In this issue:

Editors Note 2
Work An Hour (WAH) 3
Topic of the Quarter 5
India at a Glance 6
Kid’s Corner 9

Asha Quest Aug 2008 Issue III

A KNOXVILLE CHAPTER PUBLICATION

From the Coordinator’s Desk….

“No one can whistle a symphony. It takes an
orchestra to play it.”
H.E. Luccock

You might be wondering that Six months have passed by

since the Quest 2 has launched and there is no noise
about Quest 3. Here we present you the Quest 3 with
updates from a successful second quarter. Second quar-
ter has seen lot of new activities with new volunteers.
Let us dive into the details.

Event updates:

1. Food Fest: Food fest was a tremendous hit and it was

very well received by Knoxville community. Started in
April, the idea of the fest is very simple. Every week on
Thursday, interested volunteers pool up at Apna Bazar
and serve mouth smacking Indian delicacies. Apna Bazar
is extremely supportive in providing us with a platform
to conduct this food fest. On an average, we managed to
raise $ 150 USD every week. In the near future, we want
to extend this fest to other local communities such as
University housing, Oakridge National Labs etc.,

2. Asha Premier League: With everyone caught up

with Indian Premier League (IPL) fever, we thought to
spread this fever to Knoxville cricket lovers. Based on a
double wicket format, this event demonstrated the en-
thusiasm of Knoxville Indian community.

Contd on Page 10

© Copyright of Asha Knoxville 1

 Editors Note
We are glad to publish a brand new issue of the Asha Quest magazine. This issue has
been slightly abridged, which may help us explore relations and packaging details with
other magazines in Tennessee and Georgia in the near future. For Asha Knoxville, the
last several months have been very exciting. The Asha Premier League received a tre-
mendous response and was concluded successfully within the day. The “Work an Hour”
program was started to enhance fund generation. Projects launched earlier have been
moving forward. As we look to the future with new hope and aspirations, we turned to
our new and very young friends for contributions to this magazine. The highlights of this
abridged issue are artwork and poems by some of the youngest fans of Asha. We urge
you to send us your comments as you read the current and previous issues of Asha
Quest.

Disclaimer: Opinions expressed in all the articles are those of the author and not of Asha.

Editorial Team: Auroop Ganguly, Sampath Kandala, Jheelam Banerjee, Tushti Marwah, Debashree Ganguly

Design Team: Sridhar Kuppuswamy, Malathi Narnur

Email To Editorial Team: ashamagazine@gmail.com

Asha Virtual office: http://www.ashanet.org/knoxville

Advertise with us:

Educate a child…
Full Page $100
3/4th page $75
Half Page $50
Contact : ashamagazine@gmail.com Quarter Page $25

© Copyright of Asha Knoxville 2

 Please support Knoxville chapter by selecting the project: Balia Gram Unnayan
Samity and chapter: Knoxville in the drop down menus on the donation page

“Knoxville raised $1100 USD so far. Target is $5000 USD to support two projects in
Andhra Pradesh and WestBengal.”

© Copyright of Asha Knoxville 3

 More to life through Spiritual Intelligence

Unless we don’t see or hear something, we refuse to believe it. Some metaphysicians argue that, nothing could have ever
been invented, if the greatest inventors of our times said, “I will believe it, when I see it. I will confirm it, when I hear it. I will
accept it, when I like it”.

Management experts say that we use our intellect and cognitive intelligence to draw a conclusion from the events that
strike our day-to-day lives. Intellect involves knowing things as they appear to the senses and understanding. Through the
senses, we can perceive the forms of things and through understanding we can conceive them in terms and categories. Cog-
nitive intelligence primarily involves thinking to reason something. Thinking and intuition are connected to mind. We make
decisions based on either what we know, learn or master or based on our inbuilt gut feelings.

While cognitive intelligence and intellect is all about planning, comprehending ideas and reasoning, emotional intelligence is
about managing the emotion of one self. One can develop self worth, self confidence and self love by developing one’s cogni-
tive, emotional and spiritual intelligence. (Spiritual intelligence is a term popularized by Stephen Covey in his book “The 8th
Habit”). Spiritual Intelligence is about self awareness, self esteem, flexibility, gratitude, compassion and creativity. With Spiri-
tual intelligence, one can move out of negativity, restriction, constriction, limitation and can co-create with spirit in love and
joy.

To handle multifarious demands of the mind, people put their beliefs on absurd superstitions or assertions, which question
the facts and realities of life. This shows that there is a growing need to develop “process of thinking”, followed up by im-
peccable truths of life that has appeal to logic and reason. When the mind is humiliated, stressed and strained by the prob-
lems confronting it, only spiritual intelligence can help get the mind under perfect control.

One can develop their full potential by mastering cognitive, emotional and spiritual intelligence, as these three powerful sys-
tems can drive a higher self esteem, which results in increased competence, confidence, freedom, achievement and satisfac-
tion. Applying them in real life will enhance the beauty of living.
- Reshma S Zingde

You can make donations at our website: www.ashanet.org/knoxville or using the following donation slip

© Copyright of Asha Knoxville 4

 Topic of the Quarter
“ Even as India strives towards meritocracy, a strong class gap continues to dictate the op-
portunities at primary or secondary school levels. How can this gap be reduced without
compromising quality?”

An evaluation of the Indian primary and secondary school system can hardly be accomplished without
considering the various complexities. It is among the lives of millions and millions of six to fourteen-year-olds that
India's stark socio-economic pyramid darkly manifests itself. Let us take a look at the blatant divide while keeping
in mind that even subtle differences in the socio-economic ladder may translate into opportunities. At the top of
the ladder, the children of the rich go to infrastructure-equipped upscale schools with well-paid teachers and a
nationally or even globally accepted curriculum. Middle class children make it to English medium schools, which
are probably state-affiliated, funded with basic infrastructures and teachers with mediocre pay. The children of the
poor attend municipal and government schools with no basic facilities and a highly deficient education system. A
dismal picture emerges of a well-intentioned goal to provide free and compulsory primary/secondary education to
all.

The greatest anguish stems from the fact that the most formative years of these unquestioning children is
spent battling hard realities influenced by rural or urban divide, gender, parents literacy levels, socio-economic
status and caste, instead of getting a simple right to a good education system. The fundamental issue can slowly
trickle down to other essential rights like music lessons, skilled teachers, playgrounds, libraries, science labs, com-
petitions, culturals, field trips, so on and so forth. A constant mapping of affordability and opportunity has to be
done in most aspects of Indian primary and secondary school learning. One may dismiss this as being clichéd say-
ing that this is an unavoidable consequence of an inegalitarian society. While this is surely a consequence of a
highly inegalitarian society, the adverse consequences can certainly be reduced.

The current reviving economy may not be helping the situation as it is making only rich schools richer.
The poor support from the government in having a standard well funded and networked school system does play
a role, especially in comparison to most other developed nations. While private schools with all the "extra bene-
fits" may be strongly encouraged, a common school system with quality education for all levels of the underprivi-
leged must exist. This can be largely funded and supported by the government, while governed by independent
voluntary educational organizations that set up an appropriate curriculum and examination systems not very devi-
ant from the rest.

Above all, a strong sense of intolerance to substandard education from the general public and parents
could greatly help in bringing about a social reformation in the nature of the schooling system. Irresponsible
teachers or a poor evaluation schemes must be sternly questioned, thereby increasing awareness. At more inter-
nal levels, children must be given an unbiased chance at every stage to express their full potential by school au-
thorities, thereby extending the philosophy beyond mere school uniforms. Monetary contributions from individu-
als and groups must flow into this channel keeping in mind that true modernization or reform will continue to lag
without a quality schooling system.

-Meena Kalyanaraman

© Copyright of Asha Knoxville 5

 India at a Glance
IPL Cricket
The IPL (Indian Premier League), a cricket league in the
twenty20 format, was played between 8 Indian city-based
teams and featured both international and national cricket-
ers. The IPL was established with the support of the Board
of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
The teams: (1) Mumbai, (2) Bangalore, (3) Kolkata, (4) Hy-
derabad, (5) Chennai, (6) Delhi, (7) Jaipur and (8) Chandi-
garh/Mohali. The team owners were as follows:
Mukesh Ambani (Reliance Industries) owns Mumbai team
Vijay Mallaya (United Breweries) owns Bangalore team
Shah Rukh Khan (Red Chillies Entertainment) owns Kolkata
team
Lachlan Mudroch (Emerging Media) owns Jaipur Team
Preity Zinta, Ness Wadia own the Chandigarh/Mohali Team
Deccan Chronicle Group Holdings owns the Hyderabad
Team
India Cements owns Chennai Team
GMR Holdings owns the Delhi Team
About 80 international cricketers, State Ranji trophy players,
and under-22 players, played in the IPL. BCCI had stipulated
that of the 16 players in each team, there could be a maxi-
mum of four international players, eight Indian players and
four budding talents. The total spending cap in the first
player auction was US $5M. Sony had purchased the rights
to telecast not just the IPL matches in the first year, but for
the next 10 years, for a whopping one billion dollars. A total
of 59 matches were played in the first IPL. The opening
match was in Bangalore and semis and final were in Mumbai.
The Rajasthan Royals defeated the Chennai Super Kings by 3
wickets in the final on the 1st of June, 2008, to become the
winners of the first IPL tournament. With the scores level
with one ball remaining, Sohail Tanvir scored the winning
run and prevented the match from being decided on a bowl-
out.
Each player and representative on the team was awarded a
medal and the team was presented with the DLF Indian Pre-
mier League trophy along with a cheque for US$1.2M prize
money. Many of the Royals' players also took home individ-
ual awards for their performance during the tournament:
Yusuf Pathan claimed the Man of the Match award for the
final, Sohail Tanvir finished the tournament with the Purple
Cap (the tournament's leading wicket taker) and Australian
all-rounder Shane Watson was declared the Man of the Se-
ries.
Source: http://www.squidoo.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Premier_League
© Copyright of Asha Knoxville
Rail Budget 2008-09
Lalu Prasad Yadav, the Railways Minister, presented his fifth
consecutive Railway Budget on 26 January, 2008. The minis-
ter announced a record surplus Balance Sheet of Rs 25,000
crores for Year 2007-08. Lalu announced a cut in passenger
fares. First Class A/C fares will be down 7%, A/C 2 down 4%
and A/C 3 will see a reduction of 2%. Second Class fares have
been cut by 5% for tickets beyond 50 kms. Lalu Prasad Yadav
declared a record surplus of Rs 25,000 crores for FY-08. Lalu
said the Railways had made a remarkable turnaround and
announced a profit of Rs 68,778 crores in the last five years.
The minister said that Rs 15,000 crores had been paid as
dividend to the government in the same period. Railways
would be controlled online in two years. Use of IT communi-
cations will occur by 2009. Rajdhani and Shatabdi Exprress
trains will have LHB coaches. This would enhance speed and
comfort. Only stainless steel coaches would be produced
after 2010. Professional agencies will undertake on board
cleaning system in every Rajdhani, Shatabdi, Mail and Super-
fast trains. Low level and medium level platform in B category
stations will be converted to high level platforms. All D level
stations will have platform shelter. The Railways has attained
790 tonne payload target. Freight Wagon turnaround takes
to a profit of Rs 233 cr. 3000 new bogies have been added to
freight trains. Uncoaching earning has gone to 4000 cr. Ship-
ping and road transport companies are permitted to run
dedicated trains. Freight loading has been increased by 10%.
New freight income target new Rs 440,000 cr.
Source: Surfindia.com
Main Budget
Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram has proposed a wide
range of reliefs for tax payers in his 2008-09 Budget propos-
als. Under this, the threshold limit of personal income tax has
been increased from Rs 1.10 lakh to Rs.1.50 lakh. The com-
mon man has waited long enough to know how the Govern-
ment of India’s annual rigmarole would impact his life.
Here are the major highlights of Union Budget 2008 that
would impact your life directly: Sixth Pay Commission report
by March 2008 -Small cars to cost less by Rs 10,000 to
15,000 -Two wheelers to cost less, excise duty reduced by
10% -Requirement of PAN extended to all financial transac-
tions -PAN to be sole identification in securities market
-3 IITs to be set up in Bihar, AP, Rajasthan - Duty reduced on
life saving drugs; exempt from excise -Anti-Aids drug ex-
empted from excise duty -Excise on packaged softwares to
lower from 8% to 12%--Duty on non-filter cigarettes to be
raised -Excise duty slashed to 8% on water purification items
-Duty withdrawn on naptha for production of polymers—
6
 India at a Glance

-Improved infrastructure for Sainik schools -Debt waiver a boost to ADAG’s aim of emerging as a leader in the enter-
scheme for farmers announced -Loan waiver amounts to 4% tainment industry worldwide, according to some experts.
of total bank loans -Farmers eligible for fresh agri loans post ADAG announced projects at the recent Cannes film festival
the waiver or one time settlement -Farmers eligible for in collaboration with Hollywood stars Tom Hanks, Brad Pitt,
fresh agri loans post the waiver or one time settlement -Rs Jim Carrey and George Clooney, which was worth $1 billion.
340 cr insurance scheme to cover 17 lakh farmers and weav-
ers -300 more ITIs to be upgraded with an investment of Rs Source: http://www.india-server.com
750 cr -LIC to cover all woman SHGs linked to the bank -
Schemes for women to get Rs 1,460 crore this fiscal -Child- Abhinav Bindra Wins Olympic Gold Medal
related schemes to get Rs 33,434 crore -Jawaharlal Navoday
Vidyalaya to be set in 20 new districts for SC/STs -16 new
Central Universities to be built -NE region to get Rs 1,455 Abhinav Bindra, an Indian shooter from Zirakpur, Mohali
cr as budgetary support -NREGS to be extended to 596 district, Punjab is now the Olympic champion in the 10 m Air
rural districts at an outlay of Rs 16,000cr -Science scholar- Rifle event by winning the gold at the 2008 Beijing Olympic
ships for young learners -About 6,000 high quality schools to Games. He now becomes the first Indian to win an individual
be built by 2009-Rs 200 cr for providing potable water sys- gold medal at the Olympic Games. Previously the Indian
tem in each school in areas of water scarce regions - Hockey team has won gold in Olympics 1980.
Education & health to get 20% more from Rs 28,674 cr to
Rs 34,4000 cr -Agri credit doubled in first two years - The historic victory for the 25-
Keeping inflation under check to be on focus -Women enti- year-old pro from Chandigarh
tled to equal share and equal say --Pilot plan to use smart came against heavy odds as he
cards for food grain distribution in Chandigarh, Haryana. entered the event ranked num-
ber 17 in the world and pitted
Source:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/ - against Athens Olympic cham-
Budget_2008_Impact_on_you/articleshow/2825403.cms pion Zhu Qinan of China and
Henri Hakkinen of Finland
Reliance venture into US entertainment industry rated much higher than him. But Bindra proved that reputa-
tion and history counted little as he overcame a two-point
deficit against Zhu and Haikkinen after the qualifying round
Reliance Big entertainment arm of ADAG (Anil Dhirubhai and annexed the title.
Ambani Group) has entered into joint venture with Holly-
wood living legend.
Bindra was a child prodigy, repre-
Steven Spielberg. Under the new agreement, joint venture senting India at the Commonwealth
will make six films a year. Reliance Big has invested $500 Games in Kuala Lumpur, while just
million in the project and this joint venture company will 16. In 2000, he was not yet 18
fund all Spielberg movies. years old, when he went to the
Hollywood has had to increasingly turn to foreign backers Sydney Olympics. He was the
amid recent turmoil on Wall Street.. youngest in the contingent. But
within a year he was winning med-
This ambitious project from Reliance Big is aimed at com- als around the world and in 2002
pany’s plan to become a global leader in entertainment in- he became a Commonwealth
dustry. The group has also bought a US located theatre man- Games gold medallist. He was con-
agement company to operate in the US and has set up a ferred the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award for the year
distribution company to earn license rights. 2001.In the 2004 Athens Olympics, despite breaking the
Olympic record Bindra failed to win a medal. But on July 24,
In India, Reliance Big already has the Adlabs cine complexes. 2006, Bindra became the first Indian shooter to win a World
Lately the company has bought more than 200 theatres Championship gold in Zagreb.
across 28 locations in North America, including New York,
(BBC news, http://www.quickonlinetips.com,
New Jersey, Atlanta, Detroit, Chicago, San Jose, Los Ange- www.financialexpress.com)
les, Washington DC and Seattle. The deal will surely provide

- Compiled by Tushti Marwah

© Copyright of Asha Knoxville 7

 Knoxville Events

Asha Premier League (APL)

Independence Day Celebrations (MANTHAN)

© Copyright of Asha Knoxville 8

 Kids’s Corner

INDIA
PATRIOTIC FEELINGS Sunny and warm
Sweet smells of hon
feel patriotic,
The colors of my flag makes me
ey eve rywhere
Windy and blustery
a goal,
also Demsey and Hamm shooting Blowing dust into my
face
peninsula,
seeing a bald eagle on a muddy Cows
Darting from place
to place
looking at the White House,
I run to pat them

seeing the Statue of Liberty But they'll moo loud

ly in my face

makes me feel And run off.

and my parents becoming citizens
patriotic.

Parin Bhaduri, 4th Grader Radha, 2nd Grader

Knoxville, TN Woodland Elementary
Farragut Intermediate School, School, Oak Ridge,
TN

Volten V rden
olcano Spring Ga

hadhuri
Awroni B Bareesh B
hool
1st Grade haduri Primary Sc
r, Farragut , Farragut
Primary 1st Grader Knox vi lle , TN
School
Knoxville
, TN

© Copyright of Asha Knoxville 9

 ...contd from pg 1
24 teams participated in this day long event complemented
with Indian food served from Ms. Kakkar. The event gener-
ated a modest profit of $ 800 USD. More importantly we
had lot of new participation and energy in Asha.
Current and Future Activities:
1. Work an Hour 2008: Each year, people from around the
world come together in a demonstration of great human spirit, to
help educate underprivileged children in India. Work An Hour, or
WAH, as it is popularly known, is a summer-long, global, online
fundraising campaign based on a simple concept. Participants are
asked to symbolically Work an Hour towards the cause of chil-
dren's education by donating an hour's worth or more of their
salary. This year, the event begins on July 15 and concludes on
September 15 spanning through India's Independence Day on
August 15 and Teachers' Day on September 5. Fifteen projects
across Asha have been showcased in this year's WAH. Donors
will have the ability to give to a project of their choice.
WAH 2007: Knoxville Chapter raised $3500 USD
Please donate for WAH 2008 at www.workanhour.org
and do not forget to mention Knoxville chapter.
2. Collaboration with UT: Starting this Fall, Asha volunteers will
be working with Dr. Bob Kronick to support his Civic Engage-
ment program. As a part of this program, Asha volunteers will
help students in Pond Gap and End Skip schools with after school
tutoring in subjects like Math, English etc., and also provide pre-
scription support for generic illnesses.
Balia Gram Unnayan Samity (BGUS) – AP: Knoxville has dis-
bursed the first installment of $2215.00 USD to GVS in May 08.
This project was previously supported by Silicon Valley and UIUC
chapters. This project will support several activities including staff
salaries, students nutrition and medical needs etc., Major portion of
the funds ($ 1515 USD) for this project was contributed by gener-
ous Bengali community volunteers. Many thanks to them. We wish
to extend this model to GVS and other future projects.
Enjoy the magazine!!!!
Thank You!
Committee
Sampath Kandala - Chapter Coordinator (Ph: 865-604-
3560)
Teja Sastry - Projects Coordinator (Ph: 865-406-4395)
Mohan Damu and Gagan Rajpal - Treasurers
(Ph: 865-335-1998)
Aashish Chaurey - Events Coordinator (Ph: 865-806-1296)
Debashree Ganguly - Publicity Coordinator (Ph: 865-924-
7031)
Ramu Katakam - Fund Raising Coordinator (Ph: 937-554-
7516)
Pushpalatha - ARC Representative
Bhargav Kandala, Madhan and Pushpalatha - Webmasters

Visit our stall at HCC India fest on August 23rd. Groundwork is

being done by Asha volunteers to host cultural fest in Downtown,
Knoxville.

Treasury updates:

2007 Balance: $ 4327.5 USD

2008: Food fest as of 07/03/08- $ 1512.00 USD, APL - $800.00

USD, General Donations- $833.00 USD

Project specific donations: $1875.00 USD

Project updates:

Grama Vikasa Saradhi (GVS) – AP: Knoxville has successfully

disbursed three installments of total $3157.00 USD to GVS from
Jan 08 through Jul 08. This project is in joint collaboration with
the Asha – New River Valley (NRV) chapter. Second Quarter
report (Apr 08 – Jun 08) was received and is available on the
Asha Knoxville webpage. The students finished their annual ex-
ams successfully on 24th April 08.

© Copyright of Asha Knoxville 10