Teaching Hindi as a foreign language

In order to maintain the heritage languages from India many associations and organizations are doing various purposeful activities. However, teaching a heritage language as a foreign language in public schools offers an opportunity to revive and maintain that language. This has two fold benefits; one is for those who immigrated to the United States at a very young age and could not maintain their language as schools have no programs in their native language.

Secondly this opens the door for those children whose parents want their children to learn their native language. In continuation to the success of writing Hindi and Punjabi Regents Exams in New York City High Schools there is one high school in New York City that took an initiative to teach Hindi as a Foreign Language. That school is John Adams High School in Queens. After finding the availability of Hindi and Panjabi language regents examination the assistant principal, George Badia contacted Sushma Malhotra, assistant principal and supervisor of the Languages Other Than English (LOTE/Foreign languages) Hindi and Punjabi Regents. He expressed his interest of starting Hindi classes in his school.

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Fourth season of ‘Indian Idol' to premiere on September 19

Sony Entertainment Television Asia (SET Asia) has announced the fourth season of ‘Indian Idol', which premieres on September 19 at 9:00 p.m.

The series features a new panel of judges who will judge thousands of international contestants to chose the winner, a press release said.

"This year we held open auditions in 12 cities in India, UK and Dubai," Rajan Singh, Executive Vice President for International Business, SET Asia, was quoted in the release. "With the new celebrity judges and a more dynamic mix of contestants, the fourth season of ‘Indian Idol' will be one of the most heated competitions yet."

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Western Union celebrates Annual Customer Appreciation Day

Western Union celebrated the third year of its Annual Customer Appreciation Day on September 5 at its flagship store on Broadway near Times Square in Manhattan. This annual tradition is geared to thank the customers with a day of fun with food, soft drinks, game stations to win prizes, money order drawings and a gift from the company to take home.

Speaking to Desi Talk, Guy DiMaggio, Regional Vice President, Western Union Northeast Region, said that continuing on its customer centric business model, the company uses this day to express appreciation for the support given by the customers.

On asked about its business in India and with the Indian American community, he said that Western Union was doing outstanding business in India.

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India celebrates long-awaited individual gold

India, the world's second-most populous country, celebrated its first individual Olympic gold medal on August 11 when Abhinav Bindra won the men's 10m air rifle.

Despite a population of around 1.1 billion people, India had only won four individual medals, none of them gold, since sending their first team to the Summer Games in 1928.

Bindra's victory was particularly sweet following the Indian men's hockey team's failure to qualify for the Games for the first time.

They have won the Olympic hockey tournament eight times and taken three other medals in the sport, though none since 1980.

Indian Sports Minister Manohar Singh Gill said Bindra's performance would lift the success-starved country.

"This is going to give a huge incentive in going up further and becoming a dominant (sporting) power," he told Indian TV.

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Immigrants from India slow to assimilate culturally, but integrate well economically

Despite a high level of 'economic' assimilation into the U.S. mainstream, immi grants from India are among the slowest to assimilate overall as a result of a low 'cultural' assimilation index, according to a study recently released by the Manhattan Institute.

The study entitled ‘Immigrant Assimilation in the United States' by Jacob Vigdor, Associate Professor of Public Policy Studies and Economics at Duke University, shows that among 10 large countries- of- origin immigrants in 2006, those from India were just a tad higher on the assimilation index than those from Mexico.

Immigrants from Mexico have the lowest assimilation index at 13, and India the second lowest at around 17, drawn down mainly because of the low cultural assimilation variable. Those born in Canada had the highest assimilation rates at 53. And immigrants from Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Korea, the Philippines, and Vietnam had assimilation-index values higher than the national average of 28.

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Bloomberg and Gates commit $500 m, invest in India

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Microsoft founder Bill Gates announced a combined investment of $500 million to India and other developing countries on July 23, to help governments implement proven policies to help control tobacco use. There are more than 1 billion smokers in the world today (more than 1 in 4 adults), and tobacco kills more people than any other single agent.

"Unless urgent action is taken, as many as one billion people this century-more than two-thirds in the developing world-could die from tobacco caused illnesses," said a July 23 release from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Bloomberg's Initiative to Reduce Tobacco Use, which was established in 2005 and includes a $125 million commitment, will be extended with a new $250 million, four-year commitment.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced it will invest $125 million over five years to fight the tobacco epidemic, including a $24 million grant to the Bloomberg Initiative.

In addition to the grant to Bloomberg, the Gates Foundation will support complementary efforts to reduce high rates of tobacco use in countries such as China and India, as well as to help prevent the tobacco epidemic from taking root in Africa, the release said.

More than 80 percent of the world's tobacco related deaths will be in low- and middle-income countries by 2030, according to the release.

India's toll of premature, tobacco-related deaths is expected to rise from 700,000 annually to 930,000 by the year 2010, with bidis currently accounting for 77 percent of the market for smoked tobacco.

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Nada Chikitsa ‘Healing and Meditation' concert by Ganapati Swami

Yoga Sangeeta, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting healing through music, presented a concert by its founder Sri Ganapati Sachchidananda Swami with special guest artist, renowned violinist Dr. L. Subramaniam at the Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center in New York City on July 19.

Swamiji presented a musical evening known as ‘Healing and Meditation' playing a Roland Synthesizer and accompanied by his troupe consisting of a mridangist, violinists and Dr. L.Subramaniam.

The concert included some vocals and mainly instrumental rendition of different ragas that promote healing, according to Swamiji.

In an earlier interview to Desi Talk, Swamiji said that in the 1960s, he developed the method of healing through music also called Nada Chikitsa or Raga Ragini Vidya.

He has been researching healing energies of different forms of music and their intricate relationship with the planets, herbs, crystals and gemstones.

He said that he experimented on a dying patient, Krishna Swamy, in India and he was reported to have recovered fully.

Swamiji has been spreading healing energy through music around the world including U.S., Europe, West Indies and Canada

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Pakistan film to make history, show in India same day

Pakistani film about a boy who inadvertently strays into Indian territory will be the first ever to premiere simultaneously in India and Pakistan, the film's Pakistani producer said.

‘Ramchand Pakistani', inspired by a real-life incident, examines the emotional turmoil of an 8-year-old boy and his father after they cross into India and are jailed, while the mother in Pakistan is left waiting to see their fate.

The film's release in India and Pakistan on August 1 will be a rare event considering political rivalry has limited cultural interaction between the two nuclear-armed nations.

"It is a very rare example of creative constructive collaboration between both countries," producer Javed Jabbar said at a press conference on July 13, a day after the film was screened at the Osian's Cinefan film festival in New Delhi.

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1,012 alumni at Indian Institute of Technology Bombay's Golden Anniversary in New York

In yet another sign of India's rising prominence globally and the influence its educated immigrants exert in the United States, the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay, held its Golden Jubilee Anniversary in the world's financial capital, New York City, at Marriott Marquis Hotel Times Square, July 18 through 20, attracting high-power speakers from the U.S. and India.

Some 1,012 alumni and their family and friends attended the event, ‘Looking Ahead: The Next Fifty Years,' where millions were pledged to keep the high standards of the institution, Pradeep Anand, spokesperson for the convention told Desi Talk.

United States is home to an estimated 50,000 alumni, one third of IIT graduates worldwide, according to estimates from organizers. "In excess of 10,000 are from IIT Bombay, though we don't have an exact count," said Anand who heads the Texas branch of the IIT Bombay alumni.

While immigration and decline of math and science education in America constantly make headlines in the media, IIT alumni have been quietly strengthening the engineering, business and academic backbones of America since the 1960's, organizers say, making IPOs traded on NASDAQ and creating thousands of jobs.

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Air India extends summer sale, introduces winter fares

Air India announced on June 23 that due to the popularity of it's ‘One Price India' summer and fall sale fares, it is extending the booking deadline for these fares, which are available from July through October 2008, until July 15.

The carrier has also announced new winter season sale fares at similar savings for travel from November 2008 through March 2009.

The deadline for purchasing winter sale fare tickets is also July 15.

These special economy class fares are available from New York's JFK International Airport and Newark Liberty International Airport to Mumbai, Delhi, as well as to the over 40 other cities in India served by the carrier.

Based on date of departure, all fares are set as follows: $727 roundtrip: Departure Jul. 14 - Jul. 31; $622 roundtrip: Departure Aug. 1 - Aug. 18, Departure Sept. 19 - Oct. 31; $572 roundtrip: Departure Aug. 19 - Sept. 18; $704 roundtrip: Departure Nov. 1 - Nov. 30, 2008, Departures Dec. 24, 2008 - Jan. 15, 2009; $912 roundtrip: Departure Dec. 1 - Dec. 12, 2008; $1,068 roundtrip: Departure Dec. 13 - Dec. 23, 2008; $549 roundtrip: Departure Jan. 16 - Mar. 31, 2009.

All ‘One Price India' sale fares apply to any of Air India's direct and non-stop flights to India departing New York Sunday through Thursday, and returning Monday through Friday.

Weekend departures are also available for an additional $50, based on a round trip purchase.

They include flights on Friday and Saturday to India, and Saturday and Sunday from India.

The minimum stay is the first Sunday after arrival, and the maximum stay is up to six months.

Fare conditions are that sale fare tickets must be purchased by July 15.

Travel must be on Air India operated flights from New York City, including ‘Indian Airlines' designated flights within India.

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The de Montebello Years: Curators at the Met celebrate 3 decades of acquisitions

To celebrate Philippe de Montebello's 31 years as Director of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the curators of the Museum announced on June 2 plans to organize an exhibition of approximately 300 of the more than 84,000 works of art acquired during his tenure.

Among the highlights of the celebratory exhibition will be a standing Buddha in mottled red sandstone from India (Gupta period, 5th century).

Montebello – the eighth and longestserving Director of The Metropolitan Museum of Art – announced in January his plans to retire at the end of the year.

The unique exhibition – ‘The Philippe de Montebello Years: Curators Celebrate Three Decades of Acquisitions,' -- which will be on view in The Tisch Galleries from October 24, 2008, through February 1, 2009 – will be a collaboration of the curators currently working in the Museum's 17 curatorial departments.

Special emphasis will be placed on works that were transformative to the Metropolitan Museum's collections by building on existing strengths and expanding into new areas of collecting.

"We wanted to create an exhibition to celebrate Philippe de Montebello's auspicious career by focusing on an area of spectacular achievement at the heart of the institution acquisitions," said Helen C. Evans, the exhibition's coordinator, who is the Metropolitan Museum's Mary and Michael Jaharis Curator of Byzantine Art.

"The breadth and greatness of the works on display in ‘The Philippe de Montebello Years' will tell multiple stories – of his stellar leadership of the Museum's more than 300 curators, conservators, scientists, librarians, and educators of the excellence of the collections in representing 5,000 years of human artistic achievement around the world; and of the Museum's vital evolution in terms of renovating, expanding, and reinstalling galleries, developing conservation and research facilities, and enhancing visitors' understanding and experiencing of art."

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Exhibitions of Indian real estate properties by ‘Buy Indian Properties'

CineMaya Media Group, Inc.'s new marketing service ‘Buy Indian Properties' held its first series of exhibitions featuring some of India's best real estate offerings to Indian property buyers in the U.S. and Canada.

The exhibitions were held at Toronto's International Center on May 31 and June 1, Houston's Stafford Center for the Performing Arts and Convention Center on June 4 and June 5, and the New Jersey Convention and Exposition Center on June 7 and June 8.

Exhibitors included TATA Housing, Lodha Group, Hiranandani Developers, Sheth Developers, Arihant, Sternon, Venus Infrastructure, HSBC Bank, ICICI Bank NRI Services, and Allcheckdeals.com. The exhibitors showcased real estate developments in premier locations in New Delhi, Mumbai, Dubai, Hyderabad, Chennai, Bangalore and several other cities across India. The event was supported by Maharashtra Chamber of Housing Industries (MCHI) a member of The Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India (CREDAI).

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Showcase for South Asian achievements ---- place to network, show ethnic pride

For one such as me, who got started on his journey in print journalism in India 52 years ago -- in the thunderous rotary press era -- the 14th annual convention of SAJA (South Asian Journalists Association) June 19-22 in New York City, was like a longed-for but scarcely-dared-to believe-in dream come true.

My feelings at SAJA Convention 2008 might be compared to those of a veteran of the Montgomery bus boycott of December 1955 (the same month and year I joined The Statesman, Calcutta, as a ‘subeditor') at the nomination of Barack Obama for President by the Democratic Party.

Rub my eyes! Pinch me!

If journalists of our generation -- born a decade before or immediately after Independence inhabited a two-story house with a front and a back door, the young Indian Americans at the convention live in a hazarduari, a palace with a thousand doors, with opportunities and challenges in every direction.

All around me were young Indian Americans who were mainstream reporters, columnists, broadcasters, TV hosts, anchors, what not, and many others younger still, knocking on doors some which were barred to colored people, and some that didn't exit at all even just 14 years ago, when Sreenath Sreenivasan -- now Dean and Professor at Columbia's Graduate School of Journalism -- and three other habitués of Maharajah Restaurant founded SAJA.

The convention was both a showcase for South Asian achievement, and also a clearing house of ideas, a place to network, and flaunt their ethnic pride.

At the 2008 Awards Dinner at Lerner Hall, Columbia University, June 21, one not only met holders of national bylines, and ran into faces familiar on TV, reporting from war zones and corridors of power, but were agreeably surprised at the pride in their ethnicity.

Women sailed by, wearing saris, salwar kameezes or some accessory from India. A Pace University professor sported a veritable Mount Abu of a Rajasthani turban. Professor Sreenivasan (popularly known as just 'Sreeni') sported a golden silk kurta-churidar-nagari jacket ensemble.

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Raj Kapoor’s retrospective at Indian film Festival in Florence

A retrospective of actor-filmmaker Raj Kapoor will be the highlight of this year's ‘River To River’, the film festival that has been fuelling the love of Indian cinema in Italy.

Selvaggia Velo, the 35-year-old founder director of ‘River To River’, said ‘Awara’, ‘Shri 420’ and ‘Bobby’ will be screened in Florence to honor one of Indian cinema's greatest independent film personalities.

The festival held annually in December in Florence will reveal more about the films and the list of special guests later this season. ‘River To River’ has been screening only Indian films since 2001.

The first ‘River To River’ was mostly attended by a group of rich old ladies who were familiar with India through tourism. The audience was mesmerized to see an India that was unknown to them in films like Biju Vishwanath's ‘Deja Vu’, Mira Nair's ‘The Laughing Club of India’ and Dev Benegal's ‘Split Wide Open’.

The fourth festival celebrated the return of ‘Sandokan’, the Italian television serial star ring Kabir Bedi, with two screenings daily over five days.

Last year Chitra Palekar's ‘Mati May’ won the ‘River To River DigiChannel Audience Award for Best Feature Film’, while Kartik Singh's ‘Saving Mum and Dad’ won the best in the short film category. Francesca Lignola and Stefano Rebechi's delightful documentary on Ahmedabad's colorful kite festival received the best documentary award.

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Frenzied welcome for wrestler - ‘We want Khali - We want Khali'

After two hours of swaying to thumping Bollywood neo-folk music and listening to stock stage jokes, the fans grew impatient and began chanting for the star of the evening to show up. "We want Khali! We want Khali!"

And when the Goliath-size professional wrestler of that name appeared on stage in a blue cotton shirt, jeans and ponytail, thousands of hands thrust cellphone cameras into the air to capture the image.

"Khali, we love you," screamed men and women alike. "The Khali bomb!" yelled a male voice. Little boys tried to climb over barricades to get closer to the stage, on a college campus.

In India, public adulation and hysteria like this is usually reserved for stars of cricket or Bollywood. But Khali has earned his frenzied fame by becoming the Indian icon of American TV wrestling.

He is the first man from this country to rise high in the American gladiatorial adventure of World Wrestling Entertainment, winning the world heavy weight championship in July 2007.

The square-jawed wrestler weighs 420 pounds, is 7 feet 3 inches tall and measures 63 inches around the chest. He also goes by the names the Great Khali and Mahabali-Khali Khali Who Has Great Strength. The Mahabali title is often applied to the Hindu monkey headed god Hanuman.

Last month, Khali returned to India for a month long vacation. Thousands of fans were waiting with marigold garlands at the New Delhi airport when he landed. Since then, it's been one fanatical welcome/near-stampede after another.

Khali has kept a back-to-back schedule, meeting reporters, schoolchildren, slum-dwellers, politicians, and some of those Bollywood stars and cricketers.

"He is our own Rocky Balboa. From zero to hero," said Darshan Rewar, a 22-year-old engi neering graduate who arrived with his family three hours before the scheduled time of Khali's public appearance at the Mumbai college campus.

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Air India announces ‘One Price India' sale fares through October

A ir India is offering its ‘One Price India' sale fare for the summer for Economy Class passengers traveling from New York's JFK International Airport and Newark Liberty International Airport to Mumbai, Delhi and to over 40 other cities in India served by the carrier. Fares are set at $549 round trip for departures from August 19 to September 18, $599 from Aug. 1 to Aug. 18 and Sept. 19 to October 31, $704 from July 14 to July 31, and $808 from June 1 to June 12.

The ‘One Price India' fares apply to any of Air India's direct and non-stop flights to India departing New York Sunday through Thursday, and returning Monday through Friday. Weekend departures are also available for an additional $50, based on a round-trip purchase. They include flights on Friday and Saturday to India, and Saturday and Sunday from India. The minimum stay is the first Sunday after arrival, and the maximum stay is up to six months.

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Art, photography and philosophy meld together in ‘Oneness of Creation'

The Oneness of Creation: Cosmopolitan India in Ancient Times,' a film by art historian, film maker and photographer Benoy K. Behl, which was screened at the Consulate General of India in New York on May 5, takes the viewer on a journey of Indian art to prove a thesis.

The point Behl makes is that multi faith toleration and acceptance is not a new phenomenon at all, but have been practiced in India since the start of its history.

The script, photography and direction are by Behl, who is a 1982 graduate of the Pune film institute. The film has been produced by the Ministry of External Affairs of the government of India.

This film is, so to say, a distillation of all Behl's understanding and philosophy that he has gathered through his wonderful work photographing art monuments all over India from the Ajanta caves to monasteries in Ladakh and outside ( as in Vietnam, where he shot photos of the near extinct Cham community and their monuments overgrown with vegetation and in ruins).

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Badminton India's challenge ends in Asian Badminton Championship

India's challenge at the Asian Badminton Championship at Johor Bahru, Malaysia, ended on a disappointing note with all the men, women and the mixed doubles pairs failing to survive the second day of the event April 17.

India's hopes in singles competition received a setback April 16 as all shuttlers came a cropper and bowed out in the first round, except P .Kashyap who was shown the door in the second round of the last qualifying event before the Beijing Olympics.

Women's doubles duo of Jwala Gutta and Shruti Kurian were thrashed 10-21, 7-21 by top seed Chinese pair of Wei Yang and Jiewen Zhang in the second round. The Indian pair had defeated Fan Frances Liu and Yu Yan Vanessa Neo of Singapore 21-15, 24-22 in the opening round.

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Reliance Entertainment's Big cinemas to open in United States

R eliance Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. (REPL) is poised to start its cinema chain in the United States under the brand name Big next month. More than 200 theaters will screen Hindi as well as regional films from India.

Confirming the schedule, a company official said, "We are still renovating and refitting the cinemas we have acquired in some cities there. A formal announcement about their opening will be made later."

Over the last one year, Reliance Entertainment has leased over 200 cinema halls in 28 North American cities, including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, Detroit and Washington.

Rented for long-term leases, these theaters will bear the company's entertainment brand name Big, and not Adlabs, as REPL's cinemas in India are called.

It is learned that REPL has also bought over an American theater management firm to oversee the operations of its Big cinema chain.

REPL may also distribute films overseas. Since it is already into producing movies in Hindi and other Indian regional languages under the Big Pictures banner, its exhibition outlets abroad will help it firm up its distribution venture.

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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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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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Making sense of India through fog of acronyms, abbreviations

India's love affair with short forms is related to its multilingual character, where English is an official language that in theory unites disparate cultures but in practice is only spoken fluently by an elite of its billion-plus population.

They challenge your newspaper literacy, interrupt otherwise intelligible conversations, and add to the difficulty of finding your way. The culprits: India's endemic acronyms, abbreviations and initials.

Bureaucrats across the world pack official reports with them, but India distinguishes itself by relishing in their everyday use, from place names to first names and even swear words.

In the first year of an assignment in India, acronyms and abbreviations were one of the barriers to understanding the country, from identifying its myriad rebel groups to getting directions to a decent bar.

These short forms also show how India's multilingual culture, with its 22 official languages, is adapting as English becomes increasingly important to an emerging Asian giant.

Like any foreign correspondent, I have to read the newspapers -- and understand them. In my first few days in the country I knew I was in trouble.

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Article taken from the issue: 18 Jan 2008

National Gallery to host Afghan artifacts including from India

As a trove of history, the artifacts are as edifying as they are beautiful. Selected from four separate sites, they span 3,000 years, beginning circa 2500 B.C. (during the Bronze Age), and include designs, scripts and images from a dozen cultures as far- flung as India, China and Rome. T hey survived the collapse of civilizations and crossed the known world on camel back.

Some lay buried for centuries in an Afghan nomad's sepulcher. Others were spirited out of a museum in modern-day Kabul under siege from looters and religious fanatics, then hidden in secret vaults under the presidential palace.

Now, a selection of Afghanistan's ancient artistic treasures - from a dagger hilt carved with a Siberian bear to Greek coins from an excavated city called Woman of the Moon - is scheduled to come to Washington next May and continue on a 17-month national tour, according to an announcement by the National Geographic Society and the National Gallery of Art.

The exhibit, which will be on display here for nearly four months before traveling to museums in New York, San Francisco and Houston, aims to provide a rare glimpse of the long-lost, creative melting pot that Afghanistan once represented centuries before it became known to most Westerners as a grim Cold War battlefield and a victim of horrific Islamic repression under the Taliban.

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Article taken from the issue: 18 Jan 2008