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Indian-Americans in the tristate are still in the hangover of Narendra Modi’s September visit to the U.S. His reception at New York’s Madison Square Garden, and its success, is one of the most important achievements for the community in the year gone by. Thousands of Indian-Americans turned out to welcome the 64-year-old at the famous New York arena. Organized by the Indian American Community Foundation, the whole affair had the feel of an election rally as the crowd anticipated the prime minister’s arrival by chanting his name. But before honoring Modi in New York, the community celebrated his victory with several events in New York and New Jersey.
Apart from Modi, the community also hosted receptions for other visiting leaders including External Affairs minister Sushma Swaraj, who accompanied Modi; as well as Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan. Congress member Shahsi Tharoor, MP from Kerala, and Arvind Kejriwal, convener of the Aam Admi Party, also headlined events in the tristate.
Appointments
Along with campaigning for visiting politicians and dignitaries from India, Indian-Americans also continued to support elected officials here, in the local, state and national capacities. Several were also named to various posts in New York and New Jersey.
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, who took oath as the 109th mayor of the city on Jan. 1, 204, has appointed several South Asian-Americans on his board including Nisha Agarwal as commissioner of the Office of Immigrant Affairs. Other South-Asians appointed by the mayor are Dr. Ramanath Raju, president and CEO of the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation (HHC); Meera Joshi, chairwoman and chief executive officer of the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC); Udai Tambar, director of Children and Youth Services; and Mahen Gunaratna, on the mayor’s press office team. At de Blasio’s Jan. 1 inauguration, Youth Poet Laureate Ramya Ramana, 19, stirred emotions as she read her poem “New York City.” Seema Agnani, founder of Chhaya Community Development Corporation, a Queens-based organization that has served the South Asian community for close to 15 years, joined the National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development or National CAPACD, as director of policy and civic engagement.
In New Jersey, 29-year-old Raj Mukherji took oath as the newly elected Assemblyman representing the state’s 33rd Legislative District. He was accompanied by long-time assemblyman Upendra Chivukula, who was later appointed as a Commissioner on the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities after serving more than 12 years in the New Jersey General Assembly, where he had been the Deputy Speaker.
In Washington, D.C., Senator Cory Anthony Booker, the first African-American to represent New Jersey, joined the India Caucus, the only country specific caucus in the U.S. Senate. New Jersey Governor Chirs Christie appointed Desi Talk publisher Dr. Sudhir M. Parikh to the N.J. Board of Medical examiners. Dr. Parikh was also recognized for his community service by the New Jersey Narcotics Officers. The state also paid tribute to Mahatma Gandhi with first statue in Secaucus. The state also was home to the BAPS Akshardham temple in Robbinsville, build over 60 acres, reported to be one of the largest U.S. Hindu temples.
Creating history
On the judicial front, Anil C. Singh set another benchmark for the Indian- American community, by becoming the first desi to be elected to the New York State Supreme Court. Singh won election on Nov. 5, 2013, and was confirmed as 2014 began. He won a four-way race for the open seat on the New York Supreme Court, winning 28.1 percent of the votes for the victory. New York City native Reena Patel, who was working as an Assistant Attorney General since 2012 in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), one of the five inhabited US island territories, was promoted to head the civil division in the Attorney General’s office.
Several Indian-Americans were also appointed to various positions at universities in the tristate. Sanjeev Kulkarni was appointed dean of Princeton Graduate School; while Pulitzer prize winning author Jhumpa Lahiri and Faisal Ahmed were among those appointed to the university’s faculty, while Hari Kondabolu, a Brooklyn-based, Queens-raised comic who has performed on “The Late Show with David Letterman,” among other shows, was named New York University’s 2014-15 Artist-in-Residence. Lahiri will join Princeton’s creative writing faculty in the Lewis Center for the Arts at Prince-ton University in September of 2015. Ahmad joined as an assistant professor in the Department of Political Science.
In New Jersey, Kris Kolluri, a former commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Transportation and CEO of the state’s Schools Development Authority, was named chief executive officer of the newly formed joint board of Rutgers-Camden and Rowan; and Columbia University professor P. Somasundaran was appointed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. to serve as a member of its Board of Scientific Counselors and to chair the ‘combined BOSC Subcommittees for Chemical Safety for Sustainability and Human Health Risk Assessment research program” and as such to the Board’s Executive Committee effective April l 28. Sunil Gulati, a senior lecturer in the economics department of Columbia University, was unanimously re-elected to a record third four year term as United States Soccer Federation (USSF)president ; having been elected initially in 2006 and re-elected again in 2010.
Movers and Shakers
Preet Bharara, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Neal Kwatra , former chief of staff to New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, were listed among New York’s Movers and Shakers. Bharara was also listed among Worth magazine’s top New Yorkers in finances. But the highest honor went to physician, scientist and writer Siddhartha Mukherjee, who received the Padma Shri, India’s fourth highest civilian award. The Columbia professor is best known for the 2010 book, “The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer,” for which he won a Pulitzer Prize and an award from The Guardian.
Community Honors
Many from the community were honored with awards from various organizations throughout the tristate. Six Indian-Americans were felicitated with the Ellis Island Medal of Honor for 2014, including Yash Paul Soi, and Ketki Sharadkumar Shah. Indian-American organizations celebrated their accomplishments and recognized members at several galas held throughout the year. Funds collected were also used for several initiatives in both the U.S. and India. The America India Foundation raised over $1.5 million at its New York gala; the Nanubhai Foundation raised over $60,000 for education in rural India; the Children’s Hope India luncheon collected $25,000 for New York’s homeless; while the Share and Care gala raised$725,000 for women’s empowerment .
Literary Accomplishments
In the field of literature, Brooklyn-based poet, essayist, and literary critic Vijay Seshadri won the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for poetry, for 3 Sections. The Indo-American Arts Council; hosted is first literary festival featuring emerging and established authors like Salman Rushdie, who also received the PEN Pinter prize this year.
Youth Shine
2014 was also a good year for Indian-American youth. Pittsburg teenager Sahil Doshi was named America’s 2014 Top Young Scientist for CO2 battery; while Ishan Jagiasi of Delaware was crowned Pokemon champion; and 12-yearold Pakistan-American Jehiel Butt had the honor of performing the U.S. national honor. But it was Sriram Hathwar, 14, of Painted Post, N.Y and Ansun Sujoe, 13, of Fort Worth, Texas, who created history by together winning the 87th Scripps National Spelling Bee in 52 years.
The community also celebrated India’s Republic Day and Independence Day and festivals like Holi, Diwali, Eid and Ganesh Chaturthi with the usual pomp and fervor.
High-profile Cases
Along with its glory, the past year also had its downfalls, with several Indian-Americans sentenced or charged for medical or visa fraud. High profile cases like those of Mathew Martoma, Rengan Rajaratnam, Rajat Gupta and Sant Singh Chatwal dominated headlines for most of the year.
Martoma,40, has started his nine-year prison term for insider trading at a “low security” federal prison in Miami in November; while Gupta began a two-year sentence in June for insider trading, having exhausted every court of appeal in a case. However multi-millionaire hotelier Chatwal managed to evade jail time for violating campaign finance laws, and Rengan Rajaratnam, the brother of Galleon Group LLC co-founder Raj Rajaratnam, became the first of at least 88 people charged in a federal crackdown on insider trading to escape conviction.
Aereo, the New York-based video company that was supposed to forever change how mobile device users watch live television, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, five months after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the company violated broadcasters’ copyrights. CEO Chet Kanojia stated the costs and challenges of a lengthy litigation were too much to handle.
Crimes, Big and Small
Several Indian-Americans were also charged with crimes, both big and small, in the tristate. Subhash Kapoor, the disgraced New York art dealer who it was revealed sold tens of millions of dollar worth of fake Indian art to museums all over the world, was sued in New York’s Supreme Court by the National Gallery of Australia (NGA). In a similar case, Brian Ramnarine, a Queens foundry owner was sentenced to 30 months in prison in connection to a $11 million scheme to selling or attempting to sell fake bronze sculptures by Jasper Johns and other artists.
In sexual crimes, Hiten Patel, the Atlantic City man facing 200 years in prison for sexually assaulting at least five women in the New Jersey coastal city in the summer of 2012, was convicted on 22 of the 34 criminal counts against him.
Home Invasions
Middlesex County residents heaved a sigh of relief after the arrest of four Texas residents in connection with nearly half a dozen armed home invasions targeting Indian-American families in the towns of Edison, South Plainfield and Old Bridge. Chaka Castro, 39, Juan Olaya, 34, Octavius Scott, 22, and Johnisha Williams, 19, were all taken into custody in their home state last week. Ten individuals, mostly of Pakistani origin, duped hundreds of travelers of more than $1 Million, selling them fraudulent air passages after advertising their business in local ethnic media outlets.
Cyberbullying
16-year-old Sneha Patel of Ellenville High School in New York’s Hudson County was charged in a cyberbullying case, while Krittika Biswas, an Indian diplomat’s daughter, won a $225,000 settlement won from New York City in a cyberbullying case.
License Suspended
The medical license of an Connecticut dentist Dr. Rashmi Patel, was suspended by the Connecticut State Dental Commission, over the death of a patient who underwent a fatal surgery which involved 20 teeth being pulled out. Upstate New York man Aniruddha Sherbow, 44, was sentenced to 33 months in prison for making a series of threats against Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, U.S. Representative for the 2nd District of Hawaii
In New York, a 27-year-old Bangladeshi immigrant was arrested Jan. 8 in the brutal slaying of his landlord Jan. 6 night in Brooklyn and trial began for Shane Jaggarnauth, the New York man who allegedly killed his parents for cutting him off financially; while in neighboring New Jersey, Neha Patel, avoided being sent to prison for the drowning death of her 1-year-old son and sentenced to two years of community control and 12 years of probation. But Vishnu Phagoo, 37 of Jersey City, accused of stabbing his sister 107 times was acquitted of murder and all other charge, but Noor Hussain, a Pakistani immigrant, got 18 years to life for beating wife to death after she made lentils for dinner Kinjal Patel, 27, a baby sitter in New Haven, Connecticut was charged with manslaughter in the death of a 19-month old Athiyan Sivakumar.
Hate Crimes
Hate crime incidents also rocked the tristate area, but the community was relieved after Steven Conterras, the last defendant in Divyendu Sinha murder case was sentenced in April. But unfortunately, the community has not been able to do much for Aakash Dalal, who has been in the Bergen County jail for the past two years on charges that he allegedly had plans to burn down synagouges in North Jersey. A New York City cab driver was beaten with a skateboard by a passenger in what authorities say was a hate crime. Similarly, a Sikh man was run over his Ozone Park office by a driver of a pickup truck.
Foul play or Suicide?
Several young lives were also lost, as result of foul play or suicide. Twenty year-old Pulkit Singh, whose parents were slain seven years ago in their New York home, was found dead in his Philadelphia apartment in January; while the body of 22-year-old Jasmine Joseph of Syosset was found in her car after a two-weeks long search and Zubair Khan, 41, of Manhattan was killed after the plane he was piloting crashed into the Long Island Sound in July.