Mayank Chhaya Daily

M.I.A. v. Sri Lanka

M.I.A. publicity photo as it appears on http://www.miauk.com/press-photos/press-photos.html

Call me a philistine or an outdated middle-aged doofus but I don’t quite get M.I.A. I get the angst behind the persona of M.I.A. but beyond that her music leaves me cold. One understands that to some extent her angst flows from the plight of the Sri Lankan Tamil community, of which she is an expatriate member.

She was named Mathangi Arulpragasam when she was born in Britain to Sri Lankan Tamil parents. Her father Arul Pragasam was part of the Tamil separatist movement which has over the past two and a half decades claimed more than 65,000 lives. She maintains that her father was not part of the violent Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) but was associated with a political movement favoring separation from Sri Lanka. I am willing to take her word for it because he is not the subject of this post.

I have heard both her recent hits ‘O saya’ and ‘Paper Planes’, the former composed by A R Rahman for Slumdog Millionaire and the latter by her. I have struggled to look for some appeal in either song. Normally, compositions by Rahman, who is unquestionably one of the world’s greatest musical talents, do tend to grow on you after a while. ‘O saya’, however, does nothing of the sort. Its Oscar nomination is as baffling as the Grammy nomination for ‘Paper Planes.’ The ‘Paper Planes’ video has 30,713,802 hits on YouTube, which is a testimony to M.I.A.’s truly global appeal.  I am willing to be castigated as someone who is clueless about the kind of music that M.I.A. creates but that does not help the fact that I fail to see what the big deal is.

What I am completely at home with the Tamil-Sinhala conflict having reported on it and edited and published a major book about it and a subject on which M.I.A. has chosen to write about on CNN and speak about in other media interviews. One can understand that having been very directly affected by the crisis for the first 10 years of her life in Jaffna and later having carried deep emotional scars in her family’s disruption M.I.A. has a well-formed opinion about it. That comes through in her recent comments.

It is true that under President Mahinda Rajapaksa the Sri Lankan forces have taken the fight to the Tamil Tigers unlike any in the past two decades. There are real possibilities that this time the Tamil Tigers could be essentially wiped out. It is equally true that Tamil civilians are caught in the middle of the bloody fight between the Tigers and Sri Lankan forces. A large number of them are living in harrowing conditions. But to compare the situation to the Nazi concentration camps and genocide, as M.I.A. does, seems like serious exaggeration. Her global profile has given M.I.A. a bully pulpit which she ought to use to help focus attention on the conflict at home. It would help her own cause were she to put it in a broader perspective rather than lacing it with personal biases.

It can be reasonably argued that the Rajapaksa government has so far got a free run from the international community because it is not a conflict that anyone other than Sri Lanka and India are interested in. In terms of the sheer scale of death and brutality it is far worse than the Israeli strikes on Gaza. Yet it has largely gone unnoticed other than a newspaper like The Wall Street Journal holding it up as a great example of how well military solution works against terrorism. By and large it has remained out of sight for the international community. To that extent M.I.A.’s recent comments, however partisan will help raise its profile.

Needling the Dalai Lama

Beijing knows how to needle the Dalai Lama. That is what all totalitarian regimes excel at. The Chinese government has declared March 28 as the 'Serf Emancipation Day' and a permanent public holiday in the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR). It is likely to be one of the many preemptive moves against exiled Tibetans and their leader the Dalai Lama reminding the world that 2009 is the 50^th year of the Chinese occupation of Tibet. It was in 1959 that Tibetans rose in a major uprising against the Chinese government that eventually caused the Dalai Lama to go into exile as a 24-year-old leader.

The China Daily has written a stinging editorial against the Dalai Lama, apparently in preparations for the “Serf Emancipation Day.”

"Tibet under the Dalai Lama was never the Shangri-la of popular romantic fantasies. Unless you want to call a place where 95 percent of the local people were serfs and household slaves, who could be sold, bought and bequeathed like commodities, paradise on earth anyway. Next time when the Dalai Lama talks of human rights in Tibet, ask him what it was like being a serf under his reign,” the daily said.

"Next time when he preaches for 'freedom', ask him what freedom the serfs and slaves enjoyed in the 'good old days' he has been so passionate about... But now, Dharamsala accuses Beijing of enslaving Tibetans,” the paper said.

It is fact that serfdom was prevalent in Tibet of the early 20^th century and before. But then it was equally true of the China of those days. Not that two wrongs make one right but it is important to put such claims in perspective. Slaves were an intrinsic part of the American life as well. To the extent that slavery and serfdom in some form was a near global phenomenon, it would be disingenuous to just slam Tibet in general and the Dalai Lama in particular.

It is to the current Dalai Lama’s credit that he introduced sweeping democratic reform within the exile Tibetan community in India. He left Tibet at an age and under circumstances which would not have allowed him perpetuate some of the past practices of the ruling Tibetan clergy. Even his predecessor, the 13^th Dalai Lama had a strong record of democratic reform within the closed system of Tibet in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries.

There is something so manifestly dishonest about the claim that China freed up 95% of serfs and slaves because it conveniently disregards that as a whole Tibet's and Tibetans’ destinies were made subservient to the Chinese wishes after 1959.

This is a long and complex debate that cannot be dealt with in a blog post but I hope you get some perspective on the historical forces operating then. 

Palling around with a friend of a terrorist

Admittedly, this is not a South Asian subject but its inherent hypocrisy has prompted me to write this post. At the height of the US presidential campaign the Republican Party’s vice presidential pick Sarah Palin had this to say about Barack Obama.

“There is a lot of interest, I guess, in what I read and what I’ve read lately. Well, I was reading my copy of today’s New York Times and I was interested to read about Barack’s friends from Chicago.

“I get to bring this up not to pick a fight, but it was there in the New York Times, so we are gonna talk about it. Turns out one of Barack’s earliest supporters is a man who, according to the New York Times, and they are hardly ever wrong, was a domestic terrorist and part of a group that quote launched a campaign of bombings that would target the Pentagon and US Capitol. Wow. These are the same guys who think patriotism is paying higher taxes.

“This is not a man who sees America as you see it and how I see America. We see America as the greatest force for good in this world. If we can be that beacon of light and hope for others who seek freedom and democracy and can live in a country that would allow intolerance in the equal rights that again our military men and women fight for and die for all of us. Our opponent though, is someone who sees America it seems as being so imperfect that he’s palling around with terrorists who would target their own country?”

The terrorist in question was, of course, William C. Ayers, once a member of the radical Weatherman group who is now a professor in Chicago. Since then 53 percent of American voters have elected the man “palling around with terrorists” to be their president. So what can Sarah Palin do to avoid having any association with a terrorist by implication? The honorable thing to do is to refuse to hobnob with one whom she was so convinced kept company of those out to destroy America. There is only a little obstacle in her path to do the honorable thing. She is a politician and a governor who needs money for her state. So instead she chooses to reverse her stand 180 degrees and choose to have dinner with Obama.

Palin is in Washington, a town she cannot stand, to look for an opportunity to meet a man she believed counted terrorists among his friends. Asked if she will attend the exclusive club dinner in D.C. this weekend, she said "The Alfalfa dinner, yes, in fact that's because President Obama is scheduled to be there. And how often will I have an opportunity to have dinner with the president? I will take up that offer to do so." The summersault is so brazen, it needs no comment.

No vegetables were harmed in PETA commercial

Without questioning the highly debatable assertion that vegetarians have better sex (I am a lifelong vegan), I find the PETA commercial banned from the Super Bowl Sunday broadcast to be gratuitously pornographic. Three cheers for that. What is the point of pornography if it is not gratuitously pornographic? Those who are not vegetarians may have to be told that the vegetables used in the commercial were not harmed in anyway other than chopping and boiling them and are meant to be eaten.

The less than subtle erotic touching and licking that those stunning women in the commercial subject my daily staple is quite a sight. Next time when I boil broccoli I might see one of the women in the water in the pan.

It is good that the commercial was banned because it has now achieved precisely the opposite objective of making it a humongous hit on the net. Better a pornographic commercial than obscene wars going around the world.

'Veggie Love': PETA's Banned Super Bowl Ad

Reaching out to Muslims

President Barack Obama chose to give his first televised interview from the White House to the Arab network Al Arabiya in what is widely seen as an intelligent strategy. However, hearing what he said makes me worried that in the process he may be running a serious risk of unsettling his domestic political standing.

I was particularly struck by this comment: “Now, my job is to communicate the fact that the United States has a stake in the well-being of the Muslim world,  that the language we use has to be a language of respect. I have Muslim members of my family. I have lived in Muslim countries ... the largest one, Indonesia. And so what I want to communicate is the fact that in all my travels throughout the Muslim world, what I've come to understand is that regardless of your faith – and America is a country of Muslims, Jews, Christians, non-believers – regardless of your faith, people all have certain common hopes and common dreams. And my job is to communicate to the American people that the Muslim world is filled with extraordinary people who simply want to live their lives and see their children live better lives. My job to the Muslim world is to communicate that the Americans are not your enemy.”

For the president of a country that largely sees itself as Christian to say “I have Muslim members of my family” is not just bold but, more importantly, it is fraught with possibilities of willful misrepresentation. I was reminded of one of Senator John McCain’s campaign rallies where an elderly woman suggested that Obama was an Arab and a Muslim as if either is some kind of contagion that Americans must avoid. Obama’s comments to the Al Arabiya will likely serve to reinforce prejudice in the minds of many Americans like the woman at the campaign rally. It would not have gone unnoticed in this group of people that Obama used his middle name Hussein during his swearing in on January 20. I can almost hear the right wing blogs lighting up with innuendoes about Obama’s Muslim connection to imply that he masqueraded as a Christian to take over America.

On a separate note, while emphasizing that America is a multicultural and multireligious country he almost repeated what he said in his inaugural address but with one omission—Hindus. “America is a country of Muslims, Jews, Christians, non-believers..” he said. I personally do not care since I have no stake in any religion but it would be interesting to find out if the omission was deliberate or innocent. In a country where Hindus do not even constitute one percent Obama need not have felt compelled to mention them in the inauguration address. One noticed it only because he included them then and left them out now. I am just nitpicking, speaking of which some people may have even an issue with the fact that he said “America is a country of Muslims…” and not “America is a country of Christians..”

Mumbai between Terror and Slumdog

Between the unnerving November 26 terror attacks and nervy Slumdog Millionaire there is a mood of Mumbai that has been captured strikingly by my veteran news photographer friend Chandu Mhatre.  Chandu has recently created a photo gallery online to sell his prints at www.iconphotos.net

I had written about this sometime ago. I am doing so again for those whose interest in the city may have been heightened by the ever-growing success of Danny Boyle’s ‘Slumdog Millionaire.’ Like all great cities Mumbai too lives in many layers. One can choose to focus on one layer and can be partially right about it. Boyle’s plot largely unfolds on the layer which most Mumbaikars are either embarrassed, apathetic, indifferent, angry or all four about.

Chandu’s photos chronicle the Mumbai whose self-assurance has galloped in the last decade even beyond what it was always known for. The city has always been unconscious of its strengths and weaknesses. But with the economic success of the last decade and half has freed it up even more.

I strongly recommend that you go to Chandu’s site and order prints of your choice. 

Slumdog casts basks in SAG warmth

Music on my mind, again

On a Monday morning when half the world is feverishly occupied with challenges of survival this professional hack has music on his mind. I just picked up this smooth, melodious 1970 number from ‘Safar’, composed with obvious ease by Kalyanji Anandji and sung by the always enchanting Lata Mangeshkar. You can be forgiven for thinking that I really have nothing else to do other than hunt for these numbers on YouTube. I don’t.

Don’t miss the little plugs for Kwality ice cream at 41 seconds and Bush transistors at 2.36. 

Pakistan drying up

In a grim reminder of the worsening governance, Pakistan is being told that it has petroleum reserves to last only six days. This in a country that sees itself as an important member of the exclusive nuclear weapons club.

Geo TV quoted Petroleum Ministry Additional Secretary G.A. Sabri as saying, "We are currently importing petroleum products based on 10 days' inventory keeping in view the dollar constraints."

The “dollar constraints” are a reference dwindling foreign exchange reserves. One hopes that there are people in Pakistan’s ruling elite as well as intelligentsia who realize these are all troublesome indicators of not having focused on nation building in the last six decades but instead letting various state institutions run amuck with their own little fiefdoms that often conflicted with the overall well being the of the state as a whole.

A wide variety terror groups that Pakistani intelligence patronized and promoted over the decades have also played a highly damaging role in setting the country back. It is undeniable that in comparison India has managed its political, economic, military and intelligence institutions extraordinarily well.

There is clear recognition in India that Pakistan’s stability as a nation-state is fundamental to its own future. In 1991 India was down to $5.8 billion foreign exchange reserves, enough for barely a few weeks’ imports. Rather than sliding into political and economic chaos the country’s successive leaderships went about systematically rebuilding its strengths. Today they are in the range of $280 billion after touching a high of $309 billion about a year ago.

Obama v. Jindal in 2012?

Barack Hussein Obama versus Bobby ‘Piyush’ Jindal in 2012? This question has already begun doing the rounds, barely a week into the Obama administration. What is fueling the speculation is the fact that Jindal will be the keynote speaker at the National Republican Congressional Committee's dinner in March.

This is a high-powered event on Washington’s calendar and has the potential to give Jindal the kind of platform he needs to be seen on if he has ambitions beyond his state. That Jindal was chosen over Alaska Governor Sarah Palin too is being interpreted as a sign of things to come in 2012.

The young governor himself, he is only 38, has denied any possibilities for 2012. But then 2012 is still four years away. In politics four hours are a long time. If he chooses to run, he would be only 42 against Obama’s 51.

For quite some time Jindal has been regarded as the rising star of the Republican Party who enjoys a great of respect among the conservatives. It is an important strength to possess in the Republican Party for anyone with ambitions. Although born in a Hindu family Jindal converted to Christianity, something that could work in his favor as well. Jindal stands a very real chance of seriously challenging Obama’s second term. Before that he has to factor in Sarah Palin making a serious bid. She has tasted blood in the couple of months that she spent with the John McCain campaign. Quite obviously, she liked what she tasted.

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Which Oscar nominated song are these striking lines from? My answer tomorrow.

Under a sequined blue sky…

Spent nights dancing on burning embers…

Taste the night, it tastes like honey