A NY Sun story by journalist Pranay Gupte uses this bafflingly racist lead-in (via SM and Gawker):

BY PRANAY GUPTE — George Alagiah plans to be in New York every day - without leaving his London base. It’s not astral projection or a flying carpet that he will use for this feat, although either method would be perfectly understandable in view of his South Asian heritage. Mr. Alagiah’s vehicle will be broadcasting. [Link]

Let’s see how it would read if we did a search and replace:

BY KEYSHAWN JACKSON — Jamal Jones plans to be in New York every day - without leaving his London base. It’s not Miss Cleo’s crystal ball or a slave ship that he will use for this feat, although either method would be perfectly understandable in view of his African-American heritage. [Link]

Yup, appalling. What was Gupte thinking? You can pick lots of things to be tongue-in-cheek about in a culture. Printing ones which reinforce long-standing racist stereotypes (and yet again conflate South Asia with the Middle East) is tone-deaf at a minimum.