The Philadelphia Inquirer Business People Column.

Jun. 19--FROM REHABILITATION SERVICES TO A SOUTH ASIAN WEB PORTAL: Barry E. Smith likens his recent job change to jumping onto a speeding train.

Smith, 47, was just hired by Chaitime.com, a Center City Internet company that operates a Web portal for the South Asian community, as its chief financial officer.

He said making the transition from NovaCare Inc., a King of Prussia provider of rehabilitation services, has not been too difficult.

"The business environment at NovaCare was at least as busy as this," Smith said in describing his new employer.

Chaitime.com, fresh off of a $25 million infusion of venture capital in January, has seen the number of page views of its Web site rise from 20,000 just over a year ago to 15 million in May. It has also set up offices in London, Bombay and Los Angeles in that time, the company's president of North American operations, Neeta Parikh, said.

Travel will part of Smith's job. He recently returned from Bombay, and is set to leave for London shortly to participate in discussions for a potential …