Monthly Archives: September 2004

Democrats Abroad

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I could be wrong but I would guess that a fair amount of Indians who are U.S. citizens are moving back to India in their retirement (anyone have any numbers for me). Social Security checks alone (which according to my previous entry, we don’t collect as often as we should) would allow you to live a fairly comfortable life in India. Many of my relatives who have lived in this country for over 30 years, are doing just this sort of thing. My point is that there is probably going to be an increasing number of U.S. citizens living in India. Perhaps with this new trend in mind, two U.S. citizens, Sumana Brahman, who is of Indian origin, and Patti Madigan, along with some other volunteers, have started the India chapter of Democrats Abroad, which targets expatriates and encourages them to vote. As reported by the Economic Times:

They have a simple message for Americans residing here — “every vote counts”. “Look at what happened during the ’00 presidential elections. Things went to the wire and in states like Florida, the absentee ballots decided the fate of the candidates,” Ms Brahman, who has been working as a consultant in India for some time, said.

There are 7m American expatriates worldwide, who are eligible to vote. “The number is more than in some US states,” she says.

However, Ms Brahman dispels notions that the group is a supporter of the Democratic party as its name may suggest. “We are just private citizens. While we do support the Kerry campaign personally, our target now is to enlist as many people as possible without consideration of their party affiliations,” she says.

The Census Data

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The India Abroad Center For Political Awareness has done a nice little summary of the 2000 census data about the Indian American community. For those of you SM readers too lazy to read the whole thing you have me here to summarize it for you, with my own observations thrown in as a bonus. The highlights:

  • Indian Americans use Social Security benefits much less than the general population and significantly lower than even the Asian population. (We need to grab our piece of the pie out of that “lock box” folks)

  • A significant number of Indians live in poverty in Rhode Island, Puerto Rico, D.C., and New York. (I didn’t even know Indians lived in Rhode Island except to attend Brown)

  • Indians account for 0.68% of the U.S. population (Represent!)

  • 96.70% of Indians live in Urban areas as opposed to 79% of the general population. (That really sucks if you are brown and live in a small town)

  • Nearly 2/3 of the Indian American population is 35 years old or younger. This is the largest difference between Indian Americans and the general population. (The really young ones are turning into little punks. I worry about this)

  • As this large group of young people hits retirement age we will begin to require a larger amount of healthcare, social security, and retirement facilities (Whatever. I plan to have rich kids to take care of me.)

  • 6.6% of Indian Americans live in the same house with their grandchildren (Wow. That’s less than I thought. But my kids will take me in, I’m sure.)

  • Since 1994, between 32.3% and 54.1% of the eligible Indian American population voted in each election (not good folks).

  • Indian Americans are 3.5 times more likely to have a professional degree (what a pain in the ass it has been living up to that stat).

  • Indian American children tend to start school earlier than children in the general population (NERDS!).

  • Indian women are more than twice as likely not to have any schooling (foul!).

  • While the general population has only 19.38% more people in poverty than the Indian American population, it receives 176% more public assistance (damn slackers).

vegetarians rule, y’all

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Fauja Singh–the astonishing nonagenarian athlete and all-around bad-ass who was in an adidas ad–will be starring in another commercial, an ad for PETA:

The ad shows a runner in mid-stride, training for his next marathon, and reading, “Fauja Singh: Age 93/Champion International Marathon Runner/Father of Six/Grandfather of 13… Vegetarian”.
Singh will be competing at the Toronto Waterfront Marathon September 26.
Singh rediscovered his passion for distance running at the age of 81 and even now shows no signs of slowing down. He has joined forces with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) to caution Asians and others about the perils they face if they clog their arteries with meat.

singh has received well-deserved accolades for his accomplishments:

…Singh, who finished ahead of his age group at the New York Marathon last year, was honoured with the Ellis Island of Honour for his feat. He is the only non-American to be so honoured in the history of the prestigious award.
Apart from congressional awards, the Ellis Island Medals of Honour are the only awards recognised by Congress.

what was that about old indian men with superpowers, abhi? 😉

Bachelor / Survivor are both so lame…

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if you want real reality TV, you’ve gotta borrow a hindi movie plotline – Gudiya ki shaadi: Indian reality show on TV – The Times of India

NEW DELHI: The life of a young woman being ordered to return to her first husband, who had gone missing for five years, despite being pregnant by her second husband is unfolding before millions of Indians. In a story with all ingredients for a maudlin movie, Gudiya, eight months pregnant with her second husband Taufiq, is being forced by family members and community leaders to return to her first husband, Mohammad Arif, a soldier who had been presumed dead. With Arif’s unexpected return after five years as a prisoner of war in Pakistan, Gudiya’s second marriage has been deemed illegal by Islamic clerics quoting the Shariat. Which man should Gudiya choose?

Truely “the most exciting rose ceremony ever.”

Posted in TV

Take cover! It’s furrin’!

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What pops into your mind when you see Arabic script? BBC World News? Urdu shayari? Old-school Punjabi poetry?

Midwest Airlines grounded a flight from Milwaukee to San Francisco after a passenger grew alarmed at seeing Arabic script handwritten inside a magazine (via Half the Sins). The plane returned to the gate, a thorough search turned up nothing, and passengers had to spend the night. The script turned out to be a meditative passage in Farsi written by a Persian Jack Handy.

Reminds me of a trusty Shazia Mirza joke which went something like this: ‘I told my audience I had a surprise for them. And everybody ducked.’

Naveen Andrews stars in ‘Lost’ on ABC

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Shaggy-haired actor Naveen Andrews (Bride and Prejudice, The English Patient, The Buddha of Suburbia, Wild West, Kama Sutra) is starring in a new ABC series, Lost, satirically described by the New York Post as a show about an airplane crash on an island where only models survive. Andrews plays an Iraqi dealing with racial prejudice from his fellow survivors. Can’t say they’re not trying to be topical.

I wouldn’t have expected this of the U.S. film market vs. that of the UK:

The actor told [Asians in Media] recently that he has moved to the USA because opportunities for non-white actors were greater out there.
Posted in TV

Amber Alert tied to desi family

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AmberAlert.jpg Over the weekend, I went to a desi wedding in Long Island and drove past a slew of Amber Alert child kidnapping signs asking people to watch for a white van. The kids turned up safe, and the father/abductor committed suicide after killing his wife and shooting her sister. Turns out Clifford Bonner’s wife Michelle and her sister, Candice Rampersad, are both desi. The police bulletin on Bonner described him as black, but he’s actually Hispanic and Cherokee. Another case of conforming race to black / white/ Hispanic / other? Continue reading →

“Just Vote, Yaar”

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kerryfundraiser.jpg

SAKI2004 (South Asians for Kerry in 2004) are putting on a gala event to raise money for the Kerry Campaign on October 6th in NY. They have already signed up DJ Rekha, Kal Penn, and the cast of Bombay Dreams. We can safely assume that they are all Kerry supporters. Interestingly the proceeds from this fundraiser are going straight to the battleground state of Florida. Nice strategery.

SAKI also has some other good stuff going on this Thursday if you are in D.C. (I can only wish). They are holding a South Asian Presidental Debate in the CNN Crossfire Room at the George Washinton University campus. Sigh. One day I hope to be the brown James Carville and host Crossfire. When I am bald of course.

Those Villainous Lawyers

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As the elections draw near, candidates continue to reach out to the South Asian vote. Illinois Senate hopeful Barack Obama recently met with a group of South Asian American community and business leaders at a fundraising dinner held at the home of physician Vipul Aurora as reported by NewKerala.com:

…the Senate hopeful who has become a political star after his speech at the Democratic convention, says South Asian Americans and “we share the same values”.

“We are in a good position, thanks to the support from the South Asian community,” he said adding, “We share the same set of values.”

“We have made tremendous strides politically in the last 18 months,” he said. “There was a time when many people said, ‘He (Obama) has no organisation, no money and we cannot even pronounce his name’.”

Of course as you can imagine, many of the doctors at the gathering expressed hopes that Obama would focus on the problems of medical malpractice insurance if elected. Will he oblige them? Continue reading →

Stockholm syndrome or middle aged lust attack?

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British reporter Yvonne Ridley, having been held captive by the Taliban, converted to Islam after her release. Her explanation (conveyed via the BBC) has some odd sexual undercurrents to it:

Working as a reporter for the Sunday Express in September 2001, Ridley was smuggled from Pakistan across the Afghan border…. her cover was blown when she fell off her donkey in front of a Taleban soldier near Jalalabad… Her first thought as the furious young man came running towards her? “Wow – you’re gorgeous,” she says. “He had those amazing green eyes that are peculiar to that region of Afghanistan and a beard with a life of its own. “But fear quickly took over. I did see him again on my way to Pakistan after my release and he waved at me from his car.”

Continue reading →