Mar 2011 - Michigan South Asian
Mar 2011 - Michigan South Asian
Mar 2011 - Michigan South Asian
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MICHIGAN <strong>South</strong> <strong>Asian</strong><br />
Monthly Community Paper | info@michigansouthasian.com | 248-677-5523 | Vol. 3 No. 3 MARCH <strong>2011</strong><br />
Non-Violence Prevails<br />
New York/London, Feb.12<br />
World leaders and officials<br />
WORLD CUP CRICKET <strong>2011</strong><br />
Dhaka, Feb 17<br />
The spectacular opening<br />
ceremony of the <strong>2011</strong> World<br />
Cup began at the Bangabandhu<br />
National Stadium here on<br />
Thursday evening with<br />
Bangladesh’’’’s national<br />
anthem-’’’’Amar Shonar<br />
have greeted the departure<br />
of President Hosni Mubarak<br />
with full-throated<br />
expressions of support<br />
for the people<br />
of Egypt along<br />
with some measured<br />
words of caution<br />
ahead for an<br />
uncertain period of<br />
political transition.<br />
“Egypt takes the<br />
Arab world into a<br />
new era. Let’s make<br />
it a better one,” said<br />
Bahrain’s Foreign<br />
Minister, Sheik<br />
Khalid bin Ahmed<br />
al-Khalifa, on<br />
(Continued<br />
Page 19)<br />
On<br />
Bangla’’’’, a song written and<br />
composed by Nobel laureate<br />
Rabindranath Tagore.<br />
The jam-packed Bangabandhu<br />
National Stadium came alive<br />
with passion and pride as a<br />
lively choir sang the national<br />
anthem.<br />
Libyans Fight<br />
For Freedom<br />
Tripoli, Feb 20 Sniper commandos have reportedly shot dead<br />
at least 15 mourners and wounded many others attending the<br />
funeral of protesters killed (Continued on Page 19)<br />
A delighted Bangladesh Prime<br />
Minister Sheikh Hasina speaking<br />
on the occasion said the nation<br />
was proud to host the <strong>2011</strong> World<br />
Cup.<br />
“I believe that<br />
international<br />
ties will be<br />
strengthened<br />
by this sport,”<br />
Hasina said, and<br />
thanked the ICC<br />
for choosing<br />
Bangladesh as<br />
the venue for<br />
the opening<br />
ceremony.<br />
Indian singer<br />
Sonu Nigam<br />
entertained the<br />
spectators on the<br />
occasion with an<br />
English number-<br />
’Let’s Go For The Glory.’<br />
(Continued On Page 20)<br />
Mukesh Ambani’s<br />
RIL Signs $20 B<br />
Deal With BP<br />
Mumbai, Feb 21: Mukesh<br />
Ambani’’s Reliance Industries<br />
(Continued On Page 18)<br />
inside<br />
Super Food’ Dark<br />
Chocolates...............04<br />
Successful World Cup<br />
Campaign................05<br />
Indian Inventor<br />
Claims.....................06<br />
North <strong>South</strong> Foundation-Encouraging......06<br />
Women Fend Off......06<br />
Children Cooking......07<br />
HEALTH<br />
SPECIAL<br />
MARCH<br />
<strong>2011</strong><br />
For Ads<br />
Email:<br />
info@michigansouthasian.com<br />
Watch 3-D Films.......08<br />
Cricket Fever.............09<br />
NZ Earthquake.........09<br />
Dr. Nik Article...........11<br />
Health Special..........12<br />
Comm Calendar........16<br />
Earth’s Rotation........17<br />
Shankar Mahadevan.17<br />
New York Cab Driver.17<br />
Outdoor Exercise......18<br />
Dairy Products..........18<br />
A Family That Plays...18<br />
Non Violence............19<br />
Libyans Fight............19<br />
World Cup Cricket.....20<br />
Stress Of Spouse......21<br />
Astrology..................21<br />
Bollywood news...22-23
<strong>Michigan</strong> <strong>South</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> MARCH <strong>2011</strong> Page 2<br />
APRIL <strong>2011</strong> ISSUE<br />
REAL ESTATE SPECIAL<br />
AD Opportunity For:<br />
REAL ESTATE PROFESSIONALS<br />
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Email your contributions to:<br />
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Page 3 MARCH <strong>2011</strong> <strong>Michigan</strong> <strong>South</strong> <strong>Asian</strong><br />
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<strong>Michigan</strong> <strong>South</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> MARCH <strong>2011</strong> Page 4<br />
‘Super Food’ Dark Chocolates Are<br />
Healthier Than Fruits<br />
London, Feb 7<br />
There’s good news for chocoholics<br />
as US researchers have<br />
discovered that their favourite<br />
treat could be an even better<br />
way to boost their health than<br />
fruit, and also dubbed it as the<br />
latest ‘super food.’<br />
They found that<br />
chocolates contain<br />
more healthy<br />
plant compounds<br />
and antioxidants,<br />
gram-for-gram,<br />
than fruit juice and<br />
provides far more<br />
nutritional goodness<br />
than food<br />
experts had previously<br />
thought, reports<br />
the Daily Express.<br />
Scientists at the Hershey Center<br />
for Health and Nutrition compared<br />
cocoa powder, the raw<br />
ingredient of chocolate, with<br />
powders made from fruits like<br />
acai berries, blueberries, cranberries<br />
and pomegranates, the<br />
‘super fruits’ known for powerful<br />
health-giving properties.<br />
The research into dark chocolate,<br />
containing around 60 percent<br />
cocoa, and cocoa drinks<br />
found that they too had more<br />
antioxidant activity and more<br />
flavanols—health-giving plant<br />
chemicals—than fruit.<br />
The good news, however,<br />
doesn’’t apply to hot chocolate,<br />
which is processed.<br />
The discovery means cocoa<br />
beans meet the nutritional criteria<br />
needed for fruits to be<br />
classed as ‘super fruits’.<br />
“The compounds in dark chocolate<br />
are just as<br />
good as the botanical<br />
compounds in<br />
fruit,” said Debra<br />
Miller, a senior<br />
member of the<br />
team.<br />
“Cacao seeds<br />
should be considered<br />
a ‘super fruit’<br />
and products derived<br />
from cacao<br />
seed extracts, such as natural<br />
cocoa powder and dark chocolate,<br />
as ‘super foods’,” she said.<br />
Late Nights ‘Increase Risk Of<br />
Strokes, Heart Attacks’<br />
Washington, Feb 9 Prolonged sleep deprivation and disrupted<br />
sleep patterns can have long-term, serious health implications, new<br />
research from Warwick Medical School shows. Leading academics<br />
from the University have linked lack of sleep to strokes, heart<br />
attacks and cardiovascular disorders, which often result in early<br />
death. “If you sleep less than six hours per night and have disturbed<br />
sleep you stand a 48 per cent greater chance of developing or dying<br />
from heart disease and a 15 per cent greater chance of developing<br />
or dying of a stroke,” Professor Francesco Cappuccio from the<br />
University of Warwick Medical School, said. “The trend for late<br />
nights and early mornings is actually a ticking time bomb for our<br />
health so you need to act now to reduce your risk of developing<br />
these life-threatening conditions.”<br />
Cappuccio and co-author Dr Michelle Miller, from the University<br />
of Warwick, conducted the research programme, which followed<br />
up evidence from seven to 25 years from more than 470,000<br />
participants from eight countries including Japan, USA, Sweden<br />
and UK. Cappuccio said: “There is an expectation in today’’s<br />
society to fit more into our lives. The whole work/life balance<br />
struggle is causing too many of us to trade in precious sleeping time<br />
to ensure we complete all the jobs we believe are expected of us.”<br />
He added: “But in doing so, we are significantly increasing the risk<br />
of suffering a stroke or developing cardiovascular disease resulting<br />
in, for example, heart attacks.” Miller explained further: “Chronic<br />
short sleep produces hormones and chemicals in the body which<br />
increase the risk of developing heart disease and strokes, and other<br />
conditions like high blood pressure and cholesterol, diabetes and<br />
obesity”. But Cappuccio did warn of the implications of going too<br />
far the other way, as sleeping overly long – more than nine hours at<br />
a stretch – may be an indicator of illness, including cardiovascular<br />
disease.“By ensuring you have about seven hours sleep a night,<br />
you are protecting your future health, and reducing the risk of<br />
developing chronic illnesses. The link is clear from our research:<br />
get the sleep you need to stay healthy and live longer.” The study<br />
has been published today in the European Heart Journal.<br />
Most <strong>South</strong> <strong>Asian</strong><br />
Students who travel<br />
20000 plus miles for<br />
studies in <strong>Michigan</strong><br />
feel home sick within<br />
the first 30 days of<br />
landing. They would<br />
love to go some place<br />
called home and talk<br />
to or spend time with<br />
a family.<br />
ADOPT A<br />
STUDENT<br />
Families interested in<br />
creating a ‘Home Away<br />
Home’ for these students<br />
can email their contact<br />
info and we will post it<br />
on <strong>Michigan</strong><strong>South</strong><strong>Asian</strong>.<br />
com.<br />
Interesrted students will<br />
contact you directly.<br />
Email:<br />
info@<strong>Michigan</strong>southasian.com<br />
Read Daily News at<br />
www.<strong>Michigan</strong> <strong>South</strong> <strong>Asian</strong>.com
Page 5 MARCH <strong>2011</strong> <strong>Michigan</strong> <strong>South</strong> <strong>Asian</strong><br />
Successful World Cup Campaign Would<br />
Help Revive Pak Cricket<br />
Dhaka, Feb 21:<br />
Pakistan coach Waqar Younis<br />
has reiterated that a good performance<br />
from<br />
his players in the<br />
ongoing World<br />
Cup will help<br />
revive the state<br />
of cricket in their<br />
country.<br />
“I have no doubt<br />
in my mind about<br />
the importance<br />
of this World<br />
Cup for the Pakistan<br />
team.<br />
It is a very big<br />
event in itself,<br />
but for Pakistan<br />
cricket, it<br />
becomes all the<br />
more significant<br />
because of the<br />
many problems<br />
our cricket has<br />
faced in recent times,” the Nation<br />
quoted Waqar, as saying.<br />
Waqar also insisted that his<br />
players were aware of the importance<br />
of doing well in the<br />
six-week tournament.<br />
“They know that if they perform<br />
well it will go a long<br />
way in the revival of our<br />
cricket. There is no doubt that<br />
our people need a big victory<br />
and this would also reignite<br />
the passion for cricket in the<br />
country,” he said.<br />
The Pakistan coach further<br />
said that he was satisfied<br />
with the preparations, and the<br />
mood in the team ahead of<br />
their opening match against<br />
Kenya on Wednesday.<br />
“We have spent around 10 days<br />
in Bangladesh and played two<br />
warm-up matches and in this<br />
time we have utilized all our<br />
energies to boost our fielding<br />
and shore up our physical fitness,<br />
which is going to be crucial<br />
in the matches,” he added.<br />
MEN CAN COOK!<br />
Traditionally <strong>South</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> Men take backseat when it<br />
comes to cooking.<br />
NOT ANY MORE.<br />
We want to put them in the driver seat.<br />
MICHIGAN SOUTH ASIAN INVITES SOUTH<br />
ASIAN MEN TO COME FORWARD AND SHOW<br />
THEIR TALENT IN COOKING.<br />
Email your recipe with your photos and see yourself in<br />
print<br />
Info@<strong>Michigan</strong>southasian.com<br />
ORACLE<br />
FINANCIAL<br />
TRAINING<br />
www.appssys.com<br />
281-381- 0744<br />
APRIL <strong>2011</strong> ISSUE<br />
REAL ESTATE SPECIAL<br />
AD Opportunity For:<br />
REAL ESTATE PROFESSIONALS<br />
248-677-5523 |281-394-4287<br />
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<strong>Michigan</strong> <strong>South</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> MARCH <strong>2011</strong> Page 6<br />
Indian Inventor Claims To Have<br />
London, Feb 14<br />
An Indian inventor, A.K.<br />
Vishwanath, has claimed that<br />
he has made a flying car with<br />
the help of India’’s first small<br />
car, <strong>Mar</strong>uti.<br />
Made out of a seemingly<br />
ordinary 800cc <strong>Mar</strong>uti car, it<br />
has rotor blades affixed to the<br />
roof with extended wheelarches<br />
creating a “vacuum section”,<br />
and has been one of the star<br />
Made ‘Flying Car’<br />
attractions at the Aero India<br />
<strong>2011</strong> air show in Bangalore.<br />
<strong>Mar</strong>uti, built in the 1980s by<br />
Suzuki, and has formed the<br />
basis of inventor Vishwanath’’s<br />
dream. The 52-year-old has<br />
spent 16 years working on the<br />
“flying <strong>Mar</strong>uti”, and claims it<br />
has vertical lift-off and he has<br />
tested a scale version tested in<br />
a wind tunnel, reports the Daily<br />
Mail.<br />
North <strong>South</strong> Foundation – Encouraging<br />
Excellence In Education<br />
By Srinivas Gudeti<br />
May last week, Indian American kid champion for the last three<br />
years, Samir Mishra, Kavya Shivashankar, Anamkika Veeramani.<br />
These name are most familiar to <strong>South</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> Americans. Common<br />
things among these, all three were Scripss Speling bee champions<br />
from 2008 to 2010 respectively but also they got basics and exposure<br />
of spelling bee contests from North <strong>South</strong> Foundation. NSF<br />
kids got top positions in Scripps spelling bee, National geography<br />
bee and Math Counts over so many years.<br />
North <strong>South</strong> Foundation was started in 1989 by Dr Ratnam chitturi<br />
to promote academic excellence among Indian American youth and<br />
also help needy and meritorious students in India by giving scholarships.<br />
North <strong>South</strong> Foundation is volunteer driven non-profit organization<br />
with zero overhead costs.<br />
Foundation raises money for the scholarships through registration<br />
fees of educational contests. There are 16 chapters in India for<br />
North <strong>South</strong> Foundation to seek and process the applications from<br />
the poor and merit students who are applying for colleges. Amount<br />
of $250 scholarship per year is given to the qualified applicants to<br />
complete their education. Past recipients of college scholarships in<br />
India and now helping the foundation in USA is a big testimony of<br />
its good work.<br />
North <strong>South</strong> Foundation has got about 80 chapters in USA and five<br />
in <strong>Michigan</strong>. To promote learning and excellence among Indian<br />
American youth, regional educational contests are conducted during<br />
<strong>Mar</strong>ch to April over three weekends in the entire country. Spelling<br />
bee, Math, Vocabulary, Geography, Science, Public speaking<br />
and essay writing are the contests conducted in Junior, Intermediate<br />
and Senior categories.<br />
Based on national cut off score, top 100 kids in each contest are<br />
being invited for National finals usually conducted in August, September.<br />
National finals are held in a selected city every year. This<br />
year national finals will be conducted in San Jose. It is planned to<br />
host 2012 national finals in University of <strong>Michigan</strong>, Ann Arbor.<br />
In regional contests, all the participants are appreciated with ribbons<br />
and medals on the stage to keep their self esteem and for their<br />
efforts of learning. The foundation emphasizes and promotes the<br />
joy of learning and competing on one’s own abilities to excel with<br />
hard work. For Spelling and vocabulary bee contests, preparation<br />
of the given 1000 words itself is an education and learning process<br />
for the participants.<br />
(Continued On Page 7)<br />
So far, he has garnered 40<br />
patents, and told reporters his<br />
inspiration came from many<br />
sources, including the flying<br />
ability of bees. Other engineers<br />
are also working on the project.<br />
He told reporters that the car<br />
is powered initially by an<br />
electrical generator, after which<br />
its engine pumps out so-called<br />
‘’energy flows’’ which provide<br />
lift-off and cruising.<br />
The car was developed by<br />
Vishwanath’’s company,<br />
B’’Lorean, named after his<br />
home of Bangalore and the<br />
winged DeLorean sports car of<br />
the 1980s, famously used as a<br />
time machine in Hollywood’’<br />
flick ‘Back To The Future’<br />
series of films.<br />
How Women Fend Off<br />
Washington, Feb 16<br />
Domestic Violence<br />
A woman’’s arsenal of defences<br />
for resisting violence critically<br />
depends on her position within<br />
the family and community, according<br />
to a new study.<br />
“Women’’s resistance is often<br />
conceptualised only as exit,<br />
which is problematic,” said<br />
study author Stephanie Paterson,<br />
a professor in the Concordia<br />
University Department of<br />
Political Science and member<br />
of the Centre for Research in<br />
Human Development.<br />
“We know that violence increases<br />
upon separation. Focusing on<br />
exit obscures the experiences of<br />
women who are unwilling and/<br />
or unable to leave,” she added.<br />
Contrary to popular belief, the<br />
new study found that wealth<br />
was not a guaranteed escape<br />
from an abusive relationship.<br />
It’’s just one of many factors<br />
that can help a woman resist<br />
violence.<br />
‘’Moby-Dick’’ Discovered<br />
London, Feb 12: <strong>Mar</strong>ine archaeologists have discovered a 19thcentury<br />
shipwrecked whaling ship ‘Two Brothers’ — which went<br />
down in 1823 – from the Hawaiian waters. Slammed into coral<br />
reef about 600 miles northwest of Honolulu, the vessel was skippered<br />
by Captain George Pollard Jr.<br />
Two years earlier, Pollard commanded another ship that was<br />
rammed by a whale and sank in the <strong>South</strong> Pacific. Many know<br />
that as the inspiration for Herman Melville’’s writing the 1851<br />
novel ‘’Moby Dick’’. Iron and ceramic scraps from the Nantucket<br />
whaling ship ‘Two Brothers’ were located in shallow waters<br />
nearly 600 miles from Honolulu in the remote chain of islands and<br />
atolls that make up the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, reports the<br />
Telegraph. According to expedition leader Kelly Gleason, a marine<br />
archeologist, the area protected by the U.S. government as<br />
the Papahanaumokuakea <strong>Mar</strong>ine National Monument, was key in<br />
helping to preserve the site.<br />
The discovery was unveiled on Friday by researchers from the National<br />
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which<br />
led the initial 2008 expedition to the wreck and subsequent explorations<br />
of the site during the past two years. This is the first discovery<br />
of a sunken whaler from Nantucket, Massachusetts, birthplace<br />
of a U.S. whaling industry that played a key role in America’’s<br />
economic and political expansion into the Pacific, according to<br />
NOAA.<br />
Those factors can be tangible,<br />
such as access to a caring personal<br />
network. They can be intangible,<br />
such as her partner’’s<br />
perception of her resources, and<br />
his perception of her role within<br />
the family.<br />
If a partner perceives a woman<br />
as being in a strong position to<br />
resist, he’’s more likely to reconsider<br />
being violent towards<br />
her.<br />
Paterson’’s study examines the<br />
different options faced by battered<br />
women – from placating<br />
an abuser to threatening to exit<br />
– and how these options can influence<br />
subsequent violence.<br />
The notion that women have<br />
some bargaining power in cases<br />
of domestic abuse forces society<br />
to reconsider the dynamics<br />
of violence and expands the options<br />
for victims of such abuse.<br />
For women’’s negotiation tactics<br />
to be effective, however,<br />
much has to change in society<br />
at both the household and public<br />
policy levels.<br />
“Not only must we provide<br />
women with adequate material<br />
resources, but we must also address<br />
and challenge the origins<br />
of authority within families,”<br />
said Paterson.<br />
“Enabling resistance is not<br />
about making women accountable,<br />
but rather challenging the<br />
state to create systems in which<br />
effective resistance is possible.<br />
Only then will violence against<br />
women cease,” she added.<br />
The study is published in the<br />
journal Review of Radical Political<br />
Economics.
Page 7 MARCH <strong>2011</strong> <strong>Michigan</strong> <strong>South</strong> <strong>Asian</strong><br />
How Video Games Can Reveal<br />
A Child’s Core Competencies<br />
Washington, Feb 16<br />
A researcher from Florida State<br />
University has presented an approach<br />
wherein a learning experience<br />
can be made more enjoyable<br />
by creating video games into<br />
which educational content and<br />
assessment tools have been surreptitiously<br />
added — and to incorporate<br />
such games into school<br />
curricula.<br />
Valerie J. Shute believes that this<br />
would not only remain a pleasant<br />
diversion for kids, parents would<br />
be reassured that their child is acquiring<br />
the knowledge and skills<br />
needed to excel in an increasingly<br />
competitive world.<br />
“The concept is known as<br />
‘’stealth assessment’. Essentially<br />
what we try to do is disguise educational<br />
content in such a way<br />
that kids aren’’t even aware that<br />
they’’re being assessed while<br />
they’’re engrossed in gameplay,”<br />
said Shute.<br />
How students react to new challenges<br />
and put evidence together<br />
can reveal a great deal<br />
about creative problem-solving<br />
skills.<br />
“Based on a student’’s responses<br />
to various situations<br />
that come up during the course<br />
of playing a video game,<br />
the game itself can be programmed<br />
to assess where that<br />
student might be especially<br />
strong or weak in core competencies,”<br />
Shute said.<br />
“The game can then adapt its<br />
content so that the student is<br />
exposed to more or less information<br />
in that area. And it continues<br />
to assess the student’’s<br />
progress to determine how<br />
well he or she is learning the<br />
embedded concepts and skills.<br />
“So in theory, not only can<br />
these stealth-assessment<br />
games measure a student’’s<br />
current level of knowledge<br />
in a given area, they can also<br />
determine areas where that student<br />
needs to improve and then<br />
help him or her to make those<br />
Now Children Are Cooking Their First Meal<br />
5-yrs Earlier Than Their Parents Did<br />
London, Feb 16<br />
A survey has shown that children<br />
are taking to the stove and cooking<br />
their first meal<br />
five-years earlier<br />
than their parents’<br />
generation did.<br />
The Lloyds TSB<br />
Home Insurance<br />
poll of 2,000 parents<br />
found that on<br />
average, children<br />
of 7 years of age<br />
are showing more<br />
interest in cooking,<br />
thanks to celebrity<br />
chefs such as Jamie<br />
Oliver and Nigella<br />
Lawson.<br />
But the research<br />
also showed a<br />
downside, as one in<br />
seven meals cooked<br />
by children ends in<br />
some form of disaster,<br />
the Daily Mail<br />
reported.<br />
Of those, smashed plates and<br />
crockery are the most frequent<br />
mishaps, reported by 41 percent<br />
of parents, while just under a<br />
third say the food is inedible.<br />
Research showed pasta and<br />
sauce was the favourite dish<br />
for under-16s to prepare, popular<br />
with 37 percent, with cake,<br />
pizza, chips and fish fingers following<br />
close behind.<br />
A fifth of parents said it was TV<br />
cooking shows that were inspiring<br />
their children to head for the<br />
kitchen.<br />
improvements, using feedback,<br />
maybe easier problems,<br />
and so on,” Shute said.<br />
There are other important<br />
features of such games:<br />
They can be used to assess<br />
a student’’s knowledge on<br />
a specific topic both at the<br />
beginning and at the end<br />
of the game, thus providing<br />
numerical data that<br />
illustrate how much the<br />
student has learned.<br />
They can be easily customized<br />
to meet the educational<br />
strengths and<br />
weaknesses of individual<br />
students. In this manner,<br />
each student can learn at<br />
his or her own speed and<br />
be appropriately challenged.<br />
“Essentially, the patent is<br />
for a computer algorithm<br />
that we developed,” she said.<br />
MEN CAN COOK!<br />
Email your recipe with your photos<br />
and see yourself in print<br />
“The algorithm applies<br />
‘’weights’’ to a student’’s responses<br />
to specific tasks within<br />
a game, then uses those weights<br />
to measure proficiency levels.<br />
With that information, the game<br />
knows whether to assign additional<br />
tasks to the student in a<br />
particular area or move on to<br />
another area.”<br />
“It’’s important that we change<br />
the way education thinks about<br />
what competencies are important<br />
to support in students (that<br />
we’’re not currently doing) to<br />
yield excellent global citizens.<br />
We also need to develop new<br />
kinds of assessments to capture<br />
and make sense of this new information.<br />
“Stealth assessment within engaging<br />
learning and gaming environments<br />
might be one of the<br />
key tools we can use to improve<br />
the way we teach our children<br />
and the way they learn,” she<br />
said.<br />
North <strong>South</strong> Foundation – Encouraging<br />
Excellence In Education<br />
(Continued From Page 6)<br />
All the preparation resources, syllabus with sample questions for<br />
the contests is available in the web site.<br />
Detroit chapter is one of the biggest chapters in the country with<br />
large number of contest participants for the last five years. Ann<br />
Arbor, Lansing, Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo are other chapters in<br />
<strong>Michigan</strong> which conducts educational bee contests.<br />
Regional chapters also conduct workshops to give learning exposure<br />
to the participants. <strong>South</strong> east <strong>Michigan</strong> chapters are conducting<br />
Spelling bee workshop on Saturday <strong>Mar</strong>ch 12th in Farmington<br />
Hills library auditorium. Mr Shivashankar Mirle from Kansas City<br />
will be conducting the workshop. He is coach and dad of Kavya<br />
Shivashnkar, 2009 Scripps Spelling bee champion. Pre-registration<br />
is needed for attending the workshop.<br />
Regional contests are scheduled to be conducted on Apr<br />
9th,10th,30th and May 1st for Detroit, Ann Arbor and Lansing<br />
chapters. Registration for the workshop and registrations is through<br />
the web site www.northsouth.org.<br />
Info@<strong>Michigan</strong>southasian.com
<strong>Michigan</strong> <strong>South</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> MARCH <strong>2011</strong> Page 8<br />
Miss Pakistan 2010<br />
Interview: Annie Rupani<br />
1.How does it feel to be<br />
crowned Miss Pakistan World<br />
2010<br />
It was completely unexpected.<br />
I was still in shock when the<br />
MC announced my name, but<br />
it feels incredible and I am<br />
very excited to make this an<br />
unforgettable year as Miss<br />
Pakistan World<br />
2010.<br />
2. Tell us<br />
a bit about your<br />
background.<br />
I was born<br />
in Austin, Texas<br />
and raised in Sugar<br />
Land. My parents<br />
spent the first part<br />
of their lives in<br />
Karachi, Pakistan,<br />
but moved to the<br />
U.S. about thirty<br />
years ago. I have<br />
two sisters, Natasha<br />
and Mona. I am<br />
currently studying<br />
Religion and<br />
Anthropology at<br />
Boston University<br />
and I will be<br />
graduating from<br />
university in May of<br />
<strong>2011</strong>.<br />
3. What is your aim with<br />
this title<br />
My goal as Miss Pakistan<br />
World 2010 is to foremost<br />
bring awareness to the world<br />
about the country of Pakistan,<br />
its qualities and imminent<br />
needs. Pakistan is a very<br />
beautiful country with some of<br />
the world’s highest mountain<br />
peaks and a history that traces<br />
back to one of the world’s first<br />
civilizations. Further, I would like<br />
to give other Pakistani women the<br />
confidence and motivation to push<br />
past the traditional stereotypes,<br />
which are holding back the<br />
women in our society. I want to<br />
prove that a Pakistani woman can<br />
be strong and independent and<br />
still live within the values of her<br />
faith and culture.<br />
4. Where do you see<br />
yourself in the next 5 years<br />
In the next five years, I hope to<br />
have gained experience in the<br />
U.S. Foreign Service promoting<br />
stronger relations with Pakistan<br />
and begin pursuing my graduate<br />
studies in Law.<br />
Pak Nuke Build-Up Has US Anxious<br />
And Worried: NYT Editorial<br />
Washington, Feb.22<br />
Pakistan may claim that it<br />
would like to have minimum<br />
nuclear deterrence, but if<br />
American intelligence agency<br />
assessments are to be believed,<br />
Islamabad could soon have the<br />
world’s fifth largest nuclear<br />
arsenal, and this development<br />
has Washington quite concerned<br />
and anxious.<br />
According to a New York<br />
Times editorial, Pakistan has<br />
between 95 and more than 110<br />
deployed nuclear weapons, up<br />
from the mid-to-high 70s just<br />
two years ago.<br />
Even without a fourth reactor,<br />
experts say that Pakistan has<br />
already manufactured enough<br />
fuel for 40 to 100 additional<br />
weapons.<br />
Only the United States, Russia,<br />
France and China are<br />
ahead of Pakistan. Washington<br />
and Moscow, with thousands<br />
of nuclear weapons each, still<br />
have the most weapons by far,<br />
but at least they are making<br />
serious reductions.<br />
According to the NYT editorial,<br />
Washington and its allies<br />
must continue to look for<br />
ways to get Pakistan to stop<br />
blocking negotiations on a<br />
global ban on fissile material<br />
production.<br />
It says that Washington can<br />
threaten to suspend billions<br />
of dollars of American aid<br />
PAMV<br />
is about telling children<br />
that consumption of violent<br />
content in media can have<br />
adverse health impacts. Join<br />
the Parent group today.<br />
www.PAMV.org<br />
info@pamv.org | 248-677-5523<br />
if Islamabad does not restrain<br />
its nuclear appetites. But that<br />
would hugely complicate efforts<br />
in Afghanistan and could<br />
destabilize Pakistan.<br />
The editorial concludes by saying:<br />
“The truth is there is no<br />
easy way to stop the buildup, or<br />
that of India and China. Slowing<br />
and reversing that arms<br />
race is essential for regional<br />
and global security. Washington<br />
must look for points of leverage<br />
and make this one of its strategic<br />
priorities.”<br />
It further state that the ultimate<br />
nightmare, of course, is that<br />
the extremists will topple Pakistan’s<br />
government and get their<br />
hands on the nuclear weapons.<br />
Now, Watch 3-D Films On Your Cell Phone!<br />
Washington, Feb 12:<br />
Watching 3-D films on your<br />
cell phone would now be possible<br />
thanks to researchers who<br />
have combined the new mobile<br />
radio standard LTE-Advanced<br />
with a video coding technique.<br />
Researchers at the Fraunhofer<br />
Institute for Telecommunications,<br />
Heinrich-Hertz-Institut,<br />
HHI in Berlin, Germany, have<br />
come up with a special compression<br />
technique for films in<br />
especially good high-resolution<br />
HD quality.<br />
It computes the films down to<br />
low data rates while maintaining<br />
quality:<br />
H.264/<br />
A V C .<br />
What the<br />
H.246/<br />
A V C<br />
video<br />
format<br />
is to<br />
high-definition<br />
films,<br />
the Multiview Video Coding<br />
(MVC) is to 3-D films.<br />
Thomas Schierl explained that<br />
“MVC is used to pack together<br />
the two images needed for<br />
the stereoscopic 3-D effect to<br />
measurably reduce the film’’s<br />
bit rate,” and this technique<br />
can be used to reduce the size<br />
of 3-D films as much as 40<br />
percent.<br />
That means that you can<br />
quickly receive excellent quality<br />
3-D films in connection<br />
with the new 3G-LTE mobile<br />
radio standard. Key is the radio<br />
resource management integrated<br />
into the LTE system<br />
that allows flexible data transmission<br />
while including various<br />
quality of service classes.<br />
Thomas Wirth, another scientist<br />
at the HHI, added, “The 2-D<br />
and 3-D bit streams divided up<br />
by MVC can be prioritized for<br />
each user at the air interface<br />
to support different services,<br />
thus opening up a completely<br />
new field for business models.”<br />
The new technology would<br />
be shown at the Mobile World<br />
Congress in Barcelona.
Page 9 MARCH <strong>2011</strong> <strong>Michigan</strong> <strong>South</strong> <strong>Asian</strong><br />
FOURTH CONGLOMERATION OF ASIAN AMERICAN<br />
CULTURES AND HALL OF FAME AWARDS FOR 2010<br />
By Samir Chopra<br />
Dr. Parveen Chopra President<br />
of the <strong>Asian</strong> American<br />
Coalition USA recently<br />
hosted the Fourth Conglomeration<br />
of <strong>Asian</strong><br />
American Cultures and<br />
Hall of Fame Awards<br />
Ceremony. A galaxy<br />
of dignitaries present<br />
included: Honorable<br />
Edward P. Mangano<br />
– Nassau County Executive;<br />
Honorable<br />
Supreme Court Justice<br />
Daniel Palmieri; New<br />
York State Comptroller<br />
Thomas Dinapoli;<br />
New York City Comptroller<br />
Honorable John Liu,<br />
Assemblywoman Honorable<br />
Grace Meng; Senator Frank Padavan;<br />
NYC Councilman Peter<br />
Koo; Lawrence Mulvey Nassau<br />
County Police Commissioner,<br />
Honorable Amrit Rai - Consul<br />
General of Nepal,<br />
Ambassador and<br />
Director General of<br />
Taipei His Excellence<br />
Andrew J.C.<br />
Kao,<br />
At the awards gala<br />
the AAC representing<br />
14 <strong>Asian</strong> countries<br />
inducted the<br />
following leaders<br />
of there respective<br />
communities to the<br />
Hall of Fame: Nassau County<br />
Executive Honorable Edward<br />
P. Mangano; New York State<br />
Supreme Court Justice Honorable<br />
Daniel Palmieri, Dr. Panchapakesa<br />
Jayaraman (Founder<br />
of the Bhartiya Vidhya Bhavan),<br />
(Imam Shamsi –Indonesia<br />
– Iman of the largest Mosque in<br />
New York), John T. Ma, -China<br />
(President of U.S.-China Cultural<br />
and Economic Council);as<br />
well as Dr. Binod P. Shah -Nepal<br />
( President of the America-<br />
Nepal Friendship Society); Dr.<br />
Ping-Heng Chen -Taiwan (Executive<br />
Director of the Taiwan<br />
Center Chorus and the Tenafly<br />
Singer at Avery Fisher Hall &<br />
Lincoln Center)<br />
Former New York State<br />
Governor Hon. David<br />
A. Paterson indicated,<br />
“Since its founding, the<br />
Coalition also has been<br />
committed to increasing<br />
the visibility of<br />
<strong>Asian</strong> American communities<br />
across this<br />
State and Nation by<br />
fostering the positive<br />
development of <strong>Asian</strong><br />
culture and identity,<br />
and strengthening relations<br />
with other communities<br />
and countries.<br />
In providing a voice for the<br />
entire <strong>Asian</strong> population, you<br />
cultivate greater understanding<br />
and appreciation of your shared<br />
heritage.” New York City Mayor<br />
Hon. Michael R. Bloomberg<br />
said, “ … I commend AACUSA<br />
for ensuring that hardworking<br />
people of many<br />
different backgrounds<br />
have the opportunity to<br />
pursue their dreams here<br />
in the United States.”<br />
United States Senator<br />
Charles E. Schumer said,<br />
“Since its founding the<br />
AAC has dedicated itself<br />
to promoting the social,<br />
cultural, and entrepreneurial<br />
endeavors of the<br />
<strong>Asian</strong>-American community in<br />
New York and around the country.<br />
Cricket Fever Hits Mass Wedding<br />
Ceremony In Gujarat<br />
Surat, Feb.21<br />
Nearly eighty-two newly married couples cut a huge cake in the shape of a cricket field in Gujarat on<br />
Sunday. Couples who got married at a mass wedding event cut a cake that was in the shape of a cricket<br />
field and believe that the wedding would become more memorable, if Indian team brought home the<br />
World Cup.<br />
“We wish the players of our country to win the World Cup so that our wedding becomes memorable<br />
with it,” said a newlywed. Kanji Bhalala, organiser of the event said: “About 82 couples got married<br />
in this grand event.<br />
All the couples cut the cake together for the success of Indian players in the World Cup. We are happy<br />
that mass marriage is an event for wedding, and in this jovial atmosphere also people are enthusiastic<br />
and confident for the players of the country. The couples cut the cake to encourage the players.”<br />
NZ Earthquake ‘A Warning<br />
To North America’<br />
Washington, Feb 23<br />
The terribly destructive New<br />
Zealand earthquake that killed<br />
dozens and caused heavy damage<br />
is a warning to cities up and<br />
down the West Coast of North<br />
America, according to a researcher.<br />
Even though Tuesday’’s<br />
6.3-magnitude earthquake was<br />
weaker than last year’’s event,<br />
it was much shallower, was<br />
situated directly under Christchurch,<br />
hit during the lunch<br />
hour when more people were<br />
exposed to damage, and shook<br />
sediments that were prone to<br />
‘liquefaction’, which can magnify<br />
the damage done by the<br />
ground shaking.<br />
The 7.1 magnitude earthquake<br />
that struck the nation last September<br />
near the same area killed<br />
none.<br />
Robert Yeats, a professor of<br />
geology at Oregon State University<br />
and an international<br />
earthquake expert, said that<br />
same description matches many<br />
major cities and towns in Washington,<br />
Oregon, California and<br />
British Columbia.<br />
“The latest New Zealand earthquake<br />
hit an area that wasn’t<br />
even known to have a fault prior<br />
to last September, it’s one that<br />
had not moved in thousands of<br />
years. But when you combine<br />
the shallow depth, proximity<br />
to a major city and soil characteristics,<br />
it was capable of immense<br />
damage,” said Yeats.<br />
“The same characteristics that<br />
caused such destruction and so<br />
many deaths in Christchurch are<br />
similar to those facing Portland,<br />
Seattle, parts of the Bay Area<br />
and many other West Coast cities<br />
and towns,” he said.<br />
“And it’s worth keeping in<br />
mind that New Zealand has<br />
some of the most progressive<br />
building codes in the world.<br />
They are better prepared for an<br />
earthquake like this than many<br />
U.S. cities would be,” he added.<br />
According<br />
to Yeats, the<br />
risks from<br />
comparatively<br />
shallow<br />
‘crustal’<br />
faults are<br />
often given<br />
less attention<br />
compared to<br />
the concerns<br />
about the<br />
major subduction<br />
zone<br />
earthquake<br />
facing the Pacific Northwest in<br />
its future, or other major quakes<br />
on famous plate boundaries<br />
such as the San Andreas Fault.<br />
Associated with that is the risk<br />
of liquefaction – the characteristic<br />
of some soils, particularly<br />
sediments deposited over long<br />
periods of time, to become<br />
saturated with water and quiver<br />
like a bowl of gelatin during an<br />
earthquake.<br />
Such motions can significantly<br />
increase building damage and<br />
loss of life.<br />
Like much of the West Coast,<br />
Yeats said, New Zealand sits<br />
near a major boundary of the<br />
Earth’s great plates – in this<br />
case, the junction of the Australia<br />
Plate and the Pacific Plate.<br />
Despite intensive seismic studies<br />
in that nation, no one had yet<br />
identified the related fault that<br />
devastated Christchurch.<br />
“We can learn about earthquakes<br />
and help people understand<br />
the seismic risks they<br />
face But it’s still an inexact<br />
science, the exact timing of an<br />
earthquake cannot be predicted,<br />
and the best thing we can do is<br />
prepare for these events before<br />
they happen,” said Yeats.
<strong>Michigan</strong> <strong>South</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> MARCH <strong>2011</strong> Page 10<br />
LIFE IN BIG PICTURES<br />
Photographer: REUTERS/Darren Whiteside<br />
A girl looks out the window of an activist’s vehicle parked beside a rally by former Filipino comfort women outside the Japanese embassy in Manila The former World<br />
War II comfort women called for the Japanese government to recognise their plight for justice ahead of International Women’s Day. REUTERS/Darren Whiteside<br />
(PHILIPPINES) International Women’s Day<br />
Photographer: REUTERS/Reuters Photographer<br />
A worker installs red lanterns next to a giant-sized statue of the Chinese God of Fortune ahead of the upcoming Chinese Lunar New Year in Singapore February 2, <strong>2011</strong>.<br />
The Lunar New Year begins on February 3 and marks the start of the Year of the Rabbit, according to the Chinese zodiac. The characters read “Peace upon our country”.<br />
REUTERS/Joel Boh (SINGAPORE - Tags: SOCIETY) Chinese New Year (Celebrations - 07 Feb <strong>2011</strong>)
Page 11 MARCH <strong>2011</strong> <strong>Michigan</strong> <strong>South</strong> <strong>Asian</strong><br />
Dr. Nik’s Health Reform Bill<br />
By Nik Nikam, M.D.<br />
A patient of mine had a heart<br />
attack. He underwent emergency<br />
bypass surgery. His hospital<br />
charges were $140,000. It<br />
completely wiped out his savings,<br />
and he had to take a loan<br />
on his primary residence. Yet,<br />
he is unable to get any type of<br />
healthcare coverage even if he<br />
is willing to spend $500 per<br />
month.<br />
He works and supports his family.<br />
Recently, he was diagnosed<br />
to have diabetes further complicating<br />
his dilemma and misery.<br />
He has to decide between feeding<br />
his family versus purchasing<br />
his Insulin for which he has<br />
no prescription plan, and has to<br />
pay retail price by cash.<br />
Such untold stories are echoed<br />
time and again from many of<br />
the 47 million uninsured people,<br />
of which 75% of them have<br />
at least one family member<br />
working and earning money!<br />
It is inconceivable that this is<br />
happening even as you read this<br />
article in a nation that spends<br />
17% of its GDP on healthcare.<br />
Yet, we do not have the best<br />
healthcare system in the world<br />
as measured by infant mortality<br />
among others. We have the<br />
most expensive, fragmented,<br />
and imbalanced healthcare<br />
system among the richest developed<br />
nations in the word. I<br />
propose the following bills to<br />
the congress to reduce social<br />
inequality, reduce the healthcare<br />
costs, and make healthcare<br />
affordable by all Americans.<br />
A majority of uninsured people<br />
are unable to get healthcare<br />
coverage because either the<br />
premiums are too high or they<br />
have a preexisting condition<br />
which precludes them from getting<br />
healthcare coverage.<br />
We should break down the<br />
healthcare coverage into two<br />
parts namely basic coverage<br />
and catastrophic coverage.<br />
The basic plan will cover the<br />
first $50,000 or $100,000. Let<br />
the private sector compete for<br />
this coverage, just as it is done<br />
in the auto insurance.<br />
This will dramatically bring<br />
down the insurance costs to a<br />
point where everyone can afford<br />
it. Presently, people may<br />
be paying excessive insurance<br />
premiums for 20 years or more<br />
before they really need health<br />
services,<br />
and when<br />
they do<br />
need it,<br />
it is not<br />
there anymore.<br />
By this<br />
approach,<br />
we can<br />
make sure<br />
that every<br />
American<br />
is covered<br />
by the basic insurance. Whether<br />
we have a public plan or a notfor-profit<br />
co-operative to compete<br />
with the private sector is<br />
not of such paramount importance,<br />
when we focus on the a<br />
more monumental issue such<br />
as providing affordable healthcare<br />
coverage to all Americans.<br />
I strongly believe there should<br />
be competition; not a monopoly<br />
either by the insurance industry<br />
or the government.<br />
Catastrophic coverage: Let<br />
the Federal government, along<br />
with private sector if they desire<br />
to participate in, pick up<br />
the catastrophic coverage beyond<br />
$50,000 or $100,000, for<br />
all citizens. I believe part of the<br />
premium received by the insurers<br />
for the basic coverage has to<br />
be passed on to the catastrophic<br />
plan.<br />
When people lose their jobs<br />
they should be able to continue<br />
with their insurance coverage. If<br />
they cannot afford due to hardship,<br />
the catastrophic coverage<br />
should pick-up their premiums,<br />
as it is done in Germany.<br />
Make each employer pay for<br />
his employees or pay health tax.<br />
This will fund the catastrophic<br />
pool, which can provide coverage<br />
to those who cannot afford<br />
basic coverage.<br />
Remove the pre-existing stipulations<br />
from all insurance policies<br />
and replace them with ratings<br />
as it is done for automobile<br />
insurances.<br />
Introduce DRG (diagnoses related<br />
groups) system of payment<br />
to all healthcare services<br />
not only for hospitals, but also<br />
for physicians, and all ancillary<br />
medical services that can reduce<br />
the healthcare costs.<br />
Hold physicians accountable<br />
for their billing practices. At<br />
present, any doctor can bill for<br />
any service under the Medicare<br />
system. Each physician should<br />
be credentialed to bill only for<br />
those services (CPT codes)<br />
for which they are trained and<br />
qualified. This will reduce the<br />
costs by minimizing the duplication<br />
of tests when patients go<br />
from PCP to specialists.<br />
A new antibiotic may cost well<br />
over $100. If you have an insurance<br />
plan, you may pay only<br />
$10, and if you do not have<br />
insurance, you either pay the<br />
full amount or suffer. The most<br />
widely prescribed drug, Plavix<br />
(a blood thinner) costs $140 for<br />
people who have no insurance<br />
and it may cost only $20-30<br />
for those who have insurance<br />
plans. Is it not a social inequality<br />
or injustice<br />
We should also create a not-forprofit<br />
Pharmacy co-operative<br />
that can collectively bargain on<br />
behalf of millions of uninsured<br />
people who have to pay cash<br />
for their prescriptions.<br />
The not-for-profit co-operative,<br />
through membership, can introduce<br />
benefits that are enjoyed by<br />
the rich and famous who have<br />
prescription plans, where they<br />
have to pay only $10 to $30 for<br />
drugs that would normally cost<br />
$150 for people who do not have<br />
prescription plans and have to<br />
pay cash.<br />
It is hard to imagine that a drug<br />
manufactured by the same company<br />
would cost much less in<br />
Canada than it would in the United<br />
States.<br />
Medicare fraud costs billions<br />
of dollars each year. Let us introduce<br />
a Health-Zar to go after<br />
those people and institutions that<br />
defraud the Medicare and Medicaid<br />
systems and put them out of<br />
business.<br />
City and municipalities use the<br />
services of local legal firms to<br />
collect taxes, penalties, interest,<br />
and legal fees. The same approach<br />
can be used to monitor Medicare<br />
and Medicaid frauds.<br />
This will not cost the Federal<br />
government anything and they<br />
should be able to recover billions<br />
of dollars that can be used to fund<br />
the catastrophic pool Introduce a<br />
health commission consisting of<br />
representatives from the physicians,<br />
hospitals, pharmaceutical<br />
industry, and others to periodically<br />
review the policies and make<br />
recommendations, just as the<br />
FDA supervises the approval of<br />
new drugs.<br />
Administrative<br />
costs:<br />
The average<br />
Medicare<br />
administrative<br />
cost is<br />
3%, while<br />
it runs into<br />
15% to<br />
25% of each<br />
healthcare<br />
premium<br />
dollar collected from patients.<br />
Simplification of paper work and<br />
standardization of information required<br />
by different providers can<br />
simplify the paper work for patients,<br />
doctors, and hospitals and<br />
reduce the overall costs.<br />
Regulation of the healthcare industry<br />
and holding it more accountable<br />
to the public needs<br />
will also help to increasing the<br />
number of people insured and<br />
at the same time reducing the<br />
overall healthcare cost.<br />
There has been an explosive<br />
proliferation of healthcare<br />
centers especially in the major<br />
cities which adds to the<br />
healthcare costs.<br />
There has to be some type of<br />
regulation so that we do not<br />
have a replication of an image<br />
of four gas stations at each<br />
major intersection, by chains<br />
of hospitals having branches<br />
at every major intersection.<br />
Technology comes with its<br />
own cost. The more technology<br />
we use the more it adds<br />
to the healthcare costs without<br />
necessarily improving the<br />
quality of life in every incidence.<br />
In line with promoting more<br />
primary care specialists and<br />
covering the rural areas can<br />
help to provide the much<br />
needed healthcare coverage<br />
and to possibly detect health<br />
problems at the earliest stages<br />
that can be treated with less<br />
expensive options.<br />
Promoting preventive treatments<br />
and early diagnosis of<br />
cancers and chronic disease<br />
would reduce the overall<br />
healthcare costs. That means<br />
certain screening tests such as<br />
routine mammograms, colonoscopies,<br />
and stress tests<br />
etc., should be part of a comprehensive<br />
healthcare package.<br />
In conclusion, if the government<br />
introduces the two step<br />
insurance program, provide<br />
low cost pharmacy benefits<br />
to those uninsured people, reduce<br />
Medicare fraud, and administrative<br />
costs, we should<br />
be able to provide healthcare<br />
coverage to all Americans.<br />
Visit www.sugarlandheartcenter.com<br />
and read up on,<br />
“Nikam’s Diet,” which has<br />
numerous articles on a hearthealthy<br />
diet.<br />
Nik Nikam, M.D. P: 281-265-<br />
7567<br />
nikam@windstream.net
<strong>Michigan</strong> <strong>South</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> MARCH <strong>2011</strong> Page 12<br />
HEALTH SPECIAL<br />
Yoga: India’s Export For<br />
America’s Health Care Reform<br />
By Suhas Pinnaka, M.D.<br />
Modern medical science now recognizes that conventional allopathic medicine cannot treat everything,<br />
especially chronic illnesses. It is a well-known fact that most allopathic treatments have undesirable<br />
side effects; some are even health and/or life-threatening.<br />
For this reason the National Institutes of Health’s National Center for Complementary and Alternative<br />
Medicine (NCCAM) has been studying alternative systems of medicine. Research has revealed that<br />
traditional, non-allopathic systems and practices have much to offer to achieve holistic health care.<br />
While the allopathic approach mainly tries to treat the disease, traditional systems work towards improving<br />
a person’s overall wellbeing. The medical establishment has been slow to acknowledge this<br />
advantage, but now there is a movement to promote traditional health care systems.<br />
This concept is very important, especially for family physicians as they are the first contact for patients.<br />
A pilot program has been launched at ten Family Medicine Residency Programs in the United<br />
States, to teach future Family Physicians about Complimentary and Alternative systems of Medicine.<br />
I am one of the fortunate people to be part of a program that prepares doctors to provide better services<br />
to patients by instructing them about these traditional systems of Medicine.<br />
Yoga is an example of a holistic medical system that was developed in India. Yoga is considered a<br />
“mind-body medicine” in that it employs a variety of techniques designed to enhance the mind’s capacity<br />
to affect bodily function and symptoms. As a regular practitioner of Isha Yoga, I often recommend<br />
that my patients take a yoga course when they are looking for simple preventative health and<br />
wellness programs. If properly taught and practiced, yoga can be a modern antidote that addresses<br />
the most common health concerns in today’s society, everything from stress and anxiety to chronic<br />
ailments such as diabetes, heart disease and allergies.<br />
Although it has not been determined by modern science what changes occur in the body during yoga,<br />
the founder of Isha Yoga, Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev has explained that “Yoga is the science of activating<br />
your inner energies in such a way that your body, mind and emotions function at their highest<br />
peak. When your body and mind function in a completely different state of relaxation and a certain<br />
level of blissfulness, you can be released from so many things that most people are suffering from.”<br />
After attending a yoga program, many participants come out of chronic ailments they had struggled<br />
with for years. A research team recently conducted a survey of people who have completed Isha’s Inner<br />
Engineering program in the last six years. Over 500 respondents self-reported on physical, mental<br />
and emotional well-being as well as medication usage for some of the most common health concerns.<br />
The report illustrates the benefits of a yoga program, for example:<br />
• 95% of those suffering from depression reported improvement of symptoms after beginning<br />
the practice<br />
• 75% reported an improvement of back pain symptoms<br />
• 49% of those taking thyroid medication noted a reduction in dosage or discontinuation of<br />
medication<br />
One respondent, Micheal Gremly, the CEO of Voice Prism, related that, “The results I have been<br />
achieving from the Isha practice have been nothing less than phenomenal. Incredibly severe allergies<br />
and acid reflux that I suffered since childhood completely vanished, my cholesterol dropped 35 points,<br />
and my blood pressure significantly reduced. From August 2009 to <strong>Mar</strong>ch 2010, I lost 45 pounds,<br />
stopped using caffeine, artificial sweetener, and alcohol. I wasn’t necessarily trying to do any of these<br />
things, Inner Engineering has had such a positive impact on my entire system that I no longer need<br />
external substances to feel great.”<br />
As a support and alternative to your allopathic medicine treatment plan, ask your doctor to recommend<br />
a meditation or yoga practice. It’s just what this doctor orders.<br />
Suhas Pinnaka, M.D.<br />
Resident in Family and Integrative Medicine<br />
Family Medicine Institute<br />
Augusta, ME<br />
‘Walk’ Away From Cancer<br />
With more than 10 million new<br />
cases worldwide every year,<br />
cancer continues to be increasing<br />
its global burden and a major<br />
cause of morbidity and mortality.<br />
Cancer is now viewed as<br />
a chronic illness requiring longterm<br />
management. Rehabilitation<br />
of cancer survivors is<br />
hence a major concern.<br />
Improved functional status is<br />
one of the chief objectives in<br />
the rehabilitation of cancer<br />
survivors. Evidence that cancer<br />
patients may benefit from<br />
physical exercise programmes<br />
is piling up. Walking, the most<br />
common form of exercise is<br />
a major component of daily<br />
physical activity. 10,000 steps<br />
a day have been found to be of<br />
value in maintaining desired<br />
health benefits among healthy<br />
individuals. Higher levels of<br />
physical activity are known to<br />
be associated with reduced risk<br />
of overall mortality.<br />
A number of new techniques<br />
like the use of pedometers or<br />
microprocessor-based accelerometer<br />
recorders are now available<br />
to ‘measure’ how much<br />
an individual actually walks<br />
in daily life. There is evidence<br />
that the use of activity monitors<br />
may increase physical activity<br />
levels. Activity monitors have<br />
gained huge popularity as a<br />
tool for motivating patients and<br />
monitoring physical activity.<br />
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A systematic review was conducted<br />
to summarize the currently<br />
available evidence on<br />
the effect of physical activity<br />
interventions in boosting daily<br />
walking behavior in cancer<br />
survivors. The reviewed studies<br />
included 660 participants.<br />
Details were collected from five<br />
randomised controlled trials.<br />
Combined physical activity and<br />
counseling was found to improvedaily<br />
step activity in cancer<br />
survivors. Activity monitors<br />
are effective in improving daily<br />
walking activity. A realistic step<br />
goal has to be set though. For<br />
example a breast cancer survivor<br />
may set his goal to 7409<br />
steps/day; 8008 steps/day aid<br />
individuals with type 1 diabetes.<br />
Activity monitors that help individuals<br />
to keep a track on the<br />
daily step count work as motivator<br />
tools. They prompt people<br />
to walk more and thus help<br />
them stay healthier. The use of<br />
such devices helps to achieve<br />
sustained levels of physical activity<br />
in cancer patients. Physical<br />
activity is known to reduce<br />
the risk of developing a number<br />
of cancers like that of the colon,<br />
breasts, lung, prostate, and endometrium.<br />
The results of perhaps the first<br />
systematic review of its kind<br />
were published in BMC Cancer,<br />
a leading open access journal.<br />
The authors admit that the study<br />
was not devoid of limitations;<br />
future studies based on larger<br />
randomised controlled studies<br />
are warranted.
Page 13 MARCH <strong>2011</strong> <strong>Michigan</strong> <strong>South</strong> <strong>Asian</strong><br />
Changing Traditions Through Fashion<br />
By Jennifer Neale<br />
January 23, <strong>2011</strong><br />
Fashion Shows always light the<br />
imagination of people who love<br />
to wrap themselves in beauty,<br />
and often raise<br />
money for<br />
good causes.<br />
Rarely, however,<br />
do they<br />
celebrate<br />
the dramatic<br />
changes in the<br />
lives of young<br />
girls, whose<br />
futures had<br />
been determined<br />
by traditions,<br />
thousands<br />
of years<br />
old, before the<br />
Mijwan Welfare<br />
Society.<br />
The Mijwan<br />
Fashion Show<br />
that took place<br />
in Mumbai, on<br />
January 23, <strong>2011</strong>, was created<br />
by Shabana Azmi, a five time<br />
winner of the National Film<br />
Award for Best Actress. The<br />
event showed the elegant designs<br />
by Manesh Malhotra to<br />
300 guests. They were worn by<br />
23 Bollywood<br />
stars,<br />
and 20 top<br />
models in<br />
a most special<br />
way<br />
to recognize<br />
her<br />
father, who<br />
inspired<br />
her, and<br />
the people<br />
who helped<br />
make a difference<br />
in<br />
Mijwan.<br />
“My father,<br />
Kaif Azmi,<br />
was a rare<br />
poet who<br />
practiced<br />
what he preached in life,” says<br />
Shabana Azmi.” After getting<br />
a paralytic stroke which incapacitated<br />
his left arm and let, he<br />
gave up the comforts of Mumbai<br />
and settled Mijwan, a village<br />
frozen in time.<br />
“Today, Mijwan is becoming a<br />
model village, but it was an arduous<br />
journey. I remember ask-<br />
ing him how he did not become<br />
frustrated when change would<br />
not occur at the pace he wanted,<br />
and he answered with calmly.<br />
‘When working for change, you<br />
should<br />
build<br />
into that<br />
expectation<br />
that<br />
change<br />
might not<br />
happen<br />
in your<br />
lifetime,<br />
but this<br />
should<br />
not stop<br />
your efforts,<br />
even if<br />
they happen<br />
after<br />
you.’”<br />
K a i f<br />
Azmi’s<br />
words<br />
were correct, and became the<br />
mantra of Shabana. The Mijwan<br />
Welfare Society now has<br />
four Training Centers, and is<br />
responsible for<br />
changing a tradition that viewed<br />
their daughters as 2nd class, did<br />
not<br />
provide<br />
them any<br />
education,<br />
and tradition<br />
called<br />
for their<br />
marriages<br />
to be<br />
arranged at<br />
the age of<br />
12 or 13.<br />
Dr. Nilima<br />
Sabharwal,<br />
the Founder<br />
of Home<br />
of Hope,<br />
was one of<br />
the people<br />
who helped<br />
move Mijwan<br />
forward. The two women<br />
met at a party hosted by a mutual<br />
friend in San Francisco, in<br />
2000.<br />
When Dr. Sabharwal learned<br />
that there was a very little<br />
school there that taught a few<br />
young girls to sew, she was anxious<br />
to visit this village on her<br />
next trip to India.<br />
97Pc Of Women Have At Least One<br />
‘’I Hate My Body’’ Moment Daily<br />
London, Feb 23 (ANI): Almost<br />
every woman has felt insecure<br />
about her body at some point in<br />
her life. But a new survey has<br />
revealed that it happens much<br />
more than one would imagine.<br />
A staggering 97 per cent of<br />
women have at least one negative<br />
thought about their bodies<br />
every day, according to the poll<br />
of 300 women commissioned<br />
by Glamour magazine, reports<br />
the Daily Mail.<br />
The survey found some have<br />
over 100 negative or anxious<br />
thoughts about their body<br />
shape, though on average there<br />
were 13 - almost one for every<br />
waking hour.<br />
Psychologist Ann Kearney-<br />
Cooke, who conducted the survey,<br />
said of the results: “That<br />
is a lot, yet I’m not totally surprised.<br />
“It’s become such an accepted<br />
norm to put yourself down that<br />
if someone says she likes her<br />
body, she’s the odd woman out.<br />
“I was in a group discussion<br />
recently, and when one woman<br />
said, ‘I actually feel OK about<br />
the way I look,’ another woman<br />
scrunched up her face and said,<br />
‘I have never in my whole life<br />
heard anyone say that - and I’m<br />
not sure I even believe you.’<br />
“That’s how pervasive this negative<br />
body talk is. It’s actually<br />
more acceptable to insult your<br />
body than to praise it.<br />
“Friends getting together and<br />
tearing themselves down is<br />
such a common thing that it’s<br />
hard to avoid.” (ANI)<br />
Parenting Stress Affects Postpartum<br />
Lifestyle Of New Moms: Study<br />
Parenting stress affects postpartum lifestyle of new moms: Study Home<br />
Washington, Feb 23 (ANI): Georgia Health Sciences University researchers say that post-pregnancy<br />
excess weight is likely caused by the impact of new parenthood stress on physical activity.<br />
In order to emphasize the probable correlation between new parenthood stress and physical activity,<br />
the researchers analysed 60 first-time mothers.<br />
They then linked higher post-pregnancy BMI to a combination of a high BMI before pregnancy, excessive<br />
weight gain during pregnancy, parenting stress and a sedentary lifestyle.<br />
The parental stress was gauged by asking study subjects whether they felt like having less time for<br />
themselves and if they enjoyed being a parent.<br />
They were also made to recall their physical activity over the previous 24 hours, dividing that activity<br />
from light to vigorous.<br />
“Sedentary lifestyle, or a low amount of physical activity, was most influenced by the type of parenting<br />
stress the mothers reported,” said Deborah Young-Hyman, behavioural psychologist with the Georgia<br />
Prevention Institute.<br />
“More parenting stress, especially depression, was associated with less physical activity and a higher<br />
postpartum BMI,” she added.<br />
Interestingly, the researchers found that social interaction, generally considered a measure of well being,<br />
is correlated with a higher BMI.<br />
“We think women are socializing with their friends, not isolating themselves, but they are doing sedentary<br />
things like talking on the phone, watching television or hanging out at home, instead of taking<br />
their babies on a walk together,” said Young-Hyman.<br />
New mothers with a higher BMI apparently endured more depressive symptoms, but overall felt competent<br />
as parents.<br />
Those with lower BMIs reported more physical activity and had less depressive symptoms.<br />
“We know that physical activity improves your mood and helps you lose weight, but no one has ever<br />
asked how physical activity is related to parenting stress in first-time moms,” Young-Hyman said.<br />
“The bottom line is that parenting stress does impact the postpartum lifestyles of new moms,” she said.<br />
The study is published in Women and Health. (ANI)
<strong>Michigan</strong> <strong>South</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> MARCH <strong>2011</strong> Page 14<br />
Suryanamaskar Yagothan <strong>2011</strong> Austin Balagokulam<br />
By Padmini Bhat<br />
The fifth annual Health for Humanity<br />
Yogathon organized by<br />
Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh<br />
USA, Inc. (HSS) commenced<br />
on January 15, <strong>2011</strong>. 52,204<br />
Surya Namaskars in 90 different<br />
places from 26 states.<br />
In a nationwide wave or lehar,<br />
1239 participants performed total<br />
4016 sets of Surya<br />
Namaskar (13 Surya<br />
Namaskars per set)<br />
starting from the East<br />
coast and ending in the<br />
West coast between<br />
9:00 AM to 11:00<br />
AM local time. The<br />
Health for Humanity<br />
Yogathon involves a<br />
unique, nationwide<br />
effort by HSS to create<br />
awareness about yoga and<br />
its advantages in achieving a<br />
healthy body, mind, and spirit.<br />
During the two-week Yogathon,<br />
from January 15 to 30, HSS encouraged<br />
its members and others<br />
at its 140 centers across the<br />
country to perform one million<br />
repetitions of the yoga routine<br />
known as the Sun Salutation,<br />
or Surya Namaskar. 950,000<br />
Suryanamaskars over 9,000<br />
Participants is the Total count.<br />
The idea is to worship Sun-God<br />
as we awake and He rises while<br />
enjoying the physical/spiritual<br />
benefits of Surya Namaskar. It<br />
also imbibes in us a sense of ordered,<br />
disciplined life from the<br />
moment we begin our day.<br />
The Surya Namaskar yoga routine<br />
integrates simple postures<br />
of well-balanced movements in<br />
ten steps with an easy breathing<br />
technique to provide immense<br />
health benefits, whether you are<br />
a beginner or a yoga enthusiast.<br />
HSS invites everyone to learn<br />
the Surya Namaskar yoga routine,<br />
participate in the Health<br />
for Humanity Yogathon, and<br />
experience the benefits of<br />
achieving a healthy body, mind,<br />
and spirit through yoga.<br />
In Austin,newly built Sri Shirdi<br />
Sai Baba Temple, in Cedar Park<br />
hosted the inaugural event on<br />
15th Jan 211@ 9am.People<br />
from all ages were there to kick<br />
start the event.Temple Manager<br />
Craig Sastry inaguarated the<br />
event.<br />
Austin hosted Suryanamaskar<br />
event at Spice Wood Springs<br />
Library on 22 Jan <strong>2011</strong>,few<br />
people attended and started doing<br />
regularly.<br />
Pflugerville Montessori School<br />
also encouraged Suryanamaskars<br />
to their little ones.5 Years<br />
old Shakti son of Arti and<br />
Anand Ravindran was very excited<br />
to share this unique physical<br />
activity with his classmates.<br />
There was a big applause and<br />
excitement among children.<br />
Later another volunteer family<br />
children,Ashwini and Naveen<br />
Bhat,shared Suryanamaskar<br />
with their classmates at West<br />
side Elementary school.Children<br />
interacted by asking lot<br />
about ABCs of Suryanamaskars.<br />
Austin Hindu temple has<br />
recently started a Gurukulam<br />
which is attended by close to<br />
86 kids. Right after the gurukulam,<br />
all the kids (86 in number)<br />
assembled in the main temple<br />
hall for Suryanamaskar. After<br />
initial bit of stretching, we did<br />
3 rounds together as Girish ji<br />
demonstrated each posture to<br />
everyone.<br />
After this, we put on the SN<br />
video. All the kids, including as<br />
young as 5 to all the way up to<br />
13 and above, did the whole set<br />
together on the beat. The discipline<br />
in the hall was something<br />
to see and experience! This was<br />
followed by a 5-7 minute relaxation.<br />
The whole program continued<br />
for about 40 minutes.<br />
Most of the parents also joined<br />
in the later half of the program<br />
and they were excited to see<br />
their kids doing this wonderful<br />
yoga.<br />
A p a r t m e n t<br />
complexes,University of Texas<br />
Students, Austin also honoured<br />
the event with good count of<br />
Suryanamaskar towards Yogathon.<br />
With the help and support from<br />
Hindu Charities for America<br />
founder,Sri Harish kotech and<br />
Mayor of Austin felicitated the<br />
first Proclamation effort for<br />
Austin. January 29th as “Yoga<br />
Day/Surya Namaskar Day,<br />
USA.” Culmination programme<br />
was very well observed<br />
at Sri Shirdi<br />
Sai Baba Temple<br />
with the synchronization<br />
of Vedic<br />
chanting and the<br />
Suryanamaskar<br />
Performance.<br />
Here are some of<br />
the comments that<br />
we got from the<br />
Participants<br />
Smt Kamala Patel,age 78,she<br />
says doing Suryanamaskar is<br />
good routine. Smt Shobhana<br />
Kotecha says,she would like to<br />
do this regularly. Throughout<br />
these 16 days we had a feeling<br />
of an ongoing camp/festival.<br />
Everyone did SN as and when<br />
possible. Some of us replaced<br />
our regular morning treadmill<br />
run with SN. Many decided to<br />
do at least 13 Surya Namskars<br />
every morning and evening.<br />
HSS dedicated a special page<br />
and blog for Suryanamaskar<br />
and we see many good blogs<br />
from folks all over the world.<br />
A Facebook fan page also was<br />
created. Even though this did<br />
not have a lot of fans, it was<br />
good to see Suryanamaskars<br />
presence on Face book. On<br />
Twitter we saw some tweets<br />
on Yogathon, helped increase<br />
awareness of yoga amongst others.<br />
Newly developed app from<br />
Hindu college students was a<br />
very inspiring effort.<br />
Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh<br />
has a chapter in Austin at 3 locations.North<br />
Austin at Kugfu<br />
place at and University of<br />
Texas.<br />
All 2 Locations practises Surynamaskar<br />
in their regular meeting<br />
time. Would like to learn<br />
more about this unique event.<br />
Please visit. www.hssus.org.<br />
Cell Phone Use Does Affect Brain But<br />
Health Consequences Unknown<br />
Wshington, Feb 23 A new study has found that increasing use of<br />
cell phones is linked to rise in brain glucose metabolism, a marker<br />
of brain activity, in the area closest to the phone antenna – however,<br />
the clinical significance of this find is not known yet.<br />
“The dramatic worldwide increase in use of cellular telephones has<br />
prompted concerns regarding potential harmful effects of exposure<br />
to radiofrequency-modulated electromagnetic fields (RF-EMFs).<br />
Of particular concern has been the potential carcinogenic effects<br />
from the RF-EMF emissions of cell phones,” said the article.<br />
“However, epidemiologic studies of the association between cell<br />
phone use and prevalence of brain tumors have been inconsistent<br />
(some, but not all, studies showed increased risk), and the issue<br />
remains unresolved,” it said.<br />
Nora D. Volkow of the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda,<br />
Md., and colleagues conducted a study amongst 47 participants.<br />
Cell phones were placed on the left and right ears and brain imaging<br />
was performed with positron emission tomography (PET) with<br />
(18F) fluorodeoxyglucose injection, used to measure brain glucose<br />
metabolism twice, once with the right cell phone activated (sound<br />
muted) for 50 minutes (“on” condition) and once with both cell<br />
phones deactivated (“off” condition).<br />
Results showed that the on/off conditions didn’t affect the wholebrain<br />
metabolism.<br />
However, there were significant regional effects. Metabolism in the<br />
brain region closest to the antenna (orbitofrontal cortex and temporal<br />
pole) was significantly higher (approximately 7 percent) for cell<br />
phone on than for cell phone off conditions.<br />
“These results provide evidence that the human brain is sensitive<br />
to the effects of RF-EMFs from acute cell phone exposures,” the<br />
researchers write.<br />
They concluded, “Results of this study provide evidence that acute<br />
cell phone exposure affects brain metabolic activity. However,<br />
these results provide no information as to their relevance regarding<br />
potential carcinogenic effects (or lack of such effects) from chronic<br />
cell phone use.”<br />
“Further studies are needed to assess if these effects could have<br />
potential long-term harmful consequences.”<br />
The study appears in the February 23 issue of JAMA.<br />
www.<br />
<strong>Michigan</strong><br />
<strong>South</strong><br />
<strong>Asian</strong><br />
.com
Page 15 MARCH <strong>2011</strong> <strong>Michigan</strong> <strong>South</strong> <strong>Asian</strong><br />
North <strong>South</strong> Foundation – Encouraging<br />
Excellence In Education<br />
Samir Mishra, Kavya<br />
Shivashankar, Anamkika<br />
Veeramani - These three names<br />
were heard by in the last three<br />
years in May last week.<br />
These name are most familiar<br />
to <strong>South</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> Americans.<br />
Common things among these,<br />
all three were Scripss Speling<br />
bee champions from 2008 to<br />
2010 respectively but also<br />
they got basics and exposure<br />
of spelling bee contests from<br />
North <strong>South</strong> Foundation.<br />
NSF kids got top positions in<br />
Scripps spelling bee, National<br />
geography bee and Math<br />
Counts over so many years.<br />
North <strong>South</strong> Foundation was<br />
started in 1989 by Dr Ratnam<br />
chitturi to promote academic<br />
excellence among Indian<br />
American youth and also help<br />
needy and meritorious students<br />
in India by giving scholarships.<br />
North <strong>South</strong> Foundation is<br />
volunteer driven non-profit organization<br />
with zero overhead<br />
costs.<br />
Most <strong>South</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> Students<br />
who travel 20000<br />
plus miles for studies in<br />
<strong>Michigan</strong> feel home sick<br />
within the first 30 days of<br />
landing. They would love<br />
to go some place called<br />
home and talk to or spend<br />
time with a family.<br />
ADOPT A STUDENT<br />
Families interested in creating<br />
a ‘Home Away Home’ for<br />
these students can email their<br />
contact info and we will post<br />
it on <strong>Michigan</strong><strong>South</strong><strong>Asian</strong>.<br />
com.<br />
Interesrted students will contact<br />
you directly.<br />
Email:<br />
info@<strong>Michigan</strong>southasian.com<br />
Foundation raises money for<br />
the scholarships through registration<br />
fees of educational<br />
contests. There are 16 chapters<br />
in India for North <strong>South</strong><br />
Foundation to seek and process<br />
the applications from the poor<br />
and merit students who are applying<br />
for colleges. Amount of<br />
$250 scholarship per year is given<br />
to the qualified applicants to<br />
complete their education. Past<br />
recipients of college scholarships<br />
in India and now helping<br />
the foundation in USA is a big<br />
testimony of its good work.<br />
North <strong>South</strong> Foundation has<br />
got about 80 chapters in USA<br />
and five in <strong>Michigan</strong>. To promote<br />
learning and excellence<br />
among Indian American youth,<br />
regional educational contests<br />
are conducted during <strong>Mar</strong>ch to<br />
April over three weekends in the<br />
entire country.<br />
Spelling bee, Math, Vocabulary,<br />
Geography, Science, Public<br />
speaking and essay writing are<br />
the contests conducted in Junior,<br />
Intermediate and Senior categories.<br />
Based on national cut<br />
off score, top 100 kids in each<br />
contest are being invited for National<br />
finals usually conducted<br />
in August, September. National<br />
finals are held in a selected city<br />
every year.<br />
This year national finals will<br />
be conducted in San Jose. It is<br />
planned to host 2012 national finals<br />
in University of <strong>Michigan</strong>,<br />
Ann Arbor.<br />
In regional contests, all the participants<br />
are appreciated with<br />
ribbons and medals on the stage<br />
to keep their self esteem and<br />
for their efforts of learning. The<br />
foundation emphasizes and promotes<br />
the joy of learning and<br />
competing on one’s own abilities<br />
to excel with hard work.<br />
For Spelling and vocabulary<br />
bee contests, preparation of the<br />
given 1000 words itself is an<br />
education and learning process<br />
for the participants.<br />
All the preparation resources,<br />
syllabus with sample questions<br />
for the contests is available in<br />
the web site.<br />
Detroit chapter is one of the biggest<br />
chapters in the country with<br />
large number of contest participants<br />
for the last five years. Ann<br />
Arbor, Lansing, Grand Rapids<br />
and Kalamazoo are other chapters<br />
in <strong>Michigan</strong> which conducts<br />
educational bee contests.<br />
Regional chapters also conduct<br />
workshops to give learning<br />
exposure to the participants.<br />
<strong>South</strong> east <strong>Michigan</strong> chapters<br />
are conducting Spelling bee<br />
workshop on Saturday <strong>Mar</strong>ch<br />
12th in Farmington Hills library<br />
auditorium. Mr Shivashankar<br />
Mirle from Kansas City will<br />
be conducting the workshop.<br />
He is coach and dad of Kavya<br />
Shivashnkar, 2009 Scripps<br />
Spelling bee champion. Preregistration<br />
is needed for attending<br />
the workshop.<br />
Regional contests are scheduled<br />
to be conducted on Apr<br />
9th,10th,30th and May 1st for<br />
Detroit, Ann Arbor and Lansing<br />
chapters. Registration for<br />
the workshop and registrations<br />
is through the web site www.<br />
northsouth.org.<br />
Contest schedule can bee seen<br />
with the following link:<br />
Testimonials from scholarship<br />
recipients:<br />
http://www.northsouth.org/public/uscontests/regionals/regionals.aspx<br />
http://www.northsouth.org/public/USContests/Regionals/calendar.aspxstate=MI<br />
http://www.northsouth.org/public/india/testimonials.aspx#<br />
Washington, Feb.15<br />
A majority of Americans consider<br />
China as the world’s leading<br />
economic power.<br />
In a recent poll conducted by<br />
Applying Make-Up While Driving ‘More<br />
Distracting Than Using Cell Phone’<br />
Sydney, Feb 9<br />
A new study has revealed that applying make-up or reading a map<br />
behind the wheel could be far more distracting than talking on the<br />
mobile phone.<br />
The Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, which compiled the<br />
year-long research, said putting on make-up increased a driver’’s<br />
crash risk threefold and texting in a phone number 2.8 times, but<br />
talking or listening in a phone call only 1.3 times, reports the<br />
Sydney Morning Herald.<br />
The researchers installed cameras and sensors in 100 vehicles to<br />
collect 43,000 hours of driving data over more than 3 million km<br />
so they could study real-world driving conditions.<br />
Although talking on a phone did not significantly increase crash<br />
risk, a driver must take several risk-increasing steps to use the<br />
device. Reaching for a phone, headset or earpiece and keying in a<br />
number increased the risk by five to six times.<br />
The difference between high risk and low risk involved the amount<br />
of visual distraction, said the study published in the US in 2009.<br />
However, <strong>Mar</strong>k Stevenson, an epidemiologist who studies driving<br />
distractions, said naturalistic car studies were valuable but the<br />
results could be misleading.<br />
Read <strong>South</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> Online News<br />
www.southasiannewspapers.com<br />
More Than Half Of Americans Consider<br />
China As World’s Leading Economic Power<br />
Gallup, fifty-two percent chose<br />
China while 32 percent chose<br />
the United States as the world’s<br />
top economic power.<br />
Seven percent<br />
pointed to<br />
Japan, while<br />
the remaining<br />
options, that<br />
included Russia<br />
and India,<br />
were chosen<br />
by three percent<br />
or less.<br />
However, in<br />
2009 Americans<br />
were<br />
nearly split on which country<br />
was the dominant economic<br />
power, with 39 percent choosing<br />
China and 37 percent choosing<br />
the United States. Whereas<br />
65 percent chose US, while<br />
just ten percent chose China, in<br />
2000, says the Gallup polls.<br />
On a poll question asking which<br />
country would be the world’’s<br />
leading economic power in 20<br />
years, forty-seven percent of<br />
Americans said China, while<br />
35 percent pointed to their own<br />
country, the Washington Post<br />
reports.<br />
China overtook Japan on Monday<br />
as the world’’s second-largest<br />
economy.
<strong>Michigan</strong> <strong>South</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> MARCH <strong>2011</strong> Page 16<br />
Community Calendar<br />
FEBRUARY <strong>2011</strong> Community Calendar<br />
We have compiled this event listing based on the information available on the web site (where ever possible) of the community/organization as of third Friday. Please<br />
check with the organizers to confirm its accuracy. We request all <strong>South</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> organizations to email us (info@michigansouthasian.com) their community calendar on or<br />
before 20th of every month, for the events happening next month. We will carry listing of all <strong>South</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> non-profit organizations in <strong>Michigan</strong>. If the Name, Contact<br />
info is not correct or has changed email us (info@michigansouthasian.com) the changes you want to see. E&OE.<br />
SCHEDULE:<br />
<strong>Mar</strong>ch 10, Thursday,<br />
05:30 PM - 08:30 PM,<br />
Comerica Bank, Charter Township<br />
of Canton, and Miller<br />
Canfield,In partnership with<br />
APACC presents Win-Win<br />
<strong>Michigan</strong>: Embracing U.S. &<br />
Asia Business Growth in <strong>2011</strong><br />
is at Summit on the Park, 46000<br />
Summit Parkway, Canton, MI.<br />
For more information, contact<br />
Sarah Lalone at 248-844-4100/<br />
email at sarah@apacc.net. To<br />
register the event: Win-Win<br />
<strong>Michigan</strong>: Embracing U.S. &<br />
Asia Business Growth in <strong>2011</strong>.<br />
<strong>Mar</strong>ch 11, Friday,<br />
Enjoy Gujarati play - DIKRI<br />
NO. 1 - FREE LIGHT DIN-<br />
NER ASHIESH TIKEWALA<br />
PRESENTS Paresh Rawal live<br />
on stage in a hilariously entertaining<br />
and sensationally<br />
shocking hindi play is at Millenium<br />
Center, 15600 JL Hudson<br />
Drive, <strong>South</strong>field, MI 48075.<br />
Tickets are available at $25,<br />
$35, $50, $75, $100 (VIP).<br />
For more information, contact<br />
ASHIESH TIKEWALA at<br />
(248) 895-3926/ aeshows@usa.<br />
com; SHASHANK DESAI at<br />
(508) 954-6433.<br />
<strong>Mar</strong>ch 12, Saturday,<br />
11:00 AM - 04:00 PM,<br />
<strong>Michigan</strong> Regional Chapters<br />
Announce Spelling Bee Workshop<br />
at Auditorium, Farmington<br />
Hills public library, 32737<br />
W. 12 Mile Road, Farmington<br />
Hills, MI 48334. Registration<br />
Closes on <strong>Mar</strong>ch 4th <strong>2011</strong> or<br />
whenever all spots are filled.<br />
IT PAYS TO<br />
ADVERTISE IN<br />
MICHIGAN<br />
SOUTH ASIAN<br />
248-677-5523<br />
HAPPY<br />
<strong>Mar</strong>ch 03 Mahashivratri<br />
<strong>Mar</strong>ch 08 Womens Day<br />
<strong>Mar</strong>ch 20 Holi<br />
<strong>Mar</strong>ch 20 Hola Mohalla<br />
<strong>Mar</strong>ch 21<br />
Navroz<br />
<strong>Mar</strong>ch 28 Khordad Sa<br />
Admission is only for pre-registered<br />
participants, no onsite<br />
registration. The registration<br />
fee is $30. For further information<br />
please contact: Srinivas R<br />
Gudeti, sgudeti@gmail.com<br />
248-471-6966 (Eve); Dr Raj<br />
Jayachandran, chand48187@<br />
gmail.com (Detroit Chapter);<br />
Dr. Ranga Ranganathan<br />
ranga6201@gmail.com (Ann<br />
Arbor Chapter); Raj Nukala<br />
rvnukala@gmail.com (Lansing<br />
Chapter).<br />
<strong>Mar</strong>ch 12, Saturday,<br />
08:00 PM,<br />
Hilarious Gujarati Play - Lo<br />
Gujjubhai Ghode Chadiya is at<br />
Millenium Theatre, SOUNTH-<br />
FIELD, MI.Group discounts<br />
and Senior discounts are available.<br />
For tickets and more details,<br />
contact Bhushan Modi<br />
(248) 640-0465; Chandrika Patel<br />
(248) 756 9057; Pratik Shah<br />
(248) 943-2200; Rakesh Patel<br />
(248) 875 9952.<br />
<strong>Mar</strong>ch 20, Sunday,<br />
Positive Parenting in Two Cultures<br />
is at Novi Northville Montessori<br />
Center, 23835 Novi Rd,<br />
Novi, MI 48375. To regiser,<br />
email monab@maifamilyservices.com<br />
or call (248)477-<br />
4985.<br />
April 16, Saturday,<br />
Study Examines What Employers<br />
Are Really Looking For<br />
In Candidates<br />
Washington, Feb 23<br />
A new study from Oklahoma<br />
State University reveals the attributes<br />
employers find important<br />
in a candidate, and how<br />
they measure these skills.<br />
Researchers conducted a study<br />
of more than 450 college graduate<br />
employers.<br />
They found that the top three<br />
qualities employers value in the<br />
agribusiness industry are communication<br />
skills, critical thinking<br />
skills, and writing skills.<br />
Employers were asked which<br />
signals best illustrate the five<br />
attributes being tested: number<br />
crunching ability, character,<br />
communication skills, problem<br />
solving skills, and ability to<br />
work well with others.<br />
Results indicated that internships<br />
and majors related to the<br />
job were highly rated signals, as<br />
well as foreign language skills<br />
and interviewing skills.<br />
And though excellent grades<br />
were not ranked as high as other<br />
skills and experiences, they are<br />
still important.<br />
“Each student should strategically<br />
acquire accomplishments<br />
and qualifications which are<br />
both valued by employers and<br />
consistent with the student’’’’s<br />
preferences, goals, and talents,”<br />
says Bailey Norwood, one of<br />
the study’’’’s authors.<br />
Norwood added that grades, extracurricular<br />
activities, leadership<br />
positions, internships, and<br />
awards speak for an individual<br />
as a whole.<br />
However, he said that the study<br />
wasn’t without its faults.<br />
According to Norwood, “It is<br />
important not to allow summaries<br />
of survey statistics obscure<br />
the fact that each employer is<br />
different, and there is no one<br />
perfect college graduate.”<br />
Troy Telugu Association is organizing<br />
a beautiful fun filled<br />
UGADI Cultural Event at<br />
TROY HIGH SCHOOL. Send<br />
the entries at the earliest with<br />
the following details:<br />
1. Type of the Event (Dance,<br />
Skit, Song etc.). If it is a<br />
Dance or a Song please mentions<br />
the detail.<br />
2. Number of Participants.<br />
3. Duration of the Event.<br />
4. Name & Contact details of<br />
the Responsible person.<br />
Please send us entries to cultural@troytelugu.org<br />
by <strong>Mar</strong><br />
6th <strong>2011</strong>.<br />
FREE<br />
CLASSIFIED<br />
Birthday<br />
Greetings<br />
Wedding<br />
Anniversary<br />
Promotions<br />
Achievements<br />
25 words<br />
Email or on<br />
before<br />
15 th of every<br />
month to<br />
info@<br />
<strong>Michigan</strong><br />
<strong>South</strong><strong>Asian</strong><br />
.com
Page 17 MARCH <strong>2011</strong> <strong>Michigan</strong> <strong>South</strong> <strong>Asian</strong><br />
Earth’s Rotation, Not Human Activity<br />
Caused ‘Methane Level increase’<br />
Melbourne, Feb 7<br />
A new study has suggested that<br />
it’s not human activity but the<br />
Earth’s rotation patterns that<br />
caused an increase in methane<br />
levels 5000 years ago.<br />
Dr Joy Singarayer of the University<br />
of Bristol, and colleagues,<br />
suggest changes in the<br />
Earth’’s orbit and precession,<br />
not agriculture, played a major<br />
part.<br />
The team used computer models,<br />
used to estimate future climatic<br />
conditions, to trace back<br />
over the past 130,000 years and<br />
then used this data to estimate<br />
vegetation types, and hence<br />
methane production, across the<br />
planet.<br />
Singarayer and colleagues<br />
found the output of their models<br />
matched with measurements of<br />
methane from ice cores taken in<br />
Greenland.<br />
“What we found was that our<br />
models were able to reproduce<br />
both the decrease that was seen<br />
around 100,000 years ago and<br />
the increase we’’ve seen in the<br />
last 5000 years, without having<br />
to invoke human induced<br />
emissions through agriculture,”<br />
ABC Science quoted Paul Valdes,<br />
also of the University of<br />
Bristol, as saying.<br />
According to Valdes, the computer<br />
models showed wetlands<br />
in the <strong>South</strong>ern Hemisphere, in<br />
particular <strong>South</strong> America, were<br />
the source of the additional<br />
methane.<br />
“This was based on the fact that<br />
this had some of the biggest<br />
changes in monsoon and because<br />
the land area is so large,”<br />
he said.<br />
Valdes added that given the<br />
models “did a good job of simulating<br />
past changes in methane<br />
... [it] will maybe give us a little<br />
more confidence that the computer<br />
models are working correctly<br />
and therefore more<br />
believable for future predictions.”<br />
CSIRO <strong>Mar</strong>ine and Atmospheric<br />
Research scientist,<br />
Dr David Etheridge<br />
said, “[They] did a<br />
reasonably good global<br />
climate simulation across<br />
those periods. They don’’t<br />
rule out early anthropogenic<br />
causes, but they<br />
say that it can still be explained<br />
from wetlands.”<br />
He says one of the concerns for<br />
the future is how feedback of<br />
atmospheric methane may amplify<br />
global warming, and that<br />
studies like this will help us better<br />
understand the releases of<br />
methane that can cause them.<br />
The study was published in Nature.<br />
New York Cab Driver Awarded For<br />
Returning $100K Worth Of Valuables<br />
London, Feb 16<br />
A New York City taxi driver,<br />
who returned 100,000 dollars<br />
worth of jewellery and cash that<br />
had been left in the back seat of<br />
his cab, has been awarded.<br />
According to the Wall Street<br />
Journal, Zubiru Jalloh, the taxi<br />
driver, noticed the bundle of<br />
valuables that had been left<br />
behind by John James after he<br />
was dropped off at the National<br />
Arts Club in Gramercy Park, as<br />
he was picking up his next customer.<br />
“I had another fare and when<br />
I opened the back door to help<br />
the customer, I realised the<br />
white bag was inside,” the Telegraph<br />
quoted Jalloh as saying.<br />
“I saw inside, pictures and jewellery<br />
and some money, 229<br />
MEN CAN COOK!<br />
Email your recipe with your photos and see yourself in print<br />
Info@<strong>Michigan</strong>southasian.com<br />
dollars, some paperwork and<br />
some artwork,” he told the Fox<br />
5 news channel.<br />
Jalloh took the bag home for<br />
safekeeping and said he was<br />
confident that James would contact<br />
him because he had given<br />
him a receipt.<br />
With the help of a friend in city<br />
government and the receipt<br />
James was able to track down<br />
Jalloh and was swiftly reunited<br />
with his valuable bag.<br />
James offered Jalloh 10 100<br />
dollar bills as a reward, which<br />
he reluctantly accepted, and<br />
invited him to the club’s Valentine’s<br />
Day party.<br />
But Jalloh declined the invitation,<br />
saying his Muslim faith<br />
told him to return someone<br />
else’s property.<br />
Shankar Mahadevan Launches<br />
By Baiju NT [February 11,<br />
<strong>2011</strong>]<br />
India’s multiple National Film<br />
award winning music composer<br />
and singer Shankar Mahadevan<br />
has launched an online music<br />
academy, available onwww.<br />
shankarmahadevanacademy.<br />
com.<br />
Mahadevan has tied up with<br />
Clood On, a provider of virtual<br />
learning software, for this<br />
project to provide step-by-step<br />
training to students of all age<br />
groups living in the US.<br />
Online Music Academy<br />
“I noticed that in Indian classical<br />
music, the teaching methods<br />
are very unstructured. You cannot<br />
put it down in points anywhere.<br />
Whereas, if you go to Berkeley<br />
College of Music or Juilliard<br />
School just to learn the trumpet,<br />
for example, everything is<br />
structured,” said Mahadevan.<br />
Apart from the theory lessons,<br />
Mahadevan has<br />
also roped in<br />
teachers to take<br />
live classes online.<br />
“We are replicating<br />
two<br />
aspects of any<br />
form of learning<br />
when you<br />
go to a college:<br />
you have a textbook<br />
and you<br />
have a teacher standing in front<br />
of you.<br />
We have created a textbook OM<br />
(Online Music) Book, which<br />
can be accessible all the time,<br />
plus classes with a teacher are<br />
scheduled at a specific time so<br />
that you can virtually interact<br />
with her,” he said.<br />
The academy offers courses in<br />
Hindustani as well as Carnatic<br />
music.<br />
Each course lasts 12 weeks, and<br />
costs $240 as an introductory<br />
offer. Starting April, the course<br />
fee will be $300.<br />
The first batch of classes will<br />
begin on Mahadevan’s birthday,<br />
<strong>Mar</strong>ch 3.<br />
Read<br />
<strong>South</strong><br />
<strong>Asian</strong><br />
Online<br />
News<br />
www.<br />
palepages.<br />
com
<strong>Michigan</strong> <strong>South</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> MARCH <strong>2011</strong> Page 18<br />
Outdoor Exercise Healthier<br />
Than Gym Workouts<br />
London, Feb 7<br />
A new study has found that going<br />
for a run outdoors is better<br />
than exercising in the gym because<br />
it has a positive impact<br />
on mental, as well as physical<br />
health.<br />
The study found that exercise<br />
in natural environments was<br />
linked to greater feelings of revitalization,<br />
increased energy<br />
and positive engagement, reports<br />
the Telegraph.<br />
Also levels of tension, confusion,<br />
anger and depression were<br />
lowered by exercising outside.<br />
A team at the Peninsula College<br />
of Medicine and Dentistry<br />
looked at data from sources<br />
including 11 trials involving<br />
833 adults.<br />
All compared<br />
the<br />
relative<br />
merits of<br />
outdoor<br />
exercise<br />
compared<br />
to indoors.<br />
A p a r t<br />
from improved<br />
mental<br />
health<br />
benefits, the study also reported<br />
greater enjoyment from exercising<br />
outside, and a higher<br />
likelihood of continuing with<br />
the exercise regime.<br />
The study has been published<br />
in the journal Environmental<br />
Science and Technology.<br />
A Family That Plays Together Really Does Stay Together<br />
Washington, Feb 15<br />
Most of us are familiar with an<br />
old adage ‘A family that plays<br />
together stays together’. Now, a<br />
new study has confirmed this old<br />
maxim.<br />
Researchers from Concordia<br />
University and Wilfrid Laurier<br />
University have identified that<br />
recreation emerged as<br />
the glue sealing bonds<br />
between grandparents<br />
and grandchildren.<br />
“Leisure is vital in the<br />
formation of bonds that<br />
last from generation<br />
to generation,” said<br />
lead author Shannon<br />
Hebblethwaite, a<br />
professor in Concordia<br />
University’’s<br />
Department of Applied<br />
Human Sciences.<br />
“Shared leisure time allows<br />
grandchildren and their<br />
grandparents to establish<br />
common interests that, in turn,<br />
enable them to develop strong<br />
intergenerational relationships,”<br />
she said.<br />
The study builds on previous<br />
research that found healthy<br />
intergenerational connections<br />
Dairy Products Aren’t<br />
Necessarily Bad For Your Health<br />
Washington, Fen 12:<br />
A new study has challenged<br />
the long-held beliefs about the<br />
impact of saturated<br />
fatty acids (SFA) on<br />
the risk of cardiovascular<br />
disease (CVD).<br />
Experts concluded<br />
that “single risk factors<br />
have limitations<br />
when considered on<br />
their own because<br />
the effects of diet on<br />
CVD risk are mediated<br />
by many pathways,<br />
with blood lipids<br />
being only one.”<br />
Further, the ratio of total cholesterol<br />
to HDL cholesterol is<br />
a better predictor of the effect<br />
of saturated fatty acids on CVD<br />
risk than LDL-and/or total cholesterol,<br />
as individual fatty acids<br />
have differential effects on<br />
various blood lipids.<br />
When it comes to determining<br />
the correlation between<br />
CVD and food, the entire<br />
components comprised within<br />
the food matrix may be more<br />
important than concentrating<br />
solely on fatty acids content.<br />
According to the experts, current<br />
evidence only suggests<br />
that substitution of SFA by<br />
polyunsaturated fatty acids<br />
(PUFAs), but not carbohydrates,<br />
results in a lowering of<br />
total and LDL cholesterol.<br />
“However, even this conclusion<br />
isn’’t the last word, as there is<br />
growing recognition that individual<br />
fatty acids within the<br />
PUFA category have different<br />
physiologic effects,”<br />
said Cindy Schweitzer of<br />
the Global Dairy Platform,<br />
referring to a recent analysis<br />
published in the British<br />
Journal of Nutrition.<br />
When viewed in totality,<br />
the expert group concluded<br />
that the effect of a specific<br />
food on risk of cardiovascular<br />
disease (CVD) cannot<br />
be determined on the<br />
basis of its SFA content alone<br />
and outlined specific issues that<br />
need to be addressed in future research.<br />
The findings have been published<br />
in the American Journal of Clinical<br />
Nutrition.<br />
helped grandparents age better<br />
and feel more positively about<br />
life.<br />
It is among the first to examine a<br />
cohort of grandchildren and their<br />
grandparents. “Most studies<br />
look into parenting, children or<br />
seniors. Few have examined how<br />
leisure contributes to the bonds<br />
between adult grandchildren<br />
and grandparents in the same<br />
family,” said Hebblethwaite.<br />
Sixteen retired or semi-retired<br />
grandparents, aged 65 to 89, and<br />
14 grandchildren, aged 18 to 24,<br />
took part in the study.<br />
The participants stressed how<br />
joint activities like vacations,<br />
holiday celebrations, cooking,<br />
shopping and gardening allowed<br />
them to learn from each other.<br />
Grandparents often use such<br />
get-togethers as opportunities<br />
to teach, mentor and pass on<br />
legacies.<br />
“They share family histories,<br />
personal experiences and<br />
life lessons. They pass on<br />
family values, traditions and<br />
stressed the importance<br />
of family cohesion,” said<br />
Hebblethwaite.<br />
Exchanging ideas with<br />
youth can be a catalyst<br />
for discovery among<br />
seniors as well. Forging<br />
strong ties with the<br />
matriarch or patriarch<br />
of a clan is beneficial<br />
for grandchildren, too,<br />
and can sharpen their<br />
sense of empathy, said<br />
Hebblethwaite.<br />
“After being doted on as kids,<br />
adult grandchildren have<br />
an opportunity to shift that<br />
dynamic and give back to their<br />
grandparents,” she added.<br />
The study is published in Family<br />
Relations: Interdisciplinary<br />
Journal of Applied Family<br />
Studies.<br />
Mukesh Ambani’s<br />
RIL Signs $20<br />
Billion Deal With BP<br />
(Continued From Page 1)<br />
Limited (RIL) on Monday signed an agreement with oil major<br />
British Petroleum (BP) for 30 per cent stake in Reliance Industries’’<br />
23 oil and gas blocks including the KG-D6 gas fields.<br />
The deal, which is valued at 7.2 billion dollars, is one of the biggest<br />
foreign direct investments (FDI) in the country.<br />
Besides the stake transfer, Reliance and BP will form a 50:50 joint<br />
venture for the sourcing and marketing of gas, the companies said<br />
in identical statements on Monday.<br />
“BP will pay Reliance Industries Limited an aggregate consideration<br />
of US 7.2 billion dollars, and completion adjustments, for the<br />
interests to be acquired in the 23 production sharing contracts,”<br />
RIL said in a statement.<br />
“Future performance payments of up to US$1.8 billion could be<br />
paid based on exploration success that results in development of<br />
commercial discoveries.<br />
These payments and combined investment could amount to US 20<br />
billion dollars,” the statement issued by the RIL added.
Page 19 MARCH <strong>2011</strong> <strong>Michigan</strong> <strong>South</strong> <strong>Asian</strong><br />
Independent Egypt<br />
Libyans Fight<br />
(Continued From Page 1)<br />
Twitter. The New York Times<br />
United Nations Secretary Gen-<br />
wishes of the Egyptian people,”<br />
he said, which means a “move<br />
to civilian and democratic rule.”<br />
German Foreign Minister Guido<br />
Westerwelle, called the moment<br />
“historic,” but added that<br />
“the chance for democratic<br />
change must be used now.”<br />
European Union foreign policy<br />
chief Catherine Ashton said<br />
Mubarak had “listened to the<br />
voices of the Egyptian people<br />
and has opened the way to faster<br />
and deeper reforms.”<br />
For Freedom<br />
(Continued From Page 1) the head and chest.<br />
Gaddafi’’s regime had also deployed<br />
artillery and helicopter ber of people have turned up<br />
He also said that a huge num-<br />
gunships against the demonstrators,<br />
and thugs armed with adding: “Many of the dead<br />
in the hospital to donate blood,<br />
hammers and swords attacked and the injured are relatives<br />
families with the intention of of doctors here. They are crying<br />
and I keep telling them crushing down the uprising,<br />
to<br />
quoted Turkish Foreign<br />
Minister Ahmet Davutoglu as<br />
cautiously saying: “Egypt is a<br />
strong state and the continuity<br />
of the Egyptian institutions is<br />
of crucial importance.”<br />
eral Ban Ki-moon said: “I respect<br />
what must have been a<br />
difficult decision taken in the<br />
wider interests of the Egyptian<br />
people.”<br />
European Union parliament<br />
president Jerzy Buzek suggested<br />
that the shift in power was<br />
not enough to judge the protests’<br />
success.<br />
He said: “Europe will measure<br />
the next steps in the fulfillment<br />
of the people’s demand by repealing<br />
the emergency laws<br />
and by ending all intimidation<br />
of journalists, human rights defenders<br />
or political dissidents.”<br />
The Telegraph reports.<br />
Gaddafi’’s regime had also deployed<br />
artillery and helicopter<br />
please stand up and help us.”<br />
In addition to Saturday’s death<br />
toll, as many as 84 people are<br />
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen<br />
Harper urged the new<br />
regime to “make a bright future<br />
happen for the people of<br />
Egypt.”<br />
The Israeli government did not<br />
issue a formal statement. By<br />
contrast, Hamas, , the militant<br />
group that cntrols Gaza, celebrated<br />
the news and called on<br />
the new government in Egypt<br />
to open its border with the territory.<br />
British Prime Minister David<br />
Cameron called the situation in<br />
Egypt a “precious moment of<br />
opportunity” but only a “first<br />
step.”<br />
He added: “Those who now run<br />
Egypt have a duty to reflect the<br />
“We congratulate the great nation<br />
of Egypt on this victory and<br />
we share their happiness,” Iranian<br />
Foreign Minister Ali Akbar<br />
Salehi, said in a statement.<br />
He added: “Today, our people in<br />
their millions, while honoring<br />
the great Islamic Revolution,<br />
showed their solidarity with<br />
the brave and justice-seeking<br />
movement in Egypt.”<br />
gunships against the demonstrators,<br />
and thugs armed with<br />
hammers and swords attacked<br />
families with the intention of<br />
crushing down the uprising,<br />
The Telegraph reports.<br />
The paper quoted a hospital official<br />
as saying that one of the<br />
victims was apparently struck<br />
on the head by an anti-aircraft<br />
missile, and many were shot in<br />
Now, A Confession App On IPhones, IPads Approved By Catholic Church<br />
believed to have been killed by<br />
Friday night, the paper said.<br />
The five-day uprising in eastern<br />
Libya has been the greatest<br />
challenge to the 42-year<br />
rule of Colonel Gaddafi, the<br />
world’’s longest-serving ruler.<br />
The uprising has disrupted the<br />
Internet and phone lines in the<br />
country, it added.<br />
Wellington, Feb 4<br />
A US company has come up with a confession app that claims to be the first of its kind to be approved by the Catholic Church. Patrick<br />
Leinen, of the three-man team Little iApps, a company “with a Roman Catholic twist”, said his team had wanted to engage Catholics with<br />
new media in response to the Pope’s World Communications Address last year, in which he spoke of its potential benefits. Confession: A<br />
Roman Catholic App for iPhones and iPads is touted as the “perfect aid for every penitent”, and it has been designed to be taken into the<br />
confessional.<br />
It creates a customised and password-protected “examination of conscience” based on a person’s age, sex, vocation and the time elapsed, in<br />
days, weeks, months or years, since the last confession.<br />
It also has seven acts of contrition to choose from, all for 1.99 dollars.<br />
“Our bishop was very excited about it. We were able to work with several priests in order to get that examination of conscience created, so<br />
it was kind of fun,” Stuff.co.nz quoted Leinen as saying. Bishop Kevin Rhoades went as far as to grant it an imprimatur - official endorsement<br />
from a church authority. “The imprimatur itself was pretty neat,” Leinan said. “When we were actually testing out the software before<br />
release we had one gentleman who hadn’t been to confession in about 20 years. He went in and did his confession with it and he said it made<br />
it much easier on him,” he added.
<strong>Michigan</strong> <strong>South</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> MARCH <strong>2011</strong> Page 20<br />
WORLD CUP CRICKET <strong>2011</strong><br />
(Continued From Page 1)<br />
Around 3500 performers are<br />
expected to put up a colourful<br />
depiction of Indian, Sri Lankan,<br />
and Bangladeshi culture during<br />
the opening ceremony.<br />
Canadian pop singer Bryan Adams<br />
and Bangladesh-based Runa<br />
Laila are also expected to perform<br />
on the occasion.<br />
India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh<br />
are jointly hosting the <strong>2011</strong><br />
ICC World Cup.<br />
India takes on Bangladesh<br />
in the opening match of the<br />
tournament to be played in<br />
Dhaka on Saturday.<br />
Next cricket World Cup<br />
Reduced To Top 10-team<br />
Format<br />
Sydney, Feb 19 The next<br />
World Cup edition to be<br />
played in 2015 has been reduced<br />
to a top ten-team contest<br />
unlike the present 14-<br />
team event.<br />
Efforts are on to include the<br />
best One-day teams in the<br />
next World Cup. Following<br />
this decision, associate<br />
countries, fearing that they may<br />
be dropped from the next World<br />
Cup, have already voiced protest.<br />
International Cricket Council<br />
chief executive officer Haroon<br />
Lorgat has stuck to his pledge<br />
to cut the World Cup to just 10<br />
teams.<br />
Lorgat’s comments came just a<br />
day before the 10th edition of the<br />
World Cup kicks off in Dhaka<br />
with a clash between Bangladesh<br />
and India.<br />
A total of 14 teams are involved<br />
in the showpiece event, including<br />
the Netherlands, Ireland, Kenya<br />
and Canada but the ICC wants<br />
to cut the numbers because it has<br />
grown too unwieldy. Lorgat said<br />
the World Twenty20 would be increased<br />
to 16 teams from 12,<br />
while the 50-over World Cup<br />
would be trimmed to 10.<br />
“ W e<br />
have<br />
f e l t<br />
in the<br />
past<br />
f e w<br />
years<br />
that<br />
Twenty20<br />
is the<br />
best<br />
format<br />
to develop<br />
the game worldwide and it<br />
provides a better environment<br />
for competition. The<br />
50-over format is more skillbased<br />
and suitable for the top<br />
teams,” Lorgat said.<br />
Cricket Kenya chief executive<br />
Tom Sears said on Thursday<br />
the ICC would not be acting<br />
in the interests of the game if<br />
the smaller teams were locked<br />
out of the next World Cup and<br />
Canada on Friday also voiced<br />
concerns, The Sydney Morning<br />
Herald reports.<br />
Kenya became the first non-<br />
Test playing team to reach<br />
the semi-finals in 2003, and<br />
Ireland produced their biggest<br />
upset over Pakistan in the<br />
2007 tournament in the West<br />
Indies.<br />
India, <strong>South</strong> Africa Favourites<br />
To win World Cup<br />
Wellington, Feb 19 Former<br />
New Zealand wicketkeeper<br />
Adam Parore has said that India’s<br />
deep batting line up and<br />
their ability to play spin better<br />
makes them one of the favourites<br />
to win the World Cup.<br />
Parore further said that <strong>South</strong><br />
Africa is the other favourite<br />
team despite not having a good<br />
record in big tournaments, and<br />
added that the Graeme Smith led<br />
team traditionally plays well in<br />
the sub-continent.<br />
“India is in terrific shape and who<br />
would be surprised if the pitches<br />
suit the advantages they have in<br />
bowling and facing spin,” NZ<br />
Herald quoted Parore, a saying.<br />
“They have so many options and<br />
players to rely on in the batting<br />
department. They also have a<br />
huge amount of experience so<br />
the pressure they will face from<br />
their fanatical fans won’’t get to<br />
them,” he said.<br />
Talking about <strong>South</strong> Africa’s<br />
chances, Parore said: “<strong>South</strong> Africa<br />
don’t have a good<br />
record in big tournaments<br />
but they traditionally<br />
do well in the<br />
sub-continent. They<br />
are strong in all departments,<br />
including fielding.”<br />
“I don’t expect any unheralded<br />
players to grab<br />
the limelight - the tournament<br />
stars will come<br />
from the ranks of the<br />
famous, Jacques Kallis,<br />
Dale Steyn, Sachin<br />
Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag,<br />
M.S. Dhoni,” he<br />
added.<br />
Commenting on defending<br />
champion Australia’s<br />
chances, Parore said Australia<br />
was shaping up quite well, but<br />
after a comprehensive series win<br />
over England, the Australians<br />
had fallen back in the World<br />
Cup warm-up games.<br />
.<br />
“Ricky Ponting and Michael<br />
Clarke are in the runs again,<br />
which is ominous because the<br />
way to win a World Cup is to<br />
have your best players firing.<br />
Considering their overall lineup,<br />
I don’t think they play spin<br />
bowling well enough to win,” he<br />
said.<br />
Indian Cricket Fans Celebrates<br />
Victory Over Bangladesh<br />
Ranchi, Feb.20 Fans in Ranchi<br />
celebrated India’s victory over<br />
Bangladesh in inaugural match<br />
of the <strong>2011</strong> World Cup.<br />
India defeated Bangladesh by<br />
87 runs<br />
in the<br />
first<br />
match<br />
of the<br />
<strong>2011</strong><br />
Cricket<br />
World<br />
C u p<br />
on Saturday<br />
at the<br />
Shere Bangla National Stadium<br />
in Mirpur, Dhaka.<br />
Enthusiastic fans came out on<br />
the streets in the middle of the<br />
night, burst crackers with a<br />
hope that team would lift the<br />
trophy.<br />
“Today Indian has shown that<br />
it is the best team in the World<br />
Cup (tournament) and nobody<br />
can stop India team from becoming<br />
the world champion,”<br />
said an Indian cricket fan.<br />
Previously in 2007, India exited<br />
the event after losing to<br />
Bangladesh in the first stage.<br />
For Indian cricket fans it’s the<br />
revenge of the previous loss as<br />
India beat Bangladesh on its<br />
home ground.<br />
Man of the match Virendra Sehwag,<br />
who scored 175 runs to<br />
lift India to a massive score of<br />
370 runs, made Bangladesh<br />
skipper Shakib Al Hasan regret<br />
his decision to bowl first on a<br />
placid wicket, hitting 14 fours<br />
and five sixes.<br />
Pace bowler Munaf Patel gave<br />
India’s depleted pace attack,<br />
which suffered a blow due<br />
toAshish Nehra’s back injury, a<br />
boost by claiming four wickets<br />
for 48 runs in the win.<br />
In this world cup the participating<br />
14 teams are divided<br />
into two groups of seven from<br />
where the top four from each<br />
will qualify for the quarterfinals<br />
unlike in 2007, where 16<br />
teams first competed in a pool<br />
stage, then a ‘’Super 8’’ stage of<br />
quarterfinals, followed by semifinals<br />
and the final.<br />
Indian Man With World’s Largest<br />
Family Of 39 Wives, 94 Kids<br />
Ready To <strong>Mar</strong>ry Again<br />
London, Feb 23 An Indian man, from Mizoram, who has the largest<br />
family in the world with 39 wives, 94 children and 33 grandchildren,<br />
says he’s ready to marry again.<br />
Ziona Chana and his family live in a 100-room, four-storey house<br />
set amidst the hills of Baktwang village in Mizoram, where the<br />
wives sleep in giant communal dormitories. Chana also has 94<br />
children, 14-daughters-in-law and 33 grandchildren.<br />
“Even today, I am ready to expand my family and willing to go to<br />
any extent to marry,” the Telegraph quoted him as saying.<br />
“I have so many people to care (for) and look after, and I consider<br />
myself a lucky man,” he said.<br />
The family is organised with almost military discipline, with the<br />
oldest wife Zathiangi organising her fellow partners to perform<br />
household chores such as cleaning, washing and preparing meals.<br />
One evening meal can see them pluck 30 chickens, peel 132lb of<br />
potatoes and boil up to 220lb of rice.<br />
Chana met his oldest wife, who is three years older than he is, when<br />
he was 17.<br />
He heads a local Christian religious sect, called the ‘Chana’, which<br />
allows polygamy. Formed in June 1942, the sect believes it will<br />
soon be ruling the world with Christ and has a membership of<br />
around 400 families.
Page 21 MARCH <strong>2011</strong> <strong>Michigan</strong> <strong>South</strong> <strong>Asian</strong><br />
CHECK YOUR SIGN By Pandit Parashar<br />
ARIES (<strong>Mar</strong>ch 21 to April 20):<br />
Money will go towards a future<br />
trip but you<br />
have the strongest<br />
chance of<br />
hitting some kind<br />
of jackpot before<br />
<strong>Mar</strong>ch 15th. You<br />
may also finish some papers<br />
and mail them to a government<br />
agency. Time after 15th will<br />
bring happiness in life. Your<br />
courageous actions will take<br />
you closer to goals.<br />
TAURUS (April 21 to May<br />
20): Do not take the risk if<br />
you do not have<br />
the stamina and<br />
courage or will<br />
fail. Be extra<br />
careful in all financial<br />
matters till 15th and do<br />
not sign any contract in a hurry.<br />
Venus in eleventh brings some<br />
extra ordinary excitement in<br />
personal life. An old relationship<br />
could also revive.<br />
GEMINI (May 21 to June 20):<br />
Time is slightly adverse till<br />
15th. You can not<br />
be demanding. It<br />
will be better to<br />
grab the opportunity<br />
and run and<br />
bring an end to suspense. Trip<br />
will be refreshing for everyone.<br />
After 15th is better to start negotiations<br />
with a well known<br />
company. There will be positive<br />
change in career.<br />
CANCER (June 21 to July 22):<br />
You may be away from home<br />
for most of time<br />
before 15th.<br />
Weather and unnecessary<br />
stress<br />
may increase<br />
blood pressure. It will be better<br />
to calm down and wait for your<br />
chance when planets become<br />
very favorable on 15th. Most of<br />
your demands will be accepted<br />
and you will be relieved of pressure.<br />
LEO (July 23 to August 22):<br />
Lots of suspense will clear before<br />
15th and you<br />
should get ready<br />
to reap rich rewards<br />
there after.<br />
Property stuck<br />
in market for long will also<br />
get disposed off and you will<br />
pocket the money soon. You<br />
will gain from friendship with<br />
an influential person and boss<br />
will show support.<br />
VIRGO (August 23 to September<br />
22): Very positive time for<br />
those looking for<br />
another career.<br />
Negotiations may<br />
start early but results<br />
will come<br />
only after 15th. You will be assigned<br />
to a very responsible position<br />
once Sun moves into first<br />
on <strong>Mar</strong>ch 15th. You may make<br />
money through stocks at the<br />
same time.<br />
LIBRA (September 23 to October<br />
22): Your actions could<br />
cause some threat<br />
to your reputation<br />
if you are not careful<br />
before 15th.<br />
Do not be nervous<br />
and throw all fears out of your<br />
mind that’s the only way things<br />
will change. You will be more<br />
confident and regain lost image<br />
in personal as well as business<br />
circle.<br />
SCORPIO (October 23 to November<br />
22): Money wise it<br />
looks very promising<br />
from now<br />
and on. Money<br />
may be delayed<br />
or blocked for<br />
some obvious<br />
reasons till 15th but will be released<br />
there after. You will pay<br />
some kind of fine or penalty to<br />
government too. Do not loose<br />
confidence and keep working<br />
on your plans.<br />
Washington, Feb 23:<br />
SAGITTARIUS (November<br />
23 to December 22): Expect<br />
some delay from other side till<br />
15th but there after<br />
the deal is all<br />
yours and it will<br />
be sweet. With<br />
new strategy you<br />
will overcome<br />
all obstacles and will not be intimidated<br />
by strong competition<br />
either. It is going to be a very<br />
expensive month for most.<br />
CAPRICORN (December 22<br />
to January 19): Good news will<br />
not come alone. You will win<br />
the recommendation<br />
and the phone<br />
call or email will<br />
come. A big reunion<br />
may take<br />
place after 15th<br />
this month. You will very well<br />
prepare yourself to face fresh<br />
challenges in career. You will<br />
also receive blessings of a holy<br />
soul.<br />
AQUARIUS (January 20 to<br />
February 18): You may lack the<br />
touch for first few weeks but the<br />
world is yours after 15th. You<br />
will be involved in a beautiful<br />
relationship also. Other person<br />
is not only good looking but has<br />
brains too. Money<br />
will go on children.<br />
Your charity<br />
work done in past<br />
will come handy<br />
now.<br />
PISCES (February 19 to <strong>Mar</strong>ch<br />
20): Planets will cause some<br />
disturbance in personal life till<br />
15th. Keep an eye<br />
on outside influence<br />
and get rid of<br />
people doing that.<br />
You will lay your<br />
hands on some<br />
easy money after 15th. Time<br />
very favorable for people involved<br />
in research and development<br />
work after 15th.<br />
Pandit Parashar<br />
parashar@parashar.com<br />
www.parashar.com<br />
925-833-7170<br />
Stress Of Unemployed Spouse Can Affect<br />
Job Performance Of Other Spouse<br />
them and come to conclusion.<br />
tivity,” he said.<br />
SCHOOL CAMPS,<br />
SUMMER SPECIAL ISSUE<br />
MAY <strong>2011</strong><br />
TO SEE YOUR AD<br />
In Print - CALL<br />
206-501-2254<br />
Email your enquiries to:<br />
info@<strong>Michigan</strong><strong>South</strong>asian.com<br />
The stress of an unemployed<br />
spouse can affect the productivity<br />
and home life of the employed<br />
partner, according to a<br />
new study.<br />
University of Colorado Boulder<br />
associate professor Maw-<br />
Der Foo, who studies employee<br />
workplace issues and interpersonal<br />
relationships, and lead<br />
author Professor Zhaoli Song of<br />
the National University of Singapore<br />
examined married couples<br />
in Shenyang, China, where<br />
one partner was employed and<br />
the other was not. The daily<br />
stress felt by each spouse was<br />
assessed.<br />
The interaction between marital<br />
life and professional life of the<br />
unemployed spouse and the employed<br />
one was examined.<br />
Since both the partners responded<br />
to the experiment,<br />
the researchers could compare<br />
The researchers found that the<br />
couples were better at sharing<br />
the burden than helping to alleviate<br />
it.<br />
“If you feel bad at home there<br />
is going to be spill over at work<br />
where you will also feel lousy.<br />
Going into the study we thought<br />
that marital support might help<br />
alleviate the stress of unemployment<br />
on the family unit,<br />
but it didn’’t turn out to be the<br />
case,” said Foo.<br />
He said the study shows workplaces<br />
should be more sensitive<br />
and supportive when their employees<br />
have family members -<br />
particularly a spouse - who are<br />
unemployed.<br />
“Organizations can implement<br />
family-friendly policies to help<br />
their employees fulfil their family<br />
roles, which in turn may increase<br />
the employee’’s produc-<br />
One of the unique parts of the<br />
study is that they studied couples’<br />
interactions daily for two<br />
weeks.<br />
In particular, they looked at<br />
what is called the ‘crossover<br />
effect’, a situation when each<br />
partner catches the stress of the<br />
other.<br />
The researchers hope that the<br />
findings may provide practical<br />
insight to family counsellors,<br />
psychotherapist and other experts<br />
who aim to prevent relationship<br />
breakdown.<br />
The study was published in the<br />
January edition of the Journal of<br />
Applied Psychology.
Page 22 MARCH <strong>2011</strong> <strong>Michigan</strong> <strong>South</strong> <strong>Asian</strong><br />
Shriya’s First Ever Bridal<br />
Shoot: Galatta Exclusive!<br />
By Padma Iyer [February 17,<br />
<strong>2011</strong>]<br />
Shriya has always been associated<br />
with hotness! Whenever<br />
we see this siren on magazine<br />
covers, it is always in a sexy<br />
avatar.<br />
But there<br />
is more to<br />
Shriya than<br />
just a fab<br />
body, and<br />
the actress<br />
had been<br />
wanting to<br />
break the<br />
mould of<br />
the ultra<br />
glam girl<br />
and present<br />
herself in a<br />
traditional look. And when she<br />
got talking with us at Galatta<br />
about this, we were more than<br />
willing to do it with her.<br />
So Feb 15, <strong>2011</strong> was our date<br />
with Shriya. And what a fabulous<br />
shoot it was! Shriya was<br />
excited, refreshed and happy.<br />
Sunder Ramu had the sets all<br />
figured out.<br />
Our flower contractors were on<br />
the ball with timing, pricing,<br />
etc.<br />
Erum Ali’s clothes were breathtaking<br />
and despite starting late<br />
and having to do Indian wear<br />
(most time-consuming, tedious<br />
clothing) with different hairstyles<br />
and make up for each<br />
look,<br />
we managed<br />
to<br />
complete<br />
our<br />
“bridal<br />
story”<br />
with six<br />
looks!<br />
F o r<br />
someone<br />
who<br />
is at<br />
the top<br />
of her<br />
game, Shriya came across as<br />
one of the easiest and definitely<br />
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Asin Approached<br />
For Rana<br />
By Baiju NT [February 13,<br />
<strong>2011</strong>]<br />
According to reliable sources,<br />
<strong>South</strong> Indian beauty Asin has<br />
been approached by the makers<br />
of <strong>South</strong> Indian superstar<br />
Rajinikanth’s next film Rana to<br />
be directed by K.S. Ravikumar<br />
under the banner of Eros International<br />
and Chennai based<br />
Ocher Studios. The sources said<br />
even a one-line summary of the<br />
script has been narrated to the<br />
actress and she is keen to team<br />
up with the super star, since the<br />
script fascinates her and the<br />
film has A.R. Rahman composing<br />
the tracks. Notably, Asin<br />
had worked with Ravikumar<br />
earlier inVaralaru.<br />
Meanwhile, Rana is said to<br />
be a live action magnum opus<br />
with Rajinikanth playing a triple<br />
role. Made in Tamil, Hindi<br />
and Telugu, the film will go<br />
on floors in <strong>Mar</strong>ch and will hit<br />
screens in early 2012.<br />
Kote Gets Good<br />
By Ullash Kumar [February 14, <strong>2011</strong>]<br />
Opening<br />
Producer Jack Manju and director Srinivasa Raju are happy that their recent filmKote has opened to a<br />
very good response all around the state. The film is getting wonderful response in Northern Karnataka,<br />
Hyderabad Karnataka and<br />
Mysore distribution areas. The<br />
collections are not so high in<br />
Bengaluru distribution area.<br />
The producer is confident that<br />
the collections would improve<br />
further in the coming days.<br />
Srinivasa Raju felt happy befilm<br />
have been appreciated.<br />
has been getting positive<br />
But the special attraction of<br />
Sunday was definitely heroine<br />
Ravishankar. Ravishankar has<br />
from critics and viewers alike.<br />
industry personalities and Kannada film press.<br />
cause many finer points in the<br />
Prajwal Devaraj also said he<br />
response about the film.<br />
the press meet organised on<br />
Dimple Chopade and villain<br />
been getting wide appreciation<br />
He thanked the Kannada film<br />
Dimple, the actress who has charmed the audience with her glam quotient, said that though her first<br />
Kannada film is yet to be released, she is happy that her first release Kote has received a good response.<br />
Junior NTR’s Shakti To Be<br />
Released In Tamil<br />
By Petson Peter [February 17,<br />
<strong>2011</strong>]<br />
Jr. NTR’s upcomingShakti<br />
has already<br />
broken the<br />
record by being<br />
the costliest<br />
Telugu<br />
movie ever<br />
made.<br />
Now the<br />
movie will<br />
also be Jr.<br />
NTR’s first<br />
to be simultaneously<br />
released in<br />
Tamil.<br />
Jr. NTR and<br />
Telugu movies have a huge<br />
fan base in Tamil Nadu and<br />
this move is expected to influence<br />
more Tollywood stars into<br />
adopting a bilingual release.<br />
Shakti is made with a record<br />
budget of<br />
Rs. 45<br />
crores,<br />
w i t h<br />
scenes being<br />
filmed<br />
in various<br />
locations<br />
across<br />
the globe,<br />
from Ladakh<br />
to<br />
Jaipur to<br />
Hampi to<br />
Egypt.<br />
Ileana<br />
D’Cruz,<br />
Manjari<br />
Phadnis,<br />
S.P. Balasubramanyam<br />
and Jackie Shroff<br />
will appear in the movie, which<br />
is scheduled to hit screens in<br />
<strong>Mar</strong>ch.<br />
China Town: Mohanlal<br />
In Double Role<br />
By Baiju NT [February 16, <strong>2011</strong>]<br />
If reports are to be believed, superstar Mohanlal is playing a double<br />
role in Rafi Mecartin’s forthcoming multi-starrerChina Town.<br />
Mohanlal<br />
plays<br />
a former goon<br />
named<br />
Mathukutti,<br />
who<br />
is now<br />
trying to lead<br />
a normal l i f e<br />
away from<br />
crime,<br />
and his father<br />
Avara-<br />
chan.<br />
Sources<br />
said<br />
that the father<br />
character<br />
will<br />
appear<br />
only in<br />
flashback.<br />
The film is<br />
about<br />
Mathu-<br />
kutti’s<br />
mission to accomplish<br />
a long cherished dream of his father. The film also stars<br />
Jayaram and Dileep in major roles. Kavya Madhavan, Roma and<br />
Dipasha are the heroines. The film is produced by Antony Perumbavoor<br />
under the banner of Aashirwad Cinemas.
Page 23 MARCH <strong>2011</strong> <strong>Michigan</strong> <strong>South</strong> <strong>Asian</strong><br />
SRK And Salman Lock Horns<br />
For Dabangg Director<br />
Here Are The Top 10 Richest<br />
People In Hollywood<br />
By Petson Peter [February 16,<br />
<strong>2011</strong>]<br />
Dabanggdirector Abhinav<br />
Kashyap parted ways with<br />
Salman and Arbaaz Khan after<br />
the release ofDabangg, but the<br />
Khan<br />
brothers<br />
made<br />
peace<br />
with the<br />
director<br />
and<br />
c o n -<br />
vinced<br />
him to<br />
return<br />
for the<br />
sequel<br />
ofDabangg.<br />
It was reported that Abhinav<br />
Kashyap met Shahrukh Khan<br />
in private to discuss a future<br />
project.<br />
With Salman and SRK already<br />
on bitter terms, this meeting<br />
hasn’t gone well with Salman,<br />
who brought out his anger on<br />
Kashyap.<br />
If recent<br />
reports<br />
are to be<br />
believed,<br />
Abhinav<br />
Kashyap<br />
is likely<br />
to be<br />
kicked<br />
out of the<br />
Dabangg<br />
sequel<br />
while<br />
Salman’s<br />
younger brother Sohail might<br />
take his place. Salman returning<br />
soon as Chulbul Pandey.<br />
Wellington, Feb 3<br />
Director James Cameron<br />
has topped the 2010 Hollywood<br />
movie earners’ list,<br />
courtesy the worldwide<br />
box office success of his<br />
movie ‘Avatar’.<br />
Cameron earned an estimated<br />
257 million dollars<br />
last year for writing, producing<br />
and directing his<br />
3D hit ‘Avatar’, based on<br />
its worldwide 2010 boxoffice<br />
gross of 1.95 billion<br />
dollars, as well as his share<br />
of DVD and pay-television<br />
sales, according to a Vanity<br />
Fair survey of the top<br />
40 Hollywood earners in<br />
2010, reports Stuff.co.nz.<br />
Johnny Depp scored the<br />
No. 2 spot, earning 100 million<br />
dollars after collecting pay<br />
cheques from films including<br />
‘Alice in Wonderland’ and ‘The<br />
Tourist’, as well as up front payments<br />
for the next ‘Pirates of<br />
the Caribbean: On Stranger<br />
Tides’, which is due for release<br />
in May.<br />
Director Steven Spielberg<br />
took the third spot, earning<br />
80 million dollars for Universal<br />
theme-park royalties<br />
in addition to consulting<br />
fees for ‘War Horse’.<br />
The top 10:<br />
1. James Cameron<br />
2. Johnny Depp<br />
3. Steven Spielberg<br />
4. Christopher Nolan<br />
5. Leonardo DiCaprio<br />
6. Tim Burton<br />
7. Adam Sandler<br />
8. Todd Phillips<br />
9. Taylor Lautner<br />
10. Robert Downey Jr<br />
Super Bowl <strong>2011</strong> Sets US TV<br />
Record Audience Of 111 Million<br />
Arlington (Texas, US), Feb.8<br />
Super Bowl <strong>2011</strong> set a new record<br />
for the largest U.S. television<br />
audience for a single<br />
broadcast on Sunday (February<br />
6).<br />
The Green Bay Packers’’ 31-<br />
25 victory over the Pittsburgh<br />
Steelers in Texas drew a U.S.<br />
TV audience of 111 million,<br />
topping the 2010 final tally by<br />
almost 5 million, according to<br />
data released on Monday by<br />
broadcaster Fox.<br />
Last year, 106.5<br />
million watched the<br />
New Orleans Saints<br />
beat the Indianapolis<br />
Colts, surpassing<br />
the 106 million<br />
who tuned in for the<br />
finale of the comedy<br />
“M*A*S*H” in<br />
1983, The Telegraph<br />
reports.<br />
“We’’re excited<br />
about the fan reaction<br />
from last night and the incredible<br />
game they were able<br />
to see,” NFL Commissioner<br />
Roger Goodell told reporters<br />
on Monday.<br />
The Super Bowl in 2009 drew<br />
98.7 million viewers, and the<br />
audience in 2008 was 97.5 million.<br />
Canada Government Funds<br />
Film About Hindu Lord Shiva<br />
Nevada (US), Feb 18<br />
Canada Government has reportedly<br />
funded a documentary on<br />
Lord Shiva, one<br />
of the divine trio<br />
of the Hindus—<br />
Brahma-Vishnu-Shiva.<br />
Titled “The<br />
Great Night of<br />
Shiva”, which<br />
is premiering<br />
on February 23,<br />
revolves around<br />
extremely auspicious<br />
Mahashivaratri<br />
festival<br />
celebrated<br />
in honor of Lord<br />
Shiva, which<br />
falls on <strong>Mar</strong>ch<br />
three this year.<br />
Welcoming this<br />
Canada Government<br />
gesture, distinguished<br />
Hindu statesman Rajan Zed has<br />
described it as “a step in the<br />
right direction”.<br />
Rajan Zed, who is President of<br />
Universal Society of Hinduism,<br />
in a statement in Nevada<br />
(USA) today, said that Canada<br />
Government should fund more<br />
Hinduism focused film projects<br />
as Hinduism was a storehouse<br />
of wisdom and Canada had considerable<br />
and increasing population<br />
of Hindus.<br />
Produced by award-winning<br />
May Street Productions of<br />
Victoria (British Columbia,<br />
Canada) and directed by Peter<br />
Campbell; “The Great Night<br />
of Shiva” depicts temple rituals,<br />
worship, Bharatnatyam by<br />
Kiruthika Rathanaswami, etc.;<br />
using the green screen technology,<br />
imagery from the Hubble<br />
telescope and special effects.<br />
Hilary Pryor is President of<br />
May Street Productions.<br />
Hinduism, oldest and third largest<br />
religion of the world, has<br />
about one billion adherents and<br />
moksha (liberation) is its ultimate<br />
goal.
<strong>Michigan</strong> <strong>South</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> MARCH <strong>2011</strong> Page 24<br />
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