Diwali, Diwali, Everywhere

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It is getting out of hand. Not that I am complaining of course, but I think the Western media has finally caught on to Diwali mania. And in perfect IST fashion, the New York Times chimes in with their addition to the Diwali-themed articles, focusing on one of the most important facets of the Diwali holiday: mithai (Indian sweets). Yeah, many first and second geners claim to not like them, complaining of their over-sweetness or their unnatural colors. And then what is the deal with that silver stuff that covers so many of them (FYI it is actually real silver). The article, aptly titled “Festival of Lights, Parade of Sweets,” does a good job of getting into the nitty gritty of the role of mithai in Diwali and Eid and in South Asian society in general.

This week, in a coincidence of calendars, Hindus and Muslims from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh are celebrating the most joyous holidays of the year. Hindus observe the festival of lights, Diwali, or Deepavali, which ushers in the new year; Muslims finish the holy month of Ramadan with Id al-Fitr, which signals the end of the monthlong daytime fast and a return to the sweetness of daily life. The two holidays, Hindus and Muslims here say, are utterly soaked in sugar. “You cannot go to anyone’s house at this time of year without a quarter-pound of something sweet,” says Padma Dasgupta, a writer in Jericho, N.Y.

Related post: Diwali Updates: Diwali Parking, India 2.0, Congressional Legislation, Sparklers, and Diwali Schlock Contest!

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I Heart Our Readers: SF Meetup Wrap-up

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Oct 30 meetup.JPG

The verdict was unanimous;’twas the best meetup EVER. Photographic evidence of that here.

October 30th, 2005, San Francisco: four current SM bloggers and six Bay Area mutineers met at North Beach’s yummy, caffeinated, iconic, no-worries-no-matter-HOW-long-we-stayed Caffe Greco and didn’t leave for six hours. Well, it was SEVEN for a certain guest blogger who forgot that daylight savings time commenced at 2, on Sunday. 😉 Hey–that’s what she gets for being so unbrown, i.e. on time. Had she been the standard I.S.T.-mandated hour late, she still would’ve been on time, except this time, with the rest of us. 😉

I attempted to live-blog the merriment, like I did the last time it was held in San Francisco; sadly, an unexpected lack of wireless prevented that. Forgive me for making you wait 48 hours? 🙂

Unpolished transcript, after the jump… Continue reading →

John McCain on Gandhi

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It turns out Senator John McCain (R-Arizona) in the middle of all his wonderful work in the Senate has finished writing another book (I think this is his third). This latest publication, entitled, “Character Is Destiny : Inspiring Stories Every Young Person Should Know and Every Adult Should Remember,” is a collaborative effort between McCain and his longtime colleague Mark Salter, and is a book comprised of 34 profiles of varous public figures: anyone from Winston Churchill and George Washington to one Mohandas Gandhi. I haven’t read the book so I can’t really comment on the work. But what I can comment on is the interview that McCain gave last night on the Charile Rose show (thanks Sudin), where the Senator discussed a range of current events including the new book.

In the interview, Rose, after discussing his own political future and the Supreme Court among other things, discussion turned to the book. From the transcript of the Charile Rose Show,

CHARLIE ROSE: You sure seem to have the energy to do it.

This is a book called “Character is Destiny: Inspiring Stories Every Young
Person Should Know and Every Adult Should Remember,” written with Mark Salter, your longtime colleague. Honor, purpose, strength, understanding, judgment, creativity and love. Profiles here of a whole range of people, from Thomas Moore to Gandhi. Respect. Just give me one small example of Gandhi and respect.

JOHN MCCAIN: Gandhi demanded respect. I wrote about him in his time in India — in South Africa, before he left for India, where he stood up for the rights of the, quote, “coloreds,” as they called the Indian people. And he fought, and he developed this non-violent opposition that he –that later won independence for India. He was jailed. He was mistreated. He was beaten. And he demanded the respect that are due to all human beings. And he was an incredible, powerful player, and unfortunately, murdered by, as you know, by a Muslim.

I hope he didn’t put that last bit in his book, you know, the part about Gandhi being murdered by a Muslim, because well, that would be factually incorrect. Now, many of you out there, and most of you I assume haven’t researched for a book which discusses Gandhi, know that Gandhi wasn’t assasinated by a Muslim, but was killed by Nathuram Godse, a Hindu. Continue reading →

Biting the hand that feeds

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One of the smartest moves the U.S. could have made (and did make) was moving military assets (helicopters to be specific) from the Afghanistan theater into Pakistan after the recent Earthquake. The U.S. learned in Indonesia after the Tsunami that the most effective way to win hearts and minds in the Muslim world was with less talk and more action.

The U.S. military has sent helicopters, a field hospital and a construction battalion to earthquake-stricken Pakistan – a gesture that has irked Islamic hard-liners but may help improve Washington’s image in the Muslim world after the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

“When they do something against Muslims, we condemn them. Now, as they are helping us, we should appreciate them,” said Yar Mohammed, 48, a farmer in Muzaffarabad, the devastated capital of Pakistan’s portion of the divided Himalayan region of Kashmir.

“We are facing hard times, and they are helping us…” [Link]

Now it seems some of the Islamic hardliners have decided to take it upon themselves to jeopardize the help their fellow citizens are getting by taking shots at the American aid helicopters. The AP reports:

Assailants fired at a U.S. military helicopter Tuesday as it ferried supplies to earthquake victims in Pakistan’s portion of divided Kashmir, the U.S. military said, but it vowed to continue aid flights.

The attack with an apparent rocket-propelled grenade came as the CH-47 Chinook flew over Chakothi, a quake-ravaged town near the frontier separating the Pakistani and Indian portions of the Himalayan region, said Capt. Rob Newell, a spokesman for the U.S. military relief effort.

“The aircraft was not hit and returned safely with its crew” to an air base near the capital, Islamabad, he told The Associated Press.

The Pakistani army spokesman, Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan, expressed skepticism an attack took place, saying engineers were using explosives to clear a road near where U.S. helicopters were flying.

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NPR’s “Geography of Heaven” series

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NPR’s recurring collaboration with National Geographic Radio Expeditions began a series this week titled, “The Geography of Heaven.”

Radio Expeditions explores how shared beliefs of the afterlife shape the lives of the faithful. The journey begins in Vrindavan, the Indian City where the Hindu faithful believe the god Krishna once took human form.

Long time NPR listeners will be quite familiar with the pleasure of a Radio Expedition:

Radio Expeditions blends narrative, interviews, and digital sound to document stories of our world’s threatened environments and diverse cultures. This pioneering series is a coproduction of NPR and the National Geographic Society. [link]

As you wake up sleepy-eyed in your bed, it is their job to aurally transport you to the scene of the story. When they succeed the result is incredible and the images sometimes enter into your dream world. As the quote above mentions, this week’s running story has been focusing on Vrindavan (Monday, Tuesday).

Among the constellation of Hindu deities, Krishna is the truest expression of God. The faithful believe Krishna assumed human form in Vrindavan thousands of years ago and lived a single life as a man. For countless generations since, the town and the miles of low hill countryside surrounding it have been considered sacred.

Reminders of the Hindu faith are everywhere. There are countless temples, pilgrims marching through narrow streets following holy men in saffron robes, devotional music and singing. There is also stark, third-world poverty and suffering. It’s city of narrow, trash-blown streets and open sewers, alongside a river black will pollution — the overcrowded capital of New Delhi lies upstream.

As if the audio was not enough, the website features a breathtaking slide-show for those whose curiosity overpowers their imagination. In addition to the main stories, NPR also has a running tape of the ambient sounds in four locations around Vrindavan:

  • A Rickshaw Ride Through the Streets of Vrindavan
  • Women Gather to Sing on the Shores of the Yamuna River
  • Bells Call the Faithful to See a Statue of Krishna
  • A Song of Devotion at the Shri Raman Temple

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The Empire Kind of Strikes Back

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Even as some people are finding more and more tasks to outsource to the subcontinent, a few wily Brits are bucking the trend:

Beyond the four-mile-long driveway, and the shaded path named “Lady’s Walk” and the soft fields of purple rhododendron and grazing Holstein cows, Jonathan Jones walked among waist-high rows of rich green plants. With loving precision, he plucked off two perfect green leaves and a bud and held them proudly in his hand.

“English tea should be grown on English soil,” he said, running his fingers over what he called a victory for horticulture and also for British culture: the first commercial crop of tea ever grown in this tea-mad nation.  [link]

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Diwali Schlock Contest!

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All holidays are filled with schlock. Even the most lactose intolerant amongst us becomes cheesy over the holidays; even the most militant vegetarian schmaltzy. Recognizing this shouldn’t stop us from having fun at the expense of the purveyors of the least pulchritudinous presents and the buyers of the least beautiful booty.

What examples have you noticed this Diwali of egregious bad taste? What are the tackiest Diwali cards you’ve seen on-line? Was there anything that made you embarrassed to be brown? Gentlefolk, start your browsers, and tell all below …

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Courtesy calls

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Who got the courtesy calls when Dubya nominated Samuel Alito to the U.S. Supreme Court:

White House officials began calling close conservative allies around 7 a.m., just as they did in the hour before Mr. Bush announced his two previous [Supreme Court] nominations. Karl Rove, the president’s top political adviser, reached Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention, on his mobile phone in an airport… an aide to Mr. Rove, called the Rev. Jerry Falwell around the same time. [Link]

What the Southern Baptist Convention says about Hinduism — it’s a fevered, Victorian-era fantasy straight out of Temple of Doom. I hear they eat monkey brains… only the Shadow knows! *cackle*

The SBC [Southern Baptist Convention] released 30,000 copies of [a conversion guide for missionaries] just before the most important Hindu festival of 1999: the three-day celebration of Divali…

‘Hindus seek power and blessing through the worship of gods and goddesses and the demonic powers that lay behind them… Hindus lack a concept of sin or personal responsibility… the darkness in their Hindu hearts that no lamp can dispel… demonic powers lie behind Hindu gods…’ Hindus live under ‘the power of Satan…’

‘Mumbai… is a city of spiritual darkness. Eight out of every 10 people are Hindu, slaves bound by fear and tradition to false gods… Satan has retained his hold on Calcutta through Kali and other gods and goddesses of Hinduism. It’s time for Christ’s salvation to come to Calcutta.

‘… more than 900 million people lost in the hopeless darkness of Hinduism… Walking through the streets of India during Divali is a sobering reminder of the power of darkness that lies over this land…’ [Link]

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Sparklers

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Happy Diwali. Besides Hindus, some Sikhs also celebrate this holiday:

These were for Christmas, but close enough

Sikhs also celebrate Diwali as the period during which the foundation stone for the Golden Temple was laid during in 1577. Diwali… played an important role in the life of Sri Guru Hargobind Ji, the sixth Guru of the Sikhs… Jahangir, the Mughal emperor, arrested Guru Hargobind… later Jehangir relented and let the Guru go. Accompanied by his followers and to the joy of many Sikhs, the Guru returned to Amritsar… The occasion was Diwali and it prompted the followers to celebrate the day with joy and happiness. [Link]

Fall is absolutely my favorite season: Halloween parades, Diwali card parties, Navratri garbas, Eid feasts; a new fashion season, browns and golds and purples and reds which suit the desi palette; a touch of melancholy, a premonition of winter in every breath. It’s a contrasty season, and unlike summer, all your senses are hi-fi.

Three fall poems.

Related posts: A chilly Diwali, White House celebrates Diwali, Celebrating an early Diwali, Celebrating an early Diwali, Happy Diwali!

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The heat of Night

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Director M. Night Shyamalan went retro last week by slamming the idea of putting out new movies on DVD at the same time they’re released in theaters. Perhaps that’s to be expected from a director who works in old-fashioned, well-crafted films which pay homage to Hitchcock.

Film studios make a huge chunk of their profits on DVD sales and are chafing at having to duplicate marketing campaigns, one for the theaters and another four months later for the DVD. Customers are asking why they can’t buy a movie when and how they want. Directors like Steven Soderbergh (Sex, Lies and Videotape, Ocean’s Eleven, Traffic) and entrepreneurs like Mark Cuban are banding together to experiment with the new biz model:

Soderbergh… announced last spring that he planned to make six high-definition movies for simultaneous release in theaters, on DVD and on pay cable… “The film business in general is using a model that is outdated and, worse than that, inefficient.” [Link]

Manoj don’t play that:

“When I sit down next to you in a movie theater, we get to share each other’s point of view… That’s the magic in the movies… If this thing happens, you know the majority of your theaters are closing. It’s going to crush you guys… If I can’t make movies for theaters, I don’t want to make movies… I hope this is a very bad idea that goes away.” [Link]

Actually, what we share is the top of your big freakin’ head blocking the screen and the Goobers the kid behind me keeps throwing into my lap. Sure, opening night at a blockbuster is fun, but otherwise, not so much. The movies are great, it’s the moviegoers I could do without.

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