The American India Foundation (AIF) presents KARYSHMA in concert @ The Middle East on September 19 at 7.30 p.m.

A band that takes chances, Karyshma brings together the intensity of rock, the improvisation of jazz and the intricacies of India's musical traditions. Karyshma has the “rare ability to stop audiences silent in their tracks” according to Global Rhythm magazine, with music that “has no real home or category – it is original and fresh,” according to India Post.

Tickets are limited, so shop early. E-mail with names and number of tickets requested to reserve spots today for $10/person.

All proceeds will benefit the American India Foundation, dedicated to accelerating social and economic change in India.

For more information, click here, e-mail AIF or call Vikram Desai at 617-304-6019.

South Asian American Leaders of Tomorrow, or SAALT is sponsoring the Fourth Annual National Gandhi Day Of Serivce. If you live in the Bay area, contact Subha Varadarajan to register for the October 2 event.

From the SAALT website, here are some reasons why you should get involved:

The National Gandhi Day of Service perpetuates the legacy of Mohandas K. Gandhi, who spent much of his life the least fortunate members of his community through tireless service.

The collective efforts of local Gandhi Day projects provides a vehicle for unity in the South Asian community while sending a message that we are contributing members of American society.

Gandhi Day provides an opportunity to give back for the many successes and opportunities that we have been afforded as immigrants.

It is a fun activity for members of your organization to come together, do something positive for your neighborhood, and become a part of a rewarding national movement.

If you are a photographer, writer, designer, illustrator or an artist of any kind you have gotta have a web presence. But not just any old web site. Please pay attention to colors, fonts, layout and of course content.

Bernice Yeung is a freelance writer who gets it. Hers is a clean, simple, pleasant web site that has just about all the things that one would want to see at a writer's website. “I'm mostly using it for when I'm pitching stories for freelance work,” she offered in a recent email. Indeed, a web site can be your calling card that could either make or break you in a world where the first impression lasts a lifetime. See how each page has a different background color. That sort of feedback to the web site visitor is golden. I was also impressed in the way the pages loaded quickly. Missing are unnecessary animations and other eye candy that distract rather than attract you to the content on the site.

Yeung's site is designed by Rick Elizaga. And I mention his name because a lot of us feel we have to go at this alone or mistakenly believe we can design our own sites. Here is a bit of unsolicited advice – get a designer to help you out. Going back to the topic of making your first impression, would you want your site to look unprofessional or professional? Do what you do best, leave the rest to those who do those things best. While it may mean saving a few bucks now, the price you pay trying to be a jack of all trades is much too great for your future.

Tasveer announced Seattle's first independent South Asian Film Festival. The opening night is on September 16 at 8 p.m. If any one of you goes, please send me blurb about it. I'll post it here.

Via Ram Rahman

There is a big retrospective exhibition of the late Raghubir Singh opening September 30th at Sepia Gallery at 148 W 24th St New York, NY 10011. Check the web site or call (212) 645- 9444 for more details.

Singh as you may know revitalized the use of color in Indian photography. Given he spent so much time in India, one may mistakenly think that would be an easy task. Quite the contrary, because the country is so colorful, Singh had to be a superb craftsman at delineating color from subject yet make some statement about both at the same time in the same frame. Therein lies his genius. If you have seen his book on the ubiquitous Ambassador car you'll know what I am talking about.