AWARDS: Fareed Zakaria, India Abroad Person of the Year

The India Abroad Person of the Year Awards 2008 ceremony was held in downtown Manhattan this past weekend.

The Person of the Year award went to Fareed Zakaria, the first Indian American (Post-Indian-American?) to host his own show on a major network--CNN’s GPS Sunday. Zakaria joked about how he looked more pleasing on his TV show, thanks to the make-up and lights, and that the audience had to see him with neither on the occasion. (photo by Paresh Gandhi)

Other honors that night: Conductor Zubin Mehta received the India Abroad Lifetime Achievement Award. Mehta reminded the crowd of Sachin Tendulkar’s score against New Zealand. Switching to Hindi, he said, “New Zealand ko dho dalenge,” loosely translated as, “We'll beat the pants off them New Zealanders.” Wife Nancy Mehta and brother Zarin Mehta were nearby.

From India Abroad's online coverage:

Conversation and food merged as a stellar guest list comprising, to name just a few in no particular order, Infosys CEO Nandan Nilekani; author Saman Rushdie; actress-author Madhur Jaffrey; economists extraordinaire Professor Jagdish Bhagwati and Professor Padma Desai; envoys past and present including T P Sreenivasan and India's Consul General in New York Prabhu Dayal; Mayor of Edison, New Jersey, Jun Choi; celebrity chef Floyd Cardoz; darling of the emerging indie movement in Bollywood actor Abhay Deol.

The Publisher's Special Award for Excellence was received by Indian American author Jhumpa Lahiri. (photo of author w/adoring husband by Jay Mandal)

The India Abroad Gopal Raju Award for Community Service, introduced this year, was shared by not one, not two, but 7 people who have been actively involved in American politics and fundraising over the last year: From the article:

Preeta Bansal, now General Counsel and Senior Policy Advisor in the Office of Management and Budget in the Obama administration; Hrishi Karthikeyan and Dave Kumar, co-founders of South Asians for Obama; Democratic party strategist and Communications Director for Campaign for America's Future Toby Choudhuri; founder of the Indian American Leadership Initiative Varun Nikore; newly-installed chair of the Indian American Republican Council Dino Teppara; SAFO's National Outreach Director and Director of the Office of Inter-Governmental Affairs in the Obama White House Nick Rathod.

Yet more awards. The Face of the Future award was also introduced this year. That went to Manjul Bhargava, the youngest-ever Princeton professor and the receiver of several awards, including the SASTRA Ramanujan Prize founded by Shanmugha Arts, Science, Technology & Research Academy (SASTRA) University in Kumbakonam, India.

The Young Achievers Award was received by three youngsters: Sameer Mishra, winner of the Scripps National Spelling Bee, Akshay Rajagopal, winner of the National Geographic Bee and Shivani Sud, winner of the prestigious Intel Science Talent Search.

Photo of Zubin Mehta, Salman Rushdie and Padma Desai by Jay Mandal.

See more event pics and read SAJAforum's coverage of the event last year.