One of the most reported issues in the U.S. media a few months ago, was the issue of Gay Marriage. On one side you had the mayor of San Francisco issuing what turned out to be illegal marriage certificates and on the other side you had the President calling on Congress to amend the most sacred of all democratic texts. The rights of homosexuals are increasingly becoming an important topic in South Asia as well. From SFGate.com:

Islamabad, Pakistan — One recent Sunday evening at midnight in a town near here, Kohsar Riaz sat down eagerly in her favorite living room chair for her weekly dose of ARY One World network’s “Drama Hour” and was instantly engrossed in the depressing tale of a hijra (cross-dresser) disowned by family and friends, desperate for acceptance and hopelessly in love with a young man who used him solely for money.

The young hijra, unable to understand why his love would spurn him after achieving business success, dies trying to chase down his love’s car.

At the funeral, attended almost exclusively by other hijra, the young cross-dresser’s grief-stricken parents beg for their dead son’s forgiveness. He was their only child, but they failed to protect or help him.

Tens of thousands of South Asian night owls who stayed up to watch the popular television show got a rare glimpse from the other side of one of the region’s most ostracized groups.

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since most brown restaurants in britain are actually owned and operated by bangladeshis, an indian entrepreneur in coventry has decided that it would be novel to put the “indian” back in indian food. read on:

Ownership of ‘Indian’ restaurants by Bangladeshis in London is so widespread that many Asians of Indian origin remark that they should pay royalty to use the word ‘Indian’ in their businesses – because that is what brings customers in.

Several patrons also often complain that what is served in such restaurants as Indian food is a pale shadow of the real thing.

…Jo Matharoo, one of three brothers who are partners in the venture, said:…”Flamingo Bar and Grill will be the real thing.

“What many people don’t realise is that 50 percent of people in India are vegetarians so that is a market we intend to cater for strongly.”

yesterday, vinod had some “pulpy” advice for the nepalese government, via his Sepia Mutiny post on the unfortunate end of a dozen nepali hostages.

today, in nepal’s capital of kathmandu, outrage poured into the streets:

An indefinite curfew has been imposed in the Nepalese capital following violent protests against the killing of 12 Nepali hostages in Iraq. Angry mobs in Kathmandu attacked a mosque, government offices and the offices of two Middle East airlines.

…The news was received with anger and grief in Nepal with one official describing it as “one of the worst days” in his country’s history.

…The government is being heavily criticised for doing little to free the hostages and there have been calls for the prime minister to step down.

…The government denies the criticism and has condemned the incident as a “barbarian act of terrorism”, and pressed the international community to hunt down the killers.

i wonder if that last sentence destroys any possibility of retribution via Gurkha…

…The government said it would take action against agencies illegally sending people to Iraq.

Nepal, one of the poorest countries in the world, has banned Nepalis from going to Iraq, despite the relatively well-paid jobs there.

The militants said the 12 Nepalis had been killed because they “came from their country to fight the Muslims and to serve the Jews and the Christians”.

they came to fight the muslims? from what i’ve read, they came to cook and clean for a jordanian company. if those tasks are now considered hostile acts, i’ve got one hell of an excuse to avoid housework.

i mean no disrespect to these twelve innocents. i apologise in advance if any of you read it that way; i’m just exasperated at the lunacy that stole their lives.

as we say in the greek orthodox (and probably hated by the militants as well) church, “may their memory be eternal.”

The Christian Science Monitor has a bleak story on a problem that many assume is a thing of the past:

Slaves are cheap these days. Their price is the lowest it’s been in about 4,000 years. And right now the world has a glut of human slaves – 27 million by conservative estimates and more than at any time in human history. Although now banned in every country, slavery has boomed in the past 50 years as the global population has exploded. A billion people scrape by on $1 a day. That extreme poverty combined with local government corruption and a global economy that leaps national boundaries has produced a surge in the number of slaves – even though in the developed world, that word conjures up the 19th century rather than the evening news.

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Znet has an interesting interview, dated August 31, 2004, with Booker prize winning author turned-global activist, Arundhati Roy here. And then here is a link-filled article about her recent talks on the Left coast.

In person, Roy is soft-spoken and nothing like a rabble-rouser. She seems to save her sharpest words for the printed page. For her public speeches in the United States, Roy usually reads essays she has written. In fact, Roy says, her onstage comments are really written for herself. That many people (especially liberal thinkers) agree with her statements is but a kind of bonus. “I think what probably drives me as a writer is a curiosity to understand and to keep understanding,” Roy says. “When I write, I write for myself, not just in order to let people know, because the writing clarifies things to me.”

Both make for interesting reads.

Sigh.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) – A Web site linked to an Iraqi militant group showed a video of what was purported to be the killing of 12 Nepalese workers by militants who had kidnapped them. The Nepalese Foreign Ministry said it could not confirm the report of the hostages’ deaths. The 12 had been reported kidnapped Aug. 20.

Nepal should respond by allowing the Gurkha’s to go medieval on their asses.

UGA (the University of Georgia) has a new frat on the block as reported by their school newspaper, The Red and Black:

“We were trying to find something that fits our needs — not the stereotypical frat…a place to be accepted,” said Vinay Matai, president of Sigma Beta Rho and a senior from Greenville, S.C.

“(The fraternity) focuses on social aspects and philanthropy,” he said. “We want to give back to the community.”

Matai founded the University chapter in May along with seven other students.

But I personally was wondering why you need a brown fraternity when there is potentially an Indian or South Asian Students Association on campus that might be able to do some of the same activities? My question was answered as I scrolled down: Continue reading →

after an operation failed to “tie” his wife’s fallopian tubes, Chhagan Singh Rathod of Rajasthan says he will kill his youngest daughter, Shalini, age 3, since he “cannot afford to support” her.

Mr Rathod has filed a case against the doctors in the state’s High Court and wants compensation from the hospital, which denies wrongdoing.

He recently sent an e-mail to Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, saying that if something was not done about his case soon he would kill Shalini – although he later withdrew the threat.

…The child in the middle of all the fuss, Shalini, is oblivious to the controversy surrounding her birth and continues to live happily in her own world.

Her father is still waiting to hear from the chief minister.