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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Among the Indian temples in America, the Dallas Radha Krishna Temple is not just a magnificent edifice with sculpted stonework, but a living monument of Indian culture, divine love, Vedic knowledge, and spiritual solitude. Built in 2017 in Allen, Texas, the temple is a concrete manifestation of the boundless faith of Indians in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metropolitan Area. Home to the stunningly beautiful idols of Radha and Krishna from Rajasthan, the temple is the headquarters of the Jagadguru Kripaluji Yog, a non-profit organization founded by Swami Mukundananda. It is the nucleus of selfless service and the one-stop hub of communion between spirituality and science, devotion and knowledge.       

PC: Architectmagazine.com

Dallas Radha Krishna Temple Canteen and Tiffin Service

Like temples of the Hare Krishna movement worldwide, the Dallas Radha Krishna Temple nourishes not only the souls, but the bodies too. One of the few Hindu temples with restaurants or canteens in the United States, this Dallas temple is known for its culinary blessings for devotees and foodies. Yugal Kunj Canteen at the Radha Krishna Temple in Allen, TX offers a rotating menu of sattvic vegetarian dishes for lunch and dinner.

The menu resembles a culinary map of India with signature dishes of different cultures and communities. Cooked in close adherence to the temple’s dietary and preparation standards, the dishes include various chats, panner kathi roll, masala dosa, kids’ pizza, naan paneer, pav bhaji, pooran poli, uthappam, veg biryani, samosa, and Indian household staples as dal rice, rajma rice, kadi rice, paratha, jeera rice, Pongal, and idli. The food is prepared with love for the deities – Radha and Krishna.

The Dallas Radha Krishna Temple canteen, Yugal Kunj, offers unlimited dosa every Wednesday night, dinner buffet with a chat corner every Tuesday, and sumptuous dinner buffet every Thursday. Masala dosa, cheese dosa and plain dosa are the popular offerings on unlimited dosa nights. The takeaway tiffin service is also available at the temple canteen in Allen, Texas. 818-439-0861 is the temple’s canteen and tiffin service helpline.

Dallas Radha Krishna Temple Programs for Children and Youth

The Bal Mukund program for young children is the flagship of the temple’s community service in Dallas. Meticulously designed by Swami Mukundananda, the Bal Mukund program is a special endeavour for 5 to 15-years-old children’s mental wellbeing, spiritual wellness, personality development, character building, problem-solving skills, public-speaking skills, cultural awareness, and community service aptitude. The program nurtures young minds with Vedic wisdom, Indian cultural values, Indian mythology, and spiritual lessons from Indian saints. Meditation, yoga, pranayama, prayer, kirtan, and festive celebration are part of the program. The Radha Krishna Temple’s Bal Mukund program consists of weekly classes that span a year from August to June.

Among the temple programs for young children are coding workshops and short courses such as animation, web design, 3D printing, and Lego robotics. This Texas Hindu temple offers scholarship to meritorious high schoolers and undergraduates who fulfil the eligibility criteria. Teenagers can join the Toastmaster Gravel Club at the temple to hone their public-spealing skills and build confidence. The temple offers online classes on Vedic scriptures, Indian literature, Ramayana, Mahabharata, Bhagavad Gita, Sanskrit, Narad Bhakti Darshan, Upanishad Sarita, mind management, science of breathing, and shloka recitation.

Dallas Radha Krishna Temple’s Spiritual Retreat and Family Camp

At the Radha Krishna Temple of Dallas, the Spiritual Retreat and Family Camp is an oasis of spiritual rejuvenation for everyone from newborns to the 80-year-old under the guidance of Swamy Mukundananda ji, a Vedic scholar, spiritual leader, yogi, and author with the IIM background. Two such retreats and camps are held in the month of June or July every year. The participants can turn inwards, connect with their innermost world, and soak in the harmony of body, mind and soul in a spiritual environment filled with holy chants far from the madding crowd and the material world. They can take part in community volunteering, prasad-making sessions, scriptural discourses, enlightening debates, and cultural group activities. Online/offline registration is compulsory for the program.

“No airlines are flying the Indians of Texas directly to India from Dallas or Houston, though the Lone Star State is home to the second largest Indian community in the US. However, the Dallas Radha Krishna Temple in Allen is a testament to the growing Indian strength in North Texas,” said the Editor of Travel Beats, an Indian diaspora portal by Indian Eagle.

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“He is one of the sharpest, brightest and happiest kids I have ever come across. He brightens up the whole atmosphere. It is amazing to see him the way he is. Whenever you meet a happy child, you always wonder what makes them so cheerful and I will give all the credit to Surya’s parents that he is such a happy kid. He doesn’t question why he was born with this condition. He is very accepting of it. And he knows and believes that there are no limits to what he can do in life. He sees nothing as impossible,” Vidya Balan said, in an interview with Firstpost.com, about her co-actor Surya Kasibhatta.

8^th grader Surya Kasibhatta from Texas played a teen with cerebral palsy to a single working mother essayed by Vidya Balan in Jalsa, a 2022 release on Amazon Prime. He is in real life what his reel character is. Though specially-abled with cerebral palsy, Surya made headlines for his acting debut in Indian Cinema and earned rave reviews for lending authenticity to the portrayal of his celluloid character Aayush. His character not only lightens the mood of the story following a plot twist in the beginning, but also provides stimulus to the pre-climax scene.

Picture credit: Jalsa movie | Amazon Prime

You must be wondering how the acting opportunity came to Surya, who is neither a trained actor nor has acting in his blood. The casting team of Jalsa was looking for a child with cerebral palsy. Th team contacted NGOs and therapy centers. The therapy center where Surya was undergoing therapy while living in Hyderabad reached out to Surya’s parents in the US. His father Krishna Kasibhatta, who is the Practice IT lead at System Soft Technologies in Texas, sent a couple of audition videos to the casting team.

The casting director took an interest in Surya after watching his YouTube videos wherein the latter sings and gives computer programming lessons. Filmmaker Suresh Triveni handpicked Surya from more than 150 teen actors who auditioned for the character with cerebral palsy. He got Surya and his mother flights to Mumbai from USA after India battled the deadly second wave of the pandemic. All precautions were taken to ensure his safety during the pandemic. Also, the crew was told “not to treat him differently or sympathetically”.

All thanks to the filmmaker Suresh Triveni and the casting director of Jalsa, a pathbreaking film with representation of persons with actual disabilities on screen. Most probably, Jalsa is the first Indian Hindi film to mainstream inclusion of the specially-abled for characters with disabilities. The narrative is changing with the release of Jalsa, and a new belief system is building up that specially-abled actors can portray real-life nuances more precisely and intensely than non-disabled actors. “I am happy to have played a part in making Bollywood bring inclusivity and diversity,” said Surya in his interview with BBC.com.

There are moments of intensity in the movie, including the one preceding the climax, where Vidya Balan’s character is at the peak of conflict with her conscience after the hit-and-run case and gets into a momentary confrontation with her son played by Surya. On being asked how difficult it was for Surya to act in those intense moments of the plot, his father Krishna Kasibhatta said to Travel Beats, “Surya is very mature for his age despite having cerebral palsy. He is a very happy child but when he had to look serious or be angry in front of the camera, he immediately turned into the character. He was highly motivated to make this acting opportunity count and was determined to give his best. In addition, a workshop was conducted to acclimatize him with the subtlety of the mother-son confront scene before the actual shooting. The director and other members of the leading cast, all made him very comfortable.”

“I was simply amazed by this boy’s attitude because I told him that I would have to be very brutal with him in one of the scenes. I also mentioned to him that it is a scene in which my heart is breaking and I am feeling terrible. To which he said, ‘I know that this is Aayush’s mom saying it to Aayush, it’s not you saying it to me, and also my mother would never say these things to me.’ These words from Surya actually touched my heart,” said Vidya in her interview with Firstpost.com.

“Indeed, Surya is a cherry on the cake in the cast of Jalsa movie. He not only depicted the nuances of his own character but also played foil to other characters with subtlety. Though having fewer dialogues and a limited screen space, he stands out in the collective shadow of his talented co-actors: Vidya Balan and Shefali Shah. I can’t help but admire him,” said Sourav Agarwal, the Editor of Travel Beats, a community portal for Indians in America by IndianEagle.com.

Those who watched Surya as Aayush in Jalsa on Amazon Prime might be feeling an itch to know how he is off screen. “Academically, he scores high grades in all subjects. He has won a few awards in creative writing at school district level and has also completed a course CS50 online by Harvard University. He started learning computer programming at the age of 9, and today he can write complete web applications using MERN framework (a free, open-source JavaScript software stack).  Above all, he knows that his situation is only a condition, not a disease. He has fully understood that conditions can be worked around or overcome with determination and hard work….” his father fell short of words while saying about Surya’s off-screen life.

The credit for Surya’s maturity, independence, perseverance and liveliness goes to his parents. They have accepted him the way he is; they let him explore things and find his interests; they don’t treat him differently. They noticed his strongly independent mindset at his early age. They have made him part of the decision-making process from a very young age and encouraged him to learn from such heroes as Stephen Hawking, who achieved great heights despite their challenges. To fill the atmosphere with positive vibes for him, they often talk about how aiming high unlocks the human potential inside.

Surya wants to build a voice-based operating system that can help people with speech difficulties in using computer and applications. At the same time, he wants to let the new-born actor in him grow.

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The Jeopardy! National College Championship 2022 chose its winner from the Indian American community three years after Indian-origin Dhruv Gaur from Georgia had won the United States’ premiere quiz contest at the national level. On February 22, Jaskaran Singh from the University of Texas, Austin was crowned the winner of the Jeopardy! National College Championship 2022. The 22-year-old turbaned Indian American brought home the grand prize of $250,000 by outwitting other 35 contestants from 35 colleges across the country.

PC: Austin American Statesman | Casey Durkin/ABC

In his interviews with the media after the win, Jaskaran Singh uninhibitedly said, “My journey to Jeopardy began with my mom,” adding that he has been watching Jeopardy since childhood. His mom encouraged him to apply for the quiz tournament when he was 13, but he could not make it beyond the audition. However, his mother continued to make him focus on the goal. In 2021, she persuaded him to take part in the contest again by saying, “What’s the worst that could happen?” The Jeopardy! National College Championship 2022 winner proves that there is a determined mother behind a child’s success.

A resident of Plano, Jaskaran is now officially able to compete in Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions. In media interviews, he sounded humble about his win and said that he had no special strategy for the final round. He revealed that he finds trivia facts interesting and likes to keep up with current affairs. and What he cherishes the most about the tournament is not the win, but that he got to meet other meritorious contestants from across the US. He went on to give a shoutout to them, on Twitter, “for being the nicest people” he has ever met.

As the tournament website sums up his performance in the final round, “he gave 48 correct responses and 10 incorrect responses over the two games. He found all six of the daily double clues and answered five of them correctly. He buzzed in on 66 percent of the questions.” His correct response in the form of a question to two of the puzzles doubled his score in the finale. “Who is Lady Chatterley?” was his response to the puzzle – “Introduced in 1928, this character has a disappointing affair with a writer before she begins a more satisfying relationship” – in the category “Characters in Banned Books”.  “What is the gilded age?” was his correct response to the puzzle – “An 1873 book title gave us this phrase for the period in the late 1800s of growth & prosperity and also greed & corruption.”

Jaskaran Singh who is majoring in finance and economics plans to use the prize money to pay his college tuition fees. He has interned with the Boston Consulting Group in Dallas and worked for a civil rights organization in Washington. Notably, the University of Texas welcomed the Jeopardy! National College Championship 2022 winner by illuminating the clock tower in orange on February 22.

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Like Kala Bagai, one of the first and oldest Indian immigrants in America, Sonal Bhuchar had been a community activist and trailblazer. An education leader in Fort Bend County, Texas, Sonal Bhuchar will posthumously have an elementary school named after her as a tribute to the various leadership roles that she played in actualizing several initiatives. Elementary School 53 is scheduled to open in 2023 in the Riverstone community.

Sonal Bhuchar, who died of cancer when she was 58 in 2019, was a devoted volunteer and public servant. A professional physiotherapist from Mumbai, she made Houston her home after she moved with her husband in 1984. With the passing of time, she turned over a new leaf as a community activist. She was actively associated with several nonprofits, including Child Advocates of Fort Bend, the Literacy Council of Fort Bend, AccessHealth, Sugar Land Cultural Arts Foundation, and Texas Medical Association Alliance. Needless to say, she left behind a legacy of her impactful contribution to the fields of education and philanthropy in Fort Bend County.

A lady with multiple hats, Sonal Bhuchar received her first recognition in the community when she was elected to the board of trustees for the Fort Bend Independent School District (FBISD). She held on to this position for 6 years until she got promoted to a higher rank and became president of FBISD. She worked tirelessly as the board president for two years.

During her tenure on the FBISD Board of Trustees, Sonal was entrusted with several initiatives, including the Student Leadership Program, the Legislative Advocacy Program, the Fort Bend Education Foundation’s Annual International Festival, and WATCH-a lifestyle education program. She also facilitated the passage for scholarship opportunities to the Fort Bend Independent School District.

Until her last breath, she was an active contributing member and volunteer on the board of the Child Advocates of Fort Bend. The goodwill that she had built for herself Fort Bend County played instrumental in building a unanimous decision on naming the upcoming school after her.

Sonal Bhuchar achieved another milestone in 2015 when Greg Abbot, the Governor of Texas, appointed her to the One Star National Service Commission Board. In her new role, she promoted volunteerism among Texans and supervised the administration of AmeriCorps programs in the state. It not only catapulted her fame to a new high, but also made way for her into the hearts of Texans.

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“You can take an Indian out of India, but you can never take India out of an Indian”. 2020, the year of the pandemic, saw several Indian Americans including tech moguls and high-paid professionals live by the maxim. Ramesh Bhatia and Kalpana Bhatia, one of the most successful and richest Indian-origin business couples in the USA, donated over US$ 8 million to over 40 nonprofits throughout 2020. Recently, the Texas-based philanthropist duo made a charitable giving worth USD 150,000 towards healthcare efforts in the states of Bihar and Jharkhand. The generous donation to the Bihar Jharkhand Association of North America (BJANA) will help fund its rural health initiative.

The Indian American couple’s non-profit wing, the Ramesh and Kalpana Bhatia Family Foundation, is “dedicated to making an impactful change around the world by funding innovative solutions and programs that enrich the communities and serve the common good.” In 2020 alone, the foundation committed funding to the pandemic-hit communities and organizations in health, education, human rights, social justice, medical research, emergency response, mental health, and women & girls’ empowerment.

A $7-million grant to the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas is the biggest donation that the Bhatia Family Foundation has ever pledged till that and the couple’s most impactful initiative of the year 2020. UT Southwestern is the best and largest medical school in the US state of Texas.

The USD 7-million gift includes $5 million for funding the construction of the Neurosciences Tower at William P. Clements Jr. University Hospital, a teaching hospital in the Southwestern medical district. The Ramesh and Kalpana Bhatia Family Foundation Hall in the hospital’s new tower is supposed to be open this year.  A university chair in research on brain science will be established with the remaining grant, in honor of the Bhatia Family Foundation.

Apart from funding major institutions, Ramesh Bhatia and Kalpana Bhatia extended their philanthropic arm to the small organizations that remained underfunded during the pandemic. One such organization is Dallas-based Ability Connection that provides shelter to adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The Bhatia Family Foundation partnered with Ability Connection and pledged a grant of over $500,000 for the construction of a new residence for the sheltered adults.

CEO of Atco Rubber Products in Dallas, Ramesh Bhatia went on to identify and support the few regional organizations that continued to provide essential services to the needy even during unprecedented times. As part of its response to the pandemic, the Bhatia Foundation donated over $225,000 to the regional organizations, including Communities in Schools in Dallas/Fort Worth, Sakhi for South Asian Women, United Way of Greater Los Angeles, Meals on Wheels Los Angeles, Los Angeles Regional Food Bank, and YMCA of Metropolitan Los Angeles.

In 2020, the Ramesh and Kalpana Bhatia Family Foundation donated $225,000 to Communities in Schools of Greater Tarrant County, which is part of a nationwide dropout prevention network trying to keep 1.3 million students in school till graduation. Among the beneficiaries of the Bhatia Foundation’s pandemic-special charity, Sakhi for South Asian Women is committed to serving survivors of gender violence in South Asian communities. The volunteers of Sakhi for South Asian Women provide technical assistance to the survivors of violence, advocate for the latter’s right to dignity and help them with community outreach.

In September 2020, the Bhatia couple took the pandemic as an opportunity to give back to the local community on the North Texas Giving Day, a one-day online giving event for billionaires and philanthropists. Since 2009, the North Texas Giving Day has been promoting the culture of community giving. The event raised $30,000 from the Bhatia Family Foundation for 30 local nonprofits and small businesses in and around Dallas.

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Proving President Joe Biden’s words, “Indian Americans are taking over the country,” right, four Indian-origin teens finished among the top 10 winners of the Regeneron Science Talent Search 2021. Also called the US’ Junior Nobel, the oldest and most prestigious STEM competition discovers the most innovative of budding scientists among high school seniors every year. Propelled by compelling issues that cripple the pace of day-to-day life, these four teens from the Indian community in USA developed simple, unique, low-cost solutions, demonstrating their potential to become scientists and innovators for the humankind.

Eshani Jha, California

17-year-old Eshani Jha from California ranked third in the Regeneron Science Talent Search 2021 and bagged a cash award of US$ 150,000 for her low-cost water filtration device named Biochar. Eshani Jha’s water purification system removes not only heavy metals including lead, but also pesticides, micro plastics, and pharmaceuticals from drinking water. A chemical engineering aspirant, she assures that her invention will be useful in places like Flint in Michigan where water is severely polluted with metals like lead.

A resident of San Jose, Eshani Jha credits her invention to her home state in India. During a trip to India a few years back, she had an exposure to the underprivilege’s suffering from water-borne diseases due to their consumption of contaminated water. She learned that the slum dwellers could not afford water filters due to high costs. This bitter reality propelled her to find a solution to the problem. Eshani, a senior at Lynbrook High School, has been studying on water contamination issues since middle school.

Gopal Krishna Goel, Oregon 

Among the four Indian American winners of the Regeneron Science Talent Search 2021, 17-year-old Gopal Krishna Goel secured the 4^th position. A homeschooled math genius from Portland, Oregon, Gopal made it to the top 10 for his research on mathematical properties of random matrices. He is confident that the award-winning research will play a key role in the field of meteorology, nuclear physics, and quantum field theory. His research on the connection between randomness and probability will stimulate the search for the true nature of quantum gravity, which is usually known as the theory of everything, according to him. Gopal received a US$ 100,000 award.

Vetri Vel, Maine

The youngest of all the finalists in the 2021 Regeneron Science Talent Search, 16-year-old Vetri Vel from Maine is in the sixth place. A resident of Bangor, Vetri combined his scientific thinking with empathy for the elderly who do not have 24-hr human support. On knowing that his grandmother had fallen in India, he hit upon the idea of building a fall detection device for the elderly with difficulty movement or limited mobility. Easy to be mounted on a wall, the device works on the principle of thermal imaging and deep learning. Even in the dark, “it can precisely capture images and classify them using a trained neural network.” When discrepancies are found between two or three images, the device sends an alert message to those residing nearby for help in real time.

Vetri believes that his real-time fall detection system will improve the quality of life for senior citizens at long-term care facilities.

Alay Shah, Texas 

Among the top ten winners of the 2021 Regeneron Science Talent Search, 17-year-old Alay Shah from Texas finished seventh and earned a US$ 70,000 award for developing a possible low-cost alternative to MRIs. The diagnostic tool he developed can identify neurological disorders by tracking eye movements. On knowing that injured footballers are immediately taken for an eye checkup to find concussion, Alay started working on the idea of using abnormal eye movements for accurate detection of other neurological disorders like Parkinson’s, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and multiple sclerosis.

A resident of Plano, Alay Shah has integrated to the device an infrared camera that uses the software he coded. The device also uses deep learning algorithms to analyze and interpret the date on pupil movement. He has already tested the tool successfully on 200 patients.

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In a matter of pride for the global Indian community, 14-year-old Anika Chebrolu from Texas won Discovery Education’s 3M Young Scientist Challenge 2020 and became America’s Top Young Scientist of the year. Having earned the most coveted title for her breakthrough discovery that can lead to an effective anti-COVID19 cure, Anika Chebrolu has joined the elite club of extraordinary young Indians at Travel Beats, a leading overseas Indian community portal.

A freshman at Independence High School in Frisco, Anika was among the top 10 finalists, including seven Indian Americans, of the 2020 3M Young Scientist Challenge. She has developed the prototype of a novel antiviral drug that can bind to the spike protein of the SARS-CoV-2 or Novel Coronavirus. The molecule that she has found out through her extensive research can bind to the protein of the deadly virus, which in turn can inhibit the spread of the virus into the human cell. Anika studied and screened millions of microscopic molecules with binding properties using various software applications. The molecule she discovered and chose has the best pharmacological and biological properties to be utilized for effective COVId-19 treatment.

The 3M Young Scientist Challenge 2020 winner, Anika Chebrolu received the grand prize $25000, a fully paid destination trip, and other prizes. Since her childhood, she has been inclined towards scientific experiments and discoveries. She committed herself to finding effective cures for influenza-like viral diseases after she recovered from a severe bout of influenza in 2019. Her commitment led to the discovery that in turn earned her the title, America’s Top Young Scientist 2020.

An aspiring medical researcher and professor, 8^th grader Anika Chebrolu demonstrated her scientific acumen, innovative thinking and exceptional research skills while going through a number of challenges in the finals held virtually on October 12 and 13 this year.

Also Read: This Indian Teen Made Records for Cooking 33 Dishes in 1 Hour

7^th grader Laasya Acharya from the US state of Ohio has secured the third place in Discovery Network’s 3M Young Scientist Challenge 2020. Indian-origin Laasya invented an easy-to-use solution that can effectively help farmers ‘detect diseased and unhealthy crops to reduce loss and improve yields during the harvesting phase.’ Her invention may prove to be a boon for developing nations, including India.

In the fifth place is Indian American Rithvik Ijju, an 8^th grader from Colorado. Rithvik has invented a unique robotic glove system that can help fast-track stroke rehabilitation of motor skills in the hands through neuro-plasticity, according to the 3M Young Scientist Lab.

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Today is the World Humanitarian Day! On the eve of the World Humanitarian Day 2020, Indian-origin philanthropist Raj Asava and Aradhana Asava – the founders of HungerMitao Movement  in the USA – pledged to donate USD1 million to Feeding America, the nationwide network of food banks. “Hunger, whether it’s in India, the US, or anywhere in the world, should not be an issue in this day and age,” the Texas-based Indian American couple believes.

Picture Credit: Pressreader.com

Texas-based Indian American Raj and Aradhana Asava’s HungerMitao Movement is a volunteer-driven campaign in the United States where around 40 million Americans grapple with food insecurity, according to Raj Patel, a professor at the University of Texas, Austin. Launched in 2017, the HungerMitao Movement raises awareness about hunger and fights food insecurity through the Feeding America network across Houston, Atlanta, Seattle and New York City.

In 7 months of the launch of HungerMitao, Raj Asava and Aradhana Asava helped the Feeding America food banks achieve the first milestone of funding one million meals. Currently, HungerMitao is close to funding 20 million meals. HungerMitao conducts food drive campaigns, organizes fundraising events, and involves active volunteering of Indian Americans in its mission. Every year, the HungerMitao volunteers conduct month-long food drives and fund-raising campaigns to commemorate the Indian Independence Day in August.

HungerMitao was born out of a campaign named “Million Meals March” that Raj Asava and Aradhana Asava had launched for the North Texas Food Bank on learning about the schoolchildren‘s suffering from hunger and homelessness on weekends. In an event, the mayor of Plano, Texas walked Raj Asava through the North Texas Food Bank’s hunger-eradicating initiatives for the poor schoolchildren.

According to the US Department of Agriculture, Texas ranks 17 on the index of food insecurity in the United States. A 2016 study based on the federal government data reveals that nearly four million people, including one if every 4 children, were suffering from hunger pangs in Texas. “Hunger has long been a serious and largely unspoken problem in the US for decades,” said Indian American Professor Raj Patel.

Raj and Aradhana Asava, who retired from corporate jobs, co-founded the Indian American Council (IMC) at North Texas Food Bank, aiming to involve Indian community members in their humanitarian efforts. As Raj and Aradhana do always lead by example, they were the first to contribute $100,000 to the hunger removal campaign. Their HungerMitao Movement bridges the gap between those craving the joy of giving and those who need help.

“We will never be able to eradicate hunger. But as human beings, it is our duty to ensure that no one goes hungry,” Aradhana Asava said. The HungerMitao Movement founders are looking to expand their work to Central Texas, New Jersey, Connecticut and Alameda as they believe, “Give where you live.”

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The high-octane foreign policy for the ruling NDA government of India requires Prime Minister Narendra Modi to make several international trips for global leadership summits and diplomatic missions in the first six months following the beginning of his second term. Evidently, PM Modi’s 2019 foreign visit schedule, which kicked off with his trip to the Maldives in June, was a talk of the town for various reasons.

The most watched out on Modi’s 2019 schedule of foreign trips is his upcoming visit to the United States for the UN General Assembly meeting in New York. During his visit to USA in September 2019, PM Modi will address a Climate Change summit at the UN on September 23, initiated by UN Secretary General, in response to having been approached to lead the Industry Transition Track and represent India. Among his prime ministerial trips, this will be PM Modi’s third visit to the UN General Assembly in New York.

If the grapevine is to be believed, Chicago and Houston had a toss over who would host Indian Prime Minister Modi on his upcoming visit to the US. It is said that Chicago lost the toss to Houston, as it played host to India’s Vice President Venkaiah Naidu at the World Hindu Congress in 2018.

What’s the most interesting about PM Modi’s visit to Houston in September 2019 is the ‘Howdy Modi’ event this Sunday (September 22), for which more than 50,000 Indian Americans have already registered. Both PM Narendra Modi and President Donald Trump will address the rally at the ‘Howdy Modi’ in Houston. The White House has confirmed Trump’s attendance at the Houston event and described it as a step towards deepening the US-India relationship in defence, trade and energy. The NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas is the Howdy Modi event venue.

“Howdy Modi! Shared Dreams, Bright Futures” 

Titled the Howdy Modi, the Indian American community summit, to be held in honor of Narendra Modi, will see attendees from 48 US states, sharing cultural values and noble aspirations of two great democracies. Eminent business honchos, minority community leaders, US lawmakers and senior Democrats will be in attendance.

A 90-minute cultural extravaganza – “Woven: The Indian American Story” is on the agenda of the ‘Howdy Modi’ event organizers in Houston, with the motto to showcase the Indian American community’s love for the roots. As many as 400 artistes from across Texas and other US states will participate in the “Woven: The Indian American Story.”

With over 50,000 attendees, the ‘Howdy Modi’ event in Houston will be thrice the size of each of the events held in New York, San Jose and Washington DC during Modi’s previous visits to the United States. The previous events held in honor of PM Modi were attended by a little more than 20,000 people. Notably, PM Modi is always eager to meet overseas Indians and connect them back to their roots.

According to the US Census 2010, Texas is home to the fourth largest Indian-origin populace. As of 2011-2015, the metro areas – Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land and Dallas Fort Worth-Arlington – have 84,000 and 74,000 Indian immigrants. But, a Pew Research Centre survey estimated that Houston alone had 125,000 people of Indian-origin in 2015.

Reportedly, Modi’s presence will take center stage at the climate meeting given the significance of India’s representation in the UNGA 2019. Earlier, he was honored with the UN Champions of the Earth Award for Policy Leadership.

Travel Beats, a subsidiary of Indian Eagle, is a leading portal for Indian Americans publishing latest community, visa, immigration and aviation news. Indian Eagle, a leading international air-ticketing agency in USA, makes cheap business class flights to India cheaper with major airlines’ secret fare deals and guaranteed best service.

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