A Monthly Publication of the Federation of India Community Associations (FICA) Since 1967INSIDE

Free Monthly Subscription - A Non-Profit & Tax Exempt Organization - Tax ID# 34-1215066

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FICA Matters 2Community NewsA Senior Celebration 3 Rotary & AIPNO 4Indian Classical music society 5 Runway thoughts 6Shiksha Daan 7Indias Genius 8Appreciating cultural diversity 9Community News 10Different yoga paths 11Why join FICA? 12

LOTUS TEAM

Publishing & EditorialAsim Datta (Interim)

Public Relations/CreativeParamjit Singh paramlinda@gmail.com

For Lotus related questions / comments, please email : lotus@fi-cacleveland.org, or call 216/791-FICA(3422), and leave message

FICA HOLDS ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING AND ELECTIONSA LOTUS REPORT (Not minutes of the meeting)

HOLI: A FESTIVAL FOR COMMUNITY HARMONY- DR. RAMESH GEHANI

FICA held its Annual General Meeting on Sunday, March 23rd, 2014 at the India Community Center. As is customary on such occasions, members spent time catching up with old friends and making new connections, while enjoying savory snacks and Chai donated by our friend and supporter, George Stamos of Saffron Patch. The meeting opened with outgoing FICA president Asim Datta welcoming everyone, and making brief reports on FICA’s activities during the past twelve months. This also included reports from Guniya Bafna on Project Seva, Sanjay Garg on Shiksha Daan, Asim Datta (representing Raj Pillai) on India Cultural Garden. Rupal Dhruv, the treasurer, presented the Treasurer’s Report (published inside this issue). Chittaranjan Jain, the Board of Trustees chair rounded up the reporting with remarks from the trustees. Chittaranjan Jain then, on behalf on Nominations Committee, announced that there were four openings in the Ex-ecutive Board, caused by the end of tenure of Anjan Ghose and Kathy Ghose, and resignations of Sujata Burgess and Meera Kansal. All four wre thanked for their dedication and services to FICA. Four nominations were received for positions in the Executive Board, and all four were elected unopposed. The new members of the Executive Board are Ashish Deshpande, Atul Verma, Shenaz Khan and Sujata Lakhe Barnard. The Board of Trustees also appointed Dharminder Kampani, Guniya Bafna, Mona Alag and Ramesh Gehani as new Trustees. All four have served FICA in the past. The meeting then adjourned. Welcome all. Following the meeting, the newly formed Executive Board unanimously requested and re-elected Asim Datta to lead as president for one more year. Jay Masurekar agreed to become Vice-president, and Gauri Wagle Masurekar remained Secretary, Rupal Dhruv remained Treasurer. More assignments will be done in the weeks ahead.

The spring harvesting festival of HOLI (or Holika; Rang-panchami) is one of the major traditional festivals celebrated throughout India. On Holi, irrespective of class, caste, or creed, Indians of all ethnic and religious backgrounds get together to throw wet and dry colors on one another to promote a common bond of humanity in the community. The colors of HOLI allow people to get close together. Many enemies turn into friends on HOLI. On the eve of Holi kids gather wood from spring clean-ing in different homes, and have a bonfire. As children, we anticipated the festival of Holi for months in advance. It was particularly exciting if you were a teenager and had a crush on someone. I still remember some of my most

memorable Holi breakthroughs. In Delhi we used to gather a variety of flowers blooming in spring, dry them in sun for days, and then boil them slowly for hours to make beautiful permanent colors to use on Holi. After coloring others, and getting colored self with unimaginable collage of colors, everyone embraces one another and sit togeth-er to eat snacks, Jalebi sweets, and quench their thirst with a refreshing milk drink Thandai. Who knows how the foods and drinks were spiked that day to let our inhibitions down? Everything goes in India on Holi! I remember that one year at IIT Kanpur a visiting daughter of an American Professor was convinced that as per ancient Indian tradition girls must kiss boys on HOLI. Boys quickly made a long line.

HOLI CELEBRATION IN CLEVELAND On Saturday March 29, 2014, FICA-Cleveland pioneered a new networking path-way by celebrating a Holi gala dinner and entertainment program in collaboration with the Center for International Services and programs (CISP) and Indian Students As-sociation (ISA) at Cleveland State University. Unfortunately, many Cleveland Indians could not join because of a snow-blizzard and bad road conditions on that Saturday evening. CSU students and FICA officers had put in enormous hard work to make the event a memorable get-together. The program due to start at 6:30 pm started promptly with delicious Samosa and Kachori snacks provided by Mr. Srivastava of Café of India (Ridge Road, Parma). Whereas all the performers were ready, the entertainment program was stalled with the hope that more people will survive the rough roads and join the festivities. The program started with a devotional song by Tejasvi SANKA. This was followed by a

Debasish-Mukhopadhyay singing Holi songs from Bollywood filmws

CONTINUED ON PAGE 5

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FICA mattersFICA StaffAdministration

Board of Trustees

Chittaranjan Jain, Chair

c.jain@csuohio.edu, 440/942-4369

Executive Board Asim Datta, Presidentinfo@ficacleveland.orgpoint-to-point@usa.net216/394-8720

Jay Masurekar, Vice Presidentjaywantm@gmail.com202/436-0997

Gauri Wagle, Secretarywgaury@yahoo.com

Rupal Dhruv, Treasurertreasurer@ficacleveland.orgrupald6130@hotmail.com440/317-1487

Tarak Shah, Membership chairstarak@gmail.com267/266-0038

Sujata LakhePublisher/Editor, Lotuslakhe4@gmail.com216/496-7155

Mona Alag , Past Presidentmonaalag@yahoo.com440/256-3247

Ashish Deshpandedrashishdeshpande@gmail.com626/202-6662

Shenaz Khanskhan@metrohealth.org216/543-0616

Kenneth KovachCommunity OutreachKennethJKovach@wowway.com216/952-9501

Vinod Nagpal vnagpal@nrengineering.com440/821-0479

Pavithra Simh raj.pavithra@gmail.com 602/321-3128

Atul Vermaatul001@gmail.com704/307-5470Sister Organizations

Marathi MandalWebsite : www. neomm.orgPresident: Dr. Anupa DeogaonkarEmail : anupadeogaonkar@gmail.comPhone: 216/704-2455

Bengali Cultural Society of ClevelandWebsite: www.bcscle.orgPresident: Ashoke BanerjeeEmail: ashokeswapna@gmail.comPhone: 440/290-8123

AIPNO :http://www.aipno.orgPresident : Dr. Ranjit TamaskarEmail : sukaalu@yahoo.comPhone : 216/228-1168

Odisha SocietyPresident : Birendra Jena Email: birendrajena@hotmail.com Phone: 330/544-1725

FICA & Lotus seekVolunteer Writers/Reporters, and

Business Managerto help the publication grow.

Volunteer for your love of your heritage,Your community, and the joy of

volunteering.Please write : lotus@ficacleveland.org

YOGA LESSONS? MARTIAL ARTS LESSONS?

At the India Community Center?FICA is looking into the feasibility of offer-

ing 1-hour class(each) on Saturday morn-ings at nominal fees.

Email to info@ficacleveland.org expressing your interest & name, contact info

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Around the communitiesA SENIOR CELEBRATION

90th Birthday of Mahakavi Gulab Khandelwal - Submitted by Zahid Siddiqi, in collaboration with Shobha Khandelwal

MONSOON SHOOTOUT( Screened at Cleveland International Film Festival, March, 2014)

Movie Review by Nisha Jain

The auspicious occasion of the ninetieth birthday of mahakavi Gulab khandelwal was celebrated on 22 February, 2014 Saturday at the auditorium of Shiva Vishnu temple of Cleveland OH. His eldest daughter-in-law Dr. Shobha Khan-delwal conducted the program and introduced the poet. Mahakavi Gulab Khandelwal was born in Nawalgarh, Rajasthan, the native place of his mother Va-santi Devi, on 21st February, 1924. He graduated from Banaras Hindu University in 1943. He showed po-

etic ability from the age 13 when sanyasi Narayananand Saraswati taught him the basics of poetics. His first book was published with preface by ‘Ni-rala’, when he was seventeen years old. While in Banaras, he came into contact with many great literary persons. He has been greatly influenced in his life by the poets Tulsidas, Kabir, Shakespeare and Ravindranath Tagore and accepted Mahatma Gandhi as his ideal. He established several new trends in Hindi poetry like Gazal, Ma-sanavi (small epic) and introduced the form of Sonnet in Hindi. These are being used today by different poets. Though he is a Hindi poet, he has writ-ten poetry in Urdu and English with equal felicity. He is the recipient of Honorary citizenship of Baltimore City and the title of ‘Kavi Samrat’ by the governor of Maryland. He has been hon-ored with the award of’ ‘Sahitya Vachaspati’ by Akhil Bharatiy Hindi Sah-ity Sammelan. This degree is equivalent to Ph.D. and only degree accepted by Mahatma Gandhi, Four of his books, ‘Usha’, ‘Ahalya’, ‘Kach-Devyani’ and ‘Alokvritt’ have been serving as course-books for colleges in Bihar and U.P. Eight of his books have been awarded by the U.P, Government and Bihar Government.

Seven people have received the degree of Ph. D. from different universities on his poetry. The program started at 4:30 after light refreshment. The poet lighted the traditional lamp along with his wife Mrs. Krishna Khandelwal . Re-cently, on February 8th, the couple had celebrated their 73rd wedding an-niversary. The evening was rendered colorful by the musical recitation of multicolor poems from his more than 55 poetry-books. In the beginning, Mr. Ishwar Harish played on his flute. The felici-tations, sent in rhymes by Mr. Bhagawandas Lahoti from Florida and Mr. Rakesh Khandelwal from Maryland, were read by his eldest daughter Prat-ibha khandelwal. Recently, Gulab Khandelwal had made poetical translation of the poems of Rabindranath Tagore from Bangla to Hindi. The work is pub-lished as ‘Rabindranath ; Hindi ke Darpan men’. Gualabji’s grand-daughter Nupur Khandelwal sang one of the poems in the same Rabindra Sangeet tune from this book. Several artists sang poems and gazals from the different books of Gulab Ji in classical music and traditional tunes. Mrs. Vandana Hariyani, Mrs. Sugata Chatarjee, The poet’s youngest daughter Mrs. Vibha Jhalani, Mr. Narayan and his disciples, Miss Abha Dariyapurkar, Miss Amaya Dari-yapurkar, Miss Devleena Ghosh (Koyal), presented the poems and gazals in different ragas while Mr. Subhash Agrawal, Mr. Dilip Bhatia, Mrs. Sudha Bhatia and Mrs. Jyotsna Harish sang them in different traditional tunes. Gulab Ji’s grand daughter-in-law Sona and granddaughter Nupur presented two dances based on the songs of his book ‘Geet-Vrindavan’ and added more color to the program, On this occasion, Mr. Gulab Khandelwal also recited his Hindi Po-ems and one recently written English poem. This was a literary program, well enjoyed by the people. In spite of his age, Mr. Gulab Khandelwal was in high spirit. After thanksgiving and sumptuous dinner, the program concluded with the hope of many more such gatherings.

Monsoon Shootout is a colorful tale of Indian cops and gangsters. It is a thriller full of shootouts and high energy sequences. It also has an artsy plot, which examines the outcome of three possible choices a rookie cop might make when he confronts a ruthless hired killer. The film opens by showing the underbelly of Mumbai. A festival is going on, a bullock cart and a luxury car are blocking each other, the occupant of the car is hacked to death. As Adi leaves for work on his first day as a police constable, he is reminded by his mother of his late father’s words that there are three paths in life: “the right path, the wrong path, and the middle path.” The ideal-ist Adi replies “I’ll find my own path”. Adi is paired with a seasoned cop Khan to track down Shiva, a hit man who will possibly lead them to a local slumlord and kingpin’s extortion empire. Adi sees Shiva and chases him down an alley. He must make a quick judgment to whether to shoot him before he escapes over a wall. That moment is shot in slow motion, as if frozen in time, and is repeated in three different versions of the story. This may be symbolic of the three paths of life. Each thirty minute segment has the same set of characters, and some scenes are replayed in all three. In the first scenario: Adi hesitates to pull the trigger, Shiva slips away, continues the killings, and takes a dreadful revenge on Adi’s beautiful girlfriend. In the second version Adi pulls the trigger, but he is tormented by a lingering doubt that the man may not even be a criminal, and makes the dead man’s son an enemy. In the third ver-sion, Adi arrests Shiva, takes him to court, but he slips away. Monsoon Shootout is an India- U.K.- Dutch production. The intense-ly colorful images make it an Indian film. The cinematography is brilliant. One can see and sense the pouring rain of the monsoon, and the alleys of Mumbai. Nawazuddin Siddiqui as menacing Shiva has acted brilliantly. R. Balasubramanian is convincing as the sleazy, ruthless slumlord. Geetanjali

Thapa as adi,s old flame Anu, Tannishtha Chatterjee as Shiva’s wife Rani, Sreejita De as Shiva’s mistress Geeta have acted well in their limited roles. Farhan Shaikh is impressive as the innocent youth turned menace. Neeraj Kabi’s performance as the cynical seasoned cop is lukewarm. Vijay Varma , as the clean cut good looking lead has failed to convey the conflict, agony, and painful decisions that Adi must make and endure. The director Amit Kumar has portrayed the pervading rampant cor-ruption in India very effectively. The scenes and action are riveting. How-ever the moral confusion of the film is really an overall confusion. The three versions of the story leave the viewer wondering, what was the director really trying to portray.

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ROTARY & AIPNO TEAM UP TOGETHER - to ‘save lives’ in Gandevi, India- Submitted by Ramesh Shah

4 Events Future & Past

I traveled 450 kms. (270 miles) because my relative works in Gan-devi. He assured me that I shall get examined for my heart pain and may get necessary treatment. I traveled whole night and they brought me in wheel chair, examined by AIPNO physician, Dr. Wiseman; he ordered me to be operated on a priority basis.” –Nilaben said. “We couldn’t believe that her operation was done successfully without any Rs. expense.” Her rela-tives cried with emotions. Rotary club of Gandevi collected 93 potential patients for various heart surgeries as a result of Medical YATRA 2014 from Jan.23-28,2014 in Gandevi and surrounding villages. Rotary clubs and Rotary foundation teamed up with Association of In-dian Physicians of N. Ohio (AIPNO)-USA in a Global Grant #1412348 to make a huge impact in training the trainers and save the lives in remote corners of Gandevi, Gujarat, India. Global Grant was funded by six rotary clubs from USA, Canada and India and their districts and rotary founda-tion along with NRIs of Gandevi and AIPNO. It is a huge International partnership with a specific sustainable mission: “Educate/Train, Prevent and Save Lives”.

Specific aims as outlined in the grant proposal: To improve the quality of life of the rural and tribal community by perform-ing the life saving surgeries of Cancer and Coronary diseases as well as by increasing awareness regarding early detection and prevention of Diabetes and to increase the capacity of local health professionals by training and Education.

Super Specialty Clinics:Primary detection screening clinics were conducted on Jan.23-24-25 at six villages (drawing from 50-60 surrounding villages) by AIPNO physicians. High risk patients- Cancer, Coronary and Diabetes-were given appoint-ments for Jan.26-27-28 with Oncologist- Dr. Varia, Cardiologist-Dr. Wise-man and Endocrinologists-Dr.Reddy and Dr. Mehta. NRI physicians were supported by local super specialists as mentors and sharing the work load. Thru these efforts, 300 women have been prescreened for Breast can-cer and Pap smear tests. Mammography, CT scan and Sonography equip-ment were provided in a ‘Sanjeevani Rath’ by Gujarat Cancer Research Institute from Amdavad.(GCRI). 47 Cancer patients are being treated at Kailash Cancer Hospital, Goraj (Vadodara) and Lions Cancer Center at Civ-il Hospital, Surat. Ninety-three Coronary patients are mostly treated at Yashfeen Hos-pital, Navsari and Amdavad Civil Hospital at much reduced rate. For 633 Diabetes patients, long term supply of medicines have been arranged from Global Grant and Yashfeen Hospital, Navsari has agreed for follow up treatment.

Vocational Training: “Did you know that with 10 million diabetic patients on the record and growing exponentially every year, India is going to be a Diabetes capital of

the world?”- said Dr. Reddy, “it is a Tsunami of health care crisis in India.” “When you go to Temple or Dehrasar, you do “Pradikshana”- 3 rounds around main idol; follow the same practice of 3 rounds outside in the Temple compound; you will lower your cholesterol and blood pressure significantly.” Said Dr. Adi Mehta. “There are seven-7- simple ways you can prevent and/or reduce cancer in your community today.” Said Dr. Mahesh Varia-Oncologist CME educational talks were directed to larger general audience; so they were “user” friendly with specific simple hints “how to do” as pre-ventive measures for diabetes, coronary and cancer. Following educational CME programs were conducted to increase the ca-pacity of local Health Professionals by Vocational Training TEAM members in Oncology, Cardiology, Endocrinology and Psycho-Oncology.

1. Dr Adi Mehta, Cleveland Clinic, USA (Endocrinologist) 2. Dr Sethu Reddy, Cleveland Clinic, USA (Endocrinologist) 3. Dr Martin Wiseman, Hillcrest-Cleveland Clinic, USA (Cardiologist) 4. Dr Pushkar Kanade, St.Vincent Charity Hospital, USA (Resident) 5. Dr Mahesh Varia, University of N. Carolina, USA (Oncologist), 6. Dr Indu Varia,Duke University, USA (Psychiatrist).

Places where training was arranged: 1.New Civil Hospital, Surat and Government Medical College, Surat- 32- teachers & staff members2.G.M.E.R.S. Medical College, Valsad- 62 - 2nd year Medical students and Faculty members3.Diabetes Awareness Seminar -275 residents of Gandevi and surroundingDr. Niranjana Shah-Chairperson, Indian Diabetes Association was the guest speaker and her staff conducted YOGA exercises.4.“Train the Trainers”- 43 Local Medical Professionals 5.Mother and Child Care by Dr. Daxa Patel, President- Action Research in Community Health. No. of participants: 650 Anganwadi and ASHA social workers.6.To increase the public awareness at grass root level amongst illiterate rural folks, “Lok Bhavai’ street performances were arranged with VIDEO shows at 10 places with attendance of 100 ea. Rotarian Dave Diffendal- Clev. Rotary conducted CPR –Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation- training classes for paramedics, students, youth, pharmacy students, nurses and general public. Few minutes CPR can circulate the blood thru the victim’s brain to keep him/her alive until further care is available. Often in the villages help is far away in distance and time.

Important to note: Investigations activities started in early part of January and shall continue the follow up activities until June-July, 2014. Gandevi Rotarians and NGOs have been committed to give each and every patient utmost satisfaction.

Association of Indian Physicians of Northern Ohio (AIPNO)

CPR training saves lives“International partnerships for Rotary

5 Community News

Bollywood song by Monica ALLAMUDI. The microphone and the echo of the hall required some tuning and toning volume down.

The songs were followed by a Kuchipudi dance by Kalyani VETURI and her group, a dance performance by Shampa PAUL and a Kathak dance by Antara DATTA. These dancers shared what they had ac-

quired after many years of dedicated prac-tice. I wish there were more people to ap-

preciate and enjoy the great event. Then followed amazing singers Asit BISWAS and Debasish MUK-HOPADYAY with great songs and sounds of Holi. Only thing missing was the Pichkari and Gulal colors. They made everyone feel like we were listen-ing Kishore Kumar and other great voices of Indian cinema live among us. I heard a number of my favorite songs acted by Amitabh Bacchan, Rajesh Khanna and other famous actors with excellent rendition. These songs were followed by a dance montage performance by graceful Bhargavi and friends. These college students and former CSU students seem so talented with their extra-curricular talents that FICA-Cleveland must engage them more often to encourage their commitment to Indian cultural heritage. Fi-

nally a delicious dinner buffet was served. There was more than enough for everyone.

MAKE HOLI ICONIC FESTIVAL FOR HARMONY Overall, the Holi Gala dinner and entertainment program on Saturday March 29, 2014 was a well-organized and much needed jolly event to mark

the end of extended winter season and start of the much-awaited spring season in the Northeast Ohio. I wish that next year in spring 2015, dozens of more Cleveland-Indians would attend and bring many of their American friends to share with them a great icon of racial and religious harmony in Indian culture. How can Indian-Americans make HOLI as iconic and popular festival as the St. Patrick’s Day by Irish-Americans and Dyngus Day by Polish-Americans? Next year in 2015, don’t let weather stop you and your friends from having great fun, as many of us did this year in 2014. Dr. R. Ray Gehani, like others, braved rough weather and slippery risky roads to support the great nation-al festival of HOLI at CSU in downtown Cleveland. He was recently re-elected as a Trustee of the Board of Directors at the Annual General Meeting of FICA.

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

Bhargavi and Group from Cleveland State showing off their moves at the Holi event

Piya Roy and Atul Verma working the Registration table

Shampa Paul performing a dance at Holi.

Raj Venkat did some announcement duties on behalf of CSU Indian Students Association

Young colorful Kuchipudi Dancers

Thru “Chiraag” annual fund raising, event, AIPNO have supported more than 30 local charities, one every year. Thru Medical YATRA programs, AIPNO also provides service to aid to underserved areas and disaster affected sites in India and around the world. AIPNO physicians have traveled to Mexico, Haiti, Peru, Burundi, Ecuador, Uganda, Kenya, Honduras, Dominican Republic and India. In India, YATRA Medical Mission program have been conducted in Tamilnadu, Rajasthan, Orissa, Gujarat, Kerala, Uttarkhand, Maharashtra and W. Bengal. AIPNO has served more than 150,000 patients and more than 50 physicians from USA, Canada, UK and India have participated.

Visit our websites: aipno.org and medicalyatra.org; clevelndpeople.com for more informationVisit our Blog: - http://joeyandmaren.wordpress.com/2014/03/06/the-yatra/

For more information on ROTARY GRANTS Visit: ww.rotary.org/myrotary/en/take-action/apply-grants Two-2- General Primary Care Camps were also arranged to alleviate immediate health complaints with FREE medicines.@ Dharampur, Guj- 1,800 patients Jan.18-22@ Warora, Mah.- 6,000 patients Feb. 2-9

For more Information, please contact;Dr. Jaya Shah & Dr. Gita Gidwani-ChairpersonsAIPNO-Medical YATRA (jayashahmd@sbcglobal.net) (440-460-1037)

Women undergoing breast examination and pap test

650 social workers learned about maternal health and childcare

AIPNO scholar helped in detecting coronary surgery patients

Bollywood film ‘Hello’ was based on Chetan Bhagat’s International Best Seller ‘One Night @ the Call Center’....Movie was loaded with entertain-ment value and did good business in India as well as abroad...... In real life, Asian Indians have given such a positive twist to the concept of ‘Call Centers’, Ladies & Gentlemen, that my heart is full of admiration for those young techies who graduated, primarily, from one or the other Indian Busi-ness School......We all know that ‘Call Centers’ got established in countries like India by giant businesses to handle part of their ‘not so significant work; by foreign country employees and by staying in their own countries. These employ-ees were able to converse in English language and were willing to work at small wages. This is how concept of Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) came into existence. Under this concept, those ‘Call Center’ Employees, af-ter finishing one work, were asking , ‘Boss, what I should do next for you’. And it continued the same way for a few years.India did master the ‘Art of Information Technology’ years ago, as we all know. It soon occurred to those brilliant Asian-Indians that they can do much more than what they were doing under the business model of BPO. New Technology was quiet on their finger tips (and they are staying quiet ahead in this field to date). They knew as to how to create new tech plat-forms to drive any business, vertically as well as horizontally. And, now, some of those techies have already changed the BPO business model to BPM (Business Process Management) successfully. With this creation by us-ing their knowledge of New Technology, instead of asking ‘Boss, what I should do next for you’, these experts have been able to tell the Boss, ‘if you want to really grow, then this is what you should do next’......Asian-Indians in India were able to bring about this change within a short span of time of a few years. In the process, giant businesses (their employers) have tremendously flourished as well as ‘Call Centre’ Owners and Staff have greatly progressed in every direction. They have a proven track record now (in many cases) and are easily able to sign up new clients to serve, from all around the World. Their own revenues have gone up many fold and they have started acquiring businesses right and left as well.....For success of Asian-Indian Businesses, Government of India has also done a magnificent job. At a rapid rate, various rules and regulations have start-ed changing in India. Old regulations which have outlived its utilities are getting deleted from the system. Instead, new rules and regulations, which are Consumer/Business-Friendly are getting implemented. With the result, India has started showing the sign of growth and potential in various sec-tors (not only limited to IT Service Software). For example, travel in India is growing real fast. About 1.2 billion travel annually in India. But number of aircrafts India has is quiet limited, just 420. As compared to some other Asian nations, India has been lacking behind when it comes to civil avia-tion. Even Indonesia has 500 aircrafts (for 237 million travelers), China has 2,000 aircrafts for its 1.3 million travelers, and so on....Government of India has very much stepped in and is doing away with certain existing regu-lations which were negatively impacting India’s Civil Aviation Industry. Tata & Sons have jumped on this opportunity (Tata does not let go any such opportunity - Hats Off to Jamshedji Tata for the Vision for India he had decades ago & his team is doing all the right things, at right time) and have signed a deal with Singapore Airlines (SIA). Tata has controlling right under this agreement. Both Tata and SIA are going to gain from this deal. There is no doubt about it. Another change India is making pertains to In-ternational Air Service. It is no longer required/no longer will be required by any business to own at least a fleet of 20 aircraft to commence Interna-tional Air Service.....India is going to greatly improve upon its Construction Sector and has set a target to produce 300 million tonnes of steel per year by year 2025 (cur-rently, India is producing 85 million tonnes/year). It should greatly boost India’s Infrastructure. Ladies & Gentlemen, you are already aware of the fact that Infrastructure of any nation is the driving engine for Economic Growth. Again, Tata & Sons will greatly benefit from India’s said announce-ment for they are already well-positioned in this sector as well (Tata Steel). But there is certainly room for many others to take advantage of this. Tata & Sons’ acquisition of one of the largest producers of Steel in Europe ‘Corus’ in late 2006 in a 100% Cash deal had received mixed reaction from the Pun-dits. ‘Corus’ was producing 19 million tonnes of Steel/year (worth 18 bil-lion dollars) at that time and Tata Steel was bringing out only 5 million tonnes annually, worth 5 billion dollars in India. Tata & Sons comprises a

huge Business Conglomerate, Ladies & Gentlemen...However, ‘Corus’ has steel manufacturing plants in UK as well as in The Netherlands (Anglo-Dutch Enterprise).India’s recent ‘Currency-Swap’ deal with none other than Japan seems to be a very wise step. Under this deal (good through December, 2015), Indian currency (rupees) can be swapped ($15 Billion to $50 Billion) with Japan. And Japan can swap its currency (Yen) for Dollars with India. Bank of Japan and Reserve Bank of India will carry this out for Japan and India, respec-tively. Both countries should benefit from this arrangement.....Further, In-dia is actively into/considering FTA/Free Trade Agreement with 28 Nation European Union. South Korea, Canada, and USA have already signed FTA with European Union, for mutual benefits. Thailand might sign by the end of this year....Media and Entertainment Industry is another area of growth in India. Cur-rently, its is rated at about $50 Billion. India has set a target to improve it to $100 Billion in next three years. There are 800 Channels and 80,000 News-papers in India, currently, and a huge Bollywood Industry, churning films right and left in Hindi as well as in Regional Languages....To say the least, Ladies & Gentlemen, there is room for growth in various sectors in India as well as abroad these days. And credit goes to New Tech-nology/Internet. But I would like to point out two different areas which must not be ignored. First, businesses should not avoid laptop/notebook/desktop step/stage before jumping exclusively from paper to mobile, so that they could accomplish their goals in relatively short span of time, with proper understanding of new technology. Secondly, we cannot ignore any longer to create a well educated Society for Integrity. Looking at the way our World is unfolding and getting overpowered by greed and shameless-ness, we have already reached ‘crisis level, believe it or not’. It is high time that we find ways to reverse this trend. Otherwise, we might end up de-stroying our own creation, our own civilization someday, as researchers and scholars have already pointed out....

6 Community NewsRUNAWAY THOUGHTS ON SLEEPLESS NIGHTS….

- BY INDER SUNEJA

7Community NewsLIABILITY FOR SPORTS INJURIES

- BY ARUN KOTTHA

SHIKSHA DAAN COLLECTED OVER 100 BOOKS FOR

GREATER CLEVELAND VOLUNTEERS Shiksha Daan collected over 100 books suitable for Grades K-3 for the AARP Experience Corps reading program sponsored by Greater Cleveland Volunteers. The program serves over 900 stu-dents from the Cleveland Municipal School District in grades K-3. The books were delivered to the Greater Cleveland Volunteers of-fice in time to be distributed to the students to read over the spring break. Shiksha Daan will like to thank all the community members who contributed towards the book collection. If you are interested in learning more about Shiksha Daan or in supporting one of our programs, please visit us at www.shikshadaanusa.org or contact us at shikshadann.fica@gmail.com.

The Association of Indian Physicians of Northeast Ohio, AIPNO, celebrated 23rd Annual Chiraag Fundraiser on April 12th at Landerhaven. AIPNO was founded in 1983 to bring together physicians of Indian ori-gin practicing in Northern Ohio. The Association consists of 400 physician members. They target fund-raising efforts to local charities that are in need of funding. Past beneficiaries have included The Free Clinic, The Cleveland Sight Center, Templum House, Project Act, Providence House, Boys Hope, Alzheimer’s association and the HELP Foundation. Chronic kidney disease/End stage renal disease is a major health problem in United States. 26 million American adults have chronic kidney disease and millions of others are at increased risk. There has been great im-provement in the treatment and management of this disease but by large it is a big burden for both the patient and the family. More research is needed in this field. This year “Kidney foundation of Ohio” is the announced ma-jor beneficiary of Chiraag. Thank you for joining in celebrating our culture and community at this fundraiser. If you are interested in attending future AIPNO events please contact Binnie Eiger at admin@aipno.org.

AIPNO CELEBRATES 23RD ANNUAL CHIRAG FUNDRAISER

After watching a “best cricketers of all time” tribute featuring Sachin Tendulkar, you were inspired to once again pick up the bat and take the field. You muster the needed players and equipment for a match on a beautiful spring day. As you step in front of the wicket with dreams of a century in your head, the game is cut short. On the first pitch, you send the ball squarely into the eye of a nearby fielder, sending him to the hospital. Some months later, you are served with a lawsuit alleging that your “negligent batting” caused a permanent eye injury. Are you liable? Ohio law provides that sports participants assume the risks “directly associated” with that activity. A player injured by conduct that is a foreseeable and customary part of the sport (even if not tech-nically within the rules) cannot sue for negligence. Liability is limit-ed to reckless or intentional acts, which are significantly higher levels of culpability. Defining intentional conduct is easy: if you intend to hurt someone, you should be held responsible irrespective of the fact that you are playing sports. Recklessness fills the area between inten-tional conduct and negligence. It involves performing an act when you know (or should know) it is reasonably certain to cause serious harm, but you do it anyways. The policy for this heightened standard is to avoid discour-aging the “vigorous and free participation” in sporting activities for fear of legal action; legal action that would stem from a foreseeable and assumed risk of the sport. Although each case involves unique facts and circumstances, courts have dismissed actions where a fel-low golfer was struck by a golf ball, a leg was broken during a slide tackle, and two skiers collided on the slopes. Turning back to your case, the facts as described here would have a tough time succeeding. You didn’t intentionally harm your friend and you weren’t reckless. All you did was strike the ball, which is an ordinary and foreseeable part of cricket. The ball entered the fielder’s space, which is what he should have expected. While it is unfortu-nate your friend’s eye is hurt, you aren’t likely to be held liable for the injury. We should not lose sight of the big picture. M. Gandhi put it best: “it is health that is real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver.” We should pursue physical activities with the utmost zeal and enthu-siasm, and not worry about lawsuits. As for your friend, perhaps he should take up bowling instead. Arun Kottha is an attorney with Tucker Ellis LLP in Cleveland, Ohio. Contact: ak1@tuckerellis.com. Feel free to contact Arun to sub-mit a topic for a subsequent article. This article is for informational purposes only and not for the pur-pose of providing legal advice. You should contact your attorney to obtain advice with respect to any particular issue or problem.

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7Issues that matter

INDIA’S GENIUS - By Om Julka

8 News of interest

Indians never cared to stand up and fight against the invaders but suffered in silence, changed and adapted to the new circumstances. Even so, India is now among the fast growing countries called BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa). It is good that there is also private growth in areas once controlled by the State in telecommunications, ports, airports, banking and infrastructure. The credit goes more to the genius of the people. Now that elections are being held and new government will soon come into play, it is incumbent on the new leaders to get away from com-munal and regional politics. Whatever one may say about the frailty of India’s secular credentials, it is still a great success to remain secular. Minorities are allowed as much freedom as the majority party in all spheres of activity by government and by private sectors. Reservations and subsidies should now be stopped; only monetary help if needed should be given on economic grounds. But of course free education up to High School level should be imparted to all, giving special attention to the poor masses. India has already been propelled on to the world stage. The leaders must be aware of the old saying, “For forms of government let fools contest; whatever is best governed is best.” One of the challenges that the country now faces for its rapid growth is its infrastructure, including power, airports, and roads for which tremen-dous amount of money are needed. So also for clean drinking water. This will need committed, honest and impartial leadership and workers at all levels.

There were 212 Bomb-blasts in India during the last year, which is lam-entable. Let us hope that no more bombing of Indian cities takes place. Let India’s democracy, educational system and clean image become a model even for all Islamic countries like Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. If other coun-tries follow the example of India to impart more education among their masses, it will be a boon for those nations too.

News of interest 9

How important is diversity in the American classroom? Diversity is important in the classroom, just as it is important in our world. When citizens participate in society and bring their cultural strengths with them, both they and the nation are enriched. Schools are no different in this regard. They should be model communities that mirror the kind of demo-cratic society we strive to live in and celebrate. The curriculum should re-flect the diverse groups within the community and beyond. The various languages and dialects that students speak should be valued and respected, if not taught and learned. The students should learn that different cultural groups within the community have their own values, perspectives and lan-guages that deserve to be heard, respected, and appreciated by all of us. Although there are many contemporary issues in education that demand our attention, there is one issue that I believe directly applies to teaching, and it is becoming increasingly important in the world: the teaching of So-cial Justice. We all are aware of many societal ills like racism, gender bias, and other forms of prejudice and discrimination that have existed, and will continue to exist for some time. We can keep hoping that somehow they will disappear overnight, but alas, they do not simply go away! Each one of us, and especially those in education, must make a concentrated effort to open the hearts and minds of our children who will be in power someday! Hopefully they will be able to create communities where everyone will feel truly equal. Let’s take a look at some important, if not startling, figures that will help us understand the question I have posed above. • The 2000 Census reported 380 categories of single languages or language families other than English spoken at home. • Spanish is the most common, with more than 28 million speakers among the U.S. population 5 years and older, followed by Chinese at 2 million, French with 1.6 million speakers and German with 1.4 million speakers. • In 2004, 9.9 million school-age children (ages 5-17) spoke a language other than English at home, representing 19% of all children in this age group, a 9% increase from 3.7 million in 1979 (U.S. Department of Education, 2006). • Of the children who spoke a language other than English at home in 2004, 81% were U.S. born or naturalized U.S. citizens. • U.S. Census projections indicate that students of color will make up 48% of the nation’s school-age youth by 2020. Looking at the above numbers, could Public Education in the United States, with its traditional and largely Eurocentric model of cultural literacy, survive and compete in today’s global world? Our public schools can no longer remain a battleground for contending educational and social philos-ophies while rejecting the emerging globalized world. We must implement new reforms to recognize increasingly represented diverse non-European cultures and make necessary programmatic changes to meet the needs of all children including cultural minorities. Our textbooks are often out of date and under representative of many of the cultural backgrounds of students in our classrooms. Teachers must be able to frame the content of the curriculum so that it is culturally relevant to the students in the classroom. For example, a high school Eng-lish teacher can introduce literature that meets curricular standards while reflecting diverse student backgrounds to give the literary content more meaning for the students. A good story about another culture can prove to be far more relevant than many of the same “classics” we have been using over the years. In fact, a student’s self-esteem can even be boosted by a culturally responsive curriculum (Ferrari). Keeping different cultures within the “familiar and friendly framework” (Gay, p. 33) of the curriculum will more likely hold the students’ interest, enhance their self-esteem re-garding their culture and make them better students. Research has shown again and again that many African American and other non-white students perceive school as a place where they cannot be themselves because their culture is not valued in American schools. Culturally competent teachers effectively utilize their students’ cultures as a tool to respond to this chal-lenge. They also develop culturally relevant pedagogy that provides stu-dents with a curriculum that builds on their prior knowledge and cultural experiences, while at the same time encouraging students to maintain their cultural integrity. Minority students also complain about subtle discrimi-nation through facial expressions, not being acknowledged, or being teased about their diet or style. Such behaviors not only reinforce the students’ sense of alienation and hinder their personal, academic, and professional

development, but occasionally result in serious tragedies like suicide or ho-micides. However, by introducing culturally diverse resources within the curriculum, all students are exposed to other cultures; this shared experi-ence provides a common background for the class as a whole and fosters intercultural student dialogue. Do we need multicultural education in Cleveland Public Schools? I strongly believe that multicultural education is a necessary part of our education system. Our society is so diverse religiously, ethnically, economi-cally, etc. I believe that a comprehensive curriculum should incorporate some component of multicultural education in the classroom. I believe that multicultural education is simply about increasing awareness and educat-ing others about the practices, beliefs, and customs of other cultures. These cultures can be chosen from within the classroom or they can be chosen to represent a more global point of view. When my children were in public school, I noticed that their class-rooms were very homogeneous in regards to race, social class and even background; most of the seniors had been at the same school since kinder-garten and had grown up within five miles of each other. In the workplace, I constantly battled stereotypes of race and class simply because individuals within the administration did not know much about other cultures. They had never been outside of their “bubble.” As a result, I have become a great proponent of multicultural education. Multicultural education is not about racism or discrimination or proving that one culture or religion is better than the other. It is about educating and giving the correct information on different cul-tures, religions, social classes and community perspectives. I believe teachers can do this within the existing curriculum. For example, when teaching math, a teacher can expand a lesson on subtraction or multiplication by asking students to research the contributions of differ-ent mathematicians from different parts of the world. This allows students to see the contributions that different cultures have made to the field of mathematics. I believe that these aspects should be incorporated into the curriculum of every subject. Teachers can use current events to educate students about a group of people or culture involved. For example, using newspaper articles or news videos about the deadly shooting at the Wiscon-sin Sikh Gurudwara on August 6, 2012, teachers can teach students about the Sikh community. Through discussion, students would learn why Sikhs wear turbans, where they come from, what their major contributions are, what religion they follow, what it teaches, etc. Teachers could even take students on a field trip to the Sikh temple to learn more about the religion and perspectives of the Sikh community. Multicultural education is all about opening students’ eyes to the world, not just their own cultures or even the cultures represented within the classroom. In addition, multicultural education teaches students to be-come informed global citizens who are aware of national and international events. In their role as guides, teachers need to be educated and informed about other cultures. To accomplish this, teachers should be provided with training so that they can easily and effectively incorporate opportunities for multicultural education within the existing curriculum. What does this mean for American classrooms in the new millennium? It means children in immigrant families will have greater opportunities to become proficient bilingual speakers, for which there is a growing need in an increasingly multilingual world, as they learn how to make connections between their American schooling and their heritage language and culture. It could even be possible that children who speak only one language will become disadvantaged in competing for jobs and becoming an important part of an increasingly multilingual world.It means that teachers will be able to provide effective, meaningful accom-modations in the classroom for students of various ethnic, social, cultural or religious backgrounds while working within the existing curricular stan-dards. It means diversity in the classroom can increase effective citizenship education, improve inter-ethnic relations, boost the academic achievement of students from diverse groups, and encourage understanding in a world that is dependent on cooperation between cultures to succeed in the future.

APPRECIATING CULTURAL DIVERSITY - WHERE SHOULD IT BEGIN?Devi Gursahaney

Lotus is reprinting the following article, originally published in the May 2013 issue of Lotus .Paramjit Singh recognizes and regrets submitting the article for publication, without first obtaining permis-sion from or citing the author. The article was written by Devi Gursahaney, an independent diversity consultant based in Hudson, OH.

Community News10

Community News 11HERITAGE OF INDIA :

RAJA YOGA: CONNECT WITH THE KING IN YOUR SOUL-DR. RAMESH RAY GEHANI

In 1893, Swami Vivekananda came to the United States as the first spiritual emissary of India to address the World Parliament of Religions held in Chicago. He electrified his audiences with his profound understand-ing and vivid explanation of Raja Yoga (which is very different from Bhakti Yoga and Karma Yoga we dis-cussed earlier). According to Vivekananda, the core es-sence of Raja Yoga is that the soul in each one of us is potentially a divine Purusha King. Our goal is to mani-

fest and connect with this core divinity in us by regulating the materialistic Prakriti within and outside us.

Raja Yoga is the royal path for our awakening and our enlightenment. Raja means king, as some-one who is always in a state of enlightenment. The king refers to the divine being, power, or pure con-sciousness Purusha within us.

This Purusha often remains disconnected as we are engrossed in our daily materialistic activities, and materialistic feelings and thoughts. These are the

workings of our body, mind, and intellect, which form the shells that cover our king Purusha Self. Mistaking our personal identity same as our sensory perceptions, sensual desires, memories, or favorite fantasies is ignorance or avidya. These are mere shells, or the outer packaging material. The real gem is inside. As we calm our chattering mind and master our body, we connect with the real gem of our Purusha king and regain our clarity, calm-ness and peace, and cease to be restless.

RAJA YOGA IS SCIENCE

Raja Yoga does not demand a blind belief or faith to reveal and per-ceive the true divinity about our core Self. Raja Yogis have declared that we need not believe what others have experienced in ancient times. Yoga practice is the scientific technology that teaches us how to get and feel these profound experiences directly. Vivekananda challenged that if there is a divine power, then we must feel Him. If there is a Purusha soul, we must perceive it. Only through such direct experiences and enlightenment will the darkness of our doubts vanish.

Like other scientific disciplines of chemistry, biology, and others, Raja Yoga too has a scientific system and methodology that must be fol-lowed to help us connect with our king Purusha. This science involves carefully becoming aware of what is inside us, and becoming attentive to what is outside us. Since childhood we have primarily paid attention to the outside world. In science and engineering, we have invented many instru-ments such as a microscope, telescope, X-Rays, and Magnetic Resonance

Imaging (MRI) to observe the physical matter outside us. But, we have invented much less instruments to observe the subtle energy states inside us. Raja Yoga gives us means to observe our internal states using our mind and consciousness. Through guided aware-ness and concentration can we gain knowledge and insights about the cosmic soul Purusha inside us?

BODY & MIND: A CONTNUUM OF ENERGY

Whereas the practice of Raja Yoga is partly physical, it is mostly mental. If we pay attention, we can quickly discover that mind and body are interconnected intimately. On a continuum of energy, mind is just a finer aspect of more materialistic body. As the body gets healthy or sick, the mind too gets healthy or sick. And the reverse is true as well. When mind is rattled, the body gets rattled too. Therefore, if we want to observe and examine our mind carefully, we must first strengthen and take control of our body. INSIDE US SAME AS OUTSIDE

Raja Yoga also believes that our perceptions of the external world of Prakriti nature is the gross form of the subtle internal Purusha or Soul. And that finer energy of the mind is always the cause of the grosser effect on the body. The individual who can discover and learn to regulate and control the subtle internal forces will also be able to control the perceptions of the external world. The external nature world has no influence on the yogi who becomes the master of the internal world of the mind.

CHECK IT OUT YOURSELF

What we share about Raja Yoga is well known. There is no need to hype it or keep it as a mysterious secret as some yogis want to do. When we don’t know, we admit and share what the books say. There is no need to believe anything blindly. Everyone can practice and see for themselves whether these truths would reveal to them. Just like the way we believe and experiment with other scientific disciplines of physics, chemistry, and biology. Start the adventure.

In these series of articles written for Lotus, Dr. Ramesh Gehani, is explor-ing and sharing the profound heritage of Indian philosophy in the context of dynamic and global modern-day challenges. These reflections represent his personal views. He can be contacted at rgehani@uakron.edu.

Community News12

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