Bhutia inspires 2-1 win over Kyrgyzstan on 100th appearance

Skipper Bhaichung Bhutia scored a goal and was involved in the other on his 100th India appearance to set up a 2-1 win over Kyrgyzstan in the five-nation Nehru Cup tournament on Aug. 23.

Holders India, needing a win to stay on course for a place in the final, took the lead close to halftime when the seasoned striker trapped a long goalkick and his angular shot bounced in off both posts.

India, who lost 1-0 to Lebanon in the opening game, scored again in the 57th minute when fellow striker Sunil Chhetri converted a penalty after Kyrgyzstan `keeper Pavel Matiash tripped Bhutia.

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Hockey championship postponed due to H1N1 flu

India's hockey federation has postponed next month's national championships due to H1N1 flu, it said in a statement on Aug. 19.

More than 25 people have died and 2,000 have been infected in India by the virus that has forced the Bollywood film industry to put off big releases and cancel shoots.

The tournament was due to be held from Sept. 13-27 in Pune, one of the worst hit by the virus.

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Isha Vyas named to State Historical Records Advisory Board

New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine recently appointed Isha Vyas of Woodbridge, N.J., to the State Historical Records Advisory Board that advises authorities on historical records planning and reviews grant projects funded by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission.

Vyas is the history services and grants coordinator at the Middlesex County Cultural and Heritage Commission.

She has developed and presented many Indian and other multicultural programs in Middlesex County.

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Pakistan end losing tour on a high with Twenty20 win

Pakistan clinched a 52-run victory over Sri Lanka in a one-off Twenty20 international to finish their losing tour on a high on Aug. 12.

Pakistan, who lost the test series 2-0 and the one-day series 3-2, dominated the match with skipper Shahid Afridi guiding his team to a competitive 172 for five in 20 overs. Sri Lanka, cheered on by capacity crowd, stayed in contention until skipper Kumar Sangakkara was bowled by off spinner Saeed Ajmal for 38 from 31 balls.

The fall of Sangakkara triggered a middle-order collapse as the run rate rocketed, the hosts losing four wickets for 15 runs before being bowled out for 120 in 18.1 overs. Ajmal was the pick of the Pakistan bowlers, claiming three for 18 from his four overs.

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South Asian festival powered by solar energy

Inspired by the traditional all night concerts along India's River Ganga, Sun to Stars South Asian Festival presents at Stuyvesant Cove Park on the East River an eclectic blend of classical, contemporary and folk performing arts on Aug. 22. This is a Solar One event, lit and powered entirely by solar energy.

Stuyvesant Cove Park occupies the site of a former cement factory, transformed by volunteers into a waterfront scenic spot, offering a setting for performers and audience to interact to create a positive artistic experience, as they do in India, for example, in Varanasi.

The event is organized by Reena Shah, a New Jersey native, New York University graduate and Kathak dancer who has also featured in a variety of films, including the award-winning "American Chai" and "Stay Until Tomorrow."

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NASDAQ commemorates India's Independence Day

Consul General of India in New York Prabhu Dayal, presided over the closing bell ceremony at NASDAQ on Friday August 14. This event was part of India's Independence Day celebrations and was telecast and web cast live.

Brad Vopni, head of Global Software Development at NASDAQ, introduced Ambassador Dayal who in his speech underscored the enormous opportunities the Indian market offers U.S. investors. "As the largest source of foreign direct and portfolio investments United States is an indispensable partner in India's development", Dayal said.

The event underlined the growing importance of India for NASDAQ which lists 7 Indian companies with a combined market capitalization of $35 billion. These include ExlService (EXLS), Rediff.com (REDF), Sify Technologies (SIFY), Syntel Inc., (SYNT), Cognizant Technology Solutions (CTSH), Infosys Technologies (INFY) and Millennium India Acquisition Company, Inc. (MIAC).

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Parades, cultural programs mark India Day celebrations

India's national anthem resonated in the air as the Tricolor was unfurled in small towns and cities, universities, temples and community centers across the country this past weekend to mark India's Independence Day.Colorful parades and cultural extravaganzas were organized as local politicians including mayors, governors and federal and state lawmakers joined thousands of Indian Americans to celebrate the success of the largest democracy in the world.

Indian Ambassador Meera Shankar unfurled the Indian flag at her residence in Washington, D.C., and read out the annual Independence Day address to the nation by President Pratibha Devisingh Patil before a gathering of eminent Indian Americans.

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Irate actor returns home, decries treatment in United States

Bollywood mega-star Shah Rukh Khan returned to India on Aug. 18, stung by his treatment at the hands of U.S.immigration officials, and told fans that the screening process was discriminatory and embarrassing.

He also denied that he was highlighting the incident as a publicity stunt for his new movie, "My Name is Khan," about the discrimination Muslims face in the U.S. after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Khan, 43, was taken for secondary screening at Newark Airport in New Jersey for about 90 minutes Aug. 14, which he said happened because of his Muslim name and South Asian origin.

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Anurag Kashyap is Jeopardy! teen champion, again

Anurag Kashyap, 18, of California, won the coveted $75,000 in the Jeopardy! Teen Tournament final round August 7, beating out a host of competitors over the last week starting July 27. This is the second time running that Kashyap won.

In 2008, he competed in the 25th season of the Jeopardy! Teen Tournament. At the end of the ten-day tournament, he defeated Bradley Silverman from Georgia and Audrey Hosford from Maryland to become only the second student to win a Scripps National Spelling Bee and a Jeopardy! Teen Tournament.

Two Indian Americans Kashyap and Karan Takhar, also 18, of Massachusetts, made it up to the semi-finals. This season, the competition introduced 15 bright teenagers who faced off over ten intense nights from July 27 to August 7, toward the grand prize goal of $75,000.

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Hockey World Cup dates changed

The 2010 hockey World Cup in New Delhi has be brought forward by a week to avoid the event being upstaged by cricket, officials said on Aug. 7.

Hockey authorities have been forced to act to avoid clash of dates with the Twenty20 Indian Premier League (IPL), due to kick-off in mid-March next year.

The world cup, originally scheduled from March 7-20 will now be held from Feb. 28 to March 13, the International Hockey Federation (FIH) said on its website www.fihockey.org on Aug. 7.

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The `other' Independence Day and the `other' generation

At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom. A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance. ... We end today a period of ill fortune, and India discovers herself again."

These famous words were uttered in a monumental speech by Jawaharlal Nehru, the first prime minister of independent India, as it approached midnight on Aug. 14, 1947.

This year on Aug. 15, when the Indian flag is hoisted above the Red Fort in New Delhi, what will be going on in the hearts and minds of young Indian Americans born in the United States? What does India's Independence Day mean to them?

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Veteran journalist is dead

Veteran journalist Dharam Shourie, 72, died after a prolonged illness, July 29. Shourie came to the United States in 1989, as the United Nations correspondent for Press Trust of India.

Before that, he served in New Delhi with the PTI.

According to news reports sourcing family members, Shourie had been ill for the last two months and was hospitalized two weeks ago.

He died from multiple complications.

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Long Island's cultural festival

The India Association of Long Island (IALI) hosted its "IndiaFest2009" celebration Aug. 2 at the Hungtington Hilton in Melville, Suffolk County.

"About 8,000 to 9,000 people attended the celebrations in spite of the rains," Dr. Anila Midha, IALI president, told Desi Talk. "The response was fantastic; the people just were pouring in."

This was the second consecutive year the organization held the event, described at the "largest showcase of Indian culture on Long Island" in an indoor venue.

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South Asian rhythms at open-air music fest

Lincoln Center Out of Doors was set to open Aug. 5 at Broadway Plaza in New York City with Asphalt Orchestra, an iconoclastic 12-piece marching band conceived by Bang on a Can, premiering ambitious processional music from every corner of the music world.

New York was keyed by rehearsals that had made the pavement quiver as Asphalt Orchestra coaxed funk from the funereal, making music that would have made a halftime show sparkle with sophistication.

Sunny Jain is one of the iconoclastic dozen making up the band. He was to perform five consecutive evenings with Asphalt Orchestra.

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Explosion in Altanic City

Two of Bollywood's most sought-after playback singers and the first Punjabi female rapper came together Aug. 1 for "Explosion 2009," a live concert at the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, N.J.

Singers Sonu Nigam and Sunidhi Chauhan as well as British-Indian rapper Hard Kaur enthralled audiences with electrifying performances.

Organized by Bharat Jotwani and Victor Khubani, the show was held in the packed to capacity arena of the famous casino near the Boardwalk.

"Trump Taj Mahal arena provided the perfect setting for this explosive sold-out concert of 5,306 attendees," Jotwani told Desi Talk.

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Salim Ejaz making bid for New York City comptroller

Salim Ejaz, a chartered accountant running for comptroller of New York City, thinks if South Asians and Middle Easterners living here go to the polls in the Sept. 15 Democratic primaries, it would catapult him into the Nov. 3 elections.

But it is going to be an uphill battle as Ejaz faces four rivals, all city councilors who decided to try for the position when Comptroller Bill Thompson decided to run for mayor against incumbent Michael Bloomberg.

The other contenders are councilors David Yassky (Brooklyn), David Weprin (Queens), John Liu (Queens) and Melinda Katz (Queens).

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Christian televangelist Solanky arrested for alleged mail fraud

A local pastor based in White plains, N.Y., who hosts a religious cable television show, was arrested July 20 for allegedly bilking investors of more than $2 million in investments into a jewelry business that was apparently a fraud.

Samuel Solanky, 61, of the TV show "Vandana," is reported to have promised 100 percent returns "within a matter of months," but bounced checks and wired investors' money overseas, says a complaint filed by federal prosecutors.

The U.S. Attorney's office for the Southern District of New York said in a press release July 22, "Samuel Solanky, a/k/a `Samee Solanky,' " is accused of "fraudulently obtaining investments in a non-existent jewelry business."

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New service brings vernacular programming to Television screens

Indian Americans who long to watch television in their mother tongue have a hightech solution in TV-Desi, a new technology that uses the Internet to stream live television from India directly to a subscriber's TV.

The only required equipment is a converter box, supplied with a subscription.

The user connects the box to the television and high-speed Internet. On the TV, a live feed from India comes through in quality resolution with little to no lag.

Sandeep Divekar, CEO of TVDesi, explains the idea behind his system: "When I came to America in the `80s, there was no Indian programming on American TV. I remember I had to watch Hindi films dubbed in Armenian on a neighbor's satellite dish.

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