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

December 2014 - Volume 1214 Cleveland, Ohio, USAN

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FICA Matters 2Community NewsSongs of Jasmine 3 Desi Quinoua Recipe 4CMNH 5 Marathi Mandal Celebration 6Handful of lessons 7Marathi Mandal Celebration 8CMNH 9Runaway Thoughts 10Aruns Legal Corner 11Community News 12

LOTUS TEAM

Publishing & EditorialAsim Datta (Interim)Sujata Lakhe Barnard

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

India Community Center (ICC) building was acquired around 1976-77 by the Federation of India Community Associa-tions (FICA), a federation of then existing organizations that celebrated and preserved regional cultures of India . The building was used by many of these organizations (Gujarati, Marathi, Bengali, and many other groups for various cultural activities including religious ceremonies.

The ICC building is located at 12412 Cedar Road, Cleveland Heights, Ohio 44106. This is a very central location for the community, from the east, west, north and south. However, since the acquisition of the ICC building, the sister organiza-tions grew through the years. As a result, the ICC building became inadequate for these growing organizations (building capacity is 250 max. as per city’s building code) for their various activities, resulting in decreasing revenues, making it dif-ficult to maintain the building. Further, the building condition deteriorated. In the past two years, more than $100,000.00 have been spent in major repairs and upgrades.

Since the Bengali Cultural Society has been using the ICC for its cultural activities and Durga Puja, Lakshmi Puja, Saraswati Puja (total 5 days), a $50,000.00 donation was made by BCS members to FICA towards major and essential repairs and upgrades . A memorandum of understand-ing (MOU) was written between FICA Board of Trustees and Bengali Cultural Society, with an agreement that BCS will have continued use of the ICC building for a period of 10 years, without any interruptions. About 5-6 years still remain in this agreement. For several years now, there has been discussion about selling the ICC building due to the failing condition, continuous need for repairs, high costs of monthly maintenance, and poor revenue (for lack of paid usage), while remaining committed to the letters of the MoU to not dis-rupt Bengali Cultural Society’s’ yearly activities for the remaining 5-6 years. Recently, FICA has received some offers for the purchase of the building. The lower offer was received prior to the extensive repair and upgrade work carried out in the past couple of years.. Recently, one of the

regular tenants, the Church of Cleveland Heights, made an offer to purchase the building that is significantly higher than the previous offer received. The Church’s offer would also allow FICA to maintain regular use of the facility for the next 5-6 years following their acquisition, and BCS’ scheduled activities during the year, except the observances of the puja festivals. Their religious edict prohibit idol worship in their Church. This last point appears to be the stumbling block in moving the matter forward. In the meantime, the Board of Trustees of FICA continues to actively look for suitable alternate sites to facilitate the continuation of BCS’ activities, including the observance of Durga Puja, Lakshmi Puja and Saraswati Puja..

At this time, the trustees are exploring the following possibilities:

1. Consult real estate agents to price and sell the building with the provisions that new owner will allow FICA and BCS activities to continue unchanged including holding Puja festivals for the next five years. 2. Can the building be demolished & a multi-storied structure including parking space be built for FICA and additional commercial space, etc.?3. FICA exploring other sites for a new community center which will meet the expectations and needs of a fast growing community.4. The trustees to convene a meeting of FICA members and the BCS executive committee, after all required information have been obtained, to make the final decision.

In the meantime, there will not be any changes in 2015 so as to upset any of the planned activities including Durga Puja, Lakshmi Puja, and Saraswati Puja.Please direct any queries to the members of the BOT whose contact information can be found at www.ficacleveland.org.

INDIA COMMUNITY CENTER BUILDING (ICC) STATUS

Individual Ticket : $60.00 FICA Life & Current Member ; $48.00

FICATrustees & Executive Board

invite you to the celebration of

66th Republic Day of India

FICA Life & Current Member ; $48.00

Tables of 10 : $700 / $1100 / $2200 / $3500Email : events@ficacleveland.org or

call 216/791-FICAto reserve your space

and for Sponsorship benefits

Federation of India Community Associationswww.ficacleveland.org

Saturday,24th January, 2015

Doors open : 545PM

Embassy SuitesRockside Woods Blv. Independence, Ohio

Submitted by Dr Sunil Dutta and Dr Gita Gidwani, FICA Trustees

Youth Opportunities Limited (Y.O.U.) selected Shiksha Daan as one of the two Volunteers of the Year for 2014. Swati Sathe accepted the award on behalf of Shiksha Daan at the award ceremony held at the Bridges restaurant in the Q Arena on Nov. 19, 2014. 9 Shiksha Daan volunteers

spent 100 hours supporting Y.O.U. programs such as resume work-shops, mock interviews, and E-City business plan coaching and judg-ing. All the Shiksha Daan volun-teers were invited to the ceremony and provided tickets to watch the Cavs play the San Antonio Spurs. Sanjay Garg and Ramesh Shah were able to attend.

Swati Sathe with the award with Carol Rivchum, Y.O.U. Presi-dent, Ramesh Shah and Sanjay Garg in the photo shown here.

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FICA mattersShiksha Daan Volunteers Offer Time and Expertise

- By Sanjay Garg

Shiksha Daan Selected as Volunteer of the Year by Y.O.U.

The Cleveland Metropolitan School District reported that 54% of their stu-dents are expected to earn the title of “Graduate.” During the 2013-2014 academic year, students participating in the Youth Opportunities Unlimit-ed (Y.O.U.) programs graduated at a rate of 87%. Rooted in the belief that academic and career success are the most efficient and effective means for teens to escape the cycle of poverty, Y.O.U. works to empower youth to succeed in school, in the workplace, and in life.

Y.O.U. strives to achieve its mission through education, entrepreneurship, and employment. To date, the organization has served over 150,000 youth from families at or below the poverty line through summer employment, in-school classes, and after-school programs.

Y.O.U. reaches outcomes with the help of volunteers, including many Shiksha Daan members who have provided their time and talent to Y.O.U over the last year. Members Meena Iyer, Uma Krishnan, Jay Masurekar, Swati Sathe, and Ashok Vasavada, have supported Y.O.U. youth by vol-unteering in resume-writing workshops and mock interviews that better prepare students for the job market and instill in them a sense of confi-dence in their ability to obtain and retain employment. Another group of volunteers helped with the Y.O.U. program E City (Entrepreneurship: Connecting, Inspiring, and Teaching Youth), whose mission is to empower students to be responsible for their economic future by introducing them to the process of starting a real business. Individuals like Anu Giri, Giri

Guruswami, and Ramesh Shah, donated their time to coaching students, judging in-school competitions, and sharing their entrepreneurial spirit with the youth through the E City program. Sanjay Garg volunteered as a judge at the final E City Young Entrepreneur of the Year Competition held in May 2014 at the new Ernst & Young facility. During this competition, the first and second place winners from each participating high school competed for the title of E City Young Entrepreneur of the Year and an award of $1,000 to help fund his or her business idea. The top two final-ists recently traveled to Silicon Valley, California to compete in a national competition. Youth Opportunities Unlimited is incredibly thankful for the time and commitment of volunteers and donors, like those from Shik-sha Daan, who help Y.O.U. in achieving its mission of empowering youth to succeed.

Shiksha Daan will like to thank Swati Sathe for having served as the co-ordinator for Y.O.U. programs and helping to get community members involved in supporting the Cleveland Youth. To volunteer with Shiksha Daan to support Y.O.U. programs, please contact Ramesh Shah, rameshc-leveland@gmail.com, or write to shikshadaan.fica@gmail.com. For more information on Y.O.U. programs, visit www.youthopportunities.org or contact volunteer coordinator, LarKesha Burns at lburns@youthopportu-nities.org or by calling (216)566-5445 ext. 253. To learn more about the 2014 E City Young Entrepreneur of the Year Competition and see videos of the final presentations visit the YouTube channel “YOUcleveland”.

Shiksha Daan volunteer, Sanjay Garg, gives feedback to students while judg-

ing the E City Young Entrepreneur of the Year Competition.

E City Young Entrepreneur of the Year, Brandon McClain,

proudly accepts his award.

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Around the communities

FICA 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

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

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

Atul Vermaatul001@gmail.com704/307-5470

Sister 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

In recent weeks, the conversation has become a bit more intense on the subject of the sale of the India Commu-nity Center building. The trustees have deliberated on the merits and demerits of retaining the building into the future. The building and its future are the respon-sibility of the trustees, per FICA’s by-law. And they are likely to address the matter in the best interest of the organization and the community.

As the discussions move forward, and ideas develop on the community center of the future, several though cross my mind. First, it is my hope that a future India Community Center will emerge from ideas that are ap-propriate for a community in the twenty-first century, and as large as the community of today, about thirty

thousand members.

The community center is ideally a place where the com-munity congregates, for recreational, educational, spiri-tual, socialization and unification purposes. The model that readily comes to mind is that of the Jewish Com-munity Center, the way it used to be, the way it is – today. It is a place that should serve the needs of the entire community, from infants to the seniors.

It is my hope that the needs of a community will be the guiding principle as the vision of a twenty-first century community center is developed. It is only then that the community center will become a destination, which, for the past several years, the current center ceased to be.

The Cleveland Museum of Art is thrilled to present “Song of the Jasmine,” a beautiful and groundbreak-ing program that is the fruit of a the collaboration be-tween two well-known artists working both inside and outside the classical arts of India – Ragamala Dance Company, based in Minneapolis, and Rudresh Mahan-thappa, based in New York City. Ranee Ramaswamy, winner of the prestigious 2014 Doris Duke Award for her visionary work in Bharatanatyam dance, founded Ragamala Dance in 1993. Together with her daughter Aparna Ramaswamy, she has sought out cross-cultural projects that build on the dance tradition and extend it.

Their connection with saxophonist Rudresh Mahan-thappa is a natural fit. Over many years of touring and a large number of recordings, Mahanthappa has forged a new path in jazz, having absorbed the legacy of Char-

lie Parker and other pioneers while infusing his sound with the modes of Indian music. His restless creativity and endlessly evolving ensembles of eastern and west-ern players have resulted in a substantial body of work expanding jazz with strong Carnatic elements.

“Song of the Jasmine,” which premiered in Minneapolis earlier this year, then, is a dance and music program with roots in two worlds: the great traditions of India, and the ever-changing energies of contemporary Amer-ica. It is at once a snapshot of past and present, and a powerful statement by forward-thinking artists col-laborating for the first time.

Ragamala Dance Company is Ranee and Aparna Ragas-wamy and dancers. Rudresh Mahanthappa’s ensemble includes Rez Abbasi electric guitar, V.K. Raman, flute, Rajna Swaminathan, mrigangam, and Anjna Swamina-than, violin.

“Song of the Jasmine”Ragamala Dance Company and Rudresh Mahanthappa

Cleveland Museum of Art – February 11, 2015

Thoughts on the Community Center- Asim Datta

Tickets/info: cma.org/ragamala or call 216-421-7350

Pride of FICA Recognition

We are inviting nominations and would like to honor members who have achieved significant milestones in their careers (promotions, appointments, contracts, honors) or family life (mar-

riages, births, graduations, children’s achievement), healthy long life, significant charitable work and philanthropy. If you believe yourself or any member around you has achieved wor-thy of public acknowledgement and admiration, please send their names and a small descrip-

tion to lotus@ficacleveland.org.

The Trustees and members of the

Executive Board of FICA wish all readers

a Very Happy New Year

4 Events Future & Past

DESI QUINOARecipe contributed by Priyanka Bhandari Sharma

Over the years the way we select and eat our daily meals has changed tremendously with growing health concerns. Diet and nutrition has become a talk of the town. 20 years back, nobody would have looked upon on rice or roti as a carbohydrate which might take a toll on your weight. These days, every grain and lentil is being analyzed so deeply with its numerous nutritional values. So much reading goes into deciding a single food product!I am no different, so I decided to make something healthy tasty at the same time. I wanted something that satisfied my desi tongue without adding an inch to my waistline. So I picked a popular grain of today, Quinoa.

Quinoa is a good gluten-free source of iron and fiber, high in protein and is a satisfying and flavorful way to get a serving of whole grain.

So this is my recipe which can be a snack, a side dish or a light dinner.• 2 cups quinoa, rinsed and drained• ¼ tsp. salt• 1 cup blanched and chopped spinach• 1 cup peas• 1 cup carrots• 1 onion (1 cup chopped)• Half inch ginger • 2-3 green chilies• 1 cup. chopped cilantro• ½ tsp. ground mustard seeds• 2 tsp .coriander powder• ½ tsp turmeric powder• ½ tsp chili powder• ½ tsp garam masala• 4-5 curry leaves (Kadi patta)• 2 Tbs. olive oil• 2 oranges, peels sliced off and sections cut out

Instructions

1. Bring 2 cups water to a boil in medium saucepan. Then, add qui-noa and salt, reduce heat to medium-low and simmer 15 minutes, or until tender and almost all water is absorbed. Drain and keep aside.

2. Take a different skillet add olive oil add mustard seeds and allow to splutter. Now add onion, green chili, ginger, curry leaves and sauté until onion becomes soft or light brown.

3. Now add red chili powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder and garam masala mix well.

4. Add peas and carrots and sauté for 5 minutes until they are ten-der, then add spinach and cook for another minute so that they are all mixed properly.

5. Now add boiled and drained quinoa to the skillet and mix every-thing properly.

6. Garnish it with cilantro leaves and serve hot with orange slices on the side.

TIP: you can add any spice/masala of your choice according to your taste along with the spices mentioned above.

5 Community News

CMNH Celebrates the Life and Legacy of Dr. Shyamala “Shya” ChitaleyDr. Chitaley’s research in Paleobotany continues to influence, inspire, and educate!

On Friday, October 17, 2014, the Cleveland Museum of Natural History (CMNH) hosted a special reception to honor the life of Dr, Shya Chitaley, the founder and first curator of the Palenbotany Department at the CMNH. After serving CMNH nearly 31 years, Dr. Chately re-tired in early 2011 and moved to live with her son Ani Chitaley in Boston, MA. Dr. Chitaley died on March 31, 2013 at the age of 95 after a 60 year career of teaching and research in both the United States and India. About 100 friends, family, colleagues and students of Dr. Chitaley attended this spe-cial reception, which started at 6pm with ap-petizers while guests had an opportunity to peruse through a sample of work performed by Dr, Chitaley. At 7pm the guests were treat-ed to a sumptuous buffet dinner followed by a formal presentation. Dr. Evalyn Gates, the Executive Director and CEO of the Museum welcomed the audience and gave an overview of the professional work that was done by Dr. Chitaley at the museum. Besides learning about Dr. Chitaley’s professional work, Ani Chitaley, Dr. Chitaley’s son took the audience on a journey through the life of Dr. Chitaley with a series of rare photographs from child-hood to her retirement. The picture slideshow was followed by a presentation titled “Learn-ing from Fossil Plants: Appreciating the Legacy of Dr. Shya Chitaley” by special guest Steven R. Manchester, who is the Curator of Paleobotany at the Florida Museum of Natural History.

Dr. Chitaley was born in 1918 in Ma-harashtra, India and was raised mostly by her father (her mother died when she was 9 years old) and was educated at home. After her mar-riage to Dinkar Vaman Chitaley, a corporate lawyer, at a fairly young age, she continued to pursue her studies. She received her bach-elors and masters degree from the University of Nagpur. Having received an International Federation of University Women scholarship from the University of Reading she completed her PhD. Following completion of her PhD, Dr. Chitaley taught at the Institute of Science, Nag-

pur, the Institute of Science, Bombay, and was named a fellow of the Geological Society of London. She held the chairs in botany at each institution until a mandatory retirement at age 60.Following her retire-ment from the Institute of Science, Bombay in 1978, Dr. Chitaley and her husband traveled to the United States to visit one of their sons who lived near Cleve-land, Ohio. In 1980, Dr. Chitaley was hired by CMNH as its first paleobota-nist. Prior to 1980, there were 500 fos-sil plant specimens among the Museum’s collections. Dr. Chital-ey built the Museum’s paleobotany collection to over 30,000 by acquiring specimens from the University of Cincinnati worth millions of dol-lars.

Dr. Chitaley’s research in Cleveland focused on Lycopodiophyta from the Devo-nian Period Cleveland Shales. In 1996 she dis-covered a new Devonian lycopsid, which she named Clevelandodendron ohioensis in honor of Cleveland’s 1996 bicentennial. The same year, she received the Museum’s Jared Potter Kirtland Award for outstanding achievement in a field of natural science. Dr. Chitaley also developed a technique of preserving fossilized material in coal balls using wax, which came to be known as the “Chitaley technique”.

Over the decades, Dr. Chitaley worked

with many Museum volunteers. She also su-pervised nearly 30 Kirtlandia Society College Adopt-A-Students, who assisted in catalog-ing specimens for the collection. In 1982, she helped establish the Museum’s associated Fos-sil Society and remained a longtime supporter of the North Coast Fossil Club.

In 2006, a newly discovered species of conifer from the Permian Period, Prototax-oxylom chitaleyii was named in Dr. Chitaley’s honor. In 2010 she won the Botanical Society of America award for her lifetime of contributions to paleobotany, which included nearly 150 pub-lications. She presented at conferences around the globe and received numerous accolades for her contributions to the field of paleobotany. - Contributed by B Venky Venkatesh.

Dr. Chandurkar, who has a private practice in Westlake, talking at Dr. Chitaley’s retirement party in 2004

Marathi Mandal celebrated Diwali with members putting on an excellent classic play by P.L. Deshpande, dancing singing, faral, food and honoring mem-bers for special achievement. Marathi Mandel of North East Ohio also elected their new President: Dr. Sharad Wankhade.

This year two awards were given; to Rohini Khapre and to Ashwini Daryapurkar. The awards are given to those who achieve great heights in their chosen field during the year.

Rohini successfully completed her Ph.D and Ashwini started learning Bharatnatyam as an adult and performed her Arangetrum at the age of 40. Both ladies managed these achievements while raising kid/s. Lifetime achievement award goes to Narayan Dravid for his contributions to NEOMM and temple.

Dr. Rohini Ghawalkar-Khapre, a mother of 6 year old daughter and a licensed Pharmacist was awarded Ph.D in Molecular Medicine from Cleve-land State University with stunning 3.98 GPA. Determined to make a career in research instead of being a retail pharmacist, Rohini started her Ph.D when RoVija was less than 6 weeks old, finally persistence and hard work paid off and Rohini achieved what she set off to do. Today Dr. Rohini Ghawalkar-Khapre has taken a position in research in Neurosciences at our prestigious Cleveland Clinic. What really feels achieved is when 6 year old RoVija says “she wants to be a Doctor Scientist as her mother when she grows up”.

Ashwini Daryapurkar, while raising two girls. practiced Bharatnatyam daily for hours for last one and half year continuously and for 12 years before that to be able to give her first public per-formance and a right of passage in Indian Clas-sical Dance; “Arangetram”. This is an amazing achievement for anyone let alone being able to do it one’s 40th year. She has shown determination and endurance to achieve what she set her mind to and is certainly an inspiration to all of us. If one wants to live life to the fullest, stop thinking about your age. It is only a number and should not stop you from doing anything, at least this is what I

think what everyone took away with them when they watched her per-form at her Arangetram and then receive this award. Dr. Narayan Dravid, was born in Madhya Pradesh, India. He came to US and made a home here in Cleveland not only for himself and his family but for many people of the Indian origin living in Cleveland. He is one

of the founding members of Shiva Vishnu temple. He was involved in every step of the way in building of this temple. And at age 74, he still continues to work on his ini-tiatives at the temple.

He got his B.E in Electrical Engineering from Kharakhpur in the year 1959, fol-lowed by a Ph.D in Electrical Engineering from University of Wisconsin in the year 1967. He retired from NASA in the year 2002. Just as much as Dr. Narayan Dravid

was dedicated to his career, he has been equally dedicated to making Shi-va Vishnu temple a reality for all.

Today Dr Narayan Dravid lives with his wife Dr. Sheila Dravid and son Sameer. And you will still find him volunteering his time at the SHiva Vishnu temple or NEOMM, Indian Classical Music Society, the younger generation to get involved in the community.

6 Community News

North East Ohio Marathi Mandal Diwali 2014!

Continued on Page 8

This is the season of the year when millions of high school students in the U.S. and abroad are anx-iously preparing their college ap-

plications and getting ready to join their selected universities. Unfor-tunately, for many young adults this transition turns into a time of anxiety and confusion. This is particularly rough for the young adults whose parents had no col-lege education. Deciding between seeking minimum wage jobs and getting cash (to have fun or to sup-port their families), or postpon-ing gratification for 2 or 4 years by going to a community college or a university and making much more money later is hard. To pro-vide some guidance, I share below some of my personal experiences, and invite others to do the same to help our young ones.For more than a quarter century I have been teaching undergradu-ates, graduates, PhDs, and execu-tives in business and engineering. But, much longer than teaching I have been learning. I pursued mul-tiple graduate degrees and took a long and scenic route to educate myself. What can I share from my proverbial life-long learning with our young adults embarking on a similar journey to college now?First, college education can help you gather a fairly large body of knowledge in a reasonably com-pact period of time.

Each text-book and course in c o l l e g e is a com-pact con-d e n s e d

compilation of a huge body of knowledge in a discipline. A course on chemistry, physics, or economics, gathers in one place thousands of research studies and discoveries by millions of people around the world spending their entire life times. You can learn about all this in just 15 weeks with the guidance of an instructor. Let me illustrate this with a specific example.In my mid-career in the 1980s, af-ter I had spent a few years as an engineer using technologies in In-dia, and then researching to create new technologies in Japan, I got excited about learning and teach-ing management of technology.

I started searching for different sources, and I found thousands of research articles and hundreds of books on this subject. But none of these provided me the full picture that I could present to my college students in a quarter or a semes-ter. So I started writing a book on Management of Technology and Operations. I wanted it to be in-teresting, exciting, and inspiring. It took me 7 years to solo-author this 480 page hard-cover book that John Wiley & Sons was quite excit-ed to publish in 1998. Thousands of students have used this book to learn about the history, evolution,

and best practic-es of managing technology in a quarterly course of 12 weeks or a 16 week semes-ter. Second, college education will expose you to a

wide variety of disciplines.College education is like eating from a buffet. You can pick and choose how much you want to learn from a variety of disciplines – as long as you meet certain mini-mum requirements for gradua-tion. During your high school ed-ucation, the Lunch Lady decided what you were going to eat and in how much quantity. At times, some subjects in college may look to some students as irrelevant and not necessary. Many business and engineering students complain about the many required liberal arts and humanities courses that they think they will never use. You must realize that education is dif-ferent from training. Education is about transforming and enlighten-ing our mindset, and preparing a foundation for our entire lifetime. Training is more about learning how to solve a specific problem in the immediate term. Training can-not substitute education. During my undergraduate degree in engineering at the Indian In-stitute of Technology in Kanpur (started by MIT, California Insti-tute of Technology, University of California at Berkeley, and oth-ers based on their curricula), 20% of my education or 1 in 5 courses were in Humanities and Social Studies. These included courses in psychology, sociology, econom-ics etc. These provided me not only a refreshing change from my intense technical courses, but these also helped me later in life to

appreciate fine arts in a museum, and move into my current career in business management. Third, the more you learn, the more you feel how much more there is to learn.

I am often amazed by how some people, who know so little about

a subject, tend to think that they know everything about almost everything. On the other hand, those people who gather informa-tion from different sources realize that for every subject there are lay-ers and layers of more relevant in-formation to be learned. I worked and researched in Japan in the 1970s. I learned the Japanese language at Osaka University of Foreign Studies, and studied Japa-nese culture. I later got a doctorate degree in engineering from a lead-ing university and learned more about Japan. Then I did research in the Pioneering R&D Laborato-ries of a large diversified Japanese company and worked shoulder-

to-shoulder with many Japanese in teams. After accumulating a lot of first hand experiences about Japan during the past 35 years, to-day I am still learning more about Japan. When I was young and fo-cused on engineering and technol-ogy. I did not know much about Manga cartoons and Anime TV series of Japan. Today, I am fasci-nated and learning about these be-cause of my interest in creativity and innovation. Fourth, there are multiple perspec-tives for every subject. Different sources and authors present their diverse subjective perspectives. A good university instructor will expose diverse stu-dents to a variety of perspectives of examining a subject in a course. Look at our public fight over Af-fordable Health Care. Who would believe that the members of the Democratic Party and Tea Party are talking about the same subject? In our Global Business courses, we look at the leakage of intellec-tual property from the perspective of the American Corporations as well as from the perspective of the

7Arts ReviewA Handful of Lessons from My Lifelong Learning

Dr. Ramesh Ray GEHANI

Continued on Page 10

7Issues that matter8 News of Interest

From left, House Speaker Dennis Hastert, Priest Venkatachalpathi Samudrala, Mr. Ramanbhai Patel, Mr. Narayan Dravid, Congressman Sherrod Brown(D-Ohio), Mr. Rohit Gupta

This photo was taken when Shri Ven-katachalapathi Samudrala, a priest at Shiva Vishnu temple of Cleveland was chosen for an opening session prayer on Thursday, September 14 encouraging, 2000 at the US House of Representatives. The prayer was an ancient Hindu univer-sal prayer ending with a verse from an-cient scriptures which translates to: May all be happy/May all be disease free/May all realize what is good/May none be subject to misery/Peace peace peace unto all (Sarve santu sukhena/Sarve santu niramayaha/Sarve bhadrane pashyantu/Ma kashichat dukhamap-tuyat/Om shanti shanti shantihi.

Continued from Page 6Maharashtra Mandal Celebrates Diwali

News of Interest 9RUNAWAY THOUGHTS

- BY INDER SUNEJA

Received: soon after Browns game on the evening of 11/23/2014:) Browns won this after-noon, against Falcons in Atlanta by a final score of 26-24. It was a much needed win for Cleveland Browns/Clevelanders. I am glad that Browns got away with some bad decisions they made during the game. Brian Hoyer (QB) threw three interceptions (two at such a crucial time towards the end of the game in the 4th quarter) and put Browns at such a tough spot (trailing 23-24 just less than a min-ute before end of the game). Final-ly, they/Browns were able to force a field goal and Browns’ kicker nailed it just one second before the game was over and, thus, Browns won 26-24. While game was in full force, a news item on Televi-sion got relayed stating, ‘many people believe that United States is in trouble (something like that). Watch on Television tonight’. No, I often don’t get a chance to watch NFL or any other games on Tele-vision, mostly on account of my preoccupation in Office related or some other work on hands at that time. Sports Station on Radio I am used to (AM 1100) does not pro-vide now minute by minute com-mentary of Browns’ games (as it used to in the past). And, today was no exception. Since it was a vital game for us/the Cleveland-ers, I turned on the TV, a little bit louder, and kept listening to game’s running commentary in my adjoining Computer Room. News broadcast, as expressed round about above, did not spec-ify as to why US is in trouble - whether it pertains to US Econ-omy or/and Political situation? As far as I personally understand, we do not have a vibrant econo-my at this stage and, politically, problems in parts of Middle East to parts of Africa, and ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict are cer-tainly not in our favor. These situ-ations can derail our recovering (since 2009) economy and affect Europe as well. In Europe, if Ger-many (leading European power of 28 Euro Nations) fails to come through fast enough, then chances are Greece, Portugal, Spain, and Italy might get in economic trou-bles as well. Here, at home, one of my main concerns includes aging work force of USA. Nearly 10,000 employees are reaching retire-ment age every day. And looking at rapid advancement in technol-

ogy, many might get left out with-out jobs. Manufacturing nuts and bolts, and fixing cars by human hands and many other necessities might be taken over by robots, sooner than we think. Amazon is getting ready to deliver packages using drones, Pizza Hut is plan-ning delivery of its Pizzas, etc. us-ing drones, and so on. Therefore, current global economy is not only knowledge-based but quiet complex as well. We can not deny this fact. Further, US, Canada, and West-ern Europe got blessed with suc-cess in manufacturing soon after World War II ended. Manufac-turing technology got totally de-nied to rest of the World for de-cades, till South Korea and China implemented economic reforms in 1970s and 1980s, respectively. It started changing the distribu-tion of wealth in the World. Un-til then, nearly 80% of businesses with revenue of $1 Billion or more remained based in the West (US, Canada, and Western Eu-rope). That distribution of wealth around the world is clearly chang-ing now, on account of advent of technology, primarily. Not only China and South Korea, but India has started showing its presence as a successful new economy, as soon as Economic Reforms got implemented there in 1990s. Countries like Singapore, Indone-sia, Malaysia, Dubai, UAE, Thai-land have also started emerging as powerful world economies, since last ten years. Not long ago, Singapore became the nation with maximum million dollar or more households. Every 17th house-hold there has $1 Million or more in assets. Although maximum number of households with $100 Million or more remain in Europe (Switzerland), yet distribution of wealth is changing hands fast. India alone today is 1.8 Trillion Dollar Economy (as compared to 1990s when it was only $300 Mil-lion). Today, nearly majority of India’s 1.25 Billion population has $5,000 per capita income/year (only 400 million have per capita income of $1,200 or less/year).

As far as India is concerned, re-gime after General Elections has changed at the Center a few months ago. BJP under the able

guidance of Hon. Prime Minister Narendra Modi swept the elec-tions there, as you are already aware of. Stock Market showed positive signs even during the elections when it appeared that BJP would lead/win. But those rallies did not last long (except in case of few selective stocks). Both Corporate as well as Retail Inves-tors calmed down, around recent Diwali times (in October 2014). Diwali Mahurat did not turn out to be as good as last year (when it came to stock market-perfor-mance). But, still, success of new regime can be seen in the fact that as much as $100 Billion has flowed into India as Foreign Direct In-vestment, recently. And it seems to be just tip of the iceberg for said investment for manufactur-ing in India came from just three Nations, including USA, China, and Japan. In this way, these three World Powers have shown tre-mendous faith in the abilities of India. At least, this is how it trans-lates into my mind. And it has happened in just last few months. As soon as this investment by reputable nations got announced, leading Indian Businessmen and Business Women/Industrialists like Cyrus Mistry (TATA), Kumar-mangalm Birla, Ambani Brothers (Anil and Mukesh), A.M. Naik, Shashi Ruia, Kishore Biyani, Adi Godrej, to mention a few, have come forward with their own Bil-lions of Dollars for investment in manufacturing in India. Central India seems to be the platform to be transformed to den of manu-facturing, to start with, this new investment money. It should be considered as the significant step towards alliance of Indian Gov-ernment at the Center and Cen-tral States of India. It seems to be a great marketing exercise because announcement of this alliance got made, recently, in the presence of Heads of almost 30 Nations. Hon. Prime Minister appears to have clearly announced in this way, ‘India is Open for Business’. Increasing duty on import of Gold by previous regime in India seems to have paid off significantly when it comes to India’s Current Ac-count Deficit/CAD. India used to be the largest importer of Gold till recently (consuming nearly 1/3rd of entire world production of this

glittering yellow metal each year). Gold was costing India a lot of foreign currency (Dollars), hith-erto. But changes made by Indian Government just before recent General Elections have resulted into shortening of gap between India’s Imports and Exports. That seems to be the reason that dur-ing just concluded ‘Diwali Sea-son’, gold prices hardly moved up for much of it could not get sold. Customarily, Asian Indians buy plenty of Gold around festivals like Diwali, for it is considered to be a ‘good luck’, on one hand, and it also protects value of one’s as-sets, and against inflation, etc. In this way, Gold can be a good in-vestment. But, Asian Indians did not pay much attention to Invest-ment part of Gold around/during recent Diwali, Dhanteras times. Immediate future investment in Gold does not seem to be wise at present. Just like Asian Indians, Chinese also buy a lot of Gold. But now Chinese Economy is also slowing down. China’s Central Bank just announced a couple of days ago that it was going to low-er the interest rate. World was not expecting that type of announce-ment by China at this stage of the year. But Chinese viewpoint can be clearly seen in the fact that China has been suffering from pollution of its air (on account of burning a lot of coal for its energy needs for years). China, therefore, is cutting down on its manufac-turing end at this point, I think. That seems to be one of the rea-sons that India surpassed China in the sale around the World of two-wheelers last year. India sold a few million of these more than China (unlike past several years). And recently China has agreed to the International Community to cut down on its usage of coal for the sake of global environment. In my personal opinion, China has acted intelligently and wisely in order to protect living beings on this beautiful Planet. Therefore, when Chinese and Asian Indians do not buy enough Gold, price of this metal can not keep going up.........India Appears to have Summoned its Will !

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Continued from Page 7A Handful of Lessons from My LifelongLearning

Chinese government promoting maximum public interest. Similarly, we can examine corruption and bribery from a variety of ethical perspectives.Fifth, fine-tune into your intuition as much as relying on your quantitative facts.Consider many of the major decisions of our lives. Where to study? What to major in? Who, and when, to marry? Which company to work for? Where to live? We can never gather all the needed in formation for these major choices. We must, therefore, learn to fine-tune and trust our intuition as well as that gathered information. Take small risks and see where your intuition leads you. Build on it.My intuition tells me that whereas there is much more for me to share on this subject, this is good place to stop. I hope that these handful of les-sons based on my life-long learning have given you some useful ideas to ponder and reflect.Dr. Gehani is a member of the Board of Trustees of FICA. These are his personal views. He can be reached at rgehani@uakron.edu.

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ARUN’S LEGAL CORNERBY ARUN J. KOTTHA, ESQ.©

You have done well this year: you received a promotion and were awarded an extremely large year-end bonus. You decide to buy a brand new (and ex-tremely expensive) Laxmi statue to give thanks. You enter a shop that sells such things and speak to the manager, a man named Pisacha. You are interested, you tell him, in purchasing a statute made of 22 karat gold and stud-ded with real diamonds. He retires to the back of the store and returns with a beautiful, shining specimen. Even more surprising than the dazzling spectacle is the price: only $499! Knowing a deal when you see one, you read-ily purchase it and head home. When you open the parcel at home, however, Laxmi is much changed: the gold has already begun to tarnish and some of the diamonds (which are fake) have fallen off. Enraged, you immedi-ately take the statue back to the store to seek a refund. After

listening attentively to your case, the manager smiles and points to a sign that says “All Sales Final – No Refunds.” You are aghast. How could this be? Are you out of luck? In transactions for the sale of goods, the buyer has a reason-able amount of time to inspect and, if necessary, reject noncon-forming goods delivered by the seller. Here, the nonconformity is fake diamonds and inferior gold when you specified other-wise. When a buyer rightfully rejects the item s/he has a num-ber of remedies at law. One of these remedies is to sell the item and seek the shortfall in value from the seller, along with any incurred costs for your trouble. In other words, you can sell the statue and seek the difference be-tween what you receive and the amount you paid ($499) from the shop, along with your costs (such as a listing fee). Since the statue is not worth much, there will be a large difference to be made up by

the shop. The rights afforded under Ohio law will return you to the same position as before you entered the fatal shop. Perhaps, however, we should focus on your desire for such an ex-travagant item in the first place. Mahatma Gandhi stated “Live simply so that others may simply live.” While tribute to Laxmi is appropriate for a prosper-ous year, you could have given thanks for your prosperity by bestowing some of it on others. While you are no worse off from your latest ordeal, perhaps you will downgrade your statue and do some good with the year’s bounty?###Arun Kottha is an attorney with Tucker Ellis LLP in Cleveland, Ohio. He focuses on the defense of personal injury and commer-cial lawsuits. Contact: arun.kottha@tuckerellis.com; please feel free to submit a topic for a subsequent article.

This article is for informational purposes only and not for the purpose of providing legal advice. You should contact an attorney to obtain advice with respect to any particular issue or problem.

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