Left out in the cold by the greeting card companies’ standard fare? The rambunctious ragamuffins at Badmash have a new set of seasons greetings that are sure to keep you and yours warm with laughter:
Badmash: Holiday cards
Why is it that every time I write about some unfortunate Indian American family they happen to be Sikh? Just bad luck? The latest is the case of the Anands from Concord, California whose house was burned down in early September, allegedly by arson. The San Francisco Chronicle reports:
Concord police have recommended that a laborer who was working at the home next door be charged with arson and burglary in connection with the fire. The district attorney expects to make a decision within the next week or so. To support the family, a candlelit vigil was held recently at the family’s burnt-out home that brought together about 150 South Asians, neighbors, civil rights groups, and supporters from many different backgrounds who urged the district attorney to prosecute the suspect.
The Anands are thankful to the many people who have donated clothes, food, and even architectural services. Now, they are struggling to rebuild their lives.
“I can hardly sleep. I’m worried all the time what is going to happen to this family,” said father Gurcharanjeet “Don” Anand, 54. The delivery truck driver is on disability following a car accident and heart bypass surgery late last year. Thickset, with a graying beard, he is a laconic man.
But once again the question that is difficult to answer is whether or not this was a Hate Crime. The Anands suspect it MAY have been by some comments the alleged arsonist had made in prior dealings with the family.
Over three days, a man working at the house next door asked the Anands for water, and to borrow the phone. They obliged, and Minnie Anand even fixed him a plate of spaghetti when he said he was hungry. But each time, he made increasingly disturbing comments, according to the family’s pro-bono lawyer, Edwin Prather.
What made your people come here? You Indians have a lot of money. Do you own your house? You have beautiful daughters.
Sunday afternoon, the Anands turned the man away when he asked to use the phone. He left, angry. The Anands and their five children left for temple — where the bad news came that night.
Weekly news magazine 60 Minutes will broadcast a first-of-its-kind
interview with Bollywood actress Aishwarya Rai, according to a press release published
today on her web site.
The interview comes about a month before the long-awaited release of Gurinder Chadha’s “Bride and Prejudice,” which features Rai as a co-star. The 31-year-old actress won the Miss World crown in 1994, and has since appeared in 30 Bollywood films.
“Ash’s popularity is global and America will soon get a taste of this international phenomenon,” said her manager Simone Sheffield.
The interview was conducted in Bombay by reporter Bob Simon, and produced by Neeraj Khemlani.
“This will mark the first time in the history of 60 Minutes where they feature an in-depth one-on-one profile with a Bollywood star,” said Khemlani.
The interview airs on January 2, 2005 at 7 p.m. on CBS.
Sepia Mutiny: The Windfall that Bhopal never got
Update by Manish: Check out the video clip of Aishwarya’s interview. Continue reading
Donald Trump’s reality show “The
Apprentice” featured the second
coming of deposed contestant Raj Bhakta
last Thursday, and will include the 28-year-old real estate developer in the
season finale.
In last week’s episode, Trump whittled his applicant pool down to the final two — software executive Kelly Perdew and lawyer Jennifer Massey. The finalists then were asked to assemble a team of employees comprised of fired cohorts. Each team is assigned the task of putting together a sports fundraiser for a charitable foundation. Raj was chosen by software executive Kelly, who is responsible for organizing a polo tournament.
“I’m doing this because I like winning,” said Raj during the episode. “I couldn’t give a damn about Kelly.”
The three-hour season finale airs this Thursday at 8 p.m. on NBC, and should include some great Raj moments. Oddsmakers place Kelly as the early favorite. Why? Three words: Raj Muthaf—-n’ Bhakta.
Sepia Mutiny: Life after being “Fired”
Reigning Miss Universe Jennifer Hawkins made her first-ever trip to India
last week, and expressed to Sify News an eagerness to “to touch
and feel” the
country.
What has so captivated the 20-year-old Australian? A report in The Daily Telegraph allows us to rule out India’s rich historical heritage:
This week, (Hawkins) flashed her winning smile and laughed when she was asked whether she would be visiting the Taj Mahal.
“The Taj what?” she replied.
“The Taj Mahal, India’s most famous tourist spot, the monument of love, in Agra,” she was told.
“Oh, really?”
To be fair, perhaps Hawkins is a preoccupied academic who is more impressed by cultural observations than crowded tourist destinations:
“I love the way Indian girls dress up. I’m fascinated by different cultures and clothings here,” she said. “I have a video camera and I have captured people around the streets. Like one man I saw shaving on a footpath.”
The Daily Telegraph: Jen’s
in Taj with culture
Sify News: I
want to touch and feel India: Miss Universe
The New York Times book review placed V.S. Naipaul’s “Magic
Seeds,” and
Hari Kunzru’s “Transmission” on its list of the year’s 100 best books.
Nobel prize-winning Naipaul’s “Magic Seeds” is a sequel to “Half a Life,” and finds its protagonist making an eyebrow-raising return to India. Hari Kunzru’s “Transmission” is the author’s second book, and follows the travails of a desperate Indian programmer who unleashes a destructive computer virus.
Neither novel advanced to the paper’s top 10, which will be published in tomorrow’s edition.
The New York Times: 100
notable books of the year (free registration required)
Sepia Mutiny: NYT reviews Naipaul’s “Magic Seeds”
(Thanks to Deepa for alerting us via the Tip Line!)
Back in college, a single guy friend had a taxonomy of the type of women attracted by the different bands of the political spectrum.
He argued that the average attractive & approachable gal on campus was a soft lefty. She’d advocate things like national healthcare out of a semi-fashionable, prima facie concern for her fellow human beings. Of course, she felt this concern naturally extended into politics & was blind to the economic logic.
Angry, granola gals oppressed by the patriarchy often filled out the far left, weren’t exactly the most dateable & he avoided them like the plague. Being famously politically incorrect, he’d remark that these gals were “either angry cuz men always treated them like sexual objects or angry cuz men never treated them like sexual objects.” I’ll reserve my comments.
By contrast, the few & far between campus Right Wing gals tended to be a tad too country club / prep school for our tastes.
But Libertarian activists? Well unfortunately, a libertarian rally is possibly the only gathering that scares gals off faster than a Star Trek convention. As a self-described libertarian, ’twas a pity.
BUT, enter the first, and possibly the most attractive Desi libertarian female activist I’ve seen in a long time. Govindini Murty was recently profiled in the Washington Post for hosting a Conservative / Libertarian film festival in the People’s Republic of Hollywood –
The festival was organized by a husband-wife duo of young filmmakers, Jason Apuzzo and Govindini Murty, and underwritten by the Foundation for Free Markets, which likes privatizing Social Security, cutting taxes and issuing school vouchers. …Murty, an aspiring actress, says the impetus was, in part, the cool reception she and her husband have received in Hollywood for their own screenplays and their film “Terminal Island,” which premiered at the festival.
Forbes magazine
released its inaugural list of India’s 40 wealthiest businessmen, with half of
the entrants hailing from the nation’s burgeoning technology and pharmaceutical
sectors.
Topping the list with $11.2 billion is London-based steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal, who holds 88% of Mittal Steel. The company will become the world’s largest manufacturer of steel following their acquisition of rival International Steel.
Other facts of note:
Forbes: India’s 40 richest
The Washington Post has an encouraging story (Thanks, Deepa) about
female mechanics in India that are successfully overcoming caste and gender restrictions:
In taking on such an important role, the female mechanics have challenged feudal notions of gender roles in village society, after centuries of prejudice and discrimination by members of upper castes.
“For a long time people taunted us when we arrived with our tools,” Kabirdas said. “They shooed us away. The upper castes would say, ‘You untouchable women, stay away from our hand pump. What do you know other than making bread and collecting cow dung?’”
But when the women began repairing the broken pumps promptly, they carved themselves an important niche in the hierarchy of the water-scarce village.
The Washington Post: Low-caste Indians carve a niche (free registration required)
Apparently, starring in XXX flicks in India can land you in a heap o’ trouble:
Nov 4: A local beauty queen was on Thursday arrested and five others booked for being allegedly involved in flesh trade and production of pornographic CDs in Jammu, police said.
The city police registered an FIR against six persons, including Miss Jammu Anara Gupta and five others for offences under the cinematography, immoral trafficking and information technology acts, they said.
Like in America, notoriety can bring opportunity:
Former Miss Jammu Anara Gupta, currently at the centre of a pornography scam uncovered by the Jammu and Kashmir police, is being wooed by Bollywood producers to appear in their films.
Anara, who was crowned Miss Jammu in 2001, had dreams about making it big in the Hindi film industry. But the 18-year-old’s world came crashing down after police arrested her for appearing in pornographic films that she says she was forced into doing…
State Times, one of Jammu’s leading newspapers, carried a front-page story saying Anara was being flooded with requests to appear in films.
