Desi News Corp - Index

Desi News Corp - Desi News - April 2009 - Index

Hello ji!
Sometimes, fame and infamy are just a hairbreadth
apart. Kokila Jacob sent me an interesting update
on Bangalore.
‘Bangalored’ is an adjective which recently found
a place in the English language. A person is said to
be ‘Bangalored’ if his job was outsourced to Bangalore
or even to another city in India. As in, “He got Bangalored
last week”. Type Bangalored in Google search,
or try dictionary.reference.com/browse/Bangalored
and see what shows up. So many people in the United
States got Bangalored that it became an issue during
the US presidential election. That’s when this word
was coined. And Bangalore, which went from being
a laid-back garden city to the happening IT hub of
India, became an adjective with negative connotations.
This is the same city the world was hailing just a
few years ago. In India Reborn, the documentary shown
on CBC last month, Bangalore is referred to as the place
“where the renaissance began” with its legions of
English-speaking engineers. Sadly, it is also the same
city that is in the news now for all the wrong reasons.
One of the most cosmopolitan cities in India,
Bangalore once welcomed everyone with open arms.
It embraced change. While old Bangaloreans bemoaned
the loss of gracious tree-lined streets in the
chaotic, traffic-congested city that Bangalore morphed
into, the mushrooming of pubs was seen as a sign of
moving with the times. Not any longer. Now women
seen at or in the vicinity of pubs are attacked by
goons using religion as cover.
An excerpt from an e-mail sent to me by Mira
Prabhu, an old Bangalore friend:
“Women are kicked in the groin, punched in the stomach,
slapped across the face, grabbed everywhere, abused constantly.
Men are beaten up, too. A friend was hit repeatedly on the
head with a stone until he passed out in a pool of blood.”
Bangalored, it would appear, has taken on another,
more sinister meaning. But perhaps all is not lost.
Another old friend, documentary film-maker and
activist Smriti Nevatia, urges all desis to send letters
of protest to Dr V. S. Acharya, Karnataka’s Home
minister, at vsacharya@gmail.com, or to post their
protest at India’s Home minister P. Chidambaram’s
website, www.pchidambaram.org/AskMe.html.
Happy Easter! Baisakhi di badhai!
Editor
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Circulation
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Circulation Downtown Toronto,
Ajax, Pickering, Scarborough,
Invaluable work
The stories of women in
Family Law 101 (March) had me
very grateful that I live in
Canada where efforts are made
to explain family law to women.
Most countries have the laws in
place, but how many have programs
that break it down in
terms that everyone can understand?
Invaluable work is being
done by FLEW and activists like
Zahra Dhanani.
– CHANDRIKA MATHUR, VIA E-MAIL
Women deserve better
Men behaving badly
Re Helloji! in March: You know
what I think when I hear the words,
International Women’s Day? That all
the other 364 days are men’s days, for
them to do as they please. In too
many parts of the world, they choose
to treat women in an utterly shabby
manner.
– ROCKY DIAS, VIA E-MAIL
Same difference
It would be interesting to see how
the experience of those who trekked
to Ottawa for Obama’s visit compared
with Shannon Boodram’s experience
in Washington (A young desi’s
date with history, February).
– U TTAM ROY, VIA E-MAIL
A woman of letters
Reading about Anusree Roy (The
universe responded to the need to put up
this play, January) made me sorry I had
missed Pyasa when it was staged.
Thanks to the detailed listing of her
new play, Letters to My Grandma, in
March, I did manage to catch it. What
a wonderful experience!
– SRIDEVI SETLUR, VIA E-MAIL
Markham, Richmond Hill, East
York, Thornhill, Concord, North
York, Oakville, Mississauga,
Malton, Etobicoke, Brampton,
Woodbridge, Hamilton, Stoney
Creek, Burlington, Windsor,
Oshawa, Whitby.
Love the new look!
The glossy new Desi News is fantastic!
My favourite magazine just got
better!
– NIRALI G ARG, VIA E-MAIL
Waiting for change
An Indian soap, Bidai, is ostensibly
about the unfair treatment meted
out to dark-complexioned women –
a scheming mom-in-law cancels a
wedding reception because she is
embarrassed about her dark-skinned
daughter-in-law. Yet it drives home
the opposite message in a most insidious
manner. The theme song has
lines like “jaisa bhi ho rang, jaisa bhi ho
roop (whatever the colour, whatever
the looks),” extolling the virtues of
a father who loves his daughter even
if she is dark. Jasmine Sawant says,
“The discrimination will stop when
we stop advertising for fair brides”
(February). Don’t hold your breath!
– FARIDA REHMAT, VIA E-MAIL
Says who?
When desis say desis are racist
(February), are the ones saying so being
racist themselves? Just curious!
– VILAS ARTRE, VIA E-MAIL
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April 2009 Desi News 9