Category Archives: News

Finally, Indian Christmas carols

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On our News Tab SM reader Pallavi introduces us to the music of “Boymongoose.” They’ll be dropping their album, Christmas in Asia Minor, just in time for the Holidays:

1. Thanking You
2. 12 Days Of Christmas
3. Single Girls
4. Internet Dating (Radio Saffron)
5. Once In Rahul Dravid’s City
6. Oh Therapy
7. No More Brown
8. It Had To Be Said (Radio Saffron)
9. Hark the Herald, Angel Singh
10. The Worst Motel
11. Miss India (Radio Saffron)
12. We Are Wishing You A Merry Christmas
13. Think Of The Children

Here is a video of their version of 12 Days of Christmas. It’s an outstanding 4 minute waste of time (and the animation is solid):

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Rano Singh

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Rano Singh is the Democratic candidate for state treasurer in Arizona. Singh was “catapulted … into public service” by the racist murder of Mesa based gas station owner, Balbir Singh Sodhi, after the September 11th attacks. (Singh is also Sikh.)

“For me, it was definitely the 9/11 situation that propelled me to give service… for the future of the country, the future of our children,” Singh told News India-Times. “Our leadership here in Arizona was incredible and made sure hate crimes were stamped out immediately. I was very involved after his killing. He was our friend and was known to everyone in the community…” [Link]

She joined the state attorney general’s Hate Crimes Task Force that year, became president of the India Association of Phoenix and in 2002, was appointed by Gov. Janet Napolitano to the Citizens Finance Review Commission. In 2004, Singh ran for the state Legislature. [Link]

Although Singh lost in 2004, she was undaunted, and won the Democratic primary unopposed.

Although a newcomer to elected office, her chances were boosted considerably when the Republican incumbent was forced to agree to step down as part of his plea bargain. This allows her to run as an outside candidate who will clean up an office that has repeatedly been embroiled in scandal:

“We must restore integrity and trust to the office by providing ethical and professional leadership,” said Singh… “There must be internal controls in place so conflicts of interest and collusion are eliminated…” [Link]

The last Treasurer lost $131 million dollars due to the alleged fraud and mismanagement of National Century Financial Enterprises. Lance Poulsen, the CEO of National Century Financial Enterprises, was a high flying campaign donor. Too many politicians have seen the Office of Treasurer as an opportunity to give jobs to political cronies, friends and even family members.(Arizona Republic 2/24/2006). I am not a politician. I will always place competence first. [Link]

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This Convert’s Zeal Could Kill Us

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dirty bomber jackass.jpg

Sepia Friendster postergirl Jane of All Trades reads the BBC at the same time I do, because we’re both horrified at the latest development in the War on Terror:

A Muslim convert planned to detonate a dirty bomb and launch an attack on London’s Tube, a court has been told.
Former Hindu Dhiren Barot, 34, from London, plotted “massive explosions” in the US and UK and synchronised attacks.

I tripped over “former Hindu” as I was reading this and barely absorbed the appalling nature of Barot’s plans, which his lawyers argue he didn’t have the resources to carry out.

Barot, from Kingsbury in north-west London, described by prosecutors as “a member or close associate” of al-Qaeda is to be sentenced on Tuesday.
“The plan was to carry out massive explosions here and in the USA, the principal object being to kill hundreds, if not thousands, of innocent people without warning,” prosecutor Edmund Lawson QC told Woolwich Crown Court

This tidbit is kinda interesting:

The BBC, The Times and the Associated Press news agency successfully challenged a judge’s ruling that had threatened to prevent reporting of details from the court hearing.

In order to cause the greatest amount of devastation possible, Barot wanted to blow up a subway train as it traveled in a tunnel under the Thames. These are the suspect’s own words regarding his plans:

“Imagine the chaos that would be caused if a powerful explosion were to rip through here [London] and actually rupture the river itself.
“That would cause pandemonium, what with the explosions, flooding, drowning etc that would occur.”

As for Amreeka, the IMF, the World Bank (what, no White House?), the NYSE and various bank headquarters were part of the accused’s plans. I will be all the more bitter about this truism tomorrow, after some deluded person in Nebraska votes red to foil terrorists who don’t give a shit about that state, since they prefer to target places where I live, like D.C. But hey– who cares? Let’s keep creating terrorists faster than we can kill them! Continue reading →

Keeping up with the Joneses

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There is a more political way in which there is a “tax” on some South Asian names, and that is when it comes to gaining citizenship. We all know that since 9/11 the gap between the political rights of citizens and non-citizens has grown. Now there is another gap that has arisen amongst applicants for citizenship, between those with relatively common and uncommon names:

The first step involves a computerized search of the F.B.I.’s Universal Index of 94.6 million records for all mentions of a name, a close date of birth and a Social Security number. Different permutations of the name are tried, like the first and middle name only. Nearly a third of naturalization cases come back as having a potential match….

“Common names (such as Mohammed, Singh, or Smith) may result in hundreds of potential matches,” government lawyers wrote. “The sheer volume of the requests has also resulted in delays…” [Link]

This cases sit in limbo even as the INS has promised to eradicate its backlog of applications, since they have simply defined these cases as outside its purview. In fact it now

… takes responsibility for fewer than 140,000 of the 1.1 million immigrant applications that it identifies as pending for more than six months. [Link]
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Hate Assault on Brooklyn Desi

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Hate-crime charges have been filed against a group of Orthodox Jewish teenagers in the brass-knuckle beating of a brown, South Asian brother this week in Brooklyn (Thanks, tipster Ravi):

“They hit me in the face with brass knuckles four or five times while somebody held my hands,” said the victim, Shahid Amber, 24, a gas station attendant. “Then they all beat and kicked me. They were screaming ‘Muslim m-f-r. You m-f-g Muslim terrorists. Go back to your country.'”

Amber, who was eating ice cream outside a Midwood Dunkin’ Donuts when the gang attacked on Sunday, needed 15 stitches on his broken nose and reconstructive surgery.

Witnesses who called 911 said that 10-12 youths jumped him, a source said.

There’s an only-in-New-York dimension to this incident — the attackers were from the Orthodox stronghold of Borough Park and apparently dressed in full black-coat and black-hat regalia — but of course, we know that desis can be, and have been, taken for “terrorists” anytime, anywhere. I dare the “We’re not South Asian” contingent to tell me that what happened to Shahid Amber isn’t their problem.

Amber, who has lived in the U.S. for seven years, said, “I respect all religions . . . I love this country. It has given me everything. I would defend this country with my blood.

“These guys just break my heart.”

Yes, they do. Here’s wishing Shahid strength and a rapid recovery. Continue reading →

A Farewell to Doffing & Doffing About

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Marginal Revolution’s Tyler Cowen has a (p)review of Gregory Clark’s “A Farewall to Alms: A Brief Economic History of the World” in today’s NYT.

It takes 3 men to replace one good woman?

Unfortunately, the book isn’t available quite yet but, interestingly, the full manuscript is available on the web (not anymore!)

Clark follows in the footsteps of recent mass market developmental econ books such as Jared Diamond’s Pulitzer-winning Guns, Germs and Steel and William Easterly’s The Elusive Quest for Growth. All three attempt to tease apart resources, institutions, culture, money, colonialism, and the like in trying to answer the age old question of why some nations are rich and others are poor.

Clark comes down firmly in favor of culture while using the somewhat oblique, econ-centric term “Quality of Labor”. The example Cowen chooses to excerpt in his NYT review comes from India –

…A simple example from Professor Clark shows the importance of labor in economic development. As early as the 19th century, textile factories in the West and in India had essentially the same machinery, and it was not hard to transport the final product. Yet the difference in cultures could be seen on the factory floor. Although Indian labor costs were many times lower, Indian labor was far less efficient at many basic tasks.

For instance, when it came to “doffing” (periodically removing spindles of yarn from machines), American workers were often six or more times as productive as their Indian counterparts, according to measures from the early to mid-20th century. Importing Western managers did not in general narrow these gaps. As a result, India failed to attract comparable capital investment.

Contrary to the “race to the bottom” thesis, Clark argues that the real driver of globalization is interconnectedness amongst others who’ve mastered the strange calculus of economic growth rather than simple exploitation of the poorest –

Professor Clark’s argument implies that the current outsourcing trend is a small blip in a larger historical pattern of diverging productivity and living standards across nations. Wealthy countries face the most serious competitive challenges from other wealthy regions, or from nations on the cusp of development, and not from places with the lowest wages. Shortages of quality labor, for instance, are already holding back India in international competition.
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Windy City Aftermath

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I just wanted to say thank you to everybody who made it to the first ever Chicago Meetup! We had roughly 15 macacas in attendance (more than you can see in that photo) of all varieties: ABD, FOB, Active commenters, Quiet Lurkers, etc. We may not have hit 40, Taz, but I’ll bet there’s never been a sweeter, more easy going, more congenial group of people who’ve shown up.

The event hosted itself, I didn’t have to do a thing other than suggest that we order more food. Oh yeah, and this will appeal to the desi mentality – it was cheap, yo! We ended up $35 over when we collected money, and actually had to hand some back.

Great company, tasty food … really, the only thing that went wrong was that I didn’t take enough pictures, and the two I did take (with Ravi’s camera) don’t really capture the energy of the event.

So yes, there will definitely be another Chicago Meetup, but from what people said, maybe we should wait until the spring? And for those lurkers who were too shy to attend – come on in, the water’s fine!

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NYC Meetup Advisory – November 18

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People of the tri-state area and visitors from afar, mark your calendars! Hot on the heels of the successful meet-up that Ennis convened this past weekend in Chicago, we’re taking things to the next level with a New York City meet-up Saturday, November 18, co-sponsored by Vinod and myself. That’s right! With the two of us setting the edges, there will be room for all at this one: libertarians and leftists, old heads and young bloods, sushi snobs and beer swillers, geeks and freaks, lawyers and miscreants, wheatish and homely, cisgendered and transgendered, atheists and mystics. Caste no bar!

Now, we haven’t yet selected the location, but this will be a late afternoon/early evening meetup, so that all you macacas can stop by en route to whatever fabulousness your Saturday night portends. You have plenty of advance notice, so no typical New York prior-commitment bullshit. Expect a 5 PM start time, a centrally located venue that serves a decent glass of wine, and a gathering of sepia-toned luminaries the likes of which the world has rarely seen. Ya heard! Continue reading →

Connecting Desis Everywhere

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It seems that it is time to add another woman to my original list of ‘Desi Women Under 30’, and am honored to add my homegirl and fellow Bangladeshi-SoCal woman Sumaya Kazi (Thanks, Nirali!).

In its second annual search for the best young entrepreneurs, BusinessWeek.com selected Sumaya Kazi, a Bangladeshi American woman from California, as one of its “Top 25 Entrepreneurs Under 25” for 2006. At 24, she is the youngest manager in her marketing department at Sun Microsystems and co-founder of online media publishing company The Cultural Connect.

Sumaya is one of two women in the Top 25, for the magazine’s US, Europe and Asia lists combined.

Readers are encouraged to vote for their top entrepreneur — the top five will be published in the business magazine’s print edition. You can read about Sumaya and vote for her at BusinessWeek.com. [nirali]

The Cultural Connect, started last year as The Desi Connect, before they expanded to include other cultures. I’ve been following their movement since Sumaya first interviewed me for their inaugural issue of The Desi Connect last year. Since then it has grown tremendously with now over 30,000 subscribers and 30 staff members all under the age of 35.

Last summer, she realized […] networking was a huge and untapped resource that could help solve two problems: the fact that she and other young Americans of south Asian descent rarely read or hear about themselves in the media, and that these successful young minorities could give back to their communities, if only they knew whom to call.

That’s partly how Ms. Kazi and two others dreamed up The CulturalConnect, a free online magazine catering to people from four different ethnic and cultural backgrounds. The magazine comes in four editions: “The DesiConnect” (“Desi” refers to a person with South Asian roots), “The MideastConnect,” “The LatinConnect,” and “The AsiaConnect.” [cbs]

Being nominated for a the Top 25 under 25 for BusinessWeek.com is a big achievement. Other desis have made it to this year’s nomination as well: Adnan Aziz (licking paper for flavor), Karen Goel and Avichal Garg (online SAT prep course), and Sudhin Shahani (digital media company). I may be a little biased due to my love for all things with desi in the title, as well as in my favoring young desi female breaking “ism” barriers, but my vote goes to Sumaya. Top five make it to the print edition and voting will only be open for a couple of weeks — go place your vote today!

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Right to Information

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This Saturday, I had the opportunity to listen to Arvind Kejriwal, founder of Parivartan, speak about his work on the Right to Information (RTI) Act of India.

Arvind Kejriwal is an Indian social activist and crusader for greater transparency in Government. He was awarded Ramon Magsaysay Emergent Leadership award in 2006 for activating India’s Right to Information movement at grassroots and social activities to empower the poorest citizens to fight corruption by holding the government answerable to the people.

[He] devotes full time to his work as the founder-head of Parivartan – a Delhi based citizens’ movement trying to ensure a just, transparent and accountable governance… [Kejriwal] campaigned for the Right to Information Act, which was passed in 2005. In July 2006, he spearheaded an awareness campaign for RTI across India. [wiki]

As we all know, the government agency bureaucracy in India is wrought with a culture of bribery and no real citizen accountability. The Right to Information Act has provides a way for Indian citizens to hold their government accountable, and has been doing so effectively.

Right to Information Act 2005 empowers every citizen to; ask any questions from the Government or seek any information; take copies of any government documents; inspect any government documents; inspect any Government works; and take samples of materials of any Government work. The Central RTI Act extends to the whole of India except the State of Jammu and Kashmir… All bodies…which are owned, controlled or substantially financed by the Government are covered.

If concerned officer does not provide information in time, a penalty of Rs 250 per day of delay can be imposed by the Information Commissioner. If the information provided is false, a penalty of a maximum of Rs 25000 can be imposed. A penalty can also be imposed for providing incomplete or for rejecting your application for malafide reasons. This fine is deducted from the officer’s personal salary. [link]

It was interesting to hear about the grassroots tactics around the RTI implementation Kejriwal used. This past July they ran a 15 day media campaign where they trained 1,500 volunteers and worked with 700 organizations across India. They worked with all of the major media outlets, and during that two week period 2,200 RTI reports were filled out. They coordinate with volunteers to stand outside of government agencies to inform citizens that if the agency tries to bribe them inside, to come return outside and receive help on filing an RTI report. They even have a blog to spread the word on RTI activities. Continue reading →