Tribe Desi, Vol. 233: Euthanasia in India | Sustainable Foodies?

vol 233| March 7, 2011| Pure.Desi.Unfiltered Signup | View in a Browser | |    REFLECTIONS So Chalice Sheen got almost a million followers on Twitter the first day he went on...says a lot for human nature... But Twitter is not just for keeping in sync with Sheen's shenanigans, helping a revolution,  or obsessing over what Priyanka Chopra ate for dinner - here is an interesting story about Twitter, with a desi twist: "Anu Dwivedi's daughter, Kirti, is the one who brought the two together. She started a Facebook page educating people about her mother's kidney disease. Eventually, Kirti started chatting with Amy Donohue via Twitter about the Facebook page, and their friendship progressed to phone calls. One day, Donohue told her something she'll never forget.  Her words to me were, You have two kidneys. I have one mom. So, let me see how I can help you out, Kirti said..." On a similar note, you may not have heard about the euthanasia debate going on in India. The Supreme court of India laid out some guidelines for euthanasia a few hours ago, but rejected the plea to use it on Shanbaug (see attached story), which makes India among the very few nations which allow the use of some form of euthanasia. However, a Times of India article claims that passive euthanasia has been practiced for years:"Passive euthanasia has anyway been practiced in our country," said Dr Nagaraj Huilgol, a consultant radiologist who has worked for years for 'death with dignity' movement in the country.  So, what does passive euthanasia include? From a doctor's perspective, it would involve advising a terminally ill cancer patient to not take another round of chemotherapy or undergo surgery because the disease is far too spread for any help..." Changing gears, have you heard of Sustainable Foodies? BTW, Did you read about Vikram Khanna being called the "hottest chef" for his NY City restaurant Junoon? Are desis becoming foodies, along with the rest of the upper strata of Americans? What is the definition of a foodie?  Are they the ones who take pleasure in touting their passion for "locally grown lettuce" on facebook? Or are they, as B. R. Myers claims in The Atlantic,"Awash in sanctimonious self-congratulation, the modern foodie turns eating into a fetish, and disdains those who - ugh- dine on factory-farmed cows and veggies flown wastefully from South America..." Finally, some deep words from Sir Anthony Hopkins, which take on a new meaning at 33,000 feet:"My life turned out to be beyond my greatest dreams...I expect nothing and accept everything. And it makes life so much easier..." Till next time! The DFW Desi Don't miss the new Silk Threads Tunics... SOCIETY Euthanasia in India   "Aruna Shanbaug, a nurse, was beaten and sexually assaulted in 1973 by a co-worker, a janitor at Mumbai's King Edward Memorial Hospital, where she remains today. She suffered severe brain damage and paralysis after her attacker, Sohanlal Bhartha Valmiki, reportedly choked her with a chain. Valmiki was convicted of robbery and assault in 1974 and imprisoned for seven years. After his release, he reportedly moved, changed his name and found another hospital job..." Read the full story SOCIETY Grameen and IT  "Grameenphone is a billion dollar business in a country where the average revenue per subscriber is 1 or 2 dollars. One of companys first innovations was the Village Phone scheme, established at a time when a mobile handset still cost $1000. The program gave villagers access to micro credit to buy a mobile phone that could then be rented out to other villagers. Islam told me that 10 years on Village Phone has become a victim of its own success as handsets and minutes dropped in price. Now you can buy a handset for 10 dollars..." read on... FOOD Sustainable Foodies?  If you have any interest in the foodie debate, and read the article mentioned on the left in The Atlantic, this article is a must read... "...But it's also a perfect, if perfectly annoying, example of how foodie culture so often takes what's common�food�and transforms it into something inaccessible�in this case, a meal that you are supposed to hear. As the French philosopher Pierre Bourdieu argued in his book Distinction, it's precisely this kind of shoring up of "cultural capital" that empowers an elite social class to retreat into privileged insularity. The fact that foodies so often construct their pursuit of rarified taste to be an environmentally and socially responsible act only intensifies the ugly paradox at the core of the movement. Essentially the message sustainable foodies end up of delivering goes something like this: Only a few can eat the way we eat, but the way we eat is the best way to achieve social and environmental justice. Join us if you can. If you can't, that's too bad for you, because we're eating high on the hog and, in so doing, saving the earth... read on... FEATURED NONPROFIT Mission India Foundation From Jay Nadkarni, Chicago: "I wanted to introduce Mission India Foundation to you. MIF is a non-religious, non-profit organization set up last year with a focus on Maternal and Child Health in rural India. Over the last 10 months the sole focus has been immunizing underprivileged children in rural India. This is truly a voluntary effort on the part of ordinary individuals with a sincere desire to assist poor and needy children back home.  Since April of last year, MIF has reached a milestone of immunizing 4,000 kids, all based on the sheer spirit of voluntary work by going door-to-door. Among other activities, MIF hopes to be working closely with the WHO in the near future for surveillance activities on typhoid and other disease burdens, lending more credibility to our efforts. Please take a minute to browse our website: www.mifusa.org" 18,000+ active members. To advertise here, please email desi@TribeDesi.com