Voice of America does a nice little story on the most accessible source of news in America’s number one media market: South Asian newsstands in New York.

New Yorkers love to read the news, and there are hundreds of mainstream and specialized newspapers to satisfy their needs. But the men and women behind the counters at the thousands of city newsstands and magazine stores are not nearly as diverse. These days, most New York news dealers are South Asian immigrants from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Enterprising émigrés from the region can also be seen running restaurants and other small businesses throughout the Big Apple. But the experience of Mombai-born Mohammed Khali is typical of the many South Asian immigrants who sell newspapers and magazines. Despite his old-fashioned smock and the calm, easygoing manner that many associate with India, Mr. Khali has been a New York newsagent for 27 years. He says most of the city’s newsstands are run by South Asians “because they get the jobs right away and we newsagents always need help.” Mr. Khali adds that although “there are a lot of people who are engineers and doctors and most of them are very well educated people, it’s the easiest work that they can find.”

Still, his own family is perplexed that he has not left the newsstand business to become a professional. “Mostly all my family is right here,” says Mr. Khali, “in Atlanta, Boston, California, Arizona [and] Detroit. They are engineers and everything. And I am the only [one] playing around here in the newsstand. They wonder why. I tell them I really enjoy it!”

I can relate to how Mr. Khali feels. Unlike other successful Indians who become mostly doctors and lawyers, I have shunned the life of wealth and beautiful women so that I can blog and bring the people the news that they want, dare I say need, to hear. It is a noble profession. Right? [crickets chirp in the background]

Alas, the life of a newsstand owner isn’t as glamorous as it may seem:

Not all of the dealers are quite as experienced in the ways of New York. Rajeena Patel emigrated only recently from his village in Gujarat State in western India. For him, adjusting to city life, the English language and Western ways has been hard. “Good life in India, but no money,” he says. “Here is always money, but no life.” Mr. Patel notes that gender roles are unfamiliar. “In India, [the] woman is always home, [and has] no job,” he says. “And here, I go home, [and] my wife is going to [her] job.”

The transcript of this audio story can be read here.

Just an FYI for Bay Area Mutineers, the Indian ambassador to the US – Ronen Sen – will be addressing the San Francisco World Affairs Council on Monday, Dec 6 @ 12pm in downtown SF.

The title of his talk will be “Indo-US Relations: Prospects & Challenges.” Details are here.

New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, who has been a one man wrecking ball against the corrupt practices of big business the last couple years, will be featured tonight, on NOW with Bill Moyers in an episode titled Eliot Spitzer: “The Sheriff of Wall Street”.

As New York’s chief law enforcement officer, Elliot Spitzer has taken on the titans of Wall Street to get a fair deal for Main Street. His far-reaching investigations have uncovered fraudulent practices in some of the nation’s biggest companies and helped restore transparency and honesty to industries that provide important products and services to regular Americans-mutual funds, prescription drugs, insurance. On Friday December 3, 2004 at 9 p.m. on PBS (check local listings), NOW’s David Brancaccio goes inside the mind, motivations and investigations of one for the nation’s most feared and respected attorneys general, the man they call “the sheriff of Wall Street.”

In addition to taking on the Mutual Fund industry and other titans, Spitzer is also helping the little guys. In this case, Bagladeshi pretzel vendors in Central Park.

M&T Pretzel Inc., which owns more than half the pushcarts in Central Park, has agreed to pay $450,000 to settle labor law violations because it stiffed its workers on overtime or minimum wage.

Between 50 and 100 vendors who worked from 1999 to 2002 are expected to share in the settlement, said state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, who announced the deal yesterday.

Most of the workers are Bangladeshi immigrants who have gone on to other jobs.

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Frequent Sepia Mutiny commentor MD is hosting BHARATEEYA BLOG MELA XXXVI over at her blog, Chai Tea Latte.

The Mela features an anthology of some of the best Desi blog writing in the past week. Perhaps a new blog or 2 will strike your fancy.

The BBC just had its own Dan Rather moment: a media hoaxer pretending to be from Union Carbide took full responsibility for the Bhopal disaster (via Sreenath Srinivasan):

The BBC had earlier twice run an interview with a man it identified as Dow Chemical spokesman Jude Finisterra, who said the company accepted full responsibility for the disaster 20 years ago in the central Indian city of Bhopal. This would have represented a major policy reversal for Dow Chemical which has said it has no responsibility for the Bhopal disaster… “We also confirm Jude Finisterra is neither an employee nor a spokesperson for Dow.”

Union Carbide accepting responsibility for Bhopal? The Beeb should’ve known that was completely implausible.

A Sikh-owned gas station in Chesterfield, Virginia was burned and defaced with racist graffiti last week (via Prashant Kothari):

[T]he attackers put the gas station on fire on Wednesday and left after smearing the remaining property with graffiti containing ethnic slurs… The words “Go Back to Bin Laden B–” and “Never Again Indian Monkey N–” were sprayed on a dumpster in the rear of the gas station property. In addition, the words, “F– Arab Gas” were spray painted on the gas station’s shed… “Now they call us Osama bin Laden. In 1979, when Iranians held Americans hostage, they used to call us Ayatollahs,’ says Bammi.

I sure do miss the good ol’ days when the racists weren’t utterly ignorant. The thugs in Britain didn’t call you Eye-rainians, Eye-rackies (mortal enemies of the Eye-rainians) and bin Ladens (mortal enemy of the Eye-rackies) all at once. There was an intimacy to their taunting. And ‘Indian Monkey N–‘ is missing a few other ethnically-inaccurate insults. Is it too much to ask for my racism to be specific?

But ‘F– Arab Gas’ fills me with hope. Hope that they’re energy policy-conscious racist arsonists who want a self-reliant, muscular country which can’t be blackmailed over a non-indigenous resource. And curiosity about whether these gentlemen voted for Arab gas’ #1 friend.

Yep, I sure do miss the good ol’ days.

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The Oakland Tribune recently peeked into the closet of the South Asian community, specifically in the Bay Area. In the times when Gay marriage seems to be the biggest issue facing the homosexual community, South Asians are still struggling with the basics.

Sonia first realized she was different when she was 12 or 13. Growing up in a middle-class Punjabi family in Northern California, she did not dare to discuss it with anyone.

“How could I? I am Indian,” said Sonia, who has never been to India. “You’re not supposed to have these feelings.”

Sonia is typical of the many homosexual South Asian Indians living in California, or in America, for that matter. The 2000 census puts the state in second place after New York with 451 gay Indian couples, indicating the race of the main householder alone.

But the real number is probably higher, given many are closet homosexuals. Despite living in the shadow of San Francisco, the gay capital of the world, many suppress their desires and grudgingly bow to cultural norms, while others come out and court rejection.

Sonia did both. Convinced she was being a “good daughter” by keeping her homosexuality a secret, Sonia agreed to a marriage her family had arranged. “There was no question of marrying a woman, so I married this man,” she said.

The article goes on to describe Sonia coming out to her parents and them just ignoring it, like her declaration never occured. South Asian society remains consistent in how it deals with things.

The world’s biggest movie star, Amitabh Bachchan, will serve as a special ambassador for 46664, the global anti-AIDS campaign headed by Nelson Mandela.

Named after the former South African president’s prison number, the 46664 campaign raises awareness of HIV and AIDS, and raises funds for the prevention, testing, care and support of those infected with the viruses. Bachchan has proved to be an active participant in anti-AIDS campaigns in India, which has one of the world’s highest infection rates.

Bachchan joins current 46664 ambassadors Bill Clinton, Brad Pitt, Will Smith and Oprah Winfrey. Perhaps to distinguish himself from his fellow ambassadors, Bachchan also joined the ranks of senior citizens with blonde highlights (see photo). Population: One.

AFP/Yahoo!: Bollywood superstar Bachchan joins Mandela’s anti-AIDS campaign

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