The Daily Delicious for March 12, 2008

Nandita Das in Ramchand Pakistani

• Holgon Strobe Gallery
  I’m becoming obsessed with toy cameras. I just bought a Diana but I also want to add a Holga to my collection. Loved this gallery of a Karmacy concert taken with the Strobe Flash attachment for a Holga Camera. —Priya
  (tags: music photography)
• Desi Idol 2008 to be Held in Chicago
  A contest full of Sanjayas? —Ismat
  (tags: music)
• Dishoom2008
  Amitabh for President. Amazing work from Badmash…. but of course. The illustrations are gorgeous. The video is hysterical. Who doesn’t need a little dishoom? —Priya
  (tags: humor amitabh_bachchan)
• Manoj at SFIAAFF 2008
  If you didn’t catch civil rights activist/comic Hari Kondabolu’s hilarious mockumentary Manoj last year, here’s your chance to see it at SFIAAFF (San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival) —Pavani
  (tags: film humor hari_kondabolu)
• Ramchand Pakistani
  World premiere at Tribeca film festival in New York City this spring: This film is about young Pakistani boy who, with his father, inadvertently crosses the border into India. —Ismat
  (tags: film pakistan)

The Daily Delicious for March 11, 2008

Raja Rani from the photostream of counterclockwise.

• Nelly Furtado singing Kabhi Kabhie
  Furtado says “My friends invited me to sing at their Indian cultural festival when I was about 18 years old, and my friend’s father said I should sing in Hindi, and I really liked it. I learnt Kabhi Kabhi.” —Pavani
  (tags: music celebrities)
• Breathing Under Water
  “On Breathing Under Water [Anoushka Shankar] merges her sitar, piano and keyboards with the vision of Karsh Kale…one of the leading exponents in the marriage of traditional Indian with modern electronic music.” Guests include Norah Jones. —Pavani
  (tags: celebrity music)
• Indian Matchboxes
  Love this collection of Indian Matchboxes. The designer in me is totally going nuts over the typefaces and graphics. —Priya
  (tags: design art)
• Raja Rani on Flickr
  “Raja means king and Rani, queen. So naturally, this matchbox has a picture of a dorky man in a striped shirt trying to light his cigarette while holding an umbrella.” —Pavani
  (tags: art indian)
• Stuff Desis Like
  Heh. A take on the now-infamous stuffwhitepeoplelike.com. # 12 is “Friends” … Sad but true. — Priya
  (tags: humor)

“He wanted people to know who they were…”

Tejinder Sibia (sacbee.com)

Known for his web site www.sikhpioneers.org documenting the history and culture of Punjabis and Sikhs in California and the Pacific Northwest, Tejinder Singh “Ted” Sibia, who recently died of leukemia at age 70, also took an active role in promoting the inclusion of Punjabi history in state textbooks and Punjabi language study at UC Davis. While heading UCD’s Shields Library research unit for biology and agriculture until his retirement in 2006, Sibia, who immigrated from Punjab in 1960, mentored Punjabi students and served as an ambassador of Punjabi culture on campus. “He wanted people to know who they were, what they were about,” said Carrie Rushby, his library assistant for 12 years (The Sacramento Bee).

His work online documenting Sikhs and Punjabis in North America is an extremely valuable resource that includes rare historical photographs of the Komagata Maru incident, the Gadar Party, an old photo of Sibia himself working in California’s peach orchards as a young man, and more recent photos of a group research trip to Angel Island in San Francisco bay, where his wife Manjeet, who with their daughter survives him, translated several words scratched in Punjabi on a wall of the historic immigration detention center.

The Best of Nirali

“Where have you guys been?,” our loyal readers have been asking. “Aren’t you going to publish new issues?”

Well, it ain’t that easy. True, the most recent issue of Nirali was in July. But, uh, we’ve been busy since then.

The truth is, Nirali is one enormous labor of love. The wonderful staff and freelancers who contribute to Nirali don’t do it because they have to or because they’re paid to—they do it because they want to. That’s right—Nirali is an entirely volunteer effort. And after several months of putting out new issues with dozens of stories, we just sort of burned out on the whole process.

But we miss it, too. We miss bringing you stories that can’t be found in most other media. We miss knowing what’s on the pulse of South Asian community in the West. We miss seeing our readers debate our work in the comments. In short, we miss you.

So we’re coming back. But before we delve into the new stuff, we’re taking some time to celebrate some of our favorite stories over the years. In this issue, you’ll find the best of Nirali—everything from our story on M.I.A in 2004, before she was a huge sensation, to the essays on desi guys that had so many of you talking.

We’ll unearth these stories all month long on our front page. To cut to the chase and see the entire list of stories we consider our “Best Of,” see the topic page here. If you choose to browse even further, you can see that we’ve marked all our favorite stories with the “Best of Nirali” badge.

So take some time to get to know Nirali again—and we’ll be back before you know it (or May, whichever comes first).

Ismat Sarah Mangla
Editor

Priya Patel
Creative Director

Hermès Orange, Indian Pink (UPDATED)

Lakshmi Menon for Hermès Spring/Summer 2008 campaign. Shot by Thierry Le Goués. Click for a closer look.

Wow, guys. I am literally bouncing in my seat. The fat March issue of Vanity Fair landed on my desk. I love going through the March and September books because generally that’s when all the new ad campaigns debut.

This season I’m loving Prada (gorgeous illustrations!), Dolce & Gabbana (artist loft chic!) and Kate Spade (always a sucker for the preppy styling!). Then my eyes landed on the new Hermès campaign…

Ooooh lord, it’s good. The three-pager in VF opens with a shot of a black horse following a painted Indian elephant on a pathway of hot pink and orange flowers. (Very smart, Hermès!) The following spread shows a shot of Indian model Lakshmi Menon in jodhpur chic (Dude, those pants are made of crocodile…. seriously?) between two more painted elephants with more orange and pink flowers. Tagline? Hermès Orange Indian Pink. So perfect.

I love that Lakshmi is the new face of Hermès. She is such great choice for this season’s collection especially since it was inspired by India. I can’t wait to see the rest of this campaign as more March and April books drop on my desk! Will keep this post updated.

UPDATE: I have more shots from this campaign including shots for the Hermès Home collection and handbags and shoes. See it all after the jump!

Read the rest of this entry »

Kali’s Jewel Box

From “Terrorism Affects Tourism”

The New York Times Sunday Styles always get my weekly love. This week I happened upon a small item regarding Kali Arulpragasam’s fine jewelry.

Wait. Arulpragasam, you say? Is that?…. Yes. Kali is the sister of your girl and mine, M.I.A.

Kali is a jewelry designer with a studio in London. Her work can be seen on her site, Super Fertile.

Her work is highly influenced by social issues with collections titled “Rich Girl vs. Poor Girl” and “Endangered Species”. Her latest collection is called “Terrorism Affects Tourism”. The collection celebrates the positive side to countries that we think of as war-torn and poverty stricken. From the Times:

These pieces are plated gold and silver and start at $800. See Super Fertile for ordering information.

Protocol to be a Marc Jacobs Model

M.I.A. for Marc by Marc Jacobs

This ain’t no Rocawear. Flipping through the new February issue of Teen Vogue (shut up.), I caught the new shots for Spring 2008 campaign for Marc by Marc Jacobs featuring none other than our girl, M.I.A. (Front of book, first ad after the L’Oreal gatefold.)

I wanted to love it, I really did but does anyone else think homeskillet looks a bit tired in these photos? And that the hell is up with the styling? Don’t mind the shot on the right but sticking her in a men’s cut suit? Really? The Spring line has so many gorgeous colorful clothes… why go that route? I associate M.I.A. with hyper color anyway, much like the Spring collection, so what’s up with the gray and olive?

Anyway, what are your thoughts? Bigger photos after the jump… Read the rest of this entry »

Former Googler Joins Ron Paul Army

Boyapati (ANU Reporter)

Enthusiastic in his support of Republican presidential hopeful Ron Paul, Google software engineer Vijay Boyapati flew down this past summer from Seattle to see Ron Paul speak live at his employer’s Mountain View, California, headquarters. (Vijay makes his appearance at 42:31, clad in Paul t-shirt and cap and and mentions that his check for Paul would be blank if it wasn’t for Uncle Sam’s restrictions.)

Boyapati’s support didn’t stop with the $2,300 check he wrote for Ron Paul that day. The 29-year-old left his employer a couple weeks ago to move to New Hampshire and work as a full-time volunteer. He created “Operation Live Free or Die” an online initiative to help canvass for Paul that is now seeking 1000 volunteers to come to the state. “I can’t express how excited I am to finally travel to New Hampshire and begin helping Ron Paul’s grassroots movement win the most important primary in the coming Presidential election,” wrote Boyapati on the site’s blog in a post entitled “New Hampshire or bust!”.

Australia-born Boyapati has lived in the U.S. for seven years and recently became a citizen. In a video interview he talks about Paul’s anti-war stance, respect for the Constitution and message of liberty (I think that last part is campaign-speak for limited government), among other things that drew him to the candidate.

More:
Former Google Employee Engineers NH Ground Campaign For Ron Paul
2006 profile of Boyapati from his alma mater ANU

Read the rest of this entry »

Mukhtar Mai in Sacramento

Mukhtar Mai is scheduled to appear in Sacramento on December 11 for an event presented by the Sacramento Valley Chapter of the California Credit Union League (see site for event details) and the Pakistani American Association of Greater Sacramento Valley. “An Evening with Mukhtar Mai: Building Schools of Hope Fundraising Event” includes a private dinner, public reception and opportunities to ask questions of Mukhtar Mai. Proceeds of this event go to the Mukhtar Mai School Fund to support the expansion, staffing and ongoing education of her schools.

Sentenced by tribesmen in Pakistan to be gang-raped because of an infraction supposedly committed by her brother, Mai rose to international acclaim in the years following by fighting back and testifying against her attackers and using her compensation to open schools in her village. She travels internationally to speak on behalf of women and continues to expand her schools.

Related: Mohammed Naqvi’s documentary on Mai, Shame, illustrates the international reception Mukhtar Mai has received as a cause célèbre. In this interview, Naqvi takes questions about the implications this international attention has had for her personal privacy and safety, as well as her mission of educating children in rural Pakistan.

Views From Under the Dragon

Photojournalist Lonny Shavelson and co-author Fred Setterberg took notes and and photos over three years of exploring the Bay Area from San Francisco to Fremont and its community events, neighborhoods and religious centers. The result is Under the Dragon: California’s New Culture, an illustrated look at the complicated and changing ethnic experience in the Bay Area with a focus on individuals and stories—seven stories with accompanying images, and 80 photographs with detailed captions.

Andrew Lam writes in Dragon‘s foreword

More:
a cool interactive map of the photographs
more photographs from the book
SF Chronicle review