apr 01 2011 25-40

INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, APRIL 01, 2011 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM

25 Indo American News • Friday, April 01, 2011ONLINE EDITION: www.indoamerican-news.com

STOCKS • FINANCE • SOUTH ASIAN MARKETS • TECHNOLOGY

IndoAmerican News

BusinessFriday, April 01, 2011 www.indoamerican-news.com

continued on page 26

Partners in Building, Opening in Riverstone: A Sign of Good Things to Come!By JacoB DaviD

SUGAR LAND, Texas: With a buyer’s market commanding Real Estate, every home builder today is vying for buyers. Partners in Building has understood the pulse of the market and has decided to expand, by adding their operations to Silver Grove in Riverstone. With 53 years of custom home

building experience, Partners in Building has taken every customer aspect into account to build homes they have wanted. Tony Farhani, Custom Home Specialist, has over 27 years of Real Estate experience and has worked with Partners in Building for 4 years. With many

positive testimonials from his cus-tomers, Tony Farhani is living his dream. “I am happy that Partners in Building is expanding to Riv-erstone. Right now, in Riverstone, there are homes from $200 - $400K and homes above $1 Million price range in that subdivision. We are going to fill the in-between niche of $500 - $1Million price range of homes,” he said. Partners in Building has its opera-

tions in 7 sub-divisions in Houston and 2 in Austin. It has been 100% devoted to customer satisfaction. “I treat all my customers like fam-ily, I take note of every aspect they desire in their new home. It’s like

I am in charge of building a home for my own brother or sister.” he explains. “It makes it all the more personal for me.”With tremendous success in

Telfair, Partners in Building has been keeping busy even during the recession. Texas has not seen the worst in Real Estate like other states have. The economy is still vibrant and there is a lot of buying going on. What controls the Hous-ton economy is not its Oil and Energy market, but the Medical Center. “My customers are mostly physicians. They love the custom home plans Partners in Building has to offer their families.” Tony

explains.Telfair is the largest and last mas-

ter planned community in Sugar Land. People realize that this is a buyer’s market and their dollars commands better purchasing pow-er in terms of home building mate-rials - you get value for your mon-ey. Tony couldn’t be much more in agreement, “I have been more busy in 2010 than in 2009 which is good for us.” he says beaming a smile. “Partners in Building has a high A plus rating with the Better Business Bureau. It has gained a sense of value and personal recog-nition with buyers when it comes to having their questions answered

and being taken care of in a timely manner. We know that buyers are savvy, they want the best when they invest their money into a home building project.”At Riverstone, Partners in Build-

ing is planning to build homes from 3700 sq.ft to 6,000 sq.ft. They have over 500 different cus-tomized home plans that can be mixed and matched in numerous combinations. “If you have an idea in your head that you can draw on a paper napkin for us, we can con-vert that into an elegant blue print and build a custom home for you.”

INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, APRIL 01, 2011• ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM

26 Indo American News • Friday. April 01, 2011 ONLINE EDITION: www.indoamerican-news.comB U S I N E S S H O U S T O N

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Tony Farhani says. With technol-ogy ever so adept these days, any-thing is possible when it comes to home building and choice of building materials.The homes that Partners in Build-

ing construct are truly a sprawling

Partners in Building, Opening in Riverstone:A Sign of Good Things to Come!

expanse of luxury. With high ceil-ings, large French windows, beau-tiful arches, custom light fixtures, a range of carpets, rounded wall corners, staircase railings that can have an expanse of variety, vanity garden tubs and mirrors, upgrades

in granite, marble and tile, the possibilities are endless. Custom-ized rooms like the Media Room, Unique spaces like a Wine Cellar, Recessed Den, Game Room; Partners in Building is waiting to cater to knowledgeable buyers who know that the value of Real Estate will only continue to climb in the future.Tony Farhani’s been

getting positive re-views. Here’s what most of his custom-ers agree on, “Tony is knowledgeable, he has a keen sense on designs and architecture, a good grasp of building codes, he offers valuable sug-gestions that helps us make our buying deci-

sion easier.” Tony Far-hani loves what he does, he is in tbe busi-ness of of-ness of of-ness of offering qual-ity homes that use the latest in building ma-terials and technology. His experi-ence gained over the years stands him in good stead when it comes to dealing with each new client and their needs.Partners in

Building can also build on your own private lot anywhere in Austin, Houston or surrounding areas.For more information, call Tony

Farhani, Custom Home Specialist at 281-773-7833. Visit them online at: www.partnersinbuilding.com

Partners in Building has 7 locations in Houston and 2 in Austin, they have become builders of repute for custom homes. They fill the niche for homes in the price range of $300K to $2 Million. Photos: Jacob David

The Houston Rockets will host the fourth annual Environmental Awareness Night presented by Republic Services on Tuesday, April 5 when the team faces the Sacramento Kings. The Rockets will giveaway reusable aluminum water bottles to the first 4,000 fans in attendance, use in-game features to raise environmental awareness and offer free concourse space for Houston area groups that promote environmental best practices.

During the week leading up to the environmental awareness event at Toyota Center, the Rockets organization will participate in and host several cause-related events. A complete list of “Green Week” events is included below. This effort is part of the organization’s “Red Nation Goes Green” season-long campaign to increase environmental awareness in Houston. So far this season, the Rockets have implemented a Green Team initiative on game nights which involves volunteer groups surveying the seating areas during games for recyclable waste. Also, with the help of Republic Services, Toyota Center is now equipped with easily identifiable recycling receptacles throughout the building.

GREEN WEEK ACTIVITIESTuesday, March 29 – Tree planting, cleanup and revitalization of 1902

Washington Avenue from 8:30am- 5:00pm (4-5 blocks west of Houston

Avenue). This effort will be conducted by the Houston Rockets front office staff.

Thursday, March 31 – Rockets Recyclefest Free e-cycling drive for outdated or end-of-life electronics at Toyota Center on Friday from 8:00am- 2:00pm. Items will be accepted by Houston Rockets forward Yao Ming, along with Rockets and Republic Services staff. Acceptable items include televisions, laptop and desktop computers, monitors and peripherals such as keyboards and mice. Additional items to donate include gently used sneakers, apparel and books. Rockets fans who bring large items for recycling will receive two tickets to the Environmental Awareness game on April 5 (while supplies last, limit of two tickets per donor). Photo opportunity with Yao will be at 1:15pm on Thursday.

Friday, April 1- Houston Rockets staff will participate in the Cleanup of Allen’s Landing in honor of Houston’s 175th birthday as part of a kickoff for Keep Houston Beautiful Day. Activities include mulching trees, power washing bridge and landing areas, painting benches and trimming oak trees.

Saturday, April 2 – Rockets Recycle Tour. Fans who follow the @HoustonRockets on Twitter will be given opportunities all day to participate in environmentally friendly activities that will earn them tickets to the April 5 Environmental Awareness game. Information about the Rockets Recycle Tour events will be posted on Facebook and Twitter throughout the day.

Houston Rockets “Green Week”Features Water Bottle Giveaway

continued from page 25



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This Week That Age

March 30, 1870 - Texas becomes last confederate state readmitted to UnionMarch 30, 1919 - Gandhi announces resistance against Rowlatt ActMarch 30, 1932 - Amelia Earhart is 1st woman to fly solo cross the AtlanticMarch 30, 1988 - Tamil Nadu beat Railways by inns & 144 to win Ranji TrophyMarch 30, 1993 - Punjab beat Maharashtra by 120 runs to win Cricket’s Ranji TrophyMarch 30, 1994 - Bombay beat Bengal by 8 wickets to win Cricket’s Ranji TrophyMarch 31, 1959 - Dalai Lama fled China & was granted political asylum in IndiaMarch 31, 1992 - Delhi beat Tamil Nadu on 1st innings to win cricket Ranji TrophyMarch 31, 1995 - Bombay beat Punjab on 1st innings to win cricket Ranji TrophyMarch 31, 1996 - Karnataka defeat Tamil Nadu on 1st innings to win Ranji TrophyApril 1, 1936 - Orissa constituted a province of British IndiaApril 1, 1986 - World oil prices dip below $10 a barrelApril 3, 1984 - Bombay beat Delhi on 1st innings to win Ranji Trophy



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30 Indo American News • Friday. April 01, 2011 ONLINE EDITION: www.indoamerican-news.comIndo American News • Friday. April 01, 2011

Indo American News South Asia

News of the Diaspora - South Asians around the World

India National Meeting to Discuss Dalai Lama’s Political RenunciationIndia National Meeting to Discuss Dalai Lama’s Political RenunciationIndia National Meeting to Discuss Dalai Lama’s Political RenuncDHARAMSHALA (WN): Fol-

lowing the Tibetan spiritual leader His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s decision to handover political authority to a new elected leader, the Tibetan parliament-in-exile last week has constituted a three-mem-ber high level committee headed by Prof Samdhong Rinpoche, the chairman of the Tibetan administration. An additional session of the 14th Tibetan Parliament and second Tibetan national general meeting will be discussed with how to deal with the situation.In his message to the 11th

Session of the 14th Assem-bly of the Tibetan People’s Deputies, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, presenting a letter based on sound reason and Tibet’s history and real-ity, said “... amendments to the Charter on this occasion must conform to the framework of a democratic system in which the political leadership is elected by the people for a specific term.” This message was read out on the opening day of the Parliament session on 14 March 2011. The

Kashag made its statement on the second day on 15 March, fol-lowing which the whole day was devoted to intensive deliberation on His Holiness’ message. On 16 March, the members of Parliament met separately for a meeting and

debated on the issue. On the basis of these deliberations, the speaker and deputy speaker issued two draft resolutions to the Parliament on 17 March. Accordingly, three sub-committees of the members of Parliament were formed, which

held intensive deliberations. An official draft resolution was final-ized based on the proposals, which were passed unanimously or by majority, submitted by the three sub-committees in their recom-mendations.

After holding a whole day discussion on 18 March, the Assembly passed a three-point resolution “strongly beseeching His Holiness the Dalai Lama to continue to remain as both the spiritual and tem-poral leader of the Tibetan people”. The resolution was presented to His Ho-liness through his secre-taries on 19 March. The office of His Holiness in its response said “There is no change in His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s decision as conveyed in detail in his earlier message. Therefore

the resolution could not be accepted and have been directed to send it back.”Accordingly, a general meeting

of the deputies was convened on the morning of 21 March and it was agreed to form a working

committee. On 21 March, an of-committee. On 21 March, an of-committee. On 21 March, an official resolution no 15 was passed to formally constitute a working committee comprising of members of the Kashag and Parliament. On 23 March, the working committee

presented its recommendations and related documents to the House. The deputies held intensive dis-cussion on the recommendations on 24 and 25 March. A resolution was passed.

The members of the 14th Tibetan Parliament in exile unanimously approved the resolutions.

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32 Indo American News • Friday. April 01, 2011 ONLINE EDITION: www.indoamerican-news.comE N T E r T A I N m E N T

J. Abraham to host the Indian version of ‘Survivor’?While most of the Bol-While most of the Bol-While most of the Bollywood biggies have been seen on reality shows, Bollywood hunk John Abraham has not got this opportunity so far.

However, the wait seems to be finally over now be-cause, Abraham has report-edly been approached to host the Indian version of the popular international reality show, ‘Survivor’. Nothing has been final-ized as yet and the channel is also considering Ajay Devgan and Arjun Rampal for the same. Both Ajay and Arjun have already appeared on TV reality shows earlier, the former as the judge of ‘Rock n Roll Family, and the latter as the judge for ‘Nach Baliye 4’. Among all three, John seems to be the strongest contender. The show is likely to go on air in a couple of months.

Bollywood actress Kareena Kapoor is known for her style, poise and choice of accessories.

So, when it came to choosing an actress as their brand ambassador, Lavie bags could not settle in for a better choice than the style diva herself. Thus, here we have Kareena Kapoor endorsing the brand and sharing her tips too.

Kareena said, “We women have our share of ups and downs. Nothing can lighten the mood better than a great accessory. I am Lavie, which means life.”

Kareena will be shooting for a TVC for the brand and the kareena handbag ad will be aired soon. The promotion work will not remain restricted to television, but to reach out the international customers, press ads will be released too. The theme or rather the tag line of the commercial will be ‘Me, Myself & I’.

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has taken up a full fledged form now. The two enjoyed dancing with each other at Karan Johar’s party. Then, Anoushka invited Ranbir Kapoor for a party she held for a select group of friends at her home.

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33 Indo American News • Friday, April 01, 2011ONLINE EDITION: www.indoamerican-news.com H E A L T H

Philips India Focusing on Technology for Health, WellbeingBy K.T. JagganaTagganaTaggana han

(The Hindu): Reiterating its fo-cus on health and wellbeing, the fully owned Dutch subsidiary Philips Electronics India Ltd. has unveiled a slew of new initiatives across verti-

cals to offer its customers simplified solutions and a sense of belonging.

At the third edition of Philips’ An-nual Media Offsite here last week, the top management of Philips India, led by its new Managing Director Rajeev Chopra, spelt out the road map to

journalists. The message was clear. The team was focussed on making the time-tested Philips brand positively impact people of all walks of life.

Mr. Chopra, who is also the head of the lighting vertical, said that “LEDs

(light emitting diodes) are the future of lighting.” He announced Philips’ entry into LED-based solar-powered lighting solutions. The company launched the country’s first LED-based solar-powered street lighting solution. Mr. Chopra said the LED-

based solar solution was indigenous-ly developed by its R&D facility in Noida. “The digital capabilities of LEDs allow customisation in terms of light output to provide optimum light coverage,” he said. He said that the

LED-based solar solution could be use-ful for urban areas as well as off-grid locations in rural areas.

P h i l i p s also showed a sneak preview of a portable solar-pow-ered LED rechargeable light. The product, cur-product, cur-product, currently under d e v e l o p -ment, would hit the mar-hit the mar-hit the market soon.

The com-pany also announced additions to its LED con-

sumer bulb range with the imminent launch of 9W bulb to add to its exist-ing 5W and 7W retrofit bulbs. In the professional category, Philips, Mr. Chopra said, was planning to launch LED-based luminaries for landscape lighting applications such as post-top,

The (MR) magnetic resonance-guided high intensity focussed ultrasound (HIFU) solu-tion from Philips. Photo: Special Arrangement

wall-mount, step lighting and LED makers.

Philips also unveiled its break-through MR (magnetic resonance)-guided high intensity focussed ultra-sound (HIFU) solution called ‘Son-alleve’, which offers a non-invasive alternative to the traditional treatment for uterine fibroids in women. Sonal-leve HIFU system is first clinically approved for the treatment of non-cancerous tumours such as uterine fibroids (non-cancerous growths of the uterus that often appear during child-bearing years).

Krishna Kumar, Vice-President and Business head of Philips Health-care, felt that ‘non-communicable’ diseases were turning out to be ‘big-gest killers’ in the modern day. Ensur-gest killers’ in the modern day. Ensur-gest killers’ in the modern day. Ensuring three ‘A’s — awareness, access and affordability — was a big chal-lenge in the Indian context. There was real danger of people “getting sick before they become rich,” he said. In this context, he said Philips was keen to develop an eco-system that addressed issues connected with health and wellbeing. Setting up a new production unit at Chakkan, Pune, establishing more customer care centres and developing a host of innovations were among the efforts Philips was doing in this direction. “The future of medicine lies in imag-ing and non-invasive intervention,” Mr. Kumar said.

Philips also announced a slew of launches in the consumer lifestyle space. Among them are two new epilators for women, a range of hair-

styling products and mixer-grinders.At the Media Offsite, Philips also

released its first Health and Wellbeing Index Report for India.

Some of the findings of the report are: 83 per cent of urban Indians do not consider themselves overweight, 38 per cent of urban Indians feel technology has made life stressful, 87 per cent of rural Indians put access to clean water as their biggest concern and Bangalore is the No: 1 city in India when it comes to experimenting with new remedies.

Stating that Philips had been a pioneer in developing and brining to market innovations that shaped people’s healthcare, lifestyle and the society, Vivek Sharma, Chief Market-ing Officer, said the company would continue to come out with insightful trend surveys so as to address the criti-cal issues surrounding lives.


34 Indo American News • Friday, April 01, 2011 ONLINE EDITION: www.indoamerican-news.comT E c H n o L o g y

MARK THE MARK THE MARK BALL • Contest # 12WIN A DINE-IN GIFT CERTIFICATE!

• Mark the spot of the missing ball in the photo. • E-mail us a scanned version with the spot of the missing ball marked as an • E-mail us a scanned version with the spot of the missing ball marked as an • E-mail us a scanned version with the spot of the missing ball X on photo.X on photo.X [email protected] Do send us your contact details as [email protected] Do send us your contact details as [email protected] OR Mail / Drop your entry to: 7457 Harwin Dr, Ste: 262, Houston, TX 77036. • Win a dine-in gift certificate for dining up to $50 in value. Send in your entry today!. One entry per family! Value of gift certificate will be decided by Indo American News. No phone or fax entries will be encouraged, they will be considered void. Indo American News and its partners, clients, employees and families are not eligible to participate in this contest.

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Microsoft Appoints Bhaskar Pramanik as Chairman of their India OperationsNEW DELHI (SI): Software giant Mi-

crosoft said it has appointed Bhaskar Pramanik as chairman for its India op-erations.The appointment,comes less than two months after Ravi Venkatesan quit as Microsoft India’s chairman and corporate vice-president.

Prior to the current role, Pramanik served as Managing Director for Oracle India and Sun Microsystems.

“As chairman, Pramanik will oversee Microsoft’s sales, marketing and services subsidiary, provide overall leadership on all Microsoft assets in India and lead our citizenship agenda in close alignment with

India’s national priorities,” Microsoft said in a statement.

Pramanik will report to Jean-Philippe Courtois, who is the President of Microsoft International.

“I am excited to be part of a company that has such a wide play across industries, seg-ments, products and services. I look forward to partnering with the business leaders and the entire Microsoft team to grow our busi-ness in India and enable the success of all our stakeholders,” Pramanik said.

He served at Sun Microsystems for 13 years and was also Global Vice-President (Commercial Systems) at US headquarters.

Pramanik was responsible for growing Sun Microsystems’ business in India from under USD 20 million to over USD 200 million in six years, apart from expanding its organisational presence in the country from 24 people to over 1,200, the statement said.

He is also active in industry bodies, in-cluding Nasscom and CII, and has also held several general management, sales and mar-keting positions with other companies in In-dia and Singapore.

“Bhaskar (Pramanik) comes to Microsoft with a strong reputation as a business leader and organisation builder.

“His deep experience and understand-ing of the Indian IT industry will be criti-cal to continuing to build our leadership in India, as well as enriching our relationships with customers, partners and government,” Courtois said.

Microsoft has a good presence in India, with over 5,300 employees in the country.

Bhaskar Pramanik

India’s only MBA-holder Sarpanch Dazzles at United Nations Confab

There was disbelief among ministers and ambassadors when the chairperson of the 11th Info-Poverty World Conference at the United Nations introduced the jeans-clad Chhavi Rajawat as head of a village in In-dia. She is the sarpanch of Soda village, 60km from Jaipur.

Rajawat, 30, India’s youngest and only MBA to be a village head, quit her senior management position with Bharti-Tele Ven-tures of Airtel Group to serve her beloved villagers as sarpanch.

Rajawat participated in a panel discussion on March 24 and 25 on how civil society can implement its actions. Rajawat said she sought full support from outside agencies and the corporate world.

“I thank United Nations office for Partner-ships (UNOP) which had deputed its senior adviser in India Mr Babu Lal Jain to visit Soda in the opening of the first bank in the village. It is necessary to re-think through

various strategies of action that includes new technologies like e-services in achiev-ing MDGs in an era where resources have become limited, she told the delegates of the international conference.

“If India continues to make progress at the same pace as it has for the past 65 years since Independence, it just won’t be good enough. We’ll be failing people who dream about having water, electricity, toilets, schools and jobs. I am convinced we can do it differently and do it faster,” she said.

“In three years I will transform my vil-lage. I don’t want money. I want people and organisations to adopt projects in my village as often projects fail owing to lack of a local connect and that is what I am here to provide by bridging that gap.”

“I want the conference to help bring about faster change so that this generation can enjoy that kind of life that I and you in this audience take for granted.”


36 Indo American News • Friday, April 01, 2011 ONLINE EDITION: www.indoamerican-news.com



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India Scrap their Way into World Cup Final vs. Sri LankaBy Brydon Coverdale

MOHALI (ESPN Cric Info): India’s dream of a World Cup tri-umph at home is one step closer after their bowlers suffocated Paki-stan’s batsmen to set up a 29-run victory in the semi-final in Mohali. Saturday’s decider will now be a battle of the hosts, and while Sri Lanka might have been surprised by the strength of India’s bowling effort, they would also have taken note of a slightly lacklustre batting performance.

In the end, India’s 260 for 9 was enough as their bowlers did a fine job, but had Pakistan helped them-selves, the target could have been so much more gettable. Sachin Tendulkar was dropped four times in his 85, MS Dhoni was put down once and while Wahab Riaz was extremely impressive in collecting five wickets, Umar Gul had one of his most forgettable days, wilting under the pressure of a World Cup semi-final.

By contrast, In-dia’s display in the field was much more professional, and that was the dif-and that was the dif-and that was the difference in a match that lived up to the extreme pre-match hype. The decision to leave R Ashwin out to make room for Ashish Nehra was an odd choice on a pitch offer-ing plenty of spin, but Nehra and his bowling colleagues built the pressure and gave Pakistan’s batsmen little to attack after they made a promising start and reached 70 for 1.

The Indians didn’t give away an extra until the 37th over of the innings, and the way they put together strings of dot balls and tight overs was key to their success. Munaf Patel picked up two victims and Yuvraj Singh

made up for his golden duck with a pair of wickets, but the most im-portant breakthrough came when Harbhajan Singh bowled Umar Akmal for 29.

Akmal had struck a pair of sixes off Yuvraj, driving him over the sight screen and pulling him over midwicket, and anything was pos-sible while he was at the crease. But Dhoni called on Harbhajan to replace Yuvraj, and with the first ball of his spell he came around the wicket and pushed one across Akmal, taking the off stump when the batsman played for the spin.

Shahid Afridi also fell to Harb-hajan when he skied a catch off a full toss, and the obdurate Mis-bah-ul-Haq was left to steer the chase. He found it difficult to lift his tempo and was the last man out, caught on the boundary for 56 in the final over, but he ate up 76

deliveries and had he shown some more intent earlier, Pakistan might have had a chance.

It was a disappointing end for Pakistan after their top order gave

them hope. Mohammad Hafeez made an encouraging 43 before a string of eight dot balls from Mu-naf brought a brain-fade as Hafeez tried a premeditated paddle sweep from outside off stump and edged behind to Dhoni.

Soon after, the loss of Asad Shafiq brought the Mohali crowd to life, when he tried to cut a Yuvraj delivery that was much too full and straight, and the middle stump was knocked back. Shafiq had made 30 and had displayed a cool temperament until that point, but the required run-rate started to balloon, and Pakistan never recovered.

But while India have booked a place in the final, they must hope they haven’t used all their good fortune too

soon. Tendulkar might be the fin-est batsman of his generation, but today he was the luckiest, dropped on 27, 45, 70 and 81. It seemed as though he was go-ing to bring up his 100th international century with one of his least convincing in-nings.

Misbah at midwicket was the first to put him down, before Younis Khan spilled a regula-tion chance at cover, both off the bowling of Afridi. The third op-portunity came when Kamran Akmal didn’t move his hands quickly enough to a thick edge, again off Afridi, and while that was a tough opportunity, a pull to Umar at mid-on from the offspin of Hafeez should have been tak-en.

Before he had any of those lives, Tendulkar had survived two very tight calls on 23: an lbw decision that was given out by Ian Gould but on review proved to be spin-

ning down leg, and a near-stump-ing the next delivery when he just got his back foot down in time

after losing his balance reaching outside off. When Tendulkar was finally taken at cover by Afridi off the bowling of Ajmal, Pakistan’s relief was evident.

Soon after, a scratchy Dhoni, who was also dropped by Kam-ran, made the mistake of chal-lenging Simon Taufel on an lbw decision. Dhoni had 25 when he

missed a Riaz delivery that pitched just in line and was hitting the stumps. It was the second outstand-

ing call by Taufel, who had given Virender Sehwag lbw in a similar fashion earlier, even though the left-armer’s angle meant pitching outside leg was a possibility.

Riaz was the man who Afridi had to thank for keeping Pakistan in the contest af-in the contest af-in the contest after India made a strong start and reached 114 for 1 off their first 18 overs. After Gau-tam Gambhir was stumped wander-ing down the pitch against Hafeez, Riaz grabbed two wickets in two balls - Virat Kohli caught at back-ward point and Yuvraj bowled by a low full toss for a golden duck.

Nobody looked as fluent as the crease as Sehwag, who took 21 off Gul (0 for 69) from the third over of the innings. What looked like a 300-plus total in those early overs became 260 when Suresh Raina helped them recover from their middle-order failures.

It was enough, but India’s bats-men will need to improve if they

Sachin Tendulkar’s 85 was the best score in the match, but he was dropped four times along the way .

Joy for one. Disappointment for the other. Harbhajan Singh’s dismissal of Shahid Afridi was the decisive blow in a tight semi-final in Mohali


39 Indo American News • Friday, April 01, 2011ONLINE EDITION: www.indoamerican-news.comI n D I A

e-toilets Revolutionize Sanitation in India

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TRIVANDRUM (SI): A coin is dropped into the slot and bingo the door to the toilet slides open, the light and exhaust fan turn on. And after use, in case you for-get to flush, the auto-mated flushing turns on and sterilizes the commode too. Wel-come to unmanned electronic public toi-lets that are making their presence felt in India.

Delight, the coun-try’s first e-toilet unit, has been devel-oped by city-based Eram Scientific So-lutions (P) Ltd. It is part of Eram Group, a company which has operational presence in India, the Middle East and Southeast Asia.

Currently, there are 16 units installed, of which six are in Greater Noida, in Uttar Pradesh, while the rest are at various places in Kerala.

M.S. Vinod, direc-tor of Eram, said this e-toilet is a result of a convergence of elec-tronics, web and mobile technolo-gies.

“It features an automated door

opening, power flushing, automat-ic closet washing and sterilization, and automatic platform cleaning

mechanism, all backed by SMS alerts to inform the control room about the status of water tank and

bio gas plant in the event of any errors or failures,” Vinod said.

An e-toilet occupies around 20 square feet and has two doors -- a slid-ing door at the front, and a normal door ahead of the toilet.

“As soon as the coin (entry charge) is dropped, the slid-ing door opens and the light and the exhaust fan come on. Inside the toilet there is a bucket, mug and all other items. In case the user does not flush the toilet after use, the system auto-matically does all the cleaning opera-tions.”

“The human ex-creta is treated and it is reduced to a sand-like material, which will not have any bacteria and it is removed physi-cally once in three months,” said Vi-nod.

Its unique struc-ture facilitates the display of adver-tisement boards on

its outer surface. This can act as a source of additional income for its operators.

Just 20 square feet with two doors, a sliding door and a nor-mal door it comes with automatic doors, with closet wash-ing, automatic cleaning mechanics. 16 units have been in-stalled in Uttar Pradesh, and more units are being installed in Kerala state. Human waste is treated, converted into a sand like material and removed once in three months

Delight’s model gives more em-phasis on advertisement revenue, whereas the only source of income in the traditional public toilets is in the form of coins. He said 15 more units in Kozhikode city and one in Kochi are under installation. “It is expected that 2,000 units in Kerala and 8,000 units in other Indian cit-ies are possible in the next finan-cial year,” said Vinod

The price of this e-toilet varies from 350,000 to 850,000 (inclu-sive of bio-membrane reactor’s price).

Bio-membrane reactor is a nano-technology- aided device that in-stantly recycles the used water and makes it ready for future use, he said.

The price depends on the man-ufacturing materials like fibre, metal sheets, stainless steel, MS pillars and a combination of the said materials. Electronic and cleaning features will be the same for all variants, but more facilities for physically challenged, women and children will be added to the top models.

Other specialities of this product include efficient water conserva-tion techniques. Besides, the entire waste decomposing is through bio enzymes and reusing the water.

This unit can be managed from a remote location and the system can be closed down, or remote washing can be done through GPRS controls. The average life of a unit is estimated to be around 7-10 years, Vinod added.

Fun Tech Facts• Windmills always turn

anti-clockwise. Except for the windmills in Ireland!

• Car airbags kill 1 person for every 22 lives that they save.

• Thomas Alva Edison patented almost 1,300 in-ventions in his lifetime!

• First four countries to have television: England, the U.S., the U.S.S.R., and Brazil

• Whale oil was used in automobile transmissions as late as 1973

• The oil used by jewel-ers to lubricate clocks and watches costs about $3,000 a gallon.

• The normal static elec-tricty shock that zaps your finger when you touch a doorknob is usually be-tween 10,000 and 30,000 volts!

• The life boat was pat-ented in 1845!

• The first alarm clock could only ring at 4 a.m.

• The IRS processes more than 2 billion pieces of paper each year.

• The electric chair was invented by a dentist!

• The first hard drive available for the Apple II had a capacity of only 5 megabytes.



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