http://www.sepiamutiny.com/sepia/ All that flavorful brownness in one savory packet 2009-07-03T13:38:56-05:00 http://www.sepiamutiny.com/sepia/archives/005847.html If you are in Los Angeles and looking for something to do this weekend, might I suggest getting caught in Carrie’s Web. Written and performed by Shyamala Moorty [of Post Natyam Collective], directed by D’Lo with video by Sangita Shresthova. Carrie, a body-conscious, high heel-loving spider is spinning out new moves when she inadvertently snares a young human woman who’s dealing with a terrible family secret. A fantastical web of entanglement is woven with classical and contemporary Indian dance and theater.[indiacurrents] I had the chance to check out the play a few weeks ago and was mesmerized by how ... Theater taz 2009-07-03T13:38:56-05:00 http://www.sepiamutiny.com/sepia/archives/005846.html A few months ago, in the middle of the Sonal Shah controversy, I wrote a blog post criticizing Vijay Prashad’s The Karma of Brown Folk as a somewhat inadequate historical account of the Indian-American community. The example I focused on was the “Yankee Hindutva” chapter, which I thought was unbalanced and prone to cast aspersions rather than actually illuminate the topic at hand. But other chapters in Prashad’s book have similar problems: Prashad’s book is more a critique of the “desi” community in the U.S. than it is an introduction to it: we are too bourgeois (the “model minority” myth), ... History amardeep 2009-07-03T12:51:47-05:00 http://www.sepiamutiny.com/sepia/archives/005845.html Guess what? Ennis and I are going to hang out and we want you to come. When: 5-7 p.m. Sunday, July 5 Where: Leela Lounge Come one, come all. Lurkers, commenters, friends, associates… There will be a special surprise attendee. ... Meetups! V.V. 2009-07-03T12:39:21-05:00 http://www.sepiamutiny.com/sepia/archives/005844.html I'll admit to not following the recently concluded Sri Lankan civil war very closely but other SM bloggers have been. Still, I found this interview with noted Atlantic Monthly correspondent Robert Kaplan quite enlightening about many aspects of the conflict. Kaplan is noted for his relatively unorthodox approach to understanding conflict and in discussing Sri Lanka, he comes out swinging - MJT: So you just got back from Sri Lanka. What did you see there? What did you learn? Kaplan: The biggest takeaway fact about the Sri Lankan war that's over now is that the Chinese won. And the Chinese ... vinod 2009-07-02T15:56:56-05:00 http://www.sepiamutiny.com/sepia/archives/005843.html Finally, the law has changed. Congrats to at the activists in India that made it happen! Our hats off to you. In a landmark ruling Thursday that could usher in an era of greater freedom for gay men and lesbians in India, New Delhi’s highest court decriminalized homosexuality. “Discrimination is antithesis of equality,” the judges of the Delhi High Court wrote in a 105-page decision that is the first in India to directly guarantee rights for gay people. “It is the recognition of equality which will foster dignity of every individual,” the decision said.Homosexuality has been illegal in India since ... News abhi 2009-07-02T08:54:18-05:00 http://www.sepiamutiny.com/sepia/archives/005842.html I was doing some research this morning on an unrelated topic, when I randomly came across the name Gauhar Jaan, one of the great recording artists in India from the first years of the 20th century. Gauhar Jaan is thought to have sung on the very first recording of a song ever made in India, in 1902. Here is what she sang: Get this widget | Track details | eSnips Social DNA It’s a kind of Hindustani classical song called a “khayal,” sung, I gather, in Raag Jogiya. At the end of it she says, famously, “My name is Gauhar ... Music amardeep 2009-07-01T12:07:08-05:00 http://www.sepiamutiny.com/sepia/archives/005841.html Amitav Ghosh’s Sea of Poppies is a remarkable novel, complex and challenging enough to test even the most experienced reader and historian, but relatable and powerful enough to touch someone who solely appreciates a great story. Dickensian in its scope and power, the story follows riveting characters from all origins as they navigate the complex contours of 1830’s opium-ridden India, a land where the weight of history lies heavily, yet identities are transformed overnight. Warning: Some plot details are included! If you are going to read the book (which you should), read the rest of the review afterwards ... Fiction Ravi 2009-06-30T13:03:28-05:00 http://www.sepiamutiny.com/sepia/archives/005840.html The other day, my wife and her parents picked up a film called “Hum Phirr Mileinge” (sic) from our local Indian store, apparently without reading the blurb on the back. Just to be clear, I have not altered the following in any way. I just ran it through the scanner, compressed it a little so as not to crash the site, and posted it for you: If you’re having trouble reading it, never fear; the text is plagiarized verbatim from a Oneindia.in web review. And here is a short excerpt in case you’re too lazy to click: To put it ... Humor amardeep 2009-06-28T22:59:56-05:00 http://www.sepiamutiny.com/sepia/archives/005838.html Tonight, some of us in the bunker are feeling a bit shell shocked by the news of Michael Jackson’s death. Rajni in particular is taking it quite hard. She was a huge fan and had spent years learning to moonwalk which is actually pretty hard for a monkey. There was a lot of love for Michael Jackson across South Asia, leading to things like this (Kollywood Tollywood) restaging of one of MJ’s greatest music videos: And we’ve shared this Bhanga/Breakdancing mashup version of Thriller (set to Tigerstyle’s Nachna Onda Nei) before: ... Music ennis 2009-06-25T22:47:24-05:00 http://www.sepiamutiny.com/sepia/archives/005837.html Michael Muhammad Knight, who had a pretty rough childhood in upstate New York, converted to Islam as a teenager. He came from an Irish Catholic background, but partly under the influence of Malcolm X and black nationalist Islam, and partly simply as a result of his own idiosyncratic spiritual leanings, he took the Shahadah at age 16, and changed his name to Mikail Muhammad. He traveled to Pakistan to study Islam at the Faisal Mosque in Islamabad, under the guidance of Muslim intellectuals he first knew in the U.S. With a convert’s enthusiasm and zeal, he was as a teenager ... Religion amardeep 2009-06-25T13:34:16-05:00