The Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) Situation Report is a monthly column devoted to examining policy changes and issues around these critical rights around the world. This month’s column focuses on so-called “reproductive tourism,” the growing trend of women in the U.S. finding gestational surrogates in India. Gestational surrogacy is the practice of [...]
It might be a rather late commentary, but Cameron’s recent state visits are turning into an ongoing discussion. Personally, I quite like the frankness of Cameron, and actually think he is doing a good job internationally. He is saying the truth, Gaza is a prison camp, Pakistan has got links to terrorism – it’s just a fact. He may be phrasing it in a rather crash way, he may be saying it for other reasons – such as trade deals with India, but least he’s raising the issue.
The foreign office is probably tearing their hair out, however. As Sir Humphrey explains in Yes Minister, one state leader meeting another state official undermines years of careful diplomacy. However, the current diplomacy in regards to the issues that Cameron has highlighted, is pretty poor anyway. We need to become tougher towards Israel – it might not be liked amongst the Tory right, but its a human right issue, and its all very good to go into countries like Afghanistan and preach liberal intervention, when we are ignoring the humanitarian crimes that are going on in countries such as Gaza.
It’s about time we had a state leader who is less bothered about what is the ‘correct’ thing to say, and more concerned about the ‘right’ thing to say. Of course, it would be naive to deny that Cameron doesn’t have other motives, but I think this way of dealing with things is admirable. He is highlighting what most people think but are too scared to say.
He also had a substantial amount of the public in a recent poll supporting his comments as ‘plain speaking’. Whilst there will be no doubt Cameron will probably change his tact when it comes to further foreign affair exchanges, its been rather refreshing to see a new approach to diplomacy.
5. I'm sure I don't need to remind anybody about the existence of the inimitable Salman Rushdie. Sadly, more people know about the fatwah against him than have actually read his beautiful The Satanic Verses: A Novel.
If you were told that this novel is filled with hatred against Islam, don't believe that. No book has taught me to respect Islam more than this one. The rage that informs this
In one of my recent posts, I mentioned my opinion that the best literature in the English language today comes out of the Indian subcontinent. Now I want to introduce you to some (just some for now, and maybe more later, because there are just so many of them) of my favorite authors who are Indian or Pakistani by origin. They live all over the world and create literature of unimaginable beauty
This week the New York Times reported on the death of Nirupama Pathak, a high caste woman recently married and pregnant with her partner, a lower caste man. Honor killings, though illegal, have been a chronic practice in India (and a number of other countries) for some time. But recently, the antiquated stain fell upon [...]
William Dalrymple narrates his search for the Sacred in Modern India in this book. He speaks not so much of the role of religion and the sacred in the lives of the urban middle class, but of the lives of specific persons who represent various ancient traditions in India related to the sacred. And through their stories, he examines how the sacred has adapted itself to survive in modern -- or at any rate, contemporary -- India. The book is structured in a similar manner to the Canterbury Tales, and in it, the author speaks of the lives of:
- a Jain nun;
- a male theyyam dancer belonging to a lower caste in Kerela;
- a devdasi;
- a Rajasthani bhopa who sings the sacred Epic of Pabuji;
- a lady fakir at the dargah of the Sufi Saint Lal Shahbaz Qulander; and
- a Buddhist monk, among others.
While there is little doubt that it has been written primarily for Western audiences, with its comparisons to not just Chaucer but also Homer --- comparisons which would fall deaf on the average Indian ear --- what is interesting about the book is that it isn't centred in either urban India or rural India, but in the in the metaphorical wasteland which lies somewhere between the two. And as such, it is set in an environment which the average Indian person may not easily be able to relate to although the book seems to give the impression that this is what contemporary India is all about. Perhaps this idea of ancient forms of the sacred mutating to survive in a modern world is what the idea of India being the land of elephants, myths and magic has evolved into?
The book also deals with the interaction of modern (rich, urban) India with traditional (poor, rural) India. For example, it narrates the story of a
bhopa or folk singer who sang for the so-called elite in their elite settings in urban India but died without access to healthcare in rural India, his brush with the elite notwithstanding.
Although "Nine Lives" does in fact deal with the sacred in "modern" India, it doesn't do so by looking at the usual manifestations of the sacred in modern India --- the daily
pujas and other rituals which millions of Indians perform at home, the software engineer who takes days off for a
darshan or
audience of/with a religious leader, the working woman who fasts endlessly to "obtain" a husband. Instead, the book focuses on the manner in which ancient manifestations of the sacred have survived in contemporary India --- often a manner with which the average contemporary Indian is only minimally aware.
This post is part of a series leading up to the Women Deliver conference (www.womendeliver.org), a global meeting on maternal and reproductive health and the advancement of women and girls. Women Deliver 2010 will push for an additional $12 billion in increased investment from G8 for programs to improve maternal health. Last month, a new [...]
This is the 25th post in a weekly feature here at Spare Candy, called "In History." Some posts might be little more than a photo, others full on features. If you have any suggestions for a person or event that should be featured, or would like to submit a guest post or cross post, e-mail me at rosiered23 (at) sparecandy (dot) com.
Waheeda Rehman was born on this day, May 14, in 1936 in Chengalpattu, Tamil Nadu, India. She was a prominent Bollywood star in the 1950s and 1960s, and she
continues working today. She is trained in Bharatnatyam, a classic Indian dance. Over the course of her career, she has won a number of awards: National Film Award for Best Actress for "Reshma Aur Shera" in 1971; Filmfare Best Actress Award for "Guide" in 1965; Filmfare Best Actress Award for "Neel Kamal" in 1968; Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award in 1994; NTR National Award for 2006; and Padmashri in 1972. I particularly like this
quote of hers: ""When I entered the field, the industry had already gained respectability. I was lucky to have been given the opportunity to build up an image of 'dignity'. It is up to the star to make what she will of her image. In an industry where it's all show, naturally you can not give an inch without their extracting a yard."
You can read more about Rehman's films
here, and a 2009 story about her
here and interview with her
here. Rehman was also featured on the April 2010 cover of
Filmfare.
Welcome to GAB’s monthly book club! This month we will be discussing Vandana Shiva’s Stolen Harvest: The Hijacking of the Global Food Supply. Feel free to use this post as an open thread for discussion of the book and to post any comments or questions you have about it here, but if you’re not sure where [...]
I recently watched the documentary film Stolen Childhoods, an exposé on global child labor. The movie is, unsurprisingly, sobering, but I enjoyed it because the viewer is given clear instructions on how to work to end child labor (buying Fair Trade products, for example) and introduced to those who are working every day to end [...]
