Haha, I still remember the shocked messages from my Desi buddy who moved to Melbourne a month before the 2015 World Cup. How utterly indifferent the Melbourne commute crowd was the next day. Like no one cared they had just won a world cup just a kilometer away yesterday.
He was like, the randomest win by Richmond or the Hawks in AFL will have people sporting jerseys proudly in Melbourne for a week, but no one really cares as much about the Australian cricket team in Australia as in the rest of the world.
I guess that's one of the signs of a "developed" nation? People care more about pro sports team that national teams? Even the US, which takes great pride in its Olympics wins, rarely has more viewers for the Olympics than a typical primetime NFL game. It's nice but marginal.
I was a relatively new migrant in 2008 when China won more gold medals than the US for the first time ever. I thought that would shake the US zeitgeist. People barely noticed it. It was like, oh yeah, China got more gold. We will get em next time. And they did. That's it.
It's not like these countries aren't nationalistic. It's that their economies have evolved to the stage where pro sports is a better business to invest yourselves in, be it as an athlete, a business, or a fan. India with IPL is moving in that direction too.

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More from @gauravsabnis

16 Nov
I tried out a new story I'm planning to use for a case study in class on a friend recently and it landed nicely. I said to him:

In diverse blue places like NY/NJ/CA/DC/Boston we see a lot of Indian, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Mexican, Middle Eastern restaurants, right?
He says right.
And in day to day life in these places, how often do you come across an Indian, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Mexican, Middle Eastern person?

He said very regularly. Almost daily.

Right. There's also a lot of Italian restaurant. Lots of Italian origin people.

Yup.
What is one cuisine that is as common as any of these cuisines all over USA, but you barely meet any immigrants from that country?

He was like hmmm, Vietnamese? Caribbean?

I said nah, lots of immigrants/refugees from both places.

This cuisine has no real immigrant history!
Read 17 tweets
16 Nov
A British exchange student told me about being surprised that "Bombay Mix" isn't available at all corner shops in New Jersey, given how many Indians there are here.

I do think there is a huge market opportunity for namkeen mixture in the broader US market.
Just call it Savory Gluten Free trail mix. Leave out peanuts and add "nut free" versions. Put "Chickpeas based" in bold letters on the packaging. Y'all have no idea how many chickpea based products hit US retail aisles. It's shocking not a single one is Indian.
I guess my British student's reaction was the opposite of my delight at how widely available Desi snacks, especially Bombay Mix, are in the UK.
Read 5 tweets
16 Nov
Wrong usage of "would" instead of "will" is now in headlines and bylines too. It's reached copyediting in India too. To the rest of the English speaking world, that "PM Modi would arrive" line means something else altogether. Image
People in India in the past couple of decades seem to have decided that "would" is the formal or respectful form of "will". Why? No idea!

I don't remember this being common everywhere in my childhood. Certainly not in newspapers!
Overheard in our school's admin section a few years ago between a prof and an Indian student-worker.

"Hey, can please you make 60 copies of these and spiral them some time today?"

"Sure, mam, I would do it after lunch, mam."

Prof pauses then ask,

"But?"

"But?"
Read 8 tweets
16 Nov
Crazy price hikes on the NYC-BOM route too. One stop flights around US$3500, non-stop around $4500.

Before the pandemic, non-stop business was like $3200!
Indeed.
And that's the saddest part about this situation if you think about it. Those who have the luxury of postponing travel, prices are normal post mid Jan.

These insane prices are being paid mostly by those who CAN'T travel at any other time.

People who HAVE TO travel in that Mid-Dec to Mid-Jan period typically can't get time off from work, university, or school to plan an visit with a decent duration at any other time of the year. And that compulsion usually correlates with your income, wealth, job status.
Read 4 tweets
16 Nov
Just heard a case (not from my school) of two desi boys who were on a bus discussing some cheating plans (can't share details) for a grad course. In an Indian language, not realizing that a white person behind them was a prof who understood the language cos of personal history.
The prof contacted the department the men... Not boys... These were men cheating on a course... Anyway, the course and the students were identified. Academic integrity case was pretty open and shut. Kicked out of the program. Cos of how ingrained cheating is Indian education.
At the hearing, the white prof was able to quote almost verbatim, in said Indian language, their plans, including the profanity.

The lesson here isn't that never assume your conversations are private.

The lesson here is, don't cheat.
Read 11 tweets
14 Nov
Wait, you're telling me that a random coin toss to decide the order of whether you do your run-making in the first half of the game or second half of the game is a consequential factor in a 3 hour version of cricket held in desert venues that rarely host cricket!!?? #NZvAUS
A simple rule change that can somewhat mitigate the very obviously heavy impact a toss has on ICC trophy results would be to allow teams to finalize their XIs after the toss instead of before it.

No one has ever explained to me why teams need to be frozen before the toss.
Even in test matches. Let teams choose their XIs after the toss. It'll just result in better selections for both teams. What exactly is being gained by continuing to freeze teams before toss, when so much can be gained by changing that random rule?
Read 9 tweets

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