Florida is getting a Bollywood version of one of my favorite Shakespearean plays, ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream.’
Heart to Heart in the Third World
Some african countries, their own health systems crippled by brain drain, begin to outsource cardiac surgery to India. “Heart operations are comparatively inexpensive in India compared to the West. Open heart surgery in a private Indian hospital typically costs around $4,000, compared to $30,000 abroad.”
A Message from Kal Penn
First, if you haven’t seen Harold & Kumar go to Whitecastle, you’re a turd and you don’t know what you’re missing. Using my unparalleled Desi-in-SF connections, I had a chance to hit a sneak preview a week before the flick opened for the proletariat.
I’m a tough critic (albeit with a softspot for juvenile slapstick humor) and I was frankly bursting in laughter throughout the flick. If my recommendation ain’t enough to compel you to part with your hard earned $8, then perhaps this message from Kal Penn might convince you –
Remember when “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” came out and no one would sit next to you in school because they thought you had monkey-brains and snakes in your sandwich?… Unfortunately, most of us within the South Asian American community have had negative experiences with media images.
…I might be biased since I`m IN the film, so I`ll quote my mom (she loved it too). I believe her words were, “Very nice beta.” She was joined by Ebert & Roeper who gave us “Two Thumbs Up” (the physical gesture, not the Indian soda).
Entertainment or community service, whatever the motive, go check it out.
Where in the World is Hira Manek?
Many of you probably remember the story of Hira Ratan Manek floating around the web over a year ago. If not, Hira is the 64 year old Indian engineer that had supposedly astounded NASA scientists when they verified that Manek spent 130 days surviving only on water.
According to that earlier article his wife, Vimla, said: “Every evening he looks at the sun for one hour without batting an eyelid. It is his main food. Occasionally he takes coffee, tea or some other liquid.”
Since then Mr. Manek was supposed to have come over to the U.S. to be studied by NASA more carefully. Not so said NASA spokesperson Delores Beasely in June. “We have no record of him being involved with us. We have checked with all offices doing related research at centers such as Johnson, Marshall and Ames.”
Okay, am I the only one that smells a conspiracy afoot? A guy that can survive for 130 days without food and was supposedly being studied by a federal agency is now missing? The word “super-soldier” comes to mind. But seriously…does anyone know where Manek might be? Continue reading
Cornershop to be opened on Sesame Street
The U.S. Agency for International Development has just rewarded a $500,000 grant to the non-profit educational organization Sesame Workshop to create an Indian version of Sesame Street, complete with some Indian muppets. What I really wonder is whether or not Big Bird will become a big Peacock as the show matures, instead of a…actually what kind of bird is Big Bird?
Read the full story: U.S. gives money to add Indian Muppet to Sesame Street created for India
On every blog, an Iraq angle must bloom
Here’s ours. The strange tale of the Indian hostages as interpretted by The Acorn –
Fears that Iraqi insurgents do not follow Bollywood scripts and hence not play tango with the Indian government’s hostage negotiation strategy were unfounded. Shiekh Dulaimi, an Iraqi do-gooder who is ‘helping’ in the negotiations has just demanded that Hindi film icons of yesteryears make an appeal for the release of the Indian truck drivers the Iraqi kidnappers are holding hostage. Before this is over, it would not be a surprise if Hema Malini is asked to dance over broken shards of glass while singing that famous song from Sholay. Thanks to all these bizarre twists and turns, the hostage drama is fast reducing into a farce, or so it would appear.
Indo-Pak trade
Walter Russell Mead, in his widely praised book Special Providence, described 4 different “personalities” in American Foreign Policy. He paid special note to the “Hamiltonians” –
Those who denounce (or, in the case of Continental realists, admire) Hamiltonians for there presumed hard-nosed, realist approach to promoting the national interest have misunderstood the synthesis of principles and interests that does so much to define the Hamiltonian mind. Business is the highest form of philanthropy; commerce is the fastest road to world peace.
If you buy it (and I certainly do), then this interview describing future Indo-Pak trade prospects should be very heartening –
At the moment bilateral trade between Pakistan and India ranges from $300 to $400 million. However, there is enormous trade potential between the two nuclear-armed countries in every field. The bilateral trade between Pakistan and India could surpass $10 billion within a few years.
Reihan a mutineer?
Since posting about the desi-fication of danieldrezner.com, I’ve been eagerly waiting for the first posts from Reihan Salam & Siddharth Mohandas- I haven’t been disappointed.
They start by brown-nosing their host –
Simply put, Dan Drezner is my hero. I feel really lucky to be here. Now I will abuse this privilege with a long, rambling post that will alienate almost everyone.
Vote of thanks followed by rambling? Sounds like he’s giving a desi wedding toast. Reihan in particular sounds like a good candidate mutineer after his Drezner guestblogger gig is up –
I dig a good rogan josh at least as much as Siddharth, so I figure that, if not my undying love for Panjabi MC and Nehru jackets, makes me an honorary member of the Indian “diaspora” (to use a problematic and widely misused term).
… IÂ’ve always identified very strongly as an American. While I donÂ’t consider myself a national chauvinist (I wouldnÂ’t, for example, pee on someone for being Canadian, let alone set them ablaze, though I might be sorely tempted), I love my native country for fairly old-school nationalist reasons—i.e., not for the Constitution, which is perfectly adequate, but for its language, culture, and a sense that IÂ’m entangled in its troubled-yet-inspiring history. Which is why I think “Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle” rules so hard. IÂ’ve already seen it three times, and I imagine IÂ’ll see it again very soon. Go watch it. Seriously, it rules.
Anyone who identifies PMC & H&K as high points of the American cultural ethos qualifies in my book 😉 [yes, I know PMC is Brit, but you get my meta-point…]
Pooja Kumar joins Asian TV network
Pooja Kumar, the woman in the Bombay Dreams print ads and the star of Flavors, has joined a new Asian TV network called Imaginasian.
Kumar lives in Chelsea, has a doctor boyfriend, likes to cook (“I make very good chicken curry”), practices meditation (“It relaxes me”) and goes to the movies twice a week.
The Legend of Dilip Singh
So like, whatÂ’s up with South Carolina? Not widely recognized (at least by this blogger) as being a bastion of minority politics, all of a sudden South Carolina is the place to be if you are South Asian and have your eyes on the prize. Earlier this year, you may recall that Nikki Randhawa-Haley, 32, won the Republican Primary in South CarolinaÂ’s House District 87 and was to run unopposed in the November election. Until the middle of last month she was guaranteed a victory. Despite the fact that she now has a Democrat petition candidate running against her, she will most likely have an easy victory. That however is not where the sudden embrace by South Carolina for its brown sons and daughters ends. Continue reading
