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Indo AmerIcAn news • FrIdAy, Ay, A noVemBer 26 , 2010 • Online editiOn: www.indOn: www.indO Oamerican-news.cOm

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Friday, November 26 2010 | Vol. 29, No. 48 $1

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THIS WEEK

Rama Vaidyanathan’s Dance Recital Steeped in Bhakti and Artistry

Houston Cricket: LCC Wins HTBC Kannan Memorial Tourney

Life Chang-ing Innova-tions Win $50,000 Tech Awardsto MannarVenkatesh

Carmelo’s Restaurant - Carmelo’s Restaurant - Carmelo’s RestaurantItalian Cuisine Meets Youthful Exuberance

Bhagwad Gita Joins the Bible in Houston-Area Hotel rooms

Look east, to India, for the Land of opportunityBy Jy Jy awahar Jawahar J Mawahar Mawahar alhotra

HOUSTON: In the third of the “Think India, Think Houston (or Harris County)” series of seminars and presentations held this year by the Indo American Chamber of Commerce of Greater Houston, the focus of the recent half-day affair at the Westin Galleria on Thursday, November 18 was once again on Doing Business With India. About 250 people came for the event that started with breakfast at 8am and ended at 2pm after a breakout ses-sion that explored the opportuni-ties and challenges unique to the Indian market. Responding to past criticism that speakers were taking too long, the Chamber had institut-ed ringing a reminder bell 8 min-utes into the speaker’s allocated 10 minute time.

This event was supported by the Consulate General of India and af-Consulate General of India and af-Consulate General of India and after a welcome by IACCGH Execu-tive Director Jagdip Ahluwalia and President Madhukar Prasad, Con-sul General Sanjiv Arora delivered the now familiar opening remarks about the stature and growth of the Indian market which offered many opportunities for foreign invest-ment. He was followed by Harris County Judge Ed Emmett, who is a friend of India through he frequent travels there and by Patrick Ox-ford, the President of the Greater

Bauer College of Business at the University of Houston, who ably plied the way for each panelist to explain their perspective and then recapped it for the benefit of the audience before handling the ques-tion and answer sessions.

Ramchand stated that GDP growths in India once again ap-proaching the 9% and above mark, and projected to stay that way for several more years, This has led to foreign investment into India to rise to $$13bn and a increase in the Indian middle class to 30% and President Obama to state on his recent trip there that “India has emerged.”

The first panel dealt with the ex-perience of three American firms which have been doing business with India for awhile. But, to start it off was Atul Sharma, the Region-al President of the Indo American Chamber of Commerce, NIC, In-dia based in New Delhi. Sharma is also the Managing Partner of Legal Link, a corporate and commercial law firm based in India.

“India is a land of opportunity and the market is humungous,” he said and then explained how India had moved from hard core policy to a regulated regime, illustrating it with how the telecom, electricity, insurance industries and airports

From left: IACCGH President, Madhukar Prasad; Consul General Sanjiv Arora; Harris County Judge, Ed Emmett; President of Greater Houston Partnership, Patrick Oxford; and IACCGH Executive Director, Jagdip Ahluwalia at the Doing Business in India event. Photos: Bijay Dixit

continued on page 4

By Ky Ky ate Kate K ShellnuttHOUSTON (Chronicle): Pull

open a drawer in some Hous-ton hotel rooms, and beside your room-service menu and Gideons Bible, you might find a copy of the Bhagavad Gita.

The sacred Hindu text is mak-ing its way into nightstands across the country through a campaign to spread the scripture and aware-ness about Lord Krishna, the deity believed to have spoken the philo-sophical teachings millennia ago.

A local Hare Krishna temple has placed about 7,000 copies of the Bhagavad Gita in more than 100 hotels and motels in the area.

The project has been successful because of the number of Indian hotel owners who are familiar with the text and happy to place copies in their rooms as a way to share the

with them.Across Houston and its suburbs,

the Bible is about as familiar and accessible as a phone book, but most people haven’t heard of the Bhagavad Gita and probably can’t even pronounce it.

“It probably will surprise people to see a Gita. We’re new enough that we haven’t gotten a whole lot of feedback,” said Sarvabhauma Dasa, a spiritual leader at the In-ternational Society for Krishna Consciousness temple in Garden Oaks, which is helping sponsor the Bhagavad Gita distribution locally. “Some Americans might be less open-minded to some scriptures, but I think Americans are becom-ing much more broad, and accep-tance has really grown. Maybe 20 years ago, the acceptance wouldn’t

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Katrina Gets Own Barbie DollKatrina Gets Own Barbie DollMattel India, the global leader in toys, presented actress Mattel India, the global leader in toys, presented actress Katrina Kaif with a one-of-a-kind Barbie doll specially crafted in Katrina Kaif with a one-of-a-kind Barbie doll specially crafted in her likeness. The Barbie doll created by skilled designers cap-her likeness. The Barbie doll created by skilled designers cap-tures the popular Bollywood actress’ famous signature style tures the popular Bollywood actress’ famous signature style showcased at the ‘Barbie All Doll’d Up’ as a part of Barbie’s showcased at the ‘Barbie All Doll’d Up’ as a part of Barbie’s 50th Birthday Celebrations. Katrina Kaif is the first Bollywood 50th Birthday Celebrations. Katrina Kaif is the first Bollywood icon to be crafted in the form of a Barbie doll.icon to be crafted in the form of a Barbie doll.

Houston Partnership who has seen a steady increase in trade, espe-cially at the Port of Houston, for between India and the Bayou City.

The thrust of the half-day pro-gram were two panel discussions

and a speech over lunch by Vik Malhotra, Chairman of the Ameri-cas for the consulting firm of McK-insey & Co. The panel discussions were moderated by Dr. Lata Ram-chand, an Associate Dean at the

universal truths of their faith.Indian-Americans make up

about 5 percent of the popula-tion but own about 40 percent of hotels and motels in the country, according to the Asian American Hotel Owners Asso-ciation.

The Best Western at Inter-The Best Western at Inter-The Best Western at Interstate 290 and FM 1960 was one of the first local proper-one of the first local proper-one of the first local properties to provide the Bhagavad Gita to visitors. According to owner Alex Patel, the project has worked well in his 57-room motel so far.

“People get to read a dif-“People get to read a dif-“People get to read a different kind of holy book, and they like it,” Patel said. Guests ask him questions about the story from time to time, and he assures them they can take the text continued on page 4

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HsA Fundraiser: Helping make Hinduism cool on campusesBy Jy Jy awahar Mawahar Mawahar alhotra

HOUSTON: At the end of the program, it was Ankita Mehta who put the whole evening together as she stood by the exit of the Ashi-ana restaurant banquet hall. Eager to put it in perspective and with a conviction borne of her experience on the UT Austin campus where she studies, she disputed the no-tion that the local Indian student organizations held Hindu culture together on special occasions like Diwali.

“Sure, if your idea of Diwali is just holding a function with a fashion show and Bollywood music and dancing,” said Ankita, “but we really do more of what’s relevant to the festival. When we held a Diwali function with a puja and prayers, almost a 400 people showed up and there were 1,500 for Navaratri.”

It was startling to hear that reli-gious Hindu functions could draw such a crowd on a college campus, long associated with secularism, cramming for exams and partying of the boisterous type. Although other groups like the Muslims, Christian and Jews do hold prayers and vigils for their followers, the Hindus have traditionally held onto the secular traditions when celebrating their festivals. “There is a huge vacuum, a dark hole for these kids when they leave the tra-ditions imbibed at home and go to college,” remarked Girish Naik, President of the Hindus of Greater

Houston over dinner. “And, there is a need.”

For many Hindu leaders in the Bayou City, this has been a source of consternation as they searched for the next generation of leader-ship to take them forward even as their own ranks face retirement in their twilight years. And so, nearly a year ago, with some urging and support from these elders, a group of young, energetic and focused college aged students started up a new group, the Hindu Students Association, that has since gone statewide with five branches and one each at LSU in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and the University of Arkansas. Another is ready to open at the University of Arizona.

The group coalesced their philos-

ophy over a period of a year with a retreat and meetings to develop the projects that would best help them propel their goal of keeping Hin-duism alive on college campuses by offering venues for awareness and interaction and debunking myths. And the success of their efforts was borne out by the large attendance at Diwali pujas held on the campuses just two weeks ago. Sensing greater interest, the HAS plans to add another seven branch-es nationwide in 2011.

“When we started in 2009, some branches were dying due to low participation,” explained Varun Mehta, the President of HAS, who is better known as Sunny. In a dark suit and tie and articulating his ideas with the help of a Power-

point presentation, Mehta and the President of the UT Austin branch, Kavita Pallod took turns is ex-plaining their plans for the com-ing year to nearly 60 guests who were invited to the fund raising dinner this past Friday, November 15. Their goal of raising $80,000 for next year’s efforts was over a third filled by the time the night was over.

The well-thought out plan out-lined how a national board of directors would oversee the cre-ation of districts and branches of the nascent organization and then reinvigorate the lure of Hindu-ism through local and nationwide programs, “HAS was conceived because there was not other group that unified or catered to the spiri-tual and cultural needs of the large Hindu populations on campus,” continued Mehta, who is the son of Dr. Satish and Suman Mehta of Houston (Ankita is their younger daughter). “We wanted to develop interfaith dialogue, provide a place for bhakti, yoga and spirituality that would serve the entire popu-lation,” added Pallod, who is the daughter of local Hindu activists, Vijay and Sushma Pallod.

As the presentation unfolded, it showed how each word in the organization’s name had a special significance for the founders and how they would use technology to spread a feeling that Hinduism could not only be relevant to the lives of college students but could

also be cool. Three of the main-stays of the outreach are a Hindu Awareness Week, Quickfire vid-eos, and short 30-sec mantras that are easy to remember as they are set to music and imagery, like the example shown of the Shanti Path that was immediately captivating.

The elders among the guests could scarcely contain their delight at the formation and efforts of the new group. “This is a dream come true for the youth and Hindus,” exclaimed Devinder Mahajan, the President of the Arya Samaj of Houston as he pledged $10,000 in support for the HAS. “I only request that you also make some connections with high school stu-dents too.” Others also spoke in support and pledged amounts, like Ramesh Bhutada and his son Rishi who is the President of the Hindu American Foundation.

Others from the HAS spoke of their own experiences and efforts, including Ramya Ravi and Rashi Jawade, a practicing attorney from Maryland who has thrown her support for the group as a Direc-tor and flew down for this occa-sion and Atul Agrawal. In his brief remarks, Vijay Pallod, who was mentioned many times through-out the night for his tireless sup-port, both financial (he pledged $11,000) and intellectually, ex-pressed his dismay that not more people had turned out for the fund raiser and promised to gather ten

At the fundraiser for the Hindu Students Association were some of the directors and officers. From left, Kavita Pallod, Atul Agar-wal, President Varun Mehta, Ramya Ravi and Rashi Jawade. Photo: Vijay Pallod

continued on page 5


4 Online Edition: www.indoamerican-news.comIndo American News • Friday, November 26 , 2010 s o c i e t y

and ports had been transformed and that infrastructure was the next big market. He cautioned though, that setting up a company in India is easy, but winding it down takes 7 to 10 years, “and sometimes they never die”, using Satyam and Modiluft (now Spicejet) as ex-amples. Sharma believes that un-til small and medium size foreign firms jump into the Indian market, there won’t be substantial growth in foreign investment.

He was followed by Pankaj Dhume, a Vice-President at BMC Software and President and CEO of its Indian branch for the last 9 years in Pune, just north of Bom-bay, home to many software com-panies and has also become India’s Detroit with factories for Tata Mo-tors, Mercedes Benz and Volkswa-gen. “India has a large population that is very young,” said Dhume, “You just have to go there to feel the pulse.” In his experience, In-dians are never in a hurry, some-how meet seemingly impossible deadlines, can at once size up a Non Resident Indian as being a foreigner and are always trying to sell you something. “But, even as you are doing business,” reminded Dhume, “don’t forget to have a good time. Just one trip there will change you.”

Next came Sanjaya Sood, a Vice President at Schlumberger, who was CEO of its Indian operations for 8 years till the late 90s. He re-lated how the company had started in India in 1933, 6 years after it had invented its drilling technology and explained how, along the way till now; Schlumberger had invest-ed in and started other companies, later divesting them, like SIM card (producing nearly 90% of those used in the Indian market). He ex-plained that Schlumberger operates in India with multi-nationals as it does elsewhere in the world since it keeps the service to customers the same.

In his experience, even though India is a large market, the prod-uct or service needs to be tailored to the local needs, illustrating his point with a story about a meeting

with the Chairman of the Punjab State Electricity Board in Patiala, Sood’s hometown. “He looked worried, and finally said that the meters we were making and selling needed to have a battery in them,” recalled Sood. “I was flabbergasted since meters need electricity in or-der to run, so why would they need a battery!” Once installed though, his company’s meters gained wide acceptance.

The last panelist was Francene Young, Vice President of Human Resources for Shell who went over some company statistics as a lead-ing oil and gas producer, with 3.1bn barrels a day and 2009 income of $12.7bn. She explained how Shell was set up as Burmah Shell in 1928 in India and then later joined forces with Schlumberger in 1933. In the 1950s, Shell started the now ubiquitous LPG (liquefied propone gas) cylinders that are commonly used for cooking fuel. Shell also pioneered the use of bitchumen for paving of roads. In 1976, the company’s operations were taken over by the Indian government, and Shell only returned in 1994 through a joint-venture partnership which it hopes to wholly acquire soon. With its third largest research facility in the world in Bangalore, Shell sees huge potential in the Indian market. “My only regret is that, from a vantage point of tap-ping human talent,” said Young, “I wish we had not lost the 20 years we were away from India.”

Responding to a question about the migration of American capi-tal and jobs to India, the panelists said Indian companies had also reinvested $11bn in the US, there were a lot of Indian students in US universities and the overall effect would be difficult to predict, but no doubt there would be gradual ripples in the markets

Hurrying through an abbrevi-ated break in order to make up for a delayed schedule, the next panel dealt with the experience of Indian companies in Harris county, and af-ter introductions by Ramchand was led off by Jake Pyles, CFO of Seis-mic Micro-Technology, a company which specializes in software that allows the 3D recreation of deep underground geological formations through non-invasive ultrasonic resonance techniques, used quite commonly by oil and gas explora-tion companies. His 150 employee company has gone through high growth for the past 3 to 4 years and has various offices around the world, but still only a sales agent in India. “India is now a large con-sumer of cutting edge geoscience software,” he said, “and could be the next frontier as it is already the 4th largest energy consumer.” Pyles did not see any problem with IP infringement in India, found the country easy to work in, but com-plained that the turnover rates were very high as his product required a lot of education. “India will teach you patience,” he quipped.

The next panelist was Mike Hildeb-rand, Vice President Marketing for Ma-hindra USA, which has its office off the North Beltway. Started in 1945 to manufacture jeeps in India for the US Army, Mahindra and Mahindra branched out into building and selling tractors and now sells 200,000 units to farmers there and has become the number one pro-ducer of tractors worldwide. Along

the way, Mahindra has become a multi-diversified company and was an early adapter to expanding overseas, buying the International Harvester tractor division in 1963 and opening up its US headquar-ters in Houston in 1994, creating 100 jobs, 10% of which are filled by Indian expatriates. “Indian trac-tors were built to replace an ox,” grinned Hildebrand, “and are still made with steel, no plastics, made in India for the US market.” Ma-hindra sells 10,000 units here and has tried to Americanize the brand through sponsorships and advertis-ing.

The last panelist was Koti Narasimham, the Country Man-ager for North and South America for Larsen and Tubro, India’s larg-est manufacturing and construc-tion company, “like a mini-Bechtel of India,” he smiled. L&T opened up its office in Houston 25 years ago to enter the hydrocarbons market and as one of a handful of firms worldwide that can produce heavy equipment and very large valves used in the industry, counts as among its clients many large American companies, with US operations contributing only 5% to the company’s bottom line, In Houston, since 2000, the firm has also operated as L&T Infotech, a software company specializing in enterprise applications employing 200 people locally in the West-chase area. “Our trend has changed

to doing business with Houston rather than Europe,” he said, “and a big draw for us here was the large Indian and international popula-tion.”

Over an hour long lunch which was sponsored by Schlumberger, the remaining audience heard from Vik Malhotra and his experi-ences in dealing with India, both as an economist and mostly as a consultant and advisor to compa-nies. Using a Powerpoint presen-tation, he rattled off many points that are commonly accepted as guiding principles for doing busi-ness in India, which are very dif-ferent from China’s growth. Five themes for sustained growth have become clear for India: younger demographics, massive urbaniza-tion, rise of the middle class, cli-mate change as in CO2 emissions and the rapid growth of the private sector. These are drivers for an ir-reversible trend to growth for the next 15 to 20 years, “although there would be ups and downs along the way. India will be the 3rd largest economy is short order.”

Malhotra later expanded on the 7 imperatives that McKinsey be-lieves must be dealt with to suc-cessfully enter and compete in the Indian market: visible and strong leadership, customization, innova-tive business models, major deals and partnerships, leveraging to extend to global markets, actively manage perception and regulation and develop and empower local talent.

At conclusion of the event after lunch, a breakout session was held for those who stayed on with Ahlu-walia as the coordinator and pre-sented by Nyamusi Igambi, a Se-nior International Trade Specialist with the US Department of Com-merce who outlined the pitfalls and rewards of doing business with India and the role that her agency could play in helping US firms who venture there.

The IACCGH can be reached at www.iaccgh.org. The Seventh Indo-US Economic Summit is planned for in New Delhi on February 11 and 12, 2011.

continued from page 1

IAccGH: Look east, to India, for the Land of opportunity

continued from page 1allow it.”

Even the Gideons International, a group that’s been placing religious texts in travelers’ rooms for more than 100 years, doesn’t look down at its bedside competition and con-tinues to see growing demand for Bibles, though they may not be the only spiritual reading material available. “We as Gideons have no exclusive rights to hotels,” spokes-man Mac Arvin said.

The Marriott hotel chain, found-ed by a Mormon, often slips cop-ies of the Book of Mormon into nightstands, and the nationwide Panchajanya Project has distrib-uted more than 100,000 copies of the Bhagavad Gita, mostly through economy hotels and motels.

sage and live a life like that. It’s not like you have to become a Hindu. You can just follow the teaching at home,” Puri said.

The Hare Krishnas are consid-ered one of the main outreach wings of Hinduism, according to Bryant. They are known for don-ning bright-orange robes to dis-tribute their texts and talk about their faith in public places, from bookstores and concerts to street corners. The guru who founded the Hare Krishna temple in Houston, Swami Prabhupada, emphasized the distribution of the Gita, calling it “the most important task in our society,” a way to share the knowl-edge and consciousness of Krishna, their god.

“For me, it reassures my faith. Every time I read it, I have a deeper understanding. Krishna is slowly revealing the knowledge to me,” said Manish Puri, who has orga-nized the Gita distribution across Houston. “This is essentially the Hindu Bible, but it’s also much more than that. It is a universal message.”

Puri has to keep up with demand for the scripture, raising money to buy more copies to replace the ones that get taken. He recounts stories of people who have become de-voted to Krishna after reading the books, whether just in the personal spiritual practice or through temple worship.

“Anybody can take up this mes-

The Bhagavad Gita is part of the great Sanskrit epic, the Mahabhara-ta, a vast ancient text that’s more than 1.8 million words long. It’s well known and well read across India’s regions and religions but holds a special significance for fol-lowers of Krishna, who believe it establishes him as the lord of lords, above other divine forms.

“The main interpretation is that the Gita is promoting a monotheis-tic message of devotion to Krishna as the Supreme Absolute Being, God the Father,” said Edwin Bry-ant, a professor at Rutgers Univer-sity who also teaches workshops about the Bhagavad Gita. “But there are differences as to whether Krishna is an incarnation of Vish-

nu, or Vishnu of Krishna between the sects.”

The Bhagavad Gita emphasizes spiritual duty and refuge in Krish-na while introducing concepts in-cluding a personal god, reincarna-tion, and the difference between the body and soul. Each Sanskrit line is transliterated and then writ-ten in English, with a discussion of the nuanced meaning of the text.

7,000 copies of Hindu text join Christian Bibles in area hotel rooms

From left: Jagdip Ahluwalia, Dr. Lata Ramchand, Francene Young, Madhukar Prasad, Vik Malhotra, Jeff Mosley, Jay Gurerro, Sanjaya Sood, Atul Sharma and Mike Hildebrand at the IACCGH seminar. Photo: Bijay Dixit

sharing space, sharing Faith with Bhagwad Gita in motels


5 Indo American News • Friday, November 26 , 2010 Online Edition: www.indoamerican-news.coms o c i e t y

second screening of Turbans now mandatory at U.s. AirportsBy Sunita SohraBJi

(Indiawest) Three civil liber-ties organizations say the rights of Sikhs in America are being further trampled upon as the Transporta-tion Security Administration rolls out a new policy which will man-datorily require all turbaned Sikhs to undergo three levels of security screening at U.S. airports.

The new policy was first un-veiled at a Sept. 21 meeting with representatives from the Sikh Co-alition, United Sikhs and the Sikh American Legal Defense and Edu-cation Fund, Kimberly Walton, TSA Special Counsel, and Margo Schlanger, officer for civil rights and civil liberties at the Depart-ment of Homeland Security.

That meeting was ostensibly held to discuss new advanced im-aging technology scanners – also known as backscatter x-rays - that are being rolled out throughout the nation’s airports. More than 750 such devices will be installed by next year, and allow TSA screen-ers to view a full-body, nude im-age of each passenger.

Advanced imaging technology enhances security by detecting both metallic and non-metallic threat items concealed under lay-

ers of clothing, says the TSA in an advisory to travelers displayed on its Web site. Scanners are designed to be able to detect explosive de-vices under several layers of cloth-ing.

But the civil rights organizations learned at that meeting that all tur-baned Sikhs would now have to undergo two additional compul-sory screenings in addition to the body scan, including examination by a hand-held metal detector and a turban pat-down.

Sikhs can elect to pat down

their own tur-bans, but will then have their hands swabbed for trace chemicals.

The TSA has long allowed its screeners to use their own discre-tion to determine whether a turban needs patting down. It defines this nebulous pol-icy under its dic-tates for “loose-fitting clothing” which can also re-quire a pat-down

at the screener’s discretion.Hansdeep Singh, senior staff at-

torney at United Sikhs, told India-West that though body scanners were specifically designed to de-tect explosive devices under lay-ers of clothing, TSA officials have said the technology cannot pen-etrate the many layers of a turban.

“We had been told that body scanners would be the solution to the issue of (turban) pat-downs,” he said, adding that AITs are the most-advanced imaging systems in the world.

Singh, who wears a turban, said that he is currently pulled aside for a secondary screening about 90 percent of the time. He will now have to undergo two additional screenings every time he flies.

“Sikhs are viewed as suspects and automatically suspected of wrongdoing by the general public who see these screenings every time they fly,” said Singh.

(The TSA) is “targeting a certain population in an attempt to make other passengers feel safe,” J.J. Singh, president of AllDocuments software in Redwood City, Calif., told India-West. “This extra layer of security is ridiculous.”

At a Sept. 23 hearing of the San Francisco Human Rights Com-mission, Singh and his eight-year-old son Josh testified to being rou-

tinely pulled aside for secondary screenings. Josh wears a small turban known as a patka.

A TSA advisory states that trav-elers who wear loose-fitting cloth-ing may also be subject to an ad-ditional pat-down during security screenings.

“This is a very problematically narrow policy and more upsetting because turbans are rarely loose-fitting,” Veena Dubal, staff attor-ney for the Asian Law Caucus, told India-West.

No defined policy exists about what constitutes “loose fitting clothing,” said Dubal. “It is com-pletely subjective,” she asserted, adding that it remained unclear whether the new policy of ad-ditional screenings for turbans would also be applied to hijabs.

To make Hinduism relevant on campus, make it cool Too

times as many next time. “Don’t worry about those

things,” he admonished the group, “you just go ahead and continue the fine work you are doing. Com-munity workers need to go out of their way to help our youth. From

Hindus of Greater Houston, we will do so with Tan (heart), Man (mind), and Dhan (money).”

The Hindu Students Association can be reached at [email protected] or on the web at hindustudent-sassociation.org.




Purchase Discount Zoo Tickets at any of the 33 Fiesta Mart stores. Visit the courtesy booth of Any Fiesta Mart to purchase an adult zoo admission for $9 and a child zoo ad-mission for $6. - IA News

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Houston science Group Formedscience Group FormedsHOUSTON: A

new science group is being formed in Houston with a view to encourage cooperation with individuals and institutions in in science and tech-nology in India, but its goals are not limited to India. It is expected that the group will meet periodically, sev-eral times in a year, to identify topics of current interest.

Each discussion will focus on a specific aspect of science/technology and will ex-plore ways of utilizing resources in Houston area to further its goals. Topics of interest include quality of teaching and research in science, environmental quality, intellectual property rights, ethical issues, limits of sci-ence and its applications, and promising areas of collaboration with India. Another area of interest is working with the Con-gress in Washington to promote issues of importance to science.

From left: Kamlesh Lulla, Robert Curl, Vishakha Shembekar, Krishna Dronamraju, and Ral Chhikara.

A preliminary meeting was held in Hous-ton recently to discuss the organization of the group and its goals. Those present included the Nobel Laureate and Rice University Professor Robert Curl, Dr. Kamlesh Lulla, Dr. Raj Chhikara, Dr. Vishakha Shembekar, and Dr. Krishna Dronamraju who hosted the meeting. The dates of future meetings and the topics to be considered will be an-nounced later on. Anyone interested should contact Dr. Krishna Dronamraju ([email protected]) for further information.

President obama obama o encourages Pratham’s efforts to Hold Government Accountableefforts to Hold Government Accountablee

During President Obama’s recent trip to India, he met Pratham Program Manager, Usha Rane who spoke about Pratham’s An-nual Status of Education Report (ASER). President Obama commended Pratham for its efforts and autographed a copy of the re-port, with the comments “good work.”

“ASER uses simple tools to empower people nationwide to test their childrens’ math and reading abilities, and then hold local government accountable to outcomes. With this data, ASER creates a Report, which surveys literacy in 570 districts and 700,000 children of India with citizen par-ticipation. Each year 25,000 volunteers do-nate 4 days of their time to gather the data for this report.” - Office of the Press Secre-tary, White House, November 6, 2010.

The day prior, President Obama sat shoul-der to shoulder with Pratham Chairman, Ajay

President Obama with Ajay Piramal of Piramal Enterprises & Anand Mahindra of Mahindra & Mahindra

Piramal and Pratham Founder and CEO, Madhav Chavan at a roundtable discussion on the collaborative ventures between US and India businesses, technology and social entrepreneurs.

President Obama with Pratham Founder Madhav Chavan .

In his remarks at the US India Business Council and Entrepreneurship Summit later that evening, President Obama stated, “These are steps we can take together to strengthen the economic ties between our nations - ties that hold incredible promise for our people and our future -- the prom-ise of new jobs, new industries and new growth

. . . I’m confident because we both recog-nize that knowledge is the currency of the future, and that we must give our children the skills and education that success re-quires in a global economy.”



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chak chak c de UTse UTse UT A Features 3-HoursA Features 3-Hourscultural cultural c show of show of s student Talentstudent Talents

By Py Py riya Priya Priya atelSAN ANTONIO: After a whole year of

fundraising at campus wide events and also organizing the Kite Festival, Holi and Gar-ba during Navratri, the Indian Cultural As-sociation at the University of Texas at San Antonio held its largest event on Saturday, November 15: the Second Annual Chak De UTSA. The nearly 3-hour long culture show is a showcase of talent from the UTSA stu-dent body played out to a capacity crowd at the Liu Auditorium and was absolutely free to all who came, including other South Asians and mainstream students. Sponsors for the show were Sarover Indian Restau-rant and Sara’s Salon.

The ICA is a two-year old organization that aims to promote ethnic tolerance and unity while creating awareness of South Asian culture and traditions among the stu-dent body of UTSA. Members of the ICA also performs community service by help-ing at soup kitchens, working in the Habitat for Humanity home building projects and volunteering at the Children’s Hospital.

Prior to the start of the show was a social hour with drinks and appetizers. The show began with the American National Anthem sung by Jixa Patel, Reena Patel and ICA

President Priya Patel. They were joined by Bijal Patel, Ameet Patel, Roshan Bhakta, Sanket Patel, Vihar Bhakta and Chris Miller to sing the Indian National Anthem. “Miller is a member of an Indian fraternity and part of his initiation rites were to learn the Indian National Anthem, “ giggled Priya in a tele-phone conversation.

Emcees for the show were Prathana Dhar and Aisha Ali who really got the crowd stirred up about the performances. Apart from the singers, the groups performed di-verse dances, ranging from Bhangra by the Republic of Bhangra at UTSA; Bollywood fusion; classical Indian and freestyle. This was followed by a Fashion Show which fea-tured 10 guys and 10 girls who walked the stage in various colorful styles.

Some of the participants who took part in the well-received event were Gopi Rama, Nirav Bhakta, David Garcia, UTSA For the Kids Foundation, Sai Sharat Kumar, Srikala Appana, Nazish Taj, Priya Patel, Nishi Ar-jan and Himroz Sidhu.

For more information on the ICA at UTSA, contact Priya Patel at 210-787-8844 or email at [email protected] or become a friend on Facebook at Indian Cultural As-sociation UTSA

Participants in the Fashion Show at the Indian Cultural Association Chak De UTSA event held at the University of Austin – San Antonio on November 15. In the center are emcees Aisha Ali and Prathna Dhar (in a hat). Photo: Prashanth Reddy

Indian-American, others others o charged for charged for c corruption, BriberyWASHINGTON (TOI): US investiga-

tors, who arrested an Indian-American couple on charges of bribing govern-ment officials, have seized an estimated $400,000 hidden inside a closet in their home. Owner of a number of liquor stores in Langley Park and surrounding neigh-bourhoods in Maryland, Amrik Melhi, 51, and his wife, Ravinder K Melhi, 49, were arrested by FBI on charges of bribing gov-ernment officials in exchange of favours.

Besides the Melhi couple, seven others including three police officials have been arrested on corruption charges.

“Police officers are given badges and

guns to prevent crimes, but these police officers allegedly used them to commit crimes,” said US Attorney Rod J Rosen-stein. The indictment unsealed early this week charges that the defendants agreed that Amrik Singh Melhi and others would pay police officers in exchange for them using their official authority to ensure the safe transport and distribution of untaxed cigarettes and alcohol in Maryland and Virginia. The indictment also seeks the forfeiture of $3.5 million, 25 properties, 13 vehicles and 84 bank accounts that alleg-edly are proceeds of crimes or were used to facilitate crimes.



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stoRy of MahatMa Gandhi

continued on page 9

national Tragedy Follows IndependenceAfter the defeat of Japan in Au

ational Tragedy Follows IndependenceAfter the defeat of Japan in Au

ational Tragedy Follows Independence-

gust 1945, Britain agreed to a planned withdrawal from India in friendship and with no bitterness. All through his life Gandhi had worked for unity between Hindus and Muslims, without much suc-cess. There was a large section of nationalist Muslim in the Congress but leaders of the Muslim League were drifting further and further away. Gandhi was not the man to give up hope, however, and he pursued his efforts to bring about a settlement. On the other hand, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, leader of the Muslim League, was hostile to the idea of unity. This is the con-cluding installment of the story of Mahatma Gandhi.

The Viceroy invited all leaders to Simla and tried to find a solution and bring about Hindu-Muslim accord. Jinnah would not agree to anything except a separate Mus-lim state of Pakistan.

Britain announced an election in India and the election was held. The Congress won most of the non- Muslim seats and the Muslim League won most of the Muslim seats. The deadlock continued.

“We can settle the Indian prob-lem in ten minutes if Mr. Gandhi agrees to the creation of Pakistan,” said Jinnah.

“Cut me in half,” cried Gandhi , “but do not divide India in two.”

He spoke to the deaf. In Febru-ary 1946, the British government sent a Cabinet Mission to India. It consisted of Lord Pethick-Law-rence, Sir Stafford Cripps and A.V. Alexander. The task of the Cabinet Mission was to study the situation and make recommendations. After careful consideration, the Cabinet Mission issued a statement pro-posing the withdrawal of British authority from India. They had the idea of a united India.

On August 24, 1946, the Vice-roy announced the formation of an Interim National Government to replace the Viceroy’s Executive Council. Jawaharlal Nehru was the Vice-President of the Interim Government. The Muslim League declined to join on the ground that it had not been given the right to nominate all the Muslim mem-bers.

After the installation of the In-terim Government, Gandhi was anxious to return to Sevagram, his ashram near Wardha, but the Congress leaders prevailed on him to stay longer in Delhi because they wanted his advice. Then the Muslim League decided to join the Interim Government and an announcement was made to that effect on October 15, 1946. Gan-dhi once again felt free to return to Sevagram. He was about to leave Delhi when news came of disturbances in Bengal. There was widespread communal rioting in Calcutta and in the Muslim ma-jority district of Noakhali in East Bengal, with murder, arson, loot-

ing, forced conversions, forced marriages, and abduction.

Gandhi was confused and grief-Gandhi was confused and grief-Gandhi was confused and griefstricken. Instead of returning to Sevagram, he set out for Noakhali to try to bring peace there. The communal riots spread. There were similar riots in Bihar and the Punjab. Several thousand were killed and injured. Gandhi was greatly distressed by these events. He tried to calm and reassure the people.

He walked from village to vil-lage and from house to house car-rying his message of peace. Wher-ever he was, there was peace, at least outwardly, but the general situation in India was worsening. Rioting spread from the towns to the villages. In Bihar the Muslims were suffering and Gandhi went there to instil courage into the Muslim minority. The situation in India was so dreadful that the Con-gress leaders realized that the best way open to them was to accept Jinnah’s demand for a division of the country. Nehru met Gandhi to inform him of this decision.

Gandhi asked him, “Is there no way out? No hope of a united In-dia?” Nehru was sad and grave. “Bapuji,” he replied, “unity is impossible... we have to accept it (division of India). Otherwise this deadly turmoil will never cease.” Gandhi bowed his head to hide his despair. On June 3, 1947, British Prime Minister Attlee announced the plan for partition. The Con-gress and the Muslim League ac-cepted it. For Gandhi it was a spir-itual tragedy. With infinite sadness he said, “All of India must accept Pakistan in loving resignation. We h the way to a friendly settlement.” Lord Louis Mountbatten, the last British Viceroy, was anxious not to delay the ushering in of inde-pendent

India and independentPakistan. He shortened the timelimit for the British to quit In-

dia.The date for the declaration ofIndian independence was fixed

for August 15, 1947.

Thus on August 15, 1947, India’s ational Tragedy Follows Independence

Thus on August 15, 1947, India’s ational Tragedy Follows Independence

long struggle and suffering for freedom was over. A new nation, although split in two, was born. Lord Mountbatten hailed Gandhi as “the architect of India’s free-dom through non-violence.” Gan-dhi had never given his approval to partition, but when it was done he accepted it and did everything possible for the attainment of Hin-du-Muslim friendship. Yet the ten-sion between Hindus and Muslims continued to increase. As a result of partition over 700,000 Hindus, Sikhs, and other non-Muslims, fearing the Muslims, in Pakistan left their homes and set out towards security in India. From India about the same number of Muslims, fear-ing the Hindus, left their homes for Pakistan. The miseries attendant on this mass migration, one of the greatest in history, were manifold.

One and half million people on the move were exposed to star-vation, disease, and death on the way. Gandhi was on his way to the Punjab when he stopped in Delhi, hoping to quell the riots that had broken out there. Gandhi’s gospel of forbearance and forgiveness to-wards Muslims marked him as a traitor in the eyes of many Hindu extremists. In the face of fanatical opposition, Gandhi redoubled his efforts and the major disturbances in subsided, but there were still disturbances here and there. Gan-dhi decided to do penance by fast-ing, which he thought would bring about a change in the attitude of the Hindu fanatics. The fast began on January 13, 1948. There was gloom all over India at the news of Gandhi’s fast. People thought that he would not be able to survive an-other fast.

The whole world watched as Gandhi, 78 years old, fasted to save his country from destruction. On January 18 a peace committee, representing all communities, met and signed a pact pledging unity and the protection of life, property, and faith to the Muslim minority. Gandhi was informed of the pledge and he broke his fast.

Gandhi was staying at Birla House. Every evening he held a prayer-meeting in the grounds. During his prayer-meeting on January 20, a bomb was thrown at him, but it missed its target.

Gandhi continued his prayer meeting as if nothing had hap-pened. “Bapuji, a bomb exploded near you,” said a voice. “Really?” Gandhi said. “Perhaps some poor fanatic threw it. But let no one look down on him.” On January 30, af-down on him.” On January 30, af-down on him.” On January 30, after a midday nap, Gandhi woke up at 3.30 p.m. The whole day he had had a stream of visitors. Sardar Pa-tel went to see him at 4 p.m. Nehru and Azad were to come after the evening prayer. Gandhi left his room at 5 p.m. and went towards the prayer hall. He passed through a cordoned-off path, accompanied

HIS LAST WALK: Mahatma Gandhi with his grand-daugh-ters Manu and Abha walkingtowards the prayer hall in New Delhi on January 30, 1948, a little before he was felled by an assassin’s bullet


9 Indo American News • Friday, November 26 , 2010 Online Edition: www.indoamerican-news.com s o c i e t y

continued from page 8by Manu and Abha, his grand-daughters. As he was walking along a youth came forward as if to seek his blessings.

But he stood in front of Gan-dhi and at point-blank range fired three shots in quick succession. All the bullets hit him. Gandhi fell, uttering the prayer, “Hay Ram.” Gandhi was dead. The assassina-tion gave the world a tremendous shock.

Nehru went on radio to tell the country of Gandhi’s death, his voice choked with emotion: “Friends and comrades, the light has gone out of our lives and there is darkness everywhere. I do not know what to tell you and how to say it. Our beloved leader, Bapu as we called him, the Father of the Nation, is no more. Perhaps I am wrong to say that. Neverthe-less, we will not see him again as we have seen him for these many

years. The light has gone out, I said, and yet I was wrong. For the light that shone in this country was no ordinary light. The light that has illumined this country for these many, many years will illu-mine this country for many more years, and a thousand years later that light will still be seen in this country, and the world will see it and it will give solace to innumer-able hearts.”

— Concluded

Gandhi: national Tragedy Follows Independencenational Tragedy Follows Independencen

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Visit www.indoamerican-news.com Today

rama Vaidyanathan’s rama Vaidyanathan’s r dance recital recital rsteeped insteeped ins Bhaktiteeped in Bhaktiteeped in and Artistry Bhakti and Artistry Bhakti

elocution through Abhinaya

By Ky Ky alyani Kalyani K GiriHOUSTON: Oftentimes perfec-

tion defies description; eminent Bharathanatyam dancer Rama Vaidyanathan’s recital Akhilam Madhuram was such. Replete with bhakti, magical choreography, cap-tivating abhinaya, and charismatic grace, her performance at the Jew-ish Community Center on Novem-ber 21, 2010, held a capacity audience of art lovers intoxi-cated by her arrant maverick footprint on the landscape of the arts. Boldly original with a flair for soulful drama, Va idyana than’s solo concert made for an auspicious beginning for the newly instituted non-profit, arts and culture-oriented or-ganization Samar-panam. The event was co-hosted by Bharathi Kalai Mandram.

Drawing from ancient sacred texts like the Madhurashtakam penned by sage/philosopher Vallab-hacharya, and po-ems by saint/social reformer Chait-anya Mahaprabhu, Maharaja Swati Tirunal, Meera Bai, Surdas, among oth-ers, Vaidyanathan recreated the life and times of the young Lord Krish-na of Mathura. Beginning with a piece from the Madhurashtakam, the dancer through the words of the poet, described Krishna’s in-herent sweetness and the sweet-ness in all of His activities; He never left Mathura, he still resides in that mystic land of Brajbhoomi, she conveyed. In Navarasa Mo-hana, Vaidyanathan eloquently portrayed the nine emotions from the perspectives of different peo-ple in relation to Krishna; the little

boys with whom He frolicked with joyous abandon, the villagers awestruck by His effortless feat of lifting the Govardhan Hill and pro-tecting villagers from the torrential rains, and the devas that knew that Krishna was divinity. Vaidyana-than showed the all-pervasive presence of Lord Krishna, saying

in her brief introduction, “Krishna is still with us. He never left!”

Simply exquisite was Vaidyana-than’s Jamuna Theer, a Swati Tirunal composition that lovingly and humorously depicted a dia-logue between little Krishna and His mother Yashoda. Krishna re-fuses to take the herd of cows to graze on the banks of the river Yamuna. Yashoda, surprised by His adamancy, cajoles and ques-tions but He repeatedly tells her

through a multitude of petulant gestures that He will not go to the river. Eventually He confides that the gopis on the riverbanks (obvi-ously overcome by the beauty of the divine child) pinch His cheeks and kiss Him mercilessly, and when He threatens to complain about their behavior to His mother,

they attempt to bribe Him with trinkets.

India-based Va i d y a n a -than’s cho-reography is empathe t ic , deeply tradi-tional, quirky, fresh, and in-imitable. For her the para-doxes work wonders. Flau-tist/composer for the pro-duction G. S. Rajan, vocal-ist Indu Nair, na t tuvanaar K. Sivakumar, and percussion by Arun Ku-mar accorded an excellent musical back-drop.

Samarpan-am, founded by dancer/guru/Artistic Director of the Nritya School of Dance, Pad-mini Chari, will endeavor to promote the cultural heri-tage of India

through quality dance and music programs, particularly among the younger generation.

Samarpanam hopes, in the com-ing years, to conduct cultural programs by talented youngsters from the community. President of Samarpanam is Kanchan Kabad, and Padmini Chari serves as Artis-tic Director.

For more information about Sa-marpanam, call 281-537-1044.

Phot

o: N

avin

Med

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music Ushers in Kaisika Dwadasi at sri meenakshi TempleBy Kalyani Giri

HOUSTON: The elaborately adorned gods Lord Vishnu and Lord Sundareswara and their divine consorts il-luminated by tiers of glimmering lamps, lis-tened as 108 musicians in melodious harmony sang their praises on the auspicious occasion of Kaisika Dwadasi. The Utsavam, or festi-val, that typically falls on the 12th day of the waxing moon during the Kaarthika month of November/December, was held on November 18 at the Sri Meenakshi Temple Society (MTS) Kalyana Mandapam. Spearheaded by resi-dent priest at MTS, Sri P. V. Narayanacha-ryulu three years ago, the event has captured the collective imagina-tion of local Indian classical music teachers, youth, and the communi-ty who gathers annually and ren-ders a pre-selected list of songs.

“Aside from human beings, all creatures can put forth only limited vocal tone. The elephant’s voice is Nishada, the horse Daivata, the ox Rishaba,” said Sri Narayanacha-ryulu. “Only human beings have been uniquely blessed with voices that can sing the saptha swaras, or seven notes, in three octaves. On this day of Kaisiki Dwadasi, if devotees sing chastely with proper pronunciation and with perfect sruthi/pitch at the lotus feet of the Lord, it is believed that god will reveal Himself to the devotee. If we offer tulasi and flowers to the Lord, light lamps, then devotees will be blessed for many genera-tions to come with prosperity and health,” added Sri Narayanacha-ryulu, a violinist and ardent music lover.

Distinguished gurus Anuradha Subramanian, Rajarajeshwary Bhat of the Swaralayam Arts Fo-rum, and Asha Bhaktavatsalam, and senior violinist Mahesh Iyer worked together and chose ten kritis that were rendered at the

event. The lyrics were notated, and meanings of the songs penned in and sent to all interested in partici-pating in the sacred event. Before the Utsavam the group of vocalists and musicians gathered for several practice sessions. Included in the evening’s repertoire was com-poser Muthuswamy Dikshitar’s beautiful ode Shree Bhargavi to Goddess Lakshmi, appropriately in the Raga Kaisiki.

“Tonight’s performance was a sangamam of Houston musicians with the divine witnesses. Attend-

ing a session of nama sankeer-thanam rekindles bhakthi in the devotees, simultaneously offering a pleasant and musical experience. We rarely get to attend an occasion when so many musicians of dif-ferent levels sing together,” said Chittoor Ramachandran, a devotee and community commentator who provided invaluable insights for this story.

Chairman of MTS, Dr. Go-palakrishnan was elated at the out-come of the event.

“This is getting to be the most

significant function hosts. The first year, we had just fifteen people at-tend. This year, we have over 160. We also included a more elaborate format with the pooja,” said Dr. Gopalakrishnan.

Tupil Narasiman, Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees at MTS, was equally enthusiastic about the festival.

“I’m impressed with the ambi-ance which is very pleasing,” said Narasiman.

Thara Narasimhan, a longtime devotee at MTS participated in the rendering of songs.

“We sing these divine songs to the Lord on this day. Usually mu-sic is performed for an audience to listen to. Today the deities are the only audience and we offer music with utmost devotion,” said Narasimhan.

For more information about temple events, visit www.meenak-shi.org.

Clockwise: 1. Meenaskhi Temple deities, 2. Extensive partici-pation of local youth at the event, 3. audience at the event, 4. mahaprasadam being served after the event.

Photos: Hibiscus Creations





JVB Preksha- Center Spread



JVB Preksha- Center Spread



By andy BhardwaJHOUSTON: The Houston Taped

Ball Cricket League (HTBC) recently held its awards func-tion at India House to recognize Award winners of the Infodat Cup (Spring) 2010 Tournament. This Tournament was re-named as the Sriram Kannan Memorial Tourna-ment in the memory of Sriram, who passed away in July in India due to cancer related cardiac arrest. The

Lcc wins spring HTBc Kannan memorial Tournament

The victorious team members from LCC: L to R: Alpesh, Bharath, Hemant (Co-Captain), Jawad (MVP-Finals), Basit, Praveen (Best Bowler), Goutham, Ramesh, Andy (Co-Captain), Amrish, and George.

The Tournament MVP, Ozy (CMCC) with Malla Reddy, President of Infodat, after receiving his trophies.

Winners Trophy went to LCC I as they won the Final over CMCC by a margin of 7 wickets. The awards were presented by: Infodat Presi-dent, Malla Mekala Reddy; India House Operations Manager, Sri Narayana; and Pramod Kulkarni, India House Council member and Indo-American News Editor.

The individual tournament tro-phy awards were:

Tournament MVP: Ozy

(CMCC); Best Batsman: Yesu (UCC I); Best Bowler: Praveen (LCC I); and Best Wicket-keeper: Hardik (JCC).

A note on the Finals: Under partly sunny skies, CMCC won the toss and elected to bat, but proceeded to lose wickets early and then at regular intervals. At one stage, CMCC were 55-7 and in danger of folding for less than 75 runs. But a magnificent rear-

guard action by Ozy with 38 invaluable runs (with 3 sixes), followed by a sensible 41 run last wicket partnership between Keyur and Hasnain saw CMCC manage a respectable 121 runs. Jawad with figures of 6-2-21-3 and Hemant with 3.1-1-6-2 were the pick of the LCC bowlers.

Faced with a tar-get of 122 runs, LCC I managed to add 22 runs under increas-ingly cloudy conditions before losing their 1st opener. With a change of ends after 4 overs

to provide better traction for the bowling run-ups, CMCC managed to further clamp down on the scor-ing rate with LCC I showing only 44 runs on the board from 10 overs (for 2 wickets). After the 10th over break, though, Ramesh and Basit cut loose and added a rapid-fire 74 runs from just 10 overs before Basit was bowled for a superb 42 runs (with 2 sixes). Subsequently, LCC reached the winning total of 122-3 with 7+ overs to spare (with Ramesh undefeated for an invalu-able 38).

For joining HTBC league, and for the latest news and statistics please visit: www.htbc.net or con-tact Hemant Kumthekar at 713-927-3620 and Andy Bhardwaj at 281-851-9062.

INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 26 , 2010• ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM

15 Indo American News • Friday, November 26 , 2010ONLINE EDITION: www.indoamerican-news.comsociety

Ex-Houstonian Embezzled $34 MillionHOUSTON (TOI): A former Indi-

an-American executive of Koss Cor-poration was on Thursday sentenced to 11 years in prison for embezzling $34 million from the Milwaukee headphones maker.

Sujata “Sue” Sachdeva, the compa-

ny’s former vice president of finance, had pleaded guilty to using company funds to pay her personal bills.

47-year-old Sachdeva admitted running up expensive bills at Mil-waukee-area companies.

US District Judge Lynn Adelman imposed the sentence after Sachdeva made a tearful statement - her first public comments since her arrest 11 months ago.

Before being sentenced, Sachdeva apologised to her family, friends and former Koss colleagues.

“I know you were deeply hurt by my dishonesty in ways I never imag-ined or intended...I have lost every-

thing that is dear to me, my marriage, my children, my career, my home and my freedom,” she said.

Judge Adelman said that the sen-tence sought by Sachdeva was “sim-ply not long enough” given the size of the theft and abuse of trust.

“This is a case where she just stole a lot of money. The loss amount is what makes this so serious,” Adelman said and sentenced her to 11 years in prison. Sachdeva’s attorney Michael F Hart said he felt the sentence was fair, and that his client agreed.

Asked why she committed the crimes, Hart responded, “She’s sick. There’s no other way to say it. In a statement filed with the court yester-day, Hart argued that Sachdeva is not a future danger to society, and that she has cooperated with investigators.

He asked Adelman to consider her circumstances and said the situation justified a departure from federal sentencing guidelines that put her offense at a high level because of the amount involved.

Sachdeva’s theft from the com-pany happened as the result of her desperation to pay her shopping bills, to keep her panic under control, Hart argued.

“In simple terms, she made the pur-chases first, then used Koss funds to pay for them in a catch-as-catch-can manner,” he wrote.

Sachdeva did not keep track of the amounts, he said. “She had all of her personal bills sent to the office, and just opening the bills would cause her to go gaga, break into a heavy sweat and have trouble breathing,” Hart wrote.

INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 26 , 2010 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM

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continued on page 17

By Shekhar GuptaMake a roll call of the key members

of the Cabinet and you wouldn’t think they could preside over one of the most corrupt governments in India’s history. The prime minister is sometimes attacked by the opposi-tion for being weak, fence-sitting, and once, famously, he was even called “nikamma” or rather some milder English equivalent (inept), but not even his worst enemy would ever call him corrupt. You could say pretty much the same for the finance, home and defence ministers. So the four most important men in the cabinet are entirely clean. And yet, if you held an opinion poll, a vast majority would say corruption is India’s biggest chal-lenge today. There are multiple scams breaking in the media every morning. And if you scan the regional media, you will find many more surfacing in the states.So how can a govern-ment with such clean, efficient and experienced people at the top land itself in such a mess? At a time when the economy is booming, the inter-nal situation is stable and external environment so promising, the last thing India needs is this bitter mood of “sab chor hain”. How accurate the generalisation is we can debate in bet-ter times. But as they say in business, never fight with the customer or the market. In a democracy, the people, the voters, are your customers. And if they are so furious, and so readily inclined to believe that everybody is a thief, that every deal is a scam, you cannot wish it away as some seasonal virus. Somebody has obviously got something very wrong somewhere. Three things, however, are clear. One, that while the top leaders of this cabinet and the Congress party are individually clean, they have failed to exercise adequate control over the system. Two, that for too long have they erred — and gravely so — in casually and lazily personalising the issue of corruption. So blame telecom on Raja (and use the alibi of that hor-rible expression, coalition dharma), CWG on Kalmadi and Adarsh on Chavan. Three, and this is the most serious one, that they have failed to keep pace with changes in a reform-

Aam Aadmi vs. Sab Chorgovernment, either for old-fashioned rent-seeking, or its new child, crony-capitalism. What has happened with telecom is only the most brazen ex-ample of both, and has given India a bad name globally, particularly because this is such a sunrise industry and one of the greatest post-reform success stories of India, along with IT, followed by automobiles and aviation. Whatever happens domesti-cally, damage to India’s international reputation will be humongous as the scandal now takes some of the largest global telecom players in its sweep. Meanwhile, under the same dispen-sation, the government’s own tele-com companies have been systemati-cally destroyed. One of these (BSNL) has been denied a public listing on the most specious of arguments but understandably on the most obvious of motives (to keep the ministry’s grip over its contracts and largesse). Public listing brings transparency and diminishes discretion, and those are the last things you want when you so crave cronyism and rent. Kapil Sibal has thus been handed a chal-lenge bigger, and more urgent, than even HRD. You would only hope the excuse of “coalition dharma” is not used again to hand this portfolio back to the DMK. No government can survive for three-and-a-half years after dumping so much credibility and, even if it does, it can forget about getting re-elected.

Let’s look beyond telecom. Each major scandal the UPA has faced has stemmed from misuse of discretion-ary powers by its ministers, either to make money, or to favour cronies or fellow travellers. From petroleum, to mining leases, coal linkages, almost all the major scandals that create today’s “sab chor hain” mood have resulted from the fact that impartial, autonomous and modern regulation has failed to keep pace with the reform and growth of our economy. Free markets cannot survive without equally free and wise regulators. That is where the UPA’s record has been so shoddy. Raja is not the only one to have undermined his (telecom) regulators. The petroleum ministry

charged economy. Consequently, politics, governance and regulation have fallen way behind business and the market, resulting in the rise of an entirely new system of rent-seeking. And a new generation of kleptocracy which has its roots in politics, bureau-cracy and private enterprise.

The scams of today are fundamen-tally different from those of the past in that almost all have something to do with the government/ private sector interface. In the past, scandals were all about government purchases and contracts and, as economic reform be-gan, the stock market (which saw one each under Congress and BJP watch, Harshad Mehta and Ketan Parekh, re-spectively). Government purchases became less of a story because of reform. Even the key PSUs became listed companies and therefore had to become a lot more transparent. The reason we have run one of the clean-est stock markets in the world for a decade now is simply the correctives that followed the two scams, with the strengthening of SEBI as such a powerful and autonomous regulator and unrelenting prosecution of the scamsters. But the failure of the same reformers to prepare the system for challenges that would have inevitably followed is intellectual as well as one of a lack of political will.

Over the past few years, almost all scandals have involved misuse, or a widely believed allegation of mis-use, of discretionary powers by the

Knowledge is MoneyWe’ve always known that Indians have a voracious appetite

for general knowledge. A typical urban Indian is more aware of current affairs around the world than a typical American. Now the knowledge awareness is spreading to rural areas of India through television and the internet. This point was driven home recently when the first crore winner of Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC) in its currently running Season 4 was Rahat Tasneem, a 37-year-old lady from a small town of Giridh in Jharkand.

According to a news report in the Calcutta Telegraph, Rahat was confidence personified, a charateristic that was recognized by show’s superstar Amitabh Bachchan. She played well by making good use of her own knowledge as well as helpful options such as ‘phone a friend’, ‘double dip’, ‘expert advice’ and ‘audience poll’ effectively. The lucky housewife had only Rs. 3 in her mobile phone as balance when it began all, with a question on Hindu mythology on October 16. “I decided to take a chance and send the SMS,” Rahat told the Telegraph.

Rahat is representative of the new class of enthusiastic reality show contestants gaining exposure on the television channels of India. It is heartening to see talent blossoming from the hinterlands of India as never before possible. Pramod Kulkarni

While the top leaders of the cabinet and the Congress party are individually clean, they have failed to exercise adequate control over the system. Two, that for too long have they erred — and gravely so — in casually and lazily personalising the issue of corruption.

Small Town, Big TheaterMention the name Bareilly and the first thing that comes to mind

is a lost jhumka. Or, if you’re not a Bollywood fan, then you’re likely to confuse it with its namesake, the Gandhi family bastion of Rae Bareli. But this little western UP town — also known for smoky surma (kohl), cane furniture and Priyanka Chopra — might just have found a winning formula.

For the last four years, the town has been putting on its party best to line up for a unique theatre bonanza — one of its kind outside the four big metros. Some of India’s best theatre compa-nies have discovered an enthusiastic audience here. All thanks to an orthopaedic surgeon who would have been on stage himself had he not been equally passionate about fixing bones. Ask Dr Brijeshwar Singh how he got the idea of bringing this annual theatre festival — in its fourth year now — to a town with barely any half-decent movie hall, Born of one man’s passion, the 10-day Rang Vinayak Rang Utsav Theatre Festival

It’s been a win-win situation. While Bareilly’s wide-eyed audi-ence is lapping up celebrated plays year after year.

What started as an under-funded inspiration, before local corpo-rates stepped in to cash in on its mass appeal, is well on its way to becoming a notable entry, not just in the town’s cultural calendar, but also as a footnote to a much larger vision: the arrival of big theatre in small towns. Hindustan Times



Commentary: Aam Aadmi vs. Sab Chorhas systematically decimated its own. Civil aviation has only talked of a regulator for six years now without a step taken in that direction. For how long can higher education, which is becoming a big business now, be left to be “regulated” by the UGC and AICTE and MCI? There is so much discretion left with the environment ministry that in the past it was widely known that some of its residents pretty much had tariff cards for clearances. That, mercifully, is not the situation now. But this kind of discretionary power leaves scope for enormous whimsicality as well as corruption, and transparent, autonomous regula-tors, often talked about, are nowhere on the horizon. And where is the real estate regulator without which there

is no protection of the rights of the emerging new middle class that is betting its future so bravely to borrow and buy its proud new homes, and without which the property business cannot come out in the transpar-ent domain, with the emergence of modern price-discovery and liquid-ity mechanisms like REITs (Real Estate Investment Trusts)? You know why all politicians, particularly at the state level, love discretionary powers over land so much. But so was the case with industrial licensing and Manmohan Singh dismantled that. Why has he not been able to do so with property now? These scandals could ruin this government, and, most unfortunately, the prime minister’s name. But he has been in that place before, and knows what needs to

be done. He needs a new 100-day project now to institutionalise all these regulators and take away his key economic and resource minis-tries’ discretionary powers. They will protest, particularly those manning what can be aptly described as ATM ministries: you shove the card, cash starts dropping out of the slot. He also needs to abolish ministries which are built as pure ATMs, like Steel and Coal, as these are also anachronisms in a reformed economy. It won’t be easy, but it won’t be as tough as the nuclear deal, particularly when public support for a clean-up is guaranteed. If he doesn’t, he will see the clock firmly set back on his own reform under his own charge. Surely, that’s not the Manmohan Singh legacy that Manmohan Singh would like. IE


Life Changing Innovations Win $50,000 Tech AwardsBy LiSa tSerinG

SANTA CLARA, Calif (Indi-awest): A novel idea to fortify salt with iron has earned its creator, M.G. Venkatesh Mannar, a $50,000 cash prize at the 10th annual Tech Awards.

Mannar, whose Canada-based Mi-cronutrient Initiative took the Nokia Health Award at the 10th annual Tech Awards gala here Nov. 6, has devel-oped a way to fortify salt with both iodine and iron in a way that makes better nutrition affordable to millions. His so-called Double-Fortified Salt, which promotes brain development and improves health and productiv-ity, protects 3.6 million people from anemia and iodine deficiency daily in Tamil Nadu at a cost of two rupees per kilo. “Those two deficiencies are widespread in India, because the nutrients are not in the food they eat,” Mannar told India-West. Even in communities who grow their own food, the one ingredient they must always procure from outside is salt, he explained. Mannar estimates that 75 percent of India’s women are iron-deficient. Plus, newborns need iron to boost brain development. “We thought, why not compensate with salt?” he said. Mannar’s was not the only Indian project to take home a top prize at the black-tie gala.

Rajesh Shah of the Blue Planet Network in Redwood City, Calif., won the $50,000 Intel Environment Award for his project, the Peer Water Exchange, a unique online platform that allows more than 70 indepen-dent water groups in 23 countries to collaborate to learn from each

other to implement small-scale water and sanitation projects. The project affects more than 300,000 people in local communities. According to Shah, many water NGOs are forced to compete against each other for funding dollars, or they are crippled by microcredit schemes that demand interest rates of from 24-30 percent.

“The funding sector wants you to compete,” Shah told India-West. “But we want to throw away the competition. We make competitors collaborators. The problem is so big that we need every possible solution.” Another project making a deep im-pact in South Asia is the BBC World Service Trust, whose “BBC Janala” (window) uses mobile phones as a way to bring English lessons to 1.8

million users in the farthest corners of Bangladesh for the price of a cup of tea. BBC Janala took the $50,000 Microsoft Education Award.

To access the service, users simply enter a four-digit code and receive an SMS with that day’s lesson; in ad-dition, English lessons on the day’s theme also run in Bangladeshi daily newspapers and on TV dramas and game shows, said Yvonne MacPher-son, who is based in New Delhi and serves as country director for the BBC World Service Trust in India.

Those three winning projects were joined by two others based in the Philippines: the Center for Rice Husk Energy Technology, which won the $50,000 BD Biosciences Economic Development Award; and A Single Drop for Safe Water, which won the $50,000 The Katherine M. Swanson Equality Award. During the formal gala at the Santa Clara Convention Center, 15 innovators, or Tech Laure-ates, from around the world were also recognized for applying technology in practical ways to resolve some of the world’s most challenging issues. They were presented with trophies before a capacity crowd of more than 1,500 people, including Silicon Valley industry giants, philanthro-pists and political leaders. During the gala, Queen Rania Al Abdullah of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan received the 2010 James C. Morgan Global Humanitarian Award. Previ-ous recipients have included Al Gore and Muhammad Yunus. The Tech Awards are presented by Applied Materials, in association with Santa Clara University.

M. G. Venkatesh Mannar is a leader in global health with 35 years experience in pioneering effective international nutrition and development initiatives focused on the world´s most vulnerable citizens.


18 Indo American News • Friday, November 26 , 2010 ONLINE EDITION: www.indoamerican-news.com


19 Indo American News • Friday, November 26 , 2010ONLINE EDITION: www.indoamerican-news.com oPiNioN

GOPIO’s Health Summit Raises Awareness of Chronic Diseases for PIOsIndia’s Children’s Day Celebrated on Nehru’s Birthday with Health Workshop and Entertainment

NEW YORK: The Health Council of Global Organization of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO) (www.gopiohealth.net), concluded a first-of-a-kind summit and conference addressing pertinent health issues of interest and concern to the global Asian Indian community, and hon-ored five healthcare professionals and organizations during its inau-gural Health Summit on November 12 -14 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel LaGuardia, East Elmhurst, New York. GOPIO is a non-profit, non-partisan and secular community ser-

vice global organization working for the well-being of people of Indian origin. The mission of the Health Council is to engage the People of Indian Origin (PIOs) to raise awareness of the factors contribut-ing to chronic diseases affecting them, and influence them to take proactive action to improve their health, wellbeing and quality of life. Collaborating organizations for the Summit were American Associa-tion of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI0) and Coronary Artery Dis-ease among Asian Indians (CADI) Research Foundation.

The three-day summit began on Friday evening with opening re-marks by Dr. Thomas Abraham, who chaired the program committee for the health summit and he spoke on this new initiative by GOPIO International. Sangeeta Ahuja and Dr. Vivian Rambihar, Chair and Co-Chair respectively, of GOPIO Health Council welcomed all and shared the mission and goals of the health council, emphasizing the im-portance of this initiative in response to a serious health crisis across the Indian Diaspora. This was followed by summit inauguration, awards, speaker and sponsor recognitions, dinner and music. Honored guest Dr. Poonam Alaigh, Commissioner of Health and Senior Services. New Jersey commended the Health Sum-mit initiative, “I look forward to the proceedings of this conference as blueprint for the issues we face, and need to take appropriate ac-tion to bring about the necessary changes”.

Dr. Binoy Singh, cardiologist and assistant professor of medicine at Columbia University School of Medicine, spoke with passion about the urgent need for diet and lifestyle

changes to reduce our increasing risk factors, especially high cho-lesterol, diabetes and pre-diabetes. The evening surprise was John Liu, New York City Comptroller, who in-spired the audience with his personal “Made in Taiwan” background sto-ry, and was the guest of honor giving the awards.

During Saturday’s full day confer-ence, a panel of distinguished speak-ers and health practitioners shared their expertise on Disease Preven-tion & Health Management with focus on Cardiovascular Health/

Metabolic Syndrome, Diabetes/Pre-Diabetes, and Stress Management. The day conference highlighted ways to identify the risk factors spe-cific to the PIOs., practical ways to manage these chronic diseases, and included interactive sessions with audience participation and breaks for exercise and meditation. The target audience comprised of people of Indian Origin (PIOs) from around the world with a majority from the Tri-State area who seemed commit-ted to healthier living, and eager to learn more about the products and services offered by the diverse set of holistic healthcare providers.

In the opening session of the con-ference, Dr. Ranjita Misra, Profes-sor & Research Director, Center for the Study of Health Disparities (CSHD) at Texas A&M University said, “Asian Indians have higher rate of diabetes than all other racial ethnic groups (African Americans, Hispanics, Whites, and American Indians) in the US. Hence, primary and secondary prevention can help curb this epidemic.”

Dr. Enas A. Enas, Cardiologist and Founder President of CADI Research Foundation who was one of the first persons to bring out the increasing cardiovascular problem among the South Asian community said, “The good news is that heart disease has now become the most predictable, preventable, and treat-able of all chronic diseases.”

Modern sage and life mentor, Master Del Pe synthesized the best of Eastern Wisdom and Western Practicality in his talk. He demon-strated practical tools to help par-ticipants boost their vitality sharpen their minds and awaken the power of their souls.

Dr. Steven Horowitz, Cardiologist

and Director, Center for Integrative Medicine and Wellness at Stam-ford Hospital (Stamford, CT) said, “Much of the increased burden of cardiovascular disease in the South Asian community is related to the metabolic syndrome, a condition which is caused by a lifestyle out of balance interacting with genetics. Integrative Cardiology uses all the spiritual, physical and intellectual resources of the patient to regain energy balance and diminish and reverse the disease process.”

Dr. Pratibha Shah, Ayurveda Prac-

titioner (Winchester, MA) spoke about the myths and facts about treatment of diabetes in Ayurveda and preventive home remedies to achieve and maintain low blood sugar levels.

Dr. Alexander Zachariah, Prof. Emeritus and Research Associates of PHIRE (Public Health Institute for Research in Excellence) of Champaign-Urbana Public Health District in Illinois said, “The ep-idemic of obesity among Indian Diaspora needs urgent attention starting with eating heart healthy food and sweat soaking exercises.” The day concluded with a relaxing dinner and an enlightening talk on Oral Health by Dr. Shankar Iyer introduced by Dr. Asha Samant, Professor of Dentistry and co-chair of GOPIO Health Council.

On Sunday morning, GOPIO celebrated the occasion of “In-dia’s Children’s Day” to mark the birthday of late Pandit Jawaharlal “Chacha” Nehru by offering a free event on chil-dren’s health and wellness, as well as a diverse set of entertainment that included dances of Indian, Caribbean and American ori-gin.

“The Health Summit was suc-cessful in bring-ing the message of preventive care and health aware-ness to the Indian

NYC Comptroller John Liu Speaking at the Health Summit

Community. More details on the GOPIO Health

Summit are available at http://www.gopiohealth.net, or contact GOPIO

Health Council Chair Sangeeta Ahu-ja at email [email protected] or 203-329-9744.





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AGLA Bollywood Movie Night’s A Tremendous Success Tells All

By aShok pruthiHOUSTON: People of Indian, Mexican, Ne-

pali, Bangladesh and American origins flocked together at Bollywood Cinema 6, also popularly known as Fun Asia, to be a part of the festive event organized on the evening of Nov 17, by American General Life Accident and Insurance Company (AGLA).

There was a big commotion and long lines in front of the cinema hall to get in first as early as 4.30 pm for the event that was to start at 6pm.

“One can imagine what happens - when ‘history was being made on weekday with an over-was being made on weekday with an over-was being made on weekday with an overwhelming response of 3k+ invitees showed up” said Abha Dwivedi, the spokeswoman and key organizer of the event on behalf of AGLA.

Ten minutes into the entry, crowd’s patience wore thin outside and it was decided to open the doors wide open without any concern for invitation verification, to handle the disorderly crowd outside the gates, in order to get the guests in so that the show could start on time and guests could enjoy the party. Individually packaged boxes of chat papdi, bags of popcorns and sodas were served free of charge plus a choice to watch a movie of their choice on first come first served basis. The movie package consisted of movies - Dabang, Anjana-Anjani, Robot, Veer-Zara and Zodha-Akbar. The plan “B” to run the second showing of the movies had to be implemented on the spot to accommodate all the guests without any concern for the costs it was to incur.

“What was the purpose of this event and this extravagance? Was it the business interest of AGLA and like some say, it was to generate some new leads?”

“No, not at all “the sharp minded Ms Dwivedi answered and added further,” In Gujarat, we have a saying, ‘jab maal auchcha hai to public-ity ki kya zaroorat, maal khud hee bikegaa, it is a saying that if the commodity is good, it requires no publicity and it sells itself! If that was the purpose we could simply do so through different media advertising. You see, the people in the crowd, who are here from all denominations and from different walks of life, they all constitute our customer base. During the month of October, we just celebrated Diwali, Dussehra, then in No-vember Eid, actually on the same day and now Thanksgiving and Christmas is not far behind. People from all these diverse groups are the Lifeline of our company, of course, and its strong foundation, so it was the right time and our duty to give back in some way to the community and that is all, this event was all about enjoying/celebrating the festive season, nothing else. ‘Smilingly Ms. Dwivedi replied. ‘ After having said that AGLA’s ‘Quality of life insurance’ is one such unique product that

offers three free riders for Chronic, Critical and Terminal illnesses besides providing for cash value to supplement their retirement income , or to help with other financial goals.”

During the intermission, Mr. William Garner with his team of Special

Representatives, led by Mrs. Abha Dwivedi, went to all theaters and personally thanked all the guests and apologized the audiences for in-convenience with the announcement for hoping to better organized event like this in future.

In her concluding comments about the event, Mrs. Abha Dwivedi, said,” I am still perplexed and amazed at the overwhelming response that certainly, I want to organize it much better next time, it was our first learning experience at this big scale and she feels sorry for any inconve-nience, and if we could not pay our attention to anybody they deserved. She is requesting all the readers to give us their input by emailing her, [email protected]. We are hiring, if you or you know someone is looking for a great career in Sales, please contact her. We have paid train-ing for 13-17 weeks.

Abha will also like to thank her team of dedi-cated special representatives, Radio Sangeet, especially, Mr. Saeed Gaddi and Kash; Mr. Shehzaad & Naila Burki of Radio “Shalimar’ and Burke Reality Group, Mr. Moin Peerzada of Radio ‘Pardesh’ and Mr. Nayyar of ”Music in the Box”, Narmeen of “Sabse Bada Rupaiya”, Vinita Arora from “Radio Sur Sangeet” Shoba Joshi from “Geetanjali”, Sridhar Dadi from “Radio Hangama” and at last but not the least Fun Asia Bollywood-6 team.

AGLA team will like to congratulate Mr. Hosne Benu of Katy, for winning the 42” TV. We also need help from our readers who attended this event in locating a ring that got misplaced and has sentimental value rather than its value to its rightful owner, coincidentally, who is submitting this report.

Rising South Asian strength in AGLA. Not in the picture: Abha Dwivedi




23 Indo American News • Friday, November 26 , 2010ONLINE EDITION: www.indoamerican-news.com s o c i e t y

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Acclaimed musical trio Shankar, Ehsaan and Loy have created yet another milestone as they announced their association with technology giant Apple by creating a special application which will enable them to reach out to fans across the globe!

SEL, renowned for their fabulous music scores of movies like ‘Dil Chahta Hai’, ‘Kal Ho Na Ho’, ‘Wake Up Sid’, ‘Taare Zameen Par’, ‘Rock On’ and ‘Housefull’, have now become the 1st Indian music composer group to have a custom-ized application on the iPhone, enabling fans all over the world to stay updated with the latest from the band.

The application will also allow access to exclusive content, backstage videos and music from the talented musicians. And if this was not enough, it will also help fans across borders to come together and be a part of the exclusive ‘Shankar Ehsaan Loy’ community!

This exciting tool is not only available to all iPhone users across the globe; but is also com-patible with the iPod touch and the iPad.

“We’ve had a very dynamic journey so far and it’s now time to up the ante and move into other areas of music and songwriting with the help of newer & popular platforms like the internet, mobile and other digital mediums. The SEL iPhone application is one small step towards making our music available globally and to a

varied demographic of music lovers.” The application is created by OML Digital,

an Indian company that specializes in building technology for entertainers. OML builds tools which help content creators reach out, monetize and track their content. They believe that by matching content with the right brands, an en-

riching environment for artists and users can be created.

OML Digital re-leased the iPhone ap-plication for Shankar Ehsaan Loy. Girish ‘Bobby’ Talwar, Founding Director, OML Digitial says, “We at OML have always wanted to provide artists the ability to reach out to their audiences in

the most direct manner possible and with the highest quality of interactivity that technology can offer at that point in time. Through the SEL iPhone application that the OML Digital team has built we believe we have created, for the first time, a product that allows musicians to do that in a manner like never before.”

Besides connecting to their fans worldwide through this exciting new platform, the trio recently returned from their US tour named ‘Inspiration’ that turned out to be a thumping success. They played to crowds of approxi-mately 4000-7000 people across the country; garnering applause from fans all over & leaving them wanting for more!

That ‘Music has no boundaries’ has just been affirmed by SEL as the trio is all set to leave their musical footprints across the globe!

Another Victory for Shankar Ehsaan LoyTrio becomes the 1st Indian music group to have a special iPhone application



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