Desi News Corp - Index

Desi News Corp - Desi News - May 2009 - Index

Hello ji!
Aposter behind the bank teller claims cutting
back on coffee and eating out can save hundreds
of dollars a month.
How many of us consume that much coffee and
eat out that much, I wonder. Until I read of actress
Camilla Scott (We Will Rock You) ‘cutting back’ from
$4.86 coffees to $2.26 ones. But she still buys coffee
every day.
I remember my father-in-law’s shocked reaction
to the price of Turkish coffee. Appa liked his coffee
strong, and the first time he visited us in Dubai, my
husband was eager to introduce him to the pleasures
of Turkish coffee. Appa, however, wasn’t impressed.
“It’s such a tiny cup,” he said. “They charge five
dirhams for it, and half the cup is full of coffee
grounds!”
Appa was a strong proponent of saving money.
It’s not how much you earn, he said, it’s how much
you save that matters.
My neighbour, Dorothy, an octogenarian, also
favoured sensible spending. She insisted we use her
aluminum ladder rather than go out and buy a new
one. “Get one of those branch trimmers, instead, and
I’ll use it too,” she said. “What’s the point of both of
us having one of each and using them maybe three
or four times a year, if that?”
On Halloween, she handed out small change instead
of going out and buying candy. “The kids love
it and what am I going to do with all those pennies
and nickels and dimes, anyway?”
In the current financial scenario, perhaps it’s time
to implement some of the lessons learnt from our
elders about sensible spending.
* * *
A partially deaf boy came home from school one
day with a note that said he was “too stupid to learn”
and suggested the parents take him out of school.
His mother said, “My Tom isn’t stupid. I’ll teach him
myself.” And so she did. When that boy passed away
many years later, the people of the United States paid
tribute to him by turning off the nation’s lights for
one full minute. For Tom had invented the light bulb.
And the record player. In all, Thomas Edison had
more than a 1000 patents to his credit.
Happy Mother’s Day! And greetings on South Asian
Heritage Month in Ontario!
Editor
Publisher
Publisher
Publisher Publisher
Publisher G. A. Easwar
Editor Editor Editor Editor Editor Shagorika Easwar
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Etobicoke, ON M9C 4N1
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Swami, V. Ananth (India)
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Ajax, Pickering, Scarborough,
Proud to be desi
I am a regular reader of your
informative magazine and would
like to commend you for bridging
the gap between the East and
West. It’s good to see East
Indians from different parts of
the world being profiled in your
magazine. I am originally from
Guyana; however, deep down, I
still consider myself a proud East
Indian descendant. We might be
from different countries, but we
share a common heritage. I am
just as desi as desis from Guyana and Trinidad or any other part of the
world. The love for one’s cultural moorings can never be ignored.
– AYUBE KHAN, VIA E-MAIL
Our common heritage
Happy Mother’s Day!
My mother is the greatest mother in the
world! She taught me the values of life –
being tr ustworthy, truthful, helpful,
sincere, polite, well-disciplined, well-
mannered, and to think about others
• Reader Partha Mukherjee
with his mother, Sarama
before I think
of myself. During
a difficult
period when I
was facing problems,
my mother
told me not to
get emotional,
but to deal with
the situation
with reason. She stayed by my side and
was very supportive. My mother is a very
lovable, loving and happy person. She
would like me to be the same. My mother
is wonderful, special, passionate, understanding,
outgoing, well-educated and hard
working. She is much respected in the
community as the founder of the Canada
Bengali Cultural School in Mississauga.
Happy Mother’s Day, Ma!
– P ARTHA MUKHERJEE, VIA E-MAIL
Markham, Richmond Hill, East
York, Thornhill, Concord, North
York, Oakville, Mississauga,
Malton, Etobicoke, Brampton,
Woodbridge, Hamilton, Stoney
Creek, Burlington, Windsor,
Oshawa, Whitby.
A Guyanese tale
I absolutely loved the story
about professor Mohamed
Khan’s grandfather (A proud
export of Guyana, April). My father
always said that the true
measure of a man’s success lies
in how his children turn out and
going by that, Karamat Khan
was very successful, indeed.
– THARA KUMARAVEL, VIA E-MAIL
A lack of courtesy
Re Pet peeves (April), here’s
mine! At grocery stores, restaurants,
even some tourist attractions,
I have found people who
are impatient and curt to the
point of being rude, especially
when dealing with an older person.
The reverse is also true –
far too many people are rude
with tellers, cashiers and wait
staff. Common courtesy seems
to be too old-fashioned a concept
for many of us.
– SUMEDH SHUKLA, VIA E-MAIL
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May 2009 Desi News 9