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
in
the
woods.
The
weaponry ranged from M-16s to
a
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
to
pursue an en-
trepreneurial
venture
aligned with
her
values
and principles
focused
on
helping peo-
ple in a high-
impact
way.
Hence
she
founded
In-
tersections
Matchmaking
(www.IntersectionsMatch.com)
in
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
go
to
www.Intersections-
Match.com. Jasbina can also be con-
tacted
at
Jasbina@Intersections-
Match.com.
National Community
7
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)
or
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