Year of India

On 26th November 2008, India came to a standstill.

I vividly remember today, last year. I was visiting my sister in New York City, all excited to celebrate my very first Thanksgiving in America, when the news of the attacks in Mumbai broke through. Over the next few days, I sat glued before CNN, watching my home being ravaged by mindless terror. I must confess though to feeling helpless, almost violated, as if someone had defiled the shrine of an old unhurried, SAFE Mumbai.

Each terror site ignited a flash of memories. Each grenade blew apart a certain way of life, exploding the innocence of just another era. Leopolds Café, where I spent hours with my friends, drinking frothy coffee shakes over a plate of hot, spicy Reshmi Kebabs; Colaba Market, where in the congested lanes you find the best street-food in the city; Chatrapati Shivaji terminus, which left you awe-struck with its sheer size, the most crowded place in the 'maximum city'; and of course, the Taj, where I spent the night of my high-school graduation, talking about life and the future, with two of my closest friends. It seemed as though in the space of 60 bloody hours, an entire world of memories had been shaken, perhaps irrevocably.

Sadly, Mumbai is not a novice to these attacks. Serial blasts in 1993, 2002 and the train blasts in 2006 left us all dazed and fearful. However, a crisis reveals the strength, the audacity and the tenacity of Mumbai's heart. In 2001, a day after 9/11, journalist Nancy Gibbs writing the cover story for Time magazine made a significant observation, "On a normal day we value heroism because it is uncommon. On Sept. 11, we valued heroism because it was everywhere." A year ago, on 26/11, that heroism was a contagious blessing across Mumbai. It had infected people everywhere the AK47-carrying killers went.

The entire ordeal claimed almost 200 innocent lives. Among all those who were killed in the attacks, I did not know anyone personally, but I still feel as if there were so many among them who were close to me. Despite what happened, the city did not waste a single day pondering over its terrible fate. Mumbaikars went ahead with life, picking up pieces and building with every passing day, all the more resolute to never let those heartless terrorists have their way again.

This 26/11, I won't be in Mumbai. But Mumbai will be in my mind and my heart. The city has taught me the real meaning of resilience and the importance of self-belief. With utmost pride and teary eyes, I salute thee Mumbai!

Jai Hind!

Posted by Vasundhara Prasad at 11:25 PM | Permalink

Last week marked South Asian Identity Week 2009. As co-director alongside Meara Sharma '10.5, I'm proud to say our week was extremely successful and thought-provoking. Our week of events worked towards exploring the complexities of the South Asian identity in the 21st century.

Let me share with you the thinking process behind our week of events. As Homi Bhabha mentions in The Location of Culture: “The 'beyond' is neither a new horizon, nor a leaving behind of the past.... Beginnings and endings may be the sustaining myths of the middle years; but in the fin de siècle, we find ourselves in the moment of transit where space and time cross to produce complex figures of difference and identity, past and present, inside and outside, inclusion and exclusion.” This “moment of transit” is what this year’s South Asian Identity Week’s theme, "Earth Unbound," strives to unpack.

Some of the notable events:

For the event "A Change of Heart," we assembled a group of artists to present a performance and panel discussion on queer South Asian performance poetry. The event brought together performance poets from India, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan. They explored issues of sexuality, transgenderedness, family, politics, and history through the lens of the queer South Asian experience, an identity that is often not discussed openly in South Asian communities.

We had a Brown faculty panel entitled “South Asia Rising.” The professors on the panel were Professor Ashutosh Varshney, Patrick Heller, Shayoni Mitra, and Vasuki Nesiah. Professor Meera Viswanathan moderated. We asked, is South Asia rising? Is it rising as a whole? Or in parts? How should we define “rise”: by GDP per capita? Political freedoms? Military strength? Cultural empowerment? Happiness? What are the major variables challenging each South Asian country’s prosperity? With a wide variety of disciplines and backgrounds, this panel of Brown professors unpacked and explored these questions and sparked insightful discussion, debate, answers, and more questions about South Asia’s future.

On our final day, we were privileged to bring Rekha Malhotra--DJ Rekha. Rekha Malhotra is an accomplished and critically acclaimed DJ, artist, music producer, and activist. She has been credited with putting bhangra music on the map in the US. She is the creator and host of Basement Bhangra, New York City's popular dance party at Sounds of Brazil. She gave a lecture on the history of bhangra and later that evening, she played to a packed audience at Graduate Center Lounge.

All in all, it was a great week!

Posted by Akshay Rathod at 01:12 PM | Permalink

Today is the first state dinner of Barack Obama's presidency, and the guest of honor is Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Obama is calling the relationship between the United States and India one of the ''defining partnerships'' in the world.

What are your thoughts on the state dinner? What will the two leaders discuss? What should they discuss? And what will U.S.-India relations look like during Obama's presidency?

Meanwhile, Politico has released a "wish list" of the top 10 guests who they would like to see invited to the state dinner. Who would be on your list?

Posted by Year of India at 12:48 PM | Permalink

Join the conversation, on the Year of India blog...

What would Mahatma Gandhi say to President Obama? His grandson, the public intellectual Rajmohan Gandhi, was on campus this week. And he told Radio Open Source that the conversation would go something like this:  Mahatma Gandhi would “say to the Americans what he said to the British: who asked you to be the guardians of the whole wide world? And why do you think you know better than the local people what is best for them? Relax! Trust those people. Yes, they may make mistakes, but they’re entitled to their freedom, to their independence.”

Rajmohan Gandhi’s remarks on campus seem like a good way to launch the Year of India blog. Some students were inspired by his public lecture, on the practice of nonviolence by Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. Others wanted the discussion to go further. Here is the opportunity.

Throughout the year, we are inviting bloggers and other commentators to use this space to discuss Year of India lectures, cultural events and other sources of inspiration – academic or otherwise – that reflect on India’s people, culture, economy, politics – and their growing impact around the world. Beyond campus, as well, we are hoping this blog can track the news of India and comment on what makes the headlines and what lies behind them.

Read about Gandhi’s lecture, listen to the Open Source interview, and tell us what you think.

Posted by Watsonblogs at 01:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)