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Gaurav Sabnis Profile picture
@gauravsabnis
Apr 24, 2021 • 21 tweets • 7 min read • Read on X
Very important.
For those Americans and other non-Indians looking to donate for dealing with the horrific second surge in India, I'm going to make a thread of organizations I recommend donating to. Lot of hindu RW and fascists in the mix you should avoid. My recos are from personal experience.
I'll start off with what in my personal experience is the gold standard for humanitarian work in the south asian ecosystem. @Khalsa_Aid is there everywhere, from natural disasters to feeding and caring for BLM and women's march protesters. 501c in US.
khalsaaid.org/donate-usa
A milaap crowdfunding fundraiser for ventilators in community in hospital in remote mountains. Still a thousand dollars short of the target as I post.

milaap.org/fundraisers/su…
Just to elaborate, what I'm posting here are organizations or drive that
1. Can accept US donations (regardless of 501c).
2. That I myself have donated to, so an FYI fwiw in case you want to be careful about your money not ending up with scammers or fascists.
Also I know @Hemkunt_Fdn is doing great work in sourcing and supplying oxygen BUT it can't accept donations from foreign citzens, which I technically am so can't donate. But if you're an Indian citizen with a way to pay in rupees, I recommend it too.
hemkuntfoundation.com/donate-now/
This is a great master list to refer, with each entry clarifying whether it can accept foreign funds or not.

FYI, this is very important because the Modi government has resurrected or created lots of red tape around payments from overseas.

Oh just realized... Before I continue with my online #CovidIndia shopping spree, any matching initiatives I should be aware of? I'm generally not comfortable tweeting donation amounts but happy to DM or email receipts if it leads to matching donations.
One thing I'm planning to do and which I recommend, is send a personal "stimulus" payment of sorts to everyone in Pune I know who is blue collar or working class. Cooks, cleaners, watchmen, etc. Direct cash transfer.

The limit for that, from a foreigner, is ₹50K ($700) fyi.
Also planning to send parents money with instructions to tip every delivery person delivering anything a certain amount I can afford that will also help them more. Consider doing that. Covid has disproportionately hurt those who serve us in india at ridiculously cheap wages.
These orgs are doing great work and I'm donating to them of course, as should you. But if you just make a cash gift, whatever you can afford, to those people in India often not allowed to ride in your elevator or made to disinfect extra or walk a thousand miles, please do.
That extra few thousand rupees at a crisis time like this will go a long way for those who literally live daily wage to daily wage. You have no idea how much it means to them even if they are too proud to ask or acknowledge. We can't even imagine the scope.
I've asked my mom to draw up a list of everyone in our lives in Pune who is working class and am planning to send them a modest "stimulus" as much as I can afford. Please consider doing this with your own families in India. Support those who work for you for less than peanuts. Image
The reason this is extra helpful in India is that while even a petulant idiot like Trump got the point of why a direct cash transfer is necessary in lockdown times to at least get food, rent, Modi is about putting the onus on the weakest. And giving money to the richest.
This is an exceptional list! Lists orgs that help some of THE most vulnerable groups and people in India. Who have been hit hard THE hardest. With details and links. Great work.

Alright, Monday morning. Let's resume this thread.
Donated to and personally recommend @apneaap if you're looking to donate with a non indian credit card or bank account.

A million meals for sex workers and their children in the most vulnerable places

globalgiving.org/projects/suppo…
Waste pickers in India live really hard lives at paltry pay and 19th century equipment and no safety net. If you've spent a day in India, you've seen at least one elderly person coughing while picking up filth people throw. Covid has been brutal on them.

fundraisers.giveindia.org/projects/provi…
Ooooh yay! Americans can now donate to @Hemkunt_Fdn
Through ketto.
ketto.org/fundraiser/o2f…
Another worthy effort I donated to and encourage you to do so too.

Donate to this. As you might have noticed, my focus is on work being done to help THE most vulnerable sections of Indian society. Hundreds of millions on a daily wage existence facing a de facto famine because of covid and a lack of social safety nets.

Oh a general donation pro-tip. I know a lot of people prefer to donate anonymously because they don't want the "credit". I used to be like that too until an activist said please always put your full name down cos
A) people who trust you see it, trust us
B) Matching initiatives

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More from @gauravsabnis

Gaurav Sabnis Profile picture
May 10
Be it 1993 serial blasts, 2001 Parliament attack, 26/11 or German Bakery, Indian govt identified perpetrators and laid out details of how they happened very soon.

But we still have no answers or details on Uri all these years later. Public was satisfied with Balakot alone.
Will that be the fate of Pahalgam too? Will we get no serious investigation of the terrorist perpetrators and no serious systemic introspection of security lapses, because these missile strikes and dogfights have brought the josh to shallow armchair patriots?
Have you ever been to Kashmir? There are so many security personnel doing security checks everywhere. You can't carry a nailcutter into a sensitive location, much less a truck full of explosives in the middle of a lot of Indian soldiers. Or guns at one of the most popular spots.
Read 6 tweets
Gaurav Sabnis Profile picture
May 4
Why I think Mexican food is the best food in the world. A 🧵

I'm not talking about the "taco nacho burrito quesadilla" snapshot of Mexican food that most of the world carries. That's like thinking chicken tikka masala, naan, samosa defines Indian cuisine.

I'm talking for reals
What I'm saying is I'm an Indian who's been all over the world and food I ate in Mexico is, on average THE best food I've eaten in my life!

Not talking Mexican food in America or your country or Taco Bell.

Actual real Mexican food in Mexico.

Reason 1 - Zero taboos!
Coming from brahminical India, it is so mind-blowing awesome to eat in a country that literally has no food taboos at all! They eat pork, beef, shrimp, everything! They even eat insects. Proudly. And those insects are delicious!

A no taboo culture.. Just imagine!
Read 10 tweets
Gaurav Sabnis Profile picture
Apr 24
During & after COVID, I became good friends with a dozen neighbors ages 65-85, mostly women. Coming from India, watching their daily senior citizen lives is such a pleasant cultural shock! So happening!

Now bear in mind, there is a huge self selection element at play here.🧵
These are senior citizens who can afford to AND have chosen to live in Manhattan. Didn't move to Florida Arizona California like many of their generation.

Manhattan is walking friendly. And it also makes you walk. And also keeps you in close walking distance from everything.
But still, their lives are so noticeably different from my roughly just as affluent or more affluent relatives that age.

They truly feel like characters from Golden Girls!

They are active in many clubs, travel a lot, and are politically VERY active. They're 60s flower children.
Read 14 tweets
Gaurav Sabnis Profile picture
Apr 13
Another student visa cancellation horror story. Swimming in these today!

Dude was making a turn in rainy foggy weather and gently bumped against a car. That driver got out. Both examined the damage. Negligible. A nearby cop car saw the small accident and showed up. /1
Cop realized that Dude's license expired 3 days ago. Dude said I know and I've already applied for a renewal and the new one should be in the mail.

Cop said I still have to write you up for driving on an expired license. But explain your situation to the judge. It's cool.
Dude went to court and explained, I was traveling a lot. So only sent in license renewal paperwork close to the expiration date. It arrived literally 2 days after the accident. Which had no damage.

Case dismissed with a shrug.

But last week, visa revoked! 😳
Read 4 tweets
Gaurav Sabnis Profile picture
Apr 13
Grad students Amit & Mita (names changed) drove to finger lakes for their anniversary.

Mita was driving when they hit unusual traffic. Due to some escaped convicts, cops had set up a check post to eyeball every passing car.

Cops looked at their car, said please pull aside! /1
"Have you been drinking, ma'am?"

Mita: No I don't drink. He had some saki at lunch but I'm stone cold sober! You can test me!

"That's not necessary but here's the thing. I have a body cam. Which captured that half filled saki bottle in your back seat. It's been recorded."
Amit: Oh that's the leftover saki bottle from the restaurant, with leftover food. I wasn't drinking it in the car.

"I believe you. But having a bottle like that in the back seat is still a violation. That my body cam caught. So I'm gonna give you a ticket. Don't worry about it"
Read 6 tweets
Gaurav Sabnis Profile picture
Mar 24
Something I'm telling y'all that Godi media doesn't. An important distinction.

An "Immigration Judge" is not a real judge. They are directly under Trump's control and are basically bureaucrats play acting judges.

Immigration courts under Trump will not be like actual courts. Image
Image
Image
Trump is currently targeting actual federal judges BECAUSE systemically, he can't really do anything to them. Other than defy them.

But "Immigration Judges" are hired by him &serve at his pleasure. They have no constitutional validity or independence outside the executive branch
Until now, most administrations have run Immigration Courts like they are real courts. Immigration Judges weren't real judges but presidents treated them like they were and did not interfere in their cases.
Trump tho is unlike any other POTUS. He is obsessed with mass deportation
Read 4 tweets

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