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<strong>MEHFIL</strong>$4.25<br />
September/October 2007<br />
INSIDE<br />
Who’s the<br />
fairest<br />
of Them All?<br />
The Dark Side of the<br />
Skin-Lightening Industry<br />
Little Mosque<br />
on the Prairie’s<br />
Manoj Sood<br />
Tackling Muslim<br />
Stereotypes<br />
The magazine for today’s Indo-Canadian<br />
Desperately<br />
Seeking Bone<br />
Marrow<br />
Too Few South Asians<br />
Giving the Gift of Life<br />
VoodooPC’s<br />
Rahul Sood<br />
Life’s a (Video) Game for HP’s<br />
Most Valuable Player<br />
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Mehfil<br />
S e p t e m b e r / O c t o b e r 2 0 0 7<br />
D e pa r t m e n t s<br />
8<br />
10<br />
12<br />
24<br />
86<br />
Mehfil September/October 2007<br />
Rahul Sood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 .<br />
Life’s not all fun and games for Hewlett Packard’s chief technology<br />
officer, but Rahul Sood says his job and his hobby are one and the<br />
same thing. Ask him what he does, exactly, and he’ll tell you he plays<br />
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development division with a $3.5-billion budget. It all began when<br />
his parents gave him his first computer when he was 11 years old<br />
— and he immediately took it apart.<br />
By Robin Roberts<br />
C O V E R S T O RY<br />
F e at u r e s<br />
28<br />
Desperately Seeking a Match .. . . . . . . . . . . 36.<br />
When it comes to donating bone marrow, South Asians aren’t nearly<br />
as generous as they are when it comes to donating money. There are<br />
so few South Asians listed on the Bone Marrow Registry that those<br />
suffering from leukemia and other immune and metabolic disorders<br />
have only a one in 20,000 chance of getting the transplant they need<br />
to survive.<br />
By Munisha Tumato<br />
Fair Play? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42<br />
The “lightening,” “whitening” and<br />
“brightening” segment of the skincare<br />
industry is booming — and some say it’s<br />
at the expense of women who are being<br />
influenced by misleading and exploitative<br />
advertising. There’s nothing fair about<br />
marketing tactics that prey on South Asian<br />
women’s insecurities by linking fair skin to<br />
beauty, success and happiness, say experts.<br />
By Munisha Tumato<br />
42<br />
Cover Photo by James Mah<br />
Publishers’ Note.. . . . . . . . . 7<br />
Stellar Student.. . . . . . . . . . 8<br />
Power Player. . . . . . . . . . . 10<br />
Unsung Hero.. . . . . . . . . . . 12<br />
Political Perspective.. . . . . 16<br />
Spotlight .. . . . . . . . . . . . . 24<br />
Fashion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50<br />
Weddings.. . . . . . . . . . . . . 62<br />
Beauty .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66<br />
Cuisine.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68<br />
Auto Reviews .. . . . . . . . . . 74<br />
Local Artist.. . . . . . . . . . . . 82<br />
Reflections.. . . . . . . . . . . . 86<br />
C o l u m n s<br />
20<br />
Flipside<br />
by Rita Dhaliwal<br />
22<br />
The Inspired Sufi<br />
by Azim Jamal<br />
70<br />
Health & Fitness<br />
by Shefali Raja<br />
73<br />
Horoscope<br />
by Georgia Nicols<br />
84<br />
Movie Reviews<br />
by Ron Ahluwalia
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Mehfil<br />
September/October 2007 VOLUME 10 ISSUE 5<br />
Editor<br />
Minto Vig<br />
Contributing Writers<br />
Robin Roberts, Munisha Tumato,<br />
Azim Jamal, Shefali Raja, Georgia Nicols,<br />
Ron Ahluwalia, Rita Dhaliwal, Kuljeet Kaila<br />
Photography, Illustrations<br />
Ron Sangha, Alistair Eagle, James Mah,<br />
Super Photo Studios, Alexandra Hristova,<br />
JC Images, Sunny Images<br />
Production & Design<br />
Adhil Naidu, Dale McRae<br />
604-588-4665<br />
Mehfil Magazine is published by<br />
VIG PUBLICATIONS INC.<br />
Publishers<br />
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email: info@mehfilmagazine.com<br />
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Mehfil September/October 2007
P ublishers’ Note<br />
Most of us don’t hesitate to reach for<br />
our chequebooks when we hear about a<br />
worthy cause. After all, it feels good to<br />
be able to assist someone in dire straits.<br />
If, for instance, the Bone Marrow<br />
Registry appealed to the South Asian<br />
community for monetary donations in<br />
order to save the lives of people in the<br />
community suffering from leukemia,<br />
there’s little doubt money would soon be<br />
on the way. What the registry needs most<br />
desperately, however, is bone marrow<br />
from people of South Asian descent.<br />
Few South Asians are listed on the<br />
registry — likely not because they’re<br />
not willing to be donors, but because<br />
they don’t realize that a South Asian<br />
patient’s best bet for finding a bonemarrow<br />
match is a donor of South<br />
Asian descent. We hope our feature story<br />
on the need for South Asian donors<br />
will help increase awareness about the<br />
critical shortage of bone marrow donors<br />
within our community. There have in<br />
the past been heartbreaking stories of<br />
patients and their families making an<br />
appeal for South Asian bone marrow<br />
donors and of patients who run out of<br />
time before a last-minute donor drive<br />
can yield a match. We hope that, thanks<br />
to increased awareness, there will be<br />
fewer such tragic stories in the future.<br />
We’re confident that our community<br />
can be as generous with the “gift of life”<br />
as it is when called upon to give time,<br />
energy and financial support.<br />
As always, we welcome your feedback<br />
at www.mehfilmagazine.com.<br />
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S tellar Student<br />
Mehfil September/October 2007<br />
Aaria Sahaar Rahim<br />
Age: 18 Hometown: Coquitlam, B.C.<br />
Academic awards/achievements include:<br />
Canada’s Top 20 under 20 Award for Academics,<br />
Leadership, Community Service and Innovation;<br />
Canada’s Millenium Excellence National Laureate<br />
Scholarship; University of Toronto National Book<br />
Award;UBC President’s Entrance Scholarship; SFU<br />
Entrance Scholarship; Society for Community<br />
Development Youth Award; Community Care<br />
Foundation Volunteerism award.<br />
Currently studying: Recently completed<br />
Grade 12 with an International Baccalaureate (IB)<br />
Diploma. Entering first year at the University of<br />
Toronto to pursue a BA in Ethics, Society and<br />
Law with minors in Spanish and Middle Eastern<br />
Civilizations.<br />
Your advice to students: My advice would<br />
be to never abandon your goals. While the path<br />
to success may seem long and uncompromising,<br />
always have faith that you can achieve whatever you<br />
are passionate about and set your mind to. This<br />
is true not only for students conquering academic<br />
hurdles, but for any individual in any context.<br />
Determination and tenacity are two crucial elements<br />
that can be advantageous in everything you do.<br />
Top success strategy: I wholeheartedly believe<br />
that one of the keys to success is conviction in<br />
one’s self. Personally, I believe that having confidence<br />
in myself is empowering and can only yield<br />
positive results.<br />
Confidence-building techniques: I think that<br />
confidence in every one of us can be strengthened<br />
simply by recognizing our best attributes. I find<br />
confidence when I help another person or better<br />
the community in a way that utilizes my strongest<br />
characteristics for a positive purpose.<br />
How do you de-stress when school gets<br />
intense? I turn to organization and prioritization<br />
of what needs to be done, as well as the arts. I<br />
practise the piano and saxophone, or I paint, or I<br />
do something else creative that will take my mind<br />
off all the other things I need to complete for a little<br />
while.<br />
Who is your role model? I am deeply inspired<br />
by the Aga Khan, the spiritual leader of the Shi’a<br />
Ismaili Muslims, as I believe he is the greatest<br />
philanthropist. He works tirelessly night and day<br />
to strive for the uplifting of the global community<br />
across frontiers, and has made this humanitarian<br />
goal his life purpose.<br />
Quote that inspires you: “If we can improve<br />
a single life while on this earth, we have righteously<br />
served the purpose of our existence.”<br />
— Anonymous<br />
Photo by Alistair Eagle
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P ower Player<br />
10 Mehfil September/October 2007<br />
Kevin Sundher<br />
Age: 15 Hometown: Surrey, B.C.<br />
Sport: Ice hockey<br />
Teams: Burnaby Winter Club,<br />
Property of Chilliwack Bruins (WHL)<br />
Most memorable moments: Winning the<br />
Western Bantam Championships in April 2007<br />
was the most memorable moment of my hockey<br />
career to date. It was something I strived to<br />
accomplish for five years and when it was<br />
completed I was filled with elation.<br />
Sports career highlights: Winning the<br />
Western Bantam Championship as well as<br />
receiving the tournament’s top forward award and<br />
three game MVPs. Being drafted seventh overall<br />
to the Chilliwack Bruins was also an incredible<br />
feat. Winning the B.C. minor hockey player<br />
achievement award was an incredible honour.<br />
When did you start playing? My parents<br />
started me in ice hockey at the age of three.<br />
What do you love most about the sport?<br />
Hockey is my life! I embraced the game at a very<br />
young age and have continued to love playing<br />
every day. There’s always a new challenge that<br />
awaits me.<br />
How do you balance school and sports?<br />
Time management. You have to be able to know<br />
when it’s time to focus on school, when it’s time<br />
to focus on hockey, and when it’s time to focus<br />
on everything else. It’s actually not as easy as it<br />
sounds and mental strength plays a huge part in<br />
maintaining this over an extended period of time.<br />
What has playing sports taught you<br />
about life? One important lesson I’ve learned<br />
is that there are no shortcuts. Cheating takes you<br />
nowhere. It’s hard work, dedication and passion<br />
that create results, and over time these qualities<br />
are rewarded with success.<br />
Your family – are they a strong support<br />
team? Some say hockey parents are the best in<br />
the world and I can surely attest to that. I would<br />
not be where I am today without the incredible<br />
dedication and commitment from my parents<br />
that I have been blessed with over the years. My<br />
sister is my biggest fan!<br />
Advice for aspiring athletes: Stay positive.<br />
You’ll be able to get through rough or difficult<br />
times by believing in yourself and your abilities.<br />
Take criticism as a tool to work harder because<br />
there will always be doubters. Prove them<br />
wrong and never give up on what you believe<br />
in. Remember: If you say you can’t, you won’t!<br />
Believe in yourself.<br />
Career goals? My ultimate goal is to make<br />
the NHL and I can’t see my life without hockey<br />
playing a significant role. Along the way I would<br />
like to receive a business degree from UBC.<br />
Photo by Alistair Eagle
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Unsung Heroes<br />
Photo by Alistair Eagle<br />
Sarjeet Purewal<br />
Auntie<br />
Extraordinaire<br />
It’s Thursday evening, and the Newton<br />
Youth Centre in Surrey is bustling with<br />
activity. Non-descript from the outside,<br />
the centre is a colourful haven on the<br />
inside. Its bright walls are adorned with<br />
artwork and letters. Big, colourful, papiermache<br />
planets are suspended from the<br />
ceiling. A foosball table dominates one<br />
end of the room and a battered piano the<br />
other. Couples greet each other and pull<br />
chairs together into a circle at the back<br />
of the room. Meanwhile, a group of exuberant<br />
teens in the kitchen prepare for a<br />
barbecue to be held later that evening in<br />
the centre’s parking lot.<br />
They’re all at the centre thanks to Sarjeet<br />
Purewal. As the founder of South Asian Parents<br />
Together and the youth group Club Utopia,<br />
she is the heart of Thursday evenings at the<br />
Newton Youth Centre. The young members<br />
of Club Utopia, who are hosting this evening<br />
barbecue, know her as Sarjeet Auntie.<br />
Purewal, 59, exudes the energy of a 30-yearold,<br />
managing both Club Utopia amd South<br />
Asian Parents Together, a program she founded<br />
through the Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater<br />
Vancouver and Pacific Community Resources<br />
(with funding from the B.C. Ministry of<br />
Children and Family Development).<br />
And those are just her evenings. Purewal<br />
spends her days as an immediate response<br />
12 Mehfil September/October 2007
family counsellor for Pacific Community<br />
Resources. She wouldn’t mind slowing<br />
down, she says, but there is so much that<br />
needs to be done for culturally specific<br />
support groups. She works with South<br />
Asian families in the Lower Mainland and<br />
her caseload is always full.<br />
Club Utopia emerged out of Parents<br />
Together, a support group specifically for<br />
South Asian couples. The parents Purewal<br />
was working with expressed the desire for<br />
a safe, positive space where their children<br />
could spend their free time. One year into<br />
its existence, Club Utopia is bursting at<br />
the seams with 33 members between the<br />
ages of 11 and 18, eight volunteers, and<br />
one “Sarjeet Auntie” at its hub.<br />
The club owes its existence largely<br />
to the generosity of its volunteers and<br />
Purewal. The program — founded with<br />
one-time grants from the Safe Streets and<br />
Safe Schools Grant Program and the CIBC<br />
Miracle Fund, a start-up donation from<br />
Country Lumber and a private donation<br />
from Ms. Tajinder Nijjer — depends on<br />
sports event tickets from Kids Up Front<br />
and an occasional donation from Purewal<br />
herself.<br />
“I’ve been meaning to apply for grants.<br />
I just haven’t had the time,” Purewal says<br />
with a smile and a sigh. “We are definitely<br />
running out of funding.”<br />
For Purewal, the club is partly an<br />
attempt to grapple with an issue that has<br />
plagued her for some time now. “One<br />
thing I don’t understand and am still<br />
trying to figure out is that there’s a lot of<br />
frustration with our [South Asian] youth,<br />
and a lot of anger. A lot of anger.”<br />
There are no angry kids in the room<br />
tonight. Munching on burgers barbecued<br />
by enthusiastic mentors and volunteers,<br />
one group of boys are playing an<br />
C<br />
impossible game of Jenga on a wobbly<br />
table, while a group of teenage girls chat<br />
M<br />
in a casual semi-circle. In the course of<br />
Y<br />
the evening, one girl confesses her worries<br />
about starting at a new high school while CM<br />
a 17-year-old boy talks about being one of<br />
MY<br />
only a few turbaned teens in his school in<br />
Prince Rupert.<br />
For many of the kids, the club gives CMY<br />
them the chance to do things that they<br />
K<br />
have never done before. In the last year<br />
they’ve been to a BC Lions game, and<br />
to see Steve Nash. They’ve been in the<br />
Vaisakhi parade twice (“They are very<br />
proud of that,” says Purewal) and enjoy<br />
soccer outings in the park. They love to<br />
cook for each and enjoy water fights.<br />
There is some extra excitement in the<br />
room tonight — the group is going to<br />
spend five days kayaking, rock climbing,<br />
CY<br />
A.S. Bubber, CA<br />
Atwalad_Final2.eps 1/25/2007 4:45:22 PM<br />
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Fax 604-599-3555<br />
208 - 8120 128th St, Surrey, B.C.<br />
www.asbubber.com<br />
Mehfil September/October 2007 13
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rappelling, canoeing, fishing, and hiking at<br />
Camp Potlach, sponsored by the Boys and<br />
Girls Clubs of Greater Vancouver.<br />
“It’s a healthy place for them to be.<br />
If they have issues, we can work them<br />
through,” says Purewal. “We teach them a<br />
lot. I’ve had parents come in and say, ‘Is<br />
that my son doing the dishes? Is that my<br />
son taking the garbage out? They certainly<br />
don’t do that at home.’”<br />
Purewal cringes at the suggestion that<br />
these kids are “problem cases.” Some are<br />
referred by community advocates, schools<br />
and counsellors, but many have heard<br />
about the club from friends.<br />
“It gets your mind off of stuff,” Utopia<br />
member Baljot, 12, says thoughtfully<br />
before breaking out into an impish grin.<br />
“And it’s fun.”<br />
“There are kids sometimes who see<br />
things in the home [that affect them<br />
negatively] and they shut down.” Purewal<br />
604-588-4665<br />
explains. “So this is the place where I feel<br />
that they are blossoming and learning and<br />
feeling free to express their thoughts.”<br />
There’s a small percentage of South<br />
Asian families that Purewal classifies as<br />
“troubled.” Bickering parents, a lack of<br />
emotional intimacy and cultural gaps can<br />
lead to a breakdown in communication<br />
that leaves some South Asian youth angry<br />
and withdrawn, says Purewal.<br />
“In a troubled family, if both partners<br />
are not on the same page, there’s a lot of<br />
blame for all the negative stuff. It’s easier to<br />
buy something for the kids and hope that<br />
that’s keeping them content. But these kids<br />
are looking for an emotional connection.<br />
And we as a culture — not all of us, but<br />
some — don’t often show that feeling.”<br />
Purewal, who has children of her own,<br />
believes that the consequences of not<br />
addressing these issues earlier on could be<br />
dire. “There’s something missing inside of<br />
these kids that they’re searching for out<br />
there, and they don’t know what it is. So<br />
they meet people out there who appear to<br />
be role models and buddies, but the risk is<br />
that they could be negative role models,”<br />
she says, pointing to the spate of youth<br />
gang violence.<br />
“She is the goddess of the club,” says<br />
Baljot, all seriousness when I ask him<br />
about Sarjeet Auntie.<br />
The admiration 604-588-4665<br />
is mutual. “Each one<br />
of these kids is so special to me,” says<br />
Purewal. “I love each kid because they are<br />
just so unique. They have their little quirks<br />
and the little things they do, and their<br />
own little ways of sharing and interacting.<br />
Every one, I just really feel here,” she says<br />
pointing to her heart. “They’ re just so<br />
special.” p<br />
14 Mehfil September/October 2007
“Your lawyers, because we care.”<br />
Justin Thind, Amandeep Singh, Mishal Abrahams<br />
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IndIa • sIngapore • maurItIus • abu dhabI • bangladesh
P olitical Perspective<br />
by Kuljeet Kaila<br />
Laibar Singh<br />
Should he stay or should he go?<br />
The story of failed refugee claimant, Laibar Singh has more<br />
twists and turns than a Bollywood melodrama. Four years ago,<br />
Singh entered Canada with a fake passport. The now 48-yearold<br />
widowed father of four is fighting for his life and for the right to<br />
live it on Canadian soil.<br />
Singh says he fears persecution in his homeland, claiming he<br />
faces torture by police in the Punjab because of false allegations linking him to a Sikh militant group<br />
known as the Khalistan Commando Force.<br />
Since Singh entered Canada in 2003, his applications for refugee status — including an exemption on<br />
humanitarian and compassionate grounds — have failed. The government never accepted his claims that<br />
he would be at risk if he returned.<br />
Last year he suffered a brain aneurysm that has left him wheelchair bound and unable to feed himself.<br />
In early July 2007, Singh was ordered deported. Instead of going to the airport on the appointed<br />
day, Singh, with the help of friends, went to the Gurdwara Kalgidhar Darbar Sahib Society and sought<br />
sanctuary.<br />
No arrests were made. One month later, Singh’s health took a turn for the worse and he left the temple<br />
to seek treatment at a hospital in Abbotsford. Authorities arrested him while he was at the hospital and<br />
Singh was again ordered deported.<br />
Singh avoided boarding a plane once again on August 19 when Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day<br />
stepped into the case and granted a 60-day stay of deportation.<br />
Singh was allowed to return to the Gurdwara Kalgidhar Darbar Sahib on a few conditions. They<br />
included posting a $50,000 bond and a letter from gurdwara officials promising to give up Singh at the<br />
end of the 60 days if he is ordered to return to India. Temple officials are fighting to keep Singh in Canada<br />
and are promising to care for him if he is allowed to remain.<br />
It costs the Canadian health care system close to $150,000 a year to care for the ailing man. If he is<br />
ordered to return to India, it will cost Canadian taxpayers over $68,000 to provide him with a medically<br />
staffed flight to his homeland.<br />
We asked the opposition critic for citizenship and immigration, Stockwell Day, the president of the<br />
Gurdwara Kalgidhar Darbar Sahib and people on the street for their opinion on Laibar Singh’s case.<br />
Swarn Singh Gill, president<br />
of the Gurdwara Kalgidhar<br />
Darbar Sahib in Abbotsford<br />
MM: How has Laibar Singh’s<br />
health been in the hectic few<br />
weeks from the deportation<br />
order to the most recent<br />
arrest?<br />
Gill: From the hospital to the pretrial<br />
centre, his condition worsened<br />
but on the 25th of August,<br />
when he came back to us, to the<br />
temple, his face has started to<br />
lighten up again because of all the<br />
volunteers and temple-goers who<br />
visit him and care for him.<br />
MM: If in six months he is<br />
told to go back to India, then<br />
what will happen?<br />
Gill: When or if he has to go back,<br />
then we have to abide by the<br />
conditions set by the government<br />
and immigration board and if he<br />
has to go, there is nothing we can<br />
do. But I will say this has a lot<br />
to do with the public and I urge<br />
everyone to contact their MPs and<br />
government officials to put pressure<br />
on them to keep him here.<br />
MM: If he is returned to<br />
India, will the South Asian<br />
community in Abbotsford<br />
and the temple continue to<br />
help him?<br />
Gill: We have already raised and<br />
sent 5 lakh rupees (500,000<br />
rupees) to his kids, and if he has<br />
Do you think Laibar Singh should be allowed<br />
to remain in Canada?<br />
Mehfil asked people on the street for their opinion on whether Laibar Singh should be allowed to<br />
stay or should be deported. There were several people who felt he should be deported, but they<br />
declined to be photographed or quoted.<br />
“He should be able to stay<br />
because one thing is that he is paralyzed<br />
now and, secondly, Canada<br />
is a great country. The South Asian<br />
community is also helping him, and<br />
that makes a huge difference. I think<br />
he came with the hope that he would<br />
come here and also be able to help<br />
his kids and maybe bring them here<br />
so they could all have a better life.”<br />
— Kewal Pabla, restaurant owner<br />
“He should be allowed to stay here<br />
on compassionate grounds because<br />
he is sick and he is unable to walk or<br />
travel. Even if he goes back to India, it<br />
would be difficult for him to take care<br />
of his kids. Here the community has<br />
been helping him and his kids. If he<br />
gets permanent status here, he might<br />
be able to get his kids here and their<br />
future will be bright as well”<br />
— Ajent Sandhu, retired<br />
16 Mehfil September/October 2007
to be sent back then the entire<br />
community will come together<br />
and do what they can to help him.<br />
But the medical help he gets here<br />
will help him live the rest of his<br />
remaining life in dignity, whereas<br />
in India that won’t happen. He<br />
won’t get the proper care and<br />
medical treatment.<br />
MM: If he has adequate<br />
financial support, could he<br />
not get proper care in India?<br />
Gill: Money in India . . . and I can<br />
say because I have recently gone<br />
back to India, doesn’t always help<br />
anyone, and Laibar Singh can’t<br />
even feed himself . . .<br />
MM: If he stays here, he<br />
will require a lot of ongoing<br />
support both medically and<br />
financially. Will the current<br />
support he is getting from<br />
your temple and the community<br />
continue?<br />
Gill: Yes, the entire community<br />
has come together to help him,<br />
and I have full faith that this will<br />
continue.<br />
MM: Laibar Singh claimed<br />
political persecution as<br />
the reason why he fled to<br />
Canada with a fake passport.<br />
Is he afraid that if he returns<br />
to India his life may be in<br />
jeopardy?<br />
Gill: I know nothing about this<br />
or his reason for fleeing India<br />
because the only thing we are<br />
doing is caring for him, and that<br />
is our only concern. p<br />
Omar Alghabra<br />
Liberal MP and Critic for<br />
Citizenship and Immigration<br />
MM: What are your thoughts<br />
on how refugee claimant<br />
Laibar Singh has proceeded<br />
with this case from the<br />
beginning?<br />
Alghabra: All I know is that he<br />
came in with a fake passport and<br />
applied to be a refugee. I feel that<br />
for many immigrants that this is<br />
their only escape from wherever<br />
it is that they are escaping from.<br />
I don’t encourage it at all, but it<br />
should not take away from the<br />
legitimacy of the applicant and<br />
the application process, and in<br />
Canada it doesn’t.<br />
MM: Do you think he should<br />
be allowed to stay?<br />
Alghabra: The reason why I won’t<br />
say yes or no for sure is because<br />
I don’t know the facts, and I am<br />
not the minister nor the officer<br />
that have all of the facts. I only<br />
know the story because of what is<br />
being reported in the media and,<br />
from everything I have heard and<br />
seen, I think this case deserves an<br />
examination.<br />
MM: How do you feel about<br />
Public Safety Minister<br />
Stockwell Day’s involvement<br />
and his granting Laibar<br />
Singh a 60-day stay of deportation?<br />
Alghabra: I am technically saying<br />
that yes, the minister should have<br />
intervened. I think this should<br />
have happened earlier and that the<br />
deportation process should have<br />
been delayed until humanitarian<br />
and compassionate grounds are<br />
examined.<br />
MM: What would you like to<br />
see happen?<br />
Alghabra: I would like to see that<br />
this individual is given a fair,<br />
comprehensive opportunity and<br />
that we end up applying not just<br />
the rule of law. I mean we have<br />
rules that are made to protect<br />
Canadians and refugees, for that<br />
matter, and these rules are there<br />
for a reason. Sometimes we need<br />
some discretion and that is why<br />
we have this humanitarian and<br />
compassionate process in place.<br />
So we can’t forget the ultimate<br />
objective, which is the wellbeing<br />
of Canadians as well as rescuing<br />
the human refugees from terrible<br />
situations. If both objectives are<br />
met, if welcoming him will not do<br />
any disadvantage or harm to the<br />
Canadian public interests, and if<br />
given his medical condition and<br />
his circumstance it makes sense<br />
to let him stay here, we should let<br />
him stay here.<br />
MM: What is your message<br />
to those who do not support<br />
this claim?<br />
Alghabra: I think people should<br />
really step back and remember<br />
what the objective of our refugee<br />
system is. It is helping people<br />
where in need and giving people<br />
an opportunity to start a new life in<br />
a country that prides itself on its<br />
compassion and pursuit of justice<br />
and equality. I think it is easy to<br />
get dragged into an emotional<br />
debate on this matter, but I would<br />
call for a thoughtful and respectful<br />
debate on the broader policies<br />
rather than the individual case. p<br />
Minister Stockwell Day,<br />
Federal Minister for Public Safety<br />
Repeated requests for an interview<br />
with Stockwell Day were denied<br />
for weeks prior to publication.<br />
Instead, the office of the minister<br />
of public safety issued a statement<br />
on behalf of Day that read:<br />
“Minister Day has ordered a<br />
temporary deferral of removal so<br />
that a thorough<br />
review of the<br />
particulars of<br />
the case can<br />
be made. A<br />
temporary deferral<br />
of removal to<br />
allow a review of<br />
case particulars is<br />
not new.”<br />
Kuljeet Kaila is a Vancouver-based<br />
writer and radio/television broadcaster<br />
(www.kuljeetkaila.com)<br />
“My opinion is that<br />
he is not feeling well<br />
here, and the Canadian<br />
government should<br />
help him. Whenever<br />
his health is good, then<br />
they can deport him,<br />
but he is not healthy<br />
enough to go back now.<br />
The intentions of the Canadian government are<br />
right. There shouldn’t be illegal persons here.”<br />
— Sunil Sudiya, construction business owner<br />
“A lot of people are<br />
saying that he is here<br />
illegally but there are<br />
a lot of other people<br />
here illegally and he<br />
is not the only one.<br />
He should be given a<br />
chance and I am sure<br />
there are enough people willing to take care<br />
of him, whether in the community or in the<br />
family. We donated money to help his cause.<br />
— Narinder Cheema, production worker<br />
“I think he<br />
should be able<br />
to stay, and if<br />
he went back to<br />
India, it would be<br />
really hard for him<br />
because of his<br />
medical condition.<br />
In India it is very<br />
expensive and he won’t get the access to<br />
medical care that he is getting here.”<br />
— Lakhvinder Kaur, accountant<br />
Mehfil September/October 2007 17
to be sent back then the entire<br />
community will come together<br />
and do what they can to help him.<br />
But the medical help he gets here<br />
will help him live the rest of his<br />
remaining life in dignity, whereas<br />
in India that won’t happen. He<br />
won’t get the proper care and<br />
medical treatment.<br />
MM: If he has adequate<br />
financial support, could he<br />
not get proper care in India?<br />
Gill: Money in India . . . and I can<br />
say because I have recently gone<br />
back to India, doesn’t always help<br />
anyone, and Laibar Singh can’t<br />
even feed himself . . .<br />
MM: If he stays here, he<br />
will require a lot of ongoing<br />
support both medically and<br />
financially. Will the current<br />
support he is getting from<br />
your temple and the community<br />
continue?<br />
Gill: Yes, the entire community<br />
has come together to help him,<br />
and I have full faith that this will<br />
continue.<br />
MM: Laibar Singh claimed<br />
political persecution as<br />
the reason why he fled to<br />
Canada with a fake passport.<br />
Is he afraid that if he returns<br />
to India his life may be in<br />
jeopardy?<br />
Gill: I know nothing about this<br />
or his reason for fleeing India<br />
because the only thing we are<br />
doing is caring for him, and that<br />
is our only concern. p<br />
Omar Alghabra<br />
Liberal MP and Critic for<br />
Citizenship and Immigration<br />
MM: What are your thoughts<br />
on how refugee claimant<br />
Laibar Singh has proceeded<br />
with this case from the<br />
beginning?<br />
Alghabra: All I know is that he<br />
came in with a fake passport and<br />
applied to be a refugee. I feel that<br />
for many immigrants that this is<br />
their only escape from wherever<br />
it is that they are escaping from.<br />
I don’t encourage it at all, but it<br />
should not take away from the<br />
legitimacy of the applicant and<br />
the application process, and in<br />
Canada it doesn’t.<br />
MM: Do you think he should<br />
be allowed to stay?<br />
Alghabra: The reason why I won’t<br />
say yes or no for sure is because<br />
I don’t know the facts, and I am<br />
not the minister nor the officer<br />
that have all of the facts. I only<br />
know the story because of what is<br />
being reported in the media and,<br />
from everything I have heard and<br />
seen, I think this case deserves an<br />
examination.<br />
MM: How do you feel about<br />
Public Safety Minister<br />
Stockwell Day’s involvement<br />
and his granting Laibar<br />
Singh a 60-day stay of deportation?<br />
Alghabra: I am technically saying<br />
that yes, the minister should have<br />
intervened. I think this should<br />
have happened earlier and that the<br />
deportation process should have<br />
been delayed until humanitarian<br />
and compassionate grounds are<br />
examined.<br />
MM: What would you like to<br />
see happen?<br />
Alghabra: I would like to see that<br />
this individual is given a fair,<br />
comprehensive opportunity and<br />
that we end up applying not just<br />
the rule of law. I mean we have<br />
rules that are made to protect<br />
Canadians and refugees, for that<br />
matter, and these rules are there<br />
for a reason. Sometimes we need<br />
some discretion and that is why<br />
we have this humanitarian and<br />
compassionate process in place.<br />
So we can’t forget the ultimate<br />
objective, which is the wellbeing<br />
of Canadians as well as rescuing<br />
the human refugees from terrible<br />
situations. If both objectives are<br />
met, if welcoming him will not do<br />
any disadvantage or harm to the<br />
Canadian public interests, and if<br />
given his medical condition and<br />
his circumstance it makes sense<br />
to let him stay here, we should let<br />
him stay here.<br />
MM: What is your message<br />
to those who do not support<br />
this claim?<br />
Alghabra: I think people should<br />
really step back and remember<br />
what the objective of our refugee<br />
system is. It is helping people<br />
where in need and giving people<br />
an opportunity to start a new life in<br />
a country that prides itself on its<br />
compassion and pursuit of justice<br />
and equality. I think it is easy to<br />
get dragged into an emotional<br />
debate on this matter, but I would<br />
call for a thoughtful and respectful<br />
debate on the broader policies<br />
rather than the individual case. p<br />
Minister Stockwell Day,<br />
Federal Minister for Public Safety<br />
Repeated requests for an interview<br />
with Stockwell Day were denied<br />
for weeks prior to publication.<br />
Instead, the office of the minister<br />
of public safety issued a statement<br />
on behalf of Day that read:<br />
“Minister Day has ordered a<br />
temporary deferral of removal so<br />
that a thorough<br />
review of the<br />
particulars of<br />
the case can<br />
be made. A<br />
temporary deferral<br />
of removal to<br />
allow a review of<br />
case particulars is<br />
not new.”<br />
Kuljeet Kaila is a Vancouver-based<br />
writer and radio/television broadcaster<br />
(www.kuljeetkaila.com)<br />
“My opinion is that<br />
he is not feeling well<br />
here, and the Canadian<br />
government should<br />
help him. Whenever<br />
his health is good, then<br />
they can deport him,<br />
but he is not healthy<br />
enough to go back now.<br />
The intentions of the Canadian government are<br />
right. There shouldn’t be illegal persons here.”<br />
— Sunil Sudiya, construction business owner<br />
“A lot of people are<br />
saying that he is here<br />
illegally but there are<br />
a lot of other people<br />
here illegally and he<br />
is not the only one.<br />
He should be given a<br />
chance and I am sure<br />
there are enough people willing to take care<br />
of him, whether in the community or in the<br />
family. We donated money to help his cause.<br />
— Narinder Cheema, production worker<br />
“I think he<br />
should be able<br />
to stay, and if<br />
he went back to<br />
India, it would be<br />
really hard for him<br />
because of his<br />
medical condition.<br />
In India it is very<br />
expensive and he won’t get the access to<br />
medical care that he is getting here.”<br />
— Lakhvinder Kaur, accountant<br />
Mehfil September/October 2007 17
Restore your memories…<br />
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Flipside<br />
by Rita Dhaliwal<br />
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Jessie Vaid<br />
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• Property: Purchases/Sales • Mortgages<br />
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Delta, BC<br />
604-594-7505<br />
fax: 604-590-8244<br />
jvaid@notaries.bc.ca<br />
A Daughter’s Eyes...<br />
Reading a recent story by a BBC<br />
reporter who describes the birth of<br />
a baby girl in Punjab, I started thinking<br />
about just how powerful a culturallyingrained<br />
prejudice must be that it can<br />
snap the natural bond between mother<br />
and child as easily as if it were a thread.<br />
Weeks after reading the story, the<br />
details were still vivid in my mind. To<br />
summarize, the article by Nick Bryant<br />
of the BBC pointed out that India’s<br />
increasing wealth appears to be bring<br />
with it increased access to prenatal<br />
ultrasounds and sonograms, thereby<br />
fuelling female foeticide.<br />
The statistics speak for themselves.<br />
According to Unicef, a higher percentage<br />
of boys are born now than 10 years ago<br />
in 80 per cent of India’s districts and<br />
sex selection is most common in India’s<br />
wealthiest states. In northern Punjab, the<br />
female-to-male ratio for children under<br />
the age of six is 798-to-1,000. (This<br />
despite the fact that prenatal testing for<br />
sex-selection has been banned in India<br />
since 1996.)<br />
I’d heard the dismal statistics before,<br />
including the staggering estimate that 10<br />
million female fetuses have been aborted<br />
in India over the last 20 years.<br />
The numbers weren’t new to me, but<br />
the way they were interspersed with the<br />
story of one particular birth gave the<br />
familiar story of India’s missing girls<br />
added, unspeakable poignancy.<br />
Bryant describes the disappointment<br />
in the air following the birth of a baby<br />
girl. At one point, he writes, one of the<br />
young mother’s female relatives, asks if<br />
the news crew would like to take the 10-<br />
minute-old baby — “not just to hold<br />
but to have,” he explains.<br />
The baby girl isn’t one of India’s lost<br />
girls. She wasn’t identified as female by<br />
an ultrasound and subsequently aborted,<br />
as happens thousands of times a day in<br />
India.<br />
But she wasn’t taken lovingly into her<br />
mother’s arms after entering the world.<br />
She wasn’t cuddled or cooed over. Her<br />
mother didn’t look into her face and find<br />
herself overwhelmed with gratitude.<br />
That newborn girl missed out on all<br />
those precious moments. And so did her<br />
mother.<br />
604-588-4665<br />
I’ve witnessed or heard of many<br />
such joyless receptions following the<br />
arrival of a baby girl. Although I didn’t<br />
understand what was going on at the<br />
time, I can recall the tears and the sense<br />
of woe as adults commiserated over the<br />
birth of a girl — much as if they would<br />
following a death.<br />
As a mother who’s looked into a<br />
daughter’s eyes and been swept off my<br />
feet with love, I experienced a mixture of<br />
emotions as I imagined the scene in that<br />
delivery room in Punjab and filled in the<br />
missing details: the young mother crying<br />
tears not of joy but of disappointment,<br />
despair and perhaps fear of her husband’s<br />
reaction; the women present at the birth<br />
abashed and hushed.<br />
I can’t imagine not cradling a<br />
daughter with as much joy as a son.<br />
I can’t imagine not being awestruck<br />
to have the opportunity to delight in<br />
a daughter’s laughter and soothe her<br />
tears.<br />
Do I have a greater capacity to love<br />
than the mother who didn’t put out her<br />
arms to welcome her newborn daughter?<br />
It’s perhaps 604-599-4713<br />
not so much the capacity to<br />
love that’s missing, but the freedom to<br />
do so.<br />
So many Indian women, wherever<br />
they live, don’t feel as free to love — or<br />
at least as free to demonstrate their love<br />
for — girls as much as boys.<br />
It’s difficult to comprehend the power<br />
— and the ugliness — of a cultural<br />
prejudice that can strain and in so many<br />
cases snap the bond between a mother<br />
and her newborn child. p<br />
20 Mehfil September/October 2007
Flipside<br />
by Rita Dhaliwal<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Jessie Vaid<br />
Notary Public<br />
• Property: Purchases/Sales • Mortgages<br />
• Wills • Powers of Attorney<br />
• Statutory Declarations and all notary services<br />
Unit 140, 8047-120th St,<br />
Delta, BC<br />
604-594-7505<br />
fax: 604-590-8244<br />
jvaid@notaries.bc.ca<br />
A Daughter’s Eyes...<br />
Reading a recent story by a BBC<br />
reporter who describes the birth of<br />
a baby girl in Punjab, I started thinking<br />
about just how powerful a culturallyingrained<br />
prejudice must be that it can<br />
snap the natural bond between mother<br />
and child as easily as if it were a thread.<br />
Weeks after reading the story, the<br />
details were still vivid in my mind. To<br />
summarize, the article by Nick Bryant<br />
of the BBC pointed out that India’s<br />
increasing wealth appears to be bring<br />
with it increased access to prenatal<br />
ultrasounds and sonograms, thereby<br />
fuelling female foeticide.<br />
The statistics speak for themselves.<br />
According to Unicef, a higher percentage<br />
of boys are born now than 10 years ago<br />
in 80 per cent of India’s districts and<br />
sex selection is most common in India’s<br />
wealthiest states. In northern Punjab, the<br />
female-to-male ratio for children under<br />
the age of six is 798-to-1,000. (This<br />
despite the fact that prenatal testing for<br />
sex-selection has been banned in India<br />
since 1996.)<br />
I’d heard the dismal statistics before,<br />
including the staggering estimate that 10<br />
million female fetuses have been aborted<br />
in India over the last 20 years.<br />
The numbers weren’t new to me, but<br />
the way they were interspersed with the<br />
story of one particular birth gave the<br />
familiar story of India’s missing girls<br />
added, unspeakable poignancy.<br />
Bryant describes the disappointment<br />
in the air following the birth of a baby<br />
girl. At one point, he writes, one of the<br />
young mother’s female relatives, asks if<br />
the news crew would like to take the 10-<br />
minute-old baby — “not just to hold<br />
but to have,” he explains.<br />
The baby girl isn’t one of India’s lost<br />
girls. She wasn’t identified as female by<br />
an ultrasound and subsequently aborted,<br />
as happens thousands of times a day in<br />
India.<br />
But she wasn’t taken lovingly into her<br />
mother’s arms after entering the world.<br />
She wasn’t cuddled or cooed over. Her<br />
mother didn’t look into her face and find<br />
herself overwhelmed with gratitude.<br />
That newborn girl missed out on all<br />
those precious moments. And so did her<br />
mother.<br />
604-588-4665<br />
I’ve witnessed or heard of many<br />
such joyless receptions following the<br />
arrival of a baby girl. Although I didn’t<br />
understand what was going on at the<br />
time, I can recall the tears and the sense<br />
of woe as adults commiserated over the<br />
birth of a girl — much as if they would<br />
following a death.<br />
As a mother who’s looked into a<br />
daughter’s eyes and been swept off my<br />
feet with love, I experienced a mixture of<br />
emotions as I imagined the scene in that<br />
delivery room in Punjab and filled in the<br />
missing details: the young mother crying<br />
tears not of joy but of disappointment,<br />
despair and perhaps fear of her husband’s<br />
reaction; the women present at the birth<br />
abashed and hushed.<br />
I can’t imagine not cradling a<br />
daughter with as much joy as a son.<br />
I can’t imagine not being awestruck<br />
to have the opportunity to delight in<br />
a daughter’s laughter and soothe her<br />
tears.<br />
Do I have a greater capacity to love<br />
than the mother who didn’t put out her<br />
arms to welcome her newborn daughter?<br />
It’s perhaps 604-599-4713<br />
not so much the capacity to<br />
love that’s missing, but the freedom to<br />
do so.<br />
So many Indian women, wherever<br />
they live, don’t feel as free to love — or<br />
at least as free to demonstrate their love<br />
for — girls as much as boys.<br />
It’s difficult to comprehend the power<br />
— and the ugliness — of a cultural<br />
prejudice that can strain and in so many<br />
cases snap the bond between a mother<br />
and her newborn child. p<br />
20 Mehfil September/October 2007
The Inspired Sufi<br />
by Azim Jamal<br />
“The life that is unobserved is not worth living.”<br />
— Plato<br />
Being Aware<br />
If we know who we really are, what<br />
we want in life, and how we want to<br />
lead our lives, we have a very good<br />
chance of accomplishing our aspirations.<br />
The articulation of who we are, what we<br />
want in life, and how we want to lead our<br />
lives can be called our personal mission<br />
statement.<br />
Each of us has a unique mission in<br />
life. To discover our individual mission<br />
requires the willingness to embark on an<br />
inner journey – to define the personal<br />
visions and values that are meaningful to<br />
us. Writing a formal mission statement can<br />
bring clarity and focus to this journey. The<br />
mission statement reveals who we want to<br />
be and what contributions we want to<br />
make to society. It also clarifies the values<br />
and principles that must guide our actions<br />
if we are to achieve these aspirations. It<br />
encompasses the various roles we play as<br />
individuals and as family and community<br />
members.<br />
We cannot help being influenced by<br />
outside forces. However, if we focus on<br />
looking in the mirror and seeing who we<br />
really are, beyond these influences, our<br />
self-confidence and inner power can grow.<br />
It is never too late.<br />
As long as we are alive, we have an<br />
opportunity to look in the mirror.<br />
Our mission statement clarifies<br />
and focuses our vision and aspirations.<br />
Once we have a clear idea of these, we<br />
need to start evaluating whether we are<br />
actually living in tune with our mission.<br />
Being aware means being conscious of<br />
our everyday motivations, actions, and<br />
responses. It allows us to discover the gap<br />
between how we want to lead our lives<br />
and how we actually do.<br />
Keeping a daily journal teaches us<br />
about ourselves.<br />
A helpful way to gain insight into<br />
ourselves is to keep a daily journal. This<br />
is a useful tool for revealing what is really<br />
happening in our lives, as opposed to what<br />
we think is happening. It also allows us<br />
to better evaluate our motives, reactions,<br />
shortcomings, and strengths. Keeping<br />
a journal is like having a video camera<br />
around us that constantly records our<br />
behavior.<br />
Writing in my daily journal has<br />
helped me immeasurably in the process<br />
of being aware. Through this practice,<br />
I have been able to capture the meaning<br />
of what is transpiring in my life much<br />
more clearly than before. I always thought<br />
that I was patient and understanding,<br />
Through the process of<br />
writing in a journal and<br />
reflecting on the choices we<br />
make daily, we can identify<br />
our weak areas or blind<br />
spots. Once we identify<br />
these weaknesses, we need<br />
to find their root causes.<br />
but my observations gleaned through<br />
keeping a journal sometimes reveal the<br />
opposite. While writing about my daily<br />
experiences, I’ve noticed how impatient<br />
I can sometimes become with others, as<br />
well as insensitive to their feelings. It has<br />
been an eye-opener for me to observe<br />
myself doing the same things I implore<br />
others not to do. This understanding of<br />
myself has helped me be on guard, thus<br />
enabling me to gradually diminish and<br />
eradicate my weaknesses. Through this<br />
practice, I have also come to realize that<br />
I can more effectively work on a weakness<br />
when I am aware of the problem and can<br />
put my mind to work on it.<br />
Being aware helps us recognize our<br />
shortcomings and capitalize on our<br />
strengths.<br />
The key to effectively keeping a journal<br />
is to make an objective evaluation of our<br />
behavior and commit to making the<br />
necessary improvements that will support<br />
our mission and purpose in life. Through<br />
the process of writing in a journal and<br />
reflecting on the choices we make daily,<br />
we can identify our weak areas or blind<br />
spots. Once we identify these weaknesses,<br />
we need to find out their root causes. One<br />
way of doing this is to observe when we<br />
indulge in this behavior and figure out<br />
there and then what triggered it. By being<br />
vigilant, we aid our understanding of<br />
ourselves and our ability to work on the<br />
problems.<br />
Knowing our vulnerable areas helps us<br />
stay aware, thereby reducing our chances<br />
of getting off track from our purpose in<br />
life. As we work on our weaknesses, we<br />
also discover our strengths. Few years ago,<br />
my wife and I were planning a holiday to<br />
the United Kingdom. Two days before we<br />
were due to leave, my wife realized that her<br />
passport had expired. My normal reaction<br />
would have been impatience and anger.<br />
However, being alert and aware of my<br />
shortcoming, I instead chose not to react<br />
in anger and calmly discussed the options<br />
with her. We decided that we would go to<br />
the passport office early the next morning<br />
to see if they could renew the passport<br />
in one day. We knew it usually takes five<br />
working days, but we felt the worst that<br />
could happen is that they would not<br />
renew it on time and we would have to<br />
postpone our trip.<br />
It so happened that Vancouver had a<br />
heavy snowfall that day, which made it<br />
difficult driving to the passport office.<br />
We somehow managed to get there and<br />
found that there was no lineup at the<br />
passport office. When my wife made her<br />
request, the supervisor told the clerk,<br />
“You had better hang on to her; you’re<br />
22 Mehfil September/October 2007
not likely to get many more customers with<br />
the weather being so bad.” The passport was<br />
issued promptly. Aided considerably by the<br />
snowstorm, my calm reaction to the passport<br />
problem paved the way to a solution, and<br />
we enjoyed a wonderful day in the snow. I<br />
discovered that not only can I control my<br />
anger, but also I can be loving and supportive<br />
instead.<br />
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Being aware helps us learn from others.<br />
Our daily interaction with people can teach<br />
us a lot. Exposure to different experiences and<br />
viewpoints provides us with new perspectives<br />
on life, which in turn broaden our outlook.<br />
However, to take advantage of all that others<br />
can teach us, we need to be alert and keep an<br />
open mind. In this way, our understanding<br />
of our own and others’ behavior is enhanced.<br />
Another family example, this time an<br />
experience with my daughter, demonstrates<br />
how this can work.<br />
I was upset with my daughter, Sahar,<br />
because she had left her room untidy. The<br />
more upset I became, the worse it got; she was<br />
in tears but refused to cooperate. The outcome<br />
was that we were both left feeling angry, the<br />
room was still untidy, and, to top it all off,<br />
I had set a bad example for my son who was<br />
watching this display. When my wife came<br />
on the scene, she went straight to Sahar and<br />
hugged her. She told Sahar how helpful she<br />
had been cleaning the kitchen, finishing her<br />
homework, and looking after her brother the<br />
day before. Within minutes, Sahar had calmed<br />
down and cleaned her room, and was happily<br />
doing her schoolwork. My wife’s ability to<br />
create a win-win situation by empathizing<br />
with Sahar’s feelings and giving her positive<br />
recognition allowed our daughter to preserve<br />
her self-respect and get the job done. In this<br />
situation, I learned about my own behavior, as<br />
well as my wife’s strengths and my daughter’s<br />
needs.<br />
As our awareness of our life’s experiences<br />
grows, we learn to recognize more quickly<br />
when we go astray from our mission, and we<br />
can respond appropriately.<br />
By being bold enough to admit to our<br />
weaknesses, we pave the way to overcoming<br />
them. But knowing and admitting to our<br />
weaknesses is only half the solution. The other<br />
half of the solution is to commit ourselves<br />
to taking corrective action. Initially, it may<br />
be hard to face our weaknesses, but, as we<br />
undertake this process honestly, we will<br />
discover new facts about others and ourselves.<br />
These new insights will open the door for the<br />
true meaning of life to emerge and will lead to<br />
lasting happiness and contentment. p<br />
Azim Jamal is the author of several books, including coauthor<br />
of Amazon No. 1 best-selling book The Power of<br />
Giving. For a free monthly newsletter full of tips on living<br />
to potential and living a balanced life, register at www.<br />
azimjamal.com and www.thepowerofgiving.org<br />
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Mehfil September/October 2007 23
Spotlight<br />
Manoj Sood Helps Defuse<br />
Hate with Humour<br />
by Munisha Tumato<br />
“ Have we met before?” is the first question<br />
Manoj Sood asks me over the phone from<br />
his apartment in Toronto.<br />
We’ve never actually met, but I’m from<br />
Calgary and he’s from Calgary and, well, that’s<br />
just how our community works, right? As a<br />
matter of fact, when I decided I wanted to speak<br />
to the Vancouver-based actor about his role as<br />
Baber on the surprise hit sitcom Little Mosque<br />
on the Prairie, I contacted his publicist and<br />
spent a week negotiating an interview. The more<br />
efficient method might have been to contact my<br />
mom, who would have contacted Manoj’s mom<br />
and called me back with his cellphone number<br />
within the hour.<br />
These are the South Asian community’s little<br />
intricacies, the insider secrets and cultural nuances that<br />
only we are privy to. For instance, the little known fact<br />
that our aunties are our best contacts when we need to<br />
know the who, what, when, where and why — more<br />
accurate and reliable than an army of fact-checking<br />
journalists, and always ready with a cup of chai, no less.<br />
24 Mehfil September/October 2007
Which is perhaps what is so<br />
unprecedented about the little CBC sitcom<br />
making big waves: It outs cultural inside<br />
jokes in a way that mainstream audiences<br />
can appreciate, and it does so without<br />
offending the community it portrays.<br />
“The most important thing Little<br />
Mosque does is bring people from a very<br />
distinct cultural background, and shows<br />
the world that they are people just like<br />
anyone else,” says Sood, 45, who began his<br />
acting career in 1994.<br />
It is this universalism that the show<br />
managed to tap into in its first season<br />
— using the finicky medium of comedy<br />
to transform a potentially controversial<br />
sitcom into a darling in the eyes of critics<br />
and audiences. The show follows the lives<br />
of a tiny Muslim community living in a<br />
(fictional) Canadian town called Mercy.<br />
Their desire to open Mercy’s first mosque<br />
leads to a plethora of hilarious cultural<br />
negotiations between the townsfolk and<br />
their Muslim neighbours. The wariness, of<br />
course, flows both ways.<br />
To young Muslims growing up in North<br />
America, the show is precedent setting in<br />
another way. At a recent screening of the<br />
show’s pilot at the Museum of Radio and<br />
Television, Sood tells me, “A woman stood<br />
up and told us that a young boy she knew<br />
named Amar [who lives in New York] was<br />
so, so happy because for the first time in<br />
his life there was a character on TV with<br />
the same name as his. He was so happy<br />
because of that.”<br />
“Most Muslims I know love the show<br />
because it’s something they can identify<br />
with.”<br />
Sood’s character Baber is perhaps the<br />
most risqué of the bunch. A sort of Muslim<br />
Archie Bunker, Baber is the kind of man<br />
who believes that if “you’re not Muslim,<br />
you’re an infidel,” says the actor. Sood is<br />
familiar with the Babers of the world and<br />
understands that under all the pomp and<br />
swagger is an almost child-like fear of the<br />
unknown.<br />
“He came here being the way he was<br />
and he feels that he doesn’t fit very well in<br />
Western society. Baber probably wouldn’t<br />
be as traditional if he was still living in<br />
Pakistan.”<br />
The actor’s insight into his character<br />
is born of his proximity to the immigrant<br />
experience, and it makes all the difference<br />
with a character like Baber, who runs<br />
the highest risk of reinforcing Western<br />
stereotypes of Islam. (“WINE gums. RYE<br />
bread. LICORice. Western traps designed<br />
to seduce Muslims to drink alcohol!” is<br />
how the slightly bumbling Baber starts<br />
his first sermon as Imam, before he is<br />
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Mehfil September/October 2007 25
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unceremoniously replaced by the younger,<br />
less wary Amar.)<br />
Unlike many South Asian actors who<br />
admit to downplaying their “South Asianness”<br />
to have access to more roles, Sood<br />
has found that directors are hungry for the<br />
Indian twist he puts on generic characters.<br />
He offers a pragmatic line of reasoning.<br />
“I don’t know why [South Asian] people<br />
wouldn’t want to be who they are. That<br />
would be like a Caucasian person not<br />
wanting to play a Caucasian.”<br />
He gets the sense that things are<br />
opening up for South Asians in the arts.<br />
There are more and meatier roles for<br />
South Asian actors and Sood attributes<br />
this to the fact that visible minorities are<br />
“now mainstream, and not this isolated<br />
little group any more.” He also thinks the<br />
communal preference for pumping out<br />
waves of South Asian doctors and lawyers<br />
is loosening a bit, and there is more support<br />
in the South Asian-Canadian community<br />
for those amongst them aspiring to the<br />
arts. He himself comes from a family of<br />
artists; his sister Veena is a well-known<br />
actor and his brother Ashwin is the<br />
drummer for Canadian singer-songwriter<br />
Sarah McLachlan.<br />
A willingness on the part of Muslims<br />
to tell their stories, on the part of<br />
broadcasters to air them and western<br />
audiences to hear them appears to be the<br />
successful triumverate that has propelled<br />
Little Mosque into its second season. After<br />
a strong first season averaging a million<br />
viewers per show, CBC has requested<br />
another 20 episodes, rather than the<br />
usual 13. The show has been picked up<br />
by a French cable channel that has high<br />
hopes of it helping ease the racial tensions<br />
simmering in the country’s suburbs.<br />
Negotiations with American networks are<br />
ongoing, says Sood.<br />
The accolades are also beginning to<br />
trickle in. Little Mosque was named best<br />
series at the Roma Fiction Fest in July. The<br />
decision was unanimous among 30 Italian<br />
judges, who also awarded the sitcom top<br />
604-599-4713<br />
26 Mehfil September/October 2007
“A woman stood up and told<br />
us that a young boy she knew<br />
named Amar [who lives in<br />
New York] was so, so happy<br />
because for the first time in his<br />
life there was a character on TV<br />
with the same name as his. He<br />
was so happy because of that.<br />
Most Muslims I know love the<br />
show because it’s something<br />
they can identify with.”<br />
honors in the best writing category.<br />
“Islam” and “funny” may appear to be<br />
an awkward match but as Mercy’s wouldbe<br />
Imam Amar asserts in the first episode,<br />
“Muslims around the world are known for<br />
their sense of humour.” (The funny thing<br />
is he’s being detained and harangued by a<br />
jumpy airport cop when he says it.) But<br />
it’s true that instances of Islamic comedy<br />
are cropping up in the mainstream. Allah<br />
Made Me Funny is a particularly hilarious<br />
posse of Muslim-American comedians<br />
whose ultimate goal is to change the<br />
average American’s perception of Islam as<br />
rigid, unsmiling, and downright scary.<br />
Sood’s immediate goal is get back to<br />
Vancouver when he gets a few days off<br />
from shooting, to see his biggest fan.<br />
(Little Mosque is shot in Saskatchewan.)<br />
“He knows every single line. I’ll say a<br />
line from the show and it doesn’t matter<br />
which character’s line it is, he knows the<br />
next line,” says Sood of his nine-year-old<br />
son.<br />
Perhaps he’s following in his father’s<br />
footsteps? “Right now he told me that in<br />
the winter time he wants to play goalie<br />
for the Canucks since Luongo’s no longer<br />
there and in the summertime he decided<br />
that he’s going to come to Toronto and<br />
play for the Raptors,” says the proud papa<br />
with a chuckle. “And in between that time<br />
he might do some directing of movies as<br />
well.”<br />
And why not? If a comedy about<br />
rural Canadian Muslims can attract<br />
international attention and acclaim, a<br />
South Asian goalie for the Canucks just<br />
doesn’t seem that far off. p<br />
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Cover Story<br />
Rahul Sood<br />
How a Computer Geek Used Voodoo<br />
to Become a Demigod of Gaming<br />
By Robin Roberts<br />
Rahul Sood is the founder of Calgary-based VoodooPC, makers<br />
of ultra high-end, custom-built personal computers that sell for<br />
upwards of $50,000 to a niche clientele that includes famous faces<br />
like Robin Williams. Last year, the world’s largest PC seller, Hewlett-<br />
Packard, acquired VoodooPC for a small fortune. Sood remains with HP<br />
as chief technology officer, overseeing product design and a $3.5-billion<br />
research and development budget. If you meet him at a party, however,<br />
he’ll tell you he’s a rodeo clown.<br />
“I don’t like drawing much attention,”<br />
he says, as if saying he’s a rodeo<br />
clown wouldn’t attract circus-level curiosity.<br />
Telling people, “I’m 34 years old, I<br />
have a wife and three kids, and I live at<br />
home with my mom,” isn’t as interesting,<br />
he claims, but the reaction he gets when<br />
he does ‘fess up and admit he plays video<br />
games for a living certainly prompts some<br />
interest, particularly from 12-year-old<br />
boys and grown-up geeks. “They’re pretty<br />
fascinated by that,” he says on the phone<br />
from Sylvan Lake, just north of his home<br />
in Calgary, where he’s vacationing. “It’s a<br />
lot of fun. I don’t look at it as a job, it’s<br />
a total hobby. And as a career, I couldn’t<br />
have been luckier to fall into it, so I’m<br />
very happy.”<br />
Sood didn’t exactly “fall into” computers;<br />
he literally deconstructed his way in.<br />
When he was 11, his parents bought him<br />
his first machine, a brand-new, gleaming<br />
white Apple IIc. Instead of turning it on<br />
and tapping the keys, however, he got a<br />
screwdriver and took it apart. He wasn’t<br />
as interested in what was on the screen as<br />
what was behind it. “My parents weren’t<br />
happy because they didn’t think it would<br />
work after I took it apart, but when I<br />
put it back together they were OK with<br />
it,” he says. Then he painted it. Red. “I<br />
didn’t like the colour,” he says simply, so<br />
he changed it.<br />
No one in the Sood household was<br />
as technologically adept — or interested<br />
— as young Rahul, so the family didn’t<br />
quite understand his fascination with<br />
the hardware. They weren’t even too<br />
concerned when he spent many hours<br />
playing with the early Atari and Nintendo<br />
games, because, when he had to, the kid<br />
didn’t shy away from hard work. His<br />
father owned a flooring business and put<br />
his son to work when he was just 10, driving<br />
a forklift and cutting carpet. “My dad<br />
was a great influence,” says Sood of his<br />
father, who died in 2000. “I think what I<br />
learned from him was work ethic: things<br />
don’t come for free, things don’t come<br />
easy, you actually have to work for it.”<br />
And work he did. In 1991, after just<br />
six months at Calgary’s Mount Royal<br />
28 Mehfil September/October 2007
Mehfil September/October 2007 29<br />
Photo by James Mah
Cover<br />
RAHUL’S WORLD<br />
On what he’s playing right now: Microsoft<br />
Flight Simulator X. I love that game, it’s<br />
amazing. You’re flying a float plane over<br />
the San Juan Islands and when you play it<br />
on a 30-inch display with all the detail you<br />
can see the crest of the waves on the water.<br />
When you land in the water the plane is<br />
bouncing around. We have these reality<br />
chairs we set with the simulator so when<br />
you land you can feel the chair bouncing<br />
around too.<br />
On his prized possessions: I collect<br />
watches (I’m a freak about nice watches),<br />
shoes (specifically Puma; my wife thinks<br />
I’m a girl), cigars (don’t smoke them), and I<br />
also smoke hookah once in awhile...<br />
On what he can’t leave the house without:<br />
I absolutely cannot leave the house<br />
without some kind of communicator/<br />
phone. I’m always switching; I carry two<br />
devices, one on a U.S. SIM card [Subscriber<br />
Identity Module, a removable smart card<br />
for cellphones], and one Canadian. At the<br />
moment I’m using a really cool HP iPAQ<br />
[Pocket PC] device; I’d feel naked without<br />
it. I’m also using a B&O [Bang & Olufsen]<br />
Serene phone [a high-end, sophisticated cell<br />
phone with camera and e-mail capability].<br />
On reading: I don’t read books. I used to<br />
read all the time, now my idea of a good<br />
book is Maximum PC Magazine, Car &<br />
Driver, FHM, Custom PC, PC Gamer, and<br />
CPU Magazine. I have no time for books,<br />
but I love movies and built a crazy immersive<br />
home theatre in my basement.<br />
On writing [he writes for publications like<br />
CPU magazine and Dailytech as well as<br />
on his blog at www.rahulsood.com]: I<br />
like writing. It’s more of a hobby, although<br />
I’ve been told I should write a book by<br />
many of my friends. They think it would<br />
be hilarious. I’m not sure what they mean<br />
by that . . . perhaps you can ask one of<br />
them.<br />
On his Indian heritage: My parents were<br />
born in Kenya. Originally my family’s from<br />
Delhi. Voodoo set up an office in Bangalore<br />
about eight years ago (now we’re all HP<br />
employees) and I’ve never been. My wife<br />
is from India, she grew up in Hyderabad,<br />
so we’re actually going this December. HP<br />
has three master brands — Voodoo, HP<br />
and Compaq — and the spokesperson for<br />
Compaq in India is Shah Rukh Khan. He’s<br />
College, he dropped out because “the<br />
courses offered in computers were basically<br />
useless,” he recalls. With the simple<br />
logic he used when he changed the<br />
colour of his first PC, he decided the<br />
way to a better computer was to build<br />
it himself. He took over some space<br />
at the back of his dad’s shop, racked<br />
up $3,000 on his MasterCard for<br />
parts, and with his first custom-built<br />
computer, VoodooPC was born. (The<br />
name was inspired by the small voodoo<br />
dolls his mother brought home from a<br />
trip to Africa, which he thought were<br />
cool.) When one of his first buyers, a<br />
market research firm, ordered multiple<br />
machines, he hired a friend to help.<br />
He now had a staff of two, including<br />
himself. He then scored a contract to<br />
build work stations for Calgary’s lucrative<br />
oil and gas industry and his little<br />
business began to grow. He did all the<br />
sales and marketing himself, but wisely<br />
hired an accountant to handle the<br />
increasingly complicated books. At the<br />
end of the work day, instead of going<br />
home, he and his friends/employees<br />
would sit around playing video games,<br />
sometimes until 2 or 3 a.m. “So it was<br />
a natural fit for us to go in that direction,”<br />
he says.<br />
At first, orders didn’t exactly pour<br />
in for Voodoo’s high-performance<br />
machines, but the small team had<br />
enough work to cut into their own<br />
video gaming. By 1999, they had so<br />
many requests, Sood pulled his older<br />
brother Ravi away from his MBA<br />
studies to handle Voodoo’s day-to-day<br />
operations, which freed up Sood to<br />
focus on gaming development. But<br />
playing games wasn’t all the company<br />
did. They branched into medical imaging<br />
(for CT scanning and MRIs) for<br />
the health field, and airplane simulators<br />
for the aviation industry. By 2005,<br />
the Sood brothers had a staff of 40, a<br />
manufacturing facility in downtown<br />
Calgary, some pretty impressive products<br />
— which he describes as “desktop<br />
Ferraris” — and clients with deep<br />
pockets to pay for their high-end gaming<br />
jones. What they didn’t have were<br />
the resources to grow ever bigger.<br />
“We had won every major award<br />
in the industry more than once, we<br />
had pretty much accomplished all our<br />
goals, innovated some really cool products,<br />
but we had reached a point where<br />
innovation was becoming somewhat<br />
stagnant,” explains Sood. “It was hard<br />
for a little company to produce some<br />
of the innovations we wanted to create<br />
because of our volume. People in<br />
Taiwan wouldn’t take us seriously; it<br />
was a real challenge. We wanted to<br />
partner with a company who could<br />
help not only enable our innovation<br />
but also who could benefit by using<br />
our brand on some of their products to<br />
bring their brand upstream. Our number<br />
one choice was Hewlett-Packard.<br />
We started speaking with them in<br />
2005, but there were a lot of things<br />
happening in the background that<br />
prevented them from doing a deal at<br />
the time.”<br />
A lot of those things happening in<br />
30 Mehfil September/October 2007
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Cover<br />
the Brad Pitt of Bollywood, so I’m probably<br />
going to go to Delhi and see an event<br />
there. India’s definitely a big market, and<br />
it’s not just call centres. There’s a lot of<br />
software development there. The attrition<br />
rate is very high, mainly because there are<br />
so many opportunities there, but it’s very<br />
much a tech-savvy market.<br />
On meeting Bill Gates: I’ve met him<br />
many times. I saw him this year at a digital<br />
event called D5 and he remembers me<br />
every time I meet him. I first met him two<br />
years after Voodoo started in ’93, at some<br />
event, and then I met him basically every<br />
two years since. This year was most auspicious<br />
because when I met him I was with<br />
HP and he was very happy to hear that we<br />
were working with them and doing some<br />
big things. He’s just a really nice guy, very<br />
down to earth, very much an inspiration.<br />
The only thing is that he’s now concentrating<br />
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from Microsoft, which, in my opinion,<br />
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he’s got to do.<br />
On Facebook [he has his own profile]: I<br />
think Facebook is the hottest property on<br />
the Internet. I think it’s going to be as big<br />
as Google; they’re going to be able to monetize<br />
it in a very similar fashion.<br />
On those Ferraris and Porsches pictured<br />
on his profile: [Laughs] I’m really into cars.<br />
I don’t like talking about what I drive. We<br />
all have our vices. I also like motorcycles. I<br />
have a really cool custom Harley Davidson<br />
that I ride once in a while. I really like cars/<br />
driving, but I mostly commute with a road<br />
bicycle. To be honest, I didn’t get much<br />
physical activity until the Tour De France<br />
in 2005, when I forced myself to learn how<br />
to ride a road bike in order to meet some<br />
people at HP! It changed my life; not only<br />
did we finally get acquired by them, but I<br />
can now ride over 100 miles in a day without<br />
too much effort.<br />
On raising his own computer geeks: It’s<br />
scary, when you look at how gaming has<br />
evolved. At eight years old I started playing<br />
those little hand-held Mattel toys that you’d<br />
play football or hockey with, then I got an<br />
Atari and Nintendo. And right now I’ve got<br />
a Wii [video game console], an X-Box 360<br />
and a bunch of PCs in my house. I probably<br />
have enough electronics in my home<br />
to be flagged as a grow operation, it’s crazy.<br />
I have a four-year-old boy who started<br />
playing games at three. I’ve got an eight-<br />
the background included a spy scandal<br />
and patent disputes, which resulted in a<br />
massive upheaval within that company.<br />
At about the same time, Michael Dell,<br />
founder of Dell Computers, the world’s<br />
second-largest personal computer company,<br />
had contacted Sood with some<br />
interest in the gaming market. Over<br />
several e-mailed talks (often in the<br />
middle of the night), Sood began to<br />
think there might be some advantages<br />
in an alliance with Dell. Ravi, as it<br />
later turned out, was rightly concerned<br />
about Dell’s fit into the Voodoo brothers’<br />
strategy. Talks broke off when, Sood<br />
says, a lot of Dell’s attitudes about the<br />
industry “didn’t make sense,” including<br />
the view that the iPod was nothing<br />
more than a passing fad. “When you<br />
start thinking and talking like that, you<br />
tend to work yourself into a bubble,”<br />
says Sood.<br />
Meanwhile, Sood got a tip that<br />
some HP execs were heading to Paris to<br />
ride some stages of the Tour de France.<br />
With little time to spare, and a little<br />
spare tire from inactivity, he spent three<br />
weeks at the gym, power training on a<br />
stationary bike to get in good enough<br />
shape to join them. Outfitted in spanking<br />
new Spandex, shiny helmet and rippling<br />
calves, Sood hit the road for the<br />
networking trip of his life. He managed<br />
to position himself alongside some of<br />
the HP brass and had some interesting,<br />
if fruitless, chats. It wasn’t until the<br />
race was over and he attended a party<br />
near the Champs-Elysees that he struck<br />
up a conversation with a woman from<br />
HP’s marketing department, who was<br />
receptive to his ideas. Parting ways,<br />
they promised to keep in touch. Back<br />
in Calgary, they did just that, but soon<br />
communication trickled and stopped.<br />
By then, Sood was convinced HP was<br />
the company with which he wanted<br />
to align Voodoo. So, in January 2006,<br />
he shot off a three-line e-mail to new<br />
CEO Mark Hurd, setting out in point<br />
form how he viewed the industry and<br />
its future, how Voodoo would fit with<br />
HP, and an offer to partner. He got an<br />
immediate response, but not quite the<br />
one he was hoping for.<br />
“They said, ‘No, we’re going to have<br />
to buy you guys.’ And that’s when it<br />
got interesting,” says Sood. For the<br />
next nine months, the deal gestated.<br />
Sood was reluctant to sell outright,<br />
fearing he’d lose the original vision,<br />
status and autonomy he’d built with<br />
Voodoo. He also cared what happened<br />
to his employees, many of whom had<br />
been with him from the start. “I wanted<br />
to be sure that a) the brand would<br />
be in tact after the acquisition and b)<br />
the people who worked at Voodoo<br />
would be taken care of for the rest of<br />
their lives, that they would get career<br />
opportunities that they wouldn’t get<br />
under Voodoo previously.”<br />
HP agreed, and the deal was done<br />
in September 2006. Sood is now the<br />
chief technologist for HP’s worldwide<br />
gaming division, his brother Ravi is<br />
director of strategy and marketing for<br />
the same division. Although it sounds<br />
like it all came together as easily as<br />
painting a PC red, friends and family<br />
suspected that backroom negotiations<br />
were likely intense.<br />
“I think there was a lot going on<br />
in his mind, probably thinking of the<br />
deal, issues at work, whatever,” says<br />
32 Mehfil September/October 2007
Cover<br />
year-old and a 10-year-old. They all have<br />
their own DS’s [Dual Screen game consoles],<br />
they all connect with each other. Just<br />
watching the four-year-old, how much it’s<br />
changed since I was young. He’s into sports<br />
and that sort of thing but he’s played video<br />
games at a very young age, so he’s attached<br />
to electronics in some way. A lot of people<br />
talk about demographics being the 18-to-<br />
34-year-old male as the biggest gamers but<br />
that’s just not true. When I turn 35 I’m not<br />
going to stop playing, so the demographics<br />
are actually expanding in both directions.<br />
So the question is, how do you keep it so<br />
kids who are playing these games get out<br />
and get more exercise? That’s the type of<br />
stuff we’re working on now. Getting out<br />
and being physical and enjoying other<br />
activities is important. We are looking at<br />
ways of bridging gaming with that physical<br />
world.<br />
On the future of computers: I do believe<br />
that computers are going to be part of our<br />
daily lives seamlessly, so people who don’t<br />
use a computer or don’t know they’re using<br />
a computer will be using one in some<br />
way, shape or form. What I’d like to see is<br />
computers become part of daily life without<br />
necessarily looking like a computer.<br />
Without giving any ideas away about what<br />
we’re working on, what I prefer to say is<br />
that we really want to bridge, in the gaming<br />
side of things, reality into gaming without<br />
a kid staring at a screen all day long. I don’t<br />
know how else to say that without giving<br />
away too much. [As for robotics], I know<br />
Microsoft is starting to invest in that. We’ve<br />
looked into it. I think it’s a number of years<br />
out but it’s getting to that point where<br />
you’ll start to see more.<br />
On his ultimate personal vision/mission:<br />
HP has given me a vehicle to do<br />
much more profound things in my life.<br />
Obviously, building a business and getting<br />
the buys is cool, but it’s not something that<br />
I can say I’m really proud of. I’m certainly<br />
happy with the accomplishments, but one<br />
of the things I’d like to do is start bridging<br />
technology with health care. I’ve been<br />
doing research on creating electronic toys<br />
for children with autism, which is important<br />
to me. There are ways to catch an<br />
autistic child’s attention for learning in a<br />
different way.<br />
On his early inspiration [his dad]:<br />
Unfortunately, my dad passed away in<br />
2000, just after we had our first major<br />
reviews in the U.S. I think he’d be proud of<br />
us right about now . . . p<br />
Sood was convinced HP was the company with which he<br />
wanted to align Voodoo. So, in January 2006, he shot off<br />
a three-line e-mail to new CEO Mark Hurd, setting out<br />
in point form how he viewed the industry and its future,<br />
how Voodoo would fit with HP, and an offer to partner. He<br />
got an immediate response, but not quite the one he was<br />
hoping for. “They said, ‘No, we’re going to have to buy you<br />
guys.’ And that’s when it got interesting,”<br />
Rakesh Dutta of his suddenly distracted<br />
friend. Dutta, proprietor of<br />
Moonrock Corporation, which develops<br />
software for the oil and gas industry,<br />
first met Sood nearly seven years<br />
ago. “He was definitely multi-tasking,<br />
you could see it in his eyes. He was<br />
talking about something but thinking<br />
about something else completely. It<br />
was an interesting time, and I think, on<br />
reflection, it all paid off, but I’m sure<br />
there was a lot of<br />
stress involved. I<br />
think he’s going<br />
to bring a bit of<br />
his own style to<br />
HP, his Rahulness,<br />
something<br />
that gamers or<br />
geeks like me can<br />
relate to.”<br />
Clearly, Sood<br />
believes he made<br />
the right decision.<br />
While he remains<br />
in Calgary, where<br />
he was born and<br />
raised and has no plans to leave, he<br />
makes regular jaunts to HP’s headquarters<br />
in Palo Alto, California, while<br />
also flying around the world attending<br />
electronics shows to represent HP’s<br />
gaming division and to keep abreast of<br />
the latest technology. “I’m obviously<br />
away from the day-to-day operations,<br />
which is fantastic for me because it<br />
allows me to focus on what I do best,<br />
which is oversee product design, setting<br />
the vision and the strategic direction,”<br />
he says. “I also get to sit on the<br />
HP R&D council. I’m also the lab’s<br />
liaison. I can go in there and look at<br />
all the coolest new technologies that<br />
we have and help see those technologies<br />
become commercialized into our<br />
products. There’s a lot of really cool<br />
things going on in the HP labs. We<br />
register about 16 patents a day; it’s an<br />
exciting place to be.”<br />
Being away from the day-to-day<br />
operations also allows Sood to maintain<br />
his own, um, unique style. “Rahul<br />
is the most unassuming guy,” says<br />
Deepak Kaura, a friend and early<br />
customer. Before becoming a radiologist<br />
at Alberta<br />
Children’s Hospital,<br />
Kaura owned three<br />
radiology clinics<br />
in Calgary and<br />
bought his medical<br />
imaging equipment<br />
from Sood. “He’s<br />
always wearing an<br />
untucked shirt and<br />
a pair of jeans with<br />
some kind of crazy<br />
coloured socks and<br />
funky shoes. He<br />
doesn’t match your<br />
typical corporate<br />
executive.”<br />
Still, Kaura says HP likely benefits<br />
greatly from having Sood on the<br />
payroll. “We were at CES [Consumer<br />
Electronics Show] in Vegas and when<br />
you walk around with him you realize<br />
he has this sort of demi-god status in<br />
that industry. It’s really amazing to see<br />
it. HP made a smart move in bringing<br />
him into the fold but he’s now got a<br />
major balancing act to do. They didn’t<br />
bring him in to have him just sit there,<br />
so he’s doing a fair amount of juggling<br />
trying to balance it all. He does a lot<br />
of traveling while trying to spend time<br />
with his family and raise his three kids<br />
and dedicate his time to the corporate<br />
34 Mehfil September/October 2007
world. It’s tough, and a little uncanny,<br />
actually, how he can do it. If something<br />
comes along, he just deals with it right<br />
away and if he can’t do it right away it<br />
goes on his to-do list and he deals with it<br />
later. He doesn’t sweat the small stuff and<br />
that’s what you’ve gotta be when you have<br />
to look at the big picture all the time, and<br />
he’s pretty much a big-picture guy. He<br />
also has an incredibly supportive wife,<br />
and his kids are great so that makes a huge<br />
difference when you’re in this game. I’ve<br />
never gotten the sense that he feels overwhelmed.<br />
The only sense I get when he<br />
talks about work is how much he loves it.<br />
He says he’s having the time of his life.”<br />
Kaura, who has been friends with Sood<br />
for seven years, says after the acquisition<br />
and subsequent financial windfall (“As far<br />
as numbers go, I prefer to keep them private,<br />
but let’s just say that it was enough to<br />
keep me around indefinitely,” says Sood),<br />
he didn’t forget his friends. “Oh, never, no<br />
way,” says Kaura, who notes Sood’s “tremendous<br />
generosity,” with his time and<br />
material possessions [he leant Kaura one<br />
of his pricey road bikes for three months<br />
before he was able to buy his own]. “He<br />
didn’t even change, no difference, same<br />
old guy.”<br />
As to what Sood brings to HP, Kaura<br />
says, “He has this very infectious enthusiasm<br />
and with it comes a bit of flair, he<br />
has a slightly quirky personality. He’s not<br />
a corporate executive, he doesn’t fit that<br />
mold at all. He’s just a cool guy with a<br />
bunch of cool ideas. He’s just incredibly<br />
passionate and focused about gaming. It’s<br />
a great combination. He knows how to<br />
connect.”<br />
It wasn’t a simple connection when<br />
Dutta first met Sood. “When you first<br />
meet him he’ll come off as either very shy<br />
or very rude,” he says. “I think the rudeness<br />
comes out of being shy.”<br />
Dutta says once you get to know Sood,<br />
you’ll find, ultimately, he’s a family man.<br />
The two often hang out at each other’s<br />
homes with their kids, who are all roughly<br />
the same age. “The kids run riot, which<br />
gives us a chance to sit around, shoot the<br />
breeze over a glass of wine. He sometimes<br />
turns up for dinner in his Spandex shorts.<br />
We’re used to it by now but other people<br />
look at him with his bright yellow socks<br />
on and find it a bit off-putting or a bit<br />
eccentric, I guess. But that’s what successful<br />
people are, they’re eccentric. Maybe<br />
he’ll break that corporate mold a bit and<br />
hopefully bring a bit of pizzazz [to HP]<br />
that most corporations don’t have.”<br />
Much the way a rodeo clown<br />
would. p<br />
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Feature<br />
Leukemia patient Vinay Chakravarthy found a desperately needed bone-marrow match after making an<br />
online appeal to other South Asians. ‘If we don’t stick up for each other, we have nothing,’ he wrote.<br />
Desperately<br />
Seeking Donors<br />
By Munisha Tumato<br />
When Ryan Chu, 28, needed a bone-marrow transplant after being<br />
diagnosed with leukemia he had no idea that his chances of finding<br />
a bone marrow donor were almost zero — for no reason other<br />
than the fact that he is a Chinese-Canadian.<br />
When it comes to bone marrow, race matters. Bone marrow matches<br />
are based on genetic compatibility between inherited markers called Human<br />
Leukocyte Antigens (HLA). A person’s best chance of finding a bone marrow<br />
match is with siblings. The second best chance for finding a suitable match<br />
is within the same ethnic or racial group.<br />
Ryan was lucky. Against the odds,<br />
Doctors were able to find him a match.<br />
He says that he didn’t realize until a<br />
few months ago how lucky he really<br />
was. “My chances were like one in a<br />
million,” says Chu gratefully.<br />
The problem, says Beverly Campbell,<br />
director of the Unrelated Bone Marrow<br />
Registry, is that the number of ethnic<br />
donors registered with Canada’s Bone<br />
Marrow Registry is abysmally low. Only<br />
15 per cent of all bone marrow donors<br />
in Canada are ethnic minorities. Only<br />
1.8 per cent are South Asian.<br />
This leaves many South Asians<br />
and other ethnic minorities hanging<br />
36 Mehfil September/October 2007
Sindi Hawkins, who was diagnosed with<br />
leukemia in 2004, is working to raise<br />
awareness about the need for South Asian<br />
bone-marrow donors.<br />
between life and death with approximately<br />
a 1 in 20,000 chance of getting the transplant<br />
they need to greatly increase their<br />
chances of surviving blood, immune and<br />
metabolic disorders such as leukemia.<br />
Sindi Hawkins was one of the lucky<br />
ones. The Kelowna MLA was diagnosed<br />
with leukemia in 2004. Doctors<br />
were able to find a bone marrow match for<br />
her in her sister. She has since undergone a<br />
three-and-a-half-year recovery and is now<br />
working tirelessly to raise awareness about<br />
the need for bone marrow donations in<br />
the South Asian community.<br />
Hawkins firmly believes that if South<br />
Asian-Canadians only knew they could<br />
save each other by donating marrow, they<br />
would. The problem, she says, is a staggering<br />
lack of awareness in the community.<br />
“I was a cancer nurse for 12 years. I<br />
thought I was fairly educated. I was a<br />
health minister at the time. If I didn’t<br />
even know that I could only get marrow<br />
from my own kind how can we expect the<br />
general public to know that? How do we<br />
expect our own people to know that?”<br />
Hawkins says she has been encouraging<br />
Canadian Blood Services to be more<br />
proactive in recruiting ethnic donors. The<br />
problem, she says is that ethnic donors<br />
have not been recruited in culturally specific<br />
ways.<br />
“I think in our community you have<br />
to look at the places where our people<br />
meet — go to temples, go have donor<br />
drives because that’s the way our people<br />
do things. They don’t go to websites. We<br />
have to appeal to people in our language,”<br />
says Hawkins.<br />
The recruitment numbers are up 35<br />
per cent form last year, says Campbell,<br />
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Mehfil September/October 2007 37
Feature<br />
The Facts<br />
• Fewer than 30 per cent of those in need of a bone<br />
marrow transplant find a compatible donor within<br />
their family.<br />
• Bone marrow donors must be between the ages of<br />
17 and 50.<br />
• Registering with the Unrelated Bone Marrow Registry<br />
is easy: simply go to the Canadian Blood Services<br />
website (http://www.bloodservices.ca/) and fill out<br />
the online health assessment and consent form.<br />
• After you’ve filled out the form, you’ll be contacted<br />
by a representative from the registry within a few<br />
days with the necessary information on where to<br />
get a blood sample drawn. Blood work is paid for by<br />
Canadian Blood Services.<br />
• A donation to the Unrelated Bone Marrow Registry is<br />
a long-term commitment. It may be years before you<br />
are called to donate and you may never be called to<br />
donate.<br />
• Once registered, it is important to keep your contact<br />
information with the registry updated. Around 60 per<br />
cent of South Asians registered with the American<br />
Bone Marrow Donor Registry end up being unavailable<br />
to donate when their marrow is needed.<br />
and 16 per cent of those recruited have<br />
been South Asian donors. Still, Campbell<br />
admits that Canadian Blood Services has<br />
to do more to reach out to ethnic communities.<br />
“We have not done a good job<br />
promoting the registry and educating the<br />
public about the registry and the need.”<br />
This past year, CBS has been working<br />
with Hawkins on a national campaign<br />
to promote the Bone Marrow Registry<br />
among different ethnic groups. The campaign<br />
will launch in November during<br />
the first Canadian bone marrow awareness<br />
week.<br />
Campbell says the launch will include<br />
a new name for the registry, and events<br />
encouraging people to donate in Toronto<br />
and Vancouver, cities with the highest<br />
number of ethnic minorities. The goal<br />
is to attract ethnic minority youth, and<br />
in particular young men, since the most<br />
commonly selected marrow for transplants<br />
comes from men under 35.<br />
Many have not been as lucky<br />
as Ryan and Sindi.<br />
Hawkins says that during her highprofile<br />
battle with leukemia, she received<br />
e-mails and phone calls every single day<br />
from desperate South Asians who had<br />
friends or relatives battling the disease or<br />
who were battling it themselves, and who<br />
were waiting anxiously for a bone marrow<br />
transplant. More than three years later<br />
she says she’s still getting about three calls<br />
or e-mails a week.<br />
“I’ve been trying,” says Hawkins, with<br />
a slight tremor in her voice. “In the last<br />
three and a half years since I’ve gone<br />
through my journey I’ve watched people<br />
die waiting, who never even had the<br />
chance to have a transplant because there’s<br />
no match for them on the registry.”<br />
Even a cursory search on the Internet<br />
yields numerous sites put up by people<br />
desperately looking for a bone marrow<br />
donation for themselves or a loved one.<br />
One of them was created for Bobby,<br />
a Canadian in his 20s battling acute<br />
myelogenous leukemia (AML) for several<br />
months. His site asks people of South<br />
Asian background to “make a difference”<br />
by donating marrow.<br />
Hawkins says Bobby was not able to<br />
find a match in time. “I recently saw<br />
Bobby’s mother and brother at a fundraiser<br />
to raise awareness for leukemia<br />
research. It was just horrible . . . for a<br />
mother to know that her son could have<br />
been saved if someone from the community<br />
had stepped forward.”<br />
South of the border, there’s been a<br />
push to find bone marrow for Vinay<br />
Chakravarthy, 28. The campaign has garnered<br />
media attention and support from<br />
the South Asian-American community.<br />
Around 24,000 South Asians responded<br />
to Vinay’s appeal for donations by registering<br />
to become bone marrow donors.<br />
The recently married Chakravarthy<br />
began his awareness campaign when he<br />
was diagnosed with AML in 2006. At<br />
one point, he had exactly six weeks to<br />
find a donor. Vinay’s friends and family<br />
launched an Internet and media campaign<br />
that led to the organization of<br />
hundreds of drives to register donors<br />
across America,<br />
“I’m imploring all of you out there to<br />
wake up and face reality,” pleaded Vinay<br />
in a post on his website in June. “If we<br />
don’t stick up for each other, we have<br />
nothing.”<br />
With the support of public figures<br />
such as Kal Penn and Barack Obama,<br />
Vinay’s desperately needed bone marrow<br />
match was found. He received the<br />
potentially life-saving transplant this past<br />
August.<br />
For Ryan Chu, Sindi Hawkins and<br />
Vinay Chakravarthy luck was on their<br />
side. But for many more it is a battle<br />
against time, and Hawkins prays<br />
the appeal to the community won’t go<br />
unheard.<br />
“Every little thing we do, every step<br />
we take, every person who registers is one<br />
step closer to a person’s life being saved,”<br />
she says. p<br />
38 Mehfil September/October 2007
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Feature<br />
Bollywood star Sanjay Dutt’s fame and fortune didn’t save him from a<br />
six-year prison sentence for possessing illegal firearms.<br />
In India,<br />
justice for some<br />
The long imprisonment that Dutt — a hugely<br />
popular film star — will have to undergo has<br />
evoked some public sympathy. His recent portrayal<br />
of a goofy goon who pretends to be an expert<br />
on Gandhian principles to win the heart of a<br />
woman in the film Lage raho Munnabhai (“Carry<br />
on, Munnabhai”) triggered new interest among<br />
India’s youth in Mahatma Gandhi’s teachings.<br />
Dutt, 48, has never been far from controversy.<br />
His long battle with drugs, failed relationships<br />
and run-ins with the law earned him a “bad boy”<br />
image, albeit one with a soft heart. Onscreen<br />
he found fame playing the macho anti-hero<br />
— the release of one of his most popular films,<br />
Khalnayak (“Villain”), coincided ironically with<br />
his arrest in 1993 in the Mumbai blast case. Over<br />
the years, however, there was a transformation in<br />
the roles he essayed onscreen; he played the cop<br />
in such films as Mission Kashmir and Shootout at<br />
Lokhandwala.<br />
His long jail term will mean financial losses for<br />
Bollywood. Movies worth US$25 million were<br />
By Sudha Ramachandran<br />
One of Bollywood’s biggest stars, Sanjay Dutt, was sentenced to six years’ rigorous<br />
imprisonment on Tuesday for possessing illegal firearms given to him by gangsters<br />
involved in the serial bomb blasts that tore through Mumbai on March 12, 1993.<br />
With the stern sentence, Judge Pramod Dattaram Kode, who presided over the trial, sent out a<br />
message that rich or poor, celebrity or commoner, all Indians are equal in the eyes of the law.<br />
riding on him.<br />
The son of a Hindu father and Muslim mother<br />
— his parents were both famous actors and also<br />
members of Parliament — Dutt claimed that he<br />
had procured the weapons to defend his family, as<br />
his father, then an MP, had received death threats.<br />
Mumbai was convulsed in Hindu-Muslim riots<br />
in December 1992 and January 1993, after the<br />
destruction of the Babri Mosque in Ayodhya by<br />
Hindu fanatics.<br />
Many Indians believe that the six-year jail<br />
sentence handed to Dutt is rather harsh. His<br />
friends and fans argue that he isn’t an evil person<br />
and is certainly not a dangerous criminal, just<br />
foolish and naive. Judge Kode had declared Dutt<br />
not guilty of conspiracy under the draconian<br />
Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention)<br />
Act (TADA) last year, which could have resulted<br />
in an even more severe prison term.<br />
However, Dutt’s crime — possessing an AK-<br />
56 rifle delivered to him by gangster Abu Salem<br />
— is serious. He violated the Arms Act, a crime<br />
40 Mehfil September/October 2007
The trial, which began in 1995, ran for almost 12 years, making it the longest<br />
in Indian criminal jurisprudence. It has been almost 10 months between the<br />
passing of the verdicts and the sentencing. It has taken the overburdened Indian<br />
judiciary more than 14 years to deliver justice.<br />
that carries a jail sentence of five to 10<br />
years. And as Kode told the courtroom,<br />
“Though the crime was not brutal, cruel,<br />
ghastly, inhuman, not antisocial, and not<br />
immoral and did not result in any harm<br />
to anyone, it was still a serious offense,<br />
as the accused had encouraged others to<br />
break the law.”<br />
Dutt is the most high-profile of the<br />
100 people convicted in the 1993 blasts<br />
case. He will serve six years in Yervada<br />
Jail in Pune (incidentally, this was the jail<br />
where Mahatma Gandhi was incarcerated<br />
twice during India’s freedom struggle).<br />
A dozen of the convicted will go to the<br />
gallows, 20 have been awarded life sentences,<br />
and the rest will serve prison terms<br />
of varying length. They can appeal their<br />
sentences in the Supreme Court.<br />
The 1993 Mumbai blasts, India’s worst<br />
terrorist attack, left 257 people dead and<br />
713 injured. With the sentencing of those<br />
convicted, the victims of the blasts have<br />
received some justice.<br />
Many would argue that the inordinate<br />
delay in delivering justice amounts to its<br />
denial. Indeed, it has been a long wait.<br />
The trial, which began in 1995, ran for<br />
almost 12 years, making it the longest in<br />
Indian criminal jurisprudence. It has been<br />
almost 10 months between the passing of<br />
the verdicts and the sentencing. It has<br />
taken the overburdened Indian judiciary<br />
more than 14 years to deliver justice.<br />
What makes the delivery of justice in<br />
the blasts case a work in progress is that<br />
the alleged key conspirators and masterminds<br />
remain at large. Underworld dons<br />
Dawood Ibrahim, Tiger Memon and<br />
Mohammed Dossa and their key henchmen<br />
are still free, reportedly living in<br />
comfort in Pakistan or the United Arab<br />
Emirates.<br />
Yet the victims of the blast case can<br />
draw solace from the fact that at least<br />
some of those who carried out the attacks<br />
have been punished and that justice,<br />
though incomplete, has been done.<br />
This is not the case with the victims<br />
of the deadly communal riots that gutted<br />
Mumbai in December 1992 and<br />
January 1993. The cause-effect relationship<br />
between the communal riots and the<br />
blasts that followed a couple of months<br />
later was established by police investigating<br />
the blast. Yet little has been done to<br />
punish those who ordered the riots.<br />
About 900 people — roughly twothirds<br />
were Muslim — were killed in<br />
the communal riots in Mumbai, three<br />
times the number who were killed in<br />
the bomb blasts that followed. Yet not<br />
a single person involved in the violence<br />
and bloodletting of the riots has been<br />
punished to date. A comparison of India’s<br />
response (or lack of it) to the riots and<br />
the blasts speaks volumes about the law<br />
of this land.<br />
The overwhelming majority of those<br />
who planned or carried out the blasts<br />
were Muslims. Those who ordered the<br />
riots or turned a blind eye to the violence<br />
were Hindus — several in positions<br />
of power. Those investigating the blasts<br />
filed a 10,000-page charge-sheet in eight<br />
months; in contrast, riot cases filed in<br />
police stations across Mumbai were hastily<br />
closed or not brought to trial.<br />
While the bomb-blasts trial was conducted<br />
in a special court under draconian<br />
legislation, the riots were consigned to<br />
a commission of inquiry, the Srikrishna<br />
Commission, which was denied the<br />
authority to prosecute.<br />
The report of the Srikrishna<br />
Commission that inquired into the<br />
Mumbai riots was a damning indictment<br />
of the Hindu right-wing party<br />
Shiv Sena. “There is no doubt that the<br />
Shiv Sena took the lead in organizing<br />
attacks on Muslims and their properties<br />
under the guidance of several leaders<br />
from the Shakha Pramukh to the Shiv<br />
Sena Pramukh Bal Thackeray, who, like<br />
a veteran general, commanded the loyal<br />
Shiv Sainiks to retaliate by organized<br />
attacks against Muslims,” the report said.<br />
Several top leaders, including Bal<br />
Thackeray, Manohar Joshi, Pramod<br />
Navalkar, Madhukar Sarpotdar, Gajanan<br />
Kirtikar and Kalidas Kolambekar, were<br />
named for inciting mobs with inflammatory,<br />
anti-Muslim speeches. The<br />
Srikrishna report found the then joint<br />
commissioner of police “guilty of excessive<br />
and unnecessary firing,” leading<br />
to the death of nine Muslims in the<br />
Suleiman Bakery incident.<br />
It is nine years since the Srikrishna<br />
Report was tabled, but to date not a<br />
single politician named in the report has<br />
spent even a day in custody. Police officers<br />
who were named in the report were promoted.<br />
Not a single conviction has been<br />
made in the riots case.<br />
Dutt’s sentencing would not have<br />
seemed unreasonable or unfair if others<br />
in this country guilty of similar and worse<br />
crimes did not roam free because they are<br />
in positions of power or have the right<br />
religious affiliations.<br />
Like Dutt, Madhukar Sarpotdar, a<br />
Shiv Sena member of the Maharashtra<br />
legislative assembly, was found to be in<br />
illegal possession of weapons during the<br />
Mumbai riots. The charges were then<br />
quietly dropped. And Sarpotdar has continued<br />
to contest and win elections to the<br />
state assembly as well as parliament in the<br />
decade since.<br />
Judge Kode’s stern sentences to Dutt<br />
and others convicted in the blasts case<br />
signal that the law of the land will treat<br />
all Indians — celebrity and non-celebrity<br />
— alike. But India is yet to signal convincingly<br />
that the law of this land will<br />
treat Hindu and Muslim alike, and that<br />
those in positions of power are not above<br />
the law. p<br />
Sudha Ramachandran is an independent journalist/<br />
researcher based in Bangalore. Copyright 2006 Asia Times<br />
Online (atimes.com).<br />
Dutt out on bail<br />
Actor Sanjay Dutt, out on interim<br />
bail after being sentenced to six years for<br />
possession of illegal firearms, attended<br />
the premiere of his latest film, Dhamaal,<br />
on September 6.<br />
Dutt was jovial as he met fellow<br />
actors and signed autographs. He did<br />
not answer any queries unrelated to<br />
the film. Dutt was released from Pune’s<br />
Yerawada jail, where he was lodged for<br />
23 days after his sentencing.<br />
The Supreme Court granted him<br />
interim bail on August 20. The actor has<br />
to surrender once he receives a copy of<br />
the conviction order..<br />
Mehfil September/October 2007 41
Feature<br />
Indian ads for skin-lightening products such as Fair and Lovely<br />
equate fair skin with beauty, success and happiness.<br />
Mirror, mirror on the wall,<br />
who’s the Fairest<br />
(and Loveliest) of them all?<br />
By Munisha Tumato<br />
It’s a scene straight out of Bollywood. A pretty young Indian woman, dressed in<br />
a simple salwar kameez, pushes through a huge set of glass doors into an office<br />
building. She approaches a fair-skinned Indian woman sitting behind a desk<br />
and offers to say a prayer for the business.<br />
“Pooja?” says the receptionist, her mouth hanging open in shock. “This is<br />
a modern beauty company!” As the mortified girl turns to leave, the receptionist<br />
comments snidely about the difficulties of making these kinds of girls’ beautiful.<br />
In the next scene, the girl walks back<br />
into the same office – but this time everyone<br />
in the office stands in shock and awe,<br />
including the receptionist who wears a<br />
look of pure admiration. A man standing<br />
at the front desk catches his breath and<br />
utters, “What a face…”<br />
The final scene shows the girl disembarking<br />
from a private jet, waving to<br />
photographers. She is now a model for the<br />
company that once deemed her unattractive<br />
enough to laugh out of the building.<br />
What is it that propelled this young<br />
woman into the supermodel that she is<br />
today? Simple. Before, the girl wore a<br />
salwar kameez and was brown-skinned.<br />
42 Mehfil September/October 2007
Feature<br />
Many dermatologists question whether Fair<br />
and Lovely actually works. Preventing the skin<br />
from getting darker is possible with a strong<br />
sunblock. But to actually reverse the process<br />
of darkening by de-pigmenting the skin (often<br />
irreversibly) can be dangerous.<br />
Skin lightening products are by far the most popular segment in India’s booming skin-care<br />
market. Fair and Lovely, produced by Hindustan Lever, commands over half the country’s<br />
skin-lightening market. According to country manager for L’Oréal, 60 to 65 per cent of<br />
Indian women use lightening products every day.<br />
Now, she wears western clothes and has<br />
fair skin.<br />
How did she make the transformation?<br />
Simple again. The girl went home<br />
immediately after being humiliated and<br />
began using Unilever’s Fair and Lovely,<br />
the most popular skin whitening cream<br />
in India.<br />
“They advertise skin lightening so<br />
much that it’s just there in the back of<br />
your mind,” says Neetu, 32, who lived in<br />
India until recently immigrating to the<br />
Lower Mainland. The mother of three<br />
used Fair and Lovely whitening products<br />
for about four years.”You see so much<br />
Fair and Lovely out there, so you sort<br />
of just pick it up with the other things<br />
[you’re buying] and you don’t even think<br />
about it.”<br />
Skin lightening products are by far the<br />
most popular product in India’s booming<br />
skin-care market. The $318-million<br />
market for skin care has grown by 42.7<br />
per cent since 2001, according to research<br />
firm Euromonitor International. Fair and<br />
Lovely, which is produced by Hindustan<br />
Lever, India’s branch of Unilever, commands<br />
over half the skin-whitening market<br />
in India.<br />
Global cosmetics heavyweights are<br />
beginning to recognize the lucrative skinwhitening<br />
market in Asia and Africa.<br />
Avon, Clinique, L’Oreal, Ponds, Garnier,<br />
Jolen and the Body Shop have all recently<br />
introduced lines of whitening, lightening<br />
or brightening products.<br />
In recent years, however, the skin-whitening<br />
industry has also been widely criticized.<br />
There are questions as to whether<br />
or not the creams actually work, how safe<br />
they are, and whether or not advertising<br />
campaigns like Fair and Lovely’s are<br />
exploitative and misleading.<br />
Aneel G. Karnani recently completed<br />
a study on Fair and Lovely and Unilever’s<br />
business practices. “A few years ago, the<br />
dominant message of these ads was that,<br />
as a woman, you had to be fair in order<br />
to get a husband. That’s pretty bad in<br />
itself,” says Karnani, who is a professor at<br />
the University of Michigan’s Ross School<br />
of Business.<br />
“But these days, more and more, the<br />
message is that you have to be fair to<br />
get a job. That, I think, is much worse.<br />
Romance you can claim is based on looks,<br />
but why would a job be based on your<br />
looks? I don’t think Unilever invented this<br />
sexist bias in society but they are certainly<br />
exploiting the sexist bias in society,” says<br />
Karnani.<br />
In the world of skin care, “exploitation”<br />
has rarely been so profitable. Chances are<br />
that the average Indian girl, after seeing<br />
one of Fair and Lovely’s commercials, will<br />
do exactly what the ad suggests: go out<br />
and buy a tube of the modestly priced<br />
cream in the hopes that she, too, will one<br />
day be fair enough to have her dream job<br />
and her dream man.<br />
In fact, the idea that being whiter<br />
will somehow make you more beautiful<br />
and consequently happier, more lovable<br />
and more successful is not fading away.<br />
Skin-whitening creams account for half<br />
of the skin-care industry in India. Didier<br />
Villanueva, country manager for L’Oréal<br />
India, told the New York Times that 60 to<br />
65 per cent of Indian women use lightening<br />
products every day.<br />
Hindustan Lever, the company<br />
responsible for Fair and Lovely, claims<br />
that 90 per cent of Indian women want<br />
to use skin whiteners because they are<br />
“aspirational . . . fair skin is like education,<br />
regarded as a social and economic<br />
step up.”<br />
HLL says they are simply providing a<br />
product that Indian women are demanding.<br />
“It was available and I picked it up<br />
and used it and I felt good about using<br />
it,” says Neetu. “It’s cheap instead of<br />
going to the dermatologist and getting<br />
[treatment.] And it kind of lightens your<br />
skin and takes care of a few of the marks,<br />
and the sun pigmentation from tanning.<br />
It just gives you a good feel.”<br />
That’s a common reaction to using the<br />
whitening creams, says Aneel Karnani. “A<br />
lot of people buy [the creams] because it<br />
makes them feel good about themselves.”<br />
Equating fairness with beauty is one<br />
thing, says Karnani, but since 2000 HLL’s<br />
ads for Fair and Lovely have been linking<br />
fair skin to success and empowerment.<br />
Karnani is emphatically opposed to<br />
this suggestion. “It’s not empowerment,”<br />
he says simply. “Instead it entrenches the<br />
disempowerment of women,”<br />
W<br />
“ hen I started using it I didn’t<br />
research the side effects of the<br />
product. I just started using it because it’s<br />
a very popular product,” says Neetu. She<br />
44 Mehfil September/October 2007
was pleasantly surprised with the results.<br />
“[It was] quite effective, you can see visually<br />
that your skin is lightening.”<br />
Samia, 26, feels differently about the<br />
product, which she applied every day for<br />
several weeks. “All it does is put a white<br />
film on your face. It felt disgusting, like<br />
it was clogging my pores. And it didn’t<br />
work,” says the Calgary resident.<br />
Skin-whitening products and treatments<br />
are popular with women of colour,<br />
particularly women in Africa and Asia,<br />
but South Asian women in Canada are<br />
not immune to the lure of lighteners,<br />
whiteners and skin bleaches.<br />
Fruiticana, a popular South Asian grocery<br />
story in the Lower Mainland, carries<br />
Fair and Lovely cream. The Surrey store<br />
manager says that Fair and Lovely is a<br />
“very fast moving product” and that most<br />
of the women who buy the product are<br />
women in their 20s.<br />
Amita Singh from Style In Beauty<br />
salon in Surrey says that about half her<br />
clients request “some sort of skin whitening<br />
treatment.” Harinder, owner and<br />
esthetician for Harinder’s Aesthetics Skin<br />
and Hair Care, says that in the 28 years<br />
she’s been in business she has helped<br />
many women who want to be a shade or<br />
two lighter. But Harinder says that she<br />
would never recommend over-the-counter<br />
products like Fair and Lovely, opting<br />
instead for more expensive, dermatologist-recommended<br />
creams to accompany<br />
laser work.<br />
Many dermatologists question whether<br />
Fair and Lovely actually works. Preventing<br />
the skin from getting darker is possible<br />
with a strong sunblock. But to actually<br />
reverse the process of darkening by depigmenting<br />
the skin (often irreversibly)<br />
can be dangerous, says Dr Jensen Yeung,<br />
a dermatologist based in Toronto who<br />
specializes in treating ethnic skin.<br />
“In North America it’s strictly regulated,<br />
but in some Asian countries people<br />
can get [creams that de-pigment the skin]<br />
very easily, which is dangerous,” says Dr.<br />
Yeung.<br />
Dermatologists agree that it is impossible<br />
for whitening creams to de-pigment<br />
— to actually make the skin lighter than<br />
it’s natural shade — unless they contain<br />
harmful bleaching agents such as mercury,<br />
hydroquinone and steroids. The<br />
whitening creams most likely to contain<br />
dangerous chemicals that de-pigment the<br />
skin are the folk remedies that pass under<br />
the radar of regulators, and that are available<br />
mainly in developing countries at<br />
local stores and markets.<br />
The only whitening agent Canada<br />
allows in creams is hydroquinone in<br />
amounts of two per cent to four per<br />
cent. Anything beyond this, says Health<br />
Canada, is considered dangerous. In fact,<br />
environment ministers have recommended<br />
that hydroquinone be put on Canada’s<br />
list of toxic substances based on the<br />
belief that it is available commercially in<br />
amounts that are dangerous to human<br />
health.<br />
The EU, Australia and South Africa<br />
have all banned hydroquinone and the<br />
U.S. recently considered a ban. In 2005,<br />
Dutch researchers who studied the effects<br />
of the chemical and found that it caused<br />
cancer in rats, called whitening creams<br />
that contain hydroquinone “a potential<br />
time bomb.”<br />
The problem is that even though the<br />
Canadian government regulates the use<br />
of harsh chemicals in whitening creams,<br />
regulations are hard to enforce. Dr. Yeung<br />
says that many companies that produce<br />
whitening creams are able to avoid<br />
accountability by simply not listing the<br />
harmful ingredients they contain.<br />
The good news is that Fair and Lovely<br />
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Mehfil September/October 4/24/07 2:16:03 2007 PM<br />
45
Feature<br />
<strong>MEHFIL</strong><br />
Chapters<br />
Read<br />
Where Ever You Go!<br />
At Home, Online,<br />
In-store, InFlight<br />
www.mehfilmagazine.com<br />
46 Mehfil September/October 2007<br />
Equating fairness with beauty<br />
is one thing, but since 2000<br />
HLL’s ads for Fair and Lovely<br />
have been linking fair skin to<br />
success and empowerment.<br />
Professor Aneel G. Karnani<br />
is emphatically opposed<br />
to this suggestion. “It’s not<br />
empowerment. Instead it<br />
entrenches the disempowerment<br />
of women.”<br />
creams don’t contain chemicals like mercury<br />
and hydroquinone. The bad news<br />
is that, as a result, it’s quite possible that<br />
Fair and Lovely doesn’t work the way<br />
many believe it does.<br />
Dr. Youwen Zhou of the B.C.<br />
Centre for Dermatological Science<br />
questions the efficacy of any product on<br />
Canadian shelves that claims to reverse<br />
darkening of the skin. “If [you’re looking<br />
for a product to lighten] the whole<br />
face, there’s nothing out there. Perhaps<br />
the only way is to protect yourself from<br />
sun exposure.”<br />
Aneel Karnani claims that there is<br />
no proof that Fair and Lovely is effective<br />
as anything more than a sunblock.<br />
How then does a hugely popular<br />
product like Fair and Lovely, sales<br />
of which are growing at a rate 15 to<br />
20 per cent a year, do so well on the<br />
market if it doesn’t actually lighten a<br />
person’s natural skin tone?<br />
So far, Hindustan Lever has avoided<br />
having to prove that Fair and Lovely<br />
works because, according to the Indian<br />
government’s system of classification,<br />
the product falls into the category of<br />
“cosmetic” rather than “pharmaceutical.”<br />
Therefore, HLL is not required<br />
by the government to prove Fair and<br />
Lovely’s efficacy through scientific<br />
study.<br />
But HLL’s biggest ally is not the<br />
Indian government, it is Indian women<br />
themselves. Or, more appropriately, it<br />
is the powerful belief amongst South<br />
Asian women that fair skin makes it<br />
easier to attain happiness and success.<br />
Professor Aneel 604-588-4665<br />
G. Karnani<br />
That perception sends women of all ages<br />
and shades to the market for tube after<br />
tube of what could prove to be no more<br />
than snake oil in cream form.<br />
Although regulations are generally<br />
tighter in Canada, there is a loophole.<br />
In Canada, Fair and Lovely products are<br />
available and classified as “natural health<br />
products.”<br />
The government may have classified<br />
Fair and Lovely as a “natural health<br />
product” but Unilever has not applied for<br />
what is called a “natural health product<br />
number.” Until the company does so,<br />
says Health Canada, the government will<br />
not review the lightening cream to see if<br />
it does what it claims to do.<br />
When a representative from Unilever<br />
Canada was questioned about Fair and<br />
Lovely products sold in Canada, she<br />
refused to comment, saying, “We do not<br />
produce FAL in Canada and neither do<br />
we market it. That’s basically as much as<br />
I can say.”<br />
The one thing that obviously does<br />
work is Fair and Lovely’s blitzkriegstyle<br />
advertising 604-588-4665<br />
campaign. In India, Fair<br />
and Lovely ads are so common that most<br />
Indians recognize the brand in the same<br />
way that North Americans recognize<br />
labels for Coke.<br />
It is not HLL’s business practices that<br />
Aneel Karnani questions, it is their claim<br />
to be a socially responsible company. “I<br />
believe in capitalism. I believe the company<br />
does what it does to make a profit,”<br />
says Karnani. “But society’s incurring a<br />
huge cost. In my view, the issue is the
to get a job. Women have to look pretty<br />
in order to get married. And the notion of<br />
what is pretty is defined by a male-chauvinistic<br />
society. I think it’s the sexist part<br />
that I find much more objectionable.”<br />
Even after the government banned two<br />
Fair and Lovely commercials in response<br />
to pressure from the All India Democratic<br />
Women’s Association, HLL was unapologetic,<br />
arguing that its Fair & Lovely commercials<br />
were about “choice” (presumably<br />
the choice to be fair) and the “economic<br />
empowerment for women.”<br />
Perhaps the greatest irony is that<br />
Unilever is also responsible for the Dove<br />
“Real Beauty” campaign in the West.<br />
Unilever tells western women in its Dove<br />
ads that they can be themselves (“real<br />
women, with real curves”) and still be<br />
beautiful. The same company, albeit a different<br />
branch, tells South Asian women<br />
through its Fair and Lovely ads that they<br />
have to be something other than what<br />
they are — in this case, white and westernized<br />
— to be beautiful.<br />
And Indian women are buying it up,<br />
according to Hindustan Unilever, who<br />
responds to criticism of its Fair and Lovely<br />
ads by reverting to a capitalist line of reasoning:<br />
that they are simply giving South<br />
Asian women what they want.<br />
The pressure on Indian women to<br />
be fair begins when they are young and<br />
can be very intense, says Neetu. “When<br />
you’re growing up, if you have a little bit<br />
darker skin, people point out to you that<br />
your skin is too dark, or that other people<br />
in your family are light- skinned. You<br />
go through emotional issues, which you<br />
have to deal with in life. They hurt your<br />
self-esteem while you’re growing up.<br />
“So little girls grow up with this and<br />
then they decide that fair is beautiful. I<br />
don’t know who is deciding this, but it’s<br />
happening.”<br />
Some believe that the South Asian<br />
obsession with being fair is a colonial<br />
hangover, says Aradhana Parmar, a professor<br />
of Development and South Asian<br />
studies at the University of Calgary, but<br />
the roots go much deeper. Parmar refers<br />
to ancient literature, such as the stories<br />
about “gauri” Radha and “kala” Krishna<br />
for examples of the ancient South Asian<br />
preoccupation with colour.<br />
“Varna,” the Sanskrit word for caste,<br />
means “colour.” The Varna system was<br />
based on a colour hierarchy, says Parmar,<br />
with the Aryan conquerors from Europe<br />
at the top and the darker-skinned indigenous<br />
people of India at the bottom. “So<br />
it’s the symbol of being superior that’s<br />
associated with whiteness,” says Parmar.<br />
(continued on page 72)<br />
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Mehfil September/October 2007 47<br />
60
Promotional<br />
advertising feature<br />
2007<br />
of success<br />
Profiles<br />
Safety First!<br />
With construction and production booming,<br />
industry demands are increasing at alarming rates - so<br />
are accidents.<br />
That’s where Naveen Nand comes in.<br />
Nand owns and operates Nand International<br />
Services (NIS), a mobile, site-specific equipment<br />
training and certification company for forklift, aerial<br />
lift and loader operators. He is committed to helping<br />
companies avoid dangerous situations and damage<br />
to equipment and inventory by teaching the highest<br />
standards of safety at the workplace.<br />
Nand has built a stellar reputation for applying the<br />
highest and strictest standards of accuracy, quality<br />
and professionalism in all of NIS’s programs.<br />
“Safety is crucial…. 70 per cent of all workplace<br />
accidents occur because trainees haven’t been properly<br />
trained, that’s where I come in,” says Nand, who adds<br />
he will travel anywhere across North America to ensure<br />
the highest standards of safety become commonplace.<br />
“When operators know proper procedures accidents<br />
become rare.”<br />
Nand constantly keeps up with any regulatory and<br />
industry changes.<br />
NIS offers training (which encompasses theory,<br />
practical training, followed by individual evaluations),<br />
on all types of forklifts including: counterbalanced,<br />
narrow aisle, powered pallet truck and rough terrain<br />
forklifts. He also covers courses on aerial lifts – boom<br />
lifts and scissor lifts. As far as loaders are concerned,<br />
Nand instructs for front-end, skid-steer and backhoe<br />
loaders.<br />
“I offer on-site audits and recommendations to<br />
assist companies in identifying hazards and offer<br />
practical solutions,” says Nand.<br />
Nand – who speaks and trains in four languages;<br />
English, Punjabi, Hindi and French - is backed by some<br />
of the top guns in the industry.<br />
When Maya de Leon of McGregor & Thompson<br />
Hardware Ltd. was approached by Nand to train some<br />
of their forklift operators, she didn’t hesitate.<br />
“Naveen is extremely professional and<br />
knowledgeable,’ says de Leon, who says the company<br />
has five branches in B.C. “We collected feedback from<br />
our employees and their supervisors after the training<br />
and they all were very pleased with his training.<br />
“I would highly recommend his company.”<br />
To find out how Nand can help your company profit<br />
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Nand International Services<br />
778-239-7805<br />
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Promotional<br />
advertising feature<br />
2007<br />
of success<br />
Profiles<br />
Making it Special<br />
Hanif Jina believes that superior service is<br />
just as important as high quality products. That<br />
business philosophy has made Crest Jewellers<br />
one of the most successful independent jewellery<br />
stores in Vancouver.<br />
“When we sell a ring or other jewellery, as far<br />
as we’re concerned that’s just the beginning of<br />
our relationship with the client,” says Hanif. “For<br />
instance, we don’t charge our clients when it’s<br />
time to clean or check their jewellery, which we<br />
like to do for them on a regular basis.”<br />
Crest Jewellers, which was established in<br />
1981 by Hanif’s father, offers a wide selection<br />
of fine jewellery, including 19-karat white gold<br />
and platinum jewellery, as well as wholesale<br />
diamonds and custom designs.<br />
“Our prices are very competitive compared to<br />
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adding that he and his staff are happy to answer<br />
questions about different diamonds and<br />
their classifications.<br />
For clients who are having rings custom made,<br />
Crest offers a modeling system that allows the<br />
customer to see what their design will look like on<br />
their hand. “We create a wax model that they can<br />
try on before we make the actual ring,”<br />
explains Hanif.<br />
It’s all part of Crest Jewellers’ commitment to<br />
making sure each customer gets exactly what he<br />
or she is looking for, he says.<br />
“We don’t believe in putting any pressure on<br />
the client. We want the customer to make up<br />
his or her own mind.”<br />
It’s no wonder that Hanif regularly receives<br />
thank you cards and letters from Crest customers.<br />
One of the many testimonials in Hanif’s office<br />
reads: “Thank you for providing such exceptional<br />
quality in all of the diamond jewelry you have<br />
provided . . . Your quality and price surpasses all<br />
others.”<br />
Another happy couple echoes the sentiment in<br />
a card: “We would like to thank you for all your<br />
hard work and expertise in making our wedding<br />
bands,” write Rod and Ellen. “They are beautiful!<br />
Through all our search for the best jeweller, we<br />
were fortunate to find Vancouver’s best.”<br />
“If I had to pick one thing that I enjoy most<br />
about this business, it’s receiving positive feedback<br />
from our customers,” says Hanif. “So it means a<br />
lot to me that we regularly receive cards, wedding<br />
photos and letters from couples thanking us.”<br />
Crest Jewellers<br />
329 Howe St., Vancouver<br />
604-685-8201<br />
www.crestjewellers.com<br />
hanif@crestjewellers.com<br />
Photo by Ron Sangha
Mehfil in<br />
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50 Mehfil September/October 2007
Mehfil in<br />
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Mehfil September/October 2007 51
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52 Mehfil September/October 2007
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Mehfil September/October 2007 53
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54 Mehfil September/October 2007
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Mehfil September/October 2007 55
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56 Mehfil September/October 2007
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Mehfil September/October 2007 57
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58 Mehfil September/October 2007
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Mehfil September/October 2007 59
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Weddings<br />
July<br />
2007<br />
Amy Ghuman<br />
North Delta, B.C.<br />
Vince Sara<br />
Vancouver, B.C.<br />
You could say that it was a<br />
match made in seven. Amy<br />
Ghuman and Vince Sara dated<br />
for exactly seven months before<br />
getting married on July 7 of this<br />
year. The date was 7/7/07. Vince<br />
chalks it up to destiny.<br />
They met at a business meeting<br />
in December. Amy was representing<br />
her non-profit Trinjan<br />
Punjabi Folk Academy and Vince<br />
was there from Channel M to<br />
discuss funding for Trinjan’s second<br />
Mundey Kuri Di Lohri. Vince<br />
says he was very impressed with<br />
Amy, the organizing force behind<br />
the annual Surrey event that she<br />
founded to increase awareness of<br />
the declining birthrate of female<br />
Indian children.<br />
“Her uniqueness won me<br />
over before I even realized what<br />
was happening,” says Vince<br />
about his wife. When they aren’t<br />
out working in their community:<br />
“She has this way of snorting<br />
that is so lovable, and she<br />
laughs at most of my jokes. Plus<br />
her smile — it’s the most beautiful<br />
smile I’ve ever seen.”<br />
On April 13, just four months<br />
after they first met, Vince was<br />
so sure that Amy was the one<br />
for him that he proposed to her<br />
in Australia, to the shabad “Ik<br />
Onkar” from the movie Rang De<br />
Basanti. It was a song Amy had<br />
sang for him before and “captured<br />
my heart,” Vince recalls.<br />
Amy didn’t hesitate to accept<br />
Vince’s proposal. She knew “very<br />
early on” that Vince was the man<br />
for her. “He had such a warm,<br />
gentle and caring nature, and<br />
a wonderful sense of humour,”<br />
says Amy. “If we weren’t together<br />
at all times, I felt incomplete.”<br />
Vince did his research to<br />
find out the kind of ring Amy<br />
wanted and incorporated things<br />
that he also liked. The ultimate<br />
combination was exquisite: a<br />
Schlumberger Bud design from<br />
Tiffany's and a custom-made<br />
wedding band to fit the “bud.”<br />
Even the promise ring Vince<br />
gave Amy was a flower design<br />
from Tiffany’s since Amy adores<br />
flowers.<br />
For their traditional Sikh wedding<br />
at the Dukh Niwaran Sikh<br />
temple in Surrey, Amy wore a<br />
classic Rajasthani custom-made,<br />
hand-embroidered red and gold<br />
lengha (the embroidery alone<br />
took a month to complete).<br />
The couple had chosen the<br />
lengha together but actually seeing<br />
his bride dressed up was<br />
“a sight to behold,” says Vince.<br />
Amy’s first thought upon seeing<br />
Vince was that “he looked like<br />
a prince. I thought maybe he<br />
should always wear a turban and<br />
keep a beard. I thought I was the<br />
luckiest girl in the world.”<br />
After the wedding, a plane<br />
flew over Surrey with a banner<br />
congratulating the new couple.<br />
The couple was able to work<br />
five blissful days in Maui into<br />
their hectic schedules. They are<br />
planning an extended honeymoon<br />
to Europe and Africa in the<br />
near future.<br />
But they aren’t too concerned<br />
about setting a date for it yet<br />
because, they say, every day in<br />
their new Vancouver home is like<br />
a honeymoon.<br />
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62 Mehfil September/October 2007
It began with a friendly introduction<br />
and blossomed into a truly<br />
modern romance. Thanks to the<br />
wonders of technology and all<br />
its luxuries — one-hour flights,<br />
long-distance phone plans, instant<br />
Blackberry e-mails and text messaging<br />
— Novin Ihsan and Junaid<br />
Malik were able to keep their<br />
long-distance relationship alive<br />
and well while Junaid worked<br />
in Calgary and Novin studied in<br />
Vancouver.<br />
On his first visit to Vancouver,<br />
Junaid walked into his hotel<br />
room to find that Novin, who<br />
was at work when he arrived,<br />
had thoughtfully left him a box<br />
of chocolates, a book, and a<br />
map penned in with the local<br />
coffee shops so he would have<br />
something to do while he waited.<br />
“They say chocolates are a way<br />
to a woman’s heart. I think that’s<br />
equally true in a man’s case, too,”<br />
says Junaid.<br />
For his part, Junaid was just<br />
as thoughtful. When Novin arrived<br />
later that day, he greeted her with<br />
an armload of orange and yellow<br />
tulips and a big smile. “I thought<br />
to myself, ‘Just what I love.<br />
Colours, flowers and smiles!’” she<br />
recalls.<br />
“I have aways felt that compatibility<br />
is like a light bulb,” says<br />
Weddings<br />
May<br />
2007<br />
Novin Ihsan, 29<br />
Vancouver, B.C.<br />
Junaid Malik, 34<br />
Calgary, AB.<br />
Junaid. “It’s either on or off.” Her<br />
big, beautiful smile was one factor,<br />
says Junaid, but it was their<br />
common values and goals that<br />
had him back on a plane bound<br />
for Vancouver shortly after his first<br />
trip, this time to propose to Novin.<br />
Instead of picking out the ring<br />
for her, Junaid took his fiancée to<br />
pick out “my dream ring,” says<br />
Novin.<br />
They were married in Surrey at<br />
the Sheraton Guildford in a traditional<br />
Pakistani Muslim ceremony.<br />
Their spring-themed wedding was<br />
a beautiful blend of east and west.<br />
A soft teal, brown and silver backdrop<br />
was complemented by fresh<br />
pink tulips in rectangular glass<br />
vases, bringing the colours and<br />
smells of spring indoors.<br />
It was an intimate event, with<br />
120 close family and friends on<br />
the guest list. All the rituals were<br />
explained in English, and instead<br />
of gifts, guests were asked to<br />
make a donation to the BC Cancer<br />
Agency or to Brandon University.<br />
After a one-week stay in the<br />
Dominican Republic that melted<br />
all the stress of exams and wedding<br />
planning away, the couple<br />
moved back to Calgary, where<br />
Junaid works in real estate and<br />
Novin is well into her first year of<br />
residency as a physician.<br />
Share your story at weddings@mehfilmagazine.com<br />
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Mehfil September/October 2007 63
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May<br />
2007<br />
In total, Pav Gill asked Nisha<br />
to marry him three times. The<br />
first time was just after they met,<br />
three years ago in Prince George.<br />
Although Nisha didn’t agree to<br />
the mock-proposal, she and Pav<br />
ended up dating for the next two<br />
years.<br />
It was Nisha’s caring nature<br />
that Pav fell in love with. “She is<br />
always helping everyone around<br />
her and putting everyone around<br />
her first, especially me!” says<br />
the newlywed about his bride.<br />
He has clearly met his match in<br />
Nisha, who describes Pav as “so<br />
caring and different than anyone<br />
else that I couldn’t help but fall in<br />
love with him.”<br />
The second proposal — this<br />
one was serious — came on the<br />
day the couple marked two years<br />
of dating. That evening, after dinner,<br />
Pav took Nisha to a gazebo<br />
in a nearby park. By candlelight,<br />
Pav asked Nisha if she wanted to<br />
spend her life with him. “Asking<br />
her if she would marry me for<br />
real was a dream come true,” he<br />
says.<br />
The third, official proposal<br />
took place at the couple’s<br />
engagement in April 2007, when<br />
Pav got down on one knee in<br />
Pav, 27<br />
Kamloops. B.C.<br />
Nisha, 21<br />
Prince George, B.C.<br />
Share your story at weddings@mehfilmagazine.com<br />
front of 250 guests.<br />
Pav and Nisha had a traditional<br />
Sikh wedding in Surrey at<br />
the York Centre Gurdwara, and<br />
a reception at the Ravi Banquet<br />
Hall. Eight hundred of their family<br />
and friends attended. Nisha<br />
wore a custom-made, heavily<br />
embroidered, deep red lengha<br />
that was so heavy that she could<br />
barely hold it up. Pav dazzled his<br />
bride in a sherwani embroidered<br />
both front and back.<br />
The reception was a night full<br />
of entertainment, with bhangra<br />
performances by Apna Virsa<br />
and Duniya All Stars. Pav is a<br />
big fan of the dhol and an avid<br />
dholi himself, so the couple<br />
was thrilled to have 2001 World<br />
Dhol Champion Rayman Bhullar<br />
and Raju Johal of the Duniya<br />
All Stars bhangra team collaborate<br />
for an explosive dhol and<br />
bhangra performance.<br />
The newlyweds spent a week<br />
on a Western Caribbean cruise<br />
and another week in Orlando<br />
checking out Disney World and<br />
Universal Studios. Pav and<br />
Nisha Gill now make their home<br />
in Kamloops, B.C., where they<br />
operate their own family<br />
business.<br />
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Mehfil September/October 2007 65
Beauty<br />
Face Fall<br />
Beautifully<br />
Fall is a time of changing colours, and makeup is no<br />
exception. We turned to the experts at Holt Renfrew,<br />
home to 25 different makeup lines, for a preview of this<br />
fall’s makeup trends. Dewy skin and heavily accented<br />
eyes and lips are the key. Following are a fewtips on<br />
achieving four of fall’s beautiful looks.<br />
Au natural: Pair this fall’s<br />
neutral face with creamy<br />
latté lips for an inviting,<br />
oh-so-touchable face. Try<br />
Bobbi Brown’s Stone Washed<br />
Nudes fall collection featuring<br />
a beautiful, wearable<br />
selection of cool, neutral<br />
earth tones of stone, taupe<br />
and grey in a combination of<br />
flat and shimmer shades.<br />
Graphic pop art: To add a little<br />
evening flair to the nude look, pair<br />
nude lips with this season’s exaggerated<br />
“winged” eyes and eyebrows<br />
shaped in pop-art fashion. Andy<br />
Warhol himself would applaud.<br />
For a dramatic look, try the<br />
Midnight Jewels palette from Jemma<br />
Kidd. Pair the Crushed Jewel Gel<br />
Liner in lapis over the Define Stay Put<br />
Eyeliner in electric to create an alluring<br />
look for eyes — perfect on their<br />
own or over a wash of delicate colour.<br />
Full metallica: A look for<br />
the girl who goes hard or<br />
goes home. Rock it out with<br />
lids shaded in heavy metallic<br />
colors. This season, line under<br />
the lower lashes to add some<br />
intensity and drama.<br />
Try Jemma Kidd’s Metallica Eye<br />
Wardrobe Colour Quartet with<br />
four high-impact but wearable<br />
shades.<br />
Not so neutral: Pair naughty with nice. Set off a neutral face with bright<br />
red lips for a sassy, in-your-face fall look.<br />
Try Yves Saint Laurent’s Rouge Pur No 136 and No 137 for classic<br />
red lips or the brand new Lipstick Queen line, designed by lip color<br />
aficionado Poppy King.<br />
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Since 1989<br />
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66 Mehfil September/October 2007
Vancouver’s FIRST South Asian FM Station<br />
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Celebrating Ethnic Music<br />
Showcasing Cultural Diversity<br />
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Come, Advertise on RED 93.1 FM<br />
Enjoy a world of response, Call (604) 598-9311<br />
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Cuisine<br />
The Best of<br />
Bollywood<br />
If there are two things most human<br />
beings can’t help but be drawn to it’s<br />
food and beautiful people. Marrying<br />
famously beautiful people and food<br />
together is the particular genius of<br />
The Bollywood Cookbook (Kyle Cathie<br />
Limited).<br />
For those who love to feast their<br />
eyes on the curves of Amrita Arora<br />
and aubergines alike, the Bollywood<br />
Cookbook is a treat for the senses,<br />
interspersing shots of A-list actors with<br />
delectable dishes, and recipes straight<br />
from the kitchens of Bollywood’s finest.<br />
Author Bulbul Mankani goes to great<br />
lengths to discover that Shabana Azmi<br />
compulsively collects recipes but can’t<br />
cook herself (and loves<br />
a simple, Moghul-style<br />
baingan bartha). Or that<br />
one third of the Bachchan<br />
family is vegetarian<br />
(including the Big B<br />
himself, who adores<br />
melt-in-your-mouth aloo<br />
tikki with mint chutney.)<br />
Raveena Tandon’s recipe for Gulab Jamun Serves 6<br />
250 g sugar<br />
2 tablespoons rosewater<br />
175 g plain flour<br />
50 g powdered milk<br />
50 ml milk<br />
250 ml oil for frying<br />
15-20 pistachios, roughly chopped<br />
68 Mehfil September/October 2007<br />
First make your syrup: Bring 1 litre of<br />
water to a boil in a heavy pan and add<br />
the sugar, stirring constantly until it dissolves.<br />
Boil until the syrup reduces to<br />
one third its original quantity. Allow to<br />
cool and then stir in the rose water and<br />
mix well.<br />
In a bowl mix the flour and powdered<br />
milk and stir in the milk to make an<br />
elastic dough. Knead it until smooth on<br />
a lightly floured surface. Roll into small<br />
balls, about 3 centimetres in diameter.<br />
Cook immediately.<br />
Heat the oil in a frying pan. Reduce heat<br />
and add the balls one by one. Do not<br />
cook more than four at a time, and keep<br />
moving them with a ladle so that they<br />
get evenly browned. When they start to<br />
turn dark brown, remove them with a<br />
slotted spoon.<br />
Add gulab jamuns to the syrup and let<br />
them soak for 15 minutes. Serve garnished<br />
with chopped pistachios.<br />
Manisha Koirala’s favourite:<br />
Patra Ni Macchi<br />
(fish steamed in banana leaves) Serves 6<br />
12 large pomfret fillets, or any firm white fish<br />
5-6 banana leaves, or aluminum foil<br />
5 tablespoons vinegar or red wine vinegar<br />
For the chutney:<br />
1 1/2 fresh coconut, grated<br />
5 green chilies<br />
A large handful of coriander leaves<br />
A large handful of mint leaves<br />
2 small onions<br />
2 garlic cloves, peeled<br />
2-cm pieces fresh ginger, peeled<br />
1 tablespoon cumin seeds, roasted<br />
1 tablespoon sugar<br />
5-6 tablespoons lime juice<br />
Salt to taste<br />
Put all ingredients for the chutney except the<br />
lime juice into a food processor and add one<br />
tablespoon of water. Whizz for two minutes,<br />
then add lime juice so that the flavour is slightly<br />
spicy, sweet and sour.<br />
Wash the fish and pat dry.<br />
Remove the centre stalk from the banana leaves<br />
and cut into 12 large pieces. Pass the leaves<br />
quickly over a flame to soften them.<br />
Coat each slice of fish liberally with the chutney<br />
and place each on a piece of banana leaf. (Or on<br />
aluminum foil if not using banana leaves.) Fold<br />
the leaf over and tie up with a string to completely<br />
seal in the fish. (Or enclose in foil.)<br />
Heat some water in a steamer and add the vinegar.<br />
When the steam rises, place the fish wraps<br />
on top, cover and cook for 20 minutes.
1643 West Broadway, Vancouver • 604-742-0622<br />
West Vancouver’s Hidden Jewel<br />
Serving Vancouver’s West<br />
Zaika<br />
Side<br />
Enjoy our fine cuisine and a breath-taking with<br />
view of downtown Vancouver<br />
Fine Indian Cuisine<br />
Fine Dining • Outdoor Patio • Private Parties<br />
Dining Room • Patio • Banquet Facilities<br />
Off-Site Private & Corporate Catering<br />
Open 7 Days a Week<br />
Restaurant<br />
CuiSinE of inDia<br />
Air Conditioned • Fully Licensed • Banquet Hall with 80 seats<br />
Eat In or Take Out<br />
Wide Variety of Authentic Indian Dishes<br />
1340 Marine Dr., West Vancouver 4432 Dunbar St., Vancouver<br />
604-925-5262<br />
604-738-3186<br />
www.handi-restaurant.com<br />
1643 #201, West 7500-120th Broadway, St, Vancouver Surrey • • 604-592-1033 604-742-0622<br />
Zaika<br />
Authentic Indian<br />
Restaurant<br />
Restaurant<br />
RESTAURANT<br />
• Catering for All Occasions<br />
• Seating Capacity upto 100<br />
• Full Licensed<br />
• Eat In or Take Out<br />
Air Conditioned • Fully Licensed • Banquet Hall with 80 seats<br />
• Everyday Lunch Buffet $9.99<br />
Eat In or Take Out<br />
#6, 12818-72nd Wide Variety Ave, of Surrey Authentic Indian Dishes<br />
#201, 604-591-9000<br />
7500-120th St, Surrey • 604-592-1033 VINOD<br />
604-905-4900<br />
Fully Licensed • Eat in • Take Out • Delivery • Catering • Open 7 Days a Week<br />
THE CRITICS’ CHOICE<br />
A Visit to Haweli is: Enjoying the classiest, Authentic<br />
Indian meal while sitting in The Palace of Indian Kings<br />
There is only one...<br />
Original<br />
TANDOORI<br />
Kitchen<br />
SERVING THE COMMUNITY SINCE 1987<br />
689 East 65th Ave. (at Fraser)<br />
Vancouver • 327-8900<br />
110 - 3790 Canada Way, Burnaby<br />
604-430-1600<br />
7548 - 120th St., Surrey<br />
604-592-8900<br />
ORIGINAL TANDOORI & CHAT HOUSE<br />
7233 Fraser St., Vancouver<br />
604-327-8901BANQUET PALACE<br />
Eat-in<br />
TANDOORI GRILL (up to 350 capacity)<br />
Take-out<br />
201 - 4368 Main<br />
Catering 8220 St., - Whistler 120th St., Surrey, BC<br />
604-905-4900<br />
604-592-2503<br />
We Cater<br />
Indoor &<br />
Outdoor<br />
604-588-4665<br />
West Vancouver’s Hidden Jewel<br />
A Visit to Haweli is: Enjoying the classiest, Authentic<br />
Indian meal while sitting in The Palace of Indian Kings<br />
Enjoy our fine cuisine and a breath-taking view of Downtown Vancouver<br />
Fine Dining • Outdoor Patio • Private Parties<br />
Off-Site Private & Corporate Catering<br />
CUISINE OF INDIA<br />
1340 Marine Dr.,<br />
West Vancouver<br />
604-925-5262<br />
www.handi.ca<br />
• Eat-in • Take-out • Delivery • Catering • Banquets<br />
604-984-8888<br />
BANQUET PALACE<br />
Eat-in<br />
138 West (up 16th to St., 350 North capacity) We Cater<br />
Take-out<br />
Vancouver<br />
Indoor &<br />
Catering Fax: 604.986.7378 8220 - 120th www.mumbaimasala.ca<br />
St., Surrey, BC Outdoor<br />
604-592-2503<br />
Open for Lunch & Dinner 7 Days a Week<br />
Sharnjit<br />
Chef/Owner<br />
Fully Licensed • Eat in • Take Out • Delivery • Catering • Open 7 Days a Week<br />
RESTAURANT<br />
• Catering for All Occasions<br />
• Seating Capacity upto 100<br />
• Full Licensed<br />
• Eat In or Take Out<br />
• Everyday Lunch Buffet $8.99<br />
#6, 12818-72nd Ave, Surrey<br />
604-591-9000<br />
Authentic Indian<br />
Restaurant<br />
Come<br />
See Our<br />
New<br />
Menu<br />
VINOD<br />
West Vancouver’s Hidden Jewel<br />
Enjoy our fine cuisine and a breath-taking view of Downtown Vancouver<br />
Fine Dining • Outdoor Patio • Private Parties<br />
Off-Site Private & Corporate Catering<br />
Eat In • Take Out<br />
Open Daily for Lunch & Dinner<br />
CUISINE OF INDIA<br />
Catering for Pickup<br />
Private Party Room available for up to 32 people<br />
1340 Marine Dr.,<br />
West Vancouver<br />
604-925-5262<br />
www.handi.ca<br />
For reservations call:<br />
604-585-3331 • 9470-120 th St, Surrey<br />
(near Royal Bank)<br />
www.mahek.ca<br />
Mehfil September/October 2007 69
Health & Fitness<br />
by Shefali Raja, BSc., RD Community Nutritionist<br />
Let’s Do Lunch<br />
With the onset of autumn and the<br />
start of a new school year, making<br />
lunch needs to become a part of<br />
daily routine. But it doesn’t need to be a<br />
chore. The key to an exciting and nutritious<br />
lunch is to pack a variety of foods<br />
— including vegetables and fruits, grains,<br />
protein and dairy — and to make them<br />
appealing and fun at the same time. A<br />
combination of foods from at least three<br />
of the four food groups will sustain<br />
energy and alertness throughout the afternoon,<br />
whether at school or at work.<br />
Involve children in preparing their own<br />
lunches. They are more likely to eat their<br />
lunch if they have a say in the types of<br />
foods included and if they helped to prepare<br />
and pack it. The No. 1 reason busy<br />
parents give for not packing a healthy<br />
lunch for their kids is lack of time. A little<br />
pre-planning can solve that problem.<br />
Get the gear<br />
n Make room in your kitchen for insulated<br />
lunch bags, reusable plastic containers,<br />
thermos, cutlery, colourful cloth napkins<br />
and ice packs.<br />
n Stock the pantry and freezer with a<br />
variety of wholegrain products (such as<br />
bagels, pita, crackers, bread and tortillas),<br />
as well as tuna, turkey, chicken,<br />
egg, low-fat cheese, nuts and peanut<br />
butter.<br />
n Keep on hand yogurt, low–fat milk<br />
boxes, pudding, cheese sticks, canned<br />
fruit, 100 per cent juice boxes, appropriate<br />
serving sizes of seasonal vegetables<br />
and fruits.<br />
Do the preparation<br />
n Kids can rotate “lunch duty” — packing<br />
the lunches. A good time to pack lunches<br />
for the next day is at supper time. You<br />
and your children can multi-task while<br />
dinner cooks.<br />
70 Mehfil September/October 2007<br />
Ideas that pack a punch<br />
n Be creative with your sandwich fillings.<br />
Try hummus with grated carrot<br />
or roasted red pepper; tuna with sliced<br />
apple and raisins; lower-fat cheese with<br />
cucumber and sprouts; egg salad with<br />
ketchup; herb-and-garlic cream cheese<br />
with celery; cheese, lettuce and tomato.<br />
n Samosas, burritos, wraps, bagel-wiches,<br />
salad rolls and cold pasta salad can easily<br />
replace sandwiches.<br />
Shape up the lunchbox<br />
n Kids love different shapes in their<br />
lunchboxes. Use a cookie cutter to cut<br />
out sandwich shapes, pack melon balls<br />
instead of melon chunks or include<br />
cheese bites instead of cheese slices.<br />
Don’t forget the extras<br />
n Add a sweet touch to lunch without adding<br />
too much fat or too many calories<br />
with foods such as yogurt; cheese strings;<br />
nuts and seeds; pretzels; small muffins;<br />
banana, carrot or pumpkin loaf; natural<br />
granola bars; one to two fig bars; ginger<br />
snaps; vanilla or graham wafers; animal<br />
crackers or social tea biscuits.<br />
n Most Canadians do not get the recommended<br />
daily servings of vegetables and<br />
fruits. Crunchy seasonal vegetables and<br />
fruit are a great finish to a meal, and<br />
help teeth stay clean, too. Eating a piece<br />
of cheese after a meal can also help to<br />
protect against cavities.<br />
Make it hot<br />
n A warm lunch is more satisfying in the<br />
winter. Fill a thermos with soup, hot<br />
stew, chili, baked beans, pasta, perogies,<br />
rice pilaf, noodles, dal and rice or hot<br />
chocolate made from milk.<br />
n Start cooking extra food at dinner and<br />
freeze the extra in lunch-sized portions.<br />
Sip on the good stuff<br />
n A small juice box (make sure it’s 100<br />
per cent juice, not a “fruit drink”),<br />
milk or yogurt drink is also a good<br />
option. Studies show that children who<br />
drink milk at school are more likely<br />
to meet their calcium needs than kids<br />
who don’t. A water bottle is a great way<br />
to stay hydrated without contributing<br />
empty sugar calories or having a negative<br />
impact on the teeth.<br />
Safety first<br />
n To keep the lunch bacteria free, start<br />
with washed hands, clean counters and<br />
clean utensils.<br />
n Popular perishables such as meat and<br />
cheese sandwiches, string cheese and<br />
yogurt should not be left without refrigeration<br />
for longer than two hours.<br />
Include a freezer pack, a frozen juice<br />
pack or a frozen water bottle to keep<br />
perishables cold. The frozen beverage<br />
also doubles up as a cold drink with<br />
lunch. Throw away perishable food that<br />
is not eaten at lunch.<br />
n Hot foods should be steaming hot before<br />
they go into the thermos.<br />
n Do not use leftover foods that are more<br />
than one day old.<br />
n Don’t forget to wash fruits and veggies<br />
before packing them.<br />
n Do not re use wrappings or sandwich<br />
bags.<br />
n Wash lunch containers every night to<br />
keep bacteria from growing and, once<br />
a week, clean them with baking soda to<br />
get rid of odours.<br />
n Place heavy food in the bottom of the<br />
lunch pack to avoid crushing other<br />
lunch items.<br />
n Teach children to wash their hands<br />
before eating.<br />
n For some children, food allergies can<br />
be very serious. Check with your child’s
teacher about foods to be avoided in<br />
your child’s classroom.<br />
innoVAtiVe<br />
Make it personal<br />
n Include a secret note, sticker or cartoon<br />
in your child’s lunch.<br />
Give it a pass<br />
n A growing number of Canadian children<br />
are overweight. Avoid packing<br />
items such as chips, chocolate bars and<br />
snack cakes. Instead, offer a small treat<br />
on an occasional basis. Smaller children<br />
have smaller tummies and may fill<br />
up on these types of foods and miss out<br />
on good nutrition.<br />
n Avoid pop, fruit punches, fruit cocktails,<br />
fruit beverages and iced tea with<br />
sugar. These “fruity” drinks may contain<br />
less than 10 per cent real juice,<br />
and any of these beverage may contain<br />
nine-plus teaspoons of added sugar.<br />
n Lunchables/Lunchmates can contain<br />
300 to 600 calories and up to nine teaspoons<br />
of fat —not to mention a lot of<br />
salt and no fibre. They also cost more<br />
to buy than a homemade lunch.<br />
n Fruit Roll-ups/Fruit Snacks/Fruit by<br />
the Foot – they’re all candy in disguise.<br />
Don’t be fooled by the packaging featuring<br />
lots of pictures of fruit and<br />
claims that these products are made<br />
with real fruit. They contain a very<br />
small amount of fruit; the first thing on<br />
the list of ingredients is almost always a<br />
form of sugar.<br />
n Granola bars coated with chocolate or<br />
containing chocolate chips or marshmallows<br />
are poor choices as they are<br />
high in fat and sugar.<br />
n Dry instant soup noodles and mini<br />
snacks are high in fat and salt, and low<br />
in nutrients.<br />
unique<br />
c a p t u r i n g t h e i m a g e s o f t i m e<br />
Atish Ram<br />
Photography & Videography<br />
SaveMoreLight_Oct04 12/12/04 1:41604-868-0467<br />
AM Page 1<br />
www.atishram.com | email: zindagitv@shaw.ca<br />
cReAtiVe<br />
6<br />
Listen to your kids!<br />
n Many parents may fall into the trap<br />
of not packing enough food for the<br />
child. Only the child knows how many<br />
calories he needs to grow, so don't<br />
try to “control” the uncontrollable by<br />
restricting the quantity of food in<br />
your child’s lunch. Teach children that<br />
it’s perfectly acceptable to bring food<br />
home if they aren’t hungry.<br />
It does take more time and planning<br />
to pack a lunch from home, but it's<br />
worth the effort.<br />
Not only will you save money, but<br />
your kids will be eating better food. If<br />
they help with the preparation, they’ll<br />
have the added satisfaction of doing it<br />
themselves. p<br />
Specializing in Lighting Plumbing<br />
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• Tub Stalls…and many more!<br />
Mehfil September/October 2007 71
Janice A. McMath<br />
NOTARY PUBLIC & MEDIATOR<br />
Trusted • Respected • Professional<br />
More than 20 years of<br />
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Feature: Mirror, mirror on the wall<br />
(continued from page 47)<br />
Colonialism further entrenched this<br />
centuries-old belief.<br />
Neetu says she has now stopped<br />
using Fair and Lovely. “I am happy with<br />
who I am. When you grow up you find<br />
yourself.”<br />
The mother of two girls and a boy<br />
says she wouldn’t stop her daughters if<br />
they wanted to use the cream. “It’s their<br />
own discovery. In fact I would tell them<br />
to go ahead, if they want to use it and<br />
there are no side effects.”<br />
Call Janice today for<br />
the help you need<br />
604-588-1202<br />
GrandTaj_Oct04 12/12/04 1:35 AM Page 1<br />
Suite 200-14980 104 Ave.<br />
Surrey, BC<br />
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Anniversaries • Corporate Functions<br />
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We also do catering for every occasion<br />
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The Grand Taj is in the business of making wedding<br />
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604-599-4342<br />
8388 - 128th St., Surrey • www.grandtaj.com<br />
Bollywood star Shahrukh Khan is the spokesperson<br />
for skin-lightening cream Fair and Handsome. The<br />
product’s sales are growing by 25 per cent a year.<br />
As of 2005, the skin-whitening cream<br />
industry has begun to focus its attention<br />
on a completely different market<br />
— Indian men. HLL, Emami and<br />
Nivea all have whitening creams for<br />
men. Emami’s Fair and Handsome<br />
brand is growing by 25 per cent a year,<br />
with Bollywood mega star Shahrukh<br />
Khan acting as its spokesperson. Ad<br />
campaigns, with Bollywood-style songand-dance<br />
numbers, promise love from<br />
hoards of beautiful, fair women if men<br />
with a “wheatish” complexion use their<br />
product.<br />
Neetu says she has no regrets about<br />
using Fair and Lovely, but she now sees<br />
a different solution to the South Asian<br />
colour complex. “I don’t think there’s<br />
major harm in using it and growing out<br />
of it, but I think it’s all about self-discovery<br />
in the end.<br />
“You have to realize who you are and<br />
learn to feel beautiful with whatever<br />
God’s given to you. That’s the way it<br />
should be.” p<br />
1-877-369-8621<br />
72 Mehfil September/October 2007
Horoscope<br />
by Georgia Nicols<br />
September 2007<br />
Aries (March 21-April 19)<br />
Although you’re enjoying vacations, romance,<br />
fun times with children, the arts, and<br />
entertaining diversions, very soon you’ll notice<br />
you’re sliding into work mode. Serious<br />
work mode! During September, you’re going<br />
to be obsessed about getting better organized.<br />
Efficiency, effectiveness, productivity -- that’s<br />
what you want. Everything must run smoothly<br />
— ticketyboo! You’ll also be on a health kick.<br />
Vitamins, massage, and of course jogging religiously<br />
in front of the fridge will be de rigeur.<br />
Taurus (April 20-May 20)<br />
You have been perennially focused on improving<br />
your home scene for how long has it<br />
been? Naturally, you want mortgage free acreage<br />
and a decent wine cellar. But there has to<br />
be more to life than this! That’s why you’re<br />
getting ready to have some serious fun. Romantic<br />
rendezvous beckon. Your gonads are<br />
exploding. Take a vacation. Explore the arts<br />
and sports. The bottom line this month is to<br />
have fun and feel alive! Actually, this is easy to<br />
do. For starters, you’re not dead.<br />
Gemini (May 21-June 20)<br />
Mars in your sign gives you tons of energy.<br />
In fact, you have so much energy — some<br />
physical exercise would be a good thing. (Blow<br />
off some excess steam.) However, your focus<br />
is starting to swing to your domestic scene:<br />
home, family, relatives, your private life, and<br />
figuring out how you want to be happier where<br />
you live. We all have to live somewhere. Why<br />
not fill your home with the things you want?<br />
Just do it.<br />
Cancer (June 21-July 22)<br />
More than any other sign, you have the<br />
best opportunity to improve your job scene<br />
in the next year. Make the most of this! If you<br />
don’t like where you’re working — look for<br />
something else. If you like where you’re working,<br />
think of how to make it better. This month,<br />
you’re busy! Short trips, increased reading,<br />
writing and studying, interaction with siblings<br />
and relatives, and mucho errands will keep<br />
you off your heels.<br />
Leo (July 23-Aug. 22)<br />
You’ve been talking and schmoozing with<br />
everyone. However, this month, you’ll find<br />
yourself being more and more concerned<br />
with money issues. How much money are you<br />
making? How much money can you expect<br />
to make? How much money can you spend?<br />
What do you want to do with the money you<br />
have? What’s the best way to use what you<br />
now own? And when it comes right down to it<br />
— with all this talk about money and possessions<br />
— what really matters anyway?<br />
Virgo (Aug. 23-Sept. 22)<br />
Happy birthday! It’s your turn to recharge<br />
your batteries for the rest of the year. People<br />
and auspicious circumstances are magically<br />
attracted to you now. Milk this for all it’s worth!<br />
You’re ambitious because Mars is high in your<br />
chart. You want to prove something to the<br />
world as well as to yourself. And you’ve got a<br />
few secret things happening on the side. (You<br />
devil.) This month, it’s your prerogative, in fact<br />
your duty, to do exactly what you want. It’s all<br />
about you.<br />
Libra (Sept. 23-Oct. 22)<br />
Your personal year is winding up. Soon<br />
you will enter your new year. What do you<br />
want your new year to be? How many years<br />
do you have left? (No one knows.) This is the<br />
time for some serious thinking. You can either<br />
plan what you want to happen or just let life<br />
happen to you. What’s it going to be? Who’s<br />
in charge here? You are! The joke of it is even<br />
if you aren’t making a plan — you’re still in<br />
charge. Remember: not to decide is to decide.<br />
Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 21)<br />
This month you’re popular! (People want<br />
to see you. You want to see them.) But that’s<br />
not all — your gonads are in overdrive. (Woo,<br />
woo!) You want some action. Get out and<br />
schmooze. Talk to anyone who interests you.<br />
You’re a lusty, passionate, intense sign. Life is<br />
short — and fat. The stars continue to favour<br />
your earnings. Respect your moneymaking<br />
ideas. Partnerships benefit you.<br />
Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 21)<br />
The Sun is at high noon in your chart acting<br />
like a spotlight on you. Bosses, parents,<br />
teachers and VIPs really notice and admire<br />
you. That’s why increased responsibilities<br />
suddenly come your way. When this happens,<br />
say yes. You can handle it. You won’t have to<br />
be dazzling. It will all come together. Even if<br />
you’re the most amazed of all -- take the credit.<br />
Say you did your research. Say you’ve been<br />
exploring these new parameters for some time<br />
now. (They’ll love it.)<br />
Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19)<br />
You don’t like failure! This is why you must<br />
lighten up this month so that you can take the<br />
plunge. (Please return it by next Thursday.)<br />
Opportunities to travel, or get further education<br />
or training, or experience more of the<br />
world are waiting for you. Grab this adventure!<br />
Do something different. Learn something<br />
new. Be a tourist in your own town. Decide to<br />
gamble — and live a little! (Ironically, when<br />
you decide to do this sort of thing — you’re<br />
extremely bold and bizarre!)<br />
Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 18)<br />
You want to improve yourself. And you feel<br />
intense about this. In fact, you’re feeling intensely<br />
about everything this month. Passionate<br />
sex and an interest in your partner’s wealth<br />
or other people’s business are just some<br />
things that stoke your energy. You’re also<br />
involved in wills, inheritances, debt, taxes,<br />
mortgages, loans and shared property. You’ll<br />
be interested in secrets as well, and what’s going<br />
on in other people’s lives, especially if it’s<br />
hidden from you.<br />
Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20)<br />
With the Sun directly opposite you, your<br />
attention is on partnerships and closest<br />
friendships. These people are adversarial.<br />
They’re opposing you or being difficult. But<br />
they don’t think so. If you complain — you’re<br />
the one being difficult. Actually, this is an opportunity<br />
to learn more about how you relate<br />
to others. How they react to you is a mirror for<br />
your style, your speech, your intentions and<br />
even your personality. (It’s your best chance<br />
to grow up.)<br />
Vancouver-based Georgia Nicols is Canada’s<br />
most read astrologer and one of the biggest<br />
names in stargazing, with international clients<br />
and a Web horoscope (www.georgianicols.com)<br />
that is one of the hottest items online.<br />
Mehfil September/October 2007 73
Shifting gears<br />
2008 LAND ROVER LR2 SUV<br />
The 2008 Land Rover LR2 is an allnew<br />
small luxury SUV from the<br />
famous British luxury auto maker.<br />
It’s a replacement for the Freelander and<br />
is a much improved prestige vehicle. It<br />
may be modern, but is still a no-compromise<br />
of off-road performance while on<br />
road it’s competent in all respects. With<br />
Landrover now owned by Ford, it’s now<br />
Land Rover.<br />
The former “cute” shape of the<br />
Freelander has given way to a more<br />
grown-up, handsome, chiselled look and<br />
it is obvious that many styling cues<br />
have been taken from its big brother.<br />
Re-engineering makes the car Rover feel<br />
and drive like a much lighter vehicle.<br />
However, in spite of its small size, the<br />
LR2 does not give up its luxury quotient,<br />
with plush leather seats, deep wood trim,<br />
an array of technology, creature comforts<br />
and, of course, a roomy cabin for four<br />
people. The LR2’s front seats offer plenty<br />
of legroom and headroom. Rear passengers<br />
are equally well cosseted. Cargo space<br />
behind the rear seats is 27 cubic feet, and<br />
expands to a maximum of 59 cubic feet<br />
with the seats folded.<br />
A single SE trim line is on offer with<br />
as-standard equipment featuring 18-inch<br />
alloy wheels, a dual sunroof, the aforementioned<br />
leather seating, power front<br />
seats, dual-zone automatic climate control,<br />
a nine-speaker Alpine stereo with<br />
a six-disc MP3/CD changer and auxiliary<br />
input jack, push-button ignition,<br />
automatic headlights and wipers, and<br />
rear parking sensors. You can order your<br />
choice of option packages that offer niceties<br />
such as a navigation system, satellite<br />
radio, rear-seat audio controls, a higher<br />
end upgraded surround-sound audio system,<br />
and Bluetooth phone connectivity.<br />
The Lighting Package offers adaptive<br />
xenon headlights, and memory settings<br />
for the driver. The Canadian-worthy<br />
Cold Climate Package offers heated front<br />
seats, windshield and washer jets.<br />
Technical specifications<br />
The 2008 Land Rover LR2 is powered<br />
by a 3.2-litre inline six developing 230<br />
horsepower and 234 pound-feet of torque<br />
mated to a six-speed automatic transmission<br />
with sport and manual shift modes.<br />
Land Rovers are renowned for their offroad<br />
ability, and in the LR2’s case the<br />
all-wheel-drive system (AWD) transmits<br />
most of the engine’s power to the front<br />
wheels by default, though it can send<br />
power to the rear wheels to maximize<br />
traction in off-road situations. The AWD<br />
does not have a dedicated low range (“4<br />
Lo”) for serious boonie bashing, but<br />
has different modes for mild off-roading<br />
and rough dirt trails, the LR2’s Terrain<br />
Response system allows the driver to<br />
switch from the default “general driving”<br />
mode to any of the three off-road modes<br />
(“grass/gravel/snow,” “mud/ruts,” and<br />
“sand”). With a very handy 8.3 inches<br />
of ground clearance and hill descent<br />
control system, the LR2 is very competent<br />
for most off-road situations, yet<br />
offers a comfortable ride on paved road<br />
and highway trails. Safety-wise the Land<br />
Rover LR2 arrives with side airbags for<br />
the driver and front passenger, side curtain<br />
airbags for all outboard passengers,<br />
and a driver’s knee bag. Antilock brakes,<br />
traction control and stability control with<br />
a rollover sensor are also standard fare.<br />
On the road<br />
In spite of its nice ride and decent offroad<br />
ability, the LR2 is a little slow off<br />
the mark in the acceleration stakes, but<br />
does make up for it in its easy-to-drive<br />
manners and light steering. Good visibility<br />
and a compact footprint also make<br />
it easy to park. Good strong brakes give<br />
plenty of feel. Overall, the LR2 offers the<br />
distinction of the Land Rover badge, a<br />
distinct British feel and look in the cabin<br />
and excellent off-road capability. One for<br />
Land Rover fans everywhere.<br />
2008 Land Rover LR2 is priced from<br />
$44,900.<br />
74 Mehfil September/October 2007
Your best<br />
opportunity to<br />
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RIDGELINE<br />
SALES EVENT<br />
Ridgeline’s solid versatility gets the job done, with the industry’s only lockable In-Bed Trunk and Dual-Action Tailgate. Plus,<br />
just add the dealer installed accessory hitch and harness, every Ridgeline is completely wired and mechanically reinforced for<br />
towing. Starting from $37,105 MSRP‡<br />
JUST<br />
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One of the most fuel efficient 8-passenger SUVs in Canada, the<br />
family-friendly Pilot is also an IIHS ‘2007 Top Safety Pick’. ¥<br />
Starting from $37,905 MSRP ‡<br />
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ON APPROVED<br />
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www.surreyhonda.com<br />
(604) 583-7421<br />
¥<br />
£Limited time financing offers based on new in-stock 2007 Honda models. Finance examples based on 2007 Ridgeline LX, model YK1647E / 2007 Pilot LX 2WD, model YF2817EX available through Honda Financial Services, on approved credit. ‡MSRP is $37,105 / $37,905 (includes $1,505 /<br />
$1,505 freight and PDI) financed at 0.9% / 0.9% APR equals $1,045.06 / $1,067.59 per month for 36 / 36 months. Cost of borrowing is $517.08 / $528.23 for a total obligation of $37,622.08 / $38,433.23. Taxes, license, insurance and registration are extra. Retailer may sell for less. Retailer<br />
order / trade may be necessary. $1,500 Cash Card offer applies only to retail customer purchase, lease or finance agreements for new 2007 Accords, Odysseys, Pilots and Ridgelines concluded, respectively, between September 1st, 2007 and September 30th, 2007. $1,500 Cash Card includes<br />
GST, PST, HST, QST where applicable.Valid only on purchase, lease or finance agreements concluded at participating Honda retailers. See your Honda retailer for full conditions and details. £Offers valid on new 2007 models from September 1st, 2007 through September 30th, 2007 at participating<br />
Honda retailers. Subject to change or cancellation without notice. See your Honda retailer for full details. ¥Visit safercar.gov and iihs.org for more information. As reported by Car and Driver, March 2007.
JohnstonMeier_Oct04 12/12/04 1:37 AM Page 1<br />
BC’s largest Independently Owned Transportation & Prorate Office<br />
Shifting Gears<br />
Germaine Point<br />
Manager<br />
Johnston Meier<br />
Insurance Agencies Ltd.<br />
Port Kells<br />
“Your commercial transportation<br />
insurance specialists”<br />
Our experienced & knowledgeable<br />
staff is dedicated to taking care<br />
of your Insurance needs.<br />
• “All Risk” Cargo Insurance<br />
• Reefer Breakdown Insurance<br />
• Finance Packages<br />
• Accounts Receivable Insurance<br />
• Loss of Use Coverage<br />
• Custom Bonds<br />
• 24 Hour Claim Service<br />
• Homeowners, Commercial<br />
& Autoplan<br />
• Life & Disability Insurance<br />
604-513-9259<br />
1-888-883-8892<br />
19965 96th Ave, Langley, BC<br />
2008 MAZDA TRIBUTE<br />
All new and costs less, too!<br />
1-877-369-8621<br />
The 2008 Mazda Tribute compact SUV<br />
receives a major new suit of clothes on<br />
the exterior and new interior styling.<br />
Also new are extra standard safety features<br />
and suspension upgrades. The interior,<br />
in particular, is noteworthy, looking<br />
very rich and upmarket. Most surprising<br />
is the fact that the entry price of<br />
the Tributes is cheaper than last year,<br />
even with all the new improvements. The<br />
drops are pretty substantial, from $1,000<br />
to $3600 on the three model variants.<br />
The name you can trust…<br />
Your Satisfaction is Guaranteed<br />
• Express Repair Shop • I.C.B.C Accredited Shop<br />
Certified Craftsmen • “Lifetime” Warranty • Free Estimates<br />
Courtesy Cars • Glass Replacements • Premium Quality Paints<br />
Amarjit Samra<br />
11954-94th Ave, Delta, BC<br />
604-589-2203 / 604-589-0008<br />
Well equippped<br />
An important new addition to the<br />
2008 Tribute is standard traction and<br />
stability control on all trim levels, even<br />
the base four-cylinder GX model. Also<br />
new are standard side airbags in the front<br />
seats and roof-mounted curtain airbags<br />
for both rows of passengers. The GX<br />
($23,295) comes with a standard 153-hp<br />
2.3-litre four-cylinder engine, mated to a<br />
five-speed manual transmission. It’s adequate,<br />
but I would stump for the optional<br />
200-hp 3.0-litre V6 and optional fourspeed<br />
automatic transmission. Standard<br />
equipment on the GX includes air conditioning,<br />
AM/FM/CD audio system, 16-<br />
inch alloy wheels, fog lights, remote keyless<br />
entry, heated power side-view mirrors,<br />
and power windows and door locks. GS<br />
models ($26,995) 604-588-4665<br />
add as-standard frontwheel<br />
drive, the V6 engine, six-way power<br />
adjustable driver’s seat, leather-wrapped<br />
steering wheel, overhead console, roof<br />
rack with cross bars, retractable cargo<br />
cover and trailer towing package. AWD is<br />
optional. Fulload GT models ($31,995)<br />
add leather seats, heated front seats, and<br />
an AM/FM six-disc CD changer premium<br />
76 Mehfil September/October 2007
JohnstonMeier_Oct04 12/12/04 1:37 AM Page 1<br />
BC’s largest Independently Owned Transportation & Prorate Office<br />
Shifting Gears<br />
Germaine Point<br />
Manager<br />
Johnston Meier<br />
Insurance Agencies Ltd.<br />
Port Kells<br />
“Your commercial transportation<br />
insurance specialists”<br />
Our experienced & knowledgeable<br />
staff is dedicated to taking care<br />
of your Insurance needs.<br />
• “All Risk” Cargo Insurance<br />
• Reefer Breakdown Insurance<br />
• Finance Packages<br />
• Accounts Receivable Insurance<br />
• Loss of Use Coverage<br />
• Custom Bonds<br />
• 24 Hour Claim Service<br />
• Homeowners, Commercial<br />
& Autoplan<br />
• Life & Disability Insurance<br />
604-513-9259<br />
1-888-883-8892<br />
19965 96th Ave, Langley, BC<br />
2008 MAZDA TRIBUTE<br />
All new and costs less, too!<br />
1-877-369-8621<br />
The 2008 Mazda Tribute compact SUV<br />
receives a major new suit of clothes on<br />
the exterior and new interior styling.<br />
Also new are extra standard safety features<br />
and suspension upgrades. The interior,<br />
in particular, is noteworthy, looking<br />
very rich and upmarket. Most surprising<br />
is the fact that the entry price of<br />
the Tributes is cheaper than last year,<br />
even with all the new improvements. The<br />
drops are pretty substantial, from $1,000<br />
to $3600 on the three model variants.<br />
The name you can trust…<br />
Your Satisfaction is Guaranteed<br />
• Express Repair Shop • I.C.B.C Accredited Shop<br />
Certified Craftsmen • “Lifetime” Warranty • Free Estimates<br />
Courtesy Cars • Glass Replacements • Premium Quality Paints<br />
Amarjit Samra<br />
11954-94th Ave, Delta, BC<br />
604-589-2203 / 604-589-0008<br />
Well equippped<br />
An important new addition to the<br />
2008 Tribute is standard traction and<br />
stability control on all trim levels, even<br />
the base four-cylinder GX model. Also<br />
new are standard side airbags in the front<br />
seats and roof-mounted curtain airbags<br />
for both rows of passengers. The GX<br />
($23,295) comes with a standard 153-hp<br />
2.3-litre four-cylinder engine, mated to a<br />
five-speed manual transmission. It’s adequate,<br />
but I would stump for the optional<br />
200-hp 3.0-litre V6 and optional fourspeed<br />
automatic transmission. Standard<br />
equipment on the GX includes air conditioning,<br />
AM/FM/CD audio system, 16-<br />
inch alloy wheels, fog lights, remote keyless<br />
entry, heated power side-view mirrors,<br />
and power windows and door locks. GS<br />
models ($26,995) 604-588-4665<br />
add as-standard frontwheel<br />
drive, the V6 engine, six-way power<br />
adjustable driver’s seat, leather-wrapped<br />
steering wheel, overhead console, roof<br />
rack with cross bars, retractable cargo<br />
cover and trailer towing package. AWD is<br />
optional. Fulload GT models ($31,995)<br />
add leather seats, heated front seats, and<br />
an AM/FM six-disc CD changer premium<br />
76 Mehfil September/October 2007
Shifting Gears<br />
audio system with seven<br />
speakers and automatic volume<br />
control, power glass<br />
sunroof with sunshade, and<br />
automatic headlamps. Allwheel<br />
drive is standard on<br />
the GT.<br />
Driving impressions<br />
With a stylish creamcoloured<br />
cabin, big windows<br />
and high driving position,<br />
the Tribute is also a roomy,<br />
comfortable SUV with easy<br />
entry and exit. The new<br />
dash is well designed, with<br />
easy-to-read instruments<br />
and lots of storage. The<br />
tall cabin provides plenty of<br />
headroom, while legroom<br />
is also very good. The rear<br />
seats are split 60/40 for<br />
cargo-carrying versatility<br />
and, in total, there is 1877<br />
litres (66.3 cu. ft.) behind<br />
the first-row seats and 828<br />
litres (29.2 cu. ft.) of cargo<br />
space behind the rear seats.<br />
On the road the twin<br />
overhead cam, 24-valve<br />
V6 offers a quite smooth<br />
highway drive and, despite<br />
the boxy body, the Tribute<br />
drives like a car; the new<br />
variable assist steering system<br />
provides easy balanced<br />
handling. The V6 Tribute<br />
offers a towing capacity<br />
of 1588 kg (3,500 lbs).<br />
Fuel consumption ratings<br />
for the Tribute GT with<br />
all-wheel drive are around<br />
12.5 L/100 km city, and<br />
9.1 L/100 km hwy. With<br />
an all new redesign, safety<br />
equipment, and the bargain<br />
lower prices I would have<br />
no hesitation in recommending<br />
the 2008 Mazda<br />
Tribute, but opt for the<br />
extra power of the V6 and<br />
forgo the four cylinder<br />
for maximum enjoyment.<br />
2008 Mazda Tribute is<br />
priced from $23,295 to<br />
$31,995.<br />
2007 CHRYSLER ASPEN SUV<br />
It’s fashionably late to the big<br />
SUV party, but Chrysler’s<br />
Aspen full-size SUV is bang<br />
on in the looks and features<br />
department. Neat headlights, a<br />
big chrome egg-crate grill and<br />
smooth lines convey a handsome,<br />
brawny SUV with classic<br />
good looks. Liberal lashings of<br />
chrome add a touch of bling<br />
and the big Aspen draws plenty<br />
of admiring looks on the road.<br />
Offering seven seats or eight, the<br />
Chrysler Aspen is available in<br />
one high-spec version with either<br />
two- or four-wheel drive.<br />
With its huge size, the Aspen<br />
features an amazingly roomy<br />
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78 Mehfil September/October 2007<br />
850 SW Marine drive | tel 1.800.518.7157 | vancouverhonda.com
NO PAYMENTS<br />
FOR 90 DAYS<br />
WITH PURCHASE FINANCING<br />
ON ANY 2007 MAZDA.<br />
The all new CX-9 is the perfect balance of refinement, performance and<br />
practicality. Times seven. It features three rows that accomodate seven adults,<br />
a luxurious interior and “zoom-zoom” in a big way.<br />
2007 MAZDA CX-9<br />
Mazda Tribute has been retooled and re-cooled for your thrill-seeking,<br />
hardworking life. Cooler still are standard features, including remote keyless<br />
entry, air conditioning and heated door mirrors.<br />
2008 MAZDA tribute<br />
CX-7 crosses versatile five passenger design with sport performance. Beneath its<br />
sleek exterior is a DISI (Direct Injection Spark Ignition) turbo engine that kicks<br />
out 244-horsepower. Nothing like it has ever crossed your path.<br />
2007 MAZDA CX-7<br />
15420 - 104th Ave, Surrey, BC 604-583-7121<br />
www.freewaymazda.ca
Shifting Gears<br />
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<br />
<br />
<br />
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cabin in all directions and plenty of storage<br />
wherever you look. Big, comfy seats<br />
keep the driver and first- and second-row<br />
passengers well cosseted. Third-row seats<br />
are a little tight but better than anything<br />
else in this class. A classy looking wood<br />
steering wheel, faux wood trim and lovely<br />
cream leather trim give the Aspen a very<br />
high upscale look and feel. Cargo capacity<br />
is 19 cubic feet with the third-row seats up<br />
and gives you an excellent 102.4 cubic feet<br />
with all rear seats folded.<br />
604-588-4665<br />
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Chrysler<br />
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15340 104th Ave • Surrey, BC<br />
604-581-2231 • www.jpautogroup.com
Local Artist<br />
home&style<br />
Mehfil<br />
<br />
<br />
With the arrival of spring just<br />
around the corner, it may be time<br />
to look into redecorating your<br />
home to usher in the new season.<br />
Jonathan Baker, furniture designer<br />
at Van Gogh Designs, offers some<br />
tips on what to look for when revitalizing<br />
your living space.<br />
because they have a nice texture to that type of thing, but if you have a<br />
<br />
them they’re still really interesting. First came salsa bigger mania place in the or ’90’s. a house Then women you can traded also in<br />
I think there will be a lot of chocolate<br />
brown, it was popular and now<br />
their heels and make red it lipstick as big for as fluttery you need scarves to. and midriffbaring<br />
tops as belly dancing became the big thing in the world<br />
<br />
it’s coming back again. Spa blue is<br />
of recreational<br />
<br />
<br />
dance.<br />
still quite popular, and light green<br />
But could bharatanatyam <br />
be the next big dance craze? Priya<br />
I think most people go with something<br />
that is easier to clean,<br />
shades are also really good, along<br />
Kumar is willing <br />
to bet on it. The classically trained, Vancouverbased<br />
I mean<br />
with neutrals.<br />
bharatanatyam dancer believes that enough people are<br />
our market is people who have interested fami-ilies and pets and the nice thing And is she’s no furniture. hack, either. It’s Kumar going attended to be using her first mate-<br />
dance<br />
the ancient Well we’re dance developing form to warrant a line a revival. of eco-<br />
<br />
that we’re getting some of those class at fabrics<br />
that are little more interesting. At 13, she began that are dancing better with for Jai the Govinda, environment arguably one of<br />
the age rials of four. and manufacturer processes<br />
<br />
We’re still sticking with a lot of You can have something that the looks best male bharatanatyam but it’s also about dancers your in the personal world. The petite<br />
contemporary stuff, the contemporary<br />
style has been gaining speed still really easy to take care of. spent four months getting in touch with the spiritual and emo-<br />
kind of trendy and forward 25-year-old but is recently<br />
health.<br />
returned<br />
The wood<br />
from a<br />
is<br />
trip<br />
an<br />
to<br />
FSC-certified<br />
India, where she<br />
wood, it’s all taken from forests that<br />
in the last couple of years, and it’s<br />
tional elements of the classical dance form.<br />
After her training<br />
are managed<br />
in India, Kumar<br />
in a<br />
feels<br />
sustainable<br />
comfortable<br />
manner<br />
fuse and traditional there dance isn’t elements any formaldehyde<br />
with contempo-<br />
become really popular. I’m trying to<br />
enough<br />
with her art to<br />
look past that in keeping contemporary<br />
lines, but kind of softening it up<br />
rary music. She in is the currently glue. working The foam with is Vancouver’s latex foam DJ HMD<br />
on a show that and will unite it’s going traditional to last bharatanatyam at least twice dance as moves<br />
with traditional elements, such as<br />
We’ve got one set in particular with fusion Indian-trance-house long as regular music. foam, it’s hypo-allergenic,<br />
fighting there’s perception no fire-retardants that bharatanatyam in it,<br />
subtle curbs in the legs, or arms that<br />
that I did, it’s a modular piece, Kumar the is also<br />
have a bit of a roll or swirl to them.<br />
way it’s designed is there’s a dancers armless<br />
chair, a corner, an ottoman, to have two big eyes kinds . . . a of nice chemicals. figure and For you the have uphol-<br />
to learn music.”<br />
“can’t so be you’re too tall, not too short, going too to fat, absorb too thin. those You have<br />
<br />
<br />
types of chaises, an armless<br />
She’s<br />
loveseat,<br />
a one arm loveseat and a two-<br />
recycled polyester, which is essential-<br />
adamant stery that the we dance have she a few has spent options, her youth such perfecting<br />
can be fun for anyone.<br />
as<br />
I think suede has been very popular<br />
and it’s finally on the way out. It arm loveseat. All the pieces<br />
Bharatanatyam, she insists, is not just beautiful to watch, it’s<br />
also<br />
are 33 ly pop bottles or water bottles, we’ve<br />
fun to perform and hidden in its intricate hand movements<br />
still makes sense for a lot of people by 33 inches in the footprint and or elaborate 66 facial<br />
got some<br />
expressions<br />
other<br />
is<br />
organic<br />
a powerful<br />
materials,<br />
feminine sensuality.<br />
that “To emancipate and sensual then we expression,” also have is some what women hemp. can<br />
to buy it though, but we’re trying to<br />
Priya<br />
by 33, so basically this means<br />
introduce materials that are still 100 with various components you expect can from one We’ve of the already bharatanatyam launched classes it that withshe teaches<br />
per cent polyester so they still have create any scenario. The piece with being her cousin one Ashita set (also called a classically Brittany, trained but it’s dancer) at<br />
the same type of durability and you 33 inches it doesn’t take up World much Gym. something we’re in the process of<br />
can still clean them really easily, but space, so it’s ideal for condos and Her classes making and the dance bigger. she loves (and now loves to teach)<br />
Kumar<br />
help her students come into their confidence and their sensuality<br />
as women, says Priya. Learn more at www.vangoghdesigns.com.<br />
<br />
Asked where she wants to be in five years, she says without<br />
• Van Gogh is one of Canada’s fastest growing corners and each piece is meticulously hesitation, inspected “I would testament like to to be Van known Gogh’s as commitment one of the to top quality five in<br />
designers and manufacturers of quality custom for quality control.<br />
bharatanatyam dancers every aspect in the of its world. business. “There’s room for a top<br />
upholstered furniture.<br />
• Van Gogh stocks more than 500 fabrics dancer in order out there, • and Van Gogh that’s is what one of I want the few to Canadian be.” furniture<br />
• Van Gogh occupies over 40,000 square feet of to facilitate quick delivery of custom furniture. manufacturers with a professional designer on staff<br />
state of the art manufacturing facilities.<br />
• Van Gogh is one of the few Canadian furniture to oversee production of more than 20 new styles<br />
• 82 Van Mehfil Gogh’s manufacturing September/October process 2007 cuts no manufacturers registered to ISO9001-2000 — a each year.<br />
Photo BY JC Images<br />
<br />
All the<br />
Right<br />
Moves
12885 85th Avenue, Surrey, BC<br />
604.543.9200 • www.vAngoghdeSignS.Com<br />
iSo 9001-2000
Movie reviews<br />
By Ron Ahluwalia<br />
Chak De India<br />
sports movie about girls and<br />
A field hockey? Nobody expecting<br />
to make a profit would ever<br />
embark on such an endeavour.<br />
But a good movie doesn’t go<br />
unnoticed. And one by Yash Raj<br />
Films with Shahrukh Khan definitely<br />
won’t.<br />
Kabir (Shahrukh Khan) is<br />
the disgraced ex-captain of the<br />
Indian field hockey team. He was<br />
socially exiled after false accusations<br />
of match fixing ruined<br />
his life. Seven years later, he<br />
resurfaces to coach the troubled<br />
women’s field hockey team to<br />
take them to the World Cup.<br />
Sadly, the field hockey board<br />
thinks women were made to use<br />
rolling pins, not hockey sticks.<br />
Sixteen girls selected from<br />
all across India meet in Delhi<br />
for training camp and the chaos<br />
begins. They form cliques right<br />
away. Kabir designs an intense<br />
training regimen to get the girls<br />
in shape and in sync with each<br />
other — in other words, to turn<br />
them into a team. There’s one<br />
girl, Vidya (Vidya Malvade), who<br />
understands his goal for the<br />
team. But another, Bindya (Shilpa<br />
Shukla), doesn’t like the coach’s<br />
approach to field hockey. Can<br />
these dysfunctional girls unite<br />
and bring pride to a country that<br />
thinks nothing of them?<br />
Chak De India (CDI) is<br />
thoroughly entertaining. Each<br />
scene leaves you laughing or<br />
completely enthralled. Along<br />
with the entertainment, CDI<br />
delivers messages about<br />
ignorance, racism and sexism.<br />
There’s no heavy-handed<br />
preaching, though — kudos<br />
to writer Jaideep Saini. Director<br />
Shimit Amin (whose last film, Ab<br />
Tak Chappan, was a hard-hitting<br />
gangster flick) takes to the sport<br />
genre well and crafts some great<br />
scenes.<br />
The film<br />
revolves around<br />
Shahrukh Khan<br />
and, after a very<br />
long time, this is<br />
not a bad thing. This is Shahrukh<br />
Khan’s best performance in many<br />
years.<br />
It’s good to see the immensely<br />
talented Vidya Malvade, whose<br />
debut in Inteha was breathtaking,<br />
return in a big movie. She holds<br />
her own in scenes with Khan.<br />
The rivalry between Sagarika<br />
Ghatge and Chitrashi Rawat<br />
is superb, while Tanya Abrol’s<br />
explosive anger is hilarious. But<br />
it is Shilpa Shukla’s performance<br />
as the antagonist amongst the<br />
girls that is the real scene stealer<br />
of CDI. Her complete lack of<br />
inhibition as an actress resonates<br />
throughout the film.<br />
CDI offers wholesome entertainment<br />
that isn’t corny. What<br />
are you waiting for? Go watch it.<br />
Partner<br />
Sometimes Bollywood manages<br />
a decent, even entertaining,<br />
remake of a Hollywood<br />
film (like Murder or Raaz). More<br />
often, the Bollywood versions of<br />
Hollywood hits fall flat. Partner,<br />
David Dhawan’s attempt to<br />
duplicate the success of the Will<br />
Smith comedy Hitch, is among<br />
the latter.<br />
Essaying the role by Will<br />
Smith is Salman Khan,<br />
Bollywood’s best non-actor, as<br />
Prem. He is a dating consultant<br />
for men looking to win over the<br />
women of their dreams. One<br />
such desperate chump is Bhaskar<br />
[Govinda], who is head-overheels<br />
in love with Priya [Katrina<br />
Kaif]. As Prem works with his<br />
frustrating client, he chases Naina<br />
[Lara Dutta] with the hope that<br />
84 Mehfil September/October 2007<br />
she will one day love him as<br />
much as he loves her.<br />
So, do the boys get their girls?<br />
Who cares! Partner is one massive<br />
yawn that makes me wonder<br />
why I became a film critic in the<br />
first place. What makes a good<br />
escapist film is an aspect of<br />
believability; the audience must<br />
feel that the on-screen events<br />
could conceivably occur in real<br />
life. Hitch had that. Partner is far<br />
from it. The screenplay is contrived<br />
and the dialogue bland.<br />
It’s almost impossible to<br />
articulate how pedestrian the performances<br />
in this film are. As in<br />
any David Dhawan venture, the<br />
leading ladies do little more than<br />
sport skimpy outfits, utter banal<br />
dialogue and dance on command.<br />
Given these requirements,<br />
Namaste London<br />
the beautiful but minimally talented<br />
Lara Dutta and Katrina Kaif<br />
are perfect for the job. Salman<br />
Khan needs to realize he should<br />
not try to look 10 years younger<br />
for every movie. (It just makes<br />
you look even older, Sallu!)<br />
There’s not much to say about<br />
his performance; if you’ve seen<br />
one Salman Khan movie, you’ve<br />
seen them all. Govinda should<br />
return to his hiatus. His “acting”<br />
was intolerable in the past and<br />
nothing has changed since his<br />
abysmal performance in Salaam-<br />
E-Ishq earlier this year.<br />
So there’s Partner for you.<br />
Give it a pass.
The Blue Umbrella<br />
Children’s movies for a universal<br />
audience are hard to come by in<br />
Bollywood. Not since Vishal Bhardwaj’s<br />
Makdee has there been a kiddie flick<br />
that entertains the young and does not<br />
insult the intelligence of older audiences.<br />
Bhardwaj’s return to this genre comes in<br />
the form of The Blue Umbrella, and he hits<br />
the bull’s eye once again.<br />
Based on the novella by Ruskin Bond,<br />
The Blue Umbrella is about Biniya (Shreya<br />
Sharma), a little girl who gives her necklace<br />
to a Japanese tourists in return for<br />
their beautiful umbrella. The whole village<br />
is enthralled by this exotic accessory and<br />
Biniya becomes a bit of a celebrity.<br />
Nandkishore Khatri (Pankaj Kapur) own a<br />
tea stall and loves swindling children out of<br />
their possessions. He takes a particular liking<br />
to Biniya’s umbrella and makes numerous<br />
attempts to strike a deal for it. But Biniya does<br />
not part with her prized umbrella. There are<br />
others in the village who have their hearts set<br />
on it, too. Then, one day, Biniya’s umbrella<br />
vanishes.<br />
The film’s simple storyline carries a great<br />
message about materialism and greed. With<br />
its superb cinematography, appropriate music<br />
and taut direction, The Blue Umbrella is<br />
another feather in Vishal Bhardwaj’s crowded<br />
cap.<br />
Shreya Sharma delivers a powerful performance<br />
in the lead role. She is not hampered<br />
by the clichés of Bollywood child roles and<br />
thus thrives on screen.<br />
Pankaj Kapur is one of Bollywood’s finest<br />
actors and his take on the miserly, creepy<br />
Nandkishore is mesmerizing, particularly in<br />
the latter reels of the film. The Blue Umbrella<br />
is a must-see for those who appreciate quality<br />
cinema. The performances alone make it<br />
worth every penny.<br />
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Mehfil September/October 2007 85
Reflections<br />
Ran Singh Koka<br />
When Ran Singh Koka left his<br />
village in the Punjab in 1905,<br />
he knew that he wouldn’t<br />
be returning any time soon. Ran was a<br />
teenager, travelling alone to a country<br />
with an alien language and culture to<br />
make a better life for himself and the<br />
family he one day hoped to have.<br />
After landing on the west coast of<br />
Canada, Ran Singh began working on<br />
the railways. He worked and saved until<br />
he had enough money to buy a small farm<br />
in Agassiz, B.C. It took him 20 years.<br />
The year 1925 was a prosperous one<br />
for Ran Singh. It was the year he acquired<br />
the small dairy farm in Agassiz and went<br />
back to India, met Harnam Kaur and<br />
returned with her as his wife. In two years,<br />
the couple had two girls, Karm and Tej,<br />
both born at the Chilliwack hospital.<br />
Wanting to expand his dairy farm and<br />
needing equipment to do so, Ran leased<br />
over 200 acres of land from the Catholic<br />
Church in Chilliwack and sold his Agassiz<br />
farm to buy machinery. (The Koka<br />
family’s second farm would eventually<br />
become the site of the Cottonwood<br />
shopping centre in Chilliwack.)<br />
Over the following years, Ran and<br />
Harnam had five more children.<br />
Meanwhile, their herd of cattle grew to<br />
200. The Koka kids would start and end<br />
their days milking 120 cows — with a<br />
full day of school in between.<br />
For entertainment, the siblings would<br />
gather in one sister’s room, where they<br />
were able to see the screen of the nearby<br />
drive-in movie from the window. “We’d<br />
all pile in there and watch a movie until<br />
they caught us and made us go to bed<br />
because we had to get up at 4 o’clock in<br />
the morning!” recalls Ran’s son George<br />
Koka, 67, with a booming laugh.<br />
By the early 1950s, Ran Singh owned<br />
three farms in Ladner, and several of the<br />
Koka children had married and started<br />
farms of their own.<br />
But while the family’s fortunes grew,<br />
Ran Singh’s health began to falter.<br />
Suffering from arthritis, he broke one<br />
of his legs in 1952. After breaking the<br />
other in 1954, he was never able to<br />
walk again. In 1967, after more than a<br />
decade confined to a wheelchair, Ran<br />
Singh passed away, leaving a tremendous<br />
legacy.<br />
“If you pulled our whole family together<br />
from Grandpa down, there would be<br />
about 200 people,” says Ran’s grandson,<br />
Jack Koka. “If you look at how many<br />
people came out [to Canada from India]<br />
because of Grandpa, either sponsored<br />
or in his family here, there would be<br />
hundreds and hundreds of people out<br />
here because that one person came out<br />
here. One person with a dream.” p<br />
86 Mehfil September/October 2007
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