She and her friends are also encouraging their families who live in swing states to get out the vote: "Personally my whole family is hard core Democrat, but I do have lots of friends whose families come from Republican backgrounds. "I also read about these young Indians who are Republican and running for office. It's a little disconcerting because I wonder what's going to happen to us, as immigrants, and to the entire world in general, if Bush is re-elected to office. It's very worrisome."

New York, of course, wears its liberal heart proudly on its sleeve and has had a strong progressive South Asian presence for many years. The anti-Bush sentiments are repeated in group after group of young South Asians, especially those that are activist and progressive. Young people are doing just about everything from mass emails and voter registrations to raising a cool million dollars for the Kerry-Edwards campaign.
The American-born children of immigrants have come of age and unlike their parents, who seem to live in India in spirit, they feel very much American and relate to the issues here - healthcare, education, immigration and creation of jobs. Many of them have got further politicized by the aftermath of 9/11 when every brown face was looked upon as a potential terrorist.

Ralph Nurnberger, a professor at Georgetown University and a Washington associate of the Indian American Center for Political Awareness (IACFPA) believes that the Indian American community, like any other community, is affiliated with both parties.
However, IACFPA's 1996 survey of Indians found a three to one advantage for Democrats among the Indian community: 42% identified themselves as Democrats; 13% Republican and 30% Independent. The survey also found that nearly 66% of Indian Americans preferred Clinton over Dole, who was preferred by only 9% in the 1996 presidential race.

Nurnberger says: "If there is a distinction and this is more anecdotal than anything I can prove, it strikes me that the older generation tends to be more with the Republicans and the younger generation with the Democrats, but you'll find so many exceptions to that, that it's hard to generalize."

He sees some distinct differences between the two generations of Indian Americans: "The older generation focuses more on foreign policy and the younger focuses on domestic issues. While the older generation seems to think contributing funds is a sufficient way of being involved, the younger generation is actually willing to put more time into it."

Hari Kondabolu of Queens, NY, was 20 when he interned with New York Sen. Hillary Clinton in Washington D.C. last year. He is planning to attend law school and is also involved with voter registration. He feels that since minorities generally tend to vote Democratic, the first generation has those leanings as well, but has generally been apathetic about getting involved: "Growing up, I heard more about Indian politics than about American politics in our household. I think there's a closer connection to India than to America so American politics is not going to be on your dinner table at night."
Moving in the political circles that he does, he finds that young people identify with America as their country and issues like the Patriot Act, immigration restrictions and hate crimes have all politicized them further, on college campuses and the workplace. He says, "We know what our rights are more than the past generations. We also have numbers now, so we are not afraid to speak up and ruffle a few feathers."
So is there an anti-Bush bias amongst young South Asians, we asked Dino Teppara, 31, a Republican, who is an attorney and senior legislative assistant to U.S. Congressman Joe Wilson (R-S.C).

"I think younger college students make up a substantial part of that group," he responded. "Just being younger and in college I might have identified myself that way, just not following issues in-depth. I can understand why they feel that way, but I think there just tends to be more of a general liberal attitude on college campuses."
However, he says, attitudes seem to change as these students move from campus to the workplace. "If you look at the second generation, at people in their late 20's, you actually see a lot of Indian Americans who are conservative - IT, lawyers, physicians - so it's a maturing process from late teens, early 20's to late 20's and early 30's when many young Indian-Americans become professionals."

He believes the core values of Indian Americans, the sanctity of marriage, family and faith, are Republican values. Indians are also a strong business community, so that's a strong segment that supports the Republicans, who are seen as pro-business, he says.

Says Teppara: "There are a lot of people who identify themselves as conservatives so I think the Indian American community is pretty balanced politically, but I guess the people who are more anti-Bush are just very vocal about their opposition."

Out in Atlanta, Dhruti Contractor, 25, has an overview of the political scene as the founder of Georgia Indian American Political Action Committee, a non-partisan group that works to promote political awareness: " There are people in both camps that are serious about supporting their parties. Some people think that the second generation is more active or attuned, but I see equal amounts of apathy and interest in both generations."

Asked if the second-generation tends to be anti-Bush and pro-Kerry, she says: "It might be occupational in the second generation, where some of the business-oriented folks might be more Republican, while people in other sectors might be more Democratic. The amount of voting and participation I've seen is equal as well."