I was catching up on news at Huffington Post this afternoon when I came across this really disturbing (yet oddly compelling) music video by Devendra Banhart featuring his hottie girlfriend, actress Natalie Portman. I like that the video (to his song “Carmensita”) even starts out like an authentic Bollywood movie. Even though I don’t see what she sees in this disheveled mess of a Venezuelan “folk rocker,” I thank him for the new images of Portman he’s now put forever into my mind. The rest of the video (except for Natalie) is a mess of religion, mythology, and camp (Nina Paley did it better) and I can’t wait to see if the fundamentalists start rioting somewhere in the world.
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p>Here are the lyrics in Spanish. Now I’m just afraid to see the eventual YouTube clip of Arnold that you know is coming.
Update: Looks like Manish at Ultrabrown took the time to translate, hoping to find deeper meaning perhaps 
I do find their behavior obnoxious and most Thais would also agree. But the Indians who tolerate it include the Kashmiri Muslim shopkeepers you find all over the tourist circuit. It’s not politics, Yankeephilia or the Hindu-Zionist conspiracy certain people are so fond of talking about. It’s because your avg Israeli, even fresh out of the service, has more money to spend than your average desi. And from what I hear Israelis constitute the largest segment of leisure travelers in India.
My feathers are ruffled? Really? Oh you mean because Natalie picked this guy over…me? Yes, you are right.
I thought the same thing, but then maybe a little pubic peekaboo is what he intended. Goes with the hippie vibe. Speaking of hippie vibes, Israeli tourists in Goa have a world unto themselves and it’s very much in that vein. there are signs in Hebrew at some of the beaches down there. I was stuck at a bus stop at Baga Beach with a Israeli guy who looks exactly like Devendra in the video who was even dressed like a sadhu while the whole time he was shooting up and passing out.
51 · Nesha said
It’s not just in India or Thailand that they’re like that; they’re douchebags (and I mean that in the nicest way) in Israel too. It’s not uncommon to see an Israeli screaming at a vendor for half an hour in Shuk Ha-Carmel, the largest open air market in Tel Aviv, to lower the price by a shekel. Along with Russians, they possess the “rude” characteristics (never smiling, talking loudly in your face to the point of screaming, etc.) that put them in stark contrast to the cultures of India and the Middle East where politeness and hospitality are valued, even if you’re grossly ripping off the firangi
What a load of crap. Like Gujus don’t try to “lower the price by a shekel” (I’m Guju)? Your whole statement is overgeneralized jingoistic garbage.
I’ve traveled enough to know that many locals don’t like Israeli tourists but not because of the reasons you mention. The reason is that the vast majority of these tourists are young “kids” that have just come off military duty (in a tense part of the world) and are looking to blow off steam afterward. Young people coming off military duty make obnoxious tourists no matter where they are from (especially when it is mandatory military service). So please, stop with the blatant Israelis=Jews=cheap stereotyping
yeah, johnny valker brown is right. that’s just the israeli way..loud and in your face and they just might ask you how much money you make. not unlike an uncleji asking you what your father does, or the time i took my relatives saks 5th avenue and they sat on the floor…no disrespect intended toward the natives.
and if they act any different there will certainly be some HMFstein around who’ll pop up and accuse them of being a white-washed uncle sol. so, might as well keep it real.
51 · Nesha said
You really really really need to brush up on not only your history but also on your current affairs. That is the single most uninformed and inspid post I’ve seen on this website, other than some guy named Kannan last year on Indian guys dating American girls.
56 · Wild Elephant said
wrong. i never said other people don’t bargain even over trivial matters (i’m Gujarati as well), but i’ve lived long enough in Israel to note key cultural differences. if you don’t believe me, go to any bus/train station in Israel and wait in line patiently to buy a ticket and you’ll soon have people shoving you aside without even saying “Slicha” (excuse me).
59 · Johnny Valker said
Have you ever tried buying a “General” ticket at any major railway station in India?
Or stood in any line anywhere in India for that matter?!? His answer has got to be “no.”
60 · RahulD said
after posting, i realized that line jumping wasn’t limited to Israel lol. my point was that shouting at strangers and walking around without smiling are common throughout Israel. they think we’re crazy/stupid for overusing “please” “thank you” and “Excuse me” and smiling at every stranger we see. my first week there i was wondering why people were yelling at me when i was just asking for directions lol. i’m not denying that racism among the ganja inundated Israelis in India exists, but i was trying to put that poster’s “Israeli yelling at sari vendor” in perspective.
Rahul,
My knowledge of current affairs is perfectly fine. It is amusing to see how these soldiers go from the occupied territories into India, continue their much notched down abusive behavior, and to observe middle-class Indians treat them like the second coming of Vishnu. I have been to the West Bank, so the level of disgust I saw towards Indians from these Israelis was very familiar.
FYI, my Japanese friends and I (all tiny women) stepped in to defend the poor shop keeper, who was poor enough to have to acquiesce to the torrent of abuse unleashed on him, while affluent Indians responded deferentially to the abusers.
When your people are being disrespected, speak up or STFU. Indian behavior around white shahibs is well known; for me and my Japanese friends, it was just sad to watch.
Your reaction is vapid and typical of what I expected.
Anyway, I like this site, so I will not feed a troll like you.
63 · Nesha said
what kinda Israelis didja run into? most in Israel proper were actually fond of Indian movies and Tel Aviv clubs regularly spin Indian music. although the settlers in the West Bank think anyone a shade lighter than them, including Mizrahi Jews, must be Palestinian terrorists and thus a valid target. Since you’ve been there, you know what I mean lol.
freddy mercury would never do this to us
Freddy was openly gay but a closeted desi. Desis are the people that dare not speak their name
63 · Nesha said
Well the big problem with Indian culture these days is exemplified in both your anecdote about the “affluent Indians” and your statement about me. Who will show us respect when we spend half our time insulting each other.
I will give you that you have been to Israel and I have not. But I have spent my last 4 years researching the middle east for various purposes and have met enough people from there to have a lasting respect for anyone who is Israeli and in their military.
India was the only secular nation that voted against the formation of Israel, this is a stain on the Indian government’s legacy we will never live down. I have seen the Israeli tourist spots in India, and if you have read any of the stories in Outlook, Frontline or India Today over the years – they talk about the tourist spots being that way because the “brokers” actually find the Israelis better behaved and less trouble than large Indian parties (of course Capitalism kicks in too).
You made the assumption that I was a troll, I guess that is deserved as I did make an assumption on your knowledge of current and past affairs. But I can still lay a bet that you don’t know what the King-Crane commision was, nor do you have a objective idea of what created the West Bank.
These are all issues that are too broad and too debated, this thread was about a music video and you turned this into a place for a cheap diatribe which is flimsy at best in any intelligent debate where you can connect Israeli tourist behavior to American Geo-Politics and West Bank’s economic situation.
I don’t think I need someone to tell me how people in the military behave, I can view it anytime I want.
And um…Japanese…uh huh yes they are totally the most tolerant people on Earth who show the utmost respect for other cultures, especially Indian.
Vishnu has had 9 comings by the way.
But he was spotted on the I95 recently
Devendra is the ultimate hipster douche. So please don’t be offended.
). So please, stop with the blatant Israelis=Jews=cheap stereotyping
America’s most famous muslim said the jews are number 1 in america expect for one guy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EaFCXX7J97E
just to let you know, in goa, some israelis have taken over whole beaches and if anyone indian, nri or local, rich or poor, comes near those beaches they are greeted by snarls and shooed away. i’m not bashing people from israel. i have lived in a jewish neighbourhood in london for most of my life and all the israelis here have been very nice to me and i’m very comfortable with them. unfortunately a (large) percentage of the ones in india are not so great and it’s probably a drug related thing.
68 · RahulD said
I remain unimpressed. He is way lower than Zeus on that count. Prema/Vyasa/Kaka, I think you have a splendid opportunity to comment on sub-par physical stamina and rampant sexual repression among Indians and their deities.
67 · RahulD said
Even though this statement is one of the I-know-people-who type statistic: (very dear) Israeli friends of mine who spent time in India after their military service or know other people who did, regretfully confess that their peeps are among the worst sort of foreign tourists in India — contemptuous of locals, rowdy, and especially rude to store owners from whom they want to procure goods at an unreasonable discount.
Here is another Desi influenced Spanish video. I’m digging the music, but I didn’t really know what to think of the random Indian dancing girl.
I was standing in line in an airport in Bombay and one old lady of 90 (I knew who she was) almost knocked a couple of us over sideways to get herself through. I’ve never experienced a more assertive elbow job. She did have her hair dyed black, but she was 90.
“And um…Japanese…uh huh yes they are totally the most tolerant people on Earth who show the utmost respect for other cultures, especially Indian.
Being themselves among the most mono-culture/race on earth in their own country, and who apprently prefer to stay that way. So when they go visiting, everybody’s an interesting adventure.
i don’t know if this is relevent but here is an rnb singer collaborating with a desi musician with neha oberoi (bollywood actress) in the video. maybe abhi can do a post about it if he wants.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNqveDHhiIo
I think this is the best video for Sabotage…
i wonder when and where he saw that old ramayan miniseries. it seems like he’s clearly influenced by it.
so now we’re generalizing about the jews and the japanese. off-topic and not necessary or factual.