Despite the fact that I get paid the big bucks (I wish) to be a blogging maven and learn desi related stuff first, so that I may humbly bring it to the attention of SM readers, there are some stories that an Indian mom will ALWAYS know about before us savvy internet users. This one comes from first time SM tipster, my Mom. Diamondbackonline.com, a University of Maryland school paper, reports on missing person Arvin Sharma:
A 22-year-old university student was reported missing following an evening of clubbing with friends in Southwest Washington Saturday, officials said.
District Police are looking for Arvin Sharma, a recent transfer from Temple University who lives in Greenbelt. He was last seen near the 1800 block of Half Street near the Lime Night Club, police said. Officials had few details yesterday regarding what may have happened to Sharma or what he was doing when last seen.
Sharma’s family searched his condominium Saturday morning and found his car parked outside, said his brother, Ashish Sharma. He left his car at home Friday evening and rode to the club with friends.
The family has sent e-mails and photos to media throughout the Washington and Baltimore areas, family members said.
“He’s not answering his cell phone; he hasn’t made any withdrawals from his bank account,†Ashish Sharma said.
So why is it that an Indian mom would know about this news first? It’s just the kind of example my mom uses every time I go home to the D.C. Metro area and decide to meet up with some friends in the city. “Be careful, its dangerous.”
My mom also pointed out the fact that the police will attempt to use their brand new anti-terrorism surveillance system, which consists of cameras on practically every D.C. street (more on that here), to figure out what became of Sharma.
Sharma’s family described him as a light-complexioned Indian male with brown eyes and black hair.
He is 6 feet 1 inch tall and weighs about 190 pounds, they said.
District police are asking anyone with information to contact them at (202) 727-9099.
NBC4 has a video report of the story with full details.
just saw the story on DC’s channel 4/11pm news. the photographs they chose to show were of him with an adorable indian baby, like a nephew or something….just heartbreaking.
then they cut to his family sitting in their home. his parents seemed immobilized by the situation, his brother ashish thanked congressman hoyer/the feds for all their help. apparently, arvin’s credit cards still haven’t been used.
🙁 my spider sense isn’t telling me anything happy about this…
:+:
what’s “lime”? i don’t know anyone who goes to clubs in southwest (probably for this reason). but lime?? has anyone been there?
I googled it after I read the alert from SAJA. Apparently it is an reggae, soca, hip hop and R&B club in SW. The only club in SW where I have been to is H20.
just a note – arvin is nepali, which they didn’t mention in the article. this type of tragedy impacts all of us in the south asian community, but i wanted to correct the story.
Too Too Bad people, Arvin is no more, they found his body in a river.
Arvin was my cousin, and yeah, they definitely found his body in the river. Crazy too b/c apparently his mom got some folks back home in Nepal to go see an astrologer and she said he would be found in a pool of water by a bridge. INSANE!!
From the thread where Manish posted about Arvin’s death:
Saheli, Do you know where to go about getting violent crime statistics by neighborhood or census tract or whatever? I’ve always felt the same way about education vs. irrational (and racist) fear, but I’ve never taken the time to correct it.
Saurav, good question. There is no single national resource, that I know of, yet. Since Sepia Mutiny Comments don’t allow tables, I just threw together a quick table of some major urban centers. In general any police department worth its salt should post statistics of the Majors, or Uniform Crime Reports. . .look under Crime Statistics or Crime Data. . .and if you can’t find it online you should be able to get a paper copy for the asking. Localizing those is harder in low-population areas–in NYC, for example, the precinct system automatically localizes it. If you’re interested in promoting the availability of this kind of information, hound your local police department and considerc checking out SecurityOnCampus.org. It’s still run by Jeanne Clery’s brother, whom I’ve interviewed on the phone, and he’s very sincerely and passionately interested in using information to promote safety and prevent crime–but I get the impression they’re on a shoe-string budget and it’s all they can do to make sure campuses obey the Jeanne Clery Act.
Hopefully soon to be updated table of Crime Statistics sites, for now including NYC, LA, DC, SF, Oakland, Berkeley, Chicago, Denver, Seattle, and UCLA.
(I double posted just to be on the safe side.)
Hmm, that link didn’t work. http://www.sahelidatta.com/crimestatistics.html
To My Bhanje Arvin
“Only the good die young” there are many good people in this world but why it had to be you. I am in a state of shock right now, I’m dropping these lines coz I still believe you’ll read them someday. Baba and I will celebrate your Graduation day for you. Smile for us from heaven. I love you Bhanje. Mama Roshan.
This is very tragic and depressing. I hope police gets to the bottom of it.
May god bless his soul!
Sharma Family,
May the road rise to meet you, may the wind always be at your back, may the rains fall soft upon your fields, the sun shine warm upon your face, and till we meet again may god hold you in the palms of his hands.
Your safe in heaven now Arvin.
Sweta Lamichhane
I was in one of his classes at UMD. Its so unfortunate, he had a bright furute ahead of him in GIS or remote sensing.
My condolences to the Sharma family…
I knew him briefly, he was a good dude, I liked the way he spoke nepali. He would come and hangout with my fren’s when he decided to cut classes @ UMD.
R.I.P. Hommie, Will burn one for you.
I still can’t believe he is gone. He was a great guy and I enjoyed chatttin with him on the phone. Does anyone know what the autopsy revealed? I’ve been dying to know what happened so I can bring closure to my mind. May he rest in peace. I hope and pray Ashish and his family have tried to put this behind them but still hold Arvin deep in their hearts….