On October 2, 2010, from sunset to sunrise, the city of Toronto came alive with Scotia Bank’s Nuit Blanche. TO Light the Night, an epic scavenger hunt, was the brain child of a group of socially conscious, young professionals. This event offered Torontonians a chance to discover the art and diversity of Toronto and a chance to give to the Pakistan Flood Relief Effort. The current flood crisis in Pakistan has affected over one-fifth of the nation, leaving millions homeless; reportedly one of the largest humanitarian disasters in living memory. The organizers, Sheila Lakhoo, Nasreen Ramji and Noor Ramji, saw an opportunity through Nuit Blanche, to raise awareness about Toronto’s artistry, diversity, sense of social responsibility and promote contribution to humanitarian efforts.

At 8:00pm, 13 teams, 52 participants descended upon Hunt Headquarters at Tequila Bookworm (512 Queen St. W) to donate and begin their scavenge of Nuit Blanche. To increase awareness about the cause, interactive real-time bonus clues relating to Pakistan were published on the TO Light the Night Twitter page. Throughout the night, participants were entertained at headquarters by DJs Mista Jiggz and Kush Nubia who generously donated their services for the night.  The hunt officially ended at midnight with Team Al-Azhar the first to return with 122 points, only to be defeated by grand prize winner Team FAAHN, returning only seconds later with 145 points.

Sheila,-Noor-&-Nasreen

A grand total of $7,500 (including matching by an anonymous corporate sponsor and the government of Canada) was raised through this event. All proceeds were donated to FOCUS Humanitarian Assistance Canada, a partner of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).

Through our “STARS” corporate sponsorship program, Afzal Huda donated $3,000 worth of photography services for our grand prize. Blushberry (John St), Manic Coffee (College St.) and Starbucks (Bay St.) provided additional prizes for our participants.

TO Light the Night Team Bio: TO Light the Night is the brain child of a group of socially conscious, young professionals. They saw an opportunity, through Nuit Blanche, to raise awareness about Toronto’s artistry, diversity, sense of social responsibility and promote contribution to humanitarian efforts.

Organizers: Sheila Lakhoo, Nasreen Ramji, Noor Ramji; Scavenger Hunt Developers: Ijaz Jamal, Rizwan Mawani, Afzal Huda, Nushin Daya.

Highlights from Tamil Student Association Meeting at University of Toronto – Mississauga

Imagine your first year at a university. Fear, anxiety, excitement, and confidence are some emotions you may feel because it is not clear what changes will come with this new environment.  You feel as if you are an outsider, however University of Toronto Mississauga welcomes its first year students with open hearts. It is easy to feel accepted when there is such diversity of clubs and associations which do not judge based on colour, race, or gender.

Recently University of Toronto Mississauga student’s union hosted a club carnival in order to give its students an opportunity to find friends and colleague who share common interest.

Walking amongst different clubs and association of different cultures made me feel at home. The nervousness I felt during the first couple of days at university quickly disappeared; furthermore the club carnival offered even greater hope for a wonderful future at university filled with excitement, work and an opportunity to embrace my South Asian heritage.  It was even more satisfying to see that people of different race and culture were also interested in being part of South Asian clubs.

It makes one realize that Canada is truly a multicultural nation which accepts people of all races and celebrates each and every culture with a lot of pride.

Author: Saurabh Aggarwal

The freedoms that are accustomed to teenaged life such as partying, shopping at the mall or any other social activity viewed on a show that is classified under the genre of “Teen Drama” was not imaginable to those before the 1950’s. Teenagers of those generations were forced to drop out of school by Grade 8, and work. If one were to continue their education, they were considered to be fortunate whose parents earned fortunes. To succinctly enlighten you, my reader, about the rest of the history of teenagers, all you need to know is teenagers acquired freedoms from their parents (and within society) in the 1950’s that lead them to become a massively profitable consumer group.

Numerous companies focus on teenagers as their primary goal to pursue profit in the 21^st century. They have advertised, sold, and marketed to the teenager and youth for the past 60 years.

Seventeen Magazine was the first company that successfully catered to the youth audience. This resulted in teenagers to become a lucrative consumer group, which allowed countless companies to amass profits in the billions. The technique that Seventeen developed was merely to watch teens (seriously they watched us like some freaking pedophiles). Sifting teenagers and selling that image they saw teens behave back to the youth audience (basically their selling you back to you and making billions!).

However this method serves a more useful purport to society than stimulating the economy and fattening the pockets of companies.  If one wished that they could delve into the past and observe the ways teenagers conducted their actions, then they would have to look no further than renting a VHS (I wonder if that is still possible) and watching a movie/ television show that was popular amongst teenagers of an older generation.  As the movies and/ or television shows that pertain to a period of teenage life reflects the behavior and conduct of youth who lived in that era.

Does that not make you wary that teenagers in 2070 may rent a movie to see how teens lived in 2010? What television show or movie would they rent to understand the current generation of youth? Maybe they would rent Gossip Girl. However, after watching the show that would seem ancient at the time, they would come to the conclusion that teenagers in the year 2010 were beautiful models who lived in up-scale housing on the Upper East Side. Not a really realistic depiction of how the average teenager lives today.

Well, I’d rather have teenagers of the future believe our society is similar to the glossed fantasy of Gossip Girl than the idiocracy presented on Jersey Shore. Also known as the ludicrous (not the rapper) reality show that is one of many catalysts, I blame, to dumb down our society.

Episode plots encompass arguments, fights, sex, partying and a love story that stereotypes women to be dependant on a man, ultimately junk that abase the intellect of the youth. I christen the show to be the MTV version of Jerry Springer. Well without a live audience yelling “Jerry, Jerry,” every time a fight breaks out and, of course, Jerry Springer to moderate the drama.  However, the stupidity of this show can be summed up in one quote stated by one of the most popular “characters”, Snookie a.k.a Nichole. “Word of the day, sympathetic, that’s a big word”. If the word sympathetic is a “big” word to Snookies vocabulary, then I am sorry to say it (I truly am) but I suggest she reads a book. Rather if she and the rest of her cast mates were not so rabid on having sex, and sought to educate themselves, then they would hold a real job that contributes to our society.

I do not intend to hold my head high and flaunt myself as a saint (or to some of you as a guy with no life).  However, if teen culture is the product of teens themselves, and is derived by how the everyday teenager acts, then I cannot blame MTV and the cast of Jersey Shore. I blame teens themselves for the stupidity presented on television! As youth who are going to take over the world one day, if this is how we act, we should be ashamed.

Our “teenage ant sisters” who lived before the 1950’s, were never in possession of the freedoms and privileges that we today take for granted. The opportunity to become educated was merely a figment of their imagination. Whilst today some drop out of school or give forth a minimal effort that produces futile results. 100 years ago to be able to have access to information at the tip of your hand was unimaginable. Today, due to the internet and innovations such as the IPAD and IPhone, we are able to search any information, anywhere, at any time. Yet many lack appreciation for the useful benefits of the internet and use it to illegally download music (don’t act like you don’t, we all do), chat through online mediums (not a bad thing) or worse, watch pornography.

We must quell this way where teenagers take what they have for granted. A soluble conundrum that bears an effortless solution of partying less, drinking less, doing less drugs and reading more! Ultimately I propose for the teenager to balance school life and their social life. So you can still party like the cast of Jersey Shore, but balance it with school work.

Maybe teens in the year 2070 might believe their teenage aunt sisters were not idiots. Who only knew to party, have fights and the other ilk viewed on many television shows if we learned to change these horrid habits. That in turn will force television stations such as MTV to the perceptions of youth on their reality shows. Who knows, if the cast of Jersey Shore followed this simple solution, DJ Pauly D, your girls favorite DJ might become Professor Paul DelVecchio, your favorite educator (Some what cheesy but  who knows?).

Author: Adam Dhansee

“Gujarat is not just a land of opportunity; it is a land of action,” D. Pandiyan the Principal Secretary of the Indian province of Gujarat said Tuesday addressing a gathering comprising members of the Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce.

Leading a delegation of business executives from Gujarat to Toronto to invite Canadian businesses to the Vibrant Gujarat 2011 event scheduled for January 2011, (www.vibrantgujarat.com) Pandiyan emphasized that Gujarat has given investors an assured return on investment of over 15 percent after taxes – a return that is unmatched in India.

The delegation comprises the who’s who of Indian corporate houses and includes senior executives from Reliance Industries, GMR Group, Adani Group, Suzlon Energy, Torrent Pharma and several others.

Earlier, welcoming the delegation to Canada, Vinay Nagpal, President of Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce, emphasized, “The Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce will be the facilitator to open the right doors for your state and businesses in Canada. We will go that extra mile for you to promote the right business connections.”

Nitin Shukla, the CEO of Hazira LNG Private Limited, and P. B. Vanchi, Director, GMR Group – both organizations with deep roots in the province – shared their experiences as investors in the province and lauded the Gujarat administration for its proactive, business-oriented style of operations.

D. Charandasi, Consul, represented the Consulate General of India in Toronto at the event.

With the US economy facing a downward spiral as quickly as a rabbit and the South Asian markets emerging at the speed of a tortoise, Ontario’s premier Dalton McGuinty shared some thoughts with Generation Next about plans on joining forces with the latter community.

Mr. McGuinty walked through the office of Generation Next with his aura of exuberance and charisma. With a straightforward attitude, he greeted every employee with a warm smile. Surrounded by his personal assistant, secretary, and security, this intelligent gentleman politely took a seat and spoke with the editor.

Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty at Generation Next’s office in Mississauga

With passion in his eyes, his eloquent thoughts on family values evoked silent cheers from my corner. He continued to emphasize on the importance of the South Asian community to Canada’s ethnically diverse landscape. Mr. McGuinty praised our community on fostering a good balance between our eastern traditions and the daily western influences. He commended the society on our cultural loyalty. He firmly believes in our ability to continue to grow and prosper.

In an attempt to stay connected with the youth, Mr. McGuinty has just given in to the social networking site, Twitter. With the boom of technology and social media increasingly interconnecting communities of people, Mr. McGuinty highly believes it is important for Ontario to have international students from South Asia. This opportunity of pursuing post secondary education can thus provide them with a choice of returning to their home country and contributing to the labour force there, or settling in Canada and becoming a part of Canadian fabric here. In the process of the latter choice, Mr. McGuinty urges the  youth to not give up on their traditional and cultural values, in order to fit into the Canadian society. In fact, he wants them to marry their eastern values with the western values and serve for the public office in this heterogeneous manner.

(Amidst) Running on a tight schedule, like many other public figures, Mr. McGuinty gladly posed for one-on-one pictures with many of us. Furthermore, he requested his personal assistant to take over the camera and boldly gestured for the photographer to get in the picture. As if this was not enough to showcase his humility, he then proceeded to ask a fellow reporter and I about our current education and career paths. Keen listener, Premier McGuinty is one of those rare individuals who has gift for pronouncing South Asian names right – at the very first attempt. With genuine interest exhibited by his eyes and body language, he told me I was on a great start towards pursuing a career in journalism and wished me good luck. For now I am floating away on cloud nine and sure do hope his luck works the charm for me!**

** line is not powerful but I’m trying to say how his kind words blew me away.

The full interview with Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty would be published in Generation Next’s next issue on September 9^th.

Author:Yesha Shah

In spite of bitter criticism, Miss Pakistan World Pageant contestants’ cat walked to win the title of Miss Pakistan Worldwide. The calls of the community to cancel or postpone the event in the holy month of Ramadan and in the wake of deaths of over 1,500 Pakistanis in floods were rejected by the organizers of the pageant.

Annie Rupani - Winner of Miss Pakistan Worldwide,

No wonder the turnout was extremely low.

Naira Malik - 1st runners up with Barira Lateef - 2nd runners up

The organizers report that the number of people who attended the event was about 350. The Toronto Star reported that there were only about 200 or so attendees. Ms. Sonia Ahmad, President of Miss Pakistan World, alleged the Star reporter to be “biased” and that “they [The Star] have their own agenda.”

With a red carpet entrance, dazzling cocktail hour, and stunning stage set provided by Dream Party Decor, patrons were “Wowed” right from the very beginning. The 16 contestants began the evening with a high-energy dance sequence that captivated the audience and kept them in their seats for the remainder of the evening.

Anokhi, 1st runners up

Maaza Jan, 2nd runners up

It was a night of entertainment, prestige and glamour all rolled up into one; the 20th annual MISS INDIA-CANADA Event had it all! The sold out show was proudly supported by Rogers. The event was truly a memorable experience that those present will remember for years to come. Other sponsors included India Tourism, Om Financial, Cuisine of India Catering, Bigen Speedy Hair Colour, and Airliners, to name a few.

Organizers, Sanjay Agnihotri and Gautam Sharma were then called upon to say a few words and then presented Bollywood Star, Suniel Shetty with the Special Achievement Award.

Youth are Not Future, they’re Shaping Our Present – Amit Gupta, Co Chair of ABC Youth

Youth has a lot of potential and has so much to offer in terms of ideas and opinions, however they are not taken seriously.

This was the main motivation of the organizers of South Asian Youth conference was to gather the youth over the weekend at Hill Tree.

Amit Gupta-Co-Chair of ABC Youth

“Generally we find that there is a disconnect between what we do as community organization and youth..we want more participation from youth,” says Mr. Amit Gupta, Co-Chair of ABC Youth.

Meera Gupta-Co-Chair of ABC Youth

“Youth can come out and tell us what they want. Usually it’s always the parents’ function, and youth is sitting on the side, saying when are we going home,” adds Ms. Meera Gupta, Co- Chair of ABC Youth when asked why they have organized such a conference.

But who do we call youth. United Nations terms individuals between the ages of 15 – 24 as youth. We, at Generation Next, define youth as people between the ages of 15 – 40. And the organizers of the youth conference struggled with the questions. Eventually they decided for the purpose of this conference, youth are people between the ages of “ 14 – 30.”

The wider age range was also chosen for the younger group to learn from those who have finished college and are starting to work in professional environment.  “We’re also giving them a chance to network,” says Ms. Meera Gupta.

The need for having a South Asian Youth Conference was also felt because “youth need to interact more with parents and understand parents’ perspective. Youth have a lot to offer..but we weren’t able to tap into youth’s talent,” says Ms. Mini Gupta, one of the delegates of South Asian Youth Conference.

“Youth are the present. They’re shaping the present,” emphasizes Mr. Gupta who still considers himself youth at the age of 40.

Another aim of the conference was to address the generation gap “which is not from kids’ side, but from parents’ side,” says Ms. Mini Gupta.

___________________

More than 100 youth between the ages of 14 and 30 attended the youth conference. The organizers had invited a variety of motivational speakers from different backgrounds. Our chat with them is as follows:

________________

Contribute to all aspects of Canadian life and society, including Canadian army – Professor Sandeep Agarwal, Ryerson University

Speaking about the strengths and weaknesses of South Asian youth, Dr. Agarwal says “South Asian youth are very talented very skillful.” A part of the reason [of youth’s success] is the first generation parents who have a lot of attachment with the countries of origin but who also emphasize education. “This country is ours now,”, he says. We’ll have to serve on different aspects of Canadian life and society, so there should be South Asians serving in Canadian army – “mind you, we have to defend this country.” There is very little volunteerism in South Asian community and it’s different from the traditional Canadian volunteerism. The Canadian volunteerism is about “broader goals and broader society whether it’s about environmentalism or something else. South Asians’ volunteerism is limited to our community and our place of worship.”

__________________

Young men should seek assistance if they’ve depression – Lenin Sivam

Speaking of controversial themes of his movies, Lenin Sivam, says “I do make movies [on subjects] that bother me.” It’s his way of venting out his frustration. Mr. Sivam has made movies on arranged marriages, issues with arranged marriage, stigma associated with male depression and so on. He says South Asian culture is such that it does not allow men to be very expressive or to cry as “it’s something girls do.” But young South Asian men should seek medical assistance if their performance levels are dropping and they are not able to concentrate on their work.

______________________________

Keep Thinking of New Ways of Doing Things – Sandeep Goel, VP at ICICI bank

The realization that you’re not ready for university after high school or for work after university, can help you learn, says Mr. Goel.  “And there’re a lot of helping hands available to you.”In his presentation, Mr. Goel urged youth to never stop dreaming. To be successful, he advises “keep thinking of new ways.” The whole notion of work place has changed as bosses and subordinates can be miles away from where you are, he says. Also “expectations” of employers are very different from eomplyees. Nonetheless, he believes opportunities for youth to find work are endless.

_______________________________

Youth don’t have money but they don’t have obligations either – Kundan Joshi, VP of ICCC

Youth are in perfect stage of life to get head start in entrepreneurship. “They don’t have money, but youth don’t have any obligations either. They’ve more motivation and lesser commitments,” says Kundan Joshi,  VP of Indo Canada Chamber of Commerce. He concedes that “youth are not taken seriously enough.” Getting the banks to finance your goals is extremely hard. He feels that support that entrepreneurs get from Canada is great when compared to India or any other third world country.

______________________

Overcome FEAR – False Expectations Appearing Real – Venki Raman – Associate Vice President at CIBC

In response to a question that not enough South Asians get to policy making positions in corporate Canada, Mr. Venki Raman, an Associate VP at CIBC, says “we’ve a number of immigrants who are in executive positions and are leaders like me. We’ve senior people, senior than me who are presidents at CIBC.”

Mr. Raman is a motivational speaker who is also writing a book titled “Progress to Peak Performance.” In his presentation, Mr. Raman urged the youth to gain control of their lives and to stop procrastinating. He gave new meaning to FEAR – False Expectations Appearing Real and advised them to overcome this fear.

Highlights of Pakistan Independence Day at Queens Park on August 14th

Pakistani-Consul-General Sahebzada Khan hositing falg at Queens Park on August 14th

MPP Dr.Shafiq Qaadri (Etobicoke North) with his kids

MP Yasmin Ratansi (Don Valley East)

Conservative Senator Salma Ataullahjan

Khalid Usman, candidate for Ward 6 of Markham Town Council