Inglish Tinglish, Tamlish, Hinglish... What, man?
The literal translation of Hindi or Tamil terms into English can be wildly entertaining, especially if you have been removed from it for some time, says Kamla Bhatt.

The great Indian brain exodus
Prasanti Rao on why, to the disbelief of her family, she hopes to return to India.

Different views to a massacre
The New York Times has not published one report favorable to the BJP-led government since it assumed power and it hasn't this time either, says Ramesh N Rao.

JFK mango blues
Chithra Karunakaran on how a beagle thwarted her fledgling career as a smuggler.

On foreign shores
A new arrival in America describes her tumultuous feelings on reaching the new world.

Copycat capitalism or Indocracy? The choice is ours
Do we want to become a nation that send ships full of refuse to countries that are too poor to refuse them? Do we want to emulate a society which has the largest prison population in the world? asks Chithra Karunakaran.

Hindi-wallahs vs non-Hindi-wallahs
It wasn't enough, it seems, to divide India along linguistic lines. Now, in the US, Indians draw these same imaginary boundaries in the name of affinity and preserving their culture.

'Just click me, baby!'
The dotcoms are splurging on ads to draw attention. But the results will be seen only next year...

As the dust settles
Homespun wisdom won over the adjective-laden effusions of the media when Clinton was in the subcontinent, says Vijay Prashad.

'There was a great feeling of brotherhood in the air'
Over 10,000 young people made a statement in Washington, calling to end the domination of the corporate elite, which largely controls the world economy and dictates its unfair terms to the world's poor, says Shakti Bhatt.

Unity, diversity and identity
According to some, our #1 priority is to be whipped in with that cream called 'the American way of life'. Or else, we face a future that includes xenophobia and isolation -- a future in which we cannot succeed, says Reeta Sinha.

How blind can we be?
'How fair is it to give this boy preference over thousands of Indians who have been waiting up to three years for their families to be reunited? Why is Elian more important than Indian high-tech workers who are trapped in H-1B hell as the INS green card backlog grows?' asks Reeta Sinha.

Bhopal should never happen again
A survivor of the Union Carbide tragedy in Bhopal remembers, 15 years later.

Desi grandparents in America
Being a grandmother in America calls for a different set of skills and values, says Padma Ramachandran.

Temples are not enough!
'In the half century that Indians have been in America in substantial numbers, there is not a single college or university, or even to our knowledge, a high school to our name. Ensconcing our culture in a cocoon of temples insulates our community; harnessing our heritage to educationally-oriented institutions can energize it.'

Making Sense of Cricket in New York
'I was jealous of cricket because it took the attention of the boys away from me. I wanted to be the object of their concentration, subject of their fiercest passions and the most precious of their possessions. I wanted to be that cricket ball,' Shoba Narayan on her wicket, wicket ways.

'We Ignore Asia Only At Our Peril'
The swift rise of Asia is one of the truly remarkable phenomena of the 20th century -- and a political fact that will reshape the contours of world power in the 21st century, says Robert Manning.

An Indian In Times Square
As Indians living abroad, we live in a divided time. Time is split between India and the country we live and work in, says Amitava Kumar.

Confessions Of A Cross-Carrying Immigrant
I am sure every minority has gone through the guessing and second-guessing that comes with being stereotyped. After a while, it gets to you, says Shoba Narayan.

Have You Sent Your New Year Cards Yet?
Pausing after mailing mine, I had the sudden idea that I could become rich by writing a self-help book for shoppers, says Amitava Kumar.

Spicy Chunks In The Melting Pot
If you want to meet the mark of real assimilation of Indians into American society, you should meet Priya Bala and Vijai Nathan, says John Laxmi.

It's One Hell Of A Life
Medicine is a wonderful field, but it asks, it demands, much of anyone who enters it, says Dr Balamurali K Ambati, and Dr Jayakrishna Ambati.

Staying Home For The Holidays
'We were advised to avoid discussions of religion and politics at holiday dinners unless our hosts requested our views. The advice was useless. We received no invitations.'

Feeling GOOD SAMARITANS About Being South Asian
NRI professor Amitava Kumar reflects on his recent visit to India.

The Beauty Raj
The last century had begun with the British Raj consolidating its hold. This coming century will give way to the reign of new rulers, the beauty queens.

My Own New York
'Honking cabbies, stinking urine, homeless beggars, strident activists and all -- the parallels between India and New York are remarkable. I wouldn't want to live anywhere else,' says Shoba Narayan.

A Desi Goes Shopping in America
Shopping in America is doubly exciting because of the 'sales' that pop up everywhere -- dollar-day sales, Christmas sales, the day-after-Christmas sale and so on, says Padma Ramachandran.

A Journalist First...
'It's important to think of yourselves as journalists first, rather than as a male/female journalist, a minority/majority journalist etc,' Peter Bhatia tells Indian Americans in the business.

My Nalla-ma
Maybe the old village astrologer was right. Maybe her grandmother's soul has come to roost in her daughter's little body. Or maybe she is just missing her grandmother, says Shoba Narayan.

Aunt Sheila's Wake -- In Cyberspace
Have you ever given a eulogy by email? Well, Shoba Narayan has and she assures you that it is nerve-wracking.

The Recycling Race
Indians were reusing material long before it became a fad in the west, says Shoba Narayan.

Karma Chameleon
'And who are these guardians of Indian pride, anyway? Maharishis with penance on their mind? Hardly. For the most part, the liberated desis around this part of the planet can't tell a shloka from one of Leno's monologues,' says Ashwin Mahesh.

English vs The Mother Tongue
Parents who encourage their children to only learn English seem oblivious to the higher verbal SAT scores achieved by multilingual children and those taking foreign languages, say Jayakrishna Ambati and Balamurali Krishna Ambati.

Showdown In Seattle
The WTO conference has become a catalyst for a massive mobilization of activists from all corners of the globe, says Naeem Mohaiemen.

Does Ashok Krishnamurti Know How Many Nudes Manet's Painting Has?
But Asians especially have found another way to become millionaires. Forget the show, 'Who Wants to be a Millionaire?' They find their way to Silicon Valley, says Emil Guillermo.

Life Is Unfair
It isn't easy being a taxi driver but it's got to be done -- and well, says former New York mayor Ed Koch.

Life Is Cheap
San Francisco Chronicle columnist Arthur Hoppe on why the 217 lives lost in the Egyptair crash merits more coverage than the death of 3,000 people in the Orissa cyclone on the same day.

Battling Bulging Suitcases
'I don't know what it is with us Indians. I mean, it's not as if we travel back to the homeland once in 10 years and have to carry gifts for long-lost kith and kin,' says Shoba Narayan.

The Indian Cybertechie in America
Amitava Kumar on why the American computer industry has this thing for Indians.

Memories of Paati's Kitchen
It was like a war zone. There were hundreds of rules. It was an ancient, complex system, somewhat akin to the kosher rules of the Jewish faith.

Over-Dressed In Key West
A desi visitor realizes snorkeling isn't the only big thing in the Florida city.

The Currency of Arundhati Roy
'The successful enter into the Faustian contract: they sell their souls to fame and become its servitors. Roy didn't. On the Narmada issue, as after the nuclear tests, her words have contested the pious dogmas of the bureaucracy-cum-political establishment,' says Amitava Kumar.

Rick Ross on How To Stay Away From Cults
The well-known cult fighter says there are signs that members of religious groups can look for to determine whether they are a group that is safe or unsafe.

Of Doctors and Gardeners
'The new millenium is upon us but we doctors remain incarcerated in obsolete nineteenth-century one-disease-one-diagnosis-one-drug model of medical thinking,' says Dr Majid Ali.

Why Indian Americans should support Bill Lann Lee
'We should support Lee's nomination as assistant attorney general for civil rights because his record in enforcing our nation's civil rights laws demonstrate that he is a man of enormous integrity and conviction who is committed to making this a better country for all Americans,' says Debashish Mishra.

Do South Asian Women Need Separate Shelter Homes?
Writer Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni speaks of the American experience.

Can Kargil bring about new direction in Indo-US relations?
'The crucial pro-India stand taken by the Clinton administration is an important signal to New Delhi and its foreign policy elite. If India plays its diplomatic cards well, Kargil could become a seminal turning point in its often rocky relationship with the United States,' says Seema Sirohi.

The business of belonging
'The arrangement obliges the PIOs to feel a sense of belonging to the Indian nation without belonging to it fully. The government, on the other hand, would act like it is assimilating them while actually assimilating only their money,' says S P Udayakumar.

Saying Sayonara to Asian America
'Indian Americans must learn to acknowledge our weaknesses and build upon our strengths. Our weaknesses include an inability to move beyond petty divisions and an unwillingness to accept that though many Indians are doctors and architects, many also drive taxis and wait on tables,' says Sadanand Dhume.

Which Sikh would forget New Delhi '84? Which Muslim would forget Mumbai '92?
'The India of the '90s is a land of tragicomic images like the Advani rath yatra. One would laugh and shrug were it not for the grim reality of a nation driven to murderous frenzy over the Babri Masjid,' says Anil Sivakumaran.

India's telecom reform: Lessons from America
'Given the absence of complementary infrastructure of greater importance, it is likely that the subsidies alone will not do much for spreading rural telephony,' says Rafiq Dossani.

Vanity Fare
'I've chosen to make my life here, but am willing to question the values of some parts of the culture I live in. Nothing wrong with that, and I don't need the mirror to flatter me. So why was this so hard for Vanity Fair,' asks Amardeep Assar.