SAJAforum

POLITICS: Are Democrats playing the race card with Bobby Jindal?

Is the Louisiana Democratic Party race-baiting by consistently using Congressman Bobby Jindal's given name of Piyush? That's what Dan Turner of the Shreveport Times says:

One of the lingering issues is whether enough Louisiana voters attach any relevance to Jindal's Indian heritage. The state Democratic Party has played the race card for months, regularly referring to Jindal by his given first name, "Piyush" in press releases.

"People voted their biggest hates and fears first," Stonecipher said. "If it comes down to Bobby and a moderate or conservative white candidate, the vote goes to the Democrat. If it's Bobby and someone clearly left-of-center, the vote goes to Bobby."

The point was noted by Chris Fillizza of the Washington Post (via IALIPAC) in an interesting piece examining the lessons Jindal's latest campaign - he's running again for governor - would hold for another politician of color: Barack Obama.

If you look at the Louisiana Democratic Party's website, you'll see that it does refer to him as Piyush "Bobby" Jindal, as if "Bobby" were a nickname. Quotes from a few press releases...

• "Piyush 'Bobby' Jindal keeps saying he won’t play the political blame game in his run for governor. But then, being forthright about his intentions isn’t in Jindal’s playbook." (Nov. 21 release)
• "It seems Piyush 'Bobby' Jindal is loosening his grip on those Bush coattails by not coming out in favor of the president’s plan to increase deployment in Iraq." (Jan. 12, 2007 release)
• "Piyush (Bobby) Jindal has finally admitted to a partial divine revelation that he wants to be governor. This revelation has told him to seek out his most valued supporters, ask of them large amounts of money while he continues to pray for an answer to his most burning question – Should I be Governor?" (Nov. 16 release)

If you read Bobby Jindal's biography, on his website, he doesn't mention the name 'Piyush' once. As Chris Fillizza writes...

Every campaign is different, and what happened to Jindal or Gantt isn't necessarily predictive of what Obama will face in the coming months. But the Piyush/Bobby issue is indicative of the way that race and ethnicity can be subtly -- or not so subtly -- injected into politics.

TV: Padma Lakshmi's new food show, Top Chef

Youch:

“Top Chef” offers the reliable, although perhaps not always intentional, hilarity of its blunt product endorsements and of its host, Padma Lakshmi, a k a Mrs. Salman Rushdie, a model-turned-actress whose epicurean musings are less riveting than her sluggish, mouth-full-of-molasses style of speech and strenuously come-hither poses.

As she makes her costume changes you can almost read her thoughts: “Does this skirt go with hamachi?” “Is this too much cleavage for a chicken liver canapé?”

But you can get similar sorts of comedy and sociology elsewhere in the world of reality television.

That's from the New York Times review of the show, written by Frank Bruni (generally the review is more positive about the show). Last time the Times was rough on Padma, the husband didn't it take lying down.

Witnesses say Rushdie walked up to [Guy] Trebay at a National Arts Club event three days later and said, “If you ever write mean things about my wife again, I’ll come after you with a baseball bat.”

Slate also has a review of the show - less positive overall but it spares Padma, simply calling her "foxy."

Here's a recent interview with her.

EXPRESS: Are there any dishes your husband asks for?
LAKSHMI: He's an omnivore and eats anything and everything. I still don't know his favorite dish after seven years together, but he does like it when I make him fried okra. It's very hard to make Indian okra the right way.

BOOKS: New book for kids by Mitali Bose Perkins

SAJA member Mitali Bose Perkins of Boston has a new book out, aimed at 7 to 11-year-olds. The publicity material describes the book, which is about a young girl named Naima, thus:

Rickshaw Girl provides a glimpse into how organizations like the Grameen Bank (which recently won the Nobel Peace Prize) are beginning to make a difference in the lives of girls and women in Bangladeshi villages.

See below for the publicist's contact for review copy and interview info. Post your reax in the comments section.

BUSINESS: Minnesota's delegation to India

Minnesota becomes the latest state to get on the India economic bandwagon: the state's governor, Tim Pawlenty, is taking 30 business leaders to New Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai, later this year. They're encouraging companies to come along by submitting applications. From today's release:

"India's middle class is 300 million people and growing by 5 percent per year. That's a huge segment of the population that has increasingly more money to spend on consumer goods," said Tony Lorusso, executive director of the Minnesota Trade Office, the state's official export-promotion agency.

The industries they'll be looking at will include computers/electronics, bio-tech and food processing. On the reverse side, Indian companies are looking to expand auto manufacturing, pharmaceuticals and electronics investments in Minnesota. Some delegations try to combine the commercial possibilities with social welfare:

When former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack traveled there in March 2006, he discussed ways to increase soybean use in India to improve the diets of expectant mothers and young children.

So far, the governors of Virginia and Iowa have led delegations organized by the US-India Business Alliance. And California and Utah are planning their own trips.

"There is sort of a stampede thing. India is very much on everyone's radar scope now," said [Michael] Taylor, the alliance's executive vice president. "It's just a question of when they decide to go and how they decide to go. I think they feel a necessity to do it. The China mission was something you had to tick off. India has now become that."

HISTORY: Jan. 30, 1948, Mahatma Gandhi assassinated

Today is the anniversary of the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, who was shot to death on Jan. 30, 1948.

Thought some of you might like to see how the New York Times, led by Robert Trumbull, covered the story back then. You can find the coverage, including PDF links here.

It's part of SAJA's collection of landmark stories - a chance for you to see how SOME major front-page stories with South Asian connections were covered in the U.S. press (starting in 1857).

You should also take a look at some of the reporting by James W. Michaels, then of United Press, who broke the story of Gandhi's death by a few minutes - an eternity in the wire service days.

Trumbull's lead: "Mohandas K. Gandhi was killed by an assassin's bullet today. The assassin was a Hindu who fired three shots from a pistol  at range of three feet."

Michaels's lead: " Mohandas K. Gandhi was assassinated today by a Hindu extremist whose act plunged India into sorrow and fear."

Reax? Post you thoughts in the comments section below.

[See SAJAforum coverage of the 25th anniversary of the movie "Gandhi" in 2007.]

BOOKS: New biography of Dalai Lama by Mayank Chhaya

SAJA member Mayank Chhaya has a new book out, a biography of the Dalai Lama. The publicity material describes the book thus:

Written with the full cooperation of the Dalai Lama, this fascinating, up-to-date biography at once captures the public persona and enduring mystery behind one of the world's most important spiritual leaders.

DALAI LAMA: Man, Monk, Mystic (Amazon link)
By Mayank Chhaya, Doubleday

See below for the publicist's contact for review copy and interview info. Post your reax in the comments section.

RELIGION: Germany won't enforce Swastika ban

Following up on our earlier post on protests by European Hindus against Germany's plan to ask for an EU-wide ban on the swastika, it seems the country is now reversing course (via HPI):

Germany said earlier this month it wanted to harmonise rules throughout the 27-member bloc for dealing with Holocaust deniers and for punishing displays of the symbol of Adolf Hitler's Nazi party, banned in Germany and several other states.

But, setting out plans for an EU-wide anti-racism law on Monday, it said it would not seek to prohibit 'specific symbols such as swastikas'.

No way of knowing whether the protests by Hindus had any impact.

PAKISTAN: Benazir Bhutto, Asif Zardari break up

[ Dec. 2007 UPDATE: See SAJAforum coverage, resources about the assassination of Benazir Bhutto ]

Writing in Outlook magazine of India, Pakistani journalist Mariana Baabar says former Pakistan PM Benazir Bhutto and husband Asif Zardari have split, with wife living in Dubai and husband in New York, with his dogs:

"The marriage is over. Both have decided to move on... there has even been a distribution of assets" [says] a prominent Pakistani close to both Benazir and Zardari

Outlook also has an oblique first-person piece by Benazir herself, called Asif and I:

"In the end, personal life is sacrificed on the altar of political commitment. This is because the public is the political family. To succeed and reach the top, most families, irrespective of gender, whether in politics or other professions, have to go the extra mile, consequently sacrificing personal interests to the larger cause."

Despite denials about the breakup, the gossip has apparently been making the rounds in Pakistan for some time. The marriage has been at the center of Pakistani politics for years, with Zardari going to jail for 8 years on corruption charges. The two were also accused by the government of stealing hundreds of millions of dollars in "commissions" on government contracts.

[SAJAforum posting from Aug. 16, 2007: Benazir Bhutto's Appearance at CFR in NYC]

[ Dec. 2007 UPDATE: See SAJAforum coverage, resources about the assassination of Benazir Bhutto ]

TV: Shilpa Shetty wins UK's Big Brother

She did it! Yes, she did - she won. She won it! And she did it with... with dignity! And she defeated them, 'them' as in... the racists!

Sorry, too much giddy only. Beeb says Shilpa Shetty thanked the audience for the chance to make her country proud. Then, yet more graciousness...

"People make mistakes and we're all human beings, we're all fallible," said Shetty, referring to Goody's behaviour. "She is a little aggressive. She may be hot-tempered... but she's not a racist."

She won big-time: "Bookies had the Indian actress at 1/6 odds-on favourite to win. She received 63% of the public vote."

But, big-big question: Will Big Brother boost Shilpa?

Film director Deepak Tijori, who made the film Fareb (Deceit) with Shilpa Shetty, says the row over alleged racist remarks directed at the actress by other contestants would not help revive her Bollywood career.

"The market value of an Indian actor or actress is entirely dependent on the performance of his or her last film at the box office. Nothing else matters," he told the BBC News website.

Incidentally, the film, which also starred her younger sister Shamita and actor Manoj Bajpai, flopped badly and made huge losses.

Not so fast, said director Suneel Darshan...

He said her being in the news would have a positive effect on a film career which has been flagging.

"A friend of mine was looking to cast an actress in his film and I said 'why not Shilpa?'

"His response was, 'yes, she's hot now'. This just gives you an idea of how suddenly a lot of people have taken notice of Shilpa Shetty, here and abroad," Mr Darshan said.

Forget about all that. Shilpa will alter international relations forever?

``We have a very much improving and modern relationship with India, a very deep and cultural relationship with India in the 21st century. And it will be very damaging to us if that's the perception (that British society is racist) here,'' U.K. High Commissioner Sir Michael Arthur told Karan Thapar in the `Devil's Advocate' programme on the CNN-IBN and the CNBC.

We'd like to thank everyone for 'tuning in' to our earlier coverage of this media phenomenon: 1st post here, 2nd post here. It's been a wild ride.

BOOKS: NYT Book Review apologizes - sorta - for Vikram Chandra's bad words

Whoops!

If readers have been considering picking up a little conversational Hindi, they would probably do well not to begin with the sample list of words in the Jan. 7 review of “Sacred Games,” a novel by Vikram Chandra that sprinkles untranslated Hindi throughout its English text. Indian readers pointed out that while most of the Hindi terms in the review were innocuous, several were in fact obscene — suitable for Chandra’s tough-guy characters, no doubt, but not for the Book Review, where editors failed to check the meaning of the words in the novel’s glossary.

That's from today's NYT Book Review - an Editor's Note. See our earlier post, in which we mention a few reviewers who saw this coming, including SepiaMutiny and the NY Daily News.