A German newspaper called me Robin Hood On The Internet when I was in the thick of my democracy work for Nepal early in 2006. First it was a newspaper article. Apparently that drew some interest. I got an email saying a whole bunch of radio stations in Germany wanted a piece of me. So I showed up at their studio near Grand Central and did the interview. I don't have a copy. But I got told there would be voice over in German, totally understandable.
When I got called Robin Hood in 2006, I was simply amused. Wow, of all things you would call me that? But now I think I could use that nickname as I gear up to do microfinance work.
If it were not for the fucked up immigration laws in this country, I'd already be on my way.
This was in early 2006. I was deep into the Nepal democracy movement work. We were a few months away from grand success, but we could not have known it at the time. And I got an email from a German reporter. She wanted to talk. So we talked over email and the phone, and she wrote up an article for some German newspaper. I used Google Translate to translate it into English to publish at my Nepal blog.
Her story had a fancy title: Robin Hood On The Internet. That story got picked up by the German radio people. They emailed me asking me to come to their studio in Manhattan so they could record an interview. They said they had requests from many local radio stations in Germany. And so we talked.
And although I have been rooting for Brazil and Argentina, they are both out. Now it is obvious to me that Germany is going to win this cup. And I am happy for them.
This BBC article is the biggest media mention of me to date. The last time I had anything even remotely close was when a German newspaper wrote an article calling me Robin Hood On The Internet, ("Robin Hood Im Internet") and that was in 2006 for my fierce work into Nepal's democracy movement. That article also resulted in me getting interviewed by German radio right here in Manhattan. They said that newspaper article created a demand among many local radio stations. And that of course they will translate, and the voice over will be in German. I showed up at their state of the art studio, did my interview, and left. No snacks, nothing. Around that same time I was also lined up to appear over the phone for a BBC program. This was going to be live. But I overslept. And felt so bad about having overslept. It was like winning a marathon and missing out the awards ceremony. But I blogged saying I got invited on to the program. (BBC Calls) That was like giving myself a consolation prize.
It is also a good feeling to get followed by Ann Curry on Twitter. (Direct Messages From Ann Curry, Steve Case, Robert Scoble) I am strong on social media, on new media, but I have always been big on old media. You have to grow up listening to BBC radio as your only reliable news source in a non democratic country to truly appreciate what that brand name means. And I was a guy who could even listen to the BBC in English. That impressed a lot of people back in the days.
You can speak English? Okay, so speak. I want to hear what it sounds like.
Paramendra Bhagat, a budding entrepreneur, wanders around the cream of New York's tech scene, shaking hands and making contacts.
This is the NY Tech Meet-Up, a well-known monthly gathering of more than 700 people, including venture capitalists (VCs) looking to fund the next Facebook.
Sitting in a large auditorium in Chelsea, there is a crowd of hip, skinny people and the earliest of early adopters. One man ignores all the presentations to watch live baseball on his iPad - four days after it launched.
"I'm here because this is where all the opportunities are, in New York," Mr Bhagat says.
After the presentations finish and the mingling begins, he goes around talking to the investors, telling anyone prepared to listen about his start-up, which aims to bring poor people in the Indian sub-continent online.
But Mr Bhagat is from Nepal, and despite having been in New York since 2005, US visa regulations mean there is no easy way for him to stay in the US as an entrepreneur.
Even though, he says, "there are immigrants who want to come, and VCs who need them".
The news article mentions Paul Graham, it mentions Brad Feld. That is august company.
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