The coolest sandbox in the world

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SM reader “busybee” posted an absolutely fascinating link on our News Tab yesterday. It seems that somewhere deep within China, near a village called Huangyangtan, is a 900 x 700 m scale model (you need Google Earth to open this file) of a mountainous region somewhere on Earth. People…that is a model 9 x 7 football fields long! A model anywhere near this scale is usually only constructed when trying to train one’s soldiers how to conquer/hold the terrain in question.

So the million dollar question becomes, “what region on Earth could this be a model of?” Such an answer seems impossible to answer on its face, but sure enough someone with way too much time on their hands was able to solve this puzzle. We have to remember back to the 1962 Sino-India war:

Don’t, however, spend the next three days scouring the world’s mountain ranges trying to find a geographical match: the legwork has already been done for you by this enterprising Google Earth Community member who correctly identified the model as representing this [you need Google Earth to open this file] disputed area on the Chinese/Indian border.

Here’s a comparison of the Chinese model and the Google Earth image of the region in question… [Link]

It’s of territory occupied by China but claimed by India, north and south of the east end of the Karakoram range. The borders in this region are shown in red rather than yellow to indicate the dispute. [Link]

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More meetups – meshuge!

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Since all the cool people are doing it, I thought I would announce one meetup, and the promise of more. Vinod and I will be holding a San Fransisco meetup on:

Sunday August 6th, 3 PM at Chaat Cafe in SOMA, SF.

We considered holding it at Greco, but figured it was bad enough to hold a SF meetup without Anna that we didn’t want to add insult to injury. That, and we wanted to make Brimful happy .

I will also try to take my anonymous kundi to the NYC meetup on August 13th, for those of you who miss me on the right coast. This meetup will have both Anna and live music, so there’s no reason for anybody not to be there.

Lastly – I’m thinking about a Chicago meetup in the middle of September or so – are there enough Midwestern Mutineers that we can hold down a table at one of the Devon Ave dives? This would be the first meetup I’d be hosting solo, so be gentle y’all

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Ismat Chughtai’s Short Stories

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Though her life wasn’t as drastically messed up as that of her friend and contemporary, Saadat Hasan Manto, Ismat Chughtai was definitely a born rebel. She lived her life the way she wanted, and wrote the truth in her many stories, novels, and nonfiction essays. ismat chughtai.jpg

Chughtai’s most famous story is “Lihaf” (The Quilt), which deals with a lesbian encounter within an all-woman setting (Zenana) in a traditional Muslim household. It’s a funny and scandalous story (read it here), but actually, my favorite short story by Chughtai is called “Sacred Duty.” I came across it in a recent collection called The Quilt and Other Stories. It’s been beautifully translated by Tahira Naqvi, who has been Chughtai’s committed translator and one of her great champions.

“Sacred Duty” is not online anywhere, so perhaps I should briefly summarize it and quote a little. Samina, who comes from a respectable Muslim family in Delhi, is engaged to be married to a respectable Muslim boy. However, the day before her wedding she runs off with her boyfriend with Tashar Trivedi, a Hindu whose family lives in Allahabad. Samina accompanies Tashar to Allahabad, where converts to Hinduism and is married to Tashar in a Hindu ceremony. When her parents get Samina’s note explaining her disappearance, her mother’s first reaction (the story is told from her parents’ perspective) is “Let’s go to Allahabad and shoot them both!” Lovely. Continue reading →

Stand by your (arranged) man

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Globalization has made many things possible including the efficient exchange of all sorts of goods and services. Among these are ideas; scientists think nothing of collaborating across borders, and musicians can lay down tracks in one city and have them a genius producer someplace far away rearrange them overnight.

Some ideas don’t travel as well, however. What makes sense according to laws and customs in one place might be absurd or abhorrent somewhere else. Advice columnists — or as the British beautifully call them, agony aunts — have yet to globalize their business. But what if there’s demand? Today in Salon (thanks, Scott!), an Indian-in-India sista seeks to outsource her relationship counseling to Cary Tennis, the online mag’s advice-giver. And Tennis… almost punts, but not quite. Check it out. Here’s the woman’s situation:

… Arranged marriages have seen a resurgence in India and I suspect it is propelled by young people’s desire to shield themselves from heartbreak. I was one of those and I agreed to marry a doctor I met just once after I returned home from the States. I thought I was taking a very sane and levelheaded decision. He came from a good family and was well liked and respected in his hospital (all this info gathered through the extended family network that goes into operation for marital missions). He had no known addictions, was reasonably good-looking according to Indian standards (not my standards, I must point out, because I like muscular, clean-shaven men and he is neither). We came from similar backgrounds and our life goals seemed to match — raise kids, earn a lot of money and make our parents proud of us.

Three months into our marriage we had our first fight. It was nasty. We are still living apart.

Now I am not sure marrying him was such a great idea. He seems immature and his anger was shocking. Staying on in a marriage just because he is a doctor seems wrong now. I thought my decision would be right because it was dispassionate. But now I think the lack of passion should have been a warning sign. The fact that I wasn’t physically attracted to him should have been enough to decide against marrying him.

How do I know if I made a huge mistake? Divorce is a big deal here, especially in my religion. But I figure the sooner we break up the easier it will be. Then again, who am I kidding? I probably won’t muster up the courage to break up the marriage until he does something really horrible…

And here are excerpts from Tennis’s reply:

I do not know what it is like to be from India but I know what it is like to live with the choices I have made. … I do not know what it is like to be in an arranged marriage but I know that all marriages are in a sense arranged — by relatives, by the rain, by smiles and secret dances; by children whose arrival can no longer be postponed, by the intersection of ripening desires, by thirsty hope meeting cool water.

So you ask an American what to do. To do what an American would do would be disastrous, I fear. …

I would try to live within what you have already done. I would attempt to carry out the plans you had when you decided to marry: Have lots of children and make a lot of money. Absent one of the limited general grounds for divorce available to you under Indian divorce law … I would try to see this thing through. …

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Meetup Mania! (2 Updates)

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I’ve been a bit busy, so I haven’t been able to ask you about SM Meetups, but I promise I’ve wanted to do so for several weeks. Those mutinous, offline melas are very much on my mind these days, as I contemplate the end of summer and where I will spend it. You see, not only do I think it’s high time for the second-ever live mutiny in DC, it seems that excessively homesick-me will be in the golden state for much of early September (w00t Northern California!!!). I think it’s time to overwhelm Greco once again; let’s take that possibility from tentative to definite, shall we? Let’s also hope the wifi works this time, as it usually does. 😉

Amardeep inspired me (yet again) to post once he issued his gentle invitation to Philadelphia-area readers to join him for that city’s first meetup, before a very cool-sounding concert he just blogged about. Even if you don’t take him up on his tempting offer, I want you to know that it won’t be an anomalous event– Philadelphia is a great city and I’d love to hold regular meetups there, as well as NY and SF. What say all of you, and when I type that I mean ALL of you, wherever you are. Depending on how much demand and notice we get, we may be able to coordinate sepia soirees elsewhere, since many of us travel, some of us, far too much. 😀

DC: When should We Chocolate City mutineers will have our next carb-laden, veg-friendly fiesta on August 19th? August 26th. Who knows, if we don’t tell Abhi, we might be able to facilitate a “Yo Dad” appearance which ISN’T moderated! Imagine the possibilities for information-gathering!

SF: What about you, oh citizens of Baghdad-by-the-bay? How many of you will be around for Labor day weekend? I was assuming your answers would be a sea of “not me”s, so I was tentatively glancing at September 9. Thoughts?

Finally, as for you New Yorkers, any weekend you want to shriek and giggle until the Manager yells at us (cough LaLanterna cough) is fine with me. 😉

:+:

Update #1: The people have spoken. DC’s meetup will be on August 26th. 🙂

:+:

Zimbly Fantastic

Update # 2: NYC’s loveliest saves the date and suggests something fantastic to meet up for– SummerStage at Central Park with a whole lotta brown choons. Pack your pick-a-nick baskets for Yogi and Booboo to plunder; New York’s meetup will be on August 13th! Continue reading →

The Mouse wants more of India’s cheese

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The big news from the business world today is that Disney is going to be establishing a couple of new children’s entertainment channels in India as a way to strengthen its foothold on the subcontinent. Forbes reports:

What? It could happen.

When asked why he robbed banks, Willie Sutton famously replied “Because that’s where the money is.” Andy Bird has a similar rationale for The Walt Disney Company’s move into India: “If you’re in the children’s business, you want to be in the place where there are more children than anywhere else in the world,” the president of Walt Disney International explained in a telephone interview from Mumbai.

Bird has just handled the $30.5 million acquisition of Hungama, a children’s television channel in the country that broadcasts in Hindi, and that joins the Disney Channel and Toon Disney on the subcontinent.

Part of the deal will see The Disney take a 14.9% stake in UTV Software Communications, an Indian conglomerate that owns film and television assets, including – until now — Hungama. It means the next step for Disney could be into India’s glitzy movie industry. “We are actively working in the film business and looking for Disney branded movies in the Bollywood market,” said the British-born Bird. [Link]

This moves seems like a good one for Disney for exactly the reason mentioned in the first paragraph above. The growing middle class has a lot of children and children love being exposed/corrupted by western culture (even wholesome western culture). Why not be part of the delivery device, especially given that the advertising dollars that follow could end up being quite lucrative?

Time Warner has already benefited from first-mover advantage among U.S. media companies in India, controlling half the market share for children’s TV with its Cartoon Network and Pogo Channels. But Bird is not worried. “The Walt Disney Company is looking at a broader perspective in growing in India,” he said. “We’re more focused on building up franchises and brands across different sectors than in what our competitors are doing…” [Link]

Personally I hope that the possibility of domestic “foreign” competition will make Bollywood movies watchable better. I have to believe that the scripts that Disney backs will be a little better than the usual stuff I am exposed to out of Bollywood (*Abhi tries to stifle laugh*). Before you point it out I realize that I am a Bollywood curmudgeon. Please don’t recommend any films to me.

Bollywood, the popular name for the Hindi language film industry, also beckons as Disney will now co-produce UTV’s films.

“We have access to an important film-making capital, which is exciting because Bollywood’s family values resonate with Disney’s,” said Andy Bird, president, Walt Disney International. [Link]

Public Radio’s Marketplace has a nice summary of this deal as well as its implications. It also mentions that India isn’t yet ready for a Disney World-Delhi. Phew!

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Mumbai Blasts Update: Putting the Pieces Together

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I’ve been trying to make sense of the progress of the Mumbai blasts investigation, and it’s not easy going. The latest news is the arrest of a local Mumbai man named Tanvir Ansari. Ansari is a traditional Muslim healer who practices ‘Unani’ healing in Mumbai. The Mumbai Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS) claims he went to Pakistan in 2004, where he received training in bomb-making. He also has a criminal record — for an earlier arrest for possessing an AK-47 from some years ago.

Ansari’s arrest has led to the arrest of two associates, Suhail Sheikh and Jameer Ahmed. Like Ansari, Jameer Ahmed seems pretty unassuming: he owns a key shop in Mumbai city. Suhail Sheikh lives in Pune; I haven’t been able to find out what he does for a living.

Last week, the arrest of a man in Kenya is looking a little confusing. The man arrested there is not Said Abdul Karim (‘Tunda’), but a British national of Nigerian descent named Ismoila Olatunde Rufai. Rufai is still wanted by Kenyan police on suspicion of involvement with terrorism, but he’s not the person the Indian government was looking for. ‘Tunda’ worked for Dawood Ibrahim, and is known to have lost a hand from a bomb-making accident. Ismoila Rufai has no connection to ‘D’, and has both hands intact.

The three men arrested earlier have similarly complex identities (one of them had even worked as a police informer!). Two are Bihari villagers, and one lives in Navi Mumbai (New Bombay). Though one of the three has stated that he received training at an LeT camp in Pakistan, police are suggesting their main contacts are in Nepal and Bangladesh, and only “indirectly” in Pakistan. (This last point is somewhat vague in the news reports I’ve read.)

For columnist Rudroneel Ghosh at India Enews, the pattern of arrests thus far just doesn’t add up, which could mean one of two things: Continue reading →

Hindi-Hong Kong-Bhai-Bhai

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I believe that children are our future. Teach them well and let them lead the way. Show them all the lameness we possess insiiiiide. Give them an over-developed sense of pride, to make it easier. Let the children’s prejudice remind us how we ought not be…

From the news tab, an anonymous tipster points us to a blog which took an amusing and slightly dil-warming look in to what tweens and teens in Hong Kong think of other Asian people:

When you think about Filipinos, what comes to your mind?

"Tak-shing Building!"
"They know how to sweep the floor!"
"I see them in Central all the time."
"Bun-bun.  Filipina girls.  But I have never met a Filipino guy yet."

Do you feel that you disrespect them by calling them such names?

"Hey, they come here to work.  We have more money than they have.  They are getting paid, so wouldn’t you say that they can be ordered around?"

Someday, you will be working and earning money too, and you will give spending money to your mother.  Does that mean that you can order your mother around?

"But how can that be the same?  My mother is not a Filipina."

Awesome. And now, on to the germane part (aside: does anyone know what “Ah Cha” means?):

When you think about Indians, what comes to your mind?

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Musafir, A Rajasthani Band; and Philly Meetup?

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Musafir is a band from Rajasthan (and France!) who just performed with A.R. Rahman in Hollywood, California last week. This week (Wednesday), they’re coming to the prestigious Kimmel Center in Philadelphia, to headline a show with local DJs Darshana and Chetana Borah in a supporting role.musafir band.jpg

According to the product review at Amazon, Musafir originally formed with the idea of reconnecting European Gypsy (Roma) music with the South Asian folk music it derived from hundreds of years ago. (There is very strong linguistic evidence that the primary language spoken by the Roma, Romany, has specifically Indic roots. According to Wikipedia, Punjabi is the strongest influence.)

But in recent years, Musafir appears to have moved away from the “Gypsy” theme, and now they seem to perform a potpourri of traditional Rajasthani folk styles (with a little filmi music thrown in for good measure). From what I’ve heard it isn’t clear that Musafir is necessarily “authentic,” but whatever they are, they have been doing a good job in recent years entertaining music festival crowds in the U.S. and Canada, judging from notices here, here, and here (that last link has a couple of MP3s available).

Unfortunately, none of Musafir’s music appears to be available via ITunes, though you can listen to songs for free at Rhapsody, as well as here and here. (The song available at the Kimmel Center website actually comes from the unrelated Hindi film Musafir; a bizarre mistake.) Continue reading →

Lankan evacuation from Lebanon stalled

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Fewer than 300 Sri Lankan domestic workers have made it out of Lebanon so far, and the effort seems stalled at this point:

Sri LankaÂ’s Lebanon ambassador M.A. Farrok admitted in a BBCÂ’s Sinhala language service interview that the steady dispatch of war refugees to Sri Lanka has broken down after the first batch has been flown home.

He said after sending nearly 300 people home monetary difficulties faced by an international organization in sending them home, prior engagements of Sri Lankan Airline planes for different jobs and difficulty of reaching Southern areas of Lebanon have all contributed to the break down of dispatching refugees to Sri Lanka.

Several hundred women have taken refuge at the Sri Lankan embassy. Some of the women don’t have valid papers, either because they overstayed their contracts or because they couldn’t get their documents back from their employers. Some employers refuse to release their workers, while others have fled leaving them high and dry:

Terrified Sri Lankan maids who spoke to Gulf News from their embassy in Beirut said they had no alternative but to run away from their sponsors’ houses.

A few among them said they had been left behind by their sponsors, who were either on vacation or had fled the country.

“The Lebanese family for whom I used to work fled leaving me behind. I asked them to help me get out of the country as well but they just gave me $75 (Dh275) and asked me to get in touch with my embassy. I am scared. I want to go back to Sri Lanka where I have a four-year-old daughter and a husband. I am unable to keep in touch with them. The last time I spoke to them was eight days ago,” said Jayanti Gunasekara.

The Ambassador is keeping busy:

With roughly 400 stranded Sri Lankan women sleeping in his offices as they try to escape Lebanon, Amanul Farouque, the country’s ambassador was out yesterday morning, going from bakery to bakery to buy them bread. “This is an unusual assignment, but we are in an unusual situation,” he said wryly.

The embassy promises that it will give travel documents to all Sri Lankans regardless of legal status. But how many will be able to get to the embassy, let alone leave the country? Continue reading →