Indians in Forbes 400 Richest Americans List

Four men of Indian origin have made it to The Forbes 400 Richest Americans list. They are

• Kavitark Ram Shriram (ranked 281st)
  Net Worth $1.7 billion
  Chennai, India-born entrepreneur started at Netscape 1994. Created shopping site Junglee; sold to Amazon in 1998. Founded Sherpalo 2000, went on to back Yodlee, Zazzle.com (custom T-shirts, mugs, posters, stickers). Early investor, board member of Google still owns 1.3 million shares worth $600 million.
• Bharat Desai and family (ranked 321st)
  Net Worth $1.5 billion
  Born in Kenya, moved to India at age 11. Studied engineering at Indian Institute of Technology, moved to U.S. in 1976 for programming job at Tata Consultancy Services. Founded Syntel with wife, Neerja Sethi, while earning M.B.A. from University of Michigan.
• Amar Bose (ranked 321st)
  Net Worth $1.5 billion
  Started repairing radios in high school after WWII depressed father's import business. Fulbright scholar earned Ph.D. in electrical engineering from MIT. Began research on hi-fi sound. Started Bose Corp. 1964
• Vinod Khosla (ranked 355th)
  Net Worth $1.5 billion
  Green-tech advocate studied engineering at Indian Institute of Technology. Failed at attempt to start soy milk company catering to Indians without refrigerators. Earned biomedical master's at Carnegie Mellon, then Stanford M.B.A. Cofounded electric design automation company Daisy Systems in 1980. Two years later joined Andy von Bechtolsheim, Billy Joy, Scott Nealy to form Sun Microsystems.

Detroit ranked in "America's Hard Drinking Cities"

Forbes is out with its list of "America's Hard Drinking Cities". Austin, Texas tops the list and Detroit is ranked at #15. Click here for a look at the entire list on Google Maps.

Have you ever wondered as to who is GOOGLING for say "Scotch, Rum, Margarita..." around the Detroit Area?. Check out this Google Maps Mashup of Alcohol related searches for each of 50 US State.

Here's a screen shot of Alcohol related searches in Michigan. Looks like West Bloomfield, Traverse City, Plymouth are the top 3 cities where the search is originating for "Scotch".

Mumbai and New Delhi ranked as one of "The World's Dirtiest Cities"

Forbes is out with a list of "The World's 25 Dirtiest Cities". India has 2 cities listed. Mumbai is ranked as the 7th Dirtiest City and New Delhi does a bit better with a rank of 24. Forbes has this to say about New Delhi

You'll find just about everything except marine life in New Delhi's Yamuna River. Garbage and sewage flow freely, creating a rich environment for the growth of water-borne diseases contributing to extremely high rates of infant morbidity.

Click here for a Google Maps View of "The World's Dirties Cities".

Related: The World's most Polluted Cities.

Ann Arbor one of the smartest cities in United States

Right after ranking Detroit as the most "miserable city" in United States, Forbes has come out with its list of the Smartest Cities in United States. Ann Arbor which is just 40+ miles west of Detroit, has been ranked the 4th smartest city in United States. The cities ahead of Ann Arbor, MI are Boulder - CO, Bethesda - MD, Ithaca - NY.

Here's a look at all the smartest cities on Google Maps.

Detroit tops Forbes list of "Most Miserable Cities" in America

Forbes Magazine thinks Detroit is the "Most Miserable City" in America.

Wait! Michigan is still not done. Forbes ranked Flint, MI as the 3rd most "Miserable City".

The factors Forbes considered in coming up with this ranking are

unemployment and personal tax rates, commute times, weather, crime and that toxic waste dump in your backyard.

My Fellow Desis! What do you think? Do you agree with "Forbes".

I work in the city of Detroit. Yes on a day like today (we are expecting around 6 inches of snow) the commute will be a headache. But Downtown Detroit is changing for sure. Major Corporations are moving there offices to Detroit. Do they think Detroit is "Miserable" - don't think so.

There's a lot going on in Detroit even in this harsh winter weather. There's The Winter Blast in Downtown Detroit starting February 8-10 which will attract lots of people.

Indian Americans in FORBES Richest Americans List

FORBES has come out with a list of 400 richest men in America. There are 4 Indian Americans in the list. Here they are:

Amar Bose, 77
Rank: 271
Net Worth: $1.8 Billion
Source: Manufacturing, Self made
Hometown: Framingham, Massachusetts
Education: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Bachelor of Arts / Science
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Doctorate

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Kavitark Shriram, 51
Rank: 271
Net Worth: $1.8 Billion
Source: Google
Hometown: Mountain View, California
Education: University of Madras, Bachelor of Arts / Science
University of Michigan, Master of Business Administration

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Bharat Desai, 54
Rank: 286
Net Worth: $1.7 Billion
Source: Syntel Inc., Software, Self made
Hometown: Fisher Island, Florida
Education: Indian Institute of Technology, Bachelor of Arts / Science
University of Michigan, Master of Business Administration

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Vinod Khosla, 52
Rank: 317
Net Worth: $1.5 Billion
Source: Sun Microsystems, Investments, Self made
Hometown: Menlo Park, California
Education: Institute of Technology, Bachelor of Arts / Science
Stanford University, Master of Business Administration

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