DesiGal's blog

Contributing editor Priya Ramachandran also blogs at Words on Water [img_assist|fid=2165|thumb=1|alt=shabana|caption= ] Indian actress Shabana Azmi, who was awarded the International Gandhi Peace Prize in London earlier this month, has triggered off a controversy with her statements that Islam did not require women to cover their faces. (Azmi is Muslim.) Predictably enough, the more conservative Muslim clerics in India are riled up about it.

[img_assist|fid=1906|thumb=1|alt=gandhi] October 2nd was Mahatma Gandhi's birthday. In India, we used to look forward to this day mainly because it was a government holiday. Schools, banks, post offices all closed down. There'd be ceremonies everywhere - serious looking politicos would garland Gandhi photos, prayer songs would be sung. If your parents were like mine, they'd sit you down in front of the telly and make you watch Attenborough's Gandhi for the 418th time in your life.

My daughter's baptism is around the corner. She will be formally accepted into the Catholic Church this Saturday. I have mixed feelings about it. In some ways, I rationalize that I just want her to be a good human being, so it does not matter what faith she is. But then, I worry that she will learn little of the Hindu identity she inherits from me, especially given how glamorous Christmas and Santa Claus can be. I worry than my plain vanilla Gods will pale in front of all that dazzle.

I have only about a quarter of a head of hair - I blame the loss of the rest to bad genes, bad hormones and bad karma. Even though I don't sport a mullet - mohawk, I can understand and empathize with S. R. Sidarth.

India's big dream for itself is to transform Bombay to a Shanghai like shimmering city by the sea. Dr. Manmohan Singh, the Indian Prime Minister, has made no secret of this desire of his. While Shanghai remains a distant reach for Mumbai - as of now - India's managed the dubious distinction of mimicking China's stranglehold on spontaneous creativity.