Indian

Indian January 15, 2010

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Bollywood | 23 Heritage | 24 Asin | 21

What’s hot in 2010 Indian vegetarianism Bold new attitude

At a glance
Bye, bikini babes
The Goa tourism department has
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as part of its fight against the
growing image of the state as a
sex-tourism destination.
Page 8

Mortgage rates reviewed

Although there is no clear cut
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months seem to be better option
as the picture will become quite
clear by that time.
Page 28

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Indian Weekender | January 15, 2010 | www.iwk.co.nz 1

Indian
A stellar career from defence to diplomacy
His Excellency the High Commissioner of India to New Zealand, Admiral (Retd) Sureesh Mehta took office in Wellington in
early December last year. He presented his credentials to Governor General Sir Anand Satyanand on December 9.
India’s newest High Commissioner to New Zealand,
Admiral (Retd) Sureesh Mehta, was born on August
18, 1947 – just three days after India won her inde-
pendence.
Always interested in a career in the defence
forces, he was commissioned in the Indian Navy at
the age of 20, in 1967. He is an alumnus of the pres-
tigious National Defence Academy.
Two years later, he qualified as a fighter pilot
and joined the Naval Air Arm, extensively flying
Seahawk jet fighters from the Aircraft Carrier INS
Vikrant, going on to hold numerous appointments
in the frontline fighter squadrons of the Indian Navy.
In January 1979 he was selected to undergo the
Defence Service Staff College, Wellington (India)
and graduated with the Directing Staff grading and a
Master of Science degree in Defence Studies. Later,
he carried out instructional duties at the same Insti-
tute as also in a staff college abroad, a very coveted
appointment to a defence service officer.
Between the years 1982 and 1989, he command-
ed INS Beas with distinction, followed by several
other operation appointments. He also had the dis-
tinction of commanding one of the premier Naval
Air Stations of the Navy – INS Garuda. During
his tenure, major tactical innovations were put into
place for early operationalisation of new acquisi-
tions, with a major thrust on utilisation of simulators
to optimise flying skills.
He also commanded the indigenously built
frigate INS Godavari, soon thereafter.
Between May 1991 and June 1993, he served
as Director of Naval Air Staff where he was instru-
mental in steering various projects concerning naval
aviation assets as well as personnel policies. In view
of his superior performance both in the staff and
2 Indian Weekender | January 15, 2010 | www.iwk.co.nz
New Zealand
operational arena, he was selected as Executive As-
PHOTO: DEV NADKARNI
sistant by the then Chief of Naval Staff.
Between 1995 and 1997, he was appointed Flag
Officer Commanding Goa Area and Flag Officer
Naval Aviation. During this appointment he used
his extensive experience as an aviator to improve
various facets of air operations. Large-scale im-
provements were effected in operational facilities
for new inductions, leading to improvements in
the overall operational efficiency of Naval Aviation
through higher professional skills. Throughout,
his proactive grassroot level multi disciplinary ap-
proach ensured the achievement of organisational
goals and targets.
The next year until the turn of the millennium he
commanded the Western Fleet of the Indian Navy,
a coveted operational appointment, following which
he held a number of important and sensitive posi-
tions in the naval establishment.
In 2005 he was chosen to head the Navy’s Op-
erations Branch as the Deputy Chief of the Indian
Navy.
The next year, he was appointed Flag Officer
Commanding-in-Chief of the Eastern Naval
Command of the Indian Navy, which is when he
visited New Zealand during in June 2006 on an
Indian Navy ship.
In November 2006 he achieved the highest po-
sition: Chief of Naval Staff which he held until his
retirement in August 2009.
As the senior-most Service Chief, he was also
the Chairman, Chiefs of Staff Committee for much
of his tenure as the Naval Chief. He was the first years, his distinction and devotion to duty was ac- (Param Vishisht Seva Medal) as Vice Admiral.
post-independence born Chief of the Indian Armed knowledged with the award of AVSM (Ati Vish- He is married to Maria Teresa and they have a
Forces. isht Seva Medal) in the rank of Rear Admiral and daughter and a son.
During his distinguished service of over 42 the highest award for distinguished service PVSM
Indian
“We must work together
to take NZ-India relations
to a higher plane”
Indian High Commissioner H.E. Admiral (Retd) Sureesh
Mehta in conversation with Indian Weekender Editor-in-
Chief Dev Nadkarni in Wellington
What do you think of the change from heading one
of the biggest wings of the Indian armed forces to
diplomacy?
Indian High Commissioner H.E. Admiral (Retd)
Sureesh Mehta in conversation with Indian Week-
ender Editor-in-Chief Dev Nadkarni in Wellington
What do you think of the change from heading one
of the biggest wings of the Indian armed forces to
diplomacy?
Well, to begin with, in both instances you work
for the policies of the government – and there’s diplo-
macy in both. The navy is somewhat different from
the other armed forces in that it has diplomacy as one
of the rules of the game. Traditionally it has been so:
there is a miliary role, there is a policing role and then
there is the diplomatic role. That’s the traditional tri-
angle that we have had always for all navies, devel-
oped by the Royal Navy way back in 19th century.
In fact there is a piece that I came across where at
one time the funding for the Royal Navy was being
reduced so the first Sea Lord, the chief of the Royal
Navy, went up to the government and said, since he
had no money they would not be building any more
ships and then the foreign minister came up and he
said, look if the Royal Navy does not get more ships
then how do you expect the foreign ministry to do the
job that it was supposed to do?
What I am saying is that there has always been a
link between the navy and diplomacy – we send ships
abroad, fly the flag. Our ships are, shall we say, the
sovereign Indian territory on the sea and wherever
they visit they represent a mini India and that’s been
happening to all the countries. Having said that, this
is it is definitely quite a different kind of a job and I
am still finding my feet but as I said, in my last job,
interacting with my peers, my counterparts also with
the ministerial set ups in many countries was part of
the job. I was travelling several times a year to differ-
ent countries and building up a rapport meeting with
defence ministers and officials. So it was a little bit
of, shall I say, grooming for this kind of a job. I am
very happy that our government asked me to come
to New Zealand.
To use a phrase from your previous stellar career,
you are still testing the waters here in New Zealand
at the moment. What are your first impressions?
My first impressions are that as far as people
are concerned they are particularly good across the
board, hospitable, approachable, full of life always.
What message do you bring to this country?
The thing that has really changed over the years
now, more so in the recent past, is the fact that India
has arrived. This is because of the economic growth
of the past decade or so. It is also very noticeable that
while the whole world is going through a recession,
India is one of the few countries, which has main-
tained a decent growth in GDP.
All of us are familiar with it, and we probably
clock 7% this year while everybody else has gone
negative. So we’ve had no recession, we’ve had
growth and it stems from two factors – one is that
we have a very strong middle class and this middle is
the one that is making money, driving the economy,
driving consumption and this middle class is 300
million plus that is equal to the population of the
entire United States but there are another 800-900
million that have to go along. Now it is a very no-
ticeable change in their lifestyle also. If you are in
India, it is quite noticeable but there is a long way to
go still. The government is taking steps, hopefully
the trickle down effect will percolate, permeate to the
lowest masses.
So the way the world is now looking at India
because of this 300 million educated population,
Indian Weekender | January 15, 2010 | www.iwk.co.nz
New Zealand
KRISHNA JEWELLERS QP
and the second part is demographics because if you
see most of the advanced societies today are getting
older. The percentage of working population is di-
minishing. India is again one of those few countries,
which shows an upward trend. China is going to be
much more downward than anybody else because of
their one child policy which they have had in place
for a long time.
The population, which was our bane some years
ago, is today coming to our advantage. Much of it
is educated population and therefor they are going to
be doing many more things in the years to come. So
the way the world is looking at India is now different.
New Zealand was at one time a country that
seemed far away, not so anymore thanks to faster air
travel and instant communication media – the world
is pretty much a borderless global village today.
So one is transacting business, doing things from
far away. Therefore there is much that we need to
do to promote this kind of relationship between our
two countries and I think that is one of the priority
areas that I will take forward and in this the economic
aspects, especially trade, will take precedence over
everything else.
Are there any specifics that you are looking at con-
centrating on in the near term.
I would set myself two goals. One is to improve
the economic relationship through greater trade and
commerce and the second is to improve the people to
people relationship because if you have face to face
contact, it makes a lot of difference in the way you
think.
There is a perception here that the Indian govern-
ment is somewhat slow on the progress of arriving
at the Free Trade Agreement with New Zealand es-
pecially after the new government came to power
after elections last year. Better progress seemed to
have been made under the dispensation of the pre-
vious government’s minister, Mr Kamal Nath…
No, there is no change in the dispensation and I
think the new minister is pretty pushy himself and
we have progressed – maybe I am not sure how
much – we are only awaiting final political clearance
from India to be able to get in the dialogue stage,
we are at that stage and I am pretty hopeful that that
will happen. You are well aware that India is quite
a large country and there are so many other things
that come up. The document that had to be prepared
has been prepared and that has been put up to ask for
the formal negotiations to start on the FTA and it is
waiting that final clearance at the highest level.
What is the expected time frame?
These things do take a little while in the Prime
Minister’s Office because the agenda is quite huge.
Let me assure you that in my own discussions in New
Delhi, this is a priority item – I know it is with the
Prime Minister himself. It’s a priority ticket.
The recent announcement that the citizens of
New Zealand would get a visa on arrival – what trig-
gered that, what got New Zealand on the list of just 5
countries?
Basically promotion of tourism is an important
field and it was felt that some of this was hampering
the arrival of people, so therefore this scheme has
been introduced. We do expect a lot of tourism from
New Zealand to India – that’s why New Zealand has
been included in that.
What are the areas for trade co- operation between
India and New Zealand, what do you think New
Zealand can offer India?
Well, New Zealand has been very keen on
Continued on Page 4 (next page)
3
Indian
pushing more of their dairy products into India, but
I would say there is a lot scope in farming technol-
ogy, which India can benefit from – especially post
harvest handling and preservation technology. That
is an area in which we are pretty weak. It is surpris-
ing that we have not done anything about it but the
amount of grain that we lose every year is colossal.
Food preservation, processing – I think that
would be a priority. Then we have of course a lot of
prowess in IT and medium sized machinery, which is
a requirement over here, so possibly that is one area
that could see a little more growth.
We have been taking timber and wool from here,
so that will continue. In fact we have a trade deficit at
this point of about 60% in favour of New Zealand so
we would definitely benefit by the FTA when more of
our products come here.
What about post-production in film? New Zealand
has some great post-production studios – do you see
possibilities of post-production cooperation with
Bollywood?
Indeed. We have a lot to learn from New Zealand
onpost-production techniques and technology – so
those are the places that could find increasing coop-
eration between the two countries.
You said one of the reasons for the visa on arrival
was to encourage tourism but one sees that most
of Indian promotion in New Zealand is run out of
Sydney from the Incredible India office, so is there
any proposal to step up promotions for Indian
tourism here?
We’ll have to work on that ourselves. Efforts are
on in every department in India including Incredible
India to educate people on visiting India. So, yes,
there will an effort form our side to encourage more
of this and get people to come.
Are you looking at more cultural exchange between
New Zealand and India?
Indeed. There is also what we call it, Know India
Programme in which we are sending at least half a
dozen kids at that level go across and spend time over
there. Then there is a chair which is being organised
4 Indian Weekender | January 15, 2010 | www.iwk.co.nz
regularly through ICCR in those fields, for somebody
to work in India for a few months at a time and simi-
larly for somebody from India to come here to Vic-
toria University, and so on. So these exchanges and
visits would certainly help in bringing about greater
visibility.
What about education?
Yes, from the New Zealand point of view, they
have been looking forward to that, the need to have
more people to come and study over here. Lots of our
people are studying over here but yes we can have
more.
One constant refrain from the Indian community
here is that student visa processing in India from New
Zealand side doesn’t happen fast enough and there
aren’t enough centers, resulting in a big backlog.
We need to work together to analyse such prob-
lems and find ways and means to get rid of bottle-
necks – we are quite clear that travel must be made
easy for whosoever it might be.
Is there short message you would have for the
Indian community here, which you would like
Indian Weekender to convey?
Well, the Indian diaspora is the face of India
abroad and the way we conduct ourselves over here
is what makes people form an impression of what the
country is. So we certainly need to make sure that
we put the right image across, and make sure that we
work united towards taking the relationship between
our two countries forward, particularly in the areas
which I have outlined earlier and it is for this com-
munity to make sure that they do proper justice to the
country of their origin. I am sure you will realise that
we should not get into squabbling to create a multi-
plicity of organisations ultimately making them dys-
functional. Of course India is a huge country, there
is no doubt about it, but we need to make sure that
we don’t allow these fissiparous tendencies to come
about and we work together for the larger aim – and
the larger aim is, will always be, to take the relation-
ship between our two countries to a higher plane.
Watch video message on
www.iwk.co.nz
New Zealand and India
are getting closer
Hon Pansy Wong, Minister for Ethnic Affairs
One of the many privileges of being a Cabinet Minister
is attending credential functions where new Ambassa-
dors and High Commissioners present themselves to
the Governor General.
New Zealand’s credential ceremonies are legend-
ary among foreign diplomats with our unique Maori
challenge ceremony and the warm, personal reception
that is held at Government House.
During these ceremonies, it is customary for the
“official” recommendation for the credentials to be
accepted to be made by a Minister. On December 9,
2009, I had the privilege of recommending that the
credentials of Indian High Commissioner, Admiral
(rtd) Sureesh Mehta and American Ambassador Mr
David Huebner be accepted by the Governor General.
I welcomed the High Commissioner and his
family and assured him that my close relationship with
our Indian communities will ensure that we see each
other often.
I also gave Admiral Mehta advance notice that he
and his wife, Mrs Maria Teresa Mehta, are going to
have an extremely busy time in New Zealand because
we have vibrant and active Indian communities.
The more than 100,000 strong Indian communi-
ties are energetic and engaging and invitations for the
High Commissioner to attend functions will be abun-
dant, which is something Admiral Mehta seems to
take in his stride.
In his speech, Admiral Mehta showed in depth
knowledge of New Zealand and India’s long standing
relationship and articulated well our two countries’
shared passion for cricket. He acknowledged the fact
that Diwali has become a major celebration in New
Zealand and also with very different population sizes,
we are both democratic nations.
He said he was looking forward to assisting in the
advancement of the Free Trade Agreement between
New Zealand
our two countries, which is something that New
Zealand welcomes.
The Governor General warmly welcomed the
High Commissioner and in his speech highlighted
the fact that a new New Zealand Consul General to
Mumbai had been identified and that it was a positive
step in our ever-growing closer relationship with India.
Admiral (Rtd) Mehta has been appointed as India’s
High Commissioner after a long and distinguished
career in the Indian Navy.
He is an alumnus of the prestigious National
Defence Academy, is a qualified jet fighter pilot and
comes to New Zealand with vast array of experience
and expertise.
Before retiring in August 2009, the Admiral spent
the last three years of his distinguished 42 year naval
career as the Chief of the Indian Navy – the senior-
most Service Chief.
He has been awarded the AVSM and the highest
award for distinguished service, the PVSM.
Like our Indian communities, I am looking
forward to working with the High Commissioner to
build on the long and strong relationship between our
two countries.
Indian
Mentoring scheme for Kiwi Indians
“Born Here” mentoring was launched in Wel-
lington on Friday November 20 after a success-
ful Auckland launch of the scheme in October
this year.
A mentoring scheme founded by 3 Kiwi
Indians for other young Kiwi Indians aims to
grow the next generation of leaders and cel-
ebrate the successes of Kiwi Indians in contem-
porary New Zealand.
Mentors who have agreed to take part in the
scheme are from a number of different areas
including sport, media, drama, medicine, arts,
film and tv, and business.
These include Tarun Mohanbhai –comedian
Two new early childhood services for Manurewa
More pre-schoolers in Manurewa will have
access to early childhood services with two new
services attached to the Leabank and Randwick
Park communities and sited on council land.
Manukau City Council has been working
with the Ministry of Education to secure the
much-needed services.
Cr Colleen Brown, who is a member of the
Manurewa Advisory Group, says the two new
services will be a real asset to the community.
“The senior staff at Randwick Park School
have been lobbying for years for this centre
and I’m happy to have helped them, even to the
extent of writing to the Prime Minister John
Key.
“Some of the lowest before-school participa-
tion rates in New Zealand are in Manurewa, and
these two new services will help ensure more
children get those all-important foundation
skills before going to school,” Cr Brown says.
The service going to Leabank is likely to be
part of the new multi-sports centre being devel-
oped in Mountfort Park, while the Randwick
aka “that Indian guy”; Leela Patel – Shortand
St actress and “Äpron Strings” movie actress;
Arrun Soma – One Network News reporter;
Rupesh Puna – former All White and trainee
Orthapaedic Surgeon; and Priyesh Bhana –
current Blacksticks Hockey player to name a
few.
Founders of the non profit scheme are Manoj
Daji the Chief Executive of College Sport Auck-
land along with Bho Patel, Marketing Manager,
and Priyesh Bhana.
For more information on the scheme phone
021308689 or email bornherem8@gmail.com or
see intro information attached.
Park centre will be next door to the Randwick
Park school.
“We shouldn’t underestimate the importance
of this model,” Cr Brown says. “The Manurewa
Advisory Group has always advocated for com-
munity centres where a mix of services reflect-
ing the community’s needs can be based”.
“Both of these sites offer a unique perspec-
tive on this model. When the advisory group
surveyed more than 400 students in Randwick
Park, they were unanimous in wanting space for
their parents to meet. We anticipate that there
will be additional rooms on the Randwick Park
site for services such as police, Housing NZ, a
meeting room and possibly medical services.
We are also working with the council to get
toilet facilities provided as well.”
Manukau has 10 per cent of New Zealand’s
pre-school age population, yet has a low number
of early childhood services, and some of the
lowest pre-school participation rates in the
country.
- Indian Weekender news desk
Growing NZ’s interests
in Southeast Asia
New Zealanders living and working in South-
east Asia and conversely, Southeast Asian
communities here in New Zealand represent a
growing impetus for closer links with Southeast
Asia, says a new Asia New Zealand Foundation
report.
The report says given the importance of the
emerging Free Trade Agreement involving New
Zealand and the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN), along with China and Aus-
tralia, these diasporas are set to become impor-
tant players in this transnational future.
The report by Christchurch geographer
Robert Didham – Intersections: Southeast Asia
and diaspora engagement – highlights the con-
nections between the diasporas and examines
ways in which they engage with each other and
with their respective host societies.
According to the 2006 Census, there were
44,000 people of Southeast Asian ethnicities
living in New Zealand but that number swells
to 60,000 if people born in South East Asia of
Indian and Chinese ethnicities are included.
Contrastingly a rough estimate of New Zea-
landers in Southeast Asia is possibly 8,000 to
12,000.
The report says while the numbers of New
Zealanders in Southeast Asian countries is pro-
portionally much smaller than the Southeast
Asian diaspora here, a sum of the two diaspo-
ras does present enormous advantages in policy
efforts to build strong sustained links with
Southeast Asia.
“Paramount among the outcomes of these
connections is the creation of a pool of resources
with expertise in cross-cultural commerce out
of which global networks can develop.”
The report also highlights New Zealanders
in Southeast Asia who have enjoyed success in a
New Zealand
number of sectors including tourism and public
relations. They include:
• Former RNZ journalist Bronwen Evans who
has been working in public relations since 1999
and is owner and director of the Faasai Resort
and Spa and is President of the Bangkok Chapter
of the International Association of Business
Communicators (IABC).
• New Zealand public relations firm Baldwin
Boyle Group headed by Greg Shand which es-
tablished an office in Bangkok in 1997, follow-
ing a long history in Singapore.
• Alastair Carthew, formerly of Air New
Zealand and TVNZ, who now lives in Phuket
and runs his own public relations company, AC
Public Relations Counsel.
Integral to the deepening connections to
Southeast Asia are the communities that are well
established here, particularly where people are
part of active transnational networks.
“One of the key cross-cutting resources that
these connections open up is access to the lan-
guage skills of migrants and their families.”
The report says “the New Zealand-born and
their families, the returned migrants who have
once lived in New Zealand and international
students who have studied in New Zealand” all
play a role in establishing and maintaining links
across Southeast Asian society and between the
region and New Zealand.
It concludes that the activities and support
of key agencies such as, in the case of New
Zealand, MFAT and NZTE, are vital to the suc-
cessful development of connections between
local commerce and export industries.
For a copy of the report, visit www.asianz.
org.nz
- Indian Weekender news desk

Complimentary package for

Indian trade fare visitors
The India International Leather Fair, (IILF), is
being held between January 31 and February 3,
2010, in Chennai, one of the premier trade hubs
in the capital city of Tamil Nadu, India, under a
complimentary hospitality package. 
 

The India International Leather Fair is recog-
nised as an important leather event in Asia.
The products on display will range from fin-
ished leather, footwear, garments, fashion ac-
cessories, travel-ware, portfolios, belts, gloves,
saddlery and harness to ancillary and auxiliary,
chemicals, machinery, etc. 
 
 by the Trade Associations for 1st and 2nd Febru-
IILF 2010 will be an ideal platform to source,
develop business relations and exchange views en-
compassing the entire global leather industry. The
leading manufacturers, suppliers and agencies of
the industry from all around the world will assem-
ble under one roof to offer a wide array of leather
goods and accessories and related machinery.
The visitor/buyer can establish long lasting
business relationships with domestic and global
suppliers, manufacturers and agencies. The IILF,
January 2009 covered a net area of 7700 sq metres,
attracting participation from more than 390 com-
panies including 122 from 25 countries like Ban-
gladesh, Brazil, China, France, Germany, Italy,
Kenya, Mexico, New Zealand, The Netherlands,
Saudi Arabia, Spain, Egypt, Taiwan, Thailand,
Turkey, UAE, UK, USA, Sri Lanka, South Africa,
Ukraine, Russian Federation and Finland. 
 Fairs and interested to visit IILF 2010, the hospi-
The Council is inviting participation in the
IILF 2010 by offering a complimentary hospital-
ity package comprising return economy class air
fare by the shortest route to Chennai, subject to
ceiling limits; stay in five star category hotel (bed
& breakfast) for 4 nights – (January 30th night
arrival, 31st , Feb 1st & 2nd , 2010). February 3rd
, departure; Airport pickup, local transportation
from Hotel to the Exhibition venue daily; Visits
to leather product factories in and around Chennai
can be organized on request after the fair days;
Invitations for participation in Seminars / Work-
shops and social evenings, get-togethers arranged
The visitor / buyer can
establish long lasting business
relationships with domestic and
global suppliers, manufacturers
and agencies.
ary, 2010.
Long distance call charges, use of Business
Center/Health Club, laundry, liquor, etc in the
Hotel will be borne by the individual Buyers. 

The complimentary hospitality package
is offered to only one Senior Executive per
company. 
The Complimentary hospitality
package will be confirmed to the Business visitors
who have an interest to source from India. The
invitee should attend B2B meeting organised by
the Council between Indian Exporters and the vis-
iting Overseas Buyers on 1st February 2010. 
 

However, as per the project guidelines, the
hospitality package of airfare and hotel accom-
modation is provided for only new buyers visiting
Indian Leather Fairs. In case of buyers who had
already visited any of the three Indian Leather
tality package is restricted to only hotel accommo-
dation and local hospitality. The Airfare cost has
to be borne by the buyer. 

Those wishing to visit must complete the
“Buyer’s Registration Form”, which may be sub-
mitted by e-mail, after filling-up the required in-
formation. Once the information is received, after
necessary scrutiny, a Formal Invitation Letter will
be sent, confirming visit to India International
Leather Fair (IILF), January 2010. Forms are
available at thanju@cleindia.com
- Indian Weekender news desk

Indian Weekender | January 15, 2010 | www.iwk.co.nz 5

Indian
India woos diaspora
New Delhi: Many Indian states presented several in-
vestment proposals to its Indian diaspora at the Pravasi
Bharatiya Divas convention being held in New Delhi.
The global collective wealth base of NRIs is estimated
to be a whopping US $400 million.
Punjab took the lead in announcing the setting up
of a commission for NRIs on the pattern of human
rights commission. Deputy Chief Minister of Punjab
Sukhbir Singh Badal said the focus of the proposed
commission would be on providing speedy relief to
NRIs in property, marital and immigration disputes.
While exhorting the NRIs to invest in the state
Badal reminded the NRIs that Punjab was the only
state to have set up separate police stations for NRIs
and amended revenue laws to provide relief to them in
cases of property disputes.
Earlier, Planning Commission deputy chairman
Montek Singh Ahluwalia announced that regulatory
constraints would be eased to allow NRIs’ participa-
tion in the education sector. “It is quite logical to allow
NRIs a role in the expansion of education sector and
to improve the quality of skill development. There are
regulatory constraints, which may come in the way...
but we are working to relax them,” Ahluwalia said.
Other states like were Karnataka, Rajasthan,
Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, Maharashtra,
Bihar and Orissa conducted separate sessions, each
targeting NRIs of their own state.
Visa on arrival for tourists in India
New Delhi: In a bid to boost the downward trend
in inbound tourism, the Union Tourism Minister
Kumari Selja informed the Parliament on Thurs-
day that the Centre has decided to introduce
visa-on-arrival scheme for tourists from five
countries including New Zealand, Singapore,
Finland, Luxembourg and Japan on a pilot basis
for a period of one year.
With the recent disturbances in the country,
Selja said various countries have been issuing
travel advisories from time to time, advising
their citizens to avoid travel or to take precau-
tions while traveling to areas in the country
which are temporarily disturbed.
India
The Tourism Ministry has gone all out to
promote inbound tourism which include mea-
sures like liberalizing the marketing develop-
ment assistance scheme for service providers
promoting India, organizing road shows in im-
portant tourist generating markets overseas, ar-
ranging familiarization tours to India for inter-
national travel trade and media representatives
to keep them updated on safety and security
conditions in the country.
State governments, airlines, hotels and tour
operators and the media campaigns have been
collaborating with the ministry to avert any
adverse impact on tourism in the country.

Global ice cream giant melts on arrival in India

New Delhi: American ice cream giant Haagen
Shashi Tharoor draws flak - again
Dazs wanted to make a cool winter entry into the Mumbai: Minister of State for External Affairs
ice cream market in India, instead landed in a con- Shashi Tharoor has landed himself into another
troversy it is not likely to forget in a hurry. tweet controversy after his comments on the new
Teaser advertisements in a posh mall in Delhi visa regulations, on the social networking site.
announcing the launch of the ice cream outlet Wondering whether the tightening of the visa
had a line saying entry “restricted only to holders norms for foreign nationals made any sense at all
of international passports”. In effect Indians not and if it would actually “protect” security, Tharoor
allowed. asked whether India would allow terrorists to make
A passerby who spotted it, photographed it and it a “less welcoming” destination adding that the
sent it to the Times of India blog. The same was “26/11 killers had no visas.”
then put on Facebook which triggered an avalanche The Union Home Ministry has recently tight-
of protests from across the globe. ened visa regulations in the wake of long-term
Within hours of the damage, officials from Haa- multi-entry visas given to Pakistani-American
gen-Dazs apologised, saying the offending promo- Headley and Pakistani-Canadian Tahawwur Rana,
tional line contained the “wrong choice of words”. both arrested in the US for plotting terror attacks
Haagen Dazs also cut off ties with TBWA the against India.
agency that created the offensive campaign. Al- Tharoor had earlier drawn flak for his tweets
though TBWA India was assigned only this teaser on the Government’s austerity drive and the public
campaign, it was seen as an obvious choice to holiday on Gandhi Jayanti says in his recent tweet
manage Haagen-Dazs India’s account. “Is all that worth it just in hope of making it difficult
for a future Headley to recce? R we going 2 allow
terrorists 2 make us less welcoming?”.
The Minister also said “making it more diffi-
cult 2 visit India, return here frequently or stay long
hurts large nbrs of innocents, costs us millions of $
(Dollars) & alienates.”
“No easy answers 2such qsns (to such questions)
government is grappling with. But important to rec-
ognize that security not become an excuse 2change
(to change) our cntry 4d worse (country for the
worse),” Tharoor said.
External Affairs Minister S.M.Krishna imme-
diately ticked off Tharoor by asking him to discuss
his “perceptions” within “four walls” of the govern-
ment rather than in public.
BJP described Tharoor’s tweet on new visa
rules as “callous” and said the government should
clarify its position on the issue instead of “speaking
in different voices”. BJP spokesperson Rajiv Pratap
Rudy said “How can a person in his position make
such statements even in jest?”

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Indian
India
Threat to top scientists; BRIEFS

security tightened
New Delhi: Security around 10 scientists working
in sensitive areas has been tightened in the wake of
threats from Pakistan-based terror groups like Lash-
ker-e-Taiba(LeT).
Though the names of the scientists have not been
identified, they are said to be working in crucial areas
of nuclear, defence and space fields.
The threat and the names of these scientists were
mentioned by Sarfaraz Nawaz, who was deported
from Muscat, during interrogation and which were
further corroborated by T Nazir, LeT’s pointsman in
South India.
Sources revealed that following corroboration of
the threats, a security review was carried out after
which it was decided to enhance the security of the
scientists as a precautionary measure
Nawaz, 33, was recently deported from Muscat
and brought to India. Nazir was arrested on the Indo-
Bangldesh border. Both had alledgedly played key
roles in the Bangalore blasts in 2008.
Meanwhile on the basis of information provided
by US terror suspect David Headley, the Indian gov-
ernment is taking a slew of security measures es-
pecially around major scientific research institutes,
Atomic Energy centres, Bollywood studios and along
the country’s coastline to prevent any form of attack.
Villagers build railway station with own money
Gurgaon: When inhabitants of Tajnagar village near Gurgaon wanted a railway
station at their village, they decided to construct it themselves instead of being
at the mercy of the railway authorities.
About two years ago the village panchayat met and decided that since the
railways was not able to build a station for them, they would do it themselves.
A committee was formed. They then asked the railway authorities if they would
stop a few trains if they construct a station there, surprisingly the railways
agreed to stop seven trains if the station was constructed according to their
specifications.
Soon the 3000 odd villagers pooled in money and collected about Rs. 2.1 mil-
lion. Construction started in January 2008 and the station was inaugurated
last week. Perhaps this is the first railway station in the country on which the
railways did not have to spend a single penny.
Ranjitsinghji’s bat stolen in palace heist

Sikhs demand Vatican-like

New Delhi: A major heist was reported from the palace of one of India’s crick-
eting legends K.S. Ranjitsinghji, after whom the Ranji Trophy is named. Though
the theft was noticed on Monday January 4, the exact date is unclear.

status for Amritsar Among the items missing are the bat used by Ranjitsinghji, a golden grip, an-
tiques and many precious paintings including a Picasso and Rembrandt. The
Jam Bungalow is a part of Pratap Vilas Palace – the royal residence of the erst-
while kingdom of Jamnagar. The palace was once home to cricketing legend
and Jamnagar prince, Jam Ranjitsinhji, and his heir, Digvijaysinh Jadeja.
Sources said that prima facie estimates put the value of stolen goods around
Rs.5 crore. “We do not know how many or what valuables have been stolen,
but many antique pieces are missing from the bungalow,” said Krishnasinh
Jadeja, palace caretaker and one of the complainants. He added that “They
broke the locks in such a way that even the security guards did not notice it.”
The local police have deployed the dog squad, forensic teams and fingerprint
experts, the palace has been sealed and investigations are on.

First Indian woman to ski to South Pole

Amritsar: The Sikh Nation Organisation, has
demanded Vatican status for the holy city of
Amritsar, the highest temporal seat of Sikhs,
and claimed the Sikh community all over the
world supported the demand.
The Sikh body has submitted petitions to the
President, the Prime Minister, the Lok Sabha
Speaker and the Rajya Sabha on the issue. It has
also decided to approach all MPs belonging to
various political parties to support the demand
for the ‘Vatican’ like status that it truly deserves.
The Petition of Sikh body added that “such a
step is the best way to prove the Indian Govern-
ment’s sincerity to provide international guar-
anty of permanent security to the shrine from
any attack in future from any regime that will
certainly help assuage hurt feelings of operation
Blue Star.”
President of the organisation Manjit Singh
Randhawa said the demand for giving category
‘C’ city status to Amritsar by describing it as a
“heritage city” seemed tricky, because no such
status had till date been granted to any of the
cities despite having immense heritage value.
Whereas granting a “Vatican’ like status
would status would ensure unhindered flow of
followers of Sikh faith from across the globe.
Dr.Randhawa maintained that the pilgrim-
age to Harmindir Akal Takht Sahib would be
open to the whole of humanity without any dis-
crimination of caste, creed or nationality and
Sikhs from all over the world as it is for Muslims
at Meccan and Christians at Vatican.
New Delhi: Ms. Reena Kaushal , 38, of Delhi became the first Indian woman to
ski to the South Pole. She was a part of the historic ski-run of an eight-wom-
an Commonwealth team that crossed a 900 km Antarctic ice trek to reach the
South Pole to mark the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Commonwealth.
Skiing eight to 10 hours a day, Ms. Kaushal and her teammates from seven
other countries covered the frozen continent to the pole in about 40 days. Each
skier towed a sledge with food and gear weighing some 80 kg.
The skiers, Ms. Kaushal said in a statement online, braved blinding blizzards,
jet speed winds blowing in excess of 130 km an hour and temperatures of
minus 40 degrees Celsius.
Hunt on for desi vyomonauts
Chennai: The hunt is on for India’s first astronauts or vyomanauts in local
parlance, who will finally go on India’s first manned space mission scheduled
in 2015.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is in the process of shortlist-
ing 200 fighter pilots from the Indian Air Force (IAF), out of which four will be
chosen and two of the ‘vyomanauts’ ( vyoma in Sanskrit means ‘space’ or
‘sky’) will eventually man the mission. The other two will remain in reserve.

Recession boom for medical tourism

Mumbai: The medical tourism industry in
India seems to have benefitted from the
global recession as it has recorded a 20%
growth in its annual turnover.
Many people especially from America
and Europe are looking towards India for
medical procedures, which is easily afford-
able compared to their own countries.
Procedures such as joint replacement,
spinal surgeries, cardiac surgeries, cosme-
tology and dentistry are among the more
popular procedures among the foreigners.
Dr.Anupam Verma, VP of the Medical
Tourism Council of India says, “ Very often
they come to India as tourists. They find out
the cost of their treatment and get it done im-
mediately.”
Dr.Bali, CEO of Wockhardt hospitals
perhaps sums it up best when he says “We
are the only country which offers a com-
bination of quality and affordability in the
medical procedures” this along with the
brand value of Indian doctors makes the
package attractive.
The reason for choosing the astronauts from the cream of IAF pilots is that
they are already trained to endure high gravity forces, and this makes it easier
for them to be trained for space missions.
India’s first manned space mission , a fully autonomous orbital vehicle will be
carrying two astronauts into space at an altitude of 300-400 km from sea-level.
The mission is expected to last four to seven days.
Cashless medical scheme for monks, nuns
Ahmedabad: A unique scheme as part of a community initiative has been set
up for Jain monks and nuns to provide them with cashless medical facilities
and treatment across the country. This scheme would facilitate the monks and
nuns who are constantly on the move after having renounced all worldly pos-
sessions.
The scheme called Shraman Arogyam, was set up by donations upto Rs.25
crore by the Jain Doctor’s Association (JDF) and the Jain Inernational Trade

Voting is mandatory in Gujarat

Organisation (JITO).
JDF has tied up with Paramount Healthcare Management company an insur-
ance firm with a network of 10,000 hospitals nationwide. All sects of Jain such
as Derawasi, Digambari, Sthankakwasi and Achalgachh would be covered in
the scheme.
Gandhinagar: The Gujarat state assembly on Saturday passed the landmark bill which makes voting
to local bodies compulsory. Gujarat is the first state in India to do so.
The new law will make voting compulsory in all seven municipal corporations, 159 municipali- Frequent flier PM
ties, 26 district panchayats, 223 taluka panchayats and in 13,713 village panchayats of the state. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh can certainly claim a
However CM Narendra Modi and most of his ministers were absent when the Bill was being voted place in the record books as the most travelled prime
in the House. Also missing were nearly 40% of MLAs in a House of 181.
minister of the country. In his first stint as PM in 2004, he
RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav has backed the move saying it should be extended to the Lok Sabha
had made 35 trips abroad and now in his second tenure
elections too. Commenting further he said, “There has been a gradual decline in the voting percentage
in elections to the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha,” , adding it would be worthwhile if voting was made beginning May 2009 he has already gone abroad seven
compulsory for elections to Parliament and state legislatures. times.
“It (making voting compulsory) will be in the larger interest of the country, democracy and parlia-
mentary norms,” the RJD chief said.

Indian Weekender | January 15, 2010 | www.iwk.co.nz 7

Indian
NRIs can vote soon
New Delhi: Prime minister Manmohan Singh
said here on Friday, 8 January that NRIs
will be able to cast their votes by the time the
country holds its next general elections.
“I recognise the legitimate desire of
Indians living abroad to exercise their fran-
chise and to have a say in who governs India,”
the prime minister told the annual conclave
for the Indian diaspora.
Some 1,500 delegates from 50-plus coun-
tries are attending the conclave that the
country hosts annually to connect with its 25
million diaspora in 130 countries.
“We are working on this issue and I sin-
cerely hope that they will get a chance to
vote by the time of the next regular general
elections,” he said at the eighth convention of
Pravasi Bharatiya Divas.
“In fact, I would go a step further and ask
why more overseas Indians should not return
India
Goa says bye to bikini babes
home to join politics and public life as they are
increasingly doing in business and academia.”
The prime minister said while people all
over were legitimately proud of India’s vibrant
democracy, the government had not been able
to deliver in full measure on the enormous
promise and potential of the country.
“I recognise the frustration well wishers
feel when they lament why things don’t work
faster or why well formulated plans and poli-
cies don’t get implemented as well as they
should be.”
He said there was a price India was paying
to carry all sections of its people along in na-
tional development, but that was a price worth
paying. Panaji: The Goa tourism department has decided detailed report on the investigations into the
“It is probably true we are a slow moving to censor all advertisements showing “bikini alleged rape of a 25-year-old Russian woman by
elephant but it is equally true that with each babes” as part of its fight against the growing a local politician.
step forward we leave behind a deep imprint.” image of the state as a sex-tourism destination. Meanwhile, the Goa tourism department is
This comes in the recent spurt of incidents to set up a Special Tourist Security Force (STSF)
of rape and attempt to rape of foreign tourists to tackle the rising number of crimes against
in the state. tourists in the state.
“Goa is a family holiday destination and not “Setting up a Special Tourist Security Force

Hyderabad could go Chandigarh way

a sex tourism destination. We will make sure
that bikini babes do not symbolise Goa tourism
in future,” tourism minister Fransisco Pacheco
said on Thursday.
Hyderabad: The central government is mulling on a formula on the lines of Chandigarh to make Hy- He said the tourism department would ask
derabad the capital of both Andhra and Telangana once the state is formed. all empanelled advertisement agencies to desist
The centre is likely to offer this proposal to leaders from both regions to make Hyderabad the from using scantily-clad women in their cam-
common capital. The city would get this special status for 5-10 years. ‘The aim is to create infra- paigns.
structure in non-Telangana regions and then hive off the state’ sources said. “The department has already stopped such
Many are of the opinion that Hyderabad also nick-named as Cyberabad belongs to everyone since ads but I will make sure that henceforth all ad-
everybody has put in money for its growth. However Telangana activitists are not willing to talk vertisements are scrutinised by the department
about Telangana without Hyderabad. “There is no question of negotiating on Hyderabad. Histori- before being sent for printing,” Pacheco said.
cally, it has beena part of Telangana. He said he would also ask all tour operators,
A Telangana without Hyderabad is like a body without head.” K.Chandrashekar Rao, chief of TRS including private players, to follow the guide-
said. Another Telangana MP said “We don’t mind Andhra using the infrastructure in Hyderabad till lines for advertisements to help improve the
they have own facilities. But it should not be allowed for long.” state’s image.
The state government has also asked the
director general of police (DGP) to submit a
named as tourist security organisation is pro-
posed to be formulated in order to provide ad-
ditional protection and guidance to the tourists
visiting the state,” the report states.
Assaults on foreign women tourists and in-
ability of the Goa Police to handle such crimes
have embarrassed the state government, the
latest scandal being the rape of a 25-year-old
Russian woman Dec 2 by a local politician at
Colva, a resort in south Goa..
“We are in the process of setting up the
STSF at the earliest to ensure full protection to
the tourists coming to Goa,” he said, without
divulging the exact details or the nature of the
proposed force. Goa attracts nearly two million
tourists annually - almost twice its population.
About 450,000 of the tourists are foreigners.

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Indian
$672k for Tourism Fiji TV blitz
Suva, Fiji: A two month advertising blitz by
Tourism Fiji on CNN will cost no less than
$672,000.
Tourism Fiji CEO Josefa Tuamoto said the
money was spent in an attempt to broaden
Fiji’s visitor market base.
The development comes as the tourism
marketing arm of the State prepares to launch
more than $18,000 in advertisements on
British Airways’ domestic and international
flights.
“We are using new vehicles like CNN and
Nat Geo to broaden our market base,” Mr
Tuamoto said.
“This will be followed up by cooperative
efforts with key trade partners in various local
markets.
“We are tapping into South America where
there is great potential for outbound travel.”
Mr Tuamoto said that this year Tourism
Fiji would work on consolidating its position
Fiji immigration deports 36 illegal
immigrants including Indians
Suva, Fiji: Fiji Immigration officers deported 56
people last year under removal orders.
Director Immigration Department Nemani
Vuniwaqa said this was 36 people more than in
2008.
According to Mr Vuniwaqa, of those de-
ported, 19 were Chinese nationals and 12 were
Indian nationals.
Others deported were five from Nigeria, four
each from Sri Lanka, New Zealand and Tonga,
two Australians and one each from the Marshall
Islands, Hong Kong, the Solomon Islands, Kiri-
bati, the Philippines and the United Kingdom.
These statistics excluded those who volun-
tarily departed after being advised about their
visa being expired.
The issue of illegal immigrants was preva-
lent in all countries with Fiji being no exception,
Mr Vuniwaqa said.
“Almost all people who become illegal im-
migrants entered the country lawfully before
breaching the conditions of their permits, failing
to extend their permits, becoming involved in
illegal activities like prostitution and simple ig-
norance of the laws in place,” he said.
Some “influential locals” have been using
their contacts to try and keep illegal immigrants
in the country. Mr Vuniwaqa said the issue was
one of his department’s major challenges.
“A challenge is the involvement of influen-
Air Fiji workers
claim compensation
from Tuvalu
Suva, Fiji: Fiji’s Transport Workers Union
general secretary Kamlesh Kumar says the
Tuvalu Government has agreed to look into
compensation claims of former Air Fiji em-
ployees.
“Left with little or no choice we have to
send to the company for compensation which
includes outstanding wages but what we have
asked for is for some money for the workers
in the form of written and seen payment so
the workers have something as a buffer before
they embark on other alternative employ-
ment,” said Kumar.
“So this is the approach we have taken.
We have been ensured that the current Tuvalu
Transport Minister has looked into our claims
and we are hopeful.”
The Tuvalu Government is the major
shareholder in the now defunct Air Fiji.
– Pacificbusinessonline.com/ Pacnews
Indian Weekender | January 15, 2010 | www.iwk.co.nz
in traditional source markets of Australia,
New Zealand and North America.
“We are also expanding our position in
markets such Hong Kong, India and China,”
he said.
“This is in light of the recent introduc-
tion of flights from HK to Fiji by our national
carrier, Air Pacific.
“In addition, we’re looking at better feeds
into HK from UK and Europe through Cathay
Pacific’s arrangement with Air Pacific.
“We’re also looking at reconsolidating our
position in Japan and Guam in view of the
recent introduction of Continental Microne-
sia.
“In terms of pull-strategy, we will use the
electronic media as well as print as the main
vehicles, supported by our substantive PR
network globally.”
– Pacificbusinessonline.com/ Pacnews
tial locals who try to use their so-called connec-
tions to keep these people in the country” Major
Vuniwaqa said.
“In the meantime, we will continue to appre-
hend and remove people as and when informa-
tion comes to hand.
“And we would like to take this opportunity
to invite members of the public to report any
overstayers or foreigners involved in illegal ac-
tivities and we will take over from there.”
The inability of the computer system to
detect expired permits is another challenge the
Immigration Department faces when dealing
with illegal immigrants and overstayers.
Major Vuniwaqa said such a challenge could
be resolved with the implementation of an In-
tegrated Border Management System this year.
“Our current computer system is unable to
alert the officers when a person’s permit has
expired and he or she is still in the country,” he
said.
“With this (IBMS) in place, the number
of illegal immigrants should decrease as the
system will provide up-to-date alerts.”
Major Vuniwaqa said staffing constraints
and a lack of resources contributed to the inabil-
ity of the Immigration Department to carry out
its work efficiently. although the Government
has approved funds to help in this area.
– Pacificbusinessonline.com/ Pacnews
Fiji Cyclone
damage cost
$38 million
Suva, Fiji: Fiji’s National Disaster Manage-
ment Office (NDMO) has pegged Tropical
Cyclone Mick’s damage costs at more than
FJD$38 million.
These are the latest figures that were
finalised this week as the NDMO put to-
gether its damage assessment report.
Almost a month after Tropical cyclone
Mick, damage costs are now being fi-
nalised.
While initial estimates were pegged
at 20 million dollars and thereabouts - the
National Disaster Management Office re-
vealed that its way more than that.
But this figure could further increase or
decrease once it goes onto the Ministry of
National Planning.
– Pacificbusinessonline.com/ Pacnews
Australian tourist numbers to Fiji rebound
Suva, Fiji: Figures released by Tourism Fiji this
week show the destination welcomed a total of
53,138 international visitors in October 2009, a
7.2 per cent increase on the 49,586 achieved for
the same period in 2008.
The figure took total international numbers
for the period January – October 2009 to
443,703, the figure bolstered by a fourth straight
record breaking performance from the Austra-
lian market with more than 27,500 Aussie tour-
ists visiting in the tenth month.
Mr Tuamoto said while the January –
October figure was a strong result, the numbers
still represented more than 9.4 percent deficit
on the 489,647 achieved in the record breaking
2008.
“But to be realistic in what represents one of
the toughest years in Fiji’s tourism history, this
is a remarkable effort when you consider that
in January, February and March international
numbers dropped by 27.6 and 22.7 percent”, he
said.
The 27,531 Australians visiting in October
2009 result brings Fiji’s Australian visitor tally
for the year to 189,603 now just 2.3 percent down
on the 194,063 figure achieved for the January –
Fiji Law Society notes fresh purge of judiciary
Suva, Fiji: The Fiji Law Society president,
Dorsami Naidu, says the Fijian administration is
further purging the justice sector of people who
don’t toe the line.
Three magistrates and several public pros-
ecutors have been sacked this week without the
public being given an explanation.
The Fiji Independent Commission Against
Corruption (FICAC) has broadened its opera-
tions, charging a member of the International
Commission of Jurists, Imrana Jalal, and her
husband with operating a restaurant without a
licence.
Ms Jalal denies the charges.
Mr Naidu said anti-corruption organisations
usually deal with corruption matters involving
public bodies.
“FICAC should not have become involved.
This is dealt with by the municipal council and if
a person does not pay their business licence fee
Fiji tourist refund scheme to begin soon
Suva, Fiji: Preparatory work has begun on the
implementation of the Tourist VAT Refund
Scheme in Fiji, it has been confirmed.
Under this scheme, tourists will be able to
claim a refund on the VAT they pay on goods
bought in Fiji.
From February 1, the Fiji Islands Revenue
and Customs Authority (FIRCA) will operate
two counters at the Nadi International Airport
and the Suva wharf where tourists can go to
for their refunds.
To qualify for a refund, a tourist must,
among other things, spend $500 (VAT inclu-
Ban on foreign trade shows in Fiji
Suva, Fiji: Fiji’s admin-
istration has restricted
the conducting of foreign
trade shows in the country
until further notice.
Minister for Trade
Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum
(pictured) said the de-
cision was reached on
October 2 last year.
The directive is believed to have stemmed
from complaints from local retailers on the poor
quality of the products that were being sold by
traders from India.
“Trade shows in Fiji have been restricted
from October 2, 2009,” he said.
However, a special allowance had been made
for a group of traders who had made arrange-
ments before the directive was issued.
Fiji
October period last year.
Mr Tuamoto said he was confident this short-
fall would be fully corrected by year’s end, his
comments based on preliminary figures advised
by the NTO’s airline partners for November.
All carriers on the Australia-Fiji route, he
said, had registered extremely positive load
factors on the sector throughout the month and
into early December.
Figures ex-New Zealand also continued to
rebuild with more than 8800 Kiwis visiting the
destination in October.
This brings the total number of New Zea-
landers visiting Fiji for the 10 month period to
78,775 compared to the 88,295 visiting from
January to October 2008.
The 2009 collective, while still down on the
2008 result, in effect represents a 22 percent
regrowth in overall market share since January
when NZ visitor arrivals dropped by an unprec-
edented 32 percent.
Mr Tuamoto said growth from other newer
markets had been proven extremely positive and
in particular from China where visitor arrivals
jumped by 14.4 percent from 8842 to 10,114.
- Pacificbusinessonline.com
and if they have operated, the municipal council
can take them to court and claim that money. I
can’t call it corruption.”
Mr Naidu said he doesn’t understand why
FICAC has become involved, but adds the Com-
mission seem to single out people who are criti-
cal of the regime.
He said the administration seems tough on
those opposing its agenda.
“It’s in regards to the views the magistrates
have on certain charges being laid by FICAC,
which are not within their powers and the mag-
istrates have told them so. That’s one reason and
certain other views they have on certain cases
brought by FICAC. They are probably not toeing
the line.”
Mr Naidu said little is known about the sack-
ings of the prosecutors.
– Pacificbusinessonline.com/ Pacnews
sive) in any of the registered VAT refund outlet
on the same day and must take the goods out
of Fiji within two months from the date of pur-
chase.
FIRCA chief executive Jitoko Tikolevu
said the authority is also holding consultations
with the designated Refund Agency who will
issue the refunds on behalf of FIRCA.
He said the inception of the scheme will
provide a boost to our tourism industry, posi-
tion Fiji as a competitive destination for tour-
ists.
– Pacificbusinessonline.com/ Pacnews
“Traders who had shipped goods to Fiji before
October 2, 2009, have been allowed to hold such
shows,” Mr Sayed-Khaiyum said.
Last week a small crowd gathered at the
Namaste India trade show at the Laucala Multi-
purpose Court to check out items on sale.
From clothing to jewellery to perfumes, the
Indian traders had competitive prices for their
products. The show features mainly shoes and
kitchen appliances.
Some traders have even resorted to special
bargains for customers just to sell their products.
Most of them are unhappy with sales since
the show started before Christmas. The Namaste
India show will be the last until State revises its
decision on the ban.
– Pacificbusinessonline.com/ Pacnews
9
Indian
Children face bleak future amid economic slump
Shailendra Singh
Shonal Chand, 16, has ditched school to work full
time to assist his financially struggling family.
He sells pineapples, watermelons and other local
seasonal fruits by the roadside six days a week.
Today, he runs a stall at Laucala Beach
Estate, a busy hub about 12km from Suva, the
capital city. Chatting away while expertly skin-
ning and slicing succulent pineapples with a dan-
gerously sharp-looking knife, Chand said he had
been doing this work since he was 14.
Before he quit school, he was working only
on weekends. Last year his parents gave him per-
mission to start working full-time. “I did not like
school and I wanted to make money to help my
family,” he said, smiling.
Chand’s father, who is a taxi driver, and his
mother, a packer at a food processing factory,
did not protest too hard when their son said he
wanted to leave school and work. The family
was struggling to make ends meet, and the extra
income was much needed.
According to Fiji’s 2002/2003 Household
Income and Expenditure Survey, an estimated
43 per cent of the total population of 850,000
lives in poverty of varying degrees.
Observers believe that the situation of tens
of thousands of poor families like Chand’s has
become even more desperate since the global
economic crisis struck in 2007. Such families are
now forced to prematurely pull their children out
of school and send them to work.
Fiji’s compulsory education age is 15, which
is also the minimum legal age for work. The
law also prohibits Fiji children below 18 from
working during school hours. But just as in many
developing countries with high levels of poverty
and low levels of social welfare, child labour
laws are either poorly enforced or ignored as
strict implementation could lead to the affected
family going without food.
Biman Prasad, an economics professor at
the University of the South Pacific, said that
despite having more than 95 per cent of chil-
dren in school, there were more children living
in poverty and more of them engaged in child
labour than before.
“The main reason why we see more students
not being able to complete primary education
is financial difficulties,” said Prasad. “While
we have made some economic progress, we
are still far from achieving levels of economic
growth that can effectively lead to the reduction
in poverty.”
More ominous for Fiji is the finding by a non-
government organisation, Save the Children Fiji,
of increased child prostitution. A 2009 survey of
87 adults and 104 children below the age of 18
in seven sites around Fiji uncovered evidence of
more young people engaging in prostitution as a
result of the economic hardships brought on by
the crisis.
The results of the survey of sex workers com-
missioned by the International Labour Organisa-
tion have yet to be released but a spokesperson
for the international children’s charity said that
Fiji fast-track investment laws
Suva, Fiji: Fiji’s administration has stepped
in to fast-track investment after receiving
complaints about unnecessary regulations
imposed by some regulatory bodies.
Government said complaints hindered in-
vestment and discouraged business growth.
Minister for Industry and Trade Aiyaz
Sayed-Khaiyum said potential investors,
business houses and other stakeholders who
faced impediments by municipal councils
should lodge complaints with him.
“From the industry perspective, these im-
pediments can hinder economic growth in the
country,” he said.
“Sustainable economic activities and
general investor confidence, comes from in-
vestment by medium-size enterprises,” Mr
Sayed-Khaiyum said.
“There are a number of anomalies in some
laws and regulations that exist which are far
10
Children are exploited through prostitution,
pornography and sex tourism, and they are
trafficked within Fiji for the purpose of
commercial sexual exploitation by Fiji citizens,
says a report published by the United States
Department of Labor.
many of the children interviewed had fallen into
prostitution in the last two years as a result of
economic hardships.
The 2008 Findings on the Worst Forms of
Child Labor - Fiji published by the United States
Department of Labor stated that children worked
in agriculture, including tobacco and sugar
farms, the informal sector, in family businesses,
and on the streets, selling snacks, shining shoes
and delivering goods.
Children are exploited through prostitution,
pornography and sex tourism, and they are traf-
ficked within Fiji for the purpose of commercial
sexual exploitation by Fiji citizens, added the
report.
The US State Department’s 2008 Fiji Country
Report on Human Rights said increasing ur-
banisation had led to more children working
as casual labourers, often with no safeguards
against abuse or injury.
Economically, Fiji was already on its knees
when the financial crisis hit, with the country ex-
from modern day practice and technology.
“We want that changed. We want to hear
complaints so that we can solve this problem.
We want to provide insights on the changes it
would bring about,” he said.
Mr Sayed-Khaiyum said some of the laws
and regulations had been in use since the
1960s and 1970s and had nothing to do with
the municipal councils, which had no choice
but to abide by them.
“We want to stop the unnecessary apply-
ing of these regulations.
“Fiji needs to move forward and we want
to see that investment approval is fast-tracked
so there is a need to remove bureaucracy,” he
said.
– Pacificbusinessonline.com/ Pacnews
periencing its fourth military coup barely a year
earlier on December 2006.
The global increase in fuel and food prices
that followed only worsened the country’s pre-
dicament. As a bulk importer of food and fuel,
Fiji is especially vulnerable to the price in-
creases. Last year, Fiji imported F$520 million
(US$271.70 million) worth of food. Its fuel
bill in the same year came to $757.2 million
(US$395.64).
The country experienced a 6.6 per cent
decline in growth in 2007 and zero per cent
growth in 2008. Its economy was forecast to
grow by 2.5 per cent in 2009.
On April 15 last year, Fiji’s Reserve Bank, in
an effort to mitigate the effects of the financial
meltdown, devalued the currency by 20 per cent.
This effort to bolster the vital tourism industry,
attract investors and protect foreign reserves led
to a further increase in the cost of living.
Again, it was the poor who bore the brunt of
the devaluation. Earnings either declined or re-
NZ stance on Fiji confusing says Bainimarama
Suva, Fiji: Fiji’s leader Commodore Frank Bainima-
rama has labelled New Zealand’s decision to improve
relations while maintaining sanctions against the
island state as “very confusing.”
Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully yes-
terday announced that New Zealand and Fiji would
begin to rebuild diplomatic ties following the expul-
sions of three diplomats since Bainimarama’s 2006
coup. Sanctions against regime leaders, the military
and their families entering New Zealand would con-
tinue. Speaking to Auckland’s Indian station Radio
Tarana, Commodore Bainimarama said the sanctions
should be lifted. “That is very confusing because that
goes against all the gist of all the press statements
that [have] come from New Zealand foreign affairs,”
he told Tarana. “The whole idea behind it is to move
toward understanding of what we want to do and
needs to be done and that means lifting the sanctions.”
He thanked New Zealand for its willingness to
work with Fiji. “This is very significant for the gov-
ernment and the people of Fiji. “For us, the people of
Fiji, it is about recognition.” The decision meant Fiji
Indian Weekender | January 15, 2010 | www.iwk.co.nz
Fiji
mained static while the prices of basic food items
and the cost of transport shot up.
Under the prevailing economic conditions,
Chand’s family is only too happy he is able to
bring home as much as $150 a week as a full-
time fruit vendor.
Several other boys with similar stories to
Chand are employed by the latter’s boss. Accord-
ing to the Fiji Wages Council chairman Kevin
Barr, the dropout rate from Fiji schools before
the onset of the global financial crisis was as
high as 66 per cent, mainly because of poverty.
Fiji’s high literacy rates notwithstanding, only
about 49 per cent of students who enter primary
school made it to secondary schools, he said.
There are concerns that the dropout rate may
have worsened since the financial crisis struck.
In April last year, Fiji’s education minister Filipe
Bole said about 15 per cent of children did not
survive the full eight years of their primary edu-
cation, while about 74.9 per cent did not com-
plete secondary education. School dropouts
often end up in the labour force.
The Government is also taking measures to
tackle what it sees as a looming problem. In ad-
dition to providing tuition-free education, it has
set aside $10 million in the 2010 national budget
for free school bus fares. Also, the education
ministry has pledged to provide free textbooks
to all students beginning this year, starting with
primary schools.
This year about $7.4 million have been allo-
cated for the Family Assistance allowance along
with a monthly $30 food voucher programme
for poor families. Such assistance is expected to
benefit around 20,000 people.
“Those on family assistance (about 21,000
people) are only the tip of the iceberg of
poverty,” Barr was quoted as having told the Fiji
Times, He added that 60 per cent of the people
in full-time employment – numbering around
210,000 – earned wages that put them below
the poverty line, and over 40 per cent of chil-
dren in Fiji were malnourished. At the regional
symposium on population and development, Dr
Jimaima Schultz, the manager of Fiji’s National
Food and Nutrition Centre, tabled research that
showed 40 per cent of children between the ages
of six months and five years were deficient in
iron, vitamin A and zinc.
Dr Schultz said their research revealed that
one in every three Fijian child surveyed was
anemic. So were three out of every five children
under two years of age. She added that food
prices were, in the vast majority of cases, strong
determinants of a family’s diet.
- Shailendra Singh heads the University of
the South Pacific’s journalism programe. This
feature was produced by IPS Asia-Pacific under
a series on the impact of the global economic
crisis on children and young people, in partner-
ship with UNICEF East Asia and the Pacific.
was seen as a sovereign nation charting its own path.
“We welcome New Zealand’s efforts to resume
diplomatic relations with us,” he told Tarana.
He said he had a message for new New Zealand
diplomats arriving in Fiji. “My message to the offi-
cers concerned is to take the time to fully understand
and appreciate Fiji.” The diplomats need to come with
an open mind and a genuine desire to recognise what
the regime was doing, he said. Commodore Bainima-
rama was moving Fiji from being a “racially polar-
ized nation that prompted racialist (sic) views that is
determined to treat all its citizens equally.”
Having good ties with New Zealand was “abso-
lutely critical”, the commodore said. Commodore
Bainimarama overthrew a democratic government
in 2006. Relations with Wellington were hit when
Bainimarama declared, over an 18 month period,
three New Zealand diplomats persona non grata.
McCully went to Fiji last weekend on an unan-
nounced visit to meet the Fiji foreign minister Ratu
Inoke Kubuabola.
- Pacificbusinessonline.com
Indian
Tearful farewell for Ajay Alva Bhagwad Gita in Auckland’s
hotels and motels
Nearly 200 of the late Ajay Alva’s friends, asso-
ciates, colleagues and acquaintances joined his
family in farewelling him at the Manukau Memo-
rial Gardens at 10 am on January 3.
Several of his colleagues and friends offered
eulogies and recalled the happy and fulfilling
moments they had spent with Ajay, amidst tears.
One close friend sang the last song that Ajay had
sung at the New Year’e eve party that he had at-
tended shortly before his death. A shloka from the
Bhagwad Gita was recited by an elder.
Friends of Ajay, who was one of East Auck-
land’s well-loved members of the Indian commu-
nity, woke up on New Year’s day to the shocking
news of his sudden, untimely death. He was only
47.
He had been celebrating New Year’s eve with
friends and family and returned home with his
family in the wee hours.
He apparently woke up with some discomfort
early in the morning and walked to the lounge
Indian Weekender | January 15, 2010 | www.iwk.co.nz
before collapsing. Family members’ attempts to
revive him were unsuccessful as were those of the
medical team that arrived shortly afterward.
Ajay’s large circle of friends, acquanitances,
colleagues and neighbours flocked to his home
throughout the morning of New Year’s day, in a
state of disbelief at the sudden loss of their dear
friend who had no history of any ailment whatso-
ever and seemed perfectly healthy.
Ajay was widely known in the community as
someone who was outgoing, friendly, generous
and always there to offer any help he could muster.
He was equally popular with his colleagues at his
workplace. He always had a kind word for every-
one and was one of the valued readers of Indian
Weekender, providing frank feedback on our
content.
His aged mother and sister Naina are currently
here visiting from India. He leaves behind wife
Savitha and sons Aniketh and Adhish.
- Dev Nadkarni
Community
“Many Western, and even Indian people, are
amazed to see such clear and scientific solutions
to the many difficulties we are now facing in our
lives, such as stress and anxiety. The majority of
the population are desiring relief from the ever
stressful atmosphere of the modern work, buy,
consume, die ideology of consumeristic culture,”
says Bhadrasena Das of the International Society
for Krishna Consciousness.
He is engaged in distributing copies of Hin-
duism’s holiest book, the Bhagwad Gita. “We
provide weekly workshops and distribute a great
deal of transcendental books to many people
in Auckland. We teach and educate receptive
persons from all walks of life, highlighting the
scientific solutions offered by Krishna in the
Bhagavad Gita to our current societal and indi-
vidual dilemmas,” he says. given by Krishna, which produce real peace and
“In the current climate the main focus for happiness. Often it is hard to find time to reach
seeking pleasure and satisfaction is through eco- out to others, but here is an opportunity anyone
nomic expansion and technology. This pursuit can partake in. Even a small donation makes a
to seek happiness through materialism is now difference.
revealing its short comings. Like many ancient “Currently all the hotels and motels have
teachings, the Bhagwad Gita is sometimes seen the Bible, which caters for a specific aspirant,
as out of date or irrelevant for dealing with however the Bhagavad Gita caters for everyone,
modern issues. This is a big misunderstanding as it explains the universal principles of all scrip-
and an unfortunate state of affairs. tures. Nowhere in Bhagavad Gita does Krishna
“The Bhagavad Gita contains economics, say you have to be a Hindu or Christian or what-
sociology, science, astrology, chemistry, health, ever. He simply speaks to all living entities or
psychology, with answers to our current perplex- jivas (Spiritual sparks of the Supreme).”
ities. The pursuit for unlimited sensual pleasure Das is looking for sponsors to buy copies so
through the exploitation of our limited material they can be distributed widely. “I can distribute
resources has left a legacy of social and environ- them in to as many Hotels and Motels as pos-
mental catastrophes,” he adds. sible. Each Hotel as on average 30 to 50 rooms,
Das has been distributing the Bhagavad Gita so I need as many as possible.
into many hotels and motels in Auckland. “We If you wish to help sponsor or help in any way
have to make this knowledge available to every- please Contact Das on 021 959 244 or email: dun-
one, so they can take advantage, as I did, and canfisk@orcon.net.nz
apply the practical lifestyle recommendations - Indian Weekender news desk
11
Indian
Otara Music and Arts
centre buzzing with life
The Otara Music and Arts centre was buzzing
with life on Saturday the 24th of December.
Reason? The filming of the grand finale of NCBT
Kaun Banega Superstar - season two. The reality
singing show produced by Dreamz Production
and hosted by popular television host Deepak
Rishi is the first of its kind in New Zealand and
is currently in its second season.
The finals saw the top four finalists Rachit
Bhatia, Vidya Deke, Kavinesh and Chander, all
competing for the much coveted title of ‘Super-
star’. They were judged by some of New Zea-
land’s top musical geniuses – Arun Khotkar,
Sandhya Rao and Abbas Mazhar (winner of
Kaun Banega Superstar season one) The first
prize was a once in a lifetime chance to record
an album in a Bollywood studio in Mumbai.
The event consisted of three main rounds –
the romantic round, the classical round and the
fast round. In the first round, Kavinesh, with
his soulful rendition of ‘Bheege Hont Tere’
from the movie Murder was a clear favorite
and won over the hearts of both the live audi-
ence and the judges, and was judged the winner;
followed closely by Vidya for her power-packed
performance of the timeless ‘Bhor Bhaye’ from
Satyam Shivam Sundaram.
12
The second round saw Rachit return with a
bang with his goose-bump worthy performance
of ‘O Re Piya’ from Aaja Nachley. In the same
round, Chander’s take on the popular favourite
‘Mitwa’ from Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna was a
hit among the audience, and was also the only
song to get a standing ovation. The third round
saw Kavinesh once again bag first place for his
version of Lagan Lagi from Tere Naam, with
Rachit coming a close second for his superstar-
like presentation of the peppy Dil Haara from
Tashan.
The final deliberation took over an hour and
included much debate, discussion and disagree-
ment between the three judges. Fijian born Ka-
vinesh was ultimately adjudged the winner.
Mazhar said that the margin between winning
and losing was indeed very small, and the judges
had a very hard time deciding on one winner.
Chander, Rachit and Vidya came second, third
and fourth respectively.
Applications for Kaun Banega Superstar
season 3 are now open. For more information
check out their website on www.dreamzproduc-
tions.com
For all your
legal needs
Aaron Kashyap
BA, LLB
Barrister and solicitor
Level 1, 351 Manukau Road, PO Box 26-596, DXCP 32513, Epsom, Auckland
Mobile: 0274 857 302 Phone: (09) 6238277 Fax: (09)6235177
Email: aaron@kashyaplaw.co.nz
Well-loved Sikh leader will be sorely missed
New Zealand’s Sikh community has lost a well-
loved leader on December 26. Gurnam Singh Toor,
who held a number of senior and sensitive positions
in the NZ Sikh Society over the past eight years, was
serving as the society’s President when he passed
away.
A gentleman to the core, Mr Toor was born to the
late Sewa Singh Toor and Dhan Kaur Toor on March
16, 1939 at village Dholan, sub-division Jagraon,
Ludhiana district, in the Indian state of Punjab.
He obtained his early education at the village
and higher education with distinction at Jagraon
and Ludhiana respectively. Mr Toor had been pro-
lific hockey player in his youth. By virtue of this, Mr
Toor obtained a respectable job in the Punjab State
Electricity Board’s administration wing in 1957. Mr
Toor was elevated as captain of PSEB hockey team,
duties for which he discharged with great responsi-
bility and success over the years.
Besides passing various departmental exams
in PSEB, Mr Toor had successfully and diligently
performed his family obligations. After his super-
annuation as accounts superintendent from PSEB
Mr Toor migrated to New Zealand. It is pertinent
to mention here that Mr Toor, without any personal
gain or gratification played a pivotal role in placing
the right person at the right place and providing
regular service for about 125 people in PSEB during
his stint there.
His services to the NZ Sikh Society, Auckland
(which is a Charitable Trust under NZ Charities Act
of 2005 and registered as a Charity Entity in 2008)
over eight years have been much appreciated by the
community. He had been holding the office of Presi-
dent for the year 2009-10.
With a high sense of dedication, devotion, disci-
pline coupled with honesty and great responsibility
he accomplished the duties of Treasurer during the
period 2001-2006 when the largest Sikh Temple in
the Pacific region (Kalgidhar Sikh Temple-Takanini
(Auckland) was being constructed involving expen-
diture to the tune of NZ$ 8 million. He received
Indian R-Day diamond jubilee in Auckland
India’s 60th Republic Day, which falls on
January 26, will be celebrated in Auckland
on Sunday, January 24. As well as the patri-
otic ceremonies that are traditionally observed
on the day, this year’s diamond jubilee cel-
ebrations will also see a variety cultural pro-
gramme.
India became a republic on January 26,
1950, when it also adopted its Constitution.
United Indianz, which also was instrumen-
tal in celebrating the diamond jubilee of Indian
independence in August 2007, is organising
the 60th anniversary of Republic Day this
year, under the chairmanship of Mr. Roshan
Nauhria.
This year’s programme is being held at
the Aotea Centre, Queen Street, from 10.30
am to 2 pm. The High Commissioner of India
HE Admiral (Retd.) Sureesh Mehta will hoist
the flag. The ceremony will then be followed
by a cultural show. Prime Minister John Key,
Indian Weekender | January 15, 2010 | www.iwk.co.nz
Community
praise from every corner of the country.
After a brief illness he was admitted to the Mid-
dlemore Hospital for treatment on December 19.
Mr Toor breathed his last at 8.00 pm on December
26. His widow, along with two sons who have since
been thorough gentle and true followers of Sikhism
accompanied by their respective families, are living
in Auckland.
With his sudden and untimely demise, the NZ
Sikh Society, Auckland, has suffered an irreparable
loss; the vacuum created by his passing will always
be felt.
At the last rituals prayer day on December 31
at Kalgidhar Sikh Temple (Takanini-Auckland)
former and present office bearers as also members
of the executive committee of NZ Sikh Society,
Auckland were joined by a number of friends and
well wishers in paying homage to the departed soul.
His family, joined by all those present bowed in
reverence before the most revered Holy Guru Granth
Sahib with the humble prayer let the departed soul
rest in peace.
Minister of Ethnic Affairs Pansy Wong and
Member of Parliament Phil Goff will also
attend.
The Auckland Indian Association, Auck-
land Sikh Society, Bhartiya Mandir, ISSO
Swaminaryan Temple Papatoetoe, Manukau
Indian Association, Probasee Bengali Asso-
ciation, Punjabi Cultural Association, Shanti
Niwas Trust, Tamil Society, Telugu Associa-
tion, Waitakere Ethnic community and Yogi
Divine Society are the participating organisa-
tions. A souvenir to commemorate the occa-
sion is being released on the day.
Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Samaj is cel-
ebrating the occasion at the Telstraclear Events
Centre in Manukau on the same day with pro-
ceedings beginning at 12 noon. The event will
feature the customary flag hoisting ceremony,
which will be followed by a parade and a cul-
tural show that will begin at 1pm, according to
the organisers.
Indian
Community
Brahman Samaj formed Hypnotist show jazzes
A new social organisation, New Zealand
Brahman Samaj has been incorporated as a
society in Auckland with the registered address
at 528 Massey Road, Mangere. It is proposed to
retary (0211506022) or Rakesh Sharma –
Treasurer (0276400294).

- Indian Weekender news desk

move for its registration as a charitable organiza-
tion shortly.
The main objectives of the newly-formed
organisation are to provide a platform for all
members of the Brahman community of New
Zealand to meet, know each other and develop
relationship with a view to promote rich cultural
heritage enjoyed historically by the community.
Membership is open to all Brahmans irrespec-
tive of their place of origin, says the organisa-
tion’s news release.
Those interested in joining and for more
information, can contact Suresh Sharma,
President (021827575); Ashok Gaur – Vice
President (021896712); Anil Sharma – Sec-
Brahman Samaj ORGANISERS:
( from left to right) Rakesh Sharma,
Anil Sharma, Suresh Sharma and
Ashok Gaur.
up fundraiser
A show with a difference is set to kick off one com-
munity group’s fundraising initiatives in the New
Year.
A hypnotist will be the star attraction at the New
Zealand-Fiji Community Support and Projects Trust
next venture on January 16 in Auckland.
To be held at the Mangere War Memorial Hall
at 23 Domain Rd, Mangere Bridge, the fundraising
dinner and dance show is in aid of the trust’s Funeral
Home Project.
The trust is in the process of setting up its own
funeral home and funds raised will help towards the
worthy project, trust founder Sam Achary told the
Indian Weekender.
The aim is to provide cheaper, if not, free funeral
services to members of the community.
A rest home is also in the pipeline.
Achary has been at the forefront of the funeral
home project for more than a year, which has seen the
formation of the trust and several successful fund-
raising initiatives, which have formed the base of the
venture.
Achary said the evening promised a night of
grand entertainment with 20 different dishes of food
served at the gathering. This includes the traditional
Fijian lovo.
And the hypnotism show by well known New
Zealand hypnotist Ian Blaine promises to be a thriller.
Show starts at 6.45pm, please be seated by
6.30pm. Tickets $25 available from Sam Achary on
6340437 or 021 395 723. Bar services also available.

Community news in pics

Parkash Utsav (Gurpurab) Christmas Party
Parkash Utsav (Gurpurab) of Sri Guru Gobind Singh ji was held at Sri Dasmesh Darbar. Minister of A group of prominent Indians were invited
Ethnic affairs Pansy Wong was the chief guest. Mr Prithipal S Basra presented her with a token of the by the Minister of Ethnic Affairs Hon Pansy
community’s appreciation and Mr Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi (MP) presented the Siropa to Ray Strong Wong for a traditional Christmas Party in
(Papatoetoe Community Board member) who would be receiving his QSM shortly. a very picturesque location in Howick. The
Prime Minister Hon. John Key along with
KS Bakshi MP were also present, where
the Prime Minister thanked the group for
their support to the party and the Govern-
ment in theyear 2009. Roshan Nauhria,
Anil Channa, Ram Rai, Manish Tanna and
others enjoyed the party and the quality
time with the Prime Minister.

Kite Festival
Over 6000 people participated in the Kite festival held at the Avondale Racecource in Central
Auckland on August 9 to mark Makar Sankranti. People thronged the venue from 11am until
late in the evening. Over the past few years, this event, organised by the Vaishnav Parivar, has
grown consistently and the organisers said they have plans to add more events like traditional
kite flying competitions in coming years.

Papakura Sri
Ganesh Temple
Papakura Sri Ganesh Temple has launched its
community hall building project with a bhoomi
puja to invoke the blessings of all the presiding
deities. The temple, which has been in operation
for the last 10 years and has and the need has
arisen for a community hall.
The hall will serve the Auckland com-
munity for several purposes. Weddings will
be comfortably conducted in the new hall
and will also accommodate religious music
classes, yoga sessions and other religious
communal activities.
Members of the trust and several devotees
attended the bhoomi pujan on January 14. The
project, costing approx $450000, is expected to be
completed by middle of the year.
A team of volunteer workers has undertaken the
project. The trust would gladly receive donations
toward this project. Donation cheques should favour
Auckland Sri Ganesh Temple Trust. Contributions
are tax deductible and a receipt will be issued.
NZICA General Secretary Veer Khar and General secretary Manjeet Singh meet High Commissioner
Admiral Sureesh Mehta

Indian Weekender | January 15, 2010 | www.iwk.co.nz 13

 Indian
Indian
From the Editor
When narrow interests reign supreme
In an interview that appears on page 2 of this issue, India’s new High Commissioner to New
Zealand, Admiral Sureesh Mehta, has a pertinent word of advice for the Indian community
here: work together for the common cause and eschew the all-too-common fissiparous ten-
dency to plough lone furrows based on narrow interests.
There is no denying the fact that India is a land of great variety, an ancient, continuous
civilisation that has embraced and assimilated all religions and cultures despite preserving
the age old individual identities of communities testified by the subtle variations in cultural
practices even within a given region.
This has led to a multiplicity of Indian organisations everywhere including in New
Zealand that are built primarily on the basis of religious beliefs, language, cultural prac-
tices and region – which in itself is an excellent thing. This is because it helps preserve
cultural identities especially for the benefit of the younger generation growing up in a dif-
ferent, faraway country. Every region and community within it celebrates every festival a
little differently – and that’s exactly what makes India’s culture so variegated.
Despite all these differences subtle and stark, what binds all of India’s myriad commu-
nities together is the hard-to-define notion of “Indian-ness”, the most tangible form being
India’s nationhood and national identity – at least officially since 1947. This, indisputably,
is one factor that binds all Indians together, even if they live in another country and have
embraced another citizenship.
It is therefore hard to justify why Indian communities living in different countries should
have a multiplicity of functions in celebrating India’s national days.
I recall an incident a few years ago when I was visiting a small Pacific Island country. I
happened to be there on August 15, India’s Independence Day, which fell toward a weekend.
There was a tiny Indian community living there at that time: just seven families – all expa-
triate professionals from different parts of India. I was amazed to learn that despite this
small community, there were two Indian Independence Day functions on that weekend!
My probing revealed that this was because the whole group could not agree on what
ought to be on the menu: while some wanted a non-vegetarian menu with alcohol, the other
wanted to keep it vegetarian (but was OK with alcohol). So, even in that tiny country in the
middle of the Pacific Ocean, seven Indian families could not agree on a single function,
having two instead.
Most of the conversation at the two functions, therefore, centered on why there were two
functions, much to the complete puzzlement of the locals (I, for one, was quite embarrassed
attempting to explain it away to the locals I knew).
Auckland, of course, has far more than seven people of Indian origin, so it comes as no
surprise that there is more than one Indian Independence Day and Republic Day function
in the city, more often than not. Typically, later this month, there will be two Republic Day
functions to celebrate India’s 60 years as a republic.
What can possibly justify the Indian community from a single city to host two national
day functions – and vie with each other for inviting the same VIPs? What impression would
the leadership of a host country get when its highest offices receive two invitations for the
same national day function from two organisations from the same city?
The only reason for such duplicity would be putting narrow personal interests, not to
mention egos, above the common interest of celebrating a national event and projecting
an image of oneness – exactly as it happened in the case of the Pacific Island country with
seven Indian families.
It is good to see that the High Commissioner has taken cognizance of this and made it a
point to speak his mind. It is time Indian organisations work together for the greater good.
Coming together to celebrate a combined, single national day function would be a great
beginning. Would Auckland’s Indian organisations rise to the occasion and celebrate a
single Independence Day, come August 15?
– Dev Nadkarni
Indian Weekender Volume 1 No 21
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14
Letters
NZICA
We received quite a few queries and comments after the publication of an interview with Mr Veer
Khar, General Secretary NZICA, in our last issue. Mr Khar sends his response to the messages,
one of which is reproduced below.
• NZICA has 17 branches/ Affiliate units viz. The Affiliated Branches are: Auckland, Bay of
Plenty, Central Districts, Country Section, Christchurch, Manukau, Pukekohe, Taranaki,
Waikato, Wellington. Associate Members: NZ Punjabi Cultural Association Inc; New Zealand
Kannada Koota Inc; Probasee Bengalee Association; Auckland Marathi Association, New
Zealand Telegu Association, Muth Tamil Sangam Inc. Probationary Associate members: Auck-
land Malayali Samajam.
• With an active membership of about 30,000; it is definitely a very fair representation.
• Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi and Rajendra Prasad are the two MPs of Indian origin who take pride
in calling themselves as being of Indian origin and who work towards India-NZ friendship.
NZICA will welcome any other MP to call himself/herself as an Indian provided he/she works
towards betterment of Kiwi Indians and also for India-NZ friendship.
• NZICA elections are open for all members to contest and it is recommended that one should
visit NZICA website to get enlightened about NZICA’s contribution to Kiwi Indian status in NZ.
(http://www.nzindians.org.nz/html/Ind_archives.htm)
• NZICA does accept that there is room for improvement but this can only happen by associating
oneself and not by sitting on the fence.
• NZICA executive representing whole of NZ is meeting at Morinsville on January 30, 2010, and
anyone wanting to seek clarifications is welcome to attend and feel a part of the movement.
• It takes courage to appreciate and NZICA does welcome constructive criticism and positive
engagement.
– Veer Khar, General Secretary, NZICA
The article speaks of the NZCIA as “encompassing people of Indian origin in all corners of this
small country.” The simple fact is that neither NZCIA represents the “Indian” diaspora in New
Zealand nor the secretary’s statements give credence to this fact. He claims that there are only
two Indians in New Zealand parliament.Can he name them and explain how they are the only
“Indians”?. Moreover, the present officials of NZCIA, are selected from a narrow section of the
“Indian” community.
– Gul Zaman
The mere fact that this body has been in existence since 1926 -nearly 84 years shows its merits and
has been able to represent Indians’ interests. Pakistan and Bangladesh did not exist in 1926 and the
aim has always been to welcome all Indians and persons of Indian origin – i.e. Indian diaspora. It
is interesting to see especially over past 6 years that the politicians and government officials taking
serious note of this organisation’s views and its branches such as Auckland Indian Association.
– Balubhai Mistry
Indian student murdered in Melbourne
It is a regrettable and sad case that could also happen to anyone in NZ or anywhere in the world but
this doesn’t give any excuses to the Australian authority that there is no tension for the migrants,
especially for Indians or the Asians in Australia. If this has happened to an Australian in India, the
news media would be repeating this story every five minutes.
Harish Patel
Very sad news
It is very sad to hear of this fine gentleman’s most untimely demise. May I send my thoughts of
sympathy and condolence to family and friends and echo my colleague Prashant on his most ap-
propriate and lovely quote. It is indeed the memories that sustain us; our ancestors live on through
us and we will live on through those that follow after us in the great continuum.
Don Rae, NZTE
An India more ancient than Ancient India
Finally, we have some article which talks about the “Civilisation” that existed well before the West
coined the term! A shame that Indian writers and historians have not taken pain to highlight this.
Even History/ National Geographic/ Documentary/ Discovery Channels only show Egyptian and
Greek civilisations and their history, but only “poverty” when it comes to India (or cult practices).
Maybe we need some funding from “India” to showcase what “Indian Civilisation” is all about!
–Prashant
There is a lot of stuff out there about this ancient India. Indian scholars have a peculiar obstacle to
overcome when dealing with this – the time frames as we know and understand and as the Western
scholars prescribe do not match. As Western science and archaeology gets more sophisticated,
the timeframes of these finds will be validated and finally we will have some agreement on when it
existed. We also have the ongoing debate about whether the Aryans invaded or are native Indians.
If the existence of the Harappan Civilisation is pushed backed and agreed upon, quite a bit of
present history will have to be re-written and too many people do not want that to happen.
– Nalinesh
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Indian Weekender | January 15, 2010 | www.iwk.co.nz
Indian
Cop-outhagen was a dead certainty
dev nadkarni
The lame, toothless outcomes of the Copenha-
gen jamboree were wholly expected. After two
years of preparations and two weeks of intense
negotiations – not to mention the tons of CO2
spewed into the skies by 35,000 junketing poli-
ticians, boffins, journalists, activists and all-
sorts at the cost of hundreds of million dollars
– the document cobbled together in the end is
a pathetic attempt at face saving by the world’s
top leaders, with scant regard to the severely
threatened existence of vulnerable nations like
those in the Pacific.
While committing to limit emissions so as
not to cause a temperature rise of more than 2
degrees Celsius – widely accepted as a crisis
point – it is clear the leaders of the countries
had their fingers firmly crossed behind their
backs.
The agreement means little because, first,
it is not binding (and a binding agreement was
a desired outcome at Copenhagen especially
after all those millions of man hours of re-
search and negotiations over so many years).
Second, the large developing countries have
refused to be transparent about their emission
cuts. They have not agreed to any verifica-
tion regime for their claims of emission cuts
despite having made demands of tens of bil-
lions of dollars to assist them in mitigation pro-
grammes and alternative energy initiatives. In
short, nobody is accountable for any defaults.
Adding insult to injury especially to the
people genuinely affected by climate change
like low lying Pacific atoll countries whose
very existence is increasingly threatened as
each month passes, the leaders have said that
the document is a “good beginning”.
Government by Greed: The Qarase Connection
Rakesh Krishnan
In the numerous cases of power-play, manipu-
lation and intrigue highlighted in this series,
former PM Laisenia Qarase’s name features
prominently. There are a number of key roles
through which he propagated and facilitated
what amounted to a siphoning of funds from
the state to a group of connected private in-
dividuals in the name of “Fijian business as-
sistance”.
Qarase belonged to a cadre of civil ser-
vants who realized their importance in the
post-1987 world of topsy-turvy politics. Little
is made of the central role these public ser-
vants played in keeping the country function-
ing as factional power-play swept the politi-
cal landscape in Fiji. Rabuka’s weakness and
his continuing tug-of-war with Mara created
openings for these bureaucrats to dig in.
Qarase and a host of others thus acquired
unshakeable positions. Remember how the de-
barred and unelected Qoriniase Bale became
Attorney General of Fiji virtually for life. The
same group again played a key role during Ra-
buka’s public sector reforms in 1996-99. Then
in 2000, it was this same group that held the
bureaucracy intact as all kinds of politicians
popped up and engaged in horse-trading.
That lot knew what they were playing for;
they knew how to access the national coffers
under legitimate-looking programs. They
knew how to corner, broker and hassle lucra-
tive public contracts. They also knew how to
compromise and neutralize all existing and
potential opposition. Before George Bush’s
“either you are with us or you’re with them”
doctrine, that Fiji-made group already operat-
ed strictly in terms of Insiders and Outsiders.
Fiji Development Bank
As discussed earlier the (1989-93) Fijian
business initiative called EIMCOL was pri-
marily an FDB-funded project that involved
identifying small supermarkets, buying them
Indian Weekender | January 15, 2010 | www.iwk.co.nz
Beginning? What then was Kyoto? And
Rio before that if they care to remember? If
every mega climate jamboree is a new begin-
ning, nothing will ever get agreed upon and the
cause of the genuinely threatened populations
will never be addressed. But politicians and
boffins are continuing to soldier on. They will
“build” on this document at the next conven-
tion in Mexico slated for next year, they say.
It is interesting that the very governments
that fund the Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change (IPCC) and declare unani-
mously that they are absolutely convinced by
its findings about anthropogenic (man made)
global warming find it so hard to come to an
agreement on how to deal with the problem.
And it is not far to seek the reasons, though
they may be different for different groups of
nations. But clearly, there are reasons that are
common for all concerned and we’ll come to
that in a moment.
For the fast developing large nations par-
ticularly of the BRIC group (Brazil, Russia,
India, China), it’s about economic progress –
they understandably do not want any hindranc-
es on their road to prosperity and will brook
no pressure in committing anything that will
affect their targets. The developed world would
commit only if the developing world does. So
it’s a classic catch 22. It always has been. And
that’s the single biggest reason for the Copen-
hagen disaster.
But the underlying common reason for all
this fudging could well be that no one is thor-
oughly convinced about anthropogenic global
warming, though no one will publicly admit
it. It would be political suicide and shame on
off incumbents and installing Fijian man-
agement and ownership. That bellied up big
time. Like NBF, FDB was earmarked to play a
central role in assisting ethnic Fijians in busi-
ness.
‘For three years from 1989, loans amount-
ing to $45.4 million were approved for 3,532
Fijians’ (Mara 1997: 221). These affirmative-
action programs continued from 1991-99
as the SVT government also allocated $5m
for Fijian buyout of freehold lands. Rabuka
then purchased Gunac Farm “to train ethnic
Fijian youth in commercial farming” from
Lyle Cupit for an incredibly inf lated $7m ie.
$3000/acre.
Cupit held a number of interesting creden-
tials to swing that deal: he was Chairman of
FDB and Fijian Holdings Ltd., two key insti-
tutions in the scheme of politics at the time.
He had also chaired a key parliamentary
emoluments committee in 1995 that raised
parliamentary pay and allowances to unprece-
dented levels allowing Rabuka to ward off yet
another political crisis in his faction-stricken
rule.
Coming back to Qarase, by 1992 he had ma-
neuvered through the Rabuka maze to become
CEO of FHL. This was when the plunder of
NBF reached its frenetic best as much of the
money was used to buy Class A shares in
FHL. This issue, a fraud on the Fijian com-
munity, was covered in the last Greed article.
Qarase’s involvement with FHL did not
end in 1995 when he left the CEO position
and moved into FDB as GM. His involvement
with assistance schemes simply increased and
expanded as he now held directly the money
needed to fulfill ever-increasing fast dreams
both among his cabal as well as connected
stakeholders.
Thus from 1996 Laisenia Qarase reigned at
FDB as Managing Director to a board chaired
a global scale to publicly doubt anything that
the countries’ well-funded, can-do-no-wrong,
Nobel laureate baby, the IPCC, says.
Surveys around the world show that there
is a growing body of people that do accept that
climate change is real but seriously doubt that
human beings are the only or the biggest factor
causing it – though they certainly agree they
are a factor. Quite obviously, there would be
many politicians and bureaucrats who share
this view. Anyone who has even an iota of
doubt would loathe making commitments on
the basis of something that is iffy in the very
least. But it would be suicidal to air their honest
thoughts especially in global forums.
The Copenhagen non-outcome is a classic
cop-out, which is a natural consequence of
unconvinced leaders forced by political cor-
rectness to make commitments on the basis of
unproven science that is not acceptable univer-
sally by the scientific community; a commit-
ment that could have grave consequences on
the economies of their nations – consequences
perceptibly real than the premise of anthropo-
genic global warming. This is the inconvenient
truth.
In the meantime in all that squabbling and
din, as always, the real issue and urgency of the
effects of climate change, especially of the low
lying nations in the Pacific and coastal popula-
tions in the poorer world have been drowned.
There was great empathy displayed toward
Tuvalu and Kiribati in our region from several
quarters at Copenhagen but their pleas failed
to make a mark on the negotiations.
Tuvalu made several impassioned remon-
strations asking the countries to commit
by Navitalai Naisoro. During this stint FDB
lost $220m through shoddily secured loans
that blatantly overlooked set processes and
procedures – this after the NBF debacle!
Greed, power-politics and self-interest were
indeed on the rampage in Fiji.
Indeed, it appeared that indigenous rights
meant the right to ransack the country. Any
opportunity that opened up had to be screened
and blessed first by the cabal mentioned here.
Any interest shown by entrepreneurs had to
have “cuts” at different levels for this cabal.
And anybody who raised questions was im-
mediately branded as “anti-Fijian”.
Just Give Don’t Ask
The Fijian Affairs Board, despite consis-
tent annual government funding, owed gov-
ernment $33m in outstanding loans at the end
of 2001. Earlier, between 1994-99, FAB had
gobbled $8m without making any payments.
This practice of going soft on Fijian institu-
tions and allowing them virtually free access
to government funds can be traced back to
1989 when Rabuka gave FHL $20m.
The Ministry of Fijian Affairs had devel-
oped a protocol of disbursing funds to FAB
“without contractual agreements to require
the Board to provide details of how grants
were utilized” (Auditor General’s Report,
2001, p. ii). The same report highlighted that
$5m had been given to FAB on 24/8/01 “to
accelerate the meaningful participation of
Fijians in business”. This money was used
to purchase shares in Yasana Holdings Ltd.
as awareness and expectations increased and
FHL alone could not meet these.
Yasana Holdings Ltd. was incorporated
through GCC endorsement in 1994, to “control
the television industry in Fiji” amongst other
things, on behalf of the 14 provinces and
Rotuma. Following a share f loat in 1996, Fiji
Television Ltd’s shareholding became FDB
Comment
to a rise in temperature of no more than 1.5
degrees. It was unsurprising that it was ignored
and had to cut a sorry figure. Unfortunately in
toeing the 1.5-degree line too hard, it put the
anthropogenic global warming theory ahead of
the dire consequences of climate change that it
faces. It took the IPCC findings a little too seri-
ously for the rest of the world, certainly the big
developing countries, who thought 2 degrees
was adequate – and that too, with no strings
attached.
Tuvalu and Kiribati should have raised the
pitch of the issue of their survival irrespective
of the science involved. It should have focused
purely on the human aspect: the danger to their
fragile, subsistence economies; the snuffing
out of their livelihoods; the very disappearance
of their nations. An emotional appeal shorn of
taking the unsteady and unconvincing crutch
of anthropogenic global warming, even if it
was the one offered by the IPCC, would have
been far more effective.
It is amazing that amid all the din of climate
negotiations and band aid mitigation measures
financed by half-promised funding by rich
nations all put together in a document that is
supposed to be “a good beginning”, there is no
mention of the most important issue of all, ir-
respective of the science that is causing climate
change and sea level rise: the actual threat to
their lives faced by the people of the low lying
Pacific Islands.
The small island nations need to tell the
world in no uncertain terms to keep their
science and negotiations aside while coming
up with a worldwide policy to address the
problem of their very survival.
59%, FPTL 14%, TVNZ 5% and the public
22%. Very interestingly, FDB underwrote this
f loat and passed on its 59% to Yasana Hold-
ings Ltd.
Many other assistance schemes were also
in operation as demands for “specialness” es-
calated. Rabuka’s Commodity Development
Framework even included provisions for pay
for study abroad. The Poverty Alleviation
Grants of the Ministry of Social Welfare was
set up and operated without any clear guide-
lines. As an example, of the 308 projects ap-
proved in 2001, only 101 acquittals were re-
ceived by the Public Accounts Committee.
There was also periodic feeding from the
sides. In one case that did not really see the
light of day, Octopus Security Services was
paid $64,190 between 1999-2001 without
referring the arrangement to either the Con-
troller of Government Supplies or the Minor
Tenders Board. There were many other cases
of this type where questions were treated with
dismissal, disdain or hostility.
The 2001 Elections
It has been highlighted that the 2001 elec-
tions was won on the back of a $30m agricul-
tural assistance scam by Qarase when he was
interim-PM. In fact Dr. Tupeni Baba’s New
Labour Unity Party was particularly incensed
by some of the goings-on that appeared to
show an attempt to compromise the ballot box.
That did indeed become the focus from
there onwards. We’ll resume that when meet
again!
Right now, we’ve reached the end of the
year and I take this opportunity to wish you a
Great Christmas and Wonderful 2010.
- Subhash Appana is an academic and
independent political commentator.
Email subhasha@ais.ac.nz
15
Indian
New Zealand’s Free Trade Agreement with India: The tasks ahead
veer khar
New Zealand became the first developed country to conclude an FTA which China. Now New Zealand is on course
to sign another FTA - This time with India – A country where till recently Politics has been directing economy. The
challenges are different. A clean state like New Zealand which has an enviable track record will require a tactful
statecraft to surmount the obstacles. The results can lead to opening up a huge market for New Zealand and for
India it is an opportunity to engage with an honest partner for empowerment of its billion people.
New Zealand’s foreign policy is based on the
idea of independence and this can be seen
ingrained in the foreign policy of both Na-
tional and Labour governments. But when it
comes to situations like the Iraq war; Labour
followed the liberal internationalist paradigm
preferring idealist multilateral actions with
the backing of UN as the only acceptable in-
ternational response.
On the other hand the National party be-
lieves in realism and considers US action
through coalition of the willing as an apt
response to tyrants and evil regimes. Even
though New Zealand has dependence in areas
like intelligence and defence with the US,
UK and Australian counterparts, it is closer
to European perspectives of international re-
lations; has freed it from the past towing of
traditional allies and committing to foreign
policy blunders like war in Vietnam, atroci-
ties in Indonesia and Apartheid in South
Africa.
Today New Zealand’s foreign policy is
driven by trade, security, aid and human
rights. New Zealand as a state is realising
its role as a provider for its population, both
in terms of security and welfare. Issues like
human rights concerns are voiced in non self
destructible manner. New Zealand-China
free trade agreement is the classic example.
India
‘I have travelled across the length and
breadth of India and I have not seen one
person who is a beggar, who is a thief. Such
wealth I have seen in this country, such high
moral values, people of such calibre, that I
do not think we would ever conquer this
country, unless we break the very backbone
of this nation, which is her spiritual and cul-
tural heritage. And, therefore, I propose that
we replace her old and ancient education
system, her culture, for if the Indians think
that all that is foreign and English is good and
greater than their own, they will lose their
self esteem, their native culture and they will
become what we want them, a truly dominat-
ed nation’ – Lord Macaulay’s Address to the
British parliament, 2 Feb, 1835
The English successfully broke India’s
backbone through their rule for about a
century and when India won freedom in 1947,
it was a nation with no self esteem. Mahatma
Gandhi did start the process of re-establish-
ing India but unfortunately his exit in 1948,
16
After formation of the new government after
elections in New Delhi last year, the committee to take
FTA forward is yet to be announced by India. Also it took
many months for India to depute new
high commissioner to New Zealand.
left the country in the hands of those who
never accepted to shoulder the responsibility
towards its masses. After more than 60 years
of self rule, it is still foreign to say, “Politi-
cal leaders bear a heavy responsibility for the
security and welfare of their country and its
people.”
Like many developing world countries
the ruling elite in India have been foreign
educated, pro-west individuals who created a
strange type of governance that has promoted
self interest, nepotism and has severely af-
fected the affairs of the country. The admin-
istration and justice systems are still evolv-
ing, as the ordinary citizen is not in a position
to lay claim to the benefits of the so-called
economic boom. The fact that out of 62 years
of ‘self rule’, a single ‘dynasty’ has ruled
India for more than 40 years speaks for itself
about the nature of democracy.
The world’s largest democracy and second
most populous country emerged as a major
power in the 1990s. It is militarily strong, has
a big cultural inf luence and a fast-growing
and powerful economy. A nuclear weapons
state, it carried out tests in the 1970s and again
in the 1990s in defiance of world opinion.
However, India is still tackling huge social,
economic and environmental problems.
Majority population of Hindus is ex-
tremely tolerant and accept misrule almost
as destiny. Passive religion of Hinduism has
been a blessing in a way as it has avoided fun-
damentalism to take roots in India and prac-
tice of pluralism and coexistence has been a
positive factor for emancipation of masses.
The number of English speaking middle
class population is growing and India has the
largest pool of computer software experts.
Indian investment in lower tariffs by re-
moving traditionally imposed tariffs and
other restrictions (to protect its farm-based
domestic economy); has reduced controls
on foreign trade and investment. Averaging
12.5% on non-agricultural items in 2006,
Indian tariffs are now competitive with
ASEAN with whom India has more than
doubled its trade in last few years.
In 2005, the Indian economy was 20% ag-
riculture, 19% industries and 61% services.
To give foreigners unfettered access to India’s
vast and growing market of 1.1 billion con-
sumers, more reforms are required. India is
already progressing on reduction or removal
of trade barriers with China (now India’s
second-largest trade partner - US$20 billion
in 2006, after the United States) for regional
trading arrangement.
Indian Exports and Imports have reached
US$400 billion mark, which verify India’s
importance in global trade but misrule is re-
stricting the benefits to percolate down to the
masses.
India has some brightest achievements to
offer but its persistent social inequities and
economic and political corruption is a matter
of serious concern.
India – NZ: Mutual Importance
India’s aspiration to secure a seat as a
permanent member of UN Security Council
was openly opposed by New Zealand on the
pretext of ‘New Zealand does not support the
‘Veto’ system in UN. But at the same time
NZ supported Japan’s aspiration for the same
position.
India-US nuclear deal was being blocked
by a few NSG (Nuclear Safety Group) states,
including New Zealand. Later under US
pressure, NZ accepted to allow the deal to
proceed.
India is not ready to open market for
items like dairy and meat products (main
Indian Weekender | January 15, 2010 | www.iwk.co.nz
Viewpoint
New Zealand export items) and India does
not have machinery and technology (main
imports of New Zealand) for New Zealand to
get enticed.
After formation of the new government
after elections in New Delhi last year, the
committee to take FTA forward is yet to
be announced by India. Also it took many
months for India to depute new high commis-
sioner to New Zealand.
New Zealand is not paying as much atten-
tion to India as it should, says Trade Minister
Tim Groser.
NZTE’s regional director for South and
Southeast Asia, Alan Koziarski, says learn-
ing more about the cultural and market re-
quirements in India as well as adapting to
often complex Indian business regulations
is essential if New Zealand companies are to
succeed there.
Path Ahead
India is a country where the silver lining is
that there is a slow progress towards change
and it may not be a long time before India will
awaken to its real potential. New Zealand is
positioning itself at the right place to be seen
as a sincere partner. It may be prudent for
New Zealand to take steps similar to those
that were taken to get China, agree to FTA
agreement and these actions could be:-
• Identify considerations for highlighting
economies are complimentary
• Advocate India’s rightful role at the inter-
national scene
• New Zealand investment in India needs to
increase
• Ease entry of work force from India
• Increase interchange by visits to India by
government and non government officials
and extend invitations for reciprocal visits.
New Zealand has proved its mantle in in-
ternational arena. Be it formation of United
Nations or championing the Human Rights
as universal, inherent and inalienable for all
mankind; New Zealand has been a valuable
architect of modern world order. More than a
billion people of China are on track and again
role of New Zealand is noteworthy.
It is high time the world realises that
another billion odd people of India need posi-
tive engagement. Formation of G20 is a posi-
tive step and New Zealand as a model country
can take further lead from here.
 Indian
Supercity must reflect Auckland’s multiethnic character
Ann Pala
Auckland is going to be a Super City this year. As
a multi-ethnic New Zealander and an Aucklander
resident in Waitakere, and as an advocate on social,
economic, environment and cultural issues, I share
with you some of my views and opinion. We contin-
ue to live in a time of personal and family insecurity;
with many negative social impacts; family violence
and deterioration of individual family values includ-
ed. Although I am an optimist most times, I know
there is much work to be done in this area.
The third bill on the Super City was introduced
end of 2009 into Parliament. The Royal Commis-
sion was set up in 2007 to recommend a governance
structure befitting Auckland’s 1.3 million residents.
After receiving over 3,000 submissions the Royal
Commission recommended one Council, one rates
bill, one plan early in 2009. The Royal Commis-
sions recommendation of special Maori seats was
not accepted by the Government. Maori have been
disappointed and dismayed by the lack of guaran-
teed representation on the new council. Many locals
still have boundary issues and many are anxious
about the role of the new governance structures and
how this is going to affect issues of social and eco-
nomic well-being.
Together with many local government repre-
sentatives, community activists and academics, I
attended a conference late November 2009. Repre-
sentation was discussed as a valuable democratic
apparatus and as Maori, Pacific and many special
interest groups get together, we as ethnically diverse
people (almost 170 in my last count) must also begin
to strategise ahead for representation to ensure our
voices are heard.
Section 10 of the Local Government Act states
the purpose of local government is to enable demo-
cratic local decision-making by, and on behalf of,
communities and to promote the present and future
well-being of communities. Section 14(1)c states
that when making decisions a local authority should
Indian Weekender | January 15, 2010 | www.iwk.co.nz
take account of the; diversity of its community, and
the community’s interest; interests of current and
future communities; and impact of any decision on
its community’s well-being.
Cabinet has already agreed to establish an Auck-
land Social Policy Forum, to progress social issues
in Auckland at the political level. The Forum will
comprise the Minister for Social Development and
Employment as Chair, the Mayor of the Auckland
Council and Chairs of relevant Auckland Council
Committees, together with some select represen-
tation from local boards. It is anticipated that this
Forum will consider the well-being of minority
communities, including Pacific and Ethnic commu-
nities, in its work. It is accepted that ethnic people
and their cultures help make Auckland a great city.
We are however under-represented on existing
councils, and often have particular needs, concerns
and opportunities that may not be fully understood
by councils.
A decision therefore is to establish by legislation
an Ethnic Advisory panel for the first term of the
Auckland Council. After the first term the Council
may determine its own arrangements to facilitate
ethnic peoples’ participation in Council decision
making process.
For me there will be questions as to the signifi-
cance of this board and how best it is implemented
to achieve the wider aims of the large multi-ethnic
diversity. Will this board have any power or policy
clout? And what about the duration of this board?
What about its continuity, resources etc.? What of
the Social forum and its representation? Dilemmas
and questions…after all this is about us!! We need
to seek opportunities by which we can turn the situ-
ation around and for those of us who believe that
Auckland should be a city where social inequality
is decreased and eventually eliminated, where all
people have an opportunity to lead fulfilling lives,
action is obligatory.
There is an extremely multi ethnic and diverse
group of stakeholders in Auckland. These include
the residential Aucklander, and a wide range of
other key stakeholder groups, i.e. businesses, com-
munities, cultures, generations, tourists etc. The last
census shows an increasing population of diverse
group of communities. The census confirms signifi-
cant population growth rates for Auckland’s Pasifika
and Asian communities and a drop in the population
of those identified as European. This level of growth
and diversity would need to be considered in terms
of ensuring Auckland has a unifying vision by rep-
resentation.
Together with many of you, I am personally
committed to taking a leadership role in mobilising
the multi ethnic diverse populations on this issue
and call for a forum to discuss making submissions
which close on February 11th. Inclusion in decision
making that affects our people together in Auckland
is a very serious matter and our voices must speak
and question the democratic process of local gov-
ernment. Should locals input in local government?
Should local ethnic people include themselves in
local body elections as mayor, council and local
boards? Will there be a democratic deficit if we con-
tinue as we have done to date?
The importance of local government and the
impact it has on peoples’ lives and the environment
around us requires us to be part of the decision
making process.
I trust that with changed awareness there is going
to be many more people who will engage with the
local body elections next year in a way they never
have before. I also look forward to seeing high
caliber diverse ethnic candidates from across the
board at all tiers including mayor, council and local
boards, offering leadership on matters of increased
democracy, community participation, social, eco-
nomic and environmental well-being. Ethnic people
contribute significantly to the economic well-being
Viewpoint
of Auckland. We are more then food and festivals,
and we have to value ourselves as significant con-
tributors and people who benefit the multiplicity that
is Auckland.
In my community advocacy position, I have con-
tinued to play a key role to improving lives of indi-
viduals and families in our city as you have done and
continue to do so. This time of change is an oppor-
tunity to create a new understanding that local gov-
ernment is just one form of democratic institution
that we need to be part of. We need representatives
who have the skills, experience, will and courage
to take this opportunity. This is great time for us
to take on more leadership alongside friends and
allies, unite and collaborate on matters that affect
us as New Zealanders and Aucklanders. It is time
of radical thinking and vision the future ahead for a
new Super City. Let us enroll as voters, be nominat-
ed and elected, use our political right to advance the
cause and to work to build the connections. Its about
taking pride and shaping the future for all Auckland-
ers, including all children, youth and families, to be
equal citizens and to flourish where it counts.
Ann Pala is a social commentator.
She was awarded a QSM in 2007 for ser-
vices to Ethnic communities which she
dedicated to the community. ann.pala@
winmac.co.nz 021813607.
17
Indian
Bollywood

“Chase excellence and

success will come
looking for you”: Aamir
Bollywood’s holiday offering and Aamir Khan starrer 3 Idiots is
well on its way to turning out to be one of the biggest blockbusters
ever. It has received rave reactions in New Zealand and Australia
just as it has in India and across the world. The passionate actor
and film maker – Aamir – who has had a string of successes in
the past few years and one who values quality way above quantity
and has earned a reputation as a perfectionist, spoke exclsuively
with Indian Weekender editor-in-chief Dev Nadkarni on phone
from Bangalore. Excerpts from the conversation:

Aamir, What’s your reaction to 3 Idiots
now on course to becoming the top
grosser ever?
We are absolutely thrilled with the
response of the audiences everywhere.
It feels great and the team is grateful
for this tremendous reaction. I think it’s
a tribute to the theme, the concept, the
performances, the execution – all the
team’s efforts.
What do you think is the single big-
gest factor in the film that appealed to
audiences?
Actually, the single biggest factor that
appealed to all of us including the
people who made the film is this: follow
your heart and don’t compromise in
doing what your heart says. Don’t chase
success; chase excellence and success
will come looking for you. I think that’s
what the film says in many ways and
that’s something all of us can identify
and can agree with. Also, the great
sense of humour in the film works in a
big way – even when you cry you laugh.
That is an awesome factor as well.
What was it like for you personally
working on 3 Idiots?
I absolutely enjoyed working with the
bunch of actors. I’ve worked with Mad-
havan and Sharman before but I worked
with Boman and Kareena for the first
time as also Omi who played Chatur.
Working with Raju Hirani is something
I’ll always cherish. It was something of
a huge, enriching experience working
with him. I’d watched Munnabai MBBS
and Lage Raho Munnabhai and I was
really impressed with those films. So I
was really looking forward to working
with him.
What was it like playing someone half
your age?
(Laughs heartily) Tough. Very, very
tough. Whenever you’re jumping the
age barrier as an actor it is always very
challenging whether you’re playing
someone below your age or above your
age. That’s always a tough one.
Did all that bodybuilding for Ghajini
come in handy?
No, as a matter of fact I had to lose all
of it – so it was heartbreaking. I had to
work hard for Ghajini and then I had to
shed all that muscle to for this role.
You’re a perfectionist, aren’t you –
pushing your limits all the time?
I enjoy it. Each part that I play is some-
thing that I fall in love with… that’s the
way I work. I’ve only done my best.
With the success of Ghajini and now
3 Idiots, can we look forward to a hat
trick soon?
Well I have been fortunate really with
Fanaa, Rang de Basanti and Tare Za-
meen Par all of which did very well, too.
My next release will be Dhobi Ghat. It’s
written and directed by Kiran [his wife]
and is due to be released later in 2010.
What would be your dream project –
something that really would excite
you?
What excites me is the Mahabharat.
It’s a most amazing epic and a real big
one. I’m not sure if I’m up to it. It’s a big
one and a tough one. If I ever get on to
it it’ll take 20 years out of my life. That’s
something I dream about.
There are people who sincerely be-
lieve a film like Taare Zameen
Par should have got greater interna-
tional recognition. What do you
say to that?
We have a huge and healthy audi-
ence here in India for which I make
my films, really. To take the film for
audiences beyond that, I’ll have to
stop my other work. Its difficult and
I’m not sure if I have the bandwidth
for that sort of thing. I make films
for our own audiences – people liv-
ing in India and abroad who like to
watch Indian films. And a film like
Taare Zameen Par has appealed to
a wide audience irrespective of the
culture or the country they belong
to. Disney, for example, has come
out with a DVD for home entertainment I’d like to thank my fans in New Zealand,
that takes it to audiences who normally Australia and everywhere for the kind of
don’t watch Hindi films. response. Thank you all for this tremen-
dous reaction to 3 Idiots.
Aamir, you must be pleased to note
that 3 Idiots has been received very - The film’s distributors in New Zealand and
well and also is emerging a top gross- Australia, Mind Blowing Films has planned
er on the New Zealand and Australia a film festival in the two countries in March
circuit. You must have something to 2010. Watch this space for further informa-
say for the fans… tion. Meanwhile, enjoy 3 Idiots if you haven’t
yet seen it.
3 Idiots with a message for Indian parents
Manisha Anjali
The infusion of comic relief and unabashed Bol-
lywood melodrama proves to be a successful
formula in Rajkumar Hirani’s highly anticipated
3 Idiots.
The gags must have been funny, because the
sold out theatre, uncaring for originality, was
quaking with laughter. The clever non-linear
narrative made for pleasu rable viewing, with
twists and turns the whole way through.
The university setting and characters are in-
troduced in a stylish, quirky manner involving
quick-cut visual sequences and an omniscient
comical voice over; in the fashion of contempo-
rary French films such as Jean Pierre Jeunet’s
Le fabuleux destin d’Amelie Poulain (2001) and
Jacques Audiard’s Un héros très discret (1996),
to name a couple.
The villains in 3 Idiots are the fascist profes-
sors, the institutionalised education system, the
ridiculous material precedence of the upper class
and social hierarchies constit uted by the govern-
ment – the system itself.
It’s not an easy battle for the three idiots in
question – Rancho (Aamir Khan), Raju (Sharman
Joshi) and Farhan (Madhavan) to fight, and we
learn that despite the strain from their enemies, Hirani had explored it in such a way that would
not offend, and thus compromised the reality of
boys will be boys and “Aal Izz Well”.
Raju and Farhan, amongst other Indian uni- the controversial topic. 3 Idiots played it very
versity students are victimized by academic safe – tear-jerking moments went hand-in-hand
pressu re, both domestic and institutional. Throw with slapstick tomfoolery.
in a suicide or two, an emotionless professor Perhaps the critique of the undying Indian
obsession with having to become engineers and
with an incomprehensible lisp, economically
down-trodden families dying to see their sons doctors was enough.
with degrees and fascinating geek-speak – the There are only so many times one can be told
world of student engineering is one where people to “follow your heart”, but the simple yet over-
have names such as “Millimeter” and “Virus”. ascribed Disney-esque message that 3 Idiots en-
It is through the seemingly enlightened, non- dorses is perhaps one that some career-driven,
confor mist Rancho that his counterparts are able child-controlling Indian parents haven’t heard of
to live and dream freely without being clouded yet.
by the pressu re of money and material success. - Manisha Anjali has a Bachelor’s degree
The film could have developed the issue of in Film/TV/Media Studies and English from the
Indian youth suicide further, it seemed as though University of Auckland

18 Indian Weekender | January 15, 2010 | www.iwk.co.nz

Indian
Bollywood

Farida Master
I am She
There is something really special about Sushmita Sen.
Something that makes her stand head and shoul-
ders above everyone else. Which other twenty-
one year old would adopt a child and devote the
best years of her life to her? One look at Renee
and you know she is a well-rounded personal-
ity just like her charming and intelligent mother.
Now at 35, Sushmita has adopted yet another
baby girl and named her Alisah which means
Joyful.
And it’s not as if the actress has given up on
work either. In fact she is busy as ever as her
company, Tantra Entertainment, has won the
rights to the Miss Universe Contest.
Apart from her current release, Dulha Mil
Gaya, Sushmita Sen is all set to launch her mod-
elling academy ‘I am She,’ which will nurture
young aspiring models. The winner of the ‘I am
She’ beauty pageant will go on to represent India
in the Miss Universe contest. Sushmita, the first
Indian to be crowned Miss Universe, has bought
the rights to groom the girls for the pageant. ‘I
am She’ pageant will take over from the Femina
Miss India as a pre-curser to the Miss Universe
contest. The articulate actress is really excited
about her new venture and is all set to give it her
best shot like every thing else.
About the new light of her life, Sushmita
says that all her friends and family are so excited
about the new member of her family that they
are constantly at her home indulging and fussing
all over her. “It’s only when I come home after
shooting that I have to literally drive everyone
out of my home saying if you guys give her so
much of attention she will never know who her
real mother is,” she laughs.
Bollywood Gupshup
Must say that this is one Miss Universe who
has been practising all that she preaches and is a
true symbol of selfless love.
All’s well on Freida’s personal
and professional front
Something good seems to be coming out of cor-
porates getting involved with Bollywood which
once used to be a chaotic world ruled by mood
swings and erratics shootings.
Like for instance the suave Anand Mahin-
dra, CEO Mahindra and Mahindra has roped in
Freida Pinto, the actress of Slumdog Millionaire
for his initiative Nanhi Kali Foundation, that
aims at providing free education to 1,00,000
girls across India by 2010. Freida has joined a
host of big celebrities from across the world and
has pledged her support to the foundation. Anand
Mahindra hopes to have the support of the 101
most successful women in the world to root for
children’s education.
The idea being that the actress who has signed
on Woddy Allen’s movie, with her appeal and fan
following in the west, will be able to pull in many
celebrities to donate and also promote the cause
in Hollywood.
Freida has also been featured on People’s
magazine ‘best dressed list’ as she shares the
platform with people like Michelle Obama,
Reese Witherspoon, Kate Winslet and Camerion
Diaz, which means that the young actress is con-
sidered a fashion force to be reckoned with.
There is a lot more exciting stuff happen-
ing on her personal front as well. Everyone’s
talking about Slumdog stars, Freida Pinto and
Dev Patel finally coming out in the open about
their romance. According to the grapevine, the
young British film and television actor recently
flew down to India, to meet Freida’s parents in
Bandra, Mumbai. The duo celebrated Christmas
with her parents and now it’s all official and out
in the open -- though of course the couple refuse
to openly talk about it to the press.
Which automatically ensures that it’s all over
the media, touted as the romance of the year!

Hollywood Smitten by Bollywood Romancing Saif

What do Sly Stallone, Denise Richards, Snoop Dogg, Pussy Cat Dolls, Kylie Minogue,
Holly Valance have in common?
The answer is, they all love working in Bollywood and would happily do an encore.
They truly believe Bollywood is awesome!
Now the latest Hollywood actress to join the bandwagon is Penelope Cruz. The Spanish
actress is so impressed with director Shekhar Kapur that she is ready to produce a film, Now that Kareena Kapur and Shahid Kapoor month break every year and spend more us-time
only if Shekhar would direct it. have become history, Kareena can’t stop talking abroad away from prying eyes and non-stop
Currently the talented actress is working in Shekhar’s forthcoming film `Paani’ which about Saif in every news byte and interview shootings.
is going to be shot in Mumbai. `Paani’ is a love story based in a city where the water wars she does. The actress is head over heels in love Now just when you thought that this is what
have broken out between those that have water and those that don’t. At a time when water with the chote nawab who has sown his share ideal relationships are made of, Kareena admits
has become a weapon of social and economic control. of wild oats and is almost ready to settle down. that when both of them are in a foul mood, she
In the meanwhile Shekhar is busy shooting for the much talked about films, `The Sadhu’ But the best part about their relationship accord- is the one who has to be more mature about it
and `Larklight.’ ing to Kareena is that Saif doesn’t really have and make up even though Saif is ten years older
Good to know that the maker of Masoom, Bandit Queen and Elizabeth, has still not lost an ego and is ready to follow her to her location than her.
his golden touch though he does take his own sweet time to get inspired and create a true shootings and hang around on the sets when he’s This, because women are meant to be less
labour of love. not shooting. Which he isn’t most of the times. childish and more mature!
Cause now like Aamir Khan, he too has decided Well, well as long as they don’t make a habit
to do just one film a year. of it, we guess all should be well in Saif-Karee-
The couple have also decided to take a three na-lovesville.

Indian Weekender | January 15, 2010 | www.iwk.co.nz 19

Indian
Bollywood

Shake a leg, tap a foot

When the title of a film comprises the word rumoured to be titled as Yahoo.
‘dance’, it is bound to raise good expecta- It’s back to some mush and romance with
tions. More so when the actor starring in ‘Rishta Hai Mera’ which has Shaan and Tulsi
it is none other than Shahid Kapoor who is Kumar pairing up behind the mike. The
one of the best dancers that Bollywood has song pretty much picks up from where ‘Pal
today. Add to that the fact that both Ishq Mein Hi’ left and carries on the romantic
Vishk and Fida, director Ken Ghosh’s last mood while staying within the contempo-
two films, boasted of some fabulous tracks rary parameters of Chance Pe Dance. A
that are played till date, expectations only soar fun song that also hints of a celebration in
further. Coming in of a new composer-lyricist the offing, ‘Rishta Hai... ‘ also sees Tulsi
‘jodi’ in the town – Adnan Sami and Irfan Sid- Kumar singing in a new voice, primarily
diqui – makes one further look forward to what in the ‘mukhda’.
the duo has to offer. Even though Chance Pe Last to come is ‘Just Do It’, which
Dance is an Adnan Sami album all the way, it after ‘Pe..Pe..Pepein...’ and ‘Pal Mein
is guest composer Pritam’s ‘Pe..Pe..Pepein...’, Hi’, impresses most. A rap track by
which turns out to be the opening track. Written Url which has some really funny lyrics
by Kumaar, who of late has been collaborat- boasting of real life vocabulary, cour-
ing with Pritam on quite a few songs, ‘Pe..Pe.. tesy Amitabh Bhattacharya, ‘Just Do
Pepein...’ has exactly the same hook that was last It’ is made for the situation where
evidenced in ‘Oh By God’ [Ajab Prem Ki Ajab Shahid tries teaching a few dance
Kahani]. Though the song hadn’t featured in the steps to a bunch of kids. Other than
film, Pritam was obviously attached to the hook ‘Pe..Pe..Pepein...’ this is yet another
(based on the quintessential ‘shehnai’ tune that is song which doesn’t have Adnan Sami as the giving
heard at weddings) and put it to good use in ‘Pe.. composer. Instead, director Ken Ghosh himself all segments of
Pe..Pepein...’. The results are expectedly fabu- makes the song along with Sandeep Shirodkar listeners something to cheer
lous as the song turns out to be far better than and comes up with very good results. In fact one about it. This is why other than a couple of fabu-
‘Oh By God’. With Neeraj Sridhar, Hard Kaur wonders why the makers didn’t opt to have a lous dance numbers (Pe..Pe..Pepein..., Just Do It),
and Saleem Shehzada bringing in the kind of at- longer duration instead of just two minutes that there are also love songs (Pal Mein Hi, Rishta
just
titude which is just suited for a song belonging to the song plays! Hai Mera) that keep the balance on. Listen to this
begin well but reaches
this genre, ‘Pe..Pe..Pepein...’ Chance Pe Dance is a good album that doesn’t one, you won’t be disappointed.
its peak whenever the phrase ‘... tere aa jaane se’
From here on, Adnan Sami takes over and the have a single bad/below average song and stays Our picks: ‘Pe..Pe..Pepein...’, ‘Pal Mein Hi’,
makes an appearance. Play it on!
first in line is ‘Pump It Up’. An out and out rock consistent for most of its duration. It does experi- ‘Just Do It’
It’s back to dance with ‘One More Dance’.
track, it begins quite well, courtesy the way it is ment with a song or two but doesn’t veer away from
Boasting of some good techno razzmatazz, this
arranged with a wide range of musical instru-
Kunal Ganjawala track has some very good be-
ments being put to use. However, even though the
Don’t miss your chance of CHANCE PE DANCE
ginning that completely transports a listener to
base tune, hook and the rhythm is fine, the rendi-
the dance floor. Though the presentation is com-
tion doesn’t make you jump with joy. In one of
pletely new and contemporary, there is this early
the rare scenarios, singer Vishal Dadlani isn’t as
‘80s shade to it in the way Kunal goes about ren- ‘Chance Pe Dance’ is the story of the talented and passionate Sameer; positive and brimming
impressive as he has been off late (most notably
dering the track. In fact it is surprising that the with energy. He juggles various jobs to keep him afloat while pursuing his one dream to get a
‘Dhan Te Nan’). Though he attempts bringing in
song doesn’t appear in a ‘remix version’ because break on the big screen!
the right kind of energy and puts on his rock star
it had enough elements in it to be further spiced In his quest, Sameer has a lot of ups and down, hopes and disappointments. Not one to be
hat, the final results are just about ok with a lot
up. This isn’t the kind of song to be hummed disillusioned and armed with a never say die attitude and dynamic talent; he fights every hurdle
depending upon the way the song (also heard in
around but should do well on screen and the that comes his way because achieving your biggest dream is never easy.
‘remix version’) turns out on screen.
dance floor. In this challenging journey he is helped by the beautiful and spirited choreographer Tina;
However, Adnan Sami is in complete form
Kunal Ganjawala takes the dance flavour and eventually, Sameer realizes that sometimes life gives you that one chance…toh… ‘Chance
when he gets all mushy and melodic with ‘Pal
further with high pitched ‘Yaba Daba Yahoo’ pe Dance’!
Mein Hi’. Bringing in of Soham and Shreya
which is yet another track that should look good
Ghoshal behind the mikes is a masterstroke too, as
on screen. A fun dance number made for the Release Date: 15th January
the two singers really get the romance bang on. In
party scene; it belongs to the kind that instantly Cast: Shahid Kapoor and Genelia D’souza
a film, which has dance as its central theme, there
makes one shake a leg or two. The way word
may not really have been much scope for a ‘pyaar- Directed By: Ken Ghosh
‘yahoo’ is interspersed in the song, one is in-
mohabbat’ saga but ‘Pal Mein Hi’ completely jus-
stantly reminded of the time when the film was
tifies its inclusion in the album. The song doesn’t

Fardeen becomes a ‘Dulha’ again!

It was flowers, band baajaa and a silver chariot for
Fardeen Khan as he once again became a ‘Dulha’
not very long ago! For those of you who are puzzled,
Fardeen was busy promoting his just released film,
‘Dulha Mil Gaya’ and the wedding did not take place
at a 5-star hotel, but a popular suburban mall!
The popular Mega mall located in suburban
Mumbai was abuzz with excitement, drama and
music as Fardeen Khan, dressed as the charming
groom arrived on a chariot along with his entire
baraat to meet his bride. The celebrations started from
Lokhandwala where the baraatis, which included
Johny Lever, Suchitra Pillai, Tara Sharma, Howard
Rosemeyer and debutant Mohit Chadda, got on a
chariot and took the groom to his bride, dancing and
rejoicing to the tunes of “Dulha Mil Gaya”.
Fardeen Khan was seen enjoying and interacting
with the public and media during the baraat proces-
sion. The cast along with director Mudassar Aziz and
producer Viveck Vaswani, who were all dressed in
traditional Indian wear, looked excited for the release
of their movie. The common junta was also seen
dancing on the title track “Dulha Mil Gaya” along
with the baraat, as they were trying to get a glimpse of
their favorite actors.
What’s more, the Baraat’s swagat at the mall was
done with flowers and music. Finally Fardeen met
his dulhaniya, Ishitta Sharrma, who was dressed as a
beautiful bride, and was finally unveiled by the man
of her dreams. The two later interacted with the crowd
even as they seemed to share a great chemistry with
each other. Johny lever, who seemed to have disap-
peared for a while, spoke a few words and left the
crowd in splits with his witty one liners.
Needless to add, the event managed to garner
enough curiosity about the film and its cast.
BARAAT: Viveck Vaswani,Tara Sharma, Johny Lever, Ishitta Sharrma and Fardeen Khan

20 Indian Weekender | January 15, 2010 | www.iwk.co.nz

 Asin
Indian

Indian

Indian Weekender | January 15, 2010 | www.iwk.co.nz 21

 Indian
Bollywood

Veteran Bollywood legends honored

“Veteran Bollywood legends should never be forgot-
ten. Old is literally gold, when it comes to their pre- 1 2
cious cinematic contributions,” proclaimed ‘guest’
director Raj Kumar Santoshi (of the runaway hit
‘Ajab Prem Ki Gazab Kahani’ fame) at a recently
held spectacular event titled ‘Immortal Memories’.
The glitzy event, a first of its kind in Bollywood
history to honor 16 veteran living legends of Hindi
cinema, was convened in Mumbai by noted Bol-
lywood movie producers Ashok Shekhar and M
V Balagiri. It was truly a night to remember with
a large number of legendary guests mingling with
popular young Hindi film personalities.
Among the notable legends who were honored on
the occasion was actor-director Manoj Kumar (pop-
ularly nicknamed “Mr Bhaarat” for his landmark
patriotic movies like ‘Purab Aur Paschim’. ‘Shaheed
Bhagat Singh’ and ‘Upkaar’ ), yesteryear actress
Asha Parekh, producer Kiran V. Shantaram , yester-
year actress Nimmi, ‘evergreen’ actress Aruna Irani,
music composer Ravi, action master Veeru Devgan 3 4 5
(father of star-actor Ajay Devgan), director Babubhai
Mistry and vibrant radio broadcaster Ameen Sayani.
The galaxy of Bollywood dignitaries present
as guests also included filmmaker Yash Chopra,
actor-wrestler Dara Singh, director Rajkumar San-
toshi, Govinda, Salma Agha, composer Anu Malik,
funster Johnny Lever, Sayali Bhagat, Gulshan
Grover and Aditya Panscholi.
According to Ashok Shekhar, several top-rank-
ing Bollywood stars like Ajay Devgan, Mithun
Chakraborty, and Shah Rukh Khan were very keen
on attending their event but could not make it as they
were genuinely held-up elsewhere out of town. “The
event has bridged the generation gap so beautifully. decades ago, by all these pioneer legends, whom I OLD IS GOLD: (1)(L to R) Hosts Balagiri, Chandrashekhar and Ashok Shekhar with awardee
Most of the legends some of them over 75 years of age humbly salute.” Conspicuous by his absence, Shah action-master Veeru Devgun ( father of Ajay Devgan); (2) Awardee yesteryear ‘ diva’ Asha
had tears of ecstasy flowing in their eyes,” revealed Rukh declared rushed an SMS, “I would have loved Parekh with guests (Hon’ ble Minister & M.P.) Gurudas Kamat and popular Southside glam-
Ashok Shekhar, who also happens to be the son of to attend this event specially in view of honouring actress Laxmi Rai. (3) Awardee actress Aroona Irani with guest Govinda; (4) Awardee Manoj
veteran actor Chandrashekhar. Gushed Govinda, “If Manoj Kumar saahab, only if I had not already com- Kumar with guest Yash Chopra (6)Awardee Kiran V. Shantaram with co-host Ashok Shekhar
today our Hindi film-industry is thriving globally, it’s mitted my dates, elsewhere”
mainly because of the firm foundations laid several - Chaitanya Padukone

aarti chabbria

22 Indian Weekender | January 15, 2010 | www.iwk.co.nz

Indian
Bollywood

Filmi Jhalak 2010: What’s Hot and What’s Not

Tantalizing Ten Bollywood movies to watch out for during ‘10
Chaitanya Padukone

The unanimous global audience verdict is out! The Aamir Khan starrer ‘3 Idiots’ directed by Rajkumar Hirani has
emerged as ‘the most entertaining movie of 2009’, despite the caustic charges of controversy leveled from different
quarters. Apart from ‘3 Idiots’, the Bollywood movies in 2009 which connected hugely with theatre audiences include
‘Love Aaj Kal’, ‘Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani’, ‘Wanted’, ‘Dev D’, ‘New York’, ‘2012-Pralay Ki Shuruaat (Dubbed) ‘Slum
dog Karodpati’ (dubbed) and ‘Avataar’(dubbed) and ‘All The Best’.

As we usher in 2010, there appears to be a diverse string of amazing, awesome Hindi movies lined up for release. Check
out the ‘Tantalizing Ten’ that avid cinegoers can look forward to, during the current year.

1. Kites Kajol and SRK which has given a string of 7) Prince –its Showtime
Kites, starring Hrithik Roshan, Spanish actress jubilee hits including the iconic ‘Dilwale
Barbara Mori, Kabir Bedi and Kangna Ranaut. Dulhaniya Le Jayenge.’
Kites starring Hrithik Roshan, Spanish
actress Barbara Mori, Kabir Bedi and Kangna 3) Guzaarish
Ranaut. According to producer Rakesh Guzaarish directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali
repeats the popular ‘Dhoom-2’ cast and
the period-epic ‘Jodhaa-Akbar’ screen-
sweethearts Aishwarya Rai and Hrithik
Roshan and hopes to strike the bull’s eye at the
box-office. This will be a golden opportunity
for Bhansali to salvage his image, after his
previous musical opus ‘Saawariya’ starring
Ranbir-Sonam emerged a shocking disaster.

Roshan, the musical romantic movie has its
share of suspense, thrills, action, intrigue
and exotic foreign locales. Interestingly,
the media grapevine had even romantically
linked up Hrithik with co-star senorita
Barbara Mori which Hrithik dismissed as
“fantasy kite-f lying”. For the first time in a
Hindi movie, ‘Kites’ will have dialogues only
in Spanish by Mexican femme fatale Barbara!
But the Roshans are not worried. That ‘love
has no language barrier,’ was evidently
proved in the Aishwarya Rai-Ajay Devgan-
Salman starrer ‘Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam’
which had ample portions of Italian language,
Italian ethnic culture thrown in.
2) My Name is Khan
My Name is Khan starring Shah Rukh Khan
and Kajol: Producer Karan Johar has been
screaming from the roof-tops that “this
film is not about terrorism but deals with
the impact of 9/11 on Muslims in the U.S.”.
Obviously he is still smarting from the
disappointing audience response to his last
release ‘Kurbaan’ which had terrorism as
its underlying theme. As the icing on the
cinematic cake, “My Name is Khan” brings
together the endearing charismatic pair of
4) Raavan
Raavan which has Southside iconic
director Mani Rathnam bringing together
his mascots Abhishek Bachchan and
Aishwarya Rai (remember, he cast them
in his previous period blockbuster ‘Guru’)
besides a host of other actors including the
Bihari movies regional star Ravi Kissen.
The film has been shot in remote jungle Produced by Kumar Taurani, the movie
locales against all odds and promises to be has Vivek Oberoi making his spectacular
something different from what maverick comeback in the desi avataar of ‘‘James
Mani has attempted before of course with Bond’ with all the voluptuous girls, romance,
(including smooching scenes), action, thrills
the underlying f lavour of the legendary epic
Raamayan. to add to the package. Will the ‘Company’
macho dude Oberoi revive his big time ‘bond-
ing’ with the cinegoers, is what remains to
5) Khele Hum Jee Jaan Se be seen.
With director Ashutosh Gowariker at the
helm of affairs has once again plunged into a
‘period fare’ which is known to be his favorite 8) Rann
genre ever since ‘Lagaan’ made waves at Which is a bold, bizarre media-centric movie
the coveted Oscars years ago. This time poised to whip up controversy made by the
the adventurous Gowariker has re-visited resilient Ram Gopal Varma. Starring his
the historic Chittagong Uprising and has mascot actor Amitabh Bachchan in a pivotal

Music Launch of ‘Girdhar Ke Rang’ Deepika Padukone paired opposite Abhishek
Bachchan in a casting coup of sorts.
Preety Bhalla and Anup Jalotas’s new Krishan Bhajan album was recently released at ISKCON. 6) Ishqiya
Present at the event were singer Preety Bhalla and legendary ghazal singer, Anup Jalota who has also
composed the music for the album. Singer Bhupendra Jalota along with wife Mitali Jalota congratu-
lated Anup Jalota and Preety Bhalla and offered their best wishes for the success of the album.
Preety Bhalla also sang a song from the album in remembrance of lyricist, Late Pt. Girdhar Prasad
Jaipurwala. Incidentally the lyrics for this album were the last that he had penned.
Also present at the event was Dhiren Raichura who is the musical arranger of the album, Jasvinder
Singh, Arvinder Singh, Ram Shankar and other personalities from the musical fraternity.
The atmosphere at the place was filled with spirituality with the ragas of Shri Krishna in the me-
lodious voices of the duo, creating a pleasant ambiance for all those present.
Yet another shock-value movie produced
by maverick film-maker-cum-composer
Vishal Bharadwaj which has seasoned actor
Naseeruddin Shah and Arshad “Circuit”
Warsi sparring their histrionics with Vidya
Balan. Defying her dainty hot-babe image,
Balan plays a de-glam yet oomph-oozing
rustic grey-shades girl who mouths foul
abusive cuss-words with no inhibitions. It’s a
no-holds-barred f lick with freak-out comedy,
romance and action
MUSICAL: Dhiren Raichura with Preety Bhalla and Anup Jalota and Mitali and
Bhupendra and Mitali Jalota
electronic media cardinal character the
film has already courted controversy even
before its release. Rebel director Varma was
instructed by the judiciary to delete a song-
situation which was allegedly a distorted
version of the venerated Indian National
Anthem.
9) Robot
Seems to be a highly promising sci-fi movie
made by Southside ‘showman’ Shankar. The
film has Southside superstar Rajnikanth
in a ‘double role’ of a scientist-professor
who designs ‘robots’. Originally Shah Rukh
Khan was to have played the awesome dual
character, but there was mutual disagreement
between Shankar and him and it fizzled out.
Having worked earlier with Aishwarya Rai
in ‘Jeans’, Shankar has cast her again as the
formidable glamour quotient in ‘Robot’
10) Dhobi Ghaat Directed by Aamir
Khan’s wife Kiran Rao, (it’s her debut)
the film has its realistic feel-good yet
hard-hitting flavour with Aamir (“Idiot”)
Khan in the lead with co-star Pratiek
Babbar (late actress Smita Patil’s
son). In keeping with Aamir’s string
of versatile screen-images, this one is
diversely different from his other movies
is what madame Kiran assures.

Indian Weekender | January 15, 2010 | www.iwk.co.nz 23

Indian
Why is India vegetarian friendly?
ram lingam
Ram Lingam enquires why India is called the home of the vegetarians. Why is the Indian diet predominantly vegetar-
ian though more than two-thirds of India’s population is non-vegetarian? Why is a traditional non-vegetarian in India
more dependent on vegetarian food than meat? What could be some reasons for even the corporate
India to market vegetarianism?
India seems to be the only country that houses
the most vegetarians than any other country in
the world. Given that more than half of the pop-
ulation eats meat. Well, it’s simply the numbers
game when it comes to India. Only by India’s
sheer strength of population that there are more
vegetarians in India than the rest of the world
combined. According to a 2006 survey by ‘The
Hindu’ newspaper, it was found that 40 percent
of the Indian population. That makes it some
400 million Indians are vegetarians.
Vegetarianism in India has been a lifestyle
for centuries. Hence there is no beef or pork
in any McDonald’s in India. In fact the only
non-vegetarian items as in McDonald’s India’s
online menu have chicken and fish. To a kiwi
friend of mine who visited Mumbai recently,
the menu in McDonald’s had very little meat
options and disappointing to his palate. In
saying that, even a traditional non-vegetarian
in India is more dependent on vegetarian food
as on most of the days he is dependent on a veg-
etarian diet. Even on meat eating days like a
Sunday most dishes are vegetarian except for
one or two side-dishes with meat. Non-vegetar-
ians in India typically consume meat only once
or twice per week and it wouldn’t be totally off
the mark to assume that meat may be regularly
consumed by less than 30 percent of the Indian
population due to its higher cost.
The reasoning behind the practice of veg-
etarianism is wide-ranging though influenced
mainly by the tenets of Hinduism, Buddhism,
Jainism or Sikhism. The other compelling
reason is the affordability of non-vegetarian
food. Health and social consciousness increas-
ingly play a part in bringing about a change in
the Indian psyche towards a vegetarian life-
style. It’s fashionable for Bollywood stars to say
they are vegetarians. “Vegetarianism is becom-
ing a way of life now, not just in food but also
in lifestyle products as people care more about
health, environment and animals. They do not
want to brush their teeth using bone-powder,
they want to exclude leather from their furni-
ture,” says NG Jayasimha, campaign manager,
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
(PETA) India.
Add to this the corporate strategies that
hinge on vegetarianism for products like tooth-
paste, ice-creams, skin care products, soaps,
apparels etc. Here’s an example of how big
brands have joined the vegetarian bandwagon.
Pizza Hut has at least 60% of its sales in the
Indian market to vegetarian food items. Mc-
24
“In general, it is obvious that a
vegetarian diet is healthier, it is
better for ecology, and less violent
on life as a whole. Eating habits are
based on culture, geography and
influenced by religion.”
- Mind-Body guru Deepak Chopra
Donald’s vegetarian selections account for
around 50-65% of total sales. Colgate India
carries the ‘always 100% vegetarian’ label on
the carton. Baskin Robbins has 100% vegetar-
ian ice-creams which are advertised in a big
way. The world-famous-in India celebrity chef
Sanjeev Kapoor also mentions interesting facts
about the Indian ‘vegetarian-friendly’ society.
“If I release a book on ‘non-vegetarian’ recipes,
even then 70 out of 100 dishes would be veg-
etarian than just purely non-vegetarian dishes.”
India as a vegetarian country draws her veg-
gie-food culture in a big way from her religions.
The earliest records of vegetarianism as a way
of harmonious living by a significant number
of people come from ancient India. The rise of
vegetarianism in India goes back to more than
500 BCE, which saw the rise of Buddhism and
Jainism preaching the principle of ahimsa or
non-violence till today.
The spiritual traditions right from the days
of Emperor Ashoka in 300 BCE which assert
the principle of Ahimsa (non-violence) being
the highest dharma (Ahimsa paramo dharmah)
led to Article 51A (g) of the Indian Constitution
which enjoins on every citizen to have the fun-
damental duty to show compassion towards all
living creatures. “You must not use your God
given body for killing God’s creatures, whether
they are human, animal or whatever” advises
the Yajur Veda. Shri Guru Granth Sahib, the
holy book of Sikhs says, “You kill living beings,
and call it a righteous action. Tell me, brother,
what would you call an unrighteous action.”
The Vedic scriptures of India, which predate
Heritage
bodily constitution and mental framework are
determined by what we eat. The great Indian
mystic Osho shares, “Vegetarianism is nothing
but a by-product of deep meditation. If a person
goes on meditating, by and by he will see that
it has become impossible to eat meat.” Mind-
Body guru Deepak Chopra says “In general, it
is obvious that a vegetarian diet is healthier, it
is better for ecology, and less violent on life as a
whole. Eating habits are based on culture, geog-
raphy and influenced by religion.” In Sikhism
the langar food served at Gurudwaras is always
vegetarian. All the food offerings in a Hindu
worship can only be vegetarian.
Given all this, the one thing in favour of the
Indian vegetarian lifestyle is the fact that it has
a positive impact on climate change. Could the
world leaders at Copenhagen not have ignored
this about Indian lifestyle as one of the many
strategies to save the planet? Or should they
Buddhism, also stress nonviolence as an ethical heed to Albert Einstein’ advice as one of the
foundation of vegetarianism. “Meat can never many planet saving strategies, when he said
be obtained without injury to living creatures,” “Nothing will benefit human health and in-
states the Manusmriti - the ancient Hindu code crease the chances for survival of life on Earth
of ethics, “Let one therefore shun the use of as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet.”
meat.” Even in the Mahabharata there are many After all that is said than done, vegetari-
injunctions against killing animals. anism or otherwise like many things in life is
Saints and sages believed that eating veg- simply a matter of taste, choice, habit, availabil-
etarian food to be a part of purification, be- ity and reasoning.
stowing good health and a restful mind. Our
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Indian Weekender | January 15, 2010 | www.iwk.co.nz
Indian
Parliament of the World’s Religions
Padmini Gaunder
The first Parliament of the World’s Religions
was held in 1893 in Chicago. The organisers
had a hidden agenda, which the invited speak-
ers from non-Christian faiths were not aware
of. They wanted to prove that Christianity was
the only true religion. They had assumed that
if all religious leaders were given the opportu-
nity to speak publicly it would become obvious
that Christianity is far superior to the rest. But
things did not go as planned.
Swami Vivekananda, who had gone there
without any invitation, was one of the last
to speak. As he began with his now famous
greeting, “Sisters and Brothers of America”,
the whole assembly stood up and there was a
thunderous applause for several minutes. The
Parliament seemed to have been convened for
this supreme moment as Swamiji “stole the
show, convincing everyone that Hinduism was
as valid a way to worship and experience the
divine as any other. The state of the world’s reli-
gions was changed forever and the interfaith era
had its symbolic beginning”, noted Paul Knitter,
Professor of Theology, World Religions and
Culture at Union Theological Seminary in New
York and Matthew Weiner, Program Director at
the Interfaith Center of New York.
Swamiji did not belong to any sect. He
spoke of the timeless Vedic religion which is
the mother of all religions. It was only a short
speech but its universality appealed to the audi-
ence. Whereas every one of the other delegates
had spoken for his own ideal or his own sect, the
Swamiji had spoken about God, who, as the ul-
timate goal of all faiths, is their inmost essence.
The next day’s newspapers were full of the
Indian monk who had taken the Parliament by
storm and that marked Swami Vivekananda’s
Indian Weekender | January 15, 2010 | www.iwk.co.nz
The 2009 Parliament of World’s Religions, was
the largest and most diverse multi-faith gathering
of religious and spiritual communities and had
representation from nine major religions of the world
- Zoroastrian, Hindu, Jain, Buddhist, Sikh, Jewish,
Christian, Islam and Baha’i.
entry into the world stage. This also signalled
the beginning of western interest in Hinduism
as a vital religious and philosophical tradition
that might actually have something important to
teach the West and it led to the emergence of the
study of comparative religions at universities.
A century later, in 1993, another Parliament
of Religions was called and it was decided that
from then on it would be held every five years.
The latest was in Melbourne earlier last month,
from December 3 to 9, 2009. The 2009 Parlia-
ment of World’s Religions, was the largest and
most diverse multi-faith gathering of religious
and spiritual communities in the world and had
representation from nine major religions of the
world - Zoroastrian, Hindu, Jain, Buddhist,
Sikh, Jewish, Christian, Islam and Baha’i.
A special feature of the Melbourne Parlia-
ment was an assembly of a number of the most
outstanding Hindu spiritual leaders on Decem-
ber, 8. The convocation of saints began with
Vedic chanting, prayers, meditation and music.
These opening observances were followed by
a number of eminent speakers on universal
themes, such as spiritual values and peace, as
well as current issues like humanitarian work,
education, and the environment.
Sri Sri Ravishankar, the Founder of the
Art of Living, was among the speakers at the
opening session. In his address, Sri Sri Ravi
Shankar said: “The purpose of religion is to
bring enlightenment to the individual, happi-
ness to society and move from limited individ-
ual identity to universality and eventually com-
munion with the Divine.”
‘’There is no threat to any tradition, to any
culture, if we are all uplifted in human values, in
communion with the One, which is in the heart
of each and every one of us,’’ Sri Sri added.
Dr. Karan Singh is another distinguished
guest from India who was in Melbourne. Then,
of course, there was the Dalai Lama, who went
Feature
back to Australia after his weekend visit to
Auckland, to deliver the closing address.
The Dalai Lama challenged those who had
attended the Parliament to work to ensure that
the gathering had not simply been a social oc-
casion. He urged them to draw closer together
to make love and compassion real and to imple-
ment the dreams and possibilities that had been
discussed there. He spoke of the need for a
strong secularism- not a secularism that denied
the importance of religion, but one which re-
spected the practitioners of all religions. Beliefs
might differ but the core practices of love and
compassion were common in all traditions, he
said.
H. H. Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami,
publisher of the international quarterly journal
Hinduism Today based at the Hindu Monastery
in Kauai, an island in Hawaii, also attended the
Parliament. His predecessor, Sivaya Subramu-
niyaswami, who established the Kauai Centre,
was a Co-President of the 1993 Centenary Par-
liament of the World’s Religions.
The Ramakrishna Mission which Swami
Vivekananda established after his return from
America was well represented at this latest Par-
liament. H. H. Swami Amarananda, President
of the Centre Védantique in Geneva, was there.
He has been a long-time participant in multireli-
gious programmes. Most of the Swamijis from
the Vedanta Centre in Sydney were also there.
Outgoing Chair of the Parliament Rev. Dr.
William Lesher introduced his successor. The
new Chairman of the Parliament is Imam Abdul
Malik Mujahid of Chicago, a radio producer and
former Chairperson of the Council of Islamic
Organisations of Greater Chicago.
Heritage
25
Indian
HA!
Man (to friend): Who do you
think would be more satisfied —
a man with 8 lakh rupees or a
man with eight kids?
Friend: Definitely the man with
8 kids. He wouldn’t want more!

GREEN WORLD

SCIENTISTS in Australia have
recently found that the lotus
flower is thermogenic, which
means that it has the astonishing
ability to control its temperature.
FAMOUS FIRST The lotus can generate so much
heat that the temperature inside
THE Grand Hotel which was the flower can be as high as 300C
opened in 1774 by David Low even when the temperature
in London was the world’s first around it is as low as 100C. A
hotel. Till then lotus flower can produce as
travellers had to rely much as one watt of heat —
on inns and forty such flowers could provide
restrooms. enough energy to light a 40 watt
light bulb! Science has still not
been able to spend a long time inside the
understand how flower. When the lotus closes its
the flower petals at night, it provides the
manages such a insects a fully heated cocoon
complex feat. against the cold, allowing them
It is to feed and mate. The beetles in
believed that turn get completely coated by the
the heat of the pollen of the flower which they
flower attracts easily carry to other flowers,
beetles and other allowing the plant to breed and
insects and they flourish. There are only two other
species in the plant kingdom that
can regulate their temperature —
the elephant ear or philodendron
and the skunk cabbage.

TIMEPASS B EASY DRAW

Draw a rabbit by following
A A truck driver these simple steps.
went down a
Beginning at the top move one-way
downwards adding a letter street the
at each step. A correct wrong way.
and different word must There were two 1
be formed at each traffic police
step. present, yet,
1. S e c o n d - l a s t they did not
letter of the fine him. How come?
alphabet
Answers:
2. _ _ the way Sunday.
3. Opposite of a girl of a week, beginning with
4. You need this for a post-mortem number of letters in each day
5. _ _ _ _ _ stereo used in movie theatres.
3) 6. Each number is the 2
and then multiply them by 2.
6. Taking hold of a person’s body by force. digits in the previous number,
step of this series, reverse the

C get the next number in each

sequence. 2) 1722. To
add 4 for each step in the
TRIVIA 1) 16 12 10 9 ? 8.25 number shown by 2 & then
divide the
MORE than a million unsold 2) 12 42 48 168 ? C. 1) 8.5. You
copies of Mills & Boon
paperback romances were 3) 6 6 7 9 8 ? walking.
B. He was
A.
3

SWEET AND SOUR

AFTER A LONG SEARCH I
FOUND ONE WHO COULD
shredded into a paste and added MATCH MY HAIR STYLE!
to a mixture of asphalt and
tarmac by a construction
company building a 24-km 4
stretch of highway in England.
The paper helps prevent the
road surface from splitting after
heavy use.
NZ-22 © 2009 Amrita Bharati, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan; e-mail: amritabharati@vsnl.com

26 Indian Weekender | January 15, 2010 | www.iwk.co.nz

Indian
Mortgage Interest Rates Reviewed
RAVI MEHTA
Interest rates are being inf luenced by domes-
tic as well as international forces.
In April 2009, the OCR was reduced to
2.5%. The easing cycle which lasted for less
than one year reduced the rates to historic
low from a high of 8.25%. Although the OCR
has direct inf luence on f loating rates and
short term fixed rates, the longer term rates
also dropped significantly around that time.
Even the 5 year rate, the longest fixed rate
term offered by majority of banks stayed at
around 6 to 6.5% per annum for a short period
of time.
Since then, the fixed term mortgage rates
have been on the rise. The longer term rates
have risen quite steeply. In fact the 5 year rate
is now around 8.75%, which is only slightly
below the rate of 9.45% prevailing at the time,
the easing cycle began.
In 2010, OCR is likely to go up. Most
economists are expecting the OCR to be
between 4 and 4.50% by the end of 2010. This
rise will directly inf luence f loating rate and
shorter term fixed rates. So the gap between
shorter term and longer term rates is expect-
ed to narrow down over coming months. The
longer term rates may also rise but the rise
will not be as steep as the rise in shorter term
fixed rates.
It is difficult to determine as to when the
RBNZ will start raising OCR, though the
governor has said that it will be kept at these
levels till the second half of 2010. But the
housing market is showing signs of resilience
over past few months. The number of days to
sell houses has gone down; the net immigra-
tion is on the rise, the house prices are going
up. It is definitely an encouraging sign. But
Indian Weekender | January 15, 2010 | www.iwk.co.nz
Although there is no clear cut suggestion, for those who can
take risk of fixing at higher rates in future, rates for 12 to 18
months seem to be better option as the picture will become
quite clear by that time.
RBNZ may not like it. If the inf lation in
house prices persists, the RBNZ governor
may raise the rates sooner than expected. Re-
member the recovery in house prices is there
even though the banks are not lending ag-
gressively. The lending criteria of majority of
lenders are quite tough. If the loans become
easily available, there will be further house
price inf lation.
International picture is quite confus-
ing. Australian economy is showing signs of
growth. USA and Europe are still not out of
Finance
woods. Some of the economists fear that there
may be double dip in second half of 2010 in
US. This may delay the global recovery and
will not put upward pressure on interest rates.
But on the other hand, to stimulate the econo-
mies, different governments have been pro-
viding too much liquidity in the system and
ultimately inf lation is going to be a problem.
It may not seem to be a problem immediately,
but definitely it is going to be. Also, over next
few years, different governments will be bor-
rowing heavily. This will put upward pres-
sure on interest rates.
Although there is no clear cut suggestion,
for those who can take risk of fixing at higher
rates in future, rates for 12 to 18 months
seem to be better option as the picture will
become quite clear by that time. For conser-
vative investors, split policy is best, fixing
different amounts for different fixed rate
periods. Remember, fixing for longer term
gives more certainty but fixing for shorter
term or keeping your loan on f loating gives
more f lexibility.
Note: The interest rates quoted are at the
time of writing on 10.01.10. The article is for
general guidance only. Please consult your
financial advisor before taking any decision.
- Ravi Mehta is an Auckland based
Financial Advisor and can be contacted on
ravi.mehta@pfsl.co.nz
A disclosure statement under Securities
Markets Act relating to his services is avail-
able on request and is free of charge.
27
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28 Indian Weekender | January 15, 2010 | www.iwk.co.nz

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Travel

Wellington: all very satisfying

Manisha Anjali
Wellington was ranked the 12th most livable city worth the journey if you can endure the 12-hour
in 2007 in a study conducted by Mercer Human travel time.
Resource Consulting. Having lived in Auckland Meal choices on the train are limited, so be
for over 12 years, I thought it was finally time to prepared with your own food if you are picky. I
visit the capital city I had been meaning to visit had a forgettable pumpkin-feta wrap accompany
for so long. the unforgettable views of ravines, lakes and wa-
Minutes after checking in to my hostel in terfalls, virgin forests, and the epic, snow-cov-
Courtenay Place, I was staring at the ever- ered Mt Ruapehu.
shrinking colossal squid, touching pounamu Instead of reading Rukun Advani’s Beethoven
(greenstone) and cramming weird and wonderful Among the Cows which I had picked up at a
facts about New Zealand nature and history at Te bargain bookshop on Cuba Street earlier, much
Papa museum. of the 12-hour trip was spent looking out the
After setting off to discover Oriental Bay, window, at rolling green hills and herds of little
Cuba Street and Lambton Quay by foot, I real- sheep running away from the sound of the train
ized soon enough that Wellington City is so engine. It was a bit like traveling through the
compact that it is near impossible to get lost. nostalgic backstreets of the beautiful rural New
Skateboarders and cyclists are aplenty – a cheap, Zealand that city slickers rarely venture to see.
eco-friendly way to get around the petite vicinity. Being a tourist in the very country I live in
I found Cuba Street to be the bohemian centre was all very satisfying despite the lack of effort
of the city, bubbling with charming buskers, bar- it took to travel - the flight was less than an hour,
tering magicians and street performers, a handful there was no currency to exchange and no lan-
of delightful cafes, secondhand bookshops, guage barrier to cross.
record stores, galleries and vintage boutiques. I left having discovered a small but attractive,
Left Bank is a treasure – a small arcade which and certainly very livable and colourful coastal
rests off Cuba Street. Here you will find Offbeat city. The only time in my trip where I felt like I
Originals, where their tofu vegan burger was un- was out of my element was the occasional battles
doubtedly the best I have ever had. A waterfront with the overpowering wind, but struggling to
walk along to Oriental Bay Beach with a punnet cross the road whilst keeping my hat from being
of fresh strawberries in my hand preceded my blown off was a valuable experience in itself.
trip to the Beehive Parliament Buildings.
The following morning I rode the famous red
Cable Car up to the top of the Botanic Garden.
The Botanic Garden is home to acres and acres
of protected forest, and there is even a duck
pond. I recommend doing this whatever your age,
packing a picnic and sitting under a tree, espe-
cially since many Wellingtonians I met took the
Gardens for granted.
I concluded the day with by indulging in a
hot chocolate from Café Enigma and taking a
brief walk to pedestrian-only Manner’s Mall in
twilight, where a talented three-piece jazz band
played outside closed shops to an audience of
three, and the occasional passers-by. It seems
Auckland City is simply deprived of moments
like these.
The exquisite Embassy Theatre, which hosted
the premiere of Peter Jackson’s The Lovely
Bones recently, was my choice of early morning
entertainment on my last day in Wellington.
The theatre comes with attractive student
prices, good coffee and a regal, marbled interior
worthy of world premieres. It was a delight to see
the children’s film Where the Wild Things Are
by Spike Jonze at 10.30AM.
Intercity rivalry was as evident as ever. I saw
an American folk-rap band called Why? at the
San Francisco Bath House later that evening,
who mentioned that they had played a show in
Auckland the night before. Immediately, the
bald-headed man next to me shouted out, “We
call them Dork-land! We call them Suck-land!”
Even the band engaged in some of the double-
edged name calling. Very mature.
Wellington’s self-declared “cultural capital”
status in certainly a true one. Sculptures in
Auckland City tend to be contemporary and con-
ceptual to the point of being ugly, whereas most
of what I found in Wellington simply looked
good in relation to its space and in respect to its
Maori-Pakeha history.
There was a decent combination of traditional
and contemporary art which brought the city to
life. However, Auckland definitely wins the mul-
ticultural melting pot award.
A fine statue of Mahatma Gandhi fronts the
Wellington Railway Station. The delicately de-
tailed life size statue was donated to Wellington
by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations,
sculpted by Indian artist Gautam Pal. At 6.30am,
having a supermarket-bought breakfast outside
in the overwhelming wind prior to catching my
train, it was a delight to see a touch of Indian
spirituality and political history embedded in
Wellington’s aesthetic.
Upon telling locals that I was taking a train
back to Auckland, they would respond with
a “Why?” and “Haven’t you heard of flying?
People fly, you know”. Riding the Overlander Beehive, Wellington skyline, Wellington Train, the Civic Square
train from Wellington to Auckland is definitely

Indian Weekender | January 15, 2010 | www.iwk.co.nz 29

Indian
WEEKENDCUISINE
PALAK WALA MEAT
Recipe by Ruby Dhillon
Ingredients:
• ½ kg- Mutton (boneless)
200g- Palak (spinach) chopped
• 2- Onions chopped
• 2- Tomatoes chopped
• 1cup- Curd (Indian yoghurt)
• ½ tsp- Ginger paste
• ½ tsp- Garlic paste
• 1tsp- Black pepper powder
1tsp- Red chilli powder
• 1tbs- Coriander powder
2-3- Green chillis (made into paste)
• Salt according to taste
30
Method:
• Whisk curd in a large bowl; add ginger,
garlic paste, black pepper powder, salt,
coriander powder, red chilli powder and
mix well.
• Marinate Mutton with this curd mixture.
Cover and keep it for 2 hours.
• Heat oil in a wok, fry onions, when onions
are brown add green chilli paste followed
by tomatoes and stir over medium heat
until you see the oil on the top. Add palak,
cover and cook for 6 to 8 minutes.
• Add the marinated mutton to the palak,
stirring constantly, then cover and simmer,
stirring at regular intervals, until the meat
is tender.
• When the Mutton is cooked, uncover,
increase to medium heat and stir for a
couple of minutes.
• Serve hot with tandoori roti.
Indian Weekender | January 15, 2010 | www.iwk.co.nz
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Indian Weekender | January 15, 2010 | www.iwk.co.nz 31

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32 Indian Weekender | January 15, 2010 | www.iwk.co.nz