Ever since Sanjay Raina announced the Hari Prasad Chaurasia Concert 2010 last year, he became the butt of jokes, and sometimes these jokes even came from his close associates. When he announced that he would have Pandit Hari Prasad Chaurasia performing...

Having closely observed the larger than life image of politicians in India and seen them and their kith and kin enjoy the spoils of the office; interest in politics comes naturally to almost all Indians. The thought of joining politics in Australia does cross the minds of many of the Indian immigrants living in Australia, but fades when they get lost in the daily chores of their life and attending to the twin objectives of looking after their kids and reducing the mortgage. Strathfield resident Mark Sharma vowed not to get stuck in the same rut and decided enough was enough and took the plunge to join politics.

Lord Ganesha is one of the most beloved Hindu deities. In Hinduism it is believed that Ganesha is the God who can protect His devotees from any vigna or obstacle, and hence the name vigneshwara. In many parts of South Asia it is a practice to seek His protection and blessing before starting any activity or enterprise. He is also known as Ganapati and is the God of Knowledge and is invoked at the beginning of any religious function, be it a marriage, the teaching of alphabets to a child or any festival in a temple. It is believed that for the fulfillment of one's desires, His blessing is absolutely necessary.

United Indian Associations (UIA) an umbrella body representing many Indian community organizations met the Federal Minister for Immigration, Chris Evans in Canberra and made submissions in regards to the proposed Visa Capping Bill and its impact on the International Students. Also present in the meeting were Federal MP for Reid, Laurie Ferguson and Federal MP for Parramatta, Julie Owens.

It was one of those rare occasions when you feel so proud of your community, watching young children from the community excel in education and sports. Global Organization for People of Indian Origin, (GOPIO) came up with the idea of recognising children from the Indian community who had excelled and executed the concept brilliantly. Watching the young kids being felicitated on the stage did bring up a few watery eyes in the audience. Members from the Australian political community were in attendance obviously impressed by the kids and the venue was full with over 400 people attending the event on a Sunday evening. Young Achievers Award Nite or Gyaan 2010 organised on 23rd May was a noble initiative by GOPIO to honour thirty two high achieving students from the Indian community in the fields of academics, arts and sports.

Parramatta is changing for good and Indian community is driving much of this change. Everyone now wants a piece of this community in Parramatta. After an audience of 50,000 people in Parramatta Park heard Indian music legend AR Rahman sing in a live concert a few months back, it was the turn of Rugby fans to experience Indian Bhangra and Bollywood dances. On 22nd May, ANZ Parramatta Stadium became the hub of activity as rugby fans started to gather to watch Parramatta Eels fight with Cronulla Sharks.

I was recently invited at Sydney Writers Festival to deliver a talk on the topic of "Raita Against Racism" with a specific focus on violence against Indian students in Australia. The talk also featured Preeti Kannan from Indian Link and Rashmi Kumar from SUPRA. The talk was moderated by Irfan Yusuf.

Alex Broun is a popular playwright and screenwriter. One of the world's leading ten minute playwrights, Alex has had over 60 ten minute plays produced in nearly 400 productions all over the world from the USA to China. He has also had over 20 full length plays produced across the globe as well as having five short screenplays filmed during the last two years. He has also twice received funding from the Australian Film Commission and was a winner of the Inscription Script awards in 2009 for his screenplay of The Jacaranda Tree. Alex's goal is to have 100 different ten minute plays produced across the world.

A new Lowy Institute opinion poll has found that 74 per cent of adult Australians said Australia ’s relationship with India has been damaged following the recent attacks on Indian students. “The fact that three quarters of Australians said the relationship has been damaged underlines the need for Canberra to take urgent action to repair Australia’s reputation in India,” said Lowy Institute program director and India specialist Rory Medcalf who announced the poll findings at a major conference in New Delhi on Tuesday 4th May.

Parramatta was the first Australian city where the Queen’s Baton visited in its journey around the globe en route to the opening of the Commonwealth Games in Delhi, India, this October. “I am extremely proud that Parramatta City Council has been invited to host the Queen’s Baton on its journey to the Delhi 2010 Commonwealth Games,” said Lord Mayor of Parramatta, Cr Paul Garrard speaking on the occasion.

Miss India Australia 2010 Talent and International Model Search was held on 13th March at Seymour Centre in Sydney. Miss India Australia launched in 2003, is the first ever-national beauty competition in Australia for women of Indian origin. The prizes for the winner were worth $10,000 including fully paid trip to Durban, South Africa to represent Australia amongst over 30 countries in 2010. The event also included an Australian International Model search this year which was open to all Australian women to showcase their talent.

Sanjeev Mehra is a very hilarious man who can crack jokes even at a funeral. His sense of humour is infectious. Sanjeev is on a mission to transform the theatre scene in Australia and has the background to be the change agent, he aspires himself to be. He has acted in more than 1800 performances of 89 plays in India and directed 32 Hindi and 11 English plays. He has also completed more than 40 corporate and trading films for major corporations in India like Escorts, Yamaha, Tata, JK Cements and many others. He has also created more than 72 documentaries for various Indian ministries and also Delhi Traffic police.

Where there is a will there is a way. It was an occasion when a group of people who were ideologically opposed to United India Associations came together to make a forum and had their maiden function which celebrated Australia Day and Indian Republic Day at the Ryde Civic Centre.

United India Associations (UIA) an amalgamation of different Indian associations organized a function to celebrate Australia Day and Indian Republic Day at Parravilla centre in Parramatta. Carol Furtado (Ayesha) the Leading Lady from “Merchants of Bollywood” who will be performing in Australia this year at Melbourne, Canberra, Brisbane and Sydney was one of the guests on this occasion. Mrs. Mira Raheja from Hornsby Senior Citizens Group was this year’s recipient of UIA Australia Day and Indian Republic Day and was honoured for her services to the Senior citizens.

He is the Jarnail Singh Bhindrawala of Indian students in Australia and espouses ideas which some say are too radical and impractical. Gautam Gupta, Spokesperson of FISA, came to Australia to study Information Technology in June 1999 at Swinburne University and clearly saw the pattern of problems faced by Indian and international students. In early 2002 he took upon himself to form FISA – Federation of Indian Students. He also created a website for FISA in 2004, when creating a website for a community group was not in vogue. With his lethal comments and fanatic interpretation of each and every attack on Indian students, he has firmly established himself as the pin up poster boy for Indian electronic media who always seek his views whenever any attack on students occur. Indian media loves him because he speaks exactly the language which they want to listen from Australia. Commenting on the suicide incident of Gurjinder Singh that came amidst attacks on Indian students few months back, Gautam Gupta said that it was an act of desperation. “It indicated failure of the system. Victorian Premier John Brumby should take personal responsibility for the victim's death," he said.