Monthly Archives: August 2004

Even this guy has a cell phone! (in the left basket)

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2 baskets.jpg

Swami, as he is described, is on an epic mission – he is carrying his aged, blind mother, Kethakdevi, on his shoulders on an all-India pilgrimage.

The loving son carries two baskets on his shoulders, balanced by a wooden bar … In one, his mother, in the other his meagre belongings.

His spartan possessions include a stove and pots, a couple of rugs, some clothes, a gold-plate wristwatch and a mobile phone. [via the BBC]

“Oh hi. How are you? No, I’m not busy, just out for a stroll with my mother. You know, same old same old. Yeah, she can be a huge pain in the back sometimes, but she’s my mom and I love her. So when she said, carry me all over India, I said, why not, I’m not doing anything until 2013 anyway. But … it’s boring sometimes. And mom doesn’t talk much. So I’m really glad I’ve got unlimited night and weekend minutes on this plan. Enough about me though. What did you do this weekend, anyway?”

Immigration Patterns-Edison

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Immigrant patterns are such that newly arriving immigrants often flock to locals in which many of their former country-men have settled. As a result, various ethnic ghettoes are created–Chinatowns, Little Italies, and of course Little Indias. One of the more well known Little Indias is in Edison, NJ, the home of Oak Tree Road, Sukhadia Sweets, and the Subzi Mandi grocery store that my mother drives three hours to frequent. Anyway, somewhat along these lines, The New Jersery Star Ledger has run an interesting peice on the desi community in Edison.

The Asian population in Edison climbed 1,175 percent over two decades: from 2,245 residents in 1980 to 28,634 in 2000. In Woodbridge, the number of Asian residents increased by 1,025 percent over the same time frame, from 1,251 to 14,078 residents, according to the 2000 U.S. Census. Magan Patel, a 64-year-old Edison resident who immigrated to New York 33 years ago, trekked home after the parade yesterday with an Indian flag swinging beside an American flag. Patel said he carried both flags to signify the synthesis of his Indian values with the job and educational opportunities he has discovered in America. “I am a U.S. citizen since 1978,” Patel said. “My family’s here. We live good here. I consider (myself) American.”

Takin Hits from the 80’s

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The samples aren’t all exactly from the Bollywood of the 1980’s, but Raghav,theIndo-Canadian pop-star, who is climbing to enormous fame in the UK, is certainly riding the wave of Bollywood sampling and modern production (a la puff daddy) to make hit records. Let’s work it out, his second solo single, released today in the UK, is the fourth single featuring him since he arrived on the British scene this year, and the last to be released before his album “Storyteller” releases on September 6 (V2 Records).

Raghav has fared quite well on the mainstream British charts thus far. His first single ‘So Confused’ featuring dj/producer 2 Play went as high as number 4 on the British charts and his debut solo single ‘Can’t Get Enough’ entered the British charts at number 8, the same spot as the last collaboration single with 2Play ‘It Can’t Be Right’, featuring Naila Boss.

Pulling a Kato…

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Roommate of the bombers of AI 182 has a sudden case of amnesia – TheStar.com – Air India witness forgets testimony.

The former roommate of a star Crown witness became the latest in a number of defence witnesses for an accused Air India bomber who has had trouble remembering things. Balbir Singh Gharala entered the witness box for the second time today, his testimony conflicting with several statements he made a week earlier. …Bagri, a Kamloops, B.C., sawmill worker, and Vancouver millionaire Ripudaman Singh Malik are charged with eight counts, including conspiracy and murder, in two June 23, 1985 terrorist bombings that killed 331 civilians. Two baggage handlers were killed in a Tokyo airport when a suitcase from Vancouver exploded. An hour later, 329 people headed from Toronto to India died when a second bomb ripped apart Air India flight 182 off the coast of Ireland.

One can only imagine the homestyle justice this guy’s afraid of facing…

No individual medal for Bhardwaj

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The gymnastics floor exercise finals just ended in Athens, and Mohini Bhardwaj finished 6th out of 8. The Romanians were dominant as always, winning gold and silver, with Spain taking the bronze. Bhardwaj’s teammates did well in their individual finals, winning gold in the all-around, silver and bronze on the uneven bars and silver on the vault.

The team silver medal is probably the end of Bhardwaj’s Olympics career, a graduation ceremony into the rest of life. The end of an intensely competitive tournament can be a relief, but also a huge letdown. Gymnast Kerry Strug, who several years ago became famous for landing a critical vault on an injured ankle, Karate Kid-style, now works in the Treasury Department’s general counsel office.

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NPR story on Indian hotel owners

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For those that missed it, NPR did a great story (audio only) about a week ago on the success of Indian owned motels and hotels in the U.S. They interview one Gujarati family in particular. The story also delves into first generation business practices such as giving out personal loans on good faith, and shows how such old world business traditions help to give immigrants a leg up in the new world economy. This is one of several South Asian related features that NPR has done in the last few weeks.

Unhappy in America

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(via Madhoo) Interesting feature article in Little India magazine about 1st gen’ers unhappy w/ life in America –

Most wounding to her was the loss of her independence: Her H4 visa robbed her of her identity – she was not allowed to work, and did not have a bank balance or credit card – and to even take a trip back home, she was dependent on her husband. She had been driving for years in India, but here she failed the crucial road test because she was used to driving on the left. She recalls the utter hopelessness she felt then: “When I come out of the car, I sit and cry and cry. I donÂ’t believe this. IÂ’ve been driving for years and now they tell me I canÂ’t drive? IÂ’m crying like a baby. I donÂ’t want to live in this country. I mean, every day youÂ’re struggling.”

As Madhoo points out, it’s sorta hard to feel pity for someone trying to drive on the Left…. Continue reading →

“The Iron Girl” in the Kerry Camp

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The Times of India has, what I consider, a very poorly written article about Kerry fundraiser Reshma Saujani, who is active in South Asians for Kerry in 2004. She is a friend of mine, and I have a feeling she is not going to be happy with this article.

She’s the iron girl in the Kerry camp. The shrewd strategist, who finds John Kerry, “an incredible leader, easy to talk to,” and Teresa Heinz Kerry “extraordinary, very spirited’. At 28, attorney Reshma M Saujani single-handedly raised $ 1 million at the ‘India Day Parade’ in New York last week for Kerry’s presidential campaign.

This article had several basic facts wrong, including the assertion that she rasied a million dollars at the India Day Parade. Why the article felt the need to point out the following fact, I have no idea:

“…says Reshma, who interned at the White House at the same time as Monica Lewinsky in 1996. ”

In any case, hopefully we will see Reshma run for office within the next several years. Continue reading →

bollywood acts up

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manish is usually the “culture-vulture” mutineer, but i HAVE to bring this article to your attention. In a matter of days, “Phir Milenge”, starring Salman Khan, Shilpa Shetty and Abhishek Bachchan will be released. PM is the very first bollywood phil-im to address AIDS/HIV:

The movie, directed by former actress Revathy , tells the story of a 26-year-old advertising professional Tamanna (Shilpa). At a school reunion, she meets Rohit (Salman), on whom she had a crush in school days. They spend time together, fall in love and have sex, then part, promising to meet again.
…Revathy says that her main objective in making Phir Milenge was to remove the stigma of this disease and spread its awareness among people. The film is being supported by UNAIDS.
According to the estimates, there are currently 43 million people with HIV/AIDS in the world, with five million new cases being added every year. India, with 5.1 million HIV/AIDS cases, has the second highest incidence of the disease in the world after South Africa.

aside: i feel crazy for admitting this, but i was utterly shocked when i read that first paragraph about how shilpa shetty is going to hook up with salman khan before they “part”. considering the gravity of the subject matter, i want to flog myself for getting hung up on that, but i just don’t associate sexuality with mumbai’s fine filmy products (which i’ve seen all of SEVEN of). based on my almost total-ignorance of the genre, i’m guessing they won’t show it, and my astonishment was for naught. perhaps one of you bolly-philes can edify me as to the chances of fornication on celluloid. 😉

American investing $120M to train Indians for Olympics

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Finance millionaire and Indophile Andrew Krieger is investing $120M in a Hyderabad sports training center to boost India’s Olympics results:

As India awaits glory in Athens, its star athlete, markswoman Anjali Bhagwat, is peeved that she had to pay for a coach on her own… Krieger, who studied Hindu philosophy, is pouring $120 million into a planned sports facility in the Indian tech hub of Hyderabad, where international coaches will groom future champions in all sports. It will be a replica of IMG Academies, a coaching center in Bradenton, Fla., that has produced the likes of tennis champ Maria Sharapova.

It’s just shameful that it’s not an Indian investor doing this. Indian marksman Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, a major in the Indian army, won India’s sole medal, and its first ever individual silver medal, in double trap shooting last week. There are many ways to slice India’s medal drought, all of them wince-worthy:

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