Pittsburgh_Patrika_April_2018

The Pittsburgh Patrika, Vol, 23, No. 3, April 2018 

The 

ittsburgh atrika 

Vol. 23, No: 3 April, 2018 

www.pittsburghpatrika.com 

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The Quarterly Magazine (Jan, Apr, Jul, and Oct) for the Indian Diaspora 

Vol. 23 No. 3 www.pittsburghpatrika.com April 2018 

4006 Holiday Park Drive, Murrysville, PA 15668 

Phone/Fax: (724) 327 0953 e-mail: ThePatrika@aol.com 

“Like” us on Facebook at 

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Highlights in this issue... ... ... 

3 

Page 

A Level Playing Field for Electing Pennsylvania’s US 

House of Representatives 

By Kollengode S Venkataraman .................................................... 2 

History of Tax Reform 

By Kris Gopal ................................................................................ 9 

Nandini Mandal: Journey in Dance through Challenges 

By Dolly and Juginder Luthra...................................................... 14 

Francis Cleetus’ Vibrant Paintings on Display 

By K S Venkataraman................................................................... 18 

Real Life Humorous Stories — How I Became an Artist 

By Mahendra Shah ...................................................................... 20 

A Memorable and Nostalgic Train Journey 

By Premlata Venkataraman .......................................................... 23 

Weekend in the Only Ice Hotel in North America (Quebec City) 

By Rahul Dilip Tendulkar ........................................................... 28 

Young Men and Women in India Choosing Partners on 

Their Own Is Nothing New 


India’s One Quintessential Salesman 


On the Cover: A verdant rice field in Kerala with coconut groves in the 

background along the railway track. The photo taken using a pocket digital 

camera from a moving train while traveling from Mangalore to Palakkad 

along the West Coast in southern India. Story on Page 22. •


The Quarterly Magazine (Jan, Apr, Jul, and Oct) for the Indian Diaspora 

Vol. 23 No. 3 www.pittsburghpatrika.com April 2018 

Phone/Fax: (724) 327 0953 

4 

e-mail: ThePatrika@aol.com 

A Level Playing Field for Electing 

Pennsylvania’s US House of Representatives 

By Kollengode S Venkataraman 

The US Congress, as required by the US Constitution, has 435 

Members in the House of Representatives, elected from 435 

electoral districts from 50 states. Each Congressional district must have 

approximately the same population (~ 720,000 people). 

Number of House Members 

from Pennsylvania 

in the US Congress: 

1953 – 1963: 30 

1963 -- 1973: 27 

1973 -- 1983: 25 

1983 -- 1993: 23 

1993 – 2003: 21 

2001 – 2013: 19 

2013 -- 2023: 18 

Consequently, states gain or lose House seats 

depending on the changes in the population determined 

by the decennial cen sus. The population 

of Pennsylvania relative to the population of the 

nation has been declining throughout the second 

half of the 20 th century. Hence the number of 

House seats from Penn sylvania has been shrinking. 

See the adjacent table. Reference: https:// 

tinyurl.com/Penna-US-House-Seats 

Congressmen are elected from each state from 

“Congressional Dis tricts,” which are specific 

geographical areas within the state. The map for each district is redrawn 

every ten years. The Pennsylvania legislature’s General Assembly (lower 

house and the senate) in Harrisburg has the authority to redraw the map 

after each census. However, the governor has to sign off on what the 

General Assembly proposes. 

Pennsylvania is a Moderate State, Relatively Speaking: In elections 

for the US president and US Senate, the vote split between Democratic and 

Republican can didates has been between 45:55 or tighter swinging either 

way. We have voted both for Republicans and Democrats in presidential 

elections; we have had both Democratic and Republican Governors and 

US Senators. So, Pennsylvania is a moderate state, relatively speaking. 

The 18-member House delegation is skewed towards Republicans. 

How ever, if you see the split between the two parties Congressional delega-

inspiring and The Pittsburgh educating Patrika, Vol, hearts, 23, No. 3, minds, April 2018 and hands 

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tion from Pennsylvania, it is nothing but a scandal. Look at the numbers of 

GOP and Democratic Congressmen in recent elections from the state: 

Election Year 2010 2012 2014 2016 

Rep-Dem split: 12-7 13-5 13-5 13-5 

That is, Republicans have 67% of the state’s 18-member Congressional 

Delegation to the US House, even though the state votes 48-52, swinging 

either way in presidential and Senate races. Republicans garnered such a 

dis proportionately skewed advantage in the US Congress by gerrymandering 

congressional district maps. They did this by banding and breaking 

voters identified to vote against them. 

Banding: Segments of voters, mostly urban, well known to vote Democratic 

(for example Blacks, Jews, Asians…) would be herded together into 

very few districts such that in these districts Democratic candidates would 

win with an 80%-plus majority. 

Breaking: Where it suits them, Republicans have drawn the district 

maps dispersing Democratic voters in a densely populated urban area 

into multiple Congressional districts thus diluting their effectiveness 

against them, and gaining a clear advantage for winning in the general 

elections. 

In many districts, once you win in the primary, you coast to vic tory in 

the general election. The intra-party primaries are where the battle is won 

or lost. To know what gerrymandering is, just look at the example of the 

7th congressional district, near Philadelphia shown below. 

The state’s ~12.75 million population is clustered around urban centers 

like Philadelphia (6.0 million), Pittsburgh (2.4 million), and Allentown 

(0.8 million). The state’s population density is shown on the next page. 

The map of the Congressional districts of the last several election cycles 

is also shown on the bottom of next page. The rural districts are large because 

they are sparsely populated. The above way of drawing the districts 

6


7


Population density of Pennsylvania. 

The existing map of the Congressional districts 

Level Playing Field ... continued on Page 14 

8


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History of Tax Reform 

By Kris Gopal 

e-mail: gutcut@comcast.net 

As our present government scurried to create a new tax code before 

the end of 2016, it will be worthwhile to know how the tax code evolved 

in this country. 

The first income tax bill was introduced in 1861 as a one-time event 

to raise money for the Civil War, which then president Abraham Lincoln 

signed into law the same year. It was meant to be a temporary measure 

with a flat tax rate of 3% on annual incomes above $800 (equivalent to 

~ $22,000 today). In 1862 Congress created what would become the 

Internal Revenue Service. 

Federal Government Proposed Revenue 

for 2016 (in $ Trillion) 

Individual Income Tax: $1.650 T (47%) 

Payroll Taxes: $1.110 T (32%) 

Corporate Income Tax: $0.474 T (13%) 

Miscellaneous: $0.142 T ( 4%) 

Excise Duties: $0.112 T ( 3%) 

Customs Duties: $0.038 T ( 1%) 

Total: 

$3.50 T 

11 

This tax law lapsed in 1872, 

and there was no income tax until 

1894 when Congress passed 

a law recreating the income tax 

code. At that time the Supreme 

Court by a 5-4 decision decided 

that the income tax code was 

unconstitutional. A progressive 

reform group fighting to reintroduce 

the tax code led to the 

passage in 1913 of a constitutional amendment –- the 16 th amendment -– 

legalizing federal taxation. The first implemented permanent tax code had 

Federal Government Proposed 

Expenditure for 2016 (in $ Trillion) 

Social Security etc: $1.369 T (33%) 

Medicare & Health: $1.105 T (27%) 

Military: $0.635 T (16%) 

Interest on Debt: $0.283 T ( 7%) 

Veterans Benefits: $0.166 T ( 4%) 

Food & Agriculture: $0.140 T ( 3%) 

Transportation: $0.108 T ( 3%) 

All Others: $0.280 ( 7%) 

Total: 

$4.100 T 

a top rate of 7% on annual 

incomes above $500,000, 

equivalent to $12.5 million 

today. 

The U.S. Government 

later passed a massive tax 

hike to pay for the world War 

I, including the first version 

of the estate tax, and raised 

taxes yet again to finance 

the enormous costs of World 

War II. In 1944 the top income 

tax rate peaked at 94 percent on taxable income of over $200,000 

(about $2.5 million today). 

In 1963 President John F. Kennedy slashed the top rate for individuals 

from 91 percent to a more reasonable 65 percent. This reduction still


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met with resistance from conservative Democrats and Republicans who 

worried about the deficit it would entail. When Lyndon Johnson became 

president after Kennedy’s assassination, the Revenue Act of 1964 was 

passed, lowering the top individual tax rate to 70 percent and the bottom 

rate to 14% from 20%. At the same time, the corporate tax was also 

lowered from 52%to 48%. 

Another seventeen years elapsed before the next tax reform took place 

under President Ronald Reagan. He created the biggest tax cut by slashing 

the top individual rate from 70% to 50%. He and his advisers revamped 

the tax code and introduced the 1986 Tax Reform Act, simplifying the tax 

and reducing the fifteen tax brackets to just two, 15% and 28% percent. 

This tax code also eliminated $60 billion in tax loopholes. It was felt to 

be revenue-neutral. 

To appease a few resentful congressmen and senators, Reagan increased 

the standard deduction to benefit low-income families. He also increased 

the capital gains tax from 20% to 28%. 

Then in 1991, then citizen Donald Trump told Congress that the new 

tax reforms had been “an absolute catastrophe for the country.” 

President George W Bush pushed through a major tax cut in 2001. 

Later Democratic presidents have raised the top tax rate to 39.6% and 

the number of tax brackets was expanded to seven and several new tax 

12


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breaks and loopholes were been added. 

During President Donald Trump’s first year in office, the Republicancontrolled 

House and Senate succeeded in rewriting the tax code. After 

cantankerous debates both in the House and Senate, the Republicans managed 

to pass the bill, solely along the party-line vote. It was necessary to 

raise the debt ceiling. The new tax bill reduces the corporate tax from 35% 

to 21%. It reduces personal tax brackets from eight to seven. It reduces 

individual taxes for many Americans. The new bill increases the personal 

standard deduction from $12,000 to $24,000. The present bill reduces 

the property tax and state tax deduction to $10,000. It reduces mortgage 

interest deductions for new houses to $750,000. Some changes were also 

made in the estate tax, alternative minimum tax, and gift taxes. 

The new budget increases spending on defense, infrastructure improvements, 

mental health care, and the Catastrophic Fund. This new tax law 

will not be budget-neutral and will leave an enormous deficit. Members 

of Congress of the future will have to deal with this huge burden. 

References: 

The library of Congress. Business Reference Service. compiled by Ellen 

Terell. https://www.loc.gov/rr/business/hottopic/irs_history.html 

The US. and International Media. Vol 17 issue 848 

https://www.irs.gov/about-irs/brief-history-of-irs 

https://www.loc.gov/rr/business/hottopic/irs_history.html 

https://www.infoplease.com/business-finance/taxes/history-incometax-united-states 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxation_history_of_the_United_States • 

13


Level Playing Field... ... continued from Page 8 

gave a disproportionate ad vantage to the Republicans for winning 13 of 

the 18 House seats from Pennsylvania — more than 2/3 of the seats. 

Republicans have been in the majority in the Pennsylvania General 

Assembly for years. This time, a Democrat (Tom Wolf) is the 

Gov ernor in Harrisburg. Understandably, the governor did not sign off on 

the Republicans’ gerrymandered redistricting map. When the issue went 

to the state Supreme Court — the League of Women Voters filed the law 

suit — the court asked the General Assembly to revise their redistricting 

map, because the Republicans’ plan was ‘”aimed at achieving unfair 

partisan gain.” The revised redistricting map of the General Assembly 

too was not endorsed by the Democratic governor. 

So, the state Supreme Court took it upon itself to redraw the congressional 

districts. With the help of a Stanford University profes sor, the Court 

redrew the map, saying the map is “superior or comparable” to all the 

submitted proposals, and is based on “traditional redistricting criteria of 

The map of the Congressional districts revised by the state supreme court 

14


compactness, contiguity, equality of population, and respect for the integrity 

of political subdivisions.” It is a 4-3 decision in the 7-member state 

Supreme Court. The court-made map is shown on the previous page. 

Based on votes cast in the 2016 elections, the new map gives a 10/8 

split between the GOP and Democrats compared with the disproportionate 

13/5 advantage the GOP now has in the Congressional delegation. 

With a more level playing field now imposed by the Pennsylvania 

Supreme Court, the 2018 mid-term elections to the US Congress in the 

state become more competitive, representative, and also equitable, in the 

context of the voting pattern in the state. 

We thank the state Supreme Court for correcting the grossly unfair 

way the GOP-controlled General Assembly in Harrisburg gerrymandered 

Congressional districts. This and similar decisions in other states cor recting 

the blatant gerrymandering by both parties can finally moderate the partisan 

deadlock we have been seeing in Washington for the last two decades. 

Acknowledgments: The two colored maps of the Congressional districts 

are from the Washington Post. • 

15


Nandini Mandal: Inspiring Journey in 

Dance through Challenges 

By Dolly Luthra and Juginder Luthra, Weirton, WV 

Nandini today. 

Nandini Mandal has now become synonymous with 

talented dancer, teacher, brave and resilient survivor, 

and cultural ambassador of India in Pittsburgh. It was 

a long, difficult but exhilarating journey. 

have known the ever-smiling Nandini 

We since she came to Pittsburgh. She was not 

a household name when she landed in Pittsburgh 

from India in 1995. Being from Bengal, her talents 

were first recognized in the Bengali Association of 

Pittsburgh. Very many years ago, she was invited to 

give a performance for the Annual Triveni Family Variety Program. Her 

amazing dance pieces are still talked about. Just 

as a rooster cannot take credit for the sunrise, 

Triveni International cannot take credit for the 

trajectory of Nandini’s rise in the area; it was 

just one of many platforms. 

It did not take long for Nandini’s creativity to 

be known to all Indians -- and also non-Indians 

as well -- in the Greater Pittsburgh Area. 

Even as a young child she stomped and 

broke into dancing to the beat of music 

and ghungroo. The inborn talent was quickly 

recognized by her parents. Her mother, a school 

teacher, took Nandini to dance lessons. Her father, working in the Indian 

Railways in Kharagpur, too was very supportive. She started getting formal 

dance training when she was seven. In 1983 she obtained the Junior 

Diploma in Hindustani Classical music. She earned 

her Senior Diploma, Sangeet Prabhakar, from Allahabad 

University with distinction in Bharatanatyam 

at the age of 14 under Guru Snigdha Pal. In the 

same year she completed her Arangetram. She also 

received training in Kathakali, Manipuri, and Nava- 

Nritya. Credit for the variety of dances in India, she 

tells, goes to traders and invaders who added new 

touches to the already existing Natyashastra-based 

dance traditions. 

At Kharagpur, India 1987. Later, when she continued her education in 

16 

At Kharagpur, India 1989.


Calcutta, her passion for dance followed. 

She trained at the Kala Mandalam, focusing 

on Bharatanatyam and Nava-Nritya. Her 

Bharatanatyam was Tanjavoor School (Gharana). 

Her structured courses on the theory 

of Indian dances at college were extremely 

helpful when she took practical classes under 

traditional teachers. 

marriage, she came to Pittsburgh 

After where her husband was employed in 

the early boom period of the IT industry in the 

US. The Mandals have two daughters. 

She founded the Nandanik Dance Academy 

and the Nandanik Dance Troupe in 1998, 

where she has been the director since its inception. 

She teaches Bharatanatyam, Nava-Nritya, folk, and contemporary 

dances. In her classes in Pittsburgh, she tries to teach her students the 

theoretical foundations to the extent possible. 

In life, nothing goes up in a straight line. She developed aplastic anemia, 

which required multiple blood transfusions. Her Indian friends 

in this town gathered together helping her in many ways — anything from 

arranging food, monetary help for the long duration of hospitalization 

and medical care, and social support for their beloved Nandini aunty 

teacher, mentor and friend, and her betis. This, combined with her grit 

and determination to live to the fullest under very trying circumstances 

and share her God-given gift with children and adults, helped Nandini 

survive the ordeal. 

Due to her sickness she lost movement in her thigh bone joint. This 

required joint replacement. For any dancer, this generally means the end 

of a dancing career. But Nandini is not any dancer. Her obstacles did 

not stop there. She continued with her dance, 

while restricting her acrobatic moves. 

In the middle of all this, she developed an aggressive 

form of Acute Myelogenous leukemia. 

The only cure was a bone marrow transplant. 

Her social network once again went into full 

gear searching the world over for a compatible 

donor. An anonymous donor’s marrow matched. 

With Harikishan S. Nair 

at St. Louis 9th American 

Natya Festival in 2017. 

She went through a successful surgery, followed 

by chemotherapy and a lengthy recovery 

period. She was fragile, while having to raise 

two daughters. 

17 

With Mary Miller performing to 

poetry and songs of Tagore “In 

Conversation”, Pittsburgh. 2012.


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Enduring all this with her grit and smile, she was able to beat the disease, 

usually associated with high mortality rates. She credits her survival 

to the excellent timely care by cancer experts in New York and social support 

she received from friends. Her strong will to live also was critical. 

Through all this, she was also struggling with personal issues. She 

and the family survived this bitter part of their life as well. She credits 

her father’s support for her and a positive attitude for surmounting the 

many challenges. 

continues to pass on her talent 

Jugalbandi in 1991 with 

Kathak dancer Anupam Kanti 

Chandra. Kharagpur. 

Nandini to her own daughters and hundreds of 

children in the Tri-State Area. She has given 

solo and group performances in and around 

Pittsburgh, and in other cities in the US and 

India, as well choreographing several dance 

programs. Her numerous activities include being 

an art activist, event planner and manager, 

interpreter and translator. 

She spreads her understanding of dance, 

music and various facets of India in numerous 

schools in and around Pittsburgh. As the cultural 

18


Teaching a folk dance to children age 8-10 years at 

Thelma Lovell YMCA at Hill District. 

19 

ambassador of India with 

the World Affairs Council’s 

Pittsburgh Chapter, she did 

a series of lectures at schools 

in Allegheny and Washington 

counties. She has 

collaborated with local artists 

including Mary Miller, 

Africa Yetu and Dr. Sheila 

Collins. 

She has given dance recitals 

in the presence of Mother 

Teresa, Dr. A.P.J. Abdul 

Kalaam, and India’s Air Chief 

Marshall where she raised funds for fallen soldiers. 

After receiving so much help from society, she is conscious that she 

needs to give back to society. Her fundraising activities include 

Light the Night Walk for the Leukemia Lymphoma Society, Dance for the 

Cure for the American Cancer Society, and Relay for Life. A video of her 

choreographed dance is being used in India to help raise awareness for 

the need of sanitation facilities for girls. A still photograph of this video, 

taken with the fountain at Point State Park in the background was on the 

cover page of the Pittsburgh Patrika. 

Nandini is one of the recipients of the Artist Opportunity Grant of 2016. 

Due to the efforts of Nadanik Dance Troupe, the Mayor of Pittsburgh 

issued a proclamation declaring November 14, 2014 as Prakriti Day. 

Recently, in February 2018 her efforts and talents were recognized 

by the Pittsburgh Art Council. She is the 

first Indian-American to receive a grant of 

$12,000 for the production of Shyama. 

She feels badly that with so many 

high-caliber professional dancers living 

and actively performing in Pittsburgh, 

the community prefers to invite outsiders, 

glossing over “Local” artists. Her dream 

is to one day perform in the larger wellknown 

theaters of Pittsburgh. Wo subah 

kabhi tho zaroor aayegi (Someday that 

morning will definitely come!) 

In addition to teaching and choreographing 

dance programs, she enjoys reading, 

As a panelist at the All for All Summit 

at Alphabet City 2017 as an 

immigrant artist and art activist with 

Olie Kahnu of AfrikaYetu, Janeira 

Solomon of KST. 

Nandini... ... Continued on Page 29


Francis Cleetus’ Vibrant Paintings on Display 

On a wintry January evening, the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council 

organized a Gallery Crawl, for lovers of the visual arts to “crawl” from 

one venue to another to enjoy the works of Pittsburgh-based creative 

minds at several galleries 

and public places. The artists 

were also present to answer 

questions; music programs 

and a comedy improv also 

were part of the crawl. Part 

of the crawl was the works 

of Indian-American visual 

artist Francis Cleetus at the 

gallery at 810 Penn Avenue 

downtown. 

Cleetus was born in Bombay 

(now Mumbai). “Even 

from my early childhood, 

I always had interest in visual 

arts,” he says. He helped 

friends with their drawingrelated 

homework assignments at school. He says, “My dad, who worked 

for Reader’s Digest, encouraged me in my pursuits.” Cleetus went to 

St. Pius High School in East Bombay, where his English teacher Mary 

D’Souza encouraged his creative pursuits. She was his inspiration. 

After earning his bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the University 

of Bombay, he worked as a chemist at a tire 

company. He soon realized that was not his 

calling. He went on to earn his diploma in Advertising 

Management from the Advertising 

Agencies Association of India. While working 

on multi-media campaigns for clients, he kept 

his creative instincts alive. Along the way, 

he won awards at agencies like Draft FCB, 

J. Walter Thompson, and Doe Anderson in 

India. He developed his style as a painter, 

designer, illustrator, cartoonist and sculptor. 

Cleetus has brought 3-d effect 

simply by imaginatively using 

the effect of light and shadows 

in a 2-d painting. 

Going clockwise from top left, if you are 

perceptive, you will see images of Ganesha, 

Christ, a yogi, and the Buddha. 

But Cleetus had no formal education or training 

in visual art. His talents are instinctive, 

endowed by Mother Nature. 

After living in Hong Kong for nine years 

20


with his wife Maneesha, Cleetus joined MARC 

Advertising as its Creative Director in Pittsburgh. 

A few years ago, when Phipps Botanical 

Conservatory organized Tropical Forest India, 

a 3-year live exhibition, Cleetus’ mandala-type 

painting decorated the roof of the South-Indianstyle 

entrance created by our own Sthapathi 

Ayyachami Narayanan of Monroeville. 

Cleetus is currently with Mylan’s global 

creative & design services team working on 

logo designs, print ads, billboards, digital ads, 

websites, exhibitions and more. 

W h e n 

asked why all 

of his paintings 

on display 

are inspired by Indian themes, his reply 

was quite simple and direct: “Because 

that’s who I am.” But his sculptures 

and drawing also have universal themes 

in terms of imagery. 

On the inaugural day, Michael 

Griska was on the sitar adding to the 

excitement and enjoyment. See the picture above. 

Cleetus lives in Upper St Clair with his wife Maneesha and two daughters, 

Ananya and Antara. More 

information about Cleetus is at 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/ 

Francis_Cleetus. Visitors can 

see Cleetus’ works at the Karmalogue 

Gallery during weekdays’ 

by arranging appointments with 

Christiana Leach at the Greater 

Pittsburgh Arts Council (GPAC) 

at 412.391.2060 Ext 228. The next 

Another painting of Cleetus at the gallery also 

had 3-d components. 

in galleries and other public places. 

A painting of Cleetus 

shows a snake in 3-d. 

Gallery Crawl is on April 27 from 

5:30 PM till 10:00 PM, when you 

can see the works of other artists 

— By K S Venkataraman • 

21


Real Life Humorous Stories 

How I Became An Artist 

By Mahendra Shah e-mail: mahendraaruna1@gmail.com 

Editor’s Note: After earning his degree in architecture from the 

MS University in Vadodara, Gujarat, Mahendra Shah, migrated to 

the U.S. in 1974. Mahendra, a successful entrepreneur and businessman 

for many years in real estate and retail businesses, is an 

enthusiastic contributor to the Pittsburgh Indian community. Over 

the years, he has recorded his humorous observations on immigrant 

Indians in America in more than 1500 cartoons. He is also keenly 

interested in poetry, essays and paintings. His work was originally 

published by Pittsburgh’s Gujarati magazine and is now featured 

in several publications and exhibitions. 

Self Portrait 

I was in the 10th grade. Our Gujarati literature 

class was studying Saraswatichandra, an epic four-volume text written 

by Govardhanram Madhavaram Tripathi. The story 

is about love, wealth, business, and family. Once a 

week our teacher, who was also our principal, taught 

one chapter at a time. He narrated the story in such a 

lively fashion that you felt as if the entire scene was 

being played out right in front of you. 

Growing up shy and somewhat reserved. I 

preferred to sit in the back of the classroom trying to 

avoid answering questions. I often wandered off into my own thoughts. 

In one class the teacher began reading the story in which Saraswatichandra 

was going from his village to meet his fiancee in her 

village. He was walking through a wooded forest and ran into a poisonous 

snake. 

A s I w a s 

listening to the 

story unfold, 

my mind began 

to wander in its 

usual fashion. I 

began to doodle 

in my notebook, 

at first somewhat 

aimlessly, 

but then, the 

teacher’s words 

grabbed my at- 

22


tention. As he began 

describing the poisonous 

snake creeping 

closer and closer 

to Saraswatichandra, 

I started imagining 

and drawing 

the whole scene as a 

pencil sketch. 

All other students 

were mesmerized by 

the teacher’s reading 

of the story. They 

were frozen in their 

seats in anticipation 

of what was to come 

next. The room was absolutely still except for me. My eyes were glued 

to my notebook as my fingers were busy doodling and drawing out the 

scene that the teacher was narrating. 

Suddenly, the teacher’s eyes set on me and he noticed that unlike the 

other students, my attention was not fully on him. He stood from his chair 

23


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and menacingly stared at me. I was frozen stiff. I was certain I was in 

an enormous amount of trouble. I had never been this frightened in my 

entire life. 

He knew I was doing something in the notebook. He called me to his 

desk. As I rose from my chair, raising his voice, he said, “Bring your 

notebook too. I want to see what is so important that it drew you away 

from my lesson.” 

I approached the teacher with my notebook and was terrified of what 

would come next. Immediately, he asked me to hand over the notebook 

and opened it to the page full of my doodles. As he looked closer and 

closer at my notebook, his face stiffened. I was sweating in fear. I was 

expecting the worst. 

Several seconds passed as he riffled through all the pages. Slowly, I 

saw that his frown was gone. When he finally began to talk, he showed 

the entire class my sketch of the story. He praised my drawings and said 

that they were the best narration of the story! 

I felt such a sense of relief. Not only was I not in trouble, but from 

that day on, I was known as the “Resident Artist” of the school. I was 

commissioned to execute all art-related projects — posters, banners, and 

others — for school events. 

Mahendra Shah... ... Continued on Page 33 

24 

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A Memorable and Nostalgic Train Journey 

By Premlata Venkataraman e-mail: ThePatrika@aol.com 

Home, country, kinship can mean different things 

at various stages in your life. Confusing? Maybe not. 

For those of us who were born in one nation, but 

now call another our home, these concepts have been 

shifting. Ponder this: for many of us going to India 

on our first visit after being here for several years, 

it brings forth choking emotions of nostalgia, love 

for the place and people, self-doubt on our leaving 

India, even patriotism. However, after a few decades 

of living in the ‘Burgh, when returning from India, just a glimpse of the 

Three Perennial Rivers from the plane before landing, gives us the relief 

and comfort of being home. 

nostalgia, after thirty years, last December, I created an op- 

With portunity to travel through the lands where my parents were born 

and lived until adulthood — small-town Kerala, where they were from for 

generations before moving to Bombay, where they raised a family. 

We settled on an 8-h long train journey along the West Coast of Southern 

India from Mangalore to Coimbatore. I had taken this route at least 

ten times from childhood through my young adulthood. People talk about 

the past flashing 

before their eyes. 

As the train was 

gently going past 

several small stations, 

memories of 

past images gushed 

past in my mind as I 

was looking through 

A busy train station along the way. 

25 

the window! 

We boarded the 

train early in the morning at Mangalore Junction after going to the famous 

Mookambika and Udupi Temples. As the early sun was drenching the 

landscape with light, the train was gently going past a land of coconut 

groves densely dotting the green paddy fields. Acres and acres of green 

fields, stretched on a land watered by plenty of streams and rivers. Backwaters 

washed over the land, with bobbing fishing boats headed out to the 

Arabian Sea visible through the window. 

The scene was so reminiscent of the many trips I had taken in my 

childhood traveling from Bombay to Kerala to visit grandparents and


A coconut grove around rice fields just 40 yards from the railway track along the way. 

family. I distinctly remember now, as you enter Kerala from Coimbatore, 

the changing landscape from Tamil Nadu was so sudden and dramatic. 

That is why India has so many diverse languages and food preferences. 

We passed through Kannur where my maternal grandfather taught 

mathematics and accounting at the European High School — the 

grandfather, I remember, wore a linen jacket and a cotton turban. We 

moved on to Thallassery, famous for black pepper, the home of my 

mother and her large family, onto Mahe, my father’s hometown. The 

train chugged on through Badagara where my parents lived for a short 

time before moving to Bombay. I re-lived the many stories told by my 

relatives at several family gatherings in my childhood. 

About the Indian railways in South India: Having travelled in European 

and US trains, I must say, the Indian Railways system does an amazing 

job, when you 

consider that 

over 10 million 

people are on 

long-distance 

trains every day, 

and how relatively 

affordable 

the second-class 

tickets are to 

average Indians. 

A great 

improvement in A house nestled among coconut palms just 50 yards from the 

the trains is new railway track, shot from the moving train using a digital camera. 

26


Palakkad Junction, on our way to Coimbatore, busy as ever. 

toilets that collect waste products, like in airplanes, leaving the railway 

tracks en route clean. 

Ticket purchase is now as easy as on-line booking of airline tickets. 

The tickets give all the information of compartment number, (as the rail 

cars are called in India), its placement on the station platform and seat 

numbers. You are able to board the train with comfort no anxiety. The 

railway platforms in big stations are typically 1000 yards long. South 

Indian train stations are clean with enough seating for weary travelers. 

The longest trains, with 24 rail cars, are over 650 yards long. 

The railway staff was courteous and professional. A new development 

that pleased me was: all employees at stations waving the trains off were 

women in smart uniforms! Also, now women are in the driver’s seat, 

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running the heavy electric locomotives in suburban trains as well. 

The range and quality of food at the South Indian railway stations did 

not disappoint me. The food and newspaper stalls are all privatized, with 

lots of local delicacies. Snack packs of salty banana chips, cookies, halwas, 

crackers, and murukkus are available everywhere. 

We had appam and stew for breakfast at the station. Our boxed lunch of 

rice, sambar and yoghurt too were served fresh. Nonvegetarian lunches too 

are available. One suggestion if you are travelling in long-distance trains: 

Take paper napkins, fork/spoons and bottled water before leaving home; 

and also some large trash bags to put all the waste you will generate. 

The short 8-hour ride through a familiar, beautiful route made me 

nostalgic. So, if you have the time and the opportunity, travel in a 

long-distance train in India along a route familiar to you from your younger 

days. It is far more interesting than sterile air travel. It will bring back 

memories that you thought you’ve forgotten long, long ago.• 

26


Nandini... ... continued from Page 19 

listening to good music and gardening. There is not a dull moment in 

her life. 

Nandini declares, “Humans start dancing when they are born. Just 

w a t c h t h e 

movements 

of babies.” 

Her motto in 

life is “Push 

forward and 

do not give 

up.” 

Pittsb 

u r g h i s 

richer and a 

Teaching at Point Park University in 2001 

better place 

to live for Indians 

because 

Providence brought Nandini to live among us to realize her dreams here. 

We wish her success in every sphere of life. • 

29


Weekend in the Only Ice Hotel in Quebec City 

By Rahul Dilip Tendulkar, Shaker Heights, Ohio 

Rahul Dilip Tendulkar was born and raised in Grand Blanc, MI. 

He went to medical school at the University of Michigan, and finished 

his residency in radiation oncology at the Cleveland Clinic, where he 

is at the Taussig Cancer Center. He married Rajani, daughter of Arvind 

and Deepa Koimattur of Monroeville. The Tendulkars and their two 

daughters live in the Cleveland Metro area. Rahul enjoys traveling, 

publishing papers and tennis. 

My wife Rajani, daughter of Deepa and Arvind Koimattur of Monroeville, 

was born on a cold and snowy January day in Pittsburgh in 

1978. Naturally, she wanted to spend her milestone 40th birthday not on 

a warm beach, but rather in 

an environment similar to 

the day of her birth. So our 

family planned a special trip 

to visit the Hotel de Glace 

just outside of Quebec City, 

Canada, which is the only ice 

hotel in North America. Accompanied 

by her daughters 

Parisa and Samira, myself, 

and her parents Deepa and 

The hotel lobby 

Arwind Koimattur, we packed our bags with extreme cold weather gear 

to withstand the arctic blast that weathermen were predicting to sweep 

through the continent. 

The Hotel de Glace, which is only open 

from January to March each year, is constructed 

by local artists who spend weeks 

putting together the massive structure out of 

snow and blocks of ice. Like a giant igloo, 

the indoor temperature remains surprisingly 

constant around 25 degrees F despite the 

subzero wind-chill temperatures outdoors. 

The hotel is an architectural phenomenon, 

with a bar, a chapel, and forty-five 

distinctive guest rooms. The bar area was 

equipped with bright LED lights, dance music, 

a fireplace, and drinks served in glasses 

Rahul and Rajani with their kids in 

the hotel lobby. made of ice — it was quite the party! Intri- 

Ice Hotel... ... Continued on Page 32 

30


Young Men and Women in India Choosing Their 

Partners on Their Own Is Nothing New 

By K S Venkataraman 

Young Indian men and women in the US or in India increasingly 

choose their own partners now. Parents are usually informed that they 

are “seeing someone” who they met in college/at work/on online dating 

sites. In the due course of time, these youngsters eventually settle down 

in life with their choice of life partners. 

Young men and women choosing life partners on their own is not entirely 

a new phenomenon in India. Literature dated 2500 years before our 

time has poems describing the lament of parents over their daughter leaving 

with her beloved without even informing them! Here is an example. 

Aga-Naanooru is an anthology of 400 verses in classical Tamil. Here 

is the verse in Aga-Naanooru in the original, by the poet Karuvoor Kannambalanaar. 

(Reference: Aga-Naanooru by Puliyoor Kesikan, Pari 

Nalayam, Chennai, Verse 263): 

The verses in Aga-Naanooru are dated between 600 years BC and 300 

years AD. (Incidentally, the UN has declared Tamil as a classical language 

of the world. The other UN-recognized classical languages are Sanskrit, 

Mandarin, Greek, Latin, and Hebrew. India is the birthplace of two of 

the world’s classical languages.) 

The language in these verses is old classical Tamil that most Tamils 

of today cannot understand without the help of commentary by scholars. 

The gist — not a translation — of the verse is this: 

The Sun making waves in the oceans is worshipped all over the 

world, But this summer, it has dried the lakes and ponds, making the 

31


rich farmlands fallow, thus plunging farmers into poverty. 

In this hot summer, along a trail through the forest used by people 

to go from one village to another, in an area with thick foliage, 

thieves with bows are hiding on higher branches of tall trees to rob 

travelers. 

My innocent daughter has left my house eloping with her lover, 

and now has to travel through the dangerous forest… … 

The neighboring City of Vanji is well protected by Kothai, its courageous 

spear-bearing king. Even my prosperous farmland is as safe 

as Vanji. If only I had known my daughter’s love for her beloved, 

willingly and without any ill feeling and rancor, I would have arranged 

the marriage of my virtuous, innocent daughter with a lovely, 

bright forehead such that her beloved can rest his head on the valley 

between her still-growing breasts and sleep. Alas! I cannot do this 

for her now. 

So, relax and take it easy if your wards go on their own in choosing their 

life partners. This has been the way of the world all over. Besides, 

there is nothing else you can do about it anyway! • 

Ice Hotel ... ... continued from Page 30 

cately designed ice sculptures were there in every corner and even hanging 

from the arched ceilings. 

Each bedroom was uniquely crafted, with beds made of ice and 

topped by a comfortable 

mattress with sleeping 

bags of the same kind as 

used by explorers to the 

North Pole. We carefully 

tucked in the children 

first and zipped them 

up so only their eyes 

and noses were exposed. 

Getting ourselves into the 

sleeping bags proved to 

be even more tricky, but 

once we were able to zip 

Arvind and Deepa with their grandkid in the hotel. 

ourselves in, our bodies (except for our faces) were remarkably comfortable. 

As parents, we didn’t sleep much that night, but our children slept like 

babies. We all woke up with a sense of accomplishment having survived a 

night outdoors in the coldest place we have ever visited! It was certainly 

an occasion to remember for the January birthday girl. • 

32


Want a Free Copy in the Mail? or 

Have Ideas for Articles? 

We get e-mails asking us how we can get a copy of the magazine 

in the mail. 

The magazine is mailed free every quarter to nearly 2000 homes of 

Indian-Americans, local libraries, offices of elected officials, and media 

outlets... To get your copy in the mail, send your name and mailing 

addresses to: thepatrika@aol. 

com 

Also we get enquiries from 

readers for writing articles on 

events being organized under different 

social and cultural banners, 

their travels, first-person accounts... For these contact the editor at 

724 327 0953 or e-mail your enquiries to: thepatrika@aol.com • 

Mahendra Shah.. ... Continued from Page 24 

After my education, I married and came to the United States. The 

responsibilities that came along with work and family made me 

put my art on the back burner, but I always kept doodling or sketching 

in my spare time. 

Our children had grown and started lives of their own. Several years 

ago my daughter and son-in-law were visiting us. They had just moved 

to a city only a couple of hours from Pittsburgh. 

When I returned from work in the evening, I was surprised to find my 

daughter exploring my art portfolio. It had been sitting in the attic for years, 

and I had nearly forgotten about it. In fact, we were preparing to move to 

a new house, and the album was meant to go into the trash pile! 

My daughter asked, “Dad, would it be alright if I take a few pieces 

of your artwork with me?” 

“Of course, you can. I was going to throw those away anyway.” 

A few weeks later, we went to visit them in their new apartment. When 

we entered the house, to my utter surprise and delight, I saw a few of my 

paintings and drawings hanging nicely on the walls. They were framed 

aesthetically too. I was so touched. It felt wonderful to have my art appreciated 

again after so many years by my own children.. 

Her simple act of appreciating my forgotten paintings inspired me to 

return again to my childhood passion of being an artist. • 

33


India’s One Quintessential Salesman 

Last December, I was in Coimbatore, in Tamil Nadu, a self-made city 

built by the enterprising instincts of Kongu Vellars (Gounders) and Naidus, 

the two major communities that pretty much built the city from scratch, 

with practically no support from federal or state governments. 

We were in the shopping area of Coimbatore looking for a Pattu 

Pavadai (reshmi lehnga) for my 3-yar old grand daughter. The 

road had several showrooms for silk saris and gold/diamond jewelry. 

These shops only sell the fabric in pure Kanchi silk for the Pavadai for 2 

to 8-year old girls. The Pavadai fabric, like expensive saris, comes with 

matching material for the blouse integrally woven at one end. 

My wife and I were debating how the green pavadai would go with 

the pink/red blouse material for our brown grand daughter. The salesman 

heard our discussion: “Ayya, oru nimisham,” or “Sir, wait an minute.” 

He continued in Tamil: “I will show you how it would look as a pavadaijacket 

pair.” 

I don’t know what he did, or how he did it. Within 30 seconds, he 

folded the single piece of silk fabric in 

a few complicated steps. 

Bingo! Magically, he made the 

same piece of fabric look like a pavadai-blouse 

pair. 

“Ayya, ippa parunga.” Or, “Sir, 

now you see.” With a smile on his 

face, he continued, “This is how it 

would look on your grand daughter.” 

I asked him to pose for a picture. And 

here it is. 

Needless to say, he was so good, I also ended up buying more material 

than what I had in mind when I entered the shop. — By KSV • 

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34


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35


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