The year 2015 began on a high note and with all the superlatives that can be mustered to describe a visit by a U.S. President to India as President Barack Obama’s second visit to India –as chief guest at the Republic Day parade Jan. 26.
It also saw a second visit to the U.S. in September by Prime Minister Modi who made a landmark visit to Silicon Valley this time, wowing IT leaders there.
The leaders used both occasions to show-case the potential of US-India relations that achieved new highs with expanding defense and national security ties culminating in the Nov. 30 Paris Climate Change agreement for which President Obama specially thanked Modi.
At home, for the Indian-American community nationwide, the high points played out in sveral fields, including entertainment, information technology, and politics.
Information Technology
Sundar Pichai took over the helm at the ubiquitous tech giant Google, and Padmasree Warrior became the U.S. CEO of NextEV, a Chinese electric car company. They joined CEOs Shantanu Narayen of Adobe Systems, Satya Nadella of Microsoft, Ajay Banga of MasterCard and Indra Nooyi of PepsiCo in the ranks of Indian-Americans at the pinnacle of American enterprise.
All those News India Times interviewed for this 2015 yearender, including Reshma Saujani, founder of the nonprofit Girls Who Code, and Vivek Wadhwa, technology entrepreneur and academic, counted the roles of the three IT luminaries as one of the proudest achievements of the Indian-American community.
However, looking at the tech world as a whole, Wadhwa says while 2015 was the year when “acceleration” of technology reached a critical mass, perils lurk around the corner. “Now one worries about the dark side of these technologies. We have drones that could deliver bombs, driverless cars that will displace drivers; technologies that can edit the human gene, and robots that have the nimbleness to produce circuit boards.”
Vinod Dham, popularly called the Father of the Pentium Chip for having led a team at Intel to develop customer-friendly microchips, described Wadhwa was a “scaremonger.”
“There’s always a dark side of technology, even when the car was invented,” Dham told News India Times. He is confident new technologies would be used the “right way” in the future and controlled through regulations. “There’s no doubt a terrorists could use a drone to deliver a bomb. But that’s why we have rules, and the United Nations, and people who run democracies,” Dham said.
Saujani said the Indian-American heads of big companies are “doing a tremendous job of getting women on board,” at the top level in a field often criticized for being race and gender biased. Her non-profit Girls Who Code, achieved new heights in 2015 reaching 10,000 high school girls in 41 states.
Entertainment
Millennials or almost-Millennials led the entertainment field with Aziz Ansari and Mindy Kaling, as the voice of a new generation of Indian-Americans who through their comedy, their books and their films, achieved unparalleled notoriety. Kaling took The Mindy Project, the first ever TV series made by an Indian-American, to Hulu when Fox canceled another season. Ansari’s 10-part series Master of None, became somewhat of a sensation on Netflix, dealing with heavy issues of race, gender and the immigrant experience with a light and sometimes humorous touch.
Those who laid the ground for them, also continued to succeed. Actor Kal Pen of the Harold & Kumar stoner movies fame, had his hands full with roles in TV series Battle Creek, and Outliving Emily, and Stereotypically You which is yet to be released. Comedian Aasif Mandvi appeared in several movies and popular television series during 2015, including as Prince Yousif Obaid in Madame Secretary, Sulaiman Khan in Person of Interest, Aasif Qu’osby in his film Halal in the Family, Guru Dada in The Foursome, and Rafik Massoud in The Brink. He has roles lined up though 2016 and 2017.
The charming film Meet the Patels directed by the sister-brother team of Geeta and Ravi Patel, though made in 2014, received acclaim from critics and film aficionados in 2105; Longtime Pixar artist Sanjay Patel’s debut animation short “Sanjay’s Super Team” paying homage to his father’s religion, was acclaimed in major media and received well by critics garnering massive media coverage. Indian-Americans made their mark behind the scenes as well, for example, Bela Bajaria former executive vice president was promoted in June, to president of NBC Universal Television, possibly the highest position held to date by an Indian-American in the entertainment world.
Crossover film star from Bollywood Priyanka Chopra made waves with her American prime time television debut in a lead role on the ABC series Quantico, suddenly catapulting her from an obscure actress to the living rooms of mainstream America as the aggressive and sensuous FBI recruit. Chopra already made her foray into Western music with her first hit “Exotic” with Pitbull in 2013, and later with In My City.
Cutting edge rapper Nicky Minaj, born Onika Tanya Maraj, of Trinidadian-Indian descent, continued to roil the music world with one hit after another, getting numerous nominations for the Grammys and winning several other awards in 2015. Cutting edge rapper Nicky Minaj, born Onika Tanya Maraj, of Trinidadian-Indian descent, continued to roil the music world with one hit after another, getting numerous nominations for the Grammys and winning several other awards in 2015.
Politics & Public Policy
As the current election cycle heated up in anticipation of next November’s election, several Indian-Americans set their sights on public office. For the first time an Indian-American mounted a serious bid for the White House as a major party candidate, only to see his campaign crash and burn taking along his soaring ambitions. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal emerged as one of the Republican Party candidates with enough support to figure in the TV debates, even if it was in the junior league. In November, though, he quit the race when his ultra-conservative campaign failed to gain traction.
At least five Indian-Americans are running for the U.S. Congress – California Attorney General Kamala Harris is a strong contender for the U.S. Senate hoping to replace retiring Sen. Barbara Boxer; Ro Khanna hopes to displace a veteran and fellow Democrat, Rep. Mike Honda, from California’s 17th District; Raja Krishnamoorthi is gaining strength as the favored Democratic candidate for the U.S. House from the 8th Congressional District in Illinois; Maryland Assemblyman Kumar Barve, a Democrat, is fighting for his party’s nomination for the U.S. House from District 8; Congressman Ami Bera, the only Indian-American in Congress, is gearing up for his re-election in the tough District 7 in California; This July, an attorney in Florida Republican Gov. Rick Scott’s administration, Mary Thomas, threw her hat in the ring for the U.S. Congress from District 2.
Niraj Antani, 24, a Republican and the youngest state assemblyman in Ohio, called it a banner year for Indian-Americans in politics. “This community is getting more political,” Antani told News India Times. Apart from the six Congressional candidates, he pointed to the potential for South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley to be selected as a vice presidential running mate.
Haley achieved national recognition when she took a strong stand against flying the Confederate flag on State House grounds following the massacre of 9 African Americans in Charlotte, by a white supremacist.
“It is very reassuring to see that Indian-Americans are continuing to engage not just in traditional private sector but contribute to the public space,” said Kris Kolluri, former chief of staff to Rep. Richard Gephardt and now CEO of Rutgers-Camden Rowan University Board of Governors in New Jersey. He marveled at the contrast between Capitol Hill and Washington, D.C. of the 1990s and today when just this year there has been a impressive additions to the high-profile roster of Indian-Americans in government and politics. Among them:
● Richard Verma, ambassador to India and Atul Keshap, ambassador to Sri Lanka
● Rashad Hussain, coordinator for counterterrorism communications
● DJ Patil, the White House’s first Chief Data Scientist
● Dr. Vivek Murthy, Surgeon General
● Yale Professor Akhil Amar named to the National Council on the Humanities
● Judge Sri Srinivasan, sworn in as U.S. District Judge for the District of Columbia, the 2nd highest court in the land
● Vanita Gupta, chief of the civil rights division in the Justice Department
● Former general counsel to the Obama administration Preeta Bansal, along with founder of the nonprofit ServiceSpace Nipun Mehta, and Jasjit Singh, executive director of the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund, appointed on the White House Advisory Council on Faithbased and Neighborhood Partnerships
● Ohio native Harold D’Souza, a victim of trafficking, appointed to Obama’s Advisory Council on Human Trafficking. T
The White House recognized several Indian-Americans as Champions of Change Including Microsoft’s Nadella, Babyscripts CEO Anish Sebastian, and organic farmer Anita Adalja. On the literary front, acclaimed author Jhumpa Lahiri received the National Humanities Medal; The White House also honored Sunita Viswanath, among 12 faith leaders, for her efforts in the area of climate change.
In a couple of firsts, Martinez, California got its first Indian-American police chief in Manjit Sappal; and Jagdeep Grewal became the first woman postmaster in Sacramento, California.
There were two caveats, however, to the celebrations of achievements. Krishnamoorthi cautioned against complacency. “Indian-Americans are finding their political and civic voice but also realizing there is a lot of hard work to do,” Krishnamoorthi said. “We need a seat at the high table.”
And Kolluri pointed to the 9 percent of Indian-Americans living below the poverty line, who could be lost amid the babble over a model minority. “There are many within our community who are suffering,” he said.
Superkids
Indian-American kids proved their mettle in major national competitions walking away with top prizes at the National Spelling Bee in May when Vanya Shivashankar and Gokul Venkatachalam shared the top prize; in the Geography Bee the same month, the three top winners were Indian-Americans New Jersey teen Karan Menon, Shriya Yarlagadda of Michigan, and Sohas Wagle of Arkansas. And in the sciences and maths, Karan Jerath of Texas won the Intel Young Scientist Award in May; in July Darshan Jain got the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics; two students, Shyam Narayanan, 17, and Yang Liu (who shares an Indian ancestry) were in the five-member U.S. team that won the International Math Olympiad after a gap of 21 years.
Sporting News
Can baseball- and footballcrazed America ever take to Cricket? A big-ticket publicity campaign unfolded in November to woo America with famed Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar and Australian spin legend Shane Warne joined by other sports stars played a 3match Cricket All-Star series in New York and Texas. Meanwhile, IndianAmericans made their mark in sports. Sim Buller became the first player of Indian descent to be in the NBA, joining the Sacramento Kings. In August, Akshat Chandra became the U.S. Junior Closed Chess Champion and baseball pitcher Kumar Nambiar of Mamaroneck, N.Y., was named 2015 Player of the Year for Class AA by the New York Sports Writers Association.
In September, 13 year old Natasha Subhash was chosen as the wild card player at the 2015 U.S. Open. Indian tennis player Sania Mirza, along with Martina Hingis, won the Wimbledon Women’s Doubles Championship.
Hate Crime
The community also saw some big-time criminals sent behind bars, and some high profile cases become part of the national conversation. The incident where an unarmed Indian grandfather, Sureshbhai Patel, out for a walk, in Alabama was slammed to the ground by a cop, sustaining severe injuries in February, galvanized the nation. The police officer was prosecuted but the case had not been decided by year end after it was declared a mistrial.
A hate crime that shocked New York came to a resolution in May when Erika Menendez, the woman who shoved Sunnando Sen onto the New York subway tracks to meet a brutal death in 2012, because she hated Hindus and Muslims, was sentenced to 24 years.
A spate of hate crimes against Hindu temples also took place including graffiti on Hindu temple in Bothel, Washington in February; windows smashed at the Kent Hindu Temple near Seattle, Washington in March; the North Texas Hindu Mandir in a Dallas suburb sprayed with graffiti in April, among others.
A Gurdwara in Los Angeles was vandalized with anti-ISIS slogans scrawled on walls in the first week of December following the Dec. 2, San Bernardino carnage carried out by the Jihadi Bonnie & Clyde team of Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik, both of Pakistani origin. It left Indian-American Sikhs, Muslims and others feeling vulnerable even as they rallied and united to counter stereotypes.
Crime & Punishment
Purvi Patel, a young woman from Indiana who suffered an abortion, was convicted of feticide, the first time in the country’s history, and sentenced to more than 20 years. She lost an appeal by the end of year. The case rallied women’s rights activists nationwide who see it as a backdoor effort to curb women’s reproductive rights.
A positive legal outcome for Indians, Signal International, a marine services company, agreed to pay millions to 200 Indian guest workers who were duped into believing they would become permanent residents, only to be badly mistreated upon arrival.
There were several cases of massive healthcare and financial fraud perpetrated by Indian-Americans. In the roster of shame were, among others, Neal Goyal, a fund manager who robbed his friends and relatives and was given a 6-year sentence; Sahil Patel, the leader of an international extortion ring, was sentenced to 14 and a half years. Gignesh Movatra, of Tampa, Florida, the founder of Om Global Investment Fund, pled guilty to $9 million fraud involving Facebook stock; a New Jersey couple pled guilty to $4.3 million healthcare fraud through their diagnostic testing company; Rohit Jawa, of Cincinnati, Ohio, pleaded guilty to identity theft, posing as a U.S. Postal Service official to defraud financial institutions of millions.
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