Windows on the World of SipaKV

Have you noticed how maps and info are now getting mashed up?
Check out PlaceoPedia.com, which mashes up Google Maps with Wikipedia articles.
I noticed nobody had added Madagascar yet, so I did !

Malagasy acquaintances seem to have a neverending supply of cousins (No matter whom I mention, it’s a miracle! He/She happens to be their cousin, or at the very least a boyfriend/girlfriend of their cousin!).

Not only that, but they are very close to these cousins with whom they share an enviable sense of solidarity and togetherness. They do things with them which I’ve never done and will never do with mine who are all long-lost. It was not for lack of opportunity to get close to them. Some Americans go to their annual Thanksgiving dinner dragging their feet like Marie-Antoinette to the guillotine. Imagine I tell them: as a child, I regularly attended the monthly, yes monthly, familial lunch held by my grand-parents.

I remember having a good time at these family gatherings, too. My 20 cousins and I would eat like Kings because my grand-mother and aunts cooked like chefs: various hors d’oeuvres of which I’m still dreaming, boudin noir, fromage de tete, henomby ritra, akoho gasy (for a long time, as the youngest, I was gifted with the “fen’akoho”, the drumstick. Then younger cousins were born, and I had to relinquish the drumstick…I have no doubt one day I will have the to me dubious honor of the vodiakoho but I hope it will take a very very long time.).

We were seated at the children’s tables in the kitchen and we made plenty of noise until someone from the formal dining room would come by and tell us to calm down. We’d then play boardgames or kindriandriana, while the adults played belote or discussed politics, not always politely, and not rarely, my geeky family discussed very philosophical subjects.

Then someone complained a monthly lunch was too frequent, too expensive, the philosophical discussions were probably too geeky, too something and the monthly gatherings stopped. I am quick to point out this is not the reason why my cousins and I are not best friends. I still don’t know the reason. Despite detailing my life on this blog, I am private in reality and am not your most gregarious Malagasy. Let’s just say that my circle of Malagasy friends is painfully restricted.

Most of my friends who’ve spent too long a time abroad have lost touch with many of their friends. That’s life, you move abroad, you lose contact with your old friends, you move on and you make new ones (foreign ones), right? One relationship my Malagasy friends do not lose is the one they have with their cousins. Distance does not break it, it’s pretty elastic. They promptly reconnect with their cousins once home. If you forget that they’re expected to be Rockefeller and treat everyone at restaurants and cafes, it’s in fact as if they had never left.I am trying to imagine now coming back to Madagascar and having a monthly lunch with my extended family and BandyKV’s : aunts, uncles, cousins et al, aunts-in-law, uncles-in-law, cousins-in-law et al… So far I like the cousins-in-law I have met. Maybe I will get close to them as I never did with my own cousins.

Update : I just realized that Rabelazao has a post about this as well.
And the Guardian has an article about the subject of Equitrade and Malagasy chocolate.

If you love Malagasy chocolate and you live abroad, you can now purchase it on the internet at http://www.malagasy.co.uk !

They also sell Black and Red Pepper. In my opinion, Malagasy Pepper is the very best in the world, there is nothing as delicious as a juicy tender steak sprinkled with our pepper. I use my TAF pepper very sparingly, as BandyKV can attest, only on very special occasions.

Now, I’m waiting for the “Niaouli, Lychee, Pallisandre, Mango, Coconut, Jujuba Honey”.
Plus, they’re an EquiTrade company, in their words

“All our products are “equitably traded”, this means that we are investing knowhow and technology into wholly owned Malagasy companies to help them trade internationally in finished or part finished sustainable products.”

All I know is that I often see Madagascar vanilla marketed as a high-end goods in Gourmet supermarkets here, they actually sell for about $8 per two pods. At Dean and Deluca, I once purchased Malagasy green peppercorns, in its green can, and it cost me $5.

Yeah, I don’t think the Malagasy growers got most of the surplus in the trade…

I swear I was not googling for porn, I was merely googling “Chinese-Malagasy” and I find this forum where they are discussing porn stars and ethnicity. I did not know discussion about porn could be this “deep”, no bad pun intended.
Anyway, someone, undoubtedly a porn connoisseur, if such a thing exists, writes this :

“Ethnicity and race are usually pretty obscure for these girls. I remember a 90’s porn actress who went by Vanessa that I would swear was latina. She claimed to be a Chinese/Malagasy/French mix from Madagascar. And she even spoke fluent french. But she looked “latina” enough for them to put her in one of the Chica Boom videos.”

Another person adds that you can check Vanessa out on some website… but you can do your own research, I won’t go as far as to refer a porn site on my blog.

Heritina m’a colle une question :“C’est quoi le talent artistique reel?”.
La question m’a fait rire, mais en fait, c’est une question tres difficile. Cette question a tourbillonne deux jours dans ma tete. J’essayais de me rappeler mes cours de philo “Qu’est ce que l’Art?”, “Comment definir le Beau”, etc…

Comment chasser le doute chez l’artiste:
“Je suis talentueux mais meconnu/mal compris. C’est comme ca qu’il faut peindre/ecrire/chanter/danser...et je mourrais plutot que de faire autrement”
ou
“Je peins/ecris/chante/danse mediocrement et je le reconnais ” ?

Des questions tres chiantes auxquelles je suis incapable de repondre. Je me console en me disant que l’essentiel est de poser la question, pas de trouver la reponse.
Pour m’eclaircir les idees, j’ai eu recours a, quoi d’autre, l’internet et suis tombee sur une galerie de tableaux en ligne.

Ces tableaux, envahis de femmes blondes ou rousses, l’air d’avoir bien mange, cachant a peine leurs appats charnels sous des voiles transparents, des bebes joufflus aux ailes dorees planant au dessus de leurs tetes, des banquets de fruits orgiaques a leurs pieds (ils aimaient bien peindre des grappes de raisins, ces peintres de la Renaissance), ces tableaux sont-ils des oeuvres d’art?

Meme s’ils me deplaisent fortement a moi, que jamais je ne les accrocherais a mes murs? Ces tableaux sont-ils “Beaux”? Ces peintres ont-ils un “talent artistique reel”? Il semble bien que oui, ces tableaux ont ete peints par un certain Botticelli, un certain Titien. Leurs tableaux sont eminemment places dans les meilleurs musees du monde depuis seulement cinq siecles. La femme blonde, c’est Venus qui vient de naitre, la nymphe Galatee,…

Autant pour moi…

Lu dans le NYT aujourd’hui, dans un article consacre au”metissage” de la bouffe chinoise dans le monde:
“Chinese-Malagasy, he said, on the island of Madagascar, was the best food, with lots of coconut milk and spices.”

Hier apres-midi, au lieu de travailler comme une beeeeeeete devant mon ordinateur, je me suis retrouvee dans un Country Club.
Non pas parce que je me suis soudainement retrouvee milliardaire, n’ayant plus a gagner mon pain quotidien et cultivant desormais l’art nonchalant de tuer le temps sur les parcours de golf, mais parce que mon departement entier y etait invite pour notre pique nique annuel.

Le Country Club est situe a environ 15 miles de mon bureau. Sur le chemin qui est en fait une route a peage, je suis passee par d’innombrables nouveaux real estate developments. Ce sont de nouveaux voisinages ou les promoteurs immobiliers construisent des maisons de type “colonial”, qui se ressemblent toutes, des “Estates”, posees les unes tres a cote des autres, des maisons monstres a trois etages qu’on appelle derogativement des McMansions, a la superficie totale d’au moins 5000 square feet.

Ces communautes mettent piscines couverte et fermee, club house, courts de tennis, terrains de basket et parfois parcours de golf a la disposition des residents. Bref un petit monde a part. Les residents sont prets a habiter ici, tres loin de la ville, et a se taper les horribles embouteillages quotidiens, pour beneficier de ces avantages. Chacun ses choix.
Personnellement, je prefererais habiter en centre ville, au bord d’une vieille rue a cobblestone, dans un “petit” loft tres moderne a 2000 square feet, sans piscine, ni club house, ni court de tennis. Je n’aurais pas a tondre le gazon le week-end et j’aurais le temps de me rendre a une exposition d’art moderne ou d’essayer le dernier resto/bar a la mode.
Tout ca pour vous dire que je ne suis pas tres Country Club et tres golf non plus.

Le Country Club nous a servi les inevitables plats d’un pique nique a l’americaine : burgers, pork ribs imbibes de sauce bbq, du pulled pork (comme nos varanga mais plein de sauce a base de tomate), pulled chicken (encore plus de sauce), potato salad et cole-slaw (comme les achards mais plein de sauce mayonnaise). J’ai arrete de m’etonner de l’obsession des Americains a immerger leur bouffe de sauce. Meme les fruits sont saucEs : ca ne les gene pas de mettre une pomme ou fraise au bout d’un bout de bois et de plonger ca dans une sauce chocolat. Et dans certains etats, c’est le chocolat qu’ils “fry”.
Sans rire !

Je suis allee docilement accompagner Ramesh, mon collegue indien, histoire de me debarrasser de ces calories tres digestes. Ramesh est tres feru de golf, lui. Sa maison se situe sur un parcours de golf et il fait ca tous les week-ends. Il m’a montre comment tenir la Big Bertha et comment executer un swing. Ce que ca avait l’air facile. Je n’avais aucun doute de mon triomphe. Ha ha ha. Je me suis avancee, rigolant et oscillant sur mes talons de 5 centimetres. Tout d’un coup ce n’avait plus l’air facile. Il s’est avere que deja j’avais choisi le mauvais driver, un driver pour gaucher alors que je suis droitiere. Ramesh a ete un ange. Il est alle me chercher un driver pourr droitier et un wedge special pour debutant. Il n’a pas eclate de rire en me voyant swing-uer repetitivement dans l’air et rater miserablement la balle a chaque fois. Au bout du n-ieme essai, je suis quand meme arrivee a taper dans la balle. Qui n’est pas allee tres loin. Elle a prefere me narguer en roulant d’a peine quelques metres. En me retournant, j’ai vu trois collegues assis tranquillement a l’ombre et qui m’observaient en souriant, leurs innombrables clubs Callaway herissant leurs sacs .

Il y a longtemps que le golf a cesse d’etre un sport pour riches aux Etats-Unis. Contradictoirement, rien ne reste un privilege pour tres longtemps chez les capitalistes. Je dis a Ramesh que chez moi, il n’y a que les riches qui y jouent. Il me repond que c’est pareil chez lui en Inde, mais que c’est aussi en train de changer. Et incidemment, est-ce que je sais que ca y est l’immobilier a Bombay est plus cher qu’a New York? Je pousse des exclamations de surprise comme il se doit et me debarrasse de mes talons hauts. Ca fait un monde de difference et pas seulement parce que tout d’un coup, je me retrouve plus petite.

Non seulement je tape dans la balle, mais elle decrit un tres beau cercle pour aller atterrir pres de la marque des 100 yards. Je suis tres contente de moi jusqu’a ce que Ramesh me dise que Tiger Woods, lui, swingue a 400 yards et qu’en plus sa balle atterrit dans le trou avec le petit drapeau a cote. Je ressens un nouveau respect pour les golfeurs en general et Tiger Woods en particulier.

Apres ma 45e balle et une ampoule dans ma paume gauche (c’est pour ca qu’il y a des gants!), je m’avoue vaincue et je retourne dare-dare a la maison retrouver mon morceau de vie : mon ZazaKV adore, mon sombinaina.

Mais golfer ce n’est pas si mal…

This year again, the Institute of Higher Education, Shanghai Jiao Tong University has ranked world wide universities according to academic and research performances as measured in international awards wins (Nobel and Fields prizes), citations in articles and publications in prestigious journals.

This ranking has generated a lot of vibe and has been cited by respectable newspapers such as the New York Times. The Economist magazine cites it too, mostly to praise how well American universities are doing, to lament how badly the Europeans are failing, and how Asian universities are striving to achieve excellent education systems and are threatening to leave the Europeans in the dust.

You may agree or disagree with the Economist’s views, object to the criterias, but the ranking itself underlines how completely American universities dominate the research field .

I skimmed through the list wondering how well my university fared. Bring in the Moet and the caviar, hooray ! My very own university, where I hope not to set foot again for the longest possible time, has managed to join the top 100!
I was a little astonished though not to see many European universities among the top 20. Indeed, I’d say America shelters 85% of the top universities according to this ranking. The non-US creme de la creme are the famous U of Tokyo, Cambridge and Oxford (Isn’t it amazing that the London School of Economics is only at the 203-300 place ???). The rest of top 20 universities are American ones. The first Canadian University is the U of Toronto (24th), behind two Japanese Us.

So I thought I’d look among the top 20 European universities to see if the pride of the Republique, Napoleon’s legacies, I have named the Grandes Ecoles have made it, and if my own alma mater made the list. Nada. Zilch. Nope. My Grande Ecole did not make it. Not even the very elite Ecole Polytechnique is a top 100 according to this list(it’s 203-300th on the list), even though it hosts many of the brightest in its graduate and research labs (well, maybe it’s not in the list because it’s relatively small in size compared to the other prestigious universities? or because its labs are co-hosted with bigger universities?)!
Ecole Normale Sup is at the 93rd place! The renowned IIT of India is only at the 301-400th place !

And so having missed the Grandes Ecoles, I looked for a French presence.

I had to wait until the rank of 46th to find one.
At the 46th place, the U of Jussieu tries to salvage French pride. I got over my dismay and looked for more : Paris XI(61st), Strasbourg (92nd). . . A bit disappointing…

South Africa tops African universities, no surprise there. Indeed the only African universities on the list are South African ones.

For more on rankings :
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1343281,00.html (definitely a UK bias, there…)
http://www.webometrics.info/top2000.asp.htm (the Institute of Higher Education, Shanghai Jiao Tong University ranking).
Le Monde has an article about the list in today’s edition.

As seen by the painter Radoccia.
Lamba hoany Malagasy. Manja e !

J’ai hate de mettre la main sur ce livre de Serge Bile intitule “La legende du sexe surdimensionne des Noirs”. Je meurs de curiosite comment l’auteur va attaquer ce gros prejuge. Le livre sort en Nov 2005 chez le Serpent a Plumes, la meme maison qui a publie Jean-Luc Raharimanana.
L’ecrivain Alain Mabanckou en parle dans son billet aujourd’hui. Les lecteurs commentent.
Preuve qu’on peut ecrire des livres tres serieux sur des sujets qui le sont moins.