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| April 26th Show |
In Conversation
Our co-host, Aastha Verma has
just returned from a vacation to
Hong Kong and Thailand.
Darshan
viewers get to hear her
experiences while travelling to
these two places. Aastha and
host Ramesh Butani discuss
results of the recent
Pennsylvania state primary
election where Senator Clinton
had a 10-point lead over Senator
Obama. They talk about the
reasons why Senator Clinton
should continue her campaign
rather than dropping off; story
about some democrats who would
like Senator Clinton to run for
Governor of New York and Mayor
Bloomberg to run for Vice
President on a Obama-Bloomberg
ticket. Besides politics, our
hosts also discussed other
stories which include: |
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- The rising food prices and its
shortage is taking a toll on
world’s poor; President of the
World Bank, Mr. Zoellick,
recently urged rich nations to
contribute additional $500
million to UN’s Food Program.
- BBC News story about thousands
of protestors are protesting in
London’s Trafalgar Square
against a new, points-based
system for non-EU immigrants
which has led to a severe
shortage of kitchen staff,
especially in London’s curry
houses.
- India’s Reliance Industries is
spending $6 billion to expand a
massive refining hub into the
world’s biggest and most
sophisticated oil refinery in
Jamnagar, Gujarat-India. When
completed in December, it will
refine 1.2 million gallons of
gasoline per day (or nearly 5%
of global capacity), and will
supply to Canada and USA.
- The multicultural team of John
Cho and Kal Penn star in sequel
of “Harold and Kumar Go to White
Castle”. The new movie, “Harold
& Kumar Escape from Guantanamo
Bay” will be out in theatres
this weekend. Aastha Verma plans
to definitely see this movie!!! |
Interview
Ramesh
Butani talks to Carrie
Trybulec, Director, Gandhi
Memorial Center, Washington,
DC. Carrie is a full-time
Director of the Center, and has
devoted herself to presenting
the ideals and life message of
Mahatma Gandhi and the culture
that nourished him. Her role is
to present life teachings of
Mahatma Gandhi and to share the
expression of Indian culture
through activities and programs
throughout the year at the
Gandhi Center. The Center runs
on donations made by the public,
and was started in 1976 by the
Mahatma Gandhi Memorial
Foundation. Its purpose is to
disseminate and represent the
philosophy, ideal, life, service
and teachings of Mahatma Gandhi
as well as the cultural heritage
of India. The Foundation is a
legally independent, nonprofit,
cultural and educational
organization. Since 2004, the
Center has been giving an annual
Fellowship of Peace Award
to recognize the contribution
and dedication of individuals
toward the fellowship of peace
in a variety of professions,
vocations and service. Just as
Mahatma Gandhi had many
vocations in life and entered
into many fields, his greatest
work was to devote his efforts
toward the cultivation of inner
peace and share it with the
world around him. The Award
recipients are:
Ambassador Akbar Ahmed (2004);
Dr. Vibha Gupta (2005); Mr.
Rajan Devadas (2006); and Dr.
Abdul Aziz Said (2007).
The Foundation will gratefully
receive donations of funds and
contributions of books, other
publications and memorabilia
pertaining to Mahatma Gandhi and
his associates. Please make
checks payable to:
The Mahatma Gandhi Memorial
Foundation, Inc. and mail
them to the:
Gandhi Memorial Center,
4748 Western Avenue, Bethesda,
MD 20816.
The email address is:resources@gandhimc.org;
and the website is: www.gandhimc.org.
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| April 19th Show |
In Conversation
Hosts Ramesh Butani and Anisha
Abraham continue to discuss the
“hot” topic of this week – fight
for Democratic Party’s
nomination for President –
Senator Obama and Senator
Clinton and the obvious gaffes
made by them. Other stories
discussed include: |
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- Airlines are scrambling to cut
costs and as a result, they are
outsourcing aircraft maintenance
to countries like El Salvador,
China, India and others. Unions
and repair shops in the US are
raising flags about the quality
of maintenance and the jobs
being lost by this off-shoring;
- UN teams with Google Earth to
track refugees and educate
public (WashPost);
- Satyagraha (truth-force) is a
new production by Philip Glass
and is currently playing in New
York. The opera emphasizes
Mahatma Gandhi's work during his
time in South Africa. Considered
to be part of a Philip Glass
trilogy (along with Einstein on
the Beach and Akhnaten) on
visionary historical figures,
Satyagraha depicts Gandhi's time
as a young lawyer in South
Africa from 1893 to 1914. The
Sanskrit libretto for Glass's
opera, compiled by the composer
with author Constance DeJong, is
taken from the Bhagavad-Gita, an
ancient Hindu scripture
frequently cited by Gandhi as
one of his major sources of
inspiration.
- The Washington Redskins
Cheerleaders (also known as the
“First Ladies of Football”) are
currently in India to create the
first-ever cheerleading squad
for cricket’s Royal Challengers
Bangalore (part of the new
Indian Premier League – IPL) in
their inaugural game;
- A number of Indian American TV
and movie stars have been
nominated for the 2008 JC Penney
Asian Excellence Awards which
will air on E! Entertainment
Television on May 1st. These
stars include: Padma Lakshmi
(Top Chef); Kal Penn (House),
Parminder Nagra (ER), Naveen
Andrews (Lost) and Janina
Gavankar (The “L” Word).
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Interview
Our
interview guest this week is
Jasbinder Singh, a candidate for
Mayor of Herndon, VA. Mr.
Singh’s election platform
includes handling many of
Herndon’s challenges which
include: “Dealing effectively
with Fairfax County”; “ Making
Herndon Government more
efficient and keeping taxes
low”; “Herndon Downtown
Development”; and “Finding
economic solutions”. For those
interested in learning more
about Mr. Singh and his
candidacy, he has created a
website,
www.singhformayor.org.
He can be reached via email at:
singh@singhformayor.org. |
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April 12th Show |
In Conversation
Hosts Ramesh Butani and Anisha
Abraham discuss stories about
- The anti-China protesters who
are interrupting the Olympic
torch relay in Paris, London,
San Francisco and other cities
to protest over China’s human
rights records; |
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- In the wake of a credit
crunch, student loans are
becoming scarce as nearly 50
companies have either stopped
issuing federally guaranteed
loans, or are scaling back
discounts, or have raised rates
and fees on private loans;
- A global rice shortage is
causing almost 50% increase in
it price and is triggering an
international crisis; Indian
government has banned export of
non-basmati rice and has also
raised price of basmati rice
that is being exported;
- Newsweek story on “Surrogate
mothers” many of who are married
to men in the military;
- In many remote areas and
villages of India, language
classes for learning English are
becoming popular so people can
benefit from the economic boom
brought on by outsourcing and
globalization;
- US delegation traveling to
India to recruit Hindi teachers
because Hindi appears to be the
“new Mandarin” – just as
Mandarin is being learn by
youngsters all over the world to
give them a strategic advantage
in emerging China, Hindi is
being sought after as the
language of the other Asian
giant – India;
- The hit PBS TV Show, “Sesame
Street” will have a new
addition, Leela, played by a
24-year-old Nitya Vidyasagar.
Leela will run Sesame Street’s
Laundromat;
- “Laughter Yoga” is gaining
popularity all over the world.
TathaAsthu magazine says that
many hospitals around the world
are beginning to recognize the
importance of this therapy in
their treatment; they are
setting up Laughter Libraries
where humor materials are
stocked for patients to check
out;
- Dr. Sanjay Gupta’s commentary
in the Time on “Eat Your Germs”
– in order to stay healthy, get
plenty of good bacterial found
in probiotic foods like yogurt,
buttermilk. That is the reason
“Activia” brand of yogurt and
cottage cheese are becoming
popular;
- Popular Bollywood actress,
Rani Mukerji has decided to have
her domestic staff wear smart
new uniforms with her initials
embroidered in gold!
Host Ramesh Butani visited the
sparkling new building of “The
Newseum” in Washington DC. This
new building is dazzling,
innovative and a “must see” for
everyone! The “news-junkies”
will especially enjoy it. As the
Washington Post describes it,
“history oozes” from its
pictures and videos; some of the
images that are truly
heart-stopping, include the 9/11
video, JFK assassination and the
Hindenburg explosion. The best
part and a pride for us here at
Darshan is the fact that one of
our co-hosts, Sonya Gavankar, is
literally “the face of the
Newseum” ! She has hosted many
documentaries there and one can
see her of several TV monitors
in the building!!!
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| April 5th Show |
In Conversation
Hosts, Ramesh Butani and Aastha
Verma, have a very philosophical
and heated discussion on why
some people change their birth
names, e.g. Barack Obama used to
call himself Barry Obama;
Hillary Clinton was Hillary
Rodham. |
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Even our host, Ramesh Butani
used to be Ram Butani
once-upon-a-time! There are a
number of reasons for this
change including the need to
“fit in” (especially for the
first-generation immigrants).
Other interesting topics
discussed this week include:
-hospitals are recycling a
growing number of medical
devices to save costs and reduce
medical waste (WSJ);
-Time magazine report on reusing
water bottles – it may be good
ecologically but can be bad for
health;
-Dubai is the new destination
for Medical Tourism;
-Raleigh, North Carolina has
banned garbage disposals;
violators are being threatened
with a hefty fine of $25,000 per
day!
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Interview
Ramesh
Butani speaks to Amit Singh who
is a congressional candidate for
the 8th District of Virginia.
Amit was born and raised near
Richmond, Virginia. He graduated
from the University of Virginia
with a B.S. in Electrical
Engineering, and is a small
businessman. He wants to run for
congress and serve the people of
the 8th District. He believes in
a less bureaucratic, more
efficient, and more transparent
government. He also believes
that Washington needs to
represent and protect the
American people and not the
corporations. These are some of
the key elements in his vision
for future. For more information
on Amit Singh, and to donate to
his campaign, please visit his
website: www.Amit08.com. how to register,
please go to
http://www.Amit08.com |
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