Comments on: Backstory: Don’t Mix Your Saffrons With Your Whites

By: DesiDudeInGotham

DesiDudeInGotham — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 16:39:23 +0000

Annual Manish Vij Memorial Egregious Exoticism Award..

What? Is he but a memory?

But more to the point, I do find these photographs haunting and exploitative at the same time.

...And creme brulee shows up in Mandarin/Japanese characters on my PC. Unless, ofcourse, it is an exotic Sino-French dessert of some sort.

By: tashie

tashie — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 13:57:25 +0000

feel your pain, barmaid.

when will the national geographic-ness and orientalism end?

By: Susie

Susie — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 05:40:51 +0000

YES

By: Manish Vij

Manish Vij — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 04:18:03 +0000

If you thought this was bad, check out the Economist cover of June 3.

By: Manish Vij

Manish Vij — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 04:16:15 +0000

Well, that HAS to be a contender for the Second Annual Manish Vij Memorial Egregious Exoticism Awards.

Especially because it doesn't even adjust for purchasing power:

For their efforts, the workers make about 10 cents a sheet...

It's the usual Orientalist crap. How many times have you read, "They live on less than a dollar a day..." 90 rupees is enough for 9 meals at a dhaba, 15 train rides from the 'burbs to downtown Bombay, 3.5 movie tickets, 9 bottles of spring water...

By: Neale

Neale — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 04:04:37 +0000

I always go hmmmmm... when i hears SMers rushing to criticise an article like the one on CSM. There is a lot of interesting, useful information for a foreigner in there. For may of us who grew up in India, it is a welcome change to see India being exposed to the world - the good and the bad and the ugly. And the defenses mounted in these posts come off a little church lady like. Well intended but not necessarily well aimed. After a while it gets to be a tired exercise in policing what others say about India.

What would be so much more interesting is to write about ourselves as Indians. Something more personal. Something so strong it DISPLACES the articles that we believe patronize Our Bharat.

I still remember one of the best blog articles I have read is Amardeep's ode to his grandfather. It captured something special.

By: A N N A

A N N A — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 03:25:51 +0000

"If I'm not working, then that is not a satisfying life,"

No one is denying the beauty of that sentiment or the dignity or goodness of the subject of this CSM piece; the issue at hand is just how douche-y CSM is being with their tone, approach, etc.

By: hairy_d

hairy_d — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 03:18:35 +0000

you see what you see. I see

"If I'm not working, then that is not a satisfying life,"

and I rejoice.

... three cheers for the funny girl btw.

By: A N N A

A N N A — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 03:10:54 +0000

Pants and shirts are sent to an ironing shed for creases as sharp as an elephant tusk.

Well, that HAS to be a contender for the Second Annual Manish Vij Memorial Egregious Exoticism Awards. Especially since I don't even like it as a simile.

By: Rupa

Rupa — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 02:53:20 +0000

I still don’t get what the point of the article is. It’s like putting a Hallmark card around poverty and child labor. I feel like we’re getting scammed.