asian voice

9th January to 15th January 2010VOL 38. ISSUE 35 80pLet noble thoughts come to us from every side

Continued on page 7

VOICEFIRST & FOREMOST ASIAN WEEKLY IN EUROPE SEE INSIDE ....

See Page - 6

Dinner in Shilpa’sHonour at House

of Commons

KollyCats

See Page -20

SEE INSIDE ....

See Page - 18

Health & HealingHome

remedies to cure

whoopingcough

Top 5actresses ofKollywood

in 2009

One of Gordon Brown'smost influential finan-cial backers, Lord Paul,is facing a fraud inquiryover expenses asScotland Yardannounced it is investi-gating two more peers.

Lord Paul, a majorLabour donor, isaccused of nominating aflat he had never stayedin as his “main home”allowing him to claimtens of thousands ofpounds in House ofLords expenses for hisLondon property.

The peer is amongthree politicians namedlast week as now facingScotland Yard inquiries,bringing to nine the totalnumber under investiga-tion.

Eric Ilsley, a LabourMP, and Lord Taylor of

Warwick are also facingcriminal probes. It hadbeen a peer, Uddin, whowas the first to bereported to the police. Inearly May 2009 it wasdisclosed that Uddinhad claimed more than£100,000 in expensesafter telling the Lordsthat an empty unfur-nished flat in Kent washer main home.

Over the past fewweeks, the MetropolitanPolice have passed fileson a further six politi-cians – three MPs andthree peers – to theCrown ProsecutionService (CPS). The CPSis expected to rule onwhether the politicianswill be charged thismonth.

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Lord Swaraj Paul facesScotland Yard investigation

Lord Swaraj Paul

More than half of the peo-ple receiving MBEs wereput forward by membersof the public, with nomi-nations coming in fromacross the country.

In total 979 peoplehave been recommendedto The Queen for anaward:! 842 candidates havebeen selected at MBE andOBE level, 615 at MBEand 227 at OBE! 73 per cent of the recip-ients are local heroes,who’ve undertaken out-standing work in theircommunities! There are 441 success-ful women candidates inthe list; 45 per cent of thetotal six per cent of thesuccessful candidatescome from ethnic minoritycommunities

Amongst the candi-dates from ethnic minoritycommunities London-

based Judge Mota Singh,QC, has been knighted inthe Queen's New YearHonours List for 'servicesto the Administration ofJustice, CommunityRelations and to theVoluntary Sector'.

Sir Mota Singh toldThe Sikh Times, "I reallyfeel little humbled. It issuch a great honour. Itmeans recognition of theservices rendered to theBritish community atlarge," an elated MotaSingh, who is also aQueen's Counsel

His decision to wear awhite turban in court,instead of a wig, came tobe seen as a sign of a mul-ticultural Britain.

Mota Singh said, henever experienced racismin Britain, when hebecame the country's firstSikh and Asian judge in1982.

British Asians shine in the2010 New Year Honours ListThe 2010 New Year Honours List was published recog-nising outstanding achievement and service across thewhole of the United Kingdom.

Once again, the majority of awards have gone tolocal heroes – extraordinary people from a wide range offields who have made a real difference in their commu-nities. The list includes a nun, a sheep farmer and thefirst-ever circus ringmaster to be honoured, as well asthe four-times British National Aerobatic Champion.

Captain Kandiah Chandran Judge Mota Singh, QC

PC Sarinder Kaur Dev

Ramanbhai Barber hasreceived an MBE. His tire-less commitment andmotivation for voluntaryand charitable work isunrelenting and he contin-

ues to devote considerabletime to engage all areas ofthe local community, irre-spective of race, genderand age.

Continued on page 11

Ramanbhai Barber

Asian Voice - Saturday 9th January 20102 UK

Husband of VarshaChampaclal has beensentenced to lifeimprisonment for themurder of his wife. Hehas been ordered toserve a minimum of 18years.

V a r s h aChampaclal, aged 44,had left her husbandThaker KardamRamanlal, aged 48, inAugust 2008. Just sixmonths later on 13February Ramanlalwent to her place ofwork armed with aknife and killed her.

Ramanlal, a callcentre worker, fromCoombe Lane, Kingston was charged on the 17

February with themurder of VarshaChampaclal inMitcham on 13February. Hepleaded guilty tomanslaughter onthe grounds ofd i m i n i s h e dre s p o n s i b i l i t y.However, the juryfound him guiltyof her murder asevidence showedhim to have intentoutlining hismovements onCCTV, buying aknife at his local

Sainsbury's beforevisiting Varsha's

place of work.

A Muswell Hill man hasbeen jailed for helping torun a passport forgingfactory in Barnet.

Malik Cherad, 36, ofBuckingham Lodge,admitted forgery, conspir-acy to manufacture andsupply fake ID docu-ments, and possession oftwo bogus French pass-ports, a local media hasrevealed.

In April, Met officersfrom the OrganisedImmigration Crime Unitraided a house in Mill Hilland uncovered a vastarray of forging equip-ment and fake docu-ments.

Cherad was arrested

and charged, and admit-ted he had acted as a mid-dleman passing data forthe fake documentsbetween members of thegang. He was jailed atWood Green Crown Courtfor three and a half years.

The forgery factory inMill Hill belonged toIsmail Hasko, 23, and hisbrother Andi Hasko, 21,who were in charge ofproducing the documents.

Valmir Gjoshi, 21, ofHighwood Court,Finchley Road, hadorganised the set up ofthe forging equipment,and Abdi Ali, 29, ofLimes Close, LimesAvenue, Arnos Grove was

in charge of selling themon for up to £100 each.

Gjoshi and IsmailHasko were both jailedfor six years, Andi Haskowas given a five year jailterm, and Ali was jailedfor 14 months.

Detective InspectorClive Strong, an officer inthe case, said after sen-tencing: "The convictionof this sophisticated crim-inal network sends a mes-sage loud and clear tothose involved in forgeryfactories like this that wewill not tolerate this crim-inal behaviour and willtrack down those respon-sible and hold themaccountable."

A health trust has beencondemned for paying oneof its bosses twice asmuch as the PrimeMinister while NHS serv-ices are under threat, anational daily reveals.

Professor SalmanRawaf, who was directorof public health at NHSWandsworth, was alleged-ly paid £370,000 last year -making him one of thehighest-paid public sectorworkers in the countryand well above Gordon'sBrown's salary of£194,250.

Now the primary caretrust has been accused ofwasting taxpayers' money.

The chairman ofWandsworth council'shealth committee, IanHart, said the trust did notget good value fromProfessor Rawaf because

he stopped coming tocouncil meetings and senthis deputy instead, asreported in the EveningStandard.

A spokesman for NHSWandsworth told the daily,£175,000 of the moneywas paid to ProfessorRawaf in pension andother "end-of-employ-

ment" payments.Professor Rawaf was

unavailable for comment.He appeared on a list

of the highest- paid publicservants published by theTaxPayers' Alliance. JohnO'Connell, policy analystat the alliance, told thesame: "These huge payoffswould have been excessiveeven in the good times.However, front-line work-ers in Wandsworth arebeing asked to take a payfreeze while those at thetop continue to seesalaries shoot up.

"It seems to be one rulefor the boss and anotherfor everyone else.Ordinary families don'twant to see their tax fund-ing bonuses for bureau-crats as their essentialservices come underthreat."

Jaspoul Singh, fromBowden Road, Londonwas convicted and sen-tenced on 15 December2009 at Blackfriars CrownCourt.

On 1 October 2009 ataround 03:30, intoxicatedJaspoul approached the49-year-old victim inKillick Street, N1.

The Sikh Timesreports that he allegedlygrabbed hold of the vic-tim's tie and dragged himapproximately 50 metresdown the street whilstshouting racist abuse andthreatening to stab him ifhe did not hand over hisbag. He also punched thevictim on the face. The

victim managed to run

away from him and calledpolice. However jaspouldid not manage to stealanything.

CCTV footage from anearby university hall ofresidence captured themoments when Singhattacked his victim.

Jailing him, the judge

took the view thatalthough he was afirst time offend-er, his drunkenstate was noexcuse for hisattack on aninnocent man.

TDC MarcusJohnson from theIslington CIDinvestigated the

attempted rob-bery: "This is a

stark warning to anyonecontemplating a criminalor violent path. Even if itis your first offence youwill be jailed for a signifi-cant period of time, thatyou were drunk when youcommitted the crime is noexcuse."

Health boss criticisedfor earning twice as

much as the PM

Professor Salman Rawaf

Forgery factory gang jailed

When Sai School HeadTeacher, Varsa Mistryread in the Asian Voiceabout the MaharajaExhibition at the V&AMuseum, she arranged avisit for pupils and par-ents to see this uniqueExhibition on 29thDecember. I would liketo share my experienceof my Xmas holidayhighlight.

I was impatientlywaiting for the incredibleday to come. It was along journey in the tubeto South Kensingtonwhere V&A is located.

I walked into theexhibition with SaiSchool pupils, my eyesslowly widening alongwith my mouth in greatamazement. There infront of me was a fullydecorated, life sized ele-phant positioned behinda horse! The elephantwas adorned with abeautiful rich, ruby redcloth. He had a huge sil-ver necklace around hisneck. Above the ele-phant there was a spe-cially designed seat

placed for a royal to situpon. The horse was alsodressed in the same fash-ion.

The exhibition has arare and amazing collec-tion from different partsof India of various itemsstarting from 18th to20th century, many beinglent from India’s royaltyfor the first time. As Ilooked around therewere many paintings,depicting weddings; peo-ple playing polo; royalsmeditating, people fight-ing and portraits.Looking at the paintingsone can deduce the rich-ness of lifestyles that thepeople had. On displaythere were rich andglamorous robes andsarees with intricatehand stitched designs.Men use to wear big dec-orated turbans and beau-tiful shoes.

Royals wore elabo-rate jewellery and theywere all made of Gold,diamonds, rubies andand sapphires. On viewthey also had some of

the weapons that wereused. The handle of theweapons were made outof gold with real stones,even the sword sleeveswere made out of gold.

We could see theBritish’s entry intoIndia through theBritish East IndiaCompany and changingrole of the Maharajasunder British rule. Manyroyals lavished gifts tothe British to maintaincontrol over their states.There were also somefootage of MahatmaGandhi at the time ofBritish government.Maharajas had immensewealth, but amazingly itwas someone who wasborn into an ordinaryfamily in Porbandar whohad the inner strengthto fight for India’s inde-pendence.

It was a great tripand I would recommendpeople to visit theMaharaja exhibition atthe V & A Museum as itfinishes on 15thJanuary.

by Aditi Vyas, Age 11

Future GenerationsSai School Harrow

My Trip to the Maharaja Exhibition

Estranged husband get lifesentence for murder

Varsha Champaclal

Blackfriars Crown Court

Jailed for attemptedrobbery and violence

Asian Voice - Saturday 9th January 2010 www.abplgroup.com 3

Thought for the WeekIndia’s decade of hopeOn the evidence of the past decade India’seconomic growth has given a nation of a bil-lion and more souls reason enough to dreamof even better times to come. It would be rashto dream extravagantly, for the challenges thatremain are still formidable and will surelyneed fresh ingenuity and resolve if they are tobe surmounted. For all that much has beenachieved. India has surprised herself and theworld beyond by her endeavours and achieve-ments in a multitude of fields, from scienceand its technological applications to furtherindustrial development. There is now a deep-er momentum to the process, a reflection ofpast gains and the experience thereof.

The seminal event was, of course, the eco-nomic liberalization of 1991, when the fettersof the license and permit raj were removedand a new dawn emerged. By the end of thelast century, India was on a steady 5 to 6 percent growth path, which lasted until 2004,from when the more substantial 8 to 9 percent level was reached. During last year’sglobal economic downturn the Indian econo-my grew by a commendable 6.9 per cent. Thiswas higher than the best year of the previousgrowth cycle. The signs are that the currentfiscal (2009-10) may well register a figuresomewhere between 7.5 to 8 per cent. Withthe major economies such as the US and

Canada and the EU heavyweights such asGermany and France and Japan emergingfrom the recession, the signs for India are pro-pitious, with the country’s foreign trade pick-ing up. Small wonder that the Indian Sensexwas up by 80 per cent for the calendar year,rising 120.99 points on New Year’s Eve, itsbiggest gain in 18 years. It closed at 17,464.8.The numbers overall are a reminder of the fastchanging economic scene in India. The percapita income of the average Indian has risenfrom Rs 1,300 per month in 1999-2000 to overRs 3000 per month today. Allowing for therise in prices, it means that that the averageIndian’s real purchasing power is more than60 per cent higher now than it was ten yearsago. This has been made possible by risinglevels of investment. While it is true that thesefigures conceal paradoxes and complexities,this economic surge in India has no compara-ble parallel in the West. We are clearly on thecusp of a remarkable development.

However, there is a downside to this storyof expansive growth. The levels of poverty arestill stubbornly high. There are miles to gobefore such poverty is substantially reduced.This is surely one of the most demandingchallenges that India will face in the comingdecades. So while India has much to cele-brate, there is also much cause for concern.

Political mayhem a current diseaseTo some extent India’s size offers a measure ofprotection against the effects of social and polit-ical disorder. Otherwise the anarchy would havebeen an even greater threat to the vitals of theIndian state. The coastal strip of Telengana inthe southern state of Andhra Pradesh has beenablaze with opportunistic local politicians andtheir unruly supporters demanding the creationof a separate state.

The case for smaller states carved out of larg-er entities for reasons of effective administrationand development has generally been a strongone. Consider Haryana and Himachal Pradeshwhich were once poverty stricken constituentsof Punjab but are successful and vibrant statestoday in their own right. So too is a smaller andmore manageable Punjab. Uttarkhand has beena conspicuous success after its separation fromoutsize and maladministered Uttar Pradesh.

But there is a civilized way of going aboutthings. Mob rule is not the answer. Tempersappeared to have cooled over Telengana – atleast for the moment – and better sense hope-fully will prevail when talks commence in Delhi.

Elsewhere, the situation is more parlous.

Maoists are on the rampage in parts of easternand central India, with rail tracks blown up andtrains derailed. Maoists are working towards thedestruction of the Indian state. They want toreplace it with a totalitarian model such as wewitnessed during Chairman Mao’s lifetime. Thiscannot be. Whatever it takes the Maoist insur-gency must be defeated and destroyed, howeverloud the cries of their human rights lobbyists.

In Communist-ruled West Bengal, variousGorkha groups have commenced a violent agita-tion for a separate hill state. These are descen-dants of Nepalese immigrants, some wedded tothe cause of a Greater Nepal, one that appeals tothe malevolence of contemporary Chinese state-craft.

This is not a reassuring scene. The savinggrace is the strong presence of P. Chidambaram,the Home Minister, who well understands thesecurity threats to the country. His ministry, hefeels is too large and cumbersome and needs tobe broken into agencies with special responsibil-ities. He has interesting ideas. These have to beput in place with the appropriate speed. Time isof the essence.

Indian cricket disgracedThe recent farce at Delhi’s Ferozshah Kotlacricket ground, where a one-day internationalbetween India and the visiting Sri Lankan teamhad to be called off by the umpires, captainsand match referee because of the dangerousstate of the pitch, has tarred and feathered thereputation of the country’s cricket administra-tors.

At fault primarily are the Delhi cricketauthorities who have proved to be a law untothemselves. They have been exposed as a self-seeking rabble of crooks for whom cricket isless a sport and more a perk and perquisite inthe drive for power and political influence.

The President of the Delhi CricketAssociation is the heavyweight BJP politicianArun Jaitley and high up its pecking order isChetan Chauhan, a former Test player and cur-rent BJP member of the Lok Sabha. Whetherthey had planned a Vedic or Hindutva wicket isunclear, but it didn’t work. An officialannouncement following the suspension ofplay regretted the ‘inconvenience’ to the pub-lic: more in keeping with the routine declara-tion of regret for the late running of a train in

the UK. Cricket pitches are for experts with proven

experience, not for Johnny come latelys out tomake a fast buck. As it is Indian grounndsmenare usually paid a pittance for their labours.Present-day Test stars such as Virener Sehwagand Harbhajan Singh have deplored the inepti-tude and corruption that permeates the DelhiCricket Association. Former cricketers such asBishan Singh Bedi and Kirti Azad have swelledthe ranks of the disaffected.

Meanwhile, the International CricketCouncil (ICC) has asked the Board of Controlfor Cricket in India (BCCI) for an explanation.An ‘unfit’ pitch could result in a two-year banon the offending ground. Which means that theKotla would be off-limits for next year’sCricket World Cup. This should concentrateminds wonderfully well.

Elsewhere, the lights failed for forty minutesat the Eden Gardens in Kolkata in the previousmatch of the Sri Lanka series. The Communistgovernment in West Bengal hasn’t as yetblamed the glitch on India’s obeisance to USimperialism for the mishap, so help us God.

My column inNovember’s AV carried astory about the unprece-dented public transportfares hikes in London pro-posed by the London’sMayor Boris Johnson.This fares bombshell isworth taking yet anotherlook and see how it willaffect millions of alreadyhard-pressed bus and tubeusers.

The Financial Timeshas condemned faresincreases as the biggest inreal terms in Transport forLondon’s history. TheMayor promised in hiselection campaign to “putcommuters first” andarguing that the fareswere too high. Like manyof his u-turns the Mayorhas hiked the fares andpresided over a staggeringbonus bonanza of£17,244,651 for seniorstaff of Transport forLondon (TfL).

The fares increasemeans an overall tubefares rise of 3.9% andoverall bus fares up by12.7%. As a result thefares increase include:A single bus journey byOyster UP 20% to £1.20 A weekly oyster bus passUP 20% to £16.60 Six-zone peak single Tubefare by Oyster UP 10.5%to £4.20A five-zone off-peak sin-

gle Tube fare (outsidezone 1) UP 18.2% to£1.30 Most Oyster pay-as-you-go Tube fares UP by 20pper trip.

The pain inflicted onthe commuters could eas-ily have been avoided hadthe Mayor not made fool-ish decisions like axing ofthe western extension ofthe congestion charge;cancellation of the £25carbon charge on gas guz-zlers and replacement ofbendy buses.

My worry about theMayor is that he does notgive a damn aboutencouraging use of publictransport, the sustainabil-ity agenda and economicwell being of Londoners.

ANOTHER BOMB-SHELL !

CLOSURE OF TICKETOFFICES

I supported BorisJohnson’s commitmentduring the election cam-paign to keep the ticket

offices of Tube stationsopen because he claimedthat "There is little finan-cial, strategic or commonsense in these closures.We will halt all such ticketoffice closures immediate-ly." He also stated “I willalso defend local ticketoffices …. local peoplefeel it is important there isa manned ticket office attheir station…I will stopthe proposed Tube ticketoffice closures in outerLondon "

Initially – after hiselection success theMayor as promised, to mydelight and delight ofLondoners, scrapped theplans to close ticketoffices. But, the Mayorhas become an expert onbreaking his electionpledges and mastered theart of u-turn. I’m horrifiedwith the latest news indi-cating closures of ticketoffices rearing their headsagain. The Mayor, havingonce stood and signed theNorth Harrow petitionagainst closures, is nowgoing back on his promiseto residents. One by oneevery promise he makesto suburban Londoners isbeing broken amidstpathetic excuses while hetakes no responsibility forthe TfL budget decisionshe has made as theChairman of TfL over thelast eighteen months. It isnow patently clear this isanother area of Londonlife where Boris will costyou dear.

I quizzed the Mayor ata Plenary meeting in theLondon Assembly lastmonth about therumoured plans to close144 ticket offices. Hetried to duck the issue bystating that the stationswould be ‘manned’. Whenchallenged and asked forclarification whether a'staffed station' means anopen ticket office, he stat-ed that 'All London sta-tions will be properlystaffed' and 'whether ornot a station needs a tick-et office at all times'would be reviewed. Thisis not good enough. I’dcontinue to keep fightingon this issue and hold theMayor to account. I urgethe RMT union and oth-ers who lobbied to keepthe ticket offices open torenew their campaigns.

Public Transport FaresBombshell

“Our London”

CIIr Navin Shah AMLondon Assembly Member

for Brent and Harrow

COMMENT

Appreciation is a wonderful thing.

It makes what is excellent in

others belong to us as well

- Francois-Marie Arouet Voltaire

Asian Voice - Saturday 9th January 20104

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Cricket crazy Indians for the first time was seenso euphoric on Monday morning, as theyexpected a couple of Oscars. British Indians inthe UK, Dharavi slums, the shanty township ofMumbai, a village in Uttar Pradesh and almostthe entire Bollywood waited in expectation,glued to their TV sets. They burst into celebra-tions as one by one, their heroes, the actors ofthe British Indian film and the music maestro, AR Rahman bagged the top awards in the worldof entertainment.

British actress Kate Winslett also won theOscar after having missed it almost five timesearlier.

‘Smile Pinki’, a short documentary on acleft-lipped Indian girl in Uttar Pradesh directedby American director Megan Mylan, won theOscar for the Best Documentary (Short).

‘Smile Pinky’ too gets the Oscar

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It is outrageous on the part of seniorcongress leader Jayanthi Natarajan tocriticise the JMM-BJP government head-ed by Shibu Soren as an ‘unnaturalalliance of vested interests’ and she saidthat there is a complete lack of politicalintegrity in BJP.

Mr. Shibu Soren was part of the UPAgovernment led by the congress party. Inspite of several cases pending againsthim from 1974, the congress party madean alliance with Jharkhand MukthiMorcha (JMM) in successive elections.The Congress party would have joinedhands with JMM if the Chief Minister’spost was given to the Congress party eventhough the congress party had fewerseats than JMM or BJP.

The Congress party also has severalcorrupt politicians. Rahul Gandhi whotook dollars in excess of what allowed inAmerica was stopped at the airport andMr. Vajpayee, the Prime Minister of Indiaat that time came to his rescue. Now theUPA government wants to take actionagainst Mr. Soren for a murder case thattook place in 1974.

In stead of dealing with other prob-lems like terrorism in India and problemsfacing Indian students abroad, the gov-ernment is bullying the political oppo-nents by framing cases against them thattook place 35 years ago.

Arun VaidyanathanVia Email

JMM-BJP Government

I think its high time India becomeserious about its border control, securityof her citizens and standing up for itsown security.

I think India has until now main-tained very lenient immigration policies,which we all have enjoyed. India andher people has badly suffered because ofthis due to terrorism and loss of lifeand property. Its high time for a changeand I welcome this move. Also I can'tunderstand how UK and USA can opposethis move while they themselves operatemuch stricter immigrations policies!

Every year thousands of Indian citi-zens get rejected for visa despite pay-ing huge amount of money. These coun-tries operate immigration as business andjudge applicants on the basis of their abil-ity to bring revenue to their countries,while India has taken this move for herown security. I pay thousandsof rupees worth of money to UK govern-ment every year just to bring my Indiancitizen parents to see me, I have to pro-duce enormous amount of paper workto prove I am earning enough and despitemulti-entry tourist visa they are notallowed to stay here more than 180 daysin year cumulative.

Remember, USA did not grant visa toNarendra Modi in the name ofsecurity. Its beyond me how these coun-tries can moan about India's tighteningvisa regulations! We all people of Indianorigin or ex citizens of India shouldunderstand the issues that India is facingand understand the basis of the policiesbefore complaining about it.

I share the concerns of many overseasIndians who would suffer personally butwhen its the question of security of mil-lions of Indians, we should be ready tocooperate despite.

Mitesh ShahBirmingham

India tightens touristvisa rules

Those of us who have been in/aroundWembley cannot fail to notice the Indianstudents of mainly Gujarati origin walk-ing around in inadequate winter clothingand footwear.

These students are here on studentvisas, which they have obtained at highexpense via dishonest ‘agents’. After theyarrive in the UK, their hopes are shat-tered as the colleges and student jobs donot materialise. This has even led to sui-cide on occasion.

Quite often these students live as pay-ing guests (PG’s) with unscrupulouslandlords who are not happy to havethem in the house between breakfast andevenings. The result is the students areforced to walk around in the cold. Theydo go to the Library where they can readand keep warm but in silence, occasion-ally congregating outside the library tospeak. It may appear that those who rentcollectively are in a better situation butthis is not the case as due to economicreasons several sleep together in a roomwith very abysmal sanitary situations etc.

My family amongst others havecooked and delivered curry/rice in EalingRoad as a temporary solution.

I think they need the temporary use ofa Kitchen and a hall (church hall?) in ornear Wembley. They can then at leasthave a daytime meal there. The facilitycould be run jointly by volunteers and thestudents with support /supervision fromthe local community. The rental and pro-visions of simple food such as dal andrice may be donated. I am appealing tothe Gujarati community to facilitate thisfor these daughters and sons fromGujarat. The present winter is the crucialtime after which things should be some-what easier.

The government should not grantvisas so easily as the prospects of thesestudents are bleak in the present eco-nomic climate and besides the parents ofthese students are re-mortgaging theirhomes in India to raise money in thehope of their children acquiring a Britishqualification. ‘Better your situation' wasa reason a lot of us Indians came to theUK but times have changed and we allneed to take care of these young people.

Harish LathiaVia Email

Appeal to the Gujaraticommunity

It is understandable that the remarksof Glenn Beck have upset many IndianAmerican organisations. I would notblame them for their ignorance. May Iask the leaders of these organisations, dothey open their eyes while visiting Indiato see what is happening to 80 to 85%population of India and to the environ-ments of India?

It is true that 10 to 15% population ofIndia have improved their living stan-dards and have built beautiful houses tolive in, but vast majority of people are liv-ing in shanties. It is also true that some ofthe Indians have become super rich peo-ple in the world, but what they are doingto help poor people, we are yet to see.

Mr. Glenn Beck have some justifiedclaims and is right to some extent Hisone remark "one big river they have therethat sound like a disease. Come on it doesand it is Ganges"

It is 100% true for river Yamuna atleast. I visited India between 17thNovember to 10th December 2009. Youcan not stand to watch this holy rivereven for one second around Delhi-Noidamain road. It smells like hell and is cov-ered with a foam like material. Just drivehalf a mile towards the river and then youcan virtually see the horrors.

While taking the photographs of theriver and its surrounding areas, cover-ing my head and mouth I thought that thepoliticians in India should be forced totake bath in this river. May be that willwake them up!

Dharam DevIlford

Indians seek apologyfrom US TV show host

I am in agreement with Mr.HarishPatel (AV19/12/09) that Caste Watchshould take steps to eradicate CasteDiscrimination among some BritishHindus in the U.K.

It appears the problem is still prevalenthere in the country, otherwise what is thereason for all the sound and fury fromorganisations such as Voice of DalitInternational, Dalit Solidarity Networkand now Caste Watch UK.

It is said in the late 1880's the Marathiword Dalit was used by Mahatma JotibaPhule for the outcastes and untouchablesin India who were oppressed by Hindusociety because of their (outcastes) back-wardness due to their being born into theparticular caste in their community.

I am given to understand the casteprejudice has nothing to do withHinduism but it is due to higher classHindus in India who have introduced thesystem. Unfortunately this appears tohave penetrated in this country also.

I have written twice in the past. that ifnothing was done to eradicate the prob-lem of the system it would spread like con-tagious disease.

The attitude of those who try to con-ceal the truth and pretend that there is notany kind of discrimination against thelower castes in this country, is a face sav-ing by some if not all, by being elusivefrom accepting the reality.

Instead,they should come forwardand find out for themselves if discrimina-tion exists within their community or notand endeavour to eliminate the problemfrom the U.K. by joining their brothers.

A.M.A. PiraVia Email

Caste Discrimination Is a Reality

Lisa Markwell says this is no time tomake New Year resolutions (26December). One that all of us can make,which is not difficult but of great value toour future and the future of our ailingplanet, would be to go vegetarian everyMonday. If everyone in the UK abstainedfrom meat one day a week it would resultin more carbon savings than taking fivemillion cars off the road.

Nitin MehtaCroydon, Surrey

Chew on this

To unseat Zardari through Supremecourt orders on charges and corruptionalong with 250 important members isfatal political move after Supreme courtfailed to provide legal amnesty. Thiswould possibly lead to a peaceful militarycoup and no election. Such politicalmove is unwise to rule a country.

Dr K R N MoorthyHandsworth

Zardari Oust

YOUR VOICE

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We had the first snowfall of the winterand everything came to a standstill. Theairports were closed, flights cancelled,there was widespread disruption tounderground and over ground trains andthousands got stuck in the Euro tunnel.The treacherous roads became impassa-ble. Cars skidded and even aeroplanesskidded off the runway. Local Councilsdid not grit the side roads and footpathsand they turned into ice rinks. Many peo-ple trying to venture out of their homesslipped and got hurt. To add fuel to thefire, a second wave of snow came with avengeance creating more dangerous con-ditions across the country. Bridges wereclosed and the icy roads turned into sheetof glass. The motoring organisations wereinundated with calls and had to rescuethousands who were caught out in the bigfreeze. It is a disgrace that in the 21stcentury, an advanced country like Britaincould not cope and came to a halt. Andthis is only the beginning of winter!

Dinesh ShethNewbury Park, Ilford

The Day Britain stood still

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Asian Voice - Saturday 9th January 2010 5

Asian Voice - Saturday 9th January 20106 UK

Kapil’sKHICHADI

Student Power – Jai hoby Kapil Dudakia - email: [email protected]

Australia is paying ahigh price for their lackof proactive action tocounter the open andovert racist attacks onIndian students lastyear. Latest figuressuggest that numbersarriving to Australiafrom India are down byas much as 21%. Thisequates roughly to adrop in income to theuniversities and thelocal economy of about£50m per year. That isa lot of money.

It is this financialloss that has finallywoken up the authori-ties and the silentmajority who turned ablind eye when Indianstudents were beingbeaten up in broad day-light. I am glad thatIndian students mightfinally begin to under-stand and appreciatethe power of their‘buck’. They no longerhave to be slaves to theimperial masters or to‘western’ powers andbecome beggars in aforeign land – especial-ly when you considerthat it is their moneythat is helping to keepopen so many of theseinstitutions.

I hope that this newfound confidence intheir capacity to dealwith their own futureswill grow. Indian stu-dents should demandthe best treatment fromany country and uni-versity that wants theirmoney. No need to set-tle for second best –make the money talkand apply it wisely.

ExtremistsMarch of

Dishonour

The extremist andthe now banned groupcalling itself ‘Al-Muhajiroun’ had its re-incarnation to form‘Islam4uk’ – a smallgroup of Islamistextremists led byAnjem Choudary. Inwhat appears to be ahighly volatile act ofdishonour to Britishtroops, the group hasposted on their websitea determination to holda march through thetown of WoottonBassett. Yes, the sameplace where Britishtroops who have losttheir lives in fightingwars around the worldare brought back and

given a guard of hon-our by the people ofWootton Bassett.

Islam4uk have stat-ed that they are goingto march (with replicacoffins) to honour thethousands of Afghan’sand Iraqi’s who havealso perished duringthese same conflicts. Imust admit that I findtheir logic not only dis-jointed but totallyabsurd in its entirety.The rights or wrongs ofany war can be chal-lenged through normalmeans, and WoottonBassett is not the placefor this. If anyonewishes to honour thedeath of other peoplethan they also havethat right, however,logic dictates that ifyou wish to do thatthen please go toAfghanistan to honourthe Afghan’s, and toIraq to honour theIraqi’s. You cannot dothat by marchingthrough a British towncalled Wootton Bassett.

Looking at its web-site I noted that one ofthe aims of Islam4uk isto secure the‘Domination of Al-Islam world wide.’How often do we seethat a few people likeMr Choudary can makelife so difficult for themajority of their ownfaith, i.e. the very peo-ple they claim to befighting for and repre-sent? My simpleadvice to Mr Choudarywould be to cancel thisabsurd march. It willnot only lower hisstanding (if that is pos-sible), but it will other-wise adversely impactrelations with theMuslim community. Ifhe feels so stronglythen I suggest that heorganises a marchthrough the mainstreets of Afghanistanand Iraq – he should beat the front leading hisentourage. Do that MrChoudary and maybe afew might believe thatyou have the courageof your conviction?

This march hasnothing to do with‘Freedom of Speech’; itdoes however haveeverything to do withgrabbing the headlinesand keeping those withextreme views on hisside. At the time ofwriting this column Ialso note that so farnone of the leading

Muslim organisationshave come out todenounce this organi-sation and the saidmarch. I wonder why?It is also worth notingthat within a shortperiod of time, thenumber of people whohad signed up on facebook to oppose themarch was around 200000. I wonder if MrChoudary has got themessage yet.

McNulty –Where are you?

I promised that I wouldgive one more updateon the saga of McNultyand Lakhani. I havehad responses from: thePrime Minister’s Office,the House of Commonsand also the CabinetOffice. All of them haveindicated that there isno information on any-one named Mr AbhayLakhani or the fact thathe is meant to be a‘Parliamentary Advisoron Community Issues.’

What is even moreinteresting is that so farneither Mr McNulty norMr Lakhani has comeforward to explain theirposition? I find thatmost interesting. Justas startling, MP’s fromall three parties stillhave done nothingabout this fiasco as theyshould if they followedtheir own rules of goodgovernance. I wonderwhy? So I say to thepeople of Harrow (andthe surrounding areas)ask each candidate toexplain their positionon this issue. Ask themwhy they have donenothing to remedy thesituation? In particular,when Mr McNulty turnsup, ask him point blank,‘Why did he allow MrLakhani, his very closefriend, to continue todescribe himself as a‘Parliamentary Advisor’for all those years? Bythe way, Mr Lakhanistill describes himselfon face book as:Parliamentary Advisoron Community Issues,Member of NationalCouncil of HinduTemples, ExecutiveMember of HinduCouncil UK, Co-Chairof Narottam VirjiLakhani Foundationand Managing Directorof ExecutiveInvestments plc.

Bollywood superstarShilpa Shetty will haveher recent marriage tobusinessman Raj Kundracelebrated with a specialdinner in their honour atthe House of Commons,in the British Parliament

The dinner was host-ed by Keith Vaz, Britain’slongest serving MP ofAsian origin who firstmet Shilpa after sheappeared in Big Brother.Shilpa is one of theInternational Patrons ofSilver Star the charityfounded by Mr Vaz threeyears ago to highlight

diabetes awareness. MrVaz attended Raj andShilpa’s wedding inMumbai in November2009.

British MPs andMinisters headed by theLeader of the House ofCommons and EqualityMinister Harriet HarmanMP, leading members ofthe Asian communityand corporate leaderswere amongst the guests.

The dinner tookplace in the House ofCommons, London onWednesday January 6th2009. Chefs at the House

of Commons have creat-ed a special desert calledShilpa’s Delight.

Keith Vaz MP said:“Iam absolutely thrilledthat we are able to cele-brate the wedding ofShilpa and Raj in theHouse of Commons.”

“The wedding cere-mony in India was anabsolutely beautifuloccasion and I am sopleased to be able tobring some of the cele-brations to the UK. BothShilpa and Raj have doneso much for charitablecauses.”

Dinner in Shilpa’s Honourat House of Commons

Raj Kundra, Shilpa Shetty and Rt Hon Keith Vaz on Shilpa’s wedding in India

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Assault in car parkresulting to death Kalyani Kaul, a prominent

barrister of Indian-originwho has handled high-profile cases in the UK,has been appointed asRecorder byQueen Elizabeth and willsoon preside over hear-ings in county courts.

Kalyani, 49, has beenpractising law in Britainfor the last 26 years. Shestudied Law from theLondon School ofEconomics (LSE).

Kalyani, is the daugh-ter of well-known Britishjournalists MahendraKaul and Rajni Kaul, bothof whom worked for longyears with the Voice ofAmerica (VoA) and BBC.Mahendra Kaul was thefirst Asian to be honouredwith the Order of theBritish Empire (OBE) in1975.

Indian-originbarrister appointed

as Recorder

Manjibhai Hirani 48,died in the hospital aftera head injury followingan alleged attack onDecember 9 at 8.35pmoutside Morrisons inHoneypot Lane in thecar park. He remained ina critical condition untilhe passed away on theevening of December 21.

A post-mortemexamination held twodays later at NorthwickPark Hospital showedthe cause of death ashead injuries and theinquest into Mr Hirani'sdeath was due to beopened at BarnetCoroner's Court on lastTuesday (Jan 5).

Saqib Rafiq, 25, ofCarlton Ave East,Wembley, appeared atBrent Magistrates' Courton Christmas Evecharged with themanslaughter of Mr

Hirani and was remand-ed in custody to appearat the Old Bailey onApril 22.

A second suspectaged 17 years wasarrested and bailed onsuspicion of assault onDecember 9. Sourcesreveal, the body has notbeen released by thecoroner so far and thefuneral date is yet to beannounced. He is sur-vived by wife anddaughters.

The real motive ofthe assault is yet to berevealed. Manjibhailived betweenKingsbury andQueensbury.

The British Indiancommunity livingaround has beenshocked by such anunfortunate death andare scared of their ownsecurity.

Asian Voice - Saturday 9th January 2010 7UK

Would like to show itssupport to Hindu Forumof Britain (HFB) andHindu Council UK(HCUK) in the wake ofthe “Caste Amendment”not being included in theSingle Equality Bill.

At this time we can-not claim that there is nocaste discrimination inthe UK, but we do sup-port the in depthresearch which has beenconducted by HFBand HCUK. Bothorganisations havepublished sub-stantial evidencethat caste discrim-ination is notprominent withinthe UK.

There was alobby to the gov-ernment whichincluded variousIndian organisa-tions such asVoice of DalitI n t e r n a t i o n a l ,C a t h o l i cAssociation forRacial Justice, IndianChristian Council, DalitSolidarity Network andwas led by CasteWatchUK.

Some of these organ-isations operate withwhat we assume to be anAnti-Hindu agendawhich has had led to lit-tle and almost no sup-port from the HinduCommunity

We would like tohighlight just a few of theinstances, which havesuggested biased or igno-rant behaviour towardsHindu Dharma.

In a letter fromCastewatch UK toHindu Council UK:

“This brutal mis-treatment of young Dalitchildren have been inexistence from pre-his-toric times e.g. “Thestory from Mahabharata

when a Dalit pupilcalled Eklavayaacquired fighting skillsthat no higher caste per-son could match.Eklavaya’s martial abil-ities, competence andfighting skills were bru-tally taken away fromhim by a higher casteteacher by amputatinghis body part.” The situ-ation in schools in Indiais no different today.”

This is an incorrectstatement. In fact theword Dalit did not evenexist until the 19thCentury when it was firstused by Jyotirao Phule.Eugene Culas – Voice ofDalit International:

“Hinduism is a polit-ical strategy ofBrahmins, all the scrip-tures are written infavour of them.”

This is clearly not thecase; the equivalent ofthis would be to say thatChristianity is the politi-cal strategy of Vicars.

We at NHSF (UK)find this quote extremelydisturbing, and more sohis attitude of narrowmindedness and refusingto accept points forHinduism.Brahmin Claims:

These organisationsalso claim that you can

only be born a Brahmin.These claims are

completely false. In factone of the UK’s mostprominent Brahmins,Kishore Ruparelia, wasnot born a Brahmin.

These are only threeof the many Anti-Hinduincidents NHSF (UK)have come across in thelast year and has lead toother Christian organisa-tions such as Christian

Aid de-associat-ing themselvesfrom the extrem-ist lobby. RobinGreenwood fromChristian Aids t a t e d ,“Christian Aiddoes not supportand has not sup-ported Voice ofD a l i tI n t e r n a t i o n a land has consis-tently requestedthat organisationnot to associateitself with us.”

NHSF(UK)will only claim that thereis no discrimination ifresearch is conductedourselves, and there arecurrently no plans to doso as we feel that the cur-rent research by HCUKand HFB is more thansufficient. We would alsolike to add that therehave been no casesreported to NHSF (UK)of caste discriminationon university campus.

The feeling withinNHSF is that the currentcaste system is not only aHindu problem, whichhas been claimed bysome parts of the lobby.We also feel that lawswithin the UK will notsolve any issue, and theonly cure to such a prac-tice is education and pro-motion of equalitybetween all.

By Chirag Patel, Current Affairs Officer

Caste within the SingleEquality Bill 2009

National Hindu StudentsForum (UK)

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Lord Swaraj Paul faces ScotlandYard investigation

The investigation intoLord Paul is particularlyembarrassing for thePrime Minister as the peerhas recently been made amember of the PrivyCouncil by Mr Brown.Lord Paul, a formerdeputy speaker in theLords, allegedly gave£45,000 to Mr Brown’sleadership campaign andhas allegedly donatedmore than £400,000 toLabour.

He has allegedlyclaimed £38,000 in Lordsexpenses despite being

one of Britain’s richestmen with a fortune esti-mated to be worth £500million.

He allegedly claimedthat a hotel he owned inOxfordshire was his“main home”. The peersaid that he had been liv-ing in a small one-bed-room flat on the propertywhen it was occupied bythe hotel’s manager. Headmitted that he hadnever slept there butinsisted that it was hismain home as it was avail-able for his use.

By nominating the

property as his mainhome, he was able toclaim alleged tens of thou-sands of pounds onexpenses for a Londonresidence where he haslived with his family formore than forty years.

The Daily Telegraphdisclosed last week that atleast four politicians arerefusing to co-operatefully with the policeprobes. The three politi-cians named last week asnow embroiled in criminalinquiries are not thoughtto have yet been spoken toby detectives.

Continued from page 1

Yogendra BahadurChhetri, ManagingDirector of YBC CleaningServices Ltd was present-ed with the entrepreneurof the year award at aprestigious award ceremo-ny held on the 17th ofNovember at the Anvil,Basingstoke. The black tieevent was attended by thelocal mayor, councillorsand crème dela crème ofthe borough.

The Inspire 09Business Awards cele-brate the success ofregional businesses in theUK.

Yogen Chhetri is thefirst British GurkhaHindu to win this awardin UK after the govern-ment relaxed visa rules forex Gurkhas in October2004.

YBC CleaningServices Ltd is a smalldynamic business offeringcommercial cleaning serv-

ices to clients withinBerkshire, Surrey andHampshire. The company,which is located inAldershot, was estab-lished in 1996, has in

excess of 300 staff and hasover 13 years experiencein Commercial Cleaningwith a wealth of knowl-edge gained particularlyfrom the education sector.

Ex Gurkha win Inspire 09Business Entrepreneur Award

Yogendra Bahadur Chhetri, Managing Director of YBCCleaning Services Ltd with another winner

An ambitious plan toimprove the future of thewater in the Midlandshas been launched. TheSevern and HumberRiver BasinManagement Plans, of atotal 11, are six-yearplans by theEnvironment Agency.

After three years of plan-ning and consultation,the plans outline whatsteps everyone in theregion must take in orderto create a better placefor future generations.Tips include takingshowers rather thanbaths, purchasing low

energy and low water useappliances and fixingdripping taps. For moretips about saving waterand protecting the envi-ronment, visit www.envi-r o n m e n t -agency.gov.uk/homean-dleisure/drought/38525.aspx

Water for the future

Asian Voice - Saturday 9th January 20108 www.abplgroup.com

News in BriefWhere do we actually come from?

Her Majesty bestows gongs

The British Heart Foundation has seen a recordnumber of people volunteering to work in its shops.In 2009, the charity experienced a 40 per cent rise inpeople working unpaid in its branches. “Our volun-teers really are the lifeblood of our shops,” said DianeLocke from the charity.

Charity’s volunteerrecord

Blue-chip companies are planning to recruit moregraduates this year. IBM, the technology giant,expects to take on 150-200 graduates compared with100 last year. Jaguar Land Rover will raise its intakefrom 70 to 100. In retailing, J Sainsbury wants to hire85 graduates compared with 65 last time while Tescohas upped its number from 191 to 200. There aremore than 100,000 unemployed graduates under 25,according to the Office for National Statistics. A fur-ther 300,000 graduates will enter the job market thisyear.

Jobs boost for graduates

A unisex, mixed-age audience of over 500 peoplecame together for a peace vigil held in remembranceof Nathalal Kalyanji Thakrar, originally fromUganda, who passed away on Dec 29. He was 101.The pin-drop silence 8pm-10pm event held at theKadwa Patidar Hall in Harrow, London, last Saturdayincluded devotional Gujarati hymns and speechesfrom local Hindu Lohana community leaders, alsofrom Mr Thakrar's two sons and his grandchildren.

Final farewell

Jerry Blackett, chief executive ofBirmingham Chamber, pictured, is inNew Delhi this week. The father-of-three arrived on Monday with a dele-gation of West Midlands businessesseeking new markets for new productsat the AutoExpo 2010 motor industrytrade fair.

Trade delegation

Terrified prisoners at HMPBrinsford, a young offenders’ insti-tute near Wolverhampton, are call-ing for a priest to bless a cell inwhich two inmates killed themselveson the same day at the same time.They claim the cell is “possessed”and want a priest to rid it of evilspirits. HMP Brinsford accommo-dates almost 600 inmates aged between 15 and 21,including many awaiting trial for serious offencessuch as murder, rape and robbery.

Nottingham City Council is to introduce an advancedtelephone system at a cost of more than £3 million. Theauthority anticipates the “voice over the internet” systemwill generate significant savings. The system allows tele-phone calls to be made through the internet.

A total of 340 youngsters under the age of 16 werearrested by West Midlands Police for drink-relatedincidents between April 2008 and March 2009,according to new figures. Their crimes, under theinfluence of drink, include criminal damage, theft,violence and drug offences.

Haunted cell

Electronic voice

Young offenders

The evening lecture, enti-tled Human GeneticDiversity: A BritishPerspective, was deliv-ered by Dr Spencer Wells,a leading geneticist anddirector of theGenographic Project.This ongoing non-profitproject, spanning fivecontinents, and launchedin 2005, seeks to map thehistory of human migra-tion via DNA. The £21million privately fundedinitiative, now in its finalyear, aims to betterunderstand the humanjourney - where we camefrom and how humanscame to populate theplanet. By doing so, itaims to shed light onunanswered questionssuch as who are the old-est populations in Africa,and therefore the world?Who were the first peopleto colonise India? Are weall related? If so, howclosely?

Anybody, anywherecan take part in this proj-ect by buying a kit thatcontains all the materialneeded to add their genet-ic information to the

database. Kits sold to thepublic contain cheekswabs used to scrape theinside of the mouth for aDNA sample. The swabscan then be mailed to acentral laboratory foranalysis. After four to sixweeks, the results of theanalysis will appear onthe website behind ananonymous passwordcontained in the kit.Since 2005, over 335,000kits have been sold across130 countries; 8,500 ofthem in the UK.

The two-hour lecture,which brought togetherpeople from all walks oflife, was held at theChurch House

Conference Centre,Westminster, in London.Almost all of the around80 attendees, spaced outat round tables, gave theirundivided attention to DrSpencer whilst sipping ontheir drinks. In conclud-ing, Dr Spencer said: “Ihope that theGenographic Project willhelp to unite peopleacross the globe, andremind them that we areall derived from a single,human family.” The wel-come address was givenby Dr Krishna Sarda, thedown-to-earth and mod-est Chief Executive ofEMF, and the final wordcame from Lord AmirBhatia, Chair of EMF,and one of the UK’s lead-ing philanthropists.

Ahead of the vote ofthanks, guests were giventhe opportunity to askquestions to Dr Spencer.A multilingual LordBhatia, 77, said DrSpencer’s lecture had“made me feel so muchcloser to my roots”. LordBhatia hails from adenomination of theGujarati Muslim commu-nity, the Ismailis, who, inmy experience, have anatural gift of the gab.Also present were AnilBhanot and Hasmukh

Pankhania, both HinduCouncil UK, leading jour-nalist Shekhar Bhatia,Coventry-based DavinderPrasad of CasteWatch UKand Baroness SandipVerma, who silentlyslipped in half waythrough the lecture.Credit, in particular, toEMF’s young, dynamicstaff Harpal SinghHungin and Secil Erdenfor their enthusiasm andexcellent hospitality.

The EMF is an inde-pendent organisation thatseeks to strengthen dem-ocratic values, reducepoverty and injusticepresent in our society andthe growing globalinequities. To find outmore about theGenographic Project visitwww.nationalgeograph-ic/genographic

Eagle-eyed readers mayhave noticed that none ofthe 121 MPs leaving par-liament at the next elec-tion are included in thenew year’s honours list.In a year whenWestminster was rockedby the expenses scandal,nobody, it appears, wasdeemed worthy. Bankerswere also largely absentfrom the list, apart fromDyfrig John, the formerchief executive of HSBC,

a bank that did notrequire a bail-out from

the taxpayer. Those in theMidlands who did receivehonours include WoonWing Yip, pictured, theboss of Birmingham-based oriental foodempire, Wing Yip, whostarted out washing dish-es in a restaurant. Mr Yip,71, who arrived in the UKfrom Hong Kong as animmigrant with just £10in 1959, becoming thefirst Chinese tycoon inthe UK, received an OBE.

Parmajit Paul SinghBassi, president ofBirmingham Chamber ofCommerce and HighSheriff of the WestMidlands, was awarded aCBE. In Nottingham,diversity adviser for thecity’s mental health trust,David Henry, received anOBE for his services tohealthcare. Mr Henry hasalso been chairman ofmental health charityMind since 2002.

Society should focus on what unites us rather thanwhat divides us. That's the belief of the EthnicMinority Foundation, a charity, which held its inaugu-ral annual lecture some weeks ago.

Contact: Dhiren on 07970 911 386 or [email protected] Katwa

Midland Voice

Keynote speaker Dr Spencer Wells

Lord Amir Bhatia

Missed appointmentsPatients failing to meet appointments are costing hos-

pitals in the West Midlands more than £14 million a year.In 2009, more than 215,000 people failed to turn up fortreatment. Text messages and telephone call remindershave been introduced in an effort to address this issue.

New role Congratulations to Davinder Kaur who

has joined the Board of the West MidlandsMinority Ethnic Business Forum. Davinder,pictured, an expert in the textiles and cloth-ing sector, currently manages the Sandwell Women’sDevelopment Agency, or SWEDA, which providesadvice, mentoring, training and support to clients in theWest Midlands.

Poor profileWolverhampton is the fifth worst city in the world,

according to Lonely Planet. Of the city’s total populationof over 252,000, a quarter are from ethnic minority com-munities. In addition it boasts the fourth largest Sikhcommunity in England. The local authority employs12,500 staff of which 15 per cent are from ethnic minor-ity communities. Wolverhampton is so bad, according tothe travel guide, that it does not even rate a descriptionon its website. In the guide, Wolverhampton is topped byAmerica’s most run-down urban ghetto, Detroit, andAccra in Ghana.

Donate a fiver, get a scarfAn ultra-energetic and enthusiastic

volunteer, Audrey Miller, pictured, fromBirmingham is urging readers to buy a fair-trade rainbow scarf as part of her fundrais-ing mission. All proceeds will go to JDCBirmingham, a charity which campaignsfor the removal of unpayable and unjust debts, glob-ally. The scarves are hand-made by workers, many ofthem deaf and dumb, in Calcutta, India. To receiveyour scarf, send a cheque for £5.00, which includespostage and packing, payable to JDC Birmingham, toAudrey Miller, 4 Over Mill Drive, Birmingham, B297JL. Email [email protected], telephone0121 471 4175.

Focus on hate crimeA major new campaign has been launched aimed at

winning the ‘hearts and minds’ of the public in the fightagainst hate crime. The campaign, launched by theSafer Birmingham crime-fighting Partnership, aims toraise awareness about religious and homophobic crimeand encourage victims not to “put up” with it.

Asian Voice - Saturday 9th January 201010 ART & CULTURE

The doors to new studentsare about to open atHoney’s Dance Academy,the UK’s top BollywoodDance School. But beforethey do, you’ll be putthrough yourpaces in an X-Factor type audi-tion process,dubbed theBollywood Factor.Students whoqualify will betrained byBollywood’s lead-i n gChoreographers totake part in majorFilm, TV andStage shows, witha special focus thisyear to compete inthe UK BollywoodD a n c eChampionships2010!

The famedAcademy since itsinception in 1999has grown to over13 LondonStudios and hascasted its dancingstudents in Film, TV andStage performances suchas the BBC Proms, BluePeter, Jamie Olivers’s

Oliver Twist, even HarryPotter, Bombay Dreamsand blockbusterBollywood movie KhabiKhushi Khabi Gham!

The demand from stu-dents aged 4 years old to18+ wanting to joinHoney’s Dance Academyis hotting up, but with lim-ited spaces the queueshave been building – so

what better way to spotraw talent but to audition!

On Saturday 09thJanuary 2010 at the St.Giles Hotel (TottenhamCourt Road) the keen eye

of Honey Kalaria, theAcademy’s founder and apanel of Bollywood’s topchoreographers will be

hunting out new dancetalent who have the pas-sion, drive and determina-tion to make it as aBollywood Star!

“You don’t have to be adance professional toaudition, we’re looking forstudents with passion, cre-ativity and stage presencewho we can train in differ-ent styles of Bollywood

and Bhangra dance”, saidHoney Kalaria, founderH.D.A

Open to all skill levelsthe Academy has takennovice dancers and

trained them toperform on themost glamorous ofstage and film sets.With Bollywoodever growing inpopularity andnow reaching glob-al audiences theappeal to learn andperform in theBollywood arts hasattracted studentsfrom all culturalbackgrounds –something H.D.Aencourages.

Honey Kalaria,the founder ofH.D.A has led aglittering enter-tainment career asa Choreographer,Bollywood Actressand Singer. Herpassion for danceand the arts sawher establish

Honey’s Dance Academyand build it to teach, man-age and promote youngtalent globally!

“We’re all very proudof our student’s on-goingsuccess, seeing them onstage and on the bigscreen is fantastic! Thisyear we can’t wait to findmore students who have apassion for dance andwant to develop furtherwith us!” said HoneyKalaria, founder H.D.A

The Academy hasalways attracted a highnumber of applicants andwith this year’sBollywood Factor andforthcoming UKBollywood DanceChampionships the organ-isers are expecting to beinundated. So it is impor-tant for anyone interestedin auditioning to registerprior to the day by calling020 8590 8050 or onlineat www.honeysdanceacad-emy.com.

Spriha’s Corner

Christmas inVatican

Till now it had only beenin Dan Brown novels orHollywood movies that Ihad seen the St. Peter’sBasilica and theimage of ThePope coming outof his famousbalcony toaddress thecrowd at St.Peter’s Square.And that’s whythe moment Ilanded in Rome,a childhood fas-c i n a t i o ndescended uponme. I had always wantedto visit Vatican and hearThe Pope from his bal-cony. I was quite disap-pointed to know that theroutinely public meet-ings that take place everyweek had been cancelledbecause of Christmasseason.

I was scheduled toreach Rome at 10:30 onChristmas Eve and hadmade complete plans toattend the MidnightMass at Vatican. Butthanks to an absolutelynerve wrecking servicefrom Al Italia, I reachedRome way past 12 ‘O’clock. And thus I had todump my plan to visitthe Vatican that night.Next morning, I got uphearing the sounds of thebells from a nearbychurch. Well it wasChristmas Day andRome was flaunting allits colours. Before goingto Rome, I had read onthe Vatican Museum’swebsite that the Popegives a Christmas mes-sage at noon from hisbalcony. It was at thatmoment itself that I hadmade my mind to reachVatican and live mychildhood dream.

As I stepped into St.Peter’s Square, I realisedwhat a grand setting itwas. More than a thou-sand people must havebeen present but it stillseemed like it couldaccommodate manymore. As I lookedtowards St. Peter’sBasilica, I saw the bal-

cony I was waiting to seealways. With red velvetcurtains covering thewindow, the balconylooked distinct with a redchair and a red velvetcarpet hung outside. The

shots of scenes fromAngels and Demons and2012 which I had seenrecently came to mymind immediately. Itwas exactly at 12 noonthat The Pope came outand was welcomed bythe enthusiastic crowdthat had been waiting tohear his Christmas mes-sage. His message was ofcourse in Italian butwhat mattered to me wasliving a childhood dream.Christmas in Vatican wasone of the best I haveever witnessed in my life.

Back to Queen’sland for NewYear’s Eve

As the year comes toan end, the biggest ques-tion on everyone’s mindis how to spend a NewYear’s Eve? Some may

like to spend the last fewhours drinking in a pubwith friends while manywould want to stayindoors with family. Idecided to get a mix ofboth. So as much as Ispent time at home withfriends and family, I alsogot a fairly good view ofthe fireworks that

sparked the skies as wedawned upon the NewYear.

According to figures,more than two hundredthousand people hadgathered at the Thames

to see the fire-work display towelcome 2010.Below zero tem-perature did notaffect thosethousands whohad been stand-ing at theWe s t m i n s t e rbridge hoursbefore the clockstruck 12. Allthis while I hadbeen standing in

my friend’s balcony thatthankfully overlooks theLondon Eye and eventhat was extremelychilly. This year I haddecided to see the fire-works from a distancesince last year I hadmade an effort to go allthe way but failed to seeanything because of thecrowd. I could only imag-ine what thousands ofpeople would be goingthrough at that momentbut then it was NewYear’s eve and nobodywants to be a spoiltsport.

Even before the clockstruck 12, London Eyestarted flaunting its neoncolours that looked

a b s o l u t e l ymagnif icent .Just as theclock struck12, a colourfulfirework dis-play lit up thesky around theBig Ben andLondon Eyefor seven and ahalf minutes.

For those seven and ahalf minutes, it seemedlike everyone was stilllooking at those differentcolours and patterns thatcame out of the Londoneye into the sky.

It was only at thismoment that I felt thatall the trouble that peo-ple take to stand forhours waiting for thisseven and a half minuteof firework show is com-pletely worth in the end.The lights from the fire-works were like thosecolours we all want inour lives and just as onegoes away there comesanother one. In the endit really felt that no mat-ter whatever you do on aNew Year’s Eve, makesure you spend theseseven and a half minutesjust looking at the beau-tiful display of fireworks.It is truly very inspira-tional.

Let us know what you think.

Email Spriha at [email protected]

By Spriha Srivastava

Honey’s Dance AcademySearches For New

Bollywood Dance Stars

Asian Voice - Saturday 9th January 2010 11UK

The following summariesprovide you with an essentialchecklist of some of the haz-ards most commonly foundon construction sites. Thequestions will help you decidewhether your site is a safe andhealthy.

This is not a full list.Manual handling

‘...can you order materi-als such as cement andaggregates in 25 kgbags?’! Are there heavy mate-rials such as roof truss-es, concrete lintels, kerb-stones or bagged prod-

ucts which could causeproblems if they have tobe moved by hand?! If so, can you:choose lighter materi-als?! use trolleys, hoists,telehandlers and otherplant or equipment sothat manual lifting ofheavy objects is kept to a minimum?! order materials such ascement and aggregatesin 25 kg bags?! avoid the repetitivelaying of heavy buildingblocks or other masonryunits weighing morethan 20 kg?! Have people beeninstructed and trainedhow to use lifting aidsand other handlingequipment safely?! Have people beentrained how to lift safe-ly?

Loading and unloadinggoods‘...are your employeesprovided with sensiblesafety footwear with agood grip?’

! Have you checked thatthe load has not movedor destabilised duringthe journey to site?! Is there an exclusionzone around the load-ing/unloading area tokeep people who are notinvolved away from thework?! Have you plannedyour method of unload-ing?! Does your liftingequipment have a cur-rent thorough examina-tion certificate?! Do you have to accessthe back of the lorry atall, or can the prepara-tion work be done from

ground level? If not:do you have a safe wayof getting up and downfrom the back of thevehicle?! what do you have inplace to prevent workersfrom falling off the backof the vehicle?! are your employeesprovided with sensiblesafety footwear with agood grip?Noise‘...is suitable hearingprotection provided andworn in noisy areas?’

! Have you identifiedand assessed workers’exposure to noise?! Have workers hadinformation and trainingso they know what therisks are from noise onsite, and what they needto do to avoid thoserisks?

! Can the noise bereduced by using differ-ent working methods orselecting quieter plant,e.g. by fitting breakersand other plant ormachinery withsilencers?! Are people notinvolved in the workkept away from thesource of the noise?! Is suitable hearing pro-tection provided andworn in noisy areas?! Have hearing protec-tion zones beenmarked?! Have you arrangedhealth surveillance forpeople exposed to highlevels of noise?Hand-arm vibration‘...have you limited thetime that each workeruses high-vibrationtools?’

! Has exposure to HAVbeen avoided or reducedas much as possible byselecting suitable workmethods and plant?! Have you chosen thelowest vibration toolthat is suitable and cando the job efficiently?! Have you limited thetime that each workeruses high vibration toolssuch as concrete break-ers, angle grinders orhammer drills as far aspossible?! Have workers hadinformation and trainingso they know what therisks are from hand-armvibration (HAV) on site,and what they need todo to avoid those risks?! Have vibrating toolsbeen properly main-tained including keepingbits and drills sharp?! Have you arrangedhealth surveillance forpeople exposed to highlevels of hand-arm vibra-tion, especially whenexposed for long peri-ods?

Helpline: 0207 556 2181e-mail: [email protected]: www.hse.gov.uk/construction/gujarati

The absolutely essential health and safety toolkit

Rhaynukaa SoniOutreach Executive

British Asians shine in the 2010 New Year Honours List

PC Sarinder Kaur Devis a Diversity RecruitmentOfficer and has also beenawarded an MBE.

PC Dev initiated anInspiring Youth Award toencourage young peoplefrom minority ethnic com-munities to achieve theirpotential.

PC Sarinder Kaur Devtold a local media: “I amabsolutely delighted to behonoured with an MBE. Itis by far my biggest achieve-ment and I am very proud,

and I hope this can offersome inspiration to otherSikh women in their ownprofessions.”

Captain KandiahChandran, of WhitehallRoad, Chiswick, has beenawarded an OBE for servic-es to young people 14 yearsafter founding children'scharity Preset. He has beenat the forefront of thetrust's work to train andsupport thousands ofyoungsters from disadvan-taged backgrounds in a bidto boost their careerprospects.

The charity's work for10-24 year-olds across thecapital includes severalprojects for people inHounslow, such as one forthose who don't speakEnglish as a first languageand another launchingsoon to offer young peoplesix-month placements withlocal businesses.

The grandfather-of-sixwas born in Sri Lanka andserved in the national army

for many years, achievingthe rank of captain in 1959,before moving to London.

"I do not consider thisOBE an award for myself,but a recognition of thework of Preset and my col-leagues who work togetherto assist young people

around the capital," he said.Following is a compre-

hensive list of the names ofpeople from British Asiancommunity who havereceived Queen's Award inthe New Year (2010).

KNIGHTS BACHELOR

His Honour Mota Singh. For services to the Administration of Justice, CommunityRelations and to the Voluntary Sector. (London, SW19)

ORDER OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE, CIVIL ORDEROF THE BRITISH EMPIRE

CBEParmajit Paul Singh Bassi, DL. Chairman, Bond Wolfe. For services to Businessand to the community in the West Midlands. (Stourbridge, West Midlands)

OBE! Capt Kandiah Chandran, MBE. Chief executive, Preset Charitable Trust. For

services to Young People in London. (London, W4)! Ram Parkash Lakha. For services to the Sikh community in Coventry, West

Midlands. (Coventry, West Midlands). ! Sujinder Singh Sangha, Principal, Stockton Riverside College, County Durham.

For services to local and national Further Education. (Stockton on Tees, Durham).

! Cyrus Todiwala, MBE, Proprietor and Executive Chef, Cafe Spice Namaste Restaurant Group. For services to the Hospitality Industry. (London, E9).

! Iqbal Wahhab, Chairman, Department for Work and Pensions, Ethnic Minority Advisory Group. For public service and for services to the Hospitality Industry. (London, SE1)

MBE! Hemant Acharya, Policy Adviser, Office of the Third Sector, Cabinet Office.

(Stanmore, Middlesex)! Mohammed Aslam, Executive Chef and managing director, Aagrah Group

Restaurants. For services to the Hospitality Industry. (Shipley, West Yorkshire)! Mrs Gulrook Begum. For services to Disabled Bangladeshi People in Tower

Hamlets, London. (London, E17)! Ashish Dasgupta. Non-Executive director, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough

NHS Foundation Trust. For services to Healthcare. (Cambridge, Cambridgeshire)

! Ms Sarinder Kaur Dev, Constable, South Yorkshire Police. For services to the Police. (Sheffield, South Yorkshire)

! Atma Singh Gill. For services to the community in the North East. (Chester-le-Street, Durham)

! Ms Imtaz Khaliq, Designer and Master Tailor. For services to the Fashion Industry. (London, N1)

! Ms Shahda Khan, Principal Community Cohesion Officer, Middlesbrough Council. For services to Local Government and to Diversity. (Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire).

! Mr Ramanbhai Barber. For service to the Asian community in Leicester.

Continued from page 1

Cyrus Todiwala

Atma Singh Gill

Sujinder Singh Sangha

Ashish DasguptaRam Parkash Lakha


Scrutator’sWe have just could have just come through the festiveseason, but some among us would be justified in claim-ing that the silly season had accompanied it with a pre-mature appearance. How else can one explain the Timesof India’s special front-page dedication – “LovePakistan”(January1, 2010) - to an ethereal Indo-Pakistan relationship that never was and, dare onespeak one’s mind honestly and freely, is unlikely ever tobe as long as Islamabad remains the epicentre of globaljehadi terror. The paper’s maudlin doggerel, for such itwas, was a mindless exercise in doublespeak, a denial,as it were, that Mumbai and India had been subjected toterrorist attack from across the water on 26/11 {2008}.It wasn’t the first time either, nor is it likely to be thelast.

But it doesn’t strain the creative juices to producethe purest bilge. Worse, a joint appeal by the Times ofIndia and Pakistan’s Dawn publishers was so utterlyvacuous that it’s point – if there was one - was lost in thebanal verbiage. The attempt to place India and benight-ed Pakistan on a common platform of moral equivalencewas as effective as a damp squib, but the presentationwas an example of indecent exposure of parts of theEnglish-language media, whether print or television or amismatch of both. It was a near obscene spectacle,which reflected poorly on the judgment and taste of amajor Indian newspaper. The fourth estate in India istruly fourth-rate. How much lower will it sink?

The saintly Mahatma Gandhi once rubbedMohammed Ali Jinnah’s feet with oil to reduce theQaid-e-Azam’s the pain from his corns. This didn’t stopthe Muslim League’s Great Calcutta Killings of 16August 1946, nor did it arrest the formation of Pakistan.Why should the Times of India succeed with is trite ges-ture politics where Gandhiji failed with his pristinemorality?

Meanwhile, the slaughter and mayhem in Pakistancontinues unabated, as The Times of India and othernewspapers keep reporting daily.

India’s warDoctrine

Newspapers and themedia can afford to becavalier with facts andrealities; they have noth-ing to lose save their cir-culation. The Indian Army(Air Force and Navy) isnot blessed with a similarindulgence. India is in astate of undeclared warwith Pakistan, which isaided and abetted byChina. Instead of garru-lous declarations offriendship, the IndianArmy prefers deterrenceto keep the peace.

According to TheTimes India’s Rajat Pandit(December 30, 2009), theIndian Army was “revis-ing its five-year doctrineto effectively meet thechallenges of a possible‘two-front war’ with Chinaand Pakistan, deal withasymmetric and fourthgeneration warfare,enhance strategic reachand joint operations withthe IAF and Navy.

“Work on the new doc-trine – to reflect the recon-figuration of threat per-ceptions and securitychallenges – is alreadyunder way under the aegisof the Shimla-based ArmyTraining Command head-ed by Lt-General A.S.Lamba.”

The 1.13 million-strong Indian Army willbe expected to mobilizeand be ready for action

with the least possibledelay, the timeline to becalculated in hours ratherthan weeks or months, aswas the case a decade ago.This cold start strategywill be honed in a numberof war games.

Mr Pandit again: “Theplan now is to launch self-contained and highlymobile battlegroups, withRussian-origin T90S tanksand upgraded T72MItanks at their core, ade-quately backed by aircover and artillery fireassaults, for rapid thrustsinto enemy territory with-in 90 hours.”

World Bank,India

India’s relationship withthe Word Bank is on anew ascending curve, a farcry from the past, says areport in Business Indiamagazine (December 27.2009). “But RobertZoellick, the current and11th chief executive of theWashington-based finan-cial institution who visitedIndia did not encounterany untoward incident. Hewas feted by the highest inthe land and made to feelat home in the bargain.

Zoellick got to know whatthe buzzing Indian econo-my was all about (TheSeptember quarter growth

figures had just come out)- and how eager the Indiangovernment was to contin-ue its engagement with theBank. .

“Take for instance, theovertures made to him byroad transport ministerKamal Nath, who is seeingthe Bank’s engagement formega highway projects ofthe National HighwaysAuthority and the pro-posed expressways. Nathis also looking for a $2.96

billion loan for double-lan-ing of a 6,300 km of the19,000 single-lane high-way.” Later Nath droveZoellick to his residencewhere a spanking newTata Nano awaited the lat-ter’s inspection.

“An awe-struckZoellick got into the frontseat, then tried the backseats and saw the enginesputter into life in theworld’s cheapest car.” MrZoellick said: “That’s avery impressive car. I amamazed at the frugal engi-neering made possible byIndian companies. Itshows the strength ofIndian companies.”

Scientists inbig-time

Kolkata-based Telegraphnewspaper (January 1)produced a series of briefson some of India’s out-standing scientists of thedecade. We list a sampleheaded by the 2009Chemistry Nobel laureate

V e n k a t a r a m a nRamachandran; othersincluded ThanuPadmanabhan, of the InterUniversity Centre forAstronomy andAstrophysics, Pune, whoin the past eight years pen-ciled a revised mathemati-cal method to describeEinstein’s theory of gravi-ty, an effect that may callfor a significant change inour ideas of gravity.

R a g h a v e n d r a

Gadagkar, at the IndianInstitute, Bangalore, hasbeen observing wasps toprobe some of biology’sbiggest puzzles forinsights into how biologyshapes insect societies.

Finally, Mrigank Sur,Massachusetts Institute ofTechnology, US, hasdemonstrated that thebrain’s chemistry is a lotmore plastic and adaptablethan had been previouslyassumed. His research onthe brain promises tobring brain disorders suchas autism into the realm oftherapy.

Powering ahead

Larsen & Toubro is one ofIndia’s heavyweight engi-neering companies, con-juring images of giant con-struction projects, steelplants, roads, airports,dam, defence items andthe like. However, itsexpanding portfolio keepspace with the times.Electrical & Electronics

Business Group is anotherdivision, whose prowesshas been eclipsed byLarsen & Toubro’s morevisible divisionEngineering &Construction. It is for thisreason (to allow each divi-sion to find its feet andflourish independently)that the management of L&T decided to create sepa-rate verticals throughreconstruction.

Electrical BusinessGroup, which is focusedon electrical distributionproducts and automationsystems is a model of howan autonomous companyoperating under the L&Tbrand can move fromstrength to strength.

Reconstructing busi-ness is part of innovationsurely.

Gujarat township

With the Gujarat govern-ment announcing a newresidential township poli-cy, the stage is set for high-rise buildings to maketheir appearance in all thestate’s major cities andpossibly in the smallertowns as well.

The new regulationsallow real estate develop-ers to construct a buildingof a maximum height of70 metres (or 21 floors) onpayment of 7 per cent ofassessed property tax. Theregulations make t bindingon the developers to pur-chase 40 hectares of landto build a residentialtownship in areas fallingunder the urban develop-ment authorityAhmedabad, Surat,Va d o d a r a , R a j k o t ,Gandhinagar, Bhavnagarand Jamnagar. In the caseof the other towns, thedevelopers will need tobuy a minimum of 20hectares for land.

In such matters, whereGujarat leads, India’s wisefollow.

Recent terror explosions in Peshawar, Pakstan

LtoR: Mohammed Ali Jinnah and Mahatma Gandhi

Indian Army exercise in Punjab or Rajasthan

World Bank President Robert Zoellick with FinanceMinister Pranab Mukherjee

MEDIA WATCH

Alpesh PatelConsultant Editor

Financial Voice

Dear Financial Voice Reader,


I write to you from Dubai a few hours before my flightto Delhi. So is Dubai ‘dead’? Has the credit crunch leftthe city a ghost town? Far from it. Properties are beingbuilt and those that are vacant are remaining vacantthan being sold at deep discounts. There are no pan-icked firesales. There are re-negotiations. Some willlose there investments, most are going to have to waita little longer. It is a like a property demise elsewhereexcept its generally the very wealthy become slightlyless wealthy.

And don’t take my word for it. The legendaryinvestor Mark Mobius is ‘very confident’ on Dubai.Dubai is of course not just about property. Wealth letus not forget comes from being part of a commoditybased economy – the main commodity being oil. Nowfor some New Year resolutions for you.

Resolution: Plan and manage riskPlan ‘what if’ scenarios and think about their responseto each probable outcome. With a plan in hand confi-dence is enhanced, fear of loss reduced and that inturn assists clear thinking for entering the trade.

At what point will you exit if facing a loss? Neverlose on any one trade more than 2% or 3% of all thetrading capital you have. Otherwise you are what pro-fessional traders call a 'gunslinger' - someone lucky tostill have money to trade. If you are likely to easily losesuch an amount on a single trade, then either increaseyour trading capital, scale back your trade size or lookfor a better trade.

If that eventuality occurs then have the disciplineto exit. Similarly, what will determine the point atwhich you will take a profit? Try not to leave it to 'I willdecide the day after the market crashes'. Even a simplerule such as exiting if the price drops below its 50 daymoving average, or exiting if more than 50% of theprofits are given back to the market, can be better thanno rule at all.

Resolution: Maintain patienceInexperienced traders' entering a trade are often driv-en by fear; the fear of the missed opportunity. Theirmind will be screaming, “quick get on the trade, you’regoing to miss it, so what if you haven't analysed it indetail? The market's are soaring, there is no time towait."

The inevitable result is that the trade will not beprofitable or as profitable as it would have been hadthe trader waited for the precise moment to strikebased on a system he has tested.

In trading the fear of the missed opportunity leadsto many avoidable losses. The game of trading is asmuch about avoiding losses as about capturing profits.

Resolution: Keep emotionally detachedA trader’s attitude to their potential and existing posi-tions is often a great determinant of success. Whenyou have an open position and you are looking to closeit, you will either have a profit or a loss. The emotionsrelating to each are quite different. For instance, whensitting on a loss many traders experience hope that theposition will turn around because they fear and denythat it may not. It is for you to recognize these emo-tions and to discard them. Your judgment has to bebased on detached reason relating to your analysis ofthe company.

Resolution: Take the loss and move onToptraders cut their losses and move on. The issue isnot whether the market may turn around if they hungin there. They cut their losses if it is what they had saidthey would do in their plan. A loss is a success if yourtrading plan requires you to exit and you followed it.By cutting your losses you free up capital to place inmore profitable positions elsewhere, and free up men-tal energy to focus on new opportunities.

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British retailers to have a tough time this year too

Low consumer demandand weakness in the econ-omy are likely to troublethe British economy in2010 also, making itanother tough year for theretailers. According to thedetails of “2010 Concerns

Snapshot Survey”, carriedout by British RetailConsortium, even risingunemployment andincrease in personal taxesare the factors the retailersare concerned about.

The ability of retailers

to maintain jobs and cre-ate new ones is affected bythe uncertainty. A third ofretailers who responded tothe queries in the surveyfelt they would need to cutmore staff this year.

Almost 80 per cent of

retailers have said thatretail sales this year wouldbe at the same levels as in2009.

More than 20 per centsaid sales could go up,while none thought itcould get worse.

2010 Concerns Snapshot survey says recovery could be weak, slow

International expansion plans for Barclays curtailedBarclays, the British bank-ing giant under its newhead of retail banking hascurtailed the plans forinternational expansion,according to local mediareports.

Anthony Jenkins tookcharge as the global headof retail last month. He isof the view that the bank’sbusinesses have to be of

meaningful size to meritfurther investment. Hehas conveyed it to seniorexecutives, as reported inSunday Times.

Barclays had ambi-tious plans for India, butthat have been scaled

down, as India has restrictions on foreignownership in banking,making it hard to go forexpansions.

The bank now plans tofocus on niche areas, drop-ping plans for general

expansion in many othercountries also.

Barclays has business-es in more than 50 coun-tries, and could opt forsale or closing down oper-ations in some of the busi-nesses. It aims at expan-sions in only those coun-tries where it is among oneof the top 10 banks or islikely to become one.

ArcelorMittalraises $750mnfor investing in

Turkish, OZ firmsArcelorMittal, the UKbased global steel giantlast week raised $750 mil-lion to help fund invest-ments in Turkish andAustralian firms, a com-pany statement has said.The steel giant has issuedconvertible bonds andplaced them privatelywith a Luxemborg affiliateof Caylon, the investmentbanking subsidiary ofCredit Agricole. Thebonds have been issued byArcelorMittal’s wholly-owned arm based inLuxembourg.

The funds raisedthrough these bonds willbe used to help invest-ments in notes linked toshares of Eregil Demir &Celik Fabrikalari ofTurkey and MacarthurCoal Ltd. of Australia.ArcelorMittal subsidiarieshold shares of both thesefirms.

The company state-ment further said theLuxembourg subsidiarymay also invest in otherfinancial instruments, inconsultation with invest-ment banker. The bondshave a maturity of 17months, withArcelorMittal having theright to call it early, in theyear prior to maturity. Thesteel giant has no inten-tions of selling the sharesof either of the two firms.

Asian Voice - Saturday 9th January 201014 FINANCIAL VOICE

Indian exports turn positive after 13 monthsLower imports help reduce trade deficit in Nov. 2009

There are more signs ofIndia being on a fast trackto recovery, as the coun-try’s exports registered arise of 18.2% inNovember 2009. The pos-itive trend is significant asin previous 13 months,the exports were falling.The export growth alsoled to lowering of thetrade deficit. A nominal

decline in India’s importsfor November also con-tributed to the lower tradedeficit.

Exports amounted to$13.2 billion, while theimports went down by2.6% to $22.88 billion, ascompared to $23.48 bil-lion in November, 2008.The trade deficit camedown to $9.69 bn against

$12.33 bn a year ago. Commerce Secretary

Rahul Khullar projectsexports to be in the rangeof $165 to 170 bn thisfinancial year, lower than$182.6 billion last year.

The downfall inexports started in October2008 due to the globaleconomic slowdown thatbegan after the collapse of

the US investment bank-ing giant LehmanBrothers.

As most of theadvanced economiesslipped into recession andfaced major reduction inconsumer demand, theexports communities inemerging economiesincluding India took abeating.

Zydus Cadila to go for H1N1 vaccine trailsAhmedabad drug maker likely to launch the vaccine by April

Zydus Cadila, anAhmedabad based pharmamajor with a German col-laboration has receivedthe approval for conduct-ing clinical trials for swineflu (H1N1) vaccine fromthe Drug ControllerGeneral of India (DCGI).

Pankaj Patel,Chairman and Managing

Director of the companysaid, “Zydus Cadilabecame the first Indiandrug maker to commencemulticentric clinical trailsof the swine flu vaccine.With the vaccine in themarket soon, we should beable to prevent further lossof lives to this infectiousdisease.”

With the speedy com-pletion of trials and thefast track approvals,India’s indigenous H1N1vaccine is expected to hitthe markets by April thisyear, the company said.

The demand for H1N1vaccine in India is estimat-ed to touch 50 to 60 mil-lion doses in initial phase.

Zydus Cadila's egg-based inactivated vaccinehas been developed by thegroup's experts at itsVaccine Technology Centrein Ahmedabad. The H1N1vaccine market at presentis estimated to be US$676million. The market isexpected to cross USD 7billion by 2011.

Mandelson pat for Tatas inwaking up Britain

Britain woke up to thegrowing strength of Indiaonly of late, as late as 2008when Tata, the Indianindustrial giant acquiredthe ailing UK car brandsof Jaguar and Land Roverfrom the US automakerFord.

Peter Mandelson, UKsecretary of state for com-merce and business,recently on a tour to India,had a pat for Tatas, the

new owners for JLR aswell as Corus. At a CIIfunction, he said when theTatas acquired the Britishmarques, the companywas struggling financially,but they have been nur-tured back to health by thenew owners, with improv-ing sales.

UK minister also saidBritain has manufacturingpotentials and hoped thatthe investment by Tatas

there would send clear sig-nals to rest of the Indianindustry.

Supply chain compa-nies and higher educationare two areas whereBritish entities shouldfocus on India, Mandelsonsaid. With increased focuson climate change, lowcarbon business is anotherarea of cooperationbetween the two coun-tries, he added.

India to stay at top in global milk production

In 2007-08, Indiaachieved the feat ofbecoming the world’slargest milk producer, andNDDB expects that thecountry is set to stay atthe top for the year 2008-09 too. Milk production inIndia for the previousstood at 104.8 milliontonnes, and the figure isexpected to be 110 milliontonnes in 2008-09.

The spokesman saidthe world’s milk produc-tion was expected to be688 million tonnes in2008-09, a marginal 1.7per cent increase over the

previous year as againstabout four per centincrease achieved byIndia.

Within India, farmers’milk cooperatives showeda better performance.They procured about 9.2million tonnes, anincrease of 9.7 per centover the previous year,handling over 14 per centof the national marketablesurplus. The cooperativesector covered about 21per cent of the country’svillages and over 18 percent of the total milk-pro-ducing households in rural

areas. The NDDB had pre-

pared a Rs. 173 billionplan for the next 15 yearsto increase milk produc-tion with better productiv-ity, strengthening andexpanding the infrastruc-ture for procurement andhuman resources develop-ment substantially. ACentre for Analysis andLearning in Livestock andFood at Anand in Gujarathas also been set up. Itwould provide reliable andefficient laboratory servic-es for livestock, dairy andfood sectors.

Forest land for POSCO toset up steel plant in OrissaPOSCO, the SouthKorean steel manufacturerhas been accorded finalapproval to acquire forestland in Orrisa to set upthe steel plant there. Acompany spokesman lastweek said about 4,000acres of land is needed forthe project, out of which2,900 acres would be for-est land.

POSCO’s $12 billionproject is long delayed, asthe company had signedan MOU with Orissa gov-ernment in June, 2005.

Project faced problems asfarmers were not willingto give up their land.

The project, consid-ered as the largest foreigndirect investment in India,has been delayed by morethan two years due toprotests by farmers whofear losing their liveli-hood.

Even the grant of min-ing lease has been delayeddue to litigation and nowPOSCO plans to go aheadwith the construction ofthe steel plant first.

ICICI Bank to helpIndian firms exploreopportunities in UK

India’s leading private sec-tor bank, the ICICI Bank,aiming to help Indianfirms looking for businessopportunities in the UK,has tied up with UK Tradeand Investment.

ICICI Bank MD andCEO, Ms. ChandaKochhar said, “Through

this initiative, we envisionfurther awareness to theIndian businesses bymeans of knowledge andcounselling sessions.” UKTrade and Investment is agovernment organisationhelping UK-based compa-nies succeed in interna-tional markets.

A tie up with UK Trade and Investment for

training events and investment assistance

Surat is no. 1globally in big

diamond processingSurat, known as the dia-mond city of India andone of the most prosper-ous cities in Gujarat hasbecome the top player indiamond industry global-ly, with almost 80% ofsolitaire diamonds – bigdiamonds of above onecarat being processedthere. Israel and Belgiumonce enjoyed this spot.

According to estimatesby experts, Surat diamondhub accounts for totalannual diamond process-ing worth Rs. 500 billionand 30% of this is largediamonds. As against just10 to 15 players in thelarge diamond processingsome five years ago, thenumbers have gone up tomore than 200 in that seg-ment.

The market share ofIsrael and Belgium in cut-ting and polishing big sizestones is likely to go downto just 5% in 2010, withSurat garnering all thebusiness. A recent KPMGstudy says the prime rea-son for this trend is risinglabour costs and theindustry being unable toretain manpower as alsofacing increasing competi-tion from emerging cen-tres like India.

Reliance sells 25 mnshares to raise Rs. 26 bn

Shares sold to LIC for funds tofinance LyondellBasell buyout

Reliance Industries Ltdraised Rs. 26 billion($559.5 million) by selling25 million shares at a 5percent discount to LifeInsurance Corp of India,two sources with knowl-edge of the deal saidrecently. The sale is aimedto mobilise funds for buy-out of LyondellBasell, adeal that is expected tocost the Indian giant $12

billion.Controlled by Mukesh

Ambani, India’s richestman, Reliance is engagedin manufacturing and pro-cessing of petrochemicals,refining, oil and gas explo-ration as well as retailbusiness.

Citigroup and Bank ofAmerica-Merrill Lynchwere arrangers for thedeal, sources said.

‘Green’ is the newmantra at Tatas

Tata, the global Indianbusiness house hasembarked on an ambitiouscampaign to adopt ecofriendly practices in all thebusinesses, includingSteels, Auto and Hotels.

After taking the worldby storm with acquisitionsand later introducingNano, the world’s cheap-est car, the House ofTatas, one of India’s oldestindustrial houses hasstepped up efforts forbringing down the carbonfoot print.

Tata Steel has a goal toreduce carbon dioxideemissions at itsJamshedpur plant fromthe current 1.8 tonne to1.7 tonne per tonne of liq-uid steel made by 2012.The ideal global bench-mark though is 1.5.

Tata Motors is settingup an eco-friendly show-room using natural build-ing material for its flooringand energy-efficient lights.

The Indian HotelsCompany, which runs theTaj chain, is in the processof creating eco roomswhich will have energy-efficient mini bars, organicbed linen and napkinsmade from recycled paper.For illumination, therooms will have CFLs orLEDs.

Tata Motors also haveplans to introduce theIndica EV in selectEuropean markets thisyear. The group’s largecompanies such as TataSteel, Tata Motors, TataChemicals and TataConsultancy Services con-tribute 80% of the group’soverall emissions and apanel, headed by TataSons director JJ Irani, hasbeen formed to addressthis issue.

Tata Power has setgoals of producing 25% ofelectricity generationwithin ten years fromrenewable sources.

BMW races ahead of Mercedes in India salesMercedes Benz lost it’stop position as the bestselling luxury car in Indiain the just concluded year 2009, as BMW over-took it.

BMW sales in 2009were 3619 cars, makingMercedes settle for the no.2 spot with sales of 3247cars. The two Germangiants came into competi-tion in 2005, when BMWstarted operations inIndia.

In the past two years,Mercedes Benz has con-trolled over 50 per cent ofthe luxury car market,with BMW close behind,

averaging a market sharebetween 35 and 45 percent. The rest was con-tributed by the thirdGerman car major, Audi,which sells around 1,000cars a year.

2009 was a turningpoint for Mercedes Benz.Despite the overall decel-

eration in passenger vehi-cle sales in the domesticmarket, it actually posteda robust growth of 24 percent, while MercedesBenz posted a decline of10.4 per cent.

Mercedes on Tuesday,5th January unveiled thenew S-500 L car, priced at

Rs 95 lakh (ex-showroom,Delhi).

The new S-500 L willbe assembled (from CKDkits) at the Pune factory.Mercedes Benz alsounveiled its new SUV, theGL 350 CDI, priced at Rs64.90 lakh (ex-showroom,Delhi).

Asian Voice - Saturday 9th January 201016 FINANCIAL VOICE

Alpesh Patel’s

Political Sketchbook:

That the Prime Ministeris appalled that a Britishcitizen is executed byChinese authorities ismisguided. First, theindividual was convictedunder the laws of a sover-eign nation and punishedaccordingly, albeit a pun-ishment we in Britain nolonger deploy for thesame offence.

Quite different wasthe case of the sailorscaught in Iran whereBritain was able to helpestablish there was nooffence.

Second, if the reasonfor being appalled wasthat the individual washanged, then the PMshould have beenappalled at hangings gen-erally in China – number-ing 8,000 annuallyaccording to somesources on the internet.That is moral outrage andquite different.

So what is the role ofour Government in theinternal affairs of a for-eign sovereign nation? Itis an issue encompassingthe war in Iraq andAfghanistan to genocidefrom Serbia to Somalia tohangings in China andclimate change inCopenhagen. At whatpoint is it right to inter-fere to enforce a rule orprinciple, does a legalright occur to supple-ment moral right, andunder what punishmentfor non-compliance?

This one innocuousquestion will define thefate world in the 21stcentury. In a century thatwill continue to bedogged by cross-borderterrorism – when andhow will Britain and herallies attack actors withinother nations – or indeedother nations them-selves? In a centurywhere Iran will build anuclear bomb in breachof UN and other interna-tional treaties, what sanc-tion is there for Britain todeploy? In a centurywhere 3rd world coun-tries will secretly breachclimate change emissionrequirements – how willwe in Britain respond? Ina century where the pro-liferation of small arms toAfrican tribes will see theerasure of whole races

when two tanks and afew hundred British sol-diers could end thekilling – what will we doand under what authority– moral or legal?

Of course dealingwith people in your owncountry is simple. Youhave laws, a method ofjudging their breaking,and sanctions. The ulti-mate sanction is the con-fiscation of your propertyor your liberty. Theentire legal system isfounded on the ultimatesanction that your prop-erty or liberty can beremoved should you notobey the laws of the land.Take speeding. First youare fined. Then when youdon’t pay, your fine israised. Ultimately yourproperty is confiscated.

The problem betweenStates is first there is lackof clarity what is ‘law’.Just ask Tony Blair. Wasthere a validly enforce-able legal UN declarationfor war in Iraq? If youwant an answer to why‘we are in Iraq’ theanswers relating tomorality may help yousleep better at night, butthe former PrimeMinister and barristershould know, enforcingthe law is its own justifi-cation. Morals may leadto laws, but the momentBlair brought into thepublic domain argumentsabout morality, heentered the ‘grey’ areawhere everyone’s defini-tion differs and so vastswathes remain uncon-vinced and he becameperceived as a crusadingevangelist with shiftingarguments.

If you want to con-vince the public aboutyour actions in Iraq asPrime Minister, theanswer lay in the simplefact that the law wasbeing upheld. Yes otherssimilar laws may nothave been enforcedbefore or since, but thisone was. Let the com-mentators work on themorality, because it ismoral enough to upholdthe law. As soon as youtry justifying the decisionon moral groundsbecause you believe ‘inthe force of your argu-ment’ you may as well

next try to win the heartsand minds of Al-Qaeda.

No the first role ofGovernment is not to for-mulate its arguments onmorals, but on laws.Sometime in the 1800sBritain moved from a sys-tem of laws formulatedon religious grounds andthe morals it gave rise to,to those based on liberalsecular principles – mostnotably that in generalthe State will not use itsultimate sanction ofsequestering your proper-ty and removing your lib-erty and generally willnot interfere in your pri-vate affairs unless youractions causes harm toothers. Of course the def-inition of ‘harm’ variesaccording to party, butthe laws in Britain on say,abortion, are based noton the views of theChurch but on views onharm. And Britain is bet-ter for it. For those whowould rather have Britishlaws based on morals,they usually want thembased on religiousmorals, and that changesthe fundamental rules ofthe game in Britain.

So too with interna-tional action for genocideand acts of terror. Wherethe harm results in aninternational law beingbroken, expect the sanc-tion to have to be confis-cation of property or ulti-mately removal of liberty– which between nationsmeans war. Expect morewar in the 21st century.There remains betweennations, as within them,no more potent a sanc-tion to ensure compli-ance with laws.

So just as formerPrime Minister Blairshould rejoice in uphold-ing international law andleave it at that, so presentPrime Minister Brownshould rejoice theChinese upheld the law.

The columnist is hailsfrom Karamsad, a formerVisiting Fellow at CorpusChristi College, Oxford.He read Philosophy,Politics, Economics at StAnne’s College, Oxfordwhen he also interned inthe US Congress andread Law at King’sCollege, London, qualify-ing as a barrister.

Awards: Death in China andthe fate of the world

Tata to drive Nano in the US market too

JLR is a long term investment, says Ratan TataTata Motors aim to drivetheir small wonder, Nanointo the US market also. Itwould be launched thereonly after considerablemodifications, Ratan Tatasaid at New Delhi onTuesday.

Unveiling atleast 3new vehicles in the carsegment at the Auto Expo2010, the Tata groupchairman also said Tata’sacquisition of the UK carbrands JLR is a long terminvestment.

On launching Nano inthe USA, he said, “Werecognise there is a market

for the Nano in developingcountries and the devel-oped world as well.” Hesaid the Nano for USAwould have a larger engineand undergo more crashtests. He did not specify atime frame, but said itcould be 3 years.

He said the company isprepared to return theSingur land to West

Bengal government, pro-vided it was compensatedwell. He also said therewill be no price rise forNano in India for the first100,000 cars as committedby him. On his retirementplans, without giving anytime frame, Ratan Tatasaid, “it is my responsibili-ty to have a successor andthat will take place”.

Tata Motors unveiledfour-seater Magic Iris,eight-seater Tata Venturehatchback and the 4x4,seven-seater crossoverTata Aria, as also the all-new Jaguar XJ.

Bharti gets B’desh nod for70% stake in Warid

Telecom regulator inBangladesh has given thenod to Bharti Airtel ofIndia for purchasing 70%stake in Warid Telecom aswell as investing $300 mil-lion in the company.

Zia Ahmed, Chairmanof the BangladeshTe l e c o m m u n i c a t i o nRegulatory Commission(BTRC) said the commis-

sion has approved the pro-posal of Airtel to buy 70%shares of Warid Telecom,held by Abu Dhabi groupfor a consideration of$300 million.

Bharti Airtel, India’slargest mobile servicesprovider will now be ableto enter the lucrativeneighbourhood market.The nod comes after six

months of pursuit sincethe Abu Dhabi group putits stake on sale.

Warid has nearly threemillion subscribers inBangladesh.

After Orascom ofEgypt and Singtel ofSingapore, Bharti Airtel isthe fourth foreign compa-ny to enter Bangladeshmarket.

Air India saves Rs. 6 bn in 3 monthsAusterity measures help Indian flag carrier trim losses

Air India, the Indian flagcarrier was successful insavings of Rs. 6 billionthrough austerity meas-ures, helping the airlinetrim losses.

The struggling airlinewent of replacement ofolder, more fuel using air-crafts with new ones,going for refueling at for-eign airports and therebygetting cheaper fuel and ahost of other measures.

Air India had reportedlosses of Rs 54.5 billion lastfiscal year and was staringat yet another weak year

after the liquidity crisiscurbed air travel. It nowexpects to save further Rs.5 billion in the remaining 3month period of January toMarch in the current finan-cial year, through othermeasures like renegotiatinghandling contracts, cuttingaircraft material costs andimproved fuel manage-ment.

“The airline inductednew fuel-efficient aircraft,which saved around Rs 1bn on fuel, while anotherRs 1 bn saving camethrough rentals and otheradministrative costs,” saidthe executive who can’t benamed as he is not autho-rised to speak to the media.

“The company alsorenegotiated various air-ports handling contracts,which saved Rs 200 crorefor the airline and savedanother Rs 2 bn from air-craft material costs,” headded.

India’s direct tax collections up by 8.5% for April-DecemberDirect tax collections inIndia have shown ahealthy rise of 8.5% forthe nine month period ofFY 2009 – from April toDecember, 2009. The riseis mainly due to highercorporate tax collections.

Personal income tax rev-enues were, however abit lower, down by0.41%.

Direct tax collectionsduring April-December2009 rose to Rs 25000billion, on account of

higher corporate tax col-lections.

In the first three quar-ters of the current finan-cial year, collections ofcorporate tax jumped by13.47% to Rs 16600 bn.

However, personal

income tax collectionswere down at Rs 83,178bn during the periodcompared to Rs 83,524bn in the same period lastyear.

Accroding to an offi-cial statement, the nega-

tive growth in PersonalIncome Tax was mainlydue to higher refundsunder the same head - atRs 895.4 billion againstRs 597.9 bn in the sameperiod last year.

Corporate tax collec-

tions in December 2009grew by a whopping 44per cent to Rs 5,329.3billion. Direct tax collec-tions were Rs 6,641 bil-lion during the monthagainst Rs 5,334.7 billionin December 2008.

Chinese firms do business withIran, escape US sanctions!

Chinese companies thathave been listed in theUSA for sanctions for sell-ing military equipment toIran are escaping sanc-tions, according to amedia report, quotingnonproliferation watchdoggroup.

A report on the WallStreet Journal websitesays the Wisconsin Projecton Nuclear Arms Controlexplains that the US sanc-tions are huge in numbersand even complex, making

it difficult to enforce them.It is for this reasons thatthe Chinese companieshave been able to escapethe sanctions.

Gary Milhollin, a for-mer Pentagon consultantand at present Projectdirector at Wisconsin said,“We spend a lot of timeconvincing other coun-tries of the need for tightersanctions on Iran. At thesame time, we need to bet-ter enforce our own lawsalready on the books”.

Some of the US com-panies doing businesswith Chinese firms saythey were not aware of thefact that they were doingbusiness with entities thatare banned. The WSJreport also said, theTreasury Department'sOffice of Foreign AssetsControl, tasked with polic-ing the sanctions regime,has not fined any US com-panies for trading withChinese companiesbanned in 2006.

Asian Voice - Saturday 9th January 2010 17FINANCIAL VOICE

One of our readers whohad been following ourarticles for many years,decided to finally contactus with a view of takingthe plunge and steppinginto the UK property mar-ket. A builder by profes-sion he was fed up work-ing for others and fed upof other people makinggood money from his hardwork.

Though from a work-ing class background hehad worked hard to saveand pay off his mortgage,his current mortgage wasnominal he had some sav-ings too which werelounging around in a bankaccount not really earningmuch.

So we met and spoke.Firstly he had an aversionto working with someoneas he had been burnt pre-viously in a propertytransaction several yearsago and hence developedhesitancy in investingagain into property. Iassured him we were notthis type of firm, but evenif a firm was not I am surethe same assurances willbe given! So the bottomline is this- no trust isrequired! The property isbought in his sole name

and he can verify all ourdue diligence, the proper-ty is surveyed by a valuerthe bank appoints andthere is a solicitor in placewho will check all thepaper work.

His aim was to leavehis job and do propertyprojects full time. I sug-

gested this is not a goodidea. Reason being weneed to ensure there issame stable income first.Property developmentinvolves many variables.If you are banking on aproperty being sold andafter 3 months the proper-ty sale falls through themortgage company willnot be there to listen toany stories.

My suggestion was topurchase a high yieldingcentral London propertyfirst and then engage inproperty development.This will give him anincome which will insu-

late him against anyissues he may have in thedevelopment side.

In order to start onthis road we suggested anoverdraft facility to be setup on his main residentialhome. Like him many areunder the illusion thatyou should not put your

residential home at risk. Iappreciate this point butas soon as you get anymortgage your residentialproperty is at risk. In theevent of a shortfall wherethe bank does not recovertheir funds from sale ofyour property they havethe right to come afteryou for the rest of theirfunds. So your home isalready at risk. But with-out risk there is noreward, and propertydespite the recent climateis still a very sensibleform of risk.

The reason why wesuggested to take an over

draft facility andnot to dig into hissavings, is becausethe first propertywill be a high yield-ing property – onewhich generates agood rental, weshould offset asmuch of the rent aspossible. One of thebiggest expensesincurred is theinterest incurred inpurchasing a buy tolet property. Theinterest element ofthe mortgagee canbe offset against therental income. Ifthe deposit is bor-rowed from your

own home and the rest isborrowed from the prop-erty you are buying theinterest on both chunks ofmoney can be offsetagainst the rental income.

After arranging thefacility and agreeing aproperty our client hasrecently completed on a

Make Your Money Work For YouSuresh Vagjiani is the Managing Director of Sow & Reap, a Property Investment & Financing company.

THE NRI ADVANTAGE

Call On: 0207 706 0187

Sow & ReapCommercial Finance

Gujarat Properties - Sale & Resale

Property Sourcing

Mortgages

Sow & Reap Properties Limited is trading as Sow & Reap.

Registered in England No. 05083823 Registered Office Address: 31 Southwick Street, Paddington, W2 1JQ

Email at: [email protected]

In the last couple ofyears the press werereporting doom stories,daily propounding themantra we are goingthrough a property downturn. The power ofmantra is in repetition, ifsaid long enough it willbe believed. Of coursethere are fundamentalreasons in the economywhy this was the case.But there was alarge element ofp r o p a g a n d a .Certainly inCentral Londonp r o p e r t i e sbelow £500,000didn't really godown. Whatwas occurringwas actually alack of supply.People didn'tneed to sell andtherefore justheld onto prop-erty, agents were report-ing huge buyer interesteven those who had cashbut they couldn't do thedeals due to a lack ofsupply. This was thestory through out thewhole period of the cred-it crunch.

Things now seem tobe picking up on a globallevel. One country whichdidn't suffer from thecredit crunch - simplybecause it doesn't believeand have a lot of credit,and is one of the hottestplaces to invest now isour home land whichcoincidentally just hap-pens to be one of thefastest growing

economies of the world. What I want to show

here is the tremendousopportunity we have oftaking advantage of thismarket. Firstly we areallowed to invest. It isonly NRI and POI whocan purchase property inIndia. Not everyone isallowed into this proper-ty market which gives usan advantage and is like

a special VIP pass,before the floodgatesopen to everyone, whichmost have not takenadvantage of.

Secondly we havestrong buying power inpounds.

Thirdly even thoughinterest rates offered byIndian banks are around10% per annum peopleare still purchasing dueto the high growth ratesof Indian property.

With the currentinterest rates at belowthe 3% mark we have anadvantage against thelocals from a borrowingpoint of view. Ratherthan borrowing one

lump sum from the out-set, many lenders offer adraw down facilityallowing you to draw thefunds down as the devel-opment completes. Whatmany investors don'tknow is that this facilitycan be granted on a fixedrate too giving securityagainst interest rate fluc-tuations to the borrower.

Fourthly followingthe rise ofp r o p e r t yprices overthe years,many of usare sitting onInheritancetax timebombs, pur-chasing aproperty inIndia will notonly be anastute busi-ness move forthe above rea-

sons, but may help alle-viate the IHT burden ifdone in the correct way.It could be dangerousdoing nothing as youcould be sitting on anIHT time bomb.

Given the above itwould only be inertia tostop someone from atleast looking into thisissue a little further. Wewill be bringing someexciting opportunitiesfrom Ahmadabad to youshortly. To register yourinterest and to get ourreport into Ahmadabadplease [email protected] we will email thisfree PDF to you.

two bedroom property inWestbourne Park close tothe fashionable NottingHill. The property waspurchased for £275,000and will attract a rental of£500 per week. This willgenerate roughly £12,500after taking into accountthe interest on both mort-gages and the servicecharge. Not bad for sim-ply rearranging what youalready have. This little

example takes into noaccount the capital appre-ciation which will occurdue to the strong locationof the property. Also thisis passive, meaning if hedecided not to get out ofbed tomorrow thisincome will still come tohim. Sow & Reap offer afull turn key solutionmeaning we will finance,source and rent the prop-erty we find for you.

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kitchen Treats

If you have any questions write to [email protected]

By Mamta Bhatia, Psychologist

Life styleHome remedies to cure

whooping cough 2010 Is Your YearFor a lot of folk thebeginning of a New Yearis about fresh starts andself discovery. Havinggone through anotheryear people have a ten-dency to think back andreflect on what workedand what didn’t. Forothers a natural focus isdirected towards rein-venting their look, usual-ly backed up by splash-ing out on Christmassales and indulging in anew wardrobe. Mostcommon at this time ofyear, people are feelingburdened by the weightof their good intentionsand unrealistic goals thatlinger on from the yearsbefore. When people arequickly realising justhow fast time has flownand how unproductivelyit may have been used.With all this in mind, mynext few articles aregoing to offer tips onhow you can make 2010your best year yet. Getcomfortable and beready to absorb.

Think about yourattitude to your life.When you look in themirror and think aboutall that has got you towhere you stand today,how do you feel?However you may feelwill most definitely bereflected in the life youare living today.Psychologists have longsaid that ‘perceptionequals reality’. If youthink positive things,you should feel proud ofyourself, for in thatmoment you are display-ing gratitude.Appreciation for whereyou are regardless of thehurdles and hiccups. Ifyou feel negative, youneed to know that in themoment you confirm toyourself that you are notenough you loose themotivation to create fora better life.

The attitude andthoughts you have aboutyourself will ultimatelyshape the direction yourlife has taken and will

take. Do not shy awayfrom having a positiveoutlook about and towardyourself. Positive think-ing does not mean youhave a relentlessly jollystance. It is the beliefthat you can achieve any-thing by believing in itenough and being mind-ful that it is about a wholeset of thinking patternsand behaviours that addup to a way of looking atlife that is hopeful andresilient. Managing ourattitude can have pro-found effects, not just onour moods, but on ourrelationships, achieve-ments and health. Let goof any misunderstandingthat surrounds theexpression ‘Positivethinking’ and rememberthat this approach isabout you and your bet-terment not anybody else.Holding onto negativityaround positivity is sim-ply unhelpful – to you!

Remember that if youbelieve you deservesomething good, youbecome more motivatedto aim for it. Whateveryour goals, a positiveoutlook can help youachieve them. Listen towhat you are tellingyourself. It’s estimatedthat we say between 200to 300 words a minute toourselves in our minds.This is an internal dia-logue that we have allthe time. So much sothat it becomes a ‘noise’that we get used to hear-ing and could not imag-ine what it would be likeif it suddenly stopped.The things you tell your-self will have a directimpact on your attitude,confidence and selfesteem. Even the mostconfident person willfeel low and down aboutthemselves if their inter-nal dialogue turns nega-tive. Understanding theimpact of what we tellourselves is very impor-tant as this conversationwill ultimately shape theway we see the world.So, it is fundamental

that your words are pos-itive and realistic.

A lot of people cometo think spa London andcomplain that they cannot manage their nega-tive self talk. What Iadvise is very simple.The most powerfulnugget is to know for afact that you are in con-trol of how you feel so tonot be at the mercy ofwhat you think. Forexample, you may think‘No one likes me’ or‘People are always talk-ing about me’ or‘Nothing I want to dowill ever work out’. Ifwe controlled what wewere telling ourselves byfiltering out unhelpfulcomments and thoughts,we decide what we endup listening to. It isabout creating choicesfor ourselves by not hav-ing an all or nothing atti-tude. Buddha stated ‘Allthat we are is the resultof what we havethought’.

Lastly, to manageyour mind and what youare telling yourself youneed to stop runningaround and find somequiet space for yourself,alone in a calm environ-ment. If you struggle tofind this at home, go to ameditation centre,library, quiet coffee shopor a friends or relativesplace. Close you eyes for10 to 15 minutes andjust listen and realise.You may want to writedown what you aretelling yourself, or justtake note. Then visu-alise a volume dial inyour mind and noticewhat level it is on, whatyou will probably find isthat it is on quite high.Use the power andresilience in your mindto watch that dialdecrease in volume, trygetting it to zero. Noticethe calm that you feeland make a commitmentto revisit that if the neg-ative thoughts get tooloud.

Good Luck!

Cough is a contagiousdisease that when some-body in the family hasthis, it has the tendencyto contaminate to all thefamily members.Whooping cough dis-turbs your sleep at nightand ruin your activitiesfor the day. I find radishand onions very effectiveto cure cough. No sideeffects and you don'thave to spend much. Itwill not even make youfeel drowsy and you cancontinue with your day’s

worlk without actuallybeing disturbed. Onesuch method is the usageof a mix of raddish andonion. The combinationmight sound awful forconsumption but is aquick recovery for awhopping cough.1.Wash and peel the

radish. Then slice theradish in bite size, setaside.

Wash and chop theonion and combine itwith the radish.

Put the onion andradish all together in ablender. Blend it until itturns into juice

Strain the blendedradish and onion to takeout the pulp. Put the fin-ished product in a glass.(1/4) glass measurementfor adult and 1tbsp. forkids 7 and up yr. old.

Let the per-son sufferingfrom coughdrink it rightaway. The tasteis not reallygood but it isvery effective toget rid of thebacteria.

Do theprocess 3-4times a day ifthe coughing isreally worse.

Apart fromthe onion rad-dish mix thereare other reme-dies which arealso quite homemade and canbe used toget rid ofc o u g h .

These remediesare not at times

too bad for the palateunlike the onion raddishmix. By using such reme-dies even on a regularbasis one definitely man-ages to keep the doctoraway.• Aloe Vera with honey • Boiled eucalyptus

leaves and mint leavesin water and inhale itsvapours

• Ginger tea • Drink hot milk with

honey at bedtime. • A little ginger juice

with honey and takefor relief.

• Add a gram of turmer-ic powder to a tea-spoon of honey for cur-ing dry cough

• Apple ciderv i n e g a r

S p r i n k l ea p p l e

cider vinegar on yourpillowcase before bed-time

• Essential oil of juniper-A few drops may beused in hot water forcough relief

• Drink herbal tea withcinnamon to stop thecoughing

• A cup of grape juicemixed with a teaspoonof honey is recom-mended for coughrelief

• Make cough syrupfrom baked onionjuice, comfrey tea, andhoney

• Mix a portion of lemonjuice, along with somehoney and hot water.

This is an authentic south Indianrecipe. Generally served with rice but tokeep it less oily, this recipe has beenmentioned on how to cook it in amicrowave oven. It is one vegetablethat is available round the year, so itseasy to cook and ready to eat.Ingredients:

• Coconut 100 Gms, grated• Green chilli one• Spring onion 2, chopped• Cabbage 1, chopped

• Mustard seeds teaspoon• Red chilli 3 nos• Curry leaves About 5• Oil 1 tablespoon

Preparation:In a dish take oil, mustard seeds, red

chilli and curry leaves and cook coveredon high for 2 minutes. Grind thecoconut, green chilli and spring onions toa paste and cook on high for 2 minutes.

Add the cabbage and cook on power70 for 8 minutes till the cabbage iscooked. Serve garnished with choppedcoriander.

Cabbage coconut


Salman launches hunt for unsung heroesSalman Khan haslaunched an all-Indiahunt for unsung heroes,young men and womenwho have performedheroic deeds which thenation doesn’t knowabout.

This hunt for unsungheroes (and heroines) isapparently one moreeffort by Salman inbridge-building andimproving his image.

Says a source, “LatelySalman has been goingout of his way to connectwith the masses.

The idea to launch acontest on his birthday(December 27) to searchfor unrecognized heroescame from Aamir Khan’srecent connect-with-

masses Bharat Darshanwhich he undertook aspart of the promotion for“3 Idiots.”

People close toSalman advised him tofind a similar point ofconnectivity with thecommon man for

Salman’s forthcomingfilm “Veer.” And whatbetter occasion to showhis affinity to the massesthan his birthday?”

Confirming Salman’splans to search and cele-brate the lives of unsungheroes from all over thecountry “Veer” producerVijay Galani says,“You’ve heard correctly.Salman is launching acontest to find real-lifeunsung heroes.

Since he has playedthe hero so often onscreen he feels real-lifeheroes deserve to bebrought out of anonymity.We’ll be going to theremotest corners of Indiato select these unknownheroes. Finally one of

them will be given theVeer cup personally bySalman at a function inMumbai.”

Throws party for only men

Salman, otherwiseknown for his wild bash-es, went surprisinglyquiet for his 45th birth-day celebrations. He helda simple party for hisfriends at his Panvelfarmhouse. But there wasa catch – only men wereinvited to the party.

According to sources,Salman whose parties areusually much talkedabout, didn’t throw a lav-ish party this time as he isstill upset after hisbreakup with KatrinaKaif.

Aamir Khan starrer '3Idiots' has created a recordby grossing over pound1.32 million in its first fourdays. Reliance BIGEntertainment, distributorof the film, released about2, 000 prints across 40countries. Based onChetan Bhagat's bestseller"Five Point Someone", thefilm has been produced byVidhu Vinod Chopra anddirected by RajkumarHirani.

Interestingly, the filmis doing a great businesseven in the overseas terri-tory which is not tradi-tionally consideredAamir's domain. The filmhas said to have even con-

quered “Avatar” and otherholiday releases in US andUK.

Adds Vidhu VinodChopra: "Response hasbeen overwhelming from

all over the world. Aamir,Raju and I knew from theresponses earlier on thatpeople liked the film butthis is something else? Wehave got reports fromplaces like Australia thatthey have reduced 'Avatar'shows and increasedours."

Released on December25, its box office collectionhas beaten the initial earn-ings of another Aamirstarrer "Ghajini", consid-ered Hindi cinema's high-est grosser till date, with30 per cent more earningstill Sunday night.

"'3 Idiots' is the highestgrossing Hindi film ever inAustralia on its opening

weekend. Similarly in theUS, I have been given tounderstand that '3 Idiots'would be highest ever for aHindi film, " said Chopra.

The film, which report-edly cost about pound1.32 million, also stars R.Madhavan, SharmanJoshi, Boman Irani andKareena Kapoor in pivotalroles.

Success is boring and failureis exciting for Anupam Kher

Anupam Kher's muchlauded play 'Kuchh BhiHo Sakta Hai', whichencapsulates the failedmoments of his life, saysfailure is more entertain-ing than trailing successstories.

Directed by FerozAbbas Khan, Anupam'sautobiographical one-man play will complete its200th show at theNational Centre forPerforming Arts (NCPA)soon.

The actor was askedto pen down his memoirsby a well-known publish-er and while collectingcontent for the book, hedecided to do a play onsome interesting eventsof his life instead.

'Harper Collins gaveme a letter of intent say-ing that they want me topen down my autobiogra-phy. When I was recol-lecting the incidents ofmy life for that, I selectedonly those incidentswhich were turning

points in my life. I stagedit instead of writing it,'Anupam said in an inter-view.

The actor says theplay was four hours longwhen the first draft wascompleted.

'But we edited it andkept only those incidentswhich were interestingand could relate to theaudience. Still it's two-and-a-half-hours long andI alone play around 100characters that includemy family, brothers,friends and other people,'said Anupam.

Asked if it is difficultto speak about failures inreal life, he said: 'The

moment you talk aboutyour failure, it liberatesyou from the fear of it.People tend to scare youpointing out your short-falls. If you voluntarilyadmit your faults, thenpeople won't have any-thing to point out.'

Anupam may be stag-ing its 200th show, but heis as nervous as he waswhen he did the firstshow in June 2003.

'On the day of the per-formance I don't eat thewhole day and stop talk-ing to anyone hoursbefore the show.'

Asked if there is anyplan to transform the playinto a film, he said: 'WhenNeeraj Pandey ('AWednesday' fame direc-tor) saw this play, heshowed interest in mak-ing a film on it, but hedidn't approach me afterthat. It's too long to makea film on the play becauseit's a saga. You can't takejust one portion of it andmake a film.'

London’s Trinity Collegehonours A R Rahman

London’s Trinity College of Music has honouredIndia’s Oscar award winning music composer A RRahman with a Honorary Fellowship.

According to the official website of Rahman, theaward was presented by Barry Wordsworth, MusicDirector of the Royal Ballet Covent Garden onDecember 16 in Greenwich, UK, in recognition ofhis "distinctive contribution to and creativity in thearts." Trinity College of Music, incorporated byTrinity Laban, is one of the premier internationalmusic institutions. Its patron is HRH The Duke ofKent KG, while principals are Derek Aviss andAnthony Bowne. Rahman, who has recorded sales ofover 300 million, was called "Mozart of Madras" byTime magazine.

Rahman sees music "as a way to connect to spir-ituality and embrace it" and for "creating harmony introubled times", the website said.

Popular Kannada actorVishnuvardhan is no more

Popular Kannada actor Vishnuvardhan died of car-diac arrest in Mysore last week. He was 59.Vishnuvardhan, whom his fans had fondly awardedthe title "sahasa simha" (a valour lion), developedbreathing problems and he was immediately taken toa private hospital where he breathed his last, sourcessaid.

According to hospital sources, he actress wifeBharathi and son-in-law Anirudh were by his sidewhen the Kannada star died. He has acted in 197films. The last film in which Vishnuvardhan acted is'Aaptha Rakshaka' which is yet be released and hislatest film to hit the screen is "Bellary Naaga".

Idiot Aamir conquers even ‘Avatar’

A complete year of surprises as most of the actresses struck with glory

in their second innings. Nayanthara and Trisha had a very disappointing

year as their films flunked terribly at box office and fetched worst reviews

for them.

Anushka: She made her debut with ‘Rendu’ that didn’t gain her

more appreciations. But her comeback just

swayed us out with ‘Arundhathi’ while she had to

get herself in vain with Vijay’s ‘Vettaikaran’. She

has got one more big ticket ‘Singam’ with Surya

and she is already in favorite lists of directors

and producers.

Tamannah: The slim beauty had the success

knocking her doors continuously throughout the

year. Padikadhavan, Kanden Kadhalai, Ayan

and she won some good reviews for the

underrated film ‘Anandha Thandavam’.

Saranya Mohan: This 20-year old

girl has come up with pleasing works in

‘Vennila Kabadi Kulu’ and ‘Eeram’. Her

Telugu film ‘Village Lo Vinayakudu’ was

a great hit. Though she has been a part

of film industry for past 12 years, she

stepped onto the epitome of actress

with these films.

Pooja: She was actually not

interested in acting and just

appeared for the sake of glam-

our. But ‘Naan Kadavul’ turned

off her intentions as she

excelled from the school of

Bala. Pooja is sure to win

the laurels and awards.

Sindhu Menon:

After making her debut

with Bharathiraja’s

‘Kadal Pookal’, she was away from

Kollywood. But she was back with a bang

with ‘Eeram’, a film that was completely

based on her.

Top 5 actors ofKollywood in 2009


Deepika’s date with Japanese PMDeepika Padukone is invery distinguished compa-ny these days. The prettylady was the onlyBollywood celebrity tohave dinner with SoniaGandhi, Prime MinisterManmohan Singh, and hisministers at the PM’s resi-dence, which was organ-ised in honour of JapanesePrime Minister YukioHatoyama and his wifeMiyuki Hatoyama.

The Japanese PM andhis wife are hugeBollywood fans and theyexpressed the desire tomeet Deepika. And whenthe dusky beauty received

a call from the PM’s office,she was much too pleased

to oblige. Dressed in asaree by ManishMalhotra, the stunnercarried herself withpoise and grace at theevent.

Talking about therare honour, Deepikasaid, “It is a privilegeand honour for me tobe invited for this din-ner. I am excited andnervous at the sametime."

Later, Hatoyamaalso went aroundexploring the Film City,Goregoan and visitedother movie sets as

well.

Abhishek turns metrosexualfor National Bingo Night

Dressed in a brightyellow coat over a paleyellow shirt and whitetrousers, AbhishekBachchan sports ametrosexual look forhis debut TV show"National BingoNight" to be airedsoon on Colors.

Apart from that,the actor sports a babypink jacket for thepromotional photoshoot for the show.

However, this isn'tthe first timeAbhishek is flauntingthe metrosexual look -he made similar stylestatements in movies like"Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna"and "Dostana".

He is extremely excitedabout the show, being pro-duced by Fox TelevisionStudios India Pvt. Ltd.

"It's a fun-filled showwhere the whole countrywill be my guest withoutapplying any brains oranswer any difficult ques-tions. This is such achilled out concept andsomething that has neverbeen done before in India.

The sheer simplicityof the idea and thefact that this show ishighly interactive iswhat attracted me toit, " Abhishek said ina statement.

The game showwill have two fast-paced rounds of thepopular guessinggame 'Bingo'.

The formallaunch of the showwas preceded by aflurry of marketingactivity includingteasers on the chan-nel. The launch date

of the show has yet to beannounced.

The format of the showis owned by 20th FoxTelevision Distributionand it has run successfullyin the US, Australia andPhilippines.

Karan Johar’s new celebrityshow on Sony TV Asia

BY JAYA KUMAR

It is expected to be one ofthe biggest shows everseen on British Asian tele-vision.

W e l l - k n o w nBollywood producers YashRaj Films made their TVdebut with a new realityshow “Lift Kara De” onSony EntertainmentTelevision Asia on NewYear's day.

Karan Johar, whosecredits include films likeKuch Kuch Hota Hai andKhabhi Khushi KhabhiGham as a director andCoffee with Karan as a TVhost, is the anchor for“Lift Kara De”, which willshowcase top Bollywoodstars and their biggest andcraziest fans.

Rajan Singh,Executive Vice-president,International Business,Sony said: “We have adecade long associationwith Yash Raj. Weobtained all their moviesand when they decided toenter into TV production,we became their obvious

partner of choice.”Karan said: “It is

another Television chal-lenge for me. This is aunique show which I amsure will draw huge num-ber of audiences in theUK. It will feature almostall greats of Bollyood. It isindeed exciting.” Lift KaraDe will have film personal-ities like AmitabhBachchan, LataM a n g e s h k a r ,Dharmendra, A RRahman, Rani Mukerji,Preity Zinta, Kajol amongothers.

Lift Kara De will focuson some of the crazy fansof Bollywood actors andactress who will be thecontestants in the show.Rajan Singh said: “RealityTV is now a huge audi-ence pull in India and theUK.

The central idea ofreality shows revolvesaround finding somethingthat the regular viewer canrelate to and whichreflects society.

And “Lift Kara De” isanother show that I hopewill have mass appeal.”

What ascribes an actorto be successful? Is itmerely with his perform-ance or film’s success?Most of the times, it goesalong with the latter cat-egory where a per-former’s hard work andintensity levels are com-pletely diminished withthe film’s failure.

Here we bring someof the best actors ofTamil Cinema in 2009.

Surya: Being one ofthe prominent actors onthe main league, he hasaccomplished with cou-ple of projects withinshort span of time.‘Ayan’ and ‘Aadhavan’have been two films likedissimilar poles and hedid his best. But regret-tably, he lost his reputa-tion for his command ofbad languages on jour-nalists.

Vikram: He suited the role of asuperhero, a CBI officer and excelledwell as a great singer. If‘Kanthaswamy’ was a flop, SusiGanesh has to be blamed. But anintellectual actor is supposed to makeright decisions while choosing the

script. Let’s hope all histhree releases –Manirathnam’s ‘Raavana’,Selvaraghavan’s untitledfilm and Vikram Kumar’s‘24’ brings him more hon-ors.

Nanda: At this point oftime, when even a juniorartist aspires to be a lead-ing mass hero, Nandacame up with a boldattempt of a negative rolein ‘Eeram’. Probably, hisearnest efforts and hardwork has revived hiscareer. His upcoming film‘Anantha Purathu Veedu’produced by Shankar willhit screens in Februarywhile he has signed for‘Vellore Maavattam’ – acommercial film producedby AGS Entertainment.

Kamal Haasan:Padmashree KamalHaasan grabbed every-

one’s attention much more than hisprevious film ‘Dasavatharam’. He did-n’t strain himself a lot, but lived underthe skin of character he performed.

Mohan Lal: After a very long time,we had the Malayalam superstarcoming back in Tamil film with a pow-erful show.

Top 5 actresses of

Kollywood in 2009

BollyKatsAsian Voice - Saturday 9th January 2010 www.abplgroup.com 21

New Hindi movie releasing this week

Top 5 Bollywood movies for the week

No. Film No. Last Total

Week weeks

1. 3 Idiots New 1

2. Avatar 1 2

3. Paa 2 4

4. The Twilight Saga:

New Moon 3 2

5 Rocket Singh – Salesman

Of The Year 4 3

1. Pyaar Impossible

2. Dulha Mil Gaya

3. Hello, Hum Lallan Bol Rahe Hain

Soha tried hard not to be an actorSoha Ali Khan was born in afamily of actors, but did notwant to be an actress buteventually became one.

With yesteryear's beautyqueen Sharmila Tagore asmother and superstar SaifAli Khan as brother, onewould hardly expect Soha totake up any other profes-sion, but she insists that shewas initially reluctant tobecome an actress.

"Taking up acting wasnever my aim and I havetried very hard not to be anactor. I took up other pro-fessions like banking, butthen there was a wish tobecome a part of the enter-tainment industry some-how," Soha said.

And it was this wishwhich she could not escapeand it led her to the sets of'Dil Maange More', the filmshe made her Bollywooddebut with.

She is a prominent face

in the film industry now,with 'Rang De Basanti' and'Mumbai Meri Jaan' in herkitty. Soha has carved aniche for herself with off-beat films like 'Khoya KhoyaChand' and 'Dil Kabaddi'instead of going the full-blown 'masala movie' way.

"I like to keep it variedand work in every genre asmy aim is to perform. Manya times you do not get achance to perform in glam-ourous films. I would like tobe part of those ++filmswhere I can prove myself asan actress," said Soha.

Soha, whose lastBollywood release was 'TumMile' with Emraan Hashmi,is happy that she does nothave to compete with hermother or brother in actingsince both of them are suc-cessful in their respectivespheres. But she does seektheir appreciation at times.

"I don't turn to my fami-

ly members for advice. Butwhen my film is released Iwant amma (Sharmila) to watch it because herfemale perspective comeshandy.

"When I am signing afilm with an unknownparty, I might ask bhai(Saif) for his opinion.He is more experiencedand will know whetherthe script will turn out tobe a good film. But ulti-mately its my choicesince its me who has toplay the role," saidSoha.

"I don't want toimitate any actress,even my mother. Iadmire her for herbody of work inevery genre, be it act-ing in Satyajit Ray'sfilms or working withDenzel Washington.She is an icon for me,"said Soha.

Gurinder Chadha’s ‘It’s a WonderfulAfterlife’ goes to Sundance Film Festival

Acclaimed movie-makerGurinder Chadha was inhigh spirits when it wasannounced that her forth-coming film “It’s aWonderful Afterlife” hadbeen selected for a worldpremiere at The SundanceFilm Festival.

P r o g r a m m e r sannounced on Monday21st December that herfilm would be added to theoriginal slate of films thathave already been con-firmed. The world pre-miere will screen outsideof the competition duringthe festival, which takesplace in Park City, Utahfrom January 21 untilJanuary 31.

Talking about the festi-val, Gurinder said: “I amdelighted to premiere myfilm at Sundan having had

such a long and happyrelationship with the festi-val. Since it is the festivalfor independent filmmak-

ers, I feel especiallypleased because “It’s aWonderful Afterlife” is atruly independent British-Indian co-production.”

“It’s a WonderfulAfterlife” is a supernaturalcomedy, which follows thestory of a frantic Indianmother (Shabana Azmi)whose obsession withfinding a partner for heroverweight daughter takesher into the world of serialmurder. The star cast alsoincludes Goldy Notay,Sally Hawkins, SendhilRamamurthy, SanjeevBhaskar, Zoe Wanamakerand Jimi Mistry. It willrelease in cinemas acrossthe UK in April 2010.

(From left to right) Gurinder Chadha (writer, director andproducer), Shabana Azmi, Sally Hawkins and Goldy Notay

A romance and comedy flick from the banner ofYash Raj films, Pyaar Impossible is perhaps aunique film in the sense that Uday Chopra, the heroalso has the credits for the story, screenplay and thedialogues of the film. As a home production, Udayis obviously the producer also. It has Jugal Hansrajas director, another hero who had a short stint atacting but couldn’t reach anywhere in that capacity.

In Ankert University, California, Alisha is adream girl everyone wishes will come true for him.The most beautiful girl on campus, she makeshearts flutter like leaves in the wind. A snap of herfingers and a line of boys, waiting on her everywhim. Everybody Loves Alisha!

It is no surprise then that Abhay (Uday Chopra)loves her too. More than his computer programsand MAC stores he thinks of Alisha. Who isAbhay? Abhay is a nerdy, awkward, socially chal-lenged, bespectacled geek of the college who is sofar removed from her world that she doesn't evenknow that people like him actually exist.

This is a love story of impossible proportions,how can a man like Abhay ever hope to be with awoman like Alisha, and therein lies the story...

Abhay has quietly loved Alisha all his life. Oneday he musters up enough courage to go andexpress his true feelings to her and realizes that it isnever gonna happen. He comes to terms with thefact that Alisha is a Princess and he is just a Geek.That is when their ways eventually part. Later, theirpaths cross again, as Abhay is busy trying to launchhis career. Fate again brings him face to face withthe woman of his dreams, Alisha.

Will Abhay have the strength to believe in him-self and attempt to achieve what he never thoughtpossible? Will Alisha ever be able to see the manbehind those glasses, beyond what her idea of theperfect man is? Is everything fate or can one takedestiny in their own hands? Is this possible or justPyaar Impossible?

The lead cast has Uday Chopra, PriyankaChopra, Anupam Kher and Dino Morea in a specialappearance.

Pyaar Impossible has lyrics by Anvita DuttaGuptan, while the music credits are share by Salimand Sulaiman Merchant. Playback team includesAnushka Manchanda, Salim Merchant, DominiqueCerejo, Vishal Dadlani, Neha Bhasin, Benny Dayal,Mahua Kamat, Naresh Kamat, and Rishika Sawant.

Katrina Kaif bowled over byRobert Pattinson

Twilight star RobertPattinson has swept ourown Bollywood beautyKatrina Kaif completelyoff her feet. And if all goeswell she’ll be meetingPattinson during herannual holiday with herfamily in London.

The minute Katrina’seyes fell on Pattinson shegot hooked to the Twilightquartet. “I went andbought all the four booksTwilight, New Moon,Eclipse and BreakingDawn. I couldn’t put themdown.

I’ve been racingthrough the adventures ofthe hottest vampireEdward Cullen for the lastone week. I finished read-ing three of the Twilightbooks in less than fourdays. Now I’m into thefourth. I just can’t get

enough of him.”And now

Katrina wants tomeet the realEdward Cullen.

“You don’tunderstand. This islike an obsession forme. I can’t getRobert Pattinsonout of my head. I seethe love of my life inevery object thatmoves or doesn’tmove. I’ve never feltthis way about anyman before.”

Now a meetingb e t w e e nBollywood’s blister-ing babe andHollywood’s heart-throb is discreetlybeing arranged.Though Katrina isnot talking about it,her representatives

are in touch withR o b e r tP a t t i n s o n ’ sagent. It’s beenmade known tothe global super-star thatBollywood’s emi-nently desirableKatrina Kaifwould probablydie of longing ifthe meeting does-n’t happen.

Says thea c t r e s s ,“Obviously Ican’t stand underhis window to gethis attention. Soyes, the meetinghas to be moreformal. He sayshe’s single. But Idon’t believehim. That’s whatthey all say.”

Asian Voice - Saturday 9th January 201022 INDIA

In divine lightBY RAJEN VAKIL

DRONACHARYA – The habit mechanism

The aim of our spiritualquest is to awaken oursoul from the deep spellof hypnosis of life. Thesoul is bound by manycords but the thickestamong these is thatwhich is formed by ourhabits. Habits are ofmany kinds – intellectu-al, emotional, and of thebody. The patterns ofbehaviour and thinkingthat have formed in ourbrains are all habits,which keep us asleep. Welive our lives not the waywe want to but at thediktats of our habits. Theirony is that we not onlyfail to realize this phe-nomenon but on beingquestioned, we justify itsaying that we canchange at any time wewish to. This is the imag-ination or maya we liveunder.

Habits are formedthrough acharana – repe-tition of certain behav-iour tracks till theybecome patterns in oursub-conscious. We cancall this process as con-ditioning. Dronacharyais the teacher of both,the Pandavas and theKauravas. A teacher isthe one who creates theeducated or cultivatedself in us. Let us studythe symbology and seewhat this representswithin us. The wordDronacharya comesfrom the Sanskrit root‘Dru’ meaning molten orthat which is in a moltenstate. A child is bornwith many possibilitieswhich at the time of birthare still in a molten state.Through upbringing,education, and repetition(a process of acharana),a few of these possibili-ties get expressed. Theunexpressed lie dormantin the unconscious mindof a person.

Hence, we oftencomment that a person isborn with a very richdestiny but in one’s life-time, is able to convertonly a small part of itinto one’s fortune. Thisconversion (of thatwhich is molten) intobehaviour is done by theacharya or teacher.

There are two kindsof habits – bad and good,though none of themhave anything to do withmorality. Bad habitsincrease the sleep or hyp-nosis of life. Good habitscreate conditions for usto wake up from thesleep of life.Dronacharya is themechanism that enablesformation of habits. Thatis why he is the guru ofboth the good and bad,respectively thePandavas and theKauravas. For us, a habitis an action or a thought-form performed auto-matically and hence, anunconscious streak. Thisis the very reason whywhen it has to side, itsides with the negativeforces.

The story of the birthof Dronacharya is veryinteresting. RishiBharadwaj was filledwith lust and desirewhen he saw the fairyGhritachi bathing in theGanga. His semen ejacu-lated and this was storedin a pot from whichDronacharya was born.Dronacharya was bornas an accident of lust.There is a lesson here, inthat when we have chil-dren, are they accidentsof our sexual desires ordo we consciously makean effort to invite them.His being born from apot is the symbol of con-ditioning – somethingcultivated, and not natu-ral. Dronacharya beingborn from desire is asymbol of habits beingborn from deep desireswithin us. Later,Dronacharya marriesKripi, the sister ofKripacharya, the guru ofthe princes ofHastinapura. Kripameans pity and the sisterof pity is self-pity. Self-pity is born out of a deepdesire to get somethingfrom someone by creat-ing pity in the giver’smind. This habitbecomes second natureto us.

Dronacharya’s son isAshwathama, ‘swa’means tomorrow, ‘aswa’means not tomorrow and

‘sthama’ means thatwhich is steady or con-stant. What in us is theretoday but changes and isnot the same tomorrow,yet is still steady andconstant – desire. Todaywe desire a car, tomor-row a house, and dayafter something else.Objects of desire keepchanging but desire isalways constant. For alldisciples on the spiritualpath, this father-son rela-tionship of habit-desireis the most difficult tobreak free of. Our deep-est habit is that everymoment we keep ondesiring. If my childrenare going out, as theyleave the door, there isan intense desire insidethat nothing shouldbefall then on the way. IfI am writing this article,there is a desire insidethat people appreciate it.The desire that the out-come of our every actionshould be happy is thedeepest habit. Once webreak free of this habit,we wake up to the hyp-nosis of life or areenlightened.

Dronacharya waskilled by deceit. This isvery important as thistells us that this habit-desire mechanism withinus can only be brokenfree of in a very sly man-ner. This idea has tocome from the inner-consciousness or SriKrishna. It is co-ordinat-ed by Yudhisthira or theintellectual energy with-in us. Dronacharya istold that Ashwathamahas died. Hearing this,he lays down hisweapons and sits in med-itation on the battlefield.He is killed byDrishtadyumna, whowas born through ayagna of fire, a symbol ofconsciousness, and onlyone born from fire cankill this deeply grainedhabit mechanism.

We must make aneffort to observe thishabit-desire mechanismand after sustained prac-tice, be free of it.

(The author can bereached by [email protected])

British Gujarati doctor elected as head ofinternational emergency medicine body

Dr. Gautam Bodiwala, aBritish Gujarati doctorwith his roots inAhmedabad has addedanother feather to his cap,being the first electedpresident of InternationalFederation for EmergencyMedicine.

An alumnus of DiwanBallubhai school and B JMedical Cllege,Ahmedabad, Dr. Bodiwalahas settled in the UK since1970 and has already beenhonoured with theCommander of the Orderof British Empire, the high-est civilian honour in thecountry. In fact, he is thefounder of the federationthat was set up in 1991.

A pioneer of emer-gency medical care inmany countries, Dr.Gautam Bodiwala hasquite a few other honoursto his credit, the notewor-thy among them being

declared ‘Man ofthe Year’ twice bythe AmericanB i o g r a p h i c a lSociety as well as‘Mother IndiaI n t e r n a t i o n a lAward’ and‘Videsh Samman’for fostering rela-tionship betweenIndia and the UK.

He has alsobeen made an honorarylife member by the BritishAssociation forEmergency Medicine andis appointed as deputylieutenant ofLeicestershire represent-ing the Queen.

Countries like India,South Africa, Kenya,Uganda, Hong Kong,Singapore and someEuropean countries havebenefited from his adviceon setting up accident and emergency medical

services. “Through the

federation, wewant to offerguidance to emer-gency medicinep r a c t i t i o n e r sworldwide and toestablish emer-gency medicalsystems wherethey are needed,”said Bodiwala.

He has published morethan 66 papers and writ-ten a book on emergencyhealth care, and has many fellowships from dif-ferent colleges around theworld. Hospital TrustBoard named the new £7.5 mn (Rs 60 crore)department at theLeicester Royal Infirmaryas ‘Gautam BodiwalaEmergency Department’in recognition of his 25years of ‘outstanding serv-ice and local contribution’.

After must-vote, Modi govtplans voters’ right to recall

After making voting in Gujarat local bodypolls compulsory, the Modi government isnow mulling another, giving voters,among other provisions, the right to recallnon-performing local representatives.

The state election commission hasalready vetted its final draft for Modi’snod. Once operational, the law willenable the electorate to recall elected rep-resentatives across all local self-govern-ment bodies - municipal corporations,municipalities and panchayats if he orshe fails to deliver or is involved in anyserious misconduct.

Once the Bill goes through theAssembly, District Collectors would havethe power to remove any elected localbody representative and order a repoll, if

one-third of the electorate lodges a com-plaint, and the Collector finds substancein it. Elected representatives, however,can serve an initial two years of their five-year term, before voters could exercisethe right to recall.

“The draft for this and some other rec-ommendations are ready. We will soonhand it over to the government for itsconsideration,” Gujarat ElectionCommissioner K C Kapoor told, addingthat he “strongly believes” the govern-ment would accept it since ‘right to recall’is already being implemented in localbodies in BJP-ruled Chhattisgarh. TheSEC has also suggested to legislate forbarring anyone above the age of 65 fromcontesting any local body poll.

Arunachal students want acomplete ban on Chinese goods

Students in ArunachalPradesh have decided totake head on with China,as they are determined tocounter attempts byBeijing to keep this borderIndian state in dispute andalso to dominate.

The All ArunachalPradesh Students’ Union(AAPSU) has set January12 as the deadline for thestate government andbusiness houses to boycottChina-made goods or facesuitable action. They wantno entry or sale of Chinesegoods in the state.

The idea is to makeBeijing stop claiming

Arunachal Pradesh forgood and messing withnatural resources such asrivers that flow into India.“This deadline is also amessage to New Delhi tobe sterner in its dealingswith Beijing on issues per-taining to the internationalboundary and unfoundedclaims on our forefathers’land,” Takam Tatung, thestudents’ union leadersaid. The union had earlierthis month asked theCongress government,headed by Dorjee Khandu,and trade bodies to shunChinese goods immediate-ly. “They sought at least a

month’s time, and we did-n’t want to be inconsider-ate,” Tatung said.

The AAPSU alsowants New Delhi to go forborder fencing along theMcMahon Line theboundary between Indiaand China just like theboundaries with Pakistanand Bangladesh.“Incursions by Chineseare as much of a problemas by Bangladeshis andPakistanis,” Tatung said.The Arunachal Pradeshgovernment has put theonus on the trade organi-sations vis-à-vis the stu-dents’ union deadline.

After 12 January, businesses or state government will face action on failure

Clean Ganga by 2020 is the goalGanga, India’s holiestriver will be completelyclean and free flowing by2020. The Government ofIndia is confident thatwith a project to get rid ofpollution from the river,even the World Bank hascommitted a substantial

assistance for the Gangacleaning project.

Environment ministerof India, Jairam Rameshhas said that Rs. 150 bil-lion will be spent on thecleaning of the holiest ofthe rivers in India.

The Centre plans to

save the river by makingit 'nirmal' (clean) and'aviral' (free flowing), hetold reporters recently.

"We will not onlyensure 'aviral dhara' con-tinuous flow of the riverstream, but also see to itthat its 'nirmal dhara'

clean and pollution freeflow, the minister said.

Ramesh said theWorld Bank has also com-mitted India at least US$one bn as assistance forcleaning up the heavilypolluted Ganga in thefirst phase.

Dr. Gautam Bodiwala

Dev Patel seeks Freida Pinto's parents approvalThe casual love affair brewing between young lovebirds Dev Patel and Freida Pinto seems to have taken

a serious turn. Even though Freida has vehemently denied all such reports, the latest move of the dashing Dev

Patel meeting her parents has exposed all claims that the duo are ‘just friends’. Believe it or not but the stunning

couple is going all out to take their relationship to the next level and are on the verge of sealing their love with

eternal commitment. According to sources, Freida was recently in Mumbai but not alone. The stunning lass

was accompanied by her beau Dev Patel, who was on a special mission to meet and impress her parents.

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Coldwave claims more than 150 in North India

More than 150 peoplehave lost their lives inNorth Indian states in lessthan a week of severecold, while life wasthrown out of gear inKashmir, UP and Delhi inparticular.

J a m m u - S r i n a g a rnational highway, the onlyroad linking Kashmir val-ley with the rest of thecountry, reopened afterbeing closed for two daysdue to heavy snowfall.

Severe cold conditionsclaimed 37 more lives

since last night with UttarPradesh alone accountingfor 31 deaths. The sixother casualties werereported from Bihar.

The national capitalremained under the gripof intense cold wave aschilly northwesterly windsfrom the Himalayas con-siderably brought downthe maximum tempera-ture, which was recordedat 14 deg C -- eightdegrees below normal. Itwas the lowest of the sea-son so far.

Heavy snowfall in Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh

Kashmiri labourers pull tourists on a sledge in Gulmarg,some 55 kilometers (34 miles) from Srinagar

Telangana stalemate continues

Attempts by the homeminister of India, PChidambaram to thrashout a consensus over theformation of Telanganafailed on Tuesday, as theall party meeting calledby him in New Delhifailed to provide anysolution.

Initiating the consul-tations on the demandsfor a separate state ofTelangana with the eight

recognised political par-ties of Andhra Pradesh,Chidambaram said, “Iwish to caution all politi-cal parties that there areforces waiting on thewings, who ridicule theparliamentary form ofdemocracy and whowould be happy if we col-lectively fail to findanswers to the issues thatconcern us, and weshould not give any room

for these forces to gainstrength or credence,”Chidambaram said. Hewas referring to theNaxalites.

Tuesday’s meeting,which remained incon-clusive, was attended byrepresentatives of theCongress, BJP, PrajaRajyam Party, TeluguDesam Party, TelanganaRashtra Samiti, CPI(M),AIMIM and CPI.

All party meet leads to nowhere

Tainted Tiwari says sex scam charges are fabricated

Former Andhra PradeshGovernor N D Tiwari,who had to resign in thewake of alleged sex scan-dal, spoke out after gettingback to his home state anddescribed charges againsthim as fabricated.

"All allegations againstme are false. This is apolitical conspiracyagainst me," he toldreporters at the Delhi air-port. He was on his way toDehradun. "This could belinked to Telangana crisis,"he quipped, adding that hewould apprise Congress

president Sonia Gandhi ofthe conspiracy againsthim.

On return to his homestate, Uttarakhand, 86-year old Tiwari toldreporters that some peopleassociated with Telanganastatehood agitation want-ed to meet PresidentPratibha Patil during herproposed visit toHyderabad, but he hadrefused to entertain theirrequest. These people gotangry and hatched a con-spiracy against him, heclaimed.

Tiwari had resigned on"health grounds" in thewake of a raging contro-versy after a sting opera-tion by an Andhra TVchannel purportedlyshowed him in a compro-mising position with threewomen. The Raj Bhavanhad dismissed the allega-tions as a "tissue of lies".

The Congress leadersaid he has no grudgeagainst anybody and wouldcontinue to serve the coun-try as well as the society. "Iam not going to retire frompolitics," he said.

Former Andhra Governor says will continue public life

Rathore charged forabetment to suicide

The Haryana police onTuesday registered an FIRagainst former DGP SPSRathore under Section306 in the RuchikaGirhotra suicide.

The Haryana policehas filed the FIR four daysafter Ruchika's brotherfiled a complaint with thecops for abetment of sui-cide against SPS Rathore.This is the third FIR in theRuchika suicide case.

Delay in registration offresh case has raised ques-tions whether the state gov-ernment wanted to give theRuchika case a silent burial.Rathore has been chargedwith forcing RuchikaGirhotra to commit suicidein 1993 after molesting andharassing her. HaryanaPolice now want theRuchika case to be trans-ferred to the CentralBureau of Investigation.

Child marriage stillprevalent in Kutch

A Survey conducted by agroup of students on the sta-tus of child rights has foundthat child marriage is stillprevalent in Kutch districtand cases of abuse of younggirls and physical harass-ment are being reportedfrom the urban areas.

The study, to be pub-lished soon, has also foundthat issues related to childlabour, health and educationof children in rural area, andenvironment and safety inthe urban areas of Gujaratstill persist. The report willbe submitted to the UnitedNations Convention on theRights of the Child

(UNCRC) parallel to thestate’s report, to show thedifference between the two.

The study further findsthat the implementation ofchild rights schemes relatedto child labour, healthcare,education and environmentlacks quality. “The basichealth care and educationservices have not reachedthe rural and remote areasof the state. Besides this,protection from harassmentand abuse to young girls inthe urban areas is worsethan that in the ruralareas,” said Parul Sheth,founder president and exec-utive director, Shaishav.

DRDO, IIT joinhands to

forecast weatherIn a first-of-its-kind ven-ture, the Defence Researchand DevelopmentOrganisation (DRDO) hasjoined hands with theIndian Institute ofTechnology (IIT), todevelop indigenous capa-bility and methodology forlong-term forecast ofweather. Culmination ofthe project would enablegeneration of weather fore-cast reports over the entireduration of a season. Atpresent, accurate weatherforecast capability is limit-ed to a week. “We are look-ing towards predictingweather and climatic for-mation about one or twomonths ahead, whichwould eventually beextended to forecastweather over a seasonalduration,” AshwagoshaGanju, Director of theDRDO’s Snow andAvalanche StudyEstablishment (SASE)said. “The project isexpected to take around 3years to formulate effectivemodels for long-rangeweather forecast,” he added.Engaged in studying snowphysics, avalanche mitiga-tion and climatic condi-tions over the Himalayas,the SASE is the nodalagency for the project.

Indian visa norms eased

The foreign ministry onThursday announcedrelaxation in the newguidelines on touristvisas issued last monthwhich had made itmandatory for foreignersholding long-term multi-ple-entry visas to take atwo-month gap betweentwo visits.

The foreign ministrysaid the norms wereeased to facilitatebonafide tourists. Thetightening of visa normsfollowing the unearthingof terror missions of

Lashkar jihadi DavidColeman Headley had ledto a wave of protests fromthe US and UK amongother countries.

"It has since beendecided that foreignersholding tourist visas, whoafter initial entry intoIndia plan to visit anoth-er country and re-enterIndia before finally exit-ing, may be permittedtwo or three entries, asthe case may be, byIndian missions subjectto their submission of adetailed itinerary and

supporting documenta-tion (ticket bookings),"an official statement ofthe ministry said.

Authorities at allimmigration check postsin India, it said, had beenauthorized to allowtourists to make two orthree entries based onproduction of an itineraryand documentation (tick-et bookings) substantiat-ing the need for tourism-related travel.

Under the new rules,the visitors have toobtain special permission

from the head of theIndian mission in theircountry and provide cer-tain documents to estab-lish the legitimacy oftheir return visit, sourcessaid. They are alsorequired to register with-in 14 days with theForeigners RegionalRegistration Office(FRRO) if they returnwithin two months oftheir departure.

British business secre-tary Lord PeterMandelson, during hisIndia visit, had met home

minister P Chidambaramto request that the gov-ernment rethink the visapolicy. He said it wouldhurt British tourists whomake India a base whiletravelling in the region.The British HighCommission had writtento the Indian governmentasking for a review of theproposed visa guidelines.

Officials had laterindicated they would be"flexible" if, at the time ofapplying for a visa, theapplicant tells the Indianvisa officer that he will

also be travelling to othercountries in the region,using India as a hub. Thevisa will reflect the itiner-ary of the tourist, afford-ing him more flexibility.

Under the new rules,they will have to providean undertaking that theywill use the visa for visit-ing specific places. Thefinal decision, however,would rest with the headof Indian mission in thatcountry, who will decideon the merits in consulta-tion with the ministry ofhome affairs.

2 month gap not a must, relaxation for bonafide tourists

Saturday 9th January 201024

Congress leader Sajjan Kumar to be prosecuted by CBI Keeping the deadline set by Home Minister P Chidambaram, Delhi's Lt Governor Tejinder Khanna granted

sanction to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to chargesheet senior Congress leader Sajjan Kumar

in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case. Official sources said the sanction was given by Khanna to allow the CBI to

launch court proceedings against the Congress leader, an accused in the riots that shook the country 25

years ago after the assassination of Indira Gandhi. The sanction was required in the case of Sajjan Kumar

as he was also charged with section 153-A of IPC (spreading enmity between two communities).

ASIAN VOICE

Irked passengers hold AI crewhostage at Mumbai airport

Fog delays and diversions led to passengers holding up all in the planeA hostage drama unfoldedat Mumbai airport as pas-sengers of Air India’s spe-cial flight held its crewhostage for more than 12hours due to fog delays inDelhi on Saturday.

No security agencywas called in to rescue thecrew, who were releasedby the passengers — whoagency reports said wereHaj pilgrims — only onSunday morning.

As fog created havoc inDelhi on January 2, itbrought forth an unknownside of unruly passengerbehaviour. Passengerswho sometimes misbehavewith air-hostesses underthe influence of alcoholturned into hijackerswhen Delhi-bound flightswere diverted to Mumbaiand they had to put up

with delays.As visibility dropped at

the Delhi airport due tofog, coupled with the fail-ure of the runway visibilityrange equipment, therewere more than 53 diver-sions of Delhi-boundplanes to Mumbai, Jaipurand Ahmedabad from 2amto 10am.

AI’s Jeddah-Delhi,London-Delhi, Hongkong-Delhi, Shanghai-Delhiflights were diverted toMumbai airport.

The equipment givesthe ground visibility rangealong the runway to theaircraft and is placed atthe runway’s beginning,middle and end.For theperformance of operationsfor landing and take-offunder fog conditions, it’sessential that all compo-

nents function.However, the equip-

ment placed at the end ofrunway 28 in Delhi hasnot been functioning forthe last few days as thecable wire providing elec-tricity to it was cut,sources alleged.

Around 6pm, Mumbai-Delhi extra section flight891A of a Boeing 777-200with more than 200 pas-sengers of AI’s divertedflights was formed to leavefor Delhi.While AI’s regu-lar Mumbai-Delhi flightsleft for Delhi, some ofthem could land, whileothers had to return due tofog after 8pm.

AI spokespersonJitendra Bhargava said,“After the return of flightswithout landing, depar-ture of further flights was

held up. It included AI891A. Passengers had beenboarded on the flight inanticipation of departure.Once the flight was abort-ed due to poor visibility inDelhi, passengers wererequested to deplane.”

Around 9pm, the air-line told the passengers toalight and proceed to thetransit lounge, from wherethey would be taken to ahotel and passengercoaches were called in.“When the passengerswere told to deplane, 20-odd passengers created aruckus on board. Theyblocked the exit pointsand refused to get down orlet anyone go,” a crewmember said.“As the flightwas declared cancelled,the food was off-loaded,”he said.

Gadkari says Advani will be permanent guide and philosopher

L K Advani will play a rolewell beyond the specially-created position ofChairman of BJPParliamentary party,according to the new partyPresident Nitin Gadkariwho made it clear that the82-year-old veteran will bea "permanent guide andphilosopher" for the wholeparty. "Atal BihariVajpayee and L K Advaniare our role models andsource ofinspiration.Advaniji willbe permanent guide andphilosopher for the wholeparty," Gadkari said in aninterview.

He was respondingwhen asked whetherAdvani's role would belimited to BJP'sParliamentary affairs after

his appointment to thenewly-created post ofChairman ofParliamentary Party.Advani quit the post ofLeader of Opposition inLok Sabha on December18 in the face of attacksfrom within following the

party's dismal perform-ance in the general elec-tions. He was made theChairman ofParliamentary Party, amove that gave an impres-sion that his role would beconfined to Parliamentaryaffairs of the party. 52-year-old Gadkari, who is anew-comer at the nationalscene, does not see it as adisadvantage but feels it isan asset as he would notbe biased.

Gadkari, whoseappointment onDecember 18 came at atime when the party isgoing through a badphase, said some correc-tive measures were neededand he would bring out ablueprint in this regardwithin three months.

5 Mumbai cops suspended forpartying with gangsters

The Maharashtra govern-ment on Sunday suspend-ed five policemen caughton camera at a party host-ed by members of theChhota Rajan gang onChristmas eve.

Chief minister AshokChavan told reporters inPune, “The policemenhave been suspended anda departmental inquirywill be conducted.”

The five police officialsinclude a deputy commis-sioner of police, an assis-tant commissioner ofpolice, a senior inspector,an inspector S Khalatkarand a constable.

The party was held byChhota Rajan gang sympa-thisers to celebrate the

release of their aides fromjail, including D K Rao.Other gangsters presentwere Farid Tansha andSunil Poddar besidesRajan’s wife SujataNikhalje alias Nani.

Police commissioner DSivanandan had soughtthe suspension of the fivepolice officials onSaturday. While recom-mending their suspension,the police chief had saidthere were “CCTV footageand photographs whichmay prove that the offi-cials were present at theparty” held at a privategymkhana in Chembur.The police had sent thetapes to the state homedepartment and also sub-

mitted a report and theirrecommendation.

One of the suspendedofficial, however, stronglydenied that he was presentat the party. He said hehad been invited to a chil-dren’s show at theChembur gymkhana by alocal Congress corporator.

In the recent past,those who were thrownout of the service for theirunderworld links includeinspectors Aslam Mominand Pradeep Sharma.Three constables from theAarey colony police sta-tion were dismissed fewyears ago for aiding andabetting Rajan aide BaluDokre in procuring a pass-port.

25-year-old Indian powersNew Zealand’s first rocket

A 25-year-old youthwhose family migratedfrom Bangalore in 1994played a major role in thelaunch of New Zealand’sfirst rocket, Atea-1, onNovember 30.

The youth, NikhilRaghu, was a senior engi-neer of the project that isnow the talk of the SouthPacific island nation.What makes it even morespecial is that it was a pri-vate initiative, of a compa-ny named Rocket Lab Ltd.

Nikhil was born inBangalore and studiedthere till 1994. Later, hisparents, Meera and M DRaghu, moved to NewZealand. Learning aboutspace has been Nikhil’spassion since childhood.However, there was noreal industry or agencyworking in the field inNew Zealand, which has apopulation of close to 45

lakh.Nikhil didn’t give up

hope. His patience paidoff three years ago whenhe heard of the Atea proj-ect. He immediatelyapplied and joined theteam comprising only 10members.

As A senior engineer,Nikhil was part of thethree-member core teamfor the project.

Among other things,he was responsible foranalytical computations.Around this time hejoined Rocket Lab, and hisparents returned to India.“I couldn’t believe it whenI was told about the suc-cess of the launch. It tooksome time to sink in. I wasextremely happy that hishard work really paid off,”his mother said.

She hopes he gets anopportunity to work inIndia.

Now, Indians can fly Tricolour at night

Indian citizens can now flythe National Flag even atnight. This is subject to thecondition that the flagpoleis really tall and the flag iskept well-illuminated. Thehome ministry took thedecision following a pro-posal by industrialistNaveen Jindal, who hadearlier won a court battlein the 1990s for flying theTricolour as a fundamentalright for every citizen.

In a communication toJindal, also a Congressleader and Member ofParliament, the ministrysaid it has examined theproposal and had no objec-tion to installing "giantflagpoles for flying theNational Flag day andnight at various places."

In a representation to

the ministry in June 2009,Jindal had sought permis-sion to fly mammoth-sizednational flag on monu-mental flagpoles duringnight. Jindal had said thatthe National Flag is to beflown in "as far as possiblebetween sunrise and sun-set" as per Flag Code ofIndia, but it was a com-mon practice worldwidefor massive national flagsto be flown day and nighton monumental flagpolesof 100 feet and above inheight. Citing the exampleof countries like Malaysia,Jordon, Abu Dhabi, NorthKorea, Brazil, Mexico andTurkmenistan where mon-umental flags are flown atnight, Jindal proposed thatsuch flags to be flown inIndia also.

Haryana villagers set aunique example

Their quest for develop-ment led them to set aunique example that hasperhaps no parallel in thehistory of India. Tajnagar, avillage near Gurgaon inHaryana wanted a railwaystation, but the railwayssaid they had no funds forthe purpose. They hadbeen after their dream for25 years. Finally, two yearsago, the village panchayatdecided to collect fundsfrom the villagers to build astation. They did ask therailways and got an assur-ance that if a station wasbuilt, they would get stop-pages for a couple of trains.

Tajnagar residents col-lected Rs. 2.1 million andgot the station built, as per

the railway specifications.It was inaugurated onTuesday, 5th January,2010. For the villagers, itwas no less than festival –a ‘Puja’ was organised onthe occasion.

The village has a popu-lation of more than 3,000.They have students whoneed to go to college innearby towns or cities.Most of the villagers alsoneed to frequently to go tonearby cities of Gurgaon,Delhi and Rewari. Tillnow, they had to go to adistance of 6 kms to catcha train in either direction.

The railways havealready appointed a sta-tion master and a ticketcollector for Tajnagar.

Tajnagar builds a railway station of its own

104 ‘restricted’Himalayan peaks

now open for treksThe govt of India has givenits nod for opening 104peaks in Jammu andKashmir for expeditions.The peaks located in theLeh-Ladakh area – alongthe Line of Actual Control(LoC) were so far ‘restict-ed.’ It shows the confi-dence of the governmentin the improved law andorder situation in the state.

The peaks that havebeen given clearanceinclude Lingsarmo(6955m), Rungofarka(6395m), Techafarka(6495m), Pt 6148, Shafat-I (6800m),Photoksar (6080m),Shafat-II (6302m),Shafat-III (6155m),Chiling-I (6349m),Chiling-II (6253m),Hagshu-I (6515m),Kangyarrag (6210m),Kangyassay I (6401m),Lalung-I (6243), Lalung-II (6157) and Lalung-III(6126m).

The move, initiated bythe tourism ministry, wascleared by the defence andhome ministries.Expeditions will now onlyrequire clearance from theIndian MountaineeringFederation (IMF). Thedecision will make India amore competitive adven-ture tourism destination incomparison to neighbourslike Pakistan and Nepal. Atpresent, while Nepal offersover 100 mountaineeringexpeditions, Pakistan hasabout 60 while India canonly muster about 30-oddexpeditions for tourists.

Adventure TourOperators Association ofIndia (ATOAI) presidentTejbir Singh Anand wel-comed decision.

Nitin Gadkari

Dhaka judge signs death warrants of Mujib killersDhaka: A Dhaka judge signed on Sunday the death warrants of the five killers of Bangladesh’s

independence leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, formally setting the clock for their executions within

four weeks. Court officials said the signed warrants would be forwarded to the prison authorities

immediately and the executions would take place within the next 21 to 28 days. However, the

executions may be delayed if the five convicted men seek another review by the supreme court or

request presidential clemency.

25ASIAN VOICE

Indians way ahead of other immigrants in USWashington: Indians liv-ing or working in theUnited States are wayahead of other immigrantsin corporate rankings,Forbes magazine said.

Pepsico chief executiveIndira Nooyi inevitablytops the list of whatForbes calls "Eight Indian-Flavoured CEOs" wholead US corporations withrevenues of at least $2 bil-lion as the premier busi-ness magazine chroniclesthe rise of Indians in cor-porate ranks in America.

"The chief executive ofPepsiCo would be promi-nent no matter what. Thefact that the current one -Indira Nooyi - is an Indianimmigrant and a femalemakes her all the morenoteworthy," it says.

"Of all the immigrantgroups coming in, Indiansare head-and-shouldersabove others, and this ispartly because of theirEnglish language skillsand also the advancededucation that many ofthem are bringing to theUS," Forbes quotedRichard Herman, co-author of a book on immi-grants to US, as saying.

Herman adds, " butjust look at who was run-ning the Tarp financial-rescue fund - NeelKashkari"- an Indian-American who is nowjoining bond giant Pimcoas a managing director."

Of the featured eight,Nooyi, 53, says Herman, ispart of a growing trendwhere US companies are

being created, or led, byforeign-born individualswho bring in somethingspecial.

Vikram Pandit, theembattled CEO ofCitigroup, is the otherprominent native Indian

in the corner office. Third on the list is

Kenya-born FranciscoD'Souza who headsCognizant TechnologySolutions, which out-sources IT services for itsWestern world clients.

Next comes ShantanuNarayen, 46, at the helmat Adobe Systems. Thediversified software com-pany's flagship Internetvideo tool is Flash.

Also featured areDinesh Paliwal of HarmanInternational, Jai PNagarkatti of Sigma-Aldrich and AbhijitTalwalkar of LSI.

Paliwal, a native of thecity of the Taj Mahal,joined Harman, a sound-systems company inStamford, Connecticut, as

chief executive in 2007.Prior to that he spent 22years at ABB Group andset up its operations inChina and north Asia.

Nagarkatti joinedSigma-Aldrich in 1976 asa development chemist,and after heading the com-pany's scientific researchbusiness was appointedCOO, in August 2004.

Talwalkar was appoint-ed chief executive of LSIof Milpitas, California, inMay 2005. Earlier, he wasat Intel's digital enterprisegroup. He joined Intel in1993 after stints atSequent ComputerSystems (now part ofIBM), Bipolar IntegratedTechnology Inc. andLattice SemiconductorInc.

Forbes says English language skills and advanced education make them a force to reckon with

Indira Nooyi

Taj is the third most-likedstructure in the world

Paris: France's EiffelTower has been namedthe most favourite build-ing of the world, leavingbehind Taj Mahal andNew York’s Statue ofLiberty, according to anew survey.

The survey by leadingaccommodation websiteHotels.com found theiconic Parisian structureas the most favouriteamong international trav-ellers, while the 16th cen-tury monument of love atAgra was the third most-liked structure in theworld.

According to the sur-vey, about 16 per cent ofthe over 10,000 travellerspolled in five continentsnamed Eiffel Tower as thebest structure.

St. Peter’s Basilica in

the Vatican City, Rome, isthe second most favouritestructure with nine percent votes, while the TajMahal came third with 8per cent votes.

Three American icons- the Golden Gate Bridge,Empire State Buildingand Statue of Liberty -made up the remainder of

the top six spots,each sharing 7per cent votes.

The otherstructures in thetop 10 are theSydney OperaHouse, SagradaFamilia inBarcelona, theAcropolis inAthens andChrist theRedeemer in Riode Janeiro.

“This survey showsthat the pull of famouslandmarks is so strongthat many people travelto a place especially tosee them. These buildingsreally do have a hold onour imaginations,” saidAlison Couper,C o m m u n i c a t i o n sDirector for Hotels.com.

Suicides inJapan unabatedTokyo: For 12th year in arow, the suicide figures inJapan have crossed the30,000 mark in the justended 2009 too.

As per the details givenby the police, despite gov-ernment efforts to per-suade people not to endtheir lives, the number ofpeople who ended theirlives was 30,181 forJanuary – November. Thegovernment efforts includecounselling services.

The Asian giant hasone of the highest suiciderates globally, just behind agroup of former SovietUnion countries, accord-ing to the WHO. The year1998 was the first year thatsaw Japan hit the 30,000mark in suicides. The maincause was the country –second largest economy inthe World than – wasstruggling as the jobless-ness rate going throughthe roof and corporatebankruptcies at a high.

Provincial council electionsin Northern Lanka this year

Colombo: In the Tamildominated northern SriLanka, provincial councilelections will be held bythe middle of this year.After that, power will bedevolved to the region, SriLanka Freedom Party(SLFP) General Secretaryand the country’sAgriculture MinisterMaithripala Sirisena hassaid.

The minister addedthat a provincial councilin the Eastern Provincehas been set up and that’sworking. By the middle ofthis year, elections to theNorthern Province willalso be held. “The 13thAmendment to theConstitution provides uswith a framework todevolve power.

“Once this councilbecomes functional, wewill monitor its working.If there drawbacks, wewill initiate necessarymeasures to addressthem,” the senior rulingparty leader said.“President J RJayewardene had intro-duced the PC system,though even he could notimplement it properly inthe north,” he added.

The minister refutedcharges of state fundsbeing used by Rajapaksato entertain voters, sayingit is political mudslinging.He also claimed thatPresident MahindaRajapaksa will get morethan 65 per cent of thepolled votes in his re-elec-tion bid.

SLFP claims Rajapaksa will get 65% votes in Prez polls

US honours MotherTeresa, Hepburn

with stampsWashington: Nobel Prizewinner Mother Teresa andOscar-winning actressKatharine Hepburn willbe honoured on U.S.postage stamps this year.

Joining them will besinging cowboy GeneAutry, artist WinslowHomer and Adm. ArleighBurke. Other new stampswill honour the Negrobaseball leagues and theHawaiian rain forest, thePostal Service announcedlast week.

The US post officereleases a series of com-memorative stamps everyyear, honouring people,places and institutions.These stamps remain onsale for a limited periodand are widely collected.

Nepal introduces bill toallow oath taking in HindiKathmandu: TheNepalese government lastweek introduced a land-mark bill in Parliament toenable the President andVice President to takeoath of office and secrecyin their mother tongues, amove likely to resolve therow over the "unconstitu-tional" oath byParmananda Jha.

The position of Jha isinactive after the SupremeCourt held his oath in theHindi language "unconsti-tutional".

He had refused toretake the oath of office inthe Nepali language andhad preferred to remaininactive in the post afterhis earlier oath was heldillegal.

The government tabledthe Seventh Amendment

Bill to the interim consti-tution in the parliamentthat would make it legalfor the President and VicePresident (VP) to takeoath of office and secrecyin their mother tongues.

"The governmentexpresses firm commit-ment that the endorse-ment of this Bill will clearthe way to resolve theproblem related to VP Jha.The government willinstantly implement theamended provision toresolve the problem relat-ed to Jha," Prem BahadurSingh, the minister for lawand justice told the 601-member House.

The government saidonce the amendment wasendorsed from the House,it would reactivate thepost of VP Jha.

8 CIA men, 5 Canadians killed in Afghan attacksKabul: Eight CIA employ-ees were killed when a sui-cide bomber penetrated aforeign army base inAfghanistan last week,while four Canadiantroops and a journalistdied in a separate attack.

A "well-dressed"Afghan army official deto-nated a suicide vest at ameeting of CIA officials insoutheastern Khost

province, Talibanspokesman ZabihullahMujahid said.

"This deadly attackwas carried out by a valor-ous Afghan army memberwhen the officials werebusy gaining informationabout the mujahideen, inthe (fitness) club," hewrote in an email.

The attack is one ofthe most ambitious of the

war, highlighting theTaliban's reach and coordi-nation at a time when vio-lence has reached its high-est levels since the over-throw of the Talibanregime by US-backedAfghan forces in 2001.

Five Canadians killedThe five Canadians -

four soldiers and a journal-ist - were killed when theirarmored vehicle was hit by

a bomb in southernKandahar province, theCanadian DefenseMinistry said. The blastoccurred when the patrolteam was visiting commu-nity reconstruction proj-ects. The Khost base tar-geted by the suicideattacker is also a center forreconstruction projects, akey part of Obama's strate-gy to stabilize the country.

Attempt to blow up a US plane, one arrestedDetroit: A NorthwestAirlines passenger fromNigeria, who said he wasacting on al-Qaeda'sinstructions, set off anexplosive device on Fridayin a failed terrorist attackon the plane as it waslanding in Detroit, federalofficials said.

Flight 253 with 278passengers aboard was 20

minutes from the airportwhen it sounded like a fire-cracker had exploded, wit-nesses said. One passengerjumped over others andtried to subdue the man.Shortly afterward, the sus-pect was taken to a frontrow seat with his pants cutoff and his legs burned.

The White House saidit believed it was an

attempted act of terrorismand stricter security meas-ures were quickly imposedon airline travel, but werenot specified. Lawenforcement officials iden-tified the suspect as UmarFarouk Abdul Mutallab.

"It sounded like a fire-cracker in a pillowcase,"said Peter Smith, a pas-senger from the

Netherlands. "First therewas a pop, and then(there) was smoke."

At least one passengeracted heroically. Smithsaid the passenger, sittingopposite the man, climbedover passengers, wentacross the aisle and triedto restrain the man. Theheroic passenger appearedto have been burned.

Saturday 9th January 2010

Saturday 26th December 200926

Africa Focus

Congo’s ex-rebel takesgov’t job, calls for amnesty

Nigeria gets ‘illegal’

new chief justice

South African president Zuma weds fifth timeNkandla (South Africa): South African president Jacob Zuma married for the fifth time on Monday,

giving the Zulu traditionalist his third current wife, witnesses and family members said. Multiple

marriages are allowed in South Africa and form part of Zulu culture but the practice has drawn

criticism from HIV/AIDS activists in a country with one of the highest infection rates in the world. The

ceremony took place at Zuma's traditional home in Nkandla, where the 68-year-old president, in Zulu

tribal dress, married 37-year-old Tobeka Madiba according to clan custom.

ASIAN VOICE

Tougher US screening for travellers from PakistanWashington: All travellersflying into the US fromPakistan, Afghanistan,Nigeria, Yemen, SaudiArabia and nine othercountries considered highrisk will be patted downand have carry-on luggagesearched under new secu-rity procedures startingfrom Monday.

In addition, all interna-tional passengers will seeenhanced random screen-ing, which may includepat-downs, explosive

detection testing (swab-bing of luggage) or bodyscans, the TransportationSecurity Administration(TSA)announced onSunday.

The new proceduresfollow the botchedChristmas Day attempt toblow up a Detroit-boundUS airliner blamed on aNigerian man who USofficials believe wastrained by al-Qaida inYemen. Pakistan's borderwith Afghanistan is also

considered a key battle-ground in the US-led bat-tle against al-Qaida andthe Taliban.

Pakistan, Afghanistan,Algeria, Iraq, Lebanon,Libya, Nigeria, SaudiArabia, Somalia andYemen are on the list as"other countries of inter-est". Cuba, Iran, Sudanand Syria are listedbecause they have longbeen identified as "statesponsors of terrorism" bythe State Department.

This list was developedbetween HomelandSecurity and the StateDepartment using the lat-est intelligence, NBC citeda senior federal official assaying.

"The new directiveincludes long-term, sus-tainable security measuresdeveloped in consultationwith law enforcement offi-cials and our domestic andinternational partners,"the TSA said in a state-ment.

Nevada (US): FristCenter for the Visual Artsin Nashville (Tennessee,USA) has organized a'travelling exhibition'titled 'Vishnu: Hinduism'sBlue-Skinned Savior'.

Center claims that it"will be the first majormuseum exhibition tofocus on Vishnu".

Opening in February2011 and presentingapproximately 120 paint-ings and sculptures thatwere made in Indiabetween the fourth and19th century, this exhibi-tion will serve as a briefsurvey of Hindu art stylesas well as an examinationof the Vaishnava tradi-tion, it adds.

Hindus have applaud-ed Frist Center for devel-oping this Hinduismfocused exhibition.

Acclaimed Hindustatesman Rajan Zed, in astatement said that arthad a long and rich tradi-tion in Hinduism andancient Sanskrit literaturetalked about religiouspaintings of deities onwood or cloth.

It was a laudable stepfor Frist Center to provideopportunity to the world

to further exploreHinduism and its con-cepts, Zed pointed out.

According to theCenter, the first section ofthe exhibition will intro-duce Vishnu in his pri-mary form with subsec-tions dedicated to hisattributes, his consorts,and his legends.

The second sectionwill examine his avatars(incarnations), as a groupand then individually.

The avatars that aremore frequently celebrat-ed in art will be more fullyrepresented in the exhibi-tion, with substantial sub-sections dedicated toRama and Krishna.

The third section willshow some of the waysthat Vishnu has been wor-shipped, with images oftemples and ritual objects.

A travelling exhibition on Lord Vishnu in US

Indian-origin scientist gets Canada’s highest civilian awardToronto: An Allahabad-born scientist of Indianorigin has been givenCanada's highest civilianaward - the Order ofCanada.

Shrawan Kumar washonoured last week for histhree decades of pioneer-ing research on workplaceinjury and the spine at theUniversity of Alberta.

Born in Allahabad,Kumar is an alumnus of

Allahabad Universitywhere he did his masters inzoology. After his higherstudies in Britain, heworked from 1971 to 1973at the All-India Institute ofMedical Sciences where heset up the first biomechan-ics laboratory. Before land-ing in Canada in 1974, hewas an assistant director atthe Central LabourInstitute in Mumbai.

Kumar is among 57

prominent Canadians whohave been given thenation's highest civilianaward for their excellencein various fields.

Bestowing the highestCanadian award onKumar, Governor GeneralMichaelle Jean said he hasbeen honoured for "hiscontributions to the fieldof rehabilitation ergonom-ics, in Canada and abroad,notably in his research and

teachings on the causa-tion, prevention and treat-ment of musculo-skeletalinjuries".

Kumar, who joined thefaculty at the University ofAlberta in Edmonton in1977, has done path-break-ing research, published andtaught on ergonomics,occupational health andlower back pain for threedecades. He retired fromthe Canadian university

two years ago and movedto Fort Worth in Texas tojoin the faculty at theUniversity of North Texas.

"I feel honoured as wellas humbled by the award.It is Canada's highest hon-our...the feeling has notyet sunk in," Kumar said.

"I am an inter-discipli-nary scientist and myresearch covers variousdisciplines from engineer-ing to medicine to biology.

My work involvesorthopaedic research,occupational health, reha-bilitation health etc," hesaid. The Order of Canadawas established in 1967 tomark the centenary of theformation of the CanadianConfederation.

Over the last 40 years,more than 5,000 people,including many Indian-Canadians, have beengiven this honour.

Melbourne: ReenaKaushal last week becamethe first Indian woman toski to the South Pole.

Ms. Kaushal, 38, set-tled in Delhi, made thehistoric ski-run as part ofan eight-womanCommonwealth team thatcrossed a 900 kmAntarctic ice trek to reachthe South Pole to markthe 60th anniversary ofthe founding of theCommonwealth.

Skiing eight to 10hours a day, Ms. Kaushaland her teammates fromseven other countries cov-ered the frozen continentto the pole in about 40days. Each skier towed asledge with food and gearweighing some 80 kg.

The skiers, Ms.Kaushal said in a state-ment online, braved blind-ing blizzards, jet speedwinds blowing in excessof 130 km an hour andtemperatures of minus 40degrees Celsius.

Delhiite isfirst Indian

woman to skito South Pole

Indian student stabbed todeath in Australia

Melbourne: An Indianstudent studying inAustralia was stabbed todeath on Saturday. While,Australia condemned thekilling of an Indian stu-dent in Melbourne, Indiacalled for an end to thespate of attacks againstIndian students there.

Accounting graduateNitin Garg, 21, originallyfrom the state of Punjab innorthern India, wasstabbed to death onSaturday night on his wayto a job at a fast food out-let in Melbourne.

Police said the motive

for the attack, which theydescribed as vicious, wasnot known.

"I obviously unre-servedly condemn thisattack," said AustralianDeputy Prime MinisterJulia Gillard.

India’s ExternalAffairs Minister S.M.Krishna on Sunday issueda statement condemningthe "brutal attack", withIndian media reportinghim warning the attackswere creating "deep anger"in India and could have a"bearing on bilateral ties".

"There is extreme

shock and fear and anger,"Gautam Gupta, presidentof the Federation of IndianStudents of Australia, toldlocal radio on Monday.

Indian's partly-charredbody found

Meanwhile, the author-ities on Tuesday said that apartially-burnt body foundin New South Wales(NSW) province was thatof a young Indian man.

Police renewed theirappeal for help to solvethe death. The body wasfound partially burnt onthe side of a road in south-ern NSW.

Brazzaville: The head of Congo's main rebel groupcalled for an amnesty for his fellow fighters last weekand accepted a government job he was offered morethan two years ago as part of a peace deal.

Frederic Bintsamou, known by his guerilla groupPastor Ntoumi, has been blamed for chronic violencein the central African nation's Pool region where his"Ninja" fighters waged a 1998-2002 rebellion and havesince been accused of being behind a resurgence ofbanditry and rape. "For a real reconciliation, a truepeace, all of the acts of civil war from 1997, 1998, 2000,must be covered by amnesty," said Ntoumi during aceremony in the capital Brazzaville to mark his accept-ance of the government advisory role. "Now that I amin Brazzaville, people will not say that the problems ofinsecurity in the Pool are Ntoumi," he said.

Abuja: The appointment of a new chief justice inNigeria has been held “illegal.” According to a lawyer,the appointment of Aloysius Katsina-Alu is illegal ashe was administered the oath of office by the outgo-ing chief justice Idris Lagbo Kutigi in the absence ofpresident Umaru Yar’Adua, who is in hospital inSaudi Arabia with a heart ailment. The lawyer saidthat only the president has the power to administerhis oath of office. Instead, the ceremony was presidedover by outgoing chief justice. There have been sev-eral calls for Mr Yar'Adua to resign over his ill-health.

Senior lawyer Bamidele Aturu said that the con-stitution makes it clear that the chief justice can onlybe sworn in by the president. "This means the legali-ty of the appointment is in question and people cango to court and challenge it," he said.

Overseas Kenyans want a say in draft law

Nairobi: Kenyans Diaspora want to be included inthe referendum that will ratify a new constitution.

In a presentation to the Committee of Expertsmanaging the drafting of a new constitution, a groupclaiming to represent Kenyans living outside thecountry wants the law on the referendum amended toallow them to vote for or against the new constitu-tion. “We acknowledge that many of us currentlyresiding outside the country may not be able to fullyparticipate in this exercise due to the current legalframework that does not provide opportunities forvoting outside the country,” read the statementsigned by Mr Julius Kaberere, the convenor, andseven others under the Kenyans4Kenya Network.

But even as they demanded a stake, they calledfor the amendment of the clause on dual citizenshipto allow those who already have more than one citi-zenry to “reconnect with their motherland.”

As such, they said, the clause has to be altered toread “multi-citizenship.” The group said there arethousands of Kenyans and people of Kenyan descentwho pledge their allegiance to more than two coun-tries and such a change will help them join in build-ing their motherland.

Passengers from 13 other countries also to be searched thoroughly

27ASIAN VOICESaturday 9th January 2010

Gilani challenges Musharraf to prove his popularityIslamabad: Pakistan prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has challenged former military ruler PervezMusharraf to prove his claim that he continues to be popular in Pakistan by contesting any by-electionin the country, while warning that all those who violated constitution would "face the music".

Addressing a meeting in the port city of Gwadar last week, Gilani urged Musharraf to "contest anyby-election and gauge your popularity and real worth. He said that Musharraf would be made to payfor abrogating the constitution.

PML-N tells Zardari its time toperform rather than talk

Islamabad: PakistanMuslim league Nawaz hascriticised President AsifAli Zardari's speech onBenazir Bhutto's seconddeath anniversary, sayingthat the time had come forhim to walk the talk.

"This is the time to per-form, the president hasalready been deliveringspeeches for the last twoyears... The implementa-tion of the CoD willstrengthen state institu-tions and save the demo-cratic process from derail-ment," the Daily Timesquoted PML-NawazInformation SecretaryAhsan Iqbal, a saying.

Zardari's speech hasgenerated mixed reactionsamong political parties,with many saying that thestated "threat to the sys-tem" was a "figment of hisown imagination".

"It is a partisanapproach, not a speech ofa head of the state. It was

a speech of a man in des-peration, confusion andfaced with pressure andfear," Pakistan MuslimLeague-Quaid (PML-Q)Secretary GeneralMushahid Hussain as,saying. He added thatZardari was trying to por-tray himself as a victim,and made a failed attemptto boost the morale of hisparty workers.

Hussain said all insti-tutions in the countrywere working smoothlyand fears expressed byZardari were self-centric.

Iqbal said if Zardariwas sensing any danger todemocracy, he should

come forward to imple-ment the Charter ofDemocracy (CoD) in itstrue spirit.

Senator Zahid Khan ofthe Awami National Party(ANP) welcomedZardari's address, sayingthe president had apprisedhis party workers aboutthe dangers he thoughtthreatened the democraticorder in the country.

"The president did notignore the problems con-fronting the nation likepoverty and unemploy-ment, and mentionedthem in his speech andresolved to solve theseproblems soon," he said.

Asif Ali Zardari

AQ Khan admits Pak helped N Korea in its N-programmeWashington: Pakistan'sdisgraced nuclear scien-tist Abdul Qadeer Khanhas revealed that theNorth KoreanGovernment opened asecond way to buildnuclear weapons as earlyas the 1990s.

According to theWashington Post, Khanclaimed that Pyongyangmight have been enrich-ing uranium on a smallscale by 2002, with"maybe 3,000 or evenmore" centrifuges, andthat Pakistan helped thecountry with vitalmachinery, drawings andtechnical advice for atleast six years.

Though Khan'saccount could not beindependently corrobo-rated, a US intelligenceofficial and a diplomatsaid his information addsto their suspicions thatNorth Korea has longpursued the enrichmentof uranium in addition tomaking plutonium forbombs, and may helpexplain Pyongyang'sassertion in Septemberthat it is in the finalstages of such enrich-ment.

Khan's account of thepilot plant, which he saysNorth Korea built with-

out help, is included in anarrative that depictsrelations between thetwo countries' scientistsas exceptionally close fornearly a decade.

Khan says, for exam-ple, that during a visit toNorth Korea in 1999, hetoured a mountain tun-nel.

There, his hostsshowed him boxes con-taining components ofthree finished nuclearwarheads, which couldbe assembled for use atopmissiles within an hour.

"While they explainedthe construction [designof their bombs], they qui-etly showed me the sixboxes" containing splitcores for the warheads,as well as "64ignitors/detonators perbomb packed in 6 sepa-

rate boxes," Khan isquoted, as saying.

His visitoccurred sevenyears before thecountry's first deto-nation, promptingsome current andformer US officialsto say that Khan'saccount, if correct,suggests NorthKorea's achieve-ments were more

advanced than pre-viously known, and

that the country mayhave more sophisticatedweapons, or a largernumber, than earlier esti-mated.

But Siegfried S.Hecker, a former LosAlamos NationalLaboratory director whowas allowed to see someNorth Korean plutoniumduring a visit to itsnuclear facilities inJanuary 2004, said heremains unconvincedabout Pyongyang havingenough fissile material onhand to make suchweapons as far back as1999.

Since some of Khan'sactions were exposed in2003 and 2004, topPakistani officials havecalled him a rogue prolif-erator.

Abdul Qadeer Khan

Suicide bomber kills 95during volleyball matchIslamabad: A suicidebomber blew himself up inan SUV at a volleyballgame in northwestPakistan on Friday, killing95 people in a village thatopposes al-Qaida-linkedTaliban insurgents, policesaid. The bomber struck asyoung men played volley-ball in front of a crowd ofspectators, including eld-erly residents and children,near the town of LakkiMarwat, officials said.

The bloodshed will putPresident Asif AliZardari's efforts to fightthe Taliban under greaterscrutiny, pressure he doesnot need at a time whencorruption cases againsthis allies could be revived.

"It's just a disaster. Ican see flesh, bodies andwounded all around,"Fazl-e-Akbar, a witness,said. "It's dark. Vehicles'headlights are being usedto search for victims."

Local police chief AyubKhan said the bomberblew himself up in hissport utility vehicle in themiddle of the field. A sec-ond vehicle was believedto have fled the scene.

"We have removed allbodies and wounded fromthe rubble," Khan said,adding that 95 peoplewere killed. It was one ofthe bloodiest bombingssince the October 2007attack that killed at least139 people.

Pakistan Focus.........Banks told to appoint eunuchsfor loan recovery jobs Islamabad: The Pakistan supreme courthas advised the banks to appoint eunuchsto recovery money from defaulters. Athree-judge bench headed by Chief JusticeIftikhar Chaudhry made the observationlast week while hearing a petition filed byInsaaf Welfare Trust chairman MuhammadAslam Khaki pertaining to the rights of'hijras' or eunuchs. Almas Bobby, thepresident of a hijra association welcomedthe suggestion and said they wereprepared to shame such people byclapping and dancing outside their homes."We will go to their homes and sing, danceand clap outside their doors and ask themto return what they have looted from thecountry. We will gherao their homes andask them to return the loans or wearbangles and join us," Bobby said.

UN team probing Benazirkilling denied access

Karachi: The UN probe into theassassination of former Pakistan primeminister Benazir Bhutto has hit a deadend as the government has deniedaccess to the incumbent army chief andother top military generals forinterrogation. The UN had appointed athree-member inquiry commission todetermine the facts and circumstancesunder which Bhutto was assassinated onDecember 27, 2007. According to theterms of reference of the investigation,the UN had demanded that thecommission would enjoy completecooperation from the government. Thecommission said that it wanted access tothe Chief of Army Staff Ashfaq ParvezKayani, former ISI Chief Lt Gen NadeemTaj and former Military Intelligence ChiefLt Gen Nadeem Ejaz Mian, among othertop officials of the intelligence agencies.

The commission’s terms of referencesaid: “The government shall comply withthe requests of the commission forassistance in collecting the requiredinformation and testimony, and shallprovide it with the necessary facilities toenable it to discharge its mandate.”

Commission gets extension

Meanwhile, the UN has said it wouldextend by three months the mandate ofthe Commission. "Because of thesubstantial amount of informationcollected by the Commission in Pakistanand further follow up work that remains,the Commissioners requested additionaltime to complete their report," UN ChiefBan Ki-moon's spokesperson MartinNesirky said.

IMF approves $1.2 bn loan

Washington: The Executive Board of theInternational Monetary Fund (IMF) lastweek approved immediate disbursementof $1.2 billion to Pakistan following a thirdreview of its economic performance. Withthis Pakistan has so far received $6.54billion from the IMF under thisprogramme supported by a Stand-By-Arrangement. In November 2008, theIMF had approved about $8.11 billion;which are being disbursed in phases;based on Pakistan's economicperformance. Noting that stabilisationwas progressing on the macro front andappreciating the steps being taken by thegovernment towards structural reform inputting in place the framework for movingtoward a value-added tax; the IMF'sMission Chief to Pakistan Adnan Mazareisaid "significant challenges remain for thecountry". The Executive Board alsoapproved Pakistan's request for a waiverfor the non-observance of the end-September performance criterion on theceiling of the overall budget deficit.

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It would be a mistake toblame the other person if

your expectations of work turn out to be disappointing.It is said that if you do not learn from past experience youwill be condemned to repeat it until you do learn. You nowhave an excellent opportunity to sort out where thingsmay be going wrong.

If you are seeking toexpand and enrich your mental horizons, experience willprovide you with much stimulation and inspiration forsome time to come. Anything that engages your mentalenergies purposefully will bring excellent results. Ideaswill now be easily pulled into shape, allowing you to push

ahead with a new project.

There may be a some-what disappointing discrepancy between the energy youput out and the actual result achieved. You can do muchto minimise this effect by avoiding distractions and con-centrating on only what is most essential at a day-to-daylevel. Try to take things in your stride rather than antici-pating what might happen.

It is essential thatyou adopt a very open attitude now for this is a time oflucky opportunity and a chance to greatly enrich yourworking life and at home. New windows on the world areabout to open and this is bound to have a maturing effecton you from now into the future.

Not only will the generalpace of everyday life gather a speedier momentum butthere are liable to b a few unforeseen problems along theway. It is only if you try to cram too much into the day thatyou will come a cropper or damage you health, so bewarned. Be prepared to shoulder certain responsibilities.

Life appears to befocusing your mind on practical matters. So you will needto organise your time carefully if you are to avoid an "allwork and no play" situation. Resist making any hastymoves when it come to finances - this is a time to focus onconsolidation of current assets rather than make any newinvestments.

You have everything togain by following creative inclinations. If you have newideas, now is the time to put them into practice. Whateveryour present interests you are likely to find that new doorsopen and the way ahead offers increased scope forexpressing your real self. A great time to meet and inter-act with people.

It seems that you willbe in gregarious mood, intent on cultivating a wider

circle of acquaintances. Mentally you will be in good formto make on-the-spot decisions and also get your ideasacross to the right people. Ideas that you have been jug-gling with will now be easily pulled into shape, allowingyou to push ahead.

Get out as much aspossible. Do not be misled by inconsequential issues asyou will have better opportunities if you stick to yourmain objectives. The domestic scene may prove to beactive and harmonious as long as you use tact and diplo-macy. This is also a time when you will develop freshinsights into other people.

If any emotionaltensions in your love-life need sorting out, now is the timeto get things into the open. You often sabotage your ownbest emotional interests by keeping too much inside your-self. However, there comes a time when an inner pressurebuilds up and manifests as irrational moods that others

find hard to understand.

There is an element ofdisruption or stress which may be hard to avoid, but itappears that there is a strong sense of purpose in the back-ground. A certain amount of sheer hard graft will be nec-essary for a short while, but the final result will beextremely pleasing. An exchange of opinions ought toprove very enlivening at this time.

Social commitments areliable to increase considerably. At times this could lead toa conflict of loyalties and perhaps a degree of resentmentthat others are taking advantage of you. Make a very con-scious attempt to stick to main priorities. Organise yourtime so that it is not taken up entirely by the demands ofother people.


Week commences 9th January 2010

ARIES Mar 21 - Apr 20

TAURUS Apr 21 - May 21

LIBRA Sep 24 - Oct 23

SCORPIO Oct 24- Nov 22

SAGITTARIUS Nov 23 - Dec 21

CAPRICORN Dec 22 - Jan 20

AQUARIUS Jan 21 - Feb 19

PISCES Feb 20 - Mar 20

GEMINI May 22 - June 22

CANCER Jun 22 - Jul 22

LEO Jul 23 - Aug 23

VIRGO Aug 24 - Sep 23

Sneh Joshi - 020 8518 5500

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This week meet Jagadishbhai Patel, Manager of

Brent Indian Association, who has survived many

ailments yet continues to serve the community in

the best possible way

A respected family doctorwho 'provided a shoulderto cry on' for his patientsduring an unblemished29-year career has beencleared of a sexual assaultcharge.

Dr Kaivalya Desai,aged 61, believed old-fash-ioned sympathy, which hereferred to as 'in-househelp and counselling', wasthe best way to calm anx-ious patients.

However, his careerwas in danger of ruinwhen a woman patient inher early 20s complainedthat he had put a comfort-ing arm around her whileshe was crying.

Sheffield Crown Courtheard the patient was suf-fering from depressionand relationship problemsand finding it difficult tocare for her two youngchildren.

Through a video inter-view played to the juryduring a three-day trialshe admitted the GP held

her hand, which he haddone before, and shethought nothing of it.

She then claimed hestroked her arm in a sexu-al manner which made herfeel 'uncomfortable' andsaid the doctor brushedback her hair.

After the five-minuteconsultation, she allegedthe doctor said, "Give mea hug?', and squeezed hertightly.

She claimed: 'Hekissed me on the lips thenpulled back and wentquiet and let go of me.'

However under cross-examination in courtbehind a velvet curtain,the woman admitted shewas upset about personalproblems.

She admitted toGordon Bebb QC, defend-ing, that she had beensacked as a receptionist ata different practice in thesame building in 2007after she took a fortnightoff work.

Sympathetic GP cleared of sexual assault The woman said she

had been worried her part-ner was going to leave herand had told Dr Desai shewas thinking about goingback to live with her par-ents.

Dr Desai, ofDodworth, who worked atBarnsley Hospital beforebecoming a GP, deniedsexual assault.

He told the court heoften held the hands of hispatients to comfort them.

He said: 'If I feel thepatient is crying a lot andis very stressed then yes Iwould hold their hand andhelp them. I feel it is ahuman thing.

'If someone isdepressed or crying aphysical touch tells them

they are not alone in theworld.'

He said he offered thewoman comfort by hold-ing her hand, gave her atissue to wipe her eyes,and put an arm aroundher shoulders.

She ran from thehealth centre in tears andtold her partner whocalled the police.

It took a jury atSheffield Crown Courtjust 30 minutes to throwout her allegation.

Dr Desai said after-wards: 'I am delightedwith the verdict. In my 29years of practice I havealways sought to providethe best standard of carefor my patients.'

! Gujarat Hindu Society, Main Hall, Preston Bhajan Bhojan, Sunday 10th january 2010India's Republic day, Tuesday 26th January6:30pm flag hoistingIndia's Republic Day celebration, Saturday30th january 2010 7pm

! Baba Shri Ramdevpir Katha at HarrowLeisure Centre in March 2010Palmerston Road, Wealdstone, Middlesex HA£7RW, Contact: 020 8426 0678

! Redbridge Gujarati Welfare Association, Wednesday 13th January 11:30-12:30 YogaclassesIlford Methodist Church, IG1 2JZContact: 020 8270 2303

! Satsang Mandal- Hanuman Chalisa, 11-5pm10th January, Social club hall, Northwick parkHospitalHarrow HA1 3UJContact: 020 84595758

Across1 Colorado resort6 Coastal bird10 Mauj retreat14 Tibe’ts capital city15 Zeno of ___16 Zenith17 Military posts18 Grapevine, in a

way20 Make a choice21 Sheepskins23 Highways divider25 Walks softly29 citation’s final word32 Actress/director

Marshall

33 Big name infaucets

35 French king36 Dancer Ben37 Poetic globe38 Stimulant drug40 Alternative to HBO41 Slope sliders43 Reggae relative44 Prohibitionists45 Spilit 50-5046 Visual blight48 Jazz up50 Givea shot53 Annoyance56 “Ben-___57 “One More Last

Chance” singer60 Seven times a

week62 Chimney segment63 Actress Sommer64 Takes a big swig65 Spider traps66 Back part67 D SharpDown1”Tuesdays with

Morrie” author2 Silhouette3 Reason for a late

fee

4 Legal suffix5 Wall Street

acronym6 MD athlete7 Jewish month 8 Far out9 Ruth’s mother-in-

law10 Pet rodent11 US fuel group12”__Blue Dipinto Di

Blu (Valare)”13 Rose of Guns

N’Roses19 Come down a clff

face22 Toughens up24 Country hotel26 Chad michael

Murray series27 Adversary28 Brings into

harmony30 Cartoon Alley31 Not quite sober33 Dayan or Arens34 Mork’s language36 Pickle brand name39 White House

nickname42 Manifests44 Erving of hoops46 Store, as fodder47 Uptight49 Swiss Alp51 Mea__(my fault)52 Lover’s

rendezvous54 ___-Seltzer55 Dodger, in MLB

jargon57 Former soldiers’

org.58 __du Diable59 Essence61 Wiedersehen

lead-in


C R O S S W O R D - 691 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

15 16

17 18 19

20 21 22

23 24 25 26 27 28

29 30 31 32

33 34 35 36

37 38 39 40

41 42 43 44

45 46 47

48 49 50 51 52

53 54 55 56

57 58 59 60 61

62 63 64

65 66 67

Solution of Crossword-68

TIME PASS

KAKURO - 69

The numbers in the pink squares refer to the sums

of the digits that you must fill into the empty spaces directly below or

to the right of the pink square containing the number. For instance,

in the given example,

the 2 boxes below 12

must contain 2 digits

that add upto 12,

whereas for 20, the 3

boxes places horizon-

tally next to it must add

upto 20. No zeroes are

used here, only the dig-

its one through nine.

Note:A digit cannot

appear more thanonce in any particulardigit combination. Forinstance in the exam-ple, we cannot havethe combination of8+4+8 for 20.

HOW TO PLAY

Each row, column

and square 3x3 box

is a sub-grid of 9

cells. Fill in the grid

so that each sub-

grid contains the

digits 1 to 9. Every

puzzle has one

solution.

Sudoku-69

Solution of sudoku-68

8 1

7 8

4 8 6 5 7

7 9

6 2 9 4

8 6

3 2 5 6 4

1 3

4 6

U

FI

L

NN

Y

How many words of four or more letters can youmake from the letters shown in today’s puzzle? Inmaking a word, each letter may be used once only.

This is a test to gauge

you mental flexibility,

creativity and cunning.

Good Luck! (Example:

1 6 0 in a P. Answer: 16

Ounces in a Pound) Z

= L L in the E A

SPELLATHON - 69Today’s Ratings: 02-average |03-good |

04-outstanding

Solution of Spellathon - 68

ANSWER : duping, ping, PUDDING

20

12

Example

MINDBENDER - 69

Each word must containthe central letter. Thereshould be at least oneseven-letter word. Plurals,foreign words and propernames are not allowed.British English Dictionaryis used as reference.

4

29

9

3 4

34

15

19 28

16

9

17

12

7

1714

13

24

10

8

11

16

16 13

7

19

6

13

11

26

6

19

33

5

9

13

Solution of KAKURO - 68

By Dr Anil Mehta

The Royal Institution(RI) was founded inLondon in 1799 for thepromotion of scientificknowledge among generalpublic. It has devoted itselfprimarily to scientificresearch, and to the pres-entation of science to non-scientific audience - a goalit fulfils to this daythrough events and lec-tures on a vari-ety of topics.

In its day RIhad one of thebest equippedlabs in Europe.Many famouss c i e n t i s t s(including 14Noble Prizewinners andother pioneers)have worked atthe institutionsuch as Humphry Davy(miner’s safety lamp),Michael Faraday (electro-magnetism, electric motor,electrolysis), James Dewar(vacuum flask), father andson team William andLawrence Bragg (x-raycrystallography), andGeorge Porter (fast chemi-cal reactions which helpedexplain process of photo-synthesis in plants).

The HQ of RI is in theheart of London’s Mayfair– A Greek temple likefacade at AlbemarleStreet. It has opened itsdoors to the public follow-ing a two and a half yearmakeover. This includes anewly expanded and refur-bished museum where youcan discover over 200years of scientific historyover three floors of exhibi-tion space. You can see thescientists and the labs theyworked in would havebeen looked like back in19th century, and also dis-cover many of the scientif-ic objects that helped toshape modern science and

the world we live in today.In the museum one

can explore pioneering sci-entific discoveries thatwere made at the RI since1799. For example, tenchemical elements (sodi-um, potassium, calciumetc) were discovered here.In fact, wherever you go inthe building and lookaround you will see scien-

tific instruments large orsmall, displayed on theshelves or in the cup-boards that have made sci-ence work.

The major part of theexhibition is located onthe lower ground floor,where the theme is experi-mentation. You can see theactual objects that the RIscientists built and used insome of the world’s mostfamous experiments. Thethermos flask, and thesafety lamp that saved thelives of countless minerswere developed here.However, the highlight ofthe exhibition is Faraday’smagnetic lab as it was inthe 1850s where many ofhis experiments con-tributed greatly to theunderstanding of electro-magnetism. The theme ofthe ground floor is people,where you are introducedto the famous scientists(and their work) who haveworked here. In the firstfloor is the FaradayLecture Theatre, the heartof the RI. Most of the great

scientists from the last 200years have at one time oranother appeared in thisfamous theatre. It is famil-iar to those who watchpopular RI Christmas lec-tures on TV.

The museum is openMon to Fri and theentrance is free. It is moresuitable for high schooland college students and

those who areinterested in histo-ry and heritage ofBritish science.There is a cafewhere you canenjoy a cuppa amidstunning portraitsof the great scien-tists of the world,wondering wherewe would be with-out them.

Another sci-ence heritage institutionworth mentioning is theworld renowned RoyalSociety of London. It’sUK’s national academy ofscience based at CarltonHouse Terrace near PallMall in central London.Dedicated to promotingscience, it’s the world’soldest and most presti-gious scientific society incontinuous existencesince its foundation in1660. Among its earliestmembers were such lumi-naries as Boyle (physi-cist), Wren (astronomer,architect), and Newton(mathematician). Itoffers membership(Fellowship) to highly dis-tinguished scientists.Unlike RI it never had alab but has a splendidlibrary and publishes jour-nals on scientific research.The Royal Society hasprovided an impetus toscientific thought anddevelopments in Britainfor three and a half cen-turies.

Science heritage : The RoyalInstitution and the Royal Society

Solution of - 68 : Dog pound

WHATZIT? - 69Find the familiar phrase, saying or

name in this arrangement of letters.

Solution of 68 :Our solution: 4!*4! -

sqrt(4)/.4

7 3 2 4 5 8 1 6 9

9 4 1 3 2 6 5 7 8

6 5 8 1 7 9 2 4 3

3 2 6 9 8 5 4 1 7

1 7 5 2 3 4 8 9 6

4 8 9 6 1 7 3 5 2

2 1 7 5 6 3 9 8 4

5 6 4 8 9 2 7 3 1

8 9 3 7 4 1 6 2 5

8

26

28

12

4

19

29

21 3

13

5

15

9

8

7

10

23

21

23

26

7

22

35

10 17

18

19

9 4 1 9

3 4 1 9 2 7 8

9 8 2 3 8 1 4

3 2 1 4 8 9

9 6 7 6 1 3

2 5 8 9 7 2

9 6 1 7 3 9 7

7 8 5 9 6 8 9

7 2 4 6

M A C A W I R R I T A B L E

O S H E A R Y A N O N E A L

S H A R K S A U C I N E S S

S E R I E S L U L U

L A N A I S R E L I S H

S T I L E T T O S T A N N E

A R E R I A N T R E A R

F I R S E L L E R S S P A

A V I D Y E M E N S O L

R E C E S S S P L I T E N D

I T H A C A S T E V E N

D A M P T E N T E R

R I V E R B E D S L U I S E

A C O N C A G U A E R A S E

H E N D E R S O N D E L O S

How calorie-restricted diets fight obesityand extend life span

Asian Voice - Saturday 9th January 201030 HEALTH WATCH

Scientists searching for thesecrets of how calorie-restricted diets increaselongevity are reporting dis-covery of proteins in the fatcells of human volunteersthat change as pounds dropoff. The proteins couldbecome markers for moni-toring or boosting the effec-tiveness of calorie-restricteddiets -- the only scientifical-ly proven way of extending

life span in animals. Theirstudy appears online inACS' Journal of ProteomeResearch.

Edwin Mariman andcolleagues note that scien-tists have long known thatsharply restricting intake ofcalories while maintaininggood nutrition makes ani-mals live longer and stayhealthier. Recent studiessuggest that people may

gain similar benefits. Butscientists know little abouthow these diets work inhumans, particularly theireffects on cells that storefat.

The new study focusedon proteins in abdominalsubcutaneous fat cells froma group of overweight peo-ple before and after theywent on a five-week-longcalorie-restricted diet. The

volunteers each lost anaverage of 21 pounds.Scientists identifiedchanges in the levels of 6proteins as the volunteersshed pounds, including pro-teins that tell the body tostore fat. These proteinscould serve as importantmarkers for improving ortracking the effectiveness oftherapies involving calorie-restricted diets, they say.

Vitamin-fortified foodsand dietary health supple-ments can ease healthworries. But what kinds ofvitamins are right for you?And how much of themshould you take, and howoften?

A research group fromTel Aviv University hasdone the most comprehen-sive and accurate study ofclinical data on Vitamin Euse and heart disease todate, and it warns thatindiscriminate use of high-dose Vitamin E supple-mentation does moreharm than good. Theirresults were recentlyreported in ATVB, a lead-ing journal of cardiology,and discussed in the jour-nal BioFactors.

"There were so manyconflicting reports aboutVitamin E and its effect onvarious diseases, particu-larly heart disease, that wewanted to set the recordstraight,” says Prof. DovLichtenberg of TAU'sSackler School ofMedicine.

"Our new study showsthat some people may beharmed by the treatment,whereas others may bene-fit from it. Now we're try-ing to identify groups ofpeople that are most likelyto benefit from the effectsof Vitamin E," added study

co-researcher Dr. IlyaPinchuk. The TAUresearch team also includ-ed decision analyst Dr.Moshe Leshno of theSackler Faculty ofMedicine and the LeonRecanati Faculty ofManagement and Dr.

Yedidya (Didi) Dotan,whose PhD thesis is thebasis for this analysis.

Applying a very differ-ent approach than anyprevious study, the team ofresearchers put theirheads together to drawdefinitive conclusions

about Vitamin E. In theirpublication in ATVB theTel Aviv Universityresearchers evaluated theresults of the prominentstudies measuring thehealth benefits of VitaminE but reached varying con-clusions. There have been

many previous publica-tions on the subject.Analysis of the results ofall these past publicationstogether revealed that sub-jects who did not take aVitamin E supplementenjoyed more quality-a d j u s t e d - l i f e - y e a r s(QALY), a standardparameter used in medi-cine to assess the effect ofmedical interventions.

"To explain the mean-ing of this parameter," saysDr. Pinchuk, "consider aparticipant who washealthy during the first 10out of 20 years of thestudy, but then suffered astroke and became depend-ent on others throughoutthe following 10 years. TheQALY during the first 10years of healthy life is 10,but after the stroke thequality of life is only half ofwhat this person hadbefore. Therefore, the sec-ond decade is consideredthe equivalent of merely 5years of healthy life and insum a person's QALY is15.

It shows that adolescentswith parental-set bedtimesof midnight or later were24 percent more likely tosuffer from depression and20 percent more likely tohave suicidal thoughtsthan those with parental-set bedtimes set for 10p.m. or earlier.

Those who reportedsleeping five or fewerhours per night were 71percent more likely to suf-fer from depression and 48percent more likely tothink about committingsuicide than those whoreported eight hours ofsleep.

Also, participants whoreported that they "usuallyget enough sleep" weresignificantly less likely tosuffer from depression andsuicidal ideation.

James E. Gangwisch,assistant professor at theColumbia UniversityMedical Centre (CUMC),who led the study, said theresults strengthen theargument that short sleepduration could play a role

in a person's history ofdepression.

"Our results are con-sistent with the theorythat inadequate sleep is arisk factor for depression,working with other riskand protective factorsthrough multiple possiblecausal pathways to thedevelopment of this mooddisorder," said Gangwisch.

"Adequate qualitysleep could, therefore, be apreventive measureagainst depression and atreatment for the disease,"added Gangwisch, accord-ing to a CUMC release.

Data were collectedfrom 15,659 adolescentsand their parents who hadparticipated in theNational LongitudinalStudy of AdolescentHealth (Add Health), aschool-based, nationallyrepresentative, probabili-ty-based sample of US stu-dents in grades seven to12 in 1994 to 1996.

The study was pub-lished in the Friday issueof Sleep.

Don’t stop exercises justbecause you have achingknees and joints caused byarthritis.

People with arthritiswho exercise regularlyreport less pain, says anew Mayo Clinic study.

Regular, modest exer-cise improves joint stabili-ty and strengthens mus-cles, says the study. It alsoimproves mood, sleep,energy levels and day-to-day functioning.

When a person avoidsexercise, joints becomeless mobile and the sur-rounding muscles shrink,causing increased fatigueand pain.

A physical therapist orpersonal trainer can tailorexercise programmes tohealth conditions and fit-ness levels. The key is tochoose safe, appropriateactivities and to take itslowly at first.

A variety of activitiescan be safe and helpful forpeople with arthritis,including:Range-of-motion and flex-ibility exercises: Activitiessuch as yoga and tai chiincrease joint mobility.Doing range-of-motionexercises in the eveningcan reduce joint stiffnessthe next morning.Low-impact aerobics:Aerobic exercise improves

overall fitness andendurance as well as mus-cle function and joint sta-bility. Low-impact optionsinclude water aerobics,swimming, bicycling,walking or using equip-ment such as treadmillsand elliptical trainers.Strengthening: Strengthtraining builds the mus-cles around the joints toprovide better support.These exercises may bedone with one’s own bodyweight for resistance, withhand-held weights, resist-ance bands or weightmachines.Lifestyle: Many everydayactivities — gardening andhousework — provide thehealth benefits of moder-ate physical activities.

These findings werepublished in theDecember issue of MayoClinic Women’sHealthSource.

The ancient Chinese rem-edy ginkgo is used bythousands of people try-ing to stave off the effectsof old age.

But after a six-yearstudy involving 3,000people, researchers saythat it doesn’t actuallywork.

Ginkgo – which hasbeen used in Chinesemedicine for more than5,000 years – wasthought to help olderpeople overcome memorylapses by improving thecirculation of blood, par-ticularly to brain cells.

But the most recentfindings, published in theJournal of the AmericanMedical Association,contradict those claims.

The PittsburghUniversity study involved3,000 volunteers agedbetween 72 and 96, whotook either ginkgo tabletsor placebo pills twicedaily.

The participants alllived in the community

and had normal brainfunction, or mild cogni-tive impairment, andwere tested over an aver-age of six years.

The researchersfound ginkgo did notslow the rate of cognitivedecline and there was noeffect on memory, lan-guage, attention andother brain functions,compared with thedummy supplements.

Research leader DrBeth Snitz said it was thelargest randomised con-

trolled trial of its kind.She said: ‘Ginkgo

biloba is marketed widelyand used with the hope ofimproving, preventing ordelaying cognitiveimpairment associatedwith ageing and neurode-generative disorders suchas Alzheimer’s disease.In the United States andparticularly in Europe,ginkgo biloba is perhapsthe most widely usedherbal treatment con-sumed specifically to pre-vent age-related cognitivedecline. (But) we find noevidence that ginkgobiloba slows the rate ofcognitive decline in olderadults.'

Previous researchfound that unique sub-stances calledginkgolides appeared toprevent blood vesselsconstricting, increasedblood flow and reducedblood clotting ability.

Other benefits werethought to lie in ginkgo’santioxidant activity,

reducing the level ofharmful chemicals in thebody.

Ginkgo biloba isextracted from the leavesof the ginkgo tree, whichgrows only in centralChina.

It is widely prescribedin Germany and Francefor symptoms caused by‘cerebral insufficiency’, inwhich a poor blood sup-ply to the brain andextremities can triggermemory lapses and circu-lation difficulties inhands, legs and feet.

A HealthS u p p l e m e n t sInformation Servicespokesman said: ‘Moreresearch is needed butwhat we do know fromprevious studies is thatginkgo biloba has showngood results on condi-tions such as memoryenhancement and inter-mittent leg pain causedby narrowing of the bloodvessels – to name but afew examples.'

Taking gingko to improve yourmemory? Forget it, says study

The potent antioxidant Vitamin E may domore harm than good research suggests

Arthritis? Exercise for less pain

Benefits of sleeping

'early'

Sport in ActionAsian Voice - Saturday 9th January 2010 www.abplgroup.com 31

Brawl with police leads toarrest of Jerome Taylor

English Premier League Matches Saturday, 9 JanuaryArsenal v/s Everton Emirates Stadium 15:00 Birmingham v/s Man Utd St. Andrews Ground 17:30 Burnley v/s Stoke Turf Moor 15:00 Fulham v/s Portsmouth Craven Cottage 15:00 Hull v/s Chelsea Kingston Comms Stad. 12:45 Sunderland v/s Bolton Stadium of Light 15:00 Wigan v/s Aston Villa DW Stadium 15:00 Sunday, 10 JanuaryLiverpool v/s Tottenham Anfield 16:00 West Ham v/s Wolverhampton Boleyn Ground 13:30 Monday, 11 January Man City v/s Blackburn City of Mcr. Stadium 20:00

Bond’s ‘Bye’ to test cricket

India - Sri Lanka DelhiODI abandoned due topoor pitch conditions

Claire Taylor, the Englandbatswoman achieved trailblazing success on thefield in year 2009. Now,she has achieved crown-ing glory, as she is to behonoured with the MBEaward this year.

A part of the Englandwomen’s cricket teamthat won the Women’sWorld Cup Cricket tour-nament and laterWomen’s World T20,Claire Taylor had out-standing contribution in

both the campaigns,earning the “Player of theTournament” at both theoccasions.

She was also namedthe Women’s Player ofthe Year at the ICCAwards.

In response to thehonours announced bythe British Queen, Taylorwas quoted by BBC assaying, “Getting cricket-specific awards is greatbecause it's recognitionwithin cricket. But this isrecognition in the widercommunity so this is spe-cial but in a completelydifferent way.”

She is the jointrecord-holder for themost centuries in ODIs,and, in April, became thefirst woman to be namedone of Wisden's FiveCricketers of the Year.

Claire Taylor alsoplayed hockey in herearly days, having repre-sented England at the U-17 and U-19 levels. Sheread maths at Oxford,where, in addition toplaying cricket, she cap-tained the hockey team.

Claire Taylor

Dilshan leads Lanka to win tri-series openerHosts Bangladesh beaten by 7 wickets

For Dilshan, the year2009 was a really goodone, and even in 2010,his form seems to keepcompany with him.Tillakaratna Dilshanscored a solid century toguide his team to athumping seven victoryover hosts Bangladesh inthe opening encounter ofthe tri-series that alsoinvolves India.

Dilshan scored a totalof 10 centuries in 2009 inall forms of the game andstarted 2010 from almost

where he had left in theprevious year.

Hosts scored a good260 runs, but that wasnot good enough to chal-lenge Sri Lanka.

Tharanga perhapsthrew away his wicket,but Sangakkara was veryharsh on anything wide ofthe off stump and playedsome delightful drivesalong the ground. Theinstinctive Dilshan didn'tmind hitting it in the air.He crossed the mark of4000 runs in ODIs.

Sangakkara was alsoheading towards a centu-ry but fell off a very looseshot, tamely edgingShafiul to the wicket-keeper. Dilshan contin-ued to grind the opposi-tion, while Bangladeshfielding too wasn't uptothe mark.

It took Bangladesh alot of hard work and con-centration to get to a for-midable score. From aposition of strength (65for no loss) to a suddencollapse (74 for 4).

Ashraful andMushfiqur Rahim script-ed a steady and patientrecovery with doggedresistance. Ashraful’s 75was very important main-ly because it kept the SriLankans at bay, helpedthe innings last the entire50 overs.

{Brief scores: SL 261for 3 (Dilshan 104,Sangakkara 74) beatB’desh 260 for 7(Ashraful 75,Mahmudullah 45) by 7wickets}.

Hauritz spins OZ to Melbourne victory

For the hosts, the boxingday test match at theMCG brought a sweetend to a year that was nottheirs entirely. Pakistanwitnessed a sudden col-lapse against the spin ofNathan Hauritz, as thebowler saved his place inthe team.

On Wednesday, 30thDecember, the final day ofthe first test match,Hauritz claimed 4 to reg-ister his first 5 scalp haul,eventually completing thevictory for his team short-ly into the second session.

For Pakistan, it was asudden collapse as theyhad lost just 3 batsmen

on the fourth evening andhad 170 runs on theboard, standing a goodchance to play out for adraw. But they could addjust 81 runs on the finalday. Australia began the

day withM i t c h e l lJ o h n s o nr e m o v i n gUmar Akmaland Misbah-ul-Haq with con-secutive deliv-eries in his firstover. Hauritzthen repeated

the dose withthe back-to-back dis-

missals of Kamran Akmaland Mohammad Aamershortly after the firstdrinks break to extin-guish any hope of aPakistan fightback.

Mohammad Yousuf

showed admirable deter-mination to score 61, butsupport for the Pakistancaptain was thin on theground. The Australiansrequired only four oversafter lunch to seal victoryand claim a 1-0 series leadin the three match series.

For Pakistan, thecatching at the MCG waslargely poor.

{Brief scores: OZ 5for 454 dec (Katich 98,Watson 93, Hussey 82,Ponting 57) and 8 for225 dec (Watson 120*,Aamer 5-79) beat Pak258 (Mishah 65*) and251 (Yousuf 61, Hauritz5-101) by 170 runs}.

Pakistan collapse suddenly on the final day

India seal the Lanka ODI series 3 -1 at Kolkata

With youngsters GautamGambhir and Virat Kohliscoring tons at the EdenGardens, India chased atarget of 316 runs withease, beating Sri Lanka by7 wickets in the 4th ODIof the five match series onThursday, 24th December,2009. The hosts sealed theseries 3 -1, while the lastgame resulted into anunfortunate abandonmentin Delhi.

Indian team was in atight spot, as they lost vet-erans Sehwag andTendulkar in just fourovers, but virtuallychanceless centuries fromVirat Kohli and GautamGambhir made sure thatIndia had no problems

after that. The ease withwhich they chased down316 in 48.1 overs, withthe absences of MS Dhoniand Yuvraj Singh for thismatch, was remarkable.

Indian batting pushedUpul Tharanga’s centuryinto oblivion, so wasSuranga Lakmal’s earlybust of key wickets ren-dered of no consequence.

The Sri Lankan spin-ners were hampered bythe dew, and were nothelped by the ease withwhich the Indian bats-men kept alternating thestrike. Sangakkara'sstrategy to sit and waitfor a mistake in the mid-dle overs confoundedequally. Of the 224 runs

that Kohli and Gambhiradded, they ran 125.They avoided takingundue risks, neither didthe required run-rate evergo over 6.7.

Gambhir and Kohlicruised towards theircenturies. The centuryattained, Kohli holed outto long-on, trying to fin-ish off the game early, butGambhir made sure therewere no further mishaps,scoring 47 off the 70remaining runs.

Tharanga was madeto work harder for hisseventh century earlier inthe day. For the first timein the series, India cameout with an effective planto keep Tharanga and

Dilshan quiet in theopening overs.

Zaheer and Nehrabowled to a plan, andlankan batsmen couldnot score a boundary inthe first five overs, whichincluded a maiden fromAshish Nehra.

India's fielding was abig improvement overtheir earlier efforts.

Tharanga andSangakkara added 126runs in 23.4 overs with-out any concern.

{Brief scores: 4th ODI- India 317 for 3 (Gambhir150*, Kohli 107, Lakmal2-55) beat SL 315 for 6(Tharanga 118,Sangakkara 60, Zaheer 2-49) by 7 wickets}.

MBE honour for Claire TaylorWest Indies pace bowlerJerome Taylor had abrawl with the police inKingston, Jamaica as hetried to resist the policeasking the bar to closedown after the permissi-ble time of 11.00 pm.

Taylor was forced tofly back home from theWest Indies tour of Australia due to a back injury.According a news agency report, Jerome is facing chargesof indecent language, assaulting a police officer, improperconduct and resisting arrest. He turned turned abusive andlater, as the police tried to handcuff him, matters turned toworse. He was finally arrested and later released.

Gambhir-Kohli ton eclipse Tharanga century

Even as the Indian capital city of Delhi is getting ready tohost the Commonwealth games later this year, BCCI andDDCA brought disgrace for India and Delhi. Avery poorpitch at the Ferozshah Kotla led to the fifth and final ODIbetween India and Sri Lanka being abandoned onDecember 27, 2009 after Sri Lankan batsmen took a num-ber of body blows, with the pitch providing awkwardbounce to the Indian pacers.

The visitors, after playing for more than 23 overs wereforced to call their batsmen back. Later, the umpires, thematch referee and captains of both the teams agreed not toproceed with the game.

BCCI, the apex body ignored the state of affairs asregards to the Delhi pitch for long. It acted only after allthe damage was done, yet Delhi faces the prospect ofbeing banned by the ICC, which could rob the city of host-ing World Cup matches in 2011.

For the Sri Lankans, it is their second experience ofhaving to play on poor pitches. The first incident asalmost 12 years back, when on December 25, 1997 theywere to play an ODI at Indore, but the game had to beabandoned for the same reasons.

Recurring injury problems hasled to Kiwi pacer Shane Bondannouncing his retirement fromTest cricket. He will, howevercontinue to play for NewZealand in ODIs and T20s. The34 year old fast bowler hadjoined the rebel Indian CricketLeague, which he quit last year.He thus revived his NewZealand cricket career.

Announcing his retirement,Bond said, “The hardest thingis that I've always consideredmyself a Test bowler - and itwas such a great feeling to beback in the team and playingTest match cricket with the Blackcaps. It's been a toughcall, because Test cricket remains the ultimate form ofthe game - but I'm comfortable I've made the rightchoice.”

Bond said he is targeting the one-dayers againstAustralia starting February for his comeback.

One of the fastest bowlers in world cricket since the2000s, Bond has the distinction of being the quickestNew Zealander to 50 wickets in Tests and ODIs. Heends his Test career regarded by many as New Zealand'sbest fast bowler since Sir Richard Hadlee.

Jerome Taylor

Shane Bond

Nathan Hauritz took the two remainingwickets in his first over after lunch

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Lanka beat India inBangladesh tri-seriesSamaraweera, Perara lead the charge in a climaxSri Lanka remainedunbeaten in theBangladesh tri-series thatstarted on Monday, asthey beat India on Tuesdayby 5 wickets with 2 oversto spare. India looked tomake things difficult forthe Lankan batsmen, butcenturian ThilanSamaraweera and rookyThissara Perera thrashedin the Indian pace attackin the end to guide theirteam home well in time.

India set up a modesttarget of 280 runs for theSri Lankans, but barring afew overs when the Indianspinners held the runs,Sangakkara’s team wasnever seen in any realtrouble.

It was Perera who stolethe limelight in the climax,pushing veteranSamaraweera into thebackground, as he ham-mered 36 runs in his brief15 ball essay whenLankans looked like losingthe game, with 54 runsneeded of 39 balls.

Ashish Nehra,attempting to bowl york-ers ended up with toomany full tosses and acouple of no bowls. Pereracapitalised fully.

Sri Lanka got a briskstart by the new openingpair of Upul Tharanga andLahiru Thirimanne, thedebutant who replacedTillakaratne Dilshan, butonce India conceded just16 in the five overs ofbowling Powerplay, theonus was very much onthe old hands to see ithome.

With the introductionof Harbhajan Singh,Lankan run rate wastamed a bit.

Yuvraj Singh hadmarked his return to theXI with 74 from 84 balls,while Dhoni, SureshRaina and Ravindra Jadejaall contributed decentcameos after VirenderSehwag had played a typi-cally effervescent hand.

Sehwag hadannounced his intentionsfrom the outset with the50 of the innings comingin just the seventh over.The game changed,though, in the space oftwo eventful overs fromWelegedara.

Welegedara claimedSehwag with a catch atmid-off by Thirimanne.

India had taken 76 fromthe first Powerplay, butonly 13 came from thebowling one as thebowlers kept a leash onthe new batsmen.

When the battingPowerplay was taken after43 overs, India had only225 on the board.

They took 14 from thefirst of those overs,

bowled by Welegedara, butwith Jadeja going four-six-four-four against ThilanThushara, the inningsfinally had some energy.Sri Lanka again cameback, with Welegedaracastling Raina and Zaheer,and Harbhajan playing ahideous stroke to point.By the time Jadeja holedout in the final over, all

hopes of 300 had longsince disappeared, leavingSri Lanka with a chasethat they timed to perfec-tion.

{Brief scores: SL 283for 5 (Samaraweera 105*,Sangakkara 60,Harbhajan 3-47) beatIndia 279 for 9 (Yuvraj 74,Sehwag 47, Welegedara 5-66) by 5 wickets}.

Kumar Sangakkara and Thilan Samaraweera during their crucial partnership at Mirpur on Tuesday

Thumping win forEngland in Durban

Having battled hard tosave the first test match,England stunned the hostsSouth Africa with athumping victory by aninnings and 98 runs atDurban on Wednesday,30th December, 2009.They had all the reasonsto start celebrations forthe new year early, as theycompleted the demolitionof home team in less thana session on the finalmorning. Spinner GraemeSwann captured 5 wicketsin the South African sec-ond innings that folded upin just 133 runs. Thehome team had a toughtask on the final day afterhaving already lost 6 wick-ets for just 76 runs at theend of the fourth day.England now lead the 4test match series 1 - 0

Graeme Swann andStuart Broad were sharednine of the ten wickets inthe innings.

South Africa had aremote chance of playingout for a draw on the lastday as Mark Boucher andMorne Morkel had occu-pied the crease for a goodtime on Tuesday evening.

But as Swann was on aroll, it was a very difficulttask for Morkel to keephim at bay for a long time.

Paul Harris was thenext man in. He did hisbest to hang on, but JamesAnderson ensured thatHarris would not troublethe visitors for long.Though, it was MarkBoucher who succumbedfirst. The honour of cap-turing five wickets went toSwann, the man who hadset the collapse in motionbefore tea on the fourthday. Dale Steyn proppedforward in front of off andwas instantly sent on hisway lbw for 3, andEngland's fielders hurtledfrom the field to begintheir celebrations.

The final Test of thedecade had finished as aremarkable innings victo-ry for England, their firstin South Africa since1964, as they set off toCape Town with their spirits soaring and theseries seemingly theirs tolose.

{Brief scores: England574 for 9 dec (Bell 140,Cook 118) beat SouthAfrica 343 (Kallis 75,Smith 75) and 133(Swann 5-54) by aninnings and 98 runs}.

Graeme Swann completed his second five-wicket haul of the series to wrap up an innings victory at

Durban on December 30

No UK pullout from Delhi CWGEngland officials havedenied of the country’steam pullout possibility atthe Delhi CommonwealthGames over security issueor terror threat.

Ann Hogbin, generalmanager of the Englandteam has said they havenot received any warningson security, while BritishForeign Office has clari-fied that the team has notbeen asked to pulloutfrom the games, to be heldin New Delhi later thisyear.

England has plans tosend around 100 athletes

for the games,seen as animportant prepa-ration for theL o n d o nOlympics to beheld in 2012.Though Englandathletes wouldbe participating,many high pro-file sportsper-sons have pulledout from the Delhi games,citing other commit-ments.

Australia too confirmsparticipation

Australia, another

country andt h e i rsportspersonshaving maxi-mum securityconcerns hasalso said a 600strong contin-gent will besent, there isno substancein reports ofOZ not partic-

ipating in the CWG.A u s t r a l i a nCommonwealth GamesAssociation (ACGA)CEO Perry Crosswhite,reacting to unnamed

media reports said,“Australia is planning tosend a full team of over600 athletes, coaches,managers, medicos andofficials. The team will bethe largest ever to com-pete in an overseasCommonwealth Gamescampaign. Not a singleathlete has raised anysecurity concerns abouttravelling to India.”

To be held fromOctober 3 to 14, the 2010Commonwealth Gameswill have 19 sports on theprogram, making it thelargest Games to date.

SA mauled by an innings and 98 runs

Australia too will participate in full strength

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