Über Desi » Personal

Something happened(UPDATED)

Runa — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 06:27:37 +0000

Those of you who follow my sadly sporadic writing on this site probably know that I shy away from sharing any personal stuff. Today something happened. Something that has me wondering if I overreacted or if I did the right thing. I am going to let you judge.

Like many of our readers and like all my blog mates, I am a proud DBD. I was born and grew up in India. Nine years in the USA may have added Americanisms to my speech but my accent remains firmly Indian. I am not self conscious about it – I live in the Bay Area and I am surrounded by a myriad of accents. My hairdresser has a glorious Russian accent. The guy who changed my kitchen countertops has a charming Mexican accents- I love its cadences. I have worked with people from South America, Turkey, Ukraine and Britain and each spoke with a unique accent. I *love* the British accent and can listen to a Britisher reading aloud from something as boring as a Telephone Directory just to hear that marvelous accent. I don’t believe my Indian accent is something I need to be ashamed of – its as much a part of me as eating mango pickle with curds and rice is, as celebrating Diwali , as speaking in Hinglish when at home.

An American co worker has – several times – imitated an “Indian” accent in front of me. I have so far chosen to ignore it. Its a terrible imitation in any case , the “Apu ” accent which is one that does not exist in real life as far as my experience goes. Today it happened again during a lull in a meeting. I snapped. I did something that is probably not wise. I told him that a) the sound of someone imitating an Indian accent is like the scraping of nails over a chalk board to me and b) the “Apu” accent is just plain wrong. Its not accurate and is the American idea of what Indians sound like ( There is no one single “Indian” accent – it changes every few miles in India). I asked him to never do it in front of me again. Obviously, he was taken aback and apologetic and promised never to do it again.

Did I overreact? I don’t know. I just know that I reached the point where this seemed to me to be bordering on racist. I do not understand at what point it becomes acceptable to mock the way an entire subcontinent speaks. Who gets to decide the “right” English accent anyway? The British may rightly claim ownership of the English language- I do not hear any Americans sounding like the British though!

Why are Indian immigrants singled out for speaking in native accents? The Scotsmen and Irishmen who work with me continue to speak with Scottish and Irish accents and I have never, ever heard anyone complain or make fun of them. I have heard people say that Indians do not assimilate – that unlike many Chinese immigrants we do not westernize our children’s names. Yet I have worked with a bunch of Irish people who name their children staunchly Irish names, who celebrate St. Paddy’s, do Irish dances and no one ever accuses them of not assimilating.

I wonder- does this have to do with us looking different? Is it ok to be differently white but being different and brown is unacceptable?

UPDATE: I got another, personal apology today. So the matter is over as far as I am concerned. In retrospect, maybe I could have handled it better. On the other hand, if I had not spoken up no one would have realized how deeply I felt about this.

In the aftermath

Runa — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 19:08:39 +0000

I have spent an entire Thanksgiving weekend glued to the television and to Indian TV channels online watching the coverage of the terrorist attacks in Mumbai. We at Uberdesi stopped updating our breaking news post on the attacks because a) It was just too difficult and b) there was so much unverified information out there that it seemed irresponsible to post it until things settled down.

It was difficult for anyone to watch the senseless carnage and the massacre of innocents. For those of us who had a relationship with Mumbai it was even more so. The Taj, the Oberoi and Cafe Leopold were well loved landmarks. When I was growing up the Taj and the Oberoi represented aspirational objectives – someday I wanted to earn enough to afford to have a complete meal at the restaurants in those hotels. We satisfied ourselves by having an occasional cup of coffee at the coffee shops for the outrageous sum of Rs.35 and felt the impacts on our student budgets for days after; yet we felt it was worth it to be able to say that we went to the Taj or the Oberoi. NDTV showed the remanants of the Taj today- the reporters voice cracking with emotion as the camera panned shards of broken glass , shattered windows and soot -stained walls. Within those walls the bodies of around 99 hostages were still being cleared out.

Like the common man being interviewed on numerous channels, the overwhelming emotion I feel in raw anger. Anger at a world in which religion and dogma cause humans to plot, plan and execute murderous rampages. Anger at the Indian government which has allowed this to happen to Mumbai again and again. Anger that the Indian police and military forces have to put their lives at line with one hand tied behind their backs due to the political interference that dogs every institution in India. Anger that the attacks at the Taj and the Oberoi received all the International media attention while the attacks at the CST( Chahatrapati Shivai Terminus formerly VT) which killed so many poor and indigent people were barely mentioned in passing. Anger , impotent rage that all we can do is hold candlelight vigils and pray for the dead while the dance of destruction continues unchecked because there is no political will to end the cancer of terrorism through action not talk. Anger at myself because I find myself thinking hateful thoughts and wanting blood for blood though my rational mind knows better. Because when someone is standing outside your home and yelling at you , its easy to turn the other cheek. But when someone enters your home and slaps you right across the face – you want to scream and yell and beat them senseless. I am not proud of the way I feel right now and I need to take a breath and go away a little while and think about all this.

One thing is clear – this cannot go on. Something has to change. We have to do something – but what?

Of Stem cells, Galileo and Frankenstein

Runa — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 18:55:43 +0000

Happy 10th birthday, stem cell research!

Stem-cells hit the headlines almost exactly 10 years ago. (link)

The first report that the human cells had been isolated and grown by scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison appeared in the journal Science, triggering a decade of fierce debate and great hope.

In 2001, President Bush passed an executive order banning executive order banning federal research funding for new human embryonic stem cell lines and effectively limiting funding to research on the 11-odd known lines at that point. Per today’s report, this is one of the executive orders that President-elect Obama is reviewing, hinting at certain quick changes that he hopes to make once he is in office. From CNN’s report, Obama advisor John Podesta is quoted:

“As a candidate, Senator Obama said that he wanted all the Bush executive orders reviewed and decide which ones should be kept and which ones should be repealed and which ones should be amended, and that process is going on. It’s been undertaken,” Podesta said. (link)

Personally, I am really happy that the President-elect is reviewing this specific executive order along with others like offshore drilling. When President Bush passed the executive order in 2001, it had some far-reaching consequences. As the authors of an excellent book on this subject “The Stem Cell dilemma” explain, we are on the edge of the age of “biorenaissance”

“At the dawn of this new century, we are entering a biorenaissance as far reaching in science, medicine, and technology as the Renaissance was in art, architecture, and exploration”

( I heartily recommend this book as a primer for anyone who is interested in knowing more on stem cells)

The Bush executive order resulted in reduced funding for stem cell research in the US and private funding has been relatively muted because of fear that legislation could outlaw research. As a result, it can be argued that the US stands in danger of losing its scientists and research leadership to countries in Europe where the policy has been far more flexible.

I do not mean to ridicule the very real ethical and moral dilemmas that confront scientists and leaders when making decisions surrounding cutting edge biotech research. Mary Shelly was very prescient when she wrote Frankenstein! I believe that bioethics is an important and emerging field and that more colleges and research institutions should increase focus on bioethics as a discipline. But we cannot let religious dogma stand in the way of scientific research else we are back to the Middle ages – remember the Galileo affair? I do believe that the view that “life begins at conception” and using a blastocyst for research is tantamount to murder is an extreme one.

“The only way you get an embryonic stem cell is to kill a 5-day-old human,” said Dr. Willke, a retired obstetrician and family physician, referring to the blastocysts used in research (link)

This leads us to murky ethical waters for pretty much the same argument is made by the pro-lifers to try and limit women’s reproductive rights. 5 days or 13 days (which is the limit when a embryo can be used in some European countries) are arbitrary lines drawn in the sand. Until a universal definition of “life” can be agreed upon, I have very real concerns over religious objections dictating public policy on life-saving research.

While it is a fact that advances in science may some day mean that embryonic research will not be required, given the ability to generate pluripotent (cells that can generate any differentiated cell) stem cells from human skin or wisdom teeth – that day is still far away. Meanwhile, research on embryonic stem cells is required to lay the foundation to what could one day be a cure for diseases like cancer and Parkinson’s disease. Cures that may save millions.

So if the one thing that the President elect does when he takes office in January is to repeal that executive order on stem cell research funding – I’ll be cheering!

A gastronomic wishlist

Runa — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 10:00:32 +0000

Inspired by this piece in the San Francisco Chronicle , here is my list of “comfort ” food from the des (in no particular order) :

1. Pavvakai/Karela curry ( Bitter gourd curry ) made by my mom

2. Rajma -chawal ( Red beans and rice) made by my mom-in-law

3. Any kabab platter at the Bukhara restaurant in New Delhi

4. Berry Pulao at Cafe Britannia in Mumbai

5. The Vegetarian Thali at Rajdhani in Mumbai

6. Grilled seafood at the beachside restaurant at the Fisherman’s Cove in Chennai

7. Bhel- Puri ( Savory street food) at any stall on Juhu Beach in Mumbai

8. Paapri chaat ( Savory street food) at Roshan di Kulfi in New Delhi

9. Vada Paav from Joshi Wadewale in Pune

10. Cold coffee at the Vaishali Restaurant in Pune.

11. The Kathi Kabab Roll from Nizam’s in New Delhi

What is your list like?

The Epiphany

Runa — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 20:11:50 +0000

Some time in 2003 I read an article that blew me away. Written by Neal Pollack, the title was a succinct “Just Shut Up” . In a wonderfully uncensored diatribe against the bedlam of pro and anti war voices that were peaking at that moment, Pollack says:

Nobody gives a shit what anti-war or pro-war writers think. Really. So shut up. That goes double for poets. Shut the hell up, poets. Everybody just shut up.

Pollack went on to smack down everybody. (Even our very own Arundhati Roy gets an honorable mention when he roundly criticizes a truly horrendous poem dedicated to her by Daniella Gioseffi!)

He ended his diatribe against assorted lefties, fulminating righties and the rest with :

So to all of us who deem ourselves writers in this time of war, I can only say, in the immortal words of the great folk singer Kelly Osbourne:

Shut up!

A few months later, Slate.com did an equally marvelous deconstruction of the Bill O ‘Reilly “Shut Up”. For those of you with strong stomachs who watch Bill “Falafel” O’Reilly, you know that he has elevated “shut up ” to an art form:

he uses it as a place-holder for an idea still formulating in his brain. As a way to begin a sentence, end it, or punctuate it.(link)

For the first time in my life, I am going to take a life-lesson from Bill O and just: Shut Up!

Not on everything – no fears there – but I think this whole Presidential Election has made me realize that I am DONE with the political process. You have seen my earlier reactions here and here. What began as simmering discontent at sexism and misgyny has morphed into a full-blown rage. And as a result I find myself in a bizarro world where I am defending those whose positions I abhor. I catch myself watching FOX news so that I do not have to see the clowns on MSNBC and CNN. I have lost all perspective and emotion is definitely clouding my judgment.

As there is no chance that Keith Olbermann, Chris Matthews, Rachel Maddow,Campbell Brown, Alex Castellanos, Wolf Blitzer, Anderson Cooper etc are going just shut up and let the people decide for themselves who they want as President – I will have to do the next best thing.

I am going to Shut up. No more posts or comments from me on the American Presidential Election until it is over and someone wins.

PS: I will keep writing on other stuff – can’t shut me up that much!