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India | 9“I will be doing

dangerous stunts”Sachin becomes IAF Group Captain

Why they loved India

Bollywood | 20 Heritage | 28

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New Zealand

ArVINd KuMAr

Towering Kiwi and Bollywood talent come together in a giant of a movie to be shot in New Zealand in the next few months.

The multi-million dollar budget sports action movie, “First XV”, is set to star New Zealand veteran Temuera Morrison in the lead role, and also Bollywood thespian Anupam Kher in the rugby ori-ented film set to hit the big screen in New Zealand at the same time as the Rugby World Cup next year.

Even Jonah Lomu, New Zealand rugby’s super star, is all set for a cameo appearance.

And the man behind it all, Purple Post Films’ Monti Issar of Auckland, says they have the bless-ings of the New Zealand Rugby Union and also support of Tourism New Zealand.

“It is appropriate that with the Rugby World Cup taking place next year, a bit more of New Zealand should be showcased to the world,” Issar told Indian Weekender this week in an exclusive interview.

“Yes, the movie has been in-spired by the World Cup. All the world will be watching; it sure is bound to create a good image of New Zealand.”

Issar, who penned the First XV story together with Auckland journalist Steve Cook, said they expected to finalise the cast, including director, by the end of November following auditions for some of the roles next month.

As the movie’s storyline revolves around

college rugby, Issar is in talks with NZRU to try and use some members of the Junior All Blacks for on-field roles.

Temuera Morrison (Once Were Warriors, Star Wars, What Becomes of the Brokenheart-ed) plays Willie Moon, a championship winning high school rugby coach who returns home after his son becomes paralysed in a rugby game.

Home is Wairoa where the town’s high school team is on a losing streak – and they are without a coach, and Moon is persuaded to take the “losers” under his wings.

Anupam Kher plays Baljeet Singh, head of the Indian family running a dairy in Wairoa. His son, Preet, is the only Indian player picked in the team, in the face of major resistance from his

conservative family who believe rugby is a game for thugs.

At this point, search is still on for a young, Indian actor to play the role of Preet, said Issar.

Issar said while First XV dealt with a multitude of themes, the underlying story was about the strength and resolve of one man in his bid to overcome racial preju-dice and bigotry.

“Coinciding with the biggest sporting event in New Zealand sporting history – the Rugby World Cup 2011 – First XV not only cele-brates NZ’s national game but also the indomitable spirit of grassroots rugby,” said Issar.

“Along the way, First XV deals with multiculturalism and racial intolerance in 21st century New Zealand, and the impact they have on a town struggling with its own identity.

“First XV adopts the winning formula of feel-good blockbusters such as Gridiron Gang and Bend It Like Beckham.”

First XV will mostly be shot in Wairoa and Napier where, Issar said, the local councils had been “extremely accommodating”.

Issar said they always faced major obstacles when trying to work with Auck-land City Council on movie projects. His latest project, “Pump Up The ”, was also shot mostly in Napier, Auckland and Fiji.

Issar can be contacted at Purple Post Films in Mt Roskill, Auckland.

Big Kiwi-Bollywood action flick to hit screens at RWC

Temuera Morrison as coach Willie Moon in First XV, due for release next September.

Preet Singh, wearing the No.11 jersey in First XV, shooting for which is scheduled to get underway in February.


Indian

Auckland construction products manufacturer Cemix has launched a revolutionary new product – blended concrete mix that contains 50% re-cycled materials without compromising perfor-mance.

The product, called Envirocrete, is a first for New Zealand and was launched in Auckland last week. The development of the product is an attempt to reduce the huge volume of 163,000 tonnes of concrete dumped in New Zealand land-fills each year.

According to recent Auckland City Council statistics, building and construction waste makes up 17% of the 3.2 million tonnes of refuse dumped in New Zealand landfills annually.

Speaking at the launch of the product at the company’s state-of-art plant in Onehunga, Min-ister for the Environment Nick Smith said, “At a time of recession the good practice of recycling from waste product can change the culture of business. I’m really happy to say that this will have less environmental impact and reduce the green house emission.

“This is a very smart green product. Even the

steel will be recycled. Realising the world is changing and as culture changes we as a country can lift our game by mar-rying together successful business with a sustain-able product.”

Cemix managing di-rector Bhav Dhillon said Envirocrete is a sustain-able alternative to natural aggregates, which means that consumption of non-renewable sources such as riverbeds and quarries can be reduced consid-erably. For every 1000 tonnes of Envirocrete, 500 tonnes of recycled product is consumed. Less quarrying conserves non-renewable natural aggregate resources.

“As Kiwis we’re renowned for our DIY atti-tude and clean, green reputation but even the sim-

plest home and garden makeovers can lead to environmental waste and increased pres-sure on our landfills,” Mr Dhillon told the media.

“Now you can cut your carbon footprint while realising your renovation skills. Any community that opts for this product is re-ducing their environ-mental footprint by re-ducing landfill volume and preserving non-renewable virgin ag-gregate.”

For every 1000 tonnes of Envirocrete produced there is a re-duction on landfill volume by 500 tonnes and a further 500 tonne reduction on depletion of virgin natural non-renewable aggregate resource by the

same amount, Mr Dhillon said.Made from materials including recycled con-

crete, fly ash (a post industrial by-product) and cement, Envirocrete provides comprehensive strength properties making it ideal for pathways, steps, patios, fence posts and all other general purpose concreting applications.

Bunnings Warehouse Marketing Manager Peter Darbyshire says that the hardware chain was impressed with the product from the outset, choosing to stock Envirocrete in stores through-out the country.

“Bunnings is committed to sustainability and we look to promote environmentally-friendly products and projects that support sustainable living where possible,” he says.

“Envirocrete fits the increased demand from our customers for sustainable products and we are delighted to be partnering with Cemix in the launch of Envirocrete to all Bunnings customers throughout the country.”

Cemix Envirocrete is available from Bunnings Warehouse and other hardware stores nationwide.

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New Zealand

deV NAdKArNI

Breakthrough eco-friendly product launchedEnvironment minister lauds smart green innovation

Demolishing and rebuilding in CanterburyWhen Cemix launched its new revolution-ary Envirocrete product last week, little did it know how timely it was.

Cemix Envirocrete is a blended concrete mix, which contains 50% recycled materials including recycled concrete, sand, fly ash and cement.

Cemix Envirocrete director Bhav Dhillon,

said being the only company in the country of this type trying to clean up overflowing land-fills, Cemix already had anambitious plan and construction debris caused by the Canterbury disaster would put “extra pressure” on its op-eration.

“We’ve actually just started recycling con-crete in landfills a couple of days before the

earthquake happened. With the earthquake we have an increased responsibility to speed up this recycling process and put this material back into reusable form,” he said.

“The main focus for us is to get things going in quake-hit areas first. We are more concerned about the community right now.”

Cemix is giving away free products includ-

ing basic concrete and bags of sand through its distributor Bunnings Warehouse to deal with flooding and repair cracks caused by the earthquake. Its employees are also working overtime to develop specialist repair concrete and mortars for damaged buildings that are not to be demolished.

NZ Environment Minister Dr. Nick Smith at the launch of Cemix Envirocrete


Indian New Zealand

The day Canterbury shook

EAthquAkE pICturES CourtESy: ChrIS hutChING, ChrIStChurCh

deV NAdKArNIChristchurch dairy owner Suresh Patel rose to the occasion following the devastating 7.1-Richter temblor, giving away milk and selling batteries below cost to needy Cantabrians.

Speaking to Indian Weekender on phone from his P&P Dairy in Hoon Hay in Christ-church, Mr Patel said he considered it his “Dharma” to help people in need.

“It was unbelievable,” he said. “We had never experienced anything like this before. People were scared and many have lost every-thing. Ours is a convenience store so it was the place to go for getting supplies.

“Obviously in a situation like this not every-one carries money, so we did take a humanitar-ian view of things,” he said.

Mr Patel went to open the shop as after-shocks rippled through Christchurch, despite knowing of the devastation that was creeping across the city.

Local woman Shirley Homer, who was caught without batteries for a torch during the power cut that followed the earthquake, told the New Zealand Herald she went to the dairy

expecting prices to be at a premium. Instead she was impressed to find Patel was giving his stock away.

“He would only take $2 for these two big batteries, and he gave the people behind me two bottles of milk for free,” she told the herald.

“He told them, ‘Take whatever you need’. He’s a gentleman, he will slip people a loaf of bread or give them some sweeties.”

“We decided we can help the people,” Mr Patel told the newspaper.

The dairy had run out of water, milk and batteries by 8am.

Minister for Ethnic affairs Pansy Wong and Member of Parliament Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi arrived in Christchurch and visited affected communities around the city.

“We dropped in to the Singh’s family owned Wairakei Supervalue. They told me the family rushed to their shop in their night clothes to find neighbours and staff had turned up to help clear up the broken bottles and stock,” Ms Wong said in a media release.

“The Supermarket’s stockroom was full of dented canned foods and broken bottles, yet Mr

Singh had such a big smile on his face because he was totally overwhelmed by the goodwill of his staff, neighbours and customers,” Ms Wong said.

Dairy owner Suresh Patel praised


Indian New Zealand

Are you prepared to make a choice for your city’s future?

Auckland’s local government elections in 2010 are dramatically different to any that have taken place before. Whether as a candidate, supporting a can-didate or by voting, you have the opportunity to take an active role in choosing the representatives who will help shape Auckland’s future.

One unitary council, one mayor, 20 councillors representing 13 wards, 149 local board members representing 21 local board areas: by taking part in these elections, you can make a difference for yourself and your community.

The mayor leads the team of 20 councillors on the governing body, representing Auckland resi-dents. It is their role to make the decisions about region-wide issues, decide policy, decide and approve budgets and develop the council’s strate-gic direction to help Auckland grow and develop.

The mayor and councillors will also develop the council’s Long Term Council Community Plan and Annual Plan.

Local government elections, which are held every three years, are all by postal vote.

How the voting worksIn mid-September, please look out for your voting pack. This will contain your voting document and information about the candidates standing in your area, as well as an orange envelope to send your vote back in.

Voters in Auckland will be using two differ-ent systems to vote for their preferred candidates. Elections for the governing body of Auckland Council, local boards and, if you have one, the li-censing trusts are carried out using the ‘first past the post’ (FPP) system. The district health board elections are conducted using the ‘single transfer-able voting’ (STV) system.

First past the post: As its name suggests, the FPP electoral system is about the person with the highest number of votes (getting first past the winning post) being elected.

This is a very simple method of electing can-didates and is widely used throughout the world. While it is simple, some people believe it doesn’t always reflect the majority of the voters’ wishes. This can happen when the winning candidate receives more votes than any other single candi-date, but fewer than all the other candidates put together. Therefore it could be said the results did not accurately reflect the voters’ wishes.

Single transferable voting: This system is easy to follow when you think of it as simply decid-ing which candidates you prefer most, and putting them in a numbered priority list.

So, instead of ticking the candidates you want to vote for, you number the candidates in order of preference. Put a “1” beside the candidate you like best, then a “2” beside your second choice, “3” by your third choice, and so on. You can vote for as many or as few candidates as you like.

By giving the number “1” to a candidate, you are saying that the candidate is your number one

choice.By ranking candidates in your preferred order

- 1,2,3,4 and so on - you are also saying which other candidates you prefer:

* If your top choice doesn’t have enough support to get in, or * If your top choice doesn’t need all the votes they received to be elected.

How to voteWhen you vote for your preferred candidates put your voting document in the orange return enve-lope and post it by Wednesday, October 6, 2010. By voting you will make a real contribution to Auckland’s future direction.

Some time between September 17 and 22 you should receive your voting pack, which will include your actual voting document, as well as background information about the candidates for mayor, your ward and local board, district health board and, if you have one, a licensing trust.

Once you’ve decided which candidates you want to vote for, you need to complete the voting document, seal it in the return, postage-paid orange envelope and post or deliver it to the elec-toral officer.

Be sure to post it by 5pm, Wednesday, October 6, 2010 to guarantee delivery before voting closes.If you want to be sure your vote gets in on time, you can hand-deliver your document to:The Electoral Office, Level 8, 92 Albert Street, AucklandFranklin District Council, 82 Manukau Road, PukekoheManukau City Council, 31-33 Wiri Station Road, ManukauNorth Shore City Council, Level 3, 1 The Strand, TakapunaPapakura District Council, 35 Coles Crescent, Pa-pakuraRodney District Council, Centreway Road, OrewaWaitakere City Council, 6 Henderson Valley Road, HendersonOn election day, you can also return your votes to any of Auckland’s public libraries.

special votesThere are some times when people need to cast a special vote:

* If your name isn’t on the final electoral roll but you still qualify as an elector (such as if you’ve just turned 18 years of age

* If you haven’t received your voting docu-ment that has been posted to you

* If you have spoilt or damaged your voting document.

If you need a special vote because you’re not on the roll, then you need to enrol by 8 October 2010. You can get a registration application from any New Zealand Post Shop, phone 0800 36 76 56, or on the Electoral Enrolment Centre website.

If you want to make a special vote (you’ll need to make a statutory declaration), the documents

can be posted directly to you, or you can pick them up from existing council offices or phone (09) 973 5212 or 0800 922 822.

As with ordinary voting documents, they must be returned to the electoral officer by noon on 9 October 2010, or to any of the existing council offices.

resultsProgress and preliminary results will be an-nounced as soon as possible afternoon on Sat-urday, October 9. The official results will be an-nounced when special votes have been checked, but in the week of October 11-15.

Here is some information about the Auckland Council elections that will get under way later this month: how they work and how you can vote. Though not comprehensive, it has most of the details that you need to know as a voter. This is your chance to carefully consider who you want to represent you and your community’s interests in the new supercity.

Auckland election schedule17 -22 September: Voting docu-ments are delivered17 September - 9 october: progres-sive roll scrutiny, Special voting period, Early processing of returned votes9 october: Election day. Voting closes at noon and counting starts14 - 20 october: results are de-clared and publicly notified

SourCE: AuCklANd CouNCIl. MorE INForMAtIoN:

http://WWW.AuCklANdCouNCIl.GoVt.Nz/

New trades and professions have been added to New Zealand’s skill shortages list. Among them are scaffolders, automotive technicians, ship’s masters, ship’s officers and forest scientists.

Trades people and professionals with these skills will now find it easier to get a New Zealand work permit.

Changes to Immigration New Zealand’s Im-mediate Skill Shortage List (ISSL) and Long Term Skill Shortage List (LTSSL) were an-nounced early this month and have come into force from September 8. The lists are reviewed biannually by the Department of Labour.

The ISSL includes occupations in immediate

demand in the New Zealand labour market and the LTSSL includes those in long term and global shortage.

Scaffolders and automotive technicians will be added to the ISSL and ship’s masters, ship’s officers and forest scientists to the LTSSL.

Architects will be removed from the LTSSL

and some 13 occupations, mainly in the build-ing, design and racing industries will be removed from the ISSL.

Migrants from occupations not on the lists can still apply to work in New Zealand if their em-ployer demonstrates genuine attempts to recruit a New Zealand citizen or resident for the role.

New additions to skill shortage list

EAthquAkE pICturES CourtESy: ChrIS hutChING, ChrIStChurCh


Indian

VIdYA VeNuGoPALANBharata Natyam springs from the most important ancient treatise encompassing theatre, dance and music, the Natya Shastra. Written by sage Bharata Muni, it is treasured as the “fifth veda” in terms of its importance among Hindu religion and phi-losophy. As an extremely traditional dance form, Bharata Natyam is known for its grace, purity, ten-derness, statuesque & sculpturesque poses.

Originating from the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, Bharata Natyam started as a temple dance tradition, Dasiyattam. It is perhaps the most evolved of all Indian classical dance forms. Ch-innayya, Ponniah, Sivanandam and Vadivelu of the Tanjore Court, fondly known as the Tanjore ‘quartet’, made a rich contribution to the dance form during the 19th Century. They completed the process of re-editing the former Bharata Natyam programme, and established its present shape and variety of items.

However, it was only after its revival during the 20th century that Bharata Natyam gained its place in the social realm. Philanthropists and dance lovers including E Krishna Iyer and Rukmini Devi Arun-

dale played pivotal roles in the successful move-ment to establish Bharata Natyam as a more so-cially accepted art form. Today, this dance style is an immensely popular form of cultural expres-sion, a source of deep pride among the Indian Diaspora communities around the world.

Bharata Natyam proper is a solo dance, with two aspects, Lasya, the graceful feminine lines and movements, and Tandava, the mascu-line aspect. Considered to represent ‘fire’ among the five elements, the move-ments of an authentic Bharata Natyam dancer are thought to resemble the movements of a dancing flame. Others among the five major styles include

Odissi, considered to rep-resent the element of water, Mohiniattam representing air, Kuchipudi representing earth, and Kathakali repre-senting sky.

The science and tech-nique behind Bharata Natyam are overwhelming. Basically divided into three features, Bharata Natyam includes Nritta (rhythmic dance movements), Natya (mime), and Nritya (combi-nation of Nritta and Natya). Furthermore, Abhinaya is the art of communicating an emotion (Bhava) to evoke a sentiment/ aesthetic enjoy-ment (Rasa). To evoke such a sentiment is the ultimate

aim of every Bharata Natyam recital. Nritya and Abhinaya stands for dance which expresses ideas or sentiments.

Nrityabhinaya is proud to serve to the com-munity the tutelage of as a splendid an art form as Bharata Natyam. To nurture a fine dancer in every student, to infuse in them essential cultural values, and to deliver quality classical dance perfor-mances are the means by which the school upholds the Indian heritage. Nrityabhinaya’s forthcoming musical and dance extravaganza, Sree Rama, will be nothing short of a feast for your eyes.

Sree Rama, a Bharata Natyam dance drama – experience it for yourself!

New Zealand

As an employer, your obligations under the Im-migration Act 2009 remain essentially the same as under the Immigration Act 1987: you must not employ a non-New Zealand citizen who is not entitled to work in New Zealand. The Im-migration Act 2009 will come into effect on 29 November 2010.

The key change for employers in the Im-migration Act 2009 is that holding an IR 330 form will no longer be a “reasonable excuse” for employing a non-New Zealand citizen who

is not entitled to work in New Zealand. Instead, you will have to show that you took “reason-able precautions and exercised due diligence” to check whether they are entitled to work in New Zealand.

The Department of Labour has set up an online system which will allow you to easily obtain information on a potential employee’s work entitlement has been introduced. The system is called ‘VisaView’ and will enable all New Zealand employers to enquire about

the work entitlement of a job applicant who is a foreign national. You will simply need to provide information such as a passport number and the last name of the applicant.

VisaView will check against the Depart-ment’s database and in most cases provide you with a ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ answer, together with any specific work conditions that may apply. VisaV-iew also maintains a history of your enquiries, which will be a useful way for you to demon-strate due diligence in relation to Immigration

Act requirements.The Department has also developed ‘A guide

to help employers check work entitlement’ and ‘Work entitlement checklist’’. These were put together in close consultation with employers from around New Zealand.

Queries regarding employer obligations under the Immigration Act 2009 can be sent to [email protected]. Visit: http://www.immigration.govt.nz/Employ/News/visaviewact.htm

Website tool to help with new immigration rules

New classical ballet to delight the senses

Indian Weekender & Cultural Forum of India presentShree Rama Bharat Natyam Dance DramaDate: Saturday 02 October 06:30:00 PMVenue: Dorothy Winstone Centre, 16 Howe Street Newton, AucklandProduced and Choreographed by Anuradha RamkumarTickets $25 Call Anuradha 09-627 4117 or 021 155 0714Email: [email protected]

“Flowers open in the hands of the dancer, and birds fly off from the tips of fingers, each muscle of the face is transformed, the eyes move in blandishments of scorn, and the eyebrows express horror or suspicion, even as the whole face expresses different and often contrary feelings in the same breath such as dance drama, performed according to the most delicate nuances of a musical piece, or a poem, through the vehicle of one body, is surely unmatched in any art.”

- Mulk Raj Anand, BHARATA NATYAM

Such an exquisite art form is Bharata Natyam.


Indian

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Indian

New Delhi: The Vedanta mining project in Orissa has run into trouble again as the envi-ronment ministry on Tuesday rejected its plan for forest clearance for the project in the Ni-yamgiri Hills in Orissa.

The mining group, which was to mine bauxite in Orissa, suffered the blow at a time when it was struggling with regulatory issues in India.

Environment minister Jairam Ramesh said: “Only after being reassured by the attorney general, I have gone ahead with my decision -- upholding the recommendation of the panel after due consideration.”

The Forest Advisory Committee on Tuesday recommended that the “in-principle clearance” to the mining proposal, put forward by Orissa Mining Corporation, be withdrawn.

Last week, the committee set up by the government had said that the bauxite mining project, worth Rs. 5000 crore, should not be allowed in Western Orissa’s Kalahandi district.

The committee, headed by NC Saxena, said that the Vedanta project endangers nearly 7500 square km of forest land, and that it violates tribal forest rights.

The company, through its subsidiary Ster-lite India, has a joint agreement with Orissa Mining Corporation to mine bauxite at the Ni-yamgiri Hills.

The committee’s recommended that the company has not settled claims under the Forest Rights Act.

“Traditional and customary rights as well as age-old access of the Dongaria and Kutia Kondh tribes to the area have been recognised in several forest settlement reports and govern-ment working plans. Also, several gram sabhas of the affected villages have passed resolutions claiming community and habitat rights,” the ministry said in a statement.

“It is argued that it would be incorrect for

the Orissa government to claim that these primitive tribes have no claims or rights under the Forest Rights Act, 2006. The affected groups, Dongaria Kondh and Kutia Kondh, are both Scheduled Tribes. The Constitution re-quires that the government respect and uphold the land rights of the Scheduled Tribes.

“Additionally, both the Dongaria Kondh and Kutia Kondh have been notified as primi-tive tribal groups and are, therefore, eligible for special protection. The Niyamgiri Hills are the sole habitat of the two tribes and at least 20% of the Dongaria Kondh population lives in vil-lages in and around the forest blocks of the pro-posed mining project area,” the statement read.

The panel also sough action against Vedanta Alumina Refinery at Lanjigarh and said that steps should be immediately taken against the refinery for illegally encroaching and enclos-ing 26 hectares of forest land.

India Feature

Nevada, USA: Indo-Americans have applauded India for reportedly rejecting bauxite mining by multinational company in remote tribal area of Orissa, which the environmentalists had de-scribed as devastating to the area environment and tribes considered sacred.

Indo-American statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA) on Wednesday, said that Government of India apparently took into consideration the concerns of the tribes living in the area and issues raised by environmentalists involved and it should be commended for that.

Rajan Zed, who is the Chairperson of Indo-American Leadership Confederation, pointed out that it seemed that issues like sacredness of the

mountain, disturbance of lifestyle and tradition of the tribes, affect on ecosystems-water sources-wildlife-water pollution-displacement-defores-tation-endangered species, etc., outweighed the financial interests of the miner Vedanta.

Niyamgiri Hill range, where the bauxite ex-traction was planned, is reportedly considered sacred by the Dongria Kondh tribe. Vedanta had reportedly proposed a $2.7 billion investment in the area.

Survival International led the campaign against mining and parallelized the plight of Dongria Kondh to the Na’vi tribe in blockbuster “Avatar” (James Cameron).

Celebrities like actress Joanna Lumley

(Absolutely Fabulous), activist Bianca Jagger, BAFTA winner actor-comedian Michael Palin (A Fish Called Wanda), etc., reportedly voiced against the proposed mining project. Church of England reportedly sold its shares in Vedanta in view of inconsistency with its investment policy.

Vedanta Resources, headquartered in London (United Kingdom), is a diversified metals and mining group with wide-ranging in-terests in aluminum, copper, zinc, lead, iron ore and commercial energy, whose principal opera-tions are in India, Zambia and Australia.

Anil Agarwal is Executive Chairman. Survival International, founded in 1969 and

also headquartered in London, is international organization with supporters in 82 countries, working for tribal peoples’ rights through educa-tion, advocacy and campaigns. Stephen Corry is Director.

India lauded for disallowing Orissa mining

Environment ministry rejects Vedanta project

read related article on Page 11:Indian media slammed for letting down tribals


Indian India

Citizens &Ratepayers

Manurewa Local Board

BALU MISTRYVOTE

Authorised by J Stephens, 3 Bel Air Drive, Hillsboroughwww.c-r.org.nz

Manurewa Local Board MELVYN Apulu NGATAI George SINGH GurmeetaSINGH Sukhminder

New Delhi: Indian cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar added another feather to his crown on Friday, as he was conferred the honorary rank of Group Captain by the Indian Air Force (IAF).

The ‘Master Blaster’ said it is one of the ‘great-est honours’ he has ever received.

Tendulkar is expected to motivate young Indians to join the IAF and serve the nation.

Speaking about his 21-year career in interna-tional cricket, Tendulkar said he does not play for money, and for him scoring runs for the nation is more important than money.

“I don’t play cricket for money, happy to score runs more than money,” he said.

Asked if his son (Arjun) too will follow his foot-steps and join Team India, Tendulkar said he will give the boy independence to become whatever he wishes to in life.

Commenting on the ongoing ‘spot-fixing’ scam, he said Indian players have never been contacted by bookies.

“Never ever in my 21 years of international cricket, have I heard that bookies approached Indian players,” Tendulkar told reporters at the event here.

“The International Cricket Council (ICC) can take all the necessary measures required so that the game moves in the right direction,” Tendulkar said.

“Let cricket be clean game,” Tendulkar added.

Sachin becomes IAF Group CaptainSahara readies Urdu news channel

New Delhi: The Maoists in Nepal are allegedly seeking Chinese help to get their chief Pushpa Kamal Dahal elected as the new prime minister of that country as well as ‘neutralize’ India’s ‘influ-ence’ in the affairs of the neighbouring country.

A day before the sixth round of voting on Sunday to elect Nepal’s new prime minister, media reports on Saturday claimed that Maoist leader, Krishna Bahadur Mahara, was in contact with a Chinese person and seeking financial help to buy votes in favour of Dahal.

Two telephonic conversations had emerged on Friday evening in which Mahara asks the unidenti-fied Chinese person for NR 500 million to bride 50 lawmakers to vote in favour of Dahal.

Mahara, who heads the foreign cell of the Maoists’ party, purportedly tells the Chinese man in the tape that the Maoists have support of about 10-15 lawmakers but need to get 50 more in their fold to ensure Dahal’s victory.

Mahara also claims that the deal, which will

be completed at Hong Kong, is being done with the full knowledge of Dahal, as per the tapes which was acquired as part of a sting operation by local media.

He also brings in India and tells the Chinese man that some lawmakers are controlled by the ‘south’ (India) and it is necessary to “neutralize” its influence.

The Maoist leader has, however, in a statement, dismissed the tape as ‘fabricated, misleading and fictitious’.

Nepal is on the look for a new prime minister to replace Madhav Kumar Nepal, who stepped down in June.

But five rounds of voting till now has failed to throw up any winner among the two candidates—Dahal and Nepali Congress leader Ram Chandra Poudel – as none managed to get the 301 votes needed for a win.

Maoists have 235 members in the Constituent Assembly while Nepali Congress has 114 represen-tatives.

Nepal Maoists seeks Chinese help to ‘buy’ lawmakers?

Mumbai: Sahara India is gearing up to launch its Urdu news and information channel within 45 days, a top company official said.

The proposed channel, which was first an-nounced in the year 2006, will be titled Aalami Sahara.

“We will soft launch the Urdu channel in a month’s time. The commercial launch will take place within 45 days,” Sahara India Pariwar GM Anil Abraham told Indiantelevision.

Atul Saraf-promoted ABS Group, which is providing its consultancy services to Sahara for the distribution of the news channels, will also aid the carriage of the Urdu channel.

Sahara has a one-year deal with ABS Group. “ABS is consulting us for the distribution of all the Sahara India Media news channels like Samay, Sahara Samay NCR, Sahara Samay Bihar, Sahara Samay UP and Sahara Samay MP. We are paying them consultation fee based on targets and reach,” Abraham said.

Samay, Sahara India Media’s flagship Hindi

news channel, has reached a peak distribution reach after ABS has come on board.

“Samay has for first time got a distribution reach of 21.9 million homes. We are seeing to it that the channel gets a similar reach like the other mainstream news channels,” said Saraf.

Agreed Abraham: “In the current week, Samay has reached 21.9 million households, which is historic for us. Our ratings are also up to 12.5 GRPs (gross rating points) this week, showing a 98 per cent growth in the last five weeks. We are targeting a reach of 25 million and a top 5 position in the Hindi news channel space within one month.”

As for the Urdu channel, Sahara will target the 100-million Urdu-speaking population in India. The company believes that there is enough space and revenue potential for the channel. “We have done our research and seen that there is a huge need for an Urdu channel. Going by the demand for our Urdu daily, we are confident the channel will be popular,” Abraham said.

New delhi: the Supreme Court on tuesday reopened the Bhopal gas leak case as it issued notices to all seven accused, former union Carbide executives, who were let off with two years’ jail sentence by a Bhopal court recently in the 1984 gas leak case that killed 20,000 eventual-ly and impaired countless.

the move fol-lowed a Cen-tral Bureau of Investigation (CBI) curative petition seeking stronger sentence of the accused.

reopening of the case on the CBI peti-tion means tougher charges would be pressed against the former executives.“Wrong will be righted now,” said Bhopal activist Satinath Sarangi as

the Bhopal survivors and crusaders celebrated the latest court action. the Supreme Court action fol-lowed the CBI curative petition asks

the court to reconsider its 1996 deci-sion in which it reduced the charges against the ac-cused from cul-pable homicide not amounting to murder to criminal negli-gence.

Warren Ander-son, former head of union Carbide, for

whom Indian authorities had sought extradition from the united States, is an absconder in the case.

Neither Anderson nor union Carbide was tried in absentia, sparking out-rage among survivors.

Supreme Court reopens Bhopal case


Indian

SIT Queenstown Campus0800 QT 4 SIT / 03 442 5375

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Personal Training

India

Nagaon: While illegal Bangladeshi influx is threatening national security, over 60 lakh infil-trators have been already included in the voters list of Assam, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has alleged.

During a press conference here, BJP’s state president Ranjit Dutta said, “Large scale illegal migration from Bangladesh over several decades has been altering the demographic complexion of this State. It poses a grave threat both to the identity of the Assamese people and to our national security. Successive Governments at the Centre and in the State have not adequate-ly met this challenge.”

“Over 60 lakh illegal Bangladeshi people have been already included in the state voters list,” Dutta added.

The state BJP presi-dent alleged, “The re-cently published draft voters list for 2010 by Assam State Election Commission showed more than 84 thousand voters have declined in comparison to the previ-ous list; but most of the declined voters are local Assamese people.”

The final voter list will be published on Sep-tember 15, officials said.

According to the State Election Commission report, 1,74,68,958 people are included as legiti-mate voters in the state as per the 2009 voters list .

But the draft voters list showed 1,73,82,724 people as legitimate voters in the state.

BJP MP Rajen Gohain said, “Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi is a surrendered Chief Minister. He has surrendered before illegal Bangladeshis. In the last 9 years, over a lakh of illegal Bangladeshi people entered the state. But the state government did not take any action against the Bangladeshi influx. The Congress-

led state government have always been standing by those people and protect-ing them.”

“Now most districts in the state are dominated by illegal Bangladeshis. Pakistan’s ISI and several Muslim rebel groups of Bangladesh are planning to make Assam a separate Muslim country,” Gohain added.

Meanwhile, BJP is trying to strengthen its base in Assam ahead of the next State Assembly elections.

The state BJP has decided to field its candi-dates in 80 constituencies

in the coming State Assembly elections. The Assam BJP is also looking to play its

“trump card Varun Gandhi”, besides giving im-portance to youth leaders in the next State As-sembly polls.

BJP will hold a massive public meeting in Nagaon on September 29, where BJP’s central president Nitin Gadkari and Varun Gandhi will address the poeple.

60 lakh illegal Bangladeshis in Assam voters list?

The state BJP president alleged, “The recently published draft voters list for 2010 by Assam State Election Commission showed more than 84 thousand voters have declined in comparison to the previous list; but most of the declined voters are local Assamese people.”

Kochi: Kerala lecturer TJ Joseph, whose right hand was chopped off by radicals in July, has now been sacked by his college authorities on the grounds of hurting religious sentiments of a certain community.

Joseph was reportedly removed from service with effect from September 1 by authorities of Christian-run New Man College.

The sacking has come as an unexpected blow for Joseph, who had also responded to a show-cause notice earlier served by the college authori-ties.

The lecturer was attacked by Popular Front of India (PFI) radicals on July 4 while he was

returning home with his family from a Church. They accused him of preparing a Malayalam question paper with alleged derogatory refer-ences to Prophet Mohammed.

He is now recovering at his residence at Mu-vattupuzha in Ernakulam district.

Meanwhile, the state government has offered help to Joseph if he approached.

Maintaining that the college authorities action tantamount to excessive use of authority, Kerala Education minister MA Baby said, “Joseph can appeal at the University Tribunal and explore other legal means. We will provide him with all the help if he wants to seek legal recourse.”

After radicals’ attack, Kerala lecturer sacked

the President of India, smt. Pratibha devisingh Patil being greeted by the invitees for Iftar reception on the occasion of Id-ul-Fitr hosted by her, at rashtrapati bhavan, in New delhi on september 03, 2010.


Indian India

bJP to reconstruct village in cloudburst hit Leh New Delhi: India’s main Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has decided to gift a reconstructed village to the people with 200 new houses in Jammu and Kashmir’s Leh region, which was devastated in last month’s cloudburst. “The reconstruction of the 200 houses will be taken up immediately with the help of local engineers, architects and con-tractors who understand the traditional houses structure, the climatic situation and have expertise to build house which can withstand natural calamities like earthquake and sudden flash floods,” said party spokesperson Tarun Vijay. He also informed that help has also been taken for designing Leh homes from renowned Central Building Research Insti-tute, Roorkee.

Wild jumbo electrocuted in AssamGuwahati: A wild elephant was electrocuted near a tea garden in the Kaliabor area in Assam’s Nagaon district last week, officials said. The carcass of the pachyderm was found near Kelidin tea estate under Kaliabor sub-division in the district. The wild jumbo died after its trunk touched a livewire in the backyard of one Bijoy Das’ residence near the tea estate. Forest officials said it was an accident and not a case of retaliatory killing. “It was not killed by human beings. We have been informed that, the electrocuted loner elephant killed two people in one month in the area,” Nagaon divisional forest officer Aftabuddin Ahmed said. The man-elephant conflict has been on the rise in Nagaon, Sonitpur, Golaghat and Udalguri district. In the past four years’ report, around 82 people were killed and 510 others injured by wild elephants in various parts of the state. More than 43 wild elephants were also killed during this period.

Maruti suzuki sales grows 23.6%New Delhi: India’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India Limited sold a total of 104,791 vehicles in August 2010, growing 23.6 per cent in the month. This includes exports of 12,117 units. This is the highest ever monthly sales recorded by the company. The com-pany had sold a total of 84,808 vehicles in August 2009. Maruti Suzuki’s volume in the domestic A2 segment grew by 25.7 per cent and in the A3 segment the sales volume grew by 34 per cent during the month as compared to sales in August 2009. During the month the company launched Alto-K10 with 1-litre K-series engine and five CNG models across segments. Customers ranked Maruti Suzuki as the No.1 company in the annual Sales Sat-isfaction Survey conducted independently by JD Power, a leading global research agency.

Narendra Modi slams PM for CWG ‘mess’ Ahmedabad: Taking pot shots at the Congress-led Central government for delay in completion of Commonwealth Games (CWG) venues, Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said the venues won’t be ready in time even if the prime minister ‘mops the floor’. “I don’t know what is happening in the CWG [preparations]. Even if the prime minister [Manmohan Singh] starts wiping the floor, the venues won’t be ready for the Games,” Modi said, inaugurating a new building in the civil hospital complex here. Point-ing that there was four years time to complete the CWG preparations, the chief minister said, “But they are still struggling. They should have given it to Ahmedabad (Municipal Corporation), which would have built those stadiums in time.” The CWG venues have re-peatedly missed deadlines, with corruption charges in preparations of the Games mount-ing as the date for the Games in October draw closer. The prime minister has taken upon himself to inspect all CWG venues and also constituted a special committee to oversee the preparations.

India offers additional 20 mn dollars to Pakistan New Delhi: India has offered an additional $ 20 million aid to Pakistan for rehabilitation efforts for its flood affected people. Announcing the grant, External Affairs Minister S M Krishna told the Lok Sabha that the additional funds will be for Pakistan’s readiness to accept India’s initial aid offer of 5 million dollars which to be routed through the United Nations. “As a more concrete assessment of the damage inflicted by this natural disaster and the urgent needs of the people of Pakistan emerges, the Government has decided to increase its assistance to Pakistan from $ 5 million, announced earlier, to $ 25 million,” Krishna said in a statement. “Of the total aid, $ 20 million will go to ‘Pakistan Initial Floods Emergency Response Plan’ launched by the UN office, for the coordination of hu-manitarian efforts,” he said. “The balance $ 5 million would be contributed to the World Food Programme for its relief efforts in Pakistan.”

rIM gives in to India’s security concernsNew Delhi: Fearing a possible ban on its business in India, the Canadian firm Research In Motion, manufacturer of BlackBerry, on Monday offered the Indian government some solutions to access its data, Home Ministry sources said. “RIM have made certain propos-als for lawful access by legal enforcement agencies and these would be operationalised immediately,” the Home Ministry said in a statement. “The feasibility of the solutions offered would be assessed thereafter,” the statement added. The Indian government said that it would review the situation and that the Department of Telecommunications would submit its report within the next two months. The security officials chaired by Union Home Secretary G K Pillai met on Monday to take a final decision on BlackBerry services in the country, a day before an August 31 deadline for the firm to give security agencies access to its confidential data.

rIL buys into hotel chainMumbai: Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) has announced that it had acquired 14.12 per cent stake in hotel chain Eastern Indian Hotels (EIH) Limited at a total cost of Rs 1,021 crores approximately. The investment, which comes as the Mukesh Ambani-controlled company’s first foray into hospitality was done through through its wholly owned sub-sidiary Reliance Industries Investment and Holding Private Limited from Oberoi Hotels Private Limited and certain other promoters of EIH Limited shares. According to RIL, its investment in EIH, which runs the Oberoi and Trident chain of hotels, has been made as “the Oberoi family had developed the Oberoi Hotels brand into a premier international brand in the luxury hospitality sector and as a result EIH Limited has excellent future pros-pects. RIL has full faith in and would support the management of EIH Limited and there is no change of management, operation or control of the EIH Limited,” said the company in a statement.

The Indian media by and large ignored the indigenous tribals living in the Niyamgiri Hills of Orissa while according lopsided, vo-luminous coverage to Vedanta during recent developments over the corporate giant’s con-troversial mining and refinery projects in the eastern state, an independent study has found.

Indian newspapers made passing or no mention of the Dongria Kondh tribals whose very existence would have been at stake had the ministry of environment and forests not rejected the forest clearance for the project. On the other hand, the coverage centered around the UK-based Vedanta Resources and its activities, charges against it, and its denials, found the study by Newswatch, an online monitor that looks at news and devel-opments pertaining to press freedom, jour-nalistic ethics, and the news media industry.

“The Vedanta/Niyamgiri issue is argu-ably the most blacked-out story of our times. It is a travesty that among those who had been raising their strident voices against the project, like Survival International and Amnesty In-ternational, are not based in India. The ones who are fighting for the Dongria Kondh are primarily local activists and a few concerned civil society members in this country. It is a no-brainer to realise why the media coverage all these days had been a blank, and why it is so Vedanta-centric now,” said Subir Ghosh, founder editor of Newswatch.

The Newswatch study was launched to primarily look at how the news media covered the allegations against Vedanta Resources

ending with the rejection of forest clearance of the project by the Union Ministry of Envi-ronment and Forests.

The news content analysis was done over three phases.

The release of a report by Amnesty indict-ing Vedanta over the violations of the rights of the Dongria Kondh formed the backdrop. During March, Union Minister of State for En-vironment and Forests Jairam Ramesh made a statement saying that the mining giant had violated environmental regulations giving a go-by to tribal rights, on basis of a report sub-mitted by a three-member panel. This was the trigger factor for the first phase of the study. In all, 140 stories published during March were tracked down. Only stories from news-papers, news agencies, major portals, and TV channels were considered for research. Blogs, among others, were not.

In the second phase, only select top English newspapers were chosen for content analysis. Seventeen newspapers were studied. The “breaking news” factor for this phase was the submission on August 17 of the four-member NC Saxena Committee report which looked into the proposal of the Orissa Mining Company for bauxite mining in Niyamgiri.

The same 17 newspapers were studied in the third phase. The trigger for “breaking news” was the announcement on August 24 by Minister Ramesh that the ministry had re-jected the forest clearance for the project, and therefore the environmental clearance stood inoperable.

Indian media slammed forletting down tribalsIndian media ignored indigenous Dongria Kondhs, gave lopsided coverage to corporate giant Vedanta


Indian Fiji

A political coup-de-tat has few civilian paral-lels in terms of rationale, planning, logistics, back-up support, follow-up and consequences. In Fiji, the unthinkable had happened at the April 1987 elections – the carefully camouflaged and internally inconsistent myth of democratic power in perpetuity was finally blown. First there was disbelief, then consternation, then confusion followed by complaining and anger. It is at this point that the coup-makers stepped in to provide guidance to a relatively small portion of the country that appeared to be reeling like a plane without a pilot.

The message that these saviours brought was not about democracy and the inevitability of changes in government, but on how the Fijian people were under threat from the greedy, dis-honest and covetous designs of the “kai Idia” or the Indians. This was an old message that had potent political traction and it became the mantra that rallied the masses. Local reggae band Rootstrata, came up with a stirring number about Fijian self-determination, the Fijian way – ‘o cei o ira (who are they), they sang. There was thus no other way for Fiji at that juncture.

Rabuka clearly stated this in his (now oft-questioned) book, “No Other Way”. Of course if the Fijian leaders, especially the traditional ones had spoken up and stemmed the tide, coup might have been avoided because the rationale for it would have been nipped – no disturbance, no need for coup! The problem was, this was very difficult and it did not leave (or create) room for a re-look at Fiji politics in order to change it and make it more appropriate to the changing times. Bavadra & Co were hardly likely to re-think a model that had just brought them to power.

There was a more significant development within those orchestrated disturbances that has so far been given scant notice by analysts of the 1987 coup and Fiji politics. The framework within which the disturbances were unleashed involved a cadre of fiery, reactionary, peripheral leaders, who had been agitating for public recog-nition, as front men. Behind this frontline was a group of shady “controllers” who, in turn, were following directives from a high command. The public only got to see the “faces” and has contin-ued to speculate about the “non-faces”.

More importantly, at some stage the rebellion acquired a momentum and direction of its own. The front-men, who were supposed to follow directives and exit centre stage when required, suddenly had too much power, energy and am-bition. Taniela Veitata, Manasa Lasaro, Jona Qio, etc. began to plan and make independent pronouncements. Those who were supposed to be under control were suddenly out of control. That’s where the 1987 coup went wrong, and that’s what Fiji is still reeling from today.

Coming back to the planning of that coup, the plotters needed backing from a number of quarters. Firstly, they needed a smattering of lower-level traditional leaders – there was no shortage of these. Then they needed leaders in an urban setting. And of necessity, this included peripheral unionists, churchmen and thugs. All those whose political (and therefore, economic) ambitions had somehow been kept in check by the Mara government suddenly sprang to centre stage.

This was the opportunity they had been waiting for and they made the most of it while chanting the potent mantra of “down with the

kai Idia”. Defenders of the Fijian heritage sud-denly sprang up all over the place as the fever took hold and rebellion gained momentum. Many supporters joined simply for want of nothing better to do, many were drawn by the power of the preachers and the occasion that was created. Many thought they were really defend-ing the Fijian heritage. Many expected fallouts and were already fingering Indian houses that they’d move into.

That was the nature of the rebellion that pre-ceded Rabuka’s coup.

A second, more important concern that trou-bled the plotters of that coup was what would happen afterwards. For an orderly transition from the brink of created chaos, they needed to fall back on Fiji’s main leaders who commanded traditional Fijian backing – they needed leaders who could control both the masses as well as the keepers of the law (police and military). This meant they had to have the support of Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, Ratu Sir Penaia Ganilau and Ratu Sir George Cakobau. These three leaders stood at the pinnacle of the Fijian chiefly system ie. the traditional power structure at that point in time.

The Fijian traditional administrative system that was shaped and fossilized by Governor Arthur Gordon after cession in 1874 has the country divided into 14 provinces which are in turn grouped into 3 confederacies – Kubuna, Tovata and Burebasaga. Each of these confed-eracies is headed by a paramount chief. In 1987, Kubuna was headed by ex-Governor General Ratu Sir George Cakobau. Tovata was headed by the then GG Ratu Sir Penaia Ganilau. And Burebasaga was headed by Lady Ro Lala Mara,

Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara’s wife. Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara was thus not a

paramount chief in his own right, but he was the husband of one. On top of that, he had been groomed for and headed the modern structure of government that was essentially juxtaposed on the traditional structure. Moreover, Ratu Mara had been earmarked to lead Fiji by Fiji’s most prominent colonial-era chief, Ratu Sir Lala Sukuna. In fact it was Ratu Sukuna who played cupid in helping hitch Mara with the young lass from Burebasaga who would later become the Roko Tui Dreketi, the paramount chief of Bu-rebasaga.

The coup plotters of 1987 had to prepare to contend with the expected fallout after Rabuka executed his Treason at 10. Fiji would be rud-derless and leaderless amid the vacuum that would be created by removing the Bavadra government. The trouble-makers were mainly urban Fijians who had been harnessed for the disturbances. They could be controlled by their newly-created leaders up to a certain extent only. The main source of stability had to come from traditional sources – the paramount chiefs.

And the 1987 coup did have either explicit or implicit support from this all-important source as without military and chiefly support a politi-cal coup-de-tat was not possible in Fiji at that point in time. Next, how could this be true? Keep tuned.

- Subhash Appana is an academic and political commentator. The opinions contained

in this article are entirely his and not neces-sarily shared by any organizations he may be

associated with both in Fiji and abroad. Email [email protected]

1987 - The Impossible CoupGovernment by Greed:

subHAsH APPANA


Indian

Arvind KumarFour “hatte katte” young men, two beautiful damsels, and there were no sparks flying.

Nor was there any hero chasing the heroine in the “bageecha” while belting out a romantic number (accompanied by music) by the end of which the heroine would have succumbed to her suitor’s charms.

But then again, this is no ordinary Bolly-wood flick. This is “Pump Up The Mandali” – the first feature length Fiji Hindi language film shot in Auckland, Napier and Fiji – and now heading for the international market.

Although the “hatte katte” young men end up calling the girls “didi” in the movie, the grass-roots approach and humble storyline is sure to connect with the audi-ences.

“The story wasn’t designed for romance,” de-clares director Monti Issar, head of Purple Post Pro-ductions.

“It works very well, and is one of the unique points of the movie. People loved it.”

“Pump Up The Mandali” is an emotional rollercoaster ride of four friends from a poor Fiji village to the glamour and glitz of Auckland.

The four mandali boys – Michael (played by Bhushan Mishra), Abdul (Leonard Kumar), Ramesh (Sarvesh Singh) and Pravin (Kunal Kartik) – lose all in floods which devastate their village, but win a local radio talent contest which lands them in New Zealand to participate in an international quest.

Needing lots of money to travel to New Zealand, they borrow money and the villagers chip in to help them make the trip.

Enter Priya and Pooja (played by Neha Jaura and Bali Virk), the two Indian “city girls” they end up sharing their flat with.

Priya and Pooja are from impressed with the boys’ rustic appearances, and their “dhol” and “baaja” which accompany their late night prac-tice sessions.

Dazzled by the bright lights of Auckland City and the flashy Auckland teams, the four friends decide to pack it in but Priya and Pooja develop a change of heart and push the boys to face the challenge and overcome the odds.

Opening with a tranquil village scene in Fiji, director Israr has cleverly managed to inter-sperse the movie with elements of Bollywood, making it an even more attractive product on the international market.

The first-time Fiji actors hold their own well. Aucklander Bhushan proved calm and col-lected and carried his performance well, as did the frisky Leonard (police officer), the laidback Sarvesh (radio announcer) and Auckland DJ Kunal.

Neha Jaura put in a commanding perfor-mance which should see her land more roles in the future, while Bali Virk proved strong in

support.P r o d u c e d

under Auck-land’s Purple Post banner, “Pump Up The Mandali” recent-ly held its world premiere in Ma-nukau’s Berkley Cinemas. It opens for public screenings next month (date yet to be decided).

The 115-minute film is now Fiji’s first ever entry into the prestigious Asia Pacific Screen Awards to be held in Brisbane next month. Story and screen-play was also by Issar.

My Verdict: Has strong grassroots appeal, destined to be a hit among Fiji audiences.

Community

Keeping up audience Mandali pumped up

Leonard Kumar (Abdul) and Bhushan Mishra (Michael) practice their beat in a scene from the movie.

Monti Israr, the man behind the movie, of Purple Post.

LooKING For tALeNt

With “pump up the Mandali” now set to hit the big screen soon, the mak-ers are set to launch into their next project.“Sab Set hai”, to be shot in New zealand, is a comedy which is set to feature some big Bollywood names including star comedian rajpal yadav.purple post chief Monti Issar, who is also head of the Mirchee Indian tV in Auckland, said he was now on the lookout for cast of “Sab Set hai”.Auditions are scheduled to be held later this month in Auckland. If you have what it takes to be an ac-tor, contact Monti Issar at purple post or Mirchee Indian tV.

Coming together for Raksha Bandhan

Search on for New Zealand’s Young achievers

More than 700 people celebrated the Hindu festival of Raksha Bandhan at the Mahatma Gandhi Centre, Auckland last Sunday, August 29.

The programme was officially opened by the lighting of the lamp by the leader of the opposition, Phil Goff; Race Relations Com-missioner Joris De Bres; North Shore mayor Andrew Williams; Manukau mayor Len Brown and Vinod Kumar, president of Hindu Council of New Zealand – the host of Hindu Organisations, Temples and Associations (HOTA) Forum for this year.

Mamta Bhikha, co-ordinator of the fes-tival, welcomed all present. The specially invited guests described Raksha Bandhan as the festival that sanctifies the relationship between a brother and a sister; and, in its broader meaning, the Dharmic concepts of universal fellowship and veneration of wom-anhood.

Mr De Bres recalled his presence at the third New Zealand Hindu Conference where the HOTA forum was launched. He com-mended the Hindu Council of New Zealand for its reputation to follow up and deliver on their promises to the community; in this case, the delivery of a landmark event within a very short time.

The unveiling of the HOTA ‘Ekta Shankh’ was the highlight of the formal ceremony. “Ekta shankh” is a carving symbolising unity among various communities, created by Mr. Tane Singh-Lagah from Rotorua, a carver in Maori tradition, and of Maori and Indian descent.

Hindu Council of New Zealand passed the ‘Ekta Shankh’ to the New Zealand Hindu Temple Society, the host of HOTA Forum for the next year. Vai Ravindran and Ilango Krishnamoorthy, received the ‘Ekta Shankh’ and shared their vision of unity among com-munities.

Each year one of the HOTA Forum members will be the host of the HOTA Forum. The host will also convene a meeting in Febru-ary, where all members will find an opportuni-ty to discuss strengths of and opportunities for the Hindu community on a unifying platform.

Hindu Council of New Zealand launched three websites at the festival. They are Hindu

Council of New Zealand (http://hinducouncil.org.nz), Rotorua Deepawali Festival (http://rotoruadeepawali.org) and Yogathon (http://yogathon-nz.org).

The symbolism of Raksha Bandhan is the act of tying the sanctified thread rakhi on the wrists of each other. The attendees partici-pated by tying the rakhi among themselves, including family, friends, and others in the audience. \

The hands of MPs Dr Rajen Prasad and Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi; Deputy Mayor of North Shore - Julia Parfitt; Deputy Mayor of Rodney District - John Kirikiri, Vijaya Vaidyanath (CEO, Waitakere City Council) and other prominent figures of the community overflowed with Rakhis.

Masters of ceremonies Nitika Sharma (Secretary of Hindu Youth New Zealand) and Brana Ravichelavan (of Sri Satya Sai Service Organisation and the Co-ordinator of the open suitcase project) took the audience through the day’s cultural program. On show were spe-cialised Kapa Haka, Bharatnatyam, Bhangra, Chinese dragon and Lion dance, South Indian folk dance, Garba, Japanese drum beats, Punjabi Giddha , vocal music, a performance of sitar and tabla, and the programme conclud-ed with an energy packed modern dance.

Ranjna Patel (QSM, JP) spoke about the re-markable journey of Indian women in leader-ship roles in New Zealand, and recounted her own experiences. Some key leaders from the Indian community were invited to present the photo of the Mahalakshmi Narayani Temple as a token of appreciation to each of the dance groups that peformed.

This temple is located in Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India. More than 400 gold and copper-smiths are said to have worked for six years to craft this temple out of gold, and some have called it the Hindu Golden Temple.

On behalf of the host and the organising committee, Ms. Komal Shah read the vote of thanks which included the ANZ Bank for their support to the Raksha Bandhan festival.

The HOTA forum under the leadership of the next year’s host, the New Zealand Hindu Temple Society, looks forward to the celebra-tion of the Hindu festival of Raksha Bandhan in Auckland next year.

Nominations are being sought from around the country for the Coca-Cola Amatil Young New Zealander of the Year 2011 as part of the New Zealander of the Year Awards.

Nominees must be between the ages of 15-30 who are leaders or role models to fellow young New Zealanders. They may have achieved extraordinary things in academics, sport, business, the arts or any other chosen field of endeavour or they may be involved in

cultural or community activities, working with the disadvantaged, or creating stronger rela-tionships between young people and the com-munity.

New Zealander of the Year Awards manager Grant McCabe says “Across New Zealand young people from different social and cultural backgrounds, beliefs, interests, values and as-pirations are making exceptional contributions to their communities and our country”.

The Young New Zealander of the Year Award is about recognising great achievements by young people while engaging the commu-nity to nominate and acknowledge these young Kiwis who are striving to make a difference.

The winner of the Coca-Cola Amatil Young New Zealander of the Year 2011 will be awarded their trophy and $5,000 prize money at a gala awards presentation dinner in Auck-land on the 2nd February 2011. All nominees

will receive a certificate of achievement or en-couragement in recognition of their contribu-tion.

Nominations close on Friday 22nd October and nomination forms are available from Countdown Supermarkets, Kiwibank and Mitre 10 branches or by free phone 0508 692 927. You can also nominate online at www.nzawards.org.nz or text ‘nominate’ to 244 for more information.


IndianIndian

From the Editor

Indian Weekender is published by kiwi Media Group, 98 Great South road, New Market and printed at ApN print, Ellerslie, Auckland Copyright 2010. kiwi Media Group. All rights reserved.

Indian Weekender Volume 2 No. 12Publisher: kiwi Media Group limitedGroup editor-in-chief: dev Nadkarni [email protected] editor: Arvind kumar [email protected] Correspondent: Shobha rao [email protected] technical officer: rohan desouza rohan@ indianweekender.co.nzdesign: tanmay desai [email protected] / www.desaign.co.nzAdvertising: Giri Gupta - ph: 520 0922, Mob: 021 221 1131. Email - [email protected] email original editorial contributions, community notices and pictures to [email protected] expressed in the publication are not necessarily of the publisher and the publisheris not responsible for advertisers’ claims as appearing in the publication

Generous hearts shine through the rubble

Letters

The temblor that struck Canterbury and Christchurch on September 4 was one of the worst shakes New Zealand has experienced in recent memory.

In intensity it was quite comparable to some recent quakes that have shaken other countries around the world – notably, Haiti this year and Chile last year. Quakes of comparable magnitude have also hit China in recent years.

But the biggest difference that sets last week’s Canterbury quake apart from these other recent quakes is the fact that not a single life was lost despite the same severity that took hundreds of thousands of lives in Haiti, Chile and China. Even injuries were only a handful – and only one of them serious. Some have deemed this a miracle.

More than serendipity or a miraculous phenomenon it is doing things right and by the book that was responsible for this zero toll of human life and nearly negligible injuries. First, New Zealand has a building code that incorporates failsafe measures that are no less than best practice anywhere in the developed world. These are also followed by the building industry diligently and are enforced by the authorities strict-ly as per the codes.

Second, there is high awareness among people about natural disasters, particu-larly earthquakes, and most Kiwis are better prepared to encounter violent shakes compared to people in the developing world. This has played a major part in keeping injuries to the minimum.

The fact that the country’s population is small and spread out and that the quake struck in the small hours of the morning certainly helped to keep possibility of a human toll low. This particularly helped matters in the central business district, which was deserted when the earth shook violently enough to crumble the facades and walls of several business establishments.

Most importantly, the emergency response was as rapid as it could practically be. The government and all agencies concerned with disaster management swung into action almost immediately and were at hand to help those in need. Shelters were set up within a matter of hours and water and essential supplies were on their way to the affected areas almost at the same time as people in other parts of the country were getting to know of the quake.

Another big point of difference between last week’s quake and disasters of a similar nature and scale in other parts of the world was the almost complete absence of looting in the business district, though there were some early reports that this did happen. The law and order machinery effectively dealt with whatever semblance of such looting might have occurred.

And what is continuing to shine through the rubble caused by the big one on September 4 and its subsequent aftershocks that continue as we go to press is the generosity of Kiwis from all over.

Volunteers, Good Samaritans, generous citizens, magnanimous corporations, compassionate individuals and families, caring businesspeople and shop owners and countless others have all risen to the occasion to help in the situation in whatever way they can.

In this issue we have covered a couple of such stories in which Kiwi Indians have risen to the occasion, though there may be so many more that are unfolding as you read this.

The clean up job will be long and arduous, the rebuilding even harder and long drawn out. The sheer effort involved in the rebuilding process is expected to stir the economy toward growth – as it did in Chile, where post quake growth rates have reached 8 per cent.

Though the effect of the quakes in Canterbury and the ones in Haiti and Chile were so vastly different, there is one factor that binds them all together – the stress and trauma that affected individuals have to go through. The sense of being uproot-ed, dispossessed and having lost much more than just personal effects is something that would be common to all humans that have to go through this, no matter where they are on earth.

But being in the knowledge that there are a myriad Kiwi hearts shining gener-ously and a million helping hands ever willing to chip in is perhaps the most soothing and effective balm in the recovery process – something for which all of us must be grateful.

- Dev Nadkarni

Turmoil in Paradise It appears that some commentators are really spooked about Commodore Bainimarama’s actions in restoring Fiji to a semblance of good governance and propriety. There is no more need for a Parliamentary Democracy in the country then to bolster to egos of the political and colonial has-beens and our Deputy Sheriffs in the Pacific who have signed up to maintain their vigilance, authority and power over the Pacific Rim countries. Thus the heavy-handed response to political development...

Noor Dean

Bainimarama did not depose Qarase because of a “bad reaction”, Qarase was deposed because he (and his govt) was backing legislation (a bill that would have given the Speight plotters anmesty), and another that would have given exclusive rights to ethnic i-taukei (Fijians) to charge a fee on anyone who walked out to sea to fish (even if they owned the land on the water front). I am Fijian living in the USA, and like a lot of the working middle class in the cities (in Fiji) support Bainimarama....

Hilo0204

Desh Pardesh I totally agree with Arvin Kumars comment. It conveys a very strong message and these are real issues. Living in Canada for 26 years we have seen some of these problems within our Fiji Community. Acting could have been better but it is their first movie and consider-ing that they havent been to any acting school,they did a good job....

Sandy Sundar

Vedic mathematicsThanks for shedding light on the power of VM,Heard that VM is being taught in some of the most prestigious institutions in England.

Usha

Your last line is very potent! We do have some wonderful stuff in our ancient literature, but our myopic view of anything that is associated with the word Hindu is stopping us from reaping the benefits! But the other more moot problem is our reliance of the English system of education and that is the reason we have not produced any more stalwarts! High time we reversed that! Can be done only with dedicated and new look at the Gurukul system and its benefits.

Prashant

I have a copy of Vedic maths at home yet to be read. My love of maths has lead me to read the Gita in Sanskrit! Why? Because of zero: it came from the Hindu Dharma word Sanyas Sifer (Arabic) Cipher (Latin) to zero. The most famous book, which gave Hindu numer-als is in Florence Italy by Leonardo Fibonacci which translates Arabic\Hindu numerals (1-9,0) into Latin as opposed to Roman Numerals.

Jayesh A Patel, UK

Sachin TendulkarAirforce did a great job really it will boost our youth to join armed force because national pride is above all.

Abhijeet

Ten top stories on iwk.co.nz1. how science discovered the 00 historical krishna2. We are family: kajol set to vanish again3. Massive 7.1 earthquake rocks 00 Christchurch4. turmoil in paradise - punishing Fiji5. Coming together for raksha Bandhan6. Why some Gurus perform miracles?7. the Malayalis of kerala8. New high Commissioner to 00 India welcomed 9. Ganapati Bhat wows audiences 10.Sachin is Air Force Group Captain

Is New Zealand an expensive country to live

Opinion Poll:

Yes

75% 16% 8%

No same as developed countries


Indian Comment

deV NAdKArNI

Engaging with Fiji – another opportunity lostDespite the unchanging rigidity of their isola-tionist approach towards Fiji, the political lead-erships in Australia and New Zealand would now have all but realised that trying to keep Fiji out of the South Pacific regional equation was never going to be a tenable strategy.

This isolationist tack has come a complete cropper – it has achieved next to nothing. Sus-pension of bilateral ties, suspension from the Commonwealth, suspension from the Pacific Island Forum, travel bans, adverse travel advi-sories, besides all sorts of other measures have brought little change, if any, in Fiji.

Reams have been published on the lead up to the December 2006 military action, the regime and its style of functioning since then. And nearly all the ideas from politicians, academ-ics and the media especially in New Zealand and Australia on dealing with the Fiji situation have centered on such isolationist strategies that have come up almost solely with punitive measures.

It is as though engagement can never be an option. That sort of rigidity is hard to explain. Especially so when the writing was clearly on the wall that the strategy wasn’t working and the situation could not be remedied with that tack. No matter what the situation within Fiji, there ought to have been more efforts from the Anzac nations to engage with it these past years.

Several windows of opportunity were lost, the latest one being last month.

With no recourse to any regional platform now that it has been suspended from the Pacific Island Forum, Fiji pushed hard for regional en-gagement through the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) – the sub regional grouping of

Melanesian countries that was to have been held in Fiji last month.

Fiji has alleged that the meet was scuttled by the Anzac nations to predictable denials from both, as well as Vanuatu, which was supposed to have been prevailed upon not to attend the meet. The decidedly isolationist policy hitherto followed by Australia and New Zealand is what could well give credence to that allegation.

With the MSG meet not happening, Fiji thought up another ploy at engagement and invited regional leaders to the “Engaging with the Pacific” meeting just about a week later. Though several leaders, ministers and govern-ment representative attended, Australia, New Zealand – and Samoa – did not. And that was a huge opportunity missed by the Anzac nations.

Among other things, the Fiji regime pre-sented its updated roadmap to the proposed 2014 election. The presence of political leaders from Australia and New Zealand or at least their representatives – no matter how junior – would have been extremely useful in that they would then have had an all new handle to hold the regime to account in the months ahead leading up to the 2014 election and the achieve-ments of the stated milestones.

By not sending representatives and refusing to engage even tentatively at the most tenuous of levels, Australia and New Zealand have chosen to persist with their one pronged, un-imaginative isolationist tack of trying to force Fiji into a tight corner with no room to manoeu-vre.

Except that in this rapidly globalising world, there aren’t any corners anymore. If the traditional longstanding South has stonewalled it, a huge front from the rapidly growing, in-

creasingly prosperous North has long opened up not only for Fiji but also for almost all other South Pacific nations.

Chinese and Korean investment in Fiji has grown tremendously in the past few years and with every passing month the country is further building up its ties with Asian countries. The Anzac nations know it only too well that the region’s future – including their own – is tied up with Asia. New Zealand is the first western nation to have signed a Free Trade Agreement with China, which is now not only poised to become its largest trading partner but also wants to buy big into its dairy sector.

Australia and New Zealand’s rigid stand notwithstanding there is no denying that Fiji is the hub of the Pacific and is too significant geo-politically for their simplistic, almost childish, isolationist non-strategy. Their persistence in following this tack beggars belief and exposes their leaderships’ paralysis in trying to come up with more sensitive, open minded and com-municative approaches.

The Melanesian brotherhood has realised this. And more than just the warm fraternal ‘wantok’ feeling, it is the hard and practical knowledge that they are sitting on a great deal of mineral wealth both inland and offshore that is at work here. The potential of that offshore wealth is poised to grow with the redrawing of the continental shelf boundaries following changes to the United Nations Law of the Sea in the coming years.

The countries know that together they stand much to gain – and that explains why its leaders attended Fiji’s hurriedly called engagement gig with such alacrity. That message seems lost on the leadership of the Anzac nations that has

gone on record saying that there will be no change in their Fiji policy.

Fiji’s efforts to engage with the region despite being suspended from the Forum need to be actually seen as positive step. The Anzac nations need to set their hurt false pride aside and engage at whatever level – to begin with even informally, outside the ambit of recog-nised channels out of which Fiji has been ex-cluded in any case.

Nothing can ever be achieved by non en-gagement and isolationism especially in modern day geopolitics. Engagement and com-munication are key to diplomatic conflict reso-lution – particularly so when one of the parties sends all the right signals that it is game for it.

The flawed assumption that any engagement with the present Fijian dispensation would be illegitimate needs to change because inaction based on such assumption will go nowhere and negate any possibility and hope of addressing the situation.

The events that have taken place so far cannot be reversed and despite the ongoing controversial developments in Fiji, the regime has once again presented its plan for elections in 2014 – which, according to media reports have been received positively by the leaders who attended the meet. Attending that meet would have been a great opportunity to restart dialogue and work with Fiji to work toward an outcome that is best for its people and for the region as a whole.

The writing on the wall is clear. Sticking to their isolationist strategy is not an option and staying rigid will undoubtedly have huge consequences for the geopolitics of the South pacific region in the years to come.

‘The pen is mightier than the sword,’ so goes the saying. Maybe with that in mind, a year after Fiji became independent, K.C. Ramrakha of the Opposition National Federation Party, gave this ominous warning: ‘[W]e must strangle this newspaper [The Fiji Times] before it strangles us, and I mean it’ (Parliamentary Debates, 21 October, 1971). It was with reference to the anti-Indian propaganda the newspaper had been car-rying on for a century and continued to do even after Independence.

At that time Ramrakha was trying to estab-lish another daily newspaper, which would have been the best way to ‘strangle’ the Fiji Times. There was the weekly publication, The Pacific Review, which was started by Swami Rudranan-da and A. D. Patel, who was the first Leader of the Opposition in Fiji. Needless to say, the move to turn it into a daily newspaper met with strong opposition. Then in1974 the Fiji Sun started publishing. As the monopoly of the Fiji Times was broken it modified its stand and the opposi-tion seemed to have abandoned its efforts to set up another paper though the Fiji Sun was also foreign owned.

Moreover, the Fiji Times continued with its anti-Indian propaganda through its Fijian publication, Nai Lalakai but the Indian leaders did not seem to have been aware of it. In 1977 Ratu Mara talked of the ‘enormous damage’ Nai Lalakai had done to racial harmony. He claimed that over the past five years it had done a lot to ‘foster, encourage and disseminate the views of the Fijian Nationalist Party’ (Fiji Times, 6 June, 1977).

Even after Ratu Mara’s warning of what the

Nai Lalakai was doing the Indian leaders did not seem to have taken it seriously and paid close at-tention to what the common Fijians were being told about the Indians. They had one of their own writers, Prof. Subramani, also giving some indication of how the Fijians felt with one of his short stories and an article by Pio Manoa that Subramani published in The Indo-Fijian Experi-ence, which he edited. No one seemed to have paid much attention to these also.

Indian leaders often used to criticise British colonialism, but there were some lessons from the British that were worthy of emulation. The British were able to rule over such a vast empire because they paid attention to every detail and were thorough in the work they did. One of the first things the British officers were required to do was to learn the local language.

The officials went through every local newspaper and knew what exactly was being written in each one of them. I know this for a fact because my husband used to work for a Hindi weekly and the public relations officer at that time, Jack Hackett, often corresponded with him indicating that he knew what was in each edition. This thoroughness and attention to detail are qualities that Indian leaders should have picked up if they wanted to succeed. As the Indians remained ignorant of how the Fijians felt, the events of 1987 became almost inevita-ble.

In 1987 the Fijian chiefly system was still very strong so the chiefs were able to contain any violence that would have resulted from the military coups. So miraculously Fiji was able to steer through her problems as she was given

a second chance to become ‘the way the world should be’ with a harmonious multiracial popu-lation. But even after all the upheavals of 1987 the people of Fiji did not seem to realize the power of the written word as the Fiji Times once again gained its monopoly and went back to its old ways of generating racial ill will especially against the Indians.

The monopoly of the Fiji Times was once again broken, with the starting of another paper, the Daily Post, by an indigenous Fijian. It was the first locally owned daily newspaper but from the beginning it faced with financial problems. Then in 1999 another local paper was started by some Indian businessmen. It would have been more realistic for those Indian businessmen to have joined hands with the Fijian owner of the Daily Post and strengthened it rather than start-ing a third daily in opposition to the other two in a country where the readership was limited.

With such multiethnic co-operation it would have been easy to ‘strangle’ the Fiji Times. Un-fortunately, no such inter ethnic co-operation was forthcoming. While the two locally owned papers struggled for survival, the foreign-owned Fiji Times continued to forge ahead as the clear winner. And Ramrakha’s prediction that the Fiji Times would strangle the nation came true in 2000.

It is generally accepted that the Fiji Times played a major role in the overthrow of the People’s Coalition Government led by Ma-hendra Chaudhry. A New Zealand journalist, Bruce Connew, was amazed to learn that a whole, groundswell of Fijians were “convinced, by those with other agendas, that Chaudhry’s

master plan for Fiji was ‘a little India’”. He was further puzzled that Chaudhry didn’t counter the “crass disinformation campaign”. “Is he a politician or not?” Connew wondered (Connew, 2001, p. 79).

It is quite understandable to people who are familiar with the position of the media in Fiji. They know the immense power of the Fiji Times, which virtually had no rival in 2000. The locally owned daily newspaper, the Fiji Sun was in its infancy and the other local daily, the Daily Post (though at that time it was still independent) was going through financial problems so it was almost impossible to counter the propaganda the Fiji Times was happy to transmit.

A veteran local journalist, the late Robert Keith-Reid, while identifying the motives behind the crisis of 2000 had noted in his weekly column in the Fiji Times itself: “What a pity it is that no one is loudly declaring that the myth that Mahendra Chaudhry wanted to steal the Fijian heritage and Indianise is a lie.” (Fiji Times, 18 June, 2000).

By then it was already too late as the Peo-ple’s Coalition Government had been removed at gunpoint. If Keith-Reid and other journalists had stated that earlier it might have helped as it could have reassured the Fijian people. The fact that Keith-Reid could say it in a Fiji Times column might be taken to show that it was not as biased in its reporting as claimed, but it must not be forgotten that it was published after the Chaudhry government was overthrown. The fall of the People’s Coalition Government once again proved beyond any doubt the power of the written word.

The Power of the written word Provisions in Fiji’s media decree have brought uncertainty to the existence of the country’s oldest newspaper, the Fiji Times. PADMINI GAUNDER looks at previous attempts to ‘strangle’ the newspaper – albeit with competition. And that was because of its long-standing, anti-Indian stance.

PAdMINI GAuNder


Indian


Indian Community

Hindu Niwas, a new initiative at the Hindu Heritage Centre, is “a home away from home” that provides accommodation to seniors, at-risk women and chil-dren, socio-economically deprived families, and respite for caregivers, international students and visitors to Auckland. It is equipped with 63 beds, with common kitchen facilities.

Swami Vigyananand inaugurated this facility in a traditional Hindu way in May. In July, Maori elder Matua Pomare and staff members from Te Wananga o Aotearoa (The University of New Zealand) blessed the facility and the land. Some years ago, Hindu Heritage Centre site used to be a Te Wananga campus.

Hindu Niwas works collaboratively with a wide range of Indian and other ethnic organisations to serve communities from a number of countries. It works with government service providers in social services and health sectors and is registered with Work & Income New Zealand (WINZ).

Hindu Niwas was designed to provide respite services to make life easier for people in support roles, like caregivers, i.e. those providing care for others with physical and mental disabilities and per-sonal health and social problems.

“We aim to provide culturally appropriate and quality services so that the residents develop good social networks,” said Sneh Prasad, volunteer of Hindu Council of New Zealand who helped set up this project.

some of the services provided at Hindu Niwas include:l Social work and family support services (sup-porting elders, assisting newcomers)Youth, women, men, children and families at riskl Children and youth support services (develop-ing leadership and life skills)Health and wellbeing services (supporting healthy nutrition, physical activities and yoga)l Participation and organisation of community seminars, workshops and cultural activitiesl Yoga classes are conducted regularly at the centre by Aotearoa Research Organisation for Generic Yoga and Ayurveda (AROGYA), a divi-sion of Hindu Council of New Zealand.

These classes create opportunities for people to take a break from the daily routine stresses, and generate a change for physical, mental, and spiritual rejuve-nation.

“We have residents with different ethnic backgrounds from various countries,” said Jairaj Chavan, volunteer manager of Hindu Niwas.

He added that this communal facility is run by a team of dedicated volunteers, with a clear vision to achieve the Hindu ideal of Vasudhaiva Kutum-bakam (the world is one big family), promoting uni-versal human values and social co-existence.

For more information about Hindu Niwas, please contact [email protected]

A home away from homeHindu Niwas provides accommodation to seniors, at-risk women, children and respite for caregivers, students and visitors to Auckland.

Auckland Regional Migrant Services (ARMS) is trying to make contact with as many unreg-istered overseas trained doctors in Auckland as possible and would appreciate the following in-formation being shared through your networks.

Health Workforce NZ is currently develop-ing the NZ REX Preparation Placement Pro-gramme to assist unregistered International Medical Graduates (migrants and refugees)

who are residing in New Zealand.On behalf of Health Workforce, ARMS

is collecting data on the number of overseas trained doctors in the Auckland region who may be interested and eligible for such a pro-gramme.

For more information and to receive a ques-tionnaire, please email Anna Fyfe-Rahal on [email protected]

Doctors wanted

Labour Member of Parliament Dr Ashraf Choudhary expresses his deepest sympathy to all those affect-ed by Saturday’s catastrophic earth-quake in the Canterbury.

“As Associate spokesperson for Ethnic Affairs I also extend sympa-thy to the many migrant and ethnic families whose property and sur-roundings have been affected by the disaster.”

“I ask that people please donate generously to the Red Cross so the people of Canterbury, in conjunction with the Civil Defence, Red Cross staff and volunteers have more re-sources to further assist the commu-nity and to help with the reconstruc-tion of damaged infrastructure and buildings in Christchurch.

to MAKe A doNAtIoN to tHe CANterburY eArtHQuAKe APPeAL:

Phone: 0900 33 200.or

By sending a cheque (made payable to: New Zealand Red Cross) to: Can-terbury Earthquake Appeal, Red Cross House, PO Box 12140, Thorn-don, Wellington 6144

100% of all money donated to the Canterbury Earthquake Appeal will go to the Appeal

Please forward this message to all family, friends and community members who may have been affect-ed by this disaster.

Dear Community Members

The Kerala Community in Wellington celebrated Onam recently with much pomp and fanfare.

The grand celebration was held on Saturday, August 28, under the vibrant leadership of Wel-lington Malayalee Association. Onam is the most important and awaited festival of Kerala where the traditional aspects of the state unravels in fullest measure.

Apart from being the harvest festival, usher-ing in a mood of celebration, it commemorates the golden reign of King Mahabali.

Crammed with guests from all communities the Indian Cultural Centre at Kilbirnie witnessed rich culture and tradition of Kerala and was mes-merised by the versatile colour of it.

The event was inaugurated by United Future MP Peter Dunne who specifically mentioned the role smaller communities played to enrich the life of New Zealanders.

The Wellington city council was represented by Deputy Mayor Ian Mac Kinnen, who ex-pressed his willingness to work more closely with such smaller but proactive communities like the Malayalee Community.

Jojo Jose, president of the Wellington Ma-layalee Association said, “In one year after the emancipation of this organisation we have come so forward and hosting the second biggest Indian community festival in Wellington, which is a great achievement.”

The official meeting was followed by cultural events which lasted for more than two hours.

The diversity of the programs and the charis-ma in its presentation was the result of a gallant effort by the Wellington Malayalee Association. The programmes depicted the cultural and tradi-tional symbols of kerala and succeeded in show-casing its liveliness.

Rangapooja, the invocation which was

themed on “Kerala Women” was once in a life time spectacle performed by 18 artists. It illustrat-ed glimpses of kerala drumming as well as Kalari Payattu (Martial Arts).

Thiruvathira, Carnatic song, Mime and cin-ematic dance were few of the items performed by the community members. The audience were spellbound by the performance by 8-year-old Jessie Hillel, a rising star from the Malayalee Community who represented New Zealand in the World Vocal Performance in USA this year.

She sang You Rise Me Up which was an excel-lent choice for the occasion and received with big applause.

The event was not complete until Onasadya (special vegetarian meals for Onam) served on banana leaves for more than 750 guests. The meal requires elaborate cooking, included 13 variety of vegetarian dishes served with red rice from Kerala are served in precise order which was sen-sational experience for the guests.

The Onam 2010 was supported by people and organizations like Communities Action Trust New Zealand, Wellington Indian Association and similar ethnic communities.

“We us a community are glad to come forward and proclaim that India is not only Taj Mahal and Rajasthan but also greener south,” said Roshan K Sam, secretary of Wellington Malayalee Associa-tion.

The spirit of Onam is all about togetherness and inclusiveness and all keralites pledge to live in that spirit for the year ahead. Although Onam 2010 was the first ever cultural event organised by Wellington Malayalee Association, this South Indian Community is one of those smaller com-munities which are capable of trendsetting and one to look forward in years to come.

Onam celebrated in style in Wellington


Indian Community

Prime Minister John Key was the guest of honour at the fund raising dinner organised by Dr. Jackie Blue, MP, at the Mahatma Gandhi Centre in Eden Terrace on August 20.

The event raised more than $15,000 in ticket sales and auction items for the Mt. Roskill National Party.

Dr. Blue thanked the Electorate Chair and his team for the hard work in the electorate. She ac-knowledged the Prime Minister’s strong leadership and his support for Mt. Roskill.

In his speech, Mr Key noted that Dr. Jackie Blue was a very passionate and hard working MP in the caucus. He said that she was full of enthusiasm and came with new ideas every time she visited his office. Prime Minister even reminisced about the wonderful and upbeat reception his team received when they arrived in Mt. Roskill on the last leg of 2008 election campaign.

The event was attended by over 150 people from

various communities. Among the guests were Kan-waljit Singh Bakshi MP, Sam Lotu-liga MP, Peter Goodfellow, President of National Party, Auckland City Councillor Paul Goldsmith, Prithipal Singh, Chairman of National Party Global Indian and several other community and business leaders.

The Mt. Roskill Chair and the Northern Re-gional Chair of National Party, Ram Rai, welcomed the Prime Minister and the guests. Mr. Rai spoke about the progress National Party had made under the leadership of Dr. Jackie Blue and the challenges that lay ahead for National to win in the Mt. Roskill electorate in 2011.

The event, co-sponsored by the Global Indian of National Party, was a night of happy mingling, interspersed with entertainment by Ratna Venkat with her superlative classical dance performance, and Viraf Toddywalla & team with electrifying Bollywood-themed gyrations.

Dinner raises $15,000 for National

East Tamaki Healthcare has been adjudged the finalist in Westpac Manukau Business Awards in tow categories: Cogita Excellence in Innovation and Strategy and RSM Prince Excellence Award in Service Delivery.

The company is a Primary Care Managed Clinical Network that provides extended hours, low cost, high quality general practice and accident and medical care services to patients, 75 per cent of these being Maori and Pacific peoples and residing in Counties Manukau.

Dr Kantilal Patel, better known as Kantibhai has led the business as a visionary. In 2009 his services were recognised with a Queens Service Medal. He was also awarded Distinguished Fellow of the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners.

His leadership has been instrumental in ETHC’s success in winning a number of awards. His charitable work within South Auckland Com-munities continues to inspire as a clinical leader,

business entrepreneur and philanthropist.His wife Ranjna, a founder and executive di-

rector of the business leads the human resource and community arms of the business and was also awarded the Queens Service Medal for services to the community. Together they build the inspiration, vision, strategies and most importantly provide the confidence that the work we do is rewarding, leading and respected.

The company firmly believes in Meeting Patient needs; Delivering clinical innovations using systems and tools to deliver quality, safe and efficient medical care; building confident teams; Inspirational Leadership and has won the highest standard accreditation and evaluation – ensuring we lead the market in professional systems and regulations

The NZ government policy of Better, Sooner, More Convenient is exactly the model of Commu-nity Care that it has been developed over the past 15 years.

New Zealand’s first International Carnival is to be held in Auckland in November 2010 and Indian community groups and residents are being invited to participate.

Just like the ‘Holi’ Festival of Colours in India, the two-day festival extravaganza will offer visitors the opportunity to experience the dazzling spec-tacular of Carnival and celebrate the melting pot of cultures and people that makes Auckland unique.

The carnival has received support from Indian communities across the Auckland region as also Latin Americans, Pacific Islanders, Asian, Euro-pean, and African groups.

The event will feature a Costume Carnival Parade, which includes Bollywood theatre and dance, providing a blend of creativity, colours and sounds.

There will be something for all the family to enjoy, with plenty of free activities including the fun picnic area with an outdoor cinema, a Kid’s Zone, food and craft stalls and community perfor-mances.

There will also be a Blue Light Disco running on both days, a Masquerade Charity Ball, dance competitions, an all night Carnival After Party

which includes Bollywood music, and entertain-ment involving local performers and international acts from Jamaica and Denmark.

The Auckland International Carnival concludes on Sunday night with a spectacular display of daz-zling fireworks and pyrotechnics.

The best of Indian cultures and the rest of the world will come together at the carnival.More information at www.aucklandinternational-carnival.co.nz or 09-908-0116.When: Saturday 6 November and Sunday 7 November 2010Where: Ellerslie Racecourse, 80-100 Ascot Avenue, Greenlane East, Auckland

East Tamaki Health Care notches success

International carnival in Auckland

NCSP1360

Contact your nurse, doctor orlocal health worker for an appointment.

Call 0800 729 729 for more information.Or visit www.cervicalscreening.govt.nz

A smear test can detect changes to cells on the cervix. It’s important to find

those changes before they can develop into cancer.

Cervical cancer is caused by the Human Papillomavirus (HPV). Most women

who have been sexually active will have HPV at some stage in their lives.

Generally the virus just goes away by itself but in a few cases it can lead to

cervical cancer.

Usually, there are no symptoms so it’s important to have a smear test every

three years – even if you are no longer sexually active.

A smear test could save your life.

I don’t have any symptoms sowhy should I have a smear test?

Don’t put it off.

“There’s a Better Way” is the brainchild of Mt Roskill community constable Glen Green, to work with local youth and break down the bar-riers between police and locals and create path-ways for positive changes in their lives.

At the start of the project in January, Mr Green was introduced to Malcolm, an unem-ployed 19-year-old who had been in trouble with the law.

Mr Green says he asked Malcolm how he could help him, to which Malcolm replied that he wanted to be a fireman, and had never been fishing.

Glenn also arranged for Malcolm to go fishing and also arranged for him to experience first how it is being a fireman. Now Malcolm is a changed personality and works for Gilmours and has severed his gang ties.

“For ex-gang member Fred Tanuvasa, being committed to the project has also started a new phase in his life. He became involved through Malcolm and also went on the fishing trip. “He told me what it was all about and just last minute, I went down there,” Fred says. “Every-thing seemed to all come together.

“It’s made a big impact on my life. It’s made me a better person, a better husband, a better brother, a better father.”

Fred also decided to give up his gang affili-ations and is now a mentor for local youngsters.

“It was a time in my life that I needed to do it, not only for my family but for myself and the community,” he says. “It’s where my heart is now.”

He understands how many of the local youth feel and it was one of the main reasons he decided to get on board.

“They should be able to have doors opened for them as well,” he says. “The media puts them as the worst kids in Auckland. It’s about time they were exposed for the good things they do.”

He says There’s a Better Way has helped break down the barrier between locals and the police and he feels he is now judged as a person, not as an ex-gang member.

Glen who is the driving force behind this project, is passionate about working with local youth and creating pathways for positive changes in their lives. Local community leader and social worker Ram Rai is also actively as-sisting Glen in these activities which have made the Wesley area almost crime free – which once used to be a hotbed of criminal and gang related activity. This project has been declared by the best community project of the year by the Auckland City Council and a certificate and a momento has been awarded to Glen. Local and national politicians including the police minis-ter have visited Glen and are seeking his help to roll out this program on a nationwide basis.

If you want to contribute to this cause of find out how to start this program in your suburb and transform your neighbourhood into relatively crime free by involving the youth, contact Ram Rai on 021655922 or Community Constable Glen Green on 021 810 095.

The way to a better life

Prime Minister John Key, Ram Rai and MPs Jackie Blue and Kanwalji Singh Bakshi at the fund raising dinner.


Indian bollywood

ENJOYentertainmentthis festive season!

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Mumbai: Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan is not taking the issue of the abusive blogger lightly and on Sunday he wrote, he could be a gentleman only ‘up to a point’.

The 67-year-old actor is seriously miffed with this person who apparently writes abusive comments on his blog and sends him derogatory text messages and has already lodged a police complaint against the person.

“There is a limit to which this can be tol-erated. I can be a gentleman but only up to a point. But beyond that I shall stop being one,” he wrote.

“There is a serious effort by a member that writes and comments on this blog to use lan-guage and expression that is abusive, filthy and utterly disgusting,” Bachchan had written in a recent blog post.

He said, “This individual has been sending me the most unprintable abuse on sms on my phone. I have, after great tolerance for many months, now reported the matter to the police.”

Seen as one of the most sincerest of celebrity

bloggers who writes his heart out on his blog, the Big B said he has been getting plenty of sympathy from the media, his friends and even from within the police who are promising action against the perpetrator.

“For the entire day there has been a barrage of messages of support, of wanting to catch the culprits and take them to task, of grave indigna-tion and of being incensed by this show of abso-lute garbage that has been directed towards me,” he tweeted on Sunday.

Indicating that the blogger might be one from outside India, the actor said, “Soon there shall be a sharing of details, not just in India but in the country of its origin.”

What enraged him most perhaps is the fact that the person apparently targeted the hate messages at the Bachchan’s family.

“You go to the level of so much as touching my family and little innocent grand children and you shall have to pay extremely dearly,” Big B warned.

Big B takes on abusive blogger

Mumbai: It wouldn’t be incorrect to say the Kat’s out of the bag finally as on Thursday Katrina Kaif, apparently for the first time without any ‘conditions applied’, mouthed the words, “Yes, I am single”.

U n s u r p r i s i n g l y, while the Bollywood beauty was at a press conference upon being made the brand ambas-sador of the flag carrier airline of Abu Dhabi, UAE, some reporter pitted the ‘Are you single?’ question at her.

She seemed to go into her customary diplomatics for a while when she said things like, “Until the time you are married I think you’re single,” but finally yielded to the scribes’ pickings and said “At the moment, to answer your question, yes I am single.”

Without revealing too much though, she said, “If you commit to something you must stand by it. But if you have committed to something and situations change, well then maybe the commit-

ments also change.”The 26-year-old actress has been specu-

latively paired with Bollywood hunk Salman Khan for quite some time but the duo almost never acknowledged their rela-tionship publicly.

“Whatever decisions you have to take [in your personal life], it’s very difficult to take them, and if you have to take them in front of everybody [...] I think that’s a little bit more than I can handle,” she said.

“If Salman Khan has said he’s single and I’ve also said I’m single, beyond that I don’t think it’s not correct to comment any more,”

“Over the last six years I have never com-mented on who I am with, if there’s a break up, if there’s an argument, whatever the situation may be, I have not commented on that. I know it’s irritating but if you can just respect that,” Katrina said.

Confirmed: Katrina is single

Mumbai: Punjabi singer Gurdas Maan was hon-oured with a Doctorate in World Music from The University of Wolverhampton on Sept 7, in United Kingdom.

Maan will now be amongst those few artists in the world that have had the privilege of being worthy of a Doctorate in Music. Others include

Sir Paul McCartney, Bill Cosby and Bob Dylan. “I am both touched and thankful for this

recognition and I will continue entertaining my audience like always,” said Maan.

Maan is also going to perform live at The Royal Albert Hall in April 2011 in a special show organised by UK Box Office.

Gurdas Maan to get doctorate in world music


Indian

Mumbai: Bollywood’s Bong sensation konkona Sen Sharma tied the knot with VJ turned actor ranvir Shorey on Friday, media reports said.

the pair had been dating each other for nearly three years and media reports said they were in a live-in relationship for some time now. the marriage took place at a Goregaon house on Friday, with only few close relatives and friends attending the function.

Earlier, the couple had kept not only their marriage plans completely secret, but they hardly even discussed their relationship to media. talented konkona Sen Sharma is the daughter of legendary Bengali film actress and director Aparna Sen.

konkona has acted in several critically ac-claimed films like ‘Mr, and Mrs. Iyer’, ‘page 3’, ‘Wake up Sid’ ‘life in a Metro’ and ’15 park Avenue’, earning a name for her pow-

er-house perfor-mances in each. ranvir too has earned kudos for his acting in a number of Bollywood movies like khosla ka Ghosla, pyaar ke Side Effects, Aaja Nachle, Mithya and Singh Is kinng.More over, ranvir’s latest film, ‘the Film Emotional Atyachar’, also released on Friday.

So it will be interesting to see how his film performs at the box office with a new beginning in his life.

Ranvir, Konkona tie the knot

SRK surprises Kareena, ArjunMumbai: It was a pleasant surprise for the actors of Karan Johar’s upcoming movie ‘We Are Family’, as superstar Shah Rukh Khan reached the sets, where the actors were shooting a promotional in-terview for the film.

If media reports are to be believed, SRK visited the sets when glamorous Kareena Kapoor and hotbod Arjun Rampal were shooting a pro-motional interview for their upcoming movie on Wednesday evening.

A surprised Arjun Rampal tweeted about this incident on Twitter for his fans: “surprised Kareena & me by walking into the midst of our in-terview saying he was part of the family& should

be interviewed, ROCKSTAR.”“is by far the most endearing person thank

you for today,” posted Rampal, speaking about his ‘Om Shanti Om’ co-star Shah Rukh Khan.

SRK was shooting near the place where Kareena and others were shooting their interview, media reports stated.

However, SRK is busy these days with his up-coming movie ‘RA.One’.

The movie is produced by Khan’s production company, Red Chillies Entertainment, and will feature King Khan himself along with Kareena and Arjun.

bollywood

What made you sign Khatron Ke Khiladi when you are already packed with back-to-back shooting? You are right. I have number of projects in hand right now and have been extremely busy , but I always like being busy with work. so you are ready to take up more proj-ects? (Smiles) See, this show required only 20 days of my schedule in August and I had dates available. Moreover, Khatron Ke Khiladi is a successful show and who doesn’t want to be associated with a successful show. I have been a fan of Khatron Ke Khiladi from the first season and since I am hosting it this time I am really looking forward to it. In fact this show goes perfectly with my per-sonality. Akshay (Kumar) had taken this show to a different height. And now it’s your turn to take it forward from here…(Smiles again) Akshay was fabulous in the first two seasons of the show and yes he took it to a whole new level. It’s because of him people can relate to the show. I am extremely excited about the show and taking it forward in its new avatar. but your styles must be different…We both are different personalities and have our

individual styles. As a host I will be a friend when the contestants need one and a motivator when they are feeling low. And I am waiting to have some fun at their expense, as I am going to put them through some real difficult challenges. What about the stunts? do we get to see you doing stunts as well?I have already shot for the promos in Bangkok, which was really fun. I got to do some exciting stunts there and now that I am in Brazil will be doing some exciting and dangerous stunts. In fact I have had the experience of doing some stunts in films like Don and Drona, which were again very interesting and exciting. I have been training hard for the last few months under the supervision of world-class stunt directors. It’s quite possible that you may see me doing stunts even wearing high heels. (Smiles) You are one of those few actors today who has tasted success within a short time in your career…I consider myself extremely lucky. I have been fortunate to get the opportunity to work with some of the most amazing people in the industry at such a young age. It gives me a high and I am looking forward to working in many more inter-esting projects.

Your next film Anjaana Anjaani is set to release and expectations are once again high, more so because you are paired opposite Ranbir Kapoor for the first time. Yes with Anjaana – Anjaani I am paired opposite Ranbir Kapoor for the first time. He is one of the finest actors we have today. We had a blast shoot-ing for the film. We shot in great locations like New York, Bangkok and Las Vegas and the cast and crew were pretty much of the same age. We used to hang out together after the shoot and have a lot of fun. And saath Khoon Maaf with Vishal bhardwaj is once again a big film for you…It’s always been great working with Vishal Sir. This is the second time I will be working with him after Kaminey. I am so lucky to have got this opportunity to work with him on this film. It’s a great film and the role is by far the most challeng-ing for me given that I play a character, which ages from 20 to 65. I hope everyone likes it. so are you happy with the way your career has shaped?This is definitely one of the best periods of my career. I am happy because I am being given the opportunity to do such interesting roles. I couldn’t have asked for more!!!

“I will be doing dangerous stunts” She has won accolades for her power packed performances and has a National Award in her kitty. And now Priyanka Chopra will be seen in an all-new avatar — playing the host and anchor in Khatron Ke Khiladi 3. The actress is already off to Brazil with 13 of her khiladis who are all set to perform death-defying stunts in a bid to win the crown. The actress spoke to TWF correspondent Gaurav Sharma on the show and more.

Actress-producer-danseuse Hema Malini , ap-pointed as one of the vice-presidents of a na-tional Indian political party, was dedication personified, as she depicted a spiritual dance ballet ‘Yashoda-Krishna’ at the Juhu ISKCON center (Mumbai) where she played ‘Yashoda’ . What seemed an intriguing suspense for the audience. as to ‘who’ was performing the adult Krishna character, as the name was not declared in advance. Eventually as the finale segment concluded, it turned out to be none other than Hema’s younger daugh-ter Ahana Deol clad in an ornate costume and turban who was graceful-ly playing the male char-acter of Lord Krishna.

Little wonder than the shy, bashful Deol girl who is a otherwise a budding fashion-designer won thundering applause as she took her bow and chanted the ‘Hare Krishna’ mantras on stage. Enthused trained Odissi danseuse Ahana, “Its so overwhelming when the audience con-nects with you .For me its an ecstatic honour to play Kishen Kanhaiya that too with my real-life mother as Yashoda-mai-yya. Even in Haridwar, I recently performed with my mom where she played Dharti Maa and I played Ganga and we received a fabulous response,” she says.

Had her designing passion taken a ‘back-seat’ with her frequent commitments to dance ballets ? “On the contrary, I am also busy with my ‘in-house’ multi-product designer store called ‘Rabbithole’ ( inspired from the fable ‘Alice in Wonderland’ ) which is being operated from our family Juhu bungalow, as the rentals for hiring outside commercial premises are too

exorbitant. Besides my designer wear with my brand-

name ‘Ahana’ , the store will also exhibit various exotic accessories as also paintings and photographs of young artists and also food stuff like jams and pastries and even several types of gourmet food cooking oil.

Wasn’t Ahana designing outfits for her home-production ‘Tell Me O Khuda’ now being directed by her mom ( Hema) ? She counters,

“Not the entire movie. Just a few of them and also for my sister Esha and dad Dharmendra who is also part of the cast. When ‘off-screen’, my mom wore one of my ethnic-streak jackets, over denims, it gave me a huge high. Designing for someone who is hailed as the ‘original dream-girl’ was a dream-come-true for me,” she giggles with a gleam in her eyes. Meanwhile, how was madame Hema Malini who was seen in a pivotal character in Luv (Sha-trughan) Sinha’s recent debut movie Sadiyaan, managing her multiple ‘avataars’ which include film production, dance concerts and socio-political responsibility .

After a brief pause she reacts, “Whatever multi-tasking I am doing, is thanks to the spiritual inner strength given to me by Lord Krishna. And I will continue to perform dance concerts endlessly---as long as I am able to do so,” she shrugs with a radiant (read ‘divine’) glow on her charismatic face.

- Chaitanya Padukone

Mom Hema Malini as Yashoda-maa and beti Ahana Deol in ‘Krishna-avataar’


Indian bollywood

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Mumbai: The latest cat-out-of-the-box is per-taining to Mukta Arts’ upcoming film ‘Hello Darling’ and the fact that actress Divya Dutta seems nowhere in promotion of the film.

The movie has Divya Dutta playing the role of a Gujrati housewife to actor Javed Jaffrey whereas in entire promotion of the film, only the three glam girls-Gul Panag, Eesha Koppi-kar Narang and Celina Jailtly- and Javed Jaffrey are visible.

Be it hoardings, posters of the film TV Promos or news items, Divya’s presence is just negligible.

However, there is no enmity or personal grudge involved in it but all a part of the planned publicity.

It was a conscious call from the Director and Producer of the film to keep Divya hidden in the publicity, because they felt it is one of the most important characters in the film and basis for the story to excel.

The makers of the film wanted to keep their audience engrossed with surprise and while filming only it was decided that Divya’s charac-ter will not be exposed much.

The film about three young, beautiful, smart girls (Gul Panaag, Eesha Koppikhar Narang and Celina Jaitley), who work in a fashion design company in Mumbai. Each are targets of their lusty boss (Javed Jaffery), who eventually manages to trap them all a sticky situation in which all three are made to dance to his tunes.

They must find ways to wriggle out of his control and unite to cook up their own scheme to be free of him and his notorious intentions once and for all.

Who outsmarts whom is the basis of this comedy and that’s where Divya’s character comes in to the limelight; she plays the role of ‘Purvi bhain’ in the movie.

This is the first time when Divya will be seen in a ‘Gujju’ avatar. So it would be prefect to suggest here that the actress is on a roll.

There’s no doubt that Divya has proved herself as a versatile actress and it is her versa-tility that lands her with roles which have strong rural dialects.

But guess what, the dame is not cribbing at all, in fact, these movies have proved to be lucky for her, at least that’s what she believes.

Similar is the case with Hello Darling, where again Divya will try her dialect luck.

There is a punch line in the movie that she uses quite often, ‘Sudhar Jao Hardik Bhai Nahi toh Guzar Jao Ge’.

Another film is ‘Haat: The Weekly Bazaar’, she plays the role of Sanja, a Rajasthani woman. In this movie she has to learn Rajasthani and considering the entire movie has a strong Raja-sthani influence she even had to learn the small-est detailing of the language.

Call them her lucky charms or her hard work… these movies work for this Bollywood damsel.

Divya being kept under wraps

Chennai: Superstar Rajinikanth’s daughter Soundarya wed entrepreneur Ashwin Ramku-mar in a star-studded ceremony here on Friday, with politicians to film stars blessing the young couple.

The wedding took place at the Rani Meyyammani Hall, where a special ‘mandapam’ was decorated in muted gold colour and rows of white flowers to lend an air of traditional grandeur to the occasion.

The second daughter of the southern superstar, Soundarya was dressed in a traditional red saree with temple jewelery as she got married to her Stanford graduate husband in Tamil Brahmin tradition.

Clad in a simple dhoti and shirt Rajinikanth and his wife Lata received the guests, which included who’s who of the political as well as entertainment arena.

Union Home minister P Chidambaram arrived with his family as did Tamil Nadu chief minister M Karunanidhi and MDMK general secretary Vaiko.

Veteran director K Balachander, music director Mani Ratnam, actor Suhasini, poet Vai-ramuthu, singer P Susheela, actors Sivakumar and Prabhu were also among those present.

Rajinikanth, in a message to his fans, asked their blessings for the couple and said that though he wanted to invite them all, space constraints and logistical problems prevented him from doing so.

The formal engagement took place on Thursday and a reception on the occasion was at-tended by actor Sridevi and her producer husband Boney Kapoor, the star couple Aishwarya and Abhishek Bachchan and Union minister Alagiri.

Former Tamil Nadu chief minister Jayalalithaa is likely to miss the reception as she is out of station on party works.

Rajinikanth’s daughter weds Chennai boy

Deviating from the age-old traditional norm of the dahi-handi being broken by male pyra-mids as they dance to live frenzied music on the streets, a bevy of ‘female’ models and socialites enacted the ‘matki-todo’ ritual at the indoor nightclub ‘Enigma’ even as the D J spun loud ethnic tunes . Ironically, at this ‘Jan-mashtami’ revelry, there were no female pyramids. Instead, two male hunks ‘Bigg Boss’ winner Vindoo Dara Singh and Sud-hanshu Pandey liter-ally indulge in the ‘lift karaa de’ process in this ‘self-break-your-handi’ event conceived and convened by eminent ‘soul’ painter-artist Soketu Parikh actor-model Sudhans-hu Pandey and

politico MLA Pratap Sarnaik . They eventually elevated a tall, leggy upcoming NRI model from London ( Najia K ) to grab the coconut levitating at about 15 feet and shatter the ‘handi’ amidst deafening applause from the celeb guests which included noted director Ramesh Sippy (of ‘Sholay’) with his actress-wife Kiran Joneja and leading fashion designer Rohit Verma who clutched a soft handi-crafted icon of Krishna. The creatively inclined artist

Soketu Parikh explains, “Celebrating Jan-mashtami is a spiritual journey and a form of self-expression. Breaking the dahi handi is a

symbolical team-work act and has several spiritual and artis-tic connotations. It’s a fabulous encounter with the cosmic energy of Lord Krishna, which can infuse fresh energy into some of the flippant, casual youth of today. In this ‘Kalyug’, it is impor-tant to understand the ‘leela’ of Lord Krishna to live a stress-free life in today’s world of pressure, anxiety, fear and competition.”

Enthused Vindoo, who is part of this Bol-lywood comic movie called ‘Thank You’ directed by Anees Bazmee, “My family and I have always been ardent devotees of Lord Krishna . And I guess this devia-

tion tonight was in keeping with the ‘natkhat’ (naughty) nature of the young Krishna, who was always up to some startling antics.It was all in good fun that we decided at the spur of the moment to give the novice girls a helping hand in elevating the tallest of them to crack the handi,”he chuckled away.

- Chaitanya Padukone

(Janmashtami) Dahi-Handi broken in a ‘disco’ by female ‘Govinda’


Indian


Indian bollywood

Mumbai: Bollywood actor Emraan Hashmi’s latest film ‘Crook-It’s Good to be Bad’ will hit the theatres on October 8.

Produced under the banner of Vishesh Films, the film will highlight the issue of racial discrimination with Indians abroad, especially the recent attacks on Indians in Australia.

Emraan Hashmi said: “Strong characters may carry a weak plot, but weak characters cannot be hidden by strong plot. My character in Crook is one of the best characters we have created in recent times. I am sure my character in Crook will reach into the collective heart and pluck the heartstrings of people of every genera-tion.”

Emraan will be seen romancing newcomer Neha Sharma in this film.

“I liked playing Suhani, my character in the film, as she is very close to the real Neha. It was sheer pleasure working with Mohit as he is a wonderful story teller and of course Emraan Hashmi, who has been such a great co-star,” said Neha.

Directed by Mohit Suri, the film also casts ‘Fashion’ boy Arjan Bajwa.

“A 24-hour convenient store in the Sunshine District of Melbourne city had an advertisement on the window, which said ‘accommodation available for Indian students - for Gujrati boys only’. That ad ignited the germ of Crook,” said Mohit.

The story of Crook is about Jai, who has a knack of getting into trouble. His father was a gangster, who wanted to reform.

Jai land in Australia as Suraj Bhardwaj and meet Suhani, an Indian Australian with an un-adulterated honest vision of ‘one world’.

Her elder brother Samarth was convinced that Australians had a one-point agenda to bring Indians down. Jai found his home with the bum-bling punju boys GoldE and gang. They were happy go lucky ‘sardar’ boys who knew that the ticket to heaven was through attaining a perma-nent residency in Australia.

Jai knew that if he could make Suhani fall in love with him he could eventually attain perma-nent residency by marrying her but her brother was too much of an obstacle. So while Jai was busy scheming for Suhani’s love he was also flirting with Nicole, the stripper from a nearby strip club. But his problems with Nicole were almost similar to Suhani’s as Nicole’s brother, Russel, was a rowdy skinhead from the block.

Trouble followed Jai where he tried to run away from it as he witnessed the cold-blooded racial assault on Samarth.

Going to the police would mean an inves-tigation on Jai’s credentials and walking away would mean losing Suhani. Jai had fled from India to find a new hassle free life and now found himself in the heart of a racially disturbed city.

Jai’s plight grew as the racial attacks spread across the city. The only way to deal with the issue at hand was to take the bull by its horns. He found himself at a crossroad of good and bad.

Emraan’s Crook to release Oct 8

You will be once again experienc-ing motherhood. seems everyone is excited in the family — Ajay (devgun), your daughter Nysa and everyone. Oh yes… smiles. It’s not only me, everyone in the family is eagerly awaiting that moment. Ev-eryone in the family is equally excited as I am. okay, have Ajay and you already start-ed looking for a name for your child?(Laughs) No…no…not yet. But certainly we will get involved in this in sometime. You have cut down on films in the last few years. but now We Are Family is hitting the screen….Well it’s not that I have consciously cut down on films or stayed away from the camera. It’s about getting the right script at the right time. And with time, priorities change in life. I have always balanced that. I took a break even before I started a family. I have always believed in good scripts. And I wait for the right script to come my way. That’s what at times delays things. While on one hand We Are Family is releasing, on the other hand you are gearing up for motherhood once again? seems life has once again made you busy.Motherhood is s wonderful experience and things have certainly started moving at a rapid pace. It’s not possible for things to move slowly when you are expecting. Right now, I’m taking time off to prepare for the hectic days ahead. We Are Family is again under Karan Johar. Is it the strong bond of friend-ship that even after cutting down on films we get to see you working mostly with friends?It is obviously great fun to work with friends than people you don’t know, and why shouldn’t I work with friends when the comfort level is already there. I can work with all kinds of people as long as I can trust them. I have and am ready to work with new directors as well. that We Are Family is an official remake of a Hollywood blockbuster stepmom and that you play susan sarandon’s role will also bring a lot of compari-sons. ready for that?(Smiles) Oh yes we all know that and can avoid that. It’s obvious that comparisons will happen. But the effort was to create a script and then a film which is, Indianised despite being a remake. We have done our best and We Are

Family is out and out commercial Bollywood film and despite being a remake it has the po-tential to stand for itself with an identity of its own. What was so great about the script? Umm. It all begins with the script and I loved the screenplay. I loved the character of Maya. It was so touching…and yes you need to watch it before I go explaining. You are happily enjoying life being a wife and actress. do you miss not do-ing more films? I never did back to back projects. I am lazy (smiles) . And life is just perfect for me and I love my life. I am an actress and part of the in-dustry and will always remain so. so you are enjoying life…Oh yes, we are a very happy family. What about being part of another home production after u Me aur Hum?Ajay would love to have me for another home production but it’s his call. Just because I am his wife doesn’t make me an obvious choice. But I hope with a good script he makes me an offer… (smiles again) but I get motherhood will make you dis-appear from films for a while again.I guess so. It’s a physical thing and you need to take time out and be there with your child. I am really fortunate to have a very supportive family. From my mum-in-law, sis-in-law, Ajay, Nysa it’s a great family to have. Are you happy with the way your career has shaped up? Happy! I am really happy. I have always ac-knowledged that because I am at peace with everything. I am happy with what I am and all those things that have happened to my career so far.

“Motherhood is a great experience”

Kajol has always turned the most ordinary scripts into something extraordinary. Happy being a wife and mother, and awaiting a second motherhood now, she will be seen on screen playing a mother this time, in We Are Family. The ever-bubbly actress speaks to Gaurav Sharma.


Indian


Indian

Nrityabhinaya’s(Anuradha School of Indian Dances)

Present

A Bharat Natyam Dance Drama

Saturday 2nd October 2010 6:30 pm

VenueDorothy Winstone Centre

(Auckland Girls Grammar School)16 Howe Street, Newton

Tickets - $25 & $20Produced, Directed &

Choreographed byMrs Anuradha Ramkumar

Its a CFI Ltd Anniversary Presentation

For tickets contact Anuradha 09 627 4117 / 021 155 0714, Ramkumar 021 072 0027Ram Iyer 09 827 0559 / 021 529 982 or Email: [email protected]

CALVIN ROCHE

HEALTHCARE PHARMACYCLENDON


Indian Feature

The ugly spectre of match fixing is raising its head again. After the heady days of the 1990s when Hansie Cronje (South Africa), Moham-med Azharuddin (India) and Salim Malik (Paki-stan) were shown the door for Match fixing, the ghosts have returned to the field of cricket once more albeit in a new avatar. The news channels have been having a field day with allegations of spot fixing by the touring Pakistani team in England. Cricket is in the midst of a “spot” con-troversy now.

First of all let us get to understand what is spot fixing and how different it is from match fixing. Match fixing is where the outcome of a match is fixed to favour a team in the league matches or round robins of a tournament. The famous example is that of Essex throwing away a match in 1994 against Lancashire in the Sunday League championship, in return for a victory in the County Championship match and the title the next day. While no one was ever punished, it did rock the Test and County cricket board (the predecessor of ECB) at that time. By 1999 the Cronjegate (if it can be called that) surfaced and the ICC stepped in to root out the problem. It managed to do so to an extent until the T20 format came into force!

Spot fixing is about fixing a part of the match. More precisely it is fixing an over or a crucial moment of the match. For example a bowler will bowl deliberate no balls in particular over(s), or a batsman of high calibre will give a chance in the slip cordon before scoring say 20 runs. This is very difficult to detect as it is seen as a part of the match and there is hardly any room for pointing fingers. The illegal betting dens in India, Middle East, Pakistan and to an extent the

UK have been all involved in this spot fixing. While Pakistani players have been accused

of doing that in the recent tours of Australia, and now England, it is actually Essex once again which was involved in the spot fixing row in May this year. Danish Kaneria (Paki-stan) and Mervyn Westfield (England) were two players allegedly involved in the spot fixing row and were arrested by the police and later re-leased on bail. Mohammed Asif, Mohammed Amir and Salman Butt have been the latest to get nabbed by Scot-land Yard after a bookie re-vealed his involvement with the players in spot fixing.

Many allege that spot fixing is rampant in India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan. However, the problem is more deep rooted than just the sub continental coun-tries. The fact that there is lot of money now in these coun-tries is not helping matters and the absence of official betting agencies makes the matter even worse. (England hides under the garb that betting is legal in that country, but no headlines are made when their own counties are involved in spot fixing.)

Can spot fixing be actually done? That is the moot question. Having played cricket for a number of years and watched it from close

quarters, I can make a bold claim, that this is not possible without the captain of the team being involved. It is the captain who decides which bowler gets to bowl, the batting order,

etc, so without his knowl-edge it is nearly impos-sible to achieve the desired results of spot fix. In ad-dition to that, you need at least 3-4 key players on your side to play the ball with spot fixing. How else could you conjure up no-balls or missed catches without them being on your side? The recent case of Kamran Akmal fumbling the easiest of chances, Asif bowling no balls at regular intervals, all bring to mind the same question – is this real or fixed!

Money corrupts, is an old adage and unless the ICC and BCCI take strong steps, this will bring the downfall of cricket. For ICC it is in international matter, but for BCCI it is more important as their fat cheques are due to the pop-

ularity of the game and the huge fan following. If this disease is not weeded out, the fans will quickly turn away from the sport as doubts will start creeping about the records, wins and loses. Given that ICC is headed by Sharad Pawar, the onus on BCCI is much stronger to come forward

with a plan to root this out in India itself. BCCI should take the lead with the Government and make it clear that any player found to be working with the bookies will face immediate life ban from all forms of cricket and criminal proceed-ings will be initiated.

But will the mandarins in BCCI have the guts to do so? Given the political way of life they are accustomed to and the attitude of turning a blind eye to happenings seems like the ostrich syndrome. It won’t be long before sponsors start pulling out if this goes on. Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar made a telling comment that never ever has anybody approached the Indian team. Maybe he has forgotten the Mohammed Azha-ruddin incident or funny enough; the cricketers in India are now making so much money with endorsements that they may probably be not tempted by the spot bookies’ offerings. But the same is not the case with every player in the subcontinent. Most of them come from a very hard economic background and given the selec-tion process is most whimsical in countries like Pakistan and Bangladesh, it is no wonder that the players are lured into big money by the spot bookies.

While this may sound a bit farfetched, ICC needs to look at the option of pay parity across member nations (based on local pay scales as well) and also regarding the structure of cricket and selection boards in these countries. Maybe then we might see some sanity back into the game. The game has a huge fan following and if ICC wants Cricket to flourish, then they have to take some hard decisions and not politically motivated ones. Only then will Cricket be “spot-less”.

Cricket in a ‘Spot’PRASHANT BELWALKAR traces the brief history of spot fixing in world cricket and suggests solutions


Indian Heritage

rAM LINGAM

We would like to see ‘India through your Eyes’. how you managed to capture its geography, diversity, rich glory of the past, the culture, traditions and values, food and anything, which fascinated your senses.

Submit your best-captured memories of India, for a chance to be part of the Asia New zealand Foundation ‘diwali photo Exhibition 2010’ in Auckland & Wellington.

eligibility: • Professional and amateur works ac-cepted.• Age no criteria. If you are under 18, you need to have the consent from your par-ents or legal guardians.

terms & Conditions:

Closing date for entries - 15th September 2010

• unless otherwise stated, the competi-tion is open to all citizens and residents of the New zealand. • Entry limited to one per person. • Entries may be submitted by e-mail or post. posted entries should not be larger then postcard size (6”X4”). • posted entries should be clearly marked as ‘INdIA throuGh My EyES’.• All entries must be the original work of the entrant and not previously published. • obscene or defamatory photos, or photos which invade the privacy of an

individual, will not be accepted.• 100 photographs will be shortlisted by a panel of judges for display during diwali festivities in Auckland & Wellington.• Submission photographs will not be returned.• Entrants will be informed by 20th Sep-tember 2010 about the outcome.• If your entry makes it to the selection, you are required to send us a high-resolu-tion copy of the photograph.• In case you don’t have an electronic copy of the photograph, you need to send us 2 copies of the selected photo in size A4 (8x12”) • photographs displayed at the exhibi-tion will be of A4 size.• By entering the competition, you agree that, we have the right to use your photo for promotions and publicity purposes before, during and after the competition.

Send you postal entries to:

INdIA throuGh My EyESASIA NEW zEAlANd FouNdAtIoN po Box 10 144Wellington – 6143

All electronic copies should be emailed to ravi kambhoj at the following email address. please write ‘India through My Eyes’ in the subject line.

Email- [email protected]

INDIA THROUGH MY EYES1st ANNUAL PHOTO CONTEST 2010

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

On first encountering India, many European and American scholars, scientists were often genuinely moved by the intelligence, wisdom and antiquity of India’s continuous civilization. The underlying feature of the Indian culture, that of the Vedic philosophy also got their at-tention.

Here is a presentation of quotations by prominent scholars, historians and authors like Will Durant, Mark Twain, Albert Einstein, Max Mueller, Romain Rolland, et al that indi-cate why they loved India.

• Adolf Seilachar & P.K. Bose, scientists: “One Billion-Year-Old fossil prove life began in India: AFP Washington reports in Science Magazine that German Scientist Adolf Sei-lachar and Indian Scientist P.K. Bose have unearthed fossil in Churhat a town in Madhya Pradesh, India which is 1.1 billion years old and has rolled back the evolutionary clock by more than 500 million years.”

• Albert Einstein, American scientist: “We owe a lot to the Indians, who taught us how to count, without which no worthwhile scientific discovery could have been made.”

• Dr Arnold Toynbee, British Historian: “It is already becoming clear that a chapter which had a Western beginning will have to have an Indian ending if it is not to end in the self-de-struction of the human race. At this supremely dangerous moment in history, the only way of salvation for mankind is the Indian way.”

• Emmelin Plunret: “They were very ad-vanced Hindu astronomers in 6000 BCE. Vedas contain an account of the dimension of Earth, Sun, Moon, Planets and Galaxies.” (‘Calendars and Constellations’)

• Henry David Thoreau, American Thinker & Author: Whenever I have read any part of the Vedas, I have felt that some unearthly and unknown light illuminated me. In the great teaching of the Vedas, there is no touch of sec-tarianism. It is of all ages, climbs, and nation-alities and is the royal road for the attainment of the Great Knowledge. When I read it, I feel that I am under the spangled heavens of a summer night.

• Hu Shih, former Ambassador of China to USA: “India conquered and dominated China culturally for 20 centuries without ever having to send a single soldier across her border.”

• Lancelot Hogben: “There has been no more revolutionary contribution than the one which the Hindus (Indians) made when they invented ZERO.” (‘Mathematics for the Millions’)

• Mark Twain, American author: “India is, the cradle of the human race, the birthplace of human speech, the mother of history, the grand-mother of legend, and the great grand mother of tradition. Our most valuable and most instruc-tive materials in the history of man are trea-sured up in India only.”

• Max Mueller, German scholar: If I were asked under what sky the human mind has most

fully developed some of its choicest gifts, has most deeply pondered on the greatest problems of life, and has found solutions, I should point to India.

• P. Johnstone: “Gravitation was known to the Hindus (Indians) before the birth of Newton. The system of blood circulation was discovered by them centuries before Harvey was heard of.”

• Romain Rolland, French scholar: “If there is one place on the face of earth where all the dreams of living men have found a home from the very earliest days when man began the dream of existence, it is India.”

• Schopenhauer: “Vedas are the most re-warding and the most elevating book which can be possible in the world.” (Works VI p.427)

• Sir W. Hunter, British Surgeon: “The surgery of the ancient Indian physicians was bold and skilful. A special branch of surgery was dedicated to rhinoplasty or operations for improving deformed ears, noses and forming new ones, which European surgeons have now borrowed.”

• Sir William Jones, British Orientalist: “The Sanskrit language, whatever be its antiquity is of wonderful structure, more perfect than the Greek, more copious than the Latin and more exquisitely refined than either.”

• Wheeler Wilcox: “India - The land of Vedas, the remarkable works contain not only religious ideas for a perfect life, but also facts which science has proved true. Electricity,

radium, electronics, airship, all were known to the seers who founded the Vedas.”

• Will Durant, American Historian: “It is true that even across the Himalayan barrier India has sent to the west, such gifts as grammar and logic, philosophy and fables, hyp-notism and chess, and above all numerals and the decimal system.”

• William James, American Author: “From the Vedas we learn a practical art of surgery, medicine, music, house building under which mechanized art is included. They are encyclo-pedia of every aspect of life, culture, religion, science, ethics, law, cosmology and meteorol-ogy.”

A study of Indology offers the source of the information indicated in the above sayings. In-dology and the history of India’s achievements helps us understand her past glory - only to benefit us to be well rooted and have wings to reach out to the world.

History is not about living in the past as the famous American historian, writer, and philos-opher Dr. William Durrant says “It is a mistake to think that the past is dead. Nothing that has ever happened is quite without influence at this moment. The present is merely the past rolled up and concentrated in this second of time”.

However given the current state of affairs in India, her past glory still remains unmatched by modern India.

Read why the wise and the famous loved and respect India - in their own words. Their sayings help us see and feel what ancient India was like and the importance that it played in the history of the human race.

Why they loved India?


Indian Column

AdeeLA AFIZ

oLIVer PereIrA

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Headaches are a painHeadaches can be extremely painful and frustrat-ing, impacting on your sense of wellbeing and ability to function at your very best. If you are suf-fering from regular headaches, below are some of the common types and causes with some advice on how to manage them.

MigrainesMigraines can be the most painful type of head-ache experienced as well as the type that causes the most disruption to your daily activities.

They usually occur on one side of the head with a throbbing or pulsating quality and can also cause you to become sensitive to light and noise so that you end up needing to spend the day alone in bed in a dark room.

If this is what you are experiencing on a regular basis, see if you can identify the trigger. Migraines are commonly triggered by certain foods. Some of the common food triggers include coffee or caf-feine, wines, cheese, sugar, chocolate and any-thing with the chemical MSG (a common flavour enhancer). If you’re prone to headaches and regu-larly indulge in these foods, eliminate them one by one from your diet to see if you can find what is causing your migraines.

tension-type headachesThese are the most common type of headache that most office workers can relate to. They feel like a squeezing band at your temples or a headache that starts at the back of your head and moves forward to your temples on both sides.

These headaches tend to increase with stress and long hours spent in front of your work desk or computer.

Two things can help to combat these head-aches:

* Drinking lots of water so that you are well hydrated throughout the day.

* Taking regular breaks with mini stretches.

rebound headachesIf you find that you are increasingly relying on pain medications such a Panadol, Neurofen or other medications to keep the headaches away, be aware, they might be causing them in the first place.

Many people who experience headaches fall into a dangerous trap: You have a headache, so you take pain medication. But if you stay on it too long, you set yourself up for rebound headaches, which are headaches that occur when you try to withdraw from the medication.

Rebound headaches can occur from medica-tions or from caffeine. If you feel like you need to keep taking painkillers or your daily fix of coffee to keep your headache away then you need to give your body a detox.

Try going 3-5 days without taking any medica-tion or coffee. If you cannot do this, you may need to come up with a withdrawal plan to slowly wean yourself off the drugs and stop you body’s depen-dency on the pills or caffeine.

Cervicogenic HeadachesYour neck is called your cervical spine and some-times neck pain moves upwards and causes the pain in your neck to develop into a headache. Pain can come from weakness or spasms of the neck

muscles. Strengthening and stretching your neck and

upper back muscles daily by doing simple stretch-es or exercise can reduce the pain by easing the stress and tension stored in your muscles.

Headaches can also be caused from pain that is referred upwards from the small joints in the neck called facet joints. This occurs when the facet joints in our neck get locked up from being in the same posture or position and causes pain that travels up our neck and into our heads.

Exercise, as well as chiropractic adjustments create movement and lubrication in these small joints and can be very successful in reducing the pain.

Regular exercise also means that you can have less regular headaches. It helps relieve stress and increases the levels of painkilling endorphins. Yoga, stretching and meditation also help to reduce tension and thus relax the chemical im-balances that can cause headaches. Remember to always keep well hydrated as dehydration is another leading cause of headaches.

While you can treat your headaches with pain medication, the better course of action is to find the cause and stop them from occurring in the first place. Chiropractic care is a natural and extremely effective way to help combat all these types of headaches. We can help you reduce the stress on your body and reduce pain as well as giving you exercise and nutritional support to help you live life without the painful headaches.

For more information or for an appointment, please call 09 5262100.

- Adeela Afiz is a final-year intern with the New Zealand College of Chiropractic

“Many people who experience headaches fall into a dangerous trap: You have a headache, so you take pain medication. But if you stay on it too long, you set yourself up for rebound headaches, which are headaches that occur when you try to withdraw from the medication.”

Most people insure their cars and properties against damage and loss, but many neglect to insure their lives and livelihoods. Even those who have thought to protect their lifestyles may not have the levels of cover they need. When was the last time you assessed the risks to you and your family?

life insurance products (sometimes known as ‘risk’ insurance) are designed to provide a backup plan to hold things together when life turns an unexpected corner.

these products can pay either a lump sum or monthly payments to the benefi-ciary in the event that the insured person dies, or suffers a critical illness or an illness or accident that prevents them from earning their usual income and maintaining their lifestyle and financial commitments.

So, can you afford not to have insur-ance?

thINk ABout thESE SCENArIoS…

you or a family member needs to go to hospital to have a major operation (per-haps for breast cancer or heart bypass) – would you be prepared to wait on the public health system for treatment, with little choice regarding the hospital care you would receive?

you are unable to work for six months due to illness or injury – do you have enough savings to see you through with-out damaging your long-term financial goals?

you or your partner suffers a life-chang-ing and traumatic event such as diag-nosis of cancer, a heart attack or stroke, and makes a slow recovery – would you have enough savings to live on during recovery and adjustment without adding financial stress to the situation?

you die suddenly leaving your partner and children behind – would they cope financially without an insurance pay-out?

If you have answered ‘No’ to any of these questions, then you are likely to be ‘carrying’ some level of risk or, in other words, be underinsured. doing a lifestyle check with an insurance adviser will show whether you have the right kind of insurance for your stage of life. An Insur-ance Adviser can help you understand the risks you are carrying, and provide advice on how best to manage these risks within your budget.

For further information, please contact:oliver pereira – opM Insurance Services ltd.ph. 0800 66 77 92Faxmail. 021 551 669Mobile. 021 66 77 92Email. [email protected]

What should be on your insurance check list


Indian Column

Quake, SCF collapse will affect economy – for a while

Buying a home computer

rAVI MeHtA

Until a couple of weeks ago, it seemed very likely that Reserve Bank of New Zealand Gover-nor will lift the OCR in its forthcoming review.

However the global economic environment is highly uncertain. The economic news around the globe is giving mixed signals. In New Zealand also, the overall economic picture is pointing towards slower recovery.

It is good that households are spending less and are saving towards retirement of debt. However, it will keep the pace of economic re-covery under check.

In addition during last the fortnight, two major incidents have changed the situation al-together. At first there was a collapse of South Canterbury Finance, one of major finance com-panies in New Zealand. The second one has been the major earthquake in the Canterbury region. Both the shocks will have a negative impact on the economy in the short run, though in the long run, it will add to GDP growth numbers.

The government will make a large payout to retail investors of South Canterbury finance under the deposit guarantee scheme. Major-ity of investors of these funds will deposit the payout with other banks, societies and finance companies. These funds should flow back to

the economy by way of loans. Some of the funds may not be de-posited, but spent, cre-ating more demand in the market, which will also help the economic recovery.

However, in the short run, the reserve bank governor is not likely to raise OCR, means floating rate should stay lower for another three months at least. The longer term rates will be influ-enced by international factors. Inflation is on the rise in Australia and the Reserve Bank of Australia will be under increased pressure to lift OCR there. It will put upward pressure on interest rates in New Zealand. The medium

term rates for the majority of banks in New Zealand, partic-ularly two-year fixed rates, are very attrac-tive right now and it is very appealing. If rates go up in inter-national markets, this attractive rate may not last long.

Coming to the housing market, the house prices have eased across the country during last few months. However, recently there has been a reduction in new listings.

The banks have started to loosen their credit criteria a bit. A couple of lenders who were not going above 80% LVR (loan to property value) until

last month have decided to go up to 90% , one of those is even ready to go to 95% for good deals.

Low mortgage rates, shortage of new listings and willingness of banks to lend more will help the housing market in coming few months. We can expect a good springtime for the housing market provided there is no major financial or other trouble in any part of the world.

Note: This column is for general guidance only. These are my personal views. Indian Weekender and I are in no way responsible for any loss suffered by anyone for acting on these. My general philosophy is splitting your loan and fixing for different maturities to diversify the risk. However you should seek the advice of your financial advisor before deciding on how much of your loan to fix and for how long to fix as everyone has a unique financial situation.

Similarly, please weigh your present and ex-pected financial position carefully before decid-ing to buy or sell a property.

- Ravi Mehta is an Auckland based Finan-cial Advisor and can be contacted on ravi.

[email protected]. A disclosure statement as required under Securities Act 1988 is freely

available on request.

Buying a desktop and laptop computer today can be overwhelming with the staggering choices available on the market today. There are computers available today for practically every budget and need, from high end PCs with enough grunt to handle any monster applica-tion thrown at it to the low end PCs with the bare minimum configuration that can just about handle most basic office suites. So how do you go about choosing what’s best for you. Here’re a few things to consider before you make that purchase.

Your budgetThe most obvious of the lot, pick your budget to start with. Most computers range from a couple of hundred dollars through to thousands of dollars depending on how much you’re will-ing to spend. Generally speaking the higher the configuration the more it’s going to cost. If you don’t really need a new computer or if all you need a computer for is to some basic word processing you can always settle for a used PC. Be aware that used PCs may be past it’s warranty date and if there is a hardware fault your computer may well end up in a landfill as replacement parts for components are harder to come by the older a computer gets.

Applications, Applications, ApplicationsThis is the key to deciding what you configura-tion computer you want to buy. Start by decid-ing what applications you will use the most now and probably sometime in the future and pick a computer configuration that matches the applications you’re using.

It makes no sense investing in a high end computer if all you plan to run is Microsoft Word. Conversely if you spend too little and are aiming to run high end processor intensive and RAM hogging software like Games and Multimedia or 3D rendering software, be pre-pared to spend long hours viewing a flipping hour glass mouse cursor.

Home entertainmentIf you’re into making your computer your

primary entertainment centre, make sure you get yourself stocked with the following hardware.

LCD monitor - Most monitors have a 4:3 aspect ratio which is ideal for most work envi-ronments but for serious home entertainment

go for a much wider 16:9 or 16:10 aspect ratio perfect for HD movies. Buy moni-tors from the bigger brands as you won’t want to compromise on your viewing experience

A Blueray/DVD player – A DVD player is the bare minimum to get you by but if you’re into serious HD enter-tainment a Blueray would be icing on the cake.

Dolby 5.1 sound card - Most decent 5.1 surround systems can kick up a storm and cost just a few hundred bucks so make sure your new system sports a sound card that supports a Dolby 5.1 speaker system. There’s nothing more dramatic than hearing a glass shattering in 3D surround when the baddies get taken down.

Graphics card plus TV tuner – Hook up your computer to your TV and use it as a re-cording device like the VCR days of old. If you have Vista Home premium or Windows 7 with Media centre you can even set it to record one channel while you watch another channel on your TV. Though you may soon find yourself running out of hard disk space so make sure you have a large hard disk drive if you want to record TV.

MobilityIf you don’t really need a home theatre and prefer to be mobile it makes a lot more sense to get a laptop over a PC. Most new Laptops have wireless broadband built into them so you can enjoy the internet anywhere in your house. Laptops though can tend to be a little slower than their desktop counterparts.

branded vs AssembledWith plenty of competition from PC manufac-turers along with good customer support and warranties it makes sense to go with a branded

computer. If you’re looking to get a com-pletely customized computer sporting all your favourite peripherals and also want to keep the costs to a minimum you could always get an assembled one. While settling for an assembled one make sure that the operat-ing system on your computer is genuine and also ask for the original operating system DVD when you make your purchase. A pirated version of Windows will offer no future upgrades and will

leave your system vulnerable to viruses and hackers,

Here is a quick rundown of basic things that go into a computer and what you need to look out for in the specs

Motherboard – This holds all your compo-nents together and you if you plan to assemble your PC you should research the best Moth-erboard based on all the components you’re looking to have in your computer. Choosing the right motherboard is especially important if you’re planning to upgrade later.

Graphics card – This processes and dis-plays the images on your computer. This can either be separate or integrated on your moth-erboard. If you need to run games and other multimedia software it’s advisable to have a dedicated graphics card to handle all the heavy image processing. This is important if you’re running Vista or Windows 7 with it’s graphics intensive Aero 3D interface.

DVD / Blue Ray – Most computers today include a DVD or Blueray player. DVD’s hold 4GB while Blue rays discs can hold upto 25GB and are costlier than DVDs.

Hard drive – The most important part of

your computer, it stores all your data from pic-tures through to movies. Make sure you get as big a hard drive as you can afford. In today’s media saturated world the bigger the better. Highly recommended is an external hard drive to backup your data.

Memory / RAM – This is your computers temporary storage. You’ll need plenty of RAM to get a decent performance for your machine especially as Operating Systems like Windows and OSX get bigger and take up a larger RAM foot print leaving less RAM available for your applications. Try and get as much RAM as your budget will allow you especially if you run mul-tiple applications at once as each program takes up a certain portion of the RAM when they load up.

Modem / Wireless router – What your computer needs to connect to the internet, this is mostly provided by your broadband sup-plier though if you need to access your inter-net around the house, make sure the modem includes a wireless router. Also don’t forget to assign a wireless password or you can ask your geeky neighbour to help out or else you’ll be giving free internet access to your neighbour-hood.

Processor - If you plan to use your com-puter for just running Office applications almost any processor will do but if you run more in-tensive applications look for a Dual core and if you’re really seeking demanding applications, 3D games or if you are a multi tasking demon and if you have the budget, a Quad core would be a good investment.

This article covers a few basics about what to look for when you buy a computer. In future articles I’ll cover, virus and spyware protection, Free software for your computer, Mac vs PCs and the mobile computing revolution.

- The author has been in working with computers and computer technology for over

15 years. He is chief technology officer, Indian Weekender and also runs Moa Creative, a

company that specialises in developing mobile applications for the iPhone, iPad and Android

devices. You can contact him by visiting the link http://www.moacreative.com

roHAN desouZA

It makes no sense investing in a high end computer if all you plan to run is Microsoft Word. Conversely if you spend too little and are aiming to run high end processor intensive and RAM hogging software like Games and Multimedia or 3D rendering soft-ware, be prepared to spend long hours viewing a flipping hour glass mouse cursor.


Indian

issue 37 - volume 2

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