The Artesia, CA City Council has decided to reject a proposed highway sign designating the area “Little India.” India West reports (The full story appears in the print edition of India-West.):

The Artesia City Council has rejected the wording of “Little India” for a sign to be placed on the 91 Freeway’s Pioneer Blvd. off-ramp in favor of a more generic sign that reads “Artesia International and Cultural Shopping District.” In the third and final townhall meeting on the issue of what wording should appear on the “Little India” sign, which late last year was approved by the California legislature, the Artesia City Council voted four to one to adopt a compromise offered by Mayor Sally Flowers.

Roughly half of the 90 speakers who turned out to voice their opinion during the Jan. 25 meeting at the Albert O. Little Community Center here favored a sign that simply read “Welcome to Artesia.” Those from the local Indian American community wanted “Little India,” as originally proposed in state Assemblyman Rudy Bermudez’ ACR-67 legislation.

Indians get shafted again. Bermundez wasn’t happy:

When Bermudez heard of the alternative name for the “Little India” sign, “I expected nothing less than the racism that has been demonstrated by the city council and the mayor,” he commented to India-West.

Looking at one of the original concepts for the sign I am left wondering what they could possibly have done to make it more acceptable?

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The Institute on Religion and Public Policy, a Washington-based group for religious freedom, is petitioning the State Department to deny Gujarat’s Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s entry to the US to speak at the Asian American Hotel Owners Association (AAHOA) Convention. Garavi Gujarat reports:

The proposed Modi visit comes on the back of an invitation extended to him by the Asian American Hotel Owners Association (AAHOA). The decision has also divided the organization, with some members arguing that it was a bad move to invite such a controversial figure in the first place. AAHOA, which is dominated by Gujaratis, represents around 60 per cent of the budget and mid-sized hotels in the US.

According to M P Rama, AAHOA`s vice-chairman, the organization had invited Modi from a business perspective, given his interest in inviting foreign investment and interest among AAHOA members in investing in Gujarat.

‘When we invite a speaker we don`t go by political or religious affiliation. We look at how our members might benefit. Most of our members, perhaps up to 95 per cent are Gujaratis and they would like to hear first hand from the chief minister whether the state will offer us red tape or red carpet,” Rama said.

However, some AAHOA members, who did not want to go on record, expressed reservations about the invitation to Modi. One member pointed out that AAHOA was born out of a sense of discrimination Asian hoteliers faced in the United States. The organization should not do anything to dilute its mission statement, he said.

I love Rama’s honesty. “We look at how our members might benefit.” Still, it’s in instances such as this where I wish that higher ideals would win out. For those unfamiliar, the chief minister has been blasted by many groups for his role in Hindu/Muslim violence in the state of Gujarat. Continue reading →

Fascinating. MSNBC reports –

MAHABALIPURAM, India – Archaeologists have begun underwater excavations of what is believed to be an ancient city and parts of a temple uncovered by the tsunami off the coast of a centuries-old pilgrimage town. Three rocky structures with elaborate carvings of animals have emerged near the coastal town of Mahabalipuram, which was battered by the Dec. 26 tsunami.

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The organization “Bay Area Unites” will be holding a large Tsunami fundraiser on Feb 20th at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, CA. Over 10,000 people are expected to attend:

The event will benefit the victims of the tsunami in seven of the hardest hit countries: Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Thailand, the Maldives, Malaysia and Somalia. The organizing group, called “Bay Area Unites” (www.BayAreaUnites.org), is a coalition of several business, civic, cultural and religious organizations. The Cities of San Jose, Milpitas Morgan Hill and Fremont are also co-sponsoring the event.

“The Bay Area is a true melting pot of cultures from around the world, many from countries devastated by the tsunami,” said Vish Mishra, convener of the event.

“Local groups are banding together to create an unprecedented event that will bring several thousand people together to continue the relief and rehabilitation efforts for the victims of the recent Tsunami disaster,” said Mishra, Senior Venture Partner, Clearstone Venture Partners and a Director of TiE (The Indus Entrepreneurs).

There is an All-star line up featuring Deepak Chopra and an appearance, via videocon, by former President Bill Clinton. But that is not all:

-Interfaith vigil led by Dr. Deepak Chopra
-Personalized video message from Bill Clinton
-Music by Grammy-nominated singer Lisa Loeb
-Children’s programs, music and entertainment
-Celebrities to call for pledges, including philanthropist Dr. Malini Alles
-Performance by critical acclaimed choreographer, Danica Sena
-Masters of the double violin, performance by Shankar and Gingger
-New perspectives on the songs Bob Dylan by ‘Mostly Dylan’
-Balinese performance by Gamelan Sekar Jaya
-Fusing pop and rock performance by Tina Sugandh

Holy crap! Lisa Loeb? Will the Nine Stories be there also? Roadtrip!

If you’d like to volunteer, and maybe get the chance to meet Lisa Loeb (“I missed you, stay”) then you can visit the Bay Area Unites volunteer page. Continue reading →

Another miracle:

A teenager who survived December’s tsunami has been rescued by police from a remote island on India’s Andaman and Nicobar archipelago.

Eighteen-year-old Jessy is said to have lived on wild fruit for 45 days.

She was found on Wednesday close to the site where nine survivors of the tsunami were found last week.

Jessy is part of the Nicobarese tribe. She fled the tsunami and sought shelter in the forest. When she tentatively made her way out several days later, “the rest of the population had been either evacuated to Campbell Bay or swept away by the waves”.

Her husband and year-old baby are among 1,000 people who are still considered missing; apparently, the “lucky” survivor told police that she believes her family are actually among the 2,000 archipelago-dwellers who died. 🙁

Sigh. I’ll take every bit of good that I can get.

:+:

via the Beeb: Tsunami woman found after 45 days Continue reading →

Little Malayalee kids are so cute:

Dubai: A nine-year-old girl from Kerala has won 100 kg of gold, worth about Rs.60 million in India, in the world’s biggest gold promotion event at the Dubai Shopping Festival 2005, it was announced here Sunday.

“I don’t know the value in rupees, but I know 100 kg is a lot of gold,” said Shakiba Asif, when told that she had won the prize. The family had got a coupon for Dh.250 (about 3,000 rupees) that won the grand prize.

The 10th Dubai Shopping Festival, which ended Saturday, has proved to be lucky for the Asif family from Malapuram in Kerala, though Shakiba said she did not know the number of zeroes in the total value of the gold she had won.

But what Shakiba – a fourth standard student at a school here who nurses the hope of becoming a doctor – was sure that she wanted to buy “a lot of new dresses”. And what is a lot?

“Two”, she said promptly. “Also I want to give sweets to my schoolmates.”

Awwww. What a dear. I hope she gets her two dresses, and that she pirouettes happily in them. 🙂

A big TY to our favourite gori Andrea for leaving the link in my diary’s comments. I love posting about sweet things. Speaking of, who among you sweet things wants to take me to next year’s shopping festival? I saw an excellent segment on this extravaganza while watching the PBS show i adore most– Globetrekker. Dubai sounds like my kind of town. 😉 Continue reading →

Shortly after the Tsunami I posted an entry giving readers a “heads up” that they should research the organizations that they donate money to. Not all organizations are what they seem at the surface, and money sometimes flows in misguided ways. Just as an example I linked to Campaign to Stop Funding Hate website. I unintentionally but wrongfully implied that the accusations made on that website against certain aid groups were legitimate. Judging by the numerous and lengthy comments left by readers (including the spokesman for CSFH) this is a subject more controversial than I had imagined. Earlier this week the U.K. Charity commission absolved one of the relief organizations that the Campaign to Stop Funding hate had singled out. As reported in the Atlanta Journal Constitution:

The leader of a Duluth-based relief organization says he feels vindicated by a British government report clearing the group’s sister charity of wrongdoing in India.

The U.K. Charity Commission concluded that 2.3 million British pounds raised by Sewa International — Sewa International USA’s affiliate in the United Kingdom — indeed went to help rebuild six Indian villages devastated by a 2001 earthquake in Gujarat state.

Hate group watchdogs had accused Sewa International of using the donations to support Hindu nationalists they say foment violence against Christians, Muslims and other minorities in India. There are no such accusations against the recently created Sewa International USA, but the watchdogs had issued warnings against any group affiliated with Sewa International following India’s latest natural disaster, the Indian Ocean tsunamis.

The Campaign to Stop Funding Hate (who according to Seva “are largely made up of Communist intellectuals bent on disrupting the activities of Hindu groups”) isn’t convinced however:

The two hate-group watchdogs — a U.S.-based network of activists called the Campaign to Stop Funding Hate and the British group Awaaz-South Asia Watch — said the report was flawed. They noted that India denied visas to British investigators, making it impossible for them to check for themselves how the funds were actually used. The charity commission’s conclusions were based partly on a report by 30 donors who witnessed the reconstruction work and new schools as part of a visit arranged by Sewa International.

“One has to question where the Charity Commission is getting its information from,” said Ra Ravishankar, a spokesman for the Campaign to Stop Funding Hate.

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