Cruel and unusual punishment? From NRI-worldwide (scroll down past the article about the bobbitised penis):

In confinement for the last two years on charges of theft, inside cell number 11 of the Ghaziabad district jail his only companions were the 120 white pigeons whom he met once a day to feed grains and corn.

But not any more.

Bringing an end to what many inmates believed was “an immortal friendship”, perverted jail authorities caught 100 of Chandra’s pigeons and broke their necks, one by one, in front of him on May 16.

This was done by jailer R.C.Singh and his men on instructions from the jail superintendent Rajesh Kesarwani, as a way to make Chandra admit to his crime.

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The 1957 Indian film Pyassa (which I have neither seen nor even heard of) has made Time Magazine’s “All Time 100 Movies.” This isn’t surprising given that reviewer Richard Corliss is a Bollywood fan:

Like Japan, India had a golden age in the 1950s. Independence from Britain sparked a robust, questioning artistry. While Satyajit Ray was pioneering the nation’s art cinema, commercial filmmakers such as Raj Kapoor (Awaara), Mehboob Khan (Mother India) and Bimal Roy (Do Bigha Zamin) were grafting influences from Hollywood melodramas and Italian neo-realism onto the Indian tradition of musical narrative. Pyaasa, which means thirst, is the most soulfully romantic of the lot. Vijay (Dutt) is an unpublished poet, dismissed by family and office colleagues but befriended by a prostitute (Waheeda Rehman). In a twist out of Sullivan’s Travels, Vijay is believed dead and his poetry “posthumously” lionized. The writer-producer-director-star paints a glamorous portrait of an artist’s isolation through dappled imagery and the sensitive picturizing of S.D. Burman’s famous songs. And Rehman, in her screen debut, is sultry, radiant—a woman to bring out the poet in any man, on screen or in the audience. —R.C.

Other Indian films that made the list included The Apu Trilogy, and Nayakan.

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The Hindustan Times reports on the first Asian mayor of the England’s second largest city, Manchester.

Afzal Khan who came from Pakistan to Britain at the age of 12 had nothing to look forward to. He had no education and no money, but now 35 years later at 47, he has become the first Asian Mayor of Manchester, the second biggest city in Britain.

He said his appointment reflected the diversity of Manchester’s ethnicity and demonstrated the contribution immigrants can make. “They can provide a city with an infusion of energy and creativity,” he said.

There was this one line that caught my eye,

Khan has a reputation for taking firm stands on ethnicity. He has supported the idea of celebrating Englishness through a patron saint as a way of enforcing community cohesion and, although he is a former assistant secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain, he has not adhered to its policy of boycotting National Holocaust Day Remembrance services.

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Here’s the European title of Harold and Kumar. The subtitle reads ‘Harold & Kumar – Let’s Get Retarded,’ which is maybe redundant.

There are actual castles instead of White Castles out there, so they didn’t want people getting all confused. And unlike us Americans, those Euros gleefully tolerate cheesecake.

Nope, no cheesecake on this here blog 😉

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Hopefully this is the last installment in an unfortunate story & we can put it all to rest. Indra Nooyi posts on PepsiCo’s website –

Following my remarks to the graduating class of Columbia University’s Business School in New York City, I have come to realize that my words and examples about America unintentionally depicted our country negatively and hurt people. I appreciate the honest comments that have been shared with me since then, and am deeply sorry for offending anyone. I love America unshakably – without hesitation – and am extremely grateful for the opportunities and support our great nation has always provided me. Over the years I’ve witnessed and advised others how a thoughtless gesture or comment can hurt good, caring people. Regrettably, I’ve proven my own point. Please accept my sincere apologies.

Initial SM coverage here. Manish’s survey of “wingnut” reactions here. Continue reading →

In news that shocked Edna and Wilbur Johnson of Beulah, North Dakota, it’s been discovered IITians are really, really smart. Mitra covers the big IIT reunion in DC:

… [IIT] alumni say American friends are starting to rank the institution with Harvard and MIT… Shenoy related that when his son, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology student, was asked by a professor where his parents went to college, he replied: “My dad went to IIT and my mom went to MIT.”

In turn, his son’s MIT professor said, ” ‘Your dad went to IIT?’ ” Suresh Shenoy recounted, mimicking an incredulous yet impressed inflection. “My wife hates it,” Shenoy said.

No, I bet their son hates it. IIT + MIT = unholy geekiness. Or perhaps your mom helps you install Linux on your iPod. Hey, that’s actually kinda cool…

Tonight on ABC’s Nightline with Ted Koppel for May 20, 2005: South Asian American author Asra Nomani. Nomani left Pakistan shaken by the brutal murder of her friend Daniel Pearl; citing that as the catalyst for her transformation from devout Muslim to devout Muslim Activist, the iconoclast returned to her home state of West Virginia–where her father had helped start Morgantown’s Mosque– and chose to sit with the men of her congregation. Nomani pointed out that this is allowed in Mecca, but the leaders of her mosque want to banish her anyway. Begin: drama.

From Mecca to Morgantown: Questioning Islamic Traditions will probably air at 11:30pm. Continue reading →

StrategyPage has an interesting description of how the F-16s will impact the Pakistani Air Force –

May 20, 2005: The American decision to sell new F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan comes not a moment too soon for the Pakistan Air Force (PAF). PAF used to have technological superiority over it’s Indian counterpart as recently as the 1980s, when PAF received some 40 state of the art F-16 Block 15 fighters. These aircraft were were a cut above the warplanes of the Indian Air Force (IAF). However, all changed in the 1990s, when the US sanctioned Pakistan for nuclear weapons development and stopped delivery of more F-16s. What’s worse, the spares for PAF’s existing F-16s dried up as well and the air force had to effectively ground its F-16 fleet for a few years. Meanwhile, IAF began to induct the powerful Sukhoi-30 MKI air superiority fighter, even as it added new capabilities to its existing Mirage-2000 and MiG-29 fighters by equipping them with Beyond Visual Range (BVR) missiles. This posed a particular threat to PAF, which lacked BVR capability.

(quoting in full b/c of StrategyPage’s non-existant permalinks) Continue reading →

A small bit of press for a hugely awesome event in New York this weekend:

C H I A S M A T A May 20-22, 2005 A three-day literary festival celebrating South Asian writing The South Asian Women’s Creative Collective (SAWCC) invite you to our third annual literary event, celebrating the works of South Asian writers. Participants include Amitava Kumar, Abha Dawesar, Ginu Kamani, Mary Anne Mohanraj, Meera Nair, Tahira Naqvi, S. Mitra Kalita, Bushra Rehman, Shahnaz Habib, Prageeta Sharma, Alka Bhargava, Anna Ghosh, Pooja Makhijani, Sangeeta Mehta and Neesha Meminger.

…and ME! 😉 Well, only on Sunday. But I live in DC, so I have an excuse. Did I mention that the Saturday and Sunday events are FREE?

What: Literary festival including two evenings of readings and discussion, a writing workshop for emerging writers, and a panel discussion of south asians in publishing When: May 20, 21, 22 Where: the Asian American Writers’ Workshop, the Village Quill, and the Queens Museum of Art Please visit the event page for further details.

See you there, if you know what’s good for your soul. 🙂 Continue reading →