Maddy recalls a hilarious experience of one of his friends, when they first came to Istanbul.
Soon the house was set, the stove was up and running and the ‘sadam’ preparation was in full steam…Turkish yoghurt was a perfect accompaniment and curd rice came along famously. However our Mallu boy had his personal share [...]
Archive for the 'Indiaspora' Category
Kiran at Desicritics writes about a fictional chat conversation between an Engineer-MBA in the US and a girl in India who have entered the arranged marriage arena:
He: Isn’t this chat a wee bit uncomfortable? It would have been better if we had met face to face.
She: Didn’t know what to say and didn’t want to [...]
‘Brand’-new in Bangkok
Published by April 21st, 2008 in Culture, Indiaspora, South Asia and Travel. 0 CommentsVamsee is visiting Bangkok for his summer internship and describes his experiences as a new visitor to Thai territory:
1. People here are shockingly polite. Am yet to see a heated conversation anywhere in the office or the road. One is always welcomed with smiles everywhere.
2. Traffic is excruciatingly devoid of horns. Drivers have a lot [...]
The sands of time
Published by April 11th, 2008 in Culture, Development, Globalisation, Indiaspora, Photoblog, Society and Travel. 0 CommentsMala visited Kolkata recently, for her vacation. In a very detailed post, she sketches the changes she perceived in the city, and also portrays how she (and her own life) might have changed in the perception of those at home:
Its always a treat catching up with everyones lives. There is one thing in common between [...]
Makkal Sakti
Published by March 22nd, 2008 in Activism, Blogging, Culture, Economy, Indiaspora, Language and Prejudice. 0 CommentsNoticed this interesting blog ‘Makkal Sakti‘ (which, I guess, means ‘People’s Power’ in Tamil) which focuses on issues facing Malaysian Indians. This post by Joe Fernandez, a former newspaper editor, unveils one perspective on the recent unrest in Malaysia:
Does the fate of the Tamils in Malaysia hinge solely on the government? The Tamils are the [...]
Letter to a Young American Hindu
Published by March 5th, 2008 in Caste, Culture, Democracy, Indiaspora, Politics, Religion and Secularism. 2 CommentsYou might find this letter on other blogs and sites. As I am not sure about where it was orginally published I am linking to the blog where I first found it. One of the more memorable arguments Vijay Prashad, Professor and Director of International Studies at Trinity College, Hartford, makes in the letter is [...]
Whither Prosperity?
Published by February 26th, 2008 in Democracy, Development, Economy, Education, Geopolitics, Globalisation, Government, India, Indiaspora, Policy, Poverty and South Asia. 1 CommentUnable to defend himself from a Singaporean hotelier’s comments, Swaroop seeks out answers at Churumuri. Illustrating with real examples, he rakes up enormous dirt on a gamut of issues.
Education. Immigration. Public Safety. Harassment. Rowdyism and brawn. Health services. Bribery. Brain drain.
He concludes his comparison of India to Singapore (unthinkable by size, but still) with an interesting analogy to claims [...]
A Valentine to the City
Published by February 25th, 2008 in Caste, Community, Culture, Indiaspora, Literature, Patriarchy, Personal, Poetry, Politics, Society, Spotlight Series and Women. 1 Comment[ This is Essay # 19 in our Spotlight Series. Click here for the archives.]
A Valentine to the City
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Sharanya Manivannan
Sometimes, I hate this city. I don’t deny that. There is so much to hate here. It is merciless. A crude, cruel, unforgiving bitch of a city. The meanness of its people. Sycophancy, moral (dis)order, parochialism [...]
Archana Bahuguna tells you the funniest way of almost missing a bus.
“Either I have just missed it or it is late. And not that I have not made efforts to be right there at the right time. I have a whole database in my cellphone where in I have recorded the timings of the bus [...]
Knitting Tapestries of History and Memories
Published by February 15th, 2008 in History, India, Indiaspora and South Asia. 3 CommentsDesi Knitter recalls working and arguing with the historian, the late Arvind N. Das, while preparing for a 16 week course on “India from the Indus Valley to Silicon Valley”
This emphasis on everyday life reminded me of a documentary film series on South Asian history by Arvind Das, a journalist and historian with tremendous energy, [...]
Thinking-Feeling Dual-Citizenship
Published by January 8th, 2008 in India, Indiaspora, Language, Media, Personal and Spotlight Series. 11 Comments[This is Essay #13 in our Spotlight Series. Click here for archives.]
Thinking-Feeling Dual-Citizenship
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Shashi Thandra
Since I am trying to think about how one negotiates several spaces emotionally, cognitively, and physically, it is worthwhile to say where I am. Born in Hyderabad, I lived there as well as Sirsila and Karimnagar during my brief eight years in [...]
A new identity for the Roma
Published by December 19th, 2007 in History, Human Rights, India, Indiaspora, Language, Prejudice, Racism, South Asia and public space. 0 CommentsAlin Dostofei is working on the presentation of a new, modern identity for the Roma to challenge a long history of ‘public abnormalization’:
The local population was not very keen to accept the existence of the Romani culture, implicitly of a multicultural society. Its focus was on assimilation, coming with “explanations” for the differences, like those [...]
Sudipta produces the ‘Desi Juliet Guide’:
MOTHER MARY (Julietofus Matronus).Whoever said reincarnations aren’t possible obviously never knew of Florence Nightingale or this variety of juliets. People tend to remember her whenever they need money. Her purse strings open even when the guys’ dogs die back home. Usually her living room has trouble accommodating pictures of all [...]
Jai Arjun Singh reviews a collection of stories which falls in the ‘Diaspora fiction’ category but isn’t ’stereotypical’:
Reading Karma and Other Stories is a reminder that we live in a world where people travel more extensively than at any earlier point in human history, where an increasing number of people are moving out of their [...]
Bobby Jindal vs Indira Nooyi
Published by November 10th, 2007 in Culture, Indiaspora and Theory. 0 CommentsSimarprit divides Indian Americans into two broad classes- Conformists and Preservers:
What does Bobby mean to India. Americans would see Indians as Bobby clones, opportunists and self centered. World would see Indians as trying to dominate the world and push them down. Preservers among Indians would see him as a shame. Conformists among Indians would see him as an [...]
From countries to cities
Published by October 24th, 2007 in Business, Economy, Globalisation and Indiaspora. 0 CommentsVenkatesh finds out from a report on ‘emerging outsourcing locations’ that companies have shifted their focus from countries to cities:
In 1993, when I graduated with an engineering degree, out of the 500 odd people who graduated with me about 450 left Trivandrum, Kerala. This was to seek employment in other major cities like Chennai, Bangalore, [...]
Vik describes the four stages of ‘cultural adjustment’ any desi returning from overseas to start afresh in India has to prepare for:
The Hostlity Stage: This stage is characterized by frustration, anger, anxiety, and sometimes depression. Following the initial excitement is frustration with the bureaucracy. Sleep patterns may be disrupted and the individual may suffer from [...]
Anna writes about her experiences.
“Why are you here?”
“Yeah, we thought you weren’t coming.”
“Shouldn’t you be at home crying?”
“Mrs. Doyle said you wouldn’t come in today.”
The questions assaulted me one after the other. I was baffled.
“Why…would…Mrs. Doyle say that?” I stammered.
“DUH, because Gandhi’s daughter got killed.”
“Isn’t she like your queen or something? Or a Hindu God?”
“No [...]
J.B.H encounters racism in Fiji:
Returning back to the subject matter, in the past 48 hours, I have had three encounters with indigenous Fijians telling me never to buy from the Indian or Chinese (they are a very small minority) shops; that these groups are denying the prosperity of the indigenous Fijians. One man showed [...]
To The Death of My Own Family
Published by August 20th, 2007 in Human Rights, Indiaspora and Theatre. 0 CommentsFarah Bala, star of the play ‘To The Death of My Own Family’, brings her show home:
Originally from Bombay, I try and go home once in two years - I still have family and friends there. But this was the first time in the 6 years that I had been away that I was going [...]
Sangh Samachar writes on the Shambo slaughter case in the UK where the Hindu Forum mobilsed opinion against the slaughter of the sick sacred bull.
A brief respite from the Hindu forum of Britain (and its allies’) nonsensical comments on the sacred bull. Jay Lakhani is listed as the Director for Education of Hindu council UK, [...]
Amrita’s been following the Shambo (the bull) episode at the Skanda Vale Temple.
The courts of appeal went with those who believed the law should be equal to all. Shambo was once again on the block. The protests went into overdrive. The temple offered to keep Shambo in isolation and when that didn’t work, offered to [...]
Amardeep talks about the recent craziness exhibited by the American Immigration department.
This week, yet another chapter in the American Immigration Bizarro-land story has unfolded, as thousands of legal workers, following an official State Department advisory, prepared to file Green Card applications, only to be told, in some cases after they had already filed, that the [...]
In an effort to regain “street-cred”, DoZ checks out an A. R. Rahman concert, and is happy to find that she’s as much of a “Madrasi girl” as ever.
My biggest disappointment was with the proportion of Tamil songs to Hindi songs (roughly 1 Tamil song out of 5). Everytime a singer switched from Hindi to [...]
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