Author: Lavina Melwani

“There is now a real feeling of home, I must say, in all three places. I don’t think I could do without one of them,” says Mira Nair.

It was a sight not to be missed – the Indian flag spotlighted on the NASDAQ Exchange board in frenetic Times Square.What are your thoughts on India’s Independence Day? Do you have any reflections to share?

The long hot summer is upon us, and wouldn’t you rather be in the pool than sweating it over the stove? “Summer is a great time to host a stress-free get-together,” says Rama Ginde of WannabeChef, based in New Jersey. “Entertaining this season can be informal, laidback and fun.”

Besides gourmet home delivered meals which can be ordered on the website, she also teaches all the wanna be chefs cooking, from date nights for romantic couples who learn Mexican cooking and get to eat it with a live Mariachi band to Mom and Me workshops where mothers get to bond with their kids over the kitchen stove.

“Michelle Obama and Oprah Winfrey were just four feet away from me – and it was the most amazing moment of my life till date because I was singing for Michelle and Oprah and everyone in that room was a celebrity.”

For seven years, young actors, playwrights and musicians let down their hair and through humor, some pathos and a dose of brutal honesty, took on the larger issues of identity, color and immigration.

“What is wrong in having the courage to say, ‘Let’s move America from mashed potatoes to Bombay potatoes’?” asks Meera Vasudevan, the woman who has helped bring Indian food to places like Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods, and to introduce it to a largely American population.

He’s a rock musician and she’s an architect but the two have been creating some intriguing perfumes together. DS and Durga is the name of the perfume that David Moltz and Kavita Ahuja first began concocting as a hobby and which has evolved into a successful business.

President Clinton certainly has the charisma to get pin-drop silence in a room. He was at the Hilton Hotel for the American India Foundation Annual Spring Awards Gala and over 400 heavy hitters from the Indian community turned up.

So how did a PricewaterhouseCoopers accountant-turned venture capitalist- turned entrepreneur get into the world of gaming startups, outsourcing and India, raising over $ 3 million for projects?

The MBA graduate from Columbia University turned entrepreneur with Swirl Events, a hip wine tasting company for corporate and private events, and she’s giving a fresh spin to things.

Syndicated comic strip artist and first time filmmaker Nina Paley has learned to make some mighty creative lemonade with the lemons handed her by life.

Nelson Mandela, Indira Gandhi, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Manmohan Singh, Mother Teresa, Omar Torrijos, and Rajiv Gandhi – if you had them all in the same room, it would be a major summit! Ambassador Placido P. D’Souza pulls off this coup, if not in the flesh, at least on paper.

“None of the sites reflected the wonderful cosmopolitan person my cousin is,” she recalls. “I really didn’t think she cared what someone’s skin complexion was or what their caste was – this was not her world. Yet she wasn’t ready to do it on her own – she still wanted family involvement.”

The company is the only Indian-American company to win gold twice, having won last year for its Tikka Masala Sauce in the Outstanding Cooking Sauce category.

Are you LinkedIn? Do you Twitter? Do you Youtube? Indian-Americans are a growing part of the social networking phenomenon that is sweeping the world.

“We needed everything but my father said, ‘Thank you sir, by the grace of god I have everything – but please protect the sanctity of Raag Darbari.’ “

So you love contemporary Indian art but don’t want to burn a deep hole in your pocket with the high prices? Aicon Editions may be just the answer for tough, economic times.

You never know with whom – or for whom – Suphala will be playing next! The wild haired beauty has played the tabla with artistes from Yoko Ono to Norah Jones, from Eddie Brickell to Timbaland.

Anand Chulani is not a doctor so how is he getting rooms full of people from high-powered CEOs to troubled teens to be stress-free and healthy? Through LOL – Laugh Out Loud – World, his unique method for getting audiences to unwind and relax.