Why we blog

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I know that I am truly blessed for having a website like Sepia Mutiny to blog on. So few people are granted the chance on a daily basis to voice their thoughts and opinions on the type of megaphone that SM has turned into. Every so often though something comes across my desk that makes my skin tingle, puts everything into focus, and reminds me why I do this every day…why I blog. Today something like that came to my attention. Instead of a story that was particularly newsworthy, or some important cause involving persecuted individuals faceless to me, this one hit home. This one involved a close friend. I may not be able to save the world by blogging for SM but at least I can help to try and right a wrong for my friend.

This morning my old roommate Sandeep emailed me this article featuring another old roommate of mine, Eric Amin:

If civil-liberties-minded New Yorkers were already annoyed by the USA Patriot Act, the recent arrival of the worst allergy season in 50 years (this month, the city jumped from 88th to 11th on the list of worst U.S. cities for allergies) has really made it hit home. The revision of the act, signed by President Bush on March 9, takes aim at an insidious threat to our nation: Sudafed, Claritin-D, and Children’s Motrin. These over-the-counter meds use the decongestant pseudoephedrine (PSE), which is also used to make crystal meth. The revamped Patriot Act, which went into effect in April, limited each sale of PSE-containing drugs to 3.6 grams (about 120 pills) per person per day. In September, drugstores will be required to move them behind the counter and enter the buyer’s name in a registry that tracks sales. Many larger chains are already requiring I.D., turning checkout into something Soviet-esque. Within days of the new regulations, parents were already getting sniffly (“I hate that I can’t buy more than one box of Claritin-D at a time; I missed out on a great sale”) on Urbanbaby.com. New York DEA agent Matthew Barnes explains that it takes about ten packages of Sudafed, combined with ingredients such as antifreeze, lye, battery acid, and fertilizer, to produce one ounce of meth. Despite the fact that 70 percent of meth is smuggled in from Mexico-border “superlabs,” Barnes says that the new restrictions will help hinder meth production in “small toxic labs” throughout the country. Lawyer and Rite Aid customer Eric Amin worries the government registry could be used to track and deport sneezy immigrants. To avoid the hassle of giving his information, he bought nasal spray. [Link]

With the article Sandeep included the following note that he emailed to our common friends, including Eric:

the story below made you look like a total p*ssy

“ohhhh, i’ve fallen and i can’t get up…..”

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Pore Some Thekalikya On Me

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I may no longer have pink hair and my square-toe docs are 3,000 miles away, but I like to think that being punk requires more than such outward signals. I’m nowhere near as in to anarchy as I once was, but I still totally love the idea of DIY everything. In honor of that hallowed part of punk ideology, I present to you the following blurb which features advice from some desi beauty expert whom I’ve never heard of…I ganked it from the May 2006 issue of Jane, which I’m trying desperately to stay fond of, even though it is suddenly for 20-something women. WTF?

Oh, Sassy…how you are missed. You are the only reason I still subscribe to the monthly which is supposedly your phoenix.

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DIY pore shrinkage

Here’s an easy way to minimize the appearance of enlarged pores courtesy of Anjali, who was formerly the Martha Stew of Indian daytime TV and now is head of product development at Shobha salon in NY.
Using a blender, puree one medium unripe tomato (the greener the better…) with one teaspoon of honey– this will mix the astringent power of the fruit w/the natural moisturizers in the honey. Apply the pulp to a freshly washed face, leave it on for 20 minutes, then rinse.
And if your problems go beyond skin issues, toss the remaining puree into a shaker, add some salt, a little vodka and a lot of ice. Shake, pour, drink. – Celia

Um, no, I haven’t tried it. But I was the guinea piglet for L’oreal’s latest mascara so I think I should get a pass on this little experiment. If YOU are brave enough to smear extra sweet salsa on your punim, do let us know if this results in less holes in your face, thanks . Continue reading →

Angrezi, Solamente (English, Only)

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The Senate recently passed a series of bills regarding the status of the English language that no one quite understands. Senate Republican James Inhofe of Nebraska Oklahoma proposed a bill defining English as the “official language” of the United States, and gave a fiery speech about it on the Senate floor, where he claimed that elminating all traces of bilingualism from government services would save taxpayers $1 to $2 billion a year.

But that’s not the end of the story. First, Inhofe himself softened the bill, changing “official language” to “national language,” which means something quite different. The measure passed. Then, senate Democrats countered and proposed an amendment which defined English as the “common and unifying” language, and that also passed. So which is it to be? Well, it’s not a law until it also goes through the House, so the whole thing could get changed again in Committee.

In the meanwhile, people are trying to figure out what the heck it means. Continue reading →

A wtf? moment at the Whitehouse press briefing

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Tony Snow, the new Whitehouse Press Secretary, got a strange question on Tuesday at the daily briefing. I am not sure who asked it (perhaps the Foil?), and I am not even sure if I understand the question. I thought it was kind of funny though. Anyone care to shed some light on this for me?

Q A question on Iran. As far as Prime Minister of Israel’s visit is concerned, here at the White House is the first meeting after so many threats from the Iranian President — Iranian President and Hamas work on one, they are both friends and — so what do you think that is possible to have peace in the region when Iran President making so many threats, even today, that nuclear weapon he is making is supposed to be used on Israel?

MR. SNOW: Well, again, we’re engaged in ongoing diplomatic efforts to try to make sure that the government of Iran not only becomes a good neighbor in the region, but also renounces any nuclear ambitions.

Q On the economy, what message you think the President has for small investors and small businesses, because 20 years ago I invested $1,000 in an Indian-American Liberty National Bank in Washington. Today the value is $180, after 20 years — $1,000. I bought it from a credit line, 21 percent. So what advice will he have today for small investors as far as the economy is concerned?

MR. SNOW: You’re asking me what advice the President should have because you put your money in a bank account 20 years ago? I think I would encourage you to contact your personal investment counselor.

Q Today, what advice the President will have for me. Should I put $1,000 elsewhere? Should I invest it?

MR. SNOW: The President does not engage in handing out personal investment advice. [Link]

Come on. This is funny people! What the hell was all that about? Is Liberty National even an Indian-American owned bank?

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Two Genres Birthing a Third

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Awhile back, almost a year actually, I first wrote about the reggaeton track Mirame, featuring South Asian beats, Reggaeton superstar Daddy Yankee, relative newcomer Deevani, and the production of Luny Tunes. In the time since that Post, and this one by Manish, Reggaeton has gone the way of Bhangra in mainstream hip-hop, perhaps even a bit further (how many Bhangra articles reached 7 pages in the ny times arts section?) and is headed either towards the path of continued success in the mainstream, or as Bhangra has, to remain popular for the most part only amongst its orginal ethnic fan base.

For those of us that try to follow some of the trends in desi hip-hop, it’s clear that now more than ever (it took awhile, didn’t it?) that desi remixers are coming out with tunes that reflect the current reggaeton vibe that has in the last couple of years eclipsed mainstream American hip-hop. Desi DJs such as New York’s Lil Jay (hear his Reggaeton remix of Bikram Singh’s Kawan here) and Scotland duo Tigerstyle (hear their remix of Mirala Bien featuring Labh Janjua here) along with others have been incorporating popular styles into their remixes for years, but the incorporation of reggaeton with Bhangra, or Bhangraton as the name is slowly catching on, just seems to co-exist with a certain ease that I can’t seem to hear when Redman raps over an Asha Bhosle hook. With Bhangraton there seems to be a natural synergy in both the rhythmic and vocal stylings. And so it’s not too odd to think that something more, perhaps something bigger could come of a formal connection between some Bhangra and Reggaeton producers.

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The taming of Diego Garcia

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“outrageous, unlawful and a breach of accepted moral standards.”- Sir Sydney Kentridge QC

A British court has just issued a decision that has significant implications for both the former inhabitants of Diego Garcia and for the U.S. military:

In a decision that could have ramifications for the huge US airbase on the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia, a British high court ruled earlier this month that attempts by the British government to keep the former residents of the Chagos islands from returning to the islands (which include Diego Garcia), even after they had won a court ruling in 2000 to do so, were “outrageous, unlawful and a breach of accepted moral standards.”

The British government expelled the Chagossians, the original inhabitants of the islands, some 40 years ago so the US could build the airbase at Diego Garcia, but a British court ruled in 2000 that the islanders had a right to return to their home. After the decision, then Foreign Secretary Robin Cook said the British government would not appeal the ruling.

But under pressure from the US, London changed directions in 2004, using what was called “Royal Perogative” to overrule the original decision. Government lawyers had argued that in a territory like Diego Garcia, the Queen (and her ministers) have unlimited power and can use Royal Perogative powers in these territories, despite the fact that she lost the right to use such powers in Britain in the 17th century. [Link]

NPR’s Morning Edition also featured a story about this on Tuesday morning. Roughly 2000 people were forced to leave Diego Garcia at the hands of the British in the 1960s. Domestic animals were gassed and most inhabitants were relocated to slums in the nation of Mauritius. The expulsion by the British involved a deal that would lease the island to the U.S. who needed it as a strategic base during the Cold War (good place for long-range bombers to take off from). The trade? The U.S. gave the Brits the Polaris missile system. About 2000 U.S. military personnel now live there. Ironic when you consider the number of people forced to leave was almost exactly the same. Continue reading →

Lies, Damned Lies, and Logistics

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In a tiny country on the Arabian Gulf, 2006 could go down in history as pivotal in the struggle for recognition among a largely South Asian migrant labour force. Earlier this year, a short while after the Ports fiasco threw a spotlight on all things Dubai, 2,500 Asian construction workers rioted in Dubai at the site of what will be one of tallest skyscrapers on the planet. This was only the tip. Kicking off the aftermath Human Rights Watch released a condemning report on worker abuse in the U.A. of E:

One of the world’s largest construction booms is feeding off workers in Dubai, but they’re treated as less than human,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “It’s no surprise that some workers have started rioting in protest. What’s surprising is that the government of the UAE is doing nothing to solve the problem.”

Migrant workers comprise nearly 90 percent of the workforce in the private sector in the UAE. They are denied basic rights such as freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining. [Link]

In addition, they urged countries to involve improvement of labour practices when negotiating free trade agreements with the U.A.E. This type of international media coverage has put a considerable amount of pressure on government to amend existing labour laws. Though the U.A.E. Minister of Labour, Dr. Ali Bin Abdullah Al Ka’abi, denied all claims present in the Human Rights Watch report it took him a heartbeat’s worth of time since to announce that worker unions could be legal by end of year. Continue reading →

Indian Painting in San Francisco: Anjolie Ela Menon

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anjolie ela menon.jpg A solo exhibit by Indian Painter Anjolie Ela Menon is up at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, Artdaily reports. Menon is a Delhi-based painter of mixed American and Indian heritage. She was born in 1940 and studied at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris as well as at the J.J. School of Art in Bombay (which she did not like!). Menon has had an active and successful career, winning many awards, including India’s prestigious Padma Shri.

In the exhibit are ten major paintings as well as a large a triptych called “Yatra,” which you can see in small form here. See if you can rectify the painting itself with the explanation offered in Artdaily:

This triptych depicts various figures that can be identified as participants in a particularly well-known north Indian Hindu pilgrimage, or yatra. MenonÂ’s interest in these pilgrims stems from both a sense of admiration and from her view of their devotional act as an unbroken bridge linking IndiaÂ’s ancient past with its rapidly modernizing present. (link)

(Incidentally, the image on the right is a portrait of Menon I found on the Flickr site of a brilliant photographer calling herself “50mm.” Check out the rest of 50mm’s amazing photos here.) Continue reading →

Posted in Art

Our Influentials

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During the Kaava debacle last month, and whatever you made of the whole story, one of the secondary plot lines had to do with the high-end college-prep tutoring business, which has always been around but has apparently now expanded to the extent that anxious parents will fork over up to $30,000 to make sure that their offspring gets into that place that starts with an H, or maybe that other place that starts with a Y. If you recall, we learned that KaavyaÂ’s parents bought for her the services of a firm called IvyWise, and its founder, Katherine Cohen, was repeatedly quoted at the crest of the scandal defending her former client, and thereby, one infers, her own integrity and that of her firm.

Now, from New York magazine’s recent annual compilation of “The Influentials” – the two-hundred-odd most influential people in the city, in that magazine’s judgment, we learn thar the person considered the father of this whole hyper-prep industry is desi. Here is Arun Alagappan’s citation in the mag:

Arun Alagappan Founder, Advantage Testing, Inc. Like it or not, high-end, one-on-one academic tutoring is a fixture of contemporary New York, and Alagappan is the father of the business. Twenty years ago, Alagappan, a Princeton philosophy major and Harvard Law grad, left the white-shoe law firm Sullivan and Cromwell to found Advantage Testing, a boutique tutoring service for college-bound high-school kids. Today, Alagappan and 100 fellow tutors work with up to 2,000 kids each year in subjects ranging from core academics and essay writing to SAT prep. Despite law-partner rates (Alagappan charges $685 for a 50-minute hour, although staff tutors charge less), a yearÂ’s wait is not uncommon for AlagappanÂ’s services. Alagappan insists he doesnÂ’t track test scores; regardless, Advantage has inspired dozens of high-priced imitators, and, for better or worse, transformed the precollege landscape.

Alagappan has a remarkably low-key public identity: Googling produces not much more than a sampler of stories from various years in the past two decades, where the only interesting change is the rising dollar cost of an hour of his services. Advantage Testing doesnÂ’t have an active website, just a phone number. I guess they have plenty of business on the word-of-mouth circuit, and they donÂ’t really need publicity.

The other desi that New York magazine saw fit to include in its “Influentials” was labor activist Saru Jayaraman, whom Manish blogged about here a long time ago. HereÂ’s the commendation: Continue reading →

The saga continues in Lanka

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Things in present day Sri Lanka have been taking a depressing turn of late:

At least 150 people have fled the village of Allaipiddy in the northern Sri Lankan peninsula of Jaffna.

It follows last weekend’s murder of 13 Tamil civilians. The navy has been accused of the killings – they deny it.

Police and international truce monitors have both launched investigations into the incident.

The killings came only two days after Tamil Tiger rebels launched a suicide assault on a naval convoy in which 18 sailors died. [Link]

To take your minds off of the grim reality of the present I feel that I must point you to animator and SM commenter Nina Paley’s website. She has just released the newest segment of the her multi-part saga, Sita Sings the Blues. It is titled “Battle of Lanka.”

A pivotal scene from “Battle of Lanka”

Battle of Lanka was made about a year ago, and is chapter 4 in Sita Sings the Blues, after Hanuman Finds Sita and before Trial By Fire. In this episode, Rama, Hanuman, and the monkey armies cross the sea to Lanka to conquer Ravana and the rakshasas, and rescue the captive Sita. Assisting me was Jake Friedman, the only animation apprentice I’ve ever had. Jake wanted to learn Flash and had excellent animation chops and a good eye, so he came to Brooklyn almost every day for a month. Jake animated much of the monkey-on-demon violence: monkey swinging axe, monkey throwing axe, monkey bashing demon with club, monkey kicking demon, etc. A panorama of Jake’s animation occurs at 1:28, in which I took pretty much everything he’d animated on the project and composited it into a single scene. It’s worth multiple viewings, to catch all his lovingly considered variations. Thanks Jake… [Link]

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