Santa Clara South Asian Spotlight: Indian-American Honors Hindu Heritage at Super Bowl, Indian Techie Shot Dead by Police
Two stories from Santa Clara's South Asian community illuminate both the vibrant cultural contributions and the painful vulnerabilities experienced by Indian Americans in Silicon Valley. A longtime Santa Clara resident of Indian origin crafted an intricate paper model of Levi's Stadium incorporating a Hindu blessing, continuing a 25-year family tradition timed to the Super Bowl. Separately, a 30-year-old software engineer from Telangana named Mohammed Nizamuddin was shot and killed by Santa Clara police after an altercation with his roommate, leaving his family in India searching for answers weeks after his death.
🪔 Santa Clara Resident Mangesh Tamhankar Crafts Hindu-Blessed Paper Model of Levi's Stadium for Super Bowl LX
A Santa Clara resident and dedicated San Francisco 49ers fan named Mangesh Tamhankar has channeled his passion for both the team and his Hindu heritage into a remarkable piece of handmade art: a miniature paper model of Levi's Stadium incorporating a Hindu deity as a blessing for the 49ers in Super Bowl LX. According to a Patch report published September 5, 2025, Tamhankar has lived in Santa Clara for 25 years and brings this tradition of faith and fandom together through an annual creative project undertaken with his family. Each year for the past quarter century, Tamhankar and his family have selected a theme and built an elaborate paper model — a tradition that speaks to the rich cultural practice of bringing South Asian spiritual reverence into everyday expressions of life in America. The Super Bowl LX model featuring a Hindu god represents the intersection of deeply held religious devotion with enthusiastic participation in American popular culture, a combination that characterizes the experience of millions of Indian Americans in the Bay Area. Tamhankar expressed hope that the 49ers organization would be willing to display the model inside Levi's Stadium, a wish that would symbolize not only personal pride but the broader visibility of South Asian heritage within mainstream Bay Area civic life. [5]
Indian Techie Mohammed Nizamuddin Shot Dead by Santa Clara Police, Family Seeks Answers
A 30-year-old software engineer from the Mahbubnagar district of Telangana, Mohammed Nizamuddin, was shot and killed by Santa Clara police on September 3 after officers responded to a reported knife attack on his roommate. According to Gulf News, when police entered the residence they found Nizamuddin pinning down his injured roommate while holding a knife. Officers opened fire, and Nizamuddin was later pronounced dead at a hospital. Compounding the family's anguish, they did not learn of his death until September 18 — two weeks later — when a friend in California informed them. His father, Mohammed Hasnuddin, told the Times of India that he did not know the actual reasons why police had shot his son. Nizamuddin had left India to pursue a Master's degree in Computer Science in Florida before relocating to California to work in a tech firm. Before his death, he had posted on LinkedIn alleging he had been a victim of racial hatred, discrimination, harassment, wage fraud, wrongful termination, and obstruction of justice. His father appealed to India's Ministry of External Affairs to help repatriate the body to Telangana. Majlis Bachao Tehreek spokesperson Amjed Ullah Khan wrote to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, urging intervention through the Indian Embassy in Washington and the Consulate in San Francisco. A relative told ANI that a dispute with a roommate over an air conditioner had escalated into violence, and that the police response — four rounds fired — came before any proper inquiry could take place. The family has demanded a thorough and independent investigation into the circumstances of Nizamuddin's death. [6]