Author Archives: Abhi

About Abhi

Abhi lives in Los Angeles and works to put things into space.

Mera naam Lim Meng Sain

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Reading this story at thestar.com, I was reminded of two things. First, that old Bollywood song (to which I confess I don’t understand the lyrics) Mera naam chin-chin-chu that my parents must have played on long car rides. Secondly, I was reminded of the movie, Elf.

KUALA LUMPUR: He can speak Mandarin, Cantonese, Hokkien and Hakka fluently, but Lim Meng Sain was born an Indian.

And this anomaly has sometimes put him in a tight spot.

The contractor was raised as a Chinese after his biological parents gave him up for adoption when he was an infant.

Now 25 years old, Meng Sain is a true product of the community he grew up in.

Oh, I’m sure this isn’t nearly as unique as it would seem, but I still thought it was a cute story, especially when compared to this earlier post about preconceived notions based upon skin color.

Once, while parking a truck behind his house recently, he was stopped by a police officer.

“The officer asked for my identity card and when I gave it to him, he took a good look and asked me if it was a fake,” he said.

“I’ve gotten used to all the puzzled stares. Maybe it’s just God’s way of testing me,” said Meng Sain, who was baptised a Catholic when he was 12.

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Disappeared

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A while back Manish had a post featuring a multimedia exhibit titled “DISAPPEARED IN AMERICA.”

Since 9/11, thousands of American Muslims were detained in a security dragnet. To date, none have been prosecuted on terrorism charges. The majority of those detained were from the invisible underclass of cities like New York. They are the recent immigrants who drive our taxis, deliver our food, clean our restaurant tables, and sell fruit, coffee, and newspapers. The only time we see their faces are when we glance at the hack license in the taxi partition, or the ID card around the neck of a vendor.

SM Tipster “Joykee” sends us this article hot off the NYTimes press:

For years, the father said, he watched as his daughter, now 16, became more and more drawn to the family’s Muslim religion. At 14, she began wearing a full-length veil and teaching religion classes at mosques around the city.

A year ago, she withdrew from her Manhattan high school because, a school official said, she felt uncomfortable with typical teenage banter. She told her family she wanted to go to an Islamic all-girls school, and when they could not afford to send her, she chose to study at home.

The father, a Bangladeshi watch salesman who describes himself as far more devoted to American education than to prayer after 13 years as an immigrant illegally in the United States, said he pushed for his daughter to return to public school.

Then last fall, the daughter he also describes as loving Bollywood soap operas and shopping with girlfriends startled him and her mother by seeking their approval to marry a young American Muslim man they had never met and whom she barely knew. The father refused the marriage overtures, which were made by the young man’s father in a call from Michigan.

A few months later, when the teenager stayed out overnight for the first time, the father, fearing an elopement, went to the police for help.

It is a decision he regrets deeply. His daughter and another 16-year-old girl are now described by the government as would-be suicide bombers and are being held in a detention center for illegal immigrants in Pennsylvania. He is sure that his visit to the police set off the F.B.I. investigation that led to a chilling assertion, in a government document, that the girls are “an imminent threat to the security of the United States based on evidence that they plan to be suicide bombers.” Family and friends call that absurd.

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Skin

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I become so disturbed when marriage ads in Indian papers specify skin color (not that I often look through marriage ads :). Several dating sites do it to. If I catch one of my parents make a comment about fair skin being desirable in a mate I chastise them vociferously. There are very few things that make my blood boil as much as this issue. All the more so because I know that despite my best intentions, society has shaped my thoughts in the same way. Asians in Media reports on the obvious bias on Asian fashion magazine covers.

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It’s an open secret that the majority of Asian parents have a bias towards fairer skin. Is the same true for Asian fashion magazines in Britain?

Aside from the horror stories of girls applying dangerous chemicals to their skins, the image of a beautiful Asian girl as fair with coloured contact lenses and dark brown hair is constantly thrown at us. Surely Asian fashion publications are partly to blame for this?

AiM asked two writers who have been in the industry for years, and both say the problem lies with wider culture and society, coupled with a lack of professional Asian models.

Nilpa Bharadia is former acting editor of Asian Woman/Bride magazine and recently launched the Asian Bridal Look Book with her business partner Kiren. She says the decision to use European and Brazillian models for fashion shoots is never made lightly.

“The simple fact of the matter is that if we had a choice of an agency standard Asian model, i.e 5’10” plus, and a size 8 and with beautiful features, and a white model – we would cast the Asian girl everytime,” shes says.

“It’s not that the Asian girls that used to come through the door weren’t beautiful, many were, and we made numerous exceptions on height etc. where possible. But unfortunately they were the exception to the rule.”

I’m not buying this last argument. If you stand in any supermarket line you will note that fair skin dominates regardless of the ethnicity being targeted. Do all those ethnicities lack enough model material? The editors being interviewed pointed out one Brit magazine (i-D) they claim uses “extremely black-skinned” models WHEN they hire black. I flipped through several of their mag covers and didn’t see any black models at all. Later in the article the writer presses the editors and gets to the more “logical” reasons for this bias. Continue reading →

Ah ha hush dat fuss, Everybody move to the back of…

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The Bus that will regularly (I hope) make the trip between the Indian an Pakistani controlled parts of Kashmir got its roll on Thursday, despite the brave passengers being attacked by terrorists in their guest house on Wednesday. The Independent reports:

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Passengers on a historic bus trip between the Pakistani and Indian portions of Kashmir crossed a bridge spanning the de facto border on Thursday, the halfway point on a voyage both sides hope will lead to lasting peace on the subcontinent.

Family members kept apart during more than a half-century of bloodshed waited anxiously to receive their loved ones, while Indian officials offered the visitors from the Pakistani Kashmiri capital of Muzaffarabad marigold garlands and bouquets of flowers. One passenger waved a victory sign.

Two buses from Srinagar, the capital of Indian Kashmir, were expected to arrive later at the heavily militarized Line of Control, where a 220-foot long bridge closed since the 1940s connects a winding and rutted road through the Himalayas.

The bus service started a day after an attack in Srinagar by suspected Islamic militants on a guesthouse where passengers were staying. Six people were injured but the passengers escaped unharmed. Both sides vowed not to let militants disrupt the occasion.

I must say that I really admire the courage of those passengers. You’d find it difficult to get me onto a bus moving through ambush-able territory knowing that every militant for hundreds of miles around would be gunning for me. I know security was tight, but still. In a way, the “elderly” passengers riding this bus reminded me of Rosa Parks daring the MAN to do his worst. ABC News reports:

Nineteen Indian Kashmiris, mostly elderly, defied separatist threats and crossed the metal bridge — painted neutral white for the occasion — hours after 31 Pakistanis walked into India to reunite divided families. “I can’t control my emotion. I am setting foot in my motherland,” said a tearful Shahid Bahar, a lawyer from the capital of Pakistani Kashmir, Muzaffarabad. “I am coming here for the first time to meet my blood relations,” said Bahar, whose father crossed over in 1949. “It was my dream. It is unbelievable. Everyone is here.” On both sides, they were hugged and kissed by relatives they had not held for decades, or in some cases, ever. “It’s for the first time that I have seen my uncle,” sobbed Noreen Arif, an adviser to Pakistani Kashmir’s prime minister, hugging him tearfully as he stepped off the bridge.

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“I care about my brother Nikhil. Do you?”

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Several tipsters sent us this NYTimes article about a new Indian film that surprisingly has not stirred up much controversy as of yet:

Late last month, a low-budget drama called “My Brother Nikhil” opened in movie theaters across India, telling the story of a gay man’s struggle with his family and his country after contracting the virus that causes AIDS.

Quietly, gently, “My Brother Nikhil” has tested the limits of the Indian cinemagoer’s sensibility.

Commercially, it is no runaway Bollywood blockbuster; nor is it meant to be. Rather, its impact lies in having served up a story about love and loss – sentimental staples of contemporary Indian cinema – with a gay man at its center, and having done so without kicking up the slightest fuss from India’s cultural conservatives. As one review published in the latest issue of Outlook, a mainstream newsweekly, put it, “The two lovers seem just like any other couple.”

Playing here in Mumbai, formerly called Bombay, and in about a dozen other major cities in India, “My Brother Nikhil” is part of a new breed of Bollywood pictures known here as the “multiplex movie” – appealing to an urban middle-class audience, peppered with English phrases, and easy on the song-and-dance numbers and potboiler story lines usually associated with Indian commercial cinema.

The Indian Supreme Court is currently reviewing the ban on homosexuality in India.

“My Brother Nikhil” has faced none of the protests that six years ago greeted “Fire,” Deepa Mehta’s film about two women in love. Actors and athletes have been plugging “My Brother Nikhil” in television spots, an extraordinary marketing ploy in an industry where few people plug movies that are not their own. “I care about my brother Nikhil. Do you?” is the punch line. “This film has shown it’s possible to show a committed gay couple,” said Vikram Doctor, a journalist here who is active with a support group called the Gay Bombay Group. “It’s passed the Censor Board without any comment. Theaters have not been attacked. There’s no catcalling. It’s treated respectfully by the audience and the filmmaker. I’m happily surprised.”

View movie trailers and listen to the soundtrack here. Continue reading →

A whole boardroom full of brown contestants

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What comes next was ENTIRELY expected if you think about it. From Rediff.com:

After the huge success of the reality show Indian Idol on Sony Entertainment Television, Freemantle Media, which conceived the programme, is set to tap the huge potential of the Indian market for reality shows.

Freemantle Media will host The Apprentice, one of its most popular shows in India. “We are planning to introduce The Apprentice later this year. The show will be telecast on the Star network,” says Gavin Wood, director of production, India Freemantle Media.

One of the most popular television reality series in the world today, The Apprentice will be conceived on the lines it is aired in different parts of the Asia, Europe and the United States.

Yes, yes. We will export cut-throat corporate world behavior to the third world now. I wonder if Laxmi Mittal will be the tycoon.

“India is a land of great creativity, talent and passion. The spark among the people is truly amazing,” says Wood.

“Although the television Industry in India is young, it is very professional and has high quality standards which is lacking in many other countries where the industry is much older than in India. The television sector with its wide reach will be a major driver of growth in the entertainment sector,” Wood explains.

What they don’t seem to understand is the potential trauma that rejected contestants could suffer in Indian society. Just imagine being fired, coming home and having to listen to your Indian mother point out the fact that the other people’s children haven’t been fired yet. Continue reading →

Posted in TV

Faded Genes

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We are going to have to ask for the experts to comment on this one. The BBC reports (thanks for the tip Mytri):

Indians infected with the AIDS virus are more likely to contract the disease than people in the west, a new study has found.

Scientists say that Indians have lower immunity to the virus because they have genes that hasten the disease.

India says more than five million of its citizens are infected with the HIV virus, second only to South Africa.

Activists say the number of Indians affected by HIV/Aids is much higher than the government says.

Scientists at India’s premier medical school, the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), studied 200 people with HIV infection and 2000 healthy people over two years for the study.

I always try to look at genetic anomalies in terms of evolutionary pressures. In cases where none are obvious I just shrug my shoulders and wait for an explanation.

“Protective genes are low among Indians while the harmful genes are more common,” Dr NK Mehra, head of the study told the BBC.

Ummmm. That explanation doesn’t quite make it clear (to me at least). In a somewhat related story the Hindustan Times reported last week that Indians and Pakistanis in England have the lowest number of sexual partners (ouch).

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Exporting a South Asian viewpoint

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For quite some time now I have been interested in finding examples of Bollywood and/or other Indian media’s influence on Islamic societies, especially the more conservative ones. I try to blog about such instances when I can. As I have stated before, I see a tremendous amount of potential in the ability of a brown face to deliver a moderate message to another brown face irrespective of religion. Initially I was planning a blog entry only on this announcement today which I saw reported on Asians in Media’s website:

With Al Jazeera blazing the way for brand recognition amongst non-western news channels, no one can accuse India’s Zee TV of lacking ambition.

The broadcaster announced earlier today at an Indian media industry event that it is planning to launch a global English news channel to rival the BBC and CNN.

“The channel, which will be beamed from India, will have content in line with that of international news channels like CNN and BBC and would target a wider audience rather than the Indian diaspora,” Zee chairman Subhash Chandra (pictured) said at the Ficci-Frames conference.

He said the aim was to portray a more south Asian viewpoint to the world in response to global events.

I really believe that such a channel has the POTENTIAL to rival Al Jazeera in ways that any channel promoted or created by the West will never be able to. In doing some background research for this entry however I came across this story in Time Magazine about a 13 year old minstrel in Afghanistan. It was interesting enough that I got completely sidetracked from my original post. However, I will explain how the stories are tenuously related at the end. Continue reading →

I tried to be as brave as a cricket player

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Last week I blogged about high altitude heroics, and although nobody (except Manish) commented I thought I’d take another stab at it, believing that lack of comments doesn’t equal lack of interest. The Hindustan Times reports that two Indian Airforce pilots are being inducted into the [Smithsonian Institute’s] Aviation Hall of Fame:

Indian Air Force (IAF) pilots Wing Cdr SK Sharma and Flt Lt AB Dhanake will be inducted into the aviation hall of fame at the prestigious Smithsonian institute in the US for a daring high-altitude rescue.

This is the first time such an honour has been conferred on IAF pilots by the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.

Sharma was awarded the peacetime gallantry award Kirti Chakra on Republic Day this year for rescuing three injured mountaineers from a world record height of 23,260 feet. Dhanake was his co-pilot during that mission.

I can’t seem to find any press release about this on the Smithsonian’s website but I’m sure it must be true. The Times of India story from a year ago details the circumstances of the rescue:

Sharma and Dhanake flew the rescue missions on May 11, 12 and 13 [2004] in severe turbulent conditions and in the face of jet speed winds.

“Landing a helicopter, above its service ceiling of 23,000 feet, at an unprepared site on a snow-covered mountain slope, at wind speeds of 35-40 knots, was definitely not a bed of roses,” recalled Sharma.

Sharma, commander of the Bareilly-based 111 Helicopter Unit, who takes his inspiration from cricket superstar Sachin Tendulkar, said they managed the remarkable feat with sheer perseverance.

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The Gods of Chocolate

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chocolategod.jpg New California Media reports on a story found in India West Magazine about chocolate Hindu deities. As I will explain in a moment this is met (by me at least) with great relief and gratitude:

Chocolate Deities, a confectioner based in the Catskill Mountains of New York, offers handmade chocolates molded into the shape of Lord Krishna, Ganesha, Buddha, the Tibetan goddess Tara and many other gods and goddesses.

Some customers like to eat them, while others, according to company cofounder Jeanne Fleming, prefer to put the chocolates on their home altars or even melt them down for hot chocolate or sauces.

“In the case of [Krishna and Ganesh], Hindus asked me to make them … and many of the folks who buy them are Hindus,” she wrote in an email to India-West Mar. 25.

Well hell. I will buy them for sure. So far there hasn’t been a good way for chocolate worshippers like myself to properly practice our faith. As you can see by the picture of my makeshift shrine at home, there is much left to be desired. This way at least my mother will believe that I have returned to my roots and am worshipping Hindu Gods again instead of practicing my heretical Swiss beliefs.

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“We are not expecting that all those who buy our chocolates will necessarily eat them,” Fleming told India-West. “If you read our website carefully, we suggest that they can be used in ceremonial ways, as ritual objects, or spiritual objects for the kitchen. They are not like bikinis, or lunch boxes, or beer labels. They are not used ‘for’ something else, or in the service of something else. They are themselves what they are: objects of devotion, offerings, art, or to be eaten.”

Chocolate Deities website is actually very educational. They even explain that Ganesha liked sweets (so he’d probably approve of this venture):

Ganesha was very fond of sweets. There was one that he particularly adored, a dumpling called a modaka, which has steamed wrapping made of rice flour and a filling that absolutely bursts with coconut and dried fruit. Whenever Ganesha saw a dish of modakas, he had to stop and eat one. Of course, once he had eaten one, he had to eat another. Then another, and another until the dish, in no time at all, was empty.

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