http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/22/fashion/22Gimlet.html

and

http://jezebel.com/5593761/a-womans-life-represents-indias-feminist-hopes

http://browngirlmagazine.com/2010/02/blending-in/

http://browngirlmagazine.com/2010/04/check-it-vogue-india-tackling-color-prejudice/

http://browngirlmagazine.com/2009/02/the-fair-skin-battle/

Switzerland never had trouble attracting tourists, but now there is another reason to go see the beauty it has to offer and the little town of Montbovon. Why not? Americans have been visiting Salzburg, Austria for decades to trace the steps of The Sound of Music. Just add up Kajol + SRK + Bollywood and you might have a classic bigger than that!

Check out the NY Times article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/12/world/europe/12swiss.html?hp

A few weeks ago I was prompted to ponder the following question – what makes a concert great? Is it the size of the venue, quality of the background dancers, or the abundance of pyrotechnics that determines the success of a concert? Or is it the quality of the music and performer that ultimately influences the answer to such a question? Common sense would argue that a concert succeeds or fails based on the meeting of all these various artistic components. However, my own experience at A.R Rahman’s concert Jai Ho: The Journey Home, proved that a great concert is created from only two things – the performer and the music. Unfortunately for Rahman and his audience, this concert failed on both accounts.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I love Rahman’s music as much as the next person. I practically grew up listening to the Bombay Soundtrack and I love most of the tracks he did for Slumdog Millionaire (except for Jai Ho – especially the version he did with the Pussycat Dolls!). However, his show left a lot to be desired. Though the venue was great (Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City) and jam packed, Rahman failed to continuously engage and excite the audience. Instead, he seemed to be channeling Quasimodo throughout the show as he lethargically made his way around the stage with his keyboard/guitar combination instrument. To add insult to injury, Rahman only participated in maybe half of the sets, while several other artists and dancers filled in for him. Though some of them were fantastic, if I had known that I would be watching the Indian version of the Black Eyed Peas for a good third of the show I would have spent my ticket money on a couple of fraps from Starbucks.

In addition to the lack of energy and presence of the main performer, the show failed to have one of the most important things that all concerts should have- good sound! Most of the time I couldn’t hear what Rahman was saying and there was a tremendous amount of feedback throughout the sets. However, all of these shortcomings paled in comparison to the fact that the concert started an hour late and lasted only for 2 hours. Though I have only been to a few concerts in my lifetime (two to be exact), it is extremely annoying when the artist is late and even more irritating when the audience’s expectations (or at least mine in this case) are not met. It seemed as if the whole show was put together last minute just to cash in on the success of Slumdog Millionaire amongst American audiences. My advice to Rahman – stick to the recording studio, not the arena stage!

You can check it out here:

http://www.lambdaliterary.org/features/06/17/the-queer-desi-dilemma/

In the past two years, BG has grown to become a stable online publication with writers and contributors all across the United States. We’re growing, but we can grow more.

We’re looking for someone with some pizzazz to help BG go to the next level. Think you can take our social media tools to the next level? Think you can tweet, facebook, youtube us into fame? Join our staff of wonderful and diverse volunteers.

The PR/Social Media Manager is a volunteer position that won’t take much of your time and it’ll be a great way to gain experience in social media, online publications, and marketing.

Please email all inquiries to staff@browngirlmagazine.com .

For the second year in a row, a female of Indian origin has won the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington DC.  This year’s winner, fourteen year old Annamika Veeramani, correctly spelled the word stromuhr (the name of a blood-measuring medical device) to clinch the title. It marks a pattern – Indian-Americans have won the National Spelling Bee eight of the past twelve years.

So why are Indian children so successful in the high-profile National Spelling Bee?

The most evidence comes from the 2002 documentary “Spellbound,” which followed seven contestants and their journey to the 1999 Spelling Bee finals. Two Indian children were featured in the award-winning film. Nupur Lala, then 14, ended up winning the bee while Neil Kadakia placed in the top ten. Kadakia’s father was featured heavily and explained his theories around Indian children populating the Bee.  He instructed his son in performing meditation and daily exercises (a hilarious scene of the boy practicing “Indian style” push-ups is a visual highlight of the film) and Kadakia’s mother said without meditation and Indian culture, American children lacked the discipline to concentrate for long periods of time.

Of course, class distinctions are also highlighted as Kadakia had multiple tutors in classical languages and parents who actively participated in their son’s education.

Lala is now a neuroscientist at MIT.  Last year’s winner Kavya Shivashankar, then 13, said she hoped to follow in Lala’s path and study science.  Shivashankar’s younger sister, now 8, competed in this year’s Spelling Bee.

Though it is empowering to see so many Indians competing in and winning the prestigious competition, shades of parental pressure (which can reach dangerous levels in Indian culture) are also visible.

In an Associated Press article published June 5, “Spelling bee winner part of Indian-American streak,” Veeramani’s father proudly told a reporter that winning the Bee was a family dream, and that his daughter sometimes studies sixteen hours a day.

But it is empowering to see young girls capture the trophy year after year.  In “Spelling bee winner part of Indian-America streak,” Shivashankar’s father said “Kavya’s role model was Nupur Lala,” “And now there are a lot of girls who look up to Kavya.”

In further evidence of the National Spelling Bee becoming more diverse, an early spelling word was “raita.”

Ever since I was in eighth grade, the Board of Education felt it absolutely necessary to mandate a summer reading list comprised of the most boring books on the face of the earth. Every June after final exams, our English teachers would present us with the dreaded list. We would peruse the summaries of these arcane novels and attempt to pick the ones that seemed as though they would inflict the least amount of pain.

It would literally take me the entire summer to get through just three books. As a self-proclaimed nerd, I absolutely love reading and generally complete about fifteen to twenty novels throughout the summer. However, I found that after three pages of these selections, I would always manage to realize how sleepy I was. Although I feel it is impossible to enjoy every book that you read, you initially choose to read them because they have some relevance to you or your interests. I don’t think the Board grasped that concept very well.

For those students who did not even open a book during the school year, I’m sure it was effective to mandate reading. For students like me, it was simply a burden to have to decipher a book I could not understand for the life of me knowing that I would be tested on it as soon as I returned to school.

This is the first summer that I have not had to adhere to a summer reading list, and it is a very liberating feeling. There is something about bringing a book to the beach that relaxes me. I love spending my day curled up on a towel with my favorite book, some warm sand between my toes, the sun shining brightly above, and the sound of the waves in the background.

While I am not generally a creature of habit, there are four books that I feel compelled to read every summer that I highly suggest to anyone looking to do some pleasure reading this summer.

• The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini is a story of friendship, and it manages to make me cry every single time I read it.
• The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver captures a girl’s abrupt journey into motherhood and illustrates the bond between a mother and a child perfectly.
• The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd is even better than the film. It traces a young girl’s search for a connection to her mother.
• Lastly, Writing On My Forehead by Nafisa Haji is the story of a Muslim-American girl of Indo-Pakistani descent striving to become a journalist.

Hopefully my list is a little bit better than the Board of Education’s list ever was!

BG is asking for your support for one of our fellow staffers. Foram Mehta (University of Texas) is auditioning to win her very own show on Oprah’s new network. Amongst thousands of submissions, Foram stands out as a bubbly personality and a fellow brown girl that’s definitely smart, hip, and beautiful!

Check out Foram’s audition and vote her now!

“I’m so happy Ronnie from Jersey Shore was unavailable and this exciting opportunity was able to come my way.”

That’s how Aziz Ansari, popular comedian, actor, and certified brown person announced he was hosting the 2010 Movie Awards.  New York Magazine’s website correctly pronounced the acceptance funnier than “most of the stuff from any given MTV Movie Awards.”

I haven’t watched any MTV award shows since high school, preferring to read and watch the most popular bits the next day online.  But I’m really excited to watch Ansari in action.  His observations on Twitter attract 185,000 followers.  His appearances on talk shows always make me laugh, and Ansari’s ladies man character on Parks and Recreation keeps getting better.  As “Tom Haverford” he describes his life goals, allowing his original style to shine through:

“All I want in life is to own a nightclub on every continent, have my own line of upscale sweatsuits and cologne called Tommy Fresh and I fell a thousand dollars short.

Ansari’s Tom is another Indian character on television whose personality is larger than just his ethnicity.  He is a low-level government employee, not a doctor or engineer.  His sense of humor revolves around his large ego without becoming a caricature.

Ansari’s MTV hosting will allow his comedy to reach a wide audience – and maybe even attract fans who have outgrown the channel.

The 2010 MTV Movie Awards will air Sunday, June 6th at 9/8c. Have your DVRs at the ready! You can check out more about Aziz and the awards show here.