‘Humanity is dead.’ We see this note of criticism and disgust spewed on social media by netizens across geographies even in response to the least important incidents of apathy in any part of the world. But, humanity is not dead. Rather, few people make sure to keep it alive in different forms such as compassion, empathy, mercy, benevolence and selflessness. In a recent instance of humanity, Indian American Jay Singh, in the US state of Ohio, took a corrective measure instead of a punitive action for teaching a lesson to a teen thief in his store.

Jay Singh, who owns and runs a 7-Eleven store in Toledo in Ohio, has become an inspiring figure after the locals went gaga over what he did to a teen boy upon discovering the teenager’s act of thieving in his store on the night of April 6.

Picture credit: CBS News

At his 7-Eleven store in Toledo, Jay Singh spotted a boy, who pretended to be a customer, and observed his suspicious behavior for some time. He saw the boy putting some stuff into his pockets, as reported by CBS News. He caught the thieving teenager red-handed and asked an employee to call 911.

When caught, the boy felt unnerved and said that he would put the stolen stuff back. Jay Singh told him to put the things on the counter so that he could see what the boy had stolen. On discovering that the stolen stuff was nothing but food, Jay Singh wondered, “Why was he stealing?”

On being interrogated, the teen boy said that he was hungry, and that he was stealing some food for himself and his younger brother. The moment the 7-Eleven storeowner Jay Singh got to know the reason, he stopped his employee from calling 911.

“You need food? I will give you food. That’s not a problem,” Jay said to the boy out of compassion for him and his brother.

Jay thought for a while that if the boy were handed over to the cops, he would be a thief on the police record forever, and that his life would deteriorate further leaving him without a good job. He realized that punishment would not correct the teen; it would rather perpetuate his misery.

On seeing no point in meting out punishment to the teenager for the thieving act, Jay took a corrective step. He filled a bag with food and gave it to the boy for free.

On being asked by CBS News why he took pity on the boy, Indian American Jay Singh said, “Giving food to the hungry is a fundamental Indian value, and it’s believed that the Almighty will bless you for such acts of kindness.”

This inspiring story is brought to you by Travel Beats, a leading community portal for Indians in America. Travel Beats is a subsidiary of Indian Eagle, the most trusted air-ticketing partner of Indians for best flight deals from USA to India. Subscribe to our newsletter for latest updates on Indian immigrants, US-India airlines, transit visa, US visa and immigration.

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In an emerging social media trend, some Indians are bragging about their decisions to choose America over India, whereas some other Indians are proudly announcing their move back to the home country and reasoning why. Their posts are going viral from public platforms to private WhatsApp groups, inviting praise and criticism alike, with netizens at loggerheads over their individual views on living in America vs living in India.

In one of the recent X posts (formerly tweets), Viba Mohan, an O1 visa holder from Bengaluru, wrote, “I have been bouncing between Bengaluru and America. After lots of overthinking (and probably too much coffee), I decided America’s going to be my new home…”.  She listed and elaborated a little the vibrant tech scene, optimistic culture, outdoor safety in the US, along with her O1 visa, among the considerations that influenced her decision and put an end to her dilemma.

Both resident and non-resident Indians on X divided themselves into two groups over Viba Mohan’s X post. One group sided with her, while the other group schooled her. “Choosing America is a rational and low risk decision. Choosing India is an emotional and courageous decision” is one of the remarks that inundated her post. One user countered her, “You did not come here on H1B. Neither you studied here or borrowed a loan, so naturally everything appears green and optimistic.”

Another user went on to comment, “The US is good as long as you have a good job. U need to be extremely good to have your job. Craftsmanship can be experimented. Safety is a concern in USA. Plus, you are always treated as a 2^nd grade citizen. Divorce rate is high. Traffic is still a problem in San Francisco.”

“The recent mass shooting that killed two students and two teachers at Apalachee High School in Georgia on 5 September raises eyebrows over Viba Mohan’s observation of safety in the US that she described as ‘living somewhere safer doesn’t just make you feel calmer — it makes you more productive too.’ The Apalachee High School shooting is the 30^th mass killing incident in America alone this year, according to USA Today and The Associated Press. If she meant the safety of women’s dignity in the US, then her observation becomes a different debate altogether,” said Sourav Agarwal, the Editor of Travel Beats.

In July 2024, Niharikaa Kaur Sodhi took netizens aback with her perception of true quality of life in USA vs India after having spent only 11 days in the land of American Dream. She went uninhibited in her X post about the conveniences of living in India, such as affordable domestic help vs the fundamental necessities for a quality life in USA, like clear air and green spaces.

She opined certain conveniences that make daily life comfortable in India are sheer luxuries, not basic needs in America. Clean air, green pastures, good roads, uninterrupted electricity, and personal freedom, among the benefits of living in USA are far more valuable than material comforts, such as doorstep food delivery, 10-min grocery delivery, and affordable domestic help in India. Her perspective is that one does not need quick grocery delivery in USA where there are good roads to walk to nearby stores without the fear of getting hit by a car or stray animals. It is relatively easy to drive without ‘crazy congestion’ at crossroads in the US.

In her viral X post, Niharikaa listed “freedom to wear what you want to be comfortable instead of men ogling at you” as one of the things that have made her happy in the US, except family time in India.

Simple yet profound pleasures like morning walks in the calm environment, breaths of fresh air, chirping of birds, etc. took center stage in her definition of quality life – which elicited various responses from netizens who enjoy a plenty of such luxuries in rural India. But Niharikaa thwarted their arguments by citing the lack of basic amenities, such as power supply, clean drinking water, and accessible healthcare in rural pockets of India. While she asserted that even semi-urban areas cry for good infrastructure in India, some netizens voiced that no place is a utopia on earth; every place has its pros and cons.

Of late, Nayrith Bhattacharya and Rishita Das – a working couple and IIT graduates – shared their list of 10 observations one year after they moved back to India from America in August 2023. They referred to the list as an honest compilation of 10 differences between life in USA and life in India, with a disclaimer.

Contrary to Niharikaa’s picture of American streets without ‘crazy congestion’, Nayrith Bhattacharya observed in the past 12 months of his stay in India that downtown New York/San Francsico/Chicago has traffic no way better than his home country. At the same time, he unhesitatingly said, “Traffic in India is definitely irritating and slow because of the unpredictable driving practices and multi-modal transport.”

In his personal observations about the difference between USA and India, Nayrith said that making meaningful connections is a lot easier in India than in America. While staying in the US, he found it challenging to make connections beyond usual coffee meetups and mere work/sports related discussions.

“I beg to differ with him though it is his personal view. Being editor of a leading Indian immigrants community portal in the US, I have observed them closely. Every Indian community, be it Bengali, Gujarati, Telugu, Tamil, or Marathi, lives like a bonded family there. They celebrate their respective cultures, festivals and heritage together, ensuring no dearth of camaraderie among them. Maybe, Nayrith felt too nostalgic about the cultural milieu in Kolkata,” said Sourav Agarwal, the Editor of Travel Beats.

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The United States is long-haul flights away from India, but the Statue of Liberty is a short domestic flight from any corner in India. You need not apply for a US visa or take a donkey (dunki) route to visit the place where replicas of the world-famous Lady Liberty holding a torch are coming up as rooftop sculptures in India. The Statue of Liberty, ideally a universal symbol of freedom, has come over the years to symbolize aspirations, dreams, opportunities, but also an escape from poverty for the people of rural Punjab.

“In ‘Dunki’ movie starring Shah Rukh and Taapsee Pannu, a family living in some Punjab village erected a replica of the Lady Liberty atop the house to celebrate their daughter’s NRI status. However, we are talking about the real, not reel. Interestingly, the Statue of Liberty is the latest manifestation of the success and prosperity that Punjabi NRIs have achieved in America or Canada. Their fancy to replicating the statue in their native villages gained momentum after the Netflix premier of Dunki,” said Sourav Agarwal, the Editor of Travel Beats, a leading portal for Indian Diaspora in the US.

PC: Alok Jain @weekendinvesting

Recently, a towering replica of the statue atop a house under construction in rural Punjab has become a social media sensation. Made from fibre glass, the 18-foot tall replica is Gurmeet Singh Brar’s tribute to America where he found a better way of living. Currently settled in the state of Indiana, he had moved to the US in 2006 believing that the grass is greener there. The rooftop statue not only makes the house stand tall in the neighborhood but also signifies the US connection that his extended family boasts of in the village under Punjab’s Moga district.

Another NRI made headlines for spending a whopping INR 3 lakh on installing a 20-foot tall replica of New York’s Lady Liberty atop his village house in Jalandhar district of Punjab. Identified as Dalbir Singh, he moved to Canada after a few years of stay in the US. Visible from paddy fields at a distance, the rooftop sculpture helps to connect his NRI status with his roots. It is a matter of pride for his father and the village too. Precisely, this is the third replica of the Statue of Liberty in Punjab. The very first rooftop version of the iconic statue was installed a decade ago.

Many Punjab villages are open-air galleries with larger-than-life rooftop sculptures modelled on airplanes, military tanks, farming vehicles, and various mundane objects like pressure cooker. Those who make it big at home or abroad choose to manifest their profession, prosperity, achievement, and identity in those concrete shapes. Most of such rooftop models are not mere brick-and-mortar structures, but fully-functional water tanks.

Among the landmarks in Beas, a riverfront town in Punjab is a house with its water tank modelled on an Air India plane. Aircraft-like structures perched atop the roof continue to serve as a statement of their family members’ first international flights to America, Canada, Europe, or Australia. In some cases, it acts as a constant reminder to the young members who grow up with the ambition to fly to a ‘greener’ land of opportunity and opulence. Punjab has houses with rooftop water tank models inspired by Air France, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, and other airlines.

PC: Architecturaldigest.in

In rural Punjab, households with agricultural prosperity have a tractor built atop the roof. Houses with massive sculptures inspired by sports or athletic figures are identified as residences of those who have made it big in national or international sports events. Rooftop water tanks built in the shape of a military tank belong to the houses whose male members have worked in the army. The house with a pressure cooker-shaped water tank is the native residence of a Punjabi NRI who owns a restaurant chain in New Zealand.

Interestingly, some households in Punjab are so high on patriotism that their rooftops feature a statue of Shaheed Bhagat Singh with pride. It is said that the idea of decorating the rooftop with specific sculptures emerged in the 1970s when immigrants from Punjab, India began building homes in their villages.

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The 10-year-old Indian American prodigy who earned accolades for her first stage performance at Carnegie Hall, New York in 2016 has grown into a musical genius with an M.A. degree. Once again, she created history and made Indian Diaspora proud with her master’s degree in music of voice at only 18 years. She is the youngest to have achieved this milestone across the statewide campuses of Indiana University.

She is none other than Tiara Abraham, sister of another Indian American prodigy Tanishq Abraham, the world’s youngest biomedical engineer who earned a PhD at 19. The sibling duo hails from an immigrant family of scientists and engineers in California. Their grandmother, who celebrated her 90^th birthday last year, holds the distinction of being the first Indian woman veterinarian with a PhD. Despite having a strong family background in STEM, Tiara chose music as her career when she was merely 7 and debuted as a singer at 10.

PC: Tiara Abraham (right) with her mother and brother Dr. Tanishq Abraham

“We were at first skeptical, because being a singer is competitive and there’s no guarantee how far you can go in music,” said Tiara’s mother. “That was always a fear for us. But it’s always good to be in something you enjoy doing. There’s no point in forcing her to do science just because it brings more security,” she was quoted by the magazine of her daughter’s alma mater, the University of California, Davis.

Tiara started classical voice training and community college at a tender age of 7, just like her brother who had enrolled for Stanford University’s Education Program for Gifted Youth at the age of 5 and delivered his first TEDx talk at 9. Within 3 years of having started vocal training, she recorded and released her first music album titled Winter Nightingale, a collection of nine classic carols and holiday songs in 6 languages – English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, and Latin.

Indian American Tiara Abraham’s first album was a wonderful culmination of her father’s discovery of her latent musical talent when she sang ‘Happy Birthday’ in vibrato style, which is quite difficult for someone at the age of 5. Tiara’s father, a software engineer, appointed a private tutor to train her in vocal music. Owing to her regular practice, hard work and passion, she won a local music competition and got the opportunity to perform at Carnegie Hall in New York.

Both Tiara and Tanishq are members of Mensa, a high-IQ society in America. Tiara became a member of Mensa when she was only 4. Tiara, along with Indian-origin Viveka Saravanan, won the YoungArts Awards 2024 in the classical voice category. YoungArts Week is the most prestigious national competition for emerging artists across the United States. Inspired by opera vocalist Renée Fleming and soprano lyricist Kathleen Battle, she wishes to become a soprano classical singer.

This story is part of our continued effort to give a shoutout to achievements of Young Indians in America. Travel Beats is a leading diaspora portal and a subsidiary of Indian Eagle, a most trusted air-ticketing partner of Indians abroad. Sign up to our newsletter for latest community stories, US visa and immigration updates, and everything about US-India air travel.

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On 24 November, 350 guests dressed in Indian ethnic wears took a special flight on Boeing 747 – the Queen of Skies. The jumbo aircraft had no (travel) class divisions, such as economy, premium economy, and business. There was music, dance, food…. absolute ‘midair’ revelry aboard the flight for 3 hours. It was the venue of a big fat Indian wedding in the sky. Needless to say, grand Indian weddings know no bounds or heights.

Dilip Popley, a wealthy diamond merchant with lavish jewelry stores in India and Dubai, married off his daughter in a grand inflight wedding on B747, which was modified to suit the purpose. The lovebirds – Vidhi Popley and Hridesh Sainani – tied the knot following various rituals on board while the aircraft with decorated interiors was flying from Dubai to Oman. The inflight wedding was a first-of-its-kind surprise in Dubai, where it has become a vogue in India and the USA.

PC: YouTube/The Brew News

The Dubai-based NRI family that owns the diamond jewelry brand – Popley and Sons – founded in 1927, has a history of weddings in the sky. The bride’s father, Dilip Popley, had got married on an Air India flight between Mumbai and Ahmedabad in 1994. Organized by Air India with approval from the regulatory bodies, the inflight wedding was the first such historic event in the world of aviation. When Dilip’s father approached the then national carrier for an unconventional wedding, the airline responded, “The Sky is the limit.”

The wedding event on Air India’s A310, which made headlines as “Hawai Bandhan”, was such a lavish affair that celebrity chef Sanjeev Kapoor had designed the menu for the guests. “My wedding in the air was my dad’s dream. He wanted to get me married on an Air India plane. Now I am carrying his dream to another level with my daughter’s wedding on a B747 aircraft,” said Dilip Popley with pride.

The guests for the Vidhi-Hridesh wedding on B747 were handed over boarding passes designed with traditional motifs of Indian wedding. The groom wearing a cream-colored sherwani and the bride wearing a red lehenga with delicate golden work arrived in a red Ferrari at a private terminal in South Dubai where their close family members and friends received them in an impressive manner. They boarded the aircraft decorated with exotic flowers inside for a 3-hour flight cum wedding ceremony.

The B747 operated by Jetex was equipped with projectors for all the 350 guests to enjoy unobstructed viewing of the nuptial ceremonies. The seats on board were upholstered with floral fabric. The guests grooved to foot-tapping Bollywood numbers that filled the cabin air with electrifying vibes, just like in a typical Indian wedding on ground. Traditional dishes including shahi paneer, dal makhani, mushroom pulao and likes from a quintessential north Indian wedding menu were also served on board.

It seems Dubai is not just a popular stopover for transit passengers of Emirates flights between USA and India, but also a getaway for destination Indian weddings. “My wedding in the air is my father’s dream to another level. I hope, for my (future) child’s marriage, technology will allow us to do something bigger, such as wedding in space,” said the newly wed Indian bride.

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Indian-origin teens are stealing the show and having crowning moments in the United States, whether a competition tests their beauty or brains. While 6 Indian-origin finalists are vying for America’s Young Scientist Title 2023, 16-year-old UmaSofia Srivastava won the crown of Miss Teen USA 2023. Her crowning moment was a moment of joy, a moment of glory, a moment of pride for the Indian Diaspora in America. It warmed their hearts as they beheld the coveted crown being passed down from the previous year’s Indian American winner Faron Medhi to her successor UmaSofia.

PC: Instagram.com/umasofias

Like the ‘Miss World America 2021’ Shree Saini, UmaSofia with her beauty and intelligence, beat other 50 contestants from across the States and the District of Columbia at the national-level event in Nevada. She represented New Jersey as Miss New Jersey Teen 2023; the title she bagged early this year was her entry to the grand finale. She is not only the first New Jersey teen but also the first Mexican Indian to have earned the ‘Miss Teen USA 2023’fame.

Her win on the American soil where actress Priyanka Chopra was bullied for her brown complexion in her school days is a bold act of defiance to the American standards of beauty. She is a lot more than her age and beauty. the Miss Teen USA 2023 title winner is a staunch humanitarian. She believes in ethnic diversity, cultural inclusivity, and societal equality. She is a cofounder of the Diversity and Inclusion Campaign at her school, the Academy of St. Elizabeth. She initiates meaningful debates on contemporary topics among young minds as the president of a debate club.

Inspired by changemakers in the US and other parts of the world, UmaSofia Srivastava works with the Lotus Petal Foundation for the welfare of underprivileged children in India. She is associated with several education, nutrition and healthcare initiatives for their holistic development. As an education activist, she collected and donated over 1000 books to the Bridge of Books Foundation to extend the wealth of knowledge for economically disadvantaged kids in New Jersey.

America’s Miss Teen USA 2023, UmaSofia Srivastava has several feathers in her cap. She is a published author with the title “The White Jaguar” to her credit. The metaphorical title is based on her nickname – Little Jaguar (given by her father). The book is a celebration of her unique experience as a half-Indian and a half-Mexican. The book that depicts the journey of a little white jaguar from being hesitant about its unnatural color to ultimately finding the strength to embrace its unique identity resonates with immigrants of color. She hopes to inspire them to unapologetically be their true selves.

UmaSofia, a young beauty with brains and ideals, aspires to become a United Nations ambassador. She believes in self-worth and spreads messages of positivity as well as empowerment through her blog, That’s Fan Behavior. Elucidating her goal to ‘inspire people to be their true selves’ through both her ‘achievements and mistakes’, she states, “taking a risk is never the worst thing; not knowing what could’ve happened if you did, is.”

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Be it south pole of the Moon, the World Athletics Championships, or Food Network TV’s reality cooking competition show Chopped, India is not only winning laurels but also leaving her footprints everywhere. Like India’s lunar mission, Indian food continues to penetrate, explore and rule over exotic landscapes. Indian-origin chef Jassi Bindra’s win at Chopped, a popular American reality cooking competition series, is the latest testimony to Indian food’s orbiting of the earth.

Jassi Bindra’s culinary journey from his hometown in India to Texas via Washington DC culminated in having won the grand prize, $10,000, in the episode that Food Network broadcast on August 15. He outpaced three other chefs in three rounds, each 20 to 30 minutes, and dominated the episode with his eclectic spin on some traditional Indian recipes. As per media reports, he kept his win under wraps for 10 months after the episode was shot in November 2022. He made it public to a watch party at his restaurant when the show was airing on August 15.

PC: Instagram.com/chefjassibindra/

In 2016, it was Aarthi Sampath who became a celebrity in the culinary world of America following her win at Chopped as the first Indian woman chef. Today, she is a most sought after restaurant and food truck business consultant in New York. She not only interned at Chef Vikas Khanna’s Junoon, a Michelin starred Indian restaurant in Manhattan, but also assisted him on “The Billionaire’s Club Dinner” that Prime Minister Narendra Modi hosted at the Waldorf Astoria in New York City.

The first turbaned chef to have won a reality cooking competition on American TV, Jassi Bindra was not born with a ladle in his hand. When he was 19, he rolled up his sleeves to work in the kitchen, an exclusively private space of his mom, grandmom and other women members of the family in India. He headed a culinary program across a dozen of restaurants in his native place before traveling to Washington, DC where he worked at Punjab Grill for several years.

His chance meeting with the Singh brothers, Surpreet Singh and Preet Singh, in DC brought him to the south coast as a co-owner and executive chef of Amrina, a fine-dining Indian restaurant in the Woodlands near Houston. The Singh brothers’ (restaurant) business acumen blended with Jassi Brinda’s culinary versatility to make Amrina (a Hindi word meaning princess) a must-visit destination for the best fine-dining experience with touches of royalty. “Amrina where a symphony of tastes unfolds in life’s most delectable moments celebrates the rich tapestry of Indian cuisine,” said Chef Bindra, a ‘Chopped’ champion.

“The moment he was declared the winner, he sprang out of joy with the Punjabi phrase – Balle, Balle…Jassi Bindra’s recipe of Fortune Cookie Rabri that he made from fortune cookies (crisp cookie wafers), gooseberries, blue Hubbard squash, and camel milk with a quick thought in the final round proved to be the Midas Touch for his win,” said Sourav Agarwal, the Editor of Travel Beats, a leading community portal for Indians in the US by Indian Eagle.

“I am here to show how Indian cuisine can be sexy,” said Amrina’s executive chef Jassi Bindra at the onset of the competition. In the appetizer round, he confidently made stuffed poblano peppers with sardines and portobello mushrooms topped with cheddar cheese fondue (using peanut butter and panko bread crumbs). His instant recipe of grilled short ribs with pea green salad and Cola-coconut sauce stole the stole the show with the judges including Maneet Chauhan, an award-winning chef, cookbook writer, and culinary advocate.

To celebrate his win at Chopped, Chef Jassi Bindra pledged to donate some of the prize money, $10,000, for a charitable cause at the Make-a-Wish Foundation. He would spend the remaining amount to buy gadgets for his kitchen and gifts for his son, as he said in an interview with the Houston Chronicle. His restaurant in Texas will soon treat diners to the award-winning dishes that he prepared on the reality show.

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“Chase your dreams. Don’t let anything hold you back”. These encouraging words of her mom were ringing to her ears when Arushi Garg won NBC’s Hot Wheels: Ultimate Challenge season 1 to the surprise of Indian Diaspora in the US and her family in India. 38-year-old Arushi Garg, an Indian immigrant mom and blogger, is currently basking in her moments of ‘American Dream’. She earned a whopping $50K cash prize and a highly customized Nissan Skyline (GT-R).

PC: Arushi Garg | Facebook.com/Thesnazzymom

Arushi who calls Houston her second home not only demonstrated her creativity but also celebrated her Indian roots and culture in the American TV reality show. Her achievement in the inaugural season of ‘Hot Wheels: Ultimate Challenge’ is remarkable on various levels. She was the only woman contestant qualified for the finals of the car makeover reality show, which is generally thought to be a male-appropriate space. More importantly, she followed her gut instinct throughout the process of transforming a Nissan Skyline into a life-size rally car without any first-hand experience or expertise.

For the finals, Arushi Garg was tasked with makeover of the iconic Nissan Skyline GT-R (featured in Fast & Furious movies) into a life-size Hot Wheels model. She recalls that she instantly knew what she wanted to do with the Skyline and her team of carpoolers helped bring her vision to life. They took up the risky rebuild and started replacing Skyline’s wheels with bigger and dramatic 24-inch wheels. This choice of hers was met with a skeptical gaze from the judges and cautionary advice against the use of big wheels for aesthetic reasons, but Arushi Garg believed in her vision and went ahead with her design.

The modest Skyline took the shape of a bright red rally car with a raised roof, extended fenders, striking light bars, roil cage and a fifth wheel on the back. Her stunning recreation was inscribed with affirmations. She called it ‘Rally Resilience’, a symbol of everything Arushi Garg believes in – the power of kindness, fearlessness, humility, etc. Through her creation, she encourages one to ‘Never Quit’ – a message that flashes when a UV light is cast on the car.

Arushi Garg’s ticket to the Hot Wheels: Ultimate Challenge finals was her funky and flamboyant makeover of a Maruti Suzuki Omni, her first family car, in the fourth of the 8 episodes. She transformed it into an eye-popping pink Hot Wheels van with vibrant hues and traditional motifs which are mostly seen in the décor of mansions and the fabric of ethnic outfits in Rajasthan where she hails from. She named her qualifying design ‘Jaipur Jewel’ after her native place, Jaipur.

With her wacky redesign of the first family car, an 8-seater Maruti Omni, that the judges had never seen before, Arushi paid homage to her late father, her beloved homeland, and her Indian heritage. It not only impressed the judges and the audience, but also touched the hearts of Indian immigrants.

PC: Arushi Garg | TheSnazzyMom.com

The 8-seater Omni van, one of the first launches of Maruti Suzuki, had high significance in Indian society when there used to be joint families. Over time, it became a symbol of family bonding and togetherness in the 1980s. The frequent use of the vehicle with sliding doors in kidnapping and heist scenes on the celluloid tarnished the image of Maruti Omni as Bollywood’s official kidnapping car. With a paradigm shift in its status and significance, these cars became mere displays in wedding processions in the hinterlands of north India.

Recalling her love for cars, she notes that she used to play with cars more than dolls in her childhood. Interestingly, her 7-year-old son, Vir, has developed the same passion for cars and his vast Hot Wheels collection of 200 diecast cars inspired her to take up challenges at the Hot Wheels reality show. Rekindling her passion and pushing her boundaries, she set out to make a difference in the male-dominated car culture. She also wanted to win the Hot Wheels Challenge for her kid, so it can inspire him to pursue his dreams with absolute belief in himself.

“I hope it inspires you to chase your dreams, embrace your heritage, and never let anyone define what you can or cannot achieve. We all have the power to be trailblazers and break stereotypes, just like I did with my Hot Wheels creation,” says Arushi Garg, the Snazzy Mom.

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Today, Chandrayaan-3, India’s third lunar exploration mission, took off. The successful launch has given goosebumps to 1.41 billion Indians at home and abroad, demonstrating India’s leadership in space missions. The whole world is watching India in wonder and congratulating #ISRO.The team of scientists behind the historic lunar expeditions is led by Dr. Ritu Karidhal, the Chandrayaan-3 mission director, who is popularly known as the rocket woman of India.

Likewise, a team of Indian-origin women scientists including two Bengali sisters is working day in and day out on the Artemis Program, NASA’s ambitious Moon to Mars human mission by 2024.

Picture Credit: NASA Blog | Pratima Roy and Pooja Roy

NASA’s Indian-origin workforce includes two interns, Pratima Roy and Pooja Roy. The Roy sisters have been interning at NASA Glen Research Center since Fall 2020 and working on the STEM projects that tie into the Artemis program – NASA’s ambitious mission to land the first woman and next man on the Moon by 2024. What fetched the Roy sisters global attention is their deep obeisance to Indian culture and Hinduism. They firmly believe that the opportunity to intern at NASA is a divine blessing. The blog of NASA quotes them saying:

“God observes everything we do and what we want in our lives and a dream can actually come true!”

Pratima Roy and Pooja Roy are sophomores at New York City College of Technology. They are majoring in computer engineering. The project that Pratima Roy, among the interns at NASA, is working on requires her to learn Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Deep Learning, Biomimicry and Amazon Web Services. She is working on designing and defining robotic tasks that will need to be completed in order to gather and collect data when astronauts will travel to the Moon. Her project ties into NASA’s Moon to Mars mission. Rewriting the code is one of the first steppingstones in her STEM journey.

Pooja Roy is working towards the same goal like her sister. The STEM project that she is involved in converts Java Applets to JavaScript for web-based Aeronautics Simulations. Her work entails designing “interactive simulations to help explore the theory and practice of flight in space.” The accomplishments that she has achieved so far by contributing to NASA’s space expeditions include SATERN trainings.

Apart from this Indian-origin intern duo, Subhashini Iyer, a mechanical engineer from Tamil Nadu, is working on the same project but in a different role. Head of the Integrated Product Team at Florida’s Kennedy Space Center, Subhashini Iyer is responsible for overseeing the Space Launch System, the world’s most powerful rocket for NASA’s return to the Moon after about 50 years.

WOMEN of Indian descent are following the trail that astronaut Kalpana Chawla had blazed at NASA and beyond. The successful landing of NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover bore a testimony to Indian-origin women’s contributions to NASA’s space odysseys in their respective roles and capacities. Other than Kalpana Chawla and Sunita Williams who created history in space, Dr. Madhulika Guhathakurta, the lead program scientist for NASA’s ‘Living with a Star’ initiative; Dr. Anita Sengupta, a leading aerospace engineer at NASA; and Sharmila Bhattacharya, the head of NASA’s Biomodel Performance and Behavior laboratory have been instrumental in propelling the United States’ space expeditions.

The post These Indian Sisters are NASA Interns Working on Artemis Mission to Land First Woman and Next Man on Moon appeared first on Travel to India, Cheap Flights to India, Aviation News, India Travel Tips.

There are many unpleasant stories of Indians neglecting parents with dreary eyes, withered cheeks and stooped shoulders back home after having settled abroad. But the tweets that an NRI living in the United States, posted sharing a heart-warming story in bits and pieces are changing the narrative. Gaurav Sabnis, an Associate Professor in New York, poured out his joy, through a series of tweets, of flying out his parents on business class flights from India to USA for the first time.

This is an AI-generated image. It resemblance to any real figure is purely coincidental.

Gaurav tweeted that being able to afford business class flight tickets for his parents made him feel “extra grown up” and that he did not give in to their objection to what they called unnecessary extravagance. His tweets are expressive of his euphoria over securing a comfortable flight for his parents’ long-haul travel from India to New York.

PC: Gaurav Sabnis @ Twitter

He elaborated why his parents are fully deserving of business class air travel. Especially his mom, who feels happy with little things in life, would be the world’s happiest person when she would land from an international business class 777 flight. He tweeted that his father would be thrilled to get a bed on board and catch a good sleep all the way to New York from India.

Elaborating further why a business flight for his mother means a lot more about comfort rather than luxury, Gaurav tweeted that his mother has been a “hardened traveler” since her 20s. Due to his father’s profession as a highway bridge engineer, his mother had taken many rough, bumpy bus rides with two kids. He went on to recollect how she endured the utter discomfort of those journeys without a toilet for women on highways. However, she did never complain.

As a kid, he used to wonder why his mother barely drank water during a 16 to 20-hour bus journey between Pune and Indore; whereas he guzzled water in plenty. Only after growing up, he realized why. He remembers the privilege of being male in India in those days. As a boy, he would run out of the bus and pee in a secluded corner whenever the bus took a halt (twice or thrice) on the highway. He rues the difficulty any other woman, like his mother, had had without a toilet break during long-hour bus journeys in the 80s and 90s. He further tweeted:

“First time mom visited the US (almost 15 years ago!) she loved how we could take any random exit off the highway, go to any random gas station & the toilet was still generally clean usable safe. So she could drink water whenever she liked. Small joys!”

Gaurav Sabnis had actually planned to fly out his parents on a business class flight for his mother’s birthday in April 2020 and accompany them. But the suspension of all international flights to and from India in wake of the pandemic spoiled the plan. Though after 2 years, he was happy to have them experienced the comfort of business class travel by air. He concluded the twitter thread saying how incredibly fortunate and privileged he was to make this happen.

May the above heart-warming story inspire other Indians in America to book cheap business class air travel between USA and India for their parents. On the occasion of Mother’s Day, you can use Indian Eagle’s flight discount coupon to get $25 off on booking your mother/parents/parents-in-law’s travel to USA/India only at IndianEagle.com. If you accompany them on the trip, the discount can be availed on the total airfare.

The post An Indian in USA Shares Why Business Class Flight is More about Comfort than Luxury for His Parents appeared first on Travel to India, Cheap Flights to India, Aviation News, India Travel Tips.