Its Friday…the weekend is almost here! Hang in there folks, just a few more hours until you can go to happy hour
We thought we’d start off your weekend right with another episode of SABAsearch Blog’s No Shame in the Desi Game.
This week, we bring you a video right out of the motherland. Seems like Usher needs to watch out..he has competition in INDIA! Or, he drank a little bit too much of that Johnny Walker!
There are always people out there that are ready to take advantage of any situation. As we all know, the distribution of stimulus checks has begun with some people receiving paper checks and others receiving their funds through direct deposit. There are reports that people are receiving emails and phone calls about stimulus checks and how to receive the funds faster. DO NOT CLICK ON THESE EMAILS OR GIVE ANY INFORMATION OVER THE PHONE! The IRS will not email or call you asking for any personal information. Their correspondence is usually through the mail. These scam websites look like the real IRS site, but they are not. Please be aware of these types of scams. If something is too good to be true, it usually is. Who knows what will happen if these crooks get a hold of your social security number or bank information.
DO NOT even click on the links in these emails as they could install spy ware, viruses, etc. onto your computer. You can find more information regarding the stimulus check scams at:
Inc’s 30 under 30 list is said to feature America’s coolest young entrepreneurs. Thousands of business startups and entrepreneurs compete to be listed on this prestigious list. In 2007, two South Asian entrepreneurs were featured:
#9: Raj Lahoti, CEO, Online Guru
Age: 25 Location: San Diego 2006 Revenue: $11.5 Million
After a few years dabbling in Internet domain acquisition and traffic brokering, Raj Lahoti set out to build up one of his brother’s domains in order to provide meaningful content in an area that, well, generally lacks it. DMV.ORG, the “Online Unofficial Guide to the DMV,” aggregates information from the (often dreaded) Department of Motor Vehicles in each state — all in one place. Users can access information on everything from applying for a license to ordering a driving record, without the aggravation of standing in the DMV’s endless lines.
#23: Mangesh Hattikudur, Mental Floss Age: 23
Location: Birmingham, AL 2006 Revenues: $1.7 Million Mental Floss magazine offers a fun, irreverent look at knowledge and facts. As Pearson put it, “Our mission is to find anyway we can to blur the lines between education and entertainment.” The founders started the venture at Duke University as a campus publication and quickly turned it into a national magazine. But they have pushed the brand further than the magazine — producing books, board games, and soon a series of children’s books.
Click here to see the full 30 under 30 list on Inc.com.
We’re glad to see young South Asians featured within this magazine, but we all know that Inc Magazine has only scraped the surface when it comes to young South Asian entrepreneurs in America(Don’t worry Inc Magazine, we still love ya!). There are TONS of other young South Asian entrepreneurs who are on the road to making it BIG and deserve recognition. If you know of any South Asian businesses or startups that deserve recognition, please give them a shot out within our comments section.
And cheers to the launch of our own SABAsearch Blog 30 South Asian Entrepreneurs under 30 List! :)
No lies. The Atlanta-based Dalip Singh Rana, who is from Himachal Pradesh, stands over 7ft tall and weighs over 400 pounds. That’s right, we got a brown brotha in the WWE, and he is HUGE!
BBC reported today that “Great Khali” (his wrestling name) is now back in India to shoot a documentary on his life. Rana has been in the US for the past few years acting as a WWE wrestler and also was featured in a couple of Hollywood films.
Rana, 36, is now back in India to spend some time at home and shoot a documentary on his life.
He is the first Indian to be signed up by WWE, and enjoys top billing in the famous American showbiz circus alongside fighters such as Hulk Hogan and The Rock.
“Americans could not imagine someone from India in WWE. They are now actually having a lot of fun,” he says.
He briefly wrested the world champion’s mantle in 2007 with a series of superlative performances at WWE.
“Legend states that the Punjabi Warrior has stared into the abyss and the earth trembled at his gaze.”
Rana laughs when reminded of this dizzy tribute.
”Hailing from India, the Great Khali stands at an impressive 7ft 3in [2.21m] and weighs 420 pounds. This enormous monster has walked the jungles of India unafraid of pythons and wrestled White Bengal tigers,” says the WWE website.
Funny quote about Rana by Steve Carrell…
Literally, you shake his hand and you are shaking the inner part of his palm. He could put his hand over your entire head and crush you,” Carell told a reporter later.
“He’s a very sweet guy, but he did not speak English really well. I don’t even know if he was completely aware that he was doing a movie.”
FOKANA, Federation Of Kerala Associations in North America, will be celebrating their 25th Anniversary and yearly convention at the Hilton Americas in Downtown Houston. FOKANA is considered one of the biggest Malayalee events in the nation. The FOKANA convention and celebration will begin on July 1st, 2008 and continue through July 5th, 2008.
Here is a little bit more background on the FOKANA organization:
FOKANA (Federation Of Kerala Associations in North America) is an umbrella organization of Malayalee Associations in United States and Canada. FOKANA’s long history in the United States as an organization fostering the values of Kerala culture and heritage finds its formal beginnings in the early 1980s. The need for an umbrella organization that would unite the increasing number of Kerala Associations throughout theU.S. and Canada was identified far earlier as the number of Indian Americans grew rapidly.
So, what does this mean for Houston? Well, it’s gonna be crazy! FOKANA is filled with various events throughout the 5 day period. You can count on various seminars to be held during the day, and also events to be held nightly throughout the week/weekend. The YOUTH organization will also be hosting various competitions, which allow the young FOKANA guests to show off some of their talents in different categories.
To learn more about the FOKANA event, please visit the FOKANA event listing on SABAsearch.com.
To learn more about the Youth activities planned for the FOKANA event, please visit the FOKANA YOUTH website.
The SABAsearch Blog staff welcomes all FOKANA guests to Houston! We encourage all FOKANA guests to leave their comments on this blog or leave questions for other FOKANA guests. See you in H-town!
First off, who the heck is Pandit? Vikram Pandit is the CEO of Citibank who is currently facing the heat from his own people. Pandit, a South Asian, took over the Citibank CEO seat recently, and ever since his arrival, Citibank has been in quite a roller coaster. Proponents of Pandit are saying this roller coaster was primarily caused by the severe mortgage crisis, but opponents of Pandit are critizing his ability to lead the company towards stability and continued success.
In the past few weeks, various opponents and proponents of Pandit have voiced their support and criticisms in the press. No matter what the argument, we can all agree that he is under the gun to show results. Here is an article from India Times:
So you be the “Pandit” on Pandit. Do you think Vikram Pandit is capable of bringing Citigroup back to glory? Many believe that his position was only obtained because of his father. Do you believe that? Others say Pandit is truly a visionary and is the right man for the task. Let’s hope so.
In any case, we are always proud to see a South Asian in such big places. No matter what the Pandits say about Pandit, we can all agree that his achievements have been well noticed.
I am having a hard time finding a real trusting mechanic in Houston. I used to know a couple of them but they have all moved on to bigger and better things. Recently, I have noticed that all mechanics will try to squeeze you for every cent that you have. I own an American car (I won’t make that mistake again) and it has been giving me problems since I first drove it off the lot. I might be exaggerating a bit but you know what I mean. The newest problem with my car is so complicated that after taking it to 2 different mechanics I still have not found the problem, which scares me. It use to be if you dropped off your car in the morning like around 7 or 8 am you were almost guaranteed that the mechanic can diagnose the problem and have the car fixed and ready for you that afternoon.
Definitely not like the old days, when you had to take apart the car to see it with your own eyes. These new cars are all electronically wired, and so advanced that they must go through rigorous tests and check ups, before we can even start taking apart the car. So I just wanted to share this with the other readers on this site. And see what other nightmares that you have had to deal with. Oh yeah, and if you have any recommendations, please feel free to let me know. Thanks!!
More than 10,000 people are feared dead in Myanmar after a deadly typhoon struck the region. This morning, the death toll was estimated at about 4,000, but it has quickly risen to over 10,000.
One of our blog staff readers was watching Headline News on CNN this morning and he said there was only about 15 seconds dedicated to this story. Headline News was more concerned about covering the Obama and Clinton race rather than informing people of the devastation that just occurred overseas. Even on CNN.com, this is not the top story. The top story is currently about a rare jaguar: Border-fence dispute snares rare jaguar. What hell is going on over there!?? US based news at it’s finest!
We wanted to bring you the coverage on the Myanmar disaster so we can start to offer our support. We will keep you posted on any organizations who will be accepting donations and other types of support to offer the victims of this country.
Here is an article on the Myanmar disaster featured on BBC.com (at least these folks have their mind correct!)
Google has opened up a page for folks to donate money to help the relief efforts in Myanmar. You can access this donation page by clicking the link below. At this point, this is the only credible resource we’ve found for donations. We will keep you updated if we find anymore.
We (The SABAsearch Blog Staff ) would like to hear what makes your city stand out among the rest. We have tons of young South Asians in various cities across the US, but which one is the best?
Talk about the city’s events, festivals, nite life, entertainment, people, cost of living, job opportunities, etc. We also want to know which city is the best for young South Asian singles. After all, we all need a little lovin’, right?
Let’s see which city gets the most support. Please feel free to post your comments, opinions, suggestions on where to go, etc. Let the trash talkin begin! (keep it clean folks!)
As we all know, Desis have NO SHAME IN THE GAME. We live life to the fullest…no matter who’s watching, or what people have to say.
Every week, I (NoShameInTheGame) will be bringing you hilarious examples and stories of Desis who just have No Shame In The Game. Hopefully, it will provide you with a quick laugh in your hectic day!
Here is our first “No Shame In the Game” Desi Duo on a show called Britian’s Got Talent:
Man, these dudes just broke it down for Simon. Balle Balle!
Thank you for tuning into this episode of SABAsearch Blog’s No Shame In the Game! Stay tuned in for next week’s episode…
I’m newly married and my wife and I just bought a house… Needless to say we are facing new expenses that we aren’t used to. I’m coming to a point were I’m scared to spend the way I used to spend when I was single… or even when we were engaged… Does everyone feel the same way that’s been in my shoes? It’s like I’m questioning every single purchase I make! Its definitely not fun to do, but needed… at least until we get into the swing of paying our mortgage and utilities along with whatever else is up ahead for us….. Some advice that I’ve received is to log everything that you buy for a month or two, create categories according to your spending and then allocate an “allowance” for each category that you have. Another piece of advice that I found to be great was to do a 60/40 split on your finances. This is basically where you save 40% of your income and live off of the remaining 60%. So that means all of your bills (mortgage, utilities, car note, credit card bills, etc…) should all be payable by 60% of your income per month. The other 40% should be broken up as follows:
10% - 401k or some kind of retirement fund
10% - Long term savings. Something you wont touch for a long time until a big purchase comes around like a house, or college for kids or something of that nature
10% - Short term savings. This is for unexpected expenses like repairs for your car or medical bills. It can also be allocated for vacations or gifts during the holidays.
10% - fun money. This is basically whatever you want to save up for or to just have a fall back stash.
Another piece of advice that I got, which I’m semi weary of is to get multiple credit cards (if your financially responsible) and divide them up to different categories of expenditures. So basically get a very low interest credit card for big ticket items that you do not plan to pay off in the near future and get a credit card with “rewards” (which usually means higher interest rates) that you will pay off in full at the end of each cycle.
Does anyone else have advice or input on financial planning for couples that are just starting out? I think we all could benefit from some good advice!
The SABAsearch Blog attracts lots of young South Asian readers who are interested in entpreneurship. Most of these readers are either young South Asian professionals (working in corporate america), young South Asian entrepreneurs (already own their own business), or young South Asian students who are still deciding on their future.
Most of our readers have a burning question that requires some clarity - Is owning a business the key to success or the road to more stress?
We want to hear from both sides. We want current business owners (first generation and second generation) to comment on their experiences. Why did you go into business? Is it just in our “desi blood” to run our own businesses? Also, please offer a piece of advice for all of our young and aspiring South Asian entrepreneurs.
We also want to hear from the South Asian professionals who have selected to take the Corporate America route. Does the stability make you happy? Do you get more time with your family by doing a 9-5 type job? Again, what piece of advice do you have for young South Asians entering the job marketplace?
There are many non-profit organizations that help young South Asians foster their careers in entrepreneurship. One of those organizations is TiE Houston, which has a Young TiE chapter that provides a networking platform for younger South Asian professionals and entrepreneurs. Go to their website and check them out.
The Houston Rockets won Game 5 of their playoff series against the Utah Jazz last night. The Rockets played an amazing game and blew the Jazz away with a 95-69 victory. The crowd was into it the whole game and the Rockets performed well under pressure. If they can continue this momentum into Game 6 on Friday, who knows, we may have another Game 7 on our hands.
T-Mac suprisingly played pretty well last night after all the criticism he has received over the last couple of days. He needs to lead the Rockets to two more victories this year if he wants to finally get out of the first round of the playoffs. Whatever outcome happens in game 6, I must say that the Rockets have had one heck of a season despite losing their best player, Yao Ming, to injury. I am looking forward to game 6 and hopefully game 7! Go Rockets!
Rapper Kanye West is making his way down to the Lone Star State! For those of you Indians and Desis who don’t know who Kanye West is, here is a little Kanye West 101, provided by Wikipedia.com:
Kanye Omari West (pronounced /ˈkɑnjɛj/) (born June 8, 1977)[1] is an American rap artist and hip hop producer. He released his debut album The College Dropout in 2004, his second album Late Registration in 2005, and his third album Graduation in 2007. His first three albums have received numerous awards (including nine Grammys),[2][3][4] critical acclaim,[5] and commercial success. West also runs his own record label GOOD Music.[6] West’s mascot and trademark is “Dropout Bear,” a teddy bear, which has appeared on the covers of his three albums as well as the singles cover for his songs “Stronger” and “Homecoming.”[7]
West’s parents divorced when he was three years old, and he and his mother moved to Chicago, Illinois. He enrolled at Chicago State University but later dropped out to continue pursuing his music career. He later gained fame by producing hit singles for musical artists including Jay-Z, Alicia Keys, and Janet Jackson. West’s style of production often utilizes pitched-up vocal samples, usually from soul songs, with his own drums and instruments. Some controversy has also surrounded West, such as an incident during a live telecast of a benefit concert for Hurricane Katrina relief, when he deviated from the script and told the audience, “George Bush doesn’t care about black people.”
Here is the schedule for Kanye’s ”Glow in the Dark Tour”April 30th - Austin - Frank Erwin Center
May 1st - Dallas - Superpages Center
May 2nd - Houston - Woodlands Pavilion
Check back next week for our review of the concert.
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