Editorial July 2020

In these unprecedentedly difficult times, we seem to get depressing news everywhere we turn. So we will be the last ones to give you depressing news. Instead, Desh Videsh Media Group would like to brighten your days by bringing only positive news and showing you the silver lining around this dark cloud.

In the last issue, we did an in-depth book review of Our Time has Come: How India is Making Its Place in the World in which Alyssa Ayres writes positively about India’s future from the US perspective. This month, we feature an article and interview with Professor Arvind Panagariya, who was hand-picked by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for Niti Ayog’s Vice Chairman position, a recipient of the Padma Bhushan and a professor of economics at Columbia University. He presents a bullish outlook on India from the Indian perspective in his recently published book India Unlimited: Reclaiming the Lost Glory.

Traditionally, our July issue covers winners of the National  Spelling Bee competition, National Geographic GeoBee Champions, Valedictorians/Salutatorians from our community and winners of national science and math competitions. Unfortunately, most of these competitions did not take place due to COVID-19 – except of course, the announcement of Valedictorians/Salutatorians.

We are proud to present eleven Valedictorians/Salutatorians from our community. It is very encouraging and interesting to learn more about these talented students. In response to the question “If you could have breakfast with anyone, who would it be and why?”, I found two answers to be interesting – one student mentioned Paul Kalanithi, an Indian-American neurosurgeon and writer. His book When Breath Becomes Air is a memoir about his life and illness battling stage IV metastatic lung cancer. Another student chose Ruth Bader Ginsburg, an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

After the successful launching of our Sa Ni Dha Pa Live YouTube channel, we are excited to announce the launch of the Desh-Videsh Live YouTube channel.  Desh-Videsh Live presents viewers with a series of informative videos, interviews and webinars on timely topics related to community events, immigration, Indian weddings, and more.

The first episode aired on June 28, 2020 and included speeches by Valedictorians and Salutatorians as well as inspirational messages from community leaders to 2020 graduates. To watch the episode and learn more about upcoming episodes, please visit www.deshvideshlive.com.

In discussing Indian American kids, how can we forget their counterparts in India?  Please check out the announcement from Akshaya Patra about their South Florida Chapter and Florida Virtual Ball. In these tough times, children in India need our help more than ever.

While all of us are locked down in our homes, I am sure many of you are looking for suggestions on how to spend your time. Watching Amazon Prime, Netflix, Indian channels or top news channels is the usual answer. But I am sure by now you must be bored with TV as I am. To rescue you from boredom, this issue features a list of recently published books written by Indian authors. One of my favorites is an analysis of the Maharashtra election in a book titled Checkmate: How The BJP Won And Lost Maharashtra. If you are reading any interesting books written by Indian authors or about India, please send us an email with full details about the book.

Let me end my column by wishing all of you good health.

Raj Shah
Managing Editor