List 'o' Bapsi

Let's see if I can get this done before I pass out again.

1. Little shifts in politics mean big feelings
2. conservative Muslims in power make women feel uncomfortable
3. Bapsi writes a strong mix of fiction & autobiography
4. Bapsi does not write exoticized accounts that pander to others' tastes
5. Cracking India became a movie because it had "India" in the title
6. The Earth demands bloodshed (I love that line)
7. Women have insecurities about the future
8. the basic concepts and facts about the Zoroastrian people
9. The narration in Cracking India was replaced by a specific camera angle in Earth
10. in 1947, suddenly overnight, 12 million people had to emigrate in the span of 3 months
11. Peasants are had to move because they are embedded in the soil
12. The Sikhs became warriors in loin cloths and brutalized village women in sadistic ways
13. Deepha carves her own universe into the book
14. Readings actually occur with 300 people present
15. The Crow Eaters is a funny book
16. A book has to become skeletal to become a film because the camera will pack on the flesh
17. usually, film makers don't want you (the author) on the set because you get in the way and want to change things
18. actors are easily confused and should not be talked to by the writer/author
19. the camera cannot see as much as written words can show, but the camera closes in the distance that authors are very careful to build between the world and the author
20. The Ayah is completely fictional
21. There was a race riot on the film set
22. "Before the British, like Boa Constrictors, gobbled up India, India had religious tolerance"
23. After 1875, the British started playing divide and conquer with the Indians
24. When the Partition began in 1947, the British were in favor of it to keep India from being too powerful. The British military presence was there to stop the riots but didn't. The U.S. does the same thing in Iraq
25. Gandhi killed his wife (refused to let her take the British invention Penicillin) but then saved himself with a shot of it later. He also treated his son so badly that his son converted to Islam.
26. Leaders must have huge egos.
27. Kashmir is a big, festering wound between India & Pakistan.
28. Elections are won by threatening war
29. Bapsi's job on set was to distract the censor and take him off set during the "inappropriate" scenes so Deepha could get them shot.
30. The Crow Eaters are people who talk too much
31. Rushdie didn't sell well before the Fatwah.
32. Milkweed press bought Cracking India for $1500.00
33. Bapsi seems to appeal more to Anglos than Southeast Asians/imigrants
34. Ice Candy Man is still a best seller in India
35. A kidnapped woman was such a slur that no one would admit to being related/married to one-- sexual defilement and martyrdom/murder
36. Everyone Kills
37. Bapsi is now writing short stories
38. Give poor people a sense of self respect and see what happens
39. "I drink whiskey, I drink bourbon, but I don't drink you poor peoples' blood"
40. Pakistan became a conduit for passing arms during the Russian/Afghanistan debacle
41. "I want to kill me a commie"
42. Radical Islamic books were published in Ohio and sent to Pakistan/Afghanistan
43. Afghanistan is an often sacrificed country that has a sad destiny.
44. Under Islamic law, you need 4 male witness or 8 female witnesses for a rape to occur
45. there are no love marriages-- it is an insult to the family
46. women are in demand because there is a shortage-- they are almost always married off to cousins, if she does not obey she is charged with adultery and thrown into jail.
47. politicians will always have strange bedfellows
48. Bapsi can speak for 90 minutes without opening her bottle of water.

My closing thought is that I would be intrigued to watch a conversation between Josip and Bapsi.

Now I think I go pass out now.