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Giving viewers the best deal

Sonia Chopra

A few days ago, Sumi Das, a producer/reporter for ZDTV, who co-hosts a weekly program, reviewing new gizmos for consumers, received a letter from a young fan who had bought a digital camera that she had highly recommended in her show. He had saved a bundle, he gleefully told her.

"It made me happy. I like that about my job. I like sharing information with people, who are considering buying, say, a $ 300 gadget and I can recommend a good one for about $ 100, which has a whole lot of additional features and saves them money," said Das, 27, who lives and works in the San Francisco Bay area.

"It's worth it to them to save that money. I feel like I am making a contribution and entertaining people."

The program, Fresh Gear, also accessible on the web at www.freshgear.com reviews gadgets like phones, DVD players, laptop computers, Internet boom box, cell phones pagers, wireless application protocol and cameras.

"It's very consumer-oriented. It's just like its' slogan, "New stuff, no hype", and it basically rates the gadgets and we tell people who should buy it, how it works, cost, disadvantages and advantages," said Das, who also does a daily radio program.

The two gadgets Das herself "cannot absolutely do without and loves" are her digital camera and her DVD player.

The best thing about her job is "going out in the field meeting people and working with the crew".

After graduation, Das's first job was only about "'mental stimulation". She volunteered to host and produce Esencia, a women's radio program run out of KSJS at San Jose University.

She took a break for four months and went on a world tour to give herself "time to think of what to do next". The answer was broadcasting, as it had the added attraction of being "visual".

Das returned and began working as a television producer for New Media news on KRON, an NBC affiliate, for three years. Then, she joined ZDTV, a 24-hour cable TV network about technology two years ago. After working for a year as an associate producer, she decided to go on camera, initially for one segment weekly and then two and then she was co-hosting the show.

"For me being on camera was a strange feeling. I was so comfortable that I was surprised. I just feel like I am talking to people; there is no nervousness or anything," Das said.

But writing too has always been there in her life. At the University of Berkeley, she majored in psychology and minored in English and she said, "both help her" in her work.

Das was born in Wimbledon, England, and she lived there until she was seven years old. Her father, Tarun Das, an electrical engineer and her mother Mukut, a director at a child care facility, now live in San Jose; her brother Manash, 21, studies film at USC.

Her parents are from Assam and Das tries to go back every two years to visit her family but she admits, "Sometimes the gap gets longer than two years."

Things that appeal to her in India are the close ties and the diversity.

"Whenever I go back, I feel instantly at home with my family, no matter how long the gap is. I am so comfortable. I really enjoy it there," Das said.

"What strikes me about India is the rural beauty, the hospitality, the poverty, the quick-changing technology, the chaos, the good and the bad... They strike me."

As for the future, Das does not see herself in any other job.

"I love this. I will just keep doing it and the only change I will make is to refine my on-the-air skills."

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