Any World Class Indians at the Olympics?

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Gateway of India, Mumbai

Indians at the London Olympics

How many medals will Indians win?

In this context James Crabtree, the Financial Times' Mumbai correspondent, is amongst those who have started a media  discussion on why India, with over 1.1 billion people, produces few World class athletes.

Crabtree notes that, in addition to the long established work of the Tata Foundations, foundations set up by billionaires Laksmi Mittal and Mukesh Ambani have financed the upkeep and training of a few Indian athletes. The sums they have spent so far though is small. As Crabtree notes, "The total investment of these groups isn’t enormous: Mittal set up his trust with an investment reported to be of just $9m.for instance."  

Here is a link to one of James Crabtree's stories: 
http://blogs.ft.com/beyond-brics/2012/07/25/indias-tycoons-rally-to-support-worlds-least-successful-sporting-nation/

Similar issues were raised in another story after India won the World Cup cricket title in 2011.
India's Cricket Victory: Can It Lead to Success in Other Sports? See:
 http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/india/article.cfm?articleid=4582

Anant Agarwal heads edX: the Future of Online Education - For anyone, anywhere, anytime

EdX is a not-for-profit enterprise of set up by Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology designed for study via the web. Anant Agarwal, former Director of MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, serves as the first president of edX. Along with offering online courses, the institutions will use edX to research how students learn and how technology can transform learning—both on-campus and worldwide.The University of California, Berkeley also joined edX.

Stanford, Princeton and other universities have backed a rival web education platform Coursera https://www.coursera.org/ , which though is a commercial for profit business, backed by $16 million in venture funding. There is also Udacity http://www.udacity.com/ set up by a Stanford professor. 

https://www.edx.org/

Deepak Chopra launches YouTube channel

Health and fitness guru Deepak Chopra officially launched his free YouTube channel last week. This follows the launch of comedian Aziz Ansari's web channel, which though charges $5 for each video feed. 
Chopra Well's  launch included a discussion with special guests: former Mexican President Vicente Fox; Brazilian lyricist and novelist Paulo Coelho; journalist and humanitarian Lisa Ling; actress and cancer spokeswoman Fran Drescher; Ashtanga yoga master Eddie Stern and social media expert Eric Handler from Positively Positive.

The site is a joint effort of Deepak and his kids Mallika and Gotham and supported by Google, which is trying to organize YouTube to compete with cable channels, by setting up web channels like Chopra Well. Author of 65 books, including 16 on the New York Times best seller lists, Deepak is also Lady Gaga's favorite health guru. 


Here is a CBS news report on the launch:
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505270_162-57472843/deepak-chopra-launches-new-youtube-channel/

To view Chopra Well:

 http://www.youtube.com/user/DeepakChopraGlobal

 To view Aziz Ansari's site, which charges $5 for an hour long video:
http://azizansari.com/

In other news this week

Indian labor in New York underpaid and most have no health coverage, says Desi group's report

http://www.drumnyc.org/DRUM/Media/Pages/WC_Launch.html

Prabhu Dayal, India's consul general in New York, settles case against him by housekeeper

http://www.sunday-guardian.com/news/ny-maids-harassment-case-likely-to-be-settled-out-of-court

Sunita Williams and two other NASA astronauts dock with Russian space station

http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/science/article3648678.ece




For these and other stories, images and videos on Indians around the globe, published each weekend,  visit:
 /http://primeindians.com    
The editorial and technical quality of the website will be updated shortly. 

Your comments, views and criticisms are very welcome in the comment section of this blog below.

$38 million of Indian silver on British WW 11 ship

Gateway of India, Mumbai


Indian silver worth $38 million recovered from British ship sunk during World War Two
Who does this silver belong to India, where it originated, or Britain?  The Indian Government has not filed a claim so far though.

So far 48 tons of silver, worth an estimated $38 million, has been pulled up from British cargo ship Gairsoppa. The ship, on a voyage with the haul from Calcutta to London, was sunk by German submarine boats during World War Two and lies 15,400 feet under the Atlantic Ocean, near Ireland, reports The Independent. See story:


http://www.iol.co.za/scitech/science/discovery/sunken-ship-yields-haul-of-silver-1.1346031#.UArVV6NXnIU



Anil Kumar, ex McKinsey director whose evidence helped convict Raj Rajaratnam and Rajat Gupta, gets two year probation and no jail time. 
Anil Kumar, who faced 25 years in jail for insider trading, helped prosecutor Preet Bharara build a case against Rajaratnam and Gupta.As Businessweek, see story below, noted: "Crime doesn’t pay, but the lesson from insider-trader Anil Kumar’s case is that it pays to cooperate if you get caught."

 http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-07-19/anil-kumar-gets-two-years-probation-in-insider-trading-case



Kajal, kesari, saffron and other Indian items being used in Western beauty products 
A report in The New York Times notes that age old Indian beauty ingredients like Kajal, saffron and kesari are being used in items sold by major western beauty labels. The story, by Shivani Vora, says that Estee Lauder has a line of Ayurveda based products called Aveda.
Will this demand grow or is it just a temporary fad, riding the current surge of interest in Yoga. 
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/19/fashion/skin-deep-inspiration-is-coming-from-india.html?pagewanted=all"


Jeev "Helicopter" Milkha Singh wins Scottish Open golf title and $650,000 in first win since 2008. 
Congratulations to Jeev Singh who won his fourth European tour title last weekend at the Scottish Open. In addition to winning $650,000, he qualified for the last spot in this weekend's British Open. He did not make the cut at the British Open.

Jeev, whom commentators refer to as having a helicopter swing, has battled injuries since last winning a title in 2008. For more on Jeev's victory go to:

/http://jeevmilkhasingh.net/



For these and other stories, images and videos on Indians around the globe, published each weekend,  visit:
 /http://primeindians.com    
The editorial and technical quality of the website will be updated shortly. 

Your comments, views and criticisms are very welcome in the comment section of this blog below.

Kanojia's Aereo ok for the moment. Ahluwalia gets free publicity. Indians arrested for ivory and antiques theft.

Gateway of India, Mumbai

Two media start ups founded by Indians in the US were in the news this week. If the court rules in its favor, Aereo, founded by Chet Kanojia, has a big potential web casting on air TV signals for $12 a month to subscribers in cities like New York, Chicago and San Francisco where local TV station signals are blocked by tall buildings nearby. Or even in suburbs where the TV signals are blocked by trees etc. Besides the court fight with the major cable companies, Cable and telephone companies already offer some basic on air channels also for around $12 a month. They can expand their offering to match or counter Aereo's service. 

Chet Kanojia's Aereo not blocked from web streaming of TV air broadcasts by judge in New York

Dinesh Shamdasani and Jason Kothari, classmates at the Wharton School, paid a few hundred thousand dollars to buy the stories and rights to 1500 characters of Valiant Comics out of bankruptcy in 2005. They now hope to convert the comics, with as yet no big names, into major box office movie hits. The field is crowded with Marvel, DC and others.

Dinesh Shamdasani & Jason Kothari seek fortune in films using Valiant's comic book library

In the arts world, Anish Kapoor's sculptures continue to attract attention and acclaim, this time at the Israel Museum, in Jerusalem and Waris Ahluwalia gets good publicity for his jewelry line by attending numerous high profile parties in New York City.

Frieda Pinto is lovely but with no pulse in "Trishna" says reviewer

Waris Ahluwalia, jewelry designer & actor, gets free publicity showing up at New York social events

Anish Kapoor's metallic sculpture at Israel Museum scene of dance party

At an auction at Sotheby's in London last week, the Indian Government paid $1.1 million for the papers of Mahatma Gandhi while he was residing in South Africa.
Perhaps former New York Times editor Joseph Lelyveld used some of these same papers for his book on Gandhi, which stirred a controversy by hinting at more than a friendship between Gandhi and his male Quaker friend in South Africa.

 Mahatma Gandhi's papers bought for $1.1 million by Indian government at Sotheby's London auction


Also in the news were Mukesh Gupta, pleading guilty in New York for selling jewelry based on ivory from endangered elephants and Subhash Kapoor who was arrested in Germany and flown to Chennai to be tried for the theft of 18 antique statues from temples in Tamil Nadu.   


Mukesh Gupta and Johnson Lu plead guilty to peddling $1 million of ivory jewelry from endangered elephants


Subhash Chandra Kapoor, antiques dealer, arrested for theft of temple idols 

For these and other stories, images and videos on Indians around the globe, published each weekend,  visit:
 /http://primeindians.com    
The editorial and technical quality of the website will be updated shortly. 

Your comments, views and criticisms are very welcome in the comment section of this blog below.

Lakshmi Rangarajan uses power point as dating tool

Tanishq Abraham, 9 year old prodigy, being pushed too hard by parents?

 

Click on image above for Youtube story on Tanishq

Tanishq, who started taking college courses at seven and is home schooled, says he misses not having friends. His Indian parents say they are not pushing him beyond his age. Tanishq plays piano, enjoys art and sings in a choir. His mother Taji says that while public schools have programs for kids with disabilities they have none for kids who are advanced. See Youtube story above. Also: Tanishq Abraham profile on ABC news

Instead of grooming him as a prodigy, with little apparent contact with kids his age, should Tanishq's parents let him grow up as a normal but gifted kid, studying at a challenging private school, and using his brain power later as an adult in whatever area that interests him? Any statistics on  percentage of child prodigies who make effective use of their potential later in adult life? Yes, how many turn out to be Mozarts?


In addition to the Tanishq story, visit /http://primeindians.com/ for more stories this week on Indians in the news: 

July 7, 2012. US Edition. (Site to be upgraded shortly)
 
Nikki Haley S.Carolina Governor's ethics investigation needs upgrade, says blogger

Reshma Saujani's 'Girls Who Code' seeks to train women in tech fields

Neal Katyal, former US solicitor general, says Supreme Court health care ruling weak victory

Jaisree Sheth awarded $36.5 million by court for injury in California road accident

AAPI Indian doctors group in the US celebrates 30 years

Saif Ali Khan to lead India Day parade in New York August 19

At Lakshmi Rangarajan's "Me So Far" dating events singles give six minute powerpoint show
This news items is not a joke - power point as a way to attract a life partner. Are the bars in Chicago, where the event was held, adding power point display capabilities to their the usual sports channels on their flat screen TVs? Any first hand reports from Chicago?


Welcome your comments and views on Tanishq, power point dating and other stories in box below: 

Each week visit: /http://primeindians.com The site, a work in progress, is to be upgraded shortly to improve visual and technical quality.