Category Archives: News

Carrie and Suj

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carrie suj.jpg Time Magazine (hat tip: Julie) this week has a story about a couple who got married in a Hindu ceremony recently in upstate New York, Carrie and Sujeet. But this isn’t your ordinary cross-cultural wedding — both Carrie and Sujeet have Down Syndrome. Carrie and Sujeet are the first generation of DS individuals to be healthy and functional enough to consider marrying. They’ve benefited from full social assimilation, new therapies, and close medical attention that mitigates the health complications of DS:

This generation of young adults with DS has shattered old ideas about what is possible for people who carry an extra 21st chromosome in their cells–the cause of DS–and what opportunities society owes them. They came of age in an era of early-intervention programs to spur physical and mental development–Desai began one at 7 weeks. Once in school, they were included in regular classrooms when possible and were offered tutoring and special classes when needed. Both bride and groom are high school graduates. Just as critical, this generation has benefited from medical care addressing the heart and gastrointestinal defects, eye problems, thyroid issues, obesity and other health woes that, for reasons that are poorly understood, often tag along with mental retardation as part of Down syndrome. The result: their average expected life span has doubled, from 25 in 1983 to 56 today.(link)

Carrie and Sujeet met, started dating, and he popped the question publicly after performing at a music recital. I think the whole thing is pretty wonderful. Check out Sujeet’s home page, which has video footage of him proposing and pictures. And Carrie has a website too. Also, Wikipedia on Down Syndrome for more on the science of the genetic condition. Continue reading →

Blogs unbanned (updated)

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The Indian Government’s recently imposed ban on all Typepad and Blogspot blogs will soon be over and may already be over in some places. Earlier today, Rediff reported:

The blocking of blogs hosted by sites such as Blogspot, Typepad and Yahoo! Geocities by Internet Service Providers is likely to be lifted within 48 hours. [Link]

In fact, both the government and the ISP umbrella group are claiming that they never planned a blanket ban in the first place, they just wanted to ban 17 blogs:

Amitabh Singhal, a spokesperson of the Internet Service Providers Association of India (ISPAI) … said … some ISPs — he insisted it wasn’t all — mistook the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) notice and blocked entire blog domains, adding that it was technically feasible to block a sub-domain and leave others still accessible. [Link]

According to an email sent to SAJA by the Deputy Counsul General in New York, the ban was imposed because:

A two-page write up containing extremely derogatory references to Islam and the holy prophet which had the potential to inflame religious sensitivities in India and create serious law and order problems in the country appeared in a blog facilitated by well-known search engines

However, here’s the actual list of blogs that the government was trying to block. I’ve just skimmed them, but I can’t see the “two page write up” that they’re referring to [a copy of the original order is below the fold]:

  1. www.hinduunity.org
  2. mypetjawa.mu.nu [American right-wing blog]
  3. pajamaeditors.blogspot.com [American right-wing blog]
  4. exposingtheleft.blogspot.com [American right-wing blog]
  5. thepiratescove.us [American right-wing blog]
  6. commonfolkcommonsense.blogspot.com [This is isn’t even in English!]
  7. bamapachyderm.com [American right-wing blog]
  8. princesskimberley.blogspot.com [Long defunct]
  9. merrimusings.typepad.com [Defunct American right-wing blog, but now at http://www.merrimusings.mu.nu ]
  10. mackers-world.com [American right-wing blog]
  11. www.dalistan.org [They actually mean www.dalitstan.org which is currently down]
  12. www.hinduhumanrights.org/hindufocus.html
  13. www.nndh.com [Dead URL]
  14. bloodroyaltriped.com [Dead URL]
  15. imagesearchyahoo.com [Dead URL, but it wouldn’t be a blog!]
  16. www.imamali8.com [They probably mean imamali.com but somebody mistyped]
  17. www.rahulyadav.com [Computer geek at IU Bloomington – not a blog at all – banned merely for his links to the BJP, RSS, etc]

A few of the blogs mentioned do have some very offensive photos of the Koran, but that’s not the offense that the government was using to justify its ban. Seven of the seventeen blogs are right wing blogs that are strongly anti-Islamic in that LGF-clone way, but again, the government didn’t announce that it was trying to ban all blogs that were harshly critical of Islam. Most importantly, none of them are linked to recent terrorist attacks at all !

So even if you think that censorship should sometimes be imposed by the government, and you accept the government’s reasoning that this “two page write up” is one of those things that should be censored, you’d still be hard pressed to justify this ban.

Continue reading →

86,000 Lankan maids stranded in Lebanon

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The chaos in Lebanon has left a large number of South Asians stranded or endangered. Today four Indian Navy ships entered Beirut harbor to begin evacuating nationals to Cyprus:

Over 1,000 Indians assembled at the jetty as Israeli operations against Hezbollah militia intensified in Lebanon.

The warships — INS Mumbai, INS Betwa, INS Brahmaputra and auxiliary tanker INS Shakti — anchored overnight off the Lebanese coast, moved into the port to pull out the anxious Indian nationals and shift them to camps in Larnaca in Cyprus, Navy sources said.

There are about 12,000 Indians in Lebanon, according to press reports. And while India has the capability to mount its own evacuation, other countries with large numbers of nationals in Lebanon are in a more difficult position. The International Organization of Migration (IOM) has a team in Lebanon on behalf of the governments of Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Moldova and Ghana. There are at least 10,000 Bangladeshis in Lebanon, and up to 40,000 Filipinos.

But the case that stands out is Sri Lanka, with an estimated 93,000 nationals in Lebanon of whom 86,000 are women employed as domestic labor. Continue reading →

Goyal not always so mild-mannered

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In the daily Whitehouse press briefing a few hours ago, Tony Snow was getting some tough questions about the happenings in Lebabon and whether the U.S. was taken by surprise at some of the developments there:

Q If the reports are correct, and we, in fact, didn’t know about the weapons advances that Hezbollah has made, is there some frustration or embarrassment within the intelligence community at the moment?

MR. SNOW: Well, you’ve asked me one of those “ifs,” and then the answer is, I don’t know what the knowledge was about intelligence; therefore, I can’t answer it. Sorry, Victoria.

Q Well, it seems certainly according to the reports that we didn’t know that they had made significant advances.

MR. SNOW: Again, I don’t know. [Link]

So what do you do next if you are Snow? I am disappointed by ANY SM readers that don’t already know the answer:

Goyal.

Q Tony, two questions. One, last night celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Indian-American Friendship Council, Dr. Krishna Reddy he got over 120 members of Congress from both sides — senators and congressmen on Capitol Hill — and they were all supporting the U.S.-India civil nuclear agreement. And which yesterday you mentioned that G8 also — Prime Minister of India and the President had discussion on the same issue.

So now next month, there will be voting — final voting in the U.S. Congress. So where is the President now? How he is taking this approach —

MR. SNOW: The President supports the agreement. He made it clear to Prime Minister Singh. He’s made it clear to members of Congress. So far the votes have been overwhelmingly in favor in committee, and we’ll just have to see how it proceeds. I mean, that’s a no-brainer. [Link]

Was Snow subtly implying that Goyal’s question was a no-brainer? Snow soon found out that even Goyal, when backed into a corner with his pride on the line, can take a swing by asking a tough question. You won’t like him when he’s angry. Continue reading →

Yeh Shaam Mastani

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dishoom

Toronto Mutineers, hitch up your lungis and roll those kurta sleeves because the Indian Electronica festival is coming to your town. Festival mastermind Qasim Virjee, he of Dishoom fame, has brought together some choice performers like LAL, Omnesia ensemble, dancer Monkia Monga, and of course himself, as his badass alter-ego, Abdul Smooth.

Hot deets, get your hot deets right here:

When? Thursday, July 20th
Where? El Mocambo (464 Spadina, just South of College)
How? Tickets are $10 online, $15 at the door
No really, when? Keynote on ‘Developments in South Asian music since the Asian Underground’ at 8 pm, first act is up at 9 pm
What should I bring? A camera if you’ve got one because that SM flickr group is looking kinda skimpy.
Will Neha be there even though she has a deadly meeting at 9 on Friday? Hell yes!

+++

For those on the other side of the pond, take in the festival’s August installment in London town. Featuring the likes of Pathaan, Bobby Friction, DhakFu, Eagle-i, Ges-e, Nerm/the Shiva Soundsystem, Fusing Naked Beats, Yam Boy, and Visionary Underground. Continue reading →

“But I Warn You, They Are Not As Peaceful As Me”

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Community leaders from Tower Hamlets, London have started a campaign against the filming of Monica Ali’s 2003 novel Brick Lane. The novel was shortlisted for the Booker Prize, and was a big commercial and critical success. Reactions by many South Asian readers I heard from were mixed, mainly because of Ali’s use of a kind of pidgin English in the letters from the main character’s sister in Bangladesh, Hasina. (Our blog-friend DesiDancer also had a succinct review: “utter crap”, were her delicate, carefully chosen words)

Of course, the quality of the book is mostly irrelevant to the censorship campaign under way. This campaign seems to be an extension of the campaign against the book itself in 2003, and includes some of the same players and the same sad rhetoric of outrage and offense that is routinely trotted out these days in response to something or other:

In an echo of the controversy which surrounded the initial publication of the book, set partly in the east London borough, the novel is accused of reinforcing “pro-racist, anti-social stereotypes” and of containing “a most explicit, politically calculated violation of the human rights of the community”.

Community leaders attacked the book on its publication in 2003, claiming that it portrayed Bangladeshis living in the area as backward, uneducated and unsophisticated, and that this amounted to a “despicable insult”. (link)

The misguided attempt to protect the community’s honor through censorship will be ineffective, and the censorship campaign itself has the ironic effect of making the community look really, really bad. Continue reading →

Field of dreams

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Kevin Garnett, the long-suffering anchor of the never-quite-there Minnesota Timberwolves, has been pumping up India’s basketball prospects while on an Asian publicity tour. (Thanks, tipster Kumar!) Garnett said he felt a lot of enthusiasm for the sport in India, and suggested the country might emerge into the world game in the same way that China has started to do behind Yao Ming.

Of course, until some Indian school or club produces a 7-foot freak of nature with half decent ball handling skills, this scenario will lack a crucial component for take-off. Better perhaps to take the grassroots approach, as another major American sports organization, Major League Baseball, is doing. In November, after the US season is over, MLB’s Envoy Program will send a team of coaches to conduct a month of baseball clinics in five Indian cities: Delhi, Bombay, Chennai, Calcutta, and Imphal.

Uh… Imphal?

I know you don’t need me to tell you where Imphal is! It’s the capital of Manipur, of course, a largely “tribal” state in India’s far northeast. Seems like baseball has been thriving in Manipur for several decades, ever since (it is thought) American troops deployed there introduced it during World War II.

“Thriving” is a relative term, of course, since there isn’t a single dedicated baseball diamond in the state. However there are 26 organized men’s baseball clubs, 4 women’s teams, and a governing association; they play a regular season, improvising diamonds on fields borrowed from other sports.

A New York and Imphal venture called First Pitch is working on promoting Manipur baseball and raising funds to build a dedicated baseball stadium and equip the teams. A local club has already donated land. The project’s American chair, Muriel Peters, and Manipuri executive director, Somi Roy, both come from the film world. Director Mirra Bank is filming a documentary. A five-minute promo by a Manipuri director set to a translation of “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” is here.

Perhaps a part of this venture’s appeal in the philanthropic world is that it’s just that little bit hokey. But who knows? Perhaps a generation from now, Manipuri players will be commonplace in the American game. That’s why they call it Field of Dreams… Continue reading →

SAJA: Bold face names

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Dear readers, we know you want the good stuff and nothing but. ItÂ’s all about style and celebrity! So hereÂ’s the inside skinny on this weekendÂ’s sizzling SAJA session, live from prestigious Columbia University!………All these phantastic photos are by regular commenter Preston Merchant, the desiest white guy youÂ’ll ever meet………Heck, he lives in Jackson Heights and heÂ’s even got a Parsi name! We love you Preston!

sajavikaslove.jpg

sajasreegenial.jpg

Prolific New York Times-man Vikas Bajaj, the conventionÂ’s president, sure made the most of his position. LetÂ’s just say the cherubic correspondent won attention from some not-so-Gray ladies!………HeÂ’s here, heÂ’s there, heÂ’s everywhere – SAJA spiritual leader and networking machine Sree Sreenivasan was the host with the utmost. The J-school juggernaut jabberwock and new media maven lived all the way up to his rep. He even hosted a packed panel on blogging for beginners! Powerhouse wife and rifle champ Roopa and terrific twin tykes Durga and Krishna made this a family affair!

sajarizkhan.jpg

Dashing Riz Khan showed why heÂ’s the face of Al-JazeeraÂ’s new English-language channel. The tall caramel smoothie kept the crowd in stiches and reddened the cheeks of at least one lady! HeÂ’ll need to keep his mind out of the Qatar if he wants to top those Emi-ratings!………We missed some of the other plenaries, but our trusted sources tell us NBC anchorman Brian Williams was a barrel of laughs!………No, seriously! Guess he must not have talked about the future of network news!………Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian affairs Richard Boucher broke from the Bush bandÂ’s behavior with a candid conversation on US foreign policy!………Not! Survivors said his soporific speech produced little more than ZzzzÂ’s! The Mumbai bombings were barely discussed! Continue reading →

This is Gunga Din, reporting for NPR

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Wait Wait, Don’t Tell Me this morning made reference to a recent foot-in-mouth remark by White House Spokesman Tony Snow (who used to be at NPR):

“One of the problems with NPR is that there is so much political correctness that if you’ve got a name that looks like it was made up by Rudyard Kipling , you’ve got a better chance of getting hired. I’m a white guy named Tony Snow for heaven’s sake. That’s as white as it goes.” [Link]

This remark got very little coverage by either mainstream or blog media and took some digging to find. It seems to have slipped by most people’s radar screens.

I’m aghast at the very casualness of the race baiting involved in that sentence. Oh yes, those brown people with the funny names, the ones who are taking over NPR by virtue of their skin color, not their talent (How many desis are at NPR anyway?). At the same time, I recognize that it is clearly less of a deal than Joe Biden’s recent remarks, which to me were just a minor kerfuffle I recognize that this is a minor rather than major political sin.

Still, Snow’s remarks are eminently cringeworthy and the sort of thing that brown people should both remember and remind him about, just so that he learns the utter gaucheness of what he said.

“Mr. Snow, this is Somini Sengupta from the Times … one of those reporters with a “Kipling Name” … I’d like to ask you about the President’s policy on …”

Continue reading →

Last Call

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It was my intention to go out in Style&Snark, involving some kind of LiveBloggingEvent or Recap of Priya&Divya’s Super Sweet 16. But in light of Tuesday’s gripping events on a subcontinent where the Innocent&Hardworking cram 15-per-square meter traveling to and from work in order to put food on the table in the pursuit of better tomorrows, the trivial voyeuristic judgment of affluent, ill-mannered, hyphenated-American teenagers and the parents who indulge them suddenly seemed all the more irrelevant.

In my Sepia denouement, it seemed appropriate to disclose one small confession: I’m scared of Indians. Like, terrified. Like, if everyone in the last comment thread was standing together in a room, it would take me several cocktails to muster the courage to enter. And one of those cocktails would probably have to include some ratio of 151.

Seriously. Continue reading →