Too young to be so mutinous

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On my Yahoo start page this morning the picture below stared back at me:

An Indian girl holds a placard during a protest against President Bush in the southern Indian city of Bangalore March 1, 2006. REUTERS/Jagadeesh Nv

I had two thoughts. First, isn’t it just precious how an Indian kid would attach the honorific “uncle” to even a protest sign? I had to laugh out loud at that. Second, I felt conflicted. I don’t approve of children at protests. I feel that taking a child to certain types of protests is like giving a child a gun without teaching them proper gun safety. I believe it is more important to properly educate a child in all aspects of an issue and encourage them to investigate it on their own, rather than take them along to mindlessly protest something. I think it is VERY important to teach a child about the realities and injustices in the world and when to stand up for a principle, but I often see images in the media that hint at the fact that the children holding signs are mostly a form of propaganda. Out of curiosity I did a quick search for some other recent protest pictures featuring young children.

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Rushdie Speaketh

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Salman Rushdie joins a group of prominent intellectuals & public figures in an anti-“Islamist” manifesto published in the now famous Jyllands-Posten (reprinted here in full because I agree with it so much) –

After having overcome fascism, Nazism, and Stalinism, the world now faces a new totalitarian global threat: Islamism.

We, writers, journalists, intellectuals, call for resistance to religious totalitarianism and for the promotion of freedom, equal opportunity and secular values for all.

The recent events, which occurred after the publication of drawings of Muhammed in European newspapers, have revealed the necessity of the struggle for these universal values. This struggle will not be won by arms, but in the ideological field. It is not a clash of civilisations nor an antagonism of West and East that we are witnessing, but a global struggle that confronts democrats and theocrats.

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Who let brown folks aboard Air Force One?

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As most readers know, President Bush made a not so surprise visit to Afghanistan on Wednesday before his eventual arrival in India. After India he intends to go on to Pakistan. That is THREE South Asian nations in one week. By my rough count however, there are only TWO South Asian journalists along for the ride on Air Force One. The first is our old friend Raghubir “the Foil” Goyal. Word on the street is that “the Foil” is as necessary to the White House Press Office as the “Football” is to the President:

He may not be one the most high-profile media persons accompanying US President George W Bush on his India visit, but Indian American journalist Raghubir Goyal is often the “perfect foil” for the White House spokesperson when he is caught in a tight spot.

“I will be on Air Force One. A few of the other regulars in the press will also be there. They rotate everyone every month,” Goyal told IANS just before boarding the flight for New Delhi.

Goyal has been a White House pressperson for many years and is often ridiculed for his softball questions that deal exclusively with India and for which he has been labelled the “Goyal foil” – or a way out for White House spokesman Scott McClellan when he is in a tight spot.

I tell them, ‘But I get only one chance to ask a question and I want to get in my question about India instead of the other subjects the media is talking about’.”[Link]

“The Foil” now even has an entire website dedicated to his heroic exploits. The second desi reporter may not be as infamous, but she certainly has a large audience. It is Niharika Acharya of Voice of America:

Niharika is VOA Hindi TV’s lead anchor and correspondent. She co-hosts VOA Hindi’s weekly news and current affairs program “Duniya” (The World), aired live on India’s leading TV news channel Aaj Tak. Niharika also contributes to VOA Hindi Radio as fill-in host for the weekly call-in shows ‘Hello India’ and ‘Hello America’, and her television reports are aired on radio as well…

As part of VOA Hindi TV’s collaboration with Aaj Tak, which claims an audience of 30 million households in India, Niharika has also covered major news events including U.S. presidential elections, the 9/11 anniversaries, annual UN General Assembly sessions and important meetings between the leaders of India and the U.S. including President Bush’s meeting with the current and former Prime Ministers of India. [Link]

I dunno. I just find it kind of underwhelming that there aren’t more South Asian American journalists who were deemed by their news organizations to be qualified enough to be along for this ride. It seems like they would be in unique position to report on this story due to their inherent understanding of the cultures involved. Is Goyal the best we got to embed? I dream of the day when a mutinous blogger is allowed onto AF1.

See related posts: One-Track Uncle, Goyal’s toils

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Desipina’s not Cablinasian

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For me, watching Seven.11 was one of the theater highlights of 2005. It had the sharpest writing and the funniest set of desi and As-Am in-jokes I’ve seen in ages: custom-fit culture in a railroad apartment. The proprietors have done well for themselves behind the counter, unveiling a bigger show in a bigger theater this year:

This year’s line-up includes a kung-fu hustler, run-away teenagers, convenience store surprise reunions, a futuristic free-for-all for Manhattan, and not one but TWO original pop musicals, one of which leaves you questioning, “Who really did kill Mr. Naidu?”

If you’re anywhere new New York between March 30 and April 16, you have to see the musical farce, last year’s was side-splitting. The show’s creative constraint is a gimmick, but it works:

… Seven.11 Convenience Theatre marks its fourth year with a whole new set of seven plays [of 11 minutes each] all set in a convenience store…

The intense, bald and talented Andrew Guilarte returns from last year’s cast. Looking at the list is like watching a star team shed your favorite players (where have you gone, Joe Debarggio, and Lethia Nall, Kavi Ladnier, Anuvab Pal?). You hope the new faces will once again become sentimental favorites.

Featuring the ever-talented cast of Sturgis Adams, Meetu Chilana, Andrew Guilarte, Sean Krishnan, Stephen Tyrone Williams, John Wu, Alicia Ying

They were completely sold out last year, so buy ahead.

Related posts: Reclaiming Apu, Seven chutney squishies, make it quick

Seven.11 Convenience Theatre (2006), 3/30-4/16/06, Thu-Sat 8 p.m. and Sun 2 p.m.; discussion with cast on Sundays; Kraine Theater, 85 East 4th St., first floor, between Bowery and 3rd Ave., Manhattan; $17 adults, $11 student rush tickets at the door only; buy tickets

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The tipping point

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Hey y’all,

We’re testing a new feature which lets you post your tips as news stories directly on the site. Click here or on the News tab at the top of the page to try it out.

We’re thinking of this as a place to track media coverage of the sepia revolution beyond what fits on the main page, and faster than we can get to it. For example, there are loads of stories in the MSM this week about Mr. Dubya Goes to Delhi. And there’s lots of ephemera that’s fun to check out, but doesn’t really fit as a full blog post.

While you’re reading, you can help out by flagging reader-submitted stories which are spam, duplicate or just plain lame. Just click the ‘Flag this’ link at the bottom of any story.

This is an experiment, so please have at it!

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Peace and respects

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As my month guest-blogging here comes to an end, I offer apologies for the intermittent pace of my posts, and I hope that my interventions have been of some interest to the great diaspora of Mutineers.

The Mutiny was already the only site where I hung out regularly; now, after a month behind the sepia curtain, vibing with the fellow bloggers, fielding the many wonderful and crazy things that come in on the tipline, and generally steeping in the sepia stew, I am only strengthened in my feeling that this is one of the most stellar examples of new media-making and community-building on the Web.

One reason for this, I think, is the group blog format; another, the imagination and spirit of the founders; another, the thematic orientation of the site under an umbrella term – desi – that welcomes multiple voices and interpretations.

On the comments on Karthik’s sign-off post, people asked for more female guests, and I agree; I’d also love to hear more gay and lesbian voices, which strikes me as a weak spot here, and a broader representation of the different cultures that come from South Asia. At the same time, I believe that the more these voices express themselves in the comments, the more they will find their way into the posts. The Mutiny is good that way.

How long will it last? Who knows. The Web is funny that way. But so far, so good. I’ll see y’all in the comment threads. Peace and respects to all, and yo, stay desi. Continue reading →

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The Backlash that Wasn’t

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Great little article in Newsweek about the short lived fury around the “giant sucking sound” of American jobs to India. We’re all rediscovering that economics (unlike politics) is almost never a zero sum game –

…Not long ago, what seemed most possible was that India would steal the jobs of American workers. But as George W. Bush visits there this week, he’ll find a maturing economy that is no longer all about call centers and basic tech support. Now big American investment banks and drugmakers are joining tech firms on the passage to India. R&D centers are springing up so fast that there’s now a shortage of Indian engineers. And the stigma of outsourcing jobs to India is disappearing.

…What happened to the outsourcing backlash? It has been muted by the fact that India didn’t suck Silicon Valley dry after all. Actually, U.S. tech employment is growing. There are 17 percent more tech workers in the United States today than back in the bubble days of 1999, says a new study by the Association for Computing Machinery. And the Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that the U.S. economy will add 1 million tech jobs over the next decade, a 30 percent increase. “Everyone was worried about the offshoring bogeyman,” says Moshe Vardi, an author of the ACM study. “But the big whoosh of jobs to India never happened.”

Amen.

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Now is the time in Torino when we dance

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Check out this video of an Armenian ice dancing couple performing to a Hare Krishna bhajan in Torino (thanks, Masked Tipster). I don’t think the Blue One looked quite like this. Nothing says religion to me like than a half-naked dancer hanging upside down off a man’s shoulders flashing mudras

‘Sex sells,’ said American Jamie Silverstein, 22, referring to itty-bitty costumes… Anastasia Grebenkina of Armenia wore a backless outfit except for a small swath of cloth that covered her bottom. [Link]

For the dance enthusiast, an ice dancing performance is like a five-minute clip of “Strictly Ballroom” – on acid. Incredible holds, tight twizzles and … hydroblading? Hell yes.

For the chick-flick fan, ice dancing is all the drama without the shitty, sub-par dialogue. When Italian pair Barbara Fusar-Poli and Maurizio Margaglio stumbled into a heap of sheer, neon Lycra, they stood on the ice for almost a minute, shooting each other the classic “f– you and your sequined appliqués” look. They didn’t speak for more than 24 hours after. “Beaches,” “Hitch” and “My Best Friend’s Wedding” don’t have a blade to stand on.

And men will find themselves enchanted by the ladies’ bare-it-all, barely there leotards of ice dancing, where salsa meets slutty and strategically placed daisies are the only things preventing Armenian skater Anastasia Grebenkina from landing on the cover of a Frederick’s of Hollywood catalogue. [Link]

Grebenkina and Vazgen Azrojan didn’t medal with this acrobatic routine. But with only four competitors from India, two from Pakistan and one from Nepal, sadly, it actually increased the Olympics’ sepia quotient. Continue reading →

The Buddha of Ruralia

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Sploid, the Gawker Media website that offers “news with a tabloid mentality,” reports (shout-out to tipster Aliya) that the state of Minnesota has fined a religious cult led by a 65-year-old scientist from Orissa for illegally undercutting the price of gasoline.

Say what?

Midwest Oil is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Dr. R.C. Samanta Roy Institute of Science and Technology. Samanta Roy, and Indian and former Hindu, was once known as Brother Rama Behera. He leads a reclusive religious organization out of Shawano, Wisconsin, preaching a mixture of Christianity and Judaism.

Apparently Midwest was able to sell gasoline below the minimum price (that the state imposes to protect small service stations from large chains that can sell below cost) because its devotee-employees work for free.

An October 2005 story in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel tells us more about the life and times of Dr. Samanta Roy:

The reclusive 65-year-old immigrant from the historic Orissa state of India has exerted an influence in Shawano, a North Woods gateway town of 8,300 about 40 miles northwest of Green Bay, since the early 1970s. He is rarely seen and almost never heard from outside his cloistered group of adherents, none of whom responded to interview requests. Public records examined for this story reveal no estimates of the group’s size. …
It all began with the purchase of several acres in adjoining Wescott that served as a worship place for the group transplanted from the Twin Cities area. They were commonly called the Disciples of the Lord Jesus and operated in a style described in The Milwaukee Journal at the time as ascetic and critical of mainstream Christianity.

Samanta Roy called himself Brother Rama and had conversations with the prophet Elijah while sitting on the toilet: Continue reading →