kriticulture

South Asian Ensemble An Interface of Arts, Literature and Culture for South Asian Diaspora South Asian Ensemble is a Canadian quarterly devoted to the arts, literature and culture of the South Asian diaspora. The inaugural issue is now available online: http://www.southasianensemble.com/

By Badri Raina Ruchika, golden fawn, your Joy-filled, wide-eyed view Of the world Was too untutored to see The wolf in the office room. You trusted his disguise And paid fatal price. You must have been taught How this is the land Where women are put On the deified grandstand. Too young a pupil you to know There is that here which is worshipped And that other which is true; That throughout the ages It has been so. Or that wolves that roam the Indian prairie Are also known to band together In all sorts of weather. But times now are a changing. You might just have been the little fawn Whose blood is set to secure A whole world of fawns, And bring many a wolf to book. Your pristine little life, so abused, So defiled, so murderously denied, May just have put tongue Into a million mouths That had no voice before. The cruelty of your going May just have made a whole nation Realize how rotten we are to the core.

Sach Di Siyasat ( The Politics of Truth ) by Amarjit Singh Grewal Published by Chetna Parkashan, Ludhiana, 2009 Pages: 184 Price: Rs. 220 Rajesh Kumar Sharma (Extracts from the book review to be published in the winter number of South Asian Ensemble ) Amarjit Singh Grewal’s Sach Di Siyasat ( The Politics of Truth ) proceeds through a series of structured deflections. It begins with a reflection on the possibility of grasping the “truth” of Guru Arjun Dev’s martyrdom, moves on to explore the truth value of the historiographic object in terms of poststructuralist theory, the discourses of science and game theory, and goes on to unfold the world-historical specificity of Sikhism as a cultural-political project of humanization with implications for the emerging global society. Along the way, it briefly pauses to consider also the contemporary social situation in the light of what the Gurus had arguably envisaged. --- --- --- --- Grewal’s most significant accomplishmen...

From Manzur Ejaz of wichaar.com The gypsies or the Roma people, presently settled in Europe, are of Punjabi origin. In this movie if you follow the dailogues you will recognize Punjabi words like pee (drink) kha (eat) main (me) tu (you) etc . This is very intresting film about seperated Punjabis. http://www.wichaar.com/videos/gadjo-dilo/gadjo-dilo-part-1-video_3a6c85ee4.html Some artiles about Roma people. On the road to Roma people Tarot of the Romas Roma People

By Badri Raina At Copenhagen they met— Greed and Need. Greed said, “ cut down your need”; Need said, “enough of your greed.” Greed retorted, “the Earth cannot wait For your need to become greed”; Need rebutted, “you are a great one To say so, Having created all our need.” Greed, you know, Of course wished to have the cake And eat it too; Need knew if that continued to be done, There would be no place for Need in the sun. Everyone Swore they would cut down their carbon, And save the Earth For a renewed birth, But not before Capitalism had its full-bull run. Greed said, “Capitalism is ours; we made it; Leave it to us; you do that which is fit For your station. We shall carry the corporation To your lands, And t...

(Published in Filhaal, No. 5, Oct-Nov 2009, Pp. 13-17) Rajesh Kumar Sharma Harvinder Bhandal’s review (“ Sach di Siyasat ate Siyasat da Sach”) of Amarjit Singh Grewal’s Sach di Siyasat ( Politics of Truth ) in Filhaal (Oct-Nov 2009) is a well-written and interesting piece, but as someone who has read Grewal’s book I wish Bhandal had re-read the book before hastening to ‘demolish’ it. The form and argument of the book demand that it be read and re-read, and seen from a distance. Intellectual judgements are best not made in haste and passion. And it is always good to reflect on one’s opinions before rushing out to proclaim them in the streets. There certainly are several problems with Grewal’s book, but Bhandal’s hasty reading only puts them out of focus, thus forestalling a fruitful critical discussion that should rightly follow the arrival of a work of serious intent. Bhandal probably misreads the book because of his own un-deconstructed position. The first evidence of this is...

M. L. Raina 1. Collected Screenplays by Andrei Tarkovsky Translated by William Powell and Natasha Synessios Faber, London.Xxv+564 Pages. $ 25. 2. The Films of Andrei Tarkovsky: A Visual Fugue By Vida T. Johnson and Graham Petrie. Indiana University Press, Bloomington Xvii+331 pages. $ 25.95 3. Mirror: A Film by Andrei Tarkovsky Artificial Eye Video Production, London 102 Minutes. 24 Pounds. Let me confess at the outset that I am a Tarkovsky addict. He reminds me not so much of other filmmakers, as of a number of Russian writers from Turgenev and Chekov to a much younger contemporary, Andrei Makine even though the latter writes in French. They share a cultivated sensibility that allows them to be at home in the quintessential Russianness of their heritage and, at the same time, encourage an uninhibited acceptance of Western ideas. One thinks of Tolstoy and Turgenev (particularly ‘Sportsman’s Sketches’ and ‘Ayesha’), of the poems of Lermontov and Pushkin, the plenit...