This is one of my fav. topics. FOBS originally were Fresh of the Boat Euro. immigrants true, but now there are so many different types of FOBS and ABCD's that its mind boggling.
For example if you were born in the US your parents were probably FOBS.
The IT guys that come from South Asia and the taxi drivers, 7-11 owners etc, who got here in their 20's or 30's also fobs.
Then there are the high class FOBS. The KGS students going to Harvard and Yale, and the LUMS grads doing finance in Lehman brothers (although they are probably headed home now;) the movie makers and dress designers in NYC and the wanna be actors in LA also FOBS since they were born in South Asian countries.
There are also 3rd culture kids, people who maybe Pakistani, Indian Chinease whatever and grew up in UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain or a combo of these countries. For technical purposes they are also FOBS but they are very different from the random IT guys, the engineers or the doctors who come here to settle because they are 'paindu' The others are just cosmopolitan and citizens of the world.
ABCD's are also getting complicated now. American born desis are sometimes confused in different ways.
There are the coconuts (brown on the outside white on the inside) people who act white, have white friends and generally are shocked to see their brown faces in the mirror, tend ot marry white.
2nd are the hyper desi these are super into bollywood, Junoon, strings and pk fashion, good customers of the online boutiques ;) (think that's what their cultrue is all about) and love desi food and write odes to chai. This group thinks they are close to their culture but they dont' really know anything of substance about their culture but have a great deal of superficial knowledge about their culture, they also only associate with others or their own confused kind. These people hate the coconuts and the feeling is mutual.
3rd type is desi trash. These ABCD's grow up in the ghetto and emulate the african american and latino communities and poor whites (term is a play on white trash). They know little about their own country, but they are also not well adjusted into the white world of the 'model minority' they hang on welfare do odd jobs and most desis are surprised to learn that desis of this variety exist.
A fourth variety is the religious zealot. These people want to have little to do with Paksitan per se, they consider themselves to be part of the muslim community, they have unhealty obsessions with anything Arab (often arabs will make fun of thse people by telling them bad words and telling them these are prayers) They try to be a part of the world wide islamic community and feel paksitani culture is too influcenced by indian culture in its clothing language and art. These people will visit arab countries before seeing their own relatives in Pk, and wil learn Arabic instead of Urdu. These people hate the 2nd type of ABCD but will tolerate the Coconut. The cocunut who is so white that they are very PC and will often tolerate the religious zealot becuse they do not have the cultural components of the former ABCD they hate. Finally desi trash will sometimes become the "relgious zealot" when their mexican boyfreind or girl freind dumps them, to join the mainstream community and get married.
Finally there is the rare unconfused American Born Desi. This person is well adjusted, and understand his or her place in the world. They have a healthy appreciation for their culture, and can function w/in the American community as well. This type of desi will often find themselves comfortable with the High class and 3rd culture fobs. They try to learn their respective languages, tend to be moderately religious and generally comfortable with their identity.
So here's my brief encyclopedia. Hope it helps!
Well written!