2009
Events (in reverse chronological order)
|
Date
of the event: November 8, 2009
Speakers/Panelists
Dr.
Hemant Gupta & Dr. Sundar Arora |
Panel
discussion on "Integrative
Medicine"
(with
focus on Ayurvedic
medicine, Mind and
Body connection
and Natural Medicine)
Moderator: Dr. Indu Gambhir |
Dr.Hemant
Gupta,
D.N.M, MD (Ayurveda)
Director, Consulting Ayurveda
Physician & Teacher
 25
years of teaching, clinical
and research experience
in India, Europe, North
America. He was director
for Ayurveda programmes
at `The Raj' (premier Ayurveda
and Panchakarma center)
in Fairfield, Iowa and M.A.H.C.
in Lancaster, Massachusetts,
U.S.A.
Dr
Gupta has developed curriculum
for, and taught, undergraduate
and Ph.D. degree programs
of Ayurveda at the College
of Maharishi Vedic Medicine
at University in Fairfield,
Iowa.
Dr.
Gupta has taught courses
through Memorial University
of Newfoundland, and Ayurveda
Academy of Canada in Toronto. |
Dr.
Sundar Arora,
M.D.
Psychiatrist,
Interfaith minister and
Yoga teacher
 Dr.
Arora is a psychiatrist
in adult and child practice
for the last 30 years. He
has had considerable experience
in working with multicultural
couples and families.
Dr.
Arora is a Faculty staff
at university of Ottawa,
an Interfaith minister and
yoga teacher from Sivananda
Yoga Vedanta Centre. He
is married to a physician.
Dr.
Arora will present his viewpoint
on Mind and Body connection. |
|
Date
of the event: September 13, 2009
Speakers:
Dr.
Indu Gambhir & Ms Barbara Sibbald
|
Topic:
"Médecins
Sans Frontières"
(MSF
- Doctors Without Borders)
|
Dr.
Indu Gambhir, Medical Doctor |
Ms
Barbara Sibbald, Journalist |
India and how the two meet |
The
forgotten people of Manipur
|
MSF
has been present in India for some time
and has established missions in Kashmir,
Assam, Bihar, Manipur, Bombay and Chatisgarh.
MSF has been greatly assisted in its
work by Indian generic drug manufacturers
who have provided prescription drugs
at low cost. This has enabled MSF to
provide better care to the sick, not
only in India but in other developing
countries.
Indu’s
experience working in Manipur provided
her with insight to the medical needs
of vulnerable populations and how conflict
affects their health and well being.
She will share these experiences with
us. |
In
November 2007 I spent a week at a Médecins
sans frontières/Doctors without
Borders health project in Manipur, India
researching an article on the humanitarian
crisis, and in particular it's medical
implications in that beleaguered, seemingly
forgotten state.
Government
funding destined for health care is
"diverted" by corrupt politicians
and bureaucrats, with the result that
even the most basic health care is largely
unavailable to the vast majority of
the people. Sadly, their need is great
for a variety of reasons. |
| About
Dr. Indu Gambhir |
About
Ms. Barbara Sibbard |
|
|
Speakers
Neel
Chadha, Nootan Kumar & Roshan Abraham
University
of Ottawa students
doing philanthropic work
in villages in India
Date of the Event: July 26,
2009 |
Topic:
"Making
a difference for villages in India"
Story of S.
A. V. E. (Students Aiding Village Empowerment)
program
|
Neel
Chadha |
Nootan
Kumar |
Roshan
Abraham |
|
|
|
Neel
Chadha is student at the University
of Ottawa, entering his fourth year
of Health Sciences. He is the founder
of Students Aiding Village Empowerment,
an organization dedicated to helping
villages achieve sustainable development
in India. |
Nootan
is a Masters student in her first year
in the School of Int'l Development and
Globalization at the University of Ottawa.
In S.A.V.E. Nootan has found a dynamic
group of like-minded students and an exciting
commitment that allows her the opportunity
to apply her diverse set of experiences
and interests to the benefit not just
of people in need, but of her ancestral
land, India. |
Roshan
Abraham is a fourth year under- graduate
student in BioPharmaceutical Sciences
at the University of Ottawa. Having visited
and volunteered in parts of India, Roshan
has found his niche with S.A.V.E., an
organization dedicated to sustainable
development in villages all across India. |
|
Students
Aiding Village Empowerment (S.A.V.E.) is
an organization run by students at the University
of Ottawa dedicated to empowering disadvantaged
villages through sustainable development programs.
S.A.V.E. aims to improve healthcare, education
and sanitation within chosen villages. S.A.V.E.
is currently working on a development project
in the village of Mohanpura, which is located
in Rajasthan, India. S.A.V.E. is motivated
by a belief that all people regardless of
age, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status are
capable of making a difference in the world. |
|
Speaker:
Mr. Moyez Vassanji
An award winning author &
recipient of Order of Canada
Date: June 14, 2009 |
Topic:
"A Place Within: Rediscovering
India"
(based
on his recently published book) |
 Mr.
Moyez Vassanji, [Profile
& synosis of the talk], an award winning
author and recipient of Giller Prize (twice),
Harbourfront Festival Prize, Commonwealth
First Book Prize (Africa), Bressani Prize
and Order of Canada, will talk about his visit
to India, the homeland of his ancestors, in
this powerfully moving tale of family and
country.
"Part
travelogue, part history, A Place Within is
M.G. Vassanji’s intelligent and beautifully
written journey to explore where he belongs.”
In
his words, “it would take many lifetimes,
it was said to me during my first visit, to
see all of India. The desperation must have
shown on my face to absorb and digest all
I possibly could. This was not something I
had articulated or resolved; and yet I recall
an anxiety as I travelled the length and breadth
of the country, senses raw to every new experience,
that even in the distraction of a blink I
might miss something profoundly significant.
I
was not born in India, nor were my parents;
that might explain much in my expectation
of that visit. Yet how many people go to the
homeland of their grandparents with such a
heartload of expectation and momentousness;
such a desire to find themselves in everything
they see? Is it only India that clings thus,
to those who’ve forsaken it; is this
why Indians in a foreign land seem always
so desperate to seek each other out? What
was India to me?"
Speech
was not video-recorded |
|
Speaker:
His Excellency S. M. Gavai
High Commissioner of
India in Canada
Topic:
The Evolution of India – Myths
and Realities
Date: Sunday, April 26, 2009 |
|
Mr.
Shashishekhar M. Gavai, High Commissioner
for India to Canada [Profile
& synosis of the talk].
Mr.
Gavai has served in India’s Diplomatic
Missions in Yugoslavia, Hungary, Zimbabwe,
Indonesia, Germany, Scotland (as Consul
General), Maldives (as High Commissioner),
and in Houston, USA (as Consul General).
He joined as India’s High Commissioner
to Canada in November 2008.
Mr.
Gavai is married to Rina and they have
two sons. |
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