November 2004 Archives

Today was indeed an exciting day. Today I discovered the joys of giving- specifically the joys of giving magazine subscriptions!

Anirvan and I were out gift shopping for a friend and he waxed eloquent about how magazine subscriptions were the best gifts ever. Wendy and Charlie having received such gifts probably know this about him.

Amazon calls it "the gift that keeps on giving". I browsed for familiar names--Real Simple, Readymade, Utne and such. I found that the Readymade website had the best subscription price for the magazine than was listed at Amazon. But on Utne was where I made the real discovery. Utne's Street Librarian section had a recommendation for "Spacing", a magazine about Toronto's urban landscape. "Spacing" is also a nominee for their Utne Independent Press Awards under "Best New Title".

My next stop was the website for Spacing. This was one of most exciting magazines about urbanities that I have ever seen. I am not even sure that there are any more out there (if you know of one, please let me know). Their current issue has articles about "The Importance of the Poster", if you live in Berkeley then you will immediately recognize what I am talking about and another article about a direct action group called "Reclaim the Streets" that "reclaims streets and roadways for parties and political uprisings. Specifically related to the work I do was an article about a public art project called "Splash Pads" where artists "filled" neighborhood wading pools and another one about the tiles of the Toronto transit system. Wow. I am excited to see their next issue. Needless to say I bought a (gift) subscription.

Another web find:
Wanna be an envirosexual?
Check this out: A solar rechargeable vibrator.

Mukul, Anirvan and I saw "Sideways" on Tuesday. Like a fine wine it is a movie to be tasted and savored for a long time. One of the best movies I have ever seen in the last couple of years.

And a book recommendation (also highly recommended by Anirvan): What's the Matter with Kansas? How Conservatives Won the Heart of America by Thomas Frank (2004).

And a web find. Check this out especially if you are feeling poor. You might be surprised by what you find.
http://www.globalrichlist.com/

While in the City last Sunday Anirvan and I checked out Adobe Books. I stared amazed by the magical sight of books arranged by color. What a cool idea! This temporal piece of art is the brainchild of San Francisco artist Chris Cobb.

Anirvan and I checked out the 3rd I South Asian Film Festival on Sunday. We saw Anahat, directed by Amol Palekar. He is an amazing actor and I grew up watching his movies, "Gol Maal" being one of my all time favorites. But this was the only movie that I have seen that is directed by him. The high point of the film was the return of the Queen at dawn, her body covered with marks of love making, her face radiant after a night of pure sex, a woman awakened. According to the rules of Levirate or “Niyog” she is allowed to do this two more times and she demands it. The irony is obvious but seeing it on the screen is powerful. The portrayal of a woman who enjoys sex as an act and is not a "whore" and is not traumatized by guilt because of it is rare in our movies and almost unheard of in reality.

We also saw "Latoo" a documentary about the state of classical dance in Pakistan today. I learnt a lot of things from it. Odissi exists in Pakistan, Sheema Karim is a lovely exponent of the dance form, Pashtun movies are filled with explicit song and dance sequences performed by well endowed women, hijras dance to Bollywood music for a "lower middle class crowd" and that high class fashion shows in the privacy of the high society world in Pakistan display as much skin as anywhere else in the world. All could be topics for fascinating individual films. But in this documentary the voiceover ruined everything. The words were judgmental, the delivery had a chastising tone-- calling everything else but the classical dance forms a "degenerate" way of dance.

I understand the tone to some extent. Classical arts have always had to struggle with popular art. Learning Odissi for the last two years I have grown to appreciate the rigor required to be a good dancer. I have also never been a big fan of the style of dance termed as "Bollywood dancing". But nevertheless the argument for the existence and encouragement of classical dance lies in the intrinsic value of the art form, and not in relation to other types of dance. Picking on marginalized societies and critiquing their means of earning a living seems too defensive and bitter of an argument.

With all that I was still excited to learn about Sheema Karim, the Odissi dancer. She spoke of experimentations where she had performed Odissi to Urdu poetry and even English poetry. For me the melodious Oriya songs are a big part of why I enjoy Odissi. My curiosity is aroused and I hope to be able to see her dance some day. My web research doesn't show any performances outside of Pakistan, so it might be a while.

Speaking of dance...I went to class today, after more than 4 months. Asako is back after months, and is still recovering from cancer. I am amazed at how well she is doing and how she is still stronger than any of us in class. My knees hurt but I have never felt so good.

It's the day before the elections and it's my last chance to say what's on my mind. After this none of this might seem relevant. In Berkeley, are people talking, not about whether to vote for Bush or Kerry but whether to vote for Nader, Cobb, Kerry or Leonard Peltier.

This is tough time for liberals. You know you don't want Bush in the White house for 4 more years but is Kerry going to be any different? The man seemed to have a integrity in his past but as the campaign proceeded he morphed into something that didn't look very different from Bush even saying that he would find the terrorists and KILL them!? Well, we say atleast he is better than Bush in terms of abortion and gay marriage. Is he doing this just to win the election? If he is, is he going to be carry on being this way to win a second term? None of this bodes well for the American people.

And then there is Nader. I saw him speak on C-Span the other day and it was refreshing so see a candidate not speaking in sound bites or playing a political game but actually genuinely saying it like it is. My global vote goes to him! Kerry had said at one point that he would take votes away from Nader by taking his issues but that obviously hasn't happenned. It is ridiculous that people say that he should not be allowed to stand for election. Getting rid of the electoral college would make this less of an issue but as long as there are the two parties of the system benefit from it that will not happen.(Jon Stewart did say though that someone who does not have a chance of winning has the luxury of taking straight. I can't believe I am quoting Stewart! But did you see the guy on "Crossfire" or hear his less dramatic appearance on Charlie Rose. He is becoming a serious presence outside of his show.)

I mourned the fact that Nader wasn't part of the debates. Now that would have been interesting to watch. No bull**** would be allowed to go on. Watching campaign speeches or any kind of election coverage has become an absolute bore. Same old "facts" repeated a million times, false ads, accusations and spins. Osama really put the spin masters in a quandry though. Some said that this was a Kerry endorsement. But what if Osama knew that people would hesitate to vote for his choice of candidate and Osama did all this to get people to vote for Bush. One camp spinned it saying that people would look at this as a reminder that terrorism was very present danger but the other camp saw it as a reminder that it had been three years and that Osama was still alive and well!

It is scary to find oneself agreeing with the terrorist. What was it that Osama said about Bush's " tyranny and suppression of freedom" or about Bush "still exercising confusion and misleading you and not telling you the true reason." Hearing the piece about rampant voter fraud on "This American Life" and seeing "Control Room" only made me more uneasy.

Inspite of all this it seems like a lot of people are doing there part to get the vote out. Here on affluent 4th street, even the store dedicated to selling high end pet products pet is endorsing Kerry. Another poster in a fancy clothing store says "Let's Kerry Bush back to Texas".

Anirvan and I called South Asian voters in Florida for SAKI. Though I got a lot of people who supported Kerry I also got a few people who hung up, one who said that he was going to vote for "Mr. Bush" and another who wouldn't tell me who he was voting for and instead put the question to me. When I said Kerry he sarcastically congratulated me in a tone that sent shivers down my spine. I guess it was ok to call people to ask them to support Kerry.This last Sunday we called voters in Ohio to remind them to vote. In swing states I wonder how would asking people to vote for Nader work?

One of our friends put it really well. She said that it was, after all Halloween season and that we were all Liberals dressed up as Democrats. Come election day no matter who wins we will take to the streets in our true colors for there will be work to be done.