The Desi Newsletter @ Drexel University

December 2004

www.pragathi .net

Nasha 2

Diwali 3

Plasma Technology 4

Thanksgiving 6

Event Galleria 7

Digital Gandhi 8

Drexel Jhalak 10

Inside this issue

November 12 2004: Kanchi Seer Shankaracharya Jayendra Saraswati was arrested as the prime accused in the murder of an official of a Kan-chipuram temple. The 70-year-old senior pontiff of the Kanchi Matth, whom the opposition parties in Tamil Nadu accused of having considerable clout over the AIADMK, was arrested at in Mehboobnagar in Andhra Pradesh by a special team from Tamil Nadu armed with an arrest warrant. The murder took place on September 3, 2004. Police suspect that he has "played a significant" role in the murder of Sankararaman,

universities in the country with mas-ters or doctorate degrees, from the annual cap on 65,000 H-1B visas given to foreigners seeking work in America. The move would benefit several thousand students, includ-ing from India, who failed to figure on the list of 65,000 H-1B visas is-sued this year. However, the in-crease is only for foreign nationals who have received masters or doc-toral degrees from American univer-sities. The reforms bill exempts up to 20,000 Masters and PhD gradu-ates of US universities from the an-nual 65,000 H-1B cap.

India Buzz

On Modulation Information and Virtue Sharat Chikkerur, Alumni

Interference comes in the form of dependence, from our ego, from inappropri-ate inclinations, lethargy, and indifference - in short from vices. Conditioning requires virtue. What dif-ferentiates a common man from a productive one is his virtue which implies conditioning of his mind.

(contd. On Page 6)

Special Thanks

We would like to thank Dr. T.S. Venkataraman, Professor, Dept. of Physics

and Material Sciences and Dr. Som Tyagi, Professor, Dept. of Physics for

their support in launching this newsletter.

For those of you who touch the radio occasionally, you would have noticed the hissing sound in between stations. This is due to ran-dom noise signals. Noise carries no information and no intelligence. It requires no effort on part of the radio receiver to pick up the noise signal. But it does require considerable effort on part of the engi-neer to eliminate or reduce

it. Noise is annoying. The conduct of a gentleman is conditioned or modulated as compared to the lack of etiquette visible in a tramp.

There is one basic trait of conditioning. Conditioning requires sustained effort and discipline. It requires effort not only to modulate our behavior; it also re-quires enormous effort to avoid interference.

Manager of Varadharaja Perumal Temple at Kancheepuram. The seer has been re-manded to judicial custody till November 26 by First Class Judicial Magistrate G Ut-tamaraj . The murder issue has become a political controversy with the main opposi-tion party DMK announcing an agitation while accusing the state government of inaction despite information about the persons involved in the murder.

November 22 2004: The US has passed the Omnibus Spending Bill increas-ing the H1-B visa limit for Indian nationals from 65,000 to 85,000. This bill exempts 20,000 foreign students, who pass out of

Past Events in November:

Nov. 6th 2004: -’Pragathi/CRY/Jhoom’ , Charity Show.

Nov. 13th 2004: - ‘Diwali Beats 2004’ (in association with Rangoli– The Indian Graduate student association at University of Pennsylvania).

Upcoming Events in December:

Ice Skating— Date and Venue to be announced

Look out for more updates on www.pragathi.net

(If your organization would like to col-laborate with Pragathi for joint events contact: skb25@drexel.edu)

S a g i t t a r i u s November 23 - December 22// YEAR AHEAD OUTLOOK for 2005 Fire + Mu-table sign. Enthusiastic, optimistic, adaptable, restless. Very talkative, frankly outspoken. Thinks and reads a great deal, an armchair philosopher. Energetic, loves to travel. Your star will be in the ascendant. Though it won’t be a perfect year, you’ll still feel you’ve reached a pinnacle with praise and respect coming your way for your achievements. You’ll be restless about emotional matters, considering mov-ing home or in a constantly changing domestic situation. The old moments of intimacy, of sharing and caring at a deep level, won’t seem to be there. But they will return. And don’t feel you have to be the one doing the constant giving. Demand support in return.

You’ll be flooded with invitations and propositions come April, so your spir-its will soar. It may be frivolous but it will be fun for several months. From September onwards you’ll be en-chanted by the new friends you meet so your social life will buck up even more. Almost any project you touch will work out better and more easily than you imagine. So don’t hold back. The Taurus Solar Eclipse in effect for the months after April will keep you hard at it, with longer hours and additional chores. Come April, you’ll know you need to get fitter, more streamlined and back onto top form. Responsibilities will drain your energy so you need to be sensible about where your limits are, and find out what really will re-vitalize you.

URBAN & BYE REALTOR

Pragathi Events

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Check out our apartments for rent & properties for sale throughout Drexel neighborhoods.

Website/ URL: www.urbanbye.com

Email Address: urbanbye@aol.com

Telephone No.: 215-222-4800

Postal Address: 36th & Lancaster Ave., Philadelphia

NASHA Coming soon, Pragathi’s First ever Annual Cultural show ‘Nasha’. This is Pragathi’s biggest event and it is a color-ful celebration of diversity in India showcased through dances and music from all over India and the world. Pra-gathi hopes to make this event a great success. Looking forward to an enthusiastic response. For more informa-tion please contact Shubham(skb25@drexel.edu) or Bhakti (bst24@ddrexel.edu).

Visit www.pragathi.net/nasha/intro

Donation Invitation

Horoscope

Dear Reader,

Pragathi has been growing in leaps and bounds, and so have its activities. With our great crew, we hope to keep things running smoothly. However, we are working with a small budget and need your support to put on a big-ger and better show. We would highly appreciate dona-tion of any amount. To contribute please contact (skb25@drexel.edu).

Diwali is the main Hindu festival cele-brated on the fifteenth day of the month of Kartika. Diwali is derived from “Deepavali“ which literally means "rows of lighted lamps" and hence is often referred to as the Fes-tival of Lights. During this time, homes are thoroughly cleaned and doors and windows are opened to welcome Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth. Candles and oil-lamps are lit to greet goddess Lakshmi. Gifts are exchanged and feasts meals are pre-pared for the family and friends. The celebration means as much to Hindus as Christmas does to Christians. Be-cause there are many regions in In-dia, there are so many manifestations

of the Diwali festival.

In a few places, the festival begins with Dhanteras, a day set aside to worship goddess Lakshmi. In Indian culture, wealth is not viewed as a cor-ruptive power. Instead, a wealthy per-son is considered to have been re-warded for good deeds of a past life.

On the second day Kali, the goddess of Strength, is worshipped. This day also signifies abolishing laziness and evil.

On the third day (the last day of the year in the lunar calendar), lamps are lit and made to shine brightly in every home. The lamps symbolize knowledge and encourage us to reflect upon the

purpose of each day in the festival. The goal is to remember these wise sayings throughout the year.

The fourth day of Diwali falls on the first day of the new lunar year. On this day, old business accounts are settled and new books are opened. The books are worshipped in a special ceremony and participants are encouraged to rise above anger, hatred, and jealousy. On the final day (Balipratipada) king Bali, who destroyed the centuries old phi-losophies is recalled. However, in addi-tion to this, he is remembered for be-ing a generous person. Thus, the focus of this day is to see the good in others, including enemies.

It’s the time to Disco Hemang Shah, PhD Student, Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering

Diwali– The Festival of Lights Shubham Bhat, PhD Student, Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering

the rest is the variety of dancers you can identify. I have tried to compile a list which by no means is complete.

The Raghu-romeos: These charac-ters love to dance, are generally good dancers and think the best way to impress a girl is to show off their moves. The end result: either the girl moves with them or far away from them.

Dance Bashers: These people are the ones who can neither dance nor can stand others dancing. So we won-der what are they doing at the party? Ask them! Their time is spent drinking and commenting on the poor crowd.

Two to tango: The perfect couple. If they are on the floor, they are to-gether. They are the ones who are coordinated, love each other and have the time of their lives. We love to watch such people: they are good to watch and make up for gossip later.

Commando: males are 100% of this category. Every move they make,

takes your breath away. Either you are likely to get punched in the face or stomped by their “bold” movements. No wonder, they are usually stags and love to invite the dance-watchers in their perspiration-filled company.

Gujju/Punju: Apparently to Gujratis and Punjabis, Garba and Bhangra are the universal dance steps. Even if the theme is hard techo/trance, you can’t miss the garba/bhangra. Admittedly, their enthusiasm is contagious and you would be found dancing the same steps if in their vicinity. If not, you will be found laughing your a** off.

Train foremen: The only aim in life of such a person on a floor is to start a train, make it grow and break the co-ordination of others.

Disco dancers: Ever since Kal Ho Naa Ho released, the favorite move of all dancers, is the one where they are junping with one hand raised in the air. Before that, it was the moves from Dil Chahta Hai. Movies are a part of the staple diet of every desi and the dance moves seem to be well-digested.

“We Indians must be the worst danc-ers in the whole world”- Nagesh Kuko-noor’s character in Hyderabad Blues 2. This statement was not made at a concert but at a party where pure “desi” music was played. I agree with him partially knowing that I am one of the poor dancers myself. The partiality comes into play because of the fact that there are some really good danc-ers. There is no denying that the dance floor of any desi party could be intimidating. The reasons include the seeming pandemonium on the floor, the unabashed bold moves of most males, and the lack of females on the floor. Indians are usually aren’t taught that they need a partner of the oppo-site sex to dance, you can just jump into a group, dance and be merry. This is more likely the outcome of the absence of any ‘rules of engagement’ on the average dance floor. Tradi-tional dances though structured are not always centered on a couple – there is always room for the expres-sion of the solo artist.

Still, what separates desi parties from

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I’m often asked – ‘What is plasma?’ Here is an explanation I’d give a 10th grader – ‘There are three states of matter namely – solids => liquids => gases, each of which, are formed by providing energy to the preceding one. If further energy is provided to gases, electrons start popping out of atoms/molecules. This gives us elec-trons, ions, neutrals, radicals etc. co-existing in one state of matter called plasma.’ This is why plasma is also known as the fourth state of matter or ionized gas.

Broadly, plasma can be classified into two types – ‘Equilibrium or Thermal plasma’ and ‘Non-Equilibrium or Non-Thermal Plasma or cold plasma’. In thermal plasma, temperatures (read energies here) of electrons & that of the surrounding gas are nearly equal (Te, Tn ~ 6000K). Whereas in non-thermal plasma, the electron tem-perature (Te >11500K) is much higher than the surrounding gas (Tg ~ 300-2000K).

The pressure of gas governs the mean free path of its constituents. From Physics, mean free path is the average distance traveled between collisions by species. It’s only logical to state that it decreases with in-crease in gas pressure. So, higher pressures => more collisions => greater gas temperature => thermal plasma. Similarly, lower pressures => lesser collisions => lower gas tem-perature => non-thermal plasma. The most common application of plasma is a tube light (florescent light) which is of course non-thermal plasma (glow discharge) because it operates at mTorr ranges (1Atm. ~760Torr) and you can dare to touch it without burn-ing yourself. Electrons are the instiga-tors of the havoc called plasma. The concentration of electrons in plasma varies from one in thousand (thermal) to one in a billion (non-thermal).

However, the energy of electrons is much higher in non-thermal in com-parison to thermal plasmas.

Eventually, it all boils down to – ‘What kind of plasma should I use?”’ Well, it depends on your application. Thermal plasmas have high power output, high plasma density, high operating pres-sure, low electron temperature and low selectivity. Whereas, non-thermal has low power output, low plasma density, low operating pressure, high electron temperature and high selec-tivity. This is precisely why you use thermal plasma arcs to cut/melt strong materials and non-thermal plasmas to manufacture semiconduc-tor chips. Due to higher selectivity of processes, non-thermal plasmas are preferred for efficient production of radicals and ions (that facilitate the catalytic action of plasma). Hence, in applications where energy cost is our concern, non-thermal plasmas are used and when power output is a pri-ority, thermal plasmas are used.

The next question that arises – ‘Is it possible to obtain atmospheric pres-sure Non-thermal plasma which has higher plasma density, high selectivity and also relatively high power out-put?’ This is where transient dis-charges come into play. As the name suggests, transient implies – change from thermal to non-thermal plasma characteristics. Well-known transient plasmas are Pulsed Coronas and Glid-ing Arc Discharges. At the Drexel Plasma Institute we work mostly with non-thermal gliding arcs which are being used for production of hydro-gen by partial oxidation of natural gas, plasma assisted combustion and air sterilization.

Lakshmi Pillarimari, University City High School Teacher and enrolled in Drexel RET program once told me – ‘In our days, to see plasma we had to

visit large scale industrial setups’. I wonder how many of you still carry this notion. I take this opportunity to welcome you to our laboratory at 117 Hess, to check out different configura-tions of atmospheric pressure non-thermal plasmas like Dielectric Barrier Discharge (DBD - often referred to as ‘silent discharge’ known for their effi-ciency in production of ozone, being used for blood coagulation, polymer treatment and air sterilization applica-tions), gliding arcs (tornado and in magnetic fields), glow discharge (used for micro-fabrication) and thermal plasma for spray coatings. If you wish you read more about scope of Plasma Technology, please visit: http://plasma.mem.drexel.edu/gangoli/plasma_technology.pdf

Plasma Technology Shailesh Gangoli, PhD Student, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics

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Gliding arc in tornado

Desi Recipe Mixed Vegetable Curry, Contributed by: Kalyan Kalawa

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Ingredients:

1 cup mixed vegetables sliced, boiled

(use carrot, cauliflower, beans, peas, potato, etc.)

1 tomato sliced

1/2 coconut grated

1/2 tsp. ginger grated

1/2 tsp. garlic crushed

3 green chillies

1 tbsp. sesame seeds

1/2 tsp. each cumin, mustard seeds

1/2 tsp. red chilli powder

salt to taste

1 tsp.lemon juice

2 cloves

1" piece cinnamon

2 tbsp. butter

Method:

• Drain the boiled vegetables, keep stock aside.

• Blend together, coconut, chillies, sesame seeds, cinnamon, cloves in mixer.

• Heat butter, add mustard seeds, allow to splutter.

• Add ginger, garlic and paste.

• Stir fry for 3-4 minutes.

• Add vegetables except tomatoes.

• Add 1/2 cup stock. Cover, simmer for 5 minutes.

• Add salt, chilli powder, tomatoes and cook till gravy is thick.

• Serve hot with parathas or chappa-tis.

Cooking time: 20 minutes.

Courts Apartments Hypocrites of the Mind Nilesh Karia, Graduate student, Computer Science

'Man is a thinking animal.'--Anonymous

The mind is no longer the object of worship of the think-ing animal; the body has corroded the cognitive ability of the mind and almost righteously banished it into the realms of the unknown. The intelligentsias are considered to be socially crippled and branded as geeks, nerds and ignoramuses. The mind is given secondary status as beauty is elevated to the status of supremacy. The awes and accolades are reserved for pageants of pulchritude. And more often than not, the institutions of the Mind are crippled in the seminal stages without the essential eco-nomic resources; those ones which bypassed the brain and went to the body. Such is the state of affairs that old scholars, still young at mind, are forced to take the role of panhandlers whereas the old and crippled celebrities do not need to extend their hands as more wealth flows into their already overflowing coffers.

I see before me evolution turning back the hands of time; instead of moving ahead, Man is spiraling backwards at an exponential rate turning into the animal that he was. What is left of the battered morals and trampled con-science acts as a flimsy curtain cast over the blinding and engulfing wrong. Mankind was destined to this state from

the day Adam entered the Forbidden Garden and commit-ted the Original Sin. It is only the rate at which we are heading towards the transformation that has changed. He-donism is the culture of the ones deprived of one. Pleasure is a virtue and knowledge is vice for these cultists. I thought that there is no knowledge that is not power; but now beauty has taken its position.

I wonder how long this will go on before anyone wakes up to raise a voice for the Mind. When will someone stand up and break the trance and wake us up? I realize that this is where we started losing; as others like me wonder as well...

discipline and morality is a way of life. By constant effort he has condi-tioned his mind to avoid interference of all forms. A virtuous person does not struggle during effort. His con-stant effort develops discipline and his discipline sustains his efforts in a virtuous cycle. Struggle arises only when there is conflict during effort.

Virtue does not involve constantly filtering your thoughts; it does not mean to become a constant bore. It does not mean becoming a worka-holic. Virtue implies balance in your efforts. It implies sustaining your efforts to completion. It implies avoiding interference from vices and ego. A virtuous person is an inte-

grated person. A virtuous person is one person. He has no multiplicity in atti-tude, behavior or perception.

‘Virtue comes not by aiming to achieve it, but by practicing it’.

A virtuous person is always involved in effort, and hence in conditioning the mind. In contrast, a righteous person is involved in effort only when people are around. A righteous per-son only pretends to be disciplined but in reality is worried only about others' perception of him. He does not work or put effort for the sake of working, or for any higher purpose but only to gain recognition from oth-ers. Such a person is very insecure and instable. It does not matter to him whether he is genuinely good or not, as long as you think he is. Pre-tence sustains him through life.

A virtuous person on the other hand knows no other way of living. To him

Thanksgiving is the most important holiday of the year for Americans. Why? Because the two most impor-tant words in the English language are "Thank you". This is true for busi-ness success, for social pleasure, even for self-actualization. For busi-ness success, a thank you tells a prospect or partner that you are ap-preciative of what they have just done. In social interactions, express-ing gratitude is important to show how much you value the other per-son and your relationship. Thank you is a bonding phrase.

Thanksgiving is specifically observed in the United States as a tradition that roots back to over 200 years ago. After the first settlers in America

had survived a particularly challenging year, as a means of thanking the na-tives for their unconditional support they organized a feast in their honor. The European pilgrims, in this event, came together with American Indians so as to show gratitude by sharing their abundant harvests. And, this is how the Thanksgiving, it is claimed, first started.

Thanksgiving provides a time for reflec-tion and appreciation of all the wonder-ful things that have impacted our lives. Therefore, the real importance of Thanksgiving lies, not in appreciating Christian doctrines but in expressing the powerful emotion inherent to human nature: gratitude. And, to be grateful we need to acknowledge that we have something to be thankful for and some-

one to be thankful to. After all, we cannot have one without the other for they are necessarily interconnected. Nowadays Thanksgiving is a time for families and friends to come together, share an abundant feast and to give thanks for their good fortune. This is a global celebration that we all can agree upon. The process of acknowl-edging our blessings and giving thanks to the infinite is found at the heart of virtually all spiritual teaching traditions. Let us make Thanksgiving the first global holiday!

On Modulation Information and Virtue (Contd.)

Thanksgiving Mansi Mehta, Graduate Student, College of Information Science and Technology

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Neil's Hallmark In many locations throughout Center City Philadelphia Neil’s Hallmark has part-time and full-time employment opportunities. Retail experience preferred but not necessary. Please send resumes and questions to neilshallmark@hotmail.com or fax to (856)424-0664.

You can advertise on our website as well. If you are interested in advertis-ing online, contact our web administra-tor: rkd25@drexel.edu.

Visit our homepage: www.pragathi.net

Acknowledgement We appreciate the contribution of businesses in Philadelphia who’ve sponsored us in the form of adver-tisements.

If you are interested in advertising with us, contact: skb25@drexel.edu

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Event Galleria Photos taken at various Pragathi Events last month @ Drexel (For more photos visit: www.pragathi.net)

‘Drexel Jhalak’ performing at Pragathi/CRY Charity Show

Performers bidding adieu

Having a blast at Diwali Party

Drexel Desi’s performing ‘Mahi Ve’

‘Dhol Na’ at Pragathi/CRY Charity Show

and the many other authoritative works on him. Many organizations and individuals worldwide are now devoted towards the monumental task of digitizing Gandhi’s life and times in the form of pictures, writ-ings, films, and his collected works. In this article, I have briefly described some digital initiatives on Gandhi that is now available on the web.

Gandhi serve Foundation:

It is a charitable organization commit-ted to promote “ethics of nonviolence by disseminating information about and popularizing Mahatma Gandhi’s life and works.” More than 1200 pho-tographs, a video on the life of Ma-hatma Gandhi, 44 minutes of Gan-

dhi’s voice, and a day to day chronol-ogy on Gandhi is available from the site. There are 98 volumes and each volume consists of more than 400 pages.

Mahatma Gandhi Album:

Kamat’s potpourri provides an excellent collection of information on Gandhi on different topics ranging from ‘Churchill & Gandhi’ and ‘Dandi March’. It also features Gandhi in a photo quilt.

The official Mahatma Gandhi e-Archive and Reference Library (Mahatma Gandhi Foundation):

Among the different resources

(contd. On Page 9)

Mahatma Gandhi is known for his spiritual insights of truth, non-violence and love. His heroic strug-gles against the British Empire with his firm stand on non-violence in or-der to free India are well known. However, for Gandhi’s contribution to remain alive among people through out the world, we must to do our best so that future generations will con-tinue to pay their tribute to the ‘Mahatma’ eternally. Albert Einstein once said, “Generations to come will scarce believe that such a one as this ever in flesh and blood walked upon this earth”.

With the Internet, we now have a chance to create, develop and main-tain an archive of Gandhi’s own work

Laila-Majnu, Heer-Ranjha, Sohni-Mahiwal, Salim-Anarkali... Now add one more pair to the list of legendary lovers: Veer-Zaara. The wait is finally over. The keenly anticipated, eagerly awaited film of the year has finally hit the marquee. Yash Chopra’s VEER-ZAARA has arrived. And does it sweep you off your feet! Besides an ensemble star cast, there’s romance, there’s a strong dose of emotions, there are songs aplenty, there’s drama... But, most important, it has soul, which has been lacking in most movies of late. VEER-ZAARA is the story of an Indian man, Veer Pratap Singh [Shah Rukh Khan] and a Paki-stani woman, Zaara Hayaat Khan [Preity Zinta]. Squadron Leader Veer Pratap Singh is a rescue pilot with the Indian Air Force. A caring person, Veer goes out of his way to help someone in crisis. Whilst on duty, he comes across Zaara, the daughter of an influential Pakistani politician

[Boman Irani]. A simple girl by nature, Zaara is happy to marry the man of her parent’s choice, Raza [Manoj Ba-jpai]. She has come to India to fulfill her surrogate Hindu mother’s [Zohra Segal] last wish: To immerse her ashes in the holy river. Their initial friendship starts off on a sour note, but before they realize it, they fall in love. But before Veer could express his love, walks in Raza [Manoj Bajpai], who has just landed from Lahore in search of Zaara. While in Lahore, Zaara finds it difficult to forget Veer. Her maid Shabbo [Divya Dutta] calls Veer in In-dia and explains the situation. How-ever, the wedding between Raza and Zaara takes place, while Veer is ar-rested by the Pakistani police on charges of being a spy.

Twenty two years later, Saamiya Sid-diqui [Rani Mukerji], a Pakistani law-yer, comes to his rescue who is lan-guished in a Pakistan jail cell for 22 years and has spoken to none.

A mature love story, with characters standing out more than the opulent sets VEER-ZAARA narrates a story that’s quite novel. Just when you think that the story would turn pre-dictable comes a twist and everything changes. VEER-ZAARA is another feather in SRK’s well decorated cap. The actor enacts the challenging role with amazing ease, putting his best foot forward and emerging trumps. Preity Zinta enacts the part with com-plete precision. Although her part doesn’t really demand histrionics, she carries off her role with elegance. Rani Mukerji is a scene-stealer. The actress takes giant strides with this role, relying completely on her ex-pressions to do her job.

Verdict: Go Veer Zaara!

Digital Gandhi Jay Bhatt, Engineering Librarian, Drexel University

Movie Review- Veer Zaara Mansi Mehta, Graduate Student, College of Information Science and Technology

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Calling for Articles

PAGE 9 THE DREXEL DESI WWW.PRAGATHI.NET

1. It's important to have a woman who helps at home, who cooks from time to time, who cleans up, and who has a job.

2. It's important to have a woman who can make you laugh.

3. It's important to have a woman who you can trust, and who doesn't lie to you.

4. It's important to have a woman who is good in bed, and who likes to be with you.

5. It's very, very important that these four women don't know each other.

Important Women Funtoon

We are looking forward to articles for our next issue. If you’re interested in writing articles for The Drexel Desi, please send in your entries to: dp68@drexel.edu.

available are photographs, poems, Ma-hatma in cartoons, the life of the Ma-hatma in 100 pictures, comics and more. Gandhi’s Autobiography– My experiments with truth, is also avail-able online from this very comprehen-sive site.

M. K. Gandhi Institute:

The Institute is founded by Arun Gan-dhi (Mahatma Gandhi's grandson) and

his wife Sunanda, and is estab-lished to promote and teach the philosophy and practice of nonvio-lence to help reduce the violence worldwide.

The World of Mahatma Gan-dhi:

This comprehensive site is regu-larly updated and maintained by non-profit Gandhian Organizations

in India and has a wealth of informa-tion and material for researchers, students, activists and anyone inter-ested in Gandhi and his life.

Digital Gandhi (contd.)

For comments & suggestions Please email: pragathi@drexel.edu

Chief Editor: Dilip Hari (dh73@drexel.edu )

Editorial Committee:

Sameer Kalghatgi (suk22@drexel.edu)

Mansi Mehta (mmm64@drexel.edu)

Nilesh Karia (neil_153@hotmail.com)

Nikhil Gogate (nag32@drexel.edu)

DJ Nikki

Drexel Jhalak

Newsletter Board

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For many people dancing is merely a form of entertainment. For the wonderful dancers of Jhalak, dancing is a means by which they celebrate our culture, unite the Indian community, and share our passion, enthusiasm and zest for life. In December 2003 twelve girls were chosen to represent Drexel University as its first ever female Indian dance team. Twelve girls, who previously glanced at each other as strangers be-gan to turn to one another as teammates, compan-ions, and most of all friends. As a fairly new team, they have worked hard to make their mark among other college dance teams. The past October saw them at Penn State University’s ‘Dance Fusion’, their first ever competition and they came out sec-ond. This accomplishment effectively illustrates that dedication and hard work certainly pays off. As they put it – “We work and play hard, but we dance even harder”. They pride themselves on not only being talented dancers, but also educators who depict the beauty of the Indian cultural heri-tage through the art of dance. On performing with Jhoom at the Drexel main auditorium, they had this to say - “We are proud to represent our school and to have the support of our friends and family. Most of all we are proud to be Drexel Jhalak!”. We, at The Drexel Desi, wish them the best in their endeavors.

DJ Nikki a.k.a Akash Sanghvi, was chosen amidst a little hesitation to set the dance floor on fire at the so called Ice Breaker party, the fresher orientation and welcome party organized by Pragathi to welcome incoming gradu-ate students. All doubts were laid to rest as DJ Nikki proved more than capable to handle the crowd, his ability to feel the pulse of the dance floor and change the mood so as to keep everyone on their toes was admirable. He re-minded everyone of his capabilities once again at the Diwali party, ‘Diwali Beats 2004’. His expertise at the mixing equipment, his ability to feel the mood of the crowd and sway them is indicative of his ability and the potential in him. Like wine, he will age to perfection. Enquiries can be directed to DJ Nikki at akash.sanghvi@drexel.edu.

Fundraising for NASHA

This year we are raising funds for our first ever Annual Cultural Show, ‘NASHA’. We hope to make this event a huge success through the generous contributions of alumni, parents, relatives, well-wishers and students. We invite you to be a part of our community by assisting us financially in our endeavors.

For further information please contact Shubham (skb25@drexel.edu) or visit our website www.pragathi.net