MY CRAZY WEEK: GET READY FOR AN INDIAN SUMMER

This article appears in today's Leicester Mercury:

Bipin Anand

My crazy week: get ready for An Indian Summer

Monday: It begins on the back of four hours' sleep for the third day in a row – a whole lot of coffee and the excitement of the impending An Indian Summer (AIS) festival will keep me going, writes Bipin Anand.

After gulping my coffee, I head to the Curve theatre to run through the 20-odd AIS activities they will be hosting from June 27 to 30.

I grab a quick lunch on the mad dash back to the office where there are e-mails to be answered and social media to update. I attend a daily festival team meeting in the afternoon and then head back to the office and catch up with the leaflet and event guide distribution team.

Tuesday: Another early start. I do an interview on Tommy Sandhu's Breakfast Show on BBC Asian Network, meet with local car park owners to organise parking for An Indian Summer artists and continue inviting people from the UK/Europe to An Indian Summer, which is now just nine days away.

Soon it's 5pm and I realise I've forgotten to have lunch and grab a quick sandwich. I fire off a few e-mails, plough through paperwork and finally go home exhausted – at 10.30pm. I sign off after midnight, even with the buzz of the festival I just can't work anymore.

Wednesday: Arriving at the office I find three team members already there hard at work, everyone's so excited, it's a great atmosphere!The morning is spent setting up interviews with Pukaar News before a lunch meeting with AIS project and event managers Swati and Jiten.

The team is buzzing with the announcement that Leicester has made the final four of the City of Culture finalists! I pop over to the University of Leicester to run through details of their involvement in the AIS launch, meet with Phoenix's CEO to run through details for next year's AIS, and confirm transport for tabla artist Mayur Narvekar (arriving by flight from India) is all good for the following day.

Thursday: I'm jolted awake with a mixture of nerves and excitement at the realisation that there is now just one week to go. I have a meeting with AIS media team coordinator, Simon Aitchison, a health and safety walk through with my brother and event manager Jiten.

Lunch is delivered by my wonderful mum on her way to work. I edit video footage, help with leaflet distribution and attend a meeting with the manager of Chutney Ivy to discuss our launch – in aid of Unique Homes for Girls – next Wednesday. A break is much-needed so I switch off my phone and sneak off to catch a movie at Phoenix.

Friday: After a jog and meditation session, I am fired up and ready for the day ahead. I'm greeted by Gurdeep, AIS's creative director, and the decoration team – they will be putting into action the AIS decoration plan as of today. I attend the City of Culture team meeting as one of the executive board members of the bid team. A day of meetings, run-throughs with the team follow before I pack up slightly early, head home and put my feet up – an awesome feeling.

Bipin Anand is festival director of An Indian Summer, from June 27-30 in Leicester's Cultural Quarter

BBC RADIO LEICESTER'S UGANDA 40 SEASON: CLOSING RECEPTION

I've accepted an invitation to attend a reception at BBC Radio Leicester this evening, to celebrate the conclusion of their Uganda 40 season, that has been running for the past couple of months.

There are about 60 guests gathered in the foyer. I've not seen this used for such a purpose before, but its a very good setting for this kind of thing. For part of the reception, Kamlesh Purohit is broadcasting live from the foyer, interviewing some of the attendees. After all, this is taking place during his time slot.

Speakers include Jane Hill (Editor of BBC Radio Leicester), Rupal Rajani (BBC Radio Leicester presenter, who travelled to Uganda to record several programmes broadcast during this celebratory season) and Sir Peter Soulsby (City Mayor). Sir Peter offers a brief overview of the ways in which the arrival and settlement of Ugandan Asians has transformed the nature of Leicester in business, civic, commercial, culinary, cultural, demographic, economic, political, religious and social terms over the past four decades.

In the photo above, Jane Hill presents Rupal and her producer, Namrata Varia, with a gift expressing the station's thanks for the work they put into making the Uganda 40 season such a success.

As part of the entertainment this evening, Rishi Tavare plays tabla and there's a performance by Kesha Raithatha (photo above), from Leicester's Centre for Indian Classical Dance. There's an exhibition about the Centre on the first floor here, which I get an opportunity to look at (photo below).

It is announced this evening, to general acclaim, that the exhibition, "From Kampala to Leicester" which ran for three months at New Walk Museum and Art Gallery will be given a permanent home at Newarke Houses Museum. I've blogged a couple of times about that, particularly the closing reception (24 September) and about a lecture I heard there entitled, Ugandan Asians in Leicester: From Refugees to Citizens (7 August). I also took part in a live phone-in radio show, last in a week-long series with Jim Davis, entitled "Immigration and Integration: What is the Future for Leicester?"

This is a very congenial occasion which says good things about our city. I'm privileged to have been invited and glad to have attended.

Of the six photos included here, the first, second and fourth are courtesy of Dimple Patel, producer at BBC Radio Leicster. There's also a nice gallery of photos from this evening's event on the website of Pukaar News.

VAHEGURU JI KA KHALSA VAHEGURU JI KI FATEH

This email has been widely circulated today by Leicestershire Sikh Alliance after the public vigil organised by Leicester Council of Faiths for victims of the shootings in the Oak Creek Gurdwara, Wisconsin.

Members of Leicester Council of Faiths who attended the vigil appear to agree that the Council of Faiths did itself more good in the eyes of those present - City Councillors, local media - and especially the Sikh community of Leicester and Leicestershire - in 25 minutes last Sunday evening than it had in the whole of the last 25 years. This spilled over into social media, with a lot of traffic on Twitter and coverage on Facebook in particular.

Since this was an event illumined by open demonstrations of friendship, support and sympathy across the boundaries of culture, language, nationality and race, it's appropriate to see it (and its ramifications for our city's communities) in the light of this quotation from Bahá'u'lláh's Hidden Words that came to my mind while I was there: "words are the property of all alike, whereas such deeds as these belong only to Our loved ones". Actions speak louder than words.

And that links so aptly with the invocation that opens the message below. This may be translated into English as, "The Khalsa belongs to God, all victory is the victory of God."

Vaheguru Ji Ka Khalsa Vaheguru Ji Ki Fateh

With hundreds of people in attendance, including all faith leaders, the vigil for the victims of the Wisconsin Gurdwara massacre was a resounding success.  In these dark hours, it was amazing for all communities to come together and start the healing process as one universal Leicester community. 

A big thank you to Cllr Manjula Sood and Leicester Council of Faiths for arranging this event.  And an even bigger thank you to Cllr Inderjeet Gugnani who was the unsung hero and hidden architect for the whole event.

Also it was great to hear Jon Ashworth MP's speech. "Tonight we are all Sikhs", was very touching.  Nice one Jon!  This massacre was the largest attack on the Sikh community within the western hemisphere for over half a century.  Is it therefore right that only one MP from the City and County bothered to show?  In one word, "diabolical!".

Pictures attached courtesy of Punjab2000

PukaarNews UK, online news channel

JonAshworth MP's speech, Leicester South

A few words from Surinderpal Rai, General Secretary GTBG

A few words from Amandeep Rai, Public Relations Officer LSA

A few words from George M Ballentyne, Equality & Diversity Officer LCOF

A few words from Sharnjeet Kaur

Thanks

Amandeep Rai (Public Relations Officer for LSA)

INTER FAITH WEEK 2011, DAY 5: HIGHCROSS EXHIBITION

Fifth day five of our week-long exhibition in Highcross to celebrate Inter Faith Week, showcasing the eight communities represented on Leicester Council of Faiths.

Yesterday was a relatively quiet day compared to this one: it's very media-intensive today, in three distinctly different ways. Around 0945, Bharat Patel arrives with a crew of two, to film some material for Pukaar News. He does some straight-to-camera stuff inside the display area, interviews Fayyaz Suleman, our Vice Chair, for 20 minutes or so, then records a few minutes with me. After they're finished filming at Highcross, they head off for the City Council buildings on New Walk, to film an interview with our Chair, Cllr Manjula Sood.

Early this afternoon, Rebecca Bryers, Production Assistant on John Florance's Sunday morning show on BBC Radio Leicester, arrives on the scene to record an interview with Jo Tallack, General Manager at Highcross and with me - first about our presence there during Inter Faith Week, then about the Multi-Faith Prayer Room. I took the above photo when the three of us were inside the prayer room. It's just about ready to go into use, but today the piped music was still playing in there. Rebecca's interview with Jo will have Dionne Warwick's "All the Love in the World" all over it when it's broadcast this coming Sunday.

Around 1600, we have our long awaited "speedfaithing" event that we seem to have waited the best part of a year for. However, a number of factors conspire to make it something of an anticlimax. I was hoping we'd have at least half a dozen people of different backgrounds of religion or belief here but there's only three of us (Noel Singh, Martin Stern and myself). Several of those whom I hoped would be joining in are out at Gateway College doing the Religion and Belief Roadshow organised by St Philip's Centre and there's no chance of them making it back here in time. There's a similarly small number of young reporters (Holly, Christina and Vickie in the photo above) and I'm not sure all of them took part in the "pre" event at Phoenix Square during Leicester Speaks. We make the most of it though - and the girls certainly seem to get something positive out of it - but I wouldn't call it our greatest moment.

Here are some of comments entered in the reflective log by volunteers on the exhibition today:

“Spirituality or shopping? Seems this morning consumerism and the offer of sales is winning!”

“Lots of people glanced at the displays and wider literature. A few read with greater attention and one picked up lots of leaflets to help with her educational consultancy work. So the stall is doing its work in many ways including giving us volunteers the opportunity of meeting across the faith boundaries.”

“I found that it was an interesting experience being able to find out myself about other faiths and being able to talk to other volunteers. I realised it is hard to grab the attention of passers-by to invite them into the space to talk about interfaith week but didn’t want to feel as if I was pestering them. A few people took occasional glances as they walked past, but only a couple stopped. I feel the space would benefit from a more interactive environment which would encourage people to enter the space and not feel afraid of talking to people with the aid of hands-on experience / interactivity rather than just leaflets and banners. The Highcross although deemed an ideal location to gather large quantities of people, at the time of year in particular you find that people are rushing around the shops and don’t have time to stop.”

“I enjoyed volunteering at the Interfaith stand. I learnt more about religion and found it very interesting. Although quite a few people looked at the stand from afar, there wasn’t actually many people who wanted to come up and talk. However I did speak to a couple of people who were quite excited when I told them about the film festival. Although the stand in Highcross meant more people knew about interfaith week, I think it would be a good idea to hold an interfaith festival in one of the parks which would attract lots of attention.”

“It has undoubtedly been a wonderful experience visiting and volunteering at the interfaith stand."

INTER FAITH WEEK 2011, DAY 3: HIGHCROSS EXHIBITION

Third day of our week-long exhibition in Highcross to celebrate Inter Faith Week, showcasing the eight communities represented on Leicester Council of Faiths.

I call in at the Welcome Centre first thing and write out invitations to visit the exhibition for the Mayor, Deputy Mayor and Assistant Mayors I hand them in at Town Hall for distribution through the City Council's internal mail service.

Ben Jackson of BBC Radio Leicester pays an unannounced visit to the display this morning, where he records interviews with Anne Fishenden, local Quaker and Vice Chair of Leicester SACRE (Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education), Amy Marsh (of the student team from University of Leicester, School of Archaeology and Ancient History which created the Faith Trail) and me. This is for a segment of Ben's breakfast show that will be broadcast on Friday morning.

Bharat Patel, of Pukaar News, contacts me by phone, to ask if he and a camera crew can visit the stall tomorrow to film an interview with our Chair, Cllr Manjula Sood, and our Vice Chair, Fayyaz Suleman. To make sure that all goes well, I immediately seek written permission for this from Highcross management - which I promptly receive, glad to say.

In the afternoon, we receive a brief visit from City Councillors Sundip Meghani and Barbara Potter. Sundip has encountered the Council of Faiths on more than one occasion, but I've never met Barbara before. Sundip sends out a supportive tweet to his 1,423 followers:

Just visited the excellent Leicester @counciloffaiths Inter Faith Week exhibition at the Highcross shopping centre. Well worth a visit!

Follow Councillor Sundip Meghani on Twitter: @Sundip

Final volunteers on the stall this evening are Yasmin Surti and Deirdre O'Sullivan (in photo above). This reflective log entry was made by one of them (I'm not saying which one, but she's not sitting on the right):

"Another cold and dark evening lightened by George's 'sense of humour' - looking forward to the next round."

I like how "sense of humour" is in "inverted commas". I find that very "reassuring" - wouldn't you, "faithful reader"?

OUR LEICESTER DAY 2011

At Leicester Market for Our Leicester Day. This is an opportunity for Voluntary and Community Sector organisations (and a few others) in the city (some from the county too) to present themselves to the general public, to the media - and to each other.

There are more than 110 organisations listed as taking part (described as "Promoters"), but it doesn't look to me as if all of them have turned up. The wind is probably a big factor in that. No one reckoned with the effects of the tail-end of Hurricane Katia. Some groups have had their display material virtually wrecked by the wind. There are leaflets flying everywhere, banners blown over and torn from their moorings and so much stuff being tossed backward and forward, it's a wonder no one is injured.

We share our space with Cooke e-learning Foundation and Menphys. Jim Matthews is helping run the Menphys stall. Jim worked as a reporter with the Leicester Mercury for 35 years. I introduce Gracie to Jim and ask her to tell him what she would like as a career. She makes a good impression on Jim, the outcome of which is that she gets a discount on a bunch of jigsaws (that's my girl!)

Today we're getting people to sign up to our forthcoming email newsletter, that we intend to launch during Community Media Week at the beginning of November.

Our Chair, Councillor Manjula Sood, and I get to speak for a few minutes live on BBC Radio Leicester about the Council of Faiths participation in today's event. I think I respond quite well to being asked live on air if I am Welsh.

A variety of media outlets covered the event, including Citizens' Eye Community News Agency and Pukaar News.

There's going to be a follow-up meeting for debriefing purposes at Phoenix Square Film and Digital Media Centre, Thursday 3 November, 1730. I think that there's been a mixed message about this event, because of the date on which it's been held. On the whole, it's not being taken on by the "Promoters" as being about the tenth anniversary of 9/11 but it's been too convenient and easy (for which, read "lazy") for the media to present it as being so, leading to some skewed perspectives about who is here and what the event is for. Certainly, when I got to speak on BBC Radio Leicester, I wanted to say something different. This is not an event about how Christians and Muslims can get along. I reckon that's a bit of a cheap shot, actually. I haven't seen anything on the promotional material for today's event that would warrant that sort of conclusion. A look at the list of Promoters shows that very few indeed have got anything to do with that angle - even the Council of Faiths itself is not about dialogue and relations between just those two sections of the community. Going on the informal chatter to which I've been privy, the inaccurate emphasis on the Christian-Muslim aspect hasn't gone down well in general and led to a number of people who would have benefited from attending (as visitors or as Promoters) staying away from what appeared, to them, to be an event overtly favouring particular groups who actually turned out to be in a tiny minority here today.

I think that today's event was a success, despite the effects of Hurricane Katia and the tenth anniversary of 9/11, which couldn't help but cast a shadow over anything and everything that goes on today. If Our Leicester Day is to be held again, then hopefully neither foul weather nor the hand of history will set the tone as they have today.

Thanks for helping out today to Ajay, Alastair, Clare, Grace, Harry, Manjula and Rosemarie.

In the photo above: Councillor Manjula Sood (Chair of Leicester Council of Faiths) and Ajay Aggarwal (Leicester Council of Faiths Co-ordinator). Note how the the wind is playing havoc with our pop-up banner!

Christmas Aaya

High profile launch today for a multicultural, multi-faith Christmas single. The article and photo feature our very own Concillor Manjula Sood, Chair of Leicester Council of Faiths (third from left in the photo above) and Resham Singh Sandhu (second from right).

People of all faiths are coming together to launch the first Asian Christmas song, with all profits going to the victims of the Pakistan floods.

"Christmas Aaya" – Christmas is Here – is being played by radio stations across the world and is already in The Voice of Asia top ten. Record-breaking drummer King G Mall, who produced the single and appears as Father Christmas in the video, says he is aiming for a Christmas number one.

‘‘We all celebrate Christmas to some degree and I love bringing everyone together for a good cause.

"On the single we sing in both English and Punjabi and this is the first song with a video shot in four countries – UK, Holland, Canada and India."

The Curve theatre in Leicester is holding a spectacular launch party Friday December 17, hosted by Simon Ward of BBC East Midlands Today. The night features Bollywood dancers, bhangra and a fashion show with leaders of many faiths attending.

"They include Resham Singh Sandhu MBE, chair of the Sikh Welfare Cultural Society UK, Reverend Javid Iqbal, chair of the Diosesan Forum for Ethnic Minority Anglicans in Leicester, who says he is “honoured to be part of the event as it’s bringing the faith communities together and raising much needed funding to help the flood victims of Pakistan to rebuild their lives.”.

Suleman Nagdi MBE of the Federation of Muslim Organisation also pledges his support, stating that, “As a Muslim, I am extremely honoured to be part of the Christmas Aaya event as it shows how communities can work together for the mutual respect and advancement of good community relations in Leicestershire.” Also present will be councillor Manjula Sood, former Lord Mayor and chair of the Leicester Council of Faiths, Mussarat Iqbal, chair of Life Skill Project International and Pat Weller, Chief Executive of the Curve said, “We at the curve support both the local and the wider community and we are behind this fundraising event.”

The launch is supported by Curve and Pukaar News.

King G. Mall says, "It’s hardcore Bhangra based on traditional Punjabi folk music but we include a banjo and you can’t help smiling and dancing! Tourists joined in when we were filming at London Bridge and now they’re in the film, along with people from the streets of Leicester."

King G. Mall twice appeared in the Guinness Book of World Records for the largest assembled gathering of dhol players (Punjabi drummers.) Earlier this year he released "Aao Ji", the first bhangra release to feature both Asian and non-Asian artists, which received massive online attention with over two hundred and fifty thousand hits.

Artists from Canada, the UK, India, Holland and Pakistan feature in the new single, including Naomi Zaman, Sahib Sekhon, Sana Parvez Naeem John from Leicester and 12-year-old Londoner Nish.

"People say, 'What’s the crazy guy up to now?' I’m aiming to bring people of all cultures together for a good cause and to celebrate Christmas as one!"

Read the article in context on the website of Pukaar News:
http://www.pukaarnews.com/Pages/NsCaaya.html