Up to the jawline with work this p.m., so please forgive the video quickie—a look back at the mid-’80s beauty pageant scene in the North-East Indian state of Mizoram. Safe for work, unless your boss objects to one-piece swimsuits. Note the judges’ archaic emphasis on body measurements—perhaps The Feminine Mystique had not yet been published [...]
Entries Tagged as 'India'
Jyoti Devithe is Not a Happy Camper
July 29th, 2010 · 1 Comment
Full context here. Devithe, a legislator in the Indian state of Bihar, probably had her heart in the right place, since massive, endemic corruption can be tough to tolerate. But it’s rarely advisable to take a page from the Taiwanese parliamentary playbook.
Twilight of the Encounter Specialists?
July 6th, 2010 · 5 Comments
The man to the right is Pradeep Sharma, once renowned as one of Mumbai’s top “encounter specialists”—that is, a cop whose not-so-secret mission is to assassinate underworld figures. Though these killings are said to take place during chases or confrontations gone awry, the Indian public knows full well that they are usually the product of [...]
A Feat Worthy of Zatoichi
July 1st, 2010 · 1 Comment
Count us among the many millions who are counting the seconds until The RZA’s directorial debut, Wu-Tang vs. The Golden Phoenix, hits the big screen. In the meantime, we must sate our martial-arts jones with less cinematic fare, starting with this 13-year-old account of Manipuri swordfighting. The denizens of the Indian province have long been [...]
Tags:anthropology·India·Manipur·martial arts·movies·The RZA·Wu-Tang vs. The Golden Phoenix
Asha on the Beach
June 17th, 2010 · 5 Comments
Once again, a fresh track has led us to discover a gem from distant shores. In this case, Gonjasufi’s haunting “Sheep” inspired us to seek out its source material, “Yeh Hawa Yeh Fiza” from the 1983 Bollywood classic Sadma. To our great delight, the singer is one of our all-time favorites, Asha “The Enchantress” Bhosle, [...]
A Proud Tradition Betrayed
June 15th, 2010 · No Comments
To our tremendous relief, the 65-day blockade of Manipur appears to be over, thereby allowing much-needed food and medicine to flow into the Indian state. (Microkhan’s backgrounder on the crisis can be found here.) Now, perhaps, the local government can focus on what strikes us a problem of only slightly lesser importance: the long decline [...]
Manipur on the Brink
June 9th, 2010 · 1 Comment
A grim report from North-East India, where Manipur has been under seige for two months: Manipur faces an acute shortage of food and medicines with supplies of essentials cut off for the 60th day Wednesday following an indefinite economic blockade by several tribal groups. “The food crisis is simply acute and also there is a [...]
The Organ Trade Equation
May 20th, 2010 · 6 Comments
As we jam on our monthly Wired column deadline, we thought we’d give y’all something to chew over—a interesting snippet pulled from this excellent Discover piece about the kidney black market in India. Given our philosophical leanings, we generally find ourselves arguing for the legalization and regulation of kidney sales. But then we come across [...]
Tags:Discover·economics·India·Iran·medical science·organ donation
Thugged Out
May 6th, 2010 · 2 Comments
A treasured Friend o’ Microkhan recently directed us toward this insightful yet depressing Foreign Policy piece, about the seemingly endless nature of Africa’s various armed conflicts. The author makes a convincing case that we do ourselves a disservice by trying to understand these ultra-violent clashes as wars, since one side usually has no interest in [...]
Tags:Africa·British Empire·crime·Foreign Policy·India·thuggee
The Real World Cup
April 8th, 2010 · No Comments
Look, we’re as excited as the next khan about the forthcoming FIFA World Cup—if Paraguay wins it all, we stand to make a pretty penny. But our enthusiasm for soccer’s top tournament pales in comparison to the love we feel for the Kabaddi World Cup 2010, currently taking place in Punjab, India. Longtime readers already [...]
Even Nilgais Get the Blues
March 23rd, 2010 · 1 Comment
Nature just hasn’t seen fit to color many terrestrial animals blue, which is why the mere mention of the concept usually makes us think exclusively of fictional beasts. But as it turns out, blue bulls are rather common in India, and they have recently been causing serious problems: Led by Una district committee of Himachal [...]
Tags:animal attacks·animals·blue bulls·India·philosophy·wildlife management
Chasers Versus Runners
February 9th, 2010 · No Comments
Our affection for the Indian sport of kabaddi is well-known around these parts. But our taste in the athletics of the subcontinent doesn’t always run toward the brutal, as proven by the soft spot we’ve recently developed for kho-kho, which can perhaps be best described as a formalized version of freeze tag. We won’t pretend [...]
The Commandos Take Nagaland
February 1st, 2010 · 5 Comments
It should go without saying that we do our best to keep apprised of the goings-on in North-East India, a place near-and-dear to our hearts. (Yeah, we have multiple hearts—what of it?) We were thus chilled to learn recently that the esteemed province of Nagaland has been invaded by Mary Kay Cosmetics. And the grand-dame [...]
Tags:business·India·Mary Kay Cosmetics·multi-level marketing·Nagaland
“Like When We Used to Climb the Rope in Gym Class…”
January 27th, 2010 · 3 Comments
If you’ve heard of the traditional Indian sport of mallakhamb, it’s likely in relation to its supposed role in the creation of modern pole dancing. But there’s an offshoot of the sport that involves rope tricks rather than pole stands, and it’s quite a sight to behold (see above). While mallakhamb may be little know [...]
Tags:Germany·India·mallakhamb·sports
A Language Not Quite Universal
January 6th, 2010 · 2 Comments
Contrary to what we learned in Mrs. Glickman’s Algebra II class lo those many years ago, mathematics is not a language that transcends all cultural barriers. That’s because tackling math problems requires a willingness to give in to abstraction, a leap that not all cultures are equipped to make. Just check out how the Saora [...]
What Young Men Still Do
December 30th, 2009 · 1 Comment
Headhunting of the literal sort figures quite prominently in Now the Hell Will Start, our 386-page labor o’ love. We dedicated an entire chapter to the practice, and thus field frequent questions from readers regarding whether or not the tribal inhabitants of North-East India and northwest Burma still take skulls. Our stock answer is that [...]
Tags:anthropology·Assam·Borneo·crime·Dayaks·headhunting·India·Indonesia·journalism·Madurese
The Insects Cannot Hold
October 8th, 2009 · 2 Comments
The fact the map above is entirely green-and-white attests to the success of one of modern history’s great international projects: the FAO‘s Locust Watch. When the project started in 1979, the ravenous critters were a regular menace from Mali to eastern India, in large part because of a lack of information flow—countries were seldom aware [...]
Even More on the Venom Trade
September 22nd, 2009 · 2 Comments
On the heels of yesterday’s post about the snake-catching monopoly enjoyed by India’s Irula people, we thought we’d turn our gaze slightly east and see who runs the reptile round-ups in neighboring Bangladesh. Though the erstwhile East Pakistan has no formal caste system, its society does tend to frown on a semi-nomadic people known as [...]
Tags:antivenin·Bangladesh·Bede·India·Irulas·medicine·reptiles·snakes
More on the Venom Trade
September 21st, 2009 · 5 Comments
In one of our recent posts regarding the troubled Pakistani snake-venom industry, we opined that government price controls were making the black market too appealing for Sindh Province’s snake charmers. As it turns out, a similar scenario is playing out far to the south, where India’s snake-catching Irula tribe is suspected of selling venom off [...]
Tags:antivenin·economics·India·Irulas·Pakistan·reptiles·snakes
A Much-Needed Respite
September 4th, 2009 · 3 Comments
Speaking of Karōshi, we’ve been feeling a might frazzled by our workload as of late—not to mention the daily stresses of tending to Microkhan Jr. as he masters his use of the word “no.” So we’re looking forward to a few days in the Massachusetts hinterlands, where a longtime pal’s getting hitched over the holiday [...]
Tags:Bollywood·Chaiya Chaiya·housekeeping·India·movies·music
The Power of Outright Bribery
September 1st, 2009 · 3 Comments
Left-of-center politicians are often demonized for simply “throwing money at a problem” instead of concocting a more innovative solution. But there are, in fact, instances in which direct cash incentives are by far the most efficient tact. Such appears to be the case in India, which continues to have a serious problem with female infanticide, [...]
Tags:bribery·India·infanticide·marriage
The Grain Curve
August 27th, 2009 · No Comments
Inspired in part by the “Meat is the new bread!” daring of the much maligned KFC Double Down, we recently found ourselves keen on learning more about the history of America’s love affair with flour. There is, of course, good reason that one of our most patriotic songs goes out of its way to shout [...]
Tags:breakfast cereal·China·development·economics·food·India·John Harvey Kellogg·U.S. history·wheat
Another Kabaddi Legend
August 20th, 2009 · 5 Comments
The rest of our day is all about the Now the Hell Will Start screenplay, so we’ll outro with yet another clip of kabaddi mastery. Today’s legend is the late, great Harjit Brar Bajakhana, perhaps the best Indian raider to every play the game. Keep in mind that he performed at such a high level [...]
Tags:Harjit Brar Bajakhana·India·kabaddi·Olympics·racewalking·sports
The Fog of Plague
August 6th, 2009 · No Comments
With the Chinese town of Ziketan locked down on account of pneumonic plague, it’s worth looking back at a similar incident from 15 years ago: the Surat plague of 1994. The Indian city ended up recording approximately 5,150 cases of pneumonic plague, which resulted in a shade under 60 fatalities—by no means a major epidemic, [...]
Tags:bubonic plague·China·India·Italy·pneumonic plague·public health·Renaissance history·Surat plague
Oken Goes to Oshkosh
July 30th, 2009 · No Comments
Apologies, but gonna be a slightly late start today. We’re in the process of helping our great pal from Arunachal Pradesh catch a plan from LaGuardia to Minneapolis, en route to the big Oshkosh air show. So chew on the above Mood Swingaz track for the next hour or so, and we’ll be back at [...]
Tags:Arunachal Pradesh·aviation·hip-hop·housekeeping·India·Mood Swingaz·music·travel·Wisconisn
More on Marriage
July 23rd, 2009 · 3 Comments
Staying on the marriage string, we wanted to note a stat we found buried in this recent piece on Unification Church mass weddings. The reporter found a figure that Microkhan has long been on the hunt for, regarding the divorce rate for arranged marriages (of the non-Moonie sort): Amitrajeet A. Batabyal, an economics professor at [...]
Wait of the World
July 21st, 2009 · No Comments
Account of Ajmal Kasab’s surprise confession have often noted that the Mumbai attacker’s trial has proceeded at a lightning clip, at least compared to other Indian criminal proceedings. How quickly have things gone? A 2007 study in Delhi cast a harsh light on the nation’s creaky wheels of justice: The analysis is based upon the [...]
Tags:Ajmal Kasab·crime·India·law·terrorism
Goons Never Go Out of Style
July 17th, 2009 · No Comments
A recent rash of moonshine deaths in Gujarat got us thinking about the state’s failed prohibition policy (PDF). While liquor bans may have some discernible impact in isolated villages, they’re doomed to failure in larger regions that are tied to wet neighbors via modern highways. But the black market for legit liquor is only for [...]
The Final Word on Cloud Seeding?
July 16th, 2009 · 2 Comments
India’s making a big, expensive stab at determining once-and-for-all whether man can make it rain. (No, not in the figurative sense.) Color us a little skeptical; we’ve always thought that positive cloud-seeding results were often due more to luck than the effects of sprinkled silver iodide. (For the umpteenth time, people, correlation is not causation.) [...]
Delhi’s Worrying Trend
July 6th, 2009 · 2 Comments
We normally assume that public health constantly improves, if only incrementally for long stretches. But then along comes a story like this, detailing how Delhi’s infant mortality rate has doubled since 2005. The obvious culprit is the continuing influx of rural migrants, few of whom seek professional medical care while pregnant—or, for that matter, for [...]
Tags:Delhi·India·infant mortality·Janani Suraksha Yojana·public health
