ChaiTimeRadio

In this Chaitime we talk to renowned Indian jornalist Rajdeep Sardesai about his book "2014: The Election that Changed India" as well as his opinion and ideas on various topics. This interview was recorded during Rajdeep's visit to UC Berkeley.

Rajdeep Sardesai is a senior journalist with 26 years of journalistic experience in print and TV, Sardesai was managing editor of the NDTV network before he set up the IBN 18 network with channels like CNN IBN as founder editor. He began his career with the Times of India and was the city editor of its Mumbai edition at the age of 26. He is presently a consulting editor with the India Today Group and anchors a prime time show on India Today.

Specialising in national politics, Sardesai has won numerous awards for journalistic excellence including the prestigious Padma Shri for Journalism in 2008, the International Broadcasters Award for coverage of the 2002 Gujarat riots, and the Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Award for 2007. He has also won the Asian Television Awards 2014 for Best News Presenter in Asia for the coverage of the 2014 general elections. He has been News Anchor of the Year at the Indian Television Academy for eight of the last ten years and his programme Big Fight won the Asian TV award for best talk show twice in a row. He has been the President of the Editors Guild of India and was also chosen as a Global Leader for Tomorrow by the World Economic Forum in 2000. Sardesai writes a fortnightly column across several newspapers, including the Hindustan Times.

An Oxford blue at cricket, he completed his Masters and LLB from Oxford University after graduating in economics from St. Xavier's College in Mumbai.

We are living in a world in which either we are striving for something which we don’t have or destroying what we have in order to gain something else. But in the end, we realize that we all are looking for shaanti or peace. Somehow, most of us look outside to seek this fulfillment. I believe that the combination of art and exercise and relating to the world through dance, music, pranayam, exercise, one can attain what he or she is striving for. In this Chaitime show, we talk to Dr. Swati Daithankar, an accomplished internationally acclaimed Bharatanatyam dancer, professor and performer. Along with her, we also have Smt. Vasanthi Bhat on the show. She is an internationally recognized yoga teacher, author, publisher, and producer, who has been serving the bay area for last 40 years and so with her knowledge of Yoga. Both, Dr. Daithankar and Smt. Bhat came together to produce an unique show Nritya Yoga which was presented to bay area audience on Aug. 30, 2015.

Smt. Bhat has an upcoming event, Instant Rejuvenation with Yoga!, Oct 3, 2015. Dr. Daithankar will be back to Bay area with her dance drama, Tejo Nidhi, on May 22, 2016. This dance drama is based on the thoughts and teachings of Swami Vivekananda and is a production of Swami Vivekananda Kendra KanyaKumari.

Dr. Swati Daithankar is a double graduate from the University of Bombay in English literature as well as Bharatanatyam. She has been honored with the prestigious Nageshwar Rao Award and the National Scholarship for Dance. She has received Nritya Alankar from Akhil Bhartiya Gandharva Mahavidyalaya Mandal, and the National Fellowship for Yoga and Bharatanatyam from Govt. of India. The prestigious Sangeetacharya was conferred on her for her research on the subject Nrityayoga. She has performed in major dance Festivals in India and abroad; namely Europe, USA and Singapore. She is a graded television dancer and has released many dance albums. She is a recognized faculty of dance in Gandharva Mahavidyalaya, Tilak Maharashtra Vidyapeeth and Pune University. Nupurnad Academy of Music and Dance is her brainchild; which is successfully pursuing the horizons of classical dance, namely Bharatanatyam,

Smt. Vasanti Bhat is an internationally recognized yoga teacher, founder, and director of Vasantha Yoga, San Jose, CA. She has been teaching Hatha Yoga and Meditation for over 40 years. Her caring, gentle, yet powerful yoga style attracts people of ages and from all walks of life. She is the author and publisher of 3 books and producer of 4 CDs and 18 DVDs on Meditation and Yoga Practice. Notable among the honors she has received are, the Human Relations Award and Arts and Humanities for her exceptional services to the Santa Clara County community. She was an honorary guest speaker at the International Conference on World Peace in Ahmadabad, India. She has done numerous seminars/workshops in the U.S.A., and other countries.

In this Chaitime we listen to some of the most recent love songs.

In this Chaitime show, we present Sufi music from great musicians: Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Abeeda Parveen, A R Rahman, Kailash Kher and more.

Link to Blog page with Preston's photos: http://chai-time-radio.tumblr.com/post/122110585443/photographing-the-indian-diaspora-in

In this show, we talk to Preston Merchant about the Indian diaspora, India, politics, California, photography, and other fun things.

Preston Merchant is a California based photo journalist. He teaches photography as an adjunct professor at the Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism in New York. His pictures can be found at his website:archive.prestonmerchant.com

Preston is currently working on INDIAWORLD, a book-length photo essay about the Indian diaspora communities of North America, the Caribbean, Britain, Africa, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and the South Pacific. Part of his work is featured in the Smithsonian Institution’s exhibit, “Beyond Bollywood: Indian Americans Shape the Nation.” The exhibition is coming to the Bay Area starting August 1st and can be seen at the Olive Hyde Art Gallery in Fremont, CA .

Preston has contributed to media in the US, India, and Europe, including The Wall Street Journal, National Public Radio, India West, India Abroad, The Caravan, The Hindu, Das Magazin, and other places. He was a guest blogger for Sepia Mutiny and is currently a contributing photographer at The Aerogram.

Preston has photographed in 15 countries, including India. Indians are all over the world for historic reasons (the need for labor in British sugar colonies), economic opportunity (trade), professional advancement (the engineers, doctors, and others who came to the US after 1965), and personal concerns (better opportunities for the family). Through his photographs, Preston provides a glimpse of Indians spread all over the globe.

In this show, we talk to Harish Sunderam Agastya, Kamala Subramanium and Geeta Rai about NAATAK’s upcoming production Rabbit Hole. The play will be performed at the Cubberley Theater, Palo Alto from June 13-20, 2015. More information about the play, showtimes, and tickets can be found at: http://naatak.com/portfolio/rabbit-hole-2015/.

Winner of the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Rabbit Hole by David Lindsay-Abaire is a play about a family’s attempts to come to terms with a tragic loss. Set at a time well after the bereavement, the play examines the lives of 5 people directly impacted by it, as they try to relive their past and reconstruct their future. Rabbit Hole is an unsentimental, witty and improbably funny exploration of grief and is widely regarded as one of the best scripts in this genre. It was also made into a film starring Nicole Kidman, who received nominations for an Oscar and a Golden Globe.

Harish Sunderam Agastya has been with Naatak since its inception in 1995. Rabbit Hole will be his 9th directorial venture with Naatak after Where There’s A Will (2003), Sleuth (2007), Final Solutions (2008), Aath Ghante (2011), Mowgli and I (2012), Disconnect (2014) and the staged readings of Hayavadana (2015) and A Wife of Buddha (2015). He is on Naatak’s board and serves as its Head of Operations.

Kamala Subramaniam’s previous theatre experiences in an actor/director role have been with Mahesh Dattani’s theatre group Playpen (Macbeth, The Owl and the Pussycat), North Carolina Professional Theater (Blood Relations, The Private Ear and the Public Eye, Seussical the Musical, The Vagina Monologues), Bay Area Drama Company (Izzat Bai in Bhopal), and Naatak (Patol Babu Filmstar, Punishment). Additionally, she has donned several production hats for Naatak since 2006. She indulges her passion for theater when she is not busy juggling work and kids.

Geeta Rai made her Bay Area debut as Purnima in Enacte Art’s Go To Your Room, Mother. Trained in the Trinity School of London Speech and Drama Curriculum, her love for theater was harnessed by Pune’s renowned teacher, Phiroza Bharucha. She continues sharpening the saw at the Foothill College Theater Program. She is thrilled to be in her first Naatak play, a rite of passage for any Bay Area theater artist.

Enjoy the show!

In this Chaitime, we talk to Sindu Singh and Basab Pradhan about Bay Area Drama Company’s second production, A Doll’s house. Details about this event, showtime and tickets can be found at:

http://www.bayareadrama.company/upcoming/

Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House is one of the most performed plays of modern times. It created waves across the artistic world when it premiered in 1879 with its unusually bold take on gender issues.

This adaptation of “A Doll’s House", written and directed by Basab Pradhan, retells Ibsen’s classic by exploring gender stereotypes within a seemingly perfect Indian marriage in the Bay Area. This play has an original composition, Koi Nazm Nahin, sung by Sindu Singh, written by Shekhar Hemnani and composed by Aalap Desai.

Bay Area Dance Company or BAD company was founded by Ravi Bhatnagar, Sindu Singh and Basab Pradhan. Bay Area Drama Company is a registered 501(3)© non-profit organization and aspires to present unique and inspired theatrical productions.

Sindu Singh is an accomplished actor who has has acted in multiple productions with various Bay Area theater companies. Her past roles include Damyanti Rane in Party, Bagheera in Mowgli and I, Sarita in Kamla, Hamida Begum in Jis Lahore Nahin Vekhya O Jammyai Nahin, Bhagwati in Divided Together, Mahil Mama in Indal Haran and Rita Mansingh in Go to Your Room, Mother! among many others.

Basab Pradhan’s interest in theater started at a young age and has continued since. Most recently, Basab’s notable work has included 30 Days in September, Party, and the lead role in Go to Your Room, Mother!. Basab is also an accomplished business leader and an author.

In this show we talk with famous playback singer Shaan about his music and upcoming show for Sankara Eye Foundation, “Shaan Live in Concert with Li’L Champs and Ambini Menon” on Friday May 22, 7:30pm at Flint Center, DeAnza College, Cupertino, CA.

Don't miss the great extravaganza and support the great cause of Gift of Vision.

In this show we talk to Sankara Eye Foundation volunteers Sumanth Rajagopal, Padmini Chelluri and young volunteer Sringala about their upcoming fundraiser “Shaan Live in Concert with Li’L Champs and Ambini Menon” on Friday May 22, 7:30pm at Flint Center, DeAnza College, Cupertino, CA.

In this show, we talk to Sankara Volunteers about their goal of 20/20 vision for the people of India by the year 2020. We also talk about other events like Sevathon and the work Sankara volunteers are doing with the youth in USA.

Information about Sankara Eye Foundation and upcoming concert can be found here.

In this show we celebrate Mother's day. Congratulations and Best wishes to all moms in the world.