Indian February 10, 2012 Volume 3, No. 20

For Free distributioN

www.iwk.co.nz

New Zealand’s first Indian weekend magazine

The Pulse of Kiwi Indians

riteish Genelia tie the knot

Bollywood | 23sahara ditches

cricket

India | 12

enthrall

Cambodia's Indian heartNZ-INdIa FTa makes progress Pg 19

Pg 3

Pg 20

Pg 7

2 Indian Weekender | February 10, 2012 | www.iwk.co.nz

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In 2012, New Zealand Tertiary College (NZTC) celebrates 30 years of providing out-standing early childhood teacher education.

Since its establishment in 1982 by Kinder-care Learning Centres Managing Director Glennie Oborn and Allan Wendelborn, NZTC has played a pivotal role in gaining recognition for the profession of early childhood teacher education in New Zealand. In the 80s early childhood teachers were regarded as ‘caregiv-ers’ or ‘childcare workers’ and centres were the domain of the Department of Social Welfare (as opposed to the Department of Education). To ensure educators were given the respect and acknowl-edgement they deserved, the College always referred to its students as ‘teachers’- which has since become industry stan-dard.

In addition to College based, field based and distance learning modes of study, NZTC began offering courses via NZTC Online in 2009. NZTC Online is a purpose-built online learning environment which enables early childhood students New Zealand-wide to fit study around their various commitments - all while gaining valuable practical experience. Later the same year NZTC established an office in Mumbai to support students in India as they gained their qualifications via NZTC Online.

In 2011 the College expanded its range of programs to include New Zealand’s first ever

Postgraduate Diploma specialising in Early Childhood Education; designed to equip early childhood professionals with higher-level leadership, scholarship and research skills. NZTC now offers programs to suit every type of learner; beginning from the six-month Certificate in Early Childhood Teaching (In-troduction) to the two-year Master of Educa-tion (Early Childhood Education) (see www.nztertiarycollege.ac.nz for full details). These programs are continually developed to ensure they reflect the industry’s evolving needs.

Today the College continues to lead the way in the field of early childhood teacher

education. The College’s latest NZQA exter-nal evaluation and review returned the highest pos-sible ratings of “Highly Confi-dent”.

NZTC will be celebrating this special 30 year milestone by acknowledging the support of students, centre staff, Associate Teach-ers and friends of NZTC New Zealand-wide through the gifting of chocolate fish (NZTC’s ‘delicacy’) and various other surprises throughout the year. The College is looking forward to the next 30 years of empowering people to become effective early childhood educators.

If you would like to be part of the next chapter in NZTC’s story, and you love the idea of working with young children, please call (09) 520 4000 or email info@nztertiarycol-lege.ac.nz to discuss your options.

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A moving, personal tributeLong time associate, friend and legal luminary Thakorbhai Parbhu spoke engagingly about Sir Anand at the evening, peppering his address with little known anecdotes that revealed many biographical and personal facets of the Governor General. Excerpts:

“Your connection with the Indian community goes back to your late Father – Dr Sati as he was affectionately called. He practised at 201 Ponsonby Road. He originally came from Fiji and on completion of his medical degree was supported by the Indian Association for residency in New Zealand. He was one of our first Indian doctors in New Zealand.”

“You are the by-product of a good family. Your late father and your mother Taraben were respected stalwarts and great supporters of the Indian community. You married a lovely girl – Lady Susan, a Legal Executive from the law firm of Cairns Slane & Co. and you both raised your lovely family.”

“My personal reflections over all these years are the dinner parties at our place, your place and your parents’ place; too many to mention. You and Lady Susan attended by grand-daughter Shaila’s first birthday at May Road Hall.”

“The hockey game you organised with the Justice Department and my tea, our frequent meetings in the Law Library and the dinner at your unit in Freeman’s Bay with David Lange who lived around the corner in Wellington Street are still fresh in my mind.”

“I try to keep in touch with your movements at the local gymnasium which you attend with our mutual friend Norman Elliott.”

“Your nature, disposition and character, your amiable attitude, your ability to relate to all ethnicity, your friendship and contact with people and organisations has made you a likeable and acceptable person in fitting with your high office. You have been a great bridge builder in New Zealand with the various communities.”

“Your dignity in difficult circumstances has stood you well. In the position that you have attained you have brought honour and respect to the Indian community not only in New Zealand but throughout the world.”

“You have walked into the pages of New Zealand history.”

Remembering a dear mate…

there were fewer than 10000, now there are more than 100,000 making Indians the second largest ethnic Asian group. The participation of Indians is huge. When I joined law, Indian lawyers could be counted on one hand now there is a whole roomful and more,” he added.

While being Governor General, he had the occasion to attend several functions with “an Indian dimension” throughout the country, he said. Among these he recalled Diwali in many parts of the country, the diamond jubilee of the Wellington Indian Sports Club, the 85th anniversary of NZICA in Palm-erston North and the NZICA Womens Conference in Wel-lington in 2008 that Lady Susan inaugu-rated.

Touching upon relations between Indian and New Zealand, Sir Anand acknowledged the current negotiations on the free trade agreement and the commitment of Prime Ministers John Key and Manmohan Singh. He said there was “real substance” in the negotia-tions and that the relationship between the two countries “ was becoming closer in a substan-tive way”.

Sir Anand described the Pravasi Bharatiya Award that was presented to him at Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi was one of his most cher-ished. While it made him proud of his Indian heritage, it also reflected the greatness of a

country like New Zealand where it was possi-ble for a person of Indian, whose grandparents and parents were migrants, could stand proud with achievements as lawyer, judge, ombuds-man and finally as Governor General.

He said he looked forward to “restore the spontaneity and relative anonymity that comes out of stepping down from office.” He was car-rying a multitude of memories with him, he added, many of these were shared closely with

the Indian community.NZICA General

Secretary Raj Thandi said, “Sir Anand is a great New Zealander and distinguished com-munity leader. He is a fine example of a New Zealander who made good through hard work and a commitment to realising high goals.

“The Association was very proud to honour Sir Anand and his wife, Lady Susan. A special plaque, designed by myself was presented to Sir Anand that symbolised the respect that he deserves.”

About 200 members and guests, including representatives of the New Zealand Govern-ment attended the function. Sir William Birch, a former New Zealand Minister of Finance, Ramesh Patel, a New Zealand Olympian, Judge Ajit Singh, Auckland City Councillor Des Morrison and Member of Parliament Kan-waljit Singh Bakshi also attended the event among several other community luminaries.

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The India-NZ FTA discussions have pro-gressed to round 7 when a team led by Mr. JK Dadoo IAS, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Commerce and Industry of the government of India, met their New Zealand counterparts led by Nigel Fyfe from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFaT).

After a few days of intense discussions in Wellington, the team headed to Auckland where they visited some businesses and at-tended a dinner meeting organised by India New Zealand Business Council (INZBC), sup-ported by MFaT.

Executive Committee members of INZBC along with the participants of the recent Prime Minister’s trip to India attended the dinner meeting at India Gate Restaurant in Epsom. Among those present were AUT vice chancel-lor Derek McCormack, Acting Indian High Commissioner Sanjay Verma, Fonterra’s Sarah Paterson, Trace Houpapa, chairman of the fed-eration of Maori Authorities, Andy Warren from Bloomz NZ, Susan Huria from Airways Corporation, Michael Orton from Ebus, Cary Heslop from Lanzatech, Vipan Garg from Na-

tional Steel, Roshan Nauhria from Nauhria Precast, Anand and Sarita Kumble from Pictor, Jacob Manothra from Zindia, Dinesh Naik – KPMG, Robert Barker from NZIFS, Wenceslaus Anthony, INZBC chairman, Sunil Kaushal from ANZ Bank, Bhav Dhillon from Cemix and Sameer Handa from Patton.

Bhav Dhillon, Executive Committee member of INZBC in his welcome address highlighted the importance of the meeting and said that the evening would be a fruitful delib-eration for the delegates. All the participants got a chance to speak and update both the New Zealand as well as the India side of FTA nego-tiators as to what they expect out of this part-nership in the future.

This high powered well attended func-tion was formally opened by Robert Barker, head of the Christchurch chapter of INZBC, who shared his experiences of doing business with India having visited India more than 30 times. Ideas on log exports, technology trans-fer in horticultural sector, biotechnology part-nerships, healthcare solutions, car recycling, building technologies, ICT sector partner-ships, cold chain technology and partnerships in the burgeoning dairy sector of India were discussed and deliberated.

Mr. Dadoo summed up the discussion by

commenting that economic bonding between the two countries is bound to happen and he can see increased economic cooperation hap-pening in the future. He raised his concern about the current balance of trade which is in NZ favour by over $500mn and hoped this will improve and bring equal benefits to both countries.

He urged Fonterra to develop more endur-ing partnerships with leading Indian dairy co-operatives like Amul, Mother Dairy, NDDB etc. He was particularly impressed by his visit

to Lanzatech and saw a great future for these technologies in India. He commented that certain items would be fraught with socio-political sensitivities – which could be overcome to a certain extent and hopefully make this FTA workable. He said that he was pleased to see di-versified businesses present and also to know directly from the businesses the desired out come from the FTA with India.

Nigel Fyfe from MFaT also gave an update from their perspec-tive and looked forward to the next round of talks which are to be held in New Delhi in the next couple of months.

Wenceslaus Anthony, chairman of INZBC gave an emotional speech and called upon both the lead negotiators to work constructive-ly toward achieving a high quality FTA in the best interests of both countries. He further em-phasised on the importance of INZBC which is working tirelessly to create people to people and business to business linkages between the two countries. The event was followed by a sumptuous three course dinner and a formal vote of thanks was proposed by Sunil Kaushal, executive committee member of INZBC.

INZBC hosts India-NZ FTa negotiators

JK Dadoo from India and Nigel Fyfe chief negotiator from NZ Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

(L-R) Sanjay Verma Acting HC of India in NZ, Wenceslaus Anthony, chairman INZBC, Derek McCormack Vice Chancellor AUT, JK Dadoo – chief negotiator India and Jacob Manothra from Zindia.

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The Department of Labour is reminding employers that the law now requires them to keep signed written employment agreements for all their staff.

Since 1 July all employers are required to keep signed copies of employment agree-ments or current terms and conditions for all employees, or they may face a penalty.

“Employment agreements are required for all employees no matter when they started work,” says Annie Newman, the De-partment’s Acting Chief Adviser of Employ-ment Relations.

“This affects all employees including those hired on a verbal agreement or employ-ees who do not have current written agree-ments in place,” says Ms Newman.

“Having a clearly written employment agreement helps reduce the risk of misun-derstandings and there are some provisions that must be included in employment agree-ments,’’ she says.

They must include the name of the em-

ployer and employee, a description of the work to be performed, the place of employ-ment, times the employee is to work, the wages or salary, and an explanation of ser-vices available for solving problems.

“It’s the employer’s responsibility to maintain and keep an up to date copy of each employee’s agreement and provide a copy of the agreement if an employee requests it,” Ms Newman says.

The Department of Labour has developed an Employment Agreement Builder to help employers through this process.

Failure to ensure an employment agree-ment is in place for all employees may result in a labour inspector taking a penalty action against an employer.

This involves a seven-day notice period to rectify the breach and if this isn’t com-plied with then penalties may be sought in the Employment Relations Authority of up to $10,000 for individuals and $20,000 for companies.

Employers must keep staff

Aucklanders and visitors will soon be able to enjoy enhanced and expanded Wi-Fi services, offering more wireless coverage and faster access to the internet across central Auckland and its fringes.

Auckland Council has entered a partner-ship with Tomizone, Australasia’s largest Wi-Fi services provider, which will see network expansion start immediately.

The expansion will offer economic devel-opment benefits to the region and provide an important service to visitors to Rugby World Cup and beyond.

“With 85,000 visitors expected during Rugby World Cup and more than 200,000 ex-pected from next year’s cruise season alone, visitors to Auckland will be able to step off their plane or ship and immediately access information about Auckland. For Auckland-ers, it means more and better wireless inter-net access for portable devices such as iPads,” says Len Brown.

The Wi-Fi zone will expand into areas such as Kingsland, the entire length of Queen

Street, Britomart and Queens Wharf, lower Parnell, northern Ponsonby Road, Mt Eden Village, Onehunga, key rugby training areas and selected transport hubs around Auckland.

The network will remain in place follow-ing Rugby World Cup and continue to expand to other parts of Auckland with re-investment of profits from the service.

“Auckland Council will retain control of the content, which gives it a flexible platform for the future,” says the Mayor.

Service will be offered at a guaranteed dis-count to benchmarked market rates, with free access provided to a number of websites offer-ing information about public services, RWC activities, tourism and transport services.

“This enhanced network coverage will be attractive to residents and our international visitors who want to use their Wi-Fi gadgets to roam around the city,” says Tomizone Ex-ecutive Director Steve Simms. “Many of our visitors will want to use their roaming account from providers such as Skype, iPass and Boingo which they can do on this network.”

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Diversity forum will focus on mediaA multi-media study about Paul Henry and Hone Harawira is being presented by Wellington’s Centre for Applied Cross-cultural Research at next month’s 2011 New Zealand Diversity forum jointly hosted by the Human Rights Commission and the Hamilton Multicultural Services Trust.

Its work examines the intense public ar-guments around comments made by promi-nent media figures in 2010, such as Henry’s deliberate mispronunciation of an interna-tional dignitary’s name and then repeatedly laughing about it, and Harawira’s alleged racist comments about Pakeha. The forum will also include activities that tackle race

relations priorities identified in this year’s Race Relations Report, and feature the pre-sentation of the Annual Diversity awards. A parallel youth forum is being held at the same time.

The New Zealand Diversity Forum 2011 is being held at Hamilton on 21-22 August Also on the programme on Sunday at 3.30-5.00 pm is a forum on “Community Media and Diversity” hosted by the Community Access Radio Waikato Trust.

Attendance on Sunday and for individ-ual forums is free. If you are attending for half a day or more on the Monday the regis-tration fee is $50.

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Srinivas Arka is a philosopher, author and in-spirational speaker. Highly regarded for his lectures, books and workshops he has inspired people around the world for the development of humanity and global environment.

Through his methods and programmes, people are able to experience personal growth by recognising their unique creative abilities and special qualities. People have gained more clarity of purpose and direction in their lives, as well as developed capacity to better manage stress. They understand the influence of mind on their physical health and have learned ways to achieve their objectives through their own active, intuitive faculty.

Arka Philosophy centres in the study and experience of the heart-based-intuitive con-sciousness, an experience, which can add in-sights to the traditional philosophy of mind. Such an approach is a novel way of compre-hending the mind-body relationship.

Srinivas Arka invites us to explore and ex-

perience our deeper self in a way that accom-modates both rational and intuitive faculties. His approach helps individuals achieve con-tentment and access their individual, innate knowledge. He demonstrates how science, philosophical understanding and personal en-lightening experiences play a complementary role in expanding human consciousness to change ourselves and for a better world.

Positive Living Series is being hosted by the Centre for Conscious Awareness New Zealand (CCANZ). CCANZ is a registered charitable organisation dedicated to study-ing and researching the structure and nature of human consciousness and its contribu-tion to the world. The purpose of the lecture series is to create a platform in Auckland for experts who are experienced in the various fields of knowledge to share their ideas and tips for better living at an individual level and at a community level. Every month different experts will take participants on a journey of learning. Lineup of topics include alternative medicine, compassion in healthcare, ending poverty, organic food, health & diet, fair trade, sustainable lifestyles, philosophy, yoga, organic gardening, animal welfare and many more.

The inaugural event will have Srinivas Arka speak on “Exploring the thinking mind & feeling heart “. Invited guest author Profes-sor Niki Harré from the University of Auck-land will present her talk on the topic, “Per-sonal evaluation through psychology”.

When: 12 February, 3.30 pm to 6.00 pm. Where: The Jubilee hall, 545 Parnell Road, Auckland. Info:www.centreforconsciousawarenessnz.org or call 09 2980621 , 021 187 4639

Indian philosopher to speak in Auckland

A wide cross section of the Auckland com-munity attended the 23rd Annual Religious Convention on Saturday, January 28, hosted by hundreds of Ahmadi Muslims.

National MP Jackie Blue, a regular at-tendee of the conference, commended the Ah-madiyya Muslim Community for its efforts to change the perception and clear misunder-standings about Islam. Ms Blue said, “Islam has been badly misunderstood and I am very pleased with the Ahmadiyya Community’s efforts in removing this misunderstanding. New Zealand has come a long way of managing race re-lations and as a nation has been very accommodating of all religions and races.”

Mr. Mohammed Iqbal, National President of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Com-munity, welcomed all the attendees, outlining the objectives of the Commu-nity and the main purpose of promoting peace and fairness across all fellow beings.

“We cannot deny the fact that there is turmoil everywhere in the world in one shape or the other. This is a result of man forgetting his objective of creation, that is, his inclina-tion towards worship of God and endeavour to gain Divine nearness”, Mr. Iqbal said.

The first time New Zealand First MP, Hon Asenati Lole-Taylor congratulated the com-

munity for its active social work in trying to improve the lives of the needy, especially their efforts with the Department of Correc-tions. “The Ahmadiyya Muslim community is an exemplary community leading in their practice of the code of life consistent with the teachings of the Holy Qur’an” Ms Lole-Taylor said.

The Ahmadiyya Muslim Communi-ty’s Central Mission-ary Maulana Shafiq-ur-Rehman in his address at the Con-vention stressed that Mankind will con-tinue to suffer from social upheavals, and the moral tones of human society will never really improve unless economical inequalities of such a serious nature, where some sections of society roll in wealth and others die of starvation, are done away.

The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community is a religious organisation, international in its scope. It is acknowledged worldwide for its efforts to promote peace.

The annual convention is celebrated in-ternationally with tens of thousands of par-ticipants in countries including Australia, England, Germany, Canada and the United States of America.

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Come, see, listen and experience S-E-L, the group comprising Shankar Mahadevan as lead vocalist, Ehsaan Noorani on guitar and Loy Mendonsa on keyboards, which has been cre-ating hit songs for Bollywood films for almost 13 years. They’re going to be here in Auckland for The Breathless tour.

If you’ve ever seen Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan or any other Bollywood star prance across the screen lip-syncing a song that has caught your fancy, more often than not it’s likely to be an SEL song. This past year, Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy created the soundtrack for a number of successful Bolly-wood films, including Wake Up Sid, My Name is Khan and Karthik Calling Karthik and the recent superhit Zindagi na Milegi Doobara.

If you’re a Bollywood fan and you get a chance to go to an SEL concert, definitely take advantage of the opportunity because the group doesn’t disappoint. You’ll hear all the SEL songs you expect to hear. But wear comfortable shoes because it’s inevitable that you’ll end up dancing in the aisles at some point.

They hit the big time only when Farhan Akhtar's Dil Chahta Hai came their way. The entire team – director Farhan Akhtar, actors Aamir Khan, Saif Ali Khan and Akshaye Khanna, and Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy came to-gether to give one of the most memorable movies of Bollywood. For the music director trio, there has been no looking back since. They simply went from one hit soundtrack to another from Bunty Aur Babli to KalHo Naa Ho and so on with hits after hits!!

Unlike many composers, this trio does not make the mistake of blindly accepting all offers (and they get plenty). They take a look at the script, the banner, the director and the actors. If they like the script, they ask for the

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song situations and number of songs. Only then do they agree to compose. Music is a serious business to them. Their scrutiny has paid off. They have some of the most success-ful movies tucked under their belt today.

They make an unlikely trio – Mahade-van is a classically trained singer; Ehsan is a blues guitar player; Loy, a jazz fan. They do, however, have a couple of things in common – music is their passion and they are all from the ad industry. They were brought together by Mukul Anand for Dus, which never got re-leased. What Bollywood did get was a brand new music composer team. Their music was unorthodox compared to the usual Bollywood fare but it soon became apparent than music lovers wanted to hear more of that refreshing music.

The team agrees that modern technology has contributed greatly to improve the quality of music. What might have required a bunch of violins in the past has been toned down to a couple of violinists in their troupe. The quality of music, they unanimously agree, is far more important than the number of musicians. Something which might have been considered impossible even a decade ago.

Shankar, Ehsaan and Loy consider them-selves to be pioneers too. They take pride in making different, authentic music in every one of their films. Some say that their music has too many Western influences. The trio shrugs this accusation off. To them, music is univer-sal and to classify their music as Western or Indian does not justify it. Rather, they have varied tastes and those tastes have introduced various influences into their music. The secret of their music, then, is a true love for music.

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Try to ponder over this question “What is the most important thing that can be done to change the world, that one thing, which has maximum effect.” There are several options to argue however my pick would be – providing education.

Knowledge and information have been the backbone of development and these are re-ceived only through education. People who are unable to read and write are wrapped around in a tight bubble, which suffocates their devel-opment and buries them under the mountain of uncertainties. For a country like India, we still have close to 292 million people buried under this mountain. Agreed, many of these would be from the older generation when things were tough. Even so, the statistics show that we still have close to 175 million illiterate youths.

These figures show one stark reality that India has highest number of illiterate people in the world. Is it lack of will or lack of infrastruc-ture?

We say “Kuva pyaase ke paas nahi aata, pyaase ko kuve ke paas jaana padta hai”.

This means the well (or source of water) won’t come to the thirsty, the thirsty will have to go to the well. So those who want educa-tion go to schools, those who don’t, don’t. This principal applies to most of the things in life. If we need something then we have to go and get it. But it also happens that in spite of the will and commitment to achieve the goal, we fail because we don’t see the goal post or even worst, there is no goal post. So where to hit the ball and score the goal?

Absence of goal post for people in rural and tribal parts of India is hurting. Over here people have the need, the will and the commitment towards their goal – to achieve basic education. However in absence of schools, no goal post, no goal! These people stay lost somewhere in the bush, afraid to come out and face the literate world that is ready to pounce upon their novice ness and exploit it.

Swami Vivekanand the most respected phi-losopher from India once said that “If a child cannot come to school then the school must go to him” Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation of India is on this mission to bring schools to the deprived children of rural and tribal area and provide them their right to basic education. Bringing the well to the children who are thirsty for edu-cation.

India is making great advances in the field of science and technology and is sitting with the other developed countries. In parts the quality of life with all the comforts and luxury sits close to most of the developed countries, however this is only the shining part of India, the other part is still in the darkness of illiter-acy. The 2011 census for India shows that only 75% of adult population and 82% of 15-24 are literate. This is below the global average and miles below our closest competitor in the de-velopment race, China, which has 99.4% youth

literacy rate! To improve our position the starting point is

rural and tribal India where the lack of educa-tion is due to lack of infrastructure. To generate maximum effect, The Ekal Vidyalaya Founda-tion of India, has developed its basic education programs for tribal and other underprivileged communities in rural India. Today the foun-dation runs close to 36,000 schools providing education to around 10 million children!

Ekal Vidyalaya – One Teacher Schools – goes beyond mere literacy. Apart from its goal of achieving the national standards of Minimum Level of Learning (MLL) for its students, Ekal Vidyalaya also seeks to empower the village community for its own self-development. The aim is to make a start, get involvement of the local community making the school self-reliant over a period of five to seven years.

The four goals of Ekal Vidyalaya are basic education, Healthcare education, development education and empowerment education. While literacy remains the central focus, Ekal envi-sions the non-formal education process as a ho-listic approach to developing the villages while retaining each tribe's individuality.

While the primary focus is on education to tribal children between the ages of 5 to 14, chil-dren are taught aspects of behavior pertinent

to their local, social, cultural, and geographi-cal environment. The classroom often contains chalkboard attached to a large tree. Teachers are 9th or 10th grade youths from the com-munity where they live. The foundation pro-vides training, study material, and a consistent support structure to assist the teachers in their mission to educate their own villagers.

Ekal also focuses on developing concept of organizations in the villages. Ekal Vidya-

laya urges the villagers to establish a school committee. The committee's role is to rally support for the educational process and oversee the operation of the school. The committee is structured in a way that encourages discuss-ing issues and decision-making to resolve the problems. These committees are essential to the creation, success, and sustainability of the Ekal Vidyalaya.

True education should be easily accessible to all and should be of use to every individual in daily life. Ekal Vidyalaya is essentially a catalyst that helps villagers understand the value of education and encourages them to take an active role in the development of their own village. Social reform is a long-term process, which Ekal Vidyalaya facilitates by having the village focus on different aspects of tribal life and rural development in the school's curricu-

Maximum Effect: nothing can change life like educationNaNdaN Modak

lum. The schools operate on support from well

wishers without any government aid. The support is pouring in from people within India and also from the huge population of well wishers staying outside India. Various Ekal Vidyalaya Foundations in India, the U.S, Aus-tralia, U.K, Canada, South Africa Hong Kong and New Zealand will be working towards the target of achieving Ekal’s presence in 100,000 villages. Multiply the number of villages with number of students who will benefit from this and gain basic education, imagine the effect it will have on the growth and social well being of the region overall.

This will achieve the maximum effect and that that too with minimum input. Each school can be sponsored with just under $500 per year (depending on the exchange rate). From New Zealand, Ekal Vidyalaya currently has 18 schools operating in India providing education to around 500 children. We are proud of this achievement but also realize that we can do much better. Those sponsors who have visited their schools and seen the smile on the children studying have came back highly motivated to do more.

Do you know what ߘ˙∂ ∆̊̇ ©ƒæ…πøΩ≈çç∫√µ≥≥¬˚˚ ∆̂∆¨¥∆∆̊ ˚ means?

If making sense out of this is causing a head-ache then imagine the stress a child, who cannot read would be going through. For this child the entire world is filled with such incomprehensi-ble letters and sentences. Education is the basic right for every individual, and it is the single most important thing, which will help change the world. Please extend your help by sponsor-ing a school through EVF NZ, let us together cause the maximum effect.

For more information please contact Nandan Modak on modaksnz@xtra.co.nz or Sanjay Joshi on sunny.joshi46@gmail.com.

Do you know what ߘ̇ ∂ ∆̊̇ ©ƒæ…πøΩ≈çç∫√µ≥≥ ¬̊ ˚̂ ∆∆̈ ¥∆∆̊ ˚ means? If making sense out of this is causing a headache then imagine the stress a child, who cannot read would be going through. For this child the entire world is filled with such

incomprehensible letters and sentences.

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New Zealand

Auckland audiences were captivated by a spellbinding performance by the well known artists from India last Friday. Roop Kumar and Sunali Rathore’s first musical soiree in New Zealand left the audience wishing for many more to come.

In the first half of the programme Roop Kumar impressed the audience with the ease with which he rendered the old classics like ‘Madhuban mein Radhika’. Later he sang ‘Barson Yaaron’ from ‘London Dreams’ a special song that ends with a rock version of ‘Hanuman Chalisa’.

Roop Kumar’s mesmerising rendition of ‘Khwaja mere Khwaja’, ‘Sandese aate hain’ and ‘Maula’ left the audience asking for more. ‘Laga Chunri mein daag’ was another number that was enhanced by their tarana. Roop Kumar’s beautiful rendition of ‘Tujh Mein Rab Dikhta hai’ had the audience joining in. Sunali sang a soulful song from her latest album ‘Kalmaa’ and older popular songs such as ‘In ankho ki masti mein’ and ‘Yara Sili Sili’.

The couple kept the audience entertained with their urdu shayari between songs. Their onstage rapport and love for each other and their shared love for music enhanced the listening experience for the audience. Roop Kumar paid a tribute to the ghazal maestro the late Jagjit Singh by singing his ghazal “Hothon se chhoo lo tum”.

Roop Kumar is an accomplished and ex-tremely versatile percussionist, vocalist and composer who sings in several genres includ-ing ghazals, bhajans and sufi songs. He is the

son of late Chaturbhuj Rathore, a well known classical singer.

Roop Kumar has lent his voice to more than sixty Bollywood numbers and together they have twenty five CDs including ‘Ishara’, ‘Vaada’, ‘Mitwa’ and ‘Manpasand’. Sunali who trained under Pt. Hridaynath Mangesh-kar, Ustad Faiyaz Ahmed and Niyaz Ahmed Khan has been performing to audiences around the world for over a decade now. Her vigorous riyaz was quite evident in her rendi-tion of a khayal in raaga Lalita Gauri, taranas as also her ghazal gayaki.

They were accompanied by an extremely talented and experienced group of musicians from Bollywood. Roop’s heart touching ren-dition of ‘Tere Liye’ from ‘Veer Zara’ was enhanced by Suresh Lalwani’s violin and Raj Kumar Sodha’s saxophone accompaniment.

Akhlak Hussain and Asrar Ahmed were on the harmonium and tabla providing great orchestral support. Vijay Chavan on the Dholki and Sushant Sharma on the guitar were a big hit with the audiences. Raj Raniga, on keyboards had many supporters in the au-dience. Sandeep Baraskar, the group’s sound engineer was an asset to the concert.

Presented by Panworld Travels Mangere in association with ABC Entertainment and Perfect Harmony Productions it was a veri-table treat for music lovers. Mr. Ravi Nyay-apati graciously hosted the evening and CFI ensured that the concert went off smoothly.

The magic they created stayed in music lovers’ ears long after the curtain went down on the stage.

Auckland lilts tokaNIka dIesh

8 Indian Weekender | February 10, 2012 | www.iwk.co.nz

Indian

Melbourne: Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni on Friday hailed the team's "exceptional" fielding as India finally tasted win, beating Austra-lia by eight wickets in the second Twenty20 international at the Mel-

bourne Cricket Ground (MCG)."It is always good to be on the

winning side, the boys were excep-tion in the field, probably the best fielding I have seen. It will be hard to beat this effort," Dhoni said after the match at the MCG.

"We are a side that relies a lot on a good start, not about the runs, a good, calm start is what we look for. Praveen bowled with the new ball, forcing the openers to make mis-takes and the spinners did well too, they went for a few runs in between but overall it was a good effort by

the bowlers and equally by the top three batsmen," he added.

Australia captain George Bailey admitted that his side was complete-ly out-fielded and the four run-outs made all the difference in the match.

"It wasn't as close as it looked. Losing is part and parcel of the game, we were well short with the bat tonight. Four run-outs was the big difference. We were clearly out-fielded," Bailey said.

Bailey said they were trying to build a new team keeping in mind the Twenty20 World Cup later this year. He said the team has to be more consistent to emerge as a dominant side in this format of the game.

"We have a great bunch of guys, we are trying to

build onto something, we have put some game plan together but the key is to be consistent," he said.

Indian allrounder Ravindra Jadeja, who was adjudged the Man of the Match, said the skipper asked him to believe in himself.

"It is a pleasure to play for India, it is a very good achievement for me. Mahi (Dhoni) Bhai always told me to have believe in myself and I too tried to play my natural game," he said.

Dhoni hails team for exceptional fielding

Bangalore: The Indian Premiere League (IPL) auction for the season five witnessed Indian all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja turning out to be the major surprise at the bidding table as he was sold for a thumping $ 2 million to the Chennai Super Kings (CSK), here on Satur-day.

Jadeja was clinched by CSK in a tie-breaker with Deccan Chargers. His base price was $100,000.

The IPL auction was staged at Mysore Hall of the ITC Royal Gardenia Hotel in Ban-galore.

Apart from Jadeja, Indian fast bowler Vinay Kumar and Sri Lankan batsman Mahela Jayawardene fetched huge sums of money from their respective owners.

Vinay was sold to the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) for a significant amount of $1 million. His base price was $100,000.

Sri Lanka's Mahela Jayawardene was bought by the Delhi Daredevils for a whop-ping $ 1.4 mn. Jayawardhane's base price was $300,000.

Shah Rukh Khan's Kolkata Knigt Riders (KKR) bought New Zealand wicket keeper-batsman Brendon McCullum for $ 900,000 on Saturday.

The hard-hitting batsman had started his career in the cash rich tournament with KKR in 2008.

Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan’s KKR also picked up West Indies cricketer Sunil Narine for $700,000 and Marchant de Lange of South Africa for $50,000.

Iconic Sri Lankan off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan was sold to the Royal Challeng-es Bangalore (RCB) for $ 2,20,000.

Australian batsman Brad Hodge was picked up by the Rajasthan Royals for $ 4,75,000.

Experienced South African batsman Her-schelle Gibbs was bought by Mumbai Indians for $50,000.

Indian wicket keeper P Patel was picked up by the Deccan Chargers for $650,000. His base price was $200,000.

Australian fast bowler Mitchell Johnson was bought by Mumbai Indians for $300,000. His base price was also $300,000.

Sri Lankan Dinesh Chandimal went to the Rajasthan Royals for $50,000.

The Rajasthan Royals bought senior Aus-tralian spinner B. Hogg for $180,000. Hogg bowled well during the two T20 clashes against India in Australia. The franchise also took Indian speed star S Sreesanth for $400,000.

RP Singh on the other hand went to the Mumbai Indians for $600,000.

Interestingly, off-spinner Indian Ramesh Powar was sold to the KingsXI Punjab for $160,000.

Jadeja, Kumar toast of IPL auction Daniel Harris was bought by the Deccan Chargers for $70,000. The Rajasthan Royals on the other hand picked up Kevon Cooper for $50,000.

Australia’s James Faulkner was sold to the Kings XI Punjab for $190,000.

The Deccan Chargers picked up West Indies Darren Bravo for $100,000.

The auction witnessed another sur-prise as former Pakistan fast bowler Azhar Mahmood was picked up by the Kings XI Punjab for $200,000. His base price was $100,000.

Sri Lanka’s Thisara Perera was sold for $650,000 to the Mumbai Indians, though his base price was only $50,000.

New Zealand’s Doug Bracewell was taken by the Delhi Daredevils for $50,000.

English fast bowler J Anderson remained unsold with a base price of $300,000. Even Indian batsman VVS Laxman was not picked up by any of the franchise.

Irish all-rounder Kevin O'Brien and Ban-gladeshi batsman T Iqbal remained unsold.

English spinner G Swann could not find a single team to bid for him.

The IPL Player Auction 2012 proceed-ings started at 11:00 am.

The auction was conducted by Richard Madley, a professional auctioneer from England who has conducted each of the previous IPL player auctions. A total of 144 players, 136 foreigners, went under the hammer.

The opening match of IPL 2012 will take place on April 4 this year in Chennai.

Bollywood biggies like Shahrukh Khan, who owns Kolkata Knight Riders, and other top guns glammed up the event.

Shah Rukh Khan's Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) bought New Zealand wicket keeper-batsman Brendon McCullum for $900,000

New Delhi: India's tennis ace Leander Paes said that he has set his sight on his second Olympic medal, this time in the doubles in the 2012 London Olympics.

The 38-year-old, who had won an Olympic bronze medal in singles in 1996 Atlanta, admitted that he split from his former partner in Mahesh Bhupathi because the objective of a medal required partnership with younger players.

"My next aim is an Olympic medal in doubles. It would be the epitome of my career. Also want to complete a career Grand Slam in Mixed Doubles," said Paes, who became the first Indian to complete a career Grand Slam by winning the Australian Open men's doubles title last week.

Paes is also the only Indian to win an Olympic medal in tennis. He

wants to do it again."I want to win the medal for

my flag and my people," Paes was quoted as saying by NDTV.

Paes partnered 33-year-old Radek Stepanek of Czech Republic to the crown Down Under and made it to the final of the mixed doubles with 25-year-old Elena Vesnina.

"Mahesh and I split because we both needed younger legs to play with. I hadn't won a single Grand Slam last year, and I was desperate to win one. It wasn't happening with Mahesh," he said.

Paes, who lost the Austra-lian Open mixed doubles final with Russian partner Elena Vesnina, said it was his dream to win a career Grand Slam in mixed doubles.

"I also want to complete a career Grand Slam in mixed doubles," he said.

Paes eyeing his second Olympic medal

New Delhi: Penguin Books India, the acclaimed trade publishing or-ganization, is celebrating its silver jubilee this year.

Although, it was founded in India in 1985, it began publish-ing in October 1987. Over the years, it has grown to be one of the most prestigious publishers in the country.

The company now publishes more than 250 new titles including

biography, travel, business, poli-tics, history, religion and philoso-phy, lifestyle, cookery, health and fitness, sports and leisure, visual books and children's books.

In this special year, the orga-nization has come up with an in-teresting contest for its readers. Called ‘What’s your story’, it re-quires a few simple questions to be answered and one is good to be featured amongst the top 25

entries on their website.Apart from this, the lucky

winners will also become the brand ambassadors of their cel-ebrations through the year.

The date for the contest, open to only Indian citizens, aged 18 as on Jan 1, 2012, will end on Feb 20 with the declaration of winners on Mar 15.

‘What’s your story’ contest

India

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New York: India is receiving a loan of nearly $90 million from the United Nations to improve agricultural livelihoods in the small north-western state of Uttarakhand, one of the poorest areas in the country.

The money, resulting from an agreement signed today between the Government and the UN International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), will go towards the In-tegrated Livelihoods Support Project, which aims to support and develop the food produc-tion system in Uttarakhand by improving technologies for traditional food crops and livestock.

“This project is a direct response from the Government of India to scale up successful rural development programmes in the state,” IFAD states in a news release.

The project will enable farmers to earn more by selling cash crops, according to the Rome-based agency. Production of off-

season vegetables such as potatoes, tomatoes and peas will increase and better marketing arrangements will be put in place.

The project, which will cover 143,000 households, will also introduce new crops and products such as nuts, spices, medicinal and aromatic plants. Among those expected to benefit are small rural producers, women, scheduled caste households and young people.

Although many households in Uttara-khand have land, the holdings are very small and the tiny terraced plots on steep hillsides make mechanization extremely difficult, points out IFAD, the agency that works with rural people to help them break out of poverty.

With this new project, IFAD will have fi-nanced 24 programmes and projects in India since 1978 for a total investment of $746 million.

UN loan helps Indian hill states to improve agriculture

Jayalalithaa “ashamed” of alliance with dMdKChennai: Tamil Nadu Chief Minis-ter J Jayalalithaa on Wednesday said it was a “mistake” by her AIADMK party to have partnered with actor Vijayakanth led DMDK, calling it quits on an uneasy alliance with which she had won last year's As-sembly polls.

“I am ashamed and regret the fact that AIADMK faced the polls with unqualified persons who don't even

know how to behave after reaching the top," she said at the state legis-lative Assembly after a verbal clash with Vijayakanth and enmasse evic-tion of DMDK members from the cabinet.

Desiya Murpokku Dravida Ka-zhagam (DMDK) had contested the April 2011 assembly elections as part of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK)-

led alliance that won a landslide victory ousting Dravida Munne-tra Kazhagam (DMK) government from power.

However, ties between the two parties were rocky ever since and the first signs of an end of their of the alliance were seen when they con-tested the civic elections separately in October.

An angry Jayalithaa on Wednes-

day said that her party would have had the same success even in the absence of DMDK as people had made up their mind to defeat the DMK.

"DMDK was fortunate to strike an alliance with us. It is because of that they managed to win and get the status of the main Opposition party," she said.

New Delhi: Union Heavy Industry Minister Praful Patel has rubbished charges that he was ever involved in a bribery case as the civil avi-ation minister following reports of a Canadian national accused of bribing an Indian cabinet minister for some Air India contract facing a prosecution in a court of that country.

Patel said the allegations were preposter-ous and baseless and even wrote to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh "in anger" seeking his intervention to clear his name in the case after he received queries from the bureau chief of Canadian newspaper Globe and Mail which carried the news.

Present Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh said he has no knowledge of the news and is not considering any probe into the matter just on the basis of some newspaper report.

The Globe and Mail reported that "the federal Justice Department is planning to prosecute businessman Nazir Karigar, an Indian-born Canadian citizen on charges that

Patel rubbishes Canada bribery charge

he violated the Corruption of Foreign Public Officials Act – a law that forbids the payment of bribes abroad. " "The case is scheduled to be heard at Ottawa’s Ontario Superior Court of Justice in September," it said.

The paper said the case involved Karigar, "a 64-year-old entrepreneur, as well as an un-dercover FBI sting", a bankrupt Ottawa-area tech firm, a former Mumbai police chief and an Indian cabinet minister sometimes referred to as the “Beedi King.”

Globe and Mail report quoting Canadian authorities said "Karigar described to others how he funnelled a $250,000 bribe to Praful Patel, India’s Minister of Heavy Industries and a former minister of aviation."

The paper also mentions the policeman as Hasan Gafoor, a former Mumbai police com-missioner.

Both Gafoor and Patel told the paper that they were hearing about the charges for the first time.

Indian

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New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has approved the constitution of a National Council for Senior Citizens, the government said on Wednesday.

The Council would advise the Central and State Governments on issues related to welfare of senior citizens and enhancement of their quality of life with special reference to policies, programmes and legislative mea-sures.

It will also advise on promotion of physi-cal and financial security, health and inde-pendent and productive living, and aware-ness generation and community mobilization.

The Council would be chaired by the Min-

ister of Social Justice & Empowerment. Other members of the Council include the

Minister of State, Social Justice & Empow-erment, the oldest Members of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, representatives of five state governments (one each from the North, South, East, West & North Eastern Regions) and one Union Territory by rotation, five rep-resentatives each from Senior Citizens’ As-sociations, Pensioners’ Association, NGOs working for Senior Citizens and Experts, and five senior citizens who have distinguished themselves in various fields. The Council would be anchored in the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment.

PM approves formation of senior citizen council

New Delhi: India's star cricketer Yuvraj Singh has been diagnosed with a malignant tumour in his lung and support is pouring in from all corners.

Yuvraj's physiotherapist Jatin Chaudhary releaved on Sunday that Yuvraj had left for the US on January 26 and is undergoing che-motherapy in Boston at a cancer research in-stitute. When a tumour was first detected in October it was thought to be non-malignant, but later malignancy was detected and the player was taken to US for treatment.

Chaudhary, however, said there was nothing to fear about since it is "100 percent curable".

"This tumour is rare and is cancerous but nothing to fear about because it is 100 percent curable. The best part is that tumour has been detected in stage one,” said Chaudhary.

Chaudhary without naming any body said it was due to the negligence of an Indian hos-pital it took some time to detect the nature of the tumour."It took two biopsy to detect the nature of the tumour. The first report was stolen from his car while the second from an Indian hospital couldn't give us a clear picture. Finally it was a Russian doctor who detected the nature of the tumour and after consulta-tions with doctors in US, it was decided that Yuvraj would undergo chemotherapy," he said.

Chaudhary said Yuvraj had to undergo chemotherapy immediately since the tumour is located just above the artery of his heart and it stands the risk of bursting while running.

“Doctors had to decide whether to con-tinue medication or go for chemotherapy but since parts of the tumour are just above the artery of his heart, there was a danger that while running it could burst. But it is 100 per cent curable," Chaudhary said.

"The doctors decided he would have to undergo chemotherapy and therefore he flew to the US Jan 26. He is expected to recover by March and should be on the field by May. He would also undergo a rehabilitation process after returning from US," said Chaudhary.

Yuvraj is seeking inspiration from leg-endary cyclist Lance Armstrong, who has survived testicular cancer to win the Tour de France for record seven times.

The news of Yuvraj's illness triggered shock and sadness among his countless fans and fellow sportspersons who wished good health for the man who contributed signifi-cantly last year in bringing India the World Cup title after decades.

Fellow cricket Sreesanth said "we all should support him."

"He is a strong man and i hope he gets back strong," Sreesanth said.

"Wishing Yuvraj Singh a speedy recovery, all our prayers and good wishes are with him," tweeted Rohan Bopanna, tennis player.

Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah tweeted: "Here's wishing Yuvraj Singh a speedy & complete recovery. On a good day there are few cricketers more excit-ing than him."

Yuvraj detected with malignant tumour

India

New Delhi: India's star cricketer Yuvraj Singh, who is undergoing chemotherapy in the US for a malignant tumour in his lung, said he has to blame himself for delaying his treatment.

Yuvraj and said he was recovering well and would soon be back on the field.

"I see few people trying to blame my guruji for delay and bcci! Again wrong it was my de-cision! The president and the members of bcci have bin a huge support in my tough times and because of them I'm getting the best treat-ment! Thank you again bcci," Yuvraj posted on his Twitter page.

Yuvraj said he has been going through tough times but hoped to fight it out.

"I'm recovering well yes its tough but tough times don't last tough men do! I will fight and come back as a stronger man cause I have the prayers of my nation," he added.

Yuvraj said that he was looking forward to take the cricket field soon. "and of course ev-eryday I look forward to come back and wear my india jersey my india cap and represent my country again jai hind," he wrote.

Yuvraj thanked Indian Premier League (IPL) team Pune Warriors owner Subroto Roy for his support.

"Thank you sahara shree for his support and thinking about me as his family!"

Yuvraj defended his physiotherapist Jatin Chaudhary, who has been facing the flak for revealing the cricketer's illness to the media.

"I see a lot of peopl blaming jatin chaud-hary but he is at no fault he only tried to help it was my decision to go with alternative medi-cine," the 30-year-old batsman wrote.

The 30-year-old also said that he was eagerly looking forward to meeting Tour-de-France champion cyclist Lance Armstrong, who had survived testicular cancer.

"I look forward to meet lance armstrong soon and take inspiration," he wrote.

Yuvraj also asked everybody to respect his privacy and thanked his fans and media for their wishes.

"Thank you again to all my friends back home! Thank you to the media for there support and respecting my privacy," he wrote.

"Thank you to (sports minster) ajay maken! mr omar abdullah and mr narendra modi for there kind words!"

Yuvraj Singh's oncologist Nikesh Rohatagi on Monday said that he "feels that the crick-eter will commence training in ten weeks."

He said the cricketer has a tumour between his lungs. He said that Singh's "has a rare type of seminoma which is completely curable."

Rohatagi said that Singh is 'responding well' to the treatment. Singh's father Yograj said his son will come out strong from the malignant tumour in his lung, for which he is undergoing treatment in the US while sports minister Ajay Maken assured government help for the embattled star cricketer.

Yuvraj blames himself for delay in treatment

New Delhi: Gaming website startup Gamiana has got Angel funding of under a million US dollars from Indian Angel Network (IAN), India’s largest and the oldest angel network, to fuel its growth over the next few quarters.

With this investment Gamiana will grow its customer base, enhance gaming soft-ware development for existing games--Jamia Online and Vinashi--and bid for new gaming contracts in overseas markets, IAN said in a media release.

Vishal Golia, co-founder of Gamiana says, “Gamiana approached IAN because it has a vast network of investors representing the who’s who of successful Indian entrepre-neurs.”

“We, at Gamiana, will now be able to le-verage the global presence, market insights and network of IAN’s global members to fuel our growth,” he said.

IAN member Chetan Shah, who joined the board of Gamiana, said “The passion and domain expertise that Vishal and Sumeet bring to Gamiana and their ability to execute the business plan built my confidence in this team.”

Gamiana or House of Games, derived from

Games and Aashiana (house), is one of the first companies in India to offer multi-player platforms and the ability to play games real time, IAN said.

This will address the new markets created by the synergies between the increase of inter-net on smart-phones, online gaming and social networking across the globe, the venture capital company added.

Gamiana’s goal is to become a dominant player in India by tapping the expected in-crease in internet usage on smart phones. At the same time Gamiana is laying the founda-tions for its increasing its global footprint.

The company is focused on many devel-oping markets like Brazil, Turkey, and the Philippines as it understands the challenges of Internet adoption there.

Additionally, the company will continue to develop real-time synchronous games across PC, Facebook and wireless platforms (includ-ing Android, iOS and others).

Gamiana’s management team consists of international gaming veterans whose collec-tive global experience spans decades in the development and publishing of online multi-player games.

Indian gaming startup rakes in $1 mln funding

Indian Weekender | February 10, 2012 | www.iwk.co.nz 11

Indian India

Islamabad: An angry Hafiz Saeed accused India of being insincere in its attempts to resolve issues with Pakistan, after Indian parliamentarian Mani Shankar Aiyar said the Jamaat-ud-Dawah chief did not want ties between the two nuclear-armed neighbours to improve.

The host of a Pakistani television news program broadcast on Thursday introduced Saeed, the alleged mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, on a phone link while Aiyar was at the channel’s Islamabad studio with another panellist.

Responding to a question from the host, Saeed, the founder of the militant organisation Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), explained his opposi-tion to the Pakistani administration’s move to grant India the Most Favoured Nation-status for improved trade ties.

"Giving India MFN-status is not correct in any manner because there are already big problems that haven't been resolved, including the Kashmir issue. At this moment, the dams being made by India will create a crisis in Pak-istan," he claimed.

Saeed also claimed he had "never opposed talks" with India but the neighbouring country "has never seriously tried to resolve problems".

Aiyar, a former member of Prime Minis-ter Manmohan Singh’s cabinet, responded to the charge by saying that Saeed was part of a "small group" that opposed better ties with India even as ordinary people wanted relations

between the two countries to grow."There are some persons like Hafiz Saeed

in our country who do not want things to move forward but thankfully the ordinary people want our ties to improve. We can improve our relations irrespective of what his (Saeed's) opinion is,” he said.

The former Indian minister added that India wanted to see Saeed, the alleged mas-termind of the LeT’s 26/11 Mumbai siege that left 166 people dead and over 300 wounded, in court, saying "We want him to be caught and taken to a terrorism court.”

The JuD chief however claimed there was "no case" against him in Pakistan and that Pakistan's high courts and Supreme Court had "cleared" him despite the “trumped up charges” presented by India.

Saeed, who was briefly detained after the UN Security Council declared the JuD a front for the LeT in the wake of the Mumbai attacks, has played a key role in recent months to as-sembled the Defa-e-Pakistan Council, a con-glomerate of some 40 extremist and religious groups.

Pakistani-American David Headley, who had scouted the sites for the 2008 Mumbai attacks, has testified as part of a U.S. trial that Saeed motivated him for carrying out ‘jihad’, however, Pakistan claims that evi-dence against the LeT boss has been "vague and insufficient".

Mani Shankar aiyar, Hafiz Saeed spar on Pak TV

Kolkata: The ongoing Kolkata Book Fair wit-nessed a controversy on Wednesday as the scheduled book launch of exiled Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen was cancelled by the organizers over protests by a religious group.

Protesters reportedly called police and objected the release of the book and even planned to demonstrate against the launch at the fair, media reports said.

The organizers of the fair, the Booksellers and Publishers Guild, had planned to launch the book titled 'Nirbashan' (meaning exile) at the AC hall.

However, they decided to cancel the event.

Taslima tweeted: “Kolkata Book Fair committee canceled my book release program today at Kolkata Book Fair. Why?Some religious fa-natics don't want it to happen.”

“Kolkata,a city of progressive!A book release even w/o my presence not possible!All poltcial parties,all orgs afraid of fanatics!But how long,” she re-marked.

However, the book was later released by the publishers at their own stall in the fair, media reports said.

“The PBS publisher with friends have re-leased my book under the open sky at Kolkata Book Fair. Book release in the AC hall was banned,” Taslima confirmed by tweeting to his followers. 'Nirbashan' was launched

by author Nabarun Bhattacharya. It is the seventh volume of Taslima's autobiographical account.

Taslima left Bangladesh in 1994 after re-ceiving several death threats from Muslims. She had agitated the Muslims of Bangladesh by writing against Islamic philosophy in her

controversial novel ‘Lajja’ in 1993.Earlier this month, London-based writer

Salman Rushdie was not allowed to visit the recently concluded Jaipur Literature Festival (JLF).

The organizers of the event had to cancel the much-talked about appearance of contro-versial writer at the JLF via video conferenc-ing over protests by some Muslim group on Jan 24.

After Rushdie, Taslima’s book launch controversy

12 Indian Weekender | February 10, 2012 | www.iwk.co.nz

Indian India

Mumbai: The Indian cricket board suffered a massive double blow Saturday after Sahara India withdrew its sponsorship of the Indian cricket team and pulled out of the Pune War-riors franchise of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

The move comes just hours before the IPL auction for season five, after the BCCI turned down the franchise's request that the price of their marqueee player Yuvraj Singh be added to their overall purse for the auction.

"We really feel such one-sided emotional relationship cannot be dragged on any further. We are withdrawing from all cricket under the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI)," Sahara, who chose not to be present at the IPL-5 players auction, said.

Yuvraj is currently recuperating from from a lung tumour and will be out of action for at least the next six months.

"Yuvraj Singh, who is truly like one of our family members, is, quite unfortunately, passing through a bad phase health wise, un-dergoing treatment for critical illness, overseas.

"Our duty is to take care of him, so Sahara has decided to pay him his full fee this year with condition as a Guardian that his priority should be health care and he should not play till he has fully recovered," the company stated.

"All other IPL team players, coaches and other such associates will definitely get their due this year, in case they do not get a chance to play." "Our first entry into IPL was thwarted in 2008 when we were disqualified, owing to a small technicality on the whims and fancies of BCCI. Yet our bid was not opened."

"Last year, Sahara entered the IPL on the basis of information in the media and ev-erywhere else that 94 matches will be played among 10 teams. The bid price was accordingly calculated, but only 74 matches were played. We are still pursuing continuously with the BCCI to refund the extra bid money proportion-ately. It has been denied on the basis of strict rules."

"In the interest of the tournament, we re-peatedly tried our best to pursue the BCCI for open auction of all players so that we achieve level playing field and all teams are equally bal-anced from the quality players’ point of view. Again, as per BCCI’s strict rules it was denied and again, we were deprived of natural justice. Twelve of the best players were retained by the existing teams then."

"The two new teams then requested for al-lowing us at least one extra foreign player but that too was denied, quoting rules."

"Once during a World Cup tournament, Sahara’s name was not allowed because there was a clash of our Airline with a South African airline. In two major tournaments, the team had to play without the Sahara logo."

"It was ICC’s decision so we could realise that it was for no fault of BCCI and we also did not want the players to suffer. As per the rules, we were not supposed to pay sponsorship money for those matches but we still paid the players share of the amount in entirety. Sadly, we never found BCCI believing in genuine give and take." Sahara said.

The BCCI meanwhile reacted saying "if we understand Sahara Adventure Sports Limited’s statement, it intends not to participate in the 2012 IPL Auction or in the 2012 IPL Season."

"During the last few days Sahara Adventure Sports Limited has requested that IPL vary its Player Regulations by allowing it to increase its Auction Purse from $1.6m to $3.4m in light of Yuvraj Singh’s unfortunate illness. Whilst all

within IPL and BCCI have a huge amount of sympathy for Yuvraj Singh and wish him all the best for a speedy recovery, it is unable to vary the Player Regulations," the BCCI said.

"The rules are very clear and are consis-tent with previous seasons: Sahara Adventure Sports Limited may take a replacement follow-ing the 2012 Auction.

"Additionally, the Trading Window will re-open on 6th February and Sahara Adven-ture Sports Limited will then have a further opportunity to take new players. In the first four seasons of IPL, other franchises have been obliged to cope with the periods of unavailabil-ity of their players and have taken replacements as per the regulations."

"The BCCI cherishes its relationship with all the IPL Franchises. The rules are applicable to all of them," said the statement by Sanjay Jagdale, BCCI honorary secretary.

However, Sahara Indian announced several sponsorship and development projects that the company would perform in the coming days.

“Rs 10 crore support every year for under-privileged sports achievers of yesteryears & present,” the statement said.

Speaking about the developmental activities and sponsorship, Sahara India statement stated: “300 fully equipped medical vans for remote villages , 100 plus tankers for safe drinking water , 10,000 screens with dish antenna for villages for overall extensive literacy & educa-tion.”

Sahara India also stated that they would develop 20 Rural/Semi Urban Sports Promo-tional Centers that include Rural/Semi Urban Cricket promotional Centers in the coming years. "One international standard sports academy shall immediately be developed at one point in India,” Sahara India announced in the statement.

Sahara India will hold press conference at 4.00 pm in Mumbai, it said on a news site it owns. Sahara had been sponsoring the Indian Cricket Team since 2001.

Sahara dumps India team, BCCI reacts

Mumbai: Sahara Group chief Subroto Roy on Saturday defended its decision to end sponsorship ties with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and its pull out from the Pune Warriors of the Indian Premier League (IPL) saying they had enough.

"The decision we took to end ties was not a bad one at all. We had enough of it. Any relationship does not break on one single issue only. We had a long relation-ship. It has to do with many issues and has happened continuously," Roy told a press conference.

"There were so many genuine things we had but they (BCCI) did not give heed to such a small thing like opening the bid. They did not open the bid (when Sahara had submitted its bid for the first time). Rules were broken for other teams but we were not given natural justice," he said.

Roy said Sahara had repeatedly ap-proached the BCCI to settle the issues through arbitration and had even proposed an arbitrator BCCI ignored all.

"We even approached the BCCI for ar-bitration and even proposed the name of the arbitrator," said Roy.

Roy said Sahara India also had to pay 25 percent extra as franchise fee

considering the fact that number of matches were reduced to 74 from the orig-inally-proposed 94.

"Had it been 94 matches then the gate money to collection of advertise-ment money would have been 25 percent more. We have paid 25 percent more. Dif-ferential amount is 25 percent of the total amount," he said.

Roy said Sahara has asked BCCI to look for a new buyer for Pune Warriors at the earliest.

"Money is not an issue for me. But I don't want the players to suffer. They should not miss this season. We have asked the BCCI to look for a buyer for Pune Warriors at the earliest," he said.

Roy also added that his group would continue sponsoring the cricket team for two-four months before BCCI finds a new sponsor.

"We want the separation to be ami-cable so we will continue our sponsorship deal for another two-four months before BCCI gets a new sponsor," he said.

We had enough of it from BCCI: Sahara chief

New Delhi: Cricket loss proved hockey's gain on Tuesday. Sahara India after severing all its ties with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is all set to renew its sponsor-ship deal with hockey by sigining a five-year deal with Hockey India (HI).

The sponsorship deal will cover both the men and the women's hockey team in both the junior and senior categories.

"More or less everything has been final-

ised. Most probably tomorrow, the agreement would be signed. We need more money to promote the sport," Hockey India secretary general Narinder Batra said.

Batra, however, refused to divulge the exact figure and said an official announcement would be made in couple of days.

"Nothing has been finalised as yet. Talks are on with and within next 2-3 days we are expecting to take a decision," said Batra.

But according to sources the new deal could be valued at Rs.15 crores per year, which will be substantial hike from ex-isiting Rs.3 crores.

Indian hockey's six-month extended sponsorship deal with Sahara ended last month before the five-match Test series against South Africa (for men) and four-Test rubber against Azerbaijan (for women), follow-ing which HI approached the company for another extension on a pro-rata basis.

The Sahara Group had first signed a sponsorship deal with then Indian Hockey Federation in July 2003 for eight years.

Sahara to sponsor hockey

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Anyone who has grown up in Mumbai or visited Mumbai knows the ubiqui-tous corner restaurants called “Irani” restaurants rather too well to warrant an introduction.

Those who haven’t been to Mumbai but have seen classic Hindi movies set in the erstwhile Bombay, would have seen umpteen numbers of scenes played out in Irani cafes.

First set up nearly 100 years ago at the city’s busiest street corners mostly by migrants from what was then known as Persia and now Iran, the restaurants and cafés have formed the warp and weft of the great city’s growth into the megalopolis that it is today.

But in a city that is fast changing to embrace a modern urbanscape, Irani restaurants, like many of the old buildings they are housed in are beginning to disappear. In fact, a ma-jority of them have completely van-ished.

That is what inspired artist and filmmaker Gautam Benegal, who has had hundreds of inspirational cups of tea, stimulating discussions and brilliant ideas in the dozens of Irani restaurants he has visited throughout his early career, to produce a series of paintings featuring them.

His extremely successful exhibi-tion of paintings was a great hit in Mumbai last month. He has shared the story and a few of his paintings exclusively for the Indian Weekender.

Speaking to Indian Weekender how he was inspired by the restau-rants to set out making a series of paintings to celebrate them, Benegal said, “The Irani restaurants, some of them well over seventy years old, represent the quintessential nature of

cosmopolitan Bombay and were the first eating houses where people from all classes, castes and persuasions were welcome.

“These were the places where a migrant worker could get the cheap-est meal in the city. And he would often be rubbing shoulders with poets, painters, student leaders and journalists for whom the corner Irani was a common meeting point.

“The old world interior of an Irani restaurant was unique and irreplace-able. But with time these restaurants are shutting down and currently there are hardly 26 restaurants in all of Bombay. Multinational banks and garment franchises are taking up their spaces and very soon there will

be none left.” Benegal understands that all things change and that’s the way the cookie crumbles: “I un-derstand that transience is a natural condition of human existence. And though resignedly accept it, I still feel a pang of remorse as familiar faces and architecture melts away around me and that which was considered commonplace and taken for granted by us only a few years ago, now becomes unattainable and priceless as bits and pieces of living history are lost forever.

“I try to capture the transient face of Bombay, now forcibly and jingois-tically stamped Mumbai, that within the space of a hundred blinks rein-vents itself a thousand-fold, as build-ers, land sharks and estate agents savage it and parcel it out over and over.

“I need anchors and mnemon-ics that mark the moments of my life, the places I have been to and the faces I have seen at end of day, for those are the things that make up my living soul. For when all is said and done, and vision obscured, taste-buds dulled, and flesh demeaned by age, we are but the sum total of our memories.

“There is no greater sadness than the collective amnesia of a callous populace that does not recognise its own treasures, that cannot cry at the corruption of its ancient rivers or the demise of a simple cup of Irani chai.

Artist celebrates Mumbai’s ‘Irani’ culture dev NadkarNI

Born in 1965 in Calcutta, Gautam Benegal graduated from Jadavpur University taking his degree in Comparative Litera-ture. From his early years he showed a marked aptitude for graphic arts. At age sixteen at the invitation of Satyajit Ray, renowned director and editor of the chil-dren’s magazine “Sandesh”, his illustra-tions and articles regularly appeared in

Sandesh and subsequently other children’s magazines like Anan-damela, Neelkamal Lalkamal and Scifun.

Leading newspapers such as the Ananda Bazaar Patrika group and the Economic Times published his drawings. At age 18, he joined an outreach program of the National Institute of Design.

With “Tupatup”, his first independant film for Children’s Film Society of India, he turned to independent animation film-making. He made a second animation film for CFSI based on a Bengali folk tale, which has the unusual title of "Gauraya ki Champi.” In 2000 he has made “Kalkalam” a short animated film, based on Rabindranath Tago-re’s short story “Totakahini” for the Films Division. All his films have been selected in film festivals abroad in Tehran, Hiroshima, Belarus, Cairo and Annecy.

Benegal has made animation promos for Channel [V] and MTV as well as assisted in documentary films for Shyam Benegal Sahyadri Films on documentaries on Aids Awareness and for the Spastic Society of India. He has also directed a documentary film on Thalassaemia awareness for the pharmaceutical company Cipla and a documentary film on Noise Pollution.

In 1994, Benegal was invited by Zee TV as consultant for a year to train a group of 16 trainee animators to man its fledgling animation department which later went on to become ZICA.

Benegal is also a freelance painter, journalist and cartoonist associ-ated with the DNA and Times Of India . In 2010 he made the one hour animation film “The Prince and the Crown of Stone” which won two Ra-jatkamal National Awards. In 2011 he has written a book of short stories for teenagers called “1/7 Bondel Road which has received wide critical acclaim. Forthcoming works include a novel set in 1980s Calcutta, and a 30-minute short animation film called “Setu” on child labour.

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From the Editor

Indian Weekender is published by Kiwi Media Group, 98 Great South Road, New Market and printed at APN Print, Ellerslie, Auckland Copyright 2010. Kiwi Media Group. All Rights Reserved.

Indian Weekender Volume 3 No. 20Publisher: Kiwi Media Group LimitedGroup editor-in-chief: Dev Nadkarni dev@indianweekender.co.nzOnline editor: Arvind Kumar arvind@indianweekender.co.nzChief Technical Officer: Rohan Desouza rohan@ indianweekender.co.nzDesign: Sonata Design Ltd - sonatadesignnz@gmail.comAdvertising: Giri Gupta - Ph: 520 0922, Mob: 021 221 1131. Email - girigupta@xtra.co.nzAccounts & Admin: Chetan - Email: accounts@indianweekender.co.nzPlease email original editorial contributions, community notices and pictures to editor@indianweekender.co.nzViews expressed in the publication are not necessarily of the publisher and the publisheris not responsible for advertisers’ claims as appearing in the publication

All indications are that Prime Minister John Key’s second term will be a rockier ride for his government and the country than his first.

If the events of Waitangi Day and the statements of the National Party’s coalition partner, the Maori Party, are anything to go by, Mr Key and his government will find it increasingly challenging to implement one of the cornerstones of National’s manifesto – asset sales.

National clearly swam against the current of public opinion on the super sensitive issue of asset sales in the run up to the elections. In fact at one point it looked as though its espousal of the idea as one of the main planks of its manifesto might land it in hot water.

But despite a majority of people seemingly vehemently opposed to asset sales, Na-tional romped home with relative ease. Undoubtedly one of the main reasons for this was the Labour Party’s poor showing because of the deep divisions within top echelons of its leadership – for which it paid a humiliatingly huge price.

Now the elections are over and the issue of asset sales has reared its head again, as it was bound to. The fact that it has happened even before the first day of the new Par-liament is an indication of how important the issue is. Even before the Waitangi Day protests, the Maori Party threatened to move out of if the government wouldn’t change its stand on clause 9 of the State Owned Enterprises Act.

That the Maori Party’s statements, its leader’s open letter to New Zealand published in the country’s largest newspaper and its leaders’ threat to move out of government did not cut the mustard with Maori protestors at Waitangi exposes the deep divisions that exist between the Maori Party and the protestors, who were mostly Maori.

News reports said the Maori Party politicians were squarely abused by their own just as the Prime Minister’s speech was interrupted to an extent that he head to leave the venue without completing it.

It must be clear as daylight to Mr Key and his government that asset sales has quickly emerged as the new bargaining chip for a section of New Zealanders who, as seen at Waitangi, are prepared to go to any lengths to achieve their ends.

An impasse over Clause 9 of the SOE Act has the potential to become a show stopper for the Key government should the Maori Party decide to end its support. Mr Key has been at pains to explain that this will not happen.

But this is to say nothing of the other more fundamental front that has been opened, which will force the Key government to the larger issues of the Crown-Treaty relation-ship that have once more been brought to the fore by National’s mixed ownership model of state assets.

There is no doubt that Mr Key will need great negotiating skills to manage the increasingly strident politics that will engulf the issue as his second term progresses.

Expect Parliament sessions to be stormier than ever, not the least because Winston Peters is back in the House. He has already brought controversial issues like contro-versial expenditure on the Whanau Ora scheme on the very first day of Parliament.

The present situation has all the potential to deepen divisions between New Zea-landers – something that must be avoided at all costs, in the interests of everybody including future generations.

It calls for all parties concerned: the government, political parties – particularly the Maori and ethnic parties – iwi and all stakeholders affected by asset sales (some would say every New Zealander) to come together, set sectarian politics aside and work toward a solution that is fair and equal to all.

If we are to continue living in an equal, egalitarian society with one law govern-ing all New Zealanders, we must eschew all divisive policies now and get on with the onerous task of revitalising our sluggish economy.

- Dev Nadkarni

Deal with divisiveness – now

Mario MirandaThank you for your thoughtful article on Mario Miranda. I studied and worked in Goa for 14 years and I really loved Mario’s cartoons.

– Antees Joseph

Student’s deportationInstead of deporting Indian Student they should look into closing loopholes in their own system and filter Educational Institutions and bring them under microscope before issuing student visa offered through low sub standard Course providers.

– Vikrant

Compassion towards all living creatures.I believe that no matter what the reason, vegetarianism is the best way to show compas-sion towards animals/birds/fish or in short all living creatures. We see a lot of people who have pets at home and talk about kindness towards animals but eat meat everyday! Isn't that strange? How can you take care of a dog while at the same time consuming meat of another animal? Vegetarianism saves lives. Don't you think that animals also have the right to live?

– Vinay

An icon passes - will be remembered for his great worksGuide will remain a defining movie for me personally. Only a genius could pull it off so well. Dev Saab will be missed greatly for his artistic insipiration to three generations. Non-traditionalists like Dev Anand come once in a while only. We so need more of them.

– Nalinesh Arun

Congratulations to Kanu PatelWe Congratulate Kanubhai Patel on receiving the QSM i feel very humbled to work along side such a Devoted Volunteer who has always had the Indian Community at heart through the Decades serving in so many roles for the Auckland Indian Association-Mahatma Gandhi Centre And Radha Krishna Mandir. You have always been a Mentor for me in my Volunteer work also for AIAI. May you keep giving us guidance and vision for the future generation.

– Nanette Nathoo

Queen has done well to give full recognition to Kanubhai, for whom greatness has run in family. All credit for his achievement goes to his father. Though Kanubhai has in his great humility mentioned others in the team too, such greatness comes primarily from the family. Kanubhai, hearty congratulations.

– Deeptikashi Sharma

Amar Chitra Katha booksAmar Chitra Katha is creating new titles. In fact ten new titles have been made, start-ing with Mother Teresa in August 2010 to the about to be released Konark. Mr Pai was instrumental in guiding and inspiring the relaunch of the series. After his passing away it is Lalita Pai who encourages us.

– Reena Puri

Letters

Ten top stories on iwk.co.nz1. Sitar maestro to perform in Rotorua2. Kiwi indian IT firm lists on German bourse3. Rabuka needs to tell whole story4. Vipassana for Auckland kids5. Visiting India’s most Uncommon Man6. Soumitra Dutta is Cornell's new dean7. Indian kites Fly against all odds8. Sectarian politics affects Indians globally9. Rabuka apology 'too little, too late'10. Kanu Patel honoured with QSM

Indian

Much to learn from the Mekong regionWhatever it is that inspired the ancient Hindu and Buddhist kings to build the amazing temples of Angkor Wat and surrounds – now deemed wonders of the world, protected and in various stages of restoration – cre-ating a thriving tourism industry a millennium later couldn’t have been a motivation.

As I’m driven around the surpris-ingly wide and clean main avenues of Siem Reap on the ubiquitous tuk-tuk I wonder what Cambodia would have been like without these incredibly supersized ancient monuments that are a magnet for some 3 million tour-ists from all over the world spending hundreds of millions of dollars in the impoverished southeast Asian nation every year.

Or for that matter what it would have been like if the country would not have been able to put the horrible Khmer Rouge episode in its recent history behind itself so quickly, in less than a generation, despite the loss of nearly 3 million people in the surreal madness of the putsch (almost everyone you speak to in Cambodia has lost a dear one or a friend).

You can’t help but notice how Cambodia – especially Siem Reap, the city closest to the biggest con-centration of ancient temples – is so finely tuned to the tourism industry. The efficiency with which every tourist activity is conducted is com-mendable. The tour operators are punctual, courteous and extremely professional; the government-ap-proved guides are well informed enough to contextualise information to the tourists’ own backgrounds and cultures and are proficient com-

municators; the local transportation options available are clean, efficient and affordable.

There is much that the tourism sector can learn from the efficient way the tourism industry is managed in Cambodia or for that matter col-lectively in the entire Mekong region. The relative ease with which you can travel to various destinations around the Mekong region is a bonus for multi-destination tourists.

Rising Above the limitA-tionsEvery tourist destination has its own physical limitations. For instance, at first glance there appears to be little in Siem Reap beyond the ancient monuments. Similarly, in the Pacific Islands context, there seems little else other than sunshine, sand and sea. In fact, one of the criticisms of Pacific Island destinations has been the lack of avenues to spend time and money outside the precincts of a resort.

Though that is slowly changing in some countries like Fiji and Vanuatu, where entrepreneurs and tourism promotion agencies are beginning to offer variety by adding the likes of adventure and cultural tourism to the mix, for most destinations around the region there is little life beyond the resort – something which appeals to a certain kind of tourist but pretty much shuts out the large number that is after a more variegated holiday ex-perience.

Siem Reap has overcome the ‘there’s little beyond the monuments’ perception quite impressively. There is much to do in the small but distinc-tive ‘downtown’ area after you’ve

spent a hard day trekking up and down the forests around Siem Reap admiring and marveling at millen-nium old temples.

The sheer number of restaurants and variety of cuisines is so huge that you won’t have to visit a place twice even if you were to stay in Siem Reap for several months. Menu choices range from authentically ethnic to creative fusion blending several cui-sines. The choice and range of water-

ing holes combined with rock bottom pricing for tipples – a mug of beer on tap is just 50US cents – adds im-mensely to the allure.

The choices invite you to be ad-venturous with your palate. If you haven’t found your nirvana trudg-ing through all those temples during the day, the gourmand in you can surely find salvation in Siem Reap’s food precinct around its famed Pub Street, which comes alive after dusk and buzzes on into the wee hours. It doesn’t get as raucous as Bali or Bangkok, thanks in part to the gov-ernment’s efficient tourist police who make their presence felt tactfully – without being intrusive or intimidat-ing – at all of Siem Reap’s busy night spots (there’s no sleaze in public

areas and all post bar hopping activ-ity seems discreet).

Other attractions are souk like markets, albeit enclosed, selling exotic Khmer artifacts alongside the usual Chinese made tourist tat. Shop-ping can be exciting: salesmanship is glib and bargaining is rife – it’s up to you to strike a good deal, of which there’s plenty to be had.

This is something that tourist markets in our region including the Pacific Islands sadly lack, despite being great attractions for day tour-ists like those visiting on cruise ships. Cruise tourism is tipped for impressive growth this year as well as in coming years despite recent scares like the Costa Concordia. But nowhere in the islands is there a dis-tinctive space for shopping or eating and drinking. It could contribute greatly not just to the holiday expe-rience of tourists but also to tourist dollars earned in the destinations.

Opportunities for side trips around Siem Reap such as the unusual ‘floating village’ on the Tonle Sap Lake/river system offer a completely different experience from the mainstream ancient temples routine, adding variety to the holiday sight seeing experience.

ConvenienCe, Cost And ConneCtivityA large part of the growth in tourist numbers turning up in the Mekong region and particularly in Cambodia is because of budget airlines. Low cost carriers like the Malaysia head-quartered Air Asia, voted the best low cost carrier in the world for the third consecutive year, have worked

hard with tourist operators across the region to carve out incredibly low priced deals. These comprehensive deals including travel, stay, ground transportation, local tour itinerar-ies, tickets to destinations can all be bought in a pizza-topping style menu on a single website with an extremely user-friendly interface. The confir-mations are instant and changes re-quired are easily and inexpensively made. The packages offer a huge choice and price range and the mix and match options for activities and their scheduling all in one place on the web make it extremely easy and convenient to plan trips. This is es-pecially useful for complex, multi-destination itineraries.

Unlike in most destinations in New Zealand, Australia and the islands, almost all the accommoda-tion segments in Cambodia offer free internet connectivity for their guests. In fact, free internet connectivity is a draw card and is advertised as a top amenity, particularly in the low cost accommodation category. Every eatery offers you free wi-fi just as almost every hotel does. It’s easier accessing wifi networks in Siem Reap than it is in even in Auckland or Sydney, let alone the islands region.

Clearly, the success of the Mekong region’s tourism industry is because of a range of factors that have been made to work in unison with the tourism bodies of several countries working in close cooperation with the private sector comprising the airlines, the hospitality industry and local authorities to deliver a rich, var-iegated experience targeted at a range of tourist budgets.

Comment

The Siva Subrahmania Temple in Nadi has the good fortune of being the creation of the renowned temple architect, Padma Bhusan Dr. Ganapati Sthapathi, who passed away a few months ago at the age of 84. In his long career Ganapati Sthapati meticulously trained three generations of temple architects.

I remember seeing the plan of the new temple displayed at the old temple. It looked fantastic but as someone remarked it looked like an impossible dream. The old temple was on the banks of the Nadi River, an ideal location, but the lease was getting over and there were problems about getting a renewal. With the help of Mr. Narayanan Nair, who was then with the land tribunal, Sangam was able to acquire the present site not far from the old temple but on the other side of town.

The old temple, though it was very modest, is remembered with nostalgia. When I came to Fiji in 1966, Krishna Iyer was the priest. He had come as an indentured la-bourer and remained in Fiji after that as the temple priest. He never married and never went back to India. Most probably he was the only south Indian Brahmin who came to Fiji during indenture. He moved to Natabua Old People’s

Home in his old age where he died.In 1984 the government of the

Indian state of Tamil Nadu made available the services of Mahal-inga Gurukal for some time as the chief priest, which boosted the activities at the Nadi temple. Devotees flocked to the temple in very large numbers to witness and participate in the many religious ceremonies that were conducted

at the temple for the first time. Mahalinga Gurukal was also very artistic and during the nine day annual festival he used to deco-rate the deity in different ways. As the temple became more and more overcrowded the need for a new temple became imperative.

Swami Rudrananda had been in charge of the Sangam until 1976 when he relinquished control. The administration that took over from Swamiji was not interested in building the new temple though under Mr. Narayanan Nair, who

was the first chairman of the New Temple Construction Commit-tee, after acquiring the land, the ‘bhoomi puja’ was done in 1984. It was unfortunate that Mr. Nair started the temple construction but could not continue as he was called away to perform other official duties overseas.

The Sangam administra-tion, instead of giving priority

to the new temple, concentrated on having an annual convention to which every year a prominent person was invited as the chief guest. During the convention there was also a Sangam soccer tourna-ment, which seemed to have been the main attraction. As such no one seemed to have had any time to think of the new temple that needed to be built.

But Sangam is greater than its administration/administrators. The Sangam people were deter-mined to build the temple planned

by Ganapati Stapati even if it seemed impossible. Then nothing, however, is impossible if there is the will and the determination. Na-rayana Reddy, the retired principal of Sangam College in Nadi, provid-ed leadership to the Sangam people.

Five years after the ‘bhoomi puja’ was performed, the actual construction work began with the Re-Construction Committee under

the chairmanship of Narayana Reddy. Meanwhile the volunteers who came forward and felt the urge to build the new temple spent the weekends in fund raising. Many professionals also did voluntary work supervising the construction etc., which was done in stages.

These volunteers included not only Sangam people but non-south Indians also. For the temple, though it is built and maintained by Sangam, does not belong to the Sangam people only but to anyone who wants to go and worship there.

Here I would like to pay a special tribute to the Gujaratis of Nadi who from the beginning had been part of the Siva Subramania temple. The professionals among them volun-teered their services.

But for certain things you needed specialist workers like the ‘silpis’ (carvers) and the painter for painting the ceiling and the roof with all its little, intricate figures. Ganapathi Sthapathi arranged to send the specialist workers who came and spent months in Nadi doing the work. The painter, Go-palakrishnan, who stayed on for several months giving finishing touches, well after the temple was officially opened, was the last one to leave.

In 1994, ten years after the ‘bhumi pooja’ was performed, the temple was completed. Though Swami Rudrananda was no longer in this world Swamis from Kauai ashram in Hawaii came to take part in the ‘kumbhabhishekam’. Ganapati Stapati had planned the temple in Kauai also.

Thanks to the determination and dedicated hard work of the Sangam people, today we have an outstand-ing temple in Nadi designed by the world-renowned temple architect Ganapati Sthapathi. This is the only temple in the South Pacific, which is the creation of that great artist.

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The Fijian Government today accepted an offer from the United Nations to send a Needs Assessment Mission (NAM) to Fiji ahead of the planned Parliamentary elections.

Fijian Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum stipulated that the composition of the mission must be politically neutral and un-biased with regard to Fiji, so it can provide an objective technical needs assessment for Fiji to conduct free and fair elections.

The NAM, which will be conducted by the Electoral Assistance Division of the UN Sec-retariat in New York, is slated to take place in early March. It will provide technical assess-ment of Fiji’s needs, such as ballot boxes, staff-ing and logistical preparation, among other considerations.

The move follows the Fijian Government’s recent selection of the Canadian firm CODE Inc. as Fiji’s vendor for electronic voter regis-tration (EVR).

The country continues to follow the recom-mendations of the European Union's report on Fiji’s 2006 elections, which cited irregularities with voter registration and voting practices, such as 101% voter turnout in one constitu-ency, and the disenfranchisement of certain voter groups.

Fiji has sent out invitations to the inter-national community to participate in the EVR process by way of financial assistance; however, so far no countries or multi-lateral agencies have opted to participate.

Fiji welcomes UN mission for upcoming elections

The New Zealand Law Society (“NZLS”) has refused to allow the Fijian Director of Public Prosecutions (“DPP”) to advertise legal posi-tions in its magazine, Law Talk, according to a media release from the Fijian administration.

An email to the Office of the DPP this morning (3.2.12), said “The New Zealand Law Society Board has decided unanimously that the NZLS will not accept advertisements for legal positions in Fiji under the current interim military regime”.

The Director of Public Prosecutions, Mr Christopher Pryde, said it was unfortunate that the NZLS was involving itself in politics and preventing New Zealand lawyers from hearing about job vacancies in Fiji, the news release said.

He is reported as saying: “It is unfortunate that New Zealand lawyers are being denied the opportunity to decide for themselves whether they wish to take up legal positions in Fiji. By refusing to allow us the right to advertise, the NZLS is effectively censoring what New Zealand lawyers know about Fiji."

The Office of the Director of Public Pros-ecutions in an independent office and the Di-rector of Public Prosecutions has the sole re-sponsibility for criminal prosecutions in Fiji. This is without recourse to any Government minister, including the Attorney-General. The Office in that regard is non-political.

Mr Pryde said he remains concerned that the NZLS continues to have an inaccurate picture of the Fijian situation, in particular of the judiciary and the courts. "People charged with offences by the Police need to be pros-ecuted through the courts. What shall we do with people charged with rape or robbery or murder? Send them to New Zealand?” Mr Pryde said.

“My invitation to the NZLS still stands. They are welcome to visit Fiji and meet and talk to anyone without restriction so that they can obtain for themselves a first-hand ap-praisal of things in Fiji. In the meantime, we would appreciate the NZLS allowing lawyers to decide things for themselves and allow us the right to advertise,” he said.

NZ Law Society disallows Fijian legal ads in magazine

Fiji

The much-anticipated inaugural South Pacific Food & Wine Festival will take place with its associated travel industry conference in Denarau from 14-17 March 2011. Besides being treated to delicious samples, classes and demonstrations by celebrity chefs as well as a series of other exciting events, international visitors and local participants of the Festival will also have the oppor-tunity to enroll their chil-dren in Kids Cooking Workshops.

Attorney General and Minister for Tourism Mr Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum explained that “the com-bined events will help position Fiji as the centre of evolving South Pacific cuisine, using local produce and products, and will increase the number of international visitors during a tradi-tionally low season. They will also expose our local chefs to international master chefs and present invaluable learning opportunities.”

As part of the initiative to develop the South Pacific Food & Wine Festival & Con-ference as on-going annual events, the Minis-try of Tourism has launched with the festival organisers a competition for Fijian children between 10 and 16 years of age. The compe-tition will determine 2 which two talented Fijian children, one aged between 10 and 12 and the other between 13 and 16 years old, will be selected as Fiji’s Junior Master Chefs and

represent Fiji at the Kids Cooking Workshops during the Festival.

Starting with an essay competition that is being run with the support of the Ministry of Education, children aged 10 to 16 years old have been invited to submit an essay along with their personal details and two photo-graphs – one a passport-sized picture and the

other a photo of a dish that the child has recently cooked themselves.

Essays can either be neatly hand-written or typed in size-12 font and limited to a maximum of 500 words on the topic: Why I should be chosen as Fiji’s Junior Master Chef and represent Fiji at the first-ever South Pacific Food & Wine Festival?

From all of the essays received, eight (8) final-ists will be chosen on 24 February to participate in a Fiji Junior Master

Chef Cook-off that will be held on Saturday 3 March 2012 at Holiday Inn Suva.

There will be two (2) winners of the Cook-off competition. The two successful children will win the opportunity to represent Fiji during the South Pacific Food & Wine Festi-val at one of the two days of the Kids Cooking Workshop. The Workshop will be held at the Radisson Blu Resort Denarau on 14 and 15 March 2012. The prize includes travel, meals and accommodation for the child and one parent or guardian.

Fiji to host wine, food festival in March

The Prime Minister and Minister for Lands and Mineral Resources

Voreqe Bainimarama is waiving land rental fees on government

land leases in areas badly affected by the floods and declared

disaster zones in the Western Division, for a period of one year.

His decision comes after his two-day tour of the West assess-

ing the damage caused by the flood.

Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Lands and Mineral

Resources, Mr Filimone Kau said that the decision would mean

that government land tenants in the affected areas of the West will

have their land rent free for the period January 2012 to January

2013.“We will now work closely with the Commissioner Western and

his team to identify tenants badly affected and who will benefit

from the waiver,” he added.

The waiver will allow tenants to concentrate on rehabilitation

and rebuilding programs.

Year’s rent waived for

flood affected

Indian

The recent big floods in Nadi, Ba, Raki-raki and other areas in Fiji will once again disrupt many families who only finished rebuilding their properties and lives after the previous major flood disaster of 2009. Poor folks in large numbers, living in the flood prone and low lying areas have been badly affected by losing houses and crops. Naturally many kiwis, but in particular Ex Fiji Residents living here are gathering money and other necessities to send it to the afflicted people.

Readers of Indian Weekender will be pleased to know that NZ Association of Fiji Teachers has risen to the occasion once again and will assist financially, those families facing hardship in meeting costs for sending their children to school.

This flood has caused the Association to revise their target to raise $20,000 towards meeting the urgent needs in the affected areas plus the families from the other poverty stricken squatter areas. Auckland alone has approximately seventy thousand Indians who have some connection with Fiji and if each family contributed a little, it will soon amount to much more than the above figure for this much needed charity.

Let us remind ourselves what the great Saint, Mother Teresa said in respect of giving- “The person who gives with a

smile is the best giver because God loves a cheerful giver.”

The Association members have already started approaching business houses, man-dalis, clubs and individuals to obtain do-nations for this cause and the response so far has been encouraging. Due to time con-straint, it is not practical to approach every one so please make contact with the people

mentioned below to do your share and generosity.

In addition to the above, the association is holding an Indian concert on Saturday, February 11 at the Mt Eden Memorial Hall commencing time 7pm. Tickets for a two hours of singing/music and an hour of “bijuria”

plus meal and a drink, is reasonably priced at $30 per person – tickets may be obtained by calling the association’s treasurer, Rishi Maharaj – phone 627 8226 or secretary Hari Goundar – phone 578 1280. Any do-nations made through the NZ Association of Fiji Teachers, will be receipted with their Charity Registration Number CC45879, for Tax Rebate purposes.

The association, in keeping with its objective, seeks out the neediest in Fiji to assist with children’s school costs, irre-spective of any race or creed.

D Reddy- Publicity Officer-NZAFT - 09 478 8064

Fiji teachers in NZ raise funds for flood affected

Fiji

The Prime Minister of Tuvalu, the Honor-able Willy Telavi, today presented a cheque of $10,000.00 (FJD) to Fijian Prime Minis-ter, Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama at the Sofitel hotel.

"This is a token of goodwill by the people of Tuvalu towards the displaced people who were victims of the recent flooding in Fiji," said Honorable Willy Telavi.

In a private ceremony, Prime Minister

Bainimarama thanked his Tuvalu counterpart for the donation, expressing thanks on behalf of Fijians in a time of need.

According to the Prime Minister of Tuvalu, this token of kindness is the result of existing joint cooperation between the two countries. “We look forward to working closer with Fiji, especially as Tuvalu is the main door to the outside world,” Prime Minister Telavi said.

Little Tuvalu donates for flood relief

“The person who gives with a smile is the best giver because God loves

a cheerful giver.”

20 Indian Weekender | February 10, 2012 | www.iwk.co.nz

Indian

Rightly considered one of the great-est wonders of the world, Cam-bodia’s Angkor Wat is the world’s largest Hindu temple. Nothing can prepare you for the immensity, gran-deur and sheer scale of this amazing structure that covers an area the size of several modern city blocks and rises up to 65 metres. The perimeter of the three-tiered temple is more than a kilometre and the length of the manmade moat that surrounds it is 3.5km – it is nearly 200m wide almost throughout.

This great temple, built in the twelfth century by King Surya-varman II of a dynasty of Khmer Kings whose Hindu ancestors ven-tured far away from what comprises modern India’s geographic boundar-ies, is testimony to the immensity of the extent of Indian culture – which back then was almost exclusively Hindu.

Hindu culture held its sway from Afghanistan and beyond in the west to Vietnam in the east, encompass-ing all of the modern nations that fall within this vast and most populous geographic swathe. Though many of these nations have adopted other faiths down the centuries, Hindu culture is so deeply ingrained in the collective psyche of the people of the whole region that it shows through

all the time – whether it is in lan-guage, cuisine, mannerism, ritual, broad cultural mores and even place names.

To quote just two instances of place names that hark back to Hindu culture from these two geo-graphic extremities: modern Kanda-har in Afghanistan was the ancient Gandhar (Gandhari, Dhritarsahtra’s wife in the Mahabharata was the princess of Gandhar) and Isaan, the northeastern province of Thailand close to the Cambodian border is a word that comes directly from the Sanskrit word Ishaan, which means northeast.

The Angkor Wat and dozens of other monuments scattered across Cambodia, many deemed world heritage sites and protected by a host of United Nations con-servation programmes as well as restoration initiatives from several countries including India, are a repository of information of the influence of Hindu and Bud-dhist culture down the ages.

The intricate and elegant bas reliefs, friezes and carvings in all these monuments not only depict in detail hundreds of episodes from the Ramayana, the Mahab-harata, the Puranas and stories from the great life of Gautama

the Buddha but are also a veritable visual commentary on trades, oc-cupations, social and cultural mores and the lifestyles of the thousands of people of several generations in-volved in the building and finishing of these incredible monuments.

The most recurrent theme in ancient Hindu Cambodian sculpture is Puranic stories of the creation of the universe – Samudra Manthan or the churning of the ocean. The struc-ture of the main temple of Angkor Wat is based on the legendary Mount Meru and the five peaks surround-ing it as they rise from the waters of

the huge moat, which depicts the ocean. The Devas and Asuras are elaborately de-picted churning the ocean with Vasuki the seven headed king of serpents. In fact this almost universally forms the theme of most balustrades in the temple complexes.

Also found in abundance in the structures whose design

and treatment has been influenced by South Indian temple architecture is reverence to the Hindu holy trinity – creator Brahma, preserver Vishnu and destroyer Shiva. The interplay of these three forces is what creates reality, according to Hindu theology and this finds ample place in ancient Cambodian architecture. Idols of Vishnu are still worshipped by the faithful within the temple complex alongside idols of the Buddha – who according to some beliefs is indeed an incarnation of Vishnu.

The other most ubiquitous Hindu deity is Ganesha, who appears in almost all of the temples and is one of the most popular icons that tour-ists buy in the handicraft stores around Cambodia. It is obvious that this popular deity of learning, the lord of auspicious beginnings and remover of obstacles has been held in great reverence all throughout Khmer history.

Like the great ancient empire building Hindu kings of India, the Khmer kings spent much of their resources on learning and public welfare. One constant structure that forms part of most temple complexes in Cambodia is the library – almost every complex has at least a couple of them.

The huge complex of Preah Khan, built by the greatest of Khmer kings, Jayavarman VII, was dedicated to his mother and was developed as a centre of learning. At any given time more than 1000 teachers are believed to have taught there. Jayavarman VII also built 102 hospitals and dozens of wayside rest houses for travellers, in what is reminiscent of the great Indian king Chandragupta’s reign.

At Preah Khan, my Khmer guide told me that since the huge complex was a great centre of learning, it was hardly surprising that even the gigantic trees that had overrun the monuments looked like “the el-ephant headed god of learning called Ganesha.” It might be pure coinci-dence, but I was able to photograph at least a dozen trees in a seeming symbiotic embrace with the ruins that looked distinctly elephantine – in many cases resembling Ganesha.

Fijiheritage

dev NadkarNI

It might come as a surprise to many that the biggest Hindu temple in the world is not in India – it is in fact in the Buddhist Southeast asian nation of Cambodia.

ancient India’s glory shines in Cambodiaancient India’s glory shines in Cambodia

Jayavarman VII, though, unlike his forefathers who built the impressive Angkor Wat, con-verted to Buddhism after leading many a successful military cam-paign against his kingdom’s foes including the Chams – residents of what in ancient Indian litera-ture is described as the kingdom of Champa, now in the Southern parts of Vietnam.

Modern Cambodia, having re-covered from the brutal ravages of one of the most turbulent times recent history has seen is almost completely Buddhist. What is life if it isn’t irony! The country that adopted the world’s most pacifist faith – Buddhism – had the most unbelievable violence heaped upon it in the decades of the Khmer Rouge, where an estimated 2 million people were slaughtered.

The country has now emerged from those terrifying shadows and is coping fairly well with its discovery of modern times and the return of tourists from all over the world. Despite every Khmer having lost someone or the other to the Khmer Rouge putsch, the smile and the Namaste with which they greet every visitor conveys the deep bonds they still share with the world’s oldest continuously thriv-ing culture – the culture of the Sanatan Dharma

Indian

For enquiries please contact sunita0800 999 018 or 021 187 3391

info@milanevents.co.nzwww.milanevents.co.nzauckland, New Zealand

Mumbai: While the tinsel town is quite taken aback ever since the reports of clash between Shahrukh Khan and former best friend Farah Khan’s husband Shirish Kunder surfaced, the former has termed the incident ‘ironical’.

Ever so pleasing King Khan maintaining his dignity and dip-lomatic style posted on his twitter account, “Another long nite. Shooting for a public service msg film about education peace & harmony. Feels ironic when I read & see wot is being said.”

At the same time, Shirish Kunder, an editor and a filmmaker, rubbished all speculations about his intention to file a police report.

He too posted on his twitter account, “Thanks for all your concern & wishes. We are very grateful. Contrary to rumours, we have no intention of filing a FIR or police complaint.”

Reportedly, the brawl between the two sparked off at actor Sanjay Dutt’s bash at a popular night club in Mumbai to cel-ebrate the success of his recent film ‘Agneepath’.

While there are different versions of the story floating, it is believed that Kunder was following Khan making spiteful comments ever since the latter reached the venue post Filmfare awards.

Even when Shahrukh tried to exit, Shirish stood in front re-fusing to step aside. This is when the former got really irritated

and pushed him aside. Dutt stood by Shahrukh’s side during the whole drama.

Apparently, on the other hand, Shirish claims that he was assaulted and Khan attacked him from behind, pulled his hair and slapped.

Amidst the whole hullabaloo, Farah Khan told news channels that Shah Rukh has always told her that physical abuse is the worst way to sort out a problem and it means that the person who is hitting has either a professional or personal crisis going on adding, it saddens her to see him doing this.

The animosity between the once best friends started when Farah Khan decided to rope in Akhshay

Kumar for her movie ‘Tees Maar Khan’. Adding on to this was the nasty posts by her husband about SRK’s

Ra.One on social networking sites.

Kolkata: At a day when the whole country was awaiting a response on his “slapping controversy”, Bol-lywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan brushed aside the entire matter in his inimitable style.

While speaking at a promotional event in Kolkata on Wednesday, King Khan refrained from either repudiation or affirmation of the popular allegations of his misbehav-ior and consequent physical miscon-duct to close friend Farah Khan’s husband, Shirish Kunder.

He said, “I have never made a comment on my personal life and I am not going to do so now. I may be the most publicly available person but I am not privately available.”

“I did not talk about the alter-cation and I will not talk about the make-up,” he remarked.

On Januray 31, SRK, known for his pleasing personality, had report-

edly engaged in a brawl with film-maker Shirish Kunder at a party hosted by Sanjay Dutt at a night club in Mumbai, following his success in the film “Agneepath”.

While reports circulated in the media about a patch up between the two parties over the “disagree-ment”, Shah Rukh refused to deign to the proposal of providing an of-ficial response to the entire hullaba-loo, citing his principle of personal privacy as the reason.

“Some of the things which are being said have happened and some of them did not but Farah is a close friend of mine and my kids call her aunty. So this is a very personal matter for me and I would like to keep my comments between people close to me,” he said.

Shah Rukh stated that the truth “often presented” is different from what happens in real time and so he

feels reticent while explaining the facts to his children.

“It is embarrassing to me as a father to explain to my kids every time that half of the things said about their dad is not completely true,” he said.

Upon query Shah Rukh revealed that his upcoming film with Katrina Kaif is already on its way and the “big shooting will start after 28th.”

With the Indian Premier League’s fourth season just months away, the owner of the Kolkata Knight Riders outfit is looking to “fill in the required places” with players who “will strengthen the team”.

“We have a new coach this time round and I had to take that deci-sion as I did not know whether our old coach was going to stay,” Shah Rukh said.

No comment on private matters: Shah Rukh

K H a N V S K u N d e r

What was the story? vatsal verMa

Bollywood

arNaB ChakraBortyMumbai: After their much talked about clash, Bollywood

superstar Shah Rukh Khan and his former friend Farah

Khan’s husband Shirish Kunder patched up on a good note,

reports said.Choreographer- turned-director Shirish Tweeted, “Some

incidents in our life when resolved makes relationships

stronger than they were ever before. Shahrukh and I

just met, had a heart to heart chat and have resolved all

misunderstandings. All animosity is now sorted for good.”

Reacting on the entire incident, Bollywood actress Amisha

Patel tweeted “Heard on tv news that shirish n farah apologise

2 @iamsrk at his home mannat. so glad that a senior like. @

iamsrk was respected.”

According to media reports, Shirish and Farah, visited

Khan's residence, Mannat to solve what the Ra.One star had

earlier termed "a disagreement".

A brawl between the two sparked off at actor Sanjay Dutt’s

bash at Juhu night club in Mumbai to celebrate the success

of his recent film ‘Agneepath’.

At the party, Dutt had to intervene and stop a skirmish

between the two men when the situation went out of hands,

media reports said.

Shah Rukh Khan, Shirish Kunder patch up

Indian Weekender | February 10, 2012 | www.iwk.co.nz 23

Indian Bollywood

Mumbai: Hrithik Roshan-Priyan-ka Chopra starrer Agneepath has broken records of all movies in terms of opening day revenue, ac-cording industry reports and claims by the film’s makers.

With a Republic Day release and a heavy weight star cast, this movie has surpassed all expectations.

The movie has crossed the ex-pected numbers not by a satisfac-tory margin but an over whelming number.

The previous record of Rs. 20.6 crore opening day collections has been broken by an excess of Rs 4.5 crore.

The mega starrer has exploded over the box office with a whopping Rs 25 crores opening day collection.

"The terrific advance booking was an indicator that AGNEEPATH would embark on a humungous start at the ticket window. And the unanimous praise soon after the first screening of the film concluded on Monday night [which was attended by the cast and crew of the film as well as this writer] was another

pointer that Karan Johar's big-ticket film was poised for a super-success-ful innings at the box-office," wrote Bollywood trade analyst Taran Adarsh on Bollywood Hungama.

"Be it the single screens or mul-tiplexes, the occupancy was 95% to 100% almost everywhere," he said.

This Agneepath by the Dharma Productions is a remake of the 1990 Bollywood film directed by Mukul Anand starring Amitabh Bachchan, Mithun Chakraborty, Madhavi, Rohini Hattangadi and Danny Dengzongpa.

Produced by Karan Johar, the remake is directed by Johar's former assistant Karan Malhotra.

Hrithik Roshan plays the lead role of Vijay Deenanath Chauhan, originally played by Amitabh Bach-chan. Sanjay Dutt plays the villain while other members of the cast include Priyanka Chopra, Rishi Kapoor and Zarina Wahab.

The character played by Mithun Chakraborty in the original has been totally done away with.

Agneepath breaks BO opening day record

London: The Lords Cricket Ground in London is probably the most prestigious and the most reputed of all cricket venues in the world, so it is of little wonder that getting per-mission to shoot there was a task.

Directed by Rajesh Mapuskar, starring Sharman Joshi and Boman Irani, Ferrari Ki Sawaari -- a Vidhu Vinod Chopra Production -- is the first Indian movie that has ever been shot on the famed ground.

The ‘home of cricket’ was ob-tained for shoots with great diffi-culty and the crew had permission for just two days.

A lot had to be packed into these two days. Everything had been planned and well scheduled. However, the crew had just one primary concern – that it would start raining. This would cost the team two very precious days and another long process of getting per-mission for Lords.

However, the rain gods show-ered their blessings on the crew – not quite literally! On both days, it started raining right after pack-up and the skies would clear right before the shot had to be taken. Thus the shoot was completed peacefully.

Rain gods bless Ferrari Ki Sawaari

London: Bollywood actors Kareena Kapoor and Imran Khan, the leading stars of Karan Johar's upcoming rom-com 'Ek Main aur Ekk Tu' , de-scended into London on Tuesday to promote their film.

The duo later interacted with the press and met their fans at Cine-world in Feltham (West London). Cineworld in Feltham is one of the highest grossing cinemas outside India for Bollywood films and is also well-known for star ap-pearances.

While Imran Khan has met fans at the cinema for promotional events before, it is the first time that Kareena interacts with Bollywood fans there.

"It's always great to come and meet fans in London and I am looking forward to seeing my fans

at Feltham today," said Imran Khan. Khan and Kapoor will be giving

out special goodies and merchan-dise from the film and will also answer fan questions at the event.

'Ek Main aur Ekk Tu', produced by UTV Motion Pictures and Dharma Productions is this years Valentine week flick and is releasing in UK cinemas on Feb 10.

Imran-Kareena wow UK fansreporting and Images by sunny Malik/ atif Malik studios

Mumbai: After secretly dating each other for nine long years, actor Riteish Deshmukh and the charm-ing actress Genelia D’ Souza of-ficially became husband-wife in a star-studded filmi affair on Friday in Mumbai’s Grand Hyatt, Santacruz.

The charming bride looked more than beautiful ever in a red and golden sari designed by acclaimed fashion designer Neeta Lulla. Despite being a Mangalorean Catho-lic, she wore a nose ring and a tradi-tional Maharashtrian mundawali as well. At the same time, her husband-to-be complemented her perfectly by donning a creamy white attire matched with red turban. He too sported a similar mundawali.

The wedding, as expected, was dazzling with Bollywood celebrities – most of them turning up dressed

in traditional saris, suits and sher-wanis.

Jaya and Abhishek Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Karan and his mother Hiroo Johar, Kajol and hubby Ajay Devgn, Sohail Khan, Indra Kumar, Ashutosh Gowarikar and his wife Sunita, Shweta Pandit, Sajid Nadiadwala, Maria Goretti, Jackie Shroff, Sajid Khan, Akshay Kumar, Hussain-Tina, Ashish Chowdhary and his wife Samita Bangargi, Sujoy Ghosh, Asin Thot-tumkal, and Sophie Choudry all dropped in to be a part of the cele-brations. Since, Riteish is the son of a politician - former Chief Minister of Maharashtra Vilasrao Deshmukh, the lavish wedding saw quite a large number of politicians in attendance.

From State Congress chief Kri-pashankar Singh and Chief Minister

Prithviraj Chauhan to son of Shiva Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray - Aditya Thackeray and Minister for Public Works and Tourism Chhagan Bhujbal, all came to bless the newly wedded couple.

Sharad Pawar, Praful Patel, Subodh Kant Sahay, Sunil Tatkare and Johny Joseph among others were also spotted at the event.

The rituals of the ceremony were performed in Maharashtrian style. This was evident from the way the pre-nuptials dressed.

Riteish made sure he made his fans a part of his special day and soon after the ceremonies were over he posted a picture of his and Genelia and wrote, “Today @gene-liad n me start our lives together-Thank you so much for showering unconditional love on us.

The tinsel town even made sure to pour in the good wishes via twitter with many of them writing tweets for the couple.

King Khan wrote in his ever so charming and candid style, “Wot a lovely wedding...ritesh & genelia looked beautiful...may Allah bless them with happiness. Side Note : the chola roti was very nice too”.

Neeta Lulla posted, “Congratula-tions &God bless my lovely@gene-liad &ritesh on their wedding:)”.

Dabbang girl Sonakshi Sinha who couldn’t make it to the wedding wrote, “Aaj mere yaar ki shaadi hai! MASSIVE congratulations to the cutest couple on the block @Rit-eishd And Genelia.. And even bigger apologies for not being there!”.

Karan Johar congratulated them saying, “MR AND MRS DESHMUKH!!!! Badhai ho!!!!!”.

The sparks of romance and love ignited between the two on the sets of their debut film ‘Tujhe Meri Kasam’ way back in 2003. After that they were seen together in multi-starrer comedy ‘Masti’ by Indra Kumar. The couple will again be soon together in their upcoming flick ‘Tere Naal Love Ho Gaya’.

We also wish the couple a very happy married life ahead.

Genelia-ritesh tie knot in a filmi affair vatsal verMa

IndianIndianBollywood

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Mumbai: Paanch Rupaiya Baarah Aana, the production house, has launched the teaser of Saahil Prem’s new movie ‘Someday’, shot in the UK.

Someday is termed as India’s first International dance movie. It has been shot in the university town of Sheffield in England and features Salah Benlemqawanssa, a French award-winning competitive hip-hop dancer, who is acting in a Bollywood movie for the first time.

Saahil Prem in his directorial debut has experimented with a new genre of movie, bringing the dance form B-Boying in the lime light.

The dance form is fresh and vibrant, and is something the Indian audience is not used to seeing on a daily basis, the makers of the film said.

The dance form is there not just to attract the audience but also forms an essential part of the story especially in terms of the tonality and the attitude of the movie, the makers said.

In the movie, the director aims to convey the message of ‘giving people the courage to follow their dreams no matter the odds’ through dance.

Someday is a movie of three Asian boys, who leave their home and country and go to study abroad, their struggles, their heartbreaks, their trials and triumphs. Life changing experiences coupled with new responsibilities help push our ‘boys’ into the journey of manhood.

‘Someday’ teaser launched

New Delhi: It seems that India is the latest spotlight for Hollywood biggies with many of them making trips to the country in quick succes-sion.

After heartthrob Tom Cruise and fashion icon Lady Gaga left quite a lot of eye balls rolling, it was time for the great ‘Oprah trip’. And not long before the craze of Oprah had faded that it’s another one from Hol-lywood who caused quite a lot of stir in the country.

Australian-American actor cum politician Arnold Schwarzeneg-ger is on his first trip to India for a special purpose and without a slight doubt, has enough to make the country go gaga over him.

The 64-year old hunk was guest at the 12th Delhi Sustainable De-velopment Summit on Thursday to participate in a green cause of spreading awareness about clean and green energy. The event was hosted by TERI –The Energy and Research Institute.

The former Governor of Califor-nia said that fitness was his crusade since early days of his life and green is his crusade now, adding that he wanted to inspire people for sustain-able living in the same way he did for fitness.

Austrian Oak, as he is popularly known as, has been a name synony-

mous to fitness and bodybuilding and is considered to be the pioneer when it comes to the two.

He began to weight train at the age of 15 and at the age of 20 he was awarded the title of Mr. Universe. He later went on to win the Mr. Olympia contest seven times.

The charismatic ‘Arnie’ also said that he considered Mahatama Gandhi’s struggle for independence

as one of the most powerful move-ments in history, saying that most powerful movements in history, like that of fight against apart-heid, American civil war and fight of Indian independence started at grass root level by a single person, like Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther adding that they did not wait for higher authorities to give them go ahead to do something like this.Like all those from Hollywood who visited India, he too ‘always wanted to come to this land of culture and tradition keeping with the mood of

the event praised the country for ‘re-newable accounts for 11 percent of total energy mix in the country.’ He also presented Abhishek Bachchan a Green Globe award for outstand-ing contribution to the environmen-tal causes by a celebrity.

He later wrote on his twitter account, “Congrats on the Green Globe, @juniorbachchan. More celebrities should be pumping up green progress. I'll be back, & we should get together.”

The heartthrob of millions is believed to love Indian food, ac-claimed worldwide for its rich flavors and spices. He gorged on naans and other delicacies in the capital.

His twitter post read (along with a photo of him with a big piece of naan), “I loved the food. I've loved my first trip to India. Here I am with the biggest piece of naan in Delhi”.

He also wrote, “Thank you all, especially @andyz136 for the rec-ommendation to eat at Bhukara. It was fantastic!”. However, his trip was a little let down when he report-edly found the greatest attraction of India – Taj Mahal closed. However, he satisfied himself with some pic-tures from roadside using his cell phone.

We had just say - Better luck next time Arnie!

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IndianIndianBollywood

Mumbai: Zoya Akhtar's Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, a road movie of three friends in search of their entity that packaged a message subtly with entertainment, swept the Film-fare Awards on Sunday night.

The Hrithik Roshan-Katrina Kaif starrer has been adjudged the Best Film and Zoya got the Best Director's Award too.

His brother Farhan Akhtar, who acted in the film, got the award for Best Dialogue writer too for Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (ZNMD). He also got the Best Supporting Actor award for the film.

ZNMD also got the critic's award. The other big winner of the night is Vidya

Balan. She predictably bagged the Best Actress trophy for The Dirty Picture.

The Best Actor Award went to Ranbir Kapoor for Rockstar.

Best Screenplay award for 2011 went to Akshat Verma for Delhi Belly while the Best Story honour was clinched by Sanjay Chauhan for I Am Kalam.

Best Supporting Actor (Female) Award went to Rani Mukerji for 'No One Killed Jessica".

Zindagi Na ... big winner at Filmfare

Mumbai: Kareena Kapoor is cool about watching Saif Ali Khan doing intimate scenes with other hotties of Bollywood and says she knows how hot Saif can be bare-bodied. The bold utterances were part of a talk show on the Zee channels to be aired soon.

The gorgeous Kareena Kapoor, the mis-chievous Imraan Khan and the devil’s advo-cate Karan Johar makes for an amazing talk show.

That much was expected. What wasn’t expected was the extent of bold fun that hap-pened. The three stars had got together for “A date with Ek Main aur Ekk Tu’ – a show to be “simulcast” on ETC, Zee TV, Zing, Zee Café, Zee Studio, Zee Trendz and Zee Khana Khazana on Feb 4 at 7PM.

“How do you feel when you see Saif in an intimate scene with another hot actress? Say in Race 2, Saif has a bare-body scene with a Deepika in bikini, what would be your first thought?” asked Karan.

“I’d be like ‘wow! How hot Saif looks’,” said Kareena, adding, with a twinkle in her eye, “I know how he looks bare bodied!”

Probed further, Kareena revealed, “I am quite secure in my relationship with Saif and though I don’t want to say too much too soon, I am quite content!”

The mood for the show was set early on when KJo asked Imraan if he’d thought of undergoing therapy for OCD. “Never, I quite enjoy being obsessively organized,” replied

Imraan without batting an eyelid.As the chat proceeded it appeared Karan

had touched a raw nerve when he told Imraan, “Kareena postponed dates for Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu as she preferred doing Bodyguard first. She chose Salman over you!”

Never the one to be flustered, Imraan shot back, “If you’ve to lose, that’s someone to lose to!”

Having failed to get the better of Imraan, KJo trained his guns on Kareena. And for all those people who were missing Karan Johar's famous rapid fire round, this session with the season’s hottest jodi, Imraan and Kareena will definitely leave u begging for more.

Their tongue in cheek replies will definite-ly set new standards in the industry. Rechris-tened the Quick Fire round, KJo asked Imraan what was the one thing he wouldn’t want to change in Kareena.

Not missing a beat, Imraan replied, “Her bum! It’s a perfect 10 on 10!” While a visibly embarrassed Kareena covered her face, Karan was left speechless!

On being asked about his views on money for sex, a straight faced Imraan shot back, “Depends on how much you are offering!”

If that wasn’t enough, Karan asked Imraan what he expected to find if he walked into Ranbir Kapoor’s bedroom. A thoughtful Imraan pondered, “It’s hard to say … a big baby…”

Kareena cool to Saif’s intimate scenes

Mumbai: Universal Music India recent-ly released Lifafa, a Marathi ghazal album by Madhav Bhagwat, Suchitra Bhagwat and Aparna Aparajit. The album was launched amongst much fanfare by music directors Shrid-har Phadke and Ashok Patki here on Friday.Marathi ghazals are acknowledged in today’s Marathi music sector and composer and singer Madhav Bhag-wat said he is trying to uplift and popu-larize Marathi ghazals with his latest offering Lifafa.

This album comprises of 10 ghazals written by are Sadanand Dabir, Vijay Awhad, Lalita Bathiya, Arun Sangole,

Raman Randive, Manohar Ranpise and Suresh Bhat and composed by Mad-hav Bhagwat, Saroj Suman, Manohar Ranpise and legend Ashok Patki. The music is arranged by Prashant Lalit.On this occasion, Mandar Gupte, CFO, Universal Music India said, “With strong lyrics by eminent Marathi Ghazal writers and outstanding com-positions, this album promises to be a great listening experience to the audi-ence. "Madhav Bhagwant and Suchitra Bhagwat are popular Ghazal singers in Maharashtra and Aparna Aparajit has complemented them extremely well in this album.”

Marathi ghazal album Lifafa released

The actor was bowled over watching Vaibhav and Mohena’s Save the Tiger performanceSnarls, growls, the quintessential tiger’s roar and the sinister setting were some of the el-ements that helped Mohena and Vaibhav put forth a high voltage performance in this week’s episode of Dance India Dance. Master Remo chose Vaibhav Ghughe from Vado-dara and Mohena Kumari Singh from Rewa, Madhya Pradesh to dedicate a dance act on ‘Save The Tiger’ – a project very dear to him.

This is the first time that a topic that relates to the extinction of a species with animals expressing their grief over the loss of their near and dear one has been attempted through a dance act on DID platform. Said Master Remo D Souza, “The tiger is my fa-vorite animal… hence I wanted to dedicate an act to them. I was doing my online re-search and stumbled upon the extinct white

tiger. I immediately decided to do an act on white tigers. We have only seen the ferocity of a tiger, read and heard gory tales about the striped beauty but trust me it’s THE most ROYAL living creature walking on mother Earth. This is the first time you will see the emotional side of animals through a dance act.”

“I chose the song 'Agyaat', the unknown, because no one has seen the white tiger, making it elusive,” adds Master Remo. While doing their research, Remo's team found out that there was only one white tiger in India, which belonged to the Maharaja of Rewa, Martand Singh. Rewa is a place synony-mous with Mohena, hence when Remo asked her, "Have you heard of Maharaja Martand Singh?” Mohena replied, "He is my grand-father and the white tiger in question was Mohan, our pet tiger. As a child, my father has fond memories of playing with him."

It’s a lesser known fact that Grandmas-ter Mithun Chakraborty is a great animal lover, plays host to innumerable species of flora and fauna and also takes a keen inter-est in studying animal behavior. After their act, Dada could not control his emotions and said, “I am not just an animal lover, I am one of them. I don’t want to get into great lengths expressing my love for animals, would like to just say that Mohena and Vaibhav actually got into the skin of their character which is very tough considering they have to act like beasts of the jungle. If you study animal behavior you will learn that they behave exactly the way Vaibhav and Mohena showed on stage – express love for each other, grieve together and just be with each other when left undis-turbed in their natural habitat.”

Well thought out acts like this proves the fact that Dance India Dance Season 3 is not leaving any stone unturned to raise the bar of reality shows on General Entertainment Channels. Watch the tigers put up a fabulous act on stage this Saturday, 11th February at 21:00 hrs SGT on Zee TV Asia Pacific.

Mithun: ‘Not just animal lover; I’m one of them’

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Abhishek Bachchan turns 36Mumbai: Bollywood actor Abhishek Bachchan turned 36 on Sunday. This year Junior Bachchan will celebrate his birthday with his family- wife Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, daughter Baby B, father Amitabh Bachchan and mother Jaya Bachchan, media reports said. The year 2011 seemed to be a fruitful year for Abhishek, as he became father of a baby girl and also had three film releases in the same year.

He started his Bollywood journey with J.P. Dutta's Refugee in 2000 opposite Kareena Kapoor. But it took quite some time to make a mark and come out of the shadow of a famous father.

He got his first Bollywood hit with the film Dhoom in 2004, and got critical acclaim as an actor in Mani Ratnam's 'Yuva'.Some of his hit films are Main Prem Ki Diwani Hoon, LOC Kargil, Bunty aur Babli, Guru, Bluffmaster, Dhoom 2, Jhoom Barabar Jhoom, Sarkar Raj, Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna, Sarkar , Dum Maro Dum, Dostana , Delhi-6 and Paa.

He has also acted in a Bengali film An-tar Mahal, directed by Rituparno Ghosh. His upcoming films are Bol Bachchan and Chakravyuha.

Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu bets big on FacebookMumbai: The makers of upcoming Bol-lywood rom-com ‘Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu’ are leaving no stone unturned to promote Valentines Day flick, this time launching dedicated contests and ap-plications on social networking site Facebook.

As a promotional stint, the the Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu team has launched the ‘Countdown Quiz’ Contest on their of-ficial Facebook page. The team has intro-duced another application on Facebook called the ‘The Mismatch Maker’, after the success of ‘Groom You’ application.

In the ‘Countdown Quiz’ Contest, the fans have to answer 10 simple questions from videos that will be released each day. Two fans among them will win Imran and Kareena’s costumes from the movie.

On the other hand, the ‘Mismatch Maker’ is a simple and fun application, where one can find the perfect mismatch for different activities like dancing, play-ing or sleeping. Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu is scheduled to hit the silver screen on Feb 10.

Jackie Shroff turns 52Mumbai: Bollywod actor Jackie Shroff turned 52 on Wednesday.

He started his Bollywood career in the 70’s with the film ‘Heera Panna,‘ where he played the role of a villain, but his real success came with the film Hero, a 1983 film by Subhash Ghai that shot him into fame and earned huge fan following.

Shroff has been in the industry for more than 28 years now and has acted in more than 150 films. He has acted in films like Ram Shastra, Agni Sakshi, , Tridev, 100 Days, Saudagar, Khalnayak, 1942: A Love Story, Roop Ki Rani Choron Ka Raja, Trimurti, Rangeela, Hote Hote Pyar Hogaya, Ganga Ki Kasam, Yaa-dein, Devdas, Hari Puttar: A Comedy

of Terrors and many more. In the 90’s he won Filmfare Best Actor Award for Parinda and Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award for 1942: A Love Story and Rangeela.

Prateik moves into Amy’s house?Mumbai: Prateik Babbar, actor and son of late actress Smita Patil and politician Raj Babbar, is reportedly in a live-in rela-tionship with Amy Jackson.

There are rumours doing the rounds that the actor recently moved in at her Bandra home in Mumbai where he had been spotted many times. Ever since the two started dating each other, they have been open about their relationships un-like many tinsel town couples, who prefer to keep their relationships under wraps.

Apparently, the reports have been denied by the couple who is busy with shoots of their upcoming flick ‘Ek Tha Tiger’.

Singer Remo to be EC’s brand envoyPanaji: Noted pop singer and Pad-mashree awardee Remo Fernandes has been chosen as brand ambassador of Election Commission to promote ethical voting in Goa for the March 3 elections.

Joint Chief Election Officer N S Navti told reporters that Remo was selected among three civilian awardees after it was found that he does not have any political affiliations.

The poll officer said the singer will indulge in publicity campaigns urging electorates to vote for the right candi-date. “We selected him as the electoral icon as he is a special person without any political links. He will create aware-ness about the voting rights among the general public to push up the voter turnover,” he further said.

Around nine hoardings of the 58-year-old singer’s messages have been put up across the state.

Preity Zinta turns 37Mumbai: Bollywood's bubbly actor Preity Zinta turned 37 on Tuesday.

She started her Bollywood career with 'Dil Se’ in 1998 opposite Shah Rukh Khan. Some of her hit films are Soldier, Kya Kehna, Mission Kashmir, Chori Chori Chupke Chupke, Armaan, Koi... Mil Gaya, Lakshya, Kal Ho Naa Ho, Veer-Zaara, Sa-laam Namaste, Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna, Jhoom Barabar Jhoom and many more.

Apart from Bollywood she has also acted in an English film-The Last Lear (directed by Rituparno Ghosh) and a Ca-nadian film- Heaven on Earth, for which she was awarded the Silver Hugo Award for Best Actress at the Chicago Interna-tional Film Festivaland . She has also appeared in many Telugu films.

She has also been nominated in Filmfare award many a times and also won Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut (Dil Se) and Filmfare Award for Best Actress for her performance in Kal Ho Naa Ho. Apart from movies she has written many columns for BBC News Online South Asia, has been a founder of the production company PZNZ Me-dia and also a co-owner of the Indian Premier League cricket team Kings XI Punjab.

D I A R Y

28 Indian Weekender | February 10, 2012 | www.iwk.co.nz

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While it didn’t come as a surprise at all that Shah Rukh Khan was practically mobbed everywhere he went in Macau, it sure looks like actor Ranbir Kapoor’s fan following has surged by leaps and bounds after his ‘Rockstar’ performance this year. At the recently concluded Zee Cine Awards 2012, Ranbir and Shahid Kapoor performed in Macau, where they teamed up for the first time, to pay tribute to legends, Dev Anand and Shammi Kapoor. However, Ranbir, it seems, turned out to be the popular one among the two.

While Ranbir and Shahid only performed to two songs, their friendship seemed to go beyond their act. Their steps were in tandem and they complemented each other well. Shahid has always been known for his dancing skills, but Ranbir seemed unfazed by the dancing star's reputation and matched him step for step at the awards night. The duo stuck to each other, before and after the awards night, so much so that, they appar-ently even landed in Macau together. After the awards night, they chose to take the same ferry out of Macau to Hong Kong and boarded the same flight back to Mumbai.

Onlookers at the Macau airport thronged to get a glimpse of Ranbir just as he stepped

inside. He was hounded by adults, children, young girls alike to

pose for pictures and autographs. Ranbir, being the sport that he is, obliged everyone and patiently signed each autograph. It was only a distracted Shahid who refused to click pictures with fans and was glued to his phone instead. Fans apparently did not pay much attention to a relatively more aloof Shahid.

An onlooker present at the airport says, "Shahid refused to pose for pictures. There were a couple of them who stood patiently for sometime, hoping he would sign an au-tograph, but he just refused. He was mostly stuck to his phone as his passport hadn't reached him. He was probably trying to sort that out when his fans asked him to pose for a picture and he just refused."

Ranbir is nominated this year at 'Zee Cine Awards 2012 ' for the Best Actor award (Jury’s Choice as well as the Popular Voting categories) for his stellar performance in Rockstar and for the ‘International Icon – Male’ award.

Catch Ranbir and Shahid dance up a storm at 'Zee Cine Awards 2012 ' on 12th February at 19:30 Hrs SGT on Zee TV Asia Pacific.

Ranbir rules the roost in Macau

Indian Weekender | February 10, 2012 | www.iwk.co.nz 29

30 Indian Weekender | February 10, 2012 | www.iwk.co.nz

Indian

recipe By Ruby Dhillon

METHOD> Heat half the butter in a wok, fry garlic

paste then ginger paste until the liquid evaporates.

> Add chopped tomatoes cover and simmer until mashed. Force the gravy through a finely mashed sieve and keep aside.

> Melt the remaining butter in a wok. Add the tomato mix saute over medium heat for a minute. Add cashewnut paste, fry until light brown.

> Add deggi mirch, turmeric powder, garam masala, sugar, salt and mix it. Then add to-mato puree, fry until you see oil on the top.

> Add chicken pieces into the cooked masala, cover and keep it for 10 minutes stirring in between, remove the lid when the chicken is done mix cream strring continuously, cook for one minute.

Serve hot garnished with chopped coriander leaves.

BUTTER CHICKENINGREDIENTS500g- Boneless chicken (medium size)2 tsp- ginger paste2tsp- garlic paste2big- tomatoes chopped230g- tomato puree1 tsp- deghi mirch or red chilli powder1 tsp- sugar1½ tsp- garam masala powder½ tsp- turmeric powder30g/ 5tsp- cashewnut paste200ml- crème1½ tsp- salt or according to your taste4 tbsp- butterCoriander chopped for garnishing

The origin of life may still be a question mark for the intelligentsia; well, whatever is the answer, the human body remained the same ever since its first major release 'Adam'! On the other hand, computers evolve(d) faster than anything else. While one of the earliest models was aptly titled 'Colossus', these days witness the war between 8.8 mm and 8.6 mm tablets! Unfortunately, the same old human model is now struggling to suit itself to the needs of han-dling these devices. Let me make this simple, I am talking about ergonomics!

Ergonomics keeps failing to grab inter-national attention; it remains as a silent un-derstanding. Health problems generated by computer usage are many, and sadly the facts remain blurred by the high-paced life. A sig-nificant proportion of the global population is involved with computers overtime. Software professionals may spend more than seven hours per day in front of a laptop or a desktop. The companies employing them, most often, fail to provide a healthy environment that does not compromise health.

The International Journal of Innovation, Management and Technology published the results of a case study conducted in SAP Lab Gurgaon, India in December 2010. The topic was 'Studies on Health Problems of Software People'. The various health problems of the employers working at SAP Lab Gurgaon was studied on the basis of answers received from

the employees for a given questionnaire. It was interesting to find that nearly cent percent em-ployees answered 'yes' when asked if they have any health problems. Almost all were aware of the work area and the factors which affect their health.

However, they were helpless owing to the work demand. A minor 1% did not face any

health problems since they took precautionary measures.

It was not shocking to find that the work pro-files of these employees demanded more than 7

hours of computer use per day. All employees frequently used laptops at home, while some preferred desktops workstations to laptops. All responses indicated the use of laptops at work-places.

Most of the employees (78%) faced prob-lems in their back; the back thus appears to be the most severely affected part of the body.

Only 26% reported problems in the neck. "Pain or aching in wrists, forearms, elbows, neck, or back followed by discomfort" was the commonest symptom; more than 82% of

the employees reported having it. About 60% reported "blurred or double vision". "Reduced grip strength in the hand" was the least faced problem.

About 70% of the employees identified "poor workplace set-up" as a cause of their problems. The employees' feedback showed that the company had hardly addressed their health problems. About 91% responded that company never took a step to resolve any of their sufferings.

A large number of employees (69.57) admit-ted that they were ignorant of the availability of computer accessories that help in preventing the health problems. Among the meagre number of workers who were aware of the existence of such accessories (a total of seven employees), just two knew that there were "best-fit" comput-er mouse designs and document holders. Only four knew about Adjustable keyboard trays and Monitor arms.

It should however, be noted that some of the responses in the study were obtained from a very small group of employees, and thus may not reflect the views of all the employees of the company.

This age of revolutions cannot afford to stay longer in the dark shades of ignorance. The demands for greater perspiration keep on sky-rocketing, and unless we create a better healthy working environment, our age old 'human model' would succumb to the pressure.

Software professionals prone to ergonomic problemsIt is high time that the media begin a global advertising campaign highlighting the health hazards of prolonged computer usage and the silence of companies when it comes to ergonomics. The case study of SaP Lab Gurgaon in India may serve as a wakeup call.

Most of the employees (78%) faced problems in their back; the back thus appears to be the most severely affected part of the body. Only 26% re-ported problems in the neck. "Pain or aching in wrists, forearms, elbows, neck, or back followed by discomfort" was the commonest symptom; more than 82% of the employees reported having it. About 60% reported "blurred or double vision". "Reduced grip strength in the hand" was the least faced problem.

health

IndianIndian health

Convenience or junk foods are known to be the most preferred options - pizza parties and/or upsized burger combos are com-monly combined with double and triple dollops of ice-cream and dessert.

However the question stands - Is this food right?Experts warn that it is one of a leading cause for modern day obesity epidemic especially amongst our children and youth.

So what is Junk food?Junk food relates to foods that are perceived to have little or no nutri-tional value or those foods which contain just "empty calories" and / or contain ingredients that are con-sidered unhealthy when frequently consumed.

In simpler terms foods with minimum or no natural fruit, veg-etables and / or dietary fibre and which provide no benefits to one’s health are classed as junk food.

Lollies, aerated drinks, chips, fries etc. fall under this category. Some takeaways and fast foods also can be classified as junk foods depend-ing on what they contain.

Generally, junk foods are high in saturated fats, sugars and / or salt and excessive consumption of such food can cause obesity, heart and other diseases along with an impact on the overall well being.

How does one recognise Junk Food?You often know it when you see it, however this can be misleading.

It is very important to identify and understand the contents of a packet or a product to know and comprehend its true value; this can be tricky, an example would be to class a packet with good nutritional benefits combined with high levels of sugars or fat – would this packet be junk food?

To understand labels better, seek advice from a specialist, join a supermarket tour in your area and

learn to read labels to identify the right food.

How do I avoid Junk Food?The best way to support your family in their efforts to avoid eating junk food is by educating them and providing them with the right food options.

Awareness is the key, help them understand and identify what is right, seek professional advise where needed. When shopping, choose the right food and snacks for your family, look for foods low in saturated fats, salt and sugars.

Food rich in fibre including vegetables, fruits and whole grain products should be a part of your shopping trolley. Create the right balance; look for foods rich with Iron and Calcium to meet the re-quirements of your family especial-ly the young ones.

When can I eat Junk Food?In every instance avoid them where

Junk Food – beat the temptationvarsha asraNI

It is generally recognised that junk food is the ‘in thing’ and we tend to prefer convenience food or junk food more than the healthier options.

you can; it is understandable that this can be complex to manage, es-pecially if you have kids and / or young adults in your families. Also modern day advertising, markets these in a hard to resist manner.

In circumstances where you feel left with no alternatives make better choices and combine them with physical activities. When you get them use them as treats and in small portion sizes, look for grilled and / or baked options. Till next time be

healthy and eat healthy.This article is a general guideline

ONLY, if you have any medical con-dition and for individual conditions you should consult a health profes-sional or your medical practitioner immediately.

Varsha Asrani is a New Zealand registered clinical dietitian, for personal consultations, queries, suggestions and feedback she can be contacted on info@varshaas-rani.com

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