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GUJARATI
DIASPORA
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US
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SONAL SHAH, an economist wh o heads Google's philanthropic arm, has been appointed as an advisory board member by US President-elect Barack Obama to assist his team in the transition of power.
Shah, 40, is part of a panel of individuals with significant private and public sector experience who will offer expertise in various fields to Obama's transition team.
The transition team is to be headed by former White House chief of staff John Podesta, longtime Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett and Pete Rouse the President-elect's Senate chief of staff.
Shah, who currently works for Google.org, is engaged in defining its global development strategy and promoting the firm's philanthropy work. Before joining Google she was a vice-president at Goldman, Sachs. She also served as associate director for the Economic and National Security Policy at the Centre for American Progress. She has also worked with the Department of Treasury on economic issues and regions of the world and is co-founder of US-based Indicorps that offers one year fellowships for Indian origin Americans to work on specific projects in India.
Shah, her mother and sister moved from Gujarat to New York in 1972 two years after her father. She also has a brother.
PARAG MEHTA, 31, has been named the deputy director of inter-governmental affairs and public liaison of the Obama-Biden transition team, charged with outreach to Asian Americans and Pacific islanders and other minority groups.
On Friday, Mehta resigned from his job as director, external communications for the Democratic National Committee, a post to which he was appointed four months ago. It was the highest-ranking staff position held by an Indian American in the party.
Earlier, he was director of training for the DNC.
The Massachusetts-born Mehta says he is “absolutely thrilled and excited” to join the Obama-Biden transition team, which could be a springboard to a position in the Obama administration.
On the involvement of Indian Americans, he says, "It's amazing how many Indian Americans are working in campaigns. We used to get together in small groups after work to commiserate about being brown kids in politics. Now there are so many of us that we have to pull tables together in the Congressional cafeteria just to fit everyone who shows up."
"The key is my generation," Mehta said, "we really try to help each other out. We don't see each other as competitors, but rather as compatriots who share a similar experience.”
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GUJARATI
DIASPORA
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US
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TAKING 17 Advanced Placement examinations and scoring 5, the maximum possible grade in each one of them, Ashin Shah has achieved a rare national honour.
“Pretty outstanding. It is not your average student that takes than many tests and does that well, said a spokesperson for the College Board, which administers the tests.
Shah, a student at Thomas Stone High School in Maryland, was the valedictorian of the school.
US-wide about 1.6 million students who graduated this year took at least one AP test during four years at high school. Fewer than 400 took 14 or more.
The College Board offers 32 tests in 22 subject areas, including calculus, physics, history and English.
RAJ PARIKH, a senior neuroscience major at Johns Hopkins University, has given a lift to
potenti al computer students in Rajkot.
In January 2007, after a visit to the city, his grandfather's hometown, he decided to start a computer lab in the Hindu-Muslim neighbourhood of New Thorala there.
“I felt the urge to do something for the underprivileged. I interacted with teenagers coming from poverty-ridden backgrounds. They had endless potential, which remained untapped due to lack of resources.”
Parikh enlisted the support of Bharat Singh Chudasama, the headmaster at Shree Amarnath Vidyamandir, who offered space at the school.
After selecting a teacher and “laying down the groundwork” for the Hiraba Parikh Computer Lab, he returned to the US to fundraise. With $4,000 raised at club nights and other fundraisers, Parikh bought four computers and enrolled the first class of 30 students. “A three-level curriculum was developed that would allow the students to take their computer skills straight to the work force.”
During a visit to the school this year, he discovered of the first graduating class of 40 students, several had found jobs in telemarketing firms, others as IT consultants and one was an assistant teacher.
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UK
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DEV PATEL, whose only previous screen experience was a bit part in the racy British series Skins, is set to be the breakout star of Slumdog Millionaire, Danny Boyle's movie about love, death and adventure in the underworld of Mumbai. The movie is already being talked up as this year's Little Miss Sunshine, and that's not just because of the bright colors and the fact that Fox Searchlight is distributing it. Slumdog is one of the rare feelgood movies likely to be considered Oscar worthy. Dev, 18, says he'd love to carry on working in films. "I've been lucky so far so it'd be silly not to grab the opportunity with two hands and see where it takes me," he said.
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