In Part-2 of the interview Reid talks about his journey as an entrepreneur. After he graduated from Stanford, he went to Oxford from where he received his Master’s and came back to Silicon Valley to start a company. But, he had to wait a few  years before he realized that dream. But, when he did realize his dream it was a very successful one.

What advice does Reid have to offer young entrepreneurs? What does technology mean to him? What have the seven deadly sins got to do with entrepreneurship? What keeps him awake at nights? Can I get out all the features out in time is Reid’s prompt answers. And the one word that he would use to describe himself? Tune in to find out what Reid has to say about all these questions.

In this short exclusive video clip Reid offers a couple of tips on how to use LinkedIn.

In case you missed, you might want to listen to Part-1 of the interview with Reid.

This interview was originally published by LiveMint.

In this 2-part interview Reid talks about his entrepreneurial journey, how he started LinkedIn, his plans to expand in India where mobile phones are the devices of choice to network and not computers and what technology means to him. What is LinkedIn’s exit strategy? An IPO?

LinkedIn has changed the way we network in more ways than one, and has become an important networking tool for professionals. Recruiters use LinkedIn to find prospective candidates, sales folks use LinkedIn to connect to their future prospects, while other use LinkedIn to expand their network.

In Part-1 of the interview Reid also talks general philosophy behind LinkedIn, how he started it and LinkedIn’s plan to expand in India. He also talks about other social network and where LinkedIn fits into the social network landscape. Here is how Reid put it: “Now the metaphor that I frequently use when we are talking about the three current giants’ is: MySpace is the bar, Facebook is home and LinkedIn is the office.”

LinkedIn has changed the way we network in more ways than one, and has become an important networking tool for professionals. Recruiters use LinkedIn to find prospective candidates, sales folks use LinkedIn to connect to their future prospects, while other use LinkedIn to expand their network.

In this short exclusive video clip Reid offers a couple of tips on how to use LinkedIn.

Don’t forget to listen to Part-2 of the interview with Reid.

This interview was originally published by LiveMint.

Under the former President George W. Bush the US-India relationship achieved a lot of milestones. Could the same be said of President Obama’s administration? Tune in to see if there is a difference when it comes to foreign policy issues between the Democrats and Republicans.

Paul is an associate professor in the Department of National Security Affairs at the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California. Paul’s research focus is on international security environment in South Asia. He is the author of “Dangerous Deterrent:Nuclear Weapons Proliferation and Conflict in South Asia.”

In the June issue of Foreign Affairs journal has an article “The End of An Affair,” that Paul co-authored with Prof. Sumit Ganguly about Washington’s cooling passion towards India.

Professor Freeman Dyson talks about Srinvasa Iyengar Ramanujan, the well-known Indian, who studied

Prof. Dyson studied under Prof. GH Hardy in Cambridge University, and worked on Ramanujan’s partition of numbers. Prof. Dyson first discovered Ramanujan from ET Bell’s book “Men of Mathematics,” while he was a student at Winchester. Incidentally this was the same school where Prof. Hardy studied.

An English-born physicist, Professor Dyson is Professor Emeritus at the Institute for Advanced Studies’ School of Natural Sciences in Princeton, New Jersey. He is a fellow of the Royal Society (just as Ramanujan was) and member of the National Academy of Sciences, USA.

In 2000 Prof. Dyson was awarded the Templeton Prize.

A prolific thinker and writer, Prof. Dyson has written many books including Disturbing the Universe, Weapons and Hope, Infinite in all Directions, Origins of Life, From Eros to Gaia, Selected Papers of Freeman Dyson, Imagined Worlds, The Sun, and The Genome and The Internet. He also is part of the Board of Sponsors of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.

Prof. Dyson has six children. His daughter Esther Dyson, an influential expert in emerging digital technology, is editor at large at C|Net. She was also the founding chairperson of ICANN.

This interview was recorded at Columbia University, New York and was originally published on October 2, 2006.

Anurag Batra, CEO and editor-in-chief of Exchange4Media and Rajesh Lalwani of Blogworks discuss the landscape, challenges and future of social media in India.

Photo credit: British Council India

I met Mr. Sharma, 72 years old, a couple of months ago when I was visiting New Delhi, and he drove me around the city. The first thing he did when I got into his cab was give me his business card. I also spotted a familiar looking black mobile phone peeping from his shirt pocket. I struck up a conversation with him and listened to him talk about the new and changing India, how he uses his cell phone, and how his children send emails on his behalf, and how he is very happy with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s government.

Mr. Sharma migrated to India in 1947 after the partition of the country and says he has seen New Delhi grow into a sprawling metropolis. He lives with his four children and his grand-children. He owns a cell phone that he uses to keep in touch with his clients. He confessed that he hits the green button to talk and other than that has no idea how to use the phone.

The only regret that he has is that he does not own a home. However, he is confident that one of his children will end up buying a home.

This interview was originally published in 2006.

In this book Vasanthi  delves into the fascinating world of Tamil politics that has been dominated by two parties for nearly 40 years. In the book she examines the history and the contradictions in Tamil politics and how the DMK came to power and continued to forge a new political identity in the southern state.

In Part-I of our conversation Vaasanthi talk about the 2006 State elections in Tamil Nadu. She points out that former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa’s party did well in the elections even though her party did not form the government. Don’t write off Jayalalithaa yet she says. She also discusses the current CM Karunanidhi’s political acumen and the future of his party.

Vaasanthi’s first book was called Sirgugal (Wings).

This interview was originally published in May 2006.

Tune in to listen to Part-2 of Tamil Nadu Politics.

Vaasanthi’s book Cut-outs, Caste and Cine Stars is a primer to understand the political contradictions that exist in Tamil Nadu. The book, a collection of essays, begins by looking at EVR or Periyar, the founder of the Self-Respect movement in pre independent India. EVR, an atheist, started an anti-brahmin movement that was against the domination of brahmins at the work place in Madras Presidency. Some of EVR’s followers were Annadurai and Karunanidhi, who later broke away and formed the Dravida Kazhagam Party that later on spawned a string of other parties.

Tamil Nadu is the first state in the world that used films as a conscious medium to promote its political ideology. Since the 1950s Karunanidhi, Annadurai and others have been involved in the Tamil film industry. The most successful combination was that of Karunanidhi, the script writer, and MG Ramachandran (Menon) or MGR. Today, Karunanidhi and his extended family members have a strong presence in Tamil media including TV / cable (SunTV) and newspapers.

It was only in the late 1960s that political landscape of Tamil Nadu underwent a tectonic shift. Until the late 1960s the Congress party had a strong hold in this southern state. But, all that changed when the newly founded party of Annadurai won the 1967 elections. Vaasanthi says that Annadurai, Karunanidhi and others were quite unprepared and their victory came as a total surprise.

Annadurai was the first Chief Minister from DK, and for the past 40 years the state has been governed alternatively by: Annadurai, Karunanidhi, MGR, Karunanidhi, Jayalalithaa, Karunanidhi, Jayalalithaa, and Karunanidhi.

Vaasanthi expands on the political contradictions that exist in the state and explains why. In the process of displacing the old social, economic and political order the DK and its various avatars have created a new order that in some ways appears to reflect the old.

Probably one of the ironies of the Dravidian movement is the meaning of the word Dravida. Vaasanthi explains that Dravida is derived from the Sanskrit word Dravidum, which refers to the meeting of the Indian Ocean, Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea.

Vaasanthi’s first book was called Sirgugal (Wings).

This interview was originally published in June 2006.

March 9, 2009 marks the 50th anniversary since the Dalai Lama left China and came to India. After a failed uprising against the Chinese Government the young Dalai Lama along with his followers left Lhasa in 1959 and travelled to India and settled down in Dharamsala in Himachal Pradesh, India.

Pico Iyer is a well-known  author and essayist. His book about the 14th Dalai Lama The Open Road: The Global Journey of the 14th Dalai Lama published in 2008 has received excellent reviews.

“In The Open Road, Pico Iyer transcends his celebrated excellence as a travel writer,” comments Peter Matthiessen, while the Economist writes that Pico has “an access and insight into the Dalai Lama that lifts his writing above the clichés that normally surround him.”

Pico has been in constant touch with the Dalai Lama for about 30 years. Pico first met the Dalai Lama through his father Prof. Raghavan N. Iyer, who taught at Oxford and University of California in Santa Barbara. In  1960 Prof. Iyer sailed from England to India to meet with the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala.

In the midst of his hectic book tour schedule Pico graciously made time to do an hour-long interview where he spoke about his new book, writing process, travels and growing up in England and California and about life in Japan. Pico has been living in Japan for the past several years.

In Part-1 of the conversation Pico talks about his new book about the Dalai Lama, his perceptions of Buddhism and Communism, and how this book is a homage to the memory of his father. How did Pico come up with the idea of writing a book on the Dalai Lama?

What does the Dalai Lama have to say about Tibet and Tibet’s future? Is there a happy ending to the Tibet question? Tune in to find out what Pico has to say.

This interview was recorded in 2008.

Photo: Courtesy Knopf Publishing

Technorati Tags: Pico Iyer,Dalai Lama,The Open Road,The Gloabl Journey of the 14th Dalai Lama,Tibet,Dharamsala,Raghavan N. Iyer,Buddhism,Communism,China

In Part-2 of our conversation AR Rahman talks about his journey that began in Chennai’s(or Madras) Kodambakkam,  the epicenter of the South Indian film industry during the 1970s and the role that his mother played. His mother Kareema Begum believed in AR Rahman’s musical gift and talent and helped nurture and nourish it. In this candid interview he talks how his mother helped him and worked as his business partner to set up his first music studio.

AR Rahman also talks about the loss of his close friend and colleague Sridhar, who was his senior audio and sound engineer and worked with him right from their first film Roja to Slumdog Milliionaire and Delhi 6.

Tune it to find out what AR Rahman has to say about his musical journey and the people that helped him along the way and how Sufism has changed his life.

You can also read the transcript here.

In case you missed, you might want to listen to Part-1 of the interview with AR Rahman.

Both Part-1 and Part-2 of the interview originally ran on NDTV.com

In early February I caught with AR Rahman in one of his brief visits to Los Angeles. In Part-1 of this interview AR as he likes to be called talks about working with Danny Boyle, his thoughts on Slumdog Millionaire and why he instantly connected with it and why he thought the movie reminded him of Shawshank Redemption.  Like everybody else I wanted to find out how he was mentally preparing for the Oscars? Tune in to find out what he has to say about that.

In Part-2 he talks about his  journey as a musician.

You can also read the transcript of the interview.

This interview originally ran on NDTV.com.

Ninja and her team are responsible for the content that we read everyday on Yahoo’s website.  “Shepherding the voice of Yahoo,” is how Ninja describes the work she and  her team do on a 24/7 basis every day of the year. Ninj’s editorial team reads, sifts, organizes, categorizes a diverse amount of content on an ongoing basis. Besides the content that appears on Yahoo! Ninja is also deeply involved in issues like privacy, child safety and accessibility over mobile phones, where the ground rules are very different she points out.

An early and important strategic decision that Jerry Yang and David Filo, co-founders of Yahoo,  made was to have an editorial head in their company. The co-founders recruited their Stanford colleague  to help categorize the growing content on Yahoo’s website. Originally Ninja’s  title was that of an ontologist, but her role has expanded significantly over the years as Yahoo has expanded its portfolio of products and services.

I caught up with Ninja a few days ago at Yahoo’s headquarters in Sunnyvale to find out about her role in creating the voice of Yahoo that encompasses privacy, data policy, free speech issues and editorial decisions about Yahoo’s overall content. How do they handle controversial topics? How do they categorize and label content? Privacy issues in China? Tune in to find out what Ninja has to say on these topics.

Ninja grew up in Lawrence, Kansas where her father taught Mathematics at the University of Kentucky. Ninja moved to the San Francisco bay area to study at Stanford University where she got her undergraduate degree in Symbolic Sciences. Ninja speaks and writes fluent Japanese.

This is the first of a 2-part conversation with Ninja. You can listen or read to Part-1 of the conversation with Ninja.

There are 303 hackers and about 60 infogeeks  participating at this 2-day hackday India event. An interesting trend this year is an increase in the number of women  participating in the event.

The winners of hackday India will be announced tomorrow, February 15, 2009 by David Filo, who is currently in Bangalore.

David was also present during Yahoo’s first hackday in Bangalore, India in  2007.  He spent most of his time hanging around with the hackers and coders talking to them and observing what the various teams were building. Many of the developers were pleasantly surprised to discover how accessible David was during the event.

I caught up with David to talk about the early days of Yahoo!, coding, Bangalore, mobile phones and emerging markets.

In this episode David talks about their plans for India and the emerging markets. India is the hub for developing new applications and features for emerging markets like Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and Philippines.

David also talks about Yahoo’s mobile strategy in India. Besides business, we also talk about David’s favorite Indian dish and what kind of Indian music he prefers to listen. What about Bollywood films? Does he like watching them? Tune in to find out what David has to say.

Here are the links just in case you missed out listening to Part-1 and Part-2 of the interview with David Filo.

This interview was recorded in Bangalore in October 2007 during Yahoo’s first hackday in India.

In our interview she talks at length about her role in Cisco and the new  growth opportunities for the company. Interestingly, Cisco Systems Inc (CSCO) was founded in the 1980s during an economic downturn and in a short span of  less than 25 years has grown to become one of the largest networking companies in the world.

In this 2-part interview Padmasree talks about Cisco’s top priorities and the opportunities in emerging markets. How does Cisco plan to grow during a global economic downturn? She also talks about cloud computing, connected life and TelePresence and the new and emerging opportunities they present for Cisco.

A Chicago transplant to the San Francisco bay area, Padmasree still commutes to Chicago where her family is located.  She talks about that and about growing up in Vijayawada, a small town in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh in India and studying at IIT, New Delhi. You can also catch Padmasree on Twitter.

You can listen to Part-1 and Part-2 of the interview and read the full transcript of the interview.

This interview originally ran on LiveMint Radio.

I also asked Danny if he has any plans to make a Bollywood film. Danny appears to be clearly smitten by Mumbai and all the while when he was shooting for Slumdog Millionaire he had this persistent thought that Mumbai would be a great city to shoot a thriller.

Slumdog Millionaire, an independent film that come from the left field has become an instant hit and has turned out to be a hot favorite.

Slumdog Millionaire has won 10 Oscar nominations and has won a string of prestigious awards including 4 Golden Globes.

You can also read the full transcript of the interview with Danny Boyle. This interview originally ran on NDTV.com

Photo credit: NDTV.com