Category Archives: News

How NOT to prevent your sister’s marriage

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You just have to wonder what the hell they must have been thinking:

Two Indian-American brothers, living in New York, made a hoax bomb call to the airport officials in a bid to prevent their sister from boarding a flight out of the city.

Authorities said Amandeep Singh, 24, and Gurpreet Singh, 26, were arrested last month on charges of telephoning airport officials and saying that terrorists had planted a bomb in the plane.

The bomb threat call was made with an intension to prevent their sister from taking off to a different US city in an attempt to marry her boyfriend, who is also an Indian immigrant. The brothers wanted the sister to marry to a doctor. [Link]

If I felt any sympathy at all for these two I lost it when I read that last sentence. However, their plan actually worked! For like a day.

Though their sister was unable to leave the city at that time, she has now married her boyfriend, according to news reports.

So what kind of unsuitable boy did the sister end up marrying then? A lawyer, a finance-type guy, an astrobiologist?

Sources said that Singh’s parents “went berserk” when their 30-year-old daughter announced she was going to marry a gas station owner.

The enraged parents set up an arranged marriage for the woman with a doctor in India, the sources said. [Link]

Ouch. There isn’t a more perfect storm I can think of that could cause Indian parents to go “berserk.”

Federal agents monitoring movement of tickets at MacArthur spotted the cancellation, and headed to Queens to question the sister. She led them to her brothers – and to other family members involved in the threat, the sources said.

The brothers face up to a year in prison if convicted of the current charges. The men, who have been in the U.S. for more than 15 years, could also face additional charges by the federal government. [Link]

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Rushdie Speaketh

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Salman Rushdie joins a group of prominent intellectuals & public figures in an anti-“Islamist” manifesto published in the now famous Jyllands-Posten (reprinted here in full because I agree with it so much) –

After having overcome fascism, Nazism, and Stalinism, the world now faces a new totalitarian global threat: Islamism.

We, writers, journalists, intellectuals, call for resistance to religious totalitarianism and for the promotion of freedom, equal opportunity and secular values for all.

The recent events, which occurred after the publication of drawings of Muhammed in European newspapers, have revealed the necessity of the struggle for these universal values. This struggle will not be won by arms, but in the ideological field. It is not a clash of civilisations nor an antagonism of West and East that we are witnessing, but a global struggle that confronts democrats and theocrats.

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Who let brown folks aboard Air Force One?

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As most readers know, President Bush made a not so surprise visit to Afghanistan on Wednesday before his eventual arrival in India. After India he intends to go on to Pakistan. That is THREE South Asian nations in one week. By my rough count however, there are only TWO South Asian journalists along for the ride on Air Force One. The first is our old friend Raghubir “the Foil” Goyal. Word on the street is that “the Foil” is as necessary to the White House Press Office as the “Football” is to the President:

He may not be one the most high-profile media persons accompanying US President George W Bush on his India visit, but Indian American journalist Raghubir Goyal is often the “perfect foil” for the White House spokesperson when he is caught in a tight spot.

“I will be on Air Force One. A few of the other regulars in the press will also be there. They rotate everyone every month,” Goyal told IANS just before boarding the flight for New Delhi.

Goyal has been a White House pressperson for many years and is often ridiculed for his softball questions that deal exclusively with India and for which he has been labelled the “Goyal foil” – or a way out for White House spokesman Scott McClellan when he is in a tight spot.

I tell them, ‘But I get only one chance to ask a question and I want to get in my question about India instead of the other subjects the media is talking about’.”[Link]

“The Foil” now even has an entire website dedicated to his heroic exploits. The second desi reporter may not be as infamous, but she certainly has a large audience. It is Niharika Acharya of Voice of America:

Niharika is VOA Hindi TV’s lead anchor and correspondent. She co-hosts VOA Hindi’s weekly news and current affairs program “Duniya” (The World), aired live on India’s leading TV news channel Aaj Tak. Niharika also contributes to VOA Hindi Radio as fill-in host for the weekly call-in shows ‘Hello India’ and ‘Hello America’, and her television reports are aired on radio as well…

As part of VOA Hindi TV’s collaboration with Aaj Tak, which claims an audience of 30 million households in India, Niharika has also covered major news events including U.S. presidential elections, the 9/11 anniversaries, annual UN General Assembly sessions and important meetings between the leaders of India and the U.S. including President Bush’s meeting with the current and former Prime Ministers of India. [Link]

I dunno. I just find it kind of underwhelming that there aren’t more South Asian American journalists who were deemed by their news organizations to be qualified enough to be along for this ride. It seems like they would be in unique position to report on this story due to their inherent understanding of the cultures involved. Is Goyal the best we got to embed? I dream of the day when a mutinous blogger is allowed onto AF1.

See related posts: One-Track Uncle, Goyal’s toils

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The tipping point

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Hey y’all,

We’re testing a new feature which lets you post your tips as news stories directly on the site. Click here or on the News tab at the top of the page to try it out.

We’re thinking of this as a place to track media coverage of the sepia revolution beyond what fits on the main page, and faster than we can get to it. For example, there are loads of stories in the MSM this week about Mr. Dubya Goes to Delhi. And there’s lots of ephemera that’s fun to check out, but doesn’t really fit as a full blog post.

While you’re reading, you can help out by flagging reader-submitted stories which are spam, duplicate or just plain lame. Just click the ‘Flag this’ link at the bottom of any story.

This is an experiment, so please have at it!

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Now is the time in Torino when we dance

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Check out this video of an Armenian ice dancing couple performing to a Hare Krishna bhajan in Torino (thanks, Masked Tipster). I don’t think the Blue One looked quite like this. Nothing says religion to me like than a half-naked dancer hanging upside down off a man’s shoulders flashing mudras

‘Sex sells,’ said American Jamie Silverstein, 22, referring to itty-bitty costumes… Anastasia Grebenkina of Armenia wore a backless outfit except for a small swath of cloth that covered her bottom. [Link]

For the dance enthusiast, an ice dancing performance is like a five-minute clip of “Strictly Ballroom” – on acid. Incredible holds, tight twizzles and … hydroblading? Hell yes.

For the chick-flick fan, ice dancing is all the drama without the shitty, sub-par dialogue. When Italian pair Barbara Fusar-Poli and Maurizio Margaglio stumbled into a heap of sheer, neon Lycra, they stood on the ice for almost a minute, shooting each other the classic “f– you and your sequined appliqués” look. They didn’t speak for more than 24 hours after. “Beaches,” “Hitch” and “My Best Friend’s Wedding” don’t have a blade to stand on.

And men will find themselves enchanted by the ladies’ bare-it-all, barely there leotards of ice dancing, where salsa meets slutty and strategically placed daisies are the only things preventing Armenian skater Anastasia Grebenkina from landing on the cover of a Frederick’s of Hollywood catalogue. [Link]

Grebenkina and Vazgen Azrojan didn’t medal with this acrobatic routine. But with only four competitors from India, two from Pakistan and one from Nepal, sadly, it actually increased the Olympics’ sepia quotient. Continue reading →

Three-ring circus

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The press now has accounts of the extraordinary security measures that are being enacted in preparation for Bush’s visit to India:

About 5,000 personnel including snipers, commandos and U.S. marines using helicopters, bomb detectors and electronic jammers will protect President George W. Bush during his visit to India this week, officials said on Monday.

The personnel would be part of a three-ring security cordon around the U.S. president and First Lady Laura Bush who are due to arrive in New Delhi for their maiden visit to the subcontinent on Wednesday, they said.

“He is a much-threatened VVIP. We are fully geared,” Manish Agarwal, a top Delhi police officer involved in security operations, told Reuters…

Besides the inner-ring of security forces, an outer cordon would be deployed “as deep as possible” to thwart any attack by a rocket launcher, Agarwal said.

“A rocket launcher normally has a 1,000-metre (3,300 ft) range so we would be deployed in forests around venues,” he said. “We will have 360-degree rooftop surveillance around all the venues…” [Link]

I would hate to be a Secret Service agent on this trip. My brother once got a chance to meet Clinton but he was stopped by an agent while his two female companions were motioned forward. Another time an agent warned him that a sniper on the roof of the Chinese embassy had him in his sites. Just imagine being an agent in a whole country full of brown people! 🙂

There are already protests in India. Where will these people be with respect to the “three rings.”

Traffic in many areas in the capital will come to a near standstill on March 2 when Bush travels to his engagements from the Maurya Sheraton hotel to Hyderabad House, where he will meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, and Rashtrapati Bhavan, where President A P J Abdul Kalam will host a dinner for his American counterpart.

Traffic is also likely to be affected by the proposed demonstrations against the Bush visit planned by the Communists, the Samajwadi Party and the Janata Dal-Secular.

The Maurya Sheraton, where Bush and his entourage will stay, has been converted into a fortress with the US Secret Service screening every visitor.

Hotel employees have been issued special passes, which have to be produced along with their identity cards when they arrive on duty. [Link]

All the security precautions are sure to rub local law enforcement the wrong way. Even when Bush went to Britain a few years ago the local authorities felt bullied by his security detail:

An unconfirmed report claims that American security officials wanted to handle Air Traffic Control themselves when Air Force One, the Presidential aircraft, arrives in New Delhi but the bizarre proposal was turned down. Indian engineers, they’ve been told, are capable of handling the situation but it would not be surprising if American officials are allowed to be around.

See related posts: Media Roundup: The Trip Part 1, Media Roundup: The Trip Part II

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Bye bye, and back to earth

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A few years from now, when posterity comes ambling around, I will be known as the guest blogger at Sepia Mutiny that got away. Got away with not visiting the North Dakota headquarters ever, got away with missing the traumatic initiation party (I definitely didnÂ’t want to be paddled by a guy, even a guy with great hair) that the mutineers reportedly throw and got away with maintaining the laziest guest blogging schedule on Sepia Mutiny ever, because I had Siddhartha to cover for me. Not too lazy though – at this rate I could’ve hit Manish’s weekly post count in just under three years, and that’s way more than most bloggers can claim.

But then, like all good things (please, keep the snickering down, it hurts me when you do that) this little stint must come to an end as well, and I must now go back to my own blog, where the sitemeter stats will be much easier to monitor. Thank God for that.

So here it is: Thank you all for a great time, and good bye. Continue reading →

Electrohop therapy

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My friend Milind Parate’s band Atomati is playing a show at legendary NYC nightspot CBGB this Saturday. Milind has a day job so square, he had to be a rock drummer for street cred His old band Ladyjane had some great tunes which reminded me of the Sundays. And a great logo. Milind says, ‘p.s. please bring lighters and friends.’

So last night I saw two emo bands play and they got super pissed at each other. They were getting ready to fight and they all busted out razors and started cutting each other’s wrists. [Link]

Umar and Mohan

After Atomati, you can walk over and check out the beatsmithfools behind DD Pesh. Mohan Arora and Umar Rashid spin electrohop in LES the same night. These guys are my neighbors with the odd but endearing habit of buying me beer on their own birthdays. And they put Kishore Kumar next to Quincy Jones. Listen to ‘Morning Raaga Pt. II.’



Related posts: Zerobridge, Hipsterville, W’burg: The dungeonmasters of Galapagos Bar

Atomati, Sat. Feb. 25, 9:30pm, CBGB Lounge basement, 313 Bowery at Bleecker, Manhattan
DD Pesh, Sat. Feb. 25, 10pm, Crudo, 54 Clinton St., Manhattan

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“The mood right now is, Indiaah!”

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Every society reserves certain insalubrious tasks for its newest or temporary initiates. In sports, for instance, it falls to the newest ballboy to launder the jockstraps of the veterans. Here at the Mutiny, an repugnant yet unavoidable duty devolved to interns, aspirants, and guest-bloggers like your humble servant, is to read the online edition of the Times of India. The cyberspace manifestation of what, allegedly, was once the subcontinent’s paper of record, is such a toxic aggregation of horrible writing, execrable production values, and offensive pop-up advertising that going near it requires a certain masochism, or at least a near-pathological eagerness to please.

And yet for you, gentle readers, we will do anything. And so, as a public service, I have excerpted for you the key portions of today’s preview article on George Bush’s upcoming trip to desh.

We begin with the lede:

Bush may be coming to India to discuss the N-treaty but it’s the culture curry which is reigning supreme in his mind.

I know you got the fever for the flavor:

The mood in White House right now is, Indiaah! Come March, India is going to be the flavour of the season in the US, as President Bush and First Lady Laura make their first official visit to India. And India is all set to give President Bush a flavour of desi culture curry.

You may have missed the point about curry:

It seems President Bush loves desi colours, culture and curry. “The President has a lot of Indian Americans working for him at the White House. Very often, he along with the first lady attends Indian dinners.
He always tells me: ‘Oh, I loved spicy Indian food.’ While Laura is a charming and sophisticated lady,” says Shivangi.

Some serious reporting went into this story:

The Air Force One is almost ready for take-off. When we contacted the White House for an official list of the Indian Americans who’ll be travelling with the President, the official spokesperson from National Security Coucil, which is finalising the list said, “We’ll be announcing the names shortly.”

Oh, and did we mention curry?

Another question which people want answered is whether the President, like Clinton, will be digging into chicken curries?

This concludes our public service excerpt of the Times of India, the paper that is to journalism what H5N1 is to chicken curry. Continue reading →

Did the NY Times unfairly reject an intern?

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The New York Times always takes a beating from conservatives that decry that the respected newspaper is too liberal. Over the tip line we hear of an incident that makes me cringe. Rutgers journalism professor Allan Wolper writes in Editor & Publisher about one of his students:

Kejal Vyas, one of my best journalism students at Rutgers-Newark, in Newark, N.J., was in Delhi completing some academic work when he received this Feb. 1 e-mail from Nancy Sharkey, senior editor/recruiting for The New York Times, responding to his inquiry about an internship:

“Hi Kejal, Based on what Allan Wolper has written about us, I cannot imagine that he would want one of his students to intern here. I guess if we need students from New Jersey, we will go elsewhere. Best, Nancy…”

Mark Goodman, executive director of the Student Press Law Center, an organization that monitors censorship on college and high school campuses, was as stunned as I was when I told him Vyas’ story.

“The message here for journalism professors is that if you want your students to get an internship at The New York Times, you don’t criticize the Times in what you write,” Goodman told me. “It seems grossly inappropriate and unfair. I’ve never heard of anything like this happening before.” [Link]

Wolper writes that he followed up with Sharkey on belhalf of Vyas, in order to clarify as to why he was rejected:

Sharkey laughed and said she was being “snide” when she wrote to Vyas. Then, to my amazement, she virtually repeated what she had written to him: “I don’t see why you’d want your students to work at the Times, considering what you’ve written about us.”

It was something that I thought I would never hear from a New York Times news executive. Afterwards, I called Catherine Mathis, the Gray Lady’s vice president of corporate communications, briefed her on what Sharkey had said, and sent her a copy of the Sharkey-Vyas e-mails. [Link]

Here is an old example of something that Wolper once wrote that Sharkey and others at the Times may have disliked:

What would Americans think if they knew that their best newspaper, The New York Times, had allowed one of its national-security reporters to negotiate a book deal that needed the approval of the CIA?

What would they say if they knew the CIA was editing the book while the country is days or weeks away from a war with Iraq and is counting on the Times to monitor the intelligence agency?

They would be properly horrified. [Link]
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