Folks, the Spelling Bee is coming down to the wire. Three of the last four All four contestants left in Round 14 were Indian. Now only one two remain.

I can’t handle the pressure. I can’t watch. Someone let me know how it ends.

For an interesting retrospective of the lead up to the Spelling Bee see this ESPN article by Amar Shah.

Thanks for the reader tips on this event.

Update: Oh hell I cracked and refreshed for another update. I think we have… a winner?

Two militants from Babbar Khalsa have been arrested and charged with the Jo Bole So Nihaal film bombings. Two others are still being sought:

… the Delhi Police today arrested two activists of the Babbar Khalsa militant outfit allegedly responsible for the crime and claimed to have recovered one kg RDX, Rs 2.94 lakh cash and two kgs of gold… [Outlook India]

The extremist group, previously thought to be nearly defunct, was accused of planning the Air India bombing in 1985 and assassinating Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh with a suicide bomber in 1995. The U.S. added Babbar Khalsa to its list of terrorist groups only last year:

Many leaders of the Babbar Khalsa, who are on India’s most-wanted list, are now based in Pakistan… [NDTV]

The militants had been in constant touch with Wadhwa Singh, the Pakistan-based chief of Babbar Khalsa International… [Outlook India]

The suspects seem to have learned from Al Qaeda tactics. They allegedly used plastic explosives to evade metal detectors and cavities in running shoes to smuggle the easily-molded explosives. Like the 9/11 hijackers, they allegedly plotted in a country away from the target, one perceived to have lax security. And there’s the ubiquitous Pakistan connection:

Balvinder and Jaspal had travelled to Bangkok on April 22 and met one Shahid to discuss about terrorist activities to be carried out. Though it was not yet clear which group Shahid was affiliated with, several militant groups operating in Jammu and Kashmir had been using Bangkok as a base lately. [Outlook India]

Police Commissioner K K Paul said they smuggled in the two detonators, two timers and wires in their underwear while the plastic explosives were carried in sports shoes. The explosives, possibly RDX, was in the form of four sheets wrapped in polythene which were kept in sports shoes which they had bought specifically for the operation…

On the day of the attack… the foursome came to the Liberty cinema hall in two cars, a Tata Sierra and a Hyundai Santro… The Sierra had special cavities to hide the explosives… Jaspal, Balvinder and Vikas entered Liberty while Jagannath waited outside. Jaspal prepared the bomb inside the toilet and gave it to Balvinder and Vikas who placed it under a seat in the front stall. Jaspal left the hall before the interval and the other two just afterwards. All four then went to Satyam where Jaspal and Jagannath went inside and placed the bomb in the toilet before exiting, Paul said. [Outlook India]

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Drats. After years of dominating the Spelling Bee, Indian American kids attempted to conquer the globe by claiming the top spot at the National Geographic Bee. Victory was not to be but a hearty congratulations goes to fourteen-year-old Karan Takhar from Rhode Island who claimed second place and will rise to the throne if the first place winner gets his knee clubbed in a freak accident or something. From NationalGeographic.com:

The National Geographic Bee champion for 2005 is Nathan Cornelius of Minnesota.

The homeschooled 13-year-old from Cottonwood, in the southwestern part of the state, edged out Rhode Island’s Karan Takhar, a 14-year-old eighth grader at the Gordon School in East Providence, in a tense competition today at the National Geographic Society’s headquarters in Washington, D.C.

Samuel Brandt, 13, in eighth grade at Roosevelt Middle School in Eugene, Oregon, came in third.

All three boys are three-time winners of their respective state-level National Geographic Bee competitions.

The Hindustan Times reports on Karan:

The question that eventually foxed Karan but helped Nathan clinch the championship was: Name the dammed-up river that forms the artificial Lake Gatun in the Panama Canal system. The Answer: Chagres River.

Apart from Karan, two other Indian students, Bonny Jain and Tejas Raje, were among the 10 finalists in the competition, now in its 17th year.

Damn that Panama Canal system. IF ONLY we hadn’t given it back to the Panamanians when our lease ran out it would have been higher in our collective consciousnessÂ’ and Karan would have gotten that answer right. I hold that liberal President Carter responsible for this.

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Now we know all about the (over)active Desi communities in SF, NYC, LA, DC, H-Town, the Big D, Chi-Town, and a few others. But what about the brothers & sisters -in-arms in the Dakota’s? The Hindustan Times has a fun little article on this surprisingly active community –

Dakotas – comprising of two American States North and South Dakota – is at the bottom when it comes to Indian population. Of nearly 17 lakh Indians in the United States, as per 2000 census, North Dakota has 822 Indians, while South Dakota has even less 611. They are scattered all throughout the area, while the concentration is big cities like Rapid City, Fargo and Grand Forks.

Despite their small numbers, this humble seed stock is responsible for a

• Hindu Temple
• Cultural Association
• Library
• Cinema –

  Fargo, is probably the only place in both North and South Dakota where a cinema hall screens Hindi films at regular interval. People from various parts of North Dakota come to see the popular Hindi films.

• Indian Students Association @ the S. Dakota School of Mines

  Besides providing supportive and homely atmosphere for Indian students, the Club also celebrates Indian festivals with fervour and gaiety.

• and a Cricket Club

But the accomplishment I’m most proud of is this –

What could make any Indian proud is the performance of Venkataswamy Ramakrishnan in this Dakota land. Emeritus Professor of Civil Engineering at this mining school, State of South Dakota declared on Sunday, September 29, 2002, as Dr. Venkataswamy Ramakrishnan Day for his contributions to the state.

Toqueville would be proud. And I’ve marked my Calendar for next 9/29. Continue reading →

Sometimes it’s easier to accept torture by thinking, “oh they aren’t U.S. citizens so it doesn’t matter as much.” Human Rights Watch this week focused attention on the case of two Pakistani-American brothers who “disappeared” while in Pakistan. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports:

An international human rights watchdog has slammed the United States for allegedly allowing FBI and Pakistani intelligence officials to illegally detain and torture two brothers claiming to be U.S. citizens of Pakistani descent.

The two men say they were held for several months and harshly interrogated by Pakistani intelligence and U.S. FBI agents on suspicion of Islamic militant links. They claim they were later abandoned, blindfolded, on a street in the southern city of Karachi.

New York-based Human Rights Watch said Tuesday that Zain Afzal, 23, and Kashan Afzal, 25, were detained in a raid on their Karachi home on Aug. 13, 2004, and freed on April 22.

“It is outrageous that Pakistan abducts people from their homes in the middle of the night and tortures them in secret prisons to extract confessions,” said Human Rights Watch’s Asia director, Brad Adams.

“The United States should be condemning this, but instead it either directed this activity or turned a blind eye in the hopes of gaining information in the war on terror,” Adams said in a statement.

The Human Rights Watch website has more on the two:

When queried about the status of the brothers and the role of the FBI, the U.S. Consul in Karachi in March replied: “We are aware of the reports indicating two American citizens are missing, or ‘disappeared’ in Pakistan, and we are looking into them. Due to Privacy Act considerations, we are unable to provide additional information on these two individuals. The safety and security of Americans overseas is of paramount importance to us, and we continue to work both here and abroad to provide all possible assistance to our citizens. I refer you to the FBI for any information on their involvement.”

“While U.S. officials say the safety and security of Americans overseas is paramount, the U.S. government didn’t lift a finger to help the Afzal brothers until their cases were reported in the international press,” said Adams. “The U.S. knew exactly where the brothers were all along, while their family was scared stiff, not knowing whether they were dead or alive. This is profoundly wrong and should send a chill up the spine of every U.S. citizen living overseas.”

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