Monthly Archives: February 2005

Little deuce coup

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The Nepali king, who came to power when his nephew offed his family with an Uzi, has placed the prime minister under house arrest, shut down the phone system and Internet routers and put soldiers in TV stations to censor the news. Flights to Kathmandu were forced to turn back in midair during the coup.

“The king is taking the country back to the Dark Ages,” Shovakar Parajuli, leader of the opposition Congress Party, told the Associated Press news agency. [BBC]

Yawn… your coup is so 19th century, dahling. Why not do it in style? Poison your opponent, pretend it was a gas leak or jab him with a sharp umbrella.

Thou shalt not kill

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Forget Babri Masjid — temple officials are shooting each other in a struggle over wealthy temple trusts in Ayodhya:

The rivalry spilled over after a meeting on January 31, when the two rival chief priests came to blows, prompting their associates to draw out double-barrel guns and fire… Earlier, in 2001, Nrityagopal had survived a bomb attack in the ongoing dispute over the trust… Gripped by a sense of insecurity, officials of temple trusts are rushing for gun licences… At least 350 Ayodhya residents, most of them temple-trust heads, have acquired licensed arms. The town has over 1,500 such trusts… Most key temple trusts have also installed their private army of securitymen…

Murder is but the least of their talents:

The temple town was further sullied when police in Lucknow said they were looking for another mahant [temple official], Shyam Shukla alias Shyam Maharaj, in the abduction of a Kanpur industrialist and two of his associates… “The mahant needed money. He asked us to abduct Ravinder Kedia. We kept him in Bahraich till we obtained ransom…”

Deeyah Has a “Plan of Her Own”

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Deeyah, the Norway born Asian female, who the Sunday Times (UK) has labelled as “the next big thing,” released her debut single “Plan of My Own,” this past week, to rave reviews. “Plan” can best be described as a blend of sultry r&b with a bit of desi mixed in for good measure. The track has been getting tremendous play on Desi radio station, mainly in the UK, for at least 6 months, and hopefully, the mainstream will catch on, as they have with Raghav and Jay Sean.

Deeyah recently completed a tour this past June & July, and has spent the past year working with producer, Darin Prindle, who has worked with the likes of Destiny’s Child, TLC, Madonna, Jermaine Dupri, Boyz II Men and Usher. This past August, Deeyah split her time between L.A. and Atlanta in the USA shooting the video for “Plan” award-winning director, John Lindauer whose past clients include Lauryn Hill, Mary J Blige, and Christina Aguilera.

So keep your eyes open. For more on Deeyah, click here, to hear the single (mp3), click here, and here for the video (Quicktime). Continue reading →

A way with words

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Drum roll please…and the 2004-2005 Poet of the Year award goes to…Indian poet Saleem Saim. As reported in Outlook Inida:

Noted English poet Saleem Saim has bagged the coveted “Poet of the year 2004-05” award, with a purse of 20,000 dollars, of the US based International Society of Poets. His poem, “Kept apart“, topped a list of some 5.1 million entries from across the globe and Saim has also been given a book publishing contract for his anthology, “Feeling”.

According to a letter from the Society, Saim’s induction as the best poet and award ceremony would be held in Orlando, Florida from February 25-27 this year.

Around 4,000 poets are expected to participate in the convention where Pulitzer Prize winner W D Snodgrass will present the grand prize.

The fact that he is a PhD in Chemistry and school teacher in Moradabad has not stopped Saim from honing his penchant for English literature and poetry.

See. Science geeks CAN have a way with words.

“I feel poetry as picturisation of one’s feelings thoughts, moods and sentiments,” he said adding it was the best medium to clean society of corruption and induce it towards love and humanity.

But wait. Is this all a scam??

Apparently Saleem wants to know as well. At least one person responds:

You are more likely to be declared a Saint by the Catholic Church than you are of collecting that $20,000.
Steven – Tucson, Arizona U.S.A.

Nobody said the life of a poet was easy. Continue reading →

Gandhi didn’t wear Armani

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A Telecom Italia ad uses the image and words of Mahatma Gandhi to shill mobile phones (via the Acorn). The ad, directed by Spike Lee, took first place in the Epica European advertising awards.

The ad reminds me of the Apple campaign which used Gandhi and his spinning wheel to sell Macs. Or, as Salon put it:

Gandhi was no pitchman

[He represented] the idea that… by renunciation you conquer. So it is bizarre to use him to sell products. When he died, all his belongings — toothbrush, Bhagavad Gita, loincloth — fit inside a couple of shoe boxes… he even tried to fight against the religious brands — his prayers each night came not just from the Hindu scriptures, but from the Gospels, from the Koran. He was assassinated by a fanatic Hindu precisely for his lack of brand loyalty… Gandhi, in other words, was the chief spokesman against the consumer mentality since Christ…

I wonder whether Gandhi’s heirs authorized the ad, or whether he’s enough of a public figure that his image is in the public domain.

Watch the ad.

Update: Here’s a previous post about Gandhi being used to sell pizza.

Zakaria returns to ‘The Daily Show’

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Our favorite phoren polisee pundit Fareed Zakaria returned to The Daily Show with elegant, desi prep school accent in tow. He gave a surprisingly (for host Jon Stewart) content-filled interview about the Iraqi election, and Stewart let him run with it.

Zakaria gave Dubya plaudits for an inspirational election, lauded the Iraqi Shi’a for their restrained conduct to date, cautioned that much hard work remains and slammed the president for poor execution.

Watch the clip.

Previous posts: 1, 2

Over 100,000 served

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The bloggers of Sepia Mutiny would like to take a minute to thank our readers for putting us over the 100,000 “visits” mark within the last couple of hours. What started as a mere Mutiny is now a full scale Insurrection. Our lucky 100,000th visitor, Mr. Jagjit Popatlal of Bangor, Maine, has received a special invitation to visit the staff of Sepia Mutiny at our non-descript North Dakota headquarters. We believe in giving back to the amazing community that has brought us to where we are (wherever the heck that is) and felt this was an appropriate manner in which to show our appreciation. As part of his prize package weekend, Mr. Popatlal will get a behind the scenes tour of what it takes for us to keep you coming back to this blog for more. First he will learn the truth about what’s really inside Anna’s closet. Admit it, you all want to know. Next he will slide down a poll into the reclusive Ennis’ secret office and learn how to be mysterious. Once properly trained by Ennis in the art of deep cover, Mr. Popatlal will accompany the ever erudite Vinod into enemy (i.e. progressive) territory to learn some of the methods we use to “extract” information for the eventual use on this blog, and as a bonus he will also learn why small government is good. After lunch Mr. Popatlal will meet with Apul. In all honesty he could care less about Apul but is only interested in meeting him because of the rumor that Apul is a close friend of Super Jagjit. Mr. Popatlal apparently idolizes Super Jagjit with whom he shares a first name. Toward the evening Mr. Popatlal will have the pleasure of Sajit’s company. Together they will attend a Broadway musical on the main street in Bismarck. Sajit is definitely not happy about having to relocate “just for this friggin’ blog,” as he put it. Finally, Mr. Jagjit Popatlal will end his grand tour over drinks with the suave Manish Vij. By the end of the night they will be speaking to each other ONLY in sentences of poetic word play. These skills taught by Manish will help him with the ladies in Maine when he returns to his normal life. Where will I be during all this? Someone must man the Blog.

If you wish that YOU would have won this prize weekend instead of some chump from Maine, then I encourage you to be the 200,000th visitor. Continue reading →

Yoga for “ullu ka pate”?

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Are you tired? Huddled? Massive?

Yearning to be problem-free?

Well then, put down that New York Times and fold your hands together–but don’t say a western “hello”–to the man who has India’s Supreme Court judges and other VIPs at his feet(for blessings, natch):

It was 4:30 a.m., the stars were still out and Swami Ramdev was ready to begin the day’s yoga lesson. His 12,000 students watched raptly as he sat wearing little more than a loincloth, chanting morning prayers in Sanskrit. When he walked on his hands across the stage in New Delhi’s cavernous Jawaharlal Nehru stadium, they applauded.
The students were on the final day of a weeklong yoga camp that the swami had promised would cure whatever ailed them, mentally as well as physically, and without a great investment of time. For a growing number of harried middle-class Indians, worrying about health problems associated with a more affluent lifestyle, that is just the message they want to hear.

Don’t they mean “hairy” middle-class Ind-…oh, wait. Wrong post. 😉

While a majority of Indians are familiar with yoga, many think it is too complex and time-consuming to practice, particularly with the increasing demands on their time.
The swami, youthful and photogenic, has become wildly popular with a “yoga made easy” approach that promises to yield quick health benefits with minimal effort.

Continue reading →

SAPA Meeting – Sat, Feb 5

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sapa.jpgA quick shout out for all you Bay Area Mutineers — the South Asian Political Alliance (SAPA) will be holding it’s launch gala this Saturday evening.

SAPA was formed from the ashes of the South Asians for Kerry (SAKI) organization as a new vehicle to carry forward the Desi Progressive political consciousness.

Sepia Mutiny neither endorses nor condemns this event. 😉 And although I’m probably one of the last to label my politics “progressive”, I’ll probably be there cuz it’s gauranteed to be an interesting and interested crowd. For ex., San Francisco’s colorful (pun intended) District Attorney Kamala Harris – will be in attendance.

Details –

Saturday, February 5th 7pm – 10pm Element Lounge 1028 Geary Street San Francisco, CA Continue reading →

Fastest Indian in the world?

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Narain Karthikeyan is on the verge of becoming the first Indian on the Formula One circuit. The agreement with the Jordan Formula One team is expected to be signed over the next two days (thanks, Sapna):

Karthikeyan, 28, was the first Indian to drive a Formula One car and last year raced for Red Bull in the World Series by Nissan. He was offered an F1 drive by Minardi in 2003 but was unable to raise the funds required to secure the offer.

His new employer is looking to Karthikeyan to rescue its burned buns from the oven:

The struggling Jordan Formula One team announced yesterday it would be taken over by Midland Group, owned by Russian-born businessman Alex Shnaider… Jordan finished ninth out of the 10 Formula One teams in 2004 and hit serious problems after Ford, who supplied the team’s Cosworth engines, announced in September they were withdrawing from the sport. 

Karthikeyan was the first Indian to win the Formula Asia championship and won two races in last year’s Nissan World Series. He’s sponsored by Tata and Bharat Petroleum. Homeboy needs some sharper paint, this is the country that invented day-glo salwars. I’m diggin’ the helmet, bro — a spinning wheel, how apropos.

‘Fastest Indian in the world,’ I think not. Ever seen Abhi in a room full of females? It’s like feeding time at the dolphin tank 🙂 But I’m sure it’s only a matter of time before Karthikeyan is played by Tom Cruise and marries Ashley Judd.

Continue reading →