Director Paul Mayeda Berges was quoted in DNA today about his new movie The Mistress of Spices:
The other key element was to… give each spice its own Indian instrument so you could know when they were calling out to Tilo. The chillies warn her with a tabla. Chandan, kala jeera, tulsi, hing and cinnamon each have their own sounds.
I’ll bet that what the spices are telling Tilo is, ‘Stop exoticizing us, wench!’ Spice-tabla-Chocolat-sex: Tilo Does Oakland 
With apologies to The Namesake
2006
On a wet August monsoon evening two weeks before her due date, Jennifer Ninnington stands in the kitchen of a Pali Hill apartment, combining Bournvita and Horlicks and crumbled chocolate in a bowl. She adds sugar, flour, egg whites, wishing there were yeast to pour into the mix. Jennifer has been consuming this concoction throughout her pregnancy, a humble approximation of the brownies sold for two bucks in New York cafés and at large train stations throughout America, spilling from saran wrap. She wipes sweat from her face with the free end of her denim shirt. Her swollen feet ache against speckled white marble. She reaches for another chocolate bar, frowning again as she pulls at its crisp gold wrapper. A curious warmth floods her abdomen, followed by a tightening so severe she doubles over, gasping without sound, dropping the chocolate bar with a thud on the floor.
She calls out to her husband, Andy, an MBA candidate at IIM-Bombay, who is studying in the bedroom. He leans over a card table; the edge of their bed, a queen mattress under a pastel blue pinstriped twill spread, serves as his chair. Continue reading
A recent poll in Vancouver suggests that many residents blame South Asians in general and Indo-Canadians specifically for the violence and crime in their city:
According to the Vancouver Sun, Nearly two-thirds of respondents to an Ipsos Reid poll believe some ethnic groups are more responsible for crime than others, and they put Indo-Canadian and Asians at the top of their lists.Of those in the poll who held ethnic groups most responsible, 56 per cent specifically identified “Indian/East Indian” and 45 per cent listed “Asian/Oriental,” the newspaper reported March 16.
By comparison, five per cent of the same group singled out “Caucasian/white” and only one per cent were worried about “Afro-American/Black,” “Middle Eastern/Arabs/Muslims” and “Italians.”
An Ipsos Reid spokesman said people were allowed to give more than one racial group in their answers, and all the responses were gathered into groups that best reflected the responses. [Link]
The reality, as you will see below, is different from perceptions, but in issues such as crime it rarely matters. Indo-Canadians may cite this poll as evidence that they are the victims of a racist Canadian society. Playing the victim will of course help to delay the need to change their community from within and will leave many parents in their state of denial. On the other side you may see an increase in hate crimes against Indo-Canadians.
…in an interview, Vancouver Police Insp. Kash Heed, commanding officer of the department’s district 3 — southeast Vancouver — said actual statistics show the reverse of the poll findings.
“In the Lower Mainland, the majority of crimes are committed by Caucasians,” he said.
“That’s a true figure, it’s a reliable and valid figure based simply on arrest statistics.”
He said public perceptions are swayed by media coverage of criminal events, including the Air India bombing, which involve members of South Asian and Sikh communities. [Link]
Regardless of the accurate statistics, nobody can deny that many Indo-Canadian youths are out of control. Stories like the following seem to have become all too common in Canadian media and are disturbing even given the media bias:
Everyone was having a good time until the fight began and someone started shooting. When a 29-year-old Surrey man exchanged insults with four young Indo-Canadian men at Garry T’s pub at 72 Avenue and Scott Road, the confrontation escalated and one of the Indo-Canadians produced a handgun and started shooting, inflicting multiple wounds – one of them fatal. The Dec. 8, 2005 incident is just one of many in Surrey and other Lower Mainland communities where a gunfight has erupted in a public place, with bullets being sprayed indiscriminately with no concern for innocent bystanders.According to police, the number of shooting incidents nearly doubled last year, fuelled by a “bad boy” mentality that sees young men with no criminal past packing handguns to bolster a tough-guy image.
As a result, disputes that would have ended in a fistfight or an exchange of insults are turning into potentially fatal encounters… Everyone was having a good time until the fight began and someone started shooting. [Link]
My ears are still ringing from last night’s Los Angeles rally on immigration… Ghetto birds hovered over head as I walked through the barren streets of Chinatown (barren that is, except for the motorcycle cops that lined the perimeter) to head to where the rally was taking place. Two things struck me as I entered the mass of people listening to the speakers at Olvera Street; the first is the overwhelming amount of red, white and blue flags I saw being waved. There was a Mexican flag here and there, but overwhelmingly it was brown fists holding American flags. The second was the air of festivity- the ladies were selling bacon wrapped death dogs by the rally route, the cotton candy man was walking around, and everyone was whooping and hollering. It was a celebration of the diversity that is America.
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South Asian Representin’ |
As I stood to the side, I saw every kind of ethnicity represented; Mexicans, Koreans, Filipinos. And then, I saw them. A group of the other brown immigrants, our brown immigrants marching down the street. South Asian Network, the premier organization serving the South Asian community of Southern California were the main organizers of this contingent of desis. On Sunday, they had organized a town hall meeting on the issue of immigration in ‘Little India’. About 300 people showed up with a diverse representation of age, class, nationalities, and races. The forum was broadcasted on a live feed on KPFK and everyone there was given a chance to speak on why this issue is important to them, leading to a dynamic far-ranging discussion. Last night at the Los Angeles rally, SAN was there marching the streets with a representation of South Asians Americans.
There’s always a thrill of excitement when marching in any rally, but there was the additional spark of walking with a group of people chanting in Bangla, Hindi, Urdu and Tamil in a sea of “Si se puede!” At one point, the two uncle-aged taxi workers started dancing around in circles in front of the Mexican-American teens drumming. No doubt it was great to walk in solidarity with every other immigrant out there, but to be able to chant “Inqilab Zindabad” finally made it feel like mine.
The immigrant issue is a South Asian issue, despite, as Abhi pointed out in the earlier post, the lack of framing in the media. We are after all, if not immigrants ourselves, the son or daughter of immigrants.
”All of what is happening around immigration reform in the country is not a Latino-originated movement at all,” said Deepa Iyer, executive director of the South Asian American Leaders of Tomorrow, based in Silver Spring, Md. ”There are also Asian and African groups working together. From where I stand, I feel that our community is greatly invested in the issue.” [link]
Every 6-8 months or so, I find myself in a certain, very frustrating conversation template with a random brown dude somewhere. The most recent was last Sunday night –
Him: “I can’t believe you think Social Security privitization is good? So how do you feel about the Iraq war?” (I forget exactly how the tide turned to politics but it was rather abrupt…)Me: “Look, I don’t want to get into this conversation, we’re out, having drinks, and it’s not necessary” (FWIW, you can gleam some of my position here)
“No, we are going to have this conversation. I’m guessing that your position here is just not very bright”
“I resent you calling me stupid… I’m willing to blame it on the wine and drop this whole thing right here”
“I can’t believe that you, as a brown dude support this”
“I don’t see what being brown has to do with this”
“Dude, you’re brown. Grow up. How old are you? Do you want to be white or something?”
“No. Clearly I’m out tonight with a desi crew and no one’s forcing me to be here.”
It goes downhill from there but rest assured gentle readers that I was very restrained and calmly pointed out to my interlocutor how insulting he was being towards me while he stormed up and had to grab a cigarette. As they say, in San Francisco, there’s still one last, openly persecuted minority…
Now, in an earlier, heavily commented thread, Ennis mused that it’s the height of hypocrisy for ABCD’s to get riled up when white folk embrace their culture — afterall what should race have to do with it? The white dude / gal who partakes the unbridled fun that is Bhangra makes “us” stronger. Heck, it even provides a 3rd party validation of sorts that, in this grand world of cultural exchange, we’ve created something of value.
I hope we can accept the reverse when some desi dudes embrace Locke & Friedman a bit more than Hugo Chavez & Arundhati Roy.
Every time someone claims that there are no communists left in China, or that the Chinese economy will surpass India’s in the long term, I point out the latest example of China micro-managing its most entrepreneurial sectors. (In contrast, India tends to overregulate old sectors and jumps into new ones, which government babus comprehend dimly, only when the moral police perceive political advantage.)
The Chinese government has now inserted itself into multiplayer game design. Gamers who spend more than three hours online will be stripped of points. Gamers who spend more than five hours online will be kicked off entirely:
The government in Beijing is reported to be introducing the controls to deter people from playing for longer than three consecutive hours… The new system will impose penalties on players who spend more than three hours playing a game by reducing the abilities of their characters. Gamers who spend more than five hours will have the abilities of their in-game character severely limited. Players will be forced to take a five-hour break before they can return to a game. [Link]… there’s the [South Korean] couple whose infant expired as they played games in an Internet cafe; there is the [South Korean] death that occurred from exhaustion; and there are even murders that have resulted from feuds begun online… [Link]
Even the U.S. may succumb, though more to tax than to nag:
In the near future, the IRS could require game developers to keep records of all the transactions that take place in virtual economies and tax players on their gains before any game currency is converted into dollars. [Link]
I actually see the wisdom in this. Maybe they can implement a one-hour cutoff on bad first dates, a two-hour cutoff on crappy TV, and a six-month term limit on despotic nanny regimes.
Personally I spend too much time in front of my PC. I look forward to the day when they send my ass a parking ticket. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I’d have to park it on alternate sides of the apartment for seat-sweeping.
“Hell-o!” she trills, happily.
“Ma! What! IÂ’m busy watching ‘Moses‘!”
(laughter)
“Sure you are. Listen, I need to ask you something.”
“You’re stopping me from being more Christian! Bad mummy!”
“Oh, please kochu. The church will collapse when you next walk in. Anyway, are you still in touch with your cousin Susan I…….?”
“Yeah, mos def. Why?”
“Her father is trying to reach me at home…”
“We’ve had the same phone number for 22 years–“
“Edi blonde, would you be quiet if you’re not going to think before talking?”
“Moses! I’m missing Moses! It’s a miniseries and you’re interrupting part one, yo.“
On Bombay’s Bandra seashore:
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Autorickshaw driver slumbers by the Bandstand wall, which is covered in GaudÃ-like cracked ceramic |
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No Romancing, Sitting in Obscene Postures or Kite Flying — well, there go my Bombay plans |
I was in Delhi last year when the Nepalese government decided to shut their doors to the outside world. No internet, no phone calls, no interaction with the outside world until they got the new government up and ready. It was an odd experience to be in a neighboring country and see things play out. Seems like things haven’t played out too well as people stormed the streets this past week.
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Maoist Rebels in Nepal |
Pro-democracy campaigners in Nepal vowed to defy curfews and launch a sixth day of mass protests on Tuesday against the king’s absolute rule as the monarch came under global pressure to end his crackdown. The street campaign is the most intense since King Gyanendra sacked the government and grabbed political power 14 months ago and some analysts say it is only a matter of time before he runs out of options…So far three people have been killed and more than 300 wounded in clashes as government forces opened fire on demonstrators, used rubber bullets and tear gas and beat them with batons. [link]
It’s not just curfews and storming the streets – freedom of speech has been greatly restricted…
Troops also beat up four Nepali journalists as they reported on the troubles on Monday, one local TV channel showed. The parties said that about 1,500 protesters had been detained.
Hmm. What do people do when they have something they want to say, and no one is letting them? You guessed it, they have a blog. United We Blog! for a Democratic Nepal has been blogging from the streets with some pretty intense words of the play by play of rioting activities.
More protesters gathered today than yesterday. Protesters blocked the entrance to the city that prevented them from entering Nayabazar. A command of Armed Police Force requested the demonstrators to backtrack to which they didn’t agree. Both parties didn’t move from their stance. One of the protesters, Prof. Krishna Khanal remarked that people’s participation in agitation would weaken the royal regime. Mani Kafle, a pro-democracy poet was reciting the verses. The mass looked enthusiastic.[link]
Considering the climate in Nepal, and the expected fear that the Nepalese journalist must be living in, I find this blog to be courageous. One can only imagine what kind of risk the bloggers are taking by posting these very detailed and frank posts up. Dinesh Wagle, one of the bloggers for this site, will be speaking at UCLA on Wednesday April 12th at 3pm.
Wagle will discuss the dangers and difficulties of being a reporter in a nation where journalists continue to face threats from Maoist insurgents as well as their own government. He will talk about how blogging has provided him and his colleagues a medium in which to tell Nepal’s stories to the world.[link]
If in the Los Angeles area, I would highly encourage you to stop by for what I expect to be an interesting talk. The riots in Nepal were to be called off on Sunday, but the latest word off the wire says they will continue indefinitely. Their blog will be a good resource to what is really going on within the borders of Nepal. Only time will tell if the ‘Democracy Fighters’ will be able to truly influence the King into stepping down, but with this level of rioting and rising global pressure on Nepal, I have a feeling that the time will be soon.
Gurminder Thind’s story is similar to that of the 6’6″ 295 lbs Nuvraj Singh Bassi who played for the Oregon ducks from 2002-2004(?). Like Thind, Bassi is a large Sikh from Canada, which is not known for producing football players. Nuvraj played for a Vancouver area high school, and was apparently decent:
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Once a mighty duck |
Proved to be an overpowering force on both sides of the ball for the Huskies, starting as a tight end and defensive end during the 1999 and 2000 campaigns while breaking into the starting rotation as a defender his sophomore season. The team captain earned all-Western Conference honors at both positions while acquiring defensive all-British Columbia Province acclaim. Hauled in four touchdowns for a program which ran the ball better than 60 percent of the time, finishing senior season with a 9-2 record and a loss in the playoff semifinals. [Link]
However, he struggled to find his place in college football and it doesn’t seem like he got to play much after his first two years:
The search to determine a position which is most compatible with his demeanor and physical skills has been one of his biggest obstacles to developing at the next level as the former offensive lineman returned to the defensive line for the start of the 2002 season. Gained valuable playing experience this past spring while injuries and rehab kept more experienced hands on the sidelines. Will now try to transfer those repetitions into a more prolific role as a junior. Began his tenure as a defensive tackle before being shifted across the line of scrimmage two years ago. Recorded two of his three Spring Game tackles unassisted. Offseason workouts will go a long ways towards determining his future fate. [Link]
I remember him not because of his football prowess, but because he was a keshdhari football player (unlike Thind) which led to treatment like this at the Sun Bowl:A comedian at a Sun Bowl event yelled that he had “found Osama”
During his routine, the comedian, Freddy Soto, remarked that the University of Oregon football team is diverse. Mr. Soto then stated said, “Where’s that guy?” as he made a circle around your head to indicate that the person to whom who he was referring wears a turban. When Nuvraj Singh raised his hand, Mr. Soto yelled that he had found “Osama Bin Laden.” [Link]
There are good reasons why some people didn’t find that joke funny.
After college, in 2005, he was drafted in the fifth round by the BC Lions. He seems to have been cut after a season, however, because he’s not listed on their roster now. Does anybody out there know what happened and what he’s up to these days?
p.s. the Lions do have Fiji born desi Bobby Singh playing for them…
Related posts: The Thind Decision
