STORY 1
“Democracy is one of our sacred and shared values. It has evolved over a long time, and taken various forms and systems. Throughout history, however, one thing has been clear. Democracy is the spirit that supports equality and dignity.” —Prime Minister Naredra Modi
A History-Making Visit
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s trip to the United States in June was lauded and lavish
It was a matter of pride for the almost 5 million Indian Americans when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was invited on a state visit to the United States by President Joe Biden. The focal point of the visit was cementing the relationship between the two oldest and largest democracies in the world into. Throughout the visit, the two countries signed agreements to solidify their partnership in technology, defense, clean energy, and more.
The Prime Minister kicked off his official visit in New York on World Yoga Day and led the event attended by a record-breaking congregation of 135 nationalities participating at the spacious lawn of the United Nations building.
The rest of the visit was spent in Washington, DC, attending official functions as well as public and private events. The most spectacular event amongst them all was the official welcome ceremony at the White House on June 22. For the first time, the gates of White House were open for the public to attend the official ceremony, and thousands of Indian-Americans took advantage of the rare opportunity to show their support..
The lavish state dinner hosted by the President and the First Lady was attended by almost 400 special guests, including prominent Indian-Americans from fashion, tech, sports, and entertainment alongside lawmakers Pramila Jayapal, Shri Thanedar, Ro Khanna, Ami Bera, Raja Krishnamoorthi.
The visit is being lauded as productive and significant, and both leaders promised to build a stronger partnership grounded in respect for human rights and the shared principles of democracy.
Key Outcomes of Modi’s Visit:
-Recognizing the demand for travel, both sides announced the intent to open two new U.S. consulates in India in the cities of Bengaluru and Ahmedabad. India also agreed to take steps to operationalize its new consulate in Seattle, WA and open two more consulates at jointly identified locations in the United States.
-The U.S. Department of State will launch a pilot program to adjudicate domestic renewals of certain petition-based temporary work visas later this year, including for Indian nationals, with the intent to implement this for an expanded pool of H1B and L visa holders in 2024.
-A joint task force has been established to expand research and university partnerships between the two countries. These key developments and announcements would surely please the large Indian-American community.
STORY 2
W-I-N-N-I-N-G
The Scripps National Spelling Bee Champion is of South Asian descent (again)
Abhijit Masih
The Scripps National Spelling Bee champion for 2023 in June, again crowning an Indian-origin winner, this time Dev Shah, a 14-year-old 8th grader from Largo, FL. The competition has been dominated by the South Asian community for decades. This was not the first attempt for Shah who had tied for the 51st place in 2019 and for the 76th place in 2021. The winning word which he spelled correctly was ‘psammophile’ much to the delight of the audience, his schoolmates in Florida and family watching in New Jersey and India. The winner shared his preparation schedule in the last five months, “Wake up at 7 in the morning, study till 9, go to school until 5 and then study till midnight or 1 am. This would leave me with mostly 6 hours to sleep. It isn’t healthy but at least it was worth it. Now I have the summer to catch up on sleep.”
Deval Shah, the proud father, recalled the first signs of his son’s love for words, “During kindergarten and first grade, while driving him to school, I used to ask for the word of the day in Merriam-Webster and Dev used to look it up on the smartphone. This was the beginning of his strong vocabulary journey.”
The national rounds of competition welcomed 231 spellers from across the country and what comes as no surprise at all—dominated by Indian-American kids.
The annual competition, held each year since 1925, has become the favorite cerebral sport for the South Asian community—one in which they excel. From 2008 to 2019, the spelling bee winner was of South Asian descent. In 2019, seven out of the eight co-champions were Indian-American.
The phenomenon can be attributed to the importance of education given by the highly skilled immigrant parents of these word wizards. Putting high value on education and encouraging their kids to opt for academic activities like spelling bees. Scott Remer, the specialist who trained Dev Shah and three more champions before him, considers the community’s value of hard work and education as the reasons for this domination. “The fact that India is multilingual and the fact that most people in India speak at least two or three languages definitely helps,” Remer said. “So learning another language or learning other spelling patterns is not really that hard, they already have the habit.”
25 Years in the Making
An ode to the Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and its impact on Bollywood
Abhijit Masih
It does hit you. Twenty-five years, and yet you remember it like it was yesterday—each and every frame and dialogue of the film you have vivid memories of where you watched it and who you watched it with. The directorial debut of a young Karan Johar, who to his credit and perhaps the reputation of his filmmaker father, managed a casting coup by signing megastars like Shahrukh Khan, Kajol, Rani Mukherjee, and Salman Khan for his first film. One of the blockbuster hits of 1998, the film had all the right ingredients in the right proportions with a heavy dose of contemporary chic.
Then the future rising stars of the film, 25 years later have become stalwarts of the Indian film industry. Shahrukh—the Badshah of Bollywood gave the biggest blockbuster of all time with Pathaan this year and is currently excited for his daughter’s forthcoming debut film—The Archies. Karan Johar has become one of the biggest producers with his company Dharma Films backing mega budget movies. The talented Kajol is still on top of her game and has just released a web series and Rani Mukherjee while still doing lead roles in films also runs Yash Raj Films with her husband Aditya Chopra.
It may seem strange that the young bunch of actors, fresh faces essaying the roles of college kids in the film, now rule Bollywood. While the movie and its cast gear up to celebrate the silver anniversary of the film we try and put a finger on some of the things that made us fall in love with the film.
What pops up first of course is the lead pair and the on-screen chemistry between Shahrukh and Kajol. Be it DDLJ, My Name is Khan or Dilwale the on screen romance of Shahrukh and Kajol is beyond compare. The other reason would be the spectacular debut of Rani Mukherjee holding her own against the talented duo of Shahrukh and Kajol. Then there were the two sides of Anjali portrayed by Kajol – one the bumbling tomboy in the first half of the film and later the coy and demure Anjali that turns friendship into something deeper.
It was the directorial debut of Karan Johar who was trying to come out of the shadow of his father and on his own terms. Even as a 21 year old he did not let his young ideas be influenced by the experience of his father. The music still finds a special place in your playlists. Perhaps, one of the best works by Jatin-Lalit, who gave two of the best songs—Tum Paas Aaye and Ladki Badi Anjani.
Most of all, the film focused on varied relationships which have become the mainstay of all Karan Johar movies. Whether it is the friendship between Rahul and Anjali or the father-daughter bond between Rahul and the young Anjali, the portrayals were treated with simple maturity.
The film has remained etched in the memories of fans for multiple reasons and will continue to do so as an evergreen classic.
3 Film Facts:
-Kajol got seriously injured during the shooting of the song “Yeh Ladka Hai Deewana.” She fell from her bike during the sequence and lost consciousness, an incident that was bad enough for Kajol to temporarily lose her memory.
-Kuch Kuch Hota Hai is based on the much popular Archie comics about fictional teenagers Archie Andrews, Jughead Jones, Betty Cooper, and Veronica Lodge.
-Salman Khan and Kajol were not in talking terms while shooting “Saajanji Ghar Aaye.”
