AmreekanDesi

Our beloved Mallika Sherawat has embarked upon the American Dream for herself. And begun rather well. With a stylish new fake amru accent.

Go, Mallika Go.

And please hurry!

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So Shahrukh Khan says that My Name Is Khan, and that is the reason for being hassled in Newark. That incidentally also happens to be the title of his upcoming film. Not saying anything here, but people have been known to do some rather interesting things to promote their movies.

As always, we jobless Indians are up in arms against the ill treatment of a popular icon who has done a lot for India. Like what? Do his job well? Pay a few crores in income tax every year?

We have a minister calling for tit-for-tat action. Because that’s why we elected a government? Making sure that the pride of India is not bundled up in a room by people who would not bow down in subservience to an actor who is such a big deal that he is above the law?

Reacting to the incident, civil aviation minister Praful Patel on Sunday said that the government will take up the issue with the US government at its highest level. [link]

“Had it been for ten minutes or even twenty minutes (of detention for questioning), one can understand it. But one fails to understand how could they hold him for two long hours?” said Chidambaram, talking to reporters. [link]

If anything, this could have been an opportune time to take up the case for racial profiling. But no, we don’t care about the scores of minorities who face immense discrimination traveling across borders. This isn’t about those ordinary people.

What is this about, then? The pride of an actor who suddenly got a dose of what life outside the bubble feels like? Or is it just our beloved media blowing things out of proportion, in their own animated style?

So the Indian students stabbed an Australian with a scew driver, and have started patrolling the streets. Soon they will march up to their seat of government, acquire it, and proclaim Australia an Indian colony. WTBF!

I have been an Indian student in the US, following which i lived a happy few years before returning to India this past week. I never encountered any racist abuse or anything of that sort. As do so many Indians all over the world. The trick is to respect the country where you are living. You need to appreciate the fact that that country is hosting you and live by the local rules and customs.

If you don’t, then you will not be welcome anymore.

About the Indians suffering racist abuse in Australia, i don’t have a lot of sympathy for them.

From news reports, there is nothing to suggest that those attacks were racial in nature to begin with.

Indian immigrants very often live in substandard conditions in an effort to cut down on costs. Most reports i have come across mention the attacks as having occurred late at night in shady neighborhoods, perpetrated by rowdy teenagers/drug addicts. I fail to understand how this classifies as racist.

If violent muggings are a hate crime, then India probably has a million such incidents every night on secluded expressways and narrow by-lanes. India must be the most racist country on that count. If we cant even put our own house in order and live like a united country, what right do we have to go to a foreign country and label any violence as racism?

However I won’t be surprised if the attacks start getting racial now that the Indian students are acting the way they are.

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Here’s one powerful Indian man. Manjit Singh, a 59 year old security consultant showed off his strength on reality show Britain’s Got Talent.

First Singh blew up a hot water bottle, till it actually BLEW up. He followed up by pulling a car that looked like a Maruti Omni using his right ear.

He wants to eventually pull a Boeing 747 plane.

He will have it relatively easy, though. He plans to use his entire body, so that will probably give him an added advantage over the plane, which weighs in at about 300,000 Kgs.

If only he were one year older, i could have used that legendary line from the DD days.

Saath saal ke boodhe, yaan saath saal ke jawaan!” (Sixty year old, or sixty year young!)

Britain’s Got Talent keeps coming across unique Indian contestants. Readers might recall this dance duo from last year.

Indian Sunita Williams was on the Colbert Report yesterday.

For those not in the loop, Williams is a NASA astronaut who holds the record for the longest space flight by a woman – 195 days. That’s six months and a half of gravity-less existence.

The Colbert Report is a talk show hosted by Stephen Colbert. Colbert is an interesting host. Funny, loud, satirical, and probably a bit too self-aggrandizing.

“What’s that mommy?
“Its the Stephen Colbert module from the space station”
“The same Stephen Colbert who saved earth from the zombies?”
“Yes. He was the most tender lover i have had”

Anyway, Colbert has been trying to get something on the space station named after him, and seems like they are going to name their treadmill the ‘Colbert’. The Combined Operational Load Bearing External Resistive Treadmill

Now the words that will be passed to the ground whenever someone has to workout will be – “Its time for me to jump on the Colbert“

Here’s a clip of Sunita Williams talking to Stephen Colbert. Check out the hair! (On her. Not him)

Watch and enjoy!

For many years commentators have lamented how India has lost its brightest brains to the west – the phenomenon lovingly referred to as the Brain Drain.

It appears that we are seeing another trend these days…the brains that had gotten drained seem to be heading back to India. There’s new phraseology in town: Reverse Brain Drain.

There’s a whole bunch of factors that seem to have contributed to this phenomenon.

India has made tremendous progress, expecially in the field of technology. Indian offices are engaged in cutting edge software development and boast of amenities comparable to anywhere else. Most, if not all major software companies have setup offshore development centers in India. Salaries have risen, and the gap between an Indian salary and a Silicon Valley salary has greatly diminished.

The Indian Elephant has finally started gaining momentum. India is Shining. The economy is doing well, and IT has led the way these past few years.

As the private sector in India now is the main source of wealth production, and it is not as murky and intervened by Indian government as it was before 1991 periods, the highly skilled professionals feel they can get their rewards for their talent and hard work in Indian private sector.[link]

On the other hand, immigration related issues are a constant hassle for Indians in the US.

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Ever since 9/11 happened seven years ago, we have seen several hate crimes committed against Sikhs, ostensibly due to the much portrayed image of the Taliban supremo.

People have historically committed mistakes in identifying/recognizing people, but what do you do when Sikhs start being called Arabs? Of course, why all Arabs should be discriminated against is a whole different issue altogether, but let’s leave that for another post.

Latest case, this airline pilot who forced three Sikh men off his plane, refusing to fly till they got off. How cruel and uneducated and inhumane is that? These men had gone through security and were found fit to be traveling.

This pilot glorified driver may get punished, if at all, but at a higher level, how do we eliminate these oft-repeating incidents? Racial screening is a fact of life, but at least someone should learn to correctly recognise various races.

Readers might rewind their brains to many years ago, when there was this huge outcry about an American company acquiring patent rights over Basmati rice.

Yes, the very same Basmati rice that we Indians have been cultivating for, for, forever.  How dare they? Basmati is India, spelt in seven letters.

Well, they were told to stick it, and after a big campaign, most of the patents were revoked. More importantly, Ricetec lost the right to claim the Basmati brand.

Trust American ingenuity to come up with alternatives.

Presenting, for our very own readers, for the first time, here’s Basmati’s American cousins.

Big brothers Kasmati and Texmati.

Kasmati is Indian Style Basmati. Texmati is Long Grain American Basmati

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