Monthly Archive for June, 2009

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Race Saanson Ki

Published on June 2, 2009 in Racism. 118 Comments

I just do not understand all this finger-pointing, all the “there is a strong undertone of racial ill-feeling towards Indians in Australia” canard that is getting play in the popular Indian press.

Give me a break mite.

I mean if there is one society that is sensitive to racism it has to be the Australian. Remember all that outrage in the Aussie Press when Harbhajan (whose cousin’s death in Australia was passed off as “suicide” apparently without a post-mortem) supposedly called Symonds a “monkey” and sections of the crowd made simian gestures at that same man. At that point of time, I remember the Australian press telling us how sensitive the country is about issues of race, sensitive in a way that us Indians, with a history and continuing tradition of caste, cannot even comprehend.

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Thanks For Attending

Published on June 1, 2009 in Administration. 16 Comments

For all of you who attended the Asha quiz on Saturday, a big thank you. A special salut to my wonderful hosts at Asha and my apologies that I could not stay back for the Karoake since we had to rush back to Manhattan. And a sincere “shukriya” to all of you who came from off-campus—Pankaj, Anantha, and Gaurav Sabnis’s team. A heartfelt shout-out of gratitude also to my old Stonybrook pal Puloma who came with her entire family.

The quiz was a close affair with Anantha’s team edging out Gaurav’s by a mere 5 points. My favorite moment of the quiz was when the audience whistled “lustily” at the video of Manoj Tiwari creating a truly subaltern Chapra zilla mahaul in the academic climes of Rutgers. Topics covered included male exotic dancing, strategic bathroom breaks, exorcisms, “lota” dance, Mithun-da, Night Lovers, singing chuckers and presidential roommates. Many of us have asked me to post the questions online.The only reason I do not do so is so that I may repeat a subset of these questions in the future.

Thanks again and hope to see you all in the future. Now back again behind the blog wheel.