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We now call Australia home

By
Preeti Jabbal
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0
Reading Time: 3 minutes

The annual Australia Day parade sees enthusiastic Indian community participation

The national flags were flying, the barbecues sizzling, and the mood was festive as people celebrated Australia’s national holiday, with full cooperation from the generally unpredictable Melbourne weather.
The thousands that flocked to the Melbourne CBD to witness the annual Australia Day parade were offered a vibrant, colourful spectacle making it well worth the trip. The diverse multicultural community in Australia was represented through many groups sporting eye-catching traditional outfits.
Australia Day Parade.Indian Link
The Australian Defence forces, State Emergency services, fire authorities, sporting groups and musicians joined the community as they marched down the length of Swanston Street, past the iconic Flinders Street station and Federation Square, to congregate near Kings Domain at St. Kilda Road.
The Australian flag was hoisted outside Melbourne Town Hall and Government House was opened to the public for the day. The Royal Australian Roulettes also did a flyover as part of the festivities.
Australia Day Parade.Indian Link
Australia Day is the anniversary of the establishment of the first European Settlement at Port Jackson in 1788. In modern times, this designated public holiday provides an opportunity to reflect on the numerous achievements, cultural diversity, history and potential future of Australia and its people.
Not everyone, however, was into the flag waving, as hundreds of protestors, led by the Warriors of the Aboriginal Resistance, gathered at the Parliament House condemning Australia Day. The invasion Day rally saw many protestors chanting against ‘genocide’ and the oppression of Aboriginal people.
Earlier in the day, the Indian flag was hoisted at the Indian Consulate in St. Kilda to mark the Republic Day of India and Consul General of India in Melbourne Manika Jain addressed a large gathering of people.
Australia Day Parade.Indian Link
The Indian community representation was also strong at the Australia Day parade as various regional groups added colour and zeal to the proceedings in their traditional attire. Dancing to upbeat music, they were highly visible in their saris and turbans.
Australia Day Parade.Indian Link
Not everyone, however, seemed pleased with their experience. Tanvi Mor, who went to participate in the parade, was left wondering if this was a day of unity or division. “I was surprised to see five different groups representing India as most other nationalities marched under one umbrella body,” said Tanvi. “I feel if we could all march under one tricolour and still represent the diversity of India through our beautiful regional costumes we could make a far better and stronger statement.”
According to community leader Vasan Srinivasan, attempts have been made to unify the various groups in the past, but has not been very successful. “This year, again, the FIAV group was represented by various communities under the one banner, however we were instructed to limit the numbers to 40 in total and to ensure everyone was registered and accounted for,” he said.
Australia Day Parade.Indian Link
In the past few years, the FIAV contingent were accompanied by energetic performers from the Shiamak Dance group attracting much attention from the crowd. “We unfortunately did not have the Bollywood dancers this year to entertain the crowd as they were all away on holidays,” said Vasan. “We still had a large group of representatives walking with us that day and it was a great experience to be able to represent India in multicultural Australia,” he said.
The festivities continued through the day and the evening concluded with some spectacular fireworks that lit up the Docklands skyline.

Celebrating our nation of migrants

By
Preeti Jabbal
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Reading Time: 3 minutes

Victoria’s Government House hosts an official reception to mark the occasion of Australia Day

A wide cross section of the community was invited to the 2016 Australia Day reception held recently at the Victorian Governor’s residence, Government House. This annual event marked the beginning of Australia’s national day of celebrations and was hosted by Linda Dessau AM, the first female Governor of Victoria.
The Indian community was well represented as Australia Day Ambassadors mingled with VCE top achievers, members of the Australian defence forces, the judiciary, the clergy and local politicians.
Victorian Australia Day Parade.Indian Link
The formal part of the evening was brief as the hostess welcomed everyone to the historic Government House before a short address in which she reflected on the significance of Australia Day in modern times.
“It is particularly important at this time to recognise and celebrate that Australia is home to the oldest, continuous culture in the world, and commit ourselves wholeheartedly to ongoing reconciliation,” said Governor Dessau, as she paid respect to elders past and present.
According to the Governor, Australia Day provides us the precious opportunity to gather together to have some fun with each other whilst pausing to appreciate our democracy and reflecting positively on what it means to be Australian.
Victorian Australia Day Parade.Indian Link
“We gather and reflect in different ways on what is dear to us all. In some respects the answers will be personal and individual, in other ways there will be much common ground. There is much in Victoria that we can be proud of, including our democratic systems and our diverse community,” said Governor Dessau, as she thanked everyone for their contribution in making Victoria an innovative and successful state.
The Minister for Education, James Merlino, serving as the State member for Monbulk, represented the Premier Daniel Andrews. He called Australia a nation of freedom, fairness, peace, prosperity, democracy, diversity and achievements.
Mr Merlino urged people not to forget that we are a country of migrants.
Victorian Australia Day Parade.Indian Link
“On Australia Day, I think of all the newly pledged citizens and remember how my dad arrived from the small island of Celia in 1961 and found this country – big enough in space and spirit – to help him start a new life. We are happy to live here, but in Victoria we did not dig our prosperity from the ground, we built this society with our hands and our minds. Australia always was, and always will be, a country of migrants,” Mr Merlino said.
In his address, Mr Merlino also acknowledged the first owners of this land.
“We cannot mark this day without acknowledging our nation’s first people,” said the Minister. “Australia did not come into being in 1788. This great southern land was home, and is still home, to the oldest, continuous culture in human history. In this time, and all times, we must pay our respect to the Indigenous culture and its people, their legacy and their continuous contribution to our multicultural nation,” he said.
Victorian Australia Day Parade.Indian Link
Once the formalities concluded, Governor Dessau and the official party took time to meet guests and take photos. Parts of Government House were also made accessible to the public for inspection.
It turned out to be a relaxed and informal evening as guests socialised over canapés and drinks in the beautifully manicured gardens overlooking the vast House. Simple yet stately, the evening was a memorable one for those who attended.

Aur yeh laga ek aur chauka…!!!

By
Rajni Anand Luthra
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Reading Time: 7 minutes

The KFC INTL T20 AUSvIND 2016 cricket series gets a Hindi make-over by Indian Link


Bahut hi darshaneeya prayaas rahaa…
Bahut hi umda shot!
Chaturai bhara shot.
Kaafi kaante ka muqabla hai.
Gati aur disha donon mein parivartan….
Ek atirikt run.
Donon ballebaaz mantrana karte hue…
Wahaan par koi kshetra rakshak (fielder) nahin…. seema rekha se paar aasaani se!
Balle ke androoni edge se lagi ball.
Ballebaazon ka nirantar prahaar!
Virat Kohli balle balle, baaki saare thalle thalle!
MCG ek saji hui dulhan….!



Some wonderful gems of Hindi cricket commentary were heard at each of the matches held during the recent AUSvIND KFC International T20 series.
A Cricket Australia and Indian Link Media Group collaboration brought to the airwaves the aankhon dekha haal (live commentary) from Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney.
The broadcast went live to Australian audiences via the CA Live App and cricket.com.au.
Presented by a team of six commentators – Sanjiv Dubey, Mukesh Madaan, Shriram Iyer, Gopal Ganwani, Chitrang Trivedi and Manish Raj – each took turns at the mic in different cities. Indian Link CEO Pawan Luthra joined in at regular intervals, while Michael Jones provided technical support.
They called the women’s games as well as the men’s games on all three match days, seeing series wins for both, and five out of six games won.
***
The common ground between the commentators, it was interesting to observe, was not only that they all had a great love for the game of cricket, but that they were passionate about the language as well.
Sanjiv Dubey, an Indian Linker from way back on both radio as well as in the newspaper, has established himself as a Level 2 cricket coach in Sydney’s Indian community. As a physical education teacher and founder of the Footwork Sports Academy, Sanjiv has had many young cricketers pass through his hands at various stages in the past seven years.

 
His intimate knowledge of the game came through brilliantly in the commentary box, and he shared anecdotes from his times in bowling practice with the visiting Indian national team in recent years. The respect that the listeners and the others on the commentary team had for him, became obvious by the end.
“Cricket is a way of life for me,” Sanjiv told Indian Link later. “I began as a player and then furthered my love for it with higher education in sports and then through my involvement in cricket coaching and sports teaching. I have also showcased my ability to analyse the game by my writings in both Hindi and English. I do have a talent for Hindi commentary which few people are aware of! I wanted to be a part of this show at the KFC T20s and I knew I could make a difference with my presence.”
Shriram Iyer, well-known in the music circles in Melbourne’s Indian community, is a natural performer and claims to have been a ‘couch-commentator’ for as long as he can remember.
“This exercise was new to most of us but all of us adapted quite quickly,” he told Indian Link. “Presence of mind is a crucial trait that I have picked up while performing live, along with other transferable traits. This was an extension of that and my extreme passion for cricket helped me through.”
The Canberra-based Manish Raj brought to the table much experience with community radio. “Add to that, my love for my matra-bhasha Hindi, and a passion for cricket. A winning combination!”
Melbourne’s Gopal Ganwani also confessed a love for both the game as well as the language. “Cricket is the only outdoor sport I have ever played, and I have remained in touch through umpiring, coaching or scoring. Literary activities in Hindi, my favourite language, have included writing creatively and participating in theatre and stand-ups, and MCing at Indian events.”
Sydney’s Chitrang Trivedi is always up for new experiences. “I like to push myself to try things outside my comfort zone. I am an avid cricket fan and this was a perfect opportunity for me to connect with the game that I love so much.”
Mukesh Madaan, also from Sydney, claims he found this a wonderful way to channel his love for the game as well as take part in a broad community activity.
***
Michael Jones shares the same passion for the game as the commentators. “I love cricket. I played from the age of 11 until 35 and still play the odd social game. I’m also a keen spectator and you’ll find me somewhere in the SCG Members enclosure any time there’s an international match on at the SCG. The chance to combine my job in broadcasting and cricket was too good to knock back.”

 
Of course, he didn’t understand a word of what the commentators were saying. Why for instance, were there so many “ugly” balls? He knows now, that ugli is the Hindi word for “next”.
“The high point though, was that everything came together so smoothly,” Michael recalled later. “Usually, in an outside broadcast, there is some sort of technical hitch and this time it just didn’t happen. Another high point was the energy and enthusiasm of all the commentators. They were all great to work with.”
As an avid Australia supporter, Michael provided the balance within the team for all the euphoria at India’s performance.
Shriram’s interesting tidbits of information (such as women’s star Niranjana Nagarajan’s nickname “Ninja”) kept the audience entertained throughout, as did Gopal’s attempt at Sindhi commentary when the game was stopped due to rain. Manish’s deep-set bass, put to good use in the exciting moments in that second half of the final Sydney game, must surely have suffered the next day! Mukesh’s faithful reporting, mature in style and faultless in delivery, could have matched the best in the business. Chitrang’s studied analyses, and Sanjiv’s expert comments at each pivotal moment, enhanced the listener’s enjoyment of the games. Saraahaneeya (commendable)!
“Primary among Pawan’s guidelines were that we should have fun while in the commentary box,” Mukesh remarked. “We definitely did, and we hope that carried across the airwaves to our listeners.”
Callers were able to ring in as well, and chipped in with their own contributions about predicted scores, strategies and so on.
***
Pawan Luthra was quite pleased at the way the elite team shaped up. “They did superbly and we were able to get a real ‘brotherhood’ going,” he revealed. “I had full faith that we would find our commentary team from within the community – there is great talent out there. The migrant psyche is such that we come here and delve straight into work, to provide for our families. In doing this, often we have to squash down our real passions, or put them away for a while. Many of our commentary team would probably have gone on to have media careers in India, but here they might be in IT or whatever else. But when they are somewhat ‘settled’ and when an opportunity crops up, they jump at it eagerly. I think that’s where smaller, community platforms like Indian Link Media Group can play a significant role.”
It has been in the past eight to ten years that the Indian community here has really grown. While the older settlers, who have been coming here since the 1970s, may not crave that much Hindi commentary, the newer migrants miss the Hindi cricket scene, which, of course, has grown by leaps and bounds in India the past ten years or so. They’ve left that behind, and are now lapping up this new service that Indian Link has offered.

Cricket Australia has been keen to reach out to the Indian community in recent months. “Providing our Indian community with a locally-produced Hindi broadcast will add to their cricket experience, connecting them more deeply with Australian cricket,” Ben Amarfio, Cricket Australia Executive General Manager of Media, Communications and Marketing, said.
About the CA-Indian Link partnership, Luthra said, “It’s a natural fit. They’re all about the game – we love the game! I think Australia knows that the Indian community can be very good consumers. At last year’s World Cup for instance, the stadiums were ‘bleeding blue’, we had that many Indian spectators in the stalls. So I guess you could say we are surprised why this relationship with CA did not happen sooner.”
***
In a wonderful coincidence, just ahead of the T20 series, news came in from India that legendary Hindi commentator Sushil Doshy had been picked for the prestigious Padma Shri, a rare Indian Government honour. The news made for an added sense of excitement as the Indian Link commentary team was finalised for the exercise, and word got around about the venture.
Cricket Australia and Indian Link Media Group sent out their own media releases and the story was picked up and reported by ABC Radio, ABC Online, 3AW and The Australian here, and back in India by Hindustan Times, DNA, Deccan Chronicle, Business Standard, New Indian Express, NewsX, ABP Live, Sports Kreeda Cricket and The Sports Campus.
Calls began to come in about how to gain access to the commentary, and various social media posts went up about how to download the Cricket Aus Live app.
 
Sushil Doshy will be pleased to know that the generation that grew up listening to his inimitable aankhon dekha haal, alongside other greats like Jasdev Singh and Ravi Chaturvedi, are carrying on the traditions in a land far from home.
To Indian Link’s Hindi commentary team, we can only say, paraphrasing their own excited words “Darshakon mein harsh-ollaas!” as India won each time – you helped create sunnewaalon mein harsh-ollaas, and thank you for doing so.

 

Finding the commentary team

To find the best Hindi-speaking commentators, a nation-wide search called “Who wants to be a Hindi cricket commentator?” was launched by Indian Link Media Group and extensively publicised across its print, radio, online and social media channels.
Entrants presented commentary based on a provided clip that was intentionally left mute.
After receiving a number of high quality entries, one from as far as Gurgaon in India, another from a 14-year-old cricket enthusiast, a shortlist of 12 people were asked to undertake a final live audition. The finalists were judged on their clarity, command of language, technical knowledge and ability to convey atmosphere and ambience.

Blues, spiced with Hindustani

By
Aparna Ananthuni
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1
Reading Time: 3 minutes

Canadian musician Harry Manx brought his particular brand of fusion and his mohan veena to the MEMO Music Hall in St Kilda

Award-winning Canadian musician Harry Manx looks at first like your typical Blues/Americana/Folk musician, with his grizzled white beard, black wool hat and blue jeans. But look closer, because the slide guitar he holds is in fact not a guitar at all, but a mohan veena, given to him by Vishwa Mohan Bhatt – its Grammy Award-winning inventor. The instrument has an extra layer of sympathetic strings, making it a hybrid of western and eastern sound.
As Manx, who started out in Blues as a “roadie” at the age of fifteen, and started his recording career at the age of 46, plays some opening chords, I almost think I’m imagining the silken sound of a raag. But through the song I hear Indian classical meends, or slides, mixed with blues, and the finishing chords are distinctly Hindustani.
Harry Manx.Indian Link
Manx laughs as he tells me that his music is sometimes described as “Indo-Blues”. This, he says frankly, is mostly so he can be placed in a category, making it easier for his audience to find his music in a store. In reality, he switches deftly between styles just as he switches between mohan veena, slide guitar, and banjo on stage. He is in fact more about adding the flavour of India rather than a conscious and consistent mixing of Indian classical with western music.
“My time spent in India gave my music a little spice…I can’t seem to play any other way now,” he says.
Manx originally travelled to India in 1986 in pursuit of meditation, not music. The links between music and spirituality eventually led to him to Jaipur and Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, from whom he learned the mohan veena for five years, practicing five hours a day. The greatest difficulty with learning Hindustani classical, he says, was connecting with the sound as a westerner.
“You don’t grow up with that sound… it sounds very foreign at first,” Manx says.
Harry Manx.Indian Link
He never had any intention of mixing the two styles, but ultimately he noticed commonalities between some Blues scales and Indian ragas, particularly in night ragas with their “heavy” feel.
Listening to some of his songs that have been given this treatment, I can see what he means, especially as the improvisations of renowned organist and keyboard player Clayton Doley meld, rather than jar against it. On the other hand, I find some songs that have been given the “eastern spice” too eclectic, almost psychedelic. The sound of these pieces, to my Indian ears, is more reminiscent of hippies and hashish than classical Hindustani music.
However, I respect the fact Manx is open about the difficulties of presenting true Indian classical to his almost exclusively western audience.
“First of all, I’m not that qualified to do it, but second of all, I can’t hold their interest for long enough.” By framing and ‘referencing’ Indian classical in a Blues context, he believes it becomes more accessible to western listeners. He wants the music to connect with them in the same way he connected with classical music in India.
Harry Manx.Indian Link
Looking around curiously at the audience as he performs, I’m not sure how successful he’s been. There seems to be a kind of frozen, polite quality to the way they listen to his Indianised Blues pieces, compared to the palpable enthusiasm he receives while playing classic Blues and Americana songs. And despite his frequent invitation for questions, nobody asks anything about Indian music.
But then again, as someone who lets his music ‘unfold’ with no fixed approach, Manx is hardly on a mission. In an era where fusion for fusion’s sake is ‘in vogue’, this is refreshing in itself.

Everyone’s a winner

By
Anubhuti Madan Singh
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Reading Time: 3 minutes

The Melbourne All Abilities Cricket Association blends social consciousness with sport, offering a game where anyone can take part

Though it wasn’t a party, it was no less enjoyable for each participant, because everyone on the field was a winner.
Organised by the Melbourne All Abilities Cricket Association (MAACA), two important cricket matches took place at Hansen Reserve in West Footscray in late January. The Super League match, which is traditional cricket with full sports gear for high functioning players, was held between Yarraville Club Cricket Club (YCCC) and Skye Cricket Club. A 10-Over Tonks match, which is more of a participation-based soft rubber ball competition for low functioning players, was held between Yarraville Club Cricket Club (YCCC) and Moorabbin Cricket Club (MCC).

All the players, standing proud in their glistening uniforms, were excited about the game. YCCC won the toss and opted to bowl in the 30-over match.
All abilities cricket has been played around Victoria sporadically for the past decade, however, it was only in 2015 when the Melbourne All Abilities Cricket Association (MAACA) was founded with the objective of giving all abilities cricket a more formal platform. This association is a pioneer in its field and is supported by Cricket Victoria and Cricket Australia.

Hussain Hanif, Coach for YCCC, told Indian Link, “Yarraville Club Cricket Club is the sole club catering to all abilities in the western suburbs. We are also the only club in Melbourne which has both Super League and Ten-Over Tonks teams. And both the teams are topping the charts in their respective groups,” he added with pride.
By the 24th over of the first innings, Skye Cricket Club had lost all their wickets and set a target of 138 for YCCC.
Special guests present at the event were Sam Almaliki, Head of Community Engagement for Cricket Australia; Aaron Wharton, Community Programs Coordinator for Cricket Victoria; and Stephen Lefebvre, President of MAACA.
MAACA.Indian Link
“Cricket Australia has an extensive program in place under the National Disability Cricket Strategy, through which we plan to expand All Abilities Cricket across the country,”Almaliki said. “Coaching sessions and week-long clinics are being organised in over 112 schools and we are educating clubs to be more inclusive, to cater to all ethnicities and genders, by providing workshops about inclusion and diversity training. This is the inaugural season in Victoria but there will be a national tournament at the end of this year.”
In the 27th over of the second innings, YCCC beat Skye Cricket Club by two wickets to become league champions.
“MAACA is the first all abilities cricket association in Australia,” said Stephen Lefebvre, President of Melbourne All Abilities Cricket Association. “It allows the players to belong to a mainstream club and feel included. As an initiative to generate awareness amongst non-participative clubs, we have invited them here today to come and view the game themselves and to take out the myth and mystery that surrounds running an all abilities team.”

He also added, “Being a part of a team is a big thing for these guys. They live it and love it, every minute they are on the field – and off too.”
It was a match like no other. The losing team also won, with the happiness evident across their faces. People are different, but that doesn’t mean they need to be treated differently. Our society should not be about segregation it should be all about integration.
For further information, visit:
maaca.vic.cricket.com.au/
cricketvictoria.com.au/get-involved/all-abilities
facebook.com/yarravilleclub.cricketclub

We want a clean India

By
Preeti Daga
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Reading Time: 3 minutes

Community support grows for PM Modi’s Clean India Campaign

I am truly honoured to be one of the fifteen Australian ambassadors for the ambitious Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (Clean India Campaign), a national movement by the Government of India. This campaign includes the cleaning of streets, roads and infrastructure in 4,041 statutory cities and towns in India, and by 2019 eliminating open defecation by constructing toilets for households and communities.
My fellow ambassadors as announced by the India Australia Exchange Forum (IAEF), include Rashi Kapoor, Shagoon Bhasin, Tripti Gupta, Mandy Bose, Dheepa Awtani, Tanvi Mor, Aviti Sharma, Priya Bedi, Anita Rai, Rashi Budhiraja, Rohini Verma, Priyanka Arora, Priyanka Sharma, Divya Bakshi, and senior Australian journalist Stephen Manallack – all of whom are recognised faces in Melbourne’s Indian community and are doing a fantastic job of raising awareness of this very noble social cause.
Clean India. Indian Link
The IAEF is a not-for-profit organisation formed to facilitate bilateral relations, intellectual property transfer, education, trade, business and cultural exchange between Australia and the Indian subcontinent. It works with Indo-Australian businesses, community organisations, state and federal governments to further enrich government-to-government and business-to-business engagements.
You may wonder why ambassadors have been chosen in Melbourne when the campaign is based in India and how we will we contribute to this campaign sitting in a different continent.
The answer is simple, we can all support this campaign, irrespective of our location. It can be done in two ways: firstly, by discussing and raising awareness about the much needed sanitation facilities in India’s rural areas; and secondly, by making a financial and voluntary contribution to support the implementation of this campaign on the ground.
Studies show that one in every ten deaths in India is linked to poor sanitation, and low-income households bear the maximum brunt of poor sanitation. Nearly 120 million toilets are required to be built in the country by 2019 to realise the vision of a Clean India.
Last December the World Bank approved $1.5 billion to support the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, but a lot more is needed to bring a real visible change on the ground.
Clean India. Indian Link
To support this campaign, IAEF has pledged to build 100 toilets in India over the next three years. As a first project, IAEF has chosen the village of Jaunti, in the northern state of Haryana, to support the constructions costs of up to three toilets. The ground work of securing the land, necessary permits and consultation with the village community is currently underway. The toilets will be built by Sulabh International after the necessary funds are raised.
It’s not just the cost per single toilet seat that has to be taken into consideration. There are other associated costs such as roofing, flooring, pipelines, plumbing and much more. Not every village has sewer lines, so there can be added costs of building a septic tank. In most instances, a complete infrastructure has to be established before a toilet can be built.
All the ambassadors are working collectively to raise awareness of this project, but we need your support to turn this project into reality.
When people work together, they have huge power to bring change – in their neighbourhoods, cities, and ultimately bring change to their country for the better.
It’s my humble request to you to join this very worthy cause and make a meaningful contribution to a country we all belong to and we all very dearly love.
A charity fundraising dinner is being hosted on 12 February at Spirit of India restaurant in Preston for IAEF’s Clean India Mission.
Visit: https://www.facebook.com/IAEFSBA/ 
 

Intercultural champion recognised

By
Preeti Jabbal
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0
Reading Time: 3 minutes

Since 1995, the Menzies Awards have been presented to community members who have provided outstanding service in their particular field

Meet Harpreet Singh Maan, a proud proponent of intercultural communication, and winner of a Menzies Community Australia Day Award 2016. Harpreet was recognised for his contribution to the local community of Menzies and his ongoing loyal commitment to the Commonwealth of Australia.
Kevin Andrews, Federal Member for Menzies, presented the award at the Manningham Function Centre on 26 January. Since 1995, the Menzies Awards have been presented to community members who have provided outstanding service in their particular field.
.Indian Link
Harpreet is committed to a lifelong pursuit of identifying, creating and building bridges between cultures for healthier communities. He educates people about Sikhism and facilitates tours to the Gurudwara (Sikh Temple) in Blackburn. He actively participates in humanitarian and community events in an attempt to promote harmony and peace.
Harpreet came to Melbourne from Phagwara, Punjab in 2006 to complete a Masters in IT at Swinburne University, and has been employed as a senior admissions officer in Swinburne’s International Department since 2008.
“When I arrived in Melbourne, no one knew me and I would hear things like, ‘How are things in Afghanistan?’” Harpreet said, as he recalled what inspired him to get involved in informing the community about his culture.
“I felt that many people did not really understand what turbans stood for, nor did they know much about Punjabis and Sikhism,” Harpreet said. “I believe that it’s much easier to learn and teach about culture in a fun, interactive environment as opposed to a lecture theatre,” he added. This was the reason behind the creation of the Swinburne Punjabi Club that he initiated in 2007 whilst he was still a student.
ausikhs.Indian Link
Harpreet is currently a member of the Whitehorse Interfaith Network and also Secretary of the Sikh Interfaith Council of Victoria. He is grateful for the opportunities he has had to collaborate with people from different backgrounds and cultures, enabling an exchange of information and better understanding among people.
Along with his friends Devinder Singh and Harmeet Singh, Harpreet has recently launched an app called AuSikhs, a free, one stop app offering culturally sensitive advice and services to people within Victoria’s Sikh community.
“Our app includes names of all the Sikh Gurudwaras, Sikh organisations, helplines, local events, names of service providers and lots of other relevant information to those who download it,” explained Harpeet.
“AuSikhs has been quite successful with over 1000 downloads. We are even getting phone calls from people in Canada who wish to learn how to create similar applications.”
According to Harpreet, his wife Jaspreet Kaur actively supports him in his community work. “I know it is a cliché, but my wife truly is the woman behind my success. She is very supportive, participates in my interfaith activities and also sings kirtan on stage at events,” Harpeet said.
Together, Jaspreet and Harpreet are showing great dedication to enhancing cultural understanding.

Thousands come to Liverpool to enjoy Australia Day celebrations

By
Indian Link
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Reading Time: 2 minutes

Australia Day in Liverpool was a huge success with more than 30,000 people coming to Woodward Park to enjoy the festivities

Mayor Ned Mannoun was delighted with the turnout:  “There was a real warmth and family friendly atmosphere at our Australia Day event and I am proud that so many people came to Liverpool to celebrate our national day,” he said.
Australia-day-celebrations-2016-in-liverpool.Indian Link
“We had a huge line-up of entertainment, including R&B star Paulini, Hoot and Hootabelle for the kids, as well as rides, food stalls and a fireworks spectacular.
“This event was a reflection of our rich cultural diversity which is celebrated and embraced by the whole community.
“Australia Day is a time to reflect on wider issues like the freedom of living in Australia and the genuine welcome we extend to all people who settle here,” Mayor Mannoun said.
“On the day, I was honoured to welcome 32 new citizens and their families to Liverpool. They have come from all over the world to make Liverpool their new home.
“I would also like to congratulate our Australia Day Award winners and Order of Liverpool Award winners. Our Australia Day Citizen of the Year, Dr James Toh, is a general surgeon, lecturer and researcher at the Ingham Institute where he teaches medical students in the South West Clinical School at Liverpool. He plans to continue his work at Liverpool Hospital, where he will serve the community as a surgeon and in cancer research.”
For more information, visit http://www.liverpool.nsw.gov.au/whats-on/major-events/australia-day

India needs to overhaul its education system

By
Indian Link
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0
Reading Time: 5 minutes

We must embrace innovation in the classroom if we want economic prosperity, writes AMIT DASGUPTA

The emergence of a knowledge-driven society demonstrates that everything can and must change, and that the process is a continuous search for better solutions. Indeed, new scientific discoveries and technological innovations have become an integral part of our everyday biography. Objects we had grown accustomed to have been replaced by newer and more efficient products. If anything is truly permanent, it is change itself.
education.Indian Link
Yet the vast majority of people continue to have a pathological anathema towards change. They harbour feelings of great mistrust because they perceive change as an explicit acknowledgement of failure. Consequently, they are steadfast in their refusal to accept that the failure to shift thinking would, most certainly, lead to their obsolescence.
Research has substantively established linkage between countries that embrace innovation and thus, change, and economic prosperity. People in such countries think differently. They are more adventurous, less risk averse and open to experimenting. Governments and the bureaucracy in emerging or developing economies, on the other hand, tend to suffer from an acute disavowal of all that challenges existing paradigms. New ways of seeing worry them. Consequently, our schools and colleges are unable to respond to the rapidly changing educational needs of a knowledge economy.
This has serious consequences. First, it adversely impacts economic growth because the quality of education is the principal driver of the growth engine. And second, bad education does not lead to employability in a globally competitive environment. This is a profound and not imagined disaster that India credibly faces and will, most certainly, undermine its aspirations as a global thinker.

So, what is the role of education?

To paraphrase Nietzsche, all human action needs to be based on what we wish to achieve. Education, similarly, must have an end-objective. For students, it is productive and sustained employability. For governments, this translates into contributing to the GDP. If education underachieves in this stated objective, it would be perceived as a failure, since more and more young people would become unemployable.
What this requires is the radical shaking up of the education system. First, this would ensure that the dead wood falls off. Second, the system would be reformatted to achieve 21st century objectives. In short, we need to usher in an educational revolution and not just an evolution of teaching techniques. Yesterday’s curriculum and pedagogy have to give way to future needs and requirements. In effect this means shifting from an education system that was crafted during the industrial era to one that is in consonance with the present-day demands of an ever-changing environment. In other words, the very DNA of education – both at the school and university level – needs to be changed.
For India, this is the need of the day. She is at the cusp of transformational change. Global perception of her attractiveness is remarkably upbeat. She has been invited to the high table. However, all these positive developments are directly related to whether India would deliver on promise and expectation. Is she, in other words, a safe bet? The attractiveness of the Indian workforce would be the key for corporate investors. This means that education would need to produce a world class workforce that is in sync with the expectations of the corporate investor.

education system India.Indian Link
(Photo by Sybill Jecker/Brooks Institute, ©2008)

This requires a fundamental overhaul in the way we perceive what education needs to deliver. First, the education environment cannot be divorced from the external landscape. The ‘in-here’ experience needs to be directly linked to the ‘out-there’ experience. Our schools and universities are not a comfort zone or an idyllic island resort but rather deeply rooted in the here-and-now. The outside world is complex, volatile and unpredictable. Students need to be taught to embrace uncertainty and not be intimidated by it. Indeed, the job they would end up doing has not yet been created. Did any of us realistically believe, when we were students, that a living could be made designing apps?
Second, education needs to inculcate learning agility. In other words, education must craft persons who are open to new ideas, who are constantly learning new skills and willing to apply them but more importantly, learning from experience and failure.
Third, we need to learn the importance of team work and focus. Teams are not a collection of silos but an integrated circuit with a clear objective.
And finally, education administrators need to recognise that the teacher is simply a facilitator. Unless education is refashioned, we would embrace the 21st century with a 19th century mindset. The result would be failure.
Restructuring the approach towards contemporary education, accordingly, needs to incorporate the following, among others:
Learning about learning: The teaching community and education administrators need to recognise the need to shift from teaching to learning. This is the transition from the sage on the stage to a co-learner. Substantive evidence exists of teachers abandoning the chalk and talking methodology, with dramatic results.
Shifting the mind-set of education providers: The fundamental paradox is that teaching is provided by an older generation to a younger one leading to a credible likelihood of a mismatch and disconnect in thinking, understanding and communication. Education is all about connecting and thus, interpersonal relations. Students need to be able to relate to their teachers. If this is lacking, education would fail to meet the high societal expectations.
Embracing the Internet: The Internet has made learning possible 24×7 without the teacher. Unfortunately, while the teaching community acknowledges the transformative impact of the Internet, the whole-hearted embrace is perfunctory. Consequently, educational institutions are unable to take full advantage of the incredible world the Internet opens up, which, for the most part, is entirely free.
Redesigning Space: Design has assumed significance and rightly so. Studies have demonstrated how design impacts thinking. Various corporate offices are moving into open style functioning and a fluid utilization of space with funky designs that are immediately attractive. Schools and classrooms have, similarly, started changing. Indeed, even the term ‘classroom’ is being replaced with ‘learning centres’. The consequent requirement is for the campus and the learning centres to become interactive, engaging and functional. They play a dramatic role in shifting pedagogy to a modern mindset.
Understanding globalisation is multiculturalism: A rapidly integrating world has substantially diluted geographical boundaries. Educational institutions must recognise this dramatic new requirement and help open minds, so that we are sensitive and welcoming of other cultures
The future is hurtling towards us at an extraordinary pace. Unless education is refashioned by visionary leadership, we face the dire consequence of being left out of the mainstream. This is one of the great challenges Prime Minister Narendra Modi faces.
 
IANS

Cricket for social justice

By
Ritam Mitra
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0
Founders of LBW Trust Darshak Mehta and Mike Coward with Sri Lankan great Kumar Sangakkara.
Reading Time: 4 minutes

 

In light of recent media and regulator scrutiny around the financial operations and corporate governance of charitable organisations, it is rare but refreshing to come across a genuine good news story in this space. And if there were ever to be a good news story, it would be the story of the LBW Trust.

From its humble beginnings at a lazy backyard barbeque ten years ago, the LBW Trust now supports over 1,500 students through tertiary education in India, Pakistan, Nepal, South Africa, Uganda, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and Jamaica, with that number projected to cross 2,000 by the end of 2016. The best part? As the Trust has no office, no overheads and no employees, every single cent raised by the organisation goes towards student scholarships.
The formation of the LBW Trust – which stands for Learning for a Better World – was in many ways, a happy accident.

Back in 2006, Co-Founder and President, Darshak Mehta had anticipated a casual evening in the backyard of the greatly respected cricketer and journalist, the late Peter Roebuck, who was telling his guests about the disadvantaged students whose education he was supporting entirely with his own funds. Upon suggesting to Roebuck that he formalise the support by raising funds through a new charity, Mehta inadvertently planted the seeds for the formation of the Trust.


In a very short time, the charity had gained incredible momentum. Brian Hughes, former CEO of the NSW Cricket Association (as it was then known), was appointed as Honorary Secretary, while former Labor MP John Faulkner soon joined the board. From there, the list of names involved in the charity only became more significant, as Mehta and his co-founders – including Roebuck and sports journalist and historian Mike Coward – resolved to inspire confidence in the community of the charity’s legitimacy. Former Australian Governor-General Sir William Deane AC was one of the first to become a patron, while a host of prominent cricketers followed, including Greg Chappell, Adam Gilchrist, Rahul Dravid, Kumar Sangakkara and Michael Holding.

The Trust operates on a simple premise: it provides scholarships to economically disadvantaged students in developing, cricket playing countries to help them complete their tertiary education. Mehta’s vision, along with Roebuck and Coward, was “We can give money to people, or else we can teach them how to fish”.

The hope is that, upon graduation, those young men and women will have the opportunity to play critical roles in improving the future of not only their families and communities, but their nations. The scholarships are awarded not on the basis of academic ability or potential, but purely on the basis of socio-economic need. The awarding of scholarships is determined by the local NGO partner(s) with whom the Trust works in each country.

The reason behind choosing to provide support for only tertiary education was due to the much higher levels of government support for primary and secondary education in developing countries in comparison with the subsidisation of tertiary education. Students supported by the Trust have gone from living in slums to working with companies such as Infosys, becoming chartered accountants, or becoming doctors.

At the end of January, the Trust will be holding its 10th anniversary dinner at the SCG, which promises to be its most profitable dinner yet. All 600 tickets were purchased in a hurry, including 20 tables of 10 guests purchased by Link Marketing Services, which Mehta credits as one of the organisation’s biggest supporters.

Darshak Mehta

Mehta concludes, “We have no overheads, no employees, no offices, no staff. We hardly even have a postal address. And yet we have some of the most prominent names in Australia and in the cricket world absolutely united behind us in supporting our endeavours. It is heartening and gratifying. You want to repay their faith and trust and never do the wrong thing.”

“We don’t want our money to rust in our bank accounts. People don’t contribute money to us for us to earn interest and sit tight on it and not change lives. To us, a good charity is a broke charity. Only then are you doing so much work that you are under enough pressure to ensure that next year you can pay for the students’ tertiary education fees again. You can’t abandon them next year. You’ve got to see them through.”

To learn more about The LBW Trust, visit this link.

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