While this blog primarily focuses on the comics-related aspects of syndication, Universal Press also distributes opinion columns by writers such as Cynthia Tucker, Richard Reeves, Anna Quindlen, and most recently, Saritha Prabhu.
Because she is originally from India, I'm always interested to hear Saritha Prabhu's perspective when it comes to global issues including the terror attacks in Mumbai, the response in other countries to Barack Obama's election to the presidency, even the awards and political attention drawn by yesterday's Best Picture winner, Slumdog Millionaire, which Saritha wrote a column about earlier this month.
An excerpt from her Feb. 7 column on the film:
Interestingly enough, when I was living in my safe, educated middle-class enclaves in India, I accepted the sight of children begging in the streets as a fact of city life. When one sees poverty around often, one gets somewhat desensitized to it.
On my last few visits there, however, I saw my native country through the eyes of an outsider, and the disparities seemed etched in harsh relief.
I found I couldn't take much pleasure from the gleaming new malls, office buildings and call centers when there were still slums and shantytowns, still the poor around you.
There was something wrong with the picture, it seemed to me, of the nouveau riche shopping for Gucci and Louis Vuitton bags while beggar children foraged for scraps.
Unfortunately, some in India's middle class would like to pretend the poorer classes don't exist. Hence, the discomfort at seeing them in Slumdog.
One of the things I've learned from living in America is that the truth, however unsavory, must be confronted, not denied.
Saritha Prabhu has been writing a weekly opinion column for The Tennessean of Nashville since 2004. As a native of India who has been a resident of the United States since 1992 and a naturalized citizen since 2006, Saritha has a unique background, earning a degree in Chemistry from Madras University in India before developing her lifelong interest in reading and writing into a biweekly opinion column.
Living in America, straddling two cultures, knowing three languages, being of the Hindu faith, and raising her children in a setting different from the one she grew up in give Saritha a bicultural, outsider perspective that you won't find anywhere else.
Her columns can be read on The Tennessean online, and are now available for print and online syndication from Universal Press.
- LW
