Samim “Sam” Rizvi became the first Indian to participate in Race Across American. A physically challenging test for an athelete this gruelling  race involves bicyclists who cover 3,000 miles in 12 days traveling through 14 American states. Often, they sleep for an hour everyday in order to complete the race.
I spoke to Sam Rizvi on the eve [...]

“New York…these streets will make you feel brand new,” sang Alicia Keys as stunning images of Manhattan skyline unfolded on the big silver screen. I held my breath as dazzling, beautiful, sun dappled images of the art deco Chrysler building were shown in loving, quick succession. You see I am partial to Manhattan’s Chrysler building and [...]

Over the long Thanksgiving weekend San Francisco’s Mayor Gavin Newsom made his first maiden trip to Bangalore, India. Interestingly, for over 100 years San Francisco has been an entry point for Indians, many of whom came from the region of Punjab and were often referred to as Hindus in the early 20th century. Reportedly, the [...]

New York-based jazz musicians Vijay Iyer and Rudresh Mahanthappa are two of the rising stars in the jazz world. For over 10 years the two musicians have worked together, and also on their own independent projects. Their work  has received critical acclaim. It is not very often that you come across musicians from the Indian-American [...]

Networking giant Cisco Systems is aggressively pursuing smart energy or green tech initiatives through its concept of Smart Connected Buildings.Cisco announced today that it is introducing the first of its product in the smart energy category called Network Building Mediator that was incubated in Cisco’s Globalization Center East in Bangalore, India. This is the first [...]

A major trend that I have been following this past year is the growing political awareness among South Asians aka desis.  Like others, I  noticed there was an increased involvement from the desi community during the 2009 US Presidential elections. Not only was there an increase in the number of desi candidates running for elections [...]