Being separated from loved ones during Rakhi can be difficult and the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service (AQIS) acknowledges the unique bond shared by siblings and loved ones overseas, and the importance of celebrating Rakhi on time. So they urge you to make overseas family and friends quarantine-aware to avoid delays with the arrival of your gifts.

 AQIS recognises the importance of this festival which is one of the most powerful affirmations experienced by Hindu brothers and sisters through the exchange of traditional gifts in celebration of love and togetherness. That’s why it’s committed to processing international mail in a timely manner to ensure that your special gifts are received in time.

 “The lead up to Rakhi has shown that it is common for well meaning overseas family and friends to send not only their prayers, but also quarantine risk items that can be detrimental to the Australian environment. All international mail is assessed, x-rayed or checked by detector dogs, and packages containing risk items are opened and inspected” said Ms Caroline Martin, Program Manager, AQIS International Mail Program.

 Quarantine risk items include Rakhi threads made with seeds or flowers; traditional Indian sweets made with mithai or milk products such as barfi, mysore pak, gulab jamun, rasgulla, pedas or soan-papdi; grains; and dried fruits.

 “To ensure the auspicious occasion of Rakhi is celebrated on time AQIS endeavours to keep processing delays to a minimum but this is difficult when mail contains risk items as they require further processing which leads to lengthy delays. But you can avoid these delays if you tell friends and family overseas not to send gifts containing quarantine risk items—as gifts with no risk items are processed much faster. So talk to your friends and family overseas and have your gift in time for Rakhi, which will certainly make the day much more enjoyable,” said Ms Martin.

 AQIS wishes all siblings a joyous Rakhi; a celebration of the continued tradition signifying love and good wishes, and much enjoyment of their Rakhi gifts.

 For more information :

• Visit the AQIS website www.aqis.gov.au/rakhi
  • download the brochure ‘What Can’t be Mailed to Australia?’
  • call AQIS on 1800 020 504 (free call in Australia and is in English).

The Indian rupee will have its own symbol, a mix of the Devanagri ‘Ra’ and Roman ‘R’, to become the fifth currency in the world to have a distinct identity. The new symbol, designed by IIT post-graduate D Uday Kumar was approved by the Union Cabinet on Thursday. The rupee will join the elite club of US dollar, British pound-sterling Euro and Japanese yen to have its own symbol.

The symbol will be printed or embossed on currency notes or coins, Information and Broadcasting Minister told reporters after the Cabinet meeting.

Kumar’s entry was chosen from among 3,000 designs competing for the currency symbol. He will get an award of Rs 2.5 lakhs.

She said the government will try that the symbol is adopted within six months in the country and globally within 18 to 24 months.

The symbol will feature on computer key boards and softwares so that it can be printed and displayed in electronic and print, she said.

Soni said it would also help in distinguishing the Indian currency from rupee or rupiah of countries like Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Indonesia

Radha Mitchell at the premiere of The Waiting City in Sydney

By Ashok Kumar

The DENDY cinema auditorium in Circular Quay dazzled under the shine of Aussie stars Radha Mitchell and Joel Edgerton where the Sydney premiere of their new film The Waiting City on last Monday night. The Claire McCarthy-directed film was shot entirely in Calcutta for six weeks, thereby reversing the trend of Bollywood films being shot in Australia. The film is set for release in cinema halls on 15 July

Claire, who wrote and directed the film, said after visiting Mother Teresa’s home in Calcutta (now Kolkata) three times, she thought of making a film there and, hence, The Waiting City.

“My personal experiences working in orphanages and within some of the poorest parts of India and also my experiences of making other films within this context, have offered me access into this rarely seen and unique world. Increasingly globalisation, the accessibility of travel, the high proportion of infertility of women in Australia in their late thirties and our fascination as a culture with exoticism has all been motivating factors to inspire this story.”

The Waiting City, Produced by Jamie Ashok Hilton, is a tale of Ben and Fiona, a childless couple, who travel from Australia to India to adopt a little girl, Lakshmi. On a mythological level, Fiona and Ben’s “soul awakening”; their dreams, fantasies and hero’s journey, take the audience into a parallel narrative universe. Ben and Fiona are forced to delve both into the shadow lands of self and into a realm of mystery, dreams and spirits in order to achieve their hearts desire.

Claire, Joel, Radha and Jamie at the Premiere of TheWaiting City

What they discover on their rollercoaster ride to parenthood scares them, shocks them, liberates them and forces them into a state of true catharsis – independently and as a couple. This is hopefully what distinguishes this film from a nice, polite, realist drama about a middle-class couple from Australia who try to adopt a third world baby and come up against insurmountable odds. In a brief pinpoint in time, we see a portrait of a marriage and a love story that has epic, mystic and psychological dimensions.

The Waiting City is an emotional, visually compelling and timely story that also has broad audience appeal.  Radha Mitchell and Joel Edgerton, both wonderful actors, have brought an incredible authenticity, fearlessness and humanity to their roles. I am very proud of the many and varied contributions to the film from all of the wonderful cast.

On a personal and professional level, The Waiting City augments my fascination with the alchemy of poetic, humanist, psychological drama. My on-going collaboration with producer Jamie Hilton, the strength of our top class assembled creative and technical team and the generous commitments from our investors hopefully has ensured that The Waiting City is a startling and original project that will launch careers and offer a dynamic new direction for Australian cinema.

Radha Rani Mitchell told a waiting battery of newsmen and lens men that filming the film was anything but glamorous, with the entire six-week shoot in Calcutta.

“As much as I love India it is one of the more challenging places in terms of pollution and other aspects … but it can be inspiring,” she said.

“I had diarrhoea so that was an environmental element that had an impact and helped to break us down a bit.”

Joel Edgerton escaped the unpleasant side-effect. “I must have a stomach of steel,” he said. But in the movie, it was he who gets diarrhoea and Radha takes care of him.

Nasib Singh playing Dhol at the after party near Dendy Cinema

All the stars posed liberally for the lens people both at The Red Carpet and later at the after party where the famous Punjab drum player Nasib Singh made quite a few feet to tap to his beats. Among the others who walked the Red Carpet include Producer of the film James Ashok Hilton, former Premier Bob Carr and his wife, Arts MinisterVirginia Judge and Claire’s husband and cameraman Denson Baker.

With marriage to Sakshi Singh Rawat, Indian cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has become richer by $US42 million ($48 million). Dhoni has, according to media reports from India,  signed the richest marketing deal in the sport’s history, earning him US $ 42 million for over two years.

Dhoni, 29, has signed up with an Indian sports management company Rhiti, which will handle his endorsements, merchandise, corporate profile, patents and digital rights, as well as visibility on social networking sites.

“We have entered into a two-year contract with Dhoni for 2000 million rupees ($48 million),” Rhiti general manager Sanjay Pandey told newsmen.

“We signed the contract a week back. From now onwards we will be handling Dhoni’s endorsements.”

The deal, the richest in Indian cricket history, surpasses batting superstar Sachin Tendulkar’s $US40 million ($45.62 million) three-year contract with sports management firm Iconix in 2006.

Dhoni, often described as India’s most eligible bachelor, married childhood sweetheart and hotel management student Sakshi Singh Rawat at a private ceremony outside the northern town of Dehra Dun last week.

Dhoni is reported to currently endorse 22 leading brands, including Pepsi, Reebok, Aircel, Godrej and Hersheys.

A Forbes study last year on the world’s richest cricketers put him at the top with an annual earning of $US10 million ($11.4 million), followed by Tendulkar at $US8 million ($9.12 million).

Two other Indian cricketers, Yuvraj Singh ($6.27 million) and Rahul Dravid ($5.7 million), were ranked third and fourth, while England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff was in fifth place with ($4.56 million), Forbes said.

Australian Test captain Ricky Ponting was in sixth place with ($3.99 million) a year, the magazine said, adding the figures included club and national team salaries and commercial endorsements.With

UNSW Indian Cultural Association awards – 2010

UNSW Indian Cultural Association is introducing awards in 3 following categories to be awarded

on a very special occasion on September 1, 2010.

1. Best UNSW International Indian Student academic achievement award

2. Best visionary article award- Article about India

3. Best visionary article award – Indian students contributions to India and Australia

1. Best UNSW International Indian Student academic achievement award

Kindly submit your nomination to info@ica.unsw.edu.au

2. Best visionary article award – Article about India

This award is open to following UNSW members: Indian students-International /

Indian origin and Indian staff / Indian origin staff

The article should be your own creation that shall cover some of the following aspects

in 1500 to 2000 words with a maximum of 2 pictures in word document file:

Indian freedom movement and freedom fighters,

Indian culture – brief bhagavat gita, bible, quron, festivals of India,

Rising Indian cinema, cricket(games), people’s interest, politics,

21st century India and its scientific and technology developments,

Your vision for future India

It can be your personal or group submission, kindly quote all the references at the end of the article

3. Best visionary article award – Indian students contributions to India and Australia

This award is open only to UNSW Indian international students / Indian origin students

The article should be your own creation that shall cover some of the following aspects

in 1500 to 2000 words with a maximum of 2 pictures in a word document file:

Young India, Indian students, nurturing the young talent,

Indian students experience in Australia and India,

Your vision to contributing to India and Australia

It can be your personal or group submission, kindly quote all the references at the end of the article

Last date for submission: August 09, 2010

Submission address: info@ica.unsw.edu.au,

Copy to s.bandyopadhyay@unsw.edu.au, obu.iitm@gmail.com

For further details: www.ica.unsw.edu.au

Close on the heels of a bomb threat, an explosion occurred at the Copper Tiffin Indian restaurant in the Cleveland St. in Surry Hills with four people being lucky to be alive after a resultant fire in a suspected arson attack overnight.

Police are investigating possible links to the bomb threat and last night’s explosion and fire..

Two people were seen running from the restaurant just after 11.30 pm as fire engulfed the building, witnesses told police.

Police claim that fire preceded the explosion that showered Cleveland Street with glass and debris. One witness said the shop front was missing.

Four occupants of a unit above the restaurant escaped. One person was taken to St Vincent’s Hospital with smoke inhalation, while another was treated by paramedics.

Shop fronts next to the damaged building have had their signage partially melted and paint blackened.

A nearby restaurant owner, who did not want to be named, said he heard a “loud explosion, like a bomb” just after 11.30pm.

The man said the explosion caused glass and signs to cover the road. He said the building was quick to catch fire.

“Then I see people climbing out of a window, about four. [It was] very lucky,” he said.

The witness said police had been at the same site “about two weeks ago” and cleared out several restaurants along the Cleveland Street strip, possibly because of a bomb threat.

A NSW Fire Brigades spokesman said more than 20 firefighters fought the blaze and had it under control after about 30 minutes.

He said the blaze was suspicious but could not speculate yet on what caused the explosion.

Former BCCI chief Sharad Pawar has taken over as ICC president from England’s David Morgan following the body’s annual conference in Singapore. Pawar will lead the ICC for two years after having served as Morgan’s deputy for a similar period, and his appointment comes after the controversial rejection of former Australian prime minister John Howard’s bid for the vice-president’s job , report agencies.

 Pawar is the second Indian to hold the ICC’s top job, after Jagmohan Dalmiya’s stint in the late nineties. He praised the leadership of outgoing president Morgan, terming it an ‘impressive innings’. “David Morgan has set the principles by which the ICC operates and now it is our responsibility to build on his legacy,” Pawar said.

One of India’s most influential regional politicians, Pawar’s rise to the most powerful post in cricket administration started with a fractious victory over former India captain Ajit Wadekar in the elections to the Mumbai cricket board in 2001. The next big step was the defeat of Dalmiya’s candidate in the tussle for control of the BCCI in 2005 after losing by one vote in the previous year

MUMBAI: Sharad Pawar on Friday arrived from Singapore after formally taking over as the ICC president and rubbished suggestions that rejection of John Howard’s candidacy for the vice-president’s post would divide world cricket.

Pawar, who succeeded Englishman David Morgan, returned here this morning after taking charge as president during the ICC Executive Committee meeting in Singapore.

Upon arrival, the union agriculture minister was bombarded with questions about Asian bloc’s refusal to back Howard but he rejected talk of any divide by insisting that the former Australian Prime Minister just didn’t get enough support in a democratically-held election.

“The majority did not support him. Ultimately in any democratic organisation, there has to be support from the majority but that was not there in his case,” he said.

Asked whether the rejection would divide world cricket, Pawar said, “I don’t think so. We have discussed the matter individually and collectively with everybody including Australia, England and New Zealand. We took a collective decision.”

The 69-year-old Pawar will now have to shoulder twin responsibilities of being a minister and ICC president but the veteran politician said would be able to handle with a little help from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

“Fortunately the ICC headquarter is in Dubai and Dubai works on Saturday and Sunday. So, it’s a matter of two hours flight. So, I think there won’t be any difficulty. Secondly I will discuss with Prime Minister about my responsibilities and will take appropriate decision so that my government work is not affected,” he said.

“I may suggest for more hands. I had asked for three ministers but they have given only one. If I request to reduce some of my work, we may find some solution. I won’t allow my work in government to suffer,” he said.

Asked what he considers the biggest challenge of his new job, Pawar said, “We have to preserve all the formats of the game. Today we have 105 countries who are ICC members. But in true sense unless we expand the game to China, USA, some parts of Eastern Europe and some parts of Africa, the game would not reach every corner of the world.”

There is a writer in each one of us. In our daily chores everyone does some writing in some form or the other.  Don’t we write letters or in the present day, emails or SMS.  We deploy our different writing skills. Of course, the needs are different. In schools we write our home work or essays or notes or a story.

Story telling is an age old art of communication.  Then there were play, theatre and finally films. In the present day world, we face new challenges every day.  There were three-hour plays and some had duration of two hours depending on the actors’ and writers’ abilities. Now the new challenge is to tell you story in just 10 minutes. Hence, it is called Short + Sweet.

Alex Broun is a specialist in this form of playwriting and has acted, produced and directed several Short + Sweet plays. Recently, the Abhinay School of performing Arts’ organised a work shop and Alex conducted the training for several budding playwrights at the Hurstville Civic Centre. They all had the talent and Alex helped them discover it.

Alex opened the workshop with his commanding words “My aim is to inspire you to write and inform you about some of the tools how to start”. He progressed maintaining his authority and said “why should you write a ten minute play – this is the fastest growing performance around the world’. He also stated that all of you have the opportunity to have your play performed in theatre. He continued “I write because I want to tell my stories and I want my stories get told” and urged “try to write a 10 minute play-just give it a go. Tell your story”.

 He freely shared the techniques and traits of writing, challenging his mesmerised students “turn off your inner critique, stop this negative voice- create something interesting to watch”

Alex created a stimulating environment for the audience which was in awe and frantically taking notes, taking it all in. It was so exciting to be taught the skills by this passionate world renowned celebrity that the participants could not hold their ideas anymore and shared freely what they would like to see on stage and are unsure how it will work. Alex advised “piece of theatre is a sheer act of imagination-you are telling your story, imagine something and take the audience on a journey. There was so much more in his words of wisdom that for three hours he kept his listeners spell bound.

It was an amazing experience to see that the budding writers hungry for knowledge floated some very exciting ideas and opened up a new world for Alex himself. He was touched to see that this diverse culture has so much to offer, a different perspective and so many life stories to tell. These ideas opened a new field, a new dimension for him and he was pleasantly surprised with the quality of the ideas the novice and potential writers brought to the workshop.

 Alex immediately spotted the potential; so many stories and life experiences bubbling inside these enthused participants, ready to be told on stage, will make a very interesting theatre experience. Sharing these ideas will not only enhance the appreciation of the diverse cultures but also opens a new dimension for the  theatrical world by injecting new viewpoints from the Indian, Asian and other ethnic backgrounds..

 He encouraged the inspired the group to get on with writing and offered that Abhinay school will organise their scripts to be played out on stage with experienced actors. He further emphasised that these script writers can in fact direct these actors and see how their script plays out on stage. They then take it a step further and go back and rewrite and fine tune their script. He then took it to extra mile and said they have a chance that their script may be picked up for the Short & Sweet, the biggest ten minute play festival in the world. What an offer; an offer too good to refuse, dream come true for any script writer.

 Abhinay School of Performing Arts President Aishveryaa Nidhi, a well known theatre personality and the only Indian actor to have won the nomination for Best Actress in 2009 Short + Sweet drama festival, has done a great job in connecting Indian and other ethnic playwrights and drama lovers to main stream theatre.

Ms. Nidhi has revealed that the workshop participant’s work would be staged live in August at a venue to be decided later. To those who missed the workshop, August shows would be a great opportunity and inspiration to explore their hidden talent.

For more information log on to www.abhinay.com.au or contact Aishverya Nidhi on 0488 200 222 for future workshops and to watch the plays.