SAWLF

Student’s Novel Faces Plagiarism Controversy Book by Kaavya Viswanathan ’08 contains similarities to earlier author’s works

(Kavvya Vishwanathan)
(http://www.indianewengland.com/Media/PublicationsArticle/C01KaavyaHS_0.jpg)

By DAVID  ZHOU

Crimson Staff Writer

Editor's Note: This story has been updated from its original version.

A recently-published novel by Harvard undergraduate Kaavya Viswanathan ’08, “How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life,” contains several passages that are strikingly similar to two books by Megan F. McCafferty—the 2001 novel “Sloppy Firsts” and the 2003 novel “Second Helpings.”

At one point, “Opal Mehta” contains a 14-word passage that appears verbatim in McCafferty’s book “Sloppy Firsts.”

In that example, McCafferty writes on page 6 of her first novel: “Sabrina was the brainy Angel. Yet another example of how every girl had to be one or the other: Pretty or smart. Guess which one I got. You’ll see where it’s gotten me.”

Viswanathan writes on page 39 of her novel: “Moneypenny was the brainy female character. Yet another example of how every girl had to be one or the other: smart or pretty. I had long resigned myself to category one, and as long as it got me to Harvard, I was happy. Except, it hadn’t gotten me to Harvard. Clearly, it was time to switch to category two.”

The italics appear in the originals.

Page 237 of McCafferty’s first novel reads: “Finally, four major department stores and 170 specialty shops later, we were done.” Similarly, Viswanathan wrote on page 51 of her novel: “Five department stores, and 170 specialty shops later, I was sick of listening to her hum along to Alicia Keys....”

McCafferty first learned about the similarities on April 11 in an e-mail from a fan, according to her agent Joanna Pulcini. Pulcini said that she has notified Random House, which published both of McCafferty’s novels, about the matter.

‘SECOND HELPINGS’

The parallels between Viswanathan’s novel and McCafferty’s second work are equally striking. For instance, page 67 of “Second Helpings” reads: “...but in a truly sadomasochistic dieting gesture, they chose to buy their Diet Cokes at Cinnabon.”

And Viswanathan writes on page 46 of “Opal Mehta”: “In a truly masochistic gesture, they had decided to buy Diet Cokes from Mrs. Fields...”

All three novels chart the lives of teenage girls living in suburban New Jersey. “Second Helpings” is a sequel to “Sloppy Firsts.”

More examples of similar passages in Viswanathan's book and McCafferty's two novels can be found here.

When The Crimson reached Viswanathan on her cell phone Saturday night and informed her of the similarities between “Opal Mehta” and “Sloppy Firsts,” the sophomore said, “No comment. I have no idea what you are talking about.”

She did not return an e-mail request for comment yesterday.

McCafferty, the author of three novels and a former editor at the magazine Cosmopolitan, wrote in an e-mail to The Crimson Saturday night: “I’m already aware of this situation, and so is my publisher.”

In a follow-up e-mail yesterday, McCafferty wrote, “After reading the book in question, and finding passages, characters, and plot points in common, I do hope this can be resolved in a manner that is fair to all of the parties involved.”

‘WE ARE TAKING THESE ALLEGATIONS VERY SERIOUSLY’

Stuart Applebaum, a spokesman for Random House, said that the publishing house is “taking these allegations very seriously.”

When asked whether Random House had contacted Viswanathan’s publisher, Little, Brown, about the matter, Applebaum said: “Publishing protocol dictates that one contacts the publisher of the book whose text may bear alleged similarities. So it is customary, it would be customary, for us to reach out to the publisher you name.”

Little, Brown signed Viswanathan to a two-book, $500,000 contract while she was in high school. This is the first book that the Harvard sophomore has produced for the publisher under that deal, and it reached 32nd on the New York Times’ hardcover fiction bestseller list this week.

Representatives from Little, Brown could not be reached for comment.

DreamWorks has purchased the movie rights to Viswanathan’s novel. A DreamWorks spokesman, Bob Feldman, said Saturday night that the studio could not immediately comment on the matter.

‘MINISCULE VARIATIONS’

Neither Harvard College’s Administrative Board Guide for Students nor the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Student Handbook mention the ramifications of non-academic plagiarism.

“Our policies on plagiarism apply to work submitted to courses, so questions of academic dishonesty would not apply in cases of non-academic work,” Dean of the College Benedict H. Gross ’71 wrote in an e-mail on Sunday. “Nevertheless, we expect Harvard students to conduct themselves with integrity and honesty at all times.”

Cabot Professor of English Literature and Professor of African and African American Studies Werner Sollors, after reviewing a list of 24 similar passages found in “Opal Mehta” and “Sloppy Firsts,” wrote in an e-mail yesterday: “Judging by the excerpts you have assembled, and three department stores and 169 specialty shops later, it looks as though some strong version of anxiety of influence could clearly be detected in ‘How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life,’ all the more so because of those miniscule variations that change ‘Human Evolution’ to ‘Psych’ in the hope of making the result less easily googleable.”

—Staff writer David Zhou can be reached at dzhou@fas.harvard.edu.

Girl Power

AP

[ SUNDAY, MAY 28, 2006  03:09:08 AM]

Traditionally, the only women in video games were digital. Think busty, pistol-packing Lara Croft of “Tomb Raider,” or the scantily clad walking pinups in “Grand Theft Auto.”

Beyond these stereotypical male fantasies, women were all but absent from the billion-dollar gaming industry. But that’s changing, thanks to a core female gamers who are increasing women’s visibility and influence.

These women are programmers, designers, tech students and members of all-female gaming groups that compete against guys for cash and corporate sponsorships.

And experts say the industry stands to benefit. “For this industry to mature and move on, it has to grow beyond just that 13-to 35-year-old male demographic,” said Anthony Borquez, a professor who teaches video game production at the University of Southern California. “From a business perspective, it makes a lot of sense to engage women more.” 

Besides, sisters are doing it for themselves. Amber Dalton and twin sister Amy Brady created the PMS Clan in 2002. Boasting international membership of nearly 500 women and girls, PMS — which stands for Pandora’s Mighty Soldiers — is a competitive group that plays Xbox, PlayStation2 and PC games. Its members range in age from 9 to 58, Dalton said, but most are adults.

Learning about the Clan was “an epiphany” for game designer and devotee Felicia Williams. “Finding a community where you can say that you play games was kind of like a confessional,” said the 24-year-old New Yorker, who owns “every system ever released.” “Having a support group out there that loves what you love, and seeing such a diverse group of successful, wonderful women is just hugely beneficial.”

Clan members compete with each other and band together in professional tournaments. They also challenge the online harassment doled out by male gamers. PMS Clan rules prohibit “belittling or attacking others in any way, even in retaliation,” according to its 30-page member manual.

Guys can be “vicious,” said Dalton, 30. “They say, ‘You must be 300 pounds (135 kilograms) with a mustache,’” she said. “They hide behind the anonymity of (the game). Our group has a strict code of conduct. It takes someone showing the example.” The Clan’s classy manners and tournament-worthy skills caught the attention of Microsoft. The company hired the PMS Clan in April to represent Xbox Live. Rather than relying on public relations pros or “booth babes” to demonstrate its new games at May’s E3 electronics expo, Xbox gave the duties to Clan members.

“They set great examples, not just for the female gamers, but for everybody,” said Aaron Greenberg, a spokesman for Xbox Live. “They’re serious. They practice. They’re strict about being good to gamers.”

Wanted Woman Power in Government Jobs

GUNJAN PRADHAN SINHA

TIMES NEWS NETWORK [ THURSDAY, MAY 25, 2006  12:00:00 AM]

NEW DELHI: While the corporate sector is rich with able women decision makers like Naina Lal Kidwai and Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, the government’s employee statistics show that opportunity for women to grow to such power-packed positions is grossly limited. Of the total employees at the Centre, only 8.2% are women, according to the latest CSO report — Women and Men in India. With such a low participation of women in vital decision-making processes in the country, very few women are found at top level government positions when compared to their male counterparts. Interestingly, state governments seem more progressive when it comes to empowering women in the real sense. The percentage of women employees in state governments, at almost 20%, is more than double that of the Centre. Empowerment of women at local level is even better. More than one fourth of local government employees are females. About 26% of decision making positions at local government level are occupied by women. What is more astounding is that these percentages have varied only negligibly between 1995 and ’02, for all the three tiers of the government. The report points out that according to the latest available figures out of the 12.8m people employed by the state only 2.3m are women, including all the three tiers of the government. The problem, however, is not only confined to numbers. Women officers are often appointed for so-called ‘soft jobs’ within the government. "We are usually considered for postings and positions in departments dealing with issues like education, health and social welfare. Hard-core areas like infrastructure, defence, home affairs continue to remain male bastions," according to a senior lady bureaucrat. This mindset prevails at both the centre and state level, she added. This dismal state of affairs extends even in the case of electing MPs, MLAs and members to the Panchayati Raj institutions (PRIs). As far as contesting elections is concerned, while the number of women that actually contest is very low, their success rate is much higher than that of men. According to the report, 17.8% of all women contestants that stood for elections got elected in the 1999 elections. However, the success rate among men was found to be much lower at 11.3%. This the case when 55% of women actually participated in the election process as against a higher percentage of 64% participation by men. Of more than 500 elected members of the Lok Sabha only 10% members were found to be women in 2004, as per the CSO report. So, the poor participation of women in decision making activities extends even to the highest representative body of the Indian democracy. The report also says that 7% of married women in urban areas and 10% in rural areas have never been involved in any decision making process. This includes decision making both inside and outside the home.

Manhattan Maidens: Indian Women Professionals are Flying High

by OISIKA CHAKRABARTI


The way we have been brought up in the South Asian culture, it is not for self-promotion or speaking one’s mind. So when I started working in corporate America, as a 22-year old trainee, I was terrified dealing with senior managers and had to quickly learn that if companies are going to place their trust in you, you have to believe in your own opinion,’’ says corporate recruiter Judy Vincent.

Today she has come a long way and is one of the directors of South Asian Women’s Leadership Forum, a recently formed organization that brings together professional South Asian women in New York City.

It all started on a cold wintry evening when ten women of diverse age groups got together in mid-town Manhattan. Bringing them together was Simi Ahuja, a young professional who felt a need to create a platform ‘for women and by women’. Daughter of Indian immigrants who migrated to the US in the early sixties, she was driven by the need to provide a space where South Asian professional women could come together, and learn from each other. That was one and a half years back.

Today, SAWLF has an informal membership of 500. Some come to connect with resources, others to share experiences and network with professional women, or, seek mentors from their own community. One of North America’s famous South Asians — Rekha Malhotra aka DJ Rekha, instrumental in introducing bhangra beats to the US and founder of Basement Bhangra is one such.

“I am frequently perceived only as a musician and not as a businesswoman, and I often feel that I don’t have colleagues. What is very important for me is to learn from others who like me, have their own businesses. People do not understand professional boundaries and what SAWLF creates is a safe space where women can learn from each other’s business experiences.”

Attracting women from diverse backgrounds ranging from late twenties to the fifties, the forum has many outstanding advisors. Meeta Vyas, the first Indian woman to head a major US Corporation as CEO of Signature Brands, a NASDAQ company carefully guides the organization. “In my case, I found it quite tough because I was always the one Asian woman that everyone was watching. I couldn’t afford to fail because I knew if I failed there would be no other Asian woman behind me.’’

Many like Fatema Basrai, a young woman who was born in Kolkata, raised in Australia and a recent resident of the New York through marriage, draw upon Vyas’s experiences. Working in the complex world of dispute consulting in one of the top five consulting firms, Fatema came to the forum seeking to build the Women’s Initiative of her company. “The forum is creating quite a few friendships. It’s a very useful space where you can seek advice from others in an informal yet professional setting.”

Many companies are keeping their eye on the forum, seeking to enhance the involvement of South Asians in their workforce as well as focus on them as consumers. They often partner and underwrite SAWLF’s bi-monthly events where members get an opportunity to meet women business leaders like Shivam Mallick Shah who spoke at the last meeting. A programme officer at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation with an MBA from Harvard Business School, Shah’s reason for speaking at the event was simple.

“I think this is very important. Think about how decisions are made and how opportunities are handed out. Of course, there needs to be a baseline, people need to be good at what they do, but beyond being good, they need to be accessible to people.”

SAWLF founder Ahuja is the first to admit that there is a long way to go. Following a recent partnership with the women’s cable channel Oxygen whereby SAWLF members could apply for a seed capital of $25,000 for starting their own businesses, the forum plans more initiatives that increase women’s access to capital.

Plans are also underway to focus on different professions and initiate vertical programmes.

Courtesy of The Economic Times

The No-Sari Zone: South Asian Women at Work

By Martha Lagace, Senior Editor, HBS Working Knowledge


Smart but passive.  Good technicians, but not likely managers.  Like many others, women from India and Pakistan seem doomed to stereotypes about how they function at work.  But they should resist labels and pursue the careers of their dreams, said panelists at the Conference on India and Its Neighbors at Harvard Business School.

In a panel discussion on "South Asian Women in the Workplace," it was clear that women from India and Pakistan face many of the same challenges that all women do at work—but with a twist. Like women everywhere, they ask themselves, How should I get ahead? Find job satisfaction? Assert myself? Manage my home life with my career? Deal with family expectations? 

As South Asians, though, they are also navigating a new set of dreams within a powerful sea of strong traditions and close-knit families, according to five women from a broad spectrum of careers. Sorting out the various pressures, they said, requires a lot of thought and care. Among the speakers was a Microsoft manager, a nuclear engineer, an editor and entrepreneur, an economist, and a Harvard academic who used to advise then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

First, there is the matter of the sari.

When Shahla Aly came to North America in 1977, she arrived with three things in hand, she told the group. "A freshly minted MBA degree from the University of Karachi, suitcases full of all my saris from my dowry, and an enormous amount of confidence—I'd almost say of naive confidence—in my ability to secure a corporate job at an entry level." For three months, she said, she proceeded through a series of dead-end interviews. No one would hire her. She was starting to get depressed and couldn't figure out what she was doing wrong.

In the fourth month, an interviewer told her, gingerly, "I think you'd be a wonderful fit for this company...but I do have one quick question to ask you, and it's rather personal."

Not feeling she had much of a choice, Aly agreed. The question was, "Do you plan to dress the way you're dressed today every day to work?"

"I thought he was complimenting me, and I said, 'Yes! I have so many saris like this.' Need I tell you that he didn't say anything back, but his eyes told me everything." As Aly noted with chagrin at HBS, his expression was an instant primer for interpreting American nonverbal cues. She went out and bought a pants suit and at the next interview she got hired. She is now a general manager at Microsoft.

"So the first lesson I learned as a South Asian woman is, I don't have to compromise my values, but I really need to understand how I articulate them," she said. "My value in this particular case was the need—my need—to dress modestly, and it does not have to be articulated in a particular dress. It can be articulated in dress that is more pervasive, especially when you're in an entry-level job. At that point I had not yet earned the right to be different."

In medicine or academia, certainly, women may wear their saris, added Meena Mutyala, vice president of engineering at Westinghouse. In business, however, there is no such luck. "If you want to make a statement for change [by your clothing], you're not going to succeed in corporate America," she told the group.

"You have to make sure also that you don't focus too much on the differences," Mutyala continued. "You can't wear this chip on your shoulder as a woman and as a South Asian woman because if you have a chip on your shoulder, it will show. Try to focus more on the similarities than the differences.

"You have to adapt: As Shahla just said, you have to figure out what you are willing to change and what you're not willing to change."

Smart, passive
South Asian women in business sometimes endure stereotypes unique to Asian women, said Aly. On the one hand, they're considered very intelligent and technically adept. But on the other, they're labeled as passive and submissive, unambitious and unassertive. In the business world at least, these perceived qualities can hinder a woman's professional growth, she said.

One personal hurdle for her was overcoming the reflexive "respect for elders" that she carried from her childhood, said Aly. Once she entered the workforce, it took her at least five years, she said, to overcome the tendency to smile and nod when people who were either older or higher up in the managerial ranks had something to say. Over time, she learned to respond more forcefully.

           

I don't have to compromise my values, but I really need to understand how I articulate them.

— Shahla Aly, Microsoft

Added Mutyala, "There is a stereotype of South Asians that we are technically very smart. But that makes it difficult to move from the technical to the managerial ranks. The reality is that we have to work harder at it."

 

Mutyala began her career as a physicist and now runs Westinghouse's global engineering division, where she is in charge of 470 people. She encouraged women to reflect on how they are perceived when they are assertive. Assertive women are written off as aggressive, she said, but they should not accept that label. "If you're a man and you are assertive, then you're a good leader. As women we really need to think through this and figure out how we can be assertive in a targeted manner. How do you project yourself in the organization?" she asked rhetorically.

Gita Piramal, Managing Editor of the Mumbai-based management magazine The Smart Manager, said that one of the satisfactions of being an entrepreneur is the "freedom to choose what my personal development path will be." This freedom allows her to be responsive to opportunities that come along. Women in journalism may actually have an easier time getting substantive interviews than men, at least in India where she works, she suggested. While male interview subjects might be on guard around a male journalist, they are likely to feel disarmed by a female journalist who seems confident but relaxed and non-confrontational.

Roopa Purushothaman, a Global Economist at Goldman Sachs, said her field—research—is one where her intelligence and ideas are highly valued. "Even though I work in an investment bank, I work on the research side. It's probably more like an academic community," she said. She did not know how she'd fare if she needed to regularly assert herself as in most other business environments, but she recommended that everyone use the personal style that feels natural to them.

 

One of the good things about being a woman of South Asian descent in the U.S. is the strong and growing network of other women with similar backgrounds and perspectives, continued Purushothaman. The South Asian Women's Leadership Forum in New York is one example of a group of women who mentor each other very well, she said.

Families here and there
South Asian and western women face a similar tightrope if they want both a career and family, said panelists. One advantage for South Asians, however, is the abundance of capable role models back home, said Aly. Middle- and upper-class women are quite accustomed to the idea of acquiring and managing help for routine chores and even childcare.

"Some things you can't outsource," Aly added. "When the children are having a concert, you can't send your nanny. ...And remember, your children have a father. ...Find a company that is more tolerant of family-work styles, and come up with a formula that works for you."

While all speakers discussed the importance of work flexibility and of marrying a supportive spouse, Mangalam Srinivasan, moderator of the panel, good-naturedly rejected the whole concept of balance. A former scientific advisor to Indira Gandhi, she is now a Harvard scholar who studies and teaches on sciences, management, and governance.

"In the West generally, and in America in particular, children seem to demand much more time with their parents," she observed. "In India, children are happy to be away from their parents. They ask their mother, 'Don't you have to go somewhere for a marriage?' As far as children complaining if you're not a stay-at-home mother, they will complain no matter what. If you stay at home, children say you should be working like other people. If you have a career, they say you have to be at home.

 

"Let's accept imbalances. If today is bad, maybe tomorrow will be better," she said.

 

Srinivasan also suggested that Indian parents in the future might be less enthusiastic about coming over to the U.S. to assist their Americanized daughters and sons in raising the grandchildren. Older Indian women are just too busy, she said. She fondly recalled a recent visit to Denmark, where she approvingly observed Danish fathers out pushing strollers and prams in the daytime, with hardly a mother to be seen.

If the American model of working and raising a family is not satisfactory, she quipped, "Remember, there's always Denmark."

The second annual Conference on India and Its Neighbors was held at Harvard Business School on February 27, 2005. This student-run conference was organized by the Harvard Business School South Asian Business Association.

South Asian Buisnesswomen Make US Strides

By Kiran Bharthapudi in New York

Meeta Vyas was the only Indian woman in the compnay when she began her career in 1984 as a portfolio manager in an investment firm in New York City.  She was also the first Indian woman to lead a Nasdaq-listed company - a one-off in corporate America in her time.

Now the presence of South Asian women in business leadership roles is no longer a rarity in the US, at least not in New York.  The South Asian Women's Leadership Forum is a non-profit making organisation working to promote South Asian women professionals.  It is indicative of the growth of South Asian professionals in the American business world. 

'Breaking the stereotypes'

"The forum serves as a primary business and networking platform for South Asian women for job search, career advice and mentoring," says Simi Ahuja, a first generation South Asian American and the founder of the forum.

It started as a network for a dozen working women in 2002 in Midtown Manhattan and now has a membershiop of more than 1,800 South Asian women prefessional working for major financial, accounting, law, pharmaceutical and media corporations in the US.

"Members of the organization raise awareness and visibility in the market place and mainstream media, breaking the stereotypes of what roles South Asian women occupy in business,"  say Ms. Ahuja.

But breaking stereotypes has not always been easy for many South Asian women.

"When I started in 1990, there were hardly any Pakistani women in the New York corporate world and women irrespective of ethnicity were not as aggressively promoted as men,"  said Fawzia Naqwi, who works for a global financial services company in New York.

Ms. Naqwi left Pakistan, her country of birth, at age 15, when "illiteracy was higher and opportunities were fewer."

"Corporate America looks for the right skills, what you bring to the table.  The good news is that with many being highly educated, hardworking, and skilled, South Asian women are on take-off," she says.

Anita Gupta, a communications officer in a leading US company, says South Asian women have to work out the US business ethic.  "If South Asian women professionals can understand the way business is conducted in corporate America, deliver outstanding results and believe in themselves, then opportunities are innumerable," she says.

Courtesy of BBC News

Dancer's Dream: Sujatha Venkatesh and Her Quest to Spread Bharatnatyam

Profile by Savita Iyer

In 1984 when Sujatha Venkatesh arrived in Geneva, Switzerland, Bharatnatyam was, virtually, an unknown art form.

Although Geneva did have a couple practioners and the city’s local Indian community had sponsored a rare performance by Bharatnatyam artists from India, most people, in this cold, grey city, had never really been exposed to one of the oldest dance forms in India, the classical dance of Bharatnatyam.

Sujatha though, was not daunted by the lack of knowledge and awareness in the city where she made her married life. She had been dancing since the age of eight and was not about to give up the art form she loved. Dedicated to Bharatnatyam, she was determined to keep dancing and to make it both known and respected, as an art form in Switzerland.

Sujatha spoke little French when she first arrived in Geneva, but she plucked up the courage to approach the concierge of the apartment building she lived in to ask his permission to practice her dancing. He would not allow her to practice in her apartment (in Switzerland, unwritten rules about not making noise inside of apartments and respecting neighbors’ rights to silence are strictly abided to), but he did say she could dance by the side of the building’s indoor pool, which sat within a noise-proof, glass enclosure.

From that day, Sujatha religiously woke up at 5:30 A.M. every morning, and diligently practiced her dancing by the side of the pool for two hours. At first, practicing alone to taped music was an extremely weird experience, she said, “as I had always had a teacher with me who would correct my mistakes.” But given the lack of other choices, she had no option, but to get used to it and to continue practicing solo.

Eventually, Sujatha began to teach. She found a room in a church across the street from where she lived, and although, at first, she only had three students, she taught them with the same dedication she herself had received in her early training.  While also imparting to them the need to uphold the same level of discipline to which she herself abided.

In those early days, Sujatha also made it a point to talk to just about everyone she met about her dancing to create a sense of cultural buzz and interest, not only about this particular art,but about her passion.  “I’m that kind of person,” she says, laughing. “I spoke to every single person I came across about Bharatnatyam -- to such an extent that my husband refused to go out with me. But I had to market myself as it was the only way to get anywhere.”

Eventually, her determination and "in-your-face" attitude did pay off. People slowly began asking Sujatha to perform, and even though for the first four or five years she danced for free, she quickly started to gain recognition, both in Geneva and across Switzerland.

“I didn’t care that I was dancing for free as I just wanted to promote the art,” Sujatha says. “I got a lot of satisfaction from seeing people appreciate my dancing, and I loved the fact that the audience was so receptive.”

Today, 20 years down the road, Sujatha is a respected dancer in Switzerland, and Bharatnatyam is a greatly appreciated dance form. Sujatha has performed extensively in Switzerland and across Europe, and has not lost her ties to India and she returns to India to practice, every year, under her Guru.

She is also a highly sought-after teacher in Geneva, running Bharatnatyam classes for all levels, from beginners to advanced. Her students perform around eight times a year, exhibiting classic Bharatnatyam numbers as well as fusion items and specially choreographed dance ensembles. She has also seen several students through to the “Arangetram,” the rite of passage in Bharatnatyman that certifies a dancer’s mastery of the art.

In fact, Sujatha’s reputation is so widespread that she has to turn potential students away from her classes.

“My main aim was not to have hundreds of students, and not to teach for the sake of teaching,” she says. “I prefer to keep my classes small, because I want to work with students who are keen and who want to achieve a certain level of accomplishment through my guidance. That in turn reflects upon me as a teacher and as a performer.”

That said, dancing does not begin and end as purely a performance or teaching tool for Sujatha. She is constantly looking for ways to take Bharatnatyam to another level, and it is in this vein that she connected with Dr. Jacques Arpin, a renowned psychiatrist and cultural anthroplogist in Geneva, who explores the usage of various cultural art forms as therapy for mental and physical ailments.

Sujatha has worked with several of Dr. Arpin’s patients, using Bharatnatyam as a tool to unlock emotions, and bring about harmony between the body and the mind. Not all patient are receptive to this rather unorthodox method, but there are a few with whom Sujatha has had great success with, notably a woman who was paralyzed on one side of her body, and had lost not just the concept of space on the affected side, but also confidence in herself and her ability to function as a whole person.

“I worked with her to reinforce her muscles, so that she could get to a stage whereby she could express emotions with both sides of her mind and her body," Sujatha recalls. “Dance, and in particular Bharatnatyam, is very provocative, and you need to use your whole body to give meaning to your gestures. A flower, for instance, will only bloom or look beautiful if you use your hands, your fingers, your eyes, and your entire body, and being to express its state.”

Bharatnatyam helped the patient in question get every part of her brain and her body involved and working again, Sujatha says, "The dance form allowed her to use her body and her mind to provoke and unlock emotions, and thereby let out a lot of the issues that had been plaguing her."  With this connection found between the arts and recovery, Sujatha hopes to expand the uses of dancing.

By the same token, Sujatha took Bharatnatyam another step further in its evolution, moving it from an art form into something greater.

“I love the fact that dance is so giving and has so many facets to it,” she says. “I would want to continue to see Bharatnatyam evolve, and I want to evolve with it.

Although she is a busy person, running a household and managing a husband and two children in addition to all her dance-related activities, one can be sure that she will continue to accomplish her goals. She is, after all, “that kind of person.”

The Corporate Outfit: A Sari? By Rupande Mehta

In our so called, Western lives, women today are so engrossed in making money and living life as it comes, that of all the things, wearing a sari would be the last thing on our minds. Imagine having to deal with a piece of fabric that is 6 yards long, instead of a pair of jeans and a t-shirt! The article linked below, touches the Indianess we all have, but seldom show. The author in a very subtle way touches our heart and reminds us of the complexity, yet the simplicity, the rarity, yet the commonness of the Indian culture in our own lives. It is a way to tell ourselves that while we may adopt Western ways, the Indian spirit will never leave us.

Take a look:
http://www.sawnet.org/books/writing/sari.html

What does it Take for a Women to succeed in the 21st Century?

By : Asita Prabhushankar

When I was a little girl I heard my friends' parents point towards me and say "Look at her, she is a born leader. You should be like her." I was eight. I didn't know what they meant. Except I knew I was different. I was brave, out spoken, got angry and yelled at other kids and picked fights. In many ways I was unpopular amongst friends. I knew I was different.  What I did know was my parents were different. They encouraged my behavior and the other parents did not. They wanted their girls to follow the norm. It was obvious as I grew up that I was allowed to be independent.

India is producing many women professionals now. The IT industry has created many jobs and opened the doors wide open with many opportunities for women who are not simply engineers and doctors like in the 90s. Yet, when I return home from the U.S. year after year I feel women are making a lot of money and have a lot of freedom outside of their homes, but the society itself is changing rather slowly. The girls who portray immense strength, confidence and professionalism at work and amongst friends are unable to stand up for their rights at home. The patriarchic society is not going to simplify the lives of women unless the women take a bold step towards changing the dynamics of their family lives.

Over the years I have seen many of my friends in the U.S. return to India and have arranged marriages. Most girls are pretty and young. I say young because most guys I have known are thirty or over, but the girls seem to be at a constant age of twenty three. I wonder why this magic number? Anyhow, invariably I befriend these girls and take it upon myself to 'educate' the girls to be independent. My lovely friends, who truly wish I stay out of their lives all of a sudden can't get rid of me. I am a necessary evil in most of their lives as I am well informed on many topics from investments to career advice.

It takes a lot more than college education for a woman to survive today. Being financially independent has to be the foremost goal in every woman's life. Do not quit your job under any circumstances unless you are really certain that your husband makes you feel comfortable and financially secure. Many men take pride in 'taking care' of their wives. But in most cases it does not last very long. It is more a control issue than love.

For generations men have been in charge of finances. Constructing a home, buying a car or any significant investment was their territory. Women only have furnished homes and purchased saris and jewelry. This decade has brought lot more wealth into the hands of women and we need to be savvy and think about investing wisely for the future. I was rather surprised by the way people were spending money when I was in Bangalore two months ago in a shopping mall. Young boys and girls are simply throwing away their earnings on fashion wear. In 2000 I had seen this kind of behavior in Silicon Valley when the stock market was sizzling. Every thing cooled off rather quickly, people had lost jobs, thousands were sent back to India. Cars and homes were being repossessed by the banks. It was deja vu all over again in the Forum Mall. The lesson learned form the rise and fall of the stock market was, we may get only one chance to make money and we need to put some away for the future. Women who are earning handsomely quit their jobs to get married. Many marriages are ending in divorces and in India it is harder to find a job again. It would be very comfortable to have some money stashed away for rainy days.

A very successful surgeon in India married a friend of mine. She quit a government job to come to the U.S. The marriage didn't work and in three months he filed for a divorce. She was on a dependent H-4 Visa and had no choice but to return to India. She had left her job, it was a brief marriage and he owed her nothing as per divorce settlement and her parents had spent several lakhs on the wedding. This can happen to anyone. Women need to be more thoughtful in making decisions about going to the U.S. on the drop of a hat and giving up everything they have for a 'foreign groom.'

The answer is not simple and straight forward to a broad question, but we need to start defining success one day at a time.

About the Author: Asita lives in San Jose, CA and works for IBM Corp. She has volunteered at Maitri, a non-profit organization for 13 years, which helps South Asian women in abusive marriages.

Upcoming iDEAS!: SAWLF Schedule of Events

                                                

South Asian Women’s Leadership Forum Presents Congress 2006: Saturday, February 25, 2006

July 27, 2005

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

Two dynamic business leaders will be the principal speakers at Congress 2006 presented by the South Asian Women’s Leadership Forum on Saturday, February 25, 2006 in Manhattan.

 

SAWLF is pleased to announce that Ms. Indra Nooyi, president and CFO for PepsiCo., Inc. will participate in an interactive segment with Ms. Meena Mansharamani, vice president for strategic initiatives at Pepsi-Cola North America. This special segment will bring together two, leading-edge professionals for an engaging discussion that will highlight winning business strategies and practices as well as their individual experiences of challenge and achievement at one of the world’s best known and established consumer brands.

 

In February, SAWLF presented its inaugural Congress 2005: Advancing South Asian Women to an audience of 250 women professionals rendering it the single largest gathering of South Asian women to be held in our region. Please visit http://www.southasianwomen.org/Congress_2005.shtml for complete Congress 2005 highlights.

 

Congress 2005 would not have been possible without the generous support of the following organizations: PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP Kamboh Financial Planning MetLife

 

SAWLF Over 1,800 participants across the U.S. Over 30 distinct events and programs since February 2003

www.southasianwomen.org

 

For sponsorship, volunteer or media inquiries, please contact SAWLF at info@southasianwomen.org