by Hind Himalaya Staff | Jul 1, 2023 | Indian-American, Sports
Reading Time: 3 minutesFor years, Florida teenager Arjun Nimmala spent more time on a cricket field in India than the travel baseball circuit. Now he’s projected to be a top-15 pick of this year’s MLB draft class which is set to take place in Seattle between July 9 and 11. A recent graduate of the Strawberry Crest High School outside of Tampa, the 17-year-old has committed to Florida State as a freshman starting this fall. This offseason, he trained with New York Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor, “who happens to be Nimmala’s favorite player,” according to ESPN. Lindor’s agent reportedly advised Nimmala ahead of the draft.
According to global sports content platform Sportskeeda, “scouts have been enamored” with Nimmala, who is “capable of driving out 40 home runs per season on account of a powerful swing.” At 6-foot-1, he moves” very lightly on his feet,” the website says, he has “often recorded exit velocities well in excess of 100 miles per hour.” The website notes that because of the young player’s “capabilities at the shortstop position lead many to draw comparisons to Minnesota Twins shortstop and former Rookie of the Year Carlos Correa.”
ESPN Baseball Insider Kiley McDaniel saw Nimmala play in April in a regular-season game for Strawberry Crest High School outside of Tampa, where “a couple dozen scouts came. One scout who saw Nimmala play weeks before McDaniel told him that he had “the most impressive pregame [combinations of] infield [practice] and batting practice I’ve ever seen from a high school player.”
Sports Illustrated notes that Nimmala is getting “rave reviews from scouts in private workouts and could be around for the Chicago Cubs in the first round.” The youngest of the prep position players, the young baseball player “has been wowing teams in private workouts, consistently posting the best exit velos and with probably the best shot to stick at shortstop of those players, as well,” the publication added.
However, baseball wasn’t Nimmala’s first choice; cricket was. He was introduced to India’s favorite sport, during his annual visits to visit relatives in Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh, according to ESPN. He was a batsman — when he tried bowling, it didn’t go well. “I’m horrible, I don’t get the form right,” he told ESPN about his bowling. “I’m just a hitter.” When asked by McDaniel if he was good enough to play cricket professionally, Nimmala replied that if he “really practiced to the point that the others did,” he thinks he would’ve been “pretty good at cricket.”
Last summer, his last year playing travel baseball, Nimmala realized he was good at the game. “I realized I was pretty good because I heard draft talk and it’s hard to keep away from that because things just get to you and people talk,” he told McDaniel. “Then I realized that there was a decent amount of attention, and that’s kind of when I realized that I had a good chance.” And although he was playing with the best players in the country, he remained humble, McDaniel wrote, and “considered himself a potential pro prospect at the latest time he could possibly think that.”
In his ESPN profile, McDaniel raves about the young prospect’s skills and lists factors that could favor him, like his age. Nimmala is nearly a year younger than most of the other players in his draft class. “Being young for the class is one of the strongest empirical indicators of future success for high school position players, which is why Nimmala allows scouts and executives to imagine almost any outcome.’ His inexperience works in his favor as well, McDaniel writes. “Nimmala missed all of those showcases full of middle schoolers and their dog-eat-dog travel parents in search of that elusive D-I offer — because as a freshman in high school, he and his family still weren’t aware any of it existed.” Nimmala told McDaniel that his parents are from India and “had no clue about the recruiting process.”
In a short time, Nimmala went from being late learner to “one of the earliest commitments in his class to training with his favorite MLB player,” as well as playing in front of the “heavy-hitter” executives and general managers coming to every game. “What I realized is that I should really not be thinking about that they’re here,” Nimmala told McDaniel. “I want to impress them and do as well as I can, but I’m playing for my team and for myself, not for them.”
by Hind Himalaya Staff | Jul 1, 2023 | Indian-American
Reading Time: 2 minutesMathew, a former Stafford City Council member, won the race defeating incumbent Mayor Cecil Willis by 16 votes in a run-off race this month, crediting his victory to his faith in god, the Fort Bend Star reported.
: Kerala native Ken Mathew has become the first Indian-American and the first person of colour to be sworn in as the Mayor of Stafford in US state of Texas.
Mathew, a former Stafford City Council member, won the race defeating incumbent Mayor Cecil Willis by 16 votes in a run-off race this month, crediting his victory to his faith in god, the Fort Bend Star reported.
He was administered the oath of office by Missouri City Mayor Robin Elackatt, also an Indian-American, at a special event attended by his family members and top officials.
Indian-American Fort Bend County Judge, K.P. George, who was present on the occasion, tweeted: “Congratulations to Stafford Mayor-elect Ken Mathew! It was an absolute pleasure to attend his swearing-in ceremony this evening. Wishing him all the best as he embarks on this important role.”
Texas representatives, Ron Reynolds and Suleman Lulani, and former Missouri City Mayor Owen Allen also graced the occasion.
Back home, Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, also congratulated Mathew in a tweet.
“Congratulations to Ken Mathew from Kerala for becoming the elected Mayor of Stafford, US. He is the first Indian to be elected to the post, in 67 years’ history of Stafford,” Chandrasekhar wrote.
Mathew served on Stafford Council since first being elected in 2006, and served on the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission for several years before then.
He immigrated to the US in the 1970s after earning a degree from the University of Bombay, the Star reported.
An MBA, Mathew worked as an accountant and financial executive for several corporations, including Toshiba in the Houston area. He has lived in Stafford since 1982.
by Hind Himalaya Staff | Jul 1, 2023 | Indian-American
Reading Time: 2 minutesAn Indian-American attorney is being hailed as a “national hero” and “true patriot” in the US after he successfully argued a case before the US Supreme Court against a legal theory being promoted by conservatives, especially those who support former US President Donald Trump. The US-born attorney, named Neal Katyal, was representing the watchdog group ‘Common Cause’ and won the judgement 6-3, with support from three liberal and three conservative judges.
Such was the significance of the case that one legal expert labelled it as the most important constitutional case in US history, while it helped the attorney earn rare praise from former Democratic president Barack Obama himself.
What was the legal case?
The case, Moore v. Harper, was about overhauling the US election system altogether while giving state legislature primacy over courts to set election rules.
Had conservatives won the case, state legislatures would have become immune to interventions by courts on state election rules. However, the theory was rebuffed by six Supreme Court judges, maintaining that the power of state legislature was restrained by federal and state courts.
America’s top legal and constitutional experts heaved a sigh of relief as the judgement came, with Obama himself tweeting on the issue. “Today, the Supreme Court rejected the fringe independent state legislature theory that threatened to upend our democracy and dismantle our system of checks and balances. This ruling rejects the far-right theory that threatened to undermine our democracy, and makes clear that courts can continue defending voters’ rights—in North Carolina and in every state,” Obama wrote in his tweet.
‘Single most important constitutional case for American democracy’
The case was hailed as the “Single most important constitutional case for American democracy” by Judge Luttig, a distinguished jurist who was also associated with the fight. He also lauded Katyal for being “masterful” while arguing the case before the court. He said Katyal made “the single best oral argument I have ever heard made before the Supreme Court of the United States.”
Who is Neal Katyal?
Neal Katyal is the son of Indian immigrants, and his mother is a paediatrician while his father is an engineer. He attended Dartmouth College and pursued his law degree at Yale, where he had the opportunity to learn from Akhil Amar, a renowned Indian-origin constitutional scholar in the United States.
Presently, Katyal holds a position as a partner at the prestigious law firm Hogan Lovells. Additionally, he serves as a professor of National Security Law at Georgetown University Law Center, where he holds the distinction of being one of the youngest professors to have achieved tenure and a chaired professorship in the university’s history.
by Hind Himalaya Staff | Jun 15, 2023 | Indian-American
Reading Time: 2 minutesThanedar, an Indian-American Congressman, has announced plans to form a ‘Hindu Caucus’ in the United States Congress.
This initiative aims to bring together like-minded members of Congress who share a common goal of protecting the Hindu community in the country from hate and bigotry.
The announcement was made by Thanedar, who represents the 13th District of Michigan, at the inaugural Hindu American Summit at the Capitol Visitor Center on Wednesday (14 June).
“It is important that every person has a right to choose a religion, pray (to) a God that he or she chooses without persecution, without discrimination, without hate or for those who may choose not to pray to a God. These are freedoms that are fundamental. These are fundamental human rights,” Thanedar was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.
Thanedar said that the purpose of the Hindu caucus is “not only to ensure that there is no hate against Hinduism, to ensure that there is no bigotry and no discrimination towards (the) Hindu religion and those who practise Hindu religion”.
Congressional caucuses are groups of members of the US Congress that meet to pursue common legislative objectives.
Caucuses are formed as Congressional Member Organisations through the US House of Representatives and governed under the chamber’s rules.
When asked about how far the caucus has progressed, Thanedar said it is at the early stages and they are inviting all members of the Congress to join.
Originally from Belgaum in Karnataka, Shri Thanedar immigrated to the United States in 1979. He obtained his PhD in polymer chemistry from the University of Akron (1982).
Thanedar then worked as a post-doctoral scholar at the University of Michigan. Shri also worked as a Polymer Synthesis Chemist and Project Leader at the Petrolite Corporation in Saint Louis.
He then ventured to entrepreneurship building several companies.
Thanedar entered politics when he ran in the 2018 Michigan gubernatorial election as a Democrat
by Hind Himalaya Staff | May 9, 2023 | Community
Reading Time: < 1 minute
New short-term rentals are banned for a year in Plano starting next week.
The Plano city council passed a temporary ban on new short-term rentals at a joint meeting with the Planning and Zoning Commission.
Members of the Texas Neighborhood Coalition urged the council to pass a temporary ban after a shooting outside a short-term rental in Plano. The group advocates for a permanent short-term rental ban in residential neighborhoods.
Council members also voted 6-2 to table a short-term rentals registration ordinance until June 26. The additional time will allow for the study and assessment of the potential impact of pending state legislation related to short-term rentals. A registration ordinance would allow the city a way to approve, deny or revoke registration for short-term rentals.
Mayor John Muns and Council Members Anthony Ricciardelli, Maria Tu, Julie Holmer, Rick Smith, Rick Grady and Shelby Williams voted in favor of the interim ban.
