Event organizers and the instructor, From Left: Hassan, Professor Ahsan Syed, Tauseef Siddiqi.Audience enjoying Urdu Ka Safar workshop. Photos: Hassan Studio
Ian Staff Reporter
SUGAR LAND: Two huge ‘Deewans’ of Meer Taqi Meer and Mirza Ghalib adorned the podium. A pleasant fragrance of rare ‘Khuss Itar’ filled the hall. Calligraphy art and arabesque displays set the mood. In a traditional fashion of Urdu Mehfil of Mughal India, Professor Ahsan Syed lit the candle marking the commencements of the 3-day literary workshop, ‘Urdu Ka Safar – Meer Se Haali Tak’. This literary conference on classical Urdu poets and their unparalleled poetry was organized on April 5,6,7, 2013 at Maryam Masjid, in Sugar Land, Texas and was attended by prominent Urdu poets of Houston and many others. The workshop was conducted by Professor Ahsan Syed of Palo Alto, California, originally from Hyderabad, India, who has been teaching Urdu literature in North America for many years. Besides Meer and Ghalib, other classical poets of 18th, 19th and 20th century India included Momin Khan ‘Momin’, ‘Daag’ Dehlvi, Moulana ‘Haali’, ‘Jigar’ Muradabadi and ‘Akbar’ Allahabadi. Urdu-lovers of Houston are invited to join their mailing list by sending an email to UrduMehfil@yahoo.com for member privileges and discounted tickets or free invitations for their next event.
HOUSTON: Committed to the progress and growth of women worldwide, BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha celebrated its sixth annual Women’s Conference in Houston, Texas on Saturday, March 30th, 2013. Over 600 women of all ages were in attendance at the conference which focused on this year’s theme of “Timeless Traditions: Celebrating the Past, Cultivating the Future”. The conference focused on understanding the importance of Hindu traditions, communicating them with ease, and nurturing future generations by preserving a priceless culture and traditions.
Various speakers shared insights from their personal experiences and related to the audience on the various subjects. The conference first started by welcoming all guests and hearing from the Chief Guest, Alpana Thakkar, a lawyer in the Houston community who also served on a legal team that consulted on procuring the land for Delhi Akshardham. Thakkar highlighted the importance of the role that parents play in ensuring our Hindu culture and values live on. Also, speaking at the start of the conference was special guest, Nandita Parvathaneni, wife of Honorable Consul General of India in Houston, Harish Parvathaneni. Addressing the old Hindu tradition of “Atithi devo bhava” or treating guests as God. She urged everyone to instill such values in our future generations.
Krupa Amin, a student, connected with the audience through conveying her personal pride of her Hindu heritage. She spoke of the cherished values of her upbringing with emphasis on truth (satya), non-violence (ahimsa), and compassion, and how those values have guided her in all situations of daily life. She stressed the role of her Hindu background in forming her healthy and proud Hindu-American identity and provided examples of many successful Hindu-American women who have done the same. In highlighting her sense of pride, she also reminded the audience of the many contributions to the world by Hinduism (and India) in the areas of science, math, astrology, architecture, and medicine. Her talk linked the audience to a priceless heritage and served as a reminder of the traditions and values of their upbringing.
As Hinduism is not just a religion, but also a way of life, Ramola Panchal, spoke about living that way of life with pride and conveying it with comfort and confidence. She stressed the importance of having knowledge and understanding behind one’s religion, traditions, and values. In doing so, one can become a true ambassador of Hinduism and the Hindu way of life, better enabled to answer questions and clarify misconceptions.
Hiral Patel, a research professional, made the case for preserving these values, traditions, and culture and presented realistic, actionable methods to practice and preserve them for future generations. Through personal stories and realistic examples, she illustrated how to incorporate traditions in one’s daily routines to maintain culture with language, music, and other practices. She shared special ways one can celebrate Hindu holidays and festivals, which not only provide families with joy but more importantly, knowledge of the history and purpose behind them. The most instrumental tool shared in all the testimonials was “family time”. This one tool was stressed in order to maintain the Hindu family centric values based on shared sacrifices, and to pass on traditions and culture with solid historical foundations.
Women of all generations attended the conference, each group finding inspiration in the talks for the current phase of their lives and finding priorities to help shape their future. Daksha Nagar, a mother of young children agreed that the theme of this year’s conference was helpful for all generations. She added, “As someone that grew up outside of India, I am grateful for the steps my parents took to ensure I retained Hindu values and it is refreshing to have an opportunity to share ideas and thoughts about the same with other parents in similar situations. It helps me think of ways I can ensure my kids get a similar exposure to our culture that I had.”
After the conference, Alpana Thakkar, chief guest, shared her thoughts. Speaking on the significance of such conferences, she said, “As a woman, or the mother, is the backbone of the family, and in turn the local community. Any mother or woman who attends such conferences will surely find inspiration to do more.” Not only did the attendees experience a rejuvenation of pride in their heritage, they felt more informed to better represent their faith and values.
The conference concluded with a traditional Hindu prayer for peace. Attendees enjoyed the opportunity to network and socialize with one another during a post-conference reception. Participants noted the importance of holding an event focused on women and returning attendees were particularly pleased to see the continuation of discussions related to a popular theme such as ‘Timeless Traditions’.
BAPS, drawing inspiration from His Holiness Pramukh Swami Maharaj, holds this annual conference as a stage to allow discussion of various topics important to women in society and to serve as a conduit for empowering women of all ages. This year, 10 such conferences were hosted by BAPS across North America. Many women felt enriched by the discussion and identified the importance of implementing the message in their lives, particularly with their future generations.
Members of the Hindi Convention working committee.
By Haider Kazim
HOUSTON: The Houston Chapter of International Hindi Association (IHA) is planning to host the 16th National Hindi Convention in the grand Texas tradition of doing everything bigger and better than before.
The Adhiveshan will be held on the Labor Day weekend from August 30 to September 1. The three-day convention will include seminars, workshops, cultural programs and youth competitions to draw in more young adults and school age kids to encourage and test their proficiency in Hindi language. A major highlight of the convention will be a kavi sammelan featuring well-known Hindi poets from India.
Members of the Hindi Convention working committee.
A working committee of the Houston Chapter for the convention has been set up and has already dived-in mega preparations. Sangeeta Pasrija is the President and Swapan Dhairyawan is the Vice President. Rajiv Bhavsar is the Treasurer and Rafi Ansar & Sanjay Sohoni the Joint Secretaries. Other Committee members are Abha Dwivedi, Dinesh Singhal, Fatehali Chatur, KD Upadhyaya, Om Gupta, Meera Kapur, Vijay Pallod, Ashish Thapliyal, Nausha Asrar and Sangita Bhutada.
“Hindi is often regarded as a dialect continuum. The following languages are often taken to define its boundaries: Punjabi, Sindhi, and Gujarati define the western and northwestern boundaries; Marathi delimits Hindi’s southern boundary; Oriya marks the southeastern boundary; Bengali provides the eastern boundary; and Nepali marks the northern boundary. Along with Urdu, Hindi refers to a standardized register of Hindustani. Although it is spoken primarily in India, Hindi is spoken by large numbers in Nepal, South Africa and Uganda. Hindi speakers can be found on all continents of the globe.
Hindi has been listed as a crucial language by the American State Department since 9/11/2001 because of the strategic business and security interests in South Asia. India is respected as the regional power of South Asia. It is the largest South Asian economy and most populous nation of South Asia, the largest democracy in the world and is also a nuclear power.
According to the 2000 census there are 317,057 Hindi speakers in the United States which must be almost double by now!
Hindi is the official language of India. As such, it plays a key role in society. Hindi is used in government, education, mass media (newspapers, radio, television), trade, and everyday communication. In terms of total number of speakers, Hindi ranks second in the world behind Mandarin Chinese.
As many as 800 million people are estimated to understand Hindi.
We now realize in America that the knowledge of critical languages, including Hindi provides career opportunities such as communications (foreign correspondent, reporter, translator), international finance (international banker, international consultant, political risk analyst), industry (manager of government relations for oil company, market analyst for export company), government (foreign service officer, development program officer, intelligence analyst, government relations specialist, translator or interpreter, linguist), law (contractual and corporate consultant), academia (teaching and research positions) and work with United Nations Organizations. “We can only instill the love of our national language in our next generation by example, exposure and teachings. How wonderful it is to keep our culture alive here in United States through our kids! It is possible only by knowing the language that binds India. “ quoted by Sangeeta Pasrija.
“Hindi is the national language of India. It is a connecting link and a rich language that needs to be preserved for sustaining our Indian culture and identity,” said Dhairyawan, a well-known Houston CPA. “We are fortunate to be part of the host team for this upcoming National Adhiveshan in our own city. This Adhiveshan is just a beginning and much work needs to be done thereafter for preserving and promoting Hindi in our extended communities.”
The committee is seeking sponsorship for the convention which ranges from $500 to $2000. A souvenir will also be released to mark the historic convention and presents a unique opportunity for advertisers.
Texas has been in the forefront of efforts for propagation of Hindi language and culture in the United States. Texas boasts of three IHA chapters – Austin, Dallas and Houston – out of a total of 15 chapters nationwide. It is mainly due to the efforts of Hindi lovers that seven U.S. states proclaimed September 14 as Hindi Day.
The International Hindi Association or ‘Antarashtriya Hindi Samiti’ was established in 1980 in the United States for promotion of Hindi language and literature among Indian diaspora spread all over the world. The organization aims to foster Indian heritage among younger generations and wants to ensure that they not only read and speak Hindi but also understand its rich literary tradition. The non-religious, non-political, and non-profit lingo-cultural organization is run entirely by volunteers with the support and patronage from its growing membership worldwide.
The association organizes Hindi classes, youth camps, poetry recitals, literary symposiums and publications promote and inculcate human values inherent in the Indian culture.
The annual and biennial IHA conventions have been instrumental in getting the message to public at large. Hundreds of people were drawn to IHA by the conventions held in Washington, D.C. in 1991, Rochester in 1992, D.C. in 1993, Houston in 1994, Syracuse in 1995, Cleveland in 1996, New Jersey in 1997, Boston in 2000 and Dallas in 2003. Many political and literary luminaries from India and USA took part in these conventions. They included Shatrughna Sinha, the famous actor and former cabinet minister of the Government of India, Kalraj Mishra, a member of India’s Rajya Sabha, late Narendra Mohan, another Rajya Sabha MP and publisher of famous Indian newspaper Dainik Jagran. In Boston Convention (2000), Vinod Khanna, another luminary of Indian films and politics joined US Congressman McGovern of Massachusetts to grace the occasion. This was the first time ever that the parliamentarians of US and India joined to promote Hindi from the same stage. Another Rajya Sabha MP, Uday Pratap Singh, was a special guest poet in 2005 Kavi Sammelan.
For further information
Call Sangeeta at 281-788-9750 or Swapan at 281-382-0348
The newlyweds Anushka Kinra and Ali Ghazi-Askar with the bride’s mother Anita Kinra at the reception.
By Jawahar Malhotra
SUGAR LAND: Dressed in a heavily gold-embroidered, deep purple lengha and choli, her hands painted with henna designs, Anushka Kinra was describing the episode when she met her future husband as they stood in line to hear the schedules for their pediatric residency rotations in Chicago four years ago.
“I had all my papers neatly arranged and in a portfolio, and in walked this disheveled guy, papers flying everywhere, his face in a panic and I thought, ‘I hope I don’t get on a team with him’,” Anushka recalled with a chuckle. When Ali dropped his papers, she offered to help and later discovered that yes, they were assigned to the same team after all. She soon came to realize that Ali was a warm, caring man with an incredible sense of humor, all of which eventually won her heart.
Phoenix Murphy and Sarah C. performed at the reception.
Ali Ghazi-Askar, 33, of course remembered the incident a little differently. “It’s true I had all my papers flying everywhere that day, but I thought to myself ‘Who’s the most organized person there in line who can help me?’ and that’s when I spotted Anushka.!” he said with a broad, gleaming smile.
The hall full of guests burst into laughter at the Madras Pavilion, Sugar Land last Saturday, April 6 as the couple stood in front of them to celebrate their marriage almost a year ago. Due to their heavy work schedules, they were unable to plan the reception that Anushka’s mother Anita wanted to throw in their honor till this Spring. “But six months ago, we finally settled on a date that worked,” smiled Anita, a long-time Houstonian, “and I prepared for the reception.”
The reception was full of old-time friends and some relatives of the Kinra household. Anita has recently retired as a teacher from HISD and has been devoted to Vapasana Meditation for many years, even teaching courses every year and so has a large following among the community, as fact that Anushka alluded to as the extended family that she expressed thanks to for their support. A major part of the evening’s short entertainment session were dance and singing performances by the young Zara Shipchandler and the talented young couple of Phoenix Rose Murphy (his given name is Keshav Parikh) and Sarah Chybrzynski.
Ali is of Iranian descent, having come moved to Mesa, Arizona as a young 3 year-old, where his father Mehdi and late mother Mina settled. His father is retired from his pedriatric practice and stills lives in Mesa. Ali has two older sisters, also doctors. Anushka, 31, grew up with her brother Rajiv in College-Station and graduated from UT-Austin.
The young couple moved to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma in June 2012 where Anushka joined a private practice and Ali will complete a fellowship in Pediatric Gastroenterology at Oklahoma University Children’s Hospital by 2015.
HOUSTON: Four years ago saw the fulfillment of a dream seen by founder Samrat Bhattacharya and producer/director Shyamal Bhattacharya. Their musical background helped and inspired them to start a radio show that aired a mix of Bengali as well as Hindi songs. It was the first of its kind to feature that genre of music in Houston and it is all to the credit and indomitable spirit of Shyamal, Mita and their son Samrat. This radio station, despite its trials and tribulations, has survived through it and is now back with a bang.
It’s innovation and novelty attracted the entire Indian subcontinent and USA, especially Bengali communities in Houston initially.Its listening audience has spread all over the world to the point where one can listen to it online on www.radiomastihouston.com. Radio Masti airs in Houston on 1090 AM KULF on Saturdays from 7AM-11AM and on Sundays from 7AM-9AM.
Radio Masti has grown in leaps and bounds over the years and is unique in the sense that it encourages and promotes new artistes from the Indian subcontinent and the USA and gives them exposure.
On Saturdays there are segments called Kabi Pranam (where a single composer is highlighted) and Banglar Adda (where a prominent figure is interviewed live on air and listeners are encouraged to call and participate in the discussion). Besides music and recitations, there are quizzes on the radio show and also lively discussions on medical topics, filing taxes, astrology, etc. In other words, there is a new flavor to the show every week such that one gets addicted to the show and wants to keep on listening to it. It also has several different RJs on the show that spice up the show and keeps the show exciting.
On Saturday, April 6, they celebrated their 4th anniversary at their studio with RJs, well-wishers, supporters, and friends in attendance. In addition to playing an array of music, several RJs including Mita Bhattacharya and Remi Mookerjee, as well as technician Roni Shome, events coordinator Sharmila Mitra, and several long-time supporters and sponsors livened up the celebrations. The festivities also included singing Happy Birthday live on air while cutting the cake. There was a lot of food and drinks and the atmosphere was very lively and cheerful.
Radio Masti listeners were continuously calling throughout the entire period of the program to show their love and support as well as many contributions and donations were made.Their words of encouragement made producer Shyamal quite emotional. He announced that Radio Masti is on its way to having its own studio and thanked and encouraged listeners to keep listening and keep supporting the station. Now with all the young blood that have become a part of the Radio Masti team, he was confident that it has no boundaries and it will keep growing from strength to strength.
Houston’s champion Drayton McLane made an inspirational speech in his encore appearance at the IACCGH Distinguished Speaker series. Photo by Bijay Dixit.
HOUSTON: McLane Group Chair-man and former Houston Astros owner Drayton McLane, Jr was the keynote speaker at the IACCGH Distinguished Lecture on April 3rd at the Hess Club. Mr McLane’s spoke on the topic of “Leadership and Business Acumen”.
This lecture was sponsored by Shell. IACCGH Executive Director Jagdip Ahluwalia welcomed the attendees and President Pankaj Dhume introduced on of Houston’s great champions.
Mr. McLane explained that great leaders have great visions. They see way beyond what is needed today to solve a problem. Here are excerpts from McLane’s encore presentation at the IACCGH.
In 1896, the largest city in Texas was Galveston. It was a port city and all European immigrants would pass through the city. In contrast, Houston had about 3,000 inhabitants and it wasn’t growing. Six of Houston’s largest landowners finally got together with the express purpose of growing their city, asking themselves, “What can we do to make Houston grow?”
One of the community leaders suggested building a ship channel leading to Houston. They approached Washington to fund the ship channel but the government only provided half of the needed funds—Houston leaders had to raise the remainder. The 47-mile channel was completed in nine years.
Today, the port of Houston is the second largest port in the United States and the fourth largest port in the world. When the Panama Canal is widened, even more shipments will pass through the channel and Houston will continue to grow. There was no reason to build the Houston ship channel in 1896. But were it not for the visionaries who were committed to growing their hometown, the city may never have reached the level of growth it has today.
Do you know what slows down vision? Success! Our success may impede our growth and development of a vision to drive growth!
Vision comes from individuals who are somewhat disenchanted, angry, mad and driven by a desire to change things. They want to become risk takers!
What is a crucial responsibility of visionaries, entrepreneurs, and other successful people? Philanthropy. Jessie Jones, a philanthropist in the 1920s, created the largest endowment fund in the southwest—Houston Endowment. The fund manages and donates several billion dollars to charitable causes.
Part of Houston’s success is not only it’s growth, but also that its successful residents give back.
This past year, Forbes rated Houston as the coolest place to live and work, based on its business environment, available opportunities, education, and recreation. When we see limitations, we don’t take the time to see the good things that we have here at home.
The Houston economy is reviving out of the recession of 2008-2009 and the rejuvenation of Houston is not complete. This has led to the creation of “Opportunity Houston 2.0”.
“Opportunity Houston 2.0” is a six-year program commencing in 2014. The program will continue to act as an aggressive marketing initiative that will generate leads for economic development organizations.
The Distinguished lecture is one of the IACCGH signature events. The next event is a small business outreach on April 24 at the Katy Campus of Houston Community College. Visit www.iaccgh.com or contact info@iaccgh.com to learn about IACCGH membership.
From Left : Gordon Quan, Khairunisa Hashmani, Latafath Hussain, Dr. Beverly Gor and Rogene Calvert Photos: Bijay Dixit
HOUSTON: On April 7, Indian Muslims Association of Greater Houston, launched its much awaited initiative, Club 65, in the presence of Consul General of India P. Harish and his wife, Nandita Parvathaneni. Gordon Quan, a great friend of the South Asian Community, Dr. Beverly Gor of MD Anderson Cancer Hospital, and Candidate for City Council, Rogene Calvert (both are also co-founders of Hope Clinic), Khairunisa Hashmani, Chairperson, Aga Khan Social Welfare Board, Lalit Chinoy, President, Indian Senior Citizens Association, PV Patel, President ICC, Rajeev Bhavsar, Immediate Past President of ICC, Board of Directors, Board of Advisors, Executive Committee of IMAGH, their family and friends, and over 175 guests representing the entire South Asian Community.
The ten founding members, with the first one, Shakuntla Malhotra (holding her certificate)
In his welcome speech, Latafath Hussain, President of IMAGH, said that the Steering Committee, first met on Nov.10, 2012 to discuss the framework of Club 65. Six months and hundreds of volunteer hours later, it is very heartening to see so many distinguished community leaders and members gathered here today to celebrate the unveiling of this newest initiative of IMAGH. He also credited Lutfi Hassan for advising IMAGH to take up the cause for Seniors.
Over 175 people attended the event held at the Chateau Crystal banquet facility.
The Steering Committee led by Fateh Ali Chatur has determined that in our universe there are two kinds of Seniors: the Active seniors and the Passive Seniors. Active Seniors are those who came to Houston 20,30, 40 years ago, had a career, started a family, but now their kids have grown and gone, and are typically ‘empty nesters.’ Passive Seniors came to Houston, after retirement from India, live with their children and grandchildren. They typically do not drive, may have language and culture barriers, and are stuck in an empty home during the day. Club 65 intends to harness the energy and mobility of Active Seniors to pair them up with the Passive Seniors, and organize joint activities, like picnics, walk in the mall, movies, card games, gardening, lectures on health, Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, Nutrition, etc.
Club 65 will also seek young volunteers to ‘adopt‘ Seniors, ala Big Brothers Big Sisters but in reverse. The program is that both can learn so much from each other. The ABCD generation growing up here needs to learn about our culture, traditions, languages, customs, while the Seniors need to see the new country through the eyes of these young people. They can also learn about computers, internet, while teaching cooking, sewing, and other such stuff.
Uma Mantravadi sang beautiful old songs during the entertainment.
It was thus very elating that there were more than 20 young adults who signed up to volunteer.
Fakhruddin Sabir is the Chairman of Club 65 and he outlined specific ideas and activities of Club 65. He also promised that the Steering Committee will soon elect new office bearers, and will actively solicit businesses, foundations and charities to underwrite the many activities that have been planned.
Abeezar Tyebji, Chairman of Board of Advisors, unveiled conceptual pictures of the Community Center, that is envisaged in the very near future. He declared that IMAGH will build upon the tremendous goodwill demonstrated in abundance today, to come up with their own center, where the young and old can spend time together. It will be self-sustaining and have a library, Current Indian Newspapers, Magazines, card tables, table tennis, health club, as well as, basketball court, and an area for baseball, cricket, badminton, etc.
Consul General of India P. Harish presented awards to the founding members.
However, this will just be the beginning and eventually they will build an entire Seniors Village with residential cottages.
Club 65 awarded Founding Memberships to Eleven Individuals who either actively participated in the Steering Committee or encouraged the founding of the club with their advice, and blessings. The first Membership was awarded to Shakuntla Malhotra, mother of Jawahar Malhotra. Kanwal Bhalla, Col. Raj Bhalla, Moni Thomas, Koshy Thomas, Dr. Khalid Razvi, Tyeb Shipchandler, Syed Asif Ali, Shaukat Ali Upadhya, Farida Jinnah and Paru McGuire, were the other recipients. Lalit Chinoy, President of Indian Senior Citizens Club was given an Honorary Membership to Club 65, for his advice and support in forming this Club.
The event concluded with beautiful rendition of old songs sung by the very talented Uma Mantravadi, an Immigration Attorney, and an Advisor to IMAGH.
The event was underwritten by the CPA firm of Arjunani and Hasan. Angeli Arjunani is an Advisor to IMAGH and a big supporter of Seniors causes.
For Membership and Volunteer Opportunities, please contact, Latafath Hussain at 713-269-6171 or at latafath@imagh.org.
ASIE Board of Advisor Dinesh Shah (right) presenting a Certificate of Appreciation to Speaker Craig Wooard of RamJack.
By Dinesh Shah
HOUSTON: American Society of Indian Engineers (ASIE), a Houston based organization for engineers, architects, designers, and engineering technicians presented a seminar for foundation solution on March 28 at a nice venue of Sankalp Restaurant. More than 80 technical professionals participated in this dinner seminar. After half an hour of registration and social networking, each and every one made a brief introduction.
ASIE Member and Past Board Member Chad Patel (left) receives a prize from ASIE President Vishal Merchant.
The current ASIE President Vishal Merchant warmly welcomed all attendees and particularly appreciated the presence of non-member guests. In his opening remarks, he briefly mentioned about ASIE activities. “The vision of ASIE is to expand and provide benefits of the experienced and well established present generation to the new, young and dynamic generation of the future by supporting initiatives in engineering and architecture, including Science Fair, Mathcounts, and E-Week programs. Every year, ASIE presents awards for the Science and Engineering Fair and offers scholarships to students pursuing engineering degrees from public universities in the Houston area.” He added, “Thus a solid foundation has been laid for the future, and now ASIE has decided to take the organization to the next level and focusing on Building the Future together with the younger generation.” He humbly requested and encouraged more than forty non- members to support ASIE by joining the organization.
Invited guests during social and newtwoking hour.
After the delicious dinner served by Sankalp, Craig Woodard with RamJack, made the video presentation for “Foundation Solution”. Dinesh Shah, who helped to put together the event, presented the Certificate of Appreciation to the speaker. Shah, a Board of Advisor of ASIE, during the networking expressed his views individually to the non-members and said that “my goal is to take ASIE to the next level, similar to the level of progress and strength of Medical Professionals in AAPI organization. All around the world and here in USA, Indo-American Engineers in all disciplines play a very important role. Just to name a few examples that they perform design and build amazing skyscrapers, deep seawater offshore drilling, nuclear power plants and many more mind boggling designs, but unfortunately not recognized or appreciated to the highest extent. I am serving to promote activities of ASIE, encourage all Indo-American Engineers, Architects, Designers and engineering technicians to join ASIE for creating our strength, to help build the future of next generation professionals, and ultimately get united and act with one voice.”
At the end, the raffle for five lucky winners was drawn. The major prize was donated by Sankalp Restaurant and other token prizes were given by AISE. The event was concluded with Vote of Thanks by ASIE Treasurer, Karthik Balasubramanian. All attendees were given a PDH certificate towards their continuing education credit.
Rao Ratnala, founder of the Ratnala-Bahl, Inc. was interviewed by a retired IT Manager from Chevron, Sita Mutyala
HOUSTON: Rao Ratnala, founder of the Ratnala-Bahl, Inc. was interviewed by a retired IT Manager from Chevron, Sita Mutyala, MBA, herself an author, artist and a social worker.
Ratnala first came to New Mexico in 1962 as a student and got his Master’s degree in Civil Engineering from University of Virginia. Met his American wife, Kandance Jones in New Mexico, got married and moved to Houston 43 years ago and had never visited India since then. He has a son, Ravi and two daughters Melissa and Melanie.
A shy person by nature and a man of few words, but politically influential Ratnala, a lifelong Democrat, was one of the original founders of Houston’s South Asian Chamber of Commerce, the Indo-American Chamber of Commerce and also Indo-American Political Action Committee. He was part of a fundraiser for both Democratic and Republican party candidates and was invited to White House many times. In March 2000, he was one of the only two people from Houston to have been invited by the White House to accompany President Bill Clinton to visit India.
In the early days, Ratnala along with a group of people in Austin, made a presentation to General Services Commissioner under the administration of Governor Anne Richards for inclusion of Indian Americans into Historically Under Privileged Businesses (HUB). Until then, Indians were considered privileged minority.
His service to the community was also exemplified by his company’s pro-bono services provided to design the Mahatma Gandhi statue’s pedestal. The ground breaking for the project was done in Hermann Park by former Mayor Lee P. Brown on October 14, 2003 and the statue dedicated by former Mayor Bill White on October 2, 2004.
Among various Awards that Ratnala and his Company received, he takes pride in the fact that his company was named the fastest growing company for six years in a row and was recognized and honored by Houston Metro in its celebration of Asian American Heritage in Houston.
Ratnala’s video interview will be digitized and permanently archived along with other interviews in the Indo-American Oral History collection of the Houston Metropolitan Research Center, which is administered by Houston Public Library.
The Indo-American Oral History project is a Legacy Project for Houston’s Indo-American community.
For participation in the project, call Krishna Vavilala at 713-795-5169 or email kvavilala1@gmail.com.
Hcc Trustee- District VII, Neeta Sane awarding a Career Readiness Certificate to a student
HOUSTON: Alief ISD’s Career and Technical Education (CTE) Department, in partnership with the Houston Community College System (HCCS), recently recognized 79 Alief students during the Career Readiness Certification Ceremony held at Hastings High School. Special guests participating in the ceremony included Ella Jefferson, Alief ISD Board President; Neeta Sane (pictured with an Alief student), HCC Trustee; and Zachary Hodges, HCC Northwest President.
The Alief CTE Department is the first high school program in Houston that benefitted from this partnership with HCC Northwest College. The certification is an employability credential developed by ACT to verify a person’s workplace skills.
For more information on how to enroll in the Architecture/Construction or Manufacturing programs at Alief ISD, contact the Career and Technical Education Department by visiting www.aliefisd.net.
Swapan Dhairyawan with wife Pallavi and daughter Eesha.
By Manu Shah
HOUSTON: We know there are a dozen things you’d rather do than huddle over capital gains, deductions and other number crunching figures with your accountant but April 15 is fast approaching. For those who haven’t already, it’s time to get out those officious files and take care of that dreaded word “TAXES.”
Indo American News thought it would be a good time to catch up with Swapan Dhairyawan, a partner in MD and Associates, one of the leading Chartered Accountancy firms in Houston and get some pointers that would help our readers this tax season.
Swanpan’s disarming smile, an engaging manner and community service has made him a familiar face in the Indo American community in a relatively short time. He came to Houston only in 1999 but admits that it wasn’t an easy decision. Leaving a close knit family and a multitude of relatives versus the American dream led to a tug of war between the heart and mind. Time went by and one day he made the life altering decision to move to the US.
A Masters in Cost Accountancy from Kolkata and 10 years of work experience in India helped him land a job in a CPA firm – H.R. Shaikh. He worked there for almost 4 years during which he cleared his CPA. A great rapport with a fellow colleague, Irfan Moosa, encouraged the duo to toy with the idea of branching out on their own and in January 2004, this became a reality and MD and Associates was born.
The duo now rolled up their sleeves and tackled the challenges of the new set up. Swapan recalls the day their first client, File No. 1001, the proprietor of Pro Clips walked in. The going was tough but three things helped him ride out the tough times – wife Pallavi’s unwavering support, the community support and the credit card! MD and Associates slowly and steadily built a strong client base and in January 2006, Irfan Moosa, his partner, started a second office in Dallas. A growing practice necessitated the opening of a third office in Spring, TX in 2008.
A sense of gratitude for the community’s support when he needed it most along with a desire to keep the continuity of our culture for our children is probably what motivates Swapan to be an integral part of the activities of the Indo American community in Houston. He is a member of several organizations like the Indo American Chamber of Commerce and served as President of ICC in the year 2010.
During his tenure as President, he is particularly proud of two initiatives: ICC’s newsletter “Tarang” which helped bring the organization and community closer and organizing an Eid program to involve the Muslim community in the ICC. This helped form the Indian Muslims Association of Greater Houston (IMAGH). It says a lot about Swapan that he is one of the members of its Advisory Board.
A piece of advice he received and one he’d like to share is “Be Yourself.” Life is so much simpler.
Naach Houston dancers with Richa Sharma Photos: Avaish Lalani
HOUSTON: The Asian American Hotel Owner’s Association (AAHOA) with about 11,000 members, is the voice of the owners of the hospitality industry in North America. Founded in 1989, AAHOA members own more than 20,000 motels employing about 578,000 people across the country. The AAHOA organizes a wide variety of events throughout the year, the annual conference being the biggest of all. This year, it was Houston’s turn to host the 2013 Annual AAHOA Conference at the George R Brown Convention center from March 25to 29.
As a finale to commemorate this AAOHA gathering on a high note, on March 29, India’s well known playback singer, Richa Sharma took stage to entertain the attendees. She was accompanied by Kamal Khan, the winner of Zee TV’s SaReGa MaPa Singing Superstars show .
Life comes a full circle and some of us are lucky enough to witness it.
In 1999, Richa had her first major hit as a playback singer in Subhash Ghai’s ‘Taal’. In 1999, Mahesh Mahbubani, Artistic Director of Naach Houston acted in his first major Bollywood movie, in fact for the same song. Richa Sharma sang “Ni Main Samajh gayee” and Aishwarya Rai and Mahesh Mahbubani shared the silver screen, dancing together to it. The result was a memorable song for a super hit movie.
On March 29, at the AAHOA convention Richa Sharma enchanted a massive audience in Houston with her voice as Mahesh Mahbubani and the Naach Houston Professional Dance Team performed with her on stage. The result was a memorable evening for a great audience. The circle of life brought these talented artists together.
Richa Sharma sang some of her most famous Bollywood songs including “Sajda” from the movie “My Name is Khan”; “Zindagi Mein Koi Phir Aaye rabba” from the movie Musafir as well as “Maahi Vey” from Kaante amongst others. Incidentally, “Mahi Vey”, won Richa her first major award as best female singer in 2003 while ‘Sajda’ got her the coveted Zee Cine Award best female singer in 2011.
Dressed in almost angelic whites, Naach members performed Bollywood Contemporary dances for these songs, while Mahesh Mahbubani himself performed a Sufi style solo composition with Richa.
Midway through the concert, Richa and Kamal got the audience off their feet by starting off a fast paced medley of songs. More and more AAHOA members got to the front of the stage showing off Bhangra and Garba moves as well as Bollywood steps inspired by Naach Houston dancers.
It was a memorable evening for the AAHOA members, Richa Sharma and her group as well as the young members of Naach dance team who added motion as a dimension to this event. An evening like this infused with soulful songs and breathtaking dance moves will be remembered for a long time to come just like the song from Taal that first got Richa and Mahesh together. The circle had been completed.
For More information about Naach Houston, visit www.naachhouston.com
An advisor is someone who suggests things. He/she may suggest a complete solution, they may suggest a different way of looking at a problem, or suggest sources where you can get solutions. The key is, an advisor is hands off, they give you the information, and you are responsible for making things happen.
By Farida Hasanali
“I need to lose 20 pounds, what do I do?” “I hate my life, what do I do?” “Will you find me a job?” I get asked these and many other questions almost on a daily basis. For some, I have an immediate answer and I see the person follow through with my suggestions, and then with others I just get frustrated. I get frustrated because it seems like people ask for advise or help but they don’t really want it. I came across one such person today that got me thinking about how I could be more effective as a coach and an advisor. I would like to share some of my research with you because I am sure you either ask questions or answer other people’s questions; in both cases this should help.
Before we go any further, let me point out the differences between a coach, an advisor and a know-it-all. The Know-it-All is neither a coach nor an advisor, they have an opinion and regardless of whether you ask for help or not, they are going to give it to you.
An advisor is someone who suggests things. He/she may suggest a complete solution, they may suggest a different way of looking at a problem, or suggest sources where you can get solutions. The key is, an advisor is hands off, they give you the information, and you are responsible for making things happen.
A coach is much more hands on. A coach makes suggestions and then gently nudges you to follow through. According to M. Farouk Radwan, MSc. a coach should consider the following guidelines:
• Don’t always believe what they tell you—sounds weird right? Truth is people’s opinions are biased by their perception of reality. A good coach would first make sure he has validated the opinions for himself before giving out any advice or suggestions.
• Don’t prove them right—I come across this behavior all the time when asked how to lose weight. People will ask for advice because they want to prove they cannot be helped. Once they rationalize they cannot be helped then they can continue living their lives without guilt. A response might sound like “see, I told you my body is different, I took your advice and it didn’t work. It’s useless for me to try to lose weight.”
• Open their eyes to self-deception—the previous example works great for this one. “If only I could wake up in the morning, I could workout and I would lose weight.” Actually their mind prevents them from waking up because of their fear that they will not lose weight. It’s important to address the self-deception at the start.
• Show them reality—easier said than done! But it’s very important to show the person the results that will surface if only they follow through. For instance, in the weight-loss example I would explain the difference between dieting and life-style changes and how life-style changes are a permanent change versus dieting which is short-term satisfaction of losing a couple pounds and then gaining back 10.
• Show them the way first, then motivate them—give actual solutions not suggestions. With the person trying to lose weight, help them breakdown their daily calorie consumption, tell them what they should and shouldn’t eat and then motivate them to follow through to get the best results. If you give actionable advice, you will help build trust and the person will make an effort to listen to you more.
One important point to remember is for you to be open to learning whilst coaching others. Every time you ask someone to do something or say something, think about applying it yourself and whether or not you had some biases that led you to say something or lead some one along a certain path. No one can be bias free, every experience in our lives teaches us something and we look at life through those lenses. The key as a coach and even as an advisor is to be aware of your own biases and not to instill them on the person asking you for the advice.
Farida Hasanali is a freelance writer for several Indo-American publications. In her day job, she works as a Knowledge & Program Manager for BP’s Remediation Management Division.
