Bombay Dreams for the RNC

Even though many have speculated that the Bollywood-influenced Braodway show Bombay Dreams is standing on its last legs, Republican National Convention delegates will at least have an opportunity to check out the Desi marvel.

Apparently eight Broadway shows have been approved for viewing by the host committee depending on where the delegation is from.

Every delegate, alternate, party official and elected official will receive a ticket based on where they are from to a show on Broadway. So will it be the Edison delegation or the Silicon Valley delegation that will have the pleasure to view the Bollywood drama?

Only half of the shows that wanted to be on RNC’s list were selected. Emanuel Azenberg, producer of one of the rejected shows, Movin’ Out, a Tony Award-winner set to music by Billy Joel, complained it was passed over because it deals with the unpopular Vietnam War. Hmmm. I wonder if the host committee has seen BD–why would they allow a show that shows the Poor overcoming the Rich—very un-Republican!

Madhoo – White People, Black People, Brown People

A fine rant – Dancing with Dogs: White people, black people, brown people

Translated from the movie “Padamati Sandhyaragam”-

Father: DonÂ’t trust these white people – they look down upon us because we are dark.

Â…later in the movieÂ…

Father: DonÂ’t trust these black people – they are jealous about us because we are whiter [than them].

Watch Madhoo handle it…

Why Anna is Sexy (well, one of the reasons ;-)

Marginal Revolution reports on fascinating research on what makes some people sexier than others – their names –

New research has revealed that the vowel sounds in your name could influence how others judge the attractiveness of your face.
Women with round-sounding names such as Laura tended to score higher than those with smaller vowel sounds. “Unfortunately for me, Amy is one of the bad names,” Perfors laments.

So “Ah-Na” is good while the classic Mallu-aunty name “Ai-lee-ahm-ma” is bad (although to be honest, this often isn’t just because of her name) And for the boys –

For boys, a good name will contain vowel sounds made at the front of the mouth, such as ‘e’ or ‘i’ sounds; names with fuller, rounder vowel sounds such as ‘u’ tend to score lower. So pat yourself on the back if you’re called Ben… but if your name is Paul, you might have to work work harder to snare a date.

V-ih-nohd” is Good. “Ah-bee” – you’re screwed. 😉

Reihan: Wrestlin’ with Race

Guest blogging continues @ DanielDrezner.com with an interesting post from Reihan analyzing Harold & Kumar Go To Whitecastle. Interestingly, the racial dilemma he’s focusing on is Harold’s rather than Kumar’s –

In “Harold and Kumar”, Harold dreads the prospect of pursuing a romantic relationship with “Cindy Kim,” a straight-laced Korean American co-ed at Princeton meant to evoke the stereotypical Asian American overachiever. She is a crashing bore. “Maria,” this shapely bombshell he worships form afar, is decidedly not Asian (she’s of indeterminate Latin origin, it seems — one assumes that making her a classical Anglonormative blonde would’ve been too much), though it’s never clear that she’s not also a crashing bore.
it raises interesting questions concerning the ways in which sexual attraction is bound up with aspirations. Could it be that Harold needs Maria to affirm his own attractiveness, and his self-identification? Man, I don’t know.

Reihan’s a fun writer BUT, I think I like Manish’s analysis of the trend that Harold & Kumar may portend for us (oh, wait, it’s cuz he’s citing me. 😉

Is Hollywood’s newfound interest in drugged-out Asians a good thing or a bad thing? Vinod points out via email that Asian stoner characters are unthreatening comic figures to the average American, a sly way of slipping Asians into major roles to be laughed at without making them romantic leads. That leaves them only slightly more respectable than Fu Manchu and Stepin Fetchit.

Bhardwaj chosen U.S. Olympics team captain

Mohini reaps the rewards of intensity and seniority:

Mohini Bhardwaj’s already impressive story just got a little better. Bhardwaj, who is one of the oldest female gymnasts in the Athens Games at 25, was selected as captain of the U.S. women’s gymnastics team. “From a year ago, if you had taken odds on her making our Olympic team — even the odds of making it to nationals — she just continues to impress,” USA Gymnastics president Bob Colarossi said Wednesday.

I’ve been following her pint-sized Rocky story for awhile.

It’s a bit of a surprise since she was one of the last chosen for the team, but only ex-Cuban gymnast Annia Hatch outranks her in seniority (Bhardwaj is 25, Hatch is 26). Both are the oldest female U.S. gymnasts in the Olympics in 40 years.

World Wide spider-Web

indianspiderman.jpg

The New York Magazine delves deeper into a story that hit the news over a month ago, about a new Indian Spiderman comic. Author Sukhdev Sandhu writes:

Farewell, Peter Parker; namaste, Pavitr Prabhakar. His fiefdom is the mean streets of Mumbai (formerly Bombay) instead of Manhattan. When crisis calls, he still dons his Spidey bodysuit, but he also sports a billowing dhoti and a pair of snazzy curl-toed slippers on his feet. The Green Goblin, his chief enemy, now takes the form of a rakshasa, a demon drawn from Indian mythology.

Continue reading

The Legend continues…

Remember my entry earlier this week titled The Legend of Dilip Singh that mentioned the first Indian congressman in the U.S.? Well the story continues as reported in desi-Talk NY News-India Times with the announcement that a building in California will also be named for him:

I can let you know that we hope to have passed this year a bill that will rename a building in California in honor of former Congressman Dalip Singh Saund, the first Indian-American ever elected to Congress. We are moving very, very quickly on that and we hope with the help of Congressman Bob Filner we have identified a building. We are working that process through. And we hope to just spread the word; we need the entire California delegation behind it to support it.

Anyone know what building in California they have in mind? Also why is a NY congressman (Co-Chair of Congressional Caucus on India and Indian Americans, Congressman Joe Crowley (D-NY)) the main one behind the push? Shouldn’t this suggestion have originated from California?

White girls in Brooklyn appropriate Saraswati

The singular invocation they were chanting during their Brooklyn rehearsal began, “Oh lordy, please say it’s not broken, please say she was kidding,” before diverging into specifics: “And please send me a hot guy who’s young and athletic and not married or secretly gay.” “But lord, what do I have to do to get a new job and my credit card approved?” “Am I truly a bad person because I wish my upstairs neighbor would get hit by a truck or struck by lighting every now and then?”

from the New York Times

And you know what? I’m fine with that. I know it sounds strange to hear them and see them, but … Continue reading

Sir, you, uh, have something on your shoulder

This is just weird. But, there’s clearly a commercial motivation here cuz otherwise, god knows, there are other places to shine the investigative spotlight – Indians say no kissing with dandruff

Most Indians wouldn’t kiss their partners if they had dandruff, according to an ACNielsen survey.
Ninety three percent of the women and 80 percent men spoken to during the survey said they wouldn’t even touch the hair of someone who has dandruff.
Nearly half of Indians have suffered from dandruff in the last three months, said the survey, which was commissioned by Head & Shoulders.

Now generally, one might be tempted to say this would cause a procreation problem out there, but… then again, maybe dandruff, kissing, and sex aren’t quite so closely linked in the motherland 😉

Banarasi saris, now ribbed for her pleasure

In yet another instance of Indian ingenuity, the new generation of sari weavers in Benares are using condoms to help them produce more saris, faster:

The weaver rubs the condom on the loom’s shuttle, which is softened by the lubricant thus making the process of weaving faster. The lubricant does not leave any stain on the silk thread which might soil the valuable saris. There are around 150,000 to 200,000 hand and power looms in Varanasi alone and almost all are using the technique. And every loom has a daily consumption of three or four condoms.

(analysis follows, below the fold) Continue reading