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CULTURAL
CONNECTIONS:
Our vision for the Winterline Journal is to
provide a forum for building community among those
of us who were born, raised, or simply interested
in India and Pakistan and neighboring lands.
It is a way to reminisce, share our stories & love
for these two countries and cultures with one another.
Children don't tend to develop political sensibilities
until puberty, unless the family environment has
a strong political bias. My parents were teenagers
when the Pakistan/Bangladesh regions were part of
India, so they have no prejudices against either
country.
At times though, we may touch on the sensitive issue
of political and/or religious loyalties. The following
email discussion between one of our FTW readers and
my father Stan Brush is such a dialogue:
Bridging the Divide - India & Pakistan
from Stan Brush
My dear Stan,
...I would want that your love for India be not besmirched with your infatuation
with Pak. After the success with Attenborough's Gandhi [film], Pakis wanted
to have Jinnah [film] and the role model was most appropriately played by
someone who was known for his Dracula [screen play] role. The result was
disastrous. Jinnah's movie was banned [even] in Pak itself.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
S......,
 |
Stan Brush |
I sensed in your letter and either/or imperative,
that one must either love India and hate Pakistan,
or vice versa. Forgive me if I wrongly impute this
feeling on your part. I have dear friends on both sides
of the border and strong family ties in both countries.
You know what my India roots are. The Pakistan roots
were nourished by a decade of residence in Lahore in
the 1950s and early 60s when I was on the faculty of
Forman Christian College, one of the premier institutions
of the old Lahore and the new, and the University of
the Panjab where I lectured in American history in
the M.A. program.
My daughters, Cynthia and Victoria, grew up there
and have fond memories of wonderful times in the local
and international communities of Lahore. As I say in
the dedication of my book, "Farewell
The Winterline" their Khargpur is Lahore!
 I was there to witness the genuine excitement stirred
up by Pandit Nehru when he visited Lahore to sign the
Canal Waters Treaty. I was there when the Indian cricket
team came for a three-day match and the border was
opened to Indian visitors holding four-day permits...
the first such event since [partition and] Independence.
My students requested, and received, permission to
go down to the Railway Station to see the trains come
in. "Sir, we have never seen Sikhs!" Can
you imagine, in the birth province of Guru Nanak.
The Indian visitors were treated as national guests.
Bus drivers, taxi drivers, tongawalas, chaiwalas...no
one took any money for their services. At the College
a distinguished academic visitor from Amritsar addressed
the assembled students in Panjabi and brought down
the house. The first time any of them had heard Panjabi
in a formal academic context.
That was then. This is now, post India-Pakistan wars,
post the birth of Bangladesh and many unfortunate political
developments that have left Pakistan at a loss.
My love is for persons, for friends and colleagues,
not for political systems or nations or any particular
organized religious institutions. I know that we can't
exist in this world as state-less persons disconnected
from society and the institutions that make life possible.
And that some times circumstances force us to choose.
But I refuse to internalize these identities as barriers
to the wider human community.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear Stanji,
...I fully agree with your arguments why you can love our western neighbour
without offending us [Indian nationals]. But on second thought I find that
it is only proper that you should write [a book] on your Pak experience. The
ruins of Mohenjo-Daro, the KII, the port city of Karachi which became out of
bounds for us will be revisited thru the pages of your book. I wish your endeavour
all success.
Yours respectfully,
S......
Copyright 2003 Stanley E. Brush
Email Stan at sebab1@juno.com
========================================
You can order Farewell the Winterline,
Memories of a Boyhood in India at our
secure online
store.
To Order by phone: call 707-542-0280
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The Cultural Influences of the Indian sub-continent
have enriched Art, Music, Poetry, Literature, Fashion & Furnishings
for thousands of years...and since the past
century, Movies. We'd love to continue that heritage
and support individual artists, authors, designers,
craftspeople, musicians, poets, & filmmakers,
who embellish our spirits with their creativity and
inspiration.
PLEASE share your recommendations with our readers.
MOVIE REVIEW:
Bend
it Like Beckham
OUR TAKE:
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Jesminder gazes at her idol
Photo: Christine Parry, AP |
Bill and I thoroughly enjoyed this lively, heart-warming,
British film about a sweet teenage girl, Jess (Parminder
Nagra), who has a passion and talent for soccer and
idolizes David Beckham, the British soccer star after
which the movie is titled.
Jess, in struggling to be true to herself and her
future, is caught in a culture clash with her traditional
Sikh Punjabi parents (Anupam Kher and Shaheen Khan)
who feel daughters are only meant to grow up to be
brides & wives...just as Jess's self-absorbed older
sister Pinky (Archie Panjabi) plans to become.
This is the first English feature film role of Bollywood
icon Anupam Kher, marvelous as a gentle, thoughtful
father who sees the unfulfilled dreams of his youth
finding expression in his youngest daughter's passion.
Movie director Chadha commented "...this film
is my most autobiographical to date. Not only is the
film set in Southall [and London] where I grew up,
but the relationship between Jess and her father is
very similar to my relationship with my dad. I made
this film as a tribute to him."
Be sure not to miss the playful movie credits.
* * * * * *
QUICK CLIPS:
* "Has an energetic zeal that is hard for even the most jaded, seen-it-all
audience member to resist for very long."-- Rob Thomas, CAPITAL TIMES --
Madison, WI
* "A smart, lively and altogether warmhearted dramatic comedy that blends
tradition and modernity on screen as adroitly as teenage Jess does in her irresistibly
complicated life."
-- Kenneth Turan, LOS ANGELES TIMES - Los Angeles, CA
* "Sure, [it] wallows in cliches ... but it does
so with such a bright, energetic spirit that you forgive
pretty much everything."
-- Sean Means, SALT LAKE TRIBUNE - Salt Lake City, UT
"While there's no denying that Beckham is plowing
some pretty well-plowed fields, it still succeeds on
its own good-natured merits, brimming with the joy
of life and its colorful diversities -- along with
the intoxicating joy of filmmaking."
-- Ken Hanke, MOUNTAIN XPRESS -- Asheville, NC
* * * * *
And more...
Excerpts from Claudia
Puig's review for USA TODAY:
4/7/2003 BEYOND WORDS
Parminder Nagra had never kicked a soccer ball before
starring as a soccer-crazed teen in "Bend It Like
Beckham".
But by the time the cast and crew went to Germany
for a key competition in the film, "we literally
had become a really solid team," says Nagra, a
native of England, where soccer is called football. "We
got so into it once that (director) Gurinder (Chadha)
stormed across the pitch, shouting, Cut! Cut! Have
you forgotten this is a movie?"
The comedy-drama "Bend It Like Beckham" has
convinced audiences and the movie industry that 27-year-old
Nagra is the real thing. American movie audiences can
see Nagra in August in "Ella Enchanted",
a modern-day Cinderella story, with Anne Hathaway and
Cary Elwes. And Nagra was in Los Angeles recently meeting
about other roles.
The rousing British film has made $50 million worldwide,
$20 million of that in Great Britain. Now on 117 screens
in the USA, it has made $2.6 million in four weeks,
with a whopping $10,001 per screen average. It goes
into more theaters April 18.
"Bend It Like Beckham" refers to British
soccer star David Beckham's trademark ability to kick
a ball and have it curve in an arc around the goalie.
The title ...metaphorically represents the challenges
women face in male-dominated areas, such as sports,
[who are] often forced to bend the rules to achieve
their goals.
"It stuns me how the film is doing and how people
respond to it," Nagra says. "In London there
was an article about all these girls bending it like
Beckham, and in India there's this big wave of girls
playing football. Wow! I can't believe a movie's done
this!"
"I meet people who have seen (Beckham) 15 times.
The character I played is almost becoming like a bit
of a cult figure. People tell me, 'I want to be like
Jess.' Knowing you're part of that is really exciting.
If I can inspire someone to go in a positive way and
pursue a dream, it can only be good.
POETS AMONG US
Poets -- observers of inner & outer landscapes
-- paint picturesque phrases, assemble sharp or sweet
sentiment mosaics, craft collages of odd, everyday & poignant
moments.
Step into an arresting terrain. Savor the wordcraft,
both silently and aloud -- the difference may surprise
you. Definitely a treat!
Afternoon in Bengal
Copyright 2003 Sylvia W. Staub
From a red-dust, rut-pitted country road
a chorus of cartwheels in un-oiled song,
slow-turning as they crawl along
in typical Bengali mode.
Harsh crow calls puncture the listless air,
a fierce glare of heat on nature’s green
assaults the eye, bedevils the slowing brain;
the rain will come, but not for yet awhile.
Another fevered noon has passed, advanced
into that hour when stupor overtakes;
the senses abdicate their tingle, dulled
to ennu-ee — from one to three, time stops.
No creature stirs, save for the ants, at toil
on the hard-baked lateritic soil in
long attenuated lines, a darker red.
The house is still, its khus-khus tatties spill
a cooling fragrance into darkened rooms,
a gentle snore or two disrupts the hush.
It lasts till three, when religiously
the tantalizing pungency of fried samosas
beckons. A servant boy sets down his tray,
calls, “Time for tea!”; a ghost-gray resident
chipkal-ee, aroused by the scent
of fresh-brewed Darjeeling,
starts tracking a fly across a ceiling;
we children, all with just-washed faces,
rush to the table and take our places.
**********
Readers may email Sylvia at:
sylviastaub@comcast.net
To Order Farewell the Winterline,
Greeting Cards & Bookmarks with
India-inspired Art & Photography.
Visit
Our Secure Online Store
The store offerings will be expanding substantially as
we work with Stan's vast collection of superb images
of India & Pakistan and neighboring countries taken
over several decades.
Many
cards & bookmarks are available now....featuring:
- Majestic Peaks of Inner Asia,
- Kashmir,
- Handicrafts & Textiles
- Moghul Architecture
Be sure to come take a look!
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