June 06, 2008

Is Barack Obama a secret...Hindu?

No. Absolutely, unequivocally he is not. He is a Christian. For months now there have been slanderous and bigoted emails circulating around the internet suggesting that he is really a “secret Muslim.” This further appeals to the most base fears of a small portion of Americans who are just scared that the potential leader of the free world might end up being a man of color with a “funny name.” Snopes.com in particular does a fantastic job at discrediting all the false Obama rumors. However, my very observant friend Arun in L.A. sent me the following email with a link to a picture in Time Magazine. Says Arun:

I spend an extraordinarily unhealthy amount of time surveying political blogs for the most minute of minutia on the election. Mostly I marvel at the absolute inanity of most punditry (see: Stephanopolous, George) and the fact I’m stupid enough to waste time reading it. Occasionally, I’m surprised by something particularly astute or though-provoking (usually the blogs at the Atlantic). However, this picture caught me completely off-guard:

Caption from Time: Amongst the things that Barack Obama carries for good luck are a bracelet belonging to a soldier deployed in Iraq, a gambler’s lucky chit, a tiny monkey god and a tiny Madonna and child.

Yes SM readers, that is correct. The Democratic nominee for President carries Hanuman with him for good luck (although to beat McCain, who carries a penny, he might need to upgrade to this Hanuman, or else use this stick that he got earlier this week).

I’ve heard many of my friends who are minorities say that they can relate to Obama because he has a multi-ethnic background like them. In addition, he has lived abroad (Indonesia) and spent time in both Pakistan and India as I previously blogged, so it isn’t all that surprising that he is aware of Hanuman. Looking into Obama’s open hands above I am reminded about a great article by David Brooks that was in the New York Times a few weeks ago. In it he coined a new term “neural Buddhism.” He writes:

First, the self is not a fixed entity but a dynamic process of relationships. Second, underneath the patina of different religions, people around the world have common moral intuitions. Third, people are equipped to experience the sacred, to have moments of elevated experience when they transcend boundaries and overflow with love. Fourth, God can best be conceived as the nature one experiences at those moments, the unknowable total of all there is. [Link]

abhi at 07:11 PM in Photos, Politics, Religion · 86 comment(s) · 1 reader(s) linked · Direct link

March 18, 2008

This Too Is India

Long-time reader Kush Tandon was in India a couple of months ago, and since then he’s been slowly putting up the photos he took on his blog and on his Flickr account. As I was perusing them the other day, one photo stood out to me:

(click on the image to see it larger; click here to see Kush’s IIT-Roorkee photo set)

Kush also gives a caption to the photo to explain a little about the history of IIT Roorkee:

IIT Roorkee, once University of Roorkee, and before that Thomason College is perhaps the prettiest campus in India, something like Cornell University campus in Ithaca for North America. It is a quiet, green oasis that is about 150 years old. Its history spans training engineers for canal building in India, sappers for Indian military for many wars (British India and later independent India), for huge dam making projects immediately after the independence, and now with India’s economy opening up. (link)

I personally like the photo because it defies the clichés regarding what India looks like — which probably tend to dictate what we ourselves photograph when we go there. That is not to say that there isn’t another side to life, even in Roorkee (and Kush himself has a number of photos showing poverty as well as open trash). But both kinds of images are part of the story.

Do readers have photographs in their public collections that show images of the Indian subcontinent that also defy expectations in some way? If so, we would love to see them…

amardeep at 12:10 PM in Photos · 132 comment(s) · Direct link

March 07, 2008

Poetry Friday: Mad About Elephants

A little pre-post note from Sandhya Nankani, your new guest blogger: At least once a day, I come across a link or a piece of literature or an article and I think, “That would be great for sepia!” So it goes without saying that I’m thrilled about coming aboard as a guest blogger for the next month. You’ll read ennis’s little ditty about me later today, so besides inviting you to check out my family ruminations, I’m ready to fly…

For the next month, I thought it would be fun to import a regular feature—Poetry Friday—from my personal blog Literary Safari. I’ll be putting a subcontinental twist on this. Every Friday I’ll be posting a poem by a desi writer that speaks to me.

I’ve always had a thing for elephants. My first (and favorite) stuffed animal was a gray elephant. In those days, stuffed animals were not very soft or fuzzy. Mine is rough and tough, but he has survived three decades, and continues to thrive (despite his half-fallen off trunk) alongside my collection of elephant kurtis; shell, glass, and metal elephants (including Ganeshas); elephant paintings and silkscreens, elephant magazine holder … yeah, OK, you get the point!

So, today’s poem—which I recently discovered in Billy Collins’ anthology 180 More: Extraordinary Poems for Every Day—is (brace yourselves for the long title) “Aanabhrandhanmar Means ‘Mad About Elephants’” by Aimee Nezhukumatathil (Nez for short).

I like to pair literary and artistic selections the way people pair wine and cheese, so when I read this poem, it seemed to me a perfect accompaniment to Australia-based photojournalist Palani Mohan’s images in his new book, Vanishing Giants: Elephants of Asia. [click the above image to view a slideshow of his photos.]

Aanabhrandhanmar Means ‘Mad About Elephants’

Forget trying to pronounce it. What matters
is that in southern India, thousands are afflicted.
And who wouldn’t be? Children play with them
in courtyards, slap their gray skin with cupfuls
of water, shoo flies with paper pompoms.
When the head of the household leaves

for business, his elephant weeps fat tears
of joy when he returns. Their baths of husk
and stone last four hours, every wrinkle
rubbed and patted with cinnamon oil.
At festival, silk caps and gold tassels drape
their broad heads. Brides still wear

rings of its stiff tail hair, part of their dowry
to avoid evil eye. A man with blue sandals
told me that elephants are cousins to the clouds—
that they belonged to Lord Indra, king
of the gods, that elephants were his carriage
in the wind—that they once had wings.

Copyright © 2005 Aimee Nezhukumatathil. Reprinted with permission of the author.

Aimee Nezhukumatathil is the author of two collections of poetry, At the Drive-In Volcano and Miracle Fruit. Her mother is Filipina and her father is from South India, so her poems are inspired by both parts of her background as well as by her growing years in the midwest (she was born near Chicago). (This weekend, Aimee will be teaching “Prose Poetry: Tending the Garden” at the Asian American Writers Workshop in NYC.)

I think that as South Asian readers we are often more critical of our fellow writers — asking whether their work is exoticizing elements or aspects of our culture, homeland, traditions … What I really loved about this poem was how it juxtaposed myth and mundane and allowed me to feel not just a human’s emotions for an elephant, but also the elephant’s feeling (“When the head of the household leaves for business, his elephant weeps fat tears of joy when he returns.”) And, I was smitten by the idea that there’s actually a word that describes my fascination with elephants or Hathi (Hindi/Bengali/Assamese), Yanai (Tamil), Aana (Malayalam), Aane (Kannada), and Yenugu (Telugu).. Plus, (if you’re in the mood to make the figurative leap) the poem put an interesting new spin on Dumbo, the flying elephant.

I spent a while reading and rereading the poem, then looking at Palani Mohan’s photographs. His book is the culmination of six years of travel to create an “intimate glimpse into the world of the Asian elephant, a creature which – even as its African cousin flourishes – is threatened as never before.” If you take a peek at the slideshow of images from the book, you also see why it is described as a “tale of two species”, a story of the love-hate (is that another word for mad or Aanabhrandhanmar ?) relationship between human beings and elephants. (There’s a timely slant to this for those of you in NYC: The Asia Society is hosting a Asia Society Q&A with Mohan this Tuesday, March 11)

The two experiences somehow went hand in hand for me, and I’m excited to share them with you. What did they do for you? I’m also curious to know what other elephant literature, pop culture connections, and memories we all share … I, for one, can think of a certain song that I couldn’t get enough of when I was a kid. (Enjoy the Russian subtitles in the clip below!)

Sandhya at 12:30 PM in Animals, Literature, Photos · 17 comment(s) · Direct link

January 21, 2008

Another SM "caption contest"

Have at it Mutineers. Let’s see some of you drop your “lurker” status and creatively describe what is happening in these news pictures (all taken in the last 24 hours). And no, the monster from the movie Cloverfield was not spotted in Mumbai in case that is what you were thinking.

Whoa. Jessica Alba is kind of hot.

For those of you who don’t have a creative bone in your body and just want the facts, here they are:

Stocks fell sharply worldwide Monday following declines on Wall Street last week amid investor pessimism over the U.S. government’s stimulus plan to prevent a recession.

U.S. markets were closed for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, but the downbeat mood from last week’s market declines there circled through Europe, Asia and the Americas. Britain’s benchmark FTSE-100 slumped 5.5 percent to 5,578.20, France’s CAC-40 Index tumbled 6.8 percent to 4,744.15, and Germany’s blue-chip DAX 30 plunged 7.2 percent to 6,790.19.

In Asia, India’s benchmark stock index tumbled 7.4 percent, while Hong Kong’s blue-chip Hang Seng index plummeted 5.5 percent to 23,818.86, its biggest percentage drop since the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. [Link]

abhi at 05:24 PM in Caption This, Photos · 49 comment(s) · Direct link

January 08, 2008

Photos: Indians in Malaysia

Statue of Lord Murugan at the Batu Caves near Kuala Lumpur. Malaysia is home to some of the most significant modern Hindu facilities outside South Asia.

All photos by Preston Merchant

The Batu Caves complex is home to a number of shrines inside vast limestone amphitheaters at the top of a mountain.

Shrines at the base of the Batu Caves

A bus driver, Mr. Govindasamy has lived in this house, built by his father, for 45 years. Nearby property development has turned the area into a slum. The land was owned by the Batu Cave temple corporation, who sold it to a developer, who has in turn evicted the family. Refusing to leave, they squat in their family home.

The Subramaniam family lives on a former rubber plantation, where Mr. Subramaniam worked as a rubber tapper. When the estate was parceled and sold to developers, the workers were fired. They are supposed to receive a compensation package based on their tenure. Since the Subramaniams have not been paid, they refuse to vacate their home, which is their only leverage.

Candlelight protest in Kuala Lumpur against the Internal Security Act (ISA).

Evening in Brickfields, one of KL’s Indian shopping districts.

The Petronas Towers

A. Sivanesan, a labor lawyer turned political activist, spends his weekends speaking in temples and gatherings throughout Malaysia, raising money for the families of the HINDRAF 5.

Sivanesan speaks.

Prayers for the HINDRAF 5.

A rally for the PAS, the Pan Malaysian Islamic Party. An opposition party, the PAS gained support from Indians and Chinese, most of whom are not Muslims, after the Nov. 25 violent crackdown on the Indian protest organized by HINDRAF. Non-Muslims see the PAS as one of several alternatives to the Barisan Nasional (National Front or BN), which has ruled Malaysia since independence and promotes Malay-first policies that discriminate against minorities.

Lim Kit Siang, leader of the Democratic Action Party, the largest opposition party in Malaysia’s parliament: “The continued marginalization of the Malaysian Indians will become an international issue, even more so for the Indian diaspora with a population close to Malaysia’s population – over 20 million.”

At the Rumah Kebajikan Anbu Illam Home for Underprivileged Boys.

With the demise of the rubber plantations, which began in the late 1960s, the main employer and social safety net for Malaysia’s Indians has been destroyed. Homes and livelihoods are gone, the government provides no support, and the unskilled and semi-skilled are forced to move into low-paying jobs like driving trucks for hire.

Krishnamara (80), Saraswathy (70), Saraswathy (53), Mahalaxmi (60), and Silachama (75) at a private old folks home in Kuala Lumpur.

Madurai Veeran shrine at a scrapyard.

Puja at the Madurai Veeran shrine, built by the owner of a scrap metal shop.

preston at 11:48 AM in Photos · 18 comment(s) · Direct link

January 03, 2008

Singapore Days, Part I

I wake to the sound of tennis balls, the sound of leisure. For New Year’s, Singapore went shopping, worshiped, and celebrated, making very little mess in the process.

Hindus, mostly from Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka, went to the temples here, some dating back to the middle of the nineteenth century and earlier. Families arrived in private cars and taxis, the women bedecked in silk and jasmine. Laborers came in the backs of flatbed trucks fitted with benches to seat them. They smashed coconuts and prayed for good fortune.

Earlier, they had shopped at Mustafa’s—a postcolonial Marks and Spencer, the Walmart of the East—jammed with every conceivable consumer good: electronics, South Asian and western suitings, cosmetics, jewelry, luggage, appliances, fruit, dry goods, DVDs. The store in Little India is itself a little India and larger than the Little Indias in most non-Indian cities.

Tourists enjoyed the spectacle. The Australians wore shorts and sipped Singapore Slings in commemorative glasses at Raffles Hotel, a colonial-era shrine to steamer trunks, Noel Coward, and Dicky Mountbatten. The daughter of a wealthy Chinese businessman married a wealthy Chinese businessman and had her photo taken in the courtyard of the Empire Cafe.

Singapore goes about its business, which is business.

Elsewhere, at the Malaysian High Commission, in a leafy residential neighborhood, Seelan Palay, the 23-year-old grandson of a gravedigger, stages a one-man hunger strike to protest the detention, in Kuala Lumpur, of the five leaders of an Indian minority-rights organization.

Photo above, smashing coconuts at the Ceylon Temple.

More pictures below.

Photos by Preston Merchant

Reflection of the Veeramakaliamman Temple in Little India

Preparing for puja at Veeramakaliamman

Tourists at Veeramakaliamman

Veeramakaliamman

Courtyard of the Raffles Hotel (photo by V.V. Ganeshananthan)

In the Raffles Hotel Museum (photo by V.V. Ganeshananthan)

Mustafa’s

Garlands in Little India

Little India

Jewelry store, Little India

Veeramakaliamman

Vaibhav on New Year’s Eve

Musical chairs on New Year’s Eve

Ganesha gallery at the Ceylon Temple

Seelan Palay outside the Malaysian High Commission

preston at 03:21 AM in Photos · 26 comment(s) · Direct link

December 25, 2007

Ghosts of Christmas (and other times) past

I’m always a bit hesitant to write what might be viewed as a “personal” entry on these pages. I used to have my own personal blog for those types of musings but decided to give it up because of the pressures of a full time job and this blog. I also don’t want to be presumptuous and assume that the vast majority of SM readers care about my life (as opposed to my writings highlighting something of interest or importance to the South Asian American community). That being said, today is a holiday (when SM readership plummets for obvious reasons), and so I figured I’d get away with some personal blogging. Since many of you seemed to enjoy my previous entry about my arduous toils in my basement, I thought I would serve up one more entry based on the booty recovered from the nine tons of refuse we removed from down there over the last three days.

First off, I know some of you don’t believe me when I say I’m a Grinch. Do these pictures finally convince you? I could tell even at a young age that this new-fangled Santa Claus was an imposter:

Leave this one alone. He’s bad to the bone. (Age 1)

And Frosty? Please. The only large snowball I care to associate with is a snow cone with watermelon syrup:

Where is Frosty’s left hand?

Digging some more I found these pictures in an old, overflowing brown suitcase with a broken zipper…at the bottom of a stack of boxes. I am guessing that they are the final pictures that my dad took at his home before embarking for America with a few dollars in his pocket (literally) and admission secured at the University of Cincinatti’s Graduate School.

No Britney Spears posters on the walls?

“Is it to late to change my mind?” (1966)

Next, I found this old student i.d. card in a small envelope in a box full of junk mail from the 70s. My dad will not thank me for this one. You can see he has let his hair begin to grow out to fit in more with the 60s culture in the U.S.:

Among the heaps of old pictures, I found nearly 500 “biodata” type shots my dad had taken of himself posing in various locations. Most of the backgrounds appeared warm and sunny and a disproportionate amount of them featured large cars. Again, I haven’t talked to him about any of these (interpreting these pictures for myself is actually much more fun) but my guess is that when you leave India to come to the States you want to convince your family back home that you are happy, doing well, and living the American dream (the latter would best explain posing with all those cars and the glamor shots). Your family in India will thus feel less apprehension about the fate of their child in America.

I was also desperately searching for pictures of my mom from Uganda. I think I may have found a few but I don’t want to post them here attributing them to the wrong location if I am incorrect. I did find two of her that I really liked though. Again, looking through the pictures I have this strong sense that many were taken to convince relatives back home that life in America was ok and they need not be overly concerned. From the perspective of my mom, she also had to convince her mom and siblings (her father died when she was young) that married life was ok and that she wasn’t sad or lonely.

Was this picture (taken in Chicago) the first time my mom played in snow?

Of all the things I hoped to recover from my basement (old pictures, cherished toys, home movies) there was one item I was searching for with more desperation than all the others. It was the one item that my mom pleaded with me to find before she left for India last week (and she has been pleading about this for years). “Abhi, please find my pharmacy school diploma.” My mom was never a pharmacist here in the U.S. The diploma from a school in Ahmedabad didn’t transfer, and she would have had to have gotten re-accredited or something. For a woman new to the States, who had to support her new husband who was in grad school, dreams of her own career died. She took a number of odd jobs when she first got here (including making cassette tapes). For most of her career she worked in department stores (my mom dresses me, which is why I’m such a good dresser). She was once the top sales associate in the nation for her large department store chain. Still, my mom is really smart and that diploma was proof of that, proof one can hold. She had to give up her own dreams for her husband and kids as many of our moms might have had to. I really wanted to find it for her but it just wasn’t there. I talked to her yesterday and tried to convince her to go back to that school and talk to the dean. Maybe they still have a record of it. I will keep pushing here and keep SM readers posted.

As I continued to sift through stuff I discovered the little books that my parents used in their (ultimately failed) attempt to teach me Gujarati when I was a kid:

I’m going to save these so they can try again when I have kids someday.

I also found the record/book I played incessantly as a child. This, of course, helps explain why I am such a sci-fi/fantasy fan. I heard Bilbo battle Smaug hundreds of times (often right before bed):

And finally, I found this picture. It must have been taken at our house in Chicago when I was 1 or 2. I was a precocious child and enjoyed the company of tall blondes back then. I remember clearly that this woman had an Easy-Bake oven in her basement. Which might also explain why I love to cook.

abhi at 11:17 AM in Holidays, Humor, Musings, Photos · 71 comment(s) · 1 reader(s) linked · Direct link

December 24, 2007

Hindi-Chini Bhai Bhai 2007

India and China are just about to wrap up joint military exercises, 45 years after the border war which put an end to the phrase which serves as the title of this post. The CSM reports:

The decision to hold joint Army exercises, ending tomorrow, in China’s Yunnan Province, is admittedly a small measure. But it is the first time the two armies have cooperated in such a way, and it comes on the heels of rapidly expanding Sino-Indian ties in business and politics…

This being the first Army exercise between the two countries, it has been small. Only 95 Indian soldiers have traveled to Yunnan Province, where they are participating in counterterrorism drills. But the joint exercise is expected to become an annual event, helping each side become better acquainted with the other.

“These are building blocks being put in place,” says Rahul Bedi of Jane’s, a London-based military analysis firm. “It’s a part of the learning process…” [Link]

And what did they name these exercises? Operation Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon? Sadly, no. That would have been the name if only I were in charge. Instead, the name given to these joint training exercises was “Hand-in-Hand 2007.” Hand-in-Hand? These are supposed to be warriors not playmates. For your viewing enjoyment I have posted some of the most exciting pictures from the the last several days:

Chinese soldier teaches Indians that the best way to defend against a sledge hammer to the head is by using the nearest pile of bricks for protection. They swear it works and that Indians should try.

All the Indian soldiers agree to look “hard” for the camera. Except the one dude who promised to smile for mom.

“Those two. I swear bro they were totally checking us out. Can we switch up this time though? You talk to the Chinese one and I’ll talk to the Indian one. She so fine.”

This looked much easier when Demi was doing it in G.I. Jane

Chinese soldier teaches Indians how to fly (like in the Kung Fu movies when they fly over tree tops). Damn…no wonder 1962 didn’t go well.

“I know I’m supposed to fall back and trust them to catch me. But was I popular enough the last few days? Oh please, oh please, oh please let them catch me and not just move out of the way like when I was in grade school.”

Because of a lack of funding, soldiers learn skydiving by jumping in to a mud pit

abhi at 09:21 PM in Humor, Military, News, Photos · 21 comment(s) · Direct link

September 26, 2007

Nehru: TNG 4 PM?

On Monday Rahul Gandhi became Congress General Secretary and consequently a likely future candidate for Prime Minister. At 37 he is the same age as his Rajiv Gandhi was when Rajiv first started his political career. If Rahul succeeds in becoming Prime Minister, that would make him the fourth generation from his family to have held the top leadership post, something I believe would be a record for any democracy.

India’s obviously not the only country with a political dynasty. The United States has two examples where a father and son held the Presidency in over 200 years: John Adams (2) and John Quincy Adams (6); George H.W. Bush (41) and George W. Bush (43).

There are other dynasties in the American Congress or in various governors’ offices. Just off the top of my head I know there were two generations of Gores, two generations of Dodds, and three generations of Kennedys in Congress (although more than three Kennedys in those generations).

Outside the US, Pakistan has two generations of Bhuttos, Bangladesh had Rahman and Sheikh Hasina, and Indonesia has had Sukarno and Sukarnoputri. I’m sure there are others.

Still, we’re talking about 3 generations of Gandhis as PM in a mere 40 years, and the possibility of a fourth generation being raised within 60 years. It reflects quite poorly on the quality of India’s institutions. What does it say that Congress thinks Rahul will give it an advantage in the next elections, despite his poor political showing in UP where he got schooled by the BSP?

Does the Congress party have such poor politicians that the best repeatedly come from a single family? It’s clearly not genetic because the PM’s position had been offered to Sonia, who was a Nehru by blood, not birth.

It must be the name, but does the party have so little to offer that they have to ride on name recognition alone? If so, what will happen if Rahul’s cousin Varun runs for office? Could there be a Gandhi as PM under the BJP?

Lastly, why Rahul and not Priyanka? Rahul left Harvard, and may not have finished at Cambridge or kept his job as a management consultant at Monitor [Link]. Priyanka was the charismatic sibling, and the one everybody thought would enter politics. Does India only want Nehru women if there are no Nehru men to be had?

Somebody really should remind both Hollywood and the Congress party of the danger of sequels. Police Academy 4 anyone?.

ennis at 10:47 PM in Photos · 197 comment(s) · Direct link

September 10, 2007

More fun than a highway full of monkeys.

If it’s Monday, it must mean that it is time to caption a vaguely funny photograph. Yes? Yes.

Please be nice, children. Akka doesn’t know what was in the “Bohemian lemonade” she had at Subcontinental Drift last night, and now her head hurts, despite several liters of water and two rapid-release tylenol. Shhhh. Be good. Caption quietly. And if you can hit the lightswitch on your way out, I’d be sooo grateful. ;)

Regarding the picture, which I ganked from the BBC…read on:

On the Jammu-Srinagar highway in India people feeding the local monkeys has become a real problem. The animals now swarm towards vehicles, causing many road accidents.

Previous editions of captioning fun: ein, zwei, drei, vier, funf, sex…yes, I know I counted in German last time, but I’m easily amused by the fact that the word for six, “sechs”, sounds like…well, you know. That and I’m not sure we decided what the proper spelling of “ein/eins” is. Yenjoy!

anna at 02:20 PM in Photos · 53 comment(s) · Direct link

September 04, 2007

Unleash Your Inner-Joan Rivers

One of you kind souls, who wishes to remain anonymous, sent me this picture of “India’s Brangelina”, because you were hoping we might play The Caption Game with it (ji, thanks!). Absosmurfly! What better way to draw off-topic commentary away from the Maximum Nerdery thread? ;)

Without further ado, let’s get snarky. To the left we see Abhishek Bachan and his bride strutting down the red carpet at Cannes.

Most of you are aware that Aishwarya is sometimes known by the unwieldy acronym TMBWITW. Well, now that she is part of a pair, I propose that her hubby get an acronym, too. It’s only fair, right? Damnit, I don’t want to propagate the hegemony of the pasty. Err, I meant…it’s only dark? Whatever.

How about TMFHITW? I’m sure you can guess what the third and fourth letters stand for, but in case you haven’t had two cups of coffee like I have, I’ll spare you from wondering— FH = fugly hair.

Unless your name is Esthappan and you’re rocking a puff, COMB YOUR HAIR. I’m guessing Abhishek get it from his Mama? Big Daddy Amitabh’s tresses seem a bit more manageable. Anyway, the entire point of this debacle of a post is to offer you tired, grumpy, three-day-weekend-missing mutineers a chance to play the caption game! You know how we do, and if you don’t, check out previous editions: ein, zwei, drei, vier, funf…

So, just what is Aish saying? What is her spouse thinking? Why are there suddenly so many Tamil people on SM? The answers to all this and more, will most probably not be found below, not that you’re disappointed at that. Now get to captioning!

anna at 12:40 PM in Humor, Photos · 264 comment(s) · Direct link

August 15, 2007

Intel's "slave ship" in Indian harbor

This print advertisement by Intel has been causing quite a stir of late [via Huffington Post]. It seems to convey the idea that owning an Intel chip will help you tackle the same amount of work as you could with a ship of slaves (while making you feel powerful):

I almost fell out of my seat when I saw Intel’s new advertising campaign. It shows six bowing African American athletes before a chino-clad, oxford-shirted white manager with the slug: “Maximize the power of your employees.” This ad reminds me of a slave-ship, and it’s hard to imagine the same imagery did not come to mind for the savvy ad exec that created it…

Intel is not just promoting insensitive images, it’s also leading a signature drive for a California ballot measure that would eliminate class action lawsuits over civil rights issues. Intel’s board of directors have been sent 25,000 faxes calling upon the company to withdraw that pending ballot measure. [Link]

There is also a YouTube clip capturing some people’s reaction to this ad:

Here is the even more interesting part. When the ad was printed in Indian print media they replaced the white dude with a very light skinned Indian “massa’”:

It should be noted that Intel has apologized for and withdrawn these ads, but seeing the same ad in two different cultural contexts does reiterate just how much the idea of “white” putting black to work was a central part of the perceived “effectiveness” of this campaign. It’s rare that you are able to so completely unmask the subtle bigotry of many advertising campaigns.

abhi at 11:39 PM in Business, Issues, Photos, Science and Technology · 277 comment(s) · Direct link

August 14, 2007

DC SMeetup: a Tardy Writeup of Lucky no. 7

Those who are persistent eventually defeat even the steeliest resolve to procrastinate. I keed. DC’s last meetup was massive and most definitely fun. We descended upon Amma like a Mongol horde, pillaging every bit of delicious Southie food we spied. Oh, wait…the Mongols ate North Indian foo-…never mind.

Amma made like old skool Vanessa and went and saved the best for last— even though he wasn’t there, YoDad arranged dessert for everyone at the meetup. We gobbled gulab jamuns, much to our collective surprise and delight, thanks to his thoughtful planning. New York may have the cool factor, SF may be hipster heaven, but DC has Abhi’s father, a.k.a. the Grandfather of the Mutiny. Take THAT, other cities!

And now, the moment one of you named No Desh has been waiting for: tabla roll, please…the Flickr photoset for D.C.’s seventh meetup has been hurriedly finished (i.e. the pics were split between two cameras, and for the last 20 mins, I was frantically DLing two dozen files, only to immediately upload them to the “official album”).

All evidence which could destroy potential Senate campaigns is available for your amusement via this “public” link. Aw, come on, people…it’s only six weeks late. Unless you’re a girl and in college, that’s never a huge problem. ;)

SM Meetups in DC— hot like your Amma’s meen kari, ya heard?

anna at 07:15 PM in Humor, Meetups!, Photos · 71 comment(s) · Direct link

Watch out now!

Oh, we zimbly HAVE to play the caption game with the picture below. It was thoughtfully submitted via a tip to our news tab from Msichana (thanks!)

Granny, get your gun: Ladies of the Village Defense Committee squeeze off a few AK-47 bursts during training by the Indian army in Sariya, India. [SFgate]

I don’t mean to make light of serious issues like empowering women or self defense and I wish I didn’t have to explicitly declare that in my post, but there you go, in case you needed me to do so. Having reluctantly typed all that, I will return to the gleeful state I was in when I first gazed at this— what a capture! Now you all caption away. :)

Previous editions of caption-palooza: onnu, rendu, moonu, naalu…

anna at 04:57 PM in Humor, Photos, Short · 84 comment(s) · Direct link

July 24, 2007

Behold: Toronto's Swaminarayan Mandir

Click to enlarge.

Several of you have written to us regarding the grand opening of Canada’s Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha Shri Swaminarayan Mandir (that was fun to type!). The pictures, which you can view in a slideshow here, are gorgeous. Were any Canadian mutineers there on July 22? If so, please let us know, below.

After 18 months of construction and millions in fundraising efforts, a one-of-a-kind Hindu temple opened Sunday in Toronto.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper was on-hand to celebrate the official unveiling of the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir.

Harper said the $40 million architectural marvel represents India’s and Canada’s embracement of spiritual and ethnic pluralism.

“Canada’s accommodation of diversity is not without precedent,” Harper said, addressing a large crowd.

“There have been forerunners — and of these perhaps none is as note-worthy as India.”

Located at Hwy 427 and Finch Avenue in north-west Toronto, the temple is an architectural masterpiece. Built with Turkish limestone and Italian marble, the temple was built by artisans armed with chisels, hammers and ancient Hindu doctrine outlining how a holy place should be constructed. [CTV.ca]

By the numbers:

-24,000: the number of pieces sculpted in India, marked with a barcode and then reassembled to create the mandir.

-July 22, 2007: official opening

-$40 million: cost of construction, majority of which came from the community

-400: the number of volunteers who devoted their time to such an awesome project.

::

As giddy as such architectural perfection makes me, my inner %$#@< is wondering if Dubya would have made like Harper, had this mandir been constructed somewhere in this great nation…

anna at 06:15 PM in News, Photos, Religion · 159 comment(s) · Direct link

July 23, 2007

Rice, rice baby...

Said Vishal on our News Tab:

Not a story this, but…A farmer passes bunches of paddy to another to sow in a field at Kunwarpur village near Allahabad on Saturday, July 21, 2007. Beautiful. Courtesy : Hindustan Times.

Hey, it’s okay that it isn’t a “story”; it’s an evocative photograph and you know what THAT means— it’s time to play caption that picture! Have at it, Mutineers. :)

Previous editions of the game: onnu, randu, moonnu, naalu. (I’m always struck by how different those are from ek, do, teen, char…)

anna at 12:15 PM in Photos · 63 comment(s) · Direct link

June 22, 2007

Touchdown

Sunita Williams has returned safely to Earth after setting the record for the longest time in space by a woman.

Praying for a safe Earth entry

“Welcome back,” Mission Control told Atlantis. “Congratulations on a great mission.” Controllers praised the crew for providing a “stepping stone to the rest of NASA’s exploration plan…”

Astronaut Sunita “Suni” Williams returned to Earth on Atlantis after spending more than six months at the space station. She set an endurance record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman at 195 days. During her stay, she also set the record for most time spacewalking by a woman. [Link]

More cute pictures after the fold.

“Willeums” :)

abhi at 05:33 PM in News, Photos, Science and Technology · 40 comment(s) · Direct link

May 30, 2007

It wasn't me

Paranoia or Art? Bangladeshi American Hasan Elahi has decided to pre-emptively prove to the FBI (or any other shady wire-tapping federal agencies) that he is not, cannot possibly be, has never been, a terrorist. In order to do so he is doing the FBI’s job for them (quite convincingly):

Hasan Elahi whips out his Samsung Pocket PC phone and shows me how he’s keeping himself out of Guantanamo. He swivels the camera lens around and snaps a picture of the Manhattan Starbucks where we’re drinking coffee. Then he squints and pecks at the phone’s touchscreen. “OK! It’s uploading now,” says the cheery, 35-year-old artist and Rutgers professor, whose bleached-blond hair complements his fluorescent-green pants. “It’ll go public in a few seconds.” Sure enough, a moment later the shot appears on the front page of his Web site, TrackingTransience.net.

There are already tons of pictures there. Elahi will post about a hundred today — the rooms he sat in, the food he ate, the coffees he ordered. Poke around his site and you’ll find more than 20,000 images stretching back three years. Elahi has documented nearly every waking hour of his life during that time. He posts copies of every debit card transaction, so you can see what he bought, where, and when. A GPS device in his pocket reports his real-time physical location on a map.

Elahi’s site is the perfect alibi. Or an audacious art project. Or both. The Bangladeshi-born American says the US government mistakenly listed him on its terrorist watch list — and once you’re on, it’s hard to get off. To convince the Feds of his innocence, Elahi has made his life an open book. [Link]

Ok, I’ll be honest. The first thing I thought of was whether or not this project is helping Elahi’s love life. I mean, I could just imagine some girl coming up to him and saying, “Wow, isn’t it funny how we just keep running in to each other like this? Must be fate!” (Abhi curses himself for not thinking of this first). Elahi’s logic for starting the project is flawless:

The government monitors your movements, but it gets things wrong. You can monitor yourself much more accurately. Plus, no ambitious agent is going to score a big intelligence triumph by snooping into your movements when there’s a Web page broadcasting the Big Mac you ate four minutes ago in Boise, Idaho… [Link]

In somewhat related news, Google Maps today unveiled a new feature called “Street View:”

This morning Google gave their 2D maps an incredible realworld addition. Its a street-view, that in certain cities, will let you get a street side view of the area you are currently in. This is not just a static, A9-style image. It will also let you move along the street in a smooth manner and even more amazing it will let you change your angle and continue moving that way. This will be formally launched at Where 2.0 later today. [Link]

I’ve been playing with it all day to see if I can figure out what that one cute chick is doing (and to make sure she isn’t a terrorist). However, I guess some oversensitive people are a bit, ummm, perturbed by the feature:

The new Google Maps zoom feature zooms all the way into my living room window. See cat on cat perch.

I’m all for mapping, but this feature literally gives me the shakes. I feel like I need to close all my curtains now. I’m going to look into whether it’s possible for a person to have pictures of their home removed from Google Maps. [Link]

I’ve been telling Ennis for a while now that we need to get curtains for our North Dakota blogging headquarters. I wonder if India is going to flip over this too?

abhi at 10:49 PM in Art, News, Photos · 15 comment(s) · Direct link

May 21, 2007

The Unsinkable Monty Brown

Like Tori and some rather old rodents (oh, like any of you are old enough to remember them), “I don’t like Mondays”. I thought you might feel similarly about today; if so, then perhaps you, too, will find this picture irresistibly smile-provoking. Marinate in the exuberance:

England’s Monty Panesar (R) celebrates with Ian Bell after dismissing the West Indies’ Corey Collymore during the fourth day of their first test cricket match at Lord’s in London May 20, 2007.

Now if you wanted to play our favorite caption game with this photograph, I don’t think anyone would object to such fun. And finally, to all the patient-with-a-novice, possibly-in-withdrawal cricket heads out in Sepia-land…I told you I was no fair-weather-padawan. :)

anna at 12:12 PM in Photos, Short, Sports · 36 comment(s) · Direct link

May 15, 2007

When life hands you lemons...

Former SM blogger Apul tipped us off to the fact that Menton, France has a lemon festival every year (this year’s was back in February):

The Lemon Festival is a celebration of all things related to the small yellow fruit.

Menton is the lemon capital of the Cote d’Azur and is very popular with both locals and tourists.

Large constructions and floats that are made mostly of lemons parade down the streets.

Everyday throughout the festival these sculptures can seen around the town and sometimes include popular cartoon characters. [Link]

The theme this year was India:

What might have happened if Shah Jahan’s love for Mumtaz had soured with age…

If I tried to meditate in front of this the thought of lemonade would prevent me from reaching nirvana (and be sacrilegious).

A long hot rikshaw ride across Ahmedabad suddenly seems like it could be made more refreshing.

abhi at 09:35 PM in Photos · 30 comment(s) · Direct link

May 09, 2007

Who's That Girl? The SEQUEL!

So Sree emailed me a grin-inducing link to the SAJAforum blog, where once again they are trying to…

test the “all desis know each other” theory and see if one of you can identify this model. [linkaya]

While the Microsoft billboard which inspired our original WTG post is apparently gone, there is no need to mourn the thrill of emulating Scooby-Doo while we attempt to solve a mystery. You see mutineers, we have ANOTHER model to play Kevin Bacon with!

…yesterday, as I walked into the Apple Store on Fifth Avenue and 59th St with my wife and kids, we were greeted by the poster (above)…Come on, folks, let’s ID her and give the theory a second chance.[linkaya]

Sree was basically asking the Mutiny if we were “in” when he sent me that GMail. I was all like, “Oh, we’re HELLA in!”, except I didn’t say that since I’m the only Northern Californian who refuses to hella anything.

I was actually surprised that we didn’t figure out who Miss Office ‘07 was. Our failure to discover her name (and alma mater, hobbies, biodata etc) shook my faith in the previously unchallenged idea which insisted that even though we Brownz might number a million+ here in Amreeka, none of us is more than two degrees apart, especially when super-friendsters like Shail exist. Two degrees, y’all. If it’s not true, then Aunties have terrifying powers of omniscience.

Anyway, I love how last time, the unidentified smiling desi was a model for Office ‘07— a.k.a. poo— and this time, our brownette is reppin’ the maker of my beloved iBook. Ah, I’m easily amused, except by stupidity, so please, just like last time, no comments on skin color, weight, caste or anything else unnecessary, okay? Thanks.

anna at 12:02 AM in Humor, Photos, Short · 104 comment(s) · Direct link

May 03, 2007

Do you know the importance of a skypager?

I know I should probably save this for either Sunday or Monday, when you are all hung over, exhausted, grumpy or all of the above, but I am in a playful mood and can’t resist.

According to an Anonymous Tipster on our news tab, picture number four in Fortune magazine’s online exhibit of photographs which starred in an offline exhibit in Manhattan entitled, “Fortune Celebrates India” is “awesome”. I wholeheartedly concur with that sentiment; I couldn’t stop smiling after seeing the image to the left. What a fantastic capture!

These pictures got some well-deserved (especially in this case) attention in preparation for the 10th Fortune Global Forum, which will be held in New Delhi later this fall. But none of this matters, because you are all well aware of why I have posted this picture. Wot? You have no idea? Of course you do! That’s right ladkas and ladkis…it’s time to play the “caption” game.

While the two desis in this photo aren’t as glamorous as Karan Johar and Preity Zinta, the stars of our last episode, I find them infinitely more interesting. :)

How ‘bout you? Leave your impressions of what’s going on in the comments below. If you’d rather see the rest of the photographs in the exhibit— I believe there are almost two dozen— click here. And if you want to suggest pictures for future editions of the caption game, then click here. And if you want further relief from ennui, deadlines or constipation…well, I have nothing for you to click (thanggawd!).

anna at 10:01 AM in Humor, Photos, Tech · 53 comment(s) · Direct link

April 29, 2007

KJ + TMBWITWBFF = ?

“Original” Sonia posted a link to some new AbhishwaryaPalooza pics which proved that TMBWITW really was happy on her wedding day; O.S. (like OG, but so much more hard kaur) hooked us up via last week’s “caption game”-post, which featured a picture of the Bollyest bride and groom ever looking…interesting. Since you have affirmed your love of interpreting and misinterpreting photographs AND one of you swears the reason why Little B looked so forlorn at his shaadi was because his Koffee buddy wasn’t the one on the dais at his side (scandalous! meow!), I thought you catty kittens would take to this captured moment like it was Nepeta cataria.

So? What do you think is going on between Preity Zinta and Karan Johar in the image above? You might find it amusing to learn that I wouldn’t have been able to identify these two for you had Chic Mommy not helpfully pointed out who they were under where she posted this pic on her blog. Anyway, mutineers…start your hatin’ imaginatin’!

anna at 07:36 PM in Photos · 56 comment(s) · Direct link

April 23, 2007

Bewitched, Bothered or Bewildered...

…is Abhi? Not our Abhi of course, but the other Abhi, the one who vedded TMBWITW on Friday, as millions of far-less-fortunate people cursed his luck for snagging such a delicious piece of barfi [Thanks, Sushma :)] . Since you mutineers just loooove engaging in conjecture regarding what’s actually going on in random paintings in Indian restaurants, I thought you might also yenjoy deciding what on earth Big B’s little B was thinking at this moment.

While you do that, I’m going to try and give the outstanding, fifth DC SMeetup the sort of write-up it deserves. And after I do THAT I’m going to tell you why 80% of the people who read Perez Hilton deserve to be sterilized, lest they reproduce more racist idiots…

anna at 09:37 AM in Photos · 161 comment(s) · 2 reader(s) linked · 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

April 14, 2007

...but carry a big stick

Evil Abhi: Oh no. Not another f*cking cricket post. Just kill me now.

Abhi: Come on, don’t be so mean. Some SM readers actually like cricket.

Evil Abhi: Why? Unless you trying to save your rainless Indian village from the British Empire, cricket sucks.

Abhi: Dude, you need to chill. You are insulting a game loved by millions as well as its fans.

Evil Abhi: All these cricket posts are ruining our prrrecioussss blog.

Abhi: Ok fine. I’ll just post an interesting picture then. I know you’re cool with pretty pictures.

Evil Abhi: Oohhh, look at the hobbittses.

Abhi: Dude, Sri Lanka just whooped new Zealand.

Evil Abhi: Hit it brown. Hit it.

abhi at 09:50 PM in Humor, Photos, Sports · 85 comment(s) · Direct link

April 11, 2007

Who's That Girl?

I know this is highly random, but ever since I read the email Sree sent out via SAJA, I’ve been curious about “her”, too. That and I truly believe that every brown person in Amreeka is two degrees apart:

You know your wife indulges your South Asia obsessions when she calls you from a cab to alert you to a pretty desi woman on Broadway. A pretty, very tall desi woman - over 15 feet tall, actually. See the photos below to see who my wife called me about (it’s a billboard for Microsoft’s Office 2007 on Broadway between 50th and 49th Street in Manhattan, near Times Square). Now, let’s test the “all desis know each other” theory and see if one of you can identify this model. [SAJAforum]

Bigger picture of our mystery model after the jump. Click to enlarge both images. Or not.

Anyone know who this lovely is? Has she popped up elsewhere? Can we have a thread that doesn’t devolve in to retarded commentary regarding weight and skin color? PLEASE?

If you have to wax immature and vicious, aim that shit at Office 2007, which has brought me (and everyone else in my office) nothing but pain. Soooo not intuitive…

anna at 12:00 AM in Photos, Short · 139 comment(s) · Direct link

March 29, 2007

Just Say NO to Faux.

Sanjaya-kutta,

Why?

You make it so hard to cheer you on, when you do ugly things with your pretty, pretty tresses. It’s just not okay. At all. Don’t you care about the greater desi community? How will THEY be affected by your reckless decision to have bad hair? You represent our hopes and assimilative aspirations— be careful out there. We’re counting on you and if you fail, we will never forgive you. Ever. Unless you go to medical school.

Sanjaya Malakar performed “Bath Water.” Randy Jackson said “Listen, the hairdo is definitely interesting. I like the kind of Mohawk look.” Paula Abdul said “To watch it on stage and not go for it, it’s kind of like we’re going ah, come on.“ Simon Cowell said “I presume there was no mirror in your dressing room tonight.” Sanjaya replied “You’re just jealous that you couldn’t pull it off.” Simon said “I couldn’t I agree. Sanjaya, I don’t think it matters anymore what we say, actually. I genuinely don’t. I think you are in your own universe and if people like you, good luck.” [linkosity]

Still, I wish you only the best— I just do so with my eyes closed, until someone tells me it’s safe to open them again.

Sanjaya zindabad,

A K K A

anna at 05:18 PM in Fashion, Photos, Short, TV · 97 comment(s) · Direct link

March 19, 2007

A young life scarred by the love of cricket

Cricket mania in India has produced a new Indian superhero, ‘Sachin Tendulkar - the Master Blaster’:

India’s Sachin Tendulkar is set to appear as a superhero in a new range of comic books, animation and games. The cricketing legend has linked up with Virgin Comics and his character will wear body armour and wield a flaming cricket bat. [Link]

Ummmm …. guys? You’re not helping the rep of desi men any. He’s short, has a stiff bat on fire, and is associated with Virgin? Great … But wait, it gets even better:

… two years ago had a stage musical about him called Main Sachin Tendulkar [Link]

Just imagine little Rajiv, playing in an American sandbox with his Sachin Tendulkar action figure.

Joe: I’ve got a GI Joe! What’s that short geeky looking thing?
Rajiv: I’ve got a Sachin Tendulkar! He plays cricket!
Joe: GI Joe has a gun. See, he can shoot bad guys with it.
Rajiv: Sachin has a flaming cricket bat! And when I play, I sing songs from his musical. Isn’t he awesome?

Doesn’t Gotham Chopra know how many years of therapy poor Rajiv is going to have to pay for?

On the other hand, this I think is really cool. He’s flying 115 kites, strung together, with photos of the various members of the cricket team on each one. How could you get beat up in a sandbox for this?

ennis at 07:11 PM in Photos, Sports · 33 comment(s) · 1 reader(s) linked · Direct link

March 14, 2007

Purple Reign

Shilpa Shetty blah blah racism blah reality show winner blah. ;)

…Shilpa was in London to meet Elizabeth II at Commonweath Day on Monday, celebrated at Westminster Abbey.

The actress delivered a speech on — you guessed it — racism.

Shilpa — reportedly wearing an intricate purple velvet Tarun Tahiliani sherwani — curtseyed before the Queen, and then almost slipped in her high heels. Apparently Prince Philip smilingly told her to be careful about the shoes, averting the fall. [linkypoo]

In other news, yesterday, Pakistan should have stuck with spinners, but decided otherwise. ;)

In other other news, Since I don’t talk cricket walk cricket and laugh cricket, I have no clue what the previous statement involving Pakistan means. I’m just shamelessly flirting with all you cricket-fiends.

Finally, for those of you who might be wondering why on earth I posted this if I was obviously sooo not interested in it, it’s really just because I thought sherwanis were for boys and I wanted to consult my kitchen cabinet. Well?

anna at 01:21 AM in Fashion, Humor, Photos, Short · 41 comment(s) · Direct link

February 18, 2007

Gimme some o' that Hot Stuff

I bring to your attention two pictures taken yesterday near Ahmedabad, Gujarat. It’s a striking reminder as to the source of the deliciousness of Indian cuisine:

“Must remember to not touch my eyes…must remember to not touch my eyes…

And in related news:

India’s Bhut Jolokia chilli has been confirmed as the world’s hottest pepper by The Guinness Book of Records, a US researcher said.

Bhut Jolokia comes in at 1,001,304 Scoville heat units, a measure of hotness for a chilli. It is nearly twice as hot as Red Savina, the variety it replaces as the hottest. By comparison, an average jalapeno measures at about 10,000.

Paul Bosland, a regents professor at New Mexico State University, recalls taking a bite of the chilli pepper and feeling like he was breathing fire. He gulped down a soda, thinking, ”That chilli has got to be some kind of record.” [Link]

abhi at 12:01 PM in Photos · 26 comment(s) · 1 reader(s) linked · Direct link

January 28, 2007

Paging Bollywood Fugly

Before the blogosphere goes collectively gaga over Shilpa Shetty’s style and grace, I just want to show you one picture [Thanks Saheli!]

To get the full impact of the outfit, you really do have to click on it and go to the larger version.

I have no idea where to begin … never mind, when you’re a Bollywood star, you make your own rules.

And if you’re going to make a statement of personal style, why not shoot the moon?

p.s. what is it with Shetty and animal prints? Or is that too catty a question to ask?

ennis at 08:15 PM in Photos · 68 comment(s) · Direct link

January 17, 2007

Have yourself an orientalist Christmas!

I took this photo on January 3rd, in the train station in Granada, the day after the entire town celebrated the anniversary of the Reconquista in 1492. [It’s the one day of the year that anybody can ring the bells in the fortress portion of the Alhambra.] Needless to say, I was highly amused. It’s like the song “Do they know it’s Christmas” which was, at the time, the UKs best selling single ever. It assumes that a Sadhu and a Muslim Tuareg celebrate Christmas just because people in the west do. It’s Christmas-centrism!

ennis at 02:48 PM in Photos · 53 comment(s) · Direct link

January 13, 2007

Bait and switch

“Have you seen Nepal?” Apparently those words appeared at the bottom of a poster hanging on the wall of Royal Nepal Airlines’ offices in Delhi. The poster featured this lovely picture:

“Have you seen Nepal?” Apparently neither has Royal Nepal Airlines.

It took a sharp-eyed tourist from Peru to notice the obvious error and tattle to his countryman before the world was made aware of this sinister plot. To that tourist I can only say, “don’t hate the player, hate the game.”

“The airline … offered apologies to Peru for using the picture of the Machu Picchu Sanctuary on a poster to promote their country and assured that the lamentable error has been corrected,” the statement said.

“As a consequence, the Nepalese airline fired an employee in the rank of a manager … It is concluded that it was an isolated error,” it added. [Link]

I wish this news would have broken a week later! I’ve hiked to Machu Picchu and will be in Delhi next Saturday en route to Kathmandu, Nepal. What a coup it would have been to pose in front of this poster for the entertainment of SM readers (although perhaps “coup” is the wrong word in this context). I’m wondering if I can take a lot of pictures in Nepal and use them in a poster encouraging tourism in North Dakota where SM’s headquarters are based. By the way, do we have any Nepali readers in the house? Should we even consider a meet-up?

abhi at 10:07 AM in News, Photos, Travel · 19 comment(s) · Direct link

December 28, 2006

Sadhu Claus

I know this picture is a few days late but I could only get to it now. The question is will Hindu Nationalists see this as an assault against Hinduism or only an assault against fashion? Santa Claus comes to deliver gifts. Sadhu Claus comes asking for them.