It’s not the Sepia Mutiny model to just post news items without comment, but sometimes the material doesn’t leave us with much to add. With that said, here are the latest developments in Bombay dining:
NAVI MUMBAI: A new restaurant at Kharghar has actually been named as Hitler’s Cross and it was inaugurated by the who’s who of Navi Mumbai on Friday evening.
A huge poster of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler was put at the inauguration function of the restaurant in sector 4 of Kharghar, much to the surprise of the invitees.
Actor Murli Sharma, who has featured in films like Apharan and Teesri Ankh, was one of the guests present at the inauguration. “I found the huge posters of Hitler at the restaurant amusing. That’s all I can say,” he told TOI over phone.
When asked if he felt disturbed by the name of the restaurant, Sharma said: “I am not really agitated as I have not read much about the man (Hitler). However, from what I know about Hitler, I find this name rather amusing.”
Important dignitaries such as Navi Mumbai mayor Manisha Bhoir and former mayor Sanjeev Naik were also invited as chief guests to the restaurant by one Sablok Builders group, who are reportedly behind the management of Hitlers Cross.
A Reuters report picked up by DNA has more:
“We wanted to be different. This is one name that will stay in people’s minds,” owner Punit Shablok said.
“We are not promoting Hitler. But we want to tell people we are different in the way he was different.“…
“This place is not about wars or crimes, but where people come to relax and enjoy a meal,” said restaurant manager Fatima Kabani, adding that they were planning to turn the eatery’s name into a brand with more branches in Mumbai.”
Someone in Mumbai is going to have to do the investigating on this. A field report from Manish, perhaps?
most powerful weapon one has is the will of the people. as he put it one time, which is very apprapo for all of us: “No matter how powerful ones armies, in order to enter a country one needs the goodwill of the people”
yes, sure, but the point about hitler being appointed via byzantine machinations in the german electoral system is often used to show that the nazi party did not have popular legitimacy. a majority of germans never voted to them (i think they topped out at 35%).
SatyaP:
sorry SatyaP, the sarcastic #152 was written b/f you softened your tone.
The Pakhtun is in our blood, as is the Turk, both physically more europid than sudras and dalits, who have not contributed as much to the cultures, maybe because of bad luck have having to do with genetics/IQ or injustices.
Dude, you’re out of your mind. Everyone knows Pakistani’s inbreed to idiocy. In the UK muslims perform well below everyone else on the a levels and o levels, so we can posit that the cultural practices of islam lead to a low iq. The UK had to issue a health warning to the community there – and its an untalked about causal factor in uk jihadism. Whereas the “sudra” South Indians have built a knowldege industry 😉
“Well, i’ll put it this way: jews aren’t exactly loved either.”
Name one ethnicity.., or pseudo-ethnicity that is.
um, chick pea? I think that’s “kadafi’s healthy wrap bistro — grand reopening! completely remodeled! now back from bankruptcy!”
It’s OK Manju – but your views still trouble me – the way you describe Che still seems lifted from Rush et al…
Why, as a brown-ass indian person, do you feel this way? Our people have been exploited through the ages like a motherfucker (and by people I mean the “wretched” you speak of) – I find solidarity with what Che was doing for his peeps, even if I do not agree with all his views/actions (though you have taken some liberties there). All I can think, is that you are/were part of the elite who stands to lose (literally or figuratively) based on such populist views….i know many such desis.
I find solidarity with what Che was doing for his peeps
look, don’t make this about rush. no one is perfect. but many of the secular saints on the modern left have many blemishes. if a conservative icon talked about the congolese the way che described them in his diaries there’d be hell to pay. comparing che to hitler was dumb. but there is something creepy about the glamorization of violent radicals who had no compunction about crushing people underfoot for the sake of their “big dream.”
Our people have been exploited through the ages like a motherfucker
our people? puleez. some of my ancestors burned the temples of my some of other ancestors. my recent ancestors received their sinecures and peasant renters by mughal and british fiat.
the rhetoric of exploitation suits the scions of enslaved africans. it certainly doesn’t suit me, and it doesn’t suit many of those here at SM. many of us come form privileged backgrounds in the old country and remain so in the new country, and there are many poor whites who would pay a pretty penny for my white collar brown ass’s life. i’ve experienced racism, but i wouldn’t trade my life for a second for the typical white american.
To give it a 32-year-old-fob-bengali-middle-class-bangla-medium-free-public-school perspective, the hostility against Hitler and Nazism was very muted when and where I grew up and it was not that rare to find fascination and almost an admiration for him in some circles. History of Indian freedom struggle including Netaji Subhash Bose’s enemy’s-enemy-my-friend tactics was taught vigorously and Jewish genocide was mostly a non-event. The depth and width of the awareness of Holocaust in American mindset was a surprise to me when I came to US nine years ago. I am sure West Bengal’s fascination with socialism and communism and Subhash Bose being a son-of-the-soil bias this observation quite a bit, but maybe it holds some value for other parts of India.
From Hazaaron Khwaishein Aise – when a leftist leader compares the local politician/thug with Hitler in a political rally, one villager asks another – “iye Hitler kaun hai” (who is this Hitler?) and the other villager replies – “maloom nahi, hamara gaonka nahin hai” (don’t know, not from my village).
don’t know, not from my village
LOL.
i’ve experienced racism, but i wouldn’t trade my life for a second for the typical white american.
That makes two of us! 😉
This is not a first. THIS IS NOT A FIRST. My friend (a perfectly happy rowdy Punjabi) in New Delhi calls his Chihuahua-like dog ‘Hitler’ and even makes him wear a silly red t-shirt with a Swastika sometimes. I’ve told him he’ll run into shit with the Swastika … but … then the guy’s own name is ‘Honey’. Serious.
have been an occasional lurker here for a while but figured i’d finally say something…
the reaction seems kind of way over the top…i mean you guys (chick pea, saheli) have no problems ‘educating’ the americans around you about the swastika but the moment some dude in mumbai names his restatraunt hitler you flip out and start acting as though it was the end of the world?
and just to clear up any possible misconceptions…ignorance in india isnt hard to come by…forget about knowing hitler i have met the mothers of north indian friends of mine who believe the whole of south india consists of madras, and couldnt name a single language spoken down there…so some ignorant jackass CAN have enough cash to open a place called hitler with little idea of what it actually means just the same way that britney spears and K-Fed have more cash then most of us can dream of getting our hands on without knowing what year this is
so if it hurts so much go ‘educate’ these people the same way you educated the americans around you but cut the sanctimonious indians-are-racist speech…i know they are but i think you can do better than some restaraunt in mumbai
Cerealkiller, i LUV your handle…. (a reisling tonight)
razib – you make points trying to be fair and balanced about right and left (i did not say good points), but you are so clinical about all this, you seem to have lost much of your humanity.
by the way, do you actually have a job? – you seem to post on here so often, with such exuberance (hit refresh repeatedly lately?), one may assume you have nothing better to do.
my job involves the computer. do you know what tabbed browsing is? if not, download firefox 🙂
what does tabbed browsing and firefox have to do with hitting refresh with obsessive vigor??
if you (and some of the wingnut posters here) are representative of some semblance of a brown “mutiny,” i dunno, i am ashamed of being brown.
if you (and some of the wingnut posters here) are representative of some semblance of a brown “mutiny,” i dunno, i am ashamed of being brown.
LOL. d00d, be proud of who you are. mebee it should give you perspective on identifying closely with any “community.”
A very pertinent paragraph from the link Vikram gave.
Dont jump to conclusions that I admire Hitler.
razib wrote:
Why is Western History your history? I thought you are ethnically Bangladeshi.
Bottomline: It’s not ignorance, which would be not knowing about Hitler at all (aka, “he’s not from my village”), but globalization-led half-knowledge. You get that a lot in up-and-rising Asia, in Bombay, in Singapore, Hong Kong, Seoul and so on; people have heard about, or seen, all these firang-log symbols, and have decided to try it out as a flavour. Which is why I can understand when the manager said that all that they were trying to do was be different, even though I can’t exactly approve of eating out amidst Nazi insignia.
Point is, as India opens up even more, expect to see more of these cringe-worthy attempts at standing out.
Incidentally, thought I’d point this out, but we fought on both sides of the war, in both the Asian and European/African theaters. Military exercises were, you must realize, one of our first outsourcing gigs, mostly an off-shoot of our East India Company heritage.
bengali,
by belief and not by blood shall the truth of you be known to your fellow man.
i’m american. by accepting that citizenship (i’m naturalized) i took upon the sins and greatness of this country. just as my ancestors turned their backs on their hindu cultural history and accepted a muslim one, i do the same. no difference.
and for that matter, when my ancestors shed their tribal gods for the gods that the brahmins brought with them from the west. man isn’t born, he’s created.
what does tabbed browsing and firefox have to do with hitting refresh with obsessive vigor??
dude, you gotta hit refresh often, the comments keep jumping in. You been spying The Meter (Sitemeter)? This site is quite popular with well over 4M visits, though even that’s hardly worth mentioning comparitive to such blogs as Malkins. Generally, when a blog is over 7 million visits, I would reconsider the quality of it’s material. And yes, Firefox is da bomb, lol
i’m american. by accepting that citizenship (i’m naturalized) i took upon the sins and greatness of this country.
Applause!
LOL dude, aren’t you the one who popularized the term sand n. You will always be a sand n.
LOL dude, aren’t you the one who popularized the term sand n. You will always be a sand n.
being an american and a sand n**** aren’t disjoint.
i’m american. by accepting that citizenship (i’m naturalized) i took upon the sins and greatness of this country.
razib, funny i don’t see it the same. I have taken no such identification with Amrikka. Not particularly because it’s western per se, but because of the kind of country it is, what I believe it $tands for.
Surely ‘my history’ means the history of my ancestors. What THEY did is ‘my history’. When one accepts citizenship they become part of the future history of the nation, they cannot retrospectively be part of the past just by adopting the same beliefs!
if you want to parse the issue of identity precisely, i would say it this way
but should that element be judged the sum of my our fellow citizens, and the sum of republic? i say no.
in relation to by talk about sand n****,
Surely ‘my history’ means the history of my ancestors. What THEY did is ‘my history’. When one accepts citizenship they become part of the future history of the nation, they cannot retrospectively be part of the past just by adopting the same beliefs!
1) this is exactly what jews assert when one converts to that religion
2) generations of americans have lived this out. the history of their family might start at ellis island, but the history of their identity as americans goes farther back
3) you don’t know the history of your ancestors with perfect accuracy, and, you bias your perception of your ancestors toward a particular direction.
identity is not like genetics, you can’t read off a sequence of DNA. your own perception of your history is created by the choices you make.
“4m visits” here???? pageviews perhaps (And that even sounds a stretch), not visits. and “malkins”?? why do you mention her of all people, RK Khan?
razib – wtf are you talking about with this “when my ancestors shed their tribal gods for the gods that the brahmins brought with them from the west. man isn’t born, he’s created” rhetoric – you are pushing it man. and with the whole “i’m american. by accepting that citizenship (i’m naturalized) i took upon the sins and greatness of this country.” you sound like a bit of a sand macaca (though a hedging one)….
i guess a lotta ppl have mixed up totalitarianism and communism .. communism , in its roots, had pretty decent objectives .. how it was handled, was a different issue !
i took upon the sins and greatness
I feel that there is no obligation for the adoption of sins and obligations. I, as the “Other”, have absolutely nothing to do with WASP enslavement of “negroes” or the progress this country has made becoming an imperialist econ-cultural superpower. Amerikkans are “not my people”. In fact, I am not really sure whose people they are, or what one is.
A large part of your identity does come from genetics. Are you saying you learnt nothing from your parents?
identity is not like genetics, you can’t read off a sequence of DNA. your own perception of your history is created by the choices you make.
But being brown IS genetics. You are South Asian. Period. (If youre not then I take that back).
As a naturalized citizen, you cannot even claim birth in this land. so in popular perceptions I would argue youre still considered a foreigner by the great majority. and please, popular perceptions matter.
you are also constitutionally constrained, you can’t become President, so you’re less of a citizen than the born Ams. pragmatically no sand n***can become President, but still, the constraint is real.
so in popular perceptions I would argue youre still considered a foreigner by the great majority. and please, popular perceptions matter.
not the great majority. i’ve lived in this country for 25 years. there’s been a big change. i only get “what country are you from?” from the 40 & older set.
“Are you saying you learnt nothing from your parents?”
what you “learnt” (sic), aka identity, is not genetics, other features (like your face, skin, height, etc.) are.
Are you saying you learnt nothing from your parents?
that isn’t that far off.
who i am is far more in marcus aurelius’ meditations than the hanafi commentary which is my “genetic” heritage.
“4m visits” here???? pageviews perhaps (And that even sounds a stretch), not visits. and “malkins”?? why do you mention her of all people, RK Khan?
see for yourself
4mm visits TO DATE, since this includes multiple counts of the all regulars, it makes sense – i thought you were referring to a more frequent time period rk khan.
hm. just to be clear on something: about 50% of personality variation is genetic, and about 10% is attrituable to parental socialization. the other 40% is unaccounted for. judith rich harris in her book the nurture assumption offered the hypothesis that that 40% is peer group socialization. so, my own personal experience is that my parents did shape, but it was through genetics. i do exhibit some of their personality traits. but in terms of values i have never shared their attitudes or perspectives.
Are you saying you learnt nothing from your parents?
that isn’t that far off.
Razib Bhai,
You are an American citizen because of your parents unless you were a Doggie Houser, and you were given green card for your child prodiginess, then I stand corrected.
You are an American, you have ownership on this land, present, and future. However, you cannot claim being any part of the “blood and sweat” for Civil War, Dust Bowl, WW I, Vietnam War, WW II. I do not think your ancestors were running with Omar Bradley on Omaha beach or General MacArthur in Philippines.
Maybe, with Montgomery in North Africa. Or in the French trenches during WW I.
However, you can claim all ownership to equally rich history and the “blood and sweat” from South Asia: you pick and choose. Unless, you want nothing of it, well then, I am sorry.
its bin a while since i felt like dropping my ‘do paisa’ worth…..
political correctness is kinda a non-entity back in the des(open caste-wars,jokes on the physically challenegd in movies,sardar jokes,jokes on east asians in movies etc are examples)…and u cant actually take the idea of political correctness in isolation……political correctness comes from being a mature and evolved(loaded words i know) society in general and fobland is a million light years away from being one….
there are very few things from india that shock or surprise me and even though this one did not actually shock,it still made my guts wrench at the brazen stupidity…….f*cking morons….
hm. just to be clear on something: about 50% of personality variation is genetic, and about 10% is attrituable to parental socialization. the other 40% is unaccounted for. judith rich harris in her book the nurture assumption offered the hypothesis that that 40% is peer group socialization.
razib, do you know how much weight Harris’ hypothesis gets? Does it seem like she’s really on the money?
kush,
you are using two standards. there are many americans whose ancestors for whatever reason not have fought in this war and that war. so what? why can i claim all of south asian history? my family didn’t go through partition in any stressful way. my family didn’t fight in any wars, we were landed gentry who provided the ulams and kazis when necessary. our hands were soft, and our burdens were minimal. my family didn’t fight the british when they came, they simply were reconfirmed in their ‘ownership’ to a plot of land which the mughals had provided. do the 50% of american’s whose ancestors were not here in 1776 have no connection to the declaration of independence? can’t the jewish civil rights workers claim kinship with the abolitions of the 1850s in fighthing for social justice because their ancestors were in a shtetl in eastern europe? can’t black americans take any pride in the revolution even if their ancestors were slaves who secretly wished to join the tories who promised freedom? are rajiv gandhi’s children as equally attached to the struggles of the italian garibaldi or to their grandfather? does 1/2 genetic inheritance of italian blood mean that italian history is as equally important in their lives?
razib, do you know how much weight Harris’ hypothesis gets? Does it seem like she’s really on the money?
there’s nothing better. but i wouldn’t bet the house. (and i consider judith a friend, so that tells you you need to cautious about taking her hypothesis as scripture as some have)
There is just no excuse for this kind of obnoxious behaviour. If the owners did it to attract attention via shock value – well, they succeeded. But at what price?
You are an American, you have ownership on this land, present, and future.
although your comment isn’t addressed to me, I will bite: sir, I do not have ownership of any part of this land as it really all belongs to gov. I believe the Gov can knock me off any part of land I breath on. If they want land, they will take. Eminent domain and all. They will coerse me off if they feel it necessary. Culturally speaking, I do not own a gram of this land either. Don’t believe the national Anthem/”This land is your land” hype. Americans aren’t united → we are all a bunch of strangers.
there’s nothing better. but i wouldn’t bet the house.
Still doesn’t exactly tell me just how good it is, but i will go with what you say. thanks.
razib,
I am using war as a “baptized by the fire” analogy – whether your parents were gentry or inquilabi, it does not matter at all. They belong to South Asia and have full ownership over its history.
You can feel full pride/ sorrow and kinship to the American past whether you were part of it or not. However, saying the “Civil War” is your history (had no stake or involvement whatsover at that time), and “Bengal famine” (affected your family) is not getting little out of hand IMO. I always thought Americans usually are very clear about when their ancestors arrived, when you discuss history with them.
You have every right for kinship but it all started when you claimed “western history” was your history.
Religous kinship (you gave examples of Jews), and being part of history are entirely different things. Anyhow, do not take me too seriously.