Pravasi Herald

Amy Singh named by Obama on Arts Body

March 2, 2010
President Barack Obama has picked up an Indian American to serve on the US President’s Advisory Committee on the Arts for the prestigious John F. Kennedy Centre for Performing Arts.

Announcing the appointment of eminent Indian American attorney, Amy K. Singh, based in Obama’s home town of Chicago, the White House on Monday noted she works to support the arts and youth, which develops civic leadership in the city’s high school youth.

Singh practises in areas of entertainment, advertising and marketing, and provides counsel to clients on event production and promotion, television production, talent and other matters.

Before starting her own practice, she held several positions, including as general counsel/senior vice president of DDB Chicago Inc, and as an associate in the Chicago office of the firm now known as Sidley Austin LLP.

Singh was a member of the Junior Board of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and is currently on the Board of the Mikva Challenge, an organisation that prioritises the development of civic leadership in underserved Chicago high school youth.

Courtesy Indo-Asian News Service

Posted by ks on 03/02/10 at 02:03 PM
World/U.S. • U.S./National • Permalink

Ice skating to win Olympic Sliver Medal on Indian Bollywood songs

February 22, 2010
Davis and White took Olympic silver medal skating to Bollywood tunes in their short program.

Davis and White’s original dance has become a hit in India and among people with ties to South Asia.

The idea for the dance came from coach-choreographer Marina Zoueva, who was inspired by an Hermes scarf with Indian dancers, and Davis and White took great pains to make sure their program was true to the culture and character. To learn how to move their arms and bodies in true Indian dance style, they spent months working with Anuja Rajendra, who once performed professionally and now combines Bollywood music and dance with exercise at her BollyFit studio in Ann Arbor, Mich.

They bought her red, turquoise and gold sari-like outfit and his long, beige-colored coat at an authentic Indian clothing store and had them remade to suit their needs.

“We can’t speak for anyone else, but it was very important for us to do research and do the theme justice, so as not to offend anyone or do anything off-base,“ Davis said.

There certainly weren’t any complaints Friday night.

Davis and White’s performance was non-stop entertainment that masked their high technical difficulty. They flew across the ice and never slowed for a second, not even in their section of twizzles which they paired with arm and hand movements. You know how hard it is to pat your stomach and rub your head at the same time? It’s like that - only on skates and about 10 times harder.

Their lifts were done with lots of ease and fluidity, and they had several changes of position on the final one.

But the best part of their dance is how much fun it was to watch. Their movements and playful facial expressions make it easy to visualize a wedding in Mumbai.

Posted by ks on 02/22/10 at 09:52 PM
World/U.S. • U.S./National • Permalink

composer Rahman wins two Grammy Awards

Feb 1, 2010
Composer AR Rahman has won two Grammy Awards at the prestigious music ceremony in Los Angeles.

Rahman received awards for best film song and best soundtrack, both compositions for the Oscar-winning film Slumdog Millionaire.

Rahman won two Oscars, a Bafta and a Golden Globe last year for his soundtrack to the multi award-winning Slumdog Millionaire.

The composer is often called the Mozart of Madras, the city where he works.

Rahman won in the best compilation soundtrack for a motion picture. His Jai Ho song in the film also won in the best motion picture song.

“This is insane, god is great again,“ Rahman said as he accepted his award.

He later told the BBC it felt “so good, because the Grammies are meant to be the greatest music awards”.

Rahman beat such rivals as Quentin Tarantino for Inglourious Basterds and rock star Bruce Springsteen in the soundtrack and best song categories respectively.

Last month, Rahman was shortlisted for an Oscar nomination for his Tamil song NaNa from the Hollywood film, Couples Retreat.

The song is vying with 62 others for the nominations which will be revealed on 2 February.

The Grammy awards are further recognition of Rahman’s enormous talents, says the BBC’s Soutik Biswas in Delhi.

The 44-year-old composer is a musician with a staggering range - from raga to reggae to hip hop to Indian folk to jungle rhythms to western classical, our correspondent says.

Seventeen years after he began writing music and songs for films, the jingle maker-turned-musician finally got recognition as India’s first truly global film music composer with his score for Danny Boyle’s sleeper hit Slumdog Millionaire in 2009.

Sitar maestro Ravi Shankar, guitarist Vishwa Mohan Bhatt and tabla player Zakir Hussain are the other Indian musicians who have won Grammy Awards.

Courtesy BBC News

Posted by ks on 02/01/10 at 10:30 PM
World/U.S. • U.S./National • Permalink

Hindu gods on US postage stamps

Feb 1, 2010
Washington, Feb 1: After famous cartoon characters such as Calvin and Hobbes and Archie, Hindu deities have made their way into the Us postal department.

While the line of stamps featuring popular cartoon characters known as ‘Sunny Funnies’ was conceptualised by the United States Postal Services (USPS), an Atlanta-based company headed by an Indian-American is behind the postage stamps depicting Hindu gods and goddesses.

The company, usa-postage.com, launched the first series of these custom-made postage stamps in denomination of 44 cents featuring Sai Baba, Lord Venkateshwara, Lakshmi, Murugan, Vinayaka, Shiva-Parvathi and Sri Krishna in Jan 2010.

“These postages have not been issued by the US Postal Service, but these are as good as stamps and is legally valid. We do not call them stamps. We call them as postages. But these can be used as any other normal stamp,” Roy Betts, spokesman of USPS is quoted as saying in a news agency report.

This is the first instance of postage stamps depicting Hindu gods and goddesses to be launched in America.

“Customised postage sheets are ideal for giving as gift items. Indian community living in the US can order online as a gift item,” said Ennar Chilakapati, vice president, usa-postage.com.

The company made use of a six-year-old law of the US Postal Service (USPS) that permits issuing of customised postages to launch the series.

Postage stamps with divine images have specific appeal to the Indian community living in the US. As a matter of fact, the company has seen a lot of support from the 1.5 million-strong community since its launch, along with being overwhelmed by requests from Britain.

Courtesy: OneIndia News

Posted by ks on 02/01/10 at 10:18 PM
World/U.S. • U.S./National • Permalink

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visits White House - videos

Nov 24, 2009
Indian PM was the first state guest of President Obama after taking office.

President Obama Welcomes Prime Minister Singh of India

Posted by ks on 11/26/09 at 09:55 PM
World/U.S. • U.S./National • Permalink

Rajiv Shah appointed US foreign aid chief

President Barack Obama has nominated Indian-American Rajiv Shah to head US Agency for International Development (USAID).

Shah, a medical doctor who holds a senior position at the agriculture department dealing with food security, will bring “fresh ideas” and an “impressive background” to the US Agency for International Development, Obama said in a statement announcing the nomination.

Posted by ks on 11/17/09 at 05:56 PM
World/U.S. • U.S./National • Permalink

Pratham USA Announces New Leadership

October 31, 2009

On October 19, 2009, the National Board of Directors of Pratham USA appointed Arvind Sanger as Chairman of the Board. Mr. Sanger was nominated by his predecessor and co-Board member, Vijay Goradia, who held the position since Pratham USA’s founding in 1999.

Posted by ks on 11/03/09 at 08:29 PM
World/U.S. • U.S./National • Permalink

Suresh Kumar nominated by President Obama for Assistant Secretary of Commerce

October 29, 2009
Suresh Kumar, Nominee for Assistant Secretary of Commerce and Director General of the United States and Foreign Commercial Service, Department of Commerce. Suresh Kumar is President & Managing Partner of KaiZen Innovation.

Posted by ks on 10/30/09 at 05:47 AM
World/U.S. • U.S./National • Permalink

Dr Kalpalatha K Guntupalli to head American College of Chest Physicians

The American College of Chest Physicians has elected Dr Kalpalatha K Guntupalli, the only woman president of the American Association of Physicians of Indian origin, as its first Asian American woman president.

Hyderabad-born Guntupalli is currently tenured full professor at the Baylor College Medicine in Houston, considered one of the top 10 medical schools in the US, and also chief of pulmonary/critical care and sleep division at BCM.

Posted by ks on 10/28/09 at 06:32 PM
World/U.S. • U.S./National • Permalink

President’s Obama’s Diwali Message

Posted by ks on 10/15/09 at 06:33 PM
World/U.S. • U.S./National • Permalink

Page 1 of 2 pages 1 2 >