Cultural Awareness

The Cultural Awareness Pillar is seeking nominations for speakers for the panels/workshops below. Please send your nominations to Seema Tejura at seema.tejura@netip.org.

Conference Book Club and Cultural Awareness Keynote

Participate in the first ever NetIP Conference Book Club! Join your local chapter in reading India Calling: An Intimate Portrait of a Nation's Remaking by Anand Giridharadas. Anand Giridharadas will deliver a keynote address at the NetIP Conference and conduct a book signing. You can purchase a copy of India Calling here!

Reversing his parents' immigrant path, a young American-born writer returns to India and discovers an old country making itself new.

Anand Giridharadas sensed something was afoot as his plane from America prepared to land in Bombay. An elderly passenger looked at him and said, "We're all trying to go that way," pointing to the rear. "You, you're going this way?"

Giridharadas was returning to the land of his ancestors, amid an unlikely economic boom. But he was interested less in its gold rush than in its cultural upheaval, as a new generation has sought to reconcile old traditions and customs with new ambitions and dreams.

In “India Calling: An Intimate Portrait of a Nation’s Remaking,” Giridharadas brings to life the people and the dilemmas of India today, through the prism of his émigré family history and his childhood memories of India. He introduces us to entrepreneurs, radicals, industrialists, and religious seekers, but, most of all, to Indian families. He shows how parents and children, husbands and wives, cousins and siblings are reinventing relationships, bending the meaning of “Indianness,” and enduring the pangs of the old birthing the new.

Through their stories, and his own, he paints an intimate portrait of a country becoming modern while striving to remain itself.

Anand Giridharadas

Anand Giridharadas, is an American writer and newspaper columnist. He also serves as an analyst for CNN and CBC Radio. Born in Shaker Heights, Ohio, Giridharadas has since resided in Cleveland, Paris and Maryland. He studied the history of political thought at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and at St. Edmund Hall, Oxford. After college, he moved to Mumbai in 2003, where he worked as a consultant for the global management consulting firm McKinsey & Company. He has written pieces for the International Herald Tribune and The New York Times. In 2008 he was promoted to columnist at The New York Times. In addition, he serves as an active lecturer, panelist and moderator at universities, the United Nations and private companies. In 2011, he released his first book ”India Calling: An Intimate Portrait of a Nation's Remaking.” He has recently appeared on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and has also been featured on NPR.

Ayurveda: When East Meets West

Sandalwood for a headache? Pomegranate seeds for stomach pains? Pepper for the common cold? These common eastern remedies may seem unconventional but the western world has begun to take notice. This panel features ayurvedic experts who will provide an overview of the history and practices of this ancient medical system as well as its increasing role in Western medicine. Attendees will leave this session with a better understanding of ayurveda and ways to incorporate it into their daily lives.

Bhaswati Bhattacharya, Director of Research, Wyckoff Heights Medical Center

Bhaswati Bhattacharya, MPH, MD, HHC, CAP, is trained as an ayurvedic practitioner, pharmacologist, international public health specialist, clinical researcher, family physician and holistic health counselor. Alongside her private holistic medical practice in New York, she serves as Director of Research at Wyckoff Heights Medical Center and as Clinical Assistant Professor of Family Medicine at Weill-Cornell Medical College. She serves on the Board of Advisors of the Emami/Zandu Group and on the steering committee of the AYUSH International Working Groups and is the chair of the Ayurved-US Advisory Council sponsored by Embassy of India in Washington DC. A documentary about her work can be seen on The Discovery Channel, Healers: Journey into Ayurveda. She directs The DINacharya Institute in NYC, dedicated to teaching health professionals about authentic ayurveda.

Dr. Manjula Paul- Founder, Sound Shore Ayurveda

Dr. Manjula Paul’s family has practiced Ayurveda for three generations, and were doctors for the royal family of South India. Dr. Paul holds a Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery and M.D. in Ayurveda from the University of Kerala. Dr. Paul has held the position of Ayurvedic Chief Medical Officer in Kerala’s Sitaram Ayurvedic Hospital and Pharmacy. She is a registered Yoga teacher in ISHTA style (Integrated Science of Hatha, Thantra, and Ayurveda). She helped to create and currently teaches the Ayurveda section of the Yoga Teacher’s Training Program at Manhattan’s Ishta Yoga. Dr. Paul has been practicing Ayurveda for 19 years, and now runs Sound Shore Ayurveda- an Ayurvedic clinic she founded in Mamaroneck, NY.

Ashlesha Raut, MD - Founder and Director of Ayurveda for Healing

Ashlesha Raut, BAMS, MD (Ayurveda), NC is a Consulting Ayurvedic Physician, Nutrition Consultant and is Board Certified in Integrative Medicine. She is also a Second degree Reiki healer. Dr Raut has been practicing Ayurveda for more than a decade and was awarded a prestigious ‘Shiromani Award’ by the Indian Board of Alternative Medicines. She is a Founder and Director of Ayurveda for Healing, and also serves as Director of Ayurveda at Main Street Yoga in Bloomington, IL. On the teaching front, she is an Ayurveda faculty at DINacharya Institute, NYC and Sai Ayurvedic College of Miami, FL. She also holds the position of a “Secretary” with the Association of Ayurvedic Professionals of North America.

Yoga & Meditation 101

“What’s the big deal with these different types of yoga? Isn’t it all the same?” If you find yourself asking this question, this is a must-attend session! If you practice a type of yoga, but wish to explore other forms, this session is for you, as well! Yoga and Meditation 101 will feature teachers of various forms of yoga (Bikram, Vinyasa, Laughter) and meditation who will talk about the history, actual practice, and physical and mental benefits of practice. Wrap things up with an optional time for laughter yoga and guided meditation!

You will leave the session with an understanding of the differences between yoga forms, ideas of how to incorporate yoga and meditation into the daily grind, and hopefully a newfound interest to explore at least one type of yoga!

	Carrie Getsinger - Manager, Hot Yoga, Bikram Tysons Carrie moved to the DC area three years ago to pursue a Masters in Security Studies from Georgetown University. Upon graduation, she had the opportunity to pursue her passion for yoga and attended Bikram yoga teacher training. She has been teaching Bikram yoga full-time since December 2009 and currently manages Hot Yoga Bikram Tysons in Tysons Corner, Virginia.
	Krishan Verma, Director, Sri Sri Yoga Yogacharya and Yoga Shiromani Krishan Verma is the Global Director of Yoga Research and Training and Sri Sri Yoga Teacher Training for the Art of Living Foundation. With the Foundation’s Founder, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, since 1986, Krishan was one of the first teacher training teachers in India and North America. He has trained more than 2,000 teachers in yoga in twenty countries and also teaches advanced meditation retreats. Krishan guides his students to capture the true experience of yoga through the outer study of the ancient discipline and the inner study of the self. Krishan previously worked as a Senior Engineer with the Government of Canada.
	Rania Jaziri, Jordins Paradise Rania began as a certified aerobics instructor and personal trainer with a special emphasis in step-kick boxing-yoga and dance exercises. Her phenomenal success, guiding her clients to quickly achieving their health and fitness goals, was evident as her popularity grew. She added group exercise classes to her repertoire, which also quickly grew in numbers; crediting her palpable positive attitude, zest for life and results-proven routines and techniques, catapulted Rania to the top of her game. The natural evolution of her success was to open Jordin's Paradise, which has since been filled with hundreds of eager clients six days a week.
	Emma Seppala, Research Associate, University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Center for Investigating Healthy Minds Emma Seppala, received her BA from Yale University and her Ph.D. in Psychology from Stanford University. She is currently a research associate at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Center for Investigating Healthy Minds. Her research centers on compassion, belongingness, and well-being. She is currently evaluating the effects of yoga- and meditation-based interventions for veterans returning from Iraq/Afghanistan with post-traumatic stress disorder. Emma is a science writer/contributing editor at Spirituality & Health magazine. She has also provided consulting on well-being for corporations and teaches students on university campuses.

Today's South Asian Cooking

Is the prospect of cooking South Asian food daunting to you? Do you find the process too complicated, time consuming, or boring? If you answered “yes” to either of these questions, this session is made for you! Through a live cooking demonstration, learn how to make your mom’s favorite South Asian dishes—with a twist! Impress your friends with your ability to cook up a storm using healthier ingredients, easier techniques, and fusion recipes.

Today’s South Asian Cooking will feature well known cooking experts who will demystify, uncomplicated, and add pizzazz to the process of cooking South Asian food. Attendees will learn useful tips and techniques that they can apply the next time they are in the kitchen creating a home cooked meal for that special someone!

Jehangir Mehta

Chef Jehangir Mehta, runner up 2010 of The Next Iron Chef (Food Network) is the owner/chef of restaurants Graffiti & Mehtaphor in Manhattan, New York, the author of Mantra: Rules of Indulgence (Harper Collins) and owns an event business for private functions and weddings. In addition, Jehangir works closely with kids to get them to love food & eat healthy through his kids’ programs: Candy Camp, Gastro Kids After School, and Kids Food Adventure with Chef Jehangir - a nationwide partnership with Whole Foods. In the past, Jehangir worked at some of New York’s finest restaurants. He is regularly featured in national publications and seen on TV.

K.N.Vinod

K.N.Vinod is a Chef/ Restaurateur/co-owner of Indique, Indique Heights and Bombay Bistro (Rockville). A graduate of institute of Hotel Management, Chennai, Chef Vinod has worked in some of the finest hotels in India and has represented India at various food festivals across the globe. Indique Heights is featured among the 100 very best Restaurants of Washington by the Washingtonian Magazine. Chef Vinod is a frequent guest at the Smithsonian Resident Associate programs. He volunteers his time by teaching at the DC Central Kitchen. His hobbies are photography and international travel. He blogs at: www.chefvinod.typepad.com.

Suzy Singh

MasterChef contestant Suzy Singh spices up life through culinary arts. An inspiration to her fans, she recently left a career as a Neural Engineer to pursue food and cooking. Singh learned to love food with her father who taught her to make sunny-side up eggs and an appreciation for sweets from her mother. The eclectic tastes and smells that lingered through Singh’s childhood led her to seek local cuisine, street food, chefs and farmers markets in countries she traveled. A graduate of Le Cordon Bleu, Singh believes in the integrity of food and cooking. She is versed in Punjabi, Classic French, American, and Molecular Gastronomy cuisine. She plans to author a book, star in her own show and inspire others to pursue their dreams.

Equality in the South Asian Community panel

The struggle for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) equality is usually examined through an American lens. This is your opportunity to learn about it from a South Asian perspective. South Asians not only fight for the same rights, but also battle cultures and society to help understand what it means to be a gay man, lesbian woman, or simply non-gender conforming. This session will help you become an ally to the South Asian LGBTQ community and make a positive difference within your own communities.

Samir Luther

Samir Luther is the Director of the Presidential Appointments Project at the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund and Leadership Institute, the nation’s leading organization that identifies, trains and supports openly lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender public officials. He is responsible for expanding the number of openly LGBT people appointed to federal departments and administrative agencies as well as advisory boards and commissions. To date, President Obama has appointed more than 200 openly LGBT professionals to his administration and more than 2,000 have applied to the Project.

Samir is a first-generation Indian American from St. Louis, Missouri, and now lives in Washington, D.C. Follow him on Twitter @samirluther.