Ever since last month, when the taking of two French hostages in Iraq “had (the) unintended consequence” of uniting France in favour of the headscarf ban, i’ve been following how this affected le brown, specifically French Sikhs. here‘s an update:

A French administrative court has ruled on an appeal brought by three Sikh boys who have been excluded from classes for wearing the under-turban.

However, it referred the matter back to the boys’ school, and said the issue should be resolved by further mediation between the school and its pupils.

The court recommended mediation in order to prevent setting a legal precedent that Muslim students could use.

France introduced its new law banning the wearing of all religious symbols from state schools from September.

France’s small Sikh community says the under-turban is a valid compromise.

…The French authorities admit that when the law was drafted, nobody consulted France’s small Sikh community.

This lack of planning has resulted in significant confusion, since some schools accept the “under-turban”, while others refuse to appear hypocritical, since the ban affects ALL religions, not just Muslims. Yarmulkes and large crosses are also not allowed, though fear about increasing Islamic Fundamentalism among French youth is what inspired the law in the first place.

Georgia’s Khabar Magazine, profies Irfan Kalvert, an Indian-American soldier who served in Iraq:

So what inspired Irfan to join the Army when most of his peers in the community were planning medical or IT careers, if not envisioning a successful entrepreneurship? “Even though I was making $4000 a month as a young man starting out, I wasn’t happy with just making money. After September 11, I realized that we must do something to better the world, and I wanted to help. I wanted to experience new things, go out there and make a difference. I was 25 at the time and thought about all the men and women who have stood up for what they believed in, and about those in the armed services who gave up their freedom and even their lives ? for our freedom, for our way of life. The choice was clear.”

And so began IrfanÂ’s life as a soldier two years back. His Iraq tour-of-duty started on February 18th of this year. After a couple months of orientation in Kuwait, he entered Iraq on March 15th. His unit was assigned the challenging task of taking over the Iraqi National Guard (ING) post at Samarra, about 70 miles north of Baghdad.

In particular, he talks about one mission when things went very badly and his infantry unit suffered serious casualties. What went wrong?

[Khabar]:How did this attack happen? What went wrong?
[Kalvert]:We had general after general coming to see us because it was such a big deal, since we had people die inside a secured compound. Our battalion commander had informed his superior officer that the compound was secure, and it turned out it was not. Basically what we did wrong was that we had the ING running the gate while we were doing security for everything else. We always had an armored Humvee parked in front of our door where we slept in the building. On the day of the attack, it was not parked there for some reason. There had to be a leak from inside the ING people that gave it away.

These are the same 120,000+ ING soldiers whose numbers are increasing and who are being trained to take the burden away from U.S. forces (according to Bush during the debates). What does Kalvert think of the war in Iraq?

[Khabar]: Do you concur with the reasons America went to war?
[Kalvert]:Yes. I believe that if we hadnÂ’t gone over there they would have eventually come over to fight us. We are not fighting just Iraqis ? there is an influx of people from other countries who have come just to fight against us.

India’s most famous tourist attraction turns 350 this year, and quite understandably, it’s tired:

Earlier this month, two Indian historians warned the Taj Mahal may already be tilting and could crumble or sink if the government did not pay immediate attention to its ecological setting.

“Dangerous tilts in its minarets, first noticed in 1942 and mentioned in various reports, have continued to increase over the years,” Ram Nath, a former head of history at Rajasthan University, told the Hindustan Times.

“They are caused by the dry river bed.”

Another historian, Agam Prasad Mathur, said the dry Yamuna river bed must once again be filled if the monument was to be saved.

“Yamuna used to be full of water to maintain the monument’s balance and absorb tectonic shocks. Now that the river bed is dry, the Taj is exposed to the elements,” he said.

Mughal emperor Shah Jahan constructed the Taj in memory of his favourite wife, Mumtaz Mahal, who died during childbirth. According to the BBC article that was linked above, this threatened “symbol of love” attracted over three million tourists to Agra last year.

Koose Muniswamy Veerappan’s funeral took place on Wednesday, at a family burial plot in Moolakudu, Tamil Nadu.

The BBC’s Sunil Raman says the police decided not to bury Veerappan in his native village in neighbouring Karnataka state fearing trouble from the large crowds that had gathered there.

“We have been orphaned,” cried the bandit’s wife, Muthulakshmi, as she clung to her teenage daughters Prabha and Vidya Rani at the funeral.

The following sentence made me pause, and wonder if something similar would’ve occurred in this country. Though the gesture was touching, I think not:

The bandit’s elder brother was allowed out from a life term in jail for aiding Veerappan to attend the rites. He laid a garland as he was closely guarded by police.

I’m also insanely curious about why he was buried vs cremated. Would anyone more knowledgeable care to edify a girl who gets curious about the most pointless things? If so, please leave a comment. 🙂

Though some professed relief about the bandit’s demise, others experienced an opposite set of emotions; said Ravi, a man who went to view Veerappan’s body before its burial,

“God will punish those policemen. Veerappan was a good man and he helped the poor,” he told the BBC.

Quick MSNBC article on a topic we’ve covered before – MSNBC – India draws ‘medical tourists’ –

NEW DELHI – Three months ago, Howard Staab learned that he suffered from a life-threatening heart condition and would have to undergo surgery at a cost of up to $200,000 — an impossible sum for the 53-year-old carpenter from Durham, N.C., who has no health insurance. So he outsourced the job to India. …Total bill: about $10,000, including roundtrip airfare and a planned side trip to the Taj Mahal.