Author Archives: amardeep

Indra Lal Roy, WWI Fighting Ace

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indra lal roy.jpgA bit of military history trivia for the history buffs…

This afternoon I got an email from someone doing research on a World War I fighter pilot named Indra Lal Roy.

Unsurprisingly, I knew nothing about the subject, but through a little digging I did come across a couple of pages in a book called Asians in Britain: 400 Years of History by Rozina Visram that has a couple of pages on Indra Lal Roy. It turns out the interesting thing isn’t that he fought in the war — in fact, there were thousands of Indians on the western front — but that he managed to get into the elite Royal Flying Corps (RFC). He was one of only four, and (at least on the internet) he is the only thing about which anything is concretely known: Continue reading →

Zoe Rahman, Jazz Pianist

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zoe rahman.jpg Jazz pianist Zoe Rahman has been nominated for the Mercury Prize, Britain’s top music award (thanks, Red Snapper). She’s competing with rock bands like The Arctic Monkeys, Thom Yorke (of Radiohead), and Guillemots. All of them are critical darlings, so she might be a long-shot to win the prize.

Her father is Bangladeshi and her mother is British:

With a Bengali dad and a mum from Yorkshire, born in Sydney and raised in Chichester, Rahman has always felt an outsider. “I don’t know many Bengali musicians, but it’s obviously a big part of who I am. The only person I knew who spoke Bengali was my dad, and he never spoke it to us.” She’s been trying to learn Bengali in time for a trip to Bangladesh next week – partly a voyage of discovery into Bengali music and partly an excuse to party with 300 or so relatives. “I’m still on chapter seven of Teach Yourself Bengali at the moment. I’ve got a long way to go …” (link)

Ah well, one does the best one can. There are some Bengali touches in her music — check out the clarinet by Idris Rahman (Zoe’s brother) on “Muchhe Jaoa Dinguli,” which is track 6/9 at her website. But for the most part, her piano-playing is contemporary and quite fluid — think Keith Jarrett (Siddhartha could probably name some jazz pianists who might be an even closer match).

Zoe Rahman’s music doesn’t appear to be available via Itunes or Rhapsody yet, though I wouldn’t be surprised if she were added sometime soon. Meanwhile, online retailers like Amazon.co.uk are selling her recent CD, Melting Pot.

Asian Underground computer whiz Talvin Singh won the prize in 1999 for his CD Ok (Black Star Liner was nominated the same year). Apache Indian was also nominated for the prize in 1993 (for No Reservations). As the Wikipedia article indicates, the prize is somewhat controversial in the UK, mainly because the choice of winners seems pretty idiosyncratic. As with many artistic awards (literary, musical, and filmic), the true value is in the shortlist, not the actual winner. Continue reading →

An Adopting Mother Confronts the Complexion Gap

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A few weeks ago we discussed a new kind of camp for Indian children adopted by white American parents. Today, via a tip on the news tab, I came across an article on Alternet by a Jewish New Yorker who adopted an Indian baby as a single mother, and was somewhat taken aback by the darkness of her child’s skin:

The first photo I received of Vaishali showed her with fair skin. I was surprised, because from what my adoption agency told me, the child assigned to me would be much darker. After I got over that surprise, I had another: I felt relief. Suddenly — guiltily — it was a comfort to know that she would not look so different from me, and even more important, that her light skin would save her from a lifetime of prejudice.

But ah, the magic of flashbulbs. A few months later I received several more photos and gaped at them in shock. The baby was much, much darker. (link)

Lisa Lerner has, initially, a lot of anxiety to deal with about the gap between her skin tone and that of her adopted daughter (read the whole article for examples: the kicker is the diaper change). She gets over it, but is still often surprised by the fact that no one in her social circle — including her Indian and Black friends — is as dark as her daughter:

Very soon, my daughter will have a lot to process. She’s adopted, she’s the child of a single mother, she’s an Indian Jew by conversion. We spent the summer with my father in upstate New York, and she was nearly always the darkest child in music class, gymnastics and day care. In New York City, even Blacks and Indians in Vaishali’s and my social circle are lighter than she. Over and over I see how light skin equals privilege. Now that I have become Vaishali’s mother, I realize: We need darker friends. (link)

I’m sure there will be some folks who will be offended that Lisa Lerner is publicly stating some of these things she says in this article. I personally am not: she’s expressing the shock she felt along with her embarrassment about that shock, and describing how she got past it. Yes, her initial reaction to her baby’s skin tone betrays “racism,” but it looks to me like she’s recognized and dealt with it.

Still, I wonder what people think about the solution she outlines: “We need darker friends.” Is it really damaging to a child (the baby has grown up some now) not to be around anyone who physically resembles her? And wouldn’t it be slightly strange to seek out “friends” on this basis?

[Oh, and one more thing: the Times recently had an interesting article on the growing number of cross-racial adoptions in the U.S.] Continue reading →

Snake Boat Races in Kerala

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Every year on the second Saturday in August, the town of Allapuzha (or Allepey), Kerala — the “Venice of the East” — hosts the Nehru Trophy Boat Race. Aranmullavallamkali.jpg The boats used in the comptetition are traditional “snake boats” or “Chundan Vallam”. The boats have as many as 120 oarsmen, and have a large hood in the rear that rises twenty feet in the air, which resembles a cobra’s head. I’m not quite sure what the function of this hood is from a “boat science” perspective, but these boat races are both ancient and highly ritualized, and I get the feeling no one is thinking about a fiberglass redesign. Anyway, the snake boats look pretty cool; see more snake boat images.

allapuzha boat race.jpg For the first time this year, a team of 10 foreign women of various nationalities came from Dubai to participate in the women’s race. The foreign team was led by a British woman named Julie Amer, who describes herself as an “adventure tourist.” The team from Dubai worked together with 25 local Allapuzha women — and their boat came in first in the women’s race.

Two thoughts: 1) It’s cool that the women race in Saris (or are they Mundus?). 2) I love the umbrella; I wonder if it’s only for the women’s boats?

The winner in the men’s competition, for the third year in a row, was the “Payippad Boat Club.” Threepeat! The “Jesus Boat Club” came in second in its first appearance, according to the Hindu.

About 300,000 people went to Allapuzha to watch the race this year. Among them were about 5000 foreigners. Continue reading →

LTTE Arms Buyers Arrested in U.S.; Intense conflict in Sri Lanka

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Thirteen LTTE supporters have been arrested in various parts of the U.S., after some of them attempted to buy arms from a U.S. agent (thanks, tipsters). sri lanka bombs.jpg Others were involved in a bribery plot to have the LTTE removed from the U.S. State Department’s list of terrorist organizations. One person (the liasion between the group of 13 and the LTTE in northern Sri Lanka) is still being sought.

Sense any irony here? In case not, let me spell it out: if you’re trying to buy bombs to use in terrorist attacks, it may be difficult to “convince” the State Department that you’re not a terrorist organization.

Another thought: this is the first time I can remember that LTTE supporters have been arrested in the U.S. for involvement in terrorism.

The government in Sri Lanka is by no means innocent in the current conflict. It has, to begin with, bombed the Tamil-controlled areas of Sri Lanka pretty aggressively. The LTTE claims one of the recent targets was a home for orphaned girls, and that sixty of the schoolgirls living there were killed, and another sixty wounded. (The LTTE claims have not been confirmed by any neutral observers, so it might not be true. The Sri Lankan government claims the site was an LTTE military facility.) And a Swedish negotiator has criticized the Sri Lankan government for starting military action against the LTTE too soon after negotiations over water ran into trouble three weeks ago. The same negotiator argues that the dispute over water was both overblown and on the brink of being resolved at the time the government started its artillery assault.

But the LTTE has also delivered a number of bombs to Colombo this summer, the worst of which being a June 15 bombing that killed 64 people (civilians). And there have been many others, including a bombing this week that killed seven and injured many more in Colombo. And thus far, it is the LTTE that has resisted returning to the table to resume talks; according to this report, the government has made it clear that it wants talks to get underway again as soon as possible.

The folks at What is Really Going On? point out that the number of dead in Sri Lanka this summer — 800+ — equals or exceeds the number of people killed in the recent Israel-Hezbollah conflict. The site is not a neutral one, but the point they make is valid. Despite the large number of deaths, the news about the conflict has been effectively absent from the U.S. media (and, for that matter, from the internet). Continue reading →

Anish Kapoor @ Rockefeller Center

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anish kapoor kenn.600 small.jpg The Indian born artist Anish Kapoor has a major sculpture going up at Rockefeller Center in New York next month, and there’s a detailed profile of him in the New York Times (thanks, Tamasha).

The sculpture is called “Sky Mirror,” and it’s essentially a large, convex piece of highly polished stainless steel, roughly in the shape of a contact lens. From the image at the Times (which is computer generated) as well as images of the same sculpture at other sites, I have a feeling this piece is going to be a bit of a tourist sensation.

This high-profile placing of one of Kapoor’s sculptures is a coup for the artist, but hardly the first time he’s been given pride of place in the western art world. Major pieces of his are on display in the MOMA and the Tate Modern in London, the most famous of which might be Marsyas, a massive construction that filled the Tate’s vast Turbine Hall four years ago. Kapoor is one of the most important and influential practitioners of a movement in abstract sculpture called either minimalism or post-minimalism, depending on how exact we’re being.

It’s a long way to come for a Doon School boy. Continue reading →

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Two Lessons From Indra Nooyi’s Success

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By now, most readers probably know that Indra Nooyi is being promoted to the CEO of PepsiCo, a company with $38 billion in revenues. She’s been mentioned several times before on Sepia Mutiny, mainly in response to comments she made at a graduation ceremony at Columbia Business School last year. (There are several other posts on her as well.) And Manish had a solid post on her recent promotion this past Monday on Ultrabrown.

I draw two conclusions from her success. First, you can be a working mother and climb the corporate ladder while raising kids (Indra has two, who are I believe in their early/mid teens). Second, you can get ahead in the American corporate environment without sacrificing who you are culturally.

On the first point, there have been many recent stories about the difficulties facing powerful women. Maureen Dowd, for instance, recently published a book called Are Men Necessary?, where (among other things) she talked about the difficulty some women face in dating and/or marrying men who are less powerful or successful than they are. But a growing number of “power moms” are also flat-out powerful. And they do it without sacrificing their connection to their kids, as I think Indra Nooyi’s Nintendo policy proves:

She views PepsiCo as an extended family and everybody at the company is there to help in every way possible. Sometime ago, when Indra was traveling, her daughter would call the office to ask for permission to play Nintendo. The receptionist would know the routine and ask: “Have you finished your homework? Have you had your snack? OK, you can play Nintendo for half an hour”. She then left a voice message for Indra saying “I gave Tara permission to play Nintendo”. (link)

Have you had your snack? Ok, go play. Momma has to go acquire a multinational or two and pacify the Indian media regarding the recent pesticide allegations.

Secondly, you don’t have to sell yourself out and tell everyone your name is “Bob” if it’s really Balwinder. Nooyi’s story about getting her first job in the U.S. after completing her Master’s at Yale is illustrative: Continue reading →

Indian Ocean On Tour in U.S.

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I saw a group called Indian Ocean last night at World Cafe Live in Philadelphia — and they rocked. indian ocean onstage-left.jpg I’ll review the concert in some more detail below, but before going any further I wanted to mention that they are doing a small North American tour right now. Upcoming venues include Stamford, Connecticut, Chicago (this weekend), New York (early next week), Houston, Phoenix, Minneapolis, and Missisauga, Canada. If you live in one of those cities, go buy tickets!

Indian Ocean are based in Delhi, and have been together since the early 1990s. Though they’ve flirted with crossover commercial success, the band has built up a devoted underground following without selling out to the demands of the market. (The audience at last night’s concert seemed to know all of their songs.) They play a unique style of music that fundamentally defies categorization. A phrase on the Indian Ocean Wikipedia site takes a stab at it: “Indo-rock fusion with jazz-spiced rhythms that integrates shlokas, sufism, environmentalism, mythology and revolution.” Another phrase they use is, “organic fusion.” Whatever it is, it works. Continue reading →

Secular Constitutions: the U.S. and India

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Happy Indian Independence day, everyone!

In the comments of some recent posts at Sepia Mutiny, some readers have questioned why India needs “secularism,” and even just what secularism means in India. Similar questions were also raised in response to Abhi’s “jingoism in the blogsophere” post from a few weeks ago. Since I have researched the issue of secularism as part of my academic work, I thought it might be interesting to look at the Indian and American approaches to secularism in comparison as a thought-exercise. Instead of focusing on recent issues such as the train bombings in Mumbai last month, or almost-current events like the Gujarat riots of 2002, I wanted to back up a little and take a brief look at the texts of the respective Constitutions themselves. I think this comparative exercise might shed some insight on the value and importance of secularism in both countries. Continue reading →

Some Desi-Oriented Blogs to Check Out

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After you’ve been blogging for awhile, it gets easy to ignore new blogs — you get kind of wrapped up in the little circle of blogs you read every day. But while it’s completely understandable, it’s really too bad one tends to get “settled” in one’s reading, since the circle of good blogging is always growing steadily, and new writers are always coming out of the woodwork, trying to find readers.

There is a great deal of really intelligent, moving writing out there, not to mention good music and video links — and humor. So here are links to about half-a-dozen blogs I’ve been reading recently. In the comments, please feel free to link to other blogs that you think highly of that other people may not know about. And if there’s a particular post on the blog you would recommend, give the link to that too.

First, the return of Teju Cole: Modal Minority. Teju is a New York-based African brother who knows Indian culture quite well. And he’s a damn good writer. Here are a few rockstar lines describing his experience listening to a fusion jazz CD called Sangam:

To start with, there was the sound of the tabla, on which was soon layered an expertly played drum kit. This went on for a while, until some kind of saxophone came in, a modal sound, somewhere between late Coltrane and South Indian carnatic reed music (it turned out to be a tarogato, a Hungarian folk instrument), in a rapid and airy melody. The sax wove around, making clear references both to the jazz tradition and to the Eastern folk influences. The whole time it was underpinned by the seamless and joyous interconnection of the tabla and the drum set. (link)

Read the whole thing.

Second, Raza Rumi. Raza Rumi is a Pakistani writer who focuses on South Asian art and literature from sort of a Sufi perspective. Check out this great post on the Bhakti poet Kabir (who was born a Muslim, was influenced by Hinduism, and later became one of the non-Sikh poets whose works is included in the holy Sikh scripture). Continue reading →

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