This comes from Ballantine Books and the author of Serving Crazy With Curry:
Monthly Archives: January 2006
“Superstition must be utilized”
This painting comes to us via SM tipster Omar Khan:
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“An Execution in British India”- Painting by Vassili Verestchagin |
As part of his article accompanying the wood engraving of the painting when it was published in Harper’s Weekly on November 17, 1888, [Harper’s Weekly art critic Clarence Cook] wrote:“So with the other picture, the shooting of the Sepoys, Verestchagin does not say that this particular scene is an incident of the great mutiny. Shooting from guns is the only way, he says, that 60,000 soldiers in a strong country can keep in awe 250,000,000 natives. Superstition must be utilized. The natives do not fear to die, but they fear to die in any way that destroys the identity of the body. They cannot enter heaven blown limb from limb. Therefore this is the way to touch their souls with dreadful awe, and the English, says our artist, have always blown from guns, blow from guns today, and will blow from guns as long as India is held. [Link]
In the painting you presumably see Sepoy soliders in Delhi, captured during the 1857 Mutiny, fixed to the front ends of cannons, and about to be obliterated (although check the comments for a more likely explanation of what is being depicted here). I’m not sure that it is clear if this scene was actually witnessed by Verestchagin, but I like the description of the painting.
Verestchagin’s notoriety came from showing some of the most talked about events of the era. This scene was a standard British way to settle scores, and continued long after the war of independence in 1857. It was hotly debated in British and Indian papers between liberals and conservatives. To the former it was an excess of colonialism, to the latter an essential ingredient. As a Russian, Verestshagin was on opposite sides of the British as far as India was concerned. His American audience was also more critical of colonialism. [Link]Continue reading
Guarding the Pope
Although there is no desi pope, there is one desi member of the Swiss Guard. Dhani Bachmann was sworn in as the first ever non-white Swiss guard four years ago. 
Private Bachmann was adopted by a Swiss family at 5 and speaks only German, which helps explain how he could join an elite group whose members are comprised solely of Catholic Swiss, mainly recruited from a handful of small villages.
At the time, one news source snarkily reported the story in the following way:
First Black Man Ever To Protect The Pope
For the first time in the more than 500 year history of the Swiss Guards, the group of 200 soldiers who protect the Pope in Rome, a non white man has been allowed to take his place in their ranks. Private Dhani Bachmann was born in India but adopted by a Swiss family and taken to live there when he was 5. He therefore is eligible to join the guards as he is Swiss. He is now apparently trying to learn Italian so that he can explain to people in Rome why he is not white. [Link]
The Swiss Guard are the Pope’s private army, founded 500 years ago on January 22nd, 1506. They had their origins in the “Swiss mercenary detachments that served as bodyguards and ceremonial guards at foreign European courts from the late 15th century on” and once guarded the Royalty of France and Austria as well. Soon after they were founded, in 1527, “147 of the 189 Guards, including their commander, died fighting the forces of Charles V during the Sack of Rome.”
Today, they are half their original size, with only 100 soldiers. After the 1981 attempt to assasinate Pope John Paul, their non-ceremonial duties and training have been beefed up; their training involves unarmed combat and the use of modern weaponry in addition to the traditional Halberd. Still, they’re best known for their colorful uniforms which, according to legend were first designed by Michaelangelo.
This job combines tradition and religious service in the short term with the potential to make a lot of money in the long term – how typically Swiss!
Swiss Guards sign on for a minimum of two years. Many leave the Pope’s military service for lucrative jobs with some of the world’s best-known security services and banks. [Link]
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Dhani Bachmann being sworn in or Vinod making a gang sign? |
Brook’s Qawwali Party
Brook’s Qawwali Party is a Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan cover band made up of non-desi Brooklynites who get together in Park Slope. Their stuff sounds like jazz qawwali with electric guitar interludes. Sometimes it’s pretty musically interesting, other times it resembles Muzak, especially in contrast with NFAK’s voice. The band obviously can’t replicate that voice, but they get by with phonetic chants of ‘Allah hu’ and clapping. In any case, it’s probably one of the only Sufi bands with Jewish members in existence 
Listen here. Their next show is Feb. 10th in Park Slope, and it’s free.
Brook’s Qawwali Party, Friday, Feb. 10, 9pm-midnight; Tea Lounge, Union St. between 6th and 7th Aves., Park Slope, Brooklyn; free
TODAY: free Carnegie Hall concert tickets
If anyone wants to go to the classical music concert to benefit the victims of the Pakistan quake, I’ve got free tickets for you courtesy of my cousin the conductor. The catch is that it’s today at 7.30pm at Carnegie Hall in Manhattan. On the menu: Beethoven’s 9th Symphony. Email me for the tickets.
All-American girls in Calcutta
There are few real news programs left on U.S. television. You have 60 minutes, Nightline, and PBS’ excellent series Frontline. Two weeks ago I watched all six hours of a brilliant documentary called Country Boys that followed the lives of two poor teenage boys from Kentucky into manhood. I thought it exemplified what reality TV could be if only it had a brain. SM tipster “Anu” forwards us another example by Frontline of a great documentary. Frontline’s Rough Cut series posts a short film by Sasha Khokha (only on-line) titled, India: Calcutta Calling-American girls explore their roots.
In the wake of FRONTLINE’s broadcast last week of David Sutherland’s film Country Boys, about two teenagers coming of age in rural Kentucky, FRONTLINE/World presents Sasha Khokha’s video Calcutta Calling, about three teenage girls growing up in Minnesota… The twist in Khokha’s story is that the three girls — Kaylan Johnson, Anisha Pitzenberger and Lizzie Merrill — were all adopted as infants from an orphanage in Calcutta, India. Their Midwestern American parents raised them in loving families as all-American girls who sing in the choir, play soccer and shop at the mall.
Still, the girls know they are different. If nothing else, their brown skin sets them apart in Minnesota. People are friendly, but sometimes look at them as outsiders.Khokha is allowed to accompany Anisha, Kaylan and Lizzie when they go back to India with their American parents. This is the first time they have returned to the land of their birth. It is a chance for them to learn more about their origins and to explore their dual identities. Surprising, honest and poignant, Calcutta Calling follows these bright-eyed girls closely as they venture into a country that both delights and disturbs them. [Link]
While watching the film I KNOW that many of you will have the same conflicted reactions as me. These girls were all raised in white families and in white neighborhoods. This is an entire step removed from Indian Americans that, despite being born here, still retain cultural ties to India through family and community. Except for their skin color, these girls have no connection to Indian culture whatsoever. And yet…their brown skin instinctively causes you to sometimes unfairly judge their often shallow reactions as the film unfolds. For example, one of the three girls helps a small child color in the picture of a girl while visiting the orphanage back in India (see picture at right). It isn’t until she is done that she realizes that she helped the child draw a girl with blond hair instead of black. The movie also brought to mind some of the issues we have been discussing on SM in the past week. All three of these American families adopted girl children from India. In the end you can’t help but appreciate that these three girls at least got the chance to meet each other. All three feel that in each others presence they finally belong.
I strongly urge readers to set aside 20 minutes to watch this film. For best viewing use the Quicktime option instead of the Real Media player and enlarge the screen size in the pop up window. Also keep in mind that by posting this I am going to substantially increase traffic to their site. I had no problem viewing it but some of you may want to wait until an odd hour.
Tactics
In the U.S. and Europe, American forces kidnap terrorists so as not to kill bystanders:
Before a CIA paramilitary team was deployed to snatch a radical Islamic cleric off the streets of Milan in February 2003, the CIA station chief in Rome briefed and sought approval from his counterpart in Italy…In Sweden, an inquiry discovered that Swedish ministers had agreed to apprehend and expel two Egyptian terrorism suspects in 2002 but called the CIA for help in flying them out of the country… [Link]
But in less-developed countries, we just blow up houses:
The provincial government said Tuesday that in addition to 18 civilians, four or five foreign militants were killed by the American airstrikes on the village of Damadola on Friday… The deaths of 18 civilians, among them 6 children, have stirred anger among the population in Pakistan and put pressure on the government to explain what happened in Bajaur. [Link]
I don’t particularly care for national sovereignty when a country won’t take out its trash, as in Afghanistan, the NWFP and the Kashmiri militant training camps. We should’ve put troops on the ground in Pakistan long ago, no matter what the political sensitivities, and bin Laden should have been caught within months of 9/11. That he hasn’t been killed yet is an ongoing embarrassment.
But killing innocent bystanders is not only deeply immoral, it unnecessarily creates enemies and a host population which supports terrorists. One month we distribute quake aid and win public sympathy; the next we kill women and children and say, ‘Oops, but we’ll do it again.’ It’s the very definition of ineffectiveness.
Look at the rank hypocrisy of U.S. lawmakers in defending this missile attack:
U.S. politicians have expressed regret over the weekend killings of 18 civilians along Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan, but said the airstrike was justified by the erroneous belief that a top al Qaeda leader was among the group, which included women and children. “Now, it’s a regrettable situation, but what else are we supposed to do?” Sen. Evan Bayh [D-IN] asked rhetorically… Senator John McCain, also concurred… “We apologize, but I can’t tell you that we wouldn’t do the same thing again…” [Link]
Gee, Sen. Bayh, would we have launched a missile at a house in London? Would we have killed 18 innocent Brits, shrugged and said, ‘What else are we supposed to do?’
Brown takes over Davos
Each year, the world’s movers and shakers — business leaders, politicians, journalists and others — meet in Davos, Switzerland for the meeting of the World Economic Forum. In past years, this has been a relatively pale assemblage of melanin deficient men and women, but no longer. India has arrived on the world stage, and like any debutante, wants to throw a coming out party to show it. Said Infosys CEO Nandan Nilekani, the head of a $3 million public-private promotional campaign called “India Everywhere,”
“The Indian economy was doing well. We were becoming the world’s back office. Our democracy is robust, yoga is globalized, Bombay Dreams ran on Broadway, Bollywood is hot, and spirituality is all the rage. So why aren’t we everywhere at Davos?” [Link]
Like any good promoter, the Indians know the importance of the goodie bag, although ironically they’re using old India to sell new India:
Waiting for visitors at their hotel rooms will be gifts from India — a pashmina shawl, an Apple iPod loaded with Indian pop and classical music, a piece of traditional art, some ayurvedic oils — along with a CD packed with all sorts of economic information about the country. [Link]
They’re also throwing a big party at the end of the conference. I wonder if they can get Elizabeth Hurley to show up in a sari?
Our democracy is robust, yoga is globalized, Bombay Dreams ran on Broadway, Bollywood is hot, and spirituality is all the rage. So why aren’t we everywhere at Davos?A highlight of the weeklong brain fest will be the gala soiree on Saturday, the conference’s closing evening. That’s when the contemporary and hip allure of the new India will be showcased in all its boisterous, vibrant glory. There will be dances by Bollywood choreographer Shaimak Davar, music by DJ-of-the-moment Aqueel, and songs by oldie-goldie Usha Uthup. Don’t forget to pack your Nehru jackets and satin saris, folks — Indians dress to the nines, and the style and flash of the country’s new designers will be on display. [Link]
While some people are calling for more modesty, the Indian executives plan to be as modest here as they are when planning a wedding:
Some see a sign of hubris in India’s new swagger. How can the country rightfully lay claim to the status of an emerging superpower when it still faces so many glaring problems, from massive poverty to deficient infrastructure to a huge public-sector deficit? What happens if the boom turns to a bust overnight, as has happened in places like Russia and Brazil?[Infosys CEO] Nilekani brushes aside such concerns: “Yes, it could be an ego trip for India,” he says, “but you gotta be heard!” [Link]
Filthy Hands
This is wicked cool [via Sandalwood Swara]. I wonder how one goes about requesting this at a pre-wedding mendhi party with all your female realtives around. I’m sure the groom will dig it.
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Kama Sutra Mendhi (click for larger picture) |
Hey…did you check out the new neighbors?
Our own F.A.Q. defines “South Asia” in the following way:
What is South Asia?It’s the countries in the area of the Indian subcontinent which share common ethnic and cultural roots (food, family, Bollywood). SAJA opines that South Asia includes India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and the Maldives. The U.S. State Department also includes Afghanistan.
Well it seems we may now have to tweak our F.A.Q. just a bit. The U.S. State Department reports:
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says South Asia and Central Asia are high on her list of global priorities, and the State Department is adjusting its bureaus so that the same teams of experts and diplomats are focused on both regions.“One of the things that we did in the State Department was to move the Central Asian republics out of the European bureau, which really was an artifact of their having been states of the Soviet Union, and to move them into the bureau that is South Asia, which has Afghanistan, India and Pakistan,” Rice said January 5.
“It represents what we’re trying to do, which is to think of this region as one that will need to be integrated, and that will be a very important goal for us,” Rice told reporters in Washington. (See related story.)
The five Central Asian republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan are predominantly Muslim nations with a combined population of nearly 60 million.
This is an interesting move for the State Department, and potentially a problematic one. While Central Asia’s being grouped with the rest of the former Soviet Union might be an “artifact” of history, it is an important one. Over a hundred years of dominance and control has left its mark on the former Soviet republics in Central Asia, and officials experienced with South Asian states like Afghanistan and India may lack an important context of understanding for the region.
I know that it isn’t going to go over well with some people that Russian speaking Muslims are moving in to their “neighborhood.” 
See Related Post: A New Spook at the Agency