There were several articles in Bay Area papers recently about Sikh Americans. The first was a blasé piece about Sikhs continuing to be harassed after 9.11. I wasn’t sure exactly what the news hook on this story was, but it had one really gnarly quote that drove the point home for me. Sikhs from the Fremont’s gurdwara traveled to the Gulf Coast to provide Katrina relief and were met with some ignorance: “We asked if they knew who we are,” Ram Singh recalled with a sigh. “Almost everyone said, ‘You're from the Middle East and are here for the oil.’”

There was also a Sikh protest against the French ban on wearing turbans at the French consulate. The French ambassador was in town and Bay Area Sikhs took the opportunity to voice their strong opinions on the issue, which the French see as a part of their traditional upholding of secularism.

This protest made me wonder about whether there are any Asians involved in the riots in France, which are going on 10 days now. Most stories I’ve read focus on the Afro-French population, but the continuing Sikh protests allude to a South Asian population. Has anyone seen anything or know anything about this? A quick search brought me to an interesting article about the Bhangra scene in France. Also, Radikha Jha’s not-so-good novel is about South Asian refugees in France, but I am curious to see reporting regarding other marginalized peoples in France.

A new true-crime book on the violent murder of Reena Virk, a 14-year-old Indian girl living on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, recently hit the stands. 1n 1997, Virk was lured to a popular hangout spot and then beaten, kicked and burned with cigarette lighters by seven girls and one boy. She escaped, only to be followed by two people who made sure she didn't survive. Her body washed up a week later. The book, entitled "Under the Bridge", got a pretty bad review in the NY Times. This murder, which happened in 1997, kicked up a lot of media on the violence of young women but mostly failed to raise the question of race -- focusing instead on the way Virk was overweight and didn't fit in with her peers. Here is an interesting piece on the way race was ignored during the media coverage of this case.

When this incident occured, I remember being fascinated by the hip hop references that these young Canadians were making, like that Reena tried to fit into the crowd by being more into hip hop and that the girls who killed her identified with mobster John Gotti, a la rap lyrics. Kelly Ellard, the alleged mastermind behind Virk's murder and the one who finished the job, recently was sentenced to life in prison after a third murder trial.

Check out Rasika Mathur Thursday night on the new MTV, Nick Cannon, comedy show Wild 'N Out. From what I hear, the show is a more hip hop version of something like Whose Line Is It Anyway, which sounds fresh. It is awesome to see South Asian sisters being represented by the likes of a loud, in-your-face comedian like Rasika, who I saw back in 2002 at this amazing South Asian arts festival in LA called Artwallah. Speaking of representations of South Asian women, this site had me laughing and identifying. While we are on the topic of strong South Asian women, I picked up the latest Stuff Magazine in the airport the other day because it was featuring the women of the latest Owen Wilson/Vince Vaughn vehicle The Wedding Crashers. I am interested in going to see this movie because the duo supposedly crash an Indian wedding in the movie. And sure enough, there was a South Asian women, Naureen Zaim in there posing in her skivvies. Anyway, reading her brief bio I found at that she is a semi-professional boxer who has a 6-0 record with two knock outs. Now that's badass.

At a Hyphen editorial retreat earlier this month, Todd brought up the idea of an Asian American anthem. Stay tuned for his in-depth research into this field, but it really got me thinking about the South Asian music scene and how crazy it is. I was at an awesome APA queer party last night called Persuasion -- and I was dancing up a storm to a set by DJ KBug (an awesome DJ who spins world beats). It was a "dress in drag" party and my tie was flapping around as I busted my bhangra, garba and filmi movies. Tonight is Dhamaal -- the big SF Desi party, with two floors of music. This DJ collective got a Best of the Bay award from the Guardian this year and their party is always packed with a diverse crowd. And you can usually find me in the basement sweating through 4 or 5 hours of beats at this party.

I have been hounding my more musically knowledgeable friends about why South Asian music has become so popular in terms of electronic fusion. Now, somebody please correct me if I am wrong, but I don't really see the same thing happenning with Chinese or Korean or Japanese classical music. Some say it is because the free from of South Asian classical music -- similar to jazz -- makes it especially compatible with turn tables and collaboration. Others says it has to do with the commodification of South Asian culture that dates back to the 1960s with the Beatles going to India. Everyone should check out Mutiny: Asians Storm British Music, for a little history lesson in the origins of the Desi music scene. It really gives you a perspective on how long this scene has been a formidable force in music -- and it goes way back before that annoying Truth Hurts song.

I am also especially interested with the study and play of classical Indian music by young people in this country. Masters like Ravi Shankar and Ali Akbar Khan were young men back in the 1960s and there was an explosion of interest in instruments like sitar and tabla. But now there really is a new generation of Asian Americans playing this music and continuing this ancient tradition on. In fact, tonight Alam Khan -- Ali Akbar's 22-year-old son and prodigy -- will be playing one of his first solo concerts ever with tabla master Zakir Hussein. I met Alam back when he was 20 and found him fascinating. Here was a kid who grew up in San Rafael, California, listened to hip hop but has dedicated his life to the study of the sarode. I am equally as fascinated with Anoushka Shankar, Ravi Shankar's daughter.

Then there is Oliver Rajamani, who will be in San Francisco on Sunday night. Honestly, seeing this man live is absolutely mind-blowing. Identifying as Indian and Roma (or Gypsy), Rajamani is based in Austin -- so you Texans should check him out on his home turf. He is a world music extravaganza -- his set travels from Southern India up to Spain down to Africa and then over to Brazil. I know world music often gets a bad reputation for being cheesey, but this man is just pure musical genius. He just keeps singing and picking up different instruments and the audience goes nuts.

Anyway, among all these outlets, I really wonder what will happen to these forms of music a few generations down the line. Will electronic fusion become as common a genre as r&b or country? Will classical music become the hip thing to do for young South Asians? I can't wait to find out.

So, I’m back in Ohio – yes, Swing State central – getting more and more disillusioned by the number of Bush/Cheney signs that I’m seeing everywhere.

The last 48 hours has consisted of a full day in airports and planes, gorging on the delights of my mother and aunt’s cooking, and trying – in my broken Bengali – to explain to my aunt (a retired Geography professor from Kolkata) about how ridiculously mythologized Thanksgiving and Columbus Day are. On a good note, I did just watch the collector’s edition DVD version of The Sixth Sense. The bonus materials include extensive interviews with M. Night, who talks a lot about being South Asian and how that influences his life and filmmaking -- plus a little outline of clues to follow through the movie. I know Night’s kinda silly and Hollywood, but I can’t help but really appreciate that man and his work.

Anyway, even though my flight back to Ohio the other day was relatively uneventful – except for me missing my flight because I was lying bed and listening to NPR at 6 a.m. – airline discrimination continues to be a major problem in this country. One, as a South Asian woman, I can’t seem to ignore. I remember feeling so stunned when writing this article about Ashraf Khan, a Pakistani American man who got ejected from a Delta flight right after Sept. 11. Now, three years later I am completely uncomfortable when in airports and on planes because of the level of insecurity and fear emanating from everyone.

Just this summer I sat in front of a couple of late 20-something white people on an Air Trans Air flight from Atlanta to Dayton, OH who began to discuss – in graphic detail – the Nick Berg “beheading” right after the seatbelt sign was turned on for our descent. Far from buying into the hoax theory, these people were out for blood. Their conversation went something like this:

Woman (with LOUD nasally voice): “Those people are such barbarians. I can’t believe people are against this war. We should turn [the Middle East] into a giant crater.”
Man (with somewhat of a Southern accent): “Wow, you seem really excited about this.”
Woman (laughing): “Oh, you have no idea. I get so pumped about this stuff. Go troops!”

The woman went on to say how rude Mexicans are for always speaking Spanish around people who can’t understand it; that black people are lazy, etc.etc.etc. At that point, I -- honestly -- was ready to find a parachute and jump out the window or actually make a serious complaint to a flight attendant because I felt really uncomfortable by their conversation. But the seatbelt sign was on and I was afraid I might get taken for being threatening. I wondered what would have happened if I had been having a really loud conversation about the Nick Berg beheading with the black man who was sitting next to me.

This -- combined with a flurry of other incidents that my friends and I have experinced lately -- made me look into what has been happening with all the lawsuits that the ACLU filed, back in 2002, against four major airlines for discrimination. Most airlines have settled by now, paying up to $2 million in damages. The ACLU filed another case just this year against the no-fly list that has been targeting South Asians and Arab Americans since 9.11. Here is the latest on that case.

And just to help piss y’all off as much as me, here is what Ann Coulter had to say about these lawsuits in her column back in May. I try not to pay any attention to what she says, but her continual jabs at Norman Mineta for not racially profiling really make me want to punch her in the neck.

Anyway, stay tuned for more stories about airline woes. In the meantime, read this BBC article about whether “integration is a two-way process”. There is another blonde chick with some killer quotes.