Why "India Outside India"?

Since I came to NYC I have been trying to capture for the benefit of my international friends what is ‘India’ or ‘Indianness’. We have discussed various facets of Indian people, culture, ways of meaning making and what it means to live as an Indian. It was also interesting when my international friends shared what they thought being Indian was/must be like for me. I have been capturing visuals that I thought express non-Indians’ perceptions about India and also the expressions/visuals shared by the Indian community in US that must be shaping this perception. After a year of gathering images and talking in my head about it I thought why not put it all down in a blog.

Friday, October 16, 2009

Diwali Message from Obama

Friday, October 2, 2009

Google Remembers Gandhi!

Google remembers Gandhi on his Birth Anniversary.

Saheli reminded me about the Birth Anniversary in the morning because of her Facebook update. Google for me was the least expected place that would commemorate the day.

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Bell Bajao Abhiyan

This video was shared in our Media, Culture and Education class. I was pretty impressed by the video and also by the fact that it was distributed by Govt of India (Ministry of Women and Child Development). The video is crisp with strong visuals. The ball bouncing in the kid's hand and the image and sound of the bell are two very powerful images.


In the class, it was interesting to hear comments from an international crowd. For me the most important aspect was adolescents having power to intervene. Here are some comments from the class that stood out: would have liked to see girls in the mix; punk kids (refering to the galli cricket gang) taking social action was a powerful message, opening and closing of the doors seemed like passing of days and that the kids would always be there.


I personally thought that the same film would not have worked with girls. Galli cricket is a phenomenon. In this case with a Chaul setting, in lower middle class Mumbai. I assumed that in a different setting girls/women will have a role. I was reading more about the film maker Mallika Dutt and stumbled upon the website for the Bell Bajao Abhiyan (Ring the bell campaign). There are two more videos. Both featuring men (not young adults) taking similar action, ringing the bell. The website says the campaign is "asking men and boys to bring domestic violence to a halt". I have to read more to see why they are focusing on men. It was intersting though that I never saw the absence of girls in the video till it was pointed out.

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Chai tea, Masala chai and the real Indian tea

For the longest time I felt that it was my duty to educate Americans about the wrong nomenclature for the things they were eating under the name of Indian. Curry and Chai tea are two of my pet peeves. I have told numerous people numerous times (even when they didn't care) that there is nothing called 'curry' in Indian cuisine, the way it is understood by Americans, Europeans and may be the rest of the world. I also started writing a blog post about it sometime back. I should publish it one of these days.

'Chai tea' was an irritation for two reasons - firstly, Chai tea is like saying 'tea tea'. Chai means tea. It is hardly an adjective for tea. Secondly, I thought the spices they added in the name of Indian chai was just wrong. Just because we use spices like pepper, cinnamon and cloves in Indian cuisine doesn't mean we would add it in the spiced tea.

Cafe Fresh near Columbia serves a version of this 'Chai tea'. The only relief is that the menu lists it as 'Masala Chai' (spiced tea). I was so excited to read the words 'Masala Chai' that I started frequenting the place for a cup of chai. Funnily, I have taken to the various versions of spiced tea sold by cafes like Starbucks and Cafe Fresh as well as those sold as teabags. Even though I like these spicy versions, I have always maintained that they are not real Indian tea because of the pepper in it.

So the other day when Shraddha and I were exchanging recipes and the secrets for the fresh home specific masalas, I was shocked to hear her version of the masala for chai. The masala in her house is made of Pepper, . I asked her twice if that was her own recipe and she insisted that it was a traditional recipe. So all these years when I thought it was stupid of westerners to add pepper in the Chai, seems like they were more knowledgeable about some of the Indian customs than I was.

The tea bags with black or green tea and powdered or whole spices steeped in hot water still is nowhere close to the Masala chai made in any corner of India, but I have to regrettably take back my ill feelings for the addition of pepper.

I still feel the need to introduce people to the chai (simple tea), and Masala chai we make at home. Tea powder/granules (not leaves) boiled till it is strong and dark. Fresh ginger and cardamom added while boiling for warmth on a rainy day. Generous milk added to soften the taste. A couple of my friends have got hooked to it. But I remember to add that it is my /our (Maharashtrian?? Puneri??) version of the tea, rather than extrapolating my experience as an average Indian experience.

Monday, June 8, 2009

Gandhi in NY: Peace, Social Activist, and World Leader

The first time I came across a mention of Mahatma Gandhi and a visual was in the sculpture garden of Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in the Fall of 2005. The sculptures were created by school children. I was actually pleasantly surprised. It (the surprised reaction) might have been because of the stereotype about Americans who have no general knowledge and no interest in the history, politics and happenings in the rest of the world. I try not to have such generalized notions of people. But this one is hard to get rid of. It also came from a feeling (at that time) of being culturally invisible. I was equally surprised for the same reason when I saw a picture of Indira Gandhi on a book cover about Women leaders in the classroom library of a Harlem school.

Anyway, continuing about Gandhi....I was so surprised that I decided to come back to take a photo, almost to prove to myself that 'these people know about our Gandhi'. hahaha.

This photo of the sculpture was recently taken when I visited the sculpture garden again with my sister. (She was not suitably surprised to see Gandhi etched in a Cathedral garden. What a disappointment.) The sculpture is created by a school aged kid. It is a message of peace from Mahatma Gandhi.

In the same week we came across the sculpture of Mahatma Gandhi tucked away in a corner of Union square park. Wikipedia says that the newer addition of Gandhi's sculpture in 1986 was to mark Union Square's history of social activism.




















The statue is quite well made. You can see the detail of his watch tucked in his Dhoti. Though I was quite disappointed to see him tucked in a corner like that.


The following photo is from Madam Tussad's on 42nd street. I thought the placement was very interesting - social leader, religious leader, spiritual leader.

Friday, March 27, 2009

Indian in US TV series

CSI – NY’s latest episode showed the festival of colors – holi being celebrated somewhere in Queens. I captured a couple of stills. As you can see the girls dancing are wearing a belly dancing costume. Is that a CSI version of Indian? CSI now-a-days is overly dramatizing scenes towards phony anyways.















Here is another one from the same scene. My first reaction was that this is another example of the 'exotic east' syndrome. But then again this might be the expression of Indian by the community in queens that I am discarding as not authentic enough. Me being the 'real' Indian and all. ;)