chair Deepak Chhabraand Youth Committee ChairmanAjay Bhutoria.

D i g n i t a r i e sawarded trophiesand certificates towinners of Quizcompetition. RajBhutoria (age 9)and his team wonthe first prize inQuiz competition.Rajesh Verma,Manorma Joshiand Yogi Chughalso wished all theTemple devoteesa Happy Diwali.

There were special Laxmi Pujanand Havan during the day and in

the evening at main hall in theTemple.

In the evening around 3000

people were seen doing darshan,enjoying the bhajans and live per-formances by Bay Area melody

Queen Alka Bhatnagar and herteam. People were busy throng-ing the Food Stall, buying silver

c o i n s ,jewellery andclothes, ex-changing giftsand sweets.

People fromall religionsforget their dif-ferences andget together tocelebrate thisfestival oflights.

Visitors re-marked theTemple lookedvery beautiful

with lights and diyas. Folks camefrom all parts of Bay area to seethe Temple lighting put together

by VeeruVuppala.

It is a greatfestive atmo-sphere andmakes us feel athome, like weare in India, saidAnita Kapoor,Temple Admin-istrator. Anita Jihelped in coor-dinating the ac-tivities andDiwali events.

Anju Gargelected FIA-SCpresidentIndia Post News Service

CERRITOS, CA: Board mem-bers of FIA-SC met at India Caféin Cerritos on October 8 to electnew office bearers. By majorityvote, Anju Garg was elected Presi-dent of FIA-SC for the year 2009-10. All other officers were electedunanimously.

Anju Garg has been living inSouthern California for 23 yearsand has been an active member ofthe Indo-American community.She is an Auditor by professionand co-owner and CFO of Audit-ing firm Insight Examination Ser-vices, Inc.

Details on page 21

Preparations forYuba City SikhParade

ED VASQUEZ

YUBA CITY, CA: The 2009Yuba City Sikh Parade celebratesanother milestone this year. Thismarks the 30th anniversary of aparade that started with humblebeginnings - one float and an es-timated 5,000 Sikhs marchingthrough Yuba City in 1970. Inthree decades the parade hasgrown from a local communityevent to an International one. Eachyear Sikhs travel to Yuba City fromall over the world to partake in oneof the largest devotional celebra-tions in the Western Hemisphere.This year, weather permitting, morethan 75,000 people are expected toparticipate in the 30th Annual cel-ebration.

Kanika Agarwalnamed RichterScholarIndia Post News Service

LOS ANGELES: Caltech cel-ebrated undergraduate researchwith 269 students presenting theirresearch posters, Footsteps, ofover 6000 students who have par-ticipated in Surf and allied pro-grams Murf, Amgen scholars. Col-lectively with support of theirmentors and commentors theyhave contributed to body of sci-entific knowledge.

Kanika Agarwal, a sophomorepremedical student, had a poster pre-sentation 'Identification of lentiviralvector integration sites in a humanfusogenic cell line.' She worked withDavid Baltimore, Robert AndrewsMillikan Professor of Biology, NobelLaureate, President emeritus.

Riverside Temple lights up for Diwali celebrationsVICTORIA TRUVER

RIVERSIDE: The Shri LakshmiNarayan Mandir here remainedcrowded for the Diwali weekendcelebrations, which includedChopda Puja, Lakshmi Puja andAnnakut/Govardhan Puja. Over200 businessmen and womenbrought their books and laptopsfor Chopda Puja, Saturdayevening.

Each bhakta was provided witha small table and samagris. WhilePandit Vipul Jani instructed them,they performed the puja. PanditSeshacharyulu and Pandit VipulJani officiated at the Lakshmi Puja,which followed. Since it was thethird Saturday in October, the

Hundreds of assorted dishes were offered

on the altar before Lakshmi NarayanBusinessmen at Chopda Puja Devotees sat in rows for Chopda Puja

monthly Durga Puja was held. Be-cause it was Diwali, huge crowdsattended and enjoyed listening tobhajans by Amit Anand.

Early Sunday morning PanditSeshacharyulu and Pandit VipulJani dressed the deities in the fin-est garments and carefully pre-pared the altars for the evening'sAnnakut / Govardhan Puja. Stepswere built to receive the offeringsfor Annakut, translating as annameaning food and kut meaningmountain.

The four-foot papier macheMount Govardhan placed at the footof the altar completed the arrange-ments. That evening over 800

many uniquely carved fruits andvegetables. "Traditionally thesefoods were the first to be grownafter the monsoon and offered tothe God of rain, Indra," Dr.Shukavak Dasa explained in hispravachan.

"Krishna's father Nanda ex-plained that we live happily be-cause Indra had given the rain toensure the crops. But Krishna dis-agreed. The cause of happiness andsadness is due to man's karmas.

Krishna stated, "Since we areforest dwellers, from now on weshould offer this food to the cowsand to Mount Govardhan." WhenIndra discovered the offerings had

been stopped, he caused rains toflood Mount Govardhan in an at-tempt to destroy it. With one littlefinger, Krishna raised MountGovardhan and sheltered the resi-dents and cows beneath it."

After midnight the curtain hid-ing the altar from view was takendown and everyone was amazedby the darshan of LakshmiNarayan. The entire Mandir wasdark with all lights out except for alarge diya burning on the altar.

The effect was mesmerizing.After aarti the food was distrib-uted as Maha Prasad. This sancti-fied Prasad signifies starting theNew Year afresh.

bhaktas filled the Mandir, each bring-ing a food offering which was set onthe tiers before Lakshmi Narayan.

The color and variety of thedishes was amazing, including

Diwali celebrated with fun and festivity at BAPS MandirIndia Post News Service

CHINO HILLS: People of allages eagerly look forward to thefestival of lights known as Diwali.Diwali is the mostly widely cel-ebrated Hindu festival, signifyingthe victory of good over evil andmarks the beginning of the HinduNew Year. People clean theirhomes and illuminate them withcolorful lights and divas. Newclothes are worn, traditional Indiansweets are shared and goodwishes to family and friends aresent.

The festivties leading up toDiwali included various rites andrituals beginning with Dhan Teras,in which ones wealth is purifiedand offered to God. It is followedby Kali Choudas during whichHanuman puja is performed toward off evil. On Saturday Octo-ber 17, devotees participated inchopda pujan, a special prayerritual during which account booksare purified and prayers are saidfor a prosperous New Year.

BAPS Shri SwaminarayanMandir in Chino Hills, CA was

buzzing with joy and excitementon Sunday October 18 as devo-

tees congregated to celebrateDiwali. As visitors entered thebrightly glowing mandir, they weregreeted with an elaborate Rangoli,a beautiful floor design made withcolored rice and powder.

Explaining the spiritual signifi-cance of Diwali, PujyaSarvadarshan Swami said, "Just aseveryone experience joy today,every day would be Diwali, if werid ourselves of the ignorance thatwe are this body and if we believeourselves to be atma.

Cont’d on page 21

October 30, 2009 India PostCommunity/Californiawww.indiapost.com

19

‘Traditionally thesefoods were the first tobe grown after themonsoon andoffered to the Godof rain, Indra’

As visitors entered thebrightly glowingmandir, they weregreeted with anelaborate Rangoli, abeautiful floor designmade with coloredrice and powder


Japanese Americans recognizeCAIR's work

JS BEDI


COSTA MESA, CA: On Satur-day, Oct. 10, the Japanese Ameri-can Citizens League Pacific South-west District (JACL PSW) gave anaward to the Greater Los AngelesArea office of the Council onAmerican-Islamic Relations(CAIR-LA) for its work in build-ing bridges of understanding.

The award was given at JACLPSW's 2009 Annual Awards Din-ner, the theme of the event being"Bridging Communities: the Tra-dition of Working Together." Overthe past 13 years, the awards din-ner has honored people who havemade a positive impact in the com-munity.

Also honored individually wereCAIR-LA Executive DirectorHussam Ayloush, Civil RightsManager Affad Shaikh, DeputyExecutive Director/Staff AttorneyAmeena Qazi, CommunicationsManager Munira Syeda, Member-ship & Administrative ManagerAnbar Mahar, former SpecialProjects Coordinator Arefa Simjee,and former Government RelationsManager Sharaf Mowjood.

"The JACL Pacific SouthwestDistrict is grateful for its partner-ship with CAIR in 2009," said CraigIshii, regional director for JACLPSW. "To us, CAIR exemplifies an

organization willing to reach be-yond its own community to ad-vance civil rights for Asian Pacific

Americans as well as MuslimAmericans. We're honoring boththe organization as well as the in-

dividual staff members for unprec-edented dedication to our Bridg-ing Communities program in2009."

Over the past three years,CAIR-LA worked with JACL PSWand Nikkei for Civil Rights andRedress (NCRR) to organize theMuslim community's participationin an annual visit to Manzanar, oneof several concentration campsestablished during World War IIto detain Japanese Americans.

At Manzanar, about 11,000 men,women and children were held,but none was ever charged withespionage. Last year, CAIR-LAfilmed the Muslim community'svisit to Manzanar and the bondsof friendship that were establishedbetween the two communities.

Indian Medical Association celebrates Diwali


DIAMOND BAR, CA: On the eve ofOctober 15, doctors from all over SouthernCalifornia came together with the IndianMedical Association of Orange County tocelebrate Diwali at Diamond Palace in Dia-mond Bar.

The evening started off with a Rangolicompetition which drew great enthusiasm.Beautiful Rngolis with vibrant colors weredesigned by several attendees and the firstprize was awarded to Jayashree Shah, sec-ond to Western University of Health Sci-ences and third to D. Choudhary.

Once appetizers had been served, an

evening of music and dance ensued. DrSmita Tandon, President of IMASC, wishedeveryone a very happy Diwali and invitedthem to attend the annual convention ofIMASC to be held from Oct 30 to Nov 1 atSheraton Anaheim.

Aziz Ihani was the master of ceremoniesand challenged the audience with a Diwaliquiz.

This event was made possible by coor-dinated efforts of Dr Vandana Agarwal whowelcomed the guests on this auspiciousday. In the spirit of Diwali, she wished ev-eryone a very happy Diwali and a prosper-ous New Year.

The festivities began with a first yearmedical student Samiksha Choudhary sing-ing a bhajan. It was followed by solo andgroup dance from Bollywood. Shruti Mishraperformed to aaja nach le and Phorum Shethperformed to chaiya chaiya.

Dr Bud Kurwa, an ophthalmologist,played melodious tunes on flute. ArshadAli and his orchestra performed live music.Dr. Mahesh Vyas sang melodious songs.Afterwards, dinner was served.

Dr. Vandana Agarwal arranged this func-tion with the help of unrestricted grant fromAziz Ihani of the Nexus group of SmithBarney.

Anju Garg elected FIA-SC president


CERRITOS, CA: Board mem-bers of FIA-SC met at India Caféin Cerritos on October 8 to electnew office bearers. By majorityvote, Anju Garg was elected Presi-dent of FIA-SC for the year 2009-10. All other officers were electedunanimously.

Anju Garg has been living inSouthern California for 23 yearsand has been an active member ofthe Indo-American community.She is an Auditor by professionand co-owner and CFO of Audit-ing firm Insight Examination Ser-vices, Inc.

On the occasion Anju said thatshe would work hard to representthe Indo- American community of

Sothern California to the best ofher ability. She reiterated the needfor a unified Indo-American com-munity in Southern California andwelcomed all associations to worktogether for a strong lobby thatcan represent all interests.

The FIA-SC team for the yearis, Chairman Ajmer Singh, Execu-

tive VP Aparna Hande, ExecutiveVP Rajinder Dhunna, TreasurerSuresh Patel, Secretary GunjanPatel, VP Planning SwaranDabgotra, VP CommunityBalwinder Garcha, VP Public Rela-tions Ravinder Verma, VPFundraising Sunil Garg, VP Cul-tural Harjit Bhogal, VP Women'sAffairs Smita Bagla, and VP YouthPreeti Tilve.

Anju Garg

The award was givenat JACL PSW's 2009Annual Awards Din-ner, the theme of theevent being ‘BridgingCommunities: theTradition of WorkingTogether’

Anju Garg has beenliving in SouthernCalifornia for 23 yearsand has been anactive member of theIndo-American com-munity. She is anAuditor by professionand co-owner andCFO of Auditing firmInsight ExaminationServices, Inc

Diwali is a festival to be aware ofthe inner light of God, and once weunderstand this, we will experiencejoy in every moment of our lives."

This past Sunday marked theculmination of weeks of planningand preparation, setting the stagefor the most significant ritual ofthe Diwali events, 'Annakut.'Annakut, which literally means 'amountain of food', is traditionallyoffered to God to celebrate thebeginning of the Hindu New Year."The preparation begins at 5 amin the morning for us," explainedKrupali Patel of the BAPS youthwing. "The vegetarian food is tra-ditionally arranged in tiers or steps

Diwali celebrated with fun and festivity at BAPS Mandir

in front of the murtis of God. Thesweets are placed nearest. As thetiers descend, other foods such asvegetables, pulses and fried sa-vories are arranged. A mound ofcooked rice, symbolic of Mt.Govardhan, is placed in the cen-ter. Today over 1500 food itemshave been offered to God," saidChandrika Patel, a BAPS volun-teer.

Devotees arrived continuouslyfrom early morning dressed in newshervanis and colorful sarees tobehold the beautifully adorneddeities in the Mandir. The atmo-sphere was filled with festivity anddivinity as devotees greeted eachother. The young touched the feetof the elders and sadhus, receiv-

ing their blessings. The first aarti(Hindu ritual) of the New Year wasperformed at 7:00 am followed byprayers for world peace and well-being.

"Diwali is my favorite festivalbecause of the excitement that fillsthe air when the festival nears. Buthaving recently migrated to US, Idid not know what to expect." saidHeena Prajapati "But after comingto the BAPS Shri SwaminarayanMandir, Chino Hills, I felt like I wasin India. I experienced Indian cul-ture while getting a taste of fineIndian cuisine. Every person I methad an expression of warmth andhappiness on their face. I truly feltat home."

Many brought their American

friends to the celebration. RobinDarie from La Habra said, "Ithought it was a great cultural ex-perience for the whole family. Itwas a great way to educate thecommunity about Hinduism. Ilearned in a presentation hereabout the impact of a vegetariandiet on the environment. I am re-ally astonished."

"Diwali is that time of the yearwhen family, friends and relativesget together and strengthen theirbonds through various festivities.Being away from India should not

cause a lapse in our traditions",said Ravi Patel "Preparations forthe festivities begin months inadvance. Devotees, young andold, sacrifice their time to help increating decorations, food prepa-ration, children's Diwali celebra-tion arrangements, as well as deco-rating the stage for the most sig-nificant ritual of Diwali, theAnnakut," concluded, Ravi Patel.

Diwali is also a time when chil-

dren look forward to the joy itbrings. On Sunday October 18beginning at 9:00 am, theChildren's Diwali Celebration tookplace, which included a carnivaland exhibition exhibiting the vari-ous occasions that lead up toDiwali such as Bhai-Bhij andDhanteras. The celebration was asmuch fun as it was educational.The atmosphere was filled with joyand celebration. The childrenlearned the history and origins ofthis festival, played a variety ofexciting games, and were given an

assortment of gifts and goodies.This year His Divine Holiness

Pramukh Swami Maharaj cel-ebrated Diwali and Annakut inGondal, Gujarat, India. He blessedthe devotees on the New Year day.In his blessings he said,"Everyone's devotion could beseen today. If we develop Dharmaand Bhakti in our hearts, God be-comes pleased, and thus Hegraces us with His blessings."


Preparations for Yuba City Sikh ParadeED VASQUEZ

YUBA CITY, CA: The 2009 Yuba CitySikh Parade celebrates another milestonethis year. This marks the 30th anniversaryof a parade that started with humble be-ginnings - one float and an estimated 5,000Sikhs marching through Yuba City in 1970.In three decades the parade has grown froma local community event to an Internationalone. Each year Sikhs travel to Yuba Cityfrom all over the world to partake in one ofthe largest devotional celebrations in theWestern Hemisphere. This year, weatherpermitting, more than 75,000 people areexpected to participate in the 30th Annualcelebration.

Kulwant Johl, a board member of theSikh Temple Gurdwara, was the Board Sec-retary 30 years ago when the communitybanded together to support the conceptof a celebration commemorating the receiptby Sikhs of the Guru Granth Sahib (SikhScriptures).

"These were growing times for the YubaCity Sikh community", said Johl. Only tenyears earlier the community had success-fully built the second Gurdwara in the en-tire state of California. "Prior to the SikhTemple Gurdwara Yuba City there wouldbe a line of cars leaving town every Sun-day to attend the Stockton Sikh Temple",said Johl.

Friday morning, October 30th, will be-gin the traditional start of 48 hours of con-tinuous readings of the Guru Granth Sahib.

Friday evening will end with a spectacularfireworks display sure to be attending bythousands in the community. "It's the Sikhway of saying thank you to the commu-nity", said Balraj Singh Dhillon, President,Sikh Temple Gurdwara.

On Saturday, October 31st, there will bean Open House featuring a short presen-

tation to recognize elected officials and dig-nitaries along with an educational video.The video, Cultural Safari, is a 17-minutevideo aimed at educating America's school-children, teachers and school administra-tors about what it means to be a Sikh Ameri-

can. Dr. I.J. Singh, N.Y.U professor and awriter of several books on Sikhism from awestern perspective and a scholar ofSikhism will be the keynote speaker. Dr.Singh has authored a collection of essays,Sikhs and Sikhism: A View with a Bias, TheSikh Way: A Pilgrim's Progress, and hisnewest collection, Being and Becoming aSikh.

On Sunday morning, the community willbe treated to the 30th Annual Sikh Parade.Upon the ending of the 48 hours of prayer,the Guru Granth Sahib will be carried ontoa lavishly decorated float and make its waythrough the streets of Yuba City, with thou-sands following the procession.

Nearly 50 floats are expected to partici-pate in the 4 1/2 mile long parade throughthe streets of Yuba City. They will be or-nately decorated in themes that reflect thevibrant nature of the Sikh Culture, Sikhismand of the Sikh way of life.

In the Sikh tradition of sharing taughtby the Guru's, more than 250,000 meals willbe prepared and distributed to attendeesat absolutely no charge.

This year, due to the rough economicconditions facing this nation, the SikhTemple Gurdwara Yuba City will also be col-lecting canned food and non-perishablefood items for the areas food banks. Every-one is encouraged to clean their pantry andbring the items to the Sikh Temple Gurdwara,2468 Tierra Buena Road, Yuba City.

Festival films onSikhs from acrossthe worldIndia Post News Service

LOS ANGELES: SikhLens has an-nounced the "Sikhs from Across the World"cluster, as part of the Sikh Art and Film Fes-tival, to be held on Sunday November 15from 10:45 am to 1:30 pm, which will show-case three films and a panel discussion.

Opening the cluster is the film For theRecord. Directed by Kuldip Powar, For theRecord takes the viewer on a fascinating jour-ney into the lives of those who passionatelycollected and sold vinyl records in the 1960's,70's and 80's in Southall, West London. Sev-eral award-winning singers and artists giveus insight into how vinyl records impactedon their musical careers. The film also dis-cusses the issue of piracy that ultimately ledto the demise of Indian vinyl production

Next on the docket is the world premierof the film The Rebel Queen, directed byMichael Singh. The film reveals the turmoil,murder, mayhem, heartbreak and diplomaticintrigue surrounding an extraordinarywoman, Maharani Jinda, the wife of oneMaharajah and mother of another. Forciblyseparated from her son, escaping from cap-tivity, and finally reunited with him, she setsin motion the wheels of justice that threatento chase the British out of India.

Cont’d on page 23


21

Nearly 50 floats are ex-pected to participate in the4 1/2 mile long paradethrough the streets of YubaCity. They will be ornatelydecorated in themes thatreflect the vibrant nature ofthe Sikh Culture, Sikhismand of the Sikh way of life

‘I experienced Indian culture while getting ataste of fine Indian cuisine. Every person Imet had an expression of warmth and hap-piness on their face. I truly felt at home’


Glimpses of Bandhhi Chhor Diwas andDiwali at Walnut Gurdwara

Details next week


23

Dr Jasbir Kang isPhysician of Year


LOS ANGELES: The FremontRideout Foundation (non profit)at its annual event honored DrJasbir Singh Kang by awardinghim the Physician of the Yearaward 2009-2010. Carol Ramirezvice President of the foundationrecognized Dr Kang for his efforts

to educate Medical communityand increase awareness aboutDiabetes amongst general publicat large in Mid Valley, California.

Dr Kang is a Chief of Staff atboth local hospitals in Yuba Sutterarea. Also he was recently nomi-nated as a Board of Director of nonprofit Great Valley Foundation ofCalifornia.

Physician of the YearMichael Singh, whose

"Prisoner's Song" has won sev-eral awards, brings to life the tri-umphant and tragic life of one ofthe most-feared challengers to themighty British Empire.

A very interesting feature ofthis cluster is the panel discussion:The Rise and Fall of the Kingdomof Punjab. World renowned his-torians and filmmakers will delvein to the untold history and as-

pects of Maharaja Ranjit Singh,Maharani Jinda, and MahrajaDuleep Singh.

This cluster will conclude withthe film My Mother India, fol-lowed by an open Q & A with thefilmmakers. This is a passionatefilm told by the child of a mixedmarriage and set against the tu-multuous backdrop of modern In-dian history.

Director Safina Uberoi depictsher own life, it's uniqueness, herjourney from India to Australia,

and how the events of 1984 haveshaped and changed her life likeshe could never expect. Safinadelves into the depths of her ownfamily and how her mixed back-ground led to a unique perspec-tive on various historical events -from partition in 1947 to the tur-moil of 1984.

SikhLens will be holding its in-augural Sikh Art and Film Festival2009 at the historic Egyptian The-ater in Hollywood, California fromNovember 13-15th, 2009.

Festival films on Sikhs fromacross the world


Rajput Associationcelebrates Diwali


ORANGE, CA: Members ofRajput Association of America(RAOA) gathered at Tandoor Res-taurant in City of Orange to cel-ebrate Diwali (Festival of Lights)as its annual function.

The Diwali function began withPuja performed by senior memberKaram Chand Sehdev. Board ofTrustees Kewal Kanda opened thefestivities by wishing the membersHappy Diwali. President RajeshDhunna welcomed the members.

School children from high,middle, elementary, and kindergar-ten categories were honored withcertificates of excellence andawarded cash prizes based on theirGPA or progress reports. Congress-woman Loretta Sanchez's office

honored the executive committeemembers with certificates of Con-gressional Recognition for theirdedicated community service.

Senior members Karam ChandSehdev and Shadi Lal Chauhanwere honored with flower bou-quets for guidance and support.After the awards ceremony Mas-ter of Ceremony Manish Dasaurtook over the program andpumped everyone into Diwalispirit. Kids, young children, andadults all danced to the tunes ofBhangra music.

It was a fun filled night. In theend the RAOA members enjoyedthe sumptuous food and sweets.Newly elected president of Fed-eration of Indo American Associa-tions Anju Garg and her husbandSunil Garg were the chief guests.

Kanika Agarwal namedRichter Scholar


LOS ANGELES: Caltech cel-ebrated undergraduate researchwith 269 students presenting theirresearch posters, Footsteps, ofover 6000 students who have par-ticipated in Surf and allied pro-grams Murf, Amgen scholars. Col-lectively with support of theirmentors and commentors theyhave contributed to body of sci-entific knowledge.

Kanika Agarwal, a sophomorepremedical student, had a posterpresentation 'Identification oflentiviral vector integration sites

in a human fusogenic cell line.' Sheworked with David Baltimore, Rob-ert Andrews Millikan Professor ofBiology, Nobel Laureate, Presidentemeritus.

Kanika feels that through Surfshe has learnt to navigate re-search, deal with scientific chal-lenges and roadblocks, collaborate

with colleagues, and perhaps mostimportantly, communicate her workto others. She felt it was importantfor her to celebrate her personalgrowth under the shadow of aNobel laureate. Dr Baltimore pro-vided her support, guidance andopportunity to Kanika who wasnamed Richter Scholar.

Kanika feels thatthrough Surf she haslearnt to navigateresearch, deal withscientific challengesand roadblocks, col-laborate with col-leagues, and perhapsmost importantly,communicate herwork to others

24 India Post October 30, 2009www.indiapost.com

Tech News TechBizSmita & Kohli named South

Asian Business PersonsIndia Post News Service

LOS ANGELES: SmitaSalgaonkar of Saffron, Artesia, CAhas been awarded South AsianBusiness Person by Southern Cali-fornia Edison Company. BhoopiKohli of Financia Inc. Orange, CAhas been awarded South Asian BizPerson of the Year by OrangeCounty Presidents Council(OCPC), the largest multiculturalbusiness organization of the na-tion in recent events.

SC Edison Company, the larg-est power and electricity companyin the nation, celebrated the thirdannual Harvest Moon Festival onSeptember 29 at Garden GroveComm. Center, Garden Grove, CA.The event was well attended byover 400 guests of business en-trepreneurs and community lead-ers. The state Senator, Lou Correraand Edison Company's vice presi-dent of communication Veronica

Gutierrez handed the award toSmita Salgaonkar as South AsianEntrepreneur. Smita is the ownerof Saffron, an exotic ice cream par-lor and products, in Artesia, CA.Smita has a long history of work-

ing with the community, businessand economic empowerment ac-tivities.

Another event, Bizcon 2009, thelargest multicultural business expoand conference was organized by

Premature toexit fiscalstimulus: FM

NEW DELHI: Finance MinisterPranab Mukherjee has ruled outany immediate plans to exit the fis-cal stimulus as the globaleconomy is still to show robustrecovery but was optimistic aboutdomestic economic growth.

Ahead of the monetary policyreview on October 27 by ReserveBank, he said he will hold discus-sions with the apex bank and wouldnot like to comment on issues likewhere interest rates are headed.

"We took that (decision onstimulus). We took some risks,there is no doubt about it. Unlessthe world economy firmly recov-ers -- signals are strong -- perhapsit would be premature to think ofexit policy. Therefore, I would liketo watch the situation for somemore time," Mukherjee told PTI.

He was asked if fiscal concessionsgiven to the industry to overcomethe global financial crisis that startedlast year would be withdrawn giventhe inflationary concerns.

He was optimistic about domes-tic growth prospects, saying eventhe Prime Minister's Economic Ad-visory Council's projection was onidentical lines. The PMEAC ex-pects the economy to expand byup to 6.75 per cent this fiscal, whilepegging inflation at near six per centby March 2010. -PTI

Workers' stir hitsauto production inGurgaon

GURGAON: Auto and autocomponent production, includingthat of Hero Honda, Honda Mo-torcycle and Scooter India, was hithere on account of a day longstrike by workers to protest thedeath of an employee during agroup clash.

Thousands of workers gath-ered at the gate of Rico Auto, anauto component maker, demand-ing among other things a compen-sation of Rs 50 lakh to deceasedworker's family and Rs five lakhfor about 60 workers injured in theclashes between two sections ofemployees of the company.

The striking workers got politi-cal support from the Left, with CPIMember of Parliament GurudasDasgupta, who is also the GeneralSecretary of All India Trade UnionCongress, calling for the PrimeMinister's intervention.

"I want Prime Minister to inter-vene and resolve the matter. Wewill offer unconditional dialoguewith the government to resolve thematter," Dasgupta said.

The agitating workers, underthe umbrella of Trade Union Coun-cil, claimed that their strike wassuccessful. -PTI

OCPC, on September 2 at theSheraton Park Hotel, Anaheim,CA. Over 800 guests of businessowners and entrepreneurs at-tended the event. At the Recep-tion and Award presentationevent, Congressman Ed Royceand OCPC President Kim Yenhanded the South Asian BusinessPerson of the Year award toBhoopi Kohli, President, FinanciaInc. Orange, CA. Kohli is wellknown in the business arena andinvolve with other Chambers andbusiness associations.

The Awards to SmitaSalgaonkar and Bhoopi Kohli aretruly recognitions by the main-stream America of South AsianBusiness community. It builds theimage and encourages the com-munity to unite and work togetherfor community at large. Theawards are nominated and recom-mended by SABAN-South AsianBiz Network.

Indian satellites to studyclimate change

NEW DELHI: Union Ministerof State for Environment andForests Jairam Ramesh alongwith G. Madhavan Nair, Chair-man of the Indian Space Re-search Organization (ISRO) saidto a host of media personnel thatIndia is all geared to launch twodedicated satellites into the po-lar orbit to study climate changemaking it one of the few coun-tries in the world to do so.

The two satellites will belaunched to study climatechange through atmospheric re-search and detection of green-house gases, ISRO Chairman G.Madhavan Nair said.

"The satellites will belaunched in 2010 and 2011. Thefirst will be a 50 kg micro-satel-lite to conduct atmospheric re-search. The second will be a re-mote sensing satellite to moni-tor emission of greenhouses

gases like methane and carbon di-oxide," Nair told reporters here.

Union Minister of State for En-vironment and Forests JairamRamesh said: "Only Japan andsome European countries havelaunched dedicated satellites to

monitor emission of greenhousegases. India will be one amongthem by 2011 when we will haveour own satellite for studying thegreenhouse emission."

The dedicated satellites will makeIndia one of the few countries in theworld to have such advanced facil-

ity to study the impact of climatechange due to emission of green-house gases. The use of satellitetechnology will also demonstratethat India is serious about globalwarming and committed to protectthe environment.

"The world's attention is en-gaged in climate change and en-vironment. We are taking majorinitiatives for an integrated ap-proach to the study of effects ofocean, land and atmosphere. TheIndian space agency is alreadyinvolved in this exercise throughits mini satellite (IMS-1),"Ramesh recalled.

ISRO launched the 83 kg smallearth observation satellite (IMS-1) in April 2008 with two opticalinstruments - a Multi-spectralcamera and a Hyperspectral cam-era to operate in the visible andnear infrared regions of the elec-tromagnetic spectrum.

Google Voiceservice 'simplytoo good'

Ever since it's stunning suc-cess in revolutionizing theinternet search market

eight years ago, Google hasbeen searching for a second actthat would help the company di-versify.

The first phone utilizing thecompany's Android operatingsystem launched in October 2008.In the last week, Google has qui-etly notched up several achieve-ments that will boost the hopes ofGoogle lovers and frighten thosewho believe that the technologycolossus already has too muchpower over our daily lives.

Sportswear rep Greg Willisshares those concerns, but hefinds the use of the company'sGoogle Voice service simply toogood to pass up.

"It's the first phone system forthe 21st century," says the travel-ing salesman.

India may grow by 6.75 percentthis fiscal: PMEAC

NEW DELHI: Stressing that India has been able to weatherthe global financial crisis, the Prime Minister's Economic Advi-sory Council (PMEAC) has said the country's economy maygrow by 6.75 percent this fiscal despite bad monsoon affectingfarm sector output.

The PMEAC, in its Economic Outlook for 2009-10 submittedto Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, said India's GDP growthrate could range between 6.25 percent and 6.75 percent. On aver-age, it could grow around 6.5 percent. -PTI

Smita Salgaonkar Bhoopi Kohli

The Awards to Smita Salgaonkar and BhoopiKohli are truly recognitions by the mainstreamAmerica of South Asian Business community

‘The satellites will belaunched in 2010 and2011. The first will be a50 kg micro-satellite toconduct atmosphericresearch’

Is Your Loved One In Jail?

We Will Be There For You When You Need Us

We Provide Fast, Reliable, Personal and ConfidentialBail Bonds Consultation and Bail Bonding Service

Family Owned & Operated

www.PatelBailBonds.come-mail: [email protected]

Pate

l bail

bond

8%Bail Bond Rate

Conditions Apply

Insurance Lic. # 1843073

Federal • State • Felonies • Misdemeanors • Traffic Bonds • Notary Public

PATEL BAIL BONDSNATIONWIDE SERVICES • ALL JAILS • ALL COURTS

1-800-598-BAIL(2245)

Harinder Kohli, CFAAccredited Wealth Manager

Senior Vice President –Financial Consultant

Has Guided His Clients for Over 25 Years

Focuses on Wealth Management

Manages Individual Investment Portfolios

© 2008 RBC Wealth Management, a division of RBC Capital Markets Corporation, Member NYSE/FINRA/SIPC. All rights reserved.

99 Alamaden Blvd., Ste. 101San Jose, CA 95113(408) 947-3312(800) [email protected]

25India PostTechBiz Postwww.indiapost.com

October 30, 2009

Barnes & Noble announcese-book reading device

Barnes & Noble world's largest book seller formally forays into the electronic

reading devices domain with theannouncement of certain specsfor it e-Book reading device"nook" scheduled to ship in lateNovember this year.

Entering in a competitive andcluttered electronic reading de-vices market, some reports pertain-ing to the launch of "nook" con-sider the device to be theAmazon's Kindle killer. Not sureabout that yet, let's take a look atthe revealed specs for the device.

B&N has created this e-bookreading device in accordance withthe need of the readers globally."We asked our customers whatthey wanted in an e-Book reader,and specifically designed nook tobe the most full-featured, fun, styl-ish and easy-to-use e-Book readeron the market," said William J.Lynch, President of Barnes &Noble.com.

B&N describes nook as a de-vice that "marries innovative tech-nology and sleek minimalist de-sign." The nook has been devisedwith the incorporation of varietyof features that makes it stand out

from the other similar devices avail-able in the market.

Well, to start, nook comes asthe first electronics reading devicethat is based on Google's Androidplatform. Besides, it also reachesas the first to offer a color touchscreen for navigation along with abest-in-class E Ink display for animmersive, enjoyable e-readingexperience. The nook features asix-inch gray and white readingscreen for easy readability.

A move that is seen as a strat-egy to offer consolidated servicesby the company, nook will haveaccess to AT&T's 3G network andWi-Fi. In other words, the users ofB&N's nook will have access todownload various titles (books,newspapers, magazines) from theBarnes & Noble online bookstores

anytime, anywhere. nook has thecapacity to hold up to 1,500 e-Books and other printed content,while a 16GB MicroSD card holdsup to 17,500 e-Books.

Another differentiating factorof the nook is that customers can"lend" books to friends (LendMetechnology), though only onetime, for a total of 14 days and sendit to your friend's nook or iPhone,iPod touch, select BlackBerry andMotorola smartphones, PC or Macwith Barnes & Noble e-Readersoftware. The nook supports PDFand ePub formats, as well aslegacy Fictionwise, but not,Microsoft Word.

The nook has been priced at$259, a price that matched the lat-est edition of the Kindle. Amazoncurrently dominates the electronicreading market followed bySony's eReader. B&N's nook defi-nitely sounds a better e-readingdevice with the unique additionsand the access to the millions oftitles available at the Barnes &Noble's largest online bookstorelaunched in July this year. But willit turn out to be a Kindle Killer,still remains a question till thelaunch of "nook"!

in

di

ap

os

t.

co

m

The nook has beenpriced at $259, aprice that matchedthe latest edition ofthe Kindle

www.indiapost.com October 30, 200926 India Post

JS BEDI


HOLLYWOOD: The Dastoli Digi-tal production "Who Stole the Elec-tric Car" premiered earlier this month.

It's a delightful comedy featur-ing Carl Fieler, Chris Shields, JohnBrody, Megan Brotherton andHeleya De Barros. The movie is di-rected by Robert and James Dastoli.

The movie is road-trip-comedyabout a guy who steals an electric

car and drives it cross-country towin back his environmentalist girl-friend. It also deals with environ-mental issues

Ranjit Singh Sandhu, a Bell-flower resident, has a cameo rolein this movie.

Sandhu is a former Major from theIndian army's elite Parachute Brigadeand a veteran of the 1971 war andalso of the Sri Lanka war. He has doneseveral brief roles in Hollywood and

also for the small screen.The red carpet brought to-

gether a collage of Hollywood's fa-mous and glamorous. Amongstthem were aspiring and upcoming

actresses Magda Marcellaand Luz Maria Utrera.

Magda Marcella (bornMagda Orlowski) was born inMunich, Germany, to Polish parents.She speaks fluent Polish and someGerman and of course English. Shemoved to Austin, Texas when she wasthree years old and spent most of herchildhood there. She always dreamedof a career in the arts and started tak-ing ballet lessons soon after moving

to Austin and was set to become aprofessional ballerina. She graduatedfrom the American Academy of Dra-matic Arts in May of 2009.

She is currently filming "The

Screening Room" written and di-rected by Tony Young.

In her debut "Z: A ZombieMusical" written and directed byJohn McClean, in Austin Texas,Magda played a bit part, as anactress auditioning for the film.

Luz Maria Utrera is a native ofArgentina. Fluent in English, Span-ish and Chinese, Luz Maria is alawyer by profession. She hasacted in several English and Span-ish movies and TV sitcoms bothhere and in her native Argentina.

Ranjit Singh Sandhu

at the Red Carpet

Luz Maria Utrera

Magda Marcella

with a co star

October 30, 2009 India Post

www.indiapost.com

27

Hollywood stars at Ravi Shankar concertIndia Post News Service

NEW YORK: Ravi Shankaralong with Anoushka Shankar per-formed for their annual concert atCarnegie Hall. Hollywood starslike Richard Gere,

Philp Glass, Edward Norton,Nora Jones, Olivia Harrison (lateGeorge Harrison's wife) attendedthe concert.

The concert was mind blow-ing. India's Consul General inNew York Prabhu Dayal and hiswife attended the concert. In thetwo hour concert three Ragaswere performed.

After the concert there was areception which was organizedby "The George Harrison fundfor UNICEF" which is a joint un-dertaking between the Harrisonfamily and the US Fund for UNICEFthat aims to support UNICEF pro-grams, providing lifesaving assis-tance to children caught in humani-tarian emergencies.

The reception was organizedby "The George Harrison Fundfor UNICEF"to honor andaward Pandit Ravi Shankar withthe humanitarian award for so-cial conscious.

Mrs. George Harrison in herspeech said this award representsthe social conscious Raviji evokedin George Harrison and otherBeatles. It was Ravi Shankar'sidea to arrange a Bangladesh con-

cert. UNICEF has earned over 15million dollars from that album andstill counting.

Every year, UNICEF identifiescountries and territories sufferingfrom the results of civil conflict,

natural disaster, and poverty-coun-tries where children and vulnerableto malnutrition, disease, exploita-tion, and abuse. As withBangladesh in the 1970s, many ofthese emergencies are still virtu-ally ignored by the media and criti-cally underfunded.

In the tradition established byGeorge Harrison and Ravi Shankar,the George Harrison Fund forUNICEP pledged to continue tosupport UNICEP programs inBangladesh while expanding itsinfluence to include other countriesin crisis where children are at risk.

Consul General Prabhu Dayal along with Mrs. Dayal and Pam Kwatra attended the reception.

They are seen with Anoushka Shankar

Miss India Northern California on Nov 7India Post News Service

MILPITAS, CA: Finesseevents & films will present theMiss India Northern California2009 Beauty Pageant on Saturday,November 7 at the prestigious In-dia Community Center, Milpitas,CA. Finesse is known for success-ful endeavourers in fashionshows and beauty pageants.

This will be a glamorous eventin par with the other reputable in-ternational pageants.

The winner from this pageantwill represent Northern Californiafor the finals of Miss India USA.Prominent celebrities would judgeMiss India Northern California2009.

Miss India Worldwide Pageantis produced by the IFC, an organi-zation established in 1974 andbased in New York City. The IFCis a pioneer organization in con-ducting Indian pageants and fash-ion shows in the USA and world-wide. The committee has alsobeen conducting the Miss IndiaNew York and the Miss India USAPageants annually since 1980.

In 1990, Mr. Dharmatma Saran,Chairman and Founder of the IFC,decided to take the pageant onestep further to an internationallevel and started The First MissIndia Worldwide Pageant.

For the first time ever, Asian-Indian communities from all overthe world came together in NewYork for this event. The pageantwas an instant success and wasacclaimed as 'the most glamorousIndian function in the world." To

the best of our knowledge, noother ethnic organization has everconducted a pageant of this mag-nitude on an international level.

In line with other prestigiousinternational pageants, we havealso started staging Miss IndiaWorldwide in various parts of theworld. In 1997, the pageant wasorganized in Bombay to salute In-

dia on its 50th anniversary of in-dependence. In the year 1998, thepageant was organized, in asso-ciation with UTV International, inthe exotic and beautiful city ofSingapore.

The IFC selects distinguishedlocal organizations in various parts

of the world and authorize them toconduct national pageants in theirrespective countries. At this timeIFC have affiliates in over thirty-five countries.

The contestants in all the pag-eants are of Indian origin, betweenthe ages of 17 and 25, never mar-ried, and are citizens, residents, orborn in the country which theyrepresent. The pageant consistsof four segments - Evening Gown,Indian Dress, Talent and Question-Answer. The winners of all thevarious national pageants from allover the world vie for the glamor-ous and prestigious title of theMiss India Worldwide.

The IFC motivates and guidesits winners and contestants to takeup charitable causes. Many of ourpast winners have raised substan-tial funds for various charities,especially for handicapped chil-dren. The name Miss India World-wide was registered under thetrademark act of USA and hasbeen granted Trade Mark by theCommissioner of Patents andTrademarks of the United StatesGovernment.

Modern Indian art to be displayed atMFA Boston


BOSTON: Sixteen paintings byluminaries of modern Indian art willbe featured in "Bharat Ratna! Jew-els of Modern Indian Art", onview at the Museum of Fine Arts,Boston (MFA), from November 14,2009 to August 22, 2010.

These vibrant 'Jewels of India'are drawn from the renowned col-lection of Payal and Rajiv JahangirChaudhri, who have assembledsome of the finestexamples of post-Independence In-dian art. The exhi-bition representsthe first time that asignificant numberof works from thiscollection will bedisplayed pub-licly. It is also thefirst exhibition ofmodern Indian artat the MFA, and the first exhibi-tion of Indian art at a major Ameri-can museum in nearly 30 years.

"The Chaudhris have collectedsome of the most outstanding ex-amples of modernist and contem-porary Indian art, which documentthe evolution of a vibrant and in-fluential artistic period in India,"said Malcolm Rogers, Ann andGraham Gund Director of theMFA. "The MFA is grateful forthe opportunity to display suchexquisite treasures."

Chaudhri says, "I am a firm be-liever in the idea that the art of allages and regions is the common

heritage of mankind. Since Egyp-tian, Greek, and Chinese art arepart of my heritage, it follows thatI also believe that Indian art is, orshould be, part of the heritage ofAmerica, Europe and other re-gions of the world. Bravo to theMFA for taking the leadershiprole in this area."

Bharat Ratna! offers a visuallyexciting dialogue between theevolving modernism of western artand the deeply rooted traditions

of India and themultiple differentapproaches thatIndian artists took,in the aftermath ofIndependence, todefine their ownand "Indian" art.

Rajiv and PayalChaudhri have lentseveral of theirworks to the MFAin recent years and

have enhanced the Museum's dis-plays of contemporary art fromSouth Asia. They are Patrons ofthe MFA, and members of its Art ofAsia, Oceania, and Africa VisitingCommittee. Chaudhri is Presidentof Digital Century, a financial ser-vices firm that he founded in 1997.Payal Chaudhri is a marketing strat-egy consultant and has been

an art patron in New York formore than a decade. She serveson the boards of the GuggenheimInternational Directors Council,the Asia Society's Chairman'sCircle, and the Tate Modern's In-ternational Council.

Philp Glass, EdwardNorton, Nora Jones,Olivia Harrison (lateGeorge Harrison'swife) attendedthe concert

‘Avisually excitingdialogue be-tween the evolv-ing modernism ofwestern art andthe deeplyrooted traditionsof India’

Miss India World-wide Pageant isproduced by theIFC, an organizationestablished in 1974and based in NewYork City

28 India Post

6 Iktara - Wake Up Sid

7 What`s Your Raashee - What`s

Your Raashee?

8 Tu Hi Haqeeqat - Tum Mile

9 Ek Haqeqat Tum Lagte Ho -

Shaabash! You Can Do It

10 Daata Sun Le - JailOctober 30, 2009www.indiapost.com

1 Dont Say Alvida - Main Aurr Mrs

Khanna

2 Mann Ka Radio - Radio

3 Rehnuma - Blue

4 Haan Hain Jitni Martaba

- All The Best

5 Yeh Jism - Acid Factory

Deepika Padukone has trashed rumors of heryounger sister, Anisha, joining Bollywood.

"She is not doing any Bollywood films. She isleast interested in this industry. And even though she isvery supportive of my career, I know for a fact that this isnot her area of interest," said Deepika, adding that theydo like watching movies together.

Talking about beau Ranbir Kapoor's Wake up Sid,Deepika says, "I saw the film and they all have done afantastic job in it."

I think their chemistry worked really well," she said.Ask her if Ranbir is anything like his character in real

life, and she interrupts, "Not at all, he is not a slacker boyat all. No one has ever needed to wake him up. He isalways very focused about what he wants to do."

Now that Shatrughan Sinha has allowedSalman Khan to launch his daughterSonakshi as a leading lady in Dabangg, the

Bollywood hunk is taking his duty as the protec-tive guardian very seriously. Initially, the Sinhaswere opposed to the idea of a film career for theirdaughter.

But Salman convinced them by promising tolook after the girl. And so far he has more thanlived up to his word. Apparently, Salman has notonly advised Sonakshi to lose more weight, hehas also told her not to do too many films at thesame time.

Shatru, who visited Salman on Eid with hisfamily, is bowled over by Salman's concern. "Ithink that's sound advice. We used to work roundthe clock and did multiple shifts. Salman under-stands the way to work better than we did," saidShatru.

Of his daughter's debut, Shotgun said, "Salmanis making sure that Sonakshi has the best possiblelaunch. We used to work round the clock and didmultiple shifts. Salman understands the way towork better than we did," said Shatru. Of hisdaughter's debut, Shotgun said, "Salman is makingsure that Sonakshi has the best possible launch.

Bollywood's very own chocolate boy has been the favoriteof someone much older than the current generation ofswooning girls. Raj Kapoor, the patriarch of the Kapoor family

and the first original performer of Bollywood, doted on his firstgrandchild Ranbir.

The young star fondly remembers his grandpa. He tolda news daily recently, "Whenever my mom shoutedat me I would call him up and he would fire her. I,being his first grandson, was special. Every week-end, the grandkids used to go to his home inChembur. He kept a bag of toffees and gave us oneevery time we greeted him. I once asked him for asuit when he was visiting Russia. He got back twobags of suits in every color possible. He nevershopped for anyone else."

Perhaps as an aftereffect of those suits, Ranbir became anardent fan of his movies. He said, "It was during my last days ofschool that I realized I wanted to be part of the film industry. The firstRK film I saw was Shri 420. It influenced me deeply."

Ranbir's father Rishi Kapoor wanted his son to get a formal educa-tion before he became an actor. "I completed my Standard 12 inMumbai. Then I went to a film school in America although everyonesuggested I go to business school. But I don't think I ever could doanything apart from movies. My father supported that and agreed tosend me to acting school," he added.

India Post 29October 30, 2009

www.indiapost.com

Bollywood

Bipasha Basu says she didn't realize that shewould be adept at comedy till she tackled asmall portion of it in Dhoom 2, and later did

the full blown comic caper 'No Entry' that became ahuge success. "When I got a chance to then doDevgn Films' All The Best, I said to myself, this issomething I'm not going to miss out on," says theBengali bombshell, who insists that she rolled withlaughter while shooting and dubbing for this situ-ational comedy.

Bipasha says the entire Goa schedule was like apicnic... with everyone stationed in the same hotelfor over a month. "Ajay Devgn, Sanjay Dutt, FardeenKhan and I worked together, and worked out to-gether at the gym," she says. "We also bonded overcricket and swimming after pack-up... and it was onebig happy family atmosphere."

Bipasha says she has great respect for RohitShetty's earlier comedies - Golmaal and GolmaalReturns, and she feels that All The Best also hasthe right entertainmentquotient for the Diwalifestive season. Of herco-stars Ajay, Sanjayand Fardeen, shesays, "All of themhave tackled morecomedy than I havein my career; so itwas a cakewalk forthem.

Ajay Devgn, who's known to pull a fast one on unsuspecting souls, probablyhad never imagined that he would ever face payback.

And guess who fooled the Devgn dude? The one-film old in Bollywood,Asin, who'll be seen with him in London Dreams. One day while shooting in amall, Devgn was shocked to learn that Asin had got into a major panga withRannvijay Singh, who also plays a role in the musical. On probing further,Ajay heard that the two had a tu tu main main and Asin had slappedRannvijay.

Naturally, he was astounded because he believed her to be a ratherchilled out gal. So in an attempt to play peacemaker, Ajay went to sortout the differences between his warring co-stars.

That's when director VipulShah burst out laughing andAjay realized that he had beentaken in.

India Post October 30, 2009www.indiapost.com

Realty Tidbits Real Estate30

When will your housingmarket recover?

MARCIE GEFFNER

Pundits love to make predic-tions as to when homeprices will stabilize in US

housing markets. But even well-respected forecasters and ana-lysts may disagree, and even if aforecast proves true nationally,your local market may behave in awildly different way. This discon-nect between broad-stroke fore-casts and small-scale local marketspresents quite a puzzle forhomebuyers and home sellers, whoneed to make major financial deci-sions on the basis of facts, not fic-tion. If you want or need to sell yourhome, how do you know the besttime to put it on the market?

The national housing market ismore than large enough to encom-pass a wide variety of trends indifferent places and on differenttimelines. And that means, at theend of the day, you'll need to relyon your own best judgment to

make decisions for yourself andyour family.

Local data may be more mean-ingful for homebuyers, sellers

So how can you figure out whenhome prices and sales hit bottomand begin to recover in yourneighborhood? You may need to

do your own research to find theanswer. Dig up facts and figuresabout your own city or town andthen combine that data with infor-mation about national trends toformulate your own conclusions.

Plenty of data are as close asyour keyboard, though the pro-cess of sifting through it may take

quite a lot of time and thoughtfulanalysis. If you're tempted to skipout on what may seem a burden-some homework assignment andinstead rely on your own gut in-stincts, you might want to take atip from Stuart Gabriel, director ofUCLA's Ziman Center for Real Es-

tate in Los Angeles. He says,"Some investors are very instinc-tual and this has worked out wellfor them, but most of us rely onthe acquisition of information."

Supply of for-sale homes a keyindicator

If you don't want to indulge inthat much research, zero in on themost important statistic, which,Gabriel suggests, may be the sup-ply, or "inventory," of homes thatare for sale in your local area.

"There is a whole litany (of fac-tors that affect housing) -- homesales, housing starts, building per-mits, house prices -- and all ofthose are important indicators," hesays, "but the inventory numbersin particular are really important."

The inventory of for-salehomes in a local area is usuallymeasured as a number of months'supply at a current pace of sales.

The general rule is that moremonths of supply indicates a

weaker housing market. Manymonths suggests plenty of homesare for sale or the pace of sales isslow. Those conditions are indica-tive of a market that favors buy-ers. Few months suggests a lim-ited number of homes for sale orthe pace of sales is fast. Thosefactors are indicative of a marketthat favors sellers.

Many local Realtor associationsand multiple listing services, orMLS, collect and publish this typeof information. Ideally, the datashould be segmented by locale,type of home and price range,though that degree of specificityis rarely on offer.

Housing starts increase supplyof for-sale homes

Two other important housingmarket indicators are residentialbuilding permits and new-homeconstruction starts, according toGabriel. Bernard Markstein, senioreconomist at the National Asso-ciation of Home Builders, orNAHB, in Washington, D.C.,agrees. These indicators are mea-sured by local government build-ing officials and the U.S. CensusBureau. A spike in permits or startsmay indicate more optimismamong homebuilders, but can alsosuggest a dramatic rise in the sup-ply of for-sale homes in the nearfuture.

Housing starts generally are abetter leading indicator than hous-ing permits because "housingstarts turn into homes for sale veryquickly," Gabriel says.

ASSOCHAM to hostInvestment Mart atJaipur

The Associated Chambers ofCommerce and Industry of

India (ASSOCHAM) is planningto host an investment mart atJaipur in next February to attractinvestment for Rajasthan.ASSOCHAM president SwatiPiramal said that the associationaims at attracting around Rs 5-lakhcrore over next three years."Rajasthan will be the focus statefor the next 5 years. It has a hugeuntapped potential and we wantto rope in investment in varioussectors including food process-ing, dairying, organic farming,cultivation of herbal plants, edu-cation, creation of supporting in-frastructure and manufacturing.The investment will generatearound 10 lakh direct jobs in thestate," she said.

BPTP sells housingprojects worthRs 1,600 cr

Real estate firm BPTP has soldproperties worth Rs 1,600

crore during the first half of thecurrent fiscal from its three hous-ing projects in Faridabad in the na-tional capital region. On the backof improved sentiment in the prop-erty market, BPTP has sold nearly7,000 units in these three projects,part of a 1,900 acre integratedtownship 'BPTP Parklands'.

"All the three projects are com-pletely sold out. We have soldmore than 6,000 independentfloors since April in two projects.The company has also sold about800 premium flats," BPTP DirectorSudhanshu Tripathi said. Thecompany has earned revenues tothe tune of Rs 1,600 crore by sell-ing these units, he added. Askedabout investment on these threeprojects, Tripathi said it would beclose to Rs 1,000 crore.

ResidentialPrices go up inMumbai

Mumbai's residential propertyprices are on the rise even

as the buyer is not in a hurry tofinish a deal. According to thecity's property registration data,there has been a 13% month-on-month drop in the number of apart-ments registered in August 2009this year as compared with the pre-vious month. This trend was hold-ing out in September as well.

"As prices increase, customersshy away and this is evident fromthe registration data," said RamYadav, CFO, Orbit Corporation.

Real estate agentheld for theft

MUMBAI: Police has arrested a real estate agent forallegedly cheating an air hostess and stealing cash andother belongings valued at Rs 16 lakh from her rentedflat here. Acting on a tip off, police nabbed MehboobKhan, who owns the flat in suburban Andheri, fromOshiwara area in this connection, Police Inspector DattaSankhe said. According to police, Ritu Sajdeva (22), whohails from Delhi and is working with Air India, had goneto the national capital on October 12 to celebrate Diwaliwith her family members. -PTI

DLF gets best globaldeveloper award

NEW DELHI: India's largest re-alty firm DLF Ltd has been con-ferred with the best global devel-oper award for 2009 byEuromoney -- a leading financialmarket magazine.

The company also baggedawards for the best developer inAsia and in India. 'Euromoney's

Fifth Annual Real Estate Awards'was held in London.

"To be named as the best de-veloper, not just in India, butacross the globe, is definitely anachievement," DLF Chairman KP Singh said after receiving theaward.

Euromoney's annual realty sur-vey is based on the opinions of

developers, financial institutions,investors and end-user world-wide. The respondents were askedto name, which firms they thoughtwere best at providing various realestate products and services intheir market in the last 12 months.

"In an increasingly challengingfinancial environment, the winners

of the 2009 Euromoney RealEstate Awards are those thatexhibited the ability to reactat speed, innovate and makebest use of the inherentstrengths of their organiza-tion," Euromoney EditorClive Horwood said.

While DLF was accorded thirdposition in these awards last year,it moved to being named the bestglobal developer this year, thestatement said.

DLF has projects in more than30 cities in India and is present inall the verticals of realty such ashousing, office, retail, SEZs, ITPark, hotels and townships. -PTI

Dig up facts and figures about your own cityor town and then combine that data withinformation about national trends toformulate your own conclusions


October 30, 2009India Post32 www.indiapost.com

DeegCity of massive fortifications, beautiful gardens

Deeg is a small town situ-ated in the north Indianstate of Rajasthan, around

152 km away from Delhi. Once thesummer resort of the rulers ofBharatpur, it served as the secondcapital of the region. This interest-ing town is strewn with massivefortifications, beautiful gardens,magnificent palaces, and a color-ful bazaar.

The Jats, a dynasty that daredchallenge the power of theMughals, once ruled Deeg. Theliving testimony to their rule is afort constructed during the reignof Surajmal in 1730s. Surajmal wasalso responsible for the develop-ment of the town of Deeg.

In 1776, the reign of Jats endedfollowing their defeat at the handsof the imperial Mughal army underMirza Nazaf Khan. Nevertheless,Deeg was returned after a decade,but it did not remain free for long. Itwas again seized, this time by newrulers, namely, the British with theirpeculiar style of gun power and di-plomacy. The British set it free notlong afterwards in 1805.

Tourist Attractions: Deeg is inthe district of Bharatpur. Ap-proaching the town, one can seethe battlements of the fort built by

Surajmal. This was constructed inthe form of a square, measuringabout 274 m.

The walls are about 20 m highand rise impressively, although theouter coating of plaster has peeledoff in many places and shrubs growfrom the bottom of the ramparts.

The entrance to the fort is fromthe north. An outer gateway leadsto an L-shaped bridge. Inside thefort is a palace (haveli). This is nowin ruins, but one can still see whatwas once its entrance, an ornatered sandstone construction witha pointed arch.

The forecourt was added laterand for many years served as aprison. One can see a couple of can-ons on nearby mounts and, at thetop of the northwestern battlement,known as Larkha Burj, anothercanon lies on its side discarded.

It is from the top of the westernwall of the fort that one may viewthe palace below, built beyond apond-the Rup Sagar-and alongsidethe former Purana Mahal. The en-trance is to the north. Known asthe Singh Pol, it is ornately but sim-ply carved with a couple of lionsabove the gateway. This buildingapparently dates from a later pe-riod, but was never finished.

Once through it, one is at theedge of the gardens that are built

in the char-bagh style, essentiallyfour separate gardens around thesame center.

The style of both the gardensand buildings are from the Mughalperiod and yet with a distinctiveflavor-a result of the Jats' own aes-thetic vision that flourished at atime when the Mughal architecturestarted to deteriorate. The moststriking feature are the fountainsnumbering about 500. One can seethe bases of these sticking up allaround the palace, but unless onevisits on a Saturday in August,one is unlikely to see the water dis-play operational for it requires agreat amount of water.

This builds up during the mon-soon and is collected in a huge tankat the top of one building that canbe seen almost directly oppositethe entrance.

It is from the tank that, whenthe sluices are open, the waterflows down and out of the manyfountainheads below. These canbe seen all around the garden area.A full tank takes only a few hoursto empty and about a week to fill.This was achieved by means ofbullocks that brought up the wa-ter in leather buckets through spe-cial chutes at the side of the tower.

The main building in the com-plex is the Gopal Bhawan, which

was the actual residence of theRaja. Here one can see a spacioushall where the Raja was able togreet and address guests whileupstairs were the Royal apart-ments. These can still be seen asthey were when used; in one room,there is a raised elliptical diningtable, while at the back there is adining room in the western style.

From the Gopal Bhavan, one canhave a good view of the char-bagh. A marble archway forms thesupport for a hindola (swing). In-scribed on the base is the name ofthe seventeenth-century Mughalruler, Shah Jahan.

The style of both the gardens andbuildings are from the Mughal periodand yet with a distinctive flavor-aresult of the Jats' own aesthetic vision

Cont’d on page 34

The most strikingfeature are the foun-tains numberingabout 500. One cansee the bases ofthese sticking up allaround the palace

India PostOctober 30, 2009 33Travel & Hospitality Postwww.indiapost.com

Tips for traveling to USRAMAA SHANKER AIYER

Travel, like food and water, has becomeinevitable for existence and even thecommon man extends that last rupee,

or dollar, to gain a worldly insight into dif-ferent countries. Given the limited income,time and experience, one has to extract use-ful tips from mistakes and learn methods oftravel to savor new pastures, gain newmemories and feel like a monarch, of all thatthey survey.

Having selected the airlines and the des-tination Chennai to Lax, I found myself, en-joying the unique, old-fashioned method ofbooking a ticket across the travel counter.

I had always heard, from business asso-ciates, about how wonderful, it was to flySingapore Airlines and did not regret theexperience of trying it. For the first time trav-eler, checking in, can be more cumbersomethan labor pains, but with correct guidanceand all paper work in order, they can pro-ceed to a comfortable flight. The first prior-ity is to see that the baggage fits in withinternational requirement.

There are two transits to Los Angeles -Singapore and Tokyo. At Singapore, achange of aircraft gives one sufficient timeto use the airport facilities and reach the

new terminal. Toilets are clean and bever-ages available at all time.

Ask for the aisle seat to facilitate easymovement during the long flight. Plenty ofwater should be drunk and temptation tohelp oneself to the free liquor and wineshould be curtailed as dehydration sets inpretty fast, at that altitude. Shaking a legand hand literally keeps your blood circu-lation glowing and going.

Time for the longest leg of an air jour-ney - SG to LAX. The economy seats coulddo with a little more room space. Peak sea-son is the worst time to travel as the flightsare bursting full. I made the mistake of ask-ing for water, which I was told, would be

served with meals. Always carry a smallbottle of water with you, once security iscleared and water can be bought, at one ofthe duty free zones. A bottle of water, aspi-rin and an antacid are the security sym-bols of a good, stress free flight. Food ar-rived first for me as I had, elected the spe-

cial Indian vegetarian. For some reason,the video and music channels were notworking, so ensure they do, because it is along flight. We are served two meals toTokyo and two to LA. We descend at To-kyo airport, ready to stretch our legs. Sincesecurity checks are mandatory at all air-ports, one must keep one's boarding passand passport ready.

The website is the best place for greatdeals. So if one does some groundwork,one can save up to 300 dollars on a ticket.Singapore Airlines has a very informa-tive and good website and easy to logon and book.

The quality of the food was maintained

throughout. We awoke to refreshing tea,coffee and snacks. We also have two formsto fill, if we are visitors to the US. One needspassport details and stay and travel detailsincluding the address and phone numberduring the course of one's stay. The formshave to be filled carefully as there is a limiton the value and kind of things which arebrought into the US. On landing, one needspassport, boarding pass [with baggage tag]

and the two forms.The aircraft lands and now, one has to

make sure, that all one's belongings arepicked up. Having landed and de-planed,one follows the herd, to the immigration line.One must be careful in answering the pre-cise questions of the immigration officer.One last tip to remember is not to changemoney at an airport because the exchangerate is apt to be high. Using travel prepaidcredit card, you will generally get a higherexchange rate than normal bank rates, andthese cards are usually commission free.

Once the immigration has been cleared,one can claim one's baggage and rush tomeet your loved ones, or friends.

I decided LA was apt to choose as a des-tination given the new aura of a destinationspot, no more just famous for Disneylandand Hollywood but also for its yoga retreats,Ayurvedic spas and meditation center.

"I am large; I contain multitudes," wrote WaltWhitman - an appropriate motto for Los Ange-les if ever there was one. Yes, LA was the homeof Walt Disney but also of ParamahansaYogananda, who lived and wrote near down-town Los Angeles, for 30 years.

Although LA is synonymous with Hol-lywood, this vast collection of individualneighborhoods, cultures, and lifestyles rub-bing against one another is so much more.

Los Angeles International Airport

Pahalgam, Gulmarg to get Wi-Fi tech SRINAGAR: Asking the tourism indus-

try to provide to provide international lev-els of hospitality, Jammu and Kashmir Tour-ism Minister Nawang Rigzin Jora announcedthat Pahalgam and Gulmarg will be providedwith Wi-Fi technology for internet connec-tivity this year.

At a function organized by the tourismdepartment in connection with 'WorldTourism Day' at Institute of Hotel Man-agement Rajbagh near here, Jora said thesame facility will be extended to the Dalarea next year.

The minister also asked the tourism in-dustry to organize a peace march so that the

‘I decided LA was apt to choose as a destination giventhe new aura of a destination spot, no more just famousfor Disneyland and Hollywood but also for its yogaretreats, Ayurvedic spas and meditation center’

message of peace in Kashmir circulates inthe entire country.

He said the government was contemplat-ing a strategy for retaining tourists for longerperiods of time in the state by offering mul-tiple tourist spots and activities.

"We have to be innovative, creative andhave out of the box thinking especially atthe planning and policy level so that truepotential of the tourism industry is optimallyharnessed," he said.

A debate and painting competition wasalso held on the occasion in which schoolchildren from government and private insti-tutions participated. -PTI

ACCOUNTING SERVICESCorporation Setup starts at $150.00 plus costsIndividual Tax Return starts at $50.00Corporate Tax Return starts at $150.00Payroll Service starts at $35/pay periodBookkeeping starts at $50.00/MonthSales Tax Return starts at $50.00

General Accounting Services(773) 294 5753 / (630) 261 0110 (Message only)

2356. W. Devon Ave. Chicago, IL 60659

E-mail: [email protected]

(Rates apply to only new clients)Suri Ullal

Publicly Acclaimed Top Vegetarian Restaurant Serving

If You are looking For the BEST & the MOST AUTHENTIC VEGETARIANRESTAURANT IN TOWNCome to One and Only One Place

CATERING IS OUR SPECIALITY

TASTE OUR 30 PLUSE MOUTH WATERING DISHES ONCE YOU COMETO US YOU WILL NOT ELSEWHERE THAT IS OUR GUARANTEE

NORTH INDIAN • SOUTH INDIAN • GUJARATI • JAIN DISHES

Tel:(773) 274-58002508 W. Devon Ave.Chicago, IL 60659

E-mail: [email protected] www.aryabhavan.comFax: (773) 262-4465

India Post October 30, 200934 Travel & Hospitality Postwww.indiapost.com

Beyond the Gopal Bhawan isthe Suraj Bhawan. This houses itsown fountains and is remarkablefor its plant decorations on marbleslabs that were probably lootedfrom Agra. Other parts of this build-ing also appear to have been takenfrom other Mughal residences.

On either side of the SurajBhawan are two detached pavil-ions, Sawan and Bhadon, whichare designed to look like pleasurebarges. During the rains, they al-low water to fall down a specially

carved chute and later out onto averandah in a charming display.

The meeting hall (KisanBhawan) lies in the southeasterncorner of the complex and sports aseries of fountains on its terrace.Here the Raja would discuss withadvisors and some affairs of statewere debated and decided upon.As elsewhere, one can see the useof Persian carpets.

The other bhawans are thewrestling hall (Nandi Bhawan) andthe Kesav Bhawan, a place formembers of the public to air theirviews. This building, situated on

the edge of the Rup Sagar, is sur-rounded by a row of small andlarger fountains and now has asupport in the middle to prevent itfrom collapsing.

Places around DeegBharatpur, 32 km from Deeg, is

famous for its bird sanctuary.Many species of migratory birds,including Siberian cranes, come toBharatpur during winter.

Around 35 km from Deeg isMathura, one of the most sacredplaces for Hindus. It is consideredthe birthplace of Lord Krishna.

Alwar is 75 km from Deeg. It wasonce the capital of a princely state.Surrounded by a wall, the city has

Deeg: City of massive fortifications,beautiful gardens

several sites to visit, including the14th-century tomb of Tarang Sul-tan, a picturesque lake, a museum,and several ancient mosques.

Fairs & Festivals: All the ma-jor festivals of north India andRajasthan are celebrated in Deegincluding Teej, Diwali, andGangaur (festival in which womeninvokes Parvati, wife of Shiva).

How to ReachRoad - Deeg is an easy day trip

from Bharatpur, Agra, or Delhi by road.Rail - Bharatpur is also the near-

est railway station from where onecan take trains to Delhi, Jaipur, andMumbai.

Best time to visit: October toMarch

Language: Hindi, English, andRajasthani


The other bhawansare the wrestling hall(Nandi Bhawan) andthe Kesav Bhawan, aplace for membersof the public to airtheir views

India PostOctober 30, 2009 35Travel & Hospitality Postwww.indiapost.com

LA Zoo's Boo at the Zoo extendedIndia Post News Service

LOS ANGELES: This year theLos Angeles Zoo's annual Boo atthe Zoo, presented by Nestlé, hasbeen extended to two weekends!Taking place on October 24, 25, 31and November 1, the Zoo trans-forms into four themed areas forthis festive event.

Families can visit the CreepyCreatureEncounter in the WinnickFamily Children's Zoo, PumpkinPatch Place at Eucalyptus Grove,Halloween Down Under in Austra-lia and the Birds of Halloween lo-cated across from World of BirdsShow.

Boo at the Zoo features amaz-ing pumpkin-carving demonstra-

tions, face painting and trick-or-treating throughout the Zoo. Don't

miss entertaining Halloween per-formances and the chance to getup close with spiders, bugs andsnakes at the Creepy Creature En-counter! There are exciting keepertalks about owls, the shadows ofthe night, and learn about whatthese night

flyers eat while dissecting owlpellets at Birds of Halloween. Seethe Zoo's animals Stomp 'n Chomppumpkin treats on both weekends!

This year, the L.A. Zoo is offer-ing a dollar off the price of admis-sion for children ages two through12 that comes to Boo at the Zoo ina costume! Boo at the Zoo is spon-sored by Nestlé and supported byFarmers Insurance Group® andFedEx®.

Gorilla Kelly eating pumpkin

AI launches direct WashingtonDC - Delhi service


NEW YORK: Air India an-nounced the launch of its dailydirect service from Washington,DC's Dulles International Airportto Delhi with new Boeing 777LRs,effective December 1. The flightswill depart from Washington at12:10 P.M., stop en-route at NewYork's JFK Airport, and continuenon-stop to Delhi, arriving at 4:45P.M. the following afternoon. Con-

tinuing service is offered toKolkata. Passengers bound forMumbai will be able to transfer atJFK to the carrier's evening non-stop JFK-Mumbai flight.

All of the flights from Wash-ington offer a choice of Economy,Executive and First Class service.

Commenting on the new flights,Chitra Sarkar, Air India's ExecutiveDirector, Americas, said, "Air In-dia is pleased to be inauguratingthe only direct service from Wash-

ington to India, and to provide anauthentic taste of Indian hospital-ity to travelers from the Capitolregion. Travel to Delhi, whether forbusiness or leisure, has just be-come much more convenient andcomfortable."

Air India currently offers dailynon-stop flights to Mumbai andDelhi from JFK, and daily directservice to India from Chicago andNewark (via Frankfurt), andToronto (via London).

Time to rebuild tourisminfrastructure: Omar

SRINAGAR: Describing tour-ism as the backbone of theeconomy of Jammu and Kashmir,Chief Minister Omar Abdullah hassaid time has come to rebuild tour-ism infrastructure in the state andrecover from losses suffered dueto militancy.

"Time has come to rebuild ourtourism infrastructure in such amanner so that besides having in-ternational compatibility this sec-tor shall be able to recover fromall the losses which this industryhas suffered in the recent past,"Abdullah said while interactingwith representatives associatedwith the sector at a function or-ganized by Travel Agents Soci-ety of Kashmir here.

The chief minister agreed withsome representatives that rumorsregarding presence of Taliban in

Kashmir in the international me-dia affected tourist arrivals butsaid the government had effec-tively refuted them.

"The communication by (statetourism minister) Nawang RigzinJora helped to restore the confi-dence of the tourist," he said.

The chief minister said he dailymonitored tourist arrivals to thestate.

The flow of visitors fromother states, neighboring coun-tries, China, Taiwan, Japan, Ko-rea and Central Asia was in-creasing though the graph ofarrivals from the west showed adip, he said.

"This is the time for tourismdepartment to concentrate on thisshift of tourist flow and play itsrole in attracting people fromthese countries," he said. -PTI

JK govt for morepvt investmentin tourism

JAMMU: The Jammu andKashmir government has fa-vored more private sector in-vestment in the creation of tour-ism infrastructure in the state.

At a seminar on tourism or-ganized at Katra, 50 km fromhere, Tourism Minister NawangRigzin Jora said the private sec-tor could invest in transport,construction of rest housesand even road networks.

"For the last over 50 yearsthe government took on itselfthe burden to harness the tour-ism potential and build it butnow the onus ought to beshared as is the case in the de-veloped countries," he said,adding the focus must be ondeveloping the infrastructure intourism circuits of state. -PTI

NATRAJ TRAVEL INCwww.natrajtravel.com

773-509-1300email : [email protected]

AIR : CRUISES :VACATIONS : ONE SITE

2240-42 West Devon Chicago IL 60659

Ph# 773-338-4080 Fax# 773-338-4088

DEVON LOCATIONSTRICTLY VEGETARIAN

ENJOY SPECIAL NON-VEGITEMS AT SCHAUMBURG

SCHAUMBURG EXCLUSIVE

LUNCH BUFFET 7 DAYS AWEEK

SOUTH INDIAN CUISINE

Serving to Perfect ionServing to Perfect ionServing to Perfect ionServing to Perfect ionServing to Perfect ion

OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK11:30 AM TO 10:00 PM

SCHAUMBURG:

730 SCHAUMBURG RD.

SCHAUMBURG IL60194

(847) 884 9510

CHICAGO:

2543 W. DEVON AVENUE

CHICAGO IL 60659

(773) 338-2152

WASHINGTON D.C.:

1329 UNIVERSITY BLVD. EAST

TACOMA PARK MD 20783

(301) 434-1531

10635 Page Ave., St. Louis, MO 63132

Tel: (314) 423-9990 or (800) 55 SEEMA Fax: (314) 423-0391

SEEMA WORLD TRAVEL, INC.One of the Oldest Travel Agencies in St. Louis

Competitive Rates & Confirmed Seats for

All Major Airlines

FOR ALL YOUR

TRAVEL NEEDS

Sita Ram Patel

INTERNATIONAL DOMESTIC

@ 847-568-0535

AIR INDIA AND ALLOTHER MAJOR

AIRLINES.PACKAGE DEALTAJ TOUR-SOTC

CALL:

2600 W. Peterson Ave.,Suite 105 Chicago IL 60659

Experienced TravelConsultants

Pasport and Visa Servicesavailable

* Confirmed seats(Even in High season)

* Low Airfares* Courteous Service

Call and Contact

MATCHLESSEXPRESS TOURS

Tel. (773) 338 6260

AIRWING TRAVELS INC.New York(Hicksville)

New Jersey(Iselin)Est. 1991

Tel: (516) 931 4600 Toll Free: (866) 532 3413 Tel: (732) 658 5450

Lowest Fares / Confirmed Seats to INDIA &Other Destinations Worldwide

Save upto 40% on First and Business ClassOPEN 7 DAYS - CCall or Email : [email protected]

www.indiapost .com

NEWSat your

India Post36www.indiapost.com

October 30, 2009

HARI WORLDCONSOLIDATOR OF ALL MAJOR

AIRLINES SINCE 1968

T R AT R AT R AT R AT R A V E LV E LV E LV E LV E L

INDIAN SUB CONTINENT, EUROPE, AFRICAFOR LOWEST FARES AND RELIABLE SERVICE TO

Call us at: 773-381-55556346 N. WASHTENAW, CHICAGO, IL 60659

Your One Stop-Shop For Air Tickets Tour Packages Cruise Car Rental Hotels

Please Call 877-FLY-JAYA Today!!!

Tel: 773-728-9071 773-315-8597

SPECIAL LOW FARES TO BOMBAY, DELHI, MADRAS,CALCUTTA, DHAKA, KARACHI, LAHORE etc.

CONSOLIDATORS (INTL. & DOMESTIC)

SKY WORLD TRAVEL 1-888-695-0005

E-mail us at: [email protected]

A I R T R A V E L T O U R . V A C A T I O N S . C R U I S E

1-800-900-UFLY india.pakistan\SINCE 1989 2550 W.Peterson Ave Chicago 773-274-3960 e.mail [email protected]


1-800-900-UFLY. Around the worldSINCE 1989 2550 W.Peterson Ave Chicago 773-274-3960 e.mail [email protected]


1-800-900-UFLY (8359) SINCE 1989 2550 W.Peterson Ave Chicago 773-274-3960 e.mail GLEN [email protected]

ALL AIRLINES AGENCY- NAPERVILLE, IL1355 S. Rt. 59, Suite 202 B, Naperville, IL 60564

Special Fares to India as low as $475RT

(Taxes & Restrictions apply) (Limited Seats)We beat International Fares offered by Airline Websites!

Affordable Business Class Fares along with Flat-bed Comfort!! India to USA fares also available !! Email: [email protected]: 630.692.1777 Emergency: 630.205.4049 Fax: 630.692.1900

Complimentary Limousine!! (For Business Class)

India Post 37October 30, 2009www.indiapost.com

October 30, 2009India Post38

www.indiapost.com

HoroscopeARIES

Mar 21-Apr 20

October 30 to

November 5

Planets help you overcome many diffi-

culties and changes in career just

around the corner. Financially you will

continue to meet your commitments

though worries will not leave you alone

either. Isolating from world will not help

rather you should call friends and ar-

range get together. You will work hard

to resolve an issue involving a child.

You have the right tools, but if you

hesitate, you will lose a huge opportu-

nity. You will be going on an important

trip. Meetings will go well and you will

receive the clearance. People will try

to cause distraction but will fail. You

will become more popular in social

circle and will be invited to couple of

important parties.

Things will once again start moving in

right direction. You may be slowly work-

ing towards starting a new venture in

partnership. You will start preparation

for an upcoming trip also. Spouse will

be under lots of pressure for some rea-

sons. People who promised big will not

keep up their words as a result you

will discard them from your list.

TAURUS

Apr 21-May 20

LEO

Jul 23-Aug 22

SAGITTARIUSNov 23-Dec 22

VIRGO

Aug 23-Sept 22

CAPRICORN

Dec 23-Jan 19

GEMINI

May 21-Jun 20

LIBRA

Sept 23-Oct 22

CANCER

Jun 21-Jul 22

SCORPIO

Oct 23-Nov 22

AQUARIUS

Jan 20-Feb 18

PISCES

Feb 19-Mar 20

Extra money will bring some relief.

Claim will be approved and you willbe issued the check. Do things within

legal parameters and handle all gov-ernment related matters carefully.

Changes at work will leave you un-hurt but still shake you up. You will

be travelling to a nice area with fam-ily to attend a social event.

Focus on today rather than worrying

about future. Expenses will come

down a lot. You will feel tired of slow

or no progress in the past and will take

some drastic steps. Gamble will pay

off. You will come across few very

compatible people and may decide to

use their expertise. You will be ex-

cited about an upcoming big reunion.

Changes you were working on will fi-

nally materialize. It may not be reward-

ing right away but in long term. Believe

in your expertise and march forward

with your plans. Family may be leaving

for the overseas trip soon. You will get

all the help from superiors and those in

high places. You may be thinking of tak-

ing off from work for few days.

You will need to put in extra hours but

sales will be kind of flat. People who

you helped in the past will start to main-

tain distance and will not be there in

case of need. People in job will have

some changes pretty soon. Do not take

any chance with weather. Do not be

double minded and do not put off things

for another day.

Some of you will be getting ready for

an upcoming trip and spend most of

the evenings in mall. You will have

better controls of the things at work.

Business will also improve but not to

satisfactory level. You will be meet-

ing an influential person. Transiting

Venus in twelfth can cause intimate

relationship with a beautiful person.

If you try little harder and sincerely,

you will achieve lot. Planets are sill fa-

vorable for money through specula-

tion or lottery. You will gain friendship

of a very useful person. Throw all the

fears out of your mind and enjoy what

you have. You may be thinking of hav-

ing some special prayers done at your

place and start inviting friends.

You will be going on a short but inter-

esting trip. Concentration of Planets in

first will boost your Morales and pro-

vide extra ordinary success in career.

You will finish an important project well

before deadline. Boss will be happy

and make necessary approval for next

level. You may redevelop taste for very

spicy food and desert.

Stress at work will reduce but will not

go away completely. After paying off

all the bills you will have enough money

left in your pockets. People creating

trouble in the past will start paying at-

tention elsewhere. All meetings and

trips will bring instant results and re-

wards. You will call or get in touch

with a trusted person for advice.

It will be an expensive week though

the money will be well spent. It will be

beneficial week for brokers. You will

continue to have few fears about job

for some more time. You may be

double minded about an opportunity

that requires change of residence.

You will buy some high end gadget

for personal use.

www. indiapost .com

NEWSat your doorstep

For further details please call or visit the website.

1-310-709-6087 [email protected]

www.vedicnakshatras.com

Gurmeet SinghVEDIC & KP STELLAR ASTROLOGER

PO Box 5605, Walnut Creek, CA 94596

Gurmeet Singh is an internationally acclaimed Vedic & KP System Astrologer with over 20 years of experience. Expert in Vedic & KP System Astrology. Business, Finance, Relationship Compatibility, Health, legal, real estate issues


www.indiapost.com40 India Post October 30, 2009

Health ScienceHealth Line

AMA to work with AAPI onhealthcare reforms

HARISH RAO


SAN ANTONIO, TX: Physi-cians of Indian origin haveemerged as leaders of Americanmedical community and interna-tional medical graduates make upabout 25 percent of one millionstrong physicians in the US, ac-cording to Dr. J. James Rohack,president of American MedicalAssociation (AMA)

Addressing the fall governingbody meeting of the AmericanAssociation of Physicians of In-dian Origin (AAPI) as guestspeaker recently here, he said onein four of every international medi-cal graduates went to a medicalschool in India and there are morethan 33,000 IMGs as members ofthe AMA.

The AMA and the AAPI areworking together hand-in-handon several areas of interest to In-dian-American physicians such asspeeding up of visa applicationprocess and securing J-1 visawaivers for physicians to practicein underserved areas access."These issues don't affect only the

RI students toreceive swine fluvaccine in Nov.

PROVIDENCE, R.I.: School chil-dren in Rhode Island are sched-uled to receive the swine flu vac-cine starting in November.

Health Department DirectorDavid Gifford has sent letters toparents explaining free clinics willlikely start next month. -AP

Patient exposedto radiation athospital sues

LOS ANGELES: A patient whowas exposed to an overdose of ra-diation during a CT scan has suedCedars-Sinai Medical Center andthe maker of the scanner.

Trevor Rees's lawsuit, filed inSuperior Court, seeks class actionstatus on behalf of the 206 pa-tients who received radiationoverdoses because of an equip-ment error that went undetectedfor 11/2 years.

The lawsuit claims thehospital's staff and the scanner'smanufacturer, General ElectricHealthcare, were negligent in per-forming the scans. -AP

graduates of US medical schools,license portability from state tostate and the AMA is working hardto find solutions to the issues im-portant to the Indian community,Dr. Rohack said. "The interna-tional medical graduates havemade AMA a better organizationthat more accurately reflects thediversity in American medicine."

"Covering the uninsured is atop priority of AMA and thereshould be comprehensive healthsystem reform that will cover theuninsured, improve healthcaredelivery system and place afford-able high quality care within thereach of all Americans," he said."America's fight for health systemreform like the song Jai Ho is build-ing toward a crescendo."

The AMA supports the effortsat reform because physicians seewhat's broken in the current sys-tem every day. Rising healthcarecosts strain individuals, busi-nesses and government budgetsand the disease burden of wide-spread obesity portent a tidal waveof costs that may drown the na-tion, he observed.

Pot advocates:Looser guidelinesleave questions

SAN FRANCISCO: A newObama administration policyloosening guidelines on federalprosecution of medical marijuanasignaled to users that they hadless to fear from federal agentsbut still left their suppliers to con-tend with a tangled mesh of statelaws and regulations.

The Justice Department toldfederal prosecutors that target-ing people who use or providemedical marijuana in strict com-pliance with state laws was not agood use of their time.

Marijuana advocates and pa-tients called the memo an encour-aging step forward from the strictanti-pot policies of the Bush ad-ministration. But many worriedthat the web of laws in the 14states that allow medical mari-juana use could still leave medi-cal marijuana providers vulner-able to prosecution. -AP

Review ofescape fromAriz. hospital

PHOENIX: State officials arepledging a thorough investigationof apparent security flaws thatenabled a sex offender from thestate mental hospital in Phoenix.

The Department of Health Ser-vices says 40-year-old Jorge Murilloescaped from a treatment center inthe hospital complex after climbingtwo fences. He escaped less than aweek after arriving at the hospitalafter completing a 10-year prisonsentence on a sexual assault con-viction in Maricopa Communitycommitted in 1999.

Murillo remained at large as de-partment interim Director WillHumble said the investigation intohis escape will review procedures,staffing, the facility's design. -AP

Public Option is good in principle: Dr. Raj GandhiSRIREKHA N. CHAKRAVARTY


NEW YORK: The healthcareoverhaul set about by the ObamaAdministration has stirred up un-precedented and frenzied publicdebate like no other in recent times.In a perfectly timed exploration ofthe overall healthcare system inthe country, Dr. Raj K. Gandhi, re-nowned thoracic surgeon andmember of the World Medical As-sociation, has come out with a book'Sense of Direction - It Needs ToBe Restored: Park 1 Healthcare', inwhich he explains why restructur-ing - and not replacing - is the an-swer to the broken system.

In his book, Dr. Gandhi dis-sects some of the proposedhealthcare amendments and con-troversial topics including: Howthe very high and rising cost of

healthcare in the US is related toexcessive utilization, excessiveprofits, and 'maladjusted capital-ism'; how 47 million uninsuredpeople can be insured by enrollingthose below age 50 into Medicaid

and those above 50 into Medicare;why excessive utilization near theend of life is the main cause of highcost among Medicare beneficiaries.

Dr. Gandhi also puts forth hisown law, the Medicare Fair DrugPricing Act, which prohibits directconsumer drug advertising and

introduces drug discount cards toseniors with limited incomes; andproposes a fund -- the Social Se-curity Insurance Fund - which

taxes small amounts on incomesover $200,000 to help boost SocialSecurity and reduce the budgetdeficit and national debt.

Challenging physicians, hospi-

tal administrators, AARP members,and high school, college and uni-versity students alike to help fixthe broken healthcare system, Dr.Gandhi urges each reader to sendhis copy of the book to the Presi-dent, US Senator, Congresspersonand other government officials in-volved in healthcare. His goal is tohave one million copies sent toWashington in a Million-Book-March. "This book is not meant tojust read," he says. "I wrote it toinspire people to band together tofind it for our country's healthcaresystem. Although severely bro-ken, Medicare and Medicaid havestood the tests of time and servedtheir beneficiaries well, for mostpart. By strengthening these ser-vices, our nation can bring downthe cost of healthcare and improveits quality."

AAPI President Dr. Vinod Shah with AMA President Dr. J. James Rohack

at the AAPI event. -(Photo courtesy: AAPI)

physicians but the medical edu-cation system, delivery of qualitypatient care, especially those in theunderserved areas," he said.

The two premier organizationsare also working on equal oppor-tunity to residency programs,closer state licensure parity with Cont’d on page 41

Cont’d on page 42

Dr. Raj Gandhi

One in four of every international medicalgraduates went to a medical school in Indiaand there are more than 33,000 IMGs asmembers of the AMA

Dr Gandhi also putsforth his own law, theMedicare Fair DrugPricing Act, whichprohibits directconsumer drugadvertising

Those without health insurance,who can't afford a visit to a personalphysician and who access care onlythrough an emergency departmentlive sicker and die younger. This isunacceptable in the wealthiest andmost technologically advanced so-ciety in the history of the world.AMA will work closely with AAPIin finding a solution, he added.

Julian Castro, Mayor of City ofSan Antonio, said he was happythat Indian-American physicianschose the great city for the meet-ing and praised their services tothe nation.

Dr. Vinod Shah, AAPI president,in his key-note address, said In-dian-American physicians giveback to the society not only in In-dia but in the US as well. On lack ofresidency slots to qualified medi-cal graduates, he said:" I have metmany bright young men and womenfrom around the world who arrivedin America in much the same man-ner as I had 40 years ago.

"Many of these are interna-tional medical graduates, and eas-ily some of the world's brightestminds; many have already suc-cessfully completed the rigorousAmerican Board examinations.


AMA to work with AAPI on healthcare reforms"Thousands of these very mo-

tivated professionals are flounder-ing in the dark because they areunable to practice what they havebeen educated for, are committedto, and excel in. It is a tragic ironythat individuals with the potentialto help others are languishing intheir untapped potential.

"This group can easily becomepart of the solution for the prob-

lem our healthcare system is fac-ing. What lies between ourcountry's success and their fail-ure is three years of residency,"he said.

Dr. Shah said that the thirdIndo-US Healthcare summit will beheld in New Delhi in January 2010and next year's annual conventionin Washington DC, he said.

Dr. Jayesh Shah, treasurer ofAAPI, chair of AMA International

Medical Graduate section and or-ganizer of the event, said the pur-pose of combining the governingbody and the Charitable Founda-tion dinner was to encourage par-ticipation of physicians in foun-dation activities in a big way.

The Texas Indo-American Phy-sicians Society Southwest Chap-ter (TIPS-SW), the American As-sociation of Physicians of IndianOrigin (AAPI)-Charitable Founda-tion, and the India Association ofSan Antonio (IASA) in coopera-tion with the local ethnic associa-tions had staged a benefit pro-gram called "Dancing for the Mil-lions-Jai Ho" and the proceeds willbenefit the Charitable Foundationof AAPI that runs 17 free clinics inIndia and AAPI doctors' runsmore than eight free clinics in theUS, he added.

The governing body meetingwas followed by a meeting of theexecutive committee and board oftrustees of AAPI. A gala event toraise funds for AAPI CharitableFoundation and charity dinner andball were also held in the eveningwith silent auction and presidedover by Dr. Shashi Shah, presidentof the charitable foundation.

David Deanda, president ofLone Star National Bank was hon-

ored for his support to the event.A seminar for International Medi-cal Graduates was conducted andwas presided by Dr. StephenSeeling, vice president of opera-tions, Educational Commission forForeign Medical Graduates(ECFMG) and Dr. RajamRamamurthy, professor of Neona-tology, UTHSCA.

Another seminar on business

of medicine was conducted foryoung practicing physicians inconjunction with Bexar CountyMedical Society and SouthwestGeneral Hospital and was presidedover by Sarah Fontenat and Dr.Vijay Koli, past president of AAPI.Dr. Ajeet Singhvi, president-elect,welcomed the guests and Dr.Narendra Kumar, secretary, pro-posed a vote of thanks.

Less West Nile virusdetected in Tenn

NASHVILLE, Tenn.: There wasless West Nile Virus this year inTennessee compared to 2008, andunusually cool weather in July andAugust is probably the reason, astate health expert said.

``We've not had a very hot sum-mer, compared to previous years,''said Dr. Abelardo Moncayo, anepidemiologist with the Tennes-see Department of Health. ̀ `That'simportant to mosquito develop-ment and also to development ofthe virus.''

Moncayo explained that mos-quitoes, which spread the virusthat causes the disease, spawn

more vigorously in hot weather.Higher temperatures also aid rep-lication of the virus itself, he said.

August is usually the peakmonth for West Nile.

Moncayo said the best indica-tor is tracking tests done on poolsof mosquitoes, explaining thatthere could be late reporting ofhuman cases of the disease.

The mosquito testing endedlast week and Moncayo reportsa significant drop. In 2008, 14.6percent of the samples testedcame back positive for West Nile,compared with 11.7 percent thissummer. -AP

India PostOctober 30, 2009 Health Science Post 41

'Thousands of thesevery motivated profes-sionals are flounderingin the dark becausethey are unable topractice what theyhave beeneducated for'

www.indiapost.com

In an emailed interview withIndia Post, Dr. Gandhi, who haspracticed thoracic surgery in com-munity hospitals in Atlanta since1977, talked more on the subject.

IP: To say the Americanhealthcare system is a mess seemsto me like an understatement go-ing by your book. What, in youropinion, has precipitated the sys-tem so severely?

Dr. Gandhi: There is no singleprecipitating cause. Multiple fac-tors are contributing to the messas described in detail in the book.These basically include excessiveutilization, excessive profits and'maladjusted capitalism'. The fun-damentals of US healthcare systemare good, but they have becomemired with these negative elements,some of which have even a greaternegative effect than others, like themedical liability system.

IP: Who would you say are thebiggest culprits to have broughtabout this mess -- the insurancecompanies, the hospitals, the gov-ernment or the doctors or wouldyou say it is a collective failure?

Dr. Gandhi: All are to blame,some more than others. Doc-tors, in my opinion, are least toblame although they bear someresponsibility.

IP: What is your opinion onPresident Obama's proposedhealthcare reform, especially theproposed public option?

Dr. Gandhi: Public option isgood in principle and would pro-vide insurance coverage and com-petition. But I do not see the needfor a new government bureau-cracy as proposed by PresidentObama. We already have two wellestablished government programswith a long history and trackrecord. We need to improve andreform them and make them morecost effective and then use themas public options also. I have de-scribed this at length in the book.

IP: The insurance companieshave started their organized cam-paign against the Public Option-- how exactly would they be af-

fected if it comes through?Dr. Gandhi: Yes, insurance com-

panies and HMOs will be adverselyaffected because they love theirprofits and power. They will have tolower their premiums in order tocompete with public option. Somehospitals will also be adversely af-fected. In the long run pharmaceuti-cals and medical device manufac-turers may also become affected.

IP: Why are the Conservativesso against Obama's healthcare

reform proposals -- is it only po-litical or is there more to it?

Dr. Gandhi: Good question. Ithink it is both political and philo-sophical. Their DNA, for some rea-son, is against everything thatgovernment does. Some of themhave yet not forgiven FDR forstarting Social Security; and LBJfor starting Medicare and Medic-aid, programs which have servedthis country so well.

IP: Why is the government notable to convince the general pub-lic about the Public Optionchoice?

Dr. Gandhi: Very good ques-tion again. General public does nothave an in-depth knowledge ofhow healthcare system works. Itconsumes 17% of GDP, obviouslya huge sum of money. Even veryeducated and well informed peopledo not know where this moneygoes, because it is a complicated

system. Government knows and sodo the special interest groups,who exert tremendous influenceon senators and congresspersonsthrough lobbyists and similar in-fluence on the public through me-dia advertisements. Conservativeradio talk show hosts, whose realname should be ITFs (incessanttalking fanatics) as I have de-scribed in the book take thisagenda and bombard the airwavesday in day out with powerful lan-guage against the public option.It literally becomes impossible foranyone to convince the publicunder these circumstances.

IP: Do you think Obama will winagainst the powerful insurance anddrug companies to push throughwith his reform proposals?

Dr. Gandhi: He will get oneinch from these very powerful en-tities and spin it into victory. Thatis what politicians do. He de-serves at least a foot to be able tomake a dent. They are sitting onseveral yards.

IP: Given the present scenario-- political and economic -- whatwill be the situation of thehealthcare industry as a whole inthe near future?

Dr. Gandhi: In the near futureit will not be much different than itis now. Perhaps in three to fouryears the number of people with-out health insurance will start go-

ing down. But the healthcare costwill not go down. If at all it will goup, in my opinion. All bills beingconsidered in various committeesof the US Congress are limited andnot comprehensive.

The final bill which PresidentObama will sign will have a limitedeffect. But it will still be good be-cause it will reform the insuranceindustry, and it may set the stagefor a comprehensive healthcare re-form down the road. If I can con-vince the public to participate in"Operation: Save Healthcare SaveAmerica" as described on mybook's website, .sodhealthcare.com, a real and comprehen-sive healthcare reform will occur.

It will carry the voice and thewill of the people to Washington

and educate the politicians andgive them courage and strengthto stand up to the lobbyists rep-resenting special interest groups,which are standing in the way ofmeaningful healthcare reform.

IP: Personally, how happy/frustrated are you to be practic-ing medicine in the present-dayAmerica as compared to when youstarted out in your career here?

Dr. Gandhi: The pleasure of be-ing able to help someone heal andget better always brings happi-ness. This kind of happiness is asgood today as it was when Istarted my career. There was no

frustration then, caused by HMOsor insurance companies. The reim-bursement rates were adequate.Medical liability insurance premi-ums were affordable. Patients wereless demanding. The fear of poten-tial law suits was there but muchless compared to now. From pa-tients' viewpoint also, things werebetter. Health insurance premiumswere affordable. There were not toomany people without health insur-ance. Now there are 47 million.

IP: The US has been a covetedcareer destination for many In-dian doctors over the years -- is itstill so? What is your advice fornew aspirants wanting to migratefrom India?

Dr. Gandhi: The US still is andwill remain a coveted destination,and rightfully so, especially foryoung doctors coming fromabroad. It is the U.S. doctors whoare being adversely affected bythe present health care mess.Here, young doctors coming outof medical school carry a burdenof debt of $150,000 to $200,000 tostart with. Years ago it was easierto pay off this debt, which itselfused to be lower. Foreign doctorshave challenges of different kind,like USMLEs and difficulties ingetting into residency programs.For new aspirants wanting to mi-grate from India, my advice is tokeep full faith in the US and itsability to correct itself. Theyshould, however, be prepared forsome hardship. On the other handIndia has been coming up over theyears and is now able to providebetter opportunities than in thepast. For someone ambitious andadventurous, US is still the place.

Public Option is good in principle: Dr. Raj GandhiCont’d from page 40

Ariz. agency says behavioralhealth would be cut

PHOENIX: Previous fundingcuts in public health programsmean that a new reduction in stateDepartment of Health Servicesfunding to close a midyear bud-get shortfall would largely fall onservices for the mentally ill and putthe state in violation of court or-ders, officials said.

In a report on how it wouldimplement a 15 percent budgetcut, the Department of Health Ser-vices said it would eliminate ser-vices for roughly 35,000 peoplewho don't qualify for Medicaid.That would place new burdens onemergency rooms and crisis ser-vices, the department said.

By default, the state would beout of compliance with long-standing court orders to improveservices for the seriously mentally

ill in Maricopa County, said LauraNelson, acting deputy director.``It's more of a reality than a posi-tion at this point.''

Hoping to prod lawmakers togo along with her proposal for a

In another report, the Depart-ment of Economic Security saidit would increase fees for somechild-support enforcement ser-vices and programs for indi-viduals with developmental dis-abilities.

DES said it also would elimi-nate some smaller programs, in-cluding aid for grandparents car-ing for grandchildren, and elimi-nate much of an early interventionsystem for infants and toddlerseither with developmental delaysor disabilities.

Combined with previous re-ductions, further cuts ``will havedevastating long-term conse-quences for thousands ofArizona's most vulnerable resi-dents,'' DES Director Neal Youngsaid in the report. -AP

Conservative radio talk show hosts, whose realname should be ITFs (incessant talking fanatics)take this agenda and bombard the airwavesday in day out with powerful languageagainst the public option


www.indiapost.com

Health Science Post42

temporary increase in the statesales tax, Gov. Jan Brewer lastmonth ordered departments toreport on impacts if the stateelects to close the budget gaponly with cuts.

The Department ofEconomic Securitysaid it wouldincrease fees for somechild-supportenforcement services

Briefs India India Post October 30, 2009www.indiapost.com43

NewsIndia, China inkMoA on climatechange; set up JWG

NEW DELHI: Moving closer onclimate issues, India and Chinahave announced setting up of aJoint Working Group to exchangeviews concerning internationalnegotiations on global warming.

The Joint Working Group(JWG), which will hold meetingsalternately in China and India ev-ery year, is also expected to dis-cuss respective domestic policiesand measures and implementationof related cooperative projects.

The JWG is part of the steps of aMemorandum of Agreement (MoA)to boost cooperation on climatechange issues signed by Environ-ment Minister Jairam Ramesh andChina's Vice Chairman of NationalDevelopment and Reform Commis-sion Xie Zhenhua. -PTI

India confident ofsolving borderdispute with China

NEW DELHI: Downplaying therecent war of words with China, In-dia has expressed confidence thatthe boundary dispute with it will beresolved amicably through dialogue.

These recriminations over theborder are "not sudden", FinanceMinister Pranab Mukherjee toldPTI while pointing out that suchissues have been cropping up ear-lier also as China has not acceptedthe McMohan Line since 1914.

Mukherjee, who held the Exter-nal Affairs Ministry portfolio in theprevious UPA government, dis-agreed when it was suggested thatChina had been "strident" recentlywhile India's response was beingperceived as soft. -PTI

Cong wins Maharashtra and Arunachal,Haryana throws up hung House

NEW DELHI: The Congresscoasted to power in Maharashtrafor the third consecutive term andwon a landslide victory inArunachal Pradesh but its gamblein Haryana failed to pay off whenit fell short of majority.

The Congress-NCP combine,which has been rulingMaharashtra for the past ten years,got 148 seats out of the total 288seats. The combine has marginallyimproved on its performance in thelast elections when it got 140.

Congress, which will continueto have the Chief Minister's post.

The fledgling Raj Thackeray-led MNS which made its debut inthe assembly by scoring a dozenseats, played the spoilsport for theShiv Sena-BJP combine.

The saffron combine (BJP andShiv Sena) secured 92 seats, lessthan their 2004 tally of 116.

Shock in HaryanaThe outcome in Haryana how-

ever has come as a shock for theCongress with the party scramblingfor numbers to cobble up a majorityin the 90-member House. In the frac-tured verdict, Congress emerged asthe single largest party winning 40seats, six short of majority.

The Congress has openedchannels of communication withBhajan Lal-led breakaway faction

IAF top brassreviews readinessin operations

NEW DELHI: Top IAF com-manders here reviewed the force'soperational readiness, new acqui-sitions and replacement of ageingequipment, apart from its rapidstrides in building capabilities innet-centric operations and the en-tire spectrum of warfare.

Inaugurating the four-day IAFcommanders' conference at the Airheadquarters here, IAF chief Air ChiefMarshal P V Naik unveiled his visionfor the Air Force in view of the en-hanced capabilities being acquiredand the three-pronged approach takentowards modernization of the force.

"The modernization processwould include preserving, maintain-ing, upgrading and improving thecurrent assets, as well as process-ing the cases for acquisitions andreplacements on a fast track," Naiksaid in his opening remarks. -PTI

Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan holds up a victory sign during

his visit to the party office in Mumbai

However, the leader said theparty does not know what BhajanLal would ask for in return for hissupport.

Congress had denied partyticket to Bhajan Lal's son ChanderMohan alias Chand Mohammedafter his controversial conversionto Islam and then reconversion.

Arunachal triumphITANAGAR: The ruling Con-

gress stormed back to power witha two-third majority winning 42 ofthe 60 seats in Arunachal Pradeshassembly while UPA alliesTrinamool Congress and NCPemerged victorious in five con-stituencies each and BJP two.

Of the 42 seats won by Con-gress, Chief Minister DorjeeKhandu and two others wereelected unopposed. The party hadcontested all the seats.

Trinamool Congress, whichcontested the elections for thefirst time in the state, and otherUPA ally NCP, won five seatseach. Trinamool had contested26 seats, NCP 36 and oppositionBJP 18 seats.

The Congress, however, re-ceived a setback as seven- timeMLA and former chief ministerGegong Apang and his son Omaklost to their NCP and BJP rivalsrespectively. -PTI

Phalke award God's gift,says Manna Dey

BANGALORE: For the nonagenarian legendary singerManna Dey, who has mesmerised audiences world over withhis lilting voice, the news of being chosen for the covetedDada Sahab Phalke award came as God's gift.

"It's very flattering, the government, thinking it is rightto confer the award on me. It came as a pleasant sur-prise. It's Gods gift, I accept it with all humility," MannaDey told PTI. -PTI

for support and is wooing theseven successful IndependentMLAs to help form the next gov-ernment in the state.

Requiring 46 MLAs to form thegovernment in the 90-member as-sembly, Congress is short of themagic figure by six.

Party sources said of the 7 Inde-pendents, four are Congress rebelswhile three have their loyalties toINLD chief Om Prakash Chautala.

As both Congress and INLDare in a close race to form govern-ment in the state, sources in Con-gress said channels of communi-cations are open with Bhajan Lal-led Haryana Janhit Congress-BLwhich has six MLAs.

"Bhajan Lal is an oldCongressman...Our channels ofcommunications are open with him,"a senior party leader closely associ-ated with Haryana affairs said.

PM for diffusion of climate change technologyNEW DELHI: Making it clear

that the country will not com-promise on development in thefight against global warming,Prime Minister ManmohanSingh has said India and otherdeveloping nations must dotheir bit to keep their emissionsfootprint within "sustainableand equitable" levels.

Inaugurating the New DelhiHigh Level Conference on ClimateChange: Technology Develop-ment and Transfer, he made astrong pitch for diffusion of tech-nology which "will be a key ele-ment in meeting the challenge ofclimate change."

"Developing countries cannotand will not compromise on de-velopment. But, as responsiblemembers of the global community,we also do recognize that we,

along with other members of theglobal community, must do our bitto keep our emissions footprintwithin levels that are sustainableand equitable," Singh said.

The Prime Minister said thatIndia was acting in its own limitedcapacity in pursuing its commit-

ment to sustainable growth and a"comprehensive, balanced andequitable outcome" of the climatechange talks at Copenhagen "willenable us to do much more".

"We need to work towards asignificantly enhanced andscaled-up set of arrangements for

technology under a multilaterallysupervised mechanism.

"We need to act across all thestages of the technology cycle?from research leading to newbreakthroughs, to the develop-ment and adoption of new tech-nologies and to the transfer of

existing and mature technolo-gies," Singh said.

Singh said India will adopt"purposive domestic actions" toenhance its climate change man-agement with a focus on achiev-ing time-bound outcomes relatedto the energy efficiency of its

economy, the share of renewablein our fuel mix and several othersector specific initiatives.

"We should endeavor to cre-ate a global platform to bring to-gether the best scientific and tech-nological resources from acrossthe world in a collaborative effortto deliver transformational tech-nologies for the future," he saidciting the fusion energy projectITER as an example.

Singh reiterated that India's percapita carbon emissions will neverexceed the average of the percapita carbon emissions of devel-oped countries.

"Equating GHG emissionsacross nations on a per capitabasis is the only just and fair ba-sis for a long-term global arrange-ment on climate change which istruly equitable," he said. -PTI

The Congress in Haryana has opened chan-nels of communication with Bhajan Lal-ledbreakaway faction for support and is wooingthe seven successful Independent MLA

'We need to work towards a significantlyenhanced and scaled-up set ofarrangements for technology under amultilaterally supervised mechanism'

44 India Post October 30, 2009www.indiapost.com

In Brief Immigration

A noncitizen who is placedin removal proceedingshas a right to a lawyer at

his or her own expense, but un-like a criminal proceeding, thereis no constitutional right to coun-sel. Securing representation inimmigration proceedings cannotbe at the expense of the govern-ment. As a result, many poor im-migrants in removal proceedingsare unable to afford hire a law-yer. If a person is criminallycharged, he or she must be givencounsel, regardless of the abil-ity to pay for one. This is not soin removal proceedings despitethe fact that the consequencesof deportation from the countrymay be more drastic than a crimi-nal sentence - which most of thetimes results in permanent ban-

ishment from the United Statesand from loved ones.

Even if an immigrant in removalproceedings can pay for a lawyer,it is difficult to find one since Im-migration and Customs Enforce-ment (ICE), the enforcement arm ofDepartment of Homeland Security,

can incarcerate this individual inremote detention centers such asin Oakdale, LA, even if this personwas initially arrested in New York.Moreover, while many lawyers un-dertake pro bono representation,this in itself may not be enough to

cover the entire population ofpeople in removal proceedings.

A recent New Jersey Law Jour-nal editorial is spot on in advocat-ing that it is necessary for Con-gress to step in to create a corpsof competent lawyers to representindividuals in removal proceed-

ings, blackstoneto day.blogspot.com/2009/09/deportation-without-representation-nj.html.About 300,000 people face re-moval proceedings each year be-fore 200 immigration judges. Ac-cording to the Executive Office for

Immigration Review, only 40% ofthem were represented in 2008.

The plight of detained per-sons facing removal is farworse. Only 1 in 10 had repre-sentation. In a great democraticnation like the United States,people deserve competentcounsel so that they can effec-tively assert their rights.

Removal proceedings arebewilderingly complex, and it isimpossible for the unrepre-sented respondent to effec-tively navigate the process andidentify legal grounds to remainin the United States. The oddsof winning relief in removal aregreatly improved when such aperson is represented by a com-petent lawyer.

$12K rewardoffered in attackon Mexican

NEW YORK: A Mexican immi-grant was so badly beaten in anapparent bias attack that he can-not remember where it happenedor when, police said as they an-nounced a $12,000 reward in theassault.

Mario Vera, a 38-year-old con-struction worker who has lived in theUS for nearly 20 years, sustainedbrain damage in the attack and hasbeen hospitalized since Oct. 1, po-lice and a family spokesman said.

``He can barely walk. He can'thear. He doesn't talk,'' said WalterSinche, the family's spokesmanand executive director of the In-ternational Ecuadorean Alliance, acommunity group. ``He's com-pletely lost.'' -AP

Mexican official incustody doesn'twant asylum

EL PASO, Texas: A Mexican hu-man rights official who has publiclysaid he feared for his life has beendetained by US immigration authori-ties as an asylum-seeker - eventhough he doesn't want Americanprotection, his lawyer said. -AP

175 years of Indian indenturedlabor in Mauritius

PREETI VERMA LAL

Name: Hurloll. Age: 19.Caste: Hajam. Father'sname: Bheenuch. Village:

Khudecha. Pargana: Nouranga.Zilla: Sahibganj. Identifying mark:Mark on right leg. In the red led-ger stacked neatly in the MahatmaGandhi Institute (MGI), Hurloll'sdetails are written in calligraphedhand in black ink.

The sepia pages are blotchedand Hurloll's name certainly looksmisspelt. Perhaps he was Harlal orHarilal, but when he landed inMauritius as an indentured laborerto work in the British sugarcaneplantations the British agents reg-istered him as Hurloll, handed hima tin ticket, signed a 5-year con-

tract for a monthly salary of Rs 5,vaccinated him, and sent him toan estate… Hurloll lost his realname, Harlal/Harilal, the strappingyoung boy of 19 from Sahibganj,became an identity number. Hewas not the only one, though.

He was the not the first one, ei-ther. In the Folk Museum of IndianImmigration at MGI, a photocopiedframed sheet bears the names of thefirst 36 Indian indentured laborerswho arrived in what is now the

Aapravasi Ghat on November 2,1834 - Soorop, Sabaram, Bhoodoo,Champak, Bhoowan, Bhumarah,Bhagyaruth, Dookhun,Gungaram…. Slavery had been abol-ished by the British Parliament and'indenture' became the new system

of recruitment of cheap labor.The 'Great Experiment' of the

indentured system was launchedin Mauritius as a test case and GCArbuthnot, an enterprising privaterecruiting agent, signed an agree-

ment on September 9, 1834, in thepresence of the Chief Magistrateand Superintendent of Police,Calcutta, to recruit Indians as in-dentured laborers. In 1834, 75 malelaborers reached Mauritius, thenumber going up to 1182 men and72 women in 1835, soaring to 30,218men and 4307 women in 1843,31,643 men and 12,754 women in1859… Between 1834 and 1910when the indentured system wasabolished in Mauritius, 346,145men and 105,896 women arrivedfrom India, mainly from what arenow Bihar, Bengal, Tamil Nadu,Gujarat and Maharashtra. Of thetotal 452,041 arrivals, only 167,570returned to India after the comple-tion of their 5-year contract.

The crisis of unrepresented individuals in removal proceedingsCYRUS D. MEHTA

Disabled vetsupset overcitizenship policy

SALT LAKE CITY: Thousandsof disabled military veterans are be-ing asked to prove their U.S. citizen-ship to qualify for a property-taxbreak in Salt Lake County, a side ef-fect of a new stricter state immigra-tion law that is generating criticism.

According to the county, dis-abled veterans aren't exempt fromthe law passed earlier this year bythe Utah Legislature that requiresgovernments to verify that thosereceiving a ̀ `public benefit'' are liv-ing in the country legally.

The treasurer's office has sentnotices to more than 3,500 woundedor ill veterans requiring them to at-test to their citizenship or providepaperwork proving their legal sta-tus to qualify for the tax break. -AP

Sheriff's deputiesarrest 9 inimmigration sweep

SURPRISE, Ariz.: An Arizonasheriff whose powers werestripped by a federal agency lastweek continued his office's immi-gration sweep.

Maricopa County Sheriff JoeArpaio said in a news release that34 suspects were arrested in thecrime sweep's first eight hours.The second day of the sweep,nine people at a Peoria car washwere arrested.

Maricopa County sheriff'sspokesman Aaron Douglas saidseven people at the car wash werearrested on immigration charges andtwo on identification theft charges.

The arrests came after deputiesserved a search warrant at the OnYour Way Car Wash and QuickLube, Douglas said. -AP

Cont’d on page 45

Cont’d on page 47

Photographs and details of the earliest immigrants are now archived in the Mahatma Gandhi Institute

In the Folk Museum of Indian Immigration atMGI, a photocopied framed sheet bears thenames of the first 36 Indian indentured laborerswho arrived in what is now the Aapravasi Ghaton November 2, 1834

Removal proceedings are bewilderingly complex,and it is impossible for the unrepresented respon-dent to effectively navigate the process and iden-tify legal grounds to remain in the United States

��

��

�� !�"��

��

��

REFINANCE/PURCHASE5.125% Fixed (5.125% APR)

California Dept. of RE, Broker License# 01236060

0 Point 0 Non-Recurring Cost Program Available

AMERICAN SONA MORTGAGE1-800-671-9534

Call: NEERAJ

95% Financing on Purchases Available

Am

eric

an S

ona

Mor

tgag

e

105% REFINANCING(AVAILABLE IN SOME CASES)

“Rates subject to change with market”

India Post 45

www.indiapost.com

October 30, 2009 Immigration Post

As I walk up the 16 steps of thewharf at the Aapravasi Ghat whereAtlas, the ship, had moored with thefirst batch of Indian laborers, I goback 175 years in time, to that dateof November 2, 1834, when Soorop,

Sabaram, Bhoodoo, Champak,Bhoowan, Bhumarah, Bhagyaruth,Dookhun, Gungaram…must have

stepped off Atlas, tired and unkemptafter more than six weeks on thechoppy seas. There was no ghatthen (the Aapravasi Ghat was con-structed in 1849), several buildings



in Port Louis were used as depotsfor laborers.

At the end of the 16th step, I sawthe ruins of the stone buildingwhere the laborers bathed and werelater registered. The dilapidated ad-jacent wall stands as a mute testi-mony to the shelter that the Indianswere huddled into for two days be-fore being carted to the sugar es-tates with a tin identity ticket thatthey had strap on their arms or weararound their necks.

I think of the contract clauses -Contract of 5 years; free to & fropassage; Rs 5 per month as wagesof which Rs 1 was deducted as re-patriation charges; 6 months ad-vance pay, free ration, accommo-dation and clothing. I walk by theprivies and hospital, and the

kitchen where fire is no longerkindled. I think of the nearly half amillion Indians who came withdreams in their eyes to this island

nation; some left, other stayedback to throw in the ubiquitousdash of Indianness in Mauritius.

"Let's go to Phoolyar village,the first settlement of Indian immi-grants". Nostalgic about India and

Cont’d on page 46

After disembarking, the immigrants

walked up these 16 steps at the

Apravasi Ghat to be registered and

then sent to work in the

sugar estates

The first temple built by the Indian

immigrants in Phoolyar village

2009 marks the 175th anniversary

of the arrival of the first Indian

indentured labourers in Mauritius

Immigrant artefacts dating back to the 1800s

Immigration Postwww.indiapost.com

October 30, 2009India Post46

her roots, Sarita Boodhoo, writerand activist, prepped to be myguide/historian for the day.

Driving past miles and miles ofsugarcane plantations, Boodhootells me that the British started me-ticulously registering arrivals in 1842and in 1865 a photographic unit wasset up - a photographer took twophotographs of each immigrant, oneattached to the immigrant's ticketand the other retained in therecords; that in 1987 Coolie Ghatwas renamed Aapravasi Ghat andin 2001, November 2 was declared

as a public holiday in memory of thearrival of the first Indian indenturedlaborers.

In Phoolyar village amidst theruins of sugar mills and barracks,I saw the statue of Hindu godsand goddesses in the first templebuilt by the Indians and the bar-racks that lie in a shambles - itwas here that Indians made theirhome more than 5,000 miles away


from home.Perhaps it was in Phoolyar vil-

lage that at the end of hard day'swork, Hurloll flipped through thepages of Ramayana that he hadbrought from village Khudecha.

Perhaps it was here that Kunty ofvillage Moreemoe sang theBhojpuri jhumar in the silence ofthe night, and Beesony fromNoonur Pargana with scar on theoutside corner of the right eye-brow waited for the day that hewould return home. His dream was

fulfilled - on January 15, 1873, heboarded the Merchant Man shipto go back to his family in Arrah.

I do not know what Hurloll, thatstrapping lad of 19, looked like, but175 years later I can imagine him

hunched over, toiling in a sugar-cane field wearing his tin ticket onhis arm…I do not know Hurloll,but standing by the wharf in TrouFanfaron in Port Louis I thoughtof him. I am back home, but I can-not forget Hurloll.

(www.deepblueink.com)


Ramayana written in Kaithi script

brought by the earliest

Bihari immigrants

The Folk Museum of Indian Immigration chronicles

the arrival of first indentured laborers

on November 2, 1834

A sculpture at the Apravasi Ghat marks the landing place of

the indentured laborers

Pics by Preeti Verma Lal (Archival documents photographedwith special permission from Mahatma Gandhi Institute, and

Folk Museum of Indian Immigration)

India Post 47

www.indiapost.com

October 30, 2009 Immigration Post

On February 28, 2007, Judge Katzmannin the Court of Appeals of the Second Cir-cuit challenged lawyers at a New York CityBar annual lecture, both within and outsidethe immigration bar, to find ways to increaserepresentation to the immigrant poorthrough pro bono services, to advance ac-cess to justice as well as the administrationand operation of our immigration laws.

His speech, www.probonoinst.org/wire/emy078.pdf, inspired an interdisciplinarygroup of lawyers, bar groups, non-profit or-ganizations, other judges and law firms toconduct an in-depth exploration of this prob-lem. The group is known as the KatzmannStudy Group, which meets frequently in theJudge's chambers at 7.30 am! A New YorkTimes article describing Judge Katzmann'sextraordinary efforts is worth reading, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/13/nyregion/13immigration.html.

One project, known at the Varick StreetDetention RepresentationProject, started in Decem-ber 2008 in which pro bonoattorneys from large multi-practice law firms, after be-ing trained by Legal Aid,the City Bar Justice Center(where a dedicatedFragomen Fellow coordi-nates the project), and theAmerican Immigration Law-yers Association-NY Chap-ter, consult with detainedimmigrants about whetherthey can obtain relief from removal.

AILA lawyers serve as mentors to thevolunteers and assist them in spotting theissues and avenues for relief. The screen-ings are held each week. The next stage isto encourage firms to take on representa-tion, either on a limited basis or more fullyon the merits in deserving cases.

It is hoped that the Varick Street model isreplicated across the country, and that morelawyers from a non-immigration law back-ground take up the representation of indi-gent persons in removal proceedings on apro bono basis. These volunteer lawyers

* Cyrus D Mehta, may be contacted at 212-425-0555 or [email protected]


The crisis of unrepresented individuals in removal proceedingscan be paired up with expert immigrationlawyers from AILA, so that the volunteerlawyers are also ably guided through thelabyrinthine process. It would be far moreeffective to leverage the resources of largelaw firms in increasing the representationof persons in removal proceedings. AILAlawyers, who are often sole practitionersand already providing low bono services,can provide their expertise to the large lawfirms working on these cases.

Even if pro bono representation isstepped up, it may not be enough. All immi-grants in removal proceedings, especiallyin remote detention centers in rural areas,faraway from where attorneys practice, maynot be covered by these laudable efforts.

The program may be further stepped upthrough corporate funding, and this is hap-pening for minors in removal proceedingsthrough KIND (Kids In Need of Defense),which is supported in part by Microsoft andthe Angelina Jolie Foundation. Ultimately,

though, as the NJ Law Jour-nal Editorial suggests, Con-gress will need to step in tofund a corps of competentlawyers, so that every indi-vidual in removal will havecounsel.

The vulnerability ofthose in removal proceed-ings was eloquently de-scribed by Judge Katzmannin Aris v Mukasey, 517 F.3d595 (2d Cir. 2008):

"The importance of qual-ity representation is especially acute to immi-grants, a vulnerable population who come tothis country searching for a better life, andwho often arrive unfamiliar with our languageand culture, in economic deprivation and infear. In immigration matters, so much is at stake- the right to remain in this country, to reunitea family, or to work."

But providing counsel to every immigrantin removal proceeding is not just some warmand fuzzy charitable gesture. The Board ofImmigration Appeals in Matter of Lozada,19 I&N Dec. 637. recognized that there wasa Fifth Amendment right to a fair hearing,

and this right would be undermined if animmigrant received ineffective assistancefrom counsel. Several Courts of Appeal haveupheld this right, See e.g. Aris v. Mukasey,supra. Attorney General Holder also reaf-firmed this right recently. If there is a FifthAmendment right to competent representa-tion, and a fair hearing, it can be logicallyextended to all immigrants in removal pro-

ceedings. It makes little sense to give thisright only to people who hired a lawyer butreceived ineffective assistance and not forpeople who were unable to seek a lawyer inthe first place and not able to adequatelypresent a good defense.

‘The importance ofquality representa-tion is especiallyacute to immi-grants, a vulnerablepopulation whocome to this countrysearching for abetter life’

48 October 30, 2009India Post

www.indiapost.com

Classifieds

Parents looking for a groom

for their beautiful daughter,

American Citizen, 31years,

5'3" tall, Caste No Bar.

Please send your picture

and biodata to P.O.Box #

342, India Post

29274 Union City Blvd.,

Union City, CA - 94587.

MATRIMONIALSMATRIMONIALS

BRIDEGROOM WANTED

Well Settled in California,

Punjabi Khatri parents

looking for a suitable

professional match for

their beautiful daughter,

slim, 29 years, 5’5” tall

and well educated. Kindly

respond with photo and

biodata to P.O.Box # 340,

India Post, 29274 Union

City Blvd., Union City,

CA - 94587, USA.

Looking For A Suitable

Match For "Hindu

Punjabi" girl, 29, 5'5"

working. Boy Should

Be Tall, Good Looking,

Well Educated, Profes-

sional And Financially

Stable. Please Email At

[email protected]

Hindu Punjabi parents

seek a suitable match for

their daughter, 32, 5' 8'',

Lawyer in U.S.A. Boy

should be at least 6' tall,

professional, and brought

up in North America.

Email:[email protected]

or Call416-464-7471

PUNJABI FAMILY

INVITES

CORRESPODENCE

FOR THEIR WORKING

DAUGHTER 28 YRS

OF AGE, 5'6". SEEKING

US RAISED WORKING

BOY. SEND RE-

SPONSE [email protected]

OR CALL AT714-234-4921

Parents seeking

match for Punjabi

Khatri handsome son

born Nov. 1978, 5'9"

educated,

selfemployed. Alliance

invited from beautiful

educated girl. Email

biodata and

photograph to

[email protected]

or Call

(626) 374-1942

HINDU SOOD KHATRI

PARENTS FROM LOS

ANGELES INVITE

ALLIANCE FOR THEIR

U.S.CITIZEN SON 28/6'

HAVING B.S. DEGREE

IN ACCOUNTING

AND FINANCE. IF

INTERESTED, PL CALL

AT (818) 996-2825 AND/

OR EMAIL BIO DATA

WITH PHOTO AT

[email protected]

Jat Sikh parents invite a

matrimonial alliance for

their beloved, beautiful

daughter, age 26 years, 5

feet 5 inches tall, UC

graduate and profession-

ally employed in the bay

area. Please contact:

[email protected]

PUNJABI SIKH PARENTS

INVITE CORRESPON-

DENCE FROM WELL

ESTABLISHED FAMILIES

FOR DAUGHTER, 24 YRS,

BEAUTIFUL, SLIM, 5’3",

MASTERS-HUMAN

GENETICS, LIVING IN

INDIA. PROFESSIONALS

PREFERRED. PLEASE

SEND BIODATA WITH

[email protected]

PH:562-201-1130

42, youthful, handsome,PhD, professor in

prestigious university,IIT undergrad,

Brahmin, vegetarian, UScitizen, divorcee never

lived together,seeks partner

below 36, Indian values,caring, PhD, MD,

professionals, bio/photodetails must.

[email protected]

Khatri Family seeking a

suitable match for their

handsome, tall, non-

smoker, non-drinker,

professional son 26 yr old,

5' 9'' and well educated

family background.

Please contact

510-461-6891or email bio data at

[email protected]

ALLIANCE INVITED FOR A

26 YRS, 5.3 SINDHI GIRL.

BEAUTIFUL, INTELLIGENT

AND SOPHISTICATED,

BORN & RAISED IN THE

U.S. LOOKING FOR SINDHI

BOY BELOW 30 YRS OF

AGE, HANDSOME AND

SOPHISTICATED. WELL

SETTLED IN U.S. OR

EUROPE.

PLEASE REPLY WITH

PICTURE & BIODATA TO E-

MAIL:[email protected]

For Chanderika:Seeking alliance for

41 year old/5’5”Punjabi Khatri, wellestablished profes-sional teacher. Verybrief marriage an-

nulled. Seeking ma-ture, responsible

match from sincereprofessional/business-

man, West Coastpreferred. Email bio-

data/photo [email protected].

Nai Sikh 5.1’ 25 Girl B.M.I.T.; P.G.D.C.A., from India.

M.B.A (I.T) From USA. Has Student Visa and work

permit Trying for H-1B Visa

Brother Dentist in India. Father & Mother in USA

Seeks Suitable Immigrant boy from USA or CANADA.

Contact at Email: [email protected]

with Bio data and Photo

NEED HELP

VENUS SALON NEED

EXPERIENCED

THREADING LADY

FULL TIME OR PART

TIME IN UNION CITY.

PLEASE CALL TIVIA

@

(510) 441-8462OR VISIT THE

LOCATION AT 2625

DECOTO RD.,

UNION CITY.

PAYROLLACCOUNTANT

WANTEDCurrently seeking payroll

clerks and accountants.

Job comes with great

benefits,

Applicants should kindly

e-mail resumes or

inquiries to Guiseppina

[email protected]

For Classifieds Ads Call

SOUTHERN CA

(J. S. Bedi)

Tel: 562-644-9523/

Telefax: 562-929-4213

[email protected]

SOUTHERN CA

(Shashi Trivedi)

Tel: 562-441-5511/

Fax: 562-947-0632

[email protected]

NORTHERN CA

(Sonia)

Tel: 510-938-8668

[email protected]

CHICAGO

(Ramesh Soparawala)

Tel: 773-973-7394 /

Fax: 773-973-7396

[email protected]

NEW YORK (Pinky)

Tel: 212-944-1931/

Fax: 212-944-1932

[email protected]

October 30, 2009 India Post 49

www.indiapost.com

Classifieds

San Francisco based restaurant looking for a

EXECUTIVE CHEF/culinary graduate.

Must have 10 YEARS of experience.

(650) 271-2849

Executive Chef

MOTEL FOR SALEA 62 units economy Franchise motel on

Interstate I 80 / 35 in Des Moine Iowa withtwo separate houses near to it is for sale.

Good business. Owner relocating.Asking $2.2 million

ONLY SERIOUS INQUIRYTel: (515) 265 7525 / Cell (515) 554 2131

Experienced and Dedicated Math Tutor Availablefor Middle / High School children located in

Lakewood CAIndividual Attention Provided.

Contact Mrs. J. KaurPh.# 562-860-4724 / Cell # 310-465-8740

AMERICAN NEEDSCOMPANION

A Wealthy American Businessman is Looking forLady 25/50 years old

Who Likes to Travel and Live in StyleCall in confidence

(614) 261-1707or

(614) 824-8316

ww

w.i

nd

iap

os

t.c

om

www.indiapost.com

NEWS

on your desktop

50 October 30, 2009India Post

www.indiapost.com

Classifieds

Staybridge 98 Room Project For Sale inSpring/Houston TX ;Includes land ,

Plan and Permit .pls Contact Listing for further info Agent

AMIT MEHTA#832 607 1579

FOR SALEHotel property inManhattan NY-

Chelsea .50,000 sq ftBuild able .50x100 lotUp to 24 Stories highPrice $13 Million J/V

possible.Only serious buyers-

Please. [email protected]

COSMICA CONSULTINGBusiness & Media Relations

Creative Financing for Capital, Joint Ventures &

High Tech Industry Promotions

SURI ULLAL: 2335 W Devon Ave. Suite 203, Chicago IL 60659

Tel: 773 973 7394 (773) 973-7396773 973 7394 (773) 973-7396773 973 7394 (773) 973-7396773 973 7394 (773) 973-7396773 973 7394 (773) 973-7396Con

tact:

GET FREE PRODUCTSEVERYDAY!

There's a company that gives never-ending freebies toyou. And you can make a monthly income too!

Get FREE groceries, FREE jewelry, FREE electronics,FREE software, and more. In fact, just about anything

you can think of, there is a category of freebies.To join, go to www.abm.nocashever.comQuestions? [email protected]

“HOTEL HELP/COUPLE WANTED”For FRONT DESK NIGHT AU-

DIT, House-keeping, Laundry,

only. Energetic English/Hindi

speaking/Punjabi speaking,

Couple wanted In Franchise

Hotel Florida / Georgia .Good

Salary, Benefits Live Inn Ac-

commodation, Immediate

placement.

Please contact,Manish or Bobby at(904)891-5278,or(912)729-5454.

Staybridge 98Room Project For

Sale in Spring/Houston TX ;

Includes land, Planand Permit.

pls Contact Listingfor further info

Agent

AMITMEHTA

#832 607 1579

Upscale Salon in WalnutCreek looking for

experienced Threader.Please call

925-785-3694for interview.

HELP NEEDED

DO YOU HAVE A DREAMOF BEING DEBT

FREE

ARE YOU TRYING 2 GET

UR CREDIT CLEAN

1888-632-9073

NO ADVANCE FEES

Experienced book keeperneeded

Full time In Fountain valley, email resume [email protected] or fax to

714-557-1305 $10.00 / hr.

FINANCINGYOU NEED MONEY?

CALL US! FAST CASH- SBA LOANS HOTELS MOTELS,

BARS, FRANCHISES, GAS STATION & C STORES LEAS-

ING MACHINERY & EQUIPMENT PURCHASE & REFI-

NANCE CONSTRUCTION LOANS. LOW INTEREST RATES

BAD CREDIT OK CONTACT

MAHESH JANI: (845)735 -0183

OWNER OPERATORS WANTED WITH OR WITHOUT

TRAILER, WEEKLY SETTLEMENT, DEDICATED OVER

THE ROAD. CALL

888-827-7525

VEDIC DHARMA SAMAJ

HINDU TEMPLE & CULTURAL CENTER3676 Delaware Drive, Fremont, CA, 94538

www.fremonttemple.org Tel: (510) 659-0655

DATE BHAJAN GROUP (11 AM - 11:45 AM) PRAVACHAN (12 PM - 1PM) PRITIBHOJ (1:30 PM - 3:00 PM)

REGULAR PROGRAMS & POOJAS & RITUALS: FOR ALL INFO CALL TEMPLE ADMINISTRATOR AT:

(510) 659-0655. SASHTRIJI: (510) 490-8979, BHUSHAN KUMAR JI - 510-862-5834

GOVIND SRINIVASAN: (510) 226-6479 WEDNESDAYS: RAMAYAN KATHA (KISHIKINDHA KAND) BY

SHASTRIJI. SUNDAYS AFTER AARTI FREE CONSULTATION WITH DR. PAWAN CHADHA

SUNDER KAND KA PATH EVERY 3RD SATURDAY AT 10 AM TO 12 NOON. CALL TEMPLE (510)569-0655

(HANUMAN CHALISA) EVERY TUESDAY 7:30 PM AARATI FOLLOWED BY PRASAD AND PRITIBHOJ.

SENIOR CITIZENS MEET WEDNESDAYS 10AM TO 1PM BHAJANS & DISCOURSES.For sponsoring Pritibhoj Anita Kapoor, Contact: 510-659-0655VISIT OUR WEBSITE: WWW.FREMONTTEMPLE.ORG AND VISIT GALLERY

IN THE NEW YEAR BECOME: TEMPLE TRUSTEE - $1501, LIFE MEMBER - $ 501, YEARLY MEMBER - $ 101

UPCOMING TEMPLE EVENTS

SUNDAY, 1:15 PM FREE CONSULTATION WITH DR. PAWAN CHADHA AND DR. MRS. NOOTAN CHADHA

TO

PARTICIPATE IN

TEMPLE MANAGEMENT

COMMITTEES CONTACT:

510-659-0655

Weekly Services Open M-F 8:30 AM-1PM, 4 PM-8 PM, Sat & Sun 8:30 AM to 8 PMDAILY AARATI 9 AM MORNINGS AND 7:30 PM EVENINGS.

Sunday Services: 11am to 1pm, Aarti at 1:15pm followed by Prasad & PritibhojEARLY MORNING Bhajans by Khanna, Surendra @ 10 AM

ABHISHEKA: MON: 6:30 PM SHIVJI,

FRI: 6:30 PM LAKSHAMIJI, SAT: 10 AM

BALAJI, SUN: 6:30 PM GANESHJI

& NAVAGRAHA

YOGA CLASS: MON.-FRI. 7 TO 8 AM SAT. 8 TO 9 AM

GEETA CLASS: SAT. 11:00 AM TO 1:00 PM

Gayatri Mantra Saturday - 11 AM - To 12 PM by Gayatri Pariwar

Contact: Naresh Sethi (For Jagrata). TEL: 510-825-1927, 510-487-2844

Sundar Kand Ka Paath on 3rd Saturday of everymonthfrom 10:30 am to 12: 00 pm

Mata ka Jaagraata by Geeta Peshavaria (Student of Sh PurshotamJalota, father of Sh Anoop Jalota on 10/24/09 7pm to 10 pm

11/01/09 MOHANT JI SHASTRI JI DILIP TRIVEDI &FAMILY

11/08/09 BHARI JOSHI JI SHASTRI JI BALA LAKSHIM

NARAYAN & FAMILY

11/15/09 DR PRABHA BHATNAGAR SHASTRI JI RAJ & SONI SINGHAL

ILLINOIS

Upcoming

October 30, 2009 India Post 51

www.indiapost.com

DatebookNEW YORK

Upcoming

NEW JERSEY

Upcoming

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA

Upcoming

Sat Oct 31• Diwali Dinner & ShowVenue: Moorestown High School, 350 Bridgeboro Rd,Moorestown, New JerseyTime: 5:30pmContact: 856-339-5332

Thurs Nov 5• Exclusive Management WorkshopVenue: 33 Wood Avenue, 6th Floor - Suite 672, Iselin, NJTime: 6pm to 9pmContact: 732-777-4666Highlights: The 3 hour workshop"Prosperity and Wellnesswhen nothing seems to work"will be conducted by RajeevSharma, President of Dyna Lead Inc.

Sun Nov 1• Dharam Ki VastaviktaVenue: Knights of Columbus Hall, 116 Grand St., Iselin, NJTime: 10am to 11:30amContact: 732-207-7592

Sat Nov 7• India Exhibit 2009Venue: Garden State Exhibit Center, 50 Atrium Drive,Somerset, New JerseyTime: 10:30am to 8pmContact: 718-472-3700

Sat Oct 31• Masquerade BallVenue: Astor Hall, 5th Ave & W 42nd St, New YorkTime: 9pmContact: 914-498-8347

Sun Nov 1• Prathanjali '09Venue: Hindu Temple Auditorium, 143-09 Holly Avenue,Flushing, New YorkTime: 9pmContact: 718-806-1286

Thurs Nov 5• Sahaj Samadhi Meditation CourseVenue: Art of Living Center, 127 West 25th Street 3rd Floor,New YorkContact: 917-509-5036

Fri Nov 6• Tera Pati Sirf Mera HaiVenue: Hindu Temple, 45-57 Bowne St, Flushing, New YorkTime: 8:30pmContact: 732-763-0018

Every 4th Sat every Month• Durga Mata Ka JagaranVenue: 2335 S. Diamond Bar Boulevard, DBC Center, Dia-mond Bar, CATime: 6:30pmContact: 909-519-1579, 626-810-2345

Every Sat (start from Sat Aug 8)• Gurukul Classes for ChildrenVenue: Sindhu Center, South CaliforniaTime: 2pm to 4pmContact: 818-541-1754 & 909-576-1114Highlights: Children between the ages of 5 and 18. Chil-dren will be taught the Fundamentals of Hinduism, Prayers,Shlokas, Bhajans and Values of our culture.

Sat Oct 24 to Sun Oct 25 &

Sat Oct 31 to Sun Nov 1• Fun at "Boo at the Zoo"Venue: Los Angeles Zoo and Botanical Gardens, 5333 ZooDrive, Los Angeles, CA 90027Time: 10am to 4pmContact: (323) 644-4200Admission: $13 for adults and $8 for children ages 2 to 12.This event is free with paid Zoo admission.

Thurs Nov 5• International Youth Conference

Fri Nov 6• Kalpataru- Cerritos,CA

Mon & Tues Nov 7 & 8• Nithyananda Spurana ProgramVenue: Nithyananda Vedic Temple, 9720 Central Ave,Montclair,CA - 91763Contact: 909-625-1445Highlights: Paramahamsa Nithyananda(Swamiji) will begiving a discourse, conducting a Meditation and givingthe Darshan.

Fri to Sun Nov 13 to Nov 15• Sikh Art and Film FestivalVenue: 6404 Hollywood Blvd, Suite 304, Los Angeles,CAContact: 323 466-5000Highlights: The Festival celebrates Sikh culture and heri-tage, and will offer a variety of avenues for contributors toshare their talent.

Thurs Nov 26, 2009 to Sat Jan 3, 2010• Celebrate the Holidays at

LA Zooís Reindeer RompVenue: Los Angeles Zoo and Botanical Gardens5333 Zoo Drive, LATime: 10am to 4pmContact: 323-644-4200Highlights: The LA Zoo kicks off the Holiday seasonwith the activities for the entire family atReindeer Romp. Kids of all ages can get close tothese beautiful creatures.

Sat Oct 31• Bhangra & Gidha CompetitionVenue: Waterford Banquets, 933 S. Riverside Dr, Elmhurst, Ill.Contact: 312-226-4425

Sat Oct 31 and Sun Nov 1• Seventh International Conference

Finding Innovative Strategies to Allevi-

ate Poverty and Mitigate Climate ChangeVenue: Illinois Institute of Technology, Rice Campus-201East Loop Road, Wheaton, IL 60187Contact: 630-303-9592

Sun Nov 8• Boogie Woogie Chalo America Chicago

Finals 2009Venue: The Meadows Club, 2950 W Golf Rd, RollingMeadows, IllinoisTime: 6pmContact: 847-566-2029,

Fri Nov 20• Delhi 2 DublinVenue: Funky Buddha Lounge, 738 W Grand Ave, Chi-cago, IllinoisTime: 9pm

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

Upcoming

Fri Oct 30• The Ohlone College Psychology Club

Speaker Series: Kim Peek ëThe Real

Rain ManíVenue: Smith Center at Ohlone College, 43600 MissionBoulevard in FremontTime: 7pmContact: 510-659-6031

Fri Oct 30• Halloween HavocVenue: B412, 412 Emerson St, Palo Alto, CaliforniaTime: 9pmContact: 408-685-6044

Sun Nov 1• Evening of Wisdom with Rajshree PatelVenue: Rancho Cordova City Hall, 2729 Prospect ParkDrive, Rancho Cordova, CaliforniaContact: 916-281-4033

Sun Nov 1• Eco Day Fall 2009Venue: M. A. Center, 10200 Crow Canyon, Castro Valley,CaliforniaTime: 2:30pm to 5pmContact: 408-219-1169

Thurs Nov 5• Beginner Tabla ClassVenue: Home, Berkeley, CaliforniaTime: 7pm to 7:45pmContact: 510-486-8266

52 India Post October 30, 2009

Page Sponsored by Sahanis

When Alexander, theGreat visited India af-ter conquering all the

other countries in the world thatwere known to him, he wanted tosee the strange Indians of whomhe had been hearing so much. Hewas led to a monk or priest onthe bank of the Indus River.

The riches of the whole worldrepresented by the body ofAlexander on one side, and all theoutward poverty represented bythe saint on the other side! Butyou have simply to look at theirfaces to be convinced of the pov-erty or riches of their true souls.

Alexander, the Great, was struck

riches. I will just flood you withworldly pleasures. All sorts of thingsthat people desire, all sorts of thingswhich captivate and charm people willbe in wild profusion at your service.Please accompany me to Greece."

The saint laughed at his replyand said, "There is not a diamond,there is not a sun or star which

Your children are not

your children. They are the

sons and daughters of

Life's longing for itself.

They came through you

but not from you and

though they are with you

yet they belong not to you.

-Kahlil Gibran

Whatever you have in

your mind - forget it;

Whatever you have in

your hand - give it;

Whatever is to be your

fate - face it!

-Abu Sa'id (EssentialSufism)

Service is the highest

spiritual discipline. Prayer

and meditation, or knowl-

edge of scripture and

Vedanta (holy scriptures of

India), cannot help you

reach the goal as quickly

as service can. Service

has a double effect, it ex-

tinguishes the ego and

gives bliss.

-Sathya Sai Baba

When you're deluded,

every statement is an ulcer;

when you're enlightened,

every word is wisdom.

-Zhiqu

The wise sees knowl-

edge and action as one;

they see truly.

-Bhagavad Gita

Meditation is painful in

the beginning but it be-

stows immortal Bliss and

supreme joy in the end.

-Swami Sivananda

Watch and see with what

endless variety of beauti-

ful forms

He plays the play of his

maya with Himself alone.

-Anandmayi Ma

www.indiapost.com

You Insure all your Valuables, all are replaceable except YOU! So Insure yourself FIRST. Call Sahanis, (Arish, Priya or Shiv) for your Insurance needs 718- 271- 0453. Serving for last 35 yrs

Philosophy

DR KRISHNA BHATTA

Contd from last week

The following are somequotes on the middle path.It is not easy to make any

improvement on these words.“What this is, that is; this aris-

ing, that arises" is the principle ofthe Law of Dependent Origination;the Conditioned Genesis that saysthat, "Through ignorance volitionalactions or karma-formations areconditioned" is the content of theLaw of Dependent Origination.

"When one is born, one will die.One who admires high status

will fall one day."This is the natural Law of Cause

and Effect. It is also an inner impli-cation of the Law of DependentOrigination. It can be called theCessation Process of the Law ofDependent Origination.

"When the eyes see, the scenecomes from nowhere.

When they shut, it goes nowhere.Thus the eyes see unreality.All that arises will be de-

stroyed....except the truth of the Worldly

Law.The Worldly Law says thatwhat this is, that is; this aris-

ing, that arises."If we can see the truthof the causes of worldly suffer-

ings,we will not be attached to the

view of nothingness.If we can see the truth of cessa-

tion in the world,we will not be attached to

worldly existence.

By avoiding the two extremes,the Tathagatha teaches usthe Middle Path, which is,what this is, that is; this aris-

ing, that arises…"(Chapter 12, Samyuktagama)We have discussed a lot of

these points before in some formor the other. When we are born,this whole world is born with us.TF Sr. in our last example was bornon a certain day and time. Thisworld did not exist for him beforethat day.

"This arising that arises" is

what happened when he was born.The whole infrastructure is thereto support him. Health of this in-frastructure is what Dharma is.

There comes a time when TFSr. dies. That is the time whenthis world ceases for him. "Thisceasing that ceases" happens tohim relative to this world.

Another world starts for himthat did not exist for him while hewas here with us….he can seewhat the meaning of 'this arisingthat arises' again. Buddha andKrishna can see both the

sides…"nothing arises and noth-ing ceases" for them.

This is the missing part…Thereis the law of "dependent origina-tion" that exists for us. There isjust existence at the level of aBuddha or Krishna. They can seethe origin and they can see thedestruction; this is suma-drishti,or the middle path. This under-standing will bring that under-standing.

AWARENESS:Buddha calls it mindfulness.

This is the process of all medita-

tions. Awareness forms the basisof vipassana. Krishna is trying toraise the awareness of Arjun.What am I talking about?

I am alive and I am awake. I knowwhat is going on. I am aware of mysurroundings. How is this aware-ness or mindfulness different thanthis? Krishna has this shloka:

ya nisa sarva-bhutanamtasyam jagarti samyamiyasyam jagrati bhutanisa nisa pasyato muneh

It is night; it is dark

We rest and we sleepIt is night and it is dark

He (the awakened one) isawake

He is alert; he is observing

It is daytime; we are busy inthe market

We think we are awake; weare alert

He (the awakened one) isuninterested

Our daytime is night time forHim ||2:69||

To be continued

Karma-formations are conditionedthrough ignorance

The monk lay there on thesands, bare-footed, naked, wear-ing no clothes and not knowingwherefrom his tomorrow's foodwas to come, just lying there andbasking in the Sun.

Alexander, the Great, with hiscrown shining, dazzling with thebrilliant diamonds and gems thathe had got from Persia, stoodbeside him in all his glory. Be-side him was the monk with noclothes on! What a contrast!

by his appearance. He fell in lovewith him, and just asked the saintto come with him to Greece.

The saint laughed, and his an-swer was: "The world is in Me. Theworld cannot contain Me. Theuniverse is in Me. I cannot be con-fined in the universe. Greece andRome are in Me. The suns andstars rise and set in Me."

Alexander, the Great, not beingused to this kind of language, wassurprised. He said, "I will give you

shines, but to Me is due its luster.To me is due the glory of all theheavenly bodies. To Me is dueall the attractive nature, all thecharms of the things desired.

“It would be beneath my dig-nity, it would be degrading on mypart, first, to lend the glory andcharm to these objects, and thengo about seeking them, to gobegging at the door of worldlyriches, to go begging at the doorof flesh and animal desires to re-

ceive pleasure, happiness. It isbelow my dignity. I can neverstoop to that level. No, I cannever go begging at theirs."

This astonished Alexander,the Great. He just drew his swordand was going to strike off thehead of that saint. And again thesaint laughed a hearty laugh andsaid, "O Alexander! never in yourlife did you speak such a false-hood, such an abominable lie. KillMe, kill Me, kill Me!

“Where is the sword that cankill Me? Where is the weapon thatcan wound Me? Where is the ca-lamity that can mar my cheerful-ness? Where is the sorrow thatcan tamper with my happiness?Everlasting, the same yesterday,today and for ever, pure and holyof holies, the Master of the Uni-verse, that I am. Even in yourhands I am the power that makesthem move, O Alexander!

“If this body dies, there I re-main the power that makes yourhands move. I am the power thatmakes your muscles move." Thesword fell down from the handsof Alexander.

The 136th birth anniversaryof Swami Rama Tirtha falls onOctober 22.

The naked monk who defeatedAlexander the Great

SWAMI RAMA TIRTHA

‘If this body dies, there I remain the power thatmakes your hands move. I am the power thatmakes your muscles move.’ The sword felldown from the hands of Alexander

There comes a time when TF Sr. dies. Thatis the time when this world ceases for him.‘This ceasing that ceases’ happens to himrelative to this world

53Edit Pagewww.indiapost.com

October 30, 2009 India Post

India Post

Value of 'pause' in India,Pakistan dialogue

ALI AHMED

India-Pakistan relations areonce again in a trough, perhaps this is fallout of the ter-

ror unleashed by the jihadis on 26/11. While cutting off of the dia-logue can be seen as fallout of theiraction, persisting with the 'pause'has moved beyond mere 'fallout'to become 'strategy'. Ostensibly it

is a way to keep up the pressure onPakistan to act against the handlersof these jihadis. By now, some for-ward movement could have beenexpected, particularly because ofthe need to avoid another 26/11.Why has this not happened?

What accounts for India per-sisting with the strategy of'pause'?

India is mindful that responseto terror directed at India wouldrequire Indian pressure, separateand in addition to any pressuremounted by its friend and partner,the US. It is the success of suchpressure that results in Pakistanicomplaints - exaggeration apart -about Indian action in Afghani-stan and allegedly also inBaluchistan.

By refusing to resume the talks,India is driving home its advan-tage. In case it succeeds in push-ing Pakistan to deliver, then itachieves its aims. In case Pakistantakes some action, this can betaken as success of the pressure.In case Pakistani action results inan extremist backlash, then the re-action would force the Pakistanistate to keep up the action, if notenlarge its scope.

This is a situation not averseto some in India. Pakistan has takenlimited, if reluctant, action. It hasnot done any more, lest the largelyPunjabi jihadi groups combinewith the Pashtun Taliban and de-stabilize Pakistan's core areas. In-dia may then, along with the inter-national community, assist Paki-

stan and in doing so extract Paki-stani compliance with Indian in-terests.

A possible outcome is Pakistannot delivering on Indian demands,particularly the prosecution ofmastermind, Hafiz Sayeed. Whilethis is likely, by demanding it, In-dia is compelling Pakistan to at

least go after the smaller fish. Itwould also serve to justify India'sstand that Pakistan is not doingenough. This would permit Indiato pursue its containment of Paki-stan by intelligence means.

'No talks' implies that no politi-cally difficult concessions need bemade. India cannot be held to the

Pakistani requirement in theIslamabad joint statement. Therebeing no buffer of talks, India'spossible recourse to militarymeans in response to another 26/11 would deter Pakistani state com-plicity. In case of another 26/11,the Indian state cannot be put onthe defensive internally for hav-ing resumed talks prematurely.

India does not need talks any-more for controlling the situationin Kashmir since it appears to havearrived at a position of strengththere. More importantly, talksserve little purpose in light of thepolitical schizophrenia in Paki-

stan. The 'talks as strategy' routewas to propel forces in favor ofpeace in Pakistan within its polity.This has not happened. Lastly,India, looking for parity with China,would like to end the hyphenationwith Pakistan that talks only serveto reinforce.

For its part, Army-controlledPakistan is hoping to transit itsperiod of potential instability with-out overly compromising on itspolitical ends and strategic means,both in Kashmir and Afghanistan.In retrospect, would India's strat-egy of 'pause' be seen as time lost?

Pakistan has now tasted 'blow-back' intimately. It is barely man-aging to roll back Islamists andwould not want them to rise inor-dinately again. There are also in-ternal forces in Pakistan, such asa growing middle class, the civilsociety and the media, which arenot in favor of continued hostilitywith India.

Some sections, especially thecommercial class, instead may wantto profit from engaging with aneconomically vibrant India. Thereis also an increasing pragmatism inthe political class on the issue ofKashmir, as seen in statements byPresident Zardari and former Presi-dent Musharraf from time to time.

The fact is that anti-Americanand anti-Indian sentiments exist.Therefore, the regime cannot gooverboard in meeting aims eitherof the West or of India. It wouldnot do so at the risk of compromis-ing Pakistan's stability. Pakistancan be pushed only so far. It fol-lows that strategic prudence re-quires that these limits be respected.

There is no escaping the factthat only talks can help tackle theoutstanding issues between thetwo states. Just as the military ac-tion, Operation Parakram, lost itssting after a while, the 'pause' strat-egy too could meet the same fate.Therefore, India needs to changegears soon. 'Pause' is not an 'end'in itself, but an instrument of pres-sure. The pressure having suc-ceeded to the extent it has, it istime to change gears.

The opportune moment to re-sume talks seems to be the firstanniversary of 26/11. It has been ayear since the last terror incidentoutside of Kashmir. Perhaps anannouncement may be made priorto the PM's state visit to the USand as with the Islamabad meet-ing, the postponed SAARC sum-mit of this year could witness areplay of Islamabad 2004.

The writer is Security Analyst.Courtesy IPCS

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh (R) and his Pakistani counterpart

Yousuf Raza Gilani at Sharm-el-Shaikh in Egypt.

Benefits of terrorism

Going by the law of karma, that is you reap what you sow,Pakistan is not going to have peace anywhere in the nearfuture. Not that peace is an impossible dream. It is very much

possible. Only it doesn't benefit Pakistan or those who have come torule it alternately.

Suppose they decide to have peace in Pakistan, what would itinvolve? Discourage rich and poor gap, focus on the poor and ne-glected areas, build schools and colleges, give education to childrenand when they come of age, provide them jobs. Invest on research inagriculture, water resources so that farmers and farm workers whoare not equipped for education are provided enough help to carry onwith their vocation which brings food for all. With decentralisation,villages are given enough powers to solve their own disputes. Mod-ernized roads and railways provide smooth access to different areasand industry can thrive on transport and communication.

And if people in neighbouring India are being similarly taken careof as is likely in a democracy, there might develop a brotherly, fellowfeeling for them. The two people might want to talk and laugh witheach other, deal with each other. The existence of borders mightbecome irrelevant. Indians could just walk into Pakistan and viceversa!

You mean the raison d'être of Pakistan as a separate entity mightdisappear, someone might query from the Pakistani side. What Indiacan never achieve by fighting we would be giving to it on a platter byushering in peace. If there is peace, India wins, Indian thought wins,Indian system wins. The domination against which we fought wouldbe back by the back door. Who wants such a peace?

Those in charge of the Pakistan status quo would lose their pre-eminent positions. The Pakistani military would lose its clout. Whybother about the peace and life of the small farmer and the unedu-cated poor? They are dispensable. If some die, more will be born.More pressing issues are protection of the life-styles of the "lead-ers," and their mentors in the Gulf.

The problems of the poor will however not go away. If they aregetting restive over the disparity, the lack of food and jobs, there isa great solution. Give them Kalashnikovs and ask them to fend forthemselves. Raise the spectre of Islam in danger and let them loosein the neighbourhood. Better still, enlist them in the private armies ofthe "Pure" who in turn would do the bidding of the state. And sincethe protectors of Islam in the Gulf are rolling in money, they wouldfinance these armies which could be kept trained to keep theneighbourhood on the boil so that there is "peace" for the rulers ofPakistan.

Pakistan sees great benefits from terrorism. Having lost the art ofliving peacefully and with no vision for being a self-sufficient coun-try, it produces terrorists for both home consumption and export.There is nothing else this country is now good for. It enjoys unpar-alleled fame for at least something. Even the game of cricket has beenbattered when it tried to rival it in fame. Whenever there is a terroristincident in world, the needle of suspicion automatically turns toPakistan. Be it Iran, China, Afghanistan, India, Europe or America,Pakistan has to acknowledge its hand. Even now when these terror-ists are training their guns on their own mentors, the Pakistanis havenot lost sympathy with them. There is little regret for what the worldthinks was an outrage in Mumbai. There is in fact admiration forwhat they did to hurt India. The courts repeatedly free the suspectsor keep them in protection.

So Pakistan needs the terrorists to keep the frightening prospectsof "peace" at bay.

Just as the militaryaction, OperationParakram, lost itssting after a while,the 'pause' strategytoo could meet thesame fate


October 30, 200954



October 30, 200956

GET THE ULTIMATE SOUTH ASIAN ENTERTAINMENT ONLY ON COMCAST!

Limited to STAR India PLUS, STAR India NEWS, STAR ONE, STAR India GOLD, SET Asia, Zee TV, TV Asia, and VIJAY, and to a single outlet. Not available in all areas or to current or former Comcast customers with unpaid balances. Requires subscription to Comcast Cable at regular rates. Pricing subject to change. Equipment, installation, taxes and franchise fees extra. Basic service subscription required to receive other levels of service. Not all programming available in all areas. Call for restrictions and complete details. Comcast © 2009. All rights reserved.

CALL TODAY! 1-800-519-6568 www.comcast.com/internationaltv

New South Asian packages with STAR India GOLD, STAR India NEWS and STAR ONE: (In addition to your cable TV subscription)

Additional South Asian packages available:

STAR India Pack

$2499mo.Desi3-Pack

$1999mo.Desi3-Pack

$1999mo.

Desi 4-Pack

$3299mo.DesiMEGA Pack

$4299mo.

NOW AVAILABLE IN: Alameda, Albany, Antioch, Atherton, Bay Point, Belmont, Belvedere, Berkeley, Bethel Island, Bodega Bay, Brentwood, Brisbane, Broadmoor, Burlingame, Byron, Camp Park, Camp Meeker, Campbell, Castro Valley, Cazadero, Cloverdale, Colma, Corte Madera, Cotati, Cupertino, Daly City, Discovery Bay, Dublin, East Palo Alto, El Cerrito, El Sobrante (portion), Emerald Hills, Fairfax, Fairfi eld, Forestville, Foster City, Fremont, Geyserville, Graton, Hayward, Hillsborough, Healdsburg, Hercules, Kensington, Kentfi eld, Kenwood, Knightsen, Larkspur, Livermore, Los Altos, Los Gatos, Marin, Menlo Park, Mill Valley, Millbrae, Milpitas, Monte Sereno, Mountain View, Newark, Novato, Oakley, Occidental, Pacifi ca, Palo Alto, Penngrove, Petaluma, Pittsburg, Pleasanton, Portola Valley, Redwood City, Richmond, Rio Vista, Rohnert Park, San Anselmo, San Carlos, San Geronimo, San Jose, San Leandro, San Lorenzo, San Mateo & San Mateo County, San Pablo, San Quentin, San Rafael, San Ramon, Santa Clara & Santa Clara County, Santa Rosa, Saratoga, Sausalito, Sebastopol & surrounding areas, Sonoma County, Stanford, South San Francisco, Sunnyvale, Sunol, Tiburon, Travis AFB, Union City, Windsor and Vacaville! *Cities are added weekly; call Comcast to see if these networks are available at your address.

$999mo.

NEW!

for only

Get

THE GREAT INDIAN LAUGHTER

CHALLENGEKHABAR FILMI HAI

SINGH IS KINNGSTAR India GOLD

STAR India NEWSSTAR ONE

JUST ADDED:

Documents

IndiaPost_10-30-2009