On IST as always, NYC’s India Day parade was held on August 21 this year. I couldn’t attend, but I hear one of our readers played the nauch girl on stage. Perhaps you’ll chime in with incriminating photos.
Like the Poe toaster, only sans macabre, some mystery soul always garlands the Gandhi statue in Union Square with fresh flowers:
For over 50 years since 1949, on the night marking the anniversary of Edgar Allan Poe’s birth, a mysterious man-in-black has entered the cemetery where the master of the macabre lies buried, and, making his way through the dark shadows to Poe’s grave, he places a partial bottle of expensive French cognac and three blood-red roses there, presumably as tokens of admiration and in tribute to the great author. This ritual completed, he then slips away into the night as quietly and as mysteriously as he came…
The Poe Toaster is described by witnesses as a somewhat sinister-appearing person dressed completely in black, sporting a black fedora and a black (or white) scarf, wrapped in order to hide his face, and carrying a walking stick. Once he enters the cemetery, he carefully places the cognac and roses on the grave, sometimes bending to kiss the effigy of Poe inscribed on the monument, then stands, tips his hat and walks away. The items left behind have been the same each successive year, but on some occasions, they have been accompanied by unsigned notes, one of which, when read later, stated simply, “Edgar, I haven’t forgotten you…” [Link]
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The statue stands in front of a shopping arcade which could hook Imelda Marcos up with new shoes for life. It also sports an ultra-gourmet Whole Foods. If the Salt March were held today, they’d march toward the artisanal sea salt counter, stopping by the deli for hot samosas.
The Empire State Building and the 23rd St. tower showed the tricolor right side up this year. They must’ve heard an earful about last year’s gaffe. The Pakistan Day parade and lighting are usually held the weekend before.
Previous post here.
Hey, what about the Pakistani independence day? It was only a week earlier.
As I wrote,
I didn’t catch either parade or the green/white lighting, unfortunately. If you’ve got a pointer to a photo gallery, please post it.
wow, the lighting looks good. I can’t think of a bulding in Delhi or Bombay we can do this. Maybe the BSE building on Dalal street.
w00t Manish! So sad you missed it 🙁 photos forthcoming…
Then again, it was near 100 degrees and you might not have wanted to hug me afterwards 😉 It was quite a sweaty affair
Props to Credit Suisse First Boston (the 23rd st clocktower) for some nice tri-color action!
I was also in town, but I got there late 🙁 Then again, I had no idea what you look like IRL, and running around hollering “Desi Dancer” at the India day parade is a good way to end up with quite interesting misunderstandings …. hmmm … maybe I shoulda done it anyway …
My roommate got interviewed by Sarina Jain for some TV show. She never told us what network it was for. Any ideas? (He was the guy with the enormous Indian flag.)
Way too hot and way too many teenage punks looking for a fight. (What was up with that?) The food was lovely though.
Sarina Jain is on V-Desi. On some cable channel on Saturday mornings. (Sorry for the vagueness :)).
Parade was interesting as usual. We just stayed for the floats and gave the ‘cultural’ program a miss. Yep, too many 16-year-old punks/thugs looking for a fight. Although, I thought the food wasn’t good at all :(.
Ennis- we went on around 2:40ish, Bollywood Axion. My dudes were in saffron kurtas and the chicks were in black and pink. -I thought about getting a shirt that said DesiDancer… maybe for the South Street Seaport mela in Oct…
I think V-desi only comes on satellite/dish, so maybe somebody’s mom can tape it 😉
that’s how those brats roll, sadly enough.
yeah, and the idiot vendor who was selling half-glasses of hot lassi for $2 needed to get a $2 beatdown.
Dunno if this has been discussed before on SM, but it is a HUGE issue for desis in the US (and not just for 16 year olds). Any thoughts as to why?
Dunno if this has been discussed before on SM, but it is a HUGE issue for desis in the US (and not just for 16 year olds). Any thoughts as to why?
Might be a rebellion against the emasculation of Desi males in the mainstream media.
I know some Asian Americans get involved in thuggery to dispel the model minority status.
vurdlife- no solid answers were found, but we went there…
We had samosa (although i’m certain Uncle ripped me off on that… i noticed he gave others four for $3… i paid $6 for 4.) and chicken biriyani and tandoori chicken. we didnt feel like waiting in line again for more so we went over to a Baluchi’s on 3rd ave.
i went to one of the after parties (the one at Copa… i know, i know… a friend was performing.) and noticed the same thuggery. it was amusing to say the least to witness all the girls hooched out in line. my sister and my roommate were standing in line and the girls in front of us begged us to borrow our IDs… to get into an 18+ party. they promised that we get them back. i am not sure they understood that you can’t just pass an ID back in line. hilarity.
The parade this year was a disappointment from the one i saw 2 years ago. Have been going to these parades quite often.
The floats were OK. I wish they could be more creative, though i think its an issue with funding for them.
The cultural program was so..so.. !! The crowd were standing and so we could hardly see anything from back.
The food was nothing home to write about. There was the ubiquitous “All YOu can eat” buffet, but the price of it went up every hour. It started at 6.95 and the last price i saw was 8.95
The other food stalls were OK, but it was too crowded to eat anything….and too freakin hot !
Younger-generation Indian guys here in the UK jumped onto the gangsta bandwagon for exactly the same reasons when I was a bit younger (ie. 1990 onwards).
Maybe the Standard Chartered building in downtown Bombay? It’s already lit in blue and green.
I have been to way too many desi parties and come to the following conclusions:
o The trouble-makers usually come from families who have “given up” on them.
o The trouble makers don’t know how to pick their fights. Usually, they see Pakistani boys smooching Hindu/Sikh girls (Desi Christians rarely attend these events. Pakistani/Muslim girls are nowhere to be seen either.) and pick a fight with them. Pakistanis beat the crap out of them, and take the giggling drunk/stoned girl to the back seat of the car. In my opinion, these trouble makers deserve to be beaten up – the girl wants to be with that boy – wtf are they to “protect” her? Miyan-Bibi razi to kya karega paji?
o Sometimes trouble makers are Pakistani boys who have been unable to get a girl for the evening.
I’ve stopped attending such desi events for a few years. There’s no concept of crowd management, the food stalls try to cheat you, the programmes are mostly hand-me-downs, women are treated like whores etc etc.
alfd writes: >>Might be a rebellion against the emasculation of Desi males in the mainstream media.
What emasculation? I’ve not seen any American shows where Desis are shown as wimps. They’re stereotyped as cabbies, 711’s, doctors, software guys, etc – but why is that emasculation? Not sure about British TV, though.
There are some who miscontrue the absence of masculinity in media as emasculation. This is ludicrous. Darrel Hamamoto is a good example of how confused people can be when they act on this assumption. According to him, since most male porn stars are either white, black or hispanic, Asian-American males feel…. left out and emasculated!! They have a poor sense of sexual self-worth, and are viewed by porn-viewing females(of all races) as poor sexual partners!! In contrast, since asian females are apparently well represented in the porn industry, the common asian-american female is considered a good sexual partner.
What a leap of logic! If people start thinking about themselves as media projects them, or fails to project them as something, then there will be no individuality left on the face of this earth. One cannot be a victim of one’s race. When you know that people measure their self-worth on how much they are present in others’ sexual fantasies, you know that society has hit rock bottom.
So, instead of findout why Asian-American females fall into the pit of porn, and try to get them out of there and go back to getting straight-A’s and perfect-SAT scores, Darrel, in his infinite wisdom, wants Asian-American males to fall into the porn-pit!! So that other Asians can increase their sexual capital!!
So coming back to desis…what emasculation by the media?
M. Nam
I was at the parade and have to agree….after awhile it degenerates into thugs and wannabe hoods looking for fights….and trying to impress the girls with their being so “tough”. Is that what impresses girls nowadays? My God, then I have been doing it wrong all these years!
As to the floats….yeah….I think there’s not much funding for them…so we get a lot of generic floats…with some people on it…and always a DJ, playing Bhangra. This gets kind of repetitive after a while.
The cultural show, is always torture and fun. Torture, because it reminds me of all the cultural shows I had to attend when I was a kid…dragged along with my parents. (NOOOOOOOO!) Fun, because some of the guys and gals on there do really well and it’s something to be proud of.
Amidst all of this…there are a lot of attractive women…too bad my technique is not up to par with the thugs..:)
Finally, you have to have the obligatory appearance by all the presidents of all these organizations who are chomping at the but to be seen and heard.
Wow…lots of excitement and drama…..and don’t forget to vote for Renu Lobo!!! She’s running for the city council…as we were reminded again and again yesterday. I actually will…because I think that we need more political representation…but don’t get me started on that.
Finally……did anyone catch that bizarre MTV Veejay? What’s up with that? Is that supposed to be cool in any way? It’s nice to know that 50 year old executives are deciding what’s cool and not…..
ooops…sorry for the double post…computer froze
I too wanted to ask about that “bizarre MTV VJ”. We were parked on Madison between 29th and 30th and there was a gaggle of little girls across the street who were screaming (screeching) for every single float (especially for one with shirtless, teenage boys groovin’ to A.R. Rahman’s ‘Vande Mataram’). Anyways, said VJ with entourage of “MTV DESI SECURITY” had girls on the television.
RE: Floats: The bhangra-ing DJ gets old after a while. Especially when on a float the is plastered with posters of Mohammad Rafi.
What did you think of the all the “Bharat Mata Ki Jai” rally cries?
DesiDancer, bummed to have missed your performance(s). What songs did you jive to?
yeah, what was UP with the whole MTV desi entourage thing? SO tiredly pretentious. Especially since most of the people in their target demographic have cable and can’t get the network!
Rani- our selections were a medley of Kaal Dhamaal (kaal) Le Gayi (dil to paagal hai) Tauba Tauba (kaal) Miraksam (waqt) Nach Balliye (bunty aur babli) Dus Bahaane (dus)
Hopefully will be kicking it at the South Street Seaport Diwali mela in Oct…
The issue of South Asian thuggery is big in Vancouver, Canada (Indo-Canadians), with ‘yuth’ in the community having a lot of connections to gangs, drug dealing etc – more than just 16 year old punkishness. A study was recently done by the Canadian government (some department…)to see how this issue could be tackled – Vancouver’s Indian community has been around for a long time (Indians brought over to build the TransCan railroad) and has produced a number of well-known Canadian political figures (the fourth most common language spoken in the Canadian Parliament is Punjabi)etc, and this new trend in gangsterism is worrying. The study seemed to blame it all on the parents, some who are 2nd generation Indo-Canadians themselves – who spoilt the boys at home – who in turn couldn’t deal with a reality of the outside world, especially one in which their (more disciplined?) sisters were doing better in school etc. I know a lot of people were upset by the results of the study but the general feeling is that the “community” has to somehow start dealing with the crime. One interesting thing is South Asians in Vancouver are often considered troublemakers (bad boys)and Surrey (a large Asian area) a gangster hotspot. Very different to the Indian male in the US (IT tech wizard etc), I think. Sorry for being so vague – no links, names etc. Will see if I can find this study online.
Aha, the report’s main premise is being called the “pampered prince theory”. It is a very culturally based argument and has come under a lot of flack. A weak link (scroll down):http://www.yourlibrary.ca/community/richmondreview/archive/RR20040513/newssum.html
Ok, link regarding punjabi in the canadian parliament: http://www.nriinternet.com/Section4HistoryNRI/Canada/Punjabi4th.htm
link on famous indo-canadians (politicians, lawyers…) Mainly from Vancouver/BC:http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/7752_1417722,004100180005.htm
Youth crime in canada on the rise in general: http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/crime/youthcrime_timeline.html
List of young indo-canadians murdered in Vancouver: http://www.canada.com/vancouver/vancouversun/features/nna/story.html?id=cc7ac95e-4266-4006-8340-c874932aeee1
For Suleyman –
The Empire State Building will be lit in green, white and green on the 26th – 28th of August to commemorate Pakistan’s independence, see http://www.esbnyc.com/tourism/tourism_lightingschedule.cfm
Prithvi.
Desi gangstas, nauch girls, flower bling bling.. we’ve got a subculture growing here
What did you think of the all the “Bharat Mata Ki Jai” rally cries?
Glad someone brought this up. It was overkill; once would’ve been enough but they kept repeating it over and over as if in some bhaang induced frenzy. And there was NO thought put into when or where the sudden cries were dropped in. The guy doing most of the talking would introduce a float: “Ladies and gentlemen please welcome the TV Asia float. A big round of applause for the TV Asia float. BHARAT MATA KI JAI! BHARAT MATA KI JAI! BHARAT MATA KI JAI!” And why oh why did every single uncle at the parade have to clamber onto that grand marshall podium and jostle each other for space? Hilarious.
And yet. I was unable to resist feeling affectionate towards all despite the incompetence on display.
Desi Dancer- I wish I’d caught your troupe. Nice medley of songs.
Those gangland murders in Canada are truly shocking and depressing – it is like something out of The Sopranos.
There is something Sicilian about Punjabi Jat culture – all that izzat and macho feudalist family mentality – what an absolute disastrous route some of those people have taken in Canada – they need to sort themselves out quick time – I hope nobody glamourises that kind of thing like, yeah, we are gangsters – they are nothing to be proud of – Indians killing each other over cocaine and heroin deals? What a thing.
DesiDancer – nice medley. Will definitely try and catch you at South Street Seaport.
SMR – hahahaha. I loved the uncle/aunty sashes too: PLATINUM GRAND SPONSOR, FORMER PRESIDENT OF FIA, etc.
Also ‘enjoyed’ Hindu Students Council chanting, “SHAKTI, SHATKI.” (or something like that…)
The whole affair is totally surreal. Probably why we keep coming back for more.
There is something Sicilian about Punjabi Jat culture – all that izzat and macho feudalist family mentality – what an absolute disastrous route some of those people have taken in Canada
Only partly disastrous. Like Italians in New York, Sikhs are a politically crucial community in Canada, and every wannabe PM must visit a Gurdwara. Sikhs may be somewhat segregated and educationally behind Muslims, Hindus, and Buddhists, but their political power is well above other religious communities (partly because they are reputed to vote as a community).
Neither the US, UK, nor Australia has a native-born turbanhead in Parliament. A Sikh community that produces a guy like Navdeep Singh Bains is doing OK, despite all the gang violence.
That kind of crude political communalism is not a good thing – it is the kind of politics we get with Muslims in England – and it leads to vote banking and all sorts of pandering and distortions of secularism.
Punjabi Canucks need to sort themselves out and stop acting like the Corleone family.
That’s quite interesting; Sikhs and Hindus tend to be the most educated and financially successful South Asians here in the UK, it’s normally the Muslims who are amongst the least educated groups in the country. Not many Buddhists around — at least from the subcontinent — apart from the Sri Lankan Sinhalese minority.
I wonder why things have taken such a different course in Canada, especially with regards to the gang wars.
I’m not saying Sikh activism has been an unmitigated good. Obviously, Air India Flight 182 stands as a counterexample. But Sikh activism has led to some important symbolic changes in Canada (including exemptions from helmet laws, special ‘mountie turbans’, and other accomodations for religious dress). That’s not very different from the way Italian immigration after WWII forced protestant Toronto to become more inclusive (both symbolically and practically).
In any case, I don’t want to hijack this thread any further. I look forward to incriminating photos of the oh-so-very-punk SM readers nauching on stage.
I wasnt really talking about flight 182 – I was talking in general terms about politicians pandering to particular groups to get votes – it happens in England with the Muslim community – and it is bad news – all communal politics is.
I was talking in general terms about politicians pandering to particular groups to get votes – it happens in England with the Muslim community – and it is bad news – all communal politics is.
Perhaps this isn’t the case in England, but in Canada, communal politics is not unusual, and almost all Canadian politicians pander to communal, geographic, and ethnic constituencies. Especially these days
I don’t favour pandering, and I think its sometimes been very bad for Canada. But it’s also been a way of involving the diverse groups of Canada in the country’s gvt and accomodating its many differences (linguistic, religious and geographic).
Bottom line: What works in Canada may not work in the UK, and vice versa. Or, more colloquially, Queen Victoria is dead and you Brits should stop telling us what’s good for us.
To bring it back to the theme of the post, both Canada and India are independent now.
Relax buddy, nobody’s preaching to you, just making observations. Anyway, you’re the constitutional monarchy keeping Queen Elizabeth as Head of State, not us.
Punjabi Boy is not exaggerating — from the way people carry on here in the UK (some politicians and the media), you would think that there were hardly any Sikhs and Hindus living in this country. When it comes to the South Asian community, the primary focus is disproportionately on the Muslim population. Which obviously exacerbates all the problems with people using the terms “Asian” and “Muslim” interchangeably, as has already been discussed in another thread.
Dude, I am cracking up with laughter!
That is true – but I dont like it when they go and hang out with Sikh or Hindu community elders either – because those old men do not represent me at all and neither do the self-appointed ‘spokesman for Sikh youth’ – all these people have huge chips on their shoulders and it is very rare that you hear one talking sense or does not bring embarassment upon your head when they open their mouths.
There are quite a few Sikh and Hindu MP’s but you never hear them running around like a headless chicken saying ‘Oooh I’m a Sikh! I’m a Hindu! I have to protect my people and my quam and my blab blah blah!’ – naaah – they just get on with representing all their constituents first of all no matter what their background – thats the way it should be – British first and whatever you are next.
Ikram
I didnt mean to sound terse bro – sorry if I did – peace, yeah?
Punjabi Boy wrote: There are quite a few Sikh and Hindu MP’s but you never hear them running around like a headless chicken saying ‘Oooh I’m a Sikh! I’m a Hindu! I have to protect my people and my quam
That may be the way it works in England, but in Canada, Cabinet Ministers often represent more than their riding. For a long time, tradition demanded one Montreal Protestant in Cabinet to represent the views of that communal group. These days, there’s always one Ontario Francophone.
It’s not always communal — Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh is not a Sikh Politician, he’s a politician that happens to be Sikh. But there’s room for both types in our system.
Bongbreaker wrote Anyway, you’re the constitutional monarchy keeping Queen Elizabeth as Head of State
Queen Elizabeth is the Queen of Canada. Why shouldn’t she be our head of state? She even speaks French!
PunjabiBoy wrote: didnt mean to sound terse bro – sorry if I did – peace, yeah?
No offense taken — we’re in about the same place. Being brown doesn’t stop you from being an imperialist who condescends to us ‘colonials’. You’re a Brit first! 🙂
Yes but unfortunately — indeed, tragically — some people don’t believe in the concept of “we’re all human beings first and foremost, equal in the eyes of God”. Hence all the problems; it’s because they don’t identify (sufficiently, if at all) with their fellow citizens or human beings if they are from a different religious background.
I can certainly understand the need and desire to have “one of your own” protecting and representing your interests, especially politically, but this obviously becomes counterproductive if it’s unjustifiably in opposition to the interests and wellbeing of the wider community, along with possibly being at the expense of individuals/groups from a different background who you’re also supposed to be representing.
Funny I read something along the same lines in the National Post editorial today, just that it was Canadian first.
All this fuss over Michelle Jean being the new G-G and being a dual citizen coupled with evidence of her siding with the Quebec separatists. Canadians want her to prove she is Canadian first and only ( and not a separatist).
I guess what we’d like is :
Every other ex-colony plays cricket except Canada – whats that all about? What the hell do you do with your summers?
And will you please take Jazzy B back, please?
And send us Monita Rajpal* instead?
This is a straight import-export deal take it or leave it.
*What is she doing in that picture?
I left that picture out of my Monita tribute the other day Punjabi Boy, I didn’t want young men getting ideas about where to put things when looking at it.
On the contrary old boy, Canada were in the first ever Cricket World Cup (I think) and some subsequent ones, beating Bangladesh in the 2003 cup. But then they lost to Sri Lanka in comedy style – 36 all out. Sri Lanka won in 28 balls.
The USA – Canada cricket rivalry is apparently the oldest sporting rivalry there is. Not sure I believe that one.
Isn’t that almighty penis Dj Sanj from Canada too?
Naah – Sanj is a yank.
PB-
They toboggan…
But…
“Sanj is the first Canadian DJ to successfully cross the shores and make a career out of the one thing he loves most – Music”
But having read a bit more about him, it seems he was born in the UK (oh dear) and then headed out to the US and Canada. This is what I would say anyhoo:
“Naah – Sanj is a yak”
Bongo
Personally I cant tell the difference between a Yank and a Canuck but apparently their accents are different – my Canuck friend told me that Canuck’s say ‘eh’ at the end of their sentences alot – although she didnt – and another thing is that Canadians get vexed if you ask them if they are American I dont know its like a big inferiority complex thing.
Their accents sound sexy to me either way – Desi lady with accent = Sexy