It isn’t surprising that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the USA and the overall impact that he made, particularly during his stay at the Big Apple, was phenomenal. We have come to expect impactful events involving Mr Modi, given his flair for powerful speeches, keeping his listeners riveted to his words and for being a man who follows up on his words with actions. But what really stood out in New York was his ability to connect with the highly influential Indian diaspora in the USA, a diaspora that has always expressed reservations about India in no uncertain terms. A sellout audience of 20,000 at the city’s Madison Square Garden comprising mostly NRIs and PIOs waved, rooted, clapped, and roared in appreciation as Mr Modi spoke with characteristic confidence and candour, and in chaste Hindi. He received the kind of adulation that is mostly reserved for rock stars, and the media also did not hesitate to label him one.

Within a span of four months we have put him on the cover again, simply because he continues to capture the imagination of the world.

We have a story on the well-known Indian businessman in the U.K., Dr Rami Ranger, who has set an unprecedented record of having been conferred five on-the-trot Queens awards for excellence in enterprise, having managed to grow his flagship Sun Mark Ltd. manifold over the past several years. In recent times, British Prime Minister David Cameron visited his facility.

We have an interview with Raj Chintaram, executive chairman of ANPRAS in Mauritius, who is spearheading a movement for sustainable development in this southern Indian-ocean island. Mauritius, among several island nations in the world, will be affected in terms of tourism, if oceanic water levels rise following climate change.

Happy reading.

(sayantanc@gmail.com)