'We have something to say to the world'

For any would-be activist, the work starts in one's backyard, said Ravi Bhalla, a councilman for Hoboken, New Jersey.

"Know your surroundings," he said, adding newcomers must do the research about your area or town, study the issues, and start speaking to like-minded change seekers. Bhalla, a Democrat who was elected in an election ward that has just a few South Asian families, declared that being South Asian in a largely white or black town/city is no barrier to attaining a seat in the lawmaking chambers. The activists should know how to connect with issue-related politics, he said.

Born and raised in New Jersey, he says he became interested in politics while studying at Berkeley. He earned a master's in public administration and public policy from the London School of Economics, and his JD from Tulane, Louisiana. He manages a four-lawyer law firm with offices in downtown Hoboken and Newark.

"Beginners can start working on small issues," he continued. On his Web site, he says the power of the pen cannot be denied, urging people to read local blogs and engage in discussions.

Shamita Das Dasgupta of Manavi, the first empowering group for South Asian women anywhere in America founded in 1985, recalled how community leaders opposed the organizations; some were in denial that South Asian women faced domestic problems, some did not want the issue to be discussed in public.

Dasgupta, who had to fight in India four decades ago to pursue a PhD in women's studies, recalled being the only brown face in the feminist movement in America.

"Soon I was realising that there was a need for an organisation to help South Asian women," she said, adding how five other like-minded women founded Manavi.

The "huge resistance" to the organisation by New Jersey South Asian communities drubbed the women as Westernised feminists; some wondered why a woman wearing Western clothes was trying to be an advocate for South Asians.

"I gave up completely my Western clothes then," said Dasgupta, who attended the SAALT conference in a sari. Today second and third generation South Asians do not have take her route to be advocates.

Despite lingering opposition to women's organisations, many young South Asians have continued to be engaged, she said, and in doing so, "they have changed the face of South Asian activism".

She sought help for a new advocacy issue for Manavi and other similar-themed organizations: The issue of 'abandoned' women in an increasingly globalised world.  Talking of thousands of such women in Punjab, Kerala, Gujarat and other Indian states, she said in some cases the migrating men left the women behind to look after their parents. In some cases, the promise of sending them an air ticket to join their spouses 'as soon as possible' was not kept for various reasons. The men might have found a new love, for instance, and divorced their wives in absentia.

There is no legislation to stop such abuse, she asserted, adding that the problem was not confined only to India or other South Asian countries.

Balmurli Natrajan, an anthropology professor, took issue with a speaker who suggested that South Asians by and large are passive when it came to social action.

"South Asian culture is also about resisting," he asserted. "We are not walking herds."

Conservatism has been steadily rising on the campuses, too, he said, adding that made the task for progressive students and professors including South Asians ever urgent.

The various campus groups he is associated with are not interested in South Asian issues alone, he continued, they fight for fair trade agreements, and against the harms of globalisation. "Our heritage is not just for South Asians," he said. "We can also be internationalists. We have something to say to the world."

An important task for the advocates is to send out the word to immigrant communities that a vast number of government and non-government services are available and they ought to use them efficiently, said Anu Gurnani, who works with Manavi as a volunteer and with Legal Services of New Jersey that offers pro bono service.

It is never late to be an advocate, felt Govinda Rajan, a retired railway officer in India who came to be with his daughter and became an undocumented visitor because of legal bungling. After he became a citizen following an amnesty offered under the Clinton administration, he began thinking about helping elderly immigrants from India. He founded Elders Volunteer Services (Agraj Seva Kendra) in East Brunswick, New Jersey, and effectively sought help from the town for the elderly to go to senior citizens centers and recreational places.

Aruna Rao, yet another advocate for the elderly, said while there are many facilities open for the elderly, there was still a huge gap between what is needed for South Asian elderly people and what is available. In assisted living homes and in many other facilities, language is a big barrier, she said. Diet was yet another big concern.