Monthly Archives: January 2005

The hardest working pshrynk in the world

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You might think the hardest working shrink in the world would be in LA or NYC, dealing with rich neurotics. Or, perhaps this person is working with the armed forces, helping soldiers deal with the tragedies of war.

But you would be wrong. The clear winner for the hardest working shrink in the world goes to … [tabla roll please] ….

Ganesan, the “only psychiatrist for 1.3 million of the world’s most traumatized people. His roving practice along this island nation’s eastern shore stretches over 150 miles, all of it devastated by last week’s tsunami.”

Huh? These people don’t need to be asked about their mothers, they need somebody to patch up their bodies! Well, that’s what he thinks too:

“To talk about psychological needs when you’ve got thousands of people using one toilet in a refugee camp — it’s absurd,” says Ganesan, who goes by one name as is common here, talking above the din in the office where he is coordinating medical supplies for refugees. “It’s not what a doctor should do.” In these traumatic days, Ganesan has tossed dozens of corpses into the back of his pickup, distributed medicine to children, coordinated efforts of hundreds of foreign aid workers from dozens of countries, buried a friend and, just for a moment yesterday, had a quiet session with a violently psychotic young man crippled by delusions and drug addiction.

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Stand up. For all of us.

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Richard Lewis & Thea Mitchem
Power99 WUSL-FM
440 Domino Lane
Philadelphia, PA 19128

Dear Power99/Clear Channel/lowly radio intern,

How are you? I hope you are well rested and relaxed, that way the contents of this letter will be better absorbed. How am I? Why thank you for not asking! IÂ’ll bluntly tell you; I am MAD.

Earlier this week, your prized morning “talent” Star thought it would be funny to call an Indian Customer Service agent for the sole purpose of threatening her with assault while verbally abusing her. His justification for this outrageous lack of decency was her race; she was foreign, “a rat-eater”, potentially involved with outsourcing, and that made her okay to target.

Wrong.

This was inappropriate, disrespectful, violent and below you. It was below all of us. That didnÂ’t stop you from publicizing a clip of StarÂ’s verbal assault on your stationÂ’s website before hastily retracting it a few days ago.

Since you took the mp3 off of your site, you must be at least slightly aware that you were in trouble. Please allow me to dispel any confusion regarding this matter: you ARE in trouble. You are in trouble with me and every other good American.

Our soldiers are dying to protect our freedom and our values. Those values donÂ’t include hate.

You can make amends.

You can take responsibility, and own your error in judgment.

You can reach out to the South Asian community and apologize for this unconscionable incident.

You can apologize to the woman that Star and his amoral crew harassed so wantonly.

You can discipline the DJ, as well as the staffers who perpetrated this revolting act.

You can clean up your own mess by airing PSAs that speak out against the ignorance and hate that YOUR programming may potentially incite.

I will conclude by stating that if you do not respond to this letter or its requests appropriately, you should consider yourself on notice: your unprincipled behavior will have social, public and fiscal ramifications and I swear to you, they will hurt. Stop the violence. Change starts with you.

With hope that you will do the right thing,

listen: all you people who were or are moved by this bullshit situation, who think, “yeah…i should do something”, right before you succumb to inertia and to-do lists and daily life…

that was for you.

you didn’t even have to write a letter. i did it for you. now do something for me. do it for “steena” who suffered through Star’s hatred for no reason. do it for your dad, because someone heckled him like that thirty-five years ago, when he came here to get rich for you. do it for your mom, who was afraid to wear indian things in new jersey, in 1987, for fear of attack from “dot-busters”. do it for them all, i implore you.

however.

if you don’t feel a familiar sadness whilst reading the paragraph i just wrote, if you are one of the lucky ones and you walk on streets paved with gold, and you live somewhere where it never rains, and you have always been accepted, respected and treated kindly…then may you always be so blessed. may one of us live in nirvana, where it is safe. may one of us not suffer the humiliation, the pain, the isolation that hatred brings. may one of us be so lucky.

so if you get some time in your golden, respect-laden nirvana, do it for those of us who aren’t as fortunate as you.

do it for all of us.

in other words, do it for you.

‘Kumars at No. 42’ ad campaign rolling out

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As I posted earlier, the hit British Asian comedy series The Kumars at No. 42 is now showing on BBC America.

I ran into the lead, Sanjeev Bhaskar, at Bombay Dreams on Broadway soon after its premiere. He’s a great sketch comedy guy who first made his name on Goodness Gracious Me.

So, it was mighty strange to turn a corner next to my apartment and see his big mug staring back at me 🙂 Apparently the Beeb is putting a few pounds behind their debut, and this desi comedy is one of their flagship programs. Very cool!

Posted in TV

Call Center Operators Get Some Loooooooove

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We recently reported about some idiot DJ who threatened and insulted a call center operator, to boost his ratings. [I’m waiting for Indian DJs to reciprocate] But the life of a call center operator is varied, and also includes moments like this one, from Conan’s show. It turns out that lonely, horny Americans are coming to the same conclusions that our parents want us to come to – that Brown Lovin’ is good Lovin’ [Either that or they’re to cheap to pay for phone sex]:

Nineteen-year-old Kajal aka Jessica Taylor could not help smiling when her admirer on the line questioned “Do you look like the Indian beauty Aishwarya ?. [sic]Come with me for a hot date tonight.” At 6 in the morning, Kunal aka Oliver Stone was just wrapping up for the day, when his last call earned him a kiss and a passionate dinner invitation.

Note – these are outbound rather than inbound call center operators, and since they are “breaking the bubble” of the person being called, the recipient may feel better about taking liberties.

Whole article posted below b/c it is only available as a cached copy and will probably soon disappear: Continue reading →

DIDN’T donate to the Tsunami recovery? Blame genetics.

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This one seems hard to believe but I am sure it will elicit several comments from those gnxp’ers:

Genes may account for more than 40% of such charitable behavior as the massive outpouring of donations following the recent South Asian tsunamis.

A study comparing the social responsibility of identical and non-identical twins showed that genes account for 42% of individual differences in attitudes while common environment accounts for 23% and other factors account for the remainder.

Conducted by Canadian researcher J. Philippe Rushton of the University of Western Ontario, the study also found that genes have a stronger influence on males than females (50% to 40%) while home upbringing has a stronger influence on females (40% to 0%), suggesting that parents may more closely watch the behavior of daughters than of sons.

This time it’s personal

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Turbanhead and Anna post about a Philly radio DJ who abused an Indian call center worker on air (listen to the audio clip, courtesy of Edward Champion):

STAR (morning DJ on Power 99): I was surprised when I got somebody on the line in East India… [on phone] This call has been outsourced to India?
TINA: That’s right.
STAR: Well, ma’am, what the eff would you know about an American white girl’s — uh, uh — hair? And quick beads.
TINA: Just to inform you, ma’am, we’re a national chain services company. And we’re just taking calls on the opposite…
STAR: Listen, bitch! Don’t get slick with the mouth! Don’t you get slick with me, bitch!
TINA: Now if you continue to speak this language, I will disconnect the call.
STAR: Listen to me, you dirty rat eater. I’ll come out there and choke the eff out of you. (laughter) You’re a filthy rat eater. I’m calling about my American six-year-old white girl [Star is black]. How dare you outsource my call? Get off the line, bitch! (laughter, applause)

Yeah… hilarious. It’s several cuts below Beavis and Butthead. Shock jocks have spewed racist bullshit on air for years, getting away with it when the minority group they cuss out is small or disorganized. This is nothing new.

But, this time it’s personal: on my trip to India a couple of weeks ago, I just learned that my niece and my sister-in-law, two beautiful, intelligent women in their mid-20s, are working in call centers in Gurgaon. One remarked drily that she handles metro Manhattan, ‘so if you’re a Citibank customer, gimme a ring.’ The thought of some racist asshole insulting my sweetheart of a niece makes me want to beat the shit out of him.

Even worse, the hit show is getting picked up by a New York station on Jan. 17, 2005 at a cost of $17M. Like stand-up comedy 50 years ago, it’s racial abuse for profit.

Here’s what the DJ said a couple of years ago when Jennifer Lopez casually used the N-word:

“Why is she using a word that’s derogatory to blacks?… If you’re a so-called role model, don’t spit in the face of African-Americans.”

Hypocrite.

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India ranks 118 of 155

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In economic freedom…. I’m personally a little skeptical of this result – surely India’s in better shape than 118? The Financial Express reports – Mostly unfree –

That India still ranks in the last quarter of a world ranking on economic freedom with an index score of 3.5 illustrates the extent to which we are inured to clamps on our rights to trade and invest. One needn’t agree with all the details of this ranking of 155 countries by The Heritage Foundation and The Wall Street Journal to go along with its basic thrust. The notion of economic freedom is only a theoretical ideal — like perfect competition — and its finest expressions are found in small trading bastions like Hong Kong (which topped the 2005 index for the 11th year running)followed by Singapore. …This global ranking should set aside a lingering delusion among IndiaÂ’s officialdom that one major advantage we have vis-a-vis our emerging economy rivals like China is our wider range of economic freedoms — rule of law and all that! Far from it. China occupies the 112th place when compared to IndiaÂ’s 118th and the report notes that the dragon has reduced tariff barriers since joining the WTO, cut government expenditure and privatised some companies. India, by contrast, has wound up the disinvestment ministry altogether under the Manmohan Singh-led UPA government.

The Indian Express also covers the story…

I’m dreaming of a brown Christmas

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Ever been annoyed by not having a holiday for Diwali, Eid or Guru Nanak’s birthday? Samantha Bee, resident wag on the Daily Show, tells us what Christmas really means (at 2:20 in the clip):

‘But really, let’s face it: all other days bow down to the 25th, Christmas. It’s the only religious holiday that’s also a federal holiday. That way, Christians can go to their services, and everyone else can sit at home and reflect on the true meaning of separation of church and state.’
Personally, I love Christmas. It’s the perfect day for international flights: cheap tickets, empty airplanes and the company of fellow Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Muslims, Jews, atheists, agnostics and other assorted heathens 🙂 Watch the clip.

IndeBleu opens in D.C.

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A new, high-end French-Indian fusion restaurant, IndeBlue, just opened in Washington, D.C. with two tandoori ovens, a wine bar and a lounge. The chef, Vikram Garg, was formerly the head chef at the Leela Kempinski Palace in Bangalore.

The style sounds fusion rather than the Indo-French cooking of Pondicherry, as exemplified by London’s La Porte des Indes. Quick, we need a food scout from the lowland swamp. DCist went and made me even hungrier:

Coldren told us in October that Garg is a master at “controlling spices” and the menu marries the best of French and Indian cuisine. Some examples: Petite Provencal naan with sundried tomato chutney; wild mushroom dosa… with bleu cheese gratin with white truffle oil; scallops scented with cumin on a bed of braised chicory; and veal-stuffed gnocchi served with chanterelles and infused with a fenugreek-chardonnay sauce.

More from the WaPo’s Tom Sietsema (any relation to the Village Voice food critic?):

One quiet thrill follows a request for saffron-and-cardamom-flavored ice cream. A waiter shows up at the table with a potato ricer filled with the cold stuff; a powerful squeeze of the ricer’s handles pushes it through dozens of tiny holes, creating a plateful of creamy noodles.

It’s definitely not a traditional restaurant — beef samosas, anyone?

It was perhaps one of most lavish non-political parties Washington has seen in quite some time… at least one woman, painted as a forest nymph, walked about the place in A Midsummer Night’s Dream-esque fashion.
Of the dishes, the beef samosa was the most interesting. Since using beef is traditionally prohibited in Indian cuisine, the combination tasted rather novel… we only had a chance to sample the lychee and mango martinis. Both were worth the wait…

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Lakhani trial starts

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Hemant Lakhani, a British Asian who’s spent decades in London’s clothing industry, was put on trial in New Jersey today for trying to sell anti-aircraft missiles to terrorists. Here’s the twist: unbeknownst to him, his supplier was from Russian law enforcement, his buyer was an FBI agent, and the only missile he actually got his hands on was a dummy. He’s arguing entrapment:

[I]n London’s West End rag trade, people, who have known him for over 35 years, describe him as more a Del boy, a character in the BBC’s popular comedy serial Only Fools and Horses. Del Boy in the serial tries out all sorts of get-rich-quick schemes, risking brushes with law, but invariably fails. Lakhani is truly the same character, say a large number of people here. “He is truly a complete loser.”

Lakhani tried to duck responsibility:

Mr Lakhani claims he was entrapped by the US agent, who kept offering more money whenever he failed to find any missiles. “He’d say I’ve got $20m (£10.6m), I’ve got $10m, I’ve got so many million. All these temptations and temptations.”

But he completely incriminated himself with his anti-U.S. statements:

“He spent more than a year and a half trying to smuggle 200 missiles into the United States, all the time issuing advice on how to shoot planes out of the sky to shake the US economy.”… Lakhani, a Hindu, had allegedly told the agent: “You must target 10 to 15 different airports at the same time,” and added: “If Allah blesses us we can finish this.” He also offered a “dirty” bomb for £1.6 million.

The odd thing about this case is that Lakhani is a 69-year-old, long-married Hindu with no prior terrorist ties. That suggests a mercenary motive more than an ideological one. The central question is, was he a Walter Mitty, or was he for real?