Australia is set to hear the songs of Monk Party this Diwali season, as the New Zealand-based musical group tours the country.
Monk Party is made up of father and son duo Pragunya and Nelson Myers-Daley (and yes, they are monks).
They liken their musical lifestyle to that of urban monks in the modern western world; a regimen of regular meditation, pure vegetarian diet and regular daily exercise are undertaken to promote a life charged with peace, dynamism, happiness and purity, and it shines through their music.
“This is our humble journey,” they say, “And we would like to invite you along to share our enthusiasm for music and the spiritual life.”
After an earlier career as professional session guitarist in Auckland, Pragunya (the father) blended his love of music with an appreciation for the spiritual melodies composed by his meditation teacher Sri Chinmoy.
He passed on this love of music and his talent to his son.
From a young age, Nelson Myers-Daley grew up surrounded by instruments and music. He also made regular pilgrimages to New York where Sri Chinmoy taught him many spiritual songs and mantras.
Monk Party’s other influences include the kirtan devotional music scene, ancient Indian mantras, plus a wide range of world and spiritual music.
The melodies of Sri Chinmoy, which Monk Party play, aim to uplift and inspire the audience. Sri Chinmoy once said, “Music will play a most important role in bringing about world oneness.”
Nelson’s favourite instruments come from right around the globe and include northern African and Arabic drums, flute and harmonium.
Other instruments the group uses include darbuka, riq, frame drums, badhran, cajón, pennywhistle, nylon guitar, gongs, chakra bells and bansuri flute. Their excess baggage bills are apparently huge!
Monk Party has released three CDs with the fourth set to hit the shelves over the next few weeks.
They have performed throughout North America and Australasia, as well as at world music and spiritual festivals, yoga classes, meditation workshops, private functions and also stage their own concerts which they will be doing in Australia.
They recently had the opportunity to play in front of a capacity crowd with Krishna Das in New York, which Nelson rates as one of his career highlights. “It was fantastic,” he said, “A real honour”.
Whilst they do play their songs with the aim of motivating their audiences, Monk Party’s arrangements also contain a modern ambience and dynamism which has made them more appealing to a wider audience.
Elderly people who enjoy solitude and soulfulness can appreciate their songs, as well as the younger generation who listen to their more upbeat tunes often while working out or jogging.
With their new CD and their upcoming tour, it is a busy period for the dynamic duo.
They arrive in Perth in late October for some performances at local Diwali festivals before their own concert at Scarborough Community Centre on 10 November.
Then they head to Melbourne for a performance at the Oratory Building (in the suitably name Abbotsford Convent) before spending time in the nation’s capital where they will perform at My Rainbow Dreams Café.
All their concerts are free so if you want to attend a party of a different type, go and see Monk Party!
The Indo-German trade and military agreements will probably be beneficial to both countries but India should take care with defence purchases from Germany, writes Future Directions International’s LINDSAY HUGHES
Background
German Chancellor Angela Merkel began her much-anticipated visit to India on 4 October, a day after initiating celebrations of the twenty-fifth anniversary of German re-unification.
She was accompanied by senior cabinet members and a large trade delegation. Merkel met Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who described the two countries as ‘natural partners’, for bilateral discussions on clean energy, climate change, culture, education, food security, infrastructure development and the exchange of information on terrorism.
The German Minister for Foreign Affairs, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, was also scheduled to meet India’s National Security Advisor, Ajit Doval, for further discussions. Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel greeted by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi
Comment
Any German-Indian tie-up in the civil technology area can be a benefit to both countries.
Germany’s expertise in manufacturing, in the generation of electricity from renewable sources and in research and development are acknowledged in India.
Germany is, in fact, India’s sixth-largest trading partner and its largest trading partner in the European Union.
It is hardly surprising, then, that in order to attract German investment, Modi announced a fast-track mechanism to improve the ease of doing business in India. The only other country accorded this privilege is Japan.
In the event, after three hours of discussions, the two leaders agreed to expand their ties in areas as diverse as clean energy, defence, intelligence, investment, railway technology, security and trade.
Germany being a world leader in clean energy generation, Merkel announced a soft loan to India of one billion euros, in addition to the €1.15 billion that Germany had pledged earlier for that purpose.
As the third-largest emitter of carbon and facing pressure from governments and non-governmental organisations across the globe ahead of the forthcoming climate talks in Paris, this will be a welcome relief to Modi.
He has already announced plans to significantly reduce India’s carbon emissions by investing in clean energy sources and the loan will help greatly in implementing those plans.
While Merkel complimented Modi on the breadth and speed of his reforms, Modi remarked that, ‘In a world of challenges and opportunities, India and Germany can be strong partners. German strengths and India’s priorities are aligned.’
This is true. India can benefit greatly from Germany’s industrial experience and expertise.
Also, given New Delhi’s inability to mass produce quality arms and armaments, Germany, until recently displaced by China as the world’s third-largest exporter of military equipment, would present a major source of expertise in manufacturing military materiel. India could learn a lot, in short, from Germany in manufacturing techniques.
Relying upon Germany to provide it with military technology, however, must be viewed with caution.
Germany has previously supplied military technology to India. Indeed, several German defence firms have established branches or partnerships in India.
EADS, which is a major partner in the development and manufacture of the Eurofighter, has a research and development centre in Bangalore (now renamed Bengaluru) and branches elsewhere in India.
Atlas Elektronik, which is involved with naval warfare systems, Krauss-Maffei Wegmann, which manufactures the highly-regarded Leopard II battle tank, and Diehl Defence, which manufactures missile systems, also have branches in the country.
Probably of most interest from India’s perspective, however, is ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS), which manufactures the Type 214 conventional submarine. While the organisation does not have a production facility in India, it has worked with local manufacturers and shipyards.
In 2010, for instance, the company signed an agreement for its Kockums subsidiary in Sweden to deliver superstructures for Indian corvettes. TKMS is said to be willing to build submarines in India in conjunction with a local partner.
Messerschmitt-Boelkow-Blohm, which is now part of EADS, assisted India in building its Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) and Advanced Light (Dhruv) Helicopter.
Despite these connections, however, India must approach the possibility of acquiring German military equipment with a degree of caution. In simple terms, German law forbids it to export arms to countries that are at war. (See http://isis-online.org/conferences/detail/germanys-export-control-law-in-the-new-millennium/20 for an elaboration of this topic.)
Additionally, Germany hesitated to comply with India’s technology-transfer requirements for the LCA and Dhruv helicopter and withheld replacement parts and supplies for German equipment when India and Pakistan fought in Kargil in 1999.
It must be asked, what would Germany do if after entering into an agreement to construct of submarines in India, say, India was forced to enter into a conflict over territory or to safeguard against incursions by foreign fighters? Would Germany cease to provide the technology it previously did? For how long would it stop its supplies? Under what conditions would it re-start those?
In comparison, France, for instance, has no equivalent regulation so may be relied upon to a slightly greater extent to continue to provide agreed-upon materiel.
It would be difficult to deny the quality of German arms or the country’s ability to supply those efficiently under normal circumstances; it is the extraordinary circumstances that must provide pause for thought.
Modi must negate these shortcomings before entering into an agreement to purchase armaments from Germany.
Lindsay Hughes is a Research Analyst at the Indian Ocean Research Programme
We should hope for healthy, happy children rather than sons or daughters
Recently an Uncle visiting from overseas stayed with us for a few days. He was a pleasant and amiable man, keen to take in the sights and always up for a good yarn.
On one such occasion, as he sat with me chatting over tea, he impressed me with his nonchalant comments about how his life had changed since the passing of his wife.
He mentioned how she was his friend and sounding board, and how lonely he felt after her death. I liked how he spoke of his feelings for his wife and what an impact she had on his life and that of his children.
It came as a surprise then, when he ended this conversation with, ‘I hope you don’t mind an old man saying, I know your parents probably wish this too as you are all sisters, I hope you have a boy soon and make everyone happy.’
I was shocked. While I appreciated the good wishes he was sending my way, how could he – who had just finished speaking about the impact a woman can have on a life – end with a clear gender bias for the future?
I know some men (and even women) have a restricted view on what a woman can accomplish, based on cultural and social politics that have been paraded into our consciousness under the guise of religious guidelines.
I understand that even though we have come so far as a race, men are still seen as the future breadwinners and caregivers and women seen as ‘troublesome’ and ‘a headache’.
What I didn’t understand was how a man, so well read and so well travelled, who had empowered daughters and daughters-in-law and saw my blessed life, could insult me with such gender bias.
I felt injured on behalf of every woman who has ever been subjected to the seemingly innocent and yet profoundly ignorant ‘well meaning’ prayer for a baby boy.
It is not just in developing nations where culture suffers from this.
I know many women in Australia who have had lifelong struggles with their families for failing to produce male offspring, women whose husbands who see girls as ‘a burden’.
Our world overemphasises the importance of male virility and achievement and in doing so undervalues the nurturing encouragement women provide in conjunction with their own achievements.
We live in a time where the TV, radio, phone, alarm clock, calendar and music player all fit into the palm of our hands and yet we still inherently believe that one half of the population is superior to the other.
We live in the age of self-driving cars, and yet we believe that a female child born into a family will not bring the security and affluence of a male child.
The Uncle added, ‘I know your parents feel the same way’. My parents raised four daughters with the rigor and love meted out only by those who firmly believe in raising decent children irrespective of gender.
My father never saw me as a girl, but as someone in whom he could instil good morals and values. My mother’s fears for my tomboyish nature were not because she didn’t want me to be a girl in a man’s world, but because she had lived her life as one.
I know people had things to say about my mother bearing four daughters, but I also know my father is proud as punch of his girls. His confidence, his love and his pride in all of us ensure my mother never feels ‘guilty’.
And why should she? Why should she feel guilty for raising four girls who provide the same love, security and respect a son may have?
Along with long held cultural biases, religion is another flimsy facade behind which misogynists hide.
But it is not religion that builds deep-seated prejudice against women and the female child.
It is people and the long standing history of violence towards women – the mistreatment of mothers, abuse of wives, trading of daughters and burying alive of the girl child.
It is people who perpetuate the linguistics of misogyny, be it through well meaning stereotypes such as ‘the gentler sex’ or the more overt labels we give women who do not conform to the male view of how a woman should act.
What if we teach our children not to be gender biased, instead instilling in them the values and morals that will make them upstanding humane members of society.
Let’s educate them to be the kind people that will take care of their families and their societies.
Let’s teach them to forget to say, ‘I hope you have baby boy’ and replace it with, ‘I hope you have a baby…healthy and capable of changing the world.’
For amnesia sufferers, every day is dentist’s day, writes Nury Vittachi
I just did some calculations on my savings. If all goes well, I will be able to retire by my 212th birthday.
Ageing is tough.
For example, there’s a Briton with amnesia who wakes up every morning believing he is repeating one particular day, a medical journal called Neurocase reported recently.
It’s the day he was scheduled to go to the dentist for root canal surgery – but had an operation which left him like Bill Murray’s character in the movie Groundhog Day.
By the way, root canals are dental operations with a pain quotient similar to having your body cut in half with a broken jam jar or listening to half a Justin Bieber CD. Groundhog Day is, (a) a time-loop movie, and (b) an item on the weekly wall menu at my office canteen.
Anyway, it’s sad that they can’t cure the guy, but they should at least try to make his repeating day a happier one, so he wakes up daily thinking, “Yay! Today’s the day a group of bikini models deliver my lottery winnings!”
His memory only lasts 90 minutes, so if you just tell him the ladies arrive at lunchtime, he’ll have forgotten the whole thing by then.
But I do worry about dentists. Earlier this year, I had four dental X-rays. “Is this safe?” I asked the dentist. “Sure,” he replied in a distant shout from the corridor where he and his assistant cowered behind two lots of lead-lined doors. “It’s perfectly safe.”
Children make you feel old, since they think any age over 20 is ancient.
A woman once came to our front door saying she was “collecting for an old folks’ home”, and my kids asked her: “Have you come to take dad?”
I should have sprung to my feet to remind my children that I was in the prime of life, but I was in a really low chair that it takes a while to get out of.
We should all take a lesson from China, said to have the healthiest old folks in the world – thanks to their tradition of morning dancing.
There was a report in the paper recently about a group of outdoor dancing grannies who found cars parked in their favourite dancing spot, so they surrounded the cars, lifted them up and placed them elsewhere.
Yes, mature adults can be strong. I once separated two supermarket trolleys with my bare hands, and opened a milk carton without power tools.
And adults have other uses, too. A reader sent me a recent report about a school district in the US where officials discovered that the heating and air-conditioning systems were still being run by a Commodore Amiga computer. Only one person there remembers how to use it.
I remember those first personal computers from the 1980s, made of granite and wood (although I think I had the entry-level model, made of dried cow dung and twigs). They were so exciting.
Some had eye-popping colour graphics (green letters on black), and could produce a wide range of sounds such as “beep” and silence.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to do my regular weightlifting exercise, also known as “standing up”.
Priyanka Chopra in Quantico fights the scourge of western popular culture, writes VIRAT NEHRU
The American television network ABC began its autumn schedule programming on 27 September with a show called Quantico.
This fact doesn’t seem to be of any great significance, until you look at the show’s cast. Quantico has Bollywood darling Priyanka Chopra as one of the main protagonists.
Sure, this sounds like another one of those successful international “crossover” stories for an actor of Indian origin. However, it is nothing like that.
We haven’t realised it yet, but the casting of Chopra as a lead for a show on mainstream American network television has much broader cultural impact and significance than we can imagine.
Historically, characters of Indian origin represented in western popular culture have only served to re-enforce harmful and negative stereotypes about India.
Think back to some of the most iconic portrayals by Indian actors in mainstream Hollywood blockbusters and it leaves you with a sour after-taste.
Amrish Puri – one of the most versatile actors of Indian cinema -was reduced to a savage brute in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. It was up to Jones, the beacon of all that is righteous and civilised, to save the people from the barbaric mess that was meant to represent ‘India’ in that film.
Similarly, Kabir Bedi didn’t fare too well in the James Bond film Octopussy either. I’m not suggesting that the Bond and Indiana Jones franchises are meant to be culturally sensitive. Viewing either would show that most characters in those films are stereotypical caricatures.
Amrish Puri in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
And I don’t intend to devalue the contributions of Puri and Bedi, among others, in showcasing the mettle of Indian actors in western popular culture. My point is that India, its people and its culture, haven’t fared well in their various imperial film incarnations.
India was seen as the land of savages that was meant to be civilised – a very colonial mindset – for the purposes of western popular culture.
Looking closely, we see that this mindset has not really changed over the years. It has just evolved into a more digestible commodity as audiences around the world have become more culturally diverse and aware.
The Oscar-winning film Slumdog Millionaire showed the poverty stricken, social evil ridden side of India that westerners are all too familiar with.
That’s the side of India that western popular culture instantly recognises and re-affirms: a kind of commodification of poverty on a massive scale.
Milder forms of tainting and distortion include viewing India as some kind spiritual destination. Films such as Eat, Pray, Love and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel indulge in this kind of fantasy.
Insidiously here, India itself becomes an artefact that can be marketed in forms that promote reductive notions such as “exotic”, “spiritual” or even worse, “mystical”.
Contemporary Hollywood loves to promote how it’s turned a new leaf and become culturally diverse. However, it is but an open secret that this so-called ‘diversity’ is rather tokenistic.
Irrfan Khan has become Hollywood’s go-to guy for any roles that have a South Asian origin. Meanwhile, the roles that really matter still elude Indian actors who have made the successful international transition.
To add insult to injury, in the upcoming film The Man Who Knew Infinity – rumoured to be the biopic of Indian mathematical genius Srinivasa Ramanujan – the role of Ramanujan will be played by Dev Patel, a British-Indian who ostensibly adopts a horrible rendition of the generic Indian accent when he plays characters of Indian origin.
In this volatile cultural climate, enter Priyanka Chopra. From the very first episode of Quantico, you know things will be different.
This is not another tokenistic portrayal. Not only is Chopra’s part a lead role, the way the character is written and portrayed completely turns the western popular culture assumptions about India on its head.
Chopra is not actually playing an Indian character. She is playing Alex Parrish, an FBI recruit who is framed for a blast at Grand Central Station. Yes, Parrish has Indian heritage, but nothing in Chopra’s portrayal so far betrays any insinuation that viewers may subconsciously connect with Indian stereotypes.
Chopra completed her schooling in the United States and has always been comfortable with her cosmopolitan English accent. She doesn’t put on the highly irritating and condescendingly generic Indian accent that has become popular in Hollywood films in order to connect with western audiences.
This choice is a rather bold and commendable move. Contrast this with the portrayal of Rajesh Koothrappali – as played by British-Indian Kunal Nayyar – who deliberately puts on the generic Indian accent, often for comedic effect, in the television show The Big Bang Theory.
More interestingly, we see Chopra’s Parrish engage in casual sex in the first few minutes of the first episode, and she doesn’t try to hide it either – a very ‘un-Indian’ thing to do if you are a stereotypical Indian character on television.
Again, the character of Koothrappali offers a nice contrast. In the first few seasons of The Big Bang Theory, he is even unable to talk in front of or to women without the help of alcohol or another relaxant, let alone make a conscious choice of engaging in a sexual encounter.
It is clear that Chopra, through Parrish, is subtly and cleverly dismantling long-held negative and harmful stereotypes about India and its cultural dynamic that have never really left the consciousness of many western viewers.
It is impossible to fathom the enormity of the task at hand. This is not going to be easy. Chopra’s efforts are key to changing attitudes around how Indian actors and characters are seen and portrayed in mainstream popular culture.
Can India be more than a punchline to a historically cruel and imperial joke? We have to wait to find out.
Siblings Shruti and Adarsh present a joint arrangetram
Guru Vrinda Ravi beamed with pride as she felicitated her students Shruti and Adarsh on their arrangetram (debut performance) held recently at St Phillip’s Christian College Theatre, Newcastle.
“You made me very happy, dancing with power and grace,” she said. It was indeed a moment of pride for all, parents, guru and students as years of dedication came to fruition.
Shruti and Adarsh began their performance with a Pushpanjali followed by Sri Vigna Rajam Bhaje. The alternating of sollukattu (vocal percussion) and singing of the lyrics added a special charm to the Ganesha sthuthi while the various formations in the Alarippu gave the traditional steps a refreshing feel.
Parashakthi Janani followed. The choreography played with the idea of devi as the protector of good and destroyer of evil in this universe.
Shruti and Adarsh effectively played the roles of devi and the evil asura, finishing in a strikingly spectacular pose of Simhavahini – devi riding the lion.
Special mention has to be made here of the lighting which captured the intricacies of the movement and stillness encapsulating the dancers in a space beyond time.
Gokula bala formed the piece de resistance of the evening where many episodes were narrated from the evergreen stories of Lord Krishna.
The unhurried pace with which the story of Kuchela and Krishna was narrated, with attention to the minutest detail, kept the audience completely spellbound.
In the narration of the story of the Putana, the choreography beautifully alternated the two dancers, one reflecting the original demonic form of Putana and the other her transformed beautified self meant to deceive.
Shruti was expressive in her role as the vicious serpent Kalinga, as Adarsh, in the role of Krishna, danced in all his glory on her hood, and in the final stanza portraying the Geeta Upadesam, Krishna preaching to Arjuna, Prema Anandakrishnan’s enunciation of the lyrics sambhavami yuge yuge… will definitely resonate with the audience for many yugams (eons) to come.
In the padam on Lord Nataraja, the eternal dancer, Adarsh used his body effectively to present the tandava aspect of dance as Shruti used her eyes and facial expression to convey the lasya aspect.
“Though it is a challenge for two people to dance together, as we need to make sure that we are perfectly synchronised, dancing with my brother Adarsh gave me a sense of reassurance and delight,” Shruti said.
The sprightly kavadi chindu that followed suited Adarsh’s dancing character, as he moved with abandon, reflecting his natural joy in music and dance.
Adarsh seemed perfectly at ease with performing this female-dominated art form. “There is a scarcity of male dancers learning this divine art in the world today,” he said.
“However, we all know that the reason why this art form exists is a man, Lord Nataraja, and that thought and belief helped my desire to learn grow stronger and gave me the impetus to progress,” he continued.
In contrast, the freshness and blossoming love of Andal as she waits for her union with the Lord was presented with its inherent innocence by Shruti.
Guru Vrinda Ravi has to be commended for the appropriate choice of items that showcased her students at their best. The thillana in Kuntalavarali is always a joy to behold and was a fitting finale for the evening.
An excellent orchestra accompanied and supported the dancers comprising the well modulated, heartwarming voice of Prema Anandakrishnan, the rich tones of Balaji Jagannadhan on the violin, the magical melody of Venkhatesh Sritharan on the flute, with Pallavarajan Nagendran, whose fingers dance on the percussion, highlighting every move of the dancer. Guru Vrinda Ravi conducted the recital with panache.
Special mention needs to be made of Mr Paskarajothy Kandasamy for the stage décor, which added the right balance of grandeur and aesthetic appeal giving the audience a sense of watching a performance along the pavilions of an ancient temple.
“Our quest for learning will continue forever,” affirmed Shruti and Adarsh as they embark on their journey in the world of dance.
Celebrating ten years of Celebrate India’s Diwali at Fed Square
Melbourne’s iconic Federation Square is gearing up for a massive party in November and everyone is invited.
Over two days, Friday 6 and Saturday 7 November, be prepared for an impressive line-up offerings as the hardworking team at Celebrate India Inc. mark their 10th anniversary of Diwali at Federation Square.
Founded by Arun Sharma, Virendra Berera, TJ Rao and Martand Joshi in 2006, with Arun’s wife Jaya Sharma playing a key role behind the scenes, Celebrate India has grown to be a tremendous force in Australia’s Indian community.
Arun and Jaya Sharma with former CEO of Melbourne Airport Chris Woodruff
“When we started, we had been here for a long time,” says Celebrate India chairman Arun Sharma. “We saw that most of the festivals and events were being held to look after the needs of local Melbourne communities, but there was nothing to cater to the wider community.”
“Celebrate India was formed to bring people together; to share our festivals with fellow Australians to promote understanding, and to celebrate our heritage for future generations.”
The first Diwali celebrations hosted by Celebrate India were held back in 2006 at Federation Square. Even at the inaugural event, an estimated 25,000 people were in attendance.
This year, after a decade of commitment and determination, Mr Sharma expects more than 60,000 people to attend.
“When we started, we looked at all India’s festivals and found Diwali to be the most accessible and appropriate, as it doesn’t have to promote religion,” Mr Sharma explains.
In the beginning, it was very difficult to get Diwali at Federation Square off the ground.
“We had to convince people about the merits of the event,” Mr Sharma explains.
“At that stage, no one knew Diwali. We had a meeting with the Lord Mayor and I had to take photos from celebrations held in India to show them what is was about. They had no idea.”
Hosting an event in the heart of Melbourne’s city also presented logistical challenges.
“It was very hard work,” Mr Sharma admits.
Today, Celebrate India is headed by Mr Sharma, along with committee members Virendra Berera, Jaya Sharma, Vamsi Krishna Budige and Harj Nota.
The Diwali at Federation Square event has also grown from a single day affair to a week-long celebration in the city, including two days of celebrations at Federation Square, and ten days of festivities at Melbourne Airport.
Melbourne Airport’s Diwali festivities
“There is such a lot to offer that we were struggling to fit everything in one day, so we decided to hold the festivities over two days – mainly to celebrate our 10th anniversary,” says Mr Sharma, who has been at the helm, meticulously planning the massive event.
“This year is going to be the culmination of the best of the last nine years of celebrations, with popular items like Strange Fruit (the Melbourne-based performing arts company) making a comeback, along with many new surprises.”
To put together an event of this proportion takes months of hard work, generous sponsorship and people willing to help.
Celebrate India has a dedicated team of 35 volunteers for Diwali planning, and this swells to 70 volunteers during the event.
“I am most excited by our family of volunteers,” Mr Sharma admits. “Their energy, motivation and ability to pull together, their unwavering commitment is a great achievement.”
Celebrate India has been fortunate to enjoy bipartisan political support despite Victoria’s changes in government. When asked what has changed most in the past ten years, Mr Sharma says it is the community reaction and support.
“Diwali has become a well-known festival,” he says. “We used to have to include ‘Festival of Lights’ to explain the event, but now we don’t need to. Friends, politicians everyone knows Diwali. We have people eagerly looking forward to the festival, even non-Indians get very excited. That has been the biggest change and achievement.”
Diwali at Federation Square 2015 will be a celebration of Victoria’s ethnic diversity and an opportunity to enjoy and experience traditional and contemporary Indian culture in its many exciting forms.
The free event, and the days leading up to the weekend, promise to be both educational and entertaining with plenty on offer to soak in the spirit of the popular Indian festival.
Preparations are underway to host Taz from Stereo Nation who is a renowned Indian singer; composer and artist from the UK.
“If all goes without a hitch, Stereo Nation will be performing at the Fed Square Diwali Festival and, given his popularity, we are expecting his show to be a massive crowd puller and pleaser,” says Arun Sharma as he shares the upcoming program.
Another exciting act will be Kalbeliya, a popular Rajasthani Folk dance group, as well as performances from local bands like the Om Music Group and The Fifth.
Those heading out to Melbourne airport will be greeted with a Diwali display in the departure lounge, Diwali banners on display in the international terminal and video footage of previous celebrations being screened in three locations.
“We have had remarkable cooperation from the Melbourne Airport,” says Mr Sharma. “They will be playing regular announcements in English and Hindi wishing everyone a happy Diwali. The airport rim will also be illuminated in purple during the last week to signify the festival of lights.”
The Metro will also be announcing pre-recorded Diwali wishes in various languages in the week leading up to the celebration.
“Our motivation in putting all this together is to showcase the rich and vibrant Indian culture and celebrate Diwali with the wider community. This sharing of cultural knowledge will ensure more acceptance for our future generations,” says Jaya Sharma, an integral member and often the creative brain behind the Celebrate India executive committee.
Stalwarts of the Indian community, Celebrate India promotes the cause of White Ribbon Ambassadors. White Ribbon is an Australian organisation campaigning to put an end to violence against women.
Since 2011, Diwali at Federation Square has invited all Victorians to stand up, join the conversation and take the oath pledging to never to commit, excuse or remain silent about violence against women.
From the official launch of the Festival at the Richmond Football Club to its conclusion with some spectacular fireworks there will be something for everyone. AFL players, fashion parades, live music and cultural entertainment are all part of the ‘Folkwood’ theme of this year’s event.
So where does the passion, zeal and hard work behind such a successful venture come from?
“The best feedback we have received over the years is from a teary-eyed young man from India who approached us after last year’s Diwali festival. He said “Thanks to you I do not miss home (India) anymore,” Arun Sharma says.
Jaya Sharma concurs. “It becomes worthwhile when you see people immerse themselves in the festivities,” she says. “It’s fantastic to see them appreciate our efforts in bringing the joy of Diwali to the streets of Melbourne.”
GOPIO Sydney’s charity endeavours are helping to make a difference
Since its inception in September 2008, GOPIO Sydney North West (NW) chapter has initiated various relief programs, such as relief for victims of the Nepal earthquake and the floods in Fiji.
The Global Organisation of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO) is a non-profit, charitable and community services organisation inclined towards assisting local and international people of Indian origin. Its active involvement in philanthropic activities has garnered the appreciation of communities across cultures.
“We endeavour to foster multiculturalism between Indians in Australia as well as other countries in the world. We strive with the sole purpose of helping others who are in need,” says Harmohan Singh Walia, also known as Harry Walia.
Harry, who is also a founding member of GOPIO in Australia, is a strong community leader. He serves as the chairperson on Bylaws, Policies and Procedures for the GOPIO committee (worldwide).
In 2010, the GOPIO Sydney North West chapter launched ‘Caring and Sharing’, an annual charity event to raise funds for underprivileged primary and middle school students in India.
GOPIO uses the funds to procure and distribute warm clothes, shoes, clean drinking facilities, furniture and sports equipment for those in dire need of assistance.
In just over half a decade they have raised over $20,000 and aided over 2000 underprivileged school children in the remote areas of Punjab and Haryana, India.
The sixth consecutive Caring and Sharing event, recently hosted in Blacktown, attracted a large number of patrons and over 400 guests.
As part of the cultural entertainment, Dhamma Yoga Blacktown, Supersohnis, CK Performing Arts, Virasat Folk Academy, Mystik Bollywood, Preet Sargam, Robina and Bhangra dancers all gave outstanding performances.
The proceeds of this charity dinner were donated to two schools in the district of Firozepur in Punjab, India. The GOPIO Sydney North West chapter thanked guests for their generosity and unwavering support.
“What inspires us is the thought of giving back to the community in whatever capacity possible. We support locals in need through funds or through moral support,” Harry Walia says.
In Sydney, the team has done a lot of work to create awareness in the community. It has supported old age-care facility RAINS, and has provided relief to victims of bushfires in the Blue Mountains.
It has financially aided a young widow in Australia and an underprivileged cancer patient in India.
GOPIO has also donated funds to a young high school student in India to acquire prosthetic limbs. The young boy belonged to a poor family who also lost their bread earner in an accident.
GOPIO members are tasked with visiting schools in remote areas of India and hand delivering goods and resources to less privileged children. They evaluate every opportunity where care, help and support may be offered to individuals locally and internationally.
The GOPIO Sydney NW team are a bunch of motivated individuals that include GOPIO President Prof. Balkar Kang and Secretary Sumit Joshi along with Neeru Singh, Aman Singh, Amrit Buttar, Tia Singh, Harmohan Walia, Baljinder Singh, Paramjit Multani, Raj Singh, Baljit Pelia, Jaswinder Singh Sandhu, Sanjit Hooda and Ravi Singh who are all dedicated to their work in social need projects.
Jitish Kallat’s ‘Publice Notice 2’ is the perfect backdrop to this year’s Gandhi Jayanti celebrations
A cartoon of Gandhi has been recently doing the rounds on Facebook. It shows an alarmed and profusely perspiring Bapu perched in his heavenly abode while reading a newspaper and exclaiming “What has happened to my country!”
The backdrop for this cartoon is an India where a man is lynched by a mob for his eating choices – in this case the consumption of beef. An India where dalits are still denied entry into temples; where women are not safe at night; where lovers are hunted by goons and khap panchayats, and yet another group of lovers are criminalised.
In the larger scheme of things, the events of the world serve as a dreary backdrop, where the most developed country harbours Islamophobia of irrational proportions, leading to the arrest of a school kid who had only tried to impress his teacher through his engineering prowess. A world where Islamic State is steadily wiping out the Kurds and selling young girls as slaves; where people are still driven away from their land and rendered refugees by causes that are man-made; and where humanity may just as well be reduced to a mere idea.
In the times we find ourselves in, revisiting Gandhi’s thoughts and practices might show us some light and restore our faith in humanity.
To mark his birth anniversary, Gandhi Jayanti, the Art Gallery of NSW, together with the University of New South Wales and the University of Sydney, set out to do just that.
They wanted to celebrate Gandhi’s relevance in our times amidst the telling and fitting backdrop of Jitish Kallat’s Public Notice 2, an art work which brings to life the Salt Satyagraha speech through letters appearing to be carved out of bones.
The crises of his times and those of his country men were enough for Gandhi to conclude that “no culture can live if it attempts to be exclusive”. This was also the topic of discussion presented to the panel of four representatives from the two universities, moderated by the Gallery’s deputy director Suhanya Raffel.
Dr Elizabeth Hill, a lecturer in political economy at the University of Sydney, whose research interests relate to the experiences of gender, work and care in both developed and developing country economies, spent several months in Gujarat at the Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA), an all-women’s trade union with more than half a million members, collecting fieldwork for her PhD on women’s labour market experience in the Indian informal economy. She highlighted SEWA’s Gandhian work ethics and the practice of swadeshi (home-made) goods and sarva-dharma in this symbiotic association between the union and workers, for whom Gandhigiri is a way of life.
John Zubrzycki, an award-winning journalist who has had a long association with India as a Hindi student, diplomat, consultant and foreign correspondent, said that Gandhi, although a man of contradictions, was also a multicultural man with a life which was all-inclusive. Zubrzycki also remarked that Gandhi would not be have been very happy with the union culture minister Mahesh Sharma’s new agenda. “We will cleanse every area of public discourse that has been westernised and where Indian culture and civilisation need to be restored – be it the history we read or our cultural heritage or our institutes that have been polluted over years,” the Minister has said. Zubrzycki called for an immediate restoration of Gandhian ideals of tolerance instead.
Roanna Gonsalves, writer and researcher at the School of the Arts and Media UNSW, asked for greater representation of diversity in Australian society and a more accepting Australian society. She also ruminated on the sense of narrowing of single, isolated identities (in her case, her Indian identity) as societies merge into composite collectiveness.
Sai Sowmya Bysani, a student at the University of Sydney who is currently researching the role of civil society in promoting food security in Hyderabad, India, considered the country’s social and cultural fabric and how secularism has always been a natural and innate feature of Indian society.
The evening also offered a soulful rendition of hymns such as Lead Kindly Light and Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram by Heather Cunio, a sarod recital by Adrian McNeil accompanied by Bobby Singh on the tabla.
MAHATMA GANDHI
On violence
Victory attained by violence is tantamount to a defeat, for it is momentary.
On religion
In reality there are as many religions as there are individuals.
On the role of the press
One of the objects of a newspaper is to understand popular feeling and to give expression to it; another is to arouse among the people certain desirable sentiments; and the third is fearlessly to expose popular defects.
On humanity
You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.
On forgiveness
The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.
On transgression
The seven social sins: politics without principles, wealth without work, pleasure without conscience, knowledge without character, commerce without morality, science without humanity, and worship without sacrifice.
On truth
An error does not become truth by reason of multiplied propagation, nor does truth become error because nobody sees it. Truth stands, even if there be no public support. It is self-sustained.
Three Indian-origin women make their mark on the prestigious Australian AFR-Westpac 100 Women of Influence
Veena Sahajwalla, Nalini Joshi and Ranjana Srivastava, have been named on the 2015 AFR-Westpac 100 Women of Influence list. Nominated for outstanding work in their respective fields, and the ability to inspire those around them, they join 400 of Australia’s most inspiring women, including 2014 overall winner, Former Australian Sex Discrimination Commissioner, Elizabeth Broderick, who have been honoured since the awards began in 2012. A gala awards evening celebrating the winners will be held at Sydney Town Hall on 15 October.
Chosen by a 10-member panel, the 100 winners have been selected in 10 categories, including board and management, social enterprise, business enterprise, public policy, innovation, diversity, young leader, global, local, regional as well as cultural influence.
VEENA SAHAJWALLA Awarded for Innovation
Growing up as a Mumbaikar, the humble rag picker sifting through rubble in the streets offered Veena Sahajwalla the most invaluable lesson in entrepreneurship and resource management – one person’s trash, quite literally is another’s treasure. It was an eye-opening experience and one that paved the way for an exciting career in material sciences.
Working closely with industry partners to develop the fundamental science underlying sustainable materials and technologies, the IIT Kanpur alumna has been instrumental in bridging the gap between pure research and its applications in real life, not only putting Australia on global map with a world-first invention, but also securing valuable funding in the process.
The Australian Research Council Laureate Fellow, Scientia Professor and Director of the Centre for Sustainable Materials Research and Technology at the University of New South Wales (SMaRT@UNSW), Sahajwalla feels honoured to be named in the AFR-Westpac 100 Women of Influence.
“There are so many women achieving results and making impactful contributions in a huge diversity of fields,” she told Indian Link.
For Sahajwalla, who has a Masters from the University of British Columbia and a PhD from the University of Michigan, all materials, whether natural or processed, are a resource, a valuable starting point for something completely different. The options in resource management and recovery, she believes, are limitless for those equipped with critical thinking skills and a curious mind. Advocating sustainability, her infectious enthusiasm leaves an indelible mark on listeners. “Why should we junk “waste”, when there is value attached to it?”
Her utopian vision embraces a waste-free future, a refreshing philosophy in today’s alarmingly consumerist world.
Professor Sahajwalla’s flagship invention – “green steel” – revolutionised the iron, steel and ceramic industries by incorporating “end-of-life” plastics and rubber in the steelmaking process, thereby cutting costs and making the industry more sustainable.
Examining waste at an elemental level, Sahajwalla demonstrated that heating materials at high temperatures triggered the evolution of carbon properties. She proved that recycled plastics and rubber could replace coal and coke in the electric arc furnace (EAF) steel-making process, radically changing the prevalent perception of carbon compounds. Her innovative approach has also prevented millions of rubber tyres from clogging landfill, drastically reducing greenhouse gas emissions worldwide.
Australia’s largest manufacturer, OneSteel, has now tied up with UNSW’s commercial arm NSi for sublicensing Sahajwalla’s patented technology.
Well known for her roles on the Australian Climate Council and popular ABC show The New Inventors, she has won many prestigious awards since her move to Australia, including the Eureka Prize, NSW Scientist of Year, Nokia Business Innovation Award, Australian Innovation Challenge and Banksia Environmental Foundation GE Innovation Award.
Besides numerous keynote addresses and speaking roles worldwide, Sahajwalla has actively espoused the cause of engineering among youngsters, particularly women. Ironically, she was the only female in her batch at Indian Institute of Technology. That certainly did not dampen her lifelong enthusiasm for the industry.
“It is great to see these efforts recognised and to encourage future generations of women to achieve their own goals and paths and not be bound by any stereotypes,” she said.
A Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (ATSE) and Institution of Engineers Australia, Sahajwalla has also championed the cause of commercially relevant and financially viable research and development.
SMaRT@UNSW, which she heads, brings together researchers from the faculties of Science, Engineering, Built Environment and ADFA to work with industry on the development of innovative, sustainable materials and manufacturing processes.
Having tackled waste rubber and plastics, she is now looking at utilising glass, and other components from old cars. Rather than sourcing primary materials, she is keen to work with complex waste products and mixtures that typically end up in the junkyard or rubbish tip. Ever the alchemist, she is determined to find sustainable solutions in resource management.
PROFESSOR NALINI JOSHI Awarded for Innovation
Being recognised as a Woman of Influence means a lot to Nalini Joshi. As a Georgina Sweet Australian Laureate Fellow and the first female professor at the University of Sydney’s School of Mathematics and Statistics, she is not just a passionate advocate of her discipline, but would like others to embrace maths just as she does.
“I hope that this recognition will enable me to spread my message about mathematics more widely in Australia and elsewhere,” she told Indian Link. “I would like to tell everyone how human mathematics is. It is not an esoteric and elitist pursuit, but a beautiful creation of the human mind, which has turned out to be useful in all walks of life.” Photo: Ted Seeley
As an academic, Joshi is concerned that the popular perception of mathematics has changed over the decades. A lot of anxiety has been generated because mathematics has become somehow tied to a sense of performance in people’s minds. For example, school principals are reluctant to offer the opportunity to study mathematics to students whom they think may not be star performers because their results may reflect on the school’s marketability. But Joshi believes maths should be offered as an opportunity to anyone who wants to do it.
“Young children see the fun in mathematics straightaway. It is easy to show them through patterns, colours and games, how enjoyable mathematics is,” she said. “We need to support both students and their teachers to continue to see it this way until they gain enough skills to become more confident.”
The socio-political upheaval in Burma brought the Joshis to Australia back in the 1970s. Independent and free spirited, the world of numbers always fascinated the young Nalini.
“My father was in the Burmese army and I grew up near jungles with wild animals. I had the freedom to explore all day long so long as I went to school and that’s what I actually seek every time I look at mathematics; it’s an adventure, an exploration, forging new paths into territories nobody else has looked at before,” she explained.
As a medical practitioner, Joshi’s father wanted her to follow his footsteps and so she did, enrolling in medicine briefly, only to transfer to pure sciences, much to his chagrin.
Browsing through her high school photographs recently, she realises that she was one of only two Asian faces.
“I was the only one who could be described as having a different skin colour to the others. Surprisingly, this never occurred to me as a point of difference, growing up in Australia as an immigrant. I knew I was different, but I thought that was because I was an avid reader, with my face in a book most of the time, and very interested in unusual things, particularly science and space travel,” she remembered, nostalgically.
At university, Joshi found her true passion. Completing a science degree with first class honours, Joshi went on to win the Sydney University medal in applied mathematics. She then moved to Princeton to complete her PhD.
After stints around Australia and overseas, she returned to the University of Sydney in 2002 as Chair of Applied Mathematics. Soon after she was appointed head of the School of Mathematics and Statistics, once again becoming the first woman to hold the position.
Joshi was elected Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science and has held a number of positions with the Australian Mathematical Society, including its presidency. She was Chair of the National Committee for Mathematical Sciences and board member of the Australian Mathematics Trust.
“While it takes courage and determination to succeed in most things in life, I think it took more resilience to become a successful academic, while also happening to be a woman who had children,” she admitted.
Ironically, Joshi once dreamed of being an astronaut as the physics and chemistry of celestial objects and its navigational dynamics mesmerised her.
Professor Joshi’s research specifically revolves around asymptotics and integrable systems, particularly the French mathematician Painleve’s six classical nonlinear equations. Quite like Joshi, Painleve was an aviation enthusiast. What distinguishes order from chaos? How can we identify systems that are integrable and only have ordered solutions? These are some of the challenges that have absorbed her analytical mind over the decades.
“Amazingly, the ideas on integrable differential equations also extend to difference equations, and even to extended versions of cellular automata,” she explained. In fact these equations have important uses in many scientific fields. They can model interactions of nuclear particles, describe the behaviour of light in optical fibres and predict the motion of massive waves observed in the Andaman Sea, she added.
As a natural extension, her research has forged strong connections in the realm of mathematical biology. As director of the Centre for Mathematical Biology she worked on problems involving cellular automata, predicting HIV/AIDS-infected T-cell numbers in lymph nodes.
Adding to an already stellar CV, most recently, Joshi was appointed to the newly created Commonwealth Science Council and became the 150th Anniversary Hardy Lecturer, awarded by the London Mathematical Society.
DR RANJANA SRIVASTAVA
Awarded for Global Influence
Increased life expectancy and complex treatment options, available these days through rapid advances in medicine, have complicated the decision making process, not just for patients but doctors as well, concedes oncologist Ranjana Srivastava, who has a fellowship in medical ethics. For the multi-award winning author, speaker and educator, the best medicine invariably begins with a good chat. To this end, she has repeatedly advocated effective communication as a core component of healthcare training.
“My nomination to AFR-Westpac 100 Women of Influence is a humbling experience,” Srivastava told Indian Link. “The recognition is a wonderful way of spreading the message and broadening the reach. Women in medicine are often being recognised for research, so it is great for a clinician to be recognised. It clearly demonstrates that humanity and ethical practice are finding importance in our society.”
Srivastava says she hopes for more equitable gender representation in surgical specialities, and that recognition such as this will show women that an enduring career in medicine is more than possible.
Exploring the moral and ethical challenges of modern medicine, both as a doctor and writer, she has actively sought to improve communication between patients and health-care providers in the increasingly grey areas of access to end of life care.
Her books, Dying for a Chat: The communication breakdown between doctors and patients, Tell Me the Truth: Conversations with my patients about life and death and So It’s Cancer, Now What? The Expert’s Guide to What You Need to Know offer a frank, unbiased and empathetic analysis of the palliative care issues engulfing medical fraternity.
Dr Srivastava’s writing has won her various awards. She received the Australian Human Rights Commission Literature Prize, was shortlisted for the NSW Premier’s Literary Award and her story Ode to a Patient won the Cancer Council Victoria Arts Award for outstanding writing.
Spreading the message of purposeful, needs-based communication, she is a columnist for The Age’s Melbourne Magazine, writing prolifically on humanity, ethics and medicine for a host of international publications including New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet, Time, The Week, New York Times and The Guardian.
“Besides engaging with a large audience, writing is a very cathartic experience, allowing me to have perspective, revisit the situation I have faced and examine how better I could have dealt with it,” Srivastava explained.
A regular at The Adelaide Festival of Ideas, The Sydney Writers’ Festival and The Wheeler Centre, Dr Srivastava is also a prominent speaker on medicine, society and humanity at community events and in the media.
Born in Canberra, Dr Srivastava was initially raised in Bihar, before receiving a global education in Britain and the USA, returning to Australia at age 17 to pursue medicine at Monash University. Receiving the Faculty Prize for Psychiatry, alongside first class honours, she subsequently trained at various public hospitals in internal medicine and medical oncology, before accepting a position at her Alma Mater. Srivastava was recently named a Monash ‘Distinguished Alumnus’.
“Coming from a non-medical family, I was always taught to be independent, fair minded and resilient,” she explained of her liberal upbringing. “My parents allowed me to stand on my own feet and follow my dream. My husband has been equally supportive,” said the mother of three. “I was equally lucky to have strong role models throughout my professional career as well.”
Numerous awards and accomplishments are a consistent feature of her stellar career. In 2004, she won the WG Walker Alumni Award for the highest-ranked postgraduate recipient of the Fulbright Scholarship. A fellowship in medical ethics and communication followed at the University of Chicago’s MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics. Designed to nurture emerging leaders, Dr Srivastava also won a place in the Williamson Community Leadership Program.
An oncologist at Monash Health, associated with the Monash’s Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Dr Srivastava has taken on active mentoring of junior doctors and international medical graduates. She has since been appointed to the Victorian Government’s Health Services Review Council.
Acutely aware of socio-economic disparity, her extensive voluntary involvements include stints at Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta, where she provided street-based basic medical care, and Melbourne’s Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, negotiating essential community and hospital-based services.
Through the Commonwealth Services Abroad Program, she served in Maldives after the Boxing Day Tsunami, empowering the remote community through effective self-help initiatives. Raising funds through writing, she helped facilitate the purchase of their very first community-owned medical transport vehicle, further demonstrating her ethical and globally aware nature.
