After their success with disrupting women’s participation at public sports events, the religious right in Pakistan is at it again, via the BBC:

Last week the six-party religious alliance that constitutes one-fifth of the country’s parliament, the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) introduced a bill in parliament seeking a complete ban on women in advertising.

The article goes on to say that the MMA has not been too successful politically and so is shifting their attention to women, or rather wiping them out from public life. As Mahasweta Devi says, “For everything a woman must pay the price.” When one looks at the rate of selective abortions and female infanticide in India, or the targeting of women with sexual violence in Gujrat in 2002, its hard to conclude that it is otherwise.

The easy answers one gets is that the oppression of women has to do with religion (usually Islam), or poverty. But then how does one explain the odd facts of the gender gap in education in South Asia? Largely Muslim Bangladesh is poorer than India or Pakistan, yet they have better gender parity when it comes to education, not only that, their net primary enrollment is higher than India or Pakistan. Unicef has more of these statistics if you like looking at numbers.

Here is a 30 sec clip from the protest at Narendra Modi’s teleconference at Madison Square Garden. Its part of a conversation I had with a photographer called Stan.

Eventually it might make its way into a bigger piece, but for now its on my videoblg. Its 4.4 mb, feedback regarding how easy it was to view and download would be appreciated.

A nice piece in Rediff about Lijjat Papad:

Started with a modest loan of Rs 80, the cooperative now has annual sales exceeding Rs 301 crore (Rs 3.1 billion). What’s more stunning than its stupendous success is its striking simplicity

One of the things I enjoyed reading about in the story is about how the management philosophy is based on the idea of dignity. Everybody’s labor is treated with respect and the people providing the labor have a sense of ownership. Though I am suspicious of rosy stories of success, there is always the dark side we don’t find out about, I am inclined to believe that giving women control over their lives by enabling them to have some form of financial independence is always a good thing, so was happy to read about the papadam ladies.

I did wonder, however if the mob has tried to take over the papadom distribution network, like the egg cream racket in New York City in the twenties. Read Andrew Coe’s excellent account (via Ishbadiddle), which begins:

Before we turn to the criminal career of Harry Solomon Dolowich, let’s pause for something cold and sweet. I know the perfect spot. A cheerful Brooklyn luncheonette called Tom’s has been selling egg creams from its soda fountain since 1936.

An interesting report on the BBC (thanks to Ennis) about a Nigerian soccer player who used to be a woman. James Johnson used to play for the women’s football team, till it was discovered that she was a hermaphrodite. Iyabode Abade, as she was known then, was dropped from the team. She worked as a coach, and eventually the Nigerian government agreed to fund a sex-reassignment surgery. Now known as James Johnson, he plays for the men’s teams.

According to the Intersex Society of America 1 in 1500 to 2000 babies are born with ambiguous genitalia, but if you count subtler variations the number is higher, not to mention chromosomal variations. However, the issues often become one of social and legal definition. 0.1 to 0.2 percent of infants born in the US undergo some sort of “normalizing” surgery.

Speaking of hermaphrodites, there is an urban legend that Jamie Lee Curtis was born a hermaphrodite!

(Photo by Kerim)

The monkey population in India has increased tremendously. Their natural predators have decreased in population, and their natural habitat has shrunk. In search for food, the monkeys are coming into contact with humans more and more regularly. Something that will probably prove fatal for the monkeys. But meanwhile, they are gracing us with their ingenuity and street smarts. On the road to Delhi from Dehradun, we encountered one such bold fellow.

The monkey above is the subject of my first video-blogging effort. After waiting to see if we would provide food, it padded onto the hood of the car and put his hand in to see if a bag on the dashboard had anything useful in it.

Charles Dickens grew up in Chatham, near London, where a theme park recreating the era is planned. Characters from his novels will people the cobbled streets. I wonder if they will have dioramas depicting pale women dying of consumption, child labor and sad orphans. Hopefully their food stands won’t serve thin gruel, served by nasty, red-faced people with bad teeth, who will whip your shins if you ask for another helping.

My blog was named blog of the week by Ecto, the software I use to post my entries. I really like using Ecto, so its nice to be picked.

President Musharraf is set to discuss Kashmir with Manmohan Singh. But have they factored in the claims of the US to Kashmir? According to TOI:

…(a) secret document reveals that Hari Singh, equally apprehensive of joining either India or Pakistan, covertly ceded Kashmir to the US. According to Brown, when the map of Kashmir is reversed it becomes, uncannily, congruent with the hilly state of Kentucky in the southern US.

The Brown in this article is the Dan Brown of Da Vinci Code fame. Brown employed “spectragraphic analysis” and Kabbalistic numerology to come up with his conclusions. Brown claims the CIA has nothing do with these revelations. Perhaps all this was fore ordained after Jesus went to Kashmir. Now that the US is encouraging an arms race in the subcontinent, they may as well go the next step.

The 1960 Madhubala and Dilip Kumar film is in theaters today in the US. It has been restored to its technicolor glory, and one of the best examples of “Mughal nostalgia/historical extravaganza” for the lack of a better word. Umrao Jaan and Razia Sultan was probably the dying gasp of that genre. Though Umrao Jaan should technically be considered the last gasp, since it had memorable songs, a defining feature of these films. I suppose making films replete with Urdu poetry and idealized visions of “Mughal” culture wouldn’t be possible today. Who wants the Hindutva goons to go on a rampage on your set for being “anti-Indian”? The historical/nostalgia films seem to be currently situated in Bengal, what with Devdas and Chokher Bali (though not so much). I wonder if we’ll start seeing “nationalistically correct” extravaganzas with stories set in Baji Rao or Shivaji’s court. Films like Lagaan don’t really fit the bill, they don’t have the right tone of melancholy that these films require.

Update: We saw it. Its excellent! the colorization really works, (I was wrong about it being originally in technicolor, just portions of it were in color). Not everything has been colorized in the frame. Eschewing realism, the restoration leans towards expression, a good choice for a film where the aesthetic is one of tableau vivant, with characters striking stylized poses and declaiming elaborate and literary dialogue. Unfortunately, some songs have been cut from this version, bringing the three and a half version to three hours.