SABAsearch Blog

Dear SABAsearch Blog,

I have been reading your blog and wondering why there has been no post regarding the Iran protests and elections.  Therefore, I have decided to write you this letter to offer my thoughts and opinions, and hopefully, you can post it on your blog site.

I am an Indian american, born and raised in the United States.  I have been watching CNN and all of the other news networks to keep up with the Iran protests, but have also turned to Twitter and Youtube to stay afloat of the situation.

As I watch the Iranian protests, I think about two things.  First, if this were to happen in my own country, would I have the courage to stand up like these protesters?  And second, should the United States become involved in the latest Iranian “revolution”?

The first question is a thought that is probably shared by many.  Watching the courage and strength of the Iranian protestors on TV amazes me, and I am forced to introspect and question whether I would be that strong in a situation like that.  Simply for that, I commend those that are risking their lives for the opportunity to stand up for their freedom and liberty.

The second question is one that has been discussed by many on TV shows like CNN.   I, personally, do not believe that the U.S. should interefere with the protests happening in Iran.  The unjustice that is being served to their people right now is an international issue, not just a U.S. issue.  Moreover, I think there are two separate issues here, and the U.S. should be careful of which one we support.  I do not think the U.S. supports the opposition candidate, but we DO  support a fair and equal democracy.  Therefore, I do not think it is our best interest to support the Iranians in their protest for the opposition leader, but instead, internationally, support the Iranians in their strive for equality and justice.

I hope you can post this letter to your readers on the blog so that they can express their opinions as well.

Regards,

KS

Letters From Readers, World

What it is about Indians that makes us so funny?  Maybe it’s our unique side-to-side head motions, or maybe it’s our thicker and thick mustaches that we sport.  Intel’s Ajay Bhatt exercises both of those qualities.  Ajay Bhatt is the “star” of the latest Intel tv ad, however the individual featured in the ad is really an Ajay-double.  Check out the funny ad below:

So who is the real Ajay Bhatt?  Ajay, according to Intel’s website, is:

a senior fellow at Intel’s Cornell Oaks campus in Beaverton. In the 1990s, Bhatt was one of the brains behind the USB — the universal port that’s now ubiquitous on PCs and laptops

See PICTURE of the real Ajay Bhatt

Congratulations, Mr. Bhatt, for gaining the honor of becoming an Intel Superstar….and for finding a body double that sports such a nice Indian stache.

Famous South Asians

Welcome back to Weekend “Wee”deos!  We hope everyone is getting ready for a great weekend!

This weekend, we feature a weedeo that will make you say “Oh Chit Fred!”  This weedeo comes from an Indian train station, where two people are crossing the train tracks.  Little do they  know that the train approaching is charging at a speed of  more than 100 MPH!

The video moves so fast, you may need to rewind a couple of times and watch it again.  After you watch it a couple of times, you’ll definitely use our quote above.

Have a great weekend folks!  Enjoy!

Videos

As some of you may know, Jason Kallingakudiyil was murdered last weekend in Missouri City, TX outside of his parent’s newly constructed home.  Jason is to be laid to rest today at Forrest Park Cemetery at Westheimer & Dairy Ashford.

We at SABAsearch wanted to convey our deepest regret to hear about this loss to the family and the community.  Jason was a great person who was  loved by many.  He will be deeply missed.   Our thoughts and prayers go out to all of Jason’s family and friends.

Below, you will find a link to the facebook page that has been dedicated to Jason as well as to the news article from foxnews.com:

RIP Jason Kallingakudiyil - Facebook Page

Fox News Article - Jason Kallingakudiyil

This blog is to remember the good times we had with Jason, so please feel free to share your sincere memories of Jason below.

Houston, News

Welcome back to Weekend “Wee”deos!  We hope everyone is gearing up for a great weekend.

On this episode of Weekend “Wee”deos, we feature a clip from India where the elections and voting process has just recently come to a close.  Voting is such a big deal in India that most citizens are given a couple of days off from work (in addition to the gazillion other holidays that they get)!

Although voting is a very serious and patriotic process, there is a LOT OF FUNNY that comes out of it.  How, you ask?  Well, maybe because every voter comes out of the polls and proudly flicks you off and gives you the middle finger!  Fine..fine, we know that they are just showing off their voting finger (used to punch their votes in), but come on, you know it’s kind of funny!

So, for your viewing pleasure, we feature this hilarious “wee”deo showing Amitabh, Abhishek, Ashwairya and other Bollywoodites giving you the middle finger (while they smile at you in doing so)!

BRILLIANT!

Humor, Videos

Both first generation and second generation (and even third generation) South Asians should be proud of this post.  Rediff.com released an article reporting that six South Asians were among a select group of individuals awarded the Ellis Island Medal of Honor.  The Ellis Island Medal of Honor is awarded to individuals within various acenstral groups that have achieved tremendous success and helped paint the picture of an American cultural mosaic.

The six Indian Americans that so proudly received this award are (provided by rediff.com):

Sant Singh Chatwal - Chairman & CEO, Hampshire Hotels & Resorts was awarded a medal. Chatwal is a Sikh American Businessman who owns the ‘Bombay Palace’ chain of restaurants.

Jatin P Shah - the chair of Head and neck service in the department of surgery at Memorial Sloan Kettering  Cancer Centre.

Doctor Joseph J Thomas - a dentist from Pennysylvania was awarded the medal.

Doctor Uma Mysorekar - President of the Hindu Temple Society of North America was awarded a medal. Mysorekar was one of the six religious leaders invited to President Obama’s National Prayer Service.

Kiran Desai is accountant and tax consultant.   He must be very good in getting you a refund!

Shiv C Dass - Chairman of the Jackson Heights Merchants Association in New York.

To see photographs of each of these recipients, please visit Rediff.com

So who do you think from the South Asian community should have been included in this honorary group?  Please provide your thoughts of South Asian Americans that top your list!

Congrats to all of the award recipients!

Announcements, Famous South Asians

Last year, we posted a story about a shooting at a New Jersey church.  Dennis Malloosseril was one of the unfortunate victims of this act of violence and his family is still coping with their loss.  Check out the touching video below of the aftermath of this tragic event and how one family’s loss turned into hope for another.

Gift of Life - Booming Celebration 2009

Videos

Unfortunately I’m not talking about their DVD’s…It was reported one of the young actresses (nine year old Rubina Qureshi), was being sold for millions of rupees by her father, Rafiq Qureshi. It’s a sad story, but one that is too familiar to the actual people living in the slums.

An undercover operation revealed the illegal adoption and made it public news. Rafiq was quoted saying “We’ve got nothing out of this film”. You can read more about it on this link.

Now, I can see some viewing Rafiq as a monster, and I’m not trying to say that what he did was not wrong, but he has to look out for the well being of his daughter as well as the rest of his family. He knows that he cannot provide the best for his child, especially in the slums, so he looked for alternatives.  He even refers to Western stars like Madonna going to third world countries to give children a better life. Although he ended up just getting greedy, I think he might have had good intentions going into it.

In my eyes, it’s a very touchy subject. What’s you’re your opinions on this?

Entertainment and Media

There was a protest over the new Afghan sex law which basically says a husband can demand sex with his wife every four days. Some critics say that this is legalized marital rape. During a demonstration of 300 women protesting against the new marriage law, 1,000 Afghans (both men and women) pelted the women with small stones and police struggled to separate the groups.

Though this law would only apply to the county’s Shiites, it’s creating uproar by activist who are fearful of Taliban-style oppression. To read more on this article follow this link.

News, World

Recently, we featured an article written by Purva Patel from the Houston Chronicle on Deval Sanghavi, a US born South Asian from the Houston area who left a lucrative position to move to India and help build Dasra, a non-profit organization committed to helping other non profits in India grow and scale.

We are happy to inform you that Deval Sanghavi will be hosting a discussion forum on this topic on April 26, 2009  at 4pm in Houston.  The title of this event is Giving Affectively to India, and the discussion will focus on Deval’s experiences in investing and working with Indian non-profit organizations.  It will be a great opportunity to ask questions, and gain ideas on how you can become more involved in a South Asian non-profit organization.

To learn more about this event, please view the Giving Affectively to India EVENT FLYER or visit Dasra.org

World

Thinking about going to India to find a wifey? Think again bud. Yesterday, I found this Wall Street Journal article about the struggles that Indian men are having when going to India to find a wife. And the reason may not surprise you - the article claims that Indian men are having a hard time meeting somebody in India because the Indian women are not happy about the recession in the US. Indian brides-to-be and their parents are becoming increasingly curious as to how the recession has affected their son in law candidate. And in most cases, the conversation results in a “thank you and good bye” from the bride and her family.

Here is more on the article from the WSJ:

Vikas Marwaha would normally be considered a good catch by Indian parents seeking a husband for their daughter. The 27-year-old software engineer earns $80,000 to $100,000 a year and comes from a family “of doctors and engineers,” according to his profile on a matrimonial Web site.

But Mr. Marwaha works for a start-up Internet phone company in San Francisco. And because the U.S. economy is wobbly, that’s a problem. Many Indian parents now are balking at sending their daughters to the U.S. to marry.

During a two-week wife-hunting trip to India in December, Mr. Marwaha interviewed 20 potential brides in 10 days. He says several parents asked him, “How has the recession impacted your job?” Mr. Marwaha says he assured them he hadn’t been affected at all, but still he returned to the U.S. brideless.

READ FULL ARTICLE

For those confident bachelors who don’t care about the above, I hear that fares to India are really cheap right now.  Qatar Airways has just launched a promotional fare service to India from a few major US cities (sample fare:  Houston to Mumbai, $868).    So when you meet your bride-to-be and her family, you can tell them “I lost my job…but at least I got here for cheap!”

News, Weddings

I had a brief conversation with a friend on gchat and the message read “Kal Penn is supposedly going to work for the White House!” and it followed with this link.

If you follow the show “House”, you discovered that Kal Penn’s character committed suicide. This happened on Kal’s request to move on to something different, which is to go into politics. I’m sure you know that Kal Penn was involved with the Obama Campaign. In that process he expressed interest in working for the White House. Apparently, his expressed interest has turned into a reality. He’s going to be taking the position of the Associate Director in the White House office of Public Liaison.

Although it’s a pay cut and not as glamorous as an actor’s life, you cannot put a price on your passion. We hope to see Kal Penn move on to do great things in the near future.

Famous South Asians, Politics

If you haven’t been living under a rock, I’m sure you’ve heard of the Conficker.c virus that is supposedly to cause havoc to Windows based computers. The theory behind it is that there are already 10 million PCs that are affected so someone has control of all wherein which they have to power to infect those millions.

So far, nothing has been reported. Although there is a high chance of it simply being an April Fools joke, I wouldn’t take that chance. There are too many anti-virus software programs out there, so pick one up and play it safe.

Experts say that if you already have some type of anti-virus software, you should be safe. It may take weeks to really determine the amount of damage the Confiker.c could really do, if it exists, but at the very worst case, your computer would probably run slower than usual.

Mac users are in luck, although you’re not immune to viruses, this particular one only attacks Windows.

Technology

More and more people today are traveling abroad seeking medical care because of the high costs in their home countries. Surgeries in India is estimated to be almost 10% of the cost of the same surgery here in the United States for people who do not have insurance.

CNN posted an article last week about Sandra Giustina, a 61-year-old American woman, who needed heart surgery and the hospitals in the U.S. were asking for $175,000. She did not have access to this kind of cash and needed the surgery done as soon as possible. Giustina was able to get the required heart procedure done in New Delhi, India for just under $10,000 total, including travel costs. In this case that was a little over 5% of the U.S. estimated cost. Not only was she able to acquire the medical care she required, she was also able to tour India just a few days after the procedure was complete.

There are actually companies now that specialize in providing travel and medical arrangements to hospitals world wide. In Giustina’s case, her doctor here in the U.S. spoke to the doctor in New Delhi and was able to make arrangements on post operative care, procedures, etc. This was key to providing confidence for Giustina and should be considered for anyone trying to do this.

Read the full article about Giustina and medical tourism at CNN.com.

Medical

Videsh is a story of a young Punjabi Housewife Chand (Preity Zinta) who is in an abusive arranged marriage with an Indo-Canadian man. The film shows how Chand deals with her abusive husband and what steps she takes to overcome these unbearable times.

Videsh is a film which shows how the power of imagination helps us elevate our lives when reality becomes simply unbearable. It’s not just a story of Chand who leaves her family residing in India’s small village and goes abroad after marriage only to get subjected to abuse, it’s a story of millions of girls who go through the same dilemma and have no support system in Videsh. It’s a full bodied film in which abuse just plays a small but integral part. The film is also about immigration.

Read the full article at Indiatimes.com.

Cast: Preity Zinta, Vansh Bharadwaj, Balinder Johal, Rajinder Singh Cheema, Gourrav Sihan, Geetika Sharma, Ramanjit Kaur

Sounds like a must see movie…

Movies