As part of the efforts, for the convenience of Indian citizens in
USA, for availing Passport related services, Embassy of India has
engaged M/S VFS Global as an outsourcing Agency for initial receipt and
processing of applications on behalf of the Embassy in Washington, DC
and its Consulates General in other parts of the country.
The Outsourcing Agency would begin its operations with effect from
April 16, 2012 in Washington DC, and for the Consulates General in
Chicago and New York. For the Consulates General at Houston and San
Francisco, the operations would begin from April 30, 2012.
The address of VFS Global in Washington, DC is Suite 103, 1625 K Street NW Washington DC 20006. Its website http://www.vfsglobal.com/india/usa
and a Call Centre number +1-202-800-7412 would be functional from
April 9, 2012 for providing assistance to passport services seekers.
Applications would be accepted by M/S VFS Global in person or delivered
by mail with effect from April 16, 2012 at the above mentioned address.
Addresses of M/S VFS Global at other locations in support of the
Consulates General would be available on their respective websites.
It may be noted that Visa/OCI/PIO services have, from before, been
outsourced to Travisa Outsourcing company and that arrangement
continues.
Miscellaneous Services like Attestation of Power of Attorney would
continue to be extended by the Embassy and Consulates General of India
directly, for which no prior appointment is required. Any information
on these services can be accessed from the websites of the Embassy and
Consulates General.
Apr 15, 2012
Apr 11, 2012
Talk for Asian Indian Women of Cleveland and Northeast Ohio
Association of Asian Indian Women is a Cleveland area organization which attempts to reach out to Asian Indian Women
be it at home or in the professional world. Association of Asian Indian Women has scheduled a event with Anisha Durve, the author of "The Power to Break Free: Surviving Domestic Violence, with a special reference to Abuse in Indian Marriages" on April 22, 2012 at Solon Community Center (440)349-4930.
Anita Durve is the founder and CEO of the Power to Break Free Foundation and will discuss
Anita Durve is the founder and CEO of the Power to Break Free Foundation and will discuss
- Stereotypes of the ideal Asian Indian female
- Four aspects of the Asian Indian female identity and theme of sacrifice
- Gender equality patterns in raising Asian Indian boys and Asian Indian girls
- The business of matchmaking for arranged, introduced and love marriages
- Cultural taboos of divorce
- Dynamics and nuances of abuse within Asian Indian population
- Domestic violence movement within the larger South Asian Indian community
- Prevention of abuse and how to protect young Indian girls.
Apr 2, 2012
Sunnyvale Hindu Temple Lawsuit
Sunnyvale Hindu Temple, California vs Hindu Temple South Bay Reform Committee
Sunnyvale has about 130,000 residents of Asian Indian origin. Sunnyvale Hindu Temple serves this large population of Asian Indians and is located at 420-450 Persian Drive in Sunnyvale in South Bay/Bay area of California. According to the temple website, the temple has 3 priests and its officers are Niranji Patel, Balwant Birla, Raj Bhanot etc.
Sunita Sohrabji, Staff Reporter of Indiawest writes that the Board of Directors of the Sunnyvale Hindu Temple has filed a defamation suit against a group of Asian Indian American dissenters who are asking for greater transparency in the management of the organization’s finances. Manu Modi, Krishna Kumari, Nishan Singh, Atul Sharma, Rakesh Sharma, Yash Verma and Ramana Reddy have all been named as defendants in the lawsuit.
An Hindu community Kurukshetra centered around the temple is not rare. At a temple, my way or no way kind of fellows might become official/s. A majority of these officials are likely to have, at best, zero to a vague understanding of sanata dharma. Hindu temples are a hobby/side activity for some. For some, the socialization around the hindu temples is of value. For some it may be about money (I suspect the S. V. Temple in Tirupati would probably fall in this category) and as we know it has been milking honey from "devotees" for centuries. For some, altruism may be a factor. For a few, Hindu temple volunteerism may serve as a mask of respectability and social totem pole ranking. A few certainly have golden hearts and genuinely care about the hindu community.
The kinds of battles, over, little or nothing, noted at Sunnyvale Hindu Temple are unfortunate from a number of angles. For example, Sunita notes that Subrah Iyer, founder and CEO of WebEx, reportedly considered making a 1 million donation to the Sunnyvale Hindu Temple but understandably and rightly backed out when accountability at Sunnyvale Hindu Temple seemed nebulous.
However, I suppose this is probably the Indian way because this type of altercation is also commonly seen in student and community organizations where groups and/or public monies are involved. When things are peaceful, a temple is viewed as a place of worship and spiritual and community development. When things are not peaceful, only legal rules matter I suppose and the purpose of the temple and God is degraded by egos and politics. This is how we are.
Temples core offer is ritualistic spiritual development. The rituals are supposed to have a beneficial meaning for Hindus. Whether rituals alone lead to spiritual development is easily arguable. Rituals are placebos are best and deception at worse and Hindu Gods are imaginary fellows. Temples merely kind of lead the horse to the water and that is where the function of temples ends, unfortunately. This hands off policy has its advantages and disadvantages. The advantages serve the institution. They keep the average Hindu devotee confused enough to keep the dollars flowing. Like the scholar Krishnamurti indicated hindu temples love the babu mindset. The good news is that Hinduism is temple independent and so are other religions, I think.
Folks say that temples have to operated like a temple and not a business. The reality is that sometimes a temple has to operated like a business because the temple has bills to pay and this is in the interest of the entity. And its not rare to note that temple toilets stink (several public loos do), sometimes so badly that you don't even want to go near there and this could be handled better to meet the expectations of younger ones who are accustomed to American standards of cleanliness. This requires $ and we desis don't want to do spend in this area. I guess it is reasonable to expect to have a process in which the T square era temple folks will allow the Ipad era temple folks to participate in the decision making process for the temple.
Sunnyvale Hindu Temple Bay Area California
Expectation is the root of all heartache, said William Shakespeare? My Marathi teacher used to say, expect the worst, hope for the best. How about just expecting the worst by having less than worst expectations?
I guess our Hindu rishis were pretty smart because they probably foresaw these kinds of disputes at Hindu temples and therefore instituted the convention of establishment of temples in each home. Also, in Hinduism, its not mandatory that Hindus should go or donate money to a Hindu temple. It is a choice that devotees make. Associating this choice with a return on the donation is not kosher.
After temples are stable, money is likely better spent serving the millions of less fortunate. There is a tendency by, many if not all, Hindu temples to not include service to the needy, in the United States and that is not appropriate. United States may not be our janma bhoomi (birth country) but other than this USA is our everything. We live here and we are going to die here....
Save Sunnyvale Hindu Temple
Pictures from Save Sunnyvale Hindu Temple Group
Sunnyvale has about 130,000 residents of Asian Indian origin. Sunnyvale Hindu Temple serves this large population of Asian Indians and is located at 420-450 Persian Drive in Sunnyvale in South Bay/Bay area of California. According to the temple website, the temple has 3 priests and its officers are Niranji Patel, Balwant Birla, Raj Bhanot etc.
 |
| Sunnyvale Hindu Temple protest-Image source hindureforms.com |
Sunita Sohrabji, Staff Reporter of Indiawest writes that the Board of Directors of the Sunnyvale Hindu Temple has filed a defamation suit against a group of Asian Indian American dissenters who are asking for greater transparency in the management of the organization’s finances. Manu Modi, Krishna Kumari, Nishan Singh, Atul Sharma, Rakesh Sharma, Yash Verma and Ramana Reddy have all been named as defendants in the lawsuit.
An Hindu community Kurukshetra centered around the temple is not rare. At a temple, my way or no way kind of fellows might become official/s. A majority of these officials are likely to have, at best, zero to a vague understanding of sanata dharma. Hindu temples are a hobby/side activity for some. For some, the socialization around the hindu temples is of value. For some it may be about money (I suspect the S. V. Temple in Tirupati would probably fall in this category) and as we know it has been milking honey from "devotees" for centuries. For some, altruism may be a factor. For a few, Hindu temple volunteerism may serve as a mask of respectability and social totem pole ranking. A few certainly have golden hearts and genuinely care about the hindu community.
The kinds of battles, over, little or nothing, noted at Sunnyvale Hindu Temple are unfortunate from a number of angles. For example, Sunita notes that Subrah Iyer, founder and CEO of WebEx, reportedly considered making a 1 million donation to the Sunnyvale Hindu Temple but understandably and rightly backed out when accountability at Sunnyvale Hindu Temple seemed nebulous.
However, I suppose this is probably the Indian way because this type of altercation is also commonly seen in student and community organizations where groups and/or public monies are involved. When things are peaceful, a temple is viewed as a place of worship and spiritual and community development. When things are not peaceful, only legal rules matter I suppose and the purpose of the temple and God is degraded by egos and politics. This is how we are.
Temples core offer is ritualistic spiritual development. The rituals are supposed to have a beneficial meaning for Hindus. Whether rituals alone lead to spiritual development is easily arguable. Rituals are placebos are best and deception at worse and Hindu Gods are imaginary fellows. Temples merely kind of lead the horse to the water and that is where the function of temples ends, unfortunately. This hands off policy has its advantages and disadvantages. The advantages serve the institution. They keep the average Hindu devotee confused enough to keep the dollars flowing. Like the scholar Krishnamurti indicated hindu temples love the babu mindset. The good news is that Hinduism is temple independent and so are other religions, I think.
Folks say that temples have to operated like a temple and not a business. The reality is that sometimes a temple has to operated like a business because the temple has bills to pay and this is in the interest of the entity. And its not rare to note that temple toilets stink (several public loos do), sometimes so badly that you don't even want to go near there and this could be handled better to meet the expectations of younger ones who are accustomed to American standards of cleanliness. This requires $ and we desis don't want to do spend in this area. I guess it is reasonable to expect to have a process in which the T square era temple folks will allow the Ipad era temple folks to participate in the decision making process for the temple.
Sunnyvale Hindu Temple Bay Area California
Expectation is the root of all heartache, said William Shakespeare? My Marathi teacher used to say, expect the worst, hope for the best. How about just expecting the worst by having less than worst expectations?
I guess our Hindu rishis were pretty smart because they probably foresaw these kinds of disputes at Hindu temples and therefore instituted the convention of establishment of temples in each home. Also, in Hinduism, its not mandatory that Hindus should go or donate money to a Hindu temple. It is a choice that devotees make. Associating this choice with a return on the donation is not kosher.
After temples are stable, money is likely better spent serving the millions of less fortunate. There is a tendency by, many if not all, Hindu temples to not include service to the needy, in the United States and that is not appropriate. United States may not be our janma bhoomi (birth country) but other than this USA is our everything. We live here and we are going to die here....
Save Sunnyvale Hindu Temple
Pictures from Save Sunnyvale Hindu Temple Group
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