Indian Down Under - February 2013

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Students do us proud
Top: Ritika Trilochan Shikh (topped in Hindi in the state) with proud mum Reena; Bottom, from Left: Millie Garg (99.85) with dad Satish; Nishtha Kaushik (99.05); Bhavya
Nanda (99.75); Megh Mankad (99.6) with dad Harshendu, mum Asmita and brother Yash; Puneet Sandhu (99.35) with brother Jagdeep, mum Tejwinder and dad Jaswinder
02 THE INDIAN DOWN UNDER January - February 2013
January - February 2013 THE INDIAN DOWN UNDER 03
Date Time Event Venue
Sunday, 03 February 2013 8.30 a.m. to 1.30 p.m. Birthday celebrations Vedanta Centre of Sydney
And 6.30 to 8.30 p.m.
Saturday, 09 February 2013 8.30 a.m. to 1.30 p.m. Birthday celebrations Vedanta Centre, Melbourne
Saturday, 09 March 2013 10.00 a.m. to 1.30 p.m. All-faith summit Vedanta Centre, Brisbane
August 2013 TBA Talks on Vedanta Centre, Perth,
Swami Vivekananda Melbourne and Brisbane
16 September 2013 9.30 a.m. to 5.00 p.m. Seminar on Sydney University
Swami Vivekananda
17 September 2013 6.00 p.m. to 8.30 p.m. Oneness-Voice Without Form Playhouse theatre, Opera
A Play on Swami Vivekananda House, Sydney
18 September 2013 6.00 p.m. to 8.30 p.m. Oneness-Voice Without Form Playhouse theatre, Opera
- A Play on Swami Vivekananda House, Sydney
22 September 2013 TBA Workshop on Townsville
Swami Vivekananda
For more details visit:
www.vedantasydney.org
Email: svplay2013@vedantasydney.org
06 THE INDIAN DOWN UNDER November - December 2012
In the
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T
he horrific gang rape on December
16 by six savages of a helpless 23-
year-old physiotherapy student,
named by Indian media as Nirbhaya,
fills you with revulsion that such crimes
continue to be rampant in India. If it was
not for the media - social as well as com-
mercial - this would have been another
open and shut case, may be even unregis-
tered by police or lost in the court
through bribery or bribed witnesses. The
biggest abuse after all comes from those
in power village chiefs, politicians and
especially their offspring and the police
themselves. The rape bus was illegally
plying the route with full knowledge of
the police who traced the owner and the
culprits from their list of benefactors.
India modelled its parliamentary sys-
tem on the British form of government
where its three arms - politicians, bureau-
cracy and the judiciary should function
independently of each other. But the pres-
ent system in India is now corrupted with
the ruling governments offering plush
postings to its cronies, their own set of
IAS officers to toe their lines.
The prevailing malaise finds its roots
in the corrupt political system that has
infiltrated all arms of the government;
nothing remains out of reach of the power
brokers whose dynastic rule is packaged
for the masses as a democracy. They can
use government resources at will, like the
Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the
Tax Department or the police, to intimi-
date the non-complying individuals. A
number of elected politicians themselves
have criminal records or have been bla-
tantly aided by rogue elements in their
campaigns.
It is sad to see this happening in India
which prides herself to uphold moral val-
ues, worships women as Shakti and carry
an intense belief in moral superiority.
There is ambivalence in society that it
simultaneously worships and denigrates
women.
Rape is the fastest growing crime in
the country having increased by 678 per
cent since 1971 according to National
Crime Records. Delhi is considered to be
the rape capital of the nation with 414
cases registered in 2010, a rape occurring
every 30 minutes.
Sociologists attribute this crime to the
high migrant work force in the capital
who come from far flung places leaving
their families behind. There is also a
skewed men to women ratio as it is pre-
dicted that by 2020 India will have 28
million more males, according to Valerie
M Hudson and Andrea M Den Boer.
The problem is compounded by fast
changing social and work patterns to
which men are slow to adapt. Women in
India are highly educated and are not
content merely doing household chores.
They consider themselves equal to men in
all respects and rightfully claim their
right to spend their time as they choose.
The police indifference in handling
rape cases is, however, appalling as many
police officers believe that victims are to
blame. It is estimated that only one in 50
rape cases is registered, and further, only
one in three alleged culprits gets a con-
viction. Many victims are afraid to go to
police for fear of intimidation.
The UPA government has been on the
receiving end of a relentless media cam-
paign against corruption. It did not need
another episode like Nirbhaya to tarnish
its image further. But the government
mishandled the case anyway by sending
the victim away to Singapore and after
her death cremating the body in the early
hours of morning to smother public dis-
quiet.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singhs
reaction was late. He said, he was deeply
saddened but called for protesters to
channel their anger into a dispassionate
debate over how to make India safer for
women rather than pursuing sectional
interests and agenda. But a gaffe followed
as his remark afterwards, Sab theek hai
na (has it all gone right) was aired and
perceived as his gross indifference
towards the case.
The Nirbhaya episode represents a
watershed moment that has the energy to
bring about the much wanted change in
the way we perceive crimes against
women.
It is the peoples voice that demands a
strong action against the culprits, that no
one should feel unsafe on the streets
regardless of their gender. If it also helps
to expose some powerful people and
bring them to justice, Nirbhayas sacrifice
would not go in vain for the sake of a
common cause that has traumatised and
woken up India finally.
It is sad to see this
happening in India
which worships
women as Shakti and
carries an intense
belief in moral superi-
ority. There is ambiva-
lence in society that it
simultaneously wor-
ships and denigrates
women.
The Nirbhaya
episode represents a
watershed moment
that has the energy to
bring about the much
wanted change in the
way we perceive
crimes against
women.
Candle Light Vigil for 'Nirbhaya organised by United Indian Associations (UIA)
at Martin's Place, Sydney.
Even Australians joined in the UIA vigil
for the Delhi rape victim.
Comment
By Rekha Bhattacharjee
W
ith the completion of 50 years of
the Panchayati Raj in India the
Assam State Election Commission
has announced 50 per cent reservation of
seats for women. It is a bid to socially and
politically empower women in the Panchayati
election 2013. The Scheduled Castes and
Tribes, too, enjoy 50 percent reservation.
Bihar was the first state to give 50 percent
Reservation for women. It was followed by
Uttarkhand, Himachal Pradesh and Madhya
Pradesh with 55 percent.
The 73rd Amendment Act of the
Constitution has been hailed as an important
landmark in the constitutional development in
creating wide base for participatory democ-
racy and more space for political participa-
tion. The development of India depends on
the development of the villages. Only a
developed and disciplined society would
ensure good governance, said the Vice
Chancellor of AKU.
The concept of panchayats was a part of
the philosophy of Purna Swaraj and Gram
Swaraj. Mahatma Gandhi and Pandit Nehru
breathed life into these concepts and gave a
practical and patriotic impetus to them during
the freedom struggle. Panchayati Raj thus
became a part of the legacy of the freedom
movement and its quest for democratic
decentralisation. Democracy was the greatest
gift of the freedom struggle. For a while
independence made the nation free; it was
democracy that made people masters of their
own destiny.
Gandhiji believed that democratic free-
dom had to be founded in institutions of self
government in every village of India. He had
strongly favoured decentralization of eco-
nomic and political power on the lines of
ancient village communities which were
more or less self sufficient and self govern-
ing. He said Real Swaraj will come not by
the acquisition of authority by a few but by
the acquisition of the capacity of all.
This amendment found expression in
Article 40 of the Constitution, which states:
The States shall take steps to organise vil-
lage panchayats and endow them with such
powers and authority as may be necessary to
enable them to function as units of Self
Government.
Pandit Nehru, Indias first Prime
Minister, said as a primary instrument to
bring development to the door step of the
masses, Real change comes from within the
village, and not imposed from outside. The
transfer of authority for development work to
the Panchayats is likely to change the whole
background in our rural areas and make peo-
ple more self sufficient and conscious of their
responsibilities. Thus he went on to establish
institutions of Panchayati Raj.
Although successive governments contin-
ued chasm appeared in Gandhijis dream
and Pandit Nehrus vision! Plans suffered
monitoring degenerated into statistical tables
with little communication between the bene-
ficiary and the decision makers.
Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was con-
vinced that Panchayati Raj would bring devo-
lution of political powers and recast local
structures ushered in a social revolution. He
launched a campaign to build a nationwide
consensus his single most important plat-
form of his domestic agenda for taking India
into the 21st Century.
The participation of women in the local
political processes was considered essential
not only for ensuring their involvement but
also for realising the developmental goals for
women. Yet not much progress has been
achieved in this direction. Although many
states had women in the panchayats the num-
bers were negligible.
In 1988, National prospective for women
plan recommended 30 percent seats for
women in Panchayats but it was in 1992
when the Congress government passed the
Bills in parliament adding a new chapter to
the Constitution making peoples participa-
tion in panchayats a reality.
Today many states have implemented the
50 percent Reservation for Women. Yet,
challenges remain. Political parties, NGOS
and training institutions must continue to join
hands so that Panchayati Raj becomes instru-
ments of Womens liberation.
A
s he lay out a progressive agenda for his sec-
ond term to tackle contentious issues such as
gun control, gay rights, climate change and
immigration reform, President Barack Obama is set
for a long fight with his Republican opponents.
"Progress does not compel us to settle centuries-
long debates about the role of government for all time
- but it does require us to act in our time," Obama said
in his second inaugural address Jan 21 making a force-
ful plea to "answer the call of history".
"My fellow Americans, we are made for this
moment, and we will seize it - so long as we seize it
together," said Obama outlining the vision for his sec-
ond term in an 18 minute address.
Extolling the importance of democracy across the
world, Obama said: "America will remain the anchor
of strong alliances in every corner of the globe."
"For no one has a greater stake in a peaceful world
than its most powerful nation," he added suggesting
"A decade of war is now ending" without making a
direct reference to America's ongoing war on terror-
ism.
Stressing the need to "respond to the threat of cli-
mate change" he said, "Some may still deny the over-
whelming judgment of science, but none can avoid the
devastating impact of raging fires, and crippling
drought, and more powerful storms."
In embracing the liberal agenda, Obama listed
three turning points: Seneca Falls, Selma and
Stonewall saying the "notion that all of us are created
equal is the idea that has powered men and women for
generations."
But the journey for equality "is not complete until
our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone
else under the law - for if we are truly created equal,
then surely the love we commit to one another must
be equal as well."
"This has stretched through Seneca Falls, Selma
and Stonewall," he said making the first ever refer-
ence to gays in an inaugural address. "It is now our
generation's task to carry on what those pioneers
began."
Seneca Falls is the town in New York where a
convention in 1848 helped launch the women's rights
movement. Selma refers to a civil rights march in
Alabama in 1965 and Stonewall Inn in New York City
is where modern gay-rights movement was born in
1969 after a police raid.
In addition, this work will be unfinished until the
country figures out how to tackle immigration and
deals with the difficulties of voting, Obama said.
The media reaction to the President's speech was
on expected lines.
"With this speech, he has made a forceful argu-
ment for a progressive agenda that meets the nation's
needs." said the influential New York Times in an edi-
torial hoping "he has the political will and tactical
instincts to carry it out."
In the Washington Post's view Obama had offered
"concrete goals at home, wishful thinking abroad."
"America's adversaries are not in retreat; they will
be watching Mr. Obama in his second term to see if
the same can be said of the United States," it suggest-
ed. But in the conservative Washington Times, colum-
nist Robert Knight suggested in an opinion piece
Obama was "shooting holes in the Constitution."
"Leave it to Barack Obama to come into his inau-
gural weekend with a bang, and not just on guns. He's
made it clear that he intends more spending, more reg-
ulation, more radical appointees and less national
defence in his second term," he wrote.
I
ndia and
Australia will
begin negotia-
tions on a bilater-
al civil nuclear
energy coopera-
tion pact in
March.
E x t e r n a l
Affairs Minister
Salman Khurshid
announced this
Jan 21 at a joint
media interaction
after talks with
v i s i t i n g
Australian coun-
terpart, Bob Carr.
"Aus t r al i an
and Indian officials will be working
to conclude the agreement which
will enable the export of uranium
from Australia to India," said Carr.
"A sense of urgency and pur-
pose will be there. We will move
swiftly," Khurshid said.
The two sides held the eighth
round of their framework dialogue,
an integral part of the strategic
partnership, here and reviewed the
entire gamut of their bilateral ties
as well as regional and global
issues during their talks.
Australia, the world's third-
largest exporter of uranium, had
agreed to start negotiations on a
civil nuclear deal with India during
the visit of Prime Minister Julia
Gillard to New Delhi last October.
In December 2011, Gillard's
Labour Party had overturned its
long-standing ban on exporting
uranium to India. India is not a
signatory to the NPT, which has in
the past prevented Australia from
supplying it with uranium.
"India is a key part of
Australia's future in the Asian
Century and our interests are
increasingly converging," said
Carr. "Australia's Indian commu-
nity of more than 450,000 people is
our fastest growing migrant com-
munity and India is our second-
largest source of international stu-
dents.
"We are pleased that our strate-
gic partnership has grown in
strength and has expanded in
scope. We also recognised that
there are tremendous opportunities
for much greater cooperation and
that we shall strive to attain them,"
Khurshid said.
Indian Defence Minister A.K.
Antony is to visit Australia soon
"for further discussions on cooper-
ation in defence and security".
Women crucial in Panchayati Raj
Many Indian states have implemented the 50 percent
reservation for Women in panchayas.
President Barack Obama at his second inauguration.
Indian External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid
with visiting Australian Foreign Minister
Bob Carr in New Delhi.
The Third Eye by Rekha Bhattacharjee
Obama sets a progressive
agenda for second term
India, Australia to begin
talks on civil nuclear pact
Guwahati, Assam: In the end, the
reason for the demise of the Delhi
rape victim Nirbhaya was so
symptomatic of the circumstances
leading to her multiple-organ fail-
ure.
It is not surprising that the
anonymous Delhi rape victim has
become a rallying point for mil-
lions of Indian women who are let
down right from the moment their
gender is announced to a highly
patriarchal society that is India.
Many commentators have
called the Delhi rape a turning
point for the awareness about vio-
lence against Indian women.
Indeed, in spite of government
efforts and general apathy of the
mainstream political parties, the
persistent protests continue.
The Delhi gang rape victim,
given the name Nirbhaya (one
without any fear) by an Indian
media outlet, became a victim of
the system which has been allowed
to carry on in spite of the horrify-
ing figures about violence against
women, discrimination based on
gender and the embarrassingly
skewed male to female population
ratio in the country.
In this age of highly accessible
social media, the Delhi rape-mur-
der has shaken, at least, the urban
India to the very core.
The gory details of the way
Nirbhaya was violated has led to
the demand of capital punishment,
chemical castration and even ston-
ing to death of the perpetrators.
While such retributive violent jus-
tice is not the right solution of the
reprehensive violence against the
Indian women, the calls for a com-
plete overhaul of the criminal jus-
tice delivery system and archaic
laws followed by the police need to
be heeded.
There do exist laws to check
violence against women in India,
but there is a long wait for justice
to be delivered, which is almost
never as not many victims have the
resources and the will to undergo
tiresome and denigrating rape tri-
als.
The slow churning legal system
in India is mainly attributed to the
depressingly low number of judicial
officials to conduct the trials: there
are only15 judges for each million
of the countrys 1.2 billion people.
In comparison, China has 159
judges per million people, and US
has 108.
The apologists of the political
system in India often quote UN fig-
ure of only 1.8 rapes for every
100,000 people while the develop-
ing countries like Sweden (63) and
the US (27) are much worse off.
While we need to keep the size of
the population in mind while com-
menting on the total number of
sexual violence incidents in India,
it is also true that most of such
humiliating crimes are not even
reported in our country. The fear
of social stigma, family pressure,
crude police reporting methods,
humiliation of public trials, etc, are
some of the reasons the victims
remain silent over their traumatic,
life-shattering experiences.
UN figures apart, what hap-
pened on New Delhi roads on
December 16 night was not an iso-
lated case. What has horrified civil
society even more is that the horri-
ble act happened right in the high-
ly-policed, upmarket area of the
Indian capital. If this can happen in
New Delhi, various activists have
posed this question, what would be
the plight of the women in areas
which are far off from the glare of
Indias metro-centric media?
The violence against tribal and
so-called low caste women from
lower economical strata goes not
only unreported but also has the
tacit approval of the power-wield-
ing communities. If media manages
to highlight one such outrageous
incident, outpouring of manufac-
tured rage and half-hearted con-
demnations follows.
The sheepish politicians are
falling over each other to announce
ex gratia payments to the family of
the gang rape victim, while various
human rights activists have
slammed the media and special
interest groups from turning the
beastly act into an exceptional inci-
dent. Nirbhaya was not only let
down by the rapists whom she
trusted as everyday public transport
operators but also the corrupt law
and order machinery which facili-
tates operation of illegal buses on
Indian roads.
In conclusion, while the exem-
plary punishment to the Delhi gang
rape perpetrators would be a start-
ing point, the Indian male needs to
take a deep look inwards to find
answers to the question why India,
of all the bigger economies, contin-
ues to be one of the worst places
for a woman.
W
hile there has been a flur-
ry of visits to India by the
high-power Australian
trade delegations and politicians, the
observers are baffled by the slow
pace at which the bilateral ties are
growing. The Australian analysts
blame Indias political culture for
not only the stunted bilateral ties but
also for the slowing economic
growth in India.
Australias trading links with
India will not grow substantially and
sustainably until India recognises the
importance to economic growth and
development of big business, Len
Perry, Associate Professor of
Economics at University of
Technology Sydney (UTS), wrote
recently in his blog.
Big business magnifies the ben-
efits of economies of scale and low-
ers prices for the poor, among other
things. It thereby contributes to the
well-being of all of its stakeholders,
as well as the economy as a whole,
he further opined.
The Sydney academic has
blamed Nehruvian economic policies
for converting India into a massive
under-achiever and also for
ingrained distrust of private busi-
nesses.
The economic policies pursued
by Indias long-serving first Prime
Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, whose
leadership from 1947 until his death
in 1964, was marked by central
planning and government ownership
of major industrial organizations,
Perry writes.
Such was the impact of this
policy that businesses were pres-
sured to remain small so as to avoid
being answerable to a powerful
bureaucracy renowned for its lethar-
gy, incompetence and corruption,
he adds.
India may have shrugged of
such anti-business policies to some
extent but the distrust of anything to
do with western world would still
take long to go away. The leaders of
the developed economies are doing
their best to overcome such stifling
levels of distrust.
It would be correct to say that
not all of the political commentators
share the skeptics pessimism about
Indo-Australia ties.
Australia and India are poised
at an historic moment in their rela-
tionship, Rory Mecalf and C Raja
Mohan said in the 2012 Australia-
India Roundtable: Co-Chairs'
Statement released by Australias
well-respected Think tank Lowy
Institute recently.
Building on recent positive
steps, the links between the two
democracies now need sustained
creative thinking and efforts on the
part of government, business and
society to strengthen them further,
the statement read.
This will ensure the relation-
ship attains the vast potential offered
by the two nations exceptional eco-
nomic and societal complementari-
ties and their convergent strategic
interests in the Indo-Pacific region
during this Asian Century, the Co-
Chairs further stated.
The Australian political leaders
from both sides of the aisle have
realized the potential of the optimum
level but for some irritants which
refuse to go away.
When Prime Minister Julia
Gillard gave her nod to uranium
exports to India in spite of all the
opposition (even from within the
Labor party ranks) late last year, it
was expected that the bilateral trade
and political ties would grow at an
exponential growth.
"We have changed our party
policy so that there is now no fetter
for us on selling uranium to India,"
Gillard said on her maiden visit to
India as Prime Minister a few
months back. With the constraint of
uranium export gone, analysts
believe there is no hurdle to stop
Australia from seeking a greater
economic, political and strategic
links with the rising Asian economy.
Inarguably, there has been an
increase in the bilateral trade and
societal links but it is the slow pace
which worries the Australian policy
architects who are wagering on
India to cushion any adverse impact
from the slowing Chinese economy.
Julia Gillard has no doubt per-
formed well to harness the synergies
of India and Australia bonds.
Besides visiting the South Asian
country and giving prominent place
to India in the recently-released
White Paper on Australias place in
the Asian Century, Julia Gillard also
indulged in the so-called cricket
diplomacy as she honoured Indian
cricket maestro Sachin Tendulkar
with the Order of Australia award.
The links between Australia and
India, analysts point out, are not
restricted to the clichd troika of
cricket, Commonwealth and curry.
There is much more the two natural
partners can achieve by working
together.
"In a century of growth and
change, our interests are closer than
they have ever been. We share a
region of the world and we share an
ocean," Julia Gillard said in her
keynote speech on her October visit
to India.
Unlike the Indian policymakers
shackled by Indias notorious
bureaucracy, Julia Gillard is in a
better position to bring in swift
changes to facilitate better links with
New Delhi. There is an unmistaken
optimism in Canberra, and other
political corridors down under, that
the only way relations with India
can go is northwards.
"I think the exciting thing about
it is that our interests are converging
and when your interests converge,
you have more room to work with.
So we have certainly not reached the
end of what we can achieve, far
from it. I think our best days are
ahead," Australias former High
Commissioner to India Peter
Varghese said last month.
Rekha Bhattacharjee can be con-
tacted at vijay@hotkey.net.au
The Third Eye by Rekha Bhattacharjee
Analysis
Laws are there to check violence against women in India, but there is
a long wait for justice to be delivered, which is almost never as not
many victims have the resources and the will to undergo tiresome
and denigrating rape trials.
The links between Australia and India are not restricted to the
clichd troika of cricket, Commonwealth and curry. There is much
more the two natural partners can achieve by working together.
Rape incident exposes Indias
multiple law & order failures
What impedes Australia-India bilateral ties?
India
PM 2014: Modi vs Rahul
Jaipur: In a clear message of the
party's generational shift with 70
percent of voters below the age of
35, the Congress Saturday named
Rahul Gandhi, 42, as vice presi-
dent in the hope of reaping elec-
toral dividends in the 2014 gener-
al elections.
However, the Congress for
the time being. refrained from
projecting Rahul Gandhi as the
prime ministerial candidate,
ignoring the huge chorus from the
party. Party general secretary
Janardan Dwivedi said: "Whether
Rahul will lead the party in 2014
general elections will be decided
later."
Rahul Gandhi heads the
party's coordination panel for the
2014 polls.
The new post of vice presi-
dent was re-created especially for
Rahul Gandhi. The last vice pres-
ident was Arjun Singh when
Rahul's father Rajiv Gandhi was
prime minister and party chief.
After the Congress Working
Committee (CWC) passed a reso-
lution unanimously elevating him
as vice president, Rahul Gandhi
expressed his gratitude to the
leaders and thanked them. "I am
confident we can transform the
Congress party," he said.
Minister of State for Home
R.P.N. Singh termed the move a
"game changer" and said Rahul
Gandhi is the party's face for
2014. Much before Dwivedi
announced the CWC decision,
hundreds of elated Youth
Congress members started cele-
brations outside the Birla auditori-
um, venue of the "Chintan
Shivir" and also outside 10
Janpath, the residence of party
chief Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi.
Party insiders said Rahul
became the youngest vice presi-
dent after Jitendra Prasada, who
got the position at 50 plus age.
Party insiders said this would
mean more younger leaders will
get important roles in the organi-
zational reshuffle, which is likely
to follow soon marking the gener-
ational shift.
In the last cabinet reshuffle
Oct 28, 2012, Rahul's influence
was clear when he suggested for
promotion many younger leaders,
including Sachin Pilot and Manish
Tewari.
A pointer to Rahul's elevation
as official number two came
when party leaders and ministers
competed with each other in
demanding a bigger role for him
at the introspection meet.
The decision approved by the
CWC, the party's highest deci-
sion making body, makes him
officially the number two in the
party after his mother and
Congress chief Sonia Gandhi.
"With his appointment as vice
president of the Congress party
today, Rahul Gandhi has been
elevated to number two position
in the party," Dwivedi told
reporters, amid scenes of wild
jubilation by Congress workers
and supporters.
Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh was among the first to
offer Rahul Gandhi a bouquet.
Thereafter, a host of leaders lined
up to offer him bouquets and gar-
land him.
Asked whether Rahul Gandhi
would be pitted against Gujarat
Chief Minister Narendra Modi in
2014, R.P.N. Singh said the BJP
had not as yet decided on its
prime ministerial candidate. Modi
is being touted as the BJP's fron-
trunner for the top post.
"When he is the face of the
Congress party, when we come
back to power in UPA-III we will
support him (as PM)."
Party spokesperson Sandeep
Dikshit said Rahul Gandhi will be
the "chief campaigner" for the
elections, but the "high com-
mand" will take a final decision
on his prime ministerial candida-
ture.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh offering a bouquet to Rahul
Gandhi on his elevation as party vice president.
Modis big Gujarat win paves
way for Delhi shift
Finally, Congress projects Rahul Gandhi as party's face for 2014
Ahmedabad: Narendra Modi won a
fourth successive term as the chief
minister of Gujarat on December
20, 2012, a victory that could
launch the prime ministerial ambi-
tions of one of the country's most
popular but controversial leaders.
Modi's BJP won 115 of the state
legislative assembly's 182 seats
against 61 for the Congress party.
The result is likely to have repercus-
sions far beyond the borders of the
prosperous state.
The BJP won 117 seats in 2007
and analysts say Modi needed anoth-
er convincing victory to present
himself as the party's presumptive
candidate for prime minister in
national elections due by 2014.
Modi's win could fire up the ail-
ing main opposition BJP, giving it a
leader who inspires euphoric sup-
port for the high growth, uninter-
rupted power supply and safe streets
he is credited with providing in
Gujarat. But the 62-year-old Modi,
portrayed by his critics as a closet
Hindu zealot, could prove too divi-
sive a figure to become a nationally
acceptable leader who would also
need to win over enough allies to
form a coalition government. That
could play into the hands of the
Congress party as it prepares to
launch Rahul Gandhi, heir to India's
most powerful political dynasty, as
the man to take over the reins from
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
"Markets will now ponder upon
whether the PM candidate from the
BJP will be Narendra Modi, and
whether we are looking at a show-
down between Narendra Modi ver-
sus Rahul Gandhi in 2014," said
Deven Choksey, managing director
of K R Choksey Securities.
To his detractors, Modi's reign
is overshadowed by Hindu-Muslim
riots that tore through his state 10
years ago, killing 1,000-2,000 peo-
ple. Critics accuse him of not doing
enough to stop the violence, or even
quietly encouraging it, allegations
he has strenuously denied and have
never been proven.
But that has not stopped him
winning successive elections, touting
his credentials as an effective eco-
nomic manager in contrast to the
policy drift in New Delhi that has
helped drag India's economic
growth to its worst pace in a
decade. Modi has always publicly
played down a possible bid to
become prime minister, saying
Gujarat was his priority. Modi's
appeal outside Gujarat is largely
untested. Gujarat has been a BJP
stronghold since the 1990s and ben-
efited from a weak state-level oppo-
sition. But his campaigns on behalf
of the party outside his home state
have had mixed results.
Hyderabad: With the centre appearing set to
announce its decision on the Telangana issue
in January, Andhra Pradesh may once again
slip into political chaos as leaders from both
the Telangana and Seemandhra regions are
threatening a showdown.
Alarmed over reports that the Congress-
led UPA has decided to give into the demand
for separate Telangana state, leaders from
Seemandhra (as the Rayalaseema and Andhra
regions are referred to) are joining ranks to
oppose division of the state. Their argument is
that a state formed for Telugu-speaking people
can't be divided.
At the same time, the hectic activity in the
Congress' central leadership to find a solution
to the Telangana problem has raised hopes in
the region that the people's aspirations for
their own state will finally be met.
The leaders in Telangana have also con-
veyed to the centre that their patience is wear-
ing out. "Despite the insults we had to face on
numerous occasions at the hands of people,
we exercised restraint for the last three years.
Now the time has come to meet the long-
pending demand of the people," said senior
cabinet minister K. Jana Reddy while criticis-
ing the Seemandhra leaders for creating hur-
dles.
With the D-day of Jan 28 fast approach-
ing, the suspense was heightening in both the
camps. Some Seemandhra leaders who visited
Delhi got hints that the Congress leadership
has made up its mind to carve out a
Telangana state. It was only after this that the
Seemandhra leaders met in Hyderabad and
declared that "nothing short of a united
Andhra Pradesh is acceptable to us".
Some leaders from the ruling Congress,
opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and the
YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) have even
threatened mass resignations in the event of
the centre agreeing to initiate the process for
forming Telangana.
BJP is finally veering around to
the idea of projecting Narendra
Modi as its PM candidate.
Chautala, son convicted
in graft case
New Delhi: Former
Haryana chief minister
Om Prakash Chautala
and his son Ajay were
taken into police cus-
tody after a CBI court
convicted them in a
recruitment scam
involving JBT (junior
basic training) teachers.
The Indian National
Lok Dal (INLD) chief
and son Ajay, both
Haryana legislators, were taken
into custody immediately after the
ruling by the Central Bureau of
Investigation court in Rohini. The
court also convicted 53 others for
the illegal recruitment of over
3,000 JBT teachers. The court will
pronounce the sentence on Jan 22.
The CBI had formally charged the
father-son duo and others June 6,
2008, in connection with the scam
that took place in 1999-2000 when
Chautala was chief minister of
Haryana.
Over 3,000 teachers were to be
recruited in the state and Chautala
had pressurized a senior official,
Sanjeev Kumar, to change the list
of selected candidates by fudging
the marks of certain
favorites. Later,
Sanjeev Kumar went to
the Supreme Court and
submitted before it the
list of the candidates
originally selected.
The official also
alleged that money had
changed hands in the
recruitment scam.
The Supreme
Court directed the CBI
to investigate the matter, especially
the bribery charges. The federal
investigating agency in its
chargesheet said forged documents
were used to appoint the teachers.
Although Chautala alleged that he
was politically victimized, the
Rohini court convicted him in the
case. Son of former deputy Prime
Minister Devi Lal, Chautala is the
leader of opposition in the Haryana
assembly. The INLD was earlier
part of the National Democratic
Alliance (NDA). Chautala and his
two sons -- Ajay Singh Chautala
and Abhey Singh Chautala -- are
legislators in the Haryana assem-
bly. He was the chief minister of
Haryana between 1999-2005.
A CBI court convicted
the former chief minister
in a recruitment scam
involving JBT teachers
Andhra may slip into political chaos over Telangana
Despite provocation, India cools
tensions with Pakistan
New Delhi: India has welcomed the "posi-
tive statements" coming from Pakistan on
talks to defuse their border tension and said
the border flare-ups of mid-January follow-
ing the Jan 8 brutal killing of two Indian
soldiers, would not undermine their peace
process.
The statement by External Affairs
Minister Salman Khurshid came even as
Congress president Sonia Gandhi said India
was for close relations with neighbours but
the dialogue must be based on "accepted
principles of civilized behaviour", while
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said India
must have friendly relations with all but did
not elaborate.
A day after Pakistan Foreign Minister
Hina Rabbani Khar offered talks at the for-
eign ministers level to defuse the stand-off,
the country's envoy in New Delhi Salman
Bashir condemned the Jan 8 brutal killing of
two Indian soldiers, including the beheading
of one, and their two armies should probe
the incident.
But Bashir stated that "We are absolute-
ly clear, that at no point in time did
Pakistani forces cross the LoC."
In an interview to NDTV news channel,
Bashir, taking note of the stern Indian
stance, said: "Unfortunately, I must say that
it has almost become fashionable, that
Pakistan-bashing has become fashionable
whenever there is an issue."
Former Pakistan president Pervez
Musharraf, in an interview to TimesNow
news channel, said he could not believe that
Pakistani soldiers could have crossed the
LoC and killed and beheaded Indian sol-
diers.
India maintains that Pakistani forces
killed Naik Hemraj Singh, whose head is
still missing, and killed and mutilated Lance
Naik Sudhakar Singh - 600 metres inside
Indian territory on the LoC that divides
Kashmir between India and Pakistan.
India had not yet responded to
Pakistan's offer for talks.
The India-Pakistan border has been
peaceful since Jan 16 after their respective
armies decided to adhere to the 2003 cease-
fire and exercise restraint.
The alleged mutilation of the bodies of
two Indian soldiers, Lance Naik Hemraj
and Lance Naik Sudhakar Singh, had
flared Indo-Pak tensions.
India
Pak govt and protesting cleric reach deal
Islamabad: Tehrik-i-Minhajul Quran
(TMQ) chief Dr Tahirul Qadri on Jan 17
announced an end to four days of anti-
government protests by thousands of peo-
ple after striking a deal with the govern-
ment.
A high level delegation struck a deal
with the firebrand cleric, who returned
from six years in Canada, after thousands
of people paralyzed Islamabad pressing
the government to resign over corruption
charges.
Tahirul Qadri, who supported a 1999
military coup, has been calling for the
military to play a role in the formation of
a caretaker administration in the run-up to
May elections. The government agreed
with the cleric to dissolve the National
Assembly before its term ends in mid-
March, giving 90 days until elections are
held, according to the Islamabad Long
March Declaration.
The government also agreed that the
caretaker administration, which normally
precedes elections, would be chosen in
consultation with all parties.
A declaration detailing the agreement
between the government and Qadri was
signed by Prime Minister Raja Pervez
Ashraf and high-level government offi-
cials. They also agreed that the treasury
benches in complete consensus with
Qadris party will propose the names of
two honest and impartial people for the
appointment of a caretaker prime minis-
ter. Meanwhile, Qadri, a Pakistani-
Canadian dual national, is leaving for
Canada on Jan 27.
The deal he has essayed may ease
pressure on the ruling Pakistan Peoples
Party (PPP), which has come under fire
for failing to tackle a range of problems,
from a Taliban insurgency to a weak
economy. The Supreme Court had
ordered that Prime Minister Raja Pervez
Ashraf and 15 others be arrested in con-
nection with a 2010 corruption case. The
order came when Qadri led protests out-
side parliament seeking the government's
resignation sparked panic about an alleged
judiciary-military plot to derail coming
elections.
26/11 suspect Rana gets 14 years jail in US
Chicago: Pakistan-born Chicago businessman Tahawwur Rana sentenced on Jan 17 to
14 years in jail for providing support to Pak terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba that staged
the 2008 Mumbai attacks. Although Rana, a boyhood friend
of LeT operative David Coleman Headley, was acquitted of
supporting the Mumbai attacks, prosecutors had sought the
maximum 30-year sentence for his role in the aborted plot to
attack Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten for publishing car-
toons of Prophet Muhammad. Thus US federal prosecutors
are probably foreshadowing a similar sentence, if not longer,
for Headley, a key plotter behind the Mumbai attacks of
November 26, 2008.
Dr Tahirul Qadri
Tahawwur Rana
and (right) David
Coleman Headley
India
Allahabad: The world's largest
gathering of people, the 55-day
Maha Kumbh congregation,
began in here on January 15 with
over a crore people, led by the
ash-smeared Naga ascetics, taking
a dip at the Sangam - the conflu-
ence of the Ganga, Yamuna and
Saraswati rivers.
The first day with record
devotees and subsequent days
have passed off peacefully.
Elaborate arrangements were
made at the VIP ghat, where the
13 sects of sadhus lead bathers in
a mutually agreed sequence.
The fraternity was led by
Maha Nirvani Akhada and was
followed by Niranjani, Anand,
Juna and Bairagi akahadas,
among others.
As the clock struck five
Monday morning, heavily
decked-up chariots, some in silver
and gold, wound their way to the
Sangam, with hundreds following
in procession on foot, beating
drums and blowing conch shells.
There was a mad frenzy in the
foreign and national media, with
photographers rushing to get win-
ner shots of the naked, ash-
smeared Naga sadhus jumping
into the chilly waters of the
Ganga. Before they did so, the
sadhus danced and threw garlands
at the press gallery in gay aban-
don, waving to hundreds of fol-
lowers on the other side.
Carrying silver tridents,
maces, axes and swords, some of
the sadhus with flowing beards
told IANS that they felt on top of
the world as they "touched moth-
er Ganges".
"This is an electrifying
moment," said a visibly elated 75-
year-old Mokshanand from
Vrindavan, who said this was his
seventh Kumbh in a row.
Arrangements had been made
to ensure that the Ganges flowed
"well and clean" during the major
bathing days. A special team of
10,000 sweepers had been
pressed into service to keep the
area clean.
"Deep water barricading has
been done and an extensive pres-
ence of 'jal' police has also been
pressed into service to avoid
mishaps," a police spokesperson
said.
For the hundreds who have
not been able to reach the bathing
sites, 13 huge LED screens, both
mobile and stationary, were play-
ing the recording of the bathing
sessions.
Kochi: President Pranab
Mukherjee said India sees
its vast diaspora as a valu-
able contributor to its
growth and is keen to
expand the bonds further
in building an inclusive
and knowledge society.
The president said the
record remittance of $67
billion from overseas
Indians was a testimony to both the
emotional attachment and the fulfill-
ment in investing in India's strong
economy.
"We should explore ways and
means to encourage further participa-
tion by the diaspora to give additional
impetus to India's growth story,"
Mukherjee said at the 11th PBD here.
"I also wish to see the Indian dias-
pora as a stronger partner, not only in
India's economic growth, but also in
building India's knowledge society,
while continuing to engage culturally
and emotionally, and serving as the
effective ambassadors that they have
been for this country," the president
said. He said India was the world's
third-largest economy on the basis of
purchasing power parity and the sec-
ond fastest growing economy after
China. "In six out of nine years, our
country managed to grow at a rate
above eight percent. Due to the slow-
down in the global economy and other
factors, the growth rates have declined
-- from 8.4 percent in 2010-11 to 6.5
percent in 2011-12, and further to 5.4
percent in the first half of 2012-13," he
said.
He said the diaspora could become
partners in India's progress.
"For accelerated growth, invest-
ment level has to increase. You all can
help in the process by investing in
Indian companies and establishing new
ventures. The yield of Indian equity
markets is amongst the highest in the
world and many of the most famous
companies have established business
here or seeking to do so," he said.
Pravasi Bharatiya
Divas -- India's annual
exposition to connect
with its 130-million dias-
pora in 130 countries --
also saw the president
confer the Pravasi
Bharatiya Samman
awards on 15 pre-emi-
nent overseas Indians for
their contributions.
In his address, the president lauded
the contributions of the Indian diaspora
in areas ranging from social service
and polity to economy, science and
culture.
"It is a matter of pride for every
Indian that there are at least five heads
of state or government, and over 70
senior political leaders such as deputy
heads of state, speakers, ministers in
various countries, who can trace their
roots to India," Mukherjee said.
The chief guest at the event was
Mauritius President Rajkeswur
Purryag, who was also among the
recipients of the Pravasi Bharatiya
Samman.
New Delhi:
Rasht rapat i
Bhavan, the
i m p o s i n g
presidential
p a l a c e
spread over
130 hectares
in the heart
of this capital
city, has
become a
more acces-
sible place
for tourists
and common
people of
India. Pranab Mukherjee, who
became the 13th President of
India on July 25 last year, said
his mission was to make the
place as "open as possible to
people, including children."
All one needs to do is to
log on to the internet and make
an advance booking for any of
the three days it is open to the
public every weekend.
Previously, one had to
physically go to Rashtrapati
Bhavan to make a booking.
The new system has seen foot-
falls spiral from 500 over
three days on an average last
year to nearly 1,600 over the
same period, with a cap of 700
visitors per day, an official
said.
A media tour through
Rashtrapati Bhavan threw up
interesting sights of groups of
foreign tourists being escorted
by young scholar-guides
through the Durbar Hall, the
Marble Hall, the south and
north drawing rooms, the
museum, library and banquet
hall.
Explaining the growing
popularity of the president's
abode on the capital's sight-
seeing map, the official said:
"We have been receiving
online reservations from
around the world. We have
thrown open new galleries and
the front entrance of
Rashtrapati Bhavan. The sale
of souvenirs at the memento
shop has increased."
The interiors are a revela-
tion. The grand British-style
decor and the furniture have
been spruced up in a mega
restoration drive to bring the
Bhavan back to its original
glory. The main library is the
focus of the restoration drive.
Nearly 24,000 books and
manuscripts are in queue for
digitization - 4,000 having
been archived during the
tenure of President A.P.J
Abdul Kalam.
The presidential art collec-
tion that begins at the Durbar
Hall - the public assembly
space - with a 5th century stat-
ue of Lord Buddha and an
Ashokan edict is being cata-
logued and dusted. The pri-
vate collection comprising art
by masters like Jamini Roy
and Jogen Chowdhury has
been mounted in a dedicated
art gallery that will open for
viewing soon, an official said.
The Mughal Gardens mod-
eled on the Persian style 'char
bagh' is yet to burst into its
riot of colorful blooms. Last
year, nearly 700,000 people
visited the Gardens when it
opened for viewing in
February, the official said.
Over a crore bathe in Ganga on day one of Maha Kumbh
Rashtrapati Bhavan is now
more accessible to public
11th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas 2013
The Pravasi Bharatiya
Samman awardees' list
Prof Gurusharan Singh
Chatwal, Germany (Science); Ashok
S. Vaswani, Guinea (community
service); T.S. Ravindra Menon,
Malaysia (Community service); Dr.
Rasik V.Joshi, Mexico (Literature);
Dr. Satendra K. Singh, New
Zealand (Community service);
Gilbert. C. Moutien, Reunion Island
(Business); Mohammed R.
Karuvanthodi, Saudi Arabia
(Business); Ismail E. Ebrahim,
South Africa (Business); Bava
Pandalingal, UAE, (Community
service); Dr. Narendra Kumar, US
(Health care); and Subhash Razdan,
US (Public service).
President Pranab Mukherjee with the Pravasi Bharatiya
Samman awardees in Kochi, Kerala
The Durbar Hall of the Bhavan has been
remodeled. It is now open to public.
Diaspora should help build knowledge society: President
Kochi: Applauding the overseas
Indians for serving as a bridge of
friendship and cooperation between
India and their adopted homes abroad,
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said
India was committed to deepen their
connection with India and advance
their interests.
While honoring their achieve-
ments, we will also seek to facilitate
their travel, business and education
and make it easier for them to be a
part of life in India, enjoy due rights
and participate in Indias economic
development, the Prime Minister
said in his address at the PBD Kochi.
Highlighting the recent steps that
the government has taken to boost
domestic and foreign investments in
India, the Prime Minister said India's
strong economic fundamentals,
backed by sound policies, would help
the country return to a higher growth
path. Prime Minister Singh said that
the overseas Indian community should
be a vital partner and participant in
Indias social and economic develop-
ment. Whether you wish to invest or
share your knowledge, technology and
skills, whether your enterprise takes
you to the cities or your compassion
brings you to a remote village, I
assure you of our continuing effort to
support your endeavors, he said. He
also assured that the government was
deeply concerned about the safety and
security of the overseas Indians. When
needed, the Prime Minister said, the
government of India would provide
prompt and necessary assistance.
Apart from physical safety, we
are also concerned with the social and
emotional well-being of our overseas
brethren. We have therefore launched
an insurance scheme for workers,
established welfare funds in our
embassies for distressed Indians, and
created mechanisms to help vulnerable
women abroad, he said.
The prime minister also released a
special postage stamp to celebrate the
centenary of the Gadar Movement.
India committed to interests of overseas Indians: PM
Community
T
he Indian community Down
Under is appalled at the utterly
inhuman gang rape of 23-year-
old Nirbhaya by six monsters on the
night of December 16, among them the
bus driver Ram Singh who takes young
children to school during the day. The
community vented their anger at two
meetings in the Sydney CBD and at
Parramatta Park and expressed their
views in the social and local media that
received widespread TV and newspaper
coverage.
Some members of the community
had experienced first hand drunken and
lout behaviour during their trips back
home. They also cited callousness in
police behaviour, accounts of bribery
and personal episodes of being cheated
and teased while travelling.
There were also unrelated horrific
tales of property disputes and how the
sluggish process of law in India had
connived resulting in misuse of proper-
ty assets belonging to some NRIs who
were left with hefty court costs to boot.
Following are comments by some
prominent members of the community:
2013 will be the
landmark year for
societal reforms
I
visited India in early January, a
week after the death of rape victim
Jyoti Singh Pandey (called
Nirbhaya, Damini or Braveheart by the
Indian media).
The mood in India was grim, with
screaming headlines and saturation cov-
erage in the print media and TV news
channels.
Of course, in India, with its regular
torrent of major news events, new sto-
ries soon began competing for attention.
However, this time, thanks to the mas-
sive reaction of NGOs and the general
public, the Nirbhaya story and the wider
issue of violence against women, will
not disappear for a long time. One
hopes this focus will help bring about
the comprehensive change that is clear-
ly needed.
From the spate of similar attacks
reported in other parts of India recently,
the scale of the problem may be signifi-
cantly higher than previously realised.
Given the size and complexity of Indian
society, turning things around will not
be easy.
As overseas Indians, we need to
recognise that India is arguably the
worlds most complex nation and
resolving its many problems will not
happen in a short time. We must refrain
from passing judgment or suggesting
simplistic solutions. Indias leaders and
its people are as good as any in the
world.
Given the need for significant
change to attitudes and practices across
the country, it will definitely take time
before we see visible signs of improve-
ment.
I believe that 2013 could be the land-
mark year for societal reforms, compa-
rable to the economic reforms of 1991.
The benefits will become visible over
the next decade or two.
In the short term, there will be calls
for vengeance and it does seem that the
criminal trials will be fast tracked.
However, while this will bring a sense
of justice to the victims family and
friends, it is unlikely to have a lasting
impact on the rate of crime.
Strategic and lasting change will take
much longer and will only come if there
is a change in attitude and behaviour
among all men and women across India.
This will only happen through the com-
pulsory teaching of ethics, morals and
civic values at every level from kinder-
garten to postgraduate study.
To end on a positive note, I saw
firsthand the huge positive impact edu-
cation is having on Kerala, Indias most
educated state.
The general courtesy and good
behaviour, the cleanliness and orderli-
ness of Kochi, where I went, compared
favourably with other states. Later, at a
major public hospital in Mumbai, I dis-
covered that most of the nurses were
female and from Kerala. They were
highly professional, efficient, bright and
cheerful. They communicated well and
clearly had a high level of self-confi-
dence.
In turn, they were treated with
respect by the doctors and male staff. I
feel confident that if all children in
India were given the same education,
then social standards, including public
safety, will improve across the country.
Delhi girls gang rape enrages
community Down Under
Community condolence gathering for Nirbhaya in Parramatta Park
Neville Roach, AO, recipient of the
Pravasi Bharatiya Samman and Patron of
the Australia India Institute (UNSW node)
Community
India must act
swiftly and
decisively
V
iolence against women is a
scourge of society and an inter-
national problem. Whether it is
through sexual molestation and rape
(including those undertaken in the name
of war), sex slavery, honour killings,
genital mutilation or female infanticide,
even in this day and age, women con-
tinue to be victims of serious abuse all
over the world. India is not unique in
facing this problem.
What has shocked everyone in this
incident is the fact that India is now seen
as the new Tiger of the Asian Century.
Indians in India or overseas have been
basking in the glory of the new success-
ful India. Indian Diaspora has prided
itself over the fact that India is one of
the ancient civilisations of the world,
the land of Mahatma Gandhi the
greatest proponent of non-violence.
Most of us have seen our mothers in an
equal role in the family, well respected
at home and outside. To most of us who
have not been directly exposed to vio-
lence, this new face of India is a huge
paradigm shift.
This vicious and barbaric event hap-
pened to an exemplary young girl who
was doing all the right things:
a medical student, working hard to
improve the fortunes of her family
- going about a mundane activity
seeing a movie and on her way home
unwittingly becoming a victim on a pub-
lic transport mode ( illegal as it maybe
probably a widely known mode of
transport)
- a crime that took place in the capi-
tal city of India a metropolis that is
becoming the pride and joy of the new
Tiger right under the noses of its citi-
zens and police
the sheer apathy of the passers by
and police who did not come to their
immediate assistance (is this true face of
todays India are we losing are
Insaniyat?)
- statistics published showing a rape
happening in India every 20 minutes
(hard to digest for most)
This could have been anyone so
typical was she of the new youth of
India the youth upon whom India
relies to achieve its global dreams.
This most unfortunate incident has
shocked the nation and the world and I
sincerely hope this young life has not
been lost in vain. India and indeed the
world need to mobilise itself and take
serious actions to end this gender biased
violence.
Zero tolerance through swift justice,
education of legal professionals and
police - particularly first response
teams, education of the general public
through role models and examples is
urgently required.
Democratic India already has all the
laws and resources required to ensure
safety of all its citizens. The problem it
has in application of these laws and the
swift implementation of justice to send a
clear message of zero tolerance.
I hope that India will now act swift-
ly and decisively and prove to the world
that it is indeed a Superpower and a
Leading Light. Let this end game not be
forgotten in the cloud and smoke of
photo opportunities and political
speeches.
We all need to say NO to Violence
against Women in any shape or form
anywhere in the world.
My thoughts and prayers are with
Nirbhayas family at this very difficult
time. The Indian Government needs to
do all it can to support them through
their grief.
May this be the start of the Indian
spring!
Young girls
death should not
go in vain
I
hope that the sad and brutal gang-
rape of the young girl in Delhi will
be a catalyst for much needed
change in India. Such tragedies happen
worldwide, and are not isolated to
India. However, rape of women in India
is a serious problem and is often under-
reported, and this incident highlights
preventative action that needs to be
taken in India such as:
* Amendments to the Indian Penal
Code to increase jail sentences for rape
and gang-rape to send a strong message
to the community that rape and violence
against women is not acceptable. If the
reports that some Indian politicians
were allowed to stand for parliamentary
elections, even though they had sexual
assault charges against them are accu-
rate, it should be questioned whether
they should be in Government, as they
are the lawmakers in India. Each indi-
vidual in India should also question who
they are voting into the Indian
Government.
* Greater resources should be devot-
ed to the Indian legal system such as
increasing the number of judges,
improving the quality of training pro-
vided to judges and improving systems
so that cases are processed faster both at
the High Court and Supreme Court
level.
* To challenge negative mindsets,
mass education campaigns are required
from the home to primary school to uni-
versity to Bollywood movies and the
media about the way a woman should be
treated and better female stereotypes.
These are important tools in creating
awareness in every individual that true
Indian culture and religion teaches
respect for women.
I prepared a petition which was
signed by many people in Australia
which was sent to the Indian
Government via the Consulate General
of Sydney.
Each one of us can contribute to
immediate change needed in India,
whether its by getting involved in lob-
bying or peaceful protests or spreading
the message to the community or by
respecting women.
The young girls death (and other
unreported cases) will not go in vain if
much needed change to mindsets, laws
and systems occurs.
Ours is a society
gone wrong
T
he rape of the unfortunate lady
Jyoti is a tragedy of mammoth
proportions. It has been dis-
cussed across the world and reactions
expressed by writers. The uprising
within masses has been lauded by the
common man on the streets of India and
optimists have already heralded a new
era for India.
For me - the crime is simply the by-
product of a society that can be best
compared to a monolithic structure
based on dated, rotten foundations.
Thousands of crimes like this rape
that have been pushed under the carpet
since centuries is a glaring example of a
society gone wrong.
One simply shudders to contemplate
the number of rapes that have had blind
eye turned to them. Optimistic state-
ments, public rallies, knee-jerk changes
to legal procedures and quick fixes to
the system are futile efforts if not impo-
tent ones.
However, people would argue
against my paradigm, by citing exam-
ples of the changes that are happening in
India as an aftermath of the rape. To
me, these are hollow statements from
self-proclaimed soothsayers.
One needs to look at a simple fact -
an apple with a rotten core cannot be
mended with patches to the decaying
skin. This apple just cannot me
repaired. It needs to be replaced. This is
a task that needs not days, nor months
or years.
This would be a project that will
span generations. India needs to set its
sights on nurturing proper values into
the very grassroots of the country. In a
country where raping women, burning
brides, corruption, thuggery, female
infanticide, and cheating are taken as
part of life, this path of reform will be
extremely arduous and long.
I do concede that the rest of the
world also has a long path to traverse
where the value of gender equality is
concerned. However, in India, the
problem is hundred fold when it is cou-
pled with lack of education and lop-
sided social prejudices.
Indians need to create an uprising
against the very foundation of the social
and political systems. And they need to
do this very fast because the rot is
spreading much quicker than the tempo-
rary fixes.
The political system must change,
the hawkers of law and order must be
replaced, and the education system
needs to start imparting moral values at
every level.
But time is of essence. Otherwise, I
fear that the death of Jyoti will be in
vain. Women are already being blamed
for sexual violence with proposals to
shut down coeducational institutes, for-
bid premarital sex and force girls to
dress modestly. It is truly laughable.
Frankly, India does not need to wake
up each day to hundreds of blaring TV
channels, thousands of multi-million-
aires and countless dreams about being
a world super-power. It needs to wake
up and look closely at itself in the mir-
ror of life.
At this point in time, the reflection
in the mirror, I can assure you, is not
very palatable.
Sumati Advani, President, Sydney Sindhi
Association & Chair, UIA Womens
Steering Committee
Avijit Sarkar, musician, singer, teacher
and director of Natraj Academy of
Performing and Fine Arts
Pallavi Sinha, Lawyer & Chairperson,
Immigrant Womens Speakout
Association
Bollywood
By Neeru Saluja
A
ctor Manoj Bajpai has
always been a film critics
favourite. Known for his
stellar performances and uncon-
ventional roles, Manojs journey
in Bollywood has been worth a
watch. Rejected thrice by the
National School of Drama, he is
now here to stay with a stupen-
dous performance in his recent
film Gangs of Wasseypur.
Manoj Bajpai was recently
nominated for the Best Actor
award for Gangs of Wasseypur
at the Asia Pacific Screen
Awards. It had just been a few
hours since he had landed in
Brisbane when he agreed to have
an interview with The Indian
Down Under. In a candid chat,
Manoj reveals his relationship
with director Anurag Kashyap,
his love for films and his family.
Very few know that Manoj
started his career as dacoit Man
Singh in Bandit Queen. Spotted
by ace director Shekhar Kapur,
he moved to Mumbai but unfortu-
nately was jobless for a few
years. Then he finally got his
break with TV serial
Swabhimaan. In 1997, Mahesh
Bhatt offered him a role in Pooja
Bhatts Tamanna. Then in 1998,
he finally got his big break in
Satya as Bhiku Mhatre, which
won him many awards.
That is when his relationship
with Anurag Kashyap started.
Manojs relationship with him
goes back many years. Anurag
was the writer for his first suc-
cessful film Satya.
TIDU: How has your rela-
tionship with Anurag evolved
since then?
Manoj Bajpai: Satya was my
sixth film; my first film was
Bandit Queen. But Satya gave me
recognition. Anurag wrote the
script for three of my films
Satya, Shool and Kaun. Now he
has given me a cult film in Gangs
of Wasseypur which has been
super successful. Earlier we were
like brothers - senior and junior.
Now our relationship is different.
It has evolved to director and
actor. Now I look up to him, I
admire him and as actor follow
him.
TIDU: Satya was a high in
your career, do you think your
talent was captured?
MB: After Satya I thought life
would be easier but it wasnt
because I couldnt find films I
like. My personality is much
more non-glamorous, non-charis-
matic. We are needed in films
which are story driven. I havent
trained myself for other kind of
roles. I did try my hand at com-
mercial films but failed miser-
ably. I only did them because of a
few relationships in the industry.
For the sake of friendship I went
ahead and tried my hand, but
honestly I never felt comfortable.
Also, in those days the films I
wanted to do were not happening.
A seasoned actor, Manoj
Bajpai has a strong background in
theatre. My journey brought me
from theatre to films. I was so
attached to theatre that I never
wanted to do films. But theatre
did not pay me well, so I had to
take the train to Mumbai.
Director Shekhar Kapur found me
in Delhi. Its been a tough time,
but I have enjoyed it. Overall it
has been a rollercoaster ride. It
has been difficult for me as an
actor.
With Gangs of Wasseypur, it
seems as if Manojs rollercoaster
ride is over. Not only has the film
been appreciated by film critics in
India, but overseas also. It has
been screened at prestigious festi-
vals like Cannes Film Festival
and our very own Sydney Film
Festival.
Cannes was quite an honour
for the entire cast of Gangs of
Wasseypur. We were so proud of
our industry, especially because
people have a set notion about
Bollywood and Gangs of
Wasseypur broke that. People
outside India should know that
Bollywood is not only about song
and dance, said Manoj.
We got an overwhelming
response when the film was
screened at the Sydney Film
Festival. When the screening was
happening, I was getting a
response every hour on my twit-
ter page. It gives you a great feel-
ing when Indian films, which are
completely story driven are being
appreciated by non-Indians. Even
if I dont get the best actor award
at the Asia Pacific Screen
Awards, thats OK as people in
Australia will get a different
genre of cinema, said Manoj.
TIDU: How did you train
yourself to fit into the shoes of
Sardar Khan?
MB: Sardar was one of the
most difficult characters I have
ever played. There was nothing
good about him. Hes a killer, a
robber, a womaniser, not sincere
to his son or wife and has no
integrity. And to make him lov-
able was the biggest challenge!
We kept on working on his char-
acter everyday, with every scene.
The way people reacted to the
character and my performance
gave me immense satisfaction that
I never got before.
TIDU: Be it the role of
Bhikhu Maitre, Swami or
Sardar, Manoj plays each char-
acter to perfection. How do you
do it?
MB: I just go through the
script as much as possible and
keep thinking about the film. The
day I see the character in blood
and flesh I start enjoying it. I
work my look around it and keep
interacting with my director. Im
very choosy. Its so difficult to be
choosy. You are not only saying
no to films, but to money also.
My instinct has to push me to
offer me to do anything.
TIDU: So what attracts you
to a film?
MB: Its always about the
script, the character that people
have never seen before. The
director should also be really
good. I have done a few mistakes
on my career, but besides that I
choose my roles carefully. The
ones chosen with great care are
very close to my heart.
TIDU: Besides your roles,
we have heard that someone
very precious is also ruling your
heart these days.
MB: Ah you are talking about
my daughter! She is one year and
nine months old. Since you
reminded me about her, my heart
actually broke this time while
leaving her behind. When she saw
me with my suitcase, she knew
her daddy was going out for few
days and caught hold of my legs.
TIDU: So how do you main-
tain the home-life balance with
acting?
MB: For an actor its difficult
to balance. We keep on getting
home late and its heartbreaking
when you have to travel. Even
when Im in Mumbai Im either
attending functions or at shoot-
ings. When we have meetings at
home, my daughter barges in!
One has to find time. Recently I
took time off and went for holi-
day in London with my family,
but I honestly hate travelling and
it doesnt get easier when you are
travelling with a child. Its too
much stuff to carry; my daughter
had one full suitcase! With a
beautiful family and a role that
will be memorable for all his life-
time, Manoj seems content with
his life. Are there any dreams that
havent been realised?
I wanted to do Hamlet but
nobody has made it as yet. I
wanted to do Devdas also but
there has already been two ver-
sions. I dont think anyone will
have the guts to do the third one
with me. If given a chance, I
would love to work with
Nassuridin Shah and Shabana
Azmi.
TIDU: Talking about actors,
who are your favourites?
MB: Among my favourite
actresses I would like to mention
my recent co-star Richa Chaddha.
She is a volcano of talent. You
can note down my words she
will be a legend in her lifetime. I
have worked with Tabu also who
has been fantastic. My favourite
directors are Anurag Kashyap,
Debankar Banerjee, Neeraj
Pandey and Anurag Basu.
I still miss theatre, but Im
scared to go back as its a difficult
medium for an actor. Im an actor
and my job is acting so Im in
Mumbai, otherwise I would have
come to your country.
Manoj Bajpai excels as a gangster
With a stupendous performance in Gangs of Wasseypur,
With wife Neha and daughter Ava Nayla.
He finds it hard to balance acting and home life.
Film critics favourite,
Manoj Bajpai has
been nominated for
the Best Actor award
for Gangs of
Wasseypur at the
Asia Pacific Screen
Awards. In an exclu-
sive interview to
TIDU, he says that
he wants the world to
know that Bollywood
is not about song and
dance alone.
His Bhiku Mhatre in Satya brought him lot of attention in
Bollywood, but he was not cut out for commercial films.
Bollywood
By Neeru Saluja
P
allavi has made us proud once again.
The Indian Down Under team has been
following her dream pursuits since
2010 when she came into limelight as Miss
India Australia. This time Pallavi Sharda has
won a double whammy an Australian debut
with Save your Legs and the leading lady
opposite the latest heartthrob Ranbir Kapoor
in Besharam.
Pallavi has trained in Bharatanatyam for
more than 15 years. Once she shifted her base
from Melbourne to Mumbai in 2008, she
acted in several movies including My Name
is Khan, Dus Tola, Love, Breakups Zindagi,
Heroine and the New York based drama
Walkaway. Within a span of a few years, she
has dabbled in all kind of cinema contem-
porary, modern, crossover and commercial.
We got a chance to talk to Pallavi close to
the release of her upcoming film Save your
Legs and just before she had to commence
shooting for Besharam.
You are recently in the news for bag-
ging the lead role opposite Ranbir in
Besharam. So who is the besharam in this
film?
(Laughs) Im playing the role of a typical
Delhi girl in Besharam where I play the lead
role opposite Ranbir Kapoor. We have just
started shooting and its fun - Ranbir is a
thorough gentleman and professional. And
before you ask again, we both are
besharam.
From Melbourne to Mumbai, how
would you define your journey?
I went door knocking when I came to
India. I was always a performing artist, tak-
ing my hobby to a professional life. I grabbed
the small chances, even if it was a play or
small cameo in My Name is Khan. I had to
gain experience, thats what differentiates me
from other actresses. I had whale of an expe-
rience in this journey. Besharam is technical-
ly my seventh film. This will be my first full-
fledged film.
You have entered the mainstream
Australian cinema with your soon to be
released film Save your Legs, a story of a
man who refuses to lose his cricket team to
the realities of growing up. After establish-
ing yourself as an actress in Bollywood,
how was it returning to your Australian
roots?
Save your Legs is first of its kind film.
It is shot in Australia and India, and Im very
proud to be the lead actress in it. Australian
productions are chasing Indian talent. I want
to create a space for Indian arts in mainstream
audience. This is the way forward; this is
what I wrote about in my media degree.
The experience was incredible. I became
a boy after the end of the film. I found a fam-
ily amongst the crew. I was in India but felt
as if I was in Australia. With them I was
breathing home, I could talk to the boys in an
Aussie accent. By the end of the day Im an
Australian.
Do you relate yourself to your charac-
ter Anjali from the film an Indian girl
who embraces western culture?
Of course I relate to Anjali. The way the
director described the character, I felt as if he
took inspiration from my own story - Anjali
coming from Melbourne to Mumbai, spend-
ing her primary years there, then leaving
Australia in her 20s. I left home when I was
21 to discover India. Anjali wanted a bit of
adventure.
Being brought up in Australia, how did
you find it fitting into Bollywood?
It was tough to be honest. Bollywood is a
closed place, if you come from outside its
tough to find a foot in. I come from an aca-
demic family where my parents were profes-
sors in India. Coming from such a back-
ground brings its own cultural boundaries.
Being brought up in Australia gave me my
independence. To be my own person was a
challenge in itself. The role I did now I
thought it should have come two years ago.
Would you consider Melbourne a step-
ping stone for your venture in Mumbai.
Does the city offer enough opportunities
for upcoming talents?
I think Melbourne brings the perfect envi-
ronment for an artist. I learnt music,
Bharatanatyam, all of those basic points in
Melbourne. If you want to go to Bollywood
or Hollywood thats an individual choice. In
Australia you can find the best of arts. You
can explore what you love. You can be many
things at once.
You are not one of those actresses who
just look pretty and cant speak Hindi. You
speak authentic Hindi how do you manage
with an Aussie accent?
I switch accents. If I tell them Im
Australian, they wont even believe it. I knew
I had to be an actress since I was three years
old. I learnt it from childhood. I have a real
understanding of my culture as my parents
are very rooted in the culture. I used to teach
Indian dance and still had many Aussie
friends. If you can identify with both cultures
- thats the key thing.
Very few people know that you started
your career in a small role in My Mame is
Khan. How was it working with Shah Rukh
and even Manoj Bajpai in Dus Tola.
It was very nice to have Shah Rukh Khan
for your first scene. But I didnt have much
time on sets as it was a cameo film. It was the
flavour of Bollywood for me. Manoj was
absolutely amazing. As a newcomer it was
daunting, but he was quite warm. As our first
scene was quite intimate, I was freaking out.
So he sat me down and started talking about
Australia. You wont believe he wouldnt
drink tea till I had my tea! He calls me gam-
bir. I can turn to him for advice whenever I
want.
You were also the lead actress of the
international musical Taj Express. What do
you love the most acting or dancing?
Taj express was the best medium for me
as it had theatre, acting, singing. I love being
on the stage. Its the medium I grew up on. It
gave me a taste of theatre of life Taj
Express did Singapore and Mumbai tour.
Who do you consider as your role
model?
My parents, specially my mother. They
came out of their comfort zone when they
migrated from India to Australia. They really
succeeded in their work and home lives, and
now I have done the same, but reversed it. As
my mum went searching in Perth for a basic
ingredient like garam masala, I wanted to find
things for myself when I landed in Mumbai.
My parents have been inspirational and they
have supported me since I was a kid.
How would you like to make
Australian-Indian ties stronger as a cultur-
al ambassador?
In October, I was nominated as the Oz
Fest Ambassador in India. This is an indica-
tion about my dual heritage. I really support-
ed this cultural festival which comprised arts,
sports, entertainment. It was a proud moment
for me as its symbolic.
Any message to your fans and friends
based here?
I feel close to the Indian community in
Melbourne. I love to meet my aunties and
uncles who would encourage me to dance and
asked me to go to Bollywood. I want to make
them proud when they go to Hoyts Cinema to
watch my movie. Continue to love me and
always be there to support me.
How would you describe Pallavi an
Aussie girl or an aamchi Mumbai girl?
Im just an Aussie girl living in Mumbai.
I love to cook, love to drive my own car and
get rid of the driver! People get shocked by
me sometimes but its nice to be different. Its
nice to know you have support on your
upbringing. I like to be independent. Im still
an outsider in India. Im very grateful for my
upbringing.
What do you have planned for yourself
in the future?
My next collaboration will be a dance col-
laboration with Australian musicians. I would
like to be a producer of Indian arts in
Australia. Thats how I would like to give
back whatever Australia has given me.
Dual roles for
Pallavi Sharda
Aussie girl trying her luck in
Bollywood. An actress who has
worked in both Indian and
Australian productions. Now
she has got her big break in
Besharam opposite
Ranbir Kapoor.
Pallavi has landed the lead role in Besharam opposite
Ranbir Kapoor who plays a tapori
With Manoj Bajpai in Dus Tola.
Pallavi Sharda had a cameo role in My
Name is Khan.
Tribute
By K. Raman
D
uring the sixties and sev-
enties the maestro Pt
Ravi Shankar and his
exquisite sitar rendition was the
talk of music loving public all
over the world. Unlike conven-
tional Indian music greats, he was
a flamboyant, charismatic and a
well liked personality among clas-
sical artists and patrons. Everyone
joined his bandwagon and he
became the tallest of all classical
stalwarts.
Ravi Shankar as a youth
excelled in traditional and classi-
cal music, as well as music of
cross-cultural collaboration and
jugalbandi that he pioneered.
While he came from Hindustani
classical music stream, he also
appreciated Carnatic music and
incorporated its style in his fusion
music.
Ravi Shankars Beenkar
Gharana is deep rooted in the
annals of Indian classical music
and it comes from Dhrupad style.
He is basically a stickler to the
traditional classical norm, though
people tried to brand him other-
wise. His sister-in-law Lakshmi
Shankar says of him: Even when
he plays a Thumri or a gat, he
sticks to classicism; even though
in Thumri you are allowed to flirt
a bit, stray from the Ragas note
slightly to add colour to the ren-
dering.
He was the target of criticism
from media and listening public
from 1966 onwards for a period
of time when his detractors said
that he was playing Guitar not
Sitar. They claimed the hippie
movement, and the Beatles influ-
ence as the prime reason to wreck
the traditional Hindustani music.
His supporters countered that
a highly creative mind like Ravi
Shankar (RS) cannot remain stat-
ic. If you had heard RS musical
collaborations with Yehudi
Menuhin and Zubin Mehta, the
Cassandras stand nowhere.
RS answer to the adverse
comments was, Yes, I did some
format to basically attract audi-
ences to our traditional music. If
he had stuck to the hardcore norm
of one hour aalap, jod and Jhala,
it would have detered the western
audience possessing a limited
knowledge of Indian music. To
educate the western music lovers
he gave endless lecture demon-
strations at almost all US univer-
sities. Named after poet laureate
Rabindranath Tagore, he was
born Robindro Shankor
Choudhury, on April 7, 1920, in
the holy city of Varanasi. His
father, barrister Shyam Shankar,
left his first wife and children,
married a second time to
Hemangiri Devi and moved over
to London. He left his first wife
and family at Varanasi.
Ravi Shankar did not see his
father till he reached the age of
four. His brother, dancer Uday
Shankar, who toured extensively
in western countries, was a highly
successful entrepreneur who took
Ravi Shankar along everywhere.
When Ravi Shankar turned 18, he
left dancing and decided to learn
sitar. He was accepted by Ustad
Allauddin Khan whose son of the
same age as Ravi Shankar was the
great Sarod Maestro Ali Akbar
Khan. He did his Gurukula
vasam till 1944.
The training he received from
his guru was tough and intense.
He learned the theory behind clas-
sical music, learning to play side
by side Sitar and Surbahar. He
showed rare dedication and grit in
his keen pursuit of learning
music, his Riaz sometimes going
on for 14 hours a day.
His sister-in-law said, I had
seen blood coming out of his fin-
gers. Baba Guruji would ask him
to play something and RS would
achieve it in the shortest possible
time imaginable.
Ravi Shankar also learned
Rudra Veena, Rubab and
Sursingar, all difficult instruments
to master. Between 1949 and
1956 he worked as the Music
Director of All India Radio,
Delhi. In 1956 he left this job to
go on music tours in the company
of Yehudi Menuhin and Pandit
Chaturlal. The close association
between RS and table genius
Ustad Allah Rakha was estab-
lished in 1962. RS scored music
for Satyajit Rays Apu Sansar.
Ravi Shankar was a romantic
and married his Guru Allaudin
Khans daughter, Annapoorna
Devi, in 1941 and his son
Shubendra Shankar was born out
of this wedlock. He got separated
from her and formed a relation-
ship with a dancer, Kamala Sastri.
Apart from that he also had an
affair with Sue Jones, and to them
a daughter named Norah Jones
was born in 1979. She is a top
rated singer in western musical
world and has so far won eight
Grammys. She was never close to
her father.
In 1981, he got separated from
Kamala. Between 1981 and 86, he
lived with Sue. In 1989 he mar-
ried Sukanya Rajan, a long stand-
ing acquaintance. Their daughter
is the attractive and brilliant
sitarist Anoushka Shankar.
As a sitarist, RS began his
extensive tour of western coun-
tries from 1960 onwards. His suc-
cess was not meteoric but came
gradually as he collaborated with
Yehudi Menuhin, the Beatles,
Allah Rakha, Zubin Mehta and
musical greats of their ilk. In
1980 his highly successful album
Raga Mala in collaboration with
Zubin Mehta came out with
resounding success.
Listening to the most charis-
matic and gifted RS is a spiritual-
ly uplifting experience. The lilting
Sitar strains which create unbe-
lievable sensitive Raga exposition
take us to a blissful state. As a
teacher he was dedicated, loving
mentor with a treasure house of
knowledge.
Among the countless awards
Panditji received: Bharat Ratna
(Indias highest civilian award) ,
15 honorary doctorates, Ramon
Magsaysay Award, two
Grammys, Fukuoka Grand Prize,
Silver Bear award, Sangeet Natak
Academy award, Kalidas
Samman, and OBE/2001. Be it at
the Royal Albert Hall, Madras
Music Academy or Woodstock
and Monterey festival, he was
mobbed and cheered. A great son
of India, we were lucky to be
sharing the world with him.
Music is the language of gods and
its practitioners are very special
people. Maybe a few among them
become part of its divine stature.
Panditji is no more. The melo-
dious strings of his Sitar have
ceased playing. He was an amaz-
ing man, amazing artist, amazing-
ly skilful creative genius, and he
lived his life amazingly. .
The sitar
maestro did
some tweak-
ing to attract
western audi-
ences to
Indian classi-
cal music. His
collaborations
withYehudi
Menuhin, the
Beatles and
Zubin Mehta
brought him
world renown.
The author on stage with Ravi Shankar performing and Allah Rakha
accompanying on the tabla.
Ravi Shankar in a rare moment seen with both her daughters, Anoushka Shankar and
Norah Jones, both now famous in the music world in their own right.
Community
By Neena Badhwar
C
ometh the New Year, and
with it, fresh aspirations.
Especially for students, a
milestone is reached and another
awaits. There is a new beginning.
The Higher School Certificate,
or Year 12, is an important land-
mark in anyones life. The chal-
lenge is not only in reaching the
destination but also in the process.
As one plunges into the long jour-
ney of over two years duration in
preparation, the whole machinery
comes into action - the support of
school, teachers, peers, buddies,
friends and family. The process
transforms the student into a self-
confident, mature self who is
ready to take on the world. For
every student, HSC is the founda-
tion stone of their life, career and
the path of life it carves for the
future. If the experience is good, it
leaves with it fond memories, life-
long friendship and bonds that stay
for life.
HSC is not merely an academ-
ic achievement; it determines what
you are as a whole. It tests ones
nerves, will to discipline, curiosity
to discover, interest in studies,
ability to keep balance between
study and life, handle stress and
above all, learning. HSC students
learn a whole lot more from the
social network, see the importance
of family, school, friends and soci-
ety in general. HSC years are an
opportunity for an overall develop-
ment as a mature, self-confident
adult who can decide about their
careers and follow their dreams.
As in the past 26 years, The
Indian Down Under (TIDU) fol-
lows its tradition to get in touch
with some of the high achievers
who have made themselves, their
family, their school and their com-
munity proud, and also to share
their experiences that can benefit
the next generation of students.
Ritika Trilochan Singh Shikh
from Blacktown meets TIDU at
the award ceremony in December,
before the HSC results are
announced. There are around 100
students who have topped in NSW
in a subject. Ritika, although a
Punjabi, has topped in 2-Unit
Hindi continuers. She came from
India in 2009 and knew that her
Hindi would come in handy.
Ritika achieved an ATAR of
94.55. She says, I did not want to
forget India and wanted to keep in
touch with Hindi and my culture.
It has really helped me to achieve
a high ATAR and I am more than
satisfied with my results. Study
here is so much different than it is
in India. There was a lot of cram-
ming near the exams there while
here you apply yourself.
I left my text books about a
month and a half before the exams
and started to do lots and lots of
past papers. Even in Hindi our
teacher Rekha Rajvanshi made us
write past Hindi papers in a strict
exam situation and marked papers
that helped us look at our strengths
and weaknesses.
Maths and Hindi were my
most favourite subjects, says
Ritika, now delighted that students
all over Australia will be offered
Hindi as a subject from year 7 to
year 12.
Ritika has opted for
Actuaries/Accounting at UWS.
Millie Garg of North Sydney
Girls High School achieved a near
perfect ATAR of 99.85 by consis-
tently working hard. No cram-
ming, no staying up late as Millie
achieved her goal through keeping
a balanced routine as opposed to
roller coaster ride of an HSC.
She says, There was stressful
period of straight eight days of
block exams, yet I tried to stay
focused. It was mentally and phys-
ically draining, adding, I tried
to relax playing Euphonium (a
brass musical instrument) as part
of the school band. Playing with
other people was quite relaxing.
If music gave me the much
needed break, so did Maths which
kept me going and gave me the
opportunity to think outside the
box, she says.
Millies 99 in Maths Ext 1 and
97 in Maths Ext 2, 95 in
Chemistry, 93 in Physics, 91 in
English advanced, 46 out of 50 in
English Ext and 92 in Information
Processing & Technology is
truly an enviable achievement.
Millie says, I love learning
and enjoyed every subject. I went
to school wanting to learn and gain
as much knowledge as possible. I
had amazing teachers, especially
my Maths teacher who was excep-
tional.
Millie was Prefect of the
school and also was offered place
at National Maths Summer School
Competition. She plans to study
medicine. Bhavya Nanda achieved
a high rank of 99.75 as a student of
Cherrybrook Technology High.
She has opted to study combined
Acturial Studies/Economics
Degree at UNSW.
My favorite subject was not
just one as I enjoyed Economics,
Maths & Chemistry.
I was always organized, and
prepared early by breaking the
tasks into smaller tasks and spread-
ing them evenly. Last minute
cramming can make you miss
details. For me having a plan set
out in an organized manner and
then following that set timetable
helped. It was an actual physical
sheet on the wall in my room pri-
oritizing activities, exams, assign-
ments and a balanced lifestyle
combined with study and adequate
social life and leisure activities
reminding of the goals I had set for
myself.
I played Cricket and Rugby
with friends who became an
important part of my life and my
support structure.
I think HSC is the best time
of the school period, says
Bhavya.
Puneet Kaur Sandhu achieved
an ATAR 99.35.
HSC was a journey that I
thoroughly enjoyed, doing subjects
that I was most interested in, keep-
ing a calm demeanor, not too
much stress, and not overly
relaxed. Just right. I did not give
up any extracurricular activities,
was the Prefect at school and
worked for Amnesty International.
There were stressful moments
before when we organized an
event but since it was team work
we shared our responsibilities and
made sure that studies were not
being overlooked. Peers and bud-
dies were a great help and they
made me feel better, Puneet says.
At the time of interview Puneet
was still deliberating between tak-
ing up Law or Medicine, as both,
she thought, would give her the
opportunity for challenges in life.
Having studied from James
Ruse Agricultural High School,
Puneet says, The school and the
student culture is such there that
everyone pushes each other, thus
making a very conducive environ-
ment for learning. Teachers, while
not pressurising too much, give us
a lot of work, exercises providing
options for extra challenge.
Puneet is quite enamoured with
the way she attempted Hindi as 2-
Unit accelerated subject. She loved
studying from Sunday School
which gave her a pre training into
attempting an HSC subject in an
informal manner working and
studying under Hindi teachers who
were like aunties. Puneets family
is thrilled by her achievement.
They supported and encouraged
her, including her Nana-Nani who
live close by.
Megh Mankad is quite satisfied
with his 99.6 ATAR. He is also
someone who did not want to
stress himself or the family and
evenly spread out his work all
through out the year, organized
and tried to be on top of things.
There were anxious
moments, like before the exams or
trials. There is bound to be stress
but I always did the best I could
and then moved forward. Break
for me was equally important as
much as study. I played sport,
exercised and participated in a lot
of activities with the Duke of
Edinburgh Program which, over a
period of 18 months, makes you
do a range of activities, sport,
Balanced lifestyle a key to success in HSC
Bhavya Nanda
Ritika Trilochan Shikh with mum at the First in state ceremony
Puneet Sandhu with brother Jagdeep,
mum Tejwinder and dad Jaswinder
Megh Mankad with dad Harshendu, mum Asmita and younger
brother Yash
Millie Garg with dad Satish
Community
community service, hiking etc.
Once we did a 50 km hike from
Hornsby to Brooklyn over four
days, camping along the way,
which was good. I would have
been lot more stressful but for it
and recommend it to anyone to get
the mind off from studies, he
says.
Megh liked studying for
French which was his favorite sub-
ject and went to France for three
weeks in year 11, staying with host
families in Paris while learning
about life and culture there. He
came 4th in Business Studies in the
State.
Meghs family, he says, did
not expect him to get above 99 and
were pleasantly surprised. He
wants to take up Eco/Law at uni-
versity and perhaps aspires to
become a diplomat or take up an
international relations career.
Nishtha Kaushik scored an
ATAR of 99.05 as a student of
North Sydney Girls High School.
She has been offered medicine at
UNSW.
I always wanted to be in
Health Science. Being a doctor is a
very noble profession, something
that helps make a difference in
peoples lives.
For my HSC I had prepared
well, doing work all year round.
There was more work as assess-
ments are worth more and more as
we move further up. But keeping a
well rounded, balanced lifestyle
helped. I had music as a subject
which was different from others
and gave me my much needed
break. I also did a lot of lap swim-
ming and yoga which was quite
helpful.
Sitting on desk for ten hours
straight studying is not the way as
you just cannot focus for that long.
And you shouldnt feel guilty
about taking breaks.
I must say I had very good
teachers who helped us all a lot
and friends who collaborated
together in a culture of helping
each other out through study
groups, passing essays around and
critically appraising each others
work that we have ended up to be
friends for life through the HSC
experience.
And family, of course. They
are very happy as medicine was
my goal and I got into that, says
proud Nishtha.
To students who are going to
do HSC this year, says Nishtha,
Pick subjects you have natural
aptitude for; get as much help as
you need; stay on top of things and
prepare early.
Nikhil Kankarla got an ATAR
of 99.55 and has got into
Engineering/Commerce combined
degree at UNSW. From
Cherrybrook Technology High
School, Nikhil says, School was
great and so were the teachers. I
miss my friends the most. We
became very close and tighter and
tighter as we progressed spending
lunchtime and breaks together.
I always gave equal attention
to all my subjects but Maths was
my favourite. Though I did sur-
prisingly well in English and
Business Studies. For Maths I did
a lot of past papers which are on
forums such as BORED and Board
of Studies website. One can find
many resources and notes too,
says Nikhil.
And for breaks, Nikhil loved
playing cricket with friends. The
family never put pressure as they
saw that Nikhil was studying and
putting in a lot of effort.
There was pressure before the
exams but I didnt have a real goal
of achieving high. I knew I needed
just enough to get into the course I
wanted as cut off for Mechanical
Engineering is not that high. I got
an ATAR much more than I
expected with Business studies
subject in which I ranked 9th in the
State, getting a mark of 97,
Nikhil says.
Outside the Indian high achiev-
ers, Paula Narissa Thomsen is a
pretty young girl of mixed Thai
and Aussie background. She
topped in Textile and Design sub-
ject in which she got a perfect
mark of 100. It was Paulas beau-
tiful dress she made, inspired by
the intricate designs painted on
Ukranian Easter Eggs that got her
the top spot. She improvised the
designs and replicated them
through hand and machine embroi-
dery, appliqu, silk embroidery as
she keenly worked for close to 800
hours just doing the work on her
dress by herself.
Designing and working on the
dress gave me a break from sub-
jects like 3-Unit Maths, Biology,
Chemistry and Advance English.
HSC was quite stressful,
attending to the exams over and
over. Me and my friends spent a
lot of time at the city library help-
ing each other out. Things that I
could not ask at school from my
teachers, I could ask my friends.
But Textile design has been my
most favourite subject since year
7. Whenever I went to Thailand I
saw how hard the Thai artisans
worked on silks with fine hand
embroidery and they always
inspired me, says beaming Paula.
Paulas mum Lada runs a pop-
ular Thai eatery in Newtown.
Though Paula is good in textile
design her mums Thai dishes have
lots of fans including The Indian
Down Under. Paula also loves
mums food and has tried her hand
at sticky rice and a soup made
from chestnuts and jackfruit. Im
not as good in cooking as mum
is, says Paula, But she could not
help me much in my embroidery
and I love sewing whereas she
doesnt. Paula plans to study
Fashion Design at UTS.
Indian high achievers are
always complimented by their
commitment and focus during
HSC. They traverse this important
milestone with family, school,
teachers, peers and friends helping
out along the way. They are the
best and an inspiring young lot.
They instill confidence in all the
society that the world and its
future can rest on such bright, hard
working and focused youth who
would make it a better place to
live.
Nishtha Kaushik Nikhil Kankarla
Paula with mum Lada
Paula with the dress she designed, embroidered and stitched that
got her the top spot in Textile Design.
Paulas embroidery work inspired by
Ukranian Easter eggs.
By Ritu Ghai
T
he year was legendary. Vaishali,
the princely state of ancient India,
was excited about the first appear-
ance of its court dancer, Amrapali. The
news of her exquisite beauty had trav-
elled far and wide. As she arrived in
front of public, people were awestruck
by her resplendent beauty. Her skin
glowed like a lotus flower. Dressed from
head to toe in a heavenly attire, bathed in
perfumed water, kohl lined eyes, red
lips, dazzling smile, precious jewellery
she was beauty unrivalled.
The reason behind her innate charm
was the magical beauty ritual she had fol-
lowed. Amrapali had gone through the 16
beautifying rituals called Solah Shringar,
so customary for women in earlier times.
Solah means sixteen and Shringar
means makeup or adornments. It means
sixteen basic steps of beautification of a
woman from head to toe. These include
bath, clothes, necklace, tilak, kohl, ear-
rings, nose ring, hair style, bodice,
anklet, bangles, mahavar (red coloured
preparation from lac for the feet of all
married women), nail polish, betel leaves
and hand mirror.
Although Amrapali has long gone into
oblivion and times have changed consid-
erably but the rituals have lived on.
Despite the modernization of the society,
people still attach a lot of importance to
traditions, especially during marriages.
And to follow beauty rituals is a must for
almost every bride-to-be.
Celebrating the divinity of the female
form, Ritu Ghai takes you through the
miracle of sixteen shringars that help a
would-be bride acquire a celestial allure
as she makes her transition into woman-
hood.
Solah Shringar starts with the divine
bath of the bride. The body is anointed
with oils or unguents before the bath. Oil
is obtained from various flowers, sesame
leaves, saffron, cinnamon, myrrh, musk
and lotus. This is followed by the appli-
cation of paste (alepa) to the face and
body to impart a certain glow to the skin.
The bath water is perfumed with the fra-
grance of bath powder (snanaksaya).
Legend says that saffron, milk, camphor
and aromatic herbs were used to perfume
the water.
This royal bath is an important ritual
of the solah shringar.
The Hair locks are then decorated
with half blossomed buds of jasmine
flowers. Earrings of newly blossomed
kadamba flower bedeck the ears.
Indian society has tremendous belief
in the magical properties of colours and
herbs. Yellow turmeric and red kumkum
are a must for every bride-to-be. Vatna,
uptah and haldi ceremonies are popular
rituals during marriage celebrations.
Friends and relatives gather a day or two
before marriage. Traditional songs are
sung as the bride has haldi (turmeric)
applied to her body amidst gaiety and
laughter. Beauty parlours and herbal
baths may have reduced this tradition to
only a token ceremony but the rationale
behind it remains the same to look radi-
ant on the day.
In the state of Punjab, the bride-to-be
remains in old clothes for a few days
prior to her wedding. She sits in front of
four diyas lit before her. The belief is
Fashion & Beauty
Indian society has tremendous belief in the magical properties of colours and herbs. Yellow turmeric and red kumkum are a must
for every bride-to-be. Vatna, uptah and haldi ceremonies are popular rituals during marriage celebrations.
16 steps to
Beauty
Solah Shringar
Fashion & Beauty
that the glow will be reflected on her
face. This is popularly called maaiyan pe
gayen. On the day of the marriage, she
has a bath and wears red silk garments.
Altah (lac dye) is applied to her feet.
The special treatment of the feet
involves dipping them in warm milk
mixed with rose water and aromatic oils.
The feet are then exfoliated with sugar
and lime solution to remove dead skin
massaged with almond cream and embel-
lished with anklets and mehndi.
Eyes are graced with kohl. If you
light a lamp with castor oil and small cot-
ton wicks you can collect a layer of soot
on a wooden spatula or inside an invert-
ed coconut shell. Once you collect the
soot, mix it with castor oil or pure ghee
and you can have home-made kohl. It
helps protect the eyes from the glare of
sun and elders say that it wards off the
evil eye.
Lips are reddened with betel leaves.
The hands and feet are covered with
intricate mehndi designs made from
henna. The red color is considered to be
auspicious and signifies the essence of
love. Today, Henna parties for the
bride are one of the most popular pre-
wedding rituals.
The bride is embellished with bindi,
tikka, bangles, rings and mangalsutra
all symbolic of her marital status.
The ring is the most important as it
seals the ceremony. Its circular shape is
symbolic of endless love and the girl
wears it on the fourth finger of her left
hand. Belief has it that the nerve from
here leads to the heart.
The Mang-Tikka, generally made of
Gold, silver and precious stones is worn
in the center parting of the hair and it
comes till forehead. The allure of the
bride is highlighted by this ornament.
The nose pin is a must. Before pierc-
ing her nose, the bride prays to the
Goddess to grant her husband long life,
eternal health and prosperity.
Scientifically it wards off nasal infections
and makes her olfactory senses stronger.
Necklaces and chains in Gold and
precious stones are worn by the bride to
enhance her appearance. Among them
the most sacred is the necklace made of
black threads with beads strung on it
called mangalsutra, extremely important
for a married woman as it signifies a
promise, a vow.
Bangles are a must for all Indian
brides of every region - Right from the
ponchis of Rajasthan to the elephant
bracelet (thick bracelet with elephant
head design at the two ends) of Bengali
brides and the chudas of Punjab. They
may be made of iron, ivory, green or red
glass, ceramic, gold, and other metals
depending upon the custom. The beauty
and tinkling sound of the bangles are an
auspicious symbol of married life. Sikh
and Punjabi brides add Kaleeras to the
bangle set. It is said a new bride should
not cook and clean in the husbands
house when she first moves in, that is
why she has all the bangles and kaliras
on.
Bindi (red vermillion dot applied on
the forehead) has a prominent position
and role. The place where it is adorned is
called agyachakra and stands for preser-
vation. Every new bride, as she enters
her husbands home, brings good luck
and is the preserver of the new order.
Sindoor (vermillion), a red colored
powder, applied on the center parting of
a bride hair, is a sacred symbol of mar-
ried woman.
The list is endless from the tikka
(jewelled version of the bindi) to the bic-
chwas (toe rings), anklets, kamarband,
armlets or baajubands the Indian Bride
dazzles with all these adornments.
But times have changed and things
have come in easy-to-use packages. The
rituals are still followed but in a new
way, yet the essence remains the same.
Aroma oils and herbal treatment are still
very much the focus of brides today.
Only that its easier to buy them over the
counter with so many beauty experts and
companies launching their products that
promise them the essential something of
yesteryears.
Traditional remedies were very basic
but highly effective. People back then
didn't have the time or education to
invest in niche products but still their
skins were healthy and had a glow.
While doing the housework they would
apply whatever they found readily in the
kitchen or in the space around their hous-
es like saffron, gram flour, neem, fresh
vegetables and fruits etc, says Divita
Kanoria, the name behind the brand,
Tathaastu, wellness products that help
in maintaining good health and stimulate
bodys natural abilities. She tells us how
Tatha products have maintained their
roots in the ancient system by including
Neem, aloe and almonds in face washes,
Almonds in face scrubs, Turmeric in face
cream and body scrubs, Saffron in face
creams and body scrubs, mixture of var-
ious spices for foot and hair mask and
fresh fruit and vegetables for the facials.
The packaged products do keep the
modern day needs and lifestyle in mind,
concludes this Delhi-based entrepreneur.
Thus you see how the interplay of
these age-old 16 rituals can make every
bride-to-be look like a Princess about to
wed her Prince charming.
The hands and feet are covered with intricate mehndi designs made from henna. The red color is considered to be auspicious and
signifies the essence of love.
The nose pin is a must. Before piercing her nose, the bride prays to the Goddess to grant her husband long life, eternal health and
prosperity. Scientifically it wards off nasal infections and makes her olfactory senses stronger.
Bollywood
C
ar rolls onto 'dhadkati',
pulsating roads of the max-
imum city, Mumbai. Not
blinking...on my way to
Boskiyana, where he, Gulzar,
lives, breathes, reads, writes, cre-
ates!
Meeting Gulzar would be as
easy as breathing I have known
him, read him, heard him, felt him
since my teen years, but on my
way to Boskiyana on this
November 22, 2012, my breathing
quickens, my hearts beats faster
I feel alive.
11:30 am, the moment, the
'lamha' touches me I bend and
touch his feet and collect it, pos-
sess it, possessed by it.... eternal-
ly.
I tell him about what I said to
Vikram ji 'Maroongi nahin jab
tak Gulzar saab se na mil loon'.
He smiles, 'Ab to aapko jeena
padega'.
Oh and we both share prefer-
ence for chai over other hot or cold
beverages! So over that one divine
cup of chai, for 90 minutes or so,
in his library, we talk about life...
Here is the essence of guftagoo
with Gulzar the creator of the
most poignant lyrics in Hindustani
poetry, whose every lafz, every
expression, pulsates with life... of
life's pains and ecstasies
moments pregnant with past that
one wants to relive, of nostalgia,
of that fluent conversance with the
body, mind and soul of the
beloved... pregnant with the entire
time.
Gulzar is perhaps the only con-
duit between literature and cinema
bringing that beautiful sense of
poetic aesthetics to enrich ordinary
cinematic moments impregnating
them with flesh and blood and
bones and layers of life unlike
any of his contemporaries.
The conversation starts with
'congratulations' to him on getting
the National Integration Award
he speaks passionately about how,
for a number of years, he has been
writing about communal harmony
in poems, short stories, in films
and now theatre.
I mention about Akbar's Din-e-
Ilahi, a syncretic religion, and
without us realising, the conversa-
tion has taken a beautiful turn
towards Urdu, a language closest
to Gulzar's heart (he writes in
Urdu). And the fervour with which
he talks about Urdu, we can spend
hours talking about it. But then he
is equally passionate about trans-
lating Tagore into Hindi. His table
sits under great weight of Tagore.
Dozens of Tagore's books wait for
Gulzar's 'saans', to come alive in
Hindi.
The night before, as I prepared
for the interview I wondered
what could one ask Gulzar.
Questions about life that we con-
template about? After all he has
been a witness to my life... he has
known me, heard me, read me, felt
me through his poems, nazms,
songs...he has sculpted me, he is
my Gulzar.
So we talk about 'zindagi ke
dard'. 'Dard' has a very positive
connotation in his writing. Kya
zindagi me dard achche hote hain?
Kya kashish hai dard me? I ask. He
answers with a question kya
aapne mohhabat ki hai?
Mohhabat jaisi khoobsurat cheez
me bhi dard to hai na? Pleasure,
ecstasy in itself is a kind of pain.
Iski shaklen badalati rahti hain,
iski soorat badalati rahti hain.
Aapki saari upaj us dard se hoti
hai...
And what about pain of separa-
tion, Usme bhi to pleasure hai ek
tarah ka, I say. Endearingly but
with a hint of pain in his voice, he
says Hai to sahi...hai to sahi...aur
wo zindagi ka dard hai.
'Aur wo zindagi ka dard hai'
resonates with me Zindagi ke
dard 'jinhe gale lagaane se, jinko
sambhalane se' our lives are
enriched.
The library, where we sit, is
throbbing with a vibe... do I only
feel or does he sense it too? I am in
the presence of this celestial
moment, a 'pilpila' lamha (as
Gulzar later refers to, when recit-
ing a nazm, fresh from his diary).
It's surreal, but feels more real
than reality itself as he reminisces
about legends Bimal Roy and
Shailendra when answering 'how
an artist's personality and personal
experiences are reflected in their
work?' He explains in an uncom-
plicated way how the layers of
relationships lie outside the rela-
tions also. Apke rishton ki tahen
aapke charon taraf bikhri hui
hain. Agar maine talaaq nahin
diya biwi ko, to meri behan ko jo
talaaq de ke chala gaya, kya wo
mehsoos nahin hua mujhe. To koi
jaroori nahin ki aap ye kahen ki
saahab aapne talaaq par kaise
likh liya, aapne to talaaq diya hi
nahin biwi ko.
To be vulnerable, to be emo-
tional, to make mistakes, where do
you keep it all? My fingers are
crossed. Despite his disclaimer
aisa nahin hai ki jo main bol
raha hoon, wo main sab jaanta hi
hoon...aur sab sahi hai, I know
his view will be pivotal. Making
mistakes... it's one of the quali-
ties, which comes in the process
of making you what you are.
Aapki banaawat ka hissa hai. Wo
zaroori hai, wo breathing ke liye
zaroori hai...so why do you want
to be perfect and make life bor-
ing? I can breathe now.
We talk about Redemption
can we adopt individualistic view,
focus on self-liberation and still
achieve salvation. As an individ-
ual, how do we interface with the
society, the world around us? Is
our 'mukti' only possible collec-
tively, with others?
The intensity, emotion is palpa-
ble in the room as Gulzar inter-
prets his 'Labon se choom lo,
ankhon se thaam lo mujhko, tumhi
se janmoo to shayad mujhe panaah
mile'. His voice cracks with emo-
tion koi emotion ek tarah se
kabhi nahin rah sakti, chahe wo
mohhabat hi kyon na ho, chahe
wo mamta hi kyon na ho. Every
emotion evolves itself into next
emotion... It's like your beloved is
sometimes like a mother to you,
and sometimes like a child...kya
bachpana karte hain, pyar bhi
karte hain aap, ansoo bhi ponchh
dete hain, naak bhi ponchh dete
hain...like a child....and there are
times when you just put your head
into her lap and hold her and
...kaash main tumse paida hua
hota....so it's an experience of
that total surrender, total giving
in to your love.
Speechless. But I have a book
full of questions. What goes
behind these delectable
metaphors...'namak ishq ka', 'mit-
ti se lepa hua aasman', 'umar se
lambi sadken'?
..these are not coined. Kahin
na kahin aapko koi image aati
hai. Usko pakadne wali baat
hai...mere andar Shailja to nahin
hai, par main Shailja ko mehsoos
to kar sakta hoon, ye to dekh
sakta hoon ki wo kaise mehsoos
karti hai...now...for example
'laaga namak ishq ka'...namak ki
feeling kya hoti hai....ik pheeki si
zindagi me swaad aa gaya... so
what could be a better expression
than namak... arre is zindagi ko
namak lag gaya ishq ka! Swaad
aa gaya.
Meeting Gulzar has added a
new taste to my life, Zindagi
kucchh namkeen si ho gayai
Gulzar se milke...
Listen to the complete conver-
sation on YouTube:
YouTube keywords 'Gulzar',
'Shailja Chandra', 'Voice of
India'.
(Gulzar is an acclaimed
Indian poet, lyricist and director
known for lyrics in movies such as
Bandini, Khamoshi, Aandhi,
Mausam, Khushboo, Maachis,
Ghar, Gharonda, Golmaal,
Masoom, Ijaazat, Maya
Memsaab, Rudali, Lekin.., Dil
Se, Satya, Saathiya to Guru,
Slumdog Millionaire, Omkara,
Paheli, Bunty aur Bubli,
Kaminey, Raavan, and most
recently Jab Tak Hai Jaan and
Matru ki Bijli ka Mandola. His
collection of nazms include:
Pukhraj, Raat Pashmine ki, Yaar
Julaahe, Selected Poems,
Neglected Poems, Triveni and
many more.)
When time stood still...
Sydney based radio personality Shailja Chandra in India.
Shailja Chandra interviewing poet, lyricist and film director Gulzar in his study in his Mumbai home.
My moments with Gulzar
Shailja Chandra, host of radio program Voice of India
- Monika Geetmala (FM89.7, Sundays 10 am 3 pm)
reminisces about her meeting with her idol Gulzar at his residence in Mumbai.
Bollywood
F
rom Aao twist karein with its very obvious resem-
blance to Come on lets twist again, to many other old
favorites which were absolutely superb were actual
copies of the tunes lifted from music from other parts of the
world. Especially during the 50s and 60s. We had excep-
tional singers, lyricists, music directors though at times they
needed their inspiration too when they looked afar beyond
India for inspiration for tunes and ideas! The songs were
often derived, in small part or large, from a wide range of
sources: folk music, classical ragas, Western music, even
the rhythmic hoof beats of a cantering horse. Sometimes the
inspiration wasnt too obvious, or the end result was such a
change from the original, it was hard not to give credit to
the music director. Other songs were shameless lifts from
originals.
Here are some that may interest our readers:
1. Itna na mujhse tu pyaar badha (Chhaya, 1961;
composer: Salil Chowdhury; original: Mozarts 40th
Symphony): Salil Chowdhurys song begins very differently
from the well-known classical piece by Mozart, but soon
turns into a fairly faithful rendition of the original. He does
revert to form later in the verses, where its Salil again, not
Mozart; but it is one of the most easily recognisable inspi-
rations from classic Hindi cinema.
2. Aao twist karein (Bhoot Bangla, 1965; composer:
RD Burman; original: Come on lets twist again): This song
doesnt just sound like the original, it even has almost the
same words in the refrain: Aao twist karein means more or
less the same as Come on lets twist again. In both cases, it
begins with the singer (Chubby Checker/Mehmood) talking
to the audience before launching forth into song. But there
onwards, RDB leaves the inspiration way behind: his ver-
sion has way more pizzazz, with clapping, hooting, and
more to add variety to the music. And Manna Dey has made
the song timeless.
3. Dil tadap-tadap ke keh raha hai (Madhumati, 1958;
composer: Salil Chowdhury; original: Szla dzieweczka do
laseczka): Szla dzieweczka do laseczka is a Polish folk song,
and Salil Chowdhury certainly used a good bit of it to cre-
ate Dil tadap-tadap ke. This gem of an Indian version filmed
on handsome Dilip Kumar and beautiful Vyjayanthi Mala
has survived for more than 65 years and a delight to watch
and listen to on youtube.
4. Jeevan ke safar mein raahi (Munimji, 1955; com-
poser: SD Burman; original: Mexican hat dance): This is
one of those songs which is really an inspiration rather than
a faithful copy with the start of Jeevan ke safar mein raahi
is almost identical to that of the Mexican hat dance, but after
that, the two tunes go two very different ways like the
raahis, travelers, parting ways. SD Burmans is the more
interesting one, with some wonderful variations and flour-
ishes.
5. Gore-gore o baanke chhore (Samadhi, 1950; com-
poser: C Ramchandra; original: Chico-chico): Edmundo
Ross classic Chico-chico is so undoubtedly the source of
Gore-gore o baanke chhore. C Ramchandra does manage to
redeem himself somewhat, in the verses of the song, which
are very different from Ross version.
6. O babu o lala (Dilli ka thug, 1958; composer: Ravi;
original: Rum and Coca-Cola): Geeta Dutts sultry number
O Babu O Lala is brilliant and surpasses the original
Andrews Sisters song which is repetitive and positively
bland compared to Ravis breathtakingly sensuous version.
O babu o lala is a superb example of what inspiration should
be - merely something to help you surpass the original and
take a road completely different. There is nothing original as
all the knowledge in the world is out there in some form of
the other. Recent spate of folk songs turned into Bollywood
item songs and numbers is where our music directors have
traversed length and breadth of India to find those rare folk
gems and convert them into cash. The only thing being that
nakal mein bhi akal istamal honi chahiye. In the good old
days our directors went to great lengths to seek inspiration
from music around the world yet improvised the tunes to suit
the Indian lyrics and the actors enacted those songs to bring
in local appeal. The result was that whole of India was mad
about the music with almost every home owning an HMV
gramophone if they could afford one.
7. Babaloo babaloo baba (Jhumroo, 1961; composer:
Kishore Kumar; original: Tequila): Tequila has long been a
favourite in India at the weddings as bridegorooms party
(barat) madly dances to Tequila. And Kishore Kumar paid
quite a tribute to Tequila by composing this song, which is
pretty much a copy of the original. This is one tune where
the copy lacks the zip and pep of the original: Tequila gets
diluted as Baba loo babaloo baba.
8. Thandi hawa yeh chaandni suhaani (Jhumroo,
1961; composer: Kishore Kumar; original: Domani) - This
song is an old favorite of all Indians specially oldies and the
tune lifted plain verbatim from Julius la Rosas Domani,
note for note, though Kishore Kumar with his lilting voice
and yodelling makes the song more soulful and just superb
in its delivery than the original. This timeless number has
stayed with us for more than 50 years and will live on thanks
to youtube and Ksihore Das fans.
9. Ae dil hai mushkil (CID, 1956; composer: OP
Nayyar; original: Oh my darling Clementine): When one
talks of Bollywood our thoughts move to Mumbai where the
film industry produces record number of movies every year.
Some of the Indian songs which made the word Bombay or
Bumbai famous are Zara hutke zara bachke ye hai Bombay
meri jaan and Main Bumbai ka baabu. The famous Ae dil
hai mushkil jeena yahan was inspired by O my darling
Clamentine though it tactfully uses different interludes with
harmonica, tonga beats, the violin and the piano thus mak-
ing this copy better than the original. Watch the song on
youtube filmed on Johnny Walker and Kumkum and com-
pare it with its original counterpart My darling
Clamentine.
10. Dil deke dekho (Dil deke dekho, 1959; composer:
Usha Khanna; original: Sugar in the morning): Usha
Khannas score for her first film, Dil deke dekho, has the
dubious distinction of being inspired by as many as four
Western songs. Credit for Dil deke dekho, though goes to
the chorus from the tune of Sugar in the morning, but
beyond that Ms Khanna brings in some fairly original inter-
ludes, with guitars and violins giving the song a fairly dif-
ferent feel from Sugar in the morning.
10 favourite inspired golden oldies!
Community
U
nited Indian Associations
Inc (UIA) celebrated
Indias Republic Day and
Australia Day with a full house at
Bowman Hall, Blacktown on
January 18. The event made the
night memorable for 33 Indian stu-
dents who achieved high ATAR
rank in NSW 2012 HSC and promi-
nent Australians working in India.
The celebrations started off with
national anthems of India and
Australia followed by the warm
welcome speech by the president of
UIA Mr Amarinder Bajwa. He
stressed upon the growth of the
bilateral relationship building as
well as trade and investment. He
welcomed travel concessions to the
international students by the state
government. Mr Bajwa also
stressed on similar concessions for
the seniors on bridging visas and
welcomed the changes to long term
visa provisions for the parents of
the Australian and focus of the gov-
ernments for the engagement of
India and the Asian Century white
paper. Mr. Bajwa reiterated,
UIA is constantly building and
bridging relationships, we want
everyone to come together and
work together for the social and
economic development in Australia
as well as India. UIA has been and
always will stick to its principles of
social cohesion and social develop-
ment.
The event was well attended by
MPs of both state and federal gov-
ernments. High Commissioner of
India Mr Biren Nanda attended the
event. In his address he congratulat-
ed the awardees and highlighted the
growing cooperation between the
two countries.
The Hon Craig Emerson,
Minister for Trade and
Competitiveness representing the
PM of Australia, congratulated UIA
for their social development and
increased focus of the government
for engagement of India as trade
and investment partner.
The Hon Craig Kelly, MP rep-
resenting federal Leader of
Opposition Tony Abbott, under-
lined Indias potential of being the
global partner for many years to
come. The Hon Victor Dominello,
Minister for Citizenship and
Communities, applauded the efforts
of UIA for its socio political devel-
opment of the local Indian diaspora.
He stressed upon the commitment
of the state government to engage
India on every front and focus on
the development and growth of the
state and Indian partners.
The Hon Linda Burney, repre-
senting the Leader of Opposition in
NSW Hon John Robertson, con-
gratulated the students on their high
achievement, adding, You can lose
anything in your life but the educa-
tion that you have earned with your
hard work will always stay with
you. The Hon Chris Bowen,
Minister for Immigration, while
presenting the awards to the stu-
dents congratulated them for their
high achievement and said he was
always glad to attend UIA events as
they reflect the growth and harmo-
ny of the Indian diaspora in
Australia. Other ministers who
attended and presented the awards
to the students were The Hon
Michelle Rowland, Member for
Greenway, Barbara Perry MP, Guy
Janghari MP, Kevin Connolly MP
and Chair of CRC Stepan
Kerkyasharian.
UIA presented Life Time
Achievement Award to Dr Jay
Chandra, an Ophthalmologist, for
his exceptional contribution to the
community of India and Fiji. He
created Rishikesh Eye Project in
India in 2002 and started Fiji Eye
Project in 2006, where they have
conducted over 3,000 cataract oper-
ations in the past couple of years.
Sydney based Dr Chandra has an
accomplished career in vitro-retina.
UIA this year presented
Friends of India award to SimAid
- an organisation working in India
to help and save the girls from pros-
titution and sexual discrimination
under their project Operation
RedLight-GreenLight/ Girls Off
The Street, New Delhi. SIMAid
was represented by Angie Shum,
Donor Manager.
Paul MCGurk was honoured
with Friends of India for his per-
sonal support to Tibetan families in
India in the form of medicines,
education and financial aid. Paul
spends 2 to 3 weeks of his time
besides donating money every year.
Mr Clary Castrission of 40K
Foundation was another Friends of
India awardee for the dedicated
education programs in India for
poor kids. The 40K educational
pods have been a great success pro-
viding opportunity for the kids in
the villages around Bangalore.
Jennifer Star was bestowed
Friends of India for her Tara.ED
- a program that is built around the
Teacher Tour in which teacher
education students from Australian
universities do an internship in one
of the Tara.Ed partner schools in
rural Maharashtra. The Tara.Ed
model revolutionises the concept of
charity as it allows the benefit to
flow both ways. Both the Indian and
Australian education systems and
communities are provided with the
tools and opportunities to develop
the competencies required for suc-
cess in the Asian century.
UIA also conferred
Community Service Award to
Omkara Swamy Gopenalli and
Ramyavaran Ramaswamy for their
relentless and selfless work for the
community for past many years.
Young Achievers Awards
went to Mohit Tolani for his com-
munity work, Soumil Chibber for
his achievement in Cricket and
Uday Barooah for his achievement
in Karate. UIA also presented
Certificate of Appreciation for the
supporting the community and the
organisation to Kiran Desai,
Maxine Salma, and Varun Tiwary.
Rajesh Kumar got the certificate for
his world record of shooting 1010
portraits in 8 hours at India
Australia Friendship Fair 2012.
UIA team included Sue Advani
as event coordinator, Shalini
Chandrala as the MC while Shobha
Ingleshwar sang the national
anthems of both the countries in her
voice. Cultural program was pre-
sented by Maxine Salma and her
group Road2Bollywood.
More details and photographs
on UIA website: www.uia.org.au.
U
nited Indian Associations held a successful Summer
Cricket Day at North Parramatta between UIA
team and NSW State Parliamentarians.
This is an inaugural Summer Cricket Day to engage the
governments of the day with the community and help build
relationships with Australian society at large. Cricket binds
Indians and Australians and helps them understand each
other, said Amarinder Bajwa, UIA President.
The UIA team was led by Raj Natarajan, President,
Indian Sports Club. They won the toss and decided to bat.
NSW Parliamentarians team was led by The Hon Victor
Dominello, Minister for Citizenship and Communities, and
had excellent line up of MPs and staff. Hon Matt Kean MP
Hornsby and Hon Geoff Lee MP Parramatta along with Sam
Almaliki and other MPs played against UIA.
The final score UIA Team - 200 for 6 in 25 overs, NSW
Parliamentarians - 160 all out.
For the UIA team, Ravi Shankar was the Player of the
Match for his batting. Shailendra too scored well while
Harshal secured a hat trick. For NSW Parliamentarians, Lee
Jeloseck did great work with the bat. Overall it was a great
team effort.
UIA team included Murthy Anjanappa, Harshal V
Shitoot, Shailendra Patel, Jay Shankar, Raghavendra,
Manjunath, Surja Gupta, Mohit Kumar, Shivanand
Mariguddi, Varinder singh, Sameer Chhatre, Ajay Pradhan
and Rohan Ballani. Hon Craig Kelly MP, Federal Member
for Hughes, and Josh Lalor of NSW Sydney Sixers attended
the event. A cricket coaching camp for kids was also organ-
ized on the same day with help from Milo & NSW Cricket
Association. The event was well attended by many UIA
members; Logessan Pillay, Vice President UIA, sponsored
the trophies for the cricket match. Each participant was
given a participation certificate and trophy from UIA.
This will be a regular annual UIA event and its cricket
team will look forward to play more friendly games.
UIA honours HSC achievers, community members
and Friends of India
Indians defeat NSW Parliamentarians in a cricket match
UIA Republic Day honours for community members
Raj Natrajan bags the trophy presented to him by Hon Victor Dominello. (right) The two teams
UIA Republic Day honours for HSC students
who performed superlatively.
Community
Volunteering has many social benefits
By Victor Dominello
E
ach year in New South
Wales two million volun-
teers take time out of their
own lives to help others.
Whether its patrolling our
beaches; officiating at weekend
sport; supporting teachers in the
classroom; helping the elderly in
their homes or, in times of crisis,
providing, emergency services,
they do it because they want to
make a difference.
Many of these people are from
multicultural backgrounds.
They come from communities
where strong networks of people
informally helping each other
already exist. They have been doing
the shopping, gardening or laundry
for an elderly neighbour. They
paint the fence at the local commu-
nity hall.
In many multicultural commu-
nities, helping each other is not
regarded as volunteering it is just
what a neighbour does.
But this type of volunteering is
not structured so it does not get
counted in the official statistics.
Recent research shows that
many people with multicultural
backgrounds say they are keen to
become involved in organised vol-
unteering such as working with
charities, but a lack of confidence
in speaking English puts them off.
Others say they are reluctant to
sign up as a volunteer because they
have not got a drivers licence and
find it hard to get around on public
transport. I encourage those people
with English as a second language
to consider forming a group of vol-
unteers who speak the same lan-
guage and then work in the commu-
nity where that language is spoken.
Simple things like charity
organisations providing a communi-
ty mini-bus to pick up volunteers
who cannot drive can add to volun-
teer numbers.
For example, the Anglo-Indian
Association of NSW, which pro-
motes social interaction and
engagement with the community
through festivals as well as sporting
and artistic activities, is always
happy to hear from people who
want to work as volunteers.
And mainstream charitable
organisations such as the Red Cross
and Meals on Wheels regularly
advertise for volunteers who can
speak Indian languages.
The NSW Centre for
Volunteering is also keen to hear
from people it can direct to volun-
teer work with Indian community
organisations.
Volunteering is gift for the
community, by the community.
I introduced the states first-
ever volunteering strategy early in
2012, backed by $4.5 million in
funding, to make it simpler for peo-
ple to donate their time for the good
of the community.
A total of 240 million hours of
voluntary work, valued at $5 bil-
lion, is donated each year in NSW.
To make the volunteering sector
even stronger, incentives are
included in the Strategy to encour-
age people to continue their volun-
teering activities and to attract more
citizens to work within local com-
munities.
We have started two
Timebanking pilot programs
one in Newcastle and another on
the Central Coast that allow vol-
unteers to bank the time they
spend helping others and cash in
that time later when they need it.
For example, a grandmother
can earn time credits by volunteer-
ing to cook meals for a homeless
shelter. She can then deposit those
credits in her local Timebank.
When she wishes to, she can
spend them on a volunteer service
she needs, such as asking a volun-
teer driver to take her to a medical
appointment.
There are also two pilot proj-
ects, run in conjunction with
TAFE NSW and a number of local
businesses and community organi-
sations in South West Sydney and
Western NSW, examining how
practical experience gained through
volunteering could count towards
formal qualifications.
The NSW Government has also
reduced the cost of the National
Criminal History record Check
from $52 to just $15 for volunteers
who work in aged care facilities.
Volunteers I have spoken to say
they find the activity highly reward-
ing and it helps them better connect
with their local communities.
Research by Melanie Randle
from the School of Marketing at
Wollongong University, who I
spoke to recently, shows that volun-
teering is linked to wellbeing,
greater physical activity and
improved physical health, particu-
larly among older people.
It can lead to higher self-
esteem, reduced depression, greater
happiness and optimism, stronger
social connections and the list goes
on.
Then there are the social bene-
fits of becoming involved: meeting
different people; getting the chance
to socialise with people who have
things in common and; building
skills that lead to future jobs and
careers.
Many organisations have strate-
gies to attract new volunteers to tra-
ditional activities, but the NSW
Government wants to encourage
more people from multicultural
communities to get involved.
The State Emergency Service,
for example, has partnered with
Adult and Community Education in
the Diversity in Volunteering
Program and has already signed up
dozens of people from culturally
and linguistically diverse communi-
ties. And the Community Relations
Commission of NSW (CRC) is
working with the NSW Centre for
Volunteering and the City of
Sydney to develop a Skilled
Diversity Project.
The CRC runs a number of pro-
grams aimed at fostering volunteer-
ing and helps bring volunteers
together with multicultural organi-
sations that use volunteers.
Community leaders can play an
important role in helping increase
volunteer numbers by encouraging
people to become involved by out-
lining the benefits to people of giv-
ing their time.
I say to everybody: Get
involved, it will do you a world of
good.
IIATA elects new
team for its
executive committee
I
Itians have formed a well
bonded local IIT associa-
tion, IITAA (IIT
Association Australia) with a
dedicated team of members
and their families.
The old Committee con-
cluded their term of office, but
were re-nominated for election
to the vacated positions. Once
withdrawals had been account-
ed for, the Returning Officer
Bhav Datt announced that all
positions were uncontested.
Bhav effortlessly concluded the
election of IITAA's Executive
Committee for 2013 and
announced a new Executive
Committee (EC) which was
elected on December 16, 2012
at the Annual General Meeting
at Neelam Indian Restaurant,
Parramatta.
It consists of: President:
Inderjeet Singh Virdi; Vice
President: Sundar P Siva;
Secretary: Devendra Verma;
Treasurer: Pradeep Khanna;
Members: Dr Pramod Singh;
Sukesh Nedumgote; Rajat
Khanna; Dipankar Roy
Choudhury and Dr Nipen
Shah.
C
hildren may be absorbing
multi-million dollar mes-
sages propagated in sports
related advertisements, promoting
alcohol and fast-foods, shows a
study.
Simone Pettigrew, professor at
the University of Western Australia
(UWA) and colleagues investigated
the effects of these substantial sub-
conscious effects on the manufac-
turer's part to tie their products
with healthy sport via sponsorship.
More than 160 children aged
from five to 12 years were invited
to take part in an activity that
assessed their conscious and sub-
conscious links between sporting
teams and a range of sponsors, the
journal Public Health Nutrition
reports.
The researchers found that more
than three-quarters of the children
aligned at least one correct sponsor
with the relevant sport.
More than half correctly
matched an Australian Football
League team with its relevant spon-
sor, a fast-food chain.
"Given the unstructured nature
of the task, the results provide sup-
port for the argument that sports
sponsorship effectively reaches
child audiences," the authors write,
according to an UWA statement.
"While sponsors may argue that
they are not intentionally targeting
children, it is clear that their efforts
are producing this 'unintended'
consequence and that as a result
they should come under closer
scrutiny." concluded Pettigrew.
A
ctive video games help chil-
dren become smarter by
boosting their self-esteem
and problem-solving skills besides
motivating them to exercise, says a
new study.
Penny Sweetser, Daniel Johnson
and Peta Wyeth from Australia's
Games Research and Interaction
Design (GRID) Lab in Queensland
investigated the amount of time chil-
dren spent watching TV and DVDs,
compared to playing video games.
Watching TV was a "passive"
experience, while video and comput-
er games were interactive, boosting
children's self-
esteem, problem-
solving skills and in
some cases, physical
activity levels, said
Johnson, the
Australian Journal for
Early Childhood
reports. "Emerging research has
shown that active video games such
as Nintendo Wii, Sony PlayStation
Move, and the XBOX Kinect can be
used to motivate young children to
exercise and be more active outside
of the game setting," adds Johnson,
according to a Queensland state-
ment.
"There is a lot of
negative press about
gaming and that's not
we l l - s u p p o r t e d .
Where there is a neg-
ative effect, research
shows it's on the
minority of people. Video games are
a mainstream pastime," Johnson
says. Their analysis of data from the
Longitudinal Study of Australian
Children found children in a partic-
ular age group spent, on an average,
some two to three hours watching
TV compared to less than a half
hour playing video games or using
computers.
Working on computer and play-
ing video games should not be
classed as the same type of activity
as watching TV. Screen-time recom-
mendations, which are based on the
sum of all screen-related activities,
should be divided into two cate-
gories, active and passive screen
time, says Sweetser.
"Clearly, certain forms of media
such as violent video games are not
appropriate for children, and games
should be played in moderation,"
adds Sweetser.
Victor Dominello is the NSW Minister for Citizenship and
Communities, with responsibility for Volunteering.
Ads influencing kids on alcohol, fast food?
Video games help children become smarter!
Community
Indian presence felt at Short + Sweet Sydney
T
his years Short + Sweet, Sydney
2013, the largest 10-minute theatre
festival in the world, has lots of
Indian entries which have scripts with
Indian flavor featuring writers, actors all
the way from Chennai with a multi-award-
winning play from Short+Sweet Chennai,
Mumbai and Kuala Lumpur.
Presented by Indian theatre company
Stray Factory the play My name is Cine-
maa has won best production, best actress
and best director at the three international
festivalsr. The original cast and crew
(director Mathivanan Rajendran with
actors Ajay Ayappan, Pooja Balu and
Venkatesh Harinathan) presented the witty
salute to film genres in Sydney the home
of the world-wide hit short theatre form
and wit. It is joined in the Wildcard series
(Sat 3pm, Sun 1pm and Mon at 8pm) by
Lost Audition by fellow Chennai artist
Rajaram Rajiv.
My name is Cine-maa, in the first
week, won second spot both in the Judges
Choice and the Peoples Choice, missing
the top spot by a few votes. My name is
Cine-maa, written and directed by
Mathivanan Rajendran, Winner
Short+Sweet Chennai, Mumbai and KL,
Week 1 Wed Jan 9 Sun Jan 13.
Another interesting play featured in the
2nd week of the Top 80 series is Diet
Dilemma by Vee Malnar. Michael (played
by Kunal Sharma) is starving. His wife
Maddie (Amanda Porter) throws out all the
food before he gets a chance to eat it. Will
she ever learn how to be in the moment
and relax? Jacque Vickers directs this
award-winning play from Crash Test
Drama.
Week 1: Wed Jan 9 Sun Jan 13 My
name is Cine-maa; Writer/director:
Mathivanan Rajendran; Collaborators:
Nikhil Sriram, Rajiv Rajaram; ITC:
Winner Short+Sweet Chennai, Mumbai
and KL.
Synopsis: Young Cine-maa likes cellu-
loid a little more than she should. If she
smiles a little more, her make up will
crack.
Wildcards 1: Sat Jan 12 Mon Jan 14
Lost Audition - About an Audition
that was never meant be.
Writer/Director: Rajiv Rajaram; ITC:
Popular Vote Winner Short+Sweet
Chennai 2011; Cast: Mathivanan
Rajendran (Rajni Hassan), Venkatesh
Harinathan, Pooja Balu
Abhinay School of Performing Arts is
involved in two plays which were selected
from Alex Broun's weekend intensive
workshop conducted by Shourya Nidhi.
They are writer Tim Leas Rewind and
Arvind Shuklas Enjoying to the max.
Rewind directed by Neelam Golpalini and
Tim Lea and the cast includes Jimmy
Gupta (Freddie), Bianca Venuti-Hughes
(Carla), Jim Gosden (Father).
Synopsis of Rewind: Wouldnt it be
great if you could take an argument back?
Especially if your partner is a hot-headed,
sassy Latina. A hen-pecked husband final-
ly gets the opportunity to rewrite argu-
ments his way (for once)!
Enjoying to the max plays in Week 4
/ 2, 3 & 4 Feb directed by Aishveryaa
Nidhi and Cast includes Rachel May
Walker (Katrina), Kirsty Mcgowen
(Rebecca), Savannah Marrow (Christine),
Helen Marie Barber (Patricia), Arvind
Shukla (David).
Synopsis: A teenage girl from rich
family, who has been over pampered; now
busy enjoying her life to the maximum
extent. She takes things for granted & for-
gets family values. Lets see where she
ends up.
Another interesting script is of
Imperfectly Frank by well known US
writer Seth Freeman and directed by Terry
Meller that stars Aishveryaa Nidhi
(Indira), Ricardo Wesley (Franklin), Ravi
Chanana (Rajeev) & Cheryl Khurana (Julia
Jaswani). It plays in Week 7 from February
20-24; Wed Sat 5.15pm and Sunday 24th
at 5.15pm.
Other plays that made to S+S 2013 are:
Deceit, written and directed by
Short+Sweet legend Uma Kali Shakti and
presented by Rainbow Connections --
Week 1 Wed Jan 9 Sun Jan 13.
Roopa's Goal, written by Carol Dance
directed by Lenore Robertson in Week 5
Wed Feb 6 Sun Feb 10
Mirror written by Mohit
Chattopadhyay and directed by Asim Das;
Natguru Wildcards 5 Sat Feb 9 Mon Feb
11
Arvind Shukla with Pete Malicki at the launch of Short + Sweet 2013.
Aishveryaa Nidhi in the Short+ Sweet promo
Puja Balu in My name is Cine-maa, which has won best production, best actress
and best director at three international festivals.
Venkatesh Harinathan in
My name is Cine-maa
Community
Shreya Ghoshal to serenade Sydney
By K. Raman
S
hreya Ghoshal will be visiting Australia for the third time for a concert planned at the
Hills Centre. This will be, indeed, a great opportunity for music lovers.
When the singing stars of vintage years were fading out from the scene some ten years
ago, it was hard to fill up the void, although the period marked the arrival of
Alka Yagnik, Sadhana Sargam, Kavita Krishnamurthy and the like. Then,
from nowhere appeared a brilliant singer named Shreya Ghoshal and
arguably she is the number one female singer of Hindi cinema
today.
The trend in film music has undergone rapid changes - for
good and bad - yet the change of baton has to take place.
Between 2003 and 2011, if an artist in a highly competi-
tive field could win four National Awards and four
Filmfare Awards among a total of 29 reputed awards,
he or she must be a special person. Yes, Shreya is.
Shreya Ghoshal is a Bengali Brahmin girl from
Rawat Bhata, Kota, in Rajasthan. Originally her
family came from Durgapur, West Bengal. She is
well educated and conventionally trained in
Hindustani classical music. Born on March 12,
1984, she was spotted by Sa Re Ga Ma music
contest organizers and later encouraged by
Kalyanji (music director) and film director
Sanjay Leela Bhansali.
Shreyas progress to stardom was mete-
oric. Bhansalis Devdas (music director of
the film was Ismail Durbar) was the launch-
ing pad for her. She won the Filmfare Award
and R.D. Burmans Newly emerged talent
award (year 2003) for her debut as a singer
with Devdas. Her voice blended well with
the persona of screen goddess Aishwarya
Rai and she has never looked back since.
The ever popular song Dola re dola in
the film Devdas won her the Filmfare stat-
uette as well as paved her way to land singing
assignments with some of the top Bollywood
music makers. Shreya spread her wings and
has been flying ever since from studio to studio
and to concert venues the world over. In 2003
she won the National Award for the song Bairi
Piya (also from Devdas, music director: Ismail
Durbar).
Shreya has this uncanny ability to sing in a mul-
titude of Indian languages. Her language diction and
intonation is impeccable and she blends well with the
characteristic theme and style of the song. Almost all
top singers find it hard to negotiate these songs in indif-
ferent languages and settings.
When I first heard Shreya sing in my mother tongue, I
thought here is a Malayalee girl with a great future, soon to
find out that she in fact is a Bengali girl. She takes pain to learn
the pronunciation of words, understand the characteristics of the
language culture and blends them all with her singing ability.
Apart from this she has originality and a style of her own, which is
what people look for in a singer. Swara madhuryam (sweetness of sound), Laya gnanam
(sense of timing) and gana alapana parijnanam (singing ability) make one a great singer.
Shreya is full of these qualities.
She tried her luck in Mollywood through Vasantha Balans album and the song en
Chellam led her to sing the super hit Munbe Vaa under A.R. Rahmans musical direc-
tion in the film Sillum oru Kaadal. That made her the singing rage for Tamil listeners.
She had other super hits in regional languages of South India.
Shreya kept on winning the highly coveted Filmfare awards (in 2004 for
the film Jism song Jadu hai nasha hai, 2008 film Guru song Barso
Re, 2009 film Singh is King song Teri ore. Though she has not
won the coveted statuette since 2009, probably to break the
monopoly of winning, she was nominated in 2010 and 2011.
Her success in South Indian Filmfare awards was impressive
too. In 2006 and 2008 she won the best female singer
award in Tamil films.
She made two trips to Sydney and her shows at
Sydney Opera House and the Hills Centre were a
resounding success. Her fan base in Australia is mas-
sive and it is no wonder that they are waiting for her
next visit.
Philosophical in her conversations, Shreya
thinks God shows her the path she has to follow.
Many things happen because of destiny, like she
was born in a musical family; her home was
always a hub of musical activities. She thinks
she is a culture curry. Something told her to
sing the Asha Bhosle song Ab Ke Baras
from Bandini without any accompanying
instrument in the TV crooning contest. It
clicked. She was asked to go to Bollywoods
durbar of music and it happened that the
kind door man there was Sanjay Leela
Bhansali, who became her mentor.
These are some of Shreyas favourites:
favourite screen heroes - Guru Dutt and
Madhuri Dixit; Favourite food - Mums fish
curry and rice; favourite holiday spot
Mauritius; favourite perfume - Davidoff;
favourite car - not keen on cars, still it has to
be Porsche Cayenne GTS Edition 3, 2010, or
its latest version. Good choice indeed.
Sanjay Leela Bhansali noticed her during Sa Re Ga Ma contest and made her the voice
of Paro (played by Aishwarya Rai) in Devdas.
Karan Johar and Shah Rukh Khan cheering for Shreya in Music Ka
Maha Muqqabla.
Shreya's Hindi hits
* Bairi piya (Devdas)
* Dola re dola (Devdas)
* Jaadu hai nasha hai (Jism)
* Barso re (Guru)
* Zoobi doobi (3 Idiots)
* Teri ore (Singh is King)
* Ooh la la (Dirty Picture)
Community
T
he Australian Hindu com-
munity, consisting of peo-
ple from many countries
including India, Sri Lanka, Fiji,
Nepal, Malaysia and countries in
Africa and Latin America, has
been growing at a fast pace over
the past decade or so in the coun-
try, particularly in Sydney.
Members of the community
have been expressing interest for a
long time to establish a national
Hindu Centre where not only one
of the most ancient Hindu faith tra-
dition and cultural heritage could
be preserved but also made avail-
able to all Australians who may
wish to know and share the rich
culture of the Hindus including the
Australian-born children of over-
seas-born Hindus for being the
integral part of the multicultural
and mutifaith Australia.
A group of like minded com-
munity members got together and
made the much needed commit-
ment to pursue the dream to firm-
ly establish the Center. It was for-
mally registered in NSW as an
organisation in October 2012.
Hindu Education and Cultural
Centre (HECC) was officially
launched at the Deepavali Fair
2012 held on 4 November at the
Sydney Olympic Park. There was
an overwhelming support at the
Fair from many people of the com-
munity for the formation of the
Centre, and many people commit-
ting financially to this mammoth
project.
The Centres vision is to
uphold, preserve and promote core
values of humanity, and, in aiming
to achieving these, it will be guid-
ed by the moral and ethical princi-
ples of Sanatan (Eternal) Dharma
(Truth), known widely as
Hinduism today. Its main objec-
tives are to address the growing
religious, social and cultural needs
of the present as well as the future
generations of Hindus in
Australia. In so doing, it will work
for inter-faith and inter-cultural
harmony and peace in the wider
community.
The Centre will have a state-
of-art building complex with facil-
ities for: Cultural Activities -
Dance, Music and Drama,
Educational Forum - Classes,
Lectures, Seminars, Religious
Discourses - Katha, Bhajan,
Kirtan, Social Functions -
Marriages, Community Events
and Resource Collections -
Library Research Centre. The
Centre seeks communitys help in
the form of voluntary services and
financial Support to progress on
this project and make it a reality.
Contact: Prof. Nihal Agar
0412 618 893 or Shiva
Rajagopalan 0470556154; Email:
heccaus@gmail.com; website:
www.HECC.org.au.
Y
ou may have seen Indian
students working as
cleaners in shopping
malls and thought how hard they
work and that too at late hours.
To see these students working in
pitiable conditions you cant help
but feel empathy for them.
Once landed here these stu-
dents face enormous pressures of
studying and fending for them-
selves while working in menial
jobs with long hours and some
exploited at every step of the
way. Their sideward glances, the
pressure under which they work
show on their faces.
It is the students predicament
that if they continue in Australia,
they have to work hard to achieve
what they came out to achieve
and if they turn back they will
have no face to show and with
loans to pay back. Now a report
in Victoria proves the plight of
students and the work exploita-
tion that happens.
The report by Victorian
TAFE International (VTI) and
United Voice, the Cleaners
Union alleges that students who
come to Australia can find them-
selves face to face with bullying
and abusive behaviour from
unscrupulous cleaning contrac-
tors. International students work-
ing as cleaners in big shopping
centres are being thrown into an
ugly culture of racism and are
being ripped-off by up to $250 a
week, the report finds.
The report reveals interna-
tional students face shocking
working conditions, including
back-breaking workloads and
poverty wages, and is set to
increase the pressure on big
shopping centre owners like
Westfield to stamp out these
unacceptable practices.
Every year hundreds of
thousands of students come to
Australia to study and experience
a new culture. But many who
work so hard to support their
studies by working as cleaners in
our shopping centres encounter
the wrong kind of culture: one of
rip-offs, racism, abuse and bully-
ing, says Jess Walsh, Victorian
Secretary of United Voice.
The report, Taken to the
Cleaners: Experiences of
International Students Working
in the Australian Retail Cleaning
Industry, was based on surveys
and interviews with students
working as cleaners at some of
the biggest and most popular
shopping centres where nearly a
quarter of the surveyed work.
Mall owners enjoy bumper
profits but the industry remains a
hive of exploitation and bullying.
Now we know brutal workloads
and poverty pay are not the only
hallmarks of the industry inter-
national students can add racism
and abuse to the list. This is a
wake-up call for the likes of
Westfield, which needs to
embrace reform now. The treat-
ment of international students is a
stain on Australias reputation
and a threat to our vital interna-
tional education industry, which
doesnt need another scandal,
Walsh adds.
United Voice has launched a
website (westfieldwatch.com.au)
so shoppers can look up their
local Westfield to see its impact
on their community and how lit-
tle it spends on cleaning and
sign a petition to give back to the
communities that keep it prof-
itable.
International education is one
of the countrys top export earn-
ers, generating $15.1 billion in
2011 alone. Almost 300,000 stu-
dents came from all over the
world to study in Australia last
year.
Students are permitted to
work for 20 hours a week, and
many turn to the retail cleaning
industry to support themselves as
they study. Around half of the
international students working as
cleaners surveyed for the report
were born in India.
They reported struggling with
extreme workloads, and often
found themselves starting early
or working back without being
paid for the extra work. A third
of international students working
as cleaners said they were not
paid for the additional work they
put in, and are often asked to
work more hours than their visas
allow putting them at risk of
deportation.
International students also
reported encountering ugly inci-
dents of racism from bosses.
Said Dewan: If your skin is
white you get the respect. If your
skin is not white, you dont get
the respect simple and easy.
Says Walsh: International
students are ambassadors for
Australia because they return
home to tell their families and
friends about their experiences
here. What sort of picture will
they get when they hear distress-
ing tales of exploitation and
racism?
The report also includes a
study of job ads run on the
Gumtree website, popular among
students looking for work, and
made some shocking discoveries.
Of the ads analysed on the site,
93 per cent were likely to be
underpaying cleaners by as much
as $250 a week.
Unscrupulous bosses are
preying on international students
who are often in no position to
stand up for their rights. Its time
shopping centre owners put an
end to this exploitation, not only
of international students, but of
all cleaners who work so hard at
our shopping centres, according
to the report.
Hindu Centre project launched
International student cleaners hit
by rip-offs and racism
HECC launch at Deepavali Mela. (From left) Leader of the
Opposition NSW John Robertson, Senator Lisa Singh, Swamini from
Sharada Mutt, HECC Co-ordinators Saryu Rao, HECC President
Nihal Singh Agar, Hon Minister for Multi-Cultural Affairs and
Sports Kate Lundy and HECC Co-ordinator Chandrakanth Kulkarni.
Shiv Mandir celebrates
Maharudram
S
hiv Mandir,
Minto, cele-
brated Shri
M a h a r u d r a
Utsavam from
November 22-25,
2012 with the
chanting of Shri
Rudram from Shri
Krishna Yajurveda
Samhita 1331 times
by Rithviks over
the four-day peri-
od. On the last
day, 45 Rithviks
participated in
chanting, Rudra
Homam and
A b h i s h e k a m .
More than 700
devotees witnessed
the chanting event.
Sydney Veda
Patasala teachers,
S u b r a ma n i a n ,
Ramarathinam and
J a y a s h a n k a r
trained many
Rithviks over the
last five years.
Kanchi Mutt
Silver pendant
coins and temple
prasadam were dis-
tributed to all the
Rithviks and spon-
sors.
During the
four-day celebra-
tion, Nirmaleswara
Gurukkal delivered
lecture on Siva
Puranam, Lakshmi Narendra pre-
sented a Veena concert and Rudra
Krama Archana was performed.
The event was organized by
Dorai Rajan and Ramarathinam
under the guidance of
Ramachandra Athreyar and the
temple priests, Venkatrama Sastry
and Lal Bahadur Mishra.
Murali and his team took care
of catering arrangements on all the
four days and provided delicious
lunch and evening prasadam for all
the visitors and Rithviks.
Community
T
he roll call of inspiring Australians in
the running for the Australian of the
Year Awards 2013 is now on with all
State & Territory award recipients announced
at a series of events around Australia over the
past four weeks.
State & Territory award recipients in the
four award categories - Australian of the
Year, Senior Australian of the Year, Young
Australian of the Year and Australia's Local
Hero - are now finalised for the national
awards which will be announced in Canberra
on 25 January 2013.
Those now in consideration for the
national awards include Dr Sadhana Mahajani
from Darwin, having made to the finalist list
for Senior Australian of the Year Award for
her health work in remote communities.
Dr Mahajani helped establish Darwin's
first community health centre only to see it
destroyed by Cyclone Tracy in 1974. She has
since opened further six health centres and
worked in women's cancer prevention, breast
screening and sexual assault services.
Dr Mahajani, best known to many as Dr
M, retired last year after 38 years of working
as a doctor in the Northern Territory, most
recently as a geriatrician. But in the past she
has worked out of Royal Darwin Hospital, in
the jail as a medical officer, and in communi-
ty health centres right around the Territory.
Married to a surgeon, Sadhana belongs to
a family of doctors and the couple worked in
remote areas of India as she reminisces that
the village they worked in used to get cut off
sometimes due to rains. She remembers that
they were the best years of their life.
The family decided to move to UK and
then to Darwin in 1972 as she remembers that
Darwin was a very small place then with only
one traffic light and it was so hot that the cou-
ple at times used to go to the Woollies and sit
there in its air conditioned areas to avoid the
mid day heat and take their lunch there.
She also remembers cyclone Tracey as Dr
M sheltered under a dining table for Darwin's
biggest cyclone and still shudders at the mem-
ory when they lost the roof of their house as
everything in the house was ankle deep in
water after the pouring rain.
Dr M looked after the injured people dur-
ing that time, working long hours. It was
quite tragic, says she, I did not have time
to think so long as the family was fine as
everyone had lost their homes and we decid-
ed to help in the hospital and worked long
stretch of hours - as long as 48 hours some-
times.
We did not have any money and did not
get pay for over a month and people were
generous and the shops would let us take food
items without payment. Others would come
with vans of water and we used to take show-
ers on the streets. For a while we lived with
a friend of ours whose house was made of
concrete.
Practising medicine in NT, says Dr M, I
came across many animals including a buffa-
lo who I thought would be tame like the ones
in India. I patted it and it was actually as tame
as a dog. One time I killed a snake in the
house while working for the old Darwin hos-
pital.
Dr M worked as medical officer in
Darwin jail which she says the one job I did
not like much because of the culture. I was
always suspicious of people and suspicion
destroys doctor patient relationship and I
remember treating Lindy Chamberlain.
Working in remote areas, says Dr M, I
suggested pap smear tests when I talked to
aboriginal women and explained to them that
it was good for them and they did not mind.
Dr M says, Also for aboriginals there
were not good scales to test their memories.
When I talked to the health authorities to
work out a new scale to test their mental state
it was developed and is now used in NT on
aborigines. I was on the pilot team for the
geriatrics in NT as well in the last few years
of my work as a doctor.
In retirement I would like to work with
Alzheimers and may be just a simple job in
the soup kitchen, Dr M says.
Sadhana Mahajani is senior Australian finalist
(From left) Mark Grose, Michael Hohnen, Peter Fletcher, Ferdy Mauboy
(on behalf of Jessica Mauboy) and Dr Sadhana Mahajani. Photo by: Shane Eecen.
By Ben Coxworth
F
reshPaper is herb-infused
paper that is claimed to pro-
long the shelf life of fresh
fruits and vegetables
While we all know how impor-
tant it is to eat plenty of fruits and
vegetables, it can often be difficult
to use all that we buy before they
spoil. A product known as
FreshPaper, however, is claimed to
keep such foods fresh two to four
times longer than normal and it
does so just using spices.
The proprietary mix of organic
spices infused in every paper sheet
was discovered by inventor Kavita
Shukla when she paid a visit to her
grandmother in India. It turned out
that her grandmothers family had
been using the formulation for gen-
erations to prolong the shelf life of
fruits and vegetables. Although the
exact ingredients are a trade secret,
the fact that Shuklas company is
called Fenugreen points to the fact
that fenugreek is one of them.
The sheets themselves can just be
placed in the bottom of a fruit bowl,
fridge drawer, or anywhere else that
fresh produce is being stored. The
produce itself is then placed directly
onto the sheet with the herbs which
reportedly inhibit bacterial and fun-
gal growth. As long as the sheet
emits a maple-like odor, its active.
After about two or three weeks, the
smell will fade and the biodegrad-
able sheet should be replaced.
Humour, laughter
and comedy are the
best way to build
bridges between cul-
tures, says comedian
and free-lance journal-
ist, Uma Thakar. I
believe that humour is
one of Australias
biggest untapped
sources of internation-
al goodwill.
Uma is conducting
interviews in India and
Australia in early 2013
for a short documentary, You
gotta laugh, mate and research-
ing her book, The surreal diary of
an Aussie Indian, with the sup-
port of the Australia India Council
under the auspices of the
Department of Foreign Affairs
and Trade. Produced and Directed
by Uma, this documentary brings
together a talented crew including
Head Scriptwriter Amanda
Scotney (Film, My Husband),
Technical Consultant Zev Howley
whose award winning films
include Broken Superman and
Holiday to Remember, Bollywood
Director and Production in Charge
Vimal Reddy (films Adhura Sapna
and Ghar Pardes), Co-Director
Faye Dunn, who is a program pre-
senter on SBS Radio and presently
writing a book on Hakka China
and Music Director and Composer
Jim Kane (albums Trigger Happy
Love released in 2009 and
Satellite Wishes due for release
in 2013).
Uma has performed at events
on Australia Day, International
Womens Day, Harmony Day and
the Festival of Lights. She has
taken part in the St Kilda Laughs
Festival, the Melbourne
International Comedy Festival, the
Melbourne Fringe Festival and
Laugh to Stop Homelessness. She
has worked on a documentary for
the Lord Mayors Charitable
Foundation as well as a short film
for Scotney Shorts.
Uma is part of the cast of a
sketch comedy series titled Spin
Cycle produced by Melissa
Crotty, scheduled to be broadcast
on Channel 31 and the World
Wide Web and performed at the
2013 Melbourne International
Comedy Festival.
Spicy paper claimed to keep
fruits and veggies fresh longer
Bringing Australia and
India closer, one laugh
at a time
Uma Thakar
Community
O
n November 18, St Mary's
Church in North Sydney celebrat-
ed Deepavali. Father Phil Crotty,
who has lived in India for more than fifty
years and speaks fluent Hindi, was the
celebrant. He spoke about this special
festival of India, its meaning to the con-
gregation as a Catholic ceremony was
conducted.
Indian music, hymns and chants high-
lighting Deepavalis message of triumph
of light over darkness created a curious
yet multicultural atmosphere at the
church. In a colourful backdrop with Om
Shanti, Shanti chant, blowing of the
conch shell, a small Aarthi and
Pushpanjali and hymns in Gujarati and
Konkani were conducted.
Keeping with the theme of light,
Gandhi's favourite Chrisitian hymn,
'Lead Kindly Light' was also sung in its
original English version as well as the
beautiful Gujarati version called 'Premal
Jyoti'. A colourful Dandia Raas dance by
Purvi Desai and her students followed.
A morning tea after the ceremony
welcomed all with Indian snacks and
sweets.
Deepavali at North Sydneys St Marys church
The University of New South Wales honoured the outstanding achievements of Ratan Tata,
the outgoing Chairman of the Tata Group Indias largest corporation with the degree of
Doctor of Business honoris causa on November 27. Vice-Chancellor Fred Hilmer described
Ratan Tata as "A brilliant businessman both in India and internationally" and a "driving
force behind the resurgence of India as an economic and world power", while conferring
him with a doctorate from University of New South Wales.
"Australia is a vibrant economy," Mr Tata said. There were areas of high technology where
Australia was "at the forefront" and India could benefit from this. "India seeks some of the
technology that Australia produces," the 74-year-old said.
Manjiri Kelkar and Sudha
Raghunathan are the Indian artists
at WOMADelaide 2013, Australias
favourite outdoor festival, to be held
in Adelaide's Botanic Park from
Friday 8 March Monday 11
March. Natraj Cultural Centre will
hold their concerts in Sydney
(March 14, City Recital Hall, Angel
Place) and Melbourne (March 12,
Melbourne Recital Centre) in a dou-
ble-bill Hindustani and Carnatic
concert.
Atula Kale
makes her own
wheat bags
which help ease
arthritic pains,
sprains, tooth &
ear ache, relief
for the neck and
shoulder pains,
stomach and
m e n s t r u a l
cramps and lig-
ament injury.
The bags can
either be
microwaved for
1 to 3 minutes
or used as cold
compress. The
bags are made from cotton corduroy and Australian wheat. Atula, says, I had a slip disc
and chronic arthritis. Instead of taking continuous medicines I decided to use one and
felt the immense relief from pain. These bags have been my savior. Atula now makes
these wheat bags herself at home sewing and filling them and sells them for $15 and $20.
She can be contacted on 0406 664 041
Manjiri Kelkar
Sudha
Raghunathan
Community
T
hey say art has no religion, caste,
colour or race and rightly so.
Aishveryaa Nidhi, Artistic
Director of Abhinay School of
Performing Arts has been felicitated
with the prestigious Volunteer of the
year 2012 by St George Community
Awards for her outstanding contribution
in the field of art & culture.
Aishveryaa's exemplary efforts in
promoting art and theatre cultural activ-
ities in Sydney have brought two diverse
cultures of India and Australia together
on stage. In the past, Abhinay School
has played host to a plethora of events
including playwriting workshops, Hindi
Divas celebration and participated in
Short+Sweet, Sydney and Delhi, India.
Presenting the award, said Mark
Joseph Coure, member of the NSW
Legislative Assembly representing
Oatley for the Liberal Party,
"Aishveryaa has contributed greatly to
promoting the artistic and cultural
aspects of the Indian community. Her
dedication not merely to promoting
Indian culture has also translated into a
great benefit for the arts within Sydney.
She has encouraged a number of her
students to become actively involved in
Harmony Day events across the St
George region as well as being actively
involved in the Resourceful Australian
Indian Network. Hers is an example that
enriches and binds a strong multicultur-
al dynamic across the community."
With plenty of hard work and vision
under Aishverya Nidhi, Abhinay per-
forming arts school has participated in
almost all major events of St George
area.
It has performed in St. George Youth
Festival at Olds Park, IWD celebrations
at Rockdale Council, Harmony Day
Hurstville Council, Leviathan,
Hurstville Council project, Harmony
Day at Pole Depot, Seniors Lunch at
Gymea, and the Colorblind Project
(part of the Mardi Gras Festival) among
a host of others.
Aishveryaa Nidhi thanks her dedicat-
ed team of Abhinay comprising commit-
tee members, writers, actors and artists
and also the wonderful audience of the
Indian community who have become
keen connoisseurs of theatre. Says
Aishveryaa, We have tried to cross
cultural boundaries and reach out to the
mainstream through the powerful medi-
um of theatre.
Aishveryaa Nidhi receives
'Volunteer of the year' award
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McIbournc RccitaI tcntrc Jz March
melbournerecital.com.au
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TRANSACTION FEES MAY APPLY
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.cityrccitaIhaII.com
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Adult 0, Couc-ssou +0, :tud-ut !
ADDITIONAL FEES MAY APPLY
WGMADIIAIDI, Z WGMAD 8-J1 March
www.nataraj.org.au
AN EXCITING CARNATIC
& HINDUSTANI
DOUBLE-BILL
WITH TWO OF INDIAS
BEST-LOVED CLASSICAL
SINGERS
SPIRIT of INDIA artists are the equals
of the very best in the world.
:ydu-y \o:uug l-:ld
Sudha Ragunathan
wtl RAGlAVlMlRA RA MlYVlll :UlRA\AMlAM
Manjiri Kelkar
wtl :ll\A Vl:lWAMA1l :llRliAR
A::l:1ll lY 1ll lMllAM CUMCll iR CUl1URAl RllA1lM:, llAYilMG iUMlA1lM, AMl 1ll \ARGARl1 lllllM l:1A1l.
Aishveryaa received volunteer award from Mark Coure
Community
Award winning Gujarati Bhajan singer
and writer, Hemant Chauhan is on his
way to Australia for a live concert
organized by Yuva Gujarat, Gujarati
Association of Australia.
Hemant specializes in Bhajans, reli-
gious and Garba songs and other folk
genres. He received 'Akademi Ratna
Award 2011' for his contribution to tra-
ditional folk music of Gujarat in
October, 2012. He is frequently referred
to as the Bhajan King of Gujarati
Music, and is also considered to be one
of the best singers of Sugam Sangeet.
He has a huge fan base and following
all over the world including India
(mainly in Gujarat), United Arab
Emirates, United Kingdom, United
States of America and East Africa. His
fan base outside of India is made up of
people of Gujarati Heritage. It is
believed that his performances of bha-
jans and devotional music have the abil-
ity to carry the listener into a tranquil,
relaxed and serene world. He has a
charismatic personality that enthralls his
listeners with his effortless voice and
charm. With an extensive catalogue of
hit songs and bhajans, his Kathiya
Wadi Lok Dayra and Bhajan Sandhya
concert tour in North America in early
2007 was a huge hit. Hemant Chauhan
is is revered as a legend in India and
has released many albums of devotional
music.
Hemant and his talented team will be
performing in Sydney on March 23 at
7pm at Sydney Bahai Centre in
Silverwater. Contact Mahesh Raj on
0433 698 525 for sponsorships and tick-
ets.
Hemant Chauhan live in
Australia in March
Dr Shashi Tharoor, Indias Minister of State
for Human Resource Development, and
Distinguished Fellow of the Australia India
Institute (A-I-I) today inaugurates a major col-
laboration between leading artists from five
nations.
Twenty high-profile artists of Australian,
Indian, British, Iranian and Laotian back-
grounds have gathered in Indias historic city
of Jaipur to collaborate and create new art-
works.
Dr Tharoor officially opened the event in
Jaipur on January 23.
Running until the 31st of January, the A-I-
Is Artists Retreat will see artists taking part in
a series of curated sessions, and visiting sites of
inspiration in India such as the Amber Fort.
The culmination of the retreat will be a new
and original artwork by each artist, and a col-
laborative group piece.
Curatorial adviser Chaitanya Sambrani said
engaging with artists from different cultures
and heritages is important as cross-cultural
interaction produces new kinds of dynamics for
artistic practice.
Artists attending the retreat include: Jon
Cattapan; Australias 63rd official war artist
who was deployed to Timor Leste and has
worked in the UK, Europe, India, South Korea
and the US; Fiona Hall; Photographer and
AsiaLink resident artist in Sri Lanka and Gigi
Scaria, award-winning artist from Kerala who
represented India at the 54th Venice Biennale
in 2011, and others.
Shashi
Tharoor
launches
International
Artists
Retreat
FAIA celebrates Indian Republic Day
FAIA celebrated Indian Republic Day
and Australia Day together in a true multi-
cultural spirit on Saturday 19 January at
Bowman Hall, Blacktown. FAIA encour-
aged maximum participation of community
members for such important occasions and
set an example by organising the event as
admission free.
The evening presented a showcase of
songs and dances from Sydneys young tal-
ents. It was an entertaining evening organ-
ised well by the cultural team consisting of
Uma Swamy, Jeyshree Raj and Raji
Viswanathan. FAIA also chose the occasion
to honour High HSC Achievers from the
community.
The VIP guests who attended the event
included Hon Phillip Ruddock representing
Hon Tony Abbott, Leader of Opposition,
Consul General of India Hon Arun Kumar
Goel, NSW Premier representative Hon
Victor Dominello, NSW Leader of
Opposition represented by Hon Amanda
Fazio and Blacktown Mayor representative
Hon Councillor Karlo Siljeg.
Welcoming the community members
and invited guests, Neera Srivastava,
President, FAIA stated that the economic
relationship between Australia and India is
growing strongly. FAIA is aiming to promote
integration of Indian and mainstream
Australian communities for mutual social,
cultural and economic advancement. She
also appealed to Federal and State
Government for greater support to to enable
FAIA to carry out its commitment for com-
munity initiatives.
FAIA committee members with Indian Consul General Arun Goel, Hon Victor Dominello and Hon Phillip Ruddock
Australian artist Jon Cattapan
Artist
Fiona
Hall
Childrens Corner
Children's Corner
By Esther
Chaudhry-Lyons
R
onit Subramanian was seven years old and
he was the tallest student in his class. It
made him feel very proud. But when he
remembered some of the things he used to do as a
small kid, he felt a little shy. He wished his mother
would not tell those stories to her friends again and
again.
Last week his mothers old school friend had
come to see her. They were meeting after 10 years.
Ronit was just back from
school but his ears pricked
up when he heard his
mother say in that goofy
tone, You know what my
Ronit used to do as a
baby? He used to think
everything and everyone
was a part of the
Subramanian family. So he
would call the refrigerator
frig Subramanian. And he
would call the doggy that
curled up on our doormat
outside doggy Subramanian.
Ronit heard his mothers friend say, cho
chweeeet and he ran out of the house without
any lunch. I wish mother would not do these
things, he said for the thousandth time.
Toys For a Big Boy, Stories for kids:
145_1.gifThat evening his mother showed him the
toys and games her friend had got for him. One
stuffed dolphin and a game of blocks. Ronit got
angry. These are kids toys, kids toys and games. I
am a big boy now. My hero is Spiderman. Thats
the toy I want for my birthday this
year. Spiderman and the spray that
makes the spider web.
Are you saying you no longer
want your favourite stuffed toy pep-
per the doggy? Ronits mother
asked. I dont want kids toys, I
dont want kids toys and games any
more. I am a BIG BOY, Ronit
shouted. Okay, okay, we heard you, said his par-
ents.
A month later, Ronits parents bought him a
Spiderman kit for his eighth birthday. They bought
him a Spiderman T-shirt and trousers, a shiny
Spiderman toy and a glove with a spray bottle
attached to it. Wear the glove and then press the
spray button. It will make a web pattern on the
wall, Ronits father said. Ronit, and even his
father, were so excited with the spray that they
used it again and again to see who could make a
bigger web! There was even a Spiderman cake.
After his friends left, Ronit opened up each gift
package. Yesssss! He was a big boy now. He had
got so many presents of toys and games and they
were all for big boys. He especially liked a Lego
set that made a battery-powered robot, a snazzy car
racing video game, and, best of all, a cool skate-
board. Ronit went to sleep clutching the
Spiderman. You see he had decided he no longer
wanted his favourite stuffed toy, Pepper doggy.
Toys For a Big Boy, Stories for kids:
145_2.jpgAs soon as his head hit the pillow Ronit
fell asleep. He now slept in a room of his own. A
room with sunny yellow walls. But until yesterday,
he had gone to sleep clutching Pepper doggys ear.
The softness of the toy always made him happy.
But Spiderman was a metal toy. It was cold to
touch. At night, as Ronits blanket slipped down
the bed, the cold metal of Spiderman poked him.
Ronit dreamt that he was being chased by icy mon-
sters who were out to freeze him into a statue. In
his dream he shouted for Pepper. Not finding
Pepper, he woke up screaming, crying.
His mother heard him whimper and
came rushing into his room. I want
Pepper. He is my friend. Big boys also
have doggy friends, cried Ronit.
Pepper has now crept back into Ronits
bed. Every night, Ronit and Pepper
have a new adventure. In his dreams,
Ronit sees Pepper in a Spiderman out-
fit. Isnt that cool?
J
ust how popular
was Mini?
Very. Every
year, her classmates
voted her as the
favourite student.
She was easy to get
along with and was
a great company.
The number of friends she had by far
outnumbered those of anyone else in
her group.
One day the 10-year-old was
caught yakkety-yakking in the class
and ordered to stay back as punish-
ment. Staying back meant doing
something 'useful', like helping in the
garden or library after school.
The Popular Student, Stories for
kids: 134_1.gifNow the school in
which Mini studied had a rule of
sorts. Once a month, you could inter-
change your punishment schedule with
someone else. If you had something
else to do the day you were punished,
you could ask a friend to stand in for
you. Of course, you had to return the
favour, but in that same month itself.
Otherwise the favour cancelled itself
out. So the students who stayed back
for others and wanted the favour
repaid, found ways to be punished
that very month.
As it happened, on that day a very
dear aunt was visiting Mini on her
way back to America. That afternoon
was the only chance Mini had of see-
ing her for another five years.
Mini needed someone to stand in
for her. That was a problem though -
it was the last day of the month. So
anyone who helped her, would do so
out of friendship's sake alone.
She sought out
Preeti, her 'best'
friend. "Oh no
Mini, I can't,"
Preeti said. "I have
to coach my brother
for his nursery
entrance test. The
kid just can't seem
to get into any decent school." And
she spent a good deal of time telling
Mini of her brother's problems.
"Mohit, will you stay back for
me?" Mini asked another friend who
was dribbling a ball in the play-
ground. She knew he often just hung
around after school.
"To help the librarian? I wish
you'd told me earlier. I have to go to
a relative's house with my father.
Some other day perhaps," and with
that Mohit fled.
By now, Mini was beginning to
doubt if even one of her friends would
agree to stay. But she tried again.
Three more friends and each one
refused.
Of course, no one said "no" out-
right. Mini was a great pal, after all.
But each had a 'reason' why they
couldn't take her place that afternoon,
and if only it were some other day..
So, after school Mini stayed back
to help the librarian, Ms Mathur.
And, when the remote Ms Mathur
found her crying after everyone had
left, it was she who surprised Mini by
allowing her to leave to meet her
aunt.
"Some popularity I have," Mini
murmured to herself, as she went
home. "I may have many friends, but
in reality I have none."
C
handragupta Maurya was
the first emperor of the
Mauryan Empire who
came to rule much of North India.
He rose to power under the influ-
ence of a minister named
Chanakya, and, with his assis-
tance, overthrew the last of the
Nanda kings and captured their
capital city of Pataliputra.
Chandragupta then turned his
attention to north-western India
where a power vacuum had been
left by the departure of Alexander
the Great. The way he carried
himself and the way he ruled
seems like a mirror image of the
Macedonian conqueror. He took
over the lands east of the Indus
and then, moving south, much of
what is now Central India.
The year 305 BC saw him
back in the North-west where
Seleucus Nicator, the Macedonian
satrap of Babylonia, was threaten-
ing fresh invasions. Chandragupta
not only stopped his advance but
pushed the frontier farther west
into what is now Afghanistan.
This showed how powerful
Chandragupta really was.
Apparently, a settlement was
reached between the two mon-
archs. It included a matrimonial
alliance of some kind between
Chandragupta and Seleucus and
the latter's dispatch of an ambas-
sador, Megasthenes, to the
Maurya court at Pataliputra.
Toward the end of his life,
Chandragupta renounced his
throne and became an ascetic
under the Jain saint Bhadrabahn,
ending his days in self-starvation.
The Mauryan Empire, which
Chandragupta founded, owes its
name to the house of the
Mauryas, under whose rule the
Indian subcontinent saw, for the
first time in history, a consider-
able degree of political unity. The
empire lasted until 187 BC. The
Mauryan Empire was very strong
and independent because it had
some kind of political unity.
The Mauryan capital was at
Pataliputra (present day Patna),
the chief city of the old kingdom
of Magadha. The economy, in all
its important aspects, was con-
trolled by the state, and mines,
forests, large farms, munitions,
and spinning industries were state
owned and managed. The people
were divided into seven endoga-
mous groups--"philosophers",
peasants, herdsmen, traders, sol-
diers, government officials, and
councillors. The army was com-
posed of the four traditional
Indian divisions: forces mounted
on elephants, on chariots, cavalry,
and infantry, and tended to be
large (Chandragupta's forces
reputedly numbered 600,000
men). The religious life of the
empire may perhaps best be char-
acterized as pluralistic.
Brahamanism, Buddhism,
Jainism, the Ajivikas, and wan-
dering mendicants of other types
all seem to have coexisted. The
general religious policy of the
Mauryas was to encourage toler-
ance.
In modern times the Maurya
Empire is remembered as one of
the golden ages of Indian history,
a time when the country was unit-
ed and independent.
Emperor Chandragupta Maurya, his mentor Chanakya.
Toys for a big boy The Popular Student
HISTORY OF OUR
MOTHERLAND INDIA
Chandragupta
321 BC - 297 BC
Hindi
- -|-t =| | == =| || =|
-|+ +r| =t tr| r , - +| -|+ =|
o n =t+ = | -=|; =|+| r =| t
|==| =| ;+ = +t n|+| +r| r| +|
+ r| - -= =| | =| -|+ =t
tr| r |== = ; + =|t - |-|| tr+ r
|= =- -= =| t =- +-r =|+=| =
= =|t| |- , r|| |= =|-+ = -| =
|r-= - ++ =| =|-| = - :| - t |
-+ =t =|+| r - n | r |= r-|t
-= - +|+ =| |= - :| |t| |
| r| +| | |== +t -= =| =+ :|=|
+ :| = r -t = =| t =| t = =| -|t
=t =| t|t =|-| = + | =t+| | =| t
+ r| =|= - = = =r | =|; = =|
| = |-+ - |== =| + + = +
t|r =+ | =|; = =-|t =| t|-+|
=|= =t + | |== -+= := ,
:|=| = n : - = =t+ =-
o|r-o|r -=|+ +
|= =| t |, |== = - n =| ;
+t n|+| +r| , -r r |== -| =| t
=t-|r =++ +n =| = - -| + r
+||= |+ to == |= = =t
-- n| =r| =| t +| +r| = r|
+= |= - = = +n =| =|
+r=|+ ++ =| | = =t + r
=; =| t | || r =| r-|t |
-+ ==t| r =| t =r|= =||-+ r| +|
r : = = `--| = =|- ` =| =||, =|t
| =+ =| =| t|t =+| ; :| |
|=t |-- = =| =|; t+
; - +| -|+ =t+ =| tr| r ++
|| =| |=+ = - =|=| o| r
n| =|+ =| r -|+ +; +
+| |= =| t | | ;= = |n=|t r|
= = r| |=+ - +| +=| =| -|+
== | =| - t =| -|+| r
-r || =|r =| + =| r| | t
=| =| - =|, =|=| =--|| + |
=t +| r - = :| = =|- =| |
| =- + +r| =t+|, r|| |= r-
=- +t =|+ =| : | |+| tr| r| +|
r , +t + =- rt| +| = |:- - =t+|
r +| -+ - t| +| r
=| =- - :| =--|=+= |
=| + =| + =| | =| -|+ =t+ r
;= | + +| - t| +|= - - =t to|
r
=| t - =| r| r |= |=| +
=| | -= +=+| r =| t r- +== =t
+=|+ r |= |==| = = - | | |
|-| =| r| | +||= -|+ =t = =|+-
== |=+ =| + |==| -|-|
=-++| =| r , =r tr r |= | =|=
r| r- ++ = ; n| t = =t| + r +| -
`-| +=` = +| t +t r-|t| `+ +t` =|
o=| = | - ;= +tr = r- =++
|=+| +t -| n +r| tr =| t +| =| t
- r- = | - `|- |=` | =
+||= r- =++| =-+|| =++| - =| =
|-+| -=| =| =|= | -| ==
=| t =- = =-=| -|+ +| r |=
r- |==| - :|= - =t|+ =| |
==t+ +r|
r- |= - ==t| ++ =| ;=
+ +|; +t, =| - +| =|| |= ++=|
| =|t -| | -| | + =|-| || = +| ,
+t + | = -+-| =| =| =| ; == +r|
+ :+|
=; | = r| =| t ` |= ` -|| +
=| t =-| -| + -|| + r-|t| +|
rt|- =t to| r
|= =- | =- r- r| - | + +
= | - = - + =t = =| +|= +=
t :+ =| + |t tr+ , +t + =- r
r|+ r |= ++ = +|=| = :|+| - |-=
r| tr| r =| |+ =| + + =| + |=
| + ||= | =++| ==|= r-|t
- = - | ==t =t| ||= , r- =|+
=| t -r|+ =| |= -|= =t
+-r + =t+ = | =; r= :
-t++ + :+ r | n = -| + + :+ r
``=|, t = -||= r| +r| tr+ ,
r- +| |=t| |t r ``
``|=t +| =| t | =|+=| r-|t|
==t+ r =|+ =| =++| -=|+ ot|+
- r- =|+ =| - =t ==+ r
``=|, -r +| =|= r , |=+ r- +|
+| =t| =| +|n - r , =| ; =-=| =|
+| =t| || ||= ``
+t = =++ =|+ r| ++ =-+ =
=|+| r
=| | :| t - | +r| || |=
=| + =| | |=t -= =|+| r
=| + r| | +| - =|-+ r
``=|, =|+ ; |:| =| + =t+ r ``
+t = =|-| = =|+| r
``=t+| r ``
``|== t + ``
``-+-``
``-+- r |= r- =|+ =| =-+
t +t ``
``+r| =||r =-+| t ``, r- n-|
=t -| + r
``==|- -|+ r , =|+ =| + = +r|
-=|+ r ``
``=|+ =| =| ; |+t| = r ``, r-
=| + -- =t + r
| -=+ = |; - | - : ==|-
r| , = = =- r- o|+| o| tr r |
|-| +t =++| = -|t n| o tr r |
=|t =| tr r|
=| =| +| |== |n+ | =| r| +|
r |= - :| |-| - + : =|+ r = = r-
n|-t - =+ -| r | | =|
=| +t - = r =| t =| + =| | -=
+=+| r +| -+|; =|+ +| =t
=-=| =|+ =| -=| +r| =| |
|= =|+ rt| +| =| tr r =| t =| +
=| | =| t = -= +=+| r , =|+
r :- :| =t |t=|-t +=|+ r
``r | , =| + +| =| ;++|
t|+ =| + +| |=|`` =|+ + =+
r
``=t , |-| = =| |+ -| tr| r ,
+| =| tr ``
``=| +r| =| + =| |tr= =t tr|
|, -| | !``
``=t , - :| =-| =| =|+ r +|
+| |; - =| r ``
``t|+ = = - =| c -|tr ``
``==|- -|+ r , r| +| =|
r| -= r =| -| - =| + =t
|``
``+r| , +r| , =- =|r , - t| +|
+| rt|- r| r| ; r ``
=- =| + +r| =++ -| +| = |
;+ -r|- =| =+= +t, |=-r r |
|+ +r| r |= |+| - rt =r |; -
|= +r| r| +|
=; -|t =| =| | |= +| + =| +
|; + =-| | =| , |=+ ;= +tr
= r- -- r| |t| |-|| =| t =
= - || = = =|
-| -|; =| + =| +| =| t |
- =|-+ r |= -r|+| | +r| -+| ==+
|= r- t +t +r|
=- =; -|t +| |=| + =| +|t
r| |+=| +| r +||= - n =| +|
r| + + :
| = r| -+ = =| = +t =| =|
=- --| r| +| r = = =| t + +
|+ -| , |; |t-| tt, +--t
=| - + ++ =| - = =| | == +| |=|
r| +r| =| =t| - =t r --+ =
= =|t| ||+ -| -| |++| -|-| =|
+|-| =, =| :| = =| + =| t =-|+
-++ = | c = |:-=| + +t
o|= + -o| =- |== |== =| +|-
r- + `: +| =| ` t|=-t =|
=r|t| | || r +t + +==| ==t |
+-| r| =| r
=| r| - +| r r| r| ; =-
r- |= =| -| + -+|| |= - = +
r- c|; r =|t :| t =| -t=|= |=| r ,
=| - r- | | tr r =| t += = |
+ - t+ |==| +| - =| |== =| |
=| + +t =++| ==|= =| t +|=- :
= + - =t +t + | = = |: =| -|+ =++
|= |-| = +r r| = + = = , ;=
| += -=|| |= r- += =| =|
=-n r =| t += =| + |= - |t+-
| =t+ =| tr r +| -r r- r| =| +
+t || -=+ | =- =|+ r|
-+|; |= | = t| =| = = r :
|=| =|
r| =| =| ++ = =|+ = :|+ -
=|-|-| |- | =|+| r , r =r =t
|= t - = = - =| r , -| - =| +
=||= | |= =++| +--t =| : ||=
r- -| - =| + =t +t + - =++|
+--t =| | +r| =| :+
=| -|| c|= |=-- = r| + r , +-r
|+ = | =| + |==| --= = r|
- + r , | :| t = -| - o r|
=| + -- =t | o : r| + r
- =; -|t |=| + =| | =| = +|
=+= +| =t || =t+| | +| >|-+|
=| - n =|-| = =t ``= = -| | ; ``
=| =| n +| | =| t - t |=t | +
+=|+ +t ,``+| =|+| - =; :|| ;
r | =|+ = -rt r| r +|`` = =
:|| = = -| |+ =t+| |
=| t | -r =| + ++=| |==|
=r | =| r| +| | +| | -|+ =t+|
| - =|= += +r| =-n +|| |=
=| t+ ;++| ;++| t =| + +t +|
-|+ =t+| r
=|; =- = = t - | ; |
=| -|+ r| =| =| =|+ + ;=|
| to| r |= =- =|+ = |-| =||
|-+ = | =| +| =|+ ++ =|
--|+ =t ==
+t + = = =t | += =| t+|
=t+ r =| t +t n|+ =t+ r +| -|+
-|t r| =|+| r
=| - -=| =| t -| =| o| +
+t o|, |= +| =-|+ :=| r| -
|= =| -:t | =| t - n| |
=| o :| r
``=|+ =| ++| r |= ==t| =| -
t| =|+| r =|t| --= o = -t tr r
=|+ ++ = | +| =t tr r ``
``=| | - +| =t ==+| r ``
``=t ==+ r , r-|t| = -| ++ =
| =-| ;=| =t tr| r r- `t =`
|= - = tr r |=++| ``
=| - =|| |= ++ = =r , |
=|, ;= - r-|t| +| == t r =| t r-
=| ; |= |-= +r| + r , +t + r-
=rt + |n| `;-| n+ = ``, =| c
:| t = |= ot| | +t -| -
+=+|-| r| + | =- |t | | +
-|+|| |= | = =; `== -` r| tr r ,
| + =| =-+|+| -+| | |
| | =| - - = = -+|+ r =| t =| = =
=|= | r - =- =| c = c
=++ =+t r| o= =t + r =| t
t|-| += = = o|= +r| + =|+
-|t r| | - tr+ r =| t =- +|=
- r-|; ==t =t+ r
r- c :| t =| ;++| :o +r|
=| |=++| `- - = =` -++ =|
=t r| |+ | =| =|-| = +t
t-| = =| o| | +| +| = |= - :
=| o| =| =++| =|= + = |
= = + | - = tr| |
+= +t +t= +| -+ =|| +t -r
=t| : -|| -|+ | =|+ +t =| = :|
=t += -+| =t ||, |= + =|t| |+
+t n|+ tr| |= - =|t + =++| =|= = =
t| r| |
;=| =+=t - |=t = =-+|r
|= =| t |-|| (=| - | n =
=|| |), = = = `n|-t r :` =t
+= =++ |r-= = `|+=| = |-
=| |== ` | +||= += =| =-++|
=t=|t = =| t-+ += = `= |:`
== |=+ += = =|+ r| |=t -r|
n= =| t - = +| r- =| += +=
- | n| =| c c tr r +||= += +=
= n| -t r : | | =t =++ + +t -|+=
==
;+-|t =| |+ r , r- |t += r|
|-| o tr r =| t - - =| =|
= -=| tr r |= | -= +=+| r
o| t-| = +t | - + =| =
+r+ =| t |; | , r|| - =| | =| |
+ -+= | o : r
``=|r , - =|+ =| +| = -| =t
==+| r ``
``=|+ =| -- =| t|-+| o+| r
+| r-|t == - =|; r + -+= +| c
=|+ = =- -+| = +|t |- =|
=| t =- :o t r| =| ``
r- ++ = =|+ = :|+ = | ++
= -r + -+= + r =| ++ = =||
r- |+= =-+|r r|
=- ;+ =- |-|q| ... ||+ |=
|| = - | =| + -| |
+
= + t|- -=|=
Santram's Grey Page
T
he New Year has started with a spate
of Bushfires around the country, par-
ticularly affecting NSW and Victoria.
The weather conditions are becoming very
erratic to say the least. On Jan 18 the mer-
cury hit 46.5 and then in the evening
dropped down to 23. That kind of variation
is not good for anyone, let alone the aged
and frail.
Please take appropriate steps to protect
yourselves from the heat wave. Maybe you
can go to an air-conditioned shopping centre,
if you dont have the facility at home.
Drink lots of water even if you dont feel
thirsty. Keep a bottle of water handy. Avoid
aerated sugary drinks like Coca Cola.
Over 65 and exercising?
Exercising over 65 is not just about your
heart. You also need to work on your
strength, balance and coordination.
Walking is great for conditioning our
heart and lungs, but as we get older we need
to protect more than just our cardiovascular
system.
If you're not doing any activity, try to
take up at least one. Not being active is a
large part of why our health deteriorates
after 65.
Walking is great exercise, but if it's your
only activity, think about another more com-
plex activity, such as dance or tai chi and
Yoga, that will help protect your balance,
coordination, concentration and attention as
well as being good for your heart. Engaging
your brain at the same time as you exercise
seems to be the key. For instance, "cyber
cycling" cycling on a stationary bike while
looking at a display of a virtual environment
has been shown to better improve cognitive
(thinking) performance than simply cycling
on a stationary bike.
Activities such as yoga (or just stretching
exercises) can build flexibility (to help with
everyday activities like cleaning and getting
dressed), and weight training can build mus-
cle strength (necessary for most everyday
activities, even getting in and out of a chair).
If you haven't been active for a while,
you might need to start with less than 30
minutes a day and build up from there. (If
you're new to exercise, you need to see a
doctor before you start).
Get rid of that dark patch
Tips to manage and treat hyperpigmen-
tation
Hyper pigmentation is the formation of
dark patches on the skin. It is a common and
often distressing condition that can occur
irrespective of skin type and complexion.
There are multiple causes for this prob-
lem. Dark spots on the face, post-acne
marks, skin damage from sunlight and pig-
mentation are commonly referred to as
Chhaiyans.
First, the doctor has to check whether
pigmentation is epidermal or dermal. Only
epidermal pigmentation responds to treat-
ment. First-line therapy includes prescription
creams to lighten the skin.
There are some simple and effective
home remedies that one can try.
Lemon Juice: Lemon acts as a natural
bleaching agent. Mix equal quantities of
lemon juice and water and apply it on the
spots. Leave on for 10 minutes and then
rinse.
Aloe Vera: Aloe vera is a powerful
astringent and can be directly applied to acne
spots.
Potato: Potato is a common skin lighten-
ing and bleaching agent. Apply thin slices of
potato to the skin and leave on for 20-30
minutes so that the juice is absorbed by the
skin.
Turmeric and Milk: Apply the mixture
of turmeric and milk on the affected area and
leave it for 10 minutes before washing. Both
milk and turmeric have bleaching properties
and regular use makes the skin flawless.
Apart from these remedies, have a regu-
lar skin care routine. Keep the skin hydrat-
ed, moisturised and well nourished. Apply
sunscreen before going out in sun, whether
you are 16 or 60, to prevent the suns rays
from damaging and aging your skin.
What is Pancreatitis?
* Pancreatitis is defined as inflamma-
tion of the pancreas. The pancreas is a
gland located behind the stomach. It releases
the hormones, insulin and glucagon, as well
as digestive enzymes that help you digest and
absorb food.
* Pancreatitis can be caused by gallstones
that become lodged at the opening to the pan-
creas.
* Bending forward or curling in a fetal
position may ease the pain, while eating or
drinking tends to make it worse. Usually the
blockage is temporary, lasting a few days,
and the symptoms disappear when the gall-
stone is dislodged.
* Chronic Pancreatitis is as a result of
heavy alcohol use. Its unclear how alcohol
causes pancreatitis. This involves chronic
abdominal pain that can go from months to
years. Every meal one eats can make the
pain worse.
* Symptoms of chronic pancreatitis
include painful episodes of abdominal pain, a
chronic dull ache in the middle of the
abdomen, unexplained weight loss, and oily,
smelly stools.
Mild cases of acute pancreatitis generally
improve within a week. Moderate to severe
cases may take longer to resolve.
MEALS THAT HEAL-
Fibre of health
Lotus stem (Kamal kakdi)
Almost all the parts of the lotus plant
stem, root, flower, stalks and seeds -- are
used in various cuisines. The lotus stem/root
is an underwater edible rhizome of the plant.
It is widely used in Oriental and Indian
cuisines. It is a low calorie vegetable with
phyto-nutrients, vitamins and minerals. It is
also a good source of dietary fibre and
Vitamin C. It even has moderate levels of B-
complex vitamins, thats supposed to have an
effect on a persons mood.
Kumquats look like olive-sized oranges
but, unlike other citrus fruits, they can be
eaten whole with the peel. They are packed
with numerous anti-oxidants that have health
benefits. The peel is rich in essential oils and
fibre. Fresh kumquat contains an ample
amount of Vitamin A, C and E which helps
remove free radicals from the body and pro-
tect us from infections, diabetes and cancer.
It also helps in faster iron absorption and
healing wounds.
Banana Stem
The banana tree is one of those few
species where each part is used in some way
or the other, be it the leaves which are used
for eating food, the fruit which is eaten in the
raw or ripe form, or the flower or stem
which is also consumed.
Banana stem can be cooked or consumed
raw in juice form.
Banana stem is a rich source of fibre and
helps in weight loss. It also helps ease con-
stipation. Banana stem is rich in potassium
and vitamin B6 just like the fruit. Banana
stem juice is beneficial to health, according
to Ayurveda. The juice also relieves ulcers,
burning sensation and acidity. Its astringent
quality helps in blood coagulation.
Chickpea (bengal gram,chana, kabuli
chana) is rich in essential amino acids, min-
erals, fibre and carbohydrates.
Millet
Ragi or finger millet is available in the
form of grain, broken like semolina or pow-
dered like flour. Ragi is rich in iron and cal-
cium and, therefore, useful in preventing
anaemia. It is low on calories and has high
protein content. It is especially valuable as it
contains the amino acid methionine, usually
lacking in the diets of those who live on
starchy staples such as polished rice. Due to
its high nutritional value, ragi flour is rec-
ommended as a weaning food. It is also suit-
able for expectant mothers and the elderly.
Since it does not contain gluten, it can be
safely used to prepare interesting dishes for
people with celiac disease.
Being an excellent source of calcium, it
improves bone health. It aids weight loss, as
it curbs appetite, takes longer to digest and
gives a feeling of fullness. It reduces high
glucose levels in the blood. Threonine, an
amino acid, present in ragi, prevents the for-
mation of fat in the liver and this, in turn,
helps reduce cholesterol levels.
Tomato
Cherry tomato is a small variety of toma-
to cultivated since the 1800s. Cherry tomato
contains all the four major carotenoids
alpha and beta carotenoids, lutein and
lycopene. A diet rich in tomato-based prod-
ucts may help reduce the risk of pancreatic
cancer. When breastfeeding mothers eat
tomato products, it is said to increase the
concentration of lycopene in their milk.
Cherry tomatoes are also rich in potassium.
Figs
Although dried figs are available
throughout the year, there is nothing like the
unique taste and texture of fresh figs. Figs
are a good source of dietary fibre, potassi-
um, manganese, carbohydrates, sugar, solu-
ble and insoluble fibre, sodium, vitamins,
minerals, fatty acids, amino acids and more.
Radish
Horseradish is a pungent stimulant herb
that controls bacterial infection and can be
used both internally and externally. If eaten
it stimulates the digestive system.
Externally, it may be used as a rubefacient.
Known to have diuretic properties, the
root is used to treat minor health problems,
including urinary tract infection, bronchitis,
sinus congestion, in-growing toenail and
cough.
Oats
Oats are a hardy cereal grain able to
withstand poor soil conditions in which other
crops are unable to thrive.
The oatmeal and oat bran are rich in
dietary fibre, both soluble and insoluble.
These aid in lowering blood cholesterol lev-
els. Oats help in slowing down the rise in
blood glucose levels after a meal and also
help in delaying the absorption into the cells.
Oats also have a good balance of essen-
tial fatty acids and are a good source of
essential vitamins such as folic acid, thiamin
and minerals such as copper, iron, man-
ganese, zinc, magnesium and selenium.
Regular consumption of oats also helps in
maintaining healthy blood pressure.
Zucchini
In a culinary context, zucchini is consid-
ered a vegetable, which means it is usually
cooked and served as a savoury dish or as an
accompaniment. Zucchini can be prepared
using a variety of cooking techniques
steaming, boiling, grilling, stuffing and bak-
ing it, barbecueing, frying, or incorporating
it into other recipes such as souffls.
Zucchini can also be eaten raw, sliced or
shredded in a cold salad, as well as lightly
cooked in hot salads, as in Thai or
Vietnamese recipes. The vegetable is low in
calories and contains useful amounts of
folate, potassium and vitamin A.
(Disclaimer: The Health tips in the arti-
cle are taken from various well established
and reliable sources and are given to you in
good faith. However, readers are reminded
to take care and consult their doctor if not
sure, as no responsibility can be accepted by
the writer of this column or The Indian
Down Under).
Just for Seniors
By Santram Bajaj
Organic Vegetables
Wife to Husband: I dont think I like that
produce guy. I went and looked around for
your organic vegetables and I couldnt find
any. So I told him these vegetables are for my
husband. Have they been sprayed with any
poisonous chemicals?
And he said, No, maam. Youll have to
do that yourself.
"Cyber cycling" on a stationary bike while
looking at a digital image has been shown
to better improve cognitive performance
than simply cycling on a stationary bike.
Edibles like lotus stem and kumquats
may sound exotic, but are easily
available and worth adding to your diet.
HUMOUR
Health & Well-being
Reiki Therapist
Manju is a qualified Reiki therapist. Reiki heals Physical,
Mental, Emotional and Spiritual states. I can offer a wide
range of Reiki services to heal the body, mind and spirit. I
am dedicated to my clients and takes pride in assisting their
healing by channelling this wonderful energy.
Reiki is simple natural healing system through the laying on
hands energy is channeled to the area most needed for bal-
ance. Every treatment is different and healing occurs from
the inside and out. Reiki with Manju is truly a positive and
spiritual experience.
To see if Reiki could possibly help you
please call,
Manju Mittal
0425 204 364
Dr. Anil Kontham
Dental Surgeon
Now at two locations!
Services include:
General Dentistry Teeth Whitening
Cosmetic dentistry Dentures/Partial/Full
Crown and Bridge Root Canal Treatment
Total Sterlisation Wisdom Teeth Removals
Gum Infection
Free Dental Treatment under Medicare*
(*For patients with chronic medical condition.
some limits apply)
ON SITE PROCESSING OF HEALTH FUNDS
EFTPOS AVAILABLE
Suite 1B, 1st Floor
40 Panmure St
Rouse Hill NSW 2155
(02 ) 8814 5255
Suite 1, Level 1
38-40 Geroge St
Parramatta NSW 2150
(02) 9635 9525
0449 111 111
Free Quotes!
Call Pappu!!
Jaswinder Singh Bhogal !!!
0449 111 111
End of a fine inning
Dilip Mahanty
1943 - 2013
It is with great sorrow we
inform The Indian Down
Under readers that they will
miss a regular analytical col-
umn on cricket and thoughts
on spiritualism by Dilip
Mahanty who passed away
on 19 January at Sydneys St
Vincents Hospital. He
remained cheerful until the
very end and was able to bid
good bye to a large number
of his friends and relatives
who visited him every day at
the hospital. Dilip was diag-
nosed with cancer over a
year ago. He was 69 years
old.
Dilip Mahanty hailed from
Jamshedpur, India, from
where he returned only a few
days ago. His wife Shikha
says that he probably knew
and wanted to visit for the
last time his home and the
country that he loved so
much. They had a great time
and no one, for a minute, felt
that he had come to say a
final good bye. Such was the
peace with him.
Dilip was a Business man-
ager by profession having
completed his post-graduate
studies in Indian Cost and
Works Accountancy. He
came to Australia in 1981
with his wife Shikha and a
young daughter Sunaina to
represent Engineering Export
Promotion Council (EEPC) as
head of Oceania region. The
family later decided to settle
in Australia and Dilip started
to work for the Australian
Department of Treasury.
Before finally retiring from
work, he worked in senior
positions for the South
Pacific Trade Commission
and Fiji Trade Commission.
Dilip was a true Vedantic,
an ardent follower of Rama
Krishna Mission and its
teachings. He attended dis-
courses by Swami
Sridharananda on Patanjali
Yoga Sutra and at weekends
on Bhagwad Gita with pious
consistency. He liked the
company of like-minded
friends at Vedanta Centre to
hold in-depth intellectual dis-
cussions and exchange
thoughts, especially on the
Hindu Karma philosophy. He
wrote several articles on the
Karma philosophy and had
his heart and soul in it. That
gifted him with a rare peace,
a much sought after detach-
ment. Although he knew the
finality of the disease he suf-
fered from, he looked at it
with Zen-like indifference.
Dilip Mahanty loved his
cricket and was very knowl-
edgeable about the intrica-
cies of the game. If the
match was on, nothing else
mattered. Even at his hospital
bed he asked for score from
the visitors on their mobile
telephones. If ever he
showed attachment, it was
for the Indian cricket team.
He shared this interest with
his son-in-law Anoop Kalra
who set up a Swamy Army to
add colour on the field when-
ever the Indian team visited
overseas. Dilip used to criti-
cally analyse team selection,
fielding, coaching, young
players who showed promise,
IPL, anything about cricket,
especially when the Indian
team was not performing
well.
IPL is increasingly
becoming a Frankenstein,
he wrote once when contro-
versies took over the popular
tournament. Many of the
cricketing nations have a
large set of versatile players
who can seamlessly transit
from one form of the game to
the other. India, these days,
faces a paucity of such play-
ers, Dilip wrote another time.
Love for India flowed in
his veins. He felt proud when
the world starting reckoning
India as an economic super-
power. He loved the slogan
India Shining and the book
The World is Flat by
Indophile Thomas Friedman.
He was so excited about the
book that praised India that
he recommended it to every-
one whom he met. So proud
Dilip felt being Indian.
Dilip Mahanty was very
popular among the Indian
community. He will be greatly
missed. Dilip is survived by
his wife Shikha, daughter
Sunaina, son-in-law Anoop
and grandchildren Manav
and Sarani. Our heartfelt con-
dolences for the family.
Good bye dear friend.
May your soul rest in peace.
Columns
I
like to wish all my readers a very Happy
New Year and share these recipes with
them.
CRISPY SLICES
Ingredients
1 cup plain flour
cup grated cheese
1/3rd cup finely chopped
coriander leaves
tsp black pepper
6 slices of bread
Salt to taste
tsp red chili powder
1 boiled and grated potato
Oil for frying
Method
Cut each bread slice in three parts. Mix
the potatoes, cheese, coriander leaves, red
chili powder and salt in a mixing bowl. Mix
well. Make a thick batter with plain flour,
black pepper and some salt. Spread the pota-
to mixture on each slice part.
Heat the oil. Dip the slice in the batter
and shallow fry till golden on both sides. Re-
move the extra oil by placing the fried slices
on paper towel.
Serve with chutney of your choice.
KASHMIRI KACHORIS
Ingredients
1 cup plain flour
tsp sugar
1/2 cup of mixed nuts (almonds,
cashews and sultanas) coarsely grated
tsp of
chaat masala
cup
butter milk
1 tabs
finely chopped
fresh coriander
1 green
chili finely
chopped
tsp salt
tsp soda bi carb
Oil for frying
Method
Add salt, soda bi carb, sugar, chaat
masala, oil in the plain flour. Mix with but-
ter milk (small quantity at a time) to make a
thick dough.
Mix all the dry fruits, green chili and co-
riander leaves. Divide the dough into 8 equal
parts. Make a ball of each part and roll out
as a disk. Place the dry fruit mixture in the
middle and lift sides to enclose. Seal the ends
and press lightly between palms to make a
flat disk.
Heat the oil. Deep fry till golden on both
sides. Keep the fried kachoris on paper towel.
Serve with chutney of your choice.
DELIGHT SQUARES
Ingredients
cup besan flour
1 cup rice flour
2 green chilies finely chopped
cup finely chopped coriander leaves
A pinch of asafetida
A pinch of turmeric powder
tsp of soda bi carb
tsp red chili powder
1 green diced capsicum
1 carrot grated
cup oil
tsp mustard seeds
Salt to taste
cup natural yoghurt
Method
Mix besan flour, rice flour, soda bi carb,
turmeric powder, salt, coriander leaves,
green chili and yoghurt. Mix well. Add wa-
ter as required to make a pouring consisten-
cy batter. Add capsicum and grated carrot.
Heat oil. Add asafetida and mustard
seeds. When they crackle, add to the besan
mixture. Mix well and keep it overnight.
Grease an oven dish and pour the mixture
and spread it evenly. Bake in a pre heated
oven at 180 degrees Celsius for about 30
minutes till golden brown on top. Cut into
square pieces and serve hot.
BAKED MAKHANA
Ingredients
15 makhanas
4 medium potatoes boiled, peeled
and mashed
tsp chaat masala
tsp red chili
powder
1 tsp butter
tsp salt
1 tabs finely
chopped coriander
leaves
Oil for frying
makhanas
Method
Heat oil. Deep fry the makhanas till gold-
en brown. Place on paper towel to drain out
any excess oil.
Mix the potatoes with chaat masala, red
chili powder, salt and chopped coriander.
Mix well. Now wrap each makhana with this
potato mixture and seal ends. Press lightly
between palms to shape it like a tikki.
Melt the butter and brush each tikki with
it.
Grease an oven dish. Spread the
makhana tikkis evenly on the dish. Bake in a
pre heated oven at 180 degrees Celsius for
about 20 minutes till golden brown on top.
Serve hot with sauce or green chutney.
PEANUT DISKS
Ingredients
cup roasted peanuts
4 large potatoes boiled, peeled and
mashed
2 slices of bread
cup green chili chutney
tsp salt
cup grated fresh coconut
Oil as required
Method
Dip bread slices in water. Squeeze out
excess water. Mix with mashed potatoes and
salt. Divide the mixture into 8 equal parts.
Make a ball of each part and flatten each ball
to shape it like a round disk.
Heat the oil. Shallow fry all the disks till
golden brown on both sides. Remove the ex-
tra oil by placing the fried slices on paper
towel. Arrange the disks on a plate. Spread
the chutney. Then sprinkle the coconut and
peanuts on top and serve.
M
iranda May Kerr is an Australian
model. She rose to prominence in
2007 as one of the Victoria's Secret
Angels. She is the first Australian to partici-
pate in the Victoria's Secret campaign and
also represents Australian fashion chain David
Jones.
Kerr practices Nichiren Buddhism and be-
lieves, "We have a responsibility to bring
peace and harmony to our lives and the
world." As part of her Nichiren beliefs, Kerr
reportedly chants every morning and night for
20 minutes, practices yoga, meditates, and
reads widely on spirituality. She maintains her
physique through daily yoga, light jogging,
and a diet of steamed vegetables, fresh fruit,
and fish. Kerr told readers of Australian Cos-
mopolitan that coconut oil was the key to her
clear skin, shiny hair and trim figure, saying
she ingests four tablespoons a day, either on
salads, in her cooking or in her cups of green
tea.
Here are some beauty and fashion tips
from Miranda Kerr:
Tip 1: A woman who smiles often and is
confident and comfortable in her own skin al-
ways look beautiful and leaves a lasting im-
pression.
Tip 2: Wear what you feel comfortable in
and if you have to question it...well then its
probably not for you.
Tip 3: If theres a choice between wearing
something that is too small or too big always
go with a little bigger.
Tip 4: Use quality organic skincare on
your skin as everything you put on your skin
sinks in.
Tip 5: Drink warm water and lemon every
morning and Tahitian Noni Juice daily.
Tip 6: Dry body brush everyday before
taking a shower to keep your skin smooth all
over, and to activate your lymph system.
Tip 7: Every woman should have Organ-
ic rosehip oil in her handbag. Its a product
thats rejuvenating and packed
full of natural goodness.
Rosehip oil is also a
natural way to re-
move eye makeup.
Tip 8: Use an
organic spray
mist when
needed to keep
skin hydrated
and do not un-
derestimate
the impor-
tance of an
organic eye
gel/cream.
Tip 9:
Discover
what
sup-
plements are right for your body and then take
them as directed. Almost everyone needs a
supplement to balance his or her busy
lifestyle.
Tip 10: Dont take yourself or life
too seriously, frowning is one of the
most damaging things we can do to
our skin!
Miranda Kerrs top 10 beauty tips
New Year Dishes
Feel Good and Look Beautiful
By Promila Gupta
Miranda May Kerr is an
Australian model who
practices a form of
Buddhism.
Dry body brush every day before taking a
shower to keep your skin smooth all over,
and to activate your lymph system.
46 THE INDIAN DOWN UNDER January-February 2013
Body-Mind-Spirit
By Kanaka Ramakrishna
T
he year 2013 marks the
150th birth anniversary of
Swami Vivekananda, the
great patriot-saint and nation-
builder of India. The year-long
celebration in India and all over
the world starts on his birthday,
January 12, which is commemo-
rated every year as the National
Youth Day.
Swami Vivekananda was so
great and comprehensive, it is
hard to fully fathom even a facet
of him: was he a patriot, a saint,
a prophet, a humanist, a social or
religious reformer, a lover of the
masses, a mystic, a divine being?
He was all these put together and
much more.
Swamiji lived in the mortal
form for only 39 years and
throughout the course of the
remaining years he has been
inspiring us through his immortal
lectures and unforgettable writ-
ings. He himself wished to live as
a formless inspirer. He said, It
may be I shall find it good to get
outside my body to cast it off
like a worn garment. But I shall
not cease to work. I shall inspire
men everywhere, until the world
shall know that it is one with
God.
After the roaring success at
the Parliament of Religions in
Chicago U.S.A. in 1893, Swami
Vivekananda returned to India
in1897. His patriotism was exclu-
sive. To him, the very dust of
India was holy; the very air was
holy. He identified his conscious-
ness with the entire nation. His
visit to the west had given him a
new perspective of India. To him,
India represented the repository
of spiritual power that was meant
for the nourishment of the whole
world. He was proud of the glory
of Indias past and deplored the
present decadence.
He wanted to inject energy
into the nearly lifeless Indian
society that was torn within by the
barriers of caste, by the domina-
tion of foreign political power,
and of religious creeds. He awoke
India with a clarion call for unity,
integrity, sacrifice, strength and
selflessness.
Fifty years before India
achieved independence,
Swamijis patriotic words thun-
dered from the platform at
Ramnad: ..the lethargy is
passing away, she is awakening,
this motherland of ours from her
deep long sleepNone can resist
her anymore, never is she going
to sleep anymore; no outward
power can hold her back any-
more; for the infinite giant is ris-
ing to her feet
Swamiji dreamt of a strong
and glorious India and also saw
the youths as the ones to fulfil his
dreams. He injected patriotism
into the veins of the youths and
thereby inspired Indias freedom
movement. He firmly believed
that the youths were the most
potent catalyst for changing the
fate of India and hence the future
of the nation rested in their hands.
His message for the youths was
inspiring and guiding.
Addressing the youths, he
said, Change is a challenge,
youth is a challenge, truth is also
a challenge. So all youths should
arise for a change. Face the chal-
lenges in life without taking a
shortcut in anythingAll great
undertakings are achieved
through mighty obstacles. Keep
up the mental poise. Take not
even the slightest notice of what
little creatures may be saying
against you. Arise, Awake,
Stop not till the goal is
reached.
Though Swamiji
mainly emphasised mani-
festing our innate spiritual nature
as the source of strength, he liked
to see strength as manifest in
every situation and in all areas of
life. He found lack of regard to
physical strength among Indians.
First of all he encouraged physi-
cal strength among the youths. He
told them, You will be nearer to
God through football than through
the study of the Gita. You will
understand Krishna better with a
little of strong blood in
you.Another time he told the
youths to develop muscles of
iron and nerves of steel.
Besides physical strength,
Swamiji emphasized mental
strength and will power through
concentration, meditation, posi-
tive thinking, and one-pointed-
ness. He also stressed intellectual
strength. He said, From the idea
of largeness, a person will gradu-
ally be aware of his spiritual
nature and search for higher joy
and finally reach the ultimate joy,
God, the repository of all joys.
Besides these strengths, Swamiji
encouraged economic strength
and advocated even military
strength for India.
As the prophet of strength,
Swamiji said that religion alone
was the strength of all strengths.
He said, Infinite strength is reli-
gion and God. Strength is life
and weakness is death. Swamiji
admits humans have many weak-
nesses, faults, fears, and defects.
But, he says that if one asserts
ones real nature, which is pure
and perfect, any situation can be
overcome.
Swamiji had a vision of pro-
viding man-making and character-
building education. He looked
upon religion as the innermost
core of education, a process of
being and becoming. He wanted
that kind of education by which
strength of mind was increased
and intellect was expanded.
Education was not merely the
accumulation of facts but assimi-
lation of knowledge and wisdom
inherent in each person in a dor-
mant state. The external world
worked only as a suggestion or an
occasion and set our minds to
unveil the many covers of igno-
rance and discover the true Self,
the divine soul of man, which is a
treasure house of infinite knowl-
edge. He defined education as
the manifestation of perfection
already in man.
Swamiji gave the highest pri-
ority to the spread of mass educa-
tion and womens education for
the restoration of lost individuali-
ty of the poor and the downtrod-
den, as well as for the empower-
ment of women. Thus the whole
educational system of a country,
whether secular or spiritual,
should be guided by its national
ideal to guide them in the long
run.
Swamiji identified himself
with the whole world and his
attempts were always to find out
how to bring peace to the world.
In that attempt he discovered that
religion was the root of all prob-
lems. In view of the conflicts and
turmoils in the world today, how
true his analysis was! He believed
that religion was the motivation
towards individual perfection and
social upliftment. He wanted to
give mankind a religion which
was practical and scientific to fit
into the wave of the future.
Swamiji often spoke very
strongly about faith. He said, If
you have faith in three hundred
and thirty million of your mytho-
logical gods and still have no faith
in yourself, there is no salvation
for you What makes one man
great and another low and weak is
his faith.
Swamiji was the first in India
who was bold enough to welcome
the advent of socialism. He pre-
dicted that new India would arise
through the struggle and sacrifice
of the have-nots, the oppressed
and the poorest, who had formed
the lowest strata of the society.
Rising up the masses brings sym-
metry in social structure.
Swamiji wanted two-fold
application of Vedanta to practice
in our day-to-day life.
Firstly, for awakening mans
faith in himself and in his own
strength including his spiritual
power. Secondly, selfless work in
serving people as service to God.
Since his passing away, a
flood of spiritual upheaval has
swept all over the world. He is
still awake in the thoughts of the
thoughtful, in the intellect of the
intellectuals, in the patriotism of
the patriots, in the sacrifice of the
sannyasins and in the tears of the
downtrodden.
Much to learn from
Vivekanandas 150 years
Was Swami Vivekananda a patriot, a saint, a prophet, a humanist,
a social or religious reformer, a lover of the masses, a mystic, a
divine being? He was all these put together and much more.
Swamiji lived in the mortal form for only
39 years and has since been inspiring us
through his immortal lectures and unfor-
gettable writings. He had said, It may be
I shall find it good to get outside my
body to cast it off like a worn garment.
But I shall not cease to work. I shall
inspire men everywhere, until the world
shall know that it is one with God.
Body-Mind-Spirit
By Anil Sharma
I
ts Friday, 14th of April, 1950.
Maharshi is in a very precarious con-
dition, notes his ardent devotee S.S.
Cohen. The whole morning has been spent
by devotees in hushed gloom and with
bated breath. After evening darshan, the
unanimous verdict is that it is positively
the last. The Master is now propped on
large pillows, almost in a sitting posture,
the head resting backward with open
mouth, and two attendants briskly fanning
him, to enable him to breathe freely the
battle for air has thus started. At 7 p.m.
oxygen is administered to him for about
five minutes, but seeing it gave him no
relief, he feebly asks that it should be
stopped.
The situation is tense: about five-hun-
dred devotees were outside in sad expec-
tation of the solemn last moment. Blood
relations, Ashram workers, a few old dis-
ciples, and some new aspirants go in by
turn to have a last sight of him. When the
end is known to be approaching, the
whole congregation with one voice starts
chanting the Tamil hymns he had many
years ago composed in praise of Lord
Arunachala: Arunachala Shiva,
Arunachala Shiva, Arunachala, till the
final moment comes about at 8.47 pm.
At about 9 p.m., Henri Cartier-
Bresson the French photographer, who
has been here for about a fortnight with
his wife, related his experience to Cohen.
It is a most astonishing experience, he
said. I was in the open space in front of
my house, when my friends drew my
attention to the sky, where I saw a vivid-
ly-luminous shooting star with a luminous
tail, unlike any shooting star I had before
seen, coming from the South, moving
slowly across the sky and, reaching the
top of Arunachala, disappeared behind it.
Because of its singularity we all guessed
its import and immediately looked at our
watches it was 8.47 and then raced to
the Ashram only to find that our premoni-
tion had been only too sadly true: the
Master had passed into Mahanirvana (all-
pervading and deathless Selfhood) at that
very minute.
Several other devotees in the Ashram
and in the town, noted Cohen in his diary,
late told him that they too had seen the
tell-tale meteor.
Mr. Kaikobad, a Parsi devotee of the
Maharshi, happened to be on the terrace
of his house in Madras, when he saw the
meteor, to which Monsieur Cartier-
Bresson and others referred and intuitive-
ly associated it with the Mahanirvana of
the Master and, without waiting for the
morning, he immediately hired a taxi and
came at top speed.
Miss H.P. Petit, who was sitting on
the balcony of her house in Bombay,
about a thousand miles away, also saw the
shooting star at that fateful minute, at once
guessed its meaning and wrote to a friend
of hers in Benares that the Maharshi had
passed away.
Many devotees, grief stricken and
beating their breasts, lost control of their
feeling and rushed en masse to the small
room where the sacred body lay, but
police officers immediately cordoned off
the area till it was brought out and placed
in the centre of the big darshan hall in
yoga asana for all the people to pay their
last respect to it.
The news spread like wildfire in the
town and the neighbouring villages, and
drew huge crowds. By 9.15 pm, the
crowd grew so thick that it became neces-
sary to give chance to all to pay their hom-
age and pass the body in an orderly man-
ner. A queue was thus formed seven to
ten broad at a quick-march pace.
Around the sofa sat dozens of disci-
ples, some chanting Maharshis verses
and other devotional hymns, but the others
remained in silent contemplation. Sandal-
wood paste and jasmine flowers now cov-
ered the body and incense alight by its
side.Many devotees kept vigil the whole
night by the side of the sacred body; some
snatched a few hours rest and returned
early morning. The singing and chanting
of Vedas continued throughout, as did the
queue of worshippers till 11.30 a.m. when
the body was taken out to the South veran-
dah for puja and abhishekam.
Sri Niranjanananda Swami, the
Sarvadhikari, assisted by his son Sri T.N.
Venkataraman, poured over the sacred
head dozens of pots of milk, curds, butter-
milk, orange juice, mashed bananas and
jackfruits, coconut water, etc., followed
by many bottles of rose-water, attar, per-
fumes of all kinds and sweet smelling oils.
Then enormous garlands of fresh roses
and jasmines were placed round the neck
and strewn all over the body.
The samadhi pit was dug 10 x 10
feet and seven feet deep. In its centre the
masons isolated a small area of 4 x 4
feet and surrounded it by a wall built of
granite stones, lime and cement. The
remaining portion they filled with many
cartloads of sand said to have been
brought from the sacred Ganges and
Narbada valleys.
At 6.30 p.m. the next day, the body,
which by then had received the homage of
not less than 40,000 persons, was carried
in a decorated palanquin reserved for the
Deity of the temple to the samadhi. Here
it was placed in the same yoga-asana into
a bag made of the finest khaddar, which
was then filled with pure camphor and
lowered into the small area reserved for it.
Then the pit was filled to the brim with
camphor, salt, and sacred ashes to protect
the body from worms and rapid disinte-
gration, and closed with masonry work.
All the English and Tamil papers
referred to the meteor which had been
seen in the sky all over the State of
Madras, hundreds of thousands of square
miles, at 8.47 on the night of April 14, by
a large number of people in different
places and reported to the Press. These
eye-witnesses had been struck by its pecu-
liar look and behaviour, which led them to
ascribe the strange phenomenon to the
passing of a great spiritual soul. Such a
mass of evidence speaks for itself, if evi-
dence need be.
A meteor in the sky follows
Ramanas last moment
Some are born immediately after, others after some lapse of time, a few
are not reborn on this earth but eventually get salvation in some higher
region, and a very few get absolved here and now.
-Sage Sri Ramana Maharshi
Body-Mind-Spirit
C
ecil Beaton, Royal pho-
tographer and designer
who reached the peak of
his profession in the mid 1930s,
aimed his
ambitions at the
people who
"mattered" or
let's say the
wives of the
people who
mattered. He
gained entry
into high society
by portraiture
and flattery. His
works are defined by elegance
and grace. Many people found
him pretentious and mean.
Jean Cocteau called him
"malice in wonderland".
Vogues George Weidenfeld
said "Beaton would happily
have witnessed their execution
as long as he had a good
enough seat" bitchy behind his
clients backs. He said of the
Queen Mother "she was so nat-
urally affected, as she minced
into the room".
Here are some musings
from Sir Cecil Beaton:
* Perhaps the world's sec-
ond-worst crime is boredom;
the first is being a bore.
* Americans have an abid-
ing belief in their ability to con-
trol reality by purely material
means...airline insurance
replaces the fear of death with
the comforting prospect of
cash.
* Never in the history of
fashion has so little material
been raised so high to reveal so
much that needs to be covered
so badly.
* More varied than any
landscape was the landscape in
the sky, with islands of gold
and silver, peninsulas of apricot
and rose against a background
of many shades of turquoise
and azure.
* Be daring, be different, be
impractical, be anything that
will assert integrity of purpose
and imaginative vision against
the play-it-wafers, the creatures
of the commonplace, the slaves
of the ordinary.
* All I want is the best of
everything and there's very lit-
tle of that.
* His verdict on Elizabeth
Taylor still resonates with
venom: This thick great
revolving mass of feminity at
its rawest.
* Katharine Hepburn who
had bullied him over his cos-
tume designs for the musical
Coco, fared no better than Liz.
"In life, her appearance is
appalling, a raddled, rash rid-
den, freckled burnt, mottled,
bleached and wizened piece of
decaying matter. It is unbeliev-
able incredible that she can still
be exhibited in public."
* In New York where he
saw Mae West on stage, he
said, "This fat, pink, creamy,
fleshy creature looked so lewd
and naturally, healthily,
amorously lustful that one
scene where a Spanese lover
mauled and felt her breast and
buttocks, one had to cross ones
legs and scream hysterically
with laughter.
* He was invited to take the
wedding portraits of the Duke
and Duchess of Windsor in
France. As always, Cecil
focused on appearances: The
Duke had bleary eyes and a dis-
figured thumbnail; the Duchess
had broken put in spots.
* He waspishly said of the
Queen Mother that she only
needed to fly to the top of the
Christmas tree.
Malice in Wonderland
Inner Space
By Faith Harper
W
e can look forward to
2013, which will be bet-
ter than 2012 astrological-
ly. Economically the New Year
offers enhanced hope, cheer, pros-
perity and peace.
I sat down with my Vasthu
Sastra and astrology master
Yuvaraj Sowma in Chennai, India,
recently to analyse what the future
holds for the various zodiac signs
using the Indian almanac.
The Indian calendar is based on
moon signs or rasi, as they are
called in Indian astrology. Readers
should note that Western astrology
is based on sun signs. If your
Western astrological star sign is,
for instance, Aries, your sign fol-
lowing the Indian system might not
necessarily be the same.
Consult an astrologer to deter-
mine your moon sign as it is too
complicated to explain how to do
that here.
And dont be disheartened if
your forecast indicates an
unfavourable period ahead. You
can avert the worst by performing
prayers and spiritual activities in
accordance with your faith, and
doing good deeds and performing
acts of charity to mitigate negative
planetary forces.
It will be a positive year for
those born under the signs of
Vrishabha (Taurus), Simha (Leo),
Dhanus (Sagittarius) and Makara
(Capricorn).
Mixed results are indicated for
those born under Thula (Libra) and
Kumbha (Aquarius), while people
who come under Mesha (Aries),
Mithunam (Gemini), Kartaka
(Cancer), Kanya (Virgo), Vrischika
(Scorpio) and Meena (Pisces) may
experience obstacles and chal-
lenges.
Mesha
Mixed results are indicated and
it is recommended that you seek
advice from elders and seniors
when making important decisions.
Keep your speech and tone positive
to avoid adverse situations. Pay
attention to your health and think
positive because your health
reflects what you think.
Financial setbacks are likely
from May onwards, so plan care-
fully and avoid unnecessary expen-
diture.
Avoid any new venture and
keep a tight control of your
finances. Enhance your spiritual
development so that you will have
the strength to combat challenges
and difficulties.
Vrishabha
The start of a golden year with
improved financial gains and pros-
perity. Your enemies will disappear
and auspicious events will take
place and bring progress to your
life.
You will be able to settle out-
standing loans and be motivated to
purchase a property or vehicle. If
you are in business, new projects
will come easily and you will enjoy
profits and strong partnerships.
Promotion is indicated if you
are employed and socially a
rewarding period. Frequent travel
will bring further gain.
Mithunam
Unexpected delays and travel
may lead you to make irrational
decisions and cause tension. Take
extra care of your health and watch
what you eat.
Avoid making major decisions
and show more tolerance to your
partner.
Remain positive to face chal-
lenges and exercise care when trav-
elling and committing to new proj-
ects. Trouble at the workplace is
indicated and some may even face
transfer.
Kartaka
You will be recognised for
your efforts and your personal rela-
tionships will improve. Children
will bring you happiness and jour-
neys with important people will
give joy and desired results.
Stay away from new business
ventures and curb new investments.
A volatile situation may surface at
the workplace as some may dis-
agree with you.
Remain calm and stay positive
when facing difficulties, and seek
the company of positive people.
Simha
Harmonious relationships will
prevail in your family and you will
enjoy good co-operation from your
siblings and children. Your interest
in spirituality and religion will
deepen and fructify.
If in business, you will enjoy
improved earnings and new ven-
tures will give you better opportu-
nities.
Your reputation and influence
in society will grow and if you are
an employee, promotion is indicat-
ed. You will travel frequently and
will enjoy support from co-work-
ers.
Kanya
Good as well as bad situations
will surface simultaneously but
family support will help you face
difficulties positively.
You will be encouraged to go
on a pilgrimage and increase your
faith in spirituality.
If single, you will find your life
partner; if you are in a relation-
ship, marriage is indicated.
June onwards will be a soothing
phase and you will enjoy
favourable health. Windfalls are
likely to come and you will get
opportunities to make money if you
are in business.
Stay alert and give your best at
work and you will be appreciated
and respected.
Thula
You need to be more diligent
because every area of your life
demands more attention. Be atten-
tive and observe every situation
before acting on any issues because
you can be easily misunderstood.
Your feeling of insecurity will ruin
your peace of mind. Conflicts and
disappointments will dominate the
first half of the year.
Employees will see changes at
work and should accept them posi-
tively because they will bring
opportunities.
Vrischika
Refrain from intimate relation-
ships between June and October as
problems are likely to surface.
Your strength to handle challenges
will be weak and this may affect
your health.
Keep away from any kind of
speculative activities because new
ventures might turn out to be
wasteful. You should work within
the existing parameters and success
can be better achieved when your
expenses and liabilities are
reduced.
Faith in the Almighty and right-
eousness may safeguard you from
challenges. Seek the assistance of
seniors at work as they will be able
to guide you positively.
Dhanus
Be selective when dealing with
people because there will be posi-
tive and negative people around
you. You will face ups and downs
in your relationships because of
difference of opinion.
The second half of the year
may bring happiness related to love
but the initial months are
unfavourable. Profitable deals are
indicated in business and strong
partnerships will surface during
this period. At work, superiors will
acknowledge your work and you
may be rewarded with promotions
and increments. Those who are in
sales will be able to achieve their
targets.
Makara
Take extra care of your health,
which may rob you of your happi-
ness. Family members will misun-
derstand you leading to unneces-
sary disputes. Exercise patience
and keep cool when handling fami-
ly matters.
On the business front, you will
fly high and your years of invest-
ments will show positive results.
You will be noticed, admired
and praised for your intelligent
work and money flow will be
steady. Travel is indicated and you
will tend to purchase property and
vehicles.
There may be a meteoric rise at
work and you will be given new
opportunities because of your
increased confidence level.
Kumbha
Singles will see serious changes
in their private life and those who
are married will be blessed with a
child.
The beginning of new profes-
sional success is indicated for those
who are in business and those
employed will get fresh opportuni-
ties and job offers. All your secret,
ambitious desires are expected to
come true as great opportunities
await you.
Meena
You need to have extra strength
to handle difficult situations.
Restlessness will haunt you from
time to time and this may lead to
complications and conflict. You
will be misunderstood by people
around you and even your loved
ones will fail to understand you.
Exercise care in all aspects of
business because financial problems
will surface and your present cus-
tomers may be dissatisfied. This is
not a good time to change jobs or
go into new ventures. Control your
anger and do not argue because it
will worsen the situation.
T. Selva is the author of the
bestselling book titled Vasthu
Sastra Guide. To get a copy, call
Devi at 0412623017. He can be
contacted at tselvas@pd.jaring.my
Website: www.vasthusastra.com
VasthuSastra
By T. Selva
Sir Cecil Beaton
(1904-1980),
royal
photographer
and designer
Marilyn Monroe
Queen Elizabeth
with Prince Edward.
A better year ahead
December - January 2013 THE INDIAN DOWN UNDER 49
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49 54, for a very fair, young looking
Hindu lady, aged 54 and an Australian
citizen. He should be a non smoker and
should have strong moral values. Caste
no bar. She is an eggetarian, divorced
and has a 19 year old daughter living
with her. Contact
lifepartner@hotmail.com.au.
Jan Mat 10, 2013. Hindu Punjabi
business parents invite alliance from a
beautiful educated girl for their highly
qualified son 30/6'3", a very well placed
financial consultant with a leading multi-
national company in UK. Will be in
Australia in July, Caste no bar. Send
BHP to ukshaadi@hotmail.com
Jan Mat 11, 2013. . Well settled
family in Australia inviting alliance for
27 year old, 5"11, Sood Punjabi boy,
B.Software Engineer(honors) and is
working as a senior IT Consultant for the
Australian government on high income.
Seeking Indian girl, caste no bar. Please
call 0414-518-312. Email aumohin-
dra@gmail.com
Jan Mat 12, 2013. Seeking com-
patible well educated, employed profes-
sional/ business match, with Indian
background, broad minded/ mature out-
look, independent, divorcee, age 47
years onward, For caring, honest, friend-
ly, Indian Christian divorcee Australian
citizen, 48 yrs 5'3" tall, much younger
looking than age, attractive, graceful
looking graduate nurse, employed.
Caste no bar. Email details to
emily.lotus@hotmail.com
Jan Mat 14, 2013. Seeking match
for my brother, Hindu, Gujarati -Patel ,
31, 6 ft, vegetarian, Masters in
Computing Studies, working and living
in USA (American citizen). Looking for
a loving Gujarati girl, caring with good
family values, well cultured settled or
trying to settle in USA or Australia,
preferably with a PR/Citizenship. Email:
bluepools2012@gmail.com
Jan Mat 15 2013. Male, Age 27,
(Cleanshaven Sikh), caste no bar, either
the Girl is Hindu or Sikh as long as
Indian background.He is Australian
born, Educated in UK with Msc. in
Finance, working in Sydney for a lead-
ing bank, seeking a suitable Soul mate.
Kindly please reply to his Parents in
Sydney Email: tejpadam@gmail.com.
50 THE INDIAN DOWN UNDER December - January 2013
Matrimonials
MATRIMONIALS
every
sunday
02 9331 3000 Sunday
02 9698 2604 Mon-Sat
89.7 fm
Eastside
Radio
Monika
Geetmala
10 am - 3 pm
Now on the net every Sunday:
www.eastsidefm.org
Body-Mind-Spirit
Trisanku: In the inbetween
By C Rajagopalachari
T
hat was the time when the
famous king of the Solar
dynasty, Trisanku, was
reigning, who was so much in love
with the beauty of his body that he
could not bear the thought of part-
ing with it at death and desired to
ascend to heaven in that very
body.
Vasishtha, his preceptor,
whom he approached for help in
realising his wish, advised him to
give up attempting the impossible.
Dissatisfied with Vasishtha's
response, the King approached the
sage's sons and sought their help.
They were wroth at being asked to
do something which their father
had pronounced impossible,
ridiculed his vanity and curtly bade
him begone. King Trisanku would
not give up his aim and told them
that, since they and their father
were too poor in merit to help him,
he would find others who were
richer. Vasishtha's sons were pro-
voked beyond endurance, and
said: "Be you a chandala."
The curse began to act and the
next morning Trisanku woke up a
different person altogether, an
untouchable, ugly of form, attired
in dirty clothes. His ministers and
his people could not recognise
him. Driven out of his kingdom he
wandered hungry and weary
almost to death, till his destiny
took him to Viswamitra's ashra-
ma.
The king's appearance moved
the heart of the sage, who
enquired: "Aren't you King
Trisanku? What has brought you
to this plight? Whose curse?"
Recounting all that had happened
he fell at the sage's feet and said:
"I have been a good king and
never swerved from the path of
dharma. I have committed no sin
and wronged none. My preceptor
and his sons have deserted me and
cursed me and you see me thus
before you."
Viswamitra took pity on the
King converted by a curse into a
chandala. This was Viswamitra's
great weakness; he was impulsive
and easily over-powered by emo-
tions like anger, sympathy and
love. In sweet words, he made the
king happy: "O, King, I have
heard of your righteous rule. I
offer you refuge; be not afraid. I
will arrange for the sacrifice which
will enable you to enter heaven in
your own body. And in this very
chandala form you shall reach
heaven despite your Guru's curse.
Of this you may be sure." And he
made arrangements for a great and
unprecedented yaga.
Viswamitra directed his disci-
ples to invite all the sages and,
their disciples for the proposed
yaga. Afraid of saying "No" to
what was more or less a command,
all the rishis agreed to be present.
But the sons of Vasishtha
declined the invitation and made
merry about a yaga at which the
officiating priest was a once upon-
a-time Kshatriya and the yajaman a
stinking chandala.
This reply, duly conveyed,
enraged Viswamitra who exploded
into a curse that Vasishtha's sons
do die and be reborn for seven
generations in a tribe given to eat-
ing dog's flesh.
The sage then began the yaga.
Extolling Trisanku's eminent
virtues, Viswamitra sought the
help of the other rishis in effecting
the bodily translation of Trisanku
to heaven.
Well aware of the sage's
mighty powers and fulminous tem-
per, the invitees lent their support,
and the yaga went on. It reached
the stage when the gods were
invoked to descend and accept the
offerings. But no god came. It was
clear that Viswamitra's yaga was a
failure. And the rishis, who had
attended the ceremony, laughed
within themselves at Viswamitra's
discomfiture. Wild with rage,
Viswamitra held the ladle of ghee
over the flames and said: "O
Trisanku, here behold my power. I
now transfer for your benefit all
the merit I have earned. If my aus-
terities have any value, they
should lift you to heaven in your
physical frame. I care not if the
Devas reject my offerings. King
Trisanku! Ascend!"
A miracle followed. To the
astonishment of those assembled,
Trisanku in his chandala body rose
heavenward. The world saw the
power of Viswamitra's tapas.
Trisanku reached Swarga. But
Indra forthwith pushed him down
saying, "Who are you, entering
heaven with a chandala body? You
fool that earned the curse of your
preceptor, go down again."
Trisanku fell from heaven, head
down wards, screaming,
"Viswamitra! Save me!"
Viswamitra, seeing this, was
beside himself with rage.
Determined to teach the gods a les-
son, he shouted to Trisanku.
"Stop there! Stop there!" and,
to the amazement of all,
Trisanku's earthward descent
came to an abrupt stop and he
stopped in mid air, shining like a
star. Like a second Brahma,
Viswamitra proceeded to create a
new starry horizon to the south as
well as a new Indra and new
Devas. Alarmed at their suprema-
cy, the Devas now came to terms
and humbly entreated Viswamitra
to desist. They said: "Let Trisanku
stay where he is at present. Let the
other stars, of your creation shine
forever, like your own fame and
honor. Control your anger and be
friends with us."
Gratified at this submission,
and as easily appeased as pro-
voked, Viswamitra baited his cre-
ative process. But his stupendous
activities had consumed the whole
of the power that he had thus far
acquired by his austerities, and he
found he had to begin again.
Viswamitra now proceeded
westwards to Pushkara and
resumed his austerities. For years
the rigorous tapas continued, but
once again as it was about to bear
fruit something happened to rouse
his anger and he lost his balance
and cursed his own sons. Soon
recovering himself, he firmly
resolved never again to yield to
anger, and resumed his tapas.
After many years of austerities,
Brahma and the Devas appeared
before him and said: "O Kausika!
Your tapas has borne fruit. You
are no longer in the ranks of kings;
you have become a real rishi."
Having thus blessed
Viswamitra, Brahma returned.
This was again a disappointment.
He wanted to become a Brahma
Rishi and Vasishtha's peer and he
had only been acknowledged an
ordinary rishi. It was recognition
as futile as the missiles of power,
which Vasishtha's Brahmadanda
had swallowed.
He therefore decided to go on
with his tapas, making it more
severe than ever before.
The Devas did not like this.
They sent the heavenly damsel
Menaka to tempt him with her
celestial beauty and allurements.
She went to Pushkara where
Viswamitra was undergoing aus-
terities and played, to catch his eye
with a hundred wiles of charm and
grace. Viswamitra saw her and
was fascinated by her beauty. His
vow was broken and he spent ten
years in a dream of joy, forgetful
of his high resolve.
Awaking at last, he looked at
the trembling Menaka sorrow fully
and said he would not curse her,
for it was his own folly, and not
her fault, as in tempting him she
was only carrying out the orders of
her master. And sadly he wended
his way to the Himalayas to
resume his broken tapas.
There, for a thousand years,
controlling his senses, he per-
formed rigorous tapas. At the
request of the Devas, Brahma
appeared before Viswamitra, and
spoke to him thus sweetly: "I wel-
come you as a Maharishi, my son.
Pleased with your soulful tapas I
confer on you that title and the
sanctity it imports." Unmoved
alike by gratification or disap-
pointment, Viswamitra folded his
hands in adoration and asked the
Father of the Universe if the boon
meant conquest over the senses.
"By no means", said the
Creator, "but strive to subjugate
the senses, tiger among munis!"
Resolved on the supreme con-
quest, Viswamitra entered on
another thousand years of even
harder tapas which threw the
Devas into even greater consterna-
tion. Indra called unto him the
celestial damsel Rambha, and
enjoined on her as a vital service to
the Devas, to employ all her art to
bring Viswamitra under the spell
of her charm, and divert him from
his purpose. She was sorely afraid,
but Indra assured her that she
would not be left alone, but be
accompanied by the God of
Love and the Spirit of
Springtime would be with her for
support. Unwillingly she went and
as she entered the precincts of the
hermitage, the forest blossomed
into vernal beauty, and the south
wind blew gently laden with the
scent of flowers, and kokilas burst
into song. Love and Spring were
both there to assist Beauty.
Disturbed by stirrings to which he
had long been a stranger,
Viswamitra opened his eyes
and saw a smiling damsel of sur-
passing beauty, who seemed the
very soul of the spring with its
flowers and fragrance and song.
At this vision of soft voluptuous-
ness a white heat of anger surged
through him as he recognised in it
another temptation thrown in his
way by the envious gods, and he
cursed the temptress: "O Rambha,
for seeking to tempt me who am
striving to conquer anger and
desire, be thou frozen to an image
of stone for ten thousand years."
But this explosion of rage
made him see how far he was from
the fulfillment of his purpose and
sadly he quitted the Himalayan
forests, and sought the solitude of
the east. There, he restrained his
breathing, gave up all thought of
the things of the world, and per-
formed austerities so stern that
smoke and flames issued from his
body and enveloped the universe.
Then at the prayer of the panic-
stricken gods, Brahma again
appeared before him, and hailed
him as Brahma Rishi: "All hail,
Brahma Rishi, I am pleased with
you. Blessed be your life."
Viswamitra was happy.
But humbly he said: "How can
I be happy unless from Vasishtha's
lips I hear that I am a Brahma
Rishi?" Vasishtha smiled remem-
bering his fight with Viswamitra,
and said to him: "You have
achieved the fruit of your great
austerities. Indeed you are a
Brahma Rishi, my brother." And
there was joy all round.
Ch a k r a v a r t i
Raja Gopala
Chari, popularly
known as
"Rajaji" or
"C.R.", was a
great patriot,
astute politician,
incisive thinker,
and one of the
greatest of Indians. As a
close associate of Mahatma Gandhi,
he was an ardent freedom fighter.
Rajajis books on Marcus Aurelius,
the Bhagavad Gita and the
Upanishads are popular. The story
of Trisanku is taken from his
Ramayana book and it is interest-
ing to note that in astronomy,
Trisanku corresponds to the constel-
lation of Crux, also known as the
Southern Cross.
Illustrated by:
Ramesh Chandra Alandkar.
52 THE INDIAN DOWN UNDER January-February 2013
Columns
By Karam Ramrakha
Karam C Ramrakha, ex Fiji MP, was
twice President of Fiji Law Society and
for seven years (1967-1974) Trade Union
President of Fiji Teachers. He has been
practicing in Sydney from 36 Pellisier
Road, Putney, NSW 2112. He can be
contacted on Phone: 02 9808 2760, Fax:
02 9802 5014, Mob: 0434 986 123.
Email: karamcramrakha@gmail.com
T
oday India, the World's largest
democracy, is awash with news of
rape while we, Vedic Indians,
allude to Gargi and pride ourselves in the
midst of bride burning, child marriages,
honour killings, crippling dowries and
claim that our women are not only equal
but occupy a superior place in our nation
and hearts.
What nonsense! Was it not Manu, the
first of beings who is acclaimed as our
Vedic Lawgiver, who thundered, A
woman is not fit for a life of independ-
ence; in her youth she is controlled by her
father; in her middle age by her husband
and in her old age by her sons. And, of
course, woe betide her as a widow.
No wonder in our sacred epic,
Ramayana, we, the inheritors of Rama and
Sita, are told that the spotless Sita is
rejected by Lord Rama after her release
from Ravana, that she wanders from gali
to gali (as the haunting song tells us) and
that finally she seeks the protection of
Mother Earth who swallows her.
Today we see Sita uprising in India.
Will Women the world over, from Arabia
to Afghanistan, rise and claim their equali-
ty, their dignity as mothers, sisters and
daughters. As for India's Constitution and
motto Truth Triumphs we nourish a for-
lorn hope. As for uprisings and breast
beatings in India, they come and go.
Nepotism, cronyism, man's inhumanity to
man and to women, corruption, a British
saddled bureaucracy, all will continue. The
Indian Spring will not bring in a Holi of
Holiness.
So Rise my Mothers, my Sisters and
My Daughters and prove me wrong.
So much for the World's largest (if not
the greatest) democracy. And what of the
second largest democracy, the Great US of
A?
That is awash with guns. And its con-
stitution stymies change as it speaks of the
right to bear arms. When Lady Obama
went sleeveless the media wagged eloquent
and said she was simply exercising her
right to bare her arms.
As a Red Indian said to me in
America, This country is built on gun cul-
ture. First the White Man (honkeys he
called them) came and shot us the Red
Indians; then they shot the buffaloes and at
the same time they shot each other. Can
we change overnight?
Little Fiji, a mere dot in the Pacific on
the world map, struggles with a written
constitution and a return to democracy -
Vorege Bainimarama's promised One
Man One Vote One Value, a Fiji for all
without any discrimination.
The process of a new Constitution is
now mired in controversy. I await devel-
opments with a sense of foreboding and
despair. Frank Bainimarama is at last mov-
ing to remove the Union Jack from Fiji's
flag, the Queen's image from stamps and
coins, and cutting us adrift from Empire at
last. Yes, we laud Britain for ruling Fiji
and ruling Bharat. But Britain left some
expensive and cumbersome baggage
behind. It is time India and Fiji quit the
Commonwealth and move out of the dark
shadows of Empire.
A troubled world and little Fiji
Ingenious strategy to protect our schools
I
t was Christmas Eve, ten days
after the shooting at Sandy
Hook Elementary School, and
Thurston Johnson Jr. was still
seething.
People need to wise up!
Theyve got their heads in the
sand, he shouted, as a wide-
screen TV inside Raging Bull
Tavern showed somber scenes
from Newtown, Conn., where a
20-year-old man had gone on a
shooting spree. Johnson was
speaking to no one in particular,
but Milton Finkelberger, the only
other patron in the bar, was just
whiling away his time before he
needed to pick up his wife, Edna,
from the bingo hall, so he decided
to engage the burly stranger in a
conversation.
Whacha mean?
Johnson took a gulp from his
mug, wiped the froth from his
beard, sat still for a minute. He
was gathering his thoughts.
So many school shootings
and theyre doing diddly about it!
Just sitting back and waiting for
another one to happen.
I hear ya. We need more gun
control. Too many idiots running
around with guns.
Gun control? Are you crazy?
We dont need gun control. We
need people control.
Whacha mean?
Guns dont kill people.
People kill people. Dont know
where I heard that, but it makes
sense to me.
So how ya gonna control peo-
ple?
Thats easy. With guns.
Whacha mean?
If idiots are running into
schools with guns, other people
need to use guns to stop them.
This isnt rocket science, you
know.
Wouldnt it be easier to keep
guns away from idiots?
No way, man. Keeping guns
away from idiots would be like
keeping pasta away from Italians.
Youd have the mafia after you.
But shouldnt we at least
make an effort to keep guns away
from idiots?
No way, man. Just because
youre an idiot doesnt mean you
cant own a gun. Thats whats
great about America. We have the
Second Amendment, which gives
everyone, even idiots, the right to
bear arms. And if theres one right
that idiots value, its the right to
bear arms. Take my cousin
Clayton. He owns eight guns,
including three semi-automatic
rifles. I asked him if he values the
right to bear arms and he said,
Yeah, why dya think Im always
wearing a tank top? I want people
to see my guns. And then he
flexed his biceps.
Sounds like a real genius.
Oh, hes a genius all right.
He dropped out of school after
eighth grade, has never held a job
for more than six weeks. They
fired him at the gas station cause
he kept sniffing the gas and they
fired him at the fish market cause
he kept sniffing the bass.
Why does he need eight
guns?
Thats what I keep asking
myself. Why would anybody need
eight guns? Im quite happy with
just five. But Clayton, hes a little
strange. He even ordered himself
an M203 grenade launcher, like
they use in the Army. I asked him
why he needed one, and he said,
Dont ask me, bro. Ask the voic-
es in my head.
Arent you afraid he might do
something crazy, like attack a
school?
No way, man. Clayton is
harmless. Hed never go near a
school. Hes too scared of educa-
tion. But other people out there,
you never know. Thats why we
need to protect our schools bet-
ter.
Whatcha mean?
All principals need to have
guns in their offices. Secretaries
and teachers too and lets not
forget about the janitors.
Janitors too? You gotta be
kidding?
Yeah, the janitors should
have a special gun with a barrel on
one end and a mop head on the
other. Isnt that what a janitor is
for anyway keeping the scum
out of our schools?
So you want the entire staff
to have guns?
Yes, but theres more to my
plan. Just imagine if every desk
has a secret compartment under it.
Whenever theres an intruder in
school, the principal would push a
button, unlock the compartment
and a gun would fall out. Id love
to see the intruders face when he
walks into a classroom and sees 30
guns pointed at him!
So you want the entire staff
to be armed and students to have
access to guns in an emergency?
Bingo!
Hearing that word,
Finkelberger looked at his watch.
Oh no, he said. Im late. Edna
will kill me.
Then youd better get
Yeah, I know. Get a gun.
No, I was gonna say, get
going. What do you take me for
an idiot?
Finkelberger didnt answer. He
just waved and hurried to the
door.
THE HUMOR OF MELVIN DURAI
Today we see Sita uprising in India. But, uprisings and breast
beatings in India, they come and go. Nepotism, cronyism, man's
inhumanity to man and to women, corruption, a British saddled
bureaucracy, all will continue. The Indian Spring will not bring
in a Holi of Holiness.
Sports
ogendr a Bhat nagar
wi l l be t he referee
at t he Aust r al i an
Badmi nt on Open
whi ch wi l l be hel d for t he
second t i me i n Sydney from
Apri l 2 7, 2013 wi t h t he
fi rst t ournament hel d l ast
year.
A keen badmi nt on pl ay-
er, Yogendra i s one of t he
t hree referees who wi l l be
conduct i ng and overseei ng
t he whol e schedul e of bad-
mi nt on mat ches and t he
draw. The mat ches wi l l be
hel d at Sydney Convent i on
Cent re as t he hal l t here wi l l
be conver t ed i nt o bad-
mi nt on court s wi t h pl ayers
par t i ci pat i ng f r om ar ound
30 count ri es from around
t he worl d.
Yogendr a who has
umpi red many i nt ernat i onal
t ournament s, says t o be el i -
gi bl e f or umpi r i ng, one
must umpi r e 75 mat ches
over t en t ournament s i n one
year on i nt ernat i onal l evel
and, I t has been pr et t y
hect i c for many years as I
have deci ded t o sl ow down
havi ng t ravel l ed t o t ourna-
ment s i n t he Oceani a regi on
and t o Asi a, Eur ope and
Canada.
Yogendra has met many
pl ayers on hi s t ri ps whi ch
i ncl ude Sai na Nehwal who
was on January 17 t hi s year
decl ared rank number 2 i n
t he worl d i n badmi nt on. It
i s qui t e i nspi r i ng t o see
t hese badmi nt on gr eat s.
Though I ndi as t op bad-
mi nt on pl ayer i n men i s
Par upal l i Kashyap and i s
ranked at number 10, Sai na
i s my favouri t e.
Says Yogendra t hat t he
Yonex Sydney Badmi nt on
Open may see Sai na com-
pet e at t he t our nament
t hough t he f i nal l i st of
pl ayer s i s not yet out .
Sai na i s a pri de t o wat ch
and had scored a bronze i n
t he London Ol ympi cs.
Yogendra, hi msel f, i s not
f ar behi nd, havi ng spent
many year s pl ayi ng t he
game as he was capt ai n of
ONGC t eam i n I ndi a
hooked by PSCB
(Pet rol eum Sport s Cont rol
Board). He pl ayed at t he
nat i onal l evel t i l l 1990
when he moved t o Sydney
wi t h hi s fami l y. The game
of badmi nt on soon became
hi s f or t e and he t r ai ned
peopl e, pl ayed and organ-
i zed many badmi nt on t our-
nament s for t he Indi an com-
muni t y.
Aust r al i an badmi nt on
Open, whi ch st ar t ed l ast
year i n Sydney hel d at t he
Sydney convent i on cent re
t urned i nt o a huge success.
Yogendra was an umpi re
and part of t he organi zi ng
commi t t ee and t he pl ayers
l oved Sydney, as more t han
t he pl ayers who were busy
i n t he t our nament , t hei r
f ami l i es l oved Dar l i ng
Harbour venue wi t h al l t he
ameni t i es, t our i st at t r ac-
t i ons, i nt er nat i onal f ood
hal l s cl ose by and t hey al l
want ed t o come back agai n.
A di nner organi zed at
Zafraan was a huge success,
and peopl e l oved t he har-
bour and t he scener y as
such. And surpri se whi ch
even I di d not know t hat
t here were fi reworks on t he
ni ght whi ch made t he
eveni ng memorabl e for al l .
I have been t o many t ourna-
ment s al l over t he worl d
mysel f but I must say
Sydney Darl i ng Harbour i s
t he dream venue for hol di ng
such an event .
Aust r al i an Badmi nt on
Open i s a Grand Pri x Gol d
t our nament at t r act i ng a
t ot al pr i ze money of
$120, 000 and t here i s great
i nt er est f r om pl ayer s al l
around t he worl d t o come
and compet e. We ar e
worki ng hard and I do hope
we can get Sai na Nehwal
t hi s t i me.
Sydney has been such a
success t hat i t may be
upgraded t o Super Seri es
Tour nament . The onl y
downsi de bei ng t he cost of
rent i ng t he venue whi ch i s
qui t e hi gh. And we need
more sponsors t he mai n one
bei ng Yonex.
As a Referee I urge t he
Indi an communi t y t o part i c-
i pat e, says Yogendra, We
need l i ne j udges wi t h a
keen i nt erest i n badmi nt on.
They have got t o be bri l -
l i ant badmi nt on pl ayers and
t hey wi l l be gi ven t rai ni ng
i n 3- hour sessi ons t o go
t hrough t heory and pract i -
cal and al so need t o prac-
t i ce t hei r ski l l s i n t he game.
Li ne j udges need t o be
hi ghl y compet ent , qual i fi ed
and prompt . They are very
i mport ant peopl e i n hel pi ng
t o conduct a worl d cl ass
t our nament whi ch i s
wat ched by many peopl e
ar ound t he wor l d. We
shoul d not l ook sl ack. We
have cl ose t o 50 l i ne j udges
but need t en mor e. They
must be keen and commi t -
t ed badmi nt on pl ayer s.
They wi l l get t he uni form,
free ent ry, food and rei m-
bur sed f or t r avel t o and
back from t he t ournament .
In t he process t hey have t he
opport uni t y for a week t o
be part of t hi s great t ourna-
ment and see t he worl d rank
badmi nt on pl ayers from up
cl ose. Anyone i nt erest ed t o
appl y for t he l i ne j udges
j ob can emai l me at : bhat -
nagars@bi gpond. com.
The Sydney Tournament
over si x heat ed days of
i nt ense, hi gh-energy com-
pet i t i on i n Sydney, t he
SCEC wi l l pl ay host t o
more t han 300 Badmi nt on
at hl et es - from around 30
count ri es. And al l fi ve di s-
ci pl i nes of t he wor l ds
fast est racquet sport wi l l be
cont est ed at t he t our na-
ment : Men and Womens
si ngl es, Men and Women
Doubl es, and Mi xed
Doubl es. The t our nament
wi l l be wat ched l i ve by
over 100 mi l l i on peopl e
around t he worl d.
I f al l goes wel l t hen
Sydneys success may hel p
secure i t as a BWF Worl d
Superseri es event from next
year. The Aust r al i an
Badmi nt on Open, current l y
a Gr and Pr i x Gol d r at ed
event , may become one of
t he r i chest pr of essi onal
badmi nt on t ournament s i n
t he worl d wi t h US$750, 000
i n pri ze money up for grabs
i n 2014.
Ti cket s are now on-sal e
from www. t i cket ek. com. au
or vi a t he t ournament web-
si t e www. aust r al i anbad-
mi nt onopen. com. au and are
qui t e aff or dabl e wi t h a
dai l y t i cket st art i ng from as
l ow as $20 and an earl y
bi rd sessi on pass (al l ses-
si on) st ar t i ng f r om $110.
Ear l y pur chase of f i nal s
t i cket s i s recommended as
al l fi nal s were a sel l out at
t he 2012 compet i t i on.
Bhatnagar to referee Australian
Badminton Open
Yogendra Bhatnagar, who captained ONGC team in India and umpired many international badminton
tournaments, will be referee at the Australian Badminton Open to b eheld in Sydney, April 2-9.
World Rank 2 Saina Nehwal is a pride to watch. says Yogendra
Bhatnagar
Y
The Kersi Meher-Homji column
T
he death of Tony Greig last month
came as a shock to me as to all of
us. An interesting character, it was
always interesting discussing cricket with
him in the SCG Press Box. He had that
certain presence, that certain aura, a
charisma that attracts. At 67 he was
larger than life size but was very
approachable.
Tall, fair, handsome and articulate,
Greig has gone through the gauntlet and
emerged unscathed. Born in South
Africa, he shone out as an all-rounder for
England, later captaining his adopted
country to success and was one of the key
figures in the formation of Kerry
Packers World Series Cricket in 1977.
His voice was recognised internationally
as the cricket commentator on Channel 9
with that typical Greigy accent and
unflappable style.
He was a leader of men, charming
and multi-talented He knew what he
wanted and got it. According to
Christopher Martin-Jenkins in World
Cricketers (1996), [Greig] was a brave,
determined and skilful all-round cricketer
who seldom failed in Tests and many
times seemed to be holding Englands
fortunes on his shoulders. At times ruth-
less, he relished challenges, imposing his
personality on matches and on events.
He usually batted at number six and
showed to the bowlers who the boss was.
And who would argue with his tall
frame? He came out swinging his bat
round his shoulders as he took the mid-
dle from the umpire. Mostly a front-foot
batsman, he specialised on the off-drive
and lofted straight drives which went
over the ropes and within the Stands.
Like Keith Miller before him, he had six
appeal and he was a crowd favourite,
especially in India. Many of his best
innings were played on his two tours to
India.
He loved India and India loved him.
In 1972-73 he shone out as a batsman
playing unbeaten innings of 68 and 40
(and accepting five catches) in the Delhi
Test which England won by 6 wickets. In
the final Test in Mumbai, he hit 148.
During this innings he added 254 runs
with Keith Fletcher.
Greig achieved all-round success
when England toured the Caribbean the
next season. He scored 430 runs (includ-
ing two centuries) at 47.77 and captured
24 wickets at 22.62 runs apiece. In the
third Test in Bridgetown, he made 148,
his joint top score and bagged 6 for164,
becoming the first to record a hundred
and take five wickets in an innings of the
same Test for England.
Inspired, Greig scored another centu-
ry in the Georgetown Test and captured 8
for 86 and 5 for 70 in the final Test in
Port-of-Spain.
Both his 8 for 86 in that innings and
13 for 156 in the match were records for
England against the West Indies at that
time. On this tour he had switched from
swing to quickish off-spin which may
explain his success. This bowling bonan-
za enabled England to win the Test and
draw the series.
However, his copybook was blotted
somewhat by a controversy in the first
Test in Port-of-Spain. When West Indian
batsman Bernard Julien played the last
ball of the second day down the pitch,
Greig picked it up. Then observing that
Alvin Kallicharran was out of the crease,
he threw down the stumps and appealed.
Kallicharran was given run out by umpire
Sang Hue and the crowd was furious.
After long consultations between cap-
tains, umpires and administrators, the
appeal was withdrawn. Greig apologised
and peace was restored.
He carried his fine batting form in
Australia in 1974-75, playing a bucca-
neering innings of 110 against Dennis
Lillee and Jeff Thomson at their peak.
This was the first century in a Brisbane
Test by an England player since 1936-37.
He put in an impressive all-round per-
formance in the third Test in Melbourne,
scoring 60 in the second innings, lofting
off-spinner Ashley Mallett for a mon-
strous hit in the outer and taking valuable
wickets.
Appointed captain, Greig led England
to a successful tour of India in 1976-77.
England won the Test series 3-1 as he
totalled 342 runs at 42.75. His 103 in the
Kolkata Test, his 49th, was memorable as
he became the first one to achieve the
double of 3000 runs and 100 wickets for
England.
He led England in the historic
Centenary Test in Melbourne in March
1977 which attracted the largest collec-
tion of international cricketers in history.
Although England lost, Greig remained a
very popular player on and off the field.
At that time he was earning upwards of
50,000 a year from various cricket con-
tracts and allied business activities,
according to the late Christopher Martin-
Jenkins in World Cricketers (1996). He
was also certain of leading England for
many years.
Then was born Kerry Packers rebel
World Series Cricket (WSC) with Greig
as one of the key figures and he lost cred-
ibility with the establishment. Although
he was the captain of England, he trav-
elled the world between March and May
1977 to sign up many of the worlds best
cricketers on Packers behalf including
some of his own team-mates. The WSC
was born soon after and Greig was dis-
missed as captain of England for what
was regarded as his betrayal of trust
but he continued to play for them suc-
cessfully under Mike Brearley in 1977.
In 58 Tests he scored 3599 runs at a
healthy average of 40.43 with eight cen-
turies and took 141 wickets at 32.20,
claiming 5 wickets in an innings six times
and pouched 87 catches. He was one of
the four cricketers who averaged more
than 40 with the bat and under 35 with
the ball in Test arena, others being
Aubrey Faulkner of South Africa, the
West Indies legend Garry Sobers and
South African Jacques Kallis.
And in 350 first-class matches, he
amassed 16,660 runs at 31.19, took 856
wickets at 28.85 and held 345 catches. As
a slip fielder he was superlative, the
safest and the most brilliant of his era.
Well, his height helped too.
Greig migrated to Australia in 1978
and started as a chairman of an insurance
company and a successful television com-
mentator on Channel 9. Along with WSC
pioneers Richie Benaud and Ian
Chappell, Greig had been broadcasting
the game and presenting his views on the
box for 30 years. He spoke his mind
without fear or favour and remained pop-
ular with TV viewers from the time the
coin was tossed (with his key in the pitch
as his trade mark) to interviewing the
man of the match at the end.
One cannot speak for hours on end
without a gaffe here and there and Greig
was known for putting his foot in the
mouth on occasions. He was once 'caught
out' when commentating on Channel 9
during a one-day international between
Australia A and West Indies on the
Sydney Cricket Ground on 10 January
1996. When a batsman hit a sizzling six,
he yelled in excitement "It's a HUGE
sh*t" instead of "It's a HUGE six."
A lively after-dinner speaker, he told
a humorous story at a cricket function.
He had just started playing county crick-
et for Sussex after leaving South Africa.
The bowler steamed in and had Greig out
plumb lbw. That was the first ball he had
faced and to his relief the appeal was
turned down. He took a single off the
next ball which brought him near the
umpire who whispered to him: Do you
know Sandy Greig from Queenstown?
Hes my father, Tony replied. Damn
good decision, then! was the retort from
the umpire who was Sandys mate. Greig
went on to make 150-plus, captured
newspaper headlines and never looked
back.
Let me narrate a humorous anecdote
involving Greig and Sunil Gavaskar.
When Greig (67 tall) and Gavaskar
(55) were batting together for Rest of
World XI against Australia in a match in
1971, a woman asked ABC cricket com-
mentator Norman May: How do they
communicate each other with such a dif-
ference in height? Norman May replied:
By Morse code; one is a dash and the
other a dot!
Tony Greig will be remembered for
his tall frame, tall hits and tall (but true)
tales. With the passing of Peter Roebuck,
Vinay Verma and now Tony Greig, the
SCG Press Box will not look the same.
Rest in peace, Tony Greig.
Commentator and former England captain Tony Greig (left) is joined by New Zealand
captain Brendon McCullum and Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi at the start of a T20
match in Dubai.
Sharing the commentary box with former Indian skipper Saurav Ganguly.
Vale Tony Greig,
a larger than life all-rounder
Greig stands tall among All-rounders
No one will catch up with Sachin
T
ony Greig was an all-
rounder in many senses,
not just a top class bats-
man, bowler, fielder and cap-
tain. He was tri-national; born
in South Africa, played Test
cricket and captained England
and settled in Australia as a
unique cricket commentator on
Channel 9. He was a household
name, known not only to crick-
et-lovers.
His accent and style as a
commentator was imitated
around the world by young and
old, men and women; his key in
the pitch was a signature tune
that unlocked many doors of
apathy and rancour.
The purpose of this post is
to compare him statistically
with post-1950 great all-
rounders in more or less
chronological order: Keith
Miller, Vinoo Mankad, Trevor
Bailey, Richie Benaud, Alan
Davidson, Trevor Goddard,
Garry Sobers, Ian Botham,
Imran Khan, Kapil Dev,
Richard Hadlee, Wasim
Akram, Ravi Shastri, Chris
Cairns, Shaun Pollock,
Daniel Vettori, Andrew
Flintoff and Jacques Kallis.
In 58 Tests he scored 3599
runs at an average of 40.43
with eight centuries, and took
141 wickets at 32.20,
claiming 5 wickets in an
innings six times and pouched
87 catches.
*5w/I = 5 wickets per innings
There are three Indians (Mankad, Kapil and Shastri) in this list of all-time great all-rounders.
Of these 19 all-time great all-rounders post-1950, Greig has the third highest batting average (40.43) after Sobers (57.78) and Kallis (56.92).
B
e it Test cricket or one-day interna-
tionals (ODIs), no one will catch up
with the batting records of Sachin
Tendulkar, the once in a lifetime phenome-
non.
Now that he has announced his retire-
ment from ODIs, let us compare his batting
record with those of other great batsmen.
In 463 ODIs, he scored 18,426 runs at
an average of 44.83 and a strike-rate (SR)
of 86.23, hitting 49 centuries and 96 fifties.
He is 4722 runs ahead of the next best
batsman, Australias Ricky Ponting (13,704
runs at 42.03, SR 80.39 with 30 centuries
and 82 fifties in 375 ODIs).
They are followed by Sri Lankas
Sanath Jayasuriya (13,430 at 32.36, SR
91.20, 28 centuries and 68 fifties in 445
ODIs) and Pakistans Inzamam-ul-Haq
(11,739 at 39.52, SR 74.24, 10 centuries
and 83 fifties in 378 ODIs).
As all these players have retired they
cannot catch up with Sachin. The only one
who can, although I doubt it very much, is
South Africas all-rounder Jacques Kallis.
In 321 ODIs he has accumulated 11,498
runs at 45.26 (SR 72.97) with 17 centuries
and 85 fifties.
However he is a massive 6928 runs
behind Sachin. Also as Kallis is 37 year-
old, it is highly unlikely that he will
outscore the Indian maestro.
Apart from statistics, Tendulkar was a
match winner in many ODIs including
World Cups. I have never seen him happi-
er than when India lifted the World Cup in
Mumbai in April 2011.
Tendulkar also holds the batting record
in World Cups by a huge margin. In 45 WC
matches he amassed 2278 runs at 56.95
with six hundreds. He is way ahead of
Ponting (1743 runs at 45.86 in 46 WC
matches with five hundreds). They are fol-
lowed by West Indian Brian Lara (1225)
and Jayasuriya (1165). All four have
retired.
Kallis is still playing but is 1130 runs
behind Sachin the supremo.
The absence of Sachin was strongly felt
during the first ODI against Pakistan in
Chennai on 30th December when India lost
by 6 wickets.
But for MS Dhonis fighting century,
India would have been bowled out for under
60 as they were 5 for 29 at one stage on a
green pitch exploited by their fast bowler
Junaid Khan.
Now that he has announced his retire-
ment from ODIs, Sachin Tendulkar s
last one-day match was in the Asia Cup
on 18 March, 2012 in which he scored 52
in a six-wicket win against Pakistan.
Player Country Tests Runs Bat. Ave. 100s Wickets Bowl. Ave. 5w/i* Catches
Vinoo Mankad Ind. 44 2109 31.47 5 162 32.32 8 33
Keith Miller Aus. 55 2958 36.97 7 170 22.97 7 38
Trevor Bailey Eng. 61 2290 29.74 1 132 29.21 5 32
Richie Benaud Aus. 63 2201 24.45 3 248 27.03 16 65
Alan Davidson Aus 44 1328 24.59 0 186 20.53 14 42
Trevor Goddard S.Af. 41 2516 34.46 1 123 26.22 5 48
Garry Sobers W.I. 93 8032 57.78 26 235 34.03 6 109
Tony Greig Eng. 58 3599 40.43 8 141 32.20 6 87
Ian Botham Eng. 102 5200 33.54 14 383 28.40 27 120
Imran Khan Pak. 88 3807 37.69 6 362 22.81 23 28
Kapil Dev Ind. 131 5248 31.05 8 434 29.64 23 64
Richard Hadlee N.Z. 86 3124 27.16 2 431 22.29 36 39
Wasim Akram Pak. 104 2898 22.64 3 414 23.62 25 44
Ravi Shastri Ind. 80 3830 35.79 11 151 40.96 2 36
Chris Cairns N.Z. 62 3320 33.53 5 218 29.40 13 14
Shaun Pollock S.Af. 108 3781 32.31 2 421 23.11 16 72
Fred Flintoff Eng. 79 3845 31.77 5 226 32.78 3 52
Daniel Vettori N.Z. 112 4516 30.10 6 360 34.42 20 58
Jacques Kallis S.Af. 158 12980 56.92 44 282 32.57 5 192
The Kersi Meher-Homji Column
Not a single Indian makes it to
my Best Test XI of 2012
2
0 1 2
h a s
been a
mi s e r a b l e
year for
Indian crick-
et. The 2011
World Cup
c h a mp i o n s
who were at
one stage ranked
on top in Test
cricket that
year have
plummeted down, down, down.
Not only overseas but also
on home pitches made for
Indias strength; spin, spin,
spin.
In the previous few years,
many Indians could make it to
an imaginary World XI: Sachin
Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, VVS
Laxman, Virender Sehwag, MS
Dhoni, Anil Kumble, Harbhajan
Singh...
With the retirement of
Kumble, Dravid, VVS and the
lack of form from the others,
not one Indian can be included
in the Best Test Eleven of 2012.
Only Cheteshwar Pujara and
Virat Kohli can make it to the
Best Test squad of fifteen play-
ers.
But the final week of 2012
has provided some Christmas
cheer in Twenty20 cricket.
Left-arm all-rounder Yuvraj
Singh gave us something to cel-
ebrate, a much-needed blood
transfusion. And to think that
last year he was on chemothera-
py to battle cancer. He sure is
an inspiration to not only other
underperforming Indian crick-
eters but to us all.
After losing the home Test
series to England, Yuvraj was
behind Indias morale-boosting
fight back in the T20 interna-
tionals against England and
Pakistan. In four internationals,
he was made Man of the Match
twice and Man of the Series
once.
In the Pune T20 internation-
al against England last week he
captured 3 for 19 in four overs
and top-scored with 37 as India
won by five wickets. Although
India lost the next match in
Mumbai to draw the series 1-1,
he took 3 for 17 in four eco-
nomical overs.
Then started two T20 inter-
nationals against Pakistan, a his-
toric occasion as the neighbours
have not played each other in
India since 2005. India lost the
first match in Bangalore by five
wickets as Pakistan captain
Mohammad Hafeez hit 61.
But India gained revenge by
winning the next match in
Ahmedabad by 11 runs, thanks
to Yuvrajs magnificent 72 in 36
balls with four fours and seven
towering sixes.
Quickie Ashok Dinda also
contributed to this victory by
taking three crucial wickets.
A
s we welcomed 2013 with fire-
works, let me select the Best Test
XI of 2012. The selection criteri-
on is statistics-based for the calendar
year. The player should have played at
least nine Tests in 2012 to avoid an
average inflation.
No one will challenge my choice of
openers: Englands captain Alastair Cook
(1249 runs at 48.03 with four centuries in
15 Tests, highest score 190 run out) and
South Africas skipper Graeme Smith
(825 at 48.52 with three centuries in 10
Tests, HS 131). Under their leadership
their countries are ranked among Top 2 in
Test arena.
Well, Cook did not captain England in
all Tests in 2012 but he was behind
Englands marvellous recent series victory
over India in India, being adjudged Player
of the Series as England won their first
Test series in India since 1984-85.
South Africas bearded Hashim Amla
is the undisputed no. 3 bat having
amassed 1064 runs at 70.93 with four flu-
ent hundreds in 10 Tests, HS 311 not out.
One of the greatest all-rounders,
Proteas Jacques Kallis, will follow him at
no. 4. He made 944 runs at 67.42 with
four tons in 9 Tests, HS 224. He had dis-
appointing bowling figures; only 11 wick-
ets at 23.28 with 3-35 as his best figure.
But I have chosen him as a batsman.
Australian captain Michael Clarke had
a magnificent year, scoring most runs
(1595 at a Bradmanesque average of
106.33 in 11 Tests, HS an unbeaten 329,
three double hundreds and a century). He
is ranked no. 1 batsman by ICC Player
ranking. He will bat at no. 5.
There are three candidates for the no.
6 spot; Australias Michael Hussey,
Englands Kevin Pietersen and West
Indian Shivnarine Chanderpaul. As the
criterion is on stats, Chanderpaul gets in
as he averaged 98.70 in 9 Tests (HS 203
not out) compared to Husseys 59.86 in
11 and Pietersens 43.67 in 14.
Matt Prior of England is my first
choice as the wicket-keeper having dis-
missed most batsmen in 2012; 36 (29
caught and 7 stumped in 15 Tests). The
next best is South Africa-born New
Zealander CFK (Kruger) van Wyk (23+1
in 9). Prior also scored 777 runs at 38.85
with 91 as his top score.
Now to the bowlers:
Sri Lankas slow left-arm orthodox
bowler HMRKB (Rangana) Herath has
not only the most initials before his sur-
name but also the most number of wickets
in 2012; 60 at 23.61 in 10 Tests, 6-43 as
his best. He has also captured 5 wickets
in an innings most times this year (7
times) as also 10 wickets in a match most
times (twice).
He was unlucky in the just ended
Melbourne Test as many catches were
dropped off his bowling. But what a catch
he took in that Test, the only highlight of
the Lankans deplorable display!
Englands off-spinner Graeme Swann
came close; 59 wickets at 29.93 (6-82 as
his best) in 14 Tests. Pakistan offie Saeed
Ajmal had impressive figures of 39 wick-
ets at the best average of 20.56 in 6 Tests
but he does not meet my criterion of a
minimum of 9 Tests.
On figures for 2012, Ill give the new
ball to James Anderson of England (48
scalps at 29.50 in 14, best 5-72) and VD
(Vernon) Philander of South Africa (43
wickets at 21.11 in 9, best 6-44).
Although Dale Steyn, the express fast
bowler from SA, is ranked no. 1 by the
ICC ranking, his stats of 39 scalps at
29.71 in 10 Tests are inferior to
Andersons and Philanders.
Here is my 2012 Test XI in batting
order:
Cook, Smith (captain), Amla, Kallis,
Clarke (vice-captain), Chanderpaul, Prior
(wk), Swann, Anderson, Philander and
Herath.
Thus there are four each from
England and South Africa and one each
from Australia, West Indies and Sri
Lanka. No one from India, Pakistan, New
Zealand and Bangladesh could make my
XI.
12th man: Steyn.
Reserves: Ajmal, Mike Hussey,
Cheteshwar Pujara and Pietersen.
Sadly not a single Indian gets in my
Test XI of 2012 and only one, Pujara in
my Test XVI.
Pujara scored 654 runs at an excellent
average of 81.75 with three centuries, top
score an unbeaten 206. But he played
only six Tests so does not qualify for my
final XI selection.
Other Indian batsman to consider was
Virat Kohli (689 runs at 49.21 with three
centuries in 9 Tests). But those selected in
the XI had better statistics.
Spinners Ravichandran Ashwin (37
wickets at 37.75 in 8 Tests) and Pragyan
Ojha (33 wickets at 25.96 in 6) were con-
sidered but no way they could displace
Swann and Herath.
Hope 2013 is a better year for India as
2012 was most forgettable.
India tumbles from bad
to worse in 2012
W
ish we can press the delete button in real
life as we do on the computer keyboard!
Everything was roses and glories for
Indian cricket till 2 April 2011 when they won the
World Cup with Virender Sehwag, Sachin
Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Zaheer
Khan and others in sparkling form, led boldly and
inspirationally by MS Dhoni.
Then on, it was from sublime to not-so-good to
ridiculous. The slide has been dramatic in all forms
of the game, especially in Tests.
In June-July 2011 India (without Tendulkar)
India narrowly beat West Indies in the West Indies
in Tests (1-0), one-day internationals (3-2) and T20
(1-0). Not bad but not worthy of World Cup cham-
pions and a team ranked highly in Test arena. Then
the real slide started in England, losing the Test
series 0-4. Worse was to follow in Australia, losing
the Test series 0-4 as also not making the final in
the ODIs losing to both Australia and Sri Lanka.
They really went down under in down under!
But Indians consoled themselves. Their record
is usually terrible overseas but terrific at home. Let
England visit India and well slaughter them,
seemed to be their catch phrase. We have not lost
to them since 1984-85, revenge will be sweet, the
players and selectors appeared to hum in unison.
And it went according the script in the first Test
in Ahmedabad in November when India thrashed
England by 9 wickets. Sehwag scored a quick-fire
century and Cheteshwar Pujara a magnificent 206
not out. Left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha took 9
wickets in the match. And we chanted: Happy days
are here again! The retirements of master batsmen
Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman was not even felt.
We may be mice overseas but we are tigers at
home, reported the cricket writers.
But instead of roaring in the remaining three
Tests in Mumbai, Kolkata and Nagpur, they rolled
like obedient pups at the hands of England batsmen
Alastair Cook, Kevin Pietersen, Jonathan Trott and
bowlers Graeme Swann, Monty Panesar and
Jimmy Anderson. Thanks to Cooks clever captain-
cy and their spin twins Panesar and Swann,
England won by10 wickets in Mumbai and 7 wick-
ets in Kolkata. By drawing the last Test in Nagpur
England won the Test series 2-1, their first Test
series win in India in 27 years. To add to these
woes, there is acrimony between skipper Dhoni and
opening batsman Gautam Gambhir. Recently,
Dhoni described Gambhir as a selfish cricketer.
Remember -- united we roar and soar, divided
we sink and stink.
Yuvraj Singh smashed seven
sixes in his 72 in the
Ahmedabad T20 against
Pakistan,
levelling the series 1-1.
Cheteshwar Pujara is the only Indian in
Kersis Best Test team,
that too as a reserve.
Yuvraj provides Christmas cheers for
down-in-the-dumps Indian cricket
Cyrus Pestonji, an undefeated champ
Surprise, surprise,
Kohli is the
International
Cricketer of
the Year
H
e represented Punjab
(Pakistan) in both cricket
and table tennis (TT) in the
1970s. He played with and against
Pakistan Test cricketers Imran Khan,
Majid Jehangir Khan, Mohsin Khan
and Wasim Raja in Lahore and with
Greg Matthews, Dave Gilbert and
Dirk Welham in 1980s in Sydney
Grade cricket.
He is Cyrus Pestonji. He still
remembers hitting the great Imran
Khan for two consecutive fours in a
match. It was a pleasure interviewing
him for The Indian Down Under.
Cyrus has been playing cricket
and TT for the Australian
Zoroastrian Association (AZA)
teams since 1981, hitting a century in
the Indian Cultural Tournament in
1990 against a strong St Patricks
team and many unbeaten 40s and 50s
for AZA matches. In local TT tour-
naments for AZA, Cyrus has
remained unbeaten for 30 years. At
one stage he averaged 168 with the
bat.
Cyrus was also invincible in
Lahore YMCA TT tournament ever
since he was 13.
He comes from a sporting fami-
ly. His grandfather Burjor
Machliwalla had represented India in
cricket and his father Jal Pestonji in
hockey. My first cricket match was
for Parsees in Lahore when I was 11
and others were aged over 20. I
remember the opposition captain
asking his fast bowler to bowl slow-
ly in case I got hurt. But after the
first over and a few fours, he told the
bowler, Bowl as normal!
I vividly remember an inter-
school match which included a huge,
tall and fearsome fast bowler. Our
opening batsman was soon bowled
by this monster bowler and I went in
to bat at no. 3. I was apprehensive
but remained outwardly calm. The
next thing I knew, the ball was on its
way to the fence. This was the start
of an understanding that bigger and
faster is not always better, and tech-
nique and self-confidence are very
important.
His father Jal and future father-
in-law Boni Marolia (captain of
Lahore Parsees) got him interested in
cricket, TT, badminton and hockey.
In college I had former Pakistan
Test cricketer Nazar Mohammad as
the team coach. He helped me to
develop the finer points of cricket
and mental toughness. [Nazar
Mohammad had scored a century for
Pakistan against India in the
Lucknow Test in 1952 as Hanif
Mohammeds opening partner.]
Cyrus went on to score many
centuries and capture many wickets
for Punjab in Lahore and for
Western Suburbs in Sydney.
I do remember the century I hit
for Western Suburbs in grade cricket
as it was something special for me.
We were chasing a big total of 305
against Sydney XI and were 6 down
for 129 when I went in to bat, star-
ing a big defeat. I remember telling
myself to remain calm. At the end of
the day I was 122 not out with my
team winning by three wickets.
His other sporting triumphs:
He was ranked Punjab no.1 in
TT in 1970s, represented Punjab TT
team in Interstate championships and
his University in both cricket and
TT. He earned Sportsman of the
Year award in University. But for
studies and work commitment he
could have played first-class cricket.
The soft spoken Cyrus has a
degree in electronics from Lahore
University. He arrived in Sydney in
1981and obtained an MBA from
Macquarie University, Sydney.
Playing 2nd grade for Western
Suburbs under the captaincy of Test
all-rounder Greg Matthews, he hit a
match-winning century against
Sydney as described before.
He represented Indo-Australian
Cricket Club and Western District
TT Association in Sydney Grade
championships.
The best advice I received was
from my wife Khursheeds uncle
Bejan. I represented the Lahore
Parsee team when 11. We were chas-
ing a score of over 200 and were 7
for 70. When I commented that its
all over now, he told me, Cyrus,
this is cricket, you never say die.
He went in and won the game for us.
I have not forgotten that lesson.
Happily married and father of
sports-loving sons Sheriar and
Asfandiar, Cyruss favourite memo-
ry is hitting the legendary Imran
Khan for boundaries off consecutive
balls.
P
ublishers Internationale
recently launched TopOrder,
Australias first luxury crick-
et lifestyle magazine. The premium
quarterly publication is an official
licensed product of Cricket
Australia and will be available
exclusively to subscribers from the
Australian Cricket Family, the offi-
cial membership of Cricket
Australia.
The annual subscription is
$35.80 for all four issues.
TopOrder reflects the very best
that Australian living has to offer,
with expert coverage of food, wine,
travel, motoring and cricket, says
the press release.
The first Indian themed issue
features a host of leading names,
some with personal insights of the
game such as Test and ODI great
Brett Lee, who reveals his enduring
fascination with India, as well as
non-cricketing personalities with a
deep respect and love for the game
such as culinary icon Shannon
Bennett. James Sutherland, Cricket
Australia CEO, welcomed the
arrival of the new magazine:
We are tremendously positive
about the launch of TopOrder and
believe that the magazine will offer
fans something truly different and
enrich both their love of cricket and
their personal lifestyles.
Few countries can match the
passion for cricket that we see in
Australia and we are fortunate that
the game is supported at grass-roots
level by such huge numbers of fans
through the Australian Cricket
Family.
We feel that TopOrder will be
of great relevance for many of those
fans and we look forward to offer-
ing them a first-rate publication,
which will inform and entertain in
equal measure.
Following on from the first
Indian themed issue this month,
TopOrder editorial will continue to
be influenced by the Australian Test
team tour destinations with a Great
Britain issue in April, the West
Indies in July and Australian sum-
mer in October.
T
he passing of former Test cricketer
Rusi Surti has saddened me as he was
a personal friend. I found him straight-
forward who would take no nonsense from
anyone yet went out of his way to help a
friend.
He passed away on 13 January in Jaslok
Hospital after a massive stroke in Mumbai
aged 76. An elegant left-hander, he was
referred to as poor mans Garry Sobers. He
could bat like a millionaire, bowl like a miser
and field like a superman. He was Indias first
agile fielder.
To see him perform in the middle was like
sipping a glass of champagne, lots of bubbles
and fizz with a glorious after-taste.
Even a short innings by Rusi gave endless
pleasure as this short-tempered Parsi was a
brilliant cricketer, a panther on the prowl.
When he toured Australia and New
Zealand in 1967-68 under Nawab of Pataudi,
we saw a mature Surti, not flashy but dogged-
ly consistent. He outscored all Indians on that
combined tour by scoring 688 runs at 45.87 in
eight Tests.
In the final Test against New Zealand at
Auckland he made 99, which sadly remained
his highest Test score. Summed up New
Zealand writer Dick Brittenden, Surti looked
the best of them as a batsman and compar-
isons made with Garry Sobers were in many
respects valid. For watchfulness and sub-con-
scious elegance, he stood alone.
The next season he was invited to play
Sheffield Shield for Queensland, the first
Indian to be asked. Soon he was hitting head-
lines. Against Western Australia in Perth in
1969 he scored 63 and took six wickets
including the hat-trick.
It was the first hat-trick taken by a
Queensland bowler in Sheffield Shield. In
1980s he represented Australia in an indoor
cricket match as a wicket-keeper, something
even the great Sobers did not achieve in his
career!
Rusi was a respected coach for top clubs in
Queensland.
We hosted him when he visited us in
Sydney. He enjoyed dhan-saak (a delectable
Parsi cuisine) cooked by my wife who also
taught his sons Percy and Kaizad prayers for
their Navjote.
When I asked him about his most exciting
moment in cricket he mentioned neither a Test
nor a Shield match.
My finest hour was in1975 as a batsman
in the semi-final of Channel O Knock-out
Tournament. This thrilla on Gabba was
played between Easts and University. The
ending was nail-biting. Universities made 175
and we were in strife at 5 for 58 when I
entered.
But soon I pulled my leg-muscle and
retired. I returned as last man as Easts needed
41 to win in 27 balls. In a dramatic countdown
we added 16 runs in one over, 13 by me.
Frank OCallaghan wrote in Courier Mail,
Surti was in charge, dominating the strike
like a military strategist. He would have
made an excellent T20 player.
I
ndias young batsman Virat
Kohli has won the
International Cricketer of
the Year award on 4 January
2013 at CEAT cricket awards
in New Delhi.
Although a big Kohli fan,
this came as a surprise to me
that he was selected ahead of
Australias Michael Clarke, Sri
Lankan Kumar Sangakkara,
consistent South African bats-
man Hashim Amla and
Englands Alastair Cook for
this top honour.
Kohli, however, could not
make it to the event and former
Pakistan captain and bowling
legend Wasim Akram collected
the award on his behalf.
Pakistan was named as the
Best International Cricket team
in the 2011-12 season. But hey,
what about South Africa and
England?
What were the criteria for
selection? I am surprised, nay,
shocked.
Australias first luxury cricket
lifestyle magazine launched with
an India themed issue.
Virat Kohli
Cyrus Pestonji represented
Punjab (Pakistan) in both
cricket and table tennis.
Cricket magazine TopOrder is launched
Vale Rusi Surti, poor mans Garry Sobers
Rusi Surti and (right) Kersi and Surti
together in their younger days.

Indian Down Under - February 2013

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