…to make Dubya hip. Enjoy this little gem from tworoots.org. It will be the hottest thing since JibJab. [Thanks for the tip Vidya S.]
Tworoots writes:
Holi (March 25, 2005) is a Hindu festival where people throw colored powder and water at each other. But really, anyone can play Holi. Neither Rep. Bobby Jindal nor President George W. Bush are Hindu, but perhaps they might be interested in funding our holi animations as a type of faith-based initiative.
A global study of sleep habits found that most Indians can’t wait to get out of bed in the morning:
Top
10 Early Birds – out of bed by 7 a.m.
Country |
Before 6 a.m. |
Between 6-7 a.m. |
Before 7 a.m. |
|
1 |
Indonesia | 72% |
19% |
91% |
2 |
Vietnam | 55% |
33% |
88% |
3 |
Philippines | 41% |
28% |
69% |
| 4 | Denmark |
21% |
45% |
66% |
| 5 | Germany |
29% |
35% |
64% |
| 6 | Austria |
25% |
39% |
64% |
| 7 | India |
24% |
40% |
64% |
| 8 | Japan |
21% |
43% |
64% |
| 9 | Finland |
20% |
43% |
63% |
| 10 | Norway |
21% |
41% |
62% |
What’s got them waking up so damn early? Awesome jobs? Too much water before bedtime? Unbearable spouses? We’ll never know. It’s unexplained by the ACNielsen Consumer Confidence and Opinion Survey, which also found that Indians are more likely than others to make home improvements, purchase fashionable clothes, and take weekend trips.
In an effort to amend the salt tax without breaking the law, on March 2, 1930 Gandhi wrote to the Viceroy, Lord Irwin: “If my letter makes no appeal to your heart, on the eleventh day of this month I shall proceed with such co-workers of the Ashram as I can take, to disregard the provisions of the Salt Laws. I regard this tax to be the most iniquitous of all from the poor man’s standpoint. As the Independence movement is essentially for the poorest in the land, the beginning will be made with this evil.”
On March 12, 1930, Gandhi and approximately 78 male satyagrahis set out, on foot, for the coastal village of Dandi some 240 miles from their starting point in Sabarmati, a journey which was to last 23 days. Virtually every resident of each city along this journey watched the great procession, which was at least two miles in length. On April 6th he raised a lump of mud and salt (some say just a pinch, some say just a grain) and declared, “With this, I am shaking the foundations of the British Empire.” He then boiled it in seawater to make the commodity which no Indian could legally produce–salt.
Reader RJ points out that this week’s (month’s?) GOP Babe of the Week is Namrata Singh Gujral. Namrata is the second Desi babe to receive the, uh, honor in a row – taking the crown from prior winner – Ms. Govindini Murty. Sepia Mutiny profiled Ms. Murty before she hit it big in one of the more memorable earlier posts.
Namrata is an actress / producer and, in true Hollywood fashion, plugged her production company in her acceptance speech –
“I am so honored to be on your site. We set out to make pro-America movies. We knew this was going to be a long, uphill battle. So encouraging to know it’s not a going to be a lone battle. Thank you, America – for your love and support. Please visit American Pride Films often. Thank you, again!”
Her company – formed with Naval aviator Lt Cdr Joe Cooper – attempts to provide positive media portrayals of day to day life in Amrika –
The company’s mission is to make movies that showcase the reality of average Americans, who are not interested in global domination and have a human and compassionate side. With this positive message, APFG hopes to overcome some of the negative American sentiment overseas and at home, changing hearts and minds along the way.
Namrata’s personal website can be found at the modestly titled NamrataWorld.
(why is it called “Babe of the Week” when the last one was named in Feb?) Continue reading
Authorities in the city of Rajahmundry in Andhra Pradesh state are sending drummers around to create a noise outside homes until [tax] evaders cough up. Officials say they recouped 200,000 rupees ($4,600) on the first day. Harried residents emerged from their homes to be told by accompanying tax collectors to pay up or continue facing the music. [The Municipal commissioner] … said he was confident people would pay up to avoid embarrassment as everybody now knew that the drums meant there was a tax evader inside. [BBC]
If this fails, they can always play classical music, rock or rap to pound the scofflaws into submission. Continue reading
Earlier we pointed you to Salman Rushdie and Zadie Smith’s latest novels, due this fall. Bibliophile Punjabi Boy has tracked down the plot synopses. Whoever bowdlerized these vigorous authors managed to strip most appeal, like film trailers badly cut. Or both authors really are succumbing to that artistic curse– damn you, marital bliss.
Shalimar the Clown (Rushdie): Maximilian Ophuls, former Resistance hero, postwar economics guru, counter-terrorism expert and a popular US Ambassador to India whose tenure was abruptly ended by a scandalous liaison with a dancer, is murdered in his old age on his daughter’s doorstep in Los Angeles – his daughter India, who dislikes her name. ‘She didn’t feel like an India, even if her colour was rich and high and her long hair lustrous and black. She didn’t want to be vast or subcontinental or excessive or vulgar or explosive or crowded or ancient or noisy or mystical or in any way Third World.’ The assassin is Max’s driver, who goes by the name of Shalimar, a handsome Kashmiri man in his forties, a former tightrope-walker and clown in a band of travelling players. Salman Rushdie’s new novel is the story of the dead man, his killer and his daughter; the story of the violent termination of an extraordinary life stretching from Nazi-occupied Strasbourg to Hollywood via India, Kashmir, and many of the world’s most dangerous places. [Amazon UK]
Avoiding Lahiri-itis and Mukherjee syndrome (taking ‘write what you know’ as the Eleventh Commandment), On Beauty will be Smith’s first novel set mainly in America.
On Beauty (Smith): Howard Belsey, a Rembrandt scholar who doesn’t like Rembrandt, is an Englishman abroad and a long-suffering Professor at Wellington, a New England Liberal Arts college. He has been married for thirty years to Kiki, an American woman who no longer resembles the sexy activist she once was. Their three children passionately pursue their own paths: Levi quests after authentic blackness, Zora believes that intellectuals can redeem everybody, and Jerome struggles to be a believer in a family of strict atheists… Then Jerome, Howard’s oldest son, falls for Victoria, the stunning daughter of the right-wing icon Monty Kipps. Increasingly, the two families find themselves… enacting a cultural and personal war against the background of real wars that they barely register. [Smith’s agent]
From mobile ultrasound units that determine if a baby needs to be extinguished to bribery for keeping them, India now offers it all;
Families having a single girl child in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh will be given 100,000 rupees ($2,300) in an attempt to boost the female population…
…The state government says it is concerned at the falling female-to-male ratio – in 2001 it was 943 to 1,000.
The only-child receives the money as soon as she turns 20. In addition to that payola, from ages 14-17 (9th through 12th grade), a yearly grant of Rs. 1,250 will be available for the girl’s educational expenses. If either parent passes away, Rs. 50,000 is provided immediately. See? Attractive!
To ensure that the girl is a couple’s ONLY child, both parents must be sterilised;
…both parents would have to undergo operations certified and verified by government hospitals to qualify for the scheme.
Oh, and what’s a scheme without some PR?
The Andhra Pradesh government says it is also planning a major publicity campaign to promote female children.
It has named the rising Indian tennis star and local girl, Sania Mirza, as the “ambassador of the girl child of Andhra Pradesh”.
I’ll never bitch about spending Rs. 435 at the Sony Metreon ever again;
According to the cinema index from market researcher Screen Digest, tickets in India cost an average of 19 cents which means moviegoers here have to work for just 16 minutes to earn enough to buy a ticket, reports BBC.
In India, workers earn an average of 70 cents an hour, whereas, across the globe, the average working time needed to pay for cinema admission is 57 minutes.
Cheapest countries for cinema tickets, according to the survey, are: 1. India – 16 minutes’ wages 2. US – 24 minutes’ wages 3. China – 26 minutes’ wages 4. Luxembourg – 28 minutes’ wages 5. Ireland – 30 minutes’ wages
The most expensive countries? Well, I wouldn’t worry your pretty heads. Four out of the five are Eastern European nations that are rather Orthodox places. The fifth? Thailand, where nothing is orthodox. 😉
via Rediff. Continue reading
Alternative
community/pin-up site Suicide Girls features a blog and photo collection
from a U.K.-based desi named “India” (NSFW).
She’s an aspiring mathematician,
and daydreams about numbers:
FANTASY: to solve one of the clay institutes seven prize math problems (http://www.claymath.org/millennium/)…
First Navi Rawat, and now “India.” When did math become the new black? One thing’s for sure — she shouldn’t have any trouble finding an algorithmically-inclined South Asian suitor. Oh, and for the record, I was on Suicide Girls in order to read a scintillating interview with the always-hilarious David Cross.
Following up on my earlier post about Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s invitation to speak at the conference of the Asian-American Hotel Owners Association (AAHOA) meeting in Fort Lauderdale, FL, tipster Anuj G. alerts us to the fact that Chris Matthews of Hardball has canceled his speaking commitment after being pressured by Muslim groups. The New York Sun reports:
A prominent talk show host has canceled a speech to a conference of Indian-American hoteliers after coming under pressure from Muslim organizations and human-rights groups, who said another speaker invited to the meeting has a record of condoning anti-Muslim violence.
The host of MSNBC’s “Hardball,” Chris Matthews, announced yesterday that he would not appear as planned on March 24 at the Asian-American Hotel Owners Association meeting in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
“Due to a scheduling conflict, Chris Matthews has canceled this appearance,” an MSNBC spokesman, Jeremy Gaines, said. He would not elaborate on the nature of the conflict.
In recent days, Muslim activists and others flooded the network with calls, letters, and e-mail urging Mr. Matthews to distance himself from the group. An Indian official billed as the “chief guest” at the meeting, Narendra Modi, has been accused of tolerating anti-Muslim violence in the state of Gujarat, where he is chief minister.
The president of the Indian Muslim Council-USA, Dr. Ashwini Rao of New York, said he does not credit the official explanation for Mr. Matthews’s action. “Most likely, that’s not correct, because we’ve been talking to him for the last week and a half, at least, and they’ve never said it’s a scheduling conflict,” Dr. Rao said. “I was hoping he’d take a more moral stance.”
There is another interesting twist to this story however. Apparently the way the press found out that Matthews was backing out was via a PENTAGON mailing list. What the heck does the Pentagon have to do with Matthews and Modi?
