Author Archives: cicatrix

Hurricane Rita Alert (update)

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Hurricane fatigue set in, so I’m horrified to admit now that I haven’t followed the latest developments on Hurricane Rita. Until I heard this morning that it had been upgraded to a Category 5 storm, headed directly towards Houston. That’s where my Ammi lives!! sepiarita2.jpg.jpg

Several desperate phone calls later, Ammi intrepidly reports from my sister’s place in California:

They evacuated people from Galvaston and Corpus Christi. And they told people living near the coast, or near the bayous to leave. For everyone else, they kept saying not to panic…but if you can leave, go. But not to panic..it was really confusing.

Rita was downgraded to a Katrina-level Category 4 a few hours ago:

The National Hurricane Centre said the path of Rita, with top winds dropping slightly to 265 kph and is now a Category 4 storm, had shifted toward the north. It appeared to be headed toward Galveston and Houston…forecast to hit Texas as no less than a Category 3 storm with winds of up to 209 kph.

1.3 million Texans told to evacuate…Bumper-to-bumper traffic jams filled the region’s highways. Area stores were scrambling to keep supplies on the shelves while gas stations with fuel to sell dwindled to a precious few.

Maj. Gen. Charles Rodriguez of the Texas National Guard told CNN they have 3,500 troops on the ground and expect to have 5,000 by Friday evening and Saturday morning.[link]

Continue reading →

Fight, for the Right, to Diwaaaali! (updated)

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diwalilamp.jpg.jpg This morning, the NYC Council Committee on Transportation held a hearing in relation to the suspension of alternate side of the street parking rules on the Hindu festival of Diwali.

This is a big deal. Alternate side of the street parking is rarely suspended, and affects anyone looking for a place to park in NY. Only 32 legal and religious holidays are recognized by the City. Scroll down here for a list. From the petition organizers:

The first step in the process is the proposed legislation to get approved at the hearing on September 20th. Then, the Mayor will have to sign it into law. It is critical that the Council Members and, in turn, the Mayor appreciate the interest in and support of this legislation. The more support shown for the legislation at this stage of the process, the more likely it is that the Mayor will not veto it.

According to the NYC Department of Planning,there are over 600,000 foreign-born persons of South Asian descent in the NYC metro area; this does not even include those of South Asian descent born in America…If NYC takes this step, other cities and municipalities throughout the country will have the precedent to do the same.[link]

Since ASotS parking is suspended on Sunday, most ethnic/national parades such as the Puerto Rican Day parade are held then. (Here is a complete list of NYC ethnic festivals – read and weep :P)

Suspending parking rules for Diwali would be a huge symbolic (and practical re: parades) recognition of South Asian contributions to the city. Please read more on what you can do to show your support. Stay tuned for updates.

Update: The Committee on Transportation unanimously approved it! From the organizer’s email:

The legislation will be voted on by the full NYC Council at the Stated Meeting on Wednesday, September 28. [If they] approve the legislation it will then go to Mayor Bloomberg to be signed into law. Then the Mayor will have 30 days to sign or veto the legislation…press conference at 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday, September 28, on the steps of City Hall.

Related posts:1, 2, 3. Continue reading →

The UK InvASIAN

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Ever since those floppy Beatles and hip-wiggling Stones stormed our Atlantic coast, American music mags lurve warbling on about the newest “Brit Invasion!” like retarded canaries in a perfectly oxygenated coal mine. Remember Blur? Pulp? The Verve? Ah, ’twas a Bittersweet Symphony indeed, Richard. sepiatigerstyle1.jpg

Coldplay is doing its best to launch a one-man (you know it’s true) full-frontal assault…but Mr. Martin sounds too intent on supporting Gwyneth and the Appletini to make anything really fresh these days.

So it’s with much interest that I’ve noticed that Brit-based Bhangra seems to be stealthily making unheralded inroads in the US. “Get ur Freak On” seemed to trigger something cuz soon after we had that Jay-Z rapping on Panjabi MC’s “Mundian to Bach Ke,” and no less than three (3) dancehall tracks with the Diwali Riddim. Sean Paul’s “Get Busy” being the best known.

Now, I’m pretty clueless about the Sardaar-scene, and know I’m a bit out of my depth here, so please refrain from tugging your beards and whipping your karas at me. please? I can’t do any worse than this Popmatters review that describes bhangra as:

dance music with the tabla beat at its base, sounding very much like drum’n’bass, sometimes with rapping but usually with Indian pop as its melodic focus.

Well, I hope.

At any rate, (and thanks Punjabi Boy) the previous post illustrates viral marketing at its finest:

The Xbox game, which is expected to hit the streets in November 2005, will feature two tracks by Achanak…taken from their forthcoming album, Bhangra-ology, which is due for release on 19th September 2005. Tigerstyle will have three tracks…lifted off their forthcoming, yet to be titled album, which is scheduled for a November 2005 release.[link]

May I draw your attention to the timing? Brilliant, I think. Besides, I hear there was a call for more turban-ed hotties…….Way to work it boys 😉

Related posts: 1, 2, 3. Continue reading →

Back to the Dunce Corner

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The internets were alive this morning with the news that Sri Lanka was about to drop its age of consent from 16 to 13 (thanks Enivhsay): sepiagirlstanding1.jpg

government spokesman Nimal Siripala de Silva, who is also the minister of health, told a weekly Cabinet briefing on Friday that the government was planning to lower the age of consent. He gave no reason, but said the proposal was approved “after much debate and a long review.” [link]

Ah, yes. Debate and review. Ve have heard the words, but the meaning is escaping us still. However, in a startling turnaround of events:

The government reversed its decision after a flurry of telephone calls from incensed citizens following the announcement, The Sunday Island newspaper said.

“There is no proposal, whatsoever, to reduce that to 13 or to any other age,” it quoted Dhara Wijayatillake, a secretary in the Ministry of Justice, as saying Saturday. [link]

Que rapido!! When did the Sri Lankan government start pay attention to “incensed citizens”? Did I miss something important during my time here in Amrika?

The Minister [Justice Minister John Senevirathne] said that the government is concerned of the increased number of young men detained in remand prisons as a result of sexual encounters with their girlfriends.

He said: “Many girls are requesting to release them saying the encounter happened with their consent.” [link]

Holy Mammajamma! I’ve missed so much!! Here I was, happily warbling away my speculative fantasies that Sri Lanka may be one of the more progressive South Asian countries…but this much? When I was a wee kella (er, ladki. Indocentric, what?) sex did not exist, no one had ever heard of it, and even if those damn suddhas (goras) couldn’t keep in in their pants, that was still no reason why we Sri lankans couldn’t quietly continue asexually budding. Encounter, bencounter! Sekshuval is a vestern invention, no?

So vat the bluddy hell is going on? Continue reading →

Food for Ogling, er, I mean, Thought

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I believe I lead a call for more sexy sepia men on the Mutiny, but now that a reader sent in some pics, (thanks Ananya) I’m not sure what to think. (mental note: research loopholes and plausible deniability) sepiaPETAchili.jpg

Over on the right, we have John Abraham, the 6’1″, half-Keralite/half-Parsi, 1999 winner of Gladrags Manhunt India. Let me hasten to add that he’s now fast becoming an established Ahctor with roles in Dhoom, Water, Viruddh and the soon-to-be released Baabul, among others. The last two with none other than the Daddy-O of Hindi cinema, his excellency Amitabh Bachchan.

As an avowed vegetarian, Abraham recently posed for a PETA India campaign to release caged birds, (see the sexy results below), but it’s this latest poster promoting vegetarianism that caught our tipster’s eye. “Abraham appears dressed in green onions, chilies and what looks like green peas,” s/he succinctly writes. Am I the only one rather turned off by this pic? I dunno, but a scallion grass skirt covering a man’s tender parts entirely makes me lose my appetite. For anything. And what’s with that highly ridiculous crown of chilies? Is this a pun on hotness?

“I’m against cruelty of any kind. That’s why I’m associated with PETA and work against cruelty to animals. Though I’m not the moral police, I’d like people to be considerate to other living beings,” he says. [link]

Sure, sure, but what about cruelty to men, eh? I think forcing a man to wear vegetables surely counts in that category. Continue reading →

Rushdie Rocks the Mic Tonight

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rushdie3.jpg

Sorry sorry…wery short notice, thousand apologies, but I just saw this in Flavorpill:

Launching their latest anthology and a new, more svelte format for the magazine, Review editor Philip Gourevitch hosts this evening, featuring Rushdie on the mic and a performance from that precious, precocious kook Miranda July.

That would be the Paris Review, and Miranda July of Me and You and Everyone We Know fame.

Good times are sure to be had by all, so head on over:
Sat 9.17 (7pm) Celeste Bartos Forum, New York Public Library (5th Ave at 42nd St). $15 Continue reading →

Quixotic (for a) cause – Updated

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sepiaTV.jpg Lawd, what will these crayzee Sri Lankans do next?!

The answer, my friends, is glowing on TV, the answer is glowing on TV.

Tune in this morning to watch Suresh Joachim try to set the Guinness World Record for marathon TV viewing by watching ABC for 75 hours straight. He broke the current record of 50 hours, 7 minutes yesterday on “Live with Regis and Kelly,” during the Guinness World Record Breaker Week. Yes, watch ABC to watch a desi watching ABC. How meta.

Live webcam feed here.

But let’s back up a sec. Who here knew “Live with Grouchy and Yappy” had a Guinness Record Breaker Week? Raise your hand, you uber-desi, you! Suddenly the Reeg’s yorkiepoo face looks an awful lot like that of my Tedious-Know-It-All-Uncle who wouldn’t shut up about the girl who balanced a teacup on her nose for days, or the boy who barked for a week. What the hell did any of that have to with Medical School anyway?

Amazingly, Suresh Joachim does have a method to his madness. From his website, a statement of purpose: sepiasuresh.gif

“I, Suresh Joachim, am deeply disturbed and stirred by the ongoing violence and its direct impact on children…all my endeavors will be designed to help suffering children all over the world.

To spread my message in World I am attempting new world records with the aim of spreading world peace and to create an awareness of suffering children. The UFFORSC (Universal Fund For Suffering Children) branch has been inaugurated in Australia, Canada for helping millions of suffering children in Asia and Africa.

My ultimate aim is to carry a peace torch commencing in 2006 from Jerusalem (Jesus Birth Place) to Australia…covering 6,000 km to raise one billion dollars for my purpose.

My homeboy ain’t foolin’, you know. He already holds some thirty Guinness world records, including: Continue reading →

Yay, More Hope for Men!

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I wish I were a man. Really. Their problems seem so much more…significant, no?

At least, that’s how I feel after reading a Washington Post article entitled, New Wives Bring New Hope to Sri Lankan Widowers.

sepiarantfish.jpg Thanggod! Some good news about Sri Lanka, I thought, as I clicked the link and started reading:

Plunged into despair after the tsunami killed his wife and two of his four children, Ruknadhan Nahamani passed the first months after the disaster in an alcoholic fog, drowning his sorrows in the potent local liquor known as arrack . But grief was only part of the problem, he said.

“There was nobody to wash my clothes and take care of my kids when I went out to work,” said the wiry 32-year-old fisherman, whose teeth are stained red from chewing betel nut, a mild stimulant. “It was really difficult.”

But Nahamani is a single parent no more. In June, he exchanged wedding vows and jasmine garlands at a Hindu temple with a woman from a nearby village. “We are very happy,” he said outside his tent at a refugee camp as his new wife, Leelawathi, heated cooking oil for the evening meal.[link]

The man survived a tsunami and lost almost his entire family and lives in a refugee camp. Of course he deserves all the happiness he can find. sepiarantwomen.jpg But the grinchy pebble I call a heart couldn’t muster more joy when I remembered all the war widows in Sri Lanka. Some 40,000 at last count.

And the fact that women drowned in massively disproportionate numbers (three times more) during the tsunami because they’re not taught to swim.

And the fact that widows are still treated like amoral harlots in most of South Asia.

Where’s the bloody community support for them? Continue reading →

Where did the love go…

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Oh nooooo…..just two weeks ago, Jhaan mentioned Satya Paul: Indian fashion designer, creator of beautiful saris, a man who didn’t rush to the tacky embrace of East-meets-West “fusion” clothing, the very antithesis of my favorite whipping boy, Anand Jon. sepiasatyaredsari.jpg

Well, apparently succumbing to the siren song of “global presence,” Satya Paul presents his April 2005 India Fashion Week collection in NY tonight. From the press release:

Satya Paul, the premier Indian designer label recognized internationally for its haute couture, saris, fabrics, neckties and accessories, is unveiling a dazzling new collection of apparel and drapes in New York. The collection will be modeled by Indian beauty queens and film stars at a gala benefit at the Broadway Ballroom of the Marriot Marquis, on Saturday, September 10, at 7:00 pm.

But wait! Before you grab your wallet and run out the door – there’s more:

The multi-media show will highlight a fusion of the East and West. The mythological Sita – heroine of the Indian epic, the Ramayana – will be “teamed” with Madonna, the entertainment legend. The Madonna who appears in Satya Paul’s collection mirrors the star in her self confidence and sophistication. At her core is Sita, the woman of timeless elegance, mystery and purity. Satya Paul’s collection brings out the sensuality of the East, blended with the gritty worldliness of the West.

Just so you don’t miss this fusion, the collection is named Madonna Meets Sita. The timeless Eastern elegance of Sita, wrapped in the Western confidence of Madonna….get it?

(I wonder if they’ll play “Like a Virgin” as the models strut the ramp…..I’m sure Madonna wouldn’t resist a man with ten heads, either…..j/k!! don’t send Hanuman after me too!! ) Continue reading →

Not Your Mamma’s Muslim

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Bold strides by Muslim women this weekend. First Sania Mirza, now Hammasa Kohistani, who was just crown Miss England (thanks, Punjabi Boy!): SepiaMiss.jpg

Hammasa Kohistani, 18, said she was delighted to have been selected to represent England in the Miss World championships.
The brunette, who speaks six languages including Russian, Persian and French, looked ecstatic as the crown was placed on her head before a cheering crowd in Liverpool’s Olympia Theatre. [link]

Well, the BBC says five languages, but who am I to quibble. The Times of India deluged the poor girl in a typical purple gush:

LONDON: Move over our very own, Miss India. Miss England is on her way to Bollywood, the big time and beckoning stardust, now that a Muslim teenager with central Asian roots and a British accent has been crowned England’s most beautiful woman.

But stepped back for sociological analysis:

Kohistani, who was born in the Uzbek capital Tashkent, after her parents were forced to flee Afghanistan, is being touted in a less-than-overwhelmed Britain as the first Muslim to be crowned Miss England.

With beauty contests increasingly regarded as a politically incorrect and chauvinistic relic of a darker British age of cruising for seaside holiday entertainment, Kohistani’s victory has been kept off the Sunday front pages and the slender television news agenda.

But some commentators have expressed an interest in the social and ethnic change represented by Kohistani’s extraordinary win of the England crown, over and above 38 other peaches-and-cream complexioned ‘real’ English roses. [link]

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Of course, this wouldn’t be a story about Islam without controversy somewhere:

Among those Miss Kohistani beat was another Muslim entrant, Sarah Mendly, 23, who was voted Miss Nottingham. Miss Mendly had been among the favourites but her entry caused controversy when Liverpool’s Islamic institute called on her to pull out because contestants are often scantily clad. [link]

If you squint, doesn’t Hammasa look a bit like Julia Roberts?

Related posts: 1, 2 Continue reading →