Big boxes looming

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Like two lumbering elephants at the start of the mating season, Wal-Mart and the Government of India are eyeing each other, a little hungrily, a little warily. The dance has begun, and though the ultimate outcome seems clear, the process to get there could be plenty circuitous. HereÂ’s a Standard & PoorÂ’s update, published this month on the Business Week website:

Wal-Mart stated on Feb. 2 that it has applied to create a separate entity in Bangalore devoted to “market research and business development in relationship to the retail industry in India.”
“I think that has been no secret that we think the market opportunity in India is really outstanding,” Wal-Mart spokeswoman Beth Keck told the Associated Press on Feb. 2.

You don’t say. However, the government is playing hard-to-get:

The Indian government opened the doors of its retail market to 51% foreign direct investment (FDI) two weeks ago. But this most recent economic liberalization applies strictly to companies that sell goods through single-branded stores. The partial allowance permits a direct majority ownership interest by foreign entities, which, we think, is good news for many of the world’s marketers of top labels.
In S&P’s view, the widely anticipated FDI policy for limited retail investment, however, effectively slams the “Closed” sign on big-box chains and particularly Wal-Mart, feared by India’s Communist party as potentially putting mom-and-pop stores out of business by sheer virtue of its size. The retail behemoth rang up slightly more in retail sales for the year ending January, 2005, than the entire Asian subcontinent sold to its population of more than 1 billion Â…

But Wal-Mart wonÂ’t be easily dissuaded. Just ask the Mexicans:

Wal-Mart’s experience in emerging markets is the crux of its battle plan. Bentonville has been down this path of limited investment in retail before. Not too long ago, it battled anti-FDI sentiment in Mexico. In S&P’s view, Wal-Mart won that battle. It is now the biggest private employer in Mexico and operates more than 780 stores in that country.

On the positive side, all the eccentric uncles with the ear hair and the roving eye can soon get jobs as People Greeters. I can see it already. “Velcome to Val-Mart,” with a waggle and a smile… Continue reading →

The Cornershop just re-opened

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Two weeks ago the Brit band Cornershop dropped its latest, “Wop the Groove.” The album accompanies a movie of the same name:

Written for the film of the same name by Mr Cornershop himself, Tjinder Singh, about London’s independent music industry, Wop The Groove had several musical makeovers before the finished composition. Rowetta, ex Happy Mondays and X Factor fame recorded her distinct vocals before her brush with tv fame, and the groove is built around her all powering voice. Cornershop’s first release in four years, it’s structure doesn’t deviate much from being one long chorus but it has enough chirpy funk and drive to keep the limbs twitching for several minutes. [Link]

The album features some notable collaborations and I think it includes a 2004 promo single titled “Topknot” with MIA.

…There’s no beating around the bush with this one, a quality track with a heavy duty riff, featuring Rowetta (ex Happy Mondays) on top form – written & produced by Tjinder Singh, also known as the national debt – recorded at Sassi P. Studio, Vatican City. The Factory Records stable have always given solid support to the Cornershop firmament, and it was this connection that led to this collaboration.

Cornershop were personally invited onto the Rough Trade label by Geoff Travis, on which they have released Topknot featuring Bubbley Kaur (“So good it sounds like Singh has found a fitting heir to Asha Bhosle” 4/5 The Mirror) & the much sought after promo mix featuring M.I.A. In between time they have been turning down TV & Film acting requests including some from Bollywood, and refusing international live gig appearances. They did do a remix for Quincy Jones called Valeurs Personnelles, a political track about value judgements, in the French language.

After immersing themselves in the deep gospel of Savoy Records and the sitar strength of Rai Gupta the band have spent the last six months airing a Sunday morning, cross denominational, religious radio programme, over the WorldWideWeb. A new Cornershop album is shaping up as another corker. In addition work has begun on a full album featuring Bubbley Kaur and also expected to drop this year.[Link]

Here are two more tracks:

Battle of New Orleans (Peel Show)

Hot Rocks (w/Rowetta)

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Schmaltzland

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The new Samuel L. Jackson/Julianne Moore film Freedomland opens with Aasif Mandvi’s perpetually startled face, looking more and more like Orlando Jones. Mandvi plays a doctor in this movie, a cross between a crime drama and Do the Right Thing. He gets five minutes of good screen time before he’s deep-sixed. From pizza guy (in Spiderman) to hospital Hippocrates is from stereotype to stereotype, but positive nonetheless.

The rest of the movie, an Amber Alert child kidnapping drama, is a jumble of Moore as junkie, Jackson as old fart community cop and Crown Heights-style race riot. The racial politics are from a Nickelodeon after-school special, Jackson was better as an elder Jedi, and cornhole-in-chief Ron Eldard, that blue-eyed devil more robotically evil than Robert Patrick, wears the official cornhole chin-beard usually sported by French gendarmes.

The Chariots of Fire-like score, the simplistic life lessons and the low-glam Moore makeup make the movie seem like some kind of Oscar bid, but instead it winds up lost in Schmaltzland.

The NYT sniffs:

This week’s contribution to our national slag heap and an early candidate for worst film of the year is Freedomland, an inept, lethally dull drama… about a white child who may have gone missing in a New Jersey public housing complex, where the residents are all black. [Link]

Related posts: Ga-ching-a-ching-a-ching, Cereal Cyrano, Aasif Mandvi in ‘Spiderman 2’

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Drunken Durga

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Small comfort: A bar in Athens has been ordered to remove a Southern Comfort poster featuring a multi-armed Durga holding bottles of whiskey (via India-West):

Large posters inside and outside the Balon Oriental Disco Bar in Athens depict the Goddess carrying bottles of Southern Comfort Whiskey in her hands…

The Indian community in Athens has been trying for the last three months to have the posters removed but in vain. Letters have been sent to the American manufacturer of Southern Comfort Whiskey in Tennessee, America, to withdraw the poster. [Link]

Tacky? Yes. Boycott? Begone my NyQuil-flavored winter warmth. But there’s no need to go all Danish on their kundis. How very fundie-Muslim of them:

The offending poster was removed from the discotheque as a result of direct communication from the Greek Embassy in New Delhi to the authorities in Athens to have the poster removed immediately… The offending poster was removed from the discotheque as a result of direct communication from the Greek Embassy in New Delhi to the authorities in Athens to have the poster removed immediately as otherwise there would be a strong reaction from Hindus worldwide. [Link]

Das says that the community wants to round up all the existing posters and burn them… members of the Sikh faith in Athens joined forces with the Hindu communities in their protest. [Link]

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Shantu Shah for Oregon’s District 1

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Earlier this month an engineer from Portland, Oregon named Shantu Shah announced his candidacy for the U.S. Congress from Oregon’s 1st District. Although some quick web-searching hints that he may come from a Green Party background, Shah is running as a Democrat. The best part is that he started his own blog to coincide with his announcement. If he can keep it up and provide substantial day-to-day detail of the process, it may provide us with a window into what it takes for an Indian American to run for Congress. Even if he fails in his bid, his blog could be used as a good resource for future candidates (not so subtle hint to Mr. Shah). Here are some excerpts from his announcement speech that he copied to his first post:

A VISION FOR CHANGE – The TRIUMPH OF WILL
Shantu Shah, Candidate for U.S. Congress
as Representative for Oregon District One

Brothers and Sisters of America:

My inspiration comes from three personalities: Gandhi, Patel, and Gandhi, two women and a man, who have shaped the international politics with their vision for change and the triumph of their will, have been the focus of three biographies by three different authors. If you have guessed their names as Mahatma Gandhi, Vallabhbhai Patel, and Indira Gandhi your guess was incorrect. I am talking about: 1) The Untold Story of Kastur, wife of Mahatma Gandhi, authored by their grandson Arun Gandhi (and his wife Sunanda), who would be addressing at my invitation to an Interfaith Festival of Faith this September 17 in Convention Center, Portland, Oregon; 2) Triumph of Will, Sonia Gandhi, Italy-born wife of Rajiv Gandhi, Past Prime Minister of India, written by Yussuf Ansari and; 3) A Vision for Change A.D. Patel and the politics of Fiji by Brij V. Lal…

During the democratic elections in Canada and Palestine in Janauary 2006 the incumbents were thrown out of the office by the will of the voters. Hope with the help of average Americans we will be able to throw out the rascals who have been corrupted by the corporate culture, influenced by the cash contributions of millions of dollars, leaving behind the average citizen holding down the empty bag on the back burners.

Heath care, meager social security benefits, medical insurances, education for have-nots, and the small businesses e.g. AAHOA hotels and motels, are all at risk at the enrichment of the well to do and the haves. Haves have been helpful in the economy as much as the have-nots who labor for the economical success of the country. Our factories and offices would not be busy without the haves and have-nots. [Link]

Shah REALLY has his work cut out for him. He will be running against a powerful four-time incumbent, Asian American Democrat David Wu. Continue reading →

UP Minister Joins the Fascist Fray

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When you’ve got a billion people, eventually some idiot will say something embarrassing that gets splashed in the news. Too bad in both the US and India, it’s often a senior politician. In this particular case, a UP minister is tossing in more bounty for the head(s) of a certain group of Danish cartoonists –

Rs 51-crore reward for Danish cartoonist’s head, says UP Minister

LUCKNOW, MEERUT, FEBRUARY 17: The Minister for Minority Welfare and Haj in the Mulayam Singh Yadav government, Haji Yaqoob Qureishi, has announced a cash reward of Rs 51 crore [~$11.5M] for anyone who beheads the Danish cartoonist who caricatured Prophet Mohammad.

Luckily, in India at least, cooler Muslim heads are talking back –

…the All India Muslim Personal Law Board member and Naib Imam of Aishbagh Idgah, Maulana Khalid Rasheed Firangi Mahali, criticised the Minister’s call for the killing of the cartoonist… “The Minister’s statement is anti-Shariat, anti-Islam and anti-humanity,” Mahali said.

And I hope that it’s because of heads like Mr. Mahali, that India hasn’t fully joined the cartoon fatality epidemic sweeping the globe (click the map below for one of the better applications of web mashups) –

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Keeping tabs on your clan

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I have often wondered where the rest of my kind spread to once they hit the U.S. shores. My branch of our larger clan (which arrived in the mid-60s) started in Illinois and then spread on to California and elsewhere. I recently came upon the website of the Gens Project [via Dexterous Doings]. Plugging in my last name, I was surprised to see that my kind is also numerous (if you count <100 as numerous) in Texas and New York:

It’s just like an outbreak map

The Gens project is born by the initiative and the experience of a team of graduates in Humanities at the University of Genoa – Italy, who have specialized in history, demography, statistics, archive-keeping and librarianship.

Originally it was a research project about the distribution of surnames across Italy, but after the first realization and the first impact with the public, we decided to make it available to others. [Link]

Just for fun, I entered in some other notable last names… Continue reading →

Saturday55: The “Late vs. Never” edition

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I passed out after work yesterday, with this very window still open and a pending 55Friday languishing. My bad. I would normally feel a lot worse about this, but such an unintended delay means one thing: I can publicly wish someone whom I adore a very Happy Birthday. If you don’t already read Venial Sin, you are depriving yourself of some of the best blog on the internets. He’s an erstwhile resident of my Chocolate City who currently makes London an even hotter place to be and his blog is genius. (No pressure!) Happy Birthday, gorgeous. 🙂

Since I’ve slobbered all over him virtually, let’s start my run-down of the best examples of flash fiction from last week with Sin himself. He had no need to self-deprecate before introducing the following:

“No!” the lawyer yelled into the phone. “I don’t care if it WAS Valentine’s Day, “life partner” was not meant to apply to a cellmate. This isnÂ’t the path to true love, no matter how slim your options may seem.”

Pause.

Beat.

Sigh.

“Fine, I’ll bring you candy on the 14th for…”Big Mick” is it?” [link]

Next up, one of Nina’s 55s made me smirk happily:

The painting was titled “Agape,” and depicted the God of Trite having intercourse with the God of Sexual Starvation, nude. The Valentines Fundamentalists rioted, but the Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Jews and Atheists finally united in common cause, cancelling out this most cancerous religion. The work sold for $2 billion, and everyone lived happily ever after. [link]

Fellow spelling-stickler Sirc penned a scathing 55:

Good mourning babe :), she texts. Still swimming or Barely stayin afloat in a sea of cheapnfree champagne reveries, He writes back, What’s so Good about Mourning? She writes back that, Every day is the First day of your life 😉 Why are Bad Spellers so drawn to unfounded optimism like lice to immigrant public school kids? [link]

Anyone who drops the k-bomb is going to get mad love from me ;), DDiA:

EvEr SiNcE wE stalked each other on Xanga You gave me anon. eprops; filled my Dreams with kaleidoscopic manga, I’ve wanted to buy you dil-shaped balloons. Now you will call me yo babydaddy, yayy! And me you snookums. Hug, kiss, And stop traffic with aww-inspiring PDA. Common bayyybee shake that kundi I’ll be your munda, you my mundi.[link]

This week? Write whatever you please. I toyed with different themes, ranging from “Jeopardy” (where I was going to have you all end your 55s in the form of a question) to “Crime and Punishment” (where you 55 regarding suitable punishments for Salman Khan). In the end, I chose none of the above. As always, leave your masterpiece or a link to it in the comments below. We’ll love it, promise. Continue reading →

Jail Time for Salman Khan?

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For those of us in America, high profile hunting continues to be part of the regular news cycle. After all, our Vice President did shoot, by accident of course, his hunting partner Harry Whittington in the face and body just last week (guns don’t kill people right, its people that kill people?).

So it was kind of humorous to see the parallels between bad boy vice president, and our own Bollywood bad boy Salman Khan, who this week (thanks Bong Breaker) was found guilty of killing two blackbucks, a protected species of antelope, in the western state of Rajasthan in 1998, and sentenced to one year imprisonment. (link)

Salman Khan and Fans

Charges against Khan were pressed by the local Bishnoi community in Rajasthan where the killing took place… “The court can hang me. I am tired of such lengthy proceedings,” Khan told the court. The poaching case is not the actor’s first brush with the law. He is also facing trial in Mumbai (Bombay) in a 2002 hit-and-run case. One person was killed and three others injured when Khan allegedly drove into a group of homeless people sleeping on a pavement. Khan faces 10 charges, including causing death by negligent driving which carries two years in prison. He has pleaded not guilty on all counts.

It was unclear if Khan was drinking while he was allegedly poaching blackbuck, but he was I believe, driving under the influence when he allegedly hit and killed the homeless people. As an aside Vice President Cheney when asked if they had been drinking while hunting noted in his interview with Fox News correspondent Brit Hume: “No. You don’t hunt with people who drink. That’s not a good idea.”

In that same interview with Fox News, Cheney did later indicate that he had had a beer with lunch earlier in the day. Maybe I am dumb, but doesn’t that constitute drinking? Hell a few months ago, you could get arrested in Washington DC for drinking and driving after having only one drink.

A BBC correspondent says the actor, who has also been fined 5,000 rupees ($111) has a month’s time to appeal.

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Artless Art

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The Daily Show just posted some disturbing clips from a new anti-American blockbuster in Turkey, a pretty Westernized country. In Kurtlar Vadisi Irak / Valley of the Wolves Iraq, American soldiers (including Billy Zane) machine-gun children and sell them to a Jewish doctor (Gary Busey) who harvests their organs.

Jon Stewart compares the repugnant Turkish screenplay, redolent of Spielberg’s monkey brains, with the fact that Arabs are the go-to villains in Hollywood. One of the clips he shows is True Lies with Brit Asian actor Art Malik, middle name ‘Complicity,’ playing yet another Middle Eastern bad guy.

Art Malik (born as Athar Ul-Haque Malik on November 13, 1952) is a Pakistani-born British actor… Malik also played the villain Salim Abu Aziz opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger in True Lies (1994)… He also played the role of Ramzi Ahmed Yousef in Path to Paradise, a 1997 made-for-TV film about the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. [Link]

Watch the clip, it’s at 5:30. There’s also a funny bit immediately preceding about astroturf ‘rioters’ in Pakistan torching a KFC over the Danish cartoons instead of a perfectly delectable CBH next door. ‘CBH,’ of course, would stand for ‘Copenhagen Boiled Herrings’

Related posts: White guys in turbans, Fire licks wood in Pakistan, The Danish cartoon controversy

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