SAJAforum

From SAJA, the South Asian Journalists Association

New South Asian stuff every day. Feedback, story ideas to editor Arun Venugopal of WNYC Radio: arunvenu[at]gmail.com. Opinions expressed on SAJAforum don't necessarily reflect those of SAJA or its Board. 

Hear SAJA webcast archives:

See coverage, photos and videos of SAJA's 15th Annual Convention & Career Expo: http://saja.org/convention SAJA WEBCASTS: Listen to famous authors, topic briefings and more SRI LANKA: Resources, sources, webcasts for covering the civil war ADVICE FOR JOURNALISTS: See tips for journos going to South Asia SOUTH ASIA & U.S. MAGS: See 135+ covers, old and new Sign up for our mailing lists: http://saja.org/resources/emaillists Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/sajahq Download the new SAJA application on your iPhone, iPod Touch (search "SAJA" in the App Store) or BlackBerry (FREE): http://saja.polarmobile.com How you can help SAJA: Send us feedback, suggestions: saja[at]columbia.edu Become a member - just $10 a year for students, $20 for journalists, $40 for everyone else. Sign up now. Make a donation - there's a $15,000 matching program right now

LISTS: Vinod Khosla on Vanity Fair's The New Establishment 100

Legendary Silicon Valley entrepreneur Vinod Khosla is featured in the Vanity Fair's annual listing of The New Establishment 100. He comes in at #71 (Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg is at #1 and Apple's Steve Jobs at #2) on the list of "the 100 most influential people of the information age".

Even with credit tight, Khosla was able to raise $1.3 billion last year to seed two different investment vehicles—a $1 billion fund earmarked for clean-energy and information technologies, and a $300 million fund that will target high-risk, experimental projects. Among his current investments: a suburban-Detroit-based manufacturer of fuel-efficient internal-combustion engines (EcoMotors), an LED lighting company (Soraa), a solar-energy concern (Cogenra), and a high-efficiency-cooling-system company (New PAX). In May, Tony Blair, the former British prime minister, joined Khosla’s venture-capital shop to serve as an adviser.

Can you name other South Asians who should, one day (or even now) be on such a list? Tell us in the comments below or tweet us @sajaHQ.

EARLIER: See other South Asians on various lists in the SAJAforum "lists" category here. 

MAGAZINES: Freida Pinto on the cover of NYT Style Magazine

This cover is from the August issue of T, the New York Times Style Magazine, and features actress Freida Pinto of "Slumdog Millionaire" fame. We have added it to our collection of 150 U.S. magazine covers 1921-today.




See the full collection of our covers here.

INTERVIEW: Fareed Zakaria on receiving India's Padma Bhushan award

Editor's note: Omar Kasrawi is a freelance journalist and a production assistant on "Fareed Zakaria GPS." SAJAforum asked him to chat with his boss (and one of our most influential members) for us. Please post your comments below.

By now you have no doubt heard about Fareed Zakaria returning the ADL's Hubert Humphrey First Amendment Award. But earlier this year he was honored as one of the recipients of the Padma Bhushan, the third-highest recognition awarded to civilians by the Indian government.

Earlier this month, a small reception was held to honor Zakaria for receiving the award. Indian Ambassador to the United States Meera Shankar made the journey up from D.C and explained to the crowd what the award means. (Her full remarks can be found here as a PDF)

I had the chance to speak with Zakaria recently on what this recognition means to him, his move to Time  and more.

First of all, congratulations on receiving the Padma Bhushan.

You’ve been called a lot of things in the press. An academic, journalist, foreign affairs analyst, a future candidate for Secretary of State and so forth. The night you were honored for receiving the award you joked, quoting Churchill, that from now on, “Your Excellency will do.”  But you seemed genuinely humbled, if not embarrassed, at the attention bestowed upon you that evening. What does this award mean to you?

Fareed Zakaria: Well for me it’s sort of humbling because my father was a politician in India, so I grew up quite aware of this award. Quite aware of the enormous debates that used to take place about who should get it. Whether or not it was appropriate for somebody to get it. And I always assumed my father would get it, and in one of the strange ironies of life was that he ended up, for the last ten years of his life, being on the panel that determines who gets these awards.

So he was automatically ruled out because of the conflict of interest. I think that I have sort of mixed feelings about it. Honestly there’s a part of me that feels like that Grouch Marx line, “I don’t want to be a member of any club that would have me as a member.” And so I feel like it can’t be that important of an award if they give it to me.

JOBS: A U.S. Job Fair for Those Who Want To Work in India

Here's an unusual jobs-related item that came via e-mail: A job fair in the US for those looking to move to India. Includes booths for journalism jobs at the Hindustan Times, a general-interest daily and Mint, a Delhi-based business launched by SAJAers Raju Narisetti (now managing editor of the Washington Post), S. Mitra Kalita (now an editor at WSJ in NYC) and others with U.S. connections who moved temporarily or permanently to India.

From: Helena Podgorniak <helena.podgorniak@relianceada.com>
Date: Thu, 19 Aug 2010 13:50:25
Subject: India Calling! US Job Fair 2010 - Journalism Jobs In India Available!

Greetings from Shine.com!

Shine.com, a career portal of Hindustan Times Media Ltd., is pleased to announce US Job Fair 2010 - a Job & Relocation Fair in US to be held over 2 weekends in August and September, reaching out to NRIs looking for job opportunities in India. The fair will be held in New Jersey & California.

   - 28th and 29th August at Raritan Exposition Centre, Edison, NJ
   - 3rd and 4th September at Santa Clara Convention Center, Santa Clara, CA

WEBCAST: Sunil Gulati, president of U.S. Soccer and the most influential South Asian in American sports

SAJA, the South Asian Journalists Association, and SAMMA, South Asians in Media, Marketing and Entertainment Association, present the latest in their series of high-profile webcasts - via BlogTalkRadio - with some of the leading South Asian names in global media, arts, entertainment, politics and much more...

Join us for a webcast with Sunil Gulati, president of U.S. Soccer, chairman of the U.S. effort to host the 2018 or 2022 World Cup (Bill        
Clinton is the honorary chairman) and the most influential South Asian in American sports. Fresh from Team USA's run at the FIFA World Cup in South Africa, he'll discuss the state of the sport, his career and more. He'll be interviewed by Deepti Hajela, Associated Press newswoman and former SAJA president; and SAMMA member Vijay Setlur, sports marketing instructor and former media manager for FIFA Under-20 World Cup 2007 Toronto.

Listen to internet radio with SAJA HQ on Blog Talk Radio

Hit play button above to hear the recording of the webcast.

Friday, Aug. 20, 2010
Noon-1 pm NY time

VIA COMPUTER: Listen live or later to a recording:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/saja/2010/08/20/sports-sunil-gulati-president-of-us-soccer
(you can set yourself an e-mail reminder there)

VIA PHONE: +1-347-324-5991 (you can call this U.S. number by phone or Skype to listen or ask questions

See Gulati's full bio below.

PREVIOUS  SAJA SPORTS WEBCASTS:

• Brandon Chillar of the Green Bay Packers, the only South Asian to currently play in the NFL; his agent, Jim Ivler, his agent; and Kevin Negandhi, ESPN anchor - 2009 Super Bowl Sunday
• Rinku Singh and Dinesh Kumar Patel, two non-baseball players from India, signed by the Pittsburgh Pirates to a minor-league contract
• Raj Mathai, one of the first South Asian sportscasters in the U.S. and sports director of NBC Bay Area

PREVIOUS SAJA-SAMMA WEBCASTS:

• Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol, Bollywood stars
• Jay Sean, first South Asian male singer to his #1 on US Billboard chart
• Post-Oscar webcast about "Slumdog Millionaire"
• Danny Boyle, director of "Slumdog Millionaire"
• A.R. Rahman, music maestro
• Ashok Amritraj, Hollywood producer
• Manu Narayan, actor, writer discusses his work
• PANEL: South Asians & Hollywood, on the eve of the 2008 Oscars
  

NATURAL DISASTERS: How you can help the Pakistan flood victims

As you know, the recent floods in Pakistan have been devastating. Below, you will find four e-mail messages from people (Mahnaz Fancy, Ethan Casey, Aun Rahman, Beena Sarwar) with deep Pakistan connections telling you about different ways you can help the flood victims. Please take a look and share with your friends.

Meanwhile, the American Pakistan Foundation (APF) and CEO Awais Khan are looking to connect with US journalists. APF is involved in a fundraising drive in the US in partnership with IRC, Relief International and Save the Children. You can contact him at akhan at americanpakistan.org

o o o o o

From: Mahnaz Fancy <mahnaz.fancy at gmail.com>
Subject: Please support the Relief4Pakistan campaign

Dear Friends,

I have gotten many inquiries over the last few weeks about where to send donations to help the flood victims in Pakistan. The situation is awful and grows worse by the day as the rains continue to ravage the land.

Jay Sean to release next album, 'Freeze Time,' in November

[Listen to SAJA's January 2010 webcast with Jay Sean]

By now, Jay Sean needs no introduction. After he hit #1 on the U.S. Billboard charts (something no other solo male South Asian artist has ever done), he hit the ground running.

The 29-year-old reflected on some of the many awe-inspiring moments in his life last year at the Universal Music Group building in Midtown yesterday. Among the many highlights were winning the UK’s Asian Music Award’s Best Album of the Year for "All or Nothing" in March, working with the likes of Lil Wayne and Sean Paul, and, of course, his first U.S. song making it to the top of the charts--the list just goes on.

During interviews with local South Asian media outlets (including AVS TV and CurryBear.com) Sean says he just wants to just freeze time and reflect on how much his life has changed since he was a young student in England damn near becoming another Desi doctor.

And thus the name of his new album expected to drop in November: "Freeze Time."

“I had the best year of my life, you know? Hands down, the best year of my life was last year. Incredible in every aspect. And I just thought, ‘You know, if I could just freeze that moment, freeze that year and just freeze time, so I could just take everything in, just take it in...’ and that was it: Freeze Time, I just knew I had to put it out there.”

MOVES: Srinija Srinivasan, Yahoo editor-in-chief, leaving

Srinija Srinivasan, Yahoo's employee #5 and editor-in-chief, is leaving the company after 15 years. She's written a blog post and put together a video (see above). From "Reflecting Back, Looking Forward":

Today more than 15 years later, I’m proud to announce my graduation from Yahoo! employee to Yahoo! user. No blog post can capture the density of this experience, the richness of what I’ve learned, and the profound gratitude I’ll always have — for David and Jerry taking that leap of faith in me, and for the thousands of Yahoo! employees who have made this a place where magic happens. And above all, nothing I write can convey how humbled and inspired I’ve been by the hundreds of millions of you who share your time, extend your trust, and make Yahoo! a part of your lives. I’m glad to count myself among you.

Here are some pointers on how she'll be keeping busy:

As I turn in my employee badge, I’ll be devoting more time to my longstanding love for jazz. I chair the board of SFJAZZ, a nonprofit in San Francisco in the midst of an exciting phase of growth. On the opposite side of the country, my partner Josh and I are developing a performance and production center for creative music in Brooklyn. At Yahoo! I’ve witnessed the kinds of circumstances that give rise to great creativity, and I find the same holds true in music: bringing together diverse perspectives in a collaborative spirit, allowing each voice individual expression in service to the collective whole, striking just the right balance between structure and freedom, being mindful and respectful of the past but relentlessly looking forward to what’s next.

She has always been a great supporter of SAJA and we wish her the very best in her new adventures.

BTW, Srinivasan, who is known universally as Ninj, and I are not related, even though we both have fathers named T.P. Srinivasan/Sreenivasan and her brother's name is Sri Srinivasan (Sri is a high-profile lawyer who regularly argues cases at the Supreme Court). 

Your comments are welcome below.

LISTS: Desis in Inc's list of coolest young entrepreneurs

Four South Asians are in this year's collection of  "30 Under 30: America's Coolest Young Entrepreneurs" (there are more than 30 folks on the full list because, in some cases, more than one person represented the company in question. Some, like Naveen Sevadurai who co-founded Foursquare, run one of the hottest tech startups in the world, while others run companies just now getting noticed.

Below, you will find the at-a-glance looks at the four South Asians, and via the hyperlinks, you can read profiles of them:

• Naveen Selvadurai, Foursquare
• Ooshma Garg, Anapata
• Vikas Reddy, Occipital
• Sachin Agarwal, Posterous
  

Post your comments below.

 

CRIME: Devi Silvia, mom who threw baby in Hudson River, to be freed on bail

In May 2010, a woman threw her young daughter in the Hudson in a failed murder-suicide attempt. Here's the latest on the case of Devi Silvia, from the New York Post:

The mother who threw her 19-month-old daughter in the Hudson in May can be released without bail to attend an outpatient psychiatric program, a Manhattan judge ruled this morning.

The judge's decision, rendered over the strong objections of prosecutors, will allow Devi Silvia to go home to her husband and get day-long counseling at Elmhurst Hospital while awaiting the disposition of the attempted murder case brought against her after the baby's horrific near-drowning.

GALA: JAI SINGH, A Believer in The Promise of Online Reporting

Editor's Note: At this year's SAJA Gala Awards & Scholarship Dinner, three of the most senior South Asian Journalists in the United States were asked to appear on a panel called "View from the Top". Two of them - Madhulika Sikka, executive producer of NPR's Morning Edition; and Raju Narisetti, managing editor of the Washington Post - are winners of this year's SAJA Journalism Leader Award, given for outstanding leadership. The third speaker, Jai Singh, won the SAJA Journalism Leader Award, in 2003, along with Rena Golden, then head of CNN International and the late Peter Jennings.

SAJAforum student bloggers talked to the SAJA Gala Dinner panelists ahead of the event. Here are excerpts from the interview with Jai Singh. Read the ones with Sikka here and Narisetti here.

Interview by Pia Sawhney, summer intern at International Crisis Group and a documentary film director. She is pursuing a master's degree in public policy at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.

At 19, when Jai Singh talked of a career in journalism, friends and family discouraged him, calling his choice impractical and esoteric.

"I was an anomaly," Singh said in an interview from his office in New York City. "When I started my career, there weren't too many Indians studying journalism. My parents worried whether I would be able to put food on the table."

Singh, managing editor at The Huffington Post, has done better that that. He has weathered a turbulent tide that has roiled the industry over the past decade, and found new ways to blend his penchant for storytelling with emerging digital platforms.

Singh began as a reporter at The Eagle, the newspaper at American University. He was the paper's editor. After graduating from college, Singh worked the cop beat and tracked City Hall ledgers in Washington, D.C. Then he took a left turn, joining an early digital publication in 1984 incubated by Reader's Digest magazine. The outlet produced stories in electronic format. He later became Editor-In-Chief of the technology news team at CNET.com where he was responsible for overseeing reports published in real-time. 

"I knew, while I was at CNET.com, the internet would take off," Singh said. "I didn't know exactly how or when, but I knew it would happen."

Since then, he has been part of the evolution of online journalism. He firmly believes that developing successful online reporting models are simply a matter of time.

GALA: Madhulika Sikka, Broadcast Pioneer

Editor's Note: At this year's SAJA Gala Awards & Scholarship Dinner, three of the most senior South Asian Journalists in the United States were asked to appear on a panel called "View from the Top". Two of them - Madhulika Sikka, executive producer of NPR's Morning Edition; and Raju Narisetti, managing editor of the Washington Post - are winners of this year's SAJA Journalism Leader Award, given for outstanding leadership. The third speaker, Jai Singh, won the SAJA Journalism Leader Award, in 2003, along with Rena Golden, then head of CNN International; and the late Peter Jennings.

SAJAforum student bloggers talked to the SAJA Gala Dinner panelists ahead of the event. Here are excerpts from the interview with Madhulika Sikka. Read the ones with Singh here and Narisetti here.

Interview by Vandana Sood.

Madhulika Sikka is Executive Producer of NPR's ‘Morning Edition’, public radio's most-listened-to program. The award-winning news producer is one of the leading South Asians in American Television today.

Prior to her arrival at NPR, Ms. Sikka was a senior producer at ABC News' Nightline, where she was responsible for all aspects of the daily news broadcast, including editorial decisions and production.  Ms. Sikka has had extensive global experience as a news producer while working for World Monitor Television, CBS News in Tokyo, and NBC News in London.

Ms. Sikka is the recipient of four Emmys, two duPont awards, a Barone award, two Peabodys, three SAJA Awards an NABJ Award and the recipient of the India Abroad Publisher's Award for Special Excellence 2009.

Ms. Sikka received a BA from the University of London, School of Oriental and African Studies and an M.Phil in Economics and Politics of Development from Cambridge University. She lives in Washington, D.C., with her family.

What was your motivation to get into broadcast and radio?

I spent most of my career in television before coming to NPR, I was always attracted to the idea of being transported to a place both visually and aurally. My interest in journalism was sparked by the idea that I could inform and educate folks, take them to places they might not go or might not think to go.

How did you reach your professional success until now? Who are the role models and mentors whom you have looked up to?

It’s a cliché but I worked hard, did all sorts of things that were asked of me, worked in my own time and learned from wonderful people around me.  I think it’s important to remember if you don’t ask you don’t get, don’t be afraid to push for something, what’s the worst  one of the firthat can happen?  You get a "no" for an answer (sometimes).  I had many mentors along the way, Karen Curry at NBC News, my current boss Ellen McDonnell, and my former executive producer at ABC News Nightline, Tom Bettag.  My peers throughout my career have been among my most important mentors and role models and I am fortunate to be surrounded by a wonderful group of peers at NPR now.

Were there particular issues and challenges that you faced as a woman?

No more challenging than in any other profession I think.  The more of us that do this the more folks can see that women are as capable as man.  The most important thing for anyone, man or woman, is to make the choices that seem right for them and not have decisions forced upon them.  You know in your gut the decisions you have to make at particular times in your life.

GALA: RAJU NARISETTI On COVERING NEWS IN INDIA AND THE U.S.

Editor's Note: At this year's SAJA Gala Awards & Scholarship Dinner, three of the most senior South Asian Journalists in the United States were asked to appear on a panel called "View from the Top". Two of them - Madhulika Sikka, executive producer of NPR's Morning Edition; and Raju Narisetti, managing editor of the Washington Post - are winners of this year's SAJA Journalism Leader Award, given for outstanding leadership. The third speaker, Jai Singh, won the SAJA Journalism Leader Award, in 2003, along with Rena Golden, then head of CNN International; and the late Peter Jennings.

SAJAforum student bloggers talked to the SAJA Gala Dinner panelists ahead of the event. Here are excerpts from the interview with Raju Narisetti. Read the ones with Singh here and Sikka here.

Interview by Shanti Venkataraman.

Raju Narisetti is a journalist who frequently makes news himself.

In 2006, the veteran The Wall Street Journal editor decided to move to India to launch a business newspaper in a highly competitive market that already had four flourishing business dailies. In 2008, he made news again when he returned to the U.S. as the managing editor of The Washington Post.

Ahead of the SAJA Gala on July 24, 2010, Raju Narisetti offered us his view from the top. Here are excerpts from an interview with SAJA Forum blogger Shanthi Venkataraman:

How is it to be back in the US, after your experience of launching Mint in India? Has your perspective of journalism, and the news we cover, changed?

The three years I spent in India were actually that of real adjustment after spending 20 years in American journalism. If I had to do it all over again, I would do it in a heartbeat. You can spend a lifetime here and never get the chance to launch something new and see it grow well. It was immensely satisfying experience, and Mint continues to do well. Just this month, it launched another edition in Ahmedabad, India. And it just broke even, three years after its launch and that, too, in a global recession. For it to be recognized as a paper with quality, ethics and analysis – that accomplishes everything that I set out to do.

 What was your experience with the media industry there?

Obviously the industry was completely different. It is a dynamic industry. Unlike here circulation and advertising there is growing in the double digits. The business side of the media is doing really well. On the journalism end of it: multiple choices have not necessarily led to a substantial increase in quality of journalism. The industry is in a transition phase, though and Mint is evidence that quality journalism and analysis has value.

GALA: NEW FORMAT FOR SAJA ANNUAL AWARDS CEREMONY

In a departure from its annual three-day conventions SAJA has chosen to hold an awards ceremony and scholarship gala at the neo-classical Low Library at Columbia University, home to the prestigious Pulitzer awards.

The gala, on Saturday, will honor the best journalism from the South Asian diaspora and journalists reporting on the region. The evening will also include a reception followed by a panel discussion on the future of journalism led by South Asian media pioneers Raju Narisetti, managing editor, The Washington Post; Madhulika Sikka, executive producer, NPR's “Morning Edition”; and Jai Singh, managing editor, The Huffington Post.

Instead of an annual convention, SAJA Comes to You has been the focus of the organization this year in a bid to reach as many members as possible.

“But we didn’t want to shortchange the members by not having an event at all,” said Anusha Shrivastava, vice president of SAJA, explaining the switch to a one-night gala instead.

Workshops and panel discussions, part of the SAJA Comes to You initiative, have made it to Boston, Chicago and New Jersey so far, and are expected to get to Toronto and the Bay Area in the coming months.

“A lot of our members said they were unable to participate in SAJA events” because the convention was in New York city, Shrivastava said. “The events are held in cities where we have members, if we hear from them, we’re happy to go to them,” she added.

The New York gala will be attended by a cross section of print, newswires, radio and broadcast media including The Washington Post, Bloomberg and India Abroad. Guests will dine on Indian cuisine.

-- By Mamta Badkar

EDUCATION: UPenn's Lauder Institute Adds India Focus to MBA Offerings

An unusual announcement regarding MBA classes at Wharton and the University of Pennsylvania:

The Lauder Institute at the University of Pennsylvania announced today that they will add Hindi to their roster of programs in international business and culture. The Hindi Program, focused on doing business in India, will become the ninth Language and Culture offering at the Lauder Institute, a unique two-year, joint-degree course of study that combines a Wharton MBA with a Master of Arts in International Studies from the School of Arts & Sciences. Students undergo intensive, advanced-level language training and take courses aimed at a comprehensive understanding of the economic, political, and cultural context in which business takes place. They also spend several weeks at different locations around the world engaged in a rigorous experiential and action-oriented academic program of activities. The new Hindi Program will prepare MBA students for successful managerial careers in and with India, a region of increasing business and economic significance.

Full press release below. Post your comments, please.

CONTROVERSY: An Edisonian Responds to Time's Joel Stein

Last week, Joel Stein, a Time essayist, wrote a piece about the changes in the New Jersey town of Edison. It been widely read and widely commented upon (see some of those reactions below, including a Time response to a WSJ article about this). SAJAforum was sent this guest post by RADHIKA MARYA, a recent graduate of the Journalism School at Columbia University and a member of SAJA. She is currently interning for NPR in Washington D.C. She's @RadTV on Twitter.

=> If you have a comment or observation about Stein's or Marya's pieces, please use the comments section below. Our thanks to SAJAer Shefali Kulkarni for her help editing this post.

Welcome to Edison, New Jersey.

Population: Brown people. Everywhere.

This is not an original observation. Edison’s heavy South Asian (mostly Indian) population is world renowned — noted in cultural studies textbooks and acknowledged by the South Asian diaspora. And this topic recently became the subject of Joel Stein’s Time magazine piece, “My Own Private India.”

In this little essay dated July 5, Stein — who grew up in Edison — laments the transformation of his hometown, referring to places like the Pizza-Hut-turned-Indian-sweet-shop. He goes on to make several gross generalizations about Indian-Americans, while waxing nostalgic about his youth.

As an Indian-American journalist, who spent her adolescence in Edison and graduated from Stein’s high school, I’m offended. I’m also not exactly sure if Stein has a point.

I started out livid when I first read the piece. I usually have a tendency to be less-than-politically-correct. I thought the outrage over Gandhi’s depiction on the MTV cartoon Clone High, in 2003, was silly. My relatively multicultural group of friends and I joke around about race all the time.

But even if Stein thought he was writing a hilarious little piece about how his once-white town is overrun by Indians, he just ended up sounding unfunny, uninformed and racist.

TV: "Outsourced" hits the small screen, as an NBC sitcom

While Kal Penn  and Aziz Ansari  have paved the way for South Asian funny guys, a full cast from the subcontinent are just now making their way to the small screen in NBC Thursday’s new sitcom, “Outsourced”.

A spin-off of the 2006 movie by the same name, the plot follows a jaded salesman, Todd (Ben Rappaport), to India to oversee a call center.

If the movie is indeed a taste-test, “Outsourced” promises to channel a stereotype into a subtle, lively storyline complete with romance and cultural commentary.

The cast is mostly comprised of vaguely recognizable BBC stars, sitcom hoppers and newcomers such as Rizwan Manji, Rebecca Hazlewood, Anisha Nagarajan and Sacha Dhawan.

Writer Robert Borden hails from “The Drew Cary Show”, and director Ken Kwapis tested out his diversity comedy with “The Office”. 

“Outsourced” bumped out “Parks and Recreation” (starring Ansari) for the Thursday evening spot at 9:30, although the doc-style comedy is only on hold, not canceled. NBC is adding five new comedies and seven new dramas to their line-up, according to the NBC website.

You can see some clips from the show here.

Post your comments, please.

HEALTH: Pakistani-American doctors organize Free Healthcare Day

The would-be Times Square bomber has brought negative attention to Pakistani-Americans, but here's a story that should help show members of the community in a positive light. From a press release from APPNA, Association of Physicians of Pakistani Descent of North America:

Press contact: Lai Ling Jew
lailingjew[at]gmail.com

Pakistani-American Doctors Provide Free Health Care Nationwide Association of Physicians of Pakistani Descent of North America (APPNA) Organize 100+ Free Health Care Events

(June 5th, 2010 New York, NY) The Association of Physicians of Pakistani Descent of North America (APPNA) have organized more free health care events in 26 states across the country to take place on June 5th. Over 200 Pakistani-American doctors have volunteered their time and services for this Free Health Care Day.
 
"Pakistani-Americans are an important part of the American family and have been giving back for decades,” said Dr. Zeelaf Munir MD, president of APPNA. "APPNA doctors have donated their time and services for years, and we hope o help thousands of our fellow Americans on our first coordinated National Free Health Care Day.”

She will be at the Harlem location on Saturday and is available for interviews before the event or on location on the day of the event. The address is:  3403 Broadway (at 138th street) NY, NY. 10031

Local Pakistani-American doctors will be offering their services for free as part of the larger APPNA National Health Care Initiative. APPNA is a charitable organization dedicated to fostering scientific development and education in the field of medicine and to delivering better health care, irrespective of race, color, creed, or gender. Established in 1976, APPNA, a non-profit 501(c)3, is one of the largest ethnic medical societies in North America representing more than 15,000 physicians and health care professionals of Pakistani descent serving across the United States and Canada.

A full list of events and locations is available:
http://www.appna.org/?page=healthmap

###

About: APPNA is a charitable organization dedicated to fostering scientific
development and education in the field of medicine and to delivering better
health care, irrespective of race, color, creed, or gender.   APPNA saves
lives and relieves suffering through its participation in medical relief and
other charitable activities at home and abroad. Established in 1976, APPNA
is one of the largest ethnic medical societies in North America representing
more than 15,000 physicians and health care professionals of Pakistani
descent serving across the United States and Canada. APPNA with its chapters
and alumni networks is the front leader of Pakistani Diaspora.

Post your comments below.

REQUEST: Donor match needed for 4-year-old Devan

Four-year-old Devan is in need of a bone marrow (or cord blood) transplant. The donor that could be you could be you or someone you know. And his family has three months to find that donor.

His mother is distinguished foreign correspondent and SAJAer Indira Lakshmanan (she's in Bloomberg's DC bureau now) and his father is photojournalist Dermot Tatlow and they have written this heart-wrenching appeal that's being circulated around the world. 

All they are asking for now is for South Asians in general - and, any, especially of mixed South Asian and European heritage - to register in the potential donor registry. I am registered (and all South Asians should be!) and it's as simple as a cheek swab. More info below. 

We will update this post with info as we get it. Please send people to MatchDevan.com

Meanwhile, our thoughts are with Indira, Dermot and litte Devan.

Please pass this onto everyone you know - South Asian or otherwise - getting the word out is key.

If you are a journalist who wants to interview Indira to help get the word out, please e-mail saja@columbia.edu and put "Indira" in the subject line.

There's just 12 weeks left to find a donor, folks.

- - - -

From Indira & Dermot:

Our only child Devan needs your help. He’s four and has relapsed with a rare form of high-risk leukemia. His doctors believe his life depends on a bone marrow transplant that they hope to do after 12 weeks of chemotherapy. What is difficult is finding a donor match – 1 in 200,000 in his case, we've been told - and we haven't found one yet.

You or someone you know might be the person who can save Devan’s life. All you need to do is a simple cheek swab to find out. The organizations below will send you a kit. Donating is easy – these days it’s much like a simple blood draw.

1.PLEASE, REGISTER NOW. The test is easy & free, but processing takes time (10 weeks in the UK), and Devan doesn’t have much. Register below.

2.PLEASE FORWARD THIS ON TO OTHERS. Anyone can be a match, but those who are mixed Indian/Caucasian have an even better chance of helping Devan. Please, please, cut and paste this message to strip out any private email addresses and forward this to everyone you can. By forwarding this email to at least 10 people now, we can spread the word to 50,000 possible donors within 48 hours.

3. VISIT DEVAN’S SITE – www.matchdevan.com – we will be including details on how to organize your own drive, valuable information on leukemia and FAQ’s on registering and donation.

WHERE TO REGISTER
=> In the US go to Be The Match Bone Marrow Registry,http://www.marrow.org/JOIN/Join_Now/join_now.html  (you need to be 60 or under)

=> In the UK go to the Anthony Nolan Trust, http://bit.ly/cpkxuy (you’ll need to be 40 or under)

 => In other countries go to Bone Marrow Donors Worldwide,http://bmdw.org/index.php?id=addresses_members&no_cache=1

Finally, if you’re pregnant, your cord blood is particularly valuable for helping children like Devan – please look here to learn more: http://parentsguidecordblood.org/content/usa/banklists/publicbanks_new.shtml?navid=15

Thank you so much for helping.

Love from Dev’s parents, Indira and Dermot

MUSIC: A.R. Rehman in NYC event ahead of world tour

Text and Photos by Shefali Kulkarni, a 24-year-old student at the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University. She is concentrating in Digital Media - ssk2154[at]columbia.edu

Rajan Shah, co-founder of SAMMA (South Asians in Media, Marketing & Entertainment) summed-up his opening remarks with what could truly describe the rest of the April 19 talk with superstar composer A.R. Rahman. "Some of the most incredible, untapped ideas are coming from South Asians," he told the packed audience on the top floor of Asia Society HQ in Manhattan.

A few celebrities were sprinkled throughout the crowd of music and film aficionados. Fashion photographer Nigel Barker sat three rows down, close to a door so he could make a quick exit, after he asked Rahman where he gets his inspiration from. DJ Rekha sat in the front row and asked Rahman if he could come teach her class at NYU. Salman Ahmed, the lead singer of Junoon was also in the front row (see SAJAforum coverage of his recent SAJA event).

The 44-year-old music and movie composer was his typical humble self as he was interviewed by Anjula Acharia-Bath CEO of Desi Hits. His answers came through a soft-spoken voice that spouted short and simple explanations to his multiple Grammy, Academy and Golden Globe awards.

"I just want to get to know the man behind the music," said Acharia-Bath. She was not alone--the audience peppered Rahman with questions about his upcoming album, his personal life, his thoughts on Bollywood and his upcoming Jai Ho: The Journey Home world tour. The tour launches at Nassau Coliseum on June 11 before heading across the US and to other countries. It will encompass dance performances as well as musical numbers from Rahman's well-known scores.

Rehman spoke about the spirituality of his work--how he cleanses to concentrate on his work, and how he ensures that there are no cell phones in the studio. He tells Acharia-Bath, almost bashfully, how he began as an electrical engineer, but his mother wanted him to follow in his father's footsteps. R.K. Shekhar was a well-known composer for Malayalam and Tamil movies.

"My first movie, I thought it was going to be my last movie," he said. "So I wanted to do my best and then leave it."

Here's video of his interview with MTV Iggy:

Post your comments below.

EARLIER ON SAJAforum: 2009 webcast with A.R. Rahman, the biggest name in Indian music

CAREERS: A South Asian twist to Take Your Daughter To Work Day

A post by Ruchika Tulshyan, at Columbia Graduate School of Journalism - rt2371[at]columbia.edu

Photos by Divrina Dhingra, at Columbia Graduate School of Journalism - divrina.d[at]gmail.com

This year's Take Your Daughters and Sons to Work Day, on Thursday, April 22, featured an unusual South Asian twist in NYC. The day, which gives children around the country a chance to visit workplaces and see their parents in a different light, can pose an issue for some South Asian families if the moms don't work.

So the South Asian Women's Leadership Forum (SAWLF) set up its own version of this, matching high school girls with women in top corporate companies like JP Morgan and HarperCollins. SAWLF paired 50 South Asian girls with women in senior management positions in Fortune 500 firms in New York. Many of the high school girls had never stepped into a corporate office before yesterday.

“It was an opportunity for high school girls to learn that they too can be like these intelligent and successful career women,” says Simi Ahuja, founder of SAWLF and managing director of SA & Associates. Having a South Asian female role model is essential to the development of many young girls, Ahuja added.

As these high school girls spent some time with professional career women, the hope is that they too will one day follow suit.

Did you take your sons or daughters to work? Do you think it was a useful exercise? Tell us in the comments.

AWARDS: Multiple South Asian connections to the 2010 Pulitzer Prizes

It's Pulitzer Prize-time and this year, there are multiple South Asian connections to the 2010 Pulitzers (see full list of winners and finalists here).

* The Pulitzer winner for History:

For a distinguished and appropriately documented book on the history of the United States, Ten thousand dollars ($10,000).

Awarded to “Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World,” by Liaquat Ahamed (The Penguin Press), a compelling account of how four powerful bankers played crucial roles in triggering the Great Depression and ultimately transforming the United States into the world’s financial leader.

Liaquat Ahamed has been a professional investment manager for >twenty-five years.He has worked at the World Bank in Washington, D.C., and the New York based partnership of Fischer Francis Trees and Watts, where he served as chief executive. He is currently an adviser to several hedge fund groups, including the Rock Creek Group and the Rohatyn Group; a director of Aspen Insurance Co.; and is on the board of trustees of the Brookings Institution. Ahamed has degrees in economics from Harvard and Cambridge universities.

This is the first South Asian winner or finalist in this category.

* In the Fiction category, there's a South Asian finalist:

“In Other Rooms, Other Wonders,” by Daniyal Mueenuddin (W.W. Norton & Company), a collection of beautifully crafted stories that exposes the Western reader to the hopes, dreams and dramas of an array of characters in feudal Pakistan, resulting in both an aesthetic and cultural achievement.

Listen to Feb 2010 SAJAforum webcast with Mueenuddin, conducted by SAJA's Vibhuti Patel.

This is the category that Jhumpa Lahiri won in 2000, for "The Interpreter of Maladies."

* In the Drama category, there's a South Asian finalist for the first time:

“Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo,” by Rajiv Joseph, a play about the chaotic Iraq war that uses a network of characters, including a caged tiger, to ponder violent, senseless death, blending social commentary with tragicomic mayhem

* The Washington Post won four Pulitzers this year and the co-managing editor of the paper is Raju Narisetti. Two of the prizes were for the Post Magazine (Gene Weingarten for Feature Writing) and Style (Sarah Kaufman for Criticism), both sections headed by Narisetti.

* Sonny Mehta, editor-in-chief of Alfred A. Knopf, has had yet another successful Pulitzer year. Here's what his imprint did this time:

- Winner in Biography or Autobiography: "The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt,” by T.J Stiles (Alfred A. Knopf); finalists: “Cheever: A Life,” by Blake Bailey (Alfred A. Knopf); “Woodrow Wilson: A Biography,” by John Milton Cooper Jr. (Alfred A. Knopf).

- In 2007 (see SAJAforum coverage), Mehta did even better, with a rare hat-trick of winners: the Fiction prize for "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy; the General  Nonfiction prize for "The Looming Tower: Al Qaeda and the Road to 9/11" by Lawrence Wright; the History prize for "The Race Beat: The Press, the Civil Rights Struggle, and the Awakening of a Nation" by Gene Roberts and Hank Klibanoff.

[Coincidentally, both Narisetti and Mehta were honored in March at the 2009 India Abroad Awards - Narisetti with the Publisher's Award for Special Excellence (along with NPR executive producer Madhulika Sikka) and Mehta with the India Abroad Award for Lifetime Achievement, complete with a video tribute by Bill Clinton, one of his many authors. Video of Narisetti acceptance speech; video of Mehta acceptance speech - you'll see Suketu Mehta in the video with Sonny; Suketu was a Pulitzer finalist in General Nonfiction in 2005 for "Maximum City: Mumbai Lost & Found".]

* One of this year's jurors was Jai Singh, managing editor of The Huffington Post - one of the few South Asians to have been a Pulitzer juror (Peter Bhatia, editor of the Oregonian, has been a juror four times; anyone else?)

Singh, along with Prof. Sig Gissler, administrator of the Pulitzers, will be on an AAJA webcast about the Pulitzers on Wednesday, April14, 3 pm ET. Listen live or a to a recording at this link.

FROM THE SAJA ARCHIVES:

• See SAJA's collection of South Asia and the Pulitzer Prize over the last 60 years until 2008
• In 2008, Adrees Latif won the Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography
• See SAJAforum's coverage of the 2007 awards ceremony
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AWARDS: Jyoti Thottam wins major Time Inc Award

The last time we saw former SAJA president Jyoti Thottam on SAJAforum, it was in June 2008, when she was preparing to head to Delhi to be Time's South Asian bureau chief (you can catch our webcast with her). Now, she's back for a short visit to collect a major internal prize at Time Inc. She and a colleague won the Henry Luce Award (named for the founder of Time) for reporting for “The Making of a Terrorist,” which looked at the Mumbai attacks of 2008:

Time Asia’s Aryn Baker and Jyoti Thottam burrowed into confidential documents and conducted exclusive interviews in two countries to describe the recruitment and radicalization of the only terrorist who survived.

She collects her prize tonight. See editorial honcho John Huey's note about all the award winners and finalists - impressive list, all from one company.

PAKISTAN: An Update on Internally Displaced Persons

Back in July 2009, we took note of what experts then were calling an "impending humanitarian disaster": the displacement of as many as 2.5 million individuals due to the government's military offensive in the North-West Frontier Province. Soon thereafter, the Pakistan government announced plans to return displaced individuals to their homes, and mainstream news coverage of the crisis subsided and public attention turned elsewhere.

Seven months later, how does the situation look for internally displaced persons? Writing at Changing Up Pakistan, Kalsoom Lakhani provides an update, arguing that although the IDP situation has been "out of the headlines," the crisis remains severe:

UK: BBC Asian Network on the Chopping Block?

When the BBC Asian Network was launched back in 2002 as a nationwide digital radio station throughout Britain, the BBC's then-radio director, Jenny Abramsky, called it "one of the most important things the BBC has ever done."  Since then, the Asian Network has developed a loyal following, both in Britain and, via the internet, around the world.

[Because of immigration patterns, "Asian" is the UK word for South Asians.]

Today, however, the Asian Network's future is very much in doubt. On the eve of British general elections, a strategy review by BBC management proposes major changes in the BBC's operations -- including the closure of the Asian Network (and another network, BBC 6 Music) altogether.