Aish to haters, “SUCK IT!”

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yeah i said suck it.jpgOkay, so she never said that. But as her self-appointed advocate, I’m going to brazenly make that statement on her behalf. Oh, whatever. Just read it.

She’s very happy and flattered by the attention she’s getting in the US for Bride, especially after the bashing the film and Ash got back home. “But we all know that was premeditated. Now, after seeing the response in the US, I feel like I’m back to where I was when I was starting out as Miss World ten years ago — the same attention and the unbiased critical overview. It feels wonderful and comforting.
“…The US has been wonderful. When I landed there for the promotion of Bride, everything happened so quickly! I was on David Letterman’s show, and then in Chicago recording for Oprah Winfrey.
“They wrote about my clothes and appearance, but not about my giggling which a part of the Indian press seems to be obsessed with. Honestly, this is how I’ve been all along!In fact, (photographer) Gautam Rajdhyaksha wrote about my giggling habit in his book several years ago. So it isn’t an overnight affectation which I’ve acquired as part of my image. Please! Grant me more substance than that!”
Substance is what Ash is looking for in her roles as actress and brand ambassador. Does it feel good to be carrying Bollywood to the West? “It sure does! But wasn’t I doing that all along, even when I was a model and Miss World?”

Of course you were, Aishu. Do your thang, girrrl, do your thang. Continue reading →

Is that a kirpan in your pocket or…

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Tipster Amy H. alerts us to news of a settlement between 15 year old Amandeep Singh and the Greenburgh Central School District in Westchester County, New York that will now allow him to keep wearing his kirpan. As reported on the website of the Beckett Fund for Religious Liberty which helped broker the agreement:

For peacefully observing the commands of his Sikh faith, fifteen-year-old Amandeep Singh was suspended for eight school days last month from his school in the Greenburgh Central School District in Westchester County, New York. Despite the ninth-grade honor student’s exemplary academic and disciplinary records, Principal Michael Chambless initially determined that Amandeep’s kirpan, an element of Sikh religious expression, was a “weapon” and suspended him. Today, after the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty intervened in his case, Amandeep received a letter from School Superintendent Josephine Moffett expunging his record of the suspension and allowing him to wear his kirpan at school.

The Becket Fund–an international, interfaith, public- interest law firm that protects the free expression of all religious traditions–worked with the international civil rights organization United Sikhs to convince the school to obey the requirements of the First Amendment and allow the kirpan.

…
Amandeep agreed to wear a smaller kirpan of two inches in length that would be securely fastened under his clothes in a cloth pouch. He also agreed to allow school officials to make reasonable inspections to confirm his adherence to the conditions. The school agreed to expunge Amandeep’s record of the suspension and to ensure that no disciplinary action remains on his record. Today, Superintendent Josephine Moffett gave her final approval to the agreement.

“It’s a shame that a student, rather than the school, had to deliver a lesson on respecting the values of the Free Exercise Clause,” said Gaubatz. “But we applaud the school for eventually recognizing that sensible school policies that protect student safety need not–and must not, consistent with the First Amendment–compromise the religious beliefs of their students.”

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Q is for quotas

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A desi girl from South Africa was rejected by a med school, but her desi friend with lower grades was accepted. Keeping up with the Junejas, the family filed a lawsuit. In court, the med school admitted it had mistaken the friend to be black:

A doctor of Indian origin in South Africa has filed an appeal in Cape Town High Court after his daughter was refused admission to a medical school… He pointed out that [the University of Cape Town med school] had accepted Sunira’s friend, also of Indian origin, although her result was not as good. The friend was accepted because the university believed she was African… [Telegraph]

Due to South Africa’s discriminatory history, the UCT med school has explicit racial quotas for admissions. It even mandates that 2/3rds of its students be female, which must be a major bonus for male applicants:

… UCT’s “target equity mixes” for first-time-entering medicine undergraduates were set at 42 percent black, 28 percent white, 16 percent coloured and 14 percent Indian. Gender targets required 65 percent of these students to be female and 35 percent male. [Pretoria News]

The parents objected to assuming a disadvantaged background even of wealthy blacks:

They pointed to documents that showed that all African and coloured students who applied to study medicine at UCT were considered to be “educationally disadvantaged” even if they attended private schools. [Cape Argus]

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Modi gets B*slapped

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Although you may have already seen it in the comments on the sidebar, this is an important enough issue that I’m elevating it to a full post. A spokesman at the US Embassy in New Delhi announced that Chief Minister Modi has had his Visa DENIED [see previous posts 1,2]. This is a huge victory for grass roots activism (props to CAG) and I hope it will serve as a great example of Hindu/Muslim unity within the U.S. From Rediff:

The US has denied visa to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi to visit the country, apparently because of Gujarat riots.

Modi has been denied diplomatic visa and his tourist/business visa already granted has also been revoked as per the US Immigration and Nationality Act, a spokesman of the US Embassy in New Delhi said.

The CM was to pay a five-day visit to the US from March 20.

Modi is expected to address a press conference at 1400 IST to give his reactions.

“We can confirm that Chief Minister of Gujarat state Narendra Modi applied for, but was denied, the diplomatic visa under Section 214 (b) of the Immigration and Nationality Act because he was not coming for the purpose that qualified for a diplomatic visa,” the spokesman said.

“His tourist/business visa was revoked under Section 212 (a) (2) (g) of the Act, which makes any government official who was responsible for, or directly carried out, at any time, particularly severe violations of religious freedom, ineligible for visa,” he added.

Assuming that the U.S. Embassy in India was working under orders from the Bush Administration, this means that Bush and the State Department are officially recognizing Modi as someone who committed a “violation of religious freedom,” thus acknowledging the validity of the State Department’s own assessment. If Karen Hughes is as on the ball as we expect her to be, then she better “use” this.

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Ummm. I think they are exercising.

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The Christian Science Monitor highlights the healthy goings on in Bangalore’s Cubbon Park. Apparently you can jog while sporting a Sari instead of FloJo-like spandex:

Many wear saris. Some don salwar kameezes, knee-length Indian tunics with loose pants. Others sport track pants and tees. One or two can’t leave their burqas behind for religious reasons. These women have come to a 300-acre wooded haven in the heart of congested Bangalore to walk and jog – minus any contour-hugging lycra or spandex.

The concern for modesty rubs off on men as well. They’re attired mostly in baggy shorts and tees, though some wear slacks. One or two are wrapped in an Indian white dhoti, the costume favored by Gandhi.

Jogging and walking are catching on in India, but few places can match the zeal and camaraderie found in Cubbon Park. In other parts of the world, fitness is a grueling, lonely experience, with i-Pods or perhaps a personal trainer for company. But here, there’s little that’s personal about personal fitness. Working out is an outing – with sons, uncles, brothers, grandmothers, husbands, wives, daughters, cousins, and family relations only Indians could invent.

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“Day to Day” profiles missing in action M.I.A.

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NPR’s excellent news magazine “Day to Day,” leads today’s broadcast with a comprehensive audio profile of M.I.A.:

…music critic Christian Bordal relates the inspirational story of M.I.A — a young hip-hop artist who grew up in Sri Lanka and South London. Her music bridges the gap between her war-torn past and her urban present…M.I.A says she had an idyllic childhood until the civil war intervened — her father joined the Tamil fighters, and she and the rest of her family relocated to Britain, settling in a housing project in the south end of London. She blossomed in art school as a teen, and developed her own unique style of music — a "do-it-yourself" aesthetic inspired by the British club scene, with stripped-down bass and drum rhythms driving catchy melodies. [NPR]

Meanwhile, BoingBoing reports that her father’s ties to the ’Tigers may have caused her to miss a scheduled appearance in Seattle:

…reader Pablos says: "M.I.A. was scheduled to perform at Chop Suey in Seattle tonight. Apparently she is having some kind of Visa trouble and her show has been cancelled." Some speculate the incident may relate to her father’s affiliation with a Sri Lankan rebel group designated as a terrorist organization by the US. No news on her site or newsfeeds yet, but she’s also scheduled to play at SXSW this week. [BoingBoing]

Previous posts: M.I.A. signs with Interscope, M.I.A.: step up to blow up, Steel balls and pots, M.I.A. looked directly into my eyes!, and Military chic

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Musharraf visits India in April

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Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf travels to India in April to attend a cricket match between the rival neighbors, and will hold talks with his Indian counterpart, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Pundits are hailing it as the latest example of the revival of “cricket diplomacy”:

Gen. Musharraf’s decision to attend echoes the “cricket diplomacy” of former Pakistani leader Gen Zia-ul Haq, who watched a match in Jaipur in 1987 during a time of strained bilateral relations. The two countries have fought three wars since independence in 1947 and went to the brink of a fourth in 2002. Last year, Pervez Musharraf paid a brief visit to the northern Pakistani city of Rawalpindi to watch part of a cricket match between his country and the visiting Indian team. Sporting ties are an important bellwether of bilateral relations and suffered in recent years before a rapprochement instigated by former Indian premier Atal Behari Vajpayee in April 2003. [BBC News]

Keeping with tradition, the two leaders have struck a friendly wager over the upcoming match. Winner takes Kashmir. Loser gets stuck with Bihar. Believe it.

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Dallas Saves Rushdie

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Salman Rushdie will be speaking at the Dallas Museum of Art. The venue is, well, an interesting one I suppose but, the real hook to the story is this small catch – the airlines won’t fly him –

Salman Rushdie has apparently been denied a flight to Dallas, where he is scheduled to speak tomorrow night to 800 people at the DMA for Arts & Letters Live. Mr. Rushdie is apparently too dangerous to board an airplane. Well, he’s not dangerous, he’s a pussycat, but you get my meaning.

But, luckily, the spirit of volunteerism is alive and well –

Salman Rushdie will make it to Dallas tonight for his Arts & Letters Live appearance, courtesy of the indefatigable editor of Texas Monthly who already had a plane flying in from New York to Austin bringing some celebrities for the Texas Film Hall of Fame awards. Turns out he had an extra seat.

So instead of being sandwiched in the center seat between a crying baby and smokaholic, Rushdie will share a private plane with Lauren Bacall, Marcia Gay Harden, and Dennis Quaid. Note to Mr. Quaid – think carefully before speaking of Padma.

(hat tip – Virginia Postrel’s Blog) Continue reading →

Times of India threatens blogger

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The Times of India, whose Web edition is rife with inaccuracies, cut ‘n paste stories and jingoism, has pressured a media critic into shutting down his blog by threatening to sue for libel (thanks, H.):

… when one of the few noted [Indian] media critics, Pradyuman Maheshwari, criticized the Times of India on his Mediaah Weblog recently, the Times looked to squash him with a seven-page legal threat for libel. The threat worked, and Maheshwari decided to close his site, as he has a day job running the daily Maharashtra Herald in Pune…

“… if this goes where I think it’s going, it should go down in history as ‘The Great Indian Blog Mutiny,'” Gupta told me via e-mail. “The Times of India has simply shown how far they’ve come from being a respectable newspaper to being a common school bully…”

One of the ToI’s most criticized practices is selling front page space to PR firms for their clients’ publicity shots. The newspaper allegedly auctions off this space without disclosing that it’s pay-for-placement:

Maheshwari says much of what upset the Times was his criticism of its MediaNet initiative where businesses can actually buy photos and profile stories in the Times’ editorial section — what it calls “edvertorials.”

Here’s an example in the Bombay Times, a tabloidish paper owned by the ToI:

A McDonald’s spokesperson on the front page picture of Malaika Arora posing to announce McDonald’s home delivery service in Bombay Times dated April 12, 2004: “Yes, the photograph was paid for.”

Here’s a mirror of the offending posts and the ToI’s legal threat.