Author Archives: Abhi

About Abhi

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

Tackling the impact of 9/11 on South Asians

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Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s new book, Queen of Dreams is featured in Newsweek magazine:

Newsweek: What else influenced you [to write Queen of Dreams]?

CBD: The shock of 9/11 and its aftermath. If my novel is about how dreams affect our waking life, this was the other end. What happens in reality is sometimes unbelievable, like a nightmare. Many people felt, “Is this real? This can’t be happening.” When reality takes on that nightmare quality, that shade of the surreal, some people respond with fear and prejudice; they need to blame somebody, to lash out at someone who looks different, who is the “other.” Nationwide, Middle Eastern and South Asian communities became hate-crime victims. Businesses were vandalized, people beaten up—even murdered. Many were afraid to leave their homes. We were advised by mass e-mail, “Don’t wear Indian clothes,” “Don’t go out by yourself,” “Pretend you’re Hispanic,” “Put up an American flag, a GOD BLESS AMERICA sign.”

Of course this will probably be another depressing book by a South Asian author but at least it tackles some new themes.

CBD: …That [9/11] was a tragedy for [Americans of South Asian descent] also—weÂ’d lost people. Then this additional burden—of proving ourselves patriotic—was placed on us because we were “suspicious looking.” It was an injustice to our community at a time when we all needed to come together as Americans. So, the second theme in “Queen of Dreams” is, what does it mean to be American? Does it mean one thing in good times, another in bad? When everythingÂ’s going well, Indians are a model minority—weÂ’re exotic, you take our bindi, our henna, things you like. When things go bad, suddenly, weÂ’re “terrorists”?

A depressing South Asian story

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The Washington Post features the plight of a Pakistani American family today. The tale is a real downer so for all of you who like depressing books by South Asian authors (oh wait, thats all of them) read on:

On Wednesday morning, as most of the country was either reeling from the election or celebrating it, a slim, long-faced youth named Syed Shah sat in his family’s darkened living room in front of a blue hard-shell American Tourister suitcase and contemplated what it means to be a man.

The suitcase was brimming with papers. “Work Permit,” said one manila folder, in handwritten English and Urdu script. Beside it, photocopies of expired diplomatic visas were strewn across the pistachio-green carpet. He must figure out what to do with these documents so his family can keep working legally in the United States.

Why the great burden on this teenager? His father, according to the article, was shot in a robbery while delivering Pizzas. That was one of three jobs his father held. This is sad of course but you have probably heard stories like this before. Here is what is different though about his father’s story though:

He spoke four languages and had been a diplomat with the Pakistani government, living with his family in Iran and Syria before coming here to take a post with the Pakistan Embassy. When the posting ended unexpectedly and the government wanted to move him to another country, he said no.

“He said, ‘My kids are now in school here, and we don’t need to disturb their education,’ ” said Jafar Hussein, a longtime family friend who has been helping sort their affairs. Instead, Musharaf left his job at the embassy and found other work — delivering The Washington Post and the Washington Times in the early morning, working at 7-Eleven, Kmart and later Pizza Hut in the daytime and evenings. He was always scanning the classifieds for better jobs, and he joked about attending college with his kids.

Continue reading →

The Sister’s Monologue

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Remember this post on Sepia Mutiny about a letter from the South Asian Sisters regarding the film Harold and Kumar? It has been SM’s most controversial posting thus far. Well here is some more news regarding our sisters from The Stanford Daily:

The South Asian Sister, a Bay Area cultural group, will perform tomorrow night [Friday Nov. 5th] a South Asian version of the Vagina Monologues in Cubberley Auditorium. “Yoni Ki Baat: Talks of the Vagina,” is hosted by Saheli, Stanford’s South Asian Women’s Alliance, and Sanskiti, the Stanford’s South Asian cultural group.

“The Vagina Monologues has received such positive feedback on this campus, and we hope to create the same sense of empowerment and pride in the women who see this South Asian version, particularly those who can relate specifically to cultural and gender issues that the play addresses,” said senior Shilpi Agarwal, a member of Saheli.

Sounds like it will be an interesting and provocative show. Too bad I live at the wrong end of California.

“It’s often hard for young South Asian women here in America to reconcile the ideas of modesty and relative conservatism that pervade the Indian culture with the fact that empowerment extends beyond just educational achievement, but also to one’s body,” Agarwal said. “Because sex is a relatively taboo topic in many South Asian households, it’s important to remind South Asian women that they have the right to express themselves sexually and should not be ashamed of being strong women with needs and desires.”

Planets lined up to screw Indian Astrologers

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Last night I was on my balcony reading the stars. I am a man of many talents. All of the stars pointed to the fact that Indian Astrologers are full of sh_t. From Newinidapress:

New Delhi-based astrologers S R Krishnamurti and Lachhman Das Madan, who had forecast a win for Kerry, were hard put to explain what went wrong.

“The sub-period of Mercury in the main period of Mercury, which was in operation for Senator Kerry for the last five-sixth months, appears to have been not strong enough to take him to victory,” said Krishnamurti, who not only predicted a Kerry win, but had also said he would usher in an era of world peace.

“Two other planets, the Sun and the Moon, that were earlier on Kerry’s side, also appear to be not favouring him,” added Krishnamurti, a mystic, seeking cosmic reasons for the turnaround.

Lachhman Das Madan, known as Jyotish Samrat (king of astrologers) and a favourite of the Indian political class, was unwilling to throw in the towel. “I will wait till the final results are out,” he said, shortly before Kerry conceded defeat.

The best part about this is that now I can marry anyone I want without our star charts having to match.

SAMAR is mad!

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The people over at South Asian Magazine for Action and Reflection (SAMAR) are pretty upset by the election results to say the least. Here is an article by Vijay Prashad who is the Director of International Studies at Trinity College, Hartford, CT.

Four years ago, Bush’s Brain Karl Rove swore that he would not rest until the four million Evangelicals who did not vote then would turn out yesterday. And they did. They came in droves. They told those who did the exit polls that the issue that brought them to the franchise was not their own unemployment or under employment, or even the loss of their family members in a war of choice. They came to vote for “moral values.”

After Rove told participants at an American Enterprise Institute seminar in 2001 that the goal of the Bush re-election campaign would be to make sure that all 19 million Evangelical Christians voted, his team hired Ralph Reed to take charge of the effort. Reed, the veteran of the Christian Coalition, mobilized his contacts and his good looks and went after the withheld votes.

I think this is going to be the chief finding when the post-mortem of this election is completed. All the issues we so vehemently debated all these months were rather irrelevant when it came down to what ended up swaying this election. Mr. Prashad makes his feelings on the subject quite clear as he ends,

Progressives are loath to offer a frontal criticism of the theocracy that has overtaken the South and the Midwest — where under the command of tolerance we have to endure the intolerance toward women and their bodies, toward gays and lesbians, towards anyone who does not fit the compass of the “moral values” mass-produced by the established churches. It is time to throw off our forbearance and open a direct debate on the suppression of rational argument in favor of theocratic bigotry.

Homophobia elected Bush. Misogyny elected Bush. Unreason elected Bush.

What do the Dalai Lama and Bin Laden have in common?

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A few days ago I blogged about the Indian government possibly having spotted Bin Laden. Soon after, some FBI agents were dispactched to India but nobody was sure why. Now several newsites, such as the dailytimes.com, are reporting the following:

A senior FBI official visited India last week to alert intelligence agencies of the possibility of Osama Bin Laden sneaking into India, official sources said on Monday.

The Pakistan-based official sought Indian assistance for joint operations by Indian and US forces to nab Bin Laden if he crossed over to India from northeastern Pakistan.

The officialÂ’s visit followed IndiaÂ’s reportsÂ’ of spotting Bin Laden in northeastern Pakistan, close to the Pakistan-China-India border, sources added.

They said the FBI official met senior officials of the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), Intelligence Bureau (IB), Border Security Force (BSF) and Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP).

If this is true it lends more credence to my previous entry. Hey, sneaking over to India worked for the Dalai Lama.

Cue the bloodsucking monkeys

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From Yahoo Asia:

“They hide in trees and swoop on unsuspecting children loitering about in the temple premises or walking by, clawing them and even sucking a bit of blood,” Bani Kumar Sharma, a priest at the Kamakhya temple in Assam state, told The Associated Press. The temple, one of the most famous in India, is located in Gauhati, Assam’s capital.

“I was returning home from school when a monkey suddenly pounced on me, scratched my head and hand and pushed me to the ground,” said Jolly Sharma, a 6-year-old girl.

Hmmm. These sound awfully similar to the flying monkeys in the Wizard of Oz.

Will South Asians turnout?

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My mom was lazy and didn’t register in time (plus she was afraid she would be called to jury duty). My brother was lazy and didn’t secure an absentee ballot in time. Is the brown turning out? From Rediff.com:

South Asians, including Indian Americans, turned up in unusually large numbers to vote in New York City, reflecting what observers say is a nationwide trend in the 2004 presidential election.

“I have not only taken part in election, but have been an observer for many years. I have never seen such huge number of people from the South Asian community standing in queue to cast votes,” said Morshed Alam, former NYC School Board member and commissioner for the city’s voter assistance commissioner. “This is just unbelievable.”

That’s what I like to hear. Continue reading →

Keeping it in the family

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Do you miss your brother or sister so much that you are not willing to put up with the 13 year waiting period to sponsor them over to the U.S.? Then marry them. From OnlyPunjab.com:

In a ludicrous move to outwit US immigration laws, an Indian American from Punjab ‘married’ his own sister while his wife ‘married’ his brother so that they could circumvent the 13-year waiting period necessary for siblings.

Paramjit Singh Taggar, 44, and his wife Harbans Kaur Hothi, 51, were found guilty of conspiracy, fraud and misuse of visas by a US district court in San Francisco, California.

I wouldn’t want to be there when they have to explain it all to the kids.