Browsing: People

Ever visited Planet Shankara? You don’t need to journey as far as Mars or Pluto and you don’t need a rocket to get there but you will fly to a place of total musical bliss!

Planet Shankara is coming to you, right to the Lincoln Center Performing Arts Center and you’re in for a mind-blowing musical experience when three mighty talents come together – Anandan Sivamani – the magician of percussion, Anurag Harsh whose powerful voice transforms words into a direct conversation with the Almighty, and Stephen Devassy, the amazing keyboardist who has performed so often with AR Rahman.

A solo performance by even one of them would be heady enough but when all three are unleashed together on the stage, it is a joyous ride for the listeners, a musical monsoon to get thoroughly drenched in.

The Meet Brothers, known for their catchy music from ‘Baby Doll’ to ‘Chittiyaan Kalaiyan’ were in Manhattan to record with singer Poonam Khubani, also known as Poonam Kay. So here we were at the Hudson Eatery chatting with the Meet Brothers about their collaboration with Poonam. whose song ‘Ek Look Ek Look’ was featured in the Bollywood movie Aryan, and who’s made several popular pop videos since then.

The US has several Indian-Americans doing important work in academia. Meet Beheruz. N. Sethna, President of the University of West Georgia with a budget of $ 100 million and 100 programs of study through the doctoral level.

He’s a Parsi who’s got some important firsts affixed to his name: he is the first person of Indian origin to ever become the president of a university anywhere in the US. He’s also the first person from any ethnic minority to become president of a predominantly white or racially-integrated university or college in Georgia.

Advertisers really know how to pull on your heartstrings, and sometimes they get it right.

The work of mothers is so undervalued – it carries no pay, no certificates and no awards. Yet daughters are so strengthened by the unconditional love, the drive and determination of mothers to make the lives of their daughters so much better than their own. A touching tribute to mothers everywhere.

If you’re a mother or a daughter, you’ve got to watch this emotional video. It will make you want to call your mom immediately. Enjoy!

Enjoy the joy of Holi, the festival of colors, with this delightful video from Hindustani vocalist Ila Paliwal. This beautiful Indian raga embraces the world with its power of celebration and inclusiveness. Indeed, Holi is increasingly becoming a reason to dance and connect with color in many parts of the world and this video by Bharat Bala shows that dance and music have a way of erasing differences and accentuating what we humans have in common.

“My first performance was at Birla auditorium at the age of 5,” recalls Poonam Kay. ” I had to stand on a folding chair and sing a duet with my mother’s male duet singer, Jethalal. The song was Yeh parda hata do, zara mukhda dikha do.” Many years later she is a recording artist, producer and TV personality. This year she released her new album ‘Nachle Ve’ with music composed by noted Bollywood film music director Anand Raj Anand. Yet she has another avatar, that of business entrepreneur.

She is Bollywood’s Sweetheart for everyone in the cinema halls, from front benchers to the elite. But don’t let those dimples fool you – Preity Zinta is one of the smartest women in Bollywood who takes on tough challenges, is fearlessly outspoken and is the proud co-owner of the IPL Kings XI Punjab, along with ex-boy friend industrialist Ness Wadia.

The two are very much in the news, due to the FIR lodged by Preity Zinta, accusing Ness Wadia of molestation. The media is agog with all the details. While all that works itself out, I thought I’d share a chat I had with her some years back.

If you thought Miss America had to be blonde and blue eyed, you have to meet Nina Davuluri, the current Miss America. Not only did her dark almond shaped eyes and dusky complexion showcase her Indian roots but she also won big with her rousing Bollywood dance number from ‘Om Shanti Om.’Yes, Miss America is of Indian origin – and proud of it!
Indeed, this Miss America is the first with Indian roots and really shows what’s special about America: you can be of a different heritage, speak a different language, pray to a different god, yet you are American. A chat with Nina Davuluri to find out how’s she’s doing.

It’s the City of Dreams, of Make-believe.

The strivers, the strugglers keep coming but Hollywood’s gates are often closed. Can their stories ever be told, if they are a minority, an outsider? Writers of color are often underemployed in cinema.

Recently the Writers Guild of America, an influential Hollywood entity, set up the Features Access Project to rectify this by encouraging diversity in writing.

Among this year’s eight multicultural honorees, three trace their roots back to India – Radha Bharadwaj (Final Boarding), Nayan Padrai (Billion Dollar Raja) and Tianna Majumdar-Langham (Guns and Saris) who won the honor with her co-writer Chris Bessounian.

Imran Khan comes from a famous film family – he is the grandson of director-producer Nasir Husain, creator of some of the most rocking musicals of the 70’s. He is also the nephew of actor Aamir Khan and director-producer Mansoor Khan. He acted as a child star in several movies, disappeared to America, and then re-emerged as a romantic hero in Jaane Tu, Ya Jaane Na which won him the Filmfare Award for the Best Male Debut.
Bollywood loves his romantic ‘chocolate hero’ image in films but chatting with him, you realize he’s not just about style and stardom – but about substance. Here he muses about life, family, love and social activism.

“First commitment as CEO: I won’t wait four years between tweets!” tweeted Satya Nadella, the newly appointed CEO of Microsoft, whose last tweet was back in 2010. There is indeed a hunger out there to learn more about him; he’s tweeted only 27 times since 2009 and yet has a whopping 108,000 followers.

While most of Nadella’s tweets are about Microsoft and Bing, two old tweets give us the desi angle: “Great evening to be watching some good old fashioned test cricket!” Another tweet will sound like deja vu to most Indian achievers: “I may break my continuous work day record!” Family friend and retired Microsoft executive Vijay Vashee recalls the time Nadella, who’s passionate about cricket, watched the 20-20 cricket match from midnight to 6 am at and then went straight to a full productive day of work.

The Lassi Awards?!! No, no, I would never be so presumptuous! I’m not exactly giving out the Oscars but it’s a humble recognition of five people who are special, people whom you’d definitely want to have a beer with, or at least a lassi. They have all the wonderful qualities that we wish we had, have overcome difficulties to succeed in a complex world, and in turn made it a more humane world.
Well, here are five of these special people – Sheena Iyengar, Jasmin Sethi, Eboo Patel, Pratima Dharm and Leila Janah. As the year ends, it’s worth revisiting their inspirational stories and realizing that even with just the power of one, each one of us can make a difference.

Dr. Eboo Patel is a man of peace in a time of violence. At a time when a Muslim name automatically gets equated with terrorism and Islam itself is misunderstood, this young Muslim Indian American shows the power of interfaith dialogue.

Recently he was honored in New York with the 2012 Guru Nanak Interfaith Prize, established by Hofstra University with a gift by the Bindras, a prominent Sikh American family in New York. This award has earlier been given to the Dalai Lama, Rabbi Arthur Schneier and Religions for Peace.Patel has been successful in propagating the very commonsense yet outrageous idea that given a choice, young people of different religions will prefer love over hate, peace over violence.

” I still have insecurities and I am nowhere near perfect, but Tarz has taught me that no one else’s opinion of me matters besides of those that truly know who I am, such as my family. Being around Tarz’s “life is short so don’t let anything bring you down” mentality gave me the courage and security to be on this Bravo show, as I’m sure there will be quite a bit of smack talk!
We’ve had a year filled with some really tough and tragic moments, which I’m guessing will translate into tons of drama and insane moments on the show-which means those haters will have plenty to feed off of!” – Tina Sugandh on her new reality show on Bravo.
Single Desi Guest Blog

Biba Singh combines two worlds – medicine and music. Yes, this Punjabi pop singer is also a doctor! The daughter of a physician, Biba, who lives in New York, has been singing since the age of 7, and first started out singing shabad in the gurudwara. She has two albums of popular music and is hugely popular. Here she talks to Monica Marwah for the Single Desi blog on pop music, careers, and the single life.
Guest Blog

Indian-Americans finally have a presence in the US Congress – Ami Bera, MD, is the new Congressman-Elect from California’s 7th Congressional District. I had interviewed him some months back when he was running a hard-fought race against the incumbent Congressman Dan Lungren, who conceded today.
For Ami Bera, serving people has been an important part of who he is, and he is ever conscious of the need to give back to a country which embraced his immigrant family. While he grew up in California, his father crossed the oceans from a farming family in Rajkot near Ahmedabad, Gujarat for a higher education in America. “My father was the first in his family to go to high school,” he says. “He got a master’s in engineering and my mother became a teacher.”

Like many immigrant families, theirs’ was a close-knit family with a lot of emphasis on education, hard work. His father ran a small commercial real estate business, and inculcated the values for a strong work ethic in his children. “There was a strong family support and strong community support,” he recalls. “And also a keen appreciation of the opportunities America offered.”

“I have to say that I was very blessed as a child as I grew up in a family that was blessed with great cooks! My dad is amazing at making meat based dishes, my mother – I think she should be called the Vegetable Whisperer – has a delightful way with vegetables and pretty much my entire extended family either cooks well or knows where to take you for a great meal!

My fondest memory as a child is sitting in the kitchen with my dad and watching him cook his legendary butter chicken. Not only did I know the dish would turn out amazing (it always did) but it was a time for us to connect and talk about his world travels. I adored listening to his stories and was thrilled whenever he would make this dish as it meant he would be in a mood (and have time) to talk!”
Monica Bhide chats with the Single Desi on Food, Family – and recipes for the perfect date!

Assemblyman Upendra J. Chivukula of New Jersey is very much a people’s man, rubbing shoulders with the person on the street and well aware of the difficulties the middle-class faces. He’s been there and he’s walked in those shoes. He is running for US Congress from New Jersey’s 7th Congressional District but he’s come up the hard way and understands the concerns of his constituents.

He was born a continent away in Nellore, Andhra Pradesh in a lower middle-class family. He and his five siblings, parents and grandmother lived in a mud hut with thatched roof without electricity where schoolwork had to be done outdoors under the street lights, and life had to be lived on a fixed income. The family even moved to Chennai in search of work.

“My father held many jobs including that of cashier and teacher and was a very honest man who taught us good values,” recalls Chivukula. “My mother was a music teacher, teaching classic Karnataka music and she played the veena. We still have the veena back home and when I visit her, I see that she is still singing. She is 83 years old and I wish I had the gift and talent that she has!”

Maneet Ahuja, 27, certainly knows a thing or two about hedge funds. In fact, she is CNBC’s hedge fund specialist and a producer on Squawk Box, the noted morning program for the business world.
“The level of coverage we’ve developed for hedge funds did not exist in any business news TV outlet,” she says. “Our viewers definitely want to hear what these hedge fund managers have to say. They guide the smart money, and we’ve been able to carve out a niche for ourselves in an industry that wasn’t previously covered.”

The world knows of Dropbox, which is estimated to be a $ 5 billion company but few know that its genesis happened at Y Combinator, an incubator of start-ups which also nurtured the $1. 3 billion Airbnb.
“Y Combinator has become the central place to see where the next huge companies will be born and this makes it tremendously exciting to be a part of,” says Harj Taggar, 29, who is part of the core team at Y Combinator.

Since 2005 Y combinator has funded over 380 startups, including Reddit, Scribd, Disqus, Dropbox, ZumoDrive, Justin.tv, Posterous, Airbnb, Heyzap, Cloudkick, DailyBooth, WePay, Bump, Stripe, AeroFS, and Hipmunk.It has been called the most prestigious program for budding entrepreneurs and has created an entirely new method of funding early stage startups.