Man of La Gaza

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A couple of tech entrepreneurs are on a quixotic quest for peace in the Middle East: they’re holding screenings of the movie Gandhi in Palestine.

… more than two decades after the movie “Gandhi” filled theaters worldwide, the first version dubbed in Arabic was screened here, with the blessing of the Palestinian leadership… The film… has been issued previously with Arabic subtitles, but never before dubbed in the language. The organizers said they received permission from Sony Pictures to show it without charge in Palestinian communities.

Organizers of the “Gandhi Project” plan to show the film throughout the West Bank and the Gaza Strip… [and] to the large Palestinian refugee communities in Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.

The project is bankrolled by Jeff Skoll, billionaire co-founder of eBay, and Iranian-American serial entrepreneur Kamran Elahian, founder of Cirrus Logic. They’ve brought in Ben Kingsley to host some of the screenings, but they’re running into some resistance:

Ben Kingsley, who won an Oscar for his starring role as Mohandas K. Gandhi, was in Ramallah as a guest of the Palestinian prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas… “It’s not possible,” interjected Sudki Safat, a friend of Ms. Afanah and an official in the Ministry of Education. “I know Gandhi and his principles. But I also know my enemy very well… Gandhi would fail if he faced the Israelis…”

Several said they were interested in other aspects of Indian resistance to British colonial rule, like economic self-reliance and the boycott of British products… “… I don’t think we have the means to boycott Israeli products.”…

Palestinians argue that they have pursued nonviolent resistance at various times over the years, to no avail… Israel, meanwhile, says the Palestinians as a whole have never made a strategic decision to abandon violence.

Friedman on ‘The Daily Show’

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Tom Friedman of the NYT shills his new book on The Daily Show. He talks about his visit to ‘Bahn-galore’ and how the chairman of Infosys laid the smack down on lazy Americans.

Friedman’s big thesis is that Americans need to churn out more scientists and engineers, a good moonshot-like project would be energy independence from the Saudis, and wouldn’t it be nice if the President drove a hybrid car.

He’s a surprisingly fluid, comfortable public speaker with good message discipline: his opening schtick is lifted straight from his column and probably even from the book jacket. Conversely, Friedman has a line, ‘Have you ever met a 12-year-old who said, “I want to be an engineer?” ‘ Hello, ever met any desi American kids?

I’m not sure what he’s gesturing about here, but let’s hope it has nothing to do with threading.

Watch the clip.

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Ah ha hush dat fuss, Everybody move to the back of…

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The Bus that will regularly (I hope) make the trip between the Indian an Pakistani controlled parts of Kashmir got its roll on Thursday, despite the brave passengers being attacked by terrorists in their guest house on Wednesday. The Independent reports:

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Passengers on a historic bus trip between the Pakistani and Indian portions of Kashmir crossed a bridge spanning the de facto border on Thursday, the halfway point on a voyage both sides hope will lead to lasting peace on the subcontinent.

Family members kept apart during more than a half-century of bloodshed waited anxiously to receive their loved ones, while Indian officials offered the visitors from the Pakistani Kashmiri capital of Muzaffarabad marigold garlands and bouquets of flowers. One passenger waved a victory sign.

Two buses from Srinagar, the capital of Indian Kashmir, were expected to arrive later at the heavily militarized Line of Control, where a 220-foot long bridge closed since the 1940s connects a winding and rutted road through the Himalayas.

The bus service started a day after an attack in Srinagar by suspected Islamic militants on a guesthouse where passengers were staying. Six people were injured but the passengers escaped unharmed. Both sides vowed not to let militants disrupt the occasion.

I must say that I really admire the courage of those passengers. You’d find it difficult to get me onto a bus moving through ambush-able territory knowing that every militant for hundreds of miles around would be gunning for me. I know security was tight, but still. In a way, the “elderly” passengers riding this bus reminded me of Rosa Parks daring the MAN to do his worst. ABC News reports:

Nineteen Indian Kashmiris, mostly elderly, defied separatist threats and crossed the metal bridge — painted neutral white for the occasion — hours after 31 Pakistanis walked into India to reunite divided families. “I can’t control my emotion. I am setting foot in my motherland,” said a tearful Shahid Bahar, a lawyer from the capital of Pakistani Kashmir, Muzaffarabad. “I am coming here for the first time to meet my blood relations,” said Bahar, whose father crossed over in 1949. “It was my dream. It is unbelievable. Everyone is here.” On both sides, they were hugged and kissed by relatives they had not held for decades, or in some cases, ever. “It’s for the first time that I have seen my uncle,” sobbed Noreen Arif, an adviser to Pakistani Kashmir’s prime minister, hugging him tearfully as he stepped off the bridge.

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Happy Birthday to one whose music sounds like “cats meowing”.

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ravi sukanya.JPG Today, NPR’s Morning Edition surprised me with a lovely present, though it wasn’t my birthday they were celebrating. Ravi Shankar is 85 today, and the story I blasted on my way to work was produced in honour of that.

In the latest report for the NPR/National Geographic co-production Radio Expeditions, NPR’s Susan Stamberg travels to New Delhi, the capital of India, to meet with the artist…
…Shankar is totally in his element when he performs — sitting on his oriental rug, sitar nestled in his lap, the air scented with incense, he appears lost in a trance.
“Ravi Shankar’s music is like a fine Indian sari — silken, swirling, exotic,” Stamberg says. “It can break your heart with its beauty.”

Oy, Ms. Stamberg…we could’ve done without the dreaded “E”-bomb, but we forgive you.

SM readers (and Mutineer Manish) might enjoy the legend’s take on why he is known as “Pandit”; personally, I was more amused by the piece’s description of Shankar’s wife as one “…in a crowd of Ravi’s lovers”. Ahem. No sex please, we’re Indian. Wait, too late for that–listeners are treated to Sukanya Shankar (“Ravi’s merry, dimpled wife”) trilling, “what you do to me!” in answer to a befuddled/barely-risque question that her husband poses.

Oh and yes, there is the obligatory Norah Jones ref; they played a snippet of “Don’t know why”, since THAT wouldn’t be predictable, at ALL. 😀

Enjoy the interview (and some “pillow talk”) here. Continue reading →

Nirali Magazine profiles Navi Rawat

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Nirali Magazine gives us another reason to love them ever so much: This month’s issue includes a full-fledged feature about “Numb3rs” actress Navi Rawat, complete with a dizzying array of photos —

With her impressive resume of film and television roles and a number of upcoming projects in the works, Navi Rawat certainly lives up to the “One To Watch” moniker. Whether as a literature scholar, dramatic actress, kick-ass heroine, sensitive girl, multi-ethnic woman or the down-to-earth girl next door, she reveals a number of different faces, each with its own particular power and grace. And that very versatility and talent ensures that hers will soon be a familiar face you won’t forget. [Nirali Magazine]

Other notable articles:

  • Finding a Modern Male — Roxanna Kassam lists five things to look for when trying to bag a “thoroughly modern South Asian male” South Asian metrosexual.
  • The Wedding Planner — Sonia Kaur’s IndianWeddingSite.com takes the pain out of planning the day of reckoning. Her site is great, but desperately needs a section on shotgun Indian weddings. Depending on the e.p.t® results, it could soon come in very handy around here.
  • A Traditional Beauty — Shobha Tummala successfully brings threading, a traditional Indian method of hair removal, to salons in New York City. Couldn’t hurt to give it a try. At the very least, it has got be safer than the Mach3 we’re currently using to shear our scrotum.

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Vikram Chatwal’s Dream, a Nightmare

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Gawker.com highlights one of SM’s favorites again, Vikram Chatwal. This time, not to highlight his burgeoning film career or his association with the NY/LA Glitterati, but instead his entrepreneurial venture, the boutique Dream Hotel. Well, actually Gawker said they put this item in to highlight the above picture, where they say Chatwal

sure does look serene for a ‘tard whose Dream hotel has been recognized as little more than a dump.

Apparently Dream, which hasn’t been getting the best of reviews, recently got canned by Newsweek magazine. In their piece entitled “It Sure Isn’t Like Motel 6,” the magazine notes:

The Dream Hotel in midtown Manhattan, which opened in October, features three sumptuously decorated bars and, in the bizarre, amply-mirrored lobby, a towering fish tank, a Mongolian statue and a stuffed raven. Its rooms, with 37-inch wall-mounted plasma televisions, are studies in the art of trying to appear chic within a stingy 160 square feet. However, there’s no wireless Internet access, and the desk chairs are poorly positioned for working productively on a laptop. “Eclectic design and fancy marketing don’t cut it anymore for the business traveler who’s educated enough to know when they are getting the right product for the right price,” Chatwal says. But it’s hard to reconcile that with the blue luminescent photos (mostly of naked women) that greet guests as they step outside the elevators on each floor. Here’s an even worse sin: during enterprise’s recent stay, the Dream neglected to place our morning wake-up call, requiring a mad dash to the airport. For a business traveler, there’s no greater nightmare.

Perhaps Daddy’s entrepreneurial genes don’t reach Vikram.

More SM on Chatwal here and more Gawker on Chatwal here. Continue reading →

Caught…handed.

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I’ll never be able to sleep on a plane again (which is great since whenever I fly, it’s cross-country).

Sick, sick, SICK:

BOSTON — An Arizona executive was convicted on Tuesday of sexually assaulting a sleeping woman seated next to him on a flight from Dallas to Boston.
Deepak Jahagirdar, 55, of Scottsdale, Ariz., was convicted by a federal jury after a six-day trial and five hours of deliberations of sexually abusing and having abusive sexual contact with the 22-year-old woman.

Of course, he tried to claim it was consensual. Sleep always means, YES, doesn’t it???

The woman, traveling alone and returning home from a vacation in Texas in March 2002, told authorities that she fell asleep early on the Delta Air Lines flight and awoke to find that Jahagirdar had covered her with a blanket, unbuttoned her pants and had his hand inside her.
The woman left her seat and alerted the flight crew. Jahagirdar, a marketing manager for a health care company, was arrested by Massachusetts State Police when the flight landed at Logan International Airport in Boston.

Jahagirdar’s sentencing is set for June 24. He faces up to 20 years (for sexual abuse), three years (for abusive sexual contact) and a half-million dollar fine. He also faces the prospect of me cursing him violently whenever I have to stay awake during the long flight home to California. Continue reading →

“I care about my brother Nikhil. Do you?”

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Several tipsters sent us this NYTimes article about a new Indian film that surprisingly has not stirred up much controversy as of yet:

Late last month, a low-budget drama called “My Brother Nikhil” opened in movie theaters across India, telling the story of a gay man’s struggle with his family and his country after contracting the virus that causes AIDS.

Quietly, gently, “My Brother Nikhil” has tested the limits of the Indian cinemagoer’s sensibility.

Commercially, it is no runaway Bollywood blockbuster; nor is it meant to be. Rather, its impact lies in having served up a story about love and loss – sentimental staples of contemporary Indian cinema – with a gay man at its center, and having done so without kicking up the slightest fuss from India’s cultural conservatives. As one review published in the latest issue of Outlook, a mainstream newsweekly, put it, “The two lovers seem just like any other couple.”

Playing here in Mumbai, formerly called Bombay, and in about a dozen other major cities in India, “My Brother Nikhil” is part of a new breed of Bollywood pictures known here as the “multiplex movie” – appealing to an urban middle-class audience, peppered with English phrases, and easy on the song-and-dance numbers and potboiler story lines usually associated with Indian commercial cinema.

The Indian Supreme Court is currently reviewing the ban on homosexuality in India.

“My Brother Nikhil” has faced none of the protests that six years ago greeted “Fire,” Deepa Mehta’s film about two women in love. Actors and athletes have been plugging “My Brother Nikhil” in television spots, an extraordinary marketing ploy in an industry where few people plug movies that are not their own. “I care about my brother Nikhil. Do you?” is the punch line. “This film has shown it’s possible to show a committed gay couple,” said Vikram Doctor, a journalist here who is active with a support group called the Gay Bombay Group. “It’s passed the Censor Board without any comment. Theaters have not been attacked. There’s no catcalling. It’s treated respectfully by the audience and the filmmaker. I’m happily surprised.”

View movie trailers and listen to the soundtrack here. Continue reading →

A whole boardroom full of brown contestants

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What comes next was ENTIRELY expected if you think about it. From Rediff.com:

After the huge success of the reality show Indian Idol on Sony Entertainment Television, Freemantle Media, which conceived the programme, is set to tap the huge potential of the Indian market for reality shows.

Freemantle Media will host The Apprentice, one of its most popular shows in India. “We are planning to introduce The Apprentice later this year. The show will be telecast on the Star network,” says Gavin Wood, director of production, India Freemantle Media.

One of the most popular television reality series in the world today, The Apprentice will be conceived on the lines it is aired in different parts of the Asia, Europe and the United States.

Yes, yes. We will export cut-throat corporate world behavior to the third world now. I wonder if Laxmi Mittal will be the tycoon.

“India is a land of great creativity, talent and passion. The spark among the people is truly amazing,” says Wood.

“Although the television Industry in India is young, it is very professional and has high quality standards which is lacking in many other countries where the industry is much older than in India. The television sector with its wide reach will be a major driver of growth in the entertainment sector,” Wood explains.

What they don’t seem to understand is the potential trauma that rejected contestants could suffer in Indian society. Just imagine being fired, coming home and having to listen to your Indian mother point out the fact that the other people’s children haven’t been fired yet. Continue reading →

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Dabbas for dummies

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If you, like I, have never actually lived in Bombay, here’s a great primer on why office workers use the O.G. FedEx (via Kunjan):

A restaurant meal costs five to fifteen times more than home-food. To them, the dabbawalla brings the security of a cheap, clean, tasty and often still-warm, home-cooked meal… Bombay alone can sustain a dabbawalla network of this size and complexity because it alone, among Indian cities, has a quick, efficient and far-flung suburban railway service.

Not to mention that many have religion-based dietary restrictions. Density and train availability is also why some businesses only work in Manhattan and like cities; Bombay’s north-south orientation is strikingly familiar. Here’s how the routing system works — each packet is marked with hops, destination and recipient name, and handoffs are made at railway stations:

The outer case of Mohile’s dabba is marked with a black swastika, a red dot, a yellow stroke… Different marks on other dabbas tell the career at which stations en route he must pass them on to other waiting links in the crosscross network. At Victoria Terminus, the hub of commercial Bombay, Mohile’s dabba enters the last phase of its journey. Dabbawalla No. 4 waiting on the platform, picks it out together with other boxes marked with his symbol, the white cross. The black circle on Mohile’s case indicates its exact destination: the BMC Building. By 12.30 he has carried his crate up four flights of stairs and left Mohile’s lunch-box along with some 20 others in a corner of the canteen. Mohile, coming in at 1 p.m. will recognise his dabba from his name on an attached tag.

The dabbawallas’ perseverence puts the U.S. Postal Service to shame, and they charge only 35 rupees a month:

Some months ago, a dabbawalla waiting on his bicycle at a traffic light was hurled off the road by a lorry gone berserk and was smashed to death… The mukadam [dabba boss] got to hear of the accident within minutes and contracted the secretary of the Association… asked him to look after the police formalities, collected the dead man’s dabbas, and being familiar with the symbols, got them to their destination — just 30 minutes late…

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