Comments on: Once Upon a Time… [UPDATED!]

By: DJ Drrrty Poonjabi

DJ Drrrty Poonjabi — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 15:13:16 +0000

Hey guys. I know I'm replying pretty late, but I felt compelled to make the following points:

I cannot take credit for the caption in the "remixed" WSJ cartoon. Though he's too much of a gentelman to claim it (as evidenced by the fact that he's already posted twice and said nary a word), the honor belongs to our own and venerable Chachaji. I found his punchline to be much funnier than the original and wanted to give him a chance to have his revision actualized.
I do acknowledge that the second cartoon stereotypes whites as racist and, though I do not agree with that obvious generalization, the whole point of my detournement was to subvert the original work and mock those who would probably have found it funny.
Excellent job, Nina!

By: kris

kris — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 03:29:23 +0000

I don’t know whether remarking on the odd state of being Indian in America, and dealing with the dual problem of skin color bias in Indian culture and anti-color racism in America here on the internet among ourselves is healthy and cathartic or actually a way of avoiding any real or meaningful acts in response to problems we perceive with the society we live in. Sometimes, I think I only voice my complaints here in essentially secret then return back to my public life in the white world I inhabit. And those of us dating white guys and girls wouldn’t dare to have this conversation with our significant others. It’s a bit schizophrenic in a way.

By: Shankar

Shankar — Sun, 29 Jul 2007 20:49:26 +0000

Doesn't the Mahatma with the Gandhi automatically mean that we are talking about Rahul Gandhi?

Rahul Gandhi seems to me to be an, ummm..., interesting character. I haven't found a lot of concrete information on his background - educational or professional. And he seems to me to be one of those people about whom you might want to be careful what you say. I read in Wikipedia that "[his] legal affairs team has taken a number of heavy-handed measures to prevent damage to his image".

Rahul Gandhi's legal affairs team has taken a number of heavy-handed measures to prevent damage to his image. For example, when Newsweek alleged in late 2006 that he had not completed his degrees at Harvard and Cambridge or kept his job at the Monitor Group, they were slapped with a legal notice, following which they hastily retracted or qualified their earlier statements.[19].

By: meenbeen

meenbeen — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 20:41:42 +0000

When I read the cartoon I was struck with another scenario. If a mirror like that exists it might as well say Mahatma Gandhi is the fairest person (read: fair minded).

I suppose this is a fair (no pun intended) assumption, but honestly I think it started as an outsourcing joke and the cartoonist used M.K.Gandhi as the most widely known Indian (because it couldn't have used Filipino outsourcing as an example) by average Americans. It seems dated(just because Gandhi is no longer alive) and unfunny to me, but then everything seems to pale in comparison when run next to Marmaduke and The Family Circus.

By: hoi polloi

hoi polloi — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 19:55:12 +0000

i think it's kinda of odd to mix gandhi and call centers. are these the only two images of india that the common americans recognize?

When I read the cartoon I was struck with another scenario. If a mirror like that exists it might as well say Mahatma Gandhi is the fairest person (read: fair minded). Like, he came close to the man of the millennia in polls. This is purely my personal reflection.

By: meenbeen

meenbeen — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 19:34:04 +0000

Well, it would seem that you are in a bit of a pickle...

Oh well, it'll still be an interesting bit of trivia for cocktail parties; I just won't appear on Jeopardy anytime soon.

By: chachaji

chachaji — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 19:30:56 +0000

My guess is that Gandhi was/is politically a more useful name

She also kept 'Nehru' as her middle name, though she didn't use it much.

By: libran38

libran38 — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 19:21:34 +0000

There goes all the 'common knowledge' I've picked up over the years.

Well, it would seem that you are in a bit of a pickle...

By: meenbeen

meenbeen — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 19:05:34 +0000

you can't believe everything you read on the internet!

GASP! You CAN'T??? There goes all the 'common knowledge' I've picked up over the years.

By: libran38

libran38 — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 18:42:09 +0000

My guess is that Gandhi was/is politically a more useful name than Ghandy I think the husband was a Parsi. I just googled “Feroze Ghandy”, and saw a claim that Pandit Nehru was behind the name change, but then again you can’t believe everything you read on the internet!