desi / india

Happy Deepavali

October 26, 2011

Apropos of the reason for this Hindu festival: Questions Lit Up, in which Pratap Bhanu Mehta takes on the Delhi University ban on teaching A.K. Ramanujan’s essay on the Ramayana and chides the Indian left and right for hijacking the culture for political gain. … The Right commits the mistake of assimilating all tradition to [...]

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I’m A Dirty, Dark Tamilian

August 16, 2011

Oh, she actually meant dirty. From IndiaTV: A US diplomat was caught in a row after her remarks of “dirty and dark” Tamilians, prompting the American consulate [in Chennai] to term them as “inappropriate”. “I was on a 24-hour train trip from Delhi to Orissa. But, after 72 hours, the train still did not reach [...]

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Mumbai Bombed Again

July 14, 2011

There’s a very high probability that all of you who read this blog know about the IED blasts across Mumbai yesterday that claimed 18 lives, injured many others and has understandably increased the stress levels of an already put-upon city. Just imagining a surviving Mumbaikar thinking “It could have been me or someone I love” [...]

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Ge(neal)ogist

June 20, 2011

While talking with my dad yesterday, he mentioned that now that both of his parents have passed, he often performs a Hindu ceremony called Amavasya Dharpanam in their and other ancestors’ honor. This ritual is conducted on the day of a new moon, and to keep a long explanation short, is the equivalent of the [...]

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Thai Poosam

January 20, 2011

  My mother’s family started and has sponsored the annual celebration of the Hindu festival Thai Poosam in the temple at Vadapalani since the late 1930s. It’s a great thing which I witnessed once – the hustle and bustle of religious activity over days, walking everywhere on the temple grounds and my parents, aunts, uncles [...]

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Downward Facing Derp

December 30, 2010

It was a cold evening in the American southwest. I pulled my favorite shawl around me a little tighter. A woman smiled at the shawl – a burnt-orange, paisley piece my mom picked up in India – and said, “I know why you wear that. It’s because of your religion.” “Actually, I wear it because [...]

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The Irish In India

October 4, 2010

Last post it was the Jews in India, now it’s the Irish. Aren’t Slumdog Millionaire, yoga pants and Deepak Chopra enough for you? Let my people go! D sent me a link to this Trinity College Dublin exhibition with the message, “Shoot! Ended yesterday!” I’m all about the accumulation of historic knowledge, but it’s just as [...]

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“The Death Knell Of All Fanaticism”

October 4, 2010

The next few posts center on my most recent visit to the Art Institute of Chicago. Twenty years I’ve been going to this museum and it has never let me down. There is always something new and walking by the same Renoir, Matta, Rodin and 12th-century religious art is like visiting old friends. I don’t [...]

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Krish Ashok Does The Creation Museum

September 17, 2010

One of my peeps, as in snarky, Tanglish*-speaking person of Madras** origin, tires of Cincinnati and visits the Creation Museum. It’s great stuff, so please head to his blog and read it all. This paragraph, in particular, cracked me up because of its conclusion. Cincinnati is a large city with levels of urban excitement that [...]

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Two Dudes From The Mahabharatha End Up In Jersey

July 30, 2010

Ack Comics gives us America in the form of Hindu comics my brother and I grew up reading. Gotta love it when my worlds collide like this. King Maharaja LeBron James could have been a contender. Be sure to check out the Oil-Eating Obama-Mermen and the Ack Blog. A total riot! Tweet

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