BOLLYWOOD NIGHT

Bollywood Night, held Friday, September 5th by TEGSA, was the first event of the new season and of course was a resounding success.

The evening started with a scrumptious dinner consisting of chicken biryani, chicken curry, curried veggies, tossed salad and firni for desert. During dinner, D.J. Richie D’Souza played an assortment of easy listening music for everyone’s enjoyment. Keeping with the theme, many folks came dressed in traditional Indian outfits. There were colourful saris, lehenga’s and shalwar / kameezes, even some of the men were daring enough to come in traditional outfits; it was a sight to see.

There was even a fashion show; the models comprised of Ample Annie, Sugar Bush Barbara, Naughty Natasha and Juicy Lucy. As each model was introduced by our M.C. Joachim Menezes, they came out in full traditional outfits with makeup and accessories. They danced and enticed the crowd with their sexy manoeuvering and at the end of the fashion show the winner Ample Annie was crowned Miss TEGSA Hollywood 2008.

Click to View Enlarged Images

On a side note, everyone was surprised to find out that each of these beautifully dressed models were all men who were sporting enough to agree to put on such an event.

Best traditional outfits – majority votes – were awarded to :-

1st Prize Uvy Lopes. ( BiddiWalla )	2nd Prize Yolanda Gracias	3rd Prize Rocky Fernandes ( LuckySingh )
Click to View Enlarged Images

The dancing and fun continued during the evening with special performances by Ruth Kumar who entertained everyone with an Indian dance and Juliet Matkar who sang an Indian song.

There was a fifty-fifty draw as well as Bingo played towards the end of the evening. The bingo caller for the night was none other than John “Pompi” Gois, who of course kept everyone laughing and having a great time. While playing bingo there were also some delicious treats (ladoos and jalebis) passed around to everyone’s delight. Putting such an event together takes a lot of planning, time and effort. A special thanks to Martha Menezes and her team, for once again outdoing themselves in organizing such a successful and enjoyable event.

'Volume Zero' explores Charles Correa's vision
From Goan Voice UK

5 Sep: Times of India. Volume Zero: The Work of Charles Correa is an hour-long film on Correa's architecture… The film has footage of him relaxing at his home in Goa… The project that promises to be Correa's most dramatic work to date is Lisbon's Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown, a scientific research centre still under construction at the point at which the Tagus river joins the Atlantic


Charles Correa’s work in Canada
TheStar.com - GTA - Aga Khan's cultural centre crown jewel for Don Mills
April 02, 2008
Christopher Hume
Urban Affairs Columnist

A View Toward The New Ismaili Centre, Designed By Charles Correa.
http://www.canadianarchitect.com/issues/ISArticle.asp?story_id=159010084929

Perhaps the Aga Khan knows something we don't. Why else would the spiritual leader of the world's 15 million Ismaili Muslims have chosen a 7-hectare site near Don Mills and Eglinton to build his $200 million community centre/cultural campus?

Most Torontonians would have dismissed that location without a second thought; after all Wynford Dr., where the old Bata and Shell corporate sites were located, is more a drive-by corner than a destination. But once the transformation is complete, sometime around 2011, it will be a full-fledged international destination, a place for all.

The three-part project consists of a museum and a community/religious centre surrounded by gardens. Though work won't begin until later this year, drawings show a complex of rare beauty that, even more amazing, is rendered in the language of contemporary architecture. Unlike most such religious/culture centres that have appeared recently in these parts, this one looks to the future, not the past. The designer of the museum, intended to house the Aga Khan's exquisite collection of Islamic art and artifacts, is none other than acclaimed Japanese architect Fumihiko Maki. The Pritzker Prize winner has conceived a state-of-the-art facility clad in white stone and set off by a dome—like metal structure on the roof. Inside, there will be a 350-seat theatre as well as all the usual features – library, café, restaurant and storage.

It sits north of the centre by Charles Correa, another celebrated architect, in this case from Mumbai. A modernist known for his sensitivity to local conditions, Correa has contributed a low-slung building also highlighted by a multi-faceted dome rendered in glass. The centre will contain the meeting rooms and various spaces. The jamatkhana, or prayer room, is the sacred part of the complex; it will be a simple, unadorned area lit by the dome above. Clad in limestone, this large rambling structure reads like a geological feature, part of the landscape; it's the largest element on site.

In between and all around will be a series of gardens, ponds, fountains and rows of trees that can be expected to erase all signs of suburbia. Designed by Vladimir Djurovic of Lebanon, this green space takes its inspiration from the traditional Islamic idea of the garden as a place of quiet contemplation and enclosed beauty. It must also serve to block out the nearby parkway and off-ramp, the major arterials and the whole apparatus of a postwar car-based city. Interestingly, the Aga Khan, who signs off on all plans, was strongly in favour of the gardens – and underground parking for 750 cars. His Highness was concerned about what kind of image the centre will send to the population at large. He wanted non-Ismailis to feel as welcome as possible, and also to be confronted with the sheer beauty of the complex.

Given the number of surface lots in Toronto, one might think we love them, but thankfully the Aga Khan doesn't. Though his demand will raise the cost of the project, that's a price he's willing to pay. For this, and everything else, we should be eternally grateful. It is revealing that the Aga Khan and his foundation treat this city with more respect than most developers who work here. Not only did Toronto win the museum over London, England, the plan will empower three important architects to help transform Toronto.

The Aga Khan is also hard at work in Ottawa, converting the old War Museum of Sussex Dr. into the Global Centre for Pluralism. There's another Ismaili centre, also designed by Maki, under construction in the embassy district. Too often the subtext of the diversity debate focuses on what Canada can do for immigrants. This time, it's about how much they can do for Canada – and Toronto. Christopher Hume writes on urban development, To reach him, email chume@thestar.ca.

The Braganza House In Chandor.
How A Family's Devotion Helps Conserve One Of Goa's Grandest Colonial Mansions
Excerpts from: http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl2406/stories/20070406000506500.htm
Text And Pictures: Sarah Hiddleston

The Library at the house of Chandor. It is the biggest private library in Goa.	The visitors' salon has floor tiles from Portugal and windows with glass panes from Venice.

"I AM a granddaughter to this house. When I was a little girl, I used to stay here in the holidays with my grandmother. I would play many games with my cousins, games like hide and seek, games with balls and dolls and so on. But we were not allowed to play inside the house. At that time life was quite different. The house today is not even one tenth of what it was in those days. We used to follow the aristocratic life of Europe. We had 12 permanent staff: butlers, maids, cooks, gardeners and so on. Everything was kept in style. The house was known as the corner of Europe."

Aida de Menezes Braganza, 90, represents the eighth generation of the Braganza family in Goa. She lives in her ancestral home in Chandor village in south Goa, one of the grandest of the State's colonial mansions. The house, which is shaded by a row of palms at the front and a fruit orchard at the back, has a 28-window, two-storey facade and flanks the full length of one side of the village square. It stands out amidst the tumbledown, tin-roofed houses near by, and only the whitewashed Portuguese-style Catholic church, gleaming in the midday sun, competes with it for attention. This is not surprising, for the house of Chandor was connected to both the rise and the fall of the 451-year rule of the Portuguese in Goa.

It is Aida's son, Claudio de Menezes Braganza, 56, who takes me around the house. He spends half a year in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and the other half in Goa helping his mother with renovations. According to him, Portuguese influence reached Chandor in the middle of the 16th century. In those days, a wealthy, influential and educated Hindu family by the name of Desai held sway in the village panchayat. But with the advent of the Jesuit mission led by St. Francis Xavier in 1542 and the Inquisition soon after, the family was forcibly converted. For the next three centuries, the family worked closely with the government of Portugal. Pleased with its efforts and owing to its financial, social and intellectual status, the Portuguese awarded it the name of the last royal house of Portugal, Braganza.

Click House of Chandor for Entire Article

Christians Learn The Art Of Dating
Christians are going on dating workshops to improve their technique in everything from chat-up lines to body language.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/religion/2694175/Christians-learn-the-art
By Jonathan Wynne-Jones, Religious Affairs Correspondent- The Telegraph
06 Sep 2008

Christians are going on dating workshops to teach them how to chat-up the opposite sex

Dwindling congregations and a lack of experience in relationships have left many churchgoers struggling to find a partner, according to clergy. There has been a sharp rise in the number of worshippers signing up to internet dating sites, but clergy are concerned that they are losing personal skills, such as flirting and reading signals. Now hundreds of Christians are attending courses designed to make them more successful in turning a first date into a long-term relationship.

Peter Spalton, known as the dating doctor, said that churchgoers tended to be more reserved and could benefit from tips on how to appear more attractive. Lessons include how to greet someone, how to hold good eye contact and how to judge whether the other person wants to be kissed at the end of the evening.

"The first meeting is crucial in making or breaking a relationship," said Mr Spalton.

"The workshops are all about giving people the confidence to make their date a success. They go through the whole process of what is acceptable to talk about and when it is appropriate to try to take things to the next level."

Mr Spalton said that chat-up lines can be a good way to make someone laugh and feel relaxed, but that some Christian jokes might not be well received. Among those highlighted as best to avoid by Christian Connections - an online dating agency - are one-liners such as "You float my ark" and "I didn't believe in predestination until tonight".

Jackie Elton, founder of the agency, said that the number of people using Christian dating sites has doubled over the past year. "There's been a massive rise in internet dating sites as Christians are struggling to find a partner in church," she said. "They know what they want, but many congregations are too small or have a gender imbalance that makes it really difficult for them. "As a result they are not getting the kind of experience they need and that's why they are turning to the workshops."

The Rev Richard Cunningham, the director of the University and College Christian Fellowship, said that as society has become more fragmented many people now lack the necessary skills to date successfully. "With the growth of the internet, people are losing social skills we used to take for granted, and have drifted away from being able to read signals," he said. Christian Connections asked churchgoers for chat up lines that they had used, or that had been used on them. Examples included:

'Now I know why Solomon had 700 wives. He never met you.'

'Is this pew taken?'

'I just don't feel called to celibacy.'

'You float my ark.'

'I didn't believe in predestination until tonight.'

'My parents are home, wanna come over?'

'Is that a thinline, duo-tone, compact, ESV travel bible in your pocket?'

'Let me sell you an indulgence - it's a sin to look as good as you.'

'How many times do I have to walk around you before you fall for me?"

'I like to arrange the substantial Christian section of my bookshelf into alphabetical order. Coffee?"

'The name is Will. God's Will'

Why flies are so hard to swat
29 Aug 2008, 1307 hrs IST,PTI
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-3421354,prtpage-1.cms

NEW YORK- Ever wondered how the buzzing houseflies are so incredibly good at zipping off to avoid even our best attempts to swat them? Well, scientists have finally solved the mystery- the insect's brain "senses" threat. A team in the United States has found that the fly's ability to dodge being hit is due to its fast-acting brain and an ability to plan ahead -- in fact, it can work out where a threat is coming from and prepare an escape route. And, according to them, the best way of swatting a fly is to creep up slowly and aim ahead of its location.

"It is best to aim a bit forward of the fly's starting position, to anticipate where it's going to jump when it first sees your swatter," lead researcher Dr Michael Dickinson was quoted by the Current Biology journal as saying. In their study, Dr Dickinson and colleagues at the California Institute of Technology filmed an experiment with some fruit flies and a looming swatter, using high-resolution and high-speed imaging technology. The researchers found that when the flies saw an object hurtling towards them, they were able to plan and carry out an emergency take-off in just under 200 milliseconds-or a fifth of a second. And, a fraction of a second before the flies sprung into the air, they managed to alter their body's position so that they're properly prepared to jump in the right direction.

When the blow came from behind, the flies moved their middle legs forward a little and leaned back so that they were ideally positioned to jump forwards into the air and away from the threat. For a threat from the front, the insects moved their legs backward and leaped that way. For sideways threats, they kept their legs still and leaned to the other side to be ready for a lateral escape, the researchers found. In fact, the entire process of calculating the direction of the threat and preparing the body took a fly one tenth of a second and it flew away in two tenths of a second.

"We were surprised to find that long- in fly time- before a fly takes off in response to a predator or swatter, it plans the direction of the jump by making a rather complex series of postural movements. "These movements are made very rapidly, within about 200 milliseconds, but within that time the animal determines where the threat is coming from and activates an appropriate set of movements to position its legs and wings.

"This shows how rapidly the fly's brain processes sensory information into an appropriate motor response. We've also found that when the fly makes planning movements prior to take-off, it takes into account its body position at the time it first sees the threat.

"Our experiments showed that the fly somehow 'knows' whether it needs to make large or small postural changes to reach the correct pre-flight posture," Dickinson said.