Daily Times India

Bangalore, June 1 (IANS) When Japanese homemaker Tomoko Matsuda, a resident of India’s IT hub Bangalore, performed the ‘mudras’ of Bharatanatyam to perfection in a packed auditorium at a college here, the audience shouted for an encore.

And it did the same when Hiroshi Chiba, an engineer with Toyota Kirloskar Motor Pvt Ltd, sang yesteryears’ popular Kannada film song “Santoshakke” (for the sake of happiness). Then, everyone in the auditorium Sunday night got up to jive to the encore.

The mood at the day-long Japan Habba (Japan Festival) 2009, an Indo-Japanese cultural exchange programme, was of bonhomie among Indians and Japanese settled in various parts of the country.

The event, first held in 2005, was a collaborative effort of the Consulate of Japan, Bangalore; The Japan Foundation, New Delhi; Bangalore University, Japanese associations like Bangalore Nihongo Kyooshi-kai, Koyo group, Japanese Association of Bangalore and Indo-Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Karnataka).

Around 1,000 Japanese from various parts of India came together to celebrate the strong ties between the two Asian giants.

Addressing the inaugural ceremony, Masayuki Tsuchikawa, head of the consulate in Bangalore, said: “We are happy to get ourselves associated with Japan Habba for the first time. It is a perfect platform for interaction between Japanese in India and people of Bangalore.”

“The best way to build a strong bridge between two countries and its people is through art and culture,” he added.

The high points of the culture fiesta included karaoke competition (Japanese/Indian and other songs), Kannada songs sung by Japanese, Japanese tea ceremony, demonstration of Japanese martial art Judo, how to wear the kimono, a display of Japanese paper art works like Kiri-e and Ori-gami; calligraphy and Ikebana – the Japanese art of flower arrangement.

Said Satoshi Hata, chairman of Japan Habba and guest faculty at the department of foreign studies, Bangalore University: “I am glad to be a part of the fifth edition of Japan Habba in Bangalore. I believe that the interest in Japan from Bangaloreans as well as that of India from the Japanese people residing here have been the motivating factors to have made Japan Habba possible for five years consecutively.”

Although Bangalore has a small Japanese community of 400, mostly working in Toyota Kirloskar, over the years they have adopted Bangalore as their second home. Moreover, they have succeeded in attracting many a Bangalorean to know more about Japan and its culture.

The growing Japanese influence in the city could be well-gauged from 105 students of Bangalore learning Japanese at the department of foreign languages, Bangalore University.

“Out of 10 foreign languages taught in the University, the number of students learning Japanese is highest. There is lot of enthusiasm among the Bangaloreans to know more about Japan and its culture,” said Hata.

The Oscar-winning Japanese movie “Samurai” directed by Hiroshi Inagaki was also screened at the festival.

“I have been in Bangalore for quite a long time. I love the city, its people and culture. So I learnt the language and as a musician, I love to sing Kannada songs. I am a big fan of Kannada music,” said Chiba.

Chiba is quite popular among the music-loving crowd of Bangalore. He is known as the Japanese who sings in Kannada.

Said Tomoko, who is learning Bharatanatyam under guru Ramanath at Nrityarpana School here: “I fell in love with the dance form during my stay in Bangalore. I’m learning the nuances of the dance form and happy to perform here today.”

Around 64 students, all local Kannada boys, studying in Toyota Technical Training Institute in Bangalore, performed a popular Japanese song “Zundoko Bushi…”.

“I have been attending Japan Habba for the last three years. I find Japanese culture quite fascinating and they are a lovely bunch of people,” said banker Shweta P.

Keizo Hara, a Japanese settled here, said: “Bangalore is a lovely place and is a home away from home for all the Japanese people in the city.”

Kolkata, June 1 (IANS) Volunteers involved in relief operations in the cyclone ravaged Sundarbans of West Bengal are fearing an epidemic once the floodwater recedes in the mangrove forests that cover the region.

“We are apprehending that many water-borne diseases might break out in Sundarbans villages once the water level starts going down in the next couple of days,” Subhro Sen, a voluntary relief worker, said Monday. Sen, from the Sundarbans programme of WWF, rushed relief material to the area two days after the cyclone.

“We’ve already received a few reports of health hazards from different islands of Sundarbans. We think the number of health cases will go up in the next one or two weeks in the area. The government needs to take immediate action to combat outbreak of any further epidemic,” he added.

Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee Sunday visited cyclone-affected South 24 Parganas district. He repeatedly asked villagers not to drink contaminated water.

“I request all of you not to drink contaminated water. Always take pouched water that we are sending as relief material. If possible, you can also drink water with some medicine in it,” Bhattacharjee said.

“Please take care of your children and don’t let them drink tap or tubewell water,” he added.

According to medical experts, water-borne diseases like diarrhoea, cholera, gastroenteritis can break out in the marooned islands of the Sundarbans delta if proper care is not taken by the state administration.

“People should eat boiled food and water as far as they can. They must keep everything clean to avert any type of health hazard, though we know it’s not practically possible for them during such an adverse situation,” said a city-based physician Dalia Chowdhury.

“Government should also provide medicine, dry food and drinking water to the villagers. The administration should also carry out drives to clear out dead floating bodies of cattle from the areas,” she said.

So far, 125 deaths have been reported due to Cyclone Aila, which tore through extensive parts of West Bengal May 25, levelling houses, uprooting trees, snapping power cables and leaving a trail of destruction in 13 of its 19 districts.

Nearly 600,000 houses have been fully or partially damaged in the calamity which has affected over six million people.

South 24 Parganas – where the Sundarbans take up most of the area – and North 24 Parganas districts have been the worst-hit and hundreds of villages continued to be marooned with salt water intrusion destroying the paddy crop and freshwater fish.

Sydney, June 1 (DPA) Fifteen Australian men have been arrested in a global swoop on those who downloaded a film clip of the rape of an 8-year-old Russian girl, police said Monday.

They expect to pick up at least 30 suspected paedophiles as they run through the list of those who accessed the film in the four months it was on the internet last year.

Police in 92 countries are tracking as many as 9,000 suspects believed to have downloaded the 18-minute video, believed to have been made in Russia.

Australian police were alerted to the illicit activity by German police.

“It shows the tenacity of law enforcement around the world to crack into peer-to-peer operations to get this type of material off the internet,” said child protection operations manager Neil Gaughan.

He said all of those charged are male and none is believed to have a conviction for child sex offences.

During the raids, police seized hundreds of thousands of additional images of child pornography.

Most Indian homes in Australia have had this phone call from concerned family in India by now. “Are you alright? What are they doing to you guys over there?”

It’s almost as if Australian gangs are roaming the trains seeking out Indians to bash up, or roaming the streets seeking out Indian homes to throw petrol bombs into.

“Stay safe,” the relatives are saying over the phone from across hundreds of miles. “Don’t go out alone at night; don’t take ‘pangas’ with others on the trains …”

The Indian TV channels have put out so much material on the Australian situation that they are actually making Australia out to be an unsafe place to live in, at least for Indians.

The constant churning out on the TV screens on “updates on the Australian situation” is responsible for this paranoia.

In my own home in Sydney, we have had repeated phone calls from media outlets in India, waking us up at odd hours of the night, asking for more info about “the situation”.

Have you experienced any racist behaviour at the hands of the Aussies, they ask. Have you experienced any form of racism?

No, I haven’t, I’m going to scream at the next TV channel that rings me.

“Would you like to go live in Australia now that you’ve heard of the racism there?” Even a major newspaper website asked a question that sounded something like this on their daily poll.

Parents of Indian students are being interviewed about calling their kids back; students who have finished their degrees and gone back to India are being interviewed, and education consultants are selling Canada – and everyone is jumping on the “racism” bandwagon.

I think it is time for the voice of reason to speak out. True, we are all concerned about the recent attacks against some Indian students here, and we are all shocked and horrified at the incidents reported, but it’s not as if the Australian public have declared jihad on Indians here!

Can someone please stop this frenzy? Mediawallahs, cool it, please!

Yes there is a “situation” here with the students. Yes, there has been slow reaction by the authorities in the past. And yes, the work that you did in highlighting it has injected that much-needed sense of urgency, so kudos to you for that.

But now, let them get on with their task, and stop adding fuel to the fire. Most of us here are as safe as citizens of any other race, and have not experienced racism any more than we probably had in India.

Remember Graham Staines? That was the work of a misguided group of fundamentalists – just like some of the attacks on the Indian students here. Were all Hindus – all Indians – branded ‘racist’ because of that one-off Orissa incident involving the Australian missionary who was killed along with his sons?

The need of the hour is to concentrate on the student issue – help those directly affected, and put mechanisms in place for future students – not to play the race card. There never was a strong enough one in the first place.

(01.05.2009 – Rajni A. Luthra is the editor of Indian Link, Sydney. She can be contacted at ilink1@optusnet.com.au)

Tokyo, June 1 (DPA) Tokyo stocks rose Monday following Wall Street’s week-ending rally.

Nikkei 225 Stock Average gained 75.08 points, or 0.89 percent, 9,597.58, and the broader Topix index of all first-section issues was also up 8.5 points, or 0.95 percent, to 906.41.

On the currency markets at 9 a.m. (0000 GMT), the dollar traded at 95.40-45 yen, down from Friday’s 5 p.m. quote of 96.44-46 yen.

The euro was quoted at 1.4100-05 dollars, up from late Friday’s quote of 1.4000-01 dollars, and at 134.58-63 yen, from 135.02-06 yen.

New Delhi, June 1 (IANS) Shah Rukh Khan did it in “Don” and then in “Om Shanti Om”. Now Shahid Kapur and Akshay Kumar are also set to play twin avatars in their forthcoming films – the trend of double roles seems to be catching on in Bollywood again.

While Shahid plays two different roles in Vishal Bharadwaj’s “Kaminey” – he will be seen as a boy-next-door as well as a ruffian – Akshay will do the same for Vipul Shah’s “Time Machine”.

Shahid, who plays identical twins alongside Priyanka Chopra in “Kaminey”, says he was extremely excited about playing a double role and his director helped him in essaying both the characters with ease.

“Fortunately, I had Vishal as a director who is absolutely outstanding at his craft – so that helped me a lot. There was a lot that he had already done for me. One of the guys has a lisp which is easy to handle although it is very difficult when you are delivering dialogues,” Shahid told a TV channel.

Akshay will play a double role – of a father and son in “Time Machine”, which will see him travelling through time from Mumbai in the 1950s to the present day city to correct a past deed.

“The travelling through time part will be the film’s main attraction as it will happen through a time machine. But the big draw will be Akshay, who will play both the father and the son,” a source close to the project was quoted as saying.

Even Ranbir Kapoor has been tipped to display two shades in Vikramjit Singh’s recently announced project “Mera Jahaan”, in which he teams up with his real life girlfriend Deepika Padukone.

In 2007, “Om Shanti Om” saw not only superstar Shah Rukh Khan in a double role but his co-star Deepika Padukone too had a twin role in the reincarnation drama. She was once again seen in a double role in “Chandni Chowk To China” early this year.

According to the 23-year-old actress, she had to undertake extensive research to essay one of her characters in “Om Shanti Om”, which was a tribute to the 1970s period in Bollywood.

“I watched a lot of films starring Hema Malini and Helen, for instance ‘Jewel Thief’ and ‘Seeta Aur Geeta’, to notice how they were made.

“In the films of that time, everything was over the top – the emotions were exaggerated though I enjoy the originality of the ’70s era films. The actors were more graceful and their body language was completely different from today’s actors,” Deepika had told IANS.

Besides Deepika, actors Paresh Rawal and Asin Thottumkal were seen in a double role in “Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!” and the Hindi version of “Dasavatharam” respectively this year.

The trend of interspersing double roles into Bollywood scripts isn’t a recent development. It has caught filmmakers’ fancy since the 1960s when evergreen actor Dev Anand starred in the 1961 film “Hum Dono”.

Thereafter, several actors like Dilip Kumar (“Ram Aur Shyam”), Sanjeev Kumar (“Angoor”), Amitabh Bachchan (“Don”), Dharmendra (“Samadhi”), Anil Kapoor (“Kishen Kanhaiya”), Sridevi (“Chaalbaaz”) and Hema Malini (“Seeta Aur Geeta”) have essayed double roles. In fact, Govinda took on six roles in “Hadd Kar Di Aapne”.

Shan Rukh has also played double roles in “Duplicate” and “Paheli”. Akshay Kumar did it in “Aflatoon” and “8X10 Tasveer”, Kajol in “Kuch Khatti Kuch Meethi” and “Dushman” and Hrithik Roshan in “Kaho Na Pyaar Hai”.

Inspired by Bollywood, even the small screen has picked up the trend. NDTV Imagine has recently started a new show “Seeta Aur Geeta”, based on the eponymous 1972 Hema Malini-starrer. Bollywood’s ‘Dreamgirl’ recently played a double role in the television series “Kamini Damini”.

Mumbai, June 1 (IANS) Sunny Deol, who was last seen in forgettable flicks like “Kaafila” and “Heroes”, is set to make a comeback in “Fox” and director Deepak Tijori is certain Sunny’s fans will appreciate him in his new avatar in the thriller.

“It’s not an action movie but is basically a thriller. Sunny will be seen in a different light altogether in ‘Fox’ and so would Arjun (Rampal). Our film is a slick entertainer and comes with a new way of storytelling. I’m sure both Sunny and Arjun’s fans would be happy to see them in a new avatar,” Tijori told IANS.

Shot in Goa and Mumbai, “Fox” is a thriller about a cat and mouse chase between a criminal lawyer (Arjun) and a stranger who is controlling and threatening his life. Now the lawyer must seek the help of a reluctant cop (Sunny) in solving the mystery.

The actor-turned-director, who has wrapped up the film, is more than happy with the performance by the two heroes.

“The entire week gone by was an amazing experience since everyone came together to ensure that there were no more delays. Whether it was Sunny and Arjun or Udita Goswami and Sagarika Ghatge or newcomer Vipul Gupta – each of them was very cooperative.”

A co-production by Tijori and Zee Motion Pictures, “Fox” had been stuck for a while since there were certain organisational changes within Zee Motion Pictures.

“All of that is thankfully sorted out with the change in guard that took place early this year. Sanjeev Lamba took over the reins when it came to completing ‘Fox’. He has been instrumental in ensuring that the film makes good progress,” said Tijori, whose last directorial venture was “Tom Dick and Harry” (2006).

But he is unable to give a release date for “Fox”.

“It’s difficult to do that right away because of the stand-off between producers and multiplex owners. So many other movies are already in the pipeline. Once they are released, we should be able to get a clearer picture. But, yes, one thing is for sure – we are certainly bringing out ‘Fox’ this year,” the director said.

Washington, June 1 (DPA) US auto giant General Motors is expected to file its bankruptcy papers at 8 a.m. (1200 GMT) in New York, the Wall Street Journal reported online Sunday.

The auto industry has been bracing for weeks for the expected bankruptcy declaration by the country’s largest car maker, but the exact plans have not been previously reported.

GM is expected to name Al Koch, a managing director at the firm AlixPartners LLP, as its chief restructuring officer as the firm seeks protection under Chapter 11 of the bankruptcy laws, the Journal reported, quoting unnamed sources..

US President Barack Obama is expected to speak as the government deadline to prove financial viability expires on Monday. GM head Fritz Henderson is scheduled to make comments at 1700 GMT from New York.

Koch oversaw other turnaround moves, including the bankruptcies of KMart Corporation.

Washington, June 1 (DPA) A physician at the centre of controversy over abortion in the US was shot to death Sunday morning as he walked into church services in the town of Wichita.

George Tiller, 67, one of the country’s few physicians who performed late-term abortions, had survived a previous attack in 1993.

Police said they had detained a possible suspect found driving a car that met the description of the one that raced away after the shooting at the Reformation Lutheran Church in the town of 380,000 people, according to the Kansas City Star newspaper online.

The attack came about 10 a.m., after services had begun.

Tiller’s murder brought an outpouring of condemnation from both sides of the heated abortion debate.

Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, said Tiller’s murder sent “a chill down the spines of the brave and courageous providers and other professionals who are part of reproductive-health centres that serve women across this country.”

Tiller’s clinic had been targeted by bombs, shootings and vandalism over the years. Kansas is a stronghold of the anti-abortion movement from which groups of activists fan out across the country to protest.

NARAL noted in its statement that despite the “persistent threats of violence … Tiller never wavered in his commitment to providing abortion services and other reproductive health care to women and their families, often in the most difficult and heart-breaking circumstances.”

Anti-abortion groups also issued statements to deplore the shooting.

Mary Kay Culp, executive director of Kansans for Life, said her organisation was “shocked and very upset by what happened in Wichita,” adding that they “value life” and “completely deplore violence.”

Another anti-abortion group, Operation Rescue, denounced “vigilantism and the cowardly act that took place this morning.”

London, June 1 (DPA) The last survivor of the fabled sinking of the Titanic died Sunday at age 97.

Friends of Millvina Dean said she had died in a nursing home in the south of England.

Dean was only two months old when the luxury ship hit an iceberg on its 1912 maiden voyage from Southampton on its way to New York, sending about 1,500 passengers to a frigid, watery death.

The elderly woman had been in a private nursing home in Ashurst, England, after breaking her hip more than two years ago.

Millvina Dean’s family was among the third-class passengers on the Titanic, headed to what they hoped would be a new life in the US. Her father, Bertram, then 27, had hoped to open a tobacco store.

While Bertram died in the sinking, Millvina, her brother and her mother survived in a lifeboat that brought them to safety.

Shortly before Dean’s death, in early May, the Hollywood stars who reawakened fascination with the sinking in the film Titanic – Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio – came to the financial rescue of the last survivor after she started auctioning mementos to finance her nursing home fees.

Late in 2008, Dean put up for sale a suitcase full of clothes given to her family by the people of New York when they arrived in America after their rescue, and rare prints of the Titanic signed by the artists. Also on sale were the compensation letters sent to her mother by the Titanic Relief Fund.

“I am selling it all now because I have to pay these nursing home fees and am selling anything that I think might fetch some money,” she told the Southern Daily Echo newspaper in October 2008.

In early May, Winslet and DiCaprio, stars of the 1997 Oscar-winning Titanic, and James Cameron, director of one of the largest grossing movies ever produced, provided a large amount of money to pay for her nursing home fees.

They donated a total of $30,000 to help cover the monthly nursing home fees of 3,000 pounds ($4,800 .)