Bollywood Cinema Showcards at the ROM

How could you not love a city where you get this kind of invite in your mail? In anticipation of IIFA 2011 taking place in Toronto,  a number of institutions are organising activities, including the Royal Ontario Museum.

So looking forward to it!

Where are you from?

This article was part of the daily news digest from our communications department at work. Many non-Canadians don't get why Canadians would be offended by the question "Where are you from?". I didn't at first either. After all, it's healthy curiosity, and in Mauritius, we often relate to people as cultural entities as much as as human beings (whether that's a correct thing is a debate for some day soon). Still, if you've grown up in a country and you relate to no other country than this one, it can get tiring really fast to have to answer this question ALL the time. Below is an excerpt:

The Top Ten Answers to the Question: “Where Are You From?”
Canada is made up of immigrants, some here earlier than others. It’s become a bit of a game to see who’s from here – as in their family has lived in Canada for a few generations – and who may not be from here as often experienced by Canadians of colour despite being born and raised in the country.
It tends to follow a pattern. You’re talking to someone when the Question comes up, “Where are you from?”
“Uh, here.”
“No, where are you really from?”
And so on.

So we did a quick and non-scientific straw poll to find the best answers to the Question. Here are our top ten:

Click here to read the Top 10 answers.

Notes from a newly-landed in Toronto

These are raw notes from a newly-landed immigrant in Toronto, two weeks after arriving in November 2008, in the middle of a recession: the angst, the puzzlement, the shock. Gauging the evolution in mindset and outlook since then, it's a vivid reminder of the resilience of human beings.

"Toronto is a big city. I watch people in the bus, and think of how much more difficult it is to spring to celebrity and greatness from within the morass. How amazing it is that Obama has become President in the States, where there are bigger cities and 10 times more people. This society ceaselessly invites and invites you to consume. Flyers with cheaper and cheaper prices for food, sales of buy 2 get a 3rd free. Canada is made in China.

Mothers speak their native language to their children, who respond in broken Russian, Spanish, Urdu and English. Mothers hug their babies close, having spent about 20 minutes just to dress the little ones against the cold. You have to think of everything before braving the conditions here.

It is strikingly absurd that we should persist in acting as if all is right with the world and carry on shopping, "bussing", working, eating and playing as we would have had it not been minus 10 degrees outside. Women still feel the need to be fashionable. Guys still have the willingness to style their hair in the morning. That must be part of the bravery. And the same bravery leads them to learn how to end up being exceptional.

Hot dog vendors attempt to personalise their stall: European-style hot dog; Polish-style hot dogs; veggie hot dogs.

Malls: collections of stores brought together with the intention of easing the necessary job of shopping to fufill human needs. But shopping... block-like agglomerations scattered along bus routes designed to drive droves of hungry minds to the branded and brandless outlets. The realisation that things are just things, that they are right there for the taking, and that beyond the interest for shopping to live will need to arise a fulfilment that comes from an active mind, a healthy body, and socially meaningful action.

This society creates deep, harsh poverty. Poverty of the mind, poverty of the heart.


Politeness is everywhere. People can be shocked at the rudeness of someone and share deep looks of contempt with strangers on the same bus. They will not acknowledge a tramp sleeping between cardboard sheets behind a store as a call for action. Because humans are like that. Creatures of habit.

The ceaseless reminders to shop are the most striking. Shopping is good for the economy... Which one? The Chinese one? Eventually, you're getting branded jeans for $99.99, Made in China and non branded jeans for $9.99, Made in China. What's making the difference between the two: better paid labour? Improved conditions of living for thousands? For whom? The consumer gaining the benefits of a heightened sexiness factor or the worker reaping the gains of better wages resulting in higher standards of living for his child (because children it isn't). And if it is the latter, what is that standard of living going to turn his child into? A consumer of someone else's labour? Whose?

Advertising in the Toronto subway and magazines ranks in popularity as follows: redesign your face (or rejuvenate your face), continuing education to gain employment (presumably to afford consumption that will keep the economy healthy), protecting yourself against the flu by staying away from anyone who has it.

Food portions are huge everywhere. People in public transport range from the fashionably thinly dressed to the bulky oversized folk. Grey is the predominant shade. My soul seeks the pockets of colour on wide, wide streets.

How weird we must look to Martians."

Of debit cards and such

Heard on the radio a couple of days ago:

"Statistics show that Quebecers use debit cards for almost all their
purchases, a distinctly different behaviour from the rest of Canada.
The radio host ventures to guess why this is so:
1. Quebecers have no wish to see Her Majesty's face every time they use cash.
2. Quebecers don't approve of the fact that the notes are labelled in
English first, followed by French. (Bill 101.)

France Explained

This hilarious post in my feeds this morning.

Some excerpts:

"France is a very old country with many treasures, such as the Louvre and Euro Disney.

Among its contributions to western civilization are champagne, Camembert cheese and the guillotine."

"One continuing exasperation for American visitors is that local people insist on speaking in French, though many will speak English if shouted at."

"American travelers are advised to travel in groups and wear baseball caps and colorful trousers for easy recognition."

"SAFETY
In general, France is a safe destination, although travelers must be aware that from time to time it is invaded by Germany.

Traditionally, the French surrender immediately."

Source: The Paris Blog

How does your country rank?

I don't mean here: "What is its rank?" on the latest trend of city and country surveys that pitch one against the other. Rather, how is this ranking being calculated, and does it work for you? This week, I'm hearing about Canada having ranked 2nd on the happiness scale worldwide. "Happiness scale?", you say. Yes. The OECD Happiness scale. (Because apparently that's where we go to understand what happiness truly means). I do understand why Canada would rank high. This country is a truly wonderful place to live in. Given the increasing number of rankings being developed however (Monocle, The Economist and more), it is worth a deeper look into what factors into the decisions.

Below are extracts from an FT article questioning the matter:

"I spoke to Joel Kotkin, a professor of urban development, and asked him about these surveys. “I’ve been to Copenhagen,” (Monocle’s Number 2) he tells me “and it’s cute. But frankly, on the second day, I was wondering what to do.” So, if the results aren’t to his liking, what does he suggest? “We need to ask, what makes a city great? If your idea of a great city is restful, orderly, clean, then that’s fine. You can go live in a gated community. These kinds of cities are what is called ‘productive resorts’. Descartes, writing about 17th-century Amsterdam, said that a great city should be ‘an inventory of the possible’. I like that description.”

“The other big question,” says Kotkin, “is can someone coming from somewhere else improve themselves, reinvent themselves? Is there upward mobility?” The top cities score badly again. London and New York are magnets for immigrants precisely because they allow those kinds of new beginnings. They do have class structures but they are increasingly malleable."

-Edwin Heathcote, "Liveable vs lovable", Financial Times, May 6, 2011-

The distinction between lovable and livable is a fair one. I would also find it more valuable to look to indices such as the Human Development Index and the Gini Coefficient.

I'd rather let happiness reside in the realm of human possibilities than on an OECD list.

The political power of religion

India's extreme-right RSS party is considering an alliance with Baba Ramdev, who himself has clear political ambitions:

“The numbers have been worked out,” says a close associate of Ramdev. “On an average, we will have at least 50,000 people at the Ramlila grounds everyday till the dharna lasts. We have 80,000 yoga centres all over the country. People have been mobilised to participate in the fast and dharna all across these centres. Even if 10 people per centre come out and fast with us, we will have eight lakh people fasting everyday,” he adds. To that, factor in the 2.5 lakh panchayats that Baba Ramdev has been working on in the last two months, and you can see the numbers are staggering. “Village committees have been formed in these 2.5 lakh panchayats. That alone will give us 10 lakh supporters,” points out Baba Ramdev’s associate.

Outlook India, May 2011

Personal Note: Your mind is yours alone. Never give it up to anyone.