[NOTE: I just got asked by a newcomer to SAJAforum what a desi is. Here's an explanation, from the SAJA Stylebook. More Desi Spotting here.]
Esquire's 75th anniversary issue, "The 21st Century Begins Now" is getting a lot of buzz, mainly about "the world's first e-ink cover" (coverage of it here and Esquire.com's explanation here).
From SAJAforum's perspective, what really stands out is how South Asian the issue is... The issue isn't online yet, but some observations from a quick glance through the (gasp!) printed magazine:
- The magazine has features on "The Diasporas: Three great human migrations that are changing the world." The subcontinent shows up in all three: The Indian diaspora, the Google diaspora and the American diaspora (more on these below).
- The list of the 75 most influential people of the 21st Century includes the following (in order of apperance - it's not a ranking, though), with a mini-profile:
- Ratan Tata: Chairman of India's largest privately held company, 70. Mumbai
- M.I.A.: The first and only major artist in world music, 33. Everywhere
- Bobby Jindal: Governor, 37. Baton Rouge, Louisiana
"Because in a party of very few stars, he's the brightest by far."
(see more below)
[SAJAforum note: see our extensive coverage of Jindal.] - Mukesh Ambani: Magnate, government surrogate, 51. Mumbai.
- Ronnie Screwvala: Movie mogul, 46. Mumbai.
- Parag Khanna: Geopolitical analyst, 31. New York.
[SAJAforum note: Listen to SAJA webcast with Khanna.] - Lakshmi Mittal: CEO, ArcelorMittal, the world's largest producer of steel, employer of 310,000 in 60 countries, fourth richest man in the world, 58. London.
- Bobby Jindal is one of six of the Esquire 75 to get singled out for multi-page, in-depth profiles, as folks who are especially "helping to shape the new century." The other five are: Rupert Murdoch, Vladimir Putin, Steve Jobs, LeBron James and director P.T. Anderson. It's clear these folks are meant to be the top six of the 75.
- Jindal's nine-page profile, by Mike Sager, is called: "Bobby Jindal, All-American."
"Being the youngest governor in the country, the first India-American governor in history, and the first nonwhite governor in Louisiana since Reconstruction are the least of the things that make Piyush Jindal different." It also features photograph of a 33"x48" oil on linen painting of Jindal, "The New Actuality" by Richard Phillips, commissioned by Esquire in June 2008.
The article, which I have not read yet, has to be the most extensive piece that's been done about Jindal. This, of course, is a list compiled long before Sarah Palin appeared on the national scene.
UPDATE: Read the full Sager piece here. - Parag Khanna, who is one of the Esquire 75 himself, has a three-page story in issue about "The Indian Diaspora: The worldwide rise of Bollystan." Featuring photos of stars Aishwariya Rai, Kal Penn and tech mogul Sam Pitroda, it also has a map of the diaspora and its numbers. Among the stats in an accompanying graphic:
- Ten of the 100 richest people in the world are Indian or of Indian origin
- Amount of money sent home by Indians living abroad in 2007:
North America: $10.8 billion
Persian Gulf region: $5.9 billion
Europe: $3.2 billion
East Asia: $2 billion
South America: $1.5 billion
Africa: $500 million
[SAJAforum note: anyone have stats for Australia? Antartica?
SAJAforum note: Listen to SAJA webcast with Khanna.] - The leaders of the following countries are of Indian descent:
Singapore
Mauritius
Guyana
- An article by Luke Dittrich, "The Google Diaspora" (about former Googlers, or Xooglers, as they are known), features a photo of Salman Ullah, and lists: Sanjeev Singh, Sanjeev Agarwal, Gokul Rajaram, Sanjay Raman.
- An article by Chris Jones, "The New American" looks at young entrepreneurial Americans moving to other countries. A chart listing "The American Diaspora" shows India as #3 on the 10 fastest-growing overseas destinations for Americans since 2000. Only ones bigger: Russia (the most), then China. In the top 10 desitations for Americans overall, India is at #10 (UK, France and Italy are the top three).
The web site does offer a preview of the anniversary issue - with an analysis of the background of those selected. See a portion of it here (more Indians than Russians or Texans; incidentally, more winners of the Pulitzer Prize than the Nobel Prize). See full version of the graphic below.
All this is without reading any of the text; will update if we find more stuff. We will also update this with the actual text and pix as and when (and if) we get them.
What do you think of the Esquire 75? Any other South Asians you would have included? Post your comments below.
[The "participated in an exorcism" person in the graphic has to be Bobby Jindal - see SAJAforum's earlier item on that topic].
Press release about Parag Khanna - see quote from his boss, Steve Coll, former South Asia bureau chief of The Washington Post and winner of the SAJA Journalism Leader Award (and the Pulitzer Prize).
New America Foundation's Parag Khanna Makes Esquire's list of the 75 Most Influential People for the 21st Century
MEDIA ADVISORY FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE on SEPTEMBER 10, 2008
New America Foundation's Parag Khanna has been named on Esquire's list of the 75 most influential people for the 21st Century. The magazine's October issue states that, "Amid the recent surge of dashing political-military-international-affairs intellectuals, Khanna stands out as young, original, and roughed up. He spent two years humping the terrain of 50 developing countries to research The Second World: Empires and Influence in the New Global Order."
According to Steve Coll, president and CEO of the New America Foundation, "Second World was a bracing, energetic, provocative piece of reporting and thinking that has deeply influenced American discourse about the kind of world the next president will inherit. Parag is the sort of writer who is not afraid to challenge conventional wisdom or to change his own mind; at a time when too much of our foreign policy thinking is rooted in frameworks from the past, he has proved himself to be an essential new voice."
Khanna's next book, How to Run the World, is on the future of diplomacy and will be published in 2010 by Random House.
Based in New York City, Parag Khanna is a senior research fellow with the New America Foundation, and he is also the director of New America's Global Governance Initiative, a project of the American Strategy Program. To arrange an interview with Mr. Khanna, please call Erin Drankoski at 202-997-8727 or e-mail drankoski@newamerica.net.
Additional Information:
Esquire Magazine: www.esquire.com
Parag Khanna's bio and picture: www.newamerica.net/people/parag_khanna
Parag Khanna's website: www.paragkhanna.com
About New America's Global Governance Initiative: LINK###
The New America Foundation is a nonprofit, nonpartisan public policy institute that invests in new thinkers and new ideas to address the next generation of challenges facing the United States. Headquartered in Washington D.C., New America also has offices in California.
Media Contact:
Erin Drankoski
New America Foundation
drankoski[at]newamerica.net
What do you think of the Esquire 75? Any other South Asians you would have included? Post your comments below.
