This little chestnut has been on CNN’s front page since Friday, in the bottom left corner (thanks, chick pea). It’s also on the current Time home page.

The Time magazine story is not only part of MTV Desi’s PR launch (sow widely, eat phat), it’s part of the South Asian brand launch in the U.S. It’s the usual hype and Mercedes-driving uncles, but hey, we’re narcissists:

… during the 1990s the number of Indians in the U.S. more than doubled–making them the fastest-growing Asian minority. There are some 2.5 million desis in the U.S., and the vast majority are Indian…. consider how premium a customer a South Asian is: Indians alone commanded $76 billion worth of disposable personal income last year… median household income is nearly $64,000–50% higher than the national average. The U.S. has always welcomed the world’s poor and working classes. India has sent its professionals… 64% of Indians in the U.S. hold a bachelor’s degree, vs. 24% of the overall population… “We make up one-fifth of the population of the world. Imagine that.”

Jay Sean explains why he picked Bipasha Basu for his video. What the other reason could possibly be escapes my mind.

Sean is miked and seated in front of an MTV logo reminiscent of the Taj Mahal… “This is your boy Jay Sean,” he says, “and you’re watching MTV Desi…” Sean, in typical eyebrow-raising rock-star fashion, picked actress Bipasha Basu for his music video in part because she was racy enough to have had an onscreen kiss…

Ah yes, now I remember. It’s because she looks like this:

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