Traditional Indian Architecture: Vicarious Traveling via Flickr

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While browsing the deeply-discounted “remaindered” aisles at my local Barnes & Noble, I came across Satish Grover’s Masterpieces of Traditional Architecture. It’s a coffee-table book with beautiful photographs and appreciative descriptions of fourteen of India’s ancient and medieval architectural masterpieces.

In his introduction, Grover points out that the ancient sites in India are all religious (Buddhist, Hindu, Jain, Muslim), not because India was traditionally especially devout. In fact, only the religious structures were carved in stone, so they are the only edifices to survive. The secular architecture of ancient India might have been pretty wonderful too, but those brick and timber buildings have all vanished.

Since I can’t do any real traveling this summer because of work, I thought I would link to images on the web of the various monuments in Grover’s book as a kind of vicarious travelogue. A lot of people have tagged these sites in their Flickr photos, though for slightly more obscure places like the Karle Caves you have to search on the open internet to see what comes up. Continue reading →

It Sounds Like Bologna To Me, But…

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pudgesicle10mos.jpgUsually, an article related to the process of sex selection would sadden me because I think the brown preference for boys blows, but this one which was submitted to our news tab (Thanks, Premii!) had me laughing, because I immediately thought of celebrity evidence to back it up. Apparently, it is possible to choose whether you are going to have a male or female…calf:

Want to have a baby boy? Tuck into the burgers, fries and ice cream. Want a girl? Then go on a diet and lose some weight.
It works for cows, according to John Roche, a scientist at New Zealand’s dairy research organisation Dexcel. “And we would expect what holds true for one mammal will hold true across the board,” he said.

Also, if it can be applied to celebrities, it must be true. Angelina stayed rather sleek while incubating the most attractive celebrity baby possible, to the point where useless weeklies which cost $1.99 and all run the same story (though with slightly different covers) speculated that based on the lack of fat around her elbows, the lippy star was way too skinny. (I kid you not. I read this while waiting for my train.) Angelina, the magazines screeched, was “dangerously thin”. She had a girl, in case you haven’t had access to television, radio, newspapers, the internet, carrier pigeons, flaming arrows etc.

Meanwhile, Kate Hudson put on an amount which was almost equivalent to my mother’s entire body weight pre-pregnancy-with me; Hudson gave birth to a boy, Ryder. Britney…well, we all know about Britney. Do not read anything in to the fact that the quote I’m about to use contains the word “heifers”. I am establishing no connection between Britney and one of those. If you are currently thinking that thought, it’s your bad, not mine. 😉

They found that cows that gained weight before conceiving were more likely to give birth to bull calves. Those shedding kilos before conception had a better chance of producing heifers (females).
Roche told the Waikato Times , published in Hamilton at the heart of New Zealand dairying country, the research underlined the theory that humans had some control over the sex of their children…Roche said it was not clear exactly why weight affected the sex of a cow’s offspring.

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Love will save the day

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I hope you’re sitting down for this news flash: “Poll Finds Discord Between the Muslim and Western Worlds,” headlines the New York Times. But said poll comes from the Pew Global Attitudes Project, which is one of the most reputable and interesting polling projects out there. And there is some interesting material beneath the uninformative headline. For instance, “only” 43 % of Americans said Yes to the question “Are Muslims fanatical?” 50% of French agreed, as well as a rather amazing 83% of Spaniards.

Meanwhile, asked whether non-Muslims were fanatical, 68% of Jordanians and a surprising 67% of Turks said yes. Only 24% of Pakistanis felt that non-Muslims were inherently fanatical.

Perhaps the most discouraging number cited in the article is that anti-Jewish sentiment reached 98% in Jordan and 97% in Egypt.

But don’t get too depressed about the clash of civilizations, for direct citizen action may yet save the day. ABC’s “Good Morning America” has featured the uplifting story of Michigan teenager Katherine Lester, who fell in love with Abdullah Jimzawi, a 20-year-old Palestinian, over… MySpace:

A Michigan teenager who met a man on the Internet and secretly flew to the Middle East to meet him before being captured by the FBI still plans to marry him, she says. Lester, who turned 17 on Wednesday, first met Abdullah Jimzawi, 20, seven months ago on the popular Web site MySpace.com. She said she fell in love with him, and together they devised a plan so the two could be together. Lester lied to her parents, told them she needed a passport to go to Canada with friends, and then disappeared from her mother’s home on June 5.

Katherine made it as far as Amman, Jordan, before the FBI picked her up. Both she and Abdullah remain adamant that they are destined for each other. For now they are communicating under family supervision, and a judge has confiscated Katherine’s passport. But next year Katherine turns 18 and if she still wants to marry the brother at that point, she can’t be stopped. Apparently, she feels no need to meet dude in person before they marry:

Lester says she doesn’t intend to try to meet Jimzawi in person until she is 18. She hopes he will come to the United States to marry her. “Now that our relationship is out in the open, I feel like I don’t have to go there to talk to him or to be with him,” she said.

And here’s my favorite part:

Lester did not say whether she would convert to Islam to marry Jimzawi, but said she was researching the Middle East and its culture at her parents’ suggestion.

I think this sort of citizen diplomacy is just what we need to avert the clash that extremists on all sides so desperately want to see go down. Thank you Rupert Murdoch, owner of MySpace, for opening these channels for new-millennium Romeos and Juliets to reconcile their warring tribes, even if their own love perishes in the process. Though to hear Abdullah, the romance is eternal:

Jimzawi also says talking is enough for now but sooner or later they will be together. “No one can stop us, you know,” he said. “I can wait forever and ever and ever. Â… Till the end of the world.”

Hail the power of green cards love!

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A brown Justice League?

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All of a sudden the desi comic book scene seems to be blowing up. It has led me to pose the timely question, “is the world ready for a brown Justice League?”

Let’s meet some of the candidates. First we have Sonic. No, not the hedgehog. This one is all woman as you can see. Sonic is featured in the new comic book series titled Guardian Heroes by Kevin Grevioux, who was one of the folks behind the movie Underworld.

There are three questions that immediately came to mind:

1) Does this woman workout at Manish’s gym in Mumbai?
2) What are the tunes she be spinning from those long fingered hands?
3) Does the oversized bindi have any special powers associated with it?

Continue reading →

Is it Possible to Justify Corruption in Some Cases?

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I’m always curious to see how people justify or explain official corruption. How do some societies end up corrupt while others are “clean”? I don’t believe for a moment that it’s some kind of inbuilt genetic (sorry Razib) or cultural thing, nor does religion have anything to do with it (sorry, Max Weber). Also, how much damage does small-scale corruption really do? Slate has an article by Joel Waldfogel summarizing a recent study that was done with 800 people who needed drivers’ licenses in Delhi. Right off the bat, Waldfogel gives us a possible advantage to corruption while waiting in line:

The Department of Motor Vehicles, here and in many foreign countries, is a place of long lines, sour bureaucrats. . ., and bleak interior decorating. By the time you get to the front of the photo line, you need to shave again. Since access to government clerks is normally allocated on a first-come, first-served basis, people pay with their time rather than their money. This is inefficient: Suppose you’re in a big hurry and would be willing to pay a lot to avoid waiting, while I don’t mind waiting. Then you could go ahead of me, making you a lot better off and me only a little worse off, which reduces our collective frustration. One way to achieve this efficiency would be to charge a higher price for expedited service. Yet, an expedited government service option typically does not exist. So, in some countries, the offer of a bribe in exchange for quicker processing is a common form of corruption—reducing the social cost of waiting in line. (link)

There are some real advantages in that, just as there are to the “Lexus Lanes” many American cities are thinking of introducing on highways to give drivers the option to get out of traffic jams on the regular highway if they’re willing to pay to be on a specially constructed, parallel toll lane. What if you really need to be somewhere, and you’re willing to spend $10 to get there? Continue reading →

Everything Brown Is Better ;)

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even our crustaceans are prettier.JPG
This is going to seem highly random, but I was meandering about Wikipedia thanks to this thread, because I thought I’d read more about Bigelow teas after this comment. Whenever I wiki, I always peep the main page to see if there is something interesting and or brown (since I’m the one who named this category).

Today’s featured picture of mictyris longicarpus captured my attention for two reasons:

1) I am absolutely terrified of crustaceans and think eating them is just gross. They remind me of insects and one of you more useful (read: non-poli-sci major) types told me that the two groups of ickiness are actually related.

2) LOOK at those COLORS. Have you ever seen a prettier icky creature?

Here, learn something:

The light blue soldier crab (Mictyris longicarpus), inhabits beaches in the Indo-Pacific region. Soldier crabs filter sand or mud for microorganisms. They congregate during the low tide, and bury themselves in a corkscrew pattern during high tide, or whenever they are threatened.

I googled a bit more and found out that this thing (more formally known as the “soldier crab”) scurries about the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. This proves my E.C.F.I.-Uncle-esque theory that everything South Asian is prettier. 😉 Continue reading →

Not the official sponsor of the Mutiny

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“Yo Dad” informs me that the local free paper in the D.C. suburb where he lives has been advertising a new beverage called Café Sepia.

Experience the finest in coffee with ITO EN’s new CAF&Eacute SEPIA (TM). Each ready-to-drink coffee delivers an artful balance of aroma, body and flavor. Our beans are specially selected for their unmistakable character…to create a truly exceptional coffee encounter. [Link]

I wish we had thought of this first. It would have solved our funding problems. My mom says we should sue them. The question is, “is it any good?” I hate the taste of coffee so I am going to rely on the blog Air Massive to give us a review:

We’re sad to report that Caf&eacute Sepia tasted weak. It was too watery and diluted than we like. In fact, it lacked the coffee punch of even most established major brands of Japanese can coffee. (Personally, the Boss brand is our gold standard in this East Asian drinks sub-genre.) Caf&eacute Sepia didn’t taste “bad,” mind you. It was actually pleasant to the tongue. But we expect more — much more — from anything that a drinks maker dares call coffee. [Link]
Continue reading →

First we play…then we’ll meditate

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Via our News tab (thanks WGiiA) we get a tantalizing glimpse of what might have been if only India had fielded a World Cup Team…of Hindu ascetics. From the Associated Press:

Peep the footwork on the right. Put this guy in for Ronaldo.

If I worked for Addidas I would have my new ad campaign right here. Those feet just need some free shoes.

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A big sloppy hug

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Thank you again to everyone that donated cash over the last 36 hours to keep this blog running for the next year and to allow us to make some cool new improvements. I just want to give you all a big sloppy hug. We are taking the thermometer and the Paypal link down for now. Counting the people who had asked to mail in checks, we will make our $1000 goal for the year Whether you sent in $1 or a $100 we appreciate your contribution and will try and live up to the high expectations.

Despite the fact that even the smallest of donations means a lot to us, we wanted to single out the following people for going well beyond the call of duty in the amount they were able to donate this time around:

1) Brimful– Given her donation this year and last year she would own a substantial amount of stock in SM if we went public.

2) Seema K.- A dedicated reader and tipster from the East Coast. You rock.

3) DesiDudeinAustin/Gotham- He will be co-hosting the first Texas meet-up with me in a few months.

4) Yo Dad- I promise to mow the lawn next time I’m at home.

5) Vijay C.- We appreciate the love.

6) My attorney in Chicago- You know how I’m going to thank you.

7) VMN Rao- Drinks are on me this weekend.

8) Mahesh G.- Much thanks and please come to a meet-up if you can.

9) Our favorite Canadian (a.k.a. Neha)- We are giving you a second monkey and making you the SM colonial governor of the territories of Canada.

Now, ideally I would post all your names as gratitude but I know that some of you want to keep your privacy. Please try and make it to a meet-up so that we can thank you properly and feel free to email us with any suggestions for improving the site (we might already be working on your idea ;).

And now we return you to your regularly scheduled Mutiny.

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Fix Up, Look Sharp

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If this were a face-to-face conversation, our sassy Barmaid would be telling me about her Ritu Beri entry and I would follow up with…

It’s funny that you should mention Beri’s rubbish ideas on Indian design, Barmaid, particularly the bit about how it is limited. Just the other day I was partaking in some retail therapy and I happened upon my most bank-breaking pleasure, a little Queen West shoppe called ‘Delphic‘. Of course I had to go in for a teensy look, maybe try on a little of this and that, drool over some sneaks.

I took a tentative step through the door and what did I see? A lone mannequin wearing a twisted ‘Little Black Dress’, the shape of which looked eerily familiar. I mean really familiar. My eyes then darted right and on the rack there was a coat. A grey coat. With painful-looking needlework that I have only before seen in the kurtas I used to wear (back when I lived in a warmer climate). But the pattern did not resemble anything I had ever seen before, here or in that yonder homeland. Delicately I moved the lapels aside to reveal a name: Rashmi Varma. Ahhh, it made me feel good.

The nice shop lady informed me that Varma spends her time between Toronto and Delhi, where most of her pieces are made. I asked to see all the RV items they had, held up top after top to see if I could find even a hint of that proverbial ‘mango’. And you know what? Nothing. Just beautiful, expressive pieces like the Bihari dress, or the Kantha trench, or (my personal fav) the Dogri jersey pants. Hammertime.

Yes I do have faith in Indian fashion, perhaps not in Beri’s world of regurgitated design but efforts made in cloth have never been limited to haughty architects who like to point fingers while their own blinders are fastened in place. Hmph! Continue reading →