In Memoriam > Narayan D. Keshavan
last updated: Nov. 19, 2003 / 5:30 am in NYC

On this page: News items, profiles, tributes, memorial services
Compiled by Sreenath Sreenivasan with input from around the globe
Updates/corrections: saja@columbia.edu


Photo by Jay Mandal, who took dozens of photos of Kesh
See tributes and your own below.

 

Funeral & Memorial Services
saja@columbia.edu)

MEMORIAL SERVICE - Manhattan

Wed, Nov. 19, 2003

5:30-6:30 pm - HOSTED BY SAJA
Maharaja Restaurant
230 E. 44th St (btw 2nd & 3rd Aves)

FUNERAL - Long Island

Saturday, Nov. 15, 2003

10 am-noon
Hempstead Funeral Home, Long Island

MEMORIAL SERVICE - New Jersey

Sunday, Nov. 16, 2003

Noon to 2 pm

BAPS Temple

Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, Edison

Journalists who want to interview Dr. Sudhir Parikh, Kesh's friend and IAFPE's national president, can call  732-545-0094 or e-mail: sudparikh@aol.com

See IAFPE site on Kesh

Tributes from around the world below...

 NARAYAN DILIP KESHAVAN
1950-2003

His e-mail signoff (on some messages):
Affly, Kesh
His motto (on all messages):
"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." -- British Parliamentarian Edmund Burke

Veteran Indian-American journalist and political activist NARAYAN D. KESHAVAN died Thursday night, Nov. 13, 2003  in New York City. He died of an apparent heart attack when he collapsed on a midtown sidewalk shortly after a terrific, lengthy appearance on CNN's Lou Dobbs Tonight (see transcript). He was 53 years old.


Keshavan or ("Kesh" as many people called him) was executive director of the Indian American Forum for Political Education and a long-time player in Indo-U.S. relations - with unique access at the highest levels of the U.S. and Indian governments. Despite leaving journalism, he remained a journalist at heart. He was involved with SAJA from its earliest days 10 years ago. He moved comfortably between his worlds in DC (where he lived), NYC and Delhi.

An hour before he collapsed, he went on the Lou Dobbs show to vigorously defend the business outsourcing that's getting a lot of attention. After debating
Dobbs for several minutes, here's how the live segment ended:

DOBBS: I hope you'll come back soon as we discuss this, because this issue, as you know, is becoming -- moving to the forefront.
KESHAVAN: It's going to be a hot political potato this election season.
DOBBS: Right.
KESHAVAN: Any time you want me, I'm available.
DOBBS: We will want to talk often. Thank you.
KESHAVAN: Thank you, Lou.
DOBBS: Thank you.

His humor, his love for India AND America and his political smarts are all obvious throughout the interview. See transcript & the next night's follow-up.

NEWS ITEMS:

TRIBUTES FROM...
send yours to saja@columbia.edu


send yours to saja@columbia.edu

From: U.S. Congressman Gary Ackerman (D-NY) - he was the co-chair of the India Caucus when Kesh worked for him as a staffer

We're shocked and grieving over the loss of a dear friend and colleague. Keshavan was loved, admired and respected by all with whom he worked and he lent his enormous talents and abilities to always bettering the bilateral relationship between his mother country and the land he adopted.

He embodied and brought together the best of an ancient culture in the world's largest democracy with the modest culture of the world's oldest democracy. He will sorely be missed.

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From: Lalit Mansingh, Indian Ambassador to the United States

The sudden demise of Narayan Keshavan on 13th November 2003 has shocked us all. His dynamism in actively promoting the cause of friendship between the United States and India will always be remembered by the Embassy of India. On hearing of this untimely demise, Ambassador Mansingh expressed his deep grief and shock and said "We have lost an excellent journalist; a tireless advocate for democracy and freedom; and above all a sincere friend of India." Mr. Keshavan lived by Burke' s maxim 'all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing'. We shall miss him. Our condolences go to members of his bereaved family and we pray to give them the courage and fortitude to bear this irreplaceable loss.

Lalit Mansingh, Washington, D.C.

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From: John Laxmi, freelancer and SAJA treasurer

If those words on CNN were Narayan Keshavan's last words, wow, what a way to
go... Based on that Keshavan interview, just based on that interview alone, leaving aside Keshavan's other accomplishments, Keshavan deserves a sincere salute in farewell from all - Americans, Indians, Indian Americans, Americans who love India, Americans who love Indians, globalists, journalists, outsourcers,
outsourcees...

May the words "Keshavan, the Champion of Common Sense" be carved on his tombstone or chanted at his cremation ...

With deep condolence to Keshavan's friends and family,
John Laxmi, New Jersey.

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From: T.P. Sreenivasan, Indian Ambassador to Austria (formerly served as a diplomat at the UN and Washington)

Sree,

I opened my e mail this morning to read that Kesh would be appearing with Lou Dobbs on CNN. Good old Kesh is upto his tricks again, I thought, but decided to ask for a transcript tomorrow to see how he fared with Dobbs in defending India. But before I could do that, you told me that no mail would reach him anymore. I do not believe that he will ever go beyond cyberspace , which he loved and utilised to remain in touch. He kept us informed, educated and amused. I saved virtually every piece he sent me: he had an uncanny sense of what I liked to read in the Indian press.

Kesh was part of the US scene throughout the years I spent in New York and Washington. In New York in the eighties and the nineties, he was the perennially inquisitive young journalist witha capacity for hard work. He pestered us in the Permanent Mission to the UN for stories for one newspaper or another. He had a fund of stories to tell and he was the life of Indian parties. Some had reservations about his style and approach, but none doubted his sincerety or love for India or his exceptional qualities of head and heart.

One of the first to greet me by mail when I was posted to the Embassy in Washington was Kesh. He was extremely warm and while welcoming me, he gave me some advice on how the Embassy should be run. I remarked in my reply that I realised that my post was not a bed of roses and back came the reply: "It is a viper's pit"! I remembered those words whenever I faced a difficult challenge in Washington.

Kesh became a part of the challenge when he joined the staff of Congressman Gary Ackerman, when he became a co-chairman of the India Caucus. By a quirk of circumstances, he became part of a group that developed an adversarial relationship with the Embassy. It was highly ironical that the India Caucus and the Indian Embassy were at cross purposes for a period. Gary Ackerman came to an Indian national celebration organised by the community and criticised the Embassy by name for being caught napping at the switch! It was my old friendship with Kesh that came to the rescue when the situation became intolerable. Kesh promised me many times that he would tell me why he had to to do certain things at that time and kept asking me to come to New York for a long session with Kerala cuisine to hear his version of the events of that time..Alas, that story will remain untold. But I shall never doubt his good intentions or his capacity to do good work for the ! country.

Kesh's ambition in life was to be an effective lobbyist for India. He kept close contacts with the Delhi establishment and also with the Indian American community with that objective. He had many successes, but he felt that his talents were not being utilised fully either by the Americans or the Indians. He must have gone with that grievance in his mind, but the single appearance with Dobbs on Outsourcing on the last day of his life did more than what any lobbyist could have done.

Kesh will be missed every time I open my e mail, every time I see a good piece of writing on India-US relations, every time I hear of the US Congress or the India Caucus, every time I recall my years in the US.

TPS, Vienna

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From: Ethirajan Anbarasan, BBC World Service - Tamil

I am really sorry to hear about the sudden demise of Narayan Keshavan.
It was really shocking. I still remember his enthusiasm and willingness
to help me out with the interview. In fact, the interview came out well.

My heart-felt condolences for his family.

Ethirajan Anbarasan, London

Here is an earlier exchange, from the day after the Space Shuttle Columbia blew up, killing Kalpana Chawla.

Date: Sun, 02 Feb 2003 10:25:23 -0500
From: Narayan D. Keshavan <keshavan@hotmail.com>
To: ss221@columbia.edu
Subject: Re: Fwd: Re: Kalpana Chawla Feb 1, 2003

yo! sree:

for the first time in my life i had to do an interview in Tamil, my man.
thanks to you. i was put in a spot. anbarasan was on a deadline and i just did it with my broken tamil. poor chap, i hope it was okay.

affly
K

>From: Sreenath Sreenivasan <ss221@columbia.edu>
>To: "Narayan D. Keshavan" <keshavan@hotmail.com>
>CC: ethirajan.anbarasan@
>Subject: Re: Fwd: Re: Kalpana Chawla Feb 1, 2003
>Date: Sun, 2 Feb 2003 09:26:21 -0500 (EST)
>
anbarasan: a terific person to talk to is narayan keshavan, who did a great interview with her for outlook mag. he's someone you should know anyway...

>NDK: anbarasan works for the BBC tamil service...

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From S. Mitra Kalita, SAJA President and Washington Post reporter

Narayan Keshavan was a pioneer among South Asian journalists and our community at large. May his memory continue to lead and inspire us.

S. Mitra Kalita, Washington, D.C.

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From: Ani Agnihotri, Hon. Advisor, Indian state govt of Chhatisgarh, Atlanta


I am so sorry to hear about sudden death of Kesh. He was a road warrior and a champion at heart of India. His passing away is a great loss to Indian-American Activists. May God bless his soul and give strength to his family to bear the loss.

Ani Agnihotri, Atlanta

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From: Lisa Tsering, entertainment editor, India West

I always knew I could count on Kesh for a laugh -- and for ripe, racy
gossip. He was the rare man who managed to be both irreverent and a gentleman at the same time. Generous with his encouragement, he was a special inspiration to me on my path as a writer.

Kesh, you will be missed!

Affly,
Lisa, San Leandro, CA


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From: Prashanth Lakhihal, reporter, India Tribune

This is a personal loss to me. He was my mentor. Iused to call him
guruji and i am orphaned in this country.

Prashanth, New York

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From: N. Ravi, Editor, The Hindu, Chennai

It is with shock and disbelief that I read the news of Narayan
Keshavan's passing away. It was over 25 years ago that I first met him when was an enterprising journalist in The Hindu's Hyderabad bureau, and had kept in touch with him on and off since. I was struck by his energy, enthusiasm and confidence in getting things done. In my more recent meetings with him both in Washington and in New Delhi, I was struck by his mastery of the nuances of India-US relations and his up to the minute knowledge of the happenings with his wide network of friends and contacts. In many ways, he was the best single source of what was going on in India-US relations. Extremely friendly, warm and ever helpful, the trasition from journalism to lobbying seemed quite natural for him and he seemed very successful in his new career. It is extremely tragic, but is also perhaps characteristic of him, that he should collapse soon after his valiant defence of outsourcing to India on the Lou Dobbs show.

N. Ravi, Chennai

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From: Thomas Abraham, GOPIO - Global Organization of People of Indian Origin

We will miss Keshavan very much. It is a great loss for the Indian
American community.

Thomas Abraham, New York

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From Rajeev Gadgil, publisher, India Herald, Houston

I am indeed shocked and saddened to hear of Narayan "Dilip" Keshavan passing away.

My name is Rajeev Gadgil. I live in Houston, TX where I publish and an
Indian newspaper, India Herald. I am a former classmate of Keshavan's
from the Bachelor of Journalism and Master of Journalism classes in
Osmania University, Hyderabad, in the mid 70s.

Keshavan was certainly among the brightest in our class. He was a
go-getter and everyone admired (and envied) his initiative and drive.

He came to the U.S. after a short one-year stint with The Hindu in
Hyderabad. He came here as a Rotary International scholar, on a full
scholarship to do a master's in journalism in (I think) Columbia
University.

The last time I met him was in 1992 when he came to Houston for the
Republican national convention. I spoke to him a couple of times after
that.

This is indeed a sad day for all of us (there are about a dozen of his
classmates here in the U.S.) who knew him as a jovial, smart and kind
individual. My condolences to all his friends and family members.

Rajeev Gadgil, Houston

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From: Kewal K. Kapoor, Editor, India Weekly USA

Narayan Keshavan was a dear friend and guide to me, As I called him
Bhagwanjee, He always guide me and help me shape my editorial and thought on issues. He was a great thinker, political analyst and writer. I will miss Keshavan very much. It is a great loss for me and also for the Indian American community.

With deep condolence to Keshavan's friends and family,

Kewal Kapoor

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From: Pradyuman Maheshwari, Editor, Mediaah!

As his comments on the CNN show indicate, Mr Narayan Keshavan was a patriotic Indian, who used his skills to push India's cause
internationally, and in the United States in particular.
 
On behalf of the Indian media, Mediaah! offers condolences to  Kesh's
family and friends.

Pradyuman Maheshwari, Mumbai

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From Vaman Pai, City of Minneapolis Communications Dept & Osmania Univ Journalism alum


I am shocked and saddened to hear of the sudden passing of Narayan 'Dilip' Keshavan. Dilip and I were classmates in the Bachelor of Journalism course at Osmania University. Dilip and I worked on many projects when I served as the president of the Osmania University Journalism Students Association.

Even then, he was driven to excel and succeed, much as he did for the rest of his life. We lost touch these past few years, but I always kept track of all the work that he involved in, especially his work as a lobbyist for India. My condolences to his family in India and his close friends.

Vaman Pai, Minneapolis

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From: Rama Murthy Tunuguntla


I am extremely sorry to hear about the passing away of Narayan Keshavan. 
He was my student in early seventies when he was pursuing his B.A. degree in journalism at Osmania University in India. I was shocked to hear the tragic news of his death at such an young age.  Narayan was one of the brightest and the smartest students I taught, and he used to come up with innovative ideas in the classroom for discussion.  We talked a couple of times since we came to this country, but lost tract of each other. I want to express my deep condolences to his family. May his soul rest in peace. 

Rama Murthy Tunuguntla   

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From: Dinesh Patel

A great loss to India, Indian American community and USA. A person who all along his life pursued to "perform his prescribed duty without anticipating any fruits." His strong belief in our culture of heritage  and Ganesh reflected in his actions to remove the impediments  for better things for the society. The Lou Dobbs interview is an example. I have known him for may years and did indeed find that he worked tirelessly  and with passion for the cause he believed in. We will the community at large will miss him.
Please extend our condolences and sympathies to his family and friends.

Dinesh Patel, Lexington, Mass.


From Raj Rangarajan, writer, New York

Kesh was a journo in the true, definitive sense. It's a shame he is gone...just like that at such a young age! His stout defence of India in New York with CNN's Lou Dobbs - a parting shot if you will - was typical of the man known for his articulate defence and subtle humor. I have fond memories of Kesh which I shall treasure. Those were the days, my friend... I thought they'd never end.

Raj Rangarajan, New York

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From: Karthik Sundaram, editor, Silicon India magazine


The man died defending his country of birth. Such opportunities come to a few good men. Kesh has left a mark for us fellow journalists to
follow. Kesh is no more. Long live Kesh. My deepest condolences to a
family I don't know, but whose pain is common to all of us.

Karthik Sundaram, Fremont, CA

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From: Lavanya R. Coodly-Gusdon


To those of us who knew Narayan Keshavan not as a colleague but as a friend, he was Dilip. Dilip was intelligent, warm, humorous and politically savvy with a point of view based on experience and knowledge. We came from a similar background and when we first met in New York several years ago, it felt as if I had known him for a hundred years. It was obvious from the lengthy and wonderful conversations we had every now and then that he loved both India and the USA equally and looked forward to helping towards reaching a better understanding between the two democracies. I was devastated to hear of his passing and will miss him and his daily FYI articles terribly. I would like to express my sincere condolences to Dilip^Òs family and friends.

Lavanya R. Coodly-Gusdon, Winton-Salem, N.C.

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From: G.V.V. Rao
News of Narayan's sudden demise came as a shock to me. I met him several times in Washington D.C. He has always been ready to analyze and write about Indian American issues, especially where he saw discrimination or injustice. I greatly admired his easy access, sincerity and purposefulness.

May his soul attain its natural destination - Moksha.

Best regards,
G. V. V. Rao, Fairfax, VA

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From: Diana Boufford


I was flipping through the channels before I went to bed and I caught the interview of Narayan Keshavan and Lou Dobbs. I do not know Keshavan, nor do I know much about politics, but I must tell you that the eloquent manner in which Narayan spoke, held me spellbound and I listened to the whole interview and could understand by listening to him how good this would be for both countries.  Even Lou Dobbs who seemed somewhat against it, seemed as charmed as I was by this man.  The next day when I came home and turned on the news, I was shocked to hear of the passing of Keshavan as many were I am sure.  As I said, I am really nobody important, just a hard working, middle-class, American woman, who in a few brief moments before Narayan Keshavan died, was touched by his charisma, humor and eloquence and I am glad I had the chance to meet him
(if I can call seeing someone on TV meeting them), its not often someone makes a difference in your life and I wanted to take a moment from my life, to tell you so.

Sincerely,

Diana Boufford, Hollywood, Florida

When this touching note from Diana came into us, we asked her how she'd found out Kesh had died. Her reply...

That's the irony of it, when i got home from work and turned on my tv, (still on CNN from the night before when I had watched Keshavan on Lou Dobbs), not really paying much attention to it, then I heard  the announcement of Keshavan passing away, I looked up at the TV and saw the picture of him,  stunned I thought to myself, "Oh my God, I just saw him last night", I just couldn't believe it, it didn't seem possible, so I went online, trying to find out what happened to him, because at the time of the announcement, they did not say cause of death.  I found this site and what happened to him. So sad, so shocking, I felt compelled to write to the family, he made me smile and gave me hope for our worlds future.

Sincerely once again, Diana Boufford

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From: V. Balachandran, Indo-American Society, Mumbai (former minister (consular) Indian Embassy, Washington); below is an op-ed he wrote for The Asian Age (Nov. 17, 2003)

Keshavan: A colourful person who didn't mind courting controversies

This was the last mail I received from my friend Narayan: "Sent: Thursday, November 13, 2003 11:42 PM I am supposed to be on Lou Dobbs (CNN) this evening around 6:30 p.m. (as a guest). Affly, Keshavan " And then the usual ending: "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." -- British Parliamentarian Edmund Burke.

Little did I know that this would his last mail. Due to some pressure of work or my own negligence in monitoring the timing of the CNN interview, I missed seeing him for the last time, at least on TV.

The Asian Age, our only reliable window to the world events among the Indian dailies, carried the devastating news on November 16th that Narayan died in a New York hospital due to a massive heart attack just outside the CNN office after "vigorously defending outsourcing of jobs to India" in the live interview . That was Narayan, lobbying and tirelessly working for the country without asking for any rewards unlike some of our "Roving Ambassadors" who wanted diplomatic status to work for the national cause.

Despite this sad news being streamed in by the PTI, other national dailies chose to carry it only on their web pages rather than on print, being more preoccupied with the "Telgi" scam and election related developments.

Perhaps Hindu might have, since Narayan started his career as a junior Hindu correspondent in Hyderabad decades ago.

Narayan, just 53 when he died, was a colourful character who did not mind courting controversies. Behind that veneer was a true friend who did not tolerate fools.

I came to know him in 1990 when I started working as a minister in the Indian mission in Washington.D.C. All of us were given discreet advice to avoid Narayan who was then a self confessed alcoholic. I remember him once attending the Ambassador's Republic Day ceremony with a beer can in hand, taking swigs when the National Anthem was being sung!

The Indian embassy's traditional disdain towards him was rooted in this prejudice which later transformed into jealousy as he used to steal a march over them in lobbying for the Indian cause as the chief aide to Rep.Gary Ackerman, co-chair of the India caucus.

I, however, did not avoid him as just one or two meetings with him revealed a brilliant and analytical mind, who more than anybody else in the Indian circles in Washington.D.C., knew how to achieve our national ends by dexterous navigation through the intricacies of the American system of decision making, cutting through the complexities of lobbying and cognizable dissonance among the US political leadership on issues affecting us. That our embassy or government at the working level did not make use of his talents and contacts for our strategic aims, despite his ready access to the top political leadership, is a sad story.

In the early Nineties, Narayan used to work for the New York Post as a stringer and also supplemented his income as an anchor for a Sunday TV programme of interviewing eminent Indo-US personalities on cerebral issues like proliferation or security for a Washington D.C channel to a totally disinterested NRI audience who were only keen watching canned Chaya Geet Film music and Bollywood Masalas.

He faced the recurrent financial and personal difficulties with edifying equanimity. Towards the end of 1993 he totally got rid of his alcoholism by attending a de-addiction center. Thereafter he used to invite me to D.C bars for an occasional drink, himself sipping only fruit juice. In 1994-95 he joined the India Post in California as editor but had to leave the job since he was not comfortable with the management of the new tabloid. All the while he used to maintain contact with me although I had returned to India.

He bloomed as the special assistant to the India caucus between 1998 and 2000 when Congressman Gary Ackerman became the co-chair in 1998. From then on there was a "Narayan" stamp on everything that the Caucus did. What was attributed to Gary by the Indian circles and media was in fact done by Narayan who reveled in the manipulative Capitol Hill politics, having mastered the role traditionally played by the Congressional aides, which others seldom understood.

Gary was no doubt well known earlier to the Indian Embassy and Indian-Americans as the chairman of the important sub committee on Asia and Pacific, a successor to "our own" Stev Solarz, but the building up of relationship with him was not that easy. Narayan won him over with his incisive knowledge of the Indian issues relevant to an American politician.

Gary's interventions in the House and public speeches were all drafted by Narayan who worked as his alter ego.

Whether it was the famous 1999 "Kargil Resolution" (House Resolution No 227 of June 29, 1999-"Expressing sense of the Congress in Opposition to the government of Pakistan's support to armed incursion into Jammu and Kashmir") or the defeat of the Burton Amendment of Aug 2, 1999 proposing cut to aid to India or the earlier Goodling Amendment, the role of Narayan was very evident to those who knew and understood Congressional politics.

It pains me to see a national hero being neglected by our media. I am however proud of SAJA (South Asian Journalists' Association) of New York which has done a commendable job in publishing Narayan's effervescent photos along with excerpts of his CNN interview on their Web page.

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From: Bhattiprolu Murti, Dow Jones Newswires


Narayan Keshavan, with whom I came in contact while working as a fill-in Washington correspondent for the United News of India a few years ago, was a fine person. His untimely death robs India of a great friend in the U.S. My condolences to his family.

Bhattiprolu Murti, Washington, D.C.

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From: Yogi Chugh, Federation of Indian Associations, No. California

Kesh was a great friend and will be sorely missed here by his friends in
CA. Keshavan was a journalist, who knew the power of journalism and politics, and knew how to use it effectively to the advantage of the Indian-American community. He was a political guru and strategist as well.  Keshavan always would say the best for our community has yet to come. His philosiphy was deep rooted and he was a man of conviction.  Even in moments of triumph, he would say, let us not rest. His work however will remain deeply entrencehed in our lives through his work on the India Caucus, the causes that he was invloved in, and his journalistic writings. Scores of friends here in CA will miss his friendship and sense of humor.
 
Sincerely,
Yogi Chugh, Northern California

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From: Nalini Raja Patel, Correspondent India Post/TV Asia

Thank you so much for paying this tribute to Kesh. He fully deserves this recognition because among all his achievements and bites at different things, he was a journalist at heart first. Sometimes, I fondly called him Keshubhai, to which he always laughed saying why gujus always have to have "bhai" at the end. He has always helped me tremendously with all my troubles and just two days before he left us, he helped me draft a very important letter which will have to be a final copy now. Kesh's memories will be cherished and his legacy will be continued.

Regards,
Nalini Raja Patel

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From: Jeevan Zutshi, Indo-American Kashmir Forum

I knew Kesh since my friend and past President of Indo-American Kashmir Forum, Dr. Hira Fotedar referred me to him to complete my search for a Chief Editor of a Newspaper I founded along with couple of others from Fremont/ San Francisco area. That was 1994 and since then Kesh was a dear friend. He stayed for only two years in California with me as the Chief Editor of that newspaper in Fremont, California. He believed in true journalism not allow the use of a newspaper as a mouth piece to promote oneself. We both abandoned the newspaper but Kesh remained a great friend always. He arranged a meeting with Gary Ackerman few years back for me to discuss the Pakistani sponsored terrorism in Kashmir. Kesh was a great supporter of Kashmiri Pandits and always felt so sad at the apathy of government of India towards Kashmiri Pandits, who became refugees in
their own country since Pakistani insurgency began in 1989.
 
I spoke to Kesh only 3 days before he passed away when he told me about his interview on CNN.
 
On behalf of Indo American Kashmir Forum, our President Dr. Vijay Sazawal and past President, Dr. Hira Fotedar, I wish to pay our condolences to members of his family and extended family.
 
Jeevan Zutshi, Fremont, California

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From: Subodh Chandra, directorof law, City of Cleveland, Ohio

I met Kesh when I was doing fundraising work for Tennessee Congressional Candidate Ram Uppuluri back in early 1994. A few of us poured into a car and drove Ram around New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut for a few days to various fundraising events we had organized. Kesh was our journalist sidekick, covering the tour for India Abroad.

Needless to say, several days of traveling together and late nights bonded us all. Kesh was a lot of fun to be around. He was full of wit and insight, quick with a laugh, and was one of the most slyly sardonic men I have met. His dispatches from the campaign front were often full of purple prose--winking at the reader. It was like traveling with an Indian Hunter S. Thompson.

He also carried himself like an international man of mystery, leaving the occasional cryptic message on an answering machine regarding developments on one campaign or the other: "This is Keshavan, leaving a message regarding Maryland's Sixth District...[Cryptic information]...and this is Keshavan, signing off."

Years later, those of us who traveled with him would recollect the experience fondly and construct sentences imitating his pen (one friend described me, with Kesh-like phraseology, as having attained the "paunch of prosperity").

I really thought he and I were going to see each other again soon, perhaps at the upcoming Indian-American Leadership Incubator (IALI) conference commemorating the 10-year anniversary of the Uppuluri, Dhillon, and Mathews campaigns. I really  I really couldn't wait to hug him and laugh with him. Alas, it is not to be.

Kesh, you will be missed. The photo on this web page of you laughing during Lou Dobbs's Moneyline meant a lot to me; you were just as I remembered you (although, perhaps, with a bit more of the "paunch of prosperity"). I hope somewhere, you are writing one of those ironic sentences winking at us all.

Subodh Chandra, Cleveland

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SEE CNN INTERVIEW BELOW...

 


SAJA > Narayan D. Keshavan obit

On this page: News items, profiles, tributes, memorial services - see above

Transcript of LOU DOBBS TONIGHT ON CNN
Thursday, Nov. 13, 2003 / 6:19 p.m.

On Friday, Nov. 14, Lou Dobbs said the following on CNN:

We extend our condolences tonight to the family and the friends of Narayan Keshavan who died last night. The executive director of the Indian-American Forum for Political Education was our guest on that evening. Keshavan was a respected longtime advocate of Indian interests in this country. He was 53 years old.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DOBBS: More than 350,000 American technology jobs have been outsourced to India and to other countries as well. My next guest says it would be ideal  for those jobs to stay in this country. But he says outsourcing them can  help some Americans keep their job.

Narayan Keshavan is the executive director of the Indian-American Forum For Political Education and joins me now.

It's good to have you with us.

NARAYAN KESHAVAN, EXEC. DIRECTOR, INDIAN AMERICAN FORUM FOR POLITICAL
EDUCATION: It's pleasure to be with you.

DOBBS: It is counterintuitive to say that outsourcing U.S. jobs overseas,
whether to India, to the Philippines, Ireland, that's somehow good for the
U.S. How is that?

KESHAVAN: Well, the name of the game is wealth creation.

Once wealth creation is interest process -- first of all, I don't agree
with the notion that outsourcing is taking the job from our country to
another country, especially to India or to a sister democracy. I
personally believe that these jobs are not being done here properly. It's
not economical to do it here, and that's why those jobs are moving to
another place.

DOBBS: Well, and I would take exception to that and say to you, the only
reason they're going to India is because people in India, in most cases,
are working for something like 80 percent to 90 percent less than their
American counterpart and U.S. corporations are simply seeking out a
cheaper labor pool. You certainly wouldn't resist that, would you?

KESHAVAN: Cost is one of the factors in any CEO's calculation of running
businesses, Lou.

DOBBS: Of late, it seems principal in their consideration.

KESHAVAN: Well, they are answerable to their stakeholders. And, naturally
-- it is not just some sweatshop that's being run in India, you know.
There's Microsoft. There's Oracle. There's Sun Microsystems there, IBM
there.

DOBBS: Well, there's GE Capital, 15,000 people in Delhi. It goes on and
on. McKenzie has a full operation, as it is advising. Accenture has a full
operation advising these clever CEOs, who we pay a great deal of money in
this country, to show them how to lower their labor costs.

(CROSSTALK)

KESHAVAN: You would concede that these CEOs are not fools.

(CROSSTALK)

DOBBS: Oh, I would say that they're not fools. I would say, in most cases,
the boards of directors, who pay them egregiously high salaries and allow
to export U.S. jobs, just on the basis of cost, they're the fools.

KESHAVAN: I'm not here to defend outrageous salaries.

(LAUGHTER)

DOBBS: OK.

(CROSSTALK)

DOBBS: What I'm saying to you is, I would not -- I love India. I love the
Indian people. It's a remarkable culture and society.

When I say that this is idiotic on any basis, I'm saying -- I'm not
blaming India. I'm blaming the idiots here, who are without reference --
you talked about stakeholders. There's no more important stakeholder than
the customer and the employee.

KESHAVAN: First of all, let me finish my thought.

DOBBS: Sure.

KESHAVAN: That, once these jobs are gone there, that makes those companies
viable over here, in the sense that they stay in business. The high-end
jobs are retained here and the tax base is retained here. Otherwise, the
whole company may have gone under and, thereby, the entire staff of the
company would have been out of job.

At least now, a portion of the job remains here and a portion of the job
remains, say, in India, Ireland, or Israel, or wherever. And the process
of wealth creation, which is where I began, continues. And I think that's
a good thing. So I don't think we should look at outsourcing as just
taking job from one place to another. That is what is my argument. Now...

DOBBS: But that's precisely what's going on, isn't it? We are watching, in
this instance, and principally with India, high-value jobs, manufacturing
jobs, that are being outsourced. And we're now talking about high-value
technology jobs primarily. We have programmers in this country, many of
them Indian-Americans, who are out of work because these jobs are
outsourced.

KESHAVAN: I know a few.

DOBBS: Precisely my point.

KESHAVAN: Yes.

DOBBS: What is the sense of the United States giving up its middle class
to outsource these jobs? I just don't quite -- if one has sort of a global
view of the world that suggests that individual national interests don't
matter, I can perhaps get there. But, as an American citizen, I can't.

KESHAVAN: Yes, I can understand the sad stories that I have read,
including in my own community over here.

DOBBS: Sure.

KESHAVAN: But the fact of the matter is, the entire trade situation is --
and you are the ones who have been talking about free trade all over the
globe, open up your market, and blah, blah, blah, liberalize your trade,
match up to the standards of us.

DOBBS: And it's worked pretty well for India, hasn't it?

(CROSSTALK)

KESHAVAN: It's worked pretty well for India. And now you might even say,
use the word, it's biting up in the

(CROSSTALK)

DOBBS: Exactly. We're running a significant deficit with India.

KESHAVAN: That's the reality of today. And that's the challenge. But, Lou,
we have to look at it this way. The jobs that are going there are, No. 1,
keeping the companies here viable, second, creating wealth.

(CROSSTALK)

DOBBS: You're not suggesting that IBM, General Electric, McKenzie, Dell
Computer, that these companies would not be viable if they weren't
outsourcing those jobs.

KESHAVAN: Much of their operations over here are not viable. Otherwise,
they would not have brought it from here, because the CEOs also know the
backlash of politics in this country. So I think you should talk to them.
They'll give you much better reasons.

DOBBS: I do. I assure you I do.

KESHAVAN: I know you must, Lou.

DOBBS: And when I ask them, the answer is always the same, those who are
honest and straightforward. The reason is because Indian labor is cheaper
than U.S. labor.

(CROSSTALK)

DOBBS: And there seems to be a disassociation on the part of many of those
people between the fact that an employee in this country is also a
consumer and the consumption part of our economy is two- thirds of this
economy.

KESHAVAN: No, that -- I agree with you that the labor in India is cheaper
than this country. But the brains are as smart, if not smarter, in high
technology there. The intellectual capital of India is enormous. Their
talent, their skills, their work ethic is

(CROSSTALK)

KESHAVAN: ... in the world.

DOBBS: Absolutely, and wonderful entrepreneurs, wonderful mercantilists.

(CROSSTALK)

KESHAVAN: Right.

Look, if these guys hadn't come to this country, the Indian- Americans, to
Silicon Valley, you wouldn't be having Hotmail to use. I'm sure you use
that. I use it. You wouldn't be having Pentium chip here. That was
designed by an Indian-American. You wouldn't probably see such a very
prosperous Microsoft, minus the Indian-Americans who work

(CROSSTALK)

DOBBS: Now you're going to get a lot of people upset, because some people
might not like to see Microsoft quite as prosperous. But we'll have to put
that up against the Indian fellow at Sun, against the Indian fellow at
Intel, against -- but, anyway, the point is, those jobs weren't
outsourced. That was talent that came to this country to work. And it's
worked very well for all of us.

I hope you'll come back soon as we discuss this, because this issue, as
you know, is becoming -- moving to the forefront.

KESHAVAN: It's going to be a hot political potato this election season.

DOBBS: Right.

KESHAVAN: Any time you want me, I'm available.

DOBBS: We will want to talk often. Thank you.

KESHAVAN: Thank you, Lou.

DOBBS: Thank you.

Please stay with us.

 

 

 

Updates/corrections: saja@columbia.edu / 212-854-5979