…because any gloriously chubby baby who wants to crawl in to the kitchen to sneak dairy products is fantastic by me.
Since I had to shrink it a bit, the caption at the bottom of the frame says, “Adopt: You never know who you’ll bring home”. If you click the picture, you can see a slightly larger version of it.
This is one of the sweetest things I’ve ever seen on my Facebook feed; I’m grateful that one of you took the time to post it, and say:
a surprise punch of cuteness from the BigB’s blog: adorable psa, especially for fans of TheButterThiefInChief. [link]
The Butter Thief in Chief? Loves it. 🙂 I couldn’t keep all that cute to myself, so I decided to inflict it on all of you. Enjoy.
Ha ! Thanks A N N NA !
Sent this to my gf – she freaking loves chubbers too !!
Aw, I thought this would be a serious post about adoption and South Asians and how there are zillions of brown babies penned away in an orphanage waiting for homes, etc. But oh well, I like pictures of chubby babies as much as the next person.
Oh, Krishna is so adorable. Love it:)
That’s a fantastic pitch for adoption!
Fun fact from Wikipedia: “According to Bhagavata Purana some believe that Krishna was born without a sexual union, by “mental transmission” from the mind of Vasudeva into the womb of Devaki”
2 · phillygrrl said
I wouldn’t dismiss it so quickly. 😉 While it may not be wordy, and while I couldn’t resist commenting on the irresistible chub, I think the image speaks volumes about why it’s fantastic to bring home one of those zillions of brown babies, penned away in orphanages, to love as your own.
Krishna is dark as the night, as is Rama. Krishna in fact means black, Draupadi too in the Mahabharata is referred to as Krishna for vast stretches of the epic. But Krishna is a high maintenance guy. He started as navaneetachora and then graduated to big time with the gopikas! Apart from all those demons he finished off from his infancy! V. pretty picture.
Very cute picture of one of the most lovable figures in Hinduism!
I do hope though that any prospective baby that is adopted isn’t as naughty as this one; caused no end of trouble for his parents!
I love this pic…and now have a new way to pitch the idea of adoption to my anti-adoption relatives. Thanks!
Krishna has such wide appeal. Chughtai’s paintings and Bawa’s works are among my favorite representations of Krishna. Meanwhile, just a couple days back I read this investigative piece on international adoptions originating in India (ht: ultrabrown).
Your anti-adoption relatives need a good harsh dose of reality. If someone dares to call himself an Indian, and then stops a relative from adopting an Indian orphan, I consider them a traitor and an enemy of the state. Indian parents are always going on about importance of the family, and while this is true, this fits as part of a larger framework.
Family before individual. Village before family. State before village. Nation before state.
If you are unwilling to help the nation, you should expect no respect from your own children.
9 · portmanteau said
That was heartbreaking to read. Thank you for the link.
The more posts you write ANNA, the more I imagine you as an Indian Liz Lemon. Do you happen to know where that portrait is hung?
I think that is a bit harsh really; though I wouldn’t agree with anyone trying to prevent an adoption unless there was a good reason. I think we should understand that ‘family’ means different things to different people. I came across a number of cases in rural and small town India; where a wife had become a widow and lost her husband and with great difficulty got remarried; in so many cases the children from the first marriage were adopted by the grandparents or a childless sibling and when I remakred on this I was told that it was partly out of fear that the children would not be accepted as equals iby the step-fathers’ households and partly to prevent future quarrels about property. These kinds of problems are endemic in many ‘families’ so I don’t think we can assume that simply being part of one guarantees one love and security, particualrly in patrairchical/traditional family structures.
Conrad, the adoption by relatives actually sounds like a good idea. Step-children often have it really hard and it’s not just Indian ones who get the bad end of the stick either.
12 · Yoga Fire said
That’s the most delightful, befuddling compliment I’ve ever received (I’m a huge fan of 30 Rock). 😀
The image is actually from a post on Amitabh Bhachan’s blog. Someone sent him an email with it, and he felt it should be shared with his billion or so readers. 😉
Portmanteau, thanks for that link. The story made me nauseous. I couldn’t help but wonder why it was a foregone conclusion that the child would be better off in the U.S. Certainly, access to more opportunities, etc., but also a sense of dislocation and lack of knowledge of where he’s from, and very likely, a completely misguided idea of his birth parents. (The American parents themselves said that he had no idea where India was, which leads me to believe that cultural competency isn’t a strong suit of theirs.) I think that foreign couples need to be more mindful of things like ensuring that their adopted children have some sort of connection to the culture that sired them–not to indoctrinate them with some essentialist idea of valuing where they “come from” but to emphasize their children’s multi-facetedness, since realistically, adopted kids can have identity issues in their later lives, ‘specially if their parents aren’t from the same ethnic background and choose to promote color-blindness over self-knowledge.
The adopted parents’ complete dismissal of the Indian parents was painful to read.
But understandable. How would you like it if someone showed up and told you that your adoption was invalid and you were essentially a party to ruining a family’s life? I don’t agree with how they’re behaving, but I can sympathize with the impulse to deny it.
Just don’t go patting kids on the head unless you get a good look at their faces first. 😉
I read that article posted above by Portmanteau about Indian children being kidnapped and then sold into adoption by westerners and found this blog in the comments section,
http://pushpaduncklee.wordpress.com/about/
It is by an Indian woman who was adopted from India, but later in life found out that she was kidnapped from her mother in India and sold to an orphanage and now she is trying to find out who she really is. It is so interesting and different from the typical “Ohhh Im Indian and confused” kind of thing.
Yes, I can understand and sympathize with the adopted parents, as well. But I don’t think that shutting off dialogue with the grieving family members in India is particularly ethical, even if there may not be much that can technically be done in a court of law. It’s a complicated mess all around, and it’s not like I have any immediate resolutions myself, but as someone who is considering adopting an Indian child in a few years, taking into account the likelihood of a similar situation is definitely something I’ll be doing.
as a big believer in adoption, i was really happy to see this psa – it seems far more effective to certain target audiences than other potential formats might have been. plus, it’s pretty 🙂
17 · Yoga Fire said
awesome. but if you do, you can always console your gaffe with some sabor de soledad (ahora con mas semen de toro)
There is (of course!) an anti-adoption movement. . . .
A N N A, Satya, and Yoga Fire: that particular ethical tangle had me weeping, as I read the article. Meanwhile, Slate has a letter from a woman who fears having ‘ugly’ babies with her ‘unattractive’ boyfriend, and would like to adopt instead. It is an interesting read, and I’m not sure what to think of this woman.
Heh–I agree with the columnist, who nicely paraphrases George Bernard Shaw by warning of the kids having “his looks and your personality”!
20 · ak said
ak: “Well, that explains your hair’s thickness and shine.”
Yoga Fire – that is a good point and I agree; but I guess what I was trying to say (not too successfully) is that ‘family’ can be a highly subjective and restricted concept and isn’t necessariy very warm and fuzzy. I particularly objected to the sliding scale that was being suggested from ‘family’ to ‘nation’; many Indians are extremly exclusionary in who they admit to their families and this obviously has an impact on who they would consider to be part of the ‘nation’ as well. Things are never quite so simple as they seem.
Re: the step-children, what bothered me so much was the way that it was accepted by all the parties involved; as if it was natural for the new husband’s family not to be expected to care for the step-children. I think this is an attitude which needs to be changed.
4 · amreekandesi said
the original mindf**k.
26 · brown man said
Which is only marginally better than Ekta Kapoor’s magical-sparkly-peacock-feather conception.
27 · BlackCat said
hey, my ladeez love when i use a peacock feather…
first worthwhile thing any bachcan has done in probably decades….
you on the other hand Anna could sin for the rest of your life and still end next to the BTiC in the picture….
Tells a lot about the deeply scarred hindu psyche that indian artists cannot imagine that baby Krishna could be cute and adorable if depicted as black-skinned, which is how he is described in the hindu scriptures. The artists somehow feel compelled to portray him in a foreign skin tone that is exceedingly rare in India. Another example of the deep racial self-loathing among desis…..
Tells a lot about the deeply scarred hindu psyche that indian artists cannot imagine that baby Krishna could be cute and adorable if depicted as black-skinned, which is how he is described in the hindu scriptures. The artists somehow feel compelled to portray him in a foreign skin tone that is exceedingly rare in India. Another example of the deep racial self-loathing among desis…..
Lets remember that Krishna himself has evolved since the story was originally written. The flirtatious naughty Krishna is mostly a creation of the last 1500 years or so.
30 · babalu said
In the picture he is blue (foreign skin tone?martian??) …so black that he is blue …
Tells a lot about the deeply scarred hindu psyche that indian artists cannot imagine that baby Krishna could be cute and adorable if depicted as black-skinned, which is how he is described in the hindu scriptures. The artists somehow feel compelled to portray him in a foreign skin tone that is exceedingly rare in India. Another example of the deep racial self-loathing among desis…..
Dude, before you go on…………..
Why don’t you research for less than a minute on internet on why Hindu gods (Vishnu, Shiva, Krishna, Kali, Ram) are always depicted blue. Here is the reason:
Vishnu is depicted with a blue skin. The colour blue symbolises the infinite expansion of the blue sky and the blue ocean.
i thought it is because of their excessive commitment to chastity?
Hehe… We are talking about Krishna here,not Bhishma Pitamah or Hanuman
35 · Lupus Solitarius said
I believe he originated the phrase – spanking the monkey.
One word for you–Moldova.
Steady now, brownie!
Krishna and Kali are not always depicted as blue. They are frequently depicted as black, especially in statues and carvings. In reality, once you get past the justifications wheeled out by I would say orthodox brahminnical interpretations it is because; at least in Krishna’s case he was dark-skinned. Very dark-skinned. Kali is rarely depicted as blue AFAIK. Along with Shiva they were very popular deities of autocthnous groups that didn’t subscribe to the Vedic pantheon.
portmanteau – thank you but no thanks. Very misty in the office – not good. Old timers know that I constantly talk about being raised in a slum in chennai- Pulianthope is the slum I was raised in ( referred to in the story). Heck I may have even seen the couple !! For all those looking to adopt – dont do it through an agency – do it through friends / family. No shortage of unwanted kids in India – why bother with the kidnapped ones. Maybe the third or fourth child of a parent.
how ? if an adopted parent loves the child, can you say that biological one does not ? Being ignorant is fine but once told that your adopted child is kidnapped, you are a criminal by not letting the parents get involved.
I like Yashoda’s sari.
apparently child trafficking is legal – sick
Kali is rarely depicted as blue AFAIK.
Most of Kali’s depiction are blue. Proof Positive – A simple search on google images will tell you</b>
Conrad, Rudra and Gayatri are the proto Shiva/Shakti equivalent deities in the Vedas, and Rudra is referred to as Shiva in yajurveda – (Mahamryutunjaya). Kali of course as the name suggests, is the black goddess.
Kali of course as the name suggests, is the black goddess.
Not strictly in that way, not at all. It has a far deeper meaning.
Kali, also known as Kalika (Bengali: কালী, KÄlÄ« / কালিকা KÄlikÄ ; Sanskrit: काली), is a Hindu goddess associated with death and destruction. The name Kali means “black”, but has by folk etymology come to mean “force of time (kala)“. Despite her negative connotations, she is today considered the goddess of time and change. Although sometimes presented as dark and violent, her earliest incarnation as a figure of annihilation still has some influence. More complex Tantric beliefs sometimes extend her role so far as to be the “ultimate reality” or Brahman. She is also revered as Bhavatarini (literally “redeemer of the universe”). Comparatively recent devotional movements largely conceive Kali as a benevolent mother goddess. NB: Sure, you see Hindu gods and goddess in all hues (black, brown, blue, pale) but blue is the dominant color.
Hmmm, interesting. Most of those seem to be artistic renderings; the main Kali temples I have been to have depicted Kali as black. The figureines and representations of both that most Hindu members of my family keep in their shrines are also black. Very rarely did I see any Kali renderings in blue while in India. But on your evidence I take it back that it is rare. I don’t think I would say that it is the most common though. Also google searches are great but I think Hinduism as it is actually practised in its variety, especially in India is a better guide rather than internet searches of a few select images. (this is not a dig at you btw just an observation).
I think that depends on your interpretation of “equivalent deities” the Rudra and Gayatri mentioned in the Vedas are very minor deities compared to the significance of Shiv and The Mother; they certainly didn’t have the significance that Shiv had of an aspect of the Supreme God. There are many differences and while they merged, I don’t think it is accurate to label them as equivalent; they did merge but the characteristics of Shiv and Mother that we today are very different from the Vedic forerunners. In Vedic times, I beleive there were actual restrictions on where shrines/temples to Shiv could be built, ie not within a certain distance of major urban centres, since he was seen mainly as a God of Hunters and tribesmen at that time – I could be wrong about this and will need to check. Scholars tend to disagree to what degree Rudra and Shiv can be seen as related; I don’t have a problem linking the two but Shiv incorporated many aspects that were not part of the Vedic tradition and so should be considered as a distinct development. IMO anyway.
44 · Lupus Solitarius said
I thought Ka Lee was Chinese because of her fighting prowess.
South Asians never adopt, from what I’ve seen. A westerner is much more likely to adopt a brown baby than a Desi (is likely to adopt a brown baby). Case in point: Bridget McCain. The typical method of “adoption” amongst South Asians, from what I’ve seen, is this: A sterile family adopts a poorer nephew/niece from their brother/sister. But I hardly see an Indian adopt someone from a totally different family/caste/languageGroup. Perhaps India needs to make formalized abortion more available and/or work hard to lower population growth.
Regarding the Blue Krishna:
I has always assumed that it was because painting someone blue is just easier than painting them black. Look at this picture. Look at the character’s hair. Notice how the black haired people have mostly blue highlights in the hair?
When you are printing with ink and paper it is extremely difficult to get any kind of depth and definition with just the color black. Lighting is hard to do and if you put too much black on there it bleeds through the page. Drawing dark people is hard! It can be done, but it takes more work, especially in the days when paint was solidified into bricks and had to be dissolved and mixed in every time you wanted to paint something.
Its funny how Kush Tandon always comes out of the woodwork to vehemently deny the blackness of Krishna or Kali whenever it is mentioned. Why do these facts bother you so much Kush? Why so traumatized by the balckness of hindu gods and goddesses? Are you afraid of what the whites will think of hinduism? Did you buy into the Aryan Invasion Theory hook line and sinker? Inquiring minds want to know 🙂
The very words Krishna and Kali mean black. Krishna is described as shyama sundara which means black and beautiful. Deal with it.