New Delhi: Prime Minister

Narendra Modi Thursday launched

the union government's flagship
financial inclusion scheme
"Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana"
(PMJDY), with the national rollout
leading to the opening of an
astounding 15 million bank
accounts on a single day.
Modi said the project, launched
in a mission mode, aims at tackling
poverty by ending "financial
untouchability".
Under the project announced by
Modi during his Independence Day
address, bank accounts and debit
cards with an accident insurance
cover of Rs.1 lakh will be provided
to millions still without access to
formal banking facilities.
With the government having done
extensive homework for the pro-
ject's rollout, Modi took pride in
the numbers that exceeded the tar-
get set for the day.
"Never before would insurance
companies have issued 1.5 crore
(15 million) accident insurance
policies in a single day. Never
before in economic history would
1.5 crore bank accounts have been
Kiev/Washington: A top
Ukrainian army officer said a "full-
scale invasion" of his country was
under way Thursday, as a US offi-
cial said up to 1,000 Russian troops
had crossed Ukraine' s southern
border to fight alongside pro-
Russian rebels.
NATO released satellite images
which it says show Russian self-
propelled artillery units moving
inside Ukrainian territory.
And new video shows what the
Ukrainian government says is a
Russian tank farther south, where a
new front is opening up in the con-
flict.
The well-armed Russian detach-
ments captured key towns, burned
buildings and sent the under-
equipped Ukrainian forces into full
retreat a show of military force
that the United States now consid-
ers an invasion in all but name.
There is no doubt that this is
not a homegrown, indigenous
uprising in eastern Ukraine. The
separatists are backed, trained,
armed, financed by Russia,
President Obama said.
Russian actions will be a main
topic for the summit of NATO
leaders next week in Wales, Obama
said.
The Russian defense ministry
reiterated its position again
Thursday, saying no Russian mili-
tary units had taken part in action
in Ukraine, according to the
Russian news agency Interfax.
Russian and American diplomats
clashed during an emergency meet-
ing of the United Nations Security
Council Thursday, with Samantha
Power, the U.S. ambassador to the
UN, saying that Russia has out-
right lied about its involvement in
the conflict.
The South Asian Times
e x c e l l e n c e i n j o u r n a l i s m
excellence in journalism
FESTIVALS 2 TRAVEL 16 SPIRITUAL AWARENESS 30
Washington: At a private conclave
with the billionaire Koch brothers
political apparatus this year,
Senator Mitch McConnell of
Kentucky, the Republican leader,
laid out a confrontational agenda
for a Republican-controlled Senate
aimed at dismantling President
Obamas legislative successes
through the federal budget.
In a leaked audio recording,
McConnell told the mid-June gath-
ering in Dana Point, Calif., that if
the Republicans gained control of
the Senate and retained control of
the House in November, Congress
could use the budget process to
Vol.7 No. 18 August 30-September 5, 2014 60 Cents New York Edition Follow us on TheSouthAsianTimes.info
Modi govt launches financial inclusion scheme
Continued on page 4
Russia's full-
scale invasion
of Ukraine
under way
Republicans plan to starve Obama initiatives of funds
New York: The grand public
reception in New York for Prime
Minister Narendra Modi has
spurred a flurry of activity and
events galore.
Even as OFBJP convenor Vijay
Jolly has been addressing a series
of public meetings this month in
major US cities for NaMos 28th
Sept program at Madison Square
Garden, B. K. Modi, founder
chairman of Global Citizens
Forum (GCF), hosted a meeting
New image of Russian tanks in Ukraine shown by CNN.
Under the Jan Dhan Yojana, a
record 15 million bank
accounts were opened on a
single day for the financial
untouchables.
The tough stance by Republican leaders Mitch McConnell
and (left) Marco Rubio raises the specter of a spending
stalemate that could lead to another govt. shutdown in the fall.
Billionaire businessman BK Modi and (right) BK Agnihotri,
formerly Indias ambassador at large, speaking at the NY event.
Event mulls impact of PM Modi on global world order
Continued on page 4
ASTROLOGY 29
Continued on page 4
2 August 30-September 5, 2014 TheSouthAsianTimes.info FESTIVALS
By Jinal Shah
New York: A nameless coalition
of people attached to the Jain
Center of America in Queens
has been distributing free Jain
meals during the eight days of
Paryushan in the New York-
New Jersey areas. Though the
program started in 2011, this
year saw the highest number of
meals distributed in a single day
- 800 meals including lunch and
dinner.
Paryushan Parva, observed by
Jains around the world, is a peri-
od of sacrifice, penance and
endurance. In keeping with its
principles, Jains abstain from
onions, garlic, potatoes, fer-
mented food, root vegetables
and green vegetables along with
leftover food from previous day.
The group distributing the
meals, only known by its web-
site domain name Paryushan
Meals, follows all the Jain
dietary restrictions.
It all started with a
Westchester based Jain family
(that wishes to stay anonymous).
Said a member of the family that
conceived the free service, My
sister left for college in the city
and although it was not that far
from home, my family worried
about her meals. My father and
uncle realized that like her there
would be many students in a
similar situation. That is when
he came up with this initiative.
The website adds, In
September 2011, during
Paryushana, we began this
endeavor in the hope that Jain
students and professionals resid-
ing /working in Manhattan could
avail of fresh food. In our busy
lives, we are often incapable to
pursue religious activities, espe-
cially food restrictions. Our food
preparation strictly follows all
Jainism dietary restrictions.
Soon word-of-mouth and
announcements at the Jain tem-
ple attracted a large number of
Jain individuals, especially stu-
dents.So how does it work?
Interested individuals sign up
for meals a day in advance. The
group ties up with Rajbhog to
prepare fresh meals both lunch
and dinner - early in the morn-
ing based on the registrations.
The meal boxes- comprising a
combination of: rice, dal, veg-
etables along with Indian bread,
a sweet and a pack of snack -
are distributed to volunteers at
their 48th Street (New York)
location, meant to be given to
the registered individuals. The
leftover boxes, if any, are donat-
ed to a womans shelter home in
Westchester.
New Delhi: The Ganesh Chaturthi festival
is celebrated with much pomp and
grandeur in the western part of India, but
Delhi with its mixed culture is catching
up.
Mumbai, home to Bollywood actors and
other celebrities, has various Ganesh pan-
dals across the city with the most popular
being the Lalbaugcha Raja. Situated in
Lalbaug market area, the pandal, founded
in 1934, is said to attract millions.
Now, modeled on the popular Mumabi
pandal is the 'Raja Lalbaugcha Ganpati'
pandal in Pitampura in west Delhi.
Organizers claim that they have for the
first time brought the Ganesh idol from
Mumbai and even fetched the priests from
there.
"It's the God's call. He directed us and
we decided to get the Lalbaug Ganpati to
the city. We are hopeful that we'll get to
see as many worshipers as in Mumbai,"
says Rajesh Gupta, secretary and 'mela
mantri' of the city' s Raja Lalbaugcha
Ganpati trust. The Ganesh Chaturthi festi-
val, signifying the birth of Lord
Ganesha, is set to begin from August 29
and continue at the Netaji Subhash Place
Ground in Pitampura here until September
8, when the idol will be immersed.
"The Ganesh idol will be as large as the
one in Mumbai. In fact, the idol and the
priests, all have been bought from
Mumbai," says Gupta.
A 'Raja Lalbaug Ganpati Rath Yatra' has
also been scheduled on August 27.
The city's Tamil community have also
been organising Ganesh Chaturthi since
2005 at the Sankatahara Ganapathy
Temple in Vasundhara Enclave.
"Sankatahara is the 32nd form of Lord
Ganesha. So every year we take out a pro-
cession on an elephant with Ganesha's
idol on it, before Vinayaka Chaturthi.
"This time we began the celebrations
with the Ganesha Utsav on August 24.
The procession started with chanting of
Vedas and children dressed as God and
Goddesses went around neighboring soci-
eties," says N Rajasekhar, secretary activi-
ties, Vasundhara Enclave Sarveswara
Samaj.
Devotees arrive to get a glimpse of the Lalbaugcha Raja in the most popu-
lar Ganesh pandal in Mumbai.
Jains celebrate Paryushan Mahaparva
J
ains living in North America celebrated Paryushan Mahaparva,
one of the most important festivals of the community, in the last
week of August. Jain centers across the country including the
Tristate area organized events spanning the eight days of the festival.
Paryushan is the celebration of spiritual awareness, and that time of
the year when Jains practice self-analysis and soul searching. It is a
period of repentance for the acts of the past year and of austerities to
help shed the accumulated karma. Seven of the eight days are of
attainment and the eighth day is one of fulfillment. During the period
also called Samvatsari Mahaparva, the devout listen to the spiritual
preceptors explaining the 1250 fundamental sutras and perform the
Samvatsarik Pratikraman (the annual atonement) for seeking forgive-
ness of people one hates or against whom one nurses a grudge--these
constitute the Samvatsarik aradhana.
As per the information on jaintemples.org, there are about 63 Jain
centers and temples in North America and about 14 in New York and
New Jersey. Most Jains, young and old, despite living in the US follow
the dietary restrictions. Many even fast for all eight days of Paryushan,
some for fewer days (scriptures suggest a minimum of three days).
Fasting usually involves complete abstinence from any sort of food or
drink, but some people do take boiled water during daytime. In India,
some devout Jains take the vow of Paushadh Vrat, usually fasting, sus-
pending all worldly affairs and living like a monk).
Delhi takes a leaf from Mumbai for Ganesh Chaturthi festival
Free Jain food distributed in NY-NJ
for Paryushan days
Devotees at a Paryushan event held at a Jain temple.
The four locations for free meals include downtown, midtown and NYU-Poly in Manhattan,
and near Apna Bazaar in Jersey City. For details, www.paryushanmeals.org.
By Jinal Shah
New York: The Association of Indi-
ans in America (AIA-NY) on Tues-
day announced the 2014 Deepavali
celebrations at South Street Seaport
on October 5. In its 27th year, the
oldest Diwali mela is expected to
attract over 100,000 people.
At the kickoff held at the Indian
Consulate here, AIA-NY President
Sunil Modi gave highlights on this
yearDiwali celebrations, which has
become an NYC calendar event, at-
tracting large Indian population
from the Tristate area. The event, of
course, climaxes in spectacular re-
works on the East River, which is
next only in splendor to the 4th of
July Macys reworks.
As in the past the event this year
will be replete with numerous
booths, vendors, mouth-watering
delicacies, a designated area for
children, a holistic health fair (that
includes yoga demonstrations, free
dental, blood pressure checkup and
breastfeeding awareness), a show-
case of Indian culture, arts and
crafts, jewelry, traditional clothes
and an evening of music and dance.
In order to attract the youths, the
second generation Indian Ameri-
cans, AIA-NY has introduced an in-
ter-collegiate dance competition -
Naach Inferno.
With Star Plus Main Bhi Star
contest, participants can land acting
roles as they live-audition. Last year
DJ Rekha led the Diwali mela audi-
ence into a Guinness World Record
breaking largest Bhangra party, this
year along with Bhangra, there will
also be Garba and Dandiya.
AIA-NY will also address the is-
sues of womens health and
womens rights. In his Independ-
ence Day speech, Prime Minister
Narendra Modi drew attention to
womens issues and we would like
to take that further along with cele-
brating success of Indian women in
America, said Sunil Modi.
When asked how the Diwali mela
can act as a platform to initiate edu-
cational programs, Modi said, We
try and educate people about Indian
culture, Indian food. This year we
will also have a wall of fame pro-
jecting successful women from the
Indian community who have con-
tributed to the growth of America.
We also celebrate Diwali in public
libraries where we educate the pub-
lic, mostly children, about Indian
culture, and the festival.
The kickoff event was attended
by Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Dr
Raman Singh who happened to be in
town, , Gale A. Brewer, Manhattan
Borough president, and, of course,
Amb. Dyaneshwar Mulay, Indias
Consul General.
Brewer congratulated the Indian
community leaders for being suc-
cessful in political, policy and busi-
ness activities. She mentioned how
in 2005, Diwali became one of the
34 legal and religious holidays, on
which the alternate parking rule was
suspended despite Mayor
Bloombergs veto. (His decision
was overrided by all 51 Council
members). She also pointed out that
in the last decade, Manhattan bor-
ough has seen the largest increase in
Indian population as compared to
other boroughs. As President of
Manhattan Borough it is a matter of
immense pride to me, she added.
Diwali stamp, a much talked
about project last year, was not men-
tioned in the string of announce-
ments.
Washington: A self-styled spiritual
guru, who headed the now defunct
Hindu Temple of Georgia, has been
convicted on 34 felony counts fol-
lowing two weeks of jury trial.
Sentencing of Annamalai Anna-
malai, also known as Commander
Selvam or Swamiji Sri Selvam Sid-
dhar, is scheduled for November 13.
"This defendant traded on his per-
ceived religious authority and spiri-
tual powers to cheat the faithful who
believed in him," said US Attorney
Sally Quillian Yates.
"The jury saw through his decep-
tion, and he is being held account-
able for his fraud," he said.
"Annamalai Annamalai clearly
took advantage of his religious
standing in the community as well as
the individuals who respected and
revered him," stated Veronica F Hy-
man- Pillot, Special Agent in
Charge, IRS-Criminal Investigation.
"He used deceit and fraud, to cir-
cumvent the bankruptcy courts and
to collect money for his own person-
al benet," the IRS ofcial said.
According to US Attorney, the in-
dictment and other information pre-
sented in court, this is how the fraud-
ster operated. Annamalai, 49, gener-
ated income through the Hindu Tem-
ple of Georgia by charging fees to
his followers in exchange for provid-
ing spiritual or related services. In a
typical transaction, a follower agreed
to purchase a particular service for a
communicated price, and provided a
credit card number by telephone to
guarantee payment. Annamalai
caused the follower's credit card
numbers to be charged on multiple
occasions, in excess of the agreed
amount and without authorization.
If the followers disputed the
charges with their respective credit
card companies, Annamalai submit-
ted false documentation to the credit
card companies in support of the
charges, which formed the basis for
his conviction on bank fraud
charges, the chargesheet alleged.
The income generated by the tem-
ple through these credit card charges
was used to fund the lifestyle of An-
namalai and his family, who owned
or controlled numerous homes and
real estate, luxury vehicles, and bank
accounts in India. Annamalai was
convicted of willfully ling a false
tax return for the 2007 year, for fail-
ing to disclose his nancial interest
in foreign bank accounts held in In-
dia. He was convicted of bankrupt-
cy fraud offenses in connection with
the temple's petition for bankruptcy
protection in August 2009. He was
also convicted on three counts of ob-
struction and false statements in con-
nection with the grand jury probe
and the bankruptcy proceeding.
3 August 30-September 5, 2014 TheSouthAsianTimes.info TRISTATE COMMUNITY
Ranju Batra, Immediate Past President of Association of Indians in Amer-
ica (AIANY) has been presented the 2014 Beacon of Leadership Award
by Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke. Rep Clarke hailed Ranju's dedica-
tion and contributions to New York and the US at the gala event on Au-
gust 26 in Brooklyn that celebrated women of extraordinary achievements
both civic and professional. Ranju has secured Rep. Clarke's support for
the Diwali Stamp and House Resolution 47 introduced by Rep. Carolyn
B. Maloney. Also seen in the picture is renowned attorney Ravi Batra.
Sentencing of Annamalai
Annamalai, aka
Commander Selvam or
Swamiji Sri Selvam Siddhar,
is scheduled for Nov 13.
Ranju Batra honored for
civic leadership
AIA-NY President Sunil Modi
South St. Seaport Deepavali mela on October 5
(L to R) Abhishek Singh, MP from Chhattisgarh, Dr Raman Singh,
Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh, Gale A. Brewer, Manhattan
Borough president, and Amb. Dnyaneshwar Mulay at AIA's
Diwali kickoff event.
Self-styled guru convicted on fraud and obstruction charges
Printed Every Saturday by
Forsythe Media Group, LLC
ISSN 1941-9333
76 N Broadway, Suite 2004,
Hicksville, NY 11801 P: 516.390.7847
Website: TheSouthAsianTimes.info
Updated Daily
Chairman and Co-Founder
Kamlesh C. Mehta
Co-Founder: Saroosh Gull
(Editor@DesiClub.com)
President: Arjit Mehta
Board Advisors (Honorary)
Ajay Lodha, MD,
Lakhpat B. Mehta, Esq.
Rajasthan High Court & Supreme Court
Managing Editor: Parveen Chopra
C : 516.710.0508
Editor@TheSouthAsianTimes.info
Associate Editors
Jinal Shah, Hiral Dholakia-Dave,
Meenakshi Iyer
Contributing Editors: Melvin Durai,
Dr Prem Kumar Sharma,
Harry Aurora, Ashok Vyas,
Dr Akshat Jain, Nupur Joshi
West Coast Correspondent
Pooja Jain,
Pooja@TheSouthAsianTimes.info
New Delhi Bureau
Meenakshi Iyer
Delhi@TheSouthAsianTimes.info
Strategy and Marketing
Jinal Shah
P: 315-436-1142
jinal.shah85@gmail.com
Marketing & PR (Washington DC)
Chander Gambhir, P: 703.717.1667
Jaipur (India) Bureau
Prakash Bhandari
Prakash@TheSouthAsianTimes.info
Photographs: Gunjesh Desai/
masalajunction.com.
Xitij Joshi/xitijphoto.com
Photo Journalist: Sandeep Ganatra
Cartoonist: Mahendra Shah
Art and Design: Vladimir Tomovski
Bhagwati Creations,
Dhiraj Kumar
Web Editor: B.B.Chopra
News Service: HT Media Ltd.
IANS Newswire Services
IANS Washington Bureau
Arun Kumar
arun.kumar@ians,in
Printing: Five Star Printing, NY
Contacts
Editor@TheSouthAsianTimes.info
Subscribe@TheSouthAsianTimes.info
Advertisements
Advertise@TheSouthAsianTimes.info
P : 516.390.7847
F : 516.465.1343
Website:
www.TheSouthAsianTimes.info
Notice: The South Asian Times is published weekly by The Forsythe Media Group, LLC. POSTMASTER: Send all address notices, subscription orders/payments and other inquiries to The South Asian
Times, 76 N Broadway, Suite 2004, Hicksville, NY 11801, USA. Copyright and all other rights reserved. No material herein or portions thereof may be reprinted without the consent of the publisher. The
views expressed on the opinion pages and in the letters to the editor pages are those of the writers and do not necessarily reflect those of The South Asian Times. The editor/publisher does not warrant accuracy
and cannot be held responsible for the content of the advertisements placed in the publication and/or inaccurate claims, if any, made by the advertisers. Advertisements of business or facilities included in this
publication do not imply connection or endorsement of these businesses. All rights reserved.
4 August 30-September 5 , 2014 TheSouthAsianTimes.info TURN PAGE
Modi govt launches nancial inclusion...
Continued from page 1
opened in a single day," Modi said.
"Never before has the government organized
a program of such scale - over 77,000 locations
- with the participation of so many chief minis-
ters, union ministers and officials. The success
is an inspiration for achieving new heights,"
Modi added.
"If Mahatma Gandhi worked to remove
social untouchability, if we want to get rid of
poverty, we have to get rid of financial
untouchability. We have to connect every per-
son with the financial system," he said.
Bank officials said the people were provided
zero-balance accounts.
A film on "Financial Inclusion" was
screened, the prime minister unveiled a logo
and a 'mission document' on financial inclu-
sion.
In fact, the overwhelming first-day success
led Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, present on
the occasion, to revise the earlier time-table for
the PMJDY.
The Phase I of the scheme, wherein 75 mil-
lion account holders were to be enrolled by
Aug 14, 2015, has been brought forward to Jan
26, 2015, Jaitley announced.
The second phase, wherein an overdraft of
Rs.5,000 will be provided to each account
holder, will now commence from Republic
Day, Jan 26, 2015.
Republicans plan to starve Obama...
Continued from page 1
force the president to roll back his priorities.
Were going to go after them on health care,
on financial services, on the Environmental
Protection Agency, across the board. All across
the federal government, were going to go
after it, he said.
Meanwhile, even as President Obama nears
a decision on taking broad executive action to
reshape the nations immigration system,
Republicans are threatening to force a con-
frontation over what they describe as a power
grab by refusing to finance some or all of the
moves.
Senator Marco Rubio, Republican of
Florida, has said his party could seek to pre-
vent Obama from taking unilateral action on
immigration by removing the funding for it in
the annual budget, which will be the top order
of business when Congress returns from its
break and must be passed by the end of
September.
Injecting the immigration issue into the
annual budget discussions raises the possibili-
ty of a spending stalemate that could lead to
another government shutdown in the fall. Such
a confrontation would pose a risk for both par-
ties: Republicans were largely blamed for the
shutdown last year, and many Democrats are
wary of an immigration vote just before they
face voters in November.
Event to mull impact of PM Modi on...
Continued from page 1
on August 23 at One UN Hotel in Manhattan
to deliberate the future of our global order
with the emergence of Shri Narendra Modi as
the dynamic Prime Minister of India and a
global leader.
Addressing prominent members of the
Indian-American community and representa-
tives of some American think-tanks at the
launch of the New York chapter of GCF in the
standing room only Diplomats Ballroom, BK
Modi, the billionaire businessman based in
Singapore/Delhi, said that the digital revolu-
tion has been erasing national boundaries in
the past decade or so. There is not a single
city in the world where there is no Little
India, he said, noting how the diaspora has
made its presence felt in every part of the
world.
BK Modi said that India, under the leader-
ship of Narendra Modi -- seen as a man of
wisdom - could be the answer to bring the
world closer. He went on to talk about laying
the foundation of a new world order under
Indias leadership, and promoting understand-
ing between India, China and the US, under
the NaMos leadership.
In his keynote address, Bhishma Agnihotri
(former Ambassador at Large, Government of
India), explained why Narendra Modi will
succeed in transforming India and making the
nation a world leader/vishwa guru. Because
he is rooted in Indias civilizational ethos,
which for eons has had the wisdom to see
the world as one family and compassion to
strive for inclusive growth for all sections of
society.
At the event, a promotional clip was shown
for the long running Hindi TV serial
Buddha, presented by BK Modi under the
banner of Spice Global.
Washington: The White House is con-
sidering proposals from business and
immigrant rights groups that are pressing
President Obama to provide hundreds of
thousands of new green cards for high-
tech workers and the relatives of US citi-
zens and permanent residents.
The behind-the-scenes lobbying comes
as Obama prepares to announce a series
of executive actions that could include
plans to defer the deportations of mil-
lions of people living in the country ille-
gally, most of whom are Hispanic.
Though the efforts to relieve pressure
on some of the nations 11 million undoc-
umented immigrants are expected to be
the centerpiece of the presidents action,
the administration also is weighing meas-
ures that would streamline the legal
immigration system by reducing huge
backlogs of foreigners in line for seeking
legal permanent residency in the United
States.
What was originally conceived as a tar-
geted executive action strategy, has now
morphed into another full-scale delibera-
tion of one of the most sprawling and
intractable public policy issues facing the
nation. White House aides have said
Obama will announce his actions by
summers end.
Some of the outside proposals would
more than double the number of people
allowed into the country on employment-
and family-based green cards from the
annual global cap of 366,000, according
to estimates from some of the advocacy
groups.
Tel Aviv: On July 24, journalist Peter
Theo Curtis was handed over to the US
freed after being held captive for over two
years by militants in Syria.
While Curtiss release came as a pleas-
ant surprise in the backdrop of the behead-
ing of journalist James Foley in Iraq by the
ISIS, what remained behind curtains was
the role played by a UN mission led by
an Indian Lt General in the Golan
Heights.
William Grant, Deputy Chief of Mission
of the US Embassy in Tel Aviv, wrote to
the UN mission head in a personal note
saying, I thank your officers and your
soldiers for all that you did to facilitate the
safe transfer to us of American citizen
Peter Theo Curtis after his nearly two
years in captivity.
The United Nations can confirm that it
facilitated the handover of Peter Theo
Curtis. He was handed over to UN peace-
keepers in Al Rafid village, Quneitra, the
Golan Heights, at 6:40 pm (local time) on
24 August 2014, said a statement issued
by the UN.
US lauds UN mission, led by
Indian, for scribes release
White House mulls more green
cards for immigrants
5 August 30-September 5, 2014 TheSouthAsianTimes.info TRISTATE COMMUNITY
By Jinal Shah
New York: Following the rumors
of his denial to play in Mahesh Bhu-
pathis IPL style- Indian Premier
Tennis League (IPTL), tennis ace
Leander Paes on Friday said he
might play for Vijay Amritrajs
IPL- style tournament, the Champi-
ons Tennis League (CTL).
Paes revealed his plans at the In-
dian Consulate in New York where
he was invited to speak on My Ten-
nis and India US relations- a lec-
ture, sixth in the Media India series.
The series, initiated by Consul Gen-
eral Dnyneshwar Mulay was at-
tended by prominent members of
the Indian American community
and sports enthusiasts.
Paes rubbished news reports
claiming, I was never approached
by Bhupathi. Vijay Amritraj called
me day before yesterday to play in
his league and it might happen.
Hailing IPL for successfully creat-
ing loyal followers, Paes on Friday
said the city-based franchise league
is the way forward to popularize
other sports.
The server and volleyer also an-
nounced for the first time his plan to
start a television network for sports
lovers. The idea is to use tennis,
sports as a vehicle to start a talk
show.
Paes, Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna
and Arjuna Award winner, spoke
about his birth, childhood and his
transition from being a footballer to
tennis player. He shared his experi-
ence living and training in the US,
I came to the United States for the
first time in 1990 to participate in
juniors Wimbledon and I was
mugged while withdrawing money
from an ATM at Grand Central, I
still have the scar. Almost 25 years
later, at 41, I happened to pass the
same exact corner, between 42
street and Lexington, while partici-
pating in the India Day Parade (on
August 17). It is amazing how life
comes full circle, he shared. But in
those 25 years, Paes, stressed, This
country has given me a lot. I real-
ized very early that this is the land
of opportunity, said Paes, who
bagged scholarships in top universi-
ties and was trained in Orlando for
past 20 years.
Captain of the Washington Kas-
tles, part of World Team Tennis,
Paes said, Under the WTT format
where players from 16 cities across
America come together and play for
their community and their people,
an Indian man for the past five years
is playing for a diverse crowd of
supporters I am amazed how ten-
nis has bridged friendship, he said.
Also present at the event was
United States Tennis Association
High Performance Team player
Neha Uberoi.
New Jersey: Under the president, Pradip
(Peter) Kothari of Indo-American Cul-
tural Society (IACS), Man Making group
and the First Presbyterian church of
Iselin held its 15th Indian Independence
Day flag hoisting ceremony in Iselin. A
large number of Indian community mem-
bers, leaders and elected officials of cen-
tral jersey attended the event.
The event bore a festive look with In-
dian and American flags flying high and
people donning the traditional white cap.
The days events began at noon in the
lawn at the First Presbyterian Church
where community leaders led by Pradip
(Peter) Kothari and others unfurled the
Indian Tri-color flag and sang the nation-
al anthem. The event also included a cul-
tural program, dance performance by
members of the Moksha and Arya Dance
Academy, patriotic songs by Umesh Pa-
tel & Nidhi Kumar of Bombay Beats
Group. Pradip (Peter) Kothari of Indo
American Cultural Society, Rev. James
Thomas of 1st Presbyterian Church and
Ambubhai Patel of Man Making Group
welcomed every one and addressed gath-
ering with importance of this day.
Besides local dignitaries, leading Indi-
an businessmen and community leaders
participated in the event as a mark of sol-
idarity with the Indian population in the
area. Some of the prominent local au-
thorities who attended the event includ-
ed, Assemblyman Craig Coughlin of
19th Dist., Assemblyman Patrick Dieg-
nan of 18th Dist., Assemblyman Upen-
dra Chivukula of 17th Dist., Assembly-
man Raj Mukherji of 33rd Dist., and
Edison Councilman Dr. Sudhanshu
Prasad as Guest of Honor. They ad-
dressed the gathering and praised India
as a largest democracy and contribution
of Indian American community in USA.
Raj Mukherji presented Assembly
Proclamation of State of New Jersey to
Pradip (Peter) Kothari on behalf of all
state assemblymen.
New York: Invoking the memo-
ry of Mahatma Gandhi, New
York City Mayor Bill de Blasio
applauded the extraordinary
contributions made by the Indi-
an community to the U.S. citys
economic, cultural and educa-
tional fabric.
The contributions of the Indi-
an community to New York City
are extraordinaryThere are
hundreds of thousands of South
Asian Indians in New York City
and the New York area, increas-
ingly part of the strength of our
economy, our culture, our edu-
cation system. You do so much,
he said in his remarks to the
community on the occasion of
Indias Independence Day.
He lauded Indias contribu-
tions to the world, noting that
the messages of Gandhi res-
onate across the world.
We know that India has con-
tributed so much to the world
some of the greatest speakers
and some of the greatest con-
sciences of course, including
Mahatma Gandhi, who we hon-
or in all we do, he said to a
crowd of several hundred Indi-
ans who had gathered in Man-
hattan for the annual India
Day Parade 2014 organized on
August 17 by the Federation of
Indian Associations.
He noted that Indians have
contributed to the citys educa-
tion, culture, cuisine, look and
life in so many ways.
No community is more de-
voted to education than the Indi-
an American community. And
that is part of its strength, he
said. The parade is an annual
fixture on the citys social calen-
dar and draws hundreds of peo-
ple from across the tri-state area
as it showcases Indian culture
and heritage.
He said the parade exempli-
fies the contributions of the In-
dian community to the city and
he is proud that it is one of the
largest Indian independence pa-
rades in the world.
On the occasion, he presented
a proclamation declaring August
17, 2014 as NYC Indian Parade
Day on behalf of all the people
of New York City.
The mayor also expressed his
appreciation for the Indian-
Americans in his administration
saying they play a strong role
in our government.
The mayors administration
includes Indian-origin lawyer
Nisha Agarwal who serves as
head of immigrant affairs.
Eminent Indian-American
physician Ramanathan Raju was
appointed by de Blasio as New
York Citys Commissioner of
Health and Hospitals Corpora-
tion, a network which has a
dozen hospitals.
Ace tennis player Leander Paes was at Indian Consulate NY to
deliver talk on My Tennis and India-US relations
Photo courtesy: Parash Chettri
(L to R): Pradip (Peter) Kothari, President IACS, Assemblyman Graig Loughlin,
Dist. 19, Assemblyman Raj Mukherji, Dist. 33, Assemblyman Upendra
Chivukula, Dist. 17, Assemblyman Patrick Diegnan, Dist. 18, Dr. Sudhanshu
Prasad, Edison Councilman.(Photo : Gunjesh Desai, Masala Junction.com)
May play for Amritrajs Champions Tennis League: Leander Paes
No one in New York City
should fear attack or be forced
to look over their shoulder while
they walk down the street be-
cause of who they are, where
they come from, their religious
background, or the color of their
skin. The City is fully commit-
ted to protecting the security of
every community of faith across
the five boroughs, and we refuse
to allow these repulsive acts to
threaten the safety of any New
Yorker.
NYC Mayor applauds extraordinary
contributions of Indians
Indias I-Day celebrated in Iselin
Statement of Mayor Bill de Blasio on recent attacks
against members of Sikh community in NYC:
6 August 30-September 5, 2014 TheSouthAsianTimes.info TRISTATE COMMUNITY
Health Fair in South Brunswick, NJ on Sept 7 Mangano dismisses $2.4 m in
speed camera tickets
New Jersey: Indian Health Camp of
New Jersey will hold their annual
Health Fair on September 7 at Durga
Temple in South Brunswick,NJ from
8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. This health camp
is being held for the first time at this
new location in South Brunswick.
The health fair will be open to all
pre-registered participants above the
age of 45 without any medical insur-
ance. The health screening will in-
clude blood test, EKG, vision screen-
ing for glaucoma and diabetic
retinopathy, physical examination,
cardiology and physical therapy
counseling, various types of cancer
screening and prevention education,
chronic disease self management via
ask your doctor, diabetes and stroke
education, dietary counseling, phar-
macy counseling and flu vaccine to
qualified participants.
Approximately 10-15 physicians
and other allied health care profes-
sionals from various specialties will
provide their services on this day to
screen and educate patients on dis-
eases specifically targeted to the
South Asian community. The blood
test reports will be reviewed by the
physicians and mailed it to all partic-
ipants with a counseling note, if any
abnormalities are detected in the test.
The dedicated team from the State of
New Jersey, Commission for the
Blind will provide thorough eye
screening to qualified patients on this
day.
All pre-registered participants are
requested to arrive no later than 8:30
a.m. on the day of the screening and
recommended to be fasting from
mid-night. The participant can con-
tinue to take their regularly pre-
scribed medications and can drink
water even in the morning of the
blood test. The breakfast after the
blood test and lunch will be provided
to all participants and volunteers.
The registration form to participate
in this health fair is available on or-
ganization web site at www.IHC-
NJ.ORG or Gujarat Darpan and
Tiranga.
Hyderabad: A unique internation-
al film festival here brought into fo-
cus the dilapidated condition of
Hindu temples in India, highlight-
ing problems like corruption, mis-
management, encroachments, fi-
nancial problems faced by priests
and erosion of traditional rituals as-
sociated with worship.
Aimed at creating awareness
about the need to save temples, the
three-day festival which concluded
Sunday saw the screening of 40
movies from different parts of India
and countries like Mauritius, Den-
mark, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Britain and
the United States.
The first-of-its kind festival was
organized by the Global Hindu Her-
itage Foundation (GHHF), an initia-
tive launched by a group of Indian
Americans to protect temples in In-
dia.
"We want to make people aware
of richness of temples and the need
to address issues related to their
protection, annadanam, gomata and
other aspects of temples," said Ve-
lagapudi Prakasarao, founder of the
foundation.
An Indian American who started
the foundation in 2006, Prakasarao
attributed the problems faced by the
temples, especially in southern In-
dia, to the government control over
them. Unlike in the north where
only major temples are under the
government, in the south all tem-
ples earning Rs.50,000 ($825)
come under the Endowments de-
partment.
"Christians and Muslims can op-
erate their places of worship inde-
pendently, but not Hindus. We want
to be treated like any other reli-
gion," said Prakasarao, a former
head of the department of sociology
and criminology at Jackson State
University, Mississippi.
Seeking repeal of the Endow-
ments Act, his organization first
wants to build a strong case by
proving that it is responsible for the
damage to the temples.
"This is the first step. We will
hold such festivals every year not
just in India but also in other coun-
tries, especially in the US as Telugu
NRIs are keen to contribute their
mite for this noble cause," says Dr
Ghazal Srinivas, a popular Telugu
ghazal singer and the brand ambas-
sador of the save temple movement.
The singer said the short films
and documentaries screened during
the festival not only depicted many
problems faced by the temples but
threw up ideas how they can be
tackled.
"There is corruption in temples
from the entry ticket to the
prasadam. It is because they are un-
der the endowments department,"
said Srinivas.
"We want governments to hand
over all temples to peethadipatis
(mutt heads) because they can't be
maintained by employees. The
management has to be in accor-
dance with Vedas and Agamashas-
tras. The peethadipatis should be
made CEOs of these temples. They
are already running several temples
without corruption," he said.
Srinivas is worried that it is not
just the structures of the ancient
temples which are under threat due
to neglect and encroachments but
the temple culture itself is getting
eroded. "I think after 30 or 40 years
robots will do archana (rituals).
Many temples have already re-
moved mangalavadhyams (musical
instruments). They are playing CDs
for Suprabhata seva and other
sevas," he rued.
Srinivas hoped that the festival
will inspire people beyond caste
and religion to come forward to
protect heritage and culture of this
country. He said the films high-
lighted the importance of temples,
which are much more than mere
places of worship.
A short film "Maa" underlined the
need to protect cows. "Temple
Treat", a film by Matiur Rahman of
Delhi, depicted how the sculptural
art at a few famous temples of
Bhubaneswar including Lingaraj
and Parsurameswar is in a de-
plorable condition.
Rahman, whose films focus on
scientific aspects, said, "The tem-
ples were built according to perfect
formulas indicated in Shilpa shas-
tras (an umbrella term for numerous
Hindu texts). I am looking at tem-
ples from the point of view of sci-
ence and technology; how Shilpa
sastras hundreds of years back gave
us the formula of building temples
which are earthquake resistant," he
said.
Lohit, another filmmaker,
screened four films highlighting
different aspects of the temples.
"There is a need for people to un-
derstand the significance of tem-
ples. They help people socialize,
learn values and get positive energy
to move forward."
Annamalaiar Arapanikuzhu, a
group from Tamil Nadu, showcased
its work of cleaning the temples.
Headed by V. Ramachandran, a
bank employee who took voluntary
retirement to dedicate himself to the
cause, it has so far cleaned 60 tem-
ples. "We have students, retired em-
ployees and peons to executives.
There is no other place where
judges, doctors and sweepers work
together and do chit chatting. For
them, the lord is the boss and they
are servants," he said.
"People go to temples for mere
formality. They lack religious spir-
it. Even the puja practices are not
conducted as per shastras as the
priests are salaried employees and
lack spirituality," said Aksh Goyal
of the Hindu Jana Jagran Samithi,
which presented a short film on the
positive energy in temples.
A film fest in India highlights conditions of Hindu temples
It was organized by Texas-based Global Hindu Heritage Foundation in Hyderabad
"Many priests are leaving
their profession because of
financial problems. Their
children are not interested in
the profession. The situation
is so pathetic that if nothing
is done temples may close
down. I think after 30 or 40
years robots will do archana
(rituals).
- Dr.Ghazal Srinivas, brand ambassador of
Save Temple Movement
New York: Nassau County
Executive Edward Mangano
has dismissed $2.4 million in
speed camera tickets issued
over the past month, amid
outrage from Nassau residents
who received thousands of
tickets from cameras at six
school locations.
Mangano said there were
problems with the cameras
installed at six school loca-
tions. He told Newsday that
five cameras issued tickets on
days when school was not in
session. Cameras at a sixth
location began operating pre-
maturely. He said enforce-
ment resumes when school
opens next month. Gov.
Andrew Cuomo signed legis-
lation this year allowing 200
new speed cameras at school
zones in NYC and Long
Island.
The cameras are supposed
to operate during and immedi-
ately before and after school.
The county issued more than
30,000 citations at the five
schools, totaling more than
$2.4 million.
New York: Indian American writer Nina
McConigley is the recipient of the presti-
gious PEN Open Book Award for her col-
lection of short stories, "Cowboys and East
Indians."
McConigley, lecturer at the Department
of English of University of Wyoming, is
one of the two winners. The other is Ruth
Ellen Kocher for her work, "Domina
Un/blued", a press release issued by the
university said.
"Other people on the short-list have been
nominated for the Booker Prize and won
Guggenheims - so it was amazing company.
I honestly did not think I would win. Just
making the short-list and long-list seemed
pretty great," McConigley said in the state-
ment.
Winners will be honored at the awards
ceremony Sep 29 in New York. The prize
comprises $5,000 to each author. Published
by Five Chapters Books, "Cowboys and
East Indians" is a collection of short stories
set in Wyoming that explores the immi-
grants' experience and the collisions of cul-
tures in the U.S. West.
Born in Singapore to Irish
and Indian parents,
McConigley grew up in
Casper in Wyoming. She
holds a master's degree in
English from the University
of Washington (UW), a
master of fine arts in cre-
ative writing from the
University of Houston, and
a bachelor's degree in litera-
ture from St. Olaf College
in Northfield in Minnesota
state.
McConigley also has
been nominated for a
Pushcart Prize and the
"Best American New
Voices". Her play, "Owen
Wister Considered", was
produced in 2005 for the Edward Albee
New Playwrights Festival.
She was the 2010 recipient of the
Wyoming Arts Council's Frank Nelson
Doubleday Memorial Writing Award and
was a finalist for the 2011 Flannery
O'Connor Short Fiction Award.
International PEN, a worldwide associa-
tion of writers, was founded in 1921 to
promote friendship and intellectual coop-
eration among writers across the world.
It emphasizes literature's role in devel-
oping mutual understanding and world
culture to fight for freedom of expression,
act as a powerful voice on behalf of writ-
ers harassed, imprisoned and, sometimes,
killed for their views.
7 August 30-September 5, 2014 TheSouthAsianTimes.info NATIONAL COMMUNITY
Washington, DC: A grand welcome awaits
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is to vis-
it the country this September. On his maiden
visit to US as Prime Minister of India Modi
will address a gathering of around 20000 on
September 28 at a community reception or-
ganized for him at Madison Square Garden in
Manhattan on Sept 28.
Under the banner of Indian American Com-
munity Foundation (IACF), more than 300
Indo-American organizations from across the
US have come together to give him a historic
public reception, moneycontrol reported.
To ensure success of the program, which
will be the largest ever public address by an
Indian Prime Minister or an Indian leader
overseas, IACF has launched a website
pmvisit.org. The website invites suggestions
on how to achieve objectives of the event. In-
terested community organizations have been
requested to mobilize people to attend the
function. Through the website, volunteers
have been invited to help the organizing com-
mittee. One can register for Event Pass on the
website. The Indian American Community
Foundation being a non-profit is organizing
the event with the help of monetary contribu-
tions from general public. Donations can be
made through the website also.
Washington, DC: Los
Angeles Mayor Eric
Garcetti has appointed Abhi
Nemani as the citys first
chief data officer. In his
new role, Nemani will col-
laborate with city depart-
ments to collect and ana-
lyze data and oversee oper-
ations of the citys new
open-data portal, according
to a press release issued by
Mayor Garcetti. Nemani
will also create tools to
use data that will help solve everyday chal-
lenges for our residents, Garcetti said in
the press release.
Nemani will take over the project from
the citys chief innovation technology offi-
cer Peter Marx. Previously Nemani served
as co-executive director for Code for
America, a nonprofit that helps communi-
ties and governments use technology to
solve problems.
Data has the power to
transform the daily lives of
L.A. residents and visitors,
the press release quoted
Nemani as saying.
Knowing where your
money is going, where a
parking space is available,
and where an event is taking
place puts information into
the hands of those who
need it most, he said.
Mayor Garcetti is commit-
ted to opening city data for innovators and
users everywhere, and Im thrilled to join
his team to help him get there.
Nemani will work in the Office of Budget
and Innovation, collaborating closely with
Marx, Deputy Mayor Rick Cole, Chief
Technology Officer Steve Reneker and the
mayor s Innovation Performance
Technology Unit.
Indian-American named to key post in US island territory
New York: Indian-American lawyer Reena Patel has been named civil division chief in
the attorney general's office in the Northern Mariana Islands, one of the five inhabited US
island territories. Officially the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI),
it consists of fifteen islands in the western Pacific Ocean, about three-quarters of the way
from Hawaii to the Philippines. Patel's appointment was announced recently by the territo-
ry's acting Attorney General Gilbert Birnbrich. "It is evident through her hard work that
Ms. Patel will continue to succeed in our office, and most importantly, in her new role as
chief. I can attest to her capabilities and her commitment to serve the people of the
CNMI." As chief, Patel's duties and responsibilities will be that of administering the day to
day operations of the department. "I am honored to be offered the position of chief of the
civil division. I look forward to continue serving the people of the commonwealth in my
new role," said Patel. Patel, a native of New York City received her undergraduate degree
from New York University in 2000, a law degree from the Thomas Jefferson School of
Law in 2008, and an LLM in international trade in 2009, according to a media release.
After law school, Patel entered private practice in San Diego until she moved to the
CNMI in March 2012 to serve as an assistant attorney general. While working at the office
of the attorney general, Patel has served as legal counsel to numerous government agen-
cies including commerce, labor and consumer counsel.
Nina McConigley wins PEN Open Book Award
Nina McConigley won the award for collection of
short stories, Cowboys and East Indians
Website launched for
Modis community
reception in US
Abhi Nemani
LA Mayor appoints Abhi Nemani as
citys First Chief Data Officer
8 August 30-September 5, 2014 TheSouthAsianTimes.info NATIONAL COMMUNITY
Washington, DC: Mainstream American
media and yoga experts have mourned the
loss of BKS Iyengar, calling him as one of
the greatest yoga gurus who was instrumen-
tal in bringing the physical and spiritual ex-
ercise to West.
Iyengar died Aug 20th at the age of 95 in
Pune.
"No other individual has been as influential
in turning yoga into a phenomenon that
somehow retains the essence of its mystical
aura while being continually made and re-
made in the image of a modern commodity,"
Joseph Alter, a University of Pittsburgh an-
thropologist who has written widely on the
history and development of yoga in the West,
was quoted as saying by the Los Angeles
Times.
"BKS Iyengar dies at 95; Indian guru
helped popularize yoga in West," The Los
Angeles Times said in its headline. "BKS
Iyengar, who helped bring Yoga to the west,
dies at 95," said The New York Times in a
similar headline.
While The Atlantic wrote "In the twentieth
century, one of the most influential figures in
spreading yoga beyond South Asia was
B.K.S. Iyengar, an Indian guru," The Na-
tional Public Radio had a special episode on
the death of guru.
Yoga has a long history in America but
Iyengar helped shape the practices that are
popular today, Masum Momaya, the muse-
um curator at the Smithsonian's Indian
American Heritage Project, told The At-
lantic.
"The particular type of Ashtanga yoga he
taught emphasized precision and mastery
and this appealed to many people here in the
United States, especially those who came of
age during the 'feel-the-burn' movement of
the 1980s," Momaya said.
The Hindu American Foundation (HAF) in
a statement mourned the loss of Iyengar.
"Iyengar's lifelong work of teaching the
whole of yoga or the understanding that yoga
is not just the physical endeavor of mastering
postures, but a spiritual practice rooted in the
Hindu concept of dharma, has deeply in-
formed our work at the Foundation," said
Sheetal Shah, senior director of Hindu Amer-
ican Foundation and one of the leads for the
Foundation's Take Back Yoga Project (TBY).
"Where too many yoga practitioners con-
flate yoga with asana, he sought to educate
seekers on all of yoga's limbs and their es-
sential spiritual aim," Shah said.
"The world has lost a true master," said
HAF cofounder, Aseem Shukla. "But his
teachings will continue to inspire a quest for
spiritual freedom through the millions of
lives he touched," he added.
Washington, DC: Two Indian pharmacists
have pleaded guilty to a massive health care
fraud, causing a loss of up to $7 million to the
district of Maryland.
Vipin Kumar Patel, 30, and Jigar Patel, 27,
both of whom are licensed pharmacists and
working in the US under H1-B visa, now face
a maximum sentence of five years of impris-
onment for making a false statement in a
health care matter, the US Justice Department
said. According to their plea agreements, the
Patels held the positions of pharmacy techni-
cian and lead pharmacy technician, starting at
$10 per hour and eventually became salaried
employees, making approximately $1,400 bi-
weekly.
In addition, the Patels were provided with
housing and transportation, making their total
salary and benefits between $70,000 and
$120,000. The value of the housing and trans-
portation benefits were not disclosed on the
Patels' income tax returns, federal prosecutors
alleged.The Patels admitted that they billed
insurance programs for prescription refills
when the pharmacy customers had not re-
quested the refill. As soon as a prescription
was eligible for refill, the Patels would cause
a false claim to be electronically submitted to
a health care benefit program.
These refills were often billed and filled
without the customer's knowledge, federal
prosecutors said, adding that the medications
targeted for automatic refills were typically
expensive HIV and cancer medications used
by very ill customers.
The claims for payment were not reversed
when the customers did not receive the med-
ications, which they had not requested at the
first place. The Patels also knew that medica-
tions filled but not delivered to the cus-
tomerusually because they had not re-
quested the refillwere placed back on the
shelves at the pharmacy to be re-used to fill
other prescriptions, the US Department of
Justice said in a statement.
The Patels did not receive the profits from
the fraud scheme directly, but were able to
keep their jobs at Pharmacare and lawfully re-
main in the US their H1-B visas. The loss to
the health care benefit programs to date is be-
tween $2.5 million and $7 million, the state-
ment said.
Two Indians plead guilty to $7 m
health care fraud
US media hail BKS Iyengar as one
of the greatest yoga gurus
Realms of Earth and Sky
Indian Painting from the 15th to the 19th Century on display
at Fralin Museum of Art, University of Virginia
Corporate Office: 385 Seneca Avenue, Ridgewood NY 11385
718.821.3182, www.AtlanticDialysis.Com
Charlottesville, VA: The Fralin
Museum of Art began collecting
South Asian art seriously in
1992, acquiring a collection that
today ranks among the best held
by a university museum in the
southeast. From Aug. 29
through Dec. 21, 2014, The
Fralin will present Realms of
Earth and Sky, an exhibition
comprising a selection of these
works, supplemented by others
drawn from private collections.
Curated by Daniel J. Ehnbom,
Adjunct Curator of South Asian
Art, The Fralin Museum of Art,
and Associate Professor of
South Asian Art, McIntire
Department of Art, with Krista
Gulbransen, Visiting Assistant
Professor of Art History,
Skidmore College, and former
Luzak-Lindner Graduate Fellow at The Fralin
Museum, the paintings represent a number of
different artistic traditions and range across a
span of five centuries. Themes include the sty-
listic relationship between Mughal and Rajput
paintings and the function of book illustration.
In meticulously rendered tableaux, viewers
will encounter scenes ranging from the opu-
lence of the Mughal court to the actions of
gods in the forms of men, and from lively bat-
tles to depictions of intimate courtly love. The
styles can be intricately refined or sweepingly
bold, all contained in the small scale of the
manuscript or album page.
Portraiture, religious and literary texts, and
Ragamala paintings are particularly well repre-
sented in the The Fralin collection of Indian
painting. Highlights will include a rare six-
teenth-century imperial Mughal painting by
Khem Karan, a Rasikapriya illustration done
by the famous seventeenth-cen-
tury Mewari artist Sahibdin,
and a portrait of the Guler ruler
Raja Bishan Singh, attributed to
Nainsukh.
A lavishly illustrated catalog
accompanies the exhibition
Realms of Earth and Sky:
Indian Painting from the 15th to
the 19th Century. Written by the
exhibition curator Daniel J.
Ehnbom, with additional entries
by Krista Gulbransen, this pub-
lication documents works from
The Fralin Museum of Art's
exceptional collection of
Indian painting, as well as
important loans featured in the
exhibition. High-quality photo-
graphs capture the exquisite
details of the works and illus-
trate entries in which com-
pelling new research is presented in a format
that will appeal to a variety of audiences. The
catalog not only highlights outstanding works
from The Fralins collection but also repre-
sents an important contribution to current
scholarship on Indian painting.
The Fralin Museum of Arts programming is
made possible by the generous support of The
Joseph and Robert Cornell Memorial
Foundation.
The exhibition is made possible through the
generous support of the Office of the Provost
& the Vice Provost for the Arts, The Fralin
Museum of Art Volunteer Board, the E.
Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation,
the Weedon Foundation, U.Va. Arts Council:
Enriching the Arts on Grounds, an anonymous
donor, WTJU 91.1 FM, albemarle Magazine,
and Ivy Publications LLCs Charlottesville
Welcome Book.
One of the exhibits. A
Ruler Worshiping Rama,
Sita, Lakshmana, and
Hanuman, 18001825,
India, Rajasthan, Bundi
Opaque color and gold
on paper, Gift of Sanjay
Guha, 2010.
Washington: Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal re-
portedly will file a lawsuit against the Obama ad-
ministration in federal court this week, claiming
that the Department of Education has illegally ma-
nipulated grant money and regulations to force
states to adopt the controversial Common Core
standards.
A draft copy of the lawsuit was provided to The
Associated Press by the governor's office. In the
suit, Jindal argues that the Education Department's
$4.3 billion grant program "effectively forces
states down a path toward a national curriculum"
in violation of the state sovereignty clause in the
Constitution and federal laws that prohibit nation-
al control of education content.
The suit will ask a judge to declare the depart-
ment's actions unconstitutional and to keep it from
disqualifying states from receiving Race to the
Top funds based on a refusal to use Common Core
or to participate in one of two state testing con-
sortia tied to the department's grant program.
The legal challenge puts Jindal, who is consid-
ering a 2016 presidential bid, at the forefront of a
dispute between conservatives and President Oba-
ma, bolstering the governor's profile on the issue
as he's trying to court conservative voters
nationwide.
US AFFAIRS 9 August 30-September 5, 2014 TheSouthAsianTimes.info
Ferguson, MP: On Monday, the funer-
al for Michael Brown, an unarmed black
man shot by a white police officer,
soared into a national lament over race
and justice and the number of young
African American men who have died
in cities like Ferguson.
There were tears and heart-wrenching
images as more than 2,500 people
packed the Friendly Temple Missionary
Baptist Church to remember Brown,
who was killed Aug. 9.
Browns mother, Lesley McSpadden,
stood as if in shock, staring at her sons
casket and shaking her head back and
forth as a tear rolled down a cheek.
A memorial that ordinarily would
have included family and friends from
the small suburb of Ferguson where
Brown lived and died drew attendees
from across the country.
There were Hollywood celebrities:
Spike Lee, Wesley Snipes and MC
Hammer. There were the still-aggrieved
relatives of the victims of earlier con-
frontations with people who viewed
them as threats: Oscar Grant, Trayvon
Martin, Emmett Till.
And there were flocks of people who
drove and flew in from across the coun-
try, most of them black but a few of
them white, hoping to be part of a day
that many believed would be written in
the history of race in America.
A lot of people feel they could be
next, said Chris Gray, 29, who came
from Minneapolis. Theres a historic
possibility here for young people to take
ownership of a new civil rights move-
ment.
Rev. Sharptons message to the crowd
gathered inside the church, in overflow
rooms and outside in the searing heat
was that Browns death must mark the
beginning of a change, not only in the
justice system but in the role African
Americans play in making it happen.
Nobody is going to help us if we
dont help ourselves, said Sharpton,
challenging listeners to stop sitting
around having ghetto pity parties.
We cant have a fit. Weve got to
have a movement, he bellowed from
the pulpit, criticizing protesters who
looted stores in demonstrations after
Browns death. A fit you get mad
and run out for a couple of nights. A
movement means weve got to be here
for the long haul and turn our chance
into change, our demonstration into leg-
islation.
Washington: Due to a surge in Chinese
participation, the U.S. for the first time is
on course this fiscal year to run out of im-
migrant-investor visas that offer a fast track
to permanent residency.
Started 24 years ago, the EB-5 program
allots 10,000 visas annually to foreigners
who invest at least $500,000 in US devel-
opment projects, from dairy farms and ski
resorts to hotels and bridges.
In return, the investor and family mem-
bers become eligible for green cards, or
permanent residency, typically within two
years.
As of this week, the visaswhich have
come under fire from critics who question
their economic impactare "unavailable"
to Chinese individuals until the 2015 fiscal
year, which starts Oct. 1, according to a
State Department official.
Investors from China have accounted for
about 85% of the visas this year, so the
State Department action brings the pro-
gram to a near standstill for the time being,
experts said.
They predict that next fiscal year the
visas will be claimed even more quickly.
Another 10,375 investor petitions, an un-
precedented number, are awaiting adjudi-
cation by the USCIS, the agency that ap-
proves the first step in the process. The
State Department, through its embassies
and consulates, issues the visas.
At an EB-5 conference in Chicago last
Saturday, a senior government official esti-
mated a two-year wait for EB-5 applicants
to obtain a visa, starting next spring, peo-
ple in attendance said.
New York: The New York
Times did a front-page ex-
pos last month about Gover-
nor Andrew Cuomos poten-
tially shady dealings with the
state's anti-corruption More-
land Commission.
This week the papers edi-
torial board has declared that
Cuomo has "failed to per-
form" what he himself called
Job 1 "to clean up Albany"
and, as a result, will not
receive their endorsement in
New York's September 9 pri-
mary.
While his challenger from
the left, campaign finance reformer and anti-
corruption advocate Zephyr Teachout, did
not score the Opinion Page's full seal of ap-
proval either, her unlikely rise to relative
prominence continues with some relative
praise from the Paper of Record. "Why en-
dorse no candidate in a major state primary?"
The Times explains:
Realistically, Governor
Cuomo is likely to win the
primary, thanks to vastly
greater resources and name
recognition. And hell proba-
bly win a second term in No-
vember against a conservative
Republican opponent. In part,
thats because issues like
campaign finance rarely have
been a strong motivator for
most voters. Nonetheless,
those who want to register
their disappointment with Mr.
Cuomos record on changing
the culture of Albany may
well decide that the best way to do that is to
vote for Ms. Teachout.
Despite our reservations about her, that im-
pulse could send a powerful message to the
governor and the many other entrenched in-
cumbents in Albany that a shake-up is
overdue.
Burger King refutes Tim Horton deal is about taxes
Miami, FL: On Tuesday, Burger King announced it would buy Canadian bakery and cof-
fee chain Tim Hortons for $11.4 billion. Tim Hortons is headquartered in Oakville, On-
tario, Canada.
The headquarters of the combined, as-yet unnamed goliath will be in Toronto, although
both Burger King and Tim Hortons will continue to operate from their current home cities
(Miami for Burger King). With an estimated $23 billion in sales and 18,000 restaurants in
100 countries, the new entity is expected to be the third biggest fast-food chain by sales,
behind McDonald's and Yum! Brands.
Customers and consumer advocates have sharply criticized the deal, saying it will allow
Burger King to dodge paying US taxes on overseas sales. While the fast-food chain will
be able to cut a few percentage points on its overall corporate tax rate by leaving the U.S.,
Burger King executive chairman Alexandre Behring told investors on Tuesday that he ex-
pects overall tax expenses to remain "largely consistent" after the deal is completed. "It's
not being driven by tax rates," Behring said of the merger.
Michael Brown funeral: Mourners told to turn anger into action Jindal to sue federal
government over
Common Core
The grieving family of Michael Brown and mourners.
New York Times not to endorse Cuomo for Governor
Governor Andrew Cuomo:
failed to clean up
Albany
Investor visas soaked up by Chinese
POLITICS 10 August 30-September 5, 2014 TheSouthAsianTimes.info
By Robert Golomb
I
t was a lot closer than I thought
it would be, but I am thankful
that I won, Grant Lally, the Re-
publican Conservative candidate
from the 3rd Congressional District,
which covers northern portions of
Nassau and Suffolk counties and
northern slabs of Queens County,
told me in a recent interview con-
ducted in his Mineola campaign
headquarters. Lally was referring to
his 11-vote win over his opponent,
Steve Labate, in the June Republi-
can primary a margin providing,
said some pundits, a contemporary
definition of the old political term
razor thin victory.
In addition to being thankful for
his victory, Lally said he felt appre-
ciative that Labate had accepted the
results without a recount. Labate, a
46-year-old financial planner, a
lieutenant colonel in the US Army
Reserves and Lally, a partner in a
major law firm and a long time Re-
publican activist, were engaged in a
fierce battle during their almost
year-long primary fight. Among
their attacks, each questioned the
others chances to defeat the six-
term incumbent Steve Israel - with
Lally referencing Labates 57% to
43% loss to Israel in 2012 and La-
bate citing Lallys 10% plus 1994
and 1996 losses to then Congress-
man Ackerman in the since recon-
figured 5th District.
I want to thank Steve Labate,
Lally said about his former oppo-
nent. He has served our nation
with distinction in uniform. After a
long and tough primary election
battle, Steves decision to forego a
challenge showed graciousness, and
I wish him and his family well. We
can now turn our attention to the
November election and our fight to
defeat Steve Israel.
To accomplish that, Lally said he
planned to explain to voters
throughout the campaign the type of
bills he would support if elected,
and contrast such with the actual
legislation that Congressman Israel
has voted for and supported in the
past. Speaking first on their differ-
ences over the Affordable Care Act
(Obamacare), Lally stated, Steve
Israel voted for Obamacare and was
a major original supporter of Oba-
macare. He backed Nancy Pelosi,
who told Congress they had to vote
for it to find out what was in it.
Since Obamacare was passed
without real oversight, Lally con-
tinued, it has been marked by
waivers, failures and exemptions.
What we have now is a patchwork
of government mandates and tax-
es Obamacare needs to be re-
pealed and reformed.
Those reforms, Lally stated,
would include, replacing this crazy
quilt of regulations, taxes, penalties
and exemptions with a system that
cuts Obamacares staggering and
unnecessary bureaucratic costs and
allowing individual consumers and
businesses to shop for medical in-
surance from anywhere in the coun-
try - an option that recognizes how
markets work in the 21st Century.
Lally was also critical of Steve Is-
raels support of President Obamas
regulations on businesses and tax
policies and stated that the new
policies he and Democrat and Re-
publican pro-business members of
Congress would replace them with
would revitalize the economy,
which he claimed was suffering un-
der the President. There has been a
153% increase of federal business
regulations during the first five
years of the Obama Administra-
tion, Lally said. These destructive
regulations, which Steve Israel has
supported, have been extremely
harmful to small businesses, a ma-
jor impediment to real job growth
and have led to the present weak
condition of our economy. I will
fight to protect small businesses and
create new private sector jobs by
working to put an end to these de-
structive regulations. Steve Is-
rael has also supported the enor-
mous tax hikes that the President
has imposed on the middle class. I
would vote to repeal these tax in-
creases and replace them with ma-
jor tax reductions that our hard
working, over taxed middle class
citizens need and deserve.
As critical as he had been
throughout the interview concern-
ing Congressman Israels support of
President Obamas domestic poli-
cies, Lally saved his most severe at-
tack for the Democrat incumbents
support of the foreign policy of both
the president and Democrat House
Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.
President Obama, said Lally,
has criticized and undermined the
State of Israel, and Minority Leader
Nancy Pelosi referred to the terror-
ist Hamas organization that controls
Gaza, as a humanitarian organiza-
tion. Steve Israel, who continues
to give President Obama and Nancy
Pelosi his 100% unconditional sup-
port, never questioned nor disputed
her embrace of the terror group. Is-
nt that a disgrace?
Hamas, Lally further stated,
has pledged to kill Jews, Chris-
tians, and Americans, and they are
firing thousands of missiles at civil-
ian neighborhoods [in Israel] to try
to implement their threat. Our Pres-
idents response is to lecture Israel
about the civilian casualties that
were caused as a direct result of
Hamas using women and children
as human shields by placing terror
rocket launchers aimed at Israeli
civilian populations in Gazas
schools, mosques and hospitals.
What does the president expect Is-
rael to do under those circum-
stances? It is disappointing to note
that Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan
appear to better understand the hor-
rible danger that Hamas presents to
the region than does President Oba-
ma. Equally distressing, our Presi-
dent has taken but minimum action
as ISIS slaughters thousands of
Christians, Shiites and Yazidis
throughout the Middle East. I will
do everything in my power to work
with Republicans and responsible
Democrats in Congress to finally
try to awaken the president to the
dangers that his present policies of
criticizing our allies and appeasing
our enemies present to the people in
the Middle East, Africa, and in fact,
throughout the world and to con-
vince him to change those misdi-
rected policies.
Lally, however, still has to get
elected first and faces what is ex-
pected to be a very tough campaign.
Yet, about his chances of defeating
Steve Israel, who as Chairman of
the Democratic Congressional
Campaign Committee (DCCC), the
political wing of the Democratic
Party in the House, wields tremen-
dous power within the party and
possesses enormous fund raising
ability, Lally was optimistic.
While polls on Congressional
races customarily are not conducted
until after Labor Day, Lally listed
results of a recent National Repub-
lican Congressional Committee
(NRCC) poll that he contended
demonstrated Israels vulnerability,
making this, he said, a winnable
election: The fact is that 43% of
the voters in the district identify
themselves as Republicans as com-
pared to 42% who identify as De-
mocrats. More important, of polls
surveying all of Mr. Israels con-
stituents Republicans, Democrats
and independents only 37% ap-
prove of his job performance and
only 33% believe he deserves to be
re-elected.
The Republican candidate stated
that his positive reaction to these
polls is not dampened by the virtual
certainty that Steve Israels camp
will attempt to attack his campaign
by replaying a legal challenge Lally
encountered after his 1996 cam-
paign against Ackerman. While not
charged with any criminal viola-
tions, Lallys campaign paid a
$280,000 fine to the Federal Elec-
tions Commission (FEC) for al-
leged infractions of campaign fi-
nance laws. Lally told me that he
was confident that once the voters
learn who initiated these charges, he
would be vindicated.
It was Lois Lerner, Lally stated,
the same Lois Lerner who has
been held in criminal contempt for
her illegal targeting of conservative
groups while she served at the IRS,
and started her career at the FEC,
where she targeted my 1996 cam-
paign and those of other Republi-
cans, like Illinois Al Salvi. Be-
cause I dared to challenge a power-
ful Democrat incumbent, Lerner
and the DCCC coordinated a death
audit against my campaign and my
family, and even threatened to de-
stroy my law practice and clients.
Explaining that he agreed to the
settlement with the FCC to avoid a
long and extremely costly legal bat-
tle, Lally quickly pointed out that
the FCC found that he had not
personally violated any laws.
Referring then to a 2012 contro-
versy involving Congressman Israel
who after a messy divorce from
his second wife, Marlene Budd,
then an acting NYS Supreme Court
Judge got an eye raising, though
not illegal, deal on a sale of his Suf-
folk house from political donors,
Lally declared, If Steve Israel
wants to bring up the past, I have
absolutely no problem comparing
my circumstances with his. But I
believe the voters really want us to
focus on the issues that directly im-
pact their lives and influence the fu-
ture of our nation.
Let the campaign begin.
Robert Golomb is a nationally
published columnist.
Mr.Bob347@aol.com
Grant Lally at the India Day Parade in Hicksville on August 9.
He is running for the 3rd Congressional District, which covers
northern parts of Long Island and Queens.
Grant and Deborah Lally (nee Misir) with their pet dog,
Savannah. Deborah, of Guyanese-Indian origin, is Partner at
Lally & Misir, LLP, and President of Indian American Bar
Association of Long Island and Queens.
INDIA
New Delhi: Four prominent
BJP leaders were named gover-
nors of Rajasthan, Karnataka,
Maharashtra and Goa on a day
Kerala Governor Sheila Dikshit
succumbed to pressure and put
in her papers.
While former Uttar Pradesh
chief minister Kalyan Singh
was named governor of
Rajasthan, Gujarat assembly
speaker Vajubhai Radabhai
Vala took charge of Karnataka
and Mridula Sinha, a leading
writer, moved to Goa.
C. Vidyasagar Rao from Telangana will take
charge in election-bound Maharashtra.
Kalyan Singh succeeds Margaret Alva
whose tenure ended Aug 5.
Vala took the place of H.R. Bharadwaj, who
retired in June, while B.V. Wanchoo and K.
Sankaranarayanan quit as governors of Goa
and Maharashtra respectively.
The 82-year-old Kalyan Singh is a veteran
Bharatiya Janata Party leader who led the
Uttar Pradesh government when the Babri
Masjid was razed in 1992.
A committed activist of the Rashtriya
Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Kalyan Singh
parted ways with the BJP following differ-
ences with former prime minister Atal Bihari
Vajpayee. He returned to the party just before
the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.
Vala, 76, is considered close to Prime
Minister Narendra Modi. He began his politi-
cal career with the erstwhile Jana Sangh. At
one time, he was a contender for the post of
Gujarat chief minister.
Mridula Sinha is a well
known writer in Hindi, and is a
former national president of
the BJP's Mahila Morcha. She
is also a former chairperson of
the National Commission for
Women.
Hailing from Karimnagar
district of Telangana,
Vidyasagar Rao served as
union minister of state for
home in the Vajpayee govern-
ment. The 73-year-old was
also the BJP president in unit-
ed Andhra Pradesh and was
elected to the Lok Sabha twice from
Karimnagar. He was defeated in the 2014
election.
Meanwhile, Sheila Dikshit, who resigned as
Kerala governor, refused to say anything on
what led her to the decision.
"I did what my heart was saying. I will not
say anything more at this point," the former
Delhi chief minister told the media here.
Asked to comment on the manner in which
UPA-appointed governors were treated by the
BJP-led government, Dikshit said: "I will talk
to you in hindsight after my resignation is
accepted." Maharashtra Governor K.
Sankaranarayanan resigned.
Since the Narendra Modi government took
charge May 26, eight governors have resigned
-- B.L. Joshi (Uttar Pradesh), Shekhar Dutt
(Chhattisgarh), Ashwani Kumar (Nagaland),
M.K. Narayanan (West Bengal), B.V.
Wanchoo (Goa), Vakkom B. Purushothaman
(Mizoram), K. Sankaranarayanan
(Maharashtra) and now Dikshit.
New Delhi: In a move marking the end
of an era of stalwarts like Atal Bihari
Vajpayee, L.K. Advani and Murli
Manohar Joshi, the BJP came up with a
list of its highest decision-making
body, the parliamentary board, which
excluded the seniors.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
instead included the seniors in a sepa-
rate group, the 'Margdarshak Mandal'
(guiding committee), which it said will
guide the party.
The parliamentary board will now be
headed by BJP president Amit Shah,
and marked the entry of J.P. Nadda and
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj
Singh Chouhan in the core group.
The guiding group includes Vajpayee,
Advani and Joshi as well as Prime Minister
Narendra Modi and Home Minister Rajnath
Singh.
Modi and Rajnath Singh are also in the
parliamentary board.
"Party president Amit Shah has constituted
a 'margdarshak' committee with veteran
party leaders as its members for guiding
party activities," an official release said.
Congress leader Rashid Alvi dismissed it
as an "old age home" for leaders.
BJP spokesperson Syed Shahnawaz
Hussain, however, said the guiding commit-
tee was not a permanent committee. "It's a
temporary committee," he said.
The constitution of the BJP does not have
any provision for such a group and the par-
liamentary board remains the highest
decision-making body, party sources said.
The sources said Joshi was informed about
the decision by Modi himself, while
Parliamentary Affairs Minister M. Venkaiah
Naidu informed Advani.
The other members of the 12-member par-
liamentary board are Finance Minister Arun
Jaitley, External Affairs Minister Sushma
Swaraj, M. Venkaiah Naidu, Nitin Gadkari,
Ananth Kumar, Thawar Chand Gehlot and
Ramlal.
The central election committee of the
party was also announced Tuesday.
It has Shah as its chief, and includes Modi,
Rajnath Singh, Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj,
Naidu, Gadkari, Chouhan and Shahnawaz
Hussain.
Talking to reporters in Bhopal, Madhya
Pradesh Chief Minister Chouhan, however,
stressed that Advani "remains the guiding
light for the whole party".
Since the Narendra Modi
government took charge
May 26, eight governors
have resigned.
The parliamentary board will now be
headed by BJP president Amit Shah
11 August 30-September 5, 2014 TheSouthAsianTimes.info
BJP leaders named governors, Sheila resigns
No place for Advani, Joshi in BJP's top body
SEP.
12 August 30-September 5, 2014 TheSouthAsianTimes.info INDIA
New Delhi: The Prime Minister's
Office (PMO) and BJP president
Amit Shah came out in support of
Home Minister Rajnath Singh after
he threatened to quit over charges
of unexplained misconduct leveled
against his son.
Upset over "rumors" that his son
Pankaj Singh was not fielded in the
coming assembly bye-elections in
Uttar Pradesh due to alleged mis-
conduct, Rajnath Singh said he
would give up politics if any of the
allegations were proven to be true.
An emotive minister said there
were "rumours about me and my
family" for 15-20 days. "I thought
the rumours have no basis so (they)
will settle down. However, I am
seeing the rumours have only inten-
sified.
"If any allegation, big or small, is
prima facie proven against me or
my family members, I will quit pol-
itics and sit at home, " he told
reporters here.
In no time, the PMO and Shah
issued separate statements dismiss-
ing the reports as baseless and moti-
vated. But it was not clear what
exactly were the allegations.
The PMO said reports in recent
weeks linking Modi's apparent dis-
pleasure over "the conduct of some
union ministers and alleged miscon-
duct of the home minister's son"
were "plain lies".
"The reports are plain lies, moti-
vated and constitute a malicious
attempt at character assassination
and tarnishing the image of the gov-
ernment," the statement said.
"Those indulging in such rumour-
mongering are damaging the inter-
est of the nation. These reports are
strongly denied."
Shah said the conduct of all BJP
ministers was of the highest level.
In a statement in Hindi, he said
there were "baseless and imaginary
rumours" regarding Rajnath Singh
and his son.
"As the party president, I believe
the conduct of all our ministers is of
the highest standard, and such prop-
aganda is baseless.
"As far as Rajnath Singh is con-
cerned, he is one of our seniormost
ministers... I strongly condemn the
rumours and feel personally hurt by
them." Pankaj Singh, 36, is a sec-
ond-time general secretary of the
BJP in Uttar Pradesh.
He was reportedly keen on fight-
ing the Lok Sabha polls from
Ghaziabad which was vacated by
his father, a former Uttar Pradesh
chief minister and a former BJP
president.
But the seat was allotted to former
army chief V. K. Singh. Pankaj
Singh then reportedly voiced his
desire to fight the bye-election from
Noida but didn't get the ticket.
Insiders say Rajnath Singh feels a
ministerial colleague was to blame
for the "rumours".
Asked if political rivalry was
hurting him, he said: "I will say
nothing." The Congress took a jibe
at the home minister.
"The Congress will like to know
what allegation is Rajnathji and his
son facing which are being denied,"
party leader Ajay Maken said.
"We also want to ask who
(hurled) these allegations on the
home minister since the Congress
has not done so," he said.
Marxist leader Sitaram Yechury
said the episode betrayed infighting
in the BJP. "The infighting is quite
evident."
Janata Dal-United chief Sharad
Yadav came out in support of
Rajnath Singh.
"He is a clean and honest politi-
cian. These allegations cannot be
true, they are baseless," Yadav said.
Lucknow: Political leaders and
parties slammed the Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP) for raking up
the issue of 'Love Jihad' - a term
used by the party to accuse Muslim
men of luring Hindu girls into mar-
riage and then forcing them to con-
vert to Islam.
Urban Development Minister and
senior Samajwadi Party (SP) leader
Mohammad Azam Khan accused
the BJP of "trying to humiliate
Muslims" by raking up such base-
less issus.
Targeting Prime Minister
Narendra Modi for his silence on
the issue raised by the BJP, Khan
said the prime minister himself
does not want the well-being of
Muslims. "Desh ka baadshaah
nahin chahta ki akliyaton ka bhala
ho," he said at an event. He further
said that it was a disgrace that the
minorities were being treated shab-
bily, adding that the Muslims were
leading a life of "jillat, dehshat and
khauf" (humiliation and fear).
Senior Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP)
leader Swamy Prasad Maurya
called the coinage of the term 'love
jihad' as "handiwork of mad
minds" and accused the ruling the
SP and the BJP of being hand in
glove to divide the society.
"Hundreds of communal clashes
in the state have taken place under
the watch of Chief Minister
Akhilesh Yadav and the situation is
very explosive," the leader of
opposition in the state assembly
said.
He said the state can only be
managed well by the BSP chief
Mayawati and added that people
were seeing through the "game" of
the SP-BJP and will teach them a
lesson in the state assembly polls in
2017.
New Delhi: Two days before he
flies to Tokyo, Prime Minister
Narendra Modi greeted his
Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe
and saluted the Japanese people --
in a series of tweets in Japanese.
Saying he was keenly looking
forward to the Aug 30-Sep 3 trip,
Modi underlined that "the Japan
visit (was) an opportunity to take
our ties to a new level and increase
cooperation in various fields".
The visit "will boost relations
between our two nations".
Modi said it would be his first
bilateral trip as prime minister
"outside the subcontinent. I was to
visit (Japan) in early July but could
not due to parliament session.
"I will visit Tokyo and Kyoto and
will interact with all sections of the
Japanese society from students,
political leaders to captains of
industry."
Modi said he was "particularly
excited to meet Abe. I deeply
respect his leadership and enjoy a
warm relationship with him from
previous meetings.
"The scale of innovation and
level of precision among the peo-
ple of Japan is admirable. Both our
nations can learn a lot from each
other.
"Have very warm memories of
visiting Japan as (Gujarat) CM.
The hospitality and the immense
scope for cooperation left a deep
impression in my mind.
"Japan's friendship with India is
time tested. We are two vibrant
democracies committed to advanc-
ing peace and prosperity in the
world," the prime minister said.
An official communique said
Modi tweeted in Japanese "to talk
to the people of Japan directly in
Japanese. A team of Japanese vol-
unteers helped with the transla-
tion".
Chandigarh: Accusing the BJP
of betraying him, Haryana
Janhit Congress (HJC) presi-
dent Kuldeep Bishnoi
announced the end of his party's
alliance with the Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP).
Haryana will elect a new
assembly most probably in
October.
"The BJP continued to betray
me constantly. We tried to keep
the alliance but (failed). We
hoped they (BJP) will change
but they did not. We are pulling
out of this alliance," he said
here.
"The BJP is taking corrupt
and goonda leaders from other
parties, especially the Congress.
We could not have carried on
with them in such circum-
stances.
"The entire party (BJP) is
'dhokhebaaz'. I cannot name
one particular leader," an upset
Bishnoi told reporters.
Bishnoi announced his party's
decision to ally with the newly
floated Jan Chetna Party of for-
mer union minister and ex-
Congressman Venod Sharma.
The BJP, which allied with the
HJC in 2011, was earlier ready
to play second fiddle to the
HJC.
BJP leaders like then presi-
dent Nitin Gadkari and Sushma
Swaraj, who worked out the
alliance, had even publicly
declared that Bishnoi would be
the chief minister if the alliance
was voted to power.
Both parties contested the Lok
Sabha polls together. The BJP
won seven seats in the state.
PMO, Shah back Rajnath after he threatens to quit
BJP slammed for raking up 'Love Jihad'
Modi greets Japan, Abe - in Japanese
Rajnath Singh said he would give up politics if any of the
allegations against his son were proven to be true
Prime Minister Modi will meet his Japanese counterpart
Shinzo Abe in Tokyo
Political leaders and parties slammed the BJP
for raking up the issue of 'Love Jihad'
Haryana party ends
alliance with BJP
13 August 30-Septmber 5, 2014 TheSouthAsianTimes.info INDIA
New Delhi: The Congress said the
by-election results in four states
were a positive signal for the party
while the BJP differed, saying
these did not reflect the national
mood.
In the results to 18 assembly
seats across four states, the
Congress bagged at least one seat
in each state. The by-elections
were held almost three months
after the Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP)-led government came to
power in Delhi.
Congress general secretary
Shakeel Ahmed said: "It clearly
indicates that people vote different-
ly for assembly and Lok Sabha
polls. BJP was trying to give the
impression that wave created by
Narendra Modi on false promises
will carry them through in these
by-polls but unfortunately for
them, people did not vote as they
expected."
"The results are a positive signal
for the Congress...They indicate
good days are not ahead for BJP."
BJP vice president Mukhtar
Abbas Naqvi said the results were
not entirely to the party's satisfac-
tion but added that the outcome of
the by-polls was not a reflection of
the national mood.
"The results of by-elections do
not reflect the national mood.
There are local issues and factors
such as popularity of the candidate.
The by-polls are not held to form
or not form a government," he said.
Naqvi, however, added that the
party takes every election seriously
and will take remedial steps to
improve performance in places it
did not do well.
Referring to Bihar, he said three
parties had come together against
the BJP-led NDA and the JD-U
was also the ruling party in the
state.
He said the results were not an
indication of Congress revival.
In Bihar, the alliance of
Rashtriya Janata Dal, Janata Dal-
United and Congress won six seats
while the BJP could bag four.
Congress wrested the Bhagalpur
seat from the BJP after a gap of 23
long years.
In Punjab, Congress won Patiala
while Shiromani Akali Dal wrested
the Talwandi Sabo seat.
In Karnataka, the ruling
Congress Monday won Bellary
(ST) seat and retained Chikkodi-
Sadalga seat while the BJP was
victorious from Shikaripura.
In Madhya Pradesh, BJP won
Aagar and Vijayraghavgarh assem-
bly constituencies while the
Bahoriband seat went to the
Congress.
Bangalore: The son of Railway
Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda
has been booked for rape and
cheating following a complaint by
Kannada film actor Maithreyi,
police said. The Gowdas denied
the charges. "We have booked a
case against Karthik after the vic-
tim filed a complaint late
Wednesday ... under sections 176
(rape) and 420 (cheating)... and
are investigating," Deputy Police
Commissioner T.R. Suresh said.
Maithreyi accused Karthik
Gowda of sexually abusing and
cheating her by getting engaged to
another woman after marrying her
"secretly" in June 5 in Mangalore,
about 350 km from here.
She made the charge Wednesday
evening after learning about
Karthik Gowda's engagement to
the daughter of an industrialist at
Kushalnagar in Kodagu district,
about 230 km from here.
Minister Gowda denied the
charge and accused his political
opponents of attempting to malign
him and tarnish his family's repu-
tation. His son too termed the
charge baseless.
Officer Suresh said: The victim
will be asked to undergo a test to
verify her charge. If it is proved
that she was sexually assaulted,
we will ask Karthik too to go
through the test.
According to the complaint,
Karthik married Maithreyi at his
house in Mangalore and promised
her to soon hold a public wedding
after convincing his father and
mother.
"I met Karthik in Bangalore
early May through a common
friend and we became close over
the weeks and had an affair after
he assured me he will marry me,"
Maithreyi said in the complaint.
Gowda, elected to the Lok
Sabha from Bangalore North, said
neither he nor his wife knew about
their son's alleged secret wedding
to Maithreyi.
"It is a gimmick indulged by my
political opponents for cheap pub-
licity. As a case has been regis-
tered against my son, let the law
take its course and justice prevail,"
an upset Gowda told reporters in
Mangalore.
In a related development, BJP
president Amit Shah Thursday
asked the party's state unit to send
a report after consulting Gowda,
saying Prime Minister Narendra
Modi was keen to clear the air at
the earliest.
Chandigarh: The Punjab and
Haryana High Court granted bail to
Hindu leader Swami Aseemanand in
the Samjhauta train blast case.
Aseemanand and three others
were facing trial in a special
National Investigating Agency
(NIA) court in Haryana's Panchkula
town near here.
Aseemanand was charged for his
role in the Samjhauta Express link
train blast Feb 18, 2007 at Diwana
village near the industrial town of
Panipat, 160 km from here, in
Haryana.
The suitcase bombing took place
in two bogies of the train. Sixty
eight people, majority of them
Pakistani nationals, died in the blast.
Aseemanand, a member of the
right-wing Hindu group Abhinav
Bharat, was arrested in the Mecca
Masjid blast in Hyderabad in which
14 people were killed in 2007.
Chennai: India' s Mars Orbiter
spacecraft has completed 90 per-
cent of its journey to the red planet
while scientists are gearing up to
meet the challenge of restarting the
onboard liquid fuel engine, an offi-
cial said.
"The spacecraft has completed
90 percent of its journey to Mars.
On Sep 14, its trajectory would be
corrected," a senior official of
Indian Space Research
Organisation (ISRO), said.
According to him, on Sep 24, the
spacecraft is slated to enter into the
Mars orbit.
On Sep 24, the manoeuvring of
the spacecraft will begin around
7.30 a.m. The spacecraft's speed
will be reduced from the current
velocity so that the Mars Orbiter
enters into the orbit.
The official said restarting the
onboard liquid fuel engine will be
a challenging task as it was dor-
mant for nearly 300 days.
"However, necessary redundan-
cy and other measures have been
incorporated in the spacecraft
design and we hope, not to face
much problem in restarting the
engine," he said.
The ISRO officials said the
spacecraft and its payloads are in
good condition.
Of the total Rs.450 crore budget
on the project, India has spent
Rs.349 crore on its Mars Orbiter
Mission as on March 31, 2014.
The Mars Orbiter was launched
Nov 5, 2013. Now 27 days are left
for India's Mars Orbiter to enter
into the orbit of the Red Planet.
Congress terms by-poll results positive, BJP differs
Aseemanand gets bail in Samjhauta blast case
In Bihar, the alliance of Rashtriya Janata Dal, Janata Dal-United
and Congress won six seats while the BJP could bag four.
Karthik the son of Railway Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda
Railway minister's son
booked for raping actor
India's Mars Orbiter completes
90 percent of its journey
Hindu leader Swami Aseemanand
By Amulya Ganguli
A
lthough the assertions of Rashtriya
Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief
Mohan Bhagwat about India being
a Hindu nation and that all its citizens are
Hindus in a cultural sense have long been
among the basic tenets of the Hindu nation-
alist outfit, the reiteration of these old pos-
tulates undoubtedly has something to do
with the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP)
assumption of power at the centre.
The RSS apparently believes that the time
has come at last for its dream of converting
India into a Hindu 'rashtra' (nation) to be
fulfilled with the help of a friendly govern-
ment.
In fact, the RSS is even refraining from
uttering the words, India or Bharat, which
are used in the constitution to describe the
country. Instead, the RSS uses the word
Hindustan, the land of Hindus, presumably
to facilitate the process of transition to the
Hindu rashtra.
What is noteworthy, however, about these
provocative postures - for both minorities
and liberal-minded Hindus - is that there
hasn't been a word in either endorsement or
condemnation by the Narendra Modi gov-
ernment. The silence is odd considering that
one of the BJP ministers in Goa, who is a
Christian, has dittoed the views of the RSS
and has described himself as a Hindu
Christian.
At the same time, it is worth remembering
that a key feature of Modi's Independence
Day speech was a call for a moratorium on
sectarian unrest for 10 years.
The RSS chief himself told a meeting to
observe the 50th anniversary of the VHP's
founding that the temple issue will not be
taken up for a year. Not since Atal Bihari
Vajpayee announced in 1996 his intention
of putting the temple and other issues like
having a uniform civil code (for all reli-
gions in India) and revision of Article 370
(of the Indian constitution that gives a spe-
cial status to Kashmir) in cold storage has
the construction project been shelved as at
present.
It may not be besides the point to say that
as a sop to the RSS and other hardliners for
acting with moderation on the temple, the
government has decided to allow them a
relatively free hand in other matters. These
apparently include not only an occasional
cry for a Hindu nation but also giving them
some leeway in determining the cultural
agenda.
Hence, the weird pronouncements of the
antediluvian Dina Nath Batra on social con-
duct - the blowing out of candles on birth-
days to be replaced by the feeding of cows -
and of Y. Sudarshan Rao, the new head of
the Indian Council of Historical Research,
that the epics Ramayana and Mahabharata
are "true accounts" and not myths.
Incidentally, few historians outside the saf-
fron camp had heard of Rao before his
appointment to the prestigious post.
When Vajpayee was PM, the differences
between him and the RSS were mainly
about his line of moderation. Where Modi
is concerned, the differences relate not only
to his present non-confrontationist style,
unlike in 2002, but also on ensuring peace
and stability for the sake of Inida's develop-
ment.
It is anybody's case how long this circle
of varying perceptions can be squared.
The views expressed in Op Eds are not necessarily those of The South Asian Times.
14 August 30-September 5, 2014 TheSouthAsianTimes.info INDIA
By Siddharth Varadarajan
A
rithmetic can help at elec-
tion time but algebra, in the
final analysis, should not
be considered a substitute for poli-
tics.
The 'maha-gathbandhan' or grand
coalition stitched together by Lalu
Prasad and Nitish Kumar - both
men were sworn enemies before
the Modi wave left them stranded
on the same desolate riverbank -
had as its primary logic the fact
that the National Democratic
Alliance won 31 out of Bihar's 40
seats despite polling less (38.8 per
cent of votes cast) than what
Laloo's Rashtriya Janata Dal (20.1
per cent), Nitish' s Janata Dal
(United) (at 15.8 per cent) and the
Congress (at 8.4 per cent) polled
individually.
The BJP' s ' take no prisoners'
approach towards the opposition
since the election provided an
urgent political rationale to an
alliance whose mathematical logic
seemed unimpeachable. If its
attempts to undermine and even
topple Nitish Kumar as Chief
Minister - a move the JD(U) chief
averted by handing the keys of
government to Jitan Ram Manjhi -
pushed Nitish towards Lalu, the
Modi government's refusal to grant
the Congress the formal status of
Leader of the Opposition in the
Lok Sabha added a national dimen-
sion to the quest for "secular"
unity. The 10 Bihar Assembly by-
elections provided the perfect
opportunity for the new alliance to
test its strength, even if the con-
stituency-wise arithmetic suggest-
ed an uphill fight was likely.
Not only had six of the 10 seats
been previously won by the NDA
in 2010 but an analysis of votes
polled during the 2014 Lok Sabha
made it clear that in at least six
seats, the BJP and its allies had an
advantage even over a unified
opposition. (See table below)
With the NDA only winning four
seats and the grand coalition pick-
ing up six, the results, on the sur-
face at least, suggest the Nitish-
Lalu strategy has paid off. The BJP,
too, is likely to take some comfort
from the fact that it held on to four.
But in analyzing what these results
portend for Bihar and India, it is
important to bear in mind four
essential facts.
First, the turnout for the by-elec-
tions, at around 44 per cent, is con-
siderably less than what the related
parliamentary constituencies regis-
tered a few months ago. While it is
tempting to see the results as a vote
of no-confidence in the Modi gov-
ernment and its policies, the low
turnout and the local nature of the
contests are reasons to be cautious.
Second, since the cult-like per-
sonality of Narendra Modi did not
loom large in the by-elections and
voters would have acted on local
compulsions, the results reflect a
reversion to a more 'normal' per-
formance by the BJP. In other
words, four out of 10 seats is what
the BJP can hope to win in Bihar
without the added impetus of the
'Modi wave'. For the party's state
leadership, this is surely not good
news.
Third, the fact that the actual
results in the 10 seats did not
reflect the arithmetical advantage
that the 2014 elections predicted -
the BJP won three seats
(Narkatiaganj, Banka and
Mohania) where it had polled less
than what the RJD/INC/JDU
alliance polled individually - tells
us that RJD and JD(U) votes do not
transfer from one ally to the other
that easily. With the state going to
the polls in 2015, this reluctance of
party supporters to do what their
leaders want them to is likely to
trouble both Lalu and Nitish.
Fourth, it is worth remembering
what happened in 2009, when the
NDA (which consisted of JD(U)
and BJP at the time) was able to
win only five out of the 18
Assembly seats which had by-elec-
tions, down from a tally of 12. But
by the time the 2010 Assembly
elections came around, the NDA
comprehensively trounced the
opposition. What this means is that
by-elections, at least in Bihar, are
not necessarily a good barometer
for gauging underlying political
trends across the state.
A clearer sweep by the
JDU/RJC/INC combine might
have provided a greater incentive
for other BJP opponents at logger-
heads with each other - especially
the Bahujan Samaj Party and
Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh -
to think about a grand alliance.
Such an outcome now seems even
less likely, especially given the leg-
endary difficulty the BSP has
encountered in the past in getting
alliance partner votes.
The greatest impact of the Bihar
result is likely to be on the BJP as
the party realizes that Modi and his
message of 'development' do not
have the same impact at the state
level as they did in the Lok Sabha
elections.
The 'maha-gathbandhan' or grand coalition is stitched together
by Lalu Prasad and Nitish Kumar in Bihar
To each his own: Modus vivendi between Modi and RSS?
Modi opponents in Bihar should hold euphoria
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat with Narendra Modi
LAKME FASHION WEEK 2014 August 30-September 5, 2014 TheSouthAsianTimes.info 15
T
he grand finale of the
Lakme Fashion week
(LFW) 2014 was a memo-
rable one as actress Kareena
Kapoor who was the showstopper
for designer Manish Malhotra
looked classy and elegant in his
creation.
Manish's collection raised the
glamour quotient of every attire
with blings and glitter.
Kareena donned a metallic pur-
ple lehenga with grey shades and a
complete diamond and silver stud-
ded open jacket which she teamed
with a nettet chunni.
She said: "I wear what I feel
comfortable in. I think Manish is a
gift to the film industry and I feel
comfortable in all his outfits."
The bridal wears were a blend of
long gowns, skirts, saris, lehenga
cholis with heavy diamond stud-
ded sequence and embroidery
work. Manish Malhotra said: "It's
been a long journey. She is my sis-
ter. She has been the coolest bride I
have ever dressed so Lakme can't
have a better show stopper than
Kareena."
On Kareena' s outfit, Manish
said: "I have used two versions of
grey. I want this grey to be popular
this winter."
Actor Varun Dhawan kick-start-
ed the grand finale by walking the
ramp wearing black pants and jute
jacket which had a velvet red
Chinese collar.
The runway at the show was dec-
orated with flowers.
Many celebrities, including
including Kajol, Karan Johar,
Huma Quereshi, Karishma
Kapoor, Richa Chadda, Juhi
Chawla, Dino Morea, Sridevi,
Boney Kapoor, and Gauri Shinde,
attended the fashion show.
Kareena dazzles in
LFW grand finale
Actor Kareena Kapoor Khan walks on the ramp for designer Manish Malhotra during Lakme
Fashion Week (LFW) Winter/ Festive 2014.
S
he always looks chic and stylish and
model-turned-actress Priyanka
Chopra's look wowed when she hit
the ramp Sunday in Varun Bahl's 'com-
fortable' attire as his showstopper at the
Lakme Fashion Week Winter/Festive
2014.
The former beauty queen sashayed on
the runway in black palazzo pants, crop
top in the same shade teamed with sliver
sequenced jacket. With a stylish hairdo
and a heavy neckpiece, the actress looked
her absolute.
"As per my fashion sense, I like clothes
that are normal. I get really shy with fancy
clothes and this outfit is very wearable and
comfortable," said the actress sharing her
taste and choice in clothes.
But the well-dressed and stylish
Priyanka doesn't mind shedding her glam-
orous avatar for a meaty role - she did it
successfully to play an autistic girl in
"Barfi" and now she has done it for
"Mary Kom", a biopic which will see her
playing Olympic bronze medallist boxer
M.C. Mary Kom.
Going back to Bahl's collection, it cele-
brates modern silhouettes - jackets, dress-
es, trousers, skirts, and shirts by blending
them seamlessly with contemporary
Indian embroideries and hand-done tech-
niques.
There is a balance between structure and
flow in his creation."With winter on my
mind, I created biker jackets lending them
a twist of my own. One such interesting
piece would by my 'gota' jacket achieved
by weaving gota strips together," said the
designer who has discerning eye for detail.
Varun Bahl's outfit wearable,
comfortable: Priyanka
Actor Priyanka Chopra
during the Grand Finale day
of Lakme Fashion Week (LFW).
T
he harmonious colour
combinations, the attrac-
tive design aesthetics and
the two showstoppers - actress-
es Dia Mirza and Bipasha Basu
- together made Vikram
Phadnis' presentation a breath-
taking affair on the last day of
fashion extravaganza Lakme
Fashion Week Winter/Festive
2014. He certainly knows how
to combine colours to create
the right effect and Phadnis did
the same when he chose earthy
shades along with traditional
hues for his ensemble, which
boast of lehengas in different
cuts and designs, anarkali and
free flowing kurtas teamed
with churidars and palazzo
pants. From tussar, net and bro-
cade, he used fabrics in shades
such as reds, greens, creams
and yellow. When the models
flaunted his creation on the
ramp, it said a lot about his
astute craftsmanship. The icing
on the cake was the Bollwyood
divas whom the designer
dressed in traditional lehen-
gas. "This is a milestone in
my career and not just the
show, I wanted someone
with whom I share a great
relationship as a showstop-
per. Dia and Bipahsa, I
have known them for
years now and our friend-
ship goes beyond clothes.
They were not typical
showstoppers," said
Phadnis.
Our friendship goes beyond
clothes: Phadnis on Bipasha
Showstopper Bipasha Basu
displays the creation of fashion
designer Vikram Phadnis.
16 August 30-september 5, 2014 TheSouthAsianTimes.info TRAVEL
By Parveen Chopra
G
oing to Kashmir! The moment you
utter these words, people ask, Is it
safe? Or, theyll advise, Just dont
go near the Lal Chowk in Srinagar.
The fact is, insurgency and violence in
Kashmir valley are thing of the past, maybe
not as good a turnaround as in Punjab, but
good enough for tourism to start thriving
again, affording frequent and full flights
between Srinagar and Delhi. I think the
worst period for the militancy here was the
1990-2000 decade. With growing normalcy,
confidence has since been restored consid-
erably for tourists to return to one of the
most scenic places in the world, once so
loved by Bollywood for shooting romantic
songs.
Considering Kashmir has been on my
bucket list for long, I persuaded my family
to fit it into our hectic recent trip to India.
Then the question arose, where to go in
Kashmir besides Srinagar. We could spare
only three days, so we preferred Gulmarg
over Pahalgam. Right decision in hindsight.
The general manager of The Khyber hotel
in Gulmarg, where we stayed, mentioned
that Gulmarg is a two-night destination
while Pahalgam offers more to see and do,
so worthy of a longer stay.
We booked our flights and hotel rooms
well in advance. When we landed at the
Srinagar airport, Hotel Khyber s SUV
picked us up. Srinagar was hot -- locals told
us that summers have become warmer here
over the years. Midway on the road to
Gulmarg (52 km away), the driver shut the
car airconditioner and opened the windows,
saying, Now we can have some cool, crisp
mountain air. A talkative chap, he filled us
about the coniferous and other trees lining
the road. He also said that in winters, when
there can be several feet of snow, only four-
wheel drives can ply on the last stretch of
road to Gulmarg, often with chains on tires
to avoid skidding. Kashmir, as we know, is
nestled in the Pir Panjal range of the
Himalayas.
The Khyber was as good as it looked in
pictures, but we were keen to right away do
the booking for the gondola. Next morning,
after a sumptuous breakfast, we headed for
the gondolas starting point, a mere five
minutes walk from the hotel. We had to wait
for some 15 minutes, but were told that in
the peak season of June-July, the lines are
much longer. The gondola enclosure for 4-6
people isnt quite gleaming, but the ride is
exhilarating and the moving scenery breath-
taking. The second phase of the gondola
takes you to the highest ski point in the
world (13,780 feet). The 360 degree view
from the top of the valleys and meadows
below on a clear day was such that no
Sweep Panorama feature in smartphone
cameras can capture.
From the gondolas final touchdown point
to the snow point, so called because of the
remnants of the winters snow still there, it
was barely 200 meters but so steep that
given the thin air too we urbans could hard-
ly walk a few steps, and instead accepted a
horse ride. The wooden sleds pulled by
locals take you further up the Kongdoori
Mountain on the shoulder of Mount
Affravat, from where the line of control
(LoC) with Pakistan is visible.
The next day, we were back in Srinagar
In this view of the vast and placid Dal Lake in Srinagar, the three biggies offer water sports activities.
(Inset) A quaint part of the shikara ride on the lake is the pesky boatmen who
sneak up on you to hawk their wares.
The views from Gulmarg gondola going down are breathtaking.
(Photo : Shiv Chopra)
Gulmarg literally means Meadow of Flowers and is among the most scenic spots on earth.
TRAVEL 17 August 30-September 5, 2014 TheSouthAsianTimes.info
L
aunched as recently as
December 2012, The
Khyber Himalayan Resort
and Spa has already acquired a
buzz in travel and tourism circles.
Discerning tourists to Kashmir are
no longer avoiding Gulmarg for
want of a good hotel. The brand
building of this luxury hotel con-
tinued when it won two prestigious
citations: a Special Jury Award -
Indian Hotel Debut of the Year
from Outlook Traveller - and the
Best Boutique Hotel in India by
Travel + Leisure India and South
Asia at its India's Best Awards for
2013 year.
Rajiv Prashar, General Manager
of The Khyber, states the obvious,
Once you have a world class spa
(by L' occitane) as we have, it
becomes a luxury destination.
Gilles Moutounet, Country Head
(India) for L'Occitane, echoes the
sentiments of many when she rea-
marks: "The Khyber resort has put
Gulmarg on the world map, bring-
ing the celebrated traditions of
Provence and Mediterranean well-
being to Gulmarg through its
unique treatments and products."
The Khyber Spa has three single
treatment rooms and two couple
suites, each with its own private
steam chamber. Guests can choose
from a repertoire of signature
treatments specially crafted with
home grown seasonal flora com-
bined with original LOccitane
products and pure water from the
springs in the Himalayas.
We are overwhelmed with the
response for The Khyber and are
grateful for the positive feedback
from guests in India and around
the world, stated Umar Tramboo,
the Srinagar based businessman
who envisioned this luxury resort
in Gulmarg and is MD of Pinnacle
Resorts, promoters of The Khyber.
Giving specifics, Rajiv
Prashar, interviewed in the hotel
lobby by The South Asian Times,
pegged the occupancy rate at 95%.
He said The Khyber attracts
tourists round the year and caters
to all kinds of guests. During the
summer months it is families.
August end onward, honeymoon-
ing couples arrive. And in the win-
ter months, foreign skiing enthusi-
asts prefer to stay here.
Situated 8,825 feet above sea
level in the midst of an endless
expanse of pine trees and spread
over seven acres of land, The
Khyber overlooks snow-clad peaks
of the Affarwat mountain with its
magnificent ski slopes and a
stone' s throw from the world' s
highest cable car project.
The location of the resort
enables panoramic views from all
the 80 rooms, four cottages and a
presidential cottage.
At the hotels main dining room
named Cloves, guests can enjoy
world cuisines all authentic -
with an impeccable service by the
waiting staff.
The Chaikash Tea Lounge is an
elegant patisserie that offers
Kashmiri kahwah as welcome
drink
Calabash is their cigar and shee-
sha lounge. Nouf is the terrace
restaurant for cosy barbecue
parties.
On the challenges of managing a
five star hotel in Gulmarg, Rajiv
Prashar, who belongs to Delhi and
has been with the Taj group earlier,
cites the paucity of skilled workers
locally. The answer they found
was in gradually training Kashmiri
youths.
Prashar also implores the author-
ities to improve infrastructure.
More than 1.1 million tourists,
including domestic and foreign,
visited Kashmir in 2013 and the
numbers are bound to grow every
year. The rail link between Jammu
and the Valley may not get going
before 2017. The flights to
Srinagar are still not affordable for
many. The Srinagar airport needs a
makeover. What is direly needed is
political will keeping pace with
growing tourist confidence and
traffic.
Khyber Resort & Spa puts Gulmarg on the world map
Opened as recently as December 2012, the Khyber
Himalayan Resort & Spa in Gulmarg is already counted
among the handful of luxury hotels in Kashmir and has
become an internationally-established brand.
The warm and elegant interiors of Khyber hotel are
designed with traditional materials and showcase fine
Kashmiri crafts.(Photos provided by The Khyber)
The Khyber Spa by L'Occitane is a fusion of Indian and
Mediterranean well-being. It is located within the newly
opened wellness block which boasts a gym and heated
swimming pool.
and put up at the Hotel RK Sarovar
Portico. Their concierge advised us to
venture out to the Dal Lake only in
the evening. Once there, we knew
why a shikara ride on the Dal Lake is
a must-do for every tourist, no matter
that it sounds jaded.
The placid lake encompassed by a
boulevard lined with Mughal era gar-
dens, parks, houseboats and hotels,
and rimmed in the distance by undu-
lating hills and snowclad mountains
is so huge (6.9 sq miles to be exact),
that even in three hours we had not
traversed it all. Looking at some of
the fancy houseboats with chande-
liers peeping out after dusk, we
thought we should have stayed at one
of them. Hotels are everywhere, but
houseboats are only on Dal Lake,
isnt it? now in Kerala also, one
hears.
A quaint part of the ride on a
shikara (row boat covered colorfully
on top) was the pesky guys paddling
up their boats near our shikara to
hawk snacks, saffron, trinkets, even
jewelry. Our shikara boy also took us,
unasked, to the Meena Bazar, which
has shops on stilts on both sides of
the waterway, vending pashmina
shawls and phirans (a calf length,
loose woollen coat), hand made car-
pets, papier mache items, and much
more.
From around Dal Lake, popular
tourist spots including Hazratbal
shrine, Shankaracharya Temple and
Hari Parbat are a few miles away
only.
Gar firdaus ae baruhe zamin ast
Hamin astu hamin astu hamin ast.
If there is heaven on earth, it is
here, it is here, it is here. These words
ring in your mind, uttered by a besot-
ted Mughal emperor Jahangir for
Kashmir.
But reality jolts you from that train
of thought when you head to the
Srinagar airport and are met by at
least three security checks before you
reach the boarding lounge.
From this snow point above Gulmarg gondola, wooden sleds take you further up, from
where LoC with Pakistan is visible. (Photo: Shiv Chopra)
18 August 30-September 5, 2014 INDIAN I-DAY CELEBRATIONS TheSouthAsianTimes.info
Indian I-Day celebrated with fanfare in Los Angeles
3 Idiots
fame Omi
Vaidya
entertaining
the crowd
Indian flag
gets a
respectful
salute
More than
5000 people
joined in the
celebration.
Traditional and con-
temporary forms of
dance, music and
instruments were
showcased.
(photo:
Ashis Behera)
Congressman Ben Sherman, councilmember
Mitchell Englander, and Assemblymember
Matthew M. Dababneh were among the
special guests. Seen here IALA members with
Rep Sherman on the dais.
The India Association of Los Angeles (San Fernando Valley) held its 15th annual India Independence Day celebration at Granada Hills
Charter High School Aug. 16. Tens of performers enthralled hundreds who came from San Fernando Valley & neighboring cities.
On a sunny Aug. 16, around 5,000 people joined the celebration of India Independence Day, for
the second year in a row, at the colorful fun-filled 11-hour IndiaFest Milwaukee 2014 at
Humboldt Park. The festival offered 36 performances by more than 260 participants, with 28
food and merchant vendors and many more activities. Chief guests included Milwaukee Mayor
Tom Barrett, Director of Community Relation Rayna Andrews, County Executive Chris Abele
and Air India Midwest Bureau Chief Rishikant Singh.
Thousands of people poured into Gerrard India Bazaar, the oldest
and biggest Indian bazaar in North America, which celebrated its
annual South Asian Festival at the weekend of Aug 23/24.
Thousands attend IndiaFest Milwaukee 2014
Torontos Gerrard India
Bazaar turns mini-India
for annual festival
Young boys
put up an
energetic
bhangra
performance
(Photo source:
NewsEastWest)
London: An 18-year-old British
Indian boy has become Britain's
brightest student after getting per-
fect fives in all major subjects with
100 percent score, a media report
said.
Asanish Kalyanasundaram, who
hails from Lancahsire in northwest
England, got the highest possible
grades in maths, physics, chem-
istry, biology and critical thinking,
as required at A-Levels in Britain,
the Daily Mail reported Tuesday.
Kalyanasundaram, an aspiring
surgeon, will be going to
Cambridge University to study
medicine in October.
A spokesman for Bacup and
Rawtenstall Grammar School said
the teenager was one of the bright-
est pupils they have taught.
Asanish received an A* grade in
an Extended Project Qualification,
following a 100-hour research
topic and presentation after attend-
ing a summer school run by the
Nuffield Foundation, where he was
able to work at the cutting edge of
medical research.
The talented student recently
won the Duke of Edinburgh's Gold
Award and will receive the award
from Queen Elizabeth II's husband
Prince Philip at St. James Palace in
London in November.
He has also been invited by
Lancashire County Council to
attend a reception for Gold Award
winners.
Melbourne: Victoria premier
Denis Napthine has praised the
Indian community, saying it has
made outstanding contributions
in many areas including arts, sci-
ence, education and business in
the Australian state.
Napthine was speaking here at
the gala dinner organized by
Federation of Indian Associations
in Victoria (FIAV) to mark the
celebrations of Indian
Independence day.
The event was attended by
Melbourne consul general of
India Manika Jain, state planning
minister Matthew Guy and other
high-profile leaders and Indian
community members.
"We are very proud of our
Indian community. And we wel-
come Indian community into
Australia as well Victoria. Indian
community has made outstanding
contributions in the state in many
areas including arts, science, edu-
cation and business," Napthine
said, as he gave away awards to
several members of Indian com-
munity for their outstanding serv-
ices.
"Infact, Indian community has
the highest level of degrees and
highest levels of PHDs of any
community in Victoria," he said.
Stressing on the need to forge
stronger ties with India, Napthine
said, "Australia, Victoria and
India have many things in com-
mon. Our Australia day and
India's Republic day are both on
the same day which is January
26th.
"We share love for cricket... We
look forward to see the final
game of ICC world cup next year
when Australia and India will
both be in the finals, " he
remarked.
"Victoria is not only sporting
capital but also multicultural cap-
ital of the world...We are very
proud of our state and its multi-
culturalism," Napthine told the
gathering.
"This community has enriched
and strengthened the Melbourne
community and has made the
place a better and stronger place,"
he said.
Victoria is actively engaged to
increase its relations with India as
the nation was the fastest grow-
ing economies of the world today,
he said.
"We welcome those opportuni-
ties and as a coalition govern-
ment we have set up at least 10
trade missions to India. We want
to engage with India in business
sense," he said. On the occasion,
Minister Guy was also awarded
FIAV - Mahatma Gandhi Award
for his support to Indian commu-
nity. "I am deeply honored to
receive this Mahatma Gandhi
award, Guy said while receiving
the Silver Gandhi statue.
Johannesburg: Indian-origin
South African academic Leila
Patel has been named the African
country's one of the top women
researchers in the annual Women
in Science Awards hosted by the
ministry of science and technolo-
gy here.
Patel, who got her PhD from the
University of the Witwatersrand,
is currently a professor of social
development studies and director
of the Centre for Social
Development in Africa, which she
founded in 2002 at the same insti-
tution.
These annual awards recognize
the work of those women who are
involved in full-time research
leading to a master's or doctoral
degree in areas in which the par-
ticipation of women is traditional-
ly low.
Patel undertook pioneering
work in the social welfare field
for a post-apartheid country as the
first democratic elections dawned
in South Africa in
1994 after the
release of Nelson
Mandela. A year
before the elec-
tions, Patel pub-
lished her book
' Re s t r uc t ur i ng
Social Welfare
Options for South
Africa' , which
e v e n t u a l l y
informed social
welfare legislation
adopted by the
new democratic parliament three
years later. Patel was appointed
director-general of the department
of social welfare in 2005, where
she led a team tasked with trans-
forming the country's welfare sys-
tem from the racially segregated
and unequal system of the
apartheid era. A second book in
2005, 'Social Welfare and Social
Development in South Africa', has
been part of international writings
seeking alternatives in the global
south to reduce poverty, build
human capacity and promote
engagement of communities.
The Women in Science Awards
this year went to women involved
in fields as diverse as agricultural
research, biostatistics, and tradi-
tional medicine.
At the same event, Tata Africa
Scholarships were awarded to six
women.
Asanish Kalyanasundaram
Prof Leila Patel
Australia's Victoria state premier
praises Indian community
Melborne: Indian diaspora in
Australia has opened its first muse-
um comprising over 1200 rare
pieces including pictures, paint-
ings, photographs, coins and
stamps here on the Independence
day.
Partly funded by Indian High
Commission in Canberra, the
museum is an initiative of
Federation of Indian Associations
of Victoria (FIAV).
The museum has artworks as old
as 1800s showcasing rich Indian
history, Hindu culture and mythol-
ogy along with several astonishing
international arts.
The entire collection showcased
in the museum is a personal collec-
tion of an Indian doctor, living in
Melbourne, Dinesh Parekh who
has been collecting artefacts for the
last 50 years.
Named as 'Museum India', the
museum has been strategically
located in the heart of 'Little India
precinct' in the Dandenong suburb
temporarily and is expected to be
placed permanently to a bigger
venue later.
The collection has several origi-
nal paintings, high quality litho-
graphs, chromolithographs,
engravings from 1840s onwards,
sculptures, coins from 500BC
onwards and stamp collection for
public. The museum was launched
by Consul General of Melbourne
Manika Jain in the presence of the
state Minister of planning Matthew
Guy, Dandenong Mayor Jim
Memeti and several other high pro-
file leaders and Indian community
members. Speaking at the launch,
Jain said that the Indian museums
across the globe depicted that
Indian civilization has been as old
as human civilization.
Lauding the contribution of
Parekh for offering his personal
collections to set up a museum,
Jain said, "Museum India is a proj-
ect by the Indian community for
the benefit of larger community
including Australian community."
"This project has been supported
by Melbourne Consul general of
India, specially through Indian
High Commission and Pravasi
Bharti community, " she said,
adding that she hoped it would
soon find a permanent place in
Little India precinct, showcasing
the entire collection and also
expands in future. "Museum India
in Victoria Australia is the one and
only museum established outside
India, one of a kind spectacle, to
play a vital role in strengthening
Little India precinct and incredible
multicultural aura of Victoria,"
FIAV president Vasan Srinivasan
said. Srinivasan said Museum
India was not just limited to a mere
repository of artifacts and antiqui-
ties, but to be a place of interest,
information, education and perpet-
ual intellectual stimulation with a
very vast purpose.
A part of this collection is on dis-
play at the Museum India which
will continually be added to and
updated, he said. "Museum India
has been established to be a cata-
lyst for other communities to learn
and enjoy Indian history, art and
culture. It is the symbol of pride of
Australian Indians," he said.
UK's brainiest student is
British-Indian
DIASPORA 19 August 30-September 5, 2014 TheSouthAsianTimes.info
Top honor for Indian-origin
academic in South Africa
Indian community launches its first museum in Australia
The entire collection belongs to Indian doctor Dinesh Parekh.
The museum is initiative of Federation of Indian Associations of
Victoria. (Photo credit: South Asia Times, Australia)
Islamabad: Lahore High Court (LHC)
has ordered filing of an FIR against
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his
party leaders over an incident of violence
in Lahore, prompting cleric Tahir-ul
Qadri to demand those found responsible
be hanged.
At least 11 people were killed and
dozens injured in a clash between police
and Qadri' s Pakistan Awami League
(PAT) in Lahore's Model Town area, after
a police party tried to remove barriers
around Qadri's house and the Minhajul
Quran Secretariat.
The Judicial Tribunal constituted to
probe the tragedy had held Punjab Chief
Minister Shahbaz Sharif, who is the
brother of Nawaz Sharif, and the Punjab
government responsible for it, Dawn
reported.
In a speech to the people participating
in the sit-in protest here Tuesday, PAT
chief Qadri said the tribunal had come to
the conclusion that the Punjab govern-
ment was responsible for the carnage in
Model Town area. The current situation,
he said, will not be simply resolved with
the resignations of the Sharifs, but only
with their hangings. Now the matter will
not be resolved with the governments
resignation but with the Sharifs being
hanged. Such a big incident could not
have taken place without the consent of
both the Sharif brothers, Qadri said,
adding that both Nawaz and Shahbaz
must resign and hold themselves
accountable before the law. Upholding a
sessions courts ruling, the high court
ordered police to register an FIR over
violence. An additional district and ses-
sions judge had ordered police to register
the FIR on the request of Qadri's party.
The order was challenged in the high
court by four federal ministers of the
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz.
Washington: The Pentagon has said Pakistan contin-
ues to be a safe heaven for terrorists while lauding the
efforts of the country's military to eliminate extremism,
which it described as a "common threat" for both the
countries.
"Extremists and the safe haven pose a challenge and
the sanctuary that they continue to enjoy in Pakistan,
but the Pakistani military has taken action against some
of those extremist threats inside their own country.
They've conducted operations not too long ago, just
this summer," Pentagon press secretary Rear Admiral
John Kirby said.
He said the US wanted to continue to work with
Pakistan "to deal with what we believe is a common
challenge and a common threat faced by both our
countries and by Afghanistan, as well," he said.
"It is important to remind everybody that they, too,
have taken casualties in that fight, so it's a common
threat. We don't always see eye-to-eye on how to
address it. That remains to be the case today.
"But what's different today is that we have better
vehicles for dialogue and cooperation with the
Pakistani military that we continue to enjoy and want
to and continue to improve," he said.
Islamabad/New Delhi:
The Indian and Pakistani
militaries agreed to reduce
tension along the Line of
Control (LoC), dividing
the Kashmir region
between the two countries,
even as India lodged a
protest over frequent vio-
lations of ceasefire agree-
ment.
The decision was
reached following India
and Pakistan' s directors
general of military opera-
tions (DGMOs) speaking
to each other on hotline
earlier in the day, Dawn
reported.
"Both sides mutually
agreed to reduce tension
along the Line of Control
and working boundary," a
statement of Pakistani
army's media wing Inter-
Services Public Relations
(ISPR) said in Islamabad.
During the conversation,
both sides discussed the
prevailing situation along
LoC and agreed to share
certain information with a
view to ensure peace in
the coming days, sources
said.
Meanwhile, India
Tuesday lodged a protest
with Pakistan over its fre-
quent violations of the
bilateral ceasefire agree-
ment, army officials in
New Delhi said.
During telephonic talks
held at the level of
DGMOs, the two sides
also agreed to hold a flag
meeting. Officials said
India raised the issue of
frequent violations of the
2003 bilateral ceasefire
agreement and lodged a
protest over the issue.
Court orders FIR against Nawaz
Pak continues to be a safe
haven for terrorists: US
SUBCONTINENT 20 August 30-September 5, 2014 TheSouthAsianTimes.info
These are tough times and will pass soon, says Nawaz Sharif
Kabul: One of two candidates compet-
ing to succeed Afghan leader Hamid
Karzai threatened to pull out of a UN-
supervised audit of a disputed presiden-
tial election, undermining a process
meant to defuse a standoff between the
contenders.
The audit is part of a US-brokered
deal between presidential candi-
dates Abdullah Abdullah and
Ashraf Ghani, both of whom
claim to have won the election
designed to mark Afghanistan's
first democratic transfer of
power.
"The invalidation process is just
a joke and there is no intention of
throwing out fraudulent votes,"
Fazel Ahmad Manawi, Abdullah's
chief auditor, told reporters in Kabul.
"Today, I announce that if our
demands are not accepted by tomorrow
morning, we will not continue with this
process and any outcome will have no
value to us."
Abdullah led after a first-round vote
in April but failed to secure an outright
majority. He trailed behind Ghani in a
June run-off, according to preliminary
figures, and has since rejected the out-
come, claiming widespread vote rig-
ging.
As part of a plan to end the dispute,
the Independent Election Commission
is meant to throw out, or "invalidate",
ballots deemed fraudulent in an audit
of all eight million votes cast.
Tension over the outcome of the vote
has raised the spectre of another civil
war in Afghanistan after the country
was torn apart by years of fighting in
the 1990s, which eventually led to the
rise to power of the Taliban.
"Whatever consequences are going to
follow, we will not be responsible,"
Manawi said, adding that the United
Nations was aware of their complaints
but had failed to address them properly.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court has
said the issues affecting the Tamil Nadu
fishermen including the release of those
languishing in Sri Lankan jails could be
resolved only through political and
diplomatic channels as it has no juris-
diction to issue direction to a foreign
government. A bench of Chief Justice
R.M.Lodha, Justice Kurian Joseph and
Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman said this
while asking the petitioners - DMK's
A.K. Vijayan, AIDMK member and
Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker M.
Thambidurai to approach the govern-
ment for the solution of the Tamil Nadu
fishermen' s problem vis-a-vis Sri
Lanka. Disposing the petitions by two
lawmakers who had sought the court's
intervention for the resolution of Tamil
Nadu fishermen problems on fishing in
sea without straying into Sri Lankan
waters, the court asked them to make a
representation to the new government
for the redressal of their grievance.
As the counsel for one of the lawmak-
ers told the court that they had earlier
made a representation to the previous
prime minister but it had no effect, the
court said: "Dispensation has changed.
There is a new government. You say
earlier you made a representation to the
(then) prime minister. Now you make a
fresh one." "We have our limitations.
We can't issue directions," the court
said that as Attorney General Mukul
Rohatgi told the court that these are
matters which can be sorted out at a dif-
ferent level. Rohatgi told the court that
one of the petitioner was Lok Sabha's
deputy speaker and could speak to
External Affairs Minister Sushma
Swaraj any time. "They can pick up the
phone and speak to the minister when
they want," hei said pointing to the
counsel for Thambidurai.
Pakistan taking action
against all militants, US told
Abdullah threatens to pull out of election process
The Indian and Pakistani
army at the Line of Control (LoC)
Abdullah Abdullah
Tamil Nadu fishermen issue must be remedied politically: SC
INTERNATIONAL
Washington: The mother of a US
freelance journalist, who was kid-
napped in Syria by the Islamic State
(IS), released a video in which she
urged the jihadist group to "be mer-
ciful" and release her son.
She also asked the group through
the vedeo to "follow the example
set by the Prophet Mohammed".
"We have not seen Steven Sotloff
for over a year and we miss him
very much. We want to see him
home safe and sound," Shirley
Sotloff said, directing her message
to IS leader Abu Bakr al Baghdadi.
"My son Steven is in your hands.
He is a journalist who made a jour-
ney to cover the story of Muslims
suffering at the hands of tyrants,"
she said in the video.
Sotloff, 31, who disappeared in
Syria in August 2013, was men-
tioned in the video released last
week in which another US journal-
ist, James Foley, being held hostage
by the IS was beheaded.
In that recording, the executioner
said that Sotloff' s fate would
depend on the next decision of US
President Barack Obama, who
recently had ordered selective air
strikes on IS positions in Iraq. The
journalist's mother said in her video
that Sotloff is an "honorable man
(who) has always tried to help the
weak."
"Since his capture, I have learned
a lot about Islam. I've learned that
Islam teaches that no individual
should be held responsible for the
sins of others. Steven has no control
over the actions of the US govern-
ment. He's an innocent journalist,"
she said.
Washington: The US journalist,
who was freed this week by the
miltants in Syria after two years
in captivity, thanked everyone for
their efforts to secure his release
and asked for privacy to be with
his family.
"In the days following my
release Sunday, I have learned
bit-by-bit that there have been lit-
erally hundreds of brave, deter-
mined, big-hearted people all
over the world worked for my
release," Peter Theo Curtis said
in a brief statement.
Curtis, who is now at his family
home in Cambridge,
Massachusetts, said he was
"overwhelmed with emotion" and
asked for privacy to reconnect
with loved ones.
His mother, Nancy Curtis, said
that the Qatari government nego-
tiated to secure his release on
humanitarian grounds and
expressed her "deep gratitude" to
the US and Qatari officials and
other individuals, both public and
private, who helped negotiate her
son's release.
Curtis' life was considered to be
in danger after another US jour-
nalist, James Foley, had been
decapitated last week by the
Islamic State militants. Foley had
been abducted almost two years
ago.
21 August 30-September 5, 2014 TheSouthAsianTimes.info
Steven Sotloff, 31, who disappeared in Syria in August 2013
Peter Theo Curtis
Kidnapped US scribe's mother pleads
IS to release son
US reporter requests
privacy after release
Paris: French President Francois
Hollande warned it would be "intol-
erable and unacceptable" if Russia
troops were to be operating on
Ukrainian territory, as western intel-
ligence believes.
"If it turns out that there are
Russian soldiers present on
Ukrainian soil, it would be intolera-
ble and unacceptable," he told a
Paris gathering of French ambassa-
dors from around the world.
Freetown: The three nations at the
centre of the west African Ebola
outbreak were left increasingly iso-
lated as more airlines suspended
flights to the crisis zone.
Air France has agreed to Paris's
request for a "temporary suspen-
sion" of services to Sierra Leone,
leaving its capital Freetown and
Monrovia in neighboring Liberia
with just one regular service, from
Royal Air Morocco.
"In light of the analysis of the sit-
uation and as requested by the
French government, Air France con-
firms it is maintaining its program
of flights to and from Guinea and
Nigeria," the flag carrier said.
Air France's decision came a day
after British Airways said it was
suspending flights to Liberia and
Sierra Leone until next year due to
Ebola concerns.
Health ministers from west
African nations hit by Ebola will
gather in the Ghanaian capital,
Accra, today to discuss responses to
the epidemic.
Authorities in the worst-hit
nations are scrambling to contain
the most serious outbreak of the
lethal tropical virus in history,
which has killed more than 1,400
people since it erupted early this
year. The United Nations' envoy on
Ebola, David Nabarro, earlier this
week took a swipe at airlines who
have scrapped flights to Ebola-hit
countries, saying the growing isola-
tion "makes it difficult for the UN to
do its work".
Brussels Airlines normally runs
four flights a week to Liberia and
Sierra Leone and three to Guinea,
but has also cancelled several serv-
ices since Saturday due to the clo-
sure of the Senegalese border.
The carrier said it would decide
on its future schedule this weekend.
The company committed to pro-
viding three separate flights to
Freetown, Monrovia and Conakry
this week in response to passenger
demand and to deliver 40 tonnes of
medical supplies from the United
Nations.
Only Royal Air Morocco has
vowed to stick to its normal flight
schedule - once a day to Conakry
and every other day on average to
Monrovia and Freetown.
"Our approach is supportive rather
than mercenary," airline spokesman
Hakim Challot told AFP, adding:
"From Casablanca, the take-up of
seats to these three countries is
extremely low, around 10 per cent".
UN officials have pledged to step
up efforts against the lethal tropical
virus, which has infected more than
2,600 and killed 1,427 since the
start of the year.
Liberia has been worst hit, with
624 deaths recorded. Guinea, where
the outbreak was first detected, has
reported 406 deaths, Sierra Leone
has 392 and Nigeria five, according
to the WHO.
Russian troops in Ukraine would
be 'intolerable, unacceptable':
Washington: US President Barack
Obama said that wiping out a radical
group like the Islamic State will not
be easy an easy task.
The president made the comment
as he authorised surveillance flights
over Syria, a move seen as a precur-
sor to step up US efforts in the war-
torn country to combat the Islamic
State, including possible air strikes
on its targets, Xinhua reported.
"Rooting out a cancer like IS
won' t be easy, and it won' t be
quick," he said in a speech delivered
at the annual convention of the
American Legion in Charlotte,
North Carolina.
He once again ruled out sending
back US combat troops to Iraq,
where US warplanes are continuing
their air raids on the Islamic State
targets, which was launched Aug 8.
"Let me say it again, US combat
troops will not be returning to fight
in Iraq," he said.
"We' ll not allow the US to be
dragged back into another ground
war in Iraq," he added.
Eradicating Islamic State will not
be easy: Barack Obama
Ebola zone countries isolated
as airlines stop flights
UN officials have pledged to step up efforts
against the lethal tropical virus
SC holds illegal coal blocks allocation since 1993
New Delhi : The Supreme
Court Monday held the coal
blocks allocated from 1993
onwards by a steering commit-
tee and through government
dispensation route were illegal,
arbitrary, and non-transparent
without any objective criteria
but did not cancel them yet.
A bench of Chief Justice R.M.
Lodha, Justice Madan B. Lokur,
and Justice Kurian Joseph said:
"The entire allocation of coal
block as per recommendations
made by the Screening
Committee from July 14, 1993
in 36 meetings and the alloca-
tion through the government
dispensation route suffers from
the vice of arbitrariness and
legal flaws."
Pronouncing the judgment,
Chief Justice Lodha noted there
was "no objective criteria" for
evaluation of comparative
merit.
"The approach had been ad-
hoc and casual. There was no
fair and transparent procedure,
all resulting in unfair distribu-
tion of the national wealth.
Common good and public inter-
est have, thus, suffered heavi-
ly."
The verdict came on a batch
of PILs initially by advocate
M. L. Sharma and NGO
Common Cause challenging the
validity of allocation and seek-
ing their cancellation.
Unlike the court verdict in 2G
case where it cancelled all the
121 licences, the court took a
cautious approach as it wanted
to address the consequences of
its verdict and how to tackle it.
"As we have already found that
the allocations made, both
under the Screening Committee
route and the government dis-
pensation route, are arbitrary
and illegal, what should be the
consequences, is the issue
which remains to be tackled.
We are of the view that, to this
limited extent, the matter
requires further hearing," the
court said as it directed the next
hearing on Sep 1. It said one
way of dealing with it is to
appoint a committee headed by
a retired apex court judge and
the such a committee's report
may help the court to have an
objective view on the options
available for allocation.
The court said as it pointed
out that the former attorney
general was not able to give
facts and figures and the money
involved in these allotments, as
whatever figures he gave were
disputed by the state govern-
ments.
Referring to some of coal
mines allocated to the state
governments or its undertakings
which in turn entered into joint
venture for mining and
prospecting, the judgment said
that no state governments or
their public sector undertakings
are eligible for mining coal for
commercial use.
Bonanza for air
travelers from
Air India
New Delhi: National carrier Air India
Tuesday announced a bonanza for its
travellers on the occasion of its merger
day on Aug 27, by offering a new
scheme whereby tickets will be offered
starting as low as Rs.100 apart from all
applicable taxes.
The airline said that it will be observ-
ing Aug 27 (Wednesday) as Air India
Day for the first time. This date com-
memorates the merger day between
Indian Airlines and Air India eight
years ago.
"This is the first time that the airline
will be celebrating the Air India Day. A
function will be held to celebrate the
day and also to award the meritorious
employees of Air India," the airline
said in a statement.
Under the scheme, tickets will be
offered for Rs.100 apart from all appli-
cable taxes. "The sale of these tickets
will be made only through the Air India
website for five days from Aug 27 to
31 for travel during the period Aug 27
to Sep 30 only," the statement said.
New Delhi: Despite the
possibility of deficient
monsoon casting a shad-
ow on the rural demand,
riding on overall better
sentiments gold is
expected to recover its
sheen in the second half
(July-December) of the
year, Somasundaram
P.R., managing director
(India), World Gold
Council said.
"The second half will
be a better one as com-
pared with the previous
year. The first half
(January-June) was
affected by the 80:20 rule
on exports and expecta-
tions that there will be a
duty cut.
"People were hoping
that the price will get
back to the Rs.25,000
($413) per 10 grams
zone. Then there was
election till the second
quarter (April-June),
which did have its own
impact on demand. There
were also a lot of opera-
tional issues for the
trade," Somasundaram
told IANS in an inter-
view.
The price of the yellow
metal is now hovering at
around Rs.28,000 per 10
grams. In 2013, the price
swayed between
Rs.26,440 per 10 grams
in April to Rs.34,600 per
10 grams in August.
The total demand esti-
mated by the World Gold
Council in India in 2014
is between 850 and 950
tonnes compared to 974
tonnes in 2013.
New Delhi: Gujarat Chief
Minister Anandiben Patel
called upon India Inc to par-
ticipate in the biennial invest-
ment summit 'Vibrant Gujarat'
2015, which is being part-
nered by seven countries.
"The seventh ' Vibrant
Gujarat' summit has attracted
the partnership of seven coun-
tries and a few states in India
and I hope that it will lead
India to shine across the seven
seas," said the chief minister
while addressing the curtain-
raiser event here for the
investment summit to be held
next year.
Prime Minister Narendra
Modi is scheduled to inaugu-
rate the three-day event, Patel
said.
According to the organiser
of the event, the partner coun-
tries in the seventh edition
will include Australia,
Canada, China, Japan, the
Netherlands, Singapore and
South Africa.
The seventh edition of the
bi-annual investment summit
'Vibrant Gujarat' will be held
Jan 11-13, 2015 at
Gandhinagar.
The event is being hosted at
the Mahatma Mandir in the
state capital at India's largest
exhibition area of around
125,000 square metres with an
expected participation from
over 2,000 companies, two
million-plus visitors and over
2,500 international delegates.
Minister of Finance, Energy
and Petrochemicals in the
Gujarat government
Surabhbhai Patel too invited
investor-participation at the
summit during the curtain-
raiser event co-organised by
industry body Confederation
of Indian Industry (CII) here.
'Gold likely to
regain sheen in
second half of 2014'
The apex court has not canceled the allocations yet
Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel
BUSINESS August 30-September 5, 2014 TheSouthAsianTimes.info 22
Vibrant Gujarat summit to host
seven partner countries
SPORTS 23 August 30-September 5, 2014 TheSouthAsianTimes.info
Cardiff: Suresh Raina got his maiden cen-
tury outside the subcontinent to inspire
India to a 133-run win via the Duckworth
Lewis method against England in the sec-
ond ODI and take a 1-0 lead in the five-
match series here.
Raina's quickfire 75-ball 100 took India
to a challenging 304 for six in 50 overs
here at Sophia Gardens. The first ODI was
washed out without a ball being bowled
due to rain.
Putting behind the 1-3 humiliating loss in
the Test series, Indian batsmen put on an
inspiring show as they came out all guns
blazing. Opening batsman Rohit Sharma
and skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni also
contributed with 52 each.
A rain delay then gave England a revised
target of 295 runs in 47 overs.
Indian spinners, Ravindra Jadeja (4/28),
Ravichandran Ashwin (2/38), Suresh Raina
(1/12), then turned the screws on the
English batsmen and bowled them out for
161 runs in 38.1 overs. Pacer Mohammed
Shami got two for 32.
Debutant Alex Hales's 40 off 63 balls was
the highlight of the innings. Eoin Morgan
(28), Ben Stokes (23), Chris Woakes (23)
and James Tredwell (10) were the other run
contributors.
Put in to bat by the England captain,
India made a cautious start after opener
Shikhar Dhawan (11) and Virat Kohli fell
in the eighth over at 19 for two. Both fell to
pacer Chris Woakes, who was the most suc-
cessful of the English bowlers with four for
52 while spinner James Tredwell got two
for 42.
Dhawan had a difficult stay at the middle
and was dismissed as he went for a drive
and got a thin outside edge to wicketkeeper
Jos Buttler. Kohli carried his poor form
from the Tests into the ODI and was out
three balls later as he charged Woakes only
to find Cook at mid-off.
Rohit and Ajinkya Rahane (41) then put
the innings on track with their 91-run stand
for the third wicket that also set the stage
for a charge by Raina and Dhoni.
Both Rohit and Rahane have had a poor
run in the series but here they were deter-
mined to make up for the lost chances.
They took their own time to settle down
and also assured that boundaries kept flow-
ing.
Rohit took 87 balls for his 52 and hit four
fours and a six while Rahane took 47 balls
for his 41 that also included four fours.
Just when it looked that the partnership
was growing stronger, England found a
wicket against the run of play with Rahane
being stumped by Buttler off Tredwell.
Rohit became Tredwell's second victim
after the Mumbai batsman's miscued shot
found Woakes at long off.
It was then left to Raina and Dhoni to
take India to a competitive total with their
144-run stand for the fifth wicket. Their
partnership lasted 101 balls and the duo
plundered the England bowling tactically.
Copenhagen: One of India's best
hopes P.V. Sindhu came out with a
strong performance to enter the
third round of the World
Badminton Championships after
earning a straight games win over
Russian Olga Golovanova at the
Ballerup Super Arena here.
The 11th seeded Indian needed
only 40 minutes to ease past Olga
21-12, 21-17 in their first ever
match. Last year's bronze medal-
list Sindhu next faces a tough
match against South Korean sixth
seed Yeon Ju Bae, who has beaten
the Hyderabadi in both their previ-
ous meetings.
Sindhu did not start well in both
games and took time to get into
rhythm. But as the games pro-
gressed, the 19-year-old showed
experience and brought out her
top game by notching points
which were beyond the physical
capability of Olga.
While Kidambi Srikanth and the
pair of Manu Attri and B. Sumeeth
Reddy won their matches in their
respective categories, it was the
end of the road for Pranaav Jerry
Chopra and Akshay Dewalkar in
men's doubles, Ajay Jayaram in
men's singles and Jwala Gutta and
Ashwini Ponnappa in women's
doubles. Reigning national cham-
pion Srikanth had a good day in
office as he notched up a 36-
minute 21-18, 21-13 win over
Englishman Rajiv Ouseph in their
first men's singles meet. However,
the rising Indian shuttler has an
extremely tough third round ahead
when he takes on World No.2 and
second seed Chen Long of China.
New York: Indian tennis players
Leander Paes and Sania Mirza
won their respective doubles
matches to advance to the second
round of the US Open at the
Flushing Meadows.
Men's doubles defending cham-
pions Paes and Radek Stepanek of
Czech Republic needed an hour
and 32 minutes to come out on top
against Italians Simone Bolelli
and Fabio Fognini. The sixth
seeds won the first round 7-6(5),
6-2 and will take on Yen-Hsun Lu
(Chinese Taipei) and Jiri Vesely
(Czech Republic) in the second.
Earlier, women's doubles third
seeds Sania and Cara Black of
Zimbabwe had a rather easy open-
er to win 6-3, 6-0 in only 57 min-
utes against Czech twin sisters
Karolina and Kristyna Pliskova.
Sania will play her mixed doubles
opener later in the day, with
Brazilian partner Bruno Soares,
against local pair Tornado Alicia
Black and Ernesto Escobedo.
Mumbai: India skipper MS
Dhonis declaration in Bristol
that coach Duncan Fletcher
would lead the team into next
years World Cup has not gone
down too well back home with
the Board of Control for Cricket
in India (BCCI).
Along with coming down
strong only Dhonis statement,
where he also claimed on the eve
of the first ODI that Fletcher is
still the boss, the Indian board
also tried to reinforce their status
quo in terms of making high-pro-
file decisions.
Dhoni cant decide who
should be coach. BCCI will
decide it, a top BCCI official
told The Indian Express, At the
same time, we also want to add
that it is the selection committee
that will decide the coach and
captain for the World Cup.
While Fletchers contract runs
up to the World Cup, his place at
the helm of the Indian teams
affairs has come under intense
scrutiny of late after former India
captain Ravi Shastri was
appointed as Director of Cricket
for the limited-overs leg of the
England tour.
But speaking at the pre-match
press conference, Dhoni also
insisted that the incumbent
coachs powers had not been
curtailed and that he still
remained the leader. This despite
the BCCI having reiterated that
the man calling the shots within
the Indian dressing-room was no
longer Fletcher, but Shastri.
Definitely he will lead us into
the World Cup, Dhoni said in
Bristol about Fletcher.
BCCI annoyed over Dhoni's
'Duncan' remark
Raina, spinners script India's 133-run win over England
Suresh Raina's quickfire 75-ball 100 took India to a
challenging 304 for six in 50 overs
India skipper MS Dhoni with coach Duncan Fletcher
Badminton: Sindhu progresses to pre-quarters
Leander Paes, Sania Mirza
win US Open openers
P.V. Sindhu
ULTIMATE BOLLYWOOD
IN REMEMBRANCE
24 August 30-September 5, 2014 TheSouthAsianTimes.info
O
m Puri, who had a minuscule role in
British filmmaker Richard
Attenborough's Oscar winning film
"Gandhi", says the film changed the life of
everyone who has been associated with it.
"Richard Attenborough's Gandhi changed
the lives of all those who were associated
with the film. Most of all, it changed Ben
Kingsley' s life. Thereafter each time
Gandhi's picture flashed across our mind, we
saw Ben's face along with Gandhiji," said
Puri.
"I had barely one-and-a-half-minute
screen-time in Gandhi. But what an impact
my cameo made! I believe it was shown as
the footage during the Oscar nominations, a
huge honour in a film that starred the most
distinguished cast possible...," he added.
Puri says that his going away is sad, "but
then death is inevitable".
"However the pain of his going away is
diminished when we consider the fact that
an artiste and a visionary like Sir Richard
has gone away after using his creative pow-
ers to the maximum. Such people become a
part of history and a source of inspiration for
many generations to come.
"He was an accomplished actor and a film-
maker. With Gandhi he achieved the pinna-
cle of success. With the film he changed
India's image abroad. A very large section of
the Western world did not know our values,
culture and ethics, our struggles and tri-
umphs as a nation. Because 'Gandhi' was
such a success, it reached into the recesses
of hearts all over the world...," he said.
B
ollywood pays tribute to late
Oscar winning filmmaker
Richard Attenborough and says that
the demise of the "ultimate creator of
celluloid biographies" marks the end
of an era.
This is what members of the Hindi
film fraternity have to say about him:
Annu Kapoor: My first earning in
the city of Mumbai was on August 25,
1982 when I dubbed for a small role in
'Gandhi' in the presence of the great
Richard Attenborough exactly 32
years back. We've now lost him. May
god rest his soul in peace.
Kamal Haasan: He had the greatest
respect for Satyajit Ray. In an inter-
view, he said Satyajit Ray sent him a
script to read. He said even if Ray had sent
him an Indian telephone directory, he
would have read it."
Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra: One of
the greats of our cinema Sir Richard is no
more. From "Brighton Rock" to "A Bridge
Too Far" to "Gandhi" - he has given us so
much. He lives forever in his work.
Nagesh Kukunoor: It's a loss! 32 years
later, "Gandhi" still remains the greatest
film made on India. Period.
R. Balki: He was god. He reincarnated
Gandhi.
Santosh Sivan: I think he was a film-
maker who spread hope and positivity
through his documentaries and feature
films. He was a true artiste. He loved
nature. And we could see his closeness to
nature in his cinema. "Gandhi" is timeless.
Gurinder Chadha: I met him a few
times, he was always the epitome of
charm. He was a formidable stalwart of
our industry with an amazing career as an
actor and filmmaker. He struggled for
many years to make his masterpiece
"Gandhi", no one wanted to back him but
he never gave up."
A
ctress and theater personality
Rohini Hattangadi played Kasturba
in the late Richard Attenborough's
"Gandhi" and says that working in the mul-
tiple Oscar winning film was a revelation
for her. She said that the British film direc-
tor gave a bound script to everyone and fol-
lowed it religiously.
Attenborough died at the age of 90 last
Sunday. "I still remember vividly how I got
Kasturba's role in 'Gandhi'. At that time I
was doing Marathi theater when casting
agent Dolly Thakore contacted me to meet
Sir Richard," said Rohini.
"He was going from Delhi to London via
Mumbai. Luckily, I was in Mumbai that
day. I met him for an hour. We spoke about
theatre and then he left. I later got to know
he had so many other actresses for
Kasturba's role. So I didn't really bank on
getting the role. But the very next day Dolly
called to say I had to leave for London for
shooting immediately," she added.
It wasn't easy for Rohini to pack her bags
and hop on the plane, but thankfully things
fell in place.
"I was booked for the coming weeks for
my play. I didn't even have a passport. So
how was I supposed to leave for London all
of a sudden? But Dolly said she'd help me
with all the travel details. In eight days, I
got a temporary passport and the producer
of my play was very accommodating.
Everything just fell into place..."
"Gandhi" was Rohini's first international
film.
"Shooting for 'Gandhi' was a revelation
for me. We were all given scripts and then
we were asked to do our homework. I
searched for books on Kasturba, but I found
only two books, that's all. So I had to rely
on my own skills.
"At the same time Sir Richard did not
allow us to deviate from the script. He was
very clear on how he wanted my English
pronunciation. He didn't want me to put on
an accent. At the same time, he didn't want
any Maharashtrian or Marathi pronunciation
in my speech. Since I had gone to a Marathi
language school, I had to take elocution
classes as preparation for my part as
Kasturba.
"Sir Richard also made me and Ben
Kingsley learn to spin the charkha. We
spent two-and-a-half months learning both,"
she said.
Released in 1982, the biographical film
brought the life of Gandhi on celluloid and
the appreciation that the film garnered
across the world was phenomenal. It won
eight Oscars out of its eleven nominations.
Remembering the film's release, Rohini
said: "After release we were suddenly
thrown into this situation of tremendous
impact. I found myself travelling all over
the world with the film for the premieres.
The impact was immense. In 15 days we did
six premieres."
Attenborough's 'Gandhi'
changed us: Om Puri
Acclaimed actor Om Puri
Oscar winning filmmaker Richard
Attenborough
End of an era:
Bollywood on Attenborough
Rohini Hattangadi played Kasturba in the late Richard Attenborough's
cult film 'Gandhi' (Inset)
ULTIMATE BOLLYWOOD 25 August 30-September 5, 2014 TheSouthAsianTimes.info
Akshay Kumar accepting the Ice Bucket Challenge
A
merican crime drama TV series
"Breaking Bad" won big, includ-
ing honors for the best drama
series and best writing for a drama series
at the 66th Annual Primetime Emmy
Awards. Comedy show "Modern Family"
also won multiple awards at the ceremony,
hosted by Seth Meyers.
"Breaking Bad" revolves around a strug-
gling high school chemistry teacher, who
is diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer
at the beginning of the series. It presents
how he turns to a life of crime to secure his
family's financial future.
The show's star Bryan Cranston bagged
the Outstanding Lead Actor In A Drama
Series Emmy. Aaron Paul, on the other
hand, walked away with the Outstanding
Supporting Actor In A Drama Series for
his performance in the series. His co-star
Anna Gunn too went home with
Outstanding Supporting Actress In A
Drama Series trophy.
"Modern Family" was feted for being an
Outstanding Comedy Series, while Ty
Burrell was given the trophy for
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a
Comedy Series for playing Phil Dunphy in
the popular show, whose director Gail
Mancuso bagged the Outstanding
Directing for a Comedy Series award at
the extravaganza, held at the Nokia
Theatre here.
The venue saw a star-studded presence
of celebrities dressed in their best for the
red carpet event, which was kept alive
with Meyers' jokes. A special segment was
'In Memoriam', as part of which actor-
filmmaker paid an emotional and befitting
tribute to his "greatest friend", the late
Robin Williams.
Prior to the tribute to Williams, pop star
Sara Bareilles sang a touching rendition of
"Smile" as the Emmy Awards acknowl-
edged late celebrities James Avery, Maya
Angelou, Lauren Bacall, Philip Seymour
Hoffman, Casey Kasem, Don Pardo,
Harold Ramis, Mickey Rooney, Elaine
Stritch, Shirley Temple and more.
For Allison Janney, the Emmys night
turned out to be a double whammy. She
bagged an award for being an Outstanding
Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series in
"Mom" and even as an Outstanding Guest
Actress In A Drama Series for "Masters Of
Sex". In the category of performances in a
mini-series and television movie, seasoned
actors Benedict Cumberbatch and Jessica
Lange won accolades for their Outstanding
Performance as Lead Actor and Actress in
"Sherlock: His Last Vow" and "American
Horror Story: Coven" respectively.
In the Outstanding Directing for a Mini-
Series, Movie or a Dramatic Special
Category, Colin Bucksey received the tro-
phy for "Fargo". "Fargo", a dark comedy-
crime drama TV series, was named the
best Mini-Series and "The Normal Heart",
based on a play of the same name, got the
award for the outstanding television
movie.
"The Amazing Race" got the
Outstanding Reality- Competition
Program trophy.
As far as the variety series were con-
cerned, "The Colbert Report", which fea-
tures political humorist Stephen Colbert
giving satirical commentary on the big
issues of the US, won two honours - the
Outstanding Variety Series and
Outstanding Writing in a Variety Series.
Sarah Silverman walked away with the
award for Outstanding Writing for a
Variety Special for "Sarah Silverman: We
Are Miracles", and the Outstanding
Directing for a Variety Special Honour
went to Glenn Weiss for the 67th Annual
Tony Awards.
In the Outstanding Directing for a
Variety Series category, Don Roy King
won for his work on 'Saturday Night Live',
hosted by Jimmy Fallon.
Priyanka Chopra in 'Mary Kom'
'Breaking Bad' sweeps 66th Emmy Awards
The cast and crew of American crime drama TV series 'Breaking Bad' and Comedy show
'Modern Family' after winning the Emmy Awards
Never thought I'll play an
athlete: Priyanka
S
he's played glamorous roles and a girl-next-
door in several of her past films. But Priyanka
Chopra, who will be seen playing boxing
champion M.C. Mary Kom in a biopic, says essaying
an athlete in a film was almost unthinkable for her.
"Mary Kom" has thus, taught her a valuable lesson. I
never thought I will play an athlete or I can become
an athlete. I didn't know anything about sports.
Besides, who would have thought that a girl can
develop muscles and biceps, but that happened with
me," the 32-year-old said.
"I learnt that if you are adamant to achieve some-
thing, anything can happen and you can do anything.
This was a very inspiring thing for me," added the
National Award winning.
"Mary Kom" marks the directorial debut of Omung
Kumar and it hits theatres Sep 5.
A
fter amassing global popularity,
the ALS ice bucket challenge,
which involves dumping buckets
of ice water over one's head to spread
awareness for amyotrophic lateral sclero-
sis (ALS), or Lou Gehrig's disease, has
found patrons in Bollywood.
From Akshay Kumar and Abhishek
Bachchan to Dia Mirza and Bipasha
Basu - Hindi film actors are following in
the footsteps of globally popular names
like George W. Bush, Bill Gates, Stephen
King, Christiano Ronaldo, Lady Gaga,
Robert Pattinson, Zac Efron, Vin Diesel,
Will Smith, Tom Cruise,
Nicole Kidman, Gwyneth
Paltrow, Hugh Jackman and
Mickey Rourke, to take the
online trend with gusto. Riteish
Deshmukh is said to have taken
the lead among B-Town celebs after
being 'nominated' by tennis star Sania
Mirza. He then picked Abhishek
Bachchan, Akshay Kumar and Sidharth
Malhotra, leading to a chain of celebri-
ties who were happy to douse themselves
in ice water for a global cause.The chal-
lenge involves people experiencing a
bucket full
of ice water
on video,
posting it
onsocial media
ans then nomi-
nating others to do the same - all in an
effort to raise awareness for ALS, a pro-
gressive neurodegenerative disease that
affects nerve cells in the brain and the
spinal cord.
People can either accept the challenge
or make a donation to an ALS Charity of
their choice, or do both.
Ice bucket
challenge hits
B-Town,
celebs get
chills
26 August 30-September 5, 2014 TheSouthAsianTimes.info SELF HELP
T
he most uncomfortable afflictions are
often the most embarrassing. And
anorectal health issues can interfere
with almost everything one does, from sitting
on a bus to enjoying a meal out with friends.
If you suffer from an uncomfortable and at
times, painful condition like hemorrhoids,
youre not alone. In fact, millions of
Americans -- particularly those between the
ages of 20 and 50 -- are affected by hemor-
rhoids. Additionally, other anorectal disorders
can have similar symptoms.
So ditch the embarrassment and use this
knowledge to feel empowered to discuss your
issue with your doctor. He or she can diag-
nose the issue properly and offer you tips for
relief. In the meantime, here are a few things
you can do to address the problem on your
own.
Change your exercise routine: While
regular physical activity can improve your
cardiovascular health and help you to main-
tain a healthy weight, certain types of activi-
ties can cause hemorrhoids. Straining from
weight lifting, for instance, may cause the
veins near the anus and rectum to become
swollen, eventually leading to this condition.
Cycling may also exacerbate the issue. Talk
to your doctor about exercises that are safe
for you.
Dont rush in the bathroom: Rushing
and pushing can cause excessive straining
and increase pressure on rectal veins. When
you are done, dont linger. Sitting on the toilet
longer than necessary can aggravate your dis-
comfort.
Lose weight: Excess weight in your
abdomen can increase your chances of devel-
oping hemorrhoids.
Seek relief: You dont necessarily need a
prescription to relieve the pain, itching and
burning associated with hemorrhoids and
other anorectal disorders. If your doctor con-
firms you have hemorrhoids, look for an
over-the-counter topical, local anesthetic at
your drugstore, such as RectiCare Anorectal
Cream, which contains the highest lidocaine
strength available without a prescription. It
works quickly to help soothe discomfort. In
addition, each tube comes with a supply of
finger cots, little covers that fit over the fin-
ger, to promote hygienic application.
New diet: If your hemorrhoids are caused
by constipation, try adding more fiber to your
diet to get to the root of the problem. And
remember to drink plenty of water alongside
any meal.
Whether youre walking down the drug-
store aisle or talking with your doctor, seek
the relief you need without embarrassment.
Anorectal problems are more common than
you think.
Dont be shy with your doctor about
embarrassing gastrointestinal symptoms
W
hile most schools offer a
baseline level of music edu-
cation, many programs are
limited and sometimes classroom instru-
ments can be scarce. Exposure to music,
however, offers people of all ages a
number of benefits - from reduced stress
to improved coordination and academic
outcomes. There are many things fami-
lies can do to enrich their musical lives.
September is National Piano Month, so
here are some fun ways to make more
music together.
Gather Round the Piano
Playing the piano can improve hand-
eye coordination and can be a great way
to gather the family together. Whether
you have an ace musician or a beginner
in your midst, no home should be with-
out a piano or keyboard. Look for fea-
tures that allow a budding musician to
pick up and play without any prior
musical experience.
For example, Casio offers a wide
range of digital pianos and keyboards
for every skill level. Its Privia line of
digital pianos is ideal for at-home music
lessons; the PX-150 digital piano has a
duet mode that splits the keyboard into
two equal ranges, allowing student and
teacher to use the piano simultaneously.
Designed with simulated ebony and
ivory textured keys, it reproduces the
touch and feel of an acoustic piano,
while its tri-sensor keyboard captures
the dynamics of a performance with
speed and accuracy. More information
can be found at
www.CasioMusicGear.com.
Sing-Along Night
You dont need to be the Von Trapp
family to exercise your lungs or experi-
ence the benefits of doing so. Singing
has been proven to improve quality of
life, according to many studies. Whether
it is impromptu karaoke night or your
family is watching a favorite musical,
dont be shy about creating opportuni-
ties for your household to sing.
Extracurricular Programs
Investigate your schools extracurricu-
lar programs. While general class sizes
can be large, extracurricular programs
such as band, chorus and school plays
can offer a better teacher-to-student ratio
and more access to instruments. The
benefits of music education are numer-
ous and learning piano can open the
gates to a wide range of musical inter-
ests in the future. To get your children
interested, encourage the whole family
to make more music at home.
Making music part of daily life
can benefit kids
T
he transition to college
is an exciting time, full
of anticipation for the
next chapter of life. But with
new opportunities come
uncertainties, from financing
an education to picking the
right courses. Paying for col-
lege and having kids leave the
house is new territory for most
parents and children. But with
research and preparation, par-
ents can help kids learn how to
maximize available funds,
borrow responsibly and man-
age their new lives, says Jodi
Okun, founder of College
Financial Aid Advisors and brand ambassador for
Discover Student Loans. Parents should encourage
kids to take responsibility for forming a long-term
financial plan they can work through together.
Okun offers the following tips for a smooth tran-
sition:
Empower students: Let students start with
smaller decisions, such as what to do with high
school graduation money, and then build to bigger
ones, such as finding and applying for additional
scholarships, and deciding whether they can balance
school with work-study or a part-time job.
Encourage students to form meaningful relationships
with their schools financial aid office.
Balance dreams with opportunities. While stu-
dents often pick a major based on childhood pas-
sions, parents may steer them toward an in-demand
field with a good salary and career trajectory. In fact,
70 percent of parents say job potential after college
is as important or more important than choice of
major, according to a recent Discover Student Loans
survey. Starting salary should also guide how much
debt the student takes on. For example, if a student
anticipates a $40,000 a year starting salary, he or she
should take on no more than
$40,000 in student loans over
the course of college.
Figure out the parents
role. The majority of student
loans are for students, but
there are loans specifically for
parents (e.g., Parent PLUS
Loans and some private stu-
dent loans). Consider the
advantages of each and decide
whether parent student loans,
traditional student loans or a
combination is best.
Regardless of whats decided,
parents should discuss options
and expectations with their
child.
Exhaust free money first. Grants, scholarships
and other free financial aid can help students pay for
costs. Resources such as Discover s Free
Scholarship Search and Studentaid.ed.gov can help
students and parents identify and apply for important
free money.
Choose the right student loan. With so many
choices for loans, choosing the right one can be
overwhelming. Families should compare federal and
private student loans based on key components, such
as interest rates, origination fees and repayment
options and then choose the loans that best fit their
financial needs.
Seek consultation. Financing college can be an
overwhelming and confusing process. Consider talk-
ing to a financial planner who can offer sound
advice. As college costs rise, understanding the
financial resources available, as well as having con-
versations about who is responsible for what, will
ultimately provide peace of mind for students and
parents.
More tips can be found at
DiscoverStudentLoans.com .(StatePoint)
Tips to ensure a smooth transition to college
If you suffer from an uncomfortable
and at times, painful condition like
hemorrhoids, youre not alone.
Grants, scholarships and other free
financial aid can help students pay for
costs. Resources such as Discovers
Free Scholarship Search and
Studentaid.ed.gov can help students
and parents identify and apply for
important free money.
LIFESTYLE 27 August 30-September 5, 2014 TheSouthAsianTimes.info
K
now why you get a hangover after a
night of drinking while some of your
friends do not? Blame it on your
genes. According to new research from
University of Missouri-Columbia, genetic
factors accounted for 45 percent of the dif-
ference in hangover frequency in women
and 40 percent in men.
People who are less susceptible to having a
hangover might have a greater risk for alco-
hol addiction, the study noted.
To reach this conclusion, the team looked
for links between the participants' genetic
makeup and the number of hangovers the
individuals reported experiencing in the past
year.
Nearly 4,000 middle-aged people from the
Australian Twin Registry participated in a
telephonic survey, reporting their experi-
ences with hangovers and alcohol consump-
tion.
The findings suggest that people who fre-
quently consume alcohol should observe the
way their bodies react to it.
"There is a strong correlation between
identical twins in reports of hangover fre-
quency as well as hangover resistance,
meaning that the genetic similarities of some
twins played a part in their hangover suscep-
tibility," researchers noted.
B
ollywood's young talent Alia Bhatt
is set to offer hairstyling tips to her
fans. She will do so via a digital
show, which offers a plethora of stylish
hair-do ideas and tips to make
people's locks look good. Alia
will be seen sharing some of
her favorite styles, tips and
tricks to create interesting
hairdos along with video
jockeys Bani and Gaelyn
on the web-based show,
said a statement.
The ladies will be bringing the
trendiest, funkiest and eye-catching
hair-dos and styles to viewers who look
to be ahead of the style curve.
T
he ponytail is an
effortless way to style
your hair when you
hit the gym or when you
experience a bad hair day.
But you can make it sleek
and sport it at parties or even
in the workplace.
Hair expert Halli Bivona
suggests the best way to
make the easy hairdo profes-
sional enough to wear to the
office and sleek enough for a
night out, reports huffing-
tonpost.com.
Theres a ponytail style
for every hair type and its
important to play around
until you find your favorite
look, said Bivona.
For curly hair, I love the
look of a low full pony and
for straighter hair, its all about
the braided side pony, she
added. For creating a chic pony-
tail you require products like dry
shampoo and hair spray.
Dry shampoo is your best
friend when trying to get a great
style in a short amount of time,
said Bivona.
Also, never underestimate the
power of hair spray when doing a
ponytail. Go for a lighter-hold
spray that you can build upon
depending on what type of look
you want, she added.
Here are the three ponytail
looks you can try:
The braided ponytail: The
braided ponytail look works best
with the first day of unwashed
hair because braids look best with
your hair as clean as possible.
Curl your strands before braiding
so you get a soft, romantic tex-
ture that works best with this
look.
The Lauren Conrad pony-
tail: Inspired by television per-
sonality Lauren Conrad, the look
works best with second-day hair
because it combines sleekness
and bounce with hair that has a
bit of natural oils in it. The key to
getting a looser, natural wave in
the ponytail is to wrap large sec-
tions around a one-inch iron.
The sleek ponytail: By
working with your own natural
oils, day three is the best day to
get that sleek, gelled look without
using any gels. Using a flat iron
on the ends will ensure that any
frizzing that may have happened
overnight is tamed.
Genes may influence
hangover chances
R
eality TV star Kim
Kardashian and
rapper Kanye West
love to spend on new
clothes for their 14-month-
old daughter North West
and her wardrobe is report-
edly worth $1 million.
"Kim and Kanye see
North as an extension of
themselves, so it`s no
shock that she is the most
glamorous baby on the
planet.
They are addicted to
spoiling her, "
femalefirst.co.uk quoted a
source as saying.
"Nori has more than $1
million worth of designer
clothes, and a lot of them
are custom-made. She`s
got tons of Givenchy,
Gucci, Louis Vuitton....
She even has a fur coat
designed especially for her
by Karl Lagerfeld that cost
$20, 000, " added the
source.
It is also believed that
Kanye has managed to get
Hermes to design a mini
Birkin bag for North.
North has also an expen-
sive jewelry collection,
including a ruby and pearl
necklace that the rapper
insured for $500,000 after
he bought it in Paris.
"Kanye gets such a thrill
out of dressing her up, he`s
started calling her his mini
muse. He`s even talking
about designing a clothing
line for her, " said the
source.
Rihanna doles out tips
for clear skin
S
inger Rihanna says she stops drinking
alcohol when her skin breaks out,
increases water intake and sometimes she
even resorts to beauty products to enhance her
look. Rihanna admits she has bad days just like
everyone else and often cuts out booze in order
to clear up her pores, reports femalefirst.co.uk.
"When I feel like my skin has had it, I cut all
the alcohol completely and overdo the water,"
she said.
"The morning of the Chanel couture show in
2013, I was so jet-lagged that I really didn't
sleep, and I had some wine the night before. I
was like Oh my god, I look old as shit! Who is
this person?"
And if water intake doesn't do the trick, then
use beauty products to look your best. "Mix
moisturizer and a drop of foundation. That,
some mascara, lipstick, and you're good. And
fix those brows," she told America's ELLE
magazine. Born in Barbados, Rihanna loves
lounging in the sun, but wears extra sunscreen
to protect her skin. "I love going home and
being reckless with the sun, but I notice now
that under my eyes starts to get tan. I hate that! I
have to put extra sunscreen there," said the
singer who collaborated with MAC for their
cosmetics range. The singer, who has her own
line of lipstick with MAC cosmetics, added that
the lip-enhancing accessory is her favorite
beauty product. Rihanna added: "It draws atten-
tion away from any flaws.
Alia Bhatt
turns
stylist
North Wests
wardrobe
worth $1 million?
Ponytail: Not just
workout hairdo
T
he whole e-commerce thing is a bril-
liant development for guys like my
son and myself, who HATE shop-
ping with a passion.
When we absolutely HAVE to make a
physical journey to a store, we create a
search and rescue plan to minimize time
spent.
1) Locate supermarket.
2) Access chilled food aisles.
3) Liberate peanut butter milkshakes.
4) Return to base.
Mission accomplished.
***
Of course, some people print grim warn-
ings that as e-commerce spreads, couch
potatoes like me will end up spending our
WHOLE LIVES rotting on sofas in front of
bad movies.
LIKE THATS A BAD THING!
***
Oh, believe me, there are many worse
ways to spend your life than being a
sedentary hedonist, which my wife says
is Latin for married man.
***
These days, guys everywhere are using
e-commerce to buy little masculine necessi-
ties, such as sports magazines, shaving
gear, rash cream, and family members.
Yes, I have a case in mind. A young man
in the city of Foshan, south China, used the
internet to get a wife and baby to distract
people from the fact that he preferred to
live with his boyfriend.
A news report says he went online to
order a fake marriage certificate and
everything he needed to look like a family
man, which I presume means suit jackets
with vomit-streaked shoulders, bags to
hang under his eyes and a massive hole in
his bank account.
After finding photos of a woman who
looked wife-like (I think this means
with rolling eyes and a long-suffering
expression), he ordered a baby from a peo-
ple-trafficker and gave it to his parents to
raise.
Hi, mom, bought you a presentI
mean, I got married and had a son and heir
last Tuesday, forgot to mention it earlier.
Everything went fineuntil police
tracked the missing infant to a location
which puzzled them: a baby-free apartment
containing two guys, both sensitive aes-
thetes with no interest in children.
The case finally broke when a detective
visited the guys parents and had a conver-
sation which went something like this.
COP: Whose baby is that?
PARENTS: My sons.
COP: But who gave birth to it?
PARENTS: His partner.
COP: The 42-year-old male model?!
PARENTS: Ah.
***
The story above was forwarded to me by
a geeky friend who used it to argue that you
can now use the internet to get ANY-
THING, making your wildest fantasies
come true.
Really? To show how ridiculous this
was, I gave him mine:
1) A date with Scarlett Johansson;
2) My own personal kingdom in which
everyone wears silly hats; and
3) A working time machine.
He found them all in minutes!
Ms Johanssons time can be booked by
contacting her agent at number 2000,
Avenue of the Stars, Los Angeles.
He located several islands for sale, and a
book on writing legal constitutions (to force
residents to wear silly hats).
And a search for Time Machine led to
an Apple product. It only takes gadgets
back in time but he was 99 per cent sure a
version which worked on physical reality
would be included with the next iPhone
upgrade.
I need to finish here. It may be time to
liberate another peanut butter milkshake.
28 August 30-September 5, 2014 TheSouthAsianTimes.info HUMOR
Funny Side by Nury Vittachi
Laughter is the Best Medicine
by
Mahendra
Shah
Mahendra Shah
is an architect
by education,
entrepreneur by
profession,
artist and
humorist, car-
toonist and
writer by hobby.
He has been
recording the
plight of the
immigrant
Indians for the
past many years
in his cartoons.
Hailing from
Gujarat, he
lives in
Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania.
30th August, 2014
Traits in you: Being ruled by Jupiter, you are ambitious,
confident, creative, dignified and optimistic. People trust
you as you are very helpful and you win their trust with
your behaviour. You need to work on your nature of being
jealous and arrogant.
Health this year: You may suffer from some minor health
issues and that would not bother you very much.
Finance this year: Your quick decision making capabili-
ty will help you gain enough money. Your social life
would be very pleasant this year as you may go on devel-
oping various profitable contacts to get help in your busi-
ness. You may frequently travel and go for parties in var-
ious social events.
Career this year: You will gain respect in your
organization as a hardworking and efficient professional.
Your colleagues would seek your advice in critical
situations. Your value as an employee would increase in
your organization and you will b e considered as an asset
to the organization.
Romance this year: You may not find enough mental
support from your partner, which may weaken your rela-
tionship with your partner.
Lucky month: December, April and July
31st August, 2014
Traits in you: Being number 4, you are a person who
likes to take responsibilty and do your work with full ded-
ication and honesty. You are a very down to earth person
with religious beliefs. This year you might plan to go for
a piligrimage. Sometimes you become bossy, jealous or
stubborn, which you should avoid to lead a happy life with
smiling people around you.
Health this year: Health of a person depends on one's
thinking. Remember that one's thinking has reflection on
one's body. If we think positively we will enjoy a sound
health, whereas negative thinking will only put adverse af-
fects on our body.
Finance this year: The coming year, will be financially
good for most of you. With your will power and practical
attitude, you will be able to make the most of the oppor-
tunities which come your way, giving you monetary gains.
Career this year: Realistic and with a very practical ap-
proach towards life, most of you are successful in your
professional front. The coming year, will see you achieve
new heights of excellence, in whatever new project you
take in hand.
Romance this year: This year don't allow your personal
problems creep into your romantic affair. Always remem-
ber that love is a given expression between two partners.
So just enjoy each other's company. If you are already
married, then take some time out from your busy sched-
ule to be with your soulmate.
Lucky month: August, January, June and July
1st September, 2014
Traits in you: Your ruling planet Sun showers energy on
you. You are realistic, distinguished, and intelligent. You
possess a high intelligence quotient as well. You are aware
of handling any adverse situation with you calmness,
composure and tactfulness. You need to deal with situa-
tion more efficiently this year. You have to work on your
mood swings and restlessness.
Health this year: You may perform some religious exer-
cises at your home to attain peace, health, and wealth.
Finance this year: This year your investments will give
you high returns and your financial conditions will be im-
proved drastically. This may make you spend more on
buying luxury and comfort. Guests may keep visiting you
throughout the year and they may bring you gifts and fi-
nancial support
Career this year: You need to improve your professional
relationship with your colleagues and clients as it will help
you grow as a professional. You should plan team outings
and get-togethers to come closer to your co-workers.
Romance this year: If you are in a romantic alliance, you
will enjoy the relationship this year. You may get married
this year.
Lucky month:December, April, August, September
2nd September, 2014
Traits in you: The calmness of your ruling planet makes
you a person with a composed nature. You epitomize sim-
plicity, responsibility, trust, creativity, intelligence and tal-
ent. You believe in living each and every moment of your
life. You want to enjoy life to the fullest and. You are ca-
pable enough to become a writer, thinker or a philosopher.
However, you should not let your ego overpower your tal-
ent and ruin your beautiful personality.
Health this year: If you feel mental disturbance, you
may take help of a spiritual person to restore the peace.
Finance this year: You will grow financially as the year
progresses. You are expected to get enough returns from
your investments.
Career this year: You may face a lot of problems and
challenges this year. However, your steady willpower and
assistance from your close ones will make you come tri-
umphant in each adverse situation.
Romance this year You will enjoy a great relation-
ship with your partner even there will be problems be-
tween you.
Lucky month: January, March, May and August
3rd September, 2014
Traits in you: Your dominant planet Jupiter blesses you
various noble characteristics to make you attractive, de-
termined, dignified and helpful. You will have your own
methodologies and principles to live your life. You are
strong enough to take your own decisions and you will be
admired for your ability to make quick decisions. You
love independence as you want to live your life with your
terms. However, you need to work on you nature of being
rude, stubborn and hypocrite.
Health this year: You may suffer from some minor
health issues and that would not bother you very much.
Finance this year: If you are planning to set up your new
business abroad, you should go ahead as it will bring you
lot of money, professional recognition, and prosperity.
You will regain your confidence as the new sources of in-
come will earn you lot of money. If you are planning to in-
vest in real estate business, it will be proved to be a cor-
rect decision toward the end of the year.
Career this year: If you are a working professional, you
will be benefited from the professional changes that are
supposed to happen in the middle of the year.
Romance this year You will enjoy a very supportive
relationship with your partner or spouse. You may need to
take extra responsibility of your family as your family
member may behave more demanding.
Lucky month: December, February, July, September
4th September, 2014
Traits in you: Being ruled by Uranus, you have devel-
oped characteristics such as confidence, dignity, fun lov-
ing, disciplined and so on. This year is so lucky for you
that you can turn mud into gold just be your mere touch
provided you put your best effort in anything you do. You
can behave a bit down to earth as it will suit and enhance
your personality. You should stop your mood swings for
better results in your life.
Health this year: If you are a chronic patient, better you
have your periodic medical check up to avoid future
health issues. You have to take your preventive medicines
regularly to stay healthy.
Finance this year: If you have some properties, you will
be in ample monetary gain. If you are into business, you
may travel to distant places for business purpose to obtain
better financial benefits. You may spend a huge amount of
money in renovation of your existing house or construc-
tion of a new one.
Career this year: You should not bother about your ca-
reer this year as it is expected to blossom with lot of op-
portunities and success. As your performance will be good
this year, you will be appreciated by your colleagues,
clients, seniors and higher management. You may cele-
brate your success and growth throughout the year and
reach a new height in your profession.
Romance this year: You may plan to spend time with
your partner to make him/her happy and develop a better
understanding so you may travel to get pleasure and relax
themselves from their busy lives.
Lucky month: October, January, March and June
5th September, 2014
Traits in you: You are blessed with intelligence and a
very sharp memory. Mercury being your ruling planet
makes you realistic, emotional, honest, helpful, and diplo-
matic. You always want to make your life happening by
filling it with lots of joy and excitement. You are very
much interested in exploring new places and meeting new
people. However, you need to refrain yourself from get-
ting nervous as it may be counted as a short coming in
your rich personality. You will be appreciated by your near
and dear ones for showing your emotional side and help-
ing nature.
Health this year: You will be enjoying a very good health
this year despite lot of stress.
Finance this year: The second half of the year will be the
ideal time to finalize your financial deals as it would bring
you excellent returns. However, you need not invest in a
partnership. You may face loss.
Career this year: You should concentrate on your goals
set for this year and work hard to achieve them. If you can
achieve the goals, you will gain lot of financial rewards.
You may have to face losses and public embarrassment
due to your lack of ability to gather accurate information.
It is advised to concentrate on everything you do.
Romance this year: If you are in a romantic relationship,
you may decide to get married this year.
Lucky month: December, February and July
By Dr Prem Kumar Sharma
Chandigarh, India: +91-172- 256 2832, 257 2874
Delhi, India: +91-11- 2644 9898, 2648 9899
psharma@premastrologer.com; www.premastrologer.com
Stars Foretell: August 30-September 5, 2014 Annual Predictions: For those born in this week
29
ARIES: Make sure you dont neglect
subordinates by giving an ear to them to
enable yourself to find valuable sugges-
tions. Enjoying a picnic with family will not
only bring joy but also help in clearing misun-
derstandings. Successful execution of brilliant
ideas would help in earning financial profits.
You find pleasure and enjoy ecstasies of love in
the arms of partner. A continuous positive think-
ing gets rewarded as you succeed in whatever
you do during this week. A systematic approach
to plan your journey will benefit you in future.
Your personal loan plans for property could be
in progress. You will be successful in acquiring
new skills to discover more about yourself.
TAURUS: A very good week to apply
for overseas job. Charming nature and
pleasant personality would make you the
attraction of family function. A very successful
week as far as monetary position is concerned.
Love journey is likely to be short but sweet.
Health would remain fine despite a busy sched-
ule but dont take it for granted. Some arrange-
ments before you go on an overseas trip will
save your time, effort and give you peace of
mind. Your dream for new house might be full
filed now. Friendship tool would benefit friend
by removing the flaws in behaviour.
GEMINI: A missed opportunity would
hard to regain especially at professional
front. Arguments with children could put
some mental pressure. However, dont strain
yourself beyond a point because certain issues
are best when left untouched. New contracts
might appear lucrative but might fail to bring
desired gains. Romantic relationship suffers as
you neglect the feelings of partner. Even medi-
tation & yoga might fail to enhance mental
toughness. Your travel plans could not workout
as you will be visiting a beastly place.
Mortgaging your plot is not right for you, crisis
may arise. Hidden enemies might sabotage your
legal matters.
CANCER: Promotions and monetary
benefits for dedicated professionals.
Family members appreciate the changes
made in & around the house. Indications of
earning financial profits through commissions,
dividends or royalties. You enjoy a lovely time
as Cupid is on your side this week. Creative
hobbies are likely to keep you relaxed. Weekend
getaway to enjoy pubs and clubs is on your way.
Getting your dream home will be the greatest
pleasure for you. You will be successful in cut-
ting yourself away from old ideas & beliefs that
have outlived their utility/purpose.
LEO: Pending proposals will get imple-
mented with the help of seniors. An
impulsive behaviour brings disappoint-
ment at family front. Better to control it to save
all. Monetary gains are likely to remain below
expectations. Dont forget to take some time for
love partner. Unwanted thoughts could occupy
mind thus keeping you distressed. Vacations are
at a premium, if you consider them. You might
face problem to sell your property as marketing
might not be correct. If possible dont waste
your valuable time on unproductive work.
VIRGO: Before refusing a promotion
offer, look the things from long-term
perspective. Friends and family mem-
bers would encourage to work harder. Put your
extra money at a safer place promising to return
you on time. A special message from
beloved/lover lifts spirits. Cataract patients must
avoid overexposure to sunlight. Planning for
traveling requires advice of persons whom you
travel with. Selling a plot might be profitable as
property rates tend to rise sooner. Efforts to
defend your identity would pave the way for
your future success.
LIBRA: Good week for implementing
new plans and ventures. You are likely
to hear a good news from close rela-
tives. Control your expenses and avoid being
too lavish in your spending. Behave properly
while going out with love companion. Make
sure you avoid everything that affects your
health. It is important to delve into your desires
before you plan to travel. Want to buy a proper-
ty at seaside, go through the safety measures. It
will be in your interest not to give importance
to useless things.
SCORPIO: Subordinates/co-workers
would be very helpful. An old friend
makes a pleasant visit later in the week.
Important people will be ready to finance any-
thing that has a special class to it. Love com-
panion will be eager to meet you during this
week. With a positive outlook & confidence,
you succeed in impressing people around you.
A short trip with lavishing experiences is the
right thing for you. Purchasing home loan is
not the right decision for you. You might face
opposition and rivalry in personal situations.
SAGITTARIUS: Time to be a good
communicator & natural negotiator to
enable yourself to tackle the pressure
of a highly responsible position. Evening
enjoyed with family and close relatives brings
immense pleasure. Property dealings would
materialize helping in bringing fabulous gains.
If possible, spend quality time with love part-
ner to know & understand each other better.
Encourage mind to be receptive to positive
emotions like love, hope, faith, sympathy and
optimism to enjoy a sound health. When
preparing to travel with a family be humble and
patient. If you are shifting to another rental
house then go through the contract papers care-
fully. You will have to save yourself from the
conspiracy hatched by enemies.
CAPRICORN: Traveling brings new
overseas business opportunities. You
are likely to plan a short trip with fami-
ly. You are likely to earn monetary gains
through various sources. Proposing might ben-
efit, as chances of succeeding in love are high.
You need to keep patience as your continuous
effort coupled with common sense & under-
standing brings success. Pack your bags and be
ready for an amazing holiday. Lifestyle home is
what you are looking for? Things begin to
move in your favour as you find people sup-
porting you.
AQUARIUS: You are likely to
encounter some challenging situations
at workplace. Some changes that you
might make to your looks could annoy family
members. Better to do things that would please
them. Financial problems could affect con-
structive thinking. Disclosure of secret affair
might create some problems at love front. You
are likely to suffer from stress & tensions in
this week.
Reduce your property loans otherwise you will
be in great trouble. You unnecessarily waste
time by trying to change the will of a friend
without changing mind.
PISCES: Time to equip yourself with
strong communication skills to enhance
career prospects. Unexpected visit by
old friend could give you a pleasant surprise.
Increase in income from past investment is
foreseen. Search for a true romantic friend
might end this week. Mental alertness would
enable to solve a tricky problem. If youre
planning a vacation, be sure to consider your
work does not effect. Deals on commercial
property can tend to be at full boom. Your cre-
ativity would immensely help in doing well in
life.
August 30-September 5, 2014 TheSouthAsianTimes.info ASTROLOGY
30 August 30-September 5, 2014 TheSouthAsianTimes.info SPIRITUAL AWARENESS
S
omepeopledrinkalcoholand
takedrugs.Inmanyplacesof
work, Friday is a time in
which people meet for Happy
Hour.There,theyengageindrink-
ing to feel good. There are numer-
oustelevisioncommercialsforbeer
and wine, depicting the happiness
people experience by drinking. In
privatecircles,peoplespeakofhow
good they feel when they get high
on drugs. There is a tremendous
drug culture in modern societies.
People seem to feel they cannot be
happy without alcohol or drugs.
Butweallknowthatthathappiness
is temporary and comes at a high
price.Theymayfeelgoodforafew
minutes, but later they feel sick to
theirstomach.Theymaygetaddict-
ed and require more and more to
make them maintain their high.
Drugsandalcoholleadtoimpaired
judgment and poor motor skills,
whichinturncanleadtodeadlycar
accidents. People turn to crime to
get money to buy drugs and alco-
hol. This leads to people getting
hurt and those perpetrating the
crimes going to prison. In some
casesdrugsandalcoholleadtodis-
easeanddeath.
When people see that we are
happy and blissful without drugs
and alcohol, they ask us how we
can feel so good. We can then
explain that meditation gives us a
naturalstateofintoxication.Wecan
explainhowthesweetnectarofthe
divine Wine within provides more
intoxication than any intoxication
which outer drugs and alcohol can
giveus.Wecantalkabouthowwe
getthisdivineblisswithinthatlasts
twenty-four hours. There is no
hang-over. There are no side
effects. We do not pass out or get
sick. We do not have to steal from
anyone to get this bliss.We do not
havetocausecaraccidentsorcom-
mit crimes. Rather than lowering
our consciousness through drugs
andalcohol,weareraisingourcon-
sciousness to spiritual heights and
even attaining God-consciousness.
The joy people see we have in our
liveswillinspirethemtoalsowant
topartakeofthatsweethoneywith-
in.
Whenpeoplewhoseeusmeditat-
ing notice a change in us, they are
also inspired to experience the
samechange.Theyseethatmedita-
tionmakesuscalmerandmorebal-
anced.Theyseethatweareableto
dealwiththechallengesoflifeina
much more even manner.They see
that even though everyone goes
through the challenges of financial
problems, health problems, rela-
tionshipdifficulties,andotherchal-
lenges, we sail through them much
more easily than most people.This
makes people wonder what secret
we hold that helps us face lifes
struggleswithmorefortitude.
Finally,whentheyseehowbliss-
ful and intoxicated we are without
the use of unnatural means such as
drugs and alcohol, they too want
such happiness. Just like the
princess who saw the joy that peo-
plehadwhentheytastedthesweet-
nessofhoneyandhowtheywanted
to share that delicious taste with
others, people will see the joy we
experience from meditation and
theywillwanttoenjoythataswell.
I am reminded of a verse by
Sant Darshan Singh Ji Maharaj
which says:
Who has said that you must drink
in secret?
This is divine Wine that you must
share with others.
While drinking this Nectar, forget
the sorrows of life and the pains of
the world.
And hum songs of beauty and
love.
We can appreciate what a bless-
ing it is to have a Master and to
receivethespiritualteachingsfrom
him. This is a valuable gift that
actually is sent to us by God
through the Masters. God wants
eachofustohavethegift.Ifweare
luckyenoughtoreceivesuchagift
fromaMaster,weshouldtreasureit
and put it to use. We should make
thebestuseofthegiftbyspending
timeinmeditation.Letusenjoythe
divine honey of the Light and
Soundwithin.Letusthentravelon
thedivinenectarbacktotheLord.
By Sant Rajinder Singh
Ji Maharaj
Concluding part of the discourse 'Sharing the divine honey'
When people see that we are
happy and blissful without
drugs and alcohol, they ask
us how we can feel so good.
We can then explain that
meditation gives us a natural
state of intoxication. We can
explain how the sweet nectar
of the divine Wine within
provides more intoxication
than any intoxication which
outer drugs and alcohol can
give us. .
Jumping to Conclusions
W
e often fall into the habit of mis-
judgingothers.Wecanbequickto
criticizeorpassjudgmentwithout
knowingthebackgroundofapersonslifeor
situation. It is
r e ma r k a b l e
how wrong we
canbe.
When we do
not know why
people act as
they do, we
jump to con-
c l u s i o n s .
S o m e o n e
might even be trying to help us or make
thingsbetter,yetinsteadoftakingthetimeto
askwhysomethingisbeingdone,weberate
them.
Aswegoaboutourwork,weneedtothink
twice before we criticize or pass judgment
onsomeone.Whenwedontknowthewhole
storythe motives or reasons a person has
for doing somethingit is better to take a
few minutes to stop and ask about it. Many
times, we will find that the person is trying
to do something helpful. We can be so
wrapped up in our own lives that we do not
takethetimetofindoutmore.
When a person criticizes someone, others
tend to jump on the bandwagon to join in.
Yet they do not know the situation either,
and soon many are spreading false informa-
tion.
Itisbettertoresolveaproblemrightaway,
learn the situation, and fix it before it esca-
lates into something bigger and worse than
whatitstartedouttobe.
We need to refrain from judging others. If
wegetcaughtupindoingthis,thenwehave
filled our minds with thoughts that are not
true and that take us away from our own
innerpeace.Whateverwedocomesbackto
us, so we risk reaping the fruits of our
thoughts,words,anddeeds,whetherpositive
ornegative.Whenwecriticizeothers,weare
bound to get the fruit of our actions, for we
havehurtthembyourwords.
Tokeeppeaceofmindinourdailylifeand
tomeditatewithacalmmind,itisbeneficial
to develop the habit of not jumping to con-
clusionslestwemisjudgeothers.Instead,let
usbelovingandcaringandfindoutwhatthe
personsrealstoryis.Thiswillcontributeto
our own inner peace and spread out to our
environmentandtheworld.
The Art of Meditation
T
he art of meditation is based on the
fact that we are not the body, but the
soul that inhabits the body. Medical
research on near death experiences shows
thatpeoplewhohavebeendeclaredclinical-
ly dead, but were revived, shared common
experiences.Afterthemomentoftheirclini-
cal death they found themselves traveling
through an inner tunnel to a region of light
andlove.
Theyweremetattheendofthetunnelbya
benevolent, radiant being. They described
the bliss they felt in the presence of that
light, and they all talked about their reluc-
tancetoleavethatjoy,thatbliss,toreturnto
their physical body. This experience has
been common to those who passed through
thegatesofdeath,whethertheywereadults
or children, whether they belonged to one
religionoranother.
Someoftheadultsidentifiedthelightwith
the religious figure prominent in their faith.
Thelatestbookonthissubjectdescribesthe
near death experiences of children. The
young people interviewed in the book did
not associate the light with any particular
person. Because the children had not yet
associated spiritual experiences with any
particularreligiousbeliefs,theydidnotasso-
ciate the loving light with a particular per-
sonality.
This mounting evidence, uncovered by
doctors and scientists, that there is another
dimension of existence, has become more
andmoreacceptedbyoursociety.
We do not have to wait for a physical
calamity to have a near death experience.
Through the process of meditation we can
learn an easy, simple, and safe method of
separatingoursoulfromthebodyandtravel-
ing to other dimensions. By using a method
to concentrate our attention at a particular
point, our soul can transcend our body and
enterregionsofbliss.
August 30-September 5, 2014 TheSouthAsianTimes.info
August 30-September 5, 2014 TheSouthAsianTimes.info