Michelle Obama and the Politics of Shifting

December 3, 2008 – 6:11 am

The added benefit of having Barack Obama as president, is that Michelle Obama becomes the first lady. For the first time in American history, an African American female has been uplifted as symbol of grace, beauty and intelligence.  Michelle is setting trends, and has been compared to the likes of Jackie O.

Though Michelle has openly stated that her job is to be “mom in chief”, she cannot be oblivious to the terrible burden that she carries of representing black womanhood to the world.  Every step, every word, and every expression that she makes is carefully scrutinized in an effort to cast her, and all African American women, back into the role of social obsolescence.

Never has the world watched the actions and the decisions of a black woman the way that it has watched Michelle Obama.  We have had our share of sheroes that deserve acclaim, and recognition, but none have been forced to play representative of a race, and a gender, in the way that Michelle has.

Michelle is the quintessential “mystical negress,” and whether she likes that role or not she will have to play it.  As a BUPPIE she is a figure that white people of privilege can relate to with a certain amount of ease.  It is only when she reveals her blackness and questions the systemic inequality that makes her experience the exception rather than the rule, does discomfort begin to enter the equation.

Imagine if during her interview with Barbara Walters, Michelle had talked about serving collard greens, how this would have altered the conversation. Read More »

By Feature Writer | Posted in Editor's Pick, Society, beauty, fashion, north america, racism | Comments (1)

Of Terror and Mumbai: Commando Returns

December 2, 2008 – 9:52 am

Desi dogs do it Indianstyle. Outrage is fat-free, gratifying, and comes cheap at wholesale rates. An all-new season of bash-a-Moslem begins and we expect high TRPs.

Another self righteous deshbhakt whines about the politic*nts while doing a jai mata di on the brave boys in uniform.

This is no worse than we deserve, putting our faith in age and caste loyalties. We prefer the criminally senile in our nation’s highest offices. It allows us to bitch indulgently at the regular little accidents involving colostomy bags. Local sentiments are easily represented by facial hair, and the state has a Chief Moustache and a Deputy Chief Moustache parading their cheap dye-jobs in front of the TV cameras. The crowd cheers.

The equipment and training of our cops (even the AntiTerrorismSquad) is no secret and has once again been tragically highlighted. Call the cops when you want bomb scenes trampled on, or random poor Muslims Confessioned and/or Encountered.

Over two decades of assorted terror attacks across the country, and there is still is no operationally capable central crisis management team or protocols in place. There are no established lines of communication between the police, army, paramilitary, intelligence and special forces (SF). Each is suspicious of and barely capable of operating with the other, leading to further tragic one-upmanship.

The first consequence of this reinforces the charming Indian trait of arriving hours after the party has started. Read More »

By Feature Writer | Posted in Feature, Society, politics, south asia, terrorism | Comments (0)

Mumbai: Some Of Us Didn’t Die

November 30, 2008 – 1:52 pm

But some of us did. And for those who did, it’s important that we seek a revolution in this city. In this country. Recurrent chants of “Bharat Mata ki Jai”(Long Live Mother India) are not going to procure any respite by way of pop patriotism that this country is so well renowned for. It’s time for action. Studied and structured. Action.

My beloved city was held hostage at gunpoint for almost three straight days while the f*ckwits who are supposed to lead and guide us swapped accusations, blame and vituperative nonsense. Heinous is a word that not only accurately describes what the terrorists did to us but also what the political machinery of this country has done to us. Such lack of empathy and accountability bewilders me. It enrages me. Sets my heart on fire.

News reports are teeming with obvious gaffes in the professional structure of the security and intelligence agencies of this country: the possibility of this attack was made apparent as far back as October and none paid heed to it.

People have now poured out onto the streets of Mumbai. Because we didn’t die and since we are here, we need to ensure that those who died for us aren’t forgotten. The ire and invectives will fade, but the memory of this carnage never should. What it represents and who needs to face the political guillotine is what this nation needs to decide.

I have fiddled with this thought before and I am convinced of its dynamism now – Courage is a choice. For the 30 something army Major who was an all rounder sportsman at the National Defence Academy, Pune, it was. For the decorated officers of the Mumbai Police Force Force who lead from the front, not the sidelines, it was a choice. For the almost unguarded DB Marg cops who were in possession of archaic weapons at Girgaum, but still took on the armed-to-the-teeth terrorists because it was, quite literally, about doing or dying, it was a particularly important choice.

We must chose to do something now.

Constantly displayed footage of Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan’s mother weeping inconsolably while talking to her dead son, bent over the coffin that carried his body draped in the national tricolor, is a scene I won’t forgive in a hurry. Read More »

By Feature Writer | Posted in Current Affairs, Feature, politics, south asia, terrorism | Comments (4)

Black Friday and Thanksgiving: The Holiday Conundrum

November 29, 2008 – 8:11 am

Families gathered across the United States to celebrate Thanksgiving together this week. For some it involved a great deal of travel and stress. Hours of labour were spent in an attempt to create the perfect meal. This holiday, unlike Christmas, is meant to simply be about coming together as a family to give thanks for another year, and for the bounty Americans typically have in their lives.

What is conveniently ignored is the cause of that bounty. After the dishes are washed and every stomach is satiated at its heart Thanksgiving is the macabre celebration of the near genocide of the Indigenous Peoples.

We teach our children fairytales about the day to maintain the national myth of the benign Pilgrim and the friendly Indian. Schools reinforce the message with the performance of pageants. This holiday is pure Americana, and it is pure revisionist history. Read More »

By Feature Writer | Posted in Society, human rights, north america, racism | Comments (0)

“Longford”: Of Prison Reform and Redemption

November 26, 2008 – 4:28 pm

I saw “Longford” after I had lunch with the film’s writer - the funny, talented, and charming Peter Morgan - a former actor with the sort of authoritative voice one finds intimidating at first blush, before realizing that it is in fact quite attractive.

Right now, Morgan is one of the most famous screenwriters in the world, the author of such films as “Frost/Nixon” (coming soon to cinemas), “The Queen,” and “The Last King of Scotland.”

“Longford,” made for television and now available on DVD, is the most recent of Morgan’s docu-dramas - a fictionalized story where he essentially dramatizes people from real life. The film’s director, Tom Hooper, is famous for his “Elizabeth I” TV mini series, a recent favourite at the Golden Globes.

In the tradition of Peter Morgan’s other work, “Longford” examines a relationship between two different people - Lord Longford, a peer, and Myra Hindley a serial murderer. Although it makes for great drama, the film’s underlying theme is forgiveness. “Longford” pushes you to consider whether it can be possible to forgive somebody even when they have committed one of the cruelest crimes in history.

The real-life Myra Hindley, a woman who murdered children along with boyfriend Ian Brady in one of the most high-profile criminal cases in history, allowed the 7th Earl of Longford to campaign for her parole.

In the film, Longford’s belief that everyone is capable of redemption, furthered by his conviction that Myra was corrupted by her boyfriend, pushes him forward against the urgings of an entire society. Myra, however, is more than she seems. Read More »

By Feature Writer | Posted in Arts & Literature, Society, crime, europe | Comments (2)

Nebraska No Longer a Safe Haven: What to Do with the Kids Now?

November 24, 2008 – 1:15 pm

Nebraska was the last state to institute a safe haven law. The original intent of this law was to stop mothers from leaving their newborn infants in dumpsters, if they decided they did not want them, or for some reason could not care for them. The legislature could not decide on an appropriate age limit; and therefore employed the word “child.” This meant that any child under the age of 18 could be left at a Nebraska hospital, and the parent could not be charged with abandonment by law.

Now the law has been changed and an age limit of 30 days has been introduced.

The full text of LB 157 read: “No person shall be prosecuted for any crime based solely upon the act of leaving a child in the custody of an employee on duty at a hospital licensed by the State of Nebraska. The hospital shall promptly contact appropriate authorities to take custody of the child.”

In the lifetime of this law 27 drop offs occurred and 36 children were given up by their parents. Parents drove from as far away as California to relinquish their parental rights. One man left all 9 of his children behind.

According to USA Today, Todd Landry of Nebraska’s Department of Health and Human Services stated that, “the four oldest of the nine siblings were placed together in an emergency shelter and the others in a foster home. They’re struggling to varying degrees with what’s happened to them.”

To be abandoned by a parent can be an extremely traumatic thing for a child. In this case many of the children were of an age that they could understand exactly what the parent was doing even as it was happening. One can only imagine the pleading of the child, and the promises they must have made about behavioural changes as the parents headed toward the hospital exit. Read More »

By Feature Writer | Posted in Current Affairs, family, north america | Comments (5)

To All Pre-Cancerous Men of Leisure

November 23, 2008 – 2:01 pm

Science say

Our leisure activities

Could definitely,

Maybe, perhaps the

Research shows certain

Risk factors that cannot be

So alarming when in the

Throes of cocktails

Served in smoky glasses

In smoky bars

That allow said smoke

To escape

Through back alleyways and

Into the streets and

Rape our everyday, Read More »

By Feature Writer | Posted in Arts & Literature, poetry | Comments (0)

George W. Bush: Lame Duck Watch

November 22, 2008 – 6:57 am

Barack Obama, in his first press conference as president-elect, stressed that the U.S. has only one president at a time. The rest of us would do well to remember that.

George W. Bush is still in office and still has all the powers he did for the first seven years of his presidency, though his ability to set an agenda is diminished and he can give an exclusive interview to CNN that gets less hype than one from Sarah Palin does.

It’s been tradition for a while among presidents to save their shadiest business for their lame duck period, since our celebrity-worship culture will be enamored of its shiny new plaything, the president-elect. Read More »

By Feature Writer | Posted in north america, politics | Comments (4)

Love on the Moon and Other Stories

November 20, 2008 – 12:48 pm

Hannibal Lecter: And how do we begin to covet…we begin by coveting what we see..

Personally I find this relevant, very relevant in fact in the context of beautiful women. This time when a pretty girl passed by me, in the fleeting stupor of her lingering scent, I asked the good Lord, what I could do to be with her. Pick the stars, steal the rings of Saturn, or bring down the moon…?

“Dear Lord, the all knowing, seldom sharing, tell me, I beg of you, I have not reposed my faith in vain.”

“I think she would really like to have the moon,” I hear the Lord’s booming voice with the sound of tinkling bells in the background.

It is thus through the relevant agencies that I have dispatched Chandrayaan-I to probe the lunar surface, and send me back critical data which I would then strategically employ to woo the damsel. I shall unlock the geological mysteries of the moon, bit by bit, as the seductive powers of lunar data take complete control. Read More »

By Feature Writer | Posted in Business World, Science & Technology, essays, south asia | Comments (0)

GM Bailout: When the Ship Sinks, Joe Six-Pack is to Blame

November 20, 2008 – 12:27 pm

It seems each time the news turns to the financial sector there is a company or industry that’s failing. While economists examine what it means to the economy as whole, ordinary Americans sit in fear that tomorrow will bring a pink slip. While we have a tendency to speak about economics in abstract terms, it has a real world-effect on the average Joe Six-Pack that both Democrats and Republicans wooed ardently during election season.

The witch-hunt goes for a business or entity to blame for the current crises goes on. One of the culprits Anderson Cooper named as responsible for the meltdown was the American consumer. He reminded us of the large homes, financed shopping trips, auto loans and lack of saving. He suggested that it was the American desire for possessions, combined with an easy credit system, that played a huge role in this collapse.

What Anderson neglects to factor into his analysis is why the consumer lives on credit. Read More »

By Feature Writer | Posted in Business World, money, north america | Comments (1)