The calendar only has a February 29 every four years. An easy way to remember this is that it is usually the same year as the presidential elections. Here are some leap year facts that you might find interesting:

• Leap years have 366 days, while there are normally 365 days.
• If the year is divisible by four, then it is a leap year.
  • Out of these years, if it is divisible by 100, it is NOT a leap year.
  • But, if it is divisible by 400, it is a leap year.
  • Example: 1800, 1900, 2200 are not leap years. 2000 and 2400 are.

Know anybody who has a birthday on leap year? Well, here are a few famous ones:

• 1468 – Pope Paul III
• 1924 – Al Rosen (Baseball player)
• 1960 – Tony Robbins (Motivational speaker)
• 1972 – Antonio Sabato Jr. (Actor)
• 1976 – Ja Rule (Rapper)
• 1980 – Chris Conley (Musician)
• Superman! (comic book character)

I bet you know more about leap year than you ever wanted to know, but if there is any more information we missed, feel free to share. Have a great leap day!

Many friends of the SABAsearch.com team as well as some of our very own have just embarked on the hardest mission of their lives:  planning a desi wedding!  After speaking with them a little bit more about what’s involved, we came to the conclusion that desi weddings in Houston = a Monster Market for Houston wedding vendors.

Think about it, each person we’ve talked to is estimating to spend anywhere from $25,000 to $100,000 on their special day or days.  That’s insane!  Somebody is getting really rich off of the Desis in Houston.  (probably also hoping that we get married 3 times over!)

So, with such a huge spending power within this market, our teams wanted to find out if the wedding vendor market in Houston is flourishing as it should be.  And YES, it is!

More and more desi wedding vendors are popping up left and right within the Houston area.  And don’t worry, there’s enough money to go around for all of them…even the bad ones!

Lets do the math….there are 52 weekends in a year…with at least 4 desi weddings on each of those weekends…and each wedding costing about $75,000 in total.  With these numbers, we’re looking at an $18M market.  Again, insane!

So for all you folks looking for a business to get into…we recommend the wedding market.  Don’t be surprised if you see SABAsearch.com Wedding Planners in the next few months :)  j/k.

Here are some Wedding Vendors we highly recommend in the Houston area.  These vendors have all received strong feedback via the SABAsearch.com website and have had consistent satisfied customers within the South Asian Community in Houston.  Enjoy!

Clear Concept Media - Audio/Video setup
A&A Video - Videography Services
Joe Cogliandro - Photography Services
SNBT Diamonds - Wedding Rings/Engagement Rings
Heartbeats - Live Band & Entertainment
Nu Trend Party Rental and Decorations - Event Decorations

To view more Desi wedding vendors in Houston, check out the SABAsearch.com Wedding Portal, which contains comprehensive listings of all your wedding vendor needs. 

Please share your recommended wedding vendors with everyone by a posting a reply to this blog article. 

We went from Clutch City to Crutch City…..

We’re sad. 

What’s all the buzz about the Visa IPO? If you don’t understand why this is such a big thing, you’ll just need to take a look at the Mastercard stock (ticker:  MA), which IPO’d at below fifty bucks and now is just slightly under $200. 

Analysts are predicting that the Visa stock will put on a better show than Mastercard did over the past two years.  Not only that, Visa is set to break the record for the biggest US IPO offering ever.

Here is an article about the Visa IPO to read in your spare time:  Visa IPO Article

So we want to know, ARE YOU GETTING IN ON THIS?  Leave us a comment and let us know if you’re gonna join the party.

Most business and website owners have heard of the term SEO, but what does it really mean?  SEO, an acronym for Search Engine Optimization, is defined as the process for improving website traffic through various strategies, which are aimed at ranking your website higher in each of the major search engines most commonly used by Internet users.

In Lehman Terms:  SEO helps bring you TRAFFIC!  It’s your website’s secret weapon.

But, it’s not as easy as it sounds.  There are many ”SEO Gurus” out there - some are actually capable of modifying your site to rank higher in the search engines, and some are there just to pull a scam.   Watch out for companies that guarantee 1st page results, they are big phonies!  Nothing is guaranteed in SEO.

Our teams recommend Concept Infoway, which is an Indian based company who have a proven track record in SEO.  They are experienced and better yet, affordable.  Mention that the SABAsearch guys sent you, and you’ll recieve a 10% discount!  But, they are not the only vendor around, so if you do choose to venture off to find your own SEO developer, please make sure you do your research and comparisons.

So, what do you need to know about SEO to make sure you are on the right track?  First, you need to know the basics:

What will an SEO developer do to your site?
An experienced SEO specialist will do a good job of seamlessly laying the SEO tricks on top of your current design, which will minimize the change experienced by the user.  Some of the following tricks can be utilized by an experienced SEO specialist:

Tailored Content:  An SEO specialist may recommend you redraft the static content on your site to be more targeted and “keyword” heavy.  This is a creative art that has a contains fine line between reward and risk.  Sites that are too keyword heavy and use keyword-stuffing techniques are demoted in search engine rankings (this is a way for search engines to regulate false websites).  Make sure your SEO specialist is not using these “black hat” techniques.

Restructure your site:  Your site may be a great dynamic site, but some of those dynamics may be prohibiting the search engine robots from indexing your entire site.  This is because your site structure does not allow the robot to easily flow through your site without requiring to enter certain conditions.  Keep your site easy flowing, and the robots will reward you!

Strategic Links:  Every website has links that link users to different areas of the website, but are they being used properly?  Your SEO expert should review the links and determine whether or not the “anchored text” is being utilized efficiently.  The name of the link is key within this strategy!

Keyword Submission:  Your SEO specialist will submit your targeted keywords to Google and Yahoo for a small fee.  This fee is worth it and will drive a desired target market towards your website.  Try to develop and submit keywords that may be searched by your potential consumers.  Walk in their shoes and you will find your keyword answers!

URL Re-Writing:  Highly experienced SEO specialists will recommend that you re-write each of your website URLS to be more keyword heavy.  The url of your website will actually contain the title of the webpage, instead of just displaying a content key (i.e. asp?=363). If you have a large dynamic site containing pages that generate content based on certain criteria, you’ll definitely need to implement this strategy.

Recommended Content:  Recommended content is not just for the Amazon.coms and the ebay.coms.  This tactic is widely used by SEO specialists as well, which give them a unique opportunity to repeat a particular keyword or product multiple times via multiple links, which help index your site on Google and Yahoo for that particular content.  If you’re doing this sort of stuff, you’re in the elite SEO website class

Other Strategies:  There are an ever changing laundry list of strategies that can be utilized to make your site a strong SEO site.  Make sure your vendor has the resources available to keep up with the everchanging search engine rules. 

What will it cost?  This depends on your website.  Generally, a small website should cost anywhere from $1000 - $2000 dollars for SEO, with a potential re-occuring yearly fee.  A larger website with many dynamics could cost around $10,000 for SEO, but your returns will be well worth it if performed correctly. 

IS SEO right for your website?  Does a human need air to breathe?  YES.  SEO is something that can provide strong ROI, with little manual effort.  It is quite costly, but if you care to have your website be an integral part of your business, SEO is a MUST.

SEO can be a confusing are for many, and we understand that.  Please feel free to contact us at Support@SABAsearch.com or Rikin Shah of Concept Infoway at Rikin@conceptinfoway.net for more information on this topic.  We would be glad to help out.

1180am or 1110am?  Asia Vision or Music Masala?  Houston, get ready for war of the radio titans!  In an article published online by Indo American News, it seems as Houston’s newest desi radio host, Rehan Siddiqui, is making all the right moves to make sure his radio program is a fan favorite in the Houston Community. 

“The community is growing and so are the needs of the community members, he said. Wherever they are, whether traveling in their cars or at home, they can switch on to 1180 AM any time of the day or night and hear to music, news, and quality programs prepared by professionals.”

Rehan and Asia Vision plan to offer the Houston South Asian Community non-stop radio programming 7 days a week, 24 hours a day. 

On the other hand, Sunil T, longtime host of the popular Music Masala program, has made a strong presence here in the Houston Community for over 15 years.  Thousands of listeners tune into his radio program, Music Masala, every Saturday and Sunday to hear his comical and unique show. 

With more than 50,000 South Asians in the Houston area, there is success to be reaped from both parties.  In fact, a variety radio offering to the South Asian community is just what we need.  Fair competition between these two talented radio hosts will undoubetdly produce great media entertainment and solid exposure for the South Asian Community.

Our teams hope that both parties can find a comfortable state so the members of our community can enjoy the variety of both stations and many others .  In addition, this is a great opportunity for businesses and organizations to expand their awareness through an additional media outlet.

So to both Houston Desi Radio Titans:  Play Nice.

A horrible tragedy happened yet again on a college campus; a man who has been identified as a former Northern Illinois University student walked into a lecture hall last Thursday afternoon and opened fire before killing himself. Six people died and 16 others were wounded. When it appeared on Yahoo’s homepage, the first thing that came to mind was “Not Again”!

As I read the article, all I could think of is why are they doing this, and what a senseless crime to commit. I was expecting a huge cover on the story over the weekend, but they barely mentioned it. I can’t believe that they would rather talk about Britney Spears and her marital problems and not something that is more relevant. It really saddens me to know that we don’t even care any more that things like this could be avoided totally. We need to address the issue and it seems as though no one wants to put this as priority number 1 on there ‘things to do list’. This is crazy when you think that parents are making all sorts of sacrifices to make sure the kids get into colleges. They’re selling things, they’re taking out second mortgages on their homes just so there kids can have a better life. The six students who died in that lecture hall will not continue on with their lives, because some lunatic decided that he will just end it today and in a cowardly manner he took other lives as well.

Here is what I think the reason why is: the killer knows that America will air a 15 second segment on the evening news, show his face and never talk about it again. Life will continue on just like normal. I went on-line to do more research and not even the top web sites (i.e. Yahoo, Google, or even CNN) are discussing the tragedy that happened a week ago. People, this happened last week. I’m a little disturbed about this, and I would just like to bring it to the fore-front before it is buried under all the other irrelevant events happening in America. We need to recheck our priorities and do something before this turns into a sick trend that kids will do, just to get their kicks. It needs to stop.

Source

The battle between Toshiba and Sony is almost over.  Toshiba will most likely be ending its HD DVD business soon (as early as this week), which will make Sony’s Blu-Ray technology the winner of the next generation DVD format war.  A lot of consumers have been confused on which technology would prevail, and have resisted on committing to either one.  Now the choice seems to be clear. 

Toshiba recently slashed its prices (selling HD DVD players for as little as $100) in hoping to take over the market, but that still was not enough.  Toshiba lacked in the marketing department when compared to Sony.  It goes to show you that even if you have a great product for a great price, you still need to go out of your way for marketing.  Wal-mart and Netflix also announced last week that they will no longer carry the HD DVD technology and only carry Blu-Ray.

So, what do you do if you already bought a HD DVD player?  I would not throw it out of the window just yet.  These are still very good players and produce the same quality as Blu-Ray, so I would still hang on to it and buy more HD DVDs after they slash those prices.  Can you imagine if you could get a HD DVD for under $10?  Who knows, maybe it will even be a collector’s item in years to come. 

On the other hand, I wouldn’t run out and buy a Blu-Ray player just yet either.  The prices for Blu-Ray players are unreasonably high, and I assume that in the next year or so, these prices will have to come down.  Congrats to Sony for finally putting an end to this format war and condolences to everyone who went out and purchased an HD DVD player; especially if you spent a few hundred dollars on it.

Source

This video was sent to us by one of our readers.  Congrats to this group for making a creative video. Pretty hilarous, if you’re Malu (Malayalee). If you’re not, you still might find it funny! Check it out!

It goes to show, if you got a group of Indians with a camera, anything can happen.

Hello Houston!  My name is Raghav, here with my girlfriend Rohini.  We just moved into Houston and SABAsearch.com has asked us to be their official consumer critics for businesses around the Houston area!

Rohini and I have been all over the country for our medical residency, but finally made a home here in Sugarland, TX.  Boy, there are a lot of desis here :)  Anyways, we’re excited to bring you the most raw, straight up, in your face reviews so that you can make sure you’re getting the best of the best!  As we get settled here in Houston, we’ll be sharing our experiences with you on various things that we do every week, from eating at various restaurants to using certain services around the Houston area. 

Our first stop:  India’s Restaurant right off of Richmond Avenue.  Rohini and I decided to wake up early (noon) and catch lunch after a good night of partying at Houston’s Rice Village for the first time last Saturday night.  Both of us and our friends decided to meet up at India’s for a good “hangover buster”.

India’s Restaurant
5704 Richmond Ave
http://www.IndiasRestaurantHouston.com

What we liked:  Definitely do the buffet on Sunday!  The small chaat station hits the spot!  They have a good variety of items and very tasty.  Their daal is great, and they make it with a little less cream for those weight watchers.   Look out for celebs!  We ran into one of the Houston Texans while eating - cool stuff.  Also, service was good, can’t complain.  They brought fresh naan to the table, which is my number one favorite.

Not so Hot:  The place was packed!  Although we didn’t have to wait for a table, the buffet line moves slow.  I guess this is a good sign that it’s full though :)  Parking was a b*tch and a half!  Their parking lot is VERY tiny, so make sure you get there early so you’re not waiting around.  We also didn’t like the steep charges on the cokes!

Hints/Tips:  This place is hard to miss.  It has a little ole’ sign.  If you’re coming from 610 and hit Fountainview, you’ve gone too far.  Order the Kulcha naan - its great.  Finally, look for coupons, they have multiple in Houston Chronicle and also on SABAsearch.com.  We got 15% off.

If I were the Owner:  I’d definitely make more space for parking.  With that many patrons, its time to fetch up some cash and make it comfy for us to park.  Keep your staff, they’re doing a great job and have excellent customer service skills.  Food is good, but i’m a spice freak - let the Non-Indians experience the TRUE Indian spices…burn em baby!

Raghav and Rohini’s Rating:  4 out of 5 stars

Rohini’s up next week.  If you guys want us to go check out a business, let us know!  Later.

The PHX Suns acquired Shaquille O’Neal in a stunning, blockbuster deal that sent four-time All-Star Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks to the MIA Heat. This was a bad move on the Suns part, you are giving up a pair of speedy players for a slow Shrek aka Shaq. You are going to add a player who has recently been plagued by injuries and not to mention getting older to a team that is known for being fast pace. Good Job Suns!!!

Suns offense is too much for Shaq. He can’t run, nor can he shoot. In MIA he was complaining about how many times he doesn’t get the ball, and now you are going to put him on a team where he will be the fourth go to guy? I agree Suns need strength in the middle and they need someone to give that defensive presence, but adding Shaq to the line up is not the way to go. Sure this will give Amare Stoudemire a chance to move to power forward spot, where the league’s centers no longer can destroy him on a nightly basis, but overall it doesn’t help them (Suns) at all. “Shaq doesn’t fit anything they do,” one Eastern Conference assistant coach said. What makes the Suns great in the half court is there ability to pick and roll everybody. Don’t see that happening any more.

Suns had a shot at the Title, but since they made this move they can kiss it goodbye. Ironic, didn’t Mario Ellie do that a while back against the Suns (Kiss of Death!). The Diesel is running on E…

What is the one thing that makes or breaks your business within the South Asian community in Houston, or for any South Asian community for that matter?  If you don’t know the answer to this question, then you need to ask your brown neighbor ASAP!Every business owner knows that he/she must master the “word of mouth” marketing strategy prior to rolling out any product or service to the South Asian community.   But why is our community so black and white?  Why do businesses owners have to put extra efforts into ensuring their business image is well taken care of by their South Asian customers?  Here are the golden explanations behind our theories, and we, SABAsearch.com, do accept any monetary “gifts” from non South Asian businesses who may benefit greatly from the disclosure of this highly valuable information

OK, so here it is:  South Asians work in very tight networks, and strongly rely upon each other to disclose prior experiences before going through it themselves.  We expect our fellow community members to open doors for us and share their knowledge, not because we cannot learn it for ourselves, but because that is what’s written in our “unwritten” laws.  This culture was established by the first group of first generation Indian immigrants who came to the U.S with $5 dollars in their pockets and a phone number to call as soon as they landed at LaGuardia airport.  The man who picked up your first immigrant family member was somebody who reaped the same cultural benefits 3 months before.   But what comes around goes around, and if you help another, you reap some benefit at some point in the future - mutually beneficial.

From that point forward, the South Asian communities within the U.S. have thrived and become powerful through the sharing of knowledge, which is a strong component of any successful business practice or organization.  If something is harmful, we know about it by noon.  If something is great, we know about it by 3pm and use it to our advantage.  When there is something that is being given away for FREE, we learn about the loophole so we can get it 3 times over

So, what does this mean for businesses looking to pierce this transparent market?  Simple:  Make sure you serve the South Asian community with the 3 F’s.  Be Flexible, Be Friendly and be FREE.

Be Flexible - Get ready to bargain.  More than likely, the client coming to your door has more information about you than you know.  If you’re not flexible, you’re not winning their business.  Save your shirt, but don’t steal theirs.

Be Friendly - If you make a friend with a South Asian customer, you’ve just made friends with 10.  If you send a customer out of the door in a bad mood, you’ve just lost 10 customers.  South Asians highly regard friendships as a trust factor.  Make a friend, make a buck.

Be FREE - Yes I said it, be FREE.  Let certain individuals within the South Asian community experience your product or service for FREE or at a deep discount.  We love FREE stuff, and it’s a great way to get your product strategically placed on the next train to South Asian consumer loyalty.  But be careful, make sure you put limitations around your FREE offer.

Word of mouth marketing is definitely IN within the South Asian community.  Master the art of spreading a strong word about your business within the South Asian community and you’ll be impressed with the ROI, with the Investment being the simple execution of the three F’s.  If your image has been tarnished by disgruntled South Asians, don’t leave it alone.  Fix it!  Make an extra effort to win over the those South Asian consumers and you’ll benefit from your efforts tenfold.

A doctor in India was arrested for running one of the biggest illegal organ selling operations in the world.  His name is Dr. Amit Kumar and he has been charged with stealing kidneys from the poor and selling to the rich.  It is estimated that he has stolen between 500 and 600 kidneys in total.  Dr. Kumar’s customers consisted of wealthy Indians and foreigners.  In the recent arrest, they found five foreigners awaiting kidney transplants, out of which two were American.

The scam went as follows.  Victims were promised a job and were asked to go to a private house to sign paperwork, etc.  Once they entered the house, they were held at gunpoint and forced to sell their kidney.  Victims were then given an injection and lost consciousness.  When they woke up, surgery had already been done and the kidney was taken.  The transplants actually occurred in the private house which had a state of the art operation room.  The victims were given around 50,000 rupees ($1,300) for their kidney and some were paid even more to keep quiet.

Dr. Kumar was apprehended in Nepal where he was fleeing from the police.  He has denied all allegations and will be in court shortly.  Below is a news report on this incident.

For all you movie buffs the highly expected Bollywood movie ‘Race’ is coming soon so be on the lookout….

A gripping, multi star thriller, “RACE” is the story of brothers, Saif Ali Khan who plays Ranvir Singh and Akshaye Khanna plays his brother Rajeev Singh. Their ‘business’ is horse racing and their ‘beat’ the fast track. Winning is their birthright and danger is their sport, living life on the edge with every step they take.

Set against the high-flying social fabric of modern South Africa “RACE” is about betrayal and greed, intrigue and revenge. Even love comes laced with a motive. The stakes are too high. Double them and you have the perfect grounds for a perfect murder. What was the game? Who held the ropes? The glamorous model Sonia played by Bipasha Basu, whom Ranvir loved or the beautiful secretary Sofia played by Katrian Kaif, who loved Ranvir. The sudden appearance of Inspector Robert D’costa played by Anile Kapoor and his less intelligent and sexy assistant Mini played by Sameera Reddy, deepens the plot into a gripping tale of drama at its best. With the brothers feuding against each other who will win? The one who plays to win or the one who plays to defeat?

Producers
Kumar S Taurani
Ramesh S Taurani

Directors
Abbas Burmawalla
Mustan Burmawalla

Cast
Saif Ali Khan
Akshaye Khanna
Bipasha Basu
Katrina Kaif
Anil Kapoor
Sameera Reddy

Below is the trailer for the RACE movie.

 
Hillcroft is well known as the “Little India” of the Houston area.  Tons of Indian and Desi businesses have lined up within a 1/2 mile stretch to offer a “one-stop-shop” type bazaar for purchasing various South Asian goods and products.   As I was growing up, my family would go and spend hours looking for saris, bargaining at an electronic store for a new toaster oven and then end up at Raja Sweets to enjoy some Indian Fast food to satisfy all of our hunger.  But thats not the case anymore.Indian entreprenuers have found a nice home for operating their business in the Hillcroft area as it allows them to benefit from the location, thus potentially driving down their marketing costs.  Locating themselves in the middle of the South Asian hub allows them to easily connect to a South Asian audience without having to go chase them down or spend money to inform them of their exact location.  Instead, customers just “stroll” and stumble upon your store as a result of being in the area (which is quite frequently for many).  But recently, different trends in consumer buying habits as well as the need for convenience have made the incentives of Hillcroft a little questionable for business owners.  Therefore, if I were thinking about placing a business on Hillcroft, I would first analyze Hillcroft in terms of the good, the bad and the ugly:

The Good:  Businesses on Hillcroft enjoy the ability to tap into a specific market without doing much work.  And the market we are talking about is a bargaining market, which must be done in person, which requires you to have a storefront.  Bargaining doesn’t work too well over the phone :)  In addition, referral business on Hillcroft is increased because your business neighbors may actually direct customers your way.  In a regular shopping strip-mall, you’d be lucky if the business next to you even bothered to know your name!

 The Bad:   Maintanence of the shopping strips seem to be at a minimum at this time.  Crime in the area seems to have taken a higher toll in the past few years and the utter congestion of the area seems to turn consumers away from making regular visits.  With more and more businesses filling a limited space, its hard to manuever around within your automobile without violating 13 traffic laws to get across the street.   Not a good combination for return business.  Saving 10 bucks may not be worth the hassle.

 The Ugly:    The price to be on hillcroft has definitely become a premium.  Since the area caters to a specific market, strip mall owners have the ability to charge a higher rate, which may not pay off for a first time business.  The risk is high.  The web offers a great alternative, which was not available 10 years ago for businesses who would like to tap into the South Asian market of Houston without being in the middle of the South Asian hub.  And worst of all, Sugarland is now proving to be a new “hub” for South Asians.  Hillcroft may be on its way out…

In the end, I’m not sure I would select to operate my business on Hillcroft, unless I was a restaurant or franchised business for the sole reason that non-South Asians think of Hillcroft as their first stop for good Indian food :)  I would opt to find a solid location in Houston where multiple South Asian businesses are located nearby as they’ve probably already scoped a potential market.   I would most likely utilize the web and other South Asian mediums to attract a South Asian audience to my business at lower costs.

There are many successful businesses who have built a solid foundation because they are located in the South Asian hub of Houston.   Just don’t let their success fool you into thinking its an automatic win - their success came with tremendous amounts of hard work and dedication to make Hillcroft stand out and be one of the best trademarks of the South Asian Community in Houston.   You will have to do the same for your business when you get there.  Good Luck!