http://www.sepiamutiny.com/sepia/ All that flavorful brownness in one savory packet 2010-09-05T12:12:43-05:00 http://www.sepiamutiny.com/sepia/archives/006310.html Hey tennis fans, have you been paying attention to the nice run by Indian Rohan Bopanna and his Pakistani doubles partner Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi at the U.S. Open in New York [thanks for the tip, Abe]? Can I get a “South Asia, represent” from the crowd? Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi looked around the perimeter of the court Tuesday and saw what he’d hoped for. They were sitting together. Pakistanis and Indians, blurred along the bleachers, one just like the other. They were clapping for the same thing. Cheering in unison… “There was a lot of Pakistanis and Indians in the crowd cheering ... Sports abhi 2010-09-05T12:12:43-05:00 http://www.sepiamutiny.com/sepia/archives/006309.html It started to drizzle as I waited for Tasneem on the Santa Monica Pier early on a July summer day. I couldn’t believe it. It never rains in Southern California but here it was, middle of summer and it had started to rain. Luckily, by the time Tasneem arrived, guitar and all, it had turned into a beautiful day for a ferris wheel ride. Tasneem, otherwise known as Jungli, is back for a brand new edition with a whole new sound. A New York transplant to California, she’s taken the coastal change and reinvented herself and her singer-songwriter sound into ... Music taz 2010-09-05T01:01:01-05:00 http://www.sepiamutiny.com/sepia/archives/006308.html One month after monsoon rains caused flooding in the northern mountains, relief efforts were still in emergency mode. On Sunday, the Indus River, surging at 40 times its normal volume, breached levees near the southern city of Sujawal. Evidence is growing that the river’s path of destruction has stunted, if not annihilated, social and economic systems across Pakistan.The effects, from increased hunger to obliterated schools, are likely to force Pakistan and the United States - which last fall earmarked billions of dollars in aid to build up Pakistan’s civilian government - to retool their development plans… Unlike the deadly ... News abhi 2010-09-01T00:50:22-05:00 http://www.sepiamutiny.com/sepia/archives/006307.html [Amitava Kumar and Lorraine Adams will be in conversation today, August 27, at 6.30 PM at the Aicon Gallery in New York City. Admission is free.] I have just received a letter from a man in prison. His name is Hemant Lakhani. Lakhani was a women’s clothing salesman who, in 2005, was convicted of selling an Igla missile to an FBI informant posing as a member of a jihadist organization. Lakhani is one of the people I write about in my new book A Foreigner Carrying in the Crook of His Arm A Tiny Bomb. He learned about the ... Art Amitava 2010-08-27T14:49:50-05:00 http://www.sepiamutiny.com/sepia/archives/006306.html The September 14th Democratic Primary in New York City could be the make or break date for Reshma Saujani’s bid for Congress. And of course, what is the biggest issue at the polls these days? The few-blocks-away-from-Ground Zero-Islamic-community-center. There’s nothing smooth about the infighting for the Congressional seat from the so-called “Silk Stocking District” on the Upper East side, where 18-year Democratic incumbent Rep. Carolyn Maloney, 64, is facing a primary election challenge from upstart Reshma Saujani, 34, an eight-year resident of the city who is making her first bid for elected office. the two both support the right of ... Politics taz 2010-08-27T14:01:36-05:00 http://www.sepiamutiny.com/sepia/archives/006305.html This Sunday I had the distinct pleasure of seeing Brownstar’s “Faster than the Speed of White” at the NYC Fringe Festival. There are two remaining performances, today from 3:45-4:55 PM and tomorrow from 8:45 to 9:55 and if you’re in NYC you really should go see them. Brownstar is a theatrical performance duo, comprised of NORTHSTAR (Pushkar Sharma) and SOUTHSTAR (Sathya Sridharan). Their style is a hybrid of improv sketch comedy, like the Second City troupe, old school spoken word, and Hip Hop. This is not your parents South Asian theater by a long shot. [See our earlier post ... Arts and Entertainment ennis 2010-08-25T13:28:01-05:00 http://www.sepiamutiny.com/sepia/archives/006304.html You know the great art of stripper pole dancing that we see performed at the local gentleman’s club? Turns out everything-is-from-India-Uncle could be right… pole dancing it turns out IS from India. Watch and thank me in the comments (thanks Sushil). I mean… did you see when he….. how did he….. what the heck……? Did that hurt??? Mallakhamb was introduced as a supporting exercise for wrestlers. “Pole mallakhamb” was started by Balambhattdada Deodhar sometime between 1800 and 1810. The mallakhamb pole used in competitions is a straight pole made of teak or sheesham wood, standing 2.6 metres (8.5 ft) in ... Memes taz 2010-08-24T03:52:53-05:00 http://www.sepiamutiny.com/sepia/archives/006303.html He won his Democratic primary election for his bid for Congress by only 672 votes, affirming the importance of “every vote counts.” But that’s only half the fight as Election Day on November 2nd is only two months away. Manan Trivedi is a doctor, a policy analyst, an Iraq veteran and… my former classmate at UCLA. I was excited to see him at Netroots Nation, even if it was only for a day - he had to fly back to DC to sit on an IALI panel with Jay Sean. Manan was generous enough to give me a few minutes ... Video taz 2010-08-23T09:57:27-05:00 http://www.sepiamutiny.com/sepia/archives/006302.html As many of you know, last month I got the chance to attend Netroots Nation 2010. It was the fifth annual gathering and I was graciously a recipient of one of the scholarships given out by Democracy for America. It was an amazing conference of about over 2,000 progressives, politicos and internet social media moguls. And of course, bloggers. You can read about my experience on my blog (Part 1 and Part 2). The whole time I was there, I couldn’t help but play “desi-spotting.” At first I felt a little weird about it, but seeing as how I was ... Video taz 2010-08-22T10:37:31-05:00 http://www.sepiamutiny.com/sepia/archives/006301.html Does America Have a Muslim Problem? …Islamophobia in the U.S. doesn’t approach levels seen in other countries where Muslims are in a minority. But to be a Muslim in America now is to endure slings and arrows against your faith — not just in the schoolyard and the office but also outside your place of worship and in the public square, where some of the country’s most powerful mainstream religious and political leaders unthinkingly (or worse, deliberately) conflate Islam with terrorism and savagery. In France and Britain, politicians from fringe parties say appalling things about Muslims, but there’s no ... Religion abhi 2010-08-22T02:47:33-05:00