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nri
- pio section
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NRI behind Google’s new ‘Hot Trends’ search feature
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Amit Patel, one of the top search patent inventors and a veteran of six years at Google Inc, is the brain behind the company’s newest offering ‘Hot Trends’.
The new innovation combines elements of Zeitgeist and Trends, two exisiting Google products and will show a list of current top one hundred fastest rising search trends. The list will be refreshed several times a day, using data from millions of Google web searches. Patel believes the product will be useful to researchers and reporters.
The enhanced search research will allow users to analyse terms within the sub regons of 79 countries and will display the frequency of a topic’s appearance in Google News stories and from which specific geographic region the search has been initiated.
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Indian American in Virginia tech panel
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An Indian American psychiatrist is part of a panel set up to review circumstances that led to the massacre of 33 people at the Virginia Tech university.
Virginia Governor Timothy M Kaine has appointed psychiatrist Aradhana Sood, among others, to review the tragic killings at Virginia Tech, in Blacksburg town, in which an Indian professor and an Indian student also died.
Sood is the chair of child and adolescent psychiatry and the medical director of the Virginia Treatment Centre for Children, according to News India Times, an ethnic Indian newspaper.
“This panel will provide a thoughtful analysis of the circumstances leading up to, during and immediately after Monday’s (April 16) horrible events,” Kaine said.
The shooting rampage at Virginia Tech by a mentally unstable student has prompted new calls for tighter US gun laws and gun control. The incident also led to wide condemnation of US ‘gun culture’ by foreign observers.
Apart from Sood, the review panel, which will be led by retired Virginia state police superintendent Gerald Massengill, will also include former US secretary of homeland security Tom Ridge.
Sood received her medical degree in 1980 from Jiwaji University in India’s Madhya Pradesh state.
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Kishor Lulla wins Asian Business Award
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Kishore Lulla, co-founder of the Eros International’s UK office in London, has been chosen for the Eastern Eye Asian Business Award for 2007 for providing Indian cinema an international platform.
At a glittering ceremony held at the Hilton Park Lane, Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, presented the coveted award to Lulla in the presence of over 1,000 distinguished invitees from various walks of life.
Other award winners were Surinder Arora (KPMG Entrepreneur of the Year), Shamir Shah Pricewaterhouse Coopers Young achiever of the Year), Arti Poddar (Hamptons International Newcomer of the year) and Sital Punja (Fortis Bank Community Award).
In his brief address, Prince Andrew said the Asian business community is hugely important and has a vital contribution for UK’s prosperity and economy. “You not only do it here, but also at the international level,” he said. Recalling his visit to India last year, Andrew said he was highly impressed with the rapid progress India was making.
“We are hugely indebted and impressed with the activities of the Indian business and the Indian community in this country,” he said and wondered whether it was necessary to have a separate category as Asian business since the Asian business is part of the UK business.”
Lulla played a key role in the growth of Eros International, which now operates in over 50 countries with worldwide offices in India, UK, USA, Dubai, Australia, Fiji and Isle of Man. The company controls content through productions and co-productions, long-term output deals with production houses and talent, and by globally distributing content across all multimedia formats.
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Indra Nooyi bags prestigious US award
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Chief executive officer of PepsiCo Indra Nooyi has bagged the American `By Choice’ award for her outstanding achievements as a naturalised American citizen. At a function in Washington on Monday, the director of US Citizenship and Immigration Services Emilo Gonzales will present her the award, online edition of News Blaze reported.
Nooyi, who was named one of the most powerful businesswomen in 2006 by the Fortune magazine, was honoured with the Padma Bhushan - India’s third highest civilian award - by the Indian government last month.
The Chennai-born Nooyi received her bachelor’s degree from Madras Christian College and a post-graduate diploma in management from the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta and graduated from the Yale School of Management.
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Visakha Desai wins Woman of Achievement award
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Vishakha N. Desai, president of the Asia Society, has been conferred the Woman of Achievement’ award on Monday at a ceremony held in New York. She was given the award by Women in Development, a non-profit professional association promoting the cause of women in New York. Desai was selected for her social contribution through transformational work, said the News India Times, an ethnic Indian newspaper. Desai, who graduated from Bombay University, got a masters and PhD from the University of Michigan. Prior to assuming her position at the Asia Society, Desai was with the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, as a curator of Indian, Southeast Asian and Islamic art. A recipient of numerous grants and fellowships from the National Endowment for Humanities, the National Endowment for Arts, the Indo-US Sub-commission on Education and Culture and the American Institute of Indian Studies, Desai has written extensively on traditional Indian and contemporary Asian art.
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Loads of laughter for CRY UK, with Asian stand up comedy night
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CRY, or Child Rights & You, UK, a charity for marginalised children in India, organised yet another fund raising event for their cause. This time it was an Asian stand-up comedy nite on May 18, at the London School of Economics.
The event itself was a complete sell out, with almost 200 people at the show. The audience consisted of Indians, British Indians and a smattering of British too. To say that people enjoyed themselves would be an under-statement; they claimed to have had a riot!
The event started with delicious Indian snacks of samosas, pakoras, bhajjis etc served by CRY, eaten amidst the usual bonhomie that is typical of Indian events. The local Indian community present there used the opportunity to catch up with each other, which is not the easiest thing to do in busy London life.
In about an hour, as scheduled, the actual event began, with a speech of welcome and an overview of CRY in the UK. It was directly followed by the host for the evening Jimmy McGhie kicking off the comedy nite, introducing himself, cracking jokes and revving up the crowd, to enjoy the rest of the evening. From then on, it was two hours of almost non stop laughter, brought on by Arnab Chanda, Papa CJ and Paul Chowdhry. They brought the audience to fits of laughter, poking fun at themselves, the local Indian community, and the local British community. They drew the audience to laughter, taking them through familiar Indian-isms that can sometimes be hilarious when looking in from the outside. They also took pot-shots at current events, like outsourcing, the Shilpa Shetty episode, Indian dominance in the IT sector, ‘freshie’ Indians in Britain etc. The audience itself was very sporting, not minding laughs at their own expense, and after a while, even participating avidly in the show. One of the audience said, “I didn’t stop laughing, and thoroughly enjoyed myself.” Another said, “It is heartening to see the tremendous support that CRY UK garners for its cause here in London. I’m proud to be associated with the charity, and its cause, and look forward to attending many more such successful events”
Everyone had a great time, and like a few people said, “why didn’t we do this before?” For CRY UK, it was yet another successful event, people having laughs for CRY! The event was 100% sponsored, by a regular CRY supporter and E2E Infotech. This ensured that the entire funds raised of about £3,000 would be used to support Project Jago in Jharkhand, India. This specific project supports children of backward castes in 20 villages and spreads awareness on issues of youth, child labour and working children, child marriages and dowry deaths.
The volunteers, a mixed bag of enthusiastic people, dedicated to the cause, devoted great amounts of their valuable time and effort, in organising the event, and ensuring that it went off smoothly. The success of this event has further egged them on to organise more such events, where people seem to be enjoying themselves, and the outcome is support for a good cause!
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