Monthly Archives: January 2006

55Friday: The “Curry Rice Girl” Edition

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Last week, the Mutiny was anomalously quiet and for that I am very contrite.

I love our weekly nanofiction orgy just as much, if not more than you, our phenomenal contributors do, so please don’t think that our creative fun came to an abrupt and unexplained end. It didn’t. As you can see, we are back on track this week, now that I am up to being the hostess you deserve, after a very difficult week. Forgive me for leaving you without a Friday you’re in love with? Thank you.

:+:

This week’s “theme” is inspired by all of YOU, or more specifically, those of you who commented on my last post about “Which Celebrity Do I Not Look Like?” When one of you discovered that you resembled TMBWITW, you joked about adding such valuable information to your biodata. Which got me thinking about auto/biography as advertisement. (This shit is bananas! B-I-O-D-A-T-A!)

Surely you know where I’m going with this, as I cackle wickedly. 🙂 55 words. Sell yourself (or the celebrity you look like OR someone whose identity we try and guess OR a Mutineer) in exactly 55 words. Do it well and who knows who might make a bid. 😉 Continue reading →

All You Injuns Look Alike

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If only you knew what goes on behind the scenes here in North Dakota– the GMail arrives constantly and furiously, let me promise you that. No, it’s not easy to foment a mutiny, but we try our damnedest.

Without going in to too much detail, since I love you all too much for such carnage (it involves someone exhorting others to give his caruthu kundi an ooma), I’ll just let you know that I ended up at a verrry interesting website, which scanned a picture I uploaded before telling me which celebrity in its database I resembled. Mutineers, I present to you a most inapposite result:

anna aka kk.jpg

See whom YOU don’t look like by going to MyHeritage.com y’self. Continue reading →

You can get with THIS or you can get with THAT

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But THIS is where it’s at. The SASA conference is being held this weekend in New York. BUT…if you want to go to a conference that you will truly learn from and be inspired by, why non register for the South Asian Awareness Network (SAAN) conference at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor? It will be held on the February 3rd through 6th weekend. If you are a college student in the state of Michigan then you have no excuse. If you are a student in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, or several other close states, then I just have one word for you: ROADTRIP!

SAAN’s primary function is to establish an annual South Asian conference for South Asian and non-South Asian students alike. SAAN 2006: Impact Through Interaction will be the fourth annual holding of this conference, and we hope to continue setting a precedent that all future SAAN conferences will follow.

SAAN’s broad goals include: educating participants and raising awareness about issues affecting South Asians that are often overlooked or not discussed, inspiring young South Asians to become leaders through activism, building pride, unity, and friendship among students in order to promote South Asian awareness, addressing the educational needs and rights of South Asian Americans, maintaining a network of South Asians in Michigan, the Midwest, and across the nation, sponsoring and co-sponsoring programs and events with other South Asian organizations and promoting peace, unity, and tolerance at a young age to South Asians. [Link]

So why am I endorsing THIS conference? Two reasons. First, the South Asian students at the University of Michigan have an unrivaled history of activism. Don’t just take my word for it, ask around. Where do you think the National Gandhi Day of service was started? In addition, back in 1997-1998, students at the University of Michigan began holding conferences (I helped to organize the first one) partly because they were disgusted by the emphasis on partying that conferences like SASA had embraced. These conferences were to focus on REAL activism, and interaction with equally passionate students through plenty of small group interaction. What is the second reason I am endorsing this conference? Well, because they invited me to speak . I am more than a little nervous though. They put me on a panel where the other speaker’s first name is “Preacher.” Who the hell is going to pay ANY attention to what I have to say when the other guy is named “Preacher?!?” Manish suggested I change my name to Abhi X so that I can compete. Here is a partial listing of the speakers (which include a few people we have blogged about) and a listing of the workshops. The panel I am on is titled: Get up, Get Out, and Get Movin’. And yes. If there is Wi-Fi access, I will be live blogging the conference for SM readers. I’d love to sit five feet in front of some of the speakers and type away every time they open their mouths. What?

You can register here for just ~$50.

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Blood marriage

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The idea of paying blood money to settle murders in rural Pakistan reaches its logical conclusion, since women are still considered nothing more than chattel:

A village council in Pakistan has decreed that five young women should be abducted, raped or killed for refusing to honour childhood “marriages”… The marriages were part of a compensation agreement ordered by the village council and reached at gunpoint after the father of one of the girls shot dead a family rival. The rival families have now called in their “debt”, demanding the marriages to the village men are fulfilled. [Link]

Shall the sins of the father be visited upon the sons daughters?

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan condemned the “barbaric custom of vani”, – the tradition of handing over women to resolve disputes – and called on President Pervez Musharraf to enforce a ban. Last year a three-year-old girl near Multan was betrothed to a 60-year-old man in a similar settlement. [Link]

Her father had killed someone, and she had to marry a member of the victim’s familyHer father had killed someone and she had to marry a member of the victim’s family as compensation under a centuries-old custom of Pakistan’s ethnic Pashtun tribes. Known as swara, the custom calls for a girl to be given away in marriage to an aggrieved family as part of settlement for murder perpetrated by one of her relatives… the custom is still prevalent in the semi-autonomous tribal regions where Pakistani law seldom applies and where jirgas, or councils of tribal elders, settle disputes the old way… “Sons are never given away in settlement because we women folk are easy target…” [Link]

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Rick-rock

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Check out this gallery of Bangladeshi rickshaw art (thanks, Gujjubhai). I especially like this tiger-borne palki:

Most worrying is the growing popularity of the prodigal son / criminal as a theme around town:

Perhaps it’s fitting that people park their derrières on bin Laden’s face.

Related posts: Pimp my ride, Rickshaw revival, Top Down, Chrome Spinnin’, Pulling more than your own weight, The next generation rickshaw

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Posted in Art

The ground beneath their feet

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A desi conductor is organizing a classical music concert in Manhattan later this month to raise money for the Pakistan earthquake. On the program is Beethoven’s 9th:

Beethoven’s 9th for South Asia Symphony Orchestra and Chorus

… In the aftermath of the tragedy, an exceptional and unparalleled group of musicians have joined forces and donated their services to help the survivors. All proceeds from the concert will go directly to Doctors Without Borders.

Performers to include principal players of the New York Philharmonic, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, The Philadelphia Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestra… as well as a chorus of 150-200 assembled from the major choral ensembles in New York City.

George Mathew, a friend of my cousin’s, is conducting.

Earthquakes, I point out, have always made men eager to placate the gods. After the great Lisbon earthquake of November 1, 1755… the locals decided on a propitiatory auto-da-fé… Herr Candide of Thunder-ten-tronckh, a name like an occult incantation, likely to provoke earthquakes where none had previously occurred, was flogged rhythmically and for a long while upon his bloodied buttocks. Immediately after this auto-da-fé there was an even bigger earthquake, and that part of the city which remained standing instantly fell down. That’s the trouble with human sacrifice, the heroin of the gods. It’s highly addictive. And who will save us from deities with major habits to feed?

So god’s a junkie now, Vina says.

The gods, I correct her. Monotheism sucks, like all despotisms…

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She had me at “dhum-tak-dhum-tak-tak”

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On Thursday morning NPR will be featuring an interview with this talented and hot young thing. She just goes by one name: Suphala (see Manish’s previous post about her).

The young percussionist known as Suphala studied for years with Ravi Shankar’s tabla player, the late Usted Allarakha.

She still goes every year to Bombay, but she also likes to see where else the tabla can take her. Her musical journeys have included a concert in post-Taliban Afghanistan and a tour with the group Porno for Pyros…

For the series “Musicians in Their Own Words,” Suphala describes how she gets the tabla to speak in many languages. [Link]

There are three tracks on the NPR link that are pretty sweet. You can either wake up to her tablas naturally by setting your alarm clock to NPR, or download the interview after 10a.m. EST. I’ve already made my choice.

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More hot bodies in India’s skies

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Yesterday I brought you the story of the competition between airlines in India to have the hottest stewardesses. Today, a blockbuster deal was announced that will put even more attractive, svelte bodies in the Indian sky. Well…at least they are more attractive to this Aerospace Engineer . Boeing announces:

At a signing ceremony held today at Air India’s headquarters, Boeing [NYSE: BA] Commercial Airplanes President and CEO Alan Mulally and Air India Chairman and Managing Director V. Thulasidas formally announced an order agreement for 68 airplanes. The order, placed with Boeing in December 2005, is valued at more than $11 billion at list prices and deliveries are scheduled to begin in November 2006.

Air India’s order consists of 23 777s, including eight 777-200LR (Longer Range) Worldliners and 15 777-300ERs (Extended Range), and 27 787-8 Dreamliners. Air India Express, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Air India, will receive 18 Next-Generation 737-800s.

Here is the sugar in the coffee:

Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said the US aircraft maker had agreed to spend nearly two [billion U.S. dollars] on reciprocal deals.

‘Boeing has a counter-trade… amounting to (1.9 bln usd) over the next 10 years, which would mean that Boeing will buy from India a range of goods and services,‘ Patel said.

The aircraft maker will also spend 75 mln usd on training pilots and another 100 mln in maintenance and repairs to the aircraft, he said. [Link]

So basically Boeing gets a huge contract from India, and in return outsources some of its production line there, which will result in a very positive economic impact. I hope some of you purchased Boeing stock before the closing bell. PRI’s Marketplace has a nice audio summary of the specifics.

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Indian guys with cameras (updated)

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Our tipline has been buzzing (thanks “mg” and others) with news that Rakesh Sharma, director of the award winning “Final Solution” about the Gujarat riots, is suing the City of New York, and that the NYCLU’s got his back. Here is why:

Rakesh Sharma was filming cars emerge from under Manhattan’s Metlife building in 2005 when he was stopped, questioned, allegedly shoved, and then detained by the NYPD for shooting footage of the building. The cops were suspicious of Sharma’s motives but, after four hours, the director was released and told that he would need a permit if he wanted to do any further shooting.

When Sharma applied for a permit, however, his application was denied because he lacked the proper insurance. Now, represented by the New York Civil Liberties Union, the director (who has won multiple awards for his documentaries) has filed suit against the city’s “police restrictions on taking pictures in public.” Among those named in the suit are the city itself and the commissioner of the Mayor’s Office of Film, Theater and Broadcasting. [Link]

Why was Sharma filming cars? Well it will make sense when you know what kind of cars he was filming:

Rakesh Sharma was shooting footage for a film on New York taxi drivers in May 2005 when officers stopped him…

“It’s a sad day when the police think they can detain and mistreat someone simply for making a film on a public street in New York City,” Mr Sharma said on Tuesday.

“I co-operated with them and answered all their questions, but they treated me like a criminal. It was wrong, and I was scared and humiliated,” he said. [Link]

A blogger at Mediabistro quips:

Honestly, if the cops in New York start arresting Indian guys with cameras, they’re going to have to shut down all of Sixth Avenue. We’re officially scared.

I’m hoping that DNSI’s Valarie Kaur might leave a comment and shed some light on this for us. She has recently been filming in New York City as well. I wonder if she was similarly hassled.

Update: Both Rakesh Sharma and Valarie Kaur were kind enough to respond to this post.

You can sign the petition to protest his arrest here. Continue reading →