South Asain Times Page1

Washington (IANS):

No date

has been set for the trial of an In-

dianAmerican doctor found with

more than $1 million worth of

machine guns and grenades in a

raid at his home in Arkansas.

Denying Randeep Singh Mann

bail pending his federal trial, US

Magistrate H. David Young in

Little Rock said he was uncon-

vinced the accused would remain

in the country if freed on bond.

Young said he didn't have an

accurate account of Mann's "fi-

nancial wherewithal" and that

the doctor has "contacts outside

the country that would make it

much easier... to flee".

Mann's attorney said he may

appeal the ruling. The 50-year-

old Mann, an immigrant from In-

dia who has become a natural-

ized US citizen, is charged with

possessing

unregistered

weapons. Federal agents search-

ing his home March 4 found 110

guns and grenades. The raid took

place after public works employ-

ees found 98 grenades buried

about 875 feet from Mann's

house

the

woods.

The

weaponry ranged from M-16s to

tripod-mounted

.50-caliber

sniper weapon.

Prosecutors said the grenades

are designed for firing from mil-

itary rifles equipped with launch-

ers. Mann legally owns two

launchers, but possession of

high-explosive rounds is illegal.

Agents also found $48,000 in

cash at his home. Mann made

about 60 trips in and out of the

country over a two-year period,

officials said. His father made

160 trips across the US border in

the last two years, they alleged.

Pistols

and

semi-automatic

weapons were found throughout

the house. These included loaded

pistols in the bedroom and ma-

chine guns on the floor and in

closets and safes. They also

found an estimated 500,000

rounds of small arms ammuni-

tion.

The prosecution said that his

father, Colonel Kuldip Singh

Mann, is an international arms

dealer, a charge the defence at-

torney Blake Hendrix refuted.

Mann, an internal medicine

specialist, has earlier faced disci-

plinary action from the state

medical board for writing pre-

scriptions to patients with drug

abuse problems.

Mann surrendered his permit

to write prescriptions for many

controlled substances in 2006.

Last year, he wrote to the med-

ical board saying that he was un-

able to work for hospitals with-

out the permit.

New

York

(SATimes):

Jasbina

Ahluwalia had a successful career as a

practicing attorney but she always

wanted

pursue an en-

trepreneurial

venture

aligned with

her

values

and principles

focused

helping peo-

ple in a high-

impact

way.

Hence

she

founded

In-

tersections

Matchmaking

(www.IntersectionsMatch.com)

2007. The service focuses on selec-

tive South Asians nationwide looking

to find their significant others. “It’s a

high-touch service with personal con-

sultations to help folks with their par-

adigms on relationships and feedback

after each introduction etc.; NOT on-

line,” insists Ahluwalia.

As a second-generation profession-

al Indian-American woman raised in

the U.S. with an understanding of the

successful blending of Indian and

American cultures, Ahluwalia knew

there was a need for someone in the

South Asian community nationwide

who could relate first-hand to the

challenges of juggling professional,

social and personal demands. “While

I was working as an attorney, I noticed

that many young professionals had

difficulty balancing their professional

and personal lives. They have very de-

manding schedules and they want to

spend the limited amount of free time

they do have to date with people who

have the potential to become their life

partners. This can be a common issue

for young South Asian professionals

whose cultures discourage early dat-

ing and teach young people to first fo-

cus on their educations and other self-

development,” she says. Ahluwalia

wanted to bring the same level of pro-

fessionalism to her matchmaking

business as she did to her law practice,

so she attended the Matchmaking In-

stitute in Manhattan.

“Our personalized service is specif-

ically designed to take over the time-

consuming task of screening so that

our clients are able to strategically

spend their limited time and energies

focusing on matches with real poten-

tial. In addition, we do not limit our

introduction plan clients to meeting

other Intersections’ clients exclusive-

ly. Rather, the idea is to exponential-

ly expand our selective clients’ uni-

verse of potential matches,” she ex-

plains.

The matches come from their exclu-

sive "Introduction Plan" client base;

their "personal consultees"; their

"Register For Free Database"; events

they attend throughout the country;

the Matchmaking Institute's nation-

wide network; their nationwide con-

tacts; as well as from everyday lives

(including various professional, cul-

tural, social and charitable organiza-

tions). Each match is prescreened, and

a criminal background check is run,

before introductions are made.

Given the slew of matchmaking

sites for South Asians, Ahluwalia has

created a niche by providing exclusive

services. “ We are not an online serv-

ice. We provide a premium service

which differs from online dating: our

service involves a highly-personal-

ized, consultative and feedback-cen-

tric process.

Before a client meets any matches, I

get to know our client’s needs, wants,

personality and background via an ex-

tensive personal consultation,” she

says. The firm has received an over-

whelming response from selective

South Asians nationwide and they

plan to expand in future given the in-

quiries coming in from India, UK,

Canada and demand from clients who

travel extensively and are open to

meeting potential partners abroad. Pri-

or to becoming a Certified Matchmak-

er, Ahluwalia practiced law in San

Francisco and Chicago. She has a

B.A. and M.A. in Philosophy from

Vanderbilt University and J.D. from

the University of Michigan Law

School. For additional information

please

www.Intersections-

Match.com. Jasbina can also be con-

tacted

Jasbina@Intersections-

Match.com.

National Community

TheSouthAsianTimes.com

March 14-20, 2009

Gilbert, AZ (SATimes):

Baseball

superstar Manny Ramirez has faced

baseball’s toughest pitchers but to-

day he encountered a challenge of a

different kind at Nichols Park in

Gilbert, Ariz., home to the Arizona

Cricket Club. Ramirez was swing-

ing at googlies and grubbers instead

of split-finger fast balls in his debut

as a cricket batsman to promote DI-

RECTV’s exclusive CricketTick-

et™ Service. The great slugger hit

five of eight pitches from the

bowler, including a rocket shot that

dispersed a crowd standing behind

the bowler.

“I have faced some tough pitchers

before but we don’t have to ever

swing at a bouncing ball that is ris-

ing as it passes us,” said Ramirez,

who was coached at the event by

Australian cricketer Shaun Marsh.

“Shaun is a great hitter and he gave

me some great pointers. I hadn’t

watched much cricket in the past,

but the game is a lot like baseball.

Shaun said I definitely have a future

in the game.”

Marsh, just 25, is one of the finest

young batsmen in Australia and has

played for such fabled clubs as

Kings XI Punjab and Western Aus-

tralia. An Australia A representa-

tive, Marsh made his first-class de-

but in 2000-01 and was also part of

the Australia Under-19 squad that

won the World Cup in 2002.

“I am honored to be the one play-

er in the entire world of cricket se-

lected to give Manny some pointers

today,” said Marsh. “I thoroughly

enjoyed coming to the United States

and being able to spend some time

sharing my passion for the sport

with someone who is just as pas-

sionate about his sport as Manny is.

Maybe he can return the favor next

Spring.”

DIRECTV, Inc., the nation’s lead-

ing satellite TV service provider

and Willow TV, Inc., the Internet’s

largest portal for cricket streaming

video, have entered into multi-year

agreements that give DIRECTV

broadcast rights for International

Cricket Council (ICC) tournaments,

Indian Premier League (IPL) tour-

naments, Champions League Twen-

ty20, Australian cricket, South

African cricket, New Zealand crick-

et. These rights also include events

such as the 2009 ICC World Twen-

ty20 in England, the 2009/10 IPL

tournaments, the 2009 India tour of

New Zealand and the ICC Cricket

World Cup 2011.

“As Manny Ramirez, who tried

his hand at cricket for the first time

today can attest, being an all-star

hitter in baseball does not automat-

ically mean that you are going to be

an outstanding batsman in cricket,”

said John de Armas, vice president,

WorldDirect, Inc. “Perhaps if he

watches some of the biggest cricket

events from around the world on

DIRECTV’s CricketTicket™ this

year, his skills as a batsman will im-

prove.”

Since February 11, ICC and IPL

cricket tours have been available to

U.S. audiences, exclusively on DI-

RECTV’s CricketTicket™ 2009

package. CricketTicket is part of

DIRECTV’s International program-

ming platform and is available for

$299.99 for the full season, or the

IPL & ICC World T20 package can

be purchased for $199.99.

Individual matches can also be

purchased, á la carte pricing varies

depending on the specific game.

WorldDirect™ customers must first

subscribe to DIRECTV BASIC

($9.99/mo)

PREFFERED

CHOICE ($32.99/mo) and one of

the

international

programming

packages or any DIRECTV base

programming package ($29.99/mo

or above). CricketTicket is the first-

ever, year-long subscription TV

package for international cricket.

Customers can receive more infor-

mation on the package by calling 1-

800-378-4179 or visit www.crick-

etticket.com.

Baseball slugger Manny Ramirez turns Cricket batsman

In support of DIRECTV’s CricketTicket™ Service; Hits five of eight pitches in Cricket debut

Jasbina Ahluwalia,

Founder & President,

Intersections

Matchmaking

Indian American doctor

found with $1 mn arms

cache awaits trial

Former attorney launches first premium

personalized matchmaking firm

Manny Ramirez autographs one of his bats for Australian batsman

Shaun Marsh following the Direct TV Cricket Ticket exhibition on

Wednesday at Nichols Park in Gilbert, Arizona

DIRECTV to deliver

All International

Cricket Council

(ICC) and Indian

Premier League

(IPL) Cricket events

exclusively in the

U.S through 2011

Focuses on South Asian professionals nationwide