Author Archives: vpdot

Obama vs. McCain – Economy(II)

4 Replies

This is the second article on the candidates’ positions on the economy. The first dealt with their taxation policies.

(UPDATE October 6th, 2008 : a graphic from the Economist –

The link to the entire article can be found here.)

It is hard to get a sense of which Presidential candidate is good for the economy from the campaign agendas – so much of it is pure pandering for the political season. However, here is an excerpt from an article in the International Herald Tribune that might surprise you –

“Simply put, the United States economy has grown faster, on average, under Democratic presidents than under Republicans.”

That said, here are the two candidates’ positions and plans for the economy. Continue reading →

Masters and beyond at the AICON Gallery

Leave a reply

By Priyanka Gupta

Modern masters as they are called by many, the likes of  Vaikuntam, Haloi, Jamini Roy, M.F. Hussain to name a few, found their way onto the walls of the Aicon gallery in Palo Alto this August. I was curious to see the collection and found myself attending the opening as well as the talk on art as investment and the future of Indian contemporary art.

Although I am an abstract artist, the work that captured my attention at once was 'Femme Verte' by Thoda Vaikuntam, a brightly colored green sari-draped woman with decorative patterns on the fabric. This painting brought in so much calm and tranquility that I was drawn to look deeper. The line of Vaikuntam has a magical quality suggesting both contour and volume. The woman adorned with jewels and wearing a beautiful sari had a blank look and seemed to be restricting something. It seemed as though she was carrying a lot of weight of society and was a prisoner of her own making. 

Next I went to the collection of apparently M.F. Hussain's , although they were signed Colrain.
I was forced to clarify this and asked the gallery founder, Prajit Dutta about the collection. I wasn't so convinced but I was told that they were acquired from the Hewitt collection. Well I have heard of Hussain signing differently adding to his name but never seen him not signing his name and sign 'Colrain'.

Another interesting work was by Shyamal Dutta Ray titled, 'Man with Sitar'. One of the most accomplished water colorists of modern Indian art, his works were mostly done on paper. This one had a somber emotionally broken down man sitting with a sitar on the road probably after trying hard to please the passersby with his music. The colors, tones, the line quality all reflected the sadness of this man.

There was an interesting slideshow presentation on the development of art and artists from post-independence till the present after which was an exchange between Prajit and Dipti Mathur, an eminent art collector. I must say I wasn't quite intrigued by the talk and chose to walk away after a while.

I went there with many expectations and did feel like I have seen better collections of the masters. I do congratulate the gallery for building up the collection. It's always a great feeling to possess works of these masters, few of whom are no longer with us. To have their works is a treasure in itself.

'Post-modern masters' runs till September 30th at the AICON gallery, Palo Alto.

Priyanka Gupta is a Bay Area artist. She can be reached at guptapriyanka79@gmail.com. Her works can be seen at the following up-coming shows –

1) Fine Art Auction and Show by the Fine Arts League of Cupertino,

Auction and Reception 7pm Sept 12th,

Show 13th, 14th 10-5pm at the Cupertino community hall, 10350 Torre Avenue, Cupertino.

2)Pratham Bay Area Gala 2008 on Saturday, September 13, 2008, 6.00 p.m. onwards at Marriott Fremont Silicon Valley, 46100 Landing Parkway, Fremont,  CA 94538

3) "5th Annual Blues Bash" at the Triton Museum-Sunday, September 28, 2008 from 12:00 – 5:00 p.m.- a musical jam to support the arts.

Mouthwatering India

1 Reply

Mmmm..tasty! ( Click on the image to see a larger, readable version.)

Some of the foods not belonging to my region( South India) are known to me because of the kindness of my friends or by traveling through India, like dal baati churma from Rajasthan or thalipeeth from Maharashtra. But I have never had bafauri from Chattisgarh and the north-eastern states are a complete mystery to me. Sitting here in Fremont, 7000 miles away from home, the chances of experimenting with the many delicacies that India has to offer seem more and more remote. What a pity, would have liked to try jhangora ki kheer and sael roti( don't the names just sound delicious?)

What are your favorite foods? Tell us why.

 

Vetted

4 Replies

Last Friday, when Senator John McCain made the announcement of Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska as his running mate, the first public reaction was  – “Who?”

Okay, the first reaction actually was – “What the ****?” followed by “Who?” as the media collectively scrambled and stumbled over their feet racing out the door to find out more.

My initial assessment, being a political junkie of sorts was “Uh, oh.” I had a very real worry that the media, which has given a very good impression all year of being a Democrat-hating, sexist ball of sleaze, would just lavish a lotta love over this photogenic Miss Congeniality with 5 kids(talk about family values). I even put up a diary about this over at Daily Kos, at which point I was pounced upon by Kossacks( not as good as it sounds!) with the most charitable comment being “Just wait and see, you troll.”

And wow, for this Democrat, Ms. Palin seems to have turned out to be the gift that keeps on giving. In the last 5 days, we have found out that she supported the bridge to nowhere before the federal funds dried up, actually hired a lobbyist to get earmarks as Mayor of the cute little town of Wasilla( pop. ~6000. I anticipate a geo bee question) and is currently embroiled in a scandal involving abuse of power. Who would have thunk?

Through all these sansani khez( pardon the Hindi but no other word conveys this better) revelations, the big surprise has been the role of the media. Apologies, guys. Here I was thinking you were trashing Obama and Hillary because of some corporate-military-industrial- complex conspiracy.

Nah, you’re just pimps.   In this particular case it so happens that you ended up actually doing your job, which is to bring facts to light that would have otherwise remained buried. Unfortunately, the collective force of the blogosphere, youtube and “the Google” won’t let you do that anymore. I know you are trying your best to make it sound like there focus is all on personal, National Enquire-led, pregnancy-related juice, but the other stuff is bubbling up, seeping truth, slowly but surely.

Maybe you’re beginning to figure out that the typical couch potato is slowly drifting away to football and”Fear Factor” and that the real viewership and readership numbers are online, which is dominated by people who are literate and can think for themselves. Maybe the success of Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow is opening your eyes to the fact that facts have a liberal bias and if you want to keep your brushed and pomaded self on TV, you need to pander to the current audience, not the one you’ve been lying and obfuscating to so far.

Maybe you’ve grown a conscience? Haha…

Whatever the reason, this viewer/reader is quite happy that at least some of you are beginning to ask the tough questions of the right people, and making sure we, the people, hear the real answers. Some of you can only do it when the mics are supposed to be off, and that’s ok too..I consider it a sign of progress. Maybe one day the US media will wake up to its role as a watchdog of democracy and be ashamed to admit that it is complicit in the fact that one candidate is successful because of his/her overwhelming support among  uneducated people. Maybe it will realize that when it uses a term like “low-information voters”, what it is really saying is it is not doing its job.

Maybe not. Sigh.

Maybe it is up to us everyday folk, armed with the tools that technology has put at our disposal, to keep spreading the word, becoming a quasi media, till our voices are so loud that they are heard over the noise of the idiot box, over the chatter of the talking heads whose IQs are in inverse proportion to their hair, over the clamor of the ignorant and the naive, the reactionary and the ridiculous, flexing the muscle of our reach and our collective advertising power till we prevail.

Thank you Sarah Palin. Thanks in no small part to you, the media is getting vetted.

Fremont City Council candidate – Vinnie Bacon

Leave a reply

In honor of the upcoming elections, WNI is starting a new category today called “All politics is local.” Given the hype and hoopla over the presidential election, it is easy to forget that there are lots of local elections also going to be determined on November 4th. And unlike the presidential election, your Californian vote will actually count for a lot in these races, which are decided often by margins of a few hundred votes.

UPDATE: Vinnie Bacon lost his bid to be on the Fremont City Council.

We’ll put out some of our recommendations closer to election day, but today we profile Vinnie Bacon, who is standing for Fremont City Council. Like another Democrat who is making waves on the national stage, Vinnie is banking on grassroots mobilization to make him better known at the local level. A member of the environment friendly Sierra Club and with experience in transportation planning, Vinnie is running on a platform of sensible urban development.

WNI spoke to Vinnie Bacon a few days ago. Continue reading →

Obama vs. McCain – Women's issues

1 Reply

By Vidya Pradhan

Senator McCain’s pick of Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate on Friday did exactly what it was supposed to do – take the attention away from the high of the Democratic convention and create a media buzz that still has the wires humming on Sunday.

Frank Rich opines in today’s New York Times, “The main reason McCain knuckled under to the religious right by picking Palin is that he actually believes there’s a large army of embittered Hillary loyalists who will vote for a hard-line conservative simply because she’s a woman.”

Only time will show if that belief holds water, but there is no doubt that Senator Clinton’s candidacy empowered millions of women voters and made their voices heard. Women, who have always been more reliable voters (they make up 54 percent of the population, 55 percent of registered voters and 60 percent of the electorate), are only now waking up to the power they have as a voting bloc.

Will they exercise their power to put one of their gender in the White House next year? Or will they take a closer look at each of the candidates’ voting records and position on women’s issues? We lay them out – Continue reading →

Celebrating your child

2 Replies

By Piya Mitra

Piya Mitra is an event planner. Under the banner of her company “Elegant Eventz” she has organized theme and birthday parties for both kids and adults.

If I ask you about your plans for this weekend most of you are going to say you have a birthday party to attend. Most of those parties will either be held at restaurants/banquet halls or crowded children’s birthday party places.
Birthday parties in the South Asian community are used as opportunities for socializing and networking for adults. The parties fall into two broad categories –

Restaurant/Banquet hall/Home – Food is the big factor here. A magic show thrown in for entertainment or a bouncy house. The rest of the time the children just run around the tables & chairs while the parents are busy chatting about work or catching up with each other. At the end of the party the kids get a favor bag full of candy and little toys that are thrown away or lost in a day. Continue reading →

Gifted children in the classroom

4 Replies

By Geeta Padmanabhan

Call it the Matilda syndrome. A bright child, far ahead in reading, writing and in thinking compared to kids of her age. Not a prodigy, just very bright. Hold that “wow” for a second. It’s hard to believe, but she/he can be a “problem” kid in the classroom. Ask any teacher.

This is why in the B Ed. syllabus in India there is a complete unit on “How to handle the exceptionally bright in the classroom”.

On July 25, 2008, S Chandrasekar, 17 became the youngest postgraduate from IIT-Madras when he received his degree at the convocation. The teenager topped his class. Born on September 25, 1990, Chandrasekar was dubbed a “precocious” child.  "His teachers used to complain that he would finish his work quickly and disturb other children, so we asked them to give him some books to read," said his father. Continue reading →

Obama vs. McCain – The Economy (I)

Leave a reply

The state of the US economy is always a politically charged issue but never more than this year as the dreaded d(epression) and r(ecession) words are freely used by both economists and talking heads on TV. This is what Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke had to say in his February 17th state of the economy speech –

 “…the outlook for the economy has worsened in recent months, and the downside risks to growth have increased. …The softer labor market, together with factors including higher energy prices, lower equity prices, and declining home values, seem likely to weigh on consumer spending in the near term."

No surprise then, that the presidential candidates have made restoring economic luster a significant plank of their stump speeches. Even John McCain, who once said( in an unguarded moment that he probably now regrets) “The issue of economics is something that I've really never understood as well as I should” is talking the talk now on balancing the budget and bringing the burgeoning trade deficit under control.

To make the two candidates positions on improving the state of the US economy a little less opaque, we have decided to separately discuss three aspects of this issue – taxation, job growth & economic relief and balancing the budget. Today’s article covers the candidates’ tax policies. In an environment where the federal budget deficit is huge and Social Security payments are expected to increase substantially, taxation as a revenue source becomes crucial. Nearly all of the tax cuts established since 2001 are set to expire by 2010. Continue reading →

Obama picks Biden

2 Replies

And I pat myself( and Obama) on the back.

Biden for veep is not an exciting choice for progressive political junkies, but it is a logical one. Far from being a dreamy celebrity pinhead, as the GOP has been trying to characterize him, Obama is a cold-headed pragmatist who does not let the perfect get in the way of the good, as his recent policy position pivots have demonstrated. Joe Biden may have an unrivalled knowledge of the Middle East and a roadmap through the corridors of power in D.C., but what the pick really does is address the subliminal fears of rank and file Democrats who are thinking -” Well, I like Obama, but what if some racist crackpot decides to take matters into his own hands? Would we be left with a neophyte President at a time of national crisis?” They will breathe a little easier now.

The VeePee pick is also an indicator of how self-confident Barack Obama is. Just a casual glance at the last few election cycles will show you that running mates have typically been colorless and competent( remember Gore, Cheney?). To pick someone who is sure to make waves with his tendency to shoot off his mouth and has an ego the size of your own is not the sign of an insecure man. Expect fireworks over the next few weeks, even as the tightly disciplined message control team at camp Obama work overtime to do gaffe control.

Ooo the veep debates are going to be fun this year!