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See CHITRA, Page 14

DONATION TO HABITAT FOR HUMANITY. Wallis State Bank in Houston made a $25,000pledge to Houston Habitat for Humanity. Receiving the check are Leela Krishnamurthy, left, director on the board of Houston Habitat and Allison Hay, right, executive director of Houston Habitat forHumanity. The donation was presented by the Board of Directors and Executive Management ofthe Bank. Left to Right: Guido Piggott, Aziz Rahim, Rajiv Bhavsar, Musa Dakri, Faizel Dakri, and Asif Dakri, all of Wallis State Bank, Jim Procter, chairman of Houston Habitat for Humanity, and Ayaz Nasser, Roger Sebesta, Billy Burge III, and Nasrullah Khan of Wallis State Bank. See Page 7.

Indian Music Society of Houston opens its 2015 season of classical music concerts with vocalist Pandit Suman Ghosh, accompanied by Pt Shantilal Shah on Tabla. At the Jones Hall of University of St. Thomas on Saturday, March 14, at 7 p.m.

See ad on Page 5.

Indian Music Society

Vedic Heritage School

More than 200 children attending the Vedic heritage School at Sri Meenakshi Temple participated in Slokathon, speech and group discussion competitions. The VHS program, which started in 2000, is run by a group of volunteers and is intended to teach Hindu values, heritage and culture to the younger generation.—Photo by MILIND PATEL

Story on Page 10.

India House felicitates Author Chitra Divakaruni

India House in Houston led by current President Ju-gal Malani, held a reception on Feb. 25 to honor Houston writer Chitra Banerjee Diva-karuni, who was recently cho-sen by the Economic Times as one of the 20 most infl uential

global Indian women. Around 150 people gathered at India House for this reception.

Divakaruni attended the event along with her husband Murthy, eldest son Anand, nephew Rushil and his wife

India House Trustee Dr. Virendra Mathur presents Chitra Divakaruni with a shawl at a reception in honor of the well known author, recently named by the Indian newspaper Economic Times as one of the 20 most infl uential global Indian women. Photo by BIJAY DIXIT.

PAGE 2 • INDIA HERALD • WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4, 2015

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COMMUNITY NEWS

Suite 205

Harish Jajoo re-elected, Robin Elackatt leaves council

Jajoo ElackattFilings for the local city coun-

cil elections ended last week. In Sugar Land, all the four incum-bent district council members, including Indo-American Coun-cil member Harish Jajoo, were elected unopposed.

Jajoo has been elected for a third, two-year term. Jajoo serves as Mayor ProTem this year.

Jajoo reassured his commit-ment to fi scally conservative policies on budget and spending and focus on public safety, robust infrastructure and ensuring qual-ity of life in Sugar Land.

In Missouri City, Indian Amer-ican Councilman Robin Elackatt withdrew his fi ling for election to a fourth term.

Though he had fi led for re-election, on Tuesday, he an-nounced that he will not seek re-election this year.

Two council seats will be con-tested in Missouri City and two members will be elected unop-posed. Anthony Maroulis who also fi led for Elackatt’s seat will be unopposed.

In a statement Elackatt said, “I am a proponent of Term Lim-its, because it is important to have diverse ideas and visions in governance. Since the City Council has yet to adopt this im-portant component to renewal of thoughts, a continuous fl ow of new and fresh ideas on City Council and the infusion of en-ergetic leadership with a fresh vision for the City that is com-parable to the rich diversity of its residents, I hereby announce that I will not seek reelection for my seat and withdraw my fi ling as a member of the Missouri City Council. “I truly believe that the

time is right for me to step aside and not seek a fourth term on the City Council. I welcome Antho-ny’s perspective, energy and pas-sion along with his experience on the City’s Parks Board and long-range committee and other areas of service for moving our City forward and wish him every

success.”“By no means is this a good-

bye, it is simply a so-long for now. I will continue to serve this City I call home, but will take the time to spend more time with my family, attend family events and allow for a fresh set of ideas to push our beloved City forward.

“I am grateful to my wife Tina, for stepping-in, fi lming events and doing her part to support me in service, and to my girls for un-derstanding and inspiring me to be a better man, a better father, and a better husband; even a bet-ter politician,” Elackatt said.

India HeraldIndia Herald (USPS 017-699) is published every Wednesday (for a

subscription rate of $25 per year) by India Herald Inc, 13643 La ConchaLane, Houston TX 77083-3438. Tel: 281-980-6746. Periodical postage paid atHouston, Texas and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send addresschanges to India Herald, P.O. Box 623, Sugar Land, TX 77487.India Herald welcomes articles, letters for publication. Website: www.india-

herald.com Email: editor@india-herald.comPublisher: Seshadri Kumar. Executive Editor: Rajeev V. Gadgil.c India Herald. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part of any

material herein, without permission, is prohibited. India Herald assumes noliability resulting from action taken based on the information included herein.

TOPIC OF THE WEEKPAGE 4 • INDIA HERALD • WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4, 2015

Family and Friends remember Anil Kumar, celebrate his lifeA large number of friends of Anil Kumar gathered to remember a

kindred soul, a creative, hard working, generous and caring person. The event was held at Anjali Center on Saturday, Feb 26. If the true measure of a person is in what he meant to people, nowhere was it more evident than during the last six months as Anil was fi ghting for his life and at the funeral services held on February 16 and again last Saturday when family and friends gathered to join Rathna Kumar and her family to celebrate his life.

Kalyani Giri, who conducted the proceedings, remembered Anil’s “lingering laughter and tangible warmth of his gentle ways.” He was an extraordinary, wonderful man who has been taken away too early, she said. She thanked the gathering for the great support to the family during the past painful months of Anil’s illness.

Anil’s sons, Chetan and Kedaar, welcomed the gathering on behalf of their mother Rathna, saying this was a celebration of their father’s life, a remembrance of his many endearing qualities.

Earlier, a deeply moving recorded condolence message by Bharat Upadhyaya, who worked at Anjali as a photographer for several years before returning to India, was played.

Suri Duvvuri, who has known Anil since they were in kindergar-ten, read out mother-in-law Anasuya Devi’s fond memories of Anil. She could not come down from California because of the hardship of traveling at her advanced age of 92. He described Anil as a fun-loving person, devoid of any jealousy and one who could see the humorous side of any situation.

Other family members, Rathna’s sister Kamala Srikar from Washing-ton, DC, and brother Krishna Giri, Kalyani Giri and daughter Anushka were there too. Rathna’s elementary school friend Dr Uma Alladi, her husband Dr Veeraraghavan and brother Suri visited from Dallas. Also present were Anil’s cousin Gautam Kavukondala from Canada and niece Soumya and her husband Krishna Guda from San Jose.

Vanguri Chittan Raju, a friend from college in Kakinada, India, remembered Anil as a bongo player with whom he reconnected when he came to Houston and visited Anil and Rathna’s Maha-raja Indian restaurant, not know-ing that the restaurant was Anil’s. He narrated many funny episodes of their Burra Katha performance in New York and the two plays Anil wrote and presented at the University of Houston in the mid-1970s.

Jonathan Hollander, director of Battery Dance Company fl ew down from New York. “Every-thing about Anil was understated,” Hollander said. “Anil was always in the background supporting Rathna ... I have to talk about Rathna and Anil together... they were fused together in purpose, aspiration and achievement,” he

said and conveyed the good wish-es and condolences of the dozens of other artists and dancers in New York who were very familiar with Anil and Rathna.

Anil was the wind under Rath-na’s wings as she soared to higher heights in her chosen profes-sion as a classical dance teacher, choreographer and performer, as Kalpalatha Guntupalli aptly de-scribed his silent and strong sup-port for Rathna.

Rathna’s sister Kamala said what stood out about Anil was that he “treated my sister like a queen, a star. “I had a special rela-tionship with him. He was a cool brother-in-law, a most caring man who was incapable of feeling an-ger,” she said.

About a week before Anil went to the hospital, he had asked good friend Tarit Chaudhary to look

into building an auditorium for Anjali’s students and Samskriti’s performances.

That dream would be a proj-ect that will now be taken up se-riously, said Samskriti’s board member Roopa Gir and Srinivas and Deepthi Raju. Srinivas said Anil had built up strong equity of goodwill in the community. He had touched many lives through his kindness and friendly de-meanor.

Others who spoke warmly about Anil included Dr Subodh Bhuchar, Dr Farooq Ahmed, See-ta Muthyala, Dr Potu Rao, Chitra Divakaruni, Shiva Kumar, a cous-in of Anil’s, Pradeep Anand, Vi-

Anil Kumar’s family (from left) son Kedaar, wife Rathna, son Chetan, daughter-in-law Miya and grand-daughters Carissa and Anjali.

See Page 8

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COMMUNITY NEWS

Indian Music Society of Houston Presents 2015 Season OpenerHindustani Classical Vocalist - Houston’s Own

Pandit Suman Ghosh

For tickets - $25 per personGovind 713-922-2501 Suresh 281-935-4653 or www.tickets2events.com

Senior Disciple of Sangeet Martand Pandit Jasraj

Ticket: $25

Sameer Kotasthaneon Harmonium

Pt. Shantilal Shah on TablaSenior Disciple ofTaal Yogi Pt Suresh Talwalkar

A senior disciple of Sangeet Martand PanditJasraj-ji, Pandit Suman Ghosh is one of thepresent generation celebrated flagbearers of theMewati Gharana of Hindustani Classical music.Winner of a number of prestigious awards andhonors, Pandit Ghosh has performed all overIndia and many other countries of the world.

He is endowed with a mellifluous voice, well-cultivated & all-round musicianship and sea-soned performing skills.

His skills and the understanding of each as-pect of this creative field has helped Pandit Ghoshbecome a path-finding Guru with innumerabledisciples all over the United States and elsewhere.His depth of knowledge, narrative skills, com-mand over the languages, and above all, the abilityto blend the theories in the practical aspect ofthis music, have earned him a place in the heartsof even the younger generation of enthusiasts.

Sat, March 14 @ 7 p.m.Jones Hall,Univ of St. Thomas

3901 Yoakum Blvd •• Ticket: $25

SEWA INTERNATIONALFamily Services Hotline 832-900-9354

The Foundation for India Studies (FIS) is launching a new project inpartnership with India House Inc, to connect the young generations ofAmerica with India through a unique quiz contest that stimulates andencourages them to learn about India.

The first targeted group was the youth at universities. FIS assisted inintroducing the India Studies Program at the University of Houston in2006, which has now been taken over by the university and incorpo-rated into its Cultural Studies program. The University awards a MinorCertificate in India Studies.

It was soon realized by FIS that Houston also had an immense wealthof educated professionals who had contributed to Houston’s growth invarious fields of Health Care and Medicine, Engineering, Transporta-tion Business, Education and several other vocations. This led to launchingof the “Indo-American Oral History Project “in 2011, in partnershipwith Houston Community College –Spring Branch and Houston PublicLibrary.

The purpose of this project is to record and archive the stories of thefirst generation Indians who came directly from India and settled inHouston since the 1960’s.

These are stories of unsung heroes from the Indo-American com-munity who deserve kudos for their contribution to the economic andcultural growth of Houston. Till date, 32 interviews have been con-ducted.

From the Youth to the Elder and now to the budding Young, FISbrings the unique INDIA BEE_2015 QUIZ contest scheduled to beheld on Sunday, March 29th. This is another exceptional Project thatFIS has brought out for MIDDLE SCHOOL students, between thegrades 6-8.

The challenge to the youngsters is “How much do you really knowabout India?”

The purpose of the quiz contest is to encourage Indian as well asAmerican school children of all ethnic backgrounds to learn more aboutIndia at an early age and become friends of India when they grow up.This may perhaps be the only project of its kind in the country at present.

The INDIA BEE _2015 is focusing on the middle school students

FIS launches a unique project– India BEE_2015 for children

this year ( to be expanded laterto High School students andadults as well) because from theage of 11 onwards, children haveawareness and knowledge oftheir Indian roots fresh in theirminds.

What is lacking however, is adeeper knowledge and under-standing of India as a whole withregard to its geography, centuriesold history and its immense cul-tural and religious diversity, andthe country’s modern parliamen-tary system of democracy and ofcourse not to forget Bollywoodand Cricket.

Keeping all these in mind, thiscontest is designed to assist theParents to motivate their childrento study about India, the land theymigrated from, and encouragethem to be more globally orientedand knowledgeable about incred-ible INDIA- whose culturesstretch for over 5,000 years.

There are cash prizes for 1stplace $1,000, 2nd Place $ 500 and3rd Place $250. Our partners andsponsors are India House, andIndian Culture Center and manywell-wishers.

Certificates to all participatingchildren and surprise door prizesfor audience.

The contest will be judged inthree parts : a) A poster boardpresentation, b) Written test andc) A final oral test on the stage.

For registration and other de-tails, visit http://foundationforindiastudies.org/projects/india-bee or call Falguni Gandhi 281-844-4604 or Sai Rachakonda 281-235-6641.

PAGE 6 • INDIA HERALD • WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4, 2015

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COMMUNITY NEWS

International Hindi Association-Houston Chapter partnered withIndia Culture Center and JainVishwa Bharati Preksha Medita-tion Center (JVB) for its Holi keHindi Bol event of Hindi poetrywhere 12 local poets presentedtheir works. The theme was onHoli related poetry, incidents andstory which was presented by allthe poets through Veer Ras,Bhakti Ras, Vyang Ras andShringar Ras.

Over 160 people attended thisfree event on Sunday, March 1, atthe JAVB center. This was thesecond time it was presented sinceit was conceived in 2014 by IHAChapter President SwapanDhairyawan.

Event Coordinators and Em-cees for the evening, MaheshDerashri and Saundarya Sohoni,welcomed the gathering and ex-plained the format. Thereafterthey invited Swatantra and BimlaJain to light the lamp to start theevent. The Jains are avid lovers

of Hindi poetry and have beenvery supportive to the Hindi cause.

It was followed by a Hindi shortpoem by kids Siya Derashri andEesha Dhairyawan. The emceesinvited JVB Ambassador PramodBengani to present the mission ofJVB and recent update about theiractivities. ICC President CharliePatel spoke about the long stand-ing relationship with IHA and JVBand the necessity of sharing re-sources. Dhairyawan spoke aboutthe mission of IHA and its resur-rection since 2008. He creditedthe growth of the organization andthe adding of events to the strengthof his core committee members.He spoke about the passion anddedication of his team memberswhose mother tongue though notHindi, have come together for thepassion of Raj Bhasha Hindi.

Dhairyawan explained thatthese team members, thoughKannada, Gujarati and Marathi-speaking, were making efforts towrite poetry in Hindi and hence it

was a good idea to provide a plat-form for this versatility. Also themission of language is to bringpeople together rather than beingdivisive. He thanked all the poets,supporters and coordinators forthis event.

The artists and presenters at thisevent were Manglesh Mujmer,Krishna Sharma, Dr KD & SarojUpadhyaya, Col Vipin Kumar ( onbehalf of his wife Neera Vipin),Dr Sarita Mehta, SangeetaPasrija, Devika Dhruv, Dr KhalidRazvi, Dr Nik Nikam, ParulFernandes, Mahesh Derashri andSaundarya Sohoni.

The presentation skills of eachand every one was incredible.Though first timers Col Vipin,Parul Fernandes and Dr Nikam,all them excelled and won imme-diate applause from the audience.The presentation ranged fromMathura Brajbhoomi Holi to "sukh"and how that can be related to thejoyous occasion.

The fillers and introductions to

all the poets and their poetry was beautifully woven in with satire byMahesh Derashri. The program ended with presentation of token ap-preciation to all the artists. The honors for this was done by AshokGarg, Manohar Gidwani and Arvind Patel. Hot refreshments and coldThandai was a delight to all the attendees. The kitchen coordinatorswere Nisha Mirani, Kirti Sohoni, Ajit Patel, Rajiv Bhavsar, PallaviDhairyawan, Banke Bihari Parivar and Sangeeta Derashri.

The entire program can be watched on Youtube “Houston Holi keBol 2015,” courtesy and coverage by Dr Nik Nikam.

The next program Hasya Kavi Sammellan is slated for Saturday,May 9, at India House. International fame artists Arun Gemini, VedPrakash Ved and Ritu Goel will be the esteemed guests. For moreinformation/ tickets call 281-382-0348 or visit www.icchouston.org

Holi-related Hindi poetry by amateur poets

Protest over Hindu prayer in Idaho SenateBOISE: For the first time the opening prayer for the Idaho state

senate was said on Tuesday, March 3, by a Hindu cleric amid protestsby some senators who claimed the United States was a Christiannation and denounced Hinduism, local media reported.

Universal Society of Hinduism president Rajan Zed, who said theprayer in Sanskrit and English, made a call for the legislators to “actselflessly without any thought of personal profit” because “selfish ac-tion imprisons the world.”

He was invited by Senate President Pro-Tem Brent Hill to be aguest chaplain and deliver the invocation which is usually made by aChristian chaplain at the start of the day’s legislative session in Boise.According to The Idaho Statesman, when protests were made be-fore the session, Hill said: “I reviewed the prayer. It did not seemoffensive in any way.” He added: “It refers to ‘deity supreme’.”

Senator Steve Vick, who walked out of the Senate chamber beforeZed’s invocation, said that Hindu prayers should not be allowed be-cause the U.S. was “built on the Judeo-Christian, not only religion, butwork ethic, and I don’t want to see that undermined”, the Statesmanreported. Hindus “have a caste system,” he added. “They worshipcows.” He was one of the three Republican senators to boycott theprayer. Senator Sheryl Nuxoll said she boycotted Zed’s prayer be-cause she believed the United States is a Christian nation and “Hinduis a false faith with false gods,” according to the newspaper.

But Hill, who is also a Republican, told the Statesman, “In my mind,you either believe in religious freedom or you don’t... We have hadJewish prayers, many denominations of Christian prayers.”

The Statesman quoted Zed as saying of the protests: “We don’tmind. Hinduism is more embracing.” KTVB-TV said that Zed noted“that most of the legislators welcomed him warmly” and said, “We allhave different viewpoints, and that is what makes our country great.”

Presenters and coordinators of Holi ke Hindi Bol. Photo: Rishikesh Sohoni

COMMUNITY NEWSINDIA HERALD • WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4, 2015 • PAGE 7

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Wallis State Bank in Houston last week made a $25,000 to the Habiotat for Humanity in Houston.

Chief Executive Offi cer Asif Dakri of Wallis State Bank said: “We are willing to commit to contributing $5,000 per year for the next 5 years and are also willing to commit to at least one day per year for our bank employees to volunteer at a build site. We can commit at least 15 people for whichever day is selected per year.”

Leela Krishnamurthy, a director on the board of Hosuton Habitat for Humanity was very pleased and grateful for the generous gesture of the bank.

While accepting the check at the offi ces of Wallis State Bank, Allison Hay, executive director of Houston Habitat for Humanity, explained the role of the organization.

Contrary to the general perception that the charitable organization hands down help, Hay said Habitat for Humanity is a “hands up” organization, providing a helping hand to those in need of a home.

“Purchasing a Houston Habitat home is a partnership – not just a mortgage! We offer 3- or 4- bedroom homes with no down payment, and a 0% interest rate,” Hay said.

Houston Habitat for Humanity dedicated its fi rst home in 1988. To date, more than 960 Houston Habitat homes have been built housing over 3600 people, from infants to the elderly.

Houston Habitat builds affordable energy-effi cient homes and through its neighborhood revitalization initiatives, repairs existing older homes for low income families. Houston Habitat complies with the Federal Fair Housing Act in the marketing, sale, and purchasing of properties.

As the non-profi t has grown, support services added include Family Services, Mortgage Services, Volunteer Services and the ReStore.

The program annually builds 30-50 new homes, processes 30-50 new mortgages, and repairs 30-50 older homes. Houston Habitat relies on donor support and does not receive funds from Habitat International or United Way.

For 27 years, the Houston Habitat mission has basically remained the same, to provide decent housing for low to moderate income families so they might thrive and have hope for a better future. If you meet the criteria and are selected as a Family Partner, we will ask you to participate in homeowner training classes and complete 300 hours of “sweat equity” – helping to build your home or your neighbors’ homes and in our offi ce or retail store. An applicant family agrees to perform 300 hours of “sweat equity” on their home or other Habitat projects prior to moving into their Habitat home.

A single parent applicant agrees to complete 300 hours of sweat equity on their home or other Habitat projects prior to moving into their Habitat home.

All applicant families agree to complete the Pre-Closing Program, which includes Financial Counseling, Home Management and Maintenance and other Habitat activities. Houston HFH builds homes for families earning 50-80% of the Area Median Income for Houston, as determined by HUD.

A family selected for a Habitat home must pay a portion of closing costs on their Habitat home.

A family must have the ability to make their monthly mortgage payments including their escrow fees along with their current debt.

Wallis State Bank has demonstrated outstanding fi nancial strength. In business since 1906, it has been through the Great Depression and two world wars and has never taken any government assistance.

“Our bank is highly capitalized and in a position to build itself and its customers for the future,” says Dakri. “We concentrate on our niche: serving our customers by staying with the basics.”

To that end, the bank keeps all its loans in house. It doesn’t sell them to other institutions. This means that WSB’s customers know where their money is at all times. Likewise, the bank makes all decisions locally. There’s no waiting to get an answer from out of state.

Wallis State Bank receives numerous compliments on its effi cient international business department, which conducts transactions with a vast number of companies around the globe.

The bank goes out of its way to understand its customers’ businesses, goals and objectives. Clients of the bank remain loyal because they know their unique businesses are truly understood. Wallis State Bank has always been more about people than numbers

Wallis State Bank services the area from Houston to San Antonio like no other bank, and responsiveness is the key. Highly fl exible and with a spirit of entrepreneurship, it can act faster than just about anyone in the market.

—SESHADRI KUMAR

Wallis State Bank donates $25,000 to Habitat for Humanity in Houston Washington, D.C.

Leaders at the Hindu Ameri-can Foundation (HAF) strongly condemned the murder of Atlan-ta-based Bangladeshi American writer and blogger, Avijit Roy, in Dhaka on Thursday. Roy, a humanist of Hindu origin and an outspoken critic of religious fundamentalism, was attacked by machete wielding assailants while on his way back from a book fair at Dhaka University. His wife and fellow blogger, Rafi da Ahmed, also sustained severe injuries in the attack and remains hospitalized and in crit-ical condition.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the loved ones of Avijit, and we are hopeful that Rafi da will make a full and speedy re-covery,” said Samir Kalra, Esq., HAF’s Senior Director for Hu-man Rights. “And we urge the Bangladeshi police to conduct a thorough and swift investigation and fi nd those responsible for this heinous attack.”

Although police have yet to make any arrests in the case, a relatively unknown Islamist group, Ansar Bangla-7, has claimed credit for the attack. Roy, the founder of a popular Bengali-language blog, Mukto-Mona (Free Mind), had also re-portedly received death threats from Islamist bloggers linked to Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI), the larg-est radical Islamist organization in the country.

“The attack on Avijit and Rafi da is only the latest attempt by Islamist groups in Bangla-desh to silence free speech and undermine the nation’s secular fabric,” said Jay Kansara, HAF’s Director of Government Rela-tions, who just returned from a

human rights fact-fi nding mis-sion to Bangladesh earlier this month. “Organizations such as JeI and Ansar Bangla-7 pose an existential threat to democracy, freedom of thought, and reli-gious pluralism in Bangladesh, and must be confronted by the government by the strongest means necessary.”

During the Foundation’s fact-fi nding trip to Bangladesh, several NGOs, civil society leaders, and minority groups

expressed serious concern with the increasing power of Islamists, and the burgeoning threat of pro-ISIS activity in the country. This growing trend has also been extensively docu-mented by the Foundation in its annual human rights report and policy brief on Jamaat-e-Islami.

“We walked on the same street in Dhaka where Roy was killed. This has hit closer to home than ever before,” added Kansara.

HAF condemns the murder of Avijit Roy; Urges Bangladesh to take action

PAGE 8 • INDIA HERALD • WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4, 2015

COMMUNITY CALENDAR

or call for info.(713) 665-4665

Chandra & David Courtney Tabla and Vocal

Classes in Houston,Mission Bend,& Sugar Land

Visit www.chandrakantha.com

Classesnow ongoing

COMMUNITY CALENDARGudhi Padwa

Sat., March 21 @ 3:15 p.m.Houston Maharashtra Mandal celebrates Gudhi Padwa (Marathi

New Year) with a musical program by local artists. Includes dinner.At Durga Bari Hall, 13944 Schiller Rd. For tickets, call BhagyashreeDixit 713-859-1765 or Hemraj Gaidhani 713-501-5432.

India Bee 2015Sun., Mar 29 from 9- 6 p.m.Foundation for India Studies (FIS) and India House, Inc. jointly

present India Bee - 2015, a unique quiz contest that will encourageyour child to learn more about India and win "India Bee -2015" title,and cash prizes. At India House, 8888 West Bellfort Avenue, Hous-ton, TX 77031. Open for middle school students. Register at http://foundationfor indiastudies.org/projects/india-bee. Registration $20 be-fore Feb. 28 ($25 thereafter) Registration closes on Mar 20. No walk-in registrations. Call Falguni Gandhi 281-844-4604, Sai Rachakonda281-235-6641, Col.Vipin Kumar (Retd.) 713-929-1906, Krishna Vavilala713-795-5169.

Arya Samaj SatsangWeekly Havan Satsang every Sunday from 10 a.m. to 12 noon.

DAV Sanskriti School Sundays 10 a.m. to 12 noon. - Havan, Hindiand Naitik Shiksha classes. DAV Montessori School for ages 2 to 7years. Call Arti Khanna 281-759-3286. Free Yoga classes on Sat.Sanskrit & Upanishad classes Tue. 6-8 p.m. At 14375 Schiller Rd.(bet Westpark & Bellaire off Hwy 6). 281-752-0100.

Chinmaya MissionSunday satsangs for adults, youth, and children. A unique Bala Vihar

program for each grade, from PreK to Grade 12. Satsangs in twosessions between 8:35 a.m. - 10:15 a.m. and 11:20 a.m. - 1p.m. BalaVihar students can take shloka, bhajan and orchestra classes or lan-guage classes for Hindi, Telugu, Marathi, and Gujarati. Located atChinmaya Prabha, 10353 Synott Road, Sugar Land, TX 77498. Newmembers may visit the welcome desk between 8 a.m. - 8:45 a.m. or10:15 a.m.-11:30 a.m. Visit www.chin mayahouston.org or call BharatiSutaria 281.933.0233.

Gauri Siddhivinayak TempleOpen daily Darshan 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. All major festivals, as well as

birthdays, naam karan, engagement and other ceremonies. Call PanditPradip Pandya 832-466-9868 for puja or other ceremonies. At 5645Hillcroft Ave, Suite 701 Houston, TX 77036.

Vedanta SocietyVedanta Society of Greater Houston, 14809 Lindita Drive (77083)

has classes every Sunday from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Gospel ofSri Ramakrishna, 1st & 3rd Sunday; Bhagavad Gita, 2nd Sunday; onworks of Swami Vivekananda, 4th Sunday; Holy Mother Sarada’sGospel, 5th Sunday. Swamis of Ramakrishna Order visit to conductretreats and lectures. www.houstonvedanta. org or 281-584-0488.

Durga Bari TempleDurga Bari temple is open from 9 to 11 a.m. and 4 to 7 p.m. Mon.

thru Sat. Sandhya aarti at 6:30 p.m.Temple closes at 7 p.m. Sundayspecial from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Pujaservices - Priest BishnupadaGoswami 281-597-8100 Temple islocated at 13944 Schiller Rd (offHwy 6 bet. Bellaire & Westpark).Call Ganesh Mandal at 713-797-9057 / 832-423-8541.

‘The Universe Within’Sahaj Marg is a natural and

simple system of heart-centeredmeditation and spiritual practicethat helps one realize the utimatepotential within oneself. The medi-tation is available to anyone whowishes to practice. Weekly medi-tation sessions held throughout theHouston area. Web: www.sahajmarg.org Email: meditate_houston@yahoo.com.

Heritage ClassesAshirwad’s Heritage Classes in

Katy, Cypress and Sugar Land forkids 4 to 18 yrs - meditation, Yoga,slokas, stories from scriptures,Vishnu Sahasranam, bhajans, com-petitions and fun activities. Adultmeditation classes. Register atwww.ashirwada-blessing.org orSri Ravula 281-995-0930.

Hare Krishna DhamHouston’s original Vedic temple,

ISKCON of Houston. At 1320 W34th St. (77018). Daily Darshan& Arati Times: 4.30am, 7am,8.30am, 12noon, 4.30pm, 7pm,9pm. Sunday Festival: 5.30 pm to7.30 pm. Weekly Gita classes foradults; call 281-433-1635 orharekrishnadham @gmail.com

Gandhi LibraryMahatma Gandhi Library Book

Club: Meets 2nd Sunday of eachmonth; 12:30 PM at Arya SamajGreater Houston, 13475 SchillerRd. Join the discussion of the greatman’s autobiography – The Storyof My Experiments with Truth.Call Manish Wani 713-829-6979.

Saumyakasi SivalayaSri Saumyakasi Sivalaya is lo-

cated at Chinmaya Prabha, 10353Synott Road, Sugar Land, TX77478. Temple timings: Monday toFriday: 9:00 AM - 12:00 Noon and5:00 - 8:00 PM Saturday and Sun-day: 8:30-2:00 PM and 5:00 - 8:00PM. Call Bharti Sutaria 281-568-1690 or Jay Deshmukh 832-541-0059 or visit www.saumyakasi.org.

Veerashaiva SamajaVSNA Houston is a group of

families who believe inVeerashaiva dharma (Basavadharma). Monthly Mahamane pro-gram for prayer and discussion onVachana Sahitya followed byPrasada. Contact: vsnahouston@gmail.com or JagadeeshHalyal 832-744-4166.

Shiv Shakti MandirSanatan Shiv Shakti Mandir,

6640 Harwin. Open daily 7 a.m.to 8 p.m. All major festivals, as wellas birthdays, naam karan, engage-ment and other ceremonies. CallPandit Virat Mehta 713-278-9099or Hardik Raval 361-243-6539 forpuja or other ceremonies.

Houston NamadwaarA prayer house where the Hare Rama Hare Krishna Maha-man-

tra is continuously chanted. Weekends: 8-11 AM & 4-7 PM, Week-days: 7-8 AM & 6-7 PM. Weekly “Gopa Kuteeram” children’s heri-tage classes and Srimad Bhagavatam classes. Call 281-402-6585;visit www.godivinity.org (Global Organization for Divinity).

Mar Thoma ChurchTrinity Mar Thoma Church every Sunday at 5810 Almeda Genoa

Rd. Sunday School at 9:15 a.m. Malayalam service at 9:30 a.m. on1st & 3rd Sunday. Adult Bible class at 9:30 a.m. English service at10:30 a.m. on 2nd & 4th Sunday. Call 713-991-1557 or 281-261-4603.

Sri Guruvayurappan TempleHours: Mon to Fri 6 a.m. -8 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Week-

ends & Holidays: 6 a.m. to noon and 5:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. BhajansSaturdays 7 p.m. to 8 p.m.; Sundays 9 a.m. to 1 a.m. Special poojas(weekends and holidays) Choroon (Annaprasam) for kids,Thulabharam, Vahana Pooja, Nirapara. Temple is located at 11620Ormandy St (77035) Tel: 713-729-8994 email: temple@ guruvayur.us

FEEDBACKNew visa process for India

Dear Editor:I wish to share some information with your readers about the new

Visa process for American citizens planning to go to India.One of my American citizen relatives needed an emergency visit to

India. His US passport expired and was renewed. But the old pass-port, which had a 10-year India visa in it, was not returned, in spite ofseveral requests. Because of the urgency, he wanted to use the newvisa-on-arrival facility and looked for details on the Indian governmentwebsite.

He had to apply afresh for a new Visa. He applied on-line at about11PM on Friday, 20 Feb. He woke up early on Saturday (21st) morn-ing and in his email, there was a receipt for the visa. He booked aticket rightaway and left for India on Saturday itself. On presentingthat receipt at the Immigration counter at the Indian airport, a newvisa was issued and he left the airport in a breeze.

It appears that the Indian government cut its red tape, as promisedby Narendra Modi in his Madison Garden speech. I hope many of hisother promises are being implemented with equal speed.

Prabhu NarumanchiHouston, TX

SALES HELP WANTEDWell-known Houston jewelry store is looking forsaleswomen availabe to start immediately. Must be ableto speak English and Hindi well. Call 713-789-7575

Open Forum Radio ProgramKGOL 1480 AM • Saturdays 4 to 6 p.m.

Informative programs with doctors,lawyers, politicians and other

newsmakers.Call 713-784-1480

Where Your Opinion Counts

Hosts: Dinkar Chheda, Jagat Kamdar & Subodh Bhuchar

jay Pallod, Malik Putcha, Dr Venugopal Menon, Sneha Raju and UrmilaGadgil (both former Anjali students), Sanchali Basu, Dr P.Vaduganathan, who represented Meenakshi Temple Society, RajParsala of Telugu Cultural Association, Sumana Nutalapalli, MrinalChaudhary, Kant Duvvuri, Beena Gadgil, Venugopal Josyula, a danceinstructor at Anjali, and Dr Cumaraswamy Vipulanandan.

Sesh and Prabha Bala, in an email message from Chennai, de-scribed Anil as a happy man who had a highly refined sense of aes-thetics and arts.

Rathna Kumar, Anil’s reason for being, who sat patiently as Anil’sfriends recalled their association with him, had to fight back tears asshe spoke of “39 years of immense happiness” with Anil. “His pass-ing is very much surreal for me. I have lost my best friend,” she said.“He made me feel special; watching him, I learned so much abouttheater, lighting, sound. He always put my dance before everything,before his own career; he sacrificed his own career to put my art anddance at the forefront....without him I would not be a dance teacher,there would be no Anjali, no Samskriti,” she said.

“He supported me with his goodness, kindness... he was a veryhappy person, very secure; I became who I am because of him,”Rathna said. Anil moved his audio and video equipment to his home sohe could care for Rathna’s ailing aunt (Ammapinni).

Nearly everybody in the audience knew and admired Anil’s com-passionate and totally selfless act of taking care of Rathna’s ailingaunt, Ammapinni. “I could not take care of my mother,” he would say,“so it is a privilege to take care of Ammapinni” Rathna recalled him assaying. She thanked the gathering -Anjali family - for all their supportand love.

I am sure everyone in the gathering had a special memory of Aniland would have like to share it, but in the interest of time the speecheshad to be limited. I knew Anil Kumar for at least 25 years. I alwaysmarveled at his ability to meet so many requests and demands on histime from Anjali students, their moms, taking care of media relationsbefore and after Samskriti and Anjali presentations, taking care of hisgranddaughters and Rathna’s ailing aunt. Never did I see him harriedor in a bad mood. Always chuckling and cheerful. Truly, he was a joyto be around. Anil Kumar has touched so many lives with his quietdemeanor and positive outlook. Anil Kumar, friend, philosopher andguide to Rathna and no doubt to so many others, lives on. — RajeevGadgil

Anil Kumar rememberedFrom Page 8

INDIA HERALD • WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4, 2015 • PAGE 9

COMMUNITY NEWS

Challo Haridwar for 7 day Yoga trainingwith Yogrishi Swami Ramdev Ji

Training – 25th March 1st April 2015Eligibility: Anyone in good health and interested in learning yoga tobecome a yoga teacher or for self improvement.Cost: $300 pp (Includes meals, training, material, & accommodation)

for more info. visit www.pyptusa.orgcall Shekhar Agrawal @ 281 456 3208

Indra Singhal @ 832 607 3977

The Patanjali Yogpeeth (USA) Trust organized a Self-Develop-ment and Assistant Teacher pro-gram at Arya Samaj, Houston on schiller Road.

It was a three-day training program from Feb. 27 through March 1, 2015.

Patanjali Yogpeeth has been founded by Yogrishi Swami Ramdevji who is instrumental in spreading the knowledge of Yoga thought the world.

This session integrated Yog-asanas, pranayama, meditation, mudras, bandhas & self-refl ec-tion.

The renowned president of In-ternational Association of Yoga Therapists (IAYT), Dr. Dilip Sarkar and Houston’s Yoga-gu-ru, Shekhar Agrawal were the teaching coordinators.

More than 40 participants at-tended this program and were blessed by Dr. Dilip Sarkar’s di-vine presence.

This training took place al-most after six years and was an attempt to spread Swami Ram-devji’s message (Good Health is the Birth-right of all Human Be-ings) to the world.

In today’s uncertain world “Yoga is the answer to hu-man worries and miseries. Yog teaches how to live a healthy life through the medium of Asanas, Pranayama and meditation.

The program taught Asthang Yog practice to the disciples.

Samaj.At the end, Shekhar Agrawal

stressed on spreading yoga to the whole world and overcome the diffi culties of western world’s limited understanding of it.

Dr. Sarkar said, “Yoga is not just stretching and bending, it is union of body, mind and spirit to transform Rogi (Diseased) to Yogi (Supreme human being).

The session concluded with a lecture on 7 Chakras in our body. It was fascinating to know how the ancient philosophy of chakras is connected to the un-derstanding of today’s medical science. Dr. Sarkar also pre-sented the valuable pictures of

the babies doing yogic asanas in natural poses. He remarked about Indian yogi’s (like Charak and Sushruta) deep understand-ing of the mental and physical body thousands of years ago.

Some of the participants were physicians who gained the knowledge about evidence based yoga practice.

The participants were blessed by Swami Ramdevji himself as he connected by phone from Haridwar and declared all par-ticipants as Yogis and Yoginis. He invited everyone to come to Patanjali Ashram in Harid-war for the upcoming seven-day NRI Yoga Training Session

from 24th March, 2015. The community is indebted

to the organizers and Shekhar Agrawal for organizing such a valuable event. The new breed of Yoga teachers will continue to spread Swami Ramdevji’s tradition and help yoga to reach masses.

Patanjali Yogpeeth (USA) is also conducting a three-day yoga workshop from March 6 to 8, 2015 in Atlanta. For fur-ther details visit PYPTUSA.org. Shekhar Agrawal conducts free yoga classes on Saturdays and Sundays, 8 a.m to 9:30 a.m at Arya Samaj, Houston.

— Ashwini Kasture

Patanjali Yogpeeth holds 3-day Yoga Workshop in Houston

Sage Patanjali’s eight princi-ples of Yoga was the main theme and Acharya Surya Nandaji of Arya Samaj beautifully covered Patanjali’s Yog Darshan. The program also involved Ayurve-da, Mudras, acupressure and the Six Cleansing Kriyas (which in-cludes Jalneti, Sutraneti, Nasya and Vaman dhauti).

The trainers are accomplished yogis who demonstrated various asanas and pranayama with ease and elegance. They emphasized on chanting of mantras and con-centration of mind to achieve oneness with the universe. The participant’s also got a chance to attend the routine Havan at Arya

Participants in the yoga training camp with their teachers Shekhar Agrawal and Dr. Dilip Sarkar in the centre.

PAGE 10 • INDIA HERALD • WEDNESDAY,MARCH 4, 2015

Suite 127

COMMUNITY NEWS

North American Bengali Conference 2015 is conducting a singing talent competition for young males and females

in the month of July from 10 -12th, 2015. We are inviting all the talented singers of

North America and Canada to participant in this event. If you have a talent to become a recording artist, please visit the following website and register.

http://www.nabc2015.org/index.php/events/nabc-2015-idol

REGISTRATION Deadline: Friday, April 10th, 2015 Auditions Round 1 deadline- April 10th, 2015.

Results – Last week of April.

nabc 2015 idolTalent Show: Sunday July 12, 2015

@ George Brown Convention Center Houston

More than 200 students from Sri Meenakshi Temple’s Vedic Heritage School (VHS) woke up to a rainy and cold morning, on Sunday, March 1st, but that did not deter them from putting up their best, during a day re-verberating with “Slokathon”, speech and group discussions. The younger students were grouped age-wise and came prepared to recite their choice of slokams from Ramayanam and Bhagavatham, to be evalu-ated by veteran judges.

There were also senior stu-dents who shared their un-derstanding of Hindutva via speech contests and group dis-cussions.

The VHS program, which started in 2000, is in its fi f-teenth (15th) year at Sri Meen-akshi Temple and run by group of volunteers is intended to teach Hindu values, heritage and culture to the younger gen-eration.

The VHS has continuously grown in the breadth and depth of its content and in the num-ber of students enrolled which number about 200.

MTS Education committee coordinator Mahesh Iyer start-ed the day’s proceeding. The VHS coordinators, Mahalak-shmi and Padmanabhan (Pat), had meticulously planned the fl ow of events.

All the hard work put in by the upper and lower assembly teachers Partha Krishnamur-thy, Kiran Partha and Nalini Sadagopan came to fruition when the respective students confi dently chanted their as-signed slokams.

Each of the individual class teachers had prepared their students to go on stage, and demonstrate a specifi c aspect that they had covered in class thus far.

MTS Chairman, Dr. Vadu-ganathan, and Secretary Sri-kanth Venugopalan addressed the gathering and promised to continue inculcating Hindu values to the next generation.

The student competition judges gave their time, energy and enthusiastically challenged and encouraged the children during the competition and se-lected top performers in each category as winners based on their pronunciation and stage presence skills.

An event of such a magni-tude is never complete with-out delicious food and lots of prizes.

The event concluded with the award ceremony where MTS board members partici-pated along with VHS coor-dinators and presented all the children with trophies for their outstanding performance. The

Sri Meenakshi Temple Vedic Heritage School celebrates “VHS day”

temple cafeteria catered with ease and the prize winners were in fact all of those who

participated in the event.For more information on

Vedic Heritage School please

check http://mtsvhs.blogspot.com/

—MAHESH IYER

Vedic Heritage School students perform the opening group prayer. Photo MILIND PATEL

INDIA HERALD • WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4, 2015 • PAGE 11

112th Annual IIndia HHouse GGala Unity In Diversity

Sugarland Marriott Town Square 16090 City Walk, Sugarland, TX 77479

Gala Chair: Devi Prasad Rungta

Saturday, March 21, 2015 6:30 pm to Midnight

SPONSORSHIP LEVELS

BENEFACTOR: $50,000 Two Tables of 10 Full Page Color Ad in Souvenir On Stage Recognition

Recognition through Media

GRAND SPONSOR: $10,000 One Table of 10

Half Page B/W Ad in Souvenir

Recognition through Media

GRAND PATRON: $25,000 One Table of 10

Full Page B/W Ad in Souvenir

On Stage Announcement

Recognition through Media

SPONSOR: $5,000 One Table of 10

Quarter Page Color Ad in Souvenir

Recognition through Media

PATRON: $15,000 One Table of 10

Half Page Color Ad in Souvenir

On Stage Announcement

Recognition through Media

COUNCIL: $2,500 One Table of 10

Quarter Page B/W Ad in Souvenir

Recognition through Media

India House strives to help the entire Houston community through its various programs and services.

Join India House Board in accomplishing our mission.

Be a sponsor today! To Sponsor The Event:

Contact: Vipin Kumar Tel: 713-929-1900

Vipin@Indiahouseinc.org www.indiahouseinc.org

Cost of Advertising in

Souvenir Book: Full Page Color Ad: $1000

Full Page B/W: $500

Half Page Color: $500

Half Page B/W: $250

Quarter Page Color: $250

Quarter Page B/W: $100

ATTENDEES: Couples: $500 - Seating for Two

Individual: $275- Seating for One

PAGE 12 • INDIA HERALD • WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4, 2015

HAPPY & PROSPOROUS NEW YEAR – COME LET US CELEBRATE CHETI CHAND & PRATISHTHA PUJA of

SHREE SAI JHULELAL (Dariyalal–Varundev)

||Jaladhi Nathay Namo Namste||

6640 Harwin Dr. Houston Texas 77036 Phone : 713 278 9099 Fax : 713 278 7077

Website : www.shivshaktimandir.org Email : shivshaktimandir45@yahoo.com

(Donate generously to the temple-Donation is Tax deductible) ( Note : We do not have any other TEMPLE in Houston)

SHREE SAI JHULELAL THE FAMILY GOD OF ENTIRE

SINDHI COMMUNITY and LOHANA COMMUNITYof Greater Houston.

Wish You a very Happy & prosporous New Year

CHETI CHAND - SINDHI COMMUNITYFamily & Friends Celebrates

SINDHI NEW YEAR andPratistha Puja of sai jhulelal at

the New temPle of

Sanatan Shiv Shakti Mandir Please Come with your Family and Friends

On Sunday the 22nd. March, 2015 This Puja will be Celebrated with joint Co-operation of

SINDHI FAMILIES AND FRIENDS and LOHANA SAMAJ of Greater Houston

Pratishtha Puja 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM Aarti will be at 7:00 PM

Maha Prasad ( Dinner ) will be followed by Aarti

To become a YAJMAN of the PRAN PRATISHTHA PUJA

Contact at TEMPLE

713 278 9099

II Jaladhi Nathaya Namo Namste II

COMMUNITY NEWSINDIA HERALD • WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4, 2015 • PAGE 13

S A N A T A N S H I V S H A K T I M A N D I R Our Hearty Invitation to all Hindu Devotees on the occasion of

Durga Mataji’s Chaitri Navaratri Pooja & Havan

6640 Harwin Dr. Houston TX 77036Website : www.shivshaktimandir.org Email : shivshaktimandir45@yahoo.com

Note : We do not have any other TEMPLE in Houston

Enjoy Raas & GaRba on FRiday, MaRch 27, 2015 8:00 pM to 11:00 pM

Chaitri NavaratriAshtami Pooja & Havan of

Shree Durga Mataji &Bahucharaji

Friday March 27, 2015 Pooja Starts at 2:00 PM Havan Starts at 4:00 PM Purnahuti (Nariyel Offering) at 5:30 PM

Aarti at 7:00 PM Mahaprasad will be followed by Aarti

To become aYajmaan of Havan & Pooja

Please call at Temple

713 278 9099

By Manu ShahHOUSTON

It was a woman powered evening with celebrated novel-ist Chitra Divakaruni and HCC Trustee Neeta Sane keynoting the Women Mean Business (WMB) event organized by the IACCGH. Sponsored by Shell and held at the Hess Club on February 24, the event attracted more than 70 ladies.

IACCGH Executive Director Jagdip Ahluwalia welcomed the gathering and invited every participant to introduce them-selves. This broke the ice and helped the women bond easily with each other.

IACCGH President Ashok Garg expressed his appre-ciation at how women were breaking the glass ceiling and proving that they mean busi-ness in every field. The Cham-ber, according to him, was not only about trade and economic growth but also about encour-aging women entrepreneur-ship and leadership. The aim of events such as the WMB Series was to help women “cultivate the strategies and tools” that can empower them and enable them to meet other successful women – a resource that could be inspirational and unlock op-portunities.

President Elect Joya Shukla reflected that she “was amazed and inspired at the talent and

diversity in the room”. She also credited Asha

Dhume for initiating this series at IACCGH and emphasized the fact that when successful women “share the journey of their lives, it allows others to take back pearls of wisdom” that could change their life for the better.

Introducing Neeta Sane as “one of Houston’s top 50 In-fluential Women and Chitra as “an internationally renowned writer”, Joya invited them to address the gathering.

When Neeta Sane took the oath of citizenship in 2005 and raised her right hand, she felt an “inner voice” that com-pelled her to give back to the

community that had given her so much. Despite her inexpe-rience in politics, she ran for public office in 2007 with the simple goal to make a positive difference in someone’s life and her successful run strengthened her belief that “passion and heart can take you wherever you want to go.”

In her position as one of the 9 Trustees in the HCC Board, all from diverse backgrounds, she realized that the “cultural aspect was a significant fac-tor in decision making and the multicultural environment was a challenge.”

Through trial and error and “several sleepless nights”, she opted for a different approach

which she described as “public servant leadership approach,” an approach that helped bring opposing, contrasting views to find creative solutions and move forward.

Neeta also touched on sev-eral new initiatives by HCC including an Asian Scholarship Program.

Chitra never thought she would be a writer but “immi-gration made her one”.

Her imagination and her keen observation of the trans-formation that America brings about in Indians and their re-lationship with each other pro-vided the fodder for her stories. It also struck a chord with her readers making her one of the

most popular Indo American writers today.

Sharing some insights learnt during her writing journey and citing examples from her life that brought her to these real-izations, Chitra observed that if you are passionate about something and work at it, you get better at it and if something is really important to you, you will find a way and time for it.

She also highlighted the im-portance of having confidence in oneself and the futility of worrying about things that are beyond your control.

To everyone’s delight, Chitra also read an excerpt from her latest book “Oleander Girl.”

IACCGH hosts ‘Women Mean Business’ event

Participants in ‘Women mean business’ Event with Houston Community College Trustee Neeta Sane and Author Chitra Divakaruni. —Photo by BIJAY DIXIT.

PAGE 14 • INDIA HERALD • WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4, 2015

INDIANS ABROADChitraFrom Page 1

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Radhika. In addition to peo-ple from the Indian American community, people from the University of Houston, where Divakaruni teaches in the na-tionally ranked Creative Writ-ing program, and people from Inprint, the leading literary or-ganization in Houston, also at-tended the event.

The evening began with an invocation to Lord Ganesha by Nalini Mathur.

Jugal Malani warmly wel-comed the guests and com-mended Divakaruni on her achievements. He mentioned in particular the recent recog-nition by the Economic Times, naming Chitra as one of the 20 most infl uential global Indian women.

Colorful slides prepared by Vipin Kumar, General Man-ager of India House, and Ashita Murugai, listing Divakaruni’s many books and awards, such as the American Book Award and the Light of India Award, were shown during the event.

Dr. Amitabh Shukla, a friend of the Divakaruni family, shared an excellent introduc-tion to the writer with the au-dience, mentioning that several of Divakaruni’s books, such as Mistress of Spices and Sister of My Heart, have been made into fi lms.

Divakaruni is a keen observ-er and she has imbibed several experiences in her life which

come alive in her books, Shuk-la said.

A dedicatd and devoted mother, Chitra Divakaruni lives a value centered life, Shukla said.

Dr. Virendra Mathur, One of the Trustees of India House, presented Divakaruni with a beautiful shawl on behalf of In-dia House.

Mrinal Chaudhuri of the Tagore Society read a procla-mation from the Tagore Society and from the North American Bengali Conference felicitating her.

Dr. Wyman Herendeen, Chair of the English Depart-ment at University of Hous-ton, congratulated Divakaruni on behalf of the university and spoke of the value she brings to the Creative Writing program.

Dr. Durga Agrawal one of the Trustees of India House, a leading member of the Indian American community and one of the Regents of the University of Houston, also felicitated Di-vakaruni, whom he has known for many years.

Several other people from the audience spoke up to con-gratulate Divakaruni and share stories of their friendship with her.

Divakaruni gave her thanks to India House and to all pres-ent for coming out to make the event a success.

“I thank God for His bless-ings and for giving me the abil-ity to write,” she said.

Divakaruni made special mention of her mother and mother-in-law for giving her encouragement.

“I really appreciate all the encouragement given to me by my husband, Murthy, without which I could not have been successful. A big thank you also to the warm Indian Ameri-can community of Houston, which has supported me in so many ways.”

Her future works include a collection of short stories and then, a novel based on the women in the Indian epic Ra-

mayana, Divakaruni said.Her novel, “One Amazing

Thing” is being made into a movie in the Hollywood.

Another of her novel, ‘Sis-ter of my Heart” is being made into a Tamil movie.

“Oleander Girl is Chitra’s latest work.” The novel is de-scribed as “ An entrancing sto-ryteller with an unerring moral compass, Divakaruni has cre-ated a superbly well-plotted, charming, yet hard-hitting novel of family, marriage, and class, a veritable Indian Jane Austen novel spiked with ra-

cial prejudice and religious violence.”

Finally, Vipin Kumar of In-dia House informed the audi-ence of the many wonderful programs available at India House, including a free medi-cal clinic, subsidized after-school programs, free yoga classes and free legal help, and urged them to get involved.

The evening concluded with a delicious dinner catered by Daawat owners Mahesh and Alpa Shah, who were also guests at the event.

—SESHADRI KUMAR

India House offi cers and their spouses with Chitra Divakaruni. Front, Nalini Mathur, left, Raj Malani, Chitra Divakaruni and Susheela Agrawal; Rear, Murthy Divakaruni, Lachman Das, Virendra mathur, Jugal Malani, Ashok Dhingra, Devi Prasad Rungta, Durga Agrawal and Anand Divakaruni.—Photo BIJAY DIXIT.

INDIA HERALD • WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4, 2015 • PAGE 15

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New Zealand narrowly beat Australia

Pakistan beat Zimbabwe by 20 runsPakistan survived a scare to pull off a dramatic 20-run victory

over Zimbabwe and record their fi rst win at the 2015 World Cup. Skipper Misbah-ul-Haq’s stubborn 73 and a fi ery half-century from pace bowler Wahab Riaz helped the 1992 winners recover from 4-2 to reach 235-7.

Brendan Taylor’s 50 looked to have put Zimbabwe on course for a famous win.

But Mohammad Irfan, with career-best one-day international fi gures of 4-30, and Riaz (4-45) won it for Pakistan.

PakistAn 235 for 7 in 50 overs (Misbah 73, Riaz 54, Akmal 33; Chatara 3 for 35, Williams 2 for 38)

Zimbabwe 215 all out in 49.4 overs (Taylor 50, Williams 33, Chigumbura 35; Irfan 4 for 30, Riaz 4 for 35)

Sri Lanka trounce England by 9 wicketsEngland slipped to a third crushing defeat in four World Cup

games as Sri Lanka comfortably chased 310 to win by nine wick-ets in Wellington.

Lahiru Thirimanne hit an unbeaten 139 and Kumar Sangakkara 117 not out to seal victory with 16 balls to spare.

Earlier, Joe Root made 121 as England accelerated late on to post 309-6.

England will almost certainly be eliminated if they lose either of their fi nal two games against Bangladesh and Afghanistan.

England 309 for 6 in 50 overs (Root 121, Bell 49, Butler 39; Malinga, Lakmal, Mathews, Dilshan, Herath, Perera 1 wkt each)

Sri Lanka 312 for 1 in 47.2 overs (Thirimanne 139 n/o, San-gakkara 117 n/o, Dilshan 44)

New Zealand survived a late collapse to beat Australia by one wicket in a thrilling World Cup Pool A game.

Chasing a meagre 152 to win, the Kiwis slipped from 131-4 to 146-9 as Mitchell Starc (6 for 28) struck three times in fi ve balls to give Australia late hope.

However, Kane Williamson (45 n/o) hit Pat Cummins for six to seal victory with 26.5 overs to spare in a wonderfully tense climax at Eden Park in Auckland.

Earlier, Australia lost eight wickets for 26 runs as they were bowled out for 151. Even Brad Haddin’s pugnacious 43 in a last-wicket stand of 45 with Cummins could not prevent Australia posting their lowest World Cup total batting fi rst.Vettori fi nished with 2-41, while Trent Boult claimed fi ve wickets for one run in 17 balls in front of a boisterous home crowd en route to his best ODI fi gures.

Australia 151 all out in 32.3 overs (Warner 34, Watson 23, Haddin 43; Boult 5 for 27, Southee and Vettori 2 wkts each)

New Zealand 152 for 9 in 23.1 overs (McCullum 50, William-son 45 n/o Anderson 26; Starc 6 for 28Cummins 2 for 38)

India make short work of UAEDefending champions India maintained their perfect start at the

World Cup as they outclassed United Arab Emirates in a one-sided contest in Perth.

India were on top throughout and dismissed UAE for 102 - the lowest total at the World Cup so far, behind England’s 123 against New Zealand. Only a spirited 35 from Shaiman Anwar spared UAE from real embarrassment.

India lost just one wicket as they raced to their target in 18.5 overs, Rohit Sharma hitting a half-century.

UAE 102 all out in 31.3 overs (Anwar 35; Ashwin 4 for 25, Yadav and Jadeja 2 wkts each)

India 104 for 1 in 18.5 overs (R. Sharma 57 n/o Kohli 33 n/o)

Kane Williamson and Trent Boult celebrate after the winning hit for six by Williamson

PAGE 16 • LINDIA HERALD • WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4, 2015

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Rahman on 3-month tour of N. America

NEW DELHI: Music maestro A. R. Rahman, who will start his three-month-long North American tour March 21, promises to deliver “special performances”.

The tour will begin May 21 in Huntington, NY at The Paramount before travelling to major cities across the US, including the Beacon Theatre in New York City, Bass Concert Hall in Austin, The Audito-rium Theatre in Chicago and the Nokia Theatre at Los Angeles.

“I’ve been wanting to return to North America to perform for a while now, and I’m excited to be coming back for a series of concerts this spring,” Rahman said in a statement on his Facebook page.

“These are going to be very special performances and I’m grateful to have the chance to share them with you,” he added.

Titled A.R. Rahman: The Intimate Concert Tour and sponsored by JBL, the tickets for the show will go on sale March 6, with VIP pack-ages available on March 4.

The 48-year-old is also the subject of a new documentary about his music, titled Jai Ho, which premiered on Februray 25 at the Museumof the Moving Image in New York.

Rahman has won two Academy Awards, two Grammy Awards, a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe and six honorary doctorates. He is working on a composition for the forthcoming fi lm Pele, about the leg-endary Brazilian soccer player.

Sonam Kapoor, who tested positive for swine fl u, was fl own from Rajkot to Mumbai by an air-ambulance on Szturday, Feb 26,, the Medi-cal Director of Sterling hospital in Rajkot, Dr Kamal Parikh, told PTI.

Sonam was admitted in Sterling after she complained of mild fever, cold and cough, following which tests for swine fl u were conducted, he said. Sonam was in Gondal town of Rajkot district shooting for Rajshri Productions’ Prem Ratan Dhan Payo in which she stars opposite Sal-man Khan.

Sonam’s father, Anil Kapoor, told reporters that she was doing much better and wasexpected to recover in about a week.

Cast: Ayushmann Khurrana, Bhumi Pednekar. Director: Sharat Kataria

We meet our protagonists who live in ‘90s Haridwar, in a world of VCRs and landline phones. A world where the father warns the son not to let a cow enter their shop and people are greeted with “chai-campa”. It’s also a world where an overbearing family gets its unwilling son Prem a.k.a Lap-pu (Ayushmann Khurrana) mar-ried against his wishes.

Lappu’s prospective new bride turns out to be an overweight “padhi likhi” girl Sandhya (Bhu-mi Pednekar) with ambitions of becoming a teacher. In contrast, he is an exercise enthusiast who writes his English paper in Hindi. The pre-wedding night has the bride and groom puke and sneeze in turns (considered ominous by superstitious folk).

The dreaded fi rst night where the two enter a room with the groom’s family eagerly watching is a delight. Soon, word spreads that “nothing happened”. The families react as if tragedy has struck. The night there is the noise of sex coming from the bedroom,

the groom’s mother heartily ex-claims, “Sayaana ho gaya hai, apna Prem.” She also offers to call other concerned relatives so they can heave a sigh of relief. Their lack of boundaries and privacy is both alarming and amusing.

Meanwhile, Lappu is yet to come to terms with his reality. He feels embarrassed of even walk-ing with his chubby bride, but the surprise in store is the bride her-self.

Sandhya’s mother keeps warn-ing her to not try and equal her handsome husband, and to “keep quiet” when there is domestic strife. Sandhya certainly does not consider herself his equal; she feels she’s far better off than her spineless husband who is not even 10th pass.

This lovingly crafted character is an epitome of self-esteem and confi dence that even the most beautiful lack. She often admires herself in front of the mirror, her long hair loose and a bindi on her fl awless skin. Let the world describe her in less than compli-mentary terms, in her own eyes, she’s a rock-star!

Which is why she can’t stand

being treated badly. She shows her arrogant husband his place lovingly, and takes some pretty dramatic decisions for a small-town girl from a conservative family.

The fi lm is full of bitter-sweet moments that stay with you. Prem and Sandhya’s equation develops over several hesitant moments, including some heartfelt ones like the falling of her chappal from the scooter. Their domestic battle that plays out in the form of old Hindi songs, as the family watches help-lessly, is a masterstroke. So is ev-eryone’s reaction as she returns to her maternal home after a fi ght; her father asks if her husband has hit her (only physical violence can justify such a drastic step).

The incredibly sharp, witty dia-logue is an absolute treat and the performances terrifi c! Ayushmann Khurrana is superb as the self-proclaimed failure who learns to look at life differently thanks to his new bride. He is struggling on several levels, from standing up to his family to his friends who sub-tly show off to chide him.

Debutante Bhumi Pednekar sets the screen on fi re with her incred-ibly self-assured performance. When she talks, you listen, as do others around her. She also brings in ample amounts of warmth to her strong character, and her per-formance is simply a delight.

The peripheral cast led by San-jay Mishra, Seema Bhargava, Alka Amin and Sheeba Chaddha is astonishingly good.

Director Sharat Kataria weaves together a fi lm that has enough heart, humor and romance to war-rant a second watch. Do not miss! -- Sonia Chopra in Sify.com

Dum Laga Ke Haisha: A hearty-humorous concoction!

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Accenture is top recruiter at IIM-AAHMEDABAD: Consulting firm Accenture Strategy was the top

recruiter across all clusters at the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad’s final placements which concluded this week, havingselected 21 students from the top B-school in terms of number ofoffers. More than 115 firms participated in IIM Ahmedabad’s place-ment process to recruit among 375 students with recruiters covering agamut of sectors including young technology start-ups. Eleven stu-dents opted out of the placement process to start their own ventures invarious sectors like adventure tourism, data analytics, e-commerce,food processing among others.

Among top recruiters, in the strategy-consulting domain apart fromAccenture Strategy, McKinsey & Company and The Boston Con-sulting Group extended 10 each, Bain & Company made 9 offers.Among the banking and financial services firms, Yes Bank made 10offers. Among global investment banks, Goldman Sachs made 5 of-fers for various roles. In the consumer goods and services sector,Hindustan Unilever and Star TV India were the leading recruitershaving extended 6 offers each. Bharti Airtel made 9 offers, AdityaBirla Group and Future Group made 8 offers each. In the Internet &e-commerce sector, Amazon made 13 offers and Samsung 10.

SRINAGAR: PeoplesDemocratic Party leader MuftiMohammad Sayeed took oath tobecome chief minister of Jammuand Kashmir State on Sundaymorning, March 1. Sayeed's tak-ing charge ended 49 days ofGovernor's Rule since the assem-bly election results were an-nounced in December.

Bharatiya Janata Party leaderNirmal Singh took oath as deputychief minister.

The new Jammu and Kash-mir State government is the firsttime an alliance has been formedbetween the PDP and the BJP.Sayeed, 79, who founded hisparty in 1999, has dubbed thePDP-BJP alliance as the meet-ing of "North Pole and SouthPole."

"We want to make this alliancea turning point. We want to dojustice for all people," he said,

Sayeed was administered theoath at General Zorawar SinghAuditorium of Jammu Universityshortly after 11 am. The functionwas attended by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and other seniorBJP leaders including L.K.Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi.Modi described the alliance as a"historic opportunity."

The December assemblyelection, which recorded one ofthe highest voter turnouts inJammu and Kashmir, led to PDPemerging as the single largestparty with 28 seats, BJP 25, Na-tional Conference 15 and Con-gress 12.

Besides Sayeed, PDP's 13and BJP's 11 lawmakers alsotook oath as ministers. Separat-ist-turned-politician Sajjad GaniLone, who met Modi ahead ofthe elections in Delhi, was alsosworn-in as a minister.

In 2002, Sayeed headed a PDP-Congress coalition government fora three-year term. The PDP andBJP have agreed that Mufti willbe the chief minister for the full six-year term.

Although the BJP and PDPhave struck a deal, there is con-cern over whether the two partieswill be able to function togethergiven their vast ideological differ-ences on critical issues like Article370, which gives special status toJammu and Kashmir State, and theAFPSA law, which shields soldiersfrom prosecution in conflict zones.

BJP has stood for the abroga-tion of Article 370, but PDP haspushed for greater autonomy thanwhat is available under the currentconstitutional scheme. BJP backsAFSPA as necessary to battling thelow-intensity insurgency in Kash-mir, but PDP wants its withdrawal.

On Sunday, the J&K govern-ment released its Common Mini-mum Program, a document thataims to give some insight into howthe two parties plan to tackle someof these tough issues.

On AFSPA: The coalition gov-

ernment will thoroughly reviewsecurity situation in state with aview to examine need and desir-ability of all the special laws beingapplied to state.

Article 370: While recogniz-ing the different positions of bothparties the present position will bemaintained on all the constitutionalprovisions including special status.

In a press conference, Sayeedsaid that he favoured a dialoguewith Pakistan, and the Indian gov-ernment should consider the viewpoint of the Hurriyat Conference,an alliance of separatist leaders.Sayeed also said that Pakistan,Hurriyat & militants had allowedfor the peaceful conduct of elec-tions in November-December.

Congress staged a walkout inthe Lok Sabha over Sayeed'sstatement demanding that PrimeMinister Narendra Modi condemnSayeed's remark in the House.

The PDP-BJP coalition gov-ernment assumed office after twomonths of negotiations.

Demanding an apology fromMufti Mohammed Sayeed forcrediting Pakistan, militants andseparatists for the smooth conductof polls, National Conference to-day termed the statement an "in-sult" to the people of the state.

NC MLA Mohammed AkbarLone pointed out that militants hadtried to scuttle the polls and theHurriyat had campaigned for boy-cott of elections in Kashmir Val-ley, but the people defied the boy-cott calls and came out in largenumbers to vote.

"Mufti sahab should havethanked the people of Jammu andKashmir for the successful polls.Instead of thanking them, he gavecredit to militants, Hurriyat andPakistan - which is an insult to thepeople of the state," Lone said.Calling the statement unfortunate,he demanded an apology from theChief Minister. Political opponentsof the BJP and PDP have reactedto their alliance with skepticism.

"If these two parties can cometogether this clearly indicates thatpower is a very potent clue andsomeday the sun can rise from thewest," Manish Tewari told ANI.

PDP-BJP coalition govt in Jammu & Kashmir

Death threats to Hazare on FacebookPUNE: Disconcerted by a death threat made by a user who claims

to be a Canadian NRI to Anna Hazare on Facebook, the Maharashtragovernment on Wednesday increased the security detail outside theanti-corruption activist’s home and office in Ralegan Siddhi inAhmednagar district.

The State government, already rattled by the yet-to-be solved mur-ders of rationalist Narendra Dabholkar and CPI leader Govind Pansare,does not want to take any chances despite Hazare having receiveddeath threats in the past, police sources said.

metal detectors have been installed outside his home and officewhile a further detail of four policemen have been added to the sep-tuagenarian activist’s ‘Z-category’ security.

Hazare’s office has already lodged a complaint with the MahatmaPhule police station in Kalyan in Mumbai. They have also intimatedthe Maharashtra DGP of the threats that were posted on Facebook onFebruary 24 and 25.

Saudi prize for preacher Zakir NaikRIYADH: An Indian television preacher who has called the 9/11

attacks an “inside job “ received one of Saudi Arabia's most presti-gious prizes on Sunday, for “service to Islam.”

Zakir Naik, president of the Islamic Research Foundation in India,was one of five recipients of the King Faisal International Prize fromSaudi Arabia's King Salman during a ceremony at a luxury Riyadhhotel. The annual prizes are a project of the King Faisal Foundation,established in 1976 by the children of King Faisal bin Abdul Aziz whodied in 1975.

Naik was honored for being one of the most renowned non-Arabicspeaking promoters of Islam. He founded the Peace TV channel,billed as the world's only channel specialising in comparative religion.

In a July 2008 Peace TV broadcast Naik suggested that Al Qaedawas not responsible for flying hijacked airliners into New York's WorldTrade Center on September 11, 2001, killing almost 3,000 people.

“Even a fool will know that this was an inside job,” he said in thevideo, claiming then-President George W. Bush was behind the at-tacks. In 2010 Naik was reportedly barred from entering Britain afterthe Home Secretary cited “numerous comments” which showed his“unacceptable behavior”.

Mufti Mohammad Sayeed

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Railways given $137bn boostin budget

NEW DELHI: The government has announced plans to invest$137bn (£88bn) in its ageing railway network over the next five years.Unveiling the annual railway budget, Railway Minister Suresh Prabhusaid the cash boost will help modernise existing tracks and introducefaster trains.

Prabhu left the heavily subsidised passenger fares unchanged.The state-run railways operate more than 12,000 trains, carrying

some 23 million passengers daily. But decades of neglect, low invest-ment and subsidised fares have left the network in a shambles.

The fall in the price of diesel that powers most Indian trains and apick-up in freight earnings has made funds available for investment,officials say.

Prabhu told parliament that funds would be also raised from multi-lateral lenders, infrastructure and pension funds, as well as from"monetisation" of railway assets. He said the railway would not beprivatised. "Over the next five years, the railways have to undergo atransformation," Prabhu said. "We have to make Indian Railways abenchmark organisation in safety, security and infrastructure."

Prabhu promised to make India's railways safer, build more lines,increase the speed of journeys on nine major routes, and improve theexperience of travelling with wi-fi in stations.

"Railways facilities have not improved substantially for the pastfew decades, which is the result of under-investment that affects ca-pacity, leading to poor morale," he said.

Successive governments have backed away from modernising thenetwork and instead used the system to provide cheap transport andjobs. The lack of investment has meant slower services and moreaccidents. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that revamping therailways is a priority for his government and that he wants the "rail-way stations to have better facilities than airports".

NEW DLEHI: Prime Minis-ter Narendra Modi's governmenthas unveiled a business-friendlybudget aimed at attracting greaterinvestment for the economy.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitleyannounced an unprecedented cor-porate tax cut, in the government'sfirst full budget.

But he also proposed majorbenefits for the poor, introducinga universal social security scheme.

India will grow at a rate of morethan 8% during 2015-16, a keyeconomic report said ahead of thebudget.

The growth forecast followsthe country's new way of calcu-lating GDP which has causedsome confusion.

Presenting the budget in par-liament Mr Jaitley said the coun-try was growing at a strong rate,inflation was down and foreignexchange reserves were high.

"We inherited a sentiment of

doom and gloom. The investmentcommunity had almost written usoff. We have come a long waysince then," he said. "We haveturned around the economy, dra-matically restoring macroeco-nomic stability and creating theconditions for sustainable povertyelimination, job creation, durabledouble digit economic growth."

Among the major announce-ments made by Jaitley are:

• Five "ultra mega" powerprojects of 4,000 megawatts(MW) will be built to ease theenergy crisis

• Spending on infrastructure willbe raised by $11.3bn (£7.32bn) toboost growth

• Creating a "universal socialsecurity" that would give poor In-dians access to subsidised insur-ance and pensions

• Implementation of a uniformcountrywide goods and servicestax (GST) by April 2016

• Welfare money to be paid di-rectly into people's bank accountsto eliminate corruption and waste

Jaitley unveils business-friendly budget

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley(center) walks into Parliament to

present his budget

• Wealth tax to be abolished andreplaced by a surcharge on thesuper rich

• Corporate tax to be cut by25% over next four years

Radhika Rao, an economistwith DBS in Singapore toldReuters news agency thatSaturday's budget was "prag-matic, wide-ranging and inclusivegiven the emphasis on social safetynets".

Analysts say the government'schallenge will be to balance itsspending with the need for fiscalrestraint.

Jaitley said the governmentwould achieve its goal of cuttingthe fiscal deficit to 4.1% of grossdomestic product (GDP) for2014-15 from 4.5% the year be-fore.

Some had billed this budget asbeing the most significant since1991 - which effectivelyliberalised India's economy.

But Finance Minister ArunJaitley's closing lines were basi-cally admitting this was a budgetlacking "Big Bang" reforms.

The devil will be in the detail aswe plough through the small print.

A firm start date for a much-needed goods and services tax,billions of dollars for infrastructureand a "no surprises" lower corpo-rate tax, strike me as the big busi-ness announcements.

Not using the low oil price as achance to make more sweepingcuts to the vast subsidy bill couldwell prove to be a missed oppor-tunity. But if the proposals for auniversal social security systemever reach fruition - offering asafety net for the hundreds of mil-lions of India's poorest - historywill surely judge that as the stand-out announcement of this much-hyped budget.

Naturopathy cure forKejriwal’s cough

NEW DELHI: Delhi ChiefMinister Arvind Kejriwal will leavefor Bengaluru later this week toundergo naturopathy treatment for10 days for high sugar level andchronic cough.

He will leave for Bengaluru onMarch 5 and get naturopathytreatment there for 10 days.

Incidentally, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi had also askedKejriwal to consult a yoga thera-pist in Bengaluru during the DelhiPolice's 'At Home' function herea couple of weeks ago.

Deputy Chief Minister ManishSisodia will take care of day-to-day affairs of the Delhi Govern-ment in his absence.

"Arvind's sugar level has re-mained above 300 for the past 10days. Doctors increased the insu-lin dose three-fold and intake ofother medicines by up to two foldbut despite that, cough has wors-ened and sugar levels continuedto remain on the higher side,"sources close to Kejriwal said.

"The cough worsened duringthe hectic Delhi election cam-paign. He suffers from chronicallergic cough. The dust and pol-lutants he inhaled while address-ing over 110 jan sabhas in the citymade things worse," they added.

No more beef in MaharashtraMUMBAI: Beef, the popular red meat, was on Tuesday, March

3, banned in Maharashtra with presidential assent being accorded tothe relevant legislation -- two decades after the assembly had passedit during the former Shiv Sena-BJP government in the state.

Presidential assent was accorded to the Maharashtra Animal Pre-vention (Amendment Bill), 1995, which bans even the slaughter ofbulls and bullocks, but will allow the slaughter of water buffaloes, con-sidered to yield an inferior quality of beef.

The state had already banned cow slaughter under the MaharashtraAnimal Prevention Act, 1976, barring bulls or bullocks, the culling ofwhich was permitted with certain regulations. "Thanks a lot Hon Presi-dent Sir for the assent on Maharashtra Animal Preservation Bill. Ourdream of ban on cow slaughter becomes a reality now," Chief Minis-ter Devendra Fadnavis said in a tweet.

Mumbai alone consumes around 90,000 kg of beef daily, with around25 percent accounting for water buffalo meat, called carabeef, through900 licensed and hundreds more illegal outlets.

However, all the culling and processing of around 450 large animalswhich are slaughtered daily is carried out only at the Deonar Abattoir,Asia's largest, in north-east Mumbai.

For several weeks, beef traders in most of the state's cities andtowns have been on strike protesting against harassment by right-wing and Hindu groups, who are also demanding closure of DeonarAbattoir. Beef traders fear that the new development will render sev-eral thousand unemployed and hike the prices of mutton, chicken, fishand other meats in the retail markets and in restaurants and hotels.

Modi hints at changes in land billNEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi pledged to meet

farmers' concerns over issues of land and distanced himself fromJammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed's com-ments on state elections that triggered a huge row.

Modi was at his aggressive best as he attacked the Congress, theLeft and the opposition in the Rajya Sabha. On the controversial landbill that has led to widespread criticism, the prime minister said: "Ifthere is anything in it against farmers, I have said it since day one thatwe are ready to make changes."

He said land was needed for irrigation schemes, rural housing androads, explaining the reason for his government's decision to push fora law that would make it easier to acquire land.

INDIA HERALD • WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4, 2015 • PAGE 19

INDIA

Police in India have secured a court injunction blocking the broad-cast of an interview with one of the Delhi gang rapists on death row.The Delhi court order also prevents publication of the interview, whichhas angered many in India.

It came as the government demanded an explanation from jail offi-cials over how a British film-maker gained access. The Delhi rapeshocked the world. Four men were sentenced to hang for raping andmurdering a 23-year-old student. Film maker Leslee Udwin's inter-view appears in India's Daughter, a BBC Storyville documentarydue to be broadcast on March 8, International Women's Day. It wasalso due to be shown in India on NDTV.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh was taking the matter "seriously"and had spoken to the Tihar jail director-general to demand an urgentreport, PTI news agency quoted officials as saying.

"We urge the Indian media not to show it," said Delhi Police chiefBS Bassi, the Times of India reported. In the interview, one of theconvicted rapists, Mukesh Singh, expresses no remorse and says thevictim should not have fought back.

Udwin says she sought - and received - permission to conduct theinterview from the then director-general of Tihar jail and the Ministryof Home Affairs (MHA). "The letter basically stated that it was acampaigning film. I had applied for permission in May 2013 and I gotthe answer 'yes' in two weeks," she told reporters in Delhi. "Official

Delhi court blocks film with gang rapist’s interviewpermission of MHA also came.Permission from the prison wasalso signed."

Earlier, prominent women ac-tivists wrote a letter to NDTV,asking the channel to refrain fromshowing the film which they saidwould amount to contempt ofcourt.

Along with three of the otherattackers, Mukesh Singh is ap-pealing against his death sentence.While prosecutors say the mentook turns to drive the bus, and alltook part in the rape, he says hestayed at the wheel throughout.His brother Ram Singh was alsoconvicted but died in prison be-fore the trial.

A teenager found guilty of rapeand murder in the case was sen-tenced to three years in a juvenilereform facility.

In the film, Mukesh Singhshows no remorse and expressesbewilderment that such a fuss isbeing made about this rape, wheneveryone was at it. "A decent girlwon't roam around at nine o'clockat night. A girl is far more respon-sible for rape than a boy," he saysin the film. "Housework andhousekeeping is for girls, notroaming in discos and bars at nightdoing wrong things, wearingwrong clothes.

"When being raped, sheshouldn't fight back. She shouldjust be silent and allow the rape.Then they'd have dropped her offafter 'doing her', and only hit theboy," he says.

The December 2012 gang rape led to widespread protests and demandsfor better protection of women

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Kejriwal offers to quit as AAP convenerNEW DELHI: Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal has offered

to resign as the national convener of the Aam Aadmi Party in themiddle of a growing rift within his party. The development comesahead of the party’s National Executive meeting today — a crucialone that will decide the fate of senior leaders Yogendra Yadav andPrashant Bhushan in its political affairs committee (PAC).

Kejriwal, citing health reasons, has skipped the meeting. He is likelyto leave for Bengaluru on Wednesday evening for naturopathy treat-ment for a period of 10 days.

Over the past few days, battle-lines have hardened in the party,which rose to power in the landmark Delhi elections early in February.Sharp differences have come to the fore within the party with allega-tions that Bhushan and Yadav were trying to “remove” Kejriwal fromthe post of party convener.

However, Yadav today tweeted pleading for unity in the party.

PAKISTANPAGE 20 • INDIA HERALD • WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4, 2015

ISLAMABAD: India’s For-eign Secretary SubrahmanyanJaishankar’s visit to Pakistan andhis subsequent meeting with hiscounterpart and premier NawazSharif has raised several questionson where bilateral relations be-tween the two hostile countries areheaded.

After having called off talkswith Pakistan last year, the Indiandiplomat’s visit was labeled a“Saarc yatra” by some, a senti-ment resonated by AizazChaudhry, Pakistan’s foreign sec-retary, in a post-meet press con-ference.

But experts seem to think oth-erwise. Gohar Ayub, Pakistan’sformer foreign minister, while talk-ing to DawnNews, said the Indiandiplomat’s visit cannot be seen asa Saarc-related visit only. “Saarchas its own secretariat and av-enues,” he said.

He said the recent visit couldbe the result of “third-party pres-sure.” “President Obama’s recentvisit to India could have forcedNarendra Modi to revisit his strat-egy vis-à-vis talks with Pakistan,”he said. “India needs good ties withPakistan if it wants to expand eco-nomically and exploit central Asian

Indian Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar, left, with his Pakistani counterpartAizaz Chaudhry in Islamabad on March 3.

Jaishankar in Pakistan; more than ‘SAARC yatra’?

trade routes.”Maj-Gen (retd) Amjad Shoaib,

talking to DawnNews, alsoplayed down the “Saarc-only”rhetoric.

“The US realizes that if Indiais to play a positive role in Af-ghanistan following Nato’s with-drawal, relations with Pakistanare a key,” he said.

“Obama may have broughthome the importance of the situ-ation to Modi, which has resultedin India once again resuming talkswith Pakistan,” he said.

But the retired general did notbelieve Jaishankar’s visit will giveway to a new era of bilateral dis-cussions on issues of concern be-tween the two countries.

Earlier, the two foreign secre-taries said they had discussed allissues of importance between thetwo countries. Aizaz Chaudhrysaid in a press conference thatissues ranging from recent LoCviolations to the Mumbai attackto Indian interference inBalochistan were discussed be-tween the two diplomats.

Pakistan's foreign secretaryfurther said that the overall toneof the talks was positive and thatthere was a lot to reflect on for

both sides. He emphasised theneed to root out terrorism, andsaid both countries had agreed toplay their respective roles in elimi-nating this menace.

NDTV has quoted Pakistan'sforeign office spokesperson assaying that they expect the re-sumption of structured dialogueafter Jaishankar's visit.

"We have noted that the visit isin the context of SAARC. How-ever, when the Foreign Secretar-ies meet, bilateral relations wouldbe discussed. We expect this in-teraction would lead to resump-tion of the dialogue process," of-ficials said.

But they made it clear thatPakistan would not stop talking toseparatists.

"The practice of Pakistani HighCommissioner and Pakistanileadership meeting with Kashmirishas been going on for a long timenow.

“We have been meetingKashmiri leaders and will continueto meet them as and when weconsider necessary," TasnimAslam Khan, Pakistan's ForeignOffice spokesperson told NDTV.

India has said the purpose ofJaishankar's visit is mainly to ex-plore the "process of normaliza-tion" between the two countries.

TTP commander nabbed in HanguHANGU: Security forces on Tuesday, March 3, arrested four mem-

bers of the banned outfit Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) during araid in the Chapri Naryab region. TTP commander Lal Sher was amongthe four suspected militants who were later taken to an unknown loca-tion for further interrogation.

Weapons and bombs were recovered from their hideout, securityforces said. Hangu had been on the frontline of a seven-year-longTaliban insurgency and borders the semi-autonomous Federally Ad-ministered Tribal Areas (Fata) and the northwestern tribal region ofOrakzai, one of Pakistan's seven lawless districts on the Afghan bor-der considered to be the hub of Taliban and Al Qaeda-linked militants.

Last year, it was the stage of several deadly Taliban attacks onsecurity forces and civilians alike.

Security forces have strengthened their resolve to combat terror-ism in the country after the deadly Peshawar school massacre in whichmore than 130 children were killed.

Security forces are conducting operations across the country withvaried success, including in the financial capital Karachi, where Rang-ers and police are targeting terrorist hideouts and making mass ar-rests. Early last month, it emerged that at least 10,000 people havebeen arrested by civilian and military agencies.

Karachi, cheapest large cityA report featured on the BBC this week revealed that the Econo-

mist Intelligence Unit (EIU) has recognised Karachi as the cheapestlarge city in the world. It was awarded the same title last year by theEIU during its annual survey on the worldwide cost of living.

The survey took into account the cost of living in 133 cities world-wide using New York City as the base. A basket of more than 160goods and services was compared, including utilities, clothing and foodprices. The low cost of living in Karachi could be attributed to thedecrease in inflation in Pakistan’s largest city over the past year.

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Inflation Monitor showed thatthe year-on-year inflation rate in Karachi was 7.6% in January 2014and consisted of 10.6% food inflation and 5.4% non-food inflation.

In January 2015, the year-on-year inflation rate in Karachi haddropped to 4.5%, comprising 1.2% food inflation and 7.1% non-foodinflation. SBP Governor Ashraf Mahmood Wathra had described thefall in inflation as broad-based and was quoted saying:

“The deceleration in [food inflation] is mainly the result of bettersupply conditions while [non-food inflation] is explained by a combina-tion of factors, including plummeting international oil price as well asdecline in other global commodity prices; lagged impact of earlier con-servative monetary policy stance and moderating aggregate demand;and stable exchange rate,” he added.

Bangalore, Caracas, Mumbai and Chennai are also among the fivecheapest cities on the EIU list. The five most expensive cities in theworld remained unchanged this year: Singapore topped the list fol-lowed by Paris, Oslo, Zurich and Sydney.

Refusal to vaccinate kids drops a little ISLAMABAD: Refusal of polio vaccination to children declined

in the country this year, an encouraging development but not signifi-cant enough to raise hopes for quick eradication of the crippling dis-ease. Data available by Dawn says that 36,510 parents refused thevaccine in February compared with 54,061 in January.

Greatest resistance to the national immunisation campaigns wasobserved in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa - where almost 26,000 parents re-fused the vaccine in February – and the least in Punjab, 798.

Corresponding figure for Balochistan was 4,800, Sindh 4,342 andFata 635.

Many of them could have been persisting in their refusal. Howeverslightly, the refusals sadly increased in Punjab and Fata.

What could be worrying is the number of children missed during theFebruary campaign because they were not at home - 155,846 in Punjab,85,844 in Sindh, 62,795 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 15,764 in Fata and14,466 in Balochistan.

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Zardari meets withparty’s Punjab MPAs

ISLAMABAD: PPP co-chairman and former presidentAsif Ali Zardari held a meetingwith his party’s members in thePunjab Assembly here on Tues-day and discussed with them theparty’s strategy for the comingSenate elections.

It was Zardari’s second meet-ing with PPP’s MPAs fromPunjab in three days. Despitehaving only eight members in thePunjab Assembly, the PPP hasfielded Nadeem Afzal Chan as itscandidate on a general Senateseat from the province.

According to spokesman forthe PPP co-chairman SenatorFarhatullah Babar, six MPAs andpresident of PPP Punjab MianManzoor Ahmed Wattoo calledon Zardari who has been stayingin Islamabad since last week.

Zardari also met the presidentof the party’s KP chapter,Khanzada Khan, and discussedwith him situation in the provinceand the Senate elections.

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