Desicritics Category: Politics: Immigration

Racism in Indian Schools in South Africa

Dr Bhaskar Dasgupta — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 03:50:28 EDT

Unfortunately schools are always the target for social policy. One of the places, where this was observable in horrible detail, was in apartheid South Africa. One had white-only schools, coloured-only schools, black-only schools and Indian-origin schools.

It's this last one which caused me to take a deeper look at a paper which crossed my in box. The paper is by Anthony Lemon, and is titled "Indian identities in the 'rainbow nation': Responses to transformation in South African schools".

But how did these Indian schools fare after apartheid ended?
I am not sure if there are any definite conclusions, but I am just going to comment on certain noteworthy observations that the author made.

During apartheid, despite being segregated and having lower amounts of comparative funding, Indian schools did equal to the white schools, both in terms of enrolment as well as educational attainment. Now that I found to be quite interesting and the author points to the unholy drive that Indian parents have towards educating their children as the reason behind this performance.
But post apartheid, when just looking at 5 schools in a tiny corner of South Africa, some very interesting aspects come up. The first is that while the teachers, staff and governing bodies want to open up their schools to more black students, the parents usually are not that interested. Apparently the prevailing view is, once you let lots of blacks into a school, Indians are less keen to go to that school. Seems like the governing body, teachers and staff are more liberal and inclusive compared to the normal parents.
Second, while almost no white students would go to an Indian school, some Indian students will go to a white school. But this is either statistically insignificant or because the parents live next to a white school and not because of an explicit desire. Also, most Indian schools are equal if not better than white schools.
On the other hand, black students will commute very long distances to get to Indian schools which are considered to be much better than black schools. In many cases, the travel costs are greater than the school fees, which is very thought-provoking indeed.
In many schools with an Indian majority before but now having an African majority, the teachers and staff are still predominantly Indian, mainly because African teachers are very difficult to getm, recruit and retain. But this is not as simple as it seems, as staff and teachers seem to be associated with their apartheid era racial attributes. So white teachers go to white schools, Indian teachers go to Indian schools, and so on and so forth.
But curiously, a pattern which seems to emerge is that Black teachers do not like to go the extra mile which Indian staff and teachers are famous for. For example, in a school, the principal is in school every day of the year, including weekends. Apparently this over the top dedication to teaching is not seen in Black teachers and thus they do not seem to last long in Indian schools.
Curiously, while Indian parents would be very heavily involved in the schools and with their children's education, that pattern does not seem to show up in black parents, because of poverty, long commute distance or other reasons.
But given that a huge amount of school funding comes from the parents, a paradoxical downside of opening up the Indian schools to Black students means a very big drop of school income. Given the current economic climate, this is hurting the Indian schools badly in terms of infrastructure development.
The United Kingdom seems to be siphoning out good teachers relating to physical sciences, biology, maths, speech and drama, languages and life orientation. They seem to be heading off for a better life and salaries.

Now this is what I found interesting and I quote the last line "Desegregation of former Indian schools, if sensitively managed, can make a significant contribution to that identity (Indian Identity within a rainbow nation) by gradually increasing understanding and acceptance of Indians by the black African majority".

So if I read this right, Indians are not accepted or understood well by black Africans and the feeling seems to be reciprocated solidly as shown by the school choices (albeit in a small sample). Racism seems to still be alive and kicking in a very saddening level in South Africa. But would it mean a race to the bottom in terms of inclusiveness or a race to the top in terms of merit? My sad prediction is the former, the balance of probability, looking at how public policy has been executed usually in that neck of the woods, usually means that when it comes to merit versus skin colour, the latter wins.

Technorati Tags: Schooling, Education, South Africa, affirmative Action, racism

Paranoia, Transformers, & the Free State

Harish C — Sat, 31 May 2008 05:46:40 EDT

Recently at the Heathrow airport, there was this incident of an airline traveler who was asked to change his t-shirt because it featured a Transformer robot carrying a gun -- a robot with a gun that apparently posed a threat to flight safety.

So the long list that includes safety razors and toothpicks (“Stop! Take this plane to Libya or…er…we’ll shave your brains off!!”) has been updated to include items as innocuous as T-Shirts and (heaven forbid!) chequered lungis.

Now seriously, how exactly do they rationalize adding printed tees into the list of items banned during air travel? What to they think? That mid-air, Megatron would metamorphose from the T-Shirt, hijacking them away in search of the Cube or would he demand destruction of all hard detergents? I am sure some bloke with a wild imagination and an overdose of Transformers can be blamed for it.

The actions of the free world (read the U.S.) since 9/11 have been predicable, disturbing and laced generously with paranoia. Patriot Acts and War for Democracies, Aggressive Diplomacy and extensive Bipolarization…Above all; the transformation of even mundane tasks that transverse across borders into something that makes even the seasoned partisan shudder. Let it be airline travel, visa interviews, IRC, Blogging or Freedom to wear a T-Shirt.

The fat cats fail to realize that what their actions based on an overzealous protectiveness is fulfilling the terrorists’ agenda more than their own. What they achieve with one tiny blast is realized tenfold or hundred fold (depending on the location, Indians shrug it off and Americans respond with fixing the third shotgun in their cars gun rack) by the seismic waves of restrictions, gagging, acts that inevitably follow. What they need is not blanket bombing of these into the unsuspecting populace. Indeed, it would well serve them to remember that even the actual blanket bombing was a ridiculous failure. They need to craft precision surgical strikes based on the strong core of intelligence gathering and extensive cooperation among the countries of the free world. Alas, the power-hungry politicos across the globe know that these do not work as well as their scare tactics in filling up their ballot boxes and hence try to disregard them.

Only Israel, secure in its Jewish nationalism and having (almost) selfless democratic machinery managed to do this successfully. Spiriting away Nazi war criminals from Argentina and demolishing the whole terror apparatus behind the Munich attacks using kidon teams. This resoluteness and ruthlessness, which Goda Meier possessed, needs to be imbibed in our leaders for them to react constructively.

Till then let us keep our Batman underwear and Shaktimaan Parle G biscuit packs at home while travelling.

Poetry: smiling crocodile

temporal — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 08:45:49 EDT

in the parched marshes
crocodiles have stopped
shedding tears
at the never ending
deir yassins as sleeping
dieties from
the past are invoked
they have to feed too
in darfur there are
no crocodiles left
we eagerly await
a saharan ronnie
kasrils to discover
fahimi zidan
conscience is the biggest
crocodile of all
bigger than most gods
                    asleep
as we tuck our kids
with a kiss on the
                    forehead
after the bed time
stories we look
under our beds
for hidden reptiles
and satisfied go
                    to sleep
before the jaw closes
once i want to ask
the crocodile if
i can have a word
                    with his god

H-1Bs, Immigration Policies and US Jobs

Ms. Anona — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 02:58:09 EDT

Bill Gates recently testified in front of Congress that the cap of 65,000 on H-1B was far too small. He went on to say that if more highly skilled foreign students are not permitted to work in the country after they graduate from U.S. universities, American high-tech companies would lose their ability to develop innovative products. India, of course, supplies the bulk of this highly skilled productivity, but little is known to those outside of the IT world the legalities, and oftentimes corrupted practices taking place right here in the USA.

On the surface, policies such as the one Bill Gates is advocating for would seem like a win-win situation for both U.S. companies and foreign immigrants, but of course it is much more complex than that. We all know very well the debate against more immigrants working in the U.S., i.e. the loss of jobs to Americans and brain drain in foreign countries. This is all very well documented and I do not wish to engage the reader in such a debacle. I wish to speak of something less spoke of, dare I say, ‘secret’ of the IT world, this being the fraudulent role of small mostly Indian-run recruitment firms. The lawless and unethical practices are something only desis or those working higher up in IT seem to know about, and it would shock typical Americans the way it surprised me when I was let in on the secret.

The Process: Although there are some very big and respectful recruitment firms out there that supply legitimate human resources to big companies specializing in IT, most of them in one way or another resort to smaller privately owned recruitment firms to supply them with links to highly-skilled staff. These smaller firms recruit fresh graduates from U.S. universities or bring over foreign citizens who have been working in IT abroad. The agencies then train the recruits in a specialized area, either concentrating on a specific software, application, or industry. When they are done training, the recruitment firms will assist in the placement of jobs in the specialized area and will take a portion of their salary thereafter. Along with the percentage taken out of their paycheck, the recruits may have to pay a flat-fee for this service and the fee may be quite substantial if the company is filing for the recruit’s H-1 status or any other INS document on their behalf.

The Problem: Although there is nothing illegal outright defined in the above process, the system allows for a plethora of infringements to take place. The first is that the majority of these small firms persuades and even push their recruits to design fraudulent, or fake resumes, giving the applicants five or more years of experience in the specialized field they are applying for when really they have next to none. The companies that hire these recruits mostly frown upon this process and claim they are not at fault as they attempt to successfully sift out these sort of applicants, however I have spoken with a broad range of immigrants that were able to obtain jobs in this way. This seems to be more the norm than the exception leaving in its wake unethical hiring standards throughout the whole of the IT industry. To my knowledge, faking resumes and lying to potential employers is not actually illegal unless it is for the federal government, but there are bound to be traces of illegal activities, such as fraudulent tax forms and false promises to the employees that must occur to maintain the system.

The system unfairly promotes non-citizens because citizens cannot be trusted to maintain the integrity of the fraudulent system. If the immigrants do not oblige in giving potential employers what their recruiters want, they may be sent back to their country, or, per their contract, may be fined. New immigrants rarely have the time or patience to get engaged in the legal system and are mostly pleased to find an easy access to corporate America. One of the extreme cases I have been confronted with was a friend of mine who was entitled to pay $500 each month to his recruiter even though they were not finding him a job. The company that had hired him was an Indian-run company and had found it more profitable to ‘virtually enslave’ their employees while they waited patiently for their green cards. His only option was to leave the country or oblige, as per the INS guidelines, he could not change employers until first receiving a paycheck.

Another contact of mine came here from abroad and returned shortly thereafter. He was brought here under false pretenses from his recruiting agency and was unwilling to lie or beef up his qualifications to find a position even though he had more relevant experience than any other of the recruits. This system rewards lying and unethical behavior and can even leak into national security measures. When these kinds of recruits get a position, they may have access to materials and documentation that they should not be privy to because they do not actually have the pre-determined experience and have instead created a fraudulent persona.

The Solution: When I find fault in something America does, the first thing I do is look over the pond. Europe is much more advanced at socialized systems and maintains more government control over processes such as this one. America has decided on many issues to circumvent government oversight in favor of lower taxes. In many European countries, there is a national board, such as the U.S’ Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), which regulates issues on employment and can bar recruits if they are found to be fictitious in nature.

The EEOC’s role in the U.S., however, does not go much beyond making sure discrimination does not occur in the hiring process. The reason the U.S. may not want to initiate this type of oversight seen in Europe may have to do with the fact that the U.S. would have to open up certain employment sectors to foreign nationals. Contractors for many government agencies in the U.S. right now require their employees to be U.S. citizens, for example. Also, at this moment, foreign nationals having extensive experience overseas are not given any type of preference over those with the same or lesser experience obtained in this country. These things would have to change and would create a more even playing ground for foreign nationals in these sectors.

One thing for sure here is that desis are incredibly resourceful when it comes to Information Technology and they will find a way to dominate this field, legally or otherwise. I am not against more H-1 visas permissions any more than I am against recruiting firms in general, but I don’t believe in corrupt systems that promote lying and unethical behavior. I also believe that U.S. educational institutions are partially to blame for these trends. Most universities and technical colleges in the United States do not have enough competitive edge to supply their students with the most up-to-date technology that is directly translatable to the workplace.

Using Refugees for Strategic Purposes

Dr Bhaskar Dasgupta — Sun, 9 Mar 2008 11:55:00 EDT

I have already written about refugees before but this time I want to look at what do the Bangladeshi, Kashmiri, Tamil, Hindu, Muslim, Sikh Refugees in India, Kosovo Albanian Refugees, Palestinian Refugees in various Arab countries, Afghan refugees in Pakistan and Iran, Hutu refugees in Zaire, Cambodian refugees in Thailand, Cuban refugees in USA and all the other refugees all over the world have in common? Well, they have all been used by “other people” for their own needs and agendas. And these “other people” use these refugees as part of an explicit strategy, not for purely humanitarian objectives. I was quite surprised when I worked through the argument.

Using refugees for strategic purposes seems to have a very long history, especially in the post World War II period. And generally, if managed properly, it works. See the examples which we have? While the 1971 Indo-Pakistani war is considered by many as perhaps the best example of the “Just War” theory, the fact remains that India did use the Bangladeshi refugees as a reason to poke Pakistan in the eye. As a matter of fact, that entire episode of Partition with millions and millions of refugees is still being played out by strategic use of the refugees in Kashmir, Pakistan and India.

The Mohajirs in Pakistan are used as a strategic bloc by their own leaders, as well as so many other political and religious leaders in Pakistan. The ethnically cleansed Kashmiri Pundits are used in the greater strategic Hindutva discourse and are ignored strategically by the Indian government for the overall secular discourse. The Sri Lankan Tamil refugees were used strategically by the Indian central and State governments, as well as political parties to push their varied agendas just like the Singhalese and Sri Lankan Muslim refugees were themselves used by Singhalese politicians to push for a nationalist objective.

Pakistan, USA and Saudi Arabia used the Afghan refugees to push for their various nationalistic, ideological, autocratic and religious strategic objectives. It is quite well known how the refugees were armed and pushed into Afghanistan to fight against the Communist Godless Russians. So Pakistan wanted to do it to get its strategic depth and play to USA; and USA wanted to contain USSR, while Saudi Arabia didn’t want the godless communists anywhere near them. Thailand used the Cambodian refugees as a buffer to the poxy gits in Cambodia, while the Hutu refugees (who were in turn responsible for the Tutsi genocide) were armed by Zairian President Mobutu Sese Seko to fight an insurgency in Eastern Zaire! And all these cases generally worked for the strategy.

The entire Yugoslavia, Bosnia, Kosovo mess was and is heaving with refugees. The refugees have been pulled and pushed from and to all sides, and have been used disgracefully and hypocritically by almost all parties starting from the head honcho himself, Slobodan Milosevic. That was one spectacular example of ethnic cleansing and strategic use of refugees that went bad. The other two most hypocritical uses of refugees are the use of the Cuban refugees and second is the use of the Palestinian refugees. The Cuban refugees have been fleeing the totalitarian and authoritarian communist regime for the past few decades to the USA. And for purely ideological reasons, the USA has been using them to hit back at Fidel Castro and his regime.

Not that it worked. Fidel is fine and has retired with his Havana cigars. He is a happy man, and all those American presidents and other grand poo bah’s who used the refugees have also gone. So I am not very sure now about what was the result of using those refugees and sending them to their deaths. Similarly, the Palestinian refugees. I have spoken about them and the actual whine to pain ratio is perhaps the highest with them compared to all refugees. But that is not the point. The point is that almost every other government has used them for their strategic needs. Your own citizens being restive about jobs or cost of bread? Use the refugees as a reason to rattle your sabre's at the Jews / Israel? Do not give them citizenship, treat them as bargaining counters, keep them in camps, use their people as propaganda, use their situation in the United Nations, etc. etc. And it is just not the government, but also the common people ranging from Journalist Associations in the UK to the USSR wanting to tweak the noses of the Americans to Saudi Arabian Islamic Charities to Iranian Revolutionary Guards.

Economic refugees and migrants also get it in the neck, whether you are talking about the BNP talking about the Asian refugees or the Conservative Party talking about the Eastern European migrants. How about that Raj Thakarey fellow, who was recently fulminating about internal economic migration inside India?, Or the huge debates around the East German migrants into Western Germany and using them for political purposes?

But this essay is more about the political refugees who cross borders. Unfortunately, our international security and political institutions do not have anything functional to fight these nasty hypocritical folks who use the refugees for their own ends. At some point in time, it is but natural that the legal and political framework will extend to cover the use or rather the abuse of these poor displaced refugees. And it is at that time that decisions taken today will come back to haunt them. If you do not believe me, just see Slobodan Milosevic or Saddam Hussein, who tried to use population transfers as a weapon of war and politics… So whenever you hear anybody fulminating about refugees, do not take them at face value, there is almost always an ulterior motive.

All this to be taken with a grain of piquant salt!

Migrants are Everywhere

Shantanu Dutta — Fri, 7 Mar 2008 07:24:54 EST

n the midst of all the talk about the migrants in Mumbai and whether they are a burden or an asset to the city, I came to visit my mother in Kolkata. She lives in the Ballygunj area, once (probably still), an extremely elitist old money colony of the Bengali elite. After uninterrupted Left Front rule in the state since 1977 which effectively cut down industrialization and jobs for the educated Bhadrolok class, most of the young people left the city and today a large part of old South Kolkata is decaying buildings and elderly residents. The ambiance is unmistakably old world Bengali. So it was with some level of curiosity that my mother announced that a couple of girls who spoke Hindi had come to live as paying guests in the neighboring house.

In a culture, where people are classified as Bangali(Bengali) or O Bangali( non Bengali) with no grey shades in between, the arrival of the girls who would chatter away in Hinglish is currently still an amusing phenomena as they bring in life into an otherwise deadened community. But some disquiet is clearly there. What happens next? Some more girls coming in paying guests? Boy friends? Parties and Loud music? No one quite knows and every one is keeping their fingers crossed.

The only non Bengalis people in the area are aware of are Marwari builders trying to buy up their mansions and whose ostentatious life styles are looked upon with contempt and at the other end, the Bihari rickshaw pullers and laborers – generally looked upon in Kolkata with pity rather than anger. And yet can some Marwari families and Bihari laborers who have been in the city for generations and who speak the language and idiom with a rare fluency that will always elude the probasi(non resident Bengali) be called sons of the soil ? That question has never been attempted.

The situation in Delhi is far more interesting. The original people of Delhi – the folks who lived in Shahajanabad – Ballimaran, Chandni Chowk are today miniscule. The whole of that is captured within one parliamentary constituency out of Delhi’s seven. The others who are authentically sons of the soil are the outlying villages – Narela, Najafgarh, Badli, Samaipur and many, many others. These are and always have been villages and very rural except that the city has grown all around them and suddenly they find themselves befuddled.

The bulk of the people who live in Delhi today are migrants and a big portion are people displaced by the partition and who have come in from what is now Pakistan, gone into business, made money and bought property which they let out often by putting out classifieds in the daily newspapers. A typical transaction where the lesser is a migrant, the prospective tenant is also a migrant will reveal a lot. After scanning through the classifieds and short listing a few houses, a phone call is made to the landlord in the phone number listed in the advertisement and a time to get together is fixed.

Once the parties have got together and the opening pleasantries exchanged, the land lord asks the key question – what is you shubh naam? - Your good name please? A hush accompanies the question for in that question lie a hundred answers. If I am typical (I am not but that is a different matter…)my name will reveal to a waiting audience, not just that but my caste, my language, my religion, my dietary habits and possibly even my political ideology. It might even provide significant clues as to my occupation, my income and my life style. All this is largely based on stereotypes but when a dialogue is happening between strangers, pictures and images loom pretty large. The interesting thing about these interviews is that although a large portion of the land owners are North Indians and a big majority landed as displaced people needing housing in the post partition era, North Indians are at the bottom of the ladder when it comes to picking tenants.

Echoing Delhi’ Lieutenant Governor’s remarks most land lords believe that among migrants into the city , the South Indians are the favored lot as most believe that they are reliable law abiding, not aggressive and in general law abiding. Most advertisements are too discreet to say this upfront but some actually do so. The classification typically allows only North and South, so when I say I am from Bengal, there is momentary confusion but thus far I have passed the test. However I don’t know how Muslims with a name like Abdul Aziz would fare or a Christians with a name with Anthony Gonsalves would fare.

Eventually possibly xenophobia is ingrained in our genetic make up; but what we do differently in different places is respond more or less humanely recognizing that trade, travel and eventual migration is just as much part of the human genetic make up. Indians, who constitute one of the world’s largest Diaspora and have received varying levels of welcome at different places and even different times, should have assimilated lessons connected to migration and even reverse migration long ago. But we haven’t done that.

The Shiv Sena may say that Biharis are an unwanted lot every where and like Tejinder Khanna’s statement that maybe a politically incorrect truth. But perhaps it will take a man of Abdul Kalaam’s vision to make Bihar a more attractive place to live and work, so that a day may come when people or at least a section of them actually revert back to their place of origin. Isn’t that beginning to happen a bit – as India changes, many NRIs who went out in search of lucrative pastures outside, are now finding the grass increasingly greener this side of the fence ? Migration is a complex phenomenon- it will take a lot more than raving and ranting to make a rational sense out of it and draw up humane policies that will make it less necessary for people to migrate out into unwelcoming shores.

Questions For Raj Thackeray

Truman — Fri, 7 Mar 2008 01:17:29 EST

1. Are you specifically against UP-wallahs and Biharis because, as you allege, they spread "filth"?

2. Or do North-Indians in general spread filth?

3. If any of the above is true, can we assume that you have no problems with South-Indians? Does it mean that you are okay with South Indians coming to Mumbai?

4. When you say that outsiders are a menace to Mumbai, what exactly do you mean? If a Maharashtrian living in Nashik comes to Mumbai to earn a living, would he qualify to be called an "outsider" and, in effect, spread "filth"?

5. Or could it be that a Maharashtrian living elsewhere in Maharashtra is a lesser "outsider" than a person who has crossed several states to come to Mumbai? Doesn't it then look like a matter of convenience?

6. And what about a Maharashtrian who has lived all his life in Patna and decides to come to Mumbai for a living? Is he an outsider too? Would he be a problem?

7. Lastly, what about me, Sir? I have lived almost 10 years in Maharashtra. I love eating pooran poli and I understand Marathi. I am not that good when it comes to speaking Marathi but compared to Punjabi, which happens to be my mother tongue, I find Marathi more comfortable. Oh and yes, I was born in New Delhi in a Punjabi family. Can I come back to Mumbai? Or will you throw me out since I do not have a Maharashtrian surname?

Activism - The Forgotten Facet of Being American

Ms. Anona — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 11:01:51 EST

The importance of community service and activism in the history of the United States is one of the staples of our society that has the potential to bind even the least fortunate among us. Alexis de Toqueville first expounded on this thinking as early as the 1800’s when European settlers were still fleeing oppression, and Jane Addams again in the early 1900s during the Great Depression. Philanthropy remains active in our society employing and utilizing the ‘third sector’, a reprisal to the public and private sectors.

Today you will find all sorts of non-profits, foundations, community organizations, and development corporations serving nearly every demographic in the United States and beyond. The potential for unorthodox citizen participation is growing and encouraged by most. Immigrants of late, in particular, can taken advantage of this system and utilize it as another avenue to achieve their communal goals. Groups dealing with immigrants from the Indian Diaspora, however, although highly organized amongst themselves, greatly lack the knowledge and desire to participate on a national, or even regional scale. They prefer to remain insular and see other groups as a threat to their traditional and family orientated way of life. Although a desire to assimilate fully to the American capitalist system is apparent, this community seems mostly unable to think ‘outside the box’ on these issues and resorts to a preference of being governed exclusively by market forces.

Most contemporary writings on immigrants in this genre have in one way or another focused on the influx of Hispanics that have assimilated, while Indian-Americans have been overshadowed and mostly ignored. This may gradually shift as the US receives more new Indian migrants, per capita, than from any other country except Mexico. It’s been over forty years since the Immigration Reform Act of 1965 ripped open the floodgates allowing a new wave of migrants from Asian countries to enter the US. The time is upon us where both naturalized citizens and children born of Indian- born parents are able to vote and enter the political arena. The potential for this group to unite amongst themselves and with other disenfranchised groups is enormous.

This nation is built and run by immigrants of today and yesterday. Will Indian- Americans step up to the plate when it is time for their defining moment, or let themselves be defined by, and perhaps victim to, capitalistic endeavors alone?

For the past year or so, I have been working on a project having to do with the loss of affordable housing in the main desi community in Chicago, more affinitively known as Devon Avenue. In short, this area is considered a major entry point for new Asian immigrants. Lately, housing has been absorbed by condo conversions, or new owners (mostly not immigrants) pushing out the renters and less economically viable (the immigrant groups). Housing is a highly contestable debate of its own, but after dealing with the Indian community groups, namely the Federation of Indian Association (FIA), I realized that there were all kinds of issues that were being masked and can possibly come up to bite this community in the bum and is inevitably against their long-term goals.

I also realized quickly that for me, a non-Indian, education was not enough to bridge any gap when community organizing meant a bunch of old guys getting together to sip a highly auspicious cup of tea. I don’t expect to be welcomed with open arms, but at least offer some avenue where my services can be employed. The FIA’s main event is the Indian Parade in August. After that, all the board members close up shop for four months as they travel back to India or continue with their businesses. Who is doing research or reaching out to the community besides on a superficial basis???

I could gripe longer, but let me just say: Will someone please employ me?!? I’ll work for free, just give me some datasets and I’ll get you your grant money already!!!

Mumbai US Consulate - Bureaucratic Hassles

arZan — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 01:32:06 EST

My utter frustration at going through the visa stamping process with the Mumbai US Consulate makes me feel they should adopt the following byline:

Applications will be accepted by carrier pigeons only. All fees to be paid in jowar, bajra, or cowdung cakes only

I will be travelling home to Bombay in a week or so and one of the "compulsory" tasks I need to do is get my H1-B stamped again on my passport. Even before I venture to the consulate, the frustration at the whole exercise is in the red zone.

I know that the US Consulate outsources its whole administrative and logistics process to some company (VFS), and many would say that it is the company to blame for the processes. But I would put the blame on the US Consulate. Just outsourcing a service does not make "the end justify the means".

To make the appointment for my visa application, I need to pay a fee. This fee can only be paid in person at an HDFC bank. Why in heaven's sake can one not pay this online via a credit card? Who thought up this stupid rule? When the whole world is going plastic online and there are weeks when I never do cash transactions here in the US, I find it baffling.

Someone has to think this out. A person sitting in the US needs to make an appointment. But the fees for that need to be paid in person at a bank in India, prior to even making the appointment. Yes my sister will do it and that's not a problem. But what of people who cannot get someone to do it for them?

The reason of online fraud cannot be used for not allowing credit card payments. They take the entire application online including the passport details etc but cannot assure of a simple credit card transaction. Screw that!

Hopefully for all practical reasons this may be my last need to get an H1-B, so I will end it at that.

If someone at VFS or the US Consulate reads this, please don't penalize me. I am just voicing my concerns as a citizen :)

Maharashtra Riots - The Right to Uncultured Protest

Sonal Panse — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 13:09:38 EST

A riot broke out in town today because Mr. Thackeray was going to be arrested.

I heard this and I wondered what sort of a mindset these people have - I mean, what does go on in their mind, if anything?

I mean, is the scenario something like this -

You're sitting at home, doing nothing - because you are unemployed and it's not your fault - that you don't have an education or qualifications or sufficient work incentive is not your fault - that there may be other regrettably economic reasons for your unemployment is not even to be considered - no, the UP migrant workers are to blame for ALL your troubles.

And you hear on the radio/TV that Mr. T is going to be arrested and so you boil up in a rage - because this is the man who is championing your cause.

You're too naive/ignorant to see that he is championing himself first and foremost, to understand that if he really cared about you, he would -

Stop taking advantage of street-level discontent.
Busy himself starting new businesses.
Busy himself creating new job opportunities.
Busy himself creating better educational facilities.
Get his goons off their idle asses to keep the city clean, instead of littering it more with their mayhem.

But understanding this is too much brain-work for you, besides where would you be if you had to stop blaming other people for your troubles and take some responsibility instead yourself for your own situation?

So you shake off your lethargy and go out and pick up some rocks and hurl them at the first person that comes along, break up shops and businesses that are along your route.

This is how these people are 'protesting'. It is in this uncultured way they seek to protect the 'Marathi Culture'.

Rioting is becoming all too common in India on the whole. We riot because -

Someone said something we didn't like
Someone hurt our religious sentiments
Someone hurt our cultural sentiments
Someone hurt our social sentiments
Someone hurt our public sentiments
Someone hurt our nationalistic sentiments
Someone hurt our small-minded sentiments
Someone hurt our friends' sentiments
Nobody hurt our sentiments exactly, but our friends are rioting and breaking shop windows and we want to join in with the looting.

We also riot, because we can. Because the Indian government is very considerate of our sensitive feelings and lets us off easy every single time.