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Next weekend, on November 27, 33 volunteer medical professionals from New Zealand will begin a two week mission to provide much needed relief to Fijian patients, includ-ing some women who have been waiting over a year for gynaecological procedures, which have been the cause of discomfort and dis-tress.

The team includes five specialist gynae-cologists, four anaesthetists, 18 nurses, two technicians and a physiotherapist. They will be based at Lautoka Hospital, which serves the western side of Viti Levu, Fiji’s largest island. Additionally, three specialist physi-cians will hold clinics in surrounding dis-tricts to diagnose and advise patients with di-abetes and blood pressure related problems. The team also aims to give some respite and provide training to Fijian doctors and nurses who work hard in challenging circumstances with an extremely limited budget.

The mission to Fiji is organised by the Friends of Fiji Health (FoFH), a New Zealand registered charity, recently set up by a group of Fiji-born New Zealand-based profession-als with a desire to contribute in a meaning-ful way to help the people in their country of birth.

Dr Sunil Pillay, a specialist obstetrician and gynaecologist working from Fertility As-sociates and Auckland Hospital is a founding trustee and the chairperson of Friends of Fiji

Health. He says the organisation aims for this to be the first of many missions to Fiji over the coming years. “Of course funding is a challenge.

This two-week mission will cost ap-proximately $150,000” says Dr Pillay. “We are grateful for personal donations we have received and also to our corporate partners such as Southern Cross Hospitals, Johnson and Johnson, and 3M who have assisted with instruments, equipment and supplies. I’d also like to acknowledge the 33 medical volunteers who are so willingly giving their

time – I’m sure they will have a rewarding experience.”

dedicated trusteesThe 13 FoFH trustees are now living in New Zealand but were all born in Fiji and had the desire to contribute in a meaningful way to help the people in their country of birth. They are all professionals and include seven specialist doctors, a lawyer, an accountant, a Member of Parliament (Labour Party’s Rajen Prasad), two businessmen and an engineer.

All trustees give their time completely free of charge.

The volunteer team of medical profes-sionals who will undertake the missions to Fiji include specialist doctors, nurses, anaes-thetists, technicians, and physiotherapists. They include Fijians and Kiwis working in the New Zealand medical system – both private and public.

There are also supporting partners who provide goods and services at a discount or free of charge that includes Southern Cross Hospitals, Johnson and Johnson, 3M, and

Proud sons of Fiji give back to mother country

The mission to Fiji is organised by the Friends of Fiji Health (FoFH), a New Zealand registered charity, recently set up by a group of Fiji-born New Zealand-based professionals with a desire to contribute in a meaningful way to help the people in their country of birth.

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others, besides airlines and accommodation partners in Fiji.

FoFH raises funds and seeks supporting partners to enable the organisation of volun-teer medical teams to undertake missions to Fiji.

These missions will assist in alleviating the significant backlog in specialist treat-ments; providing respite for local doctors

who work very long hours in challenging circumstances; training and up-skilling local doctors; conducting clinics to detect health problems earlier; and promoting preventative medicine in the community.

Although the Fijian government provides some free health services, the Fijian admin-istration faces great challenges like other developing countries in meeting the health requirements of its citizens. Among these are limited budgets and significant shortages of medical professionals and equipment that impact on treatment. For instance, no gynae-cological procedures have been undertaken at

the Lautoka Hospital in western Fiji for over 12 months causing discomfort and distress to many women needing treatment.scoping mission

The FoFH trustees undertook a fact-finding visit to Fiji in July this year. They found en-thusiastic medical staff doing some good work despite shortages of equipment, infra-

structure, supplies and enough hands. FoFH identified specific needs in the areas of in-ternal medicine, obstetrics and gynaecology, general surgery and primary healthcare and will focus initially on meeting these needs. They intend to expand services in the future.

FoFH is a completely independent non-governmental organisation (NGO) with hu-manitarian aims and no political affiliation. The Fijian government is accepting of the helping hand that FoFH will offer to the Fijian people and is making their facilities available to FoFH.

FoFH will initially work out of Lautoka

Hospital, the surrounding district hospi-tals and in local community health clinics. Lautoka Hospital services half the population of the island of Viti Levu, Fiji’s main island.

The first medical mission from New Zealand will run for 2 weeks from November 27 to December 12 and will cost approxi-mately $150,000.

Warm send offFoFH held a send off dinner to the volunteer team on November 13 at the Blockhouse Bay Community Centre that most trustees and nearly all the volunteers and their families attended. Labour list MP and trustee Rajen Prasad also attended. While Dr Pillay out-lined the programme, Bob Naidu, who will be on the ground co-ordinating the efforts in Fiji, explained procedural details and the code of conduct for the volunteers. Daven Naidu was master of ceremonies.

Dr Pillay told Indian Weekender that the process had been thought out carefully in terms of the medico legal aspects and any post-operative follow-ups on the local patients after the team returned to New Zealand. There would be detailed paperwork about the handover of the patients from the team of visiting doctors to the local medical team, he said.

FoFH gratefully receives donations and

also encourages approaches from supporting partners who might assist with items such as travel, accommodation, and medical supplies.

Additionally, FoFH is also keen to hear from medical professionals who would like to volunteer their skills and time to serving for a short period on a medical mission to Fiji.

FoFH appreciates opportunities to raise awareness throughout New Zealand about their work, particularly within the medical fraternity and among the New Zealand-based Fijian community, but also among a wider interested Kiwi audience. FoFH can be con-tacted on (09) 302 5930.

1. The trustees present at the 00 send-off on November 132. Dr Sunil Pillay3. The volunteer nursing and 00 paramedical team that will 00 leaving for Fiji next week4. Dr Pillay speaks to some 00 of the volunteers


Indian New Zealand

st John provides ambulance services to 85% of New Zealanders and responds nationally to more than 300,000 emergency incidents every year – up to 125,000 of those are within the Northern region.

There are 601 ambulances and operational vehicles nationally, 173 within the Northern Region.

St John Northern Region General Manager Stephen Franklin says, “With the help of the Indian Weekender we aim to put another ambulance on the road.” It costs more than $150,000 to put an ambulance on the road. This includes some $16,000 worth of lights and sirens.

Medical equipment is an additional cost including $33,900 alone for an MRX Defibrillator; $10,000 Stryker stretcher. and $1,200 for an oxygen cylinder & supplies. A dozen gauze squares at 20 cents each may not seem a large amount but gauze squares, like much of any ambulance’s medical supplies, constantly need replacing, often after every callout. Over a 12 hour shift suddenly a 20 cent bandage becomes a significant expense!

Join the St John-Indian Weekender ambulance projectThe ambulance service is the flagship for St John. Lights and sirens give St John emergency ambulance work high visibility but it is not generally known or understood that St John is a charity that fundraises for its ambulances and equipment. Join the Indian Weekender in our Make a difference for st John fundraising campaign to get another st John ambulance on the road.

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Indian New Zealand

Deepawali was celebrated at the New Zealand Par-liament on Wednesday. Hosted by the Ministry of Ethnic Affairs, chief guest for the occasion was Sir Anand Satyanand, Governor-General of New Zealand.

A number of MPs, including Bill English, Min-ister of Finance and Acting Prime Minister; Phil Goff, Leader of Opposition; Peter Dunne, Minister of Revenue; Dr Rajen Prasad and Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi, Members of Parliament representing the Indian community and other members represent-ing various political parties were present at the festival.

Deepawali is celebrated not only by Indians but also by Hindus from Nepal, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Fiji, and South Africa and so on. It was heartening to see some of them representing the Hindu com-munity at the Parliament function.

New Zealand Parliament has been celebrating Deepawali since 2003. In New Zealand, this fes-tival has become very popular and is celebrated in all major cities such as Auckland, Wellington, Hamilton, Christchurch and tourist centres such as Rotorua, on a large scale. For example, the Maori community is intimately involved in the annual Rotorua Deepawali Festival (http://www.rotoruadeepawali.org/).

The speakers at the Parliament ceremony recognised Deepawali as a festival of religious significance to the Hindu people which is now cel-ebrated by members of all New Zealand communi-ties and religions.

The Governor General greeted everyone with “Namaste, Namaskar, Sat Sri Akal, Kam Cho” and said “this festival has specific spiritual meanings in Hinduism and other religions as a celebration of the victory of good over evil and the release from spiritual darkness”. He added that it is “one of the biggest of the Hindu festivals, and a special time for Indian families and the Indian diaspora around

the world”.The Minister of Ethnic Affairs said that the

Deepawali celebrations all over New Zealand had brought the Indian and Hindu culture increasingly into the mainstream of the harmonious and ethni-cally diverse population that is the strength of New Zealand.

The Minister added that these celebrations were “the showcase of the vibrancy, colour and sound of the ancient culture and modern Bollywood of our Kiwi Indian culture”.

What makes Deepawali so relevant, not just to people of the Hindu religion everywhere, but to all, is that ultimately it symbolises hope, and confirms the victory of righteousness. The Minister also mentioned that it is the celebration of our diverse culture in the open and inclusive way that earns

New Zealand its reputation as the most peaceful nation.

Mr English made a request to the ethnic Indian business community to help and work towards the implementation of a Free Trade Agreement between India and New Zealand.

The festival was well attended by many members of the ethnic Indian community from all over New Zealand. Distribution of sweets to all del-egates at the end of the festival was a kind gesture.

The presence of a number of members of the Hindu Council of New Zealand, especially some youth who took part in cultural performance, made the occasion suitably festive!

“It was really a good opportunity to listen to the Ministers and meet with other leaders. I wish more youth participation in such occasions” said Ms

Kumuthini Selvaraj, co-ordinator of Hindu Youth New Zealand (Wellington chapter).

“I have been performing classical dances at the Parliament Deepawali for the last few years. It is good to see that important people of New Zealand appreciate our culture,” said Ms Radhika Ravi, a member of Hindu Youth New Zealand (Wellington chapter).

Some suggestions for the future:An official reception has been held at the New

Zealand Parliament since 2003. Instead of follow-ing the same pattern each year, it will be ideal to have different themes each year. For example, one theme could be “Youth participation and leader-ship” (which was the focus of Rotorua Deepawali Festival 2010).

This will give an opportunity for youth leaders from various cities to come together to celebrate Deepawali with the leaders of New Zealand at the Parliament.

Lighting the lamp is auspicious and sacred for the wider Hindu community. In many functions and festivals organised by the Hindu Council of New Zealand, dignitaries are requested to remove their shoes as a mark of respect before lighting the lamp.

This did not happen at the Parliament. Possibly, the Office of Ethnic Affairs needs to hire a learned Hindu advisor who can give culturally appropriate advice. Similarly, the invocation to Lord Ganesha at the start of the proceedings will benefit from the person chanting the religious mantra not wearing shoes as a mark of respect to Lord Ganesha.

The Hindu Council of New Zealand takes this opportunity to thank the Ministry of Ethnic Affairs, and Mervin Singham, Director of the Office of Ethnic Affairs, for inviting the Hindu Council of New Zealand to participate on this oc-casion.

MPs get in on Deepawali spirit

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Indian New Zealand

The Immigration Advisers Authority’s 2010 migrant survey has shown that migrants who consulted a licensed immigration adviser in the past 12 months were happier with the service they received than in the previous year.

Registrar of Immigration Advisers Barry Smedts said that the 2010 survey updated last year’s benchmark survey on the percep-tion of adviser performance and identified changes in the past year. Only 3 percent of the 2010 survey sample consulted an unli-censed immigration adviser.

“We are delighted to see that 75 percent of migrants reported they were satisfied, or very satisfied with their immigration adviser. This is an increase from 63 percent in the 2009 survey. It would seem that the benefits of immigration adviser licensing are being increasingly seen by migrants consid-ering New Zealand as their destination,” Mr Smedts said.

Migrants who had consulted an immi-gration adviser, and who had received their application decision from Immigration New Zealand between 4 May 2009 and 4 May 2010 were invited to take part in the survey.

Only 3 percent of the 2010 survey sample consulted an unlicensed immigration adviser, compared to 62 percent in the previ-ous year. This is a reflection of Immigration New Zealand’s refusal to accept an applica-tion lodged by an immigration adviser who is not licensed or exempt. The decreased use of unlicensed advisers may also indicate that the overall improvement in satisfaction this year is related to the increased use of li-

censed advisers.Good communication has once again

proved to be the key to ensuring clients are satisfied with the service they receive from their adviser. ‘Recording and agreeing changes in writing’, ‘having been advised they were entitled to seek independent advice before entering into a contract’ and ‘being honest and truthful’ were three of the areas where advisers improved the most, compared to last year’s survey.

“These areas are all key competencies that advisers must be able to demonstrate before they are licensed to give immigration advice. We are pleased that our expectations of adviser performance are mirrored in mi-grants’ actual experiences with their advis-ers,” Mr Smedts said.

“We will also continue to promote good communications with licensed advisers, in particular the areas clients identified as needing improvement. Explaining matters clearly, keeping in touch and being honest and professional were the issues that mi-grants felt needed improving.

“As with any profession, there is always room for improvement. We are heartened that overall the level of satisfaction with li-censed advisers is high, and 79 percent of migrants are prepared to recommend their adviser to friends or family. This is par-ticularly pleasing, considering a migrant is more likely to consult a licensed immigra-tion adviser if their personal circumstances are more complex,” Mr Smedts said.

Migrant survey gives thumbs up to advisers

Last week, Finance Minister Bill English and Labour list MP Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi joined more than 150 people at the Business and Retail Association of New Zealand (BRONZ) annual dinner at the Commerce Club in Remuera.

Mr English said he was pleased to note that Indian businesses were growing despite reces-sionary trends and negative growth in the retail sector all over the country.

BRONZ President Paramjit Dhatt (PJ) said Mr Bakshi had been instrumental in the founda-tion of Business and Retail Association of New Zealand and had provided a vital link between the New Zealand government and the Indian business community.

On the launch of the Souvenir of BRONZ Mr English acknowledged the hard work put in by the families of Indian Business people. He thanked the small business community for its contribution toward the economy. Mr English said “he was impressed especially with the Indian community who have continued growing their businesses in spite of the recession.”

Mr English was of the view that New Zealand businesses should prepare in advance for the exciting opportunities coming up in

the near future when a Free Trade Agreement is signed with the world’s fastest growing economy, India.

Statistics show that after an FTA agreement with China, export trade increased by 40% per annum. Mr English viewed similar growth of exports with India and suggested that Indian business people in New Zealand should start exploring their links and contacts in India for stepping up to grab the opportunity.

BRONZ is preparing itself well in advance to assist the government in attracting invest-ment and promoting export when the FTA regime with India is established.

The association is looking to create aware-ness of do’s and don’ts when dealing with their Indian counterparts, project a clean and pure image of New Zealand, encourage foreign direct investments in the manufacturing and service sector and also explore new areas for the development of New Zealand export market.

It recommended that Visa officers in India should treat business sponsorship applications under a higher category and give them pref-erence. A suggestion was made to have a fast track mechanism.

English impressed with Indians’ entrepreneurship

Bill English and Kanwaljit Bakshi with guests and young performers at the event.

As he turns 70 early next year, evergreen ghazal legend Jagjit Singh gets hyper-active with a spree of 70 ‘live’ inter-continental concerts and a 70-song set of 7 albums!

Bass baritone voiced ghazal maestro Jagjit Singh who also has an occasional fetish for equestrian betting, be-lieves that “if one is always young at heart, ageing can never be a spoilsport.” Even as he completes 70 years on February 8th next year, the singing legend is tuning himself for a non-stop musical spree.

Enthuses Jagjit, “My global NRI fan-follow-ing is eager to know what’s up my sleeve. On my year-long agenda is a string of 70 ‘live’ con-certs in different parts of the world including USA, Europe, New Zealand and of course select Indian cities.

There will also be my personal compila-tion of 70 best songs from my entire repertoire spread over a pack of seven albums to mark my 70th birthday. On 5th February will be the inau-gural concert which will also have distinguished perfomers like Ustad Zakir Hussain ( tabla) and Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia ( flute) besides my own ghazal recital.

While on 6th there will be a ‘mushaaira’ with eminent ‘shaayars’ performing. It will be a

hectic but rocking time right through for me, I guess, as I turn 70 years young, ” he chuckles in his bass voice. At the release event of the music album of this mav-erick musical movie ‘Shahrukh Bola Khubsoorat Hain Tu’ directed by senior actor Makarand Desh-pande, which has its music tracks scored by the young viva-cious singer-guitarist Vasudha Sharma (of ‘Aasma’ band fame) Jagjit startled the in-vitees.

Deviating from his protocol of avoid-ing live performances in 5-star hotels, that too without accompa-nying musicians, he sang the entire soulful song composed by

the young Vasudha for the movie ‘Shah Rukh Bola…’ Asked how he agreed to make an excep-tion for such a young composer, the veteran singer explained. “Initially I was not too sure whether I would be doing it. But when I heard her singing the number during the sitting-rehearsal I realised that Vasudha was genuinely talented and had a strong classical base besides being a fabulous rock band performer. We somehow vibed very well and there was absolutely no generation-gap and I am impressed with her recorded fusion composition.”

- Chaitanya Padukone

Jagjit Singh to perform in NZ next year

“I will be be 70 years young, not old” quips Jagjit Singh who will perform live concerts in New Zealand as well...

The Ghazal maestro Jagjit Singh, pictured here with Vasuda Sharma.

Bank of Baroda New Zealand’s Indian princi-pal, Bank of Baroda, has been conferred upon Best Bank 2010 award by the prestigious fi-nancial magazine, Business India in recogni-tion of its consistent performance.

The Bank has made remarkable progress in business performance and technology implementation, financial inclusion and interna-tional operations.

M.D. Mallya, Chairman & Managing Director of the Bank received the award at the hands of Kamal Nath, Union Minister of Road Transport and High-ways in the presence of Ashok H Advani, the Publisher and Pheroza Bilimoria, Manag-ing Director of Business India Group at a glittering function held at Mumbai.

Bank of Baroda has its corporate head-quarters in Mumbai. The bank was founded in 1908 in Baroda by the Late Maharaja of Baroda, Sir Sayajirao Gaekwad III.

From its humble beginnings, the Bank has

grown over the years, to emerge as an Indian financial powerhouse. It has a network of over 3100 branches in India across the length and breadth of the country. It has 78 over-seas branches/foreign offices in 25 countries across 5 continents serving a Global customer

base of over 39 million.On September 1 last year,

Bank of Baroda New Zealand became the country’s nine-teenth banking company after receiving a licence to operate from the Reserve Bank of New Zealand.

It has been operating from its 114 Dominion Road branch in Auckland since June 24 this year. “The support from the Indian diaspora in New Zealand has been encouraging

and we are looking forward to stepping up our service offerings in the coming months,” Managing Director Mr Satish Vermani (pic-tured) told Indian Weekender while sharing the news of the parent company’s recent pres-tigious award in India.

Bank of Baroda bags ‘Best Bank – 2010’ Award

BOB NZ Managing Director Satish Vermani


Indian India

Dubai: With just under 100 days to go, the ICC Thursday announced the appointment of India batting legend Sachin Tendulkar the official event ambassador for cricket’s flagship event, the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011.

Throughout his long and suc-cessful career to date Ten-dulkar has inspired hun-dreds of millions of cricket lovers around the world with his personality, skill, temperament and love for the game.

Since making his debut for India in 1989 at the tender age of 16, on the field he has scored more international runs than anyone else in history while also adhering faithfully to the spirit of cricket.

Off the field he has always carried himself as a true champion, making him a perfect role model and one of the most recognisable and popular sportsmen of his generation.

In his role as ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 ambassador he will be called upon to promote and support a variety of ICC initiatives for the tournament, which is the third biggest sporting event in the world and will take place in Bangla-desh, India and Sri Lanka from 19 February to 2 April next year.

“There are just 100 days to go and I am really looking forward to playing in another Cricket World Cup,” said Tendulkar, who will join Pakistan’s Javed Miandad as the only other

player to take part in six World Cups.“In terms of limited-overs cricket, the ICC Cricket World

Cup is the highest level you can play so it is always

a thrill to take part in such an important

and widely followed event.

“The fact that the 2011 event will be staged here in the sub-continent makes it even more special for me and I am keen to

ensure we play well. As a team we would

be doing everything we can to win the world

cup on home soil “ he said. ICC Chief Executive

Haroon Lorgat said: “We are very lucky to have such an extraordinary player as Sachin supporting our flagship event.

“I don’t think any other player has inspired a nation like he has and the respect and affec-tion he enjoys goes way beyond his native India. Many other athletes and sports fans around the globe admire what he consistently achieves and what he does for cricket.”

Tendulkar is ICC’s World Cup ambassador New Delhi: The Minister of State for Plan-

ning and Parliamentary Affairs V. Narayana-samy on Wednesday said that a portion of the stucco of around 3-feet length of the balcony of the south-eastern minar of the Charminar in Hyderabad had fallen down recently during season rains.

The fallen portion of stucco work, which is normally done subsequently on the earlier plaster and as such it got detached from the main structure. No structural damage has oc-curred to the monument.

In reply to a written question in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, he said, “There is no damage to the minaret. Only stucco applica-tion work containing floral design has fallen.”

A comprehensive estimate is prepared for not only restoring the stucco work but also re-pairing other portions of the monument.

The Civil Engineering Department of the

JNTU, Hyderabad has been contacted for conducting investigation into the structural strength of the monument and also to devise ways and means to reduce the vibrations as well as pollution around the monument.

He said the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation has given about 15 feet of land all around Charminar for providing space around the monument for the tourists/visitors, since the road was just attached to the monument on all the four sides.

The space provided was dug up to a depth of about two feet to reduce the vibration all around the monument caused by vehicular traffic.

During excavation conducted around the monument, the original steps on the south-ern side, western side and northern side were also exposed to beautify the monuments and attract tourists/visitors.

Charminar suffers damages

New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), speaking over the Commonwealth Games controversy, on Saturday accused the government of ‘gifting’ Rs 2,100 cr to Emaar MGF, one of the contractors in the Oct. 3-11 Games.

“In the name of default in executing CWG village contract, Emaar had been gifted Rs 2,100 crore by the Government of India (GOI)/Delhi Development Authority (DDA)’’ BJP National Secretary Kirit Somaiya said in a press statement.

“After going through the papers, documents and the Agreement between Emaar MGF

and DDA/GOI, it is crystal clear that, without any logic or any supporting, Government had gifted Rs 2,100 crores worth property to Emaar MGF, ‘’ he added.

He said that the DDA had allotted construc-tion work contract of 2091 lac sq.ft. Emaar in September 2007. Emaar MGF was supposed to hand over 697 lac sq.ft. constructed area flats to the DDA for which the company was earning a total amount Rs 2,517 crores.

“It is shocking that the total cost of construc-tion work of all these 4,000 bedrooms was coming to less than Rs.400 crores,” the BJP statement said.

Govt gifted Rs 2,100cr to Emaar: BJP


Indian India

1. Obama enjoying with the school chil-dren, at a folk dance on Koli geet, at the celebration of Diwali Festival in Mumbai on November 7

2. Holy Name High School in Mumbai which Obama visited.

3. About 100 survivors of Bhopal gas disaster and those affected by ground water contamination caused by Union Carbide’s hazardous waste on Saturday (Nov 6) staged a demonstration outside the Union Carbide Factory in Bhopal demanding that President Obama meet with them in Delhi and ensure that Union Carbide & Dow Chemical obey Indian

laws and abide by decisions of Indian Courts.

4. Obama interacting with the students, during his visit, at St. Xavier College, in Mumbai on November 7.

5. Obama visiting an Agri Expo at St. Xavier College in Mumbai on November 7.

6. Obama and the First Lady Mrs. Mi-chelle Obama paying floral tributes, at the Samadhi of Mahatma Gandhi, at Rajghat, in Delhi on November 8.

7. Obama being welcomed by the Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh & his

wife Smt. Gursharan Kaur on his arrival, at Palam Air Force Station, in New Delhi on November 7.

8. Obama and the First Lady Mrs. Mi-chelle Obama being presented a bust of Mahatma Gandhi by the Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Corporate Affairs and Minority Affairs, Shri Salman Khurshid, during their visit at Rajghat, in Delhi on

9. Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh and the US President Obama, at the Joint Press Conference, in New Delhi on November 08.

10. The President, Smt. Pratibha De-visingh Patil and the Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh at the Ceremonial Reception of US President, Mr. Barack Obama and the First Lady Mrs. Michelle Obama, at Rashtrapati Bhawan, in New Delhi on November 8, 2010. Dr. Ramsingh Devisingh Shekhawat and Smt. Gur-sharan Kaur are also seen.

11. Obama and the First Lady Mrs. Michelle Obama waving as they board Air Force One after their tour of India at Palam Airport in New Delhi on November 9.

Obama IN INdIA1

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Indian India

New Delhi: Minister of Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh on Friday criticised the use of fuel-inefficient Sport Utility Vehicles (SUVs) on Indian roads by calling their use ‘criminal’.

“The use of vehicles like SUVs and BMW in countries like India is criminal,’’ he said, in a scathing attack on the use of large vehicles and SUVs.

The minister emphasised on the need to have a three task approach to reduce Green House Gas (GHG) emission suggesting that the luxurious growth of large size vehicles and SUVs is a criminal proposition.

At the UN workshop on low-carbon transport in India, Jairam Ramesh called for minimum fuel efficiency standards and said his country should overhaul its subsidy system for diesel, after deregulating petrol prices in June.

“We have reformed policy as far as petrol is concerned. We are yet to reform as far as the net effect of diesel subsidy is concerned,” he said.

In his inaugural speech at a workshop on ‘Promoting Low-carbon Transport in India’ here he said, “We should carry three tasks namely mandatory fuel economic standard, improvement in quality of fuel and fiscal policy regime. The immediate task ahead at us is to have Mandatory Fuel Economic Standards.

“We have now finalised and will be notified under the Energy conservation Act and not under Motor Vehicle Act. The standards are all ready with technical work and by end of this year we should have voluntary manda-tory standard. This will be KMPL standard route which will depend on weight of the car, size of the engine etc,’’ he added.

“We are moving into Bharat stage III for two wheelers & Bharat Stage IV for four wheelers. No longer can vehicle manufacturers argue of poor fuel not to move into mandatory standard regime,” a PIB release quoted him as saying.

The subsidies which are given for fossil fuels should be for farmers, LPG etc which is used by big vehicles. He suggested implementing fiscal policy regime that discourage the use of heavy cars and SUVs particularly and put penalty use of these vehicles.

Giving details of GHG emission of various sectors the Minister said the transportation

sector accounts for 7½ per cent of our GHG emissions, 38 per cent is electricity, 23 per cent is industry, 17 per cent is agriculture and 7½ per cent emission is from residential sector.

He said the growth of cars will not allow curb-ing emission and it will be doubled by 2025 as the transport sector is growing at alarming rate.

Auto expert reject ramesh’s suV comments

New Delhi, Nov 13 (IBNS) Union Environment minister Jairam Ramesh’s comments against use of SUVs on Indian roads have evoked strong response from auto experts, who have slammed the minister’s remarks as those of an ignorant person. Asking the minister to check ‘facts and figures’, auto expert Tutu Dhavan was quoted in reports as saying: “In the early 90s when the diesel contribution to the automobile was barely between 3-5 per cent, today in 2010 it is almost 37 per cent and what are the volumes we are talking of SUVs in that is not more than 2-3 per cent and how is that going to help anybody in banning SUVs. Why not ban the entire diesel range?” He pointed that in Europe, 60 per cent of the number of vehicles sold in Europe are all running on diesel, adding, “Diesel engine of course has gone so efficient that it beats the performance of any gasoline engine.” On Friday, Ramesh had criticised the use of fuel-inefficient Sport Utility Vehicles (SUVs) on Indian roads by calling their use ‘criminal’. “The use of vehicles like SUVs and BMW in countries like India is criminal,’’ he said, in a scathing attack on the use of large vehicles and SUVs. At the UN workshop on low-carbon transport in India, Jairam Ramesh called for minimum fuel efficiency standards and said his country should overhaul its subsidy system for diesel, after deregulating petrol prices in June. Giving details of GHG emission of various sectors the Minister said the transportation sector accounts for 7½ per cent of our GHG emissions, 38 per cent is electricity, 23 per cent is industry, 17 per cent is agriculture and 7½ per cent emission is from residential sector.

driving SUVs on Indian roads criminal: Minister

New Delhi: The Government of India on Sat-urday welcomed the release of Nobel Peace laureate and pro-democracy Myanmar leader Madam Aung San Suu Kyi stating that the release will usher in a process of reconciliation in Myanmar.

‘’We hope that this will be the beginning of the process of reconciliation in Myanmar. The recent elections in Myanmar are an important step in the direction of the national reconcilia-tion process being undertaken by the Govern-ment of Myanmar.

“We have always encouraged them to take this process forward in a broad-based and inclu-sive manner. In this context, as a close neighbour

of Myanmar, we are confident that the release of Madam Aung San Suu Kyi will contribute to efforts for a more inclusive approach to political change,’’ a government release stated.

Aung San Suu Kyi was freed from house arrest on Saturday after the end of the latest 18-month term she was serving.

Making her first public appearance since 2003, Suu Kyi urged the people of Myanmar to continue their fight for democratic rights as thousands of her supporters cheered their leader outside here residence here.

The leader also invited her supporters to participate at a rally planned at the National League for Democracy (NLD) office on Sunday.

India welcomes Suu Kyi’s release

New Delhi: India’s gymnastics coach Vladi-mir Chertkov, who left the team at the Guang-zhou Asian Games over a dress row before the opening ceremony, on Sunday alleged racial discrimination against him, which led him to desert the team.

Chertkov had left the team at the Asian Games on Friday after he was reportedly re-frained from participating in the opening cer-emony by India’s chef-de-mission Abhay Chau-tala due to improper dress.

“It was discrimination. It was insult straight on my face. It was humiliating. I can say it was racism,” the Russian-born American coach told a news channel after his return to the national capital.

He said that most of the athletes and their coaches of the Indian contingent had com-plained of the ‘ill-fitting’ dresses and Chautala had asked him to wear ‘something close enough to the dress or same colour blazer, Olympic style’ for the opening ceremony.

Chertkov alleged that Chautala turned him away, saying “You cannot go with us”, which made the coach to leave immediately.

“It was the last straw. I cannot take it anymore. If I’m not good enough for partici-pating in the opening ceremony, what have I to do?” Chertkov said.

Abhay Chautala, dismissing the racial dis-crimination charges, said Chertkov was barred from participating in the opening ceremony as he was dressed in a pair of jeans and a T-shirt.

“All the other foreign coaches participated in the opening ceremony. If we had stopped all of them from participating, then it would have been racism. He is the only one to complain,” he added.

Chautala termed Chertkov’s move of leaving the team as an ‘irresponsible’ act.

Chertkov, who was appointed by the Sports Authority of India (SAI) in August last year, has his contract terminating at the end of this month.

India’s gymnastic coachalleges racism

Seoul: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Friday that Indian economy is expected to grow 8.5 per cent this fiscal and 9 per cent in 2011-12, but blamed the ‘protectionist senti-ment’ of industrialised countries for dampening the medium term growth prospects of the developing countries.

“I am happy to say that the Indian economy has rebounded fairly well from the crisis...

the economy recovered to 7.4 per cent growth in 2009-10 and is likely to grow at 8.5 per cent in 2010-11. We hope to achieve 9 per cent in 2011-12,” he told the plenary session of G20 summit here.

Singh pointed out that Indian economy which had grown at 9 per cent in the four years

prior to the crisis, slowed down to 6.7 per cent in 2008-09. “However, high unemployment in industrialized countries threatens a revival of pro-

tectionist sentiment, especially since the use of conventional monetary and fiscal tools to revive the economy has been exhausted. Uncertainty about the prospects of industrialized countries affects the investment climate and dampens the medium term growth prospects of emerging market countries,” he said.

Singh observed that while emerging market countries, especially in Asia were ‘doing

well on the whole’, much remained t be done to bring the economies back on the rails of ‘strong, sustainable and balanced growth.’

“The problem faced in rebalancing the global economy is well known. Major indus-

trialized countries were running unsustainable current account deficits which have to be reduced to manageable levels,” he said.

“If this is not to have a contractionary impact on the world economy, it must be offset

by reducing current account surpluses elsewhere. This rebalancing requires pursuit of ap-propriately coordinated policies in our countries,” he observed.

Singh pointed out that efforts to achieve a strong recovery in the global economy are

particularly important at present. He said industrialised countries resumed growth in 2010, although output gaps remain

large and unemployment was still at crisis levels.

Indian economy to grow 8.5 p c this fiscal: Singh


Indian India

SIT Queenstown Campus0800 QT 4 SIT / 03 442 5375

[email protected] www.sit.ac.nz

Personal Trainer

President to celebrate Sathya Sai Baba’s 85th birthdayPuttaparthi, (Andhra Pradesh): Millions of devotees worldwide will be joining in cel-ebration to commemorate the 85th birthday of godman Sri Sathya Sai Baba at Puttaparthi Ashram in Ananthapur district of Andhra Pradesh on Nov 23.

The cel-ebrations will be marked by the pres-ence of his devo-tees, and important dignitaries like President Pratibha Patil , who would also be gracing the Women’s Day function on Nov 19.

Sathya Sai Baba’s birthday celebration starts from Nov 15 at Puttaparthi .

Renowned sarod maestro Ustad Amjad Ali Khan will start off the proceed-ings in the evening followed by a Carnatic Vocal Recital by Ab-hishek Raghuram.

On Nov 16 evening, following bhajans in the morning, ‘Saxophone Chakravarthy’ Kadri Gopalanath will perform to enthrall the millions gathered in tribute to Sri Sathya Sai Baba.

The evening will round off by fusion genius and santoor artist Rahul Sharma.

Nov 17 morning will witness a Mass Mar-

riage Program followed by a Carnatic Vocal recital by Sikkil Gurucharan. The program will culminate with a flute recital by India’s ace flautist Pandit Ronu Majumdar.

On Nov 18 morning, there will be a grand Rathotsavam, fol-lowed by a cul-tural presentation by students of the Sri Sathya Sai Primary School in the evening while Nov 19 will be com-memorated as the Women’s Day and the Nov 20 evening will host a World Conference Session of the Sri Sathya Sai Overseas Organisa-tions.

On Nov 21 evening, students of Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning will present a drama. This will be fol-lowed by their 29th

Convocation ceremony the following morning with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh gracing the occasion.

The festival will culminate on Nov 23 morning with birthday celebration of Sri Sathya Sai Baba at the Sri Sathya Sai Hill View Stadium and conclude in the evening with Prema Pravaham, a special concert by Swami’s students glorifying His Mission and Message for humanity.

Seoul: Calling for an end to competitive de-valuation of currencies and protectionism, Prime Minister Manmohan on Friday sug-gested a string of fiscal measures for strong recovery in global economy.

Addressing the plenary session of G-20 summit on its concluding day, Singh said while developing countries, especially in Asia, were doing well overall, much depend-ed on the industrialised countries to corredt their policies which were ‘affecting and dampening’ the mid term growth prospects of the emerging markets.

“First, we must at all costs avoid compet-itive devaluation and resist any resurgence of protectionism,” he said pointing to the trend of either slashing the value or holding currency artificially low to gain ground in export market and the subsequent protec-tionist reactions.

Singh also urged advance deficit coun-tries to follow policies of fiscal consolida-tion consistent with their individual circum-stances so as to ensure debt sustainability over the medium term.

“This means that fiscal correction need not be frontloaded everywhere,” he said.

“Third, while structural reforms are nec-essary everywhere, these should increase ef-ficiency and competitiveness in deficit coun-tries, while expanding internal demand in surplus countries. This rebalancing will take time, but it must begin,” Singh said.

The Prime Minister also mentioned

about the need to make flexible exchange rates saying it was an important instrument fopr achieving a sustainable current account position.

“Our policies must reflect this consid-eration. At the same time, reserve currency countries have a special responsibilty to ensure that their monetary policies do not lead to destabilizing capital flows, which can put pressure on emerging markets,” he said.

Singh said while attempts were being made to avoid a destabilizing surge of vola-tile capital flows to developing countries, “there is a strong case for supporting long term flows” to these countries to stimulus in-vestment, especially in infrastructure.

“The economic performance of emerg-ing markets, including many countries in sub-Saharan Africa, has improved greatly in recent years. These countries are now in a position to absorb capital flows aimed at an expansion in investment, which would inject much needed demand into the global economy,” he said.

Stressing that recycling of global savings was needed, Singh said it would not only address the immediate demand imbalance, but also help to address developmental im-balances.

“In other words, we should leverage im-balances of one kind to redress imbalances of the other kind,” he said.

Singh calls for avoiding currency devaluation


Indian India briefs

Fiji

Govt issues 5016 VoAs till octoberNew Delhi: As a facilitative measure to attract more foreign tourists to India, Gov-ernment has launched a Scheme of “Visa on Arrival” (VoA) from January 2010 for citi-zens of five countries, viz. Finland, Japan, Luxembourg, New Zealand and Singapore, visiting India for tourism purposes. During the period January - October 2010, a total number of 5016 VoAs were issued under this Scheme. The number of visas issued under this scheme, during January-October 2010 for nationals of the five countries were Singapore (1501), New Zealand (1328), Ja-pan (1110), Finland (1033) and Luxembourg (44). Total number of VoAs issued during October, 2010 were 523 with country-wise breakup as Finland (99), Japan (130), New Zealand (211), Singapore (81) and Lux-emburg (2). During the ten month period of January–October, 2010, the maximum number of VoAs were issued at Delhi airport (2695), followed by Mumbai (1093), Chennai (975) and Kolkata (253).

Actress Jayamala faces police action on temple visitThiruvananthapuram: Kannada film actress Jayamala could be chargesheeted by the Kerala police for her visit to the Lord Aiyy-appa’s temple at Sabarimala four years ago in violation of the temple rules, reports said on Thursday. The actress had landed herself in a storm of outrage over four years ago when she claimed to have entered the temple

that women who have reached menstruation age are not permitted to enter. According to reports, Kerala police is about to charge the actress, along with astrologer Unnikrishnan and his assistant Raghupathi for their “delib-erate and malicious act” intended to outrage religious feeling under Section 295 A of the Indian Penal Code. In 2006, the admission by the yesteryear’s heroine of entering the temple in 1986 had led to strong protests among the devotees of Lord Aiyyappa.

Asha bhosle lauds Maha CM’s poster-driveMumbai: Veteran singer Asha Bhosle on Sat-urday sang praises for the new Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chauhan as the astute politician struck a chord with his audi-ence by getting his posters removed from the city landscape.“Perhaps Prithviraj Chauhan read our chat and had most of his posters removed. Well done sir! Hope others follow your example,” she tweeted. On Friday, she had posted a tweet, saying “Beautifying Mumbai: Our ‘handsome’ politicians overshadow movie stars in thousands of posters all over Mumbai informing us of their birthdays.” Chavan, who was sworn-in on Thursday as the new Chief Minister, apparently felt that all the banners and posters were an eyesore and asked Municipal Commissioner to remove at least those depicting him, official sources said.

India launches plan to slash transport emis-sion

New York: India, the world’s fourth largest greenhouse gas emitter, has launched a new United Nations-backed project to reduce emissions and develop a low-carbon trans-port system. The Indian government will work with the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the German non-governmental organization International Climate Initiative on a $2.5 million, three-year project to bring the country’s transport growth in line with its climate change agenda. Even though it has the world’s second largest population, India’s per capita emissions are below the global average, UNEP noted in a news release. In 2007, around 13 per cent of its emissions came from the transport sector. That is ex-pected to rise due to population growth, a rapid growth in the number of privately-owned vehicles and the switch from rail to road transport in the freight and passenger sectors. The project is part of a National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) and involves designing low-carbon transport plans for major Indian cities. Indian officials hope the project will act as an inspiration for other developing countries trying to build their transport system.

satyam: raju goes back to prisonHyderabad: Former Satyam chairman B Ramalinga Raju surrendered before a court here on Wednesday after his ‘more time’ plea was rejected by the Supreme Court. He will be taken to the Chanchalguda jail. Raju and five other accused in the case decided to surrender before the magistrate after attending the court proceedings in the morning. Raju will be returning to the

Chanchalguda jail after a gap of 11 months. However, it is uncertain if he will be given his old furnished cell with a cot, mattress, a table, a chair and also a separate bathroom. His surrender comes as a result of a directive of the apex court asking him to surrender on Nov 10. Raju had appealed to the Supreme Court to extend the date for his surrender on health grounds. However, the Supreme Court refused to extend the date for his surrender. In one of the biggest corporate fraud of India, Raju was arrested in Jan 2009 for in-volvement in accounting scam worth over Rs 7000 crore. Earlier this month, the Satyam financial scam main accused was discharged from Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS) hospital in Hyderabad where was admitted for the better half of his jail tenure.

Indian Navy wants to take over Goa islands New Delhi: Indian Navy has made a request for handing over Grandi Island (large) owned by private party having an area of 5,28,575 sqm and Pikene Island comprising an area of 2,78,525 sqm owned by Govern-ment of Goa. These islands are located at a distance of less than 4 Kms in the landing funnel of Dabolim Airport. This proposal has been made in order to address the secu-rity concerns related to aircraft operations from Naval Air Station Dabolim and the case being processed as per existing regulations. Government of Goa has not granted NOC so far nor any report from the Government of Goa has been received by the Ministry. This information was given by Defence Minister AK Antony in a written reply in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.

Global anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International says corruption in Fiji decreased since the change of government in 2006.

Suva: Global anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International says corruption in Fiji decreased since the change of government in 2006.

The director of the organisation’s Fiji arm, lawyer Juris Gulbis, said people’s perception of corruption had changed since the current Gov-ernment established the Fiji Independent Com-mission Against Corruption (FICAC).

Mr Gulbis said the combination of FICAC and Transparency International ensures that corruption is not rife.

He said: “People are no longer hesitant to

bring their concerns and complaints to us. “At the end of the day I have to say more and more complaints lodged with us get resolved.

“More complaints get voiced by the people without fear or hesitation.

“They come to us and they freely discuss their options.

“They no longer feel threatened. At the end of the day people get justice.”

Fiji has not been listed among the 178 coun-tries in Transparency International’s Perception of Corruption Index since the 2006 because three independent assessments are needed to be considered.

- Indian Weekender/ Pacnews/ Fiji Sun

Transparency International praises FICAC role

Suva: Police officers in Fiji have been brought in to ensure the security of Com-

merce Commission officers while they are out in the field says Commission

chairman, Dr Mahendra Reddy.

Reddy told FijiLive that the officers are mainly there to keep the officers safe.

“We’ve called them in because we want to make sure that our officers are not

attacked or mugged.” Reddy said. “I don’t know if you remember this but a while

back some of my officers were attacked, so we’ve asked the police to assist us

and provide us with security and prevent something like that from happening

again.” Dr Reddy said.

The Fiji National University lecturer added that they have received submissions

from retailers yesterday. “Yes, we’ve received their submissions and it is encour-

aging to see that they are coming forward with all the relevant data that we asked

of them.”

Retailers will find out the outcomes of their submissions and new price determi-

nations tomorrow. Retailers found to be holding back stock and not putting them

up on the shelves for sale are liable to fines of up to $25,000 and imprisonment.

He said those who are found to have prices above the recommended retail price

set by the Commission will be slapped with a spot fine of $3000. Commission

inspectors have begun surveying supermarkets and other food retail outlets to

scrutinize food prices and to ensure they comply with the new price order.

Inspectors are also determining the types of stocks missing from supermarkets.

“On Saturday our inspectors along with officers of the security forces will go to

the shops and check those products that are not on the shelves, we have written

to them today asking them to give us a list of the stock that has disappeared

from their shelves and whether they have run out,” he said.

- Indian Weekender/ Pacnews/ Fiji Live

Police protection for Commission officers

Suva, Fiji: The Bank of Baroda has experienced good progress in Fiji in line with the overall growth of the bank worldwide says Executive Director- Narasipur Srinath.

Srinath who is visiting Fiji from India for the bank’s 50th anniversary – says Baroda has over 70,000 customers in Fiji, and the bank is both retail and commercially focused.He says the main objective now is to increase the bank’s clientele to ensure future growth.

“Bank of Baroda in Fiji is quiet good and in tune with the banks overall growth. It has shown a growth of in the past two and a half years of 80 to 90 per cent. In the banking industry any growth over 20 per cent is deemed as a good growth, hence I am extreme-ly happy with the growth. In the days ahead, we want to increase the clientele base.”

Srinath and other bank executives from India will be meeting the government and other stakeholders before they return.

- Indian Weekender/ FBCL

Bank of Baroda growing in Fiji


Indian Fiji

Suva: Helping to keep Fiji well on track for a record breaking year, more than 21,000 Australians visited the desti-nation across August according to statistics released this week by the Fiji department of information.

The 21,451 total recorded for the month takes Fiji’s January-August Australian visitor total to 178,171, a 31 per cent increase over the 135,726 recorded for the same period in 2009.

With Australian business for August constituting 44.7 per cent of total traf-fic, the result has again helped push Fiji’s international January-August visitor arrivals to a record-breaking 398,395.

This represents an 18 per cent in-crease over the 337,554 achieved for the eight month period in 2009. The positive Australian result was reflected

across the board with all major interna-tional source markets showing growth across the eight month period. This included New Zealand numbers which have shown an overall increase of 10.07 per cent to reach 63,665 for the year. The US also experienced a 7.97 per cent increase to reach 37,262 for the year while the UK/Eu-rope again remained in positive mode with January-August figures having increased overall by 2.07 per cent to reach 49,924. The national tourist office’s ongoing efforts in its key emerging markets were once again rewarded with visitor arrivals from China and India increas-ing by 31.7 per cent and 33.7 per cent, respectively, for the eight month pe-riod. Taiwan business also increased by 31.4 percent across the eight month period.

- Indian Weekender/ Pacnews/ Fiji Live

21,000 Australians visited Fiji in August

FILTA (Fiji Indian Lawn Tennis Associa-tion) had the second re-union of its members a couple of weeks ago here in Auckland. The members, who still keep in close contact, are spread all over the world. They had their first re-union in 2008 in Nadi, Fiji and it was then decided that they would have their second one in Auckland. The success of these re-unions where the members come from different countries to spend time together and ‘reminisce about the good old days’ is proof of the camaraderie and friendship fostered by FILTA.

FILTA was formed in 1945. In those days tennis in Fiji was a ‘European sport for Euro-pean eyes only’. We are told that a wooden fence was put up around the tennis court in Nadi so others could not watch the white men and women playing the game! Divakar Rao who grew up in Nadi in the 1940s and later became a member of the FILTA recalls how they ‘made inroads into what was then the private domain of the elite CSR sahibs’.

So the aspiring Indian tennis players had to overcome hurdles everywhere. But they were a brave and determined lot. When there was nowhere for the Indians to play tennis, Dr.Mukherjee built a tennis court next to his residence in Nawaka, Nadi. Thanks to people like Dr.Mukherji, ‘Indian tennis sprouted in the West and finally germinated into FILTA in mid-forties’.

When I arrived in Fiji in 1966 self govern-ment had just started but vestiges of colonialism were still there. Some of the members of FILTA had risen to important positions by then. Subri Pillay was the District Officer in Nadi. He was one of the first locals to hold that position as until then officers were posted from the United Kingdom to be the DOs.

Later, when we started living in Lautoka, Narain Nair was the District Commissioner

Western (the first local to be made a DC) and Moti (later Sir Moti) Tikaram was the judge at the high court in Lautoka (again the first local to be a high court judge). So it can be seen that the members of FILTA held very important po-sitions in the soon to be independent country.

I consider myself for-tunate to have met some of these pioneers. Among them the person I saw most was Mr. Ganesh-war Rao who used to be in Lautoka in the early 1970s. These FILTA members had some re-markable qualities which I admire, the most out-standing being their courage to stand up for what they thought was right and fight for it.

Mr. Rao was one of the few teachers brought from India by Indian re-ligious and cultural or-ganisations in colonial Fiji to teach in Indian schools. He was very dif-ferent from the rest of the Indian teachers who led rather quiet lives and confined themselves mostly to home and school. Mr. Rao, however, had varied interests. He was interested in tennis, chess, cars, motorcycles and the list goes on.

If we did not see him driving his car around, we saw him going past in his motor cycle. He was one of the few teachers from India in Fiji in the 1950s and 1960s who owned a car. Here he was similar to Swami Rudrananda of the Ramakrishna Mission who had a Rolls Royce to take the devotees to the Ashram and back. Mr. Rao was using his car for his own plea-sure unlike Swami Rudrananda. Nevertheless,

he was making a point just like Swamiji and sending clear signals to the vested interests and the colonial government.

There is the story about Mr.Rao’s fight with a white sahib in the middle of a bridge. In the co-lonial days in Fiji many of the bridges had only

single lane. So cars on one side had to wait till the cars which were already coming from the opposite side crossed the bridge. Mr. Rao was already on the bridge from one side when another car from the opposite side drove into the bridge. The other driver expected Mr. Rao, an Indian, to go back and give way to him. He had clearly underestimated Mr.Rao who stood his ground and refused to budge. Finally the white-man who was in the wrong had to pull back and let Mr. Rao go.

Another time I am told that a missionary went to the school where Mr. Rao was teach-ing and wanted to talk to the teachers. He told the staff how they were all sinners and they had to repent and ask for forgiveness and so on. Ev-eryone listened quietly. After some time, Mr. Rao, who followed the teachings of Swami Vi-vekananda (Swami Vivekananda had said: ‘You are souls immortal. Sinners? It is a sin to call a man so’) decided that he had had enough. He said to the man: ‘I am not a sinner. You may be one.’ And he asked his colleagues: ‘Are you sinners?’ No one said anything and the silence seemed to indicate that they agreed with what Mr. Rao was saying. The evangelist realised that

it would be wise to leave before he encountered more arguments against him.

Another of the FILTA members I got to know was Mr. Ram Lakhan who used to be the post master at Nadi before moving to Canberra. I have fond memories of a visit I paid to him and his wife with whom my daughter used to stay while attending school in Canberra. There he kept up with his interest in tennis but col-lapsed in the tennis court one day while playing the game he loved and died.

After the Silver Jubilee in 1970 FILTA slowly ceased to exist because the need for it was no more and so it amalgamated into other bodies. It also has New Zealand connections. Not only was the second re-union held in Auck-land. One of the persons who used to be with the early Indian tennis players from Fiji, who played in Auckland while studying here, was Dr. M. Satyanand, the father of the current Gov-ernor General. So FILTA is not only important for multicultural Fiji. It also has connections to multicultural New Zealand of the 21st century.

FILTA is an important part of the history of colonial Fiji and students of Fiji history need to know why FILTA was established and what purpose it served other than the obvious one of providing the young tennis enthusiasts an op-portunity to play the game. FILTA was impor-tant in the transformation of the segregated Fiji of the colonial days where discrimination was a daily affair to a multicultural country with equal rights for everyone.

The most visible aspect of this change perhaps was the declaration of Diwali a national holiday in the early 1970s. So from then on, on Diwali night, as the poet (Sam Simpson) noted, ‘the island air [had] an eastern accent’ with ev-eryone joining in the celebration and hoping to usher in prosperity.

FILTA is much more than just tennisPAdMINI GAuNder

FILTA is an important part of the history of colonial Fiji and students of Fiji history need to know why FILTA was established and what purpose it served other than the obvious one of providing the young tennis enthusiasts an opportunity to play the game.


IndianIndian

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 2 No. 17Publisher: Kiwi Media Group LimitedGroup editor-in-chief: Dev Nadkarni [email protected] editor: Arvind Kumar [email protected] Correspondent: Shobha Rao [email protected] technical officer: Rohan Desouza rohan@ indianweekender.co.nzdesign: Tanmay Desai [email protected] / www.desaign.co.nzAdvertising: Giri Gupta - Ph: 520 0922, Mob: 021 221 1131. Email - [email protected] email original editorial contributions, community notices and pictures to [email protected] expressed in the publication are not necessarily of the publisher and the publisheris not responsible for advertisers’ claims as appearing in the publication

Letters

Ten top stories on iwk.co.nz1. MPs get in on deepawali spirit2. Will your child be a New Zealander – or an immigrant?3. ‘Light’ – the essence of diwali4. Isolate the extremists in Islam, says obama5. tropical exotica imbues Fiji Fashion Week 6. Look at India Inc, not India ink7. GoPIo all at sea in oceania, rudderless in NZ8. stable Pakistan is good for India: obama9. spirit of diwali lights up the world10. book launched on Jairam reddy

Will obama’s visit raise India’s profile

Opinion Poll:

Yes

77% 0% 23%CAN’t sAY No

New Zealand ethnic affairs minister Pansy Wong has had to resign from her ministerial duties last week following allegations of impropriety relating to misuse of taxpayer subsidised travel perks.

Ms Wong also is alleged to have signed as witness on a document as a government minister rather than as a Member of Parliament in a business deal involving her husband that ultimately went sour, which is what led to the whistle blowing.

Ms Wong has agreed to pay back the New Zealand taxpayer although it is not known how many times private business was conducted in the course of taxpayer subsidised travel by her husband Sammy Wong. That aspect is being investigated.

That Ms Wong has had to sacrifice her career because of her husband’s business affairs is indeed an unfortunate event for New Zealand’s first government minister of Asian heritage, who built her career meticulously beginning in Christchurch and then in Auckland.

Her hard work and high visibility at ethnic events down the years won her handsome support and popularity in her Howick electorate, considered among New Zealand’s most ethnically diverse electorates, with a large percentage of voters born overseas.

Pansy Wong had the perfect credentials, background – and, of course, the looks – for the image of a minister in charge of ethnic affairs in multi racial, multi cultural, multi ethnic New Zealand – an image that fitted any political party’s politically correct agenda so very well.

But her resignation has once again brought into sharp relief the big difference in the style of functioning between former Prime Minister Helen Clark and Prime Minister John Key when dealing with controversial matters pertaining to alleged ministerial impropriety.

Mr Key has repeatedly shown great alacrity in accepting resignations almost immediately after such a story makes it to the front pages. Richard Worth and Phil Heatley are cases in point. Allegations against Dr Worth were never substantiated but he was not rehabilitated. Mr Heatley, stood down over a ministerial credit card payment for a bottle of wine, was forgiven.

Ms Clark on the other hand used every ploy in the seasoned thick-skinned politician’s book to soft pedal, divert attention and go to great lengths to protect Labour and supporting party ministers during her last term, despite the gravity of the allegations. Phillip Field and Winston Peters are glaring examples. Contrast that with Labour’s intense call for Ms Wong’s resignation from Parliament last week.

This is not to find fault with Mr Key’s decisions. It is rather about his still being quite wet behind the ears when it comes to being a true blue politician. Midway into his term, his style is still that of a quick thinking, fast acting corporate czar rather than a quick thinking, artfully procrastinating political schemer.

While Mr Key’s quick decision making in such matters conveys a strong sense of propriety (his swift position on abolishing the travel perk for parliamentarians that brought the desired result within days must certainly be commended), the speed with which he acts also exposes his lack of political nous compared to his wily predecessor.

He gives the impression that it doesn’t take much for the opposition to get him to submit to their machinations quickly – sometimes all too quickly. Expect Labour’s dirty tricks department to go into overdrive as the next election nears to look for all sorts of skeletons in National MPs’ and ministers’ cupboards.

While his antennae may be finely tuned to big picture scenarios and matters relating to eco-nomics and his bailiwick of finance, his political antennae especially in a number of more earthy and mundane matters such as ethnic sensitivities are clearly a far cry from the finely honed skills of Ms Clark, or for that matter other Labour Party seniors. His handling of the Paul Henry saga both on screen and his failure to grab the moral high ground is ample proof of this.

With Ms Wong gone and elections in all probability coming up sooner rather than later next year, National must wonder who its new ethnic affairs face should be. And without much really talented ethnic representation in Parliament, the new face will in all probability be one that would quite easily pass the Paul Henry test.

Ms Wong’s sacrifice also exposes the lack of quality ethnic representation in the ruling party.

– Dev Nadkarni

Next ethnic affairs minister will probably pass Paul Henry test

Indian Weekender columnist Rakesh Krishnan Simha’s opinion piece “Will your child be a New Zealander – or an immigrant?” elicited a huge response from readers all over the world. The comments were thought provoking and explored many human aspects of immigration. It was impossible to include all the responses in this space but we repro-duce some of them below:

There is little doubt that many immigrants will face the glass ceiling in New Zealand. The equation is not really fair for Indians and Chinese and other non-European immigrants. That is because many British nationals migrate to New Zealand and get jobs they are not qualified for. But an Indian or Chinese won’t get high-end jobs that the British will get. The excuse always is that the crown countries have similar systems. This is just a huge lie.

– Sunita

It takes great courage to nail down the truth. Most people live the big lie, but it takes a courageous reporter to talk straight. I know it must be hard to leave home and everything and then find that you have made a mistake. Most Indians in the US are slightly better off because at least the money is good and the cost of living is very low. But New Zealand is a low income country so it’s tough on professionals. The quality of life has slipped in New Zealand and it is for low skilled immigrants.

– Arun Prasad

Valid article and thoughts ... though the frank opinion is not a generalisation. Migration has a cost in material, physical and emotional terms...it all depends how well rooted the Indian is... By the way ‘reverse migration’ is already happening. There’s so much for the world to learn from India. Mind you India is a very old unlike USA or New Zealand. The world knows how these countries were founded and how fertile land was acquired? We don’t want to debate about values/racism, do we?

– Ajay

I know many Indians who have returned home because they could not rise in their workplaces. A few instances of successful people doesn’t mean the rest of the diaspora is able to succeed. There will always be exceptional cases but most Indians will struggle. I know Indians doing a great job but are ignored at promotion time. The creamy jobs will always elude us. Sadly, there are always Indians wanting to run down India.

– Sneha

Is it fair to assume that Indians struggle because of discrimination alone and everyone deserves a promotion? Maybe they did not work hard or gave up and quit too early! Stop depending on others for your success. Work hard, up-skill, get local experience, put in the time! You can also start your own business like the Europeans you depend on. NZ is what it is, if its too hard and you don’t have it in you then yes, don’t bother! But don’t expect the red carpet, life is hard for everyone! Take re-sponsibility and ownership! Stop whining.

Your advice to your brother was a wise one. Britain is in bad shape? This week they had riots by youngsters who see no future for themselves. Many will be migrating to the Middle East and working for small chips, brother. Britain will be Third World country in 25 years. It’s navy is being chopped to 19 ships while India builds a 300-ship navy. It seems, without colonsing and looting Britain can’t prosper. Now Irish and Scots are migrating while Asians return home to prosperous future.

– Arjun Singh Gill

I see with sadness the flight of Irish en masse. A whole new generation of European economic mi-grants will migrate in huge numbers to US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. As a European, I admit we do get that first call at job interviews. Surveys done in Australia have shown employers prefer people with European names. Many in New Zealand are more royal than the British. It’s beyond anyone’s control. New Zealand is good for labour jobs, not scientific or engineering. Think before you leap!!!!!

– Jake Cavanagh

Immigration used to be a hopeful event. People looked at their future/adopted country with hope. Today, immigration only gives pain. On top of that, it’s easier for a European immigrant to inte-grate. India’s IT wizards and engineers are expected to leave the US once they finish their 6 year visa. It’s getting harder to get a green card. So smart Indians don’t even bother to come here. NZ will get the immigrants it deserves.

– Ronit

Look at India Inc, not India inkI am an American who has greatly enjoyed my too few visits to India. Please, as you move forward, preserve the heart of your culture and your wonderful people.

– Joe Mickey - The Tibetan Photo Project

Indian organisationsThis is what happens when the motive is power and position. Hope they learn from the mistakes and get involved in some real community work. Remember “ No gain in this world without pain” so guys learn to sacrifice and be a role model for the community.

– Mandar Padke

Indian organizations are a joke really. Where other countries are more or less united, the Indian organisations are obsessed with oneupmanship. There is no effort to uphold the community’s pride. We all need to throw out these jokers and boycott them. Each organisations seems to be a platform for giving free publicity to its leaders. Also to win free tickets to India through govt fucntions and departments. Bottomline = money matters. Indians should stop attending these functions and stay home.

– Ronit


Indian Comment

JohN MACLIthoN

deV NAdkArNI

Like Sonia Gandhi, I am a Westerner and a brought-up Christian. Like Sonia Gandhi, I have lived in India many years and I have adopted this country as my own. But the com-parison ends there. I did land in India with a certain amount of prejudices, clichés and false ideas, and I did think in the enthusiasm of my youth to become a missionary to bring back Indian ‘pagans’ to the ‘true god’.

But the moment I stepped in India I felt that there was nothing much that I could give to India, rather it was India which was bestowing me. In fact in all my years here India has given me so much — professionally, spiritually, sen-timentally. Most Westerners, who come here, still think they are here to ‘give’ something to a country, which, unconsciously of course, they think is lesser than theirs. It was true of the British, it was true of Mother Teresa, it is true of Sonia Gandhi.

It is a fact that Sonia brought discipline, order and cohesion into the Indian National Congress. But the amount of power that she, a person of foreign origin, an elected MP like hundreds of others, possesses should frighten her. All the television channels report without a blink that Maharashtra CM rushes to Delhi to meet Sonia Gandhi to plead for his life. But should not Chavan have gone to the prime min-ister first?

The CBI blatantly and shamelessly quashed all injunctions against Ottavio Quattrocchi and even allowed him to get away with billions of

rupees which he had stolen from India. Yet, without batting an eyelid, and with the Indian media turning a blind eye, it goes ruthlessly after the chief minister of the most efficiently run state, the most corruption free. Today the Congress, with Sonia’s overt or silent consent, pays crores of rupees to buy MPs to topple non-Congress governments. Her governors shame-lessly hijack democ-racy by twisting the law.

Are Indians aware that their country has entered a state of semi-au-tocracy where every important decision comes from a single individual residing in her fortress of 10 Janpath surrounded by dozens of secu-rity men, an empress of India? Do they know that the huge amounts of the scams, whether the 2G, the CWG, or the Adarsh housing society scam, do not go into politicians’ pockets (only a fraction), but to the coffers of the Congress for the next general elections, and more than any-thing to please Sonia Gandhi? Nobody seems to notice what is happening under the reign of Sonia Gandhi.

That an Arundhati Roy is allowed to preach secession in India, whereas on the other hand the

Congress government has been going after the army, the last body in India to uphold the time-honoured values of the Kshatriyas – courage, honour, devotion to the Motherland. They alone today practise true secularism, never differen-tiating between a Muslim or Hindu soldier and who for a pittance daily give their lives to their country.

First it was the attempt of a caste census, a divide-and-rule ploy if there is one; then there are the first signs that the gov-ernment is think-ing about thinning down the presence of the Indian army in the Kashmir valley, which will suit Pakistan per-

fectly. And now there is the Adarsh housing society scam in which the army officers, at the worst, were innocently dragged into it. We know now that it was the politicians of the Con-gress who benefited the most out of it.

It would be impossible in France, for example, to have a non-Christian tell a Hindu (who is a non-elected president or PM) to be the absolute ruler of the country behind the scenes, superseding even the PM. There are many capable people in the Congress. Why Can’t

a billion Indians find one of their own, who will understand the complexity and subtlety of India, to govern themselves? Not only that, but her very presence at the top has unleashed forces, visible and invisible that are detrimental to the country.

There is nothing wrong in espousing the best of the values of the West – democracy, technological perfection, higher standards of living – but many of the institutions are crum-bling in the West: two out of three marriages end in divorce, kids shoot each other, parents are not cared for in their old age, depression is rampant and Westerners are actually looking for answers elsewhere, in India notably.

One does not understand this craze to West-ernise India at all costs, while discarding its ancient values. Sonia Gandhi should do well to remember that there still are 850 million Hindus in India, a billion worldwide and that whatever good inputs were brought by different invasions, it is the ancient values of spiritual-ity behind Hinduism which have made India so special and which gives it today unique quali-ties making an Indian Christian different from an American Christian, or an Indian Muslim different from a Saudi Muslim.

The tragedy of India is that it was colonised for too long. And unlike China, it always looks to the West for a solution to its problems. Sonia Gandhi, whatever her qualities, is just an incar-nation of that hangover, an empress of India in new clothes.

An empress of India in new clothes

Though the age of dissolving political bound-aries between nations is still a long way off, the interconnectedness between nations and their interdependence on one another – be it in terms of trade, the migration of people, com-munication technologies, media, entertain-ment, tourism and a host of other areas – has been growing at blitzing speeds and deepening over the past couple of decades.

Despite the relentless onslaught of terror-ism in many parts of the world as a result of which countries have become increasingly wary of border control processes as also the contentious issues relating to trade and tariffs, the migration of people and the movement of goods has only been increasing by leaps and bounds and is now at an all time high com-pared to any period in the history of the world.

And though political differences remain and will remain, political leaders have come to realise that trade, business, communica-tion, financial systems, and most importantly the environment, are becoming increasingly seamless and connected in ways that could never have been imagined before.

The global financial crisis that left no nation on earth unscathed, global warming and sea level rise that threatens almost every ecosystem around the world, the consequences of weak financial systems in certain countries that affect even the most robust of systems in other countries leading to money laundering and dozens of other human activities is getting increasingly interconnected facilitated partic-ularly by constantly evolving technologies in instant digital telecommunication.

These developments are forcing national governments to see the limits of many activi-ties extend beyond the pale of old geographi-cal boundaries, to encompass the world. One of the areas where rapid strides are being made is in the extension of legal obligations of corporate activities well beyond the political

confines of the country of origin of corporate entities.

For instance, an extra territorial clause in UK Bribery Act 2010 could make a United Kingdom company liable for bribery even if it was indulged by a third party connected to that company in a different nation. If a company incorporated in New Zealand that has a branch in the UK is found to have been involved in an act of bribery in, say China, then the New Zealand i n c o r p o r a t e d company is liable to be prosecuted in the UK for failing to prevent an act of bribery in China.

The act that comes into force in 2011 comes with stiff penal-ties on the compa-nies if prosecuted and covers wide ranging activities in its definition of the term bribery including “grease” payments – such as payments made to officials to speed up pro-cesses like passing goods through customs that are common practice in many parts of the world, particularly developing nations.

The new law is ushering in a whole new attitude in businesses not only in the UK but also other countries that trade with the UK and have branch offices or subsidiaries set up there to train staff on the implications of bribery – some of which may be routine business prac-tice in some countries that is followed without much thought because that is the way it has always been.

A similar law with global repercussions for companies is being brought into force in the realm of environment and ecology which is of interest to Pacific nations as major corpo-rations from both the western bloc of nations and the fast growing, resource hungry econo-mies of the east make a beeline for the natural resources of Pacific waters and the ocean floor with mega mining projects.

Much on the lines of the UK’s new bribery law that has ramifica-tions all over the world, the Cana-dian parliament is debating a new law which would hold Canadian mining companies accountable for the environmental and human rights abuses caused by their mines in de-veloping countries.

This new law would apply when Canadian taxpay-ers support mining

companies through financing institutions that draw funds from them such as the organisation called Export Development Canada, which currently provides a whopping amount of up to $18 billion a year in financing.

Canadian mega corporations have been involved in mining activities in Papua New Guinea for some years now and are expanding operations into the territorial waters of other sovereign Pacific Island nations. Many of the smaller nations have poor systems to legally address the potential problems that could be caused both to local people and their fragile

environment while setting up and operating what could be hugely disruptive mega projects.

Such a new law will put the wild west at-titude of companies in check even if they are engaged in activities far removed from the political boundaries of their own country and bring a measure of responsibility toward pro-tecting the livelihood of the local people and the environment in the absence of comparable local laws or the inadequate human capacity to implement existing laws.

Under the new law, if a Canadian mining project is thought to be violating international environmental or human rights standards by the citizens of that country, or even by Canadi-an citizens, they could submit a written com-plaint to Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs or Minister of International Trade. The minis-ter would then be obliged to launch an investi-gation and, if the accusations proved true, the firm would lose any funding it receives from various federal bodies.

Local politicians and corrupt officials may be quick to point out that this would slow down the development of projects in poor nations but there is no doubt that a law like this brings a strong measure of responsibility in the hugely disruptive mining sector to treat both local people and their ecosystem with respect and a view to preserving its pristine nature past the development and operative phases of projects.

Pacific Island countries that have set them-selves up as tax havens as also ones that run offshore financial services would do well, similarly, to take on board the practicalities of the UK’s new bribery statute that stretches the long arm of its law to reach the far corners of the world.

Because of the growing interconnectedness and interdependence of countries and markets, nations could well be expected to enact such far reaching laws in coming years.

Be mindful, your friendly ‘grease payments’ in China, Fiji or India could be breaking laws in the UK or Canada that could well make you liable

Countries’ tightening global legal net has wide implications

The new law is ushering in a whole new attitude in businesses not only in the UK but also other countries that trade with the UK and have branch offices or subsidiaries set up there to train staff on the implications of brib-ery – some of which may be rou-tine business practice in some countries that is followed without much thought because that is the way it has always been.

All the television channels report without a blink that Maharashtra CM rushes to Delhi to meet Sonia Gandhi to plead for his life. But should not Chavan have gone to the prime minister first?


Indian Community

subhAsh APPANA

For much of the 1970s, 80s and 90s, Jai Ram Reddy (with Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara) loomed large in Fiji politics. This is the one Fiji Indian leader who continues to be mentioned with respect across the ethnic divide in Fiji. The i taukei have often remarked about his vakarau vaka turaga (dignified mannerisms and decorum) and veitokoni (cooperative orienta-tion). In fact many still speculate about what could have been if Reddy had still led the Fiji Indian community.

It is therefore, not surprising that a book had to be written about this prominent son of Fiji. And it took no less than renowned ANU aca-demic and historian, Professor Brij Vilash Lal, to take on the daunting task of writing a book on Jai Ram Reddy and Fiji politics from indepen-dence when Fiji Indian politics was inevitably intertwined with sugar politics to 1999 when Jai Ram Reddy and Sitiveni Rabuka’s vision of an ethnically united Fiji was derailed by a group of destructively greedy opportunists.

That book aptly titled, “In the Eye of the Storm: Jai Ram Reddy and the Politics of Post Colonial Fiji”, was launched at Auckland’s Lyn-field College on Saturday 30th June 2010.

In launching the book, Sir Paul Reeves as Chief Guest, highlighted 3 significant experi-ences from his own life as an international con-ciliator. The first was in 1992-93 when he visited South Africa and met Nelson Mandela, Chief Buthelezi and President de Klerk as the country finally prepared to embrace real democracy. Here he mentioned in particular the courage and pragmatism of President FW de Klerk who real-ized the need to accept reality in the face of ir-reversible shifts in the politics of that strife-torn country.

Then he mentioned Guyana as an “ethnically contested country” where it became crucial to

“protect the middle ground”. And in Fiji, he presided over often opposed positions taken by fellow constitutional commissioners, Tomasi Vakatora and Brij Lal. In all three cases, he said, the main obstacle was the need for a dramatic re-orientation that would help forge workable political paths in an ethnically polarized society.

Then the author, Professor Brij Lal took the stage and highlighted the key role that a histo-rian plays and how society tends to overlook this importance. He said that the book had been in the pipeline for a long time, but somehow or other he had been putting it off until he expe-

rienced two events: one, when he addressed a high school history class at a school in Nasinu. There, as an invited guest, aside from talking about the work of a historian, he asked the 27 students if they knew who Jai Ram Reddy was – not one answered in the affirmative.

The other was a report in the Fiji Times on a visit by a bevy of Hibiscus Contestants to the Maximum Security Gaol in Naboro. There they met George Speight and each one started gushing about what a “great man” he was and how good he was at “articulating himself”. One even likened him to Bollywood stars saying that

she’d met a star right here in Fiji. After reading this report, Professor Brij Lal despaired and decided that something was wrong with our school system. Hence he decided to complete the book on a real Great Man from Fiji.

The occasion at Lynfield College was char-acterized by collegiality as old friends met and mingled. All the NFP old war horses were there and it brought back memories of heated debates and parliamentary brinkmanship. There was Harish Sharma, Ahmed Bhamji, Sayed Khaiyum, Harnam Golian, Maan Singh, Shiu Charan, Vinod Patel, etc. – these were people who had gradually faded out of the public eye as Fiji continued on its tortured political path. Many appeared to have aged gracefully and looked slim and healthy.

The new NFP was also there in Raman Singh, Dorsami Naidu, Parmod Rae, Prem Singh, Charan Jeeth Singh, etc. And the man himself, Jai Ram Reddy or Jai as his colleagues called him, was there looking fresh and conviv-ial as he moved through the crowd and smiled as if he was quietly recalling little events and things that I’m sure will have been missed by the book as often happens in the writing of history. Jai Ram was indeed a reluctant participant who, once he embraced politics, became a key seeker of lasting solutions for Fiji.

In the Eye of the Storm: Jai Ram Reddy and the Politics of Post Colonial Fiji will go a long way in helping understand and appreciate the greatness of this son of Fiji who is now a per-manent member of the International Court of Justice.

- The opinions contained in this article are entirely those of the author and not neces-

sarily shared by any organizations he may be associated with both in Fiji and abroad. Email

[email protected]

Book launched on Jai Ram Reddy

JRR with ex-Fiji NZ MP Dr. Rajendra Prasad. Old hands Maan Singh and Raman Singh in the back.


Indian Community

An Auckland architectural student has pre-sented a design of a contemporary Hindu temple as a part of his final examination.

Unitec Master of Architecture student Bobby Banerjee’s unique final design presen-tation in Auckland, the culmination of two years’ research, has generated much interest.

About 25 people including Auckland temple committee members, academicians, students and architectural professionals at-tended the recent presentation which lasted about an hour.

Banerjee presented his proposal followed by a round of question and answer sessions not only from the judges but also from the public at large.

The design explores the traditional temple

planning principles and interprets them in his contemporary design proposal. It is not a du-plication of the traditional architectural forms as is usually done today but a synthesis of the sacred architectural elements used innova-tively in New Zealand conditions.

“This study helped me assimilate the es-sential characteristics of a temple and its im-portance in imparting the feeling of sacred-ness in the mind of the worshipper,” Banerjee told the Indian Weekender.

“It helped me analyse the hierarchy of sacred space in the plan and its inter-depen-dence of the use of the traditional planning grid. Keeping these research parameters in mind helped me use their vocabulary and evolve my own language to express the inher-ent qualities of the temple in contemporary context in New Zealand.”

Banerjee’s final design of the temple is the formal sanctum and the worship area along a strict axis at an elevated level. Two huge sky-lights are inserted in the roof to accentuate this visual movement and enable the worship-per to be visually connected to the Shikhara even after entering the hall until one reaches the sanctum.

The marriage of a New Zealand vernacu-lar and the formal Hindu temple becomes a strong design statement and a landmark in its own way.

Grant Watson, one of the committee members of ADNZ (Architectural Designers New Zealand), enjoyed the presentation and remarked: “It was fantastic. This must be pre-sented to the architectural designers.”

A Hindu temple is designed as per the tra-ditional planning principles with an element of acceptable variation in the overall design. The early temples in India have been docu-mented by various scholars to understand the translation of these principles with respect to

the final design. Banerjee, who is also a director of Tarzan

Design, said: “Over the years there seems to be a deviation from these principles, whereby the focus has been merely to produce an exte-rior skin with the imagery of a temple.

“The lack of correct understanding of the validity of these principles have resulted their being watered down or completely lost. However there has not been any notable re-search of the contemporary temples in India or abroad to substantiate or deny this point of view.

“This research investigated the use of the traditional planning principles for a Hindu temple, the local variants and its application to a new temple design in Auckland.

“The focus was to understand the impor-tance of sacred spaces and compositional ele-ments in the modern context.”

Banerjee said a temple was considered to be in harmony with the mathematical basis of the universe, provided it is constructed ac-cording to a mathematical system which de-termines the proportions of the design.

The worship pattern has changed over the years with changes in the lifestyle of the wor-shippers along with the introduction of elec-tricity and new building materials. Some areas have been added while some traditional areas have been modified of shifted. Some of the outdoor activities have been accommodated indoors.

With a comparatively busier life than before, people visit temples either early morning, late evenings or during weekends. The pre-sunset activities conducted in the Temple earlier are now conducted in the evening to ensure people can participate in it after coming back from work.

It is observed that people today do not spend as much time in the Temple as they used to. They would prefer to go for a quick visit, offer their prayers and move on. Hence the Sanctum that was meant for personal worship earlier has now become part of a big hall where every assembled devotee can worship the Lord simultaneously.

As a result the dark small sanctum is now a part of a big hall with bright lights and a display of artwork or ornamental elements. The traditional hierarchy of space design has been maintained in most temples; however the spaces in themselves have undergone trans-formations.

- Arvind Kumar

Auckland student presents contemporary temple design

Bobby Banerjee with a day-time and night-time images of his design of a Hindu temple.

Papatoetoe High School will be a hive of activ-ity at the end of the month when the Federa-tion of Islamic Associations of New Zealand (FIANZ) holds its annual convention.

The two-day convention in Auckland on November 27-28 appears jam-packed with ac-tivities for all culminating with a prize giving ceremony at 4pm on Nov 28. This year’s con-vention theme is “Building Better Families”.

The convention kicks-off at 9am on Nov 27 with guest speakers addressing attendees, ending with a Forum – Panel Discussion at 7pm, followed by dinner.

In between activities include MSD – Working for Families, SKIP; JP Services; Safety at Home (11.30-12 noon; Ladies Fashion Show; Breast Cancer Screening; Free Health Check, First Aid; Statistics NZ; Cricket; Jumping

Castle; Children’s Rides; Netball U15 and adult competition; Sporting exhibitions; Soccer U12, U19, Adult competitions; Men’s Volleyball; Tug of War; Information stall; Banking Services; Food Stalls; Children’s Games.

Entrance to the venue is from Nicholson Ave and Carlie St. Admission free, all welcome.

For more information, please contact Haji Hasim Khan 021 777705, or Ibrar Sheikh 021 240 8786.

The Federation of Islamic Associations of New Zealand (FIANZ) was set up in April 1979 by Mazhar Krasniqi and othe Muslim commu-nity leaders to draw together the regional Islam organisations of Auckland, Wellington, Wel-lington and Canterbury into one centralized New Zealand-wide body.

- Arvind Kumar

Busy schedule for Muslim convention

Son of the best water colour artist S L Haldankar (regarded as one of three greatest in the world) and a vocalist par excellence, Pandit Babanrao Hal-dankar mesmerised the audience with his silken voice at the Fickling Centre on November 12. Organised by Migrant Heritage Charitable Trust Inc (MigHT-i) to honour this octogenarian visit-ing New Zealand for the first time showed that age need be no issue when it comes to delivering a ster-ling performance of Indian classical music.

Pt. Haldankar is a multifaceted personality and as a performer is known for his fine rendition of the ragas. Even the musicians themselves attend his concerts, shows the respect he commands within the classical music fraternity. He is a disciple of the Jaipur Atrauli Gharana as well as the Agra Gharana. The Jaipur Gharana is full of renowned singers and he was lucky to get the tutelage and guidance of Padmabhushan Smt. Mogubai Kurdi-kar as his Guru and Ustad Khadim Hussain Khan of the Agra Gharana.

He was accompanied on Tabla by his talented son Adwait Haldankar, who was returning to the stage after a gap of nearly a decade. A challenge indeed to accompany an artist known for his finer presentations. On the other side was Sameer Bha-lodkar, the son of legendary Samvadini player, late Jayant Bhalodkar. This was Sameer’s first public performance and he was keen to prove the teach-ings of his father were not lost on him.

Panditji started the evening with Raag Shree and rendered it with ease and perfection. The Vilambit as well as the Drut bandishes were de-livered with panache and finesse. The rustiness in Adwait did show from time to time, but Panditji smartly hid the shortcomings. However, Sameer was in his element on the harmonium matching the needs of the Raag and the interludes were pitch perfect. We are sure that we will hear more about him in future. Pt. Haldankar then moved on to other raags of the evening and the audiences were entertained for more than an hour. A break was needed just to get the breath back and then the re-quests for various raags started pouring in. There was Jogkauns, Malkauns, among others. Panditji was at ease with all the raags and when he had to move between the difficult rhythms and cyclic pat-terns, he had the conviction to do so without dif-ficulty. He related an anecdote wherein the Tabla player was playing a wrong taal, but his guru was unperturbed and he managed to sing the bandish in the wrong Taal as well. Panditji took a oath that he will one day attain the perfection of managing to do the same. It was no wonder that despite the late hours and solo singing (as his normal accompanist were not there) he managed to hold the fort with aplomb and conviction!

It was indeed a rare evening to listen to this musical guru who not only is a versatile and ac-complished singer but it is also a renowned mu-sicologist having more than 3 books already pub-lished by him (with the 4th on its way). He has created his own bandishes (compositions) which are nearly 250 in number under the pen name ‘Rasapiya’. Regarded as a foremost teacher under the Guru Shishya parampara, many renowned ar-tistes come to him for guidance.

MigHT-I has always brought the finest per-formers and this program was no exception. The concert ended with a Bhairavi well past 10.30 pm.

A real treat to the Indian classical music fans. Pt. Haldankar will be here for another month enjoying the lovely New Zealand weather before returning back to India.

Silken voice lights up “Swar Sandhya”


Indian Community

According to the latest workforce

survey figures from the Medical

Council of NZ, the proportion of Pa-

cific doctors dropped over the past

three years from 1.8 to 1.4 per cent

of the workforce. Both Pacific and

Maori doctors are markedly under-

represented compared to their

proportion of the population.

Medical Council chair John Adams

believes that encouraging Pacific

and Maori students into medicine

and the health sciences is critical to

improving healthcare outcomes for

Pacific and Maori people. The good

news is that Canterbury’s Pegasus

Health is doing something positive

about it.

Pegasus Health Chair Dr Martin

Seers says the organisation recog-

nises workforce development as a

key strategy in advancing Pacific

health in the community, and the

scholarship awards scheme is inte-

gral to this.

Four Pacific health students are

celebrating their wins as this year’s

recipients of Pegasus Health Pacific

Health Scholarships, awarded in

Christchurch recently.

A strong interest in primary health

care unites the four winners and,

at the end of their studies, they

are all committed to sharing their

knowledge in the wider Canterbury

community.

Among the four is Kavitesh Deo, of

Fijian-Indian descent, who is study-

ing medicine at Auckland University.

He is grateful for the scholarship,

which he says, is a motivating factor

for his studies.“It’s the first scholarship I’ve re-

ceived, so it’s really overwhelming.

It just goes to show that there are

people out there that really want you

– in particular Pacific people – to

succeed,’’ he says.

Kavitesh is interested in the surgery

side of medicine but is keeping his

options open.

“But I know I really enjoy working

with children. When you see chil-

dren that need help, you can’t help

but feel for them and want to make

them better, and I think working

in my community back in Christ-

church, serving people that I’ve

grown up with – families, the Pacific

community – will be something that

I’ll be really interested in,’’ he says.

Young medico Kavitesh bucks the trend

Sri Sathya Sai Baba to the spiritual aspirant is a great humani-tarian; to the rationalist, a leader with a dynamic vision and an inspiration to thousands of youth; and to everyone who has had the opportunity to meet Him, he is a respected Guru.He was born on November 23, 1926 as Sathya Narayana Raju in Puttaparthi, Andhra Pradesh, India. In childhood, he demonstrat-ed exemplary qualities of compassion, generosity and wisdom that clearly distinguished him from the other children of his village. On October 20 1940, he threw away his books and openly made the historic declaration of his Avatarhood saying, “I belong to my devotees, they are calling me...” Since then he has been in action … selflessly, sending a strong signal to the human hearts to follow suit.On May 25, 1947, his mission and determination was further amplified in a letter he wrote to his brother. He said, “I have a Task: To foster all mankind and ensure for all of them lives full of bliss. I have a Vow: To lead all who astray away from the straight path again into goodness and save them. I am attached to a work that I love: To remove the sufferings of the poor and grant them what they lack. I have a reason to be proud: For I rescue all who worship and adore me, aright. I have my definition of the devotion I expect: Those devoted to me have to treat joy and grief, gain and loss, with equal fortitude.”

Essence of his teachingsHis life has been an open book in which the essence of divinity is “Love All, Serve All” and “Help Ever, Hurt Never” – the two axioms that best summarise his life and his teachings.

He says “My Life Is My Message” and from a young age he has worked tirelessly to instill human values in society and to help people establish themselves firmly on the path to self-confidence and self-realisation. His teachings focus on cultivating good char-acter and serving society.

His speeches and writings have offered an absolute ocean of knowledge and guidance on all aspects of spiritual, religious

and value-oriented living. He has often repeated that it is not necessary to drink the whole ocean to know its taste, that it is not necessary to read all scriptures to live a life of joy, peace, and love. It is enough to put into practice one aspect of spiritual teach-ing. He has presented the profound knowledge enshrined in the scriptures of the world in simple and easily comprehensible terms that can be grasped and practiced by anyone irrespective of age, gender, faith and nationality.

briefly, sri sathya sai baba urges humanity to:• Believe in God; for there is only one God for all humanity, though he may be called by many names. • Follow sincerely its respective religions and live daily life in consonance with the teachings of good behavior and morality. • Respect all other religions; for no religion advocates the negative and lower qualities of man. • Perform selfless service to the poor, the sick, and the needy without thought of reward or fame. • Cultivate in their lives the values of Truth, Right Conduct, Peace, Divine Love, and Nonviolence and promote these values among all. • Be patriotic and respect the laws of the country in which they live.

In the 85 years of his life, innumerable people have been cor-rected and straightened, advised and admonished, sheltered and rehabilitated, clothed, fed and educated, nursed and cured, guarded, guided and transformed.

- Ravinder Grover

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Classifieds


Indian Community

The leadership of the New Zealand and Oceania chapters of The Global Organisation of Persons of Indian Origin (GOPIO) – touted as one of the leading organisations serving people originating from India – is in a state of suspended animation for at least a couple of months now.

GOPIO has been plagued by a spate of res-ignations of almost the entire executive com-mittee including the chairman, president and secretary, leaving the organisation rudderless and creating confusion in the wider Indian community.

Indian Weekender canvassed a number of community members who were known to be associated with GOPIO for their responses but few were forthcoming in their replies to our questions, most of them speaking on condi-tion of anonymity for a variety of reasons.

One senior functionary who resigned and did not want to be named said, “Personality politics within the organisation had become intolerable and ugly. You had to owe your al-legiance either to one person or his rival. It became so frustrating, that it became a waste of time.”

There have been accusations of “cliques”, favouritism, high handedness and closed door machinations between rival groups. Readers might recall a report in Indian Weekender about GOPIO’s decision to charge a fee for the function in Auckland to honour visiting senior Indian minister Kapil Sibal earlier this year.

The community as well as community leaders had expressed grave disappoint-ment at the organisation’s decision to charge, with the biggest Indian organisation, NZICA saying that it was never consulted – and had it been, it would have held a function free of cost.

Former chairman Harish Bajaj, who re-signed as the chairman of the Oceania chapter – that comprised Australia, New Zealand and Fiji – did not wish to comment on record,

despite several requests from Indian Week-ender. He referred questions to the present interim committee headed by Satish Sharma. It is understood that close on the heels of Mr Bajaj’s resignation, the president Ashok Bhatia also left the organisation. Both cited personal reasons for their resignations.

Mr Sharma told Indian Weekender in the course of a phone conversation that the organisation had not been managed well for some time and that procedures were not followed.

One reason for this, he said, was because GOPIO never had a proper constitu-tion. “It’s just a one and a half page piece of paper that says nothing,” Mr Sharma said. He added that the immediate task was to write up a new constitution and hold fresh elections, which he said he was working on and would be held within the next two months or so.

Asked what had gone wrong with the previous management, Mr Sharma said the organisation was not representative and was controlled and run by the whims and fancy of a few people.

Mr Sharma said he had always raised the flag on procedural matters before the previous committee but had faced opposition. “I was branded a trouble maker,” he said.

While adding that he was working toward holding fresh elections, he categorically stated that he had no interest in holding office and was helping out in the interim merely as a

service to the community. It is understood that he has sent an email

to GOPIO members stating that he would not contest the forthcoming elections – a fact that has been confirmed by recipients of the email message.

Co-Chair PR & Marketing of GOPIO Sunny Kaushal said Mr Sharma was han-dling the affairs of GOPIO at present and was planning a schedule for the elec-tions. Mr Kaushal did not confirm whether he would himself contest the election but it is widely under-stood that he would.

He was also a con-testant in the recently aborted elections for the deputy chairper-son of the India New Zealand Business Council on account of the rather surpris-ingly late discovery by the members that

an electronic ballot was not permissible under the existing constitution. The fact came to light after the electoral process got under way.

GOPIO promoted ETTANZ, a business promotion organisation that was launched with much fanfare this year, though still re-ported to be functioning, has had little to show by way of performance and has been termed as a non-starter by various members in the community. The ETTA website is also currently not functioning.

Mr Kaushal who is Vice President of ETTANZ said the organisation was function-ing as usual, but did not say what its most recent activities were.

GOPIO courted further controversy when it hastily made some appointments around the time of the resignations by Mr. Bajaj and Mr. Bhatia. One of these appointments pertain to Daljit Singh who is the National Immigration Advisor to GOPIO. Mr Singh has been booked for alleged electoral fraud in the run up to the Auckland supercity elections and faces court. GOPIO and Mr Singh both strongly deny these allegations and have vowed to fight them in court.

President of GOPIO’s Wellington Chapter Pushpa Wood expressed serious concern at these appointments and termed them as a high handed decision of the current group of people controlling GOPIO who had “vested inter-ests” and were “power hungry”. She further clarified that the national executive was not consulted and the appointments were made by Satish Sharma in contravention of accepted practices.

She also attributed the current spate of resignations to the way the current affairs are being managed. She had some strong words about the proposed redrafting of the constitu-tion. She felt that the Wellington Chapter has a constitution accepted even by the Charities Commission and there is no need to reinvent the wheel as there is already a document that is working. “If any change has to be made – a mature and inclusive discussion needs to take place amongst all stake holders,” she said.

Indian Weekender has already received many comments from GOPIO members and other members of the community. If readers have anything to share with the larger com-munity please email [email protected] and we will come up with an even more in depth report on why people have been re-signing from the local chapters of the organi-sation that has been termed as a premier or-ganisation of overseas Indians.

- Indian Weekender correspondents

GOPIO all at sea in Oceania, rudderless in NZ

“If any change has to be made – a mature and inclusive discussion needs to take place amongst all stake holders,”

- Pushpa Wood

Veteran community leader, Justice of the Peace and the pillar of many Indian community organisations Harish Bajaj is unhappy with the current functioning of GOPIO in New Zealand. He was the man responsible for bringing this apex organisation into the country and developing it nationwide.

Mr Bajaj who received formal professional education in London has made a significant contribution to the inter-national travel industry. His work has been duly recognised by both the Indian and New Zealand governments.

He was appointed as the Companion of the Queen Service Order (QSO ) by Her Majesty the Queen in 2006. The list of his achievements and decorations may take a full page of this publication, so we have decided to keep it brief. He is closely associated with Shanti Niwas an apex charitable organisation serving the senior citizens.

Since Mr. Bajaj recently resigned from GOPIO, he has responded to the allega-tions put forth by the current group of people managing GOPIO saying “I have read with great interest the GOPIO article [on the Indian Weekender website also reproduced on these pages] and I refute all the allegations contained therein against the earlier management as being totally false, baseless and ir-responsible. I do not wish to comment any further.”

What is GoPIo ?

Global Organisation of People of India Origin (GOPIO) was formed 22 years ago for the benefit and well being all NRIs and PIOs world wide. GOPIO is non-political, non-profit , a non-partisan, secular global orga-nization engaged in promoting the well being of People of Indian Origin, enhancing cooperation and com-munication between Indians living in different countries.

GOPIO New Zealand Incorporated and the ten chapters were launched on 4th October 2008 by former Prime Minister Helen Clark, in the presence of GOPIO International President Mr Inder Singh who appointed Mr. Harish Bajaj as the President of GOPIO NZ. In August 2009 Mr. Bajaj was appointed as Regional Vice President, GOPIO International Oceania to cover New Zealand, Australia and Fiji with a total number of 20 chapters. At the same time a man with impec-cable credentials, Ashok Bhatia was appointed as the NZ President of GOPIO. Mr. Bhatia is a respected and well mannered businessman of Auckland

Recently both Mr. Bajaj and Mr. Bhatia have resigned from their respective posts, citing personal reasons and do not wish to get in-volved in the “power hungry” politics engulfing GOPIO currently.

Veteran Community leader – hArIsh bAJAJ responds...

High Commissioner of India (L) felicitating Harish Bajaj.


Indian bollywood

You have had hits with romantic, peppy films like Love Aaj kal and bachna Ae haseeno; now you are back with break ke baad. Is this your niche in bolly-wood?I don’t want to be typecast as a heroine who does a certain kind of cinema, which is why I experiment with the type of films that I do. But yes, I won’t deny that romantic love stories or romantic comedies are what I enjoy doing the most, because as an audience those are the kind of films that I like watching.

Are there similarities between you and your character Aaliya khan in the film?In a lot of ways yes, and in a lot of ways no, Aaliya is very ambitious and wants to achieve a lot for herself, which I identify with. But she is also someone who sacrifices her relationship, and doesn’t believe in love or marriage, and those are things I don’t connect with.

After appearing with senior actors like shah rukh khan, saif Ali khan and Farhan Akhtar, how is it working with a younger star like Imran khan?I think when I am working with some of the older actors I am in awe and I am often just trying to learn as much as I can from them. Whereas, I think with people like Imran and Ranbir, we are all in the same age group and we are all just learning. I think I am a lot more free to just discuss things, talk and to try out

new ideas.

You have studied acting from Anupam kher’s ‘Actor Pre-pares’. how did that help you when you first entered the in-dustry?I have absolutely no film background. I don’t come from a film family and I had never been on a film set until my first film. In a lot of ways, it gave me a little information about what to expect. But at the same time, I think the best education I’ve had is to actually be on a film set and learn from there.

so, having worked as an actor for three years, do you feel like you are an estab-lished star, or do you still feel like a new-comer?I still feel like a newcomer, and I hope I feel like a newcomer forever. Because I always feel that the minute you feel like you have achieved everything, then you don’t enjoy your work

as much. So I hope I feel like a newcomer forever.

From ‘Love Mera hit hit’ to ‘dhoom tana’, you are as-sociated with a number of popular film songs. Are there any plans to do a stage show or world tour in the future?I would like to. I think it is something I would like to do with Shah Rukh because I debuted with him. I mean, we all know how successful all his shows are, and some of my biggest songs are with him and Om Shanti Om. I would love to do a world tour.

I love dancing and I like performing, but I want to make sure that I have a bank of songs before I do that. Also, because I am really passionate about dance I want to make sure that I have enough time to do my rehearsals and perfect it before we start performing.

how is Vishal-shekar’s music for break ke baad?It’s nice. It’s in a very nice indie-rock space. There are a couple of songs I like. There’s a song called ‘Dooriyan’ which actually talks about how space in a relationship is important. There is another track ‘Dhoop Ke Makaan’ which is a slightly sad love song, which I really like, but at the same time it is not one of those typically slow love songs. It is the kind of music that I think everyone likes listening to these days.

You have two films releasing almost back to back...Yes, a week after Break Ke Baad I have Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey coming out on December 3rd, where I play a very different de-glam role.

We also hear that you are back in the uk next year for a shoot?Yes. I have just started working on a new film called Desi Boyz. It’s with John and Akshay. I have started the Bombay schedule already, and we will be shooting in London for a month in February I think.

there are also rumours that you have signed race 2?It is not a rumour anymore, I am doing it. I can’t talk about the film right now, but yes I can confirm that I am a part of it and we start in the middle of next year.

I still feel like a newcomerDeepika Padukone jetted into London on Monday on an 8-hour flying visit to promote new release Break Ke Baad. The Kunal Kohli-produced film sees Deepika share screen space with Imran Khan in a coming-of-age drama about what happens once a relationship ends. The model-turned-actor spoke to Correspondent Steven Baker about working with Imran, why she still feels like a newcomer, and her plans to do a stage show with SRK.


Indian bollywood

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Kolkata: Bollywood sensation Aishwarya Rai Bachchan said she feels that the chemis-try between actors lies actually on the paper.

“The chemistry is on papers, actors infuse into it,” Ash said when asked about the chemistry she shares with Hrithik Roshan onscreen.

Aishwarya was in Kolkata on Sunday to promote her upcoming film ‘Guzaarish’ at Fame Cinemas.

The actor said she feels that if the chem-istry is not present in the script, then the actors will not be able to give proper ‘life’ into it.

“Chemistry is between characters, that is what audience experience,” she said.

Speaking about ‘Guzaarish;, Ash said: “ It is a brave, sensitive, meaningful film and to add to it, Sanjay (Leela Bhansali) is making it.”

In this film, Aishwarya will share with Hrithik Roshan for the third time after ‘Dhoom 2’ and ‘Jodhaa Akbar’.

“Guzaarish is the third film both with Hrithik and Sanjay,” she mentioned.

Ash also mentioned that she is ‘blessed’ to portray so many different kinds of women characters in her life.

“I am blessed to work so many different women character in my life,” she said at a press conference here.

Aishwarya will be seen playing a nurse in ‘Guzaarish’.

Ash said that she will love to work in Bengali movies in future once again after Rituparno Ghose’s ‘Chokher Bali’.

Besides Ash, actor Aditya Roy Kapur, who plays ‘Omar’ in the film, was present at the press meet.

Chemistryis on papers: Ash

Actors Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Aditya Roy Kapoor visited Kolkata to promote their film ‘Guzaarish’ at Fame Cinemas on Nov 14, 2010.

London: Rookie actor Kapil Sharma, who plays a gay character in the film Dunno Y.. Na Jaane Kyon, says he is still scared of violence during the release of his film in India.

Following screenings at international film festivals in the US, UK and Australia,Dunno Y... Na Jaane Kyon had been due to release in India last month.

A combination of censor board delays and protests against the Sanjay Sharma-directed production however, pushed back the film until November 12.

Kapil Sharma, who (opposite Yuvraaj Para-shar) plays the lead role in the first Indian movie to show a gay screen kiss, shares his thoughts on how he is feeling 48 hours before the first day, first show of his debut.

“The feeling before the release is mixed. I am excited, nervous, anxious and happy. The film has faced many controversies, from the censors taking three months, to getting distribu-tors for an unconventional subject,” Kapil told IBNS in London.

The star spoke of the pre-release controversy surrounding the film and threats made against him: “Recently I received threatening mails, in which it was written that this film would corrupt society and that homosexuality is part of western culture.

They said that we would be damaging society if it releases, and the consequences would be bad for us.

“Political party workers also came down to my building to protest, until the police took good care of the situation. I am scared that they may create further scene on release of the film, but let us hope for the best.”

Despite the difficulties the film has faced in

India, Kapil is proud of the recognition DYNJK has received even before its box office release.

“The film has won three awards so far. The viewers’ choice award at Sydney Trikone Film Festival, Best Sensitive film at Kashish Inter-national queer film festival of Mumbai, and Yuvraaj and I got an award for our work from the Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal,” the debut actor revealed.

The film, described as Bollywood’s Broke-back Mountain also features veteran actors Zeenat Aman, Helen and Kabir Bedi, alongside rising stars Hazel and Maradona Rebello.

Dunno Y... Na Jaane Kyon releases in India this Friday.

- Steven Baker

I am scared even now: Kapil Sharma


Indian bollywood

‘Sanjay calls me Parvati’After Robot with Rajnikanth, and Action Replayy with Akshay Kumar, Aishwarya

Rai Bachchan will be seen in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Guzaarish with Hrithik Roshan. Correspondent Sreya Basu in conversation

What are your expectations from Gu-zaarish?

It’s a very, very special film because a

very special team worked for an ex-tremely passionate piece of art. It

had been a tremendous effort, but everyone worked tirelessly…that’s the only kind of work you are known to do with Sanjay (Leela Bhansali).

You smoked in Guzaarish. Was it easy or difficult for

you?

(Giggles) Have you seen it in the trailer where I get choked while smoking? That speaks volumes on my smoking.

In your life or career, which is that one thing that you have made maximum guzaarish (request) for?

I love my work (acting) too much. So, I can

do anything for one more take…that’s what I request for most of the times…’One more time please’.

Guzaarish is your third film with sanjay (after hum dil de Chuke sanam and devdas)…

Yes. I am lucky to work with him for the

third time. Each experience with him has been exceedingly special, but Guzaarish is extra special…it’s a beautiful piece of cinema and we are extremely proud of it. What’s wonderful is that Sanjay and me have a connection where we are very talkative with each other; at the same time, we are brilliant at sharing silences. Through silences, we communicate so much that nobody on the sets understands it. The con-nection between Sanjay and me, is very, very special… creatively…for both of us; and very fulfilling.

out of the three films you did with san-jay, which one is your favourite?

Sanjay has always given strong characters to me. Take Nandini (from Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam). Sanjay introduces her as the five ele-ments put together. What an introduction and insight into the character! And then, the journey of life she undertakes. For a new actor, I got to explore such an arch in a character. As for Paro (in Devdas)…by the way, Sanjay always calls me Parvati; he always says ‘She is Parvati for me’. Paro has a different level of intensity. I got to emotionally rediscover the character. Gu-zaarish’s Sophia is different from Nandini and Paro in the sense that in this film, Sanjay has used my silences immensely.

sanjay’s films are known to be poetical, something not for general public. What do you have to say on that?

Sanjay makes intense films…be it the

moments or the music or lyrics…he makes po-etical cinema. Like, in Guzaarish, he described life as a cup of coffee. But he makes all his films receptive.

It’s your third film with hrithik roshan as well (after dhoom and Jodha Akbar).

Nothing can be better if two actors get a

chance to act in films back-to-back, yet give something different to the audience each time, so that they don’t feel ‘arre abhi abhi toh saw them together’. Same happened to me and Hrithik.

After spending so many years in bol-lywood, how will you rate yourself as an actor?

I am still a student. I am always my direc-

tor’s student. They are my gurus (teachers). I feel blessed to have worked with all big direc-tors and actors in the industry.

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Indian bollywood

Nevada, US: Indo-Americans have applauded the reportedly historic cooperation pact signed between City of Los Angeles and Indian film producers at Paramount Studios in Hollywood (USA) on Wednesday.

It will reportedly result in the formation of Los Angeles-Indian Film Council to encourage joint film production and commercial coopera-tion.

Rajan Zed, is Chairperson of Indo-Amer-ican Leadership Confederation, said that forming closer ties and sharing resources on various creative and technical aspects of film-making would be mutually beneficial for both Hollywood and Bollywood.

Since they controlled the psyche of a large populace of the world, Hollywood-Bollywood collaborating together might result in world coming closer, Rajan Zed added.

According to a Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) release issued on Novem-ber 10: “As part of the declaration, the city of Los Angeles and the Indian film industry, rep-resented by the Film and Television Produc-ers Guild of India and the Film Federation of India, agree to develop and strengthen motion picture production, distribution, technology, content protection and commercial cooperation between the two filmmaking communities. The two parties also support the creation of the Los Angeles-India Film Council to increase Indian film production in Los Angeles”.

Attendees at the event included Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, California Film Commissioner Amy Lemisch, Paramount Pic-tures Chairman and CEO Brad Grey, MPAA Special Policy Advisor Fritz Attaway, Film Fed-eration of India President L. Suresh, Hindi films producer Bobby Bedi, representatives from Reliance BIG Entertainment and UTV Motion Pictures, etc.

“Our vibrant film communities share many of the same goals and concerns. The numerous

co-productions with Indian studios over the past several years are evidence of a growing bond between our two industries. Today’s action is an important step toward furthering that growth,” said Bob Pisano, MPAA President.

Release further says: This is the second major step towards economic development and cooperation between Hollywood and the Indian film industry this year. In March, the two in-dustries came together in Mumbai to launch the Alliance Against Copyright Theft, a Bolly-wood-Hollywood content protection coalition in India. Indian investment in Hollywood has been steadily increasing, most notably with Indian entertainment conglomerate Reliance’s produc-tion and distribution deal with Dreamworks SKG.

It adds: Past big budget Indian productions filmed in Los Angeles include: Kites (2010), My Name is Khan (2010), Kambakkht Ishq (2009), Kaante (2002), and Pardes (1997). Other joint ventures and co-productions between individ-ual Hollywood studios and Indian production houses over the past several years include My Name is Khan (2010), Atithi Tum Kab Jaoge (2010), Lahore (2010), Jaane Kahan Se Aayi Hain (2010), Khichdi (2010), We Are Family (2010), Do Dooni Chaar (2010), Chandni Chowk to China (2009), Quick Gun Murugan (2009), Raaz the Mystery Continues (2009), Roadside Romeo (2008), Saas Bahu Aur Sensex (2008), Saawariya (2007). Several, such as Zokkomon and Dum Maro Dum, are also slated for 2011.

MPAA serves as the voice and advocate of the American motion picture, home video and television industries from its offices in Los Angeles and Washington DC. Its members include: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, Paramount Pictures Corporation, Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc., Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, Universal City Studios LLLP, and Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.̀

Hollywood, Bollywood sign cooperation pact

Mumbai: India has become a popular des-tination of Hollywood and foreign film makers prompting the Information and Broadcasting Ministry to clear projects quickly.

The I & B has cleared 11 projects this year and has nine more in various stages of approval, while in 2009 it approved 24 foreign films to be shot in various Indian locations.

“We have given per-mission for more than 100 movies in the last three to four years,” Joint Sec-retary (Films) D P Reddy was quoted as saying by GEO tv.

“It’s primarily because we have a lot of good locales where shooting can take place and we have the technical competence. The services are pretty competitive. It makes a lot of sense to come,” he said.

In the 1920s, German director Franz Osten made a series of black-and-white silent films inspired by India’s many reli-gions and rich history.

Richard Attenborough’s Academy Award wining “Gandhi” (1982) was largely shot in India and brought the country to a worldwide audience.

More recently, major films such as the James Bond thriller “Octopussy” (1983), “The Bourne Supremacy” (2004) and “A Mighty Heart” (2007) have all used Indian locations.

This year’s “Eat Pray Love”, starring Julia Roberts, was the first high-profile film since “Slumdog Millionaire” to come to India on location.

Reddy said the movie makers have been

coming from all over the world, the recent permission being given to studios behind the “Mission: Impossible” franchise and the big screen adaptation of the novel “Life of Pi”.

Other films in the pipeline include “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” starring British actress Judy Dench and directed

by John Madden, whose previous credits include “Shakespeare in Love” and “Captain Corelli’s Mandolin”.

Last year, some three billion cinema tickets were sold in India, compared with 1.5 billion in the United States, accord-ing to a Crisil media and entertainment report last September.

In 2009, nearly 60 Hollywood films were released, earning a combined revenue of 85.5 million dollars.

Dubbing into local languages is becom-ing more accepted, although the revenue potential for Hollywood films is lower than in developed countries because of cheap ticket prices, they added.

“The last 12 months have seen a dra-matic growth of Hollywood in India” with US films’ share of theatrical revenues now at about 10 per cent, said Vijay Singh, chief executive of Fox Star Studios.

New audiences are also being exposed to Hollywood films through the burgeoning satellite television sector, which shows both the original English and dubbed versions, he added.

India in focus

“We have given permission for more than 100 movies in the last three to four years...”

Mumbai: Today while everyone is talk-

ing about Obama, a Hindi film “Phas

Gaye Re Obama” is all set to release

soon. Kailash Kher has sung the song

“Saara pyar hai bekar paise agar na

palle, buddy de de paise teri balle

balle” in the film.

Now you will say, what’s so different

about it? Kailash always sings well.

But this song is very special, as said

by Kailash.

According to him, “I sang this song

with Munni Madam, oh not that Bad-

naam Munni means Mallika Arora. But

I am talking about Neha Dhupia.

How well she has sung! Neha Dhu-

pia has showed that she can sing in

harmony and in future she can also

launch her own album. In this film, she

is playing the role of Lady Gabbar.”

“Neha had kept the whole day for this

song but as a Rap singer, she record-

ed it in only 15 minutes.”

Kailash is also much excited about the

song. “The movie is very funny. The story is

of Meerut and I also belong to Meerut.

So it becomes my responsibility

towards my city that I should promote

this movie,” Kailash said.

Obama’s Munni amazes Kailash

Haryana/Mumbai: The controversy sur-rounding alleged suicide of a young boy after being humiliated on a television show by Rakhi Sawant continues to haunt the Bollywood item girl.

After the boy’s family decided to seek police help, Punjab tourism and cultural affairs minister Hira Singh Gabria has written to Information and Broadcasting minister Ambika Soni demanding a ban on the show ‘Rakhi ka Insaaf’. He has demanded either ‘ban’ on broadcasting of the show or ‘deletion’ of objectionable content.

The minister said he was urged by people wherever he went to take action against the show, in which Rakhi seeks to settle disputes in her own way.

The Bhartiya Kisan Union on Sunday also demanded that the item girl be arrested for allegedly abetting the suicide of the youth.

24-year-old Lakshman Prasad of Jhansi in Uttar Pradesh had appeared in Rakhi’s show, “Rakhi ka Insaaf’ on NDTV Imag-ine, in October to settle a marital discord with his wife Vineeta during which Rakhi shouted at Lakshman and termed him ‘namard’ (impotent).

After the show was aired, his neighbours started teasing him, which sent him into a state of shock and depression, his family alleged. He stopped eating and went into depres-sion and finally died at a local hospital last week.

demand for ban on Rakhi’s show, arrest grows


Indian

R18 to enter the promotion. R20 to enter the Casino. Full terms and conditions are available on-site. The actual colour of the car won may vary from the one advertised.

skycityauckland.co.nz

To celebrate the festive season, we’re giving away The Perfect Christmas Gift, a brand-new Mercedes-Benz C200 CGI Sport Edition.

For your chance to enter, simply visit SKYCITY Auckland and spend $20 or more on food or beverages at any participating outlet. Or if you’re an Action Rewards member, just earn 20 loyalty points in one day.

Someone’s going to have a very Happy Christmas – and it could be you!

bollywood

What has been your reaction to being awarded an honorary doctorate for your work in the humanitarian field and in world cinema?I am humbled and honoured. It is wonderful to receive this honour. In my career I have always won awards for films, but this the first time I am getting something for my cultural contribu-tion or my humanitarian work, so I think this is always going to be extremely special to me. At first I wondered why I was getting it, and had this ‘ting’ smile on my face when I heard the news. So I think this one is going to be the closest to my heart.

You have turned down doctorates in the past...When I was told that I was going to get this doctorate I wanted to know why, and for what reason. I was told it was for other things besides film and I thought that this was honour, and I did not feel that I deserved it just for films. It is not that I left my education half way. I studied, and I know the effort it takes to get something like this. You have to study for a couple of years, you have to make that effort and then you can achieve it. So at that point in my life I felt that just because I am doing a film or giving a per-formance I did not really feel that I deserved it.

What advice or message would you want to give to students?I think the message, or rather, the two messages I would like to give to all the students is: Make use of your time here because this is probably the best time of your life, these are the building years of your life, and what you do here is going to determine how well you do or where you end up in life. And two, because it is so multi-cultural and diverse here, I would like to tell everyone that people blend better than govern-ments, so we are all global citizens, we are all citizens of this planet. I don’t think we should think about our respective religions or cultures, we should bring the best of all the world togeth-er and live happily.

how have you used your own education (a Masters in Criminal Psychology) in the field of cinema?I think I learnt the art of breaking down char-acters and doing a background to the character: their early childhood, their present scenario and what their aspirations were – and I could break that down and use it my scenes. Everybody used to ask me what I was doing because on my script i would actually have two pages of a char-acter sketch, and based on that I would some-times work on my body language. Or if I knew I was lying in a scene, the way that you move your hands and touch your nose and get a little fidgety. Little things like that. But more than anything else I think it helped me in keeping my character realistic. Having said that, I don’t want to take all the credit, I have worked with some amazing directors and co-stars who always help me in doing what I am doing.

Was it difficult to continue your educa-tion once you entered bollywood?When I had to take my final papers for Criminal Psychology I was shooting for a movie called Soldier and I left the set standing for ten days in Rajasthan. I remember telling my producer I will only do the movie if you let me go back to take my exams for Criminal Psychology. Later when I was filming in Rajasthan I said that I have my exams, and they said: ‘You have become an actress’. But I said that I had to do my exams. I know the hard work that goes into studying and I really appreciate the fact that UEL have honoured me.

Apart from cameos in Main Aurr Mrs khanna and rab Ne bana di Jodi we haven’t seen you on the big screen for a while. When are you back with a new project?2011. I will be back with a lot of movies. I was planning to start a film a month or two ago, but certain things went upside down in my life so things have been put back. But it is only movie, movies and movies for me. I feel really humbled because I decided to go on Twitter, and all of my fans on Twitter say one thing consistently every single day, and that is: ‘When are you coming back in movies?’ I didn’t even think people missed me that much. So I am really excited and I am coming back with some really fun things.

Are you coming back with a commercial Yash Chopra type film or something art-house like the Last Lear? No. Just commercial.

And now...Dr Preity Zinta

London correspondent Steven Baker catches up with Preity Zinta to talk about the conferment of honorary doctorate to her and films

Although Preity Zinta has been largely absent from the big screen for the past eighteen months, the star is never far from the glare of the media. From her social activism and a repu-tation for openly speaking her mind, to her association with cricket, the Indian film actress makes headlines wherever she goes. The 35-year-old has been in the UK to receive an Honorary Doctorate from the Uni-versity of East London, in recogni-tion of her humanitarian work and contribution to world cinema.


Indian bollywood

Kolkata: Aamir Bashir, actor, filmmaker does not find his home - Kashmir, beautiful any more. “The Kashmir of my childhood is only a dream now. The careless days in the flowering springs, skiing in winter — they are just a memory now.”

It is the simmering tension that lies just below the surface, the uncertainty and the in-security that pervade an average person’s life in the valley that have taken over the idyllic beauty, he feels. And that’s what he is trying to portray in his debut directorial venture Harud, meaning autumn.

It was the inaugural film at the Cine Central Film Festival, a part of the ongoing 16th Kolkata Film Festival (10-17 November).

At a Press Conference following the screening in Kolkata, Bashir said that it was the desperation for having a mobile phone of the Kashmiri common people that set him thinking about the film.

Due to security reasons the mobile phone was allowed to be in the valley only in 2003 when, “we in Mumbai or people elsewhere in the country were already wondering if one should go for the latest model discarding the old one. But for the people of Kashmir it was almost like a revolutionary step. I was there in Kashmir in 2003 and I saw the despera-tion of the people. That set me thinking of this story.”

But as Bashir said, the mobile phone is not the story; “what I portray is why the mobile is so very important to the people. Because they are in need to keep in touch; they want to be certain if a relative who hasn’t returned home is somewhere safe.”

Harud tells the story of the disappearance of Tauquir , a tourist photographer, and the

struggle of his younger brother Rafiq and his family to come to terms with this loss, some-thing many families in the valley claim to have happened to them too in the last few years.

The path to militancy seems logical and crossing over to the other side of the border is tempting but Rafiq returns home, though to an aimless existence. Then one day he finds his brother’s lost camera giving a new twist to the story.

“It took me four years to write the story but the screenplay is only 55 pages long which I have co-scripted with Shankar Raman and Mahmood Farooqi,” Bashir revealed. He and Raman are also co-producers.

Asked if he is making a political statement through this film Bashir said “I didn’t want to give lectures. For me it’s the story of the people, their lives today which is more impor-

tant and I’m trying to tell it cinematically.”Shooting in Kashmir was not easy.

Though local people -‘non-actors’, were used (Naseeruddin Shah did a workshop with them) the team was looked at suspiciously as outsiders, “Both by the people and by the authorities.”

He was the only Kashmiri in the unit and his biggest concern was that the others’ lives were not put in jeopardy because of his film. However, they were able to pack up within month of shooting and “just after that, the rel-ative calm was disrupted again and Kashmir was in the boil again.”

Though the film has been shown to ap-preciative audiences at various film festivals abroad, it is yet to find a distributor in the country.

“Being an independent filmmaker in India, as elsewhere perhaps, is not easy. But we are hopeful. I want to show Harud in Kashmir too, to show to the people who worked in the film. But there’s no cinema hall there, so maybe we have to devise some way,” Bashir said.

Bashir is a well-known actor with credits in films like A Wednesday, Frozen, Split Wide Open to name a few. But, he said, “I have turned down a large number of roles too because they didn’t interest me.”

He admitted that regional films which he saw on Doordarshan when they were regu-larly telecast on Sunday afternoons, Bengali films, etc. have influenced him and he could not accept mundane roles in mundane scripts.

“Perhaps because I was so bored with them I thought of making a film of my own,” he said.

- Ranjita Biswas

Ringtones in the valleyMumbai: Actor Saif Ali Khan on Saturday became member of The Taj Enlighten Film Society.

Saif was handed over honorary membership to the film society by the film society’s president Pranav Ashar at an event here.

The film society, a partnership between premium tea blend Brooke Bond Taj Mahal and Enlighten Film Society, was authenticated as India’s Largest Film Society by the Federation of Film Societies of India (FFSI).

At present the Society has over 10,000 members across the country. The Taj Enlighten Film Society, present in Mumbai, Bangalore and now Delhi, claims to be dedicated to the cause of spreading good cinema.

The Society, started in 2007, showcases both national and international films to discern-ing film enthusiasts, all at a nominal annual membership fee of Rs. 1800.

Ashar said, “The Taj Enlighten Film Society is for all film aficionados, and a society with a difference. Since its inception in 2007, it has grown to become India’s largest film society, with over 10,000 members. Today is truly a landmark for the film society, but only a step-ping stone to making India’s largest film society, the World’s Largest Film Society.”

Besides reaching out to film enthusiasts, each year, the Taj Enlighten Film Society confers the “Taj Enlighten Tareef Award” to personalities for their outstanding contribution to the field of cinema.

Some of the past recipients of this award are Amitabh Bachchan, Shabana Azmi, Javed Akhtar, Mrinal Sen and Waheeda Rehman.

Screenings are conducted every Sunday in Mumbai at Metro and Big Cinemas, in Banga-lore at Suchitra Film Club and in Delhi at the India Habitat Centre & Epicentre Auditorium.

Saif joins Enlighten Film Society


Indian


Indian bollywood

You play a magic student in Guzaar-ish?I don’t know how much I am allowed to say about my character. All I can say is, I play Omar Siddiqui, a young boy. I come to Hrithik (Roshan) and Aishwarya’s (Rai Bachchan) life as a helper and bit of a student. I support them as well as learn magic. In your first film Action replayy, Aish-warya played your mother; now you are playing her helper in Guzaarish…I couldn’t ask for any better. I keep joking that after sharing screen with Aishwarya Rai twice, I have to retire now. Because, there can’t be anything better. It will be tough to top that. When I was a boy, I used to dream of meeting her someday. She is the most beautiful woman in the world. Was it difficult to adapt to the two characters…poles apart…almost back-to-back with Aishwarya?There’s a lot of difference in the two films…treatment-wise, director-wise, approach-wise. It was not tough for me to adapt to the characters even though Aishwarya was a common factor.

how does it feel sharing screen with names like Akshay kumar, Aishwarya rai and hrithik roshan at the very beginning of your career?I had no experience in acting at all. Be it Action Replayy or Guzaarish, I learnt a lot working with actors who are at the top of their game. They too were newcom-ers at some point of their career, so they understood very well the amount of pres-sure I was facing. So, they were really nice to me. I always knew that whenever I needed help, I could go to them. I just used to observe them. Mere liye toh it was like going to school. having worked with directors like Vipul shah and sanjay Leela bhansali, who were you most comfortable work-ing with?See, the subjects of the two films were so different that it’s difficult to compare them. But what is similar between both of them is the passion for their work. So, in that sense, there was not much differ-ence between them. have you given up your career as a VJ (video jockey)?Yes. I gave up VJ-ing a year-and-a-half ago because acting happened to me.

And I have started to love this profession as much, if not more, than VJ-ing. Now I am completely in love with it and can’t think of going back to be a VJ again. I can only imagine having a life in films. So, I hope there will be many more mov-ies for me. (Smiles) Was it a planned shifting of profes-sion? Well, when I was a VJ, I used to have a lot of fun. People used to tell me: ‘Now that you are the VJ, you will surely become an actor’. And I used to say: ‘I don’t know…let’s see what happens’. I used to get calls (from filmmakers). But I was a bit lazy to go that far for so many auditions. One day, I went for an audition and I got an offer I couldn’t refuse. Vipul Sir (Shah) told me we are going to land you as a guitarist…I can play the guitar anyway….and I said: ‘Ya, let’s go’. What kind of films are you looking for? So far, I didn’t have any hand in my act-ing career. It has shaped up on its own. I have done these two projects. Now I have to put some thoughts into it and take the right decisions. At the moment, I will choose films that will make me happy, excited.

‘I used to dream of meeting Aishwarya’The fuzzy hair boy in Action Replayy will be seen playing a student of magic in Guzaarish. Sreya Basu chats up Aditya Roy Kapoor

FREEENTRY

(TANI) warmly invites you and your organisation to

The General Networks’ Meeting

When: 3.00pm - 5.00pm Wednesday 24th November 2010 Where: Fickling Convention Centre 546 Mt. Albert Road,

Three Kings, Auckland

• Coping skills for parents with holiday stress and converting these challenges into opportunities for quality family time and building healthy relationships with children

• Understanding skin cancer and its preventative tips (sun care)• How to create a safe environment at home during long school holidays

• Drowning prevention and water safety for Asian families

Please RSVP to Samuel Cho at [email protected]


Indian

heritage

rAM LINGAM

D & R Digital

Source Link Agency

PLATINUM SPONSORS

This small piece of writing is simply inadequate to do any justice to the standing of Shri SatGuru Nānak Devji or his teachings. To get to know the life story of this great Guru and his teachings is a journey that helps recognise the trivialities of life and acquire the knowledge of our true divine nature which we seem to miss constantly.

Though not born into a Sikh family, I was fortunate to discover Guru Nānak Devji’s sublime teachings through a music album called ‘Āshram Bhajanavali’, which is a collection of devotional songs that formed part of the morning and evening prayers at Gandhiji’s ashrams. Of the many bhajans, there was Guru Nānak Devji’s song “Kaahe re ban khojan jaai…Sarab nivaasi sadaa alepaa tohi sang samaai” which caught my attention. Just reading the translation of this song, I got seriously educated on Guru Nānak Devji’s teachings and also about Sikh faith, which to me became much more than the dress code of the faithful. Even so the ‘langar’ that I enjoyed in the company of my Sikh friends at the Gurudwara certainly became sanctified.

The translation of this transforming song “Kaahe re ban khojan jaai’ goes “Why do you go looking for God in the forest? Although he is ever detached, he dwells everywhere. He even abides with you. Like the fragrance which remains in the flower, and like the reflection in the mirror, the Lord dwells deep within all. Therefore search for Him within your own heart, O brother. The Guru has imparted this wisdom: outside the body and inside the body,

know that there is only the One Lord pervading everywhere. O servant Nanak, without realizing one’s own True Self, the moss of doubt i.e. igno-rance of one’s True Nature or Essential Being, etc.cannot be eradicated from the mind.”

Guru Nānak Devji taught the absolute unity of God; everything is God, and everything is dependent on the will of God. The Guru’s life story is full of saintly actions and divine events that teach us to lead a pure life, to be a ‘Sikh’, a sincere disciple and to receive the grace of the Guru for self-unfoldment. The word ‘Sikh’ means ‘disciple’ or student. The term “Sikh” has its origin in Sanskrit term ‘Sisya’ meaning “disciple, student” or ‘śiksa’ meaning “instruction” according to the ‘The Illustrated History of the Sikhs’ by Khushwant Singh. The word ‘Sikh’ means ‘disciple’ and they are the disciples of God who follow the writings and teachings of the 10 Sikh Gurus.

The origins of Sikhism lie in the spiritual and social teachings of Guru Nānak Devji, which can be found in the Sikh scripture Guru Granth

Sahib, a vast collection of revelatory verses re-corded in Gurmukhi. Guru Nānak Devji taught that the way to connect with the Supreme is

not through the mind or through rituals, but through Guru’s grace and direct personal ex-perience. Therefore, he emphasised meditation on the Name (Naam) and Presence of God.

Guru Nānak Devji has given a beautiful summary of his teachings in one of his hymns where he says: “Love the saints of every faith: Put away thy pride. Remember the essence of religion

is meekness and sym-pathy, not fine clothes, not the Yogi’s garb and ashes, not the blowing of the horns, not the shaven

head, not long prayers, not recitations and tor-turings, not the ascetic way, but a life of good-ness and purity, amid the world’s temptations.”

Here are given some famous sayings of Guru Nānak Devji

• “There is but One God, His name is Truth, He is the Creator, He fears none, He is without hate, He never dies, He is beyond the cycle of

births and death, He is self illuminated, He is realised by the kindness of the True Guru…” (Japji)

• Even Kings and emperors with heaps of wealth and vast dominion cannot compare with an ant filled with the love of God. • God is one, but he has innumerable forms. He is the creator of all and He himself takes the human form. • I am neither a child, a young man, nor an ancient; nor am I of any caste. • I am not the born; how can there be either birth or death for me? • I bow at His Feet constantly, and pray to Him, the Guru, the True Guru, has shown me the Way. • Let no man in the world live in delusion. Without a Guru none can cross over to the other shore.

These sayings just give us a glimpse of his hu-mility, his holiness, his message of universal-ity and equality. The core teachings attributed to Guru Nanak are that there is only one God, and that all human beings can have direct access to divinity without empty rituals or priests. His most radical social teachings denounced the de-generated caste system and taught that everyone is equal, regardless of caste or gender.

Happy GURPURAB…!!

21st of November is Guru Nanak Gurpurab ~ the birth anniversary of the first Sikh Guru, Shri Guru Nanak Devji (1469 – 1539 CE), and it is one of the most sacred festivals in Sikh religion.

What Guru Nānak Dev taught

“As fragrance abides in the flower,As reflection is within the mirror,So does your Lord abide within you,Why search for the Lord outside?”

- Guru Nanak Dev


Indian

our people have one of the highest rates of DiaBetesin new ZealanD

Ministry of Health

for south asian faMilies in nZhealth faCts!

The good news is by making simple changes to the way we eat and getting more physically active we can reduce our risk of Diabetes and Heart Disease.

If concerned, ask your doctor or nurse to assess your risk of Diabetes and Heart Disease.

too Many of our faMily MeMBers are at risk.

But it Doesn’t have to Be this way!

The term ‘South Asian’ in NZ refers to anyone of Indian, Bangladeshi, Pakistani, Sri Lankan, Nepali, Bhutanese, and Maldivian origin, and includes NZ born, Fiji Indians and South African Indians. Each community has its own unique culture and background. However, all South Asian groups share some common health

issues, including alarmingly high rates of Diabetes and Heart Disease.

Column

Each day we are exposed to challenges around food and our dietary habits. To eat and what not to eat!

Generally, we trust information that’s linked to our health without making an effort to find the fact behind it. It doesn’t matter what is the source of our infor-mation, we just believe it, this is human nature, creating myths.

Many myths can be attributed to legacy----our great grandparents shared the secret with our grandparents, who in turn con-veyed these to our parents and then these were diligently passed to us. These myths or realities form habits based on practices followed in the past but without knowing the actual fact, we blindly follow them.

some of the common myths are

• Apple contains iron – this is true, may be in small amounts, the browning is just a reaction not a sudden emergence of iron layer on the surface of an apple when cut!• Banana contains calcium, well; banana is not even a good source of calcium but a good source of energy, so if you have been loading yourself with bananas assuming you would be getting good calcium you may have just added some weight to your body!• You can’t lose weight because have slow metabolism rate - How would you decide what’s your metabolism, your body works the way you treat it... slow metabolism is just in the mind not in the body…….nothing comes easy• You can spot reduce fat……we would all have fabulous bodies if we could spot reduce , unfortunately not ,we lose overall body weight.• Avoid combining carbs and protein if you want to lose weight ….or fruit must be eaten by itself not after a meal, or the

body becomes too acidic …..its not the combination ..its the portion that you eat………..our bodies are well designed to digest carbs , protein or fruit differ-ently and effectively.• Eating high cholesterol foods can increase cholesterol levels - It’s actually a diet high in saturated fats that, over time, increases your blood cholesterol. If you have normal cholesterol levels, consuming foods in balanced por-tion that contain cholesterol, is highly unlikely to have an impact. • More protein can build muscles, unfortunately that’s not true. Exercise builds muscle, and no amount of pro-tein supplements will do it for you, if you don’t move your muscles.• Don’t drink water with or straight after your meals – drinking moderate amount of fluids have no impact, however in young children any fluid can fill their small stomachs and affect their appetite which could result in nutritional defi-ciencies.

With the advent of internet, information is available in abundance; however it is important that we identify the substance in the content and the scientific evidences attached with the information. Understand your action has an impact on your long term health and therefore one must be very careful when adapting or following practices. It is always essential that you consult a health professional before adopting any practices, as they can have a long term im-pact, sometimes harmful too. Till next time be healthy, live healthy and eat healthy.

This article is a general guideline ONLY. Please see a health professional for indi-

vidual conditions and needs.Varsha Asrani is a New Zealand Regis-

tered Dietitian. For personal consultations she can be contacted on 0210524353.

For any questions, suggestions or views please email her on

[email protected].

Dietary mythsVs

Realities


Indian


Indian

It’s a dilemma facing many migrants: whether to manage their own immigration application, or hire a consultant to help with the sometimes confus-ing process of migrating to New Zealand. While Immigration New Zealand contact centre staff are available to help anyone with their individual queries, there is no doubt that some people have complex personal issues that make it difficult for them to manage their way unassisted through the immigration process.

Migrants to New Zealand have three options open to them: they can complete the application process themselves, work with an exempt person (such as a lawyer or citizens advice bureau worker), or they can consult a licensed immigration adviser.

Anyone looking for immigration advice wants the reassurance that they are dealing with a profes-sional. Since the Immigration Advisers Licensing Act became law, people giving immigration advice about New Zealand have needed to be either li-censed or exempt, no matter where they are in the world.

Clearly, the Immigration Advisers Authority is in the business of licensing immigration advisers. The question for migrants is, what is so great about a licensed adviser?

To start with, it’s useful to think about the situa-tion that existed before the new law was introduced. Many migrants have horror stories of bad experi-ences at the hands of immigration “consultants” in the days before licensing – some of whom guaran-teed the migrant a successful outcome, pocketed the migrant’s money, and were never heard from again. While there were many reputable advisers before licensing became law, migrants had no way of knowing who was trustworthy.

Today’s licensing system means that advisers

don’t get a licence until they can demonstrate that they are knowledgeable about New Zealand im-migration law and policy, and that they meet the professional and ethical standards set by the New Zealand government. In fact, according to Barry Smedts, Registrar of Immigration Advisers, if ad-visers can’t meet those standards, they don’t belong in this profession.

Once advisers become licensed, they are ex-pected to continually update their knowledge of immigration matters. This is one major area where licensed advisers can add the most value to mi-grants, as advisers have ready access to the latest immigration law and operational instructions from Immigration New Zealand.

“It is a requirement that all licensed advisers must complete 20 hours of continuing professional development each year they are licensed,” Barry Smedts said.

“CPD must cover aspects of the adviser’s im-migration business which would benefit from in-creased knowledge. While we leave the choice of CPD activities up to each individual adviser, they must provide evidence that the activities they have chosen are directly linked to one of the seven com-petency standards that licensed immigration advis-ers must meet.”

While the Immigration Advisers Authority does not run CPD activities, it encourages all licensed advisers to ensure they remain up to date with im-migration instructions, and have well-developed, professional and ethical business practices.

- If you have any questions about immigration adviser licensing, contact the Immigration Advis-

ers Authority.

ColumnWhat is so good about a licensed adviser?


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