Author Archives: Abhi

About Abhi

Abhi lives in Los Angeles and works to put things into space.

Shah Rukh Khan as NASA Astronaut??

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Yes. I am VERY bitter. Instead of coming to a real NASA Engineer such as myself, they chose SRK for the part in their new movie Swades. Some things are just inexplicable. From The Times of India:

Can you imagine Shahrukh Khan doing a Kalpana Chawla, donning the space suit and taking off? If your upper factory’s done a pole vault trying to imagine the Dilli ka munda as a scientist, don’t bother.

Come December, and Ashutosh Gowariker will present the Badshah as a NASA engineer, who retraces his steps to Bharat land in the quest of fulfilling his dreams.

Continue reading →

Jindal’s competition

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Although the Republican Congressional candidate from Louisiana’s 1st Congressional District , Piyush “Bobby” Jindal, has the seat pretty much locked up accoriding to most experts, it isn’t stopping some of his five rivals from going after him. What do they have to say? From the Times-Picayune:

“I can’t imagine that someone who’s more to the extreme on some issues will be able to get bipartisan support for some of the needs Louisiana has, like coastal erosion,” [Dan] Zimmerman said, referring to Jindal’s conservative positions.

Opponents of Jindal include,

Roy Armstrong, an officer in Duke’s European-American Unity and Rights Organization; Vinny Mendoza, a retired Air Force officer; Mike Rogers, a health care consultant; Jerry Watts, a retired orthopedic surgeon; and Daniel Zimmerman, a computer technician.

Apparently even existing Congress members are so sure of Jindal’s victory that they are already recruiting him for the House’s Energy Committee even before he’s been elected. From The Hill:

Six weeks before Louisiana voters decide if they want Bobby Jindal to become a member of the House, Rep. Jim McCrery (R-La.) is already lobbying Republican leaders to put the former Bush administration official on a top congressional committee.

It is rare for a freshman lawmaker to be appointed to an “A” House committee, such as Appropriations, Ways and Means, or Energy and Commerce. But because of his extensive background in healthcare and the broad perception that the Indian-American is a rising star in the party, Jindal may be an exception to the rule.

How tigger got his bounce back

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I really feel it is completely unecessary for me to make a joke about this one (although you guys can feel free). The facts provide all the humor needed. From Mid-day.com:

IndiaÂ’s first experiment of desi Viagra on animals is going to be tested on the Bihar tigers following the failure of the authorities of Sanjay Gandhi Zoological Garden to raise the tigersÂ’ libido in its bid to enhance their population in the state.

The zoo authority has decided that homeopathic aphrodisiacs and desi Viagra would be tried on tigers to make them impregnate tigresses.

A spokesman of the Garden said the tigers have become very unromantic. “When a tigress started following a white tiger, he bit the tigress’s right paw. This forced us to decide that the only way to do away with the impotency of male tigers is to administer desi Viagra,” he said.

Harvard doctor claims ethnic bias

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I know a lot of students go abroad to medical school because they haven’t gained admittance to a U.S. school. The most popular location for Indians seems to be India or the Caribbean. I have heard however that because these schools have the reputation of being less rigorous, life can be very difficult for those that go abroad to study or for foreign born doctors who want to later practice in the U.S. The Boston Globe Reports:

A Harvard Medical School assistant professor who was training to be a psychiatrist filed a federal lawsuit this week alleging that while serving in a residency program run by Harvard at a Brockton veterans’ hospital, he was discriminated against because he is from India.

Rajendra Badgaiyan, an assistant radiology professor for Harvard at Massachusetts General Hospital, alleges in his suit that he may not get his license to practice psychiatry because the director of the residency program was biased against Indian doctors and therefore made false claims about his performance.

What was it that let Badgaiyan to claim discrimination? Continue reading →

The next U.N. Sec Gen??

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Kofi Annan, it is fair to say, is a thorn in the side of President Bush (liberals like me find satisfaction in this of course). But the Nobel Peace Prize winner, originally from Ghana, who has been the Secretary General of the United Nations since 1997, won’t be the U.N. Sec Gen forever. Who will replace him in 2007? The New York Sun reports:

The early scramble to see who will fill the shoes of Kofi Annan has begun, with states and regions vying to bring one of their own into the position of secretary-general of the United Nations and all the bully pulpit privileges that come with it.

The latest Iranian attempt, floating the candidacy of President Khatami for the position, was seen, at Turtle Bay, as a diversion. But it also stirred the pot in the hallways, and as world leaders gathered here for a week of meetings, some wonder whether it is too early to ask: Who will be Mr. Annan’s successor?

More than anything, the early maneuvering for the position, which will become vacant at the end of 2006, underlines the chaotic method of selecting someone for the high-powered position. To be successful at this stage of the race, one has to feed the rumor mill.

Well hell. I feel like Sepia Mutiny is obliged in that case to feed the Rumor Mill, so I will take it upon myself to do so.

Shashi Tharoor Continue reading →

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).

“Just Vote, Yaar”

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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 →

I see dead people

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I took a speech and debate class in middle school which I remember fondly. I used to give my persuasive speeches on trying to convince people that there was in fact such a thing as the Loch Ness Monster, Aliens, and Bigfoot. It didn’t matter whether they really existed or not in fact. It just mattered how well I did convincing the other students that they did. Well, let me try with SepiaMutiny readers. From the Times of India:

Guess what the students at the Delhi centre of Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) up to these days? Not cracking complicated problems through game theory or laws of probability. They are visiting temples and investigating the paranormal.

Books are shut, classes stalled since Friday, most students have been sent home with an unofficial holiday being declared.

The reason being even more unofficial. There is a ghost on campus.

My inner Fox Mulder has just been aroused. But who is this “ghost.” What does it want?

On August 24, a first year MStat student died a sudden death in the classroom. For most students who saw it happen at such close quarters found it “inexplicable”, although it is quite explainable in medical terms.

Somebody ingenious mind came up with a theory that the boy is back. And he appears in the habit as he lived.

“A girl who never smokes, felt a strong stench of cigarette in her bathroom. The boy who died used to smoke a lot,” said Saptrishi, student representative at ISI.

Ummm. Helloooo? Can anybody say “smoking gun.” Have I persuaded you yet? The students want to hold a tantra-mantra puja. Is that like an exorcism? Can someone fill me in?

The truth is out there.