Page 26 - Khabar Magazine (February 2020)

Desi World

Compiled/Written by MURALI KAMMA

WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHEN, & WHY

Payal Kadakia is off to a great start in 2020, not just here but in 28 nations. In 2013,
she founded ClassPass, the first fitness aggregator. Based in New York, with over 300
employees, the startup became this decade’s first unicorn. Worth over a billion dollars in
valuation, it’s just one of a handful of unicorns founded by women. ClassPass members
can book from a selection of over 5 million fitness and wellness experiences.

Anjali Nair, the daughter of immigrants with ties to India and Sri Lanka, won the
National American Miss Junior Teen 2019-2020 title. A Virginia resident, she won the
Payal Kadakia state’s American Jr. Teen title in 2016. Now a senior at Thomas Jefferson High School for
Science and Technology, she’s an animal welfare advocate who has worked to prevent
euthanasia and find secure homes for abandoned animals.

Raja Jon Vurputoor Chari may head to the moon as a NASA astronaut. It’s not clear Anjali Nair
how many astronauts will be picked for the Back to the Moon program, but Chari, having
completed the first phase of training, is on the shortlist of 11 astronauts. That number
is no coincidence, given the historic importance of NASA’s Apollo 11 mission. Chari’s
mother is from the U.S., while his late father had immigrated from India.

Taranjit Singh Sandhu will take over as the Indian ambassador to the U.S., replac-
ing Harsh Vardhan Shringla, who was incidentally his classmate at St. Stephen’s College
in Delhi. A veteran diplomat who previously served in Washington, D.C., though not as
Raja Jon Vurputoor Chari
an envoy, Sandhu’s last stint as an ambassador was in Sri Lanka. He opened the Indian
embassy in Ukraine. His wife, Reenat, is the Indian ambassador in Italy.

Tiara Abraham is following in the footsteps of her brother, Tanishq. A child prod- Taranjit Singh Sandhu
igy, Tanishq graduated from American River College in 2015 with three degrees at the
ripe old age of 11. Tiara is no slouch either. Having finished high school with a 4.0 GPA,
the 13-year-old is now a student at, yes, American River College. Tiara is also a MENSA
member and an accomplished singer, with a music album to her credit.

Kshama Sawant is not your typical Indian-American, even among those holding
public office. An immigrant from Pune, she abandoned IT for a Ph.D. in economics be-
cause she wanted to tackle inequality in America. She won a seat on the Seattle City
Tiara Abraham Council as a socialist—twice. This was despite Amazon’s support for her opponent. And
now, in this bastion of capitalism, Sawant is also taking on the tech giant.

Rangan Chatterjee, a British Indian physician known for his Four Pillar plan, Kshama Sawant
drew attention on BBC One’s Doctor in the House, a documentary series in which he visits
families in their homes. His 360 degree approach focuses on Food, Movement, Sleep,
and Relaxation. Having written several books (The Stress Solution, How to Make Disease
Disappear, Feel Better in 5, etc.), he is also gaining traction in North America.

Asheen Phansey is not Iranian-American, as some folks mistakenly thought. He is
Indian-American. Phansey, who was an adjunct professor at Babson College, discovered
the limits of free speech when he responded to Trump’s tweet about targeting cultural
sites with his own comment about targeting cultural sites (as a joke, he said) on his
Rangan Chatterjee personal Facebook page. His employer, rejecting his explanation, fired him.
Asheen Phansey
>>

24 • FEBRUARY• 2020 KHABAR MAGAZINE