Category: NRI’s

** Indian English is a Prakrit, not a creole, says linguist Peggy Mohan

Her new book speaks of how Indian languages evolved via generations of migratory patterns

Migration has shaped the arc of Indian history in myriad ways, from the day the Vedic Aryans first alighted from their chariots to the arrival of Namboothiri Brahmins in Kerala to the Persianised Turkic conquerors of the Middle Ages.

For linguist Peggy Mohan, all this finds a strong echo in the evolution of the subcontinent’s languages. In her new book, Wanderers, Kings, Merchants: The Story of India Through Its Languages, she delves into the often surprising sounds and structures of what we conventionally call Indo-Aryan and Dravidian languages, and relates these to the deep pasts of their speakers.

** Govind Kant, stalwart of solar industry in Australia, dies of Covid-19 in India

Kant, father of two, is believed to be the second Australian to have died in India of Covid-19. Earlier this month, a 59-year-old Australian permanent resident had died after contracting Covid-19 in India.

** Indian-origin researcher makes splitters for ventilator

iSAVE re-purposes flow valves to support two patients

A team of researchers in the United States has come up with splitters for ventilators that will address the shortage of the life-saving equipment. The Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation, Bengaluru, recently approved the equipment. IndVentr is the Indian partner making the device.

Earlier this year, Shriya S. Srinivasan and her team were in discussion with Indian health officials. But the interest in their equipment was low.

Dr. Srinivasan, a biomedical engineer, is the daughter of immigrant parents. She visits India frequently to give bharatanatyam performances. She did her Ph.D in medical engineering and medical physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard Medical School. She took up Project Prana on the sidelines of her ongoing post-doctoral work.

** Volunteers from around the world rally to help tackle COVID-19 in Karnataka

Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute 1992 batch doctors liaise with volunteer groups to offer services

Doctors living across the world — all alumni of the Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute (BMCRI) from the 1992 batch — have now banded together with a coalition of volunteer groups to offer end-to-end COVID-19 management for patients in Karnataka, particularly in Bengaluru.

While the Karnataka COVID-19 Volunteers Team (KCVT), with over 500 members, has set up a helpline (080-47166115) which counsels patients, refers them to doctors for tele-consultation, helps in home management and to find hospital beds, Mercy Mission is operating two COVID-19 care centres and has a tie-up with the HBS Hospital in Shivajinagar for critical care. While the helpline and tele-consultation with doctors is available for patients across the State, other on ground facilities are in the city.

** Forum of Telugu NRI doctors joins fight against COVID-19

Besides donating essential equipment, it offers virtual guidance in critical cases

A U.S.-based forum of Telugu NRIs – Telugu Covid Task Force – USA (TCTF-USA) – has come forward to donate essential equipment such as pulse oxymeters, sanitisers, gloves, facemasks, PPE kits, and medicines for the COVID Care Centres (CCCs), besides adopting some of the mandals in Andhra Pradesh.

** India-born Ivy League alumni and students come together to raise funds to fight COVID-19

Make a donation to a cause fighting COVID-19 and get a one-on-one counselling session with industry professionals and alumni of top institutions across the world

Rather than feel helpless when the second wave of COVID-19 hit the country, US-based Princeton alumni Shreyas Lakhtakia and Julu Beth Katticaran turned “the negative emotion of being away from India into a positive one by offering help”. This eventually led to the formation of Students Fight COVID (studentsfightcovid.in), a fund-raiser for COVID-hit in India.

** Indian in UAE to produce O2 cylinders instead of CNG to aid patients back home

An Indian expat at a UAE-based free zone firm has set aside producing Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) cylinders and shifted to manufacturing oxygen containers for India to help out the Covid patients in the country.

Speaking to Gulf News, Pushkar Khurana, Managing Director of the company EKC International FZE, said, “We are an Indian subsidiary and as soon as we came to know about the oxygen cylinder shortage in India, we had to rise to the call of our nation and serve the needs of our country.”

K.N. Kutty, sales manager of the company, a subsidiary of Everest Kanto Cylinder Limited in India, said the UAE unit has been producing CNG cylinders for Natural Gas Vehicles (NGV) as well as industrial cylinders since 2002.

** Indian origin twin brothers from Punjab face off at Wembley

With the twins Amar Singh Purewal and Arjun Singh Purewal representing two different clubs in the final–while Arjun is captaining Consett FC, Amar plays for Hebburn Town– it will be an emotional moment for the family.

On Monday, 31-year-old twins Amar Singh Purewal and Arjun Singh Purewal are all set to become the first British South Asian brothers to play against each other in a Wembley Cup final by Football Association (FA) of England.

** Indo-Canadian MMA fighter KB Bhullar on being part of UFC: ‘It’s a dream come true’

The 29-year-old Bhullar takes on Andreas Michailidis in UFC’s upcoming Fight Night

KB Bhullar is “as prepared as one can be” ahead of his matchup against the Greek MMA talent Andreas ‘The Spartan’ Michailidis. The Canadian national of Indian descent takes on Andreas inside the Octagon in UFC’s upcoming Fight Night scheduled to take place in Las Vegas, US.

** Kuwait: Co-founder of Gulf Voice of Mangalore Lawrence Pinto passes away

Lawrence Pinto, the co-founder of the hugely popular ‘Gulf Voice of Mangalore’ Konkani singing reality show, passed away on Tuesday April 27. He was 73.

A well-known Konkani community leader in Kuwait, Lawrence Pinto along with Louis Rodrigues co-founded Gulf Voice of Mangalore (GVOM) in 2008.