http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubina_Ali

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azharuddin_Mohammed_Ismail

Great that they’re getting exposure (fashion shows, etc) – but I am looking forward to finding out when they and their families are able to reap more benefits from SM and move out of their current situation. Maybe this has already happened.

Was just weird to see Frida and cast attending fashion shows and parties around the world, while these kids went back to the slums one week after the oscars and the movie has now made over 100M dollars. They didn’t know the movie would do this well, and I know they set up a trust for them, education, etc – But for now they are back in the slums (which will be demolished soon for development). Alot has already been posted about this subject and these kids - I hope we hear some more positive news regarding their situation. Maybe this has already changed.

Making a tongue in cheek comment – not attacking the guy. Anyone who watched the awards shows knows what I mean in relation to his exuberance (which is understandable considering the excitement and acknowledgement).

Jai Ho !

But seriously – one of my aunts was also adopted by my grandparents, and this was after they already had like 8-9 kids already, mostly daughters – always been proud of that.

Maybe since Anil Kapoor kept yelling about how all the awards won by Slumdog were dedicated to the children, maybe he should start a foundation for all of the street kids, or adopt / hire some himself - especially the child stars who are now literally back on the streets (still can’t wrap my head around that part).

But yes – chubby babies rock……until they get older

I am talking about their historical origins; they certainly were not worshipped by most “Hindus”(however you choose to define this term) over large parts of history. Many like the emergence of Saivism and the cult of Krishna are later developments that clearly borrowed fron non-Vedic sources. You can see the tensions inherent in this in the Puranic tales that tell of the displacement of Brahma by Vishnu and later Shiv and the competition that occurred between Vaishnavism and Saivism. I am grossly simplifying the picture again here but there are space constraints.

The above reads like western racially inspired psuedo-scholarly nonsense.

Hardly. This kind of response might be popular amongst hyper-nationalists but it indicates an ignorance of history and literature. Although the most detailed empirical works would be produced mainly by scholars based in the West (which doesn’t make them either ‘racist’ or ‘pseudo-scholarly’ despite what some might claim) the original line of thinking can be traced back much further to figures like eminent social reformer and philosopher Ramouhan Roy and the anthropologist NK Bose. I don’t think having an indigenous source for these critiques makes them more authentic but it speaks to a lack of knowledge to try and paint such thinking as some sort of Western-inspired ideological ploy.

Who are these “fair-skinned” gods worshipped by the “orthodox caste heirarchy”???

You mean the rest of the deities who aren’t portrayed as blue-skinned or the orthodox caste hierachy who have populated most urban centres and dominated written traditions for most of recorded history? I would have thought the terms and definitions were pretty self-exlanatory.

Just google Saraswati. She is known as shwetambari. Whiteness/purity is her essential character. All our gods has things associated with them. For Shiva, it is Nandi, Varanasi etc… So Saraswati is white-skinned and always dressed in white. As for me referring to her as the white one–well that is the color she is associated with. I wouldn’t like Krsna if he were white, black or purple–for reasons that are off-topic. I’m actually an atheist. Hinduism is my culture, not my religion.

The above reads like western racially inspired psuedo-scholarly nonsense. Who are these “fair-skinned” gods worshipped by the “orthodox caste heirarchy”??? It is patently illogical to claim that the dark deities Vishnu, Shiva, Rama and Krishna are only worshipped by “marginalized communities” when in fact they are the main deities worshipped by hindus in general.

You know why that statue doesn’t look white? Because it’s a bronze statue. Ancient statues, being ancient, usually have had all the paint flake off.