Guest Editorial April 2025

A Salute to Desh-Videsh — Building Bridges Since 1993

Having been a passionate reader and community advocate for many years, I would like to take this opportunity to convey my sincere thanks and warm congratulations to the Desh-Videsh team for their outstanding work since the magazine’s founding in 1993.

For over three decades, Desh-Videsh has served as more than just a newspaper, serving as a lifeline to our origins, a forum for cultural expression, and a crucial thread that unites the diverse South Asian community in the United States. Every issue you have given us tells tales that touch our hearts, enlighten our brains, and honor our common legacy.

What touches me most is your steadfast commitment to education. Articles highlighting the importance of language preservation, Vedic teachings, and institutions like Gurukul Academy show how you prioritize not just cultural celebration, but also the intellectual and spiritual growth of our next generation. Your focus on parenting, youth leadership, and educational achievement has guided countless families, including my own.

Equally commendable is your coverage of community events—Indiafest celebrations, temple anniversaries, charity fundraisers, and award recognitions. By showcasing local stories and achievements, Desh-Videsh fosters a powerful sense of connection. Despite our distance from the Indian subcontinent, we are always connected.

Your reporting on community events—India festivities, temple anniversaries, charity fundraisers, and award honors—is equally praiseworthy. Desh-Videsh promotes a strong feeling of connection by highlighting local narratives and successes. It shows that we are always connected, regardless of our distance from India.

Your latest issue carries on this legacy of greatness, especially the lovely coverage of the Kumbh Mela and the motivating Padma Award winners. They emphasize not just our legacy but also our gifts to the whole society. These narratives are important; they inspire, inform, and unite us in common pride.

Being genuinely interested in community development and cultural preservation, I think Desh-Videsh has accomplished what hardly any people have—an enduring legacy of service produced by narrative. You have assisted second-generation youngsters in finding significance in their identity and first-generation immigrants in finding familiarity in a distant country.

Thank you to the editorial team, authors, photographers, and everyone else toiling behind the scenes. Your efforts count. They motivate, educate, and bring people together. With each effort, you have contributed to building a bridge between desh and videsh.

Here’s to many more years of storytelling, honoring, and elevating the Indian subcontinent and its diaspora. You have documented our path and joined it.

With gratitude and admiration,

Shuchita Agarwal

Atlanta,GA