Independence in East Timor « Pulitzer Gateway

Independence in East Timor « Pulitzer Gateway

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Raj Rajarathnam’s Bail

Raj Rajaratnam looked unusually charming in person. Surrounded by a troupe of lawyers inside the magisterial courtroom in Manhattan’s Second District Courthouse, he was calm, unflappable and dressed in a uniform black. A newspaper sketch artist hovered around him like a fly, closely studying his sideburns for exact representation in pastels.

The court room was packed in respect for the large sums of money — $100 million, $2.5 million etc.–under discussion. Nothing like white-collar crime to attract the media in New York. I left my cell phone and camera at the office and rode up to the court from the clerks office with a PR rep for Raj. He had a whole retinue of lawyers, media reps and hangers-on.

The Galleon founder was asking the judge to reduce bail. Words flew in measured tones as the defense adopted a submissive stance. The white-haired lawyer John Dowd seemed like he didn’t have a good response to give to the judge’s question: why reduce the bail to $25 million?

The obvious answer is that it’s just too much. $100 million dollars. I wonder at which million our comprehension of the extent of that sum breaks down. But this argument lacks logic. Dowd struggled to give a better one. It seems that Rajaratnam had only scrounged up $2.5 million in cash, and paid the rest in securities and property.

The prosecution (comprising 3 from the DA’s office and one FBI agent) was confident in its arguments. They revealed new evidence saying that they had found a senstive IM transmitting information about Polycom (a California based tech company) between Raj and an accomplice. The IM said: “don’t proceed on PLCM until I give further guidance.”

At the end of the hearing, the judge refused to reduce the bail but allowed Raj travel privileges within the United States. Everyone got up and the courtroom cleared to judge once again, stories of more normal and less expensive criminal behavior.

I traveled back down in an elevator filled with chatty Raj hangers-on who quickly shushed themselves upon my arrival.

Read the story here –>

Book review(s) and shades of war

I read the Zanzibar Chest recently, a beautiful rendering of the history of Africa extending into the Rwandan civil war in 1994.  As the protagonist, journalist Aiden Hartley, describes events unfolding around him in the Rwanda—the dismembered hands, the church filled with bodies, a mass grave—in short, the remarkable savagery of two almost-identical ethnic groups that murder each other for the sake of history.

I could not understand the brutality, for Hartley paints a wide picture standing outside, and always chasing the story. For instance, a Reuters Hutu stringer kills Tutsis at the checkpoint, despite having a Tutsi wife, for he has no choice.  He leaves his Tutsi neighbors untouched.  The stringer, because of circumstances, becomes a sinner.  There is no saving grace, as every Rwandan is painted as a killer or a victim.  I felt the story needed a savior, a testament to the human character that can redeem, on a small level, the greater horror that human beings as a mass are capable of.

I thought I was being naïve.

Today, I read the New York Times Book Review of Tracy Kidder’s “Strength in what remains.” It is about a medical student, Deo, from Burundi, a country that borders Rwanda and saw the same violence.  The reviewer writes of the book:

“[Deo’s] jostled awake, a day later, by a Hutu woman about his mother’s age.  She pulls Deo from the brush, discovers he’s a Tutsi and then, at extraordinary risk, saves him from beheading by telling Hutu guards that he’s her son.  The scene suggests how, in the face of nightmares born of surface distinctions—of power exercising all of its destructive prerogatives—the seeds of mankind’s survival lie in the unexpected acts of kinship and kindness.”

Hartley was a spectator, as he acknowledges early on in his book. And he was a journalist.  And white, although he reminds one and all, many times, in a plaintive cry, that he is African.

In being all these things, he may have missed the shades of individual kindness that can exist in war behind the battle lines.  No wonder he grasps so eagerly at the tale of the little boy he helps rescue from a pile of dead bodies.  He leaves the boy at the hospital.  Hartley files his Reuters story of the miracle-boy. The boy dies.

I’m waiting to read the alternate rendering.

Always on that UK funky tip

I got that tip off my G-chat list and hunted down UK funky, a style of electronic dance music that incorporates broken beats and afro beats, according to Wiki.    So, house music with a darker African bent due to percussions such as drums, bongos and tambourines.

In 2007, ravers in Aiya Napa came together and to entertain, the DJ mixed London grime (grimey basslines) with funky house, with Coki and Benga’s “Night” being the number one track. Whistle-able tune.

For a lot more, a good aggregation in The Daily Swarm.  Wonder if any events in New York.

Jazz and carnatic fusion: Rudresh Mahanthappa

Rudresh Mahanthappa’s music has caught the ears of many in the jazz world.  The New Yorker had an excellent article about the fusion of the rigid South Indian classical music form called ‘Carnatic’, and fluid Jazz.

Now, given that it talks so much about Carnatic music, I had to ask the opinion of two people who have been immersed in the music in its most traditional form, for a long time.  One flatly said that she doesn’t like the music and the two shouldn’t be fused.  The other gave me a more detailed explanation:

Rudresh Mahanthappa

As for this thing of innovation by interaction, it has a market and may be appealing for the jazz-community. That’s good, since I think Indian music has something to offer, for example, in terms of gamakas between svaras/notes which is an indispensable feature of classical Indian music. It can mould itself and enhance musical traditions that lack such emphases. To the extent their methodology pulls away from this, the interaction will definitely be looked upon as detrimental. i.e. the hard-core carnatic community will mostly demur at all this.

(But the general people may look for other things based on their backgrounds and lack of receptivity to the special aspects of a particular musical tradition; so the “fusion” aspect always has a market, even as cinema music with carnatic mixups may also be appealing to many people.)

Interestingly, from what I am told, the human throat and the veena come the closest to expressing the nuances of carnatic music. The violin is probably the best western instrument for this purpose. Instruments like saxophone are only partial to the purpose – so they already work around inherent compromises which will be felt by the keen ear, and the further interaction will only further such compromises. (In fact, Rudresh himself was surprised at Kadri’s usage of a truly western instrument… Perhaps he should be told that his surprise is justified in that Kadri may not be doing full justice to Carnatic music anyway).

Now if I hear this stuff from a strictly carnatic perspective, I will find it nauseating for many a reason. In fact, today morning I heard ahead Kanyakumari’s playing first in a youtube clip of this kinsman (Ganesha), then went back to hear that Rudresh – I had to stop at once. Later I started with Rudresh (or was that Kadri!!) and allowed the carnatic music, kanyakumari’s violin to enter after, and it seemed nice. But my attitude was different, somewhat akin to hearing rajinikanth’s songs which also no doubt are very “nice”. So classical will remain classical for those truly aware of its aspects; and innovations will have their markets and musical traditions as well.

1. If you consider a standard carnatic music concert, there are different aspects of music such as raga-alapana, songs, neraval, kalpana-svaras; different types of songs such as varnam, krithi, keerthana, pallavi, bhajans and thillanas, all in different ragas. The bhajans/thukkadas, thillanas and varnams usually possess an all-out appeal, through the choice of format, pace and (often light) ragas. Within a song as well, the kalpana svaras are often a mine of creativity and have mass appeal even among the ignorant due to their rhythmic or fast-paced running through the notes, etc. However the central features of the concert are not the thillanas and bhajans, nor a focus on light ragas like sindhubhairavi; they are the raga-alapanas and krithis/keerthanas that bring out the essential “stuff” of carnatic music, and they are most appealing to those who are more knowledgeable or have developed a keener appreciation for the nature of this music. The svaras, neravals, pallavis, etc are added avenues of creativity, innovation and show of prowess. The thukkadas and thillanas are embellishments that come at the end.

2. So let’s say there is such inherent structure and emphases of music in the carnatic tradition; some things are considered more essential than the other (and the lay-person may well confuse the grading here). When we move to the interactive arena, we will often find compromises in this regard. For instance, in a jugalbandhi with Hindustani music, the ragas that get primary emphasis will be those that overlap both traditions such as hindolam or mohanam – often what will be seen as somewhat “light” by carnatic connosseurs. It would be considered a dilution of standards if a carnatic music concert focused on such ragas alone; not sure of the Hindustani perspective. However this is not a serious objection in the sense that every raga can be seen for its own beauty and potential expressions. The situation gets worse in interactions with cinema or western music, since the emphasis shifts also toward music categories such as thillanas or on svaras (and away from raga bhava, etc) that can seemingly be allowed to bypass aspects such as gamakas and other rules-of-the-music and focus instead on pace, rhythm and quick-appeal tunes. “What you can do with the veena, I can do with my piano!!” kind of delusion will be propagated. So even if the carnatic musicians are only playing something close to carnatic music, the music has been cheapened to suit an ignorant audience.

3. An analogy: an Indian and an American chef decide to make a joint meal for some American customers. The Indian can make sambar, rice, curry, etc, but they decide that the best way to highlight both traditions is if the Indian does the sweets, pickle and raita alone,m and the American creates a whole-meal that will incorporate and supplement the Indian’s contributions. The meal may still please customers.

4. On the positive side, barring the gamaka aspects, there are heavily-carnatic ragas such as thodi which can sound in ways that seem parallel to some jazz. This raga cannot be itself without the emphasis on gamaka – but sound wise, I think there are parallels. I have also heard jazz-like kalpana-svaras in a rendering of Hamsadvani, which is less demanding on gamakas. The carnatic musicians may seek to bring forth such parallels in their interactive venture with jazz. In spite of the inherent compromises, jugalbandhis can work out so long as both parties are fully knowledgeable and committed to their own musical traditions. The situation gets troublesome when the second generation of A. R. Rahmans come up; that’s a different discussion – and I have cleverly kept away from that “angry” side for now.

Well, this is from my limited knowledge and from what I have heard from those more knowledgeable.

Born to climb walls

Here’s a video by Japanese-American rock climber Dan Osman going full speed at a nearly vertical, 400+ feet rock face at Lover’s Leap in South Lake Tahoe with nothing but his hands and feet (original post from BBG).

Now, that takes guts.

He died at 35, falling off a cliff at Yosemite when a rope failed him, it seems.  Best way to die, doing what you love?

WSJ photo journal

Really quite good: WSJ photo journal

From WSJ photo blog

Wayne Coyne, of the alternative rock band The Flaming Lips, performed during the Splendour in the Grass festival at Belongil Fields in Byron Bay, Australia, Sunday. (Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)

Brits Hope to Curb Risky Banker Behavior With Pay Regulation

There is so much white-collar crime these days that it is no wonder that bankers are joining lawyers among the most distrusted.

From FINS.com:

Finance professionals are just not trusted these days (as seen in this ad from Strongbow Cider), and perhaps with good reason as white collars get hauled off to court with glaring media headlines.

In the latest round, six executives from Sky Capital LLC were indicted by the feds for a $160 million stock fraud.

In a devious scheme, the brokers manipulated shares in Sky Capital to make themselves look more successful than they were, according to Bloomberg News.

Meanwhile, regulators in Britain have decided to curb banker salaries. If a firm’s pay packages promote risky behavior, the Financial Services Authority will force the firm to set aside capital to cover the added risk that the compensation promotes. This is expected to act as a detriment to establishing bonus-heavy pay packages that reward short-term gains.

“We need a change of culture in the banks and their boardrooms, with pay practices that are focused on long-term stability and not short-term profit,” said Alaister Darling in the House of Commons.

The only profession more distrusted currently would be law. The U.S. government today asked for a 145-year sentence for lawyer Marc Dreier, who committed fraud on hedge funds and other investors to a tune of $400 million.

“An Officer and a Gentleman”Veteran trader and Minyanville founder Todd Harrison’s fifth installment of Memoirs of a Minyan details his high-flying days and an epic power struggle in the gold towers of Morgan Stanley. (Minyanville)

South Street “Riots”

There were girls everywhere—13, 16, 18 years old in tight, short clothes, stilettos, perfectly coiffed hair.  All these girls gathered on South Street, leading to the historic Penn’s Landing in Philadelphia.  Starting about 10 pm, they walked up and down the same street, strutting, knowing well their female power.

And behind them, drooling in a pack, the boys, fit and young, cat calling, some adorned in tattoos, some atop motorbikes that they revved up in RRROOWWWWSS of appreciation.  They were checking out the girls, who pretended not to care, even when they were there to check out and get checked out.

Earlier reports have set the numbers at 10,000, but there were too many to count.  It seems they get together using social networking sites such as Twitter and OurSpace.

There were so many police officers for that short stretch of street, about 6 blocks long, on bicycles.  All that testosterone, fueled by estrogen can only mean one thing: fights! And there were many.  In early June, the mob vandalized property, beat up citizens and stole a cab.

As fights broke out, the officers flew down the street one end to the other, jumping over pavement on their bikes, creating temporary road blocks for the strutting girls, making them cross over and walk on the other side.  And around corners of alleyways were parked police vans that rushed with their lights flashing to arrest the young men.

The teen scene was an unfettered display/ exploration of sexuality at so young an age, and all out in the open, under the purview of police officers.

Another post on the subject at Angry, Young and Poor

New website

My website: www.gayathrivaidyanathan.com