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The Pittsburgh Patrika, Vol. 20, No. 2, January 2015
Vol. 20 No 2 January 2015
www.pittsburghpatrika.com
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The Pittsburgh Patrika, Vol. 20, No. 2, January 2015
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The Pittsburgh Patrika, Vol. 20, No. 2, January 2015
The Quarterly Magazine (Jan, Apr, Jul & Oct) for the Indian Diaspora
Vol. 20 No. 2 www.pittsburghpatrika.com January 2105
4006 Holiday Park Drive, Murrysville, PA 15668
Phone/Fax: (724) 327 0953 e-mail: ThePatrika@aol.com
“Like” us on Facebook at
www.facebook.com/pittsburgh.patrika
Highlights in this issue... ... ...
Cultural Continuum — the Cause of Conflicts
By Kollengode S Venkataraman..................................................... 2
Superstar Welcome to Prime Minister Narendra Modi
By Vinod Doshi............................................................................. 10
An Unflattering Facet of Desi life in the US
By Kollengode s Venkataraman.................................................... 16
Phipps’ Adieu to Tropical Forest Live Exhibit
By Premlata Venkataraman........................................................... 18
Nandini Mandal’s Prakriti Portrays Motherhood
By Deepa Godbole........................................................................ 19
Our Experience with Longwood at Home
By Balwant Dixit.......................................................................... 20
University of Pittsburgh’s New Lecture Series on
South Asia Focused on India
By Premlata Venkataraman........................................................... 22
Beware of Charlatans in Your Spiritual Journey
By Kollengode S Venkataraman................................................... 26
A New Kind of TV Commercial in India
By K S Venkataraman................................................................... 32
On the Cover: People in Europe proudly guard their local flavors during
Christmas. Near Brussels’ historic City Center is the famous Manneken
Pis, the 2’ high bronze statue of a naked little boy peeing, installed in an
open-air alcove. When I was in Brussels in early December, I took this
picture of people crowding around the Manneken Pis draped in a seasonal
costume. — Kollengode S. Venkataraman •
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The Pittsburgh Patrika, Vol. 20, No. 2, January 2015
The Quarterly Magazine (Jan, Apr, Jul & Oct) for the Indian Diaspora
Vol. 20 No. 2 www.pittsburghpatrika.com January 2015
Phone/Fax: (724) 327 0953 e-mail: ThePatrika@aol.com
Cultural Continuum — the Cause of Conflicts
After World War I and the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in the
1910s and later decades, victorious France and England recklessly sliced
and diced the Middle East, Africa and the Indian subcontinent to serve
their interests, unconcerned about the regions’ histories and traditions.
Remember, these large areas — Egypt, Iraq, Syria, Turkey, Iran, and the
Indian subcontinent — are standing on a cultural/civilizational continuum
going back at least 5000 to 6000 years. After WW I, the US joined the
Big Boys, eventually becoming the Biggest Boy. The problems festering
in these regions today can be traced back to this recklessness.
The West may gloss over what they did to these people as de facto
rulers — even putting a positive spin on the goodies they brought to the
regions. But people in the areas have a very different collective memory of
their histories. And these people, as people everywhere, live in a cultural
continuum identifying with their long histories. This should surprise no
one. Consider these:
• The Chicago Cubs have not won the World Series in over 100
years. If the Cubs won today, their fans would go berserk. We would
understand this as perfectly normal, and even rejoice in their victory.
But in those 100 years the owners of the Cubs have changed, and so
also their logo, uniforms, fan base and players. Only the Roman letters
CUBS and their vocalization have remained constant. Yet, Chicagoans
and baseball buffs see continuity through these 100 years of changes and
passionately identify themselves with the Cubs’ successes and failures.
Whole cultures — not to speak of profitable businesses — are built around
such illusional identities.
• Jews scattered all over the world today feel that on the basis of
their scriptures and their version of history, they have claims on the land
in the Palestine their ancestors left four millennia ago. See here: http://
www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/biblejew.html. Remember,
each millennia is roughly 40 generations. In the last 100-plus years,
Western powers and global power brokers have supported Jews’ claims,
a privilege given to no other ethnic group in the world.
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The Pittsburgh Patrika, Vol. 20, No. 2, January 2015
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The Pittsburgh Patrika, Vol. 20, No. 2, January 2015
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• Ethnic groups in the former Yugoslavia — the Bosnians, Croats,
Serbs, Macedonians, and Slovenians — recall the internecine wars that
ravaged on their lands several centuries ago as if they occurred only yesterday
and display their ethnic hatred to each other even now.
• In Islam, during Muharram, Shias all over the world passionately
remember and lament the murder of Hussein Ali, the grandson of the
Prophet Mohammed over 1400 years (50 generations) ago by opponents
on the contentious issue of who should succeed the Prophet.
• And of course, Christendom has its Good Friday on which the
faithful somberly remember the crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth, the Son
of their God, over 2000 years ago. The followers of Jesus at that time collectively
accused all Jews living there of the crucifixion of Jesus, himself
a Jew. This was one reason for the anti-Semitism and the persecution of
Jews in Christian Europe. Only after almost 2000 years, during the Second
Vatican Council (1962–1965), the Catholic Church under Pope Paul VI
repudiated the belief in the collective Jewish guilt for Jesus’ crucifixion.
Similar stories in India are too many given its long history and social
complexities with subtexts based on differences in languages, religions,
sects, and social stratification/compartmentalization. It is worth recalling
the words of Wali Khan, the Pashtun leader of Pakistan and the grandson
of the Frontier Gandhi Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan: “I’ve been a Pashtun
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The Pittsburgh Patrika, Vol. 20, No. 2, January 2015
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The Pittsburgh Patrika, Vol. 20, No. 2, January 2015
for 4000 years, a Muslim for 1400 years, and a Pakistani for 40 years.”
Group identity has many virtues, even as it gives exclusiveness,
vanity or victimhood to its members. One feature common to all
types of group identities is that people belonging to any one group look at
everybody else as “the Other.” When these identities are branded on large
ethnic groups, it leads to dislike, aversion, hostility; and when tolerated
by the ruling system, to discrimination, persecution, and xenophobia.
Let us see how it operates in the Indian subcontinent: No matter
what they teach in the sanitized school history books in India, its history
subjectively internalized by India’s Hindus and Muslims is so divergent.
Pakistan’s history books are not even sanitized. By their own account,
they are full of distortions and lies, and anti-India and anti-Hindu. Read
the multi-part essay What is the most blatant lie taught through Pakistan
textbooks? in Dawn (http://www.dawn.com/news/1125484), and the 300-
plus comments at the end of the article. On YouTube several video clips
by veterans in Pakistan are available on this very subject.
One reason for the communal tensions in India is Indian intellectuals’
inability to come up with an unvarnished and matter-of-fact
narrative of its pre-Mughal, Mughal, and post-Mughal history – warts
and all – without glossing over the unpleasant elements that are part of all
histories. Without such a common narrative, mutual distrust runs just below
the surface among Hindus and Muslims. Even a small trigger — such as
miscreants throwing a piece of beef into a temple, or driving a pig into a
mosque — is enough to ignite a communal conflagration.
In this context, the US, compared to England, France, Spain, and Portugal,
has done a far better job in coming to terms with its racial history.
That is why the US has moved forward on racial matters — always a work
in progress — far ahead of the European colonizers of Africa. This is a
good lesson for India to learn and implement in the Indian context.
Living in this continuum, people pass on their collective and skewed
memories of pride, honor, victimization/humiliation, from one
generation to the next. And our behavior is driven by the visceral and often
prejudiced beliefs internalized from what we hear in family gatherings,
social groups, and places of worship. Anthropologists call it meme.
Now, with social media to stay here and become even stronger, no one
organization or group of organizations, however powerful they may be, can
control the flow of information, or thinking and behavior of peoples.
In this environment, groups of ethnically, religiously, linguistically,
and/or racially distinct people traversing in their own orbits, out of necessity,
as they have been all along, overlap and intersect with others’ orbits.
So, how can the interactions among these groups be made such that they
are respectful of each other and can live in relative peace?
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The Pittsburgh Patrika, Vol. 20, No. 2, January 2015
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The Pittsburgh Patrika, Vol. 20, No. 2, January 2015
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Can political
and
r e l i g i o u s
leaders help
u s ? W i t h
very few exceptions,
the
track record
of political
and religious
leaders over
the last 2500
years is not
reassuring.
R e l i g i o u s
l e a d e r s ,
steeped in
their own
dogma, are
unable or
unwilling to
unlearn the
a r b i t r a r y
axioms on
which they
have built their edifices. These axioms are in mutual conflict with each
other, and are, to begin with, the root cause for many conflicts. Political
leaders have their own compulsions, particularly in a democracy.
Can today’s social thinkers address the problem? Given the lack of
mass appeal of cerebral minds in general, this is not likely to happen.
What is likely to happen? Conflicting ideas have always existed, and
will always exist — and so are the urges by nation-states to annex strategic
land masses and waterways. Resolving these conflicting ideas and pursuits
will not be always peaceful. The League of Nations and the UN in the last
100 years could not prevent WW-II, the Korean and Vietnam wars, the
on-going wars in Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, and in the larger Middle East.
Most likely, the world will move episodically from one convulsion to
the next, some really big, many small. All we can do is to learn to manage
the conflicts without too much bloodshed, and lengthen the gap between
the episodes. This conclusion is more realistic, though not reassuring. We
cannot hope for more. If we can accomplish this, that in itself is a great
achievement. — By Kollengode S. Venkataraman •
The Pittsburgh Patrika, Vol. 20, No. 2, January 2015 500 Mansfield Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA
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The Pittsburgh Patrika, Vol. 20, No. 2, January 2015
Superstar Welcome to Prime Minister
Narendra Modi
By Vinod Doshi, Monroeville, PA
e-mail: doshivi@gmail.com
And why not? After 67 years of dynastic rule, economic decline and
rampant political corruption in India, the Indian-American Diaspora was
eagerly waiting to hear Prime Minister Narendra Modi, elected with an absolute
majority in the May elections for the first time for any non-Congress
government in India.
The venue was Madison
Square Garden in
New York with a seating
capacity of 20,000
people.
And what a superstar
welcome it was!
The head of the government
of the world’s
largest democracy was
L to R: Vijay Shah, Shivkumar Anumalachetty, Chetan Patel
Vinod Doshi, Ramesh Shah and Bimal Patel at the Madison
Square Garden.
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visiting the world’s
most powerful democracy.
No other foreign
political leader in US
history has received such a tumultuous welcome addressing a large and
diverse audience (in the Indian context) of 18,000 people gathered in one
place. History was made. It was an experience never to be forgotten.
The event was conceived and managed by the Indian American Community
Foundation with 400 US-based organizations as members.
Actually 700 organizations had applied but only 400 were approved.
Our Pittsburgh Organization was called “Sevapgh.org”, with our group
leaders Mr. Harilal Patel and Mr. Hitesh Mehta. Each organization was
issued tickets depending on the interest shown. 110 people had registered
from Pittsburgh but we were allotted only 83 tickets. As a result, some
people who had applied late could not be accommodated. Forty-eight of
us went in a bus. Others made their own transportation arrangements.
We had to give full background information for security verification by
the local organizer. Several thousand tickets were given out for free on
a lottery basis. There were 10 applicants for each ticket given out in the
lottery. People who did not get a ticket -- there were several thousands
of them — saw the event live outside MSG or on the large screens at
The Pittsburgh Patrika, Vol. 20, No. 2, January 2015
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The Pittsburgh Patrika, Vol. 20, No. 2, January 2015
the Times Square. Furthermore, the event was also beamed live to forty
university campuses nationwide.
The well-managed program was organized with financial support from
various social, religious, political, educational, and cultural organizations
and temples of all denominations throughout the country; and from individual
community, political and industry leaders.
At the end of the fun-filled bus trip (arranged by Chetan Patel), we
were dropped a couple of blocks from Madison Square Garden.
People were converging on the venue from all directions. Lines were very
long, but orderly. Security was very tight. What was allowed inside and
what was not was clearly conveyed to us in advance -- no cameras and no
note books. Smart-phone cameras were OK. At the entrance, they were
checking our tickets against our photo IDs. The whole atmosphere was
exciting with a lot of buzz. People were eager to see and hear India’s new
prime minister. We received a white MODI T-shirt as a souvenir.
The Indian Diaspora at the Garden represented a wide cross section,
and was reassuringly diverse in the Indian context. One could see a large
number — roughly 1/3 of the crowd — of women of all ages. Youngsters
too were there, many of whom were born and raised here.
Nearly 40 high-profile Congressmen and U.S. senators were there to
hear Mr. Modi. Among them, the influential US Senator Chuck Schumer
from New York and Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair Senator
Bob Menendez (NJ-D). And these members of Congress: Tulsi Hubbard
from Hawaii, Joe Donnely, Jim McDermott, Sandford Bishop, Caroline
Malorie and Sheila Jackson Lee. And the Indian-American Republican
governor of South Carolina, Nikki Haley too was there.
Among the business leaders and educators present were: Microsoft
Head Satya Nadela; Pepsico’s Indra Nooyi; Nitin Nohara, Dean
of the Harvard Business School; our own Dr. Subra Suresh – President
of CMU, and Pradeep Khosla, the Chancellor of UC San Diego.
New phrases/expressions were heard: Modinomics, Modism,
“Modi”son Square Garden, Moditva, Modi Movement, Modi Mania, Modi
Magic, “Modi”fication, Pradhan Sevak (not Pradhan Mantri)… …
Some of the key Modi Mantras launched were: “Bharat Vikas,” “Swachha
Bharat,” and “Make in India.”
As I entered the arena to go to my seat on the second level, I was
awestruck to see the welcoming crowd of around 20,000 people – three
floors of humanity, buzzing with Modi Mania: people eating, drinking and
talking in small clusters, waving Indian flags and taking pictures with their
smart phones. Indian music was blasting away over the PA system. Last
minute preparations at center stage were going on at feverish speed. People
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The Pittsburgh Patrika, Vol. 20, No. 2, January 2015
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The Pittsburgh Patrika, Vol. 20, No. 2, January 2015
were wearing the white Narendra Modi T-shirts. The buzz was regularly
interrupted by chanting of slogans like “Jai Ho”, “Vande Mataram” and
shouts of “Modi …Modi’. The whole atmosphere was jubilant.
Riding on a wave of popularity, with a loud spontaneous outburst of
Modi, Modi, Narendra“bhai” Modi entered the arena. The “Modi”son
Garden was “Modi”fied--mesmerized by the Modi Magic. In his speech,
Modi charmed everyone and connected extremely well with the audience.
It was a rousing and warm welcome indeed. Applause was spontaneous – I
counted over 100 eruptions of them in his 1-hour speech.
Indian-Americans have been inspired by his work so far. His vision
and mission for this visit seemed very clear – marketing India, and
projecting a positive image of India among overseas political and business
leaders and with the Diaspora.
He invited everyone to participate in this lofty mission of infrastructure
and industrial development of India. “India is very different today,” he
declared. Reassuring business leaders worldwide, he told them he had
already taken “initiatives towards ending the policy of paralysis and dismantling
the barriers to India’s growth.” India has market, manpower and
talent, so, “Come and make in India,” he declared. He wants to unleash
India’s energy and drive for growth.
He came, he met and he conquered with his simplicity, honesty, sincerity,
and with his progressive leadership and zeal to move India forward.
There is now a greater optimism for improving US-India ties.
As I left the arena, I too was in awe of the Modi Magic. The echoes
of his overall vision were ringing in my ears. The sincerity in his
message was inspiring. I was happy to see in Modi’s message, an assured
confidence for a brighter future for India. •
Nikita, daughter of Tejal and Dharmesh Desai
of Upper St. Clair, PA and a student of Shambhavi
Desai had her Bharatanatyam Arangetram on
August 2, 2014, at the S.V.Temple Auditorium
in front of a large number of invited guests.
Nikita, a senior in Upper St. Clair High School,
has been a part of many performances at different
events by Sanskruti School. Nikita is a part
of the UNICEF club, multicultural club, and the
Thai student exchange program. She also plays
the violin in the Upper St. Clair HS Orchestra
and is a sprinter and jumper on the Track and
Field Team. •
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The Pittsburgh Patrika, Vol. 20, No. 2, January 2015
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The Pittsburgh Patrika, Vol. 20, No. 2, January 2015
An Unflattering Facet of Desi life in the US
People’s self-preservation mechanism is irrational, if not funny. People
vainly associate themselves with the achievements of other individuals
belonging to their ethnic group. For example, we all feel flattered thinking
about how good we are as an immigrant group when we listen to the
gratifying references to us in the American media, starting from Spelling
Bee championships year after year, our education levels, entrepreneurial
skills, children’s accomplishments in schools, and youngsters’ disproportional
presence in graduate schools... ...
And then Indian-Americans get presidential awards, are appointed as
university presidents or chancellors, as federal judges, and even elected
as governors in state-wide elections. The Wall Street Journal and other
publications report about our high net worth and high family incomes. So,
when Indians really get giddy in elation, others may understand. [But we
are stingy, even towards good causes. Ask any Indian struggling to raise
money for his/her cause. That is real haddi (bone) in the Indian kabab.]
But when people belonging to our ethnic group — like Rajaratnam,
Rajat Gupta, Mathew Martoma — are caught in Wall Street crimes running
into billions of dollars, we instinctively disassociate ourselves from
them. Same is our response when we see Indian healthcare professionals,
including doctors, arrested for Medicare frauds running into hundreds of
millions of dollars. See here http://tinyurl.com/Desis-in-Medicare-Fraud1
and here http://tinyurl.com/Desis-in-Medicare-Fraud2. We rationalize that
these people’s behaviors are individual aberration, so atypical of us.
Illegal Indian immigrants in this country are a case in point. We all
by now know — we should know because we brag we are better
educated — that 12 million undocumented people (aka illegals) are in the
US. This is 4% of the US population of 300 million.
When we think of the undocumented, we think of Latinos from Mexico
and Central America. After all, they make up ~70% of the undocumented
in the US.
But do we know we have 450,000 illegal Indians in the US? This is
nearly 4% of the 12 million of the undocumented. (Ref: The recent Pew
Research Center report on the topic). This may look like a small number.
But consider this: With the population of Indian-Americans around
3 million in the US, 450,000 illegal Indians are 15% of the entire Desi
population here. In Pennsylvania, out of the 135,000 illegals, 10,000 are
Indians, which is 7% of the total illegal population in Pennsylvania.
Is there any wonder why people in India encounter all kinds of hurdles
for getting visas for visiting the US?
— By Kollengode S Venkataraman •
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The Pittsburgh Patrika, Vol. 20, No. 2, January 2015
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The Pittsburgh Patrika, Vol. 20, No. 2, January 2015
Phipps’ Adieu to Tropical Forest Live Exhibit
The annual Phipps’ Wines Under the Glass gala in the fall bid goodbye
to the 3-year old Tropical Forest India live exhibit. While tending these
foreign plants with love and care through three harsh Pittsburgh winters,
the exhibit was seen by one million visitors.
The guests at the Wines Under the Glass gala.
On October 30, close to Halloween people gathered to celebrate this
event with colorful masks. Many guests were in their colorful saris and
lehngas. A choice list of wines and cocktails too was there to go with
specially catered food to reflect the theme of the evening.
Krishna and Om Sharma were the Event Chairs, with Alina and Joseph
Massaro as Honorary Event Chairs, and Joan and Robert Peirce as
Honorary Host Committee Chairs.
Live entertainment with music was part of the gala. Ruby Jain’s Kathak
and Bollywood dance items complemented the India theme.
The evening also honored Richard V. Piacentini’s twenty years as the
Executive Director of Phipps. A slide presentation
highlighted his valuable contributions.
Phipps also honored Krishna and Om
Sharma for being hosts for the evening.
Dr. Surinder Bajwa and his wife Jagdeep
of Fox Chapel were effusive with their
Phipps experience: “We’re very pleased
with the Indian Exhibit. We came here a
few times to enjoy the tropical ambience.
We’re now members of Phipps. We bring
our books to sit and read in this verdant
Ruby Jain
Wines Under the Glass.. ... Continued on Page 33
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The Pittsburgh Patrika, Vol. 20, No. 2, January 2015
Nandini Mandal’s Prakriti Portrays Motherhood
By Deepa Godbole, Upper St. Clair, PA
Editor’s Note: Deepa Godbole grew up in Pune, India and came to Pittsburgh 28 years
ago to earn her Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering. She now lives in Upper St. Clair with her
family. Her hobbies include Indian culture and arts, yoga and bridge.
On Saturday, November 15th, the Nandanik Dance Troupe staged
Prakriti, a show devoted to Mother in two forms, Devi and Nature. The
well-orchestrated debut performance with many in the audience from the
American mainstream started and ran on time. The show was different from
Nandanik’s past productions. The songs were in several different languages
with very little dialogue, and InterPlay provided the on-stage narration to
relate the traditional story to contemporary events. The performance was
engaging with the performers narrating the story as they danced.
The first half was purely Indian classical dance focusing on the relationship
between a mother and child portrayed in multiple ways. In the second
item, a parallel was drawn between the relationship between Yashoda and
Krishna and a modern-day mother and her son. This dance was the audience’s
favorite with Nandini Mandal first portraying both Yashoda and
Krishna; then InterPlay’s Sheila Collins danced to show the relationship
between herself and her children reciting excerpts from her book Warrior
Mother. The recital was riveting, driving home the point that a mother’s
love for her child is eternal through all the passage of time.
The second half was dedicated to Mother Nature, choreographed in the
Chau style of Indian dance. The story of a kingdom in which villagers,
especially women, fought against their king as he tried to cut down their
beloved trees was paralleled with the modern-day Chipko or Tree-hugger
Movement that has spread across the world. The combination of Indian and
American dance forms for telling this story was well done. InterPlay’s Neil
Prakrti.. ... Continued on Page 26
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The Pittsburgh Patrika, Vol. 20, No. 2, January 2015
Our Experience with Longwood at Home
Balwant N. Dixit, Ph.D.
608 Ravencrest Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15215 USA
(412) 963-8023, (bdixit@pitt.edu)
Note: Balwant Dixit is now a professor emeritus in pharmacology at the University
of Pittsburgh.
My wife, Vidya, my son Sunil and I flew to Washington DC on June
6th for a short vacation and checked into a hotel in Alexandria (VA),
about a mile from a Metro station. On the first day we spent most of
our time visiting the Holocaust Museum. We had to wait for two hours
to get in, but it was worth the wait. The next day we walked from the
Smithsonian Metro stop all the way to the Lincoln Memorial, a distance
of over a mile. My wife, Vidya, suddenly came down with intense pain
in her left leg; she could not even stand up and nearly collapsed. A park
ranger came and tried to help but realized the situation was serious. She
called DC EMS and Vidya was taken to the George Washington University
Hospital (GWUH) emergency room. Initially admission was declined since
Vidya’s insurance plan rejected the emergency room coverage as well as
in-hospital stay. I had to sign papers agreeing to pay the bills in case our
claim was rejected. I knew that since Vidya was never employed in the
USA, she does not have Medicare A & B coverage on her SS#, although
her “UPMC for Life” insurance ID card lists her SS#. I suggested to the
admitting nurse that she try my SS# since Vidya’s Medicare A & B is on
my SS#. It worked. Vidya was admitted for emergency care and given
pain control medication. X-ray and a few other tests were necessary for
a diagnosis. After about four hours, I was informed that Vidya needed to
be admitted for additional care since she was not able to stand up or walk
even a few steps. I wanted to stay in DC until a diagnosis was made, but
could not find a room to stay after June 8th anywhere in the DC area or
in nearby suburbs, except for one room in the Pentagon City for just two
days and another room in DC for $550/night. Inter-hotel accommodation
services were not helpful either. Hotels recommended by the GWUH were
also full. Vidya agreed to stay in the hospital and Sunil and I returned to
Pittsburgh on June 9th. Our “UPMC for Life” plan (a Medicare Advantage
Plan) covers only the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. After four days in
the hospital Vidya was transported by a fully equipped EMS ambulance
with the help of Assist America from Washington DC to Pittsburgh (246
miles). All those who have “UPMC for Life” plans also get Assist America
as one of the benefits for no additional payment.
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The Pittsburgh Patrika, Vol. 20, No. 2, January 2015
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out that Assist America will not provide services if a patient needs to be
transported from one medical facility to another medical facility of similar
capabilities, but Assist America will transport a patient from a medical
facility to the patient’s residence. Assist America services are accessible 24
hours a day and free of charge to members. A single phone call activates
Assist America services 24 hours/day, 365 days/year and is available from
any location in the world — no exceptions. Communication specialists are
available in any language — from Arabic to Zulu. There are no costs and
minimal restrictions. Assist America pays for all the services it provides.
There is no financial cap on any of the Assist America services. Not all
health insurance carriers provide Assist America as a benefit. More than
300,000 companies and schools do. One should call the host insurance
carrier for more information.
When I contacted a representative of Assist America and gave him all
the details about the condition my wife was in, he suggested that my wife
would be transported by taxi cab with a driver but no other equipment such
as a cane, walker, or wheelchair would be available to her, since it takes
Longwood... ... Continued on Page 26
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The Pittsburgh Patrika, Vol. 20, No. 2, January 2015
University of Pittsburgh’s New Lecture Series
on South Asia Focused on India
Mobasher Jawed Akbar, popularly known as MJ Akbar, the official
spokesperson for the Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) spoke on September 30
at the University of Pittsburgh on “India After the 2014 Elections.” His
talk focused on the “new leadership, priorities and possibilities.”
For the geopolitical and business interests of the US, India is strategically
important. So, the University of Pittsburgh started this year an annual
lecture series at its South Asian Studies department. India is front and center
of South Asia not only in geography (see the map), but also in culture,
history, and economy. Akbar was the first speaker in this series.
Akbar’s is a well-known name in India and in the Indian subcontinent.
His name as a journalist is associated with a long list of well-known publications.
He also was a Congress Party MP and served as the official
spokesperson for Rajiv Gandhi when he was India’s prime minister.
Currently Akbar is the spokesperson for the BJP, which he joined just
two months before the 2014 elections -- talk about good timing. How
many political operatives in the
world’s large democracies have
been so close to two diametrically
opposed political systems?
Akbar was introduced to the
audience of over 200 people by
Mark Nordenberg, who recently
ended his long tenure as the university’s
chancellor. Nordenberg,
as he told his audience, is related
to Akbar as sambhandhi,with his
son marrying Akbar’s daughter.
Akbar started by stating that
India’s impatient youth —
54% of the population is under 25
years of age — had reached a point where the lethargic status-quo was
no longer acceptable, which was the main reason for BJP’s spectacular
victory, with Modi becoming India’s Prime Minister. He highlighted the
changes the BJP has made by focusing on four decisions.
• Abandoning the Planning Commission, a relic of the Soviet model
of planning adopted by Jawaharlal Nehru and the Congress Party. The
post-colonial reality of India was that 60% of people lived below the poverty
line. Even 60 years after India’s independence poverty was reduced
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The Pittsburgh Patrika, Vol. 20, No. 2, January 2015
only by half. The BJP believes in poverty elimination not alleviation.
Government wants the private sector to create millions of new jobs. Government
wants to do this while protecting the environment and the poor.
BJP looks beyond the ideology from both the Left and the Right, and will
pursue ideas that work.
• Secondly, Modi recognizes that “Trickle Down economics,” a term
MJ Akbar addressing the gathering at the University Club in Oakland. Extreme right (R to L)
in the front are Patrick Gallagher, the Chancellor of the University and Mark Laudenberg,
Chancellor-Emeritus. Photo: University of Pittsburgh.
popularized by Ronald Reagan in the 1980s, does not work. Even the
poorest need to be an integral part of India’s economy, and that is why
it brings these people into India’s formal banking sector. Empowering
people at the bottom gives them much needed purchasing power wjhgich
benefits India’s manufacturing and service sectors.
• Third, Modi’s background gives him a better understanding of the
difficulties of those stuck in the cycle of poverty. He addressed the need
for toilets for every Indian from the Red Fort in his Independence Day
speech. He took part in the Global Citizen’s concert at Central Park, joining
in efforts to provide access to toilet for all in India. This initiative will
give basic dignity to women in rural India, so that girls feel safe going to
school (but only when fulfilled, we must say).
• Fourth, Akbar emphasized that the secularism of India predates by
many centuries the secularism of Europ., India accepts all faiths and belief
systems. It is in the very fiber of every Indian. Gandhiji is the best symbol
of secularism in India, gaining inspiration from the Hindu, Christian and
Muslim faiths. Modi, he said, wants the Muslims to be strong in their faith
but modern in outlook and participate in India’s growth. Indian Muslims
are as patriotic as anybody else in India.
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The Pittsburgh Patrika, Vol. 20, No. 2, January 2015
Modi’s vision, Akbar said, is looking towards the East. Symbolically,
Modi came to the United States after visiting Japan and after Chinese President
Xi’s state visit to India. In Akbar’s choice of words, “East of India
is growth, prosperity and productivity, and west of India is a wasteland
all the way up to Morocco on the west coast of Northern Africa.” Only
three countries, India, Iran and Israel, he said, have stable governments
and democracy. The Middle East, he said, is slipping into medievalism.
On the question of Pakistan, Akbar was quite blunt. Alluding to the
rise of Syria’s Islamic State, IS, Akbar said, “Pakistan is the first Islamic
State,” and hence a natural home for Osama Bin Laden. While the US has
sought Pakistan as a solution to their terrorism problems, Akbar said, India
sees Pakistan as a problem. — By Premlata Venkataraman •
Prakriti ... ... continued from Page 21
Straub portrayed the tree and Sheila Collins and Shari Mastalski danced
to tell the stories of modern-day deforestation around the world.
The imaginatively done last piece was inspiring: A young girl is tending
to a sapling she found after all trees had been felled. As she cared for the
sapling, slowly other saplings sprouted. The dancers begin as logs, and
slowly, one-by-one, they grew into trees, first with their hands, and then
with their entire bodies. It was a finale that will be hard to forget.
Overall, Prakriti was enjoyable and educative. The focus on motherchild
relations as well as Mother Nature kept the audience engaged,
bringing parallels to modern-day life. Integrating beautiful Indian dance
(choreographed by Nandini Mandal and Sanjib Bhattacharya) with Inter-
Play’s unique style was seamlessly done. •
Longwood ... ... continued from Page 23
a minimum of 2.5 hours for a cab to come to Pittsburgh from GWUH.
She could either sit in the front seat or could travel “lying down” in the
back seat. I suggested that he use MAPQUEST to find out the driving
time and the distance.
He was surprised that the distance is 246 miles. When I suggested
that my wife’s condition was such that she needed to be transported by
ambulance, I was informed that I needed to make some other arrangements.
So, as a standby, I contacted a private medical transport company
which agreed to provide the necessary transport at a cost of $3,600. I then
informed the representative of GWUH dealing with the situation that under
the Medicare Act a patient can reject discharge if he/she feels insecure
after discharge and from that point on all the hospital charges become
the responsibility of the hospital. I advised Vidya not to leave GWUH
unless a Medicare representative came to see her. The situation changed
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Longwood... ... Continued on Page 31
The Pittsburgh Patrika, Vol. 20, No. 2, January 2015
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27
The Pittsburgh Patrika, Vol. 20, No. 2, January 2015
Beware of Charlatans in Your Spiritual Journey
Taayumaanavar, a great poet-spiritualist-philosopher (1705-1742),
lived in Tamil Nadu, expounding Advaita Saiva Siddhantam. His Tamil
name splits into Taayum and aanavar, meaning
in Tamil He Who is Also the Mother, a descriptive
reference to Shiva. In Sanskrit, it would be
Maatr-bhooteshwara.
He was born not in a brahmin family but in a
Vellala family deeply steeped in Saivism.
His parents were Kediliappa Pillai and Gajavalli
Amma. Though most of his poems are addressed
to Saiva deities, he was a universalist on matters
of spirituality. In many verses he addresses the Infinite
using a Tamil word PoruL, literally meaning
“The Thing.” Most probably, he would have struggled for a long time and
failed to find a word or phrase to comprehensively and precisely define
the Infinite. So, he chose poruL, the same way the Upanishads use tat,
literally meaning That.
Etymologically speaking, the English that is cognate with, and derived
from, the Sanskrit tat. Can you get any closer either phonetically or in
spelling?
In an alliterating Tamil verse Taayumaanavar says how difficult it is to
master one’s own mind, a prerequisite in our spiritual journey:
You can control an elephant, catch hold of a tiger’s tail,
Grab the snake and dance, dictate to angels,
Transmigrate into another body, walk on water or sit on the ocean;
But it is far more difficult to still your mind and remain quiet.
He was impatient with theological hair-splitting, common in his time, as
it is in ours. After serving as a minister for the Maratha king Vijayaranga
Chokkanatha Nayak of Tanjavoor, he quit and became a mendicant.
Taayumaanava Swamy was a scholar in both Tamil and Sanskrit. If
you want to understand and enjoy his several hundred verses composed
in a variety of complex Tamil meters, grounding in Sanskrit and the
Indian metaphysical ideas are necessary. Well-versed in the two classical
languages, he would have easily identified charlatans of his time as we see
in the following non-poetic translation of his verse in a dasakam (padigam
in Tamil), a set of ten verses on a theme, called Siddhar Ganam:
Coming to think of it, the illiterate are indeed virtuous.
Look at my karma and my intelligence [that’s impetuous].
I’m well-read, but still live in ignorance!
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The Pittsburgh Patrika, Vol. 20, No. 2, January 2015
If a sage says, “The liberating Jnana (wisdom) is worthy of pursuit,”
Karma (action) is more important, I will claim.
But if one defends Karma as the better option,
I’ll argue, “The good old Jnana is more important.”
With a Sanskrit pandit, I will elaborate on how great Tamil is.
When meeting people well-versed in Tamil,
I will dazzle them with a few Sanskrit shlokas.
My conceited bombast frustrates everyone, but convinces none!
O, Siddhas, You’ve reconciled the ideas of Vedanta and Siddhanta!
Will this talent of mine ever give me Mukti (liberation)?
The answer to his rhetorical question is obvious: No. Taayumaanavar
deftly brings out the hypocrisy in us by employing the first person singular
in the verse. Obviously, he is not referring to himself. But when you read
his verse, you may see shades of yourself in the first person pronouns I,
my, mine, and first-person case-endings in the verbs. This technique is
commonly used by Bhakti poets all over India since the 5th century to
temper our vanity and pride.
Today we see modern versions of Taayumaanavar’s archetype all over
India. You have to only replace Sanskrit with English, French, German,
Arabic, Persian, or any Indian language other than your native tongue.
Here is the Tamil original for you to enjoy the alliterative and rhyming
verse of this great poet-philosopher:
--- By Kollengode S Venkataraman
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The Pittsburgh Patrika, Vol. 20, No. 2, January 2015
India-PakistanTrade: It is now MDNA, not MFN
Nothing is simple in India-Pakistan relations given the 70-plus years of
bitterness and the divergent perceptions of the Turkic/Afghani incursions/
invasions into India and the Mughal rule. Only thing common between the
two are mutual suspicion, which quickly morph into bellicosity.
The World Trade Organization decades ago came up with principle
that “a country should treat all its trading partners equally giving them
‘most-favored-nation’ or MFN status.” MFN simply means that one nation
will not arbitrarily discriminate against other nations. India granted
Pakistan MFN status in 1996, but Pakistan has not, making Pakistanis
pay more for Indian merchandise routed through Dubai.
For Pakistan, granting MFN status to India through the Urdu press is
difficult. MFN in Urdu is Sabse Pasandeed Mulk; pasandeed means liked.
In Pakistan, where hatred of India is part of its education curriculum, the
Urdu expression conveys cozy attitude towards India, where there is none.
So, Pakistan’s babus came up with Non-Discriminatory Market Access,
or NDMA to de-fang opposition. MDNA is the same as MFN; that is,
Pakistan agrees that it does not discriminate against India. But even with
NDMA, Pakistan’s bright babus will come up with new roadblocks.
— By K S Venkataraman •
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The Pittsburgh Patrika, Vol. 20, No. 2, January 2015
Longwood ... ... continued from Page 26
very rapidly. The next day at 6:00 AM a representative of Assist America
called and informed me that my wife will be transported to Pittsburgh by
a fully equipped EMS ambulance. It took almost 6.5 hours for the EMS
ambulance to reach our home in Pittsburgh from GWUH. After her return
to Pittsburgh Vidya underwent X-ray, MRI and bone scans and is being
treated by two orthopedic physicians. Although no definitive diagnosis
has been made, with physical therapy and other supportive treatment she
has shown considerable progress.
What happened to Vidya can happen to anyone anywhere. One
must be prepared with all the information to deal with such situations.
I learned a lot. All throughout this time our assigned social worker
from Longwood at Home was working with us to get everything arranged.
When the ambulance arrived at our house, the Director of Home Care, a
care giver and our social worker were there in the drive-way to help. For
the next 48 hours care was provided around the clock and from then on,
care givers have been visiting us every day for 8 to 10 hours providing
help as needed. All caregivers come on time and are well behaved and
trained, and as of today (July 30th), over 250 hours of assistance has been
given. Caregivers also helped in many household chores such as meal
preparations (if asked), grocery shopping, prescription pick-up, taking
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The Pittsburgh Patrika, Vol. 20, No. 2, January 2015
Vidya to medical tests and to doctor’s appointments. They did regular
laundry, cleaning dishes and vacuuming as well as garbage disposal and
any other light housekeeping chores we asked for. Each caregiver wrote
a brief report on Vidya’s progress, medications she took, her diet as
well as all other activities she participated in. Such logs were helpful for
the subsequent caregivers and also to the supervisor who monitors the
services provided. Becoming a member of Longwood at Home was the
most rational decision we made two years ago. We did not have to file
any claims, had no waiting time to qualify to receive help, and made no
payment for any services we have received. In my opinion LaH is a much
better option than having Long Term Care Insurance. We learned a lot
from this unusual experience. Unexpected adversity provides a great
learning experience, but it has its own cost! In another issue I will describe
in details Continuing Care at Home (CCAH) programs.
Acknowledgement: Grace Smith of LaH, Sudhir Manohar and Girish Godbole
made useful comments. •
A Marathi Film Screened in Memory of
Dr. Manohar Joshi
The Dr.Manohar Joshi Film Series was launched in 2012 remembering
Joshi, long-time resident here, who passed away in 2007. He enjoyed
off-beat films. So, each year, a movie with a social issue is chosen and
The audience at the Eddy Auditorium at Chatham U. listening to Shubha Joshi (in
the inset) before the screening of the movie.
the funds raised are given to different causes. On November 8, partnering
with Film and Digital Technology Department at Chatham U., the Marathi
movie, Astu – So Be It, was shown at Chatham U. Past recipients were
Silk Screen Film Festival and Association for India’s Development. This
year, it was India Development Service (IDS) based in Chicago. •
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The Pittsburgh Patrika, Vol. 20, No. 2, January 2015
The revelers at the gala in their masquerade masks.
and peaceful surrounding.”
Dr. Ritu Thamman, Member, Board of Trustees at Phipps, was sad
the exhibition is coming to an end. “I learnt
so much from visiting and volunteering here.
I am nostalgic every time I see signs in Hindi.
It was particularly wonderful to bring children
to the exhibit,”
she
said.
Shubha
Mullick of
Rashaa and Fred Brown of Global
Pittsburgh at the gala.
Fox Chapel
was all
praise for
Ben Dunigan and Jordyn Melino, cura-Janictors at Phipps, for their countless hours
Held, an Indophile in salwarkameez
in maintaining the plants. “The Indian American community in Pittsburgh
should get more involved in projects like these to give back to the community.”
— By Premlata Venkataraman •
IMPORTANT NOTICE
We regret to let readers know that our website has crashed for reasons
that we will never know. We are struggling to fix it so that readers
accessing our website can read all the articles we published in the last
twenty years.
Please bear with us till we fix the problem. — Publisher •
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The Pittsburgh Patrika, Vol. 20, No. 2, January 2015
A New Kind of TV Commercial in India
Commercials Indian TVs are bland
and insipid affairs with fully peroxidebleached
models looking like none you
see on the streets even in fancy upscale areas in, Chennai’s Adyar, or
Mumbai’s Pali Hills, or New Delhi’s Green Park.
In this marketing environment, any off-the-wall ad is refreshingly
welcome, and one such as was on TV during my visit in late summer. It
was a Lufthansa ad in English. I do not recall the exact dialog but this
was the gist:
Scene 1: A 60-plus year bald old man walking with his grandson in a
park tells him, “Beta, I am taking you to New York, to your father. We
are going on a German airline. Do you know German?”
“No!”
“Germans, aah, serious people. They build good things. But their films
are all grey. They may not even know Bollywoood.”
“Ummm, really Nana?”
“Yes beta.” He continues pensively: “German food... mmm…” He
breaks off, winces in disgust, and waves off his hand while grunting,
“Aaargh!”
Scene 2: The grandfather and the grandson are inside an airplane.
The grandson opens the dinner tray served to him. He opens the food tray
and sees familiar items on his tray — delicious rotis, vegetables, gulab
jamuns…
Remembering what his nana told him and surprised at the familiar food
he sees on the tray, he exclaims, “Nana, we are in the wrong plane!”
The grandfather nonchalantly smiles and tells his grandson, “It is OK
beta. We are fine,” and relaxes in his seat.
Scene 3: A long-shot of the plane from outside that slowly closes in
on the logo Lufthansa.
Honesty in the Indian Lower Courts: A smart and very honest judge
in one of India’s lower courts called both lawyers into his chambers.
“So,” the Judge said, ‘’I have been presented by both of you with
bribes...” Shocked by the judge’s candor, they expected the worst.
“You, Atty. Sharma, gave me Rs.5,00,000; and you, Atty. Gupta,
gave me Rs.6,00,000.”
Handing over Rs. 1,00,000 to Atty. Gupta, the judge said, “Now that
I am even with both of you, let me I assure you: I will decide the case
purely on the basis of its merit.” •
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The Pittsburgh Patrika, Vol. 20, No. 2, January 2015
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The Pittsburgh Patrika, Vol. 20, No. 2, January 2015
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