Where do socially-conscious Indian-Americans flock to when they want to give something back to their native country? The answer, overwhelming evidence indicates, is the (Bill) Clinton Foundation. Set up three years ago to fight aids, the Foundation boasts of three Americans of Indian origin. The country director is Kerala-born Satish Narayanan (far right), 33, who was a staffer in Clinton's White House. He moved to Delhi in September 2004 at Clinton's behest. The other two are Ameya Bijoor, 27, and Sonali Duggal, 25, both of whom quit hi-profile jobs to join the Foundation. "We used to come to India for vacations but never got a chance to work, so we grabbed this offer," says Bijoor. How long do they plan to stay on? "So long as the President wants me to hang in," quips Narayanan. It's a Presidential order, after all.

Back To Square One

Here's another entrepreneur trying to figure out if he can start something up, all over again. Apparently, there's no dearth of believers. In the three weeks since Raman Roy quit Spectramind, a company he founded in 2000 and sold to Wipro two years later, he's been flooded by offers from VCs. "I am getting a lot of free drinks," smiles Roy, 47. Back to operating out of his home-office, Roy says he'll need another six weeks to figure things out. He can take his time. Unlike the last time around, it's the VCs who'll do the waiting.

Donning A New Hat

Dealmakers on Dalal Street can breathe easy a bit. One of India's hottest dealmakers and head of I-banking at DSP Merrill Lynch, Rajeev Gupta, has quit to head the Carlyle Group's private equity business in India. Says Gupta, 47, who was involved in Holcim's purchase of acc and Tata Teleservices' acquisition of Hughes Telecom: "After spending years creating value for my clients, I felt it was time to move on to creating value for my country." Guess, his phone must have already started ringing.

Chasing Big Picture

I surprised everyone, including myself," says the 45-year-old Alex Kuruvilla, MTV India's Managing Director on his decision to quit MTV early this month, after seven years at the helm. And if you're wondering, like most in the television industry, why he called it a day when things were looking great for the company in India, with three powerful channels in MTV, kids-channel Nickelodeon and newly-launched international music and lifestyle channel vh1, the man himself offers a fairly honest and straight answer: "I didn't want to be left standing while things passed me by." In other words, the current boom in the entertainment and media industry had left Kuruvilla itching for a bigger, broader canvas than MTV. "It will be something in media & entertainment, maybe even in the new technology domain," is all he'll say at the moment.

Czar Junior

Like father, like son. If DLF universal's K.P. Singh made real estate history by creating one of the best-selling suburbs (in Gurgaon, near Delhi), then his son seems determined to make a mark of his own. Last fortnight, Rajiv Singh, 46, stunned everyone by bidding an astronomical Rs 702 crore for ntc's 17.5-acre textile mill land in central Mumbai. The deal has been billed the biggest real estate transaction in India. Is that Singh Jr.'s way of announcing to rival developers in Mumbai his intentions? No, says the mechanical engineer from MIT. "Mumbai is the commercial capital of India and its importance will only grow in the years ahead. We are happy to have secured an opportunity to participate in Mumbai's growth." DLF plans to invest about Rs 300 crore in building an integrated retail-cum-entertainment complex on the property. Looks like the title of real estate czar is passing from K.P. to his son.

-Contributed by Supriya Shrinate, Amanpreet Singh, Priyanka Sangani, Shailesh Dobhal and R. Sridharan