Meet Rajiv Nema “Indori,” who will have you in splits within minutes of meeting. This San Francisco bay area denizen has been a fixture at Naatak, a 18 year old theatre company that has a loyal following in this area. When Rajiv Nema is not on stage or in front of a camera, you can find him working in a tech company. You see, he trained as a engineer, but his heart is in theatre and acting. In front of camera you ask? Yes, he whips out his trusty little iPhone (thanks god to Steve Jobs and his brilliant team in Cupertino), and shots these funny videos that have made him a YouTube sensation. Mention “the Indori guy,” and folks from Indore in Madhya Pradesh will recognize him instantly. Forget Indore, way down South in the garden city of Bangalore I discovered folks that were loyal followers of the “indori” guy.
A couple of weeks ago, we had Rajiv Nema on our weekly radio show at KZSU, Stanford. For a full “68 minutes,” Rajiv Nema was on a roll and in fine form as I flitted from one topic to another. We spoke about his beloved city of Indore, Indori accent, how he courted his Nicaraguan wife and proposed to her via the fax machine (remember the fax?), his YouTube video, Naatak, and his work at SAP and its new exciting technology called HANA. I have never laughed so much during my weekly radio show.
Take a listen to the interview yourself as Rajiv Nema regales you with entertaining and funny stories.
And here is a video from Rajiv Nema’s YouTube channel, where he proposes an Indori accent for your GPS navigator in the US. Now, imagine driving a Prius where you get turn-by-turn instructions in good ole Indori accent, when all you can follow is English and Tamil!
