May 08, 2008

I.C.E.D better than GTA-IV

I really wish I could have been playing the new video game Grand Theft Auto IV this week. Unfortunately I don’t own a gaming system. I used to be an obsessive gamer as a kid so its best that I don’t go near one now that I have real responsibilities (like blogging). I can however, get my fix online. I’ve been trying my hand at a game that looks similar to GTA-IV. Instead of smacking hos and jacking cars, I’ve been learning about “my” rights as an immigrant child. The game is I.C.E.D. (I Can End Deportation):

Breakthrough’s video game, ICED, puts you in the shoes of an immigrant to illustrate how unfair immigration laws deny due process and violate human rights. These laws affect all immigrants: legal residents, those fleeing persecution, students and undocumented people.

ICED has been featured in overwhelming amounts of press including: MTV News, Game Daily and has been covered on popular blogs including, Gothamist and The Huffington Post. To get a full list of media, please look at the left-hand tool bar.

How do you play?

THE OBJECT OF THE GAME IS TO BECOME A CITIZEN OF THE UNITED STATES

Game Play:
As an immigrant teen you are avoiding ICE officers, choosing right from wrong and answering questions on immigration. But if you answer questions incorrectly, or make poor decisions, you will be detained with no respect for your human rights. [Link]

Is your knee jerk reaction that you think this game might exaggerate the plight of immigrant kids, especially those brought over by undocumented parents? Think again. More about that later, after the fold.

I picked the character of Suki to make my way through this cruel world:

I tried to apply for a job at a restaurant (I needed money because I was hungry). They denied me because I didn’t have proper documents (I used forged ones). Then I tried to jack a car because I was feeling hopeless. I ended up in a detention center because of that. A man there offered to join me in the shower. Even in the video game detention was a pretty sad place and I ended up being deported. In real life it’s worse:

Another lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security was filed in Federal court today [April 30th, 2008], this one is over prison conditions for detained immigrants. The plaintiffs are former detainees and several advocacy groups who say conditions in immigration prisons are wildly variable and too often inhumane. So, with help from Yale Law School, they’re asking a federal judge to force the government to create new regulations and hold itself accountable. WNYC’s Marianne McCune has more.

REPORTER: The harshest treatment of immigrants in detention has made big news in recent years: harassment by dogs at Passaic County jail in New Jersey; the death of an immigrant who went untreated for more than 20 minutes after suffering a hard attack in Louisiana; or the physical abuse of some immigrants held in Brooklyn after the September 11th attacks. But the lawsuit being filed today is more focused on the everyday. Paromita Shah of the National Lawyer’s Guild’s National Immigration Project says complaints range from inflexible visiting hours to inadequate medical care.

SHAH: Even today I had two calls from friends and family members who said this person had fallen down and he’d been taken to the hospital. But when he came back he said his back was swollen his leg was swollen. It’s been a week now and they haven’t checked up on him. He wasn’t sure what was happening, he was very agitated and he didn’t know what to do. [Link]

Some of these detention centers are run by corporations for profit. Yes, a subsidiary of Haliburton is involved in this business in case you even had to ask. More to come on this soon.

abhi at 11:50 PM in Arts and Entertainment, Issues, Kids, Law, News · 40 comment(s) · Direct link

March 24, 2008

From George to Jyoti: The Famous Five Get a Disneyfied Makeover

OK, Enid Blyton fans, get your hankies out. The Famous Five are getting a 21st century makeover, courtesy of Disney. Think multicultural meets technology in the new animated series “Famous Five: On the Case” which premieres in the UK next month. The crime busting gang of George, Dick, Julian, Anne, and Timmy the dog that Enid Blyton created in 1942 with the bestselling book Five on a Treasure Island is going to be replaced with characters who are the children of the original Famous Five, including a lead Anglo-Indian character.

That’s right, the team leader is the daughter of George (the tomboy and the original gang’s leader), Jo, short for Jyoti. According to Jeff Norton at Chorion, which owns the rights to Blyton’s books,

“We tried to imagine where the original Famous Five would go in their lives …Because George was such an intrepid explorer in the original novels we thought it would be only natural that she travelled to India, to the Himalayas, where she fell in love with Ravvi. That’s the back story (to Jo). We spoke to Enid Blyton’s daughter and she thought her mother would love what we have done …” [source: BBC News]

Don’t anyone try to tell me that the Disney executives don’t know how wildly popular Enid Blyton’s books are in India. I’m sure that the decision to have the lead protagonist be connected to the subcontinent somehow had a little something to do with this fact.

Other characters in the revamped series are Allie, a Californian shopaholic (and the daughter of Anne) who is sent to the British countryside to live with her cousins; Julian’s son Max, an “adventure junkie”: and Dylan, the 11-year old son of Dick. Only Timmy the dog gets to keep his original name.

Don’t anyone try to tell me that the Disney executives don’t know how wildly popular Enid Blyton’s books are in India. I’m sure that the decision to have the lead protagonist be connected to the subcontinent somehow had a little something to do with this fact.

Other characters in the revamped series are Allie, a Californian shopaholic (and the daughter of Anne) who is sent to the British countryside to live with her cousins; Julian’s son Max, an “adventure junkie”: and Dylan, the 11-year old son of Dick. Only Timmy the dog gets to keep his original name.

You can safely forget about “gay” times or excited expressions such as “gosh”, “golly” and “jolly nice” (think “cool”). And, instead of poring over maps, these famous five will wield web phones with GPS and laptops.

I don’t know about you, but what I loved about reading the Famous Five (and in general Enid Blyton books) was that they took me to a place I did not know, allowed me to be part of a secret club of empowered kids who spoke in a language familiar and yet unfamiliar to me, and immersed me in “exotic” (think ginger beer and creams and the rambling English countryside) landscapes. I’m not so sure that the type of program being created will retain any of the charming qualities of the original Famous Five … besides the crime-solving kids aspect, which we have enough of — eg: Scooby Doo.

And though part of me feels that perhaps I should feel happy about the attempt to multiculturalize the cast of characters, it seems like a token effort, not an authentic extension of Enid Blyton’s vision. But maybe I’m just being a stick in the mud; too tied to my childhood nostalgia. (I know that when I was 9 or 10, I watched Mary Poppins, the original Doctor Dolittle, and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang … and even though they were set in different periods, I could still identify with the themes, the characters, and emotions.)

On the other hand, there is something to be said about diversifying children’s literature so that there are more characters like us to be found in books and movies [see Abhi’s post about Sesame Street]. I guess that’s why — as a constant reader of children’s and young adult books and as a writer of children’s stories — I feel so lucky that we have publications like the South Asian children’s literary magazine Kahani which provides kids with authentic and high interest fiction and nonfiction (as well as access to books and films) that speaks to their experiences as kids of South Asian descent growing up in North America. Kahani just won the highly respected 2008 Parents’ Choice Award for magazines for the second year in a row. That’s a huge deal. This is a prestigious award from the Parents’ Choice Foundation which has been reviewing mainstream children’s media since 1978.

When I see that desi kids today have access to reading experiences such as Kahani (in India, there’s Tinkle and Amar Chitra Katha, as well as a host of new children’s books set in the subcontinent and I’m sure there are UK offerings as well), it doesn’t bother me so much that they’re continuing to read Enid Blyton’s original Famous Five … or watch the original TV series. They’re getting the best of both worlds — the contemporary and the classic (yes, to me Enid Blyton is a classic) — and isn’t that what the true reading or cultural experience should be all about? Traveling to both known and unknown places in your imagination?

Sandhya at 07:17 AM in Kids, Literature, TV · 66 comment(s) · 1 reader(s) linked · Direct link

March 03, 2008

Everyone wants a little Punjabi

I wish we were beyond this exasperating stupidity. Via TOIlet (no need to visit and catch a VTD, the entire article is quoted below:

Three-month-old Livya was rejected thrice by prospective Indian parents, who found her too dark. A year later, however, an American couple chose to adopt her and flew her to the US. She now lives with her parents and has two siblings — one from Korea and another from Vietnam.

Livya was lucky, but the story is not the same for other adoptable children. Many who are legally free for adoption continue to face discrimination as wannabe Indian parents look for a “fair and lovely” baby, though the law prevents one from picking and choosing babies for adoption.

Perhaps those overlooked children are better off without such complexion-obsessed parents. After all, there is always the Angelina effect (aside: once again, Madonna is associated with the word “wanna-be”):

But most foreign couples prefer children who are dark-skinned, older or with medical concerns, HIV positive and with special needs.

And here, the reason for my title (and the explanation for the painful noise my jaw made when it fell on my desk):

Secretary for the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA), O P Sirohe, says in-country adoptions have been encouraging and there is a long list of parents waiting. But still, they ask for fair-skinned, healthy and, preferably, Punjabi child as it is usually chubby. A child is no market commodity and adoptions become meaningful only when there is a change in people”s attitude, he says.

Preferably a Punjabi child. Wow. I love chubby babies, too (my Godson’s nickname wasn’t “The Pudgesicle” for nothing)…but this just makes my stomach twist. What are you adopting? A baby or an accessory? What does this even mean? That it’s too much work to feed your new kid butter-laced everything, so you can chub them up sufficiently yourself? “Honey, let’s go shopping for a baby on Saturday—I heard they have new Punjabi models in stock!” And to my Punjabi peeps…um…how do you feel about being objectified due to such a dubious distinction?

Foreign couples are more open to adopting any child, irrespective of its age, religion, skin colour or looks. Children who are older, with special needs and medical conditions are finding homes overseas, he says.

“NRIs and couples from Italy, Germany, US, Spain and Sweden take home kids with special needs. We place such children in Indian homes too, but they are an exception,” says Dr Aloma Lobo, chairperson, Adoption Coordinating Agency, Karnataka.

And thanggawd for it.

The following concern isn’t exclusive to India; American “waiting” children don’t have much luck when they are in their teens, either. Everyone wants a baby. And sometimes, a chubby one.

Another hurdle in the adoption of children is their age. For instance, Lakshmi, who is 13 years old, has still not found a home as her age is a major deterrent.

The law allows adoptions only up to the age of 12 (inter-country) and stipulates that the older parents age should not exceed 45. This is a setback as older children are not preferred by young couples and the older couples cannot adopt due to age limit.

It is quite a paradox as older couples have better financial status and parenting experience and can spend more time with the child, adoption agencies say.

When does this self-loathing end? I know people who have struggled with infertility; they just appreciate having a little kid to love. I can’t help but imagine the couples who rejected this infant. How does that thought process work? “Well, we can’t have a child of our own…but damn it if we settle for a dark one. We deserve more than that!”

So do babies like Livya. I hope her parents don’t tell her anything about this aspect of her past; I’m glad she was adopted by two people who looked at her and saw a toddler vs. a dark, undesirable object.

.

Thanks for leaving this on the News Tab, duax0001.

anna at 02:41 PM in Identity, Issues, Kids · 168 comment(s) · Direct link

February 18, 2008

All love is brown love

As desis we feel that the burden of meddlesome parents is uniquely ours. Exhibit A, an email from Yo Dad to Abhi:

Also please try and select life partner before next January !! Good luck !! Love…. Dad… [Link]

How typical, right? How very … African. The text that follows is from a BBC forum on the proper role of parents in childrens’ love lives in Africa:

Should African parents stay out of their children’s love lives? Or should a happy medium be reached between traditional match making and modern dating? … Is a marriage between two people or between two families?… [Link]

That’s right, it’s not just brown parents that like to … help their children and who view marriage as being a partnership between two families, it’s African families as well. There’s a reason why Bollywood fillums are so popular across Africa.

Similarly, we feel that pressures to be pragmatic about relationships are uniquely desi. Well, what about these quotes from a first world writer:

What they understood is this: as your priorities change from romance to family, the so-called “deal breakers” change. Some guys aren’t worldly, but they’d make great dads. Or you walk into a room and start talking to this person who is 5’4” and has an unfortunate nose, but he “gets” you. My long-married friend Renée offered this dating advice to me in an e-mail:

I would say even if he’s not the love of your life, make sure he’s someone you respect intellectually, makes you laugh, appreciates you … I bet there are plenty of these men in the older, overweight, and bald category (which they all eventually become anyway). [Link]

Marriage isn’t a passion-fest …It’s more like a partnership formed to run a very small, mundane, and often boring nonprofit business. [Link]

That’s from a white American woman in the Atlantic monthly, giving exactly the same advice (with the genders reversed) that I got from a married DBD friend when I was 29. He told me that passion and hotness was all nice and good, but passion fades and hotness vanishes, so be sure you’ve got a woman you like to talk to and can get along with because, at the end of the day, everybody becomes an Auntie. [His advice, don’t hurt the messenger!!!]

I’m not saying there are no cultural differences, of course there are. What I’m saying is that even if the mean cultural attitudes are different, there’s a good deal of overlap in the tails, that cultural attitudes towards luuuurve are not distinct and separate, but fairly similar with differences in emphasis.

Whether that’s a good thing or not, I dunno. But like it or not, lots of people sound just like uncles and aunties …

Related posts: White American Christians Emulate Arranged Marriages

ennis at 01:47 PM in Issues, Kids · 46 comment(s) · Direct link

January 11, 2008

Another freaky Indian kid

Title says it all. Here is something to think about on the drive home or to discuss with your friends over a beer tonight:

Roller-skating under cars might seem impossible, but it is the latest craze among kids in India and requires the flexibility, strength and balance of a gymnast.

Six-year-old Aniket Chindak holds the unofficial world record for ‘limbo-skating’ and speeds along no more than eight-inches above the ground.

Unfolding his body from his eye-watering position, the wonder-kid explained proudly how he is training to break his own world record of skating under 57 cars in 45 seconds. [Link]

He is like a human transformer. He goes from upright human to some sort of crazy airplane looking thing. Unfortunately, like all other successful child freaks, he will probably go on to face disappointment in a business that exploits youth to provide blog and media fodder.

abhi at 06:36 PM in Humor, Kids, News · 20 comment(s) · Direct link

December 26, 2007

Children in UP Manipulated in to Discriminating Against a Dalit

Who hearts the News tab? I totally do and since I had a few moments, I managed to do what I always intend but never get around to— I checked which story was currently “most interesting” as measured by the “top in 24 hr” link. Eleven of us thought the following tip, which was submitted by Condekedar a few days ago, was important:

Indian children boycott school lunches cooked by ‘Untouchable’

Condekedar wrote this rather attention-getting summary…

A sad reminder of the continued existence of caste-discrimination. This story is even worse, because it’s children who are showing their bigotry, not just prejudiced older people.

Via The Independent:

By her own admission, the lunches cooked by Phool Kumari Rawat may not always be the tastiest food the pupils at her school have ever eaten. And with more than 300 students to cook for, getting the proportions right can be a struggle.

But the children of Bibipur Primary and Junior High School near Lucknow have not launched a boycott of Mrs Rawat’s food because of its taste, but because Mrs Rawat is a Dalit, a so-called Untouchable. As a result, they say, the food is unclean.

A whole new generation, India’s best generation yet with regards to opportunity, learning the worst about others. Condekedar is right; it is extra-disheartening to read about such sentiments from little kids.

Such incidents are not uncommon in India, where caste remains a debilitating and divisive phenomenon, especially for those 75 per cent of people who live in rural communities. But the boycott at Bibipur is especially noteworthy because it is taking place in Uttar Pradesh (UP), the state which this year elected a Dalit woman, Mayawati Kumari, as its chief minister. Campaigners say that despite Mayawati’s poll victory, Dalits still suffer widespread discrimination.

First, they did right by the woman:

When the boycott of the meals began last week, local officials stood by Mrs Rawat, a widow with three children, and tried to persuade the students that there was nothing unhygienic about her food. Officials who inspected her cooking said there were no problems and one even ate the lunch – vegetables and rice – in front of the students to persuade them to end their boycott.

…but they didn’t stay strong:

But The Indian Express newspaper reports that with the children not backing down from the boycott, the authorities are now poised to sack Mrs Rawat.

Two issues are being conflated; the quality of the lunches and the hands which cook them. If it were merely about the former, I don’t think anyone would fault the kids. The revolt might even be framed as a cute rebellion by pigtailed and cow-licked children, standing up for their right to yumminess. But…

Tellingly, children who live in Mrs Rawat’s neighbourhood are still eating the lunches, while those involved in the boycott have reportedly made little effort to hide their reason for refusing to eat. “I will not eat anything cooked by that lady. I have heard my family members say that she is from some low caste. So I bring my own lunch box,” said one pupil, Shivani Singh Chauhan.

So much for Mayawati ushering in a new era?

However, Ram Kumar, of the National Campaign for Dalit Human Rights, said: “There are no equal rights in UP. We have a Dalit chief minister but more than 80 per cent of the bureaucracy are members of the upper caste. There are many villages in UP that are totally dominated by caste and there is not any chance of social equality.”

Oh, the poignant resignation in these words:

Mrs Rawat, who earns the equivalent of just 75p a day, said: “I am a widow with three kids. Earlier, I worked as a labourer. If they remove me from here I will accept it as my fate and will again work as a labourer.”

They removed her.

Fast forward a few days…it looks like she’s not quite ready to accept her fate, just yet:

Phool Kumari Rawat, the Dalit woman at the centre of the mid-day meal controversy in Bibipur Primary and Junior High School, came to Lucknow today and sat on a dharna in front of the Vidhan Sabha.[IndianExpress]

I’ll admit that I had no idea what that meant. For those of you who are also not acquainted with “dharna”:

A fast conducted at the door of an offender, especially a debtor, in India as a means of obtaining compliance with a demand for justice, such as payment of a debt.[Bartleby, but not the scrivener]

And for commenter Amitabh :) and those who love language like he does, from the same non-scrivener link:

ETYMOLOGY: Hindi dharn, from Prakrit dharaa, from Sanskrit dharaam, act of supporting, stay.

Good for her. Go on with your bad self, lady. What a righteous way to protest how she was forced out. Seems necessary, too, considering that predictably, “officials” are refuting her cries of discrimination by saying that she was let go because the village committee which had appointed her was abolished out of concerns regarding corruption, i.e. she’s an indirect victim of something else which has nothing to do with her caste.

In Lucknow, Phool Kumari herself had yet another story to tell. “Controversy began the day I started cooking at the school. When I went there to serve food on December 11, principal V D Dixit told me that his students would not eat meals cooked by a Dalit woman,” said Phool Kumari.

She added: “The children would come to me each day and tell me that I cooked unhygienically, even though all outsiders — officials and members of social organisations — didn’t find anything wrong with the meal.”.[IndianExpress]

Way to keep the best interest of the children in mind there, Dixit.

There were further developments out of Lucknow, today:

The state SC/ST commission has accepted a petition filed by Ambedkar Mahasabha — a social organisation working for the rights of Dalits. The education and administration officials have been called for the first hearing on Thursday and explain the reason behind her removal.

Well, look what pathetic activities some investigating uncovered:

The Mahasabha has alleged that Phool Kumari was removed under pressure from higher castes. It has also asked the commission to punish the concerned officers under ST/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. “Our members visited the school and the village and talked to cross section of people. It was found that the teachers belonging to higher castes have instigated the children to oppose Phool Kumari. We have asked that education officers be punished too,” said Bina Maurya, national general secretary of the Mahasabha.

SR Darapuri, vice-president of the district wing of Mahasabha said: “In our petition, we have made it clear that dismissal of cook is not only illegal but if it goes unnoticed, it will encourage untouchability in other schools.”[IndianExpress]

Here’s hoping Phool Kumari and her quondam students get what they each deserve; respect for her, and for them, guidance from progressive adults who are not ass hats.

anna at 08:35 PM in Issues, Kids, Religion · 93 comment(s) · Direct link

November 18, 2007

Toys for young mutineers (or you)

Today, companies like Kridana.com are selling bad-ass Hanuman action figures like the one above. This isn’t your father’s Hanuman. This one looks like a professional triathlete/MMA Fighter. There are two types of parents that would buy a toy like this for their child. The first is the young, second-generation couple that is worried that they aren’t doing enough to familiarize their child with their religious Hindu roots. It would be bad if Hinduism became irrelevant to the next generation so Hanuman, and similar action figures, can serve as a good stop-gap measure. The other kind of parent (the kind that I one day hope to be) would buy this for themselves. Check it out, here is the scenario. You could buy the Hanuman above and also a barrel of monkeys. Then you could pretend that Hanuman was a great general and that under his leadership the barrel of monkeys were able to sweep forth and stem the tide of evil monkey attacks currently taking place in Indian cities like Delhi. The people of India would be grateful and a beautiful woman would fall for him (not just because of his muscles but because of his virtue, good soul, and leadership abilities). Speaking of which, I have to hit up the gym.

Does anyone else think that Hanuman looks a bit like a brown Panthro?

abhi at 03:18 PM in Humor, Kids · 37 comment(s) · Direct link

October 29, 2007

The Tronie Foundation

Since we’ve already had one depressing story about child slave labor in India today I thought, why not end the day with an…errrrrr, uplifting story about child slave labor? Thank goodness for the Seattle Times for reporting on this gem to take some of the earlier slime off:

As a 7-year-old girl in southern India in 1978, she was taken from her parents and sold into slavery.

At the same time, a 9-year-old boy in Southeast Asia was surviving alone in a cave, after the fishing boat on which he was fleeing Vietnam became shipwrecked.

Rani and Trong Hong would eventually be rescued from their separate childhood nightmares and brought to safety in Washington state. They would meet as adults on a blind date, fall in love and marry…

Now, motivated by the pain of their early years to help others, they are renovating a home exclusively for victims of human trafficking — people recruited, transported and harbored for sexual exploitation or slave labor. [Link]

Talk about a power couple! Click on their names in the passage above to read about their unfortunate childhoods. The non-profit they’ve established, partly on the profits from their lucrative home-building business in Olympia Washington, is called The Tronie Foundation (and it could use your donations):

Rani works with victims who have been abused by all forms of Human Trafficking. Whether the victim was part of a mail-order bride schemes, sold into servitude, sexual slavery or victimized as part of an international adoption ring, Rani because of her own personal experience has a heart for these women and children. She shares openly her own personal story, in hopes that they too can be restored and live a productive life, free from the pain of their past.

“No woman and child should be so severely abused that they end up looking like they are mentally and physically ill. As a survivor of human trafficking, I personally have chosen to speak publicly to give hope and encourage those of you that may be afraid to come forward. [Link]

Recently the Hong’s were also on Oprah where Rani mentioned this very interesting fact:

Rani says she didn’t learn about her husband’s past until after they were married. “He was so traumatized and … he hadn’t found somebody throughout life to talk to,” she says. “So once we got married, he felt comfortable and open…” [Link]

It just goes to show how sometimes people are drawn to each other when they share a common bond, even if unaware of the exact nature of that bond. In any case, here is a drop of good vs. that other bad.

abhi at 11:03 PM in Kids, News, Non-profits · 14 comment(s) · Direct link

September 06, 2007

Anjay of the Flies

Do you know which Indian dude’s debut is the most hotly anticipated one of this Fall’s television line-up? No, it isn’t Sendhil “I can’t figure out how to speak in an Indian accent even though I’m Indian” Ramamurthy of Heroes. Nor is it Naveen “torture solves everything” Andrews of Lost. The dude that South Asian Americans have their collective eyes on is 12-year-old Anjay Ajodha of Texas. The question is, can he succeed in wresting the reigns of power away from the simpletons within a newly created society known simply as Kid Nation?

40 Kids have 40 days to build a brave new world without adults to help or hinder their efforts. Can they do it? These Kids, ages 8-15, will turn a ghost town into their new home. They will cook their own meals, clean their own outhouses, haul their own water and even run their own businesses including the old town saloon (root beer only). Through it all, they’ll cope with regular childhood emotions and situations: homesickness, peer pressure and the urge to break every rule they’ve ever known.

Will they stick it out? In the end, will these Kids prove to everyone, including their parents, they have the vision to build a better world than the pioneers who came before them? And just as importantly, will they come together as a cohesive unit, or will they abandon all responsibility and succumb to the childhood temptations that lead to round-the-clock chaos? Don’t miss this intriguing series. [Link]

SM readers, let me be blunt. Anjay is the best chance we currently have to demonstrate to the American public how utopian our society might become if super smart desi people were in charge of everything. The governor’s mansion in Louisiana just won’t cut it. More people will tune in to Kid Nation than will pay attention to Louisiana. The question on all our minds is, “will a group of young children between ages 8-15 allow a kid (that reminds us a lot of ourselves at 12) lead the way when left on their own?” Just look at Anjay’s answers to some questions CBS posed. I dare anyone to find more concise and honest answers in any recent Presidential debate:

Who have been some of the best U.S. presidents, and why?
George Washington - he managed to lead a young nation, and headed the conventions to develop the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution. Abraham Lincoln - he abolished slavery, and led the nation through the Civil War. Franklin D. Roosevelt - he established the New Deal which got the economy working during the Great Depression and instilled confidence in citizens during his fireside chats.

Who have been some of the worst U.S. presidents, and why?
The US president that comes to mind, due to recent events, is George W. Bush, because I don’t agree with the way he is handling the Iraq war. [Link]

Also, is Anjay Libertarian? And does he know more about government than Fred Thompson?

If you had the power to change one or two things about our country right now, what would it be?
I would create a law that eliminates all budget earmarks - useless bits of spending. If earmarks are eliminated, approximately 78% of the US budget will be freed up to be utilized in areas where there is a more urgent need, such as the national deficit. I would also eliminate paid lobbying in an effort to give all parties involved in a dispute an equal voice. [Link]

Holy crap. 78%? Draft Anjay (or the parents that helped him write this stuff).

This was by far my favorite line. He isn’t just all brains. He’s got a bit of mountain man in him too. Anjay tries to explain that sometimes the camera crew got in his way and pissed him off:

Council of Elders??

I didn’t like if they got too close and started interrupting us when we’re doing something important. Like I’m building a fire and my hands are in the fire, so I’m like, ”Get lost! I don’t want to burn myself here!”… [Link]

Grrrrrr. Fire. I must admit that I’m a bit apprehensive about watching Kid Nation in that I have no idea how it will all turn out. What if Anjay ends up falling into the roll of Piggy? I’d much rather he be a warrior-poet like Simon.

To understand Kid Nation, picture summer camp. In the Old West. With campers doing all the chores. As a group, they were told to make a society that works. Unlike LOTF the show doesn’t kill anyone off. And you didn’t need a conch to be able to speak. What they needed to do instead was hold council meetings, compete in showdowns, and try to win $20,000 each episode — in the form of a star made of real gold. [Link]

Is it horrible of me to suggest that the show might have wider dramatic appeal if someone got killed off?

What is your favorite quote?
There are three things which if one does not know; one cannot live long in the world: what is too much for one, what is too little for one, and what is just right for one - Swahili Proverb. [Link]

Are you KIDDING me? Swahili? Who is this kid? I predict the girls in Kid Nation will be on his jock.

abhi at 10:29 PM in Humor, Kids, TV · 93 comment(s) · Direct link

August 20, 2007

I feel SO much safer now!

Abhi posted a link on our news tab to a story about…well, stupidity. Way to focus on the fine print, while actual, credible threats go unchecked.

For seven-year-old Javaid Iqbal, the holiday to Florida was a dream trip to reward him for doing well at school.

But he was left in tears after he was stopped repeatedly at airports on suspicion of being a terrorist.

The security alerts were triggered because Javaid shares his name with a Pakistani man deported from the US, prompting staff at three airports to question his family about his identity.

The family even missed their flight home from the U.S. after officials cancelled their tickets in the confusion. And Javaid’s passport now contains a sticker saying he has undergone highlevel security checks.

Little Javaid is a British citizen of Pakistani origin, which makes his “dream” of going to Florida-land as a reward for his good grades even more poignant, to me. The other Javaid is a 39-year old Pakistani who was arrested in connection with 9/11; while they convicted that Javaid of fraud and deported him, he was never charged with anything related to terrorism. His name, obviously, is a red flag for the exquisitely useful database/process which Homeland Security created…you know, the one which apparently doesn’t bother cross-checking birthdays in order to discern the difference between two or more people who share a name.

Because of this cluster, Javaid’s parents are debating a name-change for their unfortunately-nomenclated* offspring, and I don’t blame them, though I can only imagine how frustrated and resentful they might be. September 12, 2001…the day common sense commenced its slow and horrific death.

I found the reactions from people who had read the article interesting. Illuminating, even.

Said Craig from London:

Poor kid, my passport was mistakenly stamped with the incorrect stamp when transiting though Australia a few years back, the immigration bloke realised it and crossed out the initial stamp and re-stamped it correctly but I still often get asked “why were you refused entry to Australia” when going through immigration. Still if simply changing your name is enough to bypass the system it shows how utterly pointless the US no-fly list is.

Said THIS whiner winner from our good ole country:

Sorry his family is feeling “alienated.” This is post-9/11 reality. I feel alienated from air travel, too, when I’m frisked, questioned and forced to remove my shoes, belts, etc. just to board a plane. Questioning the whole family in this case was perfectly reasonable. The kid had the same name as someone who committed passport fraud. It was not unreasonable to consider the possiblity that this kid’s and his parents’ papers were fraudulent.

I also question the choice of T-shirt he is wearing in the picture. I wouldn’t wear a t-shirt that read “Armed and Ready” when travelling via airplanes, or when I was talking to the press about how unfairly I was treated.

- Thomas, Indiana, United States

My initial response to “Thomas” was a hearty “STFU”, but that has been drowned out by the roaring chorus of, “America…F*ck yeah!”

*Yeah, I know. It’s not a real word. Don’t get your chuddies all bunched, yaar.

anna at 01:00 PM in Issues, Kids, News · 97 comment(s) · Direct link

July 27, 2007

Immortal.

I think it was Camille who originally alerted us to the horrific discovery of a baby in Bombay, who had been stabbed almost to death, before being thrown in the garbage.

A newborn Indian baby found abandoned with 26 stab wounds has survived, doctors said on Wednesday, despite a cracked skull and exposed intestines.

The baby boy, who doctors said was aged between one and two days, was discovered soaked in blood at a garbage dump in India’s financial capital of Mumbai on Tuesday, they said.

His intestines were hanging out from a deep wound on his back and he had dirt and garbage stuck on him.

“When he was brought in he looked pale from blood loss,” said Ramesh Hatti, a doctor at a city hospital.

“He is still in a lot of pain but is now stable.”

Police have not been able to trace the baby’s parents or establish a reason for the attack.

Babies are sometimes abandoned by unwed Indian mothers, who fear severe social repercussions for having a child out of wedlock. [CNN]

Today, another tipster emailed us an update— via The Mumbai Mirror:

The good news is that the infant is doing well…Dr Oak said he has been taken off the ventilator. “He is able to breathe on his own but he is too young and vulnerable to infection. So, we may keep him in the ICU for a few days,” he said.

The phone has been ringing off the hook, at the hospital.

Many callers were eager to adopt the little one. A woman called up the Mumbai Mirror office and said, “How can I adopt the baby? What is the procedure. How can I help this child?”

According to Madhuri Mhatre, a social worker with an adoption agency called Bal Anand, “Adoption takes a lot of time because we have to be sure that the child goes into a good family. We check the legal, financial and domestic background of all prospective parents.”

In any case, doctors said, it is too early to speak of adoption.

This tiny little fighter is so lucky, so fierce:

A milkman saw the bleeding child in a garbage dump outside Lokhandwala complex at Kandivli (W) on Tuesday morning. He rushed the baby to Bhagwati hospital in Borivli. But since Bhagwati was not equipped to take care of the injured infant, he was sent to B Y L Nair Hospital. Doctors carried out a two-hour operation on Tuesday night to close the wounds and replace lost blood. He was then put on a ventilator.

I get chills every time I read that. How many times did this child slip through death’s fingers…

The state government plans to inquire about the miracle baby now recuperating in B Y L Nair Hospital…

Since government-run children’s homes do not often handle newborns, the department will contact NGOs who have the expertise to do so.

“At the same time, I have instructed my officials to check out if the government-run children’s homes in Mumbai and Pune have the facilities to take care of the baby,” said Dr Singh, who is unhappy about too much publicity being given to the baby’s wounds.

Wait, why?

He says such images can cause distress among citizens.

Oh, boo-hoo. There can’t be enough publicity, if it inspires much-necessary outrage and reasserts the power of shame. The elderly and the newly-born are not garbage, to be disposed of when inconvenient.

anna at 05:35 PM in Kids, News · 78 comment(s) · Direct link

May 09, 2007

Mama's Saris

Did you grow up combing your Barbie’s blinding blond locks? Rooting around a Crayola box for the “Burnt Umber” or “Ochre” since “Flesh” looked nothing like your own? Ahh…those self-conscious days are over (for the most part) since that crayon is now “peach,” Bratz dolls come in all shades of colors (and flavors of sluttiness), and there’s even a magazine for young South Asian kids (Kahani) that’s as awesome as Highlights! (OK, fine. Kahani’s a lot smarter. If IQ=DQ aka “desi quotient,” I wouldn’t be writing in this space, mmkay?)

Anyway, adding to this glorious list for sepia kids - longtime Sepia commenter, meetup regular, and all-around lit-star Pooja Makhijani just published another book! Mama’s Saris is a beautifully illustrated children’s book about a young girl mesmerized by her mother’s luscious sari collection, yearning to play dress-up, to grow up to be like just like her mother.

Pooja is already well-known as the editor of the sensitive essay collection Under Her Skin: How Girls Experience Race in America and has written for many youth/teen magazines. Most remarkably, she writes about universal childhood themes (such as wanting to wear your mother’s clothes to feel grown up) in a South Asian context, with very specific desi details.

While most of us look back on our childhoods with adult eyes, Pooja somehow retained the uncanny ability to delve into the past and write about it with a childlike sensibility intact.

Reading this book, I remembered my mother helplessly shooing me away as I tried to catch the gold lights in her party saris with my grubby hands…and the time we went shopping for the first sari I could call my very own…

I think I’m going to buy another copy as a gift for Mother’s Day. I’m keeping this one for a daughter I may have someday.

In her Author’s Note, Pooja writes:

When I was a child, my friends and i used to pull out our mother’s fancy clothes and play “dress up.” I remember all of us trying on hats and shawls and scarves and gloves, falling over in leather pumps and getting tangles in colorful costume jewelry…

For me, it was my mother’s saris - her dress-up clothes - that were captivating. They were every color you can imagine - apricot, olive, green, sepia - and had names like Baluchari (saris woven with animals and kings and scenes from Indian myths), Banarasi (timeless silks from the nothern city of Varanasi), Kalamkari (hand-painted saris)… Since her saris were too much for me to handle, I would instead steal her dupattas… and drape them the way I thought a sari would be arranged. This compromise sufficed until I was tall enough to wear her saris and, finally old enough to buy my own.

I wrote Mama’s Saris after realizing that my own fascination with my mother’s fancy clothes was not unique. It seemed as if each of my female friends, regardless of ethnicity or age, remembers being captivated by her mother’s grown-up clothes. By dressing up like their mothers (and emulating everything else that they did), they would be just as beautiful, too.

Oh, and she keeps her own collection of saris, “carefully folded in a suitcase under her bed, just like her mother does.”

Damn. That’s it. I’m off to go call my moms before I embarrass myself by dissolving into a flood of sentimental tears right here.

cicatrix at 06:03 PM in Fiction, Kids, Literature, Profiles · 34 comment(s) · Direct link

April 25, 2007

Can’t buy me love?

All over the greater diaspora, Aunties bemoan that desi children are picky. How will they ever be satisfied? How will they ever settle down and start popping out the requisite grandkids?

Aunties can sleep better at night now that SCIENCE is on the job. Examining peoples’ behavior in online dating settings (which is equivalent to looking at biodata), they’ve noticed a few clear patterns:

Men are easy - they are generally interested in hotness above all.

Women are choosier, but it turns out their preferences are fungible. This is good news for aunties because it gives them a metric with which to translate different suitor’s attributes to a common scale, allowing them to rank apples and oranges. They can tell, for example, whether an average woman (in this study) is likely to prefer the not quite as handsome, shorter i-banker or the more gorgeous, slightly taller, high school English teacher.

What is this common scale? Money. According to these researchers, women will forgive men’s flaws if (gasp) they earn more.

Consider looks. A guy can compensate for ordinary looks with more moola, which tells us what he has to reveal in his biodata if he wants to be a playa:

Suppose you’re an ordinary-looking guy whose online picture is ranked around the median in attractiveness… And suppose you’d like to be as successful with women as a guy whose picture is ranked in the top tenth. Then you’d need to make $143,000 more than him. If your picture is ranked in the bottom tenth, you’d need to make $186,000 more than him. [Link]

Cash also acts like elevator shoes for our shorter brothers:

… a 5-foot-0 guy would need to make $325,000 more than a 6-foot-0 man to be as successful in the online dating market. [Link]

Race matters too. Generally speaking, men were more willing to date somebody of a different race than women, with the exception of Asian women who preferred White men over others. (3/4ths of Asian-white marriages have Asian women and white men [Link] )

For equal success with an Asian woman, an African-American needs no additional income; a white man needs $24,000 less than average; a Hispanic man needs $28,000 more than average. [Link]

It’s not clear whether brown women act like their other Asian counterparts - any thoughts?

Lastly, if you want to get around these sorts of hurdles, skip the biodata and move straight to cha:

… people who are terribly picky in choosing partners online will relax their standards if they spend just three or minutes talking to someone at a speed dating session. [Link]

There you go. Now that science has helped Aunties, maybe it will come up for a way for the rest of us to be able to evade them. Oh yeah, it’s called caller ID

In case you’re interested, here is the academic paper in question.

Related posts: Speed kills (part 1), Speed kills (part 2)

ennis at 01:05 PM in Humor, Issues, Kids, Science · 577 comment(s) · Direct link

April 19, 2007

Oh, Beloved Papaya...

Don’t cry, little one.

We heart you, dear Sanjaya.

May your haters rot.

::

Have you a haiku for Sanjaya, too?

anna at 06:30 PM in Haiku, Kids, Photos, TV · 72 comment(s) · Direct link

December 25, 2006

Merry Christmas to All, and to All, "Show Some Pride!"

One of my dearest friends has an Op-Ed in today’s Washington Post (page A29). Nitya, I’d be proud of you even if “Longing to Join in Christmas” hadn’t been published, but now that it has, Akka loves you even more, because obviously, like all good South Asian elders, my affection for you is directly tied to your achievements. ;) I can’t think of a more perfect post for today (so let me get out of the way):

Christmas is the season when you are most likely to find yourself on a street of beautiful homes with twinkling lights, warm fireplaces and happy families outfitted in festive holiday sweaters, only to be filled with a yearning to possess not just the house but the lifestyle inside.

For my whole Indian American childhood in the early 1980s, I wanted a Christmas tree that way. And it wasn’t for the presents. It was for the lifestyle.

I wanted the Santa Claus, I wanted the holly wreath and I wanted the jolly elves who toiled in a workshop all year long. I wanted the sleigh bell-wearing reindeer on my roof. I wanted the colorful stockings hung by the chimney. And I wanted the jolly fat man to wiggle down our (nonexistent) chimney before he ho-ho-hoed his way across the night sky in a triumphant journey back to the North Pole.

From the warmth of my Hindu home, I always longed for that good old Christian magic — and not a holiday like Christmas but Christmas itself. I wanted to belong to the classroom party hosted by homeroom mothers in Santa hats, to know the words to the holiday songs that everyone knew, to feel the evergreen anticipation that never faded or fell from branches needle by needle.

My immigrant father, who’d recently come to America as a University of California grad student, was a man of little sympathy and extra principle when it came to the wants and woes of my childhood.

Santa isn’t real, he explained. And besides, we’re not Christian. We’re Hindu. If we celebrated Christmas, I would get you Christmas presents. But you can’t allow yourself to get caught up in materialism just because department stores try to sell you an idea that ultimately benefits them. Show some pride.

His pride argument was a precursor. It showed up a few years later when I wanted a Cabbage Patch Kid and after that when I asked for a Nintendo.

My mother always understood my need for belonging without explanation. Like a Third World Christmas angel with a sparkling diamond nose ring, she bought me presents every year until I was old enough not to need them to defend my holiday humanity.

She’d tuck them deep into a corner of a closet my father never found, and she’d sign the gift tags “Love, Santa” in perfect penmanship. After all, it was my mother, never my father, who stood on the sidelines of the playground where I tried to defend my cultural differences, often met by horrified gasps of “How do you not celebrate Christmas?”

Of course, as I look back on the heaps of presents we got for Hindu holidays throughout the year, my father did have a point. But in that version of “A Christmas Carol,” he played a modern-day immigrant-edition Ebenezer Scrooge to my ever-earnest, emotionally limping Tiny Tim. Plus, I was 4. I was one of Santa’s truest believers. All I wanted was a tree.

Then one day a miracle happened.

My father had to work late in the lab, and a local den mother who looked after the Indian graduate students showed up unexpectedly on our doorstep. She was slight and distinguished by the scent of Oil of Olay and fried mustard seeds that followed her. Dark-skinned and wiry-haired, she wore cotton saris everywhere and talked to me in loud Tamil, as if she was afraid I would forget the language.

She was the last person I would have expected to be standing at our door clutching a five-foot-tall Christmas tree and shopping bags filled with tinsel, lights and ornaments.

“Nitya, hurry up!” she whispered as I stood there, open-mouthed and filled with the kind of joy usually reserved for Christmas morning.

The tree took up half of our tiny apartment. And, although it never quite went with the bronze Ganesha statue or the painting of a bare-chested, flute-toting Krishna, its majestic, scented silence spoke of glittering magic and twinkling dreams more powerful than even the most principled nonbeliever.

My father saw it, bah-ed, humbug-ed and, in protest of the tree, made me cry on Dec. 24 by eating all the foil-wrapped chocolate I’d hung for Santa to see.

Part of me lives forever in the irony and innocence of that season, when a skinny brown woman in a cotton sari had the courage to defy my father to give me everything a fat white man in a red suit could not.

P.S. That picture is from December of 2004, when I celebrated the holidays as the only Christian at a very Hindu home in New Jersey, which featured, yes, a Christmas tree (see it towards the back?).

anna at 12:35 PM in Holidays, Identity, Kids · 105 comment(s) · Direct link

December 17, 2006

Thrust into Greatness

The reason why no ideology has ever created, let alone sustained, the world it envisioned, is that by definition it could not account for unintended consequences. The same is true of more modest ventures. A war meant to be short and sweet turns out anything but. A campaign meant to steamroll the opposition clears the field of all rivals but one, the most dangerous and unexpected. Observing something alters its nature; naming it alters its meaning. If you’ve ever planned anything – a career, a vacation, a party – you know this already.

And so, when things happen – interesting things, significant things, things that surprise us and thus lead us to feel – they result only partly from deliberate action, and as much from the gremlins of serendipity, who can inhabit any of us for any period of time. Thrust into greatness, we signify; the moment passes, the world changes, we fade to obscurity.

Are you having a macaca moment yet? In 2006, desis were thrust into greatness in the person of S. R. Sidarth. Senator Allen’s view of Sidarth’s ethnic happenstance differed so radically from that of a majority of Virginia voters, that the (near-) accident of the brother being there set in motion events leading, it is argued, to the change of power in Congress.

Macaca was about revealed perception. The perception was Allen’s; but the revelation stems from Sidarth. Without Sidarth, the perception would not have been revealed. The tree might have fallen in the forest, but no one would have heard.

This is old news to us; in this community at least, we’ve followed the macaca story from the start and have no disagreement as to its significance. Where we differ is in what we make of it for ourselves, the extent to which we identify with Sidarth or the fate we wish on the word macaca itself.

Old news, yes. But this weekend Sidarth was made to reappear, once more in his capacity as the embodiment of macaca, as two news outlets produced their round-up of people who mattered in 2006. Salon names Sidarth its Person of the Year. Time’s Person of the Year is You – you, the diffuse and disparate emanators of content, the users who generate that which is user-generated – and Sidarth is one of the Yous the magazine profiles.

It’s interesting to compare the interpretations that each of these outlets apply to Original Macaca. Salon, the established survivor of first-generation Web journalism, sees in him less the agent of a brave new world of representation than an embodiment of an America undergoing demographic and attitudinal change. Time, a behemoth of a pre-Internet era when The Press told The Public what to know and believe, now celebrates Sidarth as one of a non-organized army of little people upending the plans and certitudes of the great.

Both treatments have in common, however, that ultimately they are not about Sidarth – not the “real” Sidarth, biologically and spiritually unique, but what he seems through various filters. It was the year of You perceived and revealed, by your own doing and by that of others. That trend will continue, as attested by the fact that you read this blog, perhaps comment, perhaps have established an identity here and elsewhere on the Web.

We are learning that representation matters. We manage our identities lest others manage them for us; in a way the two processes are dialectically the same. What remains is spirit: mercurial, contradictory, and if we will it, potentially free.

siddhartha at 03:09 PM in Blog, Issues, Kids, Musings, News, Politics · 48 comment(s) · Direct link

December 13, 2006

Who’s your daddy? Say it! (corrected)

The son also rises

Desi families like to provide well for their children. Parents give their kids money, cars, businesses … and now it seems that some even help procure girls for their darling little boys. That’s right - having Salman Rushdie as your father helps you score chicks. While this isn’t a huge surprise (Duh!), I was made a bit queasy by the way the famous family discussed the matter.

First there is Rushdie, fils, talking about his dad:

Zafar Rushdie, 27, often accompanies his father on nights out because the pair are usually swamped by attractive girls keen to impress the literary genius. He says, “Most people who go to a party with their parents try to run away from them. Not me. If I want to meet girls, I just stand near him. “All the beautiful women want to talk to Dad, so I stand close and bask in the sunlight. Beauty loves brains…” [Link]

Then there is Rushdie, pere, engaging in mutual admiration:

“Every time I see a picture of him in the paper, he has four girls around him, so I think he’s not doing badly,” the author tells the paper. “He’s absurdly charming - lethally, disgustingly charming. He has it like a weapon…” [Link]

A weapon, huh? Really, we don’t need to hear about your son’s Louisville Slugger. Just tell the researchers and leave us out of it.

Lastly, step-mom and fourth wife Padma also agrees that Zafar, a mere 9 years younger, is a stud:

… actress Padma Lakshmi, 36, is equally complimentary of Zafar, talking him up as a red-hot ladies man who can’t be resisted. [Link]

In addition, Salman says, his son is a “red-hot ladies man who can’t be resisted.” [Link]

I know the family that pimps together stays together, but can’t the Rushdies save the meddling in their Zafar’s sex life until he’s ready to get married, like decent people? Or is this just a further extension of the same principle - they’ll help puttarRushdie find his wife, his girlfriends, and even his short term flings.

Please understand that my reaction isn’t one of pure prudishness - we are firmly pro-groupie here are Sepia Mutiny. We just believe that groupies should be earned, not inherited.

Oh and Zafar, a piece of advice from a humble blogger. While this is a great story (below), I think you want to avoid talking about the “loss of your childhood innocence” at the hands of Islamic fundamentalists - somebody might get the wrong idea.

“The fatwa was fun for me at first. I was 9, and I came home one day to find police in the house,” Zafar told the paper. “It was really cool to be around these big guys with guns. But I soon found out enough to realize there was a big deal going on, and it wasn’t good … I’d answer the phone and this voice would say: ‘We’ve got your number. We know where you are and we’re going to come and kill you’ … I lost my childhood innocence early…” [Link]

See also: The NYPost’s Page Six: THE RUSHDIES: BABE MAGNETS?, Rushdie & Sons

ennis at 11:48 AM in Humor, Kids · 152 comment(s) · Direct link

October 05, 2006

Puppets deployed against landmines

Witness the following horrific string of events:

I know it isn’t pretty and I hope that I haven’t ruined anyone’s lunch hour. The Christian Science Monitor has an article about the puppets of “No Strings,” and that organization’s mission to teach the children of Afghanistan about the dangers of landmines:

“Bang!” The little puppet boy steps on a mine, and now he only has one leg. The Afghan children watching the video at a school on a Kabul hillside gasp.

Puppets have long been used to entertain and to teach children basic lessons such as how to count and the letters of the alphabet

“The Story of the Little Carpet Boy,” loosely based on Pinocchio, is the brainchild of No Strings International, a British charity set up to reach children in war-torn areas and teach them vital life lessons through puppetry.

“It’s hard to get a crowd of children to listen to an adult, but the minute you bring a puppet out, kids just light up,” says Johnie McGlade, founder of No Strings.

Mr. McGlade worked for more than a year with two of Muppet-creator Jim Henson’s original team, Kathy Mullen and Michael Frith, to create a culturally sensitive film using characters from Afghan folklore to teach children about the dangers of minefields.

About 60 Afghans a month are killed or injured by mines and unexploded ordnance around the country, and almost half of them are under 18 years old, according the United Nations Mine Action Center for Afghanistan (UNMACA). [Link]

For those of you wondering, here is the background on the story pictured above:

The storyteller rides in on Jaladul, a fine beast of burden, who later in the story, becomes the guide to Chuchi Qhalin, the carpet boy. After all her family have been killed by war and landmines, a grandmother makes herself a new grandson from the carpets she weaves. One of the doves she regularly feeds, turns into a fairy who gives life to the carpet boy.

Worried that he too will lost to landmines, the grandmother sends him to the village head who tries to show Chuchi the dangers of landmines and UXO’s (unexploded Ordinance) using the red hand to reinforce the STOP message. Chuchi then goes off to school accompanied by his guide, Jaladul. On his way he meets up with temptation and looses his legs which get replaced with kitchen utensils. During a flash flood he finds his grandmother and they get washed down river along with loads of landmines. Chuchi now remembers what he had been told and they get out safely. The fairy rewards Chuchi by turning him into a real boy. [Link]

The show has been a hit with the children of course and people are beginning to wonder if puppets can count as “boots on the ground” in our efforts to combat the opium trade as well:

“I liked the film,” says Masiha, an 11-year-old girl who watched the film’s first screening in Kabul, “and I learned that you should stay away from fields that have red stones. There are mines there. I didn’t know that before,”

She also liked the film’s happy ending in which Chuche is granted his wish to become a real boy and gets his limbs back.

No Strings is now looking into using the puppet characters to make another video on the dangers of drug use in Afghanistan, which is the world’s No. 1 producer of opium and heroin.[Link]

In other puppet news, Manish recently blogged about Horn Ok Please, an Irish-Indian animated short featuring puppets which will be playing at the IAAC Film Festival in New York in November:

HORN OK PLEASE follows a momentous day in the life of a hapless Bombay taxi driver who strives to earn enough rupees to buy the air-conditioned car of his dreams
As the day progresses, his goal seems within reach; however the traffic, the exasperating passengers and the pre-monsoon heat take their toll as he starts to show signs of weakness… [Link]

South Asian puppets are hot right now.

Update: Sorry folks, I just realized that the short-film may be clay-mation and not puppets. Oh well. If anyone checks it out let us know what you think.

abhi at 04:37 PM in Arts and Entertainment, Kids, Non-profits · 8 comment(s) · Direct link

October 03, 2006

A bride for Budhia

I want to start by saying that I DO NOT condone child marriages. In this case however, for the good of Mother India, I think we should all consider the merits of such an arrangement. In the past we have blogged about young (4 year old) Budhia Singh who was running upwards of 30 miles on an average non-competition day. Some overly cautious adults banned him from running marathons in the state of Orissa and charged his coaches/handlers with abuse. Officials said that they didn’t want him to be exploited but I’ll bet it was to protect the other runners (who may have had friends in the government) from embarrassment. Now we get word of another young runner. Meet the hard charging Anastasia Barla:

A 10-year-old tribal girl from a remote village in Sundargarh district ran 72 km in eight hours on Monday but failed to break Budhia Singh’s record.

Five-year-old Budhia had run 65 km non-stop on May 2 in his bid to enter the Limca Book of Records, while Anastasia took a five-minute break after running 58 kms.

Anastasia Barla’s target was to cover 105 km. She began her marathon run from Sundargarh stadium at exactly 5 am amid cheers from a large crowd.

But she stopped at Rambahal near Rajgangpur at around 1 pm, after covering 72 km.

Her coach Dominque Lakra said Anastasia could not achieve the target today as she had ran on hard surface. “The girl is comfortable on soil which is soft…” [Link]

Look, if India wants to get serious about competing athletically on a global stage then they need to start making some tough decisions now. Even if Budhia and Anastasia are held back by the corrupt Indian system, at least their offspring might have a chance to be the great brown hopes. Can you imagine the running abilities of their kids given the genetic stock of Budhia and Anastasia? An arranged marriage seems to this blogger to be the most reasonable course of action. Damn any caste differences if they exist. A modern India calls for pragmatic solutions.

abhi at 12:17 PM in Humor, Kids, Sports · 37 comment(s) · Direct link

October 01, 2006

Welcome Grandmaster P!

We at Sepia Mutiny would like to extend a very snarky hearty welcome to the newest Sepia Macaca: Puran Singh. That’s right - Deep is a daddy! [Mothers everywhere want to know what the rest of us are waiting for]

Puran Singh (“Master P,” as my brother is already calling him) was born yesterday at 8pm. He’s 8 pounds, 2 ounces (3.7 Kg), and both he and his mother are doing well. We have lots of family around helping us out and giving support (thanks, everyone), and the hospital experience has been pretty good, though the final stage of labor was difficult (I guess it always is).

The name means “fulfillment,” “completion,” or “perfection.” No one in our family has been named “Puran,” but there are a couple of famous people who have had this name: including Bhagat Puran Singh and also a famous Punjabi poet. In the Sikh tradition, the first letter of a baby’s name is usually chosen by opening the Guru Granth Sahib at random, and taking a “Vakh.” The first letter of the page opened is supposed to be the first letter of the baby’s name. In our case, we got “P,” and I immediately thought of “Puran…” [Link]

P is for Perfection

Puran: The cap is cute, but when do I get a black pagh like my dad’s?

For those of you similarly entranced, you can find more Puran-o-graphy on flickr .

ennis at 01:11 PM in Events, Health and Medicine, History, Kids, Photos · 97 comment(s) · Direct link

August 23, 2006

An Adopting Mother Confronts the Complexion Gap

A few weeks ago we discussed a new kind of camp for Indian children adopted by white American parents. Today, via a tip on the news tab, I came across an article on Alternet by a Jewish New Yorker who adopted an Indian baby as a single mother, and was somewhat taken aback by the darkness of her child’s skin:

The first photo I received of Vaishali showed her with fair skin. I was surprised, because from what my adoption agency told me, the child assigned to me would be much darker. After I got over that surprise, I had another: I felt relief. Suddenly — guiltily — it was a comfort to know that she would not look so different from me, and even more important, that her light skin would save her from a lifetime of prejudice.

But ah, the magic of flashbulbs. A few months later I received several more photos and gaped at them in shock. The baby was much, much darker. (link)

Lisa Lerner has, initially, a lot of anxiety to deal with about the gap between her skin tone and that of her adopted daughter (read the whole article for examples: the kicker is the diaper change). She gets over it, but is still often surprised by the fact that no one in her social circle — including her Indian and Black friends — is as dark as her daughter:

Very soon, my daughter will have a lot to process. She’s adopted, she’s the child of a single mother, she’s an Indian Jew by conversion. We spent the summer with my father in upstate New York, and she was nearly always the darkest child in music class, gymnastics and day care. In New York City, even Blacks and Indians in Vaishali’s and my social circle are lighter than she. Over and over I see how light skin equals privilege. Now that I have become Vaishali’s mother, I realize: We need darker friends. (link)

I’m sure there will be some folks who will be offended that Lisa Lerner is publicly stating some of these things she says in this article. I personally am not: she’s expressing the shock she felt along with her embarrassment about that shock, and describing how she got past it. Yes, her initial reaction to her baby’s skin tone betrays “racism,” but it looks to me like she’s recognized and dealt with it.

Still, I wonder what people think about the solution she outlines: “We need darker friends.” Is it really damaging to a child (the baby has grown up some now) not to be around anyone who physically resembles her? And wouldn’t it be slightly strange to seek out “friends” on this basis?

[Oh, and one more thing: the Times recently had an interesting article on the growing number of cross-racial adoptions in the U.S.]

amardeep at 02:39 PM in Issues, Kids · 651 comment(s) · 1 reader(s) linked · Direct link

August 22, 2006

Save Her Life

That precious, happy little girl you see above is Nirali. She has Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (Thanks, bean). According to the following,

Despite overall improvements in outcome, the prognosis for patients…is poor. Their estimated event-free survival (EFS) is only about 30%. [link]

her life is very much at stake, so the way I titled this post isn’t sensational or an exaggeration of any kind. After losing an Uncle to Leukemia two years ago and having an even closer family member go to the hospital this week because of the looming possibility of cancer, Nirali’s story makes me want to weep.

She needs a bone marrow transplant.

She needs that transplant from someone who is brown.

There aren’t anywhere near enough desis in the National Marrow Program database.

We have no excuse for this.

I am terrified of needles, I’ve said this many times. I avoid flu shots, because I find them so traumatic, but even I sacked up and then felt like the biggest baby for being afraid of the “typing” process which put me in the database of potential donors. Apparently, they’ve even taken care of THAT obstacle; now you can just get your cheek swabbed and that is enough.

Look here for a desi-centric list of opportunities to join the database, nationwide. Go. Give a tiny part of your physical self. And then pray, if you are inclined to do so, that we follow-up this post with some joyful news.

anna at 11:39 AM in Health and Medicine, Issues, Kids · 66 comment(s) · 1 reader(s) linked · Direct link

August 03, 2006

Designer Desi Baby Food

It’s hot outside. So hot, these days, you want to curl up next to a fan with a cup full of ice water and allow your brain to regress to an almost womb-like state of slushee-induced, heat-transcending peace. The local papers here in Philly have had nothing very exciting to say about the curent heat wave, but the BBC has an amusing article on the rest of the British media’s penchant for “climate porn” (the BBC, of course, only participates in the phenomenon by discussing how everyone else participates in it). Still, “climate porn”: you might want to rethink how much time you spend at work checking the weather.

Speaking of returning to the womb, or something close to it, did you hear about the new, designer desi-themed baby food?

HappyBaby, which sells colorful cubes of frozen vegetable and fruit purées through FreshDirect and Gourmet Garage, flavors puréed peas with fresh mint, and potatoes and red lentils with coriander and cinnamon in their savory dahl, an Indian staple.

“This is how my parents fed me,” said Shazi Visram, co-founder of HappyBaby, which began on Mother’s Day and is expanding its line this month. “Why shouldn’t babies, of all people, get to eat delicious things?”(link)

No more vanilla, canned Gerber for today’s stylish babies. At HappyBabyFood, you get organic Baby Dhal. It comes in frozen, baby-sized cubes, and is sold at health food places in the New York City area. (Because it’s frozen, they can avoid having to put in preservatives.)

Not everyone is thrilled with the masalafication trend:

But some parents remain skeptical. “Moms ask me, ‘Can babies really have that?’ ” said Anni Daulter, co-founder of Bohemian Baby, which delivers meals like Vegetable Korma, made with coconut milk, for 12-month-olds, and purées of fruits like pomegranates and figs for infants. “And I say, of course! What do you think they feed babies in India?” (link)

Wait, you mean they feed babies in India something other than American baby food?

For more frozen organic baby food porn, click on this image, from New York Magazine. And a bit more on HappyBaby Food co-founder Shazi Visram, who has an MBA from Columbia and has worked in real estate in Brooklyn, can be found here.

amardeep at 06:48 PM in Food, Health and Medicine, Kids · 23 comment(s) · Direct link

July 31, 2006

Heritage Camps for adopted Indian children

Just over a week ago SM commenter DesiDancer returned from a trip to Colorado and emailed me the following about a wonderful experience she had there:

I was invited to come teach dance classes at the East Indian Heritage Camp, last weekend. The organization, Colorado Heritage Camps, Inc. offers a series of ethnic camps (Latin American, Chinese, Korean, Desi, etc) every summer, for adopted children and their parents. They draw on members of the ethnic community to volunteer and help engage the families in culturally-minded activities during a 4-day camp, up in the mountains. In addition to fun stuff, there are also panel discussion with several different age groups, dealing with cultural identity, issues that may affect adoptees and their parents, and several child psychologists contribute to the curriculum. In addition to the dance classes I taught, I sat on a panel for jr. high aged kids, discussing reclamation of culture, biculturalism, and other issues…

Over the course of 4 days, several of the activities included Ayurvedic medicine, traditional dance, Bollywood dance, Rangoli drawing, traditional vegetable painting/block printing, games like Cricket and Gilli-Danda, yoga, cooking classes, music lessons, and lectures on Indian holidays, Indian weddings, travel to India, Indian history—with a weird specialty class in Freedom Fighters, and a book group. We ate desi food, and every night was a party with desi music. The closing night of camp, all the little kids (and big kids) performed dances from their classes, and the parents in my adult class performed a dance for the families, too. I’d spoken to one of the Directors of the camp about getting a DVD of “Calcutta Calling” to screen at the camp, one evening, but I think she is going to arrange it for next year instead. Though she said she watched the video stream at PBS…They loved the documentary.

Some of you may recall the “Calcutta Calling” documentary we blogged about some time ago. In it several adopted Indian children who grew up in white families came together for the first time and took a trip to India. According to DesiDancer these camps might help to fill in some of the missing pieces for these mixed families by bringing them together with similar families:

Nobody was looking at the kids or the parents strangely, nobody had to explain, “yes, she IS my daughter” or any of the usual weirdness or unkindness that these families may encounter in their daily life. And all of the families are there because they support their child’s biological heritage and culture, and they want to include as much of it as they can, in their families, even if the parents don’t quite know how to go about it. This camp is a start in the right direction.

Sounds like they are always on the lookout for volunteers as well:

Year after year, children tell us that their counselor was the MOST important part of camp for them! Many of their parents agree! Our counselors are enthusiastic young adults, some adoptees themselves, some not, who have the same ethnic background as the adopted children at each camp. They participate in all of the camp workshops and activities with the kids, but MOST importantly, serve as positive role models for the children and families who attend camp. [Link]

abhi at 01:08 AM in Kids · 139 comment(s) · Direct link

July 25, 2006

Hindi-Hong Kong-Bhai-Bhai

I believe that children are our future. Teach them well and let them lead the way. Show them all the lameness we possess insiiiiide. Give them an over-developed sense of pride, to make it easier. Let the children’s prejudice remind us how we ought not be…

From the news tab, an anonymous tipster points us to a blog which took an amusing and slightly dil-warming look in to what tweens and teens in Hong Kong think of other Asian people:

When you think about Filipinos, what comes to your mind?

"Tak-shing Building!"
"They know how to sweep the floor!"
"I see them in Central all the time."
"Bun-bun.  Filipina girls.  But I have never met a Filipino guy yet."

Do you feel that you disrespect them by calling them such names?

"Hey, they come here to work.  We have more money than they have.  They are getting paid, so wouldn’t you say that they can be ordered around?"

Someday, you will be working and earning money too, and you will give spending money to your mother.  Does that mean that you can order your mother around?

"But how can that be the same?  My mother is not a Filipina."

Awesome. And now, on to the germane part (aside: does anyone know what “Ah Cha” means?):

When you think about Indians, what comes to your mind?

"They’re very ugly!"
"Some of them wrap their heads up.  Some have a red dot in the forehead.  They have big beards."
"They’re Ah Cha (阿差).  Why do you have to ask?"
"Hey, how can you be like that?  Do you know what they call us Hong Kong people?" 
"I don’t know." 
"They call us ‘friends’."

Finally … finally I heard something that passes as acceptable!!! I went from wanting to cry out of despair to wanting to cry out because I was touched! A three-hour class with twenty young Hong Kong students between the ages of 9 to 15. Sixteen of them said the above, three maintained their silence and a girl said that last thing … luckily, among the twenty, one of them was decent.

To the parents of the children — how are you teaching your children!!!!!

No worries, yaar. We’re teaching our children to be equally obnoxious. ;)

:+:

I just couldn’t resist that picture. Can you? Cute brown kids: my favorite way to start the day. :D

anna at 10:13 AM in Humor, Kids · 126 comment(s) · Direct link

June 06, 2006

NYC Desi Youth Activists Get Props

Many thanks to the tipster who posted a link on the news tab to this column by Errol Louis in the New York Daily News. Louis, whose columns often focus on ear-to-the-street developments in New York’s immigrant communities and communities of color, devotes today’s piece to the launch, this afternoon, of a report on safe learning for immigrants in the NYC public schools. It’s a broad, holistic understanding of safety that means fewer cops, more resources, and protection from immigration authorities.

What’s remarkable is that this report, based on two years of fieldwork supported by a prestigious non-profit called the Urban Justice Center, is the work of desis — the young brothers and sisters in DRUM (Desis Rising Up and Moving) Youth Power. These young desi activists are taking on subjects that are important to all immigrant families and indeed to any family with kids in the New York schools.

It’s an encouraging example of identity politics used for inclusive, coalition-building purposes: the desi identification gives a group like DRUM its base and stability, but the work reaches far beyond the narrow interests of that base.

You can agree or disagree with this approach, or for that matter with the overall “Education Not Deportation” umbrella theme of this action, but it’s nice to see the DRUM Youth Power work give an opportunity for a major tabloid columnist to educate the city about desis:

The slang term Desi refers to immigrants from South Asia - including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and parts of the diaspora including Africa, England and the Caribbean.

They are part of the backbone of our city - including the cab drivers, domestics and restaurant workers who collectively form our largest and fastest-growing immigrant group.

Working-class Desi kids, according to a survey summarized in the DRUM report, are sick of seeing metal detectors, armed cops and bullying administrators prowling school halls.

“A climate of fear is being created,” says Refat (Shoshi) Doza, a 20-year-old Queens College student. “That’s not the way to teach a child.” Raquibul Alam Nayeem, a 17-year-old student at William Cullen Bryant High School in Queens, agrees.

To Louis at least, the sisters and brothers in DRUM are setting an example for all to emulate:

The Department of Education should listen closely to DRUM’s youth leaders, particularly the explosive allegation that some schools, in violation of longstanding city policy, may be turning over students’ citizenship information to immigration officials.

By standing up and complaining, these kids are learning lessons that will prepare them to be the kind of outside-the-box thinkers our city and nation need.

The report launches this afternoon at 5 PM at a community meeting in Jackson Heights, for anyone interested in attending. Congratulations and Big Up! to the DRUM crew for their hard work.

siddhartha at 11:20 AM in