. cover story

Happy Holidays
and the desi touch


In this festive season, Sarmishta Ramesh checks out how Indian Americans adopt and celebrate American festivals in their own inimitable style.

Forget about stuffed turkeys, mashed potatoes and pumpkin pies. This Thanksgiving season, Usha Raman instead presented a platter full of tandoori chicken, Hyderabadi biryani and gajar ka halwa at her dinner table. “This is the first Thanksgiving party I’ll be throwing in this country and I’m all excited about it,” gushed Raman before the big “turkey” day. She and her husband, both hi-tech engineers, moved to the United States four years ago and currently live in the Silicon Valley. more

Highlights

COVER STORY
End of Exoticism
Mandira Banerjee finds out if immigrant themes of Indian American authors are passé.

FASTLANE
Attorney at Large
Swetha Iyengar looks at the softer side of Sarita Kedia, the tough criminal defense lawyer.

20 SOMETHING
Reach Out and Touch
Swetha Iyengar argues that there is more to charity than merely doling out dollars.

THE AMERICANS
Indian Affair
Neela Pal meets with Steve Coll to discover that the Pulitzer Prize winning journalist has ‘Indian roots.’

LOOKING GLASS
Science of Success
Harmeet Dhillon enters the world of Narinder Kapany, scientist, entrepreneur, art collector and philanthropist.

SOCIETY
Pretzel or Piety?
Radhika Sharma finds out if one can keep Hinduism out of Yoga despite all the Americanization.

MATINEE
Special Effects
R.M. Vijayakar goes behind the camera to see the technological advances made by Hindi filmmakers.

GUEST COLUMN
Remembering Johnny Carson
Rajen Anand pays tribute to the legendary talk-show host who enthralled the nation for decades.

GETAWAYS
On the Waterfront
Michel W. Potts provides a bird’s eye view of the exotic Amby Valley Sahara Lake City near Mumbai.

ENTREE
The F Word
Lisa Tsering savors the exotic world of fusion food that some South Asian chefs are experimenting with.


A quarter of Indian Americans live in households with incomes below $25,000 – even though the community reported the highest median household income ($49,696).
A Tale of Two Desis
Vijay Prashad
This means that the rate of inequality among Indian Americans is very high, with a few millionaires and a vast number who live in the basement of American society.
We have a new hero in South Asian America: the Republican donor. Indian American newspapers run long, even front page, news stories on their contributions to the GOP, and applaud ‘Bush Rangers’ for their special munificence. more
A TOUCH OF CLASS
Sunil Adam


For Akshay Desai, the American Dream is more than acquiring material possessions – it is the ability to fully participate in the American way of life, Sunil Adam writes.

The Berkeley Bonhomie
Sarmishta Ramesh

Students of Indian and Pakistani origin at UC Berkeley are coming together to transcend historical differences and cherish their shared cultural and emotional bonds, Sarmishta Ramesh reports.
Music Des-Pardes
R.M Vijayakar

 

R.M Vijayakar listens to Hindi film music and finds a great divide between techno and the traditional melodies.

Nov.-Dec. 2004
A Campaign In First Persons
Reshma Saujanir

 

Reshma Saujani has been on the Kerry campaign from the very outset. Here she recounts her experiences in rallying the South Asian community in support of the Democratic candidate.

A Tete-a-tete With John Kerry
Sunil Adam
John Forbes Kerry remains an enigma to Indian Americans, although they certainly respect his leadership, and a majority of them support his candidacy for the American presidency. But what is his perspective of Indian Americans, and where does the community stand in his scheme of things. The Democratic presidential nominee addresses some of these issues in an exclusive Q&A with Sunil Adam.