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Indian Americans Grow In Numbers, Not Influence By- Melvin Durai Melvin Durai is an Indiana-based writer and humorist. Born in Tamil Nadu, India, he grew up in Zambia and moved to the U.S. in the early 1980s. In 1995, while working as a reporter for a daily newspaper in Chambersburg, Pa., he began writing a regular humor column. His weekly column now appears in several newspapers and on a number of Web sites. He also writes a twice-monthly column on Indian and Indian-American issues. He is a diehard fan of the National Football League and also likes to run, lift weights and play soccer, tennis and pool. An award-winning feature writer and aspiring novelist, he plans to publish a collection of his best columns. You can write to him at comments@melvindurai.com To read his older columns, go to http://www.melvindurai.com

I enjoy going to Devon Avenue in Chicago, Iselin in New Jersey and a few other areas in America where "Little Indias" have been created. I can drink a mango lassi, savor Indian sweets, and eat a masala dosai that's wide enough to cover Sri Lanka.

Within a few blocks, I can find dozens of Indian stores and restaurants, all reminding me of my native land. In fact, the storekeepers try so hard to create an authentic Indian atmosphere that they even allow people to drive on the wrong side of the street.

Everywhere you look, there are Indians, hundreds of them, all smiling and driving their Toyota Camrys. All smiling and rushing to the Patel Brothers store, where the Patel sisters are hard at work.

Go there on a Saturday and the swarm of customers is so thick, you'd think Indians have taken over America. It's no longer the United States of America -- it's the BJP-Congress Alliance of America.

Of course, Indians are far from taking over America. But if our population continues to grow at a staggering rate, you may see more Indians than whites in the year 2120. And instead of serving beef-tinged French fries, McDonald's will be serving ghee-soaked puffed rice.

The population of Indian Americans has more than doubled in the last decade, shooting up to almost 1.7 million, according to Census 2000 figures. The actual population could be as high as 2 million, partly because the Census workers didn't get around to visiting every motel.

The Indian population grew faster than any other Asian group. Indian Americans now constitute 16.4% of the Asian American population and .6% of the total U.S. population. Among Asians, Indians are in third place, not far behind the Chinese and Filipinos, who have populations of 2.4 million and 1.9 million respectively. Indians could easily pass the Filipinos in a few years, especially if the economy continues to weaken, forcing more American men to do without mail-order brides.

The Indian population is certainly large enough to have an impact on American politics. In fact, George W. Bush, while campaigning for the presidency last year, tried to impress Indians.

Bush to adviser: "There are so many Indians in America. What can I do to get them to support me?"

Adviser: "That's easy: Just tell them you believe in nepotism."

Bush: "You mean they won't hold it against me that my father was president?"

Adviser: "Are you kidding? Have you been following Indian politics?"

Bush: "Are you crazy? I haven't even been following American politics."

In reality, Indians -- aside from a few wealthy entrepreneurs -- have little impact on national issues, partly because we lack a united voice and a national spokesperson. We need to learn from the African Americans, the Hispanic Americans, and, yes, even the gay rights groups. Anytime there's a major case of discrimination against African Americans, the Rev. Jesse Jackson seems to magically show up, as though he has his own space shuttle. And what happens when Indians are mistreated? Even the lawyers are slow to arrive. Forget about a space shuttle -- our leaders seem to prefer traveling by rickshaw.

With the Indian population large enough to fill an entire state, it's almost an injustice that no Indian sits among the 535 members of Congress, especially since the state of Missouri elected a dead man to the Senate last year.

Not one Indian has followed in the footsteps of Dalip Singh Saund, who in the 1950s became the first South Asian to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives. While India is the world's largest democracy, Indian Americans are perhaps the world's weakest voting bloc.

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