Last week, on Thursday and Friday, a federal judge handed down sentences to the Sabhnanis, the couple in Long Island who were charged with enslaving and torturing their Indonesian maids (Previous SM coverage: 1, 2, 3). 
- Varsha Sabhnani, identified as the person responsible for torturing the maids, received 11 years in prison.
- Her husband, Mahender Sabhnani, was sentenced to 40 months in prison for allowing the crimes to take place and benefitting from them.
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p>The sensational details of this case caught the attention of the mainstream press, as did the resemblance of Varsha Sabhnani to a certain Disney villain. I can imagine this made other Indian families in Long Island, especially the ones who knew the Sabhnanis, a bit unconfortable.
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p>What I can’t understand is why their friend, Jotwani, thought that this would be a defense:
“This case is very frightening for Indian families here,” said Bharat Jotwani, a wealthy friend of the Sabhnanis’ who lives nearby. “We are all educated, nice people. We came here to make it…”“There is no way on earth any Indian family in the United States could do what they were accused of,” he said. “The [Indian] people I know here all feel this way. Anybody from India who has come here comes from a very good family…” [Link]
WTF? The Sabhnani’s couldn’t possibly be guilty because … they’re educated and nice people from good families? No Indian could possibly commit a crime? I know Jotwani’s speaking uncle-speak here, but I honestly can’t figure out what this would translate to in ABCD English. They couldn’t be criminals because they’re wealthy? Sometimes you just gotta shake your head and wonder …
And there the penny drops. Ignore the fact that I am not a “professional activist”. It is clear that you are just searching for a reason to rail against the organization when there was little objectionable about their letter.
You got to “entire race” from “many Indian Americans”? That is one small statement by Andolan, one giant leap for louiecypher. Talk about prickliness.
Slim Fast rage ?
Sorry for the misunderstanding Andolan. I see that many is defined as “amounting to a large but indefinite number”. This provides at least some of us the opportunity to escape being painted as maid molesters/modern day slavers/class enemies. If the public at large confuses many with most you can lay that on the public school system/lead paint. The NYT’s refusal to print your letter is testimony to the vice like grip Hindoos have on the media
The headline, “Cruella” rhymes with….nutella (the chocolate cream you put on bread).
Its been forever since I had nutella…I’m going to buy some nutella.
who wants it….who licks it…who craves it…nutella…cant wait…
Valmiki said
You, jaisingh and a few others are trying to paint a rosy picture out of something that is shameful and indefensible. It is the the culture of virtual slavery and physical and sexual abuse of maids in desi culture that is the issue:
I am not trying to paint a rosy picture. Just the true picture based on my observations. Again, don’t distort it to mean I support child labor. Child labor is illegal in India and if you read my comments correctly I said in my very first comment that my friends maid’s kids all get to go to good schools, camps courtesy of my friend. And the maid situation is nothing peculiar to India. Even in the US, almost all middleclass families I know, including myself, have a house cleaning service, a gardener etc……we have time on the weekends to clean our homes but I like to spend it with my kids rather than cleaning my house. So you stop painting the wrong picture!!!
153 · louiecypher said
Louiecypher,
Where do you get off saying that “Hindoos” control the media, huh? Do you have facts to prove this? Personally I’m not too thrilled by your use of this word as a pejorative. Show some kahunaas and identify your religious background if you don’t mind.
louiecypher:
“Hindoo” is archaic and offensive. Please stop.
SM Intern/Akshay: If you read my other posts, you will see that I am making fun of the people who see a right wing Hindu conspiracy in everything. But since this has offended Akshay and diminished his ability to find context I will desist
156 · Akshay said
Akshay,
You go boy, at least you’ve got some moxy. Personally I don’t care for that term either. After reading all of the comments and links I saw instances where the abusers were Korean (persumably Christian), a Kuwati (persumably Muslim), ad Nauseaum. The Sabhnanis are Hindus but that is not what makes them guilty, its their actions and I hope they get punished and toilet duty as well.
Where do you get off saying that “Hindoos” control the media, huh?
I think the intent was to say “Joos” instead.
159 · Bhavini said
As much as I found louiecypher to not be in compliance with my views, he seems to have fallen into a trap that I find myself in sometimes – some people just don’t get satire or sarcasm…sarcasm even more so when it is read off a screen.
And Akshay I’m sure you meant cohones, coz Kahuna is Hawaiian for “Priest/Sorcerer” and not Spanish for “balls”.
sriahomala,
“Having servants is prevalent the world over for people who can afford to do it, you’ll see it in the middle east, eastern europe, africa, latin america etc. Trying to paint it as this spoiled regressive Desi habit is complete BS.”
Thank you for the point you made, particularly this part that I re-posted. Yes, abuse of another human being is reprehensible, and it should be considered serious whether that abused is a maid or a wealthy individual.
However, I am so incredibly tired of reading these constant comments that basically cast the habit of employing servants in India as the lowers thing a human being could possibly do. If a person is provided employment, given fair treatment and pay, in addition to other benefits, and well-to-do family can afford the services, why is so horrible?
Get self-righteous and basically saying “Shame on Indians who use servants when they could do the work themselves” IS, as you said, such BS. Americans here use such services providers here all the time, everything from lawn care to laundry to maids and even childcare nannies. Yes, that never seems to be as big of a deal. Time and again, I’m always unpleasantly surprised by how quick Indians are to “stand up to” and protest against things done by other Indians, but when non-Indians (especially Americans) do the same things, barely a squeek comes out…..
but when non-Indians (especially Americans) do the same things, barely a squeek comes out…..
cuz white people are nicer, and they buy women roses and stuff on valentines day.
a word on the moderating… what happened to looking at a commenter’s history? It’s obvious louiecypher was being sarcastic. And also, I’ve definitely seen the bloggers here use ‘Hindoo’ or even ‘Hindoooooo’ (I could go find a link, but I don’t think you’d like that very much) jokingly but kind of offensively, given that they weren’t Hindu themselves and given that the main topic of the discussion was actually religion. So SM Intern, please stop with the false self-righteousness.
Enough on my use of that term. The SM Interns have a tough unpaid job and have to exercise judgement to stop pointless digressions/devolution into flame wars. There are readers with varying levels of reading comprehension so use of sarcasm does entail certain risks. Let’s drop this….please
HMF,
“cuz white people are nicer, and they buy women roses and stuff on valentines day.”
Ha ha…good one.
And this attitude doesn’t just limit it self to topics like servant employment. I’m an Indian-born/U.S.-raised person, and I’m so sick of seeing this kind of stuff happening not just by Aunties & Uncles, but increasingly by people in the younger generation, who are often American born or raised themselves. My husband, who moved here from India recently, has even pointed out to me a few times that Indians here are so quick to look down on India and its inhabitants when there’s a lot of unpleasant, sickening, and shameful stuff going on here on many of the same topics. And when that happens, it saddens me because I think “gee, do we really want to blend in so badly here that those are the actions & thoughts it’ll take to do so?”
When bad things happen anywhere, people should speak out against them. But taking a practice used around the world by multiple ethnic groups and then saying “well, India practices and shame on them and their people” is such a cowardly move, especially when there are numerous examples of workers being treated & paid fairly for their services.
164 · wow said
Hey Wow,
STFU. Speaking of sarcasm why don’t you go on Sikhnet.com or some other anit-hindu site where they imply that every “Hindoo” is responsible for their anguish. Yeah I laugh too at the word since Hindu isn’t even mentioned in the Vedas. The correct term would be Santana Dharma or something along those lines. But getting back to the topic at hand, she got 11 years, serves her well. Husband got 40 months, not too shabby. Wish it was longer, oh well.
How about this story: http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/stories/2008/06/18/sparkle_rai_contract_killing.html. Chaman Rai got a life sentence for something even worse. Talk about a crazy Injun.
167 · Josthna said
In·jun /ˈɪndʒən/ –noun Often Offensive. an American Indian. [Origin: 1805–15; var. of Indian; cf. Cajun]
Well, I admit that if I could afford it here, I would employ domestic help.
In India I have employed domestic help and treated them respectfully.
I think the problem we women see is that in India, besides the hired domestic help, the men of the family expect the women of the family to be the ones to be of service to them, unpaid.
Sure we have domestic help in India but we are the ones overseeing it, doing the cooking after the veggies have been chopped and the roti dough prepared. We are the ones expected to serve the family dinner and to bring tall, cool stainless steel glasses of lassis to our husbands after work on summer days, or that warm cuppa on a winters eve. Saasural is usually apalled if anything other than that happens. God forbid if beta serves dinner, chai, beer, lassi, whatever to bahu.
So in short, yeah, although hire domestic help takes place world over for those who can afford, the expectation of getting served Maharaja style by not only hired domestic workers but by unpaid wives and other female members of the family just because one is male…. well, I don’t know if that takes place all over the world, but would be interested to find out.
Nokar is Pardesi Gori.
As a single working widow in India, I could not work for money without my two cheating, often late, often sulky ‘helpers’. (PC Americanism?) and no, I will not feed my kids (or the maid/man) ready made cornflake type packaged food: expensive junk. So because i need them, i shower them with money, any amount of paid holidays, any usage of anything in the house, any driving the car wherever the driver chooses. Yes, food is given away by them and i occasionally lose clothes, etc. and so do Americans who employ ayahs, sorry, helpers here.
Every single servant/helper I know has been totally looked after by their employers. Often the maids’ children have been encouraged to move in with them, esp during holidays and school paid for, etc. But u ABCDs would not want to know anything good about India. I am surprised JOAT even mentioned that Indian wealth does not = bad! It must be worrying to be brown, and hate yourselves and your parents. esp as the world thinks your parents are so much better, more enterprising and adventurous than you suburban lot with nothing to say except carp about your wicked, thoroughly irresponsible community and remain maladjusted. But then it takes cleverness or even The Love Guru’s advice to not negotiate against yourself. I have yet to be with ABCDs and hear one say anything pleasant about their parents or the Indian community. With such intelligent parents, one can only blame it on junk food! or maybe American high schools where whites are taught to practice racism but to be quiet about their actions. Don’t see many white men marrying black girls!
Also, i don’t think there is anything particularly good or bad in doing your housework; if i can pay someone to do something, why not? none here seems to object to practically illiterate babysitters while mom and daddy work.
Woah…woah…stop. Next you’ll start talking about outsourcing and how American/British/Canadian Indians aka ABCDs/BBCDs/CBCDs are not ‘Indians’…amirite or amirite….
Just stop….
puhleez, babygirl, go to any area of amreeka where there are a tons of ‘sistahs’ and you will see ‘whitey’ bob smith with ‘ghettofied sistah’ lakeshya johnson. you been watching too many hollywood movies.
did you hear this from your H1B friends — sonal, rajesh? babygirl, sonal and rajesh have never gone through high school or undergrad college in amreeka…they dont know, yo.
in conclusion, babygirl, get off the net and pick up a book/newspaper.
just stop….
Sorry do not really know any H1 visa holders. Went to college in the US and teach there regularly. Do not follow all yr classifications! I see more black men marrying white girls.
Most whites I know never say anything non PC, they simply do it.
Babygirl, I’m 22 and have lived/studied in US, Europe and India. I have a more global perspective than you or any “educated” Indian in India may have…
American whites…European whites…Canadian whites….which white group are you talking about?!
Interracial dating/marriages happens in the states, canada, europe, the west. Black men marrying white girls, along with white men marrying asian women are the prolly the two most common interracial relationships depicted in the american media.
Barack Obama is the most famous black man in Amreeka and he’s married to a black woman aka ‘ghettofied sistah’ Michelle Obama.
You’re dumb. Stop acting like you have a global perspective
I feel bad about this comment. Sorry Working Indian woman. Have a nice day.
Bye.
Doesn’t Bin Laden too come from a prestigious and wealthy family? He’s has a civil engineering degree too, for the records….. Is it either necessary or sufficient for a person to come from a good, wealthy family or be educated to desist from behaving atrociously…….
Doesn’t Bin Laden too come from a prestigious and wealthy family? He has a civil engineering degree too, for the records….. Is it either necessary or sufficient for a person to come from a good, wealthy family or be educated to desist from behaving atrociously…….
TheBrownChamp,
My oh my….yes, you’ve really proved how much global perspective you really have by telling someone actually making valid points to shut up. And what makes you think that, to quote you, “…have lived/studied in US, Europe and India. I have a more global perspective than you or any “educated” Indian in India may have…”???
That right there is the problem with many Indians born/raised/living a long time, in the U.S. We seem to think that nobody could possibly be more alert & aware of the global situation than us, no matter what the topic of discussion may be. Is it so damn hard to actually think that others in the world might be just as aware or even more perceptive than us about things?
Not only that but the 22 year old punk had the gall to call a significantly older woman ‘babygirl’ over and over as if that rude condescension helped his point in anyway.
132 · zuni said
stop caricaturing every maid and her family. not every maid has a drunken, abusive husband like in bad TV soaps and movies. meanwhile, note there are other ways women could be empowered than being housemaids. i agree that domestic service is a valuable economic opportunity for many people (eg in many countries it is not considered demeaning for students and those wanting part-time flexible gigs to perform housework. the same is not true of india — domestic work is associated with servility and social inferiority). it is, however, a sad thing that often the only vocational choice available to poor women in india have is to perform low-paid work in the unorganized sector.
I am glad we have our own homegrown civilizing movement for the noble savages in our midst, now that British imperialism no longer does it for us.
Ennis,
I take it you grow up in America. I have been here presumably much less than you then.
In my time here, I have watched numerous times in TV where some serial killer or shooter or child rapist is caught with proof other than the victims word, and the neighbours and friends go ‘he was such a kind soul, always good with the kids/volunteering for the community/never bothered anyone etc etc.’
That is how real americans (not immigrants from India ) talk when they hear that people whom they know got caught in something like this.
In India, if you do not know, most crimes are committed with a motive, usually money. Otherwise it is passion or anger or lust. In india there’s also the concept of a good reputation, ties to the society, etc, all similar to the old British concept of gentleman with some standing in the society. That sort of acts in your favour if you are accused of anything. However, these days that too is not of much help, given the number of sex racket cases happening over there.
174 · TheBrownChamp said
May be. I just wonder why so many of you, with good knowledge and good info seem bent on discussing that which can be interpreted as bad about India, Indians and Hindus in particular. Jews do not do that, but then they are known for their intelligence and in helping their community first.