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

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FICA Matters 2Community NewsRescuing relatives in war torn countries 3 Inovators traveling the silk road 4Hot off the Press 5 Continued from page 4 6Story of the varan bhaat 7Shiksha Daan 8Taking care of your self worth 9Community News 10Runway thoughts 11Why join FICA? 12

LOTUS TEAM

Publishing & EditorialAsim Datta (Interim)Sujata Lakhe Barnard

Public Relations/CreativeParamjit Singh paramlinda@gmail.com

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

Please join the Federation of India Community Associations, its sister organizations and other Indian Cultural organizations in the 67th Annual Independence Day celebration at the India Cultural Gardens–Sunday, August 17, 12-4 PM. First, we will unfurl our flags and sing our national anthems at Mahatma’ s statue located at 1190 MLK Jr. Blvd. Please consider wearing Tiranga color/s to make it visually celebratory of our Indepen-dence Dedicated in 2005, the Garden was the first to be added to the chain of gardens since 1985, when the Chi-nese Cultural Garden was inaugurated. On October 1, 2006, a ten-foot tall, one ton bronze, sculpture of Mahatma Gandhi was dedicated. In 2007 the Heritage, granite pillars were dedicated. And in 2013, the Welcome granite pavers in 16 of India’s 30 major languages were installed. Why did we pick this site at the Cleveland Cultural Gardens? Dr. Mark Tebeau, formarly of Department of History, Cleveland State University now at Arizona University once said,” This is a story of hope and despair, joy and sadness, conflict and cooperation, growth and decline. The stones, paths, and memories of the Cleveland Cultural Gardens tell us what it has meant to be an American”. These Gardens also tell us what it means to be a South-East Asian Indian American! In early 20th century Cleveland was an Industrial giant which resulted in assembly of a mix bag of people diverse in ethnic and racial backgrounds. With so many ‘foreign’ customs, beliefs and practices coalesc-ing in one place, bound by work and hopes for brighter future, it was inevitable that it generated a little friction. How can a true and lasting peace be achieved? Continued on Pg 2

Indian Independence Dayparade and celebration

- BY SUJATA LAKHE BARNARD

A MESSAGE TO FELLOW COMMUNITY MEMBERS INDIA!! My beloved India. Our beloved India!! The land of my birth. And that of many in the 25,000 plus in the Indian community in Northeast Ohio. There are currently twenty-nine states in India, and twenty-two distinct languages spoken by 1.2 bil-lion people, not to mention hundreds of dialects!! That, in spite of the fact, lifestyle could be quite disparate from region to region. In my own mind, there should a map of India next to the word “diversity” in any diction-ary!!

Given all of the above, it truly is gratifying that it is one flag that flies in every corner in the vast land, and is celebrated by all. So here is an invitation to ALL of the twenty-five thousand and some Indians residing in this region, to come and join us at a unified celebration and salute this flag, as we rejoice in the 67th Indepen-dence Day on Sunday, August 17th. The details are published elsewhere on this page, and more will follow. Looking forward with excitement. Jai Hind.

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FICA mattersFICA StaffAdministration

Board of Trustees

Chittaranjan Jain, Chair

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ashish Deshpandedrashishdeshpande@gmail.com626/202-6662

Shenaz Khanskhan@metrohealth.org216/543-0616

Kenneth KovachCommunity OutreachKennethJKovach@wowway.com216/952-9501

Vinod Nagpal vnagpal@nrengineering.com440/821-0479

Atul Vermaatul001@gmail.com704/307-5470

Sister Organizations

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

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

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

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

One popular notion at the time was- ‘Americanism’, the thought was we could neutralize friction by ho-mogenizing every one away from their old country culture to new American culture with its own customs, beliefs and traditions; different from any other nation. Turns out, this approach does not work very well in real life. It is possible to steer a large ship on turbulent ocean albeit slowly but human nature has a mind of it own! How do we as a society avoid clashing of cultures, traditions and philosophies? It is possible that what might work is an approach different from trying to create an American ‘melting pot’: create an American’ Salad’! Each individual piece different but as whole cohesive, unblended but harmonious colors, adjusting and cooperating to produce a delicious and healthy mix! Living and letting live! It is this kind of environment which Cleveland Cultural Garden and other monuments including Mahatma’s statue inspire. This garden is a symbol of recognition of immense value of our cultural diversity and ideal of universal peace and humanism. This city and this nation is suc-cessful because of acceptance of influx of new ideas, new ways and ability to shake our adherence to things which don’t work and adopting the new and im-proved! After a short celebration at the Mahatma’s statue, we will peacefully walk in a parade, where all our organizations are encouraged to display their banners as they walk 1.1 miles to Rockefeller City Garden, where there will be food, entertainment and other activities for the whole family. John D. Rockefell-er donated the land for the park to his city in 1896 in celebration of Cleveland’s first centennial. Ernest Bowditch, a renowned Boston landscape architect designed a meandering parkway flanked by wide-open green space framed by steeply sloped terrain. A shuttle will be available from 11 to 2 for people who may wish to use it. There is plenty of parking available at Rockefeller gardens and along street at the Cultural Gardens Please join your fellow American Indians in making this event a success. We are also looking for volunteers to join us at the reception committee at Mahatma statue and Rockefeller Gardens at 11:00 AM. We are also in need of traffic monitors and water table managers for the parade route.Caveat: Please note the above plan is in exploratory phase dependent on city approval and enough volunteer recruitment. Email Sujata at Lakhe4@gmail.com with questions about participation and volunteer sign up.

Continued from Pg 1

Hrishue Mahalaha lead cleanup and beautifying our Indian Cultural Gardens in early spring and then on June 1st.

TAKING CARE OF YOUR SELF-WORTH- BY DR. RAMESH RAY GEHANI

Self-worth is perhaps the most impor-tant ‘worth’ we all can have, and that we must sustain, build, and value. It is far more important than chasing any finan-cial wealth based on materialistic goods, which may rise or fall. It is even more important than our social capital based on our relationships, which may come

and go. Self-worth is our relationship with ourselves and what we think of ourselves. This drives our lives and what we do or do not do during our lifetimes. Self-worth influences the type of persons we hang out with, particularly how much we want to hang out with our-selves.

LINGERING IMPACT OF OUR FORMATIIVE YEARS

Most of our self-worth is built or damaged in sig-nificant ways during our formative years when we are growing up with our parents. Our identities are still fragile and devel-oping. We are subjected

to many influences from our parents, peers, and others. Unfortunately, many of our parents just stumble into parenting without much preparation. They meet, fall in love and/or get married, and have children. Their hav-ing children biologically had little to do with how well they were equipped to raising their children. Many of our parents were young when they had children. They were often too busy putting food on the table for us, or building their own careers. They may have had little time left for learning how to raise their children right. Often it was trial and error. And some errors left deep but invisible scars – often emotional rather than physical. As a result of this hit-or-miss growing up and raising by our parents, our identity or self-worth may not be fully developed during our formative years. As we grow, we must take responsibility for our own well-being and our self-worth.

CHASM OF OUR DIFFERENCES

As we look around, we see some people living their lives in organized and purposeful ways. They seem to know where they are heading. They spend most of their time working towards their goals, and having fun doing so.

Continued on Pg 9

Indian Independence Dayparade and celebration

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Around the communities

Ladies & Gentlemen, we all drive through the twists & turns of our lives from time to time and forget to celebrate the positives we are all blessed with. Therefore, instead of getting involved with any power strug-gles, taking a break from our routine becomes vital. How to do it? It is not difficult, I personally believe. As soon as we learn the immense value of CONTENTMENT, everything starts falling in its place. Our needs must be separated from our desires. Lesser the desires we have, better it would be for our lives. Ancient Indian Saints and Seers have tremendously empha-sized the value of Contentment....to beat the blues.

India’s most expensive and spread over a month Election is over and re-gime has changed. Very few nations in this world have achieved what In-dia has in about 23 Years. Economic Reforms were being implemented in India in 1990s when Hon. Manmohan Singh took over as Finance Minister. He was and still is a well known Economist. As expected, change was not easy in the beginning. Soon India got stuck with unpaid bills and urgently needed about 650 Million Dollars. Options were limited. India decided to pawn a few hundred tonnes of its ‘Official Holding of Gold’ with couple of European Banks (in England and Switzerland). Money got borrowed and country was on its way to a new start in this highly competitive world. India already knew that it won’t be easy, for it had seen struggles faced by China and South Korea when Economic Reforms were being implemented in those Asian Countries in 1980s and 1970s, respectively. Between then and now, India has already grown its economy to the tune of One Trillion Dol-lars (about 300% better than what it was in 1990s). Hon. Singh subsequently became the Prime Minister of India and very efficiently handled the day to day affairs of that Office, Nationally as well as Internationally, till recent Elections. In short span of couple of decades, he has put India on the World Map of one of the most successful New Economies.

Hon. Manmohan Singh’s way of work by using his powerful words (with-out raising his voice in media, etc.) and often examining his work through the eyes and wisdom of India’s highly successful businessmen (India’s Think Tank) often reminded me of 13th century Persian Poet ‘Rumi’ and Greek Philosopher and one of the prominent Founders of Western Philoso-phy ‘Socrates’. Rumi (1207 - 1273) once said, ‘Raise your Words, not Voice. It is Rain that grows Flowers, not Thunder’. Socrates (Born 469 BC), as Plato’s writings indicate, was of the opinion that we must Examine our lives from time to time. Because the Unexamined Life is not worth living. As for me (Socrates), all I know is that I know Nothing’.

Today, India is a proud Nation of 29 States and 7 Union Territories (areas di-rectly governed by the Central Government). Telangana is the newest (29th) State of India (which got carved out of well known South Indian State of Andhra Pradesh). All Indian States and Union Territories are further di-vided into Administrative Districts. India has 26 Official Languages, about 1.25 Billion Population, and it occupies nearly 2% of our beautiful planet, The Earth. The Nation has established excellent network of 3,800 Busi-

ness Schools (USA: 600, China: 200). It has mastered the Art of Information Technology and is way ahead when it comes to IT Services and Computer Software Industry. Asian Indian young techies produced by the network of Indian Business Schools have shown remarkable success in running major Enterprises across the globe. For example, Infosys of India (a brainchild of a couple of fresh IT Indian Graduates) got established in early 1990s, on the lines of Ancient India’s ‘Gurukul System of Education’ (to which Lord Rama was exposed). Infosys is well known all over the World today. It’s $1,000 Stock of 1993 was trading at $2.79 Million a couple of years ago.....Biotechnology, Pharmaceuticals, Autos, Manufacturing, Textiles, Mining, Tourism (both National & International), Agriculture, etc. are some of the other leading Industries India has made tremendous progress in during last couple of decades......

Azim H. Premji, India’s IT tycoon, Chairman & CEO of Wipro Limited, is today regarded as India’s most generous Businessman. Born in 1945 in Mumbai (earstwhile Bombay) in India, he is considered to be one of the few Greatest Philonthropic Entrepreneurs of our times. He is an active member of India’s Think Tank (along with Ambani Brothers, Ratan Tata, to mention a few). Premji’s donations to Charitable Causes around the Globe run in Billions of Dollars. Last Year alone, he donated Rs. 8,000 Crore (= approxi-mately $1.42 Billion). Philanthropy has to be spontaneous, can’t be forced (as he usually puts it). Azim Premji, Bill Gates, and Buffett have already inspired a number of other Billionaires to donate for charitable works all around the globe.

Recently, BJP got elected as the party to lead India, under the care of Hon. Narendra Modi, who is already well-known for his successful Economic Policies...... His sensational Gujarat’s Growth Model is well known all over the World. Nearly 30% of India lacks facility of electric today. But Gujarat is one of the few States with electricity available from one end to the other, to all its residents. Entire Gujarat State has one or the other form of medi-cal/hospital facility available. Fully equipped with all essential medical equipment and staff, Mobile Vans are available to each and every resident of Gujarat State. Service gets delivered to the Patient there right at his/her doorstep. Under the care of Hon. Narendra Modi (then Chief Minister of Gujarat), maximum Direct Foreign Investments were being attracted by Gujarat State. These are just a few examples of Gujarat’s Growth Model.In nutshell, Ladies & Gentlemen, India has a lot to look forward to.....Asian Indians are well known all over for their tendencies to work hard, commit-ment and dedication to their families and others around, desire for better education not only for themselves but also for their children, brothers, and sisters. They also understand the meaning and significance of ‘saving for the rainy days’ and have the highest Savings Rate in the World today (near-ly 30%). They also understand that human life ‘demands tolerance’ and that one should always be prepared to ‘forgive’ (as Gandhi Ji used to say). Lets hope, Ladies & Gentlemen, that under the leadership of new Regime/BJP, India will not let any problem hold it back.

RUNAWAY THOUGHTS, ON A SLEEPLESS NIGHT - BY INDER SUNEJA

  Please email Sujata at Lakhe4@gmail.com by July 25th if you are interested in anthem(s)

singing, marching band participation, volunteering at the water table or traffic flagger

for parade, performing on the stage, FICA membership enrollment booth, reception

committee at Gandhi statue and Cultural Gardens of Cleveland, game organizing. Also, be sure to include a date or dates convenient

in first week of August for a meeting/practice/Audition.

 

Sending a call out to all culturally Indian organizations in Greater Cleveland area,

Akron/Canton to participate in the parade with your banners and get a boost in your

membership enrollment by getting a booth at the City Gardens during India’s Independence day

celebration on August 17th. Also, inviting vendors of ethnically Indian goods, jewelry, antiques, rugs, apparel, dry/sealed spices mehendi, arts, to get a booth at the Gardens. Fresh food vendors must

have appropriate permits. Email Sujata at Lakhe4@gmail.com for details by July 25th 2014

Check out FICA group on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/groups/13055811

0322113/) or simply search for FICA Cleveland on FB for behind the scene and up-

to-date info!

FICA & Lotus seekVolunteer Writers/Reporters, and

Business Managerto help the publication grow.

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

volunteering.Please write : lotus@ficacleveland.org

4 Events Future & Past

On Friday May 31, I took my 2-seater humped camel for a ‘spin’ “Traveling the Silk Road” at The Cleveland Museum of Natural History (www.cmnh.org). I was invited to join the opening celebration and preview of its newest traveling exhibition for its donors and sponsors (FICA was a Cultural Partner and Supporter). With hands-on and multi-media artifacts, this exhibition (from May 31 to October 5, 2014) vividly re-creates the trade and lives

along the 5,000 mile long Silk Road between 600 and 1200 AD. A camel caravan is returning with silk from Xian, China (the former capital of Han China) to Baghdad in modern-day Iraq. A music concert is planned for Sunday June 29, 2014. In the Age of the Silk Road, one silk robe used one pound of silk produced from 2,500 white silkworms feeding on 60 mulberry trees. One pound of silk thread fetched one pound of gold in Rome. Silk was discovered in China by accident when the Chinese queen Xi Ling-Shi dropped a white cocoon she had picked from a mulberry tree in the boiling water for her tea. When she tried to grab the cocoon out she saw the silk threads “spin-ning” out from the cocoon.

Silkworm is the caterpillar of the moth Bombyx mori domesticated by the Chinese. Otherwise, throughout Asia, silk was spun from the broken filaments of silk moth’s cocoons. For many centuries, it was a crime pun-ishable by death to reveal this trade secret or to sell silk-worms to a non-Chinese. I was personally delighted by this exhibit as I had learned about silk spinning during my master’s degree in Textile Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology in New Delhi, and had seen weaving of gorgeous silk saris in Kanjipuram south of Chennai/Madras - the New Silk Road destination for Indian brides. I have also seen the making of equally awe-inspiring silk kimonos and ‘obi’ in Kyoto, Japan – at the other end of the Silk Road.

Back to the ancient Silk Road Exhibition, our camel caravan traders rested in between at two major exchange posts of Turfan (China) on the edge of the Gobi Desert and Samarkand (Uzbekistan) in Central Asia. In Samar-kand the merchants exchanged fresh camels, rested, and traded some of their goods to pick the precious life-saving spices and equally precious gems like diamonds and rubies from the well-stocked bazaars of a pros-perous and enviable India. EXCHANGING INNOVATIONS

The Silk Road was the route to not only trade essential spices and luxu-rious goods like silk and gems, but also to exchange creative ideas and diffuse innovations from one part of the world to the distant other parts of the world. The decimal system, ‘Arabic’ numerals, and even ‘Algebra,’ the world uses commonly today, were based on an Indian numerical con-ceptualization of nothing, shunyata, or zero. The Arabic merchants plagia-rized it to avoid revealing their India sources of origin of precious goods and ideas to their Western buyers. Who could verify this at a time with no Facebook, Twitter, or the Internet. But no ‘0’ and ‘1’; no computers; no In-ternet; no Facebook. Even the sea routes across the Indian Ocean, Arabian Sea, and Bay of Bengal, that were often traveled by the Indian merchants, were yet to be discovered by the Westerners like the Portuguese explorer Vasco de Gama and the Italian Christopher Columbus sponsored by the Spanish queen in the 1490s.

IMPROVING THE GLIMPSE INTO THE SILK ROAD

There are a few things that could significantly add value to the Silk Road Exhibition. My preliminary research on the supply chain logistics along the Silk Road indicated that one of the most precious trades along the Silk Road was not a commodity, but an idea. This was the idea of Bud-dhism that was innovated in India by Siddhartha Gautam Buddha around

the 5th century BC, and was spread worldwide by Emperor Ashok. No Ashok No Silk Road. The Silk Road, and many of the shelters along it, was built for the sake of the Buddhist monks traveling along the Silk Road. Many international traders built these shelters out of their gratitude to the Buddha, and to gain some Karmic benefits in their highly risky but very profitable trade. A major traffic on the Silk Road was to the world’s oldest Global Ivy University at Nalanda in India, long before Oxford, Cambridge, Paris, or Harvard Universities, where over 10,000 international students studied Buddhism. The Silk Road Exhibition is quite silent on this.

Other missing pieces that could enrich this exhibition are the sourcing of spices, medicinal herbs, and cotton goods that traded along the Southern Tier of the Silk Road. Whereas silk was a luxury item that only the select few richest afforded, it was the cotton textile goods that made a large part of the trade along the Silk Road. The legendary trader Marco Polo had written about cotton in his journals – as sheep growing on trees. Because the Europeans could not imagine how a wool-like sub-stance could grow on trees. Before the invention of refrigeration and food preservation, the natural Indian spices made the stored meat in the West-ern countries more palatable past its expiry date. And the medicinal herbs from tropical India extended the life of everyone along the Silk Road.

Unfortunately, with gunpowder and paper from China, the same Silk Road also brought in the “western” invaders and the colonists to these rich prosperous “eastern” countries of India, China, Indonesia and oth-ers. Over the Second millennium between 1400 and 1950 AD, did the West overtake and become ‘developed’ and ‘industrialized’ with its naval firepower, while the Eastern colonies became exploited, poor, under-developed, and back to ‘developing’? Why are hundreds of millions of people in Asia still living below subsistence poverty (less that $2 per day), starvation, and lack of water or health care while the per-capita income in the West is 70 times higher? “Traveling the Silk Road” must make visitors wonder where did the leaders of the rich and prosperous civilizations of India, China, Indonesia and others go wrong. What did the West do right?

MODERN ADVENTURE TRAVELER: ROBERT H. JACKSON

In his keynote lecture illustrated with selected photographs of rug-ged mountain terrain along the Silk Road during the 1970s, Cleveland’s native scholar-collector and adventure traveler, Robert H. Jackson, shared some of his observations as the Russians were building military forces across the border from Afghanistan. He is a partner of Kohrman, Jackson & Krantz law firm. He noted how the Afghans have never been conquered by outside invaders for centuries because of their rough terrain. Yet they continue to remain some of the poorest people in the world – unlike when they were governed by the rule of Indian Emperors Ashok and Akbar.

In the map used for the talk, the “Silk Road” was stretched into South Asia and the South-east Asia with the “Spice Sail Routes” but there was little mention of the pivotal role of India. It made me wonder how significant was India’s market share in the overall import-export trade along the Silk Road.

EXHIBITION OPENING CELEBRATION

The May 31 Celebration started with a recep-tion serving beverages and snacks from India and China to about 450 guests. Chinese snacks served in paper take-out containers included delicious fried dumplings, sweet-and sour, and noodles. The Indian snacks included a curry and rice (both somewhat raw) and which could be spiced better – at this exhibition showcasing

many of the Indian spices along the Silk Road.

INNOVATORS “TRAVELING THE SILK ROAD” COME TO CLEVELAND- BY Dr. R. RAY GEHANI

Continued on Pg 6

HOT OFF THE PRESS!THRITY UMRIGAR WRITES A NEW BOOK THE STORY HOUR: BY SUJATA LAKHE BARNARD

5 Community News

Although I met with the Author to talk about this book at a café in Cleveland Heights, I do not have the book and will be reading with everyone else as it comes out on August 19, available on-line and local book stores. Nonetheless, I will include here a synopsis of the book as told by author herself and culled from reading articles by professional reviewers who already had a chance to read it. However, first I will like to tell you a little bit about our local novelist and professor and some of her books I have read.

Thrity was born in Bombay, India in a Parsi family and got her early edu-cation in Catholic English medium school. She came to the U.S. when she was 21 and holds a Ph.D. in English from Kent State University. She was a journalist for 17 years and reporter for the Akron Beacon Journal. Thrity was awarded Nieman Fellowship to Harvard for mid-career journalists, during which she published her break out novel Bombay Times, success of which helped Thrity launch her career as a novelist and professor of cre-ative writing, journalism and literature at Case Western Reserve University. She also does occasional freelance pieces for national publications and has written for the Washington Post’s and the Boston Globe’s book pages. She is the recipient of the 2009 Cleveland Arts Prize in Literature, was a finalist for the 2006 PEN/Beyond Margins award and has recently won the Seth Rosenberg prize.

Many readers will identify with me when I describe a moment at an inter-national airport in India, surrounded by friends and family, ready to leave behind EVERYTHING for an unknown land where one will have to earn back EVERYTHING. There are feelings of -excitement and fear, joy and ache, hope and despair- all at once! Hands shaking vigorously as they fas-ten the seat belt on a flight, which will change life irreversibly! Although Illegal immigration is common topic of political and public discussion, peo-ple forget how legal immigration can be quite an agonizing choice. Time, space, words, clichés, songs on radio, flags on post-offices, color of mail-boxes; bisected, turned on its head! So much physical space between old and new and yet everything right next to each other in your brain! It is possible to straddle continents and get to other side of earth in a fraction of a second. Thrity’s novel ‘If Today Be Sweet’ captures this heart wrench-ing internal struggle of an immigrant’s simultaneous sense of great losses and great gains. Moreover, it being set in a fictional Cleveland-area suburb makes it even more interesting to me. This same theme is again touched in Thrity’s memoir ‘First Darling of the Morning’ along with trajectory of her life from birth in Bombay to her eventual departure to United States. This memoir is refreshingly frank, an uninhibited look at not only a child growing up in traditional Indian-Parsi family but also a nation growing up post-colonialism and after recent acquisition of self-governance. Thrity has further explored that theme in her most recent book, ‘The World We Found’ with special emphasis on looking at how the experience of growing up in complex society shapes your character depending on if you find yourself in privileged class or not, if you are religiously isolated or part of majority. Es-pecially educating for me was the character of a Muslim man, who on sur-face seems rigid, misogynist and hostile, but on further examination seems deeply hurt and traumatized by Hindu-Muslim rioting and social isolation.

Her hot off the press book: The Story Hour, according to reviews on Ama-zon which will be available for purchase on August 19, is profound, heart-breakingly honest about friendship, family, secrets, forgiveness and second chances. Thrity said, the seeds of this novel were sowed long ago when she met a bride of owner of an Indian grocer who had recently emigrated from India after her arranged marriage to the owner. She did not speak much English, looked extremely vulnerable and isolated, which stimulated Thrity’s imagination regarding how life might be for this young women, personally a stranger but culturally familiar, and what might be some po-tential dramatic consequences of her life situation. What if her husband was abusive, what if she was not happy in her marriage and life here? What will she do, who can she rely on? Who can she talk to? How would she solve her problems and take steps in order to pursue happiness in her life?According to GoodReads’ Pre-release review, the Indian woman, Lakshmi

ends up at hospital after a suicide attempt and meets a dedicated and seasoned psy-chologist Maggie Prides in The Story Hour. Lakshmi, who left her family behind when she immigrated to America, is desperately lonely and trapped in a loveless mar-riage; her life circumscribed by the walls of her husband’s small Indian restaurant and grocery store. Maggie even-tual develops a friendship with Lakshmi, determined to empower Lakshmi as a woman who feels valued on her own right and help her heal her marriage. However, past secrets threaten their bond, surprising to each of them as they are tinged with cultural difference. Accord-ing to GoodReads, “This jewel of a novel once again demonstrates what few writers capture: the complexities, challenges, and rewards of love-both platonic and romantic alike- as Thrity Umrigar does. In an achingly human story about our capacity for faith, forgiveness, and hope, she allows us to celebrate the power of second chances.”

Enquiries/ comments about this article to lakhe4@gmail.com

6 Community News

President Chace Anderson of the museum’s board of trustees and CEO/Executive Director Dr. Evalyn Gates greeted and thanked the donors and sponsors. The cultural program included multiple Chinese dance perfor-mances, Indian Kathak dance, and a delightful Kathak-Tap dance fu-sion. The Chinese part included a 12-member dragon dance by Overseas Chinese Association (OCA)’s Dragon Dance Club, to bring in good luck and prosperity – or to make the world aware that the Chinese Dragon has awakened and is dancing vigorously. The dragon was purchased by the Confucius Institute at Cleveland State University and a number of other Chinese organizations.

This was followed by a mesmerizing solo dance performance by a highly knowledgeable and talented Yin Tang (Yintangdance.com). She was wearing pastel colored and breezy Tang Dynasty costume, revealing glimpses of hidden layers of more vivid colors. She showcased a creative fusion of movements from various dynastic performance arts. She has been performing and teaching tradi-tional, folk, and classical dances around Cleveland for the past 15 years.

The Indian segment of the cultural partnership was represented by Antara Datta, who performed Kathak’s dancing way of storytelling and hand-gesturing with mudras. She recently moved to Greater Cleveland from Seattle, and founded now quite famous Anga Kala Kathak Academy. She was accompanied by a tabla percussion player who is also from Seattle. A rare surprise and delight of the evening was Antara Datta dancing Kathak in a jugal-bandi dual performance with a Tim J. Hickey, a male tap dancer. Both dancers choreographed a wide variety of different beats of ra-gas – one bare-footed Kathak dancer and the other steel-tipped tap dancer, while teasing, leading, and following each other. SPONSORS AND SUPPORTERS

“Traveling the Silk Road: The Ancient Pathway to the Modern World” was curated by the Ameri-can Museum of Natural History, New York (www.amnh.org) in collaboration with the museums in Singapore, Roma (Italy), Torino (Italy), Canberra (Australia), Taichung (Taiwan), and Taipei (Taiwan). Cultural Sponsors were TCP and Cuyahoga Arts and Culture. Beside FICA as the solo representa-tive of Cleveland’s Indian community, other cultural partners and supporters included Jones Day, Mar-garet Wong LPA, RAV Financial, Anthony Yen,

OCA Cleveland, Global Cleveland, and more. Once again, this event highlights how Cleveland-Indians are trying to increase their engagement

in mainstream educational and cultural activities. Any Cleveland Indian takers for sponsoring the next great exhibition on India’s Spice Road? __________

In this series of articles written exclusively for Lotus, Dr. R. Ray Gehani, an elected Member of the Board of Trustees at FICA, is re-examining the profound heritage of India and how it can be used in facing readers’ chal-lenges in dynamic modern context. These reflections represent his person-al views. He can be contacted with constructive suggestions at rgehani@uakron.edu.

INNOVATORS “TRAVELING THE SILK ROAD” COME TO CLEVELAND- BY Dr. R. RAY GEHANI

Continued from Pg 4

7Community NewsTHE STORY OF THE VARAN BHAAT

-BY SANJU VINEKAR

COMMUNITY EVENT: - SUBMITTED BY RADHA SEN

What had happened was unex-pected. That it was unexpected could be the only explanation for the beating the soldiers were tak-ing below in the valley. The ene-my had come by sea, undetected, somehow managed to navigate through the treacherous rocky waters off the only open side, and attacked by night. The kingdom was defensively situated. Never before had any attempt to breach

the borders not been crushed rapidly. The ocean border was always thought to be an impossible landing and defenses were understandably light.

But, what was happening now? Each time a report came, the news got worse. The general kept sending more and more troops into the fray. Yet, the enemy seemed never to tire, always hungry to take on more. The king’s messengers came hourly for reports. His head throbbing from the tension, finally, the general stood up from his desk and walked out of his tent. He surveyed the landscape below the ledge where his headquarters was sited, just beyond reach of the enemy’s artillery. This was no easy landscape and his men were well trained. To fall to invasion was inconceivable. Perhaps to stretch his legs and get some air to clear his head would do him good.

As he walked the uneven narrow paths along the face of the mountain, he began to feel tired and thirsty from the thin dry brisk air. He had already come quite far from his camp when he saw a ways ahead the ledge become wider again and heard the sound of a stream. Just around the corner, there, clinging to the rocky face was a small mountain hut with the aroma of food wafting out the open door.

“Why just stand there staring? Why don’t you come in?” came a voice from inside.

The general was in his shirtsleeves. He had not expected to meet any other human this high and on such terrain. But, his throat was parched, and his head was still aching. An imposing man, he had to stoop to enter the hut. Once inside, he had no choice but to curl his large frame and lay onto a roughly covered cushion on the ground. Almost immediately, before his eyes were even accustomed to the dim space lit only with the glimmer of a small wick in a bowl of oil, a tall sweating stainless steel beaker of cold mountain stream water was set down on a squat table next to him. He drank thirstily, but the beaker was refilled as soon as he set it down.

“Good. Food is ready. Time to eat.” came the voice again, and a large stain-less steel platter containing only rice (“bhaat”) and yellow lentil gravy (“varan”), was now offered. The general held the platter and drew in a deep breath of the aroma and, while he did so, a dollop of clarified butter (“ghee”)

was dropped on top, and a quarter of lime was squeezed. And, still, even by squinting and straining his eyes, the general could not properly make out much more than the outline of the figure of his host, who now pulled a cushion just opposite of the general’s and sat down with his own platter.

The famished general was in a hurry to mix the ghee and lime juice and varan and bhaat. He stuck his right hand into the middle of the pile of food. And, then pulled it out quickly. He yelped with pain because the food was so hot that it burned the general’s fingers. He heard laughter from the direc-tion of his host.

“What are you laughing at, old men?” The general was not used to being ridiculed.

“How so?” the host then paused, “Even a small child knows how to eat hot varan bhaat. How did you become who you are without learning yourself?”

The general was taken by surprise but remained quiet. He peered over at the host’s plate. At the edge of the platter, his fingers pulled a tiny bit of ghee and lime juice to the rice and dal there, and made a small mound of mixture, and eaten it. As yet, the middle of the varan bhat on the host’s plate remained untouched, but most of the food around the perimeter had disappeared. Verly little of the varan bhaat on the host’s platter remained. The general then shifted his attention back to his own platter. He finished his varan bhaat without scalding his fingers anymore. Never had the sim-ple dish tasted better to him.

When he had finished, the host offered the general a bowl of water to wash his hand, and took away the empty platter, cleaned shiny with the general’s fingers. “Go now. I have work to do,” said the host and he disappeared back into the shadows.

When the general returned to his camp, he called all his messengers to him. To all but one he gave them new orders to take to the field. And, to the one messenger who was not sent to the field, he gave a bag of gold coins and instructed him to take the same walk along the face, find the hut, give the coins to the old man inside.

It was not long before the first messengers returned, THIS TIME with good news. The battle had turned in the general’s favor.

Soon afterwards the messenger he had sent to the hut returned with the bag of coins.

“Why have you brought back the bag of coins?”

“My team and I searched the entire area, Sir. We found no hut and no moun-tain man.”

Swami Sarvadeva-nanda, a senior monk of the Ramakrishna Mission and spiritual leader of the Vedanta Society of Southern California, will be vis-iting Cleveland to give a talk in Westlake on Wednesday, July 23

at 6pm. The talk is free and open to the public and will be about the four major yogic spiritual disciplines. Refreshments and Q&A will follow the talk.

Cleveland Vedanta and the web site, American Vedanta spon-sors the event. You can learn more about the talk by calling organizer Radha Sen at (920) 395-8332, emailing cleveland@vedantin.org, or by visiting vedantin.org/swami-talk for more info.

  Please email Sujata at Lakhe4@gmail.com by July 25th if you are interested in anthem(s)

singing, marching band participation, volunteering at the water table or traffic flagger

for parade, performing on the stage, FICA membership enrollment booth, reception

committee at Gandhi statue and Cultural Gardens of Cleveland, game organizing. Also, be sure to include a date or dates convenient

in first week of August for a meeting/practice/Audition.

 

Sending a call out to all culturally Indian organizations in Greater Cleveland area,

Akron/Canton to participate in the parade with your banners and get a boost in your

membership enrollment by getting a booth at the City Gardens during India’s Independence day

celebration on August 17th. Also, inviting vendors of ethnically Indian goods, jewelry, antiques, rugs, apparel, dry/sealed spices mehendi, arts, to get a booth at the Gardens. Fresh food vendors must

have appropriate permits. Email Sujata at Lakhe4@gmail.com for details by July 25th 2014

Check out FICA group on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/groups/13055811

0322113/) or simply search for FICA Cleveland on FB for behind the scene and up-

to-date info!

7Issues that matter8 News of interest

we know light™

®

News of interest 9

They hang out with constructive and creative people. But, then there are some others who seem to wander around. They seem to be taking three steps forward, two steps backwards, and four steps side-ways. Today they are successful at the peak of their performance and popu-larity. Next day they are deep in the dungeons not even able to pick them-selves up to do every day mundane things. They seem to sabotage their own growth and success. They do not seem to be comfortable being them. In the worst cases, they feel helpless, and hopeless. Some even hurt them-selves or attempt suicide.What makes this chasm of difference in people’s behaviors and perfor-mances? Each person has a unique story with a wide variety of circumstances and personal challenges that make that story. But, a large body of research shows that, one difference that stands out between a high-performing person and a floundering person is the person’s attitude towards self: self-worth or self-esteem.

What is self-worth or self-esteem? (We will use these two terms inter-changeably).Self-worth is how we feel about self. Self-worth is the overall judgment we have of ourselves. How much we appreciate and like ourselves. How com-fortable we are in our own skin. It forms the core of our personality. We are our life-long companions. One person we cannot ignore or avoid seeing for long, no matter how hard we try, is our self. It is, therefore, important that we genuinely respect ourselves. It determines how we fill our time. Do we kill it, or use it to be creative and worthwhile.Our judgment of self-worth influences the kinds of friends we choose, or the role models we have. It drives how we get along with others. How we use our aptitudes and abilities, and therefore how productive and creative we are. In other words, having high self-worth energizes us to further increase our self-worth. Similarly, having low self-worth leads us to depressing ac-tions or avoidance of challenges that further chip away our self-worth.Self-worth is distinctly different from self-centeredness or conceit. Self-worth is a calm and quiet sense of self-respect. Because of self-worth we are glad who we are. Conceit is a coating or a white-wash over our low self-worth. We brag and show off because we do not truly respect ourselves.

We hide and conceal because we are ashamed of who we know we truly are. People with high self-worth do not waste their time or energy impress-ing others. They already know in clear-cut ways that they have value and worth.Our high self-worth is based on having two important beliefs:A. “I matter, I have value, and I am loveable because I exist.”B. “I am competent in handling my environment and my responsibili-ties, and I have something worthwhile to offer others.”

Each person has these two psychological needs to feel loveable and worthy. These needs were there when we were young and growing, and these are there when we are grown up – all the way until we die. Meeting these love and worth needs is as criti-cal for our emotional well-being as oxygen is for our physical sustenance. It is important that we ourselves feel loved and worthy. Sometimes our parents, siblings, or teachers may think that they love us and tell us that we are worthy, but we do not feel so in our core. Sometimes they are not able to communicate their love and respect in clear and consistent ways. It is important for parents with children to focus on boosting their

genuine self-worth through love and respect. It is our own feeling about being loved and respected that affects us significantly.

________ Dr. GEHANI is an educator inspired by FICA President Asim Datta to embark on an adventurous journey to excavate ancient Indian wisdom. He is trying to re-synthesize and reinterpret this wisdom in the modern context so that it is beneficial to Lotus readers for our day-to-day survival, development, and growth. In his last essay he explored Raja Yoga and the Purusha Hero within us. This essay shares how we can sustain the self-worth of this Hero. This discussion will continue in his next essay on Yama and Niyama. He can be contacted at rgehani@uakron.edu.

TAKING CARE OF YOUR SELF-WORTH

ARUN’S LEGAL CORNER- BY ARUN J. KOTTHA, ESQ.©

- BY DR. RAMESH RAY GEHANI

Continued from Pg 2

Your neighbor’s son, Nikhil, is an industrious young fellow. While on sum-mer vacation, he pushes a lawnmower around the neighborhood and offers to cut grass for a set price.

One day, as you are pruning your roses in the front yard, Nikhil approaches and makes you an offer you can’t refuse. Nikhil will cut your grass twice a month for the entire summer for the low price of $10 per cut. Knowing a bargain when you see one, you quickly accept, saying “you got yourself a deal”. Shortly after this, the weather gets extremely hot. Our friend Nikhil is more interested in going to the community pool than cutting grass. He fails to make good on his promise. Are oral contracts valid?

There are three elements of a contract, (1) offer, (2) acceptance and (3) con-sideration. The offer and acceptance are best described as a “meeting of the minds”. That is, do the two parties agree on the mutual promises that are made in the contract? In this circumstance, the offer is Nikhil’s promise to cut your grass twice a month for the entire summer at $10 per cut and your acceptance is the promise to pay him $10 for eat cut for the entire summer. The final element is consideration. In the simplest terms, consideration is payment. A promise to do something without consideration is not a bind-ing one. Consideration is best understood as Nikhil gaining some right or benefit, here $10 per cut. Consideration need not involve money. It can also be a relinquishment of some right you can legally exercise. You could agree, for example, to waive filing a lawsuit for Nikhil’s earlier trampling of your flowers in exchange for the grass cutting. This would be valid con-sideration.

The paragraph above still does not answer our basic question. Is an oral

contract valid? The answer is generally, yes. With some exceptions, an oral contract is valid. While you may run into evidentiary issues in proving the existence or terms of the contact in a legal proceeding, the contract itself is valid. But, certain contracts are so rife with the opportunity for fraud, or are so serious, the law requires them to be written. This includes things like contracts for the sale of land, guaranteeing debt (e.g. co-signing a house loan for your child) and others.

Mahatma Ghandi once said a “breach of promise is no less an act of insol-vency than a refusal to pay one’s debt.” While we should not be too hard on the young Nikhil, he should have kept his promise. Yes, the oral contract is valid, but perhaps you will settle for an apology? ###

Arun Kottha is an attorney with Tucker Ellis LLP in Cleveland, Ohio. He focuses on the defense of personal injury and commercial lawsuits.

Contact: ak1@tuckerellis.com. Feel free to contact Arun to submit a topic for a subsequent article.

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

Community News10

  Please email Sujata at Lakhe4@gmail.com by July 25th if you are interested in anthem(s)

singing, marching band participation, volunteering at the water table or traffic flagger

for parade, performing on the stage, FICA membership enrollment booth, reception

committee at Gandhi statue and Cultural Gardens of Cleveland, game organizing. Also, be sure to include a date or dates convenient

in first week of August for a meeting/practice/Audition.

 

Sending a call out to all culturally Indian organizations in Greater Cleveland area,

Akron/Canton to participate in the parade with your banners and get a boost in your

membership enrollment by getting a booth at the City Gardens during India’s Independence day

celebration on August 17th. Also, inviting vendors of ethnically Indian goods, jewelry, antiques, rugs, apparel, dry/sealed spices mehendi, arts, to get a booth at the Gardens. Fresh food vendors must

have appropriate permits. Email Sujata at Lakhe4@gmail.com for details by July 25th 2014

Check out FICA group on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/groups/13055811

0322113/) or simply search for FICA Cleveland on FB for behind the scene and up-

to-date info!

Community News 11RESCUING RELATIVES IN WAR TORN COUNTRIES

(Cleveland, Ohio – June 30, 2014) Our neighbor Ali was talking with his family and friends a couple days before Ramadan, when I walked by. They invited me to sit with them, and have sweet tea and cookies. The tea is served in a small glass too hot to hold unless you balance the edges on your fingers.

Ali, his wife, and their friends from across the street were talking in Ara-bic, which I don’t understand, so I watched their expressions, listened to the timbre of their voices, and heard the occasional word that sounds like English, or cities in Iraq I’ve heard on the news.

Ali turned to me. “The situation in Iraq is very bad. My cousin was killed in Tikrit by the insurgents. I’ve been trying for some time to get my moth-er and father out, but now with the embassy starting to close, that’s not looking likely at this point.” The US Embassy in Baghdad has relocated some Embassy staff, and the Embassy’s Consular Section has temporarily suspended routine visa services.

When war strikes, Americans become anxious about relatives in the af-fected region. It’s horrendous. You want to hear your relatives survived this attack or that battle. You never want to hear that Uncle Hakim was killed, or even worse, not hear anything at all because your relatives are totally cut off by war from the outside world.

Scott E. Bratton, attorney and partner at Margaret W. Wong & Associates, commented on Ali’s situation, “Whether tourists, nonimmigrant workers, or immigrants, when a US embassy suspends its consular services, other regional embassies take over the duties. If the US Embassy is no longer processing travel visas, even for tourists, people can get those visas from the US Embassy in a neighboring country.”

A couple options for Ali’s relatives include having them travel to the US and applying for asylum once here, or applying for humanitarian parole. The latter is rarely granted, but in a special circumstance like war or a health crisis, it may be the only option.

USCIS says: “Anyone can file an application for humanitarian parole, in-cluding the prospective parolee, a sponsoring relative, an attorney, or any other interested individual or organization. You file a request for humani-tarian parole using Form I-131, Application for Travel Document, along with Form I-134, Affidavit of Support,” and mail them to USCIS.

Bratton concluded by saying, “Some forms people can file themselves, but I really recommend you seek help from an immigration attorney for any of these immigration or non-immigration forms. The forms can be confus-ing, and attorneys deal with them daily, so we know the pitfalls.”

Scott E. Bratton, Esq., Margaret W. Wong & Associates, Scott@imwong.com

Margaret W. Wong, Esq., Managing Partner, Margaret W. Wong & Associates, wong@imwong.com

3150 Chester Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio 44113 216-566-9908 www.imwong.com

INDO-PAKISTANI GROCERIES SPECIALS

Shan Spices: $0.89

Goat Meat: $3.49

Kala Chana 4lbs: $2.99

Kabuli Chana 4lbs: $2.99

Dal Chana 4lbs: $2.99

Dal Masoor 4lbs: $2.99

Indian Gate Basmati 15 lbs: $19.59

Indian Gate Basmati 15 lbs: $19.59

8225 Carnegie Ave Cleveland, OH 44103 (216) 229 - 7864

(Located near the Cleveland Clinic) Mon-Sat 9am - 9pm Sun 10am - 7pm

Goat Chunks $3.49 /lb

Shan Spices $0.89 each At Rumi’s Market, we carry a wide

selection of Indo-Pakistani groceries with ethnic produce and fresh meats, all at affordable prices. We also have a spacious parking lot.

20600 Chagrin Blvd, Suite #150Shaker Heights, OH 44122-5327

(216) 295-0400www.thesaffronpatch.com

Community News12

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