Monthly Archives: December 2004

Bend it like Bangladesh

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A real-life case of Bend It Like Beckham has erupted in Bangladesh:

Bangladesh’s government has stopped women taking part in a swimming competition after pressure from an Islamic group. In July, a women’s wrestling tournament was cancelled after threats to disrupt it, and a women’s football competition was called off after protests… a radical Islamic group threatened to bring the entire district around Chandpur to a halt with protests… The Committee for Resistance to Un-Islamic Activities said women taking part in the sport would offend Bangladesh’s more than 100 million Muslims.

How could we ally with a country which bans Gabrielle Reece? Such an ally would be positively un-American. Next thing you know, they’ll ban women from driving.

Brimful of Reese’s on the 35

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Mira Nair waxes about Sapphic pleasures while discussing her Vanity Fair lead Reese Witherspoon’s pregnancy:

“[W]hen I first met her husband [actor Ryan Philippe], I said ‘knock her up, won’t you, I need some flesh on the girl’,” she joked. “I’m not a fan of the underfed Los Angeles actor at all… I love the luminosity that pregnancy brings, I love the fleshiness, I love the ample bosom – it gave me much more to play with.”

Sounds like she appreciates someone with a kachori in the oven. Nair managed to work around Reese’s pieces on screen:

Nair explained how camera tricks had been used to disguise Witherspoon’s “bump” in various scenes – including hiring a number of young boys in costumes to stand in front of her. “She runs, she gets off coal carts, she jumps off horses – she does everything,” Nair said. “But there’s also a certain carriage with horses that is going to wipe the screen at a certain moment, because of the bump.”

The artist formerly known as MC Hammer would’ve understood.

The poetry of racists

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A Sikh-owned gas station in Chesterfield, Virginia was burned and defaced with racist graffiti last week (via Prashant Kothari):

[T]he attackers put the gas station on fire on Wednesday and left after smearing the remaining property with graffiti containing ethnic slurs… The words “Go Back to Bin Laden B–” and “Never Again Indian Monkey N–” were sprayed on a dumpster in the rear of the gas station property. In addition, the words, “F– Arab Gas” were spray painted on the gas station’s shed… “Now they call us Osama bin Laden. In 1979, when Iranians held Americans hostage, they used to call us Ayatollahs,’ says Bammi.

I sure do miss the good ol’ days when the racists weren’t utterly ignorant. The thugs in Britain didn’t call you Eye-rainians, Eye-rackies (mortal enemies of the Eye-rainians) and bin Ladens (mortal enemy of the Eye-rackies) all at once. There was an intimacy to their taunting. And ‘Indian Monkey N–‘ is missing a few other ethnically-inaccurate insults. Is it too much to ask for my racism to be specific?

But ‘F– Arab Gas’ fills me with hope. Hope that they’re energy policy-conscious racist arsonists who want a self-reliant, muscular country which can’t be blackmailed over a non-indigenous resource. And curiosity about whether these gentlemen voted for Arab gas’ #1 friend.

Yep, I sure do miss the good ol’ days.

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Cow dung against nukes

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The intrepid and clever RSS glorifies the totemic Hindu animal by claiming cow dung protects against nuclear fallout (via Spontaneous Order):

Bhanwarlal Kothari, a senior member of the RSS, said, “Our tests have shown that distemper made out of cow dung and spread over walls and roofs can block nuclear radiation.”

But wait, cows also cure cancer…

“We believe that cows’ urine can cure cancer, renal failure, arthritis and a lot of other ailments,” Mansinghka said.

… dispose of biohazards…

“Some of my friends have (debated) ways to use cow dung to wrap surgically removed human body parts and bury them in the ground,” he said. “That will save hospitals the expensive process of incinerating such organs.”

… and cause earthquakes via ‘Einsteinian pain waves’:

“The killing of animals causes natural and manmade disasters,” Bajaj said. “But, since the cow is so useful to human beings, its slaughter causes exceptional seismic activity. The cries of the animals go down to the earth through Einsteinian pain waves.”

Clearly, we should be defending our soldiers in Iraq with nothing more than bull shit. All I’m saying is give pees a chance. And now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m getting some very non-Einsteinian pain waves in my cranium.

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Mr. Birdie Num-Num gets a biopic

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Many people look better in the animal wax of nostalgia: dictators, drugrunners, Starsky & Hutch. But one never does: Peter Sellers, the British comedian who made a habit of playing mentally-challenged desis in brownface.

The original film [The Party] was a more-than-a-little-racist comedy with a white comedian playing ‘Hrundi V. Bakshi’ in brownface, sporting a degenerate imitation of an Indian accent. Sellers wandered around a film set for a sequel to Gunga Din, itself a landmark of racism featuring civilized British soldiers vs. naked Indian savages.

Yes, Mr. Birdie Num-Num just got an HBO biopic, which means that Glitter has lost its lock on the Razzies. Even worse, Dreamworks is remaking The Party:

The Party, a minor success in comparison to Sellers films like Dr Strangelove and The Pink Panther, was banned in India for some years. Some politicians protested the film caricatured Indians and showed them in absurd light. Only after editor Khushwant Singh intervened was the ban lifted.

The only saving grace is that they’re making the protagonist non-desi.

The South Asian closet

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The Oakland Tribune recently peeked into the closet of the South Asian community, specifically in the Bay Area. In the times when Gay marriage seems to be the biggest issue facing the homosexual community, South Asians are still struggling with the basics.

Sonia first realized she was different when she was 12 or 13. Growing up in a middle-class Punjabi family in Northern California, she did not dare to discuss it with anyone.

“How could I? I am Indian,” said Sonia, who has never been to India. “You’re not supposed to have these feelings.”

Sonia is typical of the many homosexual South Asian Indians living in California, or in America, for that matter. The 2000 census puts the state in second place after New York with 451 gay Indian couples, indicating the race of the main householder alone.

But the real number is probably higher, given many are closet homosexuals. Despite living in the shadow of San Francisco, the gay capital of the world, many suppress their desires and grudgingly bow to cultural norms, while others come out and court rejection.

Sonia did both. Convinced she was being a “good daughter” by keeping her homosexuality a secret, Sonia agreed to a marriage her family had arranged. “There was no question of marrying a woman, so I married this man,” she said.

The article goes on to describe Sonia coming out to her parents and them just ignoring it, like her declaration never occured. South Asian society remains consistent in how it deals with things.

Kids with Cameras

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bornintobrothels.jpg
Since some people disagreed with my decision to post a picture of a dead child prominently on this site (in reference to the Bhopal disaster), I thought I would use another entry to try and convey the importance and the power of photography to address social issues.

The National Board of Review of Motion Pictures, which is the first major, of the many organizations giving nods to the year’s best films leading up to the Oscars, announced its 2004 awards yesterday. The Best Documentary award went to Born into Brothels, a documentary about the children of prostitutes in Calcutta’s red light district. This should make it a frontrunner for the Oscar as well.

The most stigmatized people in Calcutta’s red light district, are not the prostitutes, but their children. In the face of abject poverty, abuse, and despair, these kids have little possibility of escaping their mother’s fate or for creating another type of life.

In Born into Brothels, directors Zana Briski and Ross Kauffman chronicle the amazing transformation of the children they come to know in the red light district. Briski, a professional photographer, gives them lessons and cameras, igniting latent sparks of artistic genius that reside in these children who live in the most sordid and seemingly hopeless world.

The photographs taken by the children are not merely examples of remarkable observation and talent; they reflect something much larger, morally encouraging, and even politically volatile: art as an immensely liberating and empowering force.

Devoid of sentimentality, Born into Brothels defies the typical tear-stained tourist snapshot of the global underbelly. Briski spends years with these kids and becomes part of their lives. Their photographs are prisms into their souls, rather than anthropological curiosities or primitive imagery, and a true testimony of the power of the indelible creative spirit.

See Sajit’s previous post. Continue reading →

Film Festival hosts 14 South Asian premieres in New York

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The inaugural South Asian International Film Festival (SAIFF) kicked off a five-day showcase of works from the Asian subcontinent with a screening of Gurinder Chadha’s “Bride and Prejudice.”

Altogether, 38 short, documentary and fiction films will screen in New York City at the Clearview Chelsea West and Rubin Museum of Art. The festival bills itself as the biggest of its kind in the country, and will host the U.S. premieres of 14 films.

“I think when audiences come out for this year’s SAIFF, they’ll see the kind of high-standard South Asian entertainment that they’ve really been craving in this city,” said SAIFF managing director Soman Chainani.

Among the numerous films worth checking out are “The Inner Life of Shah Rukh Khan,” a documentary following the Bollywood star, and “Shwass,” India’s 2004 Oscar-entry.

The high-powered festival has some big sponsors — Time Warner Cable and The New York Times — and big advisors — Shekhar Kapur and Sepia-favorite Vikram Chatwal — overseeing the event.

Yesterday’s opening night party and screening of “Bride and Prejudice” (will anyone have not seen this movie when it officially releases in February?) was attended by Chadha, in addition to the ambassadors and consulate generals from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Rediff: New York gets a taste of India
Sepia Mutiny: Dueling film festivals in Manhattan

Update (12/20/2004): SAIFF’s official web site has photos chronicling the festival.

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Bachchan joins Mandelaï¿œs anti-AIDS campaign

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The world’s biggest movie star, Amitabh Bachchan, will serve as a special ambassador for 46664, the global anti-AIDS campaign headed by Nelson Mandela.

Named after the former South African president’s prison number, the 46664 campaign raises awareness of HIV and AIDS, and raises funds for the prevention, testing, care and support of those infected with the viruses. Bachchan has proved to be an active participant in anti-AIDS campaigns in India, which has one of the world’s highest infection rates.

Bachchan joins current 46664 ambassadors Bill Clinton, Brad Pitt, Will Smith and Oprah Winfrey. Perhaps to distinguish himself from his fellow ambassadors, Bachchan also joined the ranks of senior citizens with blonde highlights (see photo). Population: One.

AFP/Yahoo!: Bollywood superstar Bachchan joins Mandela’s anti-AIDS campaign

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Microsoft doubles down in India

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Microsoft is doubling down on its India bet by announcing a research center in Bangalore, due next month, just weeks after opening a large programming campus in Hyderabad.

The company decided to add an Indian campus to take advantage of promising computer science students coming out of universities there, said Rick Rashid, a vice president in charge of Microsoft Research. The company hopes to hire a couple dozen researchers over the next year, he said.

Intel is also shifting some high-profile CPU design work (the Xeon ’06) to Bangalore.