Monthly Archives: August 2007

Galvanized

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This is the best tip I have ever received (a million thanks, Zuni). From Vinay, himself:

Good news everyone. I found a match. It is not a perfect match but it is a 9/10 match. The donor is extremely committed. His commitment is so strong that he was willing to pre-pone his stem cell donation to fit my doctor’s recommendations. I can’t express how much this means to me. In the past I wrote about how one of the potential donors became “unavailable” due to a lack of family support. This is not the case here. You, as volunteers and activists, deserve the credit in the change in our community’s mentality and their conviction to be a COMMITTED DONOR.
Tomorrow morning I will begin my journey into the transplant process. I will be admitted and have several procedures done, including placement of 2 Hickman catheters. The transplant will be a long and arduous process but your support and well wishes will get me through these difficult times. I love reading all the “show of support” comments and it really brightens my spirits.
Team Vinay should be proud of all it has accomplished. In the short few months that you all have been active, we have registered over 23,000 South Asians. This is clearly over a 20% increase to the existing number of S. Asians on the registry. And as you may know a few of the marrow registrants through Team Vinay drives have already been contacted as being potential donors for others in our community. Through your tireless efforts we have also achieved a few more significant goals. Team Vinay, working along with NMDP, is responsible for implementing a protocol for culturally competent callbacks for potential S. Asian donors. Another wonderful outcome is the creation of a S. Asian specific website that will serve as a sustainable informational and educational tool for our community for the years to come. The content of the website is growing and will include input from key Team Vinay members – it should be up and running next month!
This past week has been amazing. I have enjoyed my short yet fulfilling week at home, spending time with Rashmi and other family and friends. We watched Rush Hour 3, had a BBQ and played dominoes. Thank you all again for your unwavering support and well wishes. Much love to you all; Vinay. [HelpVinay.org]

What an exquisitely emotional moment.

Put aside, for a mere second, the pain of division among the diverse strains of our community, the separateness of our faiths, the suspicion and cynicism with which we behold and other each other.

We did it.

Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Christian, Punjabi, Tamil, Gujurati, Kashmiri, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Nepali…I saw it with my own eyes. At event after event, you stepped forward, to give the tiniest bit of yourself, with the intention of saving a stranger’s life. The power of this community is breathtaking, when we are willing to come together, for a cause. Thank you, mutineers. For every tiny thing which you do, which affects the world in ways you may never or cannot possibly know, thank you. Continue reading →

Stop stepping on books, Payless, BOGO be damned [UPDATED]

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[Update: Uberdesi kindly sent us the link for the ad which inspired it all. Now you can freak out, too!]

The commercial barely disturbed my reverie; I’m thinking about how much I hate moving, and that is exactly what I’ll be doing at work tomorrow, as we prepare for some renovating which couldn’t come at a worse time. At first, I can’t figure out what this spot is advertising, it looks like college kids, seems to focus on shoes and just as I decide that it must be something to do with the latter, I see it.

A girl, in somewhat cute, patent, MaryJane-esque shoes, in a library like setting…using a stack of exactly and approximately half-a-dozen books four books to step on, to reach a higher shelf. Or something. My brain shorts, because I’m so shocked and my inner pragmatist is all, “That’s so unstable! You’re asking for a sprained ankle.” The thought which immediately chases that maternal scolding is, “Eeeek, that’s not very respectful.” And that is why the shoes are “somewhat” cute; I can’t disassociate their shiny happiness from the taboo, the disrespect.

It wasn’t always like this.

Believe it or not, despite all the other random Hindu-lite rituals I grew up with, I never was scolded for touching a book with my feet. I think this had to do with two things:

1) I loved books so much to begin with and was very careful with them, since I’m vaguely OCD about things getting dirty or ruined

2) My room wasn’t so cramped that books were ever on the floor. They were on shelves. Or my desk. Or my bedside table. The floor was for my clothes, much to my parents’ disgust.

I’m surprised that this is also something I didn’t learn from my sundry collection of Hindu ex-boyfriends, though I vaguely remember hearing about it once in a while. For whatever reason, it wasn’t expanded upon or elucidated.

It was you who informed me of this prohibition against disrespect, and it is you whom I think of, in my tiny studio apartment, when I’m trying to re-organize my bookshelves. I take everything out and stack it on the floor, because there’s no other place to put anything and then I dust, rearrange, etc…but once in a while, especially now when I’m hobbling so awkwardly, if my feet even graze the tiniest part of a book or magazine, I freeze, feel guilty and then think of these cultural mores.

Thanks, mutineers. You’ve given me one more thing to get neurotic about…aww, you shouldn’t have. 😉

My high-level point is, this website has changed how I consider or interpret things, in a significant way. I will never think of the Sepoy Mutiny, the word “mutineer”, paneer dosas, Lemurians, ketchup, Scythians or a thousand other things without being reminded of this space.

That’s why when one of you emailed us a tip, which said:

A quiz on Indian independence and the first question is quite, ahem, mutinous.

…which pointed us to a brief, enlightening quiz in the Economist, I smiled and had to see it for myself. Indeed, the first question was special and it’s why I wrote all of this, because I love words and I find them powerful.

When a word’s definition is altered so dramatically, it’s not trivial, not to me. The last word of the first question of that quiz now means something very precious, and it always will. I thought you should know that, because I’m grateful to you for amending the dictionary in my brain, to accommodate such a delightful mutation.

Oh, and in case you’re wondering, I got a “seven”. 😉 Continue reading →

Intel’s "slave ship" in Indian harbor

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This print advertisement by Intel has been causing quite a stir of late [via Huffington Post]. It seems to convey the idea that owning an Intel chip will help you tackle the same amount of work as you could with a ship of slaves (while making you feel powerful):

I almost fell out of my seat when I saw Intel’s new advertising campaign. It shows six bowing African American athletes before a chino-clad, oxford-shirted white manager with the slug: “Maximize the power of your employees.” This ad reminds me of a slave-ship, and it’s hard to imagine the same imagery did not come to mind for the savvy ad exec that created it…

Intel is not just promoting insensitive images, it’s also leading a signature drive for a California ballot measure that would eliminate class action lawsuits over civil rights issues. Intel’s board of directors have been sent 25,000 faxes calling upon the company to withdraw that pending ballot measure. [Link]

Continue reading →

Ripped Asunder

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India and Pakistan are now 60 years old, as is the bloody partition that created them. My father’s family was caught up in what became arguably the largest mass migration in history: 14.5 million people were moved, roughly the same number in each direction, and somewhere between 500,000 and one million of them died in the process.

Because independence was declared prior to the actual Partition, it was up to the new governments of India and Pakistan to keep public order. No large population movements were contemplated; the plan called for safeguards for minorities on both sides of the new state line. It was an impossible task, at which both states failed. There was a complete breakdown of law and order [Link]

The management of partition was badly botched; if you think Brownie did a heck of a job, Mounty makes him look like a paragon of engagement and sensitivity. Mountbatten insisted that the partition line be drawn in only six weeks! Think of how slowly the US government moves today, and that will give you a sense of how ridiculous and uncaring that deadline was. The line was drawn by Sir Cyril Radcliffe; this is what his private secretary, Christopher Beaumont, had to say about the process:

“The viceroy, Mountbatten, must take the blame – though not the sole blame – for the massacres in the Punjab in which between 500,000 to a million men, women and children perished,” he writes. “The handover of power was done too quickly…”

… it was “irresponsible” of Lord Mountbatten to insist that Beaumont complete the boundary within a six-week deadline – despite his protests. [Link]

Mountbatten was a pretty boy from a royal family whose track record during WWII led him to be “known in the British Admiralty as the Master of Disaster.” [Link] His track record in India seems similar – he was charming and glib, but unconcerned about the feasibility of plans or the lives which would be lost.

As Viceroy of India, he advanced the date of independence by nine months (no reason was ever given), making the problems associated with partition worse. Critics argue that he foresaw bloodshed and didn’t want it to happen on British watch; he was willing to make things worse as a form of CYA rather than take responsibility for the situation.

Continue reading →

Yeh Hum Naheen

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While on the subject of pop culture as a force for Good, I thought it would be interesting to point mutineers at a current chart topping song in Pakistan. “Yeh Hum Naheen” (“This is Not Us”) has been making waves and the title is apparently becoming a catch phrase of sorts.

Thanks to the magic of YouTube, we present it here with English subtitles –

Personally, the tune doesn’t move me too much but the message kicks ass….

Continue reading →

DC SMeetup: a Tardy Writeup of Lucky no. 7

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Those who are persistent eventually defeat even the steeliest resolve to procrastinate. I keed. DC’s last meetup was massive and most definitely fun. We descended upon Amma like a Mongol horde, pillaging every bit of delicious Southie food we spied. Oh, wait…the Mongols ate North Indian foo-…never mind.

Amma made like old skool Vanessa and went and saved the best for last— even though he wasn’t there, YoDad arranged dessert for everyone at the meetup. We gobbled gulab jamuns, much to our collective surprise and delight, thanks to his thoughtful planning. New York may have the cool factor, SF may be hipster heaven, but DC has Abhi’s father, a.k.a. the Grandfather of the Mutiny. Take THAT, other cities!

And now, the moment one of you named No Desh has been waiting for: tabla roll, please…the Flickr photoset for D.C.’s seventh meetup has been hurriedly finished (i.e. the pics were split between two cameras, and for the last 20 mins, I was frantically DLing two dozen files, only to immediately upload them to the “official album”).

All evidence which could destroy potential Senate campaigns is available for your amusement via this “public” link. Aw, come on, people…it’s only six weeks late. Unless you’re a girl and in college, that’s never a huge problem. 😉

SM Meetups in DC– hot like your Amma’s meen kari, ya heard? Continue reading →

Watch out now!

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Oh, we zimbly HAVE to play the caption game with the picture below. It was thoughtfully submitted via a tip to our news tab from Msichana (thanks!)

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Granny, get your gun: Ladies of the Village Defense Committee squeeze off a few AK-47 bursts during training by the Indian army in Sariya, India. [SFgate]

I don’t mean to make light of serious issues like empowering women or self defense and I wish I didn’t have to explicitly declare that in my post, but there you go, in case you needed me to do so. Having reluctantly typed all that, I will return to the gleeful state I was in when I first gazed at this– what a capture! Now you all caption away. 🙂

Previous editions of caption-palooza: onnu, rendu, moonu, naalu… Continue reading →

It All Came from India, Ch LVIX

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So here’s another piece of ammo for your “everything came from India” uncle –

Newton’s Infinite Series: We heard it in Malayalam first

NEW DELHI: A group of Malayali scholars had predated a ground-breaking Newton ‘discovery’ by over 250 years, according a research paper published on Monday.

The team of researchers from the Universities of Manchester and Exeter reveal that the ‘Kerala School’ identified the ‘infinite series’- one of the basic components of calculus – in about 1350.

And thus, by discovering one of the building blocks of calculus first, Mallu’s used the knowledge to, uh, well, uh, I’m not quite sure…. The researchers were quick to note that this discovery shouldn’t be used to reduce Newton’s stature but instead, add some brown names to the pantheon of genius –

[Dr George Gheverghese Joseph, one of the researcher and Honorary Reader, School of Education at The University of Manchester said,] “The brilliance of Newton’s work at the end of the seventeenth century stands undiminished – especially when it came to the algorithms of calculus.

“But other names from the Kerala School, notably Madhava, Valloppillil, and Nilakantha, should stand shoulder to shoulder with him as they discovered the other great component of calculus- infinite series.

However, Dr. Joseph does note that perhaps, just perhaps, Newton wasn’t inspired by the proverbial apple at all –

…there is strong circumstantial evidence that the Indians passed on their discoveries to mathematically knowledgeable Jesuit missionaries who visited India during the fifteenth century.

That knowledge, they argue, may have eventually been passed on to Newton himself.

Let the attribution games begin! (Hat tip – Venkat & Sindhya)

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Countdown to NYC – T-minus 4 Days

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A gentle reminder that the Eastside leg of the Mutineer Road Tour is this Saturday, Aug 18 in NYC. Come one, come all – lurkers, commentors, straight, gay, white, brown, yellow, purple, macaca, married, single, polygamous, polyamorous, uptown, downtown, lovers, haters, and all in between.

Festivities start a tad on the early side (5pm) so you have time to visit the meetup and duck out for dinner if you don’t want your RealLife friends to know about your Real friends.

Saturday, August 18 New York City

5pm – ???

Verlaine

110 Rivington St
(b/t Essex & Ludlow)
(212) 614-2494

Special Bonus – this meetup will be co-sponsored by our good friends at Ultrabrown.

And for those who can’t make it to NYC, hopefully we’ll see you in SF next weekend…

Continue reading →