Author Archives: Abhi

About Abhi

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

Bush’s poll numbers soar

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Huh? Surely I jest. The latest poll numbers in the U.S. do not back up such a claim. I am referring to Bush’s poll numbers in India however. From the BBC:

India is one of just three countries which thinks the world is safer with George W Bush back in the White House, according to a BBC World Service poll.

The survey found that 62% of Indians thought his re-election as US president was positive for global security.

The BBC’s Nick Bryant says the poll was carried out in big Indian cities where US trade benefits may have counted.

On average, 58% of respondents in 21 countries believed another Bush term made the world a more dangerous place.

Well, I guess it’s good to be, err…different than most, but what’s the logic? Pretty obvious actually:

Our correspondent says Mr Bush’s popularity in India seems to be borne primarily of economic necessity.

People were questioned in Mumbai (Bombay), Calcutta, Delhi and Madras (Chennai) – four powerhouses of India’s fast-expanding economy.

Our correspondent says that with a growth rate of well over 6%, many Indians simply believe that the Bush administration is good for business, and that its strong desire to forge closer trade ties is a key component of India’s stunning economic success.

Continue reading →

EU considers banning the swastika

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The BBC reports on the European Union being urged to ban the swastika after Prince Harry got caught last week brandishing one on his arm:

The EU has been urged to ban the swastika because of its Nazi associations with hate and racism. But the symbol was around long before Adolf Hitler. The swastika is a cross with its arms bent at right angles to either the right or left. In geometric terms, it is known as an irregular icosagon or 20-sided polygon.

The word is derived from the Sanskrit “svastika” and means “good to be”. In Indo-European culture it was a mark made on people or objects to give them good luck.

It has been around for thousands of years, particularly as a Hindu symbol in the holy texts, to mean luck, Brahma or samsara (rebirth). It can be clockwise or anti-clockwise and the way it points in all four directions suggests stability. Sometimes it features a dot between each arm.

Continue reading →

Sleeping with the enemy

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Indian and Pakistani soldiers living together? Must be a Bollywood film, no? From the Indo-Asian News Service:

A contingent of Indian Air Force (IAF) personnel being sent to join the UN peacekeeping mission in Congo will serve alongside Pakistani soldiers.

IAF officials said the contingent, comprising 285 personnel and six Mi-17 transport helicopters and four Mi-35 helicopter gunships, would be deployed at Bukavu to provide cover to Pakistan infantry troops.

It is a region that rebel forces recently captured.

“Our forces will live and operate with the Pakistani peacekeepers at Bukavu,” an IAF official told IANS.

Will it become the begining of a beautiful friendship, or a rumble in the jungle? Regardless, I doubt their behavior could be any worse than that of the UN troops already there. Continue reading →

Life under the shadow of raisins

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Prunes get no respect I tell you. The Pacific News Service reports on the woes of Sikh prune farmers in central California. Yeah, I had no idea either.

Prune growers in California’s Central Valley, which stretches from Fresno north to the Yuba City-Marysville area, are facing their worst harvest on record, following an extremely hot spring, which left little time for pollination.

Jaswant Bains, one of the area’s largest growers, said this year’s harvest has been “just about the worst crop ever.” Hot and dry weather during pollination resulted in a lack of fruit setting, he explained to India-West. Additionally, he said, high winds during the summer contributed to a heavy fruit drop during the picking season.

The Yuba City-Marysville area produces 99 percent of the nation’s prune orchards and about 70 percent of the world’s supply of prunes. Sikhs – many farming the land of ancestors who migrated here in the late 19th century – account for roughly 30 percent of prune farmers in the United States. Overall, the “dried plum” industry, as it is now known, could lose more than $100 million this year, as farmers said they harvested from 25 percent to 45 percent of a normal year’s crop.

I wish I had known all these years that so many Indian farmers harvested prunes. I would have totally drank more prune juice in solidarity. Prune juice has many benefits. Anyways, is there any relief in sight for these farmers? Continue reading →

Religious Illiteracy

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Boston University professor Stephen Prothero writes a pretty acerbic commentary today in the Los Angeles Times:

The sociologist Peter Berger once remarked that if India is the most religious country in the world and Sweden the least, then the United States is a nation of Indians ruled by Swedes. Not anymore. With a Jesus lover in the Oval Office and a faith-based party in control of both houses of Congress, the United States is undeniably a nation of believers ruled by the same.

Things are different in Europe, and not just in Sweden. The Dutch are four times less likely than Americans to believe in miracles, hell and biblical inerrancy. The euro does not trust in God. But here is the paradox: Although Americans are far more religious than Europeans, they know far less about religion.

In Europe, religious education is the rule from the elementary grades on. So Austrians, Norwegians and the Irish can tell you about the Seven Deadly Sins or the Five Pillars of Islam. But, according to a 1997 poll, only one out of three U.S. citizens is able to name the most basic of Christian texts, the four Gospels, and 12% think Noah’s wife was Joan of Arc. That paints a picture of a nation that believes God speaks in Scripture but that can’t be bothered to read what he has to say.

I can’t argue with any of the main points in his commentary. I’m not sure what his agenda is though. Is he being critical of religious ignorance because of its deleterious effects on society, or because he wants people to become more religious?

A few days after 9/11, a turbaned Indian American man was shot and killed in Arizona by a bigot who believed the man’s dress marked him as a Muslim. But what killed Balbir Singh Sodhi (who was not a Muslim but a Sikh) was not so much bigotry as ignorance. The moral of his story is not just that we need more tolerance. It is that Americans — of both the religious and the secular variety — need to understand religion. Resolving in 2005 to read for yourself either the Bible or the Koran (or both) might not be a bad place to start.

I’ll take that advice.

Outsourcing your algebra homework

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At the tender age of 28 I have already become a bitter old man. Kids these days, I just don’t understand. When I was young we played Pacman and Frogger on the Atari. Now they have Halo and Grand Theft Auto. I used an AM/FM Walkman and now they have these Ipod things. This news however just pushed me over the edge. Now you can actually outsource your algebra homework if you were to properly abuse a new tutoring service by Growing Stars Inc.

Twice in a week, Ann Maria, a sixth grader at Silver Oak Elementary School, California logs on to the internet from home after school hours. Ann is not chatting up her friends.

She is connecting to her personal tutor, already online, armed with headset and a pen mouse sitting in a call centre like cubicle almost a timezone away in Panampillynagar, Kochi, Kerala.

Your neighbourhood tuition teacher, riding on the Information Technology Enabled Service (ITES) wave, has gone global and his monthly pay packet turned meatier – the 17 teachers who work with the Growing Star Infotech (P) Ltd will testify. The firm a subsidiary of California-based Growing Stars Inc went online in January last year.

Ok, I know I am being unfair. This is a legitimate service. The testimonials are glowing. Still, you guys can see the potential for abuse by crafty kids can’t you? If my memory serves me correct though, Indian parents teach math with a rolling pin in one hand to smack you if you don’t properly carry out addition. THAT’S going to be hard to pull off virtually. Continue reading →

Excuse me. I think somethings hanging from your turban.

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Last October I reported here on how the Justice Department laid the smack down on the New York Metropolitan Transport Authority for attempting to require Sikhs and other religious minorities to discard any head coverings while on the job. Well it seems as though the MTA is trying to be “cute” in how it complies with the Justice Department’s wrath. From Reuters:

A Sikh subway driver is being forced to wear a badge on his turban or face being demoted and sent to the stock yards, his lawyer said on Thursday.

The New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority (news – web sites), which operates the subways, told motorman Kevin Harrington to wear the MTA badge or he cannot not work with customers.

“If he wears it, he can operate in customer service areas, if not then he’s relegated to yard duty,” said Charles Seaton, spokesman for the MTA’s Transit Authority.

“I feel wearing the patch violates my religious freedom,” Harrington, 53, told The New York Daily News. “The turban is a sacred space, so it’s like asking a priest to wear a logo on his vestments.”

Harrington’s lawyer, Amardeep Singh, said his client had always worn the turban in his 25 years on the job, but it was only after “9/11 that the agency tried to get its Sikh and Muslim employees to stop wearing their turbans and hijabs.”

Continue reading →

The Crossover

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Sepia Mutiny has just received its first mention in the REAL news. Journalist Francis Assisi (whose stories we have referenced here before) writes an article regarding the Power99 Fiasco (see here and here) for IndoLink.com:

Spewing hate and vitriol at Indians and at outsourcing may make good comedy shows for Americans. But not for Indian Americans. Not anymore.

Thanks to alert American bloggers (notably Turbanhead, Sepiamutiny, Herstory and Moorishgirl) Indian Americans are raging mad at the racism and sexism displayed by a Philadelphia radio station last week when its African-American DJ, phoned an India-based call center worker, showering her with obscenities on-air, and then offering her humiliation to his listeners as entertainment.

Some Sepia Mutiny readers will note their comments in the story. Does this mean that the Mutiny is now legit? Never!

Cue the X-files music

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Just days ago I mentioned that a bunch of wacky conspiracy stories have emerged recently in order to explain the origin of the tsunami. Although this one has nothing to do with the tsunami, it was just too good to pass up. From India Daily:

Kongka La is the low ridge pass in the Himalayas (the blue oval in the map). It is in the disputed India-China border area in Ladakh. In the map the red zone is the disputed area still under Chinese control in the Aksai Chin area. The Chinese held northeastern part is known as Aksai Chin and Indian South West is known as Ladakh. This was where Indian and Chinese army fought major war in 1962. The area is one of the least accessed area in the world and by agreement the two countries do not patrol that part of the border. According to many tourists, Buddhist monks and the local people of Ladakh, Indian Army and Chinese Military maintain the line of control. But there is something much more serious happening in this area.

According to the few locals people on the Indian and Chinese side, this is where the UFOs are seen coming out of the ground, According to many, the UFO underground bases are in this region and both the Indian and Chinese Government know this very well.

Now please keep in mind that UFO stands for “Unidentified Flying Object” and so it doesn’t necessarily equate to aliens, but what else might it be?

Recently, some Hindu pilgrims on their way to Mount Kailash from the Western pass, came across strange lights in the sky. …The pilgrims at that stage started quizzing the Indian border petrol personnel. According to them, the security personnel told them that they are ordered not to allow any one near the area of interest and it is true that strange objects come out from under the ground with amplified and modulated lights. IndiaÂ’s Special Forces and possible visit the area by intelligence agencies.

But why in this area? Is it due to the remoteness, or something else? Continue reading →

Protecting the Homeland

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Days after being sworn in to office, Bobby Jindal has received his congressional committee assignments. Chief amongst them will be his presence on the Homeland Security Committee, which is a newly created one. From Sunnetwork.org:

“I am thrilled by my committee assignments,” Jindal, only the second Indian American to be elected to the US House of Representatives, said after receiving his official committee assignments yesterday. “I have been given three great opportunities and in each capacity I will have the chance to hear and weigh-in on issues of great importance to this country and the people of Louisiana” (his contituency).

“In this post 9/11 world, there is nothing more important than ensuring the safety of America and Americans,” Jindal said. “We need to make sure America is a country where our children don’t have to grow up and live in fear of terrorism.”

His other assignments include the Committee on Education and the Workforce and the Committee on Resources. These assignments took me by surprise considering the fact the Jindal has been known mostly for his healthcare expertise (best applied to the Health Committee). An assignment on a prominent committee probably means that the “Big Tent” party will be grooming him for high visibility.