19,000 viewers are up in arms over Shilpa Shetty's treatment on Big Brother, the British celeb reality show. I have not seen the it but apparently she is facing racism from her British counterparts. People all over India are upset and even the government is now concerned!
Its interesting how post colonial racism is playing out in the media some 60 years after the fact.
If Shetty was not Indian, would the viewers response have been the same?
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Monday, January 8, 2007
I feel anxiety when I think about work. That can't be a good thing. I hate bringing work at home. I wish I could do it all there and do a good job of it too. I feel little when I see teachers walk in Monday morning with bill-board lessons and I'm walking in with a small bag of unchecked papers. I don't like lesson planning. Its not exciting for me anymore. Testing pressures has made it so mundane. No one shares teaching ideas and if I ask about it, I'm the "odd one out". Few reach out and share ideas. Everyone is stuck in a rut. I hate it. It doesn't matter how much I plan and how much effort I put into planning, the scores are not going to change. I am dreading the results.
I used to have energy. Enthusiasm. I couldn't wait to get up and see my little rascals. Now there is no excitement. Dreadful. Dealing with dead end behavior, no positive support or pat on the back...I'm begining to hate my job.
I used to have energy. Enthusiasm. I couldn't wait to get up and see my little rascals. Now there is no excitement. Dreadful. Dealing with dead end behavior, no positive support or pat on the back...I'm begining to hate my job.
Tuesday, January 2, 2007
Law and Order
Law and Order: There should be a law against stereotyping.
The beginning of the show caught my eye; brown chic sleeping with a white guy wearing a cross. She was a film major, making a film about racism in Queens, NY. Fine. I like desis in unconventional fields. The story takes a major turn when she turns up dead, face bashed in cement, and the words 4 911 written in her blood.
Set in the backdrop of post 911 New York, the detective work goes from suspecting immigrant-hater Jews, jealous boyfriend, classic "arranged" marriage fiance, to her own family. Typical honor killing scenario here. She was pregnant (surprise, surprise) so her brother killed her.
Why couldn't it be a story about jews killing muslims? Too taboo for tv? She was portrayed as the classic ABCD (they even said that in the show, mispronouncing desi as "dessee"!) Couldn't she be a film maker fighting against racism in her hometown, highlighting the struggle of peaceful muslims being persecuted post 911? Instead Law and Order took this "oppurtunity" to show "Muslims kill their own". <> I'm tired of that portrayal. Humor me.
Dialgoues were RIDDLED with expletives ('you terrorist bitch' was just classic). Urdu was poorly excuted and no actors were actually Pakistani or muslim. Their desi accents seemed forced and completely fake.
Whats wrong with showing an American Pakistani Muslim woman, speaking flawless English, (if that matters), highlighting her personal views on racism through the film medium?
The beginning of the show caught my eye; brown chic sleeping with a white guy wearing a cross. She was a film major, making a film about racism in Queens, NY. Fine. I like desis in unconventional fields. The story takes a major turn when she turns up dead, face bashed in cement, and the words 4 911 written in her blood.
Set in the backdrop of post 911 New York, the detective work goes from suspecting immigrant-hater Jews, jealous boyfriend, classic "arranged" marriage fiance, to her own family. Typical honor killing scenario here. She was pregnant (surprise, surprise) so her brother killed her.
Why couldn't it be a story about jews killing muslims? Too taboo for tv? She was portrayed as the classic ABCD (they even said that in the show, mispronouncing desi as "dessee"!) Couldn't she be a film maker fighting against racism in her hometown, highlighting the struggle of peaceful muslims being persecuted post 911? Instead Law and Order took this "oppurtunity" to show "Muslims kill their own". <
Dialgoues were RIDDLED with expletives ('you terrorist bitch' was just classic). Urdu was poorly excuted and no actors were actually Pakistani or muslim. Their desi accents seemed forced and completely fake.
Whats wrong with showing an American Pakistani Muslim woman, speaking flawless English, (if that matters), highlighting her personal views on racism through the film medium?
Friday, December 29, 2006
Saddam Hussein
The imminent hanging of Saddam isbringing back some memories.
He was all over the news when we landed in Saudi that day in 1991. My father knew something was not right. The streets were empty and there was an eerie feeling. The TV screen revealed the real news...Kuwait was invaded. I remember seeing Kuwaiti refugees piled up in trucks with no covers and plywood separating the truck into two. My first thought was that of thirst and hunger in the desert.
Weeks later I was in Pakistan staring into the back of van "Saddam Hussein: The Islamic hero"
Weeks later I was in USA staring into the TV "The evil Saddam Hussein".
For a long time I couldn't make up my mind about him.
He was all over the news when we landed in Saudi that day in 1991. My father knew something was not right. The streets were empty and there was an eerie feeling. The TV screen revealed the real news...Kuwait was invaded. I remember seeing Kuwaiti refugees piled up in trucks with no covers and plywood separating the truck into two. My first thought was that of thirst and hunger in the desert.
Weeks later I was in Pakistan staring into the back of van "Saddam Hussein: The Islamic hero"
Weeks later I was in USA staring into the TV "The evil Saddam Hussein".
For a long time I couldn't make up my mind about him.
The empty window sil
I didn't realize how painful it can be to look at an empty window sil where once there were momentos of memories.
You strip away the memories...there is a haunting emptiness.
Layi vee na gayee, teh nibhai ve na gayee
teri meri oo toot gayee soniyeh, jeeway tutya umber to taara
You strip away the memories...there is a haunting emptiness.
Layi vee na gayee, teh nibhai ve na gayee
teri meri oo toot gayee soniyeh, jeeway tutya umber to taara
Thursday, December 28, 2006
Can't sleep!
Its almost 3 am here and I can not sleep!
I want to sleep but it evades me. Actually its not like I'm tossing and turning in bed that keeps the sleep away...I'm mostly on my couch, surfing, thinking, surfing, thinking, yawning. I just can't get myself to move towards my bed. Its like, I'm tired, so tired, my legs are heavy...eyes battling to stay open...but I can't sleep.
Sleeplessness is like a high. A high that gives you energy at times to study for exams, to watch cricket matches live a world away, to call someone and give them a piece of your mind, or just think. Think. Its a high. Aur hum nashay meh hain...
Off to bed.
I want to sleep but it evades me. Actually its not like I'm tossing and turning in bed that keeps the sleep away...I'm mostly on my couch, surfing, thinking, surfing, thinking, yawning. I just can't get myself to move towards my bed. Its like, I'm tired, so tired, my legs are heavy...eyes battling to stay open...but I can't sleep.
Sleeplessness is like a high. A high that gives you energy at times to study for exams, to watch cricket matches live a world away, to call someone and give them a piece of your mind, or just think. Think. Its a high. Aur hum nashay meh hain...
Letting go
So why is letting go sooooo hard?
Loving this new song by Himesh Reshammiya....Vaada Tainu
http://youtube.com/watch?v=r9oi-ZwPSjE&search=vaada%20tenu%20himesh%20reshammiya%20songs
Loving this new song by Himesh Reshammiya....Vaada Tainu
http://youtube.com/watch?v=r9oi-ZwPSjE&search=vaada%20tenu%20himesh%20reshammiya%20songs
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