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FABULOUS PEARLS<br />
FOR SUBSCRIBERS!<br />
THE INTERNATIONAL<br />
Est 1992: The Region’s Oldest, Authoritative<br />
2012 • ISSUE 3 • VOL. 19.3<br />
Magazine of Gulf <strong>Indian</strong> Society & History<br />
Jewellery<br />
www.theinternationalindian.com May 1, 2012 - June 30, 2012<br />
Raj Goyle<br />
Why <strong>Indian</strong>s Do<br />
So Well In America<br />
Doctors, Engineers, Politicians,<br />
Writers And Spelling Bee Champs<br />
Destitute <strong>Indian</strong>s<br />
Struggle For Survival In The UK<br />
India, China, ME:<br />
A New Silk Route?<br />
London Olympics<br />
Tainted By Bhopal?<br />
Kamala Harris<br />
Manan Trivedi<br />
Nikki Haley<br />
Bobby Jindal<br />
• BAHRAIN BD 2.00 • KUWAIT KD 2.00 • OMAN RO 2.00 • KSA SR 20.00 • UAE AED 20.00 • CANADA C$ 8.00 • UK £4.00 • USA $ 6.00 •<br />
1
Editorial<br />
India’s 1st Female President: A<br />
Presidency of National Priorities<br />
or her Parivar’s Profit?<br />
Author Richard A. Swenson in his book A Minute of Margin<br />
tells of a practice long ago in Siam, now Thailand, where to<br />
torment his enemy, the king would give the gift of a white<br />
elephant, obligating the receiver into oblivion. To avoid<br />
offense, the king’s gift could not be given away. It had to<br />
be cared for carefully, and because a white elephant was<br />
considered sacred, it demanded the best nourishment and<br />
protection. It was only a matter of time before caring for the<br />
king’s gift of such a beast made the enemy destitute.<br />
<strong>Indian</strong> politicians are the classic white<br />
elephants that <strong>Indian</strong>s have been<br />
consistently presenting themselves since<br />
Independence. India’s much vaunted<br />
economy may not be so resilient after all<br />
– how we put the axe to our own feet might<br />
differ from America’s imprudence, but our deep<br />
rooted political, social and religious corruption<br />
will eventually deliver harsh consequences.<br />
As the dandruff TV commercial goes: Sar pe<br />
haath rakh ke kah sakte hain!<br />
Credit ratings agency Standard & Poor’s<br />
most recent decision to lower India’s rating<br />
to BBB- which is the lowest investment grade<br />
rating close to junk status from stable to<br />
negative, maybe a harbinger of things to come.<br />
It is not S&P alone – Moodys has a Baa3 rating<br />
on India while Fitch also rates India BBB- all<br />
these are minimum investment grade ratings.<br />
Is the dream of the India growth story coming<br />
to an end? S&P has warned of a sovereign<br />
downgrade in two years if the fiscal and current<br />
account situations do not improve and the<br />
political climate continues to worsen.<br />
How would India rank among nations, if it<br />
is rated by three factors: impact of government<br />
policies on its most vulnerable citizens – women,<br />
children and the poor; human degradation<br />
in terms of access to clean water, hygiene<br />
standards in public places and institutions<br />
and the most basic human needs – sanitation<br />
facilities and garbage removal; and not the least,<br />
the accountability of its politicians by law for the<br />
wealth acquired when they retire?<br />
In an interview once to Time magazine,<br />
Palaniappa Chidambaram, Finance Minister at<br />
the time, debunked the theory that India is a<br />
poor country. “It is not,” he said. “The bulk of<br />
India’s people remain poor because we are not<br />
able to give basic education to our children,<br />
we are not able to impart skills to our young<br />
men and women, and we are not able to get<br />
productive work out of them. If we can get<br />
another 200 million to 300 million people to<br />
join the ranks of those engaged in productive<br />
activity, India’s GDP will soar.”<br />
Chidambaram should also have added – if<br />
our politicians were not white elephants.<br />
India has just joined the exalted<br />
Intercontinental Ballistic Missile Club, but it<br />
is obvious that it’s aspirations for superpower<br />
status are quite absurd until there is marked<br />
improvement in infrastructure and governance.<br />
We can hardly compare ourselves to ICBM<br />
countries like USA, UK, France with the<br />
exception of Russia and China perhaps,<br />
especially when it comes to rule of the law and<br />
the welfare of citizens.<br />
After a very dubious beginning and a<br />
term marked by much suspicion about her<br />
family brazenly taking advantage of her official<br />
position, President Pratibha Patil is on her<br />
way out and good riddance to her. She will<br />
go down in the annals of <strong>Indian</strong> history as the<br />
President who earned much distrust for the<br />
country’s highest office by citizens who were<br />
forced to employ the ‘Right To Information Act’<br />
to stop her from building a palatial retirement<br />
home on army land when war widows and<br />
defence personnel are suffering due to lack of<br />
proper housing.<br />
I wonder if she ever gave any thought<br />
to the words of her predecessor, India’s first<br />
President Rajendra Prasad who observed: “In<br />
attaining our ideals, our means should be as<br />
pure as the end!”<br />
Media reports suggest the rapacious Patil<br />
parivar has been making hay in the presidential<br />
sunshine, enjoying their privileges as if they<br />
had a blank cheque for a wide range of<br />
unprincipled advantages.<br />
We ordinary citizens did not elect Patil –<br />
India’s Presidents are chosen by the Electoral<br />
College members of both houses of Parliament,<br />
and the State and Union Territory Legislative<br />
Assemblies (Vidhan Sabha). Eminent <strong>Indian</strong><br />
writer and historian, Ramachandra Guha,<br />
observes, “her selection itself is a comment on<br />
our political class.”<br />
As the President, Patil is the head of state<br />
of the Republic of India and the formal head<br />
of the Legislature, Executive and Judiciary<br />
branches of <strong>Indian</strong> Democracy and the<br />
Commander-in-Chief of the <strong>Indian</strong> Armed<br />
Forces.<br />
With powers of pardon and clemency<br />
vested with her, Her Excellency has been a<br />
President clearly inclined to take full advantage<br />
of her judicial immunity. No criminal<br />
proceedings can be initiated against a President<br />
in office, so Patil is not answerable to anyone<br />
for the exercise of her duties. Does it matter<br />
that she is the custodian of the Constitution of<br />
India that promises equality and justice for all?<br />
If she is manipulated by her husband Devisingh<br />
Shekhawat and Rajendra Shekhawat, (aka<br />
the feudal Raosaheb) her ambitious Congress<br />
politician son, why should someone like Patil<br />
care about minor issues like national priorities?<br />
When her personal comfort and family takes<br />
precedence, what does it matter that India<br />
is burdened by one third of the world’s<br />
poorest inhabitants who can barely eke out an<br />
existence?<br />
Apparently, it is our asinine government<br />
policies via the Ministry of External Affairs and<br />
the Prime Minister’s Office who media reports<br />
indicate allowed Patil to spend a whopping<br />
Rupees 205 crore on 22 official tours abroad to<br />
“deepen bi-lateral cooperation!”<br />
What would be more beneficial to the<br />
country – Patil’s grand foreign tours, replete<br />
with an entourage of chamchas – assorted<br />
wheeling dealing business cronies, media and<br />
pompous officials – or curtailing her junkets<br />
and using some of that Rs 20,500 lakhs to<br />
launch micro enterprises in the country for<br />
20,500 deserving but unemployed graduates?<br />
India might do well to consider – does a<br />
country like ours really need a President?<br />
Outlook magazine as recently as April 30, 2012,<br />
lists the controversies that have surrounded<br />
Patil’s tenure from the very beginning of her<br />
Presidency in 2007:<br />
• Starting out she claimed her becoming<br />
President was predicted by a dead ‘Baba’<br />
• Rajasthan minister Ameen Khan was<br />
forced to resign after he was quoted as<br />
saying that Patil was rewarded for loyalty<br />
and for making tea and cooking at the<br />
Gandhi household<br />
• As health minister, she spoke of the need<br />
to forcibly sterilise people with hereditary<br />
diseases<br />
• She was accused of protecting her brother<br />
in a murder case<br />
• The RBI shut down a cooperative bank<br />
in 2003 after it became insolvent following<br />
a decision to waive loans advanced to her<br />
relatives<br />
‘‘<br />
Standard<br />
& Poor’s<br />
most recent<br />
decision<br />
to lower<br />
India’s<br />
rating<br />
outlook<br />
close to<br />
junk status<br />
from<br />
stable to<br />
negative<br />
maybe a<br />
harbinger<br />
of things<br />
to come.<br />
The dream<br />
of the India<br />
growth<br />
story<br />
could be<br />
coming to<br />
an end,<br />
with S&P<br />
warning<br />
of a sovereign<br />
downgrade<br />
in<br />
two years.<br />
‘‘<br />
4<br />
The <strong>International</strong> <strong>Indian</strong> The <strong>International</strong> <strong>Indian</strong> 5
Editorial<br />
‘‘<br />
“This is the<br />
candidate<br />
that Sonia<br />
Gandhi declared<br />
was<br />
a “historic”<br />
choice,<br />
at Patil’s<br />
nomination<br />
in 2007.”<br />
‘‘<br />
• Maharashtra Government accused of<br />
‘agreeing’ to build a sports complex in<br />
2007 with Patil’s ‘Member of Parliament<br />
Local Area Development Schemes’<br />
(MPLADS) funds dating back to 1996<br />
• As President, she inaugurated a flyover<br />
near Amravati to boost the political career<br />
of her son; accused of lowering the dignity<br />
of her office<br />
• An RTI application revealed an expense of<br />
Rs 205 crore on her foreign trips, the<br />
highest ever by a President<br />
• The home ministry snubbed her by turning<br />
down a demand for Rs 85 lakh to renovate<br />
and furnish her post-retirement residence at<br />
Pune . Former Presidents A.P.J. Abdul<br />
Kalam were sanctioned only Rs 6.5 lakhs and<br />
K.R. Narayanan Rs 4.5 lakhs. The ministry has<br />
sanctioned Pratibha Patil Rs 20 lakh.<br />
• Photojournalists in Goa were summoned<br />
and warned by officials after they took<br />
photographs of the sari-clad president on<br />
the beach surrounded by tourists in bikinis.<br />
This is the candidate that Sonia Gandhi<br />
declared was a “historic” choice, at Patil’s<br />
nomination in 2007.<br />
Now we learn but for the “increasing levels<br />
of discomfort” the UPA leadership feels about<br />
Patil’s family and their public profile, she may<br />
have enjoyed a second term in office!<br />
Although it looks like Patil is unlikely to<br />
keep her kursi, unfortunately in India, the Gora<br />
Haathi is not a rare phenomenon.<br />
Former BJP President Bangaru Laxman, 72,<br />
recently sentenced to four years imprisonment is<br />
only one in a long line of crooks in government,<br />
which includes the late Congress Prime Minister<br />
Narasimha Rao. For a mere INR one lakh rupees<br />
bribe, Laxman was revealed to be a traitor who<br />
was caught red handed in 2001 accepting<br />
money on camera, in a<br />
defence procurement<br />
sting conducted by<br />
Tehelka magazine.<br />
Despite India’s<br />
overcrowded<br />
political jungle, it<br />
should not take 11<br />
years to make such<br />
white elephants<br />
extinct.<br />
Frank Raj<br />
Founder-Editor & Publisher<br />
frankraj08@gmail.com<br />
The <strong>International</strong> <strong>Indian</strong><br />
@frankraj08<br />
Frank Raj<br />
Are you looking for your life partner?<br />
Tired of looking in the wrong places?<br />
Not happy with parental coercion?<br />
Skeptical about what the stars foretell?<br />
COMING SOON!<br />
6<br />
The <strong>International</strong> <strong>Indian</strong>
What’s Inside<br />
May 01 - Jun 30<br />
61<br />
buzzword<br />
88 • Rise To The Challenge And<br />
Make A Difference!<br />
• GMU & GMCH, Ajman celebrate<br />
Global Day 2012<br />
90 • Samsung Launches Next<br />
Generation Cameras At Gulf Photo<br />
Plus 2012<br />
• Dolphins In Action!<br />
91 • Tommy Hilfiger Womenswear<br />
Spring/Summer 2012 Collection<br />
• Giordano Launches Online<br />
Shopping As Part Of Regional<br />
Growth Strategy<br />
92 • Love Fury From Nine West<br />
• Sony Mobile Communications<br />
Launches Xperia S In Middle East<br />
Market<br />
93 • Al Ain Dairy launches Camel<br />
Milk in 6 Delicious New Flavors<br />
• Dubai Internet City Welcomes<br />
The Legendary Nando’s Cockerel!<br />
13<br />
THE INTERNATIONAL<br />
<strong>Indian</strong><br />
EST: 1992 The Region’s Oldest, Authoritative<br />
Magazine of Gulf <strong>Indian</strong> Society & History<br />
23<br />
contents<br />
education<br />
22 The Failure Of American Higher<br />
Education by: Frank Raj<br />
For most <strong>Indian</strong>s, America is the place<br />
to head for higher studies, but all is<br />
not well with American education as TII<br />
discovers in an interview with Robert D.<br />
Atkinson of the Information Technology<br />
and Innovation Foundation..<br />
32 Fake It Until You Make It?<br />
by: Deepa Ballal<br />
According to Suman Suneja, CEO of<br />
Murano Lighting, Dubai, people have<br />
forgotten two most important things<br />
in life so freely available in nature but<br />
hardly used.<br />
41<br />
on the cover...<br />
12 Why <strong>Indian</strong>s Do So Well In America<br />
Doctors, Engineers, Politicians, Writers And<br />
Spelling Bee Champs by: Frank Raj<br />
Take an <strong>Indian</strong> out of the country and something<br />
marvellous happens to a desi.<br />
travel<br />
TII Amateur<br />
Photo<br />
Competition<br />
See page 51<br />
34 <strong>Indian</strong>s In Zanzibar by: Frank Raj<br />
TII continues its series on <strong>Indian</strong>s in<br />
East Africa and Zanzibar, the legendary<br />
<strong>Indian</strong> Ocean island with interviews of its<br />
business community of <strong>Indian</strong>s, mostly in<br />
the retail and hospitality sector.<br />
42 Gulf Hotel Happenings<br />
features<br />
52<br />
40 They Travel In Pyjamas by: Samwise<br />
I am not sure whether tourists in<br />
general realise that they in a way<br />
represent their country abroad.<br />
However, I am very certain that they<br />
would not want this onerous task when<br />
they travel to foreign shores.<br />
44 The Modern <strong>Indian</strong><br />
by: Mukul Kesavan<br />
It’s impossible for <strong>Indian</strong>s to be<br />
securely modern regardless of how<br />
much they consume or ‘know’ because<br />
the premise of modernity is the<br />
promise of generalized well-being.<br />
48 London Olympics Tainted By Bhopal?<br />
by: Anjali Guptara<br />
It has been over 27 years since ‘that<br />
night’ in Bhopal, but the on-going<br />
tragedy was back in the news due<br />
to the controversy regarding Dow’s<br />
sponsorship of the London Olympics.<br />
52 India, China, ME: A New Silk Route?<br />
Interview With Dr. Talal Abu Ghazaleh<br />
by: Frank Raj<br />
In this new series TII introduces<br />
readers to interesting, prominent<br />
people from all over the world. HE Dr.<br />
Talal Abu-Ghazaleh, is the Chairman<br />
and Founder of Talal Abu-Ghazaleh<br />
Organization.<br />
62 Anil Constantine Matthew Is:<br />
ZEFFeREEN by: Deepa Ballal<br />
When the whole world goes to sleep,<br />
Anil dons the role of the musician mixing<br />
sounds, composing music and working<br />
till the wee hours of the morning.<br />
70 India… A Paradox And A Miracle<br />
by: Asma Ayob<br />
India is ‘exoticized’, from the mediahype<br />
to the way in which it has become<br />
synonymous with the ‘glamour’ of<br />
popular Bollywood cinema, from its<br />
interesting history to its outlandish<br />
adherence to ritual and custom.<br />
76 Destitute <strong>Indian</strong>s Struggle For<br />
Survival In The UK by: Shamlal Puri<br />
Hungry, bewildered and frightened,<br />
young illegal <strong>Indian</strong> immigrants run<br />
from pillar to post desperately trying to<br />
survive in the United Kingdom.<br />
80 Aurangabad: History And A Large<br />
Order For Mercedes Benz<br />
Aurangabad has a lot more of living<br />
history than just these caves.<br />
83 Ramesh Meyyappan: The Actor-<br />
Artist With No Labels by: Amita Sarwal<br />
Glasgow-based deaf actor Ramesh<br />
Meyyappan affirms, “No one should<br />
put labels on anyone’s work because of<br />
their disability.”<br />
investment<br />
66 Investing In Real Estate In India:<br />
Are You Game For It?<br />
by: Debajyoti Ray Chaudhuri<br />
The most important aspect of real estate<br />
investing in India is the legal aspect, which<br />
in India can be a minefield.<br />
68 State Bank Of India: Banking With A<br />
Difference? by: Deepa Ballal<br />
State Bank of India, India’s largest bank,<br />
stands out with a legacy of more than<br />
100 years.<br />
59<br />
food...<br />
86 Home Made Ice Creams<br />
To Keep You Cool In Summer<br />
by: Golden Reejsinghani<br />
Keep cool in the sweltering heat of<br />
summer with these chilled out, mouthwateringly<br />
delicious ice creams which<br />
you can make yourself at home!<br />
in every issue...<br />
4 Editorial<br />
10 Letters<br />
11 Editor’s Pick<br />
46 TII Hall of Fame<br />
columns<br />
28 LEADERSHIP<br />
7 Steps To Becoming A Happy Person<br />
Others Want To Be Around<br />
by: Michael Hyatt<br />
Complaining about others has the<br />
potential to hurt you in four specific ways<br />
58 GUPTARA GARMAGARAM<br />
Does Criticism Of Parliamentarians<br />
Amount To Disrespect For Parliament?<br />
by: Prabhu Guptara<br />
If I disagree with an action undertaken<br />
by a minister, or even by the Prime<br />
Minister, does that mean that I don’t<br />
respect the institution of Government?<br />
60 INDIA JOURNAL<br />
Love Need No Longer Be Blind<br />
by: Ranjani Iyer Mohanty<br />
On one side of the crowded hall I see<br />
my parents, partners in nearly 50<br />
years of arranged marriage, happily<br />
talking to friends and relatives.<br />
94 SOLDIERS<br />
The Ghost Of Middlemen In Defence<br />
Deals Haunts India Again<br />
by: Major General Mrinal Suman,<br />
AVSM, VSM, PhD<br />
MoD reversed the policy and decided<br />
to impose a complete ban on them<br />
in 2006.<br />
98 FUTUREQUEST<br />
There Is A Kingdom Whose Citizens<br />
Will Never Give Up Their Passports<br />
by: Frank Raj<br />
THE INTERNATIONAL INDIAN is owned by Global <strong>Indian</strong> Travellers Association (GITA) a private limited company incorporated in England and Wales<br />
under the Companies Act 1985 on 14 January 1998 (Company No: 3492445) 50 Grove Rd., Sutton, Surrey SM1 1 BT, UK. Tel: +44-208-770 9717;<br />
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www.theinternationalindian.com<br />
8 The <strong>International</strong> <strong>Indian</strong><br />
The <strong>International</strong> <strong>Indian</strong> 9
10<br />
THE INTERNATIONAL<br />
<strong>Indian</strong><br />
EST: 1992 The Region’s Oldest, Authoritative<br />
Magazine of Gulf <strong>Indian</strong> Society & History<br />
ISSN 0964 8437<br />
PUBLISHERS<br />
Prof. Prabhu Guptara<br />
Santosh Shetty<br />
FOUNDER EDITOR<br />
Frank Raj<br />
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS<br />
Erik R. Hadden<br />
Prem Souri Kishore<br />
Benjamin H. Parker<br />
Vishal Mangalwadi<br />
TRAVEL EDITOR<br />
Shana Raj Parker<br />
MANAGER PR<br />
Christine DeSouza<br />
CREATIVE DIRECTOR<br />
Balan Iyer<br />
GRAPHIC ARTIST<br />
Melany Caguindagan Besa<br />
PHOTOGRAPHER<br />
Benjamin H. Parker<br />
INTERNATIONAL<br />
CORRESPONDENTS<br />
CANADA Rubina Jacob<br />
SINGAPORE<br />
UK<br />
USA<br />
MIDDLE EAST<br />
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Rudy Otter<br />
Shamlal Puri<br />
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Hemu Gorde<br />
Bandana Jain<br />
Deepa Ballal<br />
SOUTH AFRICA Asma Ayob<br />
INDIA<br />
DELHI Vishal Arora<br />
CHENNAI Aruna Srinivasan<br />
HYDERABAD Shyamola Khanna<br />
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DIRECTOR<br />
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GENERAL MANAGER<br />
Peter Souri Raj<br />
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Audited Circulation<br />
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Nov/Dec 2009<br />
www.bpaww.com<br />
Letters to the Editor<br />
Higher Education In The Gulf<br />
What struck me about the cover story on education,<br />
(TII 19.2) was the young <strong>Indian</strong>s who are truly international<br />
in their appearance, - they could just as well have been on<br />
a US campus. But I wonder how many of them are going<br />
to be able to shed their <strong>Indian</strong> baggage and worthless<br />
customs and traditions that are foisted on them by their<br />
elders - keeping only the best values of course, but letting<br />
go of all the junk from <strong>Indian</strong> society.<br />
Your magazine is very educating in all these areas,<br />
please let’s see more stories that are of relevance to youth<br />
- all we have in this part of the world are publications that<br />
promote consumerism - something that <strong>Indian</strong> kids (or<br />
adults for that matter!) do not need any more lessons on -<br />
the rat race is something we are accustomed to and greed<br />
is a national passion!<br />
Manish Jadav<br />
Dubai<br />
Just Discovered TII<br />
‘The international <strong>Indian</strong>’ just caught my sight while I<br />
was shopping a few months back..the word <strong>Indian</strong> itself is so<br />
dear when we are away from our homeland! I love to get my<br />
copy of TII now. It’s a great read, keep up the good work.<br />
Nusrat Fatima<br />
Sharjah<br />
<strong>Indian</strong>s In Zanzibar<br />
Your Zanzibar article (TII 19.2) was an eye opener,<br />
our amazing people have gone to exotic places so long<br />
ago! But it saddened me to read that their scruples did<br />
not prevent them from engaging in the slave trade in<br />
Zanzibar.<br />
Today, it is a fact that some of the lowest paying<br />
companies are those run by <strong>Indian</strong>s in this part of the<br />
world, so exploitation in one way or the other continues.<br />
One is proud only of those who have broken away from<br />
their limited mindsets and run institutions of excellence.<br />
Your series on the <strong>Indian</strong> Diaspora is truly remarkable,<br />
please report on many more.<br />
Bittu Mazumdar<br />
Bahrain<br />
The best letters to the editor<br />
will win exquisite gifts<br />
from Liali Jewellery.<br />
Email your letters to:<br />
frankraj08@gmail.com<br />
The <strong>International</strong> <strong>Indian</strong><br />
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The <strong>International</strong> <strong>Indian</strong> 11
<strong>Cover</strong> <strong>Story</strong><br />
Why <strong>Indian</strong>s do so<br />
well in America<br />
Doctors, Engineers, Politicians,<br />
Writers and Spelling Bee Champs<br />
Take an <strong>Indian</strong> out of the country and something<br />
marvellous happens to a desi. The best seems to emerge<br />
somehow and a country like America offers plenty of<br />
evidence that <strong>Indian</strong> immigrants are at the top of the heap,<br />
the envy of all who have adopted the USA as their own.<br />
By: Frank Raj<br />
For over a decade now, Americans<br />
have discovered that <strong>Indian</strong>s excel<br />
at Spelling Bee’s, reconfirmed when<br />
Sukanya Roy<br />
correctly<br />
spelled ‘cymotrichous’<br />
– which relates to<br />
wavy hair, to win the<br />
2011 Scripps National<br />
Spelling Bee. Sukanya,<br />
14, became the ninth<br />
<strong>Indian</strong> American winner<br />
to take home the<br />
$40,000 in cash and<br />
prizes. In the year 2005,<br />
the top four finishers<br />
were all kids of <strong>Indian</strong><br />
origin.<br />
Those who may<br />
be inclined to dismiss the <strong>Indian</strong>-American<br />
dominance of the Spelling Bee as just a cultural<br />
idiosyncrasy need to do some more thinking.<br />
Americans were stupefied when Vikram Seth’s<br />
unique novel The Golden Gate, on the lives of a<br />
group of yuppies in San<br />
Francisco, appeared on<br />
the scene in 1986. Seth<br />
was a graduate student<br />
in Economics at Stanford<br />
and describes the origins<br />
of his book as a “pure<br />
fluke,” inspired during<br />
breaks while conducting<br />
tedious research for his<br />
dissertation. Novelist Jo<br />
Walton called it, “the<br />
best book I have read all<br />
year, if not for longer.”<br />
Sukanya Roy, Spelling Bee champion 2011<br />
Seth who would<br />
Her spelling ability is just the tip of an iceberg divert himself from<br />
his studies with trips to a bookstore recalls,<br />
“On one such occasion, I found in the poetry<br />
section, two translations of Eugene Onegin,<br />
Alexander Pushkin’s great novel in verse. Two<br />
translations but each of them maintained the<br />
same stanzaic<br />
form that<br />
Pushkin had<br />
used. Not<br />
because I was<br />
interested<br />
in Pushkin<br />
or Eugene<br />
Onegin, but<br />
purely because<br />
I thought, this<br />
is interesting<br />
technically that<br />
both of them<br />
should have<br />
Vikram Seth: A novel in verse<br />
been translated<br />
so faithfully,<br />
at least as<br />
far as the form goes. I began to compare the<br />
two translations, to get access to the original<br />
stanzas behind them, as I don’t know Russian.<br />
After a while that exercise failed, because I<br />
found myself reading one of them for pure<br />
pleasure. I must have read it five times that<br />
month. It was addictive. And suddenly, I<br />
realized that this was the form I was looking<br />
for to tell my tales of California. The little short<br />
stories I had in my mind subsided and this<br />
more organically oriented novel came into<br />
being. I loved the form, the ability that Pushkin<br />
had to run through a wide range of emotions,<br />
from absolute flippancy to real sorrow and<br />
passages that would make you think, during<br />
and after reading it.”<br />
Not everyone appreciated Seth’s writing<br />
a whole complex novel in verse as he pointed<br />
out in rhyme:<br />
An editor at a plush party<br />
(Well-wined, -provisioned, speechy, hearty)<br />
Hosted by (long live!) Thomas Cook<br />
Where my Tibetan travel book<br />
Was honored – seized my arm: “Dear fellow,<br />
What’s your next work?” “A novel…” “Great!<br />
We hope that you, dear Mr Seth – ”<br />
“In verse”, I added. He turned yellow.<br />
“How marvelously quaint,” he said,<br />
And subsequently cut me dead.<br />
The fact is <strong>Indian</strong> success in other significant<br />
fields of endeavor is just as remarkable. Jason<br />
Richwine, a National Research Initiative<br />
Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute<br />
in Washington writing in Forbes.com, notes<br />
that, “despite constituting less than 1% of the<br />
U.S. population, <strong>Indian</strong>-Americans are 3% of<br />
the nation’s engineers, 7% of its IT workers<br />
and 8% of its physicians and surgeons. The<br />
overrepresentation of <strong>Indian</strong>s in these fields is<br />
striking – in practical terms, your doctor is nine<br />
times more likely to be an <strong>Indian</strong>-American<br />
than is a random passerby on the street.”<br />
<strong>Indian</strong> Americans are in fact the new<br />
“model minority,” says Richwine, using a<br />
term that dates back to the 1960s, when East<br />
Asians--Americans of Chinese, Japanese and<br />
Korean descent were noted for their advanced<br />
education and high earnings.<br />
He points out that while East Asians<br />
continue to excel in the U.S, among minority<br />
groups, <strong>Indian</strong>s today are clearly the latest and<br />
greatest “model.” In 2009, the median income<br />
of households headed by an <strong>Indian</strong> American<br />
was approximately $88,538, compared with<br />
$69,037 for Chinese and $50,221 for the<br />
average American.<br />
About 69% of <strong>Indian</strong> Americans, aged<br />
25 and over, have four-year college degrees,<br />
which outpaces the rates of 51% and<br />
30% achieved by East Asians and whites,<br />
respectively. <strong>Indian</strong> Americans are also less<br />
likely to be poor or in prison, compared with<br />
whites Richwine compares.<br />
‘‘<br />
Despite<br />
constituting<br />
less<br />
than 1%<br />
of the U.S.<br />
population,<br />
<strong>Indian</strong>-<br />
Americans<br />
are 3%<br />
of the<br />
nation’s<br />
engineers,<br />
7% of its<br />
IT workers<br />
and 8%<br />
of its<br />
physicians<br />
and<br />
surgeons.<br />
‘‘<br />
From left to right - Rahul Chauhan, PHD ( son in law); Vanita Kumar MD (daughter );<br />
Kavita Kumar, MS (daughter ); Deepak Kumar, MD; Surekha Kumar (wife); Manisha<br />
Kumar, MD, MPH.( daughter); Greg Powell, MA. In front row: Sahil and Nikhil<br />
(grandchildren (Rahul and Vanita’s children)<br />
12 The <strong>International</strong> <strong>Indian</strong><br />
The <strong>International</strong> <strong>Indian</strong> 13
<strong>Cover</strong> <strong>Story</strong><br />
‘‘<br />
People<br />
come to<br />
the U.S.<br />
for many<br />
reasons<br />
– being<br />
reunited<br />
with other<br />
family<br />
members,<br />
for<br />
example<br />
has little<br />
to do with<br />
their work<br />
ethic.<br />
Immigration<br />
policy<br />
also<br />
decides<br />
what<br />
qualities<br />
immigrants<br />
to the<br />
USA must<br />
possess.<br />
‘‘<br />
So why do <strong>Indian</strong> Americans perform<br />
so well? Immigrants who pull up their roots<br />
and move halfway around the world will<br />
naturally tend to be more determined to<br />
achieve their ambitions and<br />
be more hardworking than<br />
the average person. But<br />
people come to the U.S.<br />
for many reasons, some<br />
of which – being reunited<br />
with other family members,<br />
for example--have little to<br />
do with their work ethic.<br />
Ultimately, immigration<br />
policy decides what qualities<br />
immigrants to the USA must<br />
possess.<br />
Under the current<br />
U.S. immigration policy, a<br />
majority of legal immigrants<br />
to the U.S. obtain Green<br />
Cards (permanent residency)<br />
because they have family<br />
ties to U.S. citizens. But a<br />
small number (15% in 2007)<br />
are selected specifically<br />
for their labor market value. Proportionately,<br />
<strong>Indian</strong> immigrants given an employmentrelated<br />
Green Card are among the highest of<br />
any nationality. Not surprisingly, it is mainly<br />
India’s educated elite and their families who<br />
emigrate to the U.S.<br />
Under current law, the U.S. government<br />
issues 140,000 Green Cards each year to<br />
immigrants who have temporary work visas.<br />
Hundreds of thousands of foreign-born workers<br />
are recruited as teachers, nurses, engineers<br />
and other professionals. These temporary two<br />
year visas must be sponsored by an American<br />
company or public agency that is able to show<br />
that they cannot find Americans able or willing<br />
to do such jobs.<br />
But the slow process has created a<br />
huge backlog of hundreds of thousands of<br />
applicants, including many who have lived<br />
in America for years on temporary visas, with<br />
many applicants from a few Asian countries,<br />
led by India and China. A legal country limit of<br />
7 percent of the Green Cards, enables workers<br />
from smaller countries to get their Green Cards<br />
much faster.<br />
The Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants<br />
Brad Smith: Microsoft: “Current green<br />
card system is not up to the task,” (Used<br />
with permission from Microsoft)<br />
Act would change the rules of the game,<br />
eliminating the individual country limits and<br />
granting work-based Green Cards to qualified<br />
applicants on a first-come, first-served basis.<br />
But this Bill after being<br />
cleared in the U.S. House of<br />
Representatives, was held<br />
up in the U.S. Senate when<br />
Sen. Charles E. Grassley<br />
(R-Iowa) complained it would<br />
do “nothing to protect<br />
Americans at home who seek<br />
high-skilled jobs in this time of<br />
record-high unemployment.”<br />
By ending the percountry<br />
quotas, the Bill<br />
would raise or lower the<br />
waiting times for hundreds<br />
of thousands of current<br />
Green Card applicants. Some<br />
immigrants from smaller<br />
countries say it is unfair that<br />
the Bill might increase their<br />
waiting period. Bangladeshis<br />
complain that thousands of<br />
people from India will get to<br />
jump ahead in the queue.<br />
But <strong>Indian</strong>s disagree, arguing why someone<br />
from Bulgaria should get a Green Card in six<br />
months, while India’s most talented, U.S.-<br />
trained professionals have to wait for an official<br />
waiting time that can stretch from seven to 40<br />
years?<br />
Brad Smith, General Counsel & Executive<br />
Vice President, Legal & Corporate Affairs,<br />
Microsoft has urged the U.S. Senate to pass<br />
the ‘Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act,’<br />
in his appeal made on April 2, 2012.<br />
“Our current Green Card system,” he<br />
said, “is not up to the task, with highly<br />
valued professionals spending a decade<br />
or more mired in backlogs. Government<br />
officials are warning that these backlogs<br />
will become even more severe next month,<br />
especially for individuals born in India and<br />
China. Our country’s approach to high skilled<br />
immigration must do a better job of reducing<br />
these backlogs to enable U.S. companies to<br />
retain this talent, and reap the economic<br />
benefits of their brainpower and contributions<br />
over the long term.<br />
“There are important steps that Congress<br />
14<br />
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<strong>Cover</strong> <strong>Story</strong><br />
‘‘<br />
“The only<br />
direct<br />
evidence<br />
we have,”<br />
according<br />
to<br />
Richwine,<br />
“comes<br />
from the<br />
2003 New<br />
Immigrant<br />
Survey,<br />
in which<br />
a basic<br />
cognitive<br />
test called<br />
“digit<br />
span” was<br />
administered<br />
to<br />
a sample<br />
of newly<br />
arrived<br />
immigrant<br />
children.<br />
‘‘<br />
can take right now to accomplish this. The<br />
House passed The Fairness for High-Skilled<br />
Immigrants Act 389-15 in November 2011<br />
with overwhelming and rare bipartisan<br />
consensus. The Bill would replace the<br />
discriminatory “per-country” limits<br />
on employment-based Green Cards<br />
with a merit-based, first-come-firstserved<br />
system, but it has unfortunately<br />
stalled in the Senate. The Senate should<br />
act now and pass this important<br />
legislation. Congress should also pass<br />
legislation to help ensure that the<br />
U.S. can retain top foreign<br />
students who complete<br />
their education at U.S.<br />
universities, rather than<br />
driving them away after<br />
graduation to compete<br />
against us in other<br />
countries.”<br />
But why do<br />
<strong>Indian</strong>s fare so well in<br />
competition with other nationalities?<br />
Someone like Colon and Rectal Surgeon<br />
Dr. Deepak Kumar, MD, is one of many<br />
success stories. Kumar lives in Dayton, Ohio<br />
with his wife Surekha, and three highly<br />
qualified daughters: Vanita Kumar, MD; Kavita<br />
Kumar, MS; Manisha Kumar, MD, MPH.<br />
Voted President of the Ohio State Physicians’<br />
Association for 2012-2013 by the Ohio State<br />
Medical Association (OSMA), Kumar earned<br />
his medical degree from Punjab University in<br />
Amritsar, India and completed a Residency in<br />
General Surgery at William Beaumont Hospital<br />
in Royal Oak, Michigan, with a Residency in<br />
Colon and Rectal Surgery at Grant Medical<br />
Center in Columbus.<br />
“From a personal and professional<br />
standpoint, my family and I have been able<br />
to take advantage of the greater amount of<br />
opportunities for professional advancement<br />
available in the United States,” says Kumar.<br />
“For instance, my medical specialty, colon and<br />
rectal surgery, was not available in India when<br />
I was completing my training. My children<br />
have all completed higher education degrees<br />
from internationally renowned colleges and<br />
universities. The opportunities for them<br />
to do so are much better here than they<br />
would have been had our family remained in<br />
Jason Richwine: <strong>Indian</strong> Americans are in fact the new<br />
“model minority”<br />
India. Personally, we are happier here. There<br />
is a different way of life in the U.S.” From a<br />
spiritual standpoint, Kumar feels there is no<br />
difference living in the U.S. or in India.<br />
Richwine observes that the success<br />
of <strong>Indian</strong> Americans is often ascribed<br />
to the culture they bring with them,<br />
which places strong--some would even<br />
say obsessive--emphasis on academic<br />
achievement. “Exhibit A is the Spelling<br />
Bee, which requires long hours studying<br />
etymology and memorizing word lists,<br />
all for little expected benefit other<br />
than the thrill of intellectual<br />
competition.”<br />
“But education and culture<br />
can take people only so far. To<br />
be a great speller--or, more<br />
importantly, a great doctor<br />
or IT manager--you have to<br />
be smart. Just how smart are<br />
<strong>Indian</strong> Americans? We don’t<br />
know with much certainty.<br />
Most data sets with information on ethnic<br />
groups do not include IQ scores, and the few<br />
that do, rarely include enough cases to provide<br />
interpretable results for such a small portion of<br />
the population.<br />
“The only direct evidence we have,”<br />
according to Richwine, “comes from the<br />
2003 New Immigrant Survey, in which a<br />
basic cognitive test called “digit span” was<br />
administered to a sample of newly arrived<br />
immigrant children. It is an excellent test for<br />
comparing people with disparate language<br />
and educational backgrounds, since the test<br />
taker need only repeat lengthening sequences<br />
of digits read by the examiner. Repeating the<br />
digits forward is simply a test of short-term<br />
memory, but repeating them backward is<br />
much more mentally taxing, hence a rough<br />
measure of intelligence.<br />
“When statistical adjustments are used<br />
to convert the backward digit span results to<br />
full-scale IQ scores, <strong>Indian</strong> Americans place at<br />
about 112 on a bell-shaped IQ distribution,<br />
with white Americans at 100. 112 is the 79th<br />
percentile of the white distribution. For more<br />
context, consider that Ashkenazi Jews are a<br />
famously intelligent ethnic group, and their<br />
mean IQ is somewhere around 110.<br />
“Given the small sample size, the rough<br />
16<br />
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<strong>Cover</strong> <strong>Story</strong><br />
IQ measure and the lack of corroborating<br />
data sets, this finding of lofty <strong>Indian</strong>-American<br />
intelligence must be taken cautiously.<br />
Nevertheless, it is entirely consistent with their<br />
observed achievement.<br />
“The superior educational attainment,<br />
academic culture and likely high IQ of<br />
<strong>Indian</strong> Americans has already made them an<br />
economic force in the U.S., and that strength<br />
can only grow. Does this continuing success<br />
imply they will become a political force? Here,<br />
Gov. Jindal is actually a rarity. <strong>Indian</strong>s are still<br />
underrepresented in politics, and they do<br />
not specialize in the kinds of fields (law and<br />
finance) most conducive to political careers.”<br />
That is definitely changing with many<br />
more <strong>Indian</strong> Americans in the political arena.<br />
<strong>Indian</strong>-Americans are the most educated, most<br />
affluent and among the most entrepreneurial<br />
of all groups in this country, according to the<br />
‘U.S. India Political Action Committee.’ Ten<br />
percent of Time magazine’s “40 Under 40”<br />
rising political leaders identified were <strong>Indian</strong><br />
Americans, including Nikki Haley, 38, South<br />
Carolina’s 116 th first South Asian and first<br />
Bobby Jindal, Governor of Louisiana-the<br />
first <strong>Indian</strong> American to hold<br />
that position in the United States. Whether<br />
or not Jindal actually runs for President in<br />
2016, he symbolizes a remarkable, growing<br />
phenomenon – the amazing success of<br />
<strong>Indian</strong> Americans in general<br />
female governor, 29-year-old State Rep. Jay<br />
Goyal of Ohio and Huma Abedin, 34, longtime<br />
aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton,<br />
who is the daughter of an <strong>Indian</strong> father and<br />
Pakistani mother.<br />
Other <strong>Indian</strong>-American politicians in the fray<br />
are: Amerish “Ami” Bera, 45, a physican and<br />
medical school administrator whose California<br />
district includes Sacramento; lawyer and State<br />
Rep. Raj Goyle, 35, of Wichita, Kansas; attorney<br />
Ravi Sangisetty, 28, of Houma, Louisiana, whose<br />
rural district takes in 13 southeastern parishes;<br />
Manan Trivedi, 36, a doctor and Iraq war<br />
veteran in suburban Philadelphia; and Surya<br />
Yalamanchili, 28, a Procter & Gamble marketing<br />
executive in eastern Cincinnati, and hedge fund<br />
lawyer Reshma Saujani.<br />
Richwine made his observations before<br />
the Obama presidency, when there was<br />
speculation that Louisiana Governor Piyush<br />
Bobby Jindal would join the Presidential race in<br />
2012. He wonders if <strong>Indian</strong> Americans will be<br />
able to convert economic power into serious<br />
political influence, as a Jindal presidency could,<br />
possibly in 2016.<br />
INDIAN AMERICANS IN U.S. POLITICS<br />
<strong>Indian</strong> Americans are steadily reaching for political heights in the U.S., making a big<br />
impact in politics through sheer hard work and a readiness to reach out for power and<br />
influence whether they are immigrants or America born desis.<br />
BOBBY JINDAL<br />
The U.S. presidential prospects of Piyush “Bobby” Jindal, the son of <strong>Indian</strong><br />
immigrants from Punjab, was perhaps discussed prematurely for America’s<br />
upcoming 2012 elections, but whether or not Jindal actually runs for President in<br />
2016, he symbolizes a remarkable, growing phenomenon – the amazing success of<br />
<strong>Indian</strong> Americans in general.<br />
Bobby Jindal is the Governor of Louisiana and the first <strong>Indian</strong> American to hold<br />
that position in the United States. A recent opinion poll ranked Jindal as the most<br />
popular serving Governor in the U.S., acknowledged as a ‘Wunderkind’, ‘Darling<br />
of Washington’, and a ‘Republican Star’ by the media. Radio talk show host Rush<br />
Limbaugh declared,”I’m going to give you a name that would make me jump for joy<br />
- Bobby Jindal. I did an interview with Bobby Jindal. He is the next Ronald Reagan...”<br />
In 1996, Bobby was appointed Secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health<br />
and Hospitals (DHH). With more than 12,000 employees, a $4 billion budget and<br />
hundreds of facilities, DHH is Louisiana’s largest department. Bobby was successful<br />
in turning DHH’s $400 million budget deficit he inherited into a surplus of $220<br />
million.<br />
In 1999, he became President of the University of Louisiana System - the 16th<br />
largest higher education system in the country which oversees the education of<br />
around 80,000 students a year. Nominated by President George W. Bush in March<br />
2001, Bobby was unanimously confirmed by a bipartisan vote of the U.S. Senate, as<br />
Nikki Haley, Governor of South<br />
Carolina: Born in Bamberg, S.C., the<br />
daughter of <strong>Indian</strong> immigrants, Nikki’s<br />
first job was keeping the books for her<br />
family’s clothing store - at the age of 13<br />
the Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.<br />
In 2004, Bobby was elected as Congressman for the 1 st Congressional District in<br />
Louisiana. He was re-elected to a second term in 2006, and sworn in as Governor<br />
of Louisiana in January 2008.<br />
NIKKI HALEY<br />
Nikki Randhawa Haley was elected the 116th Governor of South Carolina in<br />
November 2010.<br />
One of the strongest fiscal conservatives in state government, Nikki was first<br />
elected to represent the 87 th District in Lexington County in 2004, when, as a<br />
virtual unknown, she beat the longest serving state legislator in a Republican<br />
primary. In 2008, Representative Haley was sent back to the Statehouse with 83<br />
percent of the vote - the highest percentage earned by any lawmaker facing<br />
a contested South Carolina election that year. She won the Republican Party<br />
nomination for governor in June 2010.<br />
Her time in Columbia has been marked by conservative leadership and an<br />
unwavering commitment to the taxpayers’ bottom line. She has fought wasteful<br />
spending at every turn, pushed for smaller, more efficient government, and led the<br />
fight for accountability and transparency that, before her arrival, was sorely lacking<br />
in the Legislature.<br />
For her efforts to cut taxes and slow the growth of government spending, Nikki<br />
was named “Friend of the Taxpayer” (2009) by the S.C. Association of Taxpayers<br />
and a “Taxpayer Hero” (2005) by Gov. Mark Sanford.<br />
Born in Bamberg, S.C., the daughter of <strong>Indian</strong> immigrants, Nikki’s first job was keeping the books for her family’s<br />
clothing store - at the age of 13. She went on to graduate from Clemson University with a B.S. Degree in Accounting<br />
and, following her graduation, worked as Accounting Supervisor for the Charlotte, N.C. based corporation FCR Inc.<br />
and five of its subsidiaries. Nikki then went back to the family business where she helped oversee its growth into a<br />
multi-million dollar operation.<br />
Nikki and her husband Michael, a full time federal technician with the South Carolina National Guard and an<br />
officer in the Army National Guard, have two children, Rena, 13, and Nalin, 10.<br />
KAMALA HARRIS<br />
Born and raised in California, Kamala Harris is the daughter of Dr. Shyamala<br />
Harris, a breast cancer specialist who traveled to the United States from India to<br />
pursue her graduate studies at the University of California, Berkeley. She is the<br />
first woman, and the first African American and South Asian American, to hold<br />
the office of Attorney General in the history of California.<br />
Attorney General Harris has spent her entire professional life in the trenches<br />
as a courtroom prosecutor. After graduating from University of California,<br />
Hastings College of Law, she took a position in the Alameda County District<br />
Attorney’s Office, where she specialized in prosecuting child sexual assault<br />
cases. As a Deputy District Attorney (1990-1998) she prosecuted homicide and<br />
robbery cases. She joined the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office as Head of<br />
the Career Criminal Unit, and later headed up the San Francisco City Attorney’s<br />
Division on Families and Children.<br />
Under her leadership, the San Francisco District Attorney Office doubled the<br />
number of serious and violent offenders sent to state prison, putting more than<br />
220 gang members behind bars, and convicting more than 1,200 domestic<br />
violence offenders.<br />
The recipient of numerous awards, Harris has been featured on “The Oprah<br />
Kamala Harris: the first woman, and the<br />
first African American and South Asian<br />
American, to hold the office of Attorney<br />
General in the history of California<br />
18<br />
The <strong>International</strong> <strong>Indian</strong> The <strong>International</strong> <strong>Indian</strong> 19
<strong>Cover</strong> <strong>Story</strong><br />
Winfrey Show” and in Newsweek magazine as one of “America’s 20 Most Powerful Women.” The Daily Journal,<br />
California’s largest legal newspaper, designated Harris one of the top 100 lawyers in the state. She is also the only<br />
elected official to be named one of California’s top 75 women litigators by the paper. Harris was recognized as a<br />
“Woman of Power” by the National Urban League and received the Thurgood Marshall Award from the National<br />
Black Prosecutors Association. She is the author of “Smart on Crime: A Career<br />
Prosecutor’s Plan to Make Us Safer” (Chronicle Books, 2009).<br />
MANAN TRIVEDI<br />
Manan Trivedi’s life story and work have prepared him to confront the pressing<br />
challenges Congress faces today. A son of immigrants from India, Trivedi embarked<br />
on a naval career that took him to the front lines of the war in Iraq after college and<br />
medical school.<br />
From 2001 to 2003, Trivedi served as the Battalion Surgeon for the 1st Battalion,<br />
5th Regiment Marine Corps Infantry Battalion. His battalion was among the first U.S.<br />
ground forces to enter Iraq. Trivedi served on the front lines of battle, commanding<br />
a medical team that cared for over 1,200 U.S. troops and hundreds of Iraqi civilians.<br />
For his service, Lt. Commander Trivedi earned the Combat Action Ribbon, the Navy<br />
Commendation Medal, and his unit was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation.<br />
After his service in Iraq, Trivedi received a Master’s Degree in Health Policy. He<br />
drew on his experience with combat medicine to become one of the early researchers<br />
to investigate the unique mental health issues affecting troops returning from Iraq<br />
and Afghanistan. Trivedi went on to serve as Health Policy Advisor to the Navy<br />
Surgeon General and was an Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Uniformed<br />
Services University of Health Sciences.<br />
Since leaving the Navy, Trivedi is a Primary Care Physician at Reading Hospital<br />
and Medical Center. He met his wife Surekha while they were in college together.<br />
They live with their daughter in Birdsboro, Berks County, where they enjoy outdoor<br />
activities and are avid Philadelphia sports fans.<br />
Manan Trivedi: Trivedi was the<br />
Democratic nominee for Pennsylvania’s 6th<br />
Congressional District in the year 2010<br />
Congressional Election and is currently<br />
seeking the democratic nomination for the<br />
6th District again, hoping to unseat U.S.<br />
Rep. Jim Gerlach in 2012<br />
Trivedi was the Democratic nominee for Pennsylvania’s 6 th Congressional District<br />
in the year 2010 Congressional Election and is currently seeking the democratic<br />
nomination for the 6 th District again, hoping to unseat U.S. Rep. Jim Gerlach in 2012,<br />
a Chester County Republican, who is in his fifth two-year term and defeated Trivedi<br />
with 133,770 votes to Trivedi’s 100,493, in the November 2010 general election.<br />
Raj Goyle: As a candidate for Congress in<br />
Kansas’s 4th Congressional District, Goyle<br />
was successful in raising a record-breaking<br />
amount of $403,083.68 in 2006. He<br />
won that election and is serving the 87th<br />
District as the first <strong>Indian</strong> American<br />
member of the Kansas legislature<br />
RAJ GOYLE<br />
Democrat Raj Goyle has represented the 87 th District in the Kansas House of<br />
Representatives for four years, from 2007 to 2011. He was also the nominee for<br />
Kansas’s 4 th Congressional District in 2010.<br />
As a candidate for Congress in Kansas’s 4 th Congressional District, Goyle was<br />
successful in raising a record-breaking amount of $403,083.68 and set a record in<br />
2006 for raising the maximum amount ever for a state house race. He won that<br />
election and is serving the 87 th District as the first <strong>Indian</strong> American member of the<br />
Kansas legislature.<br />
As a state legislator, Goyle declared his main concerns were, “no free lunches from<br />
lobbyists, educating our children, reducing health care costs, real solutions on energy,<br />
fighting for immigration reform and helping small businesses.’’<br />
Goyle who lives in Wichita, Kansas with his wife Monica, is a graduate of Duke<br />
University and Harvard Law School, and a member of numerous committees such as<br />
Taxation, Vision 2020 and Judiciary.<br />
Frank Raj is TII’s founder editor and publisher<br />
20<br />
The <strong>International</strong> <strong>Indian</strong>
Education<br />
The Failure<br />
of American<br />
this person’s bio online and write a three or<br />
four -sentence version of their bio for us to<br />
include in a conference packet,” or, “Enter<br />
these eight items in a spreadsheet and tell us<br />
the average for the ones that end in an odd<br />
number.”<br />
TII: Why do you think this is happening?<br />
RDA: In our knowledge-driven global<br />
economy, high-quality higher education is an<br />
important driver of economic competitiveness.<br />
We all have a stake in improving higher<br />
Higher Education<br />
TII: What are your findings?<br />
RDA: What is amazing, at least to me, is how<br />
few students can do even these very simple<br />
tasks adequately. In our current hiring process<br />
(for an office manager/research assistant) we<br />
have so far given the test to approximately 20<br />
college grads. Only one did well enough to<br />
merit an interview.<br />
For most <strong>Indian</strong>s, America is the place to head for higher<br />
studies, but all is not well with American education as TII<br />
discovers in an interview with Robert D. Atkinson of the<br />
Information Technology and Innovation Foundation.<br />
By: Frank Raj<br />
RIGHT:<br />
Robert D.<br />
Atkinson President,<br />
Information<br />
Technology<br />
and Innovation<br />
Foundation<br />
Robert D. Atkinson,<br />
President,<br />
Information<br />
Technology<br />
and Innovation<br />
Foundation, a Washington<br />
DC-based think tank, suggests<br />
that there is something<br />
fundamentally wrong with<br />
higher education in the<br />
U.S., which he points out<br />
is failing almost as much as<br />
K-12 – primary and secondary<br />
education in America from<br />
pre-school prior to the first year<br />
or grade through secondary<br />
graduation.<br />
TII: The standard line heard during U.S.<br />
education policy discussions is, “the American<br />
K-12 system is a failure, but thank God we<br />
still have the world’s greatest<br />
higher education system,” but<br />
you strongly disagree – why?<br />
RDA: Let me offer two pieces<br />
of evidence about this. One is<br />
purely personal. As president<br />
of a DC-based think tank,<br />
I have over the years hired<br />
many recent college graduates<br />
and interviewed many more.<br />
Because the quality of so<br />
many of the graduates was so<br />
poor, ITIF has taken to giving<br />
the small share of the most<br />
promising applicants (based<br />
on their resumes and cover<br />
letters) a short test that we email them to<br />
complete at home in one hour.<br />
TII: Are these complicated tests?<br />
RDA: The questions are pretty simple: “Go to<br />
TII: Do they come from well known colleges?<br />
RDA: Most of the 19 were not from “second<br />
tier” colleges, but rather, from top-ranked<br />
institutions. One applicant, a recent Princeton<br />
grad, submitted a test that was full of spelling<br />
and grammar mistakes. Didn’t they teach<br />
“spell check” at Princeton? A Boston University<br />
grad couldn’t accurately complete a simple<br />
excel spreadsheet. (By the way, I am not<br />
picking on these particular schools but just<br />
citing actual examples.)<br />
TII: Is this backed up by any other findings?<br />
RDA: It’s not just my own experience over<br />
the last decade that worries me. It is findings<br />
from national tests. Strikingly, among recent<br />
graduates of four-year colleges, just 34, 38 and<br />
40 percent were proficient in prose, document,<br />
and quantitative literacy, respectively. Just to<br />
be clear, these are among 24 year olds who<br />
have graduated from college. The bar, by the<br />
way, is not all that high. The questions are<br />
actually pretty easy.<br />
TII: Is the literacy rate improving or getting<br />
worse?<br />
RDA: A report from the Secretary of<br />
Education’s Commission on the Future<br />
of Higher Education, better known as the<br />
Spellings Commission, noted several years<br />
ago, “There are ... disturbing signs that many<br />
students who do earn degrees have not<br />
actually mastered the reading, writing, and<br />
thinking skills we expect of college graduates.<br />
Over the past decade, literacy among college<br />
graduates has actually declined.”<br />
education. So why can’t colleges turn out<br />
graduates who can write basic sentences and<br />
do basic math? The conventional answers are<br />
that colleges need to focus more on teaching,<br />
or they need more money, etc. Or that in the<br />
Internet age kids don’t read or think anymore.<br />
TII: Can you suggest a more fundamental<br />
reason?<br />
RDA: Colleges are focused on teaching kids<br />
content, not on teaching them skills, and too<br />
many students are focused on passing the<br />
multitude of tests in the multitude of classes<br />
they take, rather than really learning. One of<br />
the best college grads I ever hired (a graduate<br />
of Dartmouth) majored in history. In his job at<br />
ITIF (a technology policy think tank) he didn’t<br />
need to know history. What he needed to<br />
know was how to think, how to write, how to<br />
speak intelligently, how to find information and<br />
make sense out of it, how to argue coherently,<br />
and how to do basic math. Fortunately, he had<br />
acquired these skills. But other graduates of<br />
colleges such as Kenyon, Bowdoin, Bates, or<br />
the University of Pennsylvania, whom I have<br />
hired over the years, clearly had not, or at least<br />
not nearly as well.<br />
TII: What does the faculty have to do with all<br />
How do <strong>Indian</strong><br />
students fare<br />
compared to other<br />
nationalities?<br />
<strong>International</strong><br />
students at the<br />
University of<br />
California, Fresno<br />
22<br />
The <strong>International</strong> <strong>Indian</strong> The <strong>International</strong> <strong>Indian</strong> 23
Education<br />
ON CAMPUS:<br />
<strong>Indian</strong> students<br />
in America:<br />
Unfortunately,<br />
for most college<br />
graduates and<br />
for most jobs<br />
(one exception<br />
being science and<br />
engineering jobs),<br />
it really doesn’t<br />
matter if they<br />
learn English<br />
literature or 20th<br />
century comic<br />
books. What does<br />
matter is if they<br />
acquire needed<br />
skills - Robert D.<br />
Atkinson<br />
this, don’t they have a role to play?<br />
RDA: Most colleges aren’t interested in<br />
teaching these skills for the simple reason<br />
that most faculty aren’t interested in teaching<br />
these skills. The vast majority of faculty go<br />
into academia, not because they like teaching,<br />
but because they like their academic subject<br />
(Why else would they spend six years or longer<br />
getting a doctorate in it?). They don’t want to<br />
teach logic, debate, writing, research, or any<br />
of other myriad skills. They want to teach the<br />
subject of their passion: European history in<br />
the Middle Ages, or English romance novels,<br />
etc.<br />
TII: So you believe many graduates may<br />
acquire knowledge on various subjects but<br />
they do not develop practical skills?<br />
RDA: Unfortunately, for most college graduates<br />
and for most jobs (one exception being<br />
science and engineering jobs), it really doesn’t<br />
matter if they learn English literature or 20th<br />
century comic books. What does matter is<br />
if they acquire needed skills. And this kind<br />
of 21st century skill acquisition is at best<br />
something they pick up by chance in the<br />
course of learning about French literature or<br />
20th century American politics.<br />
TII: So, how does one change the situation?<br />
RDA: We need a national test that all<br />
college grads should take to measure skills<br />
competency. This wouldn’t measure whether<br />
you know that Adolf Hitler was Chancellor of<br />
Germany or other “facts,” but rather skills like<br />
logic, reasoning, basic writing and math, etc.<br />
TII: Most college students don’t seem to<br />
know the types of skills that are valued by the<br />
industries they want to work in.<br />
RDA: That’s the second requirement. For<br />
example, do managers in accounting firms<br />
prefer young workers who can quickly and<br />
accurately proofread a spreadsheet or give<br />
a persuasive power point presentation? One<br />
reason for this is there is no national employer<br />
survey on what are the specific skills employers<br />
are looking for in recent graduates. The<br />
Department of Education should launch an<br />
annual survey of employers that asks such<br />
questions and make it available to the public.<br />
The survey should also ask employers which<br />
U.S. colleges and universities have provided<br />
their best employees. Doing so would help<br />
parents and prospective college students make<br />
decisions on which school is best for them.<br />
TII: You suggest that college curriculums<br />
should be redesigned for the 21 st century<br />
RDA: That’s the third requirement – we need<br />
radical experimentation in college design. It’s<br />
time for a foundation or wealthy individual to<br />
endow an entirely new college founded on<br />
teaching 21st century skills, not 20th century<br />
subjects. A few years ago, the Olin Foundation<br />
endowed a new kind of college (Olin College<br />
outside of Boston) to fundamentally change<br />
how engineering is taught. And by all accounts<br />
it’s a great success. Let’s create a new college<br />
focused on teaching the kinds of skills young<br />
grads actually need.<br />
In K-12, we have learned the hard way what<br />
happens when we act too slowly to shake<br />
up how we teach our kids. Let’s act more<br />
quickly when it comes to higher education<br />
and preserve and strengthen this pillar of<br />
our economic strength and source of future<br />
prosperity. We owe it to the young people<br />
often paying over $50,000 a year and we owe<br />
it to Americans as a nation.<br />
Frank Raj is TII’s founder editor and publisher<br />
24<br />
The <strong>International</strong> <strong>Indian</strong>
Leadership<br />
7 Steps to Becoming a<br />
Happy Person Others<br />
Want to Be Around<br />
Complaining about others has the<br />
potential to hurt you in four specific ways.<br />
By: Michael Hyatt<br />
Several months ago, my wife, Gail,<br />
and I attended an industry mixer at a<br />
conference we were attending. Almost<br />
immediately, I was cornered by an<br />
author who proceeded to complain<br />
about all the incompetent people in his life.<br />
He grumbled about his literary agent, his<br />
booking agent, and his publisher. No one, it<br />
seems, measured up to his standards. I tried to<br />
change the subject, but he persisted.<br />
The conversation made me feel very<br />
uncomfortable. I finally had enough and excused<br />
myself. I felt a little rude, but I didn’t want to<br />
steep in his brew of negativity.<br />
As I thought about this, I realized how<br />
destructive complaining about others is. My<br />
author friend didn’t make me think less of the<br />
people he grumbled about; it made me think less<br />
of him.<br />
Complaining about others has the potential to<br />
hurt you in four specific ways.<br />
It trains your brain. I remember when I bought<br />
my first Lexus. I never really noticed Lexus<br />
cars before. But suddenly, they seemed to be<br />
everywhere. This demonstrates the principle that<br />
you see more of what you notice. If you focus on<br />
people’s faults, you will find even more of them.<br />
It makes you miserable. My author friend was<br />
not happy. His humor was biting and sarcastic.<br />
He seemed entitled and discontent. His attitude<br />
was highly toxic—which was why I felt the<br />
need to get away from him. He was contagious!<br />
People pull away. One of the consequences<br />
of complaining is that healthy people don’t<br />
want to hang around you. They avoid you. As<br />
a result, you miss scores of great opportunities,<br />
both social and business ones.<br />
People don’t trust you. This is perhaps the<br />
saddest consequence of all. As my friend was<br />
complaining about others, I began to wonder,<br />
What does he say about me when I am not<br />
around. I then instinctively thought, I don’t<br />
trust him.<br />
After I left the presence of my negative<br />
friend, I bumped into an agent friend, who is<br />
one of the most positive, encouraging people<br />
I know. He told me about all the great things<br />
happening in his life and business.<br />
Whenever he mentioned someone’s name,<br />
he raved about them. He exuded gratitude. I<br />
didn’t want to leave his presence. It was like<br />
balm to my soul.<br />
My second friend was such a contrast to the<br />
first, it made me realize these are two entirely<br />
different mindsets and approaches to life. The<br />
good news is that if you are a negative person,<br />
you don’t have to stay that way.<br />
Here are seven steps to reversing this pattern and becoming a happy person others trust<br />
and want to be around.<br />
1. Become self-aware. Are you a negative person? Do you tend to see the glass half empty or<br />
half full? If you are in doubt, ask your spouse or a close friend for candid feedback. Negativity is<br />
costing you more than you know. Frankly, it’s like having bad breath or b.o.<br />
2. Assess your needs. What need are you attempting to meet by complaining? Perhaps the<br />
need for connection? Maybe a need for significance? Are there better, more healthy ways to<br />
meet these needs?<br />
3. Decide to change. Complaining is a habit. And like all bad habits, change begins when you<br />
own your behavior and make a decision to change. It doesn’t have to be a long, drawn out<br />
process. It will take conscious effort at first, but it will become automatic over time. You can start<br />
today.<br />
4. Shift your identity. The most powerful change happens when we modify our identity. When<br />
I declared myself an athlete, daily exercise suddenly became easier. What if you said to yourself, I<br />
am a positive, encouraging person? How would your behavior change?<br />
5. Greet others with a smile. According to health expert Ron Gutman, “smiling can help<br />
reduce the level of stress-enhancing hormones like cortisol, adrenaline, and dopamine, and<br />
increase the level of mood-enhancing hormones like endorphins.” While smiling has this impact<br />
on you, it also has a similar impact on others. This is one reason they unconsciously want to be<br />
around you.<br />
6. Catch them doing something right. The corollary to the principle “you see more of what<br />
you notice” is “you get more of what you notice. If you catch people doing what is right<br />
and complement them for it, guess what happens? They start doing more of it. This is not<br />
manipulation; it is influence. It too is contagious.<br />
7. Speak well of others. I’m not saying you shouldn’t deal with bad behavior by confronting it.<br />
I’m saying you should deal directly with the people involved rather than complaining about it<br />
to those who are neither part of the problem nor part of the solution. Your mama’s advice was<br />
right: “If you don’t have something positive to say, don’t say anything at all.”<br />
While complaining about others may hurt them, ultimately it hurts you the worst. By becoming more<br />
aware and more intentional, you can become a person others seek out and want to be around.<br />
Michael Hyatt is the Chairman of<br />
Thomas Nelson Publishers<br />
www.michaelhyatt.com<br />
‘‘<br />
I realized<br />
how<br />
destructive<br />
complaining<br />
about<br />
others is.<br />
My author<br />
friend<br />
didn’t<br />
make me<br />
think less<br />
of the<br />
people he<br />
grumbled<br />
about; it<br />
made me<br />
think less<br />
of him.‘‘
Laughter Club<br />
Fake it until<br />
you make it?<br />
According to Suman Suneja, CEO of Murano Lighting,<br />
Dubai, people have forgotten two most important things<br />
in life so freely available in nature but hardly used. One is<br />
man’s unique ability to alter his rate of breathing and the<br />
second is laughter.<br />
By: Deepa Ballal<br />
RIGHT:<br />
Suman Suneja<br />
intends not only<br />
to light up homes<br />
and offices but the<br />
lives of people too<br />
through his laughter<br />
sessions<br />
I<br />
Suman Suneja (CEO, Murano Lighting,<br />
Dubai) is on a unique mission. He intends<br />
not only to light up homes and offices<br />
but the lives of people too through his<br />
laughter sessions.<br />
With a mike in his hand he quickly calls<br />
the attention of the 30 odd people of all age<br />
groups gathered in Zabeel Park and invites<br />
even curious onlookers to join in. Initially he<br />
involves his audience by asking them the<br />
benefits of laughter and quickly injects laughter<br />
into the group. There are no jokes cracked or<br />
funny costumes worn to make people laugh.<br />
It is simple unadulterated laughter initiated<br />
from Suneja that quickly has a ripple effect.<br />
Some are enthusiastic, some skeptical. The<br />
members initially fake laughter, try their best<br />
to laugh and It proves to be contagious. The<br />
saying ‘fake it until you make it’ does work in<br />
this scenario. With more and more eye contacts<br />
made the laughter soon turns genuine and<br />
eventually everyone ends up laughing louder<br />
and louder. With different types of laughter<br />
like the Greet laughter, the Argument laughter,<br />
the Milkshake laughter, the Mobile laughter,<br />
the Winter laughter, 40 years of UAE laughter<br />
the participants soon realize the spell the<br />
act of merely seeming to be happy through<br />
various acts has on them. The group size has<br />
gradually doubled, with passersby too wanting<br />
a slice of the fun. One wonders if even nitrous<br />
oxide would have such an effect on the group.<br />
“Just like a contagious disease that becomes<br />
an epidemic, the laughter sessions become<br />
happydemic, spreading in no time,” says Suneja<br />
with a grin. And the icing on the cake is when<br />
the Laughter King and Queen are selected and<br />
given prizes. “People cherish these moments<br />
so much that they often end up having the<br />
photos of them being crowned decked in their<br />
drawing rooms or office walls,” he adds.<br />
But the question that still lingers in our<br />
mind is why laugh? “Children laugh 300 times<br />
a day, while adults laugh just 8-10 times a day.<br />
Today laughter has taken a back seat and this<br />
in turn has taken its toll on our health. A good<br />
sleep and a good laugh are two of the most<br />
vital healing mechanisms in our body. In fact,<br />
research has proven that a good laugh not only<br />
reduces stress but also strengthens the immune<br />
system,” explains Suneja.<br />
But does faking laughter help, when<br />
deep within you just don’t feel happy about<br />
anything? “Definitely,” he adds. “It is a<br />
scientific fact that the body cannot tell the<br />
difference between fake and real laughter.<br />
Even faking laughter leads to the production<br />
of endorphins or the feel good hormones into<br />
the blood stream. Consequently people come<br />
out of the session feeling lighter with positive<br />
energy when they go home.”<br />
“Laughter in a way is meditation,” he says<br />
with conviction. To begin with, these sessions<br />
were a part of Suneja’s yoga classes, “Friends<br />
of Yoga,” launched in 1992. With his team he<br />
still relentlessly conducts morning and evening<br />
classes in 18 places across Dubai, Sharjah and<br />
Abu Dhabi throughout the year, absolutely free<br />
of cost. Such is his faith in yoga that promoting<br />
its benefits has now become his mission in life.<br />
Having suffered an ailment that nearly crippled<br />
him; he knew for sure that nature had a way<br />
to cure him. 19 years back doctors in Dubai<br />
and Delhi had written off Suneja’s arthritis as<br />
incurable. He roamed like a gypsy and at last<br />
arrived at the portals of Vivekanad Ashram,<br />
Bangalore hoping for a miracle. Yoga cured<br />
him. He came back determined to spread the<br />
goodness of this ancient discipline. With the<br />
guidance of K B Rai and help of likeminded<br />
yoga practitioners like Guruji Madhawan<br />
“Friends of Yoga” was formed for the benefit of<br />
the community in UAE.<br />
Apart from this, Suneja has also been<br />
conducting workshops on various topics like<br />
Keep Growing Younger, Be Stubbornly Happy,<br />
Healthy Habits and The Journey of Life for the<br />
past 10 years. “I do these sessions for both<br />
selfish and selfless reasons because they enrich<br />
my life too. My customers and staff laugh with<br />
Suneja says, “the body cannot tell the difference between<br />
fake and real laughter. Even faking laughter leads to the<br />
production of endorphins and the release good hormones into<br />
the blood stream<br />
me every time I shake hands with them for<br />
they know I am capable of diffusing any tense<br />
moments with my laughter and this way my<br />
day finishes with a lot of energy,” sums up<br />
Suneja modestly. Back home with laughter<br />
as the main ingredient in their lives Suneja<br />
finds it easier to bond with his wife Vanita and<br />
two sons Luv and Kush. “Now I share a very<br />
intimate and harmonious relationship with my<br />
family,” he adds. His 80 year old mother, who<br />
visits him once in a year, is one of the most<br />
active participants in his yoga and laughter<br />
classes. “She enjoys the sessions thoroughly<br />
and encourages me to do more of these,”<br />
chuckles Suneja.<br />
“Not many people can come and do yoga,<br />
but laughter connects faster and easier with<br />
people,” he explains. So donning the hats of a<br />
yoga guru and a laughter guru, which of the<br />
two is more challenging? “Both are easy,” pat<br />
comes the reply. “Just remind people to come<br />
back to nature.”<br />
According to Suneja people have forgotten<br />
two most important things in life so freely<br />
available in nature but hardly used. One<br />
is man’s unique ability to alter his rate of<br />
breathing and second is laughter.<br />
“Think about this,” says Suneja ”in animals,<br />
dogs are shallow breathers and live for 10-12<br />
years while a tortoise that is a deep breather<br />
lives for a 100 years!”<br />
Deepa Ballal is a freelance writer based in Dubai, UAE<br />
‘‘<br />
Children<br />
laugh 300<br />
times a<br />
day, while<br />
adults<br />
laugh<br />
just 8-10<br />
times a<br />
day. Today<br />
laughter<br />
has taken<br />
a back<br />
seat and<br />
this in turn<br />
has taken<br />
its toll on<br />
our health.<br />
A good<br />
sleep and<br />
a good<br />
laugh are<br />
two of the<br />
most vital<br />
healing<br />
mechanisms<br />
in<br />
our body.<br />
‘‘<br />
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The <strong>International</strong> <strong>Indian</strong><br />
The <strong>International</strong> <strong>Indian</strong> 33
Diaspora<br />
<strong>Indian</strong>s In<br />
Zanzibar<br />
TII continues its series on <strong>Indian</strong>s in East Africa and Zanzibar,<br />
the legendary <strong>Indian</strong> Ocean island with interviews of its<br />
business community of <strong>Indian</strong>s, mostly in the retail and<br />
hospitality sector.<br />
By: Frank Raj<br />
Muzammil Adbul Atif Jussab Siddique: Hotelier<br />
Photo copyright: Akhtar Issak 2011<br />
Zanzibar has lured <strong>Indian</strong> traders<br />
to its shores for centuries, and it<br />
is fascinating to see the impact of<br />
<strong>Indian</strong>s in a place where many of the<br />
nationals speak Hindi and Gujarati.<br />
Longstanding residents who are obviously<br />
of <strong>Indian</strong> origin will tell you simply, “we are<br />
Zanzibaris.” Trade ties between India and East<br />
Africa go back to the 4 th century. Zanzibar once<br />
had a population of over 20,000 <strong>Indian</strong>s, but<br />
many emigrated due to political upheaval in<br />
1964 and only those determined to see through<br />
the changes remained.<br />
<strong>Indian</strong> architectural influence is quite obvious<br />
in the seafaring dhows made by <strong>Indian</strong> craftsmen<br />
and the carved doors and furniture of houses<br />
in Stone Town, unmistakably matching those<br />
found in Gujarat’s Mandvi coast. The capital<br />
of Zanzibar, located on the island of Unguja, is<br />
Zanzibar City, and Stone Town its striking historic<br />
centre, is a World Heritage site.<br />
Muzammil Adbul Atif Jussab Siddique: Hotels<br />
28 year old Muzammil Adbul Atif Jussab<br />
Siddique belongs to the prominent Muzzamil<br />
family which owns the lovely, quaint 30<br />
Dhow Palace Hotel: Quaint with the Zanzabari touch<br />
Photo by: Frank Raj<br />
room Dhow Palace Hotel and the bigger 40<br />
room Tembo House Hotel, besides owning<br />
properties, offices, and apartments. His<br />
grandfather bought the hotels from the<br />
government in the late eighties. Muzammil is<br />
a citizen of Tanzania but his family is originally<br />
from Bhuj in the Kutch district of Gujarat.<br />
TII: How would you describe yourself?<br />
MAAJS: I would say I am <strong>Indian</strong>. This is an<br />
island made up of migrants. We have <strong>Indian</strong>,<br />
Arab, and European influence…so there is a<br />
lot of history…I consider myself an <strong>Indian</strong>.<br />
Our community is called Kumbar, probably<br />
numbering about 2,500 of the 10,000 strong<br />
<strong>Indian</strong> population of Zanzibar.<br />
TII: Is the community here<br />
generally content, well settled,<br />
happy?<br />
MAAJS: From my point of view,<br />
yes. We don’t get harassed. We<br />
don’t get targeted. There is no<br />
racism here. We mingle with<br />
the local community, we are well<br />
settled. Initially when my parents<br />
came, they never came into town, they lived<br />
south of the island, where they stayed in a<br />
village. The locals welcomed my ancestors…,<br />
they never differentiated between foreigners<br />
and locals, everyone was treated the same.<br />
TII: Do you see that the community has a good<br />
future in this country?<br />
MAAJS: I would say yes. Economically<br />
things are visibly tight all over but obviously<br />
it depends if you are in a good business.<br />
Nowadays the focus is mainly on tourism.<br />
TII: After the 1964 revolution has the government<br />
has made it easy for people to come back, like<br />
visas and things like that?<br />
MAAJS: The government is encouraging<br />
foreign investors, but it has not taken any effort<br />
in bringing back those who left. I have never<br />
seen anybody coming back, apart from some<br />
Ismailis who are buying properties and getting<br />
into tourism. Not many, but at least they are<br />
putting some money into the local economy.<br />
TII: As a young person yourself, do you have any<br />
desire to be linked with India, any future there?<br />
MAAJS: India is a very big interest for me,<br />
I would love to be more involved, but<br />
there are restrictions; I have to produce the<br />
birth certificate of my parents, but several<br />
generations have passed, our family tree has<br />
grown very big and it is very difficult to prove.<br />
Earlier one could simply declare their heritage<br />
in India.<br />
TII: Does the <strong>Indian</strong> community control most of<br />
the business on the island?<br />
MAAJS: Yes, the majority of businesses are<br />
owned by <strong>Indian</strong>s, but locals also are coming up.<br />
TII: Which is the best time to visit Zanzibar?<br />
Dr. Ameesh G. Mehta with his mother: One of the oldest <strong>Indian</strong> families in Zanzibar<br />
Photo by: Frank Raj<br />
MAAJS: June, July is the best time, there are<br />
small showers in October, November.<br />
Dr. Ameesh G Mehta: Hospital<br />
Dr Ameesh G. Mehta’s family is one of<br />
the oldest <strong>Indian</strong> families in Zanzibar, his<br />
34<br />
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Diaspora<br />
TOP:<br />
Dr Ameesh G.<br />
Mehta<br />
Photo by: Frank Raj<br />
clinic and residence where he lives with his<br />
mother Darshan and sister Tina, stands out<br />
prominently on the tree lined Pipalwadi Street<br />
in Stonetown’s Vuga neighborhood. His<br />
married sister Neerali lives in Oman. Dr Mehta’s<br />
grandfather arrived on the island in the 1930’s<br />
during the British Raj. He became a doctor,<br />
first working in a government capacity. At the<br />
time Gujarat and Mumbai was one state and<br />
people from Gujarat had to go to Mumbai to<br />
study medicine. His grandfather, father, and<br />
uncle all obtained their medical degrees from<br />
Grant Medical College, established in 1845. In<br />
1990 on its 150 th anniversary Dr Mehta flew his<br />
father down from Oman for the celebrations.<br />
TII: Tell us about the <strong>Indian</strong> community.<br />
DM: Zanzibar’s <strong>Indian</strong> community has existed<br />
for more than 300 years, since people came<br />
here from India and the Persian Gulf. They were<br />
involved in trading in rice and wheat and they<br />
would take spices back. That’s how it started,<br />
with the trade being conducted from Oman.<br />
And then you had people who came to provide<br />
labor in Zanzibar, they liked this place and<br />
started business, with 90% of the population<br />
coming from Gujarat.<br />
TII: How did your grandfather end up here?<br />
DM: My grandfather had a lot of debt in<br />
India, many sisters, a big family in the good<br />
old days. So he wanted to go out and get<br />
more money. We had British passports and he<br />
joined a government hospital and was posted<br />
in Zanzibar’s Pemba Island. He worked for the<br />
local government for 20 odd years and then he<br />
retired and started his own private practice.<br />
TII: How about you, how did you start out?<br />
DM: I am totally different, I was born here<br />
after the revolution in 1969 when things went<br />
bad. Because we had good connections over<br />
so many years, we were taken care of. We were<br />
put into my mother’s <strong>Indian</strong> passport, the wife<br />
and kids were allowed to leave but as a doctor<br />
my father was not allowed to leave because<br />
there was a war going on here.<br />
Most of the doctors in Zanzibar were from<br />
socialist countries like Bulgaria, Cuba, with<br />
about 10-15 <strong>Indian</strong> doctors, we were the most<br />
prominent in those days.<br />
I studied in Dar Es Salaam, but socialism was<br />
gaining ground and we had to leave. We<br />
went to India for about two years. My dad Dr.<br />
Balram Mehta, found he could not practice<br />
there because of differences in people’s<br />
mentality so he relocated to Oman, which had<br />
been ruling Zanzibar for 400 years and started<br />
his private practice there.<br />
Dad was the physician to the Queen Mother<br />
of Oman, and His Majesty Sultan Qaboos and<br />
the Royal Family of Zanzibar for 22 years. In<br />
1991, he came back to Zanzibar and retired<br />
and passed away in 2004, when he died of<br />
leukaemia.<br />
TII: So what are your plans, do you intend to<br />
remain in Zanzibar?<br />
DM: Our hospital opened in 1998, I was in<br />
the U.S. for seven years, and I just came back<br />
last year from Houston, Texas after getting my<br />
Green Card. I hold a Tanzanian passport, I want<br />
to reinvest my money here and do something<br />
good for my motherland. There is an acute<br />
shortage of doctors here, I see an absolute<br />
mess. There are doctors but they do not know<br />
what they are doing because they are not well<br />
trained.<br />
Overall the <strong>Indian</strong> community is not very well<br />
educated, it is mainly a trading community<br />
with some lower caste <strong>Indian</strong>s.<br />
TII: Is the government improving the<br />
infrastructure in Zanzibar?<br />
DM: Very much. Actually coming back after<br />
five years, I find the roads to all the beaches<br />
have been constructed. There is an issue<br />
with water, but the Japanese and Koreans are<br />
helping us. Because of a coalition government<br />
everything is coming together very nicely. We<br />
already see a lot of improvements and I see a<br />
lot of hope. I was a regular observer from the<br />
U.S., coming here every 2-3 years. I was not<br />
sure whether I wanted to return…but<br />
now I see…the country is definitely on the<br />
verge of change.<br />
TII: So are you positive about the future here?<br />
DM: I am very positive about the future.<br />
It is just going to boom here. I am single<br />
and hoping to marry this year. I have<br />
two sisters. Neerali who is older than me,<br />
is married and settled in Oman and my<br />
younger sister Tina, is 8 years younger.<br />
TII: Where would you go to find your bride?<br />
DM: I have been everywhere in my life,<br />
but I am an <strong>Indian</strong> and I would prefer to<br />
marry an <strong>Indian</strong>. Life is very uncertain.<br />
TII: Have you burnt your bridges with the US?<br />
DM: No. I am a US Green Card holder. I<br />
can go there anytime. I have paid my taxes.<br />
We all have different passports and<br />
we are safe now because the Zanzibar<br />
government is stable. We had issues with the<br />
two political parties earlier, but this time there<br />
is a coalition government and a lot of foreign<br />
investment is coming in. In five years, Zanzibar<br />
will boom, in fact it is already booming – I<br />
know, I have the insights because I know all<br />
the big guys here.<br />
TII: What is the middle class like and who are the<br />
biggest <strong>Indian</strong> businessmen here?<br />
DM: The middle class here is around 30% of<br />
Zanzibar’s one million population, but the<br />
wealthiest people are <strong>Indian</strong> Muslims from the<br />
Kumbar community. The Muzammil family is<br />
probably the richest - Muhammad Ismail Suma<br />
and Ibrahim Muzammil. They own almost one<br />
fourth of the island, probably more than the<br />
President himself.<br />
TII: How are <strong>Indian</strong>s regarded in Zanzibar?<br />
DM: Some Africans do resent<br />
<strong>Indian</strong>s because they do so well<br />
and the Arabs also. But we have<br />
been here all our lives, we are<br />
local citizens and we are doing<br />
good for the country.<br />
John Da Silva: Artist, Historian<br />
Some of the most beautiful<br />
paintings of Zanzibar and<br />
especially its famous doors rendered on<br />
postcards you might be lucky to buy there,<br />
have been done by Goan artist and historian<br />
John Baptist Da Silva, a lifelong resident of<br />
Stonetown. TII met his family including his<br />
adopted daughter Felia D’Souza, her husband<br />
- Zulfikar Mohammed Ali and four children -<br />
Azita D’Souza, Edmond Coutinho, Kyle Currie<br />
and Arnold with his sister Dona D’Souza, her<br />
husband Franco Fernandes and their two girls<br />
Esmeralda & Francine.<br />
TII: Tell us about your family and Goans in<br />
Zanzibar<br />
JDS: I was born in Goa, and came here by ship<br />
in 1947 with my mother and four brothers<br />
when I was 10 years old. My father had already<br />
established himself with my grandfather<br />
who was a dress maker appointed by the last<br />
three Sultans of Zanzibar as the Court’s Royal<br />
dressmaker. There are only about 25 Goan<br />
families here today.<br />
When I came here I only knew Konkani and<br />
Portuguese, and we learned<br />
English at St. Joseph’s Convent<br />
School run by Catholic<br />
German nuns. After the<br />
revolution the nuns left when<br />
almost all the schools were<br />
nationalized. I finished my<br />
secondary school but my<br />
father could not afford to<br />
send me to Goa for further so<br />
studies so I worked for the British Government<br />
for six years as an accountant though I didn’t<br />
care for such work. I loved art, history, music<br />
‘‘<br />
The<br />
wealthiest<br />
people<br />
here are<br />
<strong>Indian</strong><br />
Muslims<br />
from the<br />
Kumbhar<br />
community.<br />
The<br />
Muzammil<br />
family is<br />
probably<br />
the<br />
richest.‘‘<br />
TOP:<br />
John Da Silva<br />
with his adopted<br />
daughter Felia<br />
Photo by: Frank Raj<br />
LEFT:<br />
Zanzibar’s<br />
first attorney<br />
General was a<br />
Goan: Wolfgang<br />
Dourado<br />
Photo by: Frank Raj<br />
36<br />
The <strong>International</strong> <strong>Indian</strong> The <strong>International</strong> <strong>Indian</strong> 37
Diaspora<br />
and culture and I knew I could paint and earn<br />
my livelihood.<br />
TII: What do you remember about the <strong>Indian</strong>s<br />
coming to Zanzibar?<br />
JDS: Zanzibar was like a stepping stone for<br />
<strong>Indian</strong>s after 1856 when Sultan Majeed<br />
came to power. At that time, Zanzibar was<br />
the capital of two empires, Oman and East<br />
Africa. The Sultan’s brother Barghash was<br />
ambitious and he wanted the throne but<br />
with British aid Majeed had his brother sent<br />
to exile in Bombay. Living there, Bargash was<br />
very impressed with Bombay being such a<br />
mighty city and told many <strong>Indian</strong>s, ”Go to<br />
Zanzibar, my brother is a king there.” After they<br />
reconciled, Sultan Majeed went to Bombay and<br />
brought his brother back to Zanzibar. <strong>Indian</strong>s<br />
were merchants and they made Zanzibar a<br />
commercial hub. Their main trade was in<br />
ivory and spices, and only when <strong>Indian</strong>s came<br />
here did Zanzibar boom, nothing happened<br />
anywhere else in East Africa.<br />
TII: What do you remember of the revolution?<br />
JDS: Of course a lot. I wouldn’t like to talk<br />
about it. Even if I talked about it I wouldn’t<br />
want anyone to write about it. It was a bloody<br />
revolution, people really suffered.<br />
Did <strong>Indian</strong>s suffer too?<br />
JDS: They did. The revolution brought another<br />
system of government called socialism, and<br />
there was no place for any enterprise. <strong>Indian</strong>s<br />
had to close down their shops and leave.<br />
Before the revolution, Zanzibar was one of the<br />
most important cities of the world. It was a<br />
hub for trade. Many things were happening<br />
here. The first American Consulate in Africa was<br />
based here. The shortest international war was<br />
fought in Zanzibar between the British and the<br />
Sultan over the slave trade.<br />
TII: What keeps you in Zanzibar now?<br />
JDS: I am an avid historian and a person who<br />
is interested in politics, I observed what was<br />
happening here, and I did not panic and run<br />
away during the revolution, instead it brought<br />
out the artist in me. I had no training in<br />
painting and all my themes were on Zanzibar,<br />
with a little bit on old Mombasa and Lamu.<br />
I had my first exhibition in Nairobi in 1973<br />
where all my paintings sold out making me<br />
quite popular.<br />
I got interested in conservation and pressed<br />
the President of the country to let me do<br />
photographic documentation in Pemba.<br />
He was so happy with my work. I had<br />
more exhibitions in Dar Es Salaam, studied<br />
the heritage of the Sultans and urged the<br />
government to have a museum. We did a<br />
few things but today people are buying old<br />
buildings in Zanzibar and converting them to<br />
hotels. But hotels do not mean heritage.<br />
TII: What is your opinion of <strong>Indian</strong>s in Zanzibar?<br />
JDS: <strong>Indian</strong>s today are like <strong>Indian</strong>s in the past<br />
but they don’t have that kind of business<br />
acumen. The old <strong>Indian</strong>s - they made Zanzibar<br />
the metropolis of East Africa, the business hub.<br />
But these <strong>Indian</strong>s today have not achieved that<br />
so far.<br />
Farooq Ahmed Alias: Retail<br />
Farooq Ahmed Alias is the son of Ahmed<br />
Haji Elias from Kutch. His grandfather came<br />
to Zanzibar in the 1870s, on a dhow from<br />
Porbandar when he was only 11 years old.<br />
Farook’s father was born in Zanzibar in 1904<br />
and he was born in 1955. As was the custom<br />
in those days and even largely today, his<br />
grandfather married a girl from India, but his<br />
father married into a Zanzibar <strong>Indian</strong> family, as<br />
did Farook to his wife Amina whose grandfather<br />
had also settled in Zanzibar.<br />
TII: Tell us about your family<br />
Farook Ahmed Elias: I have one son Anwar<br />
(22) and one daughter Mariam (20). My<br />
daughter is studying BCom at Bangalore<br />
TOP: Farooq<br />
Ahmed Elias<br />
with his wife<br />
Amina<br />
Photo by: Frank Raj<br />
‘‘<br />
I think<br />
this is<br />
one of<br />
the most<br />
secure<br />
places in<br />
the world.<br />
You can<br />
walk here<br />
with all<br />
your jewellery<br />
at<br />
midnight<br />
and nobody<br />
will<br />
trouble<br />
‘‘you.<br />
University and my son is studying Law in<br />
Zanzibar, there are two or three universities<br />
here.<br />
TII: Tell us something about Zanzibar<br />
FAE: Zanzibar has a population of one million,<br />
with about 10,000 <strong>Indian</strong>s, mostly businessmen<br />
from Gujarat; there are a few Punjabis. and<br />
Goans, - in fact the first Attorney General of<br />
Zanzibar was a Goan.<br />
My father had a lot of property here, we had<br />
several farms, four jewellery shops and houses.<br />
But in 1964 there was a revolution in Zanzibar<br />
when the Arabs who ruled were forced out<br />
and everything was nationalized. Subsequently<br />
Zanzibar joined Tanganyika to become<br />
Tanzania. <strong>Indian</strong>s were not in to politics, so we<br />
were not singled out during the revolution like<br />
the Arabs were, though some families were<br />
affected by the violence.<br />
TII: How would you describe the <strong>Indian</strong><br />
community here?<br />
FAE: I think all over East Africa, the <strong>Indian</strong>s of<br />
Zanzibar have mixed the most with the locals.<br />
A lot of the <strong>Indian</strong>s here actually speak Swahili<br />
at home. This is not true in other places like<br />
Nairobi, in Mombasa or any other place in<br />
Africa. The other good thing is there has been<br />
quite a bit of inter marriage and <strong>Indian</strong>s have<br />
integrated much more in Zanzibar than in<br />
other places.<br />
TII: Your family stayed after the revolution – why?<br />
FAE: Many people left, but our father died, and<br />
we were too young to leave, and my mother<br />
was not educated so we stayed back. One<br />
advantage was we didn’t have to pay rent after<br />
nationalization. If you could earn about 20-30<br />
shillings a month, that was enough. Now I am<br />
happy here, I would not want to live anywhere<br />
else. Since 1985 we can buy and sell property,<br />
and start a business.<br />
TII: What is the situation today in terms of doing<br />
business in Zanzibar, can <strong>Indian</strong>s come and do<br />
business in Zanzibar?<br />
FAE: I think there are good opportunities and<br />
I see a few <strong>Indian</strong>s investing in hotels because<br />
our main economy is tourism. A few people<br />
have come back, and some new <strong>Indian</strong>s have<br />
come. Many of the hotels here employ <strong>Indian</strong>s<br />
as managers, accountants, chefs. You may find<br />
more in Dar Es Salaam.<br />
TII: Is your business mainly retail for tourists?<br />
FAE: Our tourist season starts in end June –<br />
July and I deal with Americans, Europeans,<br />
<strong>Indian</strong>s…In fact the good point is that I see a<br />
lot of <strong>Indian</strong>s coming. Today they have money.<br />
Our four shops sell leather and silver jewellery,<br />
one specializes in Tanzanite and gem stones,<br />
one offers mixed carvings and one is a local<br />
shop for tourists. We design our own jewellery<br />
in 18 carat white gold and have about 25<br />
people in our workshop.<br />
TII: What about education in Zanzibar?<br />
FAE: We have private schools, a new Turkish<br />
school has opened, an international school, but<br />
for university education most parents prefer<br />
to send their kids all over the world..to India,<br />
Malaysia, Russia, China, Canada.<br />
TII: In terms of housing, for a person who wants<br />
to buy a nice house here, what is the cost?<br />
FAE: It depends on the area, Stone Town has<br />
recently become quite popular and most<br />
foreigners want to live here. In Stone town a<br />
house can cost you US $ 300-400,000. But<br />
these are big, old 10-12 room stone houses.<br />
If you go outside, a modern house in a 900sq<br />
mtr plot can easily cost $ 100-150,000. Again<br />
it depends on location etc. There are no beach<br />
plots available in Zanzibar unless you pay a lot<br />
of money.<br />
TII: In terms of security, how secure is this place?<br />
FAE: I think this is one of the most secure places<br />
in the world. You can walk here with all your<br />
jewellery at midnight and nobody will trouble<br />
you… you can walk around freely.<br />
TII: What are the problems here?<br />
FAE: Power shortage is a problem, but which<br />
country does not have some problems?<br />
The good thing about here is nobody asks if<br />
you are a Sunni or Shia or Christian or Hindu…<br />
you are an <strong>Indian</strong> or a Zanzibarian, and nobody<br />
bothers. I go to all gatherings whether Christian<br />
or Hindu because I have friends everywhere.<br />
People are happy and they do not want to<br />
know your religion. I pray it stays that way.<br />
TII: Do you find that people are coming to<br />
Zanzibar now to live here?<br />
FAE: Many people are trying to come and<br />
live here. I am surprised, even Italians, South<br />
Africans, <strong>Indian</strong>s, Europeans, and Americans.<br />
TII: Is there an <strong>Indian</strong> association?<br />
FAE: There is no need for that. Since all of us<br />
here consider ourselves Zanzibarians.<br />
Frank Raj is TII’s founder editor and publisher<br />
38<br />
The <strong>International</strong> <strong>Indian</strong> The <strong>International</strong> <strong>Indian</strong> 39
Travel<br />
They Travel In Pyjamas<br />
I am not sure whether tourists in general realise that they in a<br />
way represent their country abroad. However, I am very certain<br />
that they would not want this onerous task when they travel to<br />
foreign shores. But, this is not to say that there aren’t <strong>Indian</strong><br />
globe trotters who consider themselves to be flag bearers of<br />
their India. These flag bearers are intrepid and well heeled<br />
travelers not confined by national boundaries, language,<br />
cuisine or money.<br />
By: Samwise<br />
A<br />
few months ago I was invited<br />
on a cruise. Though only for<br />
a few days, I accepted with<br />
alacrity appreciating the fact<br />
that opportunity does not knock<br />
often at my door. After enduring the city air<br />
with its many constituents, my lungs waited<br />
breathlessly for a taste of the briny ether that<br />
the cruise promised. However, I was not the<br />
only person invited for this cruise; we were a<br />
bunch of journalists being taken on board to<br />
see the results of an expensive ship-makeover.<br />
The journalists from India and Sri Lanka were<br />
of the travel and life-style genre. But this<br />
knowledge did nothing to reduce my shock<br />
and awe, during the time at sea, when highend<br />
brands were elegantly draped and casually<br />
mentioned by my group.<br />
Besides us, who numbered around twenty,<br />
the other cabins were filled with <strong>Indian</strong>s and<br />
Chinese vacationers. Over the cruise it was<br />
easy to see the priorities of the representatives<br />
of the world’s two most populous nations. The<br />
<strong>Indian</strong>s wanted to get the most bang for their<br />
buck by making use of all the entertainment<br />
options offered during the cruise; while<br />
most Chinese tried to do the same but by<br />
sitting in front of slot machines. What was<br />
also interesting was that <strong>Indian</strong>s used the<br />
swimming pool and open air Jacuzzi in the<br />
early part of the day while the Chinese, who<br />
were not tied to their slot machines, used the<br />
pool later.<br />
The ship left her berth in the evening as<br />
our group sat for an elaborate dinner. We<br />
regrouped for breakfast on the first morning<br />
of the cruise. Even in international waters the<br />
<strong>Indian</strong> and Chinese stuck to their cuisinical<br />
identities - an offering of dosa, poha etc for<br />
the former and noodles, dim-sums etc for the<br />
latter. Though we sat with empty stomachs<br />
in front of full plates, our eyes meandered<br />
through the other eaters or looked out into the<br />
endless sea. There was a sudden gasp and then<br />
a nudge that began at one part of our table<br />
and circled around to the last man – many<br />
<strong>Indian</strong>s had come to the breakfast buffet in<br />
their pyjamas.<br />
Consternation was writ on the faces of<br />
those facing the crowd. The others, realising<br />
that to turn and collectively take notice of the<br />
‘pyjama army’ would imply a dissonance and<br />
inadvertently draw attention of other diners to<br />
this ‘faux pas’, restricted themselves to giving<br />
each other knowing looks instead. No word<br />
was spoken, and everybody deliberately turned<br />
their attention to the contents of their plates.<br />
Food was gulped down and we hurried away<br />
from the scene of this couture crime.<br />
Once outside, the first thing that was asked<br />
in the group was the rhetorical ‘did you see<br />
that?’ Everybody nodded in unison; some<br />
voiced what was going on in other’s mind<br />
‘how could they wear pyjamas for breakfast?’ I<br />
could recognise symptoms of hysteric national<br />
pride when one of them said ‘they are giving<br />
India a bad name’. Another piped in ‘these are<br />
the people who take stuff from the breakfast<br />
table for lunch when on foreign tours ‘.<br />
I could see a cloud of collective disgust<br />
hover above the group. For a moment each<br />
one was lost in their personal nightmare<br />
- envisioning pyjama clad <strong>Indian</strong> tourists<br />
hovering over a breakfast buffet in some<br />
foreign city surreptitiously, and sometimes<br />
blatantly, grabbing food to prepare for the<br />
long day of touring. Some shook their heads<br />
involuntarily as if to dislodge an incident<br />
seeking permanent membership in their<br />
memories.<br />
What my group did not seem to appreciate<br />
was that foreign holidays and travel is no<br />
longer the fiefdom of the few. What they<br />
were witnessing was the crumbling of ageold<br />
bastions and the rise in opportunities for<br />
secularisation of travel experiences. This was<br />
what the ‘pyjama army’ was signifying.<br />
I am not sure whether tourists in general<br />
realise that they in a way represent their<br />
country abroad. However, I am very certain<br />
that they would not want this onerous task<br />
when they travel to foreign shores. But, this<br />
is not to say that there aren’t <strong>Indian</strong> globe<br />
trotters who consider themselves to be flag<br />
bearers of their India. These flag bearers are<br />
intrepid and well heeled traveliers not confined<br />
by national boundaries, language, cuisine or<br />
money.<br />
The intrepid traveller sees herself as<br />
representing an India that is cosmopolitan,<br />
bound by an adherence to western diktats and<br />
who looks down on her pyjama clad country<br />
cousin. The country cousin is unconcerned<br />
about the flag she represents abroad; just<br />
happy to be there.<br />
Though the experiences may now be<br />
common, the way they are experienced<br />
still remain unique. More importantly the<br />
definition of what international travel entails<br />
still differs. For example, for the intrepid well<br />
heeled traveller, international travel would be<br />
to a lesser known place or to a place that drew<br />
the other well heeled; their travel would be<br />
incomplete without tasting the local cuisine at<br />
the local diner. While the new traveller would<br />
just be happy being abroad and visiting all well<br />
known places glad that the tour operator was<br />
providing them dal, roti and subzi.<br />
What is interesting is that both types of<br />
travellers are trying to be local. The well heeled<br />
traveller is trying to ‘do as the Romans do--’<br />
while those of the ‘pyjama army’ variety are<br />
happy to take their local global, unfazed by<br />
their new surroundings. They exemplify the<br />
adage ‘the leopard does not change its spots’.<br />
The ‘pyjama army’ is the reality of India’s<br />
economic progress; they are the reason why<br />
multinationals are increasing their presence<br />
in India. There is disposable income and the<br />
soldiers of this army are spending on doing<br />
the things that they had only heard about<br />
a decade back. They are symbols of India<br />
on the rise, they are the first wave of those<br />
representing an India whose time has come.<br />
Samwise has worked for national and international<br />
environmental organizations.<br />
He is now based in Nagpur, India and works<br />
independently as a writer, researcher and educator.<br />
40<br />
The <strong>International</strong> <strong>Indian</strong> The <strong>International</strong> <strong>Indian</strong> 41
Gulf Hotel Happenings<br />
Clients to entertain? Want to make that business trip more interesting?<br />
TII keeps you up to date on what’s happening at the region’s best hotels.<br />
Le Méridien<br />
Dubai<br />
The Address<br />
Montgomerie, Dubai<br />
Park Hyatt<br />
Dubai<br />
Shangri-La<br />
Hotel, Dubai<br />
Jumeirah Beach<br />
Hotel, Dubai<br />
Yas Viceroy<br />
Abu Dhabi<br />
Say Aloha At Yalumba!!<br />
A Hawaiin themed brunch with a<br />
choice of 3 bottomless bubblies and<br />
a sumptuous buffet.<br />
Validity: 25th May, 2012<br />
AED 499 Per Person<br />
Timings: 12:30pm - 03:30 pm<br />
Happy Hour: 03:30pm - 07:30 PM<br />
Wild On Tiger Prawns At Long Yin<br />
Enjoy Tiger Prawns prepared with<br />
tongue-tingling sauces – a sizzling<br />
Singapore chilli sauce, stir-fried with<br />
hot bean sauce or the Long Yin<br />
special XO sauce.<br />
Validity: May 2012<br />
Cool Down With Chilled Soups At<br />
M’s Beef Bistro<br />
If soup is what you crave, don’t let<br />
the hot summer months spoil it.<br />
Enjoy chilled Gazpacho or Green<br />
Apple & Cucumber and feel cool.<br />
Validity: 11th - 17th May, 2012<br />
Abalone Indulgence At<br />
Seafood Market<br />
Abalone prepared to your choice –<br />
braised with fresh mushrooms and<br />
oyster sauce or in Thermidor style,<br />
steamed with a ginger, spring onion<br />
soya sauce or Malaysian style with<br />
fresh ginger garlic and chilli sauce,<br />
alternately baked with a Portuguese<br />
sauce.<br />
Validity: May 2012<br />
For reservations call<br />
+971 (4) 702 2455<br />
Champions League Final<br />
Watch the Champions League Final<br />
and enjoy a fun filled evening at<br />
Links on Saturday, 19th May 2012.<br />
Spice it up (Everyday)<br />
Visit Nineteen and soak up the<br />
exotic aromas of different spices. As<br />
part of a special culinary adventure,<br />
we are showcasing different<br />
varieties of spices, from star anise<br />
to cinnamon and cloves to cumin.<br />
Get ready for the ultimate dining<br />
experience that is truly a feast for all<br />
your sense.<br />
The Battle of the Chefs –<br />
Dubai 2012<br />
Every month, our signature dining<br />
destination, Nineteen, becomes a<br />
battleground for Dubai’s top chefs!<br />
Using the same staple ingredient,<br />
each contender will create three<br />
unique and flavoursome dishes and<br />
you, the judges, will determine a<br />
winner. It’s the perfect combination<br />
of creative cuisine and competition,<br />
and a novel way for you to sample<br />
delectable new dishes! Dates to<br />
include: May 16th, June 20th, July<br />
4th, Aug 29th, Sep 5th, Sep 19th,<br />
Oct 3rd, Oct 17th, Nov 21st and<br />
Dec 19th 2012.<br />
AED 275 including soft beverages<br />
AED 355 including soft and selected<br />
house beverages<br />
For reservations call<br />
+971 4 390 5600<br />
Friday Brunch At Traiteur<br />
Friday brunch offers diners to choose<br />
from four packages presented by<br />
Chef de Cuisine Simon Wipf and his<br />
team of chefs, and is available from<br />
12:30pm to 4:00pm<br />
Package 1: AED 395 each, including<br />
food and non-alcoholic beverages<br />
Package 2: AED 495 each, including<br />
food, beer and wine<br />
Package 3: AED 595 each, including<br />
food, beer, wine and Veuve Clicquot<br />
champagne<br />
Package 4: AED 1,998 each,<br />
including pick-up and drop-off in a<br />
hotel limousine, food, Dom Perignon<br />
champagne, and premium selected<br />
spirits, beer and wine, as well as<br />
a gift from Pistache, Park Hyatt<br />
Dubai’s chic boutique patisserie.<br />
Hot Pot At Thai Kitchen<br />
Every Saturday, Sunday and<br />
Monday, The Thai Kitchen offers<br />
Juhm Jihm, or Hot Pot, a dish from<br />
Chef Supattra’s home province of<br />
Esarn that is offered in addition to<br />
the à la carte menu. AED 150 per<br />
person (minimum two people)<br />
Time : 7:00 pm to 12:00 midnight<br />
Happy Hour every Sunday<br />
At The Terrace<br />
Buy one and get one drink for free<br />
Price: Starting from AED 45<br />
Time: From 6:00 pm till 9:00 pm<br />
For reservations call<br />
+971 4 317 2222<br />
Mother’s Day Dinner<br />
Start the evening with a cooking<br />
demonstration by Chef Marcello<br />
in the show kitchen, followed by a<br />
sumptuous three course dinner with<br />
wine pairing.<br />
• Mother’s Day Dinner on 13 th May<br />
is priced at AED 250 per person,<br />
inclusive of selected beverages or<br />
AED 220 excluding beverages.<br />
• Cooking class is from 18:00 hrs to<br />
19:30 hrs.<br />
Mediterranean Food Festival<br />
Dunes Café takes you on a<br />
Mediterranean journey this May.<br />
Sample European dishes including<br />
Greek Moussaka, Spanish Paella and<br />
a variety of Italian delights.<br />
• Available every Sunday, Monday<br />
and Tuesday and priced at<br />
AED 255 per person inclusive of<br />
house beverages and AED 175<br />
excluding beverages.<br />
The Terrace<br />
Grab a freshly baked bagel and<br />
some coffee on your way to work, or<br />
a sandwich or maki for lunch. The<br />
Terrace is the perfect place to have<br />
the “power hour” lunch, or grab a<br />
quick bite to go. Open every day<br />
from 06:30 hrs to 18:00 hrs.<br />
For reservations call<br />
+971 4 343 8888<br />
The Pavilion Marina and Sports<br />
Club | The Spa<br />
Friday The Spa Retail Promotions<br />
Spend over AED 750 in The Spa<br />
on retail purchases and receive a<br />
20% discount voucher on all spa<br />
treatments, or spend over AED<br />
1,500 and receive a SPA voucher for<br />
30% discount on all spa treatments.<br />
• Timings: 08:00 am - 10:00 pm<br />
• Validity: May 2012 (Discounts valid<br />
till 31 August 2012)<br />
For more information please contact<br />
The Pavilion Marina and Sports Club |<br />
The Spa +971 4 406 8800<br />
JBHpavilionreception@jumeirah.com<br />
http://www.jumeirah.com<br />
Madinat Jumeirah<br />
Talise Spa Marvelous Mom’s package<br />
Book two 60-minute treatments<br />
from AED 1299 and receive an AED<br />
300 discount, a complimentary<br />
lunch, a complimentary group yoga<br />
class and a special gift carefully<br />
selected by our specialists.<br />
Timings: 09:00 am - 09:00 pm<br />
Validity: May 2012<br />
For more information please contact<br />
Talise Spa +971 4 366 6818<br />
MJtalise@jumeirah.com<br />
www.jumeirah.com/mjtalise<br />
Kaiseki Menu at Kazu<br />
For the month of May, Kazu will<br />
offer the finest selection of Kaiseki<br />
available in Abu Dhabi. Kaiseki Menu<br />
will feature a trio of cleansing juices<br />
aimed at boosting your immune<br />
systems. Watermelon and honey<br />
tonic, kiwi, apple, mint and appleginger<br />
tea offer the perfect healthy<br />
compliment.<br />
• Menu including beverages<br />
AED 220++<br />
Angar Tasting Menu<br />
Returning due to popular<br />
demand and available until for the<br />
end of May, Chef Satish invites you<br />
to try Abu Dhabi’s best kept <strong>Indian</strong><br />
secret, Angar, serving a delicious<br />
modern take on traditional <strong>Indian</strong><br />
cuisine.<br />
• Prices from AED160++<br />
For a more continental take on<br />
the classic experience try the Viceroy<br />
French Bubbly menu. Delight in<br />
Imperial Smoked Salmon, Caviar<br />
Pearls on Squid Ink Bread, Crab<br />
Cocktail with Wasabi Tobilo on<br />
Anchovy Bread and Oyster Shooter<br />
sandwiches.<br />
Each menu is served with<br />
bouquets of specially picked teas by<br />
Tchaba.<br />
• Available from 12pm till 6pm,<br />
starting from AED 110++<br />
For reservations call<br />
+971 4 444 5613<br />
42<br />
The <strong>International</strong> <strong>Indian</strong> The <strong>International</strong> <strong>Indian</strong> 43
India<br />
The Modern<br />
<strong>Indian</strong><br />
It’s impossible for <strong>Indian</strong>s to be securely modern<br />
regardless of how much they consume or ‘know’ because<br />
the premise of modernity is the promise of generalized<br />
well-being. It’s a promise that has been largely made<br />
good in the countries that English-speaking desis admire;<br />
not so in India. A knowing hedonism is legitimate in places<br />
where you don’t have to step over maimed street people<br />
in your Nike Air trainers. Thus Thais in Bangkok have<br />
earned the right to be hip because their city isn’t stalked<br />
by wretchedness.<br />
By: Mukul KesavanWatching American Idol with<br />
my daughter, I realized that<br />
the main difference between<br />
my generation (born in the<br />
late 1950s) and my children’s<br />
generation (born in the early 1990s) is that<br />
I and my cohorts accepted that modernity<br />
happened first in a western ‘elsewhere’ but my<br />
children expect it to be available to them as it<br />
happens, in ‘real time.’<br />
The difference is easily illustrated. I<br />
can remember going to a cinema hall in<br />
the early 1970s to watch a film about the<br />
Mexico Olympics, three years after the<br />
Games happened. It was a feature-length<br />
documentary but the time lag between event<br />
and screening made no difference to us.<br />
Another example of this willingness to wait,<br />
of our patient acceptance of the fact that the<br />
contemporary world would trickle down to<br />
India slowly and partially, was the way <strong>Indian</strong>s<br />
received the half-hour of cricket footage that<br />
they were shown by Doordarshan weeks<br />
after the epochal 1971 Test series victory in<br />
the West Indies. We weren’t outraged at the<br />
meagreness of the coverage; on the contrary,<br />
we were grateful for Doordarshan’s crumbs.<br />
Contrast this with my daughter’s irritation<br />
that her favourite show, American Idol, is<br />
telecast in India the day after it’s shown live in<br />
the US. I once made the mistake of reading her<br />
an online newspaper report on the latest singer<br />
to be eliminated from that talent contest, and<br />
she didn’t speak to me for days: the thought<br />
that tens of millions of people were privy<br />
to something that hadn’t happened in her<br />
world yet made her experience of American<br />
Idol feel second class, ersatz, not just timedelayed.<br />
Her brother’s proprietary keenness<br />
on English Premier League football is based on<br />
the simultaneity that she craves: my son has a<br />
sense of ownership about the EPL because he<br />
sees the matches live, at the<br />
same time as every other<br />
Arsenal fan, which makes<br />
him a citizen of the world.<br />
How do I explain to them<br />
the canned excitement of<br />
watching Bob Beamon soar<br />
to his world record years<br />
after the event?<br />
<strong>Indian</strong> standard time<br />
flowed stickily in autarkic,<br />
non-aligned India. We<br />
missed the booms and<br />
busts of the connected<br />
world: as late as 1997 the<br />
Asian financial crisis stopped<br />
at our borders because<br />
we were still sufficiently<br />
detached from the global<br />
economy to be relatively<br />
immune to its fevers.<br />
Our triumphs and disasters were local: a<br />
win against Pakistan in 1971, a drubbing at<br />
the hands of China in 1962. Come to think of<br />
it, even before Nehru and non-alignment, the<br />
history of the subcontinent set it a little apart<br />
from the highways of 20th-century history. If<br />
the signature events of the last century were<br />
world wars and revolutions, India had no direct<br />
experience of either. <strong>Indian</strong>s fought and died<br />
in large numbers in both world wars but India<br />
was spared the horror being a battleground.<br />
The country also managed to sidestep bloody<br />
revolution and the millenarian dreams and<br />
violence associated with such transformation.<br />
When Raj Krishna minted the term ‘the<br />
Hindu rate of growth’ to describe India’s feeble<br />
economic expansion between 1950 and 1980<br />
as compared to the more rapid economic<br />
development of Taiwan or Korea, he wasn’t<br />
so much proposing a number (3.5 per cent)<br />
as offering a metaphor that captured India’s<br />
laggardly nature.<br />
For India’s middle class this meant that<br />
its life was lived in a time delay. So Englishreading<br />
<strong>Indian</strong>s of my generation kept<br />
poring over Enid Blyton books years after<br />
their English counterparts had moved on.<br />
No <strong>Indian</strong> schoolchild of the Sixties had ever<br />
heard of Roald Dahl even though some of<br />
his best children’s fiction was written in the<br />
early Sixties: James and the Giant Peach was<br />
published in 1961 while the classic Charlie<br />
and the Chocolate Factory changed the rules<br />
of children’s fiction in 1964. Meanwhile,<br />
<strong>Indian</strong> schoolchildren in the Sixties and<br />
Seventies continued to read writers who<br />
had established themselves in the early<br />
decades of the century: Frank Richards<br />
(the Billy Bunter stories) and Richmal<br />
Crompton (the William books). My<br />
school library didn’t have a single<br />
book by Dahl though it had the<br />
complete works of G.A. Henty,<br />
a writer who made Kipling<br />
seem liberal, who was born<br />
in 1832 and whose oeuvre<br />
of adventure stories for boys<br />
had been entirely written in<br />
the 19th century.<br />
This was a world where<br />
the university syllabi for the<br />
history of Europe ended<br />
at 1939 (the Second World War was too<br />
dangerously recent to teach), where school<br />
anthologies of English verse closed with the<br />
Romantics or “Dover Beach”. I remember<br />
being envious when a friend doing the <strong>Indian</strong><br />
School Certificate (or Senior Cambridge) exam,<br />
told me that To Kill a Mocking Bird, a novel<br />
published in 1960, was one of his prescribed<br />
texts. The board that my school subscribed to<br />
had a literature paper that ended with Thomas<br />
Hardy.<br />
At a time without cable television or<br />
the internet or foreign exchange to travel<br />
with, anglophone <strong>Indian</strong>s in the Sixties and<br />
Seventies inhabited a self-sufficient, slightly<br />
anachronistic world frozen in the mid-20th<br />
century. Our cars were time-warped in the<br />
1950s (the Fiat was based on the 1100-103,<br />
first produced in 1953 and the Ambassador<br />
on the 1956 Morris Oxford III), our ideas<br />
about English were shaped by the old Empire<br />
broadcasting style of BBC’s World Service,<br />
even our constellation of desirable imported<br />
things remained constant: Black Label whisky,<br />
Quality Street chocolates, 555 cigarettes, and<br />
a curious passion for Kraft cheese. Popular<br />
western culture was hard to come by: music<br />
was only available via HMV and Polydor which<br />
produced warped long-playing records in ratty<br />
‘‘<br />
For India’s<br />
middle<br />
class this<br />
meant<br />
that its<br />
life was<br />
lived in<br />
a time<br />
delay. So<br />
Englishreading<br />
<strong>Indian</strong>s of<br />
my generation<br />
kept poring<br />
over<br />
Enid Blyton<br />
books<br />
years<br />
after their<br />
English<br />
‘‘<br />
counterparts<br />
had<br />
moved on.<br />
44<br />
The <strong>International</strong> <strong>Indian</strong> The <strong>International</strong> <strong>Indian</strong> 45
India<br />
sleeves and English (that is, American) films<br />
either came late, or not at all.<br />
So when I hear my daughter complain<br />
about American Idol not being telecast live,<br />
or read <strong>Indian</strong> tech columnists moan about<br />
the intolerable hardship of not being able to<br />
access Apple’s online iTunes store from India,<br />
I know this is a new world, not the one I grew<br />
up in. I’m not nostalgic about that world and<br />
I wouldn’t wish it on my children, but there<br />
is something about the newly au fait <strong>Indian</strong><br />
that doesn’t sound right. The tech guru on<br />
the cable news channel world-wearily telling<br />
you not to buy Apple’s iPad till it gets a<br />
camera added on might well be right, but his<br />
knowingness is a virtual knowingness.<br />
The cosmopolitan modernity that he<br />
affects can’t be sustained. It’s impossible for<br />
<strong>Indian</strong>s to be securely modern regardless of<br />
how much they consume or ‘know’ because<br />
TII Hall Of Fame<br />
the premise of modernity is the promise of<br />
generalized well-being. It’s a promise that<br />
has been largely made good in the countries<br />
that English-speaking desis admire; not so<br />
in India. A knowing hedonism is legitimate<br />
in places where you don’t have to step over<br />
maimed street people in your Nike Air trainers.<br />
Thus Thais in Bangkok have earned the right<br />
to be hip because their city isn’t stalked by<br />
wretchedness. In cities like Delhi and Calcutta,<br />
where the poor are a kind of landscape, the<br />
aspiration to consume the world ‘live’ is not<br />
just unpersuasive, it is grotesque.<br />
Mukul Kesavan is a writer based in Delhi. He has<br />
published a novel, Looking Through Glass, a political<br />
pamphlet, Secular Common Sense, a book on cricket Men<br />
in White and a collection of essays The Ugliness of the<br />
<strong>Indian</strong> Male and Other Propositions. He co-edits the<br />
literary journal Civil Lines.<br />
C<br />
M<br />
Y<br />
The Common Dictum Today is Ram<br />
Naam Japna, Paraya Maal Apna<br />
CM<br />
MY<br />
CY<br />
CMY<br />
K<br />
46<br />
I<br />
belong to<br />
Gorakhpur and<br />
came here at<br />
the time Nehruji<br />
died. The<br />
mansion next door<br />
was being built then<br />
and I carried head<br />
loads for Rs. 1.25 a<br />
day. At that time my<br />
son was eight or nine<br />
years old. He used to say, “I will study English and<br />
I will speak English.” But one day, when he was<br />
still in the 10th standard, he came home with a<br />
splitting headache, lay down and died.<br />
I didn’t have any more children but I<br />
adopted a girl. I couldn’t educate her. Where<br />
was I to find a school for her? I raised her and<br />
got her married. Her husband works in a shoe<br />
factory and I visit her every fortnight.<br />
In my job here at this school I get a monthly<br />
salary, tea, lunch and a new blanket every<br />
winter. Now the only problem is this pain in my<br />
ribs. I have no friends and my only concern is<br />
my earnings - that I make enough to be able to<br />
eat. In my daily work routine I don’t get time to<br />
perform puja, not even for a minute. But I take<br />
the lord Rama’s name whenever possible. But<br />
these days, the common dictum is Ram naam<br />
japna, paraya maal apna (Chant the lord’s name<br />
and steal from others).<br />
Anita (name changed), school peon and<br />
former sex worker, born Gorakhpur,<br />
Uttar Pradesh, c. 1935<br />
TII’s Hall of Fame features India’s elderly, great,<br />
interesting and unusual men and women.<br />
Excerpted from the book ‘Ageless Mind and Spirit’<br />
by Samar and Vijay Jodha<br />
www.agelessmindandspirit.com<br />
The <strong>International</strong> <strong>Indian</strong><br />
Al Dobowi Tyre Company<br />
Al Qouz, Dubai, P.O. Box 5576, U.A.E.<br />
Tel.: +971 4 338 8346 Fax: +971 4 338 8347<br />
dubai-service@aldobowi.com www.aldobowi.com
Olympics 2012<br />
London Olympics<br />
tainted by Bhopal?<br />
It has been over 27 years since ‘that night’ in Bhopal, but<br />
the on-going tragedy was back in the news due to the<br />
controversy regarding Dow’s sponsorship of the London<br />
Olympics. ANJALI GUPTARA spoke with Indra Sinha<br />
whose novel, ‘Animal’s People,’ based on the Bhopal<br />
incident, was nominated for the 2007 Man Booker<br />
Prize. She discovered an inspiring story of courage and<br />
resilience from the heart of India.<br />
By: Anjali Guptara<br />
The countdown has started for the<br />
July 27, 2012 London Olympics<br />
and the excitement in the city is<br />
palpable. However, controversy<br />
surrounds the $100m (£63m)<br />
10-year deal with the <strong>International</strong> Olympic<br />
Committee in 2010 and sponsorship of the<br />
£7m wrap that will surround the stadium, by<br />
the US company Dow. It owns Union Carbide,<br />
whose factory leaked 40 tonnes of noxious gas<br />
in Bhopal on the night of December 3 rd 1984,<br />
harming half a million people and killing some<br />
3,000 over the days following the incident.<br />
No one knows exactly how many died in the<br />
aftermath as countless bodies were dumped<br />
by the army in forests and rivers. To date, the<br />
best estimate is that some 25,000 people<br />
died as a result of exposure to those toxic<br />
gases.<br />
That may seem like recent history but<br />
120,000 people in Bhopal continue to suffer<br />
ailments caused by the accident and by the<br />
subsequent pollution at the plant site – the<br />
ground water is contaminated, causing high<br />
rates of birth defects because of chemicals<br />
dumped indiscriminately in the factory, with no<br />
effort to clean it up nearly three decades later.<br />
Some think that everything to do with the<br />
Bhopal disaster was neatly settled thirteen years<br />
ago (in 1999) when Union Carbide finally paid<br />
a paltry $470 million as ‘compensation’. When<br />
that is divided by half a million people, many of<br />
whom require care for the rest of their lives, the<br />
$494 they each received hardly covered their<br />
medical bills for the first few months. Over the<br />
last 27 years of suffering the amount dwindles<br />
to Rs 2.50 or 5¢ per day.<br />
Bhopal, in the State of Madhya Pradesh,<br />
was a city of 1 million at that time and has<br />
now grown to 2 million. The part that was the<br />
worst affected and where the water poisoning<br />
is a continuing problem, is the part nearest the<br />
factory - the very poorest neighbourhoods.<br />
In fact, the factory should never have been<br />
located so close to the residential area.<br />
Authorities had originally asserted that the<br />
pesticide plant should have been placed at<br />
least 20km outside the city; if that guideline<br />
had been followed, only a fraction of the<br />
population would have been affected. On the<br />
other hand, if Dow had to deal with the other<br />
half of the city, with well-educated people<br />
having access to money and influence, Dow<br />
would be facing an entirely different situation.<br />
The bill would have been many times larger,<br />
because the economic imperatives of the area<br />
would have swung into action.<br />
However, an essential question remains,<br />
what would have happened if this had<br />
occurred in England or America? For example,<br />
what would have happened if half a million<br />
Americans had been injured and 20,000<br />
killed during the 2010 BP oil spill? The Bhopal<br />
settlement seems to reflect a poor valuation of<br />
non-American life - a Dow representative was<br />
even recorded as saying that “$500 is plenty<br />
good for an <strong>Indian</strong>.” The number of fatalities<br />
in New York after 9/11 was a tenth of those<br />
who have died from gas-related damage, yet<br />
each American life was valued at more than<br />
a thousand times higher than a Bhopali life.<br />
Is this racism? Or double standards? Or, as<br />
earlier in history, is this a case of a big western<br />
company pushing around a ‘poor, brown’<br />
country?<br />
So, is it appropriate, when this is being<br />
billed as ‘the most ethical, green and<br />
sustainable Olympics ever’, for the games<br />
to be associated with a company owning<br />
liability for the worst environmental and<br />
industrial disaster in history? Ironically, Dow’s<br />
corporate social responsibility policies were<br />
in part why it was awarded the contract,<br />
according to the Olympics organisers. Yet<br />
Olympic Sustainability Commissioner Meredith<br />
Alexander resigned over the decision, stating<br />
that “people should be free to enjoy London<br />
2012 without this toxic legacy on their<br />
conscience.”<br />
Indra Sinha, a British Asian, is a longterm<br />
champion of the survivors in Bhopal.<br />
Eighteen years ago, when he was approached<br />
for his support by activist Sathyu Sarangi,<br />
Sinha was a highly regarded advertising<br />
copywriter, working on Amnesty <strong>International</strong>’s<br />
campaigns.<br />
That is what<br />
had brought<br />
him to the<br />
attention of<br />
Sarangi, who<br />
hoped that<br />
Sinha could<br />
put his media<br />
expertise to<br />
use to raise<br />
awareness of<br />
Indra Sinha<br />
the on-going<br />
plight in<br />
Bhopal.<br />
Shocked by what he heard about an<br />
issue which he thought had been long since<br />
resolved, Sinha agreed to do what he could<br />
and placed a double-page spread in the<br />
Guardian newspaper, featuring the now iconic<br />
image by revered <strong>Indian</strong> photographer Raghu<br />
Rai. The support of the readers raised enough<br />
funds to start a clinic in Bhopal, and Sinha<br />
went on to found the Bhopal Medical Appeal.<br />
Sinha was appalled when the Olympic<br />
committee regurgitated the Dow propaganda,<br />
repudiating the sufferings of the Bhopalis. “The<br />
Olympics are so important because they’re<br />
such a big symbol… something with the<br />
authority and the clout and the moral stature<br />
of the Olympics, which it clearly doesn’t<br />
deserve - under its present management<br />
anyway. When you do that to these people<br />
who have struggled so hard for everything,<br />
just for the breath in their bodies, you’re<br />
committing an unspeakable crime, the most<br />
appalling thing; it’s so unjust it makes my<br />
‘‘<br />
Bhopal, in<br />
the State<br />
of Madhya<br />
Pradesh,<br />
was a<br />
city of 1<br />
million<br />
at that<br />
time and<br />
has now<br />
grown to<br />
2 million.<br />
The part<br />
that was<br />
the worst<br />
affected<br />
and<br />
where<br />
the water<br />
poisoning<br />
is a continuing<br />
problem,<br />
is the part<br />
nearest<br />
the<br />
factory -<br />
the very<br />
‘‘<br />
poorest<br />
neighbourhoods.<br />
48<br />
The <strong>International</strong> <strong>Indian</strong> The <strong>International</strong> <strong>Indian</strong> 49
Olympics 2012<br />
blood boil. It’s flagrantly unjust and makes me<br />
fantastically angry.”<br />
Would it actually be possible to clean up<br />
the disaster site in Bhopal? Well, the London<br />
Olympics site in Stratford was industrial<br />
land which was also once polluted and<br />
contaminated with chemicals. But Stratford<br />
has now been transformed. Five soil-washing<br />
machines were used to clean out over 1.5<br />
million tons of soil, making it possible to reuse<br />
as much as 95 per cent on site.<br />
As Sinha says, if they can clean up London<br />
then they should at least have a go at cleaning<br />
up Bhopal. If they can’t clean it up, at least<br />
make sure that the people have clean safe<br />
water to drink. Dow is in a very good position<br />
to do that because it has been boasting to<br />
the UN that it’s on a mission to provide clean<br />
safe drinking water for every human being on<br />
earth. The Dow website says, “Water is one of<br />
life’s most basic and essential components. Yet<br />
for millions of people across the globe, clean<br />
water is not accessible. Dow is committed<br />
to developing innovative technologies and<br />
creative sustainability solutions to help solve<br />
the global water crisis, preserve and restore<br />
the world’s water supply and ensure access to<br />
clean water for millions.”<br />
Yet they do not seem willing to prove this<br />
in any practical way in Bhopal. This is<br />
because, as far as Dow is concerned,<br />
Union Carbide ‘paid its dues’ with<br />
the $470 million settlement in 1989,<br />
so when Dow bought the company<br />
in 2001, they considered their hands<br />
clean. However, it is worth noting<br />
that Dow did pay damages on Union<br />
Carbide’s asbestos liabilities in the<br />
US, after it acquired the company.<br />
Moreover, the fact is that Dow’s<br />
liabilities regarding Bhopal weren’t “all<br />
settled”, as the criminal charges weren’t<br />
removed by the settlement.<br />
Dow had only negotiated away their<br />
civil liabilities and, to this day, ‘Union<br />
Carbide’ is basically on the run from<br />
the courts in India because it refuses<br />
to accept the jurisdiction of the <strong>Indian</strong><br />
courts. The original legal proceedings<br />
were in New York, with survivors,<br />
lawyers, governments. But the <strong>Indian</strong><br />
government took it on themselves to<br />
represent the victims without their<br />
permission and agreed to a grossly<br />
Transforming Bhopal<br />
“Our task<br />
is to transform the world’s<br />
understanding of the word Bhopal<br />
from grim tragedy<br />
to an inspirational symbol of<br />
courage, steadfastness, and love<br />
that overcomes impossible odds,<br />
brings healing out of horror,<br />
turns despair to joy<br />
and suffering to celebration.<br />
The story of the Bhopal survivors’<br />
quest for health, justice and a life of<br />
dignity<br />
has the power to unleash huge<br />
energies for compassionate change<br />
into the world.”<br />
Indra Sinha<br />
inadequate settlement without even consulting<br />
them. So, an American firm operating in India<br />
managed to fall outside both systems of justice,<br />
being accountable to neither. There is a need<br />
for an international system, similar to the<br />
European Court of Human Rights, to fairly judge<br />
such incidents that fall outside of political and<br />
geographical boundaries.<br />
Is there any point blaming anyone? Maybe<br />
not, but do hold responsible those who should<br />
be responsible. So who should be responsible?<br />
According to Sinha, it’s not an ‘either or’: “It’s<br />
not either DOW and Union Carbide or the<br />
<strong>Indian</strong> government and the State government,<br />
its all of them, they all have a duty of care, they<br />
have all failed, in fact every authority that had<br />
a duty to care for these people has failed them.<br />
It’s just no use saying ‘people are very hard on<br />
Dow, it should be the <strong>Indian</strong> government’ – it<br />
should be all of them. What’s more, it’s not<br />
as though Dow and the <strong>Indian</strong> government<br />
are very far apart, they have been colluding<br />
for years” - the <strong>Indian</strong> government was a<br />
shareholder in Union Carbide India Ltd.<br />
So in an ideal world, what would Sinha<br />
want? “The best thing that could happen<br />
would be to have people come to power in<br />
India who actually care about justice and the<br />
poor, and also for people to take over Dow<br />
Chemicals who recognise that it would actually<br />
be much better for the company in the long<br />
run if it accepted responsibility. It would do<br />
it an awful lot of good from a PR point of<br />
view. It’s been trying to win itself friends by<br />
spending money on advertising. It needs a<br />
change of heart. Companies and governments<br />
are all run by human beings. They could, in<br />
fact, benefit from some ‘Olympic Spirit’, which<br />
“requires mutual understanding with a spirit of<br />
friendship, solidarity and fair play.”<br />
Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the father of the<br />
modern Olympic Games famously declared<br />
that “the essential thing in life is not conquering<br />
but fighting well.” Surely the survivors in Bhopal<br />
are those who have truly demonstrated the<br />
Olympic spirit: the effort, the struggle, and the<br />
refusal to give up.<br />
For more information on Bhopal and how you<br />
can get involved, visit www.bhopal.org<br />
To watch the documentary ‘Bhopali’, go to<br />
www.bhopalithemovie.com<br />
Anjali Guptara is a writer, presenter and event host.<br />
She is the London correspondent for the<br />
‘The <strong>International</strong> <strong>Indian</strong>,’ covering London-based<br />
people and events of interest to the diaspora<br />
TII Amateur Photo Competition!<br />
Email ONE best photo (hi-res Jpeg file) on the theme indicated to tiicompetitions@gmail.com<br />
and win exciting prizes! (For contest rules please visit www.theinternationalindian.com)<br />
Next Theme:<br />
Siblings<br />
Mother and daughter<br />
Photo by: Hitesh Taylor<br />
Mother and daughter<br />
Photo by: Zersis Maneckji<br />
Theme: Mother & Daughter<br />
50<br />
The <strong>International</strong> <strong>Indian</strong> The <strong>International</strong> <strong>Indian</strong> 51
Ek Pardesi Mahman<br />
India, China, ME:<br />
A New Silk Route?<br />
Interview with Dr. Talal Abu Ghazaleh<br />
In this new series TII introduces readers to interesting,<br />
prominent people from all over the world. HE Dr. Talal<br />
Abu-Ghazaleh, is the Chairman and Founder of Talal<br />
Abu-Ghazaleh Organization, the largest Arab group of<br />
professional service firms. Founded in 1972, TAG-Org<br />
operates out of its 73 offices in the Middle East, North Africa,<br />
Pakistan, India, Cyprus and China serving a global clientele.<br />
By: Frank Raj<br />
TII: Please tell us something about<br />
yourself<br />
TAG: It’s a long story…I am a<br />
Palestinian refugee who was thrown<br />
out of his country by an occupier. I<br />
was 10 years old at that time, walking<br />
2 hours to school and 2 hours back,<br />
always thinking - what should I do with<br />
my life. I decided that my best revenge<br />
would be to excel and try to be better<br />
than my enemy.<br />
When I got into the American<br />
University of Beirut, there was only<br />
one scholarship for a Palestinian<br />
refugee offered by the United Nations<br />
Relief and Work Agency – for the best<br />
student in Lebanon. There was no<br />
alternative, I had to be the top student<br />
and I won that scholarship.<br />
I am 75 years old, my wife is<br />
HE Dr. Talal Abu Ghazaleh<br />
Dr. Talal Abu-Ghazaleh along with (3rd from left) Mr. Vayalar Ravi, Union Minister of<br />
Overseas <strong>Indian</strong> Affairs with other officials at the UAE Embassy in India, November 2006<br />
‘‘<br />
The<br />
Internet<br />
showed<br />
me a light<br />
at the end<br />
of the<br />
tunnel. I<br />
realized<br />
it was an<br />
equalizer<br />
with the<br />
potential<br />
for global<br />
democracy<br />
which the<br />
countries<br />
of the<br />
world<br />
could not<br />
achieve<br />
Anybody<br />
who gets<br />
into that<br />
environment<br />
is<br />
equal to<br />
anybody<br />
else. It’s<br />
up to him<br />
to make<br />
the best<br />
out of it.<br />
‘‘<br />
Lebanese, I met her at college and we married<br />
half a century ago; we have four children and<br />
nine grandchildren.<br />
TII: How did you establish your global<br />
Intellectual Property business?<br />
TAG: Ever since I was a young boy, I<br />
started formulating in my mind what to<br />
do in life. After half a century of work,<br />
here we are, the leading Intellectual<br />
Property firm in the world and I mean<br />
globally and not just in the Middle<br />
East. We are established in India, with<br />
an office in New Delhi. Abu Ghazaleh<br />
Intellectual Property is now operating<br />
in 71 countries and by all criteria is<br />
the leading IP firm in the world. We<br />
are exceptionally the only foreign firm<br />
practicing IP in China as well.<br />
We have 2,000 professional<br />
staff, besides support staff, and in<br />
addition to our 73 offices we have 170<br />
representative offices, all over the world.<br />
We are the leading accounting firm in the<br />
Arab world, and the only member from the<br />
region established under the aegis of the<br />
HE Mr. Abdullah Gul, President of The Republic of Turkey receives<br />
Dr. Talal Abu-Ghazaleh in Serail, Tarabya- Istanbul- 2010<br />
<strong>International</strong> Federation of Accountants<br />
including some 20 trans-national accounting<br />
firms that apply international accounting<br />
standards committed to excellence and<br />
transparency. There is also the Talal Abu-<br />
Ghazaleh University in Bahrain and a College<br />
of Business in Jordan which incidentally won<br />
this year, the Best Business School Award in<br />
Asia, although it is only 4 years old.<br />
Did being first in the region help you break<br />
into the business?<br />
HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President of<br />
the UAE, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai and Dr. Talal<br />
Abu-Ghazaleh during the Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Award<br />
for Arab Management<br />
TAG: I started in an accounting firm in 1960<br />
and decided I would build an organization<br />
from the Arab world that would become the<br />
first trans-national and global firm which is<br />
what we are now. In 1961 I learned about IP<br />
and I got very interested. I am someone who<br />
believes in the advantage of the first mover. So<br />
in everything we did we were the first movers<br />
and we were the first firm to start working<br />
in this region on IP protection at the global<br />
level. We provided governments with the<br />
consulting services needed to develop their<br />
IP environment and legal infrastructure. We<br />
realized that the Arab region was due to go<br />
into a development era and that required a lot<br />
of consulting services so we started Talal Abu-<br />
Ghazaleh Consulting which is also the largest<br />
and leading management consulting firm in 20<br />
Arab countries.<br />
TII: In your long career what are the<br />
breakthroughs you can recall?<br />
TAG: In 1974, I was lucky to hear about the<br />
Internet at a meeting in Paris, where the<br />
ICC was hosting the senior advisor to the<br />
President of the U.S. on the Internet. I was<br />
very interested in that presentation because it<br />
showed me a light at the end of the tunnel. I<br />
can never forget how he showed a computer<br />
52<br />
The <strong>International</strong> <strong>Indian</strong> The <strong>International</strong> <strong>Indian</strong> 53
Ek Pardesi Mahman<br />
screen and a key board, in front of which was<br />
sitting a dog. It signified the beauty of the<br />
Internet, that the person at the other end does<br />
not know that the person at the other end is<br />
a dog. I realized the Internet was an equalizer<br />
with the potential for global democracy which<br />
the countries of the world could not achieve<br />
nationally. Anybody who gets into that<br />
environment is equal to anybody else. It’s up to<br />
him to make the best out of it.<br />
TII: What was it that put you in the big league?<br />
For this I must give credit to my<br />
competitors. We are now one of the major<br />
G20 accounting firms of the world. But<br />
when I decided in 1972, to start the Talal<br />
Abu Ghazaleh Organization in Kuwait, the<br />
big firms in the region, who were at that<br />
time called the Big 8 (PWC, Arthur Anderson<br />
etc.), were enjoying a complete monopoly<br />
of the accounting profession in the Gulf. My<br />
colleagues and partners in the firm knew we<br />
were under very serious scrutiny and could not<br />
afford to make a single mistake. We knew that<br />
one wrong move could crucify us. To this day<br />
we have never been convicted administratively<br />
or legally for any professional violation.<br />
In 1990, Arthur Anderson tried to buy us<br />
out. Of course I was not interested in selling<br />
because my ambition was to build a global<br />
firm. But they were trying to tempt me with<br />
offers so they could liquidate the firm and take<br />
it over. I realized that it was another one of<br />
their attempts to get rid of me. Of course we<br />
turned it down. But dealing with such a giant<br />
was a historic situation – I was only negotiating<br />
to learn, not to come to a deal. I wanted to<br />
know more about myself because they knew<br />
me, and I wanted to know more about them so<br />
we both opened our files and when we studied<br />
the size of their operation in the Arab world<br />
and compared it to the size of our operation, it<br />
turned out we were about equal in size.<br />
When they made me the offer, I said “I<br />
accept, but I would like to reverse the deal. I<br />
make you the same offer, to sell to me on the<br />
same terms which you have offered me!”<br />
It was the Chairman & Chief Executive of<br />
Arthur Anderson I was dealing with and he was<br />
shocked! “Young man, this has never happened<br />
before with Arthur Anderson. You are out of<br />
line, nobody offers to buy Arthur Anderson.” I<br />
told him, “I didn’t offer to buy Arthur Anderson<br />
I just want to buy your Middle East operation,<br />
just like you are offering to buy my Middle<br />
East operation. We are equal in size and so I<br />
am willing to buy you out – my bankers are<br />
waiting, you just say yes and the financial<br />
arrangements will be made.”<br />
He said, “This ends our meeting but let me<br />
tell you one thing… we will take you dead or<br />
alive.” There are witnesses to this discussion<br />
who are in the profession today who were at<br />
that meeting. By God’s grace, Arthur Andersen<br />
is gone but we are still around.<br />
TII: What do you think of the changes<br />
happening in the region and beyond?<br />
TAG: Without going into country specifics,<br />
all I want to say is this change is epidemic and<br />
it is not hitting only the Arab world. In 2012<br />
we will see these demonstrations on the streets<br />
in Europe and before 2014 – you will see what<br />
happened in Egypt, happen in America.<br />
TII: What do you think the new world order<br />
will look like?<br />
TAG: I remember when President Bush in his<br />
last speech said we are into this crisis as a world<br />
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Dr. Talal Abu-Ghazaleh at the UN<br />
headquarters in New York<br />
together and we should not get out of it except<br />
together and no country should take advantage<br />
of this crisis. False. We are not in it together. It<br />
was created by the West. They are the victims<br />
‘‘<br />
I believe<br />
the word<br />
‘globalization’<br />
is<br />
obsolete –<br />
today they<br />
are talking<br />
about<br />
‘international’<br />
not<br />
‘global’<br />
any more.<br />
Speaking<br />
on TV<br />
recently,<br />
I said<br />
there is<br />
no global<br />
crisis –<br />
only a<br />
western<br />
crisis.<br />
There<br />
is a lot<br />
misrepresentation<br />
in the<br />
western<br />
media.<br />
‘‘<br />
of their own doings. The rest of the world is<br />
clearly prospering.<br />
TII: So you think the heydays of the West are<br />
over?<br />
TAG: They talk of<br />
a global crisis now,<br />
because there are<br />
economic problems in<br />
the West. Was there<br />
no global crisis when<br />
people were starving and<br />
dying on the streets in<br />
Africa and Asia? When<br />
thousands of people die<br />
of starvation there it is<br />
not a global crisis…but<br />
when the pensions in a<br />
western country are cut<br />
by 5% there is a global<br />
crisis. I spend a lot of<br />
time speaking in public<br />
forums, and I advocate<br />
that the time has come<br />
for regional groupings –<br />
not globalization.<br />
In fact I believe the<br />
word ‘globalization’<br />
is obsolete – today<br />
they are talking about<br />
‘international’ not ‘global’ any more. Speaking<br />
on TV recently, I said there is no global<br />
crisis – only a western crisis. There is a lot<br />
misrepresentation in the western media. I<br />
don’t see any crisis in the Gulf, China, India,<br />
Brazil and many other countries of the world.<br />
In fact, I see a rate of growth in Africa which<br />
was never seen before.<br />
TII: There’s a very interesting story told<br />
about you and Nelson Rockefeller…<br />
TAG: In our culture and our religion we<br />
believe that you may predict or forecast<br />
anything except death because your death<br />
is only determined by God and only God<br />
knows when you will die. My philosophy<br />
is that when I sleep I assume that I will not<br />
wake up. So when I wake up in the morning<br />
people wonder how I am so full of energy. It is<br />
another day, like a bonus and I am so grateful<br />
for my life.<br />
When I was in Kuwait in the 80’s, the US<br />
(R-L) His Majesty King Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein, King<br />
of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, along with His Majesty<br />
King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, King of Bahrain and Dr.<br />
Talal Abu-Ghazaleh during the wedding ceremony of His<br />
Royal Highness Prince Rashid bin El Hassan - July 22, 2011<br />
Ambassador once called me to say Nelson<br />
Rockefeller wanted to meet me. I thought it<br />
was a mistake but when he confirmed it, “I<br />
said in that case I can go tomorrow, just set<br />
up the appointment.”<br />
I was so excited…an<br />
insignificant person<br />
like myself going to<br />
meet someone like<br />
Rockefeller!<br />
Anyway we met<br />
in New York over<br />
lunch with four of his<br />
colleagues, and after<br />
we had discussed<br />
something confidential<br />
which he wanted to<br />
see me for, I told him<br />
I didn’t agree. He<br />
replied, “In 20 years<br />
you and I will have<br />
another chance. I will<br />
prove to you that you<br />
are wrong and I was<br />
right. But these four<br />
people at our table will<br />
not be here, they will<br />
be dead, only you and<br />
I will survive.”<br />
In his position<br />
as Governor of New York, he had studied<br />
my personal files, and he knew my father<br />
had lived till the age of 107; it is true….our<br />
genetic heritage plays a role. But I said, “Mr.<br />
Governor please don’t talk about this. This is<br />
not acceptable in our religion and culture.” But<br />
Rockefeller insisted, “No, no this is a medical<br />
fact.” “Fine,” I said, “but let’s not talk about<br />
it, because I don’t feel comfortable – I don’t<br />
believe that hereditary, medical, or genetic<br />
rules apply. This is something decided by<br />
another force, called God.”<br />
Lunch over, I took the night flight through<br />
London for Kuwait. From London airport, in<br />
the morning I called my wife to say I would<br />
make it by 5 pm to Kuwait, in time for the<br />
dinner being hosted by the US Ambassador for<br />
Nelson’s brother, David Rockefeller, Chairman<br />
of Chase Manhattan. She asked me about my<br />
New York trip and I told her I had lunch the<br />
previous day with Nelson Rockefeller. “Are<br />
you sure?” she asked. “What do you mean?”<br />
54<br />
The <strong>International</strong> <strong>Indian</strong> The <strong>International</strong> <strong>Indian</strong> 55
Ek Pardesi Mahman<br />
‘‘<br />
I believe<br />
that we<br />
have two<br />
giants in<br />
the region<br />
- China<br />
and India.<br />
It is about<br />
time that<br />
we in the<br />
region<br />
build our<br />
own geopolitical<br />
and geoeconomic<br />
block of<br />
interest<br />
built<br />
around<br />
these two<br />
giants<br />
with the<br />
support<br />
of major<br />
powers<br />
like<br />
Turkey,<br />
Iran,<br />
Egypt and<br />
the Gulf<br />
countries.<br />
I said, puzzled. “The dinner is cancelled,” she<br />
replied, “David is not coming because Nelson<br />
Rockefeller passed away.”<br />
This had a tremendous impact on me.<br />
The man died at dinner the day we had lunch<br />
together.<br />
TII: How do you<br />
see the next ten<br />
years?<br />
TAG: The<br />
European Union<br />
will cease to<br />
exist in 10 years;<br />
Europe will have<br />
to go to where<br />
the oil, gas and<br />
funds are, to the<br />
country that can<br />
rescue them and<br />
not to stick to<br />
their European<br />
counterparts with<br />
their very serious<br />
poverty problems.<br />
TII: You think Russia will rescue them?<br />
Of course, Russia will lead Europe, which it<br />
already holds captive, being the second largest<br />
oil producer in the world and its vast energy<br />
resources. Russia is the richest country in the<br />
world, there is not a single natural resource it<br />
does not have. The European countries are in<br />
debt to each other, it is a web of debt, Spain<br />
owes Italy, Italy owes France, France owes<br />
Portugal and they are all chained together. I<br />
was talking about the problems of the West<br />
– Newsweek’s recent cover depicts the tower<br />
of the U.S. Capital building upside down with<br />
the headline – ‘This is how empires fall.’ Time<br />
magazine talks about the decline and fall of<br />
Europe. The Economist says we have reason<br />
to worry, be worried, be afraid. Italy has<br />
announced that they have a total debt of 2.6<br />
trillion, my estimate is that it is 4 trillion and<br />
this is owed to other European countries, who<br />
are also in default. It is a complete mess.<br />
TII: What do think is the way forward?<br />
TAG: I believe that we have two giants in<br />
the region - China and India. It is about time<br />
that we in the region build our own geopolitical<br />
and geo-economic block of interest<br />
built around these two giants with the support<br />
of major powers like Turkey, Iran, Egypt and the<br />
Gulf countries. Don’t dismiss Egypt…Egypt is<br />
not in trouble, Egypt is in the making. I have<br />
always taken offence to the use of the term<br />
‘Spring,’ there is<br />
no Arab Spring<br />
there is an Arab<br />
Renaissance, an<br />
awakening. The<br />
word “Spring” was<br />
sprung on us by<br />
the west.<br />
Together it is<br />
inevitable that this<br />
region will be the<br />
new force. Obama<br />
has declared that<br />
he is shifting his<br />
focus from the<br />
Atlantic alliance to<br />
the Asian alliance.<br />
If he, from the<br />
other side of the<br />
world realizes that,<br />
and I have seen endless strategy reports that<br />
wealth is moving from the north to the south,<br />
and from the west to the east, then such a<br />
realignment is to be anticipated.<br />
Dr. Talal Abu Ghazaleh (2nd from right) at the signing of a letter of<br />
accord between the Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Graduate School of Business and<br />
the US Naval Postgraduate School in Geneva June 2008<br />
TII: How long do you see this transition<br />
taking?<br />
TAG: The Renaissance in Europe started in<br />
1848 and it took 20 years. The West is trying<br />
to say look at the mess you have. What is<br />
happening is not a mess – this is the world<br />
today, changing…for the better.<br />
I hope I can see at least the beginning of<br />
this block of economic interest called WANA<br />
- West Asia and North Africa... before I die. I<br />
cannot do it, I am a small person - even my<br />
country in the region cannot do it, it has to be<br />
either China or India, one of these two giants.<br />
They must forget about politics to create an<br />
economic block that extends as it was in the<br />
past when the silk route extended from China<br />
through India to the Arab world. This is the<br />
revival. I dream one day the revival of the silk<br />
road can make us again the major economic<br />
block in the world.<br />
Frank Raj is TII’s founder editor and publisher<br />
56<br />
The <strong>International</strong> <strong>Indian</strong>
Guptara Garmagaram<br />
Does Criticism of<br />
Parliamentarians<br />
amount to Disrespect for Parliament?<br />
By: Prabhu Guptara<br />
‘‘<br />
Criticism<br />
is only<br />
possible<br />
against<br />
explicit or<br />
implicit<br />
standards.<br />
If there<br />
is no<br />
standard,<br />
then no<br />
criticism is<br />
possible.<br />
If I disagree with an action undertaken by a minister, or even<br />
by the Prime Minister, does that mean that I don’t respect the<br />
institution of Government? If that be the case, then almost<br />
all <strong>Indian</strong>s are guilty of this sin, since we talk endlessly about<br />
what is right or wrong about the actions taken by everyone<br />
whether in Parliament or in Government.<br />
One news headline today refers<br />
to Arvind Kejriwal, Team Anna<br />
member, saying that “most<br />
Members of Parliament are not<br />
respectable”.<br />
Apparently, he has claimed that 163<br />
Members of Parliament and even 14 of our<br />
Ministers are corrupt. Team Anna intends to<br />
provide the evidence against the Ministers to<br />
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in a letter<br />
“soon”.<br />
In response to his statement, Kejriwal has<br />
been accused of making “derogatory remarks”.<br />
Congress MP Sajjan Singh Verma, and the RJD<br />
MPs Rajniti Prasad and Ram Kripal Yadav have<br />
served a privilege notice against Kejriwal for<br />
pointing out during an election campaign rally<br />
in February that we have, as MPs, individuals<br />
who have court cases registered against them<br />
for being “rapists, murderers and looters”.<br />
The question is: do Kejriwal’s statements<br />
amount to disrespect for Parliament?<br />
“Disrespect” is a peculiar term, with<br />
objective as well as subjective aspects. I may<br />
not intend some remarks to disrespect you, but<br />
you may think that I am disrespecting you. On<br />
the other hand, I may make remarks that are<br />
fully intended to show disrespect to you but,<br />
for whatever reason, you may not perceive<br />
them as disrespectful.<br />
So the interesting question is: what are the<br />
criteria by which disrespect is to be judged in<br />
this case?<br />
In fact, in my view, Kejriwal has shown<br />
the highest possible respect to Parliament by<br />
reminding us all of the standards which should<br />
be expected of Members of Parliament.<br />
Criticism is only possible against explicit or<br />
implicit standards. If there is no standard, then<br />
no criticism is possible. All criticism is therefore<br />
a tribute - not to the person criticised, of<br />
course, but to the standard(s) against which the<br />
criticised person has been judged. And if that<br />
standard is high, then the implied tribute to the<br />
organisation (and its members) is high too.<br />
And if <strong>Indian</strong> citizens are not allowed to<br />
criticise moral failings as well as mistakes of<br />
judgement on the part of people who accept<br />
public roles, then that is the end of<br />
democracy and free speech.<br />
Democracy means that you and I<br />
are free to make up our own minds,<br />
and that the view of the majority should<br />
prevail, while ensuring that humanity<br />
and generosity are maintained, specially<br />
towards those who hold an opinion that<br />
is in a minority at present. Free speech<br />
means that I have a right to express<br />
my point of view, especially on matters<br />
of public concern. By his remarks,<br />
Kejriwal has used his right of free speech<br />
and contributed more to building up<br />
democracy and Parliament than have<br />
most other <strong>Indian</strong>s (including myself).<br />
If I disagree with an action<br />
undertaken by a minister, or even by<br />
the Prime Minister, does that mean that I<br />
don’t respect the institution of Government?<br />
If that be the case, then almost all <strong>Indian</strong>s<br />
are guilty of this sin, since we talk endlessly<br />
about what is right or wrong about the actions<br />
taken by everyone whether in Parliament or in<br />
government.<br />
On the sort of basis on which Kejriwal<br />
has been arraigned, privilege notices should<br />
also be issued against the Comptroller and<br />
Auditor General (CAG) for accusing the Gujarat<br />
Government-owned Gujarat State Petroleum<br />
Corporation (GSPC) of extending undue<br />
benefits to Adani Energy and Essar Steel and<br />
saying that the company’s poor management<br />
of oil and gas exploration has led to a loss of<br />
over Rs 5,000 crore to the Gujarat taxpayer.<br />
CAG was also highly critical of GSPC’s<br />
operations in the Krishna Godavari basin where<br />
improper assessment of technical and financial<br />
issues led to the drilling costs shooting up<br />
to more than ten times the original estimate<br />
(USD 1.302 billion instead of just USD 102.23<br />
million).<br />
If Kejriwal is guilty of disrespect to<br />
Parliament, then it is not only CAG that should<br />
be hauled up, but also Fareed Zakaria, the<br />
former editor of Newsweek <strong>International</strong>,<br />
who is currently editor-at-large and columnist<br />
with Time magazine, who “maligned” not<br />
only some Parliamentarians, but ALL <strong>Indian</strong><br />
politicians, by charging them with being out<br />
of touch with reality. He claimed that <strong>Indian</strong><br />
politicians continue to live in an imaginary<br />
world where India is a victim: “The whole game<br />
of the political class is to describe this process<br />
of victimhood in detail and try to find people to<br />
blame and potentially get reparations”.<br />
Zakaria also said that the Gujarat Chief<br />
Minister Narendra Modi, “is unlikely to become<br />
a national leader... he might not even be<br />
a regional leader by December.” Is such a<br />
statement disrespectful to a Chief Minister, and<br />
should Zakaria be hauled to court for that?<br />
Zakaria may of course be entirely wrong about<br />
his prognosis, but being wrong is different from<br />
being disrespectful.<br />
In any case, Kejriwal is neither disrespectful<br />
nor wrong when he says that “Parliamentarians<br />
have failed to answer questions raised by<br />
common people. If they want to punish me,<br />
they can, but it will not serve the purpose”.<br />
No, it will indeed not serve the purpose<br />
of ensuring respect for Parliament. The only<br />
thing that will ensure respect for Parliament is<br />
behaviour worthy of respect by Parliamentarians<br />
– and that has been increasingly lacking over the<br />
last few decades. Is it not time for us all to join<br />
Kejriwal in demanding that punishment be given<br />
rather to Parliamentarians who bring Parliament<br />
into disrepute?<br />
Professor Prabhu Guptara has written the above in an<br />
entirely private capacity, and none of the above should<br />
be related in any way to any of the companies or<br />
organisations with which he is now, or has in the past,<br />
been connected. His personal website is:<br />
www.prabhu.guptara.net<br />
He blogs at: www.prabhuguptara.blogspot.com<br />
‘‘<br />
And if<br />
<strong>Indian</strong><br />
citizens<br />
are not<br />
allowed to<br />
criticise<br />
moral<br />
failings<br />
as well as<br />
mistakes<br />
of judgement<br />
on<br />
the part<br />
of people<br />
who<br />
accept<br />
public<br />
roles,<br />
then that<br />
is the end<br />
of democracy<br />
and free<br />
speech.<br />
‘‘<br />
58<br />
The <strong>International</strong> <strong>Indian</strong> The <strong>International</strong> <strong>Indian</strong> 59
India Journal<br />
Love need no<br />
longer be blind<br />
On one side of the crowded hall I see my parents,<br />
partners in nearly 50 years of arranged marriage,<br />
happily talking to friends and relatives. Like Tevye and<br />
Golde in Fiddler on the Roof, they learned to love one<br />
another, and made a family and a life together. On<br />
the other side, I see myself, having gone the irrational, arbitrary,<br />
and unplanned fall-in-love-first-and-ask-questions-later route and<br />
purely by chance happily married with a partner who seems at<br />
times my total and infuriating opposite, struggling up to my 25th<br />
anniversary.<br />
By: Ranjani Iyer Mohanty<br />
In the midst of the happy chaos of yet<br />
another big fat <strong>Indian</strong> wedding in New<br />
Jersey, I remarked to my sister, “Have<br />
you noticed that recently several of our<br />
cousins have found their life partners<br />
via the internet?” She replied, “Well, it’s<br />
the perfect tool for <strong>Indian</strong>s. It satisfies our<br />
traditional desire for matchmaking but makes<br />
the whole process more efficient by using<br />
our newly acquired expertise in information<br />
technology.”<br />
There are numerous dating websites in<br />
western cultures, but there, participants are not<br />
necessarily looking to get married. In those<br />
aimed at <strong>Indian</strong>s however, whether they are<br />
living in India or abroad, the aim of the game<br />
is clearly marriage. With sites like Shaadi.<br />
com, SimplyMarry.com, Jeevansathi.com, and<br />
Hindumatrimonial.com, the names say it all.<br />
The advent of online matrimonial ads<br />
has changed the process of finding a partner<br />
somewhat. Most print ads were placed by the<br />
parents and responded to by other parents.<br />
Online though, it’s often the people looking for<br />
a partner who put up their own profile, search<br />
through profiles of others, and directly contact<br />
those that interest them. With less parental<br />
involvement, the emphasis on astrology and<br />
comparing horoscopes of the prospective bride<br />
and groom has waned. However, Manglik vs.<br />
non-Manglik is still a field to tick-mark online.<br />
A person labelled Manglik was born at a time<br />
when Mars throws a negative influence on their<br />
horoscope, making them unlucky in marriage,<br />
so much so that their spouse may die early.<br />
Desirable attributes looked for in a man<br />
are tall height, higher education, good salary,<br />
and a respected profession. In India, to the<br />
top trinity of engineer, doctor, and IAS officer,<br />
have been added others like IT professional<br />
and management consultant. Among <strong>Indian</strong>s<br />
living abroad, the field of attractive professions<br />
is not so restricted and based more on potential<br />
earnings. For a woman, being slim and pretty<br />
and ‘fair’ never hurts. Being fair is probably<br />
less of an issue when you’re living in North<br />
America, but in India, land of fairness creams<br />
galore, it’s still the first criteria of beauty.<br />
Although casteism is formally seen to be as ugly<br />
a word as racism, most ads, in print and online,<br />
are categorized by state, language, caste, and<br />
sometimes even sub-caste. Only a relative<br />
few are open enough to put the additional<br />
clause, ‘caste no bar’. And for both men and<br />
women, family background (social standing<br />
of the parents and siblings) remains important<br />
because, despite the advent of technology, an<br />
<strong>Indian</strong> marriage is still a union of two families,<br />
not just two people.<br />
There are over a hundred matrimonial sites<br />
catering to <strong>Indian</strong>s. And since the data is all<br />
online, very intricate and specific searches can<br />
be made: by age, sex, height, marital status,<br />
country of residence, education, profession,<br />
income, mother-tongue, food preference<br />
(vegetarian or non-vegetarian), religion,<br />
community, caste, and sub-caste. Although<br />
one would imagine that the aim would be to<br />
find someone who matches you as closely as<br />
possible in all attributes, that’s not always the<br />
goal. Several young people I spoke to said<br />
they had specifically searched outside of their<br />
immediate community in order to escape some<br />
of its stereotypes and restrictions.<br />
With online matrimonials, love is not<br />
blind. So even before your eyes meet across<br />
that crowded restaurant, you already know a<br />
lot of the other person’s vital statistics, and,<br />
most importantly, you know that they too are<br />
searching for a mate.<br />
Online matrimonial sites have been<br />
especially helpful to those of <strong>Indian</strong>-origin<br />
living abroad, who wish to maintain their<br />
traditions and marry, to a greater or lesser<br />
specified degree, within their own community.<br />
It’s reminiscent of the old adage supposedly<br />
opined by many Western mothers that it’s as<br />
easy to fall in love with a rich man as a poor<br />
one. Here the philosophy is that it’s as easy to<br />
fall in love with an <strong>Indian</strong> as with a non-<strong>Indian</strong><br />
– perhaps even more so, given that the <strong>Indian</strong><br />
will share more things in common with you.<br />
However, <strong>Indian</strong>s born and raised abroad prefer<br />
to marry not <strong>Indian</strong>s from India, but rather<br />
other <strong>Indian</strong>s like themselves who have been<br />
born and raised abroad, believing that they<br />
will share similar second-generation immigrant<br />
experiences and therefore have a combination<br />
of <strong>Indian</strong> values viewed through Western<br />
perspectives.<br />
On one side of the crowded hall I see<br />
my parents, partners in nearly 50 years of<br />
arranged marriage, happily talking to friends<br />
and relatives. Like Tevye and Golde in Fiddler on<br />
the Roof, they learned to love one another, and<br />
made a family and a life together. On the other<br />
side, I see myself, having gone the irrational,<br />
arbitrary, and unplanned fall-in-love-first-andask-questions-later<br />
route and purely by chance<br />
happily married with a partner who seems<br />
at times my total and infuriating opposite,<br />
struggling up to my 25 th anniversary. In the<br />
middle, I see my cousin and his new bride. As<br />
they take their first dance, they appear no less<br />
romantic or in love but, having selected from<br />
a very large pool of candidates, with more<br />
information upfront, and matched by similar<br />
backgrounds, characteristics, and goals, they<br />
are not leaving it all up to luck. And perhaps<br />
that’s the right combination of new and old.<br />
Ranjani Iyer Mohanty – writer, business editor, and<br />
happily married by luck – currently based in New Delhi.<br />
‘‘<br />
With online<br />
matrimonials,<br />
love is not<br />
blind. So<br />
even before<br />
your<br />
eyes meet<br />
across<br />
that<br />
crowded<br />
restaurant,<br />
you<br />
already<br />
know a<br />
lot of the<br />
other person’s<br />
vital<br />
statistics,<br />
and, most<br />
importantly,<br />
you know<br />
that they<br />
too are<br />
searching<br />
for a<br />
mate.<br />
‘‘<br />
60<br />
The <strong>International</strong> <strong>Indian</strong> The <strong>International</strong> <strong>Indian</strong> 61
Music<br />
Anil Constantine Matthew is:<br />
ZEFFeREEN<br />
When the whole world goes to sleep, Anil dons the role of the<br />
musician mixing sounds, composing music and working till the<br />
wee hours of the morning. Having launched his career in music<br />
last year he knows the music industry like the back of his hand.<br />
By: Deepa Ballal<br />
Anil Constantine<br />
Mathew aka<br />
ZEFFeREEN might<br />
well be the Pavarotti<br />
and Jimi Hendrix of<br />
the Middle East.. A mechanical<br />
engineer by qualification,<br />
brand builder by profession,<br />
and musician by choice, Anil<br />
epitomizes optimism. A singer –<br />
songwriter, guitarist, and sound<br />
editor all rolled into one, he is a<br />
one man band. In the past people<br />
had to heavily rely on recording<br />
studios to start their careers in<br />
music, but Anil used technology<br />
at his disposal and brought out his own debut<br />
album and music video in the confines of his<br />
home in Dubai.<br />
ZEFFeREEN with seven self-composed songs<br />
was recorded entirely at home and launched<br />
in December 2011. It has received a rating of<br />
3.5 stars out of 5 by noted music journalist<br />
and editor in chief of Guitar <strong>International</strong> Dr.<br />
Matthew Warnock. Ask him what his stage<br />
name ZEFFeREEN really means? “It’s just a<br />
name,” he says. “It has this enigmatic quality<br />
that adds to the aura,” says a beaming Anil.<br />
Anil’s wife Rachel is his first critic<br />
Anil’s website www.<br />
ZEFFeREEN.com today is<br />
overflowing with reviews from<br />
listeners all over the globe. “Some<br />
Italian composers have said they<br />
would even write music for me,<br />
believing I can sing Pavarotti<br />
better than anyone else,” says<br />
a mesmerized Anil. Today he is<br />
getting ready with his next Album<br />
ZEFFeREEN 2.<br />
Music was always a part<br />
of his early life. He grew up<br />
listening to Mario Lanza, Firdaus,<br />
Yesudas, Hendrix, Whitacre,<br />
Handel, Clapton and many others<br />
who made an indelible mark on his young<br />
mind. On and off he even sang for prominent<br />
<strong>Indian</strong> rockbands. He even won the best<br />
male western music vocalist at the prestigious<br />
Madras Christian College. At Manipal<br />
Institute of Technology where he completed<br />
his mechanical engineering, his friends even<br />
christened him as the local Eric Clapton and<br />
called him AC, short for AC/DC.<br />
A creative person by nature he was popular<br />
in college for his artistic capabilities. “I used to<br />
make giant murals, sing in parties and enjoyed<br />
it every bit,” he says with a twinkle in his eye.<br />
As a stop gap arrangement until he found<br />
something suitable in the engineering field,<br />
he accepted a job at O&M as a probationary<br />
junior copywriter. His talent in creating jingles<br />
and writing creatively earned him the position<br />
of senior copy head. He left India in 1993<br />
for Oman and life as a hardworking expat,<br />
exposed to both the bitter realities and lavish<br />
lifestyles forced Anil’s music to take a backseat.<br />
“I had totally given up music, I used to just play<br />
the guitar in the church. Once a lady overheard<br />
me hum and forced me to sing in the choir.<br />
I didn’t even know to read and write musical<br />
notes then,” says Anil humbly.From being<br />
a temperamental and impulsive person he<br />
believes music transformed his life.<br />
Today he sings for three choirs<br />
in Dubai and is the only <strong>Indian</strong><br />
male singer among a group of 60<br />
expats from all over the world. He<br />
sings first tenor with Dubai Singers<br />
and first Bass with Dubai Chamber<br />
Choir. “I sing with a group of<br />
people who are CEOs , CFOs,<br />
heads of institutions and those<br />
who have degrees in music and I<br />
am taken by surprise when they<br />
say I am pitch perfect,” says Anil<br />
smilingly.<br />
Though he has been writing<br />
songs since1983, he formally<br />
launched his career in music in December<br />
2011.<br />
Apart from music he is also involved in<br />
philanthropic activities too. “10% of all the<br />
profit I make from my music sales goes to<br />
support the Divine Children Home, Trivandrum,<br />
an orphanage I’ve been directly involved with<br />
for the past 12 years,” he explains.<br />
When not composing songs, Anil is busy<br />
heading his company Constantine Corporate<br />
Communication, meeting prospective clients<br />
and helping organizations gain visibility in the<br />
market. He says, “It is a small company but<br />
a genuine one. There is no personal touch in<br />
bigger companies where solutions often get<br />
diluted. Ours is a three member outfit and we<br />
are doing pretty well. Our client list includes<br />
blue chip companies in the Middle East, China,<br />
Hong Kong and India. ETA Star Properties, one<br />
of our clients, even won the best real estate<br />
Anil: Integrity is very important<br />
award amidst stiff competitors.”<br />
“Running my corporate identity firm helps<br />
me earn a living but music is what keeps me<br />
alive, declares Anil.<br />
When the whole world goes to sleep,<br />
Anil dons the role of the musician mixing<br />
sounds, composing music and working till the<br />
wee hours of the morning. Having formally<br />
launched his career in music last year he<br />
knows the music industry like the back of his<br />
hand. “The market is tough,” admits Anil.<br />
He makes sure his music doesn’t suffer from<br />
the compromises he would have to make<br />
solely from a point of increasing sales. “The<br />
temptation is always there, nobody is a virgin<br />
musician. Like King Solomon said ‘there is<br />
nothing new under the sun’, we musicians do<br />
tread on a tight rope,” he reveals.<br />
But what annoys him the most<br />
is when compositions are blatantly<br />
copied and due credit not given to<br />
original composers. An aspect that<br />
he has taken full care of with his<br />
new compositions. “My creations<br />
are also influenced, but integrity<br />
is very important which often gets<br />
sacrificed in the music industry,”<br />
he says. He knows that the world<br />
sways to Kolaveri Di but is sure of<br />
an audience for his kind of music<br />
too.<br />
“My wife Rachel is my first<br />
critic and we have minor debates over my<br />
compositions,” says Anil appreciatively of his<br />
better half. With his two sons, Mark and Peter,<br />
too showing a keen interest in music he is more<br />
than convinced that music is indeed in their<br />
DNA.<br />
‘‘After silence, that which comes nearest<br />
to expressing the inexpressible is music,’’ said<br />
English writer Aldous Huxley. ZEFFeREEN is an<br />
apt example of Huxley’s insight.<br />
Knowingly or unknowingly our days begin<br />
and end with music. Despite the hullabaloo<br />
around, the soul finally seeks what soothes. Be<br />
it in the droning of the bees or the snoring of<br />
your loving partner, there exists an underlying<br />
rhythm. The magic of music makes people cry,<br />
helps them overcome grief, or puts many to a<br />
sound sleep.<br />
Deepa Ballal is a freelance writer<br />
based in Dubai, UAE<br />
‘‘<br />
Anil used<br />
technology<br />
at<br />
his disposal<br />
and<br />
brought<br />
out his<br />
own debut<br />
album<br />
and music<br />
video in<br />
the confines<br />
of<br />
his home<br />
‘‘in Dubai.<br />
62<br />
The <strong>International</strong> <strong>Indian</strong> The <strong>International</strong> <strong>Indian</strong> 63
Investment<br />
Investing In Real<br />
Estate In India:<br />
Are You Game For It?<br />
PROS<br />
1. Probability of capital loss is extremely remote except in case of fraud or cheating<br />
2. Provides a buffer against high inflation in India<br />
3. For property acquired via a loan, interest expenses tax deductible from<br />
rental income<br />
4. Tangible asset creation<br />
CONS<br />
1. Entails large investment of personal capital<br />
2. It is generally illiquid, encashment of one’s investment and its repatriation is<br />
time consuming<br />
3. Remote management especially for NRIs not always easy<br />
4. Returns through pure rentals very low<br />
5. Capital appreciation depends on various factors like demand/supply and<br />
point of entry<br />
By: Debajyoti Ray Chaudhuri<br />
It’s a common adage that the most<br />
important factors in buying a property<br />
anywhere in the world are location,<br />
location and location. A property once<br />
bought cannot be moved; we can<br />
remodel, renovate but cannot modify its<br />
location to suit our requirements.<br />
While in the west, factors like view,<br />
quality of life etc., are important, in India the<br />
important determinants of good location are<br />
proximity to office/markets/schools/hospitals<br />
and safety. Homes which are high on these<br />
aspects command a premium while others<br />
would be languishing in market value with<br />
few takers.<br />
A recent report indicated that in London,<br />
growth in very high end premium segment<br />
was much higher than growth in the broad<br />
based market. Typically therefore property<br />
prices not only depend on demand/supply<br />
but also on the overall state of the economy<br />
and the political /regulatory climate which<br />
increases the depth of the market by<br />
facilitating cross border movement of funds.<br />
As far as investment in real estate in India<br />
is concerned, the residential sector is the<br />
more preferred compared to the commercial,<br />
though returns in the commercial sector<br />
are significantly higher. In the commercial<br />
segment, capital investment is substantially<br />
higher, it’s also more difficult to exit and<br />
valuations are difficult to assess. Therefore<br />
there is need for professional advice before<br />
committing any funds.<br />
For investments in India, NRIs should focus<br />
on top tier I cities like Mumbai or Delhi or top<br />
tier II cities like Pune, Chennai or Bangalore.<br />
Investors who are from any other parts of the<br />
country like Hyderabad, Kolkata, can consider<br />
these places provided they have a reasonable<br />
understanding of the real estate space in these<br />
areas and are likely to visit these places during<br />
their periodic visit to India.<br />
The most important aspect of real estate<br />
investing in India is the legal aspect, which in<br />
India can be a minefield. One has to ensure<br />
that the seller has a clean title and there is no<br />
claimant of any other person to the property.<br />
This is usually done by doing a search of the<br />
land records through a lawyer. In case of a<br />
freehold property, documentation should be<br />
done through the best lawyers. The other<br />
and easy way of ensuring this is to invest in a<br />
project of a reputed developer. One still needs<br />
to check whether the developer has already<br />
acquired the land and got the project approved<br />
from the relevant government departments.<br />
Home loan providers like banks also examine<br />
this aspect when they accord “approved<br />
project” status for the purpose of sanction of<br />
home loans.<br />
Investing in real estate depends on ones’<br />
risk appetite and availability of capital. A riskfree<br />
way forward is to invest in a completed<br />
property in a already developed area. This<br />
would ensure low but risk-free returns by way<br />
of rental and moderate capital appreciation.<br />
However, it is generally advisable to go in for<br />
projects which are to be completed in areas<br />
which have potential for growth, to get the real<br />
benefit of appreciation of one’s investment.<br />
Another important issue is whether to avail<br />
of home finance. For NRIs used to single digit<br />
interest rates in their home countries, interest<br />
rates in India may seem high. However the<br />
advantage of a home loan is that the financial<br />
institution does the basic due diligence on the<br />
developer/project and might even put pressure<br />
for timely project execution, especially where<br />
the financier is also funding the project. The<br />
interest on the home loan is tax deductible<br />
from the interest income. Moreover one can<br />
always foreclose the home loan on completion<br />
of the project usually without any penalty.<br />
One should also invest in real estate in India<br />
if one has time to spare to visit at least once<br />
in two to three years. As a house is a tangible<br />
asset, periodic and preventive maintenance<br />
is required to ensure that there is no sudden<br />
requirement of urgent repairs. Generally it’s<br />
always advisable to give one’s property on<br />
rent/lease with a reputed company for use<br />
As far as investment<br />
in real estate in India<br />
is concerned, the<br />
residential sector is the<br />
more preferred compared<br />
to the commercial,<br />
though returns in the<br />
commercial sector are<br />
significantly higher.<br />
by its company employees. While even in a<br />
company lease one has an option of specifying<br />
if the property is to be occupied by a specific<br />
employee, it may be advisable for NRIs to go<br />
in for a general lease without specifying this,<br />
so that one’s intervention is not required in<br />
case of transfer of the employee. Generally the<br />
renewal of the lease in places like Delhi takes<br />
place after 11 months and need not necessarily<br />
require one’s physical presence, especially if the<br />
property is given on company lease.<br />
KEYS ISSUES<br />
• Legal aspects paramount<br />
• Decide whether to avail home loan or not.<br />
• Trade off between good location and cost<br />
• Periodic maintenance/look up<br />
• Decide on a good rent/lease agreement to<br />
ensure return on investment.<br />
Debajyoti Ray Chaudhuri is CEO SBI, DIFC, Dubai.<br />
He has written the above in his private capacity, and<br />
the views expressed in this article are his own.<br />
‘‘<br />
Investing<br />
in real<br />
estate<br />
depends<br />
on ones’<br />
risk<br />
appetite<br />
and availability<br />
of<br />
capital.<br />
A riskfree<br />
way<br />
forward<br />
is to<br />
invest in a<br />
completed<br />
property<br />
in a<br />
already<br />
developed<br />
area.<br />
‘‘<br />
66<br />
The <strong>International</strong> <strong>Indian</strong> The <strong>International</strong> <strong>Indian</strong> 67
Spotlight<br />
State Bank Of India:<br />
Banking With A Difference<br />
State Bank of India, India’s largest bank, stands out with a legacy<br />
of more than 100 years. SBI is one of the best <strong>Indian</strong> brands in<br />
the world with the largest network of branches.<br />
By: Deepa Ballal<br />
TOP:<br />
Debajyoti Ray<br />
Chaudhuri<br />
CEO SBI,<br />
DIFC, Dubai<br />
with Krishna<br />
Kumar, Managing<br />
Director and<br />
Group Executive<br />
(National<br />
Banking)<br />
<strong>Indian</strong> banks have indeed come a long<br />
way, from being institutions that were<br />
considered stiff and unhelpful, where<br />
people saved their money for a rainy<br />
day, and occasionally withdrew cash<br />
in times of need or took a loan with much<br />
difficulty to build their homes. Today banks<br />
have not only become the talk of the town<br />
but they are also<br />
helping people<br />
realize their dreams<br />
with a click of a<br />
mouse.<br />
One such bank<br />
that stands out, with<br />
a legacy of more<br />
than 100 years, is<br />
the State Bank of<br />
India, India’s largest<br />
bank. SBI has travelled a remarkable journey,<br />
earning the reputation of being one of the<br />
best <strong>Indian</strong> brands in the world (among<br />
banks), with the largest network of branches.<br />
Talking to Krishna Kumar, Managing Director<br />
& Group Executive (National Banking) of<br />
SBI, makes you want to go to the very next<br />
SBI branch and open an account. Such is<br />
his reverence and conviction in the banking<br />
organization he has served for almost 37<br />
years. One truly feels that SBI leaves no stone<br />
unturned to cater to the changing needs of<br />
its customers, be it a farmer, labourer, a giant<br />
corporate or an NRI. “Our wide range of<br />
products can meet every possible requirement<br />
of a customer and is in fact what differentiates<br />
us from our competitors,” Kumar points out.<br />
SBI has the largest number of ATMs<br />
(owned by a single bank) in the world<br />
and is unswervingly trying to increase its<br />
reach by covering more and more villages,<br />
encouraging rural people to become a part of<br />
the banking system for all their transactions.<br />
“Of course this is a long haul effort, but<br />
at least a beginning has been made,” says<br />
Kumar, highlighting SBI’s commitment to<br />
increasing the spread and reach of banking in<br />
India’s vast rural areas.<br />
Today SBI has a presence in 34 countries<br />
with over 173 foreign offices serving the<br />
largest number of NRIs. “Though India is<br />
not a net savvy country, the number of<br />
people using SBI’s online banking services<br />
is growing day by day. We have one of the<br />
best internet banking systems in India,”<br />
he states categorically. Having gone tech<br />
savvy SBI has also been able to capture the<br />
distant NRI market to a large extent. “Apart<br />
from the plain vanilla deposit products we<br />
have products wherein NRIs can also buy<br />
homes with a home loan, and use web based<br />
remittance products. We not only encourage<br />
people to deposit money but also build their<br />
homes in India, if they so wish,” explains<br />
Krishna Kumar. “We are the only bank who<br />
can say with some degree of certainty that we<br />
have a branch wherever an NRI comes from,”<br />
he adds.<br />
Pure banking and proper banking is what<br />
SBI believes in. In addition their CSR activities,<br />
extending their numerous services to the<br />
community has earned them the Golden<br />
Peacock award this year. Yet another feather<br />
in their crown.<br />
Deepa Ballal is a freelance writer based in Dubai, UAE<br />
68<br />
The <strong>International</strong> <strong>Indian</strong>
Heritage Travel<br />
India… A Paradox<br />
and a Miracle<br />
India is ‘exoticized’, from the media-hype to the way in which<br />
it has become synonymous with the ‘glamour’ of popular<br />
Bollywood cinema, from its interesting history to its outlandish<br />
adherence to ritual and custom. As an <strong>Indian</strong> woman brought<br />
up in South Africa and New York, I have always wanted to visit<br />
India to learn about my culture, to touch the soil where my<br />
ancestors came from and to try and understand the roots of my<br />
identity.<br />
By: Asma Ayob<br />
Waiting for the fog to lift over the Taj Mahal: The visit to the glamorous Taj Mahal is<br />
like a breath of fresh air after the journey through the ‘real’ India<br />
In the book, “Reinventing India:<br />
liberalization, Hindu nationalism and<br />
popular democracy,” Corbridge & Harris<br />
express the following sentiments:<br />
When India was invented as<br />
a “Modern” country in the years after<br />
Independence in 1947 it styled itself as<br />
a secular, federal, democratic Republic<br />
committed to an ideology of development.<br />
Nehru’s India never quite fulfilled this promise,<br />
but over the years, his vision of India has been<br />
challenged by two revolts of the elites: those<br />
of economic liberation and Hindu nationalism.<br />
These revolts have been challenged, in turn, by<br />
various movements, including those of India’s<br />
“backward classes”.<br />
Had I read this without having visited India,<br />
I would have simply tossed these sentiments<br />
aside as yet another controversial set of<br />
political arguments, but I have recently just<br />
returned from India, the land of my ancestors,<br />
and I feel compelled to write about a land<br />
that continues to be hailed and condemned<br />
simultaneously.<br />
India’s history has been extensively<br />
explored by writers such as Partha<br />
Chatterjee, Ranajit Guha and Homi<br />
Bhabha. In an eye-opening article in The<br />
Washington Times, Frank Raj poses a key<br />
question: “Would the present-day India<br />
meet the ideals that Gandhi and others<br />
cherished for India’s freedom?” After<br />
gaining independence from British rule<br />
in 1947, one would expect the answer<br />
to be a unanimous yes. Sadly, this is not<br />
the case, for as Raj further contends,<br />
“There is no doubt that foreign<br />
oppression was only replaced in India by<br />
native subjugation that is nothing short<br />
of tyranny and must be removed like the<br />
British.”<br />
Powerful words that I understand<br />
perfectly since my thesis on Bollywood<br />
cinema has motivated me to delve into<br />
the history of India. I have, therefore,<br />
become quite well versed with the politics,<br />
nationalist ideals and of course the undying<br />
patriotism that the majority of <strong>Indian</strong>s living in<br />
India share ... theoretically. Reality, however,<br />
is so far-removed from the words that you<br />
read on paper, that after visiting, or rather,<br />
after ‘encountering’ India, you need to take a<br />
very deep breath, place your feet firmly on the<br />
ground, and then re-focus and adjust.<br />
India is ‘exoticized’, from the mediahype<br />
to the way in which it has become<br />
synonymous with the ‘glamour’ of popular<br />
Bollywood cinema, from its interesting history<br />
to its outlandish adherence to ritual customs<br />
and more. As an <strong>Indian</strong> woman brought up in<br />
South Africa and New York, I always wanted to<br />
visit India to learn about my culture, to touch<br />
the soil where my ancestors came from and to<br />
try and understand the roots of my identity. .<br />
The drive from Delhi to Agra is heartwrenching.<br />
There are mothers cradling their<br />
babies along the roadside. There are rows of<br />
traders who use tents as shop-displays and<br />
living spaces. As I peer into the space of one<br />
such tent which cannot be deeper than 2<br />
metres, I see a mother bent over a deep pan,<br />
frying hot purees for the young boy who waits<br />
anxiously to fill his stomach. Wedged at the<br />
back of the same tent is a single straw bed.<br />
An old man with skeletal legs sits cross-legged<br />
on the floor in front of the tent pounding an<br />
odd object with a tattered hammer. Cows lie<br />
A woman’s life in India is harsh : The responsibility is the need to provide<br />
food, shelter and clothing for their families. In the words of the locals: Roti,<br />
Kapda aur Makaan<br />
listlessly outside the tents and the odd goat<br />
stops by to tug playfully tug at the goods on<br />
display.<br />
Further on, we come to what appears to be<br />
a bustling city, at least in principle. There are<br />
no concrete walls. All the shops are delineated<br />
by swathes of cloth suspended from wires<br />
that have been twisted together. The people<br />
in this area are smiling, rushing from one<br />
side of this ‘development’ to the other. They<br />
are purchasing little items and the ‘street<br />
foods’ that India is famous for are displayed<br />
generously on tattered tables, lined up as if<br />
they were five star restaurants in the middle of<br />
this slum.<br />
I notice that I am more affected by my<br />
brief brush with this space than the people<br />
who are actually living in its reality. There is no<br />
difference on the looks of the faces of these<br />
people than there is on the faces of the people<br />
that I have seen strolling through Central Park,<br />
as they indulge in hot dogs and pretzels from<br />
the New York vendors. On the road to Agra<br />
and throughout India, people eat Paani Puri<br />
and Dosa with the same relish, oblivious of<br />
their surroundings.<br />
The visit to the glamorous Taj Mahal the<br />
next day is like a breath of fresh air after<br />
‘‘<br />
There<br />
is no<br />
difference<br />
on the<br />
looks of<br />
the faces<br />
of these<br />
people<br />
than there<br />
is on the<br />
faces of<br />
the people<br />
that I<br />
have seen<br />
strolling<br />
through<br />
Central<br />
Park,<br />
as they<br />
indulge<br />
in hot<br />
dogs and<br />
pretzels<br />
from the<br />
New York<br />
vendors.<br />
‘‘<br />
70<br />
The <strong>International</strong> <strong>Indian</strong> The <strong>International</strong> <strong>Indian</strong> 71
Heritage Travel<br />
the journey through the ‘real’ India. As the<br />
fog clears the Taj Mahal looms ominously<br />
through the atmosphere like a hallucination<br />
-an unparalleled vision of perfection. Before<br />
we are escorted inside by our guide, we are<br />
given cloth slippers to put on over our shoes.<br />
As we walk toward the mausoleum, our tour<br />
guide points out the <strong>Indian</strong> nationals who are<br />
required to enter and exit through the side<br />
gate which is an additional 2km walk from the<br />
entrance. They are allowed a reduced entrance<br />
fee because they live in India, but they must<br />
remove their shoes and walk barefoot, the<br />
luxuries are reserved for the tourists. I feel a<br />
bit ashamed walking around with my cloth<br />
slippers over my shoes while the ‘true’ <strong>Indian</strong>s<br />
walk barefoot, oblivious of the cold hard floor<br />
and they are as appreciative of visiting this<br />
wonder of the world as I am.<br />
However, the ‘magic’ of the Taj Mahal is<br />
diminished as mystically as it appeared through<br />
the fog, for once outside, we are bombarded<br />
with traders intent on luring us into their little<br />
kiosks in the hope that they may earn an extra<br />
rupee. We have been fore-warned by our<br />
tour guide not to stop because these traders<br />
might become obstinate if we do not make<br />
a purchase. He swiftly arranges for us to be<br />
India child labor: Despite all the adversity, <strong>Indian</strong>s are proudly patriotic.<br />
Meraa Bhaarat Mahaan<br />
taken back to our hotel, but the traders are not<br />
happy and they race side-by-side with us for a<br />
long time, until their feet cannot compete with<br />
the battery-operated rickshaw that drives us<br />
further away from them.<br />
As my eye makes contact with one of<br />
them I cannot help myself from feeling a<br />
sense of guilt and sadness. The truth is that<br />
Agra’s main revenue is generated by tourists,<br />
without the Taj Mahal, there would be no<br />
employment for the majority of the residents of<br />
Agra. Even though the beauty and notion of a<br />
monument in the name of love is enchanting,<br />
the reality of the surrounding area and its<br />
people is overwhelming. Our tour guide smiles<br />
graciously, “Mumbai” is much more civilized,”<br />
he says.<br />
Mumbai, aka ‘the city of dreams’, is more<br />
urban in development than most of India. The<br />
famous Taj Mahal hotel stands proudly in the<br />
heart of the city across from the Gateway of<br />
India. Tourists ride in brightly decorated horse<br />
carriages through this famous city most closely<br />
associated with Bollywood. Mammoth size<br />
posters of Bollywood stars look back at you as<br />
walk through the streets.<br />
We find a delightful <strong>Indian</strong> restaurant in<br />
one of the side streets and within seconds are<br />
whisked inside a fully air-conditioned dining<br />
area. Our waiter is a young boy, probably not<br />
older than 14 and he most graciously attends<br />
to us as if we were family. <strong>Indian</strong>s will do<br />
everything in their power to make their guests<br />
comfortable. Their motto, “the visitor is our<br />
God.” After a mouth-watering meal, a tray<br />
laden with delicious masala tea is<br />
served, compliments of the owner.<br />
The young boy then asks me<br />
if I would like to view some <strong>Indian</strong><br />
clothing. “No need to buy, Ma’am,<br />
just look.” He proudly escorts me to<br />
what appears to be a mammoth size<br />
flea market. As I follow him through<br />
winding gullies reeking of stale<br />
urine and air clouded with smog,<br />
I am haunted by the hunger and<br />
desperation in the eyes of the traders<br />
who try to lure me into their little<br />
stalls. Through it all, I am amazed<br />
to see the most intricate fabrics<br />
embossed with deep gold, the finest<br />
silks and the young boy promises me<br />
that he will find anything that I desire in this<br />
space.<br />
“Whatever you need, Ma’am,” he offers<br />
graciously. I am touched, but when I look past<br />
the commodities, I suddenly realize that I am<br />
standing in the middle of a gigantic slum. I<br />
am mortified by my own reaction because the<br />
‘‘<br />
However,<br />
the ‘magic’<br />
of the Taj<br />
Mahal is<br />
diminished<br />
as<br />
mystically<br />
as it<br />
appeared<br />
through<br />
the fog,<br />
for once<br />
outside,<br />
we are<br />
bombarded<br />
with<br />
traders<br />
intent<br />
on luring<br />
us into<br />
their little<br />
kiosks in<br />
the hope<br />
that they<br />
may earn<br />
an extra<br />
rupee.<br />
‘‘<br />
people around me are so humble and gracious<br />
and the young boy who should be at home<br />
doing his homework is so gracefully intent on<br />
helping me to purchase something that I really<br />
like. Not knowing how to deal with the feeling<br />
in the pit of my stomach, I return<br />
to my hotel, ashamed.<br />
A couple of days later, my<br />
mortification is vaguely placated<br />
by an article entitled, “A Symbol<br />
of Hope, Wrapped in a Slum.” In<br />
this article, Jim Yardley sums up<br />
my walk through what I called a<br />
‘flea market’ with the exploration<br />
of Dharavi, one of Mumbai’s most<br />
notorious slums. He claims that<br />
Dharavi is like a mini-India, a model<br />
metaphor of the whole country<br />
summed up as follows:<br />
One slum, Four layers. Four<br />
realities. On the ground floor is<br />
misery. One floor up is work. Another<br />
floor up is politics. And at the top is<br />
hope.<br />
The startling reality, however, is that<br />
Dharavi is one of the most valuable pieces<br />
of real estate in Mumbai. But, like the rest of<br />
India, it is an eyesore. Like the rest of India,<br />
sewage flows through the cracks in the roads<br />
and its pungent odours drift through the air<br />
that is already tainted with a dirty-gray hue.<br />
For the people who live in areas like these, it<br />
makes more sense to urinate on the roadside<br />
than to pay 3 cents for the use of a communal<br />
toilet.<br />
Malnourished children form the backdrop<br />
of this landscape and diseases like tuberculosis<br />
and malaria are household names. Through<br />
this adversity and inhuman living conditions,<br />
<strong>Indian</strong>s toil from daybreak into the wee hours<br />
of the morning so that they can earn enough<br />
to feed and educate their children.<br />
Anecdotes are plentiful when you take a<br />
moment to engage with the locals. I learn<br />
many things from these people. Even though<br />
India and Pakistan are at loggerheads with<br />
each other, the Hindu and Muslim people<br />
in India seem to live harmoniously. An old<br />
Hindu man tells me about how his Muslim<br />
neighbours were killed in terror attacks that are<br />
not reported. He is proud that he adopted the<br />
young boy who was orphaned and then raised<br />
him as a Muslim in his Hindu home. When<br />
the orphan was older, he married him off to a<br />
Muslim girl according to Islamic faith. Amidst<br />
the anarchy in these slums, there are people<br />
who are wise with a greater sense of honour. I<br />
Street child cooking: Through adversity and inhuman living conditions, India’s<br />
poor toil from daybreak into the wee hours so they can earn enough<br />
am stunned, but the old man casually replies<br />
to the look of astonishment on my face, “My<br />
Muslim brother would have done the same for<br />
my son had I been killed.”<br />
When travelling through India one is forced<br />
to wonder what it is that gives the common<br />
people the strength and resilience to plough<br />
through the obstacles that they face at every<br />
turn. Perhaps it is their genuine sense of<br />
honour. The majority of <strong>Indian</strong>s living in these<br />
villages have not experienced life in first world<br />
countries; in fact they cannot even begin to<br />
fathom any other life than the one that they<br />
live.<br />
I realized this when we visited Porbander,<br />
a coastal city of India best known for being<br />
the birthplace of Mahatma Gandhi. Most of<br />
the roads are not tarred and the airport in<br />
Porbander opens only once a day. The same<br />
plane that lands at 6:30am leaves with a new<br />
set of passengers immediately. The lights and<br />
power of the airport building switch off as the<br />
last person lifts his luggage off the luggage<br />
carousel and the staff goes home till it is time<br />
for the next plane to land the following day.<br />
This simple village is shared by people,<br />
cows, goats, dogs and cats equally. There is no<br />
one to tend to the animals, so they just loiter<br />
‘‘<br />
The<br />
majority<br />
of <strong>Indian</strong>s<br />
living in<br />
these<br />
villages<br />
have not<br />
experienced<br />
life in first<br />
world<br />
countries;<br />
in fact<br />
they<br />
cannot<br />
even begin<br />
to fathom<br />
any other<br />
life than<br />
the one<br />
that they<br />
live.<br />
‘‘<br />
72<br />
The <strong>International</strong> <strong>Indian</strong> The <strong>International</strong> <strong>Indian</strong> 73
Heritage Travel<br />
‘‘<br />
Malnourished<br />
children<br />
form the<br />
backdrop<br />
of this<br />
landscape<br />
and<br />
diseases<br />
like<br />
tuberculosis<br />
and<br />
malaria<br />
are<br />
household<br />
names.<br />
‘‘<br />
through the town aimlessly. I am told that at<br />
the end of the day, a cow that has an owner<br />
will find its way back to the doorstep where it<br />
belongs and rest for the night. The next day it<br />
will loiter again. No one interferes with these<br />
animals and it is not uncommon to find stray<br />
dogs, cats and people lying undernourished on<br />
the pavements.<br />
Porbander is characterized by people who<br />
are firmly entrenched in their way of life. They<br />
consider cities like Delhi and Mumbai too<br />
fast-paced and full of pollution. They will not<br />
work in places like Dharavi because they are at<br />
peace in their village. They see the rest of the<br />
world as a place where they will be stripped of<br />
their identity, honour, integrity, religious values<br />
and tradition. They have no desire to venture<br />
outside of this world. This is one face of India.<br />
It is a reality, in which the people are<br />
defined by their honour, family, religious<br />
affiliation and only one responsibility. The<br />
responsibility is the need to provide food,<br />
shelter and clothing for their families. In the<br />
words of the locals, Roti, Kapraa aur Makaan.<br />
This is the impetus that drives them daily.<br />
They do not see the shortcomings of their<br />
environment, nor do they stop to question the<br />
reason for them being in this space. Perhaps<br />
The sad plight of many <strong>Indian</strong>s -everywhere you find people sleeping on the streets<br />
they are more fulfilled than many others who<br />
are caught up in the suburban ‘rat-race’ of life.<br />
And then there is the other face of India,<br />
the illusion that is created by Bollywood<br />
filmmakers and fuelled by the world’s<br />
obsession with the Oriental or ‘exotic other’.<br />
Incidentally, before Bollywood became a global<br />
phenomenon, <strong>Indian</strong> filmmakers did depict<br />
the real India and its people authentically.<br />
However, the rest of the world was not<br />
interested in watching these films because<br />
the realities depicted in these films were so<br />
far-removed from their own realities, that they<br />
could not identify with any of the narratives or<br />
social structures that were prevalent in these<br />
films.<br />
Yet, despite all the adversity, <strong>Indian</strong>s are<br />
proudly patriotic. Meraa Bhaarat maan, Meri<br />
dharti. Perhaps those “backward classes’ that<br />
scholars write about do not know better. Or<br />
perhaps they possess a deeper contentment<br />
than anyone else. Perhaps they are so<br />
brainwashed by the notion of national pride<br />
and religion that they cannot rise beyond<br />
their plight. Perhaps it is faith and a belief<br />
in ‘someone up there’ who is watching over<br />
them that keeps them going, because for some<br />
unfathomable reason ...<br />
Amidst the madness, there is a method;<br />
Amidst the flawed and unhygienic<br />
aesthetics, there is a beauty;<br />
Amidst the chaos, there is a sense of peace;<br />
Amidst the poverty, there is contentment;<br />
Amidst the battle of the classes, people<br />
have a sense of belonging.<br />
India is hailed and condemned<br />
simultaneously. Every year, migration from<br />
India increases and gives rise to a new<br />
population categorized as the <strong>Indian</strong> Diaspora.<br />
I also fall into this category, except that I was<br />
born outside of India, but then categorized as<br />
<strong>Indian</strong>. After visiting India, I do not feel <strong>Indian</strong><br />
at all. Why am I classified <strong>Indian</strong>? I have not<br />
had to endure the hardships and daily trials<br />
and tribulations of these resilient people that<br />
force themselves out of their shacks everyday<br />
so that they can go to work for one meal.<br />
Race classifications are man-made. We are not<br />
American, South African, <strong>Indian</strong> or British, we<br />
are all just humans.<br />
Asma Ayob is an author and playwright based in South<br />
Africa. She is currently doing a PhD on Bollywood Cinema<br />
and will be launching a new play soon.<br />
74<br />
The <strong>International</strong> <strong>Indian</strong>
Diaspora<br />
Destitute <strong>Indian</strong>s<br />
Struggle for Survival in the UK<br />
Hungry, bewildered and frightened, young illegal <strong>Indian</strong><br />
immigrants run from pillar to post desperately trying to survive<br />
in the United Kingdom. SHAMLAL PURI investigates the plight<br />
of illegals and British born <strong>Indian</strong> men and women who sleep<br />
roughly after losing their jobs in the recession.<br />
By: Shamlal Puri<br />
As the sun sets over the Havelock<br />
Estate, in the predominantly Asian<br />
suburb of Southall, just outside<br />
London, each night a group of young<br />
homeless <strong>Indian</strong> men head towards a<br />
hole in the wall with a prominently marked sign<br />
“Please Put Your Rubbish in the Chute”.<br />
It is 11pm. One by one, they slip into the<br />
rubbish chute into a giant wheelie bin with<br />
garbage in it. One by one they pull themselves<br />
out of the wheelie bin in the tomb-like<br />
basement and view the scene with irony. In<br />
the confined dank and smelly space, amidst<br />
the bins of garbage cluttering around, they<br />
join several young illegal <strong>Indian</strong> immigrants<br />
already there. They ferret out their blankets and<br />
rucksacks stored there.<br />
One of the men, Mohinder Singh, shakes<br />
his blanket and bag getting rid of any<br />
cockroaches and insects. He then spreads his<br />
blanket on the cold concrete floor joining the<br />
others. For 30-year-old Mohinder, this has been<br />
his home for the past decade.<br />
By midnight, a group of ten young men<br />
Volunteers from Sikh Welfare and Awareness Team<br />
(SWAT) deliver essential warm clothing to rough sleepers<br />
in Southall, West London<br />
in their twenties and thirties have bedded<br />
down in the pungent room. Together, they lull<br />
themselves to sleep.<br />
In the middle of the night, they are<br />
disturbed by rats crawling over their bodies and<br />
foxes scavenging through the garbage. The<br />
timid pull their blankets over their heads. The<br />
brave among the men wake up and shove off<br />
the animals and rodents. Each night, there is a<br />
battle between bewildered men, rats and foxes<br />
as each of them fights for their space.<br />
This is 2012. Welcome to the United<br />
Kingdom, the land of milk and honey….<br />
These young illegal <strong>Indian</strong> migrants, some<br />
of whom hail from middle class families in the<br />
Punjab, have made this rubbish chute their<br />
bedroom. They are the unwanted NRIs on<br />
whom the world has turned their backs.<br />
Mohinder and the 50 men who share the<br />
garbage areas on the 21 hectare estate are<br />
referred as the ‘Bin men of Southall’. But, he<br />
considers himself very lucky to have a roof over<br />
his head. In the bitterly cold winter, this is a<br />
place of refuge for him and his friends. The<br />
night is soon over as, around 7am the estate’s<br />
care-taker, politely tells them to vacate the<br />
chute area as the council’s dump trucks will<br />
soon be collecting the rubbish..<br />
Not far from Havelock Estate another<br />
group of people - the so-called “bridge<br />
men”, were sleeping roughly in similarly<br />
horrendous conditions under the M4 overpass<br />
at Heston Bridge on the border of Southall and<br />
Hounslow.<br />
Not only that, there are many rough <strong>Indian</strong><br />
sleepers who sleep in the cemeteries next to<br />
newly buried bodies; outside garages and in<br />
the alleyways.<br />
Shockingly enough, it is not only the men<br />
who are among the 200 rough sleepers in the<br />
streets of London. <strong>Indian</strong> women also sleep<br />
under the sky. Baljit Singh, a rough sleeper,<br />
recalls how he slept next to an <strong>Indian</strong> woman<br />
who had just arrived from the sub-continent<br />
and who had no one to go to.<br />
Narinder Kaur found herself homeless after<br />
arriving from India. She had no money for food<br />
or hotel accommodation after her relatives<br />
threw her out in London. She bravely slept<br />
under the sky and depended on the mercy of<br />
those providing hot meals and blankets,<br />
Baljit Singh says young <strong>Indian</strong> men turn<br />
to drugs – cocaine and crack – to drown their<br />
miseries. He said that the little money they<br />
earn from labour jobs is spent on drugs, mainly<br />
injections, “otherwise we cannot get sleep”.<br />
Due to their drug habits, they are unable to<br />
afford rooms to rent.<br />
Fifty-year old Kartar Singh, arrived from<br />
India a decade ago to earn money to send<br />
back to India. He lost his job and sleeps rough<br />
outside a garage in Southall. “I am all alone<br />
and pray all night. Any one can murder me<br />
and the world will never know if I ever existed.<br />
There is no work these days. It has been<br />
very bad in the past two years. I have no<br />
where to live. Exploiters will give you work but<br />
no money for your labour.”<br />
Kartar says he has no money to buy<br />
medicines to cure the flu and chest infection<br />
he suffers sleeping under the sky.<br />
“I just get up in the morning and go to the<br />
Gurdwara (temple) to wash. After that I pray<br />
and have breakfast.”<br />
Another rough sleeper, Randhir, says he<br />
spends all his day time at the local Gurdwara.<br />
He is the last man to leave at 11pm as the<br />
lights are switched off. Not far from the<br />
temple, across the<br />
street, he curls up<br />
inside a telephone<br />
booth to catch a<br />
few hours of sleep.<br />
At day break he<br />
heads back into the<br />
Gurdwara and stays<br />
there during the day,<br />
praying to God.<br />
Last winter, three<br />
rough sleepers died<br />
Carrying the scars. Illegal<br />
immigrant Baljit Singh<br />
suffered severe frost bite in<br />
Russia Photo by: Shamlal Puri<br />
unable to survive<br />
the freezing winter<br />
temperatures.<br />
At meal times,<br />
these men walk to the<br />
Sikh temple, not so far away, where they get<br />
free meals every day.<br />
Southall, which is known as the Little India<br />
of Britain, has a population of more than<br />
70,000 mainly Asian immigrants who have<br />
settled here. Britain’s largest Sikh population<br />
lives here.<br />
A passionate young charity the Sikh<br />
Workers Awareness Team (SWAT) has taken up<br />
the cause of helping these young drifters in<br />
Southall and the environs.<br />
The charity, made up of Sikh volunteers,<br />
scours Southall and its neighbouring areas<br />
during the night. They are dedicated to doing<br />
sewa to help the local community. This group<br />
is providing help and support in this crisis.<br />
SWAT’s founder Randeep Lall says people<br />
from as far away as Poland have donated 100<br />
jackets to help these homeless people.<br />
‘‘<br />
<strong>Indian</strong><br />
women<br />
also sleep<br />
under the<br />
sky. Baljit<br />
Singh,<br />
a rough<br />
sleeper,<br />
recalls<br />
how he<br />
slept<br />
next to<br />
an <strong>Indian</strong><br />
woman<br />
who<br />
had just<br />
arrived<br />
from<br />
the subcontinent<br />
and who<br />
had no one<br />
to go to.<br />
‘‘<br />
76<br />
The <strong>International</strong> <strong>Indian</strong> The <strong>International</strong> <strong>Indian</strong> 77
Diaspora<br />
‘‘<br />
The<br />
volunteers<br />
also<br />
provide<br />
moral<br />
support<br />
and assist<br />
those<br />
who wish<br />
to return<br />
home<br />
to the<br />
Punjab.<br />
They also<br />
put these<br />
rough<br />
sleepers in<br />
touch with<br />
health<br />
centres.<br />
‘‘<br />
Among SWAT’s services are included the<br />
provision of drugs care. It also provides clean<br />
clothes to rough sleepers; sleeping bags and<br />
hot food. Each day at sunrise, a mobile van<br />
parks in the a residential area and the rough<br />
sleepers appear on the scene to have breakfast,<br />
In the evenings dedicated volunteers serve<br />
them with hot <strong>Indian</strong> food.<br />
The volunteers also provide moral support<br />
and assist those who wish to return home to<br />
the Punjab. They also put these rough sleepers<br />
in touch with health centres.<br />
Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London,<br />
has promised that no one will sleep roughly<br />
Southall, which is known as the Little India of Britain, has a<br />
population of more than 70,000 mainly Asian immigrants who<br />
have settled here. Britain’s largest Sikh population lives here<br />
in London by the end of 2012. He recently<br />
announced a £710,000 (US$1.1 million)<br />
programme to prevent rough sleepers spending<br />
a second night on the streets. But this money<br />
would hardly filter down to the rough sleepers<br />
in Southall as it would be used to address the<br />
hardcore of around 360 rough sleepers on<br />
London’s streets.<br />
As Virendra Sharma, the Labour MP for<br />
Ealing Southall, says the best way to tackle<br />
the problem is to stem the flow of illegal<br />
immigrants from India, who consider the UK as<br />
the land of milk and honey.<br />
He said: “I have been working for some time<br />
with the British and <strong>Indian</strong> governments to stem<br />
the flow of illegal immigrants coming to Southall<br />
by various means. Some of them are students<br />
who were not interviewed face to face for visas<br />
and came into the UK in the hope that they could<br />
earn enough money to live through working for<br />
their permitted 20 hours a week. With the onset<br />
of the recession this has proved impossible and<br />
many students are destitute. Along with Ealing<br />
Council and the community of Southall I have<br />
been working to try and find solutions to this<br />
problem but it is not easy as many of those who<br />
are destitute do not have visas and are reluctant<br />
to engage with the authorities.”<br />
Baljit Singh says he was bitterly<br />
disappointed when he arrived in London. The<br />
promise of riches simply did not exist.<br />
“A lot of us are too ashamed to return to<br />
India. I come from a middle class family and my<br />
relatives back home will be shocked to know<br />
I have no roof over my head in London. My<br />
advice to new comers yearning to come to the<br />
UK is stay back in India. There is nothing here –<br />
no money, no jobs – just heartbreak.”<br />
With stars in his eyes Balbir Singh had sat<br />
in his family’s leased farm land in the Punjab<br />
dreaming of a life in London. His friends<br />
painted a rosy picture of the UK, where the<br />
streets are paved with gold.<br />
Balbir Singh’s father Boota Singh, a middle<br />
class farmer leases land from a rich land owner.<br />
He pays a fee for tilling the land and shares the<br />
produce with the land owner. The day there is a<br />
shortfall in the produce, Boota Singh gets none.<br />
This leads to heavy debts in the family.<br />
Balbir Singh, who did not speak a word<br />
of English, vowed that he would change his<br />
family’s fledgling fortunes. The dream of going<br />
to London started from here. Immigration<br />
agent Prabhjot fixed for him to take the<br />
hazardous route to London. He was in fact, part<br />
of a human trafficking chain with a network of<br />
like-minded contacts dotted all around.<br />
Balbir Singh pawned his family jewellery<br />
and forced his parents to borrow money to<br />
raise a fee of 500,000 Rupees (US$11,100).<br />
Prabhjot organised the issue of a passport and<br />
the promise of a single entry tourist visa to a<br />
European country. Russia offered him the visa<br />
on entry against a bribe to border officials.<br />
To be continued...<br />
Shamlal Puri is a veteran British journalist, broadcaster,<br />
author and press photographer. He has worked with the<br />
media in Europe, Africa, Asia and the Middle East. His<br />
novels ‘Dubai on Wheels: The Slippery Road to Success’<br />
and ‘Triangle of Terror’ (Diamond Books) are acclaimed<br />
bestsellers. His next novel ‘The Illegals’ (Crownbird<br />
Publishers) will be published next year.<br />
He has travelled to more than 100 countries in an<br />
illustrious journalistic career spanning 30 years. His<br />
work has been published in more than 250 magazines,<br />
newspapers and journals around the world.<br />
78<br />
The <strong>International</strong> <strong>Indian</strong>
Travel<br />
Aurangabad:<br />
History and a Large Order<br />
for Mercedes Benz<br />
On the massive posters of India Tourism, one sees<br />
photographs of these caves and the exotic paintings<br />
and sculptures within, but the city of Aurangabad<br />
gets a mention only in the very fine print. But<br />
Aurangabad has a lot more of living history than<br />
just these caves.<br />
By: Shyamola Khanna<br />
The beautiful Bibi ka Maqbara which is touted as the Taj Mahal of the South<br />
The only time Aurangabad features<br />
in a traveler’s itinerary is when he<br />
thinks of the Ajanta & Ellora caves,<br />
the UNESCO Heritage site which was<br />
unearthed barely a hundred years<br />
ago. On the massive posters of India Tourism,<br />
one sees photographs of these caves and the<br />
exotic paintings and sculptures within, but the<br />
city of Aurangabad gets a mention only in the<br />
very fine print. But Aurangabad has a lot more<br />
of living history than just these caves and what<br />
comes as a pleasant surprise is the fact that<br />
people live their daily lives, juxtaposed with<br />
these marvels, without encroaching on them in<br />
any way.<br />
But let me go back to the annals of history<br />
and those heady times when kings and<br />
queens lived in these lands and believed that<br />
they were running the whole country, mainly<br />
because they believed that Aurangabad was<br />
approximately the centre of this vast land.<br />
Remember Mohammad Bin Tughlak, the<br />
monarch known for his famous folly of ‘leather<br />
coins’ and for shifting his capital down south<br />
and then moving it back again to Delhi - so<br />
much so that the name became a synonym<br />
for erratic behavior especially in those who sit<br />
on high seats of power!<br />
Well the place that this ruler went to and<br />
returned from was Daulatabad which is very<br />
close to Aurangabad. Although he did not<br />
spend even a decade there, Tughlaq left<br />
behind a rich legacy of arts and crafts in these<br />
areas. In fact what he introduced more than<br />
500 years ago is now the staple handloom<br />
product of Aurangabad—the famous Himroo.<br />
Art historian and curator, Jagdish Mittal says<br />
that the Himroo was actually a copy of the<br />
weaving patterns of the fine Pashmina of the<br />
Kashmir valley. Since the rulers of the south<br />
could not possibly wear the woolen shawls, the<br />
designs were reworked in silk threads so that<br />
the king could use it for his royal robes.<br />
A brief history of the city<br />
Malik Ambar, the Prime Minister of<br />
Ahmednagar, is credited with the founding<br />
of Aurangabad in the year 1610. The city<br />
was given the name Fatehnagar and in 1653<br />
after Aurangzeb conquered the Deccan, he<br />
made Fatehnagar his capital and renamed<br />
it Aurangabad. Less than a 100 years later,<br />
in 1720, the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb’s<br />
general Nizam ul Mulk Asif Jah took over<br />
Auranagabad and made it his capital. The<br />
next ruler of the Asaf Jahi dynasty moved<br />
the capital to Hyderabad in 1763 and<br />
Aurangabad remained a part of Hyderabad<br />
till the Independence of India. After the<br />
reorganization of states, Aurangabad became a<br />
part of Maharashtra.<br />
LIVING HISTORY<br />
When you are driving through the city,<br />
enjoy the surprise of going through a<br />
number of ancient gates, with carvings and<br />
pillars which obviously stem from another<br />
period in time. Gates which are somewhere<br />
between 400-500 years old while the road<br />
beneath is smooth bitumen/tar—a happy<br />
blend of the old and new. There are 16<br />
such gates that were built by various rulers<br />
to protect the city. Now they are regular<br />
The Paithani sari used to be woven for queens of yesteryears. The high cost of the<br />
gold and the intricate weaving makes these saris forbiddingly expensive<br />
landmarks which dot the countryside and are<br />
a part of everyday folklore.<br />
Our driver Wagh was happy to show us all<br />
the local sights. Barely 10 kms away from the<br />
heart of the city, is the beautifully done Bibi<br />
ka Maqbara which is touted as the Taj Mahal<br />
of the South. It was built by Aurangzeb’s son,<br />
Azam Shah as a touching tribute to his mother<br />
Dilras Bano Begum. The architect is said to<br />
have copied Shahjahan’s magnum opus and<br />
although it falls short in magnificence and size,<br />
it is definitely a brave effort.The good part is<br />
that the Maharashtra Tourism Department is<br />
looking after it well and although the visitors<br />
are infrequent, the place is well kept and clean.<br />
Close by is the Soneri Mahal, a<br />
dazzling little palace complex nestled all<br />
by itself below a little hillock inside the<br />
Marathwada University. The area is known<br />
as Paharsinghpura named after a small time<br />
chieftain in Aurangzeb’s army. The Soneri<br />
Mahal was built by Pahar Singh as his family<br />
residence back in the 1670s. It has exchanged<br />
hands many times and is today, looked after<br />
by the ASI. All the beautiful ‘jaali’ windows<br />
have been blocked to create a museum on the<br />
ground floor - which tends to get very hot and<br />
suffocating inside. The highlight of the small<br />
palace used to be the gold paintings in the<br />
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Travel<br />
Theatre<br />
sanctum sanctorum; they are barely visible now<br />
especially if there is no electricity.<br />
Local caves are like the world famous Ajanta Ellora caves<br />
Another interesting part of Aurangabad is<br />
the Panchakki--- a water mill built in the year<br />
1744 that used to pound wheat for the people<br />
through the cleverly engineered water mill.<br />
The blades of the mill have turned green with<br />
age, but they are still turning and the water<br />
is still falling into a pond. One of Aurangzeb’s<br />
engineers crafted the idea of bringing water<br />
from a hidden hill stream 6 kms away.<br />
Through clay pipes that are still working water<br />
was made to flow all the way down hill from<br />
a hidden underground well, till it fell onto the<br />
gigantic blades of the motor. One holy man,<br />
Baba Shah Muzaffar is said to have made this<br />
place his abode and a few years after he settled<br />
in, he built a mosque and also began to grind<br />
wheat into atta. It is said that an average of<br />
160 kgs of atta were ground every day.The<br />
mosque is considered sacred and on Fridays<br />
entry to the complex is free.<br />
A regular little market with little vendors<br />
have been allowed to set up shop within the<br />
premises of the Panchakki. Browse around and<br />
you will find some interesting stuff besides the<br />
usual Chinese made toys and vases. Rajgira also<br />
known as Ramdana is the seed of the Amaranth<br />
plant. It is usually consumed during fasts since<br />
it belongs to the non-cereal category. These<br />
‘poppy seed look alikes’ are of enormous<br />
nutritive value and significance.<br />
If you spot the Rajgira and peanut chikki,<br />
go for it as it has fantastic taste, great nutrition<br />
and is easy on the pocket and healthy.<br />
If you have a day to spare do make the trip<br />
to the famous Ajanta and Ellora Caves, which<br />
are within a radius of 100 kms from the city.<br />
But, before you do that, make a trip to the<br />
local caves, which have similar Buddha statues,<br />
hewn out of the rocks.<br />
Industrial growth<br />
Aurangabad made it to the national<br />
headlines when 150 Mercedes Benz cars were<br />
negotiated for and sold to the businessmen<br />
of Aurangabad. Mercedes had never before<br />
made a deal ike this! Shop at the Prozone Mall<br />
- the first of its kind in Aurangabad, spread<br />
over a sprawling million square feet. Don’t be<br />
surprised if you find an Audi whizz past you<br />
while the Skoda saloons and the Mercedes<br />
unload their rich memsahebs and the baccha<br />
log! Eating at Mainland China and Flame & Grill<br />
in the premises of the Prozone, is the current<br />
rage with the young upwardly mobile of this<br />
tier two city!<br />
While you are in Aurangabad, you may<br />
as well ask to go to the Paithani silk stores<br />
which is probably the only place in the country<br />
where the ancient art of weaving is being kept<br />
alive. The Paithani sari used to be woven for<br />
queens of yesteryears. The high cost of the<br />
gold and the intricate weaving makes these<br />
saris forbiddingly expensive. If you have deep<br />
pockets get yourself a piece.<br />
Otherwise get yourself a Mashroo or<br />
a Himroo sari which can comfortably be<br />
converted into a dress. The finely woven<br />
motifs of the Himroo date back to at least 500<br />
years - Mughal times. Within the country, the<br />
weaving patterns moved from the Kashmir<br />
Valley to Aurangabad so take home a piece of<br />
heritage.<br />
Another Mughal art available at the same<br />
store is the Bidriware knick-knacks – a ‘jooti’<br />
shaped ashtray, a photo frame or a little<br />
Persian style pitcher.<br />
You can also get some water color copies<br />
of the paintings of the famous caves, the<br />
most popular one being of the Buddha as<br />
Padmapani (holding a lotus bud in his hand)<br />
Shyamola Khanna is a freelance writer<br />
based in Hyderabad, India<br />
Meyyappan<br />
The Actor-Artist with no Labels<br />
Glasgow-based deaf actor Ramesh Meyyappan affirms, “No one should<br />
put labels on anyone’s work because of their disability.” This is what<br />
he has fought against for almost three decades – and perhaps, made it<br />
his maxim in life.<br />
By: Amita Sarwal<br />
His having attained success and<br />
acceptance for his talent was<br />
apparent from the reaction of the<br />
200-strong<br />
audience at<br />
the house-full Esplanade<br />
Theatre Studio in<br />
Singapore.<br />
The deaf actor’s<br />
portrayal of four<br />
characters in a<br />
dysfunctional family was<br />
flawless as he switched<br />
effortlessly between<br />
playing the father,<br />
mother and their twins,<br />
especially the son who takes solace in the trees.<br />
And then there were the snails.<br />
Snails & Ketchup inspired by Italo Calvino’s<br />
The Baron in the Trees, has 36-year old<br />
Ramesh combine an amalgamation of facial<br />
expressions, body language, hand gestures,<br />
and his first-time<br />
inclusion of circus-style<br />
aerial choreography. The<br />
pièce de résistance is the<br />
childbirth – especially<br />
his portrayal of the<br />
show of a head as the<br />
baby emerges from the<br />
womb.<br />
“Performing multiple<br />
characters is a challenge<br />
both for me and my<br />
audience. I’m always<br />
asking if they know who is who, otherwise<br />
the narrative is lost. It is critical not only how<br />
each character must be identifiable – visually,<br />
LEFT:<br />
Ramesh, playing<br />
the role of the<br />
son in S&K,<br />
takes refuge in a<br />
treehouse in the<br />
forest. The actor<br />
reveals, “While<br />
in class training<br />
for aerial work,<br />
I always chose<br />
to stand last in<br />
the queue. This<br />
enabled me to<br />
watch and emulate<br />
what the other<br />
actors were doing<br />
as I couldn’t hear<br />
the instructions,<br />
and my teacher<br />
didn’t know sign<br />
language”<br />
Photo by: Ben Tan<br />
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Theatre<br />
RIGHT:<br />
Snails & Ketchup<br />
inspired by<br />
Italo Calvino’s<br />
TheBaron in<br />
the Trees, has<br />
Ramesh’s firsttime<br />
inclusion of<br />
circus-style aerial<br />
choreography<br />
Photo by:<br />
Alberto Santos Bellido<br />
BELOW:<br />
Ramesh says<br />
“Snails & Ketchup<br />
brought the biggest<br />
challenge so far –<br />
transitioningbetween<br />
characters while<br />
on ropes!”<br />
Photo by: Douglas Robertson<br />
emotionally and physically – but also at what<br />
point and how the seamless transitions are<br />
made. Snails brought the biggest challenge so<br />
far – transitioning between characters while<br />
on the ropes!” he admits.<br />
At the post-production Q&A session, the<br />
Singaporean actor responds to each question<br />
with appropriate gestures, much glee, or<br />
seriousness of expression – and an infectious<br />
smile!<br />
His interpreter explains that he prefers the<br />
intimacy of small theatres as he likes to be<br />
close to his audience – to feel their presence<br />
and observe their reactions.<br />
About his faultless synchronisation to the<br />
music, accompanying composer-pianist Tze<br />
explains: “He hears the beat with the soles of<br />
his feet”.<br />
The ropes dangling from the ceiling<br />
symbolising trees is a first-time inclusion by<br />
Ramesh. Speaking of training for the aerial<br />
work, he reveals he always chose to stand<br />
last in the queue. “This enabled me to watch<br />
and emulate what the other actors were doing<br />
as I couldn’t hear the instructions, and my<br />
teacher didn’t know sign language,” he laughs<br />
too when he sees the audience laugh at this<br />
response!<br />
After what Ramesh termed a “wee<br />
meeting to put a face to a name,” and a brief<br />
conversation with<br />
his Scottish wife<br />
Karen Lorimer, we<br />
continued with our<br />
email interview.<br />
Ramesh left<br />
his home in Tamil<br />
Nadu, India when<br />
he was five years<br />
old. His father wisely<br />
brought his family to<br />
Singapore realising<br />
his two deaf<br />
children needed<br />
better opportunities.<br />
“Schooling was<br />
okay. I don’t<br />
remember it being<br />
cruel. I wanted to<br />
make people laugh<br />
and always assumed that they were laughing<br />
with me and not at me (hope I wasn’t wrong<br />
all those years ago). The cruellest side of<br />
education was the teaching of language. I’m<br />
frustrated even now that there wasn’t more<br />
support for that. Being deaf, my access to<br />
and use of language is slightly different from<br />
most hearing folks. Education for the deaf<br />
then could have been better.”<br />
Focusing upon acting as a career, in 2000<br />
Ramesh got admission in the regular threeyear<br />
course instead of the one year one for the<br />
disabled students at the Liverpool Institute of<br />
Performing Arts (LIPA).<br />
Being the only <strong>Indian</strong>-Singaporean at<br />
LIPA then, he was fortunate to get the Lee<br />
Foundation to fund his fees. In addition,<br />
the National Arts Council (NAC) / Shell<br />
Scholarship covered incidentals including his<br />
interpreter’s fee.<br />
“The dance and movement classes were my<br />
highlights. The dance tutor / choreographer<br />
was lovely (also Scottish) and was the first to<br />
tell me to come to class without an interpreter.<br />
Defining mime for the lay person, Ramesh<br />
explains, “A lot of the traditional Marcel<br />
Marceau type mime is quite literal – I do<br />
make use of this to sometimes show where<br />
a character is, for example, but I like to think<br />
that I use movement to show some abstract or<br />
darker concepts. Much of my work is characterbased<br />
and their emotions drive the narratives<br />
forward. My visual vocabulary shows what is<br />
perhaps impossible or unimaginable – surreal.<br />
For example, in Snails as the mum I give myself<br />
a C-section then sew myself up. Following this I<br />
sew up the mouths of the newborn twins – just<br />
to keep them quiet. That is surreal. I’m inspired<br />
by what is visual or physical.”<br />
Stories for his plays? “I tend to know while<br />
reading a text if it will work in a visual form –<br />
and imagine how it might be adapted. Often<br />
the narrative changes from its original form and<br />
becomes a visual story – my vision, if you like.”<br />
“My characters may initially be inspired<br />
by what I’ve read but then I move away from<br />
the original source, otherwise I could end up<br />
showing something flat and one-dimensional.<br />
While improvising, the director and I constantly<br />
question what the character feels – the old<br />
Ramesh’s portfolio has had him play, among<br />
other characters, an award winning alcoholic<br />
railway signalman in Gin & Tonic & Passing<br />
Trains adapted from Charles Dickens’ classic<br />
ghost story The Signalman; a sadistic priest<br />
and bumbling drunk in Mistero Buffo by Italian<br />
playwright Dario Fo, and from Edgar Allen Poe<br />
there was The Tell-Tale Heart & The Masque of<br />
the Red Death.<br />
cliché “what is his motivation?”.<br />
When questioned about his multi-tasking<br />
– playwriting, directing, teaching, project<br />
management – and of course, acting, he<br />
responds modestly, “I’m a master of nothing.<br />
I’m constantly learning and developing my skills<br />
– in particular extending my visual performing<br />
vocabulary. I feel I’m able to<br />
be part of a creative process.”<br />
On the personal front,<br />
Ramesh married Karen in<br />
Glasgow in 2008 “in a simple<br />
ceremony where both the<br />
bride and groom wore white<br />
shirts and jeans and two<br />
witnesses were present”.<br />
His wife said in a recent<br />
interview she was attracted to<br />
him as he “isn’t judgemental,<br />
and sees beyond the surface.<br />
He loves me for who I am.”<br />
The husband responds<br />
with: “I have to give Karen<br />
credit for helping me become<br />
who I am. She is very influential because she<br />
listens to me, gives me so<br />
much time, supports and<br />
encourages me, keeps me<br />
sane and makes me smile.<br />
She is very honest too and<br />
keeps me grounded.”<br />
“My family didn’t<br />
understand the<br />
performing arts and<br />
mostly just let me get on<br />
with it. This worked out<br />
well and made me realise<br />
that my work is just a job<br />
like anyone else’s and I<br />
need to strive harder to make it work for me. It<br />
is only recently that my family has been coming<br />
to see my work when I bring it to Singapore.<br />
They are not theatregoers and come just to<br />
show their support.”<br />
Having struggled more than a normal<br />
person hasn’t changed his personality but has<br />
influenced his expectations. “I like to think that<br />
I’m not aggressive, but I speak freely about my<br />
convictions. However, being so vocal about not<br />
being judged because I’m deaf, means I have<br />
to prove a point and create something that has<br />
specific production values and standards. I can’t<br />
sit back. In that respect I’ve become my own<br />
hardest critic.”<br />
His advice to other aspirants like himself is:<br />
“Anyone working in the arts is going to have<br />
a tough time. It is highly competitive and it is<br />
hard to be told that you aren’t right for a role.<br />
I chose to be the creator of my own work and<br />
that meant I haven’t had to<br />
audition for roles. This has its<br />
own challenges though, as you<br />
have to find funding and the<br />
team of people who you want<br />
to work with. Advice – keep<br />
an open mind, take risks and<br />
continually challenge yourself.”<br />
Remember Ramesh<br />
Meyyappan’s possible maxim?<br />
He seems to have succeeded. No<br />
one is putting labels on his work.<br />
They don’t need to.<br />
Visit: www.rameshmeyyappan.com<br />
Amita Sarwal is a freelance writer<br />
based in Singapore<br />
TOP: Ramesh<br />
played an award<br />
winning alcoholic<br />
railway signalman<br />
in Gin& Tonic<br />
& Passing Trains<br />
adapted from<br />
Charles Dickens’<br />
classic ghoststory<br />
The Signalman<br />
Photo by: Leila Romaya<br />
LEFT:<br />
In S&K the son<br />
sits alone in the<br />
forest clutching his<br />
hand which was<br />
accidentally cut by<br />
his father<br />
Photo by: Ben Tan<br />
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Food<br />
Home Made Ice Creams<br />
To Keep You Cool In Summer<br />
Keep cool in the sweltering heat of summer with<br />
these chilled out, mouth-wateringly delicious ice<br />
creams which you can make yourself at home!<br />
By: Golden Reejsinghani<br />
Chili Ice Cream<br />
Ingredients: ¾ litre whole milk, 1 tbs unflavored gelatin dissolved in ¼ cup hot<br />
milk, 1 tbs lemon zest, 4 sweet red chilies seeded and finely chopped<br />
½ cup cream, 6 tbs sugar, 2 tbs readymadesaffron syrup.<br />
Method: Heat milk, add sugar and keep on stirring till the sugar dissolves. Add<br />
gelatin and cook till thick, remove from fire, add the syrup and beaten cream. Set<br />
aside to cool. Mix in the chilies, put in a freezer tray and freeze till almost firm.<br />
Remove from freezer and beat to a smooth thick cream with a fork, cover with<br />
silver foil, re - freeze for a couple of hours, scoop out the ice cream and serve in tall<br />
serving glasses.<br />
Deep Fried Ice Cream<br />
Ingredients: 1 family slab chocolate ice cream, 1 cup white or refined flour, 2 tablespoons<br />
corn flour, 250 grams crushed cornflakes, chocolate sauce<br />
Method: Keep the slab of ice cream in the freezer till it is frozen firm; mix together both<br />
the corn flour and the refined flour with enough water to form a thick batter. Cut the ice<br />
cream into diamond shapes dip in the batter to cover it nicely on all the sides and roll<br />
in the corn flakes nicely. Re- freeze for two hours again. Deep fry in clarified butter to a<br />
golden color. Serve with chocolate sauce., readymade<br />
Thandai Kulfi<br />
Ingredients: 1 litre cow’s milk, 300 grams sugar, 2 tbs plain gelatin dissolved in ¼<br />
cup hot milk, 1 cup cream.<br />
For the thandai masala: 250 grams almonds blanched, 2 tbs poppy seeds, 25 grams<br />
green cardamom, 10 pepper corns, 25 grams anise seeds (saunf) 3 tbs finely sliced<br />
almonds and pistachios<br />
Method: Take blanched almonds, cardamoms, poppy seeds, pepper corns, anise<br />
seeds and grind to a smooth paste Put this mixture along with milk and sugar in the<br />
blender and blend till smooth remove from the blender and strain out the mixture.<br />
Heat the milk with sugar. When the sugar dissolves add the gelatin mixture and cook till little thick, remove from fire<br />
and keep aside to turn cold. Mix in the cream and sliced nuts. Put in kulfi moulds and keep in the freezer for eight<br />
hours, remove from the freezer, unmold the kulfi and serve with falooda.<br />
Green Tea Ice Cream<br />
Ingredients: ½ litre milk, 1 tbs green tea powder dissolved in ¼ cup milk,<br />
6 tbs sugar, 1 tbs gelatin dissolved in 4 tbs hot milk.<br />
Method: Heat milk and sugar, when the sugar dissolves add gelatin and<br />
green tea powder and cook till thick. Remove from fire, add few drops of<br />
green food coloring. When cold, put in freezer trays, cover with silver foil<br />
and freeze for 2- 3 hours. Remove from the freezer and take out the scoops<br />
and serve in ice cream bowls.<br />
Strawberry Ice Cream<br />
Ingredients: 1 cup chopped strawberries, 4 cups milk, 1 cup fresh cream, ¼ cup<br />
strawberry crush, 1 tbs corn flour.<br />
Method: Dissolve corn flour in ¼ cup to make a paste. Put milk to boil with sugar. Reduce<br />
heat, add corn flour paste and keep on stirring till thick. Cool the mixture thoroughly.<br />
Mix in cream and put in refrigerator tray. Freeze till almost firm. Remove the tray from the<br />
freezer. Beat to a smooth thick cream with the help of a fork. Mix in chopped strawberries.<br />
<strong>Cover</strong> with aluminum foil and put back into the freezer tray to freeze for 2 to 3 hours.<br />
Scoop out the strawberry ice cream and serve in ice cream bowls.<br />
Vanilla Ice Cream<br />
Ingredients: 1 litre milk, 1 cup fresh cream, 1 ½ tsp corn flour, 200 grams<br />
castor sugar, 1/8 tsp vanilla essence, 4 tbs strawberry crush, a tin of mixed<br />
fruits.<br />
Method: Dissolve corn flour in 4 tbs milk. Boil together milk and sugar in<br />
remaining milk. Reduce the heat and mix in the corn flour mixture till thick,<br />
stirring all the time. Remove from fire. Cool thoroughly and mix in cream and<br />
vanilla essence. Put in refrigerator tray. Freeze till almost firm. Remove the tray<br />
from the freezer. Beat to a smooth thick cream with the help of a fork. <strong>Cover</strong><br />
with aluminum foil and put back in the freezer tray to freeze for 2 to 3 hours. Scoop out the vanilla ice cream and<br />
serve decorated in a plate, with strawberry crush and mixed fruits on top.<br />
Golden Reejsinghani is a freelance writer based in Mumbai<br />
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Buzz Word<br />
Rise to the Challenge and<br />
Make A Difference!<br />
Gulf for Good, the UAE-based charity, held an<br />
Information Evening recently at Adventure HQ,<br />
Dubai, where they challenged everyone with a sense of<br />
adventure to join them and discover how they can make<br />
a difference to thousands of children’s lives. Those who<br />
attended were given a fascinating insight into how this<br />
adventure challenge<br />
charity gives kids a<br />
chance around the<br />
world by organising<br />
incredible treks<br />
through spectacular<br />
countryside and<br />
Transylvanian Trek 5-day trek through<br />
the spectacular Carpathian Mountains of<br />
Romania (August 17-24)<br />
building urgently<br />
needed facilities<br />
for underprivileged<br />
children.<br />
One such adventure this year is “The Transylvanian<br />
Trek” - a tough physical challenge, but participants will<br />
be overawed by the stunning Romanian scenery and<br />
the teamwork and camaraderie they’ll experience en<br />
route. The sponsorship funds raised will allow Hope and<br />
Homes for Children to rehouse Romanian orphans from<br />
antiquated institutions into a loving family environment.<br />
Other information about<br />
Gulf for Good<br />
Gulf for Good is a UKregistered<br />
charity, UAE-based<br />
NGO.<br />
Over the past 11 years,<br />
Gulf for Good has run 37<br />
challenges in 21 countries<br />
from Peru to Madagascar to<br />
Mongolia, involving over 750<br />
challengers from 41 countries,<br />
who have raised more than<br />
7 million dirhams. This has<br />
paid for over 40 projects<br />
around the world, including<br />
donating school equipment<br />
in Sharjah, Oman and Jordan;<br />
renovating schools, clinics<br />
and orphanages in Lebanon,<br />
“A child in an institution is<br />
one child too many and Hope<br />
and Homes for Children will<br />
not stop until every institution<br />
is closed and every child is in a<br />
loving family environment”<br />
Egypt and Thailand; building an orphanage and hospital<br />
in Nepal; building hospital wards in Haiti; providing<br />
ambulances in India and Africa; and many others.<br />
GMU & GMCH, Ajman<br />
celebrate Global Day<br />
2012 – Annual Ethnic &<br />
Cultural Festival<br />
Gulf Medical University (GMU), a leading University<br />
in Research and Teaching and GMC Hospital, Ajman<br />
together celebrated Global Day 2012 – Annual Ethnic &<br />
Cultural Festival on Friday the 13th, 2012.<br />
“Unity in Diversity” was the main theme of the grand<br />
cultural extravaganza.<br />
More than 20 country stalls/pavilions and a student<br />
cohort from over 60 nationalities, faculty and staff<br />
members took part in the mega event. This mega event<br />
served as a platform for students to show the essence of<br />
their ethnicity and respective cultures through a series<br />
of entertainment of songs, dance performances. Various<br />
competitions were held in solo and group singing,<br />
cultural dress, talent and fashion shows in addition to<br />
the stalls that<br />
featured various<br />
food items and<br />
cultural artifacts.<br />
Visitors were<br />
able to sample<br />
a wide variety<br />
of traditional<br />
food in the Food<br />
Fair. GMU Band<br />
GMU Global Day<br />
“ROFL & CO” enthralled the audience with their live<br />
performances.<br />
H.H. Sheikh Rashid Bin Humaid Al Nuaimi, Chairman-<br />
Ajman Municipality & Planning Department, Ajman<br />
was the Chief Guest of Honor at the gala event. He was<br />
accorded a warm welcome by Mr. Thumbay Moideen,<br />
Founder President of GMU. After inaugurating the<br />
festival the visiting dignitary accompanied by Mr.<br />
Moideen toured all the country stalls/pavilions and<br />
praised the participation and colorful, vibrant display of<br />
different ethnicity and cultures.<br />
India, Pakistan, Srilanka, Algeria, Iran, Iraq,<br />
Afghanistan, Bahrain, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Egypt,<br />
Djibouti, Palestine, Syria, Zimbabwe, Sudan, Nigeria,,<br />
South Africa, New Zealand, Canada, Russia and Canada<br />
were the participating country pavilions at the festival.<br />
Dr. Mohd Sayed – Dean, College of Dentistry along with<br />
Prof. Mohd Arifulla – Dean, Admission and Registers<br />
gave away participation prizes to all the countries which<br />
participated in the gala festivities.<br />
88<br />
The <strong>International</strong> <strong>Indian</strong>
Buzz Word<br />
Samsung Launches Next<br />
Generation Cameras At<br />
Gulf Photo Plus 2012<br />
Photographers get glimpse of cloud<br />
storage, 20+ megapixels, and Wi-Fi<br />
enabled cameras<br />
Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., a global leader in<br />
digital media and digital convergence technologies,<br />
launched some of its latest cameras and camera<br />
technologies at the Gulf Photo Plus 2012 exhibition.<br />
Amateur and professional photographers alike were<br />
able to try out the new gadgets first-hand at Samsung’s<br />
interactive zone. Live demonstrations featured: WB150F,<br />
a Wi-Fi enabled long zoom camera with<br />
its impressive 18x super zoom<br />
lens and a 14.2 megapixel sensor;<br />
DV300F, a dual LCD Wi-Fi enabled<br />
camera which is the first 2View<br />
model to offer Wi-Fi enabled<br />
technology, enabling users to<br />
email their images or upload them to Facebook, Picasa,<br />
Flickr and YouTube in an instant; and the NX200,<br />
a 20.3 megapixel compact system camera with an<br />
impressive 3.0 VGA AMOLED displaying the highest<br />
quality HD image possible for a compact camera and<br />
which incorporates a 20.3 Megapixel APS-C CMOS<br />
sensor developed in-house by Samsung. In addition,<br />
the camera’s wide range<br />
ISO<br />
(100-12800, covering seven steps)<br />
gives life-like color and sharp<br />
details, even in dark environments<br />
or when capturing still images of<br />
moving objects. The NX200 also<br />
features 1920x1080/30p (H.264) HD movie<br />
recording and Stereo Sound for exciting and vivid video.<br />
Mr. Raj Varma, General Manager, IT division at<br />
Samsung Gulf Electronics, said, “Samsung’s next<br />
generation cameras is the next step in providing the<br />
ambitious amateur with first-class picture quality<br />
through the combination of professional-standard<br />
features such as 20.3 Megapixel APS-C CMOS sensor,<br />
high speed capture, wide-range ISO, HD movie<br />
capabilities, Cloud storage, and Wi-Fi enabled cameras<br />
allowing to users to upload or email their pictures the<br />
moment they capture them.”<br />
Dolphins in Action!<br />
The one and only “Live Dolphin and Seal Show” in the<br />
UAE is a 45 minutes spectacular performance where<br />
the audience witness gracious bottlenose dolphins -<br />
Senya, Ksyusha, Jerry, Tetka and Fekla and playful, funny<br />
northern fur seals – Max, Gosha, Lusha and Fila, play<br />
basketball, sing, jump, paint, juggle, dance and perform<br />
their natural behaviors. The show is full of action and<br />
involves the dolphins interacting both with audience and<br />
the trainers.<br />
Dolphins born with a natural smile on their faces<br />
are considered “most intelligent” animals on earth.<br />
And watching them perform amazing displays based<br />
on their natural behaviors is an unforgettable visual and<br />
emotional experience for people of different ages.<br />
Appearance of the fur seals on the stage brings an<br />
element of fun. Their funny gestures bring an easy smile<br />
to any visitor’s face.<br />
While watching our<br />
seals you learn about<br />
their great adaptability<br />
to be both on land and<br />
in the water.<br />
Dolphinarium is a<br />
perfect place to visit<br />
with the whole family<br />
during weekdays and<br />
also on weekends when mascots, clowns, puppet show,<br />
jugglers, and much more will be happy to entertain your<br />
kids.<br />
Swimming Experience<br />
Close your eyes for a minute and imagine that you<br />
are in crystal clear sea water... And now imagine that<br />
you’re touching the smooth skin of a graceful creature<br />
that fulfills you with goodwill and positive energy. This is<br />
not simply an imagination...<br />
You may experience something really fantastic – a<br />
swimming with one of the most graceful and friendly<br />
creatures in the world- the dolphins!<br />
You can cuddle and play with the gentle animals, and<br />
may even get a dolphin ride and have your photograph<br />
taken with them. This experience will leave a lifetime<br />
memories for everyone!<br />
Show Timings:<br />
Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu – 11am, 6pm<br />
Fri, Sat – 11am, 3pm, 6pm<br />
Prices for tickets are:<br />
Adult- regular/VIP- AED 100 / AED 120<br />
Child (2-12)-regular/VIP – AED 50 / AED 80<br />
Tommy Hilfiger<br />
Womenswear Spring/<br />
Summer 2012 Collection<br />
For Spring/Summer 2012, the Tommy Hilfiger<br />
Womenswear collection announces a classic prep<br />
look with a global<br />
feel - in Prep<br />
World. Inspired by<br />
the globe-trotting<br />
adventures of The<br />
Hilfigers - the All-<br />
American family<br />
fronting Hilfiger’s<br />
global advertising<br />
campaign – it’s<br />
dominated<br />
by gorgeous<br />
patterned fabrics,<br />
James Marsden & Tommy Hilfiger<br />
fresh styles and a variety of new lengths and details in<br />
inspired fabrics.<br />
Prep Camp features explorer-ready modern flak,<br />
pocketed field jackets paired with modern chinos and<br />
cargos. Modern check shirts are the basic essential while<br />
camouflage prints are introduced as a pattern on a<br />
variety of key pieces. Khaki is plentiful, but with a dusting<br />
of canyon orange or hazy yellow for ‘stand-out’ in any<br />
weekend activity. Then, the Safari dress and slim chinos<br />
take centre stage, while button front skirts swish, paired<br />
with that classic: the cool, white shirt. Leather, suede or<br />
canvas detailing, bungee cord pulls and flashes of playful<br />
internal linings serve to close this look with a premium<br />
finishing touch.<br />
Prep City features neat sweaters draped casually over<br />
shoulders with the new, slimmer ankle-length chino<br />
or denim. Shirts mixing blue patterns are then paired<br />
with the neutral-toned, iconic Spring Blazer. Readyfor-weather<br />
surprises see Trenches, Pea-coats and the<br />
modern Anorak, under which neat sweaters with block<br />
detailing nestle. Stripes are the key story of this delivery<br />
which spread across knits, sweaters and shorts. Modern<br />
and urban pieces in chambray and leather are color-wise<br />
grounded in spring neutrals, and indigo blues with fresh<br />
jade green highlights.<br />
Prep Weekend features sun bleached colors paired<br />
with fresh white, in chinos shorts, shirts and t-shirt.<br />
Relaxed, easy styles are reflected in short shorts or bolder<br />
length Bermuda. Spring Break sundresses drape alluringly<br />
around ankles or thighs while fresh madras shirts,<br />
reminiscent of market stall shopping finish the collection.<br />
Giordano launches Online<br />
Shopping as part of<br />
Regional Growth Strategy<br />
• AED10 million investment earmarked for<br />
new stores and refurbishments<br />
• Double digit regional growth recorded in<br />
Q1 2012<br />
• New kiosk concept launched in UAE<br />
following successful KSA pilot<br />
Ishwar Chugani,<br />
Executive Director<br />
Giordano ME, India<br />
and Africa<br />
Giordano, the leading international<br />
apparel retailer, today reached<br />
another customer service milestone in<br />
its almost two decades of operations in<br />
the region, with the launch of its online<br />
shopping at www.giordano-me.com.<br />
The move into e-commerce is being<br />
piloted in the UAE, with more than<br />
300 of Giordano’s most popular items<br />
available in the initial launch phase, and<br />
products delivered within five working<br />
days to any UAE address.<br />
“With the launch of our online shopping, we provide<br />
our customers with immediate access to our products<br />
right at their fingertips. No matter where they are in the<br />
UAE, they will be able to shop for Giordano products from<br />
the comfort of their home or workplace. The shopping<br />
portal is another demonstration<br />
of how Giordano adapts its<br />
business model to expand reach,<br />
and provide the best possible<br />
customer service,” said Ishwar<br />
Chugani, Executive Director of<br />
Giordano, Middle East, India<br />
and Africa. “As it is in its<br />
Giordano Essentials Kiosk<br />
nascent stage, we’re piloting online shopping first in the<br />
UAE, with plans to cover other markets in the future,”<br />
Giordano’s performance in the Middle East also<br />
continues an upward trajectory, registering 12 per cent<br />
growth during the first quarter of the year across the<br />
region, versus the same period in 2011. The retailer<br />
attributes the growth to strong sales in the Saudi Arabian<br />
market; increased consumer confidence; growing<br />
demand for high-quality, value-for-money wardrobe<br />
essentials; and contributions from newly-opened stores.<br />
Giordano’s stores in the region now total 226,<br />
including eight shops opened in the first three months of<br />
90<br />
The <strong>International</strong> <strong>Indian</strong> The <strong>International</strong> <strong>Indian</strong> 91
Buzz Word<br />
Love Fury from<br />
Nine West<br />
Introducing the First Nine West Fragrance<br />
The Jones Group, Inc. (“Jones”) (NYSE: JNY)<br />
announces the launch of Love Fury, the first fragrance<br />
from Nine West. A woman’s craving and insatiable desire<br />
for fashion and obsession for shoes is matched only by<br />
her addiction to fragrance. As an established leader in<br />
fashion footwear, Nine West will take an important step<br />
by introducing the Love Fury fragrance<br />
and specially designed Love Fury pump,<br />
illustrating the parallel synergy of<br />
footwear and fragrance as<br />
powerful weapons of<br />
attraction.<br />
“We are very proud<br />
of Love Fury, our first<br />
collaboration with, and<br />
signature fragrance from,<br />
Nine West. Love Fury is for the woman who loves<br />
the privileges of being a woman, from wearing high<br />
heeled pumps to using fragrance’s power to seduce.<br />
The Love Fury woman is sexy and passionate, but<br />
above all, once noticed, she is not easily forgotten.” –<br />
Jean Madar, Chairman and CEO of Inter Parfums, Inc.<br />
(NASDAQ GS: IPAR)<br />
The heel is what makes a shoe; it gives the height,<br />
the edge, the curve, the look, the style, the attitude.<br />
Inspired by the idea of a “killer” heel breaking through<br />
the glass, the bottle top design is rich lacquered black,<br />
like an ultra-glamorous, varnished stiletto. It is iconic,<br />
pure and timeless. The glass is heavy and pure like<br />
crystal, in a classic shape, square and stable with beveled<br />
edges. To balance out the aggression of the heel topper,<br />
the fragrance contained in the bottle comes across as<br />
feminine, light and sensual, nude in color with pink<br />
undertones.<br />
“After more than 30 years, Nine West is still the<br />
destination for fashion footwear and fragrance is simply<br />
the next level of brand ascendancy. There is a strong<br />
connection between the seductive statement that a<br />
woman makes with her shoes and fragrance, as both<br />
are seen as ultimate weapons of attraction. Love Fury<br />
successfully captures the passion and addiction of the<br />
Nine West consumer.” – Fred Allard, Creative Director of<br />
Nine West<br />
The fragrance is a seductive elixir of fresh fruits, lush<br />
florals, warm woods and addictive amber.<br />
Sony Mobile<br />
Communications<br />
Launches Xperia S in<br />
Middle East Market<br />
• Unmatched Entertainment Experience<br />
• Get it Sharper with 12 MP Camera &<br />
Full HD Recording<br />
• See Every Detail with True HD Screen<br />
• Powerful 1.5 GHZ Dual-Core Processor for<br />
Faster Performance<br />
Sony Mobile Communications, formerly Sony<br />
Ericsson, today announced the Middle East launch<br />
of the eagerly anticipated Xperia S smartphone during<br />
a glittering press conference hosted at Armani Hotel,<br />
Burj Khalifa. The Middle East launch follows a successful<br />
global debut at <strong>International</strong> Consumer Electronics Show<br />
(CES) 2012 and Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2012.<br />
The event offered a demonstration of the featurerich<br />
smartphone highlighting key functionalities such<br />
as the ‘connected entertainment experience’. Offering<br />
seamless connectivity between all devices<br />
whether smartphone, TV, laptop<br />
or tablet and PlayStation, it is<br />
ideal for consumers looking to<br />
share and enjoy content.<br />
Speaking at the press<br />
conference Rüdiger<br />
Odenbach, Vice-President,<br />
Sony Mobile Communications,<br />
Middle East and Africa, said:<br />
“Xperia S is the first device<br />
to be launched by Sony<br />
Mobile Communications, and we<br />
are confident that it will be very well received. We are<br />
delighted by the response since the initial announcement<br />
at CES and more recently at MWC that drew fantastic<br />
reviews not only for the smartphone but also for our new<br />
smart accessories including the Smart Watch, which was<br />
singled out during CES.”<br />
Xperia S sports ‘Iconic Identity’, an innovative<br />
transparent design element at the base, that creates<br />
a simple, strong, instantly recognizable look with<br />
illumination effects and integrated antenna components.<br />
Available globally from 12 March 2012 Xperia S will<br />
run on Android platform 2.3 (Gingerbread).<br />
Al Ain Dairy launches<br />
Camel Milk in 6 Delicious<br />
New Flavors<br />
Al Ain Dairy, the UAE’s largest dairy and<br />
juice producer has launched 6 new camel<br />
milk variants under the “Camelait” brand of<br />
fresh camel milk.<br />
Al Ain Dairy’s “Camelait’ range of camel milk drinks<br />
are made with 100% pure fresh pasteurized camel<br />
milk, contains less than 2% fat , contains natural fruit<br />
sugars and has absolutely no artificial colors, flavors or<br />
preservatives. The six new flavors are date, cardamom,<br />
rose, chocolate, saffron and laban so there are flavors for<br />
everyone to enjoy.<br />
Shashi Menon,<br />
COO of Al Ain<br />
Dairy said “Camel<br />
milk has for<br />
some time been<br />
considered an<br />
acquired taste,<br />
Camel milk<br />
we wanted to<br />
challenge that<br />
perception by bringing not only popular flavors but<br />
innovative ones too so that everyone will enjoy trying.<br />
We are absolutely thrilled to add 6 flavours to our very<br />
successful “Camelait” brand.”<br />
Camel milk has recently seen an unprecedented<br />
surge in popularity with more and more people<br />
discovering the health benefits that nutrient rich camel<br />
milk delivers. It is easily digested by lactose intolerant<br />
individuals, is rich in Vitamin B and D and has 10 times<br />
more iron than cow’s milk. The lactoferrin contained<br />
in camel milk also has anti-bacterial and antiviral<br />
properties and is known to have anti diabetic actions<br />
too. It contains a high presence of insulin type proteins<br />
and other nutrients that positively affects the immune<br />
system. It is no surprise therefore that camel milk is now<br />
often described as a “superfood”<br />
Al Ain Dairy’s “Camelait” brand is made from<br />
100% fresh camel milk and is available in handy 250<br />
ml pet bottles. “Camelait” can be found in all good<br />
supermarkets and convenience stores across the UAE<br />
while the 6 new flavors are available currently in all<br />
ADNOC C stores, Abu Dhabi Coop and Khalifa City<br />
Coop as well as the Al Ain Dairy Fresh Farm Shop in Al<br />
Ain with more locations coming soon.<br />
Dubai Internet City<br />
Welcomes The Legendary<br />
Nando’s Cockerel!<br />
Nando’s opens its 10th restaurant in DIC,<br />
adding spice to the neighbourhood.<br />
Nando’s the home of the famous Afro-Portuguese<br />
peri-peri chicken has turned up the heat at Dubai<br />
Internet City and word is on the street that Nando’s is<br />
the most happening place to meet and eat.<br />
The 10 th Nando’s store was inaugurated today by<br />
Mr. Suhail Gidwani, Chief Executive Officer, amid a<br />
large crowd of Nando’s fans. Peri-Peri aficionados at<br />
Dubai Internet City have been eagerly awaiting the store<br />
opening and are now delighted to be able to get their<br />
peri-peri fix anytime they want.<br />
The newest Nando’s restaurant nestles on the<br />
shore of a scenic lake in Building No.6 and spreads<br />
over an area of 1500sq. feet. The tranquil outdoor<br />
view compliments the trendy interior which is a<br />
fusion of the Nando’s Afro-Portuguese heritage and<br />
contemporary design. The African art that adorns the<br />
walls of the restaurant speaks out its tales to you. The<br />
Nando’s legendary stories<br />
are hand-painted in stunning<br />
patterns giving the restaurant<br />
an old-worldly charm. Above<br />
all, the floating warmth of the<br />
traditional Nando’s hospitality<br />
is what makes the restaurant<br />
most endearing.<br />
Suhail Gidwani, the proud<br />
owner of the Nando’s chain in<br />
the UAE said beamingly, “It is<br />
our ambition to bring the best<br />
tasting chicken in the world to<br />
different parts of UAE. In the<br />
near future, we endeavour to double the number of<br />
Suhail Gidwani, owner of Nando’s<br />
restaurants we have today & also give Abu Dhabi its very<br />
own Nando’s.”<br />
Reem Shaban, Head of Marketing, Dubai Internet<br />
City and Dubai Outsource Zone, who also attended<br />
the inauguration, said “We are thrilled to have Nando’s<br />
in Dubai Internet City. Nando’s is both healthy and<br />
addictive & unmistakably many professionals in DIC are<br />
already hooked on to it. We are confident that Nando’s<br />
will benefit from the host of services at the business park<br />
and wish them success in their upcoming endeavours.”<br />
92<br />
The <strong>International</strong> <strong>Indian</strong> The <strong>International</strong> <strong>Indian</strong> 93
Soldiers<br />
The Ghost of Middlemen<br />
in Defence Deals Haunts<br />
India Again<br />
In view of non-registration by agents, MoD reversed the policy<br />
and decided to impose a complete ban on them in 2006. With<br />
the issuance of Defence Procurement Procedure – 2006, all<br />
foreign sellers have to give an undertaking that they would<br />
neither appoint agents nor pay any commission to them.<br />
By: Major General Mrinal Suman, AVSM, VSM, PhD<br />
The recent revelation by the Chief<br />
of the Army Staff General VK Singh<br />
that he was offered a bribe of 14<br />
crore rupees by a retired officer to<br />
swing a deal has raised the ghost of<br />
middlemen once again. Earlier, the Eurocopter<br />
deal had to be aborted due to the alleged<br />
presence of agents.<br />
It is an accepted fact that middlemen/<br />
agents are ubiquitous in all international trade<br />
transactions. All government departments<br />
have been regularly dealing through agents<br />
without any apparent problems. But it is<br />
the role of agents in defence deals that has<br />
attracted much media attention of late. The<br />
Ministry of Defence (MoD) recognises that<br />
agents cannot be wished away but considers it<br />
politically inexpedient to accept their need or<br />
acknowledge their presence. The dilemma is<br />
quite acute as all earlier efforts to deal with the<br />
issue have proved futile.<br />
The role of agents in import transactions<br />
was first taken up for study by the Public<br />
Accounts Committee in 1974-75. As a followup<br />
of its recommendations, exhaustive policy<br />
guidelines, titled “<strong>Indian</strong> Agents of Foreign<br />
Suppliers – Policy on”, were disseminated<br />
by the Ministry of Finance (Department of<br />
Expenditure) in January 1989. MoD issued<br />
supplementary instructions in respect of<br />
defence purchases in April 1989.<br />
However, due to a spate of allegations<br />
regarding their functioning, they were<br />
proscribed in early 2001 to take a fresh look<br />
at the entire issue. Advice was sought from<br />
a number of agencies including the Central<br />
Vigilance Commission (CVC). CVC strongly<br />
recommended that defence agents be officially<br />
registered for transparency and probity.<br />
MoD accepted CVC recommendations<br />
and issued a fresh policy directive in Nov<br />
2001. It allowed employment of agents, albeit<br />
with provisions which many consider to be<br />
too stringent and intrusive to be realistic.<br />
Information required to be submitted by a<br />
foreign vendor spanned the complete gamut<br />
of an agent’s past business activities, current<br />
professional dealings and financial profile. Even<br />
details of his <strong>Indian</strong> and foreign bankers had to<br />
be intimated. Additionally, the agent had to be<br />
acceptable to MoD and paid commission as per<br />
the official policy.<br />
Whereas the policy guidelines issued by<br />
the Finance Ministry in April 1989 aimed at<br />
conserving precious foreign exchange and<br />
preventing evasion of tax, MoD instructions<br />
were totally directed towards scrutinising past<br />
records of agents and regulating their conduct.<br />
As was feared, not a single agent came<br />
forward for registration as they did not want<br />
to lose their shield of anonymity. Further,<br />
they resented the tone and tenor of MoD<br />
instructions. It was felt that the details sought<br />
transgressed professional privacy and infringed<br />
upon economic confidentiality. Agents were<br />
also apprehensive that the information sought<br />
could be used by different government<br />
agencies to harass them by opening old cases.<br />
They were also worried that public<br />
knowledge of their dealings would make them<br />
vulnerable to extortion demands, both from<br />
political parties and the underworld. Most<br />
importantly, they feared that the prevailing<br />
trend of probing all defence deals negotiated<br />
by the previous regime would unnecessarily<br />
drag them into vengeful inquisitions and<br />
protracted court cases.<br />
In view of non-registration by agents, MoD<br />
reversed the policy and decided to impose<br />
a complete ban on them in 2006. With the<br />
issuance of Defence Procurement Procedure<br />
– 2006, all foreign sellers have to give an<br />
undertaking that they would neither appoint<br />
agents nor pay any commission to them. They<br />
have to even assure access to their books of<br />
accounts in case the government suspects a<br />
breach of the said undertaking.<br />
It is a well known fact that middlemen<br />
perform many useful functions. They act as<br />
an interface between MoD, the Services and<br />
the vendors. They help resolve irksome issues<br />
that crop up during protracted contractual<br />
discussions and pave the way for negotiating<br />
a mutually acceptable contract. Since<br />
agents have permanency of interest, they<br />
ensure responsive after-sales support during<br />
performance and warranty periods, and even<br />
thereafter.<br />
During field trials over varying terrain and<br />
climatic conditions, agents provide assistance<br />
to foreign vendors to import, maintain,<br />
transport and position their equipment as per<br />
the trial schedule. Similarly, foreign vendors<br />
need help of local agents to identify suitable<br />
offset partners and <strong>Indian</strong> companies for<br />
investment.<br />
Even the Services seek inputs from agents<br />
as regards the latest equipment available in<br />
the world market and their indicative costs.<br />
It helps them formulate pragmatic qualitative<br />
parameters and make budgetary projections.<br />
Being a politically sensitive issue, the<br />
dilemma for the government is quite acute. It<br />
knows that middlemen cannot be wished away.<br />
Therefore, it wants to make their functioning<br />
transparent and overt but does not know how<br />
to proceed. By banning or shunning them,<br />
India is driving them underground.<br />
Defence agents are in business to make<br />
money. Just because they promote their<br />
principals’ products to earn commissions does<br />
not make them unethical and ignoble. To<br />
state that agents can corrupt officials shows<br />
a total lack of confidence in the integrity of<br />
government functionaries. Most of them are<br />
highly upright, conscientious and diligent<br />
officers.<br />
An ideal way out of the current quandary<br />
could be for MoD to follow instructions<br />
issued by the Finance Ministry and register<br />
agents as per the procedure followed by other<br />
government departments. There is no need<br />
to single out defence agents and dig out<br />
their past records. However, the monitoring<br />
mechanism can be further strengthened and<br />
the functioning of agents regulated to enhance<br />
transparency and eliminate unscrupulous<br />
dealings.<br />
MoD must adopt a long-term policy to<br />
convince the environment of its earnestness<br />
and instill confidence. There should be no<br />
knee-jerk reaction to every allegation that<br />
appears in the press. Frequent changes in the<br />
policy act as the biggest deterrent for overt<br />
and legitimate functioning of agents. Finally,<br />
by facilitating registration of agents, it will be<br />
ensured that commissions are paid in <strong>Indian</strong><br />
currency and are duly subject to taxation.<br />
The author is a retired General Officer of the <strong>Indian</strong><br />
Army. He is India’s foremost expert on defence<br />
modernisation procedures and offsets. He has been<br />
highlighting issues concerning India and its military.<br />
‘‘<br />
It is a<br />
well<br />
known<br />
fact that<br />
middlemen<br />
perform<br />
many<br />
useful<br />
functions.<br />
They act<br />
as an<br />
interface<br />
between<br />
MoD, the<br />
services<br />
and the<br />
vendors.<br />
‘‘<br />
94<br />
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Futurequest<br />
Futurequest... continued from page 98...<br />
‘‘<br />
This<br />
world is<br />
not our<br />
ultimate<br />
home,<br />
regardless<br />
of<br />
how<br />
sound<br />
our<br />
health is,<br />
how<br />
significant<br />
our<br />
religious<br />
club<br />
membership<br />
is or<br />
however<br />
luxurious<br />
our cruising<br />
cabin<br />
is – we<br />
are all<br />
travelling<br />
on a sinking<br />
ship.<br />
‘‘<br />
regardless of how sound our health is, how<br />
significant our religious club membership is, or<br />
however luxurious our cruising cabin – we are<br />
all travelling on a sinking ship. Survivors of the<br />
Titanic remembered that as the ship was going<br />
down, the musicians on board were calmly<br />
playing the hymn, “Nearer, My God, To Thee.”<br />
The difference we can make on our journey<br />
of life is what our primary focus should be.<br />
To put it simply then, religion is doing<br />
good – caring about the most vulnerable on<br />
our brief earthly sojourn. Faith is when such<br />
actions flow spontaneously from a heart that<br />
belongs to God.<br />
How difficult is it to evaluate the words that<br />
Jesus spoke in Matthew 5: 43–45? “You have<br />
heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor<br />
and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your<br />
enemies and pray for those who persecute<br />
you, that you may be children of your Father in<br />
heaven.”<br />
Note the subtlety here: there is a Father in<br />
heaven who wants us to be His children – a<br />
choice is clearly implied.<br />
Children do not judge others on the basis<br />
of power, possessions, money, religious or<br />
social standing – there is no place in God’s<br />
family for those who do.<br />
Religion as we see it making headlines<br />
regularly in the media to justify violence is<br />
falsehood, not the truth. It doesn’t matter<br />
whether it is bloodshed from Catholic and<br />
Protestant fighting in Northern Ireland, or<br />
Hindu and Muslim carnage in India or Shia<br />
and Sunni brutality in Pakistan or the Middle<br />
East, or East-West, North-South political<br />
brinkmanship. All such aggression is not<br />
religion – it is mass murder and there will be a<br />
day of reckoning for everyone engaged in it.<br />
Most of us might agree that religion<br />
and killing don’t go together, but we forget<br />
religion is not any kind of one-upmanship<br />
that entitles one person to think he or she<br />
is ideologically superior to someone else.<br />
No religion is higher than another and<br />
none is exclusively authorized to make any<br />
guarantees of divine access. Any religion that<br />
elevates spiritual pride and condones murder<br />
is pure deceit.<br />
According to a new study recently reported<br />
by CNN, the simple act of thinking analytically<br />
could decrease your religious conviction –<br />
even if you’re a devout believer. Results from<br />
the study in the journal Science, found that<br />
“Religious belief is intuitive - and analytical<br />
thinking can undermine intuitive thinking,”<br />
deduces Ara Norenzayan, co-author of the<br />
study. “So when people are encouraged<br />
to think analytically, it can block intuitive<br />
thinking,” he claims.<br />
I can certainly agree we are intuitively and<br />
instinctively drawn to God – but not to religion,<br />
which most of us blindly inherit. Analyzing<br />
what we believe is not something to fear, it is<br />
undoubtedly worth doing – as long as it helps<br />
us understand our spiritual yearnings. We are<br />
spirit beings clothed in flesh, called to love our<br />
fellow man and to be involved in the highest<br />
purposes of the Creator for His creation.<br />
To encourage analytical thinking, the study<br />
researched 650 participants’ religious beliefs<br />
through a series of questions after exposure to<br />
certain stimuli that included one of my favorite<br />
works of art – Rodin’s statue “The Thinker.”<br />
They found that subjects who had performed<br />
analytical tasks were more likely to experience<br />
a decrease in religious belief than those who<br />
were not involved in such tasks.<br />
“There’s much more instability to religious<br />
belief than we recognize,” Norenzayan notes<br />
that life’s traumatic events or joyous occasions,<br />
can lead people to become more or less<br />
religious.<br />
The problem is the study does not define<br />
“religious,”nor “devout believer.”<br />
Who is religious or devout? Someone who<br />
goes to a temple, mosque or church regularly<br />
and dutifully practices certain rituals? Is it<br />
someone who grows a beard or wears a cross<br />
on the chest, or puts ash on the forehead or<br />
wears a cap on the skull? Is it someone who can<br />
argue brilliantly over the scriptures and convince<br />
people by his sheer ability to preach in a place<br />
where people gather to learn about faith?<br />
What if there is pride and violence in<br />
the hearts of such individuals instead of the<br />
vital components of true faith – humility,<br />
compassion and love for their fellow man?<br />
I believe it is heartfelt devotion to God and<br />
love of your neighbor, that comes after a life<br />
changing faith encounter, that can make anyone<br />
a citizen of God’s kingdom and a genuine<br />
believer. It is not just someone with a particular<br />
label, regardless of how faithful or longstanding<br />
or important his or her membership in a<br />
respected religious club maybe.<br />
Anyone clinging to false religion as we see<br />
it widely practiced in the world, with all its<br />
impotent ceremony, rituals, superstitions, and<br />
pride, cannot learn what it means to obtain<br />
citizenship in the kingdom of God.<br />
That passport once authentically obtained,<br />
will never be surrendered by a citizen of the<br />
kingdom.<br />
In the 2005 historical fiction movie, The<br />
Kingdom of Heaven, Balian the main character<br />
asks his father Baron Godfrey of Ibelin, possibly<br />
related to King Baldwin the II of Jerusalem:<br />
“What could a king ask of a man like me?” To<br />
which Godfrey replies: “A better world than has<br />
ever been seen. A kingdom of conscience. A<br />
kingdom of heaven.” Unfortunately, instead of<br />
finding the kingdom of heaven on his journey,<br />
Balian finds only the kingdom of man.<br />
I can assure you it is possible to break free<br />
into this hidden kingdom Jesus pointed to – it<br />
calls for a willingness to search. It comes with<br />
the promise it will be found by earnest, even<br />
desperate seekers hungering for the truth,<br />
sick of falsehood internally and externally. It is<br />
the dwelling place of a mysterious peace that<br />
passes all understanding – a place of renewal<br />
and rest and provision, where the burdens are<br />
light though the challenges can be fierce.<br />
All over the world, men and women are<br />
seeking for the kingdom of God and don’t<br />
know it.<br />
Robert McCauley, Director of the Center for<br />
Mind, Brain and Culture at Emory University,<br />
and author of “Religion is Natural and Science<br />
is Not,” was of the opinion that it is difficult to<br />
make even a minimal change in religious belief<br />
until he studied the results of the research.<br />
My own experience, and the testimonies<br />
of many down the ages, is proof enough for<br />
me that a human being can breakaway from<br />
religious bondage – I was trapped in futile,<br />
institutional belief for nearly three decades of<br />
my life before grasping the truth that sets men<br />
free to walk in liberty, certainty and reality.<br />
Many can testify to a similar experience, it is<br />
fascinatingly unique for each individual, as even<br />
a casual search on the Internet will reveal.<br />
Many have left Christianity to follow the<br />
Christ of the Scriptures.<br />
But long before people like me figured out<br />
the difference, Frederick Douglas, a nineteenthcentury<br />
slave who taught himself how to read<br />
and write made this scathing observation of<br />
the perversion of the teachings of Christ in<br />
America: “Between the Christianity of this land<br />
and the Christianity of Christ, I recognize the<br />
widest possible difference – so wide, that to<br />
receive the one as good, pure and holy, is of<br />
necessity to reject the other as bad, corrupt<br />
and wicked…I love the pure, peaceable, and<br />
impartial Christianity of Christ; I therefore hate<br />
the corrupt, slave-holding, women-whipping,<br />
cradle-plundering, partial and hypocritical<br />
Christianity of this land. Indeed, I can see no<br />
reason, but the most deceitful one, for calling<br />
the religion of this land Christianity.”<br />
Christianity was clearly not a life-changing<br />
truth then, it is not the truth now.<br />
English writer Selwyn Hughes relates the<br />
experience of a World War II minister who<br />
spoke to prominent German leaders about<br />
how Fascism made the state supreme, Naziism<br />
made the race supreme and Communism<br />
made ordinary people supreme. But he pointed<br />
out that all these systems are half-gods and<br />
hence no gods.<br />
When he described the kingdom of God<br />
revealed by Jesus and the loving totalitarianism<br />
that characterizes it, the Germans pounded<br />
their fists on the tables in front of them. Later<br />
when asked to explain their reaction, they<br />
explained: ‘You seemed to sense why we turned<br />
to Naziism. Life for us was at a loose end –<br />
compartmentalized. We needed something<br />
to bring life back into wholeness, into total<br />
meaning and goal. We thought Naziism could<br />
bring us that wholeness. But it let us down; let<br />
us down in blood and ruin. Now we see that<br />
what we were seeking for was the kingdom of<br />
God. We chose the wrong totalitarianism.’<br />
Hughes observed that in our day we<br />
may be witnessing the shaking of earthly<br />
kingdoms in order that the unshakeable<br />
kingdom might appear.<br />
Frank Raj is TII’s founder-editor & publisher<br />
Frank is author of ‘Desh Aur Diaspora’ and co-author<br />
of the upcoming publication ‘Universal Book of the<br />
Scriptures.’ He blogs at www.no2christianity.wordpress.com<br />
Read more of Frank’s work at: http://communities.<br />
washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/no-2-religion-yes-2-<br />
faith/ in the Communities at the Washington Times.<br />
‘‘<br />
Fascism<br />
made<br />
the state<br />
supreme,<br />
Nazism<br />
made<br />
the race<br />
supreme<br />
and Communism<br />
made<br />
ordinary<br />
people<br />
supreme.<br />
But he<br />
pointed<br />
out that<br />
all these<br />
systems<br />
are halfgods<br />
and hence<br />
no gods<br />
‘‘<br />
96<br />
The <strong>International</strong> <strong>Indian</strong> The <strong>International</strong> <strong>Indian</strong> 97
Futurequest<br />
There Is A Kingdom<br />
Whose Citizens<br />
Will Never Give Up<br />
Their Passports<br />
Religion is the archrival of intimate spirituality… Religion, a tiresome<br />
system of man made do’s and don’ts, woulds and shoulds – impotent to<br />
change human lives but tragically capable of devastating them – is what is<br />
left after a true love for God has drained away. Religion is the shell that is<br />
left after the real thing has disappeared.<br />
– Doug Banister, author of ‘Sacred Quest’<br />
By: Frank Raj<br />
Not discovering the difference<br />
between religion and genuine<br />
faith I am convinced, is a matter<br />
of following truth or falsehood.<br />
The Bhagvad Gita tells us,<br />
“When a man lacks discrimination, his will<br />
wanders in all directions, after innumerable<br />
aims. Those who lack discrimination may<br />
quote the letter of the scriptures, but they are<br />
really denying its inner truth. Those whose<br />
discrimination is stolen away by such talk grow<br />
deeply attached to pleasures and power.”<br />
Eight hundred years ago, the Sufi saint<br />
Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti described what he<br />
called the highest form of worship: “to redress<br />
the misery of those in distress, to fulfill the<br />
needs of the helpless and to feed the hungry.”<br />
He may well have been quoting the Bible,<br />
for James 1: 27 clearly indicates: “Religion that<br />
God our Father accepts as pure and faultless<br />
is this: to look after orphans and widows in<br />
their distress and to keep oneself from being<br />
polluted by the world.”<br />
Compassion for the helpless shown by<br />
deeds, is the one definition of religion I can<br />
gladly accept – I have no interest in what<br />
most folks generally consider and practice as<br />
religion, regardless of their persuasion, piety or<br />
pedigree.<br />
This world is not our ultimate home,<br />
98<br />
continued on page 96...<br />
The <strong>International</strong> <strong>Indian</strong>
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