Alankrita doesn’t understand why a democratic nation would want to impose a dress code:
The veil , however confuses me. I find the basic idea of covering up to prevent others from getting tempted, unadulterated nonsense. But there are those who choose to. I might find that choice stupid, or ill-informed or even regressive. But then [...]
Archive for the 'Culture' Category
Unveiling martyrs
Published by June 23rd, 2009 in Culture, Human Rights, Racism, Religion, Secularism, Women and World. 0 CommentsAdnan learns about the tradition of chillas:
I was surprised and asked him to wait for a while so that I could take a look at the chilla. The gate had ‘Ya Ghaus dastgir‘ written in nastaliq Urdu. I sensed that it was Sufi-inspired shrine a la mazaar though of a different kind.
And there were dozens [...]
Anuraanan doesn’t resonate with Banno:
“But why does resonance happen only between two intellectual souls? Why can’t Amit and Nandita resonate? Why does the businessman necessarily have to be unfeeling towards nature? Or relationships? Why can’t the poetry spouting architect actually be cold and cruel to his wife, as in many instances of real life? Why [...]
The terrorist in Hindi cinema
Published by June 17th, 2009 in Cinema, Culture, Geopolitics, Government, Human Rights, Politics, Prejudice, Religion, Society, South Asia, Terrorism and Violence. 0 CommentsPurdah is trying to figure out ‘the shifting figure of the terrorist in the Hindi language film industry’:
The military events at Kargil in 1999 launched a slew of Indo-Pakistan war films. A few were romance films on patriotic steroids like Anil Sharma’s Gadar: Ek Prem Katha, Yash Chopra’s Veer-Zaara, and Kunal Kohli’s bizarre Fanaa. The [...]
K.P.Girija ponders on merit:
Equality always deflects from diversity. One can’t be equal by being different from the prevailing social norms; one needs to disown certain cultural differences at least temporarily in order to be equal. In this way, equality (though indirectly) demands a kind of homogeneity which makes the promise of equality hollow and unattainable. [...]
‘Because I wanted SRK’s Ikea furniture’
Published by June 15th, 2009 in Cinema, Culture, India and World. 1 CommentVicki’s story of how she grew to love Indian and South Asian culture:
It’s no secret to anyone who knows me that I love all things Indian. I love saris, chapatis, rotis, and Saif Ali Khans. I can’t say for sure when this began, but I think it was around the time I saw DDLJ on [...]
Women and their place
Published by June 11th, 2009 in Culture, Development, Patriarchy, Society, South Asia and Women. 0 CommentsSarah Sanyahumbi meets some self-help groups in Nepal and is witness to an incident which really underlined again for her ‘the position that many women have in society’:
And then something happened which has really stuck in my mind: I asked about safety, as the Terai can be a very dangerous place with criminal gangs controlling [...]
Viswanathan meets a popular radio show hostess in Buenos Aires who “feels at home” in India:
So I met Daisy May Queen last week . I found that she not only says Namaste but means it seriously and sincerely. Daisy May Queen told me ¨It is the Divya in me which says Namaste ¨ She has [...]
If you are simmering in the hot Hyderabad heat, go and read Navin’s post about the various street-side delicacies that might just have the right cure for you:
A goli soda comes in a green bottle, and is sealed by a glass marble (the eponymous ‘goli’). The marble has to be pushed in to open the [...]
Kamala Das, RIP
Published by May 31st, 2009 in Books, Culture, Literature, Patriarchy, Poetry, Society and Women. 1 CommentGift him all,
Gift him what makes you woman,
The scent of
Long hair, the musk of sweat between
The breasts.
The warm shock of menstrual blood
And all your
Endless female hungers. Oh, yes,
Getting a man to love is easy but living
Without him afterwards may have to be faced.
Don Suseelan remembers Kamala Das:
Madhavikutty, Kamala Das, Amy, Kamala Suarayya. Each equally hated [...]
‘..sensitivity of the local populace’
Published by May 30th, 2009 in Culture, India, North East, Prejudice, Racism and Women. 3 CommentsJune talks about racism in India:
In Bombay, racism manifested itself in ‘CHINA’ carved on my door- this in the posh Pali Hill neighbourhood, home to the rich and famous. At business meetings, people would ignore me and talk to my assistants, on realisation that I was the boss, their faces would first drop with surprise [...]
Film Telangana 2009
Published by May 29th, 2009 in Culture, Development, Globalisation, History, Human Rights, India, Language and Politics. 1 CommentInteresting site, seems to have been started to co-ordinate a film contest for short films on Telangana Culture, Resources, Issues, Places, People, History & Struggles, which is scheduled to end on 31st May, 2009. Some interesting films have been submitted. I liked the page Telangaanam which features clips with popular ballads by Yadagiri, Suddala Hanumanthu, [...]
Check the inaugural issue of Wide Screen, ‘a peer-reviewed, open access journal’ devoted to the ‘critical study of cinema from historical, theoretical, political, and aesthetic perspectives’.
The Carvakas
Published by May 25th, 2009 in Culture, History, India, Literature, Religion and Secularism. 0 CommentsNamit Arora throws some light on the Carvakas, the tradition of materialistic thought in ancient India:
According to the Carvaka, the soul is only the body qualified by intelligence. It has no existence apart from the body, only this world exists, there is no beyond—the Vedas are a cheat; they serve to make men submissive through [...]
Over at Desicritics, Sumanth calls upon men to question the traditional role of males in society, following the Supreme Court’s recent verdict that the wife is always right.
Men have to take some time out of IPL, workplace gossip, CNBC and International politics, to come down to smaller issues of life. They have to create some [...]
‘The Shan sines again’
Published by May 19th, 2009 in Culture, Democracy, General Elections 2009, Government, History, Language and Politics. 0 CommentsRama says the Shan sines again in Bengal:
It took 32 years for the ghost of Siddhartha Shankar Roy to be buried, and for the self-destructive negativism underlying much of life in Bengal to be set aside. Bengal has rejoined the national mainstream. It has been part of a national wave, and played a significant part [...]
All this hustle and bustle
Published by May 11th, 2009 in Culture, Environment, Health, India, Misc, Society and Spotlight Series. 2 Comments[ This is Essay No. 38 in our Spotlight Series. Click here for the archives.]
All this hustle and bustle
by Usha
———–
As a nation we seem to have great tolerance for noise. It is silence that makes us uneasy. 25 years ago our neighbourhood was considered a suburban area and there were few houses and fewer [...]
A Window Into the Past
Published by May 10th, 2009 in Books, Culture, History and Society. 0 CommentsPlus Ultra posts an excerpt from the book “Sketches of India, written by an Officer for Fireside Travellers at Home”.
Published in 1821, it gives a fantastic description of the life and style of native in Madras at that time.
There is a group of native women returning to their houses with water : they are of [...]
Of soft rasogollas and deep fried burgers
Published by May 9th, 2009 in Culture, Food, Humour and Indiaspora. 0 CommentsRimi is in Boston. And a very long way away from Kolkata. Read her post for the amazing nostalgia of Bengali food and the culture shock of “authentic” American food, on her blog titled Sauce!:
But this sweetness of most things Oriental on the one hand, the deep-fried mayo-dipped burgers on the other, and the ridiculously [...]
From Nariman Point to China
Published by May 8th, 2009 in Culture, Society, South Asia and Travel. 0 CommentsMy friend, The Yellow Indian, is visiting Beijing. She has listed a lot of interesting observations:
- Saying ‘NO’ is disrespectful.
- Wearing pyjamas and night suits to go out is considered a sign of wealth and prosperity. In the olden days, the only people who could afford to wear pyjamas and night suits were the rich, [...]
We deserve it
Published by April 27th, 2009 in Culture, Democracy and General Elections 2009. 0 CommentsSameer says, with a 40% voter turnout in Pune, we deserve the kind of criminals we get as our government:
Well the question is open, but the one that probably needs to be anwered by all of us… all of us Indians.. Inspite of so much of crowding @ the Election booths pune only saw 40 [...]
Bangalore, shame shame
Published by April 27th, 2009 in Culture, Democracy and General Elections 2009. 0 CommentsWith only a 50% voter turnout in Bangalore, Deepak is very disappointed:
I am getting no words for those who were enjoying sitting/relaxing at their home, roaming or just ignoring. Today’s young generation out of which those who belong to corporate crowd, all days sit in AC buildings, roam around in luxury AC cars, eat the [...]
Literate city
Published by April 22nd, 2009 in Books, Culture, Law and order, Theory and Violence. 0 CommentsAn interesting argument at Rama’s blog- Rama’s friends react to a recent Amartya Sen theory that more book lovers means less crime in Kolkata:
To start with … there are crimes and crimes, various nuances and shades. If burglaries, rape and murder are cognizable crimes, what about nursing-home doctors fleecing their patients and botching up operations [...]
The Great Indian Circus
Published by March 31st, 2009 in Business, Caste, Culture, Dalit, General Elections 2009, History, Human Rights, India, Media, Politics, Religion, Secularism, Society and Women. 0 CommentsMaloy Krishna Dhar, ‘having seen Indian elections since 1952 as a school kid, managing a couple of these exercises during service career in the IB, manipulating a few on orders of the ruling cabal and witnessing the bones, marrows, and soul of the Indian electoral process’ describes an encounter with an election manager of a [...]
arey aaj kal to dhobi, rikshey valley bhi lete hain ek dhed lakh dahez mein
Published by March 31st, 2009 in Caste, Culture, Dalit, Education, Gender & Sexuality, India, Patriarchy, Society and Women. 0 CommentsAmrita, a Dalit Buddhist girl who worked hard to build a career for herself as a businesswoman, talks about how tough it is to escape the hold of institutions such as dowry and arranged marriage in India and how most of the times a girl loses her identity in the process of marriage and dowry. [...]
Recent Comments