Arvind’s Newsletter

This news report confirms what was suspected that the Vistara brand (and Air Asia brand) would die after the merger with Air India in favour of the better known global brand -Air India. I only hope the merged company does not impose the service culture (and processes) of (old) Air India on Vistara and in fact the merged full service airline has the service culture of Vistara and the low cost Airline of Air Asia. Let’s see.

1 Tata group-owned Air India will let go of Vistara brand after the merger, as the Air India brand is more popular globally, Chief Executive Campbell Wilson said. The process of integration of Vistara with Air India is underway and is now awaiting approval from the Competition Commission of India (CCI).The integration of Air India Express and AIX Connect, earlier known as AirAsia India, is also underway.

2.Indian Americans are a rising force in politics, propelled by wealth and high education levels, opines the New York Times.

In 2013, the House of Representatives had a single Indian American member. Fewer than 10 Indian Americans were serving in state legislatures. None had been elected to the Senate. None had run for president. Despite being one of the largest immigrant groups in the United States, Americans of Indian descent were barely represented in politics.

Ten years later, the Congress sworn in last month includes five Indian Americans. Nearly 50 are in state legislatures. The vice president is Indian American. Nikki Haley’s campaign announcement this month makes 2024 the third consecutive cycle in which an Indian American has run for president, and Vivek Ramaswamy’s newly announced candidacy makes it the first cycle with two.

In retrospect, the watershed appears to have been 2016, just after then-Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana became the first Indian American to run for president. Read on

3.New data has come out (through 2021) on how couples meet in USA . The big takeaway is for the first time in history, a majority of couples meet online (and the share is still growing rapidly).

From the end of World War II until 2013, the most popular way heterosexual Americans met their romantic partners was through the intermediation of friends.

However, new data from 2009 showed that the percentage of heterosexual couples who met online had risen from 0% for couples who met before 1995 to about 22% for couples who met in 2009. In the 2009 data, showed that meeting online had grown but was still significantly behind friends as the most prevalent way heterosexual couples met. Furthermore, the 2009 data appeared to show that the rate of meeting online had plateaued for heterosexuals at around 22%.

However, new data from a nationally representative 2017 survey showing that meeting online has continued to grow for heterosexual couples, and meeting through friends has continued its sharp decline. As a result of the continued rise of meeting online and the decline of meeting through friends, online has become the most popular way heterosexual couples in the U.S. See chart below from the report.

4. An Indian author explores why women cook in a new book uncovering rare recipes and personal stories. Bangalore-based Archana Pidathala travels across India to present some 90 recipes in Why Cook. Most of the dishes she details are vegetarian, Nikkei noted, including a 200-year-old recipe for a rice pudding, a cauliflower-stem chutney, and eggplants in a roasted coconut curry. Pidathala has said she hopes the book reminds readers that “some of the best moments in our lives are those spent with loved ones in cosy kitchens, around dining tables and by crackling fires, over cups of hot tea and hours of conversation.”

5. Sania Mirza bid goodbye to tennis earlier this month, leaving an outstanding legacy a sportsperson. From a teenager facing the great Serena Williams, to becoming world No 1 in doubles and finishing her career as a mother – Mirza’s legacy is one to cherish.