A Hindu symbol, misused against Sikhs in Lodi

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Some disappointing news from last week:

Vandals this week sprayed several swastikas and racial epithets on property that includes a Sikh temple at the northeast corner of Armstrong Road and West Lane.

Lodi, CA is a city that is 90 miles northeast of the bay. The vandalism went down at a site where plans for a larger Gurudwara were approved by the San Joaquin County Planning Commission. I don’t think the vandals’ choice of targets was coincidental.

Apparently there are close to a dozen groups of White Supremacists in the county. No one believes me out here on the right coast when I mention that I grew up near Klan members; they can’t get past the Golden Gate bridge/Hollywood sign in their heads. All the peaceful, flaky, uber-tolerant golden state stereotypes just make more sense, not that I can blame anyone for their disbelief. Unfortunately, stories like this validate a point I never cared to prove.

Nirmal Samra owns the 8.6-acre property and said he noticed the graffiti on his produce stand and a big-rig trailer Monday morning. The vandalism included remarks such as “killers” and “white power” along with other racial epithets directed at Muslims of Middle Eastern origin.

Nirmal Uncle is a grape farmer who

has never before experienced prejudice in his 30 years living in Lodi…

And I want to stress the following point: my experiences aren’t meant to be a blanket statement regarding racism or ignorance in the bay area or NorCal. Use Mutineer Manish’s statements for that. He went to the better school. 😉 Continue reading →

The tao of Manschot

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I know of only a few people in the world doing pop art or Web design incorporating Bollywood kitsch, and we had at least two of them at the wonderful Brooklyn meetup on Sunday. (Arzan the hobbyist chef played heeeero. He slaved over the stove for four hours making dhansak, kebabs and delicious flan-like custard.) An ill-fated piece of Skylab could have taken out a significant part of the worldwide Bollykitsch talent pool. And then where would we be without snarky, arty, phillum-referencing tees?

There’s a dark side to all this. Like the children of atheists and their relationship to religion, Turbanhead’s babies will never know Bollywood irony-free. Like the preacher’s daughter, Pardon My Hindi’s future kids may rebel and turn into weepy Chunky Pandey fans. How ironic that would be. I spy, with my little eye, something that starts with K. There’s no escaping the ferric fate of the children of the kitsch.

I bring this up because one of my very favorite Bollykitsch artists, a Dutchman named Johan Manschot who did Diesel’s kitsch Indian theme a couple of seasons ago, has just sold out published a mainstream coffee table book on Bollywood. It’s called Behind the Scenes of Hindi Cinema:

… I’ve published a brand-new book… about Indian Cinema… [it] has been launched on the international press conference of the IIFA awards in Amsterdam… [I] was the one who [presented] the book to Mr. Amitabh Bachchan! And… presented the first signed copy to the alderman of Amsterdam…

The Web site, which uses a Bombay street scene theme, has song snippets and video clips from some of the classics. Here are some book samples. You can buy the glossy, $35 book here.

Whether or not you’re into the coffee table format, you must check out Manschot’s art.

Previous post here.

Related posts: Blood brother, Kitsch Idol, Blog bidness, Kitsch-mish, Happy Diwahanukwanzidmas

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Smacksourcing

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Taut, tested arguments falling into place at long last are beautiful to behold. Like any good debater, Nandan Nilekani, CEO of Infosys, has finally got his case down. First, talk smack about India’s place in the world:

Q. Are you worried about the outcry over outsourcing in America?

A. What’s happening is pretty fundamental. If you go back to the 1830’s, India and China were 50 percent of the world’s G.D.P., and then they missed the entire revolution of industry. So if you take a long view of this game, it’s just part of the process. [Link]

That ‘missed the revolution’ turn of phrase is a nice little euphemism for the Gothic horror of the British Raj.

Second, deftly position the inevitable outsourcing question as non-unique, overheated arm-flapping:

Q. What do you say to people who think that globalization will inevitably harm the United States work force?

A. Every time Wal-Mart replaces a person at a checkout counter with an automatic machine they’re eliminating thousands of jobs. This is one more facet of that, except it’s more emotional because instead of a checkout counter machine replacing Steve Smith, some kid in Bangalore is replacing Steve Smith. You can point to that kid and say, “He took my job.” [Link]

If you go back to the 1830’s, India and China were 50 percent of the world’s GDPFinally, remind Americans of their own core values:

Q. Does it feel odd to find yourself lecturing Americans on the joys of capitalism?

A. You guys told us for so many years to cut out this socialist rubbish and go to free markets. We came to free markets and now you’re telling us, “Stop, don’t come…” [Link]

This guy is better at jawboning than the politicians. Next step: mayor of New York?

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X marks the spot, more or less

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Abhi posted earlier about Sri Lanka objecting to high-res satellite imagery of sensitive government sites on Google Earth. At the time, Indian officials were also worried but had given up trying to block it. Ironically, the post came on one of India’s two biggest military parade holidays:

India agrees. Reuters quotes an anonymous security official there as confirming that “the issue of satellite imagery had been discussed at the highest level but the government had concluded that ‘technology cannot be stopped’…” [Link]

There’s apparently been a change of heart behind the red sandstone in Delhi. You can’t stop technology, but you can lean on companies. India has escalated the issue to the man who used to run India’s missile program:

Indian President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam expressed concern Saturday about a free mapping program from Google Inc., warning it could help terrorists by providing satellite photos of potential targets… The Google site contains clear aerial photos of India’s parliament building, the president’s house and surrounding government offices in New Delhi. There are also some clear shots of Indian defense establishments… [Link]

India’s not the only one complaining:

The governments of South Korea and Thailand and lawmakers in the Netherlands have expressed similar concerns… South Korean newspapers said Google Earth provides images of the presidential Blue House and military bases in the country, which remains technically at war with communist North Korea. The North’s main nuclear facility at Yongbyon is among sites in that country displayed on the service. [Link]

This issue is similar to that of the deliberate error injected by civilian GPS satellites to prevent use by enemy missiles. On one hand, Google fuzzes out sensitive U.S. sites, so why not let other legitimate governments submit these requests as well? On the other, the public has a right to know, and foreign providers of satellite data will always step into the gap.

I come down on the side of consistency. As a private company rather than an extension of the U.S. government, Google should act even-handedly, no matter which approach it takes.

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Blogging India at the Washington Post

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With all this mutinous talk of Toral’s recent demise on the Apprentice the past couple of days (1,2,3)  and the really excellent discussion that has ensued, it has been really hard to find focus on other areas.  Despite that, the mutiny must go on, and part of our progression is the appearance of Washington Post Staff Writer, author of Suburban Sahibs and (former SAJA President) S. Mitra Kalita’s ongoing Washington Post blog, India 2.0, chronicling her eight week trip to India.  Accompanied by photographer Andrea Bruce (see her recent WP Photo Exhibit here), Kalita departed for her trip before the recent earthquake disaster in India and Pakistan.  The scope of her blog looks to be very interesting and falls very-much into line with some of the things we like to focus on here.  Since her departure, and subsequent arrival in Delhi, Mitra has blogged on the departure pangs that many of us go through before leaving for the country of some of our parent’s birth, especially post liberalization of the early 1990s. 

“Yet again I am surrounded by suitcases and piles of clothing — the bright pinks and oranges and magentas of East and the tans and blacks and navys of West — and engaging in the giving and taking that foreshadows the semiannual rite of my hyphenated life: a trip to India.  Will I really wear these jeans? Or should I pack another salwar kameez? What’s the point of taking so many saris if I still can’t wrap myself in them properly.  These are familiar questions, posed since I was a little girl spending summer vacations in the land of my parents’ birth. But as I look around my bedroom, I am struck by a stark difference between then and now.  There are no Nikes. No Walkmans. No Tang. No Pringles. No Guess. No Gap. No Minoltas. No socks. No razor blades. No microwaves (I swear we took one once.) In fact, I am taking no gifts, just a few requested items for my husband’s cousin’s family, who are hosting me. Among them: a Bose iPod speaker and Livestrong wristbands. I do not have an iPod and didn’t know what the heck those bands were. Already, this American cousin feels she has been living in the Dark Ages.”
  She has also blogged on the South Asian earthquake and, the burgeoning mall culture that has taken over, not just India, but from my recent travels to South Asia, Sri Lanka as well.  She writes of a recent mall opening,
“Make no mistake about the “mall” moniker. In India, that means marble floors and glitzy storefront displays. Like many conveniences taken for granted in the West, the Indian counterpart tends to be equally rooted in providing the customer experience. (McDonald’s, for example, might have a worker who pumps your ketchup.) So the opening of M.G. 2 (named for its location on Mehrauli Gurgaon Road and because it is adjacent to M.G. 1) served up a heavy dose of pomp and importance alongside glasses of Coke and mineral water, with trays of tofu triangles and asparagus bruschetta circulated by waiters.” 

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All politics are local

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I like to keep tabs (as best I can) on South Asian Americans running for public office around the country.  The latest two are running for state government in Virginia and Maryland.  Democrat Supriya Christopher of Virgina may have thrown her hat into the ring as a one issue candidate (in my opinion), but she is looking to get smart on the rest of the issues to fend off the competition.  MSN reports:

Supriya Christopher, a US military veteran and mother of two, is a busy woman these days. She is contesting for the Virginia State House of Delegates.

Running for an open seat, Christopher feels “tired but energised” after endless fund-raising efforts that have notched $150,000 to date. She is hopeful of bringing another $100,000 for a media blitz in this last round of campaigning before the Nov 8 elections.

“I’m tired but energised,” said the former US Army Signal Corps officer and now a member of the Commonwealth of Virginia Veterans Services Foundation.

She is the first Indian American as well as the first Asian American to run for a seat in the General Assembly.

Christopher, running from what is considered a Republican bastion, feels she is holding her own against Republican opponent Sal Iaquinto, an attorney, and former staff member delegate Robert F. McDonnell, a Republican.

So what is her one main issue?  All politics are local.

Virginia Beach, and the 84 th District, is the home of some of the world’s greatest military bases and military families. As a proud Navy wife, I have a personal connection to the challenges we face. My husband Damien is an F/A-18 fighter pilot presently onboard the USS Harry Truman serving in the war on terror. This is Damien’s fourth six-month deployment and second tour of duty in Operation Iraqi Freedom.

When serving as President of the Oceana Officers Spouses Club, I was a vocal, public advocate for Navy families. When the issue of base closure arose and opposition to jet noise came to a head, I spoke at hearings with Senator John Warner, the Navy League, the Association for Naval Aviators and congressional and city officials. I was privileged to reiterate how important it is to keep NAS Oceana open in order to provide a quality lifestyle for Navy families, particularly in the 84 th District. [Link]
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Synthesis In Surinam

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Glancing away from the usual topics in Amrika, Britain, Canada and the Subcontinent–long before Microsoft was filling out H1-B forms, and even before Sputnik inspired the 1965 Immigration and Nationalization Act*, indentured laborers were crossing from South Asia to South America. At the age of 24 Munshi Raman Khan brought with him a love of all things Indian,  particularly the Ramayan, on which he lectured the children of his Hindu brethren. Why do I have a feeling this guy could have had a great blog if he was around today?

At age 24, Rehman M. Khan (1874-1972), a young Pathan arrived in Suriname in 1898 on the steamship Avon.  . . .this young Khan knew the Qur’an as well as the Ramayana very well. He soon became popular in his plantation and among the surrounding Indians of the other plantations as a Ramayan specialist. He started propagating the Ramayana ideology and taught Hindi to the children of the Indian community. . . .there are many manuscripts available which he wrote in Suriname dealing with the Muslim problems in Suriname, the language issues and his own biography in four volumes. Coming from a middle class Pathan family, Khan was very educated. His knowledge of Urdu and Hindi helped his literary prose. He was also a poet and could compose poetry in standard Hindi “with a flavour of Braj”. . .He used his knowledge to educate the Hindu and Muslim community and to reconstruct the “Indian identity”. Khan kept in touch with India constantly and was also craving for news from his homeland. (Link.)

Khan wrote an autobiography, apparently in Hindi or a related dialect, that was previously only translated into Dutch. (According to one review in The Hindu,  he was even knighted by the Dutch Queen Juliana for his merits.) A translation into English has been popping up in reviews in The Hindu, IndoLINK, and The Tribune. The Autobiography of an Indian Indentured Laborer, by Munshi Rahman Khan, looks to be a fairly new release and seems available for purchase in dollars from Bagchee. 

*Of which we sadly missed the 40th anniversary.

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Zerobridge

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Check out Zerobridge, a qawwali-influenced alt-rock band from Brooklyn. Mubashir Din plays guitar, Mohsin’s on drums and Greg Eckelman rocks the bass. The Din brothers trace their roots to Kashmir. Listen here and here.

I’m diggin’ the clean guitar melody on ‘Out in the Distance.’ The instrumental ‘Bleed‘ samples ‘Chalte Chalte’ from Pakeezah and evokes the wall of sound from Smashing Pumpkins’ ‘Cherub Rock.’ ‘Refugee Citizen‘ reminds me of the Velvet Underground.

The group explains its name:

Zerobridge is an actual bridge in Kashmir’s capital, Srinagar. The story goes that as they were building bridges to connect the suburbs to the city center, they would name them by numbers, 1 Bridge, 2 Bridge, etc. The only bridge that was there before construction didn’t have a name, and so they called it Zerobridge. [Link]

Over the summer, they rocked my building’s roof (photos) as well as a smaller party (photos).

I think on our record we released in September (2003), being in Kashmir was definitely an influence. We were there just after the Indian parliament bombing after 9/11…

South Asian artists such as the the Sabri Brothers and Hindi film composers like A.R. Rahman and Ismail Darbar are an influence as well. [Link]

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Scenes from a suicide bombing

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Aizaz Akram, half of the NYC DJ duo Mixer Assassin, has posted some wildly contrasting photos from a trip to Pakistan.

The scene of a mosque suicide bombing in Sialkot, Pakistan which tragically hit his own family:

The suicide bomber packed the briefcase with tiny ball bearings. The force of the explosion sent the ball bearings through this door frame… Adjacent to the front pillar is where my Uncle Ghazanfar was seated, reading his prayers… He suffered cranial fractures and has had 14 pieces of his skull removed…

The row directly in front of the crater is where a few of my cousins were sitting. They were shredded instantly…

Clubbing at a socialite’s haveli in Heera Mandi, Lahore:

A view of Yousuf [Salahuddin’s] (or Sallu for short) Haveli (mansion) in Heera Mandi, Lahore, Pakistan. This entire building is his. There are at least 50 rooms. At least that I SAW. It’s practically a castle…

The man himself… the Hugh Hefner of Lahore, and possibly even Pakistan, Mr. Yousuf [Salahuddin], complete with bling-bling white hair. Yup. Bottles of liquor everywhere.

Admission? 6,000 rupees for an invite, or $100 dollars… The party was also protected by policemen outside. Unbelieveable.

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Serendipity

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Like an incestuous college dorm, this alternadesi hothouse of a ‘hood keeps yielding interesting hookups.

This past summer, I wandered home late one Friday night, sharing the building elevator with a gaggle of desis heading to the roof. I dumped my stuff in my room, walked upstairs and stumbled into a large yet strangely chill party: an indie rock band, a DJ rig, beer, Christmas lights, extension cords and lots of people dancing, drinking and enjoying the NYC skyline. That party nearly got the entire building banned from the roof (much respect), but I didn’t know whose party it was.

A few months later, I went shopping for my first Mac in years to build a fruit-friendly version of the blog editor we use. The font of all things Mac here is the Apple temple in SoHo. Because it abuts all manner of modeling agencies, it’s usually packed with offhandedly striking women, those for whom beauty is merely a Mendelian byproduct. Like the Nano, they’re shiny, costly and impossibly thin.

I got to talking with a random sales guy in a hoodie. Here’s what turned up:

  • He spins house music and is an amateur photographer
  • He was in my loft building that same morning
  • He was visiting two DJ friends who live right downstairs from me
  • The DJs and the rockers were the very same guys who threw the mother of all parties on our roof
  • And, they’re all desi

The next couple of posts came from this serendipitous connection…

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