Pittsburgh_Patrika_October_2015

The Pittsburgh Patrika, Vol, 21, No. 1, October 2015

Vol. 21 No 1 October 2015

www.pittsburghpatrika.com

h

ittsburgh

atrika

Return Service

Requested.

4006 Holiday Park Dr.

Murrysville, PA 15668

1

PRSRT STD

AUTO

US POSTAGE

PAID

Murrysville, PA

Permit No: 87


2


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

Vol 21 No 1 www.pittsburghpatrika.com October 2015

4006 Holiday Park Drive, Murrysville, PA 15668

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

“Like” us on Facebook at

www.facebook.com/pittsburgh.patrika

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

Page

Monopoly in Healthcare Industry not Good for

Consumers or for Our Region’s Vitality

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

US-India Ties – US Ambassador to India Addresses at CMU

By Premlata Venkataraman ............................................................ 9

Making Friends with Death by Sanjay Joshi and Arun Jatkar

A Review by K S Venkataraman .................................................. 10

My Short and Sweet Vacation in Europe

By Cindy Koller ........................................................................... 14

Pranaam, India!

By Kollengode S Venkataraman ................................................. 18

Swami Dayananda Saraswati

By K. S. Venkataraman ................................................................ 22

Sakhi Serves South Asian Women in Distress

By Juginder and Dolly Luthra .................................................... 23

Pallavi Muluk’s Pleasant Karnatic Vocal Arangetram

By Premlata Venkataraman ......................................................... 30

Jindal’s Madcap Pursuit for the White House

By Premlata Venkataraman ......................................................... 32

On the Cover: The all-granite Brihadeeswara Temple (the Big Temple

or Periya Kovil in Tamil) in Tanjavoor, Tamil Nadu, built by King Raja

Raja Chozhan over 1010 years ago. There is no granite quarry within

40 miles of the temple. You can guess the size of the structure using

the man standing at the base as a reference. This is a UNESCO World

Heritage Site. — Photo by K. S. Venkataraman •

3


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

Vol. 21 No. 1 www.pittsburghpatrika.com October 2015

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

Monopoly in Healthcare Industry not Good for

Consumers or for Our Region’s Vitality

By Kollengode S. Venkataraman

Monopoly, or even duopoly for that matter, in any industry, including

the healthcare industry, in any region is bad for consumers, citizens and

elected officials. Here are examples of what monopoly or near-monopoly

did to our own region in the recent past:

The Rise and Fall of the Steel Industry: From the late 19th century

to the past mid-20th century, the steel industry was the backbone of our

region’s economy. Pittsburgh was known as the “World Capital of Steel

Making.” The voluminous tome titled “Making, Shaping and Treating of

Steel” published by the Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel Co. became a bible

for metallurgists, just as “Gray’s Anatomy” is for medical students. At its

peak, 90,000 people worked here in the steel industry. Nearly 40% of the

coal, a critical component in steel making, mined in the entire nation, was

produced around the Pittsburgh region. Our football team is still called

the Steelers, even decades after the industry imploded.

Naturally, the industry’s tycoons had a big influence not only on the

local economy, but also on the elected officials in municipal, county, state,

and even federal governments. After all, steel was critical for the defense,

transportation, and canned food industries, and for roads and bridges. The

steel executives pretty much did whatever they could get away with. The

archives of our regional history are chockfull of details on this.

In the 1970s the American steel industry collapsed by the hubris of the

industry and its trade union leaders, compounded by a pitiful failure to

upgrade steelmaking technology while Japan and Europe invested heavily

in making better quality steel at lower cost. The economy of our region

went into a horrible tailspin. It took over 20 years — from the mid-1970s

to mid-1990s — for our region to readjust and reinvent itself with new

avenues in healthcare, higher education and financial services.

But the old glory days of this region were gone forever. Pittsburgh’s

population plummeted from 600,000 at its peak to 300,000 today. Al-

4


VOTED BEST ETHNIC FOOD in Pittsburgh by the Tribune Review | 14 YEARS RATED #1 Pittsburgh Media

Only as

spicy

as

you are!

Lunch Buffet • Private Parties

• Super Deluxe Dinner Buffet

(Sunday & Tuesday)

Full Service Bar - Full Variety - Indian Beer - Liquor

Our Banquet Hall and

Catering Service is

available for all occassions!

Call 412-298-3097

Seating up to 180 Guests! Weddings, Business, Birthdays & More!

Privacy and Elegance Guaranteed!

Hotels, House, Private Banquet Halls & Other Facilities

5

3813 William Penn Highway Monroeville, PA 15146 | 412.372.0400 | www.indiagardenpa.com


legheny County’s population dropped from 1.63 million in 1960 to around

1.25 million today. Will today’s youngsters believe that only a few decades

ago, Pittsburgh was the second city with the largest number of corporate

headquarters, next only to New York?

With the steel industry’s rise and fall, the lesson for us is that a diversified

economy is necessary to manage with less pain the unavoidable

societal transitions when each segment of the economy goes through cycles

of growth and decline, ultimately even death.

US Airways Flying Away from PIT: The Pittsburgh International

Airport as it stands now was built in the early 1990s for the needs of US

Airways, then headquartered here. At the peak of US Airways’ presence

at PIT, we had nonstop flights to over 90 destinations (now only to 40

destinations); PIT at one point had over 600 daily departures (including

to cities in Europe); US Airways accounted for over 75% of the flights.

Now PIT has around 150 departures, with US Airways accounting for

only over 30% of the flights. US Airways filed for bankruptcy twice and

eventually shut down its hub at PIT, moving it to Philadelphia. At the peak,

US Airways had over 12,000 jobs here; now it is more like 1,200.

In the heydays of US Airways’ presence at PIT, its executives had

disproportionate influence not only on the airport administration, but also

on our elected officials. US Airways officials never hesitated to use this

for getting financial concessions, dangling the threat of moving the hub

out of PIT, which they eventually did in the mid-2000s.

Granted, even in the heydays, PIT was mainly a transit airport for US

Airways’ passengers for making connections to their final destinations.

It took a long time for our region to realign itself to the loss of tens of

thousands of air travel-related jobs as a US Airways hub. The region never

really recovered from it.

This change was gut-wrenching to the airport authorities, elected officials,

and to our entire region as we were transitioning from the smoky

Steel City image. Our elected officials and airport authorities are struggling

to get more air carriers to PIT. It will be an uphill task.

So, we are not only intellectually, but also viscerally aware of what

the choke hold of monopoly or near-monopoly does to a region.

Today, as shown in the table in the next page, the biggest employers in this

region are the healthcare industry, retail, governments, higher education,

and financial services. In healthcare, UPMC dominates. The University

of Pittsburgh and CMU take all the limelight in education.

If you take employers with more than 2000 people on their payroll in

our region today, the number of jobs (rounded off to the nearest ‘000) in

different segments are as shown in the table below. Source for the data:

http://tinyurl.com/SW-Penna-Jobs-SnapShot

6


7


Large-scale manufacturing today accounts for only less than 10% of

the workforce among the different segments. Of the 64,000 healthcare

jobs, UPMC accounts for 43,000; University of Pittsburgh has 12,500

of the 26,000 education jobs; and 21,000 of the 48,000 retail jobs are in

Giant Eagle and Walmart.

T

Healthcare 64,000

he arrogance of the officials

of local monopolies Retail: 48,000

and near-monopolies to flex their

muscle to punish those who differ

from them and muzzle their voices

is so blatant that it is laughable

simply for their petulance and pettiness.

The fine example is UPMC,

a non-profit organization with $11

billion in revenues and $11 billion

in assets, not allowing the gift shops

in its hospitals to sell The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the city’s daily. They

cite “fairness issues” in the newspaper’s coverage of the very public

fight between Highmark and UPMC for the lucrative healthcare industry

dollars.

Steve Twedt, the Post-Gazette reporter

writes, “Twice in recent years,

UPMC executives… canceled the health

giant’s advertising in the Post-Gazette,

citing dissatisfaction with the way UPMC

was covered in the news pages and how

it was portrayed in editorials and editorial

cartoons.”

Well, the purpose of cartoons is to convey messages using humor, sarcasm,

irony, paradox, even ridicule, often all at the same time. If UPMC

officials were bitten by the cartoons, probably there was a grain of truth

in them. Maybe several grains of truth.

In campaigns costing hundreds of thousands

of dollars spent on print and audiovisual

media, both UPMC and Highmark

try to mould public opinion in their favor.

Like political campaigns, each hyped its plus

points and glossed over its negatives. The Post-

Gazette, being the major daily in the town,

covered the news item giving space for both

sides. It could not remain without taking a stand

Government 42,000

Education 26,000

Financial Service 26,000

Manufacturing 24,000

Transoportation 13,000

Utility 9,000

Total: 252,000

8


editorially on the issue since the fight between the two was affecting the

general public, and helpless healthcare consumers.

UPMC’s executives enjoying all the financial benefits of its non-profit

status did not like the editorials/cartoons. So, they did what any monopoly

business or a totalitarian regime would do: they stopped all ads in the

Post-Gazette with the intention of punishing the paper. Collaterally, they

also made job seekers with limited resources suffer. And then UPMC

went one step even lower. It stopped its hospital gift shops from selling

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. This very cheap shot meant a couple of hundred

less copies sold for the Post-Gazette, whose weekday print version has a

circulation of 180,000. No big deal for the paper.

The region’s 2-million healthcare consumers are now in the clutches

of UPMC and Highmark for their critical healthcare needs, with

the behemoth UPMC trying to devour Highmark to become the only game

in town. No matter who wins, this fight is not in the interest of healthcare

consumers, also known as patients who are sick.

UPMC’s domination in the local healthcare industry is also not good

for the long-term economic vitality of our region. If you doubt this, see

what the steel industry did to the Tri-State area and what US Airways did

to our airport. •

9


SEP 25 – NOV 8

CULTURAL DISTRICT

DISCOVER THE GLOBAL INFLUENCE

OF INDIAN ART AND CULTURE.

TrustArts.org/India

412-456-6666

10


US-India Ties:

US Ambassador to India Addresses at CMU

Richard Verma, the US Ambassador to India addressed a gathering at

Carnegie Mellon University’s Rango’s Hall on September 23. Ambassador

Verma grew up in Johnstown as the son of a professor at University of

Pittsburgh’s Johnstown campus.

Highlighting the southwest Pennsylvania’s importance to India, he

remarked at the outset that Indian businesses’ investment in this region is

next only to that in the Dallas region in Texas, where it is the highest.

Ambassador Verma credited the Indian immigrants here for fostering

relations between the two countries with shared goals of using higher

education at the University of Pittsburgh,

Carnegie Mellon and others

to achieve the American dream.

He elaborated on why the US and

India are natural partners and why

India matters right now for the

US’s geopolitical and strategic interests.

The large middle-class and

the number of people below 25,

Mr. Richard Varma, US ambassador to India, with

Dr. Subra Suresh, President of Carnegie Mellon

University during his visit in September 2015.

Source: The Graphics Arts Department of the

University.

he said, make India very vibrant

and attractive to the US on many

dimensions.

After looking to the West for decades

even after the collapse of the

Soviet Union, India has shifted its gaze toward its own neighborhood as it

wants to anchor itself as using as tools its history, culture, entertainment,

higher education, technology, trade, and its geostrategic considerations.

He said the US and India were already cooperating in clean energy,

Space, health, education, and knowledge initiatives, and others. He briefly

touched on each topic and the endeavors already under way.

“The world’s largest democracy and the oldest democracy are natural

allies, and together we can bring peace and harmony to a large part of

the world.” he declared.

During the address, Dr. Subra Suresh, president of CMU, said this

year largest numbers of students from India attend CMU in both graduate

and undergraduate programs. He also announced the $35 million gift from

Tatas for a new facility, the Tata Consultancy Services Building, to foster

higher education and cutting-edge research at the university.

— By Premlata Venkataraman •

11


Book Review: Making Friends with Death

Authors: Dhananjay Joshi and Arun Jatkar. Available at

Amazon.com $12.00. 65 pages, 2015. Self publsihed.

A social change of great significance that has been sweeping the world

is the emergence of industrialized world’s model of the nuclear family

(husband-wife-children) as the basic societal building block, with support

from laws, regulations, conventions, and social networking among citizens.

So, in urban centers socioeconomically similar nuclear families by and

large live in clusters segregated on the basis of wealth and income. We

live cherishing our privacy, not realizing that privacy is a sophisticated

term in good times for isolation and solitude. We realize this only when

we encounter turbulences such as involuntary career transitions (aka losing

jobs), financial losses, and divorces — the changes that we are often

embarrassed to share with our social friends.

Or when we face unexpected healthcare issues needing 24/7 long-term

care, or the death of our near and dear. Complicating this, the cost of longterm

care has been soaring drawing the attention of everybody. In the US,

Medicare as it exists today simply is unsustainable. Personal savings of even

the “middle class” families are not enough for prolonged long-term care.

Curriculum

that challenges.

At Shady Side, teachers urge students to

think expansively, read deeply and stretch

ideas broadly – which is why they develop

into critical thinkers who write analytically

and speak confidently.

With small classes, individual attention and

a rigorous curriculum, we prepare students

to shine brighter in all that they do.

Explore • Engage • Excel

PK-12 • Three Campuses

Admissions: 412-968-3180

Fall Open Houses October 22 – 31.

RSVP online at www.ShadySideAcademy.org/VisitUs

12


1517 FOX CHASE LANE, UPPER ST. CLAIR, PENNSYLVANIA

$995,000

Located in the sought-after Foxchase

neighborhood, this Thomas-built residence

is immaculate and stunning. The striking

to the great room with two-story windows.

A formal dining room with alcove ceiling,

with sunken sitting area and gourmet

main rooms. The master bedroom suite

features a second kitchen, full bathroom,

bedroom suite, dance/exercise area and a

Thomas bar.

For more information on this exclusive Home of Distinction, contact:

Mary Eve Kearns

Email: mekearns@howardhanna.com

Howard Hanna

Homes of Distinction

Further, long-term care for aged parents in their 80s and 90s psychologically

and emotionally drains caregivers who are themselves old, often

leading to a breakdown in relationships among siblings and between

spouses.

Naturally, the topic of death and dying has received a lot of attention.

If you Google-search under Final Exit, Death with Dignity, Compassion

and Choices, Hemlock Society, and Right to Die, you will get a ton of

information and advice from ethicists, psychologists, family counselors,

healthcare professionals, religious scholars, and even government-funded

studies. The well-known pioneer on this topic was Dr. Jack Kevorkian,

the trail blazer, on whose death, we wrote this obituary: http://tinyurl.

com/Patrika-Kevorkian. Dr. Kevorkian was vilified by the religious and

Right-Wing conservatives. His only mistake was his in-your-face approach

to draw public attention to this problem. He was also ahead of his time.

Most anglicized “educated” Indians, Hindus in particular, are

uncomfortable talking about death even though as part of our

ethos, we believe in impermanence and transience (anityam) and rebirth

(punarjanmam). This is paradoxical and unnecessary. This is simply

because only old age (jara) and death (maranam) give meaning to life.

There are stories on this in Hindu puranas, Upanishads, and other texts

(Yoga Vasistham). The Gita’s second chapter elucidates on this very topic.

13


Hymns in all Indian languages constantly remind us of this. Even film

songs on this topic have become popular classics. Without old age and

death, life has no value, or even meaning.

In rural India, people grow up with death as part of life from childhood.

Even in urban India, because of congested living, people encounter death

viscerally during funeral processions. Subliminally this prepares people

to face their own death, seeing it happening to someone close. This is

perhaps why there was no need for a book on death and dying in India.

But Indians in North America live in their own cocoons, and are uncomfortable

discussing death, and more importanly, the process of dying.

This is entirely unnecessary and avoidable, and even not very smart.

For helping Indians with this topic, Dhananjay Joshi of Chicago

and Arun Jatkar of Monroeville, PA, have co-authored the booklet

Making Friends with Death (available with Amazon.com, $12.00). They

are cousins who grew up in Pune, India in post-Independent India. The

book starts with their personal encounters with death as young children

and teenagers in funeral processions they saw on the street, and in deaths

in their own families.

Later, Joshi arrived in the US to do his graduate studies in engineering.

As he lived in a bare bone Hindu monastery in Chicago in the early

days of the Indian immigrant life, Joshi even had the unique experience

of performing last rites for a stranger fellow-Indian and fellow-Hindu,

who died resting his head on his lap. The wife of the deceased person,

who Joshi never had seen, wrote to him later: “I know I lost my husband,

but I have gained a son, for which I am grateful.”

Along the way in his journey into life, Joshi came into contact with

Buddhist monks — both from Teravada and Zen schools — and learned the

Buddhist ideas on transience, death, and its meditation practices. Taking

care of his father-in-law in his old age till he died, Joshi saw people of

Indian origin in hospice care facilities and the emptiness they felt: “They

were going through the most important transition in their life, yet they

had no help from one of the deeply spiritual cultures of the world.”

With this in mind he, with Arun Jatkar, co-wrote the easily readable

booklet on understanding death and how to become friends with it. They

outline guided meditations to help the agitated mind to accept the inevitable,

providing easy and simple readings from different cultures.

The real-life gut-wrenching stories on how people grow out of deeply

held prejudices when facing death are inspiring. The authors also give

simple mantras for people to recite every day to find strength from within

their own inner being. Asmita Sapre Ranganathan has provided nice pencil

sketches to go with the text of the booklet.

— By Kollengode S Venkataraman •

14

She’s The Pittsburgh Patrika, Vol, 21, No. 1, October 2015

your She’s your everything.

everything.

When When it comes it it comes to to her to her her education,

you

When When it to her it comes it comes it a to her to to her her education,

you

When you

her

you

When want

want

it want her you as

want

comes a it school

as comes a school school school

to that her to

that

her that a that that

education, treats

treats

treats

her

treats

her

you her her

you as

as

want as

an as

want individual an

a school individual her as an her a school that and

her to be her

and

that and

and

treats treats

inspires

inspires

her inspires

to be her and

inspires

her as an as her her

an individual her to

her to be to her be

be to be her

and her

her

and

best

best

inspires best

best

inspires self. self.

self.

self.

her her her to to be to be be her her her

best best self. self. self.

Visit Visit Sewickley Visit Sewickley Academy Academy to to to

learn Visit Visit Visit Sewickley to

Visit how our Academy Academy to

how our to

learn Visit learn to

learn

Visit how Sewickley how Sewickley how our dynamic our

how our learn how our dynamic Academy dynamic our 12 dynamic

Academy Pre-K

Pre-K to Pre-K

Pre-K

to

through

through learn through

12 Pre-K

through

learn how Grade

Grade how our Grade 12 out Grade

our dynamic experience

out the 12 best experience

dynamic 12 experience

12

the best 12 in Pre-K Pre-K

brings brings through brings brings

through out

out Grade the out

in out out the Grade best the the best the 12 experience

best in

best

12 every

in every

in every

student in every

student brings student best in student

brings out — out the — and academically,

the best academically,

and best in every in every

socially,

socially, student socially,

socially,

student and

and — academically,

and

and

— developmentally.

developmentally.

socially, socially, and and and developmentally.

EXPLORE: EXPLORE: WWW.SEWICKLEY.ORG/PATRIKA

EMAIL: EXPLORE: EMAIL: EXPLORE: WWW.SEWICKLEY.ORG/PATRIKA

ADMISSION@SEWICKLEY.ORG

CALL: EMAIL: EXPLORE: CALL: EMAIL: EXPLORE: 412-741-2235


WWW.SEWICKLEY.ORG/PATRIKA

412-741-2235

CALL: EMAIL: CALL: EMAIL: CALL: EMAIL: 412-741-2235


CALL: CALL: CALL: 412-741-2235

412-741-2235

15


My Short and Sweet Vacation in Europe

By Cindy Koller

e-mail: ckoller@andrew.cmu.edu

Note: In the last issue of the magazine, you would have observed a few typos and other

errors. That is because Cindy Koller, our copyeditor, was vacationing in Europe with her

daughter. Here she shares with readers her travel experience and observations.

went on a great adventure early June to Europe. My daughter Allison,

I a research specialist at the University of Pittsburgh’s Department

of Emergency Medicine, was presenting a paper in a symposium at the

Skane University Hospital in beautiful Lund, Sweden. And she needed

a traveling companion! We took advantage

of this travel opportunity and

sandwiched the conference between

our visits to Copenhagen, Denmark

and Paris, France.

Since we were working on a budget,

Allison spent hours finalizing

flights, hotels, and sightseeing. Fortuitously,

WOW Air, an Icelandic budget

airline, had begun trans-Atlantic

flights from Baltimore to Europe just

in time for us. The airline flies to several

European and US destinations.

Through their hub in Reykjavik, we

reached Copenhagen.

Copenhagen, Denmark was our

first ‘adventure.’ Our hotel, the

The Horned Helmets

Copenhagen Star, was centrally located, a short walk from the Copenhagen

Central Station and Tivoli Gardens, the famous amusement park.

Summer arrives in Copenhagen only in July. So, the weather was cold,

and somewhat rainy, but the people were warm and friendly.

Copenhagen is incredibly easy to see on foot and we used every minute

to see all the sites. In travel across Europe, people speak of ‘ABC’s —

another blasted church, another blasted castle — exactly what we were

looking for.

While in Copenhagen we toured the incredible Rosenborg Castle, which

houses the Danish Crown Jewels and Danish Crown Regalia; Amalienborg

Palace, the winter home of the Danish Royal family; and Christiansborg

Palace, the seat of the Danish Parliament; many churches and parks; the

National Museum, home of the Huldremose bog woman, Danish horned

helmets and the Dr. Seuss-like lur horns. And of course, the statue of the

16


Little Mermaid at Langelinje Pier, a

popular tourist attraction.

Then, we took the train to cross the

Oresund Bridge to reach the university

town of Lund, Sweden. While Allison

was in the conference I explored the

town on foot. In the heart of town is the

Lund Cathedral (Lunds Domkyrkan),

a magnificent Romanesque edifice, the

oldest cathedral in Scandinavia.

It houses the Astronomical Clock,

which puts on a ‘show’ every day at

noon and 3 pm. Two knights atop the

clock mark the hour by jousting. Then, below the clock face, trumpeters

raise their horns and blow a medieval fanfare and the organ plays “In

Dulci Jubilo” as the Magi emerge, parading past the Blessed Virgin and

Christ Child, pausing to stop and bow their heads as they present their

gifts to him.

We were in Lund on June 6, the National Day of Sweden. Most shops

and stores were closed or had abbreviated hours. We were given free

admission to Kulturen, an open-air

museum filled with historic buildings

and gardens where one can experience

life in the Swedish city and

countryside from the Middle Ages to

the 1930s. There was a whole slate

of activities to celebrate this holiday

from concerts to speeches and the air

was festive and fun.

Next stop: Paris, France! After

the calm, friendly and beautiful Scandinavia,

we were thrust into the hustle

and bustle of Paris. Alli-son had pined

to visit “the City of Love” since her

high school days. Our accommodations

were in the heart of the Moulin

Rouge, at the base of the Montmartre

The Astronomical Clock

arrondissement. As in New York, to

successfully navigate Paris one must

learn to use the Metro, the local trains.

On Day 1, we thought we could accomplish all we desired to see and

do on foot, and ended up walking for 14 miles in 11 hours! But we can

17

Mermaid at Langelinje Pier.


claim to have walked the length of the Champs Elysees and seen Paris

almost end to end.

Although we saw

many of the “touristy”

things one does in Paris

– l’Arc de Triomphe,

Eiffel Tower, Notre

Dame Cathedral, etc.

– we did have two outstanding

adventures.

The first was the

tour of the Catacombs

that run underneath the

One of the crypts in the Catacombs. Skulls and femur

bones are reverently arranged with remaining bones

stacked behind.

city, reportedly the largest

ossuary, or depository

of human bones in

Europe, housing the remains

of about 6 million people. Simultaneously eerie and fascinating, we

found the Catacombs one of the most interesting experiences we have ever

shared.

We also

had the good

fortune to

tour Sainte-

Chappelle

and experience

the

beauty and

the brill

i a n c e o f

this medieval

Gothic

The Stained Glass Windows of Sainte-Chappelle.

chapel. Sainte-Chappelle was built to house Louis IX’s collection of relics

of Christ. The most famous features of the chapel are the fifteen 15-meter

high stained glass windows depicting the biblical stories from Genesis to

Revelation. With sunlight streaming through in the early afternoon, they

are breathtakingly beautiful! For us, this was the highlight of the Parisian

leg of our trip.

It was a whirlwind two weeks of beautiful sights and sounds. On a

limited budget and with limited time we were able to see and do just

enough to leave us hungry for more! •

18


YOU’VE IMAGINED EVERY DETAIL.

WE’LL MAKE IT A REALITY.

Let the wedding professionals at Hyatt Regency Pittsburgh International Airport

cater to your every need.

Engagement parties. Rehearsal dinners. At Hyatt, no detail is too small on your

special day.

Please contact Shawniece Betts-Martin

724-899-6071

shawniece.betts-martin@hyatt.com

HYATT REGENCY PITTSBURGH INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

724 899 1234

pittsburghairport.hyatt.com

Hyatt Regency Pittsburgh International Airport, design and related marks are trademarks

of Hyatt Hotels Corporation. ©2010 Hyatt Hotels Corporation. All rights reserved.

19


Pranaam, India!

By Jeremy Levy

e-mail: jlevy@pitt.edu

Jeremy Levy is the director of Pittsburgh Quantum Institute and a Distinguished Professor

in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Pittsburgh. Here he

reminisces about his wedding to his Indian bride, twenty-five years ago in Patna, India, and

talks about some changes that have engulfed Indians in India between then and now.

Twenty-five years ago, almost to the day, my fiancée Chandralekha

and I, along with my parents, brother and a few friends, stepped

off of a plane in Patna, the capital city of Bihar in northern India. Days

later, we were married. Our mid-June wedding

coincided precisely with the arrival of the monsoon

in Patna. The steady downpour wreaked havoc on

the logistics of the essential marriage functions. But

in India, it is a good omen for weddings. I sat on

a canopy-protected stage, sipping Thums Up soda,

waiting for my bride to arrive. Meanwhile, foreign

bacteria marched unopposed through my intestines,

Pacheese sal pehle on the

Wedding Day.

setting up shop. Auto rickshaws ambled along the

narrow, flooded streets of Patna, succumbing every

now and then to tub-deep potholes.

Before coming to India, I knew nothing about Hindu weddings or dayto-day

customs. And yet, I was anything but a tourist. There are two basic

ways to greet and say farewell to someone. If it is a friend of the family

or a stranger, you hold your hands, hath jhoad ke, clasping gently the

two palms facing each other, and say namaste. But if it’s a relative you

say pranam. And if the relative is very senior to you, you should (to be

safe) do pear chew-ke pranam, an added

measure of respect. Basically, you dive at

their feet. It wasn’t long before I mastered

the basic dive sequence. I had no idea

who anyone was, so I dove at everyone:

parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles,

neighbors, cousins, maidservants.

That’s the mechanics of respect. But

how is that really respectful? The concept

Aaj, with their Princeton-bound son.

of true respect quickly disintegrates when you try to pick it up and mentally

isolate it. Ultimately, you just know when someone is giving you

respect or not. I realized that respect isn’t really about the diving motion

at all. It is a state of mind.

20


Traditional Community and Homes

Featuring the Parkview and Schneider Park

Townhomes by Summerset at Frick Park. Each modern

townhome offers 3 bedrooms, an attached 2-car

garage, and energy saving features. The spacious

The Parkview and Schneider Park Townhomes

these townhomes.

Some of these townhomes are move-in ready. To see

SummersetatFrickPark.com.

Call Melissa Reich Today 412-215-8056

or email Reich@rubinoffcompany.com

21


Twenty-five years after my own wedding, my niece Chayanika was

having hers. Though it’s a Hindi movie cliché, that’s how I replay

it in my mind: a shy two-year-old trash-talks as I try to push her on a

swing, saying marengay (I’ll hit you). She responds: nani ke pas jayenge

(I’ll go to my grandma and tell on you), and meri maa ka-han hai (where

is my mother when I need her?).

Cut to: the beautiful bride’s arm, gracefully extended toward the

mehandi wala (mehandi artist). She looks up slowly, smiles. I snap a

photograph. Or rather, 30 shots each second.

One of the changes I witnessed over the past 25 years in India is

the increasing encroachment of television into the daily lives of

youngsters, housewives, and especially retirees. When I arrived in Patna,

the family had a small black-and-white TV that received a single station

— Door Darshan One. Now, large flat-screen TVs are ubiquitous among

the middle and upper-middle class. They stock a quantity of channels

putting the US to shame. More Hindi “soaps” are produced in India than

in the US, exceeding even the Bollywood-to-Hollywood ratio of films

produced annually.

In retirees’ homes, the TV is always, always, on. The main couch usually

faces a flat LCD TV screen that relentlessly telecasts a soap, a news

Pranam India... ... Continued on Page 28

22


NOW BUILDING CUSTOM HOMES IN

YOUR TOP SCHOOL DISTRICTS

• Seneca Valley • Pine Richland • North Allegheny

• Upper St. Clair

• Peters Twp

888.424.9424 | ContactUs@buildininityhomes.com

BUILDINFINITYHOMES.COM |

23


Swami Dayananda Saraswati

(August 1930 - 23 September 2015)

Swami Dayananda Saraswati, the founder of Arsha Vidya Gurukulam

that is committed to educating disadvantaged children

in many parts of India, and a defender of Dharma-based

philosophical/religious traditions, died in Rishikesh on

23 September, 2015, after a prolonged illness. He was

a disciple of Swami Chinmayananda.

Swami Dayananda made his case that proselytizing

faiths such as Christianity and Islam practice spiritual

violence since they start on the premise that their approach

is the only valid one in man’s spiritual quest,

and all others’ approaches are false. Discerning lay persons, however,

savor the irony that the three Abrahamic faiths—Judaism, Christianity and

Islam, with the latter two heavily into proselytizing—have been violently

disagreeing through wars and persecution on who among them is right.

While we can get the biographical details of Swami Dayananada from

the Internet, one point is worth recording here.

At the turn of the millennia the United Nations invited world religious

leaders to come up with a resolution on the need for people of

diverse faiths to live in harmony. Leading theologians from the Abrahamic

faiths (Judaism, Catholicism, Protestantism, Islam’s two branches), and

others from Dharma-based schools (Teravada and Mahayana Buddhism,

Jainism, Hinduism, Sikhism) joined to draft a resolution that all could

agree on.

The first draft contained the term “tolerance” in the resolution. When

Swami Dayananda suggested that they need to replace “tolerance” with

“mutual respect” in the resolution, there was considerable opposition from

Christian theologians. This is what Rajiv Malhotra writes on this (Source:

http://tinyurl.com/Huff-Post-Swami-Dayananda):

“… … Swami Dayananda Saraswati insisted that in the official draft

the term ‘tolerance’ be replaced with ‘mutual respect.’ Cardinal Joseph

Ratzinger (who later became Pope Benedict), [leading] the Vatican delegation,

strongly objected to this. After all, if religions deemed ‘heathen’ were

to be officially respected, there would be no justification for converting

their adherents to Christianity.

“The matter reached a critical stage and some serious fighting erupted.

The Hindu side held firm that the time had come for the non-Abrahamic

religions to be formally respected as equals at the table and not just tolerated

by the Abrahamic religions. At the very last minute, the Vatican

Swami Dayananda... ... Continued on Page 31

24


Sakhi Serves South Asian Women in Distress

By Juginder and Dolly Luthra, Weirton, PA

Editor’s note: The Luthras recently attended the Sakhi Gala in New York City. They

have three daughters who grew up in Weirton and the Greater Pittsburgh area. Two of their

daughters, Rashmi and Namita, living in New York City, are involved with Sakhi. Rashmi

Luthra is a Board Member and Namita Luthra was the MC of the program.

As the number of immigrants from South Asia to the United States

increased over the years, so did the problems faced by the women who

came. Do you know that two out of five South Asian women face some

sort of domestic violence — verbal, physical, emotional, or financial?

Although the problems cut across the educational and financial strata,

the majority of women affected belong to first-generation, low-income

women who have limited resources and are unaware of their rights. They

are isolated from the local community and thousands of miles away from

the families they left behind.

Rashmi Luthra, extreme left, is the Board Member of Sakhi.

For addressing the problems faced by the victims, an organization,

appropriately named Sakhi, was founded in 1989 in New York

City by five South Asian women. Sakhi, in Sanksrit means “A Woman

Friend.” Its mission is to serve the needs of victims in distress from India,

Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Afghanistan, and Sri Lanka as well as

South Asians from the Caribbean, and to end the violence against them.

Over the years, the organization has grown in number, in its reach and

financial strength. The organization helps the victims of domestic violence,

with legal, emotional, educational, vocational and financial support and

counseling. Scholarships are given to provide education.

The women in distress are provided with translation services by bilingual

experts and access to attorneys for legal issue. Sakhi has a helpline

25


(212 868 6741) for assistance. It has helped women in over 13,000 cases

in New York City alone. However, women outside the city can and do

contact Sakhi for help and guidance.

The Sakhi Economic Empowerment Program provides opportunities

for survivors of domestic violence to develop job skills to obtain financial

independence. The program offers computer classes and courses to start

small businesses and learn their legal rights. Sakhi also reaches out to the

local community to educate about domestic violence and make women

aware of the services provided by Sakhi. The outreach is partly done at

religious organizations. Recently, attention is also being directed to reach

out to men to decrease the occurrence of abuse in the first place.

Like any other nonprofit organization, Sakhi depends on grants and

donations. It was our privilege to attend the 26th Annual Gala

called “Building Bridges” held in New York on April 30, 2015. The event

was sold out with about 400 supporters, raising $400,000 through selling

tickets for the dinner, a silent auction and seeking pledges from the audience.

The program’s master of ceremonies, Namita Luthra, said, “An

authentic engagement by men to end gender violence is an evolutionary

step in the women’s rights movement.”

The First Lady of New York City, Chirlane McCray, the chief guest,

26


big

moments

are better when shared

Let the newly renovated Sheraton Pittsburgh Hotel at

Station Square help you create the event of a lifetime!

Call Eric Bowman 412-803-3874 or email

eric.bowman@sheratonstationsquare.com

300 W Station Square Dr | Pittsburgh, PA 15219 | (412) 261-2000

©2015 Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, Inc. All Rights Reserved

announced in her address her whole-hearted support for Sakhi and commended

them for their effective assistance for ending domestic violence.

She quipped by saying that she told the Mayor of New York City, “If he

is not for she, he won’t be for me,” referring to all the women.

One of the honorees of the evening was Penny Abeywardena, New

York City’s Commissioner for International Affairs. She has been involved

with the global gender justice movement for a number of years. The award

was presented by First Lady, Chirlane McCray. The Nayar Family was

the other honoree. They helped fund the Renuka Nayar Women’s Health

Initiative Fellowship in honor of their wife and mother Renuka Nayar, a

long-term Sakhi volunteer who died in 2013.

The current board of Sakhi includes women from diverse backgrounds

working to eradicate a human tragedy affecting the South Asian women

that are victims of domestic violence. •

For Getting Free Copy in the Mail: The magazine is mailed

free every quarter to nearly 2000 homes for

Indian-Americans living within a 40-mile

radius around the Point. For your friends to

get their free copies in the mail, ask them to

send their names and mailing addresses to: ThePatrika@aol.com •

27


Pranam India... ... Continued from Page 22

program, a Bollywood music video montage, or religious serial. When

guests come, the TV stays on at full volume throughout the visit. They

have become so inured to lights and sounds that people no more regard

them as distractions. And of course it looks disrespectful to even get close

to their remote and try to fumble with the buttons.

sit on the couch that faces the big screen. The bright colorful display

I

This is girl power.

There’s a place where every girl is empowered to thrive and excel –

to lead and soar. Is this the place for your daughter? To learn more about

the excellence of an all-girls education at Ellis, call 412-661-4880,

or email admissions@theellisschool.org.

ATTEND OUR OPEN HOUSE THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 9:30 AM

28

blinks and bleats while I mentally prepare to speak with our hosts.

My non-native Hindi has sputtered its way across a quarter century of

stroboscopic practice. I am exposed to India like light to celluloid in a film

projector. The spindle advances the frame, click. The shutter opens, allowing

light to

pass for all

too-brief

a period

o f t i m e ,

then closes

again.

T i m e

starts up

again until

the next

frame.

I sit on

the couch

that faces

t h e b i g

screen TV.

T w e n t y

slow-motion

frames

of Salman

K h a n , a

convicted

homicidal

criminal,

document

his skulk from car to court house. I am forced to watch.

Mausaji, the patriarch of the family we were visiting, sits cross-legged

at right angles to both me and the TV. My eyes dart toward him, to the

other silently seated guests, and then come to rest on the TV. It’s a commercial

for Lux, a detergent.


PITTSBURGH MONROEVILLE

CONVENTION CENTER

101 Mall Boulevard, Monroeville, PA 15146

412-373-7300 www.DoubleTreeMonroeville.com

At the DoubleTree by Hilton Pittsburgh - Monroeville Convention Center,

personalization offers you an authentic celebratory weekend with friends and family.

Let us wow you and your guests from start to finish.

For additional information or to discuss how we may assist you in planning,

please contact Kimmie Fitzhugh-Kelly, Director of Catering,

at 412-843-4416 or via e-mail at kfitzhughkelly@doubletreemonroeville.com.

Here at the DoubleTree by Hilton, the little things mean everything.

“Raju, take a look at this photograph.” The voice is Mausaji’s. He

is not addressing me, but rather my brother-in-law, who also came from

the US for the wedding. My wife’s older brother happily gets up.

I also head toward the photograph that is mounted behind me in a

wooden cabinet with glass windows. The large, black-and-white photograph

features a tall teenage boy towering over a pre-teen girl.

“That’s our wedding photograph, taken fifty years ago”, says Mausaji.

He was eighteen, his bride was eleven. Right below this photograph is

a second, equally large color picture. She is nearly as tall as him. He is

content. She is smiling. They are both fifty years older.

I am completely, completely, transfixed by these two photographs.

They sear into my memory. My eyes dart up, down, up, down, creating the

most basic of all movie loops -- black-and-white, color, black-and-white,

color… Soft, sharp, soft, sharp… Fast-forward, rewind, fast-forward,

rewind… Time compresses a billion-fold.

At some point, I snap out of my trance. What do I say to Mausaji?

I carefully utter the single Hindi sentence that is looping in my mind:

“Twenty five is half of fifty.” It is more alliterative in Hindi: “Pachees

pachaas ka adha hai.”

Mausaji immediately catches what I was relating to. He beams, “I

remember your wedding well. Ah! The pouring rain!” •

29


Kavya and Abirami Rajaram, daughters of Padmavathy and Natarajan

Rajaram of Murrysville, PA and students of Jaya Mani had their

Bharatanatya Arangetram duet at the S.V.Temple auditorium on Saturday,

June 6, in the presence of a large number of invited guests.

Kavya (right in the picture) started learning

when she was five, and has performed along

with her other dance students on India Day,

International Peace Day and other events. She

is a sophomore at the Franklin Regional High

School in Murrysville. She is in the school’s

Junior Varsity Tennis Team. She is also in the

school choir.

Abirami (left in the picture) started when

she was seven. She graduated summa-cumlaude

from Duquesne University this year

majoring in biology with math and biochemistry

as minors. She was active in the university’s

Indian Students Association and at

the Phi Kappa Phi Honor society. This fall,

she is going to Temple University’s Medical

program. •

30


Swami Dayananda... Continued from Page 24

blinked and the final resolution did call for ‘mutual respect.’

“However, within a month, the Vatican issued a new policy stating

that while ‘followers of other religions can receive divine grace, it is also

certain that objectively speaking they are in a gravely deficient situation

in comparison with those who, in the Church, have the fullness of the

means of salvation.’ Many liberal Christians condemned this policy, yet

it remains the Vatican's official position.”

Given the long-established hold of the Abrahamic faiths on the world

stage such as the UN, we should remember Swami Dayananda Saraswati

for highlighting on the world stage the condescension and spiritual arrogance

of the proselytizing religions such as Christianity and Islam towards

other faiths. — By Kollengode S Venkataraman •

“Of course, your cartoons are the best! As soon as readers grab the paper,

the first thing they look for is your cartoon on the front page. No one would

even read the paper if there is no cartoon of yours. I don’t want to insult your

creativity by bringing money in our talks. But since you insist, let’s talk. Usually

we charge $500/quarter page ad. Tell me what you will pay us per cartoon.”

Diwali Music Program by Pittsburgh Tamil Sangam

With vocalists Lakshman Shruthi, Neeya Naana Gopinath, Mahathi,

Unni Menon, Vijay TV super singers Sathya Prakash, and Anitha

Date: October 30, 2015 from 6:00 pm. Venue: Ingomar Middle School

Auditorium, 1521 Ingomar Heights Road, PA 15237

Tickets : $ 100.00, $ 50.00 and $30.00

For details visit pghtamils.org Contacts: Vaijayanthi Ravindran (412

638 5637), K. Krishnasamy (412 478 1312), Soundar Srinivasan (412 606

5118), Ravi Balu (724 518 0605), or Mani Varnan (412 980 5882). •

31


Pallavi Muluk’s Pleasant Karnatic Vocal Arangetram

Pallavi Muluk, a disciple of Sujana Mulukutla, had her Karnatic vocal

arangetram on June 27, 2015 at the Upper St. Clair High School auditorium.

Pallavi’s recital was in the format of a formal concert with krtis in

many languages and in different tempos.

Over the years, the Indian arangetrams have become de rigueur for

young women among Indian-Americans. Less common, though, is music

arangetrams as they require years of training in shruti shuddham (voice

training), layam and kaala-pramanam (complex rhythm patterns in Indian

classical music), and clarity in diction in rendering Tamil, Telugu, Kannada,

Sanskrit, Hindi, and Marathi krtis (lyrics).

Pallavi’s teacher Sujana (picture below) has trained her student well

in all these facets to gracefully handle the program with many pieces that

included alapana, neraval and swara prasthanam — all

hallmarks of a confident student going on stage for the first

time. Pallavi’s passion, discipline, and long hours of hard

work were evident in the almost flawless solo recital.

Her accompanying percussion artists were seasoned artistes.

Jayant Balasubramanian (Mridangam) and Ravi

Balasubramanian (Ghatam) are veterans. Pallavi was

ably guided by these talented seniors who provided excellent structure

to the concert, providing gravitas to the recital. Sushmita Ravikumar, a

junior at Ohio State University, very ably provided violin accompaniment

with great talent and elan. Preetha Narayanaswamy provided Tanpura

support.

The encouragement and support provided for the young vocalist by the

accompanying senior artistes were acknowledged by Smt. Tara Anand, the

chief guest of the evening and the guru of Sujana, in her remarks.

Pallavi had requested that any gifts be in checks payable to the Chinmaya

Mission. Over $8500 collected thus — which overwhelmed the Muluks —

was given to the Mission. — By Premlata Venkataraman •

32


Jindal... ... Continued from Page 34

these things and want Jindal out.”

“A true American success story. Born of immigrant parents. Is a brilliant

student. Graduates at the top of his high school class. Gets a first class

education at prestigious Ivy League School. Goes on to become a Rhodes

Scholar. Works

at McKinsey and

Co. Is soon elected

Governor of

Louisiana at the

age of 36. This

is where things

go wrong... ...

Seems all that

promise hits a

brick wall when

it comes down

to actually doing

something

productive. My

recommendation

[for Jindal]

is to go back to

McKinsey and

Co. where the

talented Mr. Jindal

is likely to only bankrupt one or two corporations rather than an

entire state. This fellow seems to have peaked in high school!”

Normally, in American electoral politics, candidates get support at

least from their own ethnic groups. But Desis joined the mainstream

chorus against Bobby. Here is an example from Hari Kondabolu,

an Indian-American comedian in a radio network:

“Anyone got photos of Bobby Jindal eating gulab jamun or jelebi?

Please release them. It may destroy his presidential campaign.”

— By Kollengode S Venkataraman •

Home Available for Rent

Monroeville’s quiet neighborhood, 3-BR home 2-car garage

3 full baths plus a powder room.

Home on a level road — no gradient on the road.

Rent $1500 p.m. + utilities — 6 months or 1 year lease.

Call 412 372 3872 8 am to 12 noon; or from 5 pm to 8 pm

33


Jindal’s Madcap Pursuit for the White House

In the overcrowded field of Republicans seeking nomination for the

White House, Louisiana’s Bobby Jindal became irrelevant on the very

day he announced his intention in late June. I was not a

fan of Jindal even when he was a rising GOP star years

ago. This is what I wrote in 2010 on Jindal:

“When Jindal as governor was invited to the White

House Diwali function — which has now lost all its

religious significance — he did not show up. Probably

because of the bad optics of the video clips filling the

“very Southern” Louisiana airwaves in election commercials showing a

brown Jindal in an Indian “Hindu” function in the midst of other brown

Indians. That will not sit well in the deeply ‘Southern’ Louisiana... ...

Jindal, the Ivy league Brown University graduate in biology, in his anxiety

to get elected as the governor of Louisiana, was also running away

from Darwin’s Natural Selection and embraced the Judeo-Christian idea

of creation in which the universe is only 6,000 years old, give or take a

few centuries...”

No sooner had Bobby Jindal announced in June seeking the GOP

nomination for the White House, comments from mainstream

readers were pungent and sarcastic. From the Washington Post:

“According to conservative GOPers life begins at conception. So Piyush

Jindal isn’t even eligible to run for President, because he was conceived

in India.” [Note: Jindal was born a few months after his pregnant mother

landed in the US.]

“The mistake is thinking that being smart always translates into good

policy. Plenty of smart people trade ambition and greed for good policy.

Jindal is just the latest example.”

“For laughs, I have to report that the NOLA.com’s online headline was

not Jindal’s announcement but the protestors at the event—you know how

bad the guy is when his own citizens will take the time to derail him...

... Usually these people support ... anything ... coming out of the state

on loyalty alone.”

“Bobby is thankful for Mississippi; because without it, Louisiana would

be dead last in just about every state ranking category.”

From the New York Times:

“...[M]ost of us here in Louisiana are eager to enter the post-Jindal

era... His has wrecked the state budget, state schools, state roads, state

healthcare, and more — all to stay true to the “oath” he took not to raise

taxes. Some of us are willing to pay a little more in order to have better

schools, roads, healthcare, etc.; even the conservatives among us want

Jindal ... ... Continued on Page 33

34


35


36

Pittsburgh_Patrika_October_2015

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?