Little India to Little Italy and back home

So I finally paid my visit to the Big Apple this weekend. It was great. I had no plans before getting there but managed to stay busy most of the 4 days I had. Besides the nice touristy attractions and roaming around Manhattan I got a chance to soak in the spirit of New York. My friends and I were near Ground Zero one night and decided to make a stop there. Eerie feeling when I realized the site was actually 5 years old and still hollow. Kind of weird how it blended into the hustle of the city though...you know kind of like walking past an old acquaintance on not acknowledging them -- thats what that night felt like when I looked around. Anyways, like a good tourist I took my pictures and moved on.

Besides midtown my friends also took me around Little Italy, NOLIA, SOHO, etc...I felt like I was in India with the street fair and the people on the streets. I think that's what I like most about the city. There's a family feeling that welcomes even strangers and tourists.

Female Feticide and the motherland..

I'm afraid to get started on this topic because its one of the few that gets my blood-pressure from the regular below-normal Dolly-level to dangerously high and raging levels. India Together often posts articles on the topic and its certainly not news to the general Indian or Indian American community what goes on in rural and urban areas that allows the abortion of female fetuses. Sometimes its difficult to be proud of your heritage when at this moment the general Indian population seems to think its perfectly acceptable to place a pricetag on the female child. Of course this isn't an isolated problem. The general position of the female in Indian society has a lot to do with why this practice is acceptable and continues in the ever-so-praised "largest democracy" and country known for its peaceful and spiritual aura. What I was surprised to read was that feticide is more popular amongst the educated in Punjab! What the Washington Post

Mama's Crossing the Border...

So the latest argument over the Senate's CIRA bill granting amnesty to the millions of illegal immigrants working in this country is that we'll have a such a serious influx of Mexican and Latin American immigrants that essentially the country will be "transformed." Essentially everyone who gets granted amnesty can bring their dependent parents, spouses and children so the numbers are exponentially higher than previously discussed. So now the white guys are jumping up down screaming for their representatives to stop this before they become the minority in the country. So the only natural thing to do is, of course, grant amnesty, bring the mexicans over here and then tell them they all need learn english. Yep, today the Senate passed a law to make English the official language of the country. Why this wasn't done before is beyond me. I understand its not necessary because this is the country of immigrants. The country that lets you retain your heritage but enjoy the freedoms that come with living in the current world economic superpower. But really boys, laws like this shouldn't come about because we're afraid that our identity will be stolen by the Mexicans and their mamas. English is already the primary language that federal discourse is conducted in so making it official would not have been a problem before. Funny how this administration touts the idea of being secure and fighting terrorism when really what it seems to be all about fear. Fear of the turbaned guy. Fear of the latinos ...

ugh

ugh. all forms of chocolate should be kept away from emotional women.

yes, you may now return to your regularly scheduled programming.

India's Capital: Rude and Crude

Hmm. Interesting article in Outlook India on the culture or lack-there-of in Delhi. India's rape capital -- creepy! The reduced pollution, the booming economy, the new overpasses/roads...I noticed all this as soon as we stepped out on day 1 last year when I visited India with my family. The creepiness came later when you see people (== nasty guys) giving you looks without giving you a look. I didn't get it for the longest time. I assumed it was because we were American or dressed funny but I guess its going to happen if you're groomed, light skinned and a young female. Hmm. Disappointing more than anything else.

Delhi's Seven Deadly Sins

Aggressive, lawless driving; India's road accident capital
Touting, hustling culture, grab-what-you-can-get mentality: law-breaking acceptable across classes, everything 'negotiable'
Callousness towards the vulnerable: disabled, visitors, elderly, poor
Most unsafe city in India for women; India's rape capital
Obsession with hierarchy & status
Officious, self-important political and bureaucratic class
Appalling cultural and professional manners

Aren't a lot of these just exaggerated attitudes of the "FOB"s you run into here in the states? The callousness towards the vulnerable -- don't even get me started on this. Its part of the reason we didn't' take my brother with us on our trip. Obsession with hierarchy and status...ha. That is definitely not something new. The whole where are you from in Delhi ...its a lot like asking someone which borough in New York you live in (not work in because those are entirely separate ;-)). The lack of respect for people's time and the lack of respect for the law -- I have a hard time believing this is also a qualifying Delhi trait since over half the H1-ites here carry the exact same mentality. I don't think all the Indians I've met are from Delhi so something makes me think the attitude isn't necessarily genuinely of the city. Perhaps all the negatives of the 'westernization' of the east is managing to deposit in the capital and now its prevalent enough to make the journalists speak out.

haha I guess this would not be the time to mention the last on my list of 'prospects': A Delhi-ite that definitely used his first conversation with me to express how 1)good looking he is 2)his BMW was in the shop and 3)his father was from Harvard...~_~

Saving Darfur

If you haven't already sent your postcard to Bush on behalf of savedarfurg.org please do. It literally takes a few seconds online.

I went to the rally on Sunday. It was interesting to see people from so many religious denominations coming together. (I walked in just as the Sikh represenative was saying a prayer from the Guru Granth Sahib...I couldn't see the stage to see who was up there delivering it but I think it was a rep from the Intefaith council.) You saw lots of people carrying different religious symbols, particularly Jewish and Christians representing their church or synagogue. I think its important that people from different faiths can come together on an issue like this where it could easily be turned into Islam vs the "good people" instead of Genocide vs Humanity and the presenters recognized this in their selection of speakers as well.

One thing that was interesting was when I was leaving I came across a few gentleman essentially protesting the rally. They weren't running around with flyers or signs -- just sitting quietly at a table w/an newspaper article clipping and several copies of a text they were selling. They claimed that labelling the atrocities in Darfur a genocide was hurting more than it was helping because the Janjiwid and the Sudanese government basically doesn't want to be told what to do by anyone else and that butting in with words like 'genocide' and using the United States international power is keeping the rebels from a peace agreement. An all inclusive agreement was not reached today when talks were set to take place and the so-called deadline has been extended another 48 hours. Perhaps its possible these "protesters" have a valid argument but even after reading the small article they were advertising I wasn't convinced. If anyone knows of anything related that goes beyond this article feel free to educate!