Author Archives: manish

‘Kumars at No. 42’ ad campaign rolling out

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As I posted earlier, the hit British Asian comedy series The Kumars at No. 42 is now showing on BBC America.

I ran into the lead, Sanjeev Bhaskar, at Bombay Dreams on Broadway soon after its premiere. He’s a great sketch comedy guy who first made his name on Goodness Gracious Me.

So, it was mighty strange to turn a corner next to my apartment and see his big mug staring back at me 🙂 Apparently the Beeb is putting a few pounds behind their debut, and this desi comedy is one of their flagship programs. Very cool!

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This time it’s personal

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Turbanhead and Anna post about a Philly radio DJ who abused an Indian call center worker on air (listen to the audio clip, courtesy of Edward Champion):

STAR (morning DJ on Power 99): I was surprised when I got somebody on the line in East India… [on phone] This call has been outsourced to India?
TINA: That’s right.
STAR: Well, ma’am, what the eff would you know about an American white girl’s — uh, uh — hair? And quick beads.
TINA: Just to inform you, ma’am, we’re a national chain services company. And we’re just taking calls on the opposite…
STAR: Listen, bitch! Don’t get slick with the mouth! Don’t you get slick with me, bitch!
TINA: Now if you continue to speak this language, I will disconnect the call.
STAR: Listen to me, you dirty rat eater. I’ll come out there and choke the eff out of you. (laughter) You’re a filthy rat eater. I’m calling about my American six-year-old white girl [Star is black]. How dare you outsource my call? Get off the line, bitch! (laughter, applause)

Yeah… hilarious. It’s several cuts below Beavis and Butthead. Shock jocks have spewed racist bullshit on air for years, getting away with it when the minority group they cuss out is small or disorganized. This is nothing new.

But, this time it’s personal: on my trip to India a couple of weeks ago, I just learned that my niece and my sister-in-law, two beautiful, intelligent women in their mid-20s, are working in call centers in Gurgaon. One remarked drily that she handles metro Manhattan, ‘so if you’re a Citibank customer, gimme a ring.’ The thought of some racist asshole insulting my sweetheart of a niece makes me want to beat the shit out of him.

Even worse, the hit show is getting picked up by a New York station on Jan. 17, 2005 at a cost of $17M. Like stand-up comedy 50 years ago, it’s racial abuse for profit.

Here’s what the DJ said a couple of years ago when Jennifer Lopez casually used the N-word:

“Why is she using a word that’s derogatory to blacks?… If you’re a so-called role model, don’t spit in the face of African-Americans.”

Hypocrite.

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I’m dreaming of a brown Christmas

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Ever been annoyed by not having a holiday for Diwali, Eid or Guru Nanak’s birthday? Samantha Bee, resident wag on the Daily Show, tells us what Christmas really means (at 2:20 in the clip):

‘But really, let’s face it: all other days bow down to the 25th, Christmas. It’s the only religious holiday that’s also a federal holiday. That way, Christians can go to their services, and everyone else can sit at home and reflect on the true meaning of separation of church and state.’
Personally, I love Christmas. It’s the perfect day for international flights: cheap tickets, empty airplanes and the company of fellow Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Muslims, Jews, atheists, agnostics and other assorted heathens 🙂 Watch the clip.

IndeBleu opens in D.C.

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A new, high-end French-Indian fusion restaurant, IndeBlue, just opened in Washington, D.C. with two tandoori ovens, a wine bar and a lounge. The chef, Vikram Garg, was formerly the head chef at the Leela Kempinski Palace in Bangalore.

The style sounds fusion rather than the Indo-French cooking of Pondicherry, as exemplified by London’s La Porte des Indes. Quick, we need a food scout from the lowland swamp. DCist went and made me even hungrier:

Coldren told us in October that Garg is a master at “controlling spices” and the menu marries the best of French and Indian cuisine. Some examples: Petite Provencal naan with sundried tomato chutney; wild mushroom dosa… with bleu cheese gratin with white truffle oil; scallops scented with cumin on a bed of braised chicory; and veal-stuffed gnocchi served with chanterelles and infused with a fenugreek-chardonnay sauce.

More from the WaPo’s Tom Sietsema (any relation to the Village Voice food critic?):

One quiet thrill follows a request for saffron-and-cardamom-flavored ice cream. A waiter shows up at the table with a potato ricer filled with the cold stuff; a powerful squeeze of the ricer’s handles pushes it through dozens of tiny holes, creating a plateful of creamy noodles.

It’s definitely not a traditional restaurant — beef samosas, anyone?

It was perhaps one of most lavish non-political parties Washington has seen in quite some time… at least one woman, painted as a forest nymph, walked about the place in A Midsummer Night’s Dream-esque fashion.
Of the dishes, the beef samosa was the most interesting. Since using beef is traditionally prohibited in Indian cuisine, the combination tasted rather novel… we only had a chance to sample the lychee and mango martinis. Both were worth the wait…

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Lakhani trial starts

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Hemant Lakhani, a British Asian who’s spent decades in London’s clothing industry, was put on trial in New Jersey today for trying to sell anti-aircraft missiles to terrorists. Here’s the twist: unbeknownst to him, his supplier was from Russian law enforcement, his buyer was an FBI agent, and the only missile he actually got his hands on was a dummy. He’s arguing entrapment:

[I]n London’s West End rag trade, people, who have known him for over 35 years, describe him as more a Del boy, a character in the BBC’s popular comedy serial Only Fools and Horses. Del Boy in the serial tries out all sorts of get-rich-quick schemes, risking brushes with law, but invariably fails. Lakhani is truly the same character, say a large number of people here. “He is truly a complete loser.”

Lakhani tried to duck responsibility:

Mr Lakhani claims he was entrapped by the US agent, who kept offering more money whenever he failed to find any missiles. “He’d say I’ve got $20m (£10.6m), I’ve got $10m, I’ve got so many million. All these temptations and temptations.”

But he completely incriminated himself with his anti-U.S. statements:

“He spent more than a year and a half trying to smuggle 200 missiles into the United States, all the time issuing advice on how to shoot planes out of the sky to shake the US economy.”… Lakhani, a Hindu, had allegedly told the agent: “You must target 10 to 15 different airports at the same time,” and added: “If Allah blesses us we can finish this.” He also offered a “dirty” bomb for £1.6 million.

The odd thing about this case is that Lakhani is a 69-year-old, long-married Hindu with no prior terrorist ties. That suggests a mercenary motive more than an ideological one. The central question is, was he a Walter Mitty, or was he for real?

Papa pressure

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A Silicon Valley company with a Hyderabad office has started bringing in the parents of their new hires for a schmooze session. Impressed with the respect accorded them, the parents tell their kids to stay with the company rather than quitting and joining Microsoft.

In a culture where parents yield enormous influence over their adult children’s decisions, pitching the parents is a novel way to retain talent in a brutally competitive environment… “The managing director of the company himself welcomed our parents,” says Beeraka. “Once [my father] heard from the company, he insisted that I stay…” Sixty percent of the 35 new recruits brought at least one parent to the orientation in August, and, for the first time in several years, Sierra has experienced no turnover.

You’ve found our hidden exhaust port, Luke. In desi culture, there’s no end to this. At a recent wedding, I just heard a 90-year-old man refer to his 65-year-old son as ‘the boy.’ Next thing you know, realtors, car companies and wireless carriers will be asking mom and dad to pick your goodies 🙂

Heck, if they already pick your mate…

Happy Diwahanukwanzidmas

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Virgin Mobile’s latest promotion is a fine example of South Asian-inspired surrealist kitsch. Not to mention the visions you had the morning after the New Year’s party. No, Virginia, those weren’t sugarplums dancing through your head.

For art that so prominently features a Hindu motif, it sure is strange to extirpate Diwali from the name (Chrismahanukwanzakah). So, I’ve re-christened it, so to speak.

Happy Diwahanukwanzidmas, and watch the animation!

Related posts: A very Om-ly Christmas, Krishna for Christmas, The peacock, The tao of Manschot, Blood brother, Kitsch Idol, Blog bidness, Kitsch-mish, Camping while brown, Wild Bollywood art project, Indian kitsch: Artist does Indian theme for Diesel, TV ad satires on India, Hinduism as kitsch, Warmth and Diesel: The selling of Indian kitsch

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Wes hearts Waris

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Director Wes Anderson did right by Sikhs in his latest film:

I saw The Life Aquatic last night, a hilarious, laid-back Jacques Cousteau parody… The director was very respectful of the handsome, turbaned actor / fashionista Waris Singh Ahluwalia: it was not a token role, the Sikh was a bona fide character. He had an American accent. He had a real name, Vikram Ray (though Ray is a Bengali name, perhaps a play on Satyajit). He was addressed by name several times, he had plenty of lines, he was an integral part of the crew. He even had three glamor shots in the submarine scene at the end, close-ups with light reflecting off his eyes. There was an Asian-American on the crew as well, and assorted Europeans; the casting was like the Star Trek bridge minus the aliens…

On the flip side, the marketing campaign cropped Ahluwalia out. It’s a shot of the submarine scene, where Ahluwalia was seated at far left. On the U.S. poster, the guy in the turban and the black guy are missing.

In this particular case, it’s probably because Ahluwalia… isn’t a recognizable star. However, in many movies (e.g. Sandra Oh in Sideways), minorities don’t figure in the marketing campaigns, even if they have substantial roles… The kinds of people you’ll see [featuring minorities] are producers at the top and the bottom: those who are either already successful enough to take the risk, such as Wes Anderson and his cult of fans, or so indie that they don’t care.

Read the full piece.

Documentary on desis in hip-hop

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A 34-minute documentary called Brown Like Dat: South Asians and Hip Hop is screening Jan. 15 in Manhattan.

… gives a voice to South Asian MCs, beatboxers, spoken word artists and producers. With hip-hop as its lens… these artists speak on everything from racial profiling post-9/11 to identity in second-generation immigrant communities… Featured Artists: Abstract Vision Humanity, Chee Malabar from Himalayan Project, D’Lo, Jugular, Karmacy, and MC Kabir.

Saturday, January 15th, 5pm and 7pm, Two Boots Pioneer Theater, 155 East 3rd Street (at Avenue A), $9, advance tix strongly recommended (they usually sell out)

I dig Karmacy in particular (disclaimer: one of the guys in the group is a friend). Listen to some tracks. Continue reading →

Delhi sex clip portends sexual revolution?

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Mango Swami elucidates the sexual repression behind the Delhi sex clip scandal:

After all those years of aspiring and shamelessly emulating, the citizens of India have finally made it to the Western world… These two kids will go down in history. [It’s] the equivalent of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. This is the shock beginning of a sexual revolution…

[The Baazee.com CEO] was arrested because millions of parents in India don’t know what to do now that they’re confronted with the reality that their kids have sex. Scapegoat a businessman with Western ties because demanding a citizenry to no longer live in denial is out of the question.

He gives us too much information:

I actually saw my first porn movie in New Delhi. We rented it from a local candy-shopkeeper who had to run back to his flat (and probably had to tip-toe around his wife and children) to retrieve an unlabeled VHS tape of seemingly German origin. The candy&porn shop was located right next door to, of all places, the local temple.

But we have our go-to excuse, our favorite scapegoat:

[U]nderneath all the posturing of purity and morality, Indians are a horny lot. And now it’s been made public that demure girls with long braids have sex! What is a nation of a billion to do?! A suggestion: Blame the British!

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