Cubicle Gangsta

Look's like Anoop is not the only modern day Indian rockstar:

Weekend Links

Some of what is deviing our babying this weekend:

Did you hear about this toddler who is taking the art world by storm? Apparently this little Australian tot is creating abstract art that gallery owners put on par with that of modern masters.

And I bet you've read about the woman who gave birth to octuplets this week--but did you know she plans to breastfeed all 8 babies?

My husband and I got to see Aziz Ansari perform live in San Francisco last week and we should all be so lucky. The kid is hilarious. Check out this clip with one of the funniest first sentences I have ever heard:

And this clip is good for a few laughs as well: Mike Meyers and Manu Narayan (from "The Love Guru," which about 2 1/2 people saw) with their rather sad Indo version of "More than Words" (or "More than Verds," as the translation may be).



Finally, Pooja from littleguruskool wanted to thank you for all your comments. Look out next week for my "In Focus" with Dr. Susan Taylor, who crafted a line of skincare specifically for brown skin. Here, Pooja's response:

Thanks everyone for your feedback & suggestions! I will certainly keep them in mind when producing future titles. Little GuruSkool books and DVDs are not available in bookstores yet but I'm working on it. Meanwhile, they can be purchased online at www.littleguruskool.com and www.amazon.com. A couple of you mentioned seeing other Indian children in the books - it's a great idea! The DVDs do feature Indian children so I hope your children will enjoy watching them. If any of you would like to be informed of new titles and new happenings at Little GuruSkool, please subscribe to our newsletter at www.littleguruskool.com - the link is on the homepage. Very encouraging to hear from you all - keep those comments coming!

Rajasthani Fashionistas

Now here are some dolls I wish I could procure for my daughter-to-be. One of my current blog-obsessions, Masala Chai, recently posted this piece about Marie Claire India's Rajasthani puppet project:

The Rajasthani puppet - a symbol of storytelling, vintage India-style - got a
Marie Claire makeover when, to celebrate our second anniversary, designers were
invited to drape two-feet-high puppets in their signature styles. The unique
fashion installation at the anniversary parties in Delhi and Mumbai -- in
everything from Swarovski slippers with chiffon dresses to leather gowns,
block-printed tunics to finely pleated mulmul ghaghras with intricate zardozi -
became a new form of storytelling in fashion. The hugely popular puppets now
take the pride of place on our fashion awards logo as well as form the signature
art emblem of MC's Made in India series.

Some of India's most prominent designers--including Manish Arora, Varun Bahl, and Gurpreet Pia--participated in the project, resulting in some breath-taking, cutting-edge design draping the traditional dolls. The juxtaposition is awesome--if only American Girl Place could take some cues!

Congratulations to "Slumdog Millionaire"!

What a coup! "Slumdog" was 4 for 4 at the Golden Globes tonight, including the big prize--Best Picture. And my LORD Freida looked hot...! For much more on the movie's historic GG wins, see here and here. I thought it was cool that Freida called the film a source of pride for India...but what was up with Shah Rukh Khan offering a "pelvic dance" at the podium?!?

Devis: The New "Model Minority"

Move over Gisele: According to the the New York Post, Devis are poised to take over the ranks of the "It" models. Lakshmi Menon, Kangana Dutta, and Ujwallah Raut are some of the names to watch for, and high-end retailers such as Hermes and Givenchy are already snagging these girls up for their shows. Though these women may not be the best ambassadors of all things Devi (here is one of Dutta's more, um, profound quotes on her rising fame: "Indian women stand out, from the color of their skin to their features"), I, for one, am looking forward to seeing some of these next brown-skinned ladies on the covers of American fashion magazines soon, talking about the perfect red lipstick for our skintone, and how they dress their Devi hips and breasts...

One thing on this rise of the Indian model though: Check out this image from Vogue India's premiere issue. Doesn't the woman on the left (Bipasha Basu) and the woman on the right (Priyanka Chopra) look...well...like the same person? We already get messages that we have to look a certain way from fashion magazines as it is--are we going to get it from our own models as well? It is inevitable that when Menon, Dutta, or Raut makes it big, every successive Indian model will be heralded as the next so-and-so and constantly compared to her. As if there is only one way to be ethnic. But how can we get annoyed when people think all Indians--or all Indian models--look the same when, as in this cover, two of the supposed images of Indian beauty DO look exactly the same?!? And, please. Don't get me started on the whole "fair and lovely" thing, seriously. These women look practically white, no? Last of the random model thoughts: What is Gemma Ward (the blond, Australianmodel in the middle) doing on the launch issue of Indian Vogue?

To much mindlessness to ponder I know. Enough already. Here is some more Devi-model eye candy for you:

Monday Musings: Bravo is Reading My Diary

Do you ever feel like you've been had? Not in a punk'd, "Hi Sarah Palin, I'm the President of France" kind of way. More in the sense that somebody has stolen your ATM card and is buying gas on your dime, or maybe somebody has secretly read your diary and knows your dirty little secrets. That's how I felt when I read this week's cover story of the New York Times magazine on Lauren Zalaznick, the Bravo TV producer whose brainchildren include Project Runway, Top Chef, The Real Housewives of various cities, Top Design, and the new and horrible (but still addicting) Rachel Zoe project. Zalaznick is credited for "boutique-izing" reality television--taking it from far away islands full of insects for contestants to eat, and bringing it to fashionable cities where the "reality" focuses on high style and good taste.

So how did she take advantage of me, you ask? By pigeon-holing me--a viewer of her programs--and doing it with frightening accuracy. Her target audience? "A P.T.A. trendsetter, the young mom who lives in a suburb like Winnetka, Ill., but who still wants to eat at the new hot restaurant in the city and shows up at preschool pickup with a Marc Jacobs bag." Even the description of why we "P.T.A trendsetters" watch Zalaznick's Bravo fare is spot-on: "To watch Bravo is to feel like an insider — to be taken inside a gated community or the back office of the exclusive gym...To watch Bravo is also to be let in on the joke...[Zalaznick] has really cultivated that special brand of reality television that is winking at you, that’s letting you feel good about watching a guilty pleasure.”

How did she read my mind??

She describes why her sister likes "The Real Housewives": It affords her the opportunity to think, at least once a week, "Ohmygod, I can't believe what a good mom I am."

Um, yes, I might have thought that at least eighteen times during a single episode of the show.

It gets better. Not only does Zalaznick have some sort of direct line to my inner-most thoughts--she is the kind of mom I want to be. Zalaznick, who is now in charge of integrating sales across all of Bravo's "women-oriented" properties (god, am I now one-step-away from the Lifetime "television for women" demographic??), is herself a mother of three. And the anecdotes in the Times article of the way she raises her kids had me laughing out loud. For instance, Zalaznick apparently "talks to her children the way she talks to everyone else, with great seriousness that's used for comic effect as often as it is used to convey genuine gravity." At one point during her interview for the article, she threatens her misbehaving child: "I will cause strawberries to be brought to you." Later it is revealed that, one time, Zalaznick made her family pose for a group photograph every day, for an entire year. It is not revealed why she did this. She is also self-deprecating (“Us boring people with our 6:30 dinner reservation — we know how unhip we are...We know we’ve gotta work extra hard.") and witty (she chuckles at the idea of fake Bravo commercials for Bravo during Bravo programming).

So, yes, I feel like I have been had. Zeleznick and her posse have me completely figured out. And I am not alone. Zalaznick herself explains that "Bravo is the most engaged network — the most people who see a commercial on Bravo, of any other network, remember that ad and think more highly of a product! Sixty-three percent of Bravo’s viewers recall the name of the brands they’ve seen advertised on Bravo, and 26 percent say that after seeing a product placement on Bravo, they have an improved opinion of the product."

To sum up: Zalaznick is reading my diary, making me buy Bluefly accessories and--quite honestly--if she created a "boutique" reality show about herself as a mom I would be watching that too. One thing though? That Marc Jacobs bag that I am supposedly toting to pick up my kids? Uh uh. So last year.

P.s. Speaking of Project Runway--did you Devis catch Heidi Klum as Kali for Halloween? My question: How did she manage not to terrify her children with that costume? My son was scared of my cowboy hat.

New Karmacy Pro-Obama Video: "Stop"

Check out the new Karmacy video for "Stop." 6 days to go guys.

Obama vs. Brown ... vs. Brown

The continuation of the debate on race, sparked by Brown Girls, ignited by Sepia Mutiny, and spreading back to Devis with Babies, has us fascinated, perplexed and downright amazed. It seems a lot of people feel the need to have their say on the matter of interracial dating vis-à-vis the Obama candidacy.

In 1991, Denzel Washington and Sarita Choudhury brought the controversial topic of Brown + Black romance to mainstream America. (Who can forget that steamy love scene? Way to go, Mira Nair!) Guess what? Seventeen years later, we’re still debating the same issue. What’s even more incredible: A lot of us were teenagers ourselves when that movie came out, and thoroughly related to Choudhury's Meena as she professed her love for Washington's Demetrius to her parents. Now, as parents, a number of us seem to relate more to the Indian parents in the film than to Meena.

For the most part, discussion on this topic is good discussion. We need to talk/write these things out and understand one another’s perspectives. As I was reading all the comments, I thought of how a localized variation of this topic came to light in my own family twenty years ago, when my brother married outside our “community.” She was Indian and Hindu, as were we. But she was Telugu, and we were Gujarati. The union was met with caution from all sides. Her relatives questioned my brother’s lack of advanced degrees at the time; our relatives wondered if she would “fit in.” Looking back, all the concern was laughable. But at the time, South Indian/North Indian unions were less commonplace than they are today, and different communities viewed each other with a lot of suspicion. Today, I don’t think any of the commenters concerned about their kids marrying outside their race would mind them marrying outside of their ethnic Indian state.

Am I wrong though? Is this still an issue, in much the same way Indian/African-American dating is to a number of you, twenty years on? We all know the stereotypes we have of one another: Southies vs. Northies, Punjabis vs. Gujaratis, Bengalis vs. Malayalis. Does the personal Bradley effect exist even amongst Desis who share common religions and homelands, but who hail from separate states? How would you feel if your kid brought home someone from a different region of India? What’s been your experience with introducing your parents to a boyfriend or girlfriend from a different Indian state?

We'll get back to regular Devis with Babies programming shortly. But it’s clear our community has much to say on these topics right now with race/otherness in the national spotlight, and we want to hear you!

A New Celebrity Devi with Baby

While some celebrities announce their pregnancy with fanfare and some have people thinking they are pregnant when they claim to just have gained weight...others decide to keep mum and then headline a Diesel party on Pier 3 in Brooklyn. Welcome to the Devis with Babies club...MIA...!

Exes Rate Mothering Skills

Stop the presses, move over Sarah Palin. We have breaking news. According to a reputable source, Q-Tip wants it to be known that Nicole Kidman is a great mom. This news is seriously going to affect my Friday and my weekend. Can you imagine if every ex boyfriend you've ever had (yes it's true--Q-Tip and Nicole Kidman used to date) got to comment to the world at large about what kind of mom he thought you would be. YIKES.

Thanks, Suggestions, and Some Entertainment

Thank you to EVERYONE who’s been reaching out to us with your support and comments. They fuel us.

What we want to know is this: What do you want to hear from us? What would make you come back to and read this blog every day for a few minutes? Tell us in the comments below.

Meanwhile, I ran across this hilarious, low-budget Indian-American soap opera on YouTube. I think I’m enjoying it because I’m actually laughing AT it more than with it, but I have a really low tolerance for these ABCD (American-Born Confused Desi)-type things, and this made me keep watching! It’s called the “Desi OC” (I know, I know…)