US Affairs 10 Delhi Centenary 24 Books 25 Spiritual Awareness 30

NEW YORK EDITION

Jaipur Jewellery

Show brings glit-

tering glory to

Pink City

Jewelry,

Pages 16-17

Will Nikki Haley pay

for endorsing Mitt

Romney?

Jolly old man

who helps me get

through

Christmas

Humor,

Page 28

Why buy when

you can rent high

fashion!

Fashion,

Page 15

Lokpal bill finally in parliament, tough ride ahead

New Delhi: The Manmohan Singh govern-

ment Thursday finally tabled in parliament

the much-debated Lokpal bill to combat cor-

ruption, with the prime minister and most of

the bureaucracy under its purview. But the

road ahead seemed bumpy with Anna

Hazare trashing the bill as weak and political

parties sharply divided on its efficacy.

The government also introduced a separate

bill to amend the constitution to confer con-

stitutional status to the proposed institution

at center and in states. This would need sep-

arate two-thirds backing in both houses

which the ruling coalition does not have.

The two bills would be debated in the Lok

Sabha Dec 27 and will be tabled in the Rajya

Sabha. Both houses meet Dec 27-29 to dis-

cuss the proposed Lokpal, an issue which

has rocked the country for months.

"The (Lokpal) bill proposes to establish

autonomous and independent institutions,"

according to the proposed legislation.

Continued on page 4

Anna Hazare has trashed thetabled bill as weak.

No control over army and ISI,admits Pak govt

Islamabad: Pakistan's defense ministry does not have

operational control over the military and the ISI, the

ministry has admitted in the Supreme Court, reported

the daily Dawn.

The Supreme Court is hearing the case about a secret

memo sent to Washington that claimed President

Zardari feared a military coup following the May 2

killing of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in

Abbottabad by US Marine commandos.

The defense ministry's reply said it was not in a posi-

tion to submit any reply on behalf of the armed forces

and the ISI.

Pakistani-American businessman Mansoor Ijaz had

revealed the secret memo, leading to the resignation of

Pakistan's ambassador to the US Hussain Haqqani.

Meanwhile, Reuters has reported that Pakistan's

powerful army is fed up with unpopular President

Zardari and wants him out of office, but through legal

means and without a repeat of the coups that are a hall-

mark of the country's 64 years of independence, mili-

tary sources said.

Tensions are rising between Pakistan's civilian lead-

ers and its generals over what has been dubbed

Memogate.

Continued on page 4

President Zardari and Army Chief Kayani: matterscoming to a head

Vol.4 No.36 December 24-30, 2011 60 Cents Follow us on TheSouthAsianTimes.info

House GOP leaders agree toextension of payroll tax cut Washington, DC: Giving in to

pressure from their own partymen,

House Republican leaders agreed

Thursday to accept a temporary

extension of the payroll tax cut,

retreating from a showdown that

Republicans saw as a threat to their

election prospects in 2012.

As agreed by House and Senate

leaders, the House will now

approve as early as Friday the two-

month extension of a payroll tax

holiday and unemployment bene-

fits approved by the Senate last

Saturday. On its part, the Senate

will appoint members of a House-

Senate conference committee to

negotiate legislation to extend both

benefits through 2012, according to

The New York Times.

Speaker John Boehner, who

faced the most flak for being rigid

on the issue, announced the deci-

sion over the phone to members.

He conceded to reporters that it

might not have been “politically

the smartest thing in the world” for

House Republicans to put them-

selves between a tax cut and the

Continued on page 4

India to take up US CallCentre Bill with Washington

Kochi: India would take up the issue of US

Call Center Worker and Consumer Protection

Act in the appropriate governmental forum as

also through the Obama Administration to

safeguard trade and investment interests of the

Indian industry, including the IT sector, Indian

Ambassador to US Nirupama Rao has said.

India was in the process of undertaking a

detailed impact analysis of the Bill, tabled in

the US House of Representatives, in terms of

scope of its business coverage and its impact

on the Indian BPO industry, she said here.

"We are in touch with NASSCOM and the rel-

evant government departments on this issue",

she said at a Confederation of Indian Industry

(CII) session Thursday.

The bipartisan Bill aims to make companies

that move call centers overseas ineligible for

grants or guaranteed loans from the Federal

government, a move to stem the tide of jobs

heading to countries like India. The bill, if

passed, will also penalize US call centers to

the tune of $10,000 per day for failing to

report a relocation to an offshore location,

within 60 days to the US Department of Labor.

Indian Ambassador to US Nirupama Raospeaking at CII session in Kochi.

House Speaker John Boehner.

Tristate Community 3

TheSouthAsianTimes.info December 24-30, 2011

10 IndianAmericans

among Forbesbrightest starsof tomorrow

XUSOM holds 22nd White Coat Ceremony

Washington: Ten Indian Americans,

including a 17-year-old, rub shoul-

ders with the likes of Facebook

founder Mark Zuckerberg and pop

stars Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber in

the Forbes list of "tomorrow's bright-

est stars".

The business magazine's '30 under

30' list profiles about 360 young "ul-

tra impressive up-and-comers" that

the companies should either "hire to-

day" or would be working for them

in the future as they are the young

people of today "who matter".

Among the Indians on the list of

people from 12 diverse fields, in-

cluding energy, finance, media, law,

entertainment, science, design and

technology, who are "reinventing the

world" is Kunal Shah, at 29, the

youngest managing director at Gold-

man Sachs.

Also on the list is Param Jaggi, 17,

an "award-winning high schooler" at

Austin College, who created an al-

gae-filled device that fits over a car's

tailpipe and turns carbon dioxide into

oxygen.

Vivek Nair, 23, chief executive of

Damascus Fortune, is developing a

technology that transforms industrial

carbon emissions into carbon

nanotubes.

Continued on page 4

New York: The Xavier University School of Med-

icine Aruba (XUSOM) celebrated its 22nd White

Coat Ceremony at St Francis Hospital’s DeMetteis

Center for Cardiac Research and Education in

Greenvale, NY, Dec 15. In the annals of medical

education the White Coat, the attire physicians

have worn for hundreds of years, symbolizes a rite

of passage from the pre-clinical sciences portion of

a student’s education to the clinical sciences and

patient interaction portion. Each student was

called to the stage and was formally “cloaked” in

a White Coat by former practicing physicians, Dr.

Bryan W. Little, Chief Academic Officer, and Dr.

Manuel Flores, Dean of Clinical Sciences at the

school of medicine.

Dr. J.G. Bhatt, Chancellor of Xavier University

School of Medicine, and Mr. Ravishankar

Bhooplapur, President, as well as the proud friends

and families of the recipients were all in

attendance.

Paul Liu, M.D., J.D., Clinical Chair of Xavier

University School of Medicine in Pediatrics and

Obstetrics/Gynecology, graciously addressed the

eager, young students on the symbolism of the

White Coat and the fascinating discoveries each

will make during their medical careers. Special

recognition was given to valedictorian Moham-

mad A. Baqar for his outstanding performance

during his pre-clinical work.

The honored recipients were:

Uzma Ahsanullah Aneesah Jaumally

Zina Al-Sakini Yashika Jethmalani

Julian Ang Keng Hao Maninder Kohli

Sharyar Bangash Llersania Lebron Ruiz

Mohammad A. Baqar Qurat-ul-Ain Mansoora

Maria Basilico Mark-Anthony John

Marina Cardinez Sixto Medina

Zeinab Choucair Kishan patel

Varun Dobriya Cristina Penon

Marlow Easterling Ansari Rustam

Natalia Ferrer Bravo Ahmed Salem

Deepti Gooriah Justin Thomas

Ogechi Iwueke Amanda Wolf

The White Coat Ceremony is celebrated follow-

ing each 5th semester by XUSOM. The staff and

faculty of Xavier University School of Medicine,

Aruba wishes this group all the best in their jour-

ney to become competent, compassionate

physicians.

Cornell bid chosen for science school in NYCNew York: Mayor Michael Bloomberg an-

nounced on Monday

that he has chosen

Cornell University

and Technion-Israel

Institute of Technol-

ogy to build a $2 bil-

lion graduate school

of applied sciences

on Roosevelt Island near Manhattan, which,

he said, would “spawn new companies, cre-

ate new jobs and propel our city’s economy

to new frontiers.”

“History will write that this was a game-

changing time in New York City,”

Bloomberg said at a press conference that

capped an intense yearlong competition for

a project that is seen as a potential corner-

stone of his legacy. Cornell was chosen from

7 proposals sent in by 17 institutions. The

Cornell-Technion plan was “far and away

the boldest and most ambitious,” the Mayor

said.

The school, which will not be fully built

for 30 years, calls for 2,000 students, 300

faculty members and two million square feet

on a patch of city-owned land that now

houses a little-known hospital. In addition,

the universities are offering a $150 million

fund for startups begun on the campus that

remain in New York for three years.

And, Bloomberg noted, it calls for “an in-

credibly aggressive schedule,” with classes

starting in September at a leased off-site fa-

cility, and 300 students and 75 faculty on site

by 2018.

“In this day and age, great universities

know they have to expand,” he said. “They

have to expand their locations, they have to

expand their horizons, they have to expand

their faculty interests.”

The announcement came three days after

Stanford University, long seen as the one to

beat because of its success as an incubator

for Silicon Valley, pulled out of the contest,

and Cornell announced a $350 million gift,

the largest in its history, to help finance its

proposal.

Cornell’s plan calls for 500,000 square feet

of public space and partnerships with the

public school system, including math and

science support for at least 10,000 students.

Param Jaggi, Maneet Ahuja

(from right) Xavier University School of Medicine Aruba President Ravi Bhooplpaur, Chancellor Dr JG Bhat with faculty and students at the ceremony

Kingfisher Airlines to be part of Oneworld New York: Kingfisher Airlines will

become part of

oneworld® with

effect from Feb-

ruary 2012,

adding India’s

leading carrier to

the premier global airline alliance. It

will be the first carrier from the sub-

continent to join any of the global

airline groups – and the first of three

airlines to join oneworld in its

biggest membership expansion drive

for five years, with Air Berlin set to

follow it on board the alliance short-

ly afterwards and Malaysia Airlines

later in the year.

Kingfisher Airlines received its

green light to board oneworld this

week after successfully completing a

thorough review of its readiness con-

ducted by British Airways, which is

sponsoring its entry into the alliance,

with the oneworld central team. So

from February 10, it will be offering

oneworld’s full range of services –

and substantially expanding the al-

liance’s network throughout India,

one of the fastest growing regions of

the world for air travel demand.

For Kingfisher Airlines, joining

oneworld will strengthen its compet-

itive offering and its financial posi-

tion, enabling it to offer customers an

unrivalled alliance global network

served by partners including some of

the best and biggest airlines in the

world.

Its addition will extend oneworld’s

global coverage to nearly 800 desti-

nations in almost 150 countries,

served by a total of 8,500 departures

a day operated by a combined fleet of

more than 2,250 aircraft, carrying

305 million passengers a year, with

annual revenues of US$94 billion.

oneworld CEO Bruce Ashby said:

“Kingfisher Airlines will expand

oneworld’s network substantially in a

key region of growing travel de-

mand, with a carrier that matches our

demanding requirements, while en-

abling Kingfisher Airlines to offer its

customers a truly global network on

quality partners. We are look for-

ward to welcoming them to the

oneworld alliance in February.”

Kingfisher Airlines Chairman Vi-

jay Mallya said: “Kingfisher Airlines

takes great pride in its track record

for quality and innovation. By be-

coming part of oneworld in February,

we will be flying as part of the

Continued on page 4

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4 Community

TheETutor.com, a state-of-art learning portal,launched from New York

New York: TheETutor.com, an edu-

cational online tutoring company

that teaches on a variety of academ-

ic levels as well as languages, was

launched on Dec 15 at a glittering

event in Long Island. It was

launched by Nassau County

Executive Ed Mangano during the

Leaders Appreciation Breakfast

hosted at The Woodlands in

Woodbury, NY. He applauded

TheETutor.com for setting up busi-

ness in Nassau County and awarded

a citation to Harry Aurora, CEO,

and Preeti Aurora, Managing

Director.

Mr. Aurora gave a video presenta-

tion of TheETutor.com illustrating

the state-of-art online portal as a

revolution in learning. Students par-

ticipate in one-on-one tutoring led

by world-class teachers in the com-

fort of their home. TheETutor.com

provides help with all subjects of

grades K-12 as well as offering 18

languages such as Spanish, French,

German, Mandarin and Italian.

Mr. Aurora narrated how

TheETutor.com was initially estab-

lished with the mission of teaching

Hindi and other Indian languages to

Indian American children to help

preserve their culture and heritage.

However, in the development phase

over the past year, Mr. Aurora and

his team realized that there was a

demand for other languages and

academic subjects.

Mr. Aurora’s motto: “The future

is here!” signifies that TheETutor

has the technological advancements

to teach students through a virtual

medium.

Their technology includes an

embedded whiteboard, built-in

video and audio chat, image and file

sharing and even a feature to record

the tutoring session. Each enrolled

student takes a Scholastic test to

measure his or her strengths and

weaknesses as against the national

standard. The E Tutor.com has near-

ly 100 qualified tutors ranging from

college students to PhDs who are

certified in various subjects.

“Results with TheETutor.com are

guaranteed,” emphasizes Mr.

Aurora, citing research from elite

universities that virtual audio and

visual tutoring lights up parts of the

brain bringing unmatched focus for

learning.

“What we offer will be most wel-

come in remote and far-flung areas

where people would have only

dreamt of tutoring for their chil-

dren,” Mr. Aurora adds, stating that

the fees per tutoring session ranges

from $35 to $89 depending on level,

grade, subject or language.

Mr. Aurora and his team are now

preparing their promotional and

advertising plans nationwide and

later for the rest of the world.

TheETutor.com cause has backing

by many professionals like attor-

neys, doctors and professors.

TheETutor.com, in turn, supports

the National PTA and local PTAs.

Two spacious rooms, two

huge closets, fully equipped

kitchen. 1 full bath in

Hicksville. Near all

highways and public

transport. No pets/no

smoking. Perfect for

young couple.

Call 516-413-4200.

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Two rooms, ample

storage/closets, full bath,

basic cooking. Second floor,

independent entrance.

Cable and internet.

Available from Jan 1, 2012

in Hicksville. Near public

transport and Indian

shopping. No pets/no

smoking. For young couple

or two students.

Call 516-710-0508.

December 24-30, 2011 TheSouthAsianTimes.info

Apartments forrent in Hicksville

Harry Aurora, CEO of TheE-Tutor.com speaking at the

launch of his online tutoringcompany, accompanied by Preeti

Aurora, Managing Director.

Lok pal bill StoryContinued from page 1These shall have powers to hold a

preliminary inquiry, leading to inves-

tigation and prosecution of offences

of complaints under any law for

checking corruption.

The prime minister will be under

the purview of the nine-member

Lokpal, but with riders.

Hazare, whose campaign for an

effective Lokpal since April has

made him a household name, has

been insisting on: bringing the PM,

the CBI and all bureaucrats under the

ombudsman, Citizens Charter in gov-

ernment offices, and Lokayuktas for

all states.

With the government not in agree-

ment, and even a section of the polit-

ical establishment having different

views, it was clear Thursday that

Team Anna was poised for a show-

down with the authorities.

Pak army StoryContinued from page 1General Ashfaq Kayani has, how-

ever, pledged to keep the military out

of Pakistani politics since taking over

as army chief in 2007.

Conspiracies are being hatched to

oust the elected Pakistani govern-

ment from power, Prime Minister

Yousuf Raza Gilani said Thursday,

insisting that "nobody is above the

law" and all institutions in the coun-

try are "subservient to parliament".

Payroll tax StoryContinued from page 1160 million American workers who

would benefit from it, and to allow

President Obama and Democrats to

seize the momentum on the issue.

The resolution ended the latest of

the bitter struggles over fiscal policy

involving House conservatives, the

President and the Democratic-con-

trolled Senate.

Under the deal, the employee’s

share of the Social Security payroll

tax will stay at the current level, 4.2

percent of wages, through Feb. 29. In

the absence of Congressional action,

it would revert to the usual 6.2 per-

cent next month. The government

will also continue paying unemploy-

ment insurance benefits under cur-

rent policy through February.

Without Congressional action, many

of the long-term unemployed would

begin losing benefits next month.

In addition, under the agreement,

Medicare will continue paying doc-

tors at current rates for two months,

averting a 27 percent cut that would

otherwise occur on Jan. 1.

10 Indian Americans StoryContinued from page 3Vikas Mohindra, 25, financial advi-

sor at the Bank of America Merrill

Lynch gathered $38 million in three

years from scratch, while Manvir Ni-

jhar, 28, co-head of European Equity

Derivatives Sales at Citigroup, gave

"Citi's derivatives business a jolt".

Raj Krishnan, 29, chief executive of

Biological Dynamics is developing

blood tests that use electric fields to

detect key signals that a patient has

cancer from the blood.

Sidhant Gupta, 27, a graduate stu-

dent at the University of Washington,

is developing new sensors and soft-

ware for the home that conserve elec-

tricity, heat and gas.

Nikhil Arora, 24, co-found a busi-

ness that sells 'grow-your-own-mush-

room' kits using one million pounds

of recycled coffee grounds and Ma-

neet Ahuja, 27, a producer at CNBC

and a hedge fund expert has been on

Wall Street since she was 17.

Kingfisher StoryContinued from page 3world’s leading quality airline al-

liance – and the first carrier from the

subcontinent to be accepted into any

of the global airline groups.

When Kingfisher Airlines joins,

members of its King Club frequent

flyer program will be able to earn and

redeem mileage awards on all

oneworld partners – American Air-

lines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific

Airways, Finnair, Iberia, Japan Air-

lines, LAN Airlines, Malév Hungari-

an Airlines, Qantas, Royal Jordanian,

S7 Airlines and almost 20 affiliated

airlines.

Since its launch in 2005, Kingfish-

er Airlines has established itself as In-

dia’s leading air carrier in terms of do-

mestic passenger carried, daily flights

(with more than 260 daily departures

on average currently), customer serv-

ice quality and innovation.

Tristate Community 5

TheSouthAsianTimes.info December 24-30, 2011

Garden City, NY: The Delhi Chapter of

the Indian National Overseas Congress

(INOC) has been launched with Daljinder

(Zinda) Singh as its President. Dr Surinder

Malhotra, National President of INOC,

USA handed Zinda Singh his letter of

appointment at the launch on December 18

at Akbar Restaurant in Long Island.

Zinda Singh was elected President of the

Delhi Chapter by the National Executive

Committee of INOC, following due process

and careful consideration. The INOC

Committee members present at the launch

included Pam Kwatra, Eric Kumar, Najma

Sultana, Rajiv Khanna, Kalathil Varughese,

Varinder Bhalla and Shudh Jasuja.

Dr. Malhotra praised Zinda Singh for his

continuous service, passion for and involve-

ment in Congress. Zinda has been associat-

ed with Congress party for over 35 years

now, beginning as a Youth Congress leader

in India in the 1970s where he used to rub

shoulders with the Gandhi-Nehru family.

Fittingly, his appointment has been blessed

by Sheila Dixit, Chief Minister of Delhi,

and Dr. Karan Singh, who is in charge of

INOC and NRI affairs.

Zinda’s team includes Manoj Narang

(Chair of Delhi Chapter), a community

leader and philanthropist, Arvind Walia,

Rajinder Singh, Amardeep Singh, Gurdev

Singh, Gautam Goplani, Rohit Sharma,

Jatender Ricky Advaney, Vidya Bhushan

Sharma, Jessica Kalra, Thakur Rahul Singh

and Avan Singh Panwar. All the team mem-

bers pledged to work together to serve and

honor the principles of secularism and

equality as well as to bridge the gap

between India and America, the core ideals

of Congress party.

The launch event was attended by the

elite of Indian diaspora and the entertain-

ment had a touch of both American and

Indian cultures.

INOC’s Delhi chapter launched

By Ashok Ojha/SATimes

New York : Bill de Blasio,

New York City’s second-

highest elected official, who

is a front runner Democratic

candidate in the contest for

next Mayor, has urged US

officials to develop strong

alliance with India to contain

the country’s further econom-

ic slide.

De Blasio was speaking at a

fund raising event organized

by leading business owners of

Indian origin “I firmly believe

in strong relationship between

the two most important

democracies of the world,” he

commented. “It is in our

interest to embrace the

world’s largest democracy to

ensure economic revival.”

De Blasio pointed out that

both countries enjoy mutual

trust and share common val-

ues of equality, freedom and

market competition. “In

today’s globalized economy

alliance between India and

the US is the right path for

progress and safeguarding

democratic institutions.”

Criticizing the current

administration of New York

City for neglecting small

businesses, De Blasio pointed

out that his first priority as the

Mayor of NYC will be to sup-

port small businesses in the

city. “Small businesses are

the engine of economic

growth. We can’t allow them

to fail.” He thanked the

Indian American community

for their generous support. He

advocated better representa-

tion of Indian American com-

munity in the city administra-

tion.

Introducing De Blasio and

his wife Charlene McCray to

the audience noted

Otolaryngologist and philan-

thropist Dr. Navin Mehta

praised the couple as an ideal

pair who inspired everyone.

“Mr. De Blasio is a dynamic

leader who possessed a

unique vision of progress and

prosperity of all people. We

are fortunate to have him as a

great friend of our community

who always demonstrates

high regard and respect for

the people of South Asian ori-

gin,” commented Dr. Mehta.

Bill de Blasio defeated

Republican Alex Zablocki

with a margin of 77% votes in

the general election held in

November 2009. He has a

track record of confronting

the New York City adminis-

tration in favor of helping and

protecting the interests of

common man. His job as the

Public Advocate is that of a

watchdog for the people of

New York.

NYC Mayoral Candidate Bill deBlasio Advocates US-India Alliance

Bill de Blasio

Shudh Prakash Singh appointedchief coordinator of PPCC in US

New York: At a recently held Dinner

Reception at hotel Taj Chandigarh, Inder

Dev Singh Musafir, under the directions of

Captain Amarinder Singh announced NY’s

Shudh Prakash Singh as the Chief

Coordinator of the Punjab Election

Campaign Committee (PPCC) for the US.

Inder Dev Singh Musafir, Chairman

NRI-Cell (PPCC) informed during his

speech about the formation of country wise

Election Campaign Committee’s under the

banner “NRI’s for Congress”. These com-

mittees will focus on mobilizing the dias-

pora residing in various parts of the world,

to support and work for the victory of the

Congress party in the forthcoming

Assembly Elections in Punjab.

Also attending the function were senior

high level Congress leaders. Arvind

Khanna the General Secy of PPCC said “I

have known Shudh personally and he is the

best choice for this position.” Khanna felt

NRIs can play a very important role in

upcoming Punjab elections.

Surinder Singla, former Finance Minister

of Punjab said he has visited New York

several times and always found Shudh

working hard to expand the congress party

base in America.

At a separate event earlier in an NRI din-

ner meeting at Park Plaza hotel Ludhiana

organized and hosted Jassi Khangura about

300 NRIs from around the world gathered.

hudh Prakash Singh was keynote speaker

and he highlighted the problems being

faced by the diaspora. During the function,

Captain Amarinder Singh was presented

with a prestigious citation on behalf of the

New York State Legislative Assembly.

Capt Amarinder Singh in his address

thanked Shudh Prakash Singh for the

honor brought to him from NYS assembly.

Other INOC leaders Vikram Bajwa

President of California Chapter, Bhupinder

Sodhi President of Florida Chapter, Micky

Kahlon President of Chicago Chapter,

Sunny Door President of MIchigan

Chapter, Micky Singh Ex President of New

Jersey Chapter and Sunny Singh, ex

President of Pennsylvania Chapter

applauded Capt. Amarinder Singh for

appointing Shudh Prakash Singh.

Banker dies in NJ plane crashWashington, DC: Rakesh

Chawla , an investment banker,

was among five people killed

when their small plane crashed

into a busy highway of New

Jersey.

Chawla, 36 and Jeffrey

Buckalew, 45, heads of

Greenhill & Co., an NYC invest-

ment firm, died when the aircraft

spiraled out of control and

crashed in the town of Harding,

NJ.

Besides Buckalew, a licensed

pilot and the plane's owner, his

wife and their two children also

perished.

"Jeff was one of the first

employees of Greenhill," said a

company statement. "He and

Rakesh were extraordinary pro-

fessionals who were highly

respected by colleagues and

clients alike."

Amarinder Singh honoring ShudhPrakash Singh with a shawl

Rakesh Chawla

Zinda Singh, President of the new chapter,with INOC (USA) President

Dr Surinder Malhotra

6 Tristate Community

December 24-30, 2011 TheSouthAsianTimes.info

US officials extend help to victims of domesticviolence in Indian families

By Ashok Ojha/ SATimes

Edison, NJ: Incidents of domestic

violence are on the rise as the popu-

lation of Indian Americans has

increased in various parts of USA.

The US law enforcement communi-

ty is slowly waking up to the fact

that South Asian communities carry

a tradition of secrecy about domes-

tic violence resulting into many

unreported incidents. To remove the

fear of victims some of the District

Attorney offices are reaching out to

folks with information about net-

work of financial and legal support

in order to protect victims from

abusing family members.

“Women who are victims of abu-

sive husbands and elderly parents

abused by their adult sons and

daughters can receive immediate

relief and protection if they

approach the law enforcement agen-

cies,” said G. Michael Green,

District Attorney of Delaware

County, Pennsylvania. Green said

that his office was aware of social

taboos involved in such cases, ‘but

getting help from authorities can

ensure physical safety and well

being of the sufferers.’“Local law

enforcement agencies are well

trained in providing shelter to vic-

tims of domestic abuse and can help

get restraining orders from the court

so that incidence of violence are not

repeated. Severe punishments are

prescribed under the law in cases of

repeated incidences,” he pointed

out. The meeting was organized by

SEWAA, an organization that works

for creating awareness against

domestic violence at Jenkins

Arboretum and Gardens in Devon,

PA. Requesting improvement in the

techniques applied by US law

enforcement agencies, members of

the organization raised various cul-

tural and social concerns that deter

victims from openly accusing their

abusive family members.

Ujwala Dixit, president of

SEWAA, said that 63 reported mur-

der or attempted murder of South

Asian women took place in the US

in the last two decades. “SEWAA

was formed in 1990 after the brutal

murder of Dr. Meena Aggarwal, a

physician in Bryn Mawr, PA whose

husband was later arrested on mur-

der charges,” she said adding that

majority of abuse victims are

women while children and relatives

were also killed in some of the

cases. “An environment of silence

exists in our community that helps

create a hidden hell for too many

women and children.”

According to officials victims of

domestic violence have right to peti-

tion a court for ‘protection from

abuse order’ that includes restrain-

ing the abuser from further violence,

directing the abuser to leave the vic-

tim’s household and directing abus-

er to pay support to the victim and

affected children. A number of such

agencies work closely with the law

enforcement agencies at local lev-

els. 911 is the easiest way to get

help in such matters rather than tol-

erance of domestic violence.

According to the Asian and Pacific

Islander Institute on Domestic

Violence, 41 to 60 percent of Asian

and Pacific Islander women report-

ed experiencing domestic violence

during their lifetime.

New Jersey: The owner of a diagnostic

facility and six doctors of Indian origin are

among the 14 New Jersey healthcare

providers who have been arrested and

charged in a cash-for tests referral scheme

for allegedly taking illegal kickback pay-

ments to refer patients.

The arrests were announced Dec 13, by

New Jersey US Attorney Paul J. Fishman

and US Department of Health and Human

Services, Office of Inspector General (HHS-

OIG) Special Agent in Charge Tom

O’Donnell. On the morning of Dec 13, more

than 65 federal and local agents and officers

led by HHS-OIG arrested the 14 health care

practitioners, to whom radiology and diag-

nostic facility Orange Community MRI

(OCM) allegedly paid monthly cash kick-

back payments in exchange for their referral

of Medicare and Medicaid patients to OCM

for testing services.

OCM’s executive director, Chirag Patel,

36, of Warren, NJ, was arrested on Dec 8, in

connection with the scheme. He appeared

that day before Judge Arleo and was released

on a $750,000 bond.

According to the complaints filed in the

related cases, OCM began making the illegal

kickback payments as early as 2010. At the

end of each calendar month, individuals at

OCM printed patient reports that detailed

how many diagnostic tests – including MRIs,

ultrasounds, echocardiograms, CAT Scans,

and dual-emission X-ray absorptiometries –

were referred by each of the accused doctors.

These patient reports were used to calculate

the payment owed to each defendant.

According to each defendant’s agreement

with OCM, the health care practitioners were

paid kickbacks for each Medicare or

Medicaid beneficiary diagnostic test referred

to OCM. The defendants also were paid for

referring some privately insured tests.

During only a two-month period between

early October and early December, there

were 32 separate payments made to or by the

15 defendants currently charged in connec-

tion with the alleged scheme, with total cash

kickbacks of $51,500.

All of the health care providers charged

practice in New Jersey and have offices in

Newark, Orange, East Orange, West Orange

or Irvington. The bribe amounts ranged from

$200 to more than $5,000 per month. Other

than Chirag Patel and Jose Castaneda, who is

a nurse practitioner, all of the defendants are

medical doctors. The other Indian origin

physicians caught in this net are Shashi

Agarwal, 59, of Edison; Ramesh Kania, 58,

and Yash Khanna, 69, both of East Orange;

Dinesh Patel, 57, and Padma Siripurapu, 44,

both of Newark.

New York: Mohammad Faroqui, MD, Malak

Designs, a New York based Web, Print and

Graphic Design company, has been selected for

‘Rising Star’ award. He will be honored at the

Fourth Annual Rising Stars Awards &

Networking Event Jan 26.

The event is sponsored by the Queens

Courier chain of newspapers, celebrating 26

years in business and the mailed business to

business newspaper Queens Business.

The Rising Star Awards & Networking Event

honors young professionals who exemplify out-

standing leadership skills, not only in their cho-

sen fields, but also in their community. The

evening features networking with Queens’ top

professionals, an expo with the area’s leading

businesses, and a charity raffle benefiting a not

for profit organization.

Ujwala Dixit, president of a non-profit group SEWAA, which helpsSouth Asian victims of domestic violence in Pennsylvania seen with G.Michael Green, District Attorney of Delaware County, Pennsylvania.

(Photo by Ashok Ojha)

Indian American doctors arrestedin illegal referral scheme

New Jersey: Parents and students from

Bernards’ Township have asked for a Diwali

day off in the school calendar under considera-

tion for 2014-15. Monday night's Board of

Education meeting was attended by dozens of

residents from the Bernards Township's Indian-

American community demanding the same.

"Diwali is important to Indians, and all of the

Indian community," said Deepak Kapadia, a

parent who presented the school board with a

petition asking that the district recognize

Diwali on an upcoming school calendar for

2014-15, patch. com reported.

Schools Superintendent Valerie Goger on

Tuesday said the petition was received with 78

signatures.Kapadia said the Indian community

in Basking Ridge reflects the diversity not only

of the town, but of a group of Americans who

are rapidly being assimilated into the "national

tapestry." On a practical level, other parents and

students said it was hard to enjoy the holiday

when they must worry about preparing for tests

the next day, or bringing students to school

early to participate in other activities.

Parents sign petition, ask for Diwaliholiday in new school calendar

Mohammad Faroqui selectedfor ‘Rising Star’ award

National Community 7

TheSouthAsianTimes.info December 24-30, 2011

Washington, DC: South Carolina

state’s Indian American governor

Nikki Haley’s endorsement of front

runner Republican presidential

hopeful Mitt Romney is threatening

her own support at home.

Former Massachusetts governor

Romney’s campaign is using

Haley’s endorsement to build his

acceptance among the tea-party base

that’s never been comfortable with

his candidacy, especially in a state

where former House speaker Newt

Gingrich has been running even

stronger than elsewhere, the influen-

tial Washington newspaper Politico

said.

But the people in that base who

propelled Haley to the governor’s

mansion last year see the endorse-

ment of the more moderate Romney

as abandoning them – and giving

them another reason to turn away

from a governor whose approval rat-

ing has dropped to 34.6 percent, the

daily focusing on politics said.

Immediately after Haley

announced her support Friday morn-

ing on “Fox and Friends,” her

Facebook page lit up with accusa-

tions that the first-term governor

was selling out her principles, the

newspaper said.

Haley, at the age of 39 the

youngest current governor in the

US, though, insists she’s not wor-

ried. Haley told Politico she

believed the tea partiers now upset

would eventually see the wisdom of

her decision.

“I have a great respect for the

members of the tea party and what I

know is all South Carolinians make

the decision that’s best for them,”

the daughter of Sikh immigrant par-

ents said. “And so that’s what I did

today.”

By backing Romney, Haley’s

grabbed a chance to appeal to the

more moderate, establishment

Republicans who might be more

inclined to his candidacy – and

could now give her a second look,

Politico said.

Will Nikki Haley pay forbacking Mitt Romney?

India-US relationship transformedbeautifully: Rajiv Shah

New Delhi: The collaboration

between the US and India in the past

five decades has led to several

meaningful partnerships, especially

in agriculture, USAID

Administrator Rajiv Shah said at a

Indian Agricultural Research

Institute (IARI) function here Dec

20.The United States Agency for

International Development

(USAID), with a budget of over

USD 40 billion and nearly 2,000

employees, is an independent feder-

al agency responsible for most US

foreign aid.

“Since that first partnership over

half a century ago, the relationship

between our two nations has trans-

formed beautifully, delivering

meaningful results for both our peo-

ple,” he said.Speaking at the event

to commemorate the long standing

partnership between India and the

US, Shah said that is has paid rich

dividends not only to India but has

led to several innovations, which

have a potential to address develop-

ment challenges globally. Noted

farm scientist M S Swaminathan

hoped that this partnership will be

more fruitful in the future.

Rajiv Shah, USAID Administrator was on a two day trip to New Delhi

Mani Batchu gets 10 yearsfor luring girl into sex

Northampton: A Hampshire

Superior Court judge sentenced a

Chicago psychiatrist to 10 years in

prison for child rape.

India born Mani Batchu, 32, a

resident psychiatrist at the

University of Illinois at Chicago,

admitted to having sex with the 15-

year-old girl on two occasions in

2009, once at the Mount Pollux

Conservation Area in Amherst and

once in a dressing room at the

Hadley Shopping Plaza. In seeking

the 1-year sentence, prosecutor

Carrie M. Russell called Batchu a

“sophisticated predator” who took

advantage of both the girl’s age

and her learning disability.

Batchu is already serving a 30-

year federal sentence for crossing

state lines to commit the crimes. In

addition to flying from Chicago to

meet the girl in Massachusetts, he

also followed her to Florida on a

family vacation and sent her hun-

dreds of email and texts, according

to prosecutors.

If Batchu is released from prison

while still under probation, he will

be barred from having any unsu-

pervised contact with children

under the age of 16.

The Republican of Springfield

reported the 32-year-old man met

the teenager online in 2009, lied

about his name and age, and

"groomed" her for sex by buying

her gifts.

Mani Batchu

Congressmen Ed Royce speaking on the occasion

Christmas celebrations at Embassy of India inWashington, DC on Dec.8

Nikki Haley with Mitt Romney

The Mizo group singing Christmas Carols Ambassador Nirupama Rao with the Southern Baptist Church

Choir which also performed at the event

8 National Community

December 24-30, 2011 TheSouthAsianTimes.info

Indian doctor from Michigan bids forHouse of Representatives

By Ashok Ojha/SATimes

Edison, NJ: Dr. Syed Taj, a physi-

cian from Canton, Michigan, visited

New Jersey to garner support in his

bid for a seat in the US House of

Representative. Taj, who was raised

in Bihar, arrived in USA after gradu-

ating from Patna Medical College.

“The Indian community in the US

is going through a crucial phase of

claiming its space in mainstream

America. Our population is growing

fast but we are not represented pro-

portionately among elected offices

of the nation,” said Taj, 65, who is a

Democratic nominee in the absence

of any challenger from his party, for

contesting from the 11th district of

Michigan. His Republican rival will

be known after the primary to be

held in early 2012.

District 11 was carved out during

the recent redistricting exercise.

“The new district has been created

as if to accommodate the growing

population of Indian Americans

numbering 10 percent,” said a

beaming Dr. Taj.

Speaking about the problems

faced by the Indian community in

Canton Township of Michigan, Dr.

Taj said, “It has been a struggle for

our community to get permission

from authorities for remodeling six

places of worship: two each of tem-

ples, gurdwaras and mosques.”

“To prosper as a community we

must embrace our differences and

work together for our future,” he

said explaining why is contesting

for a Congress seat. “Americans are

tired of Washington political games

and the failed divide and conquer

strategies of our current system.”

“It will be a milestone achieve-

ment for the Indian American com-

munity if Dr. Taj could win the elec-

tion next year,” commented NJ

Assemblyman Upendra Chivukula.

“So far we have no representation in

the US Congress. Let us all extend

our wholehearted support to Dr.

Taj.” Dr. Sudhanshu Prasad, Edison

Township Councilman, introduced

Dr. Taj to the audience as a binding

force for the community. “He is a

hard working physician who moved

up in his career to become the Chief

of Medicine at Oakland Hospital.

Dr. Taj truly represents the aspira-

tions of our community and was

capable of becoming the united

voice of Indian Americans on

Capitol Hill.”

The meeting was organized by Dr.

Binod Sinha and other alumni of

Patna Medical College.

Vivek Bavda joins race forCongress district seat

Chicago: Indian-American attor-

ney Vivek Bavda has joined the

race for a revamped Congressional

District seat in Illinois in the

November 2012 general elections,

close on the heels of Raja

Krishnamoorthi announcing his

bid for another district in the US

state.

34-year-old Bavda of Mundelein

is running for Congress from the

10th district, home to close to 8

per cent Asians.

Bavda and another candidate

Brad Scheneider will face

Waukegan community organizer

Ilya Sheyman and Hainseville

mathematician Aloys Rutagwbira

in the Democratic primary on

March 20, 2012.

Born in Columbus in Ohio,

Bavda, whose parents hail from

Gujarat, is confident that he will

win.

"A lot of Asian Americans don't

vote. We need Asian Americans to

vote . I'm up for the challenge.

Part of my job is to engage them

and let their voice be heard,"

Bavda said.

Bavda said he wants to work on

creating more jobs and to improve

education.

If elected, he said that he would

encourage legal immigration. "We

need a bigger younger base to sup-

port our ageing community. I'm

proud to be an Asian-American,"

he said.

A lot of Indians come to me with

the problem of visas and immigra-

tion reform.

"Having me in Congress and

raising support system will let

more Indian-Americans get into

Congress," he said.

About 5,000 Indians live in the

10th district and Bavda said that it

would be nice to get more help.

Among other candidates is

Krishnamoorthi, who is running

for Congress from the 8th District

in Illinois.

Indian artist's newanimated web series

launched in USWashington, DC: A digital enter-

tainment company founded by

three Indian Americans is launch-

ing a new animated web series by

noted filmmaker John Woo creat-

ed with writer Garth Ennis and

Indian artist Jeevan J. Kang.

Liquid Comics, founded by

Sharad Devarajan, Gotham

Chopra and Suresh Seetharaman,

have joined Tiger Hill

Entertainment to launch the first

four episodes in a 13 episode ani-

mated web series from Woo,

maker of "Mission Impossible 2",

"Face-Off" and "Red Cliff."

The animated series is an adap-

tation of the graphic novel,

"Seven Brothers," created by

Woo, with writer Garth Ennis and

Indian artist Jeevan J. Kang.

"Seven Brothers" tells the story

of how 600 years ago mighty

Chinese treasure fleets on voy-

ages of discovery across conti-

nents left behind an evil legacy

and a plot by a powerful Chinese

sorcerer to dominate the world.

Now, in modern day Los

Angeles, an ancient prophecy

must be fulfilled and seven men,

with nothing in common but their

destinies, must face the Son of

Hell to save the world.

"'Seven Brothers' is a fusion of

mythology and edge that only an

icon like John Woo and the bril-

liant creative team behind 'Seven

Brothers' could pull off," com-

mented Liquid Comics Co-

Founder, Gotham Chopra. "For

Liquid, the future of comic books

is about jumping from the printed

page on to the digital screen and

'John Woo's Seven Brothers' is the

perfect project to launch our new

line of animated web shows,"

added Liquid Comics Co-

Founder & CEO, Sharad

Devarajan.

Donated Pacemakers from US safely reused in India: Study

Washington, DC: Reusing pace-

makers from dead patients is safe

and effective, according to a new

study. It involved 53 heart patients

in Mumbai, India, who received

pacemakers donated by the fami-

lies of deceased American

patients. The pacemakers were

sterilized before they were

implanted in the Indian patients.

After receiving the pacemakers,

all the patients were alive and

doing well, according to Dr.

Gaurav Kulkarni, currently of

Loyola University Medical

Center, and colleagues.

During two years of follow-up,

there were no infections or other

major complications and none of

the pacemakers failed. All but two

patients reported significant

improvements in their symptoms.

All four patients who were previ-

ously employed returned to work,

and 27 female patients said their

symptoms improved enough that

they could resume household

chores.

The study appears online and in

an upcoming print issue of the

American Journal of Cardiology.

The Indian patients had severe

heart rhythm disorders called

complete heart block and sick

sinus syndrome, which left them

gasping for breath and exhausted

after the slightest physical exer-

tion, the researchers said in a

Loyola news release.

Without a pacemaker, the

patients would have died within

weeks or months. But a pacemak-

er costs $2,200 to $6,600 in India,

far more than the patients could

afford. The pacemaker donations

began as a humanitarian project

but the physicians involved later

decided to conduct a formal study

of the safety and effectiveness of

the reused pacemakers.

The U.S. Food and Drug

Administration prohibit reusing

pacemakers in the United States

but no such law exists in India,

according to the release.

Dr. Syed Taj (middle), running for US Congress from Michigan, making a point to fellow Democrat NJ Assemblyman UpendraChivukula, while Dr. Sudhanshu Prasad, Edison Councilman

(right), looks on. (Photo by Ashok Ojha)

Vivek Bavda (right)

Reusing the devices after original recipient's death made the lifesaving procedure affordable

National Community 9

TheSouthAsianTimes.info December 24-30, 2011

Champaign: University of

Illinois Law Professor

Dhammika Dharmapala , a

Hindu from Sri Lanka and a

naturalized U.S. citizen, was

the victim of a shocking vio-

lent attack this week at a

train station.

Joshua Scaggs, 23,

allegedly stabbed him in the

neck after shouting some-

thing about this being

Scaggs’ country. Assistant

State’s Attorney Steve

Ziegler said Dharmapala had

a cut about 6 inches long and

bled a great deal.

Scaggs appeared mentally

deranged and promptly fired

his attorney Baku Patel. He

is charged with attempted

murder and two counts of

aggravated battery.

Dharmapala, 41, teaches

law and economics, tax poli-

cy, public economy, and

political economy.

Dhammika Dharmapala

joined the Illinois faculty in

the fall of 2009 from the

University of Connecticut

Department of Economics.

He is an authority in tax pol-

icy, public economics, law

and economics, and political

economics. He was recently

named to the National Tax

Association board of

directors.

Illinois law professor stabbedin throat at train station

New York: According to

the fifth annual MetLife

Study of the American

Dream, South Asian

Americans show a slight

shift in their view of the

American Dream. This

compares to a clear emer-

gence of a less traditional

and more personalized def-

inition of the dream among

the general population.

And while South Asian

Americans remain far more

confident about achieving

the dream than most

Americans, pessimism is

starting to creep in.

The study also uncovers

a shift in South Asian

Americans’ perception

about having an adequate

financial safety net. Three

quarters of South Asian

Americans believe that

having a safety net is key

to achieving the American

Dream, yet only 49% feel

theirs is adequate this year,

compared to 59% in 2010.

“Times are tough, but

people are adapting and

pursuing their own version

of the Dream,” said

Devang Patel, certified

financial planner with Patel

Financial Group, an office

of MetLife.

South Asians are having

the most success achieving

the American dream.

Forty-one percent say they

have achieved the dream,

compared with just over a

third (34%) of all

Americans and among

South Asian Americans

who haven’t yet achieved

the Dream, 8 in 10 think it

is possible.

The study reveals that

like most Americans,

South Asians no longer

place importance on many

traditional elements of the

dream: 67% and 66%

respectively say marriage

and children are not essen-

tial and 58% say you don’t

have to own a home to

achieve the dream.

However, while a majority

of Americans (65%) say a

college education is no

longer important, only

47% of South Asian

Americans agree.

Education is still key in

their version of the

American Dream.

Marriage, children, home nolonger must for achieving

American dream

Dhammika Dharmapala

Utah scientist pleads notguilty in industrial

espionage case Utah: A North Logan man indicted in

U.S. District Court for allegedly emailing

trade secrets from a Utah drug company

to his brother-in-law in India has pleaded

not guilty.

The case against 42-year-old Prabhu

Mohapatra marks the first time an indus-

trial espionage filing has been made

against a defendant in Utah, the FBI

announced Tuesday. Mohapatra is

accused of trying to help his brother-in-

law — employed by a competing compa-

ny based in Germany — by giving him

confidential information from Logan’s

Frontier Scientific Inc.

During a Thursday arraignment before

U.S. Magistrate Brooke C. Wells,

Mohapatra pleaded not guilty to the

charges. Wells set a tentative trial date of

Feb. 13 Salt Lake Tribune reported.

Mohapatra — who worked as a senior

scientist at Frontier Scientific Inc. from

October 2009 to Nov. 1 — was caught

after a co-worker noticed suspicious

behavior and reported it to management.

The co-worker watched Mohapatra cre-

ate Microsoft word documents that con-

tained the recipe for processing a chemi-

cal called "2,2’-Dipyrromethane,"

according to the indictment filed this

month. The co-worker also saw

Mohapatra convert the file into a PDF,

which was sent from his personal email

account.

Additional red flags were raised when

the co-worker observed Mohapatra using

his work computer to create a logo for a

company called Medchemblox, as well as

when Mohapatra brought a personal lap-

top to work each day.

Alerted by the co-worker, IT managers

placed software on his computer to moni-

tor his computer activity at work. They

discovered Mohapatra had sent emails

containing the drug recipe to India.

Company officials placed Mohapatra on

administrative leave on Oct. 26. He

agreed to meet with company officials

and provided a handwritten note, which

stated, "I admit my mistake and I am

truly sorry," according to court docu-

ments.

Mohapatra signed a nondisclosure

agreement regarding company informa-

tion, but revealed the information to his

brother-in-law anyway, court documents

state.

Mohapatra faces three counts of felony

theft of trade secrets and two counts of

computer fraud. He may spend up to 10

years in prison if convicted.

Mohapatra sent the emails to his broth-

er-in-law for the "apparent purpose that

the recipe be used by a chemical compa-

ny for the benefit of that [overseas] com-

pany and its owners and employees, and

to the economic detriment of [Frontier

Scientific Inc.]," court documents state.

He was remanded to the custody of

U.S. Marshals while he awaits trial.

Fifth Annual MetLife study finds decline in financial optimism

among South Asian Americans

Prabhu Mohapatra

10 US Affairs

December 24-30, 2011 TheSouthAsianTimes.info

Washington: South Korean and US intelli-

gence services failed to pick up any clues

even after 48 hours of Kim Jong-il's death last

Saturday, demonstrating an extensive intelli-

gence failure, the New York Times reported

Tuesday. The North Korean leader died on a

train at 8.30 a.m. Saturday in that country.

Kim was succeeded by his son Kim Jong-un.

Asian and American intelligence services

have failed to pick up significant develop-

ments in North Korea even earlier.

Pyongyang built a sprawling plant to enrich

uranium that went undetected for about a

year-and-a-half until North Korean officials

showed it off in late 2010.

The North also helped build a complete

nuclear reactor in Syria without tipping off

Western intelligence.

Highly sensitive antennae along the border

between South and North Korea pick up elec-

tronic signals. South Korean intelligence offi-

cials interview thousands of North Koreans

who defect to the South each year.

And yet remarkably little is known about

the inner workings of the North Korean gov-

ernment. Pyongyang, officials said, keeps sen-

sitive information limited to a small circle of

officials, who do not talk.

On Monday, the Obama administration held

urgent consultations with allies but said little

publicly about Kim's death.

Senior officials acknowledged they were

largely bystanders, watching the drama unfold

in the North and hoping that it does not lead to

acts of aggression against South Korea.

Some speculate that the younger Kim might

serve in a kind of regency, in which the real

power would be wielded by military officials

like Jang Song-taek, Kim Jong-il's brother-in-

law and confidant, who is 65.

New York: New York's

"quality of life" led around

50.2 million tourists to visit

the city this year, Mayor

Michael Bloomberg has

said.

"Five and half years ago,

we set an ambitious goal to

reach 50 million visitors by

2015, and in 2008, we

accelerated that goal to be

the end of 2012," Xinhua

quoted Bloomberg as saying

in a statement Tuesday.

"Today, we know that we

will exceed this significant

milestone by year's end," he

said.

"New York City's quality

of life has contributed to

this great success and we

are confident we will sustain

the success of our tourism

industry in the months and

years ahead," he said.

NYC & Company -- the

city's tourism agency --

forecast that the city will

attract 10.1 million interna-

tional visitors, a four per-

cent increase over 2010, and

40.1 million domestic visi-

tors by the end of the year.

The figures also translate

into good business, with $32

billion in tourist spending

and $48 billion in economic

impact by the start of 2012.

Korean dictator’s death was‘extensive intelligence failure'

New York City had over50 mn tourists in 2011

Washington: As the fourth quarter of 2011

draws to a close, a spate of unexpectedly

good economic data suggests that it will

have some of the fastest and strongest eco-

nomic growth since the recovery started in

2009, causing a surge in the stock market

and cheering economists, investors and pol-

icy makers.

In recent weeks, a broad range of data —

like reports on new residential construction

and small business confidence — have

beaten analysts’ expectations. Initial claims

for jobless benefits, often an early indicator

of where the labor market is headed, have

dropped to their lowest level since May

2008. And prominent economics groups

say the economy is growing three to four

times as quickly as it was early in the year,

at an annual pace of about 3.7 percent.

But the good news also comes with a sig-

nificant caveat. Many forecasters say the

recent uptick probably does not represent

the long-awaited start to a strong, sustain-

able recovery. Much of the current strength

is caused by temporary factors. And econo-

mists expect growth to slow in the first half

of 2012 to an annual pace of about 1.5 to 2

percent.

Even that estimate could be optimistic if

Washington lawmakers fail to extend aid

for the long-term unemployed and a payroll

tax cut for 160 million American wage

earners.

At stake is about $150 billion, the bulk of

which would go to middle-class families

and the unemployed. If Congress does not

pass the measures, economists say, it would

significantly weaken growth from already-

damped levels anticipated early in the new

year.

“Unfortunately, I think we’re going to see

a slowdown over the course of next year,”

Ethan Harris, co-head of global economics

research at Bank of America Merrill Lynch,

told reporters last week. “Not only do we

have the European crisis spilling over and

hurting U.S. trade and confidence,” he said,

but the United States economy also faces

“homegrown shocks.”

There are two reasons for the renewed

pessimism. First, economists say that tem-

porary trends increased growth in the fourth

quarter and may not continue into next

year. Second, the economy faces significant

headwinds in 2012: some from Europe’s

long-lingering sovereign debt crisis, and

some from domestic cutbacks beyond the

control of President Obama, whose cam-

paign would like to point to a brightening

economic picture, not a darkening one.

Even the Federal Reserve is predicting that

the unemployment rate will remain around

8.6 percent by the time voters go to the

polls in November.

The fourth quarter benefited, for instance,

from wholesalers restocking inventories of

goods like petroleum, paper and cars, giv-

ing a jolt to growth.

Consumers also pulled back on their sav-

ings, helping to finance a recent spurt in

spending. a trend that forecasters doubt will

continue. Other short-lived factors include

falling gasoline and commodity prices, and

an increase in orders from Japanese compa-

nies returning to business after the devastat-

ing spring tsunami.

But next year, Washington is increasing

some taxes and reducing spending as tem-

porary measures enacted during the worst

of the recession expire. That will dampen

growth by a percentage point or more next

year, forecasters say. Provisions like a tax

write-off to help businesses pay for equip-

ment are winding down or ending.

Experts see a false dawn in economy’s recent gains

US population grows atslowest rate since 1940s

Washington: The US population is grow-

ing at its slowest pace since the 1940s,

authorities said Wednesday.

The US saw its population increase by

2.8 million between April 1, 2010, and

July 1, 2011, to 311.6 million, the Census

Bureau said in a report. Its growth of 0.92

percent over the 15-month period was the

lowest since the mid-1940s, reported

Xinhua.

"The nation's overall growth rate is now

at its lowest point since before the baby

boom," said Census Bureau Director

Robert Groves.

These were the first set of Census

Bureau population estimates to be pub-

lished since the official 2010 Census state

population counts were released a year

ago.

The slowdown of national population

growth was partly a result of fewer immi-

grants entering the US, some analysts

said. The economic downturn made it

more difficult for immigrants to find jobs

in the US, particularly in industries like

construction that traditionally absorb dis-

proportionately higher immigrant work-

force.

California remained the most populous

state, with 37.7 million inhabitants,

according to the report.

Rounding out the top five states were

Texas (25.7 million), New York (19.5 mil-

lion), Florida (19.1 million) and Illinois

(12.9 million).

In terms of percent increase, the District

of Columbia experienced the fastest

growth during the period, at 2.7 percent,

followed by Texas, Utah, Alaska,

Colorado and North Dakota. The only

three states to lose population were

Rhode Island, Michigan and Maine.

WSJ slams Republicans forpayroll tax cut gift to Obama

New York: The conservative Wall Street

Journal is slamming House Republicans for

their hard-line position on the payroll tax cut,

writing that GOP lawmakers are throwing the

2012 election to President Obama before it

even begins.

House Republicans are refusing to pass the

bipartisan two-month extension of the tax cut

that passed the Senate on Saturday, demand-

ing a year-long increase. But Senate Majority

Leader Harry Reid says he'll only reopen

negotiations on a longer deal once the House

passes the Senate bill — and removes the

immediate threat of a tax increase for most

Americans.

Senate Republicans say Boehner backed the

short-term bill until it became clear that many

conservative Republicans would oppose the

bill. Rather than pass the Senate bill with

Democratic support, Boehner has positioned

himself against the entire Senate.

The Journal wrote: The GOP leaders have

somehow managed the remarkable feat of

being blamed for opposing a one-year exten-

sion of a tax holiday that they are surely going

to pass. This is no easy double play.

Republicans have also achieved the small

miracle of letting Mr. Obama position himself

as an election-year tax cutter, although he's

spent most of his Presidency promoting tax

increases and he would hit the economy with

one of the largest tax increases ever in 2013.

This should be impossible.”

House Republicans have managed to look

even more partisan — on an issue where there

really isn't all that much daylight between the

two parties. The Journal's advice: Pass the tax

cut — and fast.

House Speaker John Boehner is facingthe flak

Times Square: crossroads of the world

India Newswire 11

TheSouthAsianTimes.info December 24-30, 2011

Lokpal debate rages on, Parliament disruptedNew Delhi: The new Lokpal bill

was tabled in Parliament on

December 22 with RJD, SP, BSP

and AIMIM members protesting

exclusion of minorities from the

anti-graft bench of the proposed

ombudsman.

RJD chief Lalu Prasad raised

the issue during Zero Hour alleg-

ing that minorities had been kept

out "under pressure" from RSS-

BJP.

"The Congress and RSS-BJP are

hand in glove. That is why there

has been a delay in circulating the

Bill. We will not accept it. It is

incomplete. Amend it and then

introduce the Bill," Prasad said.

While reading out contents of

the Bill which has been circulated

among MPs, Prasad accused the

government of being scared of the

BJP. Speaker Meira Kumar

objected to his reading out from

the Bill, pointing out that it was

yet to be introduced.

As he was protesting against the

government's move, Prasad was

joined by members of SP, BSP

and AIMIM in creating an uproar.

Two SP members also moved into

the Well but returned to their seats

after the Speaker asked them to go

back.

In the melee, Trinamool

Congress leader Sudip

Bandopadhyay was seen talking

to NCP chief and agriculture min-

ister Sharad Pawar apparently on

the legislation.

After Kumar's request for order

failed, she adjourned the House.

The RJD leader said there was a

"conspiracy" to keep Muslims out

of the measure "on the pretext of

printing (mistake). We

verified it."

He was referring to a provision

in the bill which provides for 50

per cent quota for SCs, STs,

OBCs and women. Initially, the

revised bill had the mention of

minorities but it was later report-

edly deleted.

Some parties are demanding a quota for minorities in the proposedanti-corruption body.

I will fight for Lokpal, says Sonia GandhiNew Delhi: Hitting out at those

behind "a deliberate and malicious

misinformation" campaign against

the Congress, party chief Sonia

Gandhi said she was ready to fight

for the anti-graft Lokpal in the Lok

Sabha and urged Congress MPs not

to be defeatist.

Speaking to her party's parlia-

mentarians a day after the cabinet

gave its nod to the Lokpal bill,

Gandhi told the MPs to be prepared

for a battle in the house as she was

herself ready to "fight for Lokpal

and women's reservation" bills.

The women's reservation bill,

another pet project of Gandhi that

proposes reservation of 33 percent

seats in legislatures for women, has

been hanging fire after the Rajya

Sabha passed it in March 2010. It

is facing opposition from many

parties.

Referring to the upcoming

assembly polls next year, Gandhi

asked her MPs to be confident and

be sure of the party doing well in

the five assembly elections next

year.

Gandhi said there was a "definite

sentiment in our favour" in

Uttarakhand and Punjab. "I am

confident we will return to power

(there)". She added that while the

Congress was facing "odds" in

Uttar Pradesh, "there is growing

support for us".

"The challenge is to convert that

support into votes on polling

days... In Manipur and Goa, where

we are in government, our achieve-

ments these past years give us the

confidence of securing a renewed

mandate."

She, however, confessed that the

party and the government were not

doing enough to publicise the

accomplishments of the last seven

years of the Congress-led United

Progressive Alliance (UPA) rule.

"I cannot see any reason for us to

be defeatist. What seems to be

lacking is a more effective effort

by both the party and the govern-

ment in communicating and propa-

gating our accomplishments. Fight

the forces out to destabilise us,"

said Gandhi who is also the chair-

person of the UPA.

Taking on Hazare and his team,

Gandhi said there was a "deliberate

and malicious misinformation"

campaign that the Congress was

not tackling corruption.

Gandhi listed the anti-graft legis-

lations the UPA government has

passed and intends to pass in com-

ing days.

Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi.

Jayalalithaa expelsclose aide Sasikala

Chennai: Tamil Nadu Chief

Minister J. Jayalalithaa has

expelled her long time close aide

Sasikala Natarajan from the

AIADMK.

The move comes close on the

heels of Sasikala deposing in a

disproportionate assets case

against Jayalalithaa.

The AIADMK chief has been

accused of amassing assets

worth Rs 66 crore during her

term as chief minister in 1991-

1996.

Sasikala is a co-accused in the

case along with Jayalalithaa.

Jayalalithaa has warned her

party men from making any con-

tact with Sasikala.

She has also expelled 11 other

members, including all relatives

of Sasikala, from the party.

There was no clarity as to why

she took the step.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa with close aide

Sasikala Natarajan.

Lokpal bill best possible,says government

New Delhi: The govern-

ment said its Lokpal bill

was "the best" possible and

trashed as mere politics the

opposition to it from par-

ties and social activists.

"They are opposing it

because they think the

Congress will score

brownie points by passing

the bill. This is an historic

movement. Instead of

appreciating the move,

they are opposing.

Whatever the government

is bringing they are

opposed to that," Minister

of State for Parliamentary

Affairs Minister Rajiv

Shukla said. He was speak-

ing to reporters shortly

before the government was

to table the much-awaited

anti-corruption bill in the

Lok Sabha amid a tough

battle given the opposition

within and outside parlia-

ment.

Social activist Anna

Hazare has labelled the bill

weak and threatened to go

on a three-day fast from

Dec 27-29 followed by a

court arrest protest in New

Delhi.

Shukla asked Hazare to

give up his agitation and

see the bill. "The govern-

ment has given the best

bill. I think he should

realise it. Most of the

things have been done. The

PM (prime minister) has

been brought under the

Lokpal," the minister said.

Government's Lokpalbill useless: Anna

Ralegan Siddhi (Maharashtra): Social

activist Anna Hazare threatened to stage a

sit-in and court arrest outside Congress

president Sonia Gandhi's residence in New

Delhi to protest against the government's

"useless" Lokpal bill.

"This is a useless bill. Unless you bring

the CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation)

under the ambit of the Lokpal, the Lokpal

law will serve no purpose," Hazare told

reporters at his home here, on a day the

government is scheduled to table the legis-

lation in the Lok Sabha to be passed

in parliament.

He said he would go on a three-day

hunger strike from Dec 27-29 and would

launch "jail bharo" struggle. "My jail bharo

protest will be outside the residence of

Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi," the 74-

year-old activist said.

She said if Gandhi, who is also the chair-

person of the ruling United Progressive

Alliance (UPA) combine, thought the gov-

ernment's Lokpal bill was strong "let her

debate this infront of the media or else we

will make her understand how weak this is.

But let her come face to face".

He said the government lacked the will

power to curb rampant corruption in

the country.

12 India Newswire

December 24-30, 2011 TheSouthAsianTimes.info

NIA gets nod to file chargesheet against HeadleyNew Delhi: The government has

given its sanction to chargesheet

nine people including Pakistani-

American terrorist David Headley,

LeT founder Hafiz Saeed and two

ISI officers for plotting terror

attacks in India including the 26/11

strikes.

Besides Headley and Saeed, the

home ministry gave sanction to

National Investigation Agency to

prosecute 26/11 attacks mastermind

Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, Headley's

accomplice and Pakistani-Canadian

Tahawwur Rana and al-Qaeda oper-

ative Illyas Kashmiri, official

sources said here.

Sajid Malik, handler of Headley,

and Abdul Rehman Hashmi will

also be named in the chargesheet

besides two officers Major Iqbal and

Major Samir Ali, believed to be

working for Pakistan's snooping

agency, the sources said.

The sanction of prosecution

against the nine was accorded after a

legal opinion of the Law Ministry

was obtained.

They will be named in the charge

sheet for waging war against the

country under the Indian Penal Code

and relevant sections of Unlawful

Activities (Prevention) Act.

The NIA had registered a case

against 50-year-old Headley and

Rana on November 12, 2009 and

later on added other names after

investigation by central security

agencies showed a large set of peo-

ple involved in terror activities

against the country.

Both Headley and Rana are at

present in custody of US authorities

and NIA has only got a limited

access to Headley, who had entered

into plea bargain with US authori-

ties to escape harsh sentence.

The 50-year-old Rana was found

guilty by the US court of terror

activities in Denmark but absolved

of his role in the 26/11 strikes in

Mumbai.

The NIA, while registering a case

against Rana and Headley under

Unlawful Activities (Prevention)

Act and for conspiring to wage war

against the country, had alleged that

Headley had visited India "several

times before 26/11 and once after"

the Mumbai terror strikes, which

left 166 people dead.

Barring Headley and Rana, NIA

has secured an Interpol Red Corner

Notice against all the seven accused

including Saeed and Lakhvi, who is

said to be in a Pakistani jail facing

trial for conspiring the 26/11 attack.

Headley helped NIA identify voic-

es of handlers giving instructions to

the holed-up terrorists during the

60-hour carnage in Mumbai in

November 2008. The handlers

included Abu Hamza, the man who

carried out the attack on the Indian

Institute of Science in Bangalore,

and a key planner, instructor and

handler.

He also identified Sajid Majid, a

top LeT terrorist, who asked the ter-

rorists in Chabad House to ensure

that none of the Israelis were

left alive.

A courtroom sketch of Pakistani-American terrorist David Headley.

Court bars Facebook, others'2G case: Radia used tocall me many times' New Delhi: In the midst of a

debate on monitoring content,

a Delhi court has restrained

social- networking si tes

including Facebook, Google

and Youtube from webcasting

any "anti-religious" or "anti-

social" content promoting

hatred or communal disharmo-

ny.

Addit ional Civil Judge

Mukesh Kumar, in an ex-parte

order, directed the social net-

working websites to remove

the objectionable content in

the form photographs, videos

or text which might hurt reli-

gious sentiments.

The court passed the order

on a civil suit filed by Mufti

Aijaz Arshad Qasmi through

advocate Santosh Pandey who

had also submitted the print-

outs of the contents.

New Delhi: A

former aide of A

Raja told a local

court that corpo-

rate lobbyist

Niira Radia used

to call him

"many times" on

phone to inquire

about the

"whereabouts"

of former tele-

com minister.

Asservartham

Achary, former

additional pri-

vate secretary of

Raja, also

claimed that

during one of

the telephone

conversations Radia told him to

pass on a message to the then

minister that she had sorted his

"Kalaignar TV problem."

DMK MP Kanimozhi, an

accused in the 2G scam case, has

20 per cent stake in DMK-run

Kalaignar TV. Achary was put to

intense questioning by senior

advocate and Kanimozhi's coun-

sel Ram Jethmalani in a Delhi

Court where he gave answers to

queries ranging from Raja's com-

munication with Prime Minister

Manmohan Singh and conversa-

tions with Radia.

When asked about Raja and

Radia, Achary said the corporate

lobbyist used to call him "many

times" on phone to inquire about

the former telecom minister and

that she had also spoken about

Kalaignar TV.

"It is correct that before my

conversation (of September 18,

2008), Niira Radia had spoken to

me many times on phone. She

used to speak to me about the

whereabouts of A Raja... I used to

address her ma'am and not by her

name," Achary said. During

cross-examination, Achary,

deposing as a CBI witness, said

he immediately used to recognize

Radia's voice when she called

him.

Jethmalani asked him if he was

aware of the Kalaignar TV prob-

lem that Radia was referring to

during their telephonic conversa-

tion on September 18, 2008.

Radia had called Achary say-

ing, "Ok tell him (Raja) that I

have sorted out his Kalaignar

problem. That Kalaignar TV

problem." Achary had a tough

time to answer questions from

Jethmalani relating to Raja's

November 2, 2007 letter to the

prime minister as in the first

instance he was not sure whether

it was urgent or not but later he

admitted that it was urgent.

Gita ban: Govt asked to considerrepresentation in Russia

Mumbai: Bombay High Court

has asked Government of India

to consider the option of the

country being represented

before a court in Russia to

defend the Bhagwad Gita, the

holy Hindu scripture which is

facing a ban there.

A division bench of Chief

Justice Mohit Shah and Justice

Roshan Dalvi also asked the

Centre to inform the court about

what action it has initiated to

monitor the issue on the next

date of hearing on January 9

next.

The court was hearing a pub-

lic interest litigation seeking the

government's intervention in

the case before the Russian

court where a ban on Bhagwad

Gita has been demanded.

The petitioners have quoted

newspaper reports that a ban

has been sought on Gita in a

Tomsk courtin Siberia dubbing

it as a literature spreading social

discord.

Beni Chatterji, counsel for the

Central government, informed

the court that S M Krishna,

Minister of External Affairs,

had made a statement that the

ministry is monitoring the case.

M I Sethna, counsel for the

petitioners, however, said that

the government is just monitor-

ing and has asked Iskcon to

defend the literature there. "It is

a grave insult to our culture.

Instead of asking Iskcon to

defend, the government should

defend the Gita," Sethna said.

The PIL states that Gita is a

sacred text and attempts to ban

it would have far-reaching

implications not only in India

but also internationally.

It contends that the subject

concerned not just the Indians

in Russia, but had world-wide

significance.

Any failure on Indian govern-

ment's part to intervene, sup-

ported by in-depth research,

scholastic views and analysis,

would cause irretrievable dam-

age to the country's and rich

culture and heritage, the peti-

tion contends.

The petitioners have quoted newspaper reports that a ban has beensought on Gita in a Tomsk courtin Siberia dubbing it as a literature

spreading social discord.

The corporate lobbyist Niira Radia.

India Newswire 13

TheSouthAsianTimes.info December 24-30, 2011

India's Oscar hunt hingeson Rs 2 crore

Thiruvananthapuram: He's

been there, done that. Now, he has

to go there and do that again.

Salim Ahmed (39) spent his

life's savings and borrowed

money from friends to raise Rs 1

crore to make Adaminte Makan

Abu, the Malayalam movie made

on a shoestring budget that went

on to become the surprise

National Award winner in

May 2011.

Now, he's again scrounging for

funds. Ahmed's debut creation is

India's official entry in the Best

Film in a foreign language catego-

ry at the 84th edition of the Oscars

on February 26 next year.

He needs Rs 2 crore to promote

his film with the 6,000 members

of the US-based Academy of

Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

who will judge his film and vote

for the winner.

That's Rs 2 crore more than

he has.

“I find it difficult to manage

funds,” said Ahmed, who worked

with various travel firms before

he could fund his dream project.

He is now knocking on

whichever door he can find,

including that of the government,

but the response has been

lukewarm.

Friends are pitching in again as

is Oscar-winning sound engineer

Resul Pookutty, who has done the

film's sound re-design and re-mix

free of cost.

Ahmed recently met Hindi film

actor Aamir Khan to seek his

advice. “Aamir's Lagaan was an

official entry for Oscars in 2002.

He gave me a few tips and wished

all success,” Ahmed said.

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Japanese PM in Indianext week, n-deal

on agendaNew Delhi: India and Japan will

seek to push their stalled nuclear

talks and focus on expanding eco-

nomic ties when Japanese Prime

Minister Yoshihiko Noda touches

down here next Tuesday for annual

summit with Prime Minister

Manmohan Singh.

"The two prime ministers will

discuss steps to enhance the India-

Japan strategic and global partner-

ship," the external affairs ministry

said here while announcing the

Japanese prime minister's visit.

This will be Noda's first visit to

India since becoming the prime

minister in September.

During their talks Dec 28,

Manmohan Singh and Noda are

expected to discuss a wide array of

issues, including the prospects of

civil nuclear cooperation, jointly

combating piracy and terrorism,

climate change, the global finan-

cial crisis and the evolving East

Asia architecture.

The two leaders are expected to

focus on reviving civil nuclear

negotiations which stalled after the

March 11 Fukushima radiation dis-

aster. The two sides have already

held three rounds of nuclear nego-

tiations.

India is hoping that the next

round of talks will be held early

next year.

The two sides, who signed a

Comprehensive Economic

Partnership Agreement (CEPA)

earlier this year, will also be look-

ing to step up trade and invest-

ment. The two countries are look-

ing to scaling up bilateral trade to

$25 billion from $10.3 billion.

The Japanese prime minister's

visit comes at a time when

Japanese companies are looking

anew at India as a growing market

and its burgeoning infrastructure

needs. Japanese companies are

looking to step up investment in

diverse sectors, including manu-

facturing, automotive, machinery,

electronics, infrastructure, high

speed rail like bullet trains and

power generation.

National Award winning director struggles for funds to promote his film

A still from Malayalam film Adaminte Makan Abu, India’s officialentry for Foreign Language Oscar

14 Op Ed

December 24-30, 2011 TheSouthAsianTimes.info

Anti-graft bill:Anna holds center-stage

Rupee to stay volatile onuncertain economic outlook

By Amulya Ganguli

Before Delhi's winter froze

Anna Hazare's campaign

plans in the national capital,

the government was very much on

the backfoot, not least because the

Congress shied away from the

opportunity to present its case

before the anti-corruption crusader

during his one-day fast at Jantar

Mantar.

Since then, it has been playing a

cat-and-mouse game with Anna by

conceding some ground, such as

bringing the prime minister under

the Lokpal's ambit with several

caveats, but trying to retain its con-

trol over the Central Bureau of

Investigation (CBI).

In addition, the government is

also entering uncharted territory by

proposing reservations for the

backward castes, Dalits and sched-

uled tribes in the Lokpal panel to

placate sections of the opposition

which tend to support the govern-

ment such as the Bahujan Samaj

Party (BSP), the Rashtriya Janata

Dal (RJD) and the Samajwadi

Party. The move may also delink

the Janata Dal-United from the

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

As is known, the BJP had lost no

time in jumping on to Anna's band-

wagon since he no longer regarded

the politicians with contempt as

when he had called them 'bikaau' or

purchasable and shooed away those

who tried to join him on the stage

last summer.

Only time will show how much it

will gain from its proximity to

Anna considering that the sight of

Brinda Karat of the Communist

Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) and

Arun Jaitley of the BJP sitting on

either side of the campaigner can-

not but be embarrassing for these

two parties from the opposite ends

of the political spectrum.

For Anna too, the interaction with

the politicos did not go entirely in

his favor since the Communist

Party of India's (CPI) A.B. Bardhan

reminded Team Anna that they

were not the repositories of all wis-

dom. A member of the parliamen-

tary standing committee on the

Lokpal bill, Pinaki Mishra of the

Biju Janata Dal (BJD), also pointed

out that the committee's report

could not be written off.

It is clear, therefore, that none of

the three sides - the government,

Team Anna and the opposition - has

been able to outwit the other. Anna,

therefore, may have no option but

to go on a fast from Dec 27, as he

has threatened. But a fast in

Mumbai will not have the same

impact as one in Delhi. Besides, the

fact that he had to run away from

the cold is bound to expose him to

ridicule.

His halo has also dimmed a little.

First, his overtures to politicians

showed that his earlier diatribes

against them were more for effect

than a genuine expression of his

feelings. The change of stance is

not unlike his earlier backtracking

from his praise of Narendra Modi.

Secondly, some of the recent

reports about his penchant for flog-

ging habitual drinkers in his fief-

dom of Ralegan Siddhi has earned

him a note of dissent from Amartya

Sen. Thirdly, the charges of less

than honest conduct by some of his

close associates like Arvind

Kejriwal and Kiran Bedi have cast

a shadow on Team Anna's reputa-

tion. To most people, therefore, the

description of Anna as a well-

meaning but "slightly dumb" neigh-

borhood elder by social commenta-

tor Ashis Nandy will ring true.

If the government has been

unable to take full advantage of

these setbacks, the reason is that it

remains mired in a myriad difficul-

ties. For one, its intentions about

the Lokpal bill are still in doubt. In

fact, the reconvening of the stand-

ing committee to make some last-

minute changes has fuelled specu-

lation that someone is pulling

strings from behind. Hence, Anna's

allegation that Rahul Gandhi is the

backseat driver.

For another, the government's

failure to push through its decision

on foreign investment in the retail

sector has confirmed the impres-

sion of policy paralysis, which its

latest initiative on the passage of

the bills on citizen's charter, judicial

accountability and whistle-blowers

hasn't dispelled. On the other hand,

the virtual shooting down of the

much-hyped unique identification

scheme by the standing committee

on finance headed by the BJP's

Yashwant Sinha has shown that the

government continues to stumble

along.

Moreover, if and when it bestirs

itself, the government lands in fur-

ther trouble as when Telecom

Minister Kapil Sibal suggested cen-

soring the websites carrying offen-

sive material. To make matters

worse, one of its senior ministers, P.

Chidambaram, has become

involved in charges relating to the

telecom scam not long after the

Congress president, Sonia Gandhi,

had to intervene to make peace

between him and another senior

minister, Pranab Mukherjee, over

the leakage of documents about the

scam. Since the government still

gives the being all at sea, Anna has

succeeded in dictating the Lokpal

agenda to a considerable extent,

including the move to extent the

parliamentary session.

As for the opposition, the Left

has a long way to go before it can

recover from its recent setbacks

while the BJP has not succeeded in

either resolving its leadership tan-

gles or imparting some clarity on

its policies.

By Gyanendra Kumar Keshri

The Indian rupee, that has weakened

almost 16 percent against the US dollar

since the beginning of the year, is likely

to remain volatile in the coming months due to

uncertain domestic and global economic out-

look, say analysts.

The partially convertible rupee got battered

in the last one month, hitting a record low of

54.30 against a dollar on Dec 15, almost 24

percent down from the year's high of 43.85

recorded July 27. It has been the worst per-

forming among Asian currencies.

"In the short-term, say, the next five to eight

weeks, the rupee will remain volatile with

negative bias," said Sanjeev Krishan, execu-

tive director at PricewaterhouseCoopers

(PwC). The rupee depreciated sharply in the

last two weeks mainly because of increased

demand for the greenback from importers and

investors, and outflow of capital from Indian

equities market amid concerns about slowing

growth, high inflation, widening deficit and

inability of the government to push forward

key reforms.

Overseas investors are the net sellers in the

Indian equities market this year. After pump-

ing in almost $29 billion in 2010, foreign

investors have cut holdings of Indian shares

by $353 million so far in 2011.

Top economic policy makers, including

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, have

expressed concern over the rupee slide. "No

finance minister will find it comfortable when

rupee is declining," Mukherjee told lawmak-

ers last week.

However, Nobel laureate economist

Amartya Sen does not share the pessimism.

He said the depreciation in the value of the

currency also benefited a section of the econo-

my. So it should not be considered a disaster.

"From the point of view of some people a

lower value of currency is a loss, from the

point of view of many other people it is not, so

you have to judge it," Sen, a professor of eco-

nomics at Harvard University, said.

Sen pointed out that some countries like

China were deliberately keeping their curren-

cies undervalued to boost exports.

After the central bank's move, the rupee

rebounded almost two percent Friday, the last

trading day of the week, from the record low

of 54.30 hit in the previous day.

The depreciation in the value of currency

should make imports costlier and boost

exports. However, the exporters are not

enthused by the slide in the value of the rupee.

India is dependent on imports to meet its

growing energy demands. The country's trade

deficit is likely to rise above $150 billion in

2011-12 as compared to $94.6 billion in the

previous year.

Anna Hazare has succeeded in dictating the Lokpal agenda to a con-siderable extent, including the move to extend the

parliamentary session.

The partially convertible rupee got batteredin the last one month, hitting a record low

of 54.30 against a dollar on Dec 15.

The views expressed in Op Eds are not necessarily those of The South Asian Times.

Fashion 15

TheSouthAsianTimes.info December 24-30, 2011

By Jinal Shah/The SATimes

Preeti Shah, 31, is facing a sar-

torial situation with wedding

season just round the corner.

“I have three Indian weddings to

attend this month and will bump

into the same set of people. On top

of it Facebook uploads have made

it difficult to repeat clothes,” said

Shah desperately looking for

options.

Not just celebrities, even people

like you and me are increasingly

becoming conscious about not

being seen in the same outfit more

than once.

Shah is not the only one worried

about making the faux pas of

repeating an outfit her friends on

Facebook must have already seen

or liked. Many fashion conscious

women can relate to the nothing to

wear scenario even if they have a

closet full of glamorous clothes.

“There are still days when it all

feels repetitive,” says Shah.

This age-old wardrobe conun-

drum aggravated by the new wave

of social media has inspired a hand-

ful of companies to deliver an inno-

vative solution for the modern

woman -- dress rentals. This rela-

tively new concept helps fashion-

istas -- with designer tastes and

budget more suited for conservative

shopping-- to rent a designer dress

at a fraction of its retail price, wear

and return without the headache of

stocking or cleaning.

And just as this e-commerce

model has become passé in USA

for western dresses, Indian design-

ers and fashionable women are not

far behind. In the last six months

two companies -- Luxemi and

Devi’s Closet -- started their e-

rentals, both inspired by the Indian

American owners’ own wardrobe

crisis.

“The genesis of Luxemi can be

traced to our own wardrobes. We

were invited to many different

Indian weddings at the same time

and met the same set of people,

hence it was difficult to repeat

dresses. Going back and forth to

India and selecting clothes became

an expensive affair too. A small

survey in my own family and a

market study made us realize there

are many Indian women facing a

similar problem. Indian clothes are

vibrant, unique and easy to recall.

Especially with Facebook and

Twitter, it’s difficult to repeat

clothes,” said Swapna Chandamuri,

CEO and co-founder of

Luxemi.com.

Chandamuri’s story echoes in

Meera Patel’s. Patel, co-founder of

Devi’s Closet with Sheena Patel

and Amy Heller, even admits that

her business venture was inspired

by rental sites like Rent the

Runway, Wear Today Gone

Tomorrow, and Girl Meets Dress -

some of the successful rental sites

in USA.

“There is surely a shift in con-

sumer behavior from old-fashioned

shopping experience to online

shopping primarily due to lack of

time and money. Nowadays, access

does not necessarily mean proximi-

ty to stores, it is also on variety and

price. With the current economic

slowdown, rental options offer a

great value for your money,” says

Chandamuri.

Here’s how it works. One can

sign up for a free membership,

select the outfit and or accessories,

enter the date of next event, size

and zip code. The outfit will be

shipped to your doorstep with a

pre-paid, return envelope to send it

back. Once returned, the outfit will

be drycleaned and ready to be

shipped out to the next customer.

With a building up of inventory,

both the e-commerce sites promise

to give their members fresh stocks

of dresses, accessories and hand-

bags.

“Although retail shopping online

for Indian dresses is well estab-

lished, the experience is still old-

fashioned, that’s one of the reasons

we realized that if shopping for

western outfits is so up to date why

not make Indian shopping recent

and fresh,” added Chandamuri.

Thanks to Lakme Fashion Week

and Wills Lifestyle, designers like

Anita Dongre, Manish Malhotra

and Satya Paul are increasingly

becoming household names even in

the US.

“South Asian women are also

more stylish and designer-con-

scious than ever before,” says

Patel, adding, “With the rise in pop-

ularity of India’s Lakme Fashion

Week, designers like Ritu Kumar

and Amrita Singh have gone main-

stream across North America.

Modern South Asian women recog-

nize the cache of these designer

labels, which will lead to brand loy-

alty.”

Indian designers are quickly real-

izing the importance of rental web-

sites for building up brand loyalty,

furthering their chances to pene-

trate not just the Indian community

living in the US but even

Americans.

“I think working through a rental

platform helps our customers’

brand loyalty as it reaches out to

them and makes the garments

available at an affordable price and

helps them come back again and

again for more,” adds Payal

Singhal, CEO of Payal Singhal Inc.

A few of her dresses are available

from Devi’s Closet. However, rent-

ing Indian clothes--that too online--

may not go well with the conserva-

tive Indian audience. “I regularly

shop online for my western dresses,

but I am not prepared yet for online

shopping for Indian dresses. And

renting a dress, if caught by friends,

would be an embarrassing situa-

tion,” worries Shah.

Conversely, both Patel and

Chandamuri believe that times are

changing and fashion conscious

South Asians are opening up to the

idea of renting clothes. “Renting

may still be considered as a taboo

by the older generation, but the

younger lot is fairly open to renting

clothes online. The reason behind it

is the pressure of not repeating

clothes. People are more practical

now. They well understand that

buying a dress that can be rented at

a fraction of its price is a wise

option.”

Whereas Luxemi is currently

focusing only on Women’s wear

(both retail and rental), Devi’s

Closet also showcases ethnic men’s

wear. Both the sites offer designer

collection from lehengas to salwar-

suits to sarees with a range of sizes

at standard shipping rate through-

out US.

“In this age of mix and match, it

is not necessary to strictly follow

the rules for dressing up. Our fash-

ion consultant and the blog provide

tips on how to dress up that sassy

black dress with Indian acces-

sories,” says Chandamuri.

Why buy when you can rent!

Meera Patel and Seeena Patel, co-founders of Devi’s Closet Luxemi promoting the renting fashion concept

Swapna Chandamuri (left) and Swati Narra, co-founders of Luxemi

Some clothes and accessories from Devi’s Closet

16 Jewelry

December 24-30, 2011 TheSouthAsianTimes.info

By Prakash Bhandari/SATimes

Jaipur: The Pink City is also a

gem city. It is world’s foremost city

where lapidary art has been a long

tradition. Amazingly, Jaipur,

despite having no source of gem-

stone mines developed itself as a

center for cutting and polishing of

gemstones and it has emerged as

the world’s biggest centre for cut-

ting and polishing of gemstones

which caters to the entire world

through its array of colored stones.

Apart from lapidary, Jaipur,

which was once a center for pro-

ducing exquisite kundan meena,

has now become a center for

exquisite jewelry. The growth of

the city in terms of infrastructure,

influx of tourists, new hotels and

restaurants, all indicate a city in the

making of a metro.

In 2003, a small step was confi-

dently taken to give a further fillip

to the city by launching the Jaipur

Jewellery Show (JJS). The vision

was clear: giving an impetus to the

Gems and Jewelry trade; placing

Jaipur on the world gem & jewelry

map.

The JJS is recognized and award-

ed as the epitome for excellent

collection in its treasure. It has

grown in reputation as the apex in

the trade within a decade. The glit-

tering show this December dis-

plays an infinite variety of high

quality modern jewelry.

The humble beginning with 67

stalls at Entertainment Paradise

(EP) saw an encouraging response,

interaction and zeal. Small wonder

then that the 2004 JJS witnessed a

quantum leap to 189 booths. There

has been no looking back since

then. In 2005, the venue was shift-

ed to the Raj Mahal Palace, with as

many as 276 stalls. This venue pro-

vided greater space and facilities to

the exhibitors, other participants

and visitors.

This year, too, Raj Mahal Palace

is the venue with as many as 451

booths, fully booked. Further, there

is a waiting list for 62 booths for

the show from December 23-26.

What is particularly gratifying is

that 85 percent of the exhibitors are

repeat participants. It amply

reflects that there has been a high

degree of satisfaction for the

exhibitors and participants. One

advantage of Raj Mahal as venue is

that it is located right in the heart

of the city. The manner in which

the exhibitors show their creativity

in highly impressive stalls is amaz-

ing.

The December show, as it is pop-

ularly known, has become an

important event what with over

30,000 visitors. Over 2000 online

registrations have also been done.

This year too the JJS will be a

complete show what with stones,

gems, diamonds, color stones, pre-

cious metals -- silver, gold, base

metals -- carving and beads being

showcased and marketed. The

exposition will also cover jewelrs,

gemstone dealers and jewelry insti-

tutes, publications, machinery and

tools. The top retailers

of India have already confirmed

their participation in the show. And

it is indeed heartening that this not-

for-profit event is ploughing back

funds for promoting the trade.

The JJS has the celebrity model

and actress Sonal Chauhan as its

brand ambassador.

The cheerful actress reflects the

young, innovative, trendsetting

outlook of the show, and will add a

dash of youthful glamour to its

events and promotions. She contin-

ues to make JJS popular all over

the world.

Participants and visitors are

expected from Japan, Thailand,

USA and Hong Kong in this B2B

as well as B2C prestigious show.

GIA, DTC, GJEPC, WFDB,

CIBJO, KPMG, GJF, ICA, Rio-

Tinto all have been prestigious

partners to JJS.

A special feature of the JJS has

always been the fact that different

stones and jewelry items have been

proactively promoted as a theme.

For instance in the past yearsthe themes have been:

2003: Redefining colors

2004: Defining colors, Defining

value

2005: Mystique of Gems

2006: Emerald: Add one to your

life.

2007: Emerald: and More

2008: Tanzanite: Rarest of the

Rare

2009: Cherish the Miracle of

Tanzanite

2010: Kundan Meena… A tradi-

tion that goes on the generations

2011: Kundan Meena… A Regal

Heritage

As for the emerald and the tan-

zanite group earlier, a special pro-

motion group has also been formed

for giving a boost to the Kundan

Meena. Apart from highlighting

Kundan Meena on the promotional

material, the group has proactively

promoted the artistic jewelry at

road shows at Pune and Kolkata.

A comprehensive book entitled

“When Jewellery Speaks:

Celebrating the traditions of

Kundan & Meenakari” will be

released at a gala function during

JJS. The book was commissioned

by Jaipur Jewellery Show, authored

by Shemul Mehta Vyas - who

teaches at National Institute of

Design.

The networking dinner and musi-

cal evening is being organized for

the third time. It allows traders,

retailers and local jewelers to min-

gle and interact. On this occasion

the theme poster on Kundan Meena

will be launched by the JJS.

All India Gems & Jewellery

Trade Federation (GJF) Board of

Directors have been invited by the

JJS for the show. GJF is a national

trade federation for the promotion

and growth of the trade in gems

and jewelry pan-India. As many as

70 top jewelry retailers of the

country will attend the glittering

event. Their presence will give an

opportunity for expert interaction

with the exhibitors on issues relat-

ed to G&J sector.

The Gemological Institute of

America (GIA) will make a presen-

tation on ‘Colorstone Valuation’

and Prashant Bhojani of Rapaport

will talk on ‘Effective ways of

making NET profit in diamonds’.

In its 9th edition, Jaipur Jewellery Show from Dec 23-26 will add glittering glory to the Pink City.

A medley of charisma and sophistication

Promotions for JJS in Kolkata and Bangalore.

Jaipur Jewellery Show's media chief Ajay Kala (left) co-convenorDinesh Khatoria and Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council's

chairman Rajeev Jain addressing the media.

The managing committee of the JJS pose for a group photograph.

Brand Ambassador SonalChauhan to add glamor to JJS

The up-and-

coming film

actress and

celebrity model

Sonal Chauhan will

be attending the

Jaipur Jewellery

Show (JJS) at the Raj

Mahal Palace in

Jaipur. She is the

brand ambassador of

JJS.

The honorary sec-

retary of the JJS,

Rajiv Jain said that

being the brand

ambassador, Sonal

Chauhan will present

new trends in jewel-

ry, which will be

more attractive for

the younger genera-

tion. The brand ambassador is dedicated to raise the level of the

city of Jaipur for jewelry. According to Mahavir Sharma, member

of the JJS organizing committee, Sonal is extremely fond of Kudan

Meena jewelry and will be herself buying jewelry during the fair.

Sonal Chauhan starred in the well known Bollywood film Budha

Hoga Tera Baap with Amitabh Bachchan.

Sonal Chauhan, film actress and JJS brandambassador, is herself fond of Kundan

Meena jewelry.

Jewelry 17

TheSouthAsianTimes.info December 24-30, 2011

By Dr Naval Agarwal

Kundan jewelry is the jew-

elry of the royals patron-

ized and promoted by the

Rajas, Maharajas, Nawabs and the

Nizams. This classical jewelry

apart from the royal households

was the proud treasure of the fabu-

lous riches of pre-Independent

India, which is now becoming the

most sought after ornaments by

not only Indians, but also people

from the Middle East countries,

Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and

even the US and Europe.

Now as more and more people

have become aware of the purest

form of kundan meena and the

precious stones used and the resale

value that it commands, the attrac-

tion for this jewelry, which is

pride of India, has resulted in its

huge demand globally.

Kundan meena jewelry that used

to be once confined only to tem-

ples, has undergone a metamor-

phosis and it was during the

Mughal period that this art got a

new look. The influence of Persian

art incorporated colorful minakari,

which included various floral and

animal motifs. It was during this

period that the royal houses pro-

tected and patronized this art.

How is kundan different from

gold jewelry?

While other gold jewelry is

made by a single craftsman, the

making of Kundan jewelry

involves the expertise of a num-

ber of highly skilled craftsmen of

various disciplines.

Kundan jewelry involves sev-

eral processes: Making the base,

and enameling (minakari), shaping

and fixing of stones; making, fill-

ing and studding of kundan. The

process begins with making of the

base jewelry and is known as

“Ghaat” making. The gold of high

purity, generally 23 carat, is ham-

mered and made into plates of 20-

25 gauge and then molded by

hand into motifs which include

patterns of Mango, hand–fan

(pankhi), different floral designs,

animals and bird motifs. They are

then soldered with high purity

gold solders or with Cadmium sol-

ders to give the jewelry shape,

keeping the hollow cavity on the

upper surface and flat plate on the

lower surface. After proper filing,

emerying and burnishing, the

pieces of base jewelry are given to

minakars for enameling.

Traditionally, the minakari is

done on both lower and upper

surfaces of the jewelry piece. The

minakars do the fine engraving

minutely using a lot of manual

precision while drawing and

designing on the flat surfaces of

the base. These engraved surfaces

are then filled with mina of differ-

ent colors and hues.

The filling of mina is done by

skilled craftsmen and only a hand-

ful of minakars are left now who

could do this painstaking art on

the metal surface.

After filling mina, the jewelry is

pushed into an oven at a tempera-

ture just below the melting point

of gold.

The temperature of the oven is

also important. If the mina is

heated more it may burn and

become blackish. This makes the

mina stick with the gold mole-

cules and get a glazing on the sur-

face. Better the purity of the base

metal, better will be the sparkle,

shine and sharpness of the mina

colors.

Such colors as red, green and

blue with inlays of gold, cream

and white are mainly used in

minakari but sometime less fast

colors such as pink, turquoise and

black are also used.

The experts consider the red

mina of Jaipur as the most beauti-

ful. After minakari, the jewelry

pieces are polished and given for

Jadai (setting). The setter, who is

called jadia, sticks these pieces on

suitable wooden frames called

“hundi” with the help of sealing

wax and also partly fill the cavi-

ties of the jewelry pieces with the

wax or shellac. The stones, which

generally include flat cut dia-

monds and colored gem stones,

are selected according to the colur

combination to be put into cavi-

ties.

This is followed by the process

of shaping the stone known as the

Uttrai. Stone grinders finely grind

the edges of each stone to the per-

fection of the cavities. The lower

surface of the stones is then cov-

ered by a silver foil to provide it a

reflecting surface when studded.

This is called “dank”. These

stones are placed in the cavities

and the surrounding space filled

with Kundan tightly in almost vac-

uum-like condition.

Kundan is the purest form of

gold made into foils of a few

micron thickness made by preci-

sion hammering and heating. The

gold of maximum purity (999

fineness) is only used for this pur-

pose. After filling of the kundan,

the excess kundan is scraped off

by expert craftsmen to give the

fine details to the motifs.

The jewelry is then in its final

phase of completion where it is

assembled, and tied with pearls or

with beads, manis, etc, of gem

stones by another artisan called

Patwa. The jewelry now becomes

ready for sale.

Making of Kundan jewelry is

thus a work of art. The whole

piece is covered with delightful

minakari, or by sparkling gem

stones or by noble metal of high-

est purity. Kundan jewelry main-

tains its lure eternally.

Older the jewelry, more majestic

is its look. Its value appreciates

beyond the values of gold and it

always ends up as family

heirloom.

Kundan Meena… A Regal Heritage’ is the theme ofthe Jaipur Jewellery Show 2011.Kundan Konnections

Kundan jewelry maintains its lure eternally. Older the jewelry, more majestic is its look. Its value appreciates beyond the values of gold and it always ends up as family heirloom.

Favored by the film fratBy Prakash Bhandari

Kundan jewelry is one of

the oldest and purest

forms of jewelry made

with 24 carat gold. It’s also

become the jewelry for the screen

gods and goddesses.

Kundan Meena reflects the

fusion of ancient and modern

India with inspiration drawn

from royal heritage of Rajasthan.

Kundan Meena not only under-

lines Mughal sensibility but also

gives an European feel. The best

part of kundan meena is that one

can wear it with both sari and a

western dress. Film star Preity

Zinta has gracefully adorned

kundan meena both with sari and

dress. Bollywood has been a

trend setter and taking the cue

from Hollywood, it is inspiring

design houses. Jewelry compa-

nies have produced special

ranges for films.

The trend was started by Jodha

Akbar and the die was cast.

“Bollywood is a strong medium

for setting trends in India and

after clothes it’s jewelry, particu-

larly kundan meena, that is

helped by Bollywood and Jaipur

is the gainer with its authentic

designs,” admitted Dr Nawal

Agarwal, coordinator of kundan

meena promotions of JSS.

Veteran actresses Waheeda

Rehman, Sharmila Tagore and

Rekha have been buying kundan

jewelry from Jaipur for decades

and they could be called the first

trend setters in Bollywood for

kundan meena.

Rekha made kundan meena not

only a party wear but also cele-

bration jewelry.

Kundan meena radiance was

first displayed in the classic

Mughal-e-Azam, then in Beena

Rai-Pradeep Kumar starrer Taj

Mahal and in Pakeezah and in

recent times in Paheli and

Devdas. People also discussed

the stunning jewelry worn by

‘Jodha Bai’ character of

Aishwarya Rai in the epic movie,

which was exquisite even by

standards reserved for royalty.

It is all set to fuel a trend for

heavy, stone-studded queen neck-

laces and chunky earrings

extending from the top of the ear

till shoulder line.

In Hollywood, Kundan meena’s

majestic feel has touched Goldie

Hawn and Nicole Kidman. Thus,

Kundan meena is not only invest-

ment buying for Bollywood, but

also Hollywood.

The stunning jewelry adorning the ‘Jodha Bai’

character of Aishwarya Rai was exquisite even by

standards reserved for royalty.

Preity Zinta has showed thatkundan meena jewelry can beworn with both sari and dress.

GautamGoplani

Rajinder Singh Vidya BhushanSharma

Avan SinghPanwar

Jessica Kalra Rahul SinghThakur

AmardeepSingh

Rohit Sharma

MMee rr rr yy CChh rr ii ss ttmmaa ss

&& HHaappppyy NNeewww YYee aa rr

GurdevSingh

Manoj Narang Chairman

Arvind WaliaV. Chairman

Daljinder 'ZINDA' SinghPresident

Sheila Dixit Chief Minister Delhi

Manmohan SinghPrime Minister

Sonia Gandhi Party President

Dr. Karan SinghChairman of theForeign Affairs

Rahul GandhiGen. Sec. INC

From

INOCC USA DelhiChapter Team

Executive Committee

Ricky Advani

Diaspora 19

TheSouthAsianTimes.info December 24-30, 2011

Dubai: An online visa application system has been set

up by the Consulate General of India in Saudi Arabia

following Indian government’s decision to make it

mandatory for all visa applicants to apply online.

The system was introduced on an option basis in

coastal city Jeddah from December 17, as the online

application system is being rolled out in a phased

manner in all Indian embassies and consulates around

the world.

However, it will be mandatory from January 1, 2012

to apply for Indian visa online. During the transition

period, the applicants can continue to use the current

visa forms, the consulate announced.

“The applicants need to log on to the website and fill

a self-explanatory visa form and submit it online to

start the process, take a printout and approach a pre-

ferred visa outsourcing agency and submit copy of

their application, passport, two photographs and appli-

cation fees,” the consulate said.

This would enable visa-outsourcing agencies to

access forms online and further process their applica-

tions. On October 18, Indian missions in the UAE

announced the launch of online visa application for

tourist and visit visas.

Indian visa application goes onlinein Saudi Arabia

Melbourne: Eleven-year-old

Indian-origin Anand Bharadwaj has

been crowned as the World Youth

Scrabble Champion, after he suc-

cessfully managed to recover from a

triple-triple.

Anand explained that if an oppo-

nent covers two triple word squares,

their score multiplies by nine and

adds 50 points.

Such was his predicament earlier

this month at the finals in Malaysia

when his opponent played ‘way-

sides’ for a tournament-high 176

points.“It was a crucial game, and

everybody wrote him off. The ush-

ers came and told me, ‘He’s trailing

by 160 points, I think it’s gone.’ I

didn’t know what to expect, but he

came back and said, ‘I won it,’” The

Age quoted his father, Melbourne

Business School associate professor

Kannan Sethuraman, as saying.

Bharadwaj was younger than all

but three of the 83 competitors he

beat in Malaysia and has now set his

eyes on the World Scrabble

Championship in 2013.

The family shifted to Melbourne

from Chennai when Anand was 13

months old. By 15 months he was

reading on his mother’s knee, able

to page reference any quote from

dozens of books. At four he kept fel-

low preps entertained by naming

train stations in Melbourne sequen-

tially.In his voluminous vocabulary,

‘Douleia’ is his favorite word. ”It

means worship of saints and angels.

And it uses all the vowels,”

Bharadwaj said.

Anand Bharadwaj becomes worldyouth scrabble champion

London: A British woman's Indian

husband of 37 years has been barred

by a court from entering the country

because he cannot speak English.

A law that requires immigrant

spouses to speak English before

entering the country was ruled legit-

imate by the London High Court

Friday, the Daily Express reported

Saturday. Three claimants, including

British-born 54-year-old Rashida

Chapti, tried to get the law over-

turned.They argued that the law

interfered with their right to married

life and was racist and discriminato-

ry.Chapti's Indian husband -- as well

as father to her six children -- can-

not join her in Leicester because he

cannot speak English.

The high court judge dismissed

the case, saying the rule was rational

and that even if it does affect mar-

ried couple's lives, it does not over-

ride Britain's right to protect its

interests.

Labor party's SeemaMalhotra wins London bypoll

London: Britain's opposition

Labor party candidate Seema

Malhotra, daughter of Indian immi-

grants has won the bypoll to the

Feltham and Heston constituency

in London with an increased

majority over the Conservatives.

The byelection to the constituen-

cy, a stronghold of the Labor, was

caused by the death of former party

MP, Alan Keen.

Delighted with her win, Malhotra

said it was a "wake-up call" for the

David Cameron government. "This

result shows that this Tory-led gov-

ernment is totally out of touch."

The result proved that the oppo-

sition Labor party, which lost

power in 2010, was changing, "lis-

tening harder, winning back the

trust of the people we seek to

serve," she said.

Malhotra increased Labor's

majority from 4,658 to 6,203 when

she won with 12,639 votes.

Conservative candidate Mark

Bowen came second with 6,436

votes, while Roger Crouch, the

Liberal Democrat, held on to the

third place with 1,364 votes.

Malhotra grew up in Feltham and

went to school in Heston. She was

an adviser to senior Labor leader

Harriet Harman during her stint as

Leader of the Opposition in 2010.

Seema Malhotra

Anand Bharadwaj

Port of Spain: Indian-origin Trinidad and

Tobago Prime Minister Kamla Persad-

Bissessar will be on a ten-day state visit to

India in January from January 4 to 14.

Persad-Bissessar will travel to India as an

official Guest of the government of India at

the invitation of Indian Prime Minister Dr.

Manmohan Singh.

As part of her program, Persad-Bissessar

will pay a courtesy call on the President of

India, Pratibha Patil and the Vice President,

Hamid Ansari. She will also meet Dr. Singh with whom

she will hold delegation level talks followed by State

banquet in her honor in New Delhi on 6 January 2012.

Her program will include other high level bilateral

meetings with the External Affairs Minister and the

Leader of the Opposition.

Persad-Bissessar will also attend the Pravasi

Bharatiya Divas (PBD) 2012 being held at Jaipur

from 7th to 9th January as the Chief Guest. She is

the first female Head of Government in the

Diaspora and the first dignitary from Trinidad &

Tobago to be bestowed with this honor.

Persad-Bissessar’s official business agenda will

also include engagements with the Indian private

sector and senior Ministers in Rajasthan,

Maharastra, and West Bengal. In Kolkata, West

Bengal, the Prime Minister is due to hold discussions

with the Chief Minister of West Bengal, Mamata

Banerjee. In Mumbai, Maharastra, the program of activ-

ities will include meetings with senior Government offi-

cials and business leaders.

Kamla Persad on a 10-day India visit in Jan 2012

School with Indian kidsnamed Britain's best

London: A primary school in

Britain where the majority of stu-

dents are of Indian and Asian ori-

gin has achieved the best exam

results in the country.

Students at Newton Farm

School in Harrow, northwest

London, gained the highest aver-

age points score in their tests, The

Sun reported.

More than three-quarters of

pupils are from "minority ethnic

groups", mainly Indian and other

Asian backgrounds, and speak a

language other than English at

home, including a large number of

Tamil-speaking pupils.

Over 90 percent of pupils in a

class achieved a level above the

standard in the age group in both

Math and English.

The school has 200 pupils aged

four to 11.

"The school provides a really

well-rounded education while the

foundations are absolutely rock

solid.

I believe our success is down to

the rigor with which we look after

our children," headteacher Rekha

Bhakoo, herself of Indian origin,

was quoted as saying.

Students at Newton Farm School in Harrow, northwest Londonachieved the best exam results in the country.

British woman's Indian hubbycannot enter country: Court

20 Subcontinent

December 24-30, 2011 TheSouthAsianTimes.info

Kathmandu: A second general

strike in three days brought much

of Nepal to a halt as protestors

blocked roads and torched cars

over the prison killing of a senior

opposition party activist.

The opposition-called strike

closed businesses across the coun-

try as protestors on major high-

ways enforced a ban on road traffic

by attacking cars and burning

tyres.

"We arrested 27 protesters, most

in Kathmandu, and a coffee shop

and five vehicles were damaged in

the capital," police spokesman

Binod Singh said.

In towns throughout the country,

government offices, banks and

vehicles were vandalized, he said.

A local television station report-

ed that thousands of people were

stranded at a major road access

point to Kathmandu, where buses

were being denied entry.

The strike was organized by the

Nepali Congress (NC).

The United States warned that

the action could lead to Nepal's

travel warning being reinstated.

The UN's chief representative in

Nepal, Robert Piper, tweeted

Monday about what he described

as "a coercive, enforced stoppage."

"Using bandhs (strikes) to seek

redress, & the trigger for this one --

a murder in custody of an NC

cadre -- more evidence of weak

rule of law in Nepal," he wrote.

Shiva Poudel, chairman of a

party youth wing, was critically

injured when a group of inmates

attacked him in a prison in the

southern district of Chitwan on

December 6 and he died in

Kathmandu on Saturday.

He was on remand, having been

accused of murdering a

political rival.

The NC demanded an investiga-

tion and called on the Maoist-led

government to withdraw cases

filed against Poudel, declare him a

martyr and compensate his family.

Hundreds of riot police brandish-

ing wooden batons and shields

patrolled the streets of Kathmandu.

Nepal's civil war ended in 2006

after a decade of fighting that

killed some 16,000 people, but the

country has remained unstable due

to political squabbling over the

terms of the peace process.

Political parties last month

reached a breakthrough deal that

allows for the reintegration of

thousands of former Maoist rebel

fighters as the parties work to com-

plete a new constitution.

Second nationwide shutdown paralyses Nepal

The opposition-called strike closed businesses across the country as protestors on major highways enforced a ban on road traffic by attacking cars and burning tyres.

Colombo: The United

States has urged the Sri

Lankan government to ful-

fill all of the recommenda-

tions of the Lessons Learnt

and Reconciliation report

and also address those

issues that the report did

not cover.

“We're still studying the

full report, I do have to say

that we have concerns that

the report, nonetheless,

does not fully address all

the allegations of serious

human rights violations that

occurred in the final phase

of the conflict. So this

leaves questions about

accountability,” U.S. State

Department spokesperson

Victoria Nuland told

reporters in response to a

question in Washington

DC.

To another question, she

said that the Sri Lankan

government's preliminary

action plan did not provide

the kind of detailed

roadmap that the U.S. had

hoped to see for fulfilling

all of the Commission's rec-

ommendations.

Rajapaksa's view

The U.S. State

Department was unfair in

the observations made

about the government's

response to the report of

Lessons Learnt and

Reconciliation Commission

(LLRC) said President

Mahinda Rajapaksa,

addressing select Sri

Lankan Editors at Temple

Trees on Tuesday morning.

Rajapaksa said that on the

matter of accountability, a

clear statement on how the

government intended to act

on LLRC recommendations

was made by the Leader of

the House when the report

was tabled in Parliament.

The President also said

there was an unfair selectiv-

ity in dealing with Sri

Lanka on this matter by

referring only to the last

phase of a conflict that went

on for nearly 30 years.

The President also

observed that while raising

issues of accountability

with Sri Lanka, the U.S.

had recently brought provi-

sions in law to detain per-

sons for any length of time

outside the normal law.

Explaining the Sri Lankan

position further, Minister of

External Affairs Professor

G.L. Peiris reiterated that

the Leader of the House

Nimal Siripala de Silva had

clearly stated the manner in

which the government

would act on these matters.

“There was no question of

the government trying to

evade matters of accounta-

bility that had been men-

tioned in LLRC recommen-

dations, as this matter had

been clearly explained by

the Leader of the House

when tabling the report in

Parliament,” said Prof.

Peiris.

Washington: The United

States has said that Taliban

is not an enemy of America,

a move seen as the latest

effort of the Obama admin-

istration to send an olive

branch to the terrorist outfit

that ruled Afghanistan

before 9/11.

"Look, the Taliban per se

is not our enemy. That's crit-

ical," US vice president Joe

Biden said in an interview

to the Newsweek magazine.

"There is not a single state-

ment that the (US) president

has ever made in any of our

policy assertions that the

Taliban is our enemy

because it threatens US

interests," he said.If, in fact,

the Taliban is able to col-

lapse the existing govern-

ment, which is cooperating

with us in keeping the bad

guys from being able to do

damage to us, then that

becomes a problem for us.

So there's a dual track here,

Biden added.

The move is seen as a latest effort of the Obamaadministration to send anolive branch to the terrorist outfit.

'Taliban not enemy to US'

U.S.' human rights criticism unfair: Rajapaksa

Washington: President Asif Ali Zardari's

return to Pakistan from Dubai could be just a

"cameo appearance" before his wife and for-

mer prime minister Benazir Bhutto's death

anniversary on Dec 27 and after that he

would be probably leave for a long convales-

cence in London or Dubai, a media report

said.

Zardari had suddenly flown out of Pakistan

on Dec 6 to Dubai where he was admitted in

a hospital. His exact health status is not

known with reports ranging from a heart

attack to a stroke that caused bleeding in his

brain. He returned to Pakistan on Dec 18.

New York Times quoted some Pakistani

and Western officials last week as saying that

"if Zardari returned, it could be only for a

cameo appearance before Dec 27", Benazir's

fourth death anniversary.

After that, Zardari would probably leave

for a long - perhaps permanent - convales-

cence in London or Dubai, the report quoted

officials as saying. Benazir Bhutto (1953-

2007) was the first woman prime minister of

Pakistan. She was twice the prime minister -

1988-90 and 1993-96 - but could not com-

plete any term. She was assassinated in

December 2007, after a Pakistan Peoples

Party rally in Rawalpindi, just two weeks

before the scheduled parliamentary elections

of 2008.

Zardari had suddenly flown out of Pakistanon Dec 6 to Dubai where he was admitted

in a hospital.

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

‘Zardari's return maybe cameo appearance’

International 21

TheSouthAsianTimes.info December 24-30, 2011

Pyongyang: Kim Jong-il, the 69-year-old

supreme leader of nuclear-armed North

Korea, died during a train journey. His

youngest son was made the "great succes-

sor", the country's official KCNA news

agency announced.

South Korea promptly put its security

forces on high alert as its financial market

got rocked.

Washington said it was in touch with

Seoul and Tokyo over North Korean devel-

opments, reports Xinhua.

The KCNA said that the "Korean revolu-

tion" is now led by his son Kim Jong-un,

and that the powerful "Workers' Party of

Korea (WPK) members, servicepersons and

all other people will be faithful to his lead-

ership".

Kim Jong-un is the youngest son of Kim

Jong-il and his late third wife Ko Yong-hui.

KCNA urged the communist nation to

rally behind the younger Kim, who is

believed to have been groomed to take over

power and was appointed a general last

year.

Kim died "from a great mental and physi-

cal strain at 08.30, Dec 17, 2011, on train

during a field guidance tour", said the offi-

cial media report.

Kim, who had received medical treatment

for his cardiac diseases for a long period,

suffered "an advanced acute myocardial

infarction, complicated with a serious heart

shock" on the train, reported Xinhua.

Kim had taken power in 1994 following

the death of his father, Kim Il-sung.

Kim built a nuclear arsenal, which culmi-

nated in North Korea's first nuclear test

explosion in 2006.

Another test took place in 2009. He led

the country of an estimated population of

24 million with an iron hand.

Kim had taken power in 1994 following thedeath of his father, Kim Il-sung.

North Korean leader KimJong-il dead

Indian scripture faces ban in RussiaMoscow: Bhagavad Gita, one of

the holiest Hindu scriptures, is fac-

ing a legal ban and the prospect of

being branded as "an extremist" lit-

erature across Russia. A court in

Siberia's Tomsk city is set to deliv-

er its final verdict in a case filed by

state prosecutors.

The final pronouncement in the

case will come two days after

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan

Singh during his Dec 15-17 official

visit for a bilateral summit with

Russian President Dmitry

Medvedev consolidated bilateral

trade and strategic ties and person-

al friendship.

The case, which has been going

on in Tomsk court since June,

seeks ban on a Russian translation

of "Bhagavad Gita As It Is" written

by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami

Prabhupada, the founder of the

International Society for Krishna

Consciousness (ISKCON).

It also wants the Hindu religious

text banned in Russia and declared

as a literature spreading "social dis-

cord", its distribution on Russian

soil rendered illegal.

In view of the case, Indians set-

tled in Moscow, numbering about

15,000, and followers of the

ISKCON religious movement here

have appealed to Manmohan Singh

and his government to intervene

diplomatically to resolve the issue

in favor of the scripture, an impor-

tant part of Indian epic

Mahabharata written by sage Ved

Vyas. The ISKCON followers in

Russia have also written a letter to

the Prime Minister's Office in New

Delhi, calling for immediate inter-

vention, lest the religious freedom

of Hindus living here be

compromised.

The ISKCON followers in Russia have also written a letter to the Prime Minister's Office in New Delhi,

Death toll from Philippineflash floods tops 1,000

Iligan: The official death toll from

last week's massive flash flooding in

two southern Philippine cities

topped 1,000 as authorities said they

lost count of how many more were

missing in one of the worst calami-

ties to hit the coastal region.

The latest tally showed a total of

1,002 have been confirmed dead,

including 650 in Cagayan de Oro

and an additional 283 in nearby

Iligan city, said Benito Ramos, head

of the Civil Defense Office. The rest

came from several other southern

and central provinces.A tropical

storm swept through the area recent-

ly and unleashed flash floods in the

middle of the night that caught most

of the victims in their sleep.

"There were many lessons learned

by the people who did not listen to

national and local governments, but

this is not the time to put the blame

on them," Ramos told The

Associated Press, adding that warn-

ings by weather forecasters of an

approaching storm went unheeded.

President Benigno Aquino III

declared a state of national calamity

during a visit to the region and

promised the government "will do

its best to prevent a repeat of this

tragedy.""I do not accept that every-

thing had been done. I know that we

can do more. We must determine

what really happened," Aquino said.

"Must this end in tragedy? We knew

that (storm) was coming. There

should have been efforts to avoid

the destruction."

People wept during funeral rites at

the Iligan city cemetery, where sol-

diers carried the caskets of at least

38 victims Tuesday. Many wore

masks to try to block the stench of

decomposing bodies. About 45,000

displaced were still crowded in

evacuation centers as aid workers

rushed in relief supplies. Lack of

running water was a major concern.

The latest tally showed a total of 1,002 have been confirmed dead,including 650 in Cagayan de Oro and an additional

283 in nearby Iligan city.

US targets Iranian nuclear program

Washington: The US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta

has said that a nuclear Iran will not be accepted at any

cost, while the US Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin

Dempsey said the Pentagon is planning to target the

atomic installations of Tehran.

In an interview with a US TV channel, Leon Panetta

has said that the Iranian leaders would make nuclear

weapons within a year, adding that if Iran had got the

capacity of uranium enrichment they Iran will speed up

the construction of nuclear weapons.

He said that the nuclear program of Iran is threat for

US and Israel, adding that if Iran would speed up steps

for the preparation of nuclear atom bomb then US

would conduct every possible step including military

operation against the nuclear installations of Iran.

On the other hand the US Army Chief General Martin

Dempsey said that every possible step would be taken to

stop Iran for the achievement of nuclear weapons,

adding that Israel will also support US in this attack.

US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta.

22 Business

December 24-30, 2011 TheSouthAsianTimes.info

Downturn: 10 firms on the edge in 2012It was four years ago that a recession

officially began. Some firms are stillstruggling, whether from delayed effectsof the recession, relentless competition,fresh strategic blunders or a turnaroundplan that hasn't panned out. Here are10 prominent firms likely to struggle in2012:

Eastman Kodak: It's never a good sign

when a firm denies that it's heading for

bankruptcy, as Kodak has been doing.

The firm is now seeking to sell assets and

find other ways to raise cash so it can

return to profitability after five consecu-

tive money-losing years. Kodak stock

has recently traded below $1 per share.

Research in Motion: The once-ubiqui-

tous Blackberry commanded 55 percent

of the U.S. smartphone market in 2009.

Today, its market share is less than 10

percent. Blackberry-maker RIM has

failed to counter ruthless competition

from Apple's iPhone and the many

Android phones now available.

OfficeMax: The tough economy, plus

competit ion from discounters l ike

Walmart and Costco, has put pressure on

the whole group. Investors seem to have

the strongest doubts about OfficeMax,

whose stock has fallen significantly.

Monster Worldwide: If the economy

springs back and hiring picks up, this

job-placement firm could thrive. But the

economic rebound, of course, is painfully

slow, with CEOs basically waiting to see

whether another crisis is coming.

Bank of America: Bank of America is

under special scrutiny because of its dis-

astrous 2008 purchase of Countrywide

Financial, which has saddled the bank

with billions in losses on bad mortgages,

many of which may to sour.

Netflix: This once-hot movie-rental

website endured an abrupt comedown in

2011 when it tried to separate its DVD-

by-mail and video streaming services

into two separate companies, while hik-

ing prices on customers who want both.

The fallout halted the firm's rapid growth

in subscribers, just as competition from

Amazon, HBO and others was intensify-

ing.

KB Home: This California-based

homebuilder has lost more than $2 bil-

lion since the housing bust struck in

2007. With a housing recovery not likely

to start until 2013 or 2014, at the earliest,

the next 12 months look like another

grinding year.

Hewlett-Packard: With operations in

many business and consumer markets,

HP has numerous competitors that have

been nibbling market share, leading to

disappointing results likely to continue

into 2012.

Sears: The nation's fourth-largest retail

chain has been slashing costs and closing

unprofitable stores, but analysts still

expect a loss for 2012.

Washington Post: The storied newspa-

per company has offset declines in its

journalism revenue. Ad revenue from the

company's print and online news opera-

tions has been falling—with more com-

petitors popping up all the time.

KFC overtakesPizza Hut in

India

New Delhi: KFC, which almost quit India

due to protests from health and animal rights

activists after its debut in 1995, has overtak-

en Pizza Hut as the largest-selling fast food

chain of Yum! Restaurants, riding on the

country's increasing appetite for chicken.

World's largest quick-service restaurant

(QSR) chain McDonald's, domestic fried

chicken chain Bangs and T.G.I. Friday's

restaurant chain too have reported a spike in

chicken sales this year, confirming the

widening appeal of the meat as eating out

becomes a habit across the country. "KFC is

growing faster than Pizza Hut," says

Sandeep Kataria, chief marketing officer of

Yum! Restaurants India, while McDonald's

says the McSpicy chicken burger range is

the fastest growing product across its 240

stores.

KFC has overtaken Pizza Hut as the largest-selling fast food chain of Yum! Restaurants.

Sports 23

TheSouthAsianTimes.info December 24-30, 2011

Dhyan Chand recommendedfor Bharat Ratna

New Delhi:

Hockey India

(HI) requested

the sports

ministry to

confer leg-

endary Dhyan

Chand with

the Bharat

Ratna, the

highest civil-

ian award in

the country.

HI in a state-

ment said it has requested sports

minister Ajay Maken to consider

the late Dhyan Chand for the pres-

tigious award. "Late Major Dhyan

Chand is acknowledged as the all-

time greatest player of the game of

Hockey all over the world. He is

probably the only Indian player for

any sport to have generated a num-

ber of myths about his ability as a

hockey player," HI said in a state-

ment.Dhyan Chand, born 1905,

won three successive Olympic gold

medals at Amsterdam in 1928, Los

Angles in 1932 and Berlin in 1936

and was the first Indian sportsman

to be conferred with the Padma

Bhushan Award in 1956. He passed

away in 1979 at the age of 74.

"In view of his rarest of rare

achievements, there is no deserving

sporting icon other than Major

Dhyan Chand to be considered for

Bharat Ratna," HI said in its state-

ment.

Dhyan Chand started his interna-

tional career in 1926 and retired in

1948 at the age of 42.

India's only individual Olympic

champion Abhinav Bindra has also

been recommended for the Bharat

Ratna.

The legendary Dhyan Chand.

Melbourne: Tasmanian seamer

Ben Hilfenhaus has been recalled

and in-form New South Wales-

born batsman Ed Cowan included

in the 13-member Australia squad

for the first Test against India start-

ing at the Melbourne Cricket

Ground (MCG) here on Boxing

Day.

Also in the extended squad are

Shaun Marsh and Dan Christian;

out go injured all-rounder Shane

Watson, fast bowler Ryan Harris

and out-of-form batsmen Phillip

Hughes and Usman Khawaja.

Veterans Ricky Ponting and

Michael Hussey were retained,

although there was a scare for the

37-year-old former Test skipper in

the nets Wednesday morning.

Facing fast bowler James

Pattinson on the second day of

coach Mickey Arthur's batting

camp, Ponting was struck on the

right hand and walked out of the

nets immediately, looking at the

point of contact. Concerns about a

possible injury were played down

afterwards.

Chief selector John Inverarity

said a 13-man squad had to be

named instead of the normal 12

owing to the uncertainty over the

fitness of Marsh, who has been bat-

tling a bad back.

Dumped after Australia's disas-

trous Ashes campaign last summer,

Ben Hilfenhaus, 28, is back with

some consistent performance in

domestic cricket.

Hilfenhaus could come in for

left-armer Mitchell Starc in the

eleven on the back of an impres-

sive season in which he has gath-

ered 22 first-class wickets at an

average of 30. He was considered

for the first Test against the Kiwis

in Brisbane earlier this month after

performing well for Australia A

against New Zealand in the lead-

up.

Marsh will have to prove his fit-

ness in the Big Bash game for

Perth Scorchers in the Twenty20

league Thursday night.

Tasmania's Cowan, 29, has been

rewarded for a superb run of four

centuries in four matches, the latest

effort being 109 for the Chairman's

XI against India in Canberra

against the Indians, and he should

make his Test debut at the MCG.

Khawaja finds himself out of

Michael Clarke's side for the sec-

ond time in his young career to

make way for others, while opener

Hughes, as expected, has been

dropped after a disappointing

series against New Zealand.

"Ed Cowan has been in excellent

form in recent weeks. His inclusion

is in recognition of his consistently

good performances and we antici-

pate that he can provide steadiness

at the top of the order. Ben

Hilfenhaus has regained form this

season and he provides a strong

and reliable bowling option,"

Sydney Morning Herald quoted

Inverarity as saying.

"We see both Phillip Hughes and

Usman Khawaja as developing

players with bright futures and

remaining as players of signifi-

cance. They are determined young

men and I know that they will work

hard to produce compelling per-

formances and push strongly for

further consideration," the chief

selector said. South Australia all-

rounder Christian, the 12th man in

Hobart, is also close to collecting a

baggy green cap after being includ-

ed in the squad again.

The squad: Michael Clarke (cap-

tain), Brad Haddin (vice-captain),

David Warner, Ed Cowan, Shaun

Marsh, Ricky Ponting, Michael

Hussey, Dan Christian, Peter

Siddle, James Pattinson, Mitchell

Starc, Nathan Lyon, Ben

Hilfenhaus.

Oz recall Hilfenhaus, Cowan for India Test debut

Tasmanian seamer Ben Hilfenhaus and New South Wales-born batsman Ed Cowan.

Dravid fears Ponting'scomeback against India

Melbourne: India's batting great

Rahul Dravid insists that the visitors

fear a comeback from former

Australian captain Ricky Ponting

who, he said, was surely not on his

last legs as a Test batsman.

"I think he (Pointing) is still a

great player. He showed in the cou-

ple of Test matches that he played

against us in India that he is still -

I'd say he is still - the best Australian

batsman," said Dravid.

Dravid, who will turn 39 next

month, will be India's mainstay in

the batting in the four-match Test

series starting with the Boxing Day

Test at the MCG.

Dravid said Ponting's his aura has-

n't faded despite his poor run in the

Test series against South Africa and

New Zealand. However, Ponting's

most uccessful series in recent times

was against India in October last

year, when he scored 224 runs at an

average of 56 in a two-Test series.

But the 37-year-old Tasmanian has-

n't scored a Test century in 32

innings spanning almost two years.

"From our perspective I hope he

can start a golden run after our

series. When you read his name on

the sheet he is still one of the most

feared, there is no doubt about it,"

said Dravid.

Dravid, Ponting, Sachin Tendulkar

and South Africa's Jacques Kallis

are the select group of players to

score more than 12,000 Test runs.

Olympic hockey qualifiers: India take on ItalyNew Delhi: Eight-time hockey Olympic champions

India will start their campaign against lowly-ranked

Italy in the men's Olympic qualifiers for the 2012

London Games that would be held at the Jawaharlal

Nehru Stadium here from Feb 18-26.

The men's field, besides hosts India, also includes

Canada, France, Poland, Italy and the United States.

India enter the event as highest ranked team in the tour-

nament at world No.10. The two top teams will play the

final and the winner will qualify for the London

Olympics. India shockingly failed to qualify for the

2008 Beijing Games for the first time in 80 years.

This time the world No.10 have been handed a

favourable draw and will open their campaign Feb 18

against Italy, who are lying in the 28th spot in FIH rank-

ings. The women's tournament will also be played

simultaneously and, besides India, the participating

teams are South Africa, Italy, Canada, Ukraine and

Poland. South Africa are the top-seeded team and are

ranked world No.12 while India are world No.13.

In all, six Olympic spots are up for grabs, three each

from the men and the women's section. The winners of

each of the six Olympic Qualification Tournaments will

earn a berth to the London 2012 Games.

Rahul Dravid.

24 Delhi turns 100, celebrations begin

December 24-30, 2011 TheSouthAsianTimes.info

Ask any resident of Delhi —

or in fact any tourist who

has visited this city — to

name its landmarks, and they will

come up with a few grand,

although undoubtedly definitive,

structures of New Delhi.

The presidential palace or

Rashtrapati Bhawan, the India

Gate memorial to fallen soldiers,

Mughal emperors’ Red Fort com-

plex, the towering and ancient

Qutub Minar, the red sandstone

marvel of Humayun’s Tomb, to

name a few, are all predictable ele-

ments of the picture that is usually

painted to describe Delhi’s exteri-

or.

Why is it then that post-inde-

pendence structures such as

Gandhi’s memorial, or Rajghat, the

National Museum in the heart of

the city, or even the grand Hindu

temple, Akshardham, fail to leave

deeper imprints on people’s

minds?

The answer to this may lie in the

diversity of rule that the city has

been through. Delhi’s architecture

has had an amazing ride through

time. Shaped by various empires,

the city’s architectural body stands

tall, bearing the crown of Mughal

taste on its head, the stout body of

British imperial imprint and the

occasionally shaky legs of today’s

independent, democratic rule.

Foremost among all the imperial

buildings was the Viceroy House,

now known as Rashtrapati

Bhawan. Some 29,000 workers

worked on this prime project, and

tonnes of red and cream sandstone

were brought from neighbouring

Dholpur, Bharatpur and Agra for

building the seat of British imperi-

al rule atop Raisina Hill.

The responsibility to build the

secretariat buildings (now North

Block and South Block, serving as

offices of the central government)

was handed out to Herbert Baker,

who wanted to emphasize the

humbleness of imperial rule.

It was suggested that while

Lutyens had envisaged the Viceroy

House as the sole occupant on top

of Raisina Hill, Baker suggested

placing the two secretariat build-

ings on the same elevated plat-

form. Baker wanted to signal that

the administrative and executive

powers were united in their com-

mon purpose — the governance of

India.

Lutyens agreed to this, only to

realize later that Baker’s plan had

ruined the very symmetry of his

plan. This caused him much frus-

tration which led them to part

ways. He famously called this

episode as his “Bakerloo”. From

then on, the responsibility of build-

ing the colossal Parliament House

and staff bungalows was given to

Baker, while Lutyens designed the

All India War Memorial (now the

India Gate), the houses of the

princes along King’s Way (now

Rajpath) — such as Hyderabad

House and Baroda House as well

as the National Archives building.

Another important figure who

designed the greatest number of

civic buildings in New Delhi was

Robert Torr Russell. He designed

the shopping mall of the time,

Connaught Circus, dubbed by

many architects as the “drawing

room of Delhi”. Just like New

Delhi was built to define a new

power centre, away from

Shahjahanabad or Old Delhi, as

they named it, Connaught Circus

was intended to be the central

commercial hub of New Delhi,

providing a counterpart to Chandni

Chowk which was the commercial

centre of the old city.

The dramatic influx of refugees

to Delhi was a major factor that

decided the architectural course of

the city. “Our main priority was to

house people. There was no time

to think about planning monu-

ments! This explains, in a way, the

austere architectural journey that

followed post-independence.”

Delhi has adapted itself to the

tastes and needs of various

empires it housed over centuries.

The diversity of Delhi’s architec-

tural heritage appears to symbolize

the city’s rich and vibrant demo-

cratic ethos. Whether greater

inclusivity and liveability will one

day become part of the capital’s

ethos is another question.

The journey in bricks and mortar

Delhi has adapted itself to the tastes and needs of various empires it housed over centuries. The diversity of Delhi’s architectural heritageappears to symbolize the city’s rich and vibrant democratic ethos.

Nineteen-eleven was the year that got

Delhi back in the race with Bombay,

Calcutta and Madras. The arrival of

George V and his Durbar gave the languish-

ing Mughal capital its first shot at modernity.

So, 2011 is not just the centenary of Delhi as

capital of India but also marks 100 years of

telephony in the city.

Delhi's first phone service started with the

Central Telephone Exchange in the

Coronation Durbar telegraph office.

Common people could make calls from all

post offices, barring the three at Wazirabad,

the Mall and Prince's Road. Talking of post

offices, they certainly were more busi-

nesslike 100 years ago. Most of them worked

10 hours a day (8am to 6pm) but stamps

were available for 13 hours (7am to 8pm)

and telegrams could be sent from 7am to

9pm (14 hours).

Telephones, though, were only one of the

many improvements the city experienced in

the run-up to the Coronation Durbar. For the

common man, the new railway lines, a large

power generation unit and water treatment

facilities made a more significant difference.

The city got a new suburban railway for

the Durbar — aptly called the Durbar

Railway — but even the old broad gauge and

2'6" narrow gauge lines were upgraded. The

old Delhi-Ambala-Kalka line, for instance,

was doubled from Sabzi Mandi station to

Wazirpur junction, where it linked with the

new Durbar lines.

Likewise, the old Southern Punjab

Railway line was doubled from Brewery

Cabin to Shakurpur. A new terminal station

— Hamilton Road — was also built to

decongest the other main stations.

Augmentation of electricity supply was

another Durbar milestone. Until before the

Durbar, the city was powered by a lone

2MW diesel generator installed at Lahori

Gate. But the installed power capacity more

than doubled when a coal-fired steam turbine

became operational at the Central Power

House on Alipur Road. The 3200-horse

power turbine generated 2.4 MW of electrici-

ty, good enough to light up 72,000 bulbs.

During the Durbar, 100 miles of road length

was lit up using 10,000 poles and 900 miles

of copper wire.

New Delhi: Do you know that Rajpath

that overlooks the magnificent

Rashtrapati Bhavan was once called

Kingsway?

It is not Rajpath alone that has over the

years been renamed in Lutyens Delhi --

once the capital of the British empire --

but several other English names in

Rajdhani Dilli have made way for Indian

ones.

As the Indian government set about

making Delhi its capital, many roads

were named and renamed after leaders of

modern India, in the process of erasing

the memory of the British empire.

Rajpath, the ceremonial boulevard of

the country that runs from Rashtrapati

Bhavan through Vijay Chowk to India

Gate, right up to the National Stadium,

was once called Kingsway.

Likewise, the Motilal Nehru Marg,

which houses the likes of the Chief

Minister of Delhi, was once called York

Road when Edwin Lutyens started build-

ing New Delhi in 1912.

New Delhi, the capital of the modern

India, turns 100 today and a lot of things

have changed in the city, the names of

roads being just one of them.

Teen Murti Marg, that houses the

Nehru Memorial Museum and Library,

was once known as Roberts Road and the

present day Rafi Marg was known during

the British Raj as Old Mill Road.

The original name of Tees January

Marg, which got its name after Mahatma

Gandhi was assassinated on January 30,

1948 at Gandhi Smriti, is Albukerd

Marg.

While the erstwhile Canning Road is

now called Madhavrao Scindia Marg,

after the Congress leader who died tragi-

cally in 2001, G B Road is known as

Swami Shradhananda Road.

However, the Connaught Place, the

centre of the British capital, retains the

original names of its roads, with

Chelmsford Road, Minto Road, and

Hailey Road yet to be renamed.

Royal gifts of phones, trainsand electricity

100 years of Delhiroads, names!

Delhi's first phone service started with theCentral Telephone Exchange in theCoronation Durbar telegraph office.

Motilal Nehru Marg was once calledYork Road.

Books 25

TheSouthAsianTimes.info December 24-30, 2011

By Prakash Bhandari/

SATimes

This will be a season of cel-

ebration for the Pink City

of Jaipur. After Pravasi

Bhartiya Diwas, DSC Jaipur

Literature Festival, the "most fab-

ulous literary love-fest on the

planet", would enthrall literature

enthusiasts again from January

20-24, 2012. As always, the

annual festival will be held at the

heritage property Diggi Palace.

The Jaipur Literature Festival

2012 promises to live up to its

claim of being a celebration of

Indian and international writing ,

and encompassing a wide range

of activities including debates,

discussions, readings, music and

workshops.

The festival will play host to

over 200 speakers from across

the globe. Prominent authors who

have confirmed their presence at

the 5thDSC Jaipur Literature

Festival include Arvind Krishna

Mehrotra, Amish Tripathi, Ben

Okri, C.P. Deval, David Hare,

David Remnick, Deepak Chopra,

Fatima Bhutto, Gulzar, Hari

Kunzru, Helen Fielding, Jamaica

Kincaid, James Schapiro, Jason

Burke, Javed Akhtar, Lakshmi

Sharma, Mahesh Dattani,

Michael Ondaatje, Mohamed

Hanif, Pavan Varma, Piyush

Daiya, Prasoon Joshi,

Purushottam Agrawal, Rahul

Bhattacharya, Rabi Thapa, Ranjit

Hoskote, Shyam Jahangid, Simon

Sebag Montefiore, Tahmima

Anam, Thant Mynt-U, Tom

Stoppard and Zoe Heller.

This year the festival will focus

on a variety of issues including

Bhakti and Sufi traditions, Arab

Spring, Gandhi, Ambedkar &

Anna, Vegetarianism,

Censorship, writing from con-

flict zones and theatre.

Jaipur’s has grown to become

the biggest festival for promoting

new books and publications. It

has become a festival of lifestyle,

glamour, products, fun and enter-

tainment.

Speaking about the literary

extravaganza, festival co-director

Namita Gokhale said, “The

Jaipur Literature Festival is now

the Kumbh Mela of Indian and

international writing. It nourishes

narratives and nurtures a vibrant

literary community. Once again,

this coming January, our festival

will generate and give voice to

the marvelous and spontaneous

energy that has become its hall-

mark.”

Festival co-director William

Dalrymple said “This is our best

Jaipur line up ever. I am particu-

larly proud this year to have

brought Tom Stoppard and David

Hare, two of our greatest living

playwrights, cutting edge writers

of non-fiction like the Tiger

Mother Amy Chua, Richard

Dawkins and Steven Pinker, great

novelists such as Annie Proulx,

Ben Okri, Jonathan Safran Foer

and Michael Ondaatje, as well as

the editor of the New Yorker,

David Remnick besides frontline

reports from the Arab Spring

and the art of writing for stage

and screen. We will also be ana-

lyzing the fascinatingly interwov-

en relationships of Tolstoy,

Tagore and Gandhi.”

Sanjoy K Roy, Producer-DSC

Jaipur Literature Festival and

MD - Teamwork Productions,

said, “We are completely over-

whelmed with the response the

festival has received year after

year. This is our fifth year at the

DSC Jaipur Literature Festival

and going forward, our sincere

efforts will be to ensure that the

Festival in 2012 fulfils the expec-

tations of our audiences and con-

tinues to be a dream destination

for book lovers from across the

world”. The festival as always is

free for the general public to

attend.

In 2011, the five-day festival

showcased 225 speakers with 140

sessions with approximately

60,000 visitors. The festival fea-

tured 20 concerts and live per-

formances at the specially

designed music stage. The 2012

program will showcase myriad

music performances from across

the world.

Artists from India and abroad

will enthrall the audience.

Rajasthani musicians Chugge

Khan & Nathoo Lal Solanki, Fire

Eaters and Dancers, Parvathy

Baul, Dub Colossus, DJ Cheb I

Sabbah and Duncan Bridgeman

from 1 Giant Leap will be the

show stealers.

Celebrity writers to light up Jaipur Litfest

Namita Gokhale and William Dalrymple: writers and festival co-directors

Writers Fatima Bhutto and Ben Okri, and The New Yorker editor David Remnick have confirmed their presenceat the 5th Jaipur Literature Festival from January 20-24. 2012.

By Madhusree Chatterjee

The world's oldest series of

romantic fiction, Harlequin

Mills & Boon, has broken

the cultural barrier to publish its

first "made-in-India-with-Indian

faces" book after inducting its first

writer from the country last year.

The book, "His Monsoon Bride"

by Astha Atray, features Indian

models Simran Sachdeva, Nupur

Mehta and Bhanujeet Sudan on the

cover for the first time. They were

chosen in a model hunt contest

judged by three leading names in

the industry this year.

"Mills & Boon now has four

Indian models - two men and two

women - on board for the covers of

the subsequent books," Harlequin

Mills & Boon India country man-

ager Manish Singh said.

The publishing giant - which has

been catering to women readers

between 16 and 60 years since it

was founded in 1908 - launched its

first Indian author, Milan Vohra,

last year with the book, "The Love

Asana". Vohra was the winner of

the Passions writing competition in

2009. This week, the publishing

house launched its second Indian

writer Atray, a journalist, who

made the cut in 2010.

"We are working with two more

authors - Soma Narayanan and

Poonam Dabas - the runners-up of

last year's writing competition.

"Narayanan's book will be in

stores by February-March and

Poonam's book will follow a cou-

ple of months later," Singh said.

The Britain-based Mills & Boon,

which was acquired by the Canada-

based Harlequin Enterprises in

1971, currently has a database of

1,300 writers worldwide, he said.

The publishing house was found-

ed by Gerald Rusgrove Mills and

Charles Boon as a general fiction

publisher which started with a

romance. By 1930, the publishers

realized that romances were doing

well - and decided to concentrate

on romances.

It has a dozen imprints, including

the modern, desire, historical, med-

ical, special moments, intrigue and

nocturn (paranormal) romances.

Atray's book - which is redolent

with the flavors of Bollywood - is

set in Mumbai.

"It is about a journalist - a rich

man's daughter - in Mumbai who

chooses to travel by train. The hero

is a self-made millionaire in mod-

ern Mumbai who has lived in

Dharavi as a child," Atray, who has

lived in Mumbai for six years, said.

The two, Amrita and Mehtab,

enter into a marriage of conven-

ience - but soon find themselves

drawn to each other.

"In our country, the Mills &

Boon formula has been replicated

in Bollywood movies forever. My

hero is tall, dark and handsome -

and pretty flawed," the writer said.

Atray, who entered the Passions

writing contest by submitting her

3,000-word story five years before

deadline, had to expand her story

to 40,000 words for a 192-page

novel after winning the contest.

Atray's sensibility is Indian. "I

was inspired by my own marriage.

My character, Amrita, (the lady

light) in the book is a gorgeous

curvy girl like any Indian woman

who does not bother about weight.

We are so obsessed with weight -

the fashion magazines talk about

size zero. But I am a normal person

and I wanted the character to be

very Indian," Atray said.

The writer said she has "tried to

show a Mumbai that she sees every

day - the normal people and their

problems".

"Writers don't write about you

and me any more - they either

write about slumdog India or NRI

India. I wanted to write about the

India which is now," Atray said.

Structuring the book was

painstaking. Atray spent months

with her editors at Harlequin who

told her to "sketch the characters in

the first three chapters - their child-

hood, origins, their growing up

years and how they would relate to

their parents".

"Only then could we decide how

the heroine would respond to the

man. It was a crash course at writ-

ing," she said. Atray's book follows

a pattern set by Vohra in whose

book, "The Love Asana", the

romance was themed around a tro-

phy wedding between a fitness

magnate and a yoga instructor.

"I did not say no to sex in my

book, it is natural even in the

Indian context," Atray said.

Mills & Boon, which has dou-

bled its sales in India, is also

branding itself in Bollywood by

promoting movies like "I Hate Luv

Storys" and "Jhootha Hi Sahi", its

country manager said.

Two surveys by the publishing

house in India have helped it coin

its motto - 'Friends for Life'.

"Mills &Boon has been per-

ceived as a woman's companion in

various stages of life. But we are

the most popular in the category of

21-32 years segment of single (pro-

fessional) women readers in India,"

Manish Singh said.

From the kiss-and-seal conven-

tional British romances of the early

20th century, it has been a fruitful

global odyssey for the popular fic-

tion series, Singh said.

Mills & Boon 'desi' romance - with Indian faces

26 Ultimate Bollywood

December 24-30, 2011 TheSouthAsianTimes.info

'Pappu...' a case ofopposites attract

Justin Timberlake and Kanye

West have been voted as the

Most Stylish Men of 2011 in

a recent poll.

In the new poll conducted by

InStyle Magazine, the singer

turned actor and the rapper were

named as this year's trendiest

males among 20 other celebrities,

Contactmusic reported.

West has recently launched his

own fashion line.

Other stars who made the cut

are Zac Efron, 'Twilight' hunk

Robert Pattinson, soccer ace

David Beckham, Jennifer

Aniston's boyfriend Justin

Theroux and actor Jake

Gyllenhaal.

Timberlake, West named 'MostStylish Men of 2011'

In a poll conducted by InStyle Magazine, the singer turnedactor and the rapper were named as this year's trendiest

males among 20 other celebrities.

Visually, two things that

instantly transcend the

immediate boundaries of a

viewer's intellect to land straight

inside are sex and violence. Thus

brands that can no longer appeal to

your intellect, or are too lazy to try,

resort to either or both. That brand

can either be a product or a movie

star.

This is indeed a trend observed

among male movie stars. Ageing

stars, who no longer have the con-

fidence of their youth, resort to

movies that have an overdose of

sex and violence. If you have fol-

lowed Tom Cruise's selection of

films lately, you would have

observed an over-reliance on action

at the cost of other factors.

"Mission Impossible 4" is

no different.

The story of "Ghost Protocol" is

simpler than the elaborate charades

you made up as kids. Smoked out

of a Russian prison, Ethan Hunt

and his renegade team, have to

hunt down a Russian scientist with

launch codes for nuclear warheads

and save the world.

After seeing "Ghost Protocol" as

a discerning viewer, you'll realize

that Tom Cruise has lost the plot,

figuratively and literally. All his

recent films have been shoddy

excuses in the name of cinema, but

had very good action. The Church

of Scientology does not seem to be

helping our star. He needs to enroll

himself in the church of cinema.

The action scenes do not disap-

point. They are elaborately concep-

tualized, beautifully shot and

adeptly edited to make you sit at

the edge of your seat. Tom Cruise

might have forgotten other things,

but he hasn't forgotten the art of

choosing the best action team in

the industry.

If you want to watch the film for

it being shot in India, and for Anil

Kapoor, you'll be sorely disap-

pointed. Only two minutes of actu-

al India make it to the film. The

other shots thought to be filmed in

the country, have actually been

shot in Indian localities of North

America. Kapoor barely has a few

minutes' role as a lecherous busi-

ness tycoon. It's not enough either

for his fans or his detractors.

'MI 4' - thrilling action, disappointing cinema

After seeing "Ghost Protocol" as a discerning viewer, you'll realize that Tom Cruise has lost the plot, figuratively and literally.

Rakhi Sawant says Katrinafollows her dance movesR

akhi Sawant, perhaps true

item-girl in Bollywood

today, alleges that actress

Katrina Kaif has copied her antics

in her "Chikni Chameli" act in

"Agneepath" remake.

"I think 'Chikni Chameli' is a

good song. Katrina has danced very

well but it's not something new. I

have already done all this before.

You can watch all my songs, I have

already done that," the 33-year-old

controversy queen said at the Big

Stars Entertainment Awards.

"I have done this in 'Dekhta hai

tu kya' and she did this in 'Shiela ki

jawaani'. In 'Chikni Chameli', she

is again following me. It seems

Katrina really likes me...It's alright

if someone wants to follow me and

dance," added Rakhi, who did a

cameo in a few films before featur-

ing in a full-fledged item number

"Chura liyaa hai tumne" in 2003.

Rakhi hasn't got any awards so

far. When asked about it, she com-

pared herself with Aamir Khan,

though in a light-hearted manner,

and said: "Aamir and I are similar.

Neither he gets awards, nor do I.

But we have won the heart of India

and we do not need an award."

The loud-mouth actress, who has

dabbled both in television and

films, was last seen on the big

screen in an item song in "Loot".

On small screen, she hosted the

reality talk-show "Ajab Desh Ki

Ghazab Kahaaniyan".

Katrina Kaif in a still from the song ‘chikni chameli’.

Made on a shoe-string

budget, this film is a

roller-coaster ride about

the life of two individuals who

have come to Mumbai, the city of

dreams and luxury. The title,

"Pappu Can't Dance Saala" is mis-

leading.

The 'Pappu' is not the proverbial

idiot. Nor is the movie about his

dancing capabilities. Instead,

"Pappu Can't Dance Saala" is a

simple film that captures the

essence of Mumbai and the strug-

gle of outsiders who come here

"to make it big in the city".

A rom-com, the film is about an

odd twosome who experience

several odd situations that eventu-

ally get evened out and they dis-

cover they have fallen in love

with each other. So sweetly pre-

dictable!

In a government residential

complex in Mumbai, Vidyadhar

Acharya (Vinay Pathak), a sim-

pleton from Benaras with humani-

tarian and middle class values is

working as a medical rep. His

neighbour Mehak (Neha Dhupia)

is an overtly ambitious, brazen

streetsmart dancer.

He is a conscientious and moral-

ly bound citizen. She is fun-lov-

ing, bohemian and an opportunist.

They can't see eye-to-eye simply

because of their conflicting

lifestyles.

Neha Dhupia's portrayal of

Mehak is convincing and the

highlight of the film. Her taut

body and reflexive steps to match

is a frontbencher's delight. Vinay

Shukla is typecast and offers

nothing extraordinary. She

flaunts, he hums.

The first half of the film is snap-

py and moves with ease. The sec-

ond half, slow yet lively with a

predictable goal, gets a bit boring.

The dialogues are good, witty

and above average. The storyline,

simple and straight from the heart,

is a bit of a setback coming from

the brilliant writer director

Saurabh Shukla. His third project

as a director and his graph seems

to stagnate.

Overall, the film is of mediocre

production value with several cin-

ematic liberties and is made with

a sincere effort. It is worth a

watch if you are looking to learn

life's lessons, simply.

The first half of the film is snappy and moves with ease. The secondhalf, slow yet lively with a predictable goal, gets a bit boring.

REVIEW

Ultimate Bollywood 27

TheSouthAsianTimes.info December 24-30, 2011

Actor Vidya Balan, at

the success of party

of her most recent

hit, The Dirty Picture,

seemed to enjoy all the

attention and praise that

was being bestowed

upon her. It was told to her

that Kareena Kapoor, her

arch-rival, had seen The

Dirty Picture and even

applauded Vidya's bold act.

However, she was also

told that Bebo will have as

hard-hitting a role in

Heroine as she did in 'The

Dirty Picture'.

What did Vidya have to

say that? "It can't get dirtier

than 'The Dirty Picture'.

They could make a

'Heroine' but no one will be

able to make 'The Dirty

Picture'." Vidya Balan and

Kareena Kapoor had a fall-

out ever since Vidya was

linked with Shahid Kapoor

shortly after Shahid and

Bebo's break-up.

Well, let's see if Vidya's

taunt does get to Kareena,

who is still basking in the

glory of being the first to

act with all three Khans

reigning Bollywood today.

At the same time, Vidya

who is being given a pat on

the back for her woman-

centric choice of movie was

compared to the Khans of

Bollywood, and Vidya said,

"Instead of me adding Khan

to my name, the Khans can

add Balan to theirs."

Vidya makes a dig at Kareena

Vidya Balan and KareenaKapoor had a fall-out

ever since Vidya was linkedwith Shahid Kapoor shortly

after Shahid and Bebo'sbreak-up.

The actor who's all set to sizzle

the silver screen with

‘Players’ might step into the

shoes of SRK in Baazigar remake. If

reports are to be believed, Neil is

being considered by Abbas-Mustan

for the role.“Abbas-Mustan, after

seeing Neil’s bad boy act in the

rushes of their forthcoming film

have decided to cast him in their

remake of Baazigar,” Neil's friend

told Mumbai Mirror."In fact, Neil

and the directors have also worked

out the details of how to shape the

characters in the new Baazigar,"

added the friend.“It is true I’ve been

signed by Abbas-Mustan. I hope it’s

for Baazigar,” Neil told the daily.

Neil Nitin Mukesh inBaazigar remake?

If reports areto be believed,Neil is beingconsidered byAbbas-Mustan

for the role.

Jennifer Aniston and

George Clooney are the

celebrities people would

most like to kiss at midnight

on New Year's Eve, according

to a poll.

The poll undertaken by

Yahoo!/OMG! is based on the

vote of 1000 readers, who

chose Aniston and Clooney

over other celebrities with 22

percent and 28 percent of the

vote respectively, Fox News

reported.

Aniston's arch-rival,

Angelina Jolie, famous for

her perfect pout, came only at

number four among male

respondents, with 13 percent

of the vote, while Megan Fox

came in fifth among male

respondents, with 12 percent

of the vote. Meanwhile,

Johnny Depp was able to

impress about 27 percent of

female voters.The two Ryans-

Gosling and Reynolds-both

made the top five, however,

12 percent of women still

pine for Brad Pitt.

Aniston and Clooney 'most kissable'

The poll undertaken by Yahoo!/OMG! is based on the vote of 1000 readers, who chose Aniston

and Clooney over other celebrities.

Shah Rukh Khan and Priyanka

Chopra are the most sought

after pair these days. They

have been approached to co-host a

major awards show and both have

agreed to do it.

Apart from this, they've also been

approached to do five endorsements

together. So expect to see SRK and

PC starring in a series of campaigns

and commercials in 2012. Currently,

they are in the midst of deciding

which endorsements to give the nod

to. A source who has made one such

offer says, "They are definitely one

of the hottest jodis in the market

right now. Last year, PC and Shahid

Kapoor were the hot pair and they

teamed up for a series of coffee

advertisements. Now, Shah Rukh

has replaced Kapoor. Also, Shah

Rukh was seen in a series of print

and television commercials for a

home decor brand with his wife

Gauri last year."

Interestingly, the Don 2 pair has

been offered ads together in the past

but they've turned them down

because they weren't interesting

enough. Now, with the sudden inter-

est taken in their pairing by the pub-

lic, SRK and PC are getting offers

they are excited about.

While they've been on many pub-

lic platforms together to promote

their upcoming film, the pair is defi-

nitely most wanted for their chem-

istry. Which is perhaps why a last

minute role was added for her in

SRK's home production RA.One as

well.

So far, SRK has hosted awards

shows with Karan Johar and Saif Ali

Khan. This is the first time he will

be teaming up with one of his lead-

ing ladies. Says a source, "It was

SRK's idea to get PC on board. A

few years ago, she had hosted the

same awards show and imitated

Shah Rukh's character in My Name

Is Khan. He was very impressed

with her talent and thought they

should host the show together in the

future."

SRK, Priyanka are bollywood's hottest jodi!

The duo will co-host an awards show apart from appearing together inmultiple endorsements in the coming year.

Vidya Balan says no toRajnikanth?

Vidya Balan has officially

turned down a chance to

star opposite south star

Rajinikanth. Earlier this year, it

was suggested that she was to be

his leading lady in Rana, since her

distinctly desi looks would click

with south Indian audiences too.

Later, rumor mills were abuzz

that Vidya had raised issues

because she was not being given

the script. Now for the first time,

Vidya goes on record to say that the

script had played spoilsport.

“Rana makers spoke to me about

the film, but I wasn’t exactly in

serious talks. Later, I asked for a

script, which I didn’t get,” says

Vidya with a smile.

So, did they want her to sign on

for the film sans a script? “I don’t

know what to say and how to

explain it. They just didn’t call me

back. And how can I take the next

step without a script?” questions

the actor.

Ravikumar, on his part, contends

that they were in talks with several

female leads, and not just Vidya.

“Yes, Vidya was also contacted.

But since our script wasn’t ready

by then, we couldn’t hand it over to

her. And by the time the story was

locked, it had gone onto a com-

pletely different tangent. So, there

was no point in sending the script

to her,” says Ravikumar.

Vidya was supposed to play the superstar’s leading lady in the south Indian flick Rana.

If my kids seem particularly

well-behaved at this time of the

year, it’s because they think that

a man with a white beard and red

suit is keeping track of their behav-

ior, all the way from the North Pole.

Telling them that “Santa is watch-

ing” is a great way to get them to be

nice to each other, far more effective

than saying “God is watching.”

God may be all-powerful and all-

knowing, but he doesn’t bring them

toys on Christmas morning, not

even a Jesus action figure.

All three of my kids, Lekha, 9,

Divya, 7, and Rahul, 5, still believe

in Santa, still believe that the gifts

they find under the tree on

Christmas morning were placed

there by the jolly old man. He trav-

els to millions of homes around the

world on a reindeer-drawn sleigh

and –- here’s the real miracle –-

manages to not get shot down by the

U.S. Department of Homeland

Security.

It helps, of course, that he’s a

white man. If he were a brown man,

he’d be spending the week after

Christmas pulling bullets out of his

butt.

Elf: “Santa, what happened? Did

someone shoot you while you were

sliding down their chimney?”

Santa: “No, they shot me while I

was landing on their roof. Remind

me never to deliver toys to anyone

named Sasha and Malia.”

I would never think of shooting

Santa, whatever race he happened to

be. Santa is a great help to me. My

kids are much nicer in the weeks

before Christmas. And if they

unwrap their gifts on Christmas

morning and don’t like what they’ve

received, all I have to do is shrug

and say, “Sorry, kids. The old man

messed up again!”

Santa doesn’t usually mess up, of

course. That’s because the kids tell

him exactly what they want, either

by writing him a letter or saying it

aloud.

Rahul: “I want Santa to bring me a

gun.”

Me: “Santa doesn’t believe in vio-

lence. I don’t think he’s going to

bring you a gun.”

Rahul: “Okay then, can Santa

bring me a set of drums instead?”

Me: “Santa doesn’t believe in

noise either.”

Rahul: “What does Santa believe

in, Daddy?”

Me: “He believes in small toys

that cost $10 or less.”

What Santa believes in isn’t quite

as important as what my children

believe. And I’m dreading the day

that they stop believing in him.

They’ve already started asking too

many questions.

Lekha: “Daddy, where does Santa

get all the toys from?”

Me: “His elves make them in the

North Pole.”

Lekha: “Then how come this toy

says ‘Made in CHINA’ on it?”

Me: “That’s not the country

China, honey. That’s the acronym

‘CHINA.’ It stands for ‘Creative

Households in Northern Arctic.”

Then there’s the question about all

the Santas who appear at the mall

and other places in December.

Divya: “Is that the real Santa,

Daddy? Shouldn’t he be in the

North Pole?”

Me: “No, honey, that’s an

imposter. He’s just pretending to be

Santa.”

Divya: “Oh, that explains it.”

Me: “Explains what?”

Divya: “Why he smells of beer. I

don’t think the real Santa would

drink and glide.”

Then there’s the question about

communicating with Santa.

Lekha: “Daddy, I don’t feel like

writing a letter this year. Does Santa

have Twitter? Can I just tweet what

I want for Christmas?”

Me: “Sure, honey, you can tweet

Santa. But don’t be surprised, on

Christmas morning, if you feel a

little mis-tweeted.”

28 Humor

The jolly old man who helps me getthrough Christmas

Tech Life

Humor with Melvin Durai

by Mahendra ShahMahendra Shah is an architect by education, entrepreneur by profession,

artist and humorist, cartoonist and writer by hobby. He has been recordingthe plight of the immigrant Indians for the past many years in his cartoons.

Hailing from Gujarat, he lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Laughter is the Best Medicine

Washington, DC: A federal agency called

for a ban on all cellphone use by drivers -

the most far-reaching such recommenda-

tion to date - saying its decision was based

on a decade of investigations into distrac-

tion-related accidents, as well as growing

concerns that powerful mobile devices are

giving drivers even more reasons to look

away from the road.

As part of its recommendation, the

National Transportation Safety Board is

urging states to ban drivers from using

hands-free devices, including wireless

headsets. No state now outlaws such

activity, but the board said that drivers

faced serious risks from talking on wire-

less headsets, just as they do by taking a

hand off the wheel to hold a phone to their

ear. The agency based its recommenda-

tion on evidence from its investigation of

numerous crashes in which electronic dis-

traction was a major contributing factor.

The agency's recommendation is non-

binding, meaning that states are not

required to adopt such a ban.

But, the recommendation may also pro-

vide cover for legislators, safety advocates

and others who support such a broad-

based ban. Many polls show that while

people continue to use their devices

behind the wheel, they also widely consid-

er such behavior to be extremely danger-

ous. The ban is also noteworthy because

it is the first call by a federal agency to

end the practice completely, rather than

the partial ban that some legislators have

put in place by allowing hands-free talk-

ing. Nine states now ban the use of hand-

held phones, and 35 states ban texting by

drivers, according to the Governors

Highway Safety Association, which repre-

sents state traffic agencies.

New York: Rebecca

Black's infamous "Friday"

video has topped all other

YouTube videos of 2011

with 180 million views.

The Google Inc. video-

sharing site announced its

most-viewed clips of the

year Tuesday.

The 14-year-old Black was

turned into a viral video

celebrity after her parents

paid a production company

to make the music video for

her. "Friday" became an

unlikely, off-key global hit.

Because of a legal dispute

with Ark Music Factory, the

video has had two YouTube

incarnations, both of which

were tabulated in the year-

end count.

The second most popular

video was "Ultimate Dog

Tease," in which an owner

taunts a dog with food and

voices its reactions. Third

was the "Saturday Night

Live" digital short featuring

Michael Bolton as a rabid

"Pirates of the Caribbean"

fan.

Cellphone ban urged for drivers, even hands-freeRebecca Black most watchedon YouTube in 2011

December 24-30, 2011 TheSouthAsianTimes.info

Aries: This week you will be benefited pro-

vided you take some bold decisions. New

romance for some cannot be ruled out. You will find

it extremely difficult to concentrate on your work,

as your mind will be busy fantasizing about this

special person who has just entered your life. You

will learn valuable information if you keep your

mind open to new cultures and religions. Money

position will also improve as pending payments get

cleared. During this period you should go out and

build new relationship and contacts, but avoid

strangers who behave extra friendly.

Taurus: Despite some tensions that you

might have experienced in the last few

days, this week starts on a bright note. Excitement

and gaiety marks your days ahead. Plenty of gains

stored for you in whatever you do. New ventures

and assignments will lift your spirits and confi-

dence. Your interest in outdoor activities will see

you go out on short trips, outings and other enter-

tainment activities. Spouse will keep you happy and

you should try to plan something special with chil-

dren towards the weekend.

Gemini: This week tempers will mount if

you’re too pushy at work or at home. There

will be vast improvement in your business as well

as professional skills. Opportunities to travel will

bring desired results. Certain legal matters will need

immediate attention, therefore seek advice of a

lawyer if necessary. Financial gains are certain

throughout the week, but your tendency to over-

spend will make it difficult for you to save. Friends

and near ones will be helpful to complete pending

jobs.

Cancer: This week you should set new

goals for yourself and work towards them.

Your confidence and ability to work on projects,

which require high responsibility, will bring you

benefits in the long run. This period is also good for

building ties with influential people who will be

helpful in implementing your projects. A short trip

for pleasure later in week cannot be ruled out. Get

involved in outdoor sports or activities that are

challenging and will help you stay in perfect shape.

Leo: Distant trips will bring beneficial

results, however hectic schedule will trouble

your health. Financial gains are expected from new

contacts. Uncertainty with regard to career opportu-

nities for your children, seem to bother your mind,

seek advice from an academic counselor if neces-

sary. Empty promises are also evident from people

you trust and respect the most. Don’t expect any-

thing from others and you won’t be disappointed.

Do not spend lavishly on friends and rather spend

more time and money on family members.

Virgo: This week if you work quietly

behind the scene, you will achieve what you

plan. New jobs will dominate your days ahead. For

those at service new opportunities or some sort of

monetary benefits cannot be ruled out. Domestic

happiness and romance will flourish. Despite such a

prosperous time and financial gains, some tensions

due to careless actions of your domestic servants,

co-workers or working partners cannot be ruled out.

Libra: Take legal advice before you take

action regarding important issues. You are

likely to be appreciated by your partners and co-

workers. Religious feelings will arise, forcing some

of you to seek blessing from a spiritual person.

Journeys and travelling that you undertake during

this period will be highly rewarding and educating.

Though gains from investment are foreseen, but

few losses due to hasty speculation cannot be ruled

out.

Scorpio: You will be emotional about

changes that are going on around you. Your

confidence and determination will be at all time

high and you will win plenty of favours from mem-

bers of the opposite sex. However deception from a

close associate or losses due to hasty investment

cannot be ruled out. Encourage children to spend

their extra time into creative activities and sports.

Your harsh attitude and derogatory comments could

create uneasy moments at home.

Sagittarius: This week put in some extra

hours and finish pending jobs before you

venture out for some fun and entertainment. Work

pressure might leave you irritated and exhausted,

but you should remember that harsh words and

erratic behaviour will only bring disregard and criti-

cism. Financial gains seem likely as you recover

delayed and pending payments. Children will need

careful handling and proper attention. Adopt medi-

tation for mental peace.

Capricorn: Don’t allow your partners to

take advantage of your generous nature.

Though work progress will be slow and not very

rewarding on the financial front, some good news

will bring happiness and will boost your morale.

Close relative might make an unexpected visit

bringing gifts and presents. These pleasant and

memorable moments bring happiness and harmony

at home. Your interest in religious and spiritual

activities will make you seek divine knowl-

edge.

Aquarius: Entertainment will be on your

mind, but do not leave your office without complet-

ing your work, or you will be in serious problems.

Anxiety and indecisiveness that has plagued you in

the past seems to end, as optimism and confidence

seems to take control. Financial gains seem likely,

but you need to be extra careful before entering into

any new partnerships. Housewives are likely to be

more involved into embroidery, cooking or other

creative activities. Children will cause bit disap-

pointment, as they spend lavishly on friends and

parties.

Pisces: This week you can make money

through real estate investment. Your high

energy level will bring enormous gains and enhance

your reputation. Financially you will become more

comfortable and have plenty of time for recreation-

al and other activities.

Members of the opposite sex will be source of

inspiration and will help you in need of the hour.

Some tension might arise with friends or relatives.

Pleasure trip will be important for healing your

emotional state of mind.

December 24

Ruled by number 6 and the planet Venus, you are

generous, practical, energetic, original and a simple

person. Your hard-work and sincerity are appreciat-

ed by others but your tendency to behave extravagant

and to interfere in the affairs of others attracts enor-

mous criticism at times. This year rewards and ap-

preciation for scientist, lawyers, writers, and women

professionals associated with advertising and mar-

keting seems certain. A better understanding with

your family members will ensure happiness, peace

and prosperity at home. Financial gains will increase

as the year progresses making you spend more on

luxuries and other comforts. Heath matters will cause

concern, therefore do not ignore medical advice

whenever necessary. The months of July, December,

January and Dec will prove to be highly beneficial.

December 25:

Dominated by number 7 and the planet Neptune, you

are responsible, affectionate, creative, simple and a

research oriented person. You possess many talents,

which make you popular amongst your friends, but

you need to check your tendency to behave jealous,

introvert and hypocrite at times. The year is perfect

to undertake important changes and make strong de-

cisions. Matters related to property, partnerships and

new ventures will get resolved. Concentrate on your

efforts and growth and prosperity will follow by

themselves. The latter half of the year will bring in

opportunities to travel overseas for business as well

as pleasure. Selective speculation will bring gains.

Some good news can be expected from children to-

wards the last quarter of the year. Renovation, con-

struction and socializing will be major highlight of

this year. The months of September, November, Jan-

uary and Dec will prove to be highly significant.

December 26:

Influenced by number 8 and the planet Saturn. You

are ambitious, energetic, authoritative, systematic,

and a sober person. You possess remarkable talent

and conviction to fight against any adverse condi-

tions with courage, but you need to check your ten-

dency to behave highly stubborn and jealous at times.

Your coming year promises financial prosperity and

good health. Businessmen will invest in more prof-

itable ventures. Promising contacts will build

through social get-togethers and traveling. Unex-

pected help from a distant relative will give a major

boost to your career. Your spouse will be quite coop-

erative and shower her full love and affection upon

you despite your erratic behavior towards her. An in-

fatuation within the group will keep you in high spir-

its for some time but it will not be long lasting. The

months of August, December, March and April will

prove to be highly significant.

December 27:

Ruled by number 9 and the planet Mars. You are in-

telligent, dashing, courageous, enthusiastic and a

brilliant individual. In any crowd, you can easily

draw attention because of your humble outlook and

intellectual talks, but you need to check your tenden-

cies towards aggressiveness and short-temper at

times. The coming year sees new ideas and plans

materializing. Perfect year that will improve your

earning power and let you establish important rela-

tionships. Support from your seniors and colleagues,

will boost your morale and generate new confidence.

Overseas assignments for some will be lucrative.

Spouse will provide love and care, but behave high-

ly possessive and unpredictable. A journey preferably

to a distant location towards the yearend cannot be

ruled out. The month of September, November, Jan-

uary and Dec will prove to be highly result oriented.

December 28:

Dominated by number 1 and the Sun. You are smart,

intelligent, energetic, friendly and highly dignified

person. You are a great admirer of art and literature,

but you need to control your tendency to behave

stubborn, timid and careless at times. This year you

will make good financial gains, provided you take

advantage of the opportunities being provided to

you. Your charisma and outgoing personality will

bring you popularity and win you favors. Home front

will be peaceful with family members extending all

possible help and cooperation. Spouse and children

will look after you well, but be highly demanding at

times. Wedding bells for some in the last quarter of

the year while others will find romance to keep them

in the right spirit and good mood. The months of Oc-

tober, February and June will prove to be important

and eventful.

December 29:

Ruled by number 2 and the Moon. You are highly ac-

tive, reliable, methodical, imaginative, trustworthy

and warm-hearted person. You do not have any hes-

itation in spending your time and money for others.

You are very fond of making new friends, but you

need to check your tendency to behave restless, stub-

born, lazy and careless at times. This year brings in

appreciation and rewards that you deserve. Invest-

ments in real estate during this year will prove high-

ly rewarding. However indulging in speculation will

be detrimental and should be avoided. Legal dis-

putes, which have been bothering your mind, will

settle amicably to your satisfaction. Children will be

a major source of happiness and spouse will keep you

happy. Health of your parents will suffer due to

stress, and rise in family medical expenses will both-

er your mind. The months of December, April, June

and October will be highly important and eventful.

December 30:

Dominated by number 3 and the planet Jupiter. You

are creative, simple, courageous, dignified and orig-

inal person. You possess an outstanding character,

which makes you are highly sympathetic, helpful and

generous. You love peace and harmony and you dis-

like arguments and confrontations, but you need to

check your tendency to behave moody, timid and

spendthrift at times.

This year you will be appreciated for making quick

and correct decisions. Your approach will be practi-

cal and new assignments and tasks will bring favor-

able results. You will be receptive to new ideas and

progress in your work, which will eventually bring

you lot of gains. Investment will bring rewards, but

dubious schemes will not be as lucrative as you

might anticipate. Renovation or new construction

should take place towards the year-end. The months

of November, March, July and September will prove

to be important and significant.

Astrology 29

TheSouthAsianTimes.info December 24-30, 2011

By Dr Prem Kumar SharmaChandigarh, India: +91-172- 256 2832, 257 2874Delhi, India: +91-11- 2644 9898, 2648 9899psharma@premastrologer.com; www.premastrologer.com

Stars Foretell: December 24-30, 2011 Annual Predictions: For those born in this week

i) Accurate Data: Please make sure Date,

Time and Place of birth is accurate.

ii) Careful: Did you check background of the

astrologer before disclosing your secrets.

iii) Fee: Discuss the charges before, don’t feel

shy. It’s his business.

iv) Expectation: Expect the best, if the out-

come is not as desired, never give up.

v) Consult: Take second opinion before

spending thousands on cure/remedies.

Learn about the fair value ofdiamonds & precious stones.

from a Gems Expert For appointment, please call 516-390-7847

or email consult.gems@gmail.comA special offer for the readers of

The South Asian Times

Before you consult...

Free Consultation

30 Spiritual Awareness

December 24-30, 2011 TheSouthAsianTimes.info

There are certain traits that

make an Olympic winner.

By analyzing these traits, we

can incorporate them into our own

lives as we pursue excellence in

any field, including spirituality.

Focus

The first quality we find in these

Olympic heroes is that they focus

one hundred percent on the goal.

When the Olympic champions are

interviewed we find that their entire

life is based on the ruling passion

of winning their goal. We have

found that some children began at

the age of three, four, or five years

of age or older with every waking

moment of their lives focused on

winning the gold medal. They are

not wishy-washy. They do not drift

from one thing to another. They set

a goal and they stick to it without

wavering. They put all their atten-

tion into that one activity. They are

focused on not just participation,

but winning and being the best.

For example, there is the humor-

ous story of an athlete who came

down with a fever. The doctor came

to examine him and told him he had

a high fever.

The athlete asked the doctor,

"How high is my fever?"

The doctor said, "One hundred

and one degrees."

The athlete quickly replied,

"What’s the world record?"

Athletes are trained to only strive

for the top scores, to break all

records, and to be the best.

For example, look at swimmers

who broke records for gold medals.

To get there, these swimmers

focused their entire lives on swim-

ming faster and faster. Think of

how many times they had to go

back and forth in the pool, timing

themselves, and then speeding up

again and again to break previous

records. It takes total focus to train

the body and mind to groove their

muscles to perform accurately and

quickly.

The same commitment is

required by divers. Think of how

they have to perfect the art of jump-

ing off a diving board, and doing a

back flip, spinning two or three

times, straightening out the body,

and landing in the water at a per-

fectly vertical angle with little

water splash. They have to be total-

ly focused on this goal to be able to

repeat it over and over until they

have reached perfection.

Look at runners. They have to be

poised to take off at the starting sig-

nal and then escalate to top speeds

to win the race. Think of how

focused they have to be to do this

again and again and again, each

time beating previous world

records.

Look at volleyball players. For

example, in 2008 the USA

women’s team was unbeatable in

over 100 games! Their eyes, minds,

and bodies were so focused on the

incoming volleyball that they actu-

ally dove to the ground to get under

the ball and punch it up with their

fists to get it high enough to hit it

over the net. Think of the focus to

be able to dive fast enough to get

under a ball wherever it is landing

in the sand before the ball touches

the sand. What incredible focus one

needs to be able to do this no matter

how hard or how fast the ball flies

and to be in position wherever the

ball lands!

Look at gymnasts. Think of how

high they do twists, turns, and flips

in the air from uneven parallel bars,

and then land squarely on the floor.

Think of how they have to coordi-

nate their timing, body speed, and

body position to make their routine

come together to achieve close to

perfection!

As one compares the perform-

ance of those who win the gold

medal with those who do not, one

sees a level of focus that permeates

the athletes’ entire lives that helps

them achieve the gold.

Passion and drive

Not only do gold medal winners

have one hundred percent focus on

the goal, but they are filled with

passion and drive to achieve it.

None of the gold medal winners are

lackadaisical in their attitudes.

They are not working in a bored,

humdrum way for their gold. They

all radiate passion. They are excited

about what they are doing. They are

pumped. They are full of energy

and life. They have a passion for

what they are doing. They wake up

each day excited to perfect their

skills.We can see this in many

sports players who love what they

are doing. They are excited about

getting up to go to practice. They

are so excited about it that for them

it is not work; it is fun and

enjoyment.

The gold medal winners for

swimming love to swim. The gold

medal winners for diving love to

dive. The gold medal winners for

running love to run. The gold medal

winners for volleyball love volley-

ball. Without that passion, how

would they put in the time neces-

sary to become good at their sport?

Passion and drive are key ingredi-

ents in making a gold medal

winner.

Time commitment

Some people may have a goal

and love a sport, but they fail to put

in enough time to become good at

it. The difference between an aver-

age athlete and a great one may rest

in the time spent in perfecting the

skill. Gold medal winners may put

in more time to their sport than

those who do not even make it to

the Olympics.

Let’s look at the mechanics of

this. For the body to perform at

supersonic speeds or do twists,

turns, and rotations while suspend-

ed in the air requires an incredible

degree of synchronization of the

body and mind. The brain has to

use the senses to judge where the

body is in space and to be able to

direct the muscles of the body to

perform accurately with split sec-

ond timing. For this to happen,

messages sent from the brain cells

to the muscles of the body have to

be sent quickly and automatically.

This takes training and repetition. It

is not just doing it once or twice

that makes someone perfect. They

have to repeat this hundreds and

thousands of times until the body

and brain can do the extraordinary

feats automatically.

Olympic winners put in the max-

imum possible time to perfect their

sport. They are the first ones at the

gym to practice, and they are the

last ones to leave. They may be

seen practicing even in the middle

of the night. They practice on

weekends. They practice on their

holidays. They are consumed by the

sport. The amount of time they put

in is rewarded by their body being

able to do what the athlete wants it

to do on command.

Discipline to do what it takes

One can have a goal and a pas-

sion for the goal and can also put in

the time to be a winner. There is

another important ingredient,

though, to winning, and that is hav-

ing the discipline to do what it

takes to be the best. One can show

up for practice for twelve hours a

day, but it is the discipline of doing

what is required during those hours

that makes one a winner.

For example, think of the

Olympic sports heroes. It is not

only the time they put in, but the

discipline to do the tasks necessary

within that time frame. They might

have to do push-ups, pull-ups, run

in place, or stretch. There may be

many repetitive drills that are not as

exciting as playing the game but are

needed to hone their muscles and

movements.

Some sports require discipline

when it comes to diet. Some sports

require one to be light so these ath-

letes have to eat fewer calories.

Other sports require muscle bulk so

those athletes have to eat certain

foods, whether they like it or not.

The stamina to run may require cer-

tain nutrients, which means the ath-

lete also must watch his or her diet.

It is not easy staying on any diet,

whether it is to lose weight, gain

weight, or watch one’s blood sugar.

It means that when that athlete goes

out with his or her friends at a

party, he or she may have to avoid

certain foods. That takes tremen-

dous discipline.

Sports ban the use of certain sub-

stances, such as steroids or illegal

drugs. Thus, some athletes who get

caught are eliminated from the

competition. It takes discipline for

them to observe the restrictions on

drugs even when their friends are

offering drugs to them to be cool at

parties. Coaches of these Olympic

gold medal winners may have

required them to observe a set

schedule of exercise and rest. They

may have to get a certain number of

hours of sleep or rest each night,

which also involves discipline,

especially when others are out par-

tying all night.

There are certain exercise rou-

tines that may take hours to per-

form. The routines need to be fol-

lowed exactly for maximum results.

There is discipline involved in

keeping to the time schedule for

practice. Follow the careers of the

Olympic winners and one finds

them following a disciplined life to

realize their dreams.

Focus on their own achieve-

ment instead of what others are

doing

When interviewed about their

plan for winning, those gold medal

winners often give the same reply,

saying, "I have to focus on my

game. I have to focus on what I do

best." They are not concerned with

what others are doing. They know

that if they do what they are sup-

posed to do they have a chance at

winning.

Those who do not win get caught

up in what others are doing. For

example, at times someone may be

ahead in a race, but when they see

someone gain on them, they turn

their head to watch the other player,

and suddenly this distraction causes

the one in the lead to fall behind.

We see horses that watch other

horses trip and fall. For this reason,

blinders are put on a horse to keep

the animal on track and not be dis-

tracted by others.

Athletes on a gymnastics team

who watch other teammates per-

form before their own turn comes

and who see a friend make an error

are often so upset and feel the pain

of disappointment of their team-

mate so strongly that their own

ability is affected. They have

focused on someone else and their

own performance suffers.

The winners stay fixed on what

they are doing and not what others

are doing. In this way, they can give

their best and not lose precious sec-

onds looking at what others are

doing.

(To be continued...)

Sant Rajinder Singh Ji Maharajis an internationally recognizedspiritual leader and Master of JyotiMeditation who affirms the tran-scendent oneness at the heart of allreligions and mystic traditions,emphasizing ethical living andmeditation as building blocks forachieving inner and outer peace.www.sos.org.

Follow disciplined life to realize dreams

The winners stay fixed on what they are doingand not what others are doing. In this way,

they can give their best and not lose preciousseconds looking at what others are doing..

Part two of the discourse 'Olympics of Meditation'

By Sant Rajinder SinghJi Maharaj