Shah Rukh Khan to make Bollywood's costliest film

Indian screen superstar Shah Rukh Khan is spending an estimated Rs.1 billion ($ 25 m.) for perhaps the costliest Bollywood film to be made so far.

The film for children will be in the VFX medium, using computer-generated special effects.

It will be a film featuring a lot of children who wish for bad things, but get a shocking reality check when they come true, Shah Rukh told Patrick Frater of Hollywood's top trade magazine Variety in a recent interview in Berlin.

He is talking to Eros Multimedia and Charles Darby (of ‘The Matrix' and ‘Minority Report' fame), the visual effects guru, who recently co-ventured with Eros to launch Mumbai-based special effects Eye qube Studios.

Khan said he was planning the film under his home banner, Red Chillies Productions.The new venture - to be directed by Anubhav Sinha - had a budget of $25 million making it the most expensive Bollywood film to date.

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'Pan Desi' launches TV Network for South Asians

Pan Desi, an English-language television network was officially launched on March 22 on CoLours TV. Targeting South Asians living in the U.S., the network is the first to be available to over 50 million people everyday during prime time. The new network will capture the American Desi experience by targeting key Desi demographics and age groups.

Pan Desi programming will be aired daily during Prime Time at 9 PM (8 Central) on CoLours TV. CoLours TV is a pioneer in multicultural television.

Pan Desi is led by key senior management and advisory board with experience at NBC, CBS and American Express. Pan Desi is also benefited by alliances with the best in class content providers.

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Records set in almost every department, traditional evaluations go with the wind

Forget the recession, forget that Wall Street is reporting to be planning a 33 percent cut in top-scale banking and investing jobs! Apparently the art market is independent of the rest of the economy. At the Asian Art Week spring sales in New York March 18-21, prices just soared and soared, showering records, a veritable fireworks display on Art River.

Both Christie's and Sotheby's achieved results unthinkable even a year ago, with Christie's netting about $20 million and Sotheby's $12 million from their South Asian sales.

Records were set in almost all departments of Asian art, including highest ever country sales for Japan and India: highest price for a Buddha (an 11th century work that went out of public view in 1915) which is also the highest ever paid for a single Asian work; the highest for a India-influenced Khmer sculpture of a feminine deity; the highest for an Indian sculpture; the highest for an Indian miniature; and the highest for an enameled Chinese snuffbox. And any number of individual auction records for contemporary Indian artists.

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Manhattan Taxi workers continue campaign to allow cell phones while driving

N eeru Singh, 22, the New York taxi cab driver who was attacked by her passenger on March 18, says she is not scared and will continue to drive a taxi. She is also going to push for legalizing cell phone use so cab drivers in danger can call for help and be saved just like she was.

"On that day, March 18, I was a little bit confused after the incident," she told Desi Talk, "But by next day I was okay. Yup, I am still driving. I was really lucky to have my friends on the phone."

On Tuesday March 18th morning at 9:30am, she was on her way to 27th Street and Broadway when her passenger began hurling racial abuses at her. "She asked where I was from and if I were Muslim or Hindu and then she started yelling at me that we were the cause of all the problems," Singh is quoted saying in a press release.

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Fibroids major cause of infertility among Indian women

Fibroids, or non-cancerous tumors of the womb, are fast emerging as a leading cause of infertility among Indian women, according to a new study.

Prakash Trivedi, a Mumbai-based doctor who conducted research for 16 years and released the results at an event on February 5, says about 25 million women in India suffer from fibroids.

"The study has clearly shown fibroids are one of the major causes of infertility among women in India. We found that it is on the rise and there are many reasons for it, including late marriages that result in late pregnancies," Trivedi told IANS.

He studied 2,142 women and found that women who are red-meat eaters or are overweight and have hypertension tend to get more affected by fibroids. "They are also transferred to a woman from her blood relative," he said.

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The idea of discarding any of my shoes seems impossible

One thing my mother and I have in common is our weakness for shoes. She just finished reorganizing her closets and upon the completion of this month long project, half of an entire walk in closet is composed of rows and rows of shoes.

On a whim, I decided to count them; there are roughly 130 pairs. Now we have started reorganizing my own closets, a formidable task in its own right (and one that I certainly hope takes less than a month because I don't know how much longer I can handle trying to find patches of carpet to step on as I make my way from my door to my closet.) I was looking around the overwhelming mountains of clothes currently strewn about my room one day when I realized that peppered among them are the beginnings of a shoe collection that will soon rival that of my mother's.

I have been strictly instructed to discard anything that I have not worn in the past year and do not plan to wear in the next. For things that I intend to keep for sentimental value, there is a duffel bag that is to be stored in the attic.

As far as my clothes go, this job is more a relief than a chore. I have piles of clothes that not only take up space, but haven't fit me for years and even when they did fit, I barely wore them. My shoes, however, are another story.

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Remarks to a joint-session of the New York State legislature in Albany

NPR took a DNA test for me as they did in the program African Lives and they found a number of hits from Ireland and Scotland, so I want to wish you all a Happy St. Patrick's Day.

I would like to thank the Chief Judge Judith Kaye for administering that oath, the chief judge who I believe will go down in history as one of the greatest chief judges this State has ever had.

I would like to thank Rabbi Shmuel Lefkowitz, one of my dear friends for coming and speaking here today, and also, Monsignor Wallace Harris, my pastor, for delivering that invocation as well.


I would like to thank my colleague in government who I now have forgiven for shooting me with a water gun a few years ago, the Attorney General for the State of New York, Andrew Cuomo.

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Replacing Spitzer Incoming Governor, Paterson, praised by all sides

Replacing Eliot Spitzer, who rose to the governorship of New York after brow beating Wall Street titans, is David Paterson, a man so affable that the colleague he supplanted in an Albany coup now speaks of him in glowing terms.

"David is extremely intelligent, charming and witty, and enjoys the goodwill of people in both parties," said state Sen. Martin Connor, a Manhattan Democrat whom Paterson knocked off as Senate minority leader in 2002. "He ran against me, and he beat me. But we remain friends. I've been helpful to him, and he's been helpful to me.We enjoy each other's company."

With Spitzer announcing his resignation amid a prostitution scandal, Paterson, 53, will become the country's third African American governor since Reconstruction, assuming control of the third largest state in the country and a government that many say has been

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Carrom - World carrom champ is 24-year-old Chennai girl

The world carrom champion is a 24-year-old from Chennai who has been winning global plaudits, but is virtually unknown.

Despite her many achievements, Ilavazhagi, the daughter of an autorickshaw driver, has not been able to capture media attention.

Ilavazhagi is the world number one in carrom but while she grows in international games, her home coming parties get smaller. Only small local outfits receive her at airports, host her at felicitations and lobby for government jobs for the whizkid to survive in the game.

Ilavazhagi bagged her maiden women's title in the fifth World Carrom Championship at Palais Des Festivals, Cannes on February 17, defeating P. Nirmala, also from India, 25-11, 25-11 in the finals.

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Former ‘American Idol' sensation performs at Long Island bat mitzvah

Sanjaya Malakar, the most talked about contestant on the sixth season of ‘American Idol', was recently spotted performing at a bat mitzvah in Huntington, The New York Post reported.

He not only entertained the crowd with his performances, but is said to have read from the Torah.

He was also hoisted in a chair and was paraded around the banquet hall. Malakar, 18, is said to have excelled in his new role and entertained a crowd of approximately 300 people who attended the black-tie event.

The highlight of the evening, according to the Post was Malakar kneeling in front of the guest of honor, the 12-year old Rachel Lader, and singing his idol, Stevie Wonder's hit song, 'Isn't She Lovely'.

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1,500 physicians leave white coats on State Capital steps

M ore than 1,500 physicians from all over New York State traveled to Albany to protest on the steps of the state capitol in the rain on March 4.Many sadly left their white coats on those steps to demonstrate that they will be forced to leave their practices, retire or relocate if the current New York medical liability system is not changed. New York's high medical liability insurance rates, coupled with their rising expenses, are making it economically impossible for doctors to continue practicing medicine in the state, according to the gathered physicians. They demanded legislative changes to correct New York's current unjust court system.

Robert B. Goldberg, DO, president of the Medical Society of the State of New York (MSSNY), said, "The physicians' crisis has been looming for quite some time, but it came to a head when the Superintendent of Insurance Eric Dinallo announced that without legislative action, he would be forced to impose huge surcharges on every doctor as well as possibly imposing double digit increases in basic medical malpractice insurance premium rates. This would be on top of physicians' already sky-high insurance rates, which were already increased 14 percent just 8 months ago, and which have gone up 55-80 percent in the last five years."

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Spitzer is linked to prostitution ring by wiretap

New York Gov. Eliot L. Spitzer's political future was thrown in doubt on March 10 after he was identified as an anonymous client heard on a federal wiretap arranging to pay money and buy train tickets for a high-priced New York prostitute to meet him at a downtown Washington hotel.

A person familiar with the case said Spitzer was one of the unnamed clients of a New York area prostitution ring mentioned in federal court documents unsealed last week. Spitzer, a rising star in the Democratic Party who has been in office for 14 months, did not directly address the allegations in a hastily called news conference, and he made no mention of resigning. But as he dropped from public view, canceling all of his planned events, his political career seemed in limbo amid speculation that he was preparing to step down.

"I have acted in a way that violated the obligations to my family and that violate my,or any,sense of right and wrong," Spitzer, 48, said in a terse public statement, with his wife, Silda Wall Spitzer, at his side. "I have disappointed and failed to live up to the standard that I expect of myself."

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China, Canada have lessons for India's anti-smoking campaign

When it comes to making smokers kick the habit, India has a lot to learn from countries like Canada, New Zealand and even neighboring China.

These countries are shining examples of how the government and civil society can make individuals quit smoking - a sure way of reducing the risk of tuberculosis, cancer and respiratory and heart diseases.

In India, very few people have been able to give up the addiction. For instance, in 2004, only two percent of adults stopped smoking and only when they fell seriously ill, says a new World Health Organization (WHO) supported study published online in The New England Journal of Medicine.

Prabhat Jha, the lead author of the study, "A nationally representative case -control study of smoking and death in India", said China and Thailand had the same percentage of people quitting smoking 10 years ago.

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A.R. Rahman to stage Broadway-style musical in India

Music composer A.R. Rahman, making a self-confessed "u-turn" after his success with the ‘Lord of the Rings' musical on London's West End, is now planning to bring a mega Broadway-style musical to India.

"Yes, it will be very soon," Rahman said at the Jet Airways-sponsored gala launch of the ‘Lord of the Rings' compact disc in London on February 11.

Rahman said his plan is to create an original musical play - of the kind seen in London and New York - to be put up on an Indian stage, most probably in Haryana, near Delhi.

The staging will hinge on plans by Indian events management and entertainment company Wizcraft to develop an entire town near Delhi, patterned after Las Vegas, Rahman told IANS in an interview.

There will be a big theater, that's all good news.It's good to see people opening up," he said.

Although Rahman is keeping his plans tightly wrapped, it is aimed at linking Indian tourism with a modern musical stage, just as London's West End attracts millions of international tourists.

"A lot of things are too early to say, let's hope for the best."

Whether the original musical will be on the scale of London's musicals remains to be seen Rahman himself prefers something on the scale of ‘Lion King', based on a popular Disney film.

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Improving government services through power of technology

I've always believed in the power of technology to deliver essential information that you need when you need it. As a businessman, I introduced a system that opened access to financial data and put individual investors in the driver's seat. As mayor, I've continued that same approach by empowering the primary investors in City government – the more than 8.2 million New Yorkers whose tax dollars keep our city running – to keep tabs on their investments.

Recently, we launched a new tool that will help New Yorkers do that. It's called Citywide Performance Reporting, or "CPR." It provides anyone – a deputy mayor, a reporter, and most especially, an everyday New Yorker – with a new wealth of information on City government.

CPR is essentially a collection of performance measures and statistics updated every month that show you how well City government is serving the public. For example, CPR can tell you how long it takes us on average to fix potholes, it can tell you if the Sanitation Department is doing a good job of keeping the streets clean in your neighborhood, or whether Fire Department response times in your borough are increasing or decreases

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Rajendra Shukla, owner and President of Reliable Silver of Naugatuck, Connecticut, former President of the Federation of Indian Associations of the TriState Area, and an individual well known for his contributions to social causes, died at home on February 24 evening. He was 69 and lived in Weston, Connecticut.

After immigrating to the United States in 1961 from Halvad, Gujarat. Shukla completed his MBA at Fairleigh Dickinson, and later became a successful entrepreneur. He eventually owned and ran his own company, Reliable Corporation, which specializes in the production of precious metals for refining and industrial purposes. Shukla viewed his success in the business world as an opportunity to assist others in need. Most recently, he set up a scholarship for public high school students in Waterbury, Connecticut who wish to attend college, as well as a fund to support the activities of a local soup kitchens and food banks in the same area.

Shukla's sustained a lifelong interest and active participation in Indian-American affairs as chairman of the Indian Cultural Society, trustee of the Gandhi Center, and his involvement with the Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan, an Indian cultural institute in Manhattan.

He has frequently been recognized for his many contributions to the Indian community and to society at large. During his tenure as president of the Federation of Indian Associations, he was named Man of the Year by News India Times in 1993 after organizing one of the largest India Day parades in New York. He was also honored for his leadership in the Indian community by the Governor of Connecticut in 2007, and bestowed the Dr. Martin Luther King Presidential Award of 2008 in Nassau County, Long Island, for "compassion and outstanding contributions to humanity".


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Television advertisement on effect of secondhand smoke on children

The New York City Health Department last week began airing a new television advertisement to educate New Yorkers about the harmful effects of secondhand smoke on children.

A Health Department survey suggests that approximately 300,000 children may be exposed to cigarette smoke at home.

The advertisement, an original production that has never aired before, can be viewed online at: http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/html/smoke/smoke -multimedia.shtml.

Every year, secondhand smoke contributes to more than 750,000 ear infections and 200,000 cases of asthma among U.S. children.

As the new ad's graphic images remind viewers, secondhand smoke makes children more susceptible to pneumonia, and it contributes to lifelong health conditions such as asthma.

A new Health Department report, ‘Childhood Asthma in New York City,' finds that nearly one in 10 New York City children (9 percent) have current asthma. The city's current asthma level is almost twice that seen among children nationally (5 percent) – and one in four New York City children with current asthma live with an adult who smokes.


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Temple dedicated to Lord Venkateswara is ‘beacon of religion'

It began as a small building, consisting of pictures and photographs of idols. That was 14 years ago.

Today the Sri Venkateswara temple, also known as the Balaji Mandir located in Bridgewater, New Jersey is a monumental and magnificent building, which houses marble shrines, immense statues of divine idols, and attracts devotees from all over the United States.

Run by the Hindu Temple Cultural Society of USA (HTCS), the temple is dedicated to Lord Ventakeswara, or Balaji. An immense idol of Lord Venkateswara made of shila (stone) is installed in the main sanctum of the temple.

Ensconced within the temple halls are more than 15 deities. Tall, awe-inspiring idols of Lord Ganesha, Ambika, Durga, Saraswati, Ram Parivar, Shiv, the Navagrahas, among others are installed in independent shrines.

Also known as Venkatachalapathy or Srinivasa, Lord Venkateswara is the supreme God believed to be a form of Lord Vishnu who destroys the sins of mortals.

"The amazing part of this temple, which is growing by the year, is that it strengthens religious and spiritual beliefs, emphasizes moral lessons and the value of our religious scripturessuch as the Mahabharata and Bhagavad Gita", Dr. Bappinedu Kucchipudi, secretary of HTCS told Desi Talk. "It is a beacon of religion, 10,000 miles way from India."

About the history of the temple, Kucchipudi said, "In September, 1989, a group of Teluguspeaking Hindus organized and incorporated the HTCS and started exploring the possibility of building a temple with Lord Venkateshwara as the main deity."

The board discovered a vacant church property in Bridgewater that had recently been slated for auction in bankruptcy court. On December 9, 1991, HTCS won the bidding with a final price of $950,000. The judge gave them 45 days to raise the full amount. During that time, they raised $450,000, and loans from temple members made up the rest. On January 29, 1992, the property completely belonged to HTCS.

"After some renovation, we inaugurated the existing building for use in February", Bappineedu said.

At that time, the temple consisted of a large gathering hall with posters of the various deities used for worship. A full-time priest was hired from the Ganesh Temple in Flushing, Queens, and in November, 1992, the panchaloha (fivemetal) idols arrived from Tirupati.


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Jodhaa Akbar Fabled romance of Mughal emperor sparks protests

A film about the fabled romance of a Mughal emperor, whose rule stands as a symbol for religious harmony in India, has been panned by many critics and sparked protests over the historical accuracy of his on-screen love life.

Whether Emperor Akbar, a Muslim, married Hindu Rajput princess Jodhaa some 450 years ago is debated by historians, but the alliance has fed folklore of an enduring love in a country scarred by a history of religious bloodbaths.

‘Jodhaa Akbar', which stars former Miss World Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, plays out the royal courtship to the backdrop of palace intrigues and epic battles.

Some Rajput groups attacked cinema halls and tore up posters of the film, saying it was historically inaccurate, and that Jodhaa was in fact Akbar's daughter-in-law.

For fear of violent protests, the film was not released in Rajasthan -- an important Bollywood market and the place where many Rajputs hail from.

Protesters disrupted a screening at a mall in Gurgaon, while a mob attacked a cinema hall in Ahmedabad, forcing multiplexes to temporarily close, the Press Trust of India (PTI) reported.

This was just the latest controversy to hit Bollywood.


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Panchen Lama to become youngest China minister

A Tibetan youth, anointed by China's atheist Communists as the 11th Panchen Lama, is tipped to become the country's youngest official holding a rank equivalent to a cabinet minister.

China and the Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, who fled into exile in India in 1959 after a failed uprising against Communist rule, chose rival reincarnations of the 10th Panchen Lama, the second highest figure in Tibetan Buddhism, in 1995.

The Dalai Lama's choice, then six, disappeared from public view, leading human rights watch dogs to call him the world's youngest political prisoner.

Beijing's choice, Gyaltsen Norbu, turned 18 on February 13."He is now an adult. He can vote and be voted for," a source familiar with government policy towards religion and ethnic minorities told Reuters, requesting anonymity.

A second source with knowledge of government policy on Tibet said, "He is likely to become a member of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress as early as next month.

" The National People's Congress, or parliament, is due to convene its annual session on March 5. Members of its elite Standing Committee hold a rank equivalent to cabinet minister.

A parliamentary spokesman declined to comment.If confirmed, Gyaltsen Norbu's appointment is almost certain to draw Western condemnation.


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