november 2015 - volume 1115 cleveland, ohio, usa...

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A Monthly Publication of the Federation of India Community Associations (FICA) Since 1967 INSIDE Free Monthly Subscription - A Non-Profit & Tax Exempt Organization - Tax ID# 34-1215066 November 2015 - Volume 1115 Cleveland, Ohio, USA Non-Profit Organization U.S. POSTAGE PAID CLEVELAND, OHIO PERMIT NO. 1051 FEDERATION OF INDIA COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION INDIA COMMUNITY CENTER 12412 CEDAR ROAD CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, OH 44106 Or Current Resident 1 FICA Matters 2 Community News President’s Message 3 Happy Jewish Story 4 Happy Jewish Story (Cont.) 5 e Jared Scott Miller Library 6 Patanjali Yoga Sutra 1.3 7 Madhu Singh & Meena Mone 8 Kali on Empire State Building 9 Kashmir Issue 10 Tiny Voices 11 Community News 12 LOTUS TEAM Publishing & Editorial Sujata Lakhe Barnard Ramesh “Ray” Gehani Priyanka Gopal Email Distribution & Advertising Atul Verma [email protected] Public Relations/Creative Paramjit Singh [email protected] For Lotus related questions / comments, please email : lotus@ficacleveland.org, or call 216/791-FICA(3422), and leave a message I wish to inform that FICA was able to negotiate a very unique sales agreement for its building at 12412, Cedar Rd. This sale agreement has a special rental agreement included in it. The building has been offered “as is where is” subject to “point of sale inspection” by the city of Cleveland Heights. The in- spection has been completed and our maximum liability is limited to $10,000 for fixing city code violations cited by the city inspector. The Rental agreement is for a period of five years from the date of closure. It allows FICA to use the premises for Trust- ee meetings approximately four times a year, for Executive Board meetings on an as needed basis and for certain non- ticketed Indian Community lectures, dinners and the like for approximately four times a year at no cost . In addition, any FICA sister organization (AIPNO, BCS, Marathi Mandal and ODESHA) can use the facility for up to a combined six times per month for approximately two hours each time for rehearsals, meetings etc at no cost. Ad- ditional hours will be charged a rent at the rate of seventy five dollars per hour. Of course, all uses must be arranged in advance through FICA Executive Board and the Scheduling Agent of the Church. In addition, we will have a storage facility in the basement at no cost. But there is one caveat: we may not use the facility for any Deity festival. The tentative date of closure is November 16, 2015. We must be cognizant that the consummation of the sale is contingent on: 1. The church group getting the necessary zoning vari- ance from the City of Cleveland Heights to permit use as a place of worship and 2. Approval of Loan. We have been working on this for the past two years. Our past president, Asim Datta was instrumental in getting the ball rolling with his personal contact and relationship with the Rex Beck, the most rev- erend pastor and chair of the Church of Cleveland Heights. I, on behalf of FICA, express my sincere gratitude to Asim. For our due diligence we solicited and entertained offers from other interested parties including work- ing with a professional Realty company. In the be- ginning it appeared that there may be three potential offers but none materialized. In addition the church group was the only party open to any continuance of use the building by FICA and its sister organiza- tion following the closure of the sale. This agreement could not be arrived at with out the support of the Board of Trustees and the community at large. I remain indebted to them for their patience, understanding and support. I want to reiterate that the “MEMORANDUM OF UNDER- STANDING (MOU) OR THE AGREEMENT ENTERED ON THE 12TH DAY OF DECEMBER 2011 BETWEEN FICA AND THE BENGALI CULTURAL SOCIETY (BCS) REMAINS IN FORCE. FICA INTENDS TO FULLFILL ALL IT’S RESPON- SIBILITIES AND OBLIGATIONS TO BCS. And finally, a very special note of recognition must be re- served for my fellow trustee DHARMINDER KAMPANI. He gave us his highest professional service unflinchingly to make sure that every sentence in the agreements is legally sound and preserves the best interest of FICA and the com- munity at large. I could call and meet with him at all hours of the day including the week end. I could not even reimburse him for his out of pocket costs of postage and duplicating! He is the epitome of unselfish volunteer service. Dharmind- er: please accept thanks of a grateful community. Very sincerely, CHITTARANJAN JAIN [email protected] Unique Sales Agreement for ICC A letter from C. Jain, Chairman of FICA Board of Trustees Next issue look for an exciting story about Mahatma Gandhi campus in Cleveland!

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

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

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FICA Matters 2Community NewsPresident’s Message 3 Happy Jewish Story 4Happy Jewish Story (Cont.) 5 The Jared Scott Miller Library 6Patanjali Yoga Sutra 1.3 7Madhu Singh & Meena Mone 8Kali on Empire State Building 9Kashmir Issue 10Tiny Voices 11Community News 12

LOTUS TEAM

Publishing & EditorialSujata Lakhe BarnardRamesh “Ray” GehaniPriyanka Gopal

Email Distribution & AdvertisingAtul [email protected]

Public Relations/CreativeParamjit Singh [email protected]

For Lotus related questions / comments, please email :[email protected], or call 216/791-FICA(3422), and leave a message

I wish to inform that FICA was able to negotiate a very unique sales agreement for its building at 12412, Cedar Rd. This sale agreement has a special rental agreement included in it. The building has been offered “as is where is” subject to “point of sale inspection” by the city of Cleveland Heights. The in-spection has been completed and our maximum liability is limited to $10,000 for fixing city code violations cited by the city inspector.

The Rental agreement is for a period of five years from the date of closure. It allows FICA to use the premises for Trust-ee meetings approximately four times a year, for Executive Board meetings on an as needed basis and for certain non-ticketed Indian Community lectures, dinners and the like for approximately four times a year at no cost .

In addition, any FICA sister organization (AIPNO, BCS, Marathi Mandal and ODESHA) can use the facility for up to a combined six times per month for approximately two hours each time for rehearsals, meetings etc at no cost. Ad-ditional hours will be charged a rent at the rate of seventy five dollars per hour. Of course, all uses must be arranged in advance through FICA Executive Board and the Scheduling Agent of the Church.

In addition, we will have a storage facility in the basement at no cost. But there is one caveat: we may not use the facility for any Deity festival.

The tentative date of closure is November 16, 2015. We must be cognizant that the consummation of the sale is contingent on:

1. The church group getting the necessary zoning vari-ance from the City of Cleveland Heights to permit use as a place of worship and2. Approval of Loan.

We have been working on this for the past two years. Our past president, Asim Datta was instrumental in getting the ball rolling with his personal contact and relationship with the Rex Beck, the most rev-erend pastor and chair of the Church of Cleveland Heights. I, on behalf of FICA, express my sincere gratitude to Asim.

For our due diligence we solicited and entertained offers from other interested parties including work-ing with a professional Realty company. In the be-ginning it appeared that there may be three potential offers but none materialized. In addition the church group was the only party open to any continuance of use the building by FICA and its sister organiza-tion following the closure of the sale.

This agreement could not be arrived at with out the

support of the Board of Trustees and the community at large. I remain indebted to them for their patience, understanding and support.

I want to reiterate that the “MEMORANDUM OF UNDER-STANDING (MOU) OR THE AGREEMENT ENTERED ON THE 12TH DAY OF DECEMBER 2011 BETWEEN FICA AND THE BENGALI CULTURAL SOCIETY (BCS) REMAINS IN FORCE. FICA INTENDS TO FULLFILL ALL IT’S RESPON-SIBILITIES AND OBLIGATIONS TO BCS.

And finally, a very special note of recognition must be re-served for my fellow trustee DHARMINDER KAMPANI. He gave us his highest professional service unflinchingly to make sure that every sentence in the agreements is legally sound and preserves the best interest of FICA and the com-munity at large. I could call and meet with him at all hours of the day including the week end. I could not even reimburse him for his out of pocket costs of postage and duplicating! He is the epitome of unselfish volunteer service. Dharmind-er: please accept thanks of a grateful community.

Very sincerely,

CHITTARANJAN [email protected]

Unique Sales Agreement for ICCA letter from C. Jain, Chairman of FICA Board of Trustees

Next issue look for an exciting story about Mahatma Gandhi

campus in Cleveland!

2

1

FICA matters

Members of FICA executive board worked with artists at Cleveland museum of Arts to create this batik banner (6ftX4ft) , which was hung for the occasion of International Communities day at the Museum’s sunny atrium on October 4th, 2015. The event was very enjoyable with world of people, costumes, accents all bottled in one room. Indian art was represented by presentation of Bharatnatyam and Kathak. There were article of cultural importance displayed on FICA table. On FICA table was also DAWN, (Develop-ing Alternatives for Women in New communities) a community service project being developed so women can become financially contribut-ing members in the family unit. Many community members are part of this project - Archana Meh-ta, Carola Drosdeck, Gabriele Ober-dorfer, Cathy Parker, Paula Dancie, Priyanka Jain, Devi Gursahany and many more have stepped forward to help. Paula, brought a sampling of scarfs made from fabric donated by Indian community in Akron and Cleveland area, quite a few of which were sold. FICA was glad to support DAWN’s efforts in de-

veloping a market for the one of a kind infinity scarves, yoga mat bags, aprons, shoulder bags be-ing stitched by their students. Visit www.dawn-creations.org for more info.Irene Miller, mother of late Jared Miller, also was at FICA table try-ing spread the word about Tamil Library they are trying to establish in Tamil Nadu in honor of their son. In honor of Jared’s love for Tamil language and his stay in India, par-ents of Jared are build a library for the children in the villages of Tamil Nadu. All donations are tax de-ductible and may be made on-line at www.rootfunding.com/cam-paign/jareds-library. Next year, lets not confine our cultural artifacts to our table, but lets wear it on us and wear our heart on our sleeves and mingle with other ethnicities in Cleveland to see what everybody is upto. Such a joyous and warm occasion to mark the end of summer and be-ginning of fall time in this quirky city of ours!

FICA at Cleveland Museum of Arts

Dr. Jessika Kumar, who also serves on FICA’s present Executive board has designed this sketch which was made into a batik banner and hung for display at Cleveland Museum of Arts on October 4th International community day.

The 5K “Run For Nepal” event on Sunday the September 13th was orga-nized by the Cleveland Chapter of non-profit organization, Sewa USA, to raise awareness and raise relief funds for Nepal, which is struggling to recover from the major devastating earthquake in April, 2015. The event took place in Avon Lake’s Weiss field and included both a 5K run as well as a 1 mile walk.

On that crisp and rather chilly morning, over 200 runners turned up for the event. Mayor of Avon Lake Greg Zilka gave an inaugural talk and flagged off the race. The runners were of various ethnicities and age groups from 6 to 90. The weather was also perfect for the run. Water stations and refresh-ment were provided at various stations along the route and prizes were awarded to runners of various age groups. There was also a display of pic-tures and stories about the devastation due to the earth quake and how the Nepalese people are coping with the tragedy and losses. With such a good turn out and sponsorships from many individuals and organizations such as TCS and Akron Nephrology Associates among others, Sewa was able to raise over $5,000 that would be sent to help rebuild homes and lives in Ne-pal after the country was ravaged by the tragic earthquake. Sewa organiza-tion, as a whole is committed to raise over a million dollars for the cause.

Run For Nepal is the one of the unique and first of the kind event orga-nized by Sewa Cleveland chapter. Based on such a huge support from the community, Sewa hopes to continue this tradition as an annual event and use the collected funds locally to help our own community.

We thank Cleveland Chapter of Sewa USA for organizing this event and raising the awareness for the victims of Nepal earthquake.

“Run For Nepal” 5K Run organized by Sewa Cleve-land Chapter was a Grand Success

3

1

Around the communities

FICA StaffAdministration

Board of Trustees Chittaranjan Jain, [email protected] 440/942-4369

Executive Board Sujata Lakhe Barnard, [email protected]/791-FICA(3422)

Giri Guruswami, Vice President [email protected], [email protected]/317-3911

Vacancy, [email protected]/791-FICA(3422)

Ashish [email protected]/202-6662

Sujata Lakhe BarnardEditor & Publisher, The [email protected]/791-FICA(3422)

Priyanka Gopal , Lotus Copy [email protected]/201-0443

Atul Verma, Lotus Business [email protected] [email protected]/307-5470

Jessica Kumar, [email protected]/349-0480

India Cultural GardenRaj Pillai - [email protected]/724-4398

Shiksha DaanSanjay Garg - [email protected]/590-1261

Project SevaMona Alag, [email protected]

Sister Organizations

Association of Indian physicians of Noth Ohio (AIPNO) www.aipno.orgDr. Umesh Yalavarthy, President216-513-4964 [email protected]

Bengali Cultural Society of Clevelandwww.bcscle.orgSujit Ghosh, [email protected]

Marathi Mandal www. neomm.orgDr. Sharad [email protected]

Odisha SocietyBirendra Jena, President 330 544-1725 [email protected]

President’s MessageUnity in society requires a natural glue, glue cre-ated as a result of healthy interdependence and mu-tually beneficial common ideas held by people liv-ing in that society and these ideas expressed in the form of predictable ac-tions and reactions. Some-times this glue could be religion, other times it is

language or ethnicity.Unity and diversity are mutually opposing and yet in-terdependent entities. India has quite broad diversity, which is also reflected in immigrated population. Lately, I have been thinking, what unifies various Indian com-munities in greater Cleveland area. What is our glue? What is the tie that binds? Is it a shared life experience? Our community is made of people living here as a result of a relatively recent immigration wave. The Immigra-tion and Nationality Act of 1965 reversed decades of systematic exclusion and restrictive immigration poli-cies including those from Indian subcontinent and sur-rounding countries. Majority of us share an experience of a tearful separation from family at various Indian In-ternational airports, two large bags, $20 or so currency in the pocket, a job offer or waiting spouse at the airport, and tiny culture jolts along with homesickness first few years of our lives here! And all of this is not experienced in Marathi or Hindi, dictated by the norms of Muslim, Sikh young or old but experienced as subconscious bio-chemical reactions moulded by a culture which extends the whole subcontinent! A culture whose constraints

and norms were honed by geography, weather and available natural resources.

Another commonality most Indians living in USA is education, importance of education for their children and equality in opportunity in mainstream society. They don’t want to be looked down for any reason by mainstream American society, whether it is due to such things as clothes or food or personal habits or even ac-cents and Ind-lish. However, we tend to do great at what ever work we choose, after all that is why we are here! It takes us a long time before we are same inside the confines of our homes as outside in society, in all-Indian company vs a mixed company. It takes a long while before we feel lost on what to do on work-free days during Thanks Giving and Christmas. Especially in Northeast Ohio, we throw a lot of money on ill-fitting snow shoes, winter coats and gloves before we find the right things to keep us warm. It even takes a little while before we internalize the fact that bright sun outside on a winter day is just light and no heat! This is the experi-ence we all share and respond to which helps shape our lives and culture here. This experience and our common history is what forms a major portion of the identity of our community here. We need to help each others and never let others down as this is the way to strengthening society. As a community we must be aware of our goal and give it top priority. We’ll be able to reach our goal when we understand its importance.

I would like to inform to the community that Jyoti Sadekar has resigning from the position of Trea-surer. She had to move out of Cleveland due to a per-sonal emergency. Jyoti has informed us that she was very excited and willing to participate in FICA activities but couldn’t

do much justice due to a job situation. Jyoti Sadekar wishes all of us the best in our future endeavors.All of Executive board and FICA trustees are very sorry to hear of Jyoti’s departure. Jyoti was an important ad-dition to the board and we wish Jyoti all the best of future and lots good luck.

FICA treasurer resigns

4 Events Future & PastIn Search of a Happy Jewish Story - in India

Part 1 of 3-By Irene Shaland

“Growing” into India I dreamt of India for years. As my husband Alex and I planned our trip, we both began to see India as the place in space and time where one comes for self-discovery and personal growth. The truth, not told you by travel agents, is that you have to know deep down why you are coming to India. If you do, you are bound to discover the most re-fined beauty and the deepest spiri-tuality. You will start seeing India as not merely a country but a subconti-nent or rather a universe. Travelling through that universe, you gradual-ly learn – like peeling the onion, lay-er after layer – some very important truths about people and history and myths they create. If you don’t, you will be overwhelmed by heat and smells, crowds and beggars, street dogs and cows, and noise and dirt. The art history life-time stu-dents, we started our trip with a specific agenda. Eager to learn about inlaid marble art of Taj Mahal and love sculptures of Khajuraho, we came to India to see the temples and palaces. But something unexpected and wonderful happened. It was the tiny Jewish community of India that turned out to be the most amazing discovery and transformed our trip into a spiritual journey instead. When we returned, many of our friends were surprised to hear: that: “Jews – in India? How on earth did they ever get there?” But they did. And they have been living in their Indian homeland -- in freedom and prosperity -- for well over 2500 years. Where did the Indian Jews come from?The story about the Indian Jewish community is not widely known, and here it is. This community consists of three major distinctive groups: the Cochin Jews, the Bene Is-rael, and the Baghdadi. Each group has their own story to tell. The Cochin Jews are consid-ered the oldest, continuously living Jewish community in the world. They began arriving in waves from Judea, 2500 years ago, on the Mal-abar Coast of India and settled as traders near the town of Cochin in what is now the southernmost In-dia’s state of Kerala. The first wave probably arrived in 562 BC follow-ing the destruction of the First Tem-ple. The second wave likely came in 70 CE after the destruction of the

Second Temple. The late 15th centu-ry saw the arrival of the third wave: Sephardic Jews expelled from Spain. Refugees escaping prosecution by the colonial Portuguese Inquisition in Goa, India, followed them. The Cochin Jews have al-ways enjoyed special protection by the local rulers. As early as 392 CE (though some scholars maintain that this event happened much later, in the 11th century), the Hindu Raja (king) issued his permission for Jews to live there freely. He documented his decree on ancient copper plates, which are now kept in the Holy Ark of the Cochin Synagogue. The Cochin Jews speak Ju-deo-Malayalam, a hybrid of Hebrew and the language of the state of Kerala. Only a few families are cur-rently living in Cochin because most members of the once large commu-nity moved to Israel. The Bene Israel Jews arrived 2100 years ago from the Kingdom of Judea and settled in what is now the state of Maharashtra. The origi-nal group - either traders or refugees from the Romans – was shipwrecked and the survivors, seven men and seven women, were thrown on the Konkan coast, not far from today’s Mumbai (Bombay). With no pos-sessions and unable to speak the language, they joined the cast of oil-pressers. Ironically, they were nick-named the “Saturday oil pressers” because they abstained from work-ing on Shabbat. They intermarried with mostly dark-skinned locals and later were called the “black Jews” by the “white Jews” of Cochin. The Bene Israel Jews speak Hindi and Marathi, the languages of the Maharashtra state. Once thriv-ing and populous, the Bene Israel group now accounts for about 3500 to 4000 people. Most of them live in Mumbai, and only a few fami-lies live in Calcutta and Delhi. The majority of the Bene Israel, which is ten times their population in India, moved to Israel. The Baghdadi Jews arrived in India about 280 years ago. The name is somewhat misleading. Not all were exclusively of Iraqi origin; many came from Iran, Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, and other Arab coun-tries. They settled in Rangoon, Cal-cutta, and Bombay, and because they were rich and educated, they quick-ly became the wealthiest commu-nity. Also called Mizrachi (Eastern) Jews, they turned their new home

cities into cosmopolitan, thriving entrepreneurial centers. Some be-came prominent politicians like the Governor of Goa, Jacob PVSM; oth-ers turned to philanthropy and built libraries and hospitals. The Baghda-di Jews speak Hindi, Marathi, and Bengali, the languages of the Maha-rashtra and Bengal states. Whether they speak Hindi, Judeo-Malayalam or Marathi, none of these languages has a word for anti-Semitism! Nevertheless, after 1948, when India gained indepen-dence from Great Britain and after the birth of the State of Israel, most of the India’s Jews, the Baghdadi, Bene Israel, and the Cochin, left their Indian homeland. They moved out because after the partition of 1948, Indian Jews found themselves in a different country, one that was burning with violence. As the tiniest of small minorities, they could eas-ily envision being crushed between the conflicting forces of Hindu na-tionalism and Muslim separatism. So, they left behind more than a 2000-year history of free-dom and prosperity and began their mass exodus to the new state of Isra-el where they now constitute about one percent of the total population. Some chose to immigrate to the UK or the US. Okay, our friends would say, then who is left? With so few Jews in a 1.2-billion-people Hindu-Muslim country, where would you find any Jewish-related sites today? Where would you meet the Jews them-selves? Instead of a simple answer, let me take you on an interesting journey.

Jewish pilgrimage in India: in search of places, people and stories

Delhi/Agra

Synagogue near the tomb of a Muslim emperor In Delhi, most tourists are encouraged to see the Emperor Humayan’s Tomb, which is the World Heritage Site, and is considered to be an architectural precursor to the Taj Mahal. Nearby is a tiny, one-room building that houses the best-kept secret in India’s capital, the Judah Hyam Synagogue. Here is where we arranged to meet with Mr. Malekar.

Ezekiel Isaac Malekar is a prominent Delhi attorney. He is also a Jewish community leader, Rabbi,

Cantor, writer, and Hebrew scholar. If you were to see him on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, you would perceive him to be a Columbia Uni-versity professor. A Bene Israel Jew, his native language is Hindi, and in his perfect British English, he told us about the tiny, but closely tied Jew-ish community of Delhi. One of the oldest Jewish communities in the world (Jews have been living in Del-hi for over 2000 years), it now num-bers a little over 40 people or 10 fam-ilies. So the synagogue also serves the needs of expatriates working in Delhi, Israeli diplomats, and Jewish tourists. When we discussed the complexity of the Jewish identity in the Hindu-Muslim culture, the sub-ject of Mr. Malekar’s many studies, he said: “As a Jew, I have Israel in my heart, but as an Indian – India is in my blood. This is my homeland.” After leaving the synagogue, we continued our exploration of Delhi’s Jewish history, in - of all places - a mosque.

Jewish atheist’s shrine in a mosque Jami Masjid of Delhi is the largest mosque in Asia, build by Shah Jahan of Taj Mahal’s fame. It is an irony of history that both the Shah and the mosque have a curi-ous Jewish connection. Visitors and worshipers alike enter the mosque through the grand royal entrance. At the right-hand side portal is a Muslim saint’s tomb. It is dedicated to a …Jew. His name was Sarmad and he was from a Persian-speaking, Armenian Jewish merchant family. Sometime in the 1630s, Sarmad ar-rived in the courts of Shah Jahan in Delhi and Agra and became close to both the Shah and his oldest son, the heir presumptive. Sarmad had an interesting career trajectory. He was a Jew who became a Muslim, then turned to Hindu and, finally, to atheist. He discovered a homosexu-al love, and as a result, abandoned his wealth and turned ascetic, wan-dering through the imperial courts as a naked fakir. A brilliant linguist, Sarmad translated the Torah into Persian. He also ridiculed all major religions of his time but was very popular as both a poet and a phi-losopher. Aurangzeb, an evil son of Shah Jahan, who killed his old-est brothers and imprisoned his fa-ther in order to get the throne, never forgave Sarmad for his friendship with his father and his brother. In 1661, he had Sarmad arrested and

( Continued on Page 5 )

5 Community NewsIn Search of a Happy Jewish Story - in India

(Continued From Page 4)

beheaded for his heretical poetry. Then Sarmad’s final and typical In-dian transformation happened: he became venerated as a great Sufi, an Islamic mystic, and was buried in a shrine in Jami Masjid where the an-niversary of his death is commemo-rated annually in a festival. India and Holocaust There was another, much more recent Jewish story that we heard while in Delhi. It was told by Ezekiel Male-kar when he learned that my grand-mother’s family perished in Poland during the Holocaust. In the beginning of the World War II, a ship with 1200 Polish Jew-

ish orphans and some adult guard-ians was not allowed to dock in Brit-ain. However, it was sponsored by a Baghdadi Jewish philanthropist, and ended up in Bombay. But there again, the British authorities would not grant them entry without per-mission from London. So, the Ma-harajah (great king) of Nawanagar, a small princely state near Arabian Sea (now – Gujarat), accepted them as his personal guests. His name was Jam Saheb Digvijay Singhji and he was one man who had a courage and determination to make a life-and-death difference. In the Maharaja’s estate, the refugees were well cared

for until the war ended. In 1989, the surviving members of the group along with their children and grand-children, returned to Gujarat from the US and Israel, and dedicated a memorial to their safe haven, India’s state of Gujarat. The same group re-turned in the year 2000 when Gu-jarat was badly affected by a natu-ral disaster, and the group worked to rebuild two villages. About ten years ago Ezekiel Malekar wanted to publish an account of that unpar-alleled chapter in the Holocaust his-tory and contacted the Maharaja’s family for comments. Maharajas’ son responded that his deceased

father would not have wanted any publicity because the Maharajah thought of the Polish refugees as his own brothers and sisters and treated them as such. The story of India as a shelter for Jews during the Holo-caust is not commonly known, but what a very Indian story it is. We soon discovered that not just Delhi, but Mumbai as well proved to be a collection of surpris-ing Jewish stories and sites. Would you ever think of India’s financial and movie capital as the city of the eight synagogues? We will explore in next issue of The Lotus.

Delhi. Judah Hyam Synagogue. Author with Mr. Ezekiel Isaac Malekar, a prominent Delhi attorney, Jewish community leader, Rabbi, Cantor, writer,

and a Hebrew scholar.

Jami Masjid of Delhi is the largest mosque in Asia, built by Shah Jahan of Taj Mahal’s fame. It is an irony of history that both the Shah and the mosque have

a curious Jewish connection

Delhi. Judah Hyam Synagogue interior.

6 Community News

Over 320 people gathered in Millis-Schmitt Auditorium, Case Western Reserve University to hear Acha-rya Vivek Gupta, speak on “Find-ing Happiness through Service” on Friday, August 14, 2015. The talk, followed by a Panel discussion was organized by Sewa International, Cleveland Chapter in association with Chinmaya Mission, Cleveland.

The program began with an invo-cation song by Narayan Ji. Dr. Hira Fotedar (President, Sewa Cleveland Chapter) opened the event and wel-comed the key note speaker, chief guest, six panel members and the audience; Dr. Sree Sreenath (Nation-al President, Sewa International) up-dated the audience on his recent trip to India and Nepal. He mentioned that Sewa is undertaking building of 8 hostels for the Earthquake orphans in Nepal along with construction of 61 Village Community Centers and has already distributed 10,000 School kits. Ms. Viji Vijay, Sewa Co-ordinator, gave a presentation about Sewa Cleveland activities, which is focused on economic empowerment and educational support to refugee immigrants and low-income fami-lies as well as helping immigrant communities in the areas of Health and Family Services.The Chief Guest, Dr. Susman, Dean, Northeast Ohio Medical University, College of Medicine (NEOMED), in his address explained how despite having one of the best healthcare systems in the country, many im-poverished people are still unable to obtain affordable healthcare. He mentioned that NEOMED is em-

phasizing service and empathy in the medical curriculum. The Key-Note Speaker for the eve-ning, Acharya Vivek Gupta, Resi-dent Acharya of Chinmaya Mission Niagara, mentioned that Happiness begins by making yourself success-ful first and providing your family with its basic needs of love, friend-ship, intimacy, financial well be-ing and personal security. This is achieved by having a vision, mis-sion and setting personal goals. De-veloping time management skills to achieve them. Citing Maslow’s hierarchy of needs he advised that true happiness comes when we give back to the society, help and serve people in need. He observed that United States, despite being an amazing country filled with many opportunities, was not one of the happiest countries. This is because of our tendency to associate happi-ness only with material wealth. He said that this approach leads to ego that causes a feeling of separation from others. However, selfless living instead of selfish one would connect us with others. Volunteering our time and resources to those in need, results in lasting satisfaction and happiness.

Dr. Rupesh Raina led the panel dis-cussion by asking each of the six Panelist’s questions regarding how they balanced their professional life with public service and how they find happiness. Todd Teter, Vice president and gen-eral manager of Moen U.S. whole-sale spoke from personal experience as to how he got involved with the

Juvenile Diabetes Research founda-tion’s Northeast Ohio chapter when his child suffered from type I diabe-tes. He went on to explain that the look he sees on the parent’s faces when they realize that they are not alone makes this service very re-warding.Dr. Holy Perzy, Vice President, Met-ro Health, was asked how she found happiness. She said that she always wanted to be a doctor as this profes-sion allowed her to reach out and help others. She is very concerned about the unequal access to medical care in this country to low income families. She is committed to cor-recting this. Dr. Sanjiv Tewari, Chairman of the Department of Medicine at Akron General Medical center, and Presi-dent of the Lung allergy, and Sleep Centers of America, informed that in his hospital he places heavy em-phasis on providing empathetic ser-vice to patientsFareed Siddiq, Executive Director, Morgan Stanley, and a financial ad-visor, mentioned that helping fami-lies to find and achieve financial in-dependence makes him very happy. In addition his heavy involvement with organizations such as the American Red Cross, The Hunger Network of Greater Cleveland, and other organizations gave him im-mense satisfaction.

Dr. Kristin Englund, a staff member of the Department of infectious dis-eases at the Cleveland Clinic and a volunteer at the Free Medical Clinic of Greater Cleveland and for Med-Works in the Cleveland area finds

happiness by volunteering despite her hectic schedule. Ratanjit S. Sondhe, founder of a ma-terials science company who over-came many challenges and built it into an industry leader, advised that in times of difficulties, we should choose to face them head-on to suc-ceed; and losing the opportunity, we will learn nothing.

Acharya Vivek Ji answered ques-tions submitted by the audience. He ended with an interesting take away. In some cultures when it is a person’s birthday it is customary to give something to others rather than expect others to shower the person with gifts. How much differ-ent would our lives be, if as we grow older, each year that is added to our lives, we spend as many hours vol-unteering weekly or donate per-centage of our income to charity? That would make the world a better place.

Master of Ceremonies, Ritu Ma-hana kept the event moving along at a lively pace. Padma Jambunath offered a vote of thanks and recog-nized the contribution of Dr. Saloni Khatri and Dr. Priyanka Sharma of Chinmaya Mission as well as many volunteers from both organisations.

*Dr. Rupesh Raina is a Nephrolo-gist and a member of the Advisory Board of Sewa International Cleve-land Chapter. Viji Vijay is Vice Presi-dent, Operations of SewaUsa.

“Finding Happiness through Service”-By Dr. Rupesh Raina and Viji Vijay

Cochin Reeva Cochin Sarah

In Search of a Happy Jewish Story - in India

7Arts Review

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

(216) 295-0400www.thesaffronpatch.com

Vishali is a certified Yoga teacher who lives in Solon with her family. Yoga is her pas-sion. She learnt Yoga while growing up in India and also completed a 200 level teacher training at Chagrin Yoga. She teaches group classes in Cha-grin Yoga and Solon Recreation Center. She offers an inspiring and powerful combination of asana, breath, meditation, and chanting that leaves stu-dents uplifted and empowered. Vishali specializ-es in Yoga and meditation techniques to promote overall wellness strengthen the core muscles to bring agility and alleviate back pain. She also helps private clients and also does instruction for individuals training to be Yoga teachers at li-censed Yoga Schools. She can be reached at [email protected]

Extension brings space, space brings freedom, freedom brings precision, precision is truth and truth is God. (B.K.S.Iyengar) In this sequence, we are going to create space in the front of the chest and the rib cage and the spinal vertebrae using a strap. Due to the stress of day to day life we tend to roll in on ourselves hunching the shoulders and restricting the breathing. Also the discs in the spine start col-lapsing with daily wear and tear. With the follow-ing stretch, feel the spine extending from the base of the pelvis to the crown of your head creating freedom in the mind and dissolving any heavi-ness or tightness. 1. Take a yoga strap and roughly estimate the width of the inner border of the shoulders. Fold one side of the strap over the other to that width. ((Image 1)2. Now, measure exactly from the right Ac-romion tip to the left Acromion tip. (It is a bony prominence on the scapula extending laterally over the shoulder blade on either side. It is the highest point of the shoulder).3. Loop the strap tight so it does not move.4. Insert the strap into the right arm and take it back.5. Insert the left arm into it and extend the arms back.

6. Now, place your thumbs to your low back or sacrum and wrap the fingers around your waist. This will point the elbows to the back of the room opening the front of the chest. (Image 2 and 3)

PRASARITA PADOTTANASANA WITH A MODIFICATION 1. Come onto your mat length wise and spread the legs 31/2 to 4 feet apart depending on the hamstring flexibility. Make sure feet are paral-lel.(Image 4) 2. Press into the outer edges of your feet and engage the inner thighs. 3. Lift the knee caps into the quads.4. Stretch the arms back and point the fin-gers to the back of the room. The strap will make sure that shoulders are away from the ears. 5. Lengthen the torso forward pressing the hips back so it is parallel to earth. 6. Press the top thighs back to lengthen the spine forward and widen the groin to broaden the pelvic floor. 7. Keep neck in line with the rest of the spine and gaze down and forward. Stay and breathe Ujjayi breath for one to two minutes. With each breath, notice the spine elongating and collar bones widening. 8. To come out of the pose touch the palms to-gether and the strap will release. Place hands on hips on slowly bring the torso up. 9. Bend the knees and jump to close the legs in Ta-dasana. This posture can be done at the end of the day to un-wind followed by legs up the wall pose as discussed in the previous lotus issue.

DE-STRESS DELIGHT FOR THE SPINAL COLUMN AND SHOULDERS

- By Vishali Gupta

Madhu K Singh was appointed Commissioner of Ohio Civil Rights CommissionSource: http://crc.ohio.gov/Home.aspx

Commissioner Madhu K Singh was ap-pointed Commissioner on June 12, 2015 by Gov-ernor John Kasich to a five year term expiring July 29, 2019. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Rajasthan University in Jaipur, India where she also completed graduate level courses in English Literature. Commissioner Singh has worked with the Ohio Secretary of State acting as the liaison with the Office of Boards of Elections,Chambers of Commerce and the community. She was also instrumental in developing a strategy to provide

a communication link between private, public and administrative leaders. Commissioner Singh has extensive entrepreneurial and leadership skills in both the private and public sectors. She is a resident of Akron, Ohio and has served on several boards including Coming Together Akron, Akron International Friendship, American Cancer Society, Asian Indian Community of Northeastern Ohio and the Private Industry Council of Youngstown.

Meena Morey Chandra, a local resident and re-gional director of the U.S. Department of Edu-cation’s Office of Civil Rights in Cleveland was named a Crain’s Woman of note.in their July 2015 issue.(http://www.crainscleveland.com/article/20150711/AWARDS01/307129986/meena-morey-chandra). According to the website of U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, the regional director is responsible for monitoring civil rights compliance procedures for thousands of education-al institutions throughout the state. There are oc-casions when the department’s regional office pro-actively takes active steps gets to make sure rules and procedures are explicitly in place and followed

in regional educational institutions. One such example was when the department reviewed the reports of sexual violence and harassment on the Ohio State Univer-sity campus and suggested improvements to the established compliance policies and helped shape the university’s ability to manage such complaints effectively and fairly. In the Crain’s Cleveland article, Meena Morey Chandra has said, “Our sexual violence work is in the press almost every day.” showing that in the last sev-eral years, Meena’s department has not shied away from taking on very systemic, large-scale investigations on difficult subjects. Meena Morey Chandra has worked with department’s regional office in various capacities for 17 years, taking the position of director last year after having served as deputy director, team leader and staff attorney. She attributes her region-al office’s success in dealing with difficult issues to her 30-member staff’s passion and efficiency. She graduated from Cleveland-Marshall College of Law and serves on visiting committee at Cleveland State University, and has served on the board of directors for South Asian Americans Leading Together (SAALT), a not-for-profit organization. She spent five years in private law practice prior to joining the de-partment. Along with her husband, Cleveland law firm managing partner Subodh Chandra, Meena is raising triplet 11-year-old boys, enjoys hiking and community activites.

7Issues that matter8 News of Interest

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News of Interest 9

In addition to the images of endangered animals, the light show, which was produced by the Oceanic Preservation Society and Obscura Digital, also projected rather high cheek boned Hindu Goddess Kali, which made her look more like Chamundi! The light show, aimed to draw attention to the numerous animal species currently facing extinction. The image of Kali, known as the Goddess of Time, Change, Power, and Destruction essential for new growth was created by artist Android Jones and definitely stole the show. I like this because in my view these symbols of Hinduism are supposed to hold a very complicated, often contradictory but simultaneous thoughts humans as individuals and as society are capable of. For example, construction often needs destruction, connecting with one thing needs one to withdraw from something else! Human society cuts down trees to make paper to write on it advice for destruction of nature and resources! What Kali means to a feminist in America will be different from what she means to a feminist in India, and very different from what Kali means to a devotee, or a tantrik or to a fundamental Christians or Muslims. The image on Empire State Building was supposed to remind us of nature’s wrath as human progress causes the extinction of many species.

KALI ON EMPIRE STATE BUILDING

Indian Cultural Garden anniversary celebrationand fundraising.

Contributed by Debbie Hanson, ClevelandPeople.Com

The India Cultural Garden celebrated its 10th anniversary in grand style at a gala event at Signatures of Solon on October 9, 2015. Almost 250 attendees joined to show their support for the Garden, share a wonderful time with friends and have the opportunity to hear Chief Guest, Reverend Dr. Otis Moss Jr. speak. After hearty appetizers and a social hour, event Chair Mona Alag wel-comed the crowd. She thanked her com-mittee and event supporters and then introduced dignitaries in the audience such as Solon Mayor Susan A. Drucker, Mr. Manoj Kumar Mahopatra, Deputy Consul General, Consulate of India, New York , dignitaries from Akron and Columbus and others. Mona then intro-duced Ohio Civil Rights Commissioner Leonard Hubert who expressed his sup-port for the community and the project. The keynote address from Rev-erend Dr. Otis Moss Jr. was inspiring. He shared his experiences with Dr. Mar-tin Luther King Jr. and shared stories from his visit to India with Rajmohan Gandhi, grandson of Mahatma Gandhi. He encouraged all to reach out in peace to every man, woman and child, in ev-ery circumstance and every phase of life. Rev. Moss received a well-deserved standing ovation.

Sudarshan Sathe gave a brief history of the Cleveland Cultural Gardens which will be celebrating 100 years in 2016. He told how the India Cultural Garden came to be Next, India Cultural Garden delegate Raj Pillai told of the plans to complete the next phase of the Garden. The Sanchi Stupa Gate will be recon-structed in the Garden. The Sanchi Stu-pa Gate is the oldest stone structure in India. There are four beautifully carved pillars and the Stupa (dome) is said to contain relics of Buddha. The 24 ft. gran-ite Torana will be the tallest monument in the Cleveland Cultural Gardens. The goal is to have this completed in time for the Cultural Gardens Centennial One World Day in August, 2016 and the Republican National Convention. It will be a perfect opportunity to show the world this fabulous garden. Of course you can expect a big gala event when it is completed. Committee chair Mona Alag lived up to her reputation as a well-or-ganized, multi-talented and passionate chair. She was joined by Latta Varyani, Swati Sathe, Poonam Punwani, Kusum Mainthia, and Raj Pillai who together did an amazing job. There was a raffle with 14 donated prizes ranging from

$50--$800. There was a mandatory call of “FIX” when none other than Mona Alag won the $800 prize – but rest easy. She gave it to a fortunate guest. Students from the Nupur School of Dance performed traditional (such as a Prayer Dance to Ganesh) and modern (Bollywood) dances. The food was sensational from appetizers to a wonderful selection of entrees and the grand finale of a dessert bar. Kudos to Saffron Patch for yet another successful food experience. After dinner, Joe Cul-ley performed on the table.Of course, funding for the next phase of the Garden was a major portion of the event. Big thanks to Hemant Mainthia and his wife Kusum, who matched pledges up to $25,000! Pledges are still coming in –the $25,000 will be reached soon. This money is being raised is for the gate, but money is also needed for mainte-nance of the entire Garden. The wish list amount the Garden is striving for is $250,000. Any donation is welcome – nothing is too small.Mail checks made out to FICA/ICG fund to:Mona Alag10128 Hobart Road.Kirtland, Ohio 44094.

It is only appropriate that this event was so fabulous - it had to be to be worthy of the India Cultural Garden. Mahatma Gandhi stands with staff in hand, in the Garden. Notably, it is the only place in the world that has a statue of such a bastion of peace as Gandhi on a street named for a man of justice, peace and equality, Martin Luther King Jr.

This program was cancelled by

Executive board consensus due to lack of response

from the community for this event.

There is a video on in-ternet news organiza-tion which claim to ex-pose “The real face of Pakistan’s adminis-tration”. The video shows peo-ple gath-

ered in large numbers and protested against the Pakistani government in several areas (Gilgit, Kotli and Mu-zaffarabad.) of Pakistan-Occupied-Kashmir (PoK). The video which is exclusively available with CNN-IBN shows youths shouting slogans seeking freedom from Pakistan. Apparently, the Pakistan Occupied Kashmir residents are enraged over the lack of development in the area and are saying India would be better at providing these opportunities.. Youths from PoK are shown as stat-ing that they are picked up by the ISI if they refused to join ‘Jihad’. The video aims to show that anti-Pak-istan protests are on the rise in the

Pakistan Occupied Kashmir and the Pakistani force is using cruel way to put down rebellion in the region. After reading the above news I thought people in USA would be interested to know my account of events in Kashmir as I happened to be in New Delhi in those days when India got freedom from Brit-ish Raj in 1947, and a part of India was carved as new country, Pakistan with majority Muslim population. Let us therefore examine the back-ground of this Kashmir conundrum. Kashmir, which is also connected to the recent unilateral cancellation of Secretary level talks by India. The state known as Jam-mu and Kashmir,with majority of Muslim population, one of the 600 Princely independent states of In-dia, was ruled by a Hindu Maharaja Hari Singh from his headquarters in Srinagar. On August 15, 1947, the departing British rulers allowed these states freedom to join with In-dia or Pakistan or remain Indepen-dent. The ruler of Kashmir tried to remain independent and signed a standstill agreement with Paki-stan whose new rulers within two month, attacked the state on 22 Oc-

tober, 1947 by sending Tribesmen from North West Frontier Province aided by Army personnel in plain clothes. The Maharaja got alarmed and requested India for help with Army troops which was only given after he signed an Instrument of Accession to India on 26th October 1947. At the instance of India the rul-er also introduced Democracy in his country, where a popular Muslim leader Shekh Abdulla was appoint-ed as his Chief Minister. By that time some areas of Kashmir had already been occupied by troops of Pakistan. Indian leaders instead of fighting a war with newly formed Pakistan, referred the case to United Nations Organization. The U.N.O. had given a clear verdict to both Pakistan and India to remove their troops out of the state and then hold a plebiscite to get the views of the people, who under the leadership of Sheikh Abdulla were all in favor of joining India.. Pakistan never honored that decision and so no plebiscite could be held. India has been holding regular elections to administer the part of Kashmir in their control, whereas in Pakistan they never had any elections nor did

they do any further development and their poverty continued to go from bad to worse, as can be seen from the protests of their population mentioned in above. Another point that Pakistan has often raised is that the majority population of Kashmir is Muslim, but this logic also does not hold good. Even the population of East Bengal as part of Pakistan was Mus-lim and so they still could not re-main in Pakistan, but achieved Ban-gladesh an independent country. At the end of the day it will be best for the people living in this area is for Pakistan to enter into a final agreement with India that the existing Line of Control in Kashmir should be confirmed as Internation-al Boundary. Then they can proceed with normal trade commerce and cultural exchange with India in the interest of peace and prosperity of both countries. They may be in pos-session of nuclear arms but cannot use these against India without de-stroying themselves, if a nuclear war starts Pakistan will become a desolate place like what happened in Hiroshima during World War II.

“Tiny Voices”, A charity supporting Education and Research of trainees at MetroHealthFew executive board members of Federation of Indian Commu-nity Associations of Northeast Ohio(FICA of Neo) are working hard to support the cause of “Tiny voices” to help the research and teaching of medical students, resi-dents and fellows, many of whom are from India. Kindly come to this year’s Diwali (Festival of Lights) celebration at Ariel International Center to participate, enjoy and at the same time support this worthy cause.

One of the doctors involved in a the training of fellows and residents at MetroHealth NICU (Neo Na-tal Intensive-care Unit) is Dr. Prem Shekhawat. Dr. Shekhawat has just moved to Cleveland from Colum-bus, in fact he still has family and home in Columbus, Ohio, presently that is where he lives on weekends! Dr. Shekhawat has amazing com-munity spirit, which really shined through when he helped FICA take care of two CSU students involved in an accident not too long after ar-riving here and suffering significant injuries.A typical scene at Metro Health’s NICU has multiple alarm bells go-

ing simultaneously while personnel hurry about to reconnect the life supporting breath-ing tube when some-one notices the heart rate of this tiny 1 lb 2 oz. baby girl “Tania” was going down to 60 and her color turning ashen grey. A “code” is called and several residents, fellow and the attending doctor rushing in to “bag her”

up, the heart rate continues to drop so chest compressions are started, epinephrine is drawn and a bolus of saline is quickly started to “bring-back” this tiny spec of life. Luckily for her, the resuscitation was suc-cessful and her heart rate came up to 140, her color turned back to “rosy pink” and all was well for the time being. She was “too small and too weak” to cry but she kept fighting to survive. After 12 more weeks of such intensive care, she was finally able to come out of her isolette into her mother’s arms, that’s when she cried and had a voice of her own. This was the most amazing sound her mother ever heard after many months of heart wrenching tribula-

tion. This story is repeated over and over again at many NICU’s around the country including at our Metro-Health NICU and each such suc-cess story is attributed to 24/7 hard work and dedication of nurses, resi-dents, fellows and numerous other support staff. They are the voice of these tiny individuals who start out with no voice but eventually turn into normal productive members of our society. MetroHealth,a no-frills county hospital, level one trauma center, takes pride in providing such high quality care and performs the difficult task of training over 60 medical students, 45 residents and 9 fellows per year in their NICU in-

Community News10Kashmir issue as I understand it.

- By Om Julka

Tiny Voices

Community News 11Indian Cultural Garden celebration

(Continued from Page 9)Photos showing people and events at the Gala were taken by Dan Hansen of Clevelandpeople.com

New monument at Indian Cultural Garden will be fashioned after the entrance gate to the Sachi Stupa

Community News12

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