{"id":4090,"date":"2007-01-11T08:40:35","date_gmt":"2007-01-11T13:40:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com?p=4090"},"modified":"2007-01-11T05:58:07","modified_gmt":"2007-01-11T10:58:07","slug":"idli_in_sulaima","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/2007\/01\/11\/idli_in_sulaima\/","title":{"rendered":"Idli in Sulaimaniya"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"alencheril.jpg\"<\/a>Here’s a military item in honor of the “surge” and courtesy of a tip from frequent commenter Maurice<\/a>. It’s about the (presumably) first Indian husband and wife to both serve in the U.S. military. Sgt. Cyriac Alenchril, 35, is a supply sergeant in Iraq. Wife Fixie Alencheril, 31, recently completed basic training and is headed to Iraq as a human resources administrator. India Abroad<\/a> has the story.<\/p>\n\n

He says:<\/p>\n\n

“I was told it would be an interesting news that my wife and I have committed ourselves to this war on terror, whereas many immigrants just enjoy only the fruits of the blessed land,” Cyriac said.<\/blockquote>\n\n

She says:<\/p>\n\n

“It was not easy for an Indian woman to do all that the Caucasian or African-American women do. More than the physical struggle, the mental stress was too much. I am happy that I completed it successfully,” said Fixie…<\/blockquote>\n\n

Can’t you just hear the intonation? (I don’t mean that in a derisive way.) The article is full of other interesting tid-bits including this surreal scene of a Mallu herding Punjabis to perform for Americans in Iraq:<\/p>\n\n

Cyriac said his proudest moment in Iraq was on last August 15, “when I gathered some 15 Punjabis to sing the Indian national anthem in Sulaimaniya before an American audience.”<\/blockquote>\n\n

And the taste of home:<\/p>\n\n

Guarding 3,000 detainees in Sulaimaniya and training Iraqi correctional cadets are not easy tasks. But he felt at home in Iraq because of the many good curries he got to eat, thanks to the many benevolent Kerala cooks he met there.<\/blockquote>\n\n

Cyriac is a true believer. He intends to stay in the military 30 years, and he wants more Indians to emulate him:<\/p>\n\n

“Currently, there are very few Indians in the army. Those who are in the services are mainly medical personnel. This needs to change,” Cyriac said.<\/blockquote>\n\n

The couple’s two young children are with Fixie’s parents back in India. Here’s hoping everyone stays safe, surge and all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here’s a military item in honor of the “surge” and courtesy of a tip from frequent commenter Maurice. It’s about the (presumably) first Indian husband and wife to both serve in the U.S. military. Sgt. Cyriac Alenchril, 35, is a … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[26],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4090"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4090"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4090\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4090"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4090"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4090"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}