Monday, Nov 21, 2005
India’s Magic Works Wonders All Over the World!
- Vimla Patil
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Vimla Patil was associated with Femina, India’s number one women’s magazine, published by the Times of India Group for 29 years. Femina is Vimla Patil's personal success story. Today, FEMINA is one of the strongest international brands with a vast readership in India and abroad. She initiated the Miss India contest in the mid-sixties for the journal and brought it to its present international stature. Vimla Patil promoted Indian textiles and fashion garments – especially handlooms – for decades by presenting over 4000 fashion shows in India and most countries of the world.
After finishing her long stint with Femina, she built a brand new career for herself as a freelance multi-mediaperson with writing, events, public relations, shows and many more activities in her portfolio!
Vimla Patil will be delighted to answer readers' questions. Please click on the comments page link at the bottom of the article to post your questions for her or to comment on her article.
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 Sushmita Sen India is the Mecca for seekers of culture, lifestyle, films, music, medical procedures, knowledge, software, human resources and other esoteric and exotic concepts and products. One of the glamorous ‘exports’ right now is Bollywood actress Sushmita Sen, who is working in international projects!
India was colonized and ruled by Britain for almost two and a half centuries! Additionally, even the tourism ministry of India publicizes the fact that India has never attacked or conquered and colonized another country for more than 1500 years! In these circumstances, it is fascinating that with no war, India could spread its influence eastward and westward with such power and impact. History shows that Indian architecture and sculpture, philosophy and religion, literature, music, art and dance – as well as food traveled eastward thousands of years ago and created fusion cultures which continue to exist even today. All the countries of the erstwhile Indo China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mauritius and far eastern countries like China and Japan were trading partners with India and learnt from each others’ cultures to enrich their indigenous cultures and civilizations. The west looked to the orient as a treasure trove of spices, precious metals and stones and exotic destinations. Western powers came to colonize the orient and ruled several countries in the east for centuries. The situation has come a full circle and dramatic changes are taking place in the East-West scenario. According to New York Times writer Thomas Friedman, US super brains are coming on a voyage to India in search of modern treasures like software, brainpower, knowledge workers, call centers, transmission protocols, optical engineering and human resources. “Long centuries ago,” he writes, “Columbus traveled eastwards in search of ‘hardware’ – spices, silks and gold. Today’s Columbus searches for treasures of another kind – ‘software’ like knowledge, services, ideas and concepts! Either way, India is rich!”
What Friedman says is a right-on-the-mark truth. With men and women of Indian origin reaching top positions in the US in education, business, research, fashion and art, India is truly shining in 2005! A few names deserve mention here. Indira Nuyi, Srinija Srinivasan and Padmasree Warrior head some of America’s top companies. And now, an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad, Srikant Datar, is tipped to be the next dean of the prestigious Harvard Business School. Datar is presently the senior associate dean and Arthur Lowes Dickinson professor of accounting at the school and is considered the most favourite candidate for the top job.
Aside from academics, the Indian film industry or Bollywood also seems to have a huge footprint in the West with Indian films and television soaps earning a massive following. Recently, film producer Drena de Nero, daughter of the legendary Robert de Nero, has said that ‘her favourite films are Indian’. She is presently making a film with Sushmita Sen as the lead star. Indian film stars are walking the red carpet at gala openings of fashion shows and film festivals and earning name and fame in the west. Indian writers, such as Salman Rushdie and Vikram Chandra are paid millions of dollars for their novels by US publishers. Indian food (Indian restaurants are winning every ‘best’ contest in the UK for years), fashion (international designers are inviting Indian haute couture inventors to show their designs in Paris, Milan and London), lifestyle (Indian luxury goods like furniture, linen and carpets are flooding the western markets), weddings and jewellery (buyers and would-be brides are flocking to India for shopping) and art (M F Husain has just sold a painting for more than Rs.2 crores!) are impacting the west like never before. The greatest exports of India today are culture, spiritualism, knowledge, art and other abstract qualities like exoticism and sensuality! India is fast becoming the medical, spiritual, adventure and exoticism-seeker tourists’ Mecca and the number of visitors to India is galloping ahead in spite of the dangers of terrorism and violence. Certainly, every visitor to India takes back a cache of ideas, bonds and memories of his/her experiences that live on in his/her life until he/she becomes a permanent seeker of things Indian.
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