Author: Lavina Melwani

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.

When you look at Gauri Gill’s images in her touring collection ‘The Americans’, it sometimes feels as if you’re gazing into a mirror and seeing a reflection of yourself. Indeed, there will be few immigrants who do not see a piece of themselves, a bit of their story echoed in her photographs.

He was a true friend to India, to human causes and to artists – and the world is a lesser place for his passing. An era ends with the death of Thomas B.Keehn, 93, whose sojourn in India had an impact on the nascent art movement in India.

How do you sell a million of something in tough, economic times? Ask AJ Khubani – the man who marketed a million Obama Historic Victory Commemoration Plates and has already sold a whopping 800,000!

You’ve heard of the gun-toting sheriffs of the Wild West but did you know the city of Mumbai has a sheriff too?

The Network of Indian Professionals is a national organization which has 22 chapters across North America and a reach of 25,000 South Asian professionals.

Fondly nicknamed Jaikishan Heights, this gritty Little India has been the salvation of new immigrants for decades, bringing them a sweet piece of their lost homeland. It is here that they find the remembered tastes and sounds that make them feel whole again.

Yes, all the high drama, the tall tales of tall cities like Bombay and New York started on a narrow balcony on a narrow street in Bada Bazaar in an old and densely packed part of Calcutta.

Little India has everything from precious stones to rich silks to aromatic spices. If you’re craving for a paan or a kesar kulfi – and you’re a continent away from India, this is the place you’ll find it. A photo gallery of the Little India in Jackson Heights.