As you requested, some family friendly fare. Yes, sometimes the cliches are true:
From Kerim’s set of recent India photos (2004-2005) on Flickr. These are really quite good, y’all.
Office Elephant Booking
Monthly Archives: September 2005
No sex please, we’re Indian
As in all things, advertisements depict a rosier world than the one we actually live in. The Kama Sutra references in Manish’s post below make it seem like India is becoming more sexually liberal, but a recent story from the BBC points out that India is still quite repressed. In this case, a couple was threatened with jail for public indecency. 
What did they do? They kissed … at their wedding:
An Israeli couple being married in India have found that you may not kiss the bride – the pair were fined $22 for indecency for their wedding embrace. A court in Rajasthan imposed the fine after Alon Orpaz and Tehila Salev had decided to get married in a traditional Hindu ceremony in Pushkar. Priests were offended when the couple kissed and hugged during the chanting of religious verses. The apologetic couple said they were unaware public kissing was banned.
The couple, who had met in India while travelling separately, paid the 1,000-rupee fine for “committing an act of indecency” to avoid a 10-day jail sentence. [Link]
[UPDATE: Reader Dhaavak points us to a recent AFP file photo of a young couple making out in a Delhi park. Check out their body language: he has his hands on his hips, and she’s fixing her dupatta.]
Nor is this the only case of legal action for absurdly minor PDA. Three years ago, Pune university enacted a ban on kissing, hand-holding or even cuddling on campus:
Action will be taken against couples found holding hands!
An Indian university has declared its campus a strict “no love” zone, declaring a ban on kissing and hand-holding on its grounds. The vice chancellor of western India’s Pune university, Ashok Kolaskar, says courting couples could damage the reputation and social values of the 100-year-old institution.
“Action will be taken against couples found holding hands, kissing or indulging in any form of public display of affection,” warns a notice signed by [sic] the Mr Kolaskar. [Link]
The Cara Sutra
Commenter Angie went beyond the call of duty and scanned in this bit of whimsical pop surrealism from Cadbury:
… you’ll notice some very odd accessories in the drawing: a bbq, a duck flotation device, barnyard, and of all things a PLOW in the background. Maybe this appropriately 5 o’clock shadowed brown fellow plans on hooking up his lady to the plow later on… I don’t think he’d want to ruin his sheer silk chiffon shirt and capris with any dirty field work.
I love the musical anachronism, not that it’s a boombox but that it’s not an MP3 player. 
The two feet pressed together are a randy reference to a sexual position used to much effect by Indira Varma in Mira Nair’s soft-core raspberry, Kama Sutra.
Exploitative? Surely there’s a straight line from chocolate to eroticism. It’s much more tasteful than Raymond’s raunchy KamaSutra condom ads. Oh, yes: the conservative, Indian men’s suiting company covers everything that might pop up.
Highway to heaven
Highway signs from Ladakh:
Himank is responsible for construction of GS roads and other related infrastructure for Army, Air Force and government organisations located within the Ladakh region consisting of Leh and Kargil districts. Project Himank looks after the famous areas of Drass, Kargil, Batalik, Siachen Glacier and Chushul. The project sector encompasses world’s second coldest region of Drass, world’s highest motorable road astride Khardung La, world’s highest battle-ground of Siachen Glacier and Pangong Tso Lake at 14500 ft located across India-China border. [Link]
(thanks, Ankush)
Chilling.
The BBC discusses freshly-released camera footage which reveals that the London bombers did a dry-run nine days before their terrorist assault. Their July 7th attack murdered 52 people and injured 700 others.
CCTV images show three of the bombers entering Luton station, before travelling to King’s Cross station where they are also pictured…The three, Mohammad Sidique Khan, Shehzad Tanweer and Germaine Lindsay, were conducting a carefully planned reconnaissance exercise, police said.
Someone finally got around to claiming evil. Why the delay?
Meanwhile, al-Qaeda has said for the first time the group carried out the attacks.
In a videotaped message aired on Arab television station al-Jazeera, al-Qaeda deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahri said the group had the “honour” of carrying out the attacks.
For shame. There is no honor in the slaughter of innocents.
:+:
Previous SM coverage: here, here, here, here… Continue reading
Desi MTV
We may now have our own MTV Desi, but all of a sudden we also have a bunch of desis on MTV. Sonia points us to a new MTV reality show, ingeniously (from a minimalist perspective) titled The Reality Show, that debuts tonight at 10:30p.m.
Are you a reality TV junkie? Then it’s time to take your addiction to the next step. Help MTV choose the next big star on The Reality Show.
Basically 10 final contestants or duos will compete for 9 weeks. At the end of that period the person(s) with the most interesting “real life” will get their own reality show. Why not? In the running are two cousins from Virginia Beach named Karishma and Bansri. See, it seems our dynamic duo, that apparently come from well-off families, told their parents they were coming to L.A. to work at internships. In reality they came here just to party! And party some more. In fact, if they get their own show it will be a show about Indian girls partying in L.A. Will hilarity ensue when their parents find out that they are not in fact “good Indian girls?”
Will these two party monsters have their life come crashing down when their parents show up? Will they find the hot parties and keep their parents placated with the lies? Or are they headed for a train wreck? Follow the all the cross-cultural chaos in “Karma Chameleons.”
Holla at yo’ boy. I live in LA. I like to party hardy too. My parents used to think I was a hard working student but then they uncovered my double life as a blogger (among other things), and all the booze and women such a life involves. Maybe these girls will invite me out with them some time. I know people. Come to think of it, why isn’t there a reality T.V. show based on my life?
“We’re Karishma and Bansri and we like the boom…”
Fight, for the Right, to Diwaaaali! (updated)
This morning, the NYC Council Committee on Transportation held a
hearing in relation to the suspension of alternate side of the street
parking rules on the Hindu festival of Diwali.
This is a big deal. Alternate side of the street parking is rarely suspended, and affects anyone looking for a place to park in NY. Only 32 legal and religious holidays are recognized by the City. Scroll down here for a list. From the petition organizers:
The first step in the process is the proposed legislation to get approved at the hearing on September 20th. Then, the Mayor will have to sign it into law. It is critical that the Council Members and, in turn, the Mayor appreciate the interest in and support of this legislation. The more support shown for the legislation at this stage of the process, the more likely it is that the Mayor will not veto it.
According to the NYC Department of Planning,there are over 600,000 foreign-born persons of South Asian descent in the NYC metro area; this does not even include those of South Asian descent born in America…If NYC takes this step, other cities and municipalities throughout the country will have the precedent to do the same.[link]
Since ASotS parking is suspended on Sunday, most ethnic/national parades such as the Puerto Rican Day parade are held then. (Here is a complete list of NYC ethnic festivals – read and weep :P)
Suspending parking rules for Diwali would be a huge symbolic (and practical re: parades) recognition of South Asian contributions to the city. Please read more on what you can do to show your support. Stay tuned for updates.
Update: The Committee on Transportation unanimously approved it! From the organizer’s email:
The legislation will be voted on by the full NYC Council at the Stated Meeting on Wednesday, September 28. [If they] approve the legislation it will then go to Mayor Bloomberg to be signed into law. Then the Mayor will have 30 days to sign or veto the legislation…press conference at 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday, September 28, on the steps of City Hall.
Related posts:1, 2, 3. Continue reading
The UK InvASIAN
Ever since those floppy Beatles and hip-wiggling Stones stormed our Atlantic coast, American music mags lurve warbling on about the newest “Brit Invasion!” like retarded canaries in a perfectly oxygenated coal mine. Remember Blur? Pulp? The Verve? Ah, ’twas a Bittersweet Symphony indeed, Richard.
Coldplay is doing its best to launch a one-man (you know it’s true) full-frontal assault…but Mr. Martin sounds too intent on supporting Gwyneth and the Appletini to make anything really fresh these days.
So it’s with much interest that I’ve noticed that Brit-based Bhangra seems to be stealthily making unheralded inroads in the US. “Get ur Freak On” seemed to trigger something cuz soon after we had that Jay-Z rapping on Panjabi MC’s “Mundian to Bach Ke,” and no less than three (3) dancehall tracks with the Diwali Riddim. Sean Paul’s “Get Busy” being the best known.
Now, I’m pretty clueless about the Sardaar-scene, and know I’m a bit out of my depth here, so please refrain from tugging your beards and whipping your karas at me. please? I can’t do any worse than this Popmatters review that describes bhangra as:
dance music with the tabla beat at its base, sounding very much like drum’n’bass, sometimes with rapping but usually with Indian pop as its melodic focus.
Well, I hope.
At any rate, (and thanks Punjabi Boy) the previous post illustrates viral marketing at its finest:
The Xbox game, which is expected to hit the streets in November 2005, will feature two tracks by Achanak…taken from their forthcoming album, Bhangra-ology, which is due for release on 19th September 2005. Tigerstyle will have three tracks…lifted off their forthcoming, yet to be titled album, which is scheduled for a November 2005 release.[link]
May I draw your attention to the timing? Brilliant, I think. Besides, I hear there was a call for more turban-ed hotties…….Way to work it boys 😉
Related posts: 1, 2, 3. Continue reading
Yaaran, start your engines
British bhangra label Nachural has announced that five of its tracks will appear on a Microsoft racing game for the Xbox 360:
… Nachural has taken bhangra onto another level in announcing the placement of tracks from its catalogue onto [Project Gotham Racing 3], the game to be launched by Xbox [360]… in the winter of 2005…Two tracks by Achanak (‘Teri Muhabbatan‘ and the ‘Lak Noo’ remix) and three tracks by Tigerstyle (‘Boliyaan,’ ‘Akh Mastani’ and ‘Maan Doeba Da’)… This is the first time that bhangra tracks… have been placed [in] any interactive game… [Link]
Art finally imitates life: First bhangra tracks in a console game?Vinod and I used to car-dance to Achanak while jamming from sterile Seattle up to rockin’ Vancouver on the weekends. Personally, I can’t wait to play berserker bhangra while fragging demons asuras in the next version of Doom. Bhangra’s raw energy is like Nine Inch Nails’ Doom soundtrack, only less sadist. Bow to the power of the turbanator!
In other news, Microsoft plans to release an even deadlier version of Halo (screenshot). It will also one-up Super Mario with Super Patel Brothers, where players must collect cheap vittles from an Indian food superstore in Jackson Heights.
Bibliophilia
Sikhs from New Orleans used equipment popular with Navy SEALs to rescue their copy of the Guru Granth Sahib from a gurdwara under nine feet of 
water (via Amardeep):
… the United Sikhs sought the help of one of its volunteer Ranbir Kaur, a US Army National Guard [soldier], to hire the rescue services of SRT, a private helicopter special response… firm… [The] operation… lasted over a period of 22 hours…Zodiac boats equipped with underwater cameras and rescue equipment were used to reach the flooded gurdwara, which was completely damaged inside, but [the] Guru Granth Sahib was on the ‘palki’ (palanquin) and floating on water. “I was amazed, looking at the Guru Sahib’s ‘sukhasan’ on the palki, floating on 5 feet of water and untouched by the flood waters,” Hardayal Singh was quoted as saying. [Link]
The immense value the Sikhs place on this religious artifact reminds me of synagogues’ ingenious solution to the theft of Torah scrolls. To protect priceless ancient work, they’re using digital watermarking:
Like many Torah scrolls in active service, the one stolen from Temple Sholom last month is an antique, and is believed to have been crafted in the Middle East several hundred years ago… With a fair market value of around $50,000 for a new scroll, $9,000 for a used one, Judaism’s sacred text is in some ways a perfect underground commodity… Torah scrolls are inherently anonymous. Jewish law dictates that not one character can be added to the 304,805 letters of the Torah’s text. That means no “property of” stamps, no serial numbers, no visible identifying marks of any kind…