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<strong>MEHFIL</strong><br />
The magazine for today’s Indo-Canadian<br />
September/October 2009 $4.95<br />
INSIDE<br />
Whitecaps’ Bob<br />
Lenarduzzi<br />
Beyond the<br />
Beautiful Game<br />
Campus Talk<br />
by Students<br />
for Students<br />
Dynamic Duo<br />
Gurnam &<br />
Harminder<br />
Sanghera<br />
Perspective:<br />
Weddings<br />
More Bling<br />
than Bliss?<br />
www.mehfilmagazine.com<br />
Mind Power<br />
Tulshi Sen<br />
Reveals Ancient<br />
Success Secrets<br />
Diwali<br />
Celebrating<br />
the Festival<br />
of Lights<br />
Brewing<br />
Success<br />
Manjit<br />
Minhas<br />
The Building of<br />
a Beer Brand
Aap deewaney<br />
ho jayenge!<br />
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Mehfil<br />
D e pa r t m e n t s<br />
8<br />
10<br />
12<br />
16<br />
78<br />
4 Mehfil September/October 2009<br />
COVER STORY<br />
Manjit Minhas. .............38<br />
The daughter of liquor-store owners, Manjit Minhas has always<br />
had a knack for the beverage business. She began honing her<br />
entrepreneurial skills early, trouncing the neighbourhood<br />
competition with her lemonade stand when she was a kid. Today,<br />
along with her brother and business partner Ravinder, she owns<br />
Minhas Craft Brewery, which does about $100 million in business<br />
annually and employs a staff of 200 worldwide. She tells the tale of<br />
their business trajectory in a book called Brewing Up a Damn Good<br />
Story — and so it is.<br />
Features<br />
Tulshi Sen............... 28<br />
Motivational author and speaker Tulshi Sen<br />
says you can change your life by changing<br />
your thoughts. It’s not a new idea —<br />
many books on the subject have become<br />
bestsellers — but the trick is being able to<br />
master those thoughts consistently, says Sen,<br />
who shares the “ancient secrets” that are the<br />
basis of his book and his seminars.<br />
Celebrating Diwali. ..................... 44<br />
In addition to joining family and friends for traditional<br />
celebrations, this year’s options for marking Diwali include a<br />
day of entertainment by outstanding performers at Vancouver<br />
Celebrates Diwali’s Diwali Downtown event and VCD’s new<br />
Moving Landscape, a series of performances by South Asian dance<br />
companies from across North America.<br />
Meanwhile, SFU’s second annual Diwali<br />
Gala will deliver great food and entertainment,<br />
with proceeds benefiting the university’s<br />
student programs and partnerships<br />
with the South Asian community.<br />
38<br />
28<br />
44<br />
Cover Photo by James Mah<br />
September/October 2009<br />
Publishers’ Note.............7<br />
Guest Column.............. 8<br />
Stellar Student............ 10<br />
Power Player. ............ 12<br />
Campus Talk...............14<br />
Unsung Hero.............. 16<br />
Life Lessons ...............18<br />
Scene & Society. .......... 20<br />
Fashion. ................ 50<br />
Beauty ...................58<br />
Weddings................ 60<br />
Auto Reviews ..............70<br />
Local Artist................75<br />
Reflections............... 78<br />
Columns<br />
22<br />
The Inspired Sufi<br />
by Azim Jamal<br />
24<br />
Politics<br />
by Andy Radia<br />
26<br />
Perspectives<br />
by Divinder Purewal<br />
64<br />
Horoscope<br />
by Georgia Nicols<br />
66<br />
Cuisine<br />
by Gurj Dhaliwal<br />
68<br />
Health & Fitness<br />
by Shefali Raja<br />
76<br />
Movie Reviews<br />
by Ron Ahluwalia
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Mehfil<br />
September/October 2009 VOLUME 13 ISSUE 5<br />
Editor<br />
Minto Vig<br />
Contributing Editor<br />
Hardip Vig<br />
Contributing Writers<br />
Robin Roberts, Rajinder Sandhu,<br />
Azim Jamal, Shefali Raja,<br />
Georgia Nicols, Gurj Dhaliwal<br />
Andy Radia, Anita Sangha,<br />
Alisha Randhawa, Jaspreet Singh Mangat<br />
Photography, Illustrations<br />
Ron Sangha, Sunny Photo Images,<br />
James Mah, Jorge Posada, Chandra Bodalia<br />
Production & Design<br />
Spice Graphics<br />
Sales & Marketing<br />
Rupa Vig<br />
Mehfil Magazine is published by<br />
Mehfil Holdings Inc.<br />
Publishers<br />
Rana Vig, Minto Vig<br />
Mailing Address:<br />
PO Box 338 - 552A Clarke Road,<br />
Coquitlam, BC V3J 0A3<br />
604-588-4660 • Fax 604-588-4665<br />
http://www.mehfilmagazine.com<br />
email: info@mehfilmagazine.com<br />
Mehfil Magazine is published six times a year by Mehfil Holdings<br />
Inc. Copyright 2009. All rights reserved. No part of this magazine<br />
may be reproduced without written permission from the publisher.<br />
Unsolicited editorial material of any kind will not be returned unless<br />
accompanied by a stamped, addressed envelope. Publisher assumes<br />
no responsibility for such material. Mehfil is protected through<br />
trademark registration in Canada. Subscriptions: 6 issues $20.00<br />
(plus G.S.T.) 12 issues $30.00 (plus G.S.T.). Single copies $4.95<br />
plus G.S.T. United States subscriptions: 6 issues $45.00 (U.S. Funds,<br />
G.S.T. included) 12 issues $68.00 (U.S. Funds, G.S.T. included).<br />
The opinions expressed by writers do not necessarily reflect<br />
the views of the publisher. Information presented is compiled from<br />
sources believed to be accurate, however, the publisher assumes no<br />
responsibility for error or omissions. Publication sales agreement<br />
number 40822579.<br />
Printed in Canada.<br />
Postmaster: if undeliverable please return to<br />
#338 - 552A Clarke Road,<br />
Coquitlam, BC V3J 0A3<br />
604-588-4665<br />
215-209 Carrall St.,<br />
Vancouver BC V6B 2J2<br />
www.canadian-visa-lawyer.com<br />
6 Mehfil September/October 2009
Publishers’ Note<br />
Inspiration comes in many forms. Through the<br />
stories we share with our readers, we hope that<br />
Mehfil Magazine is one of them — whether it’s<br />
inspiring ambitious young people setting career<br />
goals, entrepreneurs blazing a trail in business or<br />
industry, or those whose time and talent can make<br />
a difference to the community.<br />
Manjit Minhas, the subject of this issue’s<br />
cover story, was inspired by the example of her<br />
entrepreneur parents to launch a business of her<br />
own in the same industry.<br />
Harminder and Gurnam Sanghera, who are<br />
this issue’s Unsung Heroes, were inspired by their<br />
own struggles as new immigrants in England to<br />
volunteer their time and efforts to improve the lives<br />
of other immigrants.<br />
Motivational speaker and author Tulshi Sen,<br />
who is featured in this issue’s Spotlight, was<br />
inspired by the teachings of some of the greatest<br />
philosophers and spiritual masters of the East<br />
and West to spread the message that any goal is<br />
attainable if you truly believe it can be attained.<br />
We asked Sen to share with Mehfil readers several<br />
of the “ancient secrets” of success that he believes<br />
have the power to transform people’s lives.<br />
Also, in this issue, we introduce Campus Talk,<br />
a new section devoted to information and insights<br />
from students for students. We invite students to be<br />
part of the discussion online through our Facebook<br />
group, Campus Talk on Mehfil Magazine, and at<br />
www.mehfilmagazine.com.<br />
As this issue was going to press, we were in the<br />
midst of preparing for the first annual RBC Mehfil<br />
Magazine Awards for Excellence Gala to recognize<br />
individuals from the Indo-Canadian community<br />
who have made outstanding contributions in<br />
community service, philanthropy, business, the arts,<br />
education, technology.<br />
In the next issue of Mehfil Magazine, we’ll share<br />
the names of the winners as well as details of what<br />
promises to be an unforgettable event.<br />
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Mehfil September/October 2009 7
Guest Column<br />
by Bob Lenarduzzi<br />
Beyond the Beautiful Game<br />
When I made my debut for the<br />
Vancouver Whitecaps against the<br />
San Jose Earthquakes at Empire Stadium<br />
on May 5, 1974, little did I imagine<br />
where my experiences as a professional<br />
soccer player and playing for my hometown<br />
club would take me.<br />
There have been many great moments<br />
during my career in Vancouver. Winning<br />
the 1979 Soccer Bowl championship will<br />
always be a special memory, while claiming<br />
four straight Canadian Soccer League<br />
titles as Vancouver 86ers head coach is<br />
an achievement that I’m also very proud<br />
of. Even the recent success of winning<br />
two United Soccer Leagues First Division<br />
titles in 2006 and 2008 brought great joy<br />
to me as Whitecaps president.<br />
Though striving for success on the<br />
pitch has always been a passion of mine,<br />
there have been many things that I have<br />
taken from my time in professional soccer.<br />
Like many other professional athletes,<br />
the benefits of discipline, leadership, and<br />
teamwork have allowed me to transition<br />
from a player to roles as both a coach and<br />
an executive in the game.<br />
Though I am biased, I believe that<br />
soccer exceeds all other sports for its global<br />
popularity and inclusiveness. Soccer<br />
(or association football, as it is formally<br />
known) has no real barriers. It is gender<br />
neutral, requires minimal equipment,<br />
and can be played in any open space that<br />
is available. The simplicity of soccer’s<br />
rules makes it easy for all who play or<br />
watch from the sidelines to understand.<br />
It’s no wonder that soccer is the No. 1<br />
sport in the world.<br />
My time in professional soccer has<br />
allowed me to work with and meet some<br />
great people, both within the game and<br />
outside of it. One individual that I was<br />
privileged to meet was former Vancouver<br />
Canucks general manager Brian Burke.<br />
Not only has Brian proved to be an astute<br />
hockey executive, I always admired his<br />
candidness when he spoke to the media<br />
and in public. I also admired his commitment<br />
to the community, as he made<br />
it a policy at the Canucks to have the<br />
team reach out to all of its fans across the<br />
8 Mehfil September/October 2009<br />
Lower Mainland and British Columbia.<br />
Being a significant community asset is<br />
something that we’ve adopted in our<br />
mission statement at the Whitecaps and<br />
always look to strive towards with all<br />
aspects of our programming.<br />
One of the best aspects of my time<br />
with the Whitecaps has been meeting<br />
our many fans over the years. Their<br />
long-standing support has contributed<br />
greatly to the success that professional<br />
soccer has enjoyed in Vancouver. I look<br />
back to last season and the influence our<br />
supporters had during our triumphant<br />
playoff run. The atmosphere at Swangard<br />
Stadium in the USL-1 Championship<br />
Final against the Puerto Rico Islanders<br />
last Thanksgiving was particularly memorable.<br />
Yet one of the most exciting things<br />
that I’ve seen is how soccer has allowed<br />
people of all ages to get involved in the<br />
sport in various capacities. Each year,<br />
thousands of kids participate in our many<br />
community clinics and camps that we<br />
hold across the province. It is also interesting<br />
to see the more senior generation<br />
still playing the game at the “Masters”<br />
level. Whether a player is three years old<br />
or over 60 years of age, it’s terrific to think<br />
that the passion I have for soccer is being<br />
shared by a wide and varied segment of<br />
the population.<br />
What has also been fascinating is<br />
seeing a wider diversity of people get<br />
involved in soccer in recent years. Back<br />
in the North American Soccer League<br />
days, most of our fans were of European<br />
descent. Yet, if you attend a Whitecaps<br />
game these days, you will see people<br />
from all corners of the globe supporting<br />
our club and the game. We’ve even<br />
seen that impact in the number of young<br />
Indo-Canadians who have been part of<br />
our club’s programs in the last couple of<br />
years. For example, Gagandeep Dosanjh,<br />
Bhupinder (Bobby) Jhutty, and Sahil<br />
Sandhu have all developed as players in<br />
our full-time Whitecaps Residency program,<br />
with Dosanjh and Sandhu recently<br />
joining German club FC Energie Cottbus<br />
on loan. Our Whitecaps Prospects men’s<br />
team includes youngsters Harry Lakhan<br />
and Avindeep Sidhu, with both players<br />
having recently represented British<br />
Columbia at the 2009 Canada Games in<br />
Prince Edward Island.<br />
I’ve always been proud of the<br />
Whitecaps’ efforts to reach out to communities<br />
like the Indo-Canadian community,<br />
with whom we have had an active<br />
engagement for some time. I remember<br />
the excitement we generated during the<br />
2005 season when Indian recording artist<br />
Gurdas Maan performed the ceremonial<br />
kickoff before a men’s team match, while<br />
in 2006, the participation of the Indian<br />
national team in our four-team Whitecaps<br />
Nations Cup tournament generated the<br />
greatest support for a visiting team to<br />
Swangard. Off the pitch, the Whitecaps<br />
have also been a proud supporter of the<br />
CORSA Foundation (Central Organizing<br />
Resource for South Asians).<br />
This type of inclusiveness is only a<br />
small part of how soccer has united<br />
people around the world. For me, soccer<br />
is the only sport that has proven to<br />
mend fences between nations and people<br />
in ways that no other sport has been able<br />
to achieve. I remember the 1998 FIFA<br />
World Cup match between Iran and<br />
the United States in France. Before that<br />
game, both teams showed their solidarity<br />
as sportsmen by coming together as one<br />
group of players for a photo. It was a huge<br />
symbol of unity between two nations that<br />
had been at odds with each other on a<br />
political and diplomatic front for many<br />
years.<br />
The Whitecaps remain committed to<br />
making soccer inclusive for all. It is only<br />
by being open and inclusive that we will<br />
attract the best people to the sport and<br />
ensure that soccer continues to be “the<br />
Beautiful Game.” p<br />
Bob Lenarduzzi is the president of the Vancouver<br />
Whitecaps. He has been inducted into the North<br />
American Soccer Hall of Fame, the Canadian<br />
Soccer Hall of Fame, the British Columbian<br />
Sports Hall of Fame and the United Soccer<br />
Leagues Hall of Fame. In 2005, he received the<br />
Order of British Columbia for his contributions<br />
to the sport of soccer.
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S tellar Student<br />
Gagandeep Arora<br />
Age: 18 Hometown: Richmond, B.C.<br />
Academic awards: UBC President’s<br />
Entrance Scholarship, St. George’s<br />
School Diamond Jubilee Award,<br />
St. George’s School Headmaster’s<br />
Leadership Award, College Board AP<br />
Scholar With Honor.<br />
Area of study: Faculty of Science<br />
at UBC.<br />
Volunteer work: World Vision<br />
30-Hour Famine, St. George’s School<br />
Hamper Drive, Surrey Vaisakhi Parade.<br />
Advice for students: Keep your social<br />
life and school life planned out, know<br />
when to play and when to study. Having<br />
a well-organized schedule that dedicates<br />
enough time towards both will only benefit<br />
you in the long run.<br />
Your favourite confidence-building<br />
tips: Don’t take offence to constructive<br />
criticism; you don’t have to agree with<br />
everything others say to you.<br />
Success strategies: I can’t stress<br />
enough the importance of organization<br />
when it comes to school. Not only will it<br />
help you decide how much time to dedicate<br />
to school, but it will also prevent<br />
the build-up of unnecessary stress that<br />
results from not knowing what’s happening<br />
in your surroundings.<br />
How do you de-stress when school<br />
gets intense? I usually turn to sports<br />
when I need time to relax and focus on<br />
something other than academics. I find<br />
that focusing on something such as<br />
sports allows me to keep my mind at<br />
ease so that when I do need to dedicate<br />
numerous hours to school, it’s not as<br />
strenuous.<br />
What do you do in your spare<br />
time? I like to engage myself in various<br />
sports, both competitive and recreational,<br />
to stay active, which I believe is vital<br />
in maintaining a healthy mind. I particularly<br />
enjoy playing ball hockey when the<br />
weather in Vancouver permits it.<br />
What role has your family played<br />
in your academic career? My family<br />
has provided me with the unconditional<br />
support that I have looked for when<br />
times have gotten tough at school,<br />
whether it’s been with exams or busy<br />
schedules. My dad particularly has been<br />
a demonstration of hard work and perseverance,<br />
and I look to him especially<br />
when times get tough. I believe I am a<br />
direct product of the amount of time and<br />
effort that my family has invested in me<br />
during my academic career.<br />
A quote that inspires you: “That<br />
which does not kill us makes us<br />
stronger.”<br />
– Friedrich Nietzsche<br />
Photo by RON SANGHA<br />
10 Mehfil September/October 2009
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Sunny Dhinsa<br />
Age: 16 Hometown: Abbotsford, B.C<br />
Sport: Wrestling<br />
Team: Guru Gobind Singh<br />
Wrestling Club<br />
When did you become active in<br />
your sport? I started wrestling at the<br />
age of six.<br />
Most memorable accomplishments:<br />
Getting trained by Amandeep<br />
Sondhi. Getting nationally ranked<br />
athlete of the year at my school.<br />
Representing Team B.C and Team<br />
Canada.<br />
Sports career highlights: Winning<br />
Pan Am Championships; winning<br />
Canada Cup Jr. International two<br />
times; Victory Cup International Bronze<br />
Medalist; two-time National Champion<br />
and one time out standing wrestler in<br />
Canada; Canada Games gold medal;<br />
three-time Western Canada Champion;<br />
2009 Canada Bal Kesri.<br />
What do you love most about your<br />
sport? The fact that it is a one-man<br />
sport, and if I lose I have no one to<br />
blame but myself.<br />
How do you balance your school<br />
life with your sports life? I consider<br />
school first then wrestling. When I<br />
come home from school I finish my<br />
homework then train for wrestling.<br />
How has this sport influenced<br />
your life in other ways? This sport<br />
has given me a lot of respect in my<br />
community and in other communities.<br />
Who do you consider your support<br />
team outside your sport?<br />
Boota Singh Dhinsa, my dad and<br />
coach. Avtar Singh Dhinsa, my uncle<br />
and coach. Amandeep Sondhi, my<br />
cousin and trainer. Nav Dulat, my training<br />
partner. Rashpal K. Dhinsa, my<br />
mom.<br />
Advice for aspiring athletes: Keep<br />
your hopes high and keep your eyes<br />
on the prize and keep trying hard to<br />
achieve it.<br />
Career goals: Representing Canada<br />
on the international stage.<br />
12 Mehfil September/October 2009
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I shakily made my way onto the campus that wet fall day, I<br />
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room number, and unknowingly walked into a faculty meeting.<br />
Head down, all too conscious of being late, I rushed into<br />
the nearest available seat. When I finally looked up, I found<br />
what seemed to be the only first-year Political Science class<br />
filled entirely with mature students. I could feel every pair of<br />
eyes on me, as the room suddenly grew quiet. “You mean this<br />
isn’t Poli Sci 100?”<br />
Certainly, my first experience at UBC was particularly<br />
awkward. But while I may have started off, quite literally, on<br />
the wrong foot, I did manage to eventually find my place at<br />
university. However, many students find it difficult to forge a<br />
personal connection with their school.<br />
The typical university or college lecture hall serves as a metaphor<br />
for campus life. It’s equal parts intimidating and safe. It<br />
provides a challenging forum for students to voice their unique<br />
perspectives, but it also allows them to disappear into the background<br />
as one number among many. Large classes, which are<br />
common for the average first or second year, are overwhelming.<br />
If you are disconnected from your classes, your professors<br />
and from the campus experience, you are more likely to do the<br />
bare minimum — or drop out from your studies altogether.<br />
It is largely up to us to become actively involved in class<br />
discussions, campus clubs and events, and to initiate dialogues<br />
with our professors before or after class, or during their office<br />
hours. It is easy to feel alienated in such an intensely competitive<br />
environment if you do not make a concerted effort.<br />
Universities offer a variety of channels through which students<br />
can get involved. Many have allocated funding for students<br />
who want to create their own group or club if they feel<br />
a certain cause or interest is not being represented. Some even<br />
allow students to develop their own seminar class, approved by<br />
their department and under the guidance of a faculty sponsor.<br />
UBC, for example, has a Student Directed Seminars Advisory<br />
Committee that considers proposed course outlines from<br />
upper level students who want to run and develop their own<br />
eight- to 15-person seminar.<br />
The opportunities for achieving a sense of inclusion are<br />
endless; you simply need to identify your personal goals and<br />
interests and find out whatever university outlet supports<br />
these. Sometimes all it really takes is to<br />
attend a meeting, join a society or something<br />
as seemingly mundane as striking up<br />
a conversation with a favourite professor.<br />
Then again, stumbling into the wrong room<br />
is also effective.<br />
– Alisha Randhawa,<br />
UBC, Senior, Political Science and English<br />
Student Life<br />
For the launch of a new section aimed at giving<br />
post-secondary students a forum in which to share<br />
information and address issues that affect them, we<br />
asked students from Simon Fraser University and the<br />
University of British Columbia to offer advice to new<br />
students on everything from the best places to study<br />
to how to stay fit to where to get academic help.<br />
Rupeela Gill, Alumna, UBC Political Science<br />
Study spots: Main Library, Life Sciences, Wood<br />
library and during the nice weather take advantage<br />
of UBC’s plentiful beautiful green spaces.<br />
Keep fit: Go to class, participate in UBC Rec<br />
activities such as Day of the Longboat, intramurals,<br />
or the infamous Storm the Wall, walk to the nearby<br />
beach, or take a dip in aquatic centre pool (its free<br />
at times).<br />
Get involved: Join a club, a sport, or any oncampus<br />
activities to get the FULL campus experience, university life is<br />
incomplete without it; Clubs Days take place at the end of Sept with clubs<br />
for everything imaginable - from the UBC Bhangra Club or Sikh Students<br />
Association to academic-oriented clubs.<br />
Bikramjit Singh, Senior, UBC International<br />
Relations<br />
Keep fit: Check out the Student Recreation Centre<br />
which has 3 full-sized gyms in which drop-in<br />
sports as well as intramurals are held.<br />
Get involved: Join the UBC Bhangra Club which<br />
is a great way to get involved and interact with the<br />
Indo – Canadian community.<br />
Student resources: UBC offers many academic<br />
services on campus, simply login at www.leap.ubc.ca to check out all<br />
the services.<br />
Mandy Mann, Alumna, SFU<br />
Study spots: The library and around Images<br />
Theatre.<br />
Keep fit: Intramurals are a great way to keep fit<br />
and meet people.<br />
Get involved: Attend club events and check<br />
out Student Central see what’s happening around<br />
campus.<br />
Amrinder Sidhu, Senior, SFU Biochemistry &<br />
Business Administration<br />
Study spots: Library 4th, 5th and 6th floor;<br />
Academic Quadrangle; Physics, Chemistry and<br />
Biology lounges and Applied Science building.<br />
Keep fit: On-campus gym, swimming pool, track<br />
and field are open to all students.<br />
Get involved: SFU has student clubs of all types:<br />
academic, sports, recreational, informational, musical,<br />
fund-raiser and cultural. Students can join as<br />
many clubs as they like. They can also participate in mentorship and<br />
orientation leadership programs.<br />
14 Mehfil September/October 2009
Harmit Sarai, Junior, UBC Psychology<br />
Study spots: If you need a quiet place to study<br />
and want to be MIA for a while, especially during<br />
exam period, then the library inside the Neville<br />
Scarfe building is, by far, the best library to study<br />
at. You’ll have fewer distractions, because most<br />
of your friends will probably be “studying” at the<br />
Irving library.<br />
Get involved: You can get involved on campus,<br />
by volunteering with different student organizations/foundations.<br />
Also, there is an endless<br />
list of clubs you can join at UBC, from the Giddha Dance Club to the<br />
Motorcycling or Sailing Club, I’m sure there is something for everyone.<br />
Student resources: The free AMS tutoring sessions is one of many<br />
academic services offered at UBC and this is especially valuable for those<br />
students who may want extra help achieving their course goals.<br />
Hira Gill, Junior, UBC General Sciences<br />
Study spots: The Irving K. Barber Learning Centre is great for studying.<br />
You can sit in the open area and talk things<br />
over with friends or find yourself a seat in the<br />
stacks and study in a quieter environment.<br />
Keep fit: UBC Rec offers a variety of programs<br />
for all students. You can sign up a team<br />
for intramural soccer or rejuvenate yourself in<br />
a yoga class.<br />
Student resources: If you need help, don’t<br />
wait until it’s too late. Go to your professor’s or<br />
TA’s office hours and ask them to clarify any<br />
unclear concepts. They’re more than willing to<br />
help students who take the initiative to seek extra help.<br />
Ashish Gurung: Senior, SFU Business<br />
Study spots: Food, quiet space and convenience<br />
are all located at SFU Surrey, most notably<br />
the 4th and 5th floors.<br />
Keep fit: The pass to the gym facilities is<br />
included in the SFU tuition - use it!<br />
Get involved: There are many clubs/competitions<br />
on campus - sign up and don’t be afraid to<br />
take the lead.<br />
Student resources: The Student Learning<br />
Commons (SLC) is great place to receive help and improve your academic<br />
standing<br />
Andrew Kumar, Senior, SFU Management Systems<br />
and Interactive Design<br />
Study spots: The break out rooms at SFU<br />
Surrey are great places to study as they have<br />
whiteboards (great for organizing or getting creative)<br />
and ample power outlets for laptops and<br />
cell phone chargers as well as a mall downstairs<br />
to grab a quick snack.<br />
Get involved: Walk around Clubs Days and<br />
Week of Welcome and sign up for as many clubs<br />
that interest you as you can; they’ll all email you and then you can pick<br />
and choose which club/organization on campus to volunteer with.<br />
Student resources: Yosef Wosk Learning Commons is a good<br />
academic resource at SFU Surrey that provides tutors and academic<br />
assistance.<br />
Share your tips and experiences at www.mehfilmagazine.com<br />
Shine Your Shoes:<br />
take your game to the next level<br />
with scholarships and bursaries<br />
Assignments, provincial exams, part-time work and sports: a<br />
student’s life in high school can be a rollercoaster of social<br />
events, volunteer activities, intense exams and tight deadlines.<br />
How do you make time for it all despite juggling time for friends,<br />
family, relationships and school? Most importantly, how can you<br />
get recognized for the amazing work that you do inside and outside<br />
the classroom? I still remember the horrible advice my high<br />
school counsellor gave me when I first started thinking about<br />
scholarships and bursaries, “Well, you gotta work hard” he said.<br />
That meant very little to me; I wanted the juice: What are<br />
scholarship committees looking for? What types of activities<br />
should I get involved in? Who can I go to for advice and how do<br />
I present myself in the essays?<br />
Applying for scholarships is more than performing well in<br />
exams or volunteering at charity events, it means being ready to<br />
step out of your comfort zone, overcoming unique challenges,<br />
genuinely advocating for positive change, and caring for the<br />
well-being of others. Passion takes preference over performance<br />
in many scholarships, and committees frequently hunt for outstanding<br />
applicants who show potential to be great leaders of<br />
tomorrow.<br />
Sure, marks are important, but they’re not enough if not<br />
backed by an extensive background in service, dialogue, and<br />
athletics. Being well-rounded also means getting involved at different<br />
levels locally, nationally and on a global scale.<br />
Bursaries vs. Scholarships<br />
Bursaries are financial-need-based awards, which essentially<br />
means that a student is given money if he or she can demonstrate<br />
strong academic motivation as a high school student and would<br />
like financial assistance to pursue higher education. Applying for<br />
a bursary doesn’t mean that you are poor or anything, but it is a<br />
great opportunity for students to seek financial assistance if they<br />
need it. Many families have recently immigrated to Canada, for<br />
example, and may seek assistance to finance their child’s education<br />
while they find suitable work. Some families have a disabled<br />
member such as a sibling, child, parent or extended family member,<br />
while other families may have a parent who is unemployed.<br />
The beauty of bursaries is that they aren’t based on high marks or<br />
extracurricular activities; they only require that you demonstrate<br />
a need for money.<br />
Scholarships, on the other hand, really have little to do with<br />
a need for money. Although most students applying for scholarships<br />
sincerely need financial assistance, scholarships require that<br />
you excel in academics, community service, athletics and other<br />
extracurricular activities (music, drama, sports, book clubs, tutoring,<br />
etc.). In the next issue of the magazine, we will go in-depth<br />
as to how to apply for bursaries and scholarships, the personal<br />
qualities of outstanding students, and the types of projects that<br />
make great applications.<br />
– Jaspreet Singh Mangat,<br />
UBC, Senior, Honours Behavioural<br />
Neuroscience & Neurophysiology<br />
Please join in on the discussion online through<br />
our Facebook group, “Campus Talk on Mehfil<br />
Magazine” and at www.mehfilmagazine.com.<br />
For project ideas and ways to get involved in your<br />
community, email jaspreetsingh@nasaghc.com.<br />
Mehfil September/October 2009 15
Unsung Heroes<br />
Harminder and<br />
Gurnam Sanghera<br />
Dynamic Duo<br />
Harminder Sanghera gives virtually<br />
all of her free time to several causes<br />
close to her heart. In some homes<br />
that kind of commitment to volunteer work,<br />
while laudable, could cause friction, but not<br />
in the Sanghera household. That’s because<br />
Harminder’s husband, Gurnam, has the<br />
same passion for donating his time to worthy<br />
causes.<br />
Both say their interest in community<br />
work can be traced back to their childhoods<br />
in Punjab.<br />
“My father was very active in his village<br />
for the welfare of the people,” says<br />
Harminder. “He always encouraged us to<br />
work for the community.”<br />
“My father fought for India’s independence<br />
at the local level,” says Gurnam.<br />
“I imbibed that spirit of wanting to help<br />
people.”<br />
After marrying and moving from India to<br />
England in 1962, the couple became active<br />
in the struggle against racial discrimination.<br />
“We faced racism everywhere,” says Gurnam.<br />
“When it came to buying a house, finding a<br />
job, meeting other people . . . we faced discrimination<br />
at every step. That’s how I got<br />
involved more actively in community affairs.<br />
I met other activists, and with the Indian<br />
Workers Association of Great Britain, we<br />
were instrumental in bringing about the first<br />
race relations act in Britain in 1965.”<br />
Although both Gurnam and Harminder<br />
got their teaching certification in England<br />
and were working as teachers, they decided<br />
in the late 1970s to move to Canada. “We<br />
thought the future was not so bright in<br />
Britain so moved to Canada, which we<br />
thought of as a country of immigrants,” says<br />
Gurnam.<br />
From the time that they settled in<br />
Vancouver in 1979, they have affiliated<br />
themselves with several community causes.<br />
Following are just a few of the tireless<br />
couple’s contributions:<br />
In 1980, Harminder joined the India<br />
Mahila Association, a volunteer organization<br />
that provides referral and emotional<br />
support to South Asian women<br />
in crisis. She’s still on the board today.<br />
Twelve years ago, she was instrumental<br />
in establishing the South<br />
Burnaby Neighbourhood House,<br />
where she continues to serve on<br />
Photo by RON SANGHA<br />
16 Mehfil September/October 2009
the board. It was one of many examples of<br />
Harminder going into action after seeing a<br />
gap in community services.<br />
“Before I began working for the Burnaby<br />
School District as a multicultural liaison<br />
worker, I was a settlement worker at the<br />
South Vancouver Neighbourhood House,”<br />
she explains. “When I came to Burnaby,<br />
I saw that there was no neighbourhood<br />
house. Eventually, I got together with several<br />
other people and we formed one. Today,<br />
we have a budget of $2 million.”<br />
Since retiring from her job with the<br />
Burnaby School District, Harminder has<br />
made an even greater commitment to volunteer<br />
work. Today, in addition to giving<br />
her time to the Mahila Association and the<br />
South Burnaby Neighbourhood House, she<br />
is on the Red Cross’s South Asian Advisory<br />
Committee, which is currently focused on<br />
educating seniors about disaster preparedness.<br />
“We have reached a thousand seniors in<br />
the Lower Mainland through the program,”<br />
she says.<br />
Meanwhile, Gurnam, who retired from<br />
his job as a social worker in 2000, has focused<br />
on promoting social and religious tolerance.<br />
Over the years, he has been involved<br />
with the Association of Sikh Gurdwaras of<br />
North America and the Hindu-Sikh Forum<br />
of North America. His work with the latter<br />
includes helping to organize an India Day<br />
celebration this past August on the grounds<br />
of the Guru Nanak Gurdwara in Surrey.<br />
The event attracted thousands, as well as<br />
politicians and other dignitaries.<br />
“It was a celebration promoting the<br />
message that as Canadians we should unite<br />
here and live as good neighbours with other<br />
Canadians,” says Gurnam.<br />
In December, he will attend the World<br />
Parliament of Religions in Melbourne,<br />
Australia, to give a speech on interfaith<br />
relations. (He earned his PhD in interfaith<br />
relations from Punjabi University.)<br />
Husband and wife credit each other for<br />
providing the support and encouragement<br />
that allows each of them to share their time<br />
and energy with others.<br />
Speaking for them both, Harminder<br />
says: “You can only work if your partner<br />
supports you in whatever you do.”<br />
She adds that she and her husband are<br />
both inspired by the sheer enormity of what<br />
volunteers can accomplish.<br />
“This world is so beautiful, and the people<br />
who have made it what it is today were<br />
not people who simply earned their living<br />
and then went home,” she says. “Billions<br />
of dollars worth of work is done by volunteers.<br />
We’re just two of those contributing<br />
our part.” p<br />
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Unemployment Blues?<br />
Although we are facing a recession, it is still<br />
possible to obtain the job you are looking for. However,<br />
you have to be prepared to go that extra mile<br />
to get the job you really want. Here are five tips to<br />
assist you.<br />
Resume revamp: Many of us take our old resume<br />
and quickly update it with our latest work<br />
experience to apply for a new position. In today’s<br />
market, this won’t help you stand out. Review your<br />
entire resume with a fresh perspective. Are you<br />
missing any key work or volunteer experiences<br />
that would showcase to employers your enhanced<br />
skill set?<br />
Accomplishment statements: Does your resume<br />
include all your key accomplishments? For<br />
example, if you increased productivity at work by<br />
introducing a new concept, state this on your resume.<br />
If you are able to quantify the increase in<br />
productivity, then do so.<br />
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Cover letter: Be strategic. Do not include a<br />
laundry list of accomplishment statements on<br />
your cover letter. Your cover letter should have an<br />
overall theme with each paragraph having a focus.<br />
Include a relevant accomplishment statement for<br />
each paragraph, when possible.<br />
Informational interviews.. An informational<br />
interview is not an opportunity for you to ask for<br />
a job, but for you to learn more about the occupation,<br />
the company, the industry, etc. Ultimately, the<br />
informational interview allows you to collect information<br />
not possible through other sources and increases<br />
your connections. To enhance your ability<br />
to obtain a job in this recession, target employers<br />
who are in industries that are recession-proof (i.e.<br />
logistics companies).<br />
Networking: Applying to newspaper ads and<br />
online job postings is not going to cut it these days!<br />
Networking with professionals in your industry is<br />
the key to jump starting your job search and obtaining<br />
the job that you want! Did you know that<br />
80 per cent of jobs are not advertised? Become a<br />
member of your industry association and locate<br />
the events calendar by visiting the association’s<br />
website. Also, think of other means to network with<br />
professionals. For example, if you are a business<br />
professional looking for work, attending events<br />
of the Vancouver Board of Trade, Delta Chamber<br />
of Commerce, etc. would be useful. Remember<br />
that networking has a long-run payoff, so continue<br />
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Anita Sangha has worked in<br />
human resources and career<br />
counselling for over 9 years.<br />
If you have any questions<br />
about this article, or would<br />
like to learn more about<br />
how Kwantlen’s Cooperative<br />
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incorporates attitude<br />
training into its courses,<br />
please contact her at anita.<br />
sangha@kwantlen.ca
Scene & Society<br />
1<br />
1<br />
2<br />
2<br />
3<br />
Grandma’s Gala<br />
in memory of Gurmej K. Dhanda<br />
(benefitting Scleroderma BC)<br />
1. Dr Dhar Dhanda with his wife Harv and<br />
daughter Kiran.<br />
2. Saraya, Asha, Sarina, Anaya and Kiran<br />
enjoy face-painting.<br />
4<br />
MLA Harry Bains with sufi-sensation Kailash<br />
Kher, MLA Raj Chohan and promoter Kamal<br />
Sharma at a dinner to honour the singer.<br />
(from left) Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s Simone Le<br />
Blanc and SPARK Foundation president Amarjit Samra<br />
accept a $10,000 donation from Bud Patel, CORSA<br />
Foundation director. Also pictured (far right) is Kwantlen<br />
Polytechnic University Chancellor Arvinder Bubber.<br />
5<br />
First Annual South Asian<br />
Business Association of<br />
BC’s Golf Tournament 6<br />
1. Founding members<br />
2. Indra Bhan and Dr. Gulzar Cheema<br />
3. Tochi Sandhu, Barry Christiansen,<br />
Tim Mackie, Rajdeep S. Deol<br />
4. Kashif Mian, Daljit Dehal and<br />
Ranjit Sandhu<br />
5. Kal Bachra and Mike Buttar<br />
6. Justin Dhaliwal, Gurveer Pattar,<br />
and S.S. Teja<br />
7. Pravin Narotam and Surrey Board<br />
of Trade CEO Anita Huberman<br />
7<br />
20 Mehfil September/October 2009
Guru Gobind Singh<br />
Children’s Foundation’s<br />
Children’s Run Across<br />
Canada<br />
1<br />
1 & 2. Runners make their<br />
way across the country.<br />
3. Mission accomplished!<br />
The children completed the<br />
final section of the run at<br />
Stanley Park in Vancouver.<br />
The 7000-kilometre crosscountry<br />
relay raised funds for<br />
children’s hospitals across<br />
Canada.<br />
2<br />
1 2<br />
3<br />
3<br />
4<br />
2010 Commonwealth<br />
Games Fundraiser<br />
hosted by Avtar Bains<br />
and Monika Deol<br />
Abbotsford Mayor George Peary with Punjabi Patrika<br />
publishers Andy and Pritam Sidhu at the lauch of the<br />
weekly edition. The couple raised more than $10,000<br />
for the Abbotsford Police Foundation by selling the first<br />
edition of the paper for $100 each.<br />
1. Hosts Avtar Bains and<br />
Monika Deol<br />
2. Robin Dhir, Gary Lunn (Minister of State for Sport)<br />
and Thomas Jones (Chief Executive Officer of<br />
Commonwealth Games Canada)<br />
3. Former Vancouver mayoral candidate Peter Ladner<br />
and Wally Oppal<br />
4. Olympic weightlifter Jasvir Singh and Olympic<br />
badminton player and Canadian national champion<br />
Anna Rice<br />
Mehfil September/October 2009 21
The Inspired Sufi<br />
By Azim Jamal<br />
Life Is Not a Race<br />
Life is not a race to be won but a<br />
journey to be savoured. We forget<br />
that the path has no value when<br />
you arrive. It is the journey that counts.<br />
When we enjoy the ride and we are<br />
relaxed, we see the signs around us. In<br />
the frenzy of life we miss the signs. Also,<br />
when you are relaxed you get insightful<br />
ideas from within.<br />
I used to drop my children at school<br />
every morning. It was a big job getting<br />
them both aboard and in time for school.<br />
It was a struggle and stressful. Driving fast<br />
in the rush hour was not the best way to<br />
start the morning for me or the kids. It<br />
was humbling, especially for a guy who<br />
teaches others how to be calm and collected<br />
under pressure.<br />
I decided that I would do my best to<br />
get the kids in the car and once we were<br />
in the car, I would not look at the watch.<br />
Instead, we would start our journey by<br />
saying our morning prayers together followed<br />
by a game I played with my son,<br />
who is the younger of my two children.<br />
The game included teaching him quotes<br />
from different philosophers and authors<br />
ranging from Shakespeare to Rumi. The<br />
number of quotes we would learn or discuss<br />
would coincide with the date of the<br />
month. Today, at age 14 my son knows at<br />
least 50 quotes by heart and now comes<br />
up with his own quotes at will. While<br />
praying and playing en route to school, I<br />
had no time to change lanes or compete<br />
with fellow drivers. In fact, I was gentle<br />
enough to let others overtake me at will.<br />
Guess what?<br />
We were hardly ever late to school<br />
and even if we were late the odd time we<br />
enjoyed the ride and had a great start to<br />
the morning!<br />
Being attentive and focused makes<br />
you connect to your deep power, which<br />
gives you signs that you follow sometimes<br />
unconsciously!<br />
When JK Rowling first had a sudden<br />
idea about Harry and the wizard school,<br />
she was so excited and sure from within<br />
that she never let that idea slip away<br />
despite going though abuse, miscarriage,<br />
the death of her mother, divorce, being<br />
fired from her occupation — all after<br />
she began writing her book. She kept the<br />
What you give attention and<br />
energy to, you invite in your<br />
life. If you put your attention<br />
towards things you want, you<br />
invite “signs” that lead you<br />
to what you want. If you put<br />
your attention toward energy<br />
to things you do not want, you<br />
invite “signs” that lead you to<br />
what you do not want.<br />
idea and never let go of it even though<br />
it took her four years plus to complete<br />
her first book. Today, she is the second<br />
richest woman in the world. She followed<br />
and acted upon the sign that came from<br />
within!<br />
In the corporate setting, employees are<br />
most alert when they are wholly present.<br />
They provide the best service when present.<br />
You are more tuned to all your faculties<br />
when you are fully present. Being 100<br />
per cent focused gets you the best results.<br />
Think of a basketball player going for a<br />
three pointer with a second left on the<br />
buzzer. The crowd is shouting, the players<br />
are shouting, the coach is shouting.<br />
What is the basketball player going to<br />
do? Think of dinner at night? Or what<br />
his spouse said three years ago? Of course<br />
not. His mind, body, and soul are all<br />
going to be 100 per cent present for him<br />
to get the three points to win the game.<br />
Imagine being present like the basketball<br />
player with your body, mind and spirit<br />
completely attentive. Can you imagine<br />
the power we can create with that kind of<br />
attention and energy? Most people have<br />
their thoughts engrossed with the past<br />
and future thus scattering energy and losing<br />
focus and power.<br />
What you give attention and energy<br />
to, you invite in your life. If you put your<br />
attention towards things you want, you<br />
invite “signs” that lead you to what you<br />
want. If you put your attention toward<br />
things you do not want, you invite “signs”<br />
that lead you to what you do not want.<br />
To invite positive results and get the<br />
“signs” that lead you to these results,<br />
focus on what you want. The less the<br />
doubt, the quicker the results!<br />
There are 24 hours in a day for all of<br />
us and in a way a level playing field for all<br />
of us. You can probably do anything in<br />
life, but not everything! Try preparing an<br />
ideal budget of 168 hours for one week.<br />
Record where your time goes and evaluate<br />
your productivity from a quantitative and<br />
qualitative standpoint. Do this once every<br />
three or four months. This will be very<br />
helpful in making important adjustments<br />
to how you manage your time.<br />
Life is not a race. It is the quality of<br />
time that matters, not quantity! p<br />
Azim Jamal is the No. 1 Amazon Bestselling Co-Author<br />
of The Power of Giving: How Giving Back Enriches Us<br />
All (published by Penguin). Now available on Amazon<br />
and at major bookstores.<br />
22 Mehfil September/October 2009
introducing the<br />
Mehfil<br />
M a g a z i n e<br />
Awards<br />
for Excellence<br />
M<br />
is power.”<br />
“I strongly believe that knowledge<br />
is power and I am passionate about<br />
life-long learning. As an educator I<br />
consider it my social responsibility to<br />
share knowledge not only with my<br />
young and eager learners, but also<br />
with the community at large.”<br />
Dr. Gira Bhatt<br />
Faculty of Arts:<br />
Psychology Faculty Member<br />
Principle Investigator and Project<br />
Director for CURA at Kwantlen. The<br />
team was awarded a $1-million federal<br />
research grant for innovative research<br />
into youth involvement in gangs.<br />
Kwantlen is B.C.’s<br />
Polytechnic University.<br />
Recognizing Outstanding Achievement<br />
in the Indo-Canadian Community<br />
EIGHT AWARDS • EIGHT OUTSTANDING INDIVIDUALS<br />
(LOOK FOR FULL COVERAGE OF THIS IMPORTANT PREMIERE CELEBRATION<br />
IN THE NEXT EDITION OF <strong>MEHFIL</strong> MAGAZINE.)<br />
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AND Associates<br />
en.ca l 604.599.2000<br />
A.S. Bubber<br />
& Associates<br />
9/22/2009 12:38:16 PM<br />
It’s About Quality, It’s About Time…<br />
BC Regional<br />
Innovation Chair<br />
at UFV<br />
Gagan<br />
Foods International
Politics<br />
by Andy Radia<br />
Governments Addicted<br />
to Gambling Revenues<br />
Casinos, lotteries, slot machines, race<br />
tracks, online poker – Canadians are<br />
inundated with gambling opportunities.<br />
Recent studies suggest that we are now<br />
spending five times more money on these<br />
games of chance than we did in the early<br />
1990s.<br />
While most of us are able to limit ourselves<br />
to a weekly purchase of a lottery<br />
ticket or a monthly visit to a casino, there<br />
is a growing number of Canadians who<br />
are becoming problem gamblers. According<br />
to the Canadian Center on Substance<br />
Abuse, between 3 per cent and 5 per cent<br />
now have gambling addictions. In other<br />
words, between 600,000 and one million<br />
Canadians are grappling with the financial<br />
and social problems related to gambling.<br />
A 2004 University of Chicago study<br />
outlined the consequences of “pathological”<br />
or problem gambling. The researchers<br />
isolated the problem of gambling (from<br />
drug use, alcoholism, mental health issues,<br />
etc..) and found that pathological<br />
gamblers compared to non-gamblers were<br />
5.3 times more likely to lose their jobs<br />
in the next year, 4.5 times more likely<br />
to file for bankruptcy in their lifetime,<br />
seven times more likely to be arrested,<br />
three times more likely to be divorced,<br />
and almost twice as likely to suffer mental<br />
health issues. Moreover, the Canada Safety<br />
Council suggests that every year 200<br />
people in Canada commit suicide because<br />
of problems resulting from compulsive<br />
gambling.<br />
So what are legislators across Canada<br />
doing about this emerging social malady?<br />
Very little. In fact, the governments are<br />
filling their coffers from gambling.<br />
Gambling regulation across Canada<br />
is under the authority of the provincial<br />
governments. For these governments,<br />
gambling has become big business. Today<br />
there are four times as many governmentsanctioned<br />
gambling venues across the<br />
country than there were in 1992. Canadians<br />
can now choose to gamble at one of<br />
87,000 gambling machines (slot machines<br />
and video lottery terminals), 33,000 lottery<br />
ticket centres, 60 permanent casinos,<br />
250 race tracks and tele-theatres. There<br />
are also 25,000 licenses granted to run<br />
various bingos, temporary casinos, raffles,<br />
pull tickets and other activities.<br />
Provincial governments now earn in<br />
excess of $13 billion a year from operating<br />
(or facilitating) gambling establishments.<br />
In other words, 3.8 per cent of all<br />
revenue raised by the provinces is derived<br />
from gambling sources. It’s no wonder<br />
that governments are addicted to gambling<br />
revenues.<br />
Provincial governments<br />
now earn in excess of<br />
$13 billion a year from<br />
operating (or facilitating)<br />
gambling establishments.<br />
In other words, 3.8 per<br />
cent of all revenue raised<br />
by the provinces is<br />
derived from gambling<br />
sources. It’s no wonder that<br />
governments are addicted<br />
to gambling revenues.<br />
For the most part, the specific allocation<br />
of gambling revenues is at the discretion<br />
of governments. For some provinces<br />
there can be commitments to spend a certain<br />
percentage of these revenues in specific<br />
areas such as health care, municipal<br />
infrastructure or the arts. All provinces<br />
also spend a portion, albeit a diminutive<br />
portion, of these revenues for gambling<br />
addiction services. The province of Ontario,<br />
for example, spends $36 million a<br />
year – but $36 million a year doesn’t come<br />
close to making up for the social costs of<br />
gambling.<br />
Online gambling websites are an<br />
emerging competitor segment to government-sanctioned<br />
venues. Canadians<br />
have taken a liking to online gambling;<br />
it’s estimated that we account for 10 per<br />
cent of all international online gambling<br />
revenues.<br />
But instead of finding ways to combat<br />
online gambling, governments in this<br />
country have chosen to profit from it.<br />
Provincial governments are now expanding<br />
their own online gambling programs.<br />
The British Columbia Lottery<br />
Corporation, for example, recently said<br />
that it will raise the weekly gambling<br />
limit on its website from $120/person to<br />
$10,000/person. In its press release, the<br />
government shamelessly announced that<br />
it wanted to get its hands on the $87 million<br />
that B.C. residents spend annually on<br />
offshore gambling websites.<br />
Mass expansion of government-sponsored<br />
gambling has unequivocally created<br />
substantial numbers of new problem<br />
gamblers. The British Columbia government<br />
operates a Problem Gambling helpline<br />
service that individuals who need<br />
help with their gambling addictions can<br />
call for counselling and prevention services.<br />
In 2001 the helpline received 1,340<br />
calls; in 2008 they received 5,656 calls.<br />
The British Columbia government’s own<br />
Responsible Gambling website references<br />
a study that admits “increased availability<br />
leads to more gambling and problem<br />
gambling.”<br />
As the predominant provider of gambling<br />
venues in Canada, the provincial<br />
governments are therefore directly culpable<br />
for the increasing societal and financial<br />
repercussions of problem gambling.<br />
The easy revenues were just too hard<br />
for our elected officials to resist. It’s a classic<br />
case of let’s make the money now and<br />
deal with the problems later. p<br />
Andy Radia is political columnist based in Vancouver,<br />
B.C. His articles have been published in the Vancouver<br />
Sun, Winnipeg Free Press and Vancouver Metro. He<br />
can be contacted through his website at www.radia.ca<br />
24 Mehfil September/October 2009
Study in India!<br />
Get B.C. business credits at UFV’s<br />
satellite campus in Chandigarh<br />
Since 2006, the University of the Fraser Valley has delivered its internationally<br />
recognized, highly practical Bachelor of Business Administration degree — in<br />
collaboration with Sanatan Dharma College (SDCC) — in Chandigarh, India.<br />
The partnership allows students from Canada to obtain UFV business credits, or to<br />
complete a semester or more abroad. Interactive teaching provides students with<br />
practical opportunities to apply their skills in case studies and industry projects.<br />
Registration open for 2010!<br />
ufv.india@ufv.ca<br />
www.ufv.ca/chandigarh<br />
Delivered since 2006 through a special partnership with Sanatan Dharma College<br />
Chandigarh (SDCC) in Sector 32C, a post-graduate affiliate of Panjab University<br />
UFV academic advisors will help you to<br />
determine the course plan that is right for you,<br />
and will assist you in preparation for your<br />
international experience. Before your departure,<br />
UFV will also provide you with the opportunity<br />
to speak with Indian students who have<br />
completed at least one year at the Chandigarh<br />
campus before transferring to UFV in Canada.<br />
Please note, not all BBA subjects are offered at all times in Chandigarh.
P erspectives<br />
by Divinder Purewal<br />
Runaway pride<br />
Whenever I see the familiar sight of a<br />
wedding car, I smile because it reminds<br />
me that despite all the things that<br />
have changed in the world, people still<br />
want to get married.<br />
For most people, getting married is<br />
probably the biggest day of their lives. It’s<br />
something that they dream about. Over<br />
the years I have spoken to hundreds of<br />
female friends and relatives who have<br />
shared every aspect of their dream wedding<br />
like it was a military exercise! They<br />
have gone into incredibly minute (and often<br />
boring) detail about everything from<br />
the lengha they’ll wear and the colour of<br />
their groom’s turban to what song would<br />
play for their first dance.<br />
I’ve had to be the voice of reason during<br />
these fantasies and remind them that<br />
they need to find someone willing to marry<br />
them first!<br />
As a realist and an old-fashioned romantic<br />
at heart, I appreciate that times<br />
have changed and weddings have, too.<br />
Nowadays it seems that a growing number<br />
of couples want their very own Dream<br />
Bollywood Wedding or DBW.<br />
Ker-ching!<br />
The DBW often costs more money<br />
than most people’s first house a generation<br />
ago! Often-times it’s the parents’ desire to<br />
show that they’ve “made it” that pushes<br />
the elaborate wedding plans along.<br />
In 2009 the average Indian wedding<br />
costs something in the region of $30,000<br />
to $40,000. The DBW, on the other<br />
hand, can cost hundreds of thousands of<br />
dollars that you’ll never see again. Why<br />
does it cost so much? Well, I’ll tell you.<br />
The DBW involves a cast of hundreds of<br />
extras.<br />
Gone are the days when well-meaning<br />
auntyjis spent the days before the wedding<br />
cooking huge pots of sholay, aloo<br />
gobi and chicken curry over a lethal-looking<br />
gas canister for the big day. Back then,<br />
when that day arrived the reception took<br />
place in a rented hall that, if you were<br />
“fancy,” had a balloon arch and a used<br />
“congratulations” banner draped across<br />
the paper tablecloth on the head table.<br />
The food would be served in overflowing<br />
metal thalis by male relatives who seemed<br />
to take great delight in splashing some of<br />
the dishes on guests’ clothes.<br />
Now the food at a DBW is catered by<br />
top Indian chefs, and the meals are served<br />
by elegant waiting staff and the evening<br />
includes live performances from professional<br />
artists like Gurdas Mann.<br />
Here comes the bride and vroom!<br />
We seem to have embraced a bigger is<br />
better mentality. For instance, the bride<br />
and groom wear outfits that cost a small<br />
fortune. Even the wedding car, which in<br />
the past was the Mercedes owned by some<br />
distant uncle, has been replaced by not<br />
one, but a fleet of limousines or high-end<br />
sports cars. In the pursuit of outdoing one<br />
another, couples are adopting ever more<br />
elaborate ways of making their grandest<br />
of grand entrances. I have even heard of<br />
weddings where the bride and groom have<br />
arrived at the hall in a helicopter or a hotair<br />
balloon or on the back of an elephant.<br />
What happened to doing things in an<br />
understated way? When I’m at a lavish<br />
wedding reception I feel like I’m Shrek at<br />
the royal court! I look around and all I see<br />
is a sea of waxed eyebrows, pristine facials,<br />
immaculately made-up faces . . . and the<br />
women look good, too!<br />
So, am I advocating that we go back to<br />
the auntyjis’ home-cooked food served in<br />
thalis? Hell no — not even for a minute.<br />
What I’m really saying is let’s think about<br />
our kids’ financial futures and maybe scale<br />
down the wedding in return for a nice deposit<br />
on a house or to pay off education<br />
fees.<br />
My wife and I are trying to convince<br />
our kids that the Chapel of Love in Las Vegas<br />
or an intimate Caribbean beach wedding<br />
is the way to go. Wish us luck! p<br />
Divinder Singh Purewal, 40, is a human<br />
resources professional in Surrey, B.C.<br />
What’s your perspective?<br />
“I completely believe that people<br />
feel pressure to have a lavish<br />
wedding. The most memorable<br />
example to me isn't something<br />
completely over the top like<br />
flamingos or live peacocks being<br />
at a wedding reception as decor<br />
but more serious things like the<br />
amount of gold that is given to<br />
relatives. One wedding in Singapore had<br />
18 milnis and each person was given gold<br />
rings. I am not joking when I say that the<br />
father of the bride had a heart attack (literally)<br />
while the milnis were going on!<br />
“I would rather live within my means<br />
and I don't care about what other people<br />
think, so I personally am not influenced by<br />
the "bigger is better" trend. However, if I<br />
marry into a family that is influenced by this<br />
trend, then things could get a bit complicated.<br />
I hope that whoever I find to become<br />
my partner in life will be respectful of my<br />
wishes and my financial situation because<br />
the real point of a wedding is the joining of<br />
two families, not how grand your reception<br />
was.”<br />
— Sharin Randhawa, student/co-host of<br />
Punjabi Vibes, Surrey, B.C.<br />
“Based on my observations as in<br />
'insider' in the wedding industry,<br />
it's very evident that the pressure<br />
to have a lavish wedding is sky<br />
high. In our culture, this pressure used to<br />
traditionally come from the desire/need to<br />
please the groom's family. As Canadians,<br />
we've seen this element diminish over time<br />
and become overtaken by the desire for<br />
families to compete within their own family<br />
circles. And still further pressure is sometimes<br />
from the bride and groom themselves<br />
who aim to match or exceed lavish weddings<br />
displayed by their peers.<br />
“I was shown the actual bill for a $3000<br />
wedding cake and that literally 'takes the<br />
cake'. Sadly, however, I didn't get a slice!<br />
“All that being said, higher costs definitely<br />
have some correlation with having a<br />
high number of guests which will likely be<br />
the case for my wedding. However, I hope<br />
the groom and I are able to build a reasonable<br />
budget, manage the competitive pressure,<br />
and put the rest of our money towards<br />
our future.”<br />
— JJ Kaur, Professional Makeup Artist<br />
& Hairstylist Surrey, BC<br />
26 Mehfil September/October 2009
“I work in the wedding industry<br />
and I have noticed that families are<br />
increasingly sparing no expense<br />
when it comes to wedding celebrations.<br />
I do understand that these are<br />
happy times for families and they do want to<br />
express and share that celebration with those<br />
people close to them, but it is getting excessive.<br />
“I know of one girl spending $15,000 on a<br />
bridal lengha.<br />
“She also flew my partner and I (we own<br />
a makeup/hair company) out to her city to do<br />
her wedding hair and makeup, paid for our<br />
airfare, hotel, and meal allowances on top of<br />
our service fees. This bride’s fiance was going<br />
abroad to school. She had not discussed her<br />
living arrangements after marriage. She had<br />
no plans on joining her husband while he was<br />
attending school, and she did not want to live<br />
with her inlaws without him. So here is this<br />
couple about to be married, and they had not<br />
discussed her living arrangements after marriage.<br />
I could see the potential hornets nest of<br />
problems for this couple.<br />
“My sister married into a Catholic family,<br />
and I discovered that the church requires<br />
couples that are entering into marriage to go<br />
to couples counseling before marriage so that<br />
they both enter into the union with realistic<br />
expectations of each other. I believe that all<br />
couples regardless of faith need to enter into<br />
this practice. I have been married for eight<br />
years, and it is not like ‘filmi’ romances, it’s<br />
hard work, and marriage requires two people to<br />
treat each other as equals and to work towards<br />
the same goals.”<br />
— Shannon Mann, Delta, B.C.<br />
“I think that couples are under pressure<br />
to have a lavish wedding from<br />
parents and relatives. Some perhaps<br />
even from friends who had lavish<br />
weddings so they feel the need to do the same<br />
to maintain the same social standard.<br />
“Most over-the-top? I think it was an out<br />
door wedding where we had to blow bubbles<br />
for the couple after the ceremony and then they<br />
had white doves to fly away.<br />
“If I were getting married, I don’t think I<br />
would be influenced by the idea that bigger<br />
is better as I just want people whom I know<br />
personally to be part of my special day. A<br />
wedding to me is a personal commitment of my<br />
love to the man of my dreams and to have close<br />
friends there to witness as we honour our serious<br />
commitment to each other.”<br />
— Rajela Singh, Burnaby<br />
Share your comments at<br />
www.facebook.com/mehfilmagazine or email<br />
us at opinions@mehfilmagazine.com<br />
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Got something on your mind?<br />
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Constituency Office:<br />
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T: 604.501.3201 F: 604.501.3233<br />
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Kwantlen’s co-op program gave<br />
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Mehfil September/October 2009 27<br />
6
Feature<br />
Tulshi Sen<br />
Mastering<br />
The<br />
Mind<br />
Getting him to agree to an interview is<br />
easy — he wants to share his knowledge with<br />
as many people as possible. Getting him to<br />
talk about himself? That’s another story. He<br />
responds to each question about his life with<br />
a parable.<br />
“Who was your master?” we asked.<br />
“I had many masters,” he says. When<br />
asked for their names he smiles and says the<br />
true teachers keep as low a profile as possible<br />
and relates a story:<br />
“A man was travelling to Calcutta. When<br />
he was halfway there he ran into a couple and<br />
asked, ‘Is this the way to Calcutta?’<br />
“‘Yes,’ they said, ‘but there’s a better, way.<br />
Go back and take the other road.’<br />
“The man went back to the beginning<br />
and started down the other road. Half way to<br />
Calcutta he ran into another man and asked<br />
him, ‘Is this the way to Calcutta?’<br />
“‘Yes’ the other man replied. ‘But there<br />
is a faster way. Go back and take the third<br />
route.’ So the man went back to the beginning<br />
and starts down the third route. Half<br />
way to Calcutta, he ran into an elderly<br />
couple...”<br />
You can guess the rest of the story. The<br />
man keeps going back to the beginning and<br />
by Rajinder Sandhu<br />
Tulshi Sen doesn’t want to talk about himself. Except, that is, to relate<br />
personal experiences to help his students learn. Insisting he is simply<br />
a messenger delivering age-old secrets of success, he shies away from the<br />
limelight. “I’m not here to become famous,” he says while waiting to start a<br />
workshop on success. “I’ve come here to spread a teaching that I love.”<br />
never makes it to Calcutta.<br />
There are many paths to the truth, says<br />
Sen, and a true master will not accept wouldbe<br />
disciples who are already going down one<br />
path. Most people who are already following<br />
a path, or program, should stick with<br />
it rather than jump from one program to<br />
another. “Otherwise, you’ll never make it to<br />
Calcutta.”<br />
Promoting his teachings without drawing<br />
too much attention to himself is a bit of a<br />
paradox, he admits, but he emphasizes that<br />
too many people put the messenger on a<br />
pedestal and it’s too easy for the messenger<br />
to let his ego get the best of him.<br />
“When the light bulb thinks it is the light,<br />
that’s ego,” he says, adding that eventually<br />
the bulb will burn out, but the energy, the<br />
root of the light, will still be there to shine<br />
through the next light bulb. The bulb is just<br />
a messenger.<br />
Born in undivided India in Dhaka in<br />
1944, Sen, who describes himself as a barefoot<br />
boy from Calcutta, worked for the East<br />
India Hotel company before joining Bata<br />
Shoes, which transferred him to Canada in<br />
1972 at the age of 28.<br />
“I wanted to get some overseas experience<br />
28 Mehfil September/October 2009
Photo by Jorge Pasada<br />
Mehfil September/October 2009 29
“I realized that when I was showing people business that the greatest<br />
thing they needed, more than learning business, was to learn to develop<br />
the mental muscle to build a business. To set visions and goals”<br />
— Tulshi Sen<br />
and I was intrigued by Canada because<br />
people said there were a lot of opportunities,”<br />
he says.<br />
“I became a training director and<br />
labour negotiator for Bata Shoes. It was<br />
a fantastic experience. At that time they<br />
had 106 companies in 96 countries,”<br />
says Sen. “I got the full spectrum of how<br />
international business worked.”<br />
Although he could see a great career<br />
ahead of him as a company man, Sen<br />
wanted to be independent, so in 1974 he<br />
started an import/export business.<br />
“One of the products was a headlight<br />
reminder,” he recalls, recounting the<br />
problem of drained car batteries caused<br />
by headlights being left on.<br />
“Anyone could install this device easily<br />
in their car and if you left your headlights<br />
on, a buzzer would sound when you took<br />
the keys out of the ignition,” he recalls,<br />
adding that the product sold throughout<br />
North America.<br />
His success in his direct marketing<br />
mail order business prompted family and<br />
friends to ask for help in establishing<br />
businesses of their own.<br />
“People used to come to me, especially<br />
friends, and say, ‘Show me how to do<br />
business.’ So I would give them ideas and<br />
spend hours and hours of my time with<br />
them,” he says. “Then after a while they<br />
didn’t do a thing.”<br />
Sen decided that maybe if he charged<br />
them a fee they would take his advice more<br />
seriously. He was right. After becoming<br />
a professional business consultant, Sen<br />
decided to go from one-on-one training<br />
to group seminars.<br />
“I thought this could be a part of<br />
another business model and create a<br />
whole network of entrepreneurs and business<br />
people all around the world,” says<br />
Sen. “That’s what prompted me to do<br />
seminars.”<br />
Sen also wrote a manual, Fast Track<br />
into Import/Export in Direct Marketing<br />
half of which, he explains, was focused on<br />
empowering the heart and mind.<br />
“I realized that when I was showing<br />
people business that the greatest thing<br />
they needed, more than learning business,<br />
was to learn to develop the mental muscle<br />
to build a business. To set visions and<br />
goals” says Sen.<br />
Neil Thompson, a chartered accountant<br />
with KPMG at the time, heard Sen<br />
on a talk show about money in 1988.<br />
“He [Sen] talked about how you can<br />
start your own import export business<br />
from home. He was so engaging and<br />
knowledgeable I found out when he was<br />
going to be in Vancouver and attended<br />
his weekend seminar that same month,”<br />
says Thompson.<br />
“I had never heard or met someone<br />
with such depth of knowledge in business<br />
and life. Not only was he teaching the<br />
concepts of business that were street<br />
smart and practical but the mindset you<br />
needed to have to be successful in business.<br />
I learnt more in that one weekend<br />
about actual business and life than I did<br />
in all my years at university,” he says.<br />
Thompson became Sen’s student and<br />
travelled with him on a trade mission<br />
to the far east. With the knowledge he<br />
gained and skills he learned, Thompson<br />
says he started his own business and<br />
about a year later left his position at<br />
KPMG to be a full time entrepreneur.<br />
Today, Thompson is not only a student of<br />
Sen’s but helps arrange and promote Sen’s<br />
seminars on success.<br />
“Tulshi Sen is one of those rare individuals<br />
you meet in life and immediately<br />
know you want to have them as your<br />
mentor. He is tireless in his pursuit to<br />
show others how to be successful in life,”<br />
says Thompson.<br />
In 1997, while Sen was speaking at<br />
an import/export seminar at the Calgary<br />
Saddledome, an aboriginal gentleman<br />
approached him. “He said, ‘I’m a politician<br />
and I would like you to come and<br />
help our people,’” says Sen. That man<br />
turned out to be the chief of one of<br />
the largest first nation communities in<br />
Canada: the Blood Reserve. “He told me<br />
the unemployment rate is so high, suicide<br />
rate is so high,” says Sen, who decided to<br />
take a break from his other work to focus<br />
on teaching life and business skills to the<br />
people of the Blood Reserve and other<br />
First Nations people across Canada.<br />
Over the next eight years Sen took<br />
eight First Nations trade delegations overseas<br />
and helped them establish relationships<br />
and partnerships with businesses in<br />
China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan.<br />
In 2005 Sen decided it was time to put<br />
his teachings in the book Ancient Secrets<br />
of Success for Today’s World and today the<br />
Toronto resident is busy sharing mindmastering<br />
secrets from his book at workshops<br />
and through online material.<br />
At a recent workshop in Vancouver,<br />
Sen is introduced as an author, entrepreneur<br />
and business trainer who has been<br />
teaching people the principles of success<br />
for more than 20 years.<br />
He begins the day-long session with<br />
a simple statement: “I am not the hero<br />
here. You are the hero. Get the teachings.<br />
Forget the teacher.”<br />
He goes on to explain that the workshop<br />
will not be about breaking bricks<br />
with one’s head — rather it will be about<br />
controlling one’s thoughts to break free<br />
from the shackles of the mind and learn<br />
how to get what you want out of life.<br />
The charismatic and eloquent Sen, who<br />
can be described as equal parts romantic,<br />
philosopher and entrepreneur, uses poetry,<br />
parables and lessons in etymology to<br />
impart the wisdom of a lifetime of study<br />
and practice to his students. At times he<br />
sounds more like a theologian, reciting<br />
passages from the Bible in Hebraic and<br />
the equivalent lessons from the Bhagavad<br />
Gita in Sanskrit. All his teachings, he<br />
says, can be found in the major religious<br />
texts of the world and were taught by all<br />
the great philosophers of the west – he<br />
quotes Plato, Hippocrates, Pythagorous,<br />
Hermes, Euclid to name a few – and the<br />
masters of the east, including Buddha and<br />
Pritanjali.<br />
Everything we touch, taste, smell,<br />
hear and feel, says Sen was created by<br />
consciousness. Our very lives and the<br />
circumstances that surround us were created<br />
by our own consciousness. It’s not<br />
a simple concept to grasp and is a bitter<br />
pill to swallow for some, he says, but it is<br />
the truth. The good news is that you can<br />
change your circumstances by changing<br />
your thinking, he says.<br />
It’s not a new message. Hundreds of<br />
authors, motivational speakers and success<br />
gurus have written and talked about<br />
the power of the mind. From Napoleon<br />
30 Mehfil September/October 2009
Feature<br />
Freeing Your Mind<br />
(excerpted from Ancient Secrets of Success<br />
for Today’s World by Tulshi Sen<br />
Achieving the ability to set goals<br />
from the Absolute is the purpose of Ancient<br />
Secrets of Success. These secrets<br />
reveal how you can develop the capacity<br />
to set goals and visions from the heart,<br />
from the Unconditioned, from outside<br />
the box. Till we are able to achieve this<br />
state of mind all our goals are being set<br />
by us on the basis of our past experiences<br />
and present conditions. In the<br />
Ancient Vedic texts this is described as<br />
being trapped in Karma. Karma simply<br />
means action, and being trapped in<br />
Karma means that all our actions are a<br />
ripple effect of our previous actions. It is<br />
an endless chain of the same conditions<br />
and it appears there is no escape from<br />
its iron grip.<br />
It is the ultimate desire of life to go<br />
where you have never gone before but<br />
unless we break free from this karmic<br />
entrapment it is not achievable. To break<br />
free this dependency on the past and<br />
build a brand new future is the purpose<br />
of the teachings of the ancient masters.<br />
The ancient secrets give us the<br />
knowledge and understanding that all visions<br />
are real. The manifestation of these<br />
visions are only reflections in the plane<br />
of existence. These visions are molds<br />
with an irresistible power of attraction<br />
to draw and be filled with the cosmic<br />
substance; the stuff with which the entire<br />
universe is made. Everything. Stars,<br />
galaxies, grains of sand, and the human<br />
body are all made with this one thing by<br />
adaptation.<br />
This one thing, this cosmic substance<br />
with which the entire universe<br />
is made, is consciousness. Science<br />
calls this force energy, and the ancient<br />
teachings call it consciousness. The new<br />
physics declares consciousness creates<br />
reality. The Vedas and the Bible affirmed<br />
millenniums ago that consciousness<br />
creates reality,<br />
Consciousness is the creator<br />
- Rg Veda, Aitareya Upanishad 3.3<br />
“What good is it for us to know all the laws of<br />
success if we cannot control our thoughts?”<br />
— Tulshi Sen<br />
Hill, in his classic Think and Grow Rich,<br />
to the more recent bestseller The Secret,<br />
the promise is similar; they’ll show you<br />
how to attract the money, spouse, house,<br />
car – or whatever – into your life. But do<br />
they work?<br />
Yes, says Sen, to a degree people may<br />
be able to slip in a few thoughts of success<br />
and see some results, but there is no<br />
certainty — and what people need is to<br />
know they can create the life they want.<br />
“We know that the world operates on<br />
the law of cause and effect. The thought<br />
is the cause and the thing is the effect,”<br />
he says.<br />
First Proclamation:<br />
Consciousness is the creator.<br />
Second Proclamation:<br />
That thou art.<br />
Third Proclamation:<br />
My consciousness is the creator.<br />
Fourth Proclamation:<br />
I am the creator.<br />
It’s great information, says Sen.<br />
Important information. They are indeed<br />
the laws of success.<br />
“But what good is it for us to know all<br />
the laws of success if we cannot control<br />
our thoughts?” he asks.<br />
Thought is the creative force, he says,<br />
not the mind. The mind is the tool<br />
through which our thoughts are processed<br />
and, according to Sen, the mind<br />
thinks it is in control.<br />
He illustrates with one of his favourite<br />
examples: “If I give you a Ferrari for free,<br />
you would say ‘great!’ But if I told you it<br />
had no brakes you wouldn’t want to drive<br />
it. Without being able to control it the<br />
Ferrari would be dangerous to drive.”<br />
Most people’s minds, says Sen, are<br />
like Ferraris without brakes. People are<br />
unhappy, unsuccessful, and stressed out<br />
for one simple reason, he says: They have<br />
no control over their thoughts.<br />
He goes on to explain further that for<br />
most people, their minds dictate what<br />
their consciousness should be conscious<br />
about. In other words, “the mind decides<br />
what thoughts it wants to think” rather<br />
than the individual being in control.<br />
“The ancients understood this … and<br />
they formulated a system to enable their<br />
students to have total control over their<br />
minds,” he says.<br />
“The sages of the Vedic period in<br />
India formulated the four proclamations<br />
— meditating upon these, the mind is<br />
brought under our control to think the<br />
thoughts that we want to think regardless<br />
of our circumstances. This is the key<br />
to success. And this can only be done<br />
through meditation,” explains Sen.<br />
“The mind is like a dog,” he reiterates<br />
with another favourite analogy. “It is restless.<br />
It sniffs every post.”<br />
To create the life you want you must<br />
put a leash on that dog so that you can<br />
“think the thoughts that you want to<br />
think and not the thoughts that you don’t<br />
want to think.”<br />
So what does it take to “leash the<br />
mind?” There are two phases, says Sen.<br />
The first phase is the theory that prepares<br />
the mind to understand its capacity and<br />
its role, and to convince it that it can rely<br />
on consciousness.<br />
The second phase is the meditation on<br />
the four proclamations, which trains the<br />
mind to have complete union with consciousness,<br />
which is yoga, says Sen.<br />
Once you learn to control your mind,<br />
says Sen, you can use your imagination<br />
to create a vision of your life and turn<br />
that vision into reality. It takes persistent<br />
practice and patience, but it can be done,<br />
he says, and his book, Ancient Secrets of<br />
Success for Today’s World, can show you<br />
how.<br />
Sen may be trying to keep a lowish<br />
profile, but judging from the lineup of<br />
students waiting patiently for the opportunity<br />
to thank him personally at the<br />
conclusion of the workshop, he may not<br />
be able to keep his message and teachings<br />
under the radar for long. This messenger<br />
clearly has a knack for delivering the message<br />
— and we won’t be surprised at all to<br />
find the limelight seeking him out.<br />
But on a parting note, as if on cue, Sen<br />
reminds us gently: “Take the message.<br />
Forget the messenger. It’s the message<br />
that’s important.” p<br />
32 Mehfil September/October 2009
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Feature<br />
“[Parents] need to learn to<br />
inspire. Just like they work<br />
hard to feed us, clothe us and<br />
shelter us, they also must work<br />
harder to know how to build us<br />
up, to not be afraid and to be<br />
brave and successful.”<br />
Q&A<br />
with<br />
Tulshi Sen<br />
Photo by Jorge Pasada<br />
Q: What is the single biggest obstacle<br />
that prevents people from achieving<br />
success?<br />
A: Belief level. We are what we believe. We<br />
don’t get what we want, we get what we are.<br />
We are what we believe in. Success is not<br />
setting goals and achieving goals. We do that<br />
every day. Success is raising our belief level<br />
to heights unknown to us. To answer your<br />
question: The obstacle is our mind, which has<br />
to be controlled by our consciousness. Now<br />
our mind tells us what we can have and what<br />
we cannot have.<br />
Q: There are many people who read<br />
book after book and attend seminar<br />
after seminar but still can’t seem to<br />
change their lives. What are they doing<br />
wrong?<br />
A: In my book I mention that most of us are<br />
like donkeys with a load of books. Knowledge<br />
limits. Throughout the history of the world all<br />
the teachers and masters of both the east and<br />
the west have vehemently told us that we have<br />
to listen to our heart, our consciousness, and<br />
follow our bliss. Knowledge is our memory.<br />
We have to reach the depths of our being that<br />
creates our memory. That is what my book is<br />
all about. We have to transcend the mind.<br />
Q: Even before the global economic<br />
crisis it seemed that people were more<br />
stressed than ever. Why are so many<br />
people so stressed?<br />
A: Stress comes out of uncertainty. My book,<br />
Ancient Secrets of Success, is about creating<br />
a life without any uncertainty, to become the<br />
master of our world according to the teachings<br />
of the east and the west. To quote one of the<br />
greatest poets of our times, Walt Whitman, who<br />
said: “No one has begun to think how divine he<br />
34 Mehfil September/October 2009<br />
himself is and how certain the future is.”<br />
Q: What can people do to reduce the<br />
stress in their lives?<br />
A: Only one thing, one thing alone and no<br />
reading and any other knowledge can help<br />
them. Meditate on the four proclamations.<br />
And that is not my answer, that is the answer<br />
of all the masters of the world. These four<br />
proclamations are the very foundation of all<br />
the teachings of all the ages of both the east<br />
and the west. These four proclamations are the<br />
basis of building lives for fulfillment.<br />
Q: You talk about circumstances being<br />
created by our consciousness. Is the<br />
global economic meltdown an event<br />
created by someone’s — or a group’s<br />
— consciousness?<br />
A: Yes you are right. Our world represents<br />
our race consciousness. Our consciousness<br />
creates our reality. A true leader of today must<br />
change the consciousness of their nation.<br />
Q: You talk of the limitations we impose<br />
on ourselves and that these limitations<br />
are passed on to us in childhood from<br />
parents. What can parents do to avoid<br />
instilling limitations in their children?<br />
A: Parents are our first teachers. According<br />
to the ancient teachings, the first masters of<br />
our lives are our parents. They mould and<br />
shape us. Parents have a great responsibility,<br />
more than just taking care of us physically.<br />
They need to learn to inspire. Just like they<br />
work hard to feed us, clothe us and shelter us,<br />
they also must work harder to know how to<br />
build us up, to not be afraid and to be brave<br />
and successful. They have to realize that they<br />
don’t own us; they are our custodians for the<br />
universe.<br />
Q: You also say that the mind will<br />
resist. What can people do to overcome<br />
frustration and the urge to give up and<br />
go back to life as usual?<br />
A: We have come to quench our thirst.<br />
We have to remember our longing, our<br />
expectations and our thirst. The pain of not<br />
having what we want is the thirst. We have<br />
to know what we want. We have to learn to<br />
believe that we can have anything we want.<br />
Q: What is the most difficult step for<br />
people to overcome in developing a<br />
success consciousness?<br />
A: Raising their belief level and not following<br />
others who have given up living a life of<br />
designed destiny. To remove themselves from<br />
the herd mentality.<br />
Q: What kind of changes take place<br />
in people as their understanding of<br />
consciousness increases?<br />
A: They feel a sense of liberation from the<br />
opinion of others. They do not seek approval<br />
for their vision of their life. They believe that<br />
they know what they want.<br />
Q: Why do you think some people are<br />
skeptical of programs like yours?<br />
A: Skeptics are people who are seeking<br />
clarifications and have not yet been able to<br />
formulate their questions. Every question has<br />
the answer built in it.<br />
Q: What is the first, most important step<br />
a person should take to change their<br />
lives for the better?<br />
A: To set a vision for their lives and know<br />
how they want to be remembered when they<br />
leave this plane. p
2009<br />
Success<br />
Promotional Feature<br />
Profiles<br />
of<br />
In Your<br />
Legal Corner<br />
For Rita Sidhu, practicing law is more than a<br />
profession, it’s a passion.<br />
“Knowing that I have the ability and power<br />
to make a difference in someone’s life is very<br />
rewarding,” says Rita, who represents clients<br />
in criminal, immigration and personal-injury<br />
cases.<br />
“I enjoy practicing criminal defence work<br />
because no matter who you are, or what you have<br />
or have not done, everyone deserves to be fairly<br />
represented in court,” she says. “When someone<br />
is facing a criminal charge, they are up against<br />
the immense power and resources of the state and<br />
all its machinery. Often they have no one to turn<br />
to. Vigorous criminal defence work is vital to our<br />
system of justice.”<br />
Through her work as a personal injury lawyer,<br />
Rita sees firsthand how an individual’s life<br />
can be turned upside down in a moment. The<br />
stress and psychological trauma that accompany<br />
physical injuries make it all the more critical to<br />
have qualified, conscientious legal representation.<br />
That’s a responsibility Rita takes to heart.<br />
From the moment that she accepts a new case,<br />
Rita brings a wealth of expertise and energy to<br />
her role as her client’s legal advocate; it’s a role<br />
that she assumes with passion and commitment.<br />
Seeing a client receive the compensation to which<br />
he or she is entitled is the most fulfilling aspect of<br />
her work, says Rita.<br />
“With personal injury work, it is very satisfying<br />
to be able to help someone who may be<br />
injured through no fault of their own but be<br />
struggling to pay the rent or their medical bills,”<br />
says Rita. “Guiding clients through a difficult<br />
process and achieving a fair resolution for them<br />
is very rewarding.”<br />
Rita decided on a career in law after completing<br />
her BA in Political Science and International<br />
Relations at the University of British Columbia.<br />
“While I was working in New Delhi on a<br />
six-month internship through the Department<br />
of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, I<br />
met a lot of officers in the Foreign Service,” she<br />
says. “One thing I noticed about a lot of the diplomats<br />
was that they had law degrees. I felt that<br />
studying law was a key that would unlock a great<br />
number of opportunities.<br />
“Whether you are working to reunite a family<br />
in an immigration case, representing an innocent<br />
party in court or seeking recompense for the<br />
negligence of another, a law degree is a powerful<br />
tool to make a difference.”<br />
Rita Sidhu B.A. LL.B. (UBC)<br />
TLABC Member<br />
Barrister & Solicitor<br />
604-687-0220<br />
Appointments available in Vancouver & Abbotsford<br />
www.ritasidhulaw.com
A Night of Miracles<br />
On Saturday, October 24, 2009, esteemed members of the South Asian<br />
community will join with BC Children’s Hospital Foundation in the ballroom of<br />
the Vancouver Marriott Pinnacle Downtown hotel to help make miracles for our<br />
province’s children.<br />
All proceeds will be used to purchase a new Heart Lung machine for BC<br />
Children’s Hospital, which sustains life when the heart or lungs otherwise fail.<br />
For more information, contact:<br />
Aaron Sanderson<br />
BC Children’s Hospital Foundation<br />
Tel: 604-875-2511<br />
Email: asanderson@bcchf.ca<br />
Starlit<br />
Radiance<br />
with special thanks to our sponsors
Exclusive gala event reflects South Asian<br />
community’s concern for future generations<br />
If you lie still in a quiet room you quickly become<br />
aware of two things: the steady rise and fall of your<br />
chest with each breath, and the gentle, rhythmic<br />
beating of your heart. We take these motions for<br />
granted. Yet, should either cease, so too does life.<br />
At BC Children’s Hospital, the province’s only fullservice<br />
pediatric acute-care hospital, a single piece<br />
of equipment with a complex name performs the<br />
vital role of sustaining life when the heart or lungs<br />
would otherwise fail. The Extra Corporeal<br />
Membrane Oxygenation machine, referred to at the<br />
hospital as ECMO, is often the only thing that<br />
stands between life and death for infants and<br />
children experiencing cardio-respiratory failure.<br />
This serious condition claims many lives each year.<br />
The ECMO machine, however, can act as a child’s<br />
heart and lungs for several weeks while those vital<br />
organs recover. Simply put, ECMO saves lives.<br />
Four-year-old Aamir (below) remembers nothing of<br />
the 11 days he spent on the ECMO machine as he<br />
recovered from lifesaving cardiac surgery when we<br />
was just a few months old. His parents, on the other<br />
hand, will never forget the role BC Children’s<br />
Hospital, its staff and even this complex piece of<br />
machinery played in allowing their son to become<br />
the healthy child he is today.<br />
On Saturday, October 24, members of BC’s South<br />
Asian community will gather at the Vancouver<br />
Marriott Pinnacle Downtown Hotel to ensure BC<br />
Children’s Hospital can continue to save lives. An<br />
exclusive black-tie charity gala – A Night of Miracles<br />
– emceed by Global BC’s Robin Gill, will be an<br />
exclusive celebration of South Asian culture,<br />
acknowledging the community’s tremendous<br />
generosity and concern for child health, while<br />
raising much-needed funds toward the purchase of<br />
a new ECMO machine for BC Children’s Hospital.<br />
The South Asian community has raised more than<br />
$2.5 million in support of child health over the past<br />
decade, helping to fund programs, training and<br />
equipment purchases at BC Children’s Hospital,<br />
Sunny Hill Health Centre for Children and the Child<br />
& Family Research Institute.<br />
Inspired by this trend of excellence, long-time<br />
volunteers identified a new opportunity to engage<br />
BC’s South Asian community. A Night of Miracles is<br />
anticipated to attract more than 300 influential<br />
community and business leaders. With support<br />
from key members in the community, the event and<br />
BC’s South Asian community are poised to make<br />
miracles happen for BC’s kids.<br />
A Night of Miracles Gala Dinner Committee<br />
Robin Dhir, vice president of Business<br />
Development at Twin Brook Developments Ltd., is<br />
chairing this year’s event planning committee.<br />
Other notable community figures on the gala’s<br />
advisory council include Belle Puri, Dr. D. P. Goel,<br />
Jack Uppal, Herb Dhaliwal, Lucky Janda, Naeem<br />
(Nick) Noorani, Praveen Varshney, Ratana<br />
Stephens and Shushma Datt.<br />
For more information, please contact Aaron<br />
Sanderson from BC Children’s Hospital Foundation<br />
at asanderson@bcchf.ca or 604-875-2511.
Cover<br />
Manjit Minhas<br />
Toast oF<br />
The Town<br />
Photo by James Mah<br />
by Robin Roberts<br />
Manjit and Ravinder Minhas launched their first successful<br />
beverage business when they were just eight and seven years<br />
old, respectively. Sure, it was a lemonade stand in their suburban<br />
Calgary neighbourhood, but the experience of running that stand<br />
would serve the savvy brother-and-sister team well for bigger things<br />
to come. The budding entrepreneurs learned to put their product in<br />
front of their customers (they routinely moved their stand to take<br />
advantage of traffic) and to make a better brew at a competitive<br />
price than any of the other neighbourhood kids’ stands. Years later,<br />
they honed their business sense working summers for their parents,<br />
Moni and Rani, who owned OK Liquor Stores, a mini-chain<br />
of very successful liquor stores in Calgary.<br />
“My dad always let us in on the dealings at the liquor stores,”<br />
says Manjit. “We were always privy to money issues and how business<br />
worked.”<br />
The elder Minhas, however, was no strict disciplinarian who demanded his children<br />
carry on the family business. His advice to them was, “Do what you love, and<br />
if you’re successful at it, what more can you ask?” He and Rani also ensured they<br />
had a broader understanding of the world and the importance of relationships. “We<br />
always did things with our kids, took them out to dinner every fourth or fifth day,<br />
and we discussed important things in life,” says Moni, an engineer by trade, who,<br />
like his wife, emigrated from Punjab. “Not just business but education and family.<br />
I’ve been in Calgary 30-some years now and I’ve seen people come and go with the<br />
booms and the busts. I always told my kids, there are lots of people who will loan<br />
38 Mehfil September/October 2009
Mehfil September/October 2009 39
Cover<br />
“Naturally, being a woman, being young<br />
and being Indian is interesting when you’re<br />
dealing with old, white gentlemen... At the<br />
beginning it was hard to get respect.”<br />
— Manjit Minhas<br />
With $10,000 in cash, Manjit and<br />
Ravinder Minhas started a company called<br />
Mountain Crest Liquors Inc., and began<br />
developing liquor at discount prices.<br />
The Minhas siblings wrote the book<br />
Brewing Up a Damn Good Story, which<br />
tells the story of their company.<br />
you money, but they are not doing you<br />
any favours. They are doing themselves a<br />
favour. They are going to take interest and<br />
fees from you. Be very careful before you<br />
dance with the banker.”<br />
Manjit and Ravinder not only followed<br />
their father’s advice, they followed in his<br />
footsteps — which turned out to leave<br />
many imprints. First, they enrolled in engineering<br />
school at the University of Calgary.<br />
After graduating, Ravinder worked<br />
for Husky Energy, Manjit for Marathon<br />
Oil Company. But booze was in their<br />
blood, and just one year into Manjit’s engineering<br />
degree and while Ravinder was<br />
still in high school, they began dreaming<br />
about their own venture. Heeding their<br />
dad’s words of wisdom about borrowing<br />
money, the siblings scraped together their<br />
own seed capital.<br />
They sold the purple Rav 4 car (“she<br />
picked the colour,” insists Ravinder) they<br />
co-owned, and added it to the bit of savings<br />
Manjit had. With $10,000 in cash,<br />
they started a company called Mountain<br />
Crest Liquors Inc., and began developing<br />
premium hard liquor at discount prices.<br />
“Our initial idea was to bring a private<br />
brand to my parents’ stores,” says<br />
Manjit, now 29. “Just as Superstore has<br />
President’s Choice, Safeway has Select,<br />
we thought we’d bring Mountain Crest<br />
to OK Liquor Stores. So we did a bunch<br />
of research, met a lot of people, went to<br />
a lot of trade shows. Then I developed a<br />
line of spirits that included rum, rye, gin,<br />
brandy, scotch and tequila. All the recipes<br />
and names were mine. We brought them<br />
into my parents’ stores and they did very<br />
well. After the first year we got a lot of<br />
other independent liquor stores wanting<br />
to buy this stuff.”<br />
Getting the product into the big chain<br />
stores was another story, however, and<br />
Manjit admits there was resistance. “Naturally,<br />
being a woman, being young and<br />
being Indian is interesting when you’re<br />
dealing with old, white gentlemen,” she<br />
says.<br />
“At the beginning it was hard to get<br />
respect; people don’t take you seriously.<br />
People don’t even want to meet you, and<br />
if they do they don’t think you have anything<br />
worth saying or that you could accomplish<br />
anything. You just have to keep<br />
knocking on doors. You can’t take it personally.<br />
You have to build a reputation<br />
for yourself and your company, and that<br />
comes on its own.”<br />
Things turned around for the pair<br />
when they secured a tequila supplier in<br />
Kentucky just as a blue agave shortage hit<br />
Mexico. They locked in at a bargain price<br />
and began producing premium tequila at<br />
low cost. Sales spiked, and in a matter of<br />
months they controlled a sizable portion<br />
of the tequila supply in Alberta. Still, with<br />
90 brands of spirits, wines and cordials in<br />
their inventory, they were not content.<br />
“We were doing well, expanding our<br />
hard liquor category, and thought, why<br />
not beer,” says Manjit. The price of beer<br />
had been rising steadily, and Manjit and<br />
Ravinder wanted to offer a cheaper alternative<br />
for their fellow Albertans. So, in<br />
2002, the siblings unveiled their Mountain<br />
Crest Classic Lager, brewed at the<br />
Minnesota Brewing Company in Minneapolis,<br />
for about a buck a beer. Sales of<br />
their suds immediately took off — and<br />
took over their time.<br />
“We came to that crossroad where we<br />
had to ask, ‘Do you want to be in oil and<br />
gas or do you want to be in beer?’” says<br />
Ravinder. “It was a really easy decision,<br />
because beer is a lot more fun.”<br />
The brother and sister quit their petroleum<br />
engineering jobs and poured<br />
their energies into expanding their product,<br />
soon introducing nine more brands,<br />
including light beer, ice beer, lime beer,<br />
Pilseners and coolers. They spilled into<br />
Manitoba in 2004 and Saskatchewan<br />
soon after, capturing 15 per cent of the<br />
beer business in the three western provinces<br />
alone. When the Minnesota Brewery<br />
went bankrupt in 2002, Ravinder moved<br />
production briefly first to Stephens Point,<br />
Wisconsin, then LaCrosse, Wisconsin. A<br />
year later, they began producing their beer<br />
at the historic Joseph Huber Brewery in<br />
Monroe, Wisconsin, built in 1845 and the<br />
40 Mehfil September/October 2009
oldest brewery in the Midwest. In 2006,<br />
they bought the brewery and became the<br />
world’s youngest brewery owners (they<br />
would have preferred to purchase a Canadian<br />
brewery, but there are so few, and<br />
they’re rarely for sale).<br />
They put $5 million in upgrades into<br />
the facility and changed the name to the<br />
Minhas Craft Brewery. In addition to<br />
making all their beers, the brewery now<br />
produces energy drinks, old-fashioned<br />
sodas and coolers for export to four provinces<br />
in Canada, 15 states in the U.S.,<br />
as well as to Japan and Korea. They have<br />
their eye on India next, and already have<br />
a head start with Rani Lager (named after<br />
their mom), a beer they began producing<br />
about five years ago for sale primarily in<br />
restaurants.<br />
“Beer is not very prevalent in the Indian<br />
community,” says Manjit, who travels<br />
with her brother to India every few years<br />
to visit family in Chandigarh. “But in<br />
India, there’s a big youth population that<br />
is into watching American TV. They’re<br />
starting to get into beer, not just the hard<br />
stuff as it used to be in their parents’ generation.”<br />
Today, the Minhas siblings do about<br />
$100 million in business annually and<br />
employ a staff of 200 worldwide. Looking<br />
back, as they celebrate the 10th anniversary<br />
of their venture together, Ravinder<br />
and Manjit still maintain a cool, confident<br />
attitude toward their business.<br />
“When we started we didn’t feel that<br />
there was much to lose,” says Manjit. “We<br />
thought, ‘Oh well, if it didn’t work, mom<br />
and dad will get rid of it.’ But we didn’t<br />
want their help; we didn’t take their money,<br />
we didn’t want a loan. So we slowly<br />
grew within our own means, we always<br />
reinvested profits. We have some money<br />
now, so my brother and I are able to do<br />
our own thing, spend on ourselves, but<br />
not extravagantly. We don’t keep high<br />
overhead, we don’t have big fancy offices,<br />
private jets and all that stuff. We still fly<br />
commercial airlines and drive ourselves<br />
around. Sure, they’re fancy cars and we<br />
have a vacation home in Barbados —<br />
there has to be some perks, we’re still<br />
young!”<br />
The duo, who have won many entrepreneurial<br />
and marketing awards, agree<br />
the steepest learning curve for them both<br />
was government bureaucracy and red<br />
tape. Their beer is still not sold in most<br />
provinces (B.C. gives them the biggest<br />
headaches), and it took them five years<br />
of battling Ontario before they broke<br />
through to be able to start selling their<br />
beer there this fall.<br />
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“In the beer industry, there’s lots of<br />
high-powered competition, big companies<br />
that have been around since the dawn of<br />
time, like Molson and Labatt,” says Manjit<br />
of their brouhaha with the big boys.<br />
“And they’ve got a lot more money than<br />
we do, so it’s always interesting trying to<br />
fight against these big powerhouses. But<br />
we’re doing very well, we’re happy with<br />
what we’ve been able to achieve. There<br />
hasn’t been a new beer company that has<br />
been successful in Canada in over a decade,<br />
and so we can say we are one of the<br />
few beer companies that actually survive<br />
and make money. We’re the fourth largest<br />
one in Canada, and still growing.”<br />
Adds Ravinder, “We always said once<br />
we launch Ontario, B.C. is next. I think<br />
we have the proof our product should be<br />
in their stores. We sell over 500 million<br />
cans. We suspect they’ll now be open to<br />
the idea of us in their territory.”<br />
Even if they become an empire the size<br />
of Molson or Labatt, Ravinder and Manjit<br />
will still be the face of their company.<br />
“Nobody can tell you who the president<br />
or the owner of Molson or Labatt is,” says<br />
Manjit, who last year followed in her father’s<br />
footsteps once again by co-writing a<br />
book about their company and the history<br />
of their brewery with Ravinder, called<br />
Brewing Up a Damn Good Story, taken<br />
from their company’s slogan, “Damn<br />
Good Beer.” (Moni had written a book<br />
called The Sikh Canadians, about the history<br />
of Sikhs in Canada, in 1994.) “My<br />
brother and I are always in our commercials<br />
and in our marketing. We try to be<br />
the face of our company, not just a faceless<br />
company. That’s important for our<br />
marketing strategy.”<br />
The first new face of the Minhas Brewing<br />
Company could be Manjit’s pintsized<br />
daughter, who’s barely two months<br />
old. “We joke that she’s going to run the<br />
empire with her cousins and brothers<br />
and sisters,” says Ravinder, 27. “When<br />
she gazes up at the ceiling we figure she’s<br />
thinking about how she’s going to run her<br />
empire.”<br />
Ravinder and Manjit vow they will<br />
never sell their company, will never offer<br />
shares. “We’re always asked when we’re<br />
going public,” says Manjit. “We don’t<br />
need or want the money, and we wouldn’t<br />
want to be answering to other people. If<br />
you can do it by your own means, that’s<br />
the way.”<br />
It’s the advice passed on to them from<br />
their parents all those years ago, and they<br />
clearly heeded it to their benefit. “They’ve<br />
always tried to make us wiser than our<br />
years because we’re often dealing with<br />
1-877-369-8621<br />
42 Mehfil September/October 2009
Are You in Debt?... Don’t Know What To Do?<br />
people double our age,” says Manjit of<br />
her parents, now retired. “We did have to<br />
mature quite a bit faster than most people<br />
our age because we have a lot more<br />
We Can Help!<br />
responsibilities.”<br />
Moni marvels at how level-headed<br />
his kids are. “They didn’t sit around the<br />
dining room table saying, ‘I’m going to<br />
be this or that.’ I think they just figured<br />
if you can jump you can swim. They are<br />
also very careful, which I find very fascinating.<br />
They don’t act like playboys or<br />
rich kids. They don’t spend and risk money<br />
unduly. They seem to have the combination<br />
of playing it safe with calculated,<br />
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“Helping You Become “Helping Debt You Become Free” Debt Free”<br />
things,” admits Manjit sheepishly. “When<br />
“Helping You Become Debt Free”<br />
We Can Reduce Your<br />
kI quhwfw vwl-vwl krzy ivc fuibAw hoieAw hY?<br />
kI quhwfw vwl-vwl krzy ivc fuibAw hoieAw hY?<br />
it comes to business We we Can don’t Reduce often Your disagree,<br />
but when it Debt<br />
Debt by More kI Than quhwfw 50% vwl-vwl kI krzy quhwfy swry ivc krYift fuibAw kwrf Bry hoieAw hoey hn? hY?<br />
Stop Interest On kI The Balance quhwfy swry krYift kI quhwfI kwrf rwqW Bry dI nINd hoey Aqy hn? idn dw cYn hrwm hY?<br />
Stop<br />
gets by<br />
Interest<br />
personal, More Than<br />
On The Balance<br />
every 50% kI quhwfy swry krYift kwrf Bry hoey hn?<br />
And Convert That Into Interest<br />
kI quhwnMU fr hY ik ikqy sB kuJ ivk nw jwvy?<br />
Stop Interest On The Balance Free Payments Up<br />
kI<br />
kI to 5<br />
quhwfI<br />
quhwfI Years<br />
rwqW<br />
rwqW<br />
dI<br />
dI<br />
nINd Aqy idn dw cYn hrwm hY?<br />
kI nINd quhwfI “Helping Aqy smJ idn ivc You nhI dw Become Aw cYn irhw hrwm ik Debt kI kIqw hY? Free” jwvy?<br />
once in a while you’ll And Convert see things That Into Interest flying<br />
And Convert That Into Interest<br />
Free Payments Up to Years We Can Reduce Your<br />
kI quhwnMU fr hY ik ikqy sB kuJ ivk nw jwvy?<br />
We also Help kI in Bankruptcies quhwnMU fr hY ik kI ikqy quhwfw sB vwl-vwl kuJ ivk krzy nw jwvy? ivc fuibAw hoieAw hY?<br />
around our homes. Free But Payments business Up decisions<br />
to 5 Years For appointment<br />
kI quhwfI smJ ivc nhI Aw irhw ik kI kIqw jwvy?<br />
Debt by More Than kI call : quhwfI 50% smJ ivc kI nhI quhwfy Aw qW swry irhw GbrwE krYift ik kI kwrf nhI kIqw Bry jwvy? hoey hn?<br />
Arvinder S. Kalsey (Kalsey@bscc.ca) or<br />
are much more rational. It’s been a Stop long<br />
AsI quhwfw A`Dy qoN ijAwdw krzw muAwP krvw skdy<br />
Interest Avineet On The S. Kalsey Balance (akalsey@bscc.ca) kI quhwfI rwqW dI nINd Aqy idn dw cYn hrwm hY?<br />
We also Help hW Aqy bkwieAw rkm CotIAW-CotIAW Interest Free<br />
time since we’ve had Bankruptcies<br />
And Convert That Into Interest<br />
kI quhwnMU fr hY ik ikqy sB kuJ ivk nw jwvy?<br />
For appointment<br />
a fight. Since<br />
call we’re<br />
ikSqW ivc bdl dyvWgy[<br />
Free Payments Up to 5 Years<br />
For appointment call :<br />
First Consultation is qW GbrwE quhwfy kI quhwfI ibzns, smJ kwr nhI zW ivc Gr nUM nhI koeI Aw irhw ik kI kIqw jwvy?<br />
so close we already Arvinder know<br />
Arvinder<br />
S. what<br />
S.<br />
Kalsey the<br />
Kalsey<br />
(Kalsey@bscc.ca) other Free<br />
(Kalsey@bscc.ca)<br />
or & Confidential<br />
or AsI quhwfw A`Dy qoN Creditor ijAwdw h`Q krzw nhI pwvygw[ muAwP krvw skdy<br />
Avineet<br />
Avineet<br />
S.<br />
S.<br />
Kalsey<br />
Kalsey<br />
(akalsey@bscc.ca)<br />
AsI quhwfw A`Dy qoN ijAwdw krzw muAwP krvw skdy<br />
one is going to say or think sometimes,<br />
(akalsey@bscc.ca) We also Help Toronto in Office Bankruptcies<br />
(Head<br />
hW<br />
hW Office)<br />
Aqy<br />
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bkwieAw<br />
bkwieAw<br />
rkm<br />
rkm Surrey Office<br />
CotIAW-CotIAW<br />
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Interest<br />
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Free<br />
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For appointment<br />
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ikSqW ivc bdl dyvWgy[ qW GbrwE Suite #212, 3132 nhI 26th St. NE<br />
so we’re careful not Brampton, ON to step<br />
First on toes. We’re<br />
Consultation<br />
Arvinder is<br />
S. Kalsey (Kalsey@bscc.ca) ikSqW<br />
L6T 5C6<br />
ivc<br />
quhwfy ibzns, orbdl dyvWgy[<br />
Surrey, BC V3V 4B8<br />
Calgary, Alberta T1Y 6Z1<br />
905-789-8984<br />
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kwr AsI zW Gr quhwfw nUM koeI A`Dy qoN ijAwdw 403-714-8984 krzw muAwP krvw skdy<br />
only a year-and-a-half Fax: 416-898-9367<br />
Avineet S. Kalsey (akalsey@bscc.ca) quhwfy ibzns, kwr Fax: zW 604-951-8983 Gr nUM koeI<br />
Fax: 403-714-8983<br />
apart, and we’ve always<br />
had the same Free interests, & Confidential<br />
even as far as<br />
Creditor Toll Free: h`Q 1-866-790-8984 nhI pwvygw[ www.bscc.ca<br />
Creditor h`Q nhI pwvygw[ hW Aqy bkwieAw rkm CotIAW-CotIAW Interest Free<br />
ikSqW ivc bdl dyvWgy[<br />
education goes. As we’ve<br />
First Consultation is<br />
quhwfy ibzns, kwr zW Gr nUM koeI<br />
Toronto Office grown (Head we Office) often<br />
Surrey Office<br />
Calgary Office<br />
Toronto Office (Head Office)<br />
Unit #43, 8500 Torbram Rd.<br />
Free & Confidential Surrey Office<br />
Suite #205, 12033 92A Ave. Creditor h`Q Suite nhI Calgary<br />
#212, pwvygw[ Office<br />
think along the same 3132 26th St. NE<br />
Unit lines. #43, 8500 Torbram Sometimes Rd.<br />
Suite #205, 12033 92A Ave.<br />
Suite #212, 3132 26th St. NE<br />
Brampton, ON L6T 5C6<br />
Surrey, BC V3V 4B8<br />
Calgary, Alberta T1Y 6Z1<br />
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we don’t and it’s cause 905-789-8984 for good debate Toronto Office (Head Office) 604-951-8984 Surrey Office 403-714-8984<br />
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it out. There is nothing like working 905-789-8984<br />
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family, in my opinion. I wouldn’t trade it<br />
for the world. You have an inherent trust<br />
in the person; you know there’s always<br />
somebody you can fall back on. When<br />
you are successful you have somebody<br />
to share it with and when things fail you<br />
have somebody to blame (laughs).”<br />
Ravinder concurs. “There are some<br />
things I’m notorious for that Manjit and<br />
I disagree on,” he says. “I’m definitely<br />
more of a spendthrift than she is. Can I<br />
say I win all those arguments? No. But I<br />
can’t say I lose them all either. The truth<br />
of it is, you get heated, you get annoyed at<br />
each other for 10 minutes, but we come<br />
back 15 minutes later and we’re laughing<br />
about it. We’ll go at it tooth and nail, call<br />
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Mehfil September/October 2009 43
Feature<br />
Diwali 2009<br />
Delicious food. Sweet treats.<br />
An opportunity to gather<br />
with family and friends for<br />
festivities. Those are the things<br />
that most people mention when<br />
talking about their fondest<br />
memories of Diwali.<br />
Known as the Festival of<br />
Lights, Diwali is a celebration<br />
of universal themes of progress.<br />
Diwali is an opportunity to<br />
rejoice in the victory of light<br />
over darkness, good over evil<br />
and knowledge over ignorance.<br />
People of different faiths acknowledge<br />
a different legend as the origin of Diwali,<br />
but all these narratives share a common<br />
message: that a pure heart and good<br />
intentions have the power to triumph<br />
over oppression and injustice.<br />
For Hindus, Diwali represents<br />
Lord Rama’s return to the kingdom of<br />
Ayodhya after rescuing his wife Sita<br />
from the demon Ravana. The subjects of<br />
Shan-E-Punjab kids bhangra group performing at Vancouver Celebrates Diwali 2008.<br />
Celebrating Diwali<br />
Paromita Naidu has loved Diwali as far<br />
back as she can remember.<br />
“I had always been involved in Diwali<br />
celebrations in my childhood and knew it<br />
to be a wonderful and meaningful time<br />
in the Indian calendar,” says the University<br />
of British Columbia<br />
healthcare project manager<br />
and mother of two. “Vivid<br />
memories of performing,<br />
visiting, celebrating, eating<br />
and listening would always<br />
flood my memory during<br />
Diwali.”<br />
For the past five years, as<br />
a member of the Vancouver<br />
Celebrates Diwali Steering<br />
Committee — she’s been<br />
chair for the past four years<br />
— Naidu has been helping<br />
others learn about the significance<br />
of Diwali and form<br />
memories of their own.<br />
Naidu says she got involved after the<br />
first year of the event to help give it some<br />
guidance and direction both as a performing<br />
artist (she’s a professional dancer) and<br />
as a community member.<br />
This year marks the sixth anniversary of<br />
Vancouver Celebrates Diwali (VCD). The<br />
celebrations will get under way on October<br />
8 and will continue until the 18th.<br />
The idea for the festival came about<br />
when the steering committee was initially<br />
created by the South Asian Family Association<br />
in association with South Vancouver<br />
Neighbourhood House, the City<br />
of Vancouver, various community centres<br />
and a group of dedicated community volunteers,<br />
explains Naidu.<br />
“The aim was two-fold: to make the<br />
celebration of Diwali more visible in Vancouver<br />
and to communicate its deep and<br />
profound messages through a showcase of<br />
the arts.”<br />
The essential principles<br />
of Diwali — light over darkness,<br />
the triumph of good<br />
over evil and knowledge<br />
over ignorance — make<br />
this festival truly universal<br />
in nature and intended for<br />
all cultures and communities,<br />
she says.<br />
“Our mission is to gather<br />
people from all walks of life<br />
in celebration of the universal<br />
light that exists in everyone,”<br />
she explains.<br />
While there is a predominantly<br />
South Asian presence among the<br />
artists and audiences, the festival emphasizes<br />
multiculturalism and inclusiveness<br />
as one of its principal themes. There has<br />
been a growing involvement over the years<br />
from all of Vancouver’s diverse cultural<br />
communities.<br />
“The numbers [of non-Indians] are<br />
definitely increasing and media interest<br />
and word of mouth have really helped our<br />
festival’s profile,” says Naidu.<br />
The numbers overall have also been on<br />
the rise as the success of the festival, not to<br />
mention the celebration itself, has drawn<br />
an increasing larger audience.<br />
“In the first year, there was a small<br />
Paromita Naidu<br />
44 Mehfil September/October 2009
09<br />
DIWALI<br />
GALA<br />
the festival of lights<br />
Wednesday October 7th 2009<br />
Bollywood Banquet Hall<br />
Unit 201, 8166 128th Street, Surrey<br />
5.30pm – 9.00pm<br />
Join Simon Fraser University’s President, Dr. Michael Stevenson,<br />
as SFU celebrates Diwali with a gala dinner featuring the best of<br />
Indian dance, music and cuisine.<br />
Tickets: $50+gst each, $400+gst for a table of 8. Purchase online at www.surrey.sfu.ca/diwali
Feature<br />
Ayodhya helped guide Rama and Sita back to their rightful home<br />
by putting lamps outside their houses to create a path of light.<br />
Sikhs celebrate Diwali as the day when Guru Hargobind<br />
gained his freedom after being imprisoned by Emperor Jahangir<br />
in Gwalior Fort. Guru Hargobind won not only his own freedom,<br />
but that of 52 fellowing prisoners by finding a way to capitalize<br />
on the emperor’s agreement that the Guru could take with him as<br />
many prisoners as could hold on to his cloak. The Guru had a<br />
cloak made with 52 pieces of string so that each of the prisoners<br />
could hold on to one of the strings.<br />
People celebrated the freedom of Guru Hargobind by lighting<br />
lamps to illuminate the way to the Golden Temple.<br />
For members of the Jain community, Diwali marks the day<br />
when the prophet Bhagvaan Mahaveer, the founder of Jainism,<br />
attained Nirvana.<br />
Perhaps one of the most joyous aspects of Diwali is that,<br />
although the traditions and orijins of the celebration differ, it is<br />
an occasion that unites rather than divides the communities that<br />
celebrate it. And since the underlying theme is a celebration of<br />
goodness, who can resist the standing invitation to join in the<br />
celebration?<br />
Happy<br />
Diwali<br />
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show held in the Roundhouse,<br />
with a handful of performers, a<br />
few hundred people in attendance<br />
and very little media attention,”<br />
says Naidu.<br />
VCD has since grown to include<br />
two main events and workshops<br />
held at multiple locations.<br />
One of last year’s main events,<br />
Diwali Downtown, showcased<br />
both professional and amateur<br />
artists, focusing on traditional<br />
and folk arts with 3,500 people<br />
in attendance. The other main<br />
event, Chai-house, which showcased<br />
contemporary and fusion arts, had approximately<br />
400 people in attendance.<br />
“Our mini-festival workshops spanned<br />
the city, were held in community centres<br />
and were always well attended,” adds<br />
Naidu.<br />
Some of the hottest acts last year included<br />
Shan-E-Punjaab kids bhangra group,<br />
musician Dal Dil Vog, and UBC Girlz<br />
bhangra group. Classical standouts were<br />
carnatic musician Vidyasagar Vankayala, Indo-Persian<br />
band Sangha and 14-year old dancer Malavika Santosh.<br />
Chai-House sensations included musician Chin Injeti, comedian<br />
Sunee Dhaliwal, human beatbox artist Shamik Bilgi,<br />
Pakistani band Naqsh, and dancehall crew Bucky Top. “Audiences<br />
were literally blown away by the quality, caliber and<br />
diversity of the talent we showcased — both professional and<br />
amateur,” says Naidu.<br />
This year, Diwali Downtown and Chai-House have been<br />
combined into a huge one-day free event on October 18 at<br />
the Roundhouse Community Centre. The event will feature<br />
the hottest acts from last year and a new crop of fresh talent<br />
from all genres. VCD has also created Moving Landscape<br />
(October 8 to 10 at the Scotiabank Dance Centre; tickets<br />
are $17 at the door), a new event to showcase the unique<br />
movements in South Asian dance by artists from across the<br />
continent. “VCD’s goal was to present world-renowned<br />
South Asian dance companies from across North America,<br />
whose groundbreaking performances are forming the bridge<br />
between the classical and the contemporary. And as music<br />
inspires dance into movement, this evening will be accentuated<br />
with performances from some of Vancouver’s bestknown<br />
contemporary South Asian musicians,” says Naidu,<br />
adding that it’s something that has never happened in Vancouver<br />
on this scale before.<br />
Indeed, VCD is a unique Canadian festival that encourages<br />
participation and provides opportunities for South<br />
Asian artists to develop new audiences and break cultural<br />
barriers.<br />
“So far, we have been fortunate enough to present arts<br />
programming that has never been seen before,” says Naidu.<br />
“Our challenges remain to stay afloat financially (every year<br />
is a struggle), and to continue to be imaginative and creative<br />
while ensuring the essential principles of Diwali are communicated<br />
and preserved.” p<br />
Those interested in attending or volunteering at Vancouver<br />
Celebrates Diwali can find a complete schedule of events as well<br />
as other information at www.vandiwali.ca<br />
46 Mehfil September/October 2009
ਤੁਹਾਨੂ<br />
ੰ ੰ ਸੱ ਭ ਨੂ ੰ ੰ ਿਵਸਾਖੀ ਦੀ<br />
HAPPY ਲੱ ਖ ਲੱ ਖ DIWALI<br />
ਵਧਾਈ<br />
TO YOU ALL<br />
VAISAKHI GREETINGS TO YOU ALL<br />
Wishing everyone<br />
a Happy Diwali<br />
Hon. Ujjal Dosanjh, P.C., Q.C., M.P.<br />
Member of Parliament for Vancouver South<br />
ਜਲ ਦੋਸਝ ਤੁਹਾਨੂ ੰ ਸੱ ਭ ਨੂ ੰ ਿਵਸਾਖੀ ਦੀ<br />
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VAISAKHI ਵੈਨਕੂਵਰ GREETINGS ਸਾਊਥ TO YOU ALL<br />
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Mehfil <strong>MEHFIL</strong> September/October July/August 2009 47 1
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48 Mehfil September/October 2009<br />
*Offer a<br />
logo an
Feature<br />
Gala for a Good Cause<br />
It’s only fitting that Diwali, a celebration<br />
of knowledge, prosperity and all<br />
that is good, is serving as the inspiration<br />
behind an event to raise funds to assist<br />
students, facilitate business connections<br />
and promote collaboration.<br />
Those who attend Simon Fraser University’s<br />
second annual Diwali Gala,<br />
which takes place October 7 at the Bollywood<br />
Banquet<br />
Hall, will enjoy<br />
Sapno ki rani jab<br />
Indian dance, Curry, executive director, SFU Surrey.<br />
music and cuisine.<br />
Guests to connect with the rise of the Indian<br />
“The SFU India Strategy was designed<br />
dikh<br />
and organizers<br />
jaye.<br />
economy but<br />
You:<br />
also to connect with the<br />
will have the local South Asian community,” she says.<br />
added satisfaction<br />
of knowing<br />
that their<br />
SFU’s India student mobility programs,<br />
language and culture initiatives and partnerships<br />
with the South Asian community.<br />
“SFU recognizes the need to create<br />
awareness about South Asian art and culture,”<br />
says Nav Chima, who is manager<br />
of SFU’s India Country Strategy. “The<br />
gala serves to promote this rich heritage.<br />
As an Indo-Canadian, I value my traditions<br />
and cultural roots and Diwali is an<br />
important celebration. And the message<br />
of light and prosperity is applicable to<br />
people from all walks of life.”<br />
The gala is among many examples of<br />
SFU’s ever-strengthening ties with the<br />
Indo-Canadian community, says Joanne<br />
“The creation of the SFU Surrey campus<br />
added fuel to our efforts and immediately<br />
became the secretariat for many initiatives<br />
given the large Indo-Canadian community<br />
in the South Fraser.”<br />
participation<br />
I.M. best friend<br />
will benefit<br />
Last year’s gala included presentations<br />
by students who benefited from the funds<br />
raised by the community and matched by<br />
Email picture SFU’s president, Michael to Mummy Stevenson. ji<br />
“We had a moving speech by the three<br />
Indian students who have come to study<br />
at SFU and by the SFU students who<br />
went to India to work. These experiences<br />
are life-changing and all of the students<br />
were wonderful ambassadors of India and<br />
Canada,” says Curry.<br />
This year’s event, she says, will put<br />
more focus on students and give more<br />
time for networking.<br />
“Of course, we will keep the high<br />
quality entertainment and food, which is<br />
a hallmark of all successful Indo-Canadian<br />
events!” p<br />
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50 Mehfil September/October 2009
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Mehfil September/October 2009 51
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52 Mehfil September/October 2009
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58 Mehfil September/October 2009<br />
Is Your Skincare Regimen Right for You?<br />
If you’ve been using the same skincare<br />
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Following are skincare tips for different<br />
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Weddings<br />
Meena Betra from Atlanta, Georgia<br />
Suman Kollipara from Vancouver, B.C.<br />
Meena Betra and Suman<br />
Kollipara were so sure that<br />
they were meant for each other<br />
that they let only two weeks elapse<br />
between their first meeting and<br />
their wedding.<br />
They were introduced while<br />
Suman was visiting his brother,<br />
Prashant, in Atlanta, Georgia.<br />
Suspecting that Meena, who had<br />
become a family friend, and Suman<br />
would hit it off, Prashant invited<br />
her to join the family for dinner.<br />
“When I first saw her in person<br />
at my brother’s place, it felt as if the<br />
whole roller coaster ride of finding<br />
the right partner ended in this<br />
beautiful silence,” recalls Suman.<br />
“It was very instant and natural.<br />
There were no questions, no<br />
judgments, no analysis further.”<br />
Meena was just as sure she’d<br />
found the perfect match. “I felt<br />
complete,” she says of her<br />
reaction.<br />
It was obvious to both of them<br />
that their feelings were mutual, and<br />
wedding plans were under way<br />
within a couple of days. Even the<br />
overwhelming task of arranging<br />
for relatives on both sides to fly<br />
into Atlanta from as far away as<br />
Africa and India in less than two<br />
August<br />
2009<br />
weeks wasn’t enough to diminish<br />
the sense of calm that they say<br />
descended on them from the<br />
moment they met.<br />
“I felt very easy and relaxed<br />
any time I was around her,” says<br />
Suman. “In her proximity there was<br />
this force that kept telling me that<br />
we belong to each other.”<br />
The fact that the wedding plans,<br />
which included arranging for<br />
multiple visas and airline tickets,<br />
went so smoothly came as no<br />
surprise to the happy couple.<br />
“I felt that we were made for<br />
each other and that everything was<br />
happening as per divine plan, that<br />
we were just playing our roles,”<br />
says Suman. “It would have<br />
been humanly impossible to see<br />
something like this happen in two<br />
weeks. I was very thankful to God.”<br />
The sense of well-being<br />
extended to everyone who attended<br />
the wedding, which was a Hindu<br />
ceremony with about 30 guests<br />
from each side. “Each person<br />
brought a lot of positive energy and<br />
blessings and I could feel it every<br />
moment,” says Meena. “That was<br />
very inspiring and created a very<br />
solid sense that this marriage is<br />
blessed by heaven.”<br />
The honeymoon wasn’t idyllic<br />
but it did turn out to provide yet<br />
more proof of their compatibility.<br />
“It was a very hectic trip,” says<br />
Suman. “The most we remember<br />
is how we both actually cared<br />
for each other because we were<br />
still suffering from jet lag from<br />
flying into India and also we were<br />
knocked down by cold, cough<br />
and frequent headaches from the<br />
hot weather. It was not the typical<br />
‘cloud nine’ experience, but it<br />
allowed<br />
us to see the reality of life and<br />
how important it is to respect the<br />
other’s space and reach out to each<br />
other in tough times.”<br />
And, really, who needs cloud<br />
nine when you’ve got that kind of<br />
connection?<br />
The newlyweds are living<br />
blissfully in Vancouver.<br />
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60 Mehfil September/October 2009
Weddings<br />
Sandy Sidhu from Mission, B.C.<br />
Sonny Janda from Richmond, B.C.<br />
It’s not easy getting a straight<br />
answer from Sandy and Sonny<br />
Janda when you ask them about<br />
their engagement and wedding.<br />
It seems these two never miss a<br />
chance to make a wisecrack, but it’s<br />
obvious that their feelings for each<br />
other are no joke.<br />
Their first conversation was<br />
during a calculus class in fall<br />
2003. “It was the first couple<br />
of weeks of school and, being<br />
severely directionally challenged, I<br />
couldn’t find my economics class,”<br />
recalls Sandy. “I ended up missing<br />
the class and when I walked into<br />
calculus I realized that Sonny was<br />
also in my economics class so I<br />
asked him if I could borrow his<br />
notes. He admirably conceded.”<br />
Sandy got the notes and Sonny<br />
eventually got the girl.<br />
Although they were obviously<br />
headed for marriage, Sonny<br />
managed to surprise Sandy with a<br />
proposal.<br />
“He took me out to lunch near<br />
Stanley Park and he was definitely<br />
acting odd,” recalls Sandy. “Sonny<br />
is normally so confident and<br />
relaxed. But when the waitress<br />
brought our bill I could see that<br />
he was really nervous and I got<br />
so worried. He pulled out his brief<br />
case and said that he got a job<br />
July<br />
2009<br />
offer. I suddenly thought that he<br />
was going to move somewhere<br />
far away and I started to get teary<br />
eyed. Then he takes out a ring box<br />
and asks me if he should take the<br />
job. I couldn’t stop laughing. It was<br />
perfectly his style.”<br />
Sonny describes his arrival at<br />
the gurdwara on their wedding day<br />
with his characteristic flair.<br />
“I rode in on a white horse<br />
dressed in all Indian attire. The<br />
strut went well, all to plan, until<br />
the hoards of family and friends<br />
started to join behind me. The<br />
horse started to get a little rattled<br />
and was preparing to gallop across<br />
the parking lot. I decided at this<br />
time that maybe I shouldn’t be a<br />
hero, and I jumped off. Everybody<br />
thought it was part of the show but<br />
it was a desperate move to avoid<br />
bodily injury.”<br />
The groom made it safely<br />
into the gurdwara and was soon<br />
rewarded by the sight of his bride.<br />
“She was beautiful and elegant,”<br />
he says. “She put my silly, slanted<br />
turban to shame. Kodak moment.”<br />
The couple had something out<br />
of the ordinary in store for their<br />
guests at the reception.<br />
“Sonny and I decided to surprise<br />
our family and do the rumba for<br />
our first dance,” says Sandy.<br />
“Sonny is very co-ordinated, so it<br />
went off without a hitch! Our family<br />
and friends loved it.”<br />
The newlyweds honeymooned<br />
in Costa Rica — complete with<br />
“thunderstorms and crazy taxi<br />
drivers” — and are living (and<br />
laughing) in Richmond.<br />
Photos by CHRIS+LYNN PHOTOGRAPHERS<br />
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62 Mehfil September/October 2009
Weddings<br />
Meena Loretta Violet Duhra from Surrey, B.C.<br />
Aaron Brent Neibel from Port Moody, B.C.<br />
“ It was love at first laugh!”<br />
That’s how Meena and Aaron<br />
describe their first meeting. They<br />
were both students at Douglas<br />
College when a mutual friend took<br />
Meena along to see Aaron perform<br />
a funny routine during a small<br />
gathering.<br />
“He made me laugh and I<br />
thought he had the nicest eyes,”<br />
Meena recalls. “After our first<br />
introduction I walked away telling<br />
my friend that I wanted to marry<br />
him.”<br />
Aaron was smitten, too.<br />
May<br />
2009<br />
“This sounds a little corny, but<br />
the moment I laid eyes on her I was<br />
done!” he says. “I believe there<br />
were four or five girls there that day<br />
that I was supposed to be funny for,<br />
but the minute I saw Meena I knew<br />
this beautiful woman was going to<br />
be mine. No one else existed for<br />
that 10 minutes; it was just me and<br />
her! I spent the next month trying<br />
to get closer and closer to her, any<br />
opportunity we had to be together<br />
I was there. Every moment was so<br />
precious and always too short.”<br />
“We were basically inseparable<br />
from that moment on,” adds Meena.<br />
“He has a way of making me feel<br />
like I am the only one in the room<br />
and the most beautiful girl ever. He<br />
accepts all of my faults and has a<br />
way to make me laugh no matter<br />
how I’m feeling.”<br />
Any reservations on the part of<br />
Meena’s family — she’s an only<br />
child whose father assumed she’d<br />
bring home an Indian boy — were<br />
quickly overcome when they saw<br />
how deeply in love the couple were.<br />
Aaron came up with a<br />
characteristically unique way to<br />
propose, enlisting a little help from<br />
Santa Claus at his family’s annual<br />
Christmas get together.<br />
“All the kids in the<br />
neighbourhood and all of our close<br />
family and friends come over for a<br />
special Santa appearance,” explains<br />
Aaron. “We do crafts, sing carols,<br />
eat and drink and, of course, Santa<br />
shows up with his helpers and<br />
gives all the kids presents. Meena<br />
and I along with my sister and her<br />
boyfriend all play Santa’s helpers<br />
and hand out the gifts. Santa was<br />
the only other person who knew that<br />
I was going to propose so he helped<br />
me with the lead up. After handing<br />
out the last gift from Santa’s sack I<br />
reached in and pretended as though<br />
the sack was stuck on my head. I<br />
asked if one of the elves could help<br />
me out and Meena came over and<br />
pulled the bag off my head. Then<br />
I bent down on one knee and told<br />
her how much I loved her and how<br />
I wanted to spend the rest of my<br />
life together. She started to cry and<br />
eventually said yes.”<br />
“We were surrounded by<br />
family and friends, not to mention<br />
Santa, so it made the moment<br />
unforgettable,” adds Meena.<br />
The couple were married at<br />
Swan-e-Set Country Club in an<br />
outdoor Christian ceremony where<br />
the bride, wearing an ivory wedding<br />
gown, walked down the aisle with<br />
her father to the strains of the<br />
wedding march to join her groom,<br />
who was wearing a black tuxedo.<br />
But the couple and their families<br />
also had a chance to celebrate<br />
Indian style at an engagement party<br />
leading up to the wedding.<br />
“ I wanted to wear traditional<br />
Indian bridal attire so with the<br />
help of my friends I picked out<br />
the perfect red lengha,” says<br />
Meena. “Aaron is always up to new<br />
experiences and will do anything to<br />
make me happy so he wore a gold<br />
echken. The night was perfect. All<br />
of my family and friends were able<br />
to come from near and far. We had<br />
a bhangra team perform, we did<br />
juggo and danced the night away.<br />
Everyone had a blast and it was a<br />
night I will never forget.”<br />
The couple honeymooned in<br />
Montego Bay, Jamaica, where<br />
they recuperated from the wedding<br />
festivities by lounging on the beach,<br />
swimming with dolphins and<br />
shopping<br />
Today, the newlyweds are living<br />
blissfully in a newly renovated<br />
home in Vancouver.<br />
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Mehfil September/October 2009 63
Horoscope<br />
by Georgia Nicols<br />
October 2009<br />
Aries (March 21-April 19)<br />
This month the Sun is as far<br />
away from you as it gets all year.<br />
Since the Sun is the source of energy,<br />
you feel more tired than usual.<br />
However, this low energy could<br />
lead to feeling discouraged. (Bummer.)<br />
Don’t take this seriously. It<br />
will pass. Meanwhile, things in<br />
your life are coming to a head now.<br />
Some are successes and others<br />
are not! This means you have to<br />
regroup, and organize your life so<br />
that you can move forward. What<br />
can you learn now about your oneto-one<br />
encounters with others?<br />
Taurus (April 20-May 20)<br />
You’re keen to get organized!<br />
We’re talking about the real deal<br />
-- clean fridge, clean closets (well,<br />
maybe not the bedroom -- let’s be<br />
realistic.) You want to feel that in<br />
every aspect of your life, you can<br />
reach out and put your hand on<br />
exactly what you’re looking for,<br />
whether it’s a file, a tool or a $100<br />
bill. Give yourself the right tools<br />
-- cleaning supplies, file folders,<br />
shelves, whatever, to do a great,<br />
bang-up job. Afterward, you’ll feel<br />
satisfied, and rewarded. “I love<br />
me!”<br />
Gemini (May 21-June 20)<br />
It’s party time! Once a year, each<br />
sign gets a boost when it comes to<br />
seeking out pleasure, fun, romance<br />
and love affairs. This also applies<br />
to vacations, sports, and playful activities<br />
with children. Guess what?<br />
It’s your turn! Creative efforts can<br />
flourish because you’re in touch<br />
with your muse. Romance will be<br />
breathless. Social occasions are<br />
scintillating and stimulating. This<br />
is also a great time to entertain at<br />
home. Invite the gang over!<br />
Cancer (June 21-July 22)<br />
This month, your focus shifts to<br />
home, family, and domestic matters.<br />
You might be more involved<br />
with family events, or relatives<br />
might be visiting. (Still?) Discussions<br />
with family members, especially<br />
parents, will be significant.<br />
In part, this could be because<br />
childhood memories are bubbling<br />
to the surface of your mind. Even if<br />
you’re caught up in a swirl of activities<br />
at home, you’ll want some<br />
time alone. (Oh, yeah.) You need<br />
a little window of opportunity to<br />
cogitate, ruminate, meditate, and<br />
think about stuff.<br />
Leo (July 23-Aug. 22)<br />
A celestial shift now accelerates<br />
the pace of your days. You’re busy!<br />
Short trips, increased errands, extra<br />
jobs, conversations with everyone<br />
plus mucho reading, writing<br />
and studying, keep you on the go<br />
at a mildly hysterical pace. (“My<br />
hair’s on fire!”) However, all this<br />
busyness will help you to notice<br />
more about your style of communicating<br />
with others. Now is the<br />
time to express your real thoughts<br />
and intentions about something.<br />
Should you tell it like it is? (Well,<br />
it’s one thing to shoot yourself in<br />
the foot; but don’t do it with your<br />
foot in your mouth!)<br />
Virgo (Aug. 23-Sept. 22)<br />
This month, you’re preoccupied<br />
with financial matters, money<br />
deals, and cash flow. You might<br />
also be thinking about your earnings,<br />
especially how to boost your<br />
wealth, or get a different job, or<br />
make some money on the side.<br />
”What can I do that’s fun and really<br />
going to make me happy?”<br />
However, this is also a good time<br />
to take stock of your possessions.<br />
Be mindful of taking care what<br />
you already have. The bottom line<br />
is: What do you really want? Take<br />
some time to answer that question.<br />
Surprisingly, very few do.<br />
Libra (Sept. 23-Oct. 22)<br />
The Sun is back in your sign for<br />
the next four weeks, boosting your<br />
energy, and attracting powerful<br />
people and opportunities to you.<br />
Make the most of this time. Demand<br />
the advantage! (Because you<br />
certainly have it.) Why? Because<br />
you can project your energy out to<br />
others more than usual. Mind you,<br />
others will notice you have a more<br />
subjective viewpoint. So what?<br />
This is the beginning of your new<br />
personal year (birthday to birthday).<br />
It’s also the most powerful<br />
birthday you’ve had in 30 years!<br />
Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 21)<br />
Because your birthday is just a<br />
month away, this is your turn to<br />
play it cool, lie low, and work alone<br />
or behind the scenes. You need<br />
this down time to be able to strategize<br />
and plan what you want your<br />
new year to be all about. If you do<br />
nothing, then you’ll probably just<br />
respond to whatever happens.<br />
(Management by crisis.) Alternatively,<br />
you could set some broad<br />
goals that you want to achieve this<br />
year. These goals are not intended<br />
to restrict or hamper you, au contraire!<br />
They can help you focus on<br />
getting what you want.<br />
Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 21)<br />
The next several weeks will be<br />
extremely popular. Everyone wants<br />
to see your face. This is the time to<br />
join groups, clubs, organizations,<br />
and committees. You might also<br />
join a class. Friends will be glad<br />
to see you; and you’ll be glad to<br />
see them. This is an excellent time<br />
to share your dreams and goals for<br />
the future with others because their<br />
feedback will help you.<br />
Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19)<br />
Confessions may be good for<br />
the soul but they’re bad for the<br />
reputation. The next month you’ll<br />
be involved with bosses, parents,<br />
teachers, VIPS, and the police. Relax.<br />
It all looks good. Nevertheless,<br />
when you are around people who<br />
have power over you, always be<br />
honest, and always edit whatever<br />
you say. (Like duh?) Actually, one<br />
of the reasons authority types will<br />
buttonhole you is simply this: They<br />
notice you! Because the Sun is at<br />
high noon in your chart, it acts like<br />
a spotlight on you. “What seems to<br />
be the problem, Officer?”<br />
Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 18)<br />
You want to break free of your<br />
chains! You want to explore new<br />
and different ideas. During the<br />
next six weeks, if you can get out<br />
of Dodge, do so. You’re hungry<br />
to learn something new, plus you<br />
want more adventure in your life.<br />
An increased focus on publishing,<br />
higher education, medicine and<br />
the law, are also likely. You’re very<br />
work driven right now because<br />
you want to accomplish a lot. This<br />
ambition will help you to study or<br />
learn new things as well<br />
Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20)<br />
This month, you’ll feel unusually<br />
passionate. You might meet<br />
somebody who provokes some<br />
deep soul-searching within you.<br />
Or perhaps someone challenges<br />
your values or your beliefs? You<br />
might also feel strongly sexually<br />
attracted to someone. This is also<br />
a time when many of you will be<br />
more involved with the earnings,<br />
or lack of earnings of your partner.<br />
In fact, many issues related<br />
to shared possessions and jointly<br />
held property require your attention.<br />
(It’s not easy being in hot water,<br />
but it keeps you clean.) p<br />
64 Mehfil September/October 2009
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FURNITURE
Cuisine<br />
by Gurj Dhaliwal<br />
School’s In!<br />
brown bag lunch is only healthy if your little<br />
A one eats it. The lunches (and snacks) here are<br />
packed with the flavours kids love, and the critical protein,<br />
whole grains and fibre they need. A healthy alternative to the<br />
typical sandwich is a whole wheat wrap. Feel free to throw in as<br />
many veggies as you like and change it up with different ingredients<br />
every day of the week. Recess and afternoon snacks are<br />
just as important. To boost brain power, tuck a Trail Mix Rice<br />
Treat, which includes nuts and dried fruit, into their backpacks.<br />
Each one provides a bit of sweetness, but without all the empty<br />
calories found in many sweet treats.<br />
2 cups marshmallows<br />
¼ cup unsalted butter<br />
¼ cup golden syrup<br />
3 cups rice cereal<br />
¼ cup dry oats<br />
3 tbsp. flax seeds<br />
¼ cup dried cranberries<br />
¼ cup chopped dried<br />
apricots<br />
¼ cup pecans, finely<br />
chopped<br />
Trail Mix Rice Treats<br />
1. Melt together in a pot the<br />
marshmallows, butter and syrup.<br />
2. In a large bowl mix together the<br />
rice cereal, cranberries, dried<br />
apricots, flax seeds and pecans.<br />
3. Stir the warm butter mixture into<br />
the dry ingredients.<br />
4. Line a fairly shallow 8-inch<br />
square baking tin. Spoon the<br />
mixture into the pan and level<br />
the surface.<br />
5. Place in the fridge to set.<br />
Grilled Chicken & Apple<br />
Chutney Snack Wrap<br />
Ingredients:<br />
1 whole wheat wrap<br />
1 skinless, boneless<br />
chicken breast grilled<br />
¼ yellow bell pepper,<br />
cut into strips<br />
¼ red onion, thinly sliced<br />
½ cup spinach chopped<br />
1 tbsp. apple chutney<br />
(recipe follows)<br />
1 tbsp. low fat mayonnaise<br />
salt and pepper to taste<br />
66 Mehfil September/October 2009<br />
Method:<br />
1. Spread the mayonnaise<br />
& chutney on the<br />
tortilla.<br />
2. In a large bowl combine<br />
the chicken, bell<br />
peppers, red onions,<br />
spinach and mix well.<br />
3. Place on tortilla shell<br />
and roll up.<br />
Apple Chutney<br />
Ingredients:<br />
4 granny smith apples, peeled &<br />
diced<br />
1 cup apple cider vinegar<br />
¼ cup golden raisins<br />
1 cup brown sugar<br />
2 tsp. ground cinnamon<br />
Method:<br />
Place all of the ingredients into a<br />
pot and cook over medium heat<br />
for 30 minutes until the chutney<br />
has become soft and thick.<br />
Smokey Almonds<br />
Ingredients:<br />
2 cup almonds<br />
2 tbsp. olive oil<br />
1 tsp. paprika<br />
1 tsp. smoked paprika<br />
salt & pepper to taste<br />
Method:<br />
1. Toast the almonds at 300°F for 15<br />
minutes until golden brown.<br />
2. In a frying pan heat oil, add in<br />
toasted almonds and mix in the<br />
paprika.<br />
3. Cool down and serve.
WE DELIVER<br />
LUNCH SPECIAL $9.98<br />
“In India “curry”<br />
usually refers<br />
to “gravy” or a<br />
thicker sauce<br />
WE rather DELIVER than<br />
“spices.”<br />
The same goes<br />
with our menu.”<br />
LUNCH SPECIAL $9.98<br />
“In India “curry” usually refers to “gravy” or a thicker sauce rather than<br />
“spices.” The same goes with our menu.”<br />
“In India “curry” usually refers to “gravy” or a thicker sauce rather than<br />
“spices.” The same goes with our menu.”<br />
www.desijunction.ca<br />
8821 - 120th Street<br />
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Tel: 604-592-6360<br />
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Mehfil September/October 2009 67<br />
West Vancouver’s Hidden Jewel
Health & Fitness<br />
by Shefali Raja, BSc., RD Community Nutritionist<br />
Overcoming Common Barriers to<br />
Physical Activity<br />
Physical activity offers many health benefits no matter what<br />
age you are. For children, regular physical activity is essential<br />
for healthy growth and development. For adults, it allows daily<br />
tasks to be accomplished with greater ease and comfort and<br />
with less fatigue. For seniors, weight-bearing physical activity<br />
reduces the rate of bone loss associated with osteoporosis<br />
and also maintains strength and flexibility, balance and coordination,<br />
which can help reduce the risk of falls.<br />
Being physically active not only<br />
strengthens your body, it also makes you<br />
feel good about yourself. It reduces stress,<br />
strengthens the heart and lungs, increases<br />
energy levels, helps maintain and achieve a<br />
healthy body weight and decreases the risk<br />
of chronic disease and disability.<br />
However, despite awareness of the need<br />
to exercise regularly, many people find it<br />
hard to get started. In fact, 58 per cent of<br />
the Canadian population is inactive. Think<br />
about how many times you’ve started a<br />
workout program and eventually let it<br />
lapse as other priorities came up.<br />
Keep in mind that starting an exercise<br />
routine doesn’t always have to fall after<br />
New Year’s Day as a resolution. Today is as<br />
good a time as any. Following are common<br />
barriers to exercise how to get past them.<br />
“I don’t like exercising”<br />
The key to success when it comes to<br />
exercising is doing activities you enjoy. If<br />
you hate running, you don’t have to do it.<br />
Find activities that suit your personality.<br />
If you love the outdoors, go hiking or<br />
biking. If you like simplicity, stick with<br />
walking. Activities of daily living, such<br />
as housework, gardening and playing tag<br />
with the kids, all count. Aim for at least 30<br />
minutes in total – it can’t get easier than<br />
that!<br />
“I can’t seem to commit to an exercise<br />
routine. I start and then quit”<br />
When you look at exercise in the<br />
long term (i.e. that you have to exercise<br />
on a regular basis FOREVER), it can be<br />
overwhelming. However, you don’t have to<br />
change your life overnight.<br />
Start with small, realistic goals, such<br />
as to be more active every day by taking<br />
the stairs and moving around more. Don’t<br />
promise yourself you’re going to work out<br />
for an hour every day, and then get down<br />
on yourself when you fall short. Start with<br />
where you are, not where you want to be.<br />
Decide you’ll get up 10 minutes early<br />
to walk or lift weights. Over time, you can<br />
increase your workout time and try new<br />
things. For now, just worry about making<br />
it a daily habit.<br />
Schedule your exercise time in your<br />
calendar like any other appointment.<br />
When you write it down it becomes<br />
a commitment that must be fulfilled;<br />
make sure your friends and family are<br />
aware of your commitment. Ask for their<br />
encouragement and support.<br />
Keep track of your daily activity<br />
on a calendar or tack your steps using<br />
a pedometer. This will help you move<br />
forward and get inspired.<br />
If you’re tired, stressed or bored with<br />
your workouts, it’s hard to keep going.<br />
Change your routine every four to six weeks<br />
by trying something new or changing your<br />
intensity or time.<br />
Sign up for an event such as a walk<br />
or a run to help you stay focused and<br />
motivated. There are so many such events<br />
in our communities. Choose one for each<br />
season – you’ll soon be addicted!<br />
Find a partner to work out with as<br />
this will make you accountable to each<br />
other and encourage you to stick to your<br />
commitment.<br />
Be gentle with yourself as some days<br />
you might not want to do as much; do<br />
more another day.<br />
“I can’t afford a gym membership”<br />
There’s no reason you have to join a gym<br />
to exercise.<br />
Dumbbells, skipping ropes and<br />
resistance bands are cheap and can be used<br />
for a variety of exercises.<br />
Borrow an exercise DVD or one on<br />
dance aerobics, cardio-kickboxing, yoga,<br />
tai chi, etc. from the library.<br />
Start a walking group. Round up friends,<br />
neighbours or co-workers for regular<br />
group walks. Plan routes through your<br />
neighbourhood or near your workplace,<br />
along local parks and trails, or in a nearby<br />
shopping mall.<br />
“I am not noticing any changes in my<br />
body”<br />
Not losing weight fast enough? You<br />
don’t put weight on overnight and it won’t<br />
come off that quickly either. Once you<br />
start exercising, give your body time to<br />
react and build muscle. It could take up<br />
to 12 weeks before you start seeing some<br />
real changes in your body. As long as you<br />
burn more calories than you consume,<br />
the weight will come off. Mix up your<br />
68 Mehfil September/October 2009
outine: Do three days of cardio and two<br />
days of strength training. Make sure you<br />
are exercising at least 30 minutes a day at<br />
a moderate intensity. If you are not seeing<br />
results you may have to increase your<br />
intensity or exercise duration. Males tend<br />
to have more muscle mass and will notice<br />
changes sooner.<br />
“I don’t have time!”<br />
Physically inactive people have just as<br />
much free time as exercisers, so you can<br />
throw this excuse out! Here’s how to get<br />
past a busy schedule:<br />
If you can’t find a full 30 minutes<br />
during your day, break it up into 10- or<br />
15-minute segments.<br />
Get up a few minutes early and take a<br />
brisk walk. Use 15 minutes of your lunch<br />
hour to walk the stairs and walk the dog or<br />
lift weights after work.<br />
Rethink your rituals. Your weekly<br />
Saturday matinee with the kids or your<br />
best friend could be reborn as your weekly<br />
Saturday bike ride, rock-climbing lesson or<br />
trip to the pool.<br />
Be prepared by always having your<br />
workout gear in the car and capture the<br />
many opportunities that arise, such as<br />
when the kids are at a practice or you end<br />
up having to wait longer somewhere.<br />
“I am not sure what to eat before,<br />
during and after a workout”<br />
To get the most from your workout:<br />
Eat a healthy breakfast. Most of the energy<br />
you got from dinner last night is used up<br />
by morning. Your blood sugar may be low.<br />
If you don’t eat, you may feel sluggish or<br />
lightheaded while exercising. If you plan<br />
to exercise within an hour after breakfast,<br />
eat a smaller breakfast or drink something<br />
to raise your blood sugar, such as a sports<br />
drink.<br />
Time your meals based on their size.<br />
Large meals may be eaten at least three to<br />
four hours before exercising; small meals<br />
two to three hours before exercising.<br />
1-1.5 hours before a workout<br />
A mini-meal/snack consisting of lean<br />
protein, complex carbohydrates and<br />
healthy fat, and about two to three cups<br />
of water.<br />
1 serving of whole grain cereal with<br />
skim or 1% milk<br />
4-6 graham crackers and peanut butter<br />
¾ cup of low-fat yogurt and a banana<br />
granola bar and a decaf latte<br />
string cheese and an apple<br />
30 minutes before a workout<br />
a fruit, ½ to one cup of water<br />
During the workout<br />
Depending on the length of the workout<br />
– water is adequate for the first hour and<br />
for longer and more intense workouts<br />
sports drinks, gels would be appropriate<br />
for providing energy as well as replenishing<br />
the electrolytes such as salts that are lost<br />
with perspiration<br />
One of the things that motivated<br />
me this past year was committing to the<br />
Vancouver Sun Run. I had been thinking<br />
about doing such a run for a number of<br />
years but with having a young family, a<br />
busy work and home life, I was always<br />
reluctant to commit to it, let alone running<br />
the 10 K. Although I was not able to sign<br />
up for formal training to help me, I started<br />
with small runs when I had time and the<br />
fact that there was an end date made me<br />
push myself to fit small runs in wherever<br />
and whenever I could. The day of the run<br />
was incredible. Seeing the sea of people<br />
participating instantly elevates your energy<br />
level up a notch. I thoroughly enjoyed<br />
it and would encourage you to really<br />
consider registering for such opportunities.<br />
It’s a win-win for you and for the charities<br />
that receive the registration money. I am<br />
hooked and hope to take part again next<br />
year. See you out there. p<br />
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Mehfil September/October 2009 69
Shifting Gears<br />
by Veeno Dewan<br />
2009 Mazda RX8-R3<br />
Something Special<br />
For 2009 the RX-8 R3 is a special<br />
version of the unique Mazda RX-8, a<br />
Wankel rotary-engined spots car with four<br />
doors and now undergoing a revamp since<br />
its introduction five years ago. Nothing<br />
too radical, comprising a new front fascia<br />
with a wider grille and a revised rear<br />
fascia. However it is enough for one to<br />
notice the sleeker, cleaner look. Interior<br />
wise, the centre dash console is restyled<br />
and features amenities such as Bluetooth<br />
connectivity; an auxiliary audio jack and<br />
a new touch-screen navigation system are<br />
now offered. No four- cylinder V6 or V8<br />
engine under the hood. The RX-8’s rotary<br />
Wankel engine is a one of a kind engine<br />
with less moving parts. Mazda is now the<br />
only automaker to use a rotary engine in<br />
a mass-produced car. Key advantages of<br />
the Wankel engine are its compact size,<br />
lighter weight and more power with a<br />
lower displacement, allowing the 1.3-litre<br />
engine to rev up to 9,000 rpm in the sixspeed<br />
manual version.<br />
Other special technical features on<br />
the special R-3 version we tested include<br />
Recaro seats, and a front strut cross<br />
member brace. Models with the six-speed<br />
automatic (with paddle shifters) produce<br />
212 hp and redline at 7,500 rpm. The<br />
six-speed manual version develops 232<br />
hp. The R3 model essentially takes an<br />
RX-8 Touring model and adds revised<br />
tuned suspension, very nice looking black<br />
finished 19-inch alloy wheels, a rear wing<br />
spoiler, a special front fascia, front sport<br />
seats, keyless ignition/entry, Bluetooth<br />
and the upgraded Bose stereo. Our R3 had<br />
the Mazdaspeed logo on the B-pillar side<br />
skirts, badging and some extra bling and<br />
elicited many envious looks. Also special<br />
to the R3 are the unique front bumper,<br />
deep side sills and skirts that make this<br />
car look longer, lower and wider and<br />
sportier. Xenon headlights and Bilstein<br />
performance suspension dampers are the<br />
functional extras.<br />
ON THE ROAD<br />
The R3 offers scintillating performance<br />
in the form of a tight, grippy ride and<br />
solid responsive steering and handling.<br />
The rotary engine is really in its element at<br />
high engine revs, making use of that long<br />
power band, and it’s a smooth, vibrationfree<br />
experience. The whirring, whooshing<br />
engine noise is unusual, but characteristic<br />
of this power plant, although the exhaust<br />
note on this R3 model was nice and loud.<br />
The more aggressively tuned suspension<br />
on the R3 also means a tighter, more<br />
grip-enhanced ride and somewhat<br />
sharper reflexes so fast corners become a<br />
welcome sight in this quick handling car.<br />
Otherwise, this RX-8 is a very tight, welldefined<br />
sports car. The major controls —<br />
steering, shifter, and brakes — are all very<br />
well calibrated for sporty driving.<br />
The steering is very responsive to the<br />
driver inputs — you don’t have to give<br />
it too much turning off the centre to go<br />
where you need. The brakes are strong,<br />
and they bite early. The gear shifter is<br />
excellent, with the lever right where you<br />
want it to be, and it moves through the<br />
gearbox gate with short throws and the<br />
gears engage positively,<br />
The RX-8 look like nothing else on the<br />
planet, offers four seats and four doors as<br />
well as a usable trunk, therefore making<br />
it an overall practical user-friendly sports<br />
car, The R3 version remains an attractive,<br />
rare and good looking buy.<br />
2009 Mazda RX- 8 R9 Priced from<br />
$40,780.<br />
70 Mehfil September/October 2009
Pilot can take you, your assistant coach, two wingers,<br />
two defencemen, a goalie, and one hockey Mom<br />
to a Giants’ game.<br />
Pilot Touring<br />
model YF4899KN<br />
Starting from<br />
$38,410 MSRP‡<br />
Includes freight & PDI<br />
With seating for eight, Pilot also has second and third row split-folding 60/40 seats<br />
so you can convert from people mover to cargo carrier in seconds.<br />
• Front Active Head Restraints<br />
• Bluetooth HandsFreeLink ® Wireless *<br />
• Power Tailgate with Flip-up Glass *<br />
• Integrated Tow Hitch with Pre-Wiring<br />
• 6 Airbags and ACE Body Structure<br />
• Bilingual Voice Recognition Navigation System *<br />
‡MSRP is $38,410 for a new 2009 Pilot LX 2WD, model YF3829E and includes $1,590 freight and PDI. License, insurance, registration and taxes are extra. *Available on Pilot Touring model. MSRP of 2009 Pilot<br />
Touring, model YF4899KN shown is $52,010. Retailer may sell for less. See your dealer for details.
Shifting Gears<br />
2009 Nissan Cube<br />
Novelty Squared<br />
The 2009 Nissan Cube is not in fact<br />
a new vehicle and has actually been<br />
on sale in Japan for a number of years.<br />
2009, however, becomes the debut year in<br />
Canada for this boxy, interesting looking<br />
four-door hatchback vehicle. Note the<br />
Cube does have curves to round out and<br />
soften the design, but still remains square,<br />
tall and high sided. Key stand-out styling<br />
features include the wrap-around rear<br />
window that extends across the side of the<br />
vehicle into the C-pillar, giving the Cube<br />
a unique looking aspect and is the major<br />
styling focal point for Nissan’s newest<br />
Canadian vehicle.<br />
The interior is equally novel, featuring<br />
a roof headliner, speakers and cup holders<br />
that have a pond ripple-like motif. I<br />
attended the media launch of the Cube<br />
in Toronto and according to Nissan’s Ian<br />
Forsyth: “The Nissan Cube has a face<br />
designed to look like a bulldog wearing<br />
sunglasses!” One thing is for sure: the<br />
Cube looks unlike anything else on the<br />
road. Even the marketing and advertising<br />
campaign for the Cube’s Canadian launch<br />
was unconventional. Nissan used social<br />
media networking sites such as Twitter and<br />
Facebook to reach a younger demographic<br />
and gave away 50 Cubes in a national<br />
competition across Canada, attracting<br />
the young, hip, edgy buyers Nissan is<br />
aiming at.<br />
The Cube is based on the popular<br />
Nissan Versa small car platform but is<br />
priced higher due to its specification and<br />
design — starting at a price of $16,998<br />
for the 1.8- litre engined four-door model<br />
with a six-speed manual transmission;<br />
add the CVT (Continuously Variable<br />
Transmission) and the price rises to around<br />
$18,298 for a well-equipped, fully loaded<br />
model. Interior wise the Cube arrives<br />
with a plethora of as standard comforts<br />
including power windows, door locks and<br />
mirrors, air conditioning and CD audio<br />
system. In addition there are a number of<br />
personalization options available such as:<br />
movable multi-hooks which hold bags and<br />
accessories throughout the vehicle, interior<br />
mood lighting, elastic bungee door bands<br />
for holding objects, colour coded vent and<br />
switch plate covers, dash-top accent mat<br />
(or shag carpeting for your car), aluminum<br />
pedal covers, 16-inch alloy wheels in silver<br />
or gun metal, as well as an available aero kit<br />
with front chin spoiler, rear under spoiler,<br />
rear roof spoiler and side body sills.<br />
I do like the interior of the Cube. Not<br />
only is it spacious with excellent headroom,<br />
many will appreciate the fact that you step<br />
into the Cube thanks to the low floor<br />
height and sit nice and high with excellent<br />
visibility. The rear seats are also roomy and<br />
recline and fold, offering decent enough<br />
legroom.<br />
On the road the Cube proves to be a fun<br />
to drive little four-door with overall good<br />
handling and ride, but I found the Cube<br />
was a bit slow in acceleration and could<br />
do with an injection of extra horsepower<br />
for more spirited driving. The Cube’s little<br />
engine is buzzy on the highways and takes<br />
its time to get up to speed as the engine’s<br />
122 horses and 127 lb-ft of torque seem<br />
more at home in the cut and thrust of the<br />
urban grind<br />
I would opt for the six speed manual<br />
transmission for more driving fun and<br />
responsiveness.<br />
Fuel economy for the Cube is average<br />
for its class with the six-speed rated at 8.3<br />
L/100 km in the city and 6.6 on the highway<br />
while the automatic CVT transmission is<br />
rated at 7.3 L/100 km in the city and 6.5<br />
L/100 km on the highway.<br />
To sum up: The Cube offers a unique<br />
unconventional interior and exterior<br />
design. There are some strong alternatives<br />
in this sector, but few can approach the<br />
unique looks and panache of the Cube. It<br />
is new and distinct and may strike a chord<br />
with buyers looking for out-of-the-box<br />
styling.<br />
2009 Nissan Cube priced from $16,998<br />
- $18,298<br />
72 Mehfil September/October 2009
An achievement in overachievement.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
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<br />
The All-New 2010 E-Class 4MATIC. <br />
Starting from $62,900.
CYAN<br />
MAGENTA<br />
YELLOW<br />
BLACK<br />
Trim Size: 27" x 39"<br />
Colours: CMYK<br />
Date: August 7, 2008<br />
Client:<br />
Mazda<br />
Mac Operator: DB<br />
Job Ticket: 87-75000-183<br />
Version: 1<br />
Media: Showroom Poster – M6 (Version 2)<br />
If any problems contact Doner media at (416) 485-9901<br />
CYAN MAG YEL BLK<br />
IT’S HERE<br />
THE HOWEVER ALL-NEW<br />
YOU MOVE,<br />
THERE’S A MAZDA FOR YOU.<br />
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PURCHASE FINANCING FOR<br />
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Sales & Leasing Professional<br />
604-868-4392<br />
Shane Nakai<br />
Sales & Leasing Professional<br />
M{zd{ 6<br />
604-313-5776<br />
Don't miss the vehicle sales event of the year as we<br />
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GT model shown<br />
GT model shown<br />
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WITH AIR CONDITIONING<br />
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theft-deterrent system, Tilt & Telescopic steering<br />
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Local Artist<br />
Moninder Bubber’s<br />
Creative<br />
Expression<br />
Looking at artist Moninder Bubber’s drawing entitled<br />
“First Born,” the old saying that a picture is worth a<br />
thousand words comes to mind. The image is a moving<br />
depiction of the profound connection between mother and<br />
infant. It’s easy to see why Bubber names it as one of her<br />
favourite creations.<br />
“I have painted the idea of<br />
‘mother and child’ for many<br />
years in drawings, in watercolors<br />
and acrylics,” says Bubber.<br />
“I enjoy expressing human<br />
emotions as well as concepts<br />
such as spirituality.”<br />
Bubber’s passion for drawing<br />
and painting can be traced<br />
back to her youth.<br />
“My high school art teacher,<br />
Mr. Kolysher, gave us a<br />
weekly homework assignment<br />
to do three sketches from life.<br />
I remember drawing ballet<br />
dancers from watching them<br />
on TV and making my mom<br />
sit so I could have a model,”<br />
she says, adding that her parents<br />
encouraged her to develop<br />
her talent.<br />
“My parents always supported<br />
my interest and<br />
bought me paints and other<br />
supplies,” she says. “I still<br />
have the bamboo brush that I<br />
got from them in high school.<br />
Because I did well in every<br />
subject they guided me to go<br />
into medicine, but after one<br />
year I followed my heart and<br />
switched to fine arts. Later, I<br />
did a Masters of Library Science<br />
degree to make a living as<br />
a librarian. I had decided early<br />
on that I didn’t want the pressure<br />
of making a living from<br />
the art because, at least for<br />
me, the joy would go out of<br />
it. My priorities have always<br />
been very clear: my family, my<br />
work and then my art.”<br />
Hence her long break from<br />
art between 1976, when she<br />
showed her work at her Bachelor<br />
of Fine Arts Exhibit at the<br />
University of Saskatchewan,<br />
and her one-person show in<br />
2001 at The Tech Gallery at<br />
Simon Fraser University at<br />
Harbour Centre.<br />
“It was a proud moment,<br />
an affirmation that if I put in<br />
some time and energy I could<br />
really develop as an artist,” she<br />
says of the exhibit.<br />
Since then, Bubber has<br />
had another one-person show,<br />
at SFU’s Bennett Library Gallery<br />
in 2005, and recently had<br />
a group exhibit at the Cornerstone<br />
Building at SFU’s Burnaby<br />
campus. In late September,<br />
she’ll have a one-person<br />
exhibit in the same space.<br />
“With my children all<br />
grown up, I have the time to<br />
devote to my art,” she says,<br />
adding she always knew she’d<br />
reconnect with painting at<br />
some point. “There was never<br />
any doubt in my mind . . . I<br />
love the process, the uncertainty,<br />
the working though<br />
and resolving of the problems<br />
faced on the canvas, and the<br />
surprises that come up. It’s<br />
like taking a journey into the<br />
unknown. There is no getting<br />
around practising the craft,<br />
First Born<br />
just like a pianist has to practise<br />
for hours. But once we get<br />
past the mastery of the craft<br />
part and become proficient to<br />
a certain degree, there is such<br />
joy in being inventive.”<br />
But you don’t have to be a<br />
professional artist to benefit<br />
from discovering and expressing<br />
your creativity, she says.<br />
“We can be creative through<br />
everyday things like cooking,<br />
working on a project, putting<br />
together an outfit, telling a story,<br />
writing, etc. It doesn’t have<br />
to be painting, music, dance,<br />
or theatre.”<br />
Blue Madaonna<br />
Artist Moninder Bubber<br />
When Bubber comes across<br />
people who are interested in art<br />
but feel they can’t even draw a<br />
straight line, she encourages<br />
them to stop thinking and<br />
start creating.<br />
“Just do it,” she says. “Maybe<br />
start with a small sketchbook<br />
that you keep with you all the<br />
time. Scribble. Put down your<br />
thoughts and feelings. Nurture<br />
your creativity because<br />
that nurtures your soul.<br />
“Discover what being creative<br />
is for you, and then don’t<br />
let anyone extinguish your<br />
flame.” p<br />
Mehfil September/October 2009 75
Movie reviews<br />
By Ron Ahluwalia<br />
Love Aaj Kal<br />
Now this a love story for the<br />
21st century. Love Aaj Kal<br />
dares to accept that relationships<br />
and love no longer need to work<br />
like they used to — and that it’s<br />
OK. Saif Ali Khan’s first movie as a<br />
producer is a winner.<br />
This up-to-date romance tells<br />
the story of Jai (Saif Ali Khan)<br />
and Meera (Deepika Padukone),<br />
two Londoners who meet at a<br />
bar, date for two years and live<br />
fulfilling lives. When Meera<br />
decides to move to India to further<br />
her career in art restoration, they<br />
amicably split up. They stay in<br />
touch, even though they move on<br />
to new lovers. But have they really<br />
moved on? All the while, Veer<br />
Singh (Rishi Kapoor) recounts<br />
his love story, a track that runs<br />
parallel to the main story; Khan as<br />
a sardar plays the young Kapoor<br />
and Giselle Monteiro is his love<br />
interest.<br />
Director Imtiaz Ali’s latest gets<br />
off to a perfect start and maintains<br />
its pace for the duration of the<br />
film. The plot moves seamlessly<br />
between eras and the mature but<br />
light-hearted nature of the scenes<br />
is not lost on the viewer. Pritam’s<br />
soundtrack is much better than<br />
his recent efforts. Delhi, London,<br />
and San Francisco are beautifully<br />
photographed.<br />
Saif Ali Khan is the master<br />
of the romantic comedy in<br />
Bollywood. Since Hum Tum<br />
(and with a few exceptions), he<br />
continues to challenge himself<br />
while entertaining the masses.<br />
His portrayal of a young sardar is<br />
bang on. Deepika Padukone finally<br />
gives a performance that makes<br />
her seem worthy of her fame. She<br />
shares great chemistry with Khan.<br />
Rishi Kapoor gives a sold performance.<br />
Rahul Khanna is royally<br />
wasted and should take a leave<br />
from films until he find a role of<br />
substance. Giselle Monteiro does<br />
well in a small role.<br />
Love Aaj Kal is a must-see so<br />
if you missed it this summer, get<br />
the DVD aaj and not kal.<br />
Kambakht Ishq<br />
Remember the exquisite song,<br />
Kambakht Ishq in Ram Gopal<br />
Verma’s adaptation of Fatal<br />
Attraction, Pyaar Tune Kya Kiya? It<br />
was arguably the best song of that<br />
year. The movie by the same name<br />
falls flat on almost all fronts.<br />
Lucky and Kamini (Aftab<br />
Shivdasani, Armita Arora) are<br />
in love and get married. Lucky’s<br />
brother, Viraj (Akshay Kumar), is<br />
against the marriage because he<br />
believes that commitment is nothing<br />
but trouble because girls are<br />
out to emasculate men. Kamini’s<br />
best friend Sim (Kareena Kapoor)<br />
thinks all men are dogs and thus<br />
opposes marriage. She also disapproves<br />
of the marriage because<br />
Lucky is a stunt-double in movies.<br />
Viraj is also a stunt-double and<br />
takes offence to Sim’s elitism. This<br />
sparks a war between Sim and<br />
Viraj. The rest is predictable.<br />
Commitment-phobes, fighters<br />
who become lovers, and bad<br />
comedic subplots are generic<br />
Bollywood plots, all of which make<br />
Kambakht Ishq a case of old<br />
wine in a new bottle. Sabbir Khan<br />
doesn’t tell the story well — the<br />
songs do not move the story forward<br />
(and they’re really bad) and<br />
the Javed Jaffery plot is useless.<br />
The comedy is pedestrian.<br />
Akshay Kumar repeats the<br />
same performances he gave in his<br />
last ten movies. And those were<br />
bad performances. Enough said.<br />
Kareena Kapoor does better than<br />
Kumar but goes overboard in a few<br />
scenes. Amrita Arora manages a<br />
performance that does not make<br />
you squirm, which shows that she<br />
is improving. Aftab Shivdasani<br />
is in a big-name movie after a<br />
long time but doesn’t get any<br />
scope to perform; the man is a<br />
good actor (see Kasoor, Ankahee,<br />
and Darwaaza Bandh Rakho as<br />
reminders) but is not getting the<br />
roles he needs to showcase his<br />
talent. Bowman Irani and Kirron<br />
Kher don’t stand out like they<br />
usually do. Brandon Routh plays<br />
second fiddle to Kumar. Why?<br />
Superman would be Khiladi any<br />
day. Sylvester Stallone is very<br />
awkward, while the plot makes<br />
Denise Richards an antagonist for<br />
no reason.<br />
The only thing more kambakht<br />
than ishq is this movie. So don’t<br />
watch it.<br />
Chintuji<br />
Harbahedi is a small village<br />
under the shadow of an<br />
allegedly corrupt larger village by<br />
the name of Tirphila. The villagers<br />
of Harbahedi gather to contemplate<br />
ways to increase the village’s profile.<br />
Soon they realize that famous<br />
Bollywood actor Rishi Kapoor, aka<br />
“Chintuji,” is also from their village<br />
and they invite him to visit in<br />
the hopes that his appearance will<br />
generate press, extended electricity<br />
and development. Rishi (played<br />
by himself) is on the verge of a<br />
political career and his publicist,<br />
Devika (Kulraj Randhawa), suggests<br />
Harbahedi as the perfect<br />
launch platform.<br />
In Harbahedi, Devika falls<br />
for local newspaper editor Arun<br />
(Priyanshu Chatterjee) and Rishi<br />
boards with a local family (headed<br />
by Grusha Kapoor of TV fame).<br />
His behaviour towards the locals<br />
is outright deplorable despite their<br />
hospitality. Of course, there are<br />
skeletons in characters’ closets<br />
and ever-imminent threat of sabotage<br />
by the people of Tirphila.<br />
Director Ranjit Kapoor’s venture<br />
is highly reminiscent of Shyam<br />
Benegal’s Welcome to Sajjanpur<br />
and the comedic village look<br />
seems uninspired. But his ability<br />
to focus on a major plotline with<br />
relevant subplots makes this an<br />
interesting film.<br />
In the title role, Rishi Kapoor<br />
takes a big risk in portraying his<br />
real-life self as an arrogant and<br />
insufferable buffoon. He toys with<br />
going over-the-top but manages to<br />
deliver a commendable performance.<br />
Kulraj Randhawa, who made<br />
a splash on the TV show Kareena<br />
Kareena, is solid. Priyanshu<br />
Chatterjee does well. Grusha<br />
Kapoor plays her stock character<br />
very well. Shaurabh Sukhla, as<br />
always, hits the mark.<br />
Chintuji is good movie, but<br />
nothing spectacular or novel. Give<br />
it a shot to pass a rainy day.<br />
76 Mehfil September/October 2009
Reflections<br />
Manjit Dhillon has a knack for remembering<br />
dates. For example, he<br />
left India with his father on June 2, 1948,<br />
and after stops in Hong Kong, San Francisco<br />
and Yuba City, California, he arrived<br />
in White Rock, British Columbia, on July<br />
3, 1948.<br />
The 18-year-old didn’t have any leisure<br />
time in which to form an impression of<br />
his new country.<br />
“My father, who had first moved to<br />
Canada in 1931, had very good connections<br />
with Kapoor Lumber Company<br />
in North Vancouver. He phoned there<br />
looking for a chance to work. They said<br />
we have work for two people. My father<br />
and I started working there on July 5. My<br />
father said to improve your English you<br />
should go to night school. So I worked<br />
eight hours in the mill, then I would go<br />
to night school in North Burnaby for two<br />
hours. I would come home at 11 o’clock,<br />
then go to work again in the morning.<br />
This went on until the spring of 1949.<br />
Then there was a wood shortage in that<br />
mill and I moved to Victoria to work.”<br />
For a year, Dhillon worked during the<br />
week at a mill and then helped his uncle<br />
make deliveries on the weekends.<br />
“My uncle had a wood and sawdust<br />
business and on the weekend we would<br />
haul sawdust. In those days, the main fuel<br />
The India Grass Hockey Club, with goalie Manjit Dhillon, beat five other Lower Mainland<br />
teams to win a championship trophy in 1954. “My teammates were (back row) Bachan Gill,<br />
Jeet Singh, Jian Rai, Pandat Rai, Lashman Gill, Herby, Chumkour Singh. And (front row) Avtar<br />
Singh, Mager Rai, Karnail Johal, Manjit Dhillon, Harbans Singh,” recalls Dhillon.<br />
Manjit Dhillon<br />
was wood and sawdust and we would haul<br />
sacks of wood on our back and go door to<br />
door to make extra money.”<br />
Dhillon then moved to Mesachie Lake,<br />
where he lived in a bunkhouse along with<br />
about 60 mill co-workers for two years.<br />
“We would work eight hours a day, then<br />
in the evening we would have lots of time<br />
to do exercise, play volleyball and soccer,”<br />
recalls Dhillon.”<br />
Next came a six-week stint working at<br />
a mill in Kamloops before Dhillon and his<br />
father moved back to Vancouver in 1952.<br />
“I started going to night school for<br />
lumber grading and lumber tallying,” recalls<br />
Dhillon. “After I finished those two<br />
courses, I could work anywhere I wanted<br />
because lumber graders were in big demand.”<br />
In 1954, he landed a job at the Burke<br />
Lumber Company. That same year,<br />
Dhillon helped the India Grass Hockey<br />
Club win a championship over five other<br />
Lower Mainland teams. He has vivid<br />
memories of the deciding game, which<br />
was against a team from North Vancouver.<br />
“We started playing on a Saturday,<br />
and we had three overtimes without a<br />
goal. We decided we weren’t going to quit<br />
until the game was decided. The following<br />
week, we played again in Stanley Park.<br />
I was playing goalie, and I must have been<br />
a good goalie because we won 3-nothing.<br />
Out of those 12 players, only three of us<br />
are still living.”<br />
In 1955, Dhillon married Harjit Kaur,<br />
the daughter of a close friend of his grandfather’s.<br />
“When I came from India, I had told<br />
my grandfather he could choose my bride.<br />
In 1954 he wrote me and said he’d found<br />
a good match for me. My grandfather and<br />
Harjit’s father had both been freedom<br />
fighters and were good friends.<br />
“Harjit came from India on July 9,<br />
1955. She came to our home and then we<br />
got married on July 16, 1955.”<br />
In 1964, the family, which by then<br />
included Manjit and Harjit’s three small<br />
children, moved into the house in which<br />
the couple still live today. “We bought it<br />
brand new and moved in on October 24,”<br />
recalls Dhillon. “The price was $19,000<br />
but I told the builder I would buy it only<br />
if he finished the basement. I gave him<br />
another $1,500 to complete the basement<br />
so we would have three bedrooms upstairs<br />
and three bedrooms downstairs.<br />
“We thought about moving at one<br />
point, but my wife said this house has a<br />
big history. Many freedom fighters would<br />
come to visit my grandfather here when<br />
he lived here. We decided we will never<br />
move.” p<br />
78 Mehfil September/October 2009
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