I don’t want to write this post . We went through this in the past ( Here and Here)

I don’t think I can do this again.

Cry, beloved Mumbai !

This madness will never end.

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The Times of India has done it again. Having long abandoned any pretense of journalistic integrity, here is the latest rubbish from our favorite go – to desi paper.

Under the cringe inducing headline “ Study links lesbianism to career” ,   the TOI quotes a dubious study from un-named NGOs in Chandigarh that : ( I am not making this shit up – this is a direct quote!)

A study by two NGOs to understand the nature of lesbian behaviour in the city has found that most women take to this alternative sexuality while staying in hostels of educational institutions or working at call centres and marketing companies

Apart from personal choice, the reasons for these women’s (sic) turning lesbian were found to be an abusive childhood or being widowed or divorced.

There is zero mention of genetic predisposition and makes the whole issue of homosexuality sound like a lifestyle choice as opposed to a congenital orientation.

This sounds like it was dictated by the far right – defense of marriage act types in the US …

Anyways, I matched their “checklist” against my personal history and:

- Stayed at hostel of educational institution : Check

- Working at call centers or marketing companies : Check

- Abusive childhood : No

- Widowed or Divorced : No

Does this mean there is a 50 % chance I am going to play for the other team ? But, but …I love Bruce Willis ..so that can’t be true? Can it ? Can it?

Who writes this crap?

Dr.Susan Xiao -Ping “Su” was arrested last week at her home in Pleasanton, California bringing one chapter in the entire sordid Tri Valley University scam to a close. UD had covered this earlier here.

From the Pleasanton patch newspaper:

Susan Xiao-Ping Su, 41, of Pleasanton, founder of Tri-Valley University, was arrested Monday after being indicted by a federal grand jury on 33 counts relating to student visa fraud, wire fraud, money laundering, alien harboring and making false statements, among other violations   ( link)

If you visit the Tri Valley University website, it displays a final message from Dr.Su:

The final message from Ms. Su as TVU’s President is an ENCOURAGEMENT to you all to MOVE ON! Let me give the closure by reminding and ensuring you all that: after the darkest moment is the dawn— a new day with the sun rising and shining!

In His Service and Grace!

I paraphrase an old saying  “Religion: The last refuge of scoundrels!”

As for the students, an ICE spokesperson told India – West that several of the students have been placed in deportation proceedings.

Kice confirmed that several former TVU students have been placed in deportation proceedings, but could not confirm the exact number by press time  (link)

The Boulder Court office where the so -called University operated is now closed. Presumably, it will be seized by the government and auctioned off.

I passed by the other day and took a photograph to show you all. Its closed up and abandoned. A gentleman from the neighboring unit was smoking outside and as I took the photograph he gave me a wry smile.

Having spent the better part of my evening yesterday in watching the snoozefest that was the 83rd Annual Oscar Awards, I thought I should at least get a blog post out of it. I watched the red carpet arrivals on E! and was sore that there was no sign of our very own Mrs.Aishwarya Rai Bachhan.This morning some internet trolling had me find the pics of  Aishwarya’s appearance.

Ms. Rai Bachhan at the Oscars 2011

( Image from www. redcarpet-fashionawards.com where you will find details on her outfit)

As the site helpfully points out : She carried a Jimmy Choo “Lana” bag. Other accessories included her husband Mr. Abhishek Bacchan. As you can see from this photo:

Abhi and Ash at the Oscars

( image courtesy : www.altfg.com )

Mr.Bachchan Junior cannot be bothered to get a nice shave even for the Oscars. What can one say? This is the guy who couldn’t be bothered to shave for his own wedding! Aish looked glamorous if safe . I am thankful she chose to wear her hair down and not in a beehive.

Also in attendance were A.R.Rahman and his wife.

AR Rahman and wife at Oscars 2011

Image from www.pinkvilla.com

Mad props to ARR’s wife for sticking to her  ethnic style in the face of all the cameras and heaving bosoms!

I may have missed a memo on this but did AR Rahman change his name for the western audiences? Why does every presenter ( starting with Alicia Keys 2 years ago ) call him A.R. RACH- MAN? Did I miss some name change announcement?

My sleepy town has never seen such excitement. Evidently , for the last  so many years The “Tri Valley University ” in Pleasanton  in the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area has been operating as little more than a diploma mill. On January 19, ICE agents raided the home of the President of TVU Susan Xiao-Ping S. No ordinary home this. Nestled in the to-die for gated community of Ruby Hill, complete with its own designer golf course, this was a $ 1.8 million home with 5 bedrooms and four and half baths. Purchased evidently through ill gotten gains at $ 300 a credit for a course in the Tri Valley University. 95 % of the estimated 1500+ students at this University are/were Indian. Immigration got a little suspicious when when  more than half of the students reported living in one apartment at 555 El Camino Real in Sunnyvale  ( see : http://pleasanton.patch.com/articles/update-federal-complaint-calls-private-college-in-pleasanton-a-sham).  Desi papers all over this news : ( See TOI : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/US-university-shutdown-India-seeks-report-on-students/articleshow/7372311.cms; The Hindu : http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/andhra-pradesh/article1129655.ece)

First a few facts from the ground as it were. Pleasanton is a quiet suburb with a population of around 68,000. If we had an actual University that house 1,555 students we would have known about it. The very fact that no-one around here has heard of this operation shows how shady the set up is.

The website of the University is such a hack job , riddled with typos and unbelievable claims that its next to impossible to comprehend that anyone could have been fooled into thinking that this was a genuine University.

From the various news reports, its obvious that the students ( a majority if not all) knew that this was a diploma mill. I quote from “The Hindu”:

Investigations by Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) found that while students were admitted to various residential and online courses of the university and on paper lived in California, in reality they “illegally” worked in various parts of the country as far as Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania and Texas. The ICE has called it as a “sham university”

The students ( all on F1 visas obtained via an I-20 from TVU) were attending 100% of their classes online. Major red flag there as anyone with an iota of common sense knows that on an F1 you are expected to attend a certain number of hours in -class.Many of them were not even physically in California but were working in other states through a rather liberal interpretation of what “CPT ” ( Certified Curricular  Practical Training )  means.

The local newspaper ( pleasantonpatch.com) has a couple of articles on this whole mess. The comments section under those articles have exploded with mostly TVU students whining about being deported.  They are calling on everyone from ICE to the US government to save them. Surprisingly , not a single student has approached the Government of India

Read more: US university shutdown: India seeks report on students – The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/US-university-shutdown-India-seeks-report-on-students/articleshow/7372311.cms#ixzz1CHSRIccZ

“According to the group that came to the Consulate, a large number of students had not violated any visa or immigration rules and were unaware of the fraudulent nature of the school. Their primary concern is to complete their education for which they feel that they should be allowed to seek admission in other schools,” said Ashok Kumar Sinha, Consul (Community Affairs), Indian Consulate San Francisco.  ( link)

We respectfully plead with you not to penalise us or our families and bring shame to our entire family and the village/ towns we come from, by deporting (removing) us from the US and causing us loss of name, reputation, money, resulting in devastation to us and our families and crashing all of our dreams

The United States on Monday rejected New Delhi’s complaints about radio-tagging of some Indian students caught up in a visa and immigration scam and defended the practice saying it is “standard procedure for a variety of investigations, and does not necessarily imply guilt or suspicion of criminal activity.”

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