Twelve years ago Indian immigrant Terwinder Singh entered the U.S. without proper documents for an arranged marriage. Since then Singh has worked at Kohl’s Department Store, bought a home, paid taxes, bought a business, and had children in this country. On Nov. 4th Singh flagged down an officer when she had a flat tire. The police then took her to jail and have held her ever since. From NRI-worldwide.com:

Thirty-one-year-old Terwinder Singh, who had entered the United States without proper documents 12 years ago for an arranged marriage, is reportedly being treated like a fugitive by the US authorities. When Terwinder, a mother of two from Wisconsin, appealed for help after she got a flat tyre, police started checking her records as part of routine. They discovered that immigration officials had wanted her detained more than five years ago. Her appeal against the order has been hanging fire since 1998. She had been served an order to depart voluntarily, at her own expense, by March 2002. Why Terwinder ignored the order isn’t clear, but that made matters worse. Her husband, Ram Singh, claims they were unaware that her appeal had been denied or that a final order had been served to report with bags packed for deportation.

This can’t be the best way to deal with this situation. Surely she can appeal to her congressman for some understanding? As fate would have it her congressman is none other than James Sen­sen­bren­ner, the same congressman who held up the 9/11 bill in congress because he wanted tougher immigration provisions thrown in. Is he willing to help? From the Sussex Sun:

Wisdom, a coalition of about 90 Southeastern Wis­con­sin religious congregations, and its Milwaukee and Wau­ke­sha affili­ates will rally outside Congressman James Sen­sen­bren­ner’s office Thurs­day to ask him to intervene on her [Singh’s] behalf and to hold con­gres­sional hearings on broader immi­gra­tion law reform issues.

Sensenbrenner’s press sec­re­tary, Raj Bharwani, said in a telephone interview yesterday that the con­gress­man “never got involved, because he was never contacted by any member of the (Singh) family or a family representative.”

“Concern for this woman and her family is pretty wide­spread,” according to the Rev. Joy McDonald-Coltvelt of Galilee Lutheran Church in Pewaukee, a member of Wisdom’s Waukesha affiliate, Stewards of Prophetic Hopeful Intentional Action (SOPHIA).

Well I am glad to see this woman has such support from the community. Everyone knows that things seem to get done once religious institutions step in.

Oh what to do when your long repressed country suddenly has access to Bollywood films. Its enough to drive a good religious man to have sinful thoughts, no? The Christian Science Monitor reports on what happens when Bollywood flesh presents itself to a society long confined to looking at bharkas:

One midnight during Ramadan, Sullyman got up and flipped on the TV. His family was sitting down to eat before the 4 a.m. prayer and he decided to do a little channel surfing. But the station he landed on stunned him.

“It was 100 percent sex,” says the dapper young man in Kabul’s Macroryan neighborhood. “It was the first time I’d seen anything like that.”

The prurient film – and the questionable programming being pumped to thousands across Kabul – prompted the Supreme Court chief justice to ask President Hamid Karzai to stop cable broadcasts during the holy season. Last month, a Council of Ministers banned virtually all cable broadcasts in the city. The minister of information and culture created an advisory committee to review the cable networks. Since then, the networks have begun to broadcast again.

This wasn’t real sex he was referring to of course? After all, most of us grew up acutely aware of the fact that Indian censors didn’t allow Bollywood stars to kiss. Still, the thought that Bollywood movies, which are tame by Western standards, could have such a strong effect on Afghan society intrigues me. Maybe Bollywood films are the way to “spread democracy” and combat religious fundamentalism in the Middle East. Isn’t that what the U.S. administration wants? Maybe Bollywood films can do what bombs cannot. Maybe the military should broadcast Bollywood movies into Iraq as a way to soothe the insurgents. Maybe I am getting carried away. Continue reading →

And they say asians are inscrutible. Consider what’s happening to Farhat Khan: she’s an “advice worker” in Manchester, and has been invited to meet the Queen because of her contributions to “national life”. This comes just one day after she was told that her asylum application was turned down, and that she was about to be deported back to Pakistan, which she left because she and her children were at risk for domestic violence. Wha? Well, I suppose this is a chance to bring the issue to the very top (say, Rani, could you mention this to Tony Blair? Thanks. And oh, please pass the crumpets. And one more of those delicious little tea sandwiches)