Author Archives: sajit

A South Asian Bess

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Mahajan: The South Asian Soprano
I can hear you asking, is the opera even mutinous? Well, when one of the main characters is played by a South Asian, I guess it starts to fall into that category. Soprano Indira Mahajan is making her debut with the Washington National Opera, in its production of Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, playing the lead female, Bess. This is the final week of the show which is playing at the Kennedy Center, and has been receiving reviews, which seem to be mostly positive [link via DCist] thus far. For those of you that don’t know, here is a bit more about Porgy and Bess…
“Welcome to Catfish Row. In this poignant tale of love found and lost, the disabled beggar Porgy wins the beautiful but troubled Bess from her macho thug boyfriend Crown only to lose her to “happy dust” and the bright lights of New York.”

This isn’t even close to Mahajan’s first big-time performance, and I am a little surprised we hadn’t heard too much of her until now, although I guess opera circles are a bit different than ones many of us belong to. Here is some more on Mahajan from her bio…

Acclaimed for her portrayal of Musetta, she appeared in the Opera Omaha production of La bohème conducted Hal France and returned to Dallas Opera in the Garnett Bruce production which was conducted by Claus Peter Flor. Recognizing her command of the role, the soprano was invited to perform “Quando me’n vo” in the prestigious Richard Tucker Gala at Lincoln Center. Having performed Mimi for the first time in the Dayton Opera production, Miss Mahajan was invited to repeat the role at Royal Albert Hall marking her opera debut in the United Kingdom. The production was directed by three-time Olivier award-winning director Francesca Zambello and conducted by David Parry. Following her debut, Miss Mahajan was recognized for her “substantial voice” in The London Sunday Times. She will reprise the role at Royal Albert Hall in spring 2006.
To hear an mp3 of what the South Asian Soprano sounds like, click here. Sadly, for those of you wanting to see one of the remaining shows of Porgy and Bess, it seems three nights have already sold out (11/15, 11/18, 11/19), so if you are interested, grab your tickets quickly.

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Fire Fire, Pa?

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The New York Daily News reports today of one Karnail Singh, a Queens, NY resident who is currently recovering in Weill Cornell Medical Center’s burn unit since being seriously burned on October 28. How was he burned, you ask? Well, he hasn’t been convicted or anything, but it turns out Singh, 48 apparently set himself on fire while trying to set a deathtrap for his daughter-in-law by torching her basement apartment. The cause of his anger (according to fire officials): Singh claimed his daughter-in-law wasn’t sending money to his son in India. Oh, and he also also accused her of seeing other men. Thankfully Singh’s daughter-in-law Gurpreet Kaur, was rescued unharmed by firefighters who had to cut through metal bars on a basement window to get her out. In a weird twist of fate, as Singh was fleeing, he mistakenly set himself on fire. What goes around, perhaps really does come around.

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Squat Like a Hindu

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    Hindu Squatting
    When I was younger, I would inadvertently get into trouble for a many number of things, teasing my younger cousin, not coming home when my mom would call for me (picture an Indian aunty in suburban central Pennsylvania standing outside the front door of her house, screaming for me (in my embarrassing nickname) to come home like she was still in Ahmedabad), or for jacking that extra blow-pop. Like all kids, I knew I would get in trouble, but I did it anyway because it was fun. What wasn’t fun was the punishment. We called them “Ootbes“, which translates into stand (oot) sit (bes) and as an added incentive, we had to hold our ears while we did it, thereby looking like a robotic monkey, doing weird squats. Thanks to tipster, Nalina, I learned that I was not alone in having to do these. While some in the West have found yoga to be great excercise, others have discovered the Ootbes or Bethak, and renamed it the “Hindu squat.” It seems “Politically Incorrect Fitness & Fighting” instructor Matt Furey is using the Hindu Squat, and even the Hindu push-up (also known as downward facing dog in yoga circles) as conditioning exercises for weight loss and as a technique for building muscle. From Furey’s website..
    Hindu squats (bethaks) are an exercise, like Hindu pushups (dands), that have been used by Indian wrestlers for centuries to build explosive lower body strength, power, speed and endurance. Can you get stronger doing this so-called “free hand” leg exercise while also staying away from barbell and dumbbell squats? Absolutely. Can you develop greater muscle mass with this bodyweight exercise? Again, absolutely. The Great Gama of India was 5’7″ and 260 pounds of streaming steal, with thighs so heavily muscled they resemble the proverbial “tree stumps.” Legend has it that Gama of India, who never lost once in 5000 matches, did 4,000 bethaks or Hindu squats each day. These numbers are grossly inflated – but the fact of the matter is that Gama did do this exercise daily and he was unstoppable.
    Google search results for Hindu Squat, Google search results for Hindu Pushup

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Diwali, Diwali, Everywhere

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It is getting out of hand. Not that I am complaining of course, but I think the Western media has finally caught on to Diwali mania. And in perfect IST fashion, the New York Times chimes in with their addition to the Diwali-themed articles, focusing on one of the most important facets of the Diwali holiday: mithai (Indian sweets). Yeah, many first and second geners claim to not like them, complaining of their over-sweetness or their unnatural colors. And then what is the deal with that silver stuff that covers so many of them (FYI it is actually real silver). The article, aptly titled “Festival of Lights, Parade of Sweets,” does a good job of getting into the nitty gritty of the role of mithai in Diwali and Eid and in South Asian society in general.

This week, in a coincidence of calendars, Hindus and Muslims from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh are celebrating the most joyous holidays of the year. Hindus observe the festival of lights, Diwali, or Deepavali, which ushers in the new year; Muslims finish the holy month of Ramadan with Id al-Fitr, which signals the end of the monthlong daytime fast and a return to the sweetness of daily life. The two holidays, Hindus and Muslims here say, are utterly soaked in sugar. “You cannot go to anyone’s house at this time of year without a quarter-pound of something sweet,” says Padma Dasgupta, a writer in Jericho, N.Y.

Related post: Diwali Updates: Diwali Parking, India 2.0, Congressional Legislation, Sparklers, and Diwali Schlock Contest!

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John McCain on Gandhi

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It turns out Senator John McCain (R-Arizona) in the middle of all his wonderful work in the Senate has finished writing another book (I think this is his third). This latest publication, entitled, “Character Is Destiny : Inspiring Stories Every Young Person Should Know and Every Adult Should Remember,” is a collaborative effort between McCain and his longtime colleague Mark Salter, and is a book comprised of 34 profiles of varous public figures: anyone from Winston Churchill and George Washington to one Mohandas Gandhi. I haven’t read the book so I can’t really comment on the work. But what I can comment on is the interview that McCain gave last night on the Charile Rose show (thanks Sudin), where the Senator discussed a range of current events including the new book.

In the interview, Rose, after discussing his own political future and the Supreme Court among other things, discussion turned to the book. From the transcript of the Charile Rose Show,

CHARLIE ROSE: You sure seem to have the energy to do it.

This is a book called “Character is Destiny: Inspiring Stories Every Young
Person Should Know and Every Adult Should Remember,” written with Mark Salter, your longtime colleague. Honor, purpose, strength, understanding, judgment, creativity and love. Profiles here of a whole range of people, from Thomas Moore to Gandhi. Respect. Just give me one small example of Gandhi and respect.

JOHN MCCAIN: Gandhi demanded respect. I wrote about him in his time in India — in South Africa, before he left for India, where he stood up for the rights of the, quote, “coloreds,” as they called the Indian people. And he fought, and he developed this non-violent opposition that he –that later won independence for India. He was jailed. He was mistreated. He was beaten. And he demanded the respect that are due to all human beings. And he was an incredible, powerful player, and unfortunately, murdered by, as you know, by a Muslim.

I hope he didn’t put that last bit in his book, you know, the part about Gandhi being murdered by a Muslim, because well, that would be factually incorrect. Now, many of you out there, and most of you I assume haven’t researched for a book which discusses Gandhi, know that Gandhi wasn’t assasinated by a Muslim, but was killed by Nathuram Godse, a Hindu. Continue reading →

Diwali Updates: Diwali Parking, India 2.0, Congressional Legislation

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Over a month ago, we reported that New York City was considering issuing a parking holiday in deference to the Diwali holiday on November 1. While New York’s Committee on Transportation unanimously approved the motion, it was rumored that New York mayor, Michael Bloomberg would veto the legislation. On October 28, as the 30 day time-limit for the veto was set to expire, Mayor Bloomberg vetoed it. From one of the organizer’s emails: Because the mayor vetoed the bill so late,

“there is not enough time remaining before Diwali (Nov 1 is the date the city was planning to observe it) to override him and observe the holiday this year. Council Member Brewer is confident that the council will override the Mayor, but it will probably happen at one of the two Stated Council meetings in November (I believe 11/17 and 11/31). So the city will officially observe Diwali next year. This year November 1 falls on All Saints day, on which alternate side of the street parking is suspended anyway.”
According to the same email, the Mayor is rumored to be planning a Diwali party at Gracie Mansion, a bit puzzling since he vetoed a bill which would highlight the holiday. Even if Bloomberg doesn’t have the party, the City Council is having one on Wednesday, November 2, at 5:30 p.m. at the Council Chambers at city hall. RSVP by 12:00 Noon on Tuesday, November 1, 2005 here.

We were also informed that back in February of 2005, Representative Joseph Crowley of the seventh district of New York introduced a mostly symbolic resolution recognizing the Diwali holiday. The resolution’s purpose is simply to “express the sentiments of one of the houses,” and will not make Diwali a public holiday. Still it is nice to see some effort to recognize. See the text of the “simple resolution” here, and more from SM on Crowley’s efforts to recognize Indian-Americans.

Lastly, Washington Post reporter S. Mitra Kalita continues her series of India-centric blog posts, entitled “India 2.0,” with her most recent discussing her Diwali partying. Click here to peruse her latest, and click here to see the archives.

Still no word on the stamp.

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The Mutiny and James Bond

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Gulshan “Le Chiffre” Grover
Sometimes the cold over here in our North Dakota headquarters makes us really lazy. It isn’t that we don’t want to follow up on all our tips, but sometimes laziness aside, we have to wait until things are confirmed. This isn’t a gossip blog afterall , and god knows you can’t always trust the press. We also didn’t want to contribute to a rumor that ended up being off the mark.

That being said, I think it is safe to report that the upcoming James Bond Film Casino Royale, starring Daniel Craig as 007, is keeping it mutinous with its inclusion of at least one brown actor in the film, no not Aishwarya Rai, but Bollywood-villain Gulshan Grover. Grover, true to form, will be playing Le Chiffre, the villain, in Casino Royale, which is based on Ian Fleming’s first James Bond book by the same name.

Shooting for the Bond film is due to begin in Prague in February 2006. Grover will be the first Indian to act in a Bond film since tennis star Vijay Amritraj and Kabir Bedi played important roles in Octopussy (1983). [link]
If I recall correctly Octopussy had many scenes filmed at the lovely Lake Palace, located on Lake Pichola in Udaipur (now a Taj-palace hotel).

Upon doing some research I was pretty amazed to find out that Grover has done (and is in the process of doing) several non Bollywood films, including Beeper, a thriller starring Harvey Keitel, Kaizad Gustad’s really bad film Boom which had a really attractive cast including Padma Lakshmi, member of Salman Rushdie’s posse, the forthcoming My Bollywood Bride, the Salman Khan starrer Marigold, and Tarsem Singh’s The Fall.

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Being Nitin Sawhney

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When it comes to music in the diaspora, there a few names that of course come to mind (Talvin Singh, Panjabi MC), but one of the most consistent and visible musicians evolving from the South Asian diaspora, and who is not universally from the UK Bhangra or the Asian Drum and Bass scene, is without a doubt, Nitin Sahwney.  DJ, producer, musician, and activist extraordinaire, Sawhney whose most recent studio-album Philtre, which has to be listed amongst his best work, is now slated to score Mira Nair’s production of Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Namesake, and is reported to be working as a producer on Indo-Canadian British transplant pop-star Raghav’s unfinished second album.  In fact, Bobby and Nihal, on their October 12 radio show on the BBC offerred up a bit of a preview of the Raghav/Nitin collaborative work entitled “Seasons,” which draws heavily on the heavenly ‘Mausam’, which appears on the Philtre album.  After having heard the original Mausam, the version featuring Raghav admittedly sounded a bit cheecky, but knowing that Nitin is producing some of the record makes me dizzy with anticipation.  Well, maybe not dizzy, but excited for sure.

Incidentally, Sawhney, who has also worked with Sting and Spanish collective Ojos de Brujo among others, seems to be in demand lately. Former Beattle Sir Paul McCartney, in an interview with Rolling Stone published earlier this month, said he initially wanted to make a record influenced by Nitin’s sound, 

“I liked the idea of toying with a kind of Asian thing, a one-chord thing. There’s an artist called Nitin Sawhney who I like — he’s a British-Asian guy. It was just a vibe I was into at the time

More SM on Nitin here.

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Blogging India at the Washington Post

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With all this mutinous talk of Toral’s recent demise on the Apprentice the past couple of days (1,2,3)  and the really excellent discussion that has ensued, it has been really hard to find focus on other areas.  Despite that, the mutiny must go on, and part of our progression is the appearance of Washington Post Staff Writer, author of Suburban Sahibs and (former SAJA President) S. Mitra Kalita’s ongoing Washington Post blog, India 2.0, chronicling her eight week trip to India.  Accompanied by photographer Andrea Bruce (see her recent WP Photo Exhibit here), Kalita departed for her trip before the recent earthquake disaster in India and Pakistan.  The scope of her blog looks to be very interesting and falls very-much into line with some of the things we like to focus on here.  Since her departure, and subsequent arrival in Delhi, Mitra has blogged on the departure pangs that many of us go through before leaving for the country of some of our parent’s birth, especially post liberalization of the early 1990s. 

“Yet again I am surrounded by suitcases and piles of clothing — the bright pinks and oranges and magentas of East and the tans and blacks and navys of West — and engaging in the giving and taking that foreshadows the semiannual rite of my hyphenated life: a trip to India.  Will I really wear these jeans? Or should I pack another salwar kameez? What’s the point of taking so many saris if I still can’t wrap myself in them properly.  These are familiar questions, posed since I was a little girl spending summer vacations in the land of my parents’ birth. But as I look around my bedroom, I am struck by a stark difference between then and now.  There are no Nikes. No Walkmans. No Tang. No Pringles. No Guess. No Gap. No Minoltas. No socks. No razor blades. No microwaves (I swear we took one once.) In fact, I am taking no gifts, just a few requested items for my husband’s cousin’s family, who are hosting me. Among them: a Bose iPod speaker and Livestrong wristbands. I do not have an iPod and didn’t know what the heck those bands were. Already, this American cousin feels she has been living in the Dark Ages.”
  She has also blogged on the South Asian earthquake and, the burgeoning mall culture that has taken over, not just India, but from my recent travels to South Asia, Sri Lanka as well.  She writes of a recent mall opening,
“Make no mistake about the “mall” moniker. In India, that means marble floors and glitzy storefront displays. Like many conveniences taken for granted in the West, the Indian counterpart tends to be equally rooted in providing the customer experience. (McDonald’s, for example, might have a worker who pumps your ketchup.) So the opening of M.G. 2 (named for its location on Mehrauli Gurgaon Road and because it is adjacent to M.G. 1) served up a heavy dose of pomp and importance alongside glasses of Coke and mineral water, with trays of tofu triangles and asparagus bruschetta circulated by waiters.” 

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Water Is Finally Here

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I blogged awhile back about the imminent release of the last film in Deepa Mehta’s elemental trilogy, Water. The film, whose shooting was forced to relocate secretly to Sri Lanka, stars Lisa Ray (Bollywood/Hollywood), Seema Biswas (Bandit Queen), and Bollywood hearthrob (and Peta Spokesman) John Abraham. It is finally making its way through the film fest circuit, recently playing to a full house at the 30th Toronto International Film Festival, and appearing at Washington D.C.s recent SALTAF. The preview screenings, and the audiences reactions’ to the film must have been great because it turns out the film will be distributed in the in the U.S.by Fox Searchlight (MongrelMedia has Canadian distribution and is set to release the film on November 4), the house that distributed wildly successful Bend It Like Beckham. What does this mean for us, the audience? We’ll actually be able to see the movie without having to travel far and wide to find the one theater in our state showing it.

View the trailer for the film here. Incidentally, those of you lucky enough to have access to Canadian Bravo will have the opportunity to catch two special episodes of Scanning the Movies, which will focus on the making of Water with part one airing on October 28 and part two on November 4.

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