Gaurav Sabnis Profile picture
Apr 14, 2023 10 tweets 6 min read Read on X
People in California need to keep pushing back against the casteist attacks on #SB403 by forwarding the text of #Article15 of the Indian constitution. And point out that the bill is just adding this to the California statutes.

Plain and simple.

Nothing to protest here. Image
Oh for sure, but then let's have them make it explicit, in the United States, especially California, that they are the side in this debate that pines for a theocratic state as an ideal.

Right now they pretend as if the bill is an attack on Hindus. #SB403

These HAF suhag Shukla types are just pouring a lot of heat into the discourse and very little light.

While it is important to combat their misinformation, we should also be putting them on the defensive by asking if they are also opposed to the Indian constitution. 🤷 Image
This is #SB403.

Literally just adds 1 word, one more category, very properly defined, to 15 other protected categories.

Only someone dedicated to preserving and defending casteism would have any objection to this bill.

Do read the blue text for sure. ImageImageImage
Also random Desi uncles who deal only in rhetorical questions asking "how do they even define caste", read a little.

It's great that they added endogamy as one of the identifying factors of the phenomenon. Caste endogamy is widely prevalent in the South Asian American popn. Image
Indian Constitution #SB403 ImageImage
Note the following in #SB403

- total lack of the words Hindu or Hinduism
- listing India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan, South America, Japan, and Africa, NOT singling out Indians

The debate from the sanghi & centrist side has been so dishonest! Image
Of course that's just the intro section with declarations.

The actual change to the law is literally just adding the word caste with 15 other protected categories. And the definition of caste.

#SB403 Image
In a way, I'm glad that sanghis are making such a big hue & cry every time a jurisdiction adds caste to its protected categories.

Cos they rehash the same old jaded arguments black folks, Jews, Muslims, Catholics, queer folks remember being at the receiving end of in the past.
And by repeating the same old Jim Crow era arguments against the civil rights act, but in the caste setting, they just end up convincing Americans, both liberals as well as pro civil rights conservatives, that yeah, caste definitely should be added to discrimination statutes!

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More from @gauravsabnis

Feb 3
Students were fascinated to learn how ICC, then Imperial Cricket Council, was the main force in limiting growth of cricket as a global sport in 1900s by defining test cricket as only matches between Commonwealth members.

Holland, Argentina, US had good teams too. But the ICC...
But ICC, literally an Imperial body, actively chose to exclude the Dutch, Americans, & Argentinians (1910s were golden are of ARG cricket), fearful of losing control of the sport.

Cricket in those countries never really recovered from this. It stays a Commonwealth heavy game.
Even in 1900s & 1910s, cricket was popular enough in the US to fill stadiums in many cities. Level of play & interest was high.

But just as World Series started in 1903 & baseball was taking off, ICC in 1909 actively refused an opportunity to bring US into the cricket fold.
Read 5 tweets
Dec 31, 2025
Did you know Manhattan means the same thing as Girgaum?

Smol 🧵 of random connects I've noticed for NYC & Bombay.

Manhatta in Lenape means a place with many hills. Exactly what Girgaum in Mumbai means in Marathi.

And that's not all!

Take Goregaon & The Bronx! /1
North of the island city of New York was a large village owned by a guy named Bronck so it was called Bronck's Village.

North of the island city of Bombay was a large village owned by a guy named Gore so it was called Gorgegaon.
There's a direct history connection also.

You may know Brits got Bombay as part of a Queen's dowry.

You know there's a borough in NYC called Queens named for the then queen.

Did you know it was the same queen? Catherine of Braganza!
Read 13 tweets
Nov 9, 2025
This will set many unkil hair on fire but when you read the full multi sided history of the 1962 India China war, there isn't much to blame Nehru about, except using hindsight and weirdly high standards and expectations of clairvoyance. And Cuban missile crisis is minimized. 🧵
First of all, Indian defeat in the 1962 skirmish is overblown for Nehru bashing purposes. And it really was a skirmish not a war. How many wars have zero civilian casualties?

India lost 1300 soldiers. Not great. But not exactly Vietnam War numbers. We lost half those in Kargil.
Losing territory is never great but Aksai Chin was and is mostly uninhabited territory more useful for strategic and logistical purposes than losing actual people inhabited territory.

China didn't march on and take Leh or Srinagar, did they? It was a very opportunistic skirmish.
Read 13 tweets
Nov 2, 2025
DMs filling up with "hey can you explain this Zohran phenomenon to me" from friends & Desi columnists lol.

So this will be my NYC Mayor election mega 🧵. FAQ of sorts.

I first truly noticed Zohran in 2023 when he put out an anti Modi statement. As Ro was sucking up to Modi /1 Image
I had known of Zohran vaguely for a couple of years before that, but it was as a huge fan of Mira Nair. I had heard her son was running for state assembly. Not exactly a glamorous & enriching career. But even then I thought, that's sweet. He's choosing public service!
The only son of Mira Nair & Zohran Mamdani, while definitely no billionaire, would still have enough social networks and financial fallbacks to try to make a career in Hollywood. Or academia. Or anything really. Even wall street banker.

But he chose state assembly? Nice.
Read 17 tweets
Jul 25, 2025
The historic reasons for why England (and most of it's ex colonies) and Japan drive on the left but Europe, USA, rest of the world drive on the right are fascinating. And predate the invention of cars.

It's about chariots/wagons vs single horses as primary transportation. 🧵
In Europe, the Romans built highways 2000 years ago for military and supply chains. Lots of chariots & wagons involved.

90% people are right handed, so held the reigns in their right hand. So it made sense to sit on the left. And drive in the right. As a norm, then rule.
Britain tho, until 1800s, was a tiny island without the scale or logistical needs of Continental Europe. Transport there was primarily individual horses. 90% people are right handed there too. But right handers climb a horse from the left, using the right arm to pull them up.
Read 11 tweets
May 21, 2025
Mumbai & Chennai are port cities. Hard to avoid flooding. And Mumbai gets rainfall like no other major city in the world.

Bangalore Pune flooding is the batshit insanity. Both are on an elevation. No history of such floods until IT-fueled "development".

Felt it in Pune! 🧵
Last week in Pune, I went to many cousins' & friends' new or recent homes. In and around Pashan. And I could picture exactly which areas were sure to flood. I've walked those hills for years.

Why is it called Pashan?

Some of the oldest & hardest rock on the planet!
Marathi has a word for seasonal streams. ओढा. Literally means "to pull".

Those rocky hills had centuries, millennia old odhas which took water from heavy rain all the way down to the rivers. Mudslides were unheard of, given how hard the rock was.

Then came "development".
Read 7 tweets

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