Jonestown Documentary on CNN, My wholehearted concerns and opinions…
November 15, 2008
I’m sure you have heard about Jim Jones and the massacre at Jonestown that occurred on November 18, 1978. As stated on the site, CNN did a documentary 30 years later with survivors of this horrendous incident. Jonestown’s incident is known as the worst mass murder/suicide in the entire Western Hemisphere. What was said, that 909 people died that day. 1/3 was children. 400 of those people who were not identified were flown to Oakland, California and buried in 1 large grave, isn’t that what we call humanity? Not only were these people forced to stay with a hideous leader and then during their final rites, buried in a giant hole.
Firstly, I’m quite outraged that CNN went to Guyana, South America and never even thought of speaking to any Guyanese authorities, residents and or politicians (and we know how those Guyanese Ministry of whatever-his-face loves camera time). How was this kept so exclusive that only Americans were filmed? Read more
Review: My Honest Opinion about Twilight, the novel…
November 11, 2008
So, I’m sure many of you have heard of the new upcoming movie Twilight, based on the 4 book series by Stephanie Meyer. I want to let you know this blog is not going to tell the complete story the book – you can simply read it yourself and if you’re lazy, read the plot on some online article.
I have read the first book [Twilight] and in the process of reading the second, New Moon. To be honest, I wasn’t going to but my 11 year old cousin, Lauren urged me to. At first I seriously thought it would be such a juvenile read. Actually, to my surprise, it was insanely addicting to read. The book is based on Edward Cullen and Isabella (Bella) Swan. Edward is of course a vampire and Bella, a girl he finds interesting. They are both teens in high school, where they met and fall madly in love. Read more
A West Indian Halloween Tale
October 31, 2008
Kavita and Priya decided that they wanted to celebrate their birthday, which both happen to fall on Halloween. Kavita and Priya are first cousins; Priya is exactly a year older. This year these cute bubbly girls decided to go on a cruise around the West Indies. Kavita figured it would be awesome to go without any of her relatives because usually when she visits the islands, she’s stuck at her aunt’s house. The cruise they decided to travel with had a West Indian theme, everything flamboyantly colored and music blasting ever hour of the cruise. Read more
The Great “Bowl Theory”
October 27, 2008
Don’t you sometimes feel like a show monkey on display for your family? It’s as if all they worry about is how you make them look in our society. No matter how great a dancer, musician, artist or any sorts of creative energy is indulged, they seem to snip it by ridiculing you of the “nonsense you create and do”. It seems as if expressing yourself is the true evil in our society.
Think of the time you had your last music recital, art show, poem read. Did your parents clap? Did they tell you how proud they were? Were they super excited when you brought home your trophy/award and it wasn’t in math? What makes me sad about this entire ordeal is that as culture, we are surrounded by the arts. How many of us are rhythmically inclined, every second you have you hum something that would be an amazing song but even in the back of your head, you don’t think its special enough. You ever wondered if you took that song to the next level and made it your own, took the time to give it your personality and then share it with others? Read more
Constipated patients, Drug smuggling, farce marriages… all due to the “Quack Doctor”, the play.
October 9, 2008
I always get so excited going to Community Theater shows. This was one of many plays I’ve seen from the same group of actors that I really enjoy representing West Indian Cultural Theater. The play was about an East Indian immigrant and West Indian immigrant who both reside in NYC. The East Indian guy is doctor in his country of Bangalore but not certified in the US, like many others. The West Indian guy tries to help himself and his friend by coming with the plan of having a medical office which they do not take patients with serious medical issues. They do not prescribe medications but they do use West Indian remedies and a laxative that they give to their “sick” patients to make them healthier. The patients are usually other immigrants who are illegal, who can’t afford other medical doctors so the two lead men, the “quack doctor” and his “medical administrator” charges low fees and swindles money from these naive patients. Read more
The Roar of the almighty Female
October 2, 2008
If you look through out history, any one would admit that female equality has come a long way. Females have fought long and hard for their rights including groups like feminists who fight and lobby each day to make sure girls like me and you keep our rights and are able to not be seen as just an inferior sex compared to males. The one thing we were taught as young children, you can grow up to be whatever you want and I have heard people murmur about a female president. I think to myself with this current election how amazing it is to see a female run for president and currently running for Vice president .Okay, before you all jump down my throat because you don’t like Hillary and Sarah and how incompetent you feel Hillary would be as president and issues with Sarah being Vice President, at least we lived long enough to see diversity and a new chapter for feminine equality. Read more
Fundraising, one dance at a time, thanks to Tagore Philanthropic Society!
September 22, 2008
This past weekend I attended the Tagore Philanthropic Society’s first ever fundraiser on September 2, 2008 at the Holy Trinity School in Hollis, Queens, NYC. It included a dance, dinner and a few performances.
The night started off with lots of eloquent speeches from the members of TPS. TPS basically helps raise funds for a school in Guyana, South America- Tagore High School to be exact. I was told they have provided computers, school supplies and money towards the school. Apparently Tagore is a quite prestigious school and is talked about as if it’s the Yale of Guyana. I’m not personally familiar with Guyana and its areas but I do know that people in these sections don’t have nearly as much as we are provided in the Northern hemisphere. But, just because people aren’t financially wealthy doesn’t mean they are not smart or have potential. The children there have great potential but aren’t provided with services and technology that they need to broaden their education.
The night went on and people enjoyed themselves all night dancing and Tassa performances (watch video here). There was even a Bollywood performance, which all services were donated to the cause. So many people showed up, I believe 300 people were there. It was nice to see so many people shelling out donations and all the ticket money (which included the raffle tickets, the ticket for the show and the liquor tickets) all that money went to helping others while we all had a great time. Thanks to TPS, while we danced the night away, others drank a bit and ate- we helped loads of children in another country… talk about power multitasking and who says it can’t be enjoyable?
I think it’s a great deed to help others. I know I may not have much but as much as I think I don’t have, there is always someone out there that is 20 times poorer than I am and still has a smile on their face. It makes me think how others can sit by and bitch and moan how they don’t have a sidekick or the new iphone and whatever else trivial possessions that we get addicted to yet, there are loads of people just our age ranges that have close to no possessions and still feel they lead a happy life. Some may not have even seen or touched a computer at all. I have written this blog basically to inform you guys that there are people that are out there helping and even though it may not be in serious numbers, the impact is huge like a tidal wave. Think about one person you may influence by showing you care with simple things like school supplies and some money, by providing little that you can you can help someone further their education and be closer to adulthood in help raising their country to a better status. We can all argue how countries like Guyana have horrid economics, authority figures and so on. But how do we expect that to change if we don’t educate others on another way of doing tasks? Of not educating others of other fallen government policies so they can think of new improved ways of developing their country. I don’t mean development as in tearing down trees to make hotels for tourism. I’m talking about educating the younger generation so they can travel the world and not have any sense of culture shock. I feel with an education, you can go anywhere and learn continuously throughout your lifetime, and no one can ever make you feel otherwise, with an open mind.
The Tagore Philanthropic Society’s official website is www.tagorecare.org. You should check it out. They have posted pictures of current student attending Tagore and members as well. Member information is up so if you’d like to join this upcoming organization, feel free to contact them. I have personally contacted them just this past Sunday and have gotten a fast reply. They are all quite welcoming and intelligent individuals that feel passionate about what they do and helping others achieve educational goals. They do feel one person can make a change. I do agree… do you?
Pady
How much I insanely loved the Dali exhibit at MoMA
September 19, 2008
Well, I’m sure those of you who are familiar with Dali’s work usually fawn over the persistence of time and other pieces, which I still love too. But this collection which I was surprised had a lot of work spanning his art life. MOMA even played the video collaboration he did with Walt Disney which was an animation that warped into each of Dali’s famous paintings. I didn’t get to take pictures of the video and or the paintings that I am madly in love with, because we were not permitted to. But I snuck and took what I could, so enjoy. Read more
Are Bollywood Movies More Westernized Now?
September 3, 2008
From someone looking on the outside, Bollywood movies are beautiful with their bright colors, melodramatic plots and the infamous dance items with large amounts of people all simultaneously dancing, synchronized. Majority of Bollywood movies are based on guy meets girl, they fall in love and some disaster drama unfolds why they can’t be together and they try to battle it through out the 3 hour film. Some feel that they are heavily influenced by westernized culture and may lack East Indian flavor. I argue that it has always been heavily influenced by other cultures through out all eras of Bollywood movies. Check out some music videos from the 50s-70s and correlate it with American movies from the same era- seems like the same clothes, dance moves, and even maybe the attitudes which people talk.
In watching a Bollywood movie, what I find intriguing are basically the music videos. They have so many categories like the “item song”, “theme song”. I mean any movie would be about 3 hours if you incorporate the soundtrack with a whole choreographed skit. What a lot of people have an issue with watching newer Bollywood movies is that they feel that it becomes to westernized, meaning it seems more and more like American films with half dressed Indian women and men, doused in baby oil rubbing up on each other looking as if it’s a reggae music video. Let’s face it, sex sells and it doesn’t need to be “westernized” to do so. Besides, I don’t see why people make it an issue. I know individuals, like my father always complain how he hates watching the newer movies because he doesn’t feel they have culture or they lack in theme and focus on costumes. It may be so for some films, but I’ve watched a few older Bollywood movies from the 50s-70s and they basically do the same. Isn’t the whole point of watching a Bollywood movie is to see the eye pleasing costumes and dancing? It seems that Westernized cultures always had a huge impact on Bollywood films. If you see older videos “the classics”, some refer to them as, the women sport the same hairstyles as American teens with their high hair and thick eyeliner, the style of clothing, the way they talk like using certain slang words and even the choreography is impacted. Look at the difference in watching a Kathak dancer and a Bollywood/ Filmi dancer; you do see the Indian influence but as well as the westernized influences. Now it’s easier to see it since some songs incorporate rap, reggae and remixes and even background singers that are heavily popular in the westernized culture as well as the language cross over from Hindi, Punjabi, Spanish to English lyrics in just one song.
I don’t think the westernization of Bollywood movies is a new thing at all. I think it was always there. People are always impacted on other popular cultures. Even the title “Bollywood” is a spin off of Americana culture “Hollywood”. I don’t feel it dissects Indian culture but just brings movie watchers together. I watch them and I don’t understand a word of Hindi, there are always subtitles and even watching certain parts without using subtitles you can kind of figure out what’s going on. Besides even using other influences in these films, it just shows how similar everyone is. There is always a version or a twist that people put on a certain trend to make it their own. India has does it with their film industry and so has every other culture. This example happens to use movies to show the influences but there are always underlying messages with the clothing, hair and songs… it seems people want to be like each other. I guess it’s true what people say, I guess you can bring the world together through song and dance.
Pady
My perception of West Indians in the United States
August 20, 2008
I feel that people are unaware of all the congregations of West Indians in the United States. Most people know about the Liberty Ave/ Richmond Hill area… but, seriously there are West Indians everywhere, some in larger groups and some in small but modest groups. For instance, my uncle lives in Iowa and there are a few West Indians that are there, they all know each other (because we all know how West Indians get when they find their own kind- it’s as if they have West Indian radar and can sniff your blood anywhere). I live in NYC, Queens to be exact. I don’t live near Richmond Hill, more closer to Queens Village. There’s a load of West Indians in those parts of Queens. I’ve noticed it’s most working upper middle class with houses and cars, professional, steady jobs and seem like nice hard working people. You can see the same description in Manhattan, Bronx, Manhattan and such. I think other WI’s aren’t aware that there are so many communities that are predominantly West Indian.
I have noticed though that you usually meet the African decent WI’s in Brooklyn and Manhattan while the Indian descents tend to reside in Queens and the Bronx. Why is that? I work in Manhattan and have met many WI’s in this area that are African decent and are such loving people, and them too- they just kinda know your West Indian and they talk to you a certain way as if they knew you for years. It’s nice to come to a strange community and be lovingly accepted by people from the countries your parents and ancestors are from. They have a wealth of information about how and why they migrated and what problems and issues they have faced or still face because of their cultural background and living in certain areas.
It seems that people that aren’t West Indian are more familiar with Jamaicans and are a little confused when they hear a slight dialect difference in a Trinidadian and Guyanese accent. It’s all English just spoken slightly different. I find it very peculiar how when some one asks me where I’m from, of course I’ll say NY (because I was born and raised here), continue on to ask where my parents are from and are totally flabbergasted of the fact I don’t have a west Indian accent at all. I don’t see how your accent defines who you are and then because I look predominantly Indian, they just assume I’m from Richmond Hill, which isn’t true. I guess because people only feel that West Indians congregate in the same places. They are all over! Think about how much family you have spread out all through out the Caribbean islands, South America, Central America, North America, and Europe- I know I do.
The cool thing about West Indian culture is that no matter where they go, where they migrate to or where they congregate, they still treat you the same open armed loving way, like you belong with them. Some people, its been years since they saw the land they were born and raised in and seeing your brown face makes them smile a bit and remember their youth. Maybe that’s why there are loving, maybe you remind them of their younger days or things that they miss that aren’t in the States they live in. One thing that always occurs at family gatherings are story telling. Older aunts and uncles always talk about the things they used to do when they were our age, where they used to be in their countries and remember simple things like the guava trees they used to steal the fruit off before they returned home from school.
I’m sure this sense of community and belonging occurs in most nationalities. I love to hear the stories and the way things could have been for me if my parents hadn’t migrated, it gives me a sense of gratitude because some eras of time it was much harder to live in West Indian countries due to hate crimes between different skin colors and other serious crimes- which are all silly. The way I see it we’re all eating from the same plate, some of us may use a spoon and fork and some may use their bare hands. Either way, we’re still eating the same food cooked with love.
Pady
How do you define yourself?
August 12, 2008
What do you feel defines you? When someone asks who you are, what is the first statement that spurts out your mouth? For most people, it’s their cultural background. Why are people so interested in what another individual’s cultural background? Does it make us who we are? Does it make us think any differently that another human being? Are there actual differences amongst cultural lines? Are there indeed cultural boundaries? Read more
Religion: An Introspective Analysis
August 4, 2008
I know some of you who are reading this and maybe wondering if I’m an atheist, does it matter? Actually I’m not but I don’t categorize myself in any religion because I don’t believe in things that are just supposed to be believed in because others say so. I abide by my morals and try to be as honest and loving as a normal being. I put out into the world what I would like to receive and I’m never ashamed of the mistakes or situations I get into because others may talk about it and call it “sinful”. Seriously, enjoy your life… because then you’d be one miserable person paranoid about what everyone else is thinking about. I focused on religion this time but there are many topics that make people feel the same way, coercing others to believe what “they” do, in the name if “God” (or whatever you call your imminent power). People go to wars and horrific things and use the name of “God” to make others do the same. I wonder if no one ever thought about the notion of “God” would we still be the society we are today. Would there still be chaos in the mix – underhandedly lying to others how one religion/belief is the ‘right one’ because “religion is supposed to be a beautiful thing”? My grandfather used to tell me, we have 5 fingers and neither of them are the same length… just as our fingers, each one of us are different with our own beliefs, which we should respect. Read more
West Indian Women and the Virus
July 22, 2008
HPV (human papillomavirus) is a virus that has many different types. There are about 100 known types and people like me and you can have no idea if they are infected or not. HPV is a STD (sexually transmitted disease). In some cases it may not show any signs or symptoms. Other cases, genital warts may appear. It has been to cause many types of genital cancers. You may see the commercials for females that they should get vaccinated. But, men are also affected the same way. Read more
Review on Love Story 2050
July 21, 2008
Many of us may watch Bollywood movies and enjoy the melodrama. Some of us, like me watch them for sheer humor. Yes, there are a few that are really amazing that I have to watch again but there’s a lot of remakes of American and other cultures’ movies. Love Story 2050 had all the Bollywood-esque themes. Guy meets girl, they fall in love, dance a bit while changing their outfits a few times. The thing is, I thought it was actually pretty interesting how far Indian cinema has come. It was like watching any other action movie. The graphics were awesome and I didn’t see any blemishes and its easy to see those things when your watching a big widescreen at the theater. Read more
The grimy truth on West Indian clubs (in the NYC area)
July 16, 2008
Follow me, through my eyes. You’re young, vibrant and full of spunk. You figure you work hard so you’re entitled to party harder on your spare time. You figure hey why not party with people of similar cultural backgrounds, who like music and styles of dancing you do. You get all ready in your best shiniest outfit; you know the one that makes every part of your body feel good in every sly move you make. Your friends decide “hey lets go to -INSERT CRAPPY CLUB NAME HERE-”. You hop in an awesome new car, blasting music to set your adrenaline levels higher while checking your reflection in the rear view mirror. You pull up next to the club with its giant tacky yellow and green palm trees and line up to go in, pay the bouncer and walk into a giant swirling abyss of immense unknown to what will happen the next second. It can go really well or it can entirely ruin your entire thoughts on your West Indian club community. Read more